Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

After roe, women are no longer free.

People are complicated. Love is not.

He really is that stupid.

You cannot shame the shameless.

The willow is too close to the house.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Don't Mourn, Organize / Come on, come on down, you’ve got it in ya

Come on, come on down, you’ve got it in ya

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This is great news:

Buoyed by a wave of progressive activism that began after the election of President Trump, Virginia Democrats plan to challenge 45 GOP incumbents in the deep-red House of Delegates this November, including 17 lawmakers whose districts voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Is anyone going to the Not My President’s Day rally today?

My wife and I wrote post-cards to our Senators and Reps telling them to investigate Trump’s ties to Russia.

Consider this an IRL activism open thread.

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  1. 1.

    Mike J

    It’s good to fight in these districts, I just hope people don’t feel too let down when we lose most of them.

    Of course if we pick up one, that’s one we wouldn’t have if we didn’t fight. Just remember that there’s a reason it’s hard to find candidates for some seats, and be prepared to have another Dem who votes more like a local version of Manchin than an Obama.

  2. 2.

    Anya

    So, Trump chose a NSA and supposedly he’s sane. Hopefully, Adam can tell us something about him. If he’s sane, will he last?

  3. 3.

    Chris

    @Anya:

    He’s not John Bolton. Suppose that’s something.

    ETA: that’s twice Bolton’s name has been floated for a major position in the Trump administration (last time was Secretary of State), only for it to be given to someone else. It amuses me to imagine how pissed he must be.

  4. 4.

    David Fud

    Georgians have been giving their senators grief about approving DeVos after defeating a state initiative for privatizing schools in November. Now, our state legislators are trying to get in on the action, as they attempt to pass a bill to weaken teacher pensions and try for “Opportunity School District, Jr.”. Same story, different day. We have to keep up the resistance until we can vote these clowns out.

  5. 5.

    trollhattan

    @Mike J:
    Maybe some good can come out of making them defend their seats, both in wasting time fundraising and perhaps minding what they actually do. (I’m hilarious. )

  7. 7.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Chris: Even though I disagree with Bolton about, probably, everything, as a fellow mustache-American I hope we are not seeing some bias in hiring here. Who among the key hires in the 45 admin so far have mustaches? I can’t think of a one.

  10. 10.

    Another Scott

    @Mike J: Indeed.

    Blue Virginia:

    […]

    The good news is that the Virginia House Democratic Caucus seems to be on the case in terms of recruitment. They say they have candidates for all 17 of the Virginia delegate districts that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. That’s an impressive feat and speaks to the energy among the folks doing the recruiting (led by Delegate Rip Sullivan and Trent Armitage, Executive Director of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus) as well as rank-and-file Dems who are heeding the call. That’s a ton of recruits in a very short period of time.

    All that said, there’s still reason for concern. Because there has been almost no public and highly visible effort to recruit candidates, there’s now a patchwork of groups like Indivisible and Run for Something scrambling to publicize the need for recruits. I’ve spent weeks trying to assess how those recruitment efforts are going (and how people like me can help), and only after writing a viral blog post with a lot of uninformed assertions in it did I get the information I needed. This is suboptimal to say the least. Even worse, it calls into question whether party Democrats really want a flood of everyday people stepping up to run. Lord knows I do.

    I get why a party might not want to scream from the rooftops about their strategy involving recruiting, but the very major downside of that is that rank-and-file Democrats don’t have any freaking clue these efforts are happening.

    Again, my worry is that even if there’s a lot of good work being done out there, the message of needing recruits isn’t really coming out of the formal party apparatus. I get a lot of e-mails from the Democratic Party of Virginia asking for money, which is fine, but what would really get me to donate is the party showing what donors are getting for that investment. I received a blanket e-mail from the party asking me to sign a birthday card for our Governor Terry McAuliffe, when a much more productive (and lucrative) e-mail would have read “WE NEED YOUR HELP GETTING RECRUITS IN THESE DISTRICTS TO BEAT TRUMP AND TAKE BACK THE VIRGINIA HOUSE.” Again, Democrats should ideally run multiple candidates in these primaries to get the best possible nominees, and I don’t see how you get there with a recruitment effort operating largely in secrecy. It’s also downright counterproductive when so many groups like Emerge Virginia, the Sorensen Institute, and Democratic Road Forward PAC offer candidate trainings.

