Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

He really is that stupid.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

We still have time to mess this up!

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

This fight is for everything.

You cannot shame the shameless.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

White supremacy is terrorism.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Monday Evening Open Thread

Monday Evening Open Thread

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That’s Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, devout suppressor of non-Republican voters’ rights. They’re not even halfway competent authoritarians…

I don’t know whether that’s good news or bad, at this point.
.

Apart from facepalming, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

ETA: Via commentor Dog Dawg Damn, details from the Topeka Capital Journal:

A written plan for the Department of Homeland Security brought by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach into his meeting with President-elect Donald Trump spells out a desire to question “high-risk” immigrants over support for Sharia law and the U.S. Constitution…

The document calls for updating and reintroducing the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System. The program was implemented in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but largely suspended in 2011….

The document contains obscured references to the arrest and removal of illegal aliens, “386 miles of existing actual wall,” the post-Sept. 11 PATRIOT Act, and voter rolls. “Draft amendments to National Voter —” can also be seen, perhaps a reference to the National Voter Registration Act…

So maybe it wasn’t accidental — just another early warning.

Reader Interactions

177Comments

  4. 4.

    piratedan

    well thank God that information wasn’t on an unsecured personal e-mail server, then you might as well put it on a fucking billboard…. ////////////////

  6. 6.

    dedc79

    I wrote a “Kris Kobach is one of the most dangerous politicians in the country” comment here a few months ago. Now i’m trying to figure out whether this proves or disproves my point.

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @schrodinger’s cat: I am well aware that I whistling past the graveyard on my way to the gallows. There’s a big part of my brain and/or soul that hasn’t accepted that this is real. If it weren’t for my elderly parents, I think I would at least be looking into emigrating. Not very political friends of mine with young sons are starting to talk about helping them evade a possible draft. And yes, they voted and voted for HRC.

  9. 9.

    Olivia

    It would be great if they would learn what “Sharia Law” actually is before they start interrogating people.

  11. 11.

    D58826

    And another major quake/tsunami warning off of Fukushima Japan. Just what we need those reactors getting rattle about and flooded again. Warning for waves up to 3 meters high

  12. 12.

    R-Jud

    This is literally a situation lifted from an episode of The Thick of It. I just can’t find the relevant clip with my YouTube-fu right now. Here’s a compilation clip of (NSFW) ridiculous nicknames instead: Quiet Batpeople.

  13. 13.

    SenyorDave

    I take it for granted that any Democrat who works with trump will get played, I didn’t care who they are or how smart they are. The smart ones will oppose him from Day One and never waver.

    Maybe the thing to do is be the loyal opposition. If the Republicans really, really want to gut Medicare they will. I don’t want to see the Dems work on some watered down version of vouchers. Let the Republicans own it. I’m guessing that Bannon won’t want Trump to be the president who signs legislation that destroys Medicare, I don’t think he would pull the trigger. Bannon wants Trump to be popular so Bannon can push the alt-right. My worry is what happens to the poor, minorities and other groups who don’t have much power. He will destroy Medicaid because that helps the “others”.

    Trump has no self control, but Bannon is a pretty good manipulator. We spent the weekend talking about the Hamilton issue and ignoring Trump’s business issues. he’s already won on the conflict of interest topic, just like he won on keeping Bannon. the goalposts keep moving.

  14. 14.

    RaflW

    They’ll suck terribly at governing (which is why they’ll resort to brute force). But they don’t suck at media or at crafting images or telegraphing messages.

    I don’t, therefore, tend to think of this as a mistake. Could be, but don’t assume it is.

  15. 15.

    Joseph Nobles

    It could be an act of self promotion (hey, look, I’m going to be the SECHS!). I just don’t understand why Homeland Security is getting involved in the elections of this country.

  17. 17.

    Waldo

    This will come as a relief to folks worried about corruption. Kellyanne says no problemo.

    “I’m very confident he’s not breaking any laws,” Conway said. “He has many lawyers, accountants and advisors who tell him what he must do and what he can’t do. He’s a businessman …”

  20. 20.

    RaflW

    NY Post now reporting that Trump ‘exploded at media bigs’ today.

    He’s gonna be a fucking tyrant. Well, he is a fucking tyrant, but he’s going to be our POTUS-tyrant. If this shakedown works, it will work very quickly and we won’t have a functioning major press.

    Maybe the BuzzFeed-types that weren’t subject to his shit can hold out for a bit, but this is seriously, very, bad.

    Chris Hayes said right after the election this would test all our institutions (and he wasn’t optimistic about it). This is a significant test. These ‘media bigs’ could (and dammit – should!) tell Trump to FUCK OFF.

