Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

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

Tick tock motherfuckers!

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

This blog will pay for itself.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Petty moves from a petty man.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Books are my comfort food!

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Friday Morning Open Thread: So Very Presidential

Friday Morning Open Thread: So Very Presidential

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(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)
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What’s on the agenda, as we prepare for this week’s Friday doc dump (and for some lucky Americans, a long weekend?

***********
From the Washington Post, “Storm clouds: Independents turn away from Trump while his base turns inward”:

The first major poll of opinions shows that the health-care bill under consideration in the Senate is about as unpopular as the one that passed the House. A PBS NewsHour-Marist poll released Wednesday reveals that only 17 percent of the country supports the Senate measure, known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act. Bad news for the Republicans advocating its passage, clearly.

Buried in the poll, though, is even worse news for the party. Democrats continue to be stalwartly opposed to President Trump and his party’s health-care proposals, unsurprisingly. But independents are similarly souring on the president and the party’s legislation — as Republicans and Trump supporters appear to tune out. November 2018 is still a long way away, but if that trend continues, it suggests the possibility of a disinterested Republican base and a hostile middle — bad news for Republicans in Congress in any sort of contested race.

Since February, approval of Trump’s job performance among independents has fallen by 9 points, from 40 percent to only 31 percent. Four months ago, Trump was 11 points underwater on favorability with that group, meaning that his unfavorable numbers were 11 points higher than his favorable numbers. That spread is now 28 points…

Consider Obamacare. The Republican effort to repeal Barack Obama’s signature legislation has served only to make the bill more popular, with most Americans hoping it remains in place and a plurality thinking that it should be strengthened, not repealed.…

Trump’s presidency has been predicated on making direct appeals to his base of support. On health care, there’s no group that supports what he and his party are doing more than those voters. But Trump won the presidency by the skin of his teeth, thanks in part to independents willing to give him a shot over Hillary Clinton. If those independents are as antagonistic to him and the Republicans by this point next year — and if Republicans continue to find it frustrating to hear about what Trump is doing both from the media and from Trump himself — it’s hard to think that the composition of Congress in 2019 will be as favorable to Trump’s party.

Reader Interactions

144Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    I can’t believe the president’s behavior on Twitter. What happened to the Donald Trump we saw on the campaign trail?
    .
    .
    .
    .
    Oh…right.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    And fuck anyone is the media who is offended for Mika but gleefully joined in the sliming of Hillary Clinton.

  4. 4.

    TS

    @Baud:

    What happened to the Donald Trump we saw on the campaign trail?

    Guess the media didn’t notice until he turned on one of them.

    He acted the same way towards Hillary Clinton & every other woman that didn’t fall before him in praise – yet the media laughed and supported him. Suddenly he turns on their wonderful intelligent strong and resourceful Mica – and the media is outraged. Morning team having a hate session on trump and a love session for Mica. Shame they didn’t attack him for all the other women he attacked – but especially for his rude and ignorant attacks on his election opponent.

    He is not smart enough to have done this to turn the conversation away from congress and health care – but regardless of his lack of intelligence, it seems to have that result.

  5. 5.

    TS

    @Baud:

    And fuck anyone is the media who is offended for Mika but gleefully joined in the sliming of Hillary Clinton.

    Worth repeating. A much better way of saying what I was trying to say in the above post.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    @TS: One if those idiots said it’s different know because of the dignity of the Office. What office did they think he was running for during the campaign?

  14. 14.

    TenguPhule

    25% of Americans are unsalvageable and need to be recycled for their components.

  15. 15.

    satby

    @Baud: if I never hear another word about the “dignity of the office” from anyone ever again I will die happy. That old chestnut only gets dragged out when one of the occupants has sullied the office to begin with.

  17. 17.

    Kay

    Ari Berman‏Verified account
    @AriBerman
    Hans von Spakovsky, newest member of Trump election commission, is longtime vote suppressor & ally of Neil Gorsuch

    You can read all about Hans here.

