The GOP dumping of Trump has begun https://t.co/NcES3eaUBb https://t.co/TBQbjN8jTo
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) September 2, 2016
Cassidy: "It really seems to boil down to Mr. Trump’s personality being not what people like," not GOP policies https://t.co/vtzAg0Wg6C
— Alexandra Jaffe (@ajjaffe) September 2, 2016
You just keep telling yourself that, Sen. Cassidy — it’s not the message, it’s the messenger! If only Deadbeat Donald could be a little more… restrained about your party’s appeal to all the worst elements of racism, xenophobia, and misogyny in American politics…
But Cassidy’s from Louisiana, he needs emergency reconstruction funds for his state right now, not when Mitch McConnell gets tired of stonewalling in hopes that Hillary (or better yet, Donald) will be struck by lightning before November. “Principles” are all very well when your gang of Freedom Caucus Liberty Patriots are riding high, but when the guy at the top of the ticket looks to be bent on self-immolation…
For the special delectation of Balloon Juice readers: The NYTimes reports that “Tensions Deepen Between Donald Trump and R.N.C.”:
The Republican National Committee had high hopes that Donald J. Trump would deliver a compassionate and measured speech about immigration on Wednesday, and prepared to lavish praise on the candidate on the party’s Twitter account.
So when Mr. Trump instead offered a fiery denunciation of migrant criminals and suggested deporting Hillary Clinton, Reince Priebus, the party chairman, signaled that aides should scrap the plan, and the committee made no statement at all.
The evening tore a painful new wound in Mr. Trump’s relationship with the Republican National Committee, imperiling his most important remaining political alliance.
Mr. Priebus and his organization have been steadfastly supportive of Mr. Trump, defending him in public and spending millions of dollars to aid him. But the collaboration between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Mr. Priebus’s committee has grown strained over the last month, according to six senior Republicans with detailed knowledge of both groups, some of whom asked to speak anonymously for fear of exacerbating tensions….
Ya think? [surreptitious sounds of blame being shifted; reporters pretend not to recognize figures behind the curtain]
… There is no prospect of a full public breach between the Trump campaign and the R.N.C. because both sides rely on a joint fund-raising arrangement crucial to their election efforts.
But tensions have grown to such a point that they threaten to diminish the party’s ability to work smoothly with Mr. Trump during the most critical post-Labor Day phase of the race, when the committee traditionally helps supervise an extensive voter turnout effort.
Mr. Trump, who has struggled to raise money, is dependent on his party’s national committee to perform many of the basic functions of a presidential campaign. Should the partnership continue to deteriorate, it could hinder Mr. Trump’s bid for a late comeback in the race…
The RNC and Trump are joined at the hip, the knee, the waist, and the neck — and he’s determined to jump off the cliff, because he can, and nobody is the boss of him.
… Mr. Priebus said in a statement that there was no significant friction between his committee and the Trump campaign, describing theirs as a “fantastic working relationship.”…
But senior advisers to Mr. Priebus and Mr. Trump have collided over the turbulence in the campaign, the senior Republicans said. Mr. Trump’s top policy adviser questioned Mr. Priebus’s competence in a caustic email this week after the Phoenix speech. And Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Mr. Priebus’s chief of staff clashed in a tense meeting over the use of the committee’s war chest…
(Also, Mr. Priebus is no longer bothering with cereal — he just drinks the Bailey’s for breakfast.)
… Within Mr. Trump’s circle, there is impatience with what advisers view as a cautious and conventional party bureaucracy, ill-equipped to accommodate Mr. Trump’s improvisational style. At times, Trump aides have vented that frustration in language that was contemptuous of Mr. Priebus, a genial Wisconsin lawyer who has been chairman for five years.
When Mr. Trump’s immigration speech this week spurred resignations from the National Hispanic Advisory Council for Trump, a party-backed group, one of Mr. Trump’s top advisers lashed out at Mr. Priebus in an email to the campaign staff.
“The RNC needs to take control of this situation and quickly,” wrote Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s senior policy adviser, who often travels with the candidate.
Describing the Hispanic Republicans who resigned in dismay as “professional amnesty lobbyists,” Mr. Miller asked, “Can Reince do his job?”…
Jared Kushner is Trump’s mini-me son-in-law, and Stephen Miller is a nativist thug on loan from Senator Sessions’ neo-Confederate fever swamp. Neither of them give a well-fvcked rat’s arse about the RNC, or the GOP — Kushner just wants to look like a success at something his daddy didn’t buy for him, and Miller wants to be Roy Cohn (using Muslims/immigrants instead of Communists as targets). But it’s not as though their ideas weren’t firmly within the mainstream of current GOP legislators… and voters.
… Inside the committee, top officials have lost confidence in Mr. Trump’s ability to right his listing campaign, according to the senior Republicans. Complaints abound about the haphazard nature of Mr. Trump’s operation, in which power is so divided among strategists and members of the Trump family that the process of making even simple decisions is laborious and unpredictable. Mr. Trump is on his third campaign leadership team, having dismissed two previous chief advisers, and he has already fired two senior staff members, Rick Wiley and Ed Brookover, whose jobs included coordinating his strategy with the R.N.C.
Mr. Priebus, who has a warm relationship with Mr. Trump and speaks with him daily, has also confided to some Republicans that he has been disappointed by Mr. Trump’s failure to evolve as a candidate in the general election.
He denied in a statement that he had complained about Mr. Trump’s refusal to shift course. “I’ve said exactly the opposite,” Mr. Priebus said. “I think he’s had his best three weeks.”…
…At a meeting in New York late last month, Mr. Kushner, who is married to Ivanka Trump, pointedly challenged Katie Walsh, the committee’s chief of staff, over the party’s spending plans.
In a tone that several witnesses described as imperious and aggressive, Mr. Kushner suggested that the national committee might not be giving Mr. Trump all the support he was due.
Ms. Walsh pushed back strongly, telling Mr. Kushner, who has no background in politics, that the committee’s fund-raising and spending are disclosed in detail to the Federal Election Commission, according to the witnesses who were in the room and two people briefed by them afterward.
Ms. Walsh told Mr. Kushner that the committee had a responsibility to take a broad view of its finances, mapping out a budget for the entire party and ensuring it could remain operational for the rest of the year, and could not solely focus on Mr. Trump’s needs.
Mike DuHaime, a former political director for the committee, said tensions with the campaign could be harmful to both sides in the general election…
One can only hope, she said piously. But let’s not let the RNC escape the general devastation — the only difference between Trump and Jeb/Cruz/Rubio/Cotton/GenericGOP is that Trump says in public what they’ve tried to keep behind closed doors.
germy
Reminds me of that old horror movie with Ray Milland. “The Thing With Two Heads.” Milland plays a racist who finds himself with a second head
Except in the movie, the other head is a black guy. Rosey Grier.