    I also worry that a quiet recruiting effort hampers the goal of having all 100 Virginia Delegate races contested by Democrats. Even if you think the vast majority of these are “unwinnable”, we have a Governor’s race in 2017 that’s going to be very close. Having 100 full-time campaigns (as opposed to say just 60 or so) with candidates knocking doors and raising money means that Democrats will be playing offense in the redder parts of Virginia. We can’t spare a single vote. And for those of you worried about not having enough resources to support all these candidates, I give you two words: Terry McAuliffe. The man will make sure our candidates have the resources. I promise you that.

    […]

    (See the original for embedded links.)

    All good points.

    I’m not plugged-in enough to know what’s going on behind the scenes, but I do know that it’s going to be a very long, very hard struggle to change Virginia political representation, get fair district boundaries, etc. Running in every election is important, but it won’t happen easily.

    The state party is generally invisible to most people, and that hurts – a lot.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  11. 11.

    father pussbucket

    Apologies for going OT; I find this POV distressing:

    If Trump is Impeached, it Might Be the End of America

    If rural people begin what’s effectively a mass general strike, urbanites won’t be forced out of the city by the government, they’ll be forced out by necessity. The price of food will skyrocket to the point of being unaffordable for anyone but the very richest of city-dwellers. Lines of production and transport will break down from lack of labor and self-sabotage, and the economy will begin folding in on itself.

    Plausible? Alarmist? Anyone?

  17. 17.

    Baud

    @father pussbucket: Impeachment requires GOP support which means Trump will have have fallen really low in the polls. No one is giving up their income for his sake if things go that far south for Trump.

  18. 18.

    Dave

    @father pussbucket: I would say possible but extremely unlikely this sounds like another article designed to scare people into not opposing 45 and what passes for his agenda. Essentially if we are this far gone and rural areas are sufficiently unified and motivated to do this then we are all extremely screwed regardless. How much food is produced now by large corporate entities that aren’t exactly our friends but certainly aren’t our mortal enemies serious question.

  19. 19.

    Gin & Tonic

    @father pussbucket: I feel stupider for having read (OK, skimmed) that piece. Here’s one of his great insights:

    What happens if farmers (who we can assume via the above maps are almost entirely Trump supporters) keep their crops for themselves?

    What happens? The crops rot and the farmers go bankrupt. Idiot. They farm not because it is some noble calling, it is work to make a product that you can sell to people who want to buy it. Like people who live in cities.

  20. 20.

    germy

    @Anya:

    So, Trump chose a NSA and supposedly he’s sane.

    I’m guessing he was impressed with the guy’s name.

    Also, no mustache.

  22. 22.

    father pussbucket

    @Dave:

    I would say possible but extremely unlikely this sounds like another article designed to scare people into not opposing 45 and what passes for his agenda.

    Not the author’s motive, IMO. My apologies for quoting only the extreme conclusion; he seemed to me to make a good case for lesser upheaval. Not that we’re not already seeing smaller-scale threats and violence.

    (Edited to correct for wrong-text-in-clipboard error.)

  23. 23.

    Another Scott

    @schrodingers_cat: “Medium” seems to have tried to set itself up as a high-quality place to collect and share long(ish)-form essays. Lots of Obama’s stuff is there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  25. 25.

    gvg

    @father pussbucket: they would lose their farms. Farmers have a lot of debt for machinery, crops, sprays, etc. maintenance must be done. They don’t have the margin to do such foolishness. Also they would likely lose a lot more sales to foreign imports etc. Plus rural means a lot more things than actual farmers. I think only 5% of the population is in farming these days which means Trump supporters have to be mostly other things.

