Because the president is a delusional narcissist who cannot accept the fact that he lost the popular vote to a girl, the administration you and I are funding with our tax dollars will undertake a massive snipe hunt in search of fraud that everyone, including elected Republicans, knows did not occur:
(CNN)BREAKING NEWS: A Trump administration probe into voter fraud may not be limited to the 2016 election, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday.
Spicer said at a White House briefing that the attention could center on large states where Trump didn’t necessarily compete in last year’s contest. He said, without citing evidence, that problems with illegal voting occurred in bigger states.
This is bugfuck insanity, people. And the Republicans will be willing to indulge Kim Trump-un’s fantasies as long as there are tax and social safety net cuts to sweeten the pot — and maybe even a chance to expand voter suppression.
We’re in for the fight of our lives, friends.
schrodingers_cat
Please consider changing the tag WASF to We are the ones we have been waiting for.
LAO
This is why congressional Republicans will not oppose or stand up to Trump, in any way shape or form. They will put up with his insanity in exchange for an expansion of voter suppression.
Triumph
Don’t think “snipe hunt” so much as “window dressing to further strip voting rights from people that tend to vote against Republicans” and then it makes sense.
Timurid
The President has publicly stated his intent to rig future national elections.
How the fuck do you normalize that?
Brachiator
President Trump (nee Queeg): Ahh, but the election that’s… that’s where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with… geometric logic… that massive voter fraud by illegal aliens and dead voters DID happen, and I’d have produced that key proof if they hadn’t of pulled Sean Spicer out of his briefing. I, I, I know now they were only trying to protect the media…
LAO
If I were a real witch — rather than just some bitchy harridan — I would curse every “sane” Republican who claimed that congress would reign in the worst of Trump. I include my father in this. I’m truly sick over this.
LAO
@Timurid:
I’m sure Chuck Todd will think of some way to normalize it.
Mnemosyne
Just a reminder that Trump lost California by over 4.3 million votes, so he’s got to somehow claim that at least that many votes were illegal in order to “claim victory.”
It also makes me assume that there genuinely is proof of massive voter fraud in Wisconsin and Michigan, if not more places. Trump projects harder than a 20-screen multiplex, so if he’s accusing states that he lost of massive fraud, that means there was massive fraud in the places he won.
Spanky
@Timurid: Rhetorical question? Our press is expert at doing that.
Yes, fighting to keep democracy in America will be the fight of our lives. Seems like a pretty worthwhile one, imo. I’d rather not have to, but here we are.
dmsilev
“Is it really possible that California has 39 million people in it? I mean, talk to anyone in California and maybe they’ll know 100 other people. 200 tops. Clearly all of those votes against Trump in California were fraudulent.”
Spanky
@LAO: “Rein”. “Reign” is premature, but disturbingly possible.
LAO
@Spanky: Freudian slip? Or bad speller — you be the judge.
Brachiator
New tag suggestion: ITMFA. Impeach That Mvthafvcker Already!
Hat Tip to Dan Savage
Calouste
As I said in an earlier thread, the shitgibbon knows that Obama is way more popular than him, and that he doesn’t have the skills to get to that level, so the only thing that is left for him is to drag Obama down, delegitimize him, and destroy his legacy.
I’m fairly sure the birth certificate will make a come back before the end of next month.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@LAO: Sadly, this is exactly correct.
Spanky
@GrandJury: “The Russian Thing” is the real voter fraud. Hacking into statewide vote aggregation systems is has been proven possible, and there’s been disturbingly little mentioned about it. Defensive measures are left up to the individual states. Vlad may feel emboldened for the 2018 and 2020 elections.
LAO
@GrandJury:
I disagree. Voter suppression has long been a GOP goal, using the vehicle of supposed voter fraud. We live in a post-fact world, people “believe” because it “feels right” to them. I can easily envision many state legislatures becoming more embolden as a result of this investigation.
LAO
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: laughing at the nym change — very apropos.
Boussinesque
As a native Californian, I invite Hair Furor to kindly stuff himself into the nearest dumpster, prior to lighting it on fire. I’m pretty sure Jerry Brown’s response to this will be along the lines of “bring it, motherfucker”.
