US Politics: July 2020 - "Denigrating this Luxury Avenue"

COVID is gonna likely keep schools closed at the same time that extended unemployment benefits are set to expire and campaigning starts in earnest. GOP hasn't a leg to stand on. DANGEROUS CITIES, DANGEROUS COLORED PEOPLE, LOCK UP YOUR CHILDREN has been the standard "in case of emergency" plan for these assholes since at least the beginning of mass media. The cops have made it clear they are going to stand down so that means private citizens have no recourse but self-defense and death. Gonna get worse before it gets better at this rate.

I'm not anticipating widespread street warfare quite yet. There have to be at least a few republican senators left who will refuse to embrace that much chaos on behalf of Dear Leader.

Trump is apparently going to resume daily covid (ie LAW AND ORDER) briefings.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/world/coronavirus-cases.html

President Trump said on Monday that he is bringing back the daily coronavirus briefings that he halted in April, a tacit acknowledgment that the public health crisis that he has sought to put behind him is still ravaging much of the country.

With cases and deaths on the rise, Mr. Trump told reporters that he would probably hold the first of the new series of briefings on Tuesday at 5 p.m. He attributed his decision to revive them not to the increasing threat of the virus but to the fact that the briefings had high television ratings.

He’s going to talk about statues isn’t he

President Trump said on Monday that he is bringing back the daily coronavirus briefings that he halted in April, a tacit acknowledgment that the public health crisis that he has sought to put behind him is still ravaging much of the country he is desperate for attention.

Nixon was smart enough to pull that off. You give Trump and Barr too much credidt.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, July 20, 2020 1:40 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'm reminded of something David Shor said in that interview last week: "The real inflection point in our polling was the Lafayette Park incident, when Trump used tear gas on innocent people. That’s when support for Biden shot up."

When a majority of Americans already support the protests, heavy-handed efforts to suppress them backfire.

Which is to say, it's not just a matter of competency. Nixon tapped into a genuine silent majority. But the country done changed.

hahaha, Kasich as your point man for 'swing' voters; let's hope he doesnt pick him for veep

Chas Pierce:

"The only reason to give Kasich a speaking role, even at a bare-bones Democratic convention, is as a walking platitude to placate the bipartisan fetishists of the chattering class. It is great that Kasich wants to work against the president*’s re-election. He should do everything he can in that regard, while recognizing that he is owed nothing from a Democratic president or Congress for the effort. If someone can demonstrate the quantifiable political value of having this specific Republican give a speech at a Democratic convention, then I will lounge corrected. Until then, John Kasich can socially distance like the rest of us."

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a33370126/joe-biden-john-kasich-dnc-moderate-strategy/

Pissed off Americans with a shit-ton of deadly weapons and nothing to lose. Plus, there are still concentration camps on the border

Everything will be totally fine!

War against citizens in reliably blue cities is a strategy that is all downside for Trump, which means he'll probably lean into it big time.

People need to chill out about the lineup for the convention. It’s virtual. No one will be watching. And no one remembers any of the speeches except the nominee and the vp and the nominees spouse and the empty chair. Kasich isn’t probably good for 500 votes in Ohio. Who gives a shit.

re: Kasich

Isn't having someone from the other party speak at the convention always considered a big "get" by political dopes? Zell Miller in '04, Lieberman in '08, Bloomberg (sorta) in 2016. Also, Ron Reagan Jr., I guess.

Kasich isn’t probably good for 500 votes in Ohio. Who gives a shit.

IMO Kasich is only going to become a story if he starts cursing out an empty chair, otherwise everyone is going to forget he was in the room, much like what happened when he ran for President.

Lieberman wasn’t always a Republican asshole?

Isn't having someone from the other party speak at the convention always considered a big "get" by political dopes? Zell Miller in '04, Lieberman in '08, Bloomberg (sorta) in 2016. Also, Ron Reagan Jr., I guess.

― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Monday, July 20, 2020 2:45 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Exactly. It's a tradition.

I have no problem with Kasich speaking. It's not like he's writing the party platform.

Jeez, I forgot that Lieberman spoke at the Republican convention (after having been on the Democratic ticket eight years previously). Ass.