  26. 26.

    Gravenstone

    @Anya: My questions is whether McMaster made known he has the same expectations to reorganize NSA with his own people that sank Harward and Petraeus? Or whether he’s willing to deal with the shit sandwich already in place? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

  27. 27.

    Dave

    @Gin & Tonic: I skimmed it. It was a idiocy in search of a hot take. This all seems to be part of a trend that is informing us that anything we do to oppose 45 will actually make things worse so sitting in the corner in MAGA hats is the real resistance. I don’t think it’s a conspiracy just contrarian idiocy in search of a home.

  28. 28.

    germy

    @Gravenstone:

    In brief remarks Monday, McMaster said it would be “a privilege” to continue to serve the nation. “I look forward to joining the national security team and doing everything that I can to advance and protect the interests of the American people,” he said.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/02/20/trump-taps-army-lt-gen-h-r-mcmaster-as-his-new-national-security-adviser/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_mcmaster-320pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.04318848b884

  29. 29.

    CarolDuhart2

    Google “Urban Farming” and Detroit. If white farmers want to create chaos, we’ll grow food for everyone. And btw, there are urban blue-collar people who aren’t Trump supporters. The most invisible people in American are minority working-class, blue collar folks. There are black and Latino plumbers, carpenters, and truck drivers.

  32. 32.

    Gravenstone

    @Iowa Old Lady: Not to mention that no field work = no money. Those seed, fuel, chemical and implement purchases aren’t going to pay for themselves. And crop insurance isn’t likely to view “general strike” as a valid cause for payment.

  34. 34.

    Chris

    @gvg:

    Plus rural means a lot more things than actual farmers. I think only 5% of the population is in farming these days which means Trump supporters have to be mostly other things.

    I wonder how much of the farming is done by illegal immigrants, too. Isn’t agriculture one of the biggest sectors in terms of “we refuse to pay the kind of wages that Americans would accept to work for?”

  35. 35.

    trollhattan

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Yeah, “farms” are an extension of ADM, Cargill, etc. who buy the corn/soybeans they supplied the seed and pesticides for. I’ve seen corn mountains next to full grain elevators during bumper-year harvests, they going to stuff all that in the root cellar instead?

  37. 37.

    jnfr

    I also sent off postcards asking for an investigation into the Russian stuff. I’ve been writing, faxing, emailing regularly.

  39. 39.

    Gravenstone

    @germy: Yeah, read that bit. So I guess it’s either embrace the shit sandwich, or keep his intentions private until he starts to institute them.

  44. 44.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: I live in a blue state in a farming region. My town and its neighboring town are pretty rural, went for Hillz by more than 70%.

    ETA: All the sustainable, organic farming types are more likely to be Dems (or BS acolytes) than T voters.

  47. 47.

    bupalos

    yeah the other thing to note is that control of agriculture prices is as much in the hands of the government as it is in the hands of farmers, maybe moreso, via various agricultural subsidies. If I remember, in most years the total subsidies for agricultural products amount to between 50-100% of the income derived from them.

  48. 48.

    aimai

    @father pussbucket: Ridiculous. The white rural americans who support Trump are definitionally not involved in, or not successful in, farming at this point. Certainly not truck farming. They can go on strike all they want–none of us need what they produce.

  50. 50.

    Felonius Monk

    Trump said he’d have a plan to defeat ISIS/ISIL within 30 days. Times up.

    WHERE’S THE PLAN? WHERE’S THE PLAN? WHERE’S THE PLAN? WHERE’S THE PLAN?

  53. 53.

    Pogonip

    @father pussbucket: I think the time for an amicable divorce is running out.