     Georgia’s voter-ID law was submitted to the Justice Department in 2005 under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which required states like Georgia with a long history of voting discrimination to approve their voting changes with the federal government. The sponsor of the law, Republican Representative Sue Burmeister, told department lawyers, “If there are fewer black voters because of the bill, it will only be because there is less opportunity for fraud. She said when black voters in her precinct are not paid to vote, they do not go to the polls.”

  20. 20.

    TS

    @rikyrah: Well Donny Deutsch went “low” with the truth this am – quite a rant. Shame he didn’t do it when other women were attacked by this excuse of a man.

    And … good morning

  21. 21.

    JPL

    Trump tweeted this morning that he wants totally repeal of the ACA. They can worry about replacement later. Somehow I don’t think 20 percent tariffs and lack of funding for health care, will lead to economic growth.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    She said when black voters in her precinct are not paid to vote, they do not go to the polls.”

    Even assuming a world where that lie is true, how does voter ID solve the problem of paying voters to vote?

  23. 23.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay: They’re not even pretending anymore, aren’t they? Its going to be vote rigging, disallowance and denial now and forever.

  24. 24.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    Even assuming a world where that lie is true, how does voter ID solve the problem of paying voters to vote?

    Obviously by making it too expensive for them to vote.

  26. 26.

    satby

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I shared that from the previous thread you posted that to. It would be a disaster for the economy, and might be what it takes for our corporate overlords to decide to push him out of office. When they decide he’s gone too far, the Republicans will magically also grow spines.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A contrast in styles, first from Jessica Valenti:

    Trump, who was on the phone with the Irish prime minister at the time, asked Perry to come toward his desk while he called her “beautiful” and remarked on her “nice smile”. He then said to newly elected Leo Varadkar: “I bet she treats you well.”

    It was a tense and cringe-inducing moment, one Perry called later called “bizarre” on Twitter. In the aftermath, though, some noted that Perry continued to smile and laugh as the president spoke to her, as if that meant the exchange didn’t bother or trouble her.

    2nd, from Pete Souza: Respect for women.

    Lastly, from the Australian comic Celeste Barber:

    Celeste Barber has a drinking game in her new standup show, called “Allowed; Not Allowed”. During the game the Australian comic displays social media snaps showing people in various stages of undress and asks the audience to guess which have been allowed to stay up and which have been taken down by the moderators.

    Often the difference, she says, comes down to appearances: “One of them is a banging hot model and the other one is, well, me.” Barber could be described as a social media star, entertaining her 1.8m Instagram followers every few days with posts that contrast often outlandish celebrity fashion images with real-life reenactments, all in aid of #celestechallengeaccepted.

    There’s model Kate Upton smouldering in a wet T-shirt as she emerges from a swimming pool; there’s Barber clambering out of a pool, butt first. There’s a barely dressed Kim Kardashian posing against a pile of sand; there’s a similarly clad Barber reclining awkwardly against gravel.

    The parodies are cheeky and funny – and speak volumes about the depiction of women in celebrity culture. And while it all started out as a joke exchanged between Barber and her sister before she put the pics online for everyone’s enjoyment, she’s also thrilled they resonate a deeper level. “I never started out for it to be a body positive thing or be like, ‘fuck yeah’. It was always like, this is how celebrities get out of the pools [and] I’m like no, this is how you get out of the pool.”

    More of her Instagrams Too funny. I think my favorite is, “If this isn’t sexy, I don’t know what is.”

  28. 28.

    MomSense

    Trump is good for their ratings. That’s why we are living this nightmare. They played chicken with the election and now we all lost.

  30. 30.

    TenguPhule

    @JPL:

    Trump tweeted this morning that he wants totally repeal of the ACA. They can worry about replacement later. Somehow I don’t think 20 percent tariffs and lack of funding for health care, will lead to economic growth.

    They certainly won’t lead to stability and public order.

  31. 31.

    TenguPhule

    @satby:

    When they decide he’s gone too far, the Republicans will magically also grow spines.

    He’ll never go too far for their base. And that’s who’s holding the primary guns to their foreheads.

  32. 32.

    bemused

    The cretin is steadily deteriorating, day after day after day, ala Sarah Huckabee.

  34. 34.

    efgoldman

    @Baud:

    I can’t believe the president’s behavior on Twitter.

