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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / The View from the Führerbunker

The View from the Führerbunker

by Betty Cracker|  October 27, 201610:22 am| 237 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, General Stupidity

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Interesting piece by Joshua Green and Sasha Issenberg over at Bloomberg about the Trump operation at 12 days out from the election. Here’s an excerpt that’s understandably getting the most attention:

“We have three major voter suppression operations under way,” says a senior official. They’re aimed at three groups Clinton needs to win overwhelmingly: idealistic white liberals, young women, and African Americans. Trump’s invocation at the debate of Clinton’s WikiLeaks e-mails and support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership was designed to turn off Sanders supporters. The parade of women who say they were sexually assaulted by Bill Clinton and harassed or threatened by Hillary is meant to undermine her appeal to young women. And her 1996 suggestion that some African American males are “super predators” is the basis of a below-the-radar effort to discourage infrequent black voters from showing up at the polls—particularly in Florida.

As the piece says, the Trump people know they’re losing. There’s not much room to expand their appeal beyond the traditional racist yokels, alt-right froggies, knee-jerk Republican jerks, etc., so the strategy is to demoralize the Democratic base and hope Putin’s psy-ops shop pushes something through WikiLeaks that actually sticks. It’s fascinating that they would straight-up admit that.

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Reader Interactions

237Comments

  1. 1.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 10:26 am

    That’s not actually vote suppression. That’s just usual electoral politics, trying to demoralize your opponents so less of them turn out and vote. Unfortunately, there are actual vote suppression efforts going on too.

  2. 2.

    chopper

    October 27, 2016 at 10:26 am

    wait, is there an actual bunker? I know that apparently matters to some people here.

  3. 3.

    Peale

    October 27, 2016 at 10:29 am

    @chopper: I think it’s a camp not a compound

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 27, 2016 at 10:31 am

    @Chris: That’s the beauty of it. They’re not smart enough to avoid that language so instead they motivate people even more.

  5. 5.

    Punchy

    October 27, 2016 at 10:31 am

    @chopper: In my experience there are 2: Edith and Archie.

  6. 6.

    Mike in NC

    October 27, 2016 at 10:31 am

    As Trump infamously stated about women who have abortions: “There needs to be some form of punishment”. He cannot be allowed to just slink away and continue to run his shitty empire safely tucked away in Trump Tower. Bring on the wrecking ball for this bastard.

  7. 7.

    Betty Cracker

    October 27, 2016 at 10:32 am

    @Chris: That’s a direct quote from a Trump official, according to the article. How stupid do you have to be to say that to a reporter?

  8. 8.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 10:33 am

    They have no shame, and they are hoping all the media will react to Wikileaks the way Morning Joe did this morning. I mean it’s just so shocking that politicians behave like politicians. I am now going to stay home. I just have one question though, if a candidate once saying something that offends me is enough to discourage me from voting, why would they think that would apply to their voters too? The diehards will never quit him, but his soft support is getting new fodder everyday, so won’t they be turned off too?

  9. 9.

    craigie

    October 27, 2016 at 10:38 am

    They call it Project Alamo. Seriously.

    Why not go all the way and call it Project Hindenburg?

  10. 10.

    MattF

    October 27, 2016 at 10:38 am

    Sounds like a Roger Stone production. Stone, btw, is a major conspiracy nut– I hadn’t really known that.

  11. 11.

    Joel

    October 27, 2016 at 10:39 am

    Brad Parscale looks like a straight up nazi.

  12. 12.

    geg6

    October 27, 2016 at 10:40 am

    Jeebus. These idiots believe their own shit about how stupid the youngs, wimmenz and the blacks are. Yeah, we’re all going to fall for this bullshit and, demoralized beyond any redemption, will stay home and let the Animate Cheeto win. They are literally saying this shit out loud because they have so little respect for all of us. I can’t think of a more motivating message to all these demos.

    These people are so full of self-regard, it would be comic if the fate of the nation wasn’t at stake.

  13. 13.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 10:43 am

    The suppression effort in Nevada is not working. From Jon Ralston

    UPDATED, 10/27/16, 6 AM

    The latest statewide numbers, missing a few rural counties, show a 26,500 lead for the Dems in raw votes. That’s 45 percent to 36 percent, the same percentage lead and 3,500 raw votes more than they had at this point in 2012 and about 3 points above the actual registration difference.

    The Clark firewall increased by more than 4,000 votes to nearly 33,000 (it was 30,000 at this time in 2012 but with 150,000 fewer registered voters). But it was the GOP’s best day so far, and slightly better than its performance in 2012 on Day 5.

    The Dems won Washoe by a handful of votes, maintaining a nearly 2,800-vote lead there (Day 5 in 2012 saw the GOP win by 200 votes.)

    The rurals continue to go big for the GOP, as expected. Totals there now show a more than 9,000-voter lead for the Republicans.

    Actual turnout so far by region shows this split: 68.3 percent from Clark (a point below actual percentage of statewide voters), 19.4 percent from Washoe (about a point and a half above actual) and the rurals at 12.2 percent (or just a tick below actual).

    Bottom line: It’s still very much like 2012.

    That’s strange, the villagers keep telling me that turnout is going to be terrible because everyone hates Hillary.

  14. 14.

    dmsilev

    October 27, 2016 at 10:44 am

    @craigie:

    They call it Project Alamo. Seriously.

    Maybe they’re considering themselves on the side of the Mexicans?

    More seriously, there is something interesting about that choice of name. Sure, the Texans defending the Alamo lost and were wiped out, but their defeat was a rallying cry that helped with the rest of the Texas War To Be Allowed To Keep Slaves, excuse me Texas Independence War. That could be evocative of how Trump and his followers see things playing out.

  15. 15.

    catclub

    October 27, 2016 at 10:45 am

    @Mike in NC:

    Bring on the wrecking ball for this bastard.

    rather, bring it for the GOP. Which looks more possible than other times.

  16. 16.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 10:46 am

    I just want someone to look at me like Halperin looks at Donald Trump
    — Andy Cobb (@AndyCobb) October 26, 2016

  17. 17.

    jonas

    October 27, 2016 at 10:48 am

    1. You use inside voices when talking about plans for pushing down turnout among your opponent’s supporters. 2. These are unbelievably stupid plans.

  18. 18.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 27, 2016 at 10:49 am

    @Betty Cracker: they probably actually believe that real voter suppression is a legitimate political strategy so to them it’s not actually admitting anything.

  19. 19.

    craigie

    October 27, 2016 at 10:52 am

    @dmsilev:

    Sure. But not being from Texas and all, when I hear “Alamo” I think “pig-headed disaster”.

    And coonskin caps.

  20. 20.

    jonas

    October 27, 2016 at 10:53 am

    @geg6: I know — yes, Hillary said some unfortunate things about black criminality back in the 90s when everyone was panicking about the skyrocketing crime rate. But, hello? Central Park Five? What do you think blacks and other POC are going to care more about? And he’s fucking *doubled down* on claiming the CP5 were still guilty. When another person confessed to, and was proven to have committed, the crime. Oh, but Hillary once said “super predators” or something, so there.

    Shorter Trump campaign: we believe black voters are idiots.

  21. 21.

    Stacy

    October 27, 2016 at 10:54 am

    Rachel Maddow has been reporting on the real voter suppression that Trump/Pence/GOP has been engaging in. The GOP may not get out from under its consent decree from its 1981 NJ voter intimidation effort.

  22. 22.

    jonas

    October 27, 2016 at 10:55 am

    @craigie:

    when I hear “Alamo” I think “pig-headed disaster”.

    General Santa Anna was just trying to round up and deport a group of illegals who were squatting on his territory.

  23. 23.

    D58826

    October 27, 2016 at 10:55 am

    Isn’t there a lefty hacker who can get into the e-mails of the RNC, Prebius/etc and show that most, if not all, of the wiki-leaks are just the way campaigns operate. Strategy, silly ideas, gossip and a bit of back bitting

  24. 24.

    bjacques

    October 27, 2016 at 10:55 am

    Wenk & Steiner will turn his campaign around any minute now, just you wait.

  25. 25.

    Jeffro

    October 27, 2016 at 10:56 am

    Even bigger takeaway from the article: they are clearly aiming for a post-election dolt-right media machine that effectively takes half of the current GOP with it.

    And a PS: per the article, please note the large amounts of Mercer money going into this…the same ‘bucket’ of funds that got Ted Cruz on the line making GOTV calls for Trump, and no doubt caused Jason Chaffetz to suddenly forget that he “wouldn’t be able to look his daughter in the eye” if he voted for Trump.

  26. 26.

    LAO

    October 27, 2016 at 10:57 am

    The depth of Jared Kushner’s involvement in “Project Alamo” is shocking.

  27. 27.

    D58826

    October 27, 2016 at 10:57 am

    @jonas:

    Shorter Trump campaign: we believe black voters are idiots.

    Shorter Trump campaign: we believe ALL voters are idiots. fixed

  28. 28.

    bemused

    October 27, 2016 at 10:57 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Trump’s campaign staff, the alt right, extreme right, Trumpheads in the campaign don’t care. Trump/tea party base doesn’t care. They have no use for the establishment conservative PC dogwhistle game. Subtlety is for rinos.

    Still I have been gobsmacked at how far even the so-called establishment Republicans have moved away from winks and nods in the last ten years or more.

  29. 29.

    MomSense

    October 27, 2016 at 10:57 am

    That nazi motherfucker Parscale has some nerve sitting beneath that poster of Abraham Lincoln.

  30. 30.

    Droppy

    October 27, 2016 at 10:58 am

    This seems to fit right in with the “screw the dogwhistle” approach of the Trump phenomenon – not that it’s a “strategy” exactly since that would imply a purposeful plan of some kind. But that has been his “appeal” all along – speak in direct terms of the racist, anti-democratic, pro-oppression, anti-women, pro-pollution, anti-good governement, pro-corruption, anti-empathy attitudes they embrace and which the Republican party has implicitly embraced for at least 30 years. Republican insiders like Ryan and McConnell are unable to do anything but go into Ralph Kramden homina homina mode. They can’t disagree at all with the reality, but their just so gosh darn mad that someone would say it out loud.

  31. 31.

    sunny raines

    October 27, 2016 at 10:58 am

    surprised they didn’t divulge the coordinated effort with Russians to hack US electronic voting machines – bankrobbers rob banks because “that’s where the money is”. The admitted voter suppression effort must be a decoy: “look over there!”.

  32. 32.

    Death Panel Truck

    October 27, 2016 at 11:00 am

    @bjacques: Army Detachment Steiner to the rescue!

  33. 33.

    different-church-lady

    October 27, 2016 at 11:00 am

    @Chris: Right, not so much suppression as depression.

  34. 34.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 27, 2016 at 11:01 am

    @LAO: why?

  35. 35.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 11:01 am

    The Great Unraveling
    By Gerald F. Seib and Patrick O’Connor WSJ (I did not encounter their paywall)
    Republicans Rode Waves of Populism Until They Crashed the Party

    The GOP that carried Mr. Trump to the presidential nomination was formed by waves of new voters who washed onto Republican shores in the last four decades: George Wallace Southerners, Ronald Reagan Democrats, Pat Buchanan pitchfork populists and tea-party foot soldiers.

    The Republican establishment was happy to have the votes of these newcomers, many from America’s working class, and accommodated their cultural preferences on social issues from guns to abortion to gay marriage. What the establishment didn’t do was adjust the GOP’s economic approach to match the populist impulses—or even seem to consider such a shift necessary……….