    It is the only acceptable answer.

  22. 22.

    Brachiator

    @R-Jud:

    RE: A written plan for the Department of Homeland Security brought by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach into his meeting with President-elect Donald Trump spells out a desire to question “high-risk” immigrants over support for Sharia law and the U.S. Constitution…

    This is literally a situation lifted from an episode of The Thick of It.

    Yes! Yes! Beat me to it.

    And the episode was based on a number of instances in which British government officials were photographed with official documents on show as they entered or left Number 10 Downing Street. From the Independent, last year:

    Last year, Hugh Powell, the deputy national security adviser, was photographed carrying a document revealing that the Government did not intend to take tough action against Vladimir Putin over his aggressive stance on Crimea.

    The paper stated that the “UK should not support, for now, trade sanctions … or close London’s financial centre to Russians.” It added that Britain would not support any Nato military preparations. Such a stance was at odds with the Government’s tough talk on Crimea and was quickly dropped after Russia’s military involvement in Ukraine.

    A year earlier another No 10 adviser faced embarrassment when he was photographed clutching a document which admitted that some of the Coalition’s 399 pledges had not been met; an “audit of coalition broken promises”.

  23. 23.

    Mk3873

    Natl voter registry + Natl Muslim registry. Show me your papers! I guess non-muslim criminals get a pass under Trump rules?

  24. 24.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @RaflW: NY Post now reporting that Trump ‘exploded at media bigs’ today.

    If he personally offends them, they’re more likely to be critical. As we’ve seen, they’re eager to write “Trump is evolving” type stories.

    Yes, I’m grasping at straws.

    @Waldo: He’s a businessman …”

    Who stiffs contractors, violates labor laws, was fined by the Justice Dept for illegal discrimination, got a shady three million dollar loan from his father (the C @ sino chip story) that I’m sure violated some kind of gift tax, who won’t release his tax returns because he likes to push the legal envelope when filing… that’s off the top of my head, from public information.

  27. 27.

    Shell

    that Trump ‘exploded at media bigs’ today.

    Did Wolf Blitzer burst into tears?

    Read that Trumps approval ratings are going up. I so despair.

  28. 28.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JPL: “Trump started with Jeff Zucker and said I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed….

    such gratitude he gets for hiring Lewandowski and smearing Donna Brazile. Dumbass

    Isn’t Gayle King the top journalist whose resume reads “Oprah’s Best Friend”? Granted, she’s probably still light years ahead of Norah O’Donnell, but still…

  30. 30.

    JPL

    @Shell: From the post
    “Gayle did not stand up, but asked some question, ‘How do you propose we the media work with you?’ Chuck Todd asked some pretty pointed questions. David Muir asked how are you going to cope living in DC while your family is in NYC? It was a horrible meeting”

  31. 31.

    D58826

    @RaflW: They won’t. Trump has to many govt levers he can pull that will be bad for the corp. bottom line and their paychecks/stock options/etc.

  33. 33.

    germy

    NY Post now reporting that Trump ‘exploded at media bigs’ today.

    That was quite the handjob they gave him.

  34. 34.

    JMG

    We’ll see if a)this leak is accurate or just more Trump self-promotion and b) if it does intimidate media or just piss them off.

  35. 35.

    D58826

    @JPL:

    Gayle did not stand up, but asked some question, ‘How do you propose we the media work with you?’

    It should not have to be said to a journalist but her job is not to work with der Fuhrer. Her job is to keep the public informed by keeping his feet to the fire.

  36. 36.

    Lizzy L

    Two comments:

    1) Kobach’s casual handling of his documents was not absolutely NOT accidental.

    2) Trump’s default mode is to humiliate and dominate, and he’s very good at it. Of course he “exploded” at the press. Let’s see if it worked. And good for the Post for going on the record with any of it.

  37. 37.

    PST

    I just looked at the Gallup approval tracking poll for President Obama. It peaked immediately after the election at 58 percent approval to 40 percent disapproval. And although that was a high, it has been floating at around +15 percent most of the time lately. That is so difficult to reconcile with the Trump victory.

  38. 38.

    The Moar You Know

    Trump pulled all the media in and yelled at them?

    One word: bullshit. Didn’t happen. He owes them. I know he doesn’t like paying his debts but the media, in theory, could ruin his life. I think he just threw down a giant pile of money and they split it up.

    ETA: or, I suppose, his lack of impulse control is total, in which case he’ll be out of office within a year and we’ll get to deal with President Pence. Equally plausible I suppose.

