(via io9)
As a partisan Dem, I love watching the Repubs run around with their hair on fire…
Perry. Jindal. Paul. Graham. Carly. Jeb. All GOP stars, all now propping up Trump's gold-plated throne of skulls.
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) February 21, 2016
I picture something more like the Iron Throne made from the yard signs of vanquished foes. https://t.co/uU2KoPpQwZ
— Joel Sawyer (@joeldavidsawyer) February 21, 2016
So emerging Trump council of wise men: Art Laffer, Steve Moore, Rudy Giuliani, Bill Bennett
— James Pethokoukis (@JimPethokoukis) February 22, 2016
Worst Avengers cast ever. https://t.co/9bqpGuhzsf
— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) February 22, 2016
.
I’d be happier if not for charts like this, though:
Look at this graph of national GOP voters gradual, growing acceptance of Trump as nominee pic.twitter.com/3bINR9TQgb
— Martin Gelin (@M_Gelin) February 21, 2016
Turns out GOP voters were always looking for that magic combination of immigration restrictionism, big-government liberalism and asshattery.
— Josh Greenman (@joshgreenman) February 21, 2016
I'll vote for the first candidate to call this country an ungovernable confederation of dopes and charlatans
— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) February 22, 2016
boatboy_srq
All I hear when I see all this “Trump, Trump, Trump” stuff is this.
Boots Day
It still seems highly unlikely that we’ll ever have a President Trump. But the biggest upside to a Trump Administration is the severe damage he would do to the Republican brand, between his irrationality, incompetence, and general lack of understanding of what government can and can’t do. After two years of President Trump, the Senate and House could end up under Dem control for a generation.
CONGRATULATIONS!
How do we take back the House?
Yup, still no plans there. Might as well piss into a hurricane.
Calouste
Baud, there’s your chance!
NonyNony
@Boots Day: I don’t think it works that way. Even with W the GOP was only locked out of national politics for 2 years, and they continued to dominate at the state level without even a hiccup.
boatboy_srq
D’you notice Walker doesn’t get mentioned even once in the roll call of Trump’s
victimscompetitors? Imagine that…Matt McIrvin
That will be Trump, and his numbers will go up.
Calouste
Looking at that could/couldn’t support Trump chart I notice two things:
1) There are very few “don’t knows”, maybe 1-2%. That seems unlikely.
2) Trump’s support was already at almost 50% by the time he got in the race in July.
But yeah, Republicans fall in line, as always. Maybe a few percent won’t vote for him, but that’s it.
misterpuff
Will somebody tell Tweety that implying the Saudis vamoosed after 9/11 with the help of the Bush Crime Family (no other flights allowed in the air) is a tenet of Trutherism. No Trump didn’t say that Bush knocked over the WTC, but referencing the Saudi getaway does infer that in a tenous way.
So Rep. Appalachian Trail walker ain’t wrong, and Trump said it in a debate, where reporters are supposed to listen.
Just Buggin’ me….
Kylroy
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Or understand that we need to make gains in 2020 so we can redistrict. That’s four years off, not forever.
Feudalism Now!
Why do we have another tRump thread? How about focusing on Senate and Congressional races that could use some attention/ love? Either Bernie or Hillster will get lots of mobilization but the down ticket races are needed to bleed this rethuglican poison from the Republic.
Rob in CT
http://www.vox.com/2016/2/23/11099644/trump-support-authoritarianism
This is why he can say whatever heresy (to the GOP) he wants and it doesn’t matter. This is why he can spout off about punching people in the face or shooting someone on 5th Avenue and his audience loves it.
Fucking authoritarians. The *actual* sheeple. And, sadly, they’re awake (somebody else can post the obligatory XKCD link).
raven
@Feudalism Now!: Like it matters what thread topic is up.
boatboy_srq
@Calouste: If Republicans were to “fall in line,” they’d have done so behind HEB?, or Rubio, or perhaps Fiorina. They didn’t. They’re thronging to the fascist unRepublican instead. This isn’t “falling in line” – it’s rallying the mob. Unfortunately that’s something Trump seems to do well.