In this campaign, the second head is also a racist.
Ken
i.e., the RNC raises huge amounts of money, and Trump uses it to rent office space in buildings he owns.
Clearly a man who knows the importance of lube when you’re being f*cked over.
The Dangerman
@Ken:
Kinda goes to my point downstairs that the last thing Trump wants is to actually win (which is about the last thing that I want so I guess we agree on something). He’s making coin somehow off this deal and that’s all he cares about.
Nora
How could anyone who has any kind of relationship with Trump have any serious expectations that Trump would “evolve” into anything? When has Trump ever shown any interest in changing his stripes? I read that line and wondered what color the sky is on Reibus’ planet.
Old Broad in California
Love it. Even most of the Uncle Toms (or Tio Juans?) on the National Hispanic Advisory Committee couldn’t take Trump anymore, and it’s Priebus’s fault! Pass the popcorn.
On the plus side, we’ve all been able to enjoy the prospect of a taco truck on every corner.
Felonius Monk
I’ll believe this when I see Taco Trucks parked in front of every Trump property.
NotMax
Ain’t enough spackle on the planet to hide the cracks.
kindness
What comes after popcorn? I think I’m there already and it’s only the beginning of September. Too early for hard liquor.
cmorenc
“Two taco trucks on every corner” is going to be as immortal in campaign lore as “40 acres and a mule” or “a chicken in every pot” from long-past presidential campaigns. But maybe not as snappy as “Tippecanoe and Tyler too”.
WereBear
@Nora: Yeah. Like being disappointed those sea monkeys didn’t evolve into a puppy.
Gvg
@The Dangerman: I disagree that he only cares about the money. I think he wants both because his ego does not look at losing as strategic. He may make up justifications to live with it after the fact like he did bankruptcy, but he is not trying to lose.
I was just reading about Louisiana needing emergency money and imagining Trump in Obama’s place, saying “what’s in it for me?” He would look at all our money as his and revel in the power. I consider him to have almost no chance but the prospect is so scarey it’s hard not to scream. Still those running around in hysterics or doom assurance Trump will win annoy me a lot. My parents are usually smarter….
Bruuuuce
@Felonius Monk: With all of their vegetables and grains provided by lesbian farmers.
Keith P.
Wow, Trump reading off index cards is even more listless than his teleprompter speeches.
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
@kindness: I’m on a diet. When I go for munchies it’s mostly in the raw veggies category, so I’m going to have to get through election season on baby carrots and cucumbers I guess.
I really get the thing with dogs chewing on sticks and the appeal of having something to gnaw on. Maybe I should keep a pile of twigs next to me when I’m reading political news. I used to watch my dog intently stripping the bark of twigs and think, “that actually looks kind of fun”.
gogol's wife
@germy:
As one of the people who has actually seen that film, no thank you for reminding me.
dmsilev
@Old Broad in California:
As some wag on Twitter put it, #GuacTheVote.
Amir Khalid
I sense from the NYT story that Priebus is all too aware that the party has no control over Donald; that it never knows whether it’s dealing with Donald today as an ally or as an adversary. It’s in keeping with Donald’s approach: keeping other people off-balance so that he’s the one in control. Priebus needs to remember: a guy who deals with you that way is ALWAYS an adversary.
To state the blindingly obvious, Donald’s not running for president for America’s sake, or for the sake of Republican ideals. He’s running for his own benefit. He started out small, gouging the party for office rent and catering and small stuff like that; but having seen the party surrender to him so easily, he now thinks it not inconceivable that the rest of the nation might also surrender. Donald reckons he’s suddenly got a real shot at becoming king of the world.
Reince may be hoping that if he’s nice enough to Donald the party won’t get fucked over so hard. But Donald won’t be inclined to respect those who surrender. Bullies don’t work that way.
gogol's wife
I missed the thread about the taco trucks, and had to go back and read it. Wow, I demand a taco truck on my corner. But first I need a corner. There aren’t any out here in the sticks.
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
So if Fox News really does implode and Trump TV rises to immediately fill the ecological niche with all the same liars, bigots and idiots… is that a net gain for society?
Is there any way to actually tamp down that strain in our society?
Maybe we can hope that Trump’s proven business incompetence will take them all down the drain with him when he fails again?
raven
THE BEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL OPENING WEEKED EVHA!!!!
The Thin Black Duke
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym: Why would TrumpTV be any different than any of his other failures? Fish rots from the head, after all.
KlareCole
@Keith P.: The Detroit church speech-let was a speech any democrat could give. Wonder how many hours before he tramples on those niceties.
Bruuuuce
Magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits this morning near Pawnee, OK. I like that the CNN article speculates on whether fracking was in any way responsible, so the rest of us need not pound on it quite so much.
Chris
@Amir Khalid:
I thought “for his own benefit” was the Republican ideal.
Frankensteinbeck
Trump won the primary, and the vast majority of GOP voters plan to vote for him. They are the Republican Party, not the assholes clinging desperately to Reagan’s mask.
The Dangerman
@raven:
Not quite up to the levels of the first two days of March Madness (that Thursday and Friday should be Holidays and I’m barely kidding)…
…but opening weekend of football is always special. Only thing that’s kinda sad is that means Fall and Fall means the final Vin Scully game is close. Nobody in LA is as revered as Scully and he’ll be missed.
Amir Khalid
@Chris:
Donald is the extreme of that ideal. The other candidates at least pretended to serve Republican ideals, or some conception thereof, and the party. Donald is demanding that Republican ideals and the party serve him.
Emma
@kindness: really good brie on water crackers and pear slices. I’m stockpiling the triple cream stuff.
laura
@gogol’s wife: the twitter feed is unbelievably awesome!
I bow down to our future taco truck overlords.
Please make mine a Chandos!
Tacos, tasty, tasty tacos. . .
Kathleen
I think that the intent of Patrick Healy’s original “Immigration Speech” story was to signal reluctant Rethugs that it was now OK to support Trump, NYT’s Public Editor’s disclaimer that “Journalmalism is Hard” notwithstanding.
Mai.naem.mobile
The Kochs should have just given El Donaldo $150M to go away. Might have set a bad precedent but I don’t see Uday or Qusay pulling El Donaldos grift off and Eva Braun is literally a Joo lover so the KKK wing of the GOP party would never vote for her.
Ken
@Chris: I think it was Terry Pratchett who said that one of humanity’s great discoveries was that you can get more than one coat from a sheep. The Republican version is that you can grift and graft, but don’t grab so much that the whole system crashes down. Trump looks like he might do that.
