US Politics, December 2019: Profound procedural deficiencies

goddammit siri

I've simply run out of "fuck yous." But I guess I say that weekly.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-greta-thunberg-time-person-of-the-year-2019-a9243726.html?fbclid=IwAR0HD6G5uw-MaloifyPJ_Ay600sJmkhw2E3KQBPlR-eNIG5qpfgZEfDproc

truly he is the little bitchiest of little bitches

He's an utter coward, just like every bully that ever existed.

The odds that he will just fade into the background and not be a huge media figure/shit-stirrer seem p low.

Fox won’t take his calls but the Trump News Network sure will

xpost I wish I believed that but I really don't believe that. He's been a demonstrable loser for decades and has remained pretty successful at shoving himself down everyone's throat nonetheless.

and he will likely get the Dubya treatment by the RW media machine if he loses

the difference is the GOP audience turned on Dubya *before* he lost, and there's no signs of that now. If Fox's audience wants more Trump, more Trump is what they will get.

It's possible to be more visible than George W. Bush but still relegated to the 6:51 nightly news segment.

Dubya also got us into a war that as early as 2005 was collapsing in popularity. By the time the midterms happened, even the GOP knew a Democrat was gonna trounce whomever it nominated.

a Democratic president. I have vivid memories of every hardcore Republican I know shaking their heads inconsolably that Bush had led to another Clinton in the White House.

Xps

I would put money on the Trump News Network a. Existing b. Taking a huge chunk of the Fox audience who have been scandalized by Chris Wallace’s heresies

Like all trump products he’s barely gonna be involved in the details. He’s someone who puts his name on absolutely anything and right wing political news is a much better fit than steaks and ties. I suspect we’re not gonna be done with him until he’s dead or possibly in prison.

I honestly don't think he has many years of life left, he looks like shit. We'll be done with him one way or another.

he definitely seems to have experienced substantial cognitive decline even in the last three years. if he wins reelection I have a hard time imagining he'd even be able to make public appearances by the end of that term.

the impeachment polls are maddeningly inconsistent. most show a plurality supporting impeachment and/or impeachment and removal, but the crosstabs showing the breakdown by political affiliation seem to be very inconsistent on Independents. some have them with a plurality not supporting, many have them with a plurality supporting.

still, these are way better numbers than we'd get if the American people "didn't support impeachment". so they can fundraise all they want off of this. it's not like they didn't already have financial advantages that the Dem candidate won't to begin with.

xpost Donald John Trump has locked himself in the bathroom today. It was initially believed to be intentional, as a cry for help, but he seems to have forgotten that the door locks from the inside. He is begging his aides to let him out. They all went to lunch an hour ago.

the idea of him disappearing while alive is such a fantasy imo - no comparison with GWB. trump's whole steez is stoking the grievance/victim identity that's critical to RW politics and losing an election would only HELP that esp as he will be happy to peddle destabilizing conspiracy theories insisting that he really won and his successor is illegitimate, and his supporters will be happy to share them. i mean this shit writes itself.

he’s an engine fueled by pure rage, I’m not sure I’d make any predictions there.

but as far as the Fox News thing goes, the future Fox / TNN schism is something we can kinda see coming from here I think. As his presidency ends and those seeds start getting planted it would make sense for Fox to start turning on him pretty violently just in the interest of self-preservation. I don’t think we really know at this point if the base truly loves him or Fox more.

(XPs)

also Twitter only existed for like two years of Dubya's presidency and had only started to become a big thing

Dubya also interested solely in showing up his dad - once he got re-elected and killed Saddam he was pretty much ready to retire. Trump is different, as he is a bottomless pit of neediness.

I'm convinced that Trump would literally wither away to nothing if people stopped paying attention to him. Do you imagine that he could possibly exist at this point without hearing people say his name on TV every single day?

hmm, maybe if that happens, he'll disappear.

it's gonna be pretty funny if he loses in 2020 and then immediately starts fundraising for 2024 and just keeps the millions of dollars his idiot cultists would no doubt donate to him.

Gah Steve Chabot.
Do these people have souls.
Or just history degrees.

what is this fucking bullshit Nancy

There were some indications that Democrats gave ground on the wall, moving from the zero-funding position they took in their original version of the bill.

Following a Wednesday meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Lowey acknowledged that they may lose some votes on the left.

