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

That must mean this will all be over soon! Right?

every new thread brings us one month closer to the end. but OF WHAT

There’s this mountain of pure diamond. It takes an hour to climb it and an hour to go around it, and every hundred years a little bird comes and sharpens its beak on the diamond mountain. And when the entire mountain is chiseled away, the first second of eternity will have passed.

want to say “posting” but I think that’s maybe not it

xp

Is the rapture still a thing, I mean donny boy being such a religious individual and all.

Wtf the Gohmert guy is a fucking imbecile!!

He is half-horse

🚨 THE PRESIDENT IS TALKING ABOUT DELAYING THE ELECTION FOR NONSENSE REASONS 🚨 https://t.co/qiDGCG8NO7

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 30, 2020

The coward shows his full ass at last.

In semi-related Beltway idiocy: Why Trump Might Quit

Good morning!

The scenario hinges also on an assumption that Trump’s political project is more weakened internally—in the psychological sense—than it is even in the external sense, as measured by polls and campaign coverage.

stopped reading here lol

ignoring his tweets, my friends will all freak but he does this "coyly asking questions" thing all the time so that hopefully his supporters or Fox News broadcasters et al will pick up the ball and run with it.

US President Donald Trump calls to delay 2020 election, citing possible mail-in voting fraud despite little evidence https://t.co/mWFN6QIbr7

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) July 30, 2020

lol here we go

fishhook.jpg

ignoring his tweets, my friends will all freak but he does this "coyly asking questions" thing all the time so that hopefully his supporters or Fox News broadcasters et al will pick up the ball and run with it.

otm

literally the moment I closed this browser tab and went to FB, two friends already freaking out and talking about how they can't get to Canada to escape this now.

citing possible mail-in voting fraud despite little evidence

What is this “little” evidence?

Has Susan Collins condemned the tweet yet?

a little evidence is slightly smaller than a big evidence

ignoring his tweets, my friends will all freak but he does this "coyly asking questions" thing all the time so that hopefully his supporters or Fox News broadcasters et al will pick up the ball and run with it.

he's literally sending feds to round up protestors in Dem-led cities right now, he's not *always* bluffing

yes. exactly

ignoring his tweets, my friends will all freak but he does this "coyly asking questions" thing all the time so that hopefully his supporters or Fox News broadcasters et al will pick up the ball and run with it.

I get this, but also....isn't the near certainty that some of his more vocal supporters (inclusing members of congress) *will* pick the ball up and run with it reason enough *not* to ignore his tweets?

It seems clear to me by now that his tweets actually, really do impact policymaking. Which is different than saying he doesn't also spout off random nonsense that often has no bearing on anything.

Tbf I think it's totally reasonable for people to freak out about this. It's the constant erosion of norms we've been seeing and, come on, the simple response of "he can't legally do that" doesn't feel like as much of a palliative as people who say it might think.

He can't legally send unmarked troops into random cities to kidnap citizens. But he did.
He can't legally use his office to direct Secret Service to stay in his properties to enrich himself. But he did.
He can't legally separate refugee kids from parents. But he did.
He can't collude with a foreign power to influence the outcome of an election. But, despite what the GOP senate wants you to think, it sure as as hell seems like he did.
He can't legally obstruct justice in ongoing investigations. But he did, multiple times.
etc etc

Obviously the elections lie with the states and it would be infinitely more difficult to actually postpone an election. It almost certainly won't happen. But let's not shame people who are freaking out about him even stating the intention, because JFC "he can't legally do that" has not stopped this fucking administration before.

So after the Dem House refuses to change federal law to move the election, what's the scenario? The polls open as usual, and he sends fed troops to close them? Then we have civil war?

I mean this is the nightmare we're in...people agree with this piece of shit, and his shitty ideas are granted legitimacy—not because the rest of us are "amplifying" them or whatever, but because FOX viewers glom on and their representatives follow suit

He can't legally send unmarked troops into random cities to kidnap citizens. But he did.

