Now That Trump's President... (not any more!)

  On 7/18/2018 at 9:14 PM, drome said:

Sounds like conspiracy talk... Sources?

No, just making a connection of two facts that the White House, GOP, and Congress didn't want to make a big deal of.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm426

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-charged-conspiracy-act-agent-russian-federation-within-united-states

  On 7/18/2018 at 9:35 PM, joshuatx said:

 

  On 7/18/2018 at 9:14 PM, drome said:

Sounds like conspiracy talk... Sources?

No, just making a connection of two facts that the White House, GOP, and Congress didn't want to make a big deal of.

 

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm426

 

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/russian-national-charged-conspiracy-act-agent-russian-federation-within-united-states

  On 7/18/2018 at 5:04 PM, joshuatx said:

 

  On 7/18/2018 at 5:23 AM, very honest said:

 

  On 7/16/2018 at 8:41 PM, joshuatx said:

Part of the trap Trump has set is solidifying the idea that there's a clear divide between the "evil" left and "righteous" right, with anyone putting country first against his own policies as the former.

kind of shocking to me that they actually believe that. i tend to feel like, deep down, earnest repubs know that they don't really understand the issues they're talking about, and / or that they are supporting based on some wedge issue, disregarding proportionality to the whole, and that they are mimicking confident opinions they perceived as respected.

 

I agree that those are common reasons GOP voters stick with Trump, and it's built on rhetorical tactics that have been gradually solidified and started before Reagan. Ignorance and wedge issues indeed.

 

Despite that, I stand by that conclusion. Yesterday was a line in the sand. If you excise the Mueller investigation and collusion, and you can, it was still objectively wrong what he did in Helsinki. It transcends partisan politics. It's not the worst thing but it's free of the left vs right debate tied to other wrongs he's committed under his term. There are going to be Republicans who stick with him and those who will continue to call him out on this very basic moral obligation as POTUS. Those in the latter camp will eventually be forced out or will voluntarily leave.

 

You are now witnessing the Trump supporters who have turned on 100% unwavering support for him and the Republican Party over Roy Moore's defeat is about the only other preview of a litmus test earlier I can think of that occurred earlier, with some voting for a Dem, Nick Saban, or abstaining. I've already seen conservative friends of mine yesterday acknowledge embarrassment over Helsinki while others went even further into denial, redirecting, or flat out conspiracy territory. Many are either too far gone or are way too proud to back down. That sentiment of lacking courage is withering away to straight up obliviousness and delusion, if it hasn't already.

 

Offhand I can break down those supporting Trump is multiple categories. I know people personally who fit each one:

 

- Naive Ignorant - the Ken Bone independent voters, those who normally don't vote, those who voted Obama in 2008, etc. Many probably regret it. Others have no idea what's going on. They could easily vote Dem or not vote next election. Many probably won't even know the mid-terms are coming up.

 

- Right-wing Ignorant - the anti-Clinton, drain the swamp, MAGA suckers and those who are the "wedge issue" folks - the Christian and pro-life fall in this camp. So do the rust belt working class folks. This is the legacy of the Tea Party movement. They likely complain about populist issues that harm them while blindly supporting Republicans who enact them. They aren't racist or mean-spirited IRL but they hypocritically excuse or echo that ethos indirectly or via complacency.

 

- Pragmatic - these are folks who think the POTUS is reckless imbecile, albeit quietly...but stocks are doing well. The baby-sitters in the Trump admin fall in this camp, so do all of the GOP members who criticized Trump before he was elected but are happy about de-regulation, tax cuts, and special interests. They are biding their time. They range from moderate to very conservative but none are in the alt-right or conspiracy territory - after all the Wall Street and wealth isn't limited to one ideological side.