    The changes in the past four decades add up to a Republican Party that morphed slowly but inexorably into something fundamentally different.

    Among the 100 poorest counties in America, 74 voted for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012.

    Mr. Davis, the former congressman, often brandishes a map published by The Wall Street Journal last year showing all the counties that voted Democratic in the 1996 presidential election but had turned Republican by 2012. They form a wide, almost unbroken swath from Louisiana north through Arkansas and Missouri along the Mississippi River valley, branching east from there through Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.

    Those counties represent the new heart of the GOP. It includes farmers and coal miners. Country music is the norm. Collars are as likely to be blue as white. An America changed by immigration stirs as much anxiety as hope.

    Long stereotyped as home to the country-club crowd, bankers and big business, the party is increasingly driven by anxious working-class voters, small-town business people and middle-aged Americans……..

    It’s a long read, but worth it. It’s an early analysis of the reckoning the GOP will have after the election.

  36. 36.

    Mike in dc

    October 27, 2016 at 11:03 am

    Well, at least they’re honest in calling it voter suppression, even though it’s unlikely to be remotely effective.

  37. 37.

    LAO

    October 27, 2016 at 11:04 am

    @Major Major Major Major: I’m shocked, personally, because he is an orthodox jew and this effort has unleashed some pretty nasty antisemitism. I never thought of myself as particularly naive, but clearly I am.

  38. 38.

    Mary G

    October 27, 2016 at 11:05 am

    The likelihood of his collection of white numbnuts writing a message on Facebook that a black reader relates to is microscopic. They probably start with Whassup because they saw it in a beer commercial years ago.

  39. 39.

    The Moar You Know

    October 27, 2016 at 11:06 am

    Among the 100 poorest counties in America, 74 voted for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012.

    @hovercraft: That is easily the most depressing statistic I’ve ever read. But I’m glad you posted it. We’ve got a LOT of outreach work to do.

  40. 40.

    Just One More Canuck

    October 27, 2016 at 11:07 am

    @jonas: After the election, he’ll say, “And I would’ve gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for those meddling kids”

  41. 41.

    Josie

    October 27, 2016 at 11:07 am

    At this point “voter suppression” of this sort is a lost cause. Nothing that wikileaks or Trump could say about Hillary would have kept me from voting for her yesterday. I’m a senior citizen (a few years older than she is) and really excited about our possible first woman president. I have a feeling that people like me are under polled and are going to surprise the Trump campaign bigly.

  42. 42.

    Keith G

    October 27, 2016 at 11:08 am

    With 11 days left, early voting in full swing, and gotv operations picking up momentum, (I have been contacted 3 times in the last 4 days) there is not much that can change things unless it includes images of Hillary to doing a perp walk in cuffs. It seems to me, that some of the stories from Wikileaks are doing little except maybe adding on to some of the cynicism that already exists. People I talk to who are not natural Hillary supporters are not surprised by it and are not dissuaded by it.

    There is a story in today’s Post that paints a bit of a rough picture of the behind-the-scenes actions at the Clinton Global Initiative. Luckily, Chelsea Clinton comes through as being a bit of a hero as she rides in on a white horse and proceeded to clean house.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    October 27, 2016 at 11:09 am

    @LAO:

    The depth of Jared Kushner’s involvement in “Project Alamo” is shocking.

    It is, especially because he was portrayed as the “principled moderate” Trump early on.

    Fascinating that he’s actually running the campaign. You wonder how far back it goes- was he part of birtherism? That was really Trump’s intro into politics. You wonder if that was actually part of the campaign.

  44. 44.

    germy

    October 27, 2016 at 11:10 am

    @hovercraft: thank you for quoting what you did. I can’t give clicks to any murdoch property. They count and cherish every click. They won’t count mine.

    I can’t help the fact that in order to live, I often pay bills to people like Murdoch. For example, the grocery and convenience stores in my neighborhood are owned by families who LOVE donating to their favorite gop candidates. But I can choose not to support Rupert and his friends.

  45. 45.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 11:10 am

    @LAO:
    Jared is only living up to his own family’s history of being scum.
    From POLITICO
    From Heavy.com

  46. 46.

    Major Major Major Major

    October 27, 2016 at 11:11 am

    @LAO: what @hovercraft said.

  47. 47.

    Emma

    October 27, 2016 at 11:11 am

    @The Moar You Know: Do we? How? Are you going to throw blacks, women, hispanics, or gays under the bus to appeal to their root principles?

    And yes, I’m pessimistic about any attempts to reach them that does not include that.

  48. 48.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 11:13 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    How stupid do you have to be to say that to a reporter?

    I think it’s been clear for a while that they don’t grok the difference anymore, if they ever did, between “things you can say in the echo chamber” and “things you can say to everybody.”

    And in the echo chamber, vote suppression has been a perfectly open topic of conversation for a long time. It’s a very common opinion in the right wing blogosphere that we erred when we decided that universal suffrage was a good thing. Only the Deserving should have a voice.

  49. 49.

    Felonius Monk

    October 27, 2016 at 11:13 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    How stupid do you have to be to say that to a reporter?

    There’s stupid and then there’s Trump Stupid.

  50. 50.

    LAO

    October 27, 2016 at 11:13 am

    @hovercraft: I’m not saying it’s not true — but as Kay pointed out — Kushner was portrayed as the reasonable moderate. If there is any justice in this world (or NYC) he and Ivanka should be shunned after the election. What disgusting, entitled, horrible people.

  51. 51.

    Summer

    October 27, 2016 at 11:14 am

    Dear Balloon Juicers, I saw on our backer report that some of you have contributed to the Kickstarter for the staged reading of It Can’t Happen Here. Thank you! I’m so grateful.

    The reading is tonight at 7:30 on UNC’s campus in the HISTORIC Playmakers Theatre across from the Old Well. If you’re local, and I know some of you are from around here, please consider attending. Rehearsals have come together beautifully and I think it’s going to be a great show and the parallels to this election are at times striking.

    And — for the last time! — if you think a cool poster and party invite is worth it, even if you can’t attend, please consider donating. We’re almost to our goal.

    Warmly,
    Summer :)
    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/499483214/a-staged-reading-of-it-cant-happen-here-october-27

  52. 52.

    MomSense

    October 27, 2016 at 11:14 am

    @germy:

    We really have to think about starting companies and providing services such that we don’t have to give any of our dollars to GOP donors. The only thing those jerks care about are dollars.

  53. 53.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 11:15 am

    @LAO:

    I mean, Jewish conservatives have a pretty long history of turning a blind eye to antisemitism if it temporarily suits their needs. See also the courting of end-times fundiegelical sects whose utopia involves a sacrifice of two-thirds of the world’s Jews.

  54. 54.

    Enhanced Voting Techinques

    October 27, 2016 at 11:15 am

    It’s fascinating that they would straight-up admit that.

    Trump pimps and has sex with underaged girls, whored out his own daughter and it’s a matter of public record. Of course they admit it. Until our society gets it’s head of out it’s collective behinds that anyone white, male and claiming to be a Republican is exempt from all the rules it’s going to be a mess.

  55. 55.

    germy

    October 27, 2016 at 11:15 am

    @Chris: I think it’s a combination of stupidity and arrogance, because lately they say stuff on the record that we NEVER would have heard from them ten years ago.

    Or maybe it was eight years ago.

  56. 56.

    dmsilev

    October 27, 2016 at 11:16 am

    @hovercraft:

    It’s a long read, but worth it. It’s an early analysis of the reckoning the GOP will have after the election.

    Which will probably be heeded every bit as strongly as 2012’s “maybe we shouldn’t go all-out in alienating Hispanics etc.” post-mortem.

  57. 57.

    Janet Strange

    October 27, 2016 at 11:16 am

    @jonas:

    Hillary said some unfortunate things about black criminality back in the 90s when everyone was panicking about the skyrocketing crime rate.

    Where? When? She never referred to “superpredators” as African-American or Black. She was quoting Dilulio. “Dilulio broadly applied the Super-Predator label to young black, white, Latino, and Asian males.” Hillary referred only to “gang members.” I think it reveals more about someone who can read “gang member” and automatically assumes “Black” than it does about Hillary.

    http://www.politicade.com/did-hillary-clinton-call-black-youth-super-predators/

    Link to full transcript there.

  58. 58.

    geg6

    October 27, 2016 at 11:17 am

    @LAO:

    He thinks, somehow, his Jewishness is not going to matter in the exciting New Fourth Reich he is being so instrumental in bringing about.

  59. 59.

    LAO

    October 27, 2016 at 11:18 am

    @Chris:

    See also the courting of end-times fundiegelical sects whose utopia involves a sacrifice of two-thirds of the world’s Jews.

    A very valid point — I often argue with more religious/conservative family members that evangelical support for Israel is actual antisemitic.

  60. 60.

    different-church-lady

    October 27, 2016 at 11:18 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    How stupid do you have to be to say that to a reporter?

    Creatures made of pure id.

  61. 61.

    Felonius Monk

    October 27, 2016 at 11:19 am

    Does anyone else think Reince Pribus looks and acts like an incompetent toadie?

  62. 62.

    Droppy

    October 27, 2016 at 11:21 am

    @Felonius Monk: Does anyone else think Reince Pribus looks and acts like an incompetent toadie?

    I know incompetent toadies. Incompetent toadies are friends of mine. Reince doesn’t rise to that level.

  63. 63.

    Peale

    October 27, 2016 at 11:24 am

    @Felonius Monk: Its why he was hired.

  64. 64.

    The Moar You Know

    October 27, 2016 at 11:25 am

    Do we? How? Are you going to throw blacks, women, hispanics, or gays under the bus to appeal to their root principles?

    And yes, I’m pessimistic about any attempts to reach them that does not include that.

    @Emma: I don’t think we’d need to do that – jobs, free medical and dental care and functional schools would go a long way. The kind of stuff Escobar did, for God’s sake.

    You take care of their actual needs and the rest of the deplorable baggage will, over time, go away.

    And damn, you go in with an attitude like yours and yeah, you’ll get all 100 of those counties on board with the GOP. These people don’t need to be told they’re scum. They don’t need to be told they’re stupid and full of shit. Our entire society already treats them as such. Always has. For the entire existence of this nation. Give them an investment in civilized society and they’ll sign on.

    Treat the needs and the rest follows.

  65. 65.

    Couldn't Stand the Weather

    October 27, 2016 at 11:26 am

    @geg6:

    He will be in conference with the ambulatory cream cheese sculpture all afternoon regarding the Whitewater investigation.

    Could we just have the election now?
    Teh st00pid, it BURNS.

    End rant.

  66. 66.

    Death Panel Truck

    October 27, 2016 at 11:27 am

    @Felonius Monk: He’s not acting.

  67. 67.

    Peale

    October 27, 2016 at 11:28 am

    @LAO: To be fair, it Evangelical end times also involves a big war, a nefarious demonic ruler, and 1000 years of tribulations and persecutions first of Christians and then every body else. No one makes out well in the end times. Its why the evangelicals had to play with the timing of the Rapture – otherwise their outlook would be just a dour revenge fantasy with nothing to look forward to.

  68. 68.

    prob50

    October 27, 2016 at 11:28 am

    @Punchy:

    In my experience there are 2: Edith and Archie.

    Ellsworth Bunker, former US Ambassador to South Vietnam during the war. A real jerk-assed hawk.

  69. 69.

    different-church-lady

    October 27, 2016 at 11:28 am

    @srv: Did you get all your personal belongings out in time?