  39. 39.

    gogol's wife

    I’m suspicious that the story comes from the Post. If it were the Daily News, I’d believe it.

  41. 41.

    cmorenc

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Actually, the restoration of the military draft might create some potent political resistance much earlier on among the public to ambitions by politicians ambitious to engage the country in foreign military misadventures, such as Iraq II under George W Bush or possibly Iran I under Trumpty-Dumpty.

  42. 42.

    Roger Moore

    @PST:

    That is so difficult to reconcile with the Trump victory.

    Until you remember that Trump’s victory was only in the electoral college; he lost the popular vote.

  43. 43.

    gratuitous

    So, after this off-the-record meeting, I wonder if the media big shots learned anything, or will they be elbowing one another out of the way to get first chance at currying the new president’s favor?

  46. 46.

    Applejinx

    @RaflW:

    If this shakedown works, it will work very quickly and we won’t have a functioning major press.

    We have a functioning major press? o_O

  47. 47.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @cmorenc: Actually, the restoration of the military draft might create some potent political resistance much earlier on

    Good point, when those precious WCWs see the mess directly touching them, they’ll bolt on him. But it’s been surprising to hear some people I know IRL talk, and feel strongly, about politics for the first time.

    @Roger Moore: Until you remember that Trump’s victory was only in the electoral college; he lost the popular vote.

    and that voters are sometimes frightenly irrational

  48. 48.

    EBT

    @The Moar You Know: He doesn’t need them. He has Bannon acting as Riefenstahl mark 2. His plan is to continue to tour the states he feels comfortable in and continue to spout racism and hate until it culminates in violence. His popularity is the last symptom of an authoritarian putsch.

  50. 50.

    Schlemazel

    @cmorenc:
    The draft never went away. Young men have had to register within a couple months of turning 18 even though nobody was being inducted. There will be no problem with that part. Whether there would be resistance to actual inductions would have to be seen. I could imagine it would be normalized rather quickly.

  51. 51.

    Keith G

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    You can snark all you want, they are the ones who are having the last laugh.

    Oh fuck that! They only are assured the last laugh if you plan on dying tonight.

    I plan on living and finding new and fun ways to fight these bastards. Tears from a fetal position assures their will. No way! They are not going to win this, even though right now they have a temporary breeze in their sails.

  55. 55.

    Corner Stone

    “Gayle did not stand up, but asked some question, ‘How do you propose we the media work with you?’
    “Buy stock in companies that make kneepads.”

  57. 57.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @PST:<blockquote> I just looked at the Gallup approval tracking poll for President Obama. It peaked immediately after the election at 58 percent approval to 40 percent disapproval. And although that was a high, it has been floating at around +15 percent most of the time lately. That is so difficult to reconcile with the Trump victory.

    Both are seen as change and outside the system. Newt is a dumb guy’s idea of a smart guy, so Trump is a dumb guy’s idea of a conservative Obama

  58. 58.

    RaflW

    @RaflW: Well.

    Now it seems like it was just as likely a strategic leak-lie by the Trump campaign to 1. make him look tough for standing up to the nasty MSM and 2. to get us to be more suspicious of the big five that he ‘yelled at’ since of course any story we see by them now that looks weak must be because they are cowering after his explosion.

    It is gonna be a freakin’ nutso time… Already is!

    When nothing is true, everything can be.

  59. 59.

    mai naem mobile

    I don’t see how this works. I think the guy wants into the decisions too much to completely delegate. I think he’s knowledge stupid but not totally stupid. He doesn’t seem to tryst people easily. His kids who he does appear to trust don’t seem that sharp either, so if he delegates to his kids to delegate,he’s going to be on their assessment the first time they screw up. Also, that will lead him to having less confidence in his kids delegating. Also, Obama is pretty sharp – he talked about having to go through reams of briefs.I don’t see any member of this family reading reams of boring briefs. Even the smart one Kushner.

  60. 60.

    Keith G

    @schrodinger’s cat: In the past year, I have been reading my way through histories and biographies from the American settlement through Revolutionary period – 1620 to 1780s. That gets one’s blood moving. Dangers were real, not virtual. Political decisions on alignment could cost a life. People got up and they did what they thought was right. People already on thin diets supported boycotts that took even more food away. I have always believed in fighting. The reading has sharpened the point.

  63. 63.

    BBA

    @The Moar You Know: Trump has no shame, and is therefore impervious to media attacks. He can just call them losers and his 60 million voters will ignore anything they say for the next 4 years.

    60 million…how do you deal with that?