CaseyL
@gogol’s wife: You watched that? It made the “Worst Movies of All Time” List. Were you working your way through the list, or did you see it when it first came out, when no one could warn you about it?
KlareCole
@Amir Khalid: Add to that Donald respects no one. So the GOP will be raped financially, as will the nation if he were to win. We would somehow repay the 650 mil of his debt.
Trump has an alpha personality, I’m not saying that is news. Alphas push forward easily based on their belief that they are right. If the person has character, they usually lead in a good direction. Trump in his extreme narcissism, need for admiration and utter selfishness, always pushes his agenda with no observation of the consequences for others. That results in everyone else knocked off balance. I don’t dispute that he wants to be in control, I’m just saying that everyone else being off balance is more result than intention. It doesn’t matter much to Trump, so long as he keeps his narcissistic supply of admiration & attention stocked. But he is easy to knock off balance with criticism. I.e. Mr Khan. So he is a very weak figure, if his needs and vulnerabilities are kept in mind. Which must be why Putin & Kim Jong IL like him.
NorthLeft12
@germy: I would love to see the scene where the Milland head uses Rosie Grier’s fist to knock out Rosie Grier’s head, recreated. In my version Trump and Preibus would beat each other senseless.
That was one movie which required some/a shitload suspension of disbelief.
KlareCole
@Amir Khalid: “Serve him,” you nailed it well.
The Dangerman
@Gvg:
I’m gonna split hairs a little bit by saying he’s not trying to lose; he just doesn’t want to win. There are some simple things a person that wants to win does; opening offices in battleground states, for example.
Trump is many things; racist, misogynist, and likely NPD start the list. I don’t think he’s stupid. He has to know he’d SUCK as President. No way Pence can be the quasi-President and let Trump just enjoy riding in a bigger plane. It just can’t possibly work that way.
ETA: And suppressing volunteers by making them sign an NDA is … not a winning strategy.
trnc
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym:
You would think that a reputation for stiffing workers might limit his ability to hire, but I guess some people really are just that willfully stupid.
Shell
Me too, but blessedly it was the Mystery Theater 3000 version.
Mike in NC
Who in the world would describe a sniveling shit like Reince Priebus as being “genial”?
NorthLeft12
@CaseyL: I saw it on a late night bad movie show. It is one of the most jaw dropping movies made. Unintentionally hilarious [I think] and the logical “sequel” to the 1958 classic “The Defiant Ones” with Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis.
Yes, the last bit is a joke.
trollhattan
@laura:
Sensors indicate a Sacto foodie in da house. Chandos for everyone.
The Lodger
@Mike in NC: Brought to you by the department of unlinking adjectives from their actual meanings.
NorthLeft12
@Mike in NC:
100% agree. Loathsome, obnoxious, annoying, abrasive, opportunistic, cowardly, offensive, odious, repulsive, and nauseatingly noxious seem to be more appropriate.
Kay
Is that the 500th prediction that the GOP dumping of Trump “has begun?”
They’re fine with Trump. The vast majority of their voters and elected officials think he’s great.
shomi
@The Dangerman: Oh fer fucks sakes. You people going on and on like the drumpster fire is some fucking idiot savant rather than just an idiot.
News flash. He’s a slum lord with money. That’s it. A smart person would not do the things he does. Even worse, he has very low emotional intelligence which is even more important when you are a businessman or leader of any kind. Given those simple facts is he A) smart or B) not smart?
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@Old Broad in California: That’s Tio Tomás.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym: There are actually chew toys for humans. Your wondering was so interesting, I did a quick google search. Mainly designed for children, and therapeutic use, but an interesting concept.
Hal
My single biggest fear after Trump loses is that Kelly Ann Conway is going to get gig on network tv somewhere other than fox news. I wear my clicker out having to change the channel all the time.
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
@NorthLeft12: That’s the movie that came to my mind when reading Germy’s post. Except the “Defiant Ones” I saw was the TV remake with Robert Urich and Carl Weathers, two guys who are both in my “will watch them in anything” category.
Gindy51
@KlareCole: The difference being the congregation would show up for a Democrat as they did not for Trump.
Trentrunner
@The Dangerman: This reminds me of those who cluck that Ann Coulter (or whatever RWNJ du jour) doesn’t believe what she’s saying; she’s just an elaborate performance art piece (or some such nonsense).
Donald Trump WANTS to be elected. He’s not intelligent enough (or can’t let his ego get out of the way enough) to know that he really does not want to BE president. But deep in his bones, he truly wants to win; he desperately wants to not lose. And we shouldn’t forget it for a minute.
The Thin Black Duke
@Hal: Remember, you’re not obligated to watch TV news. It’s the “vast wasteland” we were warned about so long ago.
Ken
@Mike in NC: Maybe it’s a misprint for “genital”?
Anoniminous
@trnc:
One of the characteristics of the cognitively challenged is the firm belief reality doesn’t apply to them.
Gindy51
@KlareCole: True alpha makes (or females) do not need to bully. They not only have the drive to be top dog. They also have the personality not to make too many enemies along the way. Beta males, like Trump, think they can bull doze their way to the top but make TONS of enemies along the way and that means they fall, hard fast and splat. They push and push and push claiming they are on the top but deep down they KNOW they are not They know it’s all fake and can come crashing down the second they let the bully ease up.
gogol's wife
@CaseyL:
I saw it when it first came out, at a drive-in in Kansas City. I plead high school.
Amir Khalid
@The Thin Black Duke:
I did hear once that TV used to be a vast wasteland, but of late it was only “half-vast”.
Pogonip
@Kay: I see a lot of Trump signs. I live in the depressed Midwest where there are a lot of hopeless white people who feel they have little left to lose. I sure hope they don’t hit the point where they feel they have nothing to lose. People who feel they have nothing to lose can get ugly.
They are right; they do have very little left to lose, but I don’t see how Trump can help them. Even if he tries, the Congress will never cooperate with him.
CarolDuhart2
“He’s a slum lord with money.” Nailed all of it in one sentence. It sums up his inadequacies in so many words. It means he doesn’t know how to relate to people who he can’t bully or cheat and who have to put up with it because they have no one to speak with for for them.
L&DinSLT
@Emma:Try Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam if you can find it!
Villago Delenda Est
@The Thin Black Duke: The problem, though, is a lot of people watch it, and their perceptions of the world (and as a consequence, how they cast their ballots) is heavily influenced by it. For example, even though crime has been going down for decades, these people are convinced that crime is rampant, because that’s what they see on the TV news.