    You should have suspended your disbelief months ago. The only thing I can’t believe about him is if he ever did something sensible, logical, and sort of presidential.

  35. 35.

    TenguPhule

    @efgoldman:

    The only thing I can’t believe about him is if he ever did something sensible, logical, and sort of presidential.

    So we can rule out his suicide then.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Well, she’s assuming all black people are fraudulent voters so with the ID they can’t vote and also won’t get paid.

    Trump’s commission is sloppy. They sent the request to the wrong place in some states- not all states run elections thru the sec of state. The one thing you can’t be in voting process is “sloppy”.

    Kobach wants to run the names thru his garbage “vote chek” system which is software he bought in Kansas that checks for one voter registered in multiple states. The problem is for every multiple state registered they found they flagged four who just had the same name. So he needs the Social Security numbers, but a lot of states either don’t use them in voter registries or will never hand them over. It’s crazy to hand over information to some bogus “commission” – who knows what they’ll do with it. They know they can’t demand it so they’re “requesting” it but why should a state go along?

  37. 37.

    satby

    @TenguPhule: his racist troglodyte base will be among the very first that get laid off in a down economy, and the part of his base that thinks he’s bringing the tax cut fairy to their McMansions will watch their investments go south fast. Neither will be happy for long with a trade war.

  39. 39.

    Elizabelle

    @Baud: Agree totally. Too much of the MSM slimed Hillary with everything they had; I am not going to spare any sympathy for that fucker Mika.

    I think Trump is going to take Big Media (including broadcast and cable news) down too. It’s so obvious they are into ratings, and Trump is good for that. And don’t dare offend a deplorable. No no no.

  41. 41.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Kay:

    Hans would look good doing the downward dog over the slot in a guillotine.

    Any commission consisting of him and Kristopher Kolumbus Kobach is a total Bannon creation.

  42. 42.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    It’s crazy to hand over information to some bogus “commission” – who knows what they’ll do with it.

    Some of it states shouldn’t even be collecting in the first place, the fuckers want to know who the named voters voted for going back to 2006.

  43. 43.

    seaboogie

    @satby: I would give anybody’s left nut (am female, or I’d offer my own) for a pic of Obama in a tan suit with his feet on the desk in the Oval right now.

  44. 44.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I thought it was a new low though. It’s not that it’s more offensive than what he said in his campaign where he smeared whole giant groups of people, but it’s so petty. It’s like a celebrity spat on the cover of the National Enquirer.

  45. 45.

    TenguPhule

    @satby: Two words. “Democrats Fault!”

    And they’re stupid enough to fall for it. Won’t be the first time.

  46. 46.

    efgoldman

    @satby:

    his racist troglodyte base will be among the very first that get laid off in a down economy

    No they won’t; most of them in mining towns and factory towns were laid off years ago

  47. 47.

    debbie

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    some noted that Perry continued to smile and laugh as the president spoke to her, as if that meant the exchange didn’t bother or trouble her

    What the fuck else could she do? Those “some” have obviously never been targets of harassment. Pigs.

  48. 48.

    TS

    @JPL: Sham horror by the others on the set – they seem to have stopped him doing it again. it was a worthy rant. Now they are talking about “how trump has changed – how we used to be friends” and “he must be ill”

    pfffft

  49. 49.

    Kay

    @TenguPhule:

    Not who they voted for. They’ll be able to find out if they are registered for a Party and whether they took that Party ballot in a primary, but only in “closed” primary states.

    The party ID isn’t really reliable. If I register as a D in Ohio and pull a D ballot in a primary and then vote GOP in the general I’m registered as a D.

  50. 50.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    I thought it was a new low though.

    He tried to bodyshame a Miss America. How is this worse?

  59. 59.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @TS:

    Trump is what he always was. They simply ignored it.

  61. 61.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    More petty than brining Bill Clinton’s affairs to one of the debates?

    I sea what you did there.

  64. 64.

    Elizabelle

    Simone Veil has died. She was a marvelous human and feminist. Aged 89.

    The Guardian:

    Simone Veil, an Auschwitz survivor who played a leading role in legalising contraception and abortion in France, has died aged 89.