Not exactly. Even most experts are in agreement he does legally have the right to deploy federal troops to protect federal property. The question is whether they waded beyond their scope, which is a bit more nebulous.

He can't legally separate refugee kids from parents. But he did.

actually, it was BECAUSE of the law that he had to. because he and his administration ruthlessly began prosecuting all illegal immigration as criminal rather than civil infraction, and by law, the children who were not accused of a crime cannot be locked up with their parents.

he's literally sending feds to round up protestors in Dem-led cities right now, he's not *always* bluffing

― frogbs, Thursday, July 30, 2020 9:30 AM bookmarkflaglink

and did he give us a cute little head's up on twitter before he did that like he is doing now, or did it rely on people starting to speak up about it on Twitter before anybody had a clue about it?

Yeah, you're right, I was technically incorrect on a couple of those. The guys a peach. Let's keep him around for four more years.

one of the problems we run into when this subject comes up is people conflating the idea that something like this is legitimately dangerous with the belief that "he will get away with it"

I do not think he would get away with it. That doesn't mean it won't incite more violence, justify more troops in the street, etc.

this will follow the usual cycle...

Democrats in Congress will speak out against this (which, to be fair, *they* should do).

Some GOP Congressmen/women will speak out against it weakly or downplay it ("there is no need to delay the election", "he was just asking a question", "you took him out of context").

something else major will happen in 12 hours and we'll forget about it.

I hope you're right. The guy is willing into reality the crises that he believes would justify emergency acts

^^^ Hadrain otm

I don't think he is going to actually postpone the election. But I'm terrified of what his armed supporters are going to do now that the idea has been planted in their heads. And I think that's a fairly reasonable position.

Neanderthal, I know you've been going through a lot lately and I sincerely appreciate your posts, but sometimes it comes across like you are shaming people for freaking out. Given *gestures vaguely at everything* we're all entitled to freak out when this guy floats this shit.

Hadrian, sorry

yeah it's hard to see even just September from here, and he already has an attorney general who has sanctioned a gestapo. I don't think Trump or Barr are yet anywhere near their ceilings in trying to fuck with the election.

I'm not trying to downplay the harm he causes on a regular basis or that he frequently dog whistles, which is shit I call out on the regular. i just don't see value in freaking out over his Tweets anymore. we were convinced he'd fire Mueller (which tbf, there was more reason to worry there),

just continue to hammer him on his failed leadership, continue to speak out against the presence of Federal troops in American cities and demand for their retraction, ACLU continue to sue who needs to be sued, Nancy and Chuck continue to hammer everybody for a fuckin' relief bill being that Meadows is basically saying the bill appears dead in the water (meaning a need for a *shudder* "veto-proof" bill).

if people want to wig out about it, have at it. if I'm wrong, I'll eat crow (assuming I'm allowed to). but he's doing this to distract people from those actual actions I mentioned above and while I'm not a "zero-sum" person and know we can focus on multiple things at once.

I think it's pretty well-established that I'm not a fan of Trump by now, and that I recognize the extra-legal things he's done!

something else major will happen in 12 hours and we'll forget about it.

It's already been posited on Twitter that he only said this because it's John Lewis's funeral, at which his three immediate predecessors will either be speaking or in attendance, and he needs people to pay attention to him.

I don't think he is going to actually postpone the election.

This will require either a constitutional amendment, or a coup backed by the military. Which do you think is more likely?

people agree with this piece of shit, and his shitty ideas are granted legitimacy—not because the rest of us are "amplifying" them or whatever, but because FOX viewers glom on and their representatives follow suit

i think there's a finer point to it -- it's more that people who lead lives of absolute (or near to it) bad faith pretend to agree with the piece of shit, and root for him because he's their (hateful) rodeo clown. his supporters are the bad faith people in this thread

Good faith vs Bad faith

they're not dumb. they don't really believe trump. they're just disingenuous pieces of shit themselves, admiring one of their own continuing to get away with it in the face of the virtue signaling self-righteous goody goodies

yeah that's right I think—for the most part. There are a lot of *real* dummies in this country though.

