US Politics, November 2019: These people are truly sick.

They talked about this on the podcast, some of it is an artefact of methodology. They used to group together polls asking 'should be removed' 'should be impeached' and 'investigations should begin'. Not surprisingly, support was largest for the mildest option. But not that hearings have begun, nobody asks the last question, and support looks like it's going down.

Not surprising, the Times told me yesterday that congress has played to a draw on impeachment.

Impeachment is a really serious thing. Playing to a draw is a big achievement, and a gigantic embarrassment for Trump!

Yeah, just like the conclusion of the Mueller report. Maybe he did it, maybe he didn't, who are we to say? It's a draw!

The GOP noise machine can force a draw In the unlikeliest of situations just by taking a position opposite of reality. And the GOP automatically wins all draws. See Kavanaugh, Brett.

it plays into the victim narrative that strengthens their base

but who cares.

removing trump is the right thing to do. he has no business being president.

I mean, he is not going to removed, that's why it's never going to be more than a draw :) But the hearings shed light on an attempt to cheat in the elections next year, and it's pretty clear that if Trump thought he'd gotten away with it, he'd cheat again. And again. And again. It should also be pretty clear that it did actually take quite a bit of time, and quite a bit of work, to concoct this attempt to cheat, so shooting it down, making sure it amounts to nothing, getting rid of all the low-level people who helped make it happen, will mean he will start again from scratch, when he inevitably tries to cheat again.

The best part of this clip, which you can barely see, is Bret Stephens engaging in an epic eye roll when I say, “I’m from America.“ You can just glimpse it at the 32-second mark.pic.twitter.com/lfkNt0tTjK

— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) November 25, 2019

Impeachment also makes it much harder for Trump to get anything done

And I just saw in the New York Times that he's a workaholic, so you know how much that is going to sting.

#riseandgrind

It should also be pretty clear that it did actually take quite a bit of time, and quite a bit of work, to concoct this attempt to cheat, so shooting it down, making sure it amounts to nothing, getting rid of all the low-level people who helped make it happen, will mean he will start again from scratch, when he inevitably tries to cheat again.

pretty sure that there's ongoing stuff that's just as bad as ukraine if not worse. it's hard to imagine trump only engaging in one scheme to rig the election toward himself.

evidence level: 0.5%
gut feeling level: 110%

Impeachment also makes it much harder for Trump to get anything done

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, November 25, 2019 9:49 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Thank goodness we've finally thrown a spanner into the well-oiled and efficacious machine that is the Trump administration.

pretty sure that there's ongoing stuff that's just as bad as ukraine if not worse. it's hard to imagine trump only engaging in one scheme to rig the election toward himself.

evidence level: 0.5%
gut feeling level: 110%

― Peaceful Warrior I Poser (Karl Malone), 25. november 2019 17:00 (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

There's a bunch of shit going on different places, no doubt, but I really don't think Trump can do more than one scheme at the time. Let's be honest, he couldn't even do this one. And the whole problem with the Russia thing was that it really wasn't Trump doing anything either, he just happily accepted all the criminal shit people did for him.

i hope the early external and internal polls look so bad for him next year that he campaigns so extensively that his heart gives out during a rally

There is a non-negligible chance that the staunchest of his supporters would adamantly insist that their deceased Great Leader remain the 2020 GOP nominee.

War Crimes Tribunal of the Network Stars (Old Lunch) at 10:02 25 Nov 19

Impeachment also makes it much harder for Trump to get anything done

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, November 25, 2019 9:49 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Thank goodness we've finally thrown a spanner into the well-oiled and efficacious machine that is the Trump administration.

I feel like there are less of those stories about executive orders that like raise the acceptable amount of rat poison in baby formula by 1.74 percent

but they really have no agenda at all anymore they did in the early days

Bannon had an agenda. But he honestly was piss poor at it. Him and Miller are way overrated as thinkers. Some of the other crooks in other departments have done stuff. McConnell and Ryan did things, but then they lost the house. They still do judges.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rick-perry-donald-trump-the-chosen-one_n_5ddbbb9ee4b0913e6f6fc1a8

Thought provoking stuff from the energy secretary

I think the white house is still pursuing the bannon agenda of “dismantling” the administrative state by kneecapping regulatory agencies and seeking to undermine the legitimacy of congress and the press.

very much seems to be the case

Pardoning the war criminals is also part of this agenda. The power of the state is all that is real to these people, for some reason. And power justifies itself—I’ll bet if Trump knew how to talk he would say something like, “the liberal order is a crock of nonsense used to make inequality seem respectable. I believe in inequality too but at least i don’t insult people’s intelligence by also pretending to be respectable.”

triggering / pwning libs

being racist

caging children

I really can't wrap my head all the way around this Eddie Gallagher thing. It made sense when the Navy Secretary was threatening to resign rather than reinstate Gallagher's credentials, but then yesterday apparently he gets terminated by the acting Defense Secretary for trying to strike a secret bargain with the White House that would enable Gallagher to...keep his credentials? And apparently the acting Defense Secretary is now saying they're no longer going to pursue pulling Gallagher's credentials? So was the Navy Secretary just a patsy or a way for Defense to launder doing what they wanted to do all along?

i think he was fired because he didn't want the us military to openly condone indiscriminate, wanton murder

as a sniper, gallagher allegedly picked off random people, including children

and this is the guy trump goes to bat for. it's very ominous. did gallagher have much support within the military?

