US Politics April 2019 Thread: 'I find that pretty hard to believe'

and for good measure:
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/22/easter-egg-roll-trump-border-wall-1286361

too on the nose, donny, too on the nose.

this little girl came up to me, she was eating a peep, said Paul Krugman, of the Fake News New York Times, has lost all credibility

https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-census-citizenship-question-trump-ross-20190423-story.html

But while views of Trump have tumbled since the publication of Robert Muller’s redacted report, so has support for impeaching him. Only 34 percent of voters believe Congress should begin impeachment proceedings to remove the president from office, down from 39 percent in January. Nearly half, 48 percent, say Congress should not begin impeachment proceedings.

after release of the mueller report, of which even a cursory scan demonstrates the presidents obvious guilt and numerous obstructions of justice, bad intent, and that he's a fucking incompetent asshole, fewer people think he should be impeached. i don't think the reduction comes from a bunch of people coming to the conclusion that it's better practically or politically to avoid impeachment for now while continuing to investigate, etc etc - it comes from a bunch of people hearing "the release of the mueller report has lifted a dark cloud off the president", "the report did not identify criminal activity by the president", etc etc. fuck this country, fuck everyone who can't take 20 minutes to read

unrelated, but while i'm at it, fuck popular twitch streamers, too. god that shit is annoying

actually, I do know Dems and libs, not on this thread obsessing over Morning Psycho or all over Facebook, who would rather wait till 2020 and vote Trump out.

actually, I do know Dems and libs, not on this thread obsessing over Morning Psycho or all over Facebook, who would rather wait till 2020 and vote Trump out.

sure - i get that. that's what i meant by "i don't think the reduction comes from a bunch of people coming to the conclusion that it's better practically or politically to avoid impeachment for now while continuing to investigate, etc etc." but people with that view (a totally legit view, although not one i agree with) probably held that before the mueller report came out, so they're not the reason for a reduction in support for impeachment. surely the cascade of headlines and shitty, SHITTY reporting in the immediate aftermath of the report's release had more to do with it

sure, if you stuck around a day or two, long enough to hear about how there was actually some damaging stuff to trump in there, you might have come across some better reporting or hot takes from pundits. but you can't undo the damage of the failures in the immediate aftermath of the release, when by far the most people are paying attention

then again, his approval ratings have also (temporarily) declined, so what do i know

You thought the reporting last Thursday sucked? I thought it a huge improvement over last month's Barr memo farrago.

trying to imagine a Hillary presidency under similar circumstances, with a Dem-controlled Senate, and Kevin McCarthy declining to open impeachment hearings for fear of ruffling feathers lol

You thought the reporting last Thursday sucked? I thought it a huge improvement over last month's Barr memo farrago.

agree with all of that

yeah it looked like the Beltway hacks, shamed by how Trump made them look like suckers, gritted their teeth last week.

after the crisis of mass media journalism became apparent to all following WMDs and trump's election, everyone took a deep breath, did some soul searching, and then decided to suck even more badly asap

JuJu and Psycho Joe

pretty apparent that the media loves Trump the same way pharma companies love people getting addicted to opiates

Trump is the opiate of the asses

the suppository of all thing essentially american

e pluribus rectum

if you stuck around a day or two, long enough to hear about how there was actually some damaging stuff to trump in there

Yes but it was mostly stuff that every sentient mammal in the universe already knew.

Something like 33% of those mammals believe he is disqualified and should never have been allowed even close to power. They were not and are not persuadable.

Something like 33% of those mammals don't give a shit because he's doing what they want in government. This may encompass a wide range of things such as nominating conservatives to the bench, exerting downward pressure on immigration, deregulating, combating the MSM, or just plain causing LIBTEARS by existing.

The other approximate third is just not very engaged.

Exactly nothing in the report changed my mind about who Trump was, is, and ever shall be.

Did it change yours?

I am as anti-Trump as anyone here. Voluminously on record as such. But Mueller = dud in terms of breaking the current deadlock, as far as I can tell.

Personally I suspect that impeachment proceedings would have exactly the same lack of effect, but I would be happy to be proven wrong.

The McGahn stuff changed my mind, in a way, because it was worse than I even realized; I was just listening to the Daily, and it's telling that Giuliani et al came out swinging against McGahn post report when it was McGahn that prevented Trump from committing an even worse crime. McGahn makes a strong witness. And Team Trump knows that.

And Trump throughout comes off more like Richard Nixon than he ever could in his wildest dreams.

