Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

The willow is too close to the house.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

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

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

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

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

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Let there be snark.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Race to the Bottom

Race to the Bottom

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It’s been clear for a while now that the Trump administration’s midterm strategy is to divide Americans by race. Weaponizing white resentment was the key to Trump’s 2016 EC victory (with a healthy assist from Russia, voter suppression, etc., which also centered on racist bullshit). And this time around, he won’t have so-called “populist” fig leaves to paste over the eyes of the Beltway press since his agenda as president* has been Paul Ryan’s deeply unpopular tax cuts for plutocrats and benefit cuts for everyone else.

So, with no record to run on except coasting on the Obama economy (and that could go off the rails any minute, with Trump moronically starting trade wars), Trump will double and triple down on racism. The administration is waging the current immigration fight in explicitly racist terms, with apocalyptic warnings about brown hordes poised to overrun our southern border. Here’s a current example:

Great screen grab, no? No.

Also, expect more of this (via The Post):

Trump administration moves to rescind Obama-era guidance on race in admissions

The Trump administration is moving to rescind Obama-era guidance to colleges and universities on how they can use race in admissions decisions to promote diversity, according to an administration official.

The action, expected Tuesday afternoon, is likely to signal a shift toward advocacy of race-neutral admissions. The Supreme Court has upheld race-conscious admission practices as recently as 2016, but affirmative action in higher education remains a contentious issue.

That was the old Supreme Court. Now, all bets are off. Trump & Co. will relentlessly flog every race-related issue all summer and set mini-Reichstag fires around racial issues whenever they can because they need to turn out every grudge-carrying racist MAGA chud in the land to hang onto power.

So, what can we do? Well, we can expect an onslaught of social engineering to foment anger and distrust, similar to what happened in 2016, with troll farms fanning the flames of division within our ranks. Only now they’ll have the implicit if not explicit support of the Trump administration and the Republican Party, which has its hands on the levers of power.

I don’t know what that’s going to look like, to be honest. I don’t remember 1968, but we may be in for a similar level of national strife. White supremacy was on the ballot in 2016, but it’s possible that not everyone got the memo. It will be on the ballot again, only in all caps and bold font. Will we get it right this time?

Reader Interactions

168Comments

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    So, with no record to run on except coasting on the Obama economy (and that could go off the rails any minute, with Trump moronically starting trade wars),

    Oil just hit $75 per BBL. And supposedly the Trump admin has been pressuring firms to stop all purchases of oil/energy from Iran by this fall. I think the price of gas is what’s going to slice through to the knuckleheads sharper than any other message.

  3. 3.

    Mike in DC

    The silver lining is that there are waaay more nonwhite voters than there were 50 years ago, and a respectable number of white allies as well. 49% of voters believe that Trump is racist, according to Quinnipiac. If they choose to split the country in two, we will have the larger half.

  7. 7.

    rikyrah

    Let’s be clear: The fact that McConnell denied Obama the right to nominate a SCOTUS before an election but will allow Trump to do so even closer to an election means that he will allow a white name to reshape the court while denying a black man that same right.

    — Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) July 3, 2018

  8. 8.

    rikyrah

    ICE is training its deportation officers in the use of M4 assault rifles, “chemical agents”, stun grenades, and flash bangs, according to federal procurement records I found.

    “Sounds like they’re getting ready for war,” a retired ICE agent told me.https://t.co/nVt6qSsikf

    — Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) July 3, 2018

  9. 9.

    TenguPhule

    Donald Trump has tweeted an unsubstantiated claim from an hardline Iranian cleric and circulated by a news agency linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guard, that thousands of Iranians were granted US citizenship as part of the 2015 nuclear deal.

    In his 8am tweet, the US president said: “Just out that the Obama administration granted citizenship, during the terrible Iran Deal negotiation, to 2,500 Iranians, including to [sic] government officials. How big (and bad) is that?”

    He cited no evidence for the allegation.

    Via the guardian.

    What’s below rock bottom?

  10. 10.

    rikyrah

    June 23, 2016: Supreme Court upholds affirmative action in 4-3 decision.

    Aug. 19, 2016: Trump asks black voters: “What the hell do you have to lose?” by voting for him.

