The August 2019 US Politics Thread is dumb (stupid}

All he has to force out of his sound canal is "mmmprh yes guns, bad abortion" and he has 50 million instant votes.

10th Circuit ruled yesterday that states have no right to punish or nullify the votes of faithless electors in Presidential elections!

Viewed purely in terms of the intent of the framers of the US constitution, this is the correct ruling. They had a horror of democracy and tried to fence it in with several layers of undemocratic bumpf, among which the electoral college is an outstanding example. That eccentric electoral vote cast by what is being termed "a faithless elector" precisely fills the original purpose of electors: to derail the popular vote if they chose to derail it.

Punishing an elector for exercising his constitutionally mandated franchise would be equivalent to punishing any other voter for their vote.

Reason #456 Why the EC Sucks

Yeah, but we're saddled with the blasted EC forever, because the small mostly rural states enjoy their disproportionate powers and can easily block any amendment that dilutes that power. Even the national Popular Vote Imitative (if that's the right name) where the bigger states pledge to cast their electoral votes for the winner of the national popular vote, once enough of them participate to ensure a majority of the EC, can be derailed by "faithless electors".

get 'em

March for Our Lives unveils bold new proposal for gun control legislation https://t.co/nrle9XxVfh pic.twitter.com/TYAI2c7a20

— The Last Word (@TheLastWord) August 22, 2019

I think the boldest move would be to buy an AR15 for every military aged black man in the United States, the @GOP would ban assault rifles by Monday!

— Eric Robinson 🇮🇪 (@EricRobinson00) August 22, 2019

Dear white allies,

Shut the fuck up.

Sincerely, me

The thing about using racism to achieve a noble goal is that you are still enabling and nurturing racism, which ultimately is not good for anyone and especially not good for, say, me. So shut the fuck up with this shit.

Yeah, but we're saddled with the blasted EC forever

idk, i'm hearing that you can alter the constitution pretty easily with an executive order

Imitative

argh! Initiative!

'He is deteriorating too rapidly to be on the ballot next year' in a rational world yes, but do you really think he'll wind up not on the ballot? I don't see that happening.

Age-related mental deterioration rarely happens on a smooth trend line, but accelerates or slows unpredictably. You can't take what happened this week and reliably project its future path. To do so is wishful thinking.

His physical condition is deteriorating as well - he's been propping himself up at rallies by resting his gut on lecterns (which he once would have been too self-conscious to do), his control over his tongue is slipping, he was wearing either a back brace or a diaper in Europe, he's drenched in sweat more often than before. You can't plot a curve, but he's not going to reverse the trend. Three years ago his racking would give him the appearance of focus and precision* for the duration of a TV debate; these days it just gives him the energy to ramble for 90 minutes.

It's not wishful thinking, inasmuch as I'm pretty sure I'd prefer to see him on the ballot rather than anyone with a shred of competency. (Bright side is that the GOP don't appear to have anyone in the wings, and they can't groom a successor while King George and Rupert are in the court.) I'm just estimating that it's far more likely that medical incapacity would remove him from contention by June 2nd, than that the officials of the GOP will remove him for temperamental unfitness between now and Friday evening.

* only to those who were willing to perceive such traits, of course, but marks are the only audience he cares about.

He's gonna have a hell of a time at the no-podium debate (town hall?).

I'm coming around to the idea that he's going to refuse to debate the Democratic nominee. He'll just tweet 20 times a day from like April to November.

he was wearing either a back brace or a diaper in Europe

My Twitter muting must be more successful than I thought it was given that this is the first time I'm hearing about this.

he'll just say "Obama refuses to debate me" and his followers will parrot it, considering how man yof them think he was President and golfing during Katrina

Dan - there were some really wild full-body profile photos at the time, but searching any combination of Trump Europe padding butt diaper -balloon returns too many results to conveniently sift. Check the first 20 seconds of this photocall though:

