U.S. Politics, November 2022: “I don’t know, you hear the same things I do”

"I think we can improve the profitability of our caucus by emphasizing our core grifting competencies," said Senator Scott.

grifting was a typo for gifting or actually spoken?

Parody (Official)

grifting was a typo for gifting or actually spoken?

― youn,

would it have surprised you

I’d somehow managed to black out the tidal waves of Trump White House typos

While all this is going on, fun times over at the Oath Keepers trial

Thomas Caldwell during direct was largely in a good mood, talking lovingly about his wife and fondly about his family farm and time in the Navy.

On cross-examination, he's clearly been agitated by and contemptuous of the prosecutor's questions about his own statements on Jan. 6.

— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) November 15, 2022

After a convo on the husher, Manzo pulls up a message from Caldwell to someone named "Jonathan" about killing people in a crowd with a sniper rifle.

Caldwell responds: "Call of Duty."

Manzo says Jonathan wasn't talking about Call of Duty and wants to admit preceding messages.

— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) November 15, 2022

Here was the exchange with Jonathan.

Caldwell says he was providing "Call of Duty tips."

Manzo: "What's your favorite Call of Duty title?

Caldwell... can't name one. pic.twitter.com/z98tTrIm0K

— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) November 15, 2022

Indeed, who are we to kid

Manzo asks Caldwell about whether he was trained to hurt people, plan ops and construct false identities (Caldwell says no). Cross-examination ends w/ a 12/26/20 message Caldwell sent to Adrien Grimes about getting new IDs.

Caldwell: "I am not kidding about another identity."

— Jordan Fischer (@JordanOnRecord) November 15, 2022

The Trump Org civil trial has some hilarities too

Manhattan DA's office now probing why it got 2 different versions of Trump Org's books.

One from the company, the other from its outside accountants at Mazars.

Both list payments to an expensive NYC prep school for the CFO's grandkids.

But only Mazars' says "per Allen."

— Jose Pagliery (@Jose_Pagliery) November 15, 2022

Ladies & gents, we now know why Tarasoff is testifying.

Prosecutor: Do you know why the Trump Org's version is missing that?

Tarasoff: "Somebody went in and deleted the name."

Prosecutor: "Who?"

Tarasoff: "Me."

— Jose Pagliery (@Jose_Pagliery) November 15, 2022

And of note (they're done for the day, next up on Thursday)

Hoffinger is starting to set traps.

Hoffinger: Who authorized executive compensation?
Weisselberg: Donald Trump.

H: Did you authorize compensation for [COO] Matthew Calamari?
W: No.

H: [General counsel] Jason Greenblatt?
W: No.

— Jose Pagliery (@Jose_Pagliery) November 15, 2022

Christ, busy day all around

BREAKING: Florida judge orders Michael Flynn to testify before the Fulton County, Georgia grand jury investigating 2020 election interference in the state.

— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) November 15, 2022

This seems awfully straightforward, doesn’t it?

Is it weird that so many districts in CA and NY no longer seem to be liberal bastions? Is this a result of gerrymandering or in the popular vote and if the latter does anyone have an explanation? Or is the perception of change a misconception?

― youn, Tuesday, November 15, 2022 2:18 PM (fifty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Are there specific districts you're thinking of? I feel like both states have had a sizeable minority of Republican districts (like 25-40%) for the last few decades. In the case of New York, I know that recent redistricting ended up working out to the Democrats' disadvantage, which helped Republicans pick up a few seats. But there have always been Republicans upstate and on Long Island.

Upstate NY has always been a hellhole. FDR's congressional opposition came from up there.

I am surprised by central CA and old Didion territory, which I should have known about from high school student council camps but seem disproportionately allocated based on population unless everyone has moved inland on account of housing costs.

Or is the perception of change a misconception?

yes.

https://apps.npr.org/dailygraphics/graphics/map-orange-county-20181119/assets/map-2016.pnghttps://apps.npr.org/dailygraphics/graphics/map-orange-county-20181119/assets/map-2018.png

I bet dude's favorite Call of Duty mission was "No Russian".

Rick Scott is the dumb guy, right?

― G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby)

the dumb is organizing and multiplying!

NEW: @RonJohnsonWI tells me he is nominating Rick Scott to unseat Mitch McConnell. https://t.co/CRHsGg70XO

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) November 15, 2022

I lived in Siskiyou, Butte, and Tehama counties at various points in and around 2016, and I can assure everyone that those counties and Shasta county are unbelievably beautiful and also filled with the worst bootlicking conservative assholes you will ever encounter

Marge's district in northwest Georgia is the same.

