USA Politics

[Karl Henning]

Dr Fauci to testify to Congress today to Congress; no wonder Bunker Boy wants rallies as a distraction.

Of course, Trumpkins don't believe there should be oversight of this "administration."

"The testimony will be Fauci's first since a highly anticipated appearance a month ago, and it comes on the heels of President Trump's comments at a controversial campaign rally over the weekend that he asked officials to slow testing to show fewer cases. Aides later said the comment was made in jest, but it prompted a fresh round of criticism that Trump is seeking to minimize the challenges that loom in recovering from the virus."

What kind of sycophantic chump pretetnds that these remarks are "jokes?"

[Karl Henning]

) Of the 47 percent of voters who said Clinton wasn't qualified to serve, only 5 percent voted for her. That's about what you'd expect.

Of the 61 percent of voters who said the same thing about Trump, however, 17 percent ignored their judgment and voted for him anyway.

In Florida, where Trump won by just over a single percentage point, more than half the electorate found him unqualified, and yet 16 percent of those voters cast a ballot for him. In Pennsylvania, where he won by an even slimmer margin, a stunning 21 percent of voters who said Trump didn't have the right temperament for the job voted to send him to the White House.

In other words, on the night that marked his apex in political life, Trump's margin of victory came from reluctant voters who almost certainly thought they were voting for the losing candidate, and who felt confident he'd make a terrible president.

There was never anything like a groundswell for Trumpism. In fact, the election had strikingly little to do with him at all. It was mostly about the intense emotions triggered by his opponent.

In the end, some critical slice of voters who thought Clinton eminently more qualified for the job couldn't bring themselves to vote for her. And they decided their only option was to take a flyer on a guy who seemed manifestly unfit for the job — and destined to lose in any event.

There are myriad explanations for the astounding depth of this anti-Clinton sentiment; let's not re-litigate them here. What's clear is that a lot of white voters thought Clinton didn't like them very much — and her describing them as "deplorables" didn't help.

What's happened since? Certainly nothing to suggest that Trump has managed to convert his accidental victory into a burgeoning movement.

The independent voters who narrowly went for Trump in 2016 deserted him almost immediately, once they saw their worst suspicions confirmed. Trump's approval ratings have hovered just over 40 percent for most of his presidency, which is basically like a football team that goes 6-and-10 every year.

In the only national referendum on Trumpism since 2016 — the midterm cycle two years later — the president's party was resoundingly rejected.

Trump is not Ronald Reagan, standing on the shoulders of a resurgent, mainstream conservatism. He's a fringe figure preaching to a loud minority that can't fill an arena in Oklahoma, a state he won by more than 35 points in 2016. He emboldens an ugly strain of American extremism, but there's no evidence to suggest he has swollen those ranks.

According to everything we know about politics, Trump should lose in November. And he will — unless Democrats, failing to learn the right lessons from 2016, insist on cornering those same disaffected voters into backing him again.

Joe Biden isn't Hillary Clinton. He's a more naturally gifted politician, and whatever his weaknesses, phoniness and elitism have never been among them. I thought Biden would have beaten Trump walking away had he been the nominee four years ago.

There's really only one way for Trump to win this election — which is for Democrats to hand him the all-out culture war he desperately wants.

Biden and his team are too smart to fall into that trap. But the same might not be said for the party's loudest activists, such as the types who want to abolish police departments and who believe that everyone who voted for Trump is a closet Confederate.

If the fall campaign feels like another condescending, "us vs. them" indictment of the so-called deplorables, then the same people who felt trapped into voting for Trump in 2016 may do it again. And the result, despite all the evidence of his political anemia, could look the same. (

[BasilValentine]

Trump in Tulsa getting a big ovation for drinking a glass of water with one hand? His introductory harangue for this feat of strength is hilarious. Start at 13:00 and swell your hearts with patriotic pride!: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL1eLRYfhFQ

[Todd]

Seattle will move to dismantle 'Chaz' occupied protest zone, mayor says


The fun is over kids.  The three shootings, vandalism, and mindless thuggery displayed by the doofuses who populated Chaz, or Chop, or whatever they called it, was too much.  I'm guessing the murder was the real clincher. 

Note to lefties bent on taking powerful direct action to obtain social justice: don't shoot and kill anyone.  It's a hard lesson for some to learn.

The mayor's incredibly slow response time calls into question her competence and commitment to public safety.  Maybe voters remember next time around.  Or not.  Fuck it, I don't live in the Emerald City, and the one retail outlet I dig there ships its products, so it doesn't matter to me.

[not edward]

Joe Biden isn't Hillary Clinton. He's a more naturally gifted politician, and whatever his weaknesses, phoniness and elitism have never been among them. I thought Biden would have beaten Trump walking away had he been the nominee four years ago.