  70. 70.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 11:30 am

    Talk about tilting at windmills.
    Cathrine Rampell WaPost.

    As in the last “autopsy,” the GOP establishment will probably conclude that it needs to broaden its appeal to demographics beyond older white men; that what prevented this more widespread appeal in 2016 was having a boorish, sexist, race-baiting, egomaniacal, undisciplined nominee; that if only it fielded a more genteel version of Trump, someone who espoused essentially the same fiscal and social policies but with more empathy, they’d have won the White House, and will win it once again.

    This conclusion would be wrong.

    The sickness in today’s Republican Party is not confined to its current standard-bearer. It is therefore not curable by merely disavowing, however belatedly, the soon-to-be-defeated nominee. The sickness has taken over the Republican base, and there’s only one antidote.

    If Republicans truly want to save the Republican Party, they need to go to war with right-wing media. That is, they need to dismantle the media machine persuading their base to believe completely bonkers, bigoted garbage.

    Unfortunately I think Josh Barro is right.

    ……. I just want to note that the Republican Party cannot be fixed through the taming of its most committed members’ favorite media outlets. The popularity of figures who fill Republicans’ heads with disinformation — people like Sean Hannity and Alex Jones and Matt Drudge — is mostly a symptom of the problems in the party, not a cause.

    So before they try to bring figures like Hannity to heel, conservatives should consider how someone like him came to be so popular within their movement.

    If they look honestly enough, they will realize the conservative information sphere has long been full of lies. The reason for this is that lying has been the most effective way to promote many of the policies favored by donor-class conservatives, and so they built an apparatus to invent and spread the best lies. …..

    Trump’s contribution to conservative messaging has not been the introduction of widespread lying. Rather, it has been his realization that you don’t have to just lie about what the donors want lied about, and you don’t need a fake model, because nobody’s paying attention to the numbers anyway.

    You don’t need an elaborate approach to “dynamic scoring.” You can just say, “I’ll make us so rich,” and mutter some nonsense about the trade deficit, and you can convince approximately the same set of voters. ……

    Conservative elites might hope to put the lies back in their box, where the subject matter of the lies is developed by wealthy donors (establishment ones, not the Mercers) who care mostly about taxes and not the restoration of overt racism — and where the quality of the lies becomes less embarrassingly low, so it’s not so hard to go defend them on cable news without feeling like an idiot.

    That’s not going to work for a couple of reasons, the main one of which is that Trump’s lies are more fun for Republican voters than the usual set of lies. Another reason is that the old rules boxing in the lies never made much sense — if you can say a $4 trillion tax cut will pay for itself, why not a $10 trillion one?

    You can most easily tell you can’t put the conservative media back in the box when you consider one of its most powerful elements — email forwards and Facebook memes, which are controlled by no authority and make profits for nobody (except Facebook).

    These media reflect the huge demand for Trump-style lies — even if you shame Hannity out of the business, someone else will rise up to offer these lies. The donors cannot ever regain control over the machine. ……

  71. 71.

    prob50

    October 27, 2016 at 11:30 am

    @craigie:

    Why not go all the way and call it Project Hindenburg?

    Very fitting. considering all the hot air involved.

  72. 72.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 11:33 am

    @germy:

    Yes, but that’s also eight or ten additional years of being in the echo chamber and going progressively crazier. Not the only explanation, of course, but part of it.

  73. 73.

    OGLiberal

    October 27, 2016 at 11:33 am

    Oh, boy, is CNN pushing the “polls are tightening!” narrative. Five polls in the last two days from Florida, four showing Hillary ahead from 2 to 4 pts but all they talk about is the Selzer poll…no mention of the other four or that her average lead in Florida is about 2pts, a point or so higher than Obama’s winning margin in 2012. And Dems are neck and neck with Republicans in early voting in FL, which sounds troubling until you learn that Republicans historically have always led significantly in this measure. CNN is trying to get clicks and views from wingers hanging on to hope but the Trumpers don’t even trust or like Fox at this point, outside of fanboy Hannity. Why are they bothering? I guess they built Trump so they’re going to sink with the ship.

  74. 74.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 11:34 am

    @The Moar You Know:
    I don’t know that we can reach them they’ve been fed these lies for so long that they cannot be convinced the cause of their problems is not the “other”. Confirmation bias makes undoing this an almost id not impossible task.

  75. 75.

    different-church-lady

    October 27, 2016 at 11:36 am

    @OGLiberal: Have they mentioned she doesn’t need Florida to win?

  76. 76.

    Summer

    October 27, 2016 at 11:36 am

    @craigie:
    Dorothy Thompson, the reporter who interviewed Hitler in 1931 and was married to Sinclair Lewis, when he wrote It Can’t Happen Here in 1935:
    No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument [of] the Incorporated National Will. … When our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American. And nobody will ever say ‘Heil’ to him, nor will they call him ‘Führer’ or ‘Duce.’ But they will greet him with one great big, universal, democratic, sheeplike bleat of ‘O.K., Chief! Fix it like you wanna, Chief! Oh Kaaaay!'” (1935)

  77. 77.

    prob50

    October 27, 2016 at 11:36 am

    @Major Major Major Major:

    they probably actually believe that real voter suppression is a legitimate political strategy so to them it’s not actually admitting anything.

    Only when talking about a certain “right” type of people.

  78. 78.

    NotMax

    October 27, 2016 at 11:37 am

    @OGLiberal

    Chalk it up to The Scorpion Effect.

    It’s their nature.

  79. 79.

    Tim C.

    October 27, 2016 at 11:37 am

    @LAO: Hell to the yes. It’s *all* about trying to shoehorn some absurd end-times garbage theology/prophecy into Jewish traditions. They figured out at some point not to be quite so obviously anti-semitic somewhere along the line, but it’s not anything close to actual respect. The best insight I think comes from Noted crackpot/christianist nut/cartoonist Jack Chick (Warning, fundamentalist crazypants comic at this link: http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1000/1000_01.asp )

    Related note. Noted crackpot/christianist nut/cartoonist Jack Chick died a couple days ago at 92.

  80. 80.

    FormerSwingVoter

    October 27, 2016 at 11:37 am

    I don’t understand the Trump campaign. They’re going out of their way to gleefully insist that they’re engaged in voter suppression, then describing advertisements. It’d be like if I were to gloat about what a terrible serial murderer I am because I like cheeseburgers.

    These animals enjoy the idea that they’re a threat to democracy. I mean… what in the actual fuck.

  81. 81.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 11:39 am

    @OGLiberal:
    From Steve Schale, the go to guy about Florida.

    Before we dive into the data, can I have a side conversation with the reporters reading this?

    Now, I get it, the national race for President is over, and there is a need to keep this race interesting. But the attention to that Bloomberg Poll yesterday was really kind of nuts. Hillary Clinton has led or been tied in the 14 most recent polls before that one, two of which came out yesterday that received virtually no coverage. So let’s keep all these polls in perspective.

    Back to everyone.

    Let’s talk about polling really quick.

    In 2012, the storyline was Obama couldn’t win Florida. In fact, Obama only led 4 of the last 15 polls before this day in the election. It was fair skepticism.

    But in this case, HRC has led 14 of the last 15. I don’t think anyone can argue that she is in a strong position to win.

    No one knows better to me how tough this state can be, and no one is going to blow anyone out here. But she is ahead. It is a fact. Now she has to turn out the vote.

    One last thing on that Bloomberg poll. They have the electorate at +3 Republican. 42-39. I don’t even know even the most optimistic GOP operative who agrees with that model.

    Today, among votes in, it is 41-41-18. If you take the Bloomberg Poll and do nothing but weigh the party breaks to 41-41-18, guess what, it shows Clinton with a 3-point lead – which is essentially what the average has been for a few weeks.

    Oh, and University of North Florida this morning has it +4 HRC.

  82. 82.

    Chyron HR

    October 27, 2016 at 11:40 am

    @srv:

    Why didn’t Scott Adams use his quantum psychic powers to prevent this? I think we need at least six congressional hearings to determine his culpability.

  83. 83.

    lollipopguild

    October 27, 2016 at 11:40 am

    @The Moar You Know: I would like to believe you but many of the people would gladly give up their social security and medicare as long as they felt that the gays/blacks/browns were being treated worse. No matter what you do for them they are still gonna hate who they hate. God bless their little pea-picking hearts.

  84. 84.

    amk

    October 27, 2016 at 11:42 am

    @different-church-lady: lol.

  85. 85.

    msb

    October 27, 2016 at 11:44 am

    There’s stupid and then there’s Trump Stupid.

    The famous Trump Razor – the principle that he will always do the stupidest thing possible – codified by Josh Marshall and John Scalzi.

    tightening race

    Let ’em say it; hopefully it will keep the good guys from getting complacent.

  86. 86.

    CarolDuhart2

    October 27, 2016 at 11:46 am

    I don’t mind if they get 100 counties of benefits. What I do mind that they won’t take them unless minorities can’t get them. What I do mind that they want to run our lives as well as their own-and they are not running their lives very well. They want to impose rural solutions on urban populations with no resistance.

    The real problem isn’t that Democrats have abandoned them. It’s that business has. Once there were factories scattered among the corn that provided some non-farm jobs for people. But that was back when America was pretty much the world economy. Now businesses need to locate in places where they can easily work with their international clients, export that way. And they operate on a JIT model of quick order filling that doesn’t want to deal with the distance between a corn field in the middle of nowhere and say, San Francisco and the docks.

  87. 87.

    C. Isaac

    October 27, 2016 at 11:47 am

    @hovercraft:

    Yes, well, liberals wouldn’t be liberals without the ability to clutch hard at their pearls.

    I’d rather them be worried and motivated than complacent and lazy anyways.

    And for those who want reassurance — there’s multiple paths to 270 without Florida for HRC and zero paths to 270 for Trump without Florida. If Florida goes blue on Nov 8, the race is over and it’s all mopup from there.

  88. 88.

    Brachiator

    October 27, 2016 at 11:48 am

    “We have three major voter suppression operations under way,

    I guess these are attempts at voter suppression, but they seem pretty weak. And the Bill Clinton stuff is countered by the parade of Trump accusers.

    More important maybe as reported on Maddow are the incredibly stupid attempts to intimidate Pennsylvania voters. Trump is asking for law enforcement officers and “volunteers with badges” to come out and make sure that the people who vote are actually registered. This attempt to guard against voter fraud is totally illegal, and the RNC got their ass in a legal wringer years ago over something similar and are still under federal guidance because of it.

  89. 89.

    Mike E

    October 27, 2016 at 11:50 am

    Just voted here in Mayberry…it’s the final wave of added early sites (7 days into the process) which brings up the # of total sites to 20 in the county. 72 min from back of the line to tabulation. 10 more days to GOTV

  90. 90.

    Oldgold

    October 27, 2016 at 11:51 am

    The media by trafficking in the emails are acting as accessories after the fact. They know they are stolen private property; yet, they make beneficial use of them. It is no different than knowingly accepting and spending money from a bank robbery.

    In addition, in using these purloined private emails, the media is aiding and abetting a dangerous foreign enemy in subverting our democratic process.

    They seem to want to justify this outrageous conduct under some half-assed public whistle blower theory. BS. This is the outright theft of private property that is several degrees separated from public information and does not come close to even suggesting criminal conduct.

  91. 91.

    Shell

    October 27, 2016 at 11:52 am

    I hear they’re gonna have Melania make some speeches out on the campaign trail. Yeah, that should turn things around.