Patricia Kayden
Taking a short break from Trump and highlighting the lovely story of Virginia McLaurin’s joy at meeting the Obamas. The video of her dancing with the Obamas has already gone viral.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/02/22/dancing-106-year-old-describes-the-day-she-charmed-the-obamas-i-can-die-smiling-now/
Steve in the ATL
@NonyNony: Even with W the GOP was only locked out of national politics for 2 years, and they continued to dominate at the state level without even a hiccup.
replicnt6
@misterpuff:
I believe it generally accepted fact that the admin got a lot of Saudis, in particular, royals, the hell out of the country after 9/11. Because we didn’t want to jeopardize our tight relationship with the shining beacon of democracy in the middle east, Saudi Arabia.
Citing this is hardly Trutherism.
Luthe
@Boots Day: Ha! Trump would be disowned in a heartbeat as “not a real Republican.” That’s what they’ve been trying to do from the start and it will go extra if Prez Trump starts fucking things up. The cockroaches always survive.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I object: Graham was only ever a star on Sunday morning TV shows, and Fiorina was never a star by anybody’s definition. I’ll grant the rest were stars, each for a brief time, among the 30% of the population who self ID as Republicans.
SenyorDave
If David Duke were the GOP nominee most of the conservatives would rally around him. Over time, modern Republicans have shows that the most important issue for them is keeping the whites in charge. Trump is just what the doctor ordered. Krauthammer, Will, the other so-called “reasonable”, thinking man’s conservatives, they will all vote for Trump. I’d be willing to wager that David Brooks will vote for Trump, telling himself that people like him will be a steadying force in the party.
MattF
@SenyorDave: Trump is just a bump on the Road To Character.
SiubhanDuinne, Annoying Scoundrel
@boatboy_srq:
Or Christie.
Elizabelle
@boatboy_srq: re Scott Walker: that is funny. I am relieved I never have to think about him any more.
And isn’t it about time he got indicted?
schrodinger's cat
Brain bleach to wash off Trump video
Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor in Gunday (goonda == goon). Double hawtness! RS manages to look cool in 70s fashion too!
jl
@Luthe: A Trump nomination would do so much damage the GOP’s decades long obsession with destroying social insurance and stealing the ‘lesser’ people’s money, it is hard to see how the could recognize Trump as a real GOPer. And Trump on infrastructure spending that benefits normal people is also a problem.
Trump campaign verbiage on those topics runs full speed ahead smack into his yooge classy wall of supply-side fantasy tax cuts, so no telling what he would do as President. And Trump has said if he wants to change he can do that perfectly fine and quickly, and detailed policy proposals are BS filler for losers like reporters and wonks. So, no telling what he would do once in office.
But the greedy cynical operators who run the GOP don’t want to take that bet. They would much rather wait until a subsequent administration to steal immense gobs of money tied up in social insurance programs. But even a Trump campaign would blow a huge hole in their long con and disinformation campaign they use to lure their white bigot dupes. So, that how I see a Trump nomination as a disaster for the GOP Masters of the Universe.
SenyorDave
@Boots Day: Not with the electorate in this country. As people already pointed out in this thread, Bush was out of power for two years and the GOP came back strong. I’m at the point where I think that the southern and midwest lower middle class whites who continue to vote for the Republicans deserve to get screwed (but their kids don’t deserve it). Any person in Kentucky who was on kynect who voted for Bevin is too stupid too have insurance.
Bobby Thomson
@misterpuff: that’s not something crazy believed only by truthers. It’s a known fact that family was allowed to leave the country quickly, and for their own safety. You don’t have to think Bush was complicit in what some Saudis did before the fact to think he had no interest in Saudi Arabia getting the blame, rather than Iraq, or that he generally was owned by the Saudis.
