Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

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

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Our messy unity will be our strength.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

We will not go back.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / This is Not Normal

This is Not Normal

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The fact that the GOP’s Cheeto Jeebus issued a series of tweets about an apparently new transgender policy (but not really, since there is no policy) has been discussed, but a couple quick things:

A.) They are not your fucking generals, you orange shitstain. None of this is yours, you anal drip, it’s OURS.

B.) While you are talking to your fucking generals, how ’bout that plan to defeat ISIS you kept talking about having ready in thirty days, cuz we’re still waiting for that shitshow.

C.) You did no consultation at all, and everyone knows that bible thumping fetus fetishist, rampant homophobe, mother of a modern HIV crisis, all around know-nothing bigot, and Grand Mullah of the American Taliban Mike Pence was doing it behind the scenes, and I guaran-fucking-tee that the first you heard of this was when it was mentioned to you in passing this morning and three minutes later your tiny little dickbeaters were pounding out this nonsense on what I am fucking also sure is an unsecured phone.

D.) They had no intention for you to go live with it so that is why there was a nine minute delay between your first tweet and the subsequent two, at which point they debated for a few minutes and decided “fuck it, it’s too late now, AND WHO THE FUCK TOLD HIM?” and parts two and three came out:

E.) And since you are a fucking clueless douchecanoe who has no idea how to govern and didn’t ACTUALLY consult with OUR generals about this, this fucking happened:

The Department of Defense referred all questions to President Trump’s administration. “We will continue to work closely with the White House to address the new guidance provided by the Commander-in-Chief on transgender individuals serving the military. We will provide revised guidance to the Department in the near future,” said Naval Capt. Jeff Davis, the director of defense press operations.

At the Pentagon, the first of the three tweets raised fears that the president was getting ready to announce strikes on North Korea or some other military action. Many said they were left in suspense for nine minutes, the time between the first and second tweet. Only after the second tweet did military officials receive the news the president was announcing a personnel change on Twitter.

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis is on vacation this week, and defense officials said Mattis knew that Trump was considering the policy change. It is unclear if he approved it.

Fuck every single person who voted for Trump.

Reader Interactions

199Comments

  1. 1.

    Lit3Bolt

    *French inhales cigarette smoke* So…was it good for you too?

    Love me some righteous John G. Cole rants.

  2. 2.

    Major Major Major Major

    They had no intention for you to go live with it so that is why there was a nine minute delay between your first tweet and the subsequent two, at which point they debated for a few minutes and decided ” fuck it, it’s too late now, and parts two and three came out

    Eh, he probably thought he was, like, keeping everybody in suspense for what the next word would be, for… ratings or something, I don’t know how his brain works.

  4. 4.

    dedc79

    Transgender folks are particularly terrifying to Pence. He’s unable to tell whether Mother would permit him to dine alone with them.

  5. 5.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    “We will continue to work closely with the White House to address the new guidance provided by the Commander-in-Chief on transgender individuals serving the military. We will provide revised guidance to the Department in the near future,” said Naval Capt. Jeff Davis, the director of defense press operations.

    And what might that be Jeff, expelling all trangender individuals from the military, toot sweet?

  6. 6.

    dr. bloor

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Eh, he probably thought he was, like, keeping everybody in suspense for what the next word would be, for… ratings or something, I don’t know how his brain works.

    Had to come up with a way to make up his mind. Heads, ban transgendered soldiers; tails, invade North Korea.

  8. 8.

    LurkerNoLonger

    At the Pentagon, the first of the three tweets raised fears that the president was getting ready to announce strikes on North Korea or some other military action

    Try to let just how crazy this is sink in.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    I happened to be on Twitter when the first tweet popped up, and I was honestly expecting the fucker to announce that bombing had begun in North Korea or Iran or some other completely random country. It was a looooong nine minutes. Your explanation of the gap is plausible, given who we’re dealing with — an impulse-driven moron who is getting more unhinged by the day. Even though I’ve been an atheist since age 13, I find myself saying “God help us” a lot these days.

    ETA: @LurkerNoLonger: Holy shit, is that true? God help us.

  16. 16.

    Mathguy

    I’m hoping to win the lottery and buy my way into New Zealand. F*ck all this insanity.

  17. 17.

    lollipopguild

    Next, president dumpster fire will ban gays, women, blacks, hispanics, asians, muslims and anybody else he does not like. Only white straight men who voted for trump will be allowed to serve. Coming to a tweet near you.