 

- Right-wing extreme - the alt-right, the pro-Kremlin, anti-Liberal Democracy elements and the emboldened white supremacists, nationalists, fringe elements, etc. The absolute scariest of the bunch because they are yielding increasing influence on the above three camps and above all else it's undermining the fundamental beliefs of American democracy. They sway the naive via relentless misinformation - faux news, online bots, subversive social media, etc. Their rhetoric is eaten up voraciously by the ignorant right-wingers and is gradually converting them. The pragmatic, establishment right-wingers are constrained by their effectiveness and increasingly undermined by the extreme. It is anything but conservative - it's right wing populism.This a seed Trump planted even if he doesn't believe it himself. He certainly didn't beforehand but his own delusions and narcissism likely means by default he espouses it.

 

We have authoritarians seeking one-party rule in power. Our Republic is being bombarded to hell but is historically stronger in it's Constitution and laws than most other democracies that have fallen to dictatorships via fascism or left wing populist-peddling despots. That's how we've avoided full on civil strife, a constitutional crises, a coup, etc. for now. I hope it can stay entact long enough to flush Trump and those taking advantage of his presidency out.

Brilliant anaylsis of the personas. And how surreal is it to see these different groups mingling and defending one another with complete ease and unashamedly unifying as a choir to praise Trump?

41.8% current approval rate. What?? Who ARE these people? How the hell did Russia manipulate almost half our damn country to become loyal to a complete unqualified moron dictator??

And being that this manipulation has been pretty much proven, isn't interfering with our election / democracy essentially an act of war on us?

  On 7/18/2018 at 9:37 PM, Lane Visitor said:

 

41.8% current approval rate. What?? Who ARE these people? 

Next time you're in Detroit, let me know. I'll take you on a magical tour of a fantastic place known as Macomb county.

  On 7/18/2018 at 1:20 PM, Squee said:

Do you think Trump has had sex since he became president? I don't.

Certainly not with his wife.

https://twitter.com/JebBush/status/1019718122520104962

lol jeb bush found his testicles

So lovely that Donald Trump represents 330 million Americans and with them the country that owns 50% of businesses world wide, the by far most important country economically and militarily. I like it very much 

  On 7/21/2018 at 12:45 AM, whosebrian said:

 

 

so, that's Melania, his daughter.. 2 playboy bunnies.. is the one on the far right the one he paid off after an affair?

nice to see them all together. 

  On 7/18/2018 at 4:35 PM, auxien said:

  On 7/18/2018 at 3:16 PM, very honest said:

at 10:55 in maddow's monday "a block" she goes over the butina thing. worth a watch

 

What she's laying out there, along with other bits and hints from elsewhere, suggests that there are major Republican party members who are willingly or accidentally supporting this...I wanna know if so, where are our intelligence agencies?

issues pertaining to citizens generally fall into fbi jurisdiction. the fbi that is being viciously attacked by the republicans. it appears the fbi is looking at congress people, in regard to the russia thing.

i cant point to specific indicators off the top of my head but palmer report has some stuff on it.

  On 7/21/2018 at 2:42 AM, ignatius said:

 

so, that's Melania, his daughter.. 2 playboy bunnies.. is the one on the far right the one he paid off after an affair?

 

nice to see them all together. 

 

Yes

  Quote

 

All The President's Women: Trump, the Playboy bunny 'he had 10-month fling with', Melania and his daughter Ivanka all posing together at the Heff's mansion as model Karen McDougal claims he said he loved her

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5538181/Donald-Trump-Melania-Ivanka-Playboy-glamour-model.html

enjoying this 10 hour video record of the strzok testimony better than any show i've seen recently. cicilline kills it at 6:45:00.

  On 7/21/2018 at 4:25 AM, very honest said:

enjoying this 10 hour video record of the strzok testimony better than any show i've seen recently. cicilline kills it at 6:45:00.

don't read the comments

don't read the comments

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^indeedie. Batttlebots: Imbecile Edition

  On 7/21/2018 at 4:25 AM, very honest said:

enjoying this 10 hour video record of the strzok testimony better than any show i've seen recently. cicilline kills it at 6:45:00.

