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

On second thought there are some things that are exceptional about America, carry on I say

Biden/Harris 2020: less drama, more Obama

It's not just 50 fast food menus?

this shit is what you turn in if you meant to write your book report early but had to do it on the bus ride day of. Utterly embarrassing and vague to the point of imbecility.
"Make All Critical Medicines and Supplies or Healthcare Workers in the United States"? Might as well say "Chicken in Every Pot".

End Honorbale

a powerful start to this Monday morning 💥 pic.twitter.com/LrgDvDH1we

— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) August 24, 2020

Honor Bale!

Told you! Washington has Christian Bale on the mind!

waht

The official operating platform of the Republican Party in 2020 declares: "The current Administration has exceeded its constitutional authority, brazenly and flagrantly violated the separation of powers, sought to divide America into groups and turn citizen against citizen." pic.twitter.com/4e05FSs28b

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) August 24, 2020

Did they cut and paste that from the last convention?

There's now been a steady stream of current and former Republican officials - governors, congressmen, cabinet, military, intelligence, hacks, et al. - all explicitly endorsing Biden (the latest I saw was former GOP Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar). The question I have is how many of the aforementioned voted for Asshole or against Asshole the last time, and how many of the latter group voted for, let alone endorsed, Clinton. Edgar, for example, was not a Trump supporter, but he also never went so far as to say he was voting for Clinton last time.

At the #DeJoy hearing, the Republican ranking member just introduced him as a logistics wizard, and mocked Democrats for not knowing how to work a "mute" button. He then turned it over to the logistics wizard, who promptly started talking without turning off his mute button.

— Dan Fagin (@danfagin) August 24, 2020

xp they could fix that part, except the 2016 platform included this clause at the end:

RESOLVED, That any motion to amend the 2016 Platform or to adopt a new platform, including
any motion to suspend the procedures that will allow doing so, will be ruled out of order.

Stupid and evil.

That's really it, isn't it? I've said from the start that the only excuse for supporting Trump is you're either stupid or an asshole, and now we know what a policy and platform based on a combination of both of those things gets us.

after 2012, the GOP "post-mortem" infamously made motions toward being more inclusive, toning down the anti-immigration, being less of a white evangelical party, etc.

8 years later, they didn't even bother to update the 2016 agenda of the world's leading racist conspiracist

Why mess with a winning formula?

where does the lie about him being Honourable come from?

he's less honourable, much more honorbale

American Psycho?

More like American Sychop

so now taht we know he was oly lightening thge loads of poor postal carriers and making sure tehy didn't stress out by carrying mail in off-hours.
How very very empathetic of him.

I'm glad tose lovely lovely GOP guys are there to put things right.
pooh-pooh the idea of the story supporting russian interference even more.

Try to help the USPS break even, better reelect t so that you can have the army looked into. Anything else?

This guy's assault was pretty good:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4901726/user-clip-lynch-questions-dejoy&fbclid=IwAR0veUmBWA22Wq0EyV91Rq2Op-CkVDO_NhvSENCq3y6941jp1MJ0jfSAK1A

No DeJoy in Mudville.

lol

When I called one party elder, he joked that it’s a good thing Republicans decided not to write a new platform for the 2020 convention—because they have produced nothing novel since the last one was written. Trump and his party have relied more on squabbles than solutions in delivering for their base. Even some of the president’s staunchest supporters concede Buck’s point in this regard: The party is now defined primarily by its appetite for conflict, even when that conflict serves no obvious policy goal.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/08/24/republicanmeltdown-trump-convention-400039

That article is frustrating, because it ignores that there are two "big ideas" in the Republican Party:
1) make rich people richer
2) racism

i wonder how long this was focus grouped?

President Trump at the Republican convention: "Think of your life just prior to the plague coming in. It was the best it's ever been."

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) August 24, 2020

that alberta piece is a good read but asking "good faith" republicans what they stand for is not the only way to find out what republicans stand for.

i mean the fact that they literally can't answer it is interesting, but if you actually want to know the answer then look around.

The so-called "moderate" ones just don't want to say the answer. The main difference with the current US president is that he says the truth out loud.

2) racism

The ones who don't want to say it out loud have deftly replaced this with

2') racism is technically bad, especially when exhibited by dead people from the past, but not as bad as people who don't think they're racist being criticized for doing racist things

That article is frustrating, because it ignores that there are two "big ideas" in the Republican Party:
1) make rich people richer
2) racism

― Joey Corona (Euler), Monday, August 24, 2020 12:57 PM (sixteen minutes ago)

exactly, and #2's fostering of a culture of white grievance is an end in itself but also provides ample cover for #1

at great length, jeff flake reveals who he will be voting for this fall

.....