    Veil, an icon of French politics and the first president of the European parliament, died at home, her son Jean Veil said.

    In 1973, she pushed through laws to liberalise contraception, with the pill not only authorised but reimbursed by the social security system.

    A year later she led the charge in the national assembly for the legalisation of abortion, where she braved a volley of insults, some of them likening terminations to the Nazis’ treatment of Jews.

  65. 65.

    Baud

    I dislike Joe and Mika, but they are liked by people we need to turn against Trump.

    I hate our bedfellows.

  66. 66.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @satby:

    They were threatening some bullshit story (and calling Mika’s kids) unless they called Trump and got him to spike it. In Joe’s communications with the White House, it was “back off and apologize”.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    We supposedly couldn’t have uniform voting laws over 50 states because conservatives objected to a “national registry” – their phony “federalism” principle again- but now Hans and Kris are putting together a national registry in a fake commission with no oversight and no transparency using some bullshit “proprietary software” Kobach bought, and conservatives just yawn.

    I tell people to check their registration well prior to the election so they’ll have time to fix any problems- that becomes more important now.

  72. 72.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Everyone else: 25%

    He’s gone below the Crazification Factor? Or is that within the margin of error? Either way, it’s amazing how the 27% number holds up.

  75. 75.

    bemused

    Trump is boxed in a corner. His bullying isn’t working on anything like it has most of his 70 years. Morning Joe is revealing his threats.

    The guy is going to blow like the exploding Oregon whale 1970.

  80. 80.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @bystander:

    I wish to be on the platform assisting with the placement of the condemned so that my unkind words are the last thing their senses register…

  83. 83.

    Elizabelle

    @bemused:

    The guy is going to blow like the exploding Oregon whale 1970.

    Now there’s an image to go with our coffee.

    But I hope you are right. And that the GOP leaders/those supporting him get slimed so bad they smell for the rest of their lives. So bad we can sense them coming.

  84. 84.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    The reason the media is so upset about the mika tweet is because they all get cosmetic surgery.

    First they came for the birth certificate, but I said nothing cuz I am white. Then they came for the mexicans, but I said nothing cuz I am white. Then they came for the mooslims, but I said nothing cuz I am white. Then they came for the jewish internationalists, but I said nothing cuz I am white. Then they came for the vagina, but I said nothing cuz I’ve had multiple affairs and been married a slew of times. Then they came for my cosmetic surgery, but there was nobody left say anything for me.

  86. 86.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    I thought it was a new low though.

    Nothing new about it Kay. Remember the NYT reporter> That was pretty personal.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Your vote is still private. They can’t tie an individual vote to a name, except with absentee ballots, but once the ballot is removed from the envelope then they no longer can. We get people every year who sign their ballots- I’m not sure why- seems like something you should do at the end of a form? Anyway. Not supposed to. It’s technically a “spoiled ballot”.

  89. 89.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay: You know, we could push for federalism to protect a lot of us.

    Federalize the national elections. States can administer, but under a set of standards. Paper ballots, equal access to voting equipment throughout a state and community. Mail in ballots, and easy access to advance voting.

    National ID card. It’s time. Will be helpful for VOTING, healthcare, benefits, and employment verification. Biometric. Kill a lot of birds and opportunities for GOP to whine with one fell swoop.

    States rights is the last gasp of the Tea Party types/present day confederate state supporters and traitors. There are some minimum protections and services that ALL our citizens deserve.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Right, but that seemed more grave to me. More serious. This is like “Mika was at Mar a Lago and SHE said..”

    I’m shocked by that, that he thinks he’s involved in some game where he’s sparring with celebrities. Maybe it’s the difference in stature – I think Mika is a celebrity and I don’t think the judge or the NYTimes reporter or Mr. Khan are celebrities. It was more grave not because of Trump’s status but because the people he attacked are so much better than he is.

  93. 93.

    MJS

    @Kay: Now who’s being naïve, Kay? (I don’t think you’re being naïve. I just couldn’t pass up using that line from The Godfather).

  96. 96.