  19. 19.

    Mike in NC

    No, no, no. Day One was repeal and replace ObummerCare. Day Two was when he was going to unveil the brilliant and secret strategy to defeat ISIS.

    BTW: Trump’s generals are not actual serving generals; they’re Boykin and Flynn and the other crackpots who he bribed to endorse him.

  20. 20.

    Cheryl Rofer

    The nine-minute time gap between tweets in a series is pretty standard. Also, too, he doesn’t thread them properly. It’s been speculated that the time gap is because he dictates the tweets to an aide, who tries to put them into something resembling English and occasionally tries to supply helpful suggestions. Sometimes the whole room is so taken by the brilliance, they all giggle at how normal people will respond.

  24. 24.

    barb 2

    Trump voters are haters — no sense of humor and zero empathy.

    Trump’s “Christian” supporters are mostly from the “Prosperity doctrine” mega churches. These are evil creeps who never read the Bible. The mega churches – home of the Prosperity doctrine – endorsed Trump very early on in the Primary orgy.

    I wonder how much his mistress encourages his behavior and if she does influence him? The big secret is that Trump goes to Florida to visit his mistress. Who is she and how much does she influence him? Is she a Russian spy – it has been claimed that many on staff down in Florida are foreign spies.

  27. 27.

    Cheryl Rofer

    At the Pentagon, the first of the three tweets raised fears that the president was getting ready to announce strikes on North Korea or some other military action.

    I hope the chain of command for the folks who follow the President around with the nuclear football are thinking out worst-case scenarios.

  28. 28.

    Mike in NC

    “Captain Jeff Davis” was probably an Ensign until Trump saw the name and spot-promoted him by several paygrades.

  35. 35.

    Hoodie

    Has it sunk into the addled minds of Trump supporters and the third party fantasizers that this is not a reality tv show, that this fruitcake actually has his finger on the trigger? I think this gives insight as to how fascism takes hold, that enough people become sufficiently divorced from reality that they put a lunatic in charge because they think it’s all a game?

  37. 37.

    Betty Cracker

    @Cheryl Rofer: I hope someone removed the actual contents, stuffed it with old newspapers and empty McDonald’s bags, and stashed the real nuclear codes with someone responsible, sane and trustworthy like Justice Sotomayor.

  43. 43.

    Immanentize

    @delk: Trump is not good at transitions. AND, he thinks Twitter is actually just radio from his youth.

  47. 47.

    Immanentize

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: This is true mostly — but some folks are about to file based on the tweet alone. Risky but it will get out there fast and get publicity (goes the thinking of some friends).

  48. 48.

    debbie

    Trump ran it like an Apprentice-style reveal. There could not possibly be a less-inappropriate way to have handled this. Trump must really be getting desperate to divert attention. Is Mueller actually closing in?

  50. 50.

    Ksmiami

    I want them gone – all of them. I think we are approaching the point where we can no longer live with the miscreants that support Trump. I must say it happened fast, but yes the worst case is plausible

  54. 54.

    trnc

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    It’s been speculated that the time gap is because he dictates the tweets to an aide, who tries to put them into something resembling English and occasionally tries to supply helpful suggestions.

    Of course, Russian translators can only work so fast to translate from Trumpese to English.

  57. 57.

    Mike J

    Dave Weigel‏ Verified account @daveweigel 17 minutes ago
    Rep. Biggs: “In my district, my constituents say, hey, what’s going on with investigation of the crimes of the previous administration?”

    Clip and save for when somebody says “time to look forwards, not back” in 2021.

  60. 60.

    Friendly Fire

    What about transgender folks that work in the Fed Gov? Don’t they cost money too? Do they not have rights to fight this kind of bullshit?

  61. 61.

    Roger Moore

    @schrodingers_cat:

    ETA: I don’t know what pretext was given.

    I doubt they bothered to provide one. ICE is the honey badger of federal law enforcement agencies. ICE doesn’t care. ICE doesn’t give a shit. They just arrest and deport who they want.

  63. 63.

    dmsilev

    @Mike in NC:

    Who working these days at Mar-A-Lago isn’t a foreign spy?

    I assume at this point our domestic intelligence agencies have emplaced a few agents as well.

  64. 64.