I doubt there’s a person on Earth who won’t vote for Biden because Kasich spoke, but it’s a stupid tradition and everyone who’s ever been a Republican officeholder post-1968 should be publicly shunned like Cersei Lannister.

Please no, I don't wanna see any more old white dick in my life

Why do people keep saying this? https://t.co/xmANsnPlS2

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 20, 2020

The members of the Biden/Sanders unity task force -- i.e. the people with actual influence over Biden's platform https://t.co/3HSh2oo3Uz pic.twitter.com/lidqconLMm

— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) July 20, 2020

It's pretty obviously a separate issue and question from "Biden's platform."

Please no, I don't wanna see any more old white dick in my life

Many people might be less credulous than Matty about Biden's ideological rebirth given his stances of, uh, three months ago.

Please no, I don't wanna see any more old white dick in my life

my mantra since '07

Yet again: I don't wanna see any more old white dick in my life

The speaker roster at a convention is like a variety show. Ed Sullivan would always have a segment "for the kiddos" and another for "the young folks", with crooners and bad stand up "for the whole family", and so on. It's the Big Tent Theory in action. The pundits get to play Kremlinologist over the list and the order of speakers, which makes them happy.

You don't have to pay attention to much, if any, of it. The VP choice and first speech is probably the only marginally interesting thing we can expect, if only because Biden is old enough to die in office.

There have to be at least a few republican senators left who will refuse to embrace that much chaos on behalf of Dear Leader.

evergreen

Lucy van Pelt’s arms just never get tired.

Many people might be less credulous than Matty about Biden's ideological rebirth given his stances of, uh, three months ago.

― Donald Trump Also Sucks, Of Course (milo z), Monday, July 20, 2020 3:05 PM (sixteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

If anything, Biden has shown throughout his career that he doesn't have a lot of fixed policy stances. He's always in the middle of the party. At the height of the Clinton years, that meant supporting the Hyde Amendment and the crime bill. But as the party has moved left, so has he. Right now, there's a greater appetite within the party (not just from its left-most flank) for large-scale change, so he's riding that wave. He's probably not going to advocate for the most radical ideas, but I can't imagine him reverting to some more-conservative position if it's no longer actually popular.

It's the least risible quality of a hack.

if it's no longer popular profitable

not being flip—these things overlap from time to time

I didn’t realize that July 2019 was the height of the Clinton era tbh

The idea that he’s been an ideological chameleon just following others’ lead is horseshit. He didn’t ‘move left with the party’ as evidenced by his primary campaign in the deep dark past of... March.

I understand, milo. If Biden wins, he'll call for a new NAFTA, wonder why the Dem House and Senate haven't proposed a new crime bill, and nominate a moderate Republican to the Supreme Court on the advice of Vice President-Elect Kasich.

“His only real interest is political expediency” would make it more likely for him to kowtow to conservative backers, anyway. Then he can get things done with his grand bargains.

mmhmm I see

Presidency's gonna be dissolved anyway

xp - yes, that’s an unbelievable thought for the guy who last month offered up increasIng police funding by $300bn. Really reading the mood of Democratic voters and responding appropriately.

Like Obama, Biden is essentially a 1970’s Republican

how often is this argument going to happen

who's kerry duggan, is she the mom from that Holy Shit Sixteen Children show on tlc

remember them

how often is this argument going to happen

Every 12 hours until November, and every 24 hours thereafter.

it's as if a Bidensignal goes out in the sky for milo's benefit.

https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bidensignal.jpg

Biden is essentially a 1970’s Republican

1970s Republicans came in a lot of flavors, from Goldwater and Reagan to Tom McCall, Oregon's governor, who held a state-sponsored three day rock music festival smaller than - but similar to - Woodstock, including the drugs and nudity.

it's as if a Bidensignal goes out in the sky for milo's benefit.

More a “someone posted another dumb Yglesias take” signal.

no, the dumb take there was the idea that republicans will "have 10x more influence on Biden and the DNC than the entire progressive wing," which is so stupid that only the #neverbiden crowd could believe it

I’m sure that Jay Caspian King meant that as a literal percentage, being a measurable statistic and all.