Cicilline is an absolute tosser and one of the most corrupt (D)ickheads to be spewn from the cesspool of non-ethics that is RI.  Locally he enjoys an approval rating somewhere around 30%, largely b/c everyone here knows that as mayor of Providence he basically sold the city's already tenuous fiscal standing up the river, and subsequent mayors have been doing nothing but three card monty to keep the state's capital afloat. And yet he'll easily win reelection b/c ain't nobody to oppose a niBBa.  Local mafia Dems of course aint havin it either.

And fuck this 'vote in november' bullshit, wake those dumbfucks up to the fact thatmy vote (and I will vote) means nothing in the calculus of Game of Thronz Retard Fed Gov't Edition Platinum

  On 7/21/2018 at 5:40 AM, ignatius said:

 

  On 7/21/2018 at 4:25 AM, very honest said:

enjoying this 10 hour video record of the strzok testimony better than any show i've seen recently. cicilline kills it at 6:45:00.

 

don't read the comments

don't read the comments

don't read the comments

don't read the comments

don't read the comments

don't read the comments

don't read the comments

don't read the comments

=/

I did.

I shouldn't have.

  On 7/18/2018 at 9:37 PM, Lane Visitor said:

41.8% current approval rate. What?? Who ARE these people? How the hell did Russia manipulate almost half our damn country to become loyal to a complete unqualified moron dictator??

 

And being that this manipulation has been pretty much proven, isn't interfering with our election / democracy essentially an act of war on us?

The Russians are just exploiting what has been in the making for a couple of decades already. Talk radio has been dividing the country for years and the election of Obama is what finally broke the brains of these people for good. And the GOPe are just running this grift as far as they can and enriching themselves and their donors until something happens that will put a stop to it. Either it's a final crash (most likely) or something else. Meanwhile the Trump administration is doing irreparable damage to the courts and the institutions in the country as well as to the US standing in the world. 

We might be witnessing the start of the end of the US empire. Ironic that it's in part with the installation of a leader that exemplifies the worst of American "values" and a little help from electoral manipulation by a foreign state, something the US itself has experience in.

  On 7/21/2018 at 4:25 AM, very honest said:

enjoying this 10 hour video record of the strzok testimony better than any show i've seen recently. cicilline kills it at 6:45:00.

I was trying to find the official full-length upload of this without any editing/cutting by other news outlets. cheers.

The russians the russians the russians the russsians!!!

  On 7/21/2018 at 6:25 AM, Bob Dobalina said:

And fuck this 'vote in november' bullshit, wake those dumbfucks up to the fact thatmy vote (and I will vote) means nothing in the calculus of Game of Thronz Retard Fed Gov't Edition Platinum

bob dob i have to disagree with you. what you're espousing is a thought contagion that results in poor turnout. we end up with politicians that don't represent positions the majority of americans support.

yea pls (not joking) register to vote and participate in midterm elections mmkay pls thx

Voting and calling your representatives are the only weapons we have so you should use them.

  On 7/21/2018 at 8:05 PM, very honest said:

 

  On 7/21/2018 at 6:25 AM, Bob Dobalina said:

And fuck this 'vote in november' bullshit, wake those dumbfucks up to the fact thatmy vote (and I will vote) means nothing in the calculus of Game of Thronz Retard Fed Gov't Edition Platinum

bob dob i have to disagree with you. what you're espousing is a thought contagion that results in poor turnout. we end up with politicians that don't represent positions the majority of americans support.

I concur x 100000000000000

  On 7/22/2018 at 2:30 AM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

yeah bob imo you're always on point and i'm glad you're still voting but it can still make a real difference. think about some of the billz you can vote in too, maybe something that helps people get access to healthcare and basic resources, or water without lead.

not just that but there are differences between these people and they all make decisions that effect the future present etc.. so the wrong person getting the job is a big deal..i don't really need to provide examples do i? 

if gore became president instead of bush where might we be?  hard to say but we'd probably not have invaded iraq.  we'd have some other thing to be sick over maybe but it's hard to imgaine it being worse than what we did in iraq.  

anyway.. vote or protest or shut down from politics. pick your poison/remedy

Whoa whoa friends, I am 10^n% in agreement on the necessity of voting, I've already voted once this year and plan on doing twice more this year, both in our Democrat primary (more on that below) and the general election.