He sickens me. 😐
Please lock him up! 🔐
pic.twitter.com/J3AuvS25H9

— Patricia Revisits Patrick Henry 💙 (@2021_free) June 29, 2019

It's as if I watched The Naked Gun parody of the presidency.

lol

I think that's just his ass, though

well here's hoping for the worst anyway

Let's be clear, having that ass would be the worst

in multiple ways

alley-oop.gif

I think that's just his ass, though

you forget how gorgeously plump, curvy and not-square his real ass is

https://pics.me.me/cher-cher-trump-has-mammoth-ass-and-visible-panty-line-pic-twitter-com-51942716.png

+1 to me for having images off

For sure that image is indeed a turnoff.

Here's a less horrifying but still alarming one:

When WDRB Louisville reporter Lawrence Smith asked Trump yesterday how he can appeal to urban voters in the city, Trump said with a smile, "Well, I used to bat with a Louisville Slugger. No bat like it." pic.twitter.com/Iyp1DLbSin

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 22, 2019

beat on the brat

I see he retains his sparkling command of English.

I think that's just his ass, though

― brigadier pudding (DJP), Thursday, August 22, 2019 4:54 PM bookmarkflaglink

Next month thread title

"Just his ass," as if it's not worry enough.

Butt Problems

I'm coming around to the idea that he's going to refuse to debate the Democratic nominee. He'll just tweet 20 times a day from like April to November.

― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Thursday, August 22, 2019 3:38 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Entirely possible. He will, of course, feel compelled to whip up some lie about how he was soooo insulted by something the other candidate did or said so he can wallpaper over the cowardly decision he will have already made to keep his toilet seat warm all night rather than underscore his dumbfuckery on live tv.

he got fucking trounced in 2016 Prez debates, plus looked like a demented stalker in one. guess what, it didn't matter.

Spoiler warning, sheesh.

he's going to be on TV

always

every day until all of us die

Jewish support for the Dems really is a mystery.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/justice-department-immigration-judges-white-nationalist?ref=bfnsplash

Gee, the DOJ is creating a hostile workplace for immigration judges? They certainly should bring their discrimination complaint to and seek anti-discrimination enforcement from, uh, hmm, I guess, the DOJ?

If I worked in the White House, I would advise Trump to tweet about the Popeye’s chicken sandwich then make a big show about going to get one and then host a three-way Chick-fil-a/Wendy’s/Popeye’s chicken sandwich taste-off.

He’d be at 55% in two weeks.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) August 22, 2019

it is pretty mind-boggling that he's so psychologically hamstrung by his lack of executive function that he can't even do this kind of shit, which would be easy and would no doubt juice his popularity for all it was worth

That DOJ story is fucking disturbing. What the hell is going on?

I went by a Popeye's twice tonight, an hour apart, and both times the drive-thru line was trailing out into the street and blocking traffic! Beat *those* numbers, Trump, you stupid asshole.

Let's be clear, having that ass would be the worst

Trump talking about his favorite Bible verse is absolutely the best comedy on the planet. You could spend your life trying to find a funnier bit and you’d die a failure. pic.twitter.com/C2XBltunkD

— Huccession: Season 2 (@TylerHuckabee) August 22, 2019

"Probably.... equal."

I love the long pause.

To be fair, the Bible is the favorite book of virtually everyone who has never actually read a book.

One of the things I find most appalling about his marks is that they got taken by a con man who puts zero effort into swindling people or pretending to give a shit. I'm surprised he's aware that the Bible is a book.

i'd love to ask him why is there even an old and new testament ?

'Well...the Old Testament was just too old, you know? So we needed a new one. So that's why we have a New Testament. Why we didn't get rid of the Old Testament when we made the new one, I don't know. But it's still a good testament. Both testaments, good testaments. Everybody always says I love a good testament and it's true, it's true.'

'My ESL teacher says I'm making great strides, that it almost seems as if I understand the native tongue I've been using for seventy years.'