Also agree with GrandJury that this is probably to deflect attention from other issues, but I don’t really feel safe ignoring it, either.
tobie
@GrandJury:
No, I don’t think it’s a distraction. He’s obsessed with the fact that he didn’t win the popular vote and will do anything–anything–in his power to make sure this doesn’t happen again. I really think Democrats need a two-pronged approach: a major registration effort and a major push to have paper balloting everywhere in this country. Republicans will cheat any which way they can to guarantee their hold on power. We need to get ready now on registration and paper ballots. Betty is right…this is the fight of our lives.
Brachiator
@LAO:
It’s like Christmas all year round for the Republicans. Under Trump, they are about to get everything they ever wished for: the open control of the government by oligarchs, tax cuts for the rich, repeal of Obamacare followed up with an immediate assault on Social Security and Medicare, rollback of reproductive rights, gay people pushed back into the closet, stifling of climate change research and science in general. Voter suppression is the little extra to go along with all the wonderful faux populist despotism.
aimai
@tobie: I hope Jerry Brown takes a leaf from Trump and the Repubilcan’s own book and begins an “investigation” into Trump’s fraudulent win just the way Sheriff Arpaio and Trump himself spent years ginning up fury at Obama’s birth certificate. There is nothing stopping any one of us from pursuing this line of inquiry instead of waiting for Congress to do its job. Jerry Brown and other powerful Democrats at that level (i.e. not in congress) should start funding and running their own hearings and inquiries into Trump’s Putin connection and his taxes.
Feebog
I for one welcome such an investigation. I wonder if the guys he sent to Hawaii to investigate Obama’s birth certificate are still available?
Ian G.
If we’re in the fight for our lives, then we need to stand with people we’d normally consider political adversaries: Evan McMullin, Rand Paul, Jennifer Rubin, Bill Kristol, etc. This country stood with freaking Stalin to beat Hitler. I can deal with being David Frum’s ally until we get our country back.
And do what you can to persuade the reasonable Trump voters, the ones who fell for his “successful businessman” con, that he’s a disaster. Hillary is no longer the alternative. Our country is.
This is no fucking time for purity ponies.
raven
@Ian G.: Yea that’s what the union guys who are falling allover themselves about Trump are saying too.
elm
This is a loud announcement that they plan to deny millions of US Citizens from voting.
The Moar You Know
@Brachiator: Best part about Trump from the GOP long-term standpoint is that he’s utterly expendable. He’ll sign anything he’s told and take the blame, deflecting it from the GOP, but if he gets a little balky or too embarrassing (unlikely that’s possible) they’ll just take Ol’ Yellerhair out back. There’s already quite enough out there to not only impeach and remove him from office, but to send his orange ass to jail.
@Ian G.: Haven’t found a one yet. Those fuckers are dug in hard.
Amaranthine RBG
Really the best strategy for 2020 is keep pointing out that white people in swing states voted for Trump because they are racists and sexists.
Brachiator
Mary Tyler Moore has died, aged 80
Betty Cracker
@tobie: Yep. Trump is deranged. Doesn’t mean he or his enablers won’t use this “investigation” to suppress voting. But the derangement is real.
elm
@Ian G.: I’m with you on McMullin, what are Rand Paul, Jennifer Rubin, or Bill Kristol going to do for us?
hovercraft
Reposting from downstairs.
This is a distraction.
JPL
well darn Mary Tyler Moore died
Kay
Will they go after individual voters? What’s the crime? Not voting for Donald Trump?
Let’s make a list of The Accused and raise money for their defense. If Trump’s low quality hires are going after them it shouldn’t be hard to win.
What an embarrassing fiasco this Presidency is. I’m ashamed to be associated with any of these idiots.
Vince
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-congress-regulation-idUSKBN1592AT?il=0
Reuters is reporting that Congressional republicans will be overturning environmental, labor, SEC, and gun control regulations.
JPL
@Brachiator: Just saw your post.. That really bums me out.
Peale
I’m not certain what they can do about it. New York and California aren’t just large states – they are also rich states with powerful state governments. I can’t really see them rolling over and changing their laws. My guess is that they won’t be harassing voters (Dear Ms. Smith, we believe that you are an illegal alien who voted. Please report to our vote fraud office on Main Street to prove your innocence.). They will be harassing any organization that had voter registration drives, especially those whose focus is on Democratic leaning constituencies.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
Yes, I do not like WASF. It concedes defeat.
