"The August 2020 US Politics Thread is highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That's all."

"a 21 ass salute"

Assmerica the Beautiful

full of booty

How can he mispronounce yosemite but correctly pronounce sequoia?

He doesn’t

or maybe it’s just his trash accent

In the case of mispronouncing 'Yosemite', I think it's just that he's much more familiar with a similarly-spelled term. Like he would probably mistakenly say 'Lewis Grandwizard', that sort of thing.

He says sequoias the way I say sequoias ... ?

The Swan interview is no different than a million interviews he's given in the last 4 years. The thing I find "fascinating" is that 75% of the questions are softballs that any half-way intelligent non-sociopath could just give a pat answer to or deflect, but he is just always in a such a heightened state of anxiety/grievance he can't get out of his own way.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sequoia

There’s a w in it!!

i did not watch the swan interview but it seems like some people found it ... useful? swan is not a good interviewer. if you think he is you are an easy lay. it sounds on this one he reached the low bar US TV news usually fails to reach because it's populated by a bunch of prigs who respect the office of the presidency and walter kronkite.

https://observer.com/2018/10/axios-hbo-jonathan-swan-slammed-trump-interview-baby-citizenship/

https://splinternews.com/jonathan-swan-is-a-bootlicker-1830095400

Jesus Christ, that explosion in Lebanon. I saw the first few tweets that showed the smoke that looked like a huge fire, but then I finally saw the whole clip and I'm sick to my stomach.

As someone pointed out, the fact that it was captured from so many angles implies people saw the smoke/fire first, which seems to rule out a bomb - I think I saw rumors it might have been a fire in a grain elevator? - but it's a very impressive blast.

(Sorry, just saw it has its own thread)

It was a fireworks factory that might have also been located next to some other highly combustible material like flour or nitrates.

1) Florida is fast at counting mail ballots.

2) Florida is filled with seniors.

3) If Trump discourages Republicans from voting absentee there during a pandemic, Biden wins the state, and thus the whole election, ON ELECTION NIGHT.

4) Ergo, the below tweet. https://t.co/Uben7QTbs8

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) August 4, 2020

This tweet will definitely come up in court proceedings if the Trump campaign tries to get ballots in Florida rejected or disqualified after the election this November 😂 https://t.co/ZkGELTW822

— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) August 4, 2020

second point in particular (although courts being courts, who knows)

So the plan is to insist mail in votes are a fraud only in states where

Hit submit too quick

where Trump may lose.

Yup, even more transparent about it that I ever imagined.

In that interview, Asshole babbles about some governors handling covid really well, and some states handling it poorly, then teases he is ready to name names of which gov was which. I kinda wish he was called on that just to hear him say the shitty red state governors with the most cases have been great.

Conservative Ammon Bundy arguing for defund the police, and support of BLM

"if you think BLM or Antifa are coming for your freedoms you must be hypnotized by social media codewords or conservative talking points"

Good to see one of the libertarians actually sticking to this line through this

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/03/politics/pro-sports-associations-against-gop-stimulus/index.html

A letter signed by the executive directors of the NFL, NBA, NHL Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer players associations has come out against McConnell.

"The introduced language by Senate Republicans, as we understand it, would federalize all COVID-19 work claims and provide employers with an immunity that is so broad that not even egregious behavior would be actionable."

Can you guys recall another instance of players' unions teaming up to deliver a pro-worker message on such a widely applicable issue?

nope. never happened before.

Seriously though! They’re usually kind of..... famously silent on things that might affect, say arena workers

'Never Trump' Republicans team with progressives to convert the president's religious base

A left-leaning group focused on persuading religious Americans to vote out Donald Trump in November has recruited some of the president’s leading Republican agitators to assist them.

On Wednesday, Vote Common Good will launch a new partnership with the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump GOP group founded by veteran Republican strategists, to mobilize faith voters to reject Trump on Election Day.