    July 3, 2018: Trump to rescind Obama-era guidelines on race and diversity in college.https://t.co/m1Ml9a51E6

    — Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) July 3, 2018

  11. 11.

    TenguPhule

    @Corner Stone:

    Oil just hit $75 per BBL. And supposedly the Trump admin has been pressuring firms to stop all purchases of oil/energy from Iran by this fall.

    Not to mention Trump publicly begging Saudi Arabia to release more oil.

  12. 12.

    rikyrah

    Meet #NewportNancy

    Stacy Etheridge of Wellington Manor, Ga., posted a video on Facebook that was recorded by her daughter with the caption “Caucasian woman tells my daughter to put her cigarette out and decides to call the police on my daughter for smoking outside in a parking deck. Police showed up and said it was no harm to others….this calling the cops on Blacks is getting way out of hand. Now you can’t smoke outside. #NewportNancy”

  13. 13.

    TenguPhule

    @rikyrah: Has anyone else noticed that the Supreme court also made slavery legal again with their Union gutting decision by now making it legal for people/organizations to be forced to provide services without reimbursement?

  14. 14.

    TeezySkeezy (formerly the T S you hate)

    Yes, I’m afraid there are some new social engineering tactics that haven’t yet been deployed and will come out of nowhere to overwhelm the few percent margin needed for the fascists to keeping winning the elections and cement their perpetual authority. No reason to jump the gun and tip people off to your tactics too early.

  15. 15.

    trollhattan

    @Corner Stone:
    Not to worry. California Republicans will convince their thick-headed adherents it’s all the fault of Jerry’s 12-cent gas tax boost.

    “Moonbeam done raised my gas a buck-and-a-half!”
    “That’s right Dallas, he did. Now go vote out those tax-loving Dems.”

    What’s it matter in a state with so few Republicans? Four or five flippable house seats.

  16. 16.

    Elizabelle

    I think we can stop a Supreme Court justice being seated before the midterms . I really do.

    Do not let Trump appoint a(nother) Justice who is going to be the final arbiter on his case. Because very good chance parts of Mueller’s case make it to the Supreme Court.

    We have a POTUS who might turn out to be illegitimate, who lost the popular vote by 3.5 to 9 million or so, however you wish to count it. Who is a kleptocrat. Who is under criminal investigation, at some point possibly as a target.

    Who is running an administration of grifters that makes the Teapot Dome look like poor ambition.

    And, of course, Roe v. Wade.

    We have to stop this, and we can.

  18. 18.

    Chris T.

    “It’s a binary choice. You’re either for open borders and the crime that comes with that, or you’re for a sovereign nation that has physical borders and less crime kidnapping children.”

  19. 19.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Corner Stone: I feel like the big meta theme for 2018 and 2020 should be “Trump just doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing.” Not that he’s offensive, or racist, or corrupt, all of which he is, in spectacular fashion. But this incompetent and ineffectual flailing, starting things he doesn’t finish, hopscotching from idea to idea, that’s something I have to think that middle-of-the-road voters who couldn’t stomach Hillary Clinton and liked that Trump was A Business Man are going to be very, very sick of.

  20. 20.

    TeezySkeezy (formerly the T S you hate)

    @TenguPhule: How exactly could they justify that? I didn’t actually read the details, admittedly…but is it specifically about unions where you are obligated to join to be employed in a profession? I can kind of see how they navigated through to reach their shitty decision, then, but Christ, if this is a preview of what is to come with the new SCOTUS, we are in for a terrible ride. A court rubber stamping every loony conservative group’s lawsuits for 40 years with decisions that will be completely and diametrically opposed to the accelerating and inevitable demographic shift. So fucked. Our system won’t survive. A broken SCOTUS and a majority fiercely opposed to it. Damn.

  21. 21.

    ruemara

    this country is headed for a return to apartheid. It will use police and ICE to do it. That’s all that’s at stake.

  22. 22.

    NotMax

    It’s been 90 years but to the Dolt 45 administration more like 90 minutes.

    Estimates at the time ranged between 30,000 and 40,000 bigots who marched in 1928.

