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

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

in 2024, you're not going to want to have been a part of this

bandmate is taking the day off work to canvas for this guy, who is trying to unseat Jeff Denham in CA District 10. Throw your money at him plz.

vote harder

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/trump-fbi-declassification-mueller-scandal-constitutional-crisis.html

eventually, this wild ride is going to crash. either that or the GOP will need to consolidate power permanently and ruthlessly to stave off any kind of reckoning, which.. maybe. republicans are deluding themselves if they think they can hold on and ride it out.

xxxp i know he's not the ventriloquist guy, but the fact that this similarly-named congressman just reminded me of his existence is just another reason why he needs to lose.

I do not find that kind of non-reportage "analysis" helpful

xp

I mean, fine

I think the endless cynicism or the sense that trump is invincible is just another kind of fallacy

he's gonna burn in hell and I'm gonna piss on his grave

so there's that

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.

― Trϵϵship, Tuesday, October 9, 2018 7:52 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No he won't. This is willfully naive. He will be famous mostly for having a deciding vote in overturning Roe vs Wade, or being part of the SC blocking dems legislation. For decades to come. Heck, the US senate nor an FBI 'investigation' stopped him from being where he is, so he must deserve to be there, right? He's considered a victim of slanderous feminazi allegations, "revenge on the Clinton's behalf". His legacy will be perfectly fine. AT most a dozen of people will fight in the trenches of Wikipedia over his 'sexual assault' chapter, shoving it under 'personal life' first, and erasing it all together not long after.

either that or the GOP will need to consolidate power permanently and ruthlessly to stave off any kind of reckoning, which.. maybe.

This is all assuming groundswell movements like metoo, coming from the young, won’t have any kind of enduring impact on the culture

Xp

Yes, I am assuming they will have no impact whatsoever. The groundswell movements in the USA in my life haven't had an enduring impact on USA culture, so..

Also i never said anything about a supervillain speech. I was obviously saying *if* the republicans’ anti-democratic manipulations continue to pay off for decades and decades in a world where their politics continue getting more radical and unpalatable to the majority. Something is going to break

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

Worked out nicely for the Dubya crowd (incl Kavanaugh). Thanks, Obama.

Really, thx, Obama.

Well the civil rights movement had an impact

what's happening here

i don't see what any of the supreme court stuff is if not the ruthless consolidation of long term power

Feminism more broadly has, even though the work is ongoing. The gay rights movement has been an incredible thing to witness. Again, the work isn’t done, but gay marriage is the law of the land and anti-gay bigotry is considered unacceptable in many places throughout the country. That’s a change

can you stop