    Kay

    @Elizabelle:

    Mexico federalized elections and it helped a lot. I’m fine with a national ID card. The REAL ID program is run thru driver’s licences and it’s basically a national ID. We’re quibbling over details at this point. The horse is out of the barn on that.

  97. 97.

    JMG

    So the new genius plan from Trump (and Ben Sasse!) is just repeal Obamacare straight out, then replace in August — somehow. They will not rest until their plan goes from just hurting poor people to hurting everyone and the entire health care industry.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    @MJS:

    I talked to my daughter last night and she said, sadly, “he gets worse every day”

    We maintain the capacity to be still more disappointed in his behavior :)

  100. 100.

    Kay

    @JMG:

    So much for the vows last week not to “pull the rug out from under anyone”

    They just lie to the voters CONSTANTLY.

  101. 101.

    TS

    @debbie: Stephen on Trump’s tweets (from your link)

    “Someone bleeding badly at your door – and you say no – sounds like your health care plan”

  102. 102.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Kay:

    I’m old enough to remember every proposal for national ID to fall apart amid cries of “muh sacred freedoms”, “mark o’ The Beast” and “we don’t say ‘papers, please’ here in ‘Murka”. Your white face wasadequate to get you whatever.

  105. 105.

    MomSense

    Eric Holder tweeted at 3 am to the DOJ/FBI to stay strong. Wonder if something big is going to drop today.

  106. 106.

    Another Scott

    ‘ Morning.

    No time to read all the replies yet (sorry if it’s already been mentioned), but I’ll leave this here.

    Donnie seems desperate to change the subject (probably worried about the shoestore’s worth of shoes dropping today about Flynn, etc.), and to also too somehow create a “win” out of the Trumpcare debacle:

    Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 54 minutes ago

    Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help. 1714 shootings in Chicago this year!

    Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 1 hour ago

    If Republican Senators are unable to pass what they are working on now, they should immediately REPEAL, and then REPLACE at a later date!

    Bannon must love that older one. “Let’s break everything now – we’ll fix it later (when we have leverage over everyone else to make them do what we want).”

    (sigh)

    Rahm probably welcomes the opportunity to have a public spat with Donnie again.

    Keep fighting, everyone!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  107. 107.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Kay:

    Maybe it’s the difference in stature

    No maybe about it, but I strongly contest that Mika is anyone’s “better.” Like Republicans, nothing is real to members of the press until it happens to them.

  108. 108.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Bobby Thomson:

    National Enquirer reporters were apparently threatening to slime Joe and Made last unless they called the White House and got Trump to spike it. The White House was demanding that they back off and apologize to Trump.

  111. 111.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Kay: Agreed, a driver’s license says you are certified to operate a motor vehicle. It shouldn’t be used to get on a plane, vote, or anything else. Bring on a national ID.

    ETA: Here in California, undocumented folk can get a driver’s license, being that they’d drive anyway, it’s a good thing.

  114. 114.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    Still a little fuzzy, but sounds like:

    1. National Enquirer was threatening to run a story before Joe and Mika got married talking about how they were schtupping. Recall that Trump also made insinuations in at least one tweet during the campaign.

    2. The National Enquirer, which was and is fully in bed with Trump, told Joe and Mika that Trump was the only one who could kill the story.

    3. The ask for killing the story was “backing off” and “apologizing.”

    4. Looking back, I remember that they did do a half assed apology of some kind, but they also effectively killed the story by getting married.

  115. 115.

    Bobby Thomson

    @JPL:

    I must say that I don’t think he should have attacked the president’s appearance on the air

    Why the fuck not?

  116. 116.

    Peale

    @JPL: nope. I’m not really feeling all that sorry for them this morning and their reaction to the insult to the tribe. Some of us saw him for what he was 2 years ago. 30 years ago even. Boo hoo hoo for them.

  119. 119.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL:

    I don’t think he should have attacked the president’s appearance on the air

    I think he should do it every chance he gets. Trump is a phat ugly disgusting pig.

  122. 122.

    Shalimar

    @Bobby Thomson: It was very common gossip that Joe and Mika were schtupping. All you had to do was watch their “playful” promo pictures and commercials to tell. Their MSNBC-created image was as a longtime-married couple. Not sure why they would bother submitting to blackmail to try and hide it.