  29. 29.

    Corner Stone

    @FlipYrWhig:
    It is (has been) quite clear Trump is an incompetent buffoon. The only people still fighting that fact thought The Apprentice was real. I don’t think bigger picture messages are going to get through. I think that gas bill might do so in a way that outright bumbling incompetence, if not malice, may not.

    ETA, not as clear as it could be as I deleted a para at the top.

  30. 30.

    trollhattan

    Alabama may have spared us senator Moore, but remains Alabama.

    A judge in Ardmore, Alabama twice denied Debra Ann Rivera protective orders against her ex-husband, Darwin Brazier — including requests that his firearms be taken away from him due to alleged stalking. On Sunday, Brazier killed Rivera, two other people and himself. The Decatur Daily reported Tuesday that Brazier on Sunday killed his ex-wife and her husband Radex Rivera, along with the couple’s roommate James Hayward-Boger.

    Rivera had most recently filed for a protective order on March 1, 2018 after her ex allegedly called her so much that she had to change her phone number. Limestone County Circuit Judge Chad Wise granted the order on a temporary basis, but on April 10 declined to make the order permanent. In March of 2017, Rivera petitioned Judge Wise to issue a protection-from-abuse order against Brazier and asked that his firearms be surrendered. The judge denied the request.

    “In the 2017 petition, Rivera alleged that Brazier had stolen her personal contacts and had placed a GPS tracker in her car,” the Daily‘s report noted. “She claimed he provided personal information about her to a convicted felon so the felon could harass her.”

    Odds the judge keeps his job?

  32. 32.

    Mandalay

    Trump makes honey badgers look like amateurs. He truly doesn’t give a flying fuck about anyone or anything except himself:

    The UK government has pledged to cover up to £5m in extra policing costs if President Trump visits Scotland to go golfing later this month…

    …Exact details of Trump’s itinerary remain unconfirmed but it is widely believed the president will visit his luxury golf resort at Turnberry in Ayrshire after seeing Theresa May, the prime minister, at her country retreat at Chequers and the Queen at Windsor castle.

    Trump is thought to be planning a round of golf with an unnamed celebrity, said to be Prince Andrew, and could also visit his smaller golf course at Menie north of Aberdeen.

  33. 33.

    raven

    I remember 68 like it was yesterday. Motherfuckers were dying all over the damn place. There are some keyboard commando’s her who like to TALK about violence. Do what you want.

  34. 34.

    laura

    @laura: Im actually sitting at my desk trying to make sense of a Members request notifying her public agency employer to cease deducting her dues “based on last weeks Supreme Court Ruling that government employee unions cannot require represented workers to pay union dues or fees.”
    The employer forwarded the request to my attention so I instructed her on the process.
    In reply, she informed me that her request said nothing about ceasing her membership, she’s merely requesting to not have dues deducted from her payroll check.
    Im guessing she believes the Supremes also overturned the 13th Amendment.
    In her eyes, i am now her slave.

  35. 35.

    trollhattan

    Somebody’s fast to acquire a grudge.

    Now that Harley-Davidson is moving part of its operation out of the U.S., my Administration is working with other Motor Cycle companies who want to move into the U.S. Harley customers are not happy with their move – sales are down 7% in 2017. The U.S. is where the Action is!

    I will guarangoddamntee which company he’s bringing over. Book it, Libs.

  36. 36.

    BosDave

    Betty,

    Beautifully written. The last two sentences are gold. This is the essence of the 2018 midterms.

    P.S. I love when I see a few f bombs or foul language in a post and I know that you wrote it.

    P.P.S. That soldifies my worship of you. ;-)

    Dave

  39. 39.

    TenguPhule

    @Elizabelle:

    We have to stop this, and we can.

    Unless you have a Green Lantern ring in your pocket, there is little chance to stop in legally.

  40. 40.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Corner Stone:

    I think the price of gas is what’s going to slice through to the knuckleheads sharper than any other message.

    Yup, I’ve been saying that for a while. Trump was one of the reasons I bought a Prius last year.

  43. 43.