Now, with Scott formally challenging McConnell for the leadership post, a top McConnell adviser is making the case to reelect the current leader.

The McConnell adviser, Josh Holmes, told The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey: “If you liked Republicans losing Senate campaigns, while saddling the party with tax increases and Medicare cuts, then you’re going to love Rick Scott’s campaign for leader. It does have a constituency, but unfortunately for him, it’s entirely within the confines of the Democratic conference.”

i feel like this debate about which republican senators sucks more should be louder and go on for weeks, at a minimum

convo on the husher

I know, I know, it's serious

morrissey had another tantrum in LA last night

The more you rick scott me the closer I get

Trump-endorsed candidates performed much worse than other Republican candidates in swing raceshttps://t.co/fGWv9mJFz1 pic.twitter.com/bdpmsp1uSs

— Matt Grossmann (@MattGrossmann) November 15, 2022

has he made his special announcement yet?

8:30 EST supposedly

Extremely low energy tonight

So he's announcing this now because the DOJ wanted to put off taking further steps with him until after the midterms, and he thinks this might stop them, right?

He probably does, and it won't.

Apparently he promised to make all drug crimes punishable by death, a la Duterte.

National Review comes out swinging https://t.co/XzYSaPovKO

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 16, 2022

tbf hes just going to ask them to receive the death penalty

Trump: "We're going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts." pic.twitter.com/ZtkiWjlyZ4

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 16, 2022

My Twitter feed has a lot of political reporters and people with political opinions on it and almost nobody is even mentioning Trump right now. Or if they are it's just in a "how boring" way. I've written the guy off so many times that I'm loathe to do it again, so we'll see how things go. But not feeling a lot of mojo.

"Every drug dealer...will kill 500 people"

what the fuck is he talking about?

Fentanyl panic is the new Build The Wall

Many people are saying they’re putting it in your grandkids lunchables folks! Your children stopped speaking to you when you joined the Q Facebook group but they’d tell you it’s true if they hadn’t.

the wall was a good bit he needs something like that, fent island

Oh god, I'd forgotten what it's like to listen to Trump. It's starting again.

lol even FOX News wound up cutting away from this

whole thing kinda feels like the Stone Roses reunion gig

My Twitter feed has a lot of political reporters and people with political opinions on it and almost nobody is even mentioning Trump right now.

I've had his name muted since January of last year.

This was the first sentence of Politico's coverage:

Donald Trump, who lost the 2020 election and left the White House under the cloud of impeachment for his role in the Jan. 6 riots on Capitol Hill, is running for president again.

This was Axios:

Trump, twice-impeached and under criminal investigation, launches 2024 campaign

Former President Trump, who continues to spread baseless lies about his 2020 defeat, began an unprecedented comeback bid by declaring his 2024 campaign for president at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday night.

Why it matters: Trump — the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice, most recently for incitement of insurrection — changed American politics with his unconventional governing style and undeniable grip on the GOP. But his third presidential run comes as Republicans are reevaluating his role as the face of the party following midterm failures and ongoing controversies.

holy shit this is bleak pic.twitter.com/MaZ3HfK3oJ

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 16, 2022

Tonight on social and legacy media: “It’s quiet out here … a little too quiet”

I’m gonna have remember to unfollow Aaron Rupar tomorrow

If President Trump continues this tone and delivers this message on a consistent basis, he will be hard to beat.

His speech tonight, contrasting his policies and results against the Biden Administration, charts a winning path for him in the primaries and general election.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 16, 2022

Goddamn whatever Trump has on him must be goooood, this is embarrassing even for Graham.

Anytime Graham speaks, I can vividly see someone discreetly jiggling that manilla envelope full of incriminating photographs just within the range of his peripheral vision and reminding him of what his next carefully chosen words need to be.

Graham’s utter lack of power at this point means that whoever is holding whatever incriminating evidence none of the rest of the world gives a shit about are simply bullying him for the fun of it.

Good.

Perfect setting to announce AZ Governor Elect Kari Lake as running mate

I used to think that Graham was a real Senator that did things, but now he's just a husk of a Rubio.

Husk of a Rubio? I think I saw them open for Puddle of Mudd back in '96.

National Review has been and remains a nevertrump haven; true maganauts tuned out NR/NRO/Corner long ago.

Only influential to the McMullin crowd, unless I am severely misremembering. Which is of course likely. I have never kept a comprehensive database of who's in/who's out in DonWorld.