I really can't wrap my head all the way around this Eddie Gallagher thing. It made sense when the Navy Secretary was threatening to resign rather than reinstate Gallagher's credentials, but then yesterday apparently he gets terminated by the acting Defense Secretary for trying to strike a secret bargain with the White House that would enable Gallagher to...keep his credentials? And apparently the acting Defense Secretary is now saying they're no longer going to pursue pulling Gallagher's credentials? So was the Navy Secretary just a patsy or a way for Defense to launder doing what they wanted to do all along?

1. Reportedly, Navy Secretary Spencer's offer was to let Gallagher retire with his credentials (instead of having them stripped) BUT that was if the White House agreed not to insert itself further into the Navy's internal disciplinary process.

2. Spencer reportedly made this offer directly to the White House (rather than through the Secretary of Defense). Apparently an unforgivable lapse in protocol.

Interesting how people who LoVe 2 sEe NoRmS shRedded (because chaos in government is good) are now all like hOw DaRe U circumvent proper channels / working sequentially through the chain of command.

And of course the process of Gallagher being charged in the first place is strangely NOT included in the sacred norms one is not allowed to shred, Because Freedom. Because Warfighter.

i think they're trying to smear him honestly

and make it seem like his letter wasn't sincere

either way

the president is pro-murder

Correct, their whole story is BS

I think the white house supreme court is still pursuing the bannon agenda of “dismantling” the administrative state by kneecapping regulatory agencies and seeking to undermine the legitimacy of congress and the press.

― treeship., Monday, November 25, 2019 4:45 PM (twenty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this tweet held up: Kavanaugh is on board with the non-delegation doctrine, which will cripple the ability for congress to legislate in the way they have for decades https://t.co/H9fFCxocVs https://t.co/94xuvqWIgZ

— Sigh Hersh, Persuasive Authority (@Ugarles) November 25, 2019

yeah, well he is a trump apointee

I really don't think Trump can do more than one scheme at the time.

There is no dispute within the military that it's kinda supposed to kill people in lands of sand. At issue is whether you should pose in a selfie with your dead brown person, or whether that's a trifle, you know, gauche.

Trumpworld, of course, is unsurprisingly gonna come down on the side of "let our Warfighters let off steam however they like." Again, Because Freedom, I guess. War is hell and cannot be refined. Trump may not have served in the military, but he instinctively knows about this because of his valiant struggle against the horror of bone spurs.

xp just reading about this decision

seems EXTREMELY ominous

It means SCOTUS may decide that executive agencies can't, like, make their own rules. Congress has to make them all. So, Medicare can't make new rules, EPA can't add new pollutants, DEA can't add new drugs to enforcement, etc, it all has to come from Congress.

— Geoff Smith (@HappyFunNorm) November 25, 2019

If we had a functional Legislative branch this might be reasonable, but what it will effectively result in is a crippled Federal Government

— Geoff Smith (@HappyFunNorm) November 25, 2019

There is no dispute within the military that it's kinda supposed to kill people in lands of sand. At issue is whether you should pose in a selfie with your dead brown person, or whether that's a trifle, you know, gauche.

he was also mass murdering civilians for no reason

Two Navy SEALs testified Friday that their platoon chief gunned down a young girl and an old man in Iraq in 2017 from his sniper’s perch, though neither witnessed him pulling the trigger.

The SEALs said shots came from the tower where Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher was posted and they watched through their scopes as the civilians fell to the ground.

Dalton Tolbert said he and another sniper were in a neighboring tower in Mosul on June 18, 2017, and had fired warnings shots to scatter civilians by the Tigris River because the Islamic State was operating in the area.

An old man in a white tunic began running and then Tolbert heard a third shot come from the neighboring tower where Gallagher was positioned and saw the man fall.

Over the radio, he heard Gallagher say: "You guys missed him, but I got him."

tbf, drone strikes also kill civilians. but openly condoning murder for sport -- where else can you go after that? what's worse?

what it will effectively result in is a crippled Federal Government

Well yes, by design.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

what's especially gross is that the only real receptive audience for something like this is suburban troop-humping fuckbois who didn't bother to actually serve. I imagine most vets see something like this, at best, as thoroughly unwarranted and at worst utterly vile.

it doesn't demonstrate respect for the military. he subverted the chain of command! it's more like, when trump said that we have "killers" that one time. he is pro-killing.

the seals who risked their careers (and lives, as he reportedly threatened to kill them) by turning him in will not be happy

yeah. honestly, i think i might vomit if i think about this any more. there is something extremely evil about this man being paraded around fox news as a respectable veteran.

tbf, drone strikes also kill civilians. but openly condoning murder for sport -- where else can you go after that? what's worse?

If public executions of undocumented immigrants are what it takes to drive up Republican voter turnout come September/October 2020, then Fox News will just have to clear a Sunday evening timeslot.