Aleta
I think Rubio has a clear shot now, and of course new support.
goblue72
@CONGRATULATIONS!: As long as the Democratic Party continues to message primarily to Boomers, we won’t get there. There is a reason that a 74 year Jewish socialist from Vermont with a Brooklyn accent a yard thick is getting any traction at all. A mere 10 years ago, he’d be pulling in less than 1% of the vote.
Why Boomers Don’t Get Bernie Sanders.
The general political temperament of the United States shifts periodically – when it does, it upends all the chess pieces. Last time this happened was the mid-1990s with the Gingrich Revolution when white Boomers and Silent Generation types threw a fit. We haven’t had much of a shift since then (with the 4 year Dem control of Congress from 2006-2010 being a temporary blip responding to the Epic Fail of Bush)
We are 20+ year into that cycle. The worm could easily turn – the populist candidates in both parties are getting a lot more traction than they would have in any recent election. Workers who are just entering the workforce or are mid-career (as opposed to retirees or those close to retirement) are pissed off – and justifiably so. And centrist, incrementalist, technocratic agendas are not going to win back Congress.
Bobby Thomson
@Elizabelle: he has a corrupt state Supreme Court protecting him.
Emma
Game of Thrones my arse. That man is Harkonnen through and through.
jl
@SenyorDave: For too many voters, elections are a matter of ‘what did you do for me yesterday and right now’ without much thought about how and why things happen.
A lot of people felt screwed anyway by the disappointing jobs and wage recovery under Obama, and was enough for complete disillusionment. Given the responsible consensus view on macroeconomics and fact that Obama (on econ and finance) is, or was, a responsible consensus type of person, not sure how it would have been different, though. I think better jobs and wage picture and a better feeling about where the country is headed would change Democratic prospects in midterms.
So, yeah, it is a little disappointing that people forgot after a few years that W and GOP almost put them back into another World Great Depression and destroyed their lives completely and they got pissy about a disappointing recovery, but that is how mass democracy works.
Brachiator
@Boots Day:
People have been saying this ever since Trump announced that he was running. Unpossible. But at some point he might become unstoppable.
Unfortunately, the biggest downside is that a Trump presidency might leave the country itself a smoking ruin.
p.a.
@SenyorDave: re: Kentucky & McConnell, oh how I wish Bamz could issue an exec order privatizing the TVA. My utilities aren’t subsidized (uh, that I know of). Why are theirs? Hate hurting innocent people, but enough is enough; wish BHO could make that POS hurt.
Alex.S
I’m worried about what a Trump candidacy will be like as it moves onwards.
Not a possible Presidency (I can’t deal with that possibility).
But a campaign that embraces angry rhetoric directed towards minorities and is sort of winking at followers being violent or angry towards… well, everyone. Or even acknowledging violence by followers as really passionate fans.
eclare
@schrodinger’s cat: Oh my!
Aleta
What with media attention to Malheur (which did expose the organized threat to public land) and to Republican swordplay, the passage of the TPP is quietly ticking along without too much attention, it seems like.
Benw
@Feudalism Now!: our Trump goes to 11.
humboldtblue
As a partisan Democrat it’s amazing to see how much the party has changed in my lifetime (or from a few years before I arrived on scene).
From a link on reddit, here’s the program for The 1962 Campaign Conference for Democratic Women.
Gindy51
@SenyorDave: I think that had more to do with Obama being president than anything else.
schrodinger's cat
@eclare: You are welcome!
RaflW
@Feudalism Now!: How about focusing on Senate and Congressional races that could use some attention/ love?
Yes, please. Who’s up for this, FPers?
Peale
@p.a.: Sell the dams to a consortium of Chinese and Saudi investors.
Miss Bianca
@schrodinger’s cat:
O.M.G.
Words fail.
RaflW
@SenyorDave:
I read this and immediately pictured a loaded lifeboat making its way slowly from a sinking ship, and David Brooks panicking so badly that he flips the lifeboat, an oar conks him on the head, and he slips out of his incorrectly donned lifejacket. But as he drowns, he still thinks of himself as a calm, steadying force…
Belafon
We knew a lot of Republicans would find a way to justify a Trump presidency. These are the same people that justify everything with “If Democrats are against it, I’m for it” even if Democrats are against drinking bleach.