  64. 64.

    ruemara

    That the lower part of the page touches on the National Voter Registry, fills my stomach with a feeling of dread. And I don’t think the allies will be very useful or focused on this

  65. 65.

    SiubhanDuinne

    A bit late to this particular party, but I don’t believe for one New York Minute that the photo is an oversight or in any way accidental. Au contraire, I would bet good cash money that Kobach very carefully worked out exactly how to hold his folder so the words he wanted to show, would show. Every level of government, and I would imagine most corporations, have red-banded (or the equivalent) “classified” folders for transporting sensitive paper documents. Kobach and the Trump team knew exfuckingzackly what they were doing for the cameras.

  66. 66.

    Feebog

    @Schlemazel:

    Young men have had to register within a couple months of turning 18 even though nobody was being inducted. There will be no problem with that part.

    Well, I’m no Adam Silverman, but I think the military would have more than a bit of a problem with the influx of several million new trainees. Where do you house them? Who trains them? What MOS do you need anyway? No, I think a ramp up for this sort of thing would take many months, perhaps years.

  69. 69.

    EBT

    @ruemara: It will absolutely be used to disenfranchise people. Expect purges to start via comparisons to state Medical Marijuana registries. From there you can expect them to charge any number of minorities with gang law violations due to (real or imagined) connections to black lives matter. At that point who knows maybe they actually dial back voting rights legislatively whole scale, or just stop short of repealing amendments so they can say they are being reasonable and meeting people half way.

  72. 72.

    Applejinx

    @The Moar You Know:

    Trump pulled all the media in and yelled at them?
    One word: bullshit. Didn’t happen. He owes them. I know he doesn’t like paying his debts but the media, in theory, could ruin his life. I think he just threw down a giant pile of money and they split it up.

    No, it absolutely did. This is part of the authoritarian putsch. The message there is, ‘I will have my friend Vlad kill your whole family’, from my reading of the situation. He’s yelling at them BECAUSE he can and because it’s part of the dominance strategy.

    These people are courtiers to the wealthy: both Republican and Democrat, they’re the Village and they operate by their own values and rules. Trump is putting them on notice that the rules have changed. Money isn’t power now, power is power, and from that comes money or complete destruction. He’s banking on the fact that he can intimidate them enough to accept a new boss, and this is perfectly consistent with both that and the narrative of profound Russian involvement in the election. Indeed, he’d hardly be doing this unless he had power to draw on beyond just Republican granny-starvers.

    You could even read this as a message to Republicans: fall in line, you’re certainly not richer or more powerful than all these wealthy corporate news people and look at how aggressive I’m being to THEM.

  73. 73.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    OMG I think Baldwin just figure it out; Trump yelled at SNL for some skit critical of Trump so Baldwin dressed up like Trump and yelled right back at Trump.

  74. 74.

    Roger Moore

    @Peale:

    Natural born citizens will find it easy to apply. Naturalized ones will need to jump through hoops.

    Actually, in some ways naturalized citizens will have it easier. Getting naturalized requires you to get all your paperwork in order, so they won’t have the same kind of problem providing birth certificates, etc. to prove their citizenship. Also, too, many naturalized citizens- I would guess the vast majority, and certainly a higher percentage than native born citizens- already have passports, which it will be very hard to deny as valid ID documents.

  75. 75.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @The Moar You Know:

    Trump pulled all the media in and yelled at them?

    Of course he did, everyone hates the MSM right and left, the MSM hates Trump so it was an easy way to for Trump to score some points on the old gallop approval poll.

  76. 76.

    cmorenc

    @Schlemazel: True, there’s still required registration for the draft at age 18, but ever since Nixon ended any further call-ups for the indefinite future in 1973, no young men since then have been under even the remotest threat of possibility of involuntary callup – both Iraq 1 and Iraq 2 were entirely manned by completely volunteer enlistees. I graduated high school in 1967 as the Vietnam War was escalating toward its peak, and recall how big a specter the possibility of getting drafted hung over even those of us temporarily safe with college deferments – and even that was no longer safe when they instituted the draft lottery in 1969, ending student deferments. LOTS of “greatest generation” parents who served in WW2, many in combat, had developed deep reservations about exposing their sons to what was increasingly seen by them as a misbegotten quagmire – and for those kids with low (at-risk) draft numbers or before that, who struggled to stay in college – often sought increasingly hard-to-get reserve service slots for their sones (e.g. George H Bush for his son George W Bush in the Texas NG Air Force). George W Bush would have had a much harder time keeping Iraq 1 going in 1983 as that war was going south with an army significantly comprised of draftees – the political blowback would have been far stronger than it was, and Kerry would have had a much stronger chance of defeating him in 1984.