    TenguPhule

    @TeezySkeezy (formerly the T S you hate):

    How exactly could they justify that? I didn’t actually read the details, admittedly…but is it specifically about unions where you are obligated to join to be employed in a profession?

    Prior US SC court decision said Unions have to represent everyone, including non-union members in the workplace.

    The work around was that Unions were able to collect shop fees from non-union members to offset costs of representation and bargaining.

    Current US SC just said Unions can’t collect fees unless the workers volunteer to pay them.

    But Unions are still obligated by the prior decision to represent everyone.

    Ergo, US SC just reduced Unions into slaves living on voluntary donations.

    ETA: Apparently 5 R Justices believe all money is free speech. I kid you not.

  46. 46.

    trollhattan

    @raven:
    In my mind the King and RF Kennedy assassinations are the hallmarks of ’68, dragging our eyes even from Vietnam and urban riots, and also that things didn’t really peak until Kent State in ’70. More than half of Americans polled believed those students “deserved it.” We were really and truly fucked up and only a bungled D.C. burglary in ’72 set the path out of the mire. Can you imagine Nixon serving out term 2 and setting up his chosen successor?

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    @trollhattan

    So sales last year dropped due to a change announced in response to the tariffs he imposed this year?

    (best Doug Henning impression): It’s ma-a-a-a-gic.

  51. 51.

    Betty Cracker

    @trollhattan: Trump’s spat with Harley began in 2018, but MAGA chuds tanked Harley’s 2017 sales due to a premonition that they would tangle with Trump. Have I got that right?

  52. 52.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @PPCLI:

    What we’ve got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can’t reach.

  60. 60.

    PPCLI

    Can you imagine Nixon serving out term 2 and setting up his chosen successor?

    Especially when you imagine who that successor might have been. Certainly not that bozo Agnew who was just there to be a jerk to enemies and serve as impeachment insurance. Maybe it would have been that young go-getter Deputy Assistant to the President who became Ford’s Chief of Staff: Richard Bruce Cheney.

  61. 61.

    raven

    @trollhattan: I was right! I didn’t click on it first but anyone who believes a beemer knockoff is better than a Harley deserves one.

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    @raven:
    “This roller coaster provided by your U.S. government. Please enjoy safely and keep your hands inside the car.”

    Yeah, I didn’t even get into the politics, not only did we have the Chicago convention but we had George Fucking Wallace winning five states. George Wallace.

  65. 65.

    TenguPhule

    @laura: Take her name down, looks like the unions are going to have to go back to the bad old days of punishing scabs like her. I mean, its not like she’s using those kneecaps for anything useful.

  68. 68.

    raven

    @NotMax: There are parts of it that I’ll always cherish. The Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter Than Air Fair was pretty cool!

  69. 69.

    Kelly

    @Elizabelle: I’m not optimistic about stopping the Supreme Court appointment. I’m genuinely puzzled about recusal. Should a judge recuse when the case involves someone who appointed or confirmed them?

  70. 70.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @TenguPhule:

    I mean, its not like she’s using those kneecaps for anything useful.

    Holy fuck that’s dark.

  71. 71.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Kelly:
    I think so, especially when the President is a target of the investigation and the case pertains to it.

  76. 76.

    NotMax

    @Kelly

    No, unless said person is a relative by blood or marriage, or there is a direct connection involving a business.

    Caveat: IANAL

  77. 77.

    TenguPhule

    @Kelly:

    Should a judge recuse when the case involves someone who appointed or confirmed them?

    SC justices are exempt from Federal justice recusal requirements.

  79. 79.

    Brachiator

    @MJS:

    Am I reading that right – he’s citing a decision made by Harley halfway through 2018 for a decline in sales in 2017?

    Must be that Trump time machine.

  80. 80.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @BruceFromOhio:

    In November 2017, the company sold a shirt that read ““Rope. Tree. Journalist. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED” before being pulled.

    That third-party seller seems nice.

  82. 82.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @TenguPhule:
    Why not? Why in the 200 year history of our country did no one think that SC justices should be held to the same standard?

  83. 83.

    Kelly

    Well I’m going outside in the sunshine to wade in the river until it’s warm enough to swim. Should be peaceful today and busy tomorrow.

  84. 84.