Kay
@Aleta:
The TPP isn’t moving at all:
They know they can’t run on it. The trade deals don’t pass in even years.
The Petersen group, the think tank they all relied on to say “600K jobs” came out with an updated number. It’s “no (net) job gain”.
If you think Bernie Sanders makes promises he can’t keep, he has nothing on free traders :)
danielx
@Brachiator:
Yeah, not to mention the rest of the planet.
@goblue72:
Hey, I’m a boomer and I get Bernie just fine, thankyewverymuch. Moreover, if you think people just entering the work force are pissed off (justifiably, you’re not wrong), a great many people who were in their fifties when they lost jobs in the recession have never gotten comparable jobs since, because comparable jobs just ain’t there – for boomers or anyone else. They know very well they got screwed, although they may be confused as to who did the screwing and why.
schrodinger's cat
For all the Ranveer Singh fans, a much more subdued but equally smoldering avatar in a movie adapted from an O. Henry’s short set in 1950s in Bengal the newly independent India. With an equally hot Sonakshi Sinha.
Sawar loon
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@schrodinger’s cat: Double hawtness indeed. Many thanks. ::fans self:: But the 70s style
killscools the hawtness of the looks. ::pouts::Randy P
@RaflW: Well, there’s this list from Tom Levenson’s thread below:
Toomey is our remaining wingnut Senator in PA, after we ditched Santorum and let him move on to the national stage (you’re welcome, America).
Yes, it would be very nice to get rid of Toomey. I personally have been rooting for Joe Sestak since his unsuccessful run in 2010, but I understand he’s not the pick of the state Democratic machine. But I’ll take any (D).
We have a new Democratic governor. It would be nice to have a Democratic legislature because the one we have is still managing to do incredible amounts of damage, especially to education. But I’ll take my unicorns where I can get them.
Germy
speaking of blood, Barbara Bush has a new book out
http://liartownusa.tumblr.com/post/139804764075/as-you-have-forsaken-jeb-so-you-have-forsaken-me
She’s pissed at us for what happened to Jeb
Jeffro
Already hearing a lot of self-justifying false equivalence from RW folks about “oh, two terrible choices for America…” (Trump and Clinton), “both unfit to lead”, etc etc.
The choice between Clinton (or any Dem in the country, fwiw) and Trump could not be more clear. I hope she hammers home that contrast every day between now and November
p.a.
@Steve in the ATL: And ALEC
Miss Bianca
@humboldtblue:
that’s amazing. thanks for sharing that!
Jeffro
@Belafon: yes – this.
Everyone’s been talking about Trump’s ceiling in the primaries…once he gets the nomination, his floor – even with all his insanity – is likely 44-45%
Chyron HR
@goblue72:
The only thing you can’t have in this perfect world of total pleasure is your
30th60th birthday.BillinGlendaleCA
@danielx: Don’t waste your breath with this one, just get on the ice floe with the rest of us Spawn of Satan(aka Boomers).
schrodinger's cat
@BillinGlendaleCA: What about the non-boomer non-Bernistas?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@schrodinger’s cat: goblue will just get more and more obnoxious till people see things his way. He’s a political genius.
BillinGlendaleCA
@schrodinger’s cat: Don’t know, but once the Spawn of Satan is gone, life will be WONDERFUL.
scav
It is a truth universally acknowledged that there have never before been youths that understood the inevitable inexorable power of true belief and miraculous swift revolution.
humboldtblue
@Miss Bianca: Start googling some of the names and you’ll get lost in a slice of history. Take for instance, Dorothy Vredenburgh Bush who called the roll at every Democratic National Convention for 40 years and then think to yourself what modern white woman, born in Mississippi and married to an Alabama lumber baron, would even think about being a Democrat much less such a prominent one.