Anoniminous
Trump Campaign in a nutshell (NYT):
Trump says something egregiously stupid, gets a push-back response, and it is someone else’s fault.
debbie
I’m shocked the Times is even covering this.
Villago Delenda Est
@Pogonip:
The Bourbons and Romanovs can tell you all about that.
D58826
And to prove that nothing will change, the daily beast has an article about ‘the stink of the Hillary e-mails just got worse’. Seems the FBI notes revealed that a laptop with an email archive was lost in 2013. The FBI knew about it, it’s in the notes, and they still said that nothing illegal was done. BUT BUT BUT the ‘stink’ continues.
Or this one I saw on Twitter
poster: the CF is a well regarded charity
commentor: its a slush fund where the Clintons take 90% of the donations
poster: wrong. two agencies that rank charities both say the CF uses 85-90% of its donations for programs and the Clintons do not draw salaries
commenter: well how do we know that everything is being reported
poster: these are two well respected agencies that do this for a business
commenter: can they guarantee that they have seen every transaction
ME: OVAY
I hope all of these folks enjoy the Trump presidency.
D58826
@NorthLeft12: But I’m sure he is nice to his pet snake
ruemara
Not to distract from Der Trümpenfürher, but I have a question. I was hoping to get some friends together to announce the new job but the few that responded turned me down for a lunch meetup. I tried to do a Friday or Sat dinner, no dice. So I’m trying to be understanding and maybe suggest another weekend, but I’m also a bit hurt. This happens every time. If I want to see a movie or go out, no one wants to come. If they want to do something, I should rearrange plans to come along or I’m being a hermit. I feel disappointed that I couldn’t put together a celebratory coffee even after I said why I wanted to meet up. I’m not even saying take me out, just fucking raise a goddamn glass with me. Am I just being uncharitable? I’m trying to be patient and wait for some free time but I can’t shake feeling like an hour for people who live 15 minutes of me isn’t a huge investment to show some support.
raven
@ruemara: Damn, if I don’t say anything I’m as bad as them. My old lady thinks I am a hermit.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@ruemara: I’m sorry that you’re feeling blue about that.
Lots of people have lots of time constraints these days, especially if they’ve got kids, etc. Or think they do.
If these are friends from work, maybe bring in some doughnuts on your last day or something? Everyone likes doughnuts and they’re a good way to get people to show up in a particular place.
If it’s just general friends, well, I don’t know. It sounds like you’ve tried. Treat yourself to a nice beverage of your choice. :-)
Good luck! Hang in there.
Cheers,
Scott.
rikyrah
@Pogonip:
Did they vote for Willard in 2012?
if so, not worried.
Never forget : Willard got SIXTY PERCENT of the White vote. And it didn’t even matter.
SenyorDave
@D58826: I hope all of these folks enjoy the Trump presidency.
You repeat something enough it gains legs. People might think it can’t happen, but when the NYT and the WP have endless articles on the emails and the CF it has effect. I’m hoping to see a lot of negative ads on Trump, negative stuff works.
Iowa Old Lady
@D58826: That’s the kind of fact free argument that makes me so crazy I have to walk away so I don’t break something.
D58826
Oh my this should hurt somebody but probably won’t. One of the charity rating agencies has rated Judicial Watch. Seems they only spend 55% of their donations on programs (i.e. the Hillary witch hunt) and 33% on fund raising,
CF spends 85-90% on programs so obviously corrupt.
In the meantime the NYT is in a lather about how much time Hillary spends fund raising. As opposed to all of the money the GOP gets from the Koch brothers/ Addelson, etc.
debbie
@ruemara:
Instead of trying to surprise them, why not tell them and invite them to celebrate with you?
Baud
@D58826: I saw the fundraising article. God forbid she run her campaign based on her own strategy. August is not the best time for campaign events.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
You had Balloon-Juicers who had never met you in person drive an hour to Burbank for an opportunity to do so, so I think the answer is that your existing friends are assholes.
Iowa Old Lady
@ruemara: My first response is to feel indignant, like of course they should gather round and celebrate with you! But I don’t know their schedules or lives, and I don’t want to make you feel worse by saying they’re stiffing you. It sounds like they like your company because they invite you place, so it’s not a question of that. You’ll probably feel best if you take deep breaths and let it go. Sorry.
WereBear
@ruemara: Sadly, I don’t think your feelings are out of line. If they do not respond with a time they can celebrate with you, it does make a person feel undervalued.
Brachiator
@ruemara:
I really feel bad about your coworker problem, and really sympathize because we are going through a lot of turmoil at my job, and some similar situations.
Sadly, it sounds as though not much can be done. You might just want to have a few one on one chats to say goodbye and how much you enjoyed working with them.
D58826
I love stats and probabilities on Trump odds:
1. 538 polls – 28%
2. daily kos – 28%
3. betfair – 27%
4. nyt upshot – 14%
5. Princeton – 6%.
6. dartboard – your guess is as good as mine
Brachiator
@germy:
That is funny. And very true.
patrick II
@Felonius Monk:
I would love it very much if Mayor de Blasio gave a taco truck permit for the curbside in front of every Trump propery in New York.
gogol's wife
@D58826:
Thank you. The moaning and groaning about the media is getting to me. They were exactly the same in 2008 and 2012. Fixating on them is wearying. We can do nothing about that. We can contribute, volunteer, GOTV, and tell everyone we know about our fantastic candidate!
ruemara
@debbie: yes, that was step two. I’m going to try for a third attempt with a 2 week lead. And, my work friends would cut a workday short to celebrate my pedicure. I think I’m just tired of it being such an effort with my IRL friends. The work friends are looking forward to a week of me spoiling them for the last time.
scav
@ruemara: You’re not being uncharitable — but then, I’ve also found office relationships and the ins and outs etc. very confusing and fraught. They, or some of them at least, might also just unsure what exactly is the proper tone to take, especially in a group setting. (Celebratory at your leaving might venture too close to implying working elsewhere is a thing to be celebrated which raises all sorts of hairballs for some. Depends a lot on the office and general employment climate.) Maybe some one on one visits would be easier to manage.
Baud
@gogol’s wife: slightly disagree, only in that we don’t want to be swiftboated because we ignored it.
gogol's wife
@Baud:
I’m sure the Clinton campaign is not ignoring it. But we commenters on a blog should talk about something else every once in a while. It’s demoralizing.
Redshift
That’s gotta be the laziest anti-Trump response ever – standard GOP line about anything they favor that’s unpopular, the problem is never the policies, always the marketing.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@gogol’s wife: Dave Weigel and Matt Yglesias have been tweeting about this article from Jeff Jarvis about the silent majority (an overstatement, but a big group of ignored people) of Clinton supporters.