    TenguPhule

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    Why not? Why in the 200 year history of our country did no one think that SC justices should be held to the same standard?

    Because the Supreme Court is the highest court and like Congress, sets its own rules.

  86. 86.

    NotMax

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Nope. Nixon made four appointments of justices (including Chief Justice). Only Rehnquist recused himself (as he had been Assistant Attorney General in the Nixon Administration) when the court ruled 8-0 on release of the tapes in United States v Nixon.

  87. 87.

    BruceFromOhio

    @trollhattan: The decline is neither new or surprising. HOG has been tracking its shrinking customer demographics for several years, and has acknowledged that it can only sell so many motorcycles to aging white guys. Not to mention the Gaia-damned things cost a small fortune, and come with more electronic gadgets than ever.

    Snip from the 2014 article:

    – Since 2006, Harley Davidson has experienced a 30% drop in overall sales, with just 247k sold in 2012.
    – With the target demographic being Baby Boomers and beyond, sales are expected to decline before they rise again with the maturing of Generation X and the Millennials in the coming decades.
    – Sales to Harley’s outreach demographics grew at twice the rate of their core demographics.
    – While trading at a stock premium, the Harley Davidson stock currently yields just a 1.3% return.
    – The percentage of Harley Davidsons that are sold outside of the United States: 34.7%.
    – Although international sales are up 3%, domestic sales are down 52%.
    – Sales have declined overall for Harley Davidson since 2007 with the exception of 2013, when sales increased overall by 4.4%.

  88. 88.

    sukabi

    @TeezySkeezy (formerly the T S you hate): there are remedies, but they require citizens and law enforcement as well as congress to do their jobs.

    Pretty sure if you looked hard enough there would be several of the Supremes that have a fair amount of shady business deals, insider trading, or other skeletons of a personal nature that are begging for sunlight.

  89. 89.

    Jack the Second

    It’s fun watching words take on new meanings.

    Socialism => morally responsible policies
    Neoliberal => practical, incremental
    Populist => racist and xenophobic
    Conservative => racist and misogynistic

  90. 90.

    Nora

    @Kelly: Are you asking if a judge should recuse himself, or if he is required to do so?

    Of course he should.

    Like Scalia should have decided himself from deciding a case involving someone he had recently gone suck hunting with. As Thomas should have decided himself from a case involving a matter his wife was lobbying on. Neither one of them was required to do so and so, being what they were, neither one did.

  91. 91.

    TenguPhule

    “Pruitt is the gift that keeps on giving in terms of examples of how senior government officials, particularly in this administration, abuse their power and their position,” Fox said, “and really treat the government’s resources — of which the most valuable are personnel — as personal servants.”

    Fox said that because most of the behavior Pruitt has been accused of involves violations that fall under federal Standards of Ethical Conduct for executive branch employees, it is up to either the president or his chief of staff to respond.

    “If we were talking about any other federal employee it would be that person’s supervisor to take disciplinary action, which could be anything from counseling to dismissal from public service,” he said. “This falls squarely on the shoulders of the president, and he seems to do nothing but go out of his way to praise Scott Pruitt.”

    Via Wapo

    Will no one rid me of these corrupt assholes?

    /Fuck Civility

  93. 93.

    Nora

    Stupid autocorrect. The first Dr used in those sentences should have been recused.

  94. 94.

    TenguPhule

    @Nora:

    Like Scalia should have decided himself from deciding a case involving someone he had recently gone suck hunting with.

    Is that what they’re calling it these days?

  98. 98.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    Has Kennedy responded at all to the news breaking about his son working for the Deutche Bank that has connections to Russia and Trump?

  100. 100.

    TenguPhule

    I am myself uneasily pro-choice. Moreover, just a few days ago, I argued that the increasingly bitter judicial wars tearing apart today’s politics can only be ended with more judicial deference to legislatures and to precedent. It stands to reason that I would be dismayed by the politically electrifying prospect that Roe might be overruled entirely. But I wouldn’t be dismayed. I’d be glad to see Roe go, as quickly as possible.

    Ladies and Gentlement, I give you megan mccardle, devourer of salted dicks.