  77. 77.

    debbie

    @Roger Moore:

    Listen to how they’re redefining the election as a mandate and how they’re saying the Democrats are no longer a national party. Someone needs to step up and address this bullshit yesterday. Screw the reporters and their fees fees. That can wait for another day.

  82. 82.

    BBA

    Can we please not call the alt-right Nazis? That’s just what they want to be called. What they are is Wehraboos. (Dunno where the meme came from but it needs to spread.)

  84. 84.

    EBT

    @BBA: If we are going to be talking nomenclature, alt-right is already more legitimacy than they deserve. They are 3rd generation Klan knock offs masturbating the corpse of george lincoln rockwell. Racists is the word we use to describe them.

  85. 85.

    Quinerly

    @debbie:
    Actually, one of our own…Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio) said today that the Democratic Party is no longer a national party. I gasped when I heard him in the middle of the day. He wants Nancy’s job. That Conway bitch picked up on it, just heard her repeat it. Not helpful, Rep Tim Ryan.

  89. 89.

    les

    @Joseph Nobles:

    It could be an act of self promotion (hey, look, I’m going to be the SECHS!). I just don’t understand why Homeland Security is getting involved in the elections of this country.

    Hey, don’t sell Kobach short. He’s also the national “brown people need papers” guy.

  93. 93.

    Patricia Kayden

    @dedc79: It proves your point. He’s become more dangerous now that he has the ear of the new President. And how does elimination of Syrian refugees solve terrorism? I’m not aware of any Syrian refugees committing any terrorism here. This is just Islamophobia disguised as fighting terrorism.

  94. 94.

    Baud

    @PST:

    . It peaked immediately after the election at 58 percent approval to 40 percent disapproval. And although that was a high, it has been floating at around +15 percent most of the time lately. That is so difficult to reconcile with the Trump victory.

    Right wing news has been hammering Hillary and not Obama.

  97. 97.

    Old Dan and Little Anne

    Regarding Thanksgiving and my trump voting sister and Dr. BIL. I could not help myself and texted my sister, “I heard we’re not allowed to mention how much of a fucking asshole trump is and the irreparable damage he’s going to do to the country. Rats. See ya Wednesday.” She ignored me.

  103. 103.

    Patricia Kayden

    @PST: There are people who love President Obama who don’t care for Secretary Clinton and didn’t vote for her. This morning I linked to an article about Milwaukee residents who didn’t come out to vote for Clinton even though they had previously voted for and were excited about Obama. Doesn’t sound logical but it’s a factor in why she lost.

  107. 107.

    Quinerly

    @Keith G:
    I feel confident she will win. Rep T Ryan shouldn’t have provided talking points for the Repug script. Sounds like someone with the initials “BS.” NOT HELPFUL. DIVISIVE. We need a united front. I truly feel like we are fighting EVIL. Can’t compromise with EVIL. Can’t help write Evil’s narrative. BTW, I’m Atheist.

  109. 109.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @debbie:

    I disagree. There’s no evidence that Kobach has any sort of critical thinking ability.

    Well, okay. Maybe Bannon or Kellyanne, then. Somebody put that folder under K(K)K’s arm, and carefully and strategically arranged his (comparatively normal-sized) fingers across the document. This was no careless accident.

  111. 111.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Quinerly: That was Zell Miller’s line from 2003. In his case, it was a sign of someone who was going to bolt to the Republicans.

  112. 112.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Kathleen:

    We lost the media as functioning watchdogs years ago.

    Yup. They pretend they’re attack dogs. They behave like lapdogs.

  113. 113.

    Applejinx

    @Major Major Major Major: I don’t know, I like the idea of splitting Trump off from the Republicans. Not working with him per se, but making enough overtures to bait the guy into explicitly moving against the Republicans just to make the point that he’s King and there ARE no national parties left. Not Democrats, not Republicans (they lost to him first, never forget that).

    If he’s gotta stand, let him stand alone. No chance he will do anything to really justify Dems working with him, but every chance that he wants to keep whipping the Republicans until they are broken (and the media, and the courts, and so on).

    He should not be allowed to stand with the Republicans as if he’s normal and represents them. I want to see him bully the Republicans like he’s bullying the press. He can return to bullying Democrats when he trumps up a show ‘trial’ for Hillary Clinton, which I suspect is something he’s going to do. She is symbolic of a power center he wants to see destroyed, and it’ll play well for the mob.

  114. 114.