    M. Bouffant

    I guaran-fucking-tee that the first [Trump] heard of this was when it was mentioned to you in passing this morning

    The consensus is that he saw some transphobic horseshit on Tucker Carlson last night. Remember when FOX ran file footage of something or another in Sweden & Trump was twitting or blathering “Did you see what happened in Sweden last night?”

  67. 67.

    Ksmiami

    Trying to think of an appropriate punishment for treason and hanging doesn’t seem harsh enough… ps I used to be a nice person

  69. 69.

    M. Bouffant

    @Betty Cracker: “Holy shit, is that true? God help us.” Josh Marshall notes:

    Here’s Buzzfeed’s reporting about the reaction to that first tweet at the Pentagon …

    At the Pentagon, the first of the three tweets raised fears that the president was getting ready to announce strikes on North Korea or some other military action. Many said they were left in suspense for nine minutes, the time between the first and second tweet. Only after the second tweet did military officials receive the news the president was announcing a personnel change on Twitter.

    What’s not clear here is whether this is about relatively low level personnel who wouldn’t know about a major attack before it was announced or more senior level officers or civilian appointees and civil servants. Obviously if it’s the latter it raises some pretty serious questions about how out of control or unpredictable President Trump seems to be [to] people at the Department of Defense.

  70. 70.

    Roger Moore

    @Mike in NC:

    Trump’s generals are not actual serving generals; they’re Boykin and Flynn and the other crackpots who he bribed to endorse him.

    I’m pretty sure he’s getting key advice from Generals Gerasimov and Bortnikov.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    It’s not normal and it gets worse every day. Anyone who thought he would get better should apologize.

    He’s worse. There’s no limit to how bad he could get, either. Wait until he clears out everyone who knows what they’re doing.

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

    WATCH: Texas police officer harasses black teen for mowing grass
    International Business Times
    26 Jul 2017 at 07:04 ET

    A video of a black teenager being harassed by a security officer in Harris County, Houston, Texas, went viral as soon as it emerged on social media Tuesday.

    In the video recorded by Marvel Gibson, he is heard saying that he was going door-to-door to distribute cards for his business of mowing yards while his crew was cutting out grass and mowing a lawn in the area.

    “When I saw you, you were going door-to-door-to-door,” the officer is heard saying in the video. Gibson responded saying he was distributing business cards. “Yeah, I’m putting my business cards out,” Marvin replied, holding a business card out for the cop.

    “Well that’s what I’m trying to find out,” said the cop.

    “Well that’s all you had to ask,” said the teen. “You see me cutting grass.”

    “Well, let me see some ID,” the officer asked him. The video starts with the officer asking the teen to “step over here” next to a vehicle which appears to be their lawn work truck. Sounds of the lawn machinery can be heard in the background in the video as the other crew members seem to be working.

    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/watch-texas-police-officer-harasses-black-teen-for-mowing-grass/

  76. 76.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @rikyrah: My god…

    Fuck that officer. What probable cause did he have to interrogate Gibson?

  77. 77.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @M. Bouffant: I was in the hills north of downtown Glendale, it wasn’t that far up. It was at the corner of Cielito and Ridgeview.
    (I saw your question but it was a dead thread by the time I saw it your question.)

  80. 80.

    different-church-lady

    @Hoodie:

    Has it sunk into the addled minds of Trump supporters and the third party fantasizers that this is not a reality tv show, that this fruitcake actually has his finger on the trigger?

    [SHAKES SATSQ 8-BALL]

    “NO”

  82. 82.

    Roger Moore

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Tweets are being posted from an iPhone now.

    All, or only some? During the campaign, at least, Trump tweeted his own tweets from a Samsung, while his staff tweeted formal stuff from an iPhone.

  85. 85.

    Roger Moore

    @Ksmiami:

    Trying to think of an appropriate punishment for treason and hanging doesn’t seem harsh enough

    The English invented drawing and quartering so they could punish traitors with something worse than hanging.

  88. 88.

    Kay

    I feel like the Trump Administration are at their most deranged when something bad about them is coming out.

    Has anyone looked if there’s a connection? Can we look for upticks and tie the spurts of frenzied lashing out to new revelations on the scandal(s)? They’ve been particularly unhinged and nasty this week, even for them.

  94. 94.

    Kay

    @Major Major Major Major:

    It really will get bad if qualified longer-term people leave. No joke. That could happen.