I have never before voted for a Democrat for president. But I’ve been asked many times over the past four years if I, as a conservative, couldvote for a Democrat for President. “Sure,” has been my ready answer, “if he or she were a Joe Biden-kinda-Democrat.

Well, the Democratic Party just nominated a Joe Biden-kinda-Democrat, whom I am confident will approach his constitutional role with the reverence and dignity it deserves. I know that he will reach across the aisle, because that’s what he’s done his entire career.

...

https://medium.com/@JeffFlake/heres-who-i-ll-be-supporting-for-president-and-why-ce983293fae6

so this RNC convention is going to be like an all day thing for four days? who is going to watch this shit? is it being broadcast?

I know that he will reach across the aisle, because that’s what all he’s done his entire career.

"Think of your life just prior to the plague coming in. It was the best it's ever been."

If Trump is talking about the plague of his presidency he's actually right.

The good thing about the Republican convention is that we are absolutely certain that Trump will accomplish nothing this week, because he will be watching (and live-tweeting) it all day long, except for the time when he is personally speaking, and when it's over on Friday he will spend that day and the weekend obsessively watching (and live-response-tweeting) the coverage.

This guy's assault was pretty good:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4901726/user-clip-lynch-questions-dejoy&fbclid=IwAR0veUmBWA22Wq0EyV91Rq2Op-CkVDO_NhvSENCq3y6941jp1MJ0jfSAK1A

No DeJoy in Mudville.

This was very satisfying (up until DeJoy started speaking), thanks. cool irony with the link that funds anti-democracy propaganda though

The marathon (almost four years now) staging of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Pivot continues:

A senior GOP strategist, who is not a "Never Trumper" and often gives the president the benefit of the doubt, tells me: "If what we just heard is a preview of the President's message for the week, he loses and we lose. We can kiss the Senate goodbye if the tone doesn't change."

— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) August 24, 2020

Well I guess you'd better go ahead and start slathering on the lip balm now.

THIS TONE, WHERE IS IT COMING FROM ALL OF THE SUDDEN?!?

I have a Trump-skeptical Republican friend (he mostly morosely posts about how Democrats aren't condemning riots and Ilhan Omar enough for his taste and tries to ignore everything coming out of Trump's mouth) who the other day said he felt the Democratic convention had created an opening by not focusing on specific proposals, which Republicans could take advantage of by coming through with a convention rich with fully worked-out policy, and I just was like, it must be so sad to keep waiting for the thing you think has been hiding in there all along, never admitting it was never there and never will be there!

lol at the idea that tone is the problem when you're running on "Think of your life just prior to the plague coming in. It was the best it's ever been."

lol Trump didn't get to be president with rich, fully worked-out policy. He got there with demagoguery. It's what he knows, and it's what his base loves him for. xp

Joe Kennedy's wife is even worse than him

This young widow would be me.

And this is what ⁦@EdMarkey⁩’s campaign condones. pic.twitter.com/jhc8CJPAil

— lauren kennedy (@laurenkennedyMA) August 24, 2020

lol why is he speaking in a fucking parking lot https://t.co/swC0fsLROO

— kilgore trout, new tone haver (@KT_So_It_Goes) August 24, 2020

Is this gonna be the RNC?

"We're going to have 'Trump Drops'! We've got portable PA's, selfie-sticks, no facemasks, and a list of locations in the greater Charlotte area where the president will make surprise speeches--all the best places: Home Depot, Ramadas, Sonic Drive-In's..."

"I believe we've even locked down a Ram dealership. Donald loves trucks!"

This place has everything

“the plague coming in from China” (faint squeals of approval)

he felt the Democratic convention had created an opening by not focusing on specific proposals, which Republicans could take advantage of by coming through with a convention rich with fully worked-out policy, and I just was like, it must be so sad to keep waiting for the thing you think has been hiding in there all along, never admitting it was never there and never will be there!

The New Yorker peddled this bullshit too.

As the GOP convention opens, could President Trump find lessons from 1988, where Lee Atwater famously revived Bush and sunk Dukakis through a plan “to strip the bark off the little bastard." A must-read from @adamnagourney: https://t.co/YoHewbCgGt

— Jeff Zeleny (@jeffzeleny) August 22, 2020

Any time you're asking the question, "Could Trump find lessons from..." you're fucking up.

I wonder what might be different about late summer 1988 and 2020. I’m sure the economic situations are similar...