    I predicted long before the election that if Trump became president, he’d be impeached within 6 months. The political class hates him and would much prefer Pence. I think a more likely reaction than the one in the article is the formation of a lot of “Benedict option” communities. If the political class has the sense to leave the latter-day Benedictines alone, things will muddle along much as before. If the political class harasses the latter-day Benedictines, well, then we find out how well-armed those red staters really are. This is something I would rather NOT find out, so I hope the political class stops chasing the chimera of approval, which is what all these “culture war” approvals are really about. The peasantry may submit to transgender this and that and mass illegal immigration and all the other culture-war issues, but they’ll never approve, and you can’t force anyone to approve of anything, anyway. I have never understood why the ruling class tries to force approval of these things. As long as the peasants shut up and pay their taxes, who cares what they think about transgender or whatever?

    Remember, folks, you read it here first!

  60. 60.

    TriassicSands

    @trollhattan:

    I saw an interview with Gorka the other day. He’s worse that Spicer and Conway. He lies with an almost constant smirk on his face and is totally dismissive of accusations that Trump deals in fantasy. He’s a scary guy.

  64. 64.

    mouse tolliver

    @burnspbesq: I guess Bill Mahr picked the wrong time to be a contrarian asshat, bashing the “intolerant left.” The Reaganbots don’t want Steve Bannon protege and child rape defender Milo Y talking at their event either.

    As bad as that original video was, his Joe Rogan interview is so much worse. He actually defends priest on alter boy sex. And he protected the Hollywood producers he met who were screwing underage boys at sex party he went to.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJhHwspZGcg&feature=youtu.be

    EDIT: To add reminder that Milo is Steve Bannon’s creation.

  65. 65.

    germy

    Schooley ‏@Rschooley 20m20 minutes ago
    Trump is now wondering exactly how many posts he can fill from the ranks of people who aren’t allowed to refuse him.

  66. 66.

    Mikefromarlington

    They have two elections to work on getting majorities in states that matter in time for the 2020 census and when the redistricting takes place shortly thereafter.

    Democrats got crushed last time around.

  67. 67.

    Felonius Monk

    @father pussbucket:

    Plausible? Alarmist? Anyone?

    I think it’s kinda bullshit. Big agribusiness which owns/controls the largest percentage of farmland in the US is in business to sell food products. And if a family farm decides to go on strike, they will probably have to sell out to BigAg.

    And Organic Farmers are usually liberals. :)

  68. 68.

    Dave

    @germy: And lately they haven’t even done a great job of pushing Jake Tapper around. MBF has been, at least temporarily, partially suspended. They can still just about handle Chuck Todd but you know Chuck Todd. Even Jake is out of their league.

  69. 69.

    Major Major Major Major

    @father pussbucket: The author describes himself thusly.

    I’m a Los Angeles writer dedicated to communicating truth, developing narratives, and bridging ideological gaps.

    I didn’t even bother to read it and I can tell you it’s bullshit nonsense, another millennial cosplaying armageddon.

  70. 70.

    TriassicSands

    @Felonius Monk:
    @Baud:

    The Planet Lord hasn’t misled us. He has a plan. Guaranteed to work. But he’s not stupid, so he won’t tell anyone what the plan is lest it warn ISIL and give them time to prepare. Expect to wake up one morning and ISIL will have simply disappeared from the face of the Earth. Trump works in mysterious ways.

  72. 72.

    Dave

    @Mikefromarlington: When people complain about Democrats being bad at politics this is where I think they have the most point. Not focusing sufficiently on local and state as well as the structural politics involving redistricting. This is not what I would have chosen but if we can get through near future without massive damage and manage to take this energy into 2018 and 2020 it may be a better outcome than an HRC victory. Not the hypothesis I wanted to test mind you but here we are so may as well make the most of it.

  74. 74.

    Hal

    @mouse tolliver: I can’t even take Yian-whatever seriously. He’s so obviously putting on a show. He’s like Ann Coulter. A political shock jock trying to make money off of being outrageous and offensive. The only thing more pathetic are people who are attracted to him simply because he pisses off liberals. (Did I read that somewhere here this morning?) He’s an idiot, but his message is still potentially dangerous.