JPL
RIP MTM Chuckles the Clown is still a favorite of mine link
Brachiator
@The Moar You Know:
I keep seeing Balloon Juicers assert this, but I don’t buy it.
Even Crazy Trump has broad citizen support, which the larger Republican Party does not.
And I have talked to people who share Trump’s belligerent ignorant viewpoint. Seize the oil, kick out the Mexicans, go toe to toe with North Korea. Life to them is like a reality tv show or video game in which there is always fun and excitement, and never any pain felt. At least not by anyone white.
hovercraft
Why the hell is this not the biggest thing ever? The fucking media just spent a fucking year and a half screaming E-MAILS, E-MAILS, E-MAILS.
NYT: Trump Still Has His Unsecured Cell Phone To Keep Him Company
President Donald Trump is living in the White House, but he has held on to his unsecured Android cell phone, according to a New York Times report.
Per the Times, Trump uses his phone when he’s alone at his new home:
Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, went back to New York on Sunday night with their 10-year-old son, Barron, and so Mr. Trump has the television — and his old, unsecured Android phone, to the protests of some of his aides — to keep him company. That was the case after 9 p.m. on Tuesday, when Mr. Trump appeared to be reacting to Bill O’Reilly’s show on Fox News, which was airing a feature on crime in Chicago.
It appears that Trump’s latest tweets were sent from an Android device, suggesting that he used his unsecured personal cell phone at the White House.
The latest news follow a New York Times report last week that Trump had handed in his unsecured Android for a secure device, as former President Barack Obama did.
Lurking Canadian
@Vince: Those sound like changes that can be filibustered. Trump can change institutional priorities with Executive Orders, but I think Congressional action is subject to filibuster.
trollhattan
@aimai: We have a shiny new AJ and I’m certain he’d take on the task gladly. For starters he has orders of magnitude more resources than sheriff Joe.
Yarrow
No surprise here.
Aleta
1. It’s already working to distract from the other hideous acts, all urgent.
2. Just like birtherism, it only has be kept on life support, no matter how factless. Good thing Comey is on duty. (gag reflex)
Mnemosyne
@Amaranthine RBG:
Fix’d. But, hey, if you want to keep whining that you feel so oppressed because you’re a white dude and all our problems would be solved if we just deferred to your wishes and desires like we ought to, be our guest.
LAO
@Peale: I agree that this is not about California and NY — the investigation will be used by Republicans to curtail voting rights in purple and red states.
Ian G.
@elm:
Paul voted against Pompeo for CIA, for one. Give his office a call thanking him for that. Encourage him to vote against more of Trump’s attempts to consolidate his power.
As for Frum or Rubin, well, they have audiences a lot larger that we do bitching to each other here, and they’re probably getting a lot of Auschwitz related feedback from the Pepe the Frog shitstains for it. We should acknowledge that they could have taken the easy cowardly way out (like Ryan and McConnell) but they didn’t. I’m sure their voices count for a lot more than ours do in Republican circles.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Exactly. This daily rending of garments and tearing out one’s hair only helps demoralize. Is that the goal?
Felonius Monk
Contrarian viewpoint here. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to investigate this past election. Karl Rove was on Fox earlier blapping that Trump needs to shut-up about this and a number of Rethugs have been outspokenly against it as well. Might they all be afraid that if there is a real impartial investigation that it will uncover significant and likely illegal voter suppression by the Rethugs and no voter fraud by the Dems. Just sayin’.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne:
Yes. This. Everyone should look at what he says about other people and then start digging because those are the things he’s doing or or has done himself.
Mike in NC
Trump ought to nominate our former governor as czar in charge of his pointless, money-wasting Voter Fraud Task Force. After all, Pat McCrory is now out of work and needs something to pass the time. He was a petulant asshole who refused to concede the election for a full month, while fellow Republicans sought to strip power from his successor.
elm
@Peale:
There are a variety of things they can do about it. I’m sure Steve Bannon has given it lots of thought and planning. The rest of us will have to wait until they reveal their plan details, but I can think of several ways to attack US elections to secure the control of the entire government for 2018, 2020, and beyond.
@Felonius Monk:
There is no chance Trump or the Republicans intend to conduct an accurate investigation. There is also no chance they would do anything good with even the most blatant evidence of vote fraud in favor of Trump.