Reminds me of MSNBC, after Obama’s speech at the Convention and at so many other points, could only find pouty Sanders supporters to talk to in the crowd.
raven
@gogol’s wife: This
Mnemosyne
@scav:
Actually, it sounds like her work friends are happy for her and want to celebrate — it’s her OUTSIDE of work friends who are being jerks.
IIRC, these are the same people who couldn’t be arsed to help her when she was making her short film and then criticized the results, so I’m prejudiced against them.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
In other unimportant news, China officially signed on to the Paris climate accords today.
Mike J
@gogol’s wife:
Republicans made the media cower in fear because of a concerted 40 year effort to work the refs.
Brachiator
This is just not true, and I don’t know why some want to insist that the GOP is a bunch of monolithic Yahoo’s.
A BBC report on Mormons in Utah suggested that the people interviewed don’t like Trump or his message, especially his stance on immigration. Apparently, there is even a Clinton field office in the area, even though this may be a futile effort to peel off potential votes.
On the other hand, the RNC has a problem. They are concerned that Trump will not evolve, that he won’t pivot, but the plain fact is that the core of Trump supporters wildly applauded Trump’s Immigration speech. And they did more than cheer the anti immigrant portion. They cheered Trump’s attack on chamber of commerce types who exploit immigrant labor and push down wages.
Trump supporters don’t want him to evolve. They don’t want him to pivot. And this will be an ongoing problem for the GOP. They stoked the anger of this group for years, whipped them up into a frenzy, but then dismissed them and their concerns.
The smooth operators of the RNC thought that they could control Trump and control the angry rabble. It’s not working out so well for them.
tobie
@Pogonip: @Pogonip:
Same here in rural Maryland. A lot of billboard-sized Trump signs and “Hillary for Prison” bumper stickers. Rural Maryland has always been poor, but that doesn’t stop people from blaming their circumstances on immigrants, people of color, Washington, etc. What draws them to Trump? The promise that they don’t have to change, the country does. This is what’s so frightening…there’s no sense that the world is always changing and that trying to return to some folksy, good ol boy way of life–besides being deeply racist, sexist, and xenophobic–is just sticking your head in the sand.
I see MSNBC is giving Trump thumbs-up for his scripted speech in Detroit.
gogol's wife
@Mike J:
Yes, true, but the refs cannot be worked against the wishes of their employers. I can write to the New York Times till the cows come home, but if my desires don’t coincide with the orders the reporters are being given by their masters, it will make no difference. If you look at any NYTimes comment thread, it’s overwhelmingly liberal, but somehow that doesn’t change the way they frame the issues, especially around Clinton.
gogol's wife
@Mike J:
Also, what refs do you think are reading the Balloon Juice comment threads?
Davis X. Machina
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Tolstoy had it nailed in Anna Karenina; All happy families are the same, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. The people Jeff Jarvis is talking about aren’t angry, aberrant, or atypical enough to be interesting.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator: The “brain trust” of the Republicans created this monster, and, like Victor Frankenstein before them, discovered that it’s out of control. Because the brain of their monster was made up, deliberately and with malice aforethought, with the brains of the Abby Normal.
May the monster feast on their viscera before the rest of us put it down.
Baud
@gogol’s wife: Agree that then it becomes counterproductive. But this is what grass roots is about, I think. Shouldn’t just rely on the campaign to fight.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Davis X. Machina: if only we could come up with funny costumes as we advocate for expanding access to health care and paying some fucking attention to climate change
also, while working the refs has been a big part of the problem, most of the Village, the ones you see on TV, mostly agree with Republicans on taxes (under the guise of “entitlement reform”) and foreign policy (the appropriate response to all situations is military, what Obama critiqued rightly as, IIRC, the Establishment view of FP). Also, too, though it seems to have faded as a national media issue, you can’t get your VSP card stamped unless you agree that the problem with education is teachers unions.
Brachiator
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
This is good stuff. I first heard Jarvis broach the subject on Leo Laporte’s Google podcast. And he was right on the money. You just don’t see anything about enthusiastic Clinton supporters, and little about successful get out the vote efforts.
hovercraft
@kindness:
Tacos of course.
gogol's wife
@Baud:
I liked Tom’s post about interacting with a Times reporter, and Betty’s post about questions to ask Trump, but when there are these real-time reports about what some idiot on MSNBC is saying, I get depressed.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Nice. I’ve been using silent majority for a little while, so nice to see real people use it too.
Baud
@gogol’s wife: Right, or some idiot wingnut commenter on some blog. Who cares about them? They are always there.
laura
@trollhattan: I can be found roaming the WX Farmers every Sunday, am warned to keep my yap shut when Mr & Ms Mayor invade One Speed and wish we could “Make the Rubicon Great Again.”
And you?
hovercraft
@NorthLeft12:
Unfortunately only we dirty far leftists see him that way, to the villagers he is a mild mannered ‘genial’ chairman who wields a stiletto to filet democrats and Hillary.
hovercraft
@Hal:
I bet CNN.
lgerard
Surprise!!
“Taco Trucks On Every Corner” Latinos for Trump founder Marco Gutierrez is somewhat of a scammer himself….no wonder he is attracted to Trump
Taco’s for everyone!
scav
@Mnemosyne: Ah, got confused. Outside of work people I’ve got nary a clue about. Very odd.
hovercraft
@gogol’s wife:
The difference is that Obama was a clean slate, they’re lie just weren’t that effective against him. The seeds of Clinton hate and dishonesty have been sown over the course of 25 years, the public has heard for years that she’s not honest and trustworthy so when the media keeps repeating it, it has become a self fulfilling prophecy. This year if this bullshit leads every newscast for the next two months it could sway the result, so we need to push back.
Redshift
@Felonius Monk: I saw on Twitter last night that Dems in Colorado parked a combination taco/voter registration truck in front of Trump campaign headquarters.
Corner Stone
UH Coogs putting it all over Big Game Bob Stoops’ OU Sooners.
ETA Welp, that’ll teach me to say anything before it ticks down to zero.
raven
How do you miss that facemask???
Corner Stone
What in the ever loving Christ kind of play calling was that stupid bullshit. For fuck’s sake.
Corner Stone
Coogs up 33 to 17 with just over two minutes left to play. OU driving and almost in the red zone. This is legit intense for the first damn game of the season for these clubs.
Fuck me.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
I don’t think that the GOP created the monster at all. Yes, a cabal of money men created the Tea Party, but true believers wrested it from their control. Trump lurked in the fringes, stomped on all the GOP favorite sons and putative outsiders like Ted Cruz, and even pissed on Mitt Romney. Trump then used his village mob as a shield and dared the GOP leadership to have the balls to reject Jim. Which they failed to do.