The initiative will focus on courting white evangelicals and white Catholics — two demographics Trump won by significant margins in 2016 — who have lost patience with the president’s behavior or been disappointed with his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protest movement against racism. The efforts will be concentrated in six battleground states — North Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida — where multiple polls have shown Trump trailing his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.

...

Getting white evangelicals to peel away from Trump — much less to vote for Biden — is no easy feat. The political alliance between white evangelicals and Republican politicians dates back decades and has rarely shown signs of weakness during the president’s first term. Before this spring, the only time Trump’s most prominent conservative Christian supporters had publicly split with the president was over his push to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

But recently, segments of Trump’s Catholic and Protestant supporters have been distancing themselves from his response to the Covid-19 crisis. The Lincoln Project and VCG hope to capitalize on that waning confidence, which has extended to Trump’s ability to handle the worsening economic crisis, public health catastrophe and civil unrest.

They’re also hoping to pitch Biden as an attractive religious alternative to Trump. Biden, a Catholic, has portrayed himself as the unity candidate in an intensely fractured political landscape and rarely shies away from discussing his personal faith.

i feel like republican resistance to trump has gained some traction and it's probably going to be enough to make a difference of a percentage point or two.

better chance of converting them to judaism

"Jews for Jesus...and Joe"

The main question for me is where they live.

If Never Trumpers like George Conway or Max Boot or whover live in New York, DC, of California? They will not move the dial at all. Golf clap for your participation but I am not exactly moved to organize a parade.

I want to know about the Never Trumpers of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, etc.

Grifters gonna grift.

good luck w getting evangelicals to vote for anybody but a republican as long as abortion remains even a tiny bit legal anywhere

Chris Hayes had a never trumper guest on his Why is This Happening Today which was an interesting talk.

some of the president’s leading Republican agitators

Politico writer starts in on a sentence, gets as far as "leading Republican", and stops short. Casts about for the word that describes the people he's referring to, those prominent Republicans who oppose the president, who mock him, deride him, wish to remove him from office. Wrinkles brow. Sweats. What the hell word is it? Detectors? Retractors? Defectors? Ah fuck it. Writes: "agitators". Thinks: good enough.

Lol

Chris Hayes had a never trumper guest on his Why is This Happening Today which was an interesting talk.

― Stevolende, Tuesday, August 4, 2020 3:43 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Isaac Chotiner got to him too: https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-stuart-stevens-wants-to-defeat-donald-trump

when freedom becomes just too costly

BREAKING: Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves issues statewide mask mandate.

"I want to see college football. The best way for that to occur is for us all to realize is that wearing a mask, as irritating as that can be & I promise I hate it more than anyone watching, is critical."

— Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) August 4, 2020

"if college football doesn't become a reality, then masks are off the table."

should be "don't"

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves knows masks are a hard sell in his state, so he hits Mississippians right where they live, college football. then he throws in some self-pity just to show he's really one of them.

Look, I want to hasten the demise of my elderly and infirm loved ones as much as anyone...but maybe we should start thinking about what's best for the football.

That Chris Hayes pod was pretty good, one part that rang true is how Republicans have basically had nothing to do since Reagan so the “us vs. them” aspect is all they really have left

The reason that Trump flails around so much when asked what he plans to do in a 2nd term is 100% stupidity end ignorance. A good portion of it is just an utter lack of any Republican governing priorities.

That should say *isn't 100%

Posting and drinking...

classic

My specialty

Trump's latest interview vs monty python parrot sketch pic.twitter.com/GKlpNF4ffB

— Darren Dutton (@Darren_Dutton) August 4, 2020

💥An earthquake win for the left's quest to expand its foothold in Congress in Missouri.

Cori Bush, a pastor and Ferguson activist, has ousted 20-year incumbent Rep. Lacy Clay in #MO01 primary. Bush is virtually certain to win in November & join Congress.

— Taniel (@Taniel) August 5, 2020

Missouri!! That’s where Star-Lord is from.

Clay and Clay's father a combined 52 years in office