If an NGO or journalist wants to investigate Trump-favoring vote fraud, then that’s a different story, but a real investigation will take months and the political milieu in a few months’ time will look radically different from today.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: He is Faux News and chain mail fwd emails made flesh.
Calouste
@hovercraft: I give it two weeks before the TV and the unsecure phone are replaced with hookers and/or a willing or not so willing intern.
Peale
@Aleta: Meh. The problem is he won. And the popular vote wasn’t close. There can’t be any “but for 600 votes of Dead People in Chicago, Nixon Wins in 1960” level myths that will never die. He won. It’s losers of elections who are supposed to hold on to these kinds of things.
Quinerly
A subdued, strange breathing Trump speaking at Homeland Security Department. A lot of clapping. Wonder if he brought a cheering section?
SiubhanDuinne
Just got CNN text alert that Treas Sec nominee STEVEN MNUCHIN is registered to vote in two states.
Hmmm…….
hovercraft
@Yarrow:
Well of course he is, he probably views the Trail of Tears as a template on how to rid us of all those pesky “illegals”. Does anyone down there know anything about optics? Jeez!!
Peale
@hovercraft: I think Andrew Jackson was W’s favorite, too.
SiubhanDuinne
And MARY TYLER MOORE is dead. R.I.P., and 2017, couldn’t you have given us at least a few weeks?
hovercraft
@SiubhanDuinne:
So is Bannon, NY and FL, no big deal.
NeenerNeener
@The Moar You Know: Yeah, all the Trump voters I know are so low information they should be comatose. I blame Mark Burnett for giving him that damned tv show that got him out of debt for a time and gave him a reputation as a successful businessman in the conventional wisdom of the day.
Yarrow
@hovercraft: I think they know all about optics. If anyone is focused on appearance, it’s Trump. They know what it signifies. It’s on purpose.
Aleta
@SiubhanDuinne: I saw this quote from her: “I would like to be remembered as somebody who made a difference in the lives of animals.”
tobie
@Ian G.: Has Rand Paul stated a preference on Tillerson? I wonder if one could get a no vote from him on that nomination.
Yarrow
@NeenerNeener: Has anyone started a “Boycott Mark Burnett shows” movement yet? Perhaps start with some of the former Survivor contestants and ask them if they’re happy financially contributing to the man who brought us Trump?
SiubhanDuinne
@Aleta:
That’s a lovely way to want to be — and to be — remembered.
Shalimar
I know Republicans and the media can screw anything up, but it seems to me like an investigation into voter registration of millions of people who didn’t actually vote might provide a continuing opportunity for the media to explain that it isn’t vote fraud if there isn’t a vote.
LAO
For some unknown, and perhaps unknowable reason, I just took a look at NRO – the corner. They LOVE TRUMP, and I mean love him. And they are concerned about leftwing derangement syndrome. SIGH! I’m old enough to remember the NEVER TRUMP crowd.
waysel
Does anyone know of a clearinghouse of info about pro Trump vote manipulation in those close states that gave him the EV win? I’ve heard of ‘broken voting machines’ in Detroit, 1 machine in NC to serve a populace that previously had been served by 10 or more machines. Is any group looking into this deeply? I’m told he won 3 key states by 80,000 votes total between the three. Could a quick thumb drive insertion ‘break’ a Detroit machine? ( Yeah, I’m desperate for this election to be claimed null and void. Desperate.) I would send money to a legit group investigating and/or bringing suits about this.
Cacti
From the “you can’t make this up” files:
New York Magazine finds the first two names for investigation:
Steve Bannon and Tiffany Trump, who are both registered to vote in two states.
LOL
LAO
@Shalimar: I have no faith that there will be an honest investigation or that the Media won’t be distracted by bright, shiny objects.
Yarrow
@hovercraft: David Frum cites this quote, apparently said by someone who heard it from Andrew Jackson’s own family. You can find the image of the original text if you click through a few times.
Seems fitting Trump will have Jackson’s portrait on the wall.
Inmourning
I think this “being registered to vote in two states” thing may be more common than anyone knows. From my work life, I know of lots of people who buy property in Florida and “establish” residency there, to avoid state income taxes in the state where they have another home. I would not be surprised if they vote in both states. Being wealthy, they probably lean R, but who knows.
PPCLI
@SiubhanDuinne: So are Steve Bannon and Tiffany Trump.