Trump will probably be defeated, although the steadiness of his core support continues to amaze me. Unfortunately, the mess of his impact on the electorate will be around for a long time.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@gogol’s wife: Speaking of Tom’s post, on the Grey Lady right now:
“Seems”? Seems to whom, Amy and Jon?
Shouldn’t editorializing like this be restricted to the editorial pages?
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
gogol's wife
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
I now just read the Arts section and do the puzzle and skim through everything else. I used to read it cover to cover every day.
gene108
@Mike J:
They also sunk millions (maybe billions by now) into media outlets, with the sole purpose of driving the news coverage in the direction they wanted. Never mind how fact free or careless their reporting actually is. The Washington Times sounds like it should be a legit newspaper. The American Spectator seems like it should be a legit news magazine.
Why shouldn’t the rest of the media take a story from one these sources and run with it?
Those sources sure do look like legit news organizations.
And those right-wing news outlets have just multiplied and sprawled onto every available medium in the last 20 to 25 years.
Either the MSM acknowledges the craft of journalism has been compromised by purely partisan outlets or they continue to masquerade as if anyone getting into the news biz is by default impartial.
Prior to radio, and later broadcast television, using public airwaves that were regulated by the government, everyone knew which paper in town was the Democratic paper and which was the Republican paper and which supported the socialists and anarchists and which were just tools of propaganda for the rich. People expected news outlets to be slanted and have an agenda.
It’s not unheard of.
So I don’t get why the major media outlets cannot accept we’ve come back to that era. We’ve gone full circle. Except there really are not any dedicated Democratic or liberal news outlets, while there are plenty of conservative and Republican news outlets.
Omnes Omnibus
Weird to be cheering for the team not wearing yellow helmets at Lambeau.
Felonius Monk
@Ken:
Nah. Reince doesn’t have any. Isn’t it obvious?
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: Lota purple, I figured.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Clinton Rules, I forget if it’s three or four, normal political behavior becomes at least odd, probably suspicious, probably sleazy, when it’s a Clinton.
Remember when Hillary was “pimping” Chelsea because she was campaigning for her mother? Unlike the Romneys , Meghan McCain, the assorted younger Bushes. I guess it is true the Reagans were never eager to trot out his kids….
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ivanka Trump is WRITING POLICY for her father’s campaign, but it was bad and corrupt for Chelsea Clinton to make a few campaign appearances.
gogol's wife
I never watched Trump’s immigration “speech,” just got the gist of it here. Just now I tried and failed to watch Colbert’s segment on it. I couldn’t even stand the little soundbites surrounded by Colbert mocking. That has to be a first for me.
How CAN ANYONE WANT TO VOTE FOR THAT DISGUSTING PERSON????
raven
Lovie’s Illini get their 1st TD!!!!
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
You may need to re-watch or re-read Frankenstein. The whole point of the story is that Dr. Frankenstein doesn’t understand that he’s created a monster until it’s too late and it turns on him.
No one is saying that the Republicans deliberately created Trump. In fact, that’s our entire point.
daves09
The MSM are slobbering all over Trump.
Look, he said Unity!!!!!!
Look, look, he danced with the blahs!!!!!!
Look, look, look, how presidential!!!!!!!!
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@gogol’s wife: I’m sure they have hundreds or thousands of people working on the paper (and the web site) who are doing their best every day to be fair and objective and let people know the nuance behind the stories. But the political reporters (at least the ones that catch my eye when I skim the home page) don’t seem to care about objectivity and nuance when covering anything to do with Hillary.
In other races, like Strickland’s, the conventional wisdom is, “Strickland is doomed because he’s being buried by an avalanche of Koch money”. Hillary has a very effective fundraising operation, and we know that in order to win the Democrat usually needs to raise more money than the Republican (due in part to the way the press is wired). But in her case, being able to raise money (legally even) is always a negative.
For the Times, with the Clintons it always is, as Lewis Carroll said, “Sentence first, verdict afterwards.”
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Also, while I’m lazily clicking around twitter to avoid the chore list I wrote myself for today, could someone who active on twitter explain to Andrea Mitchell that vanishingly few people actually give a fuck about the opinions of the man John McCain wanted to be his press secretary?
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Unfortunately, there is going to be a segment of the population who will do that, because misogyny really is a thing. I’m hoping those voters will be balanced out by the racist white women who refused to vote for Obama but might be happy to vote for Hillary since she has the proper skin color.
ETA: All the people who were astounded that anyone would refuse to vote for Obama based on his race will be equally dumbfounded this year when some people refuse to vote for Hillary based on her gender.
KlareCole
@Gindy51: I’m really looking forward to splat! :-)
debbie
@ruemara:
Probably irrelevant, but you do spend far more time with your work friends than your “historical” friends, who may not be as aware of what you’ve been going through and dealing with as your work friends are. I apologize if I’m off base. I miss so many threads and suck at keeping up.
Iowa Old Lady
@gogol’s wife: Somehow hearing Trump’s speech was much worse than reading it. All the shouting and repetition makes him sound terrifying.
D58826
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Reagan’s kids were adults and free to make up their own minds. The older two leaned right, Ron left and Patty wasn’t talking to her parents at the time. If I remember correctly Michael tried to use his family connections to his financial advantage. Since he is now a right wing political commentator I guess he succeeded. But that is just good old get up and go American entrepreneurship. Certainly nothing dishonest or shady or smelly or where there is smoke, and all oft he other phrases applied to the Clintons. Reagan’s chief of staff or media adviser. forget which, Mike Deaver went from the WH to start a K street consulting firm with a list of blue chip clients as long as your arm. But his serving in the WH was purely co-incidental to his later business success.
MattF
Pic of Trump in a prayer shawl is trending on Twitter. No link– made me puke a little.
gogol's wife
@Iowa Old Lady:
To me he’s just repulsive and bullying. I can’t see how anyone can find that appealing. The last time I felt this way was Reagan, but even he wasn’t this repulsive — he was fake-nice, not shouting and aggressive. To quote Barbara Bush, I can’t understand how any woman could vote for him.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yup. If you’ve ever seen the movie Guarding Tess, Shirley Maclaine as a widowed former First Lady, with a son I suspect was based on Michael Reagan. But when the old man was in the White House (I think), Michael wrote a book that was pretty unflattering, including the story about RR introducing himself to his son at the latter’s high school graduation.
MomSense
@ruemara:
I wish I didn’t live on the other side of the country as I’d love to celebrate your new job IRL.