    I’m trying to figure out why people thought it would get better. Of course it won’t. There are more and more Trump hires every day.

  97. 97.

    Kay

    How much could it possibly cost, anyway? Won’t it cost more to kick them out and change the whole policy?

    He’s a horrible businessman. He doesn’t even have that small saving grace. He brings not even that.

  100. 100.

    lamh36

    Donald Trump Is Just A White Man Allowed And Encouraged To Be As White As He Wants To Be
    http://verysmartbrothas.com/donald-trump-is-just-a-white-man-allowed-and-encouraged-to-be-as-white-as-he-wants-to-be/

    …this is capital letter WHITENESS at its whitest. It’s Whiteness with unfettered access to unforeseen Whiteness rooms and hidden Whiteness portals. It’s Whiteness completely unencumbered with constraint; Whiteness encouraged to seek and find an even whiter White. Donald Trump exists as a concretized distillation of all the things the creation of Whiteness was meant to be. He’s a messy agglomeration of a thousand million trillion American Dreams; curated and congealed into a singular and sentient and terrifying reverie.

    He’s the Whiteness we’ve known since there was Whiteness to be known. Which is why, for those schooled in detecting pervasive Whiteness, nothing he’s done or will do is a surprise. Still, seeing this destructive Whiteness unleashed is jarring; even for true believers, the violence of its language and the bruteness of its actions is unbelievable. The calamity it causes is unfathomable; its predilection for self-sabotage and self-destruction preposterous; its intentional obliviousness singular and total. And if we do not stop it, if we can’t at least find a way to stem its damage and cauterize the wounds it inflicts, it will kill us all.

  101. 101.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker: actually I probably should fess up …I have it here in my guest bedroom with the other luggage. I figure we’re all good unless the Mrs decides on the spur of the moment she needs a “girls’ weekend” and wants to use the nice new shiny carry-on…

  102. 102.

    Hungry Joe

    @Major Major Major Major: Trump and his crew are incompetent, weasly fuckups; Pence would bring in D.C. insiders who know how to get things — very, very bad things — done. And he is, after all, as has been explained by our host, a “bible thumping fetus fetishist, rampant homophobe, mother of a modern HIV crisis, all around know-nothing bigot, and Grand Mullah of the American Taliban.” I’m not saying that Pence would be worse, because I don’t want to be seriously punched. But he COULD be worse.

    Okay? Am I safe?

  103. 103.

    geg6

    @Kay:

    I hold out the hopeful suspicion that someone has been turned. If I may let my fondest fantasies loose, I’d go with Manafort.

  104. 104.

    Jeffro

    @M. Bouffant: I thought I read where some house Republicans and defense hawks had gone to visit the White House recently and told him that the military shouldn’t be paying for transgender reassignment surgeries.

    Trumpov, in his usual restrained manner, decided that the solution – because he’s “like, a smart person” remember? – is just to get rid of all transgender individuals in the military.

  107. 107.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Hal:

    But I haven’t given up hope yet. The end of Trump’s Presidency cannot come too soon.

    My happiest fantasy is of the day I wake up to Morning Edition and the first words I hear are “Former President Trump….”

    I’m ready any time you are, NPR.

  110. 110.

    Gravenstone

    I don’t smoke, but this rant certainly is worthy of an after action cig. Righteous on so many levels, John. Thank you.

  112. 112.

    Sasha

    Be goddamn grateful that Obama took the long road to DADT repeal, rather than do it by executive order — ’cause you *know* Trump would have reinstituted it by now.

  114. 114.

    Kay

    Zeke Miller‏Verified account
    FWIW, White House official tells me admin is thrilled media is focusing on transgender servicemember issue

    This doesn’t actually work for them anymore, I have noticed. There used to be all this discussion about whether the President and his team were “distracting” from how bad they are at their jobs with Trump’s Tweets, but no one says that anymore.

    Because everything they do is a disaster, so it no longer matters which debacle is a distraction and which is what they’re trying to distract FROM.

    As it turns out there’s plenty of time to discuss the health care disaster and the collusion investigations and the nepotism and corruption and self-dealing, sequentially and repeatedly with time left over to notice they’re all oddballs and freaks who could never work anywhere else but for Trump.

  116. 116.

    Gravenstone

    @Cheryl Rofer: I thought the early consensus was the iPhone was staff cleaning up messes, while the Android was Genuine Trump Gibberish?