  92. 92.

    prob50

    October 27, 2016 at 11:54 am

    @LAO:

    I often argue with more religious/conservative family members that evangelical support for Israel is actual antisemitic.

    Ya think? My understanding is that the evangelicals “love” Israel because it’s going to be a main components in triggering a war that will bring on their glorious “Rapture”. So the Jews are merely some sort of plot device towards that end.

    With friends like that who needs enemies?

  93. 93.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 11:55 am

    @dmsilev:
    Jason Chavetz actions yesterday, and the fact that no one rebuked him for signalling that they have no plans to do anything other that investigate her for the next 4 to 8 years, says all you need to know about the next republican caucus. We have also had two republican senators tell us their plans for the judiciary, first was ” moderate, serious” John McCain, and them Ted Cruz. The article questions the party’s ability to knit it’s various factions into one coherent entity that can govern when their needs/wants are so disparate. My answer is no, but they can unite to kill the witch.

  94. 94.

    redshirt

    October 27, 2016 at 11:55 am

    @Peale:

    I think it’s a camp not a compound

    Heh. I got that reference!

  95. 95.

    Enhanced Voting Techinques

    October 27, 2016 at 11:56 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    t is easily the most depressing statistic I’ve ever read. But I’m glad you posted it. We’ve got a LOT of outreach work to do.

    And outreach to what? Like Cole, they hate and that’s the end of it. I also come from that kind of Squirlmeat Belt blue color background. It’s hard to overstate how dumb and proud of it these people are and how much they view anything differant than them as a personal attack. Just the Information Age alone and the idea a nerd like Bill Gates is the richest man in the world is a mortal offense to them, muchless other horrors like middle class blacks and female CEOs.

  96. 96.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 27, 2016 at 11:57 am

    @geg6: The Wikileaks stuff really is bringing down the mood of some of the reluctant Bernie-folk who have switched to supporting Clinton. It’ll probably have some effect. Not a huge one.

  97. 97.

    CarolDuhart2

    October 27, 2016 at 11:57 am

    @prob50: Not only that, but the scenario requires all Jews to go to Israel. Not exactly defending the rights of either the local Palestinians or Jews to stay where they would like to stay.

  98. 98.

    Peale

    October 27, 2016 at 11:57 am

    @Oldgold: But it might…so we need to stay tuned. Honestly, at this point, they’ve cried wolf so many times about what they assume is in there, that there could be an e-mail from Hillary to Podesta giving him a heads up that she’s using Clinton Foundation money from ISIS to fund terrorists mall massacres in every county that doesn’t vote for her and the public is going to go “meh”.

  99. 99.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 11:58 am

    @FormerSwingVoter:

    Like I said, the idea that we erred terribly when we got into universal suffrage is a very widespread one on right wing blogs.

    In more polite settings, note that the meme “we’re a REPUBLIC not a DEMOCRACY”has suddenly gotten very common coming from right wing activists in the last eight years. Which is true, so far as it goes, but has always been true and it’s generally understood that what people mean when they say “democracy” today isn’t “direct democracy.” It’s kind of hard to avoid the conclusion that it’s a veiled way for them to say “fuck democracy [both in the original, “direct” sense AND the colloquial sense we all use today] because it elected That One.”

  100. 100.

    piratedan

    October 27, 2016 at 11:58 am

    mailed off my ballot this morning… feels good to have it done.

  101. 101.

    redshirt

    October 27, 2016 at 11:58 am

    @Mike E: I’m constantly amazed that early voting produces these kinds of wait times. We need more places to vote.

  102. 102.

    Barbara

    October 27, 2016 at 11:58 am

    @craigie: Why not call it Project Aleppo? What does it have in common? The willingness of excrement in the form of a complete human being to rely on external Russian support to destroy anything and everything that he perceives as an obstacle. The notion that a candidate for president of the United States — let alone newspapers and news programming — would be all in with the idea of letting a Russian dictator and oligarch decide the outcome of the election is so repulsive that I find it hard to characterize just how repulsive it really is. I know we are really teetering when it comes to being the home of the brave, but I had not realized how wobbly we had become on being the land of the free. Will. Never. Spend. Money. On. Anything. Named. Trump. Ever.

  103. 103.

    dmsilev

    October 27, 2016 at 12:01 pm

    @Shell:

    I hear they’re gonna have Melania make some speeches out on the campaign trail. Yeah, that should turn things around.

    Makes sense. Now that Michelle Obama has given some more campaign speeches, Melania’s “speechwriter” has some fresh material to work with.

  104. 104.

    Barbara

    October 27, 2016 at 12:01 pm

    @Oldgold: So far as I can tell, it also just shows that all these issues were debated internally — which, if you think of it, is kind of a good thing. They were not oblivious or insensitive to the possibility of conflicts and other “bad stuff” and tried to discuss what to do about it. So fucking what?

  105. 105.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 12:02 pm

    @Shell:
    Well that Michelle woman is giving speeches and people keep saying she’s awesome and they love her. Melania was a supermodel, and is super hot, so if she gives some speeches people will love her even more that they love Michelle. Remember back when Sarah gave all those speeches and she had all those crowds and they loved her, it will be just like that.

  106. 106.

    rickstersherpa

    October 27, 2016 at 12:02 pm

    @The Moar You Know: The Guardian has video posted on McDowell County, West Virginia, the poorest county in the poorest State, which voted more for Trump then any other county in the country. I think the last person in the county will turn out the lights.

  107. 107.

    geg6

    October 27, 2016 at 12:02 pm

    @Shell:

    Oh good god. This must be their response to Michelle being out on the trail. Fucking hilarious.

  108. 108.

    CarolDuhart2

    October 27, 2016 at 12:02 pm

    There’s already a boycott going on of Ivanka Trump fashions. And the prices on his Washington hotel have gone from $600 a night to $300 a night. I bet before all is over they go down to half of that. The Obama (now Clinton) coalition haz money, and will not spend it on anything of his. Good look getting Beyonce to stay in, let alone do an ad for, it.

  109. 109.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 12:04 pm

    @CarolDuhart2:

    I don’t mind if they get 100 counties of benefits. What I do mind that they won’t take them unless minorities can’t get them. What I do mind that they want to run our lives as well as their own-and they are not running their lives very well. They want to impose rural solutions on urban populations with no resistance.

    VERY much this.

    The real problem isn’t that Democrats have abandoned them. It’s that business has.

    Well, that and their politicians, who make absolutely no attempt to adapt to the changes or even, more generally, any attempt to help them deal with their economic problems. But that comes back to them, since they’re the ones who refuse to elect any politicians other than the ones who refuse to do anything.

    The funny thing is that in every other context, when conservatives come across a population that’s been hit hard by the economy, their only suggestion is “stop blaming other people for your own problems, and stop voting for the politicians you’ve been voting for because they’re just ‘keeping you on the plantation.'” You’d think someone in poor white conservative counties would stumble across the possibility of taking their own advice… but you would be wrong.

  110. 110.

    Keith P.

    October 27, 2016 at 12:05 pm

    Bullshit. Trump is trying to expand his base, as is evidenced by this Trump ad, perhaps the most surreal ad I’ve seen this cycle.

  111. 111.

    The Moar You Know

    October 27, 2016 at 12:05 pm

    I don’t know that we can reach them they’ve been fed these lies for so long that they cannot be convinced the cause of their problems is not the “other”. Confirmation bias makes undoing this an almost id not impossible task.

    I would like to believe you but many of the people would gladly give up their social security and medicare as long as they felt that the gays/blacks/browns were being treated worse. No matter what you do for them they are still gonna hate who they hate. God bless their little pea-picking hearts.

    And outreach to what? Like Cole, they hate and that’s the end of it. I also come from that kind of Squirlmeat Belt blue color background. It’s hard to overstate how dumb and proud of it these people are and how much they view anything differant than them as a personal attack. Just the Information Age alone and the idea a nerd like Bill Gates is the richest man in the world is a mortal offense to them, muchless other horrors like middle class blacks and female CEOs.

    @Enhanced Voting Techinques:
    @lollipopguild:
    @hovercraft:

    You’re not working on changing them. You’re working, frankly, on their children and even more so, their grandchildren. Yeah, it’s a long term task and we’re not good at that. But we need to get good.

    FWIW I’m living proof. I’m the grandson of an Alabama sharecropper and Nebraska dirt farmer, both KKK members. Me and my siblings all have college degrees and vote straight Dem. Give them a chance and don’t give up after 10 years and leave them to rot. Again. To truly beat/assimilate these people, you’ve got to be in it for several generations. The current incarnation of the GOP didn’t come out of nowhere – it started well before I was born back in the early 1960s. That’s the kind of timeline you need to be looking at.

  112. 112.

    geg6

    October 27, 2016 at 12:05 pm

    I also come from that kind of Squirlmeat Belt blue color background. It’s hard to overstate how dumb and proud of it these people are and how much they view anything differant than them as a personal attack. Just the Information Age alone and the idea a nerd like Bill Gates is the richest man in the world is a mortal offense to them, muchless other horrors like middle class blacks and female CEOs.

    That pretty much describes my little part of Western PA and the inhabitants within.

  113. 113.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 27, 2016 at 12:06 pm

    @Chris: It’s been part of Ann Coulter’s shtick for years to say she wants women to lose the right to vote. She gets approving belly laughs for it in the echo chamber. I don’t think the Trumpist right even realizes it’s not a generally popular position.

  114. 114.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 12:06 pm

    Trump Speaks Hindi To Court Indian-American Voters In New TV Ad (VIDEO)

  115. 115.

    geg6

    October 27, 2016 at 12:06 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I don’t know any more Berniebots. They have all become enthusiastic Hilbots, so glad I don’t have to hear them whine.

  116. 116.

    Josie

    October 27, 2016 at 12:09 pm

    @redshirt: Of course we need more polling places, but that won’t happen as long as state and county Republicans are running elections. Long wait lines are a feature, not a bug, especially for early voting. One way to suppress votes is to make voting more difficult, and fewer voters usually means more Republicans elected.

  117. 117.

    gratuitous

    October 27, 2016 at 12:09 pm

    @geg6: It is amusing, in a certain way, to watch conservative operatives scheme and plan and have their big reveal about their latest cunning plan to piss off the libruls. “I know! We’ll start a group called ‘party unity my ass’ (PUMA, get it?) and draw off all the disaffected Hitlery voters, and Obammy won’t stand a chance against McCain/Palin!” High fives all around.

    The annoyed eye roll doesn’t mean what you think it means, Mr. Parscale.

  118. 118.

    Eric U.

    October 27, 2016 at 12:10 pm

    @D58826: I think there would be some hilarious emails in there. They aren’t idiots, they know Trump is killing them. There have to be emails that say things about that. But hacking them would be wrong

  119. 119.

    Joel

    October 27, 2016 at 12:10 pm

    @srv: I’m glad you made it through the attack okay.

  120. 120.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 12:12 pm

    @prob50:

    Ya think? My understanding is that the evangelicals “love” Israel because it’s going to be a main components in triggering a war that will bring on their glorious “Rapture”. So the Jews are merely some sort of plot device towards that end.

    Well, yes and no – yes, those people are out there, but even among evangelicals not every sect is a rapture-believer, and support for Israel in conservative Christian circles is much broader than simply apocalyptic sects.

    I think a very big part of it is simply that these people view Middle East policy as Bible fan fiction, and they view it as Bible fan fiction because reading the Bible (or having it preached at them from the pulpit) is the closest they’ve ever come to actually studying the region. Since the geopolitics of the Bible are pretty much “Israel = God’s people, everyone else = the aggressive heathen hordes of God’s enemies,” unsurprisingly that’s what the Christian conservative worldview is.