YMP basically otm, though I don't think it divides into thirds--I think most of the unengaged still have an instinctual thumbs up/down response and you only see movement in a much smaller percentage. 538's approval tracker is really the only "reporting" you need on Trump's public perception: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/

The comparisons with past presidents are especially instructive. People made up their minds about this guy in the first few months of his administration; it's pretty remarkable historically!

Ultimately it's not about changing minds - that's what elections are for - it's about what to do with a trove of information that further affirms he's a crooked scumbag who makes America not great. I think the only answer is impeachment, if only to get the GOP on formal record as defenders of his shitheadery. Because if impeachment does not go forward, then the GOP will plow forward with its own reverse impeachment, and probably run on that, too. "Vote us back in and we will get to the bottom of this treason!" etc.

It's true there's no real "bombshell" in the Mueller report per se, but rather it's a confirmation of all the bombshells that have dropped over the last 2 years, the stuff that Republicans have been yelling "Fake News!" and "Witch Hunt!" at the entire time. As though Russiagate = Pizzagate or something. As a GOP Congressman or Trump supporter you either go against your own law enforcement agencies or conclude that welcoming foreign help and directing everyone to lie to the country is actually fine. You can't just ride the fence anymore.

and yes, the media's handling of this was absolutely abysmal.

. As a GOP Congressman or Trump supporter you either go against your own law enforcement agencies or conclude that welcoming foreign help and directing everyone to lie to the country is actually fine

though, of course, they've been doing this ever since the inauguration, basically, with trump et al trying to discredit the intelligence community at every opportunity.

i was hoping, though, that the reaction to the mueller report would prompt some more awareness among conservatives of their cognitive dissonance. 2 straight years of trump attacking mueller and the very idea of being investigated, followed by 2 days of him praising mueller and the report and crowing 'total exoneration', followed by him saying 'total bullshit' when confronted with the reality that the entire second part of the report proves, over and over and over, in clear language, how he obstructed justice. i was really hoping that at least a few people would be able to recognize the bullshit this time around.

his approval rating's gone down 5 points, I guess some people are listening

of course this is why the Dems need to initiate impeachment proceedings now. make cowards like Mitt Romney put their names on the record. who cares if you rile up a bunch of Pizzagaters.

Would hope that there would be a couple of impeachments due in a couple of weeks if not sooner. Barr himself has obstructed justice now.
Hearing the narrative about the Clinton impeachment backfiring on the Republicans is being reassessed and it actually helped tehm in the next election despite some chaos created by GOP higher ups being exposed as having affairs in the interim.

Would think the exposure of facts during an impeachment might be necessary for cleaning up the government and avoiding further repeats or similar behaviour.
Also sounds like its almost a duty written into the constitution for any occurrence of despotic behaviour like Trump thinks he's entitled to.

The idea of avoiding it cos it might cost votes sounds a bit like shrugging off a responsibility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFo1DfNdn9c

well done^

Politico playing the greatest hits this morning:

Pelosi, Schumer to meet with Trump on infrastructure next week

Yoooo let's get Hoyer the fuck out here!!!

I’m so excited to announce that I am running to represent Maryland’s 5th Congressional District!

— Mckayla Wilkes (@MeetMckayla) March 25, 2019

her platform is awesome, also

yeah gonna try to see her speak this wknd

...

Steve King says backlash to white nationalism comment was like what Jesus went through: https://t.co/Y9Qo2mXXh0 pic.twitter.com/nAPzZ17PH6

— The Daily Dot (@dailydot) April 24, 2019

otm

Jesus was insufferable, wouldn't shut up, would execute again

Execution a little extreme, but make sure he can't vote

Jesús who?

lol so now there is another big scary caravan to talk about ? what happened to the last one

election campaign ended.

The Satanic Temple has officially been granted tax-exempt status by the IRS.

Clearly the last few years have demonstrated that Satan is on a roll.

NEW: We have reporting inside Twitter that explains why Jack hasn't "banned the Nazis:" Treating white supremacy like ISIS would mean autobanning some Republican politicians https://t.co/2VmUpqzM7p

— Jason Koebler (@jason_koebler) April 25, 2019

pic.twitter.com/pYs9Qq1f4m

— Jason Koebler (@jason_koebler) April 25, 2019

How in the world did Erik Prince avoid a charge?

changed his name to Eric Academi. no one noticed.

The Art of the Deal!

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-northkorea-warmbier/trump-approved-payment-of-2-million-bill-for-north-korea-care-of-warmbier-report-idUSKCN1S124E

US didn't pay it