  117. 117.

    Hungry Joe

    @Major Major Major Major: You may be right. Okay, you’re probably right. It’s just that, as a Jewish atheist, the prospect of a Christian supremacist in the White House unnerves me even more than I’m unnerved now. And while he’s not as in-your-face crazy as Trump, I think Pence is even dumber.

  118. 118.

    Gravenstone

    @Ksmiami: Might I suggest hanging by wrapping his genitals with piano wire, then slowly lifting his corpulent mass into the air by said wire? Let his mass slowly emasculate him, before he bleeds out.

  127. 127.

    TenguPhule

    @LurkerNoLonger:

    Try to let just how crazy this is sink in.

    I wasn’t expecting to experience the Cuban Missile Crisis from the other side’s perspective.

  129. 129.

    sharl

    Well, this is good to see

    Phil Elliott‏ @Philip_Elliott

    The #transgender ban was supposed to be a homer in the Heartland. I happened to be there today. It wasn’t. Why the Transgender Troop Ban May Backfire Politically #lgbt

    From that Time link:

    Before Wednesday was over, President Trump’s ban on transgender troops already looked like a political miscalculation.

    Stabenow has a perfect 100% score from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBT organization, for the last session of Congress. Even facing a potential showboat challenge from Kid Rock in 2018, it’s unlikely the seasoned Senator would flinch in the face of Trump’s tweetstorm.

    And in Wisconsin? Voters there in 2012 elected Tammy Baldwin, making her the first woman elected to the Senate as a lesbian. She’s up for re-election this year, and LGBT rights are not expected to be a liability for her.

    Democrats’ reaction to the policy also indicated that they weren’t afraid of an electoral threat.

    In fact, Democrats here in the heartland—and beyond—have decided embracing LGBT rights is good politics. Younger voters overwhelmingly support the issue, have no issue with same-sex marriage and don’t really get the hullabaloo over transgender identities. Even in the most blue-collar towns, a neighbor’s LGBT sexual orientation is less an issue than if they root for the wrong football team.

    I had a feeling this might be the case. I’m sure it will still help rile up lots of the old social conservatives in Trump’s idiot base – especially the prosperity gospel christianists and a fair number of the angry old white surbuban/exurban Foxbots – but being aggrieved haters is their usual state as it is.

  130. 130.

    Roger Moore

    @Sasha:

    Be goddamn grateful that Obama took the long road to DADT repeal, rather than do it by executive order — ’cause you *know* Trump would have reinstituted it by now.

    It’s not just that it’s more solid because it’s statute rather than an executive order. It’s more solid because it got enough buy-in to pass on a bipartisan vote. It’s worth noting that many of the Republican Senators who are veterans are pushing back pretty hard on today’s transgender tweet. Joni Ernst is criticizing it for goodness sake, and if you can’t get her on board there’s no way you’re getting something like this through legislatively.

  131. 131.

    TenguPhule

    @rikyrah:

    We just have 10,000 soldiers to throw away?

    Obviously Trump has decided to have a LARP of the Vietnam War for a month and decided to outsource the role of the VC to Twitter instead.

  132. 132.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    Wait until he clears out everyone who knows what they’re doing.

    What do you mean by wait?

  134. 134.

    gratuitous

    “Please be advised . . .” That’s not how the government works. That’s not how the presidency works. That’s not how any of this works.

    But what I’d like to know is simply, who? Who are these generals and military experts that President Trump consulted with? When did he consult with them? Is there a report that he based this decision on, or did he just stab out his little tweets without a second thought?

  136. 136.

    TenguPhule

    @Ksmiami:

    I think we are approaching the point where we can no longer live with the miscreants that support Trump. I must say it happened fast, but yes the worst case is plausible

    I’m not happy to be right about this.

    Republicans do and will not honor the rule of law.

  140. 140.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major:

    ETA: Also Pence is less likely to start world war 3.

    Hard to call actually, He’s religious and stupid and jumped on the Trump train early so fucking insane is also a possibility too..

  141. 141.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    Has anyone looked if there’s a connection? Can we look for upticks and tie the spurts of frenzied lashing out to new revelations on the scandal(s)? They’ve been particularly unhinged and nasty this week, even for them.

    Correlation is not Causation.

    Also, the whole “Obama was spying on me” meltdown was entirely self-inflicted.