If I could put that troublesome quote back into context, I meant to direct my ire to the broken facets of our political/electoral system that neuter the voting process and it's purported aim to reflect the will of the people - 2 party hegemony, the electoral college, primary vetting that requires candidates to preach to the party's true believers, etc.  

I live in Rhode Island, a state of great natural beauty and for the most part, nice people.  At the same time our politics is corrupt as fuck: cronyism, nepotism, pay-to-play, abuses of power, etc.  Obviously shit is rampant throughout the US and elsewhere, though ours has a unique odor due to the fact that RI one of the bluest states in the land, with a hypermajority (>80%) of our state legislature is Democrat.  The guv's also a corrupt D in the pocket of Wall St (more specifically, some ex-Enron cunt) though due to a bug/feature in the state constitution, she actually has less power than the House Speaker.  The 4 congress-men-men-men our state sends to Washington - including Rep Chichi Cicilline - are also Ds.  When you think Rhode Island, think D.

Tons of people here have grown tired of the bullshit and voter participation continues to trend up, which is a good thing.  Also, many have woken up to the fact that in a state like ours, the primary is actually more important than the general election (although this still remains lost on some people).  We're one of those states where you don't have to be a card-carrying whacko to vote in a party primary, though you can't vote in both.   FWIW Bernie spanked Hillary here in the 2016 primary in what was seen as a clear rebuke of the Dem establishment in these parts.

So to this current election cycle and the case study Cilcilline.  Now he might look cute in a congressional committee on occasion, but David Cicilline is a piece of shit - you're just gonna have to trust me and his 25-30% approval rating at home, I'd be happy to expound if necessary.  Of course, myself and other reasonable people would rather not have his brand of slime as our "representative."  The repubs here are a nonstarter due to their ilk being massive cunts on the national scale and the locals have no money, organization or leadership.  Besides, even if they were somehow formidable, would a sane person really want another R in congress?

He'll have some progressive opposition in the primary, but he'll also have the full backing of the DNC, the Local Dem establishment, and oodles of dark money (via ad time bought by superpacs to tell dumbfucks what a great jerb Cilcilline is doing and why w/ Trump you can't afford not to have him in congress).  I will nonetheless walk into a primary as a "registered" RI democrat (even though the lot of them comprise our own miniswamp impervious to drainage), vote for the most viable opposition candidate, along with others in other races that are more in line with what a party supposedly espousing progressive causes ought to be doing.

Anyway, the point of the OG vent was that people can #VoteInNovember all they want, yet here as I will be exercising my voting rights to their maximum, we're still looking at another two years of Cilcilline (term limits what), and none of this changes the balance of power in Washington, since our chips were already stacked on blue going back decades.  The umbrage I take with a mantra of "vote in November" (esp. as a response to whatever latest thing Dumblefuck does and how congress does nothing about it) is that is dumbs down a nuanced system to a single task and ignores a very flawed system, one that can and should be fixed but for very special reasons won't be.

  On 7/22/2018 at 2:30 AM, Mesh Gear Fox said:

yeah bob imo you're always on point and i'm glad you're still voting but it can still make a real difference. think about some of the billz you can vote in too, maybe something that helps people get access to healthcare and basic resources, or water without lead.

Yeah I'm with ya M1000.  The public doesn't directly vote on policy matters here, there are a few referenda on the ballot each year, though they're largely about floating bonds for schools, infrastructure, and the like.  rest assured I only vote for the good ones!

  On 7/22/2018 at 6:28 AM, Bob Dobalina said:

M1000

 

 

nice