  121. 121.

    Cracker and toast

    October 27, 2016 at 12:15 pm

    @Keith P.: Yawn, the Donald…being the cheap ass slum lord at his core, is already shutting down the money losing operation and probably starting to stiff people.

    Instead of campaigning he was promoting a hotel opening somewhere the other day. Just amazing that anyone, regardless of politics or intelligence or tribal affiliation, could ever consider voting for that clown.

    No more Repub fundraising was the most visible thing I read about so far. Basically anything that involves money moving from his pockets outwards. Of course inbound flow operations are still running full speed. He will continue grifting for as long as there are scraps to collect.

    My guess is that the stories of people not being payed will start trickling out soon. Since they are all under NDA’s that will probably stem the anonymous tide of non payment stories till the election is over.

  122. 122.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 12:16 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I don’t think the Trumpist right even realizes it’s not a generally popular position.

    No, and they certainly don’t understand that it’s not how the rest of the country thinks. If they ever had a moment of honesty on this, I suspect it’d look like “well, of course we’d love the kind of people who vote for our enemies to be banned from voting. Doesn’t everyone?”

  123. 123.

    Feebog

    October 27, 2016 at 12:17 pm

    @hovercraft:

    Thank you for the link to Steve Schale link. Really deep in the weeds stuff, which I love. It is going to come down to GOTV on November 8 in FL, but I think Hilz pulls it off, and with a higher percentage than Obama in 08.

  124. 124.

    catclub

    October 27, 2016 at 12:18 pm

    @OGLiberal:

    but the Trumpers don’t even trust or like Fox at this point,

    It was funny when FOX News employee Newt Gingrich was lumping the FOX news poll ( that showed Clinton winning) in with the liberal media establishment in that interview with Megyn Kelly. She was irritated by that!

  125. 125.

    prob50

    October 27, 2016 at 12:19 pm

    @Chris:

    I think a very big part of it is simply that these people view Middle East policy as Bible fan fiction, and they view it as Bible fan fiction because reading the Bible (or having it preached at them from the pulpit) is the closest they’ve ever come to actually studying the region. Since the geopolitics of the Bible are pretty much “Israel = God’s people, everyone else = the aggressive heathen hordes of God’s enemies,” unsurprisingly that’s what the Christian conservative worldview is.

    I don’t disagree, but even though the whole Rapture thing reads like an idiotic would-be martyr fantasy, in the final tally of their story, as ludicrous as it seems, I don’t think they expect to see any Heebs in Heaven, so I’ll have to take a pass on wanting their support.

  126. 126.

    PVDMichael

    October 27, 2016 at 12:19 pm

    I think one of the most telling nuggets from this story is that the Trump organization has put the low-bidder on a 2010 $10,000 website-build project in charge of his data operations.

    The best people, believe me…

  127. 127.

    catclub

    October 27, 2016 at 12:21 pm

    @Chris:

    everyone else = the aggressive heathen hordes of God’s enemies,

    So also ignoring that the Babylonian Captivity was God using the Babylonians to punish and teach the Israelites a lesson for following false gods.

  128. 128.

    Botsplainer

    October 27, 2016 at 12:21 pm

    @Chris:

    People in poor white conservative counties tend to be nihilists – things suck for them and they’re content to live in suck so long as they can bring everybody else down to the suck.

  129. 129.

    Keith P.

    October 27, 2016 at 12:22 pm

    @Cracker and toast: It’s going to be quite an interesting 2017. Trump’s going to stiff so many consultants because he lost (“*YOU* didn’t do a good job!”) that he’s going to be fed lawsuits every month. I can’t wait for him to try to explain to a court why a politician shouldn’t pay his obligations if he loses.

  130. 130.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 12:23 pm

    @CarolDuhart2:
    Business is down across his “empire”.

    According to Hipmunk, “The share of bookings at Trump Hotels on Hipmunk as a percent of total hotel bookings are down, decreasing 58.46 percent compared to the same period last year. While overall Hipmunk hotel bookings have been on the rise year-over-year, that has not been the case with bookings of Trump Hotels.”

    From the WaPost

    Under new developers, the apartment buildings were built and now bear his name: Trump Place.

    But only on the outside, and only because there’s a legal agreement that they do so. The Times reported this week that other mentions of Trump’s name in the complex will be removed at the behest of residents. The floor mats in the lobby will go from reading “Trump Place” to identifying the building’s street address, and “the doormen and concierges have been measured for new uniforms that will no longer carry the Trump name,” the Times’ Charles Bagli writes.

    Travel Weekly reports that the Trump backlash is not limited to those who’ve bought property in his buildings. A majority of travel agents told the magazine that they were recommending Trump hotels and resorts less than they did before Trump began his campaign; half also said that their clients have said they don’t want to stay at Trump properties. After the publication of the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump casually mentions committing sexual assault, travel agents reported an uptick in aversion to Trump. In August, the travel site Hipmunk noted that bookings at Trump properties had dropped 58 percent, year-over-year.

    The most visible since of this blow back came in a report this week that a new hotel chain owned by Trump wouldn’t use the name Trump. Instead, the chain will be called Scion, a decision that a company representative said was because they “didn’t want to confuse consumers between the two brands.” One can read that as suggesting that the company would rather people not think “Trump” when they see “Scion.”

    There was also a recent story about a LA Dodgers player who months ago refused to stay with the team in a Trump hotel, I see much more of this in the future. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of people.
    Unfortunately for him the types of people who are his most ardent supporters are not the type who can afford his properties. SCION is supposed to be more downscale, so maybe there. Can you imagine in the Trump hotels go bankrupt because of his name, but the SCION hotels thrive because most people don’t know they are his? That would just kill him knowing that his name his precious name is worthless, but this other thing has value.

  131. 131.

    Joel

    October 27, 2016 at 12:24 pm

    @Eric U.: It wouldn’t make a damned difference; the Telgraph just caught the Trump campaign (on video!) in a quid pro quo sting operation. And no one fucking cares.

  132. 132.

    MomSense

    October 27, 2016 at 12:27 pm

    Ok Mrs. Greenspan, would it kill you to refer to the emails as stolen? They weren’t leaked. This isn’t a whistleblower situation, more of a theft and attempt to interfere with our election by foreign entities and Russia.

    Also, too Mrs Greenspan since you like speculation so much why not take a turn figuring out if it is plausible that RNC, Bannon, Conway, Priebus emails were not hacked?

  133. 133.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    October 27, 2016 at 12:29 pm

    @hovercraft:

    People will hit the WSJ paywall by following your link. (I did.) But it is an oddity that if you get to one of their stories via Google you can read the whole thing.

    So interested people should go to Google and enter the search term Seib "Republicans Rode Waves of Populism". From there you will get a link to the full article.

  134. 134.

    catclub

    October 27, 2016 at 12:30 pm

    @The Moar You Know: Why do I suspect that other 26 were majority black/latino/Native American?

  135. 135.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 27, 2016 at 12:30 pm

    @prob50: They imagine Jews either converting to Christianity right at the end, or being incinerated by TurboJesus’s eye lasers and cast into Hell along with everyone else they don’t like.

  136. 136.

    Amir Khalid

    October 27, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    @hovercraft:
    Interesting that Trump addresses this campaign ad only to Hindus. Is the man who tangled futilely with the Khan family not aware of Muslim, Christian, Sikh, or Buddhist Indian-Americans, to name just four of the many other religious affiliations an Indian-American might claim?

  137. 137.

    Kay

    October 27, 2016 at 12:32 pm

    I just agreed to be the Dem rep on a forum on the election at the high school on 11/3. The Repub is a moderate city councilperson- I know her and we get along. However, she may now be a Trumpster :)

    I’ll have to actually read Clinton’s college plan.

  138. 138.

    Mike in NC

    October 27, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    @Keith P.: Maybe Trump thinks he can sell a lot of his second-rate steaks in India.

  139. 139.

    Peale

    October 27, 2016 at 12:36 pm

    @Kay: If you want, I can fly to Ohio next week and be on your debate prep team. I can do a wicked impression of all types of Republicans, from quiet Church Lady with a Vicious Streak, to Gun Toting Guy Who Has Shaved Is Head and Claims to Be An Ex Marine But Was Really in the Army Reserve, to Keynote Speaker for the Kiwanis Club Prayer Breakfast.

  140. 140.

    SufferinSuccotash

    October 27, 2016 at 12:37 pm

    @craigie: Lawrence Harvey as Colonel Travis?
    Gimme a break.

  141. 141.

    prob50

    October 27, 2016 at 12:38 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    They imagine Jews either converting to Christianity right at the end, or being incinerated by TurboJesus’s eye lasers and cast into Hell along with everyone else they don’t like.

    This all makes me feel sort of “spiritually groped”.

    So in the spirit of brotherhood these clowns exemplify let me emphatically say this to them: “Bite me”.

  142. 142.

    OGLiberal

    October 27, 2016 at 12:39 pm

    @different-church-lady: Of course not – she must win Florida and Ohio or she’s doomed, even though she needs neither.

  143. 143.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 12:40 pm

    @prob50:

    Yeah, good point. Obviously, I wasn’t suggesting that their support would be a good thing in any case, since even at their most generous what they want for Israel is basically to be able that it live under George W. Bush like leaders forever.

    @Botsplainer:

    Nihilists!

    Fuck me! I mean say what you want about the tenets of national socialism, Dude…

  144. 144.

    debit

    October 27, 2016 at 12:41 pm

    @Mike in NC: What you did there, I saw.

  145. 145.

    OGLiberal

    October 27, 2016 at 12:42 pm

    @hovercraft: RCP still has yet to include the UNF poll in their average even though they have a previous UNF poll from earlier in the month in their full FL poll listing, which would bring their average up from 1.6 to 2.6 which is about….3pts.

  146. 146.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 27, 2016 at 12:42 pm

    @prob50: Yeah, it’s sort of like nonconsensually using a whole other religion as their apocalypse mascots.

  147. 147.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 27, 2016 at 12:43 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: No “sort of”.

  148. 148.

    Iowa Old Lady

    October 27, 2016 at 12:44 pm

    @OGLiberal: And Scranton! You forgot she also has to win Scranton because Chris Matthews tells me it’s where the most typical American lives, that being someone who shares a curiously similar background with Chris Matthews.

  149. 149.

    Peale

    October 27, 2016 at 12:44 pm

    @catclub: Plus, God looked at Babylon and his own people and said “A little culture might do them some good.” He got tired of hearing the same old psalms year in and year out, and hoped that a few trips to the Babylon Symphony Orchestra and some of those show stoppers from Hamilturabi! the Musical might lead to some new material.

  150. 150.

    ruemara

    October 27, 2016 at 12:45 pm

    @The Moar You Know: I’m sorry, but we have a lot of crushing them to do. This is not something a little tea & sympathy with well reasoned arguments will fix.

  151. 151.

    Kay

    October 27, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    @Peale:

    I asked them to send me the guidelines. So I can prepare.

    They do a high school mock election in Presidential years. Obama won it by a landslide in ’08 but barely won in ’12. It’s a 60/40 R county. I bet Trumpster pulls it out this year. We have 75% non-college parents.

  152. 152.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 12:48 pm

    @Amir Khalid:
    You are assuming that he knows there are different types of Southeast Asians. I’m sure he knows there are American Indians and then those “others”. Explaining that those “others” are comprised of lots of other sub groups would hurt his brain. Plus Hindus are the good ones, those other ones wear turbans, so they are all terrorists.

