US Politics March 2019: “I can’t say I’m happy. I can’t say I’m thrilled”

srsly

I thought "The Apprentice" paid him like $50K.

he made 3 million an episode for Celebrity Apprentice

well, that's swimming in it if they gave him ones xp

The Apprentice also relaunched his brand, with tie-in merch etc.

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/434686-beck-to-hannity-we-are-officially-at-the-end-of-the-country-as-we-know-it-if

i’m ok with the end of their version of america tbh

Sounds good

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/18/politics/state-department-faith-outlets-briefing/index.html

the "faith-based reporters" coooould do the right thing and release the transcript themselves, but something tells me they won't

I wear an inverted crucifix in public a lot now

Mostly cos of Evangelicals

http://memegenerator.net/img/instances/53538019/mostly.jpg

fun fact:

Aliens would prove to be Henn's only major acting role: By the time the film was released, she and her family had moved back to the United States, and she soon decided to pursue a career in education. She now teaches fourth grade in Northern California; occasionally, one of her students will bring in an Aliens DVD for her to sign.

cool

(off topic but who the fuck is letting a fourth grader watch Aliens? that sounds like nightmare central)

(jeet heer is doing the bloggins on TPM this week)

Partially, this is just a matter of the political thermostat adjusting itself to a change in temperature. With Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, ordinary Democrats might feel like that Trump is being held in check and they can concentrate on other matters, notably the presidential primaries.

But the silencing of the Resistance might also be a result of Democratic Party leadership deliberately trying to demobilize the grassroots, lest they push for politically challenging action like impeachment. As Yglesias reports, “One veteran operative who’s deeply involved in party-aligned work on corruption issues tells me he thinks congressional leaders have deliberately demobilized the resistance because they’re so afraid of the impeachment issue.”

This demobilization follows a familiar pattern. Democrats are the party of governance, so once they win elections elected officials focus more on Washington politics than riling up the base. By contrast, Republicans tend to be on a constant war footing at all times, including even when they control all branches of government, as seen in Trump’s non-stop rallies since he won the presidency. One of the biggest mistakes of the Obama presidency was the demobilization of the grassroots movement that won him the presidency in 2008. We might be seeing history repeat itself, unless Democrats can figure out a way of keeping the fires of the Resistance going.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/farewell-to-the-resistance

xxp: Hayes did a good interview with David Wallace-Wells on his podcast.

I think that's where the outrage about Trump will come for the next century. Because he exited the Paris Accord, not because he was a narcissist criminal bore. Its certainly why I will never patronize anything associated with the Trump brand (incl Scion or American Idea hotels, and the sport of golf).

trump's currently doing a press conference with all around good guy jair bolsonaro, and of course repeatedly praised him throughout his intro.

looks like he learned a new word today, too

"reciprocity - my favorite word, reciprocity"

I am not dismissive. I am waiting for the legit reports.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, March 19, 2019 11:15 AM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is what greenwald for eample keeps saying, but what constitutes "legit reports" keeps to keep slipping from "some real evidence of impropriety" (which is hyperabundant, and often in public view) to, if it keeps going in the same direction, something like "audiovisual footage of trump slurping putin's ejaculate, notarized by God".

i'm not suggesting you're the same!-- just that this seemingly sensible "waiting for legit reports" mantra can be used in bad faith -- as for instance it's been by republicans day in and day out.

in re. maddow, i guess i rigorously avoid cable news so if they are nonstop russiagate still, i wasn't aware of it. that's on me.

fox news just announced the addition of all around good guy Paul Ryan to its board of directors

Who's gonna be the one to break the news that Trump's new favorite word necessarily entails the totally gross concept of doing things for other people?

wow. i'm sure he'll do the right thing and steer them in the direction of a more responsible, ethical journalism centered on encouraging good government and fiscal resp--

xpost

I'm stumped atm trying to think of a word that's more anathematic to Trump's absence of ethos than 'reciprocity'.

honesty?

such a dirty word?

I mean like any other similar concept (eg 'generosity' or 'fairness') is something he might expect of someone else while having no intention of returning the favor. 'Reciprocity' is never one-sided, so it seems almost beyond his conception.

He's such a piece of shit, you guys.

I am waiting for the legit reports

All I can offer is a reenactment of Trump becoming self-aware

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3D96AsewYE

He could easily mean reciprocity in the Godfather sense. I will do this thing for you, and sometime in the near or distant future I may ask something of you. This time may never come, but when it does, you owe me.

oh he very definitely means it that way

so in that sense reciprocity is the perfect word for him. I will only do something for you after you have done something for me. and even that is no guarantee.

reciprocity in the chicago sense

And Chicago in the Obama sense.

I still listen to Ex-Factor in 2019 too

With Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, ordinary Democrats might feel like that Trump is being held in check and they can concentrate on other matters, notably the presidential primaries.
But the silencing of the Resistance might also be a result of Democratic Party leadership deliberately trying to demobilize the grassroots, lest they push for politically challenging action like impeachment.

I can only speak for myself, but as a representative politically involved grassroots Democrat, it's definitely the first thing for me. And no, not that I want to concentrate on the presidential primaries. I don't. I feel like I have been busting my ass for two years doing everything I can think of, writing letters, writing checks, calling politicians, participating in protests, urging people to run for office, etc., to forstall the worst, and all that work did not go for nothing, Democrats won the governorship of my state and took back the House, so yes, I feel like I can take a breath and think about other things besides politics for a few months. I don't know what it would mean for the Democratic Party leadership to "deliberately try to demobilize" me. We're not in touch.

I ain't gonna be demobilized and the "Democratic Party leadership" has no leverage over how and where I put my time, energy and money.

i'm pretty sure that the "demobilization of the grassroots" that heer/yglesias were writing about wasn't referring to people like you, but rather the people who help to organize and fund the protests you have participated in, and most importantly, the media. obviously it's more complicated than that, and the DNC doesn't have a direct phone line to everyone who is interested in organizing (and many of those interested in organizing would tell them to fuck off, even if they did). but they do have an influence. and the things that you read or hear in the news, and on blogs and podcasts and op-eds, etc etc, that are also partly influenced by Democratic party's leadership. it's the politico-media complex.

it's more straightforward when you look at how all this works with the GOP and their grassroots. no one was asking for a 30-foot racist wall across the border until trump came along. but once he did, it wasn't long until limbaugh, hannity, coulter (his inner circle) took up his flag and ensured that conservative voters would never stfu about it. or, look at #benghazi.

it's a lot messier than that on the democratic side (thank god). but party leadership does have some influence on what the "national conversation" is and how certain issues are framed, and that, in turn, does influence quite a few people in grassroots politics

so I guess baby really lost his bottle again today

alfred the day is waning...

20 hours

Our President r/t Larry The Cable Guy.

man, what a relief that this thread has been mostly dormant today

otm

Did the speech at the tank factory go wayward?

didn't he just shit on mccain? like, who cares, but it's funny to watch ppl get butthurt about it

He has spent the entire day ranting about McCain.

can't wait for him to start ranting about other significant dead people.