  143. 143.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Trump is rotting the country. In a way that can’t be undone.

    Trump has not only blinded Justice, he’s cut out her tongue, raped her corpse and set fire to the remains.

  144. 144.

    Roger Moore

    @TenguPhule:
    Also, too, remember that plenty of crazy Evangelicals are eagerly awaiting Judgment Day. Part of their support for Israel is some crazy belief that all the Jews need to return to Israel before Armageddon can start. I don’t know if Pence is that far gone, but I’m not particularly eager to find out the hard way.

  145. 145.

    TenguPhule

    @Gravenstone: I thought we were trying reduce the violent descriptions in here?

    At least, the ones on our side, not the ones that point out what the evil fuckers on the other side are actually doing.

  150. 150.

    Jeffro

    @M. Bouffant: It’ll rile up some small portion of the Trumpov base, maybe most of it…which is half the GOP…which is half the voting electorate…which is half of American adults. Good for the five of them, then. =)

  154. 154.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Major Major Major Major: I know it’s silly, but it would be *really* galling to let Pence have the title. He’s just such an obviously unworthy (and stupid) theocrat that I don’t want him in the history books as President. We’ve already got Trump.

  155. 155.

    TenguPhule

    @Major Major Major Major: That would be dependent on the actual circumstances of his rise to power. I don’t think simply removing Trump is enough. Trump and Pence both have to go as a package deal or we’re not going to be much better off then when this whole mess started.

    ETA: Its the whole “There must be justice or its just us.” issue. Criminals can’t be allowed to profit from their crime.

  156. 156.

    LesGS

    @Sasha: Very good point. I remember a lot of people being impatient with President Obama for not using an EO to do away with DADT. He was very wise to get it done through the legislature.

  157. 157.

    TenguPhule

    Republicans have a chance to eliminate the individual mandate. They should take it. ‘Avik Roy is president of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity.’

    Republicans, for both moral and economic reasons, oppose this mandate. The framers of the Constitution never envisioned granting Congress the power to force people to buy a privately delivered financial service. The Constitution never would have been ratified had they tried.

    But even if you’re the type to roll your eyes at constitutional arguments, there are important economic reasons to oppose Obamacare’s mandate. Gross premiums for individually purchased coverage have doubled over the past four years under Obamacare. But the authors of Obamacare don’t need to care about whether they’ve made coverage costlier, because they’re forcing you to buy it anyway.

    Without a mandate, insurers would have to do what businesses have to do in every other sector of the economy: design products that you voluntarily want to buy because they represent a good value for you. Under Obamacare, they don’t have to.

    This asshole was an advisor to both Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. And wrote for the National Review. Just to give you an idea of what his nature is.

  162. 162.

    dmsilev

    @TenguPhule: Avik Roy is the closest thing the Republicans have to someone who can come up with a viable health care plan. And no, that’s not a compliment to either Mr. Roy or to the GOP.

  164. 164.

    Shalimar

    @TenguPhule: Avik Roy is also one of the assholes in the background helping McConnell and company write the technical language in all of these failed reform bills. He is hardly a disinterested party.

  168. 168.

    FlipYrWhig

    @TenguPhule: I hate that stupid fucking smug fucking weasel with a permanent shit-eating grin. This is so fucking stupid. Just from the standpoint OF THE BUSINESS, who wants to be in the business of selling insurance to sick people? “Sure, we definitely want your business, in fact we want you to pay us as little as possible and for us to pay for you as much as possible, because that’s our business model something something market share.”

  170. 170.

    Felonius Monk

    @Starfish:

    Pence doesn’t have a cult following.

    Bullshit! They are called the Religious Right and a good portion of them are Trump supporters.

  171. 171.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Ksmiami: To be ‘drawn and quartered??’ Punishment in England for those supporting Bonnie Prince Charlie’s attempt to gain the throne. An incredibly horrible form of execution.

  172. 172.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Thank you Cole, I needed a righteous rant.

    I’m sure my rage will come back soon enough, but today mostly I’ve been crying off and on all day. I’m feeling like an unwanted stranger in my own country as I watch my sisters’ and brothers’ rights get nuke one by one.

  176. 176.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ladyraxterinok:

    As far as I can tell, the last time that punishment was used in England was 1820. Not a typo.

    However, they did make sure that the Cato Street Conspirators were actually dead before they beheaded their corpses. I’m not sure what the last time was that they carried out the sentence when the condemned was still alive — according to Wikipedia even the Jacobites were dead before they were quartered.