  80. 80.

    japa21

    @Felonius Monk: Actually, ISIL is in big trouble and, as a fighting force, may well be in shambles by the end of the year, simply by continuing the strategy laid out by the Obama administration. Trump will, of course, take credit.

    Then there will be another Orlando type incident and it will not be attributed to ISIL but to Democrats.

  81. 81.

    Davis X. Machina

    Transportation, not the actual farming, is the Achilles heel I would go for if I wanted to bring cities and suburbs to their knees. All that stuff that’s growing needs not just to be harvested, but processed, and after processing, distributed.

    Last mile(s) for petroleum products, too.

    A half-million people in the right occupations could basically shut everything down.

    The roll-out of driverless long-haul trucks will not be peaceful.

  82. 82.

    Brachiator

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Who is this person. I have never heard of the Medium, either.

    Medium is one of the attempts to create a viable new journalism platform, theoretically to replace the failing old model of newspapers, magazines, etc.

    The attempt is already falling on hard times.

    Medium CEO Ev Williams says his company’s ad-based business model isn’t working, and the startup is laying off 50 employees and closing its offices in New York and Washington, D.C., as a result.

    That’s about one third of the company’s employees.

    That a lot of people have not even heard of it is a symptom of its failure.

  83. 83.

    TriassicSands

    @mouse tolliver:

    I would have thought that Milo was Milo’s creation. Some people reek of self-promotion and what I saw of MY on the Maher show convinced me that his every word is uttered as a cry for attention. One exposure to him was more than enough for me for a lifetime. It would be difficult to overstate just how tedious he is.

  87. 87.

    germy

    @TriassicSands:

    Mutiny: Some Breitbart staffers threaten to walk unless site gives Milo Yiannopoulos the boot

    The Maher show was my first and last encounter with him as well.

  89. 89.

    Pogonip

    Adam, are you there? Have you gamed out this problem?

    The biggest Blue problem I see is that their muscle, the cops and armed forces, is drawn from the same class they’re trying to squelch. The biggest Red problem I see is that the other side has, well, everything–the neutron bombs, the germs, the money. (On the other hand, Uncle Ho still whipped the American ruling class quite handily.)

    Hmmm. The more I consider this problem, the scarier it gets. I believe I’ll stop now and go clean the kitchen.

  90. 90.

    TriassicSands

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Yes, I know what you mean. I’ve never even glanced at Breitbart, and I hadn’t heard of MY until the recent controversy about his speaking at Berkeley. Having seen him now, once, I can’t imagine why anyone would waste their time. Sixty seconds of his tedious, banal, overwrought vapidity was quite too much for me. He’s a guy who has nothing to say and takes forever saying it.

    Nothing = nothing worthwhile or worth listening to

  91. 91.

    Aleta

    I picture some of the farmers who did vote pro-T as being the ones who work for (not own) agribusiness. The ones who’re most at the mercy of buyers who set the price they get. Some have signed contracts that restrict how they operate. Every rise in fuel price and seed or stock price and equipment loan rate hits them hard because they are over extended to keep up with the terms. The blame for the loss of control and the insecurity gets mostly transferred to the federal regulations that affect them and the taxes.

    There’s a mix of other farmers in my area who are outside of that system — some are T voters and some not.

    Being a farmer means something is always going wrong that you have no control over. Too much rain, not enough rain, late or wet planting, early frost, increased bugs, increased virus. So the other controls set by regulations and taxes and fuel costs might be even harder to bear and easier to seek revenge for.

  93. 93.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    Mutiny: Some Breitbart staffers threaten to walk unless site gives Milo Yiannopoulos the boot

    This is surprisingly sane. When I first started reading the line, I expected some show of support.

    Having seen him on Maher’s show, the Berkeley “controversy” certainly seems much ado about nothing.

  94. 94.