  124. 124.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: National IDs are fine, if done reasonably sensibly (e.g. what do you do about people who were adopted, changed their names multiple times, don’t have birth certificates, changed gender ID, etc., etc.). It all depends on the corner cases, the cost, the required “proof”.

    But national IDs won’t “solve the problem” of “dead people voting” and the like, because dead people – obviously – don’t vote. This whole “voter fraud” stuff is a distraction. It’s (as we know) not a real issue. Trying to come up with real solutions to a problem that doesn’t exist isn’t just wasting resources, it’s supporting damaging memes.

    It’s like “we’ll have comprehensive immigration reform after we stop the illegal immigrants from entering the country” buggaboo. When is that “stopped”? When it’s down 90%?
    99%? 99.9%? 99.999999%? And like the never-ending abortion rights and contraception rights fights. It will never end.

    Dead people being on voting rolls isn’t a problem. Dead people can’t and don’t vote. People voting multiple times isn’t a problem – voting is too much of a hassle (and individual votes almost always have too little effect on the outcome) for people to try to bother (and the penalties if caught are severe).

    Voting rolls will never be perfect. People move, and die, and turn 18, all the time. It costs time and money to update the rolls, money that localities cannot spare, and they will never be updated in real-time.

    RealID didn’t stop terrorist attacks in the USA. National ID cards for voting won’t stop the Teabaggers screaming about the “wrong people” voting.

    Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for national, uniform standards, mail-in ballots, extending voting days, making absentee ballots excuse-free, greatly restricting the need for “provisional ballots”, and all the rest. I just don’t think we should kid ourselves that even an excellent fair and national system will make the “problem” and the talking points go away – the “argument” will just shift (“The Federal Government is rigging the vote!!1 Hillary and Nancy and George Soros are paying people to vote for the Democrats!!11”)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  125. 125.

    Another Scott

    @MJS: *in the Oval Office*. There are zillions of pictures in the Tan Suit at that press conference, and a couple of other places.

    Yeah, the Deep State is clever, but … :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  127. 127.

    JPL

    IMO, Deutsch was correct in going low, and to call trump a vulgar pig was within the limits of decency. He went beyond that though, but that is just my opinion. I live in the GA sixth district and the message was loud and clear, that Ossoff should have fought back, against the lies told about him.

    @MomSense: Benjamin Wittes has an interesting re-tweet also. https://twitter.com/benjaminwittes/status/880737797551919104
    We all could use a good Friday night news dump. It’s been a long week.

  129. 129.

    JPL

    Trump’s new tweet
    Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time. FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show

    Why would Joe think the president could stop an article from being printed? hmmm

  130. 130.

    Jeffro

    Here’s some good advice from Josh Marshall: reporters need to pull out of Trumpov’s dominance rituals

    We’ve collectively been living in Donald Trump’s house now for more than two years. We know him really well. We know that he sees everything through a prism of the dominating and the dominated. It’s a zero-sum economy of power and humiliation. For those in his orbit he demands and gets a slavish adoration. Even those who take on his yoke of indignity are fed a steady diet mid-grade humiliations to drive home their status and satisfy Trump’s need not only for dominance but unending public displays of dominance. He is a dark, damaged person.

    Trump’s treatment of the press is really a version of the same game, a set of actions meant to produce the public spectacle of ‘Trump acts; reporters beg.’ ‘Reporters beg and Trump says no.’ Demanding, shaming all amount to trying to force actions which reporters have no ability to compel. That signals weakness. And that’s the point.

    Let me say this: I don’t think this is an easy situation to grapple with. But I don’t think the press can do its job if it allows itself to play this role in Trump’s public spectacle. The only way to grapple with this type of gangland White House is not to beg or demand but simply make clear that hiding, acting in secrecy is cowardly, a sign of hidden bad acts, simply unAmerican and let the Trump entourage live with that label. Begging and complaining make no sense when the point of behavior is to make you beg. It can’t work and it drives a cascading cycle of indignity that is both demoralizing and enervating.