    Roger Moore

    @debbie:
    And Pelosi came out and said the Democrats are going to fight against Medicare privatization:

    We will fight against Republican attempts to privatize #Medicare. We will not go down that path. https://t.co/19l1ecsRju— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) November 21, 2016

    ETA: Trimmed some internal links to keep within the 3 link limit.

  116. 116.

    Kay

    @ruemara:

    This is what he’s targeting:

    In Kansas, Kobach championed a restrictive statewide voter ID law as well as a requirement that people show proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Federal law allows people to simply swear under penalty of perjury that they are citizens and register to vote. Kobach also attempted to create a two-tiered voting system in which people who registered under federal forms were barred from voting in state and local elections.

    The 1993 voter registration act is more expansive than conservative state laws on voter registration so they haven’t been able to clamp down on registration in the same way they’ve able to suppress voting at the state level. Kobach actually defied a federal court order to put people back on registration rolls but he eventually backed down. He wanted to create two classes of voters- those who were permitted to vote under federal law and those who were permitted to vote under state law.

    He’s a wackjob. He’s so far Right Romney had to deny Kobach was advising him in 2012 but Republicans have moved even further Right on voting rights since then.

    We need a national, well funded dedicated organization for voting rights. The ACLU and the NAACP have too broad a mission for this job. It’s trench warfare. You have to keep hitting them over and over or they make gains on suppression. If there’s a rich Democrat out there, there’s a need. I think it’s an emergency.

  117. 117.

    Quinerly

    @debbie:
    I have a friend who is very involved in Ohio politics who adores Rep Tim Ryan. I’m calling her to see if his statements today and his challenging Pelosi has changed her tune. I suspect it has. I had MSNBC on in the middle of the day. He was rattling off the losses, the WWC lines….and then said we had ceased to be a national party. I’ll Google to make sure I’m not spreading misinformation. Pretty sure I’m right b/c Conway just repeated it, quoting him.

  118. 118.

    Roger Moore

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    They pretend they’re attack dogs. They behave like lapdogs.

    They’re those stupid dogs who spend all their time barking at squirrels and other dogs barking rather than paying attention to humans will ill intent.

  119. 119.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Baud: I loved Secretary Clinton and voted for her enthusiastically. I was even typing “President Hillary Clinton” all over the place to practice for when she won. I don’t know if charm school could have helped her overcome the 30+ years of Rightwing smear tactics to which she and her husband have been subjected. Unfortunately, her “scandals” ended up overwhelming her positive message. Perhaps the next time around, we need a Democratic President candidate with little to no baggage, i.e., a fresh face with little government experience and thus no “scandals”.

  121. 121.

    Patricia Kayden

    @ruemara: That is very ominous. He’s going to make sure that voter suppression tactics are Federalized and nationalized to restrict minority voters even more.

    @Kay: This is horrific — especially now that Kobach has Trump to get things done.

  122. 122.

    Baud

    @Patricia Kayden: Perhaps even a virtual candidate.

    ETA: I hate that our side is so affected by media lies. I suspect GOP voters would be the same if they didn’t have their own media.

  123. 123.

    ruemara

    @Kay: It’s pretty unspeakable. Like I said, I don’t think the allies will give too much of a concern for voting rights. because it’s not like this was the first time it’s come up.

  127. 127.

    SatanicPanic

    I’m curious what ideas people have for how to deal with Sanders supporters. I like some of his ideas, but the man I’m not big on. I admit to finding his supporters kind of annoying, but should we just hope they find someone new to follow in a few years? What do we do? I don’t think 2 years of fighting over this is a good plan, and I’m not sure he’s going to go away quietly.

  128. 128.

    Kay

    @ruemara:

    It’s wild to watch how far Right they’ve gone because “motor voter” (the 1993 law) was bipartisan and not controversial.

    I look at the voting rights cases in Ohio and it’s a mishmash of orgs on the case caption- ACLU, NAACP, homeless advocates. It needs focus.

  131. 131.

    D58826

    @Roger Moore:

    They’re those stupid dogs who spend all their time barking at squirrels

    No they are the dogs that run and hide when the squirrel shows up

  133. 133.

    tobie

    @Baud: The problem for Dems is that they believe in government and governing and hence tend to look at things like people’s experience and track record, which becomes ‘baggage’ in the hands of the media. Maybe we should just look for a liberal with a pretty face like George Clooney. He looks all-American but I gather he’s married to a Muslim woman, which may be disqualifying in our now shamelessly racist nation.

  134. 134.

    gwangung

    @SatanicPanic: I’m fine with their ideas. Not so much with their implementation.