Looking from outside (though as someone who used to live in the US), I thought Beau Biden's death was probably the single biggest contributing factor to Trump's election. And while I have many reservations about Joe Biden, I've rarely seen a politician display as obviously sincere empathy as he has in some of the eulogies he's given, from McCain to Floyd. This was something that Clinton really lacked and made it all the easier to attack her.

I'd say there's another danger the Democrats need to address, though, and that's organised voter suppression efforts. We're already seeing Trump constantly railing about voting by mail being fraudulent, the obvious difficulties with voting in person during a pandemic, and massive cuts in the number of polling places in Democrat-leaning metropolitan areas (in the KY primaries last week, there was one single polling place open for 616,000 voters in Jefferson County). It's very revealing that old-school conservatives like Bill Kristol are talking very openly about voter disenfranchisement.

[Karl Henning]

Looking from outside (though as someone who used to live in the US), I thought Beau Biden's death was probably the single biggest contributing factor to Trump's election. And while I have many reservations about Joe Biden, I've rarely seen a politician display as obviously sincere empathy as he has in some of the eulogies he's given, from McCain to Floyd. This was something that Clinton really lacked and made it all the easier to attack her.

I'd say there's another danger the Democrats need to address, though, and that's organised voter suppression efforts. We're already seeing Trump constantly railing about voting by mail being fraudulent, the obvious difficulties with voting in person during a pandemic, and massive cuts in the number of polling places in Democrat-leaning metropolitan areas (in the KY primaries last week, there was one single polling place open for 616,000 voters in Jefferson County). It's very revealing that old-school conservatives like Bill Kristol are talking very openly about voter disenfranchisement.

Dead on, viz. voter suppression.

[Karl Henning]

What a great joke!

https://www.youtube.com/v/vEzfHfLaLG4

[greg]

Seattle will move to dismantle 'Chaz' occupied protest zone, mayor says


The fun is over kids.  The three shootings, vandalism, and mindless thuggery displayed by the doofuses who populated Chaz, or Chop, or whatever they called it, was too much.  I'm guessing the murder was the real clincher. 

Note to lefties bent on taking powerful direct action to obtain social justice: don't shoot and kill anyone.  It's a hard lesson for some to learn.

The mayor's incredibly slow response time calls into question her competence and commitment to public safety.  Maybe voters remember next time around.  Or not.  Fuck it, I don't live in the Emerald City, and the one retail outlet I dig there ships its products, so it doesn't matter to me.

Lol. Also in some cases they were pro-segregation. Yep, that's where excessive social justice gets people- full circle.

They should have shut down utilities day one and revoked US citizenship.  Maybe then the crime wouldn't have happened.

[arpeggio]

Trump was elected, because enough people voted for him in enough states. The Electoral College has been in place since 1787. It's not news. It's elected every president, GOP or DEM. Let's not pretend we don't know how it works or why it exists in the first place. "He lost the popular vote" is really quite a meaningless statement, employed by the party that lost. It is merely coincidence, I suppose, that four out of five Presidents where the popular national* vote did not align with the actual election results as per EC, were Republican. (Hayes, Harrison, Bush, Trump) And compared to the first two such cases, the difference in popular vote (half a percent for GW and 2 percent for Trump) is marginal.

Those who, rightly for innumerable good reasons (and some less good ones), bemoan the election of Trump should not look to the EC but why 29,029,707 American voters cast their ballot for Trump in the first place.
That's not just a "sizeable" minority, it's -- if you squint -- half of the country that bothers to vote. Trump may be a freak - but he is no freak accident. And if those voters' concerns are not addressed (I'm not saying: pandered to!), this will repeat itself, sooner or later.

From my perspective, the constant bevy of awful choices among candidates, usually coming down to the lowest common denominator, is one factor. The fact that the American electorate doesn't take third party candidates as seriously as they well might (and ought to), another. Of course, the latter is groomed and furthered by the RNC and DNC in absolute harmonious lockstep. The Simpsons had an excellent episode about that (Zorg and Gorg [Kang and Kodos], I believe, turned out to be alien candidates... Oh, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chFaesfO7fQ.)

If there is a problem -- and I tend to think there is one -- it won't be solved by deriding the EC (which exists, will continue to exist, and has good reasons to do so), but by ridding ourselves of political Gerrymandering. But neither of the two main parties has any interest in that... and won't, until either party thinks that they are permanently, long-term, and systemically disadvantaged by the system. But unfortunately the rewards of 'getting to do it yourself' are too great for them to feel that way (as of yet).

Wow! I am trying to explain that most Americans are sane and then we get this.  Maybe we are crazy.

[Todd]

...and revoked US citizenship.