    Pogonip

    @TriassicSands: I saw that guy on the Internet. Give him a blonde, straight-haired wig, a too-tight, too-short black dress, and fuck-me shoes, he’d fit right in on Fox News!

    His act reminded me of Ann Coulter, too. I never enjoyed Ann’s act so I only watched a minute or two of Milo’s.

  97. 97.

    Pogonip

    @Aleta: Where I live they can be liable to Monsanto if the wind blows Monsanto seed into someone’s field and it germinates. If the peasantry ever does revolt I bet we see Big Ag CEO heads on pikes (literally) decorating a lot of rural roadsides.

  98. 98.

    Pogonip

    @Davis X. Machina: Yup. That’s how I’d start, too.

    OK. The 409’s been quietly killing germs on the fridge and counters for 15 minutes, I’m off to wipe it up and fill the mop bucket.

  99. 99.

    lgerard

    @TriassicSands:

    What he says isn’t the point. He’s trolling the libtards, and trolling is now man’s highest aspiration. After all, trolling got a president elected.

    I love how his apology says he is “partly” to blame!

  100. 100.

    Redshift

    @Another Scott: I’m sympathetic to some if that argument, but not all of it. I was involved in candidate recruitment for one cycle (and a bit in some others) and while we made quite an effort to cast a wide net, pretty much all of the candidates who decided to run came from somebody who knew somebody, not from public recruitment.

    I don’t disagree that publicizing recruitment efforts would be good publicity for the state and local parties in general, but I’m doubtful it would have need any candidates.

    (Also, Rip Sullivan is a good guy, and one of our recruits from that year!)

  101. 101.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Maybe they’re Ben Shapiro types.

    No. There are a wide range of writers who tried to use Medium to make a buck, including good veteran journalists who had been employed by dying newspapers, up-and-coming writers, some interesting tech journalists, etc.

  104. 104.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    And what an asshole Maher is for having him on.

    I disagree on this. Having Milo on and letting people see how little he actually had to say may have contributed to his downfall. Maher’s other guests were more than able to deflect his supposedly witty “barbs.”

    The guest who most annoyed me was Jack Kingston, the former Georgia congressman who served as an adviser to Trump during the campaign season. Another Republican stooge who was trying desperately to sell Trump as a good president and competent politician, and who was willing to push lies and bullshit as the real deal.

  105. 105.

    Brachiator

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I was responding to your comment about surprisingly sane people at Breitbart.

    OK. Sorry for getting the context wrong.

    I’m not big on threading comments, but sometimes that would help.

  107. 107.

    germy

    Publisher Simon & Schuster on Monday announced it is canceling the publication of far-right “provocateur” Milo Yiannopoulos’ upcoming book

  109. 109.

    TriassicSands

    @Brachiator:

    And what an asshole Maher is for having him on.

    Maher may not have been an asshole for having MY on, but his fawning over MY was certainly assholish in the extreme. Giving an empty vessel like MY a platform may be excusable, but acting like he has an important message and he’s an important messenger made Maher look about as bad as I’ve ever seen him. (I generally think of Maher as an asshole who sometimes says worthwhile things.)

  110. 110.

    Brachiator

    @TriassicSands:

    Maher may not have been an asshole for having MY on, but his fawning over MY was certainly assholish in the extreme. Giving an empty vessel like MY a platform may be excusable, but acting like he has an important message and he’s an important messenger made Maher look about as bad as I’ve ever seen him.

    Fair point. I don’t know, though. I think that Maher sensed that Milo was rather toothless, and let his guests handle him.

    And ultimately, MY seems to have been the agent of his own undoing by taking things too far. A little Karma, perhaps. And another note here says that his book has been cancelled. That has got to sting.

  111. 111.

    mainmata

    @Chris: He has a well-deserved reputation for having a total a**hole personality. Also,being rabid neo-con, I don’t think he quite fits the “vision” that Dump has for foreign policy (not that his vision is at all coherent, of course).