I mean I'll hold my breath til we see the details next week but

standard operating pelosi

Shit's been so bugfuck, I'd actually forgot about The Wall.

not really. the gov't shutdown earlier this year over this issue, and Trump caved.

xps

“Space Force is actually OUR idea” is some incredible Dem messaging https://t.co/D54jHErqU6

— John Carl Baker (@johncarlbaker) December 11, 2019

see also

https://www.businessinsider.com/democrats-gave-trump-everything-he-wants-738-billion-defense-bill-2019-12

https://www.rollcall.com/news/democrats-got-completely-rolled-in-ndaa-talks-critics-say

My friend @RepRoKhanna is right: it is Orwellian for Congress to hand over billions of dollars worth of weapons and bombs to a president waging a horrific, unconstitutional war in Yemen—and call that progressive. pic.twitter.com/6SUmUUhv3q

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 11, 2019

The Pentagon’s budget has been too large for too long. I cannot support a defense bill that’s a $738 billion Christmas present to giant defense contractors & undermines our values and security.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 11, 2019

didn't want to bring my american bullshit into the uk election thread but what I woudln't give for a two week fucking election. we're a year into ours with a whole other goddamn year to go. feel like the 2016 election ended 4 months ago after starting up in 2014.

Trump formally started his campaign on the day of his inauguration.

https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/569/201701209041436569/201701209041436569.pdf

Been catching up, did we already cover this?

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/12/bring-out-the-coffin-let-the-mourners-come

The president of the United States admitted in court yesterday that he stole two million dollars from charities organized to help veterans.

(Trump settled because the alternative would have been litigation that would have exposed some of his finances. Think about what someone’s finances must look like when his lawyers tell him that the better option is to admit that he stole two million dollars from veterans to pay for a portrait of himself.)

This development, which would have simply ended a presidency in the Before Time, now barely even qualifies as a news story, because nobody cares. The reason nobody cares is because any news confirming that Donald Trump is a sociopathic thief is not really news: everybody already knows this.

The reason nobody cares is because any news confirming that Donald Trump is a sociopathic thief is not really news: everybody already knows this.

also the right wing media gaslit everyone on that side into believing that trump is "no different" from any ol' "corrupt" politician.

thank God the Dems are keeping impeachment "focused"

mmm yes, i'm sure the CPD is the reason

The New York Times reports:

President Trump is discussing with his advisers the possibility of sitting out the general election debates in 2020 because of his misgivings about the commission that oversees them, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

Mr. Trump has told advisers that he does not trust the Commission on Presidential Debates, the nonprofit entity that sponsors the debates, the two people said.

Less of a concern for Mr. Trump than who will emerge as the Democratic nominee is which media personality will be chosen as the debate moderator, according to people in contact with him.

the Dem candidate should first refuse to debate him so as not to "dignify the office"

Dem candidate should step up to the pot and challenge him to a televised flush-off

the Dem candidate should first refuse to debate him so as not to "dignify the office"

This might be the first thing you've ever posted that I agree with. The official line should be "what's the point?"

I feel like there's no way that Trump wimping out of the debates would help him, but who knows anything anymore.

I’m vain enough to believe I know things, still, and it would be very bad for either candidate to drop out. You either want to get your message heard by the max number of people possible, or you don’t

of course if it's Biden, we might see a Demented Grandpa slapfight

No matter how bad the venue or the moderator or the media platform, as a candidate you have to believe that head to head you will clearly be preferable to the alternative. If you don’t, get out of the way

That’s where the narcissistic prequisite of being a candidate should shine through

at every debate, a plant should blow an airhorn every time Trump tries to talk

You either want to get your message heard by the max number of people possible, or you don’t

I agree with this. I don't think presidential debates are the way to do it in 2020, though. There's nobody to "win over." No one to convince with logic, or on the merits. The question animating the 2020 Democratic electorate is "How much do you hate Donald Trump?"

the Dem candidate should first refuse to debate him so as not to "dignify the office"

Trump will not take part in debates because he is increasingly unable to even simulate sentences (yesterday he was having trouble even making it to the end of words), and his past temperamental & intellectual disposition against listening & substantially responding to someone else's words is now a complete neurological inability. He also does not seem able to stand and walk consistently, let alone roam the stage like a threatening wildebeest, as in 2016. He, or/and his handlers, are becoming aware of this and know that exposing his decline will damage his prospects. For these reasons, as well as the opportunity to bait him for cowardice, absolutely no candidate should let him off the hook of publicly making the choice himself.