SiubhanDuinne
@Iowa Old Lady:
I agree with you about the immigration speech. But I just heard some snippets of his remarks to the AA church in Detroit, and he sounded down, sad, enervated, and flat. He was reading words; there wasn’t a scrap of belief or commitment or even normal human engagement in his tone of voice. It was almost robotic. And to me, that is almost as scary as the demagoguery.
NotMax
Several non-run of the mill entries on TCM airing Sunday. All times Eastern.
2:00 a.m. – “Zardoz”
Place of honor on the What Were They Smoking When They Made This? list. Sean Connery traipses around an SF landscape in a speedo.
12:30 p.m. – “Dracula”
Ponderous and corny it may be, but Lugosi shines.
8:00 p.m. – “People Will Talk”
A more literate role for Cary Grant, in an uneven story that hits slightly more than it misses.
Dr. Praetorius: “Tell them about when you died, Mr. Shunderson.”
Shunderson: “The first time?”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think sending him to a church, just from a bloodless, considering-their-POV POV, was a dumb thing to do
I’m agnostic, but as with “Two Corinthians, that’s the one you like, right?” or the way he said the Bible was the greatest book, I don’t know how sincerely religious people aren’t offended to the point of repulsion by this, even making allowances for the cynicism of those like Falwell Jr who know he’s a fraud, but trust him to be their fraud.
Mnemosyne
@D58826:
Michael Reagan is a pretty sad case, actually — he (and his sister Maureen) were adopted by Reagan and Jane Wyman while they were married, and then Reagan abandoned both of them when he divorced Wyman to marry Nancy Davis. The poor guy has spent his whole life wondering why his father didn’t love him and desperately trying to do whatever he thinks would have gained him that love.
Mnemosyne
@NotMax:
This is probably my all-time favorite video review of Zardoz.
And, yes, the movie really is that batshit insane.
SWMBO
@ruemara: Could it be that the IRL friends may not like each other? They wouldn’t mind celebrating with you but not if X shows up? My MIL had 3 dear friends that she loved dearly and that loved her. Two of them couldn’t ride in the same car with each other even. Possibly there is something in the background that is causing this with your friends?
Baud
@Mnemosyne: At least he’s honest about it.
D58826
@Mnemosyne: Yep and Moral Majority hero Reagan had to marry Nancy. Seems there was a bun in the oven. But he was a GOOPER so his rather libertine past was well…. past and not to be discussed in polite (i.e. evangelical) company. Personally his past was between his conscience, his family and his God, I just wish the same courtesy was afforded to democrats and the Clintons
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
True. I got really fucking sick of the people in 2008 who kept coming up with ridiculous reasons why they just couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Obama that very clearly boiled down to, Because he’s black.
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
@gogol’s wife:
How can he have a majority of white males? How can he have a majority of any group? Those kind of polls disturb me like no other. (I am a white-ish male) How is it possible we have so many white males who can’t see through this guy, or actually consider being an asshole, an idiot, and a bigot to be features not bugs?
The future of this country is literally in the hands of the non-white and female voters.
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
Dunno if you’re aware of it, but a remake of the based on a true story film The Dam Busters was recently completed and promptly shelved.
Problem #1: The lead character’s dog’s name is the N-word.
Problem #2: It shows the allies planning and deliberately carrying out the destruction of “civilian infrastructure” during WW2.
#2 was apparently the primary impetus for not releasing it, from what I gather.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mnemosyne: I”m listening to Brian Beutler’s podcast and Stuart Stevens is making a great moral case against Trump, and calling for a de-Baathification (his term) of racists and bigots from the GOP. I’d be really impressed if I didn’t know he ran the campaign for the guy who embraced Trump not in spite of but because of Birtherism, who joked about no one wanting to see his birth certificate, whose son engaged in Birtherism, whose campaign chair said Obama needed to learn what it means to be an American, who himself said Obama didn’t understand what it means to be an American, who demagogued relentlessly about the “apology tour”….
Baud
@Mnemosyne: I have very little patience with people generally. I’ll write people off in a heartbeat. I feel it’s unfair to good people to waste effort on people of bad faith. Not saying my way is the best way, but it’s how I am.
NR
I love how everyone here is pretending that Trump is a guaranteed loser in November when the reality is that he has noticeably narrowed the gap with Hillary in both national and key state polling over the last week or two. If this continues, he could enter debate season tied or even slightly ahead of Hillary, even though that looked like it would have been unthinkable a couple of weeks ago.
Nominating Hillary Clinton is an act of political malpractice that could very well haunt both the Democratic party and the country for decades to come.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NR: aw, you found a poll that would let you get back to trolling and bitching and moaning again! How nice for you, you pathetic waste of oxygen. It must have been a long few weeks for you, not being able to be your pouty, obnoxious true self.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Thanks. How lame. A dedicated troll would have stayed engaged through the “tough” times.
Mnemosyne
@NR:
So are you red/green colorblind or blue/yellow colorblind?
NR
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s not just one poll, bud. It’s a lot of them.
NR
@Mnemosyne: Trends are a thing. Maybe research them?
Mnemosyne
@NR:
That’s why I’m asking which type of colorblind you are. I’m seeing a whole lot of blue on that page, which means that Clinton is actually in the lead. What color are you seeing?
And the LA Times/USC “poll” isn’t a poll. It’s a focus group that they seem to think is somehow significant despite the fact that it’s been wrong in every election so far.
Mnemosyne
@NR:
Protip: “trends” have to persist across several weeks or months. One week of polls that are 1 or 2 points lower than the previous week’s are not a “trend.”
NR
Again: Trends are a thing. Which is why I said that Trump has narrowed the gap in polling, not that he is currently ahead.
Two weeks ago, Hillary had a 6-7 point lead in national polling averages. Now, her lead is 4 points, and it is dropping. If the trend continues, she won’t be ahead anymore in a few more weeks.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@NR: But you don’t quarrel with the obnoxious troll part, or the pathetic waste of oxygen part. I guess we can give you some points for self-awareness.
and if your parents had loved you, you wouldn’t be such a sad, bitter, unlikeable little person.
NR
@Mnemosyne: Considering we only have eight weeks left until the election, I think two weeks is plenty enough to show us a trend.
NR
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Oh, it’s projection hour on BJ again. Nice. Are you guys putting your daddy or your mommy issues on display today? Or is it both?
gogol's wife
@NotMax:
After admitting earlier today that I went to see “The Thing with Two Heads” when it appeared, I guess I have to confess that I also went to see “Zardoz.”
Calming Influence
Classic mad-scientist blunder – they used Abby Normal’s brain.
Corner Stone
@NR:
Who should the Democratic Party have nominated to be their candidate?
gogol's wife
@Corner Stone:
Adlai Stevenson, for the third time.
The Lodger
@D58826: Judicial Watch is a charity? Da fug?