    Like with the current administration, their plans will not be made over the bodies of women, blacks, Latinx. Asian or LGBTQ.

  135. 135.

    Kay

    Hillary Clinton receives higher grades than President-elect Donald Trump in post-election @pewresearch survey

    This is not a rational country.

    I love they they said “higher grades”. Just fuck off with that. We all (now) know merit and hard work matter not a bit.

  136. 136.

    SatanicPanic

    @gwangung: Yup. I’m just curious what we should do. Do we want to tell them to go to hell? I dunno. Some of them are friends, but man are they driving me up the wall.

  137. 137.

    Sandra L Hanlon

    So apparently, the America & the Russians are in the middle of a cyber war. With the threat of MAD on the cyber level. But the Trump administration & the conservative natsec crew aren’t really talking because 122 or 123 or some odd number of them signed a letter before the election saying Trump was unfit. But there are still a few left. And they are urged to go work for Trump, but with a undated letter of resignation. Then, the leader of the letter tweets “I was wrong, stay away.” So now I am hoping there are enough moderate natsec folks that WILL work for Trump to keep the nation safe from this Russian cyber war.

    Then, I see the member of the alt-right (nazi) groups, posed stylishly like there fixin to grace the cover of GQ, in “mainstream mags”. And Milo, that vile soul, spread out on a bed like the sexiest man alive. When did America decide “Oh let’s go full in Nazi Germany, that worked out so well for them”?

    But I can handle that. But acting like everything is normal is driving me crazy. What I can’t handle is being the heroine in a bad 50’s B movie surrounded by pod people, because you all know what happens to those girls – they die or get rescued by some white guy & if any white gut gets close enough to rescue me I am going to kick him hard in the family jewels, that’s how mad I am.

    And more. You can’t even list all the off things since 11/9. A Military officer visiting Trump without telling their commanding officers & the officers wanting Obama to fire him. Meetings with Turkey business men & on & on & on & I don’t even know if any of it is true because so much fake news is flying. The newspeak. Wanting to do a Mathematical analysis on the vote totals to check for fraud.

    It isn’t supposed to work like this! None of this is supposed to work like this!

    No, I don’t feel better.

  138. 138.

    Kay

    Trump says he’s exiting from TPP in the first 100 days. Everyone in ag states knows that the big winners in TPP were ag products, right?

    No? They were.

  139. 139.

    Baud

    @Kay: We never entered into the TPP officially, right?

    We also know by now that GOP voters will vote against their economic self-interest time and time again. Do you think ag areas will support Dems over this?

  140. 140.

    Sab

    @Quinerly: Tim Ryan is from Trumbell County, which went for Trump. I don’t think this is a coincidence. He has been working behind the scenes with Trump people for months.

  148. 148.

    Applejinx

    @Baud: Assumes they actually are voting against their economic self-interest rather than ‘voting like a lottery ticket, in the forlorn hope that it’ll somehow help, and against what they perceive as not remotely in their interest whatsoever’. Even if the other guy is probably lying, what about the chance that maybe it’s true?

    In the spirit of open thread, Liberal Redneck has an earnest plea to try and act like a human being over Thanksgiving. I like his attitude: it feels like we could end up becoming Israelis/Palestinians and set up an undying forever-war, and that seems… not helpful in any respect.

  150. 150.

    Roger Moore

    @SatanicPanic:

    I’m just curious what we should do. Do we want to tell them to go to hell? I dunno. Some of them are friends, but man are they driving me up the wall.

    I think you have to deal with them your own way rather than expecting a universal standard. If you personally can’t deal with them, try to change the subject or make it clear you’d rather not talk about it. If you’re ready to try to convince them, try to convince them.

  151. 151.

    Betty Cracker

    I’m gonna repost this from the tread below. Here’s a guy worth hearing:

    It’s impossible to unify our country if white supremacists have an ally running the White House.

    facebook.com/TeamAlFranken/…

  153. 153.

    bago

    It would be kind of fun to watch a media outlet pull a reverse-fox news on this administration.

    See, the kind of media that BIG GOVERNMENT doesn’t want you to see!!!

  160. 160.

    Quinerly

    @debbie:
    Conway is a piece of work. Years ago, romantically linked to Sen Fred Thompson and her husband now is a long time Clinton hater/hunter. I’m physically repulsed when she comes on…I rank her up there with Mary Matlin.

  162. 162.