  177. 177.

    Mnemosyne

    I just had a comment go into the trash — can a front-pager rescue it?

    It’s a little gruesome (history of drawing and quartering), but I don’t know that that’s why it vanished.

  179. 179.

    Ohio Mom

    @Major Major Major Major: One of the main advantages to Pence is that his kids wouldn’t be stuffing their pockets in full view of the world. That bit of out-and-out corruption would be gone.

    The Pence girls would be in school, wherever it is they are enrolled, out of sight.

  180. 180.

    Shalimar

    @sharl: Kid Rock’s Senate website sells “campaign” merchandise for Warner Brothers Records. Not saying he won’t eventually file actual papers to run, but it is currently a scam for publicity and record sales.

  181. 181.

    TenguPhule

    @Ohio Mom:

    One of the main advantages to Pence is that his kids wouldn’t be stuffing their pockets in full view of the world.

    Probably. At this point you have to add this qualifier to any Republican’s offspring.

  182. 182.

    Yoda Dog

    @Sister Golden Bear: Hang in there. I’ve been mostly just numbly depressed about all this today too. It’s such a slog, it’s literally something new evey single day. I don’t let it get me down in general but today was especially rough..

  183. 183.

    burnspbesq

    I’m going to punch the next person who says they’re going to punch the next person.

    Also too, go USA. Put the Reggae Boyz to the sword and grab the Cup.

  184. 184.

    burnspbesq

    Pence thinks “The Handmaid’s Tale” is an instruction manual. Trump doesn’t read and hopefully doesn’t watch anything on Hulu.

  186. 186.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Shalimar: I thought that was a Viking method. Some contend it was a literary concept and did not occur in real life.

  187. 187.

    SFAW

    @Mnemosyne:

    It’s a little gruesome (history of drawing and quartering), but I don’t know that that’s why it vanished.

    I’m guessing they’re trying to keep all “Game of Thrones” discussions in one place.

  191. 191.

    Kathleen

    @rikyrah: This happened to a friend of mine who was mowing his parent’s yard. They live in a lovely large old home in a suburb of Cincinnati. The policeman knocked on the door and was surprised when his mother said she and her husband owned the home.

  192. 192.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Ooh, ooh, have you met Dinesh d’Souza?? Is he as big a dick as he appears to be? Shacking up with his girlfriend at a right wing religious convention before even telling his wife he wants a divorce? That dick? What a maroon!!!

    I hoped his conviction on campaign-finance violations would shoo him away from punditry, but not yet, it appears. What A Dick!!!! and how stupid to plead guilty and then rant about how he’s being discriminated against before sentencing. Way to go, dick!

  194. 194.

    Kathleen

    @Starfish: I disagree. The few times I get on Facebook I see posts that wax rhapsodic about Pence. I think Pence is why so many Christo Fascists voted for Trump. Purely anecdotal and subjective observation.

  195. 195.

    J R in WV

    @Kathleen:

    I will never capitalize the first letter of the “religion” of the theocratic fascists. They don’t deserve a capital letter, because they aren’t Christians at all.

    Nor am I, I confess, but at least I can tell the difference between real Christians and cristo-fascists. One of my best friends is a priest of an Episcopal church, and is really a Christian. Pence is NOT. Not even close.

  197. 197.

    weaselone

    @sharl:

    I had a feeling this might be the case. I’m sure it will still help rile up lots of the old social conservatives in Trump’s idiot base – especially the prosperity gospel christianists and a fair number of the angry old white surbuban/exurban Foxbots – but being aggrieved haters is their usual state as it is.

    I suspected this was a loser the moment I heard it. Increasingly everyone, including conservatives has a relative or friend that is trans so the outrage generation just isn’t there. On the flip side, this is shitting on veterans and active duty military which isn’t exactly a popular thing to do with any demographic. The optics suck for Republicans, because you’ve already got genuine badasses standing up identifying as trans going “fuck you” for telling me I can’t serve. That’s simultaneously calling Republicans out for disrespecting our soldiers while also enlightening the general population that being trans is not a man in a dress.

  198. 198.

    NoraLenderbee

    Late to a dead thread as usual, but I have to agree. Fuck Them. Every One. With a rusty sword and no lube. Heck, with anything that comes to hand.

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