  112. 112.

    TriassicSands

    @Brachiator:

    And ultimately, MY seems to have been the agent of his own undoing by taking things too far.

    A good point, but one that also may support the argument that life is not fair. If you’re a moronic narcissistic sociopath who lies with every breath and says one idiotic thing after another you get to be president (because celebrity is more important than intellect or talent), but if you’re a moronic narcissistic sociopath who says idiotic things and tries desperately to gain attention by being outrageous and you don’t have lots of money and celebrity status your words can bring about your own downfall. Admittedly, in our society children, when they aren’t being ignored and allowed to go hungry, are often placed on a pedestal and saying something that supports pedophilia is a good way to bring about said downfall. On the other hand, women aren’t held in such high esteem and bragging about sexual assault, again, if you’re Donald Trump, is forgivable. One can only wonder what would have happened if Trump had said something explicit about having sex with Ivanka (or wanting to) instead of just leering and touching her inappropriately (and making disgusting comments about her hotness). It raises the question (no, it does not “beg the question”) is there anything that Trump could say that would make a difference to his base? Poor Milo. Maybe he thought that Trump had ushered in an era when anyone could say outrageous and disgusting things and be rewarded for it when what Trump really did was usher in an era when he, Donald Trump, can say outrageous and disgusting things and be rewarded for it.

  113. 113.

    randy khan

    @Another Scott:

    Yeah. 100- (33 + 45) = 22 seats the Dems aren’t contesting. I’d really like it to be 100, just to take advantage of any strange opportunities that might arise. (I live in a safe Dem district, so nobody’s going to be asking me to run.)

  114. 114.

    Joy in FL

    I participated in a non-president’s day demonstration in Pasco County, FL. It is a VERY red county. There were about 25 of us on a corner of U.S. 19. We had lots of thumbs up and also lots of middle fingers. But we were there to remind those who support 45 that they do not own the conversation.
    This group is on the same corner on Friday mornings from 7:30-8:30 a.m. each week, and for other things as appropriate like today. Driving home about 3 weeks ago, I saw them and made a U-turn and came back to find out who they were. I was so thrilled to know they exist. I joined them last Friday and plan to do so frequently in the future.

  115. 115.

    J R in WV

    Well, the little bit I could stomach of his radio show video really put me off my feed, I couldn’t eat until dinner was ready!!!

    Seriously, he’s pretty obviously a sick puppy, and probably should be institutionalized until he regains some belief in himself that isn’t dependent upon his sexual abilities as a youth.

    As an apologist for pedophilia, or hebephilia – whichever he is espousing, he should probably be deported for encouraging the breaking of laws intended to protect children. The same as if he were recommending that people take heroin for political dissatisfaction. Or something, I’m having trouble coming up with an appropriate metaphor.

    Personally, I think he’s damaged beyond repair by his abuse as a youth. Perhaps, since he claimed to be a pursuer of sexually active adults, he was just raised without any moral compass. Despicable, whether from his genetic heritage or his upbringing. To allow him to speak to youngsters, even those over 18, just nope. Even without going into his politics, which I haven’t learned anything about, he’s personally despicable.

    If his politics are anything like his social life, send him back to wherever he came from, if they’re willing to take him. Perhaps the authorities back home can use his interviews to identify and prosecute the Priest he talked about in his radio interview.

  116. 116.

    jake the antisoshul soshulist

    I knew of a farmer that, when asked whst he did for a living, always said he was a professional gambler

  117. 117.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Brachiator:

    The guest who most annoyed me was Jack Kingston, the former Georgia congressman who served as an adviser to Trump during the campaign season. Another Republican stooge who was trying desperately to sell Trump as a good president and competent politician, and who was willing to push lies and bullshit as the real deal.

    Another awful person who was once my congressman.

    You probably know this already but Kingston, like Pence, is genuinely stupid. Which i’m certain was a big part of his appeal to Georgia Republicans.

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