As the linked article notes “people registered in two states” are supposed to be investigated, according to one of Trump’s late-night tweets.
LAO
@Inmourning: It’s even simpler than that. How many people, move state but de-register from state 1 before re-registering in state 2? Nobody. It’s only an issue if you try to vote in both states.
chris
Well, this sucks, IMO. (GOS link) Dems want to “pick their battles” rather than fight over every little thing. How…fucking civil of them.
hovercraft
@Yarrow: A match made in hell via “economically anxious America”.
catclub
@Spanky:
The response after the voting fiasco in 2000 was the worst possible – riggable computers, no paper trail, private contractors with secret source code – and now those machines are also obsolete. But nothing seems to have been improved or learned from – except to enrich somebody’s brother in law.
The blame for that continued incompetence is with US. USA#1!!
A Ghost to Most
Getting enough dirt on Bannon to get him out of the WH seems to be critical to derailing this fascist train. I assume and hope people are digging deep.
Aleta
@NeenerNeener: Reality shows were good practice for this. Voting for artificial characters made out to be so real that the media reported their weddings. Ivanka does it best.
hovercraft
Netherlands, via Zondag met Lubach, welcomes our new president. Watch.
ETA: I guess the only thing in the world that will not suffer is the late night comedians.
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: Please feel free to keep scrolling.
XTPD
@NeenerNeener: That traitor wants to do a reality show starring Putin. Fire him into the sun.
LAO
@A Ghost to Most: Real question, not sarcasm — why are we assuming the Bannon is driving the fascism train? And that anything would significantly change if he were gone?
Keith G
I am enjoying the fact that our new president is picking so many fights to begin so early. He and his gang are spreading themselves very thin….and this is before the real action of being the President of the United States has had a chance to rev up.
Aleta
@SiubhanDuinne: I can’t say it well, but it’s like leaving a huge legacy just in itself.
mai naem mobile
I know this is staggeringly important right now but Mary Tyler Moore passed away. RIP. I used to watch reruns of the Dick Van Dyke show and she was a damn good comedic actress.
Cacti
To the surprise of none, recently pardoned by Barack Obama/commuted felon Chelsea Manning finds him insufficiently progressive:
You’re a better man than I am, Barack. I’d have left the little turd to rot.
catclub
@elm:
a real investigation will require subpoena power for voting records. Who is doing that? In key states that Trump won – only PA is not completely controlled by GOP.
Iowa Old Lady
When people move from one state to another, it’s common for them to be registered in both for a while. I never unregistered in Michigan when we came to Iowa. But I’ve only ever voted in one place.
Elmo
@Inmourning: Hell, I think most people who have moved as adults are registered in more than one state. When I left California for Tennessee I did not cancel my voting registration; I didn’t see any reason to bother. Then I left Tennessee for Virginia, and after that I left Virginia for Maryland.
I’m probably registered in *four* states at this point, but as long as I only vote in the one where I reside, there’s nothing wrong with it.
Gravenstone
@Kay:
Saw a headline last evening (didn’t click through) to the effect that Trump might start “naming” the fraudulent voters soon. By all means, chucklenuts. Start tossing out names at random. Then stand by for literally millions of defamation suits aimed straight at your head. And should anything unfortunate happen to those named, Trump should be charged for conspiracy and incitement in each and every case.
Timurid
@Yarrow:
After every David Frum reference I am contractually obligated to reply with:
zhena gogolia
@Keith G:
Don’t you find it terrifying?
SiubhanDuinne
@LAO:
Well, it kind of flabbergasts me that given today’s technology, states can’t or don’t talk to each other. I guess I naively thought that when someone moves to a new state and registers, the new state notifies the old state and the person’s name is removed from the old state’s voter rolls. Like driver’s licenses.
It may not be illegal to have dual registrations, and in fact it may be fairly common, as others have noted, but it looks fishy as hell to have T screaming about “voter fraud” (including multiple voter registrations) yet have his top advisor, a senior cabinet pick, and a member of his own family in violation. IOW, I’m noting the hypocrisy (yet again) rather than the possibility that Bannon, Mnuchin, or Tiffany voted more than once in the same election.
Kay
So Trump’s team of low quality hacks will be scrubbing voter rolls of voters they don’t like?
To whom do we petition for relief if they fuck it all up or deliberately disenfranchise lawful voters? The same federal government who are targeting voters?
This is really going to be an interesting experiment in federalism. States with competent government will have to protect their citizens from the clowns at the federal level.
LAO
@SiubhanDuinne: I agree with you about the optics and hypocrisy — I was just noting that being registered in more than one state should not be the basis for claiming voter fraud (which Repubs will continue to do anyway).
SiubhanDuinne
@Aleta:
You said it perfectly.
hovercraft
He cannot suppress his way to a popular vote win, NY and CA are never going to go for him, and fortunately the rest of Cascadia and Northeastia will not either. The coasts are dominated by democrats so he can’t change the voting laws there to ensure he gets more votes. BUT, we have to ensure that they don’t get control of a couple more states in 2018, because if they do then they can change the constitution, and all bets would be off. Who wants to bet that by the time the 2018 midterms roll around, buyers remorse will have set in so bad that we will have a shot of taking back a few state houses? All those people who kept telling us that he would change once he actually became president look like the fools they are.
Doug R
@waysel: I know there were 75,000 ballots with apparently no vote for President “counted” in Flint and Detroit.
hovercraft
@Cacti:
Fuck her and all the other purity ponies. I think the commutation was the right decision, but yeah she is an ungrateful piece of shit.
Keith G
@zhena gogolia: Worrisome, not terrifying. I think terrifying might apply if I detected some deeper competence. I would be closer to terrified if Trump exerted the intelligence and self control to give a conciliatory speech and easy going press conference while behind the scenes he unleashed the hounds of hell.
No. He is using his ammo at an unsustainable rate (in the long term) and he is making it easy for the opposition to grow stronger and develop firmer alliances.
glory b
@raven: I read someplace that the union “leaders” meeting with Trump are local guys, no national union leadership is meeting with him.
Since I don’t remember where I heard it, consider the source, but, this might not be the strong union backing they’re projecting.
Keith G
@Cacti: He is a better person than you. You are channeling Trump. Justice is an absolute value and is not about sharing the same outlook.
laura
@Triumph: This!
A Ghost to Most
@Kay:
Are there not records of who voted? Are they public?
If so, perhaps one or more of the orange shitheels was so bold as to vote more than once?
Denali
Again, Putin’s Puppet has succeeded in distracting everyone from his own problems- Russian involvement in the election, multiple conflicts of interest, refusal to release his taxes. Now we are all chasing his latest shiny bright object – voter fraud. He really really is good at this.
hovercraft
@LAO:
I think that the Shitgibbon himself is a thin skinned nincompoop racist with fascist tendencies, and that Bannon is an out and out white supremacist and a fascist, Bannon makes him a more efficient competent fascist.
Cacti
@Keith G:
And yet, I never gratuitously leaked anyone’s personally identifiable information to Julian Assange and endangered their lives with its publication.
You can keep your hero, thanks.
Betty Cracker
@Denali: You don’t think the Republicans in Congress wish Trump would accept that he lost the popular vote and STFU about it? Of course they do. It makes him look crazy (which he is), and that makes it harder for them to focus on shoveling more money to their donors. It’s not eleventy-dimensional chess.
Trump is a lunatic who is being coddled by evil bastards who are hoping they can control him. They can’t. It’s true that he spews so much insanity and they spew so much evil that it has a denial of service attack-effect — it overwhelms the media. But the answer isn’t to ignore Insane Things A, B and C to focus on Evil Thing D. I’m afraid we’re going to have to learn to walk, chew gum and juggle, all at the same time.
Calouste
@chris: Except the Republicans didn’t oppose everything in 2009. Only 6 of Obama’s cabinet nominees even went to a recorded vote, the rest was confirmed unanimously.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: It was a suggestion, not a command.
Tokyokie
@Inmourning: Lots of people are registered to vote in two states. If you move from South Bend to a suburb north of Chicago, you’ll need to turn in your Indiana driver’s license when you get the one from Illinois. Nobody bothers to tell the registrar in the state in which they were previously domiciled that they’ve moved; but they don’t vote in the former domicile state, either, and after a few election cycles, inactive voters are stricken from the rolls.
Iowa Old Lady
@A Ghost to Most: Yes there are records of who votes and they are public. Campaigns use them to find regular voters.
Mnemosyne
@Denali:
As I said above, Trump projects his own sins onto everyone else. So this is a pretty strong clue that there was, in fact, massive vote fraud by Republicans in the four states that handed Trump his Electoral College victory, not just voter suppression.
MCA1
@Denali: I’m done interpreting it that way, myself. It’s all of a piece, and he actually intends to sow discord and confusion and if at all possible start purging voter rolls of Democratic voter sounding names. So the correct response isn’t “Oh, no, I see what you’re doing and I’m not going let you take my focus away from your gutting the EPA.” That works for them, too.
It’s not so much prestidigitation to distract from other, bigger things as it is full-on assault, and whack-a-mole on all fronts. This is a foul-a-second basketball team coming out and assuming that after a while the refs will get tired of blowing the whistle and they can thereafter play their “style” without being bothered. We’ve got to whistle every single foul or be trampled by the zombies, to mix our metaphors.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Cacti: Keith G was talking about President Obama, so okay, we’ll keep him!
Itinerantpedant
@raven: Which is an argument for ditching Union members, not tossing out McMullin or Rubin as fellow travelers.
NeenerNeener
@Yarrow: I like that idea! I’m not sure how to spread it beyond those of us at Balloon Juice, but it’s a worthy goal.
O. Felix Culpa
@raven:
I see a difference between falling over oneself to accommodate Trump and forming alliances with people of varying political views who oppose him. I’m willing to do the latter. Until victory. Then we slug it out – metaphorically – as usual.
Also fuck LBJ.
chris
@Calouste: BHO didn’t nominate a bunch evil and incompetent slugs. Why in hell would anyone vote for Carson?
Mnemosyne
@Itinerantpedant:
I’m okay with McMullin and Rubin. Kristol will stab us in the back the instant he sees some small benefit to himself.
Mnemosyne
@chris:
Because you don’t want the Republicans to start whining that the Democrats oppose everything and distract from the Trump Fail Parade, and any alternate nominee for HUD would be even worse than Carson.
chris
@Mnemosyne: I guess. OK. Dammit.
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: As was my response. I don’t post things like this to demoralize people but rather to bear witness to the insane shit that is happening and provide a place to discuss ways to fight back, hence the last line. That said, these issues are depressing as hell on multiple levels, and no one has any obligation to read about it or comment.
liberal
@Ian G.:
Not really a good example. The Soviets did almost all the fighting (inflicting at least 5/6 of all Wehrmacht casualties, AFAICT). In this case, the few right-wingers who are willing to stand up to Trump…well, it’s nice to have them, and it might be good for our morale, but unless they know some kind of backdoor through which they can sabotage the Republican party, yugely, they can’t do much for us.
liberal
@Brachiator: A necessary and sufficient condition for them to get rid of Trump is that he becomes unpopular with his own base.
Otherwise it ain’t happening.
liberal
@chris:
He didn’t nominate Comey?
sheila in nc
@Mnemosyne:
That’s a very good point. Of all the cabinet nominees so far, I’d say Carson has the least chance of screwing anything up because he is so disengaged that the civil service folks will just go on running everything.
liberal
@Cacti:
You’re not fit to lick Manning’s shoes.
chris
@liberal: True that.
liberal
@A Ghost to Most:
I’ve got some dirt on him: he’s a fucking Nazi. I’ll bet that’ll do the trick!
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: I was not arguing with the content of the post but the tag that it was identified by. I do wholeheartedly applaud you for your writing on this blog, which is both funny and informative. And I agree that it is necessary to document all this.
Your response to my suggestion was dismissive and rude.
Cacti
@liberal:
Manning is a witless mark of Julian Assange and you are her groupie.
Skepticat
I’m guilty, guilty, guilty. I never notified my town in Massachusetts that I had moved (seven years ago!) and would be voting in another state. As I’m certain many people do, somewhat I thought they’d “know” once I sold my house and no longer was paying taxes or, for that matter, voting.
I just emailed the town clerk alerting him that in the event his mind-reading skills are a bit rusty, I wanted him to note (belatedly) that I no longer lived and voted there.
Sam
@Ian G.: Rubin has been on fire, why not applaud it?
patrick II
During the election I thought he was mostly lying for affect. Now I see he actually believes this stuff. I thought he was horrifying before — now I need to expand my vocabulary.