  153. 153.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 12:49 pm

    @Mike in NC:
    Funny.

  154. 154.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 12:50 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    An observation I remember reading years ago, though I don’t remember the source:

    “They don’t love Jewish people. They love us as characters in their story, in their play, and it’s not our play, and we never auditioned for the part, and it’s not a play that ends well for us.”

    ETA: it’s from a character named Gershom Gorenberg, apparently, see here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gershom_Gorenberg

  155. 155.

    glory b

    October 27, 2016 at 12:50 pm

    @different-church-lady: Ha!

  156. 156.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 27, 2016 at 12:51 pm

    @Keith P.:

    I think he’s saying “I am a jelly doughnut” in Hindi.

  157. 157.

    D58826

    October 27, 2016 at 12:53 pm

    @Eric U.: I know it’s wrong but maybe a bit of Mutual assured destruction doctrine is in order here. If the GOP knows that it’s dirty private linen will be exposed in retaliation then maybe they will be less likely to sanction the hacking of DNC emails.

  158. 158.

    slag

    October 27, 2016 at 12:54 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Maybe it’s their new way of trying to normalize actual voter suppression.

  159. 159.

    Keith P.

    October 27, 2016 at 12:55 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: FTW!

  160. 160.

    Miss Bianca

    October 27, 2016 at 12:55 pm

    @hovercraft: Here’s what I don’t get: Any of those Republican Klown Kar Kandidates could have attacked Trump vociferously, regardless of the base, because as we can see, however much the base might huff and puff and threaten to blow the house down, they would have rallied round the eventual nominee in the end. So, why didn’t they do it? Had to leave it to Sec. Clinton to hand the Orange One his ass.

    And then instead of being grateful that she had the metaphorical stones to do what they couldn’t, thereby arguably saving their party from certain disaster and allowing it to live another day as the loyal oppositionals, they’re going to go all Chaffetz on her ass. This wonderful world!

  161. 161.

    OGLiberal

    October 27, 2016 at 12:55 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: Scranton is in Lackawanna County. Obama got 63% of the vote in Lackawanna County in 2012. I’m in Lackawanna County. It’s very, very, very white. I know lawn signs don’t mean much but outside of the city it’s a Trump sign every other house, with almost no Hillary signs. I doubt 2016 is going to be much different in Lackawanna County than 2012. So Obama’s 63% likely didn’t come from the suburbs and rural areas in the Country. Earth to Chris – Clinton is going to win Scranton…and Lackawanna County, probably by a lot. I guess she does appeal to “real” American white people.

  162. 162.

    Kay

    October 27, 2016 at 12:56 pm

    at gym in the Midwest, watching a Fox &Friends segment on cheating voting machines in Texas. They’re really going with this …

    Just recording that so they can’t deny it if Trumpists go nuts. They created this. Deliberately. Because they’re paid a lot of money to ruin everything.

  163. 163.

    Anoniminous

    October 27, 2016 at 12:58 pm

    @Botsplainer:

    Living in suck makes them morally superior to everyone else in the world … ESPECIALLY them near sheriffs.

  164. 164.

    prob50

    October 27, 2016 at 12:58 pm

    @Chris:

    “They don’t love Jewish people. They love us as characters in their story, in their play, and it’s not our play, and we never auditioned for the part, and it’s not a play that ends well for us.”

    Yeah, like I said earlier, “plot devices”. We’re non or under-developed characters in a really, really shitty play.

    Anyone remember the old Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man”? At the end the aliens want to make sure the protagonist has had enough to eat so he’ll be nice and plump and juicy on the dinner plate. I think the alien even pokes him in the stomach a bit to check it out.

    “Phew” on these people.

  165. 165.

    dedc79

    October 27, 2016 at 1:00 pm

    First Trump, now Thomas:

    The anticipation of meeting a U.S. Supreme Court justice for the first time turned to shock and distress for a young Truman Foundation scholar in 1999 when, she says, Justice Clarence Thomas grabbed and squeezed her on the buttocks several times at a dinner party.

    On Oct. 7, a night dominated by the disclosure of Donald Trump’s audio-recorded boasts about grabbing women, Moira Smith posted on Facebook a memory of her encounter with Thomas. “He groped me while I was setting the table, suggesting I should sit ‘right next to him,’ ” Smith wrote. Smith, now vice president and general counsel to Enstar Natural Gas Co., in Alaska, was 23 at the time of the dinner party at the Falls Church, Virginia, home of her boss.

  166. 166.

    Anoniminous

    October 27, 2016 at 1:02 pm

    @Kay:

    Link to the Democratic Party Platform.

    Lots of good stuff in there.

  167. 167.

    Miss Bianca

    October 27, 2016 at 1:03 pm

    @Summer: I just got done reading about Thompson’s interview with Hitler. She was not, surprise, surprise, very impressed with him.

    Good luck with your staged reading! I am pretty tapped out with contributions right now, so I can’t give you anything but well wishes, but those you may have in abundance!

  168. 168.

    raven

    October 27, 2016 at 1:04 pm

    We had Camp Hartell that was our compound and we had bunkers scattered on the perimeter.

  169. 169.

    D58826

    October 27, 2016 at 1:04 pm

    @hovercraft: Couple of thoughts.

    What will stop a GOP Senate from blocking all of her nominations – courts, cabinet, ambassadors, etc? They have been blocking or slow walking many of Obama’s nominations.

    What impact will these threats have on people being willing to serve in a Clinton administration. How many people will want their reputations dragged thru the GOP sewer? Given the almost unlimited investigative power of the House people will be dragged before Congress, humiliated on TV, have the lives of their family’s investigated and maybe threatened, and run up huge legal expenses. No one in their right mind would signup for such an ordeal.

  170. 170.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    October 27, 2016 at 1:06 pm

    @The Moar You Know: It’s hard to buy this argument when the Democratic party has been offering to “treat their needs” for decades and they keep moving further and further away from voting for Democrats.

  171. 171.

    Miss Bianca

    October 27, 2016 at 1:09 pm

    @The Moar You Know: My problem following this thread is that I’ve ended up agreeing with *all* of you.

  172. 172.

    Stan

    October 27, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    @dmsilev: THANK YOU for reminding everyone what the Alamo was about.

  173. 173.

    Anoniminous

    October 27, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    People who met Hitler in person before the war were almost uniformly impressed and charmed. Sociopaths generally are quite capable of manipulating people that way.

  174. 174.

    Miss Bianca

    October 27, 2016 at 1:14 pm

    @Joel: THIS. It’s making me crazy that this story doesn’t appear to be getting any traction. But Hillary’s emails? Oh, yes indeedy!

  175. 175.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 1:14 pm

    @Miss Bianca:
    They are nasty bitter people, a bunch of sore losers. This is just a natural progression of their behavior towards every democratic president since Nixon. They conspired to make sure the hostages weren’t released till Carter lost, yes the Iranians also wanted to humiliate Carter, but they helped. Clinton was under attack the entire 8 years, and they’ve tried to do it to Obama as well, but since he’s black, he knew he had to be more than squeaky clean since he is the first. The progression of sabotage and obstruction with each one has been breathtaking, but the media has simply shrugged it off, so they keep going.

    @D58826:

    No one in their right mind would signup for such an ordeal.

    Feature not a bug.

  176. 176.

    Kay

    October 27, 2016 at 1:14 pm

    Some Trump Voters Warn of Revolution if Clinton Wins
    Some fans of Donald J. Trump worry that their concerns and frustrations will be forgotten if Hillary Clinton wins. Others predict violent conflict.
    “People are going to march on the capitols,” one said. “They’re going to do whatever needs to be done to get her out of office.”

    I just love how they’ve completely abandoned any pretense of recognizing elections. Because that’s how this works- if your guy loses you just scream and yell until you get your way.

    God almighty what Republicans created with this incessant lying to their base. I hope they’re proud of themselves. All of these hacks are raking in the big bucks telling these people elections are rigged and now they’re shocked and appalled people believed them.

  177. 177.

    Peale

    October 27, 2016 at 1:16 pm

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Also, the analysis exists as if there is no such thing and suburbs. I really don’t think midwestern small towns have ever been Democratic Party Strongholds that somehow Democrats have turned away from after the New Deal coalition split. The support was never there. Look at the electoral college maps through FDR…after his landslide wins, the first states to revert back to Republicanism were the Midwest states, even though there was a lot of New Deal investment in that part of the country to improve agricultural output, build roads and high schools. Southern small towns – maybe Democratic party strongholds that were lost after the Civil Rights bill. But these voters who Democrats are supposed to have lost and care for because those voters aren’t ostensibly wealthy are actually Republican voters. Its not some Liberal Northeast Ivy League and Liberal Hollywood Elite that excludes them. Its the Northeast Conservative Ivy League Elite that hasn’t been really addressing their concerns.

  178. 178.

    Miss Bianca

    October 27, 2016 at 1:16 pm

    @Anoniminous: There were a few, like Dorothy Thompson and Thomas Mann, who appear to have never been fooled by appearances with him. But the more I read about how other people got taken in, sometimes against their better judgement, the more I shudder.

    @Peale: Sounds like a one-man show in the offing!

  179. 179.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 27, 2016 at 1:17 pm

    @Chris: Gorenberg writes a lot about Middle East issues at TPM. He’s good.

  180. 180.

    D58826

    October 27, 2016 at 1:19 pm

    @hovercraft: yep. make government non-functional and then campaign on how bad government is. GOP game plan since time of Reagan.

  181. 181.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 27, 2016 at 1:20 pm

    In good news, a friend of mine who proclaimed back in June that he would vote Pacific Green at the top of the ticket regardless of how the polls were going in the top of the ticket race confessed to me that he was in a genuine quandary; he’s filled out his ballot for everything but President, and is agonizing over who to vote for. One one hand, he wants to help the Greens make the percentage of the vote cut to achieve “major party” status in Oregon, but on the other hand, he’s not very happy with Stein’s woo on multiple fronts, and he’s thinking that he must send a message to Drumpf by voting for Hillary, even though Hillary has a 95+ chance of winning Oregon’s seven electoral votes. He’s thinking that he needs to be part of the landslide, and the Greens can wait…too important to drown Drumpf in a Tsunami right here right now.

  182. 182.

    D58826

    October 27, 2016 at 1:22 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Another one that has disappeared is the story about Trump and his cocaine/sex/underaged girls parties in years past. Boys will be boys I guess. (gag)

  183. 183.

    The Moar You Know

    October 27, 2016 at 1:23 pm

    It’s hard to buy this argument when the Democratic party has been offering to “treat their needs” for decades and they keep moving further and further away from voting for Democrats.

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: You’ll note nowhere did I say “make this an option”. Build the clinics. Build the schools. Set up a factory building widgets, paying $15/hour to start. Set up another one recycling the widgets, same wage. They’ll take the jobs and the healthcare.

  184. 184.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 27, 2016 at 1:24 pm

    @D58826:

    What will stop a GOP Senate from blocking all of her nominations – courts, cabinet, ambassadors, etc?

    There’s nothing to procedurally stop it, but it depends on them maintaining a high degree of unity, because if they keep the Senate it will be slim–51 or 52 seats.

    The filibuster is already gone for non-SCOTUS appointments; I suppose with a majority they could bring it back, though (the anti-nuclear option), in which case I guess they would only need to retain 40 votes. But I think there’s already a lot of internal dissent in the Republican coalition these days.

