US Politics, October 2018: next week will be even longer

Trump thanks Haley for making UN ambassador "a more glamorous position". pic.twitter.com/FT7flLJSgi

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 9, 2018

I don't understand why, when you have the opportunity to potentially slip beneath history's notice, you would instead eagerly put your head on the block next to your father's, but you do you, Shoggotha.

trump sniffing is my vote for the worst human sound

Definitely doesn’t make the presidency more glamorous

New CNN poll: Democrats advantage in generic ballot widens to 13%

CNN POLL CONDUCTED BY SSRS
Oct. 4-7
Likely Voters’
Choice for Congress

Democrat Republican

Now 54% 41%
September 52% 42%

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) October 9, 2018

conducted after Kav's breakdown and purported GOP surge (Senate still close).

thanks taylor xp

j/k

but is 13% enough to counteract voter suppression / gerrymandering / cozy/fancy bear hacking/facebook/twitter-boofing? you've got this, america!

Justice Qualmsley, stay impartial.

It will all work out

hey guys the govt website went down and i can't figure out how to get it back up
looks all messed up on iphone (SE) too

I think there was some specific reason for this resignation they’re not sharing but who knows

do you all think it likely that Haley would want Graham's Senate seat if he gets appointed to the cabinet?

Haley is garbage and so is whoever they’ll put there next. Im not incurious as to why she left but also it doesn’t matter.

do you all think it likely that Haley would want Graham's Senate seat if he gets appointed to the cabinet?

― Dan S, Tuesday, October 9, 2018 12:35 P

Ding ding

Haley said she isn't running, also, this:
https://www.businessinsider.com/nikki-haley-resign-investigation-flights-free-private-jets-2018-10

It doesn't matter how much I like or dislike a politician, I've never, ever believed anybody who says they aren't running.

Even death can’t stop them

she said she's not running for president. what about an appointment by the SC governor to the senate, then running to keep her seat in 2020?

the senate theory makes sense. is graham going to be attorney general?

Ask him.

could be awkward. i don't talk to him as much as i talk to you guys.

but is 13% enough to counteract voter suppression / gerrymandering / cozy/fancy bear hacking/facebook/twitter-boofing? you've got this, america!

― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, October 9, 2018 12:25 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

538 have a passable piece on this today, though to be clear it's about how high they'd have to be on the national popular vote (as distinct from the 'generic ballot' poll) to be expected to overcome gerrymandering.

I still don't get why senators want cabinet positions. even in the best case scenario you're trading a job where you only have to run for reelection every 6 years + have no boss for one with a fixed end date and a boss (in this case a particularly erratic one). like how could lindsay graham look at sessions' decision and be like "oh yeah I want to be in his spot."

^^^ that's been a head scratcher for me too

iirc senators have to spend like 6 hours of every day fundraising?

a senator's boss is technically the people that elected them, but yeah, lol at that idea. their real boss is mitch mcconnell. a cabinet position that terminates with the end of an administration sets up a nice transition to the private sector, rather than having to deal with a messy election loss, or making people angry because you sold your soul to satan to confirm a rapist

it seems like it'd be a lot less work. no fundraising. no babies to kiss. no subcommittees to be on. no compromises to hammer out. big staff. direct access to the president. direct access to your future employers i.e. the corporations affected by your department's decisions. none of this "beholden to the people" malarkey to pretend to care about.

bah Karl u beat me to it! xpost

McConnell isn't even their boss. It's not like LBJ as Master of the Senate anymore

Getting called to testify by your former “colleagues” after a wave election prob not as fun though

I think it’s all about being able to just call DC home, line up the corporate board positions / “retirement job” and finally give up campaigning

As long as you're savvy and don't make waves, it's likely that Trump won't even remember ever having appointed you to a cabinet position or that the position in question even exists. You can just sit around all day coloring or whatever, it's great.

that's true for a post like HUD, but trump has reason to pay more attention to Department of Justice

I guess 'smooth path to selling out' makes sense, I guess I just put more weight on senators being power-hungry freaks who think they should always be in the spotlight and that one day they'll be president.

in any case, joining this administration in particular seems like an obviously risky career move - both because even if you like trump you probably accept that he's unstable and one day could wake up and hate you because of a fox and friends segment and because if/when this admin finally starts tanking, you're gonna be associated with it for life.

I still don't get why senators want cabinet positions. even in the best case scenario you're trading a job where you only have to run for reelection every 6 years + have no boss for one with a fixed end date and a boss (in this case a particularly erratic one). like how could lindsay graham look at sessions' decision and be like "oh yeah I want to be in his spot."

― iatee, Tuesday, October 9, 2018 1:03 PM (thirty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cabinet doesn't even seem like a particularly great thing to have on your resume for a presidential run. a lot of the jobs are no-win situations (VA etc.). none except state have any name recognition outside people with politics disease. and (in theory) you can't campaign and curry favor and network with the party to the same extent in primary states etc. while you're in the government. and you lose a lot of ability to distance yourself from executive fuck ups (whoever is president, although that risk is obv higher now).

xxpost Yes, I suppose my statement is only true relative to how vehemently Trump is opposed to the purview of the department in questions (for instance, the Secretary of Sad Losers can't catch a break).

if/when this admin finally starts tanking, you're gonna be associated with it for life.

eventually another criminal administration will show up and they'll be rewarded. just ask Stephen King (not the author)
https://www.newsweek.com/2017/12/29/donald-trump-watergate-stephen-king-martha-mitchell-richard-nixon-john-744823.html

if/when this admin finally starts tanking, you're gonna be associated with it for life.

i admire your optimism that this will happen, or matter in the least

this is the kind of bullshit cabinet posts give you (swap tech for more cartoonishly evil industries for republican)

Former Obama Transportation Secretary and Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx is becoming Lyft's chief policy officer, @Politico reports

— Josh Eidelson (@josheidelson) October 9, 2018

There will be a brief window sometime after Trump is out of office when he and all of his cronies will be held in the highest contempt and people will spit on the ground at the mere mention of their names but they're mostly old enough that as they amble towards the ends of their lives the retrospectives will become more glowing until at last they pass away peacefully in their cozy cozy beds safe in the knowledge that they will be eulogized as misunderstood and unfairly maligned rascals.

in any case, joining this administration in particular seems like an obviously risky career move - both because even if you like trump you probably accept that he's unstable and one day could wake up and hate you because of a fox and friends segment and because if/when this admin finally starts tanking, you're gonna be associated with it for life.

Are you joking? 'Unstable' is the new 'stable'. Case in point President "grab them by the pussy" Trump. He sure as hell hasn't been associated with that for life. "Risky career moves" or "association with" bad things don't matter anymore.

Wake up Good luck USA etc

it doesn't matter for him but other people are less bulletproof. Kavanaugh is on the supreme court but he will always be famous mostly as a sexual assailant and liar.

yeah the nuance about trump-era america is that while that dude can get away with literally anything, everyone else is being held more accountable than ever.

like Kavanaugh?

definitely! compare to thomas.

hmmm...they both sit on the supreme court for life

xp I'm not seeing that the end result is any different

all I said was "more accountable than ever"

literally none of these people are being held accountable for anything at all, the only resignations are b/c of run-of-the-mill scandal shit like Pruitt