    Now you may say, well they couldn’t care less what label you give them! What you’re suggesting just means Trump wins either way. Demand access and you lose or accept no access and lose all the same. It might seem that way. But I don’t agree. As I said, we’ve been living in this guy’s house for some time. People who don’t cower, who don’t let Trump dictate the terms of their engagement with him tend to unhinge him. Not even ‘tend’. It’s a clear and consistent pattern. We’ve seen it with Khan, Machado, Macron. Trump thrives on people who play parts in his dominance rituals; he derives a malign psychic nourishment from it; he comes either unglued or ingratiating when people refuse to play that part.

    The president as dark, malign initiator of sick dominance rituals…I guess this is one of those ‘new norms’ that Amy Siskind’s keeingp a list of, so that some day we can find out way back. (There should have been a h/t to Sara Kenzidor in that article btw)

  131. 131.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Shalimar: there’s also a lot of other gossip about Joe that a focus on workplace dalliances might lead people to talk about. And there’s a difference between inside baseball stuff with plausible deniability that all the villagers joke about, and having unflattering photos plastered in every grocery store check out.

  132. 132.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Jeffro: Good strategy that will never be followed because of both-sides-do-it, phony balance, and a pathological need to see bias in attempts to get a comprehensive but accurate story.

  133. 133.

    Yoda Dog

    @Bobby Thomson: His physical appearance is beside the point and by far the least offensive thing about him.

    But DD can say whatever he wants, that’s fine. He sure as hell wasn’t wrong!

  135. 135.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Yoda Dog: I’ve never been much for the royalist bent of American politics. Certainly not when it comes to jumped up scum like Princess Snowflake.

  136. 136.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Bobby Thomson:
    Gendered slurs of that sort are generally eschewed nowadays at Balloon Juice, because they reinforce the false equation of “female” = “bad”. The current President uses that formulation all the time… which is sufficient reason to avoid it.

  137. 137.

    Laura

    @Kay: Kay it’s too bad you cannot embed a clip of Hand Von S’ voice. It is . . .one of the oddest, Dr. Stranglove-esque, evil villain voices I have ever heard. It matches the evil he does.
    And hats off to CA AG Becerra in refusing to kowtow to Kobach’s request for voter information, and calling out the entire investigation for what it is, a bs attempt to prevent Americans from exercising the franchise.
    Also, Good Morning Rikyrah.

  138. 138.

    Miss Bianca

    @OzarkHillbilly: OMG, I don’t know if these are actually safe for work…mostly because I’m going to be laughing so hysterically that all my office mates will suspect something is up!

  139. 139.

    Tenar Arha

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: @Kay: I don’t think this is a good idea. Voter/Federal ID is a solution for a problem we don’t have. I don’t believe it’s worth even thinking about agreeing to this, especially since we’d have to figure out how to get all the supporting documents and the ID’s for free, solve the problem of people who were born at home especially prior to the CRA, the tendency to deliberately neglect birth records especially in certain areas of the country, the guaranteed roadblocks that’d be put in place for adequate locations to provide the ID’s etc. And it still wouldn’t solve the underlying problem of people who refuse to admit that fraud isn’t our problem like @Another Scott said.

  140. 140.

    J R in WV

    @TenguPhule:

    States can’t know that – it’s why we have the secret ballot, no one knows, at least not legally – who voted for whom. At most they know which primary voters voted in, so whether you regarded the Dem or the Republican primary as more important in a given election year.

    I would be no party selected, but then I wouldn’t have a primary vote at all, and in many elections, the primary selects the winner.

  141. 141.

    J R in WV

    @Shalimar:

    Their MSNBC-created image was as a longtime-married couple. Not sure why they would bother submitting to blackmail to try and hide it.

    Maybe because at least one of them (the woman I think) was already married to someone else?

  143. 143.

    J R in WV

    @H.E.Wolf:

    Let me be clear on this: You are objecting to the use of “Princess Snowflake” in a political blog known as the home of Ravening Jackels?

    Were you born yesterday?

    I know better, because you’ve been posting (44 or so times) all year. But still, really? Really?

    ;-)

    Don’t take it too hard, I’m partly kidding, but still, really?

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