xp to Neanderthal—I totally understand this. But there's a whole spectrum of reasonable response to this kind of thing btw talking about it/taking it seriously and going into a panic.

xp - For the most part you right qualmsley, but I can confirm from direct personal interaction with people I have the misfortune to be related to - there are most certainly very dumb Trump supporters that absolutely take him at his word. For everything.

fwiw, it's not like I'm spinning in a circle, screaming about the election. But as soon as I saw he tweeted that out, I got a knot in my stomach to realize we're going to have to hear about/deal with this as a "thing" for the next several weeks, at a minimum, when we absolutely should not have to consider it a "thing".

otm. I don't think anyone itt is "freaking out" when it comes to these things, though it's often characterized that way. Personally I've been humbled by underestimating these evils and am just making sure I don't do that anymore

loving the "???" at the end of that tweet

xp to Neanderthal—I totally understand this. But there's a whole spectrum of reasonable response to this kind of thing btw talking about it/taking it seriously and going into a panic.

― singular wolf erotica producer (Hadrian VIII), Thursday, July 30, 2020 9:52 AM bookmarkflaglink

I am speaking about the people who I literally see doing the latter right now. of which the number is non-negligible, despite the news being less than an hour old. as of right now, that doesn't include anybody ITT.

Trump even worded it as a question, as he usually does with things that he has no intention of doing, so that he can attempt to use plausible deniability ("what? I was just asking if it's possible!"). just like the time he threatened to revoke federal funding from schools that barred Milo from speaking - he worded it as a question that time too. or like the time he tried to demand a new election in Arizona during mid-terms, because he claimed there was widespread fraud. same thing.

Fair....aren't there episodes of him "just asking?" that function as shoehorns though? For real shit? I can't keep up with all of it anymore

Yes, but I think it's fair to even push back against that. I'm just so tired of the whole, "lol it's just Trump, that's what he does", which only excuses it the next time too. The Dems should be forcefully pushing back against this "just asking questions" every single fucking time - it's what the GOP would be doing to a Dem president. It's not going to make a difference, no, but there should be a highly visible, coordinated campaign to push back against this shit, every day if needed.

the correct response to him is "sure, let's delay it a few weeks - that will give us additional time to get our voters who were illegally purged from voter rolls reinstated, as well as paying the fees to reinstate felons' voting rights in Florida. how does two more weeks sound?"

xpost obviously Nancy et al have to reply to it. that's their job.

don't think I'm not scared of Trump. I even overstepped and called milo a Trump revisionist once because I felt like he was going too easy on him.

just tuesday in the house of representatives the most corrupt attorney general in US history appeared, finally, under threat of subpoena. this seems kind of scary, even without 2scoops tweet this morning

Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., pointed out that Trump has suggested that no ballots should be counted after Election Day and asked Barr, "If the president asks you to intervene and try to stop states from counting legal ballots after Election Day, will you do the right thing and refuse?"

Barr responded, "I will follow the law." He separately said he would "enforce" the law. So that means if a state has issued a ruling saying that votes cannot be counted if they were postmarked before Election Day but didn't arrive until after that, he would be willing to intervene on behalf of the president to ensure those votes weren't counted.

Anyone who lived through the Florida 2000 election debacle should know that this is not a matter for federal law enforcement. Elections are run by the states. If there's a dispute it goes to the courts and in a worst-case scenario to the Congress. Barr has no authority to intervene at all in how states count and tabulate their votes, but judging from his recent behavior, I doubt that would stop him. With Barr, "follow the law," seems to mean "do whatever benefits Donald Trump and hurts his enemies."

https://www.salon.com/2020/07/29/bill-barr-on-capitol-hill-lies-evasions-and-a-promise-to-follow-the-law-be-very-afraid/

looking forward to a vaccine but "six-month coma" pill is running a very close second

lol fuckin' dummy, votes are ALWAYS COUNTED AFTER ELECTION DAY FROM YOUR OWN MILITARY, DIPSHIT