  185. 185.

    liberal

    October 27, 2016 at 1:24 pm

    @Barbara:

    The willingness of excrement in the form of a complete human being to rely on external Russian support to destroy anything and everything that he perceives as an obstacle.

    Yeah, why would anyone behave that way in a vicious civil war? It’s not like the other side wants to come and cut your head off, and those of everyone on your side.

    Oh, wait…

  186. 186.

    Frankensteinbeck

    October 27, 2016 at 1:25 pm

    @The Moar You Know:
    While I agree with and echo other descriptions of these people and what they want, you are right in essence. We must support policies to help them, because it is morally right. We must hold out a welcoming hand if they ever change their minds, even knowing that’s vanishingly unlikely. The Democratic Party does both. It is the Obama model.

    What we must not do is offer them what they really want, bigotry. But I know that you know that.

  187. 187.

    Jeffro

    October 27, 2016 at 1:26 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    In good news, a friend of mine who proclaimed back in June that he would vote Pacific Green at the top of the ticket regardless of how the polls were going in the top of the ticket race confessed to me that he was in a genuine quandary; he’s filled out his ballot for everything but President, and is agonizing over who to vote for. One one hand, he wants to help the Greens make the percentage of the vote cut to achieve “major party” status in Oregon, but on the other hand, he’s not very happy with Stein’s woo on multiple fronts, and he’s thinking that he must send a message to Drumpf by voting for Hillary, even though Hillary has a 95+ chance of winning Oregon’s seven electoral votes. He’s thinking that he needs to be part of the landslide, and the Greens can wait…too important to drown Drumpf in a Tsunami right here right now.

    He’s right about needing to be part of the landslide against Drumpf!

    Tell him there’s other ways to address his need to show support for the Greens and/or get Stein to straighten up: a letter to the editor is a good start. Organizing his local Green party is another. If he’s a theatrical sort, he could stage his own protest and call the local TV station…he could ‘walk and chew gum’ (get it?) by handing out a flyer that’s pro-Hillary and notes all the things he likes about the Greens.

    Just sayin’…

  188. 188.

    Miss Bianca

    October 27, 2016 at 1:27 pm

    @Kay: I keep wondering how long our democracy – or “our republic”, if you will, since apparently we now have to be careful to make that distinction – can survive this level of cognitive dissonance. “Lying Hillary Clinton is going to get thrown in jail!” (No, she isn’t). “The election was rigged!” (No, it wasn’t). “The world is going to end this time FOR SURE!” (No, it isn’t). What happens if/when a critical mass of people really do let their paranoid, delusional freak flags fly and try to rampage?

  189. 189.

    D58826

    October 27, 2016 at 1:28 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The filibuster is already gone for non-SCOTUS appointments

    Is it all non-SCOTUS appointments or all non-SCOTUS judicial appointments?

    And should have made it clearer that it was more of a rhetorical question. I know procedurally they can block any one as long as they have 51 votes.

  190. 190.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    October 27, 2016 at 1:30 pm

    @geg6:

    I don’t know any more Berniebots. They have all become enthusiastic Hilbots, so glad I don’t have to hear them whine.

    Peruse the comments section at Booman. It’s chock full of Our Progressive Betters, aka “Berniebots And Other So-Called Progressives Who’ve Never Voted For A Democrat For President”

  191. 191.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 1:30 pm

    @D58826:
    Martin Longman/ Booman

    Maybe Ilya Shapiro over at The Federalist is just desperate for attention. I don’t know. But he’s advancing an idea that probably will be taken fairly seriously in conservative circles come next year. Shapiro says that it would be “in keeping with the Senate’s constitutional duty to vote against essentially every judicial nominee [President Clinton] names.” He also says “if a majority of senators refused to confirm anyone to any offices, or pass any legislation whatsoever, that’s their prerogative. As a matter of constitutional law, the Senate is fully within its powers to let the Supreme Court die out, literally.”….

    It’s understood that the filibuster is an established device that can be used by a minority in the Senate to block a vote. What’s controversial is the idea that committee chairmen would deny nominees a hearing and at least a vote in committee on whether to recommend those nominees to the full Senate.

    Shapiro isn’t saying that Garland or all of Clinton’s nominees are morally unfit to serve. He’s saying that they’ll rule in a way that he doesn’t like.

  192. 192.

    Miss Bianca

    October 27, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    @Jeffro: Or he could run for local office on the Green Party ticket – which, depending on what part of Oregon he’s in, might actually garner him some votes – and try to build the Greens up into a viable party on a regional/state level. If he’s a conscientious sort, that might be the bestest way of all to show his support.

  193. 193.

    You should know better...

    October 27, 2016 at 1:33 pm

    It’s fascinating that they would straight-up admit that.

    I think it’s called ‘extreme desperation’…

  194. 194.

    The Other Chuck

    October 27, 2016 at 1:34 pm

    @jonas:

    Shorter Trump campaign: we believe black voters are idiots.

    White voters certainly seem to be, so maybe they really are color-blind.

  195. 195.

    hovercraft

    October 27, 2016 at 1:36 pm

    @D58826:
    It’s gone for all cabinet appointments and for all judicial ones except the supreme court, but senators can still use “holds”. The filibuster is still in place for legislation and the supremes, and for that you only need 40 votes.

  196. 196.

    lollipopguild

    October 27, 2016 at 1:39 pm

    @prob50: Its a Cookbook!

  197. 197.

    Peale

    October 27, 2016 at 1:39 pm

    @Kay: Yeah. And there’s that state police raid in Indiana to prevent Vote Fraud and whatever. I’m actually o.k. with some of these since the ire in Texas is going to fall on Republican state officials. Either that, or those Texas polls that show Hillary closing the gap are actually worse for Republicans than we thought and they need an excuse to those voters why Texas went blue this cycle.

  198. 198.

    Kay

    October 27, 2016 at 1:39 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    When voter ID laws started some Democrats and liberals said “well, if it reassures people it’s not that big a burden”. That was essentially the early court cases. But we have lots and lots of voter ID laws now and it has gotten worse, not better.

    You can’t cure an irrational belief with an actual fix. They scream more about fraud in Ohio now than they did before the ID laws went in. It makes not a bit of difference and it will never make a difference because they invented the problem the laws were supposed to fix. One just has no bearing on the other.

  199. 199.

    Tenar Darell

    October 27, 2016 at 1:39 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    I don’t believe that anymore. I’ve spent too long reading history, particularly about the transitional phase of the parties in 1964 & 1968. I don’t believe that this group, which was doing quite well on the “get stuff” front under the previously segregationist Democratic Party, is motivated by benefits & services. They don’t want “those people” to have what they have & they’ll immiserate themselves to do it. They can put a coat of paint on it, call it fiscal conservatism & small government, but it’s been rationalizing reasons to accept systematic bigotry all along.

    Best example of what is going on is that we’re seeing the equivalent of massive resistance to the ACA & it is purely motivated by the invisible hand of discrimination. In the 1960’s the Republican Party ate a monster to get elected & get majorities, & that monster ate them. I’m at that point where I think we may peel off people at the edges, but we have to learn how to protect the people in the monster’s way, help those in its sway, but without accepting its ideas anymore.

    ETA noticed your further replies. Yes, change over time is possible, you’re living proof. But in the meantime, we’re kinda stuck with a white supremacist Republican Party that is not a responsible actor. The tactics to deal with that requires electoral defeat after defeat, & a refusal to accept its terms of debate. Just to start.

  200. 200.

    D58826

    October 27, 2016 at 1:41 pm

    @hovercraft: It’s going to be a long 4 years. But lets look on the bright side. Given the amazing power of the Clinton’s to alter events, kill people w/o getting caught and in general having green lantern powers we might see the GOP critters magically reduced to little piles of ash at their desks. Problem solved :-)

  201. 201.

    Jeffro

    October 27, 2016 at 1:45 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

    Or he could run for local office on the Green Party ticket – which, depending on what part of Oregon he’s in, might actually garner him some votes – and try to build the Greens up into a viable party on a regional/state level. If he’s a conscientious sort, that might be the bestest way of all to show his support.

    Exactly, great idea!

    Both sides – heck, all sides – would benefit from someone writing a

    “You Have Other Ways of Expressing Yourself and/or Acting Politically Besides Your Vote for President”

    op-ed (assuming that hasn’t already been written – closest thing I know of would be MoveOn’s “50 Ways to Love Your Country”, but that’s a whole book!)

  202. 202.

    Kay

    October 27, 2016 at 1:47 pm

    Nate Cohn ‏@Nate_Cohn 13m13 minutes ago Washington, DC
    This election is very much underway, and there’s nothing about the early voting data that suggests the polls are overstating D turnout

    That’s comforting. Early vote is the best thing ever.

  203. 203.

    Amir Khalid

    October 27, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    @hovercraft:
    I wonder why the Republicans have waited so long to do that. It’s always been in their power, after all; and an attitude of angry, nihilistic opposition has been at the core of their dealings with President Obama from the get-go.

  204. 204.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 27, 2016 at 1:48 pm

    @D58826: All non-SCOTUS, executive and judicial.

  205. 205.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 27, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    @Kay: In-person early voting skews heavily Democratic, so I guess the thing to do is to make comparisons with previous years. But where early voting is up, I wonder if Democrats are more motivated to vote, or if they’re just more motivated to vote early because they’re anticipating trouble on Election Day.

    (In my case, I voted early out of pure curiosity, because this was the first time it was possible in my state.)

  206. 206.

    Wapiti

    October 27, 2016 at 1:50 pm

    @hovercraft: If the Senate chooses to take no action on the President’s nominees, I think the President would be within rights to claim extraordinary occasion, per the Constitution: “he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses”. Basically convene them every day, refusing to give them weekends off or time home to campaign, until they act upon the nominations.

  207. 207.

    Elizabelle

    October 27, 2016 at 1:52 pm

    @Kay: if you guys want to cheer yourselves up, read the reader comments on that NY Times piece, Some Donald Trump voters warn of revolution if Hillary Clinton wins.. They get it. An example:

    Because nothing says patriotism like threatening insurrection.

    One is always concerned about lone wolves or Snack Team 9, that might actually have some planning skills. Still, most of these Yosemite Sam patriots can’t revolution, because it’s shrimp night at Golden Corral, or their Rascal Scooter lift is on the fritz.

    Says something that they’re not embarrassed to have their piehole-wisdom quoted for attribution. It always makes me sad when some are former teachers.

  208. 208.

    Calouste

    October 27, 2016 at 1:54 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: You can point your friend to this DailyBeast article that lays out how Stein talks a good game against big banks and big oil and big pharma etc., but has large investments in them ($100,000’s). There’s no excuse for her, except greed, not to have changed from standard mutual funds to green funds in her decade or so of vanity campaigning.

  209. 209.

    Amir Khalid

    October 27, 2016 at 1:55 pm

    @Wapiti:
    “He“. Then that provision wouldn’t apply to President Hillary, would it? (As crazy as it must sound, I can actually imagine the Republican party clutching at that straw.)

  210. 210.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 27, 2016 at 1:56 pm

    @The Other Chuck: That was what I was thinking: Trump probably thought his “what have you got to lose?” appeal would work on black voters because that exact argument actually does work on his white fans.

  211. 211.

    Miss Bianca

    October 27, 2016 at 1:58 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    It always makes me sad when some are former teachers.

    Look on the bright side – at least they’re former teachers! //

  212. 212.

    D58826

    October 27, 2016 at 1:58 pm

    Female Lawyer Accuses Justice Clarence Thomas Of Groping Her In 1999
    She was 23 at the time. He was a Supreme Court justice.

    Donald and Clarence will get along well together.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/clarence-thomas-accused-groping-moira-smith_us_581230f8e4b0390e69cea53e?68vvx6r

  213. 213.

    Elizabelle

    October 27, 2016 at 2:01 pm

    @Kay: I’m in North Carolina, volunteering, and while walking the host Border Collie at a local lake this morning, I saw three other walkers with “I early voted” stickers on their shirts. Thanked each and every one.

    Wake County (Raleigh area) is serious about early voting. All county early voting sites open today; some of those which opened earlier had hour-plus lines, for a while. Which people endured, and voted.

  214. 214.

    Elizabelle

    October 27, 2016 at 2:01 pm

    @Miss Bianca: There is that.

  215. 215.

    bluehill

    October 27, 2016 at 2:02 pm

    @hovercraft: This is would be a big step down the slippery slope. One less check on the next nicer, less offensive version of the current Trump in their attempt to install an authoritarian government.

  216. 216.

    Ian

    October 27, 2016 at 2:07 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    They’ll take the jobs and the healthcare.

    Of course they will! Red states receive the most government benefits to taxes paid. That would be even higher if they expanded medicaid.

  217. 217.

    glory b

    October 27, 2016 at 2:09 pm

    @geg6: Why I don’t generally venture outside Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) unless compelled to.

    ETA: unless I’m on a train or jet or just passing through without stopping.

    Just like my parents and grandparents did in the South.

  218. 218.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 2:09 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    Build the clinics. Build the schools. Set up a factory building widgets, paying $15/hour to start. Set up another one recycling the widgets, same wage. They’ll take the jobs and the healthcare.

    But not the politics that made them possible.

    I mean, if you’re saying that we should do these things because all citizens deserve the help of their government whether or not they voted for it, then absofuckinglutely. I have no interest in selective provision of goods and services; I’m not a Republican.

    But if you’re saying that that will eventually lead us to do better politically in these counties, then no, I don’t believe that. The entire reason we’re in the place we are now electorally is that they don’t think like that. They’ll take the benefits, but they don’t want to know where they came from and resent being reminded who made it possible. And reaching out to their youth can make some difference, but only so much since it’ll still be the same people educating them.

  219. 219.

    Aleta

    October 27, 2016 at 2:16 pm

    Article by Neil Gabler (http://billmoyers.com/story/last-night-3/#.WBHob3pehFo.twitter) about how the “media manufactured hatred of HRC.” Looks at the drop in HRC’s polled “favorability” from March 2015 (Gallup: 50 percent positive favorability, 39 percent negative) to June 2015 (when” her favorability plummeted”) to July 2015 (Gallup: 38 percent positive favorability , 57 percent negative “putting her 19 points underwater”).

    What makes that plunge somewhat baffling is that Clinton made several major policy pronouncements that month – two laying out the broad strokes of her economic policy, and another discussing race.

    But policy wasn’t what the media were focused on that July. They were focused on emails. … According to a Lexis-Nexis search, The New York Times, to cite one example, had seven stories that month with “Clinton” and “emails” in the headline. More important, most news sources reported erroneously that Clinton was the subject of a criminal investigation by the FBI. In reporting a sudden drop in Clinton’s popularity in its ownNBC/Wall Street Journal poll that month, NBC professed not to understand why, though it had only to look at its own reporting.

    As reported in a study by Harvard University’s Shorenstein Centeron media coverage in the pre-primary period, Clinton received especially negative coverage — overwhelmingly negative. At the same time, both Sanders and Trump received extremely positive coverage. As the report put it: “Whereas media coverage helped build up Trump, it helped tear down Clinton. Trump’s positive coverage was the equivalent of millions of dollars in ad-buys in his favor, whereas Clinton’s negative coverage can be equated to millions of dollars in attack ads, with her on the receiving end.” And Shorenstein found there was a ratio of 45 negative stories to one positive story on the emails, much of them generated by Republicans and Fox News and picked up by mainstream media, who readily quoted the Republicans. Eighty-four percent of Clinton’s coverage in this period was negative in tone. Moreover, her coverage in the primary period, as studied by Shorenstein, continued to be disproportionately focused on emails and continued to be heavily negative — 10 negative stories for every positive one.

    The elision from the story of the emails to the story of unpopularity itself followed as night does day and rapidly gained a momentum all its own, to the point where it is now quite possibly the central narrative of the election. (Why this happened is not my focus here, though it has a lot to do with the media’s overarching cynicism that puts them above the fray.) … To insist that both major candidates are unworthy is one thing. It may even be true. To drive a narrative of unworthiness that, at least in Clinton’s case, didn’t exist until the media conjured it, is another.

    … The miasma that hangs over this election and that has exasperated and angered so many Americans emanates from the idea that the system that coughed up these two candidates has failed the voters miserably and irrevocably. It is an idea that, again, in some ways echoes Trump’s own self-serving sabotage. The media, reverting to their negative and cynical default, have worked very hard to convince us we have an unacceptable choice between two terrible candidates, so much so that most of us think this was our idea all along.

  220. 220.

    glory b

    October 27, 2016 at 2:21 pm

    @Iowa Old Lady: Well, Lackawanna County, where Scranton is located, is a blue county and went for Obama in 2008 and 2012, as well as for Gov. Wolfe.

    so she should actually do okay there (these people don’t know what they’re talking about).

  221. 221.

    geg6

    October 27, 2016 at 2:25 pm

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage:

    No thanks. I quit Booman’s place a long time ago. Nutsos everywhere there.

  222. 222.

    Stan

    October 27, 2016 at 2:25 pm

    @Peale:

    God looked at Babylon and his own people and said “A little culture might do them some good.”

    And math, too. It’s why we have 360-degree circles.

  223. 223.

    glory b

    October 27, 2016 at 2:26 pm

    @dedc79: True story: a friend’s uncle went to law school with Thomas. She said that he told her this kind of behavior was absolutely him, 100%.

    And they both were affirmative action admits too. He retired a while ago as chief counsel at a large, multinational corporation.

  224. 224.

    PST

    October 27, 2016 at 2:28 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    Among the 100 poorest counties in America, 74 voted for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012.

    @hovercraft: That is easily the most depressing statistic I’ve ever read. But I’m glad you posted it. We’ve got a LOT of outreach work to do.

    Here is one I like even more, considering Mitt’s 47% BS and his whole makers vs. takers mentality. I saw a list once of the top 20 counties for percentage of the population receiving social security disability payments. I looked up the 2012 vote for those counties, and every one went for Rmoney, a couple of them with as high as 85% of the vote. They were basically all in coal country. The party of predatory, scorched-earth capitalism has no more loyal voters than the workers it has crushed physically and coopted morally.

  225. 225.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 2:31 pm

    @Aleta:

    This election campaign should permanently put an end to any notion that the mainstream media is “liberally biased.”

    (It won’t, of course. If the MSM was spending so much time covering a liberal candidate’s scandals, it only proves that that candidate has it coming, because the media is liberally biased, so if anything, it just makes it more credible. And it’s not just conservatives who’ll swallow that shit).

  226. 226.

    Lizzy L

    October 27, 2016 at 2:36 pm

    So this happened: yesterday evening I was calling Colorado for Hillary. I made about 25 calls. On one call, the woman who answered said, “Never call here again,” and hung up abruptly.

    About half an hour ago, I got a call from a very irate man looking for the person who had called his house yesterday from the Clinton campaign. I allowed as how that might have been me. (Undoubtedly was, since he had my phone number.) He informed me that Hillary Clinton was a criminal and a socialist, and that if she was elected me would lose our freedoms, and that Donald Trump would keep us safe. He sounded very angry. And then he hung up.

    I don’t know, but somehow I think those two incidents are connected. Sigh.

  227. 227.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 2:42 pm

    @Lizzy L:

    Ugh. I am sorry that happened.

    At my place, they usually have cell phones ready for you to borrow specifically to make sure that doesn’t happen (you never know what kind of psycho could end up having your phone number). They also have an online dialer thing for which you can use your phone – you call the number, then it calls a bunch of people for you and doesn’t put them through to you until it actually gets a response. The callee never sees your actual number.

  228. 228.

    geg6

    October 27, 2016 at 2:48 pm

    @glory b:

    I’m telling you, if I didn’t have my little oasis of sanity on my campus, I’d be out of Beaver County and in Allegheny in lightning speed. It’s gotten to the point that we can’t go out to local places because the hostility to anyone who isn’t a Trumpster is starting to get very scary. I can’t imagine how it would feel if I was more conspicuously Democratic (such as being a person of color).

  229. 229.

    Uncle Cosmo

    October 27, 2016 at 2:49 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Maybe they’re considering themselves on the side of the Mexicans?

    Bringing to mind an old sea chantey:

    Santy Ana gained the day,
    Aaaway, Santy Ana!
    And Gen’ral Taylor ran away
    Along the plains of Mexico.

    Santy Ana fought for fame,
    Aaaway, Santy Ana!
    And that’s how Santy won his name
    Along the plains of Mexico.

    Santy Ana fought for gold,
    Aaaway, Santy Ana!
    And often have his deeds been told
    Along the plains of Mexico.

    Times’r hard & the wages low,
    Aaaway, Santy Ana!
    It’s time for us to roll & go
    Along the plains of Mexico.

    As I remember it done by Baltimore’s own Spalpeens Irish ballad band. YLMV.

  230. 230.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    October 27, 2016 at 2:49 pm

    @craigie:

    @dmsilev:

    Sure. But not being from Texas and all, when I hear “Alamo” I think “pig-headed disaster”.

    And coonskin caps.

    As a Texan who grew up in San Antonio, when I hear “Alamo” I think “beer“.

  231. 231.

    Lizzy L

    October 27, 2016 at 2:49 pm

    @Chris: Yeah, I was calling from home and using my landline. Let’s hope it ends here. I think there’s a good chance it will.

  232. 232.

    Uncle Cosmo

    October 27, 2016 at 2:52 pm

    @bjacques: Es bleibt im Raum Uday, Qusay, Bannan, Conway…

  233. 233.

    catclub

    October 27, 2016 at 3:50 pm

    @Lizzy L:

    but somehow I think those two incidents are connected.

    Reminds me of the demotivators poster: The common element in all your unsatisfactory relationships is you.

  234. 234.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 27, 2016 at 4:00 pm

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage:

    Peruse the comments section at Booman. It’s chock full of Our Progressive Betters, aka “Berniebots And Other So-Called Progressives Who’ve Never Voted For A Democrat For President”

    Just saw one on FB whose apologia for third-party voting ended with the argument that the election is rigged anyway, and criticisms of Stein voters are just preparation for the narrative they’ll use in the case where the elites pick Trump. That’s probably a significant portion of the remaining third-party crowd, people who think that the consequentialist arguments fall down because the election is fake anyway.

  235. 235.

    Chris

    October 27, 2016 at 4:02 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The election is rigged, therefore let’s vote for one of the candidates running in it?

    God, stupid people are so tedious.

  236. 236.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    October 27, 2016 at 4:14 pm

    @The Moar You Know: I’m absolutely certain they would take all of that. What I’m not certain of is that it would convince them to vote for Democrats. Have generous farm subsidies convinced farmers to vote en mass for the Democratic party? They’re already getting the gravy and still vote R.

  237. 237.

    glory b

    October 27, 2016 at 4:34 pm

    @geg6: I conduct hearings, and have had to venture out a few times for work, to Hermitage and Oil City. Hasn’t happened lately, and I’m glad for that.

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