What?  How would that work?  Were they all naturalized, or were most or all of them natural born citizens?  I am unaware of any legal mechanism to strip citizenship from the latter category under current case law.  It's tough to strip citizenship from naturalized citizens.  It should be.  Yeah, talk about stripping citizenship is nonsense.

[BasilValentine]

Note to lefties bent on taking powerful direct action to obtain social justice: don't shoot and kill anyone.  It's a hard lesson for some to learn.

You don't know who did the shooting in Seattle and neither does anyone else. The perpetrators have not been caught. You certainly don't know the political leanings of these unidentified individuals. Just more uninformed BS.

[Todd]

You don't know who did the shooting in Seattle and neither does anyone else. The perpetrators have not been caught. You certainly don't know the political leanings of these unidentified individuals. Just more uninformed BS.

[greg]

What?  How would that work?  Were they all naturalized, or were most or all of them natural born citizens?  I am unaware of any legal mechanism to strip citizenship from the latter category under current case law.  It's tough to strip citizenship from naturalized citizens.  It should be.  Yeah, talk about stripping citizenship is nonsense.

Just an idea. The idea would have been to eliminate any US benefits they could get- if you are a Chazian, being a citizen of the US is not allowed alongside of that. And see how many actually stay. 

If it is that hard to strip citizenship from natural citizens, then yeah, never mind. 

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Wow! I am trying to explain that most Americans are sane and then we get this.  Maybe we are crazy.

I'm not sure if you are insulting me -- by suggesting that what I wrote was crazy -- or whether you are being genuine. In the latter case:

Crazy? Well, disenchanted, left behind, no longer part of a tapestry of a common moral code, no longer believing in authorities, focused on what divides us rather than what unites us...  all these things. Crazy is too judgemental for me, because it suggests that the people with which we disagree cannot be understood in the first place. (True for either side.) If that happens, no wonder we lose them and drift off into our respective subcultures. It's a terrible process.

[bhodges]

A Democratic pal sent me this article, "What Don't Most Liberals Realize?," which I thought was an interesting, thoughtful read. There is something to be said for not demonizing the other side. (With some exceptions, of course.)

https://www.quora.com/What-dont-most-liberals-realize/answer/Peter-Kruger?ch=1&share=95ddcb10&srid=iAmK&fbclid=IwAR2WcWhv1c1b14otTgELViInorqNZHa_aYB5TtQiFH9HXWVomTj_PVpE9Hg

--Bruce

[Karl Henning]

You don't know who did the shooting in Seattle and neither does anyone else. The perpetrators have not been caught. You certainly don't know the political leanings of these unidentified individuals. Just more uninformed BS.

Wave to the troll for me!

[Karl Henning]

Railing against the Electoral College is nextdoor to pointless:  It would take a Constitutional amendment. And only fantasists count on that, even in normal times.

[SimonNZ]

Looking from outside (though as someone who used to live in the US), I thought Beau Biden's death was probably the single biggest contributing factor to Trump's election. And while I have many reservations about Joe Biden, I've rarely seen a politician display as obviously sincere empathy as he has in some of the eulogies he's given, from McCain to Floyd. This was something that Clinton really lacked and made it all the easier to attack her.

I'd say there's another danger the Democrats need to address, though, and that's organised voter suppression efforts. We're already seeing Trump constantly railing about voting by mail being fraudulent, the obvious difficulties with voting in person during a pandemic, and massive cuts in the number of polling places in Democrat-leaning metropolitan areas (in the KY primaries last week, there was one single polling place open for 616,000 voters in Jefferson County). It's very revealing that old-school conservatives like Bill Kristol are talking very openly about voter disenfranchisement.

Bloody hell...

Is that why the Trumpists are talking so much about this "Chaz" thing? "Don't look over there, look at this distraction over here."

[JBS]

 Minor correction to Edward's post.
The Kentucky [and New York] primaries are today. According to this update, things are running smoothly, thanks to a high number of absentee ballots.
https://amp.courier-journal.com/amp/3237124001

[arpeggio]

I'm not sure if you are insulting me -- by suggesting that what I wrote was crazy -- or whether you are being genuine. In the latter case:

Crazy? Well, disenchanted, left behind, no longer part of a tapestry of a common moral code, no longer believing in authorities, focused on what divides us rather than what unites us...  all these things. Crazy is too judgemental for me, because it suggests that the people with which we disagree cannot be understood in the first place. (True for either side.) If that happens, no wonder we lose them and drift off into our respective subcultures. It's a terrible process.

First I said WE ALL are crazy, including myself.  I apologize for making you think that you are the crazy one.

Second, you started lecturing me as if I had no idea how the electoral college works or whether or not I am for it.  For the record, I am for it.