    Major Major Major Major

    McSweeney’s: Now is Not the Time to Criticize the Galaxy Note 7

    After all, it’s not like we didn’t lay out other options! We gave you the choice between the Galaxy Note 7 and the new iPhone, and this is what we came out with. In fact, the iPhone 7 isn’t perfect either! It has no headphone jack and doesn’t handle email accounts the exact way some of you wanted it to. For some, that was just as — if not more — important than the Galaxy Note 7 exploding with enough frequency that scientists, officials, and even the people at the store, implored us not to buy it. So, when the time came to vote, it’s understandable that we’d be almost evenly split on which to choose.

    Here’s the thing though, we did choose, and you should all stop protesting against it. Yes, more of you voted for the iPhone, but you also seem to forget that the mail room staff liked how the Galaxy Note 7 has such fun games, and their votes count more. That’s the system that we have always used, that’s the system we will always use. Get used to it.

  163. 163.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @efgoldman:

    Very sad news, but thank you for posting it. I hope his transition was easy, peaceful, and comfortable. May he rest in peace.

  165. 165.

    Quinerly

    @debbie:
    I have had different feelings about Nicole Wallace since she admitted that she didn’t vote for McCain because of Palin. She also has seemed to struggle openly with the fact that her parents were big Trump supporters from the beginning.

  168. 168.

    Mike G

    a desire to question “high-risk” immigrants over support for Sharia law and the U.S. Constitution

    I wonder if this will include a desire to question “high-risk” American potential terrorists with firearms over support for Christian Dominionism. We already know they don’t give a crap about the Constitution.

  169. 169.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Good lord, usually unshakeable apparatchik Michael Steele says Trump should divest. I have a feeling his opinion counts for about as much as mine with Trump WH, Inc, but he usually eats shit in, I suppose, the name of his lobby-shop with Lanny Davis.

  170. 170.

    WarMunchkin

    @Applejinx: I’ll say that when I’ve visited Red America, except for some shitty bumper stickers, as a brown, bearded man I’ve been treated with far more hospitality and compassion than I expected. It could just be that I was in areas with slightly higher population density than the real terrible areas, but what struck me is that a lot of these people just weren’t that far gone as I feared – maybe these states could be persuaded to go Blue, or at least be engaged in a conversation. Maybe one day.

  171. 171.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @efgoldman:THE GODDAMN BATMAN. I’m so sad – far too soon. Glad to hear the OLDMEN CATS have foster parents. So many of us will miss his voice, now more than ever.

  172. 172.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Applejinx: And how does this apply to the minorities who are like, what 45% of the population now? This is why Trumpism has to and will fail, it means a future of enteral civil war with the white side of it the ones getting ass their kicked since were are the horrible minorities are is were the wealth and power is in this country. Keeping in mind the Trumpentariat are the hicks who are the losing end of history as it is.

    But, WTF, I mean anyone with a brain could see in 1859 the North was going to trash the South if it came down to a civil war, and the South still did it anyway.

  173. 173.

    jenn

    @SatanicPanic: I find Sanders quite annoying, but have a bunch of Bernie supporters in my circle. None of them are crazy people, though. Mostly, I just say that I disagree with them in their love for Bernie, but agree with them in the general direction we want the country to go (a direction diametrically opposite to that of Trump and the Republicans). They want to work towards a better, fairer, kinder country, where all are treated as equal under the law, regardless of gender/race/religion/___, and with clean air to breathe, clean water to drink – and I want the same thing. Let’s work together, and agree to disagree on the small shit.

    When Bernie says something you disagree with, phone up his office and leave a (polite) message saying so, and why. No point grumping at his supporters, when you can do something proactive about it. Can’t hurt, might help, regarding Bernie, and you can save your energy and ire for the stuff that needs your energy and ire.

  174. 174.

    kim walker

    My husband and I live in Canada (we are dual citizens) are thinking about signing up for the Muslim registry if it comes to pass. We are hoping we can persuade other dual citizens and any interested Canadians in signing up as well. How many of us would it take to gum up the works do you think?

  176. 176.

    Chris Whitehead

    And this is only the “talent” portion of the competition. In later rounds, contestants will wear their “Miss Secretary of State” and “Miss Attorney General” sashes as Trump escorts them out the door of what looks White House-ish, but is actually the former mansion of John Z. DeLorean, which Trump bought and turned into the clubhouse of his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club. Somebody on his team knows enough to keep the cameras just far away enough that when they try to see who’s he’s with, they get the white pillars, the flag, the handshake. At a fucking golf club.

  177. 177.

    RaflW

    @BBA:

    60 million…how do you deal with that?

    By having 70 or 80 million voters who oppose him and the GOP next time.

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