Chyron HR
@NR:
Except when Clinton’s lead is increasing, and then you mysteriously disappear for weeks on end.
Peale
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: lol. As if the problem is the Baathist equivalents .
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
According to Wikipedia, Maureen was actually the biological child of Ronnie and Jane. Which doesn’t invalidate your point. Pretty fucked-up family dynamics all the way around, at least as a casual outside observer.
crosspalms
So now, between Trump and the GOP, which is the lipstick and which the pig?
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think he thinks so, too. He very clearly did not want to be there!
Mnemosyne
@NR:
Two =/= several. Is English your first language?
Not to mention, a drop from one week to the next is not a drop of two weeks. It’s a drop of one week.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator: Two words for you: “Southern Strategy”.
The GOP’s conscious decision to appeal to racists has been in place for 50 years.
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
Patti Davis’s eulogy for Nancy was quite honestly one of the most poignant things I ever read. She talked about having to come to terms with the fact that neither of her parents would ever love their children the way they loved each other, and learn to accept her mother for the person she was, not the person Patti wished she would be.
Cleos
Mr. Trump’s “improvisational style.”
A worthy dodge, equivalent to a constantly-fired person’s “brutal honesty” or an insufferable brat’s “lively nature.”
Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Mrs. Greenspan has a low tumbrel number.
Just sayin’.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
Much as I loathed Nancy, I have to say her two kids (Patti and Ron Jr.) both turned out to be decent, mature people. Again, from what I can tell as an outsider.
Cleos
@Brachiator:
I am horrified by their insoluble conflict to the very roots of my hair. Oh, the humanity.
Come to think of it, this is my day to wash my hair. Thanks for the reminder.
Cleos
@Villago Delenda Est:
Ditto those pity-seeking humanoid units who don’t like Trump but “just can’t bring myself to vote for Hillary” (or give her the courtesy of a last name).
Bugger them all; let the monster feast.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@gogol’s wife:
How long were you in high school?
James E Powell
@NotMax:
Trivia bit: This is the movie that is on the TV in Pink’s hotel room in The Wall.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
I don’t think that the GOP created Trump at all. The Frankenstein myth does not fit. Not the movie nor the novel.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
There have been a lot of good comments here recently that put the Southern Strategy in a larger context. The Democrats accommodated the Dixiecrats until full commitment to Civil Rights made that position untenable.
Falling back on an invocation of the Southern Strategy does not explain as much as you suggest, and does not fully account for Trump’s hijacking of the GOP.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator: You’re missing the point. The GOP did not create Drumpf, Drumpf is merely the avatar of what they did create and exploit for electoral gain: the politics of white resentment. Nixon’s greatest fear in 1972 was not Muskie, it was not McGovern…it was George Wallace.
They imagined the could keep the monster focused on the Democrats, and not the parasites of the 1% who are their true constituency, since, after all, LBJ was the one who pushed hard for the Civil Rights bills of the 60’s, and accepted that it would lose the South for at least a generation. He underestimated that, of course.
Ruckus
@ruemara:
I’ve been through the same thing a couple of times. Their loss, you don’t strike me as a person people don’t want to know, not in the least.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
So you think that 40 years of the race-baiting Southern Strategy did not lead to an openly white supremacist candidate? It’s just a total co-inkydink?
ETA: I hope that the “good comments” you’re referring to were not by a commenter whose nym begins with a “p,” because that commenter’s opinions on race are, er, eccentric, to say the least.
Mnemosyne
@Villago Delenda Est:
Trump is the natural end result of the Republicans playing the white resentment card for the last 40+ years.
Seriously, we’re starting to get into but was slavery really the cause of the Civil War? territory here. The search for alternative explanations when the obvious and evidence-supported explanation is race is a little weird.
Zinsky
@Ken: You would think The Donald owed Reince at least a “reacharound” by now.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mnemosyne: Prezactly. As to the cause of the Civil War, all you have to do is read the secession documents of the traitor states. They very plainly make it crystal clear that it was all about slavery and white supremacy.
Ruckus
@gene108:
Newsprint media has always been partisan. The owner/publisher always slanted coverage to suit their political ends. Some of them got into the business to have an outlet. TV seemed not to be partisan when it was new and had few channels, and the fairness doctrine was still in effect. But since Nixon (or even before) the slanted coverage has been gaining speed. This concept that the media is non partisan is and has always been bullshit. But like conservatives, the media have always had as their main goal to enrich themselves at whatever the cost and projection is their main means. We are seeing the cost to the country for that blow up in the form of Trump.
This country is different than a lot of the rest, in concept it was about making each of us equal and responsible for the total good. Humans had never really worked like that before (OK some small groups had and still do), we are selfish, trying to survive at whatever means it takes. But we no longer can be that way, there are too many of us and society will fall apart if we don’t recognize that we have to change for the betterment of all of us rather than for those who can steal the most. And by stealing I don’t just mean money, I mean that we can not continue to have a large percentage of people who think that just because someone doesn’t look like them or speak the same language, they are an enemy. That is stealing something far more important than money.
Tehanu
@Amir Khalid:
And it couldn’t happen to a lousier bunch of narrow-minded greedheads. I just hope it doesn’t happen to the rest of us as well.
Sondra
@Amir Khalid: I agree with what you say about bullies. They are never appeased and they only become more demanding as they judge you to be weak each time you attempt to comply with their demands. They are like hostage takers who up the ante for the ransom whenever they feel like it.
There is no such thing as winning their respect either because the more you do for them, the more they want. They simply will not be appeased – ever. I worked for a guy like this briefly and it was a nightmare.
prob50
@Shell: Hey, anybody out there seen “Atragon? It’s one of those early 60’s Japanese movies with really bad dubbing and,`at least in the TV version I saw, severe continuity issues. The big planet survival issue is because the folks of Mu, who live down beneath the sea are doing stuff that’s causing all sorts earth movements that is seriously messing up life and commerce for the surface-dwellers. Now the surface folks were not aware of the Mu-ish folks but they can tell the problems is coming from deep, very deep down below, so they trot out this gimungus submarine (Atragon) that is outfitted with all sorts of military hardware, the most awesome of which is a gigantic retractable drill bit that comes right out of the nose of the craft. Made of the strongest alloys it is, much like the movie itself, capable boring thru anything. I think a big part of the plot involves the daughter or granddaughter of a big cheese surface honcho but I was mostly into the drill-bit bearing sub and the interaction between the Mu-ish Emperor and Mr. Surface Honcho. I saw this quite a while ago – back when I still smoked weed so there’s a fair amount of fuzziness about the rest of it.
prob50
@NorthLeft12: