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You are here: Home / This is real

This is real

by Betty Cracker|  January 25, 20172:14 pm| 139 Comments

This post is in: Not Normal

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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.

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Reader Interactions

139Comments

  1. 1.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2017 at 2:17 pm

    Please consider changing the tag WASF to We are the ones we have been waiting for.

  2. 2.

    LAO

    January 25, 2017 at 2:18 pm

    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.

  3. 3.

    Triumph

    January 25, 2017 at 2:19 pm

    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.

  4. 4.

    Timurid

    January 25, 2017 at 2:21 pm

    The President has publicly stated his intent to rig future national elections.
    How the fuck do you normalize that?

  5. 5.

    Brachiator

    January 25, 2017 at 2:21 pm

    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…

  6. 6.

    LAO

    January 25, 2017 at 2:21 pm

    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.

  7. 7.

    LAO

    January 25, 2017 at 2:22 pm

    @Timurid:

    The President has publicly stated his intent to rig future national elections.
    How the fuck do you normalize that?

    I’m sure Chuck Todd will think of some way to normalize it.

  8. 8.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2017 at 2:22 pm

    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.

  9. 9.

    Spanky

    January 25, 2017 at 2:22 pm

    @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.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    January 25, 2017 at 2:23 pm

    “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.”

  11. 11.

    Spanky

    January 25, 2017 at 2:24 pm

    @LAO: “Rein”. “Reign” is premature, but disturbingly possible.

  12. 12.

    LAO

    January 25, 2017 at 2:25 pm

    @Spanky: Freudian slip? Or bad speller — you be the judge.

  13. 13.

    Brachiator

    January 25, 2017 at 2:27 pm

    New tag suggestion: ITMFA. Impeach That Mvthafvcker Already!

    Hat Tip to Dan Savage

  14. 14.

    Calouste

    January 25, 2017 at 2:29 pm

    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.

  15. 15.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    January 25, 2017 at 2:30 pm

    @LAO: Sadly, this is exactly correct.

  16. 16.

    Spanky

    January 25, 2017 at 2:31 pm

    @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.

  17. 17.

    LAO

    January 25, 2017 at 2:31 pm

    @GrandJury:

    This is just more BS to distract from real issues.

    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.

  18. 18.

    LAO

    January 25, 2017 at 2:32 pm

    @Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: laughing at the nym change — very apropos.

  19. 19.

    Boussinesque

    January 25, 2017 at 2:32 pm

    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.

  20. 20.

    tobie

    January 25, 2017 at 2:33 pm

    @GrandJury:

    This is just more BS to distract from real issues.

    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.

  21. 21.

    Brachiator

    January 25, 2017 at 2:33 pm

    @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.

    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.

  22. 22.

    aimai

    January 25, 2017 at 2:36 pm

    @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.

  23. 23.

    Feebog

    January 25, 2017 at 2:38 pm

    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?

  24. 24.

    Ian G.

    January 25, 2017 at 2:39 pm

    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.

  25. 25.

    raven

    January 25, 2017 at 2:40 pm

    @Ian G.: Yea that’s what the union guys who are falling allover themselves about Trump are saying too.

  26. 26.

    elm

    January 25, 2017 at 2:41 pm

    This is a loud announcement that they plan to deny millions of US Citizens from voting.

  27. 27.

    The Moar You Know

    January 25, 2017 at 2:41 pm

    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.

    @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.

    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.

    @Ian G.: Haven’t found a one yet. Those fuckers are dug in hard.

  28. 28.

    Amaranthine RBG

    January 25, 2017 at 2:41 pm

    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.

  29. 29.

    Brachiator

    January 25, 2017 at 2:44 pm

    Mary Tyler Moore has died, aged 80

  30. 30.

    Betty Cracker

    January 25, 2017 at 2:44 pm

    @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.

  31. 31.

    elm

    January 25, 2017 at 2:45 pm

    @Ian G.: I’m with you on McMullin, what are Rand Paul, Jennifer Rubin, or Bill Kristol going to do for us?

  32. 32.

    hovercraft

    January 25, 2017 at 2:45 pm

    Reposting from downstairs.

    Just a few of the headlines at TPM right now.

    Your Basic Primer on Why Trump’s Voter Fraud Claims Are Bullshit By Josh Marshall

    WH Spox: Trump’s Voter Fraud Probe Will Look At Big Blue States

    Leahy On Trump Voter Fraud Investigation: ‘Absurd, Even For Him’
    “President Trump’s call for an investigation into his latest conspiracy theory is absurd, even for him,” Leahy wrote in a statement emailed to reporters. “The President’s own press secretary could offer no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2016 election. No studies support the President’s view. No Secretary of State anywhere in this country, Republican or Democrat, has reported any evidence that supports the President’s view. Even the President’s own lawyers stated in a court filing that, ‘All available evidence suggests that the 2016 general election was not tainted by fraud or mistake.’”

    “The President’s dangerous falsehoods must stop,” the statement continued. “I hope that congressional Republicans can explain to President Trump that he should be reaching out to all Americans rather than furthering the divisive campaign rhetoric he used on the trail.”

    GOP Senator: No ‘Evidence’ Of Mass Voter Fraud, Election Is ‘History’
    “I haven’t seen evidence to that effect,” Sen. John Thune (R-SD) told reporters at the congressional GOP retreat in Philadelphia, when asked about Trump’s baseless allegations. “I believe that our election system is the cornerstone of our democracy. There are always reported, in most elections, irregularities. The scale of those, you know, I’m not what the answer of that is.”

    Trump-Aligned GOP Rep: No Proof For Trump’s Voter Fraud Claims

    Why aren’t the GOPers backing hair furor on this? Perhaps they fear a probe would bring their voter suppression tactics into the light of day?

    This is a distraction.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    January 25, 2017 at 2:46 pm

    well darn Mary Tyler Moore died

  34. 34.

    Kay

    January 25, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    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.

  35. 35.

    Vince

    January 25, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    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.

  36. 36.

    JPL

    January 25, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    @Brachiator: Just saw your post.. That really bums me out.

  37. 37.

    Peale

    January 25, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    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.

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    January 25, 2017 at 2:48 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Yes, I do not like WASF. It concedes defeat.

  39. 39.

    JPL

    January 25, 2017 at 2:49 pm

    RIP MTM Chuckles the Clown is still a favorite of mine link

  40. 40.

    Brachiator

    January 25, 2017 at 2:50 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    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.

    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.

  41. 41.

    hovercraft

    January 25, 2017 at 2:50 pm

    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.

  42. 42.

    Lurking Canadian

    January 25, 2017 at 2:50 pm

    @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.

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    January 25, 2017 at 2:50 pm

    @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.

  44. 44.

    Yarrow

    January 25, 2017 at 2:51 pm

    No surprise here.

    Trump has settled "on a portrait of Andrew Jackson… to hang in the Oval Office," per @maggieNYT https://t.co/kmTGevNN5g— Robert Costa (@costareports) January 25, 2017

  45. 45.

    Aleta

    January 25, 2017 at 2:51 pm

    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)

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2017 at 2:51 pm

    @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 Trump won swing states because of massive race-based voter suppression.

    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.

  47. 47.

    LAO

    January 25, 2017 at 2:51 pm

    @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.

  48. 48.

    Ian G.

    January 25, 2017 at 2:52 pm

    @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.

  49. 49.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2017 at 2:53 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Exactly. This daily rending of garments and tearing out one’s hair only helps demoralize. Is that the goal?

  50. 50.

    Felonius Monk

    January 25, 2017 at 2:53 pm

    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’.

  51. 51.

    Yarrow

    January 25, 2017 at 2:54 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    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.

    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.

  52. 52.

    Mike in NC

    January 25, 2017 at 2:54 pm

    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.

  53. 53.

    elm

    January 25, 2017 at 2:54 pm

    @Peale:

    I’m not certain what they can do about it.

    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:

    Contrarian viewpoint here. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to investigate this past election.

    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.

  54. 54.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2017 at 2:54 pm

    @Brachiator: He is Faux News and chain mail fwd emails made flesh.

  55. 55.

    Calouste

    January 25, 2017 at 2:55 pm

    @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.

  56. 56.

    Peale

    January 25, 2017 at 2:55 pm

    @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.

  57. 57.

    Quinerly

    January 25, 2017 at 2:57 pm

    A subdued, strange breathing Trump speaking at Homeland Security Department. A lot of clapping. Wonder if he brought a cheering section?

  58. 58.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 25, 2017 at 2:57 pm

    Just got CNN text alert that Treas Sec nominee STEVEN MNUCHIN is registered to vote in two states.

    Hmmm…….

  59. 59.

    hovercraft

    January 25, 2017 at 2:57 pm

    @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!!

  60. 60.

    Peale

    January 25, 2017 at 2:59 pm

    @hovercraft: I think Andrew Jackson was W’s favorite, too.

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 25, 2017 at 3:00 pm

    And MARY TYLER MOORE is dead. R.I.P., and 2017, couldn’t you have given us at least a few weeks?

  62. 62.

    hovercraft

    January 25, 2017 at 3:00 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    So is Bannon, NY and FL, no big deal.

  63. 63.

    NeenerNeener

    January 25, 2017 at 3:01 pm

    @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.

  64. 64.

    Yarrow

    January 25, 2017 at 3:03 pm

    @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.

  65. 65.

    Aleta

    January 25, 2017 at 3:04 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I saw this quote from her: “I would like to be remembered as somebody who made a difference in the lives of animals.”

  66. 66.

    tobie

    January 25, 2017 at 3:05 pm

    @Ian G.: Has Rand Paul stated a preference on Tillerson? I wonder if one could get a no vote from him on that nomination.

  67. 67.

    Yarrow

    January 25, 2017 at 3:05 pm

    @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?

  68. 68.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 25, 2017 at 3:06 pm

    @Aleta:

    That’s a lovely way to want to be — and to be — remembered.

  69. 69.

    Shalimar

    January 25, 2017 at 3:07 pm

    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.

  70. 70.

    LAO

    January 25, 2017 at 3:09 pm

    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.

  71. 71.

    waysel

    January 25, 2017 at 3:09 pm

    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.

  72. 72.

    Cacti

    January 25, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    From the “you can’t make this up” files:

    “I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and…even those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time)” – DJT

    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

  73. 73.

    LAO

    January 25, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    @Shalimar: I have no faith that there will be an honest investigation or that the Media won’t be distracted by bright, shiny objects.

  74. 74.

    Yarrow

    January 25, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    @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.

    “His ignorance was as a wall round about him: high, impenetrable. He … raged round his little, dim inclosure like a tiger in his den."— David Frum (@davidfrum) January 25, 2017

    Seems fitting Trump will have Jackson’s portrait on the wall.

  75. 75.

    Inmourning

    January 25, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    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.

  76. 76.

    PPCLI

    January 25, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    @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.

  77. 77.

    LAO

    January 25, 2017 at 3:13 pm

    @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.

  78. 78.

    chris

    January 25, 2017 at 3:13 pm

    Well, this sucks, IMO. (GOS link) Dems want to “pick their battles” rather than fight over every little thing. How…fucking civil of them.

  79. 79.

    hovercraft

    January 25, 2017 at 3:14 pm

    @Yarrow: A match made in hell via “economically anxious America”.

  80. 80.

    catclub

    January 25, 2017 at 3:14 pm

    @Spanky:

    Defensive measures are left up to the individual states. Vlad may feel emboldened for the 2018 and 2020 elections.

    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!!

  81. 81.

    A Ghost to Most

    January 25, 2017 at 3:15 pm

    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.

  82. 82.

    Aleta

    January 25, 2017 at 3:15 pm

    @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.

  83. 83.

    hovercraft

    January 25, 2017 at 3:16 pm

    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.

  84. 84.

    Betty Cracker

    January 25, 2017 at 3:16 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Please feel free to keep scrolling.

  85. 85.

    XTPD

    January 25, 2017 at 3:17 pm

    @NeenerNeener: That traitor wants to do a reality show starring Putin. Fire him into the sun.

  86. 86.

    LAO

    January 25, 2017 at 3:17 pm

    @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?

  87. 87.

    Keith G

    January 25, 2017 at 3:17 pm

    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.

  88. 88.

    Aleta

    January 25, 2017 at 3:18 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I can’t say it well, but it’s like leaving a huge legacy just in itself.

  89. 89.

    mai naem mobile

    January 25, 2017 at 3:19 pm

    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.

  90. 90.

    Cacti

    January 25, 2017 at 3:19 pm

    To the surprise of none, recently pardoned by Barack Obama/commuted felon Chelsea Manning finds him insufficiently progressive:

    Barack Obama left behind hints of a progressive legacy. Unfortunately, despite his faith in our system and his positive track record on many issues over the last eight years, there have been very few permanent accomplishments.

    This vulnerable legacy should remind us that what we really need is a strong and unapologetic progressive to lead us. What we need as well is a relentless grassroots movement to hold that leadership accountable.

    You’re a better man than I am, Barack. I’d have left the little turd to rot.

  91. 91.

    catclub

    January 25, 2017 at 3:19 pm

    @elm:

    but a real investigation will take months and the political milieu in a few months’ time will look radically different from today.

    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.

  92. 92.

    Iowa Old Lady

    January 25, 2017 at 3:20 pm

    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.

  93. 93.

    Elmo

    January 25, 2017 at 3:21 pm

    @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.

  94. 94.

    Gravenstone

    January 25, 2017 at 3:21 pm

    @Kay:

    Will they go after individual voters?

    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.

  95. 95.

    Timurid

    January 25, 2017 at 3:22 pm

    @Yarrow:

    After every David Frum reference I am contractually obligated to reply with:

    Fuck you, David Frum, you fucking fuck. Fuck off and die. You were so worried that Americans did not have enough fear in their lives to make them prudent and responsible enough to meet your high standards of bootlicking servility. Now it’s your turn to taste the steel-toed goodness as you see first hand what fear really makes people do. This is the part where I’d tell you to go die in a grease fire, but Emperor Trump’s goons will likely have you up against the wall before the deep fryer is even warmed up. Bon Voyage!
    PS- Fuck you.

  96. 96.

    zhena gogolia

    January 25, 2017 at 3:22 pm

    @Keith G:

    Don’t you find it terrifying?

  97. 97.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 25, 2017 at 3:24 pm

    @LAO:

    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.

    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.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    January 25, 2017 at 3:24 pm

    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.

  99. 99.

    LAO

    January 25, 2017 at 3:27 pm

    @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).

  100. 100.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 25, 2017 at 3:28 pm

    @Aleta:

    You said it perfectly.

  101. 101.

    hovercraft

    January 25, 2017 at 3:28 pm

    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.

  102. 102.

    Doug R

    January 25, 2017 at 3:30 pm

    @waysel: I know there were 75,000 ballots with apparently no vote for President “counted” in Flint and Detroit.

  103. 103.

    hovercraft

    January 25, 2017 at 3:30 pm

    @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.

  104. 104.

    Keith G

    January 25, 2017 at 3:34 pm

    @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.

  105. 105.

    glory b

    January 25, 2017 at 3:35 pm

    @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.

  106. 106.

    Keith G

    January 25, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    @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.

  107. 107.

    laura

    January 25, 2017 at 3:38 pm

    @Triumph: This!

  108. 108.

    A Ghost to Most

    January 25, 2017 at 3:39 pm

    @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?

  109. 109.

    Denali

    January 25, 2017 at 3:39 pm

    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.

  110. 110.

    hovercraft

    January 25, 2017 at 3:41 pm

    @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.

  111. 111.

    Cacti

    January 25, 2017 at 3:48 pm

    @Keith G:

    He is a better person than you.

    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.

  112. 112.

    Betty Cracker

    January 25, 2017 at 3:52 pm

    @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.

  113. 113.

    Calouste

    January 25, 2017 at 4:02 pm

    @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.

  114. 114.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2017 at 4:08 pm

    @Betty Cracker: It was a suggestion, not a command.

  115. 115.

    Tokyokie

    January 25, 2017 at 4:15 pm

    @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.

  116. 116.

    Iowa Old Lady

    January 25, 2017 at 4:16 pm

    @A Ghost to Most: Yes there are records of who votes and they are public. Campaigns use them to find regular voters.

  117. 117.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2017 at 4:16 pm

    @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.

  118. 118.

    MCA1

    January 25, 2017 at 4:26 pm

    @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.

  119. 119.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    January 25, 2017 at 4:36 pm

    @Cacti: Keith G was talking about President Obama, so okay, we’ll keep him!

  120. 120.

    Itinerantpedant

    January 25, 2017 at 4:39 pm

    @raven: Which is an argument for ditching Union members, not tossing out McMullin or Rubin as fellow travelers.

  121. 121.

    NeenerNeener

    January 25, 2017 at 4:39 pm

    @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.

  122. 122.

    O. Felix Culpa

    January 25, 2017 at 4:42 pm

    @raven:

    Yea that’s what the union guys who are falling allover themselves about Trump are saying too.

    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.

  123. 123.

    chris

    January 25, 2017 at 4:49 pm

    @Calouste: BHO didn’t nominate a bunch evil and incompetent slugs. Why in hell would anyone vote for Carson?

  124. 124.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2017 at 4:50 pm

    @Itinerantpedant:

    I’m okay with McMullin and Rubin. Kristol will stab us in the back the instant he sees some small benefit to himself.

  125. 125.

    Mnemosyne

    January 25, 2017 at 4:54 pm

    @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.

  126. 126.

    chris

    January 25, 2017 at 5:24 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I guess. OK. Dammit.

  127. 127.

    Betty Cracker

    January 25, 2017 at 5:28 pm

    @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.

  128. 128.

    liberal

    January 25, 2017 at 5:33 pm

    @Ian G.:

    This country stood with freaking Stalin to beat Hitler.

    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.

  129. 129.

    liberal

    January 25, 2017 at 5:37 pm

    @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.

  130. 130.

    liberal

    January 25, 2017 at 5:37 pm

    @chris:

    BHO didn’t nominate a bunch evil and incompetent slugs.

    He didn’t nominate Comey?

  131. 131.

    sheila in nc

    January 25, 2017 at 5:40 pm

    @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.

  132. 132.

    liberal

    January 25, 2017 at 5:44 pm

    @Cacti:

    I’d have left the little turd to rot.

    You’re not fit to lick Manning’s shoes.

  133. 133.

    chris

    January 25, 2017 at 5:45 pm

    @liberal: True that.

  134. 134.

    liberal

    January 25, 2017 at 5:45 pm

    @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.

    I’ve got some dirt on him: he’s a fucking Nazi. I’ll bet that’ll do the trick!

  135. 135.

    schrodingers_cat

    January 25, 2017 at 6:15 pm

    @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.

  136. 136.

    Cacti

    January 25, 2017 at 6:29 pm

    @liberal:

    You’re not fit to lick Manning’s shoes.

    Manning is a witless mark of Julian Assange and you are her groupie.

  137. 137.

    Skepticat

    January 25, 2017 at 7:27 pm

    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.

  138. 138.

    Sam

    January 25, 2017 at 7:59 pm

    @Ian G.: Rubin has been on fire, why not applaud it?

  139. 139.

    patrick II

    January 25, 2017 at 8:58 pm

    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.

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