RaflW
VIa wonkwire – Kasich: “I don’t know if my purpose is to be president. My purpose is to be out here, doing what I think I need to be doing and we’ll see where it ends up.”
I guess he saw the poll showing he’s in 2nd in Ohio.
Aleta
@Kay: Thanks for the info and reassurance.
jl
@Kay: People have been calling Petersen and his think tanks on silly assumptions that exaggerate effects of trade deals on jobs. The US style IP law and econ restricts trade and produces income distribution shifts that reduce growth. So, Petersen’s estimates maybe finally had to recognize that the IP provisions that are in the agreement are actually in the agreement and will effect the world just the same as other provisions in the agreement will.
goblue72
@danielx: Now one is saying “all Boomers” nor saying “all Xers” or “all Millenials”. So yes, its perfectly possible that you are a Boomer and get Sanders, while at same time Boomers as a whole do not. And based on the primaries so far, this is bearing out – Boomers heavily vote for Clinton; and Millenials heavily vote for Sanders, and X’ers vote for Sanders as well, if not quite as heavily. The cutoff age appears to be around 45 or so. Even in Nevada, where “Hillary won Latinos”, what she did was win older Latinos – same as all the other gender/race demographics. And given historical voter turnout rates by age, relying on older voters gets you more votes.
And there is a big difference between “the Recession knocked me off the ladder and I have only partially recovered” versus never getting a chance to get on the ladder to begin with – or if you finally do, finding the climb up is a LOT LOT more blocked. There is a significant difference in that degree – and the degree to which the opportunities afforded Boomers were significantly better than those afforded X’ers and Millenials. (As an example, Gen X’ers entered the workforce around time of early 1990s Bush recession, saw a brief period of job gains during second half of Clinton years, saw all that go up in smoke (along with their 401k’s) in Dot Com bust, had it repeat all over again with the Housing Bubble, saw that go up in even bigger smoke (along with both their 401k’s AND their home equity, if they even owned one), and back to square one now all over again. 20 years pissed down the drain. That is categorically different than what Boomers have experienced.
draftmama
Shouldn’t the contenders for President have to take some sort of intelligence test before they are officially on the ballot. With specific questions about foreign policy, domestic economics, and simple stuff like that?
El Caganer
@BillinGlendaleCA: Remember what they were all chanting in Freaks? “Boomer, boomer, one of us! We accept her, one of us!” Or maybe I’m remembering it wrong – after all, I’m a boomer.
El Caganer
@draftmama: For the Republicans maybe something a little easier. First they have to show they know how to use a knife and fork to feed themselves.
PurpleGirl
@goblue72: No, it isn’t. A good numbers of Boomers experienced that in the 1970s and again in the the 1980s. And each time, a fair number of Boomers never made into the higher salary jobs. And when 2008 rolled around, they lost it all again. Now they are looking at old age with significantly less financial resources. I know this from personal experience. I haven’t worked since 2008, I used up savings when Unemployment ran out and until a received a small inheritance I had NO MONEY. So don’t tell me I’ve had it easy. And any number of friends are in the same fix.
JGabriel
You know, if you tilt your head to the left and look at that could/couldn’t graph of Republican voters who can imagine themselves supporting Trump, it looks just like a headless stick figure jumping up and down, waving his arms in dire warning.
EthylEster
@misterpuff: imply, not infer
Miss Bianca
@humboldtblue:
Oh, I think it’s an amazing, amazing little time capsule, and one I plan to look at much more thoroughly.
James E Powell
I’ve been assured by every Republican diehard I know that now that JEB! is gone, Rubio is certain to become the consensus and Trump is finished. Or maybe it was Kasich, I forget.
James E Powell
@Boots Day:
Sure about that? After 8 years of Bush/Cheney disasters, the nation waited exactly two years to give the Republicans veto power over the federal government.
Paul in KY
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Need to elect Democrats at State level, who can then un-gerrymander the districts the Repubs created.
Paul in KY
@humboldtblue: A really cool one (I guess).