  102. 102.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Jack the Second:

    It’s fun watching words take on new meanings.

    Socialism => morally responsible policies
    Neoliberal => practical, incremental
    Populist => racist and xenophobic
    Conservative => racist and misogynistic

    Not there here yet “Conservative, racists misogynistic as all fuck, thinks magnets work by magic. See Your Stupid Step Father”

  103. 103.

    Mike in NC

    Chief of Staff Kelly stated he’ll leave in July. That will enable Trump to get his favorite band back together. Bannon, Gorka, Mooch, and every other alt-right scumbag will crawl out from under their rocks and move back into the West Wing.

  105. 105.

    ruemara

    @laura: You need to explain to her membership has benefits, she’s chosen not to be a member. Best of luck but that’s how you don’t pay fees.

  106. 106.

    Kay

    @TenguPhule:

    It’s such bullshit that conservative justices are “deferential” to legislatures. No one believes that anymore. They don’t even pass this garbage off anymore at conservative law reviews.

    They’re frauds. The entire conservative legal movement is a fraud. They will happily stomp all over liberal laws if it gets then where they want to go, which Megan and all the rest of the dopes who live in liberal enclaves are about to find out.

    She’s a fool for believing it once and she’s an absolute moron if she still believes it.

  109. 109.

    PPCLI

    @SiubhanDuinne: I was just a little squirt at the time all this happened, and and I was not living in the ‘States so I’ll defer to your judgement. I had the impression that Ford was chosen for narrow institutional reasons. Nixon needed to reinforce connections to Congress, and needed a committed party man who would be inclined to limit the damage to the party with a pardon of Nixon if the worst case scenario (for Nixon) unfolded. I didn’t have the sense that he was someone with the political skills to win a primary without the advantage of incumbency.
    But as pointed out to me above, the result would probably have been Reagan, four years earlier than in the real world.

  110. 110.

    Kay

    @TenguPhule:

    I’m glad they’re admitting they’re overturning Roe and 40 years of precedent, though. I expected some more patronizing scolding about “hysterical liberals”

    They shouldn’t hide the ball. They’re going hard Right. Fly that flag proudly, Megan. Far Right, that’s you.

  111. 111.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    @Mike in DC:

    The silver lining is that there are waaay more nonwhite voters than there were 50 years ago, and a respectable number of white allies as well. 49% of voters believe that Trump is racist, according to Quinnipiac. If they choose to split the country in two, we will have the larger half.

    I was thinking about this as I read Betty’s post. It’s the famous demographic change that’s supposed to give the good guys in America the edge electorally. Any day now.

    But here’s the thing — it counts on subsets of voters/potential voters (with a lot of overlap among the subsets) who even more famously vote in smaller (in some cases, much smaller) percentages of their groups as a whole compared to the far more reliable voting base of the enemy — older, whiter fucks, mostly male but with significant numbers of Eva Brauns, too (hey look, there’s my sister-in-law! and another! and another!).

    That’s not a silver lining, that’s our electoral curse. We’ll see if that changes in the next two election cycles. It’ll mean everything, whichever way it goes.

  114. 114.

    TenguPhule

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Oh for fuck’s sake not again with Kelly, the mastermind behind the baby-jail idea, as some kind of a savior.

    i think the problem is that as bad as Kelly is, the next guy will always be even worse.

  115. 115.

    trollhattan

    @Kay:
    Considering she’s been in our faces nearly two decades it’s astonishing how little McMegan’s worldview has matured. Still a little girl who wants to please daddy while sneaking shots from the liquor cabinet.

  116. 116.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay: I expect any respect for rule of law to die with Trump’s nominee.

    PP is going to provide services irregardless of an overturn of Roe. People are just going to break the law, its going to be like Prohibition only a thousand times more disrespectful.

  117. 117.

    bjacques

    @schrodingers_cat: Huh. That explains the character’s name (Chamchawala) in The Satanic Verses. That book took me about 10 years to read. Like a lot of people, I bought it when it came out but only got about 10 pages into it. When I picked it up again, I devoured it in a few days.

    Damocrats can’t do much to stop Trump getting his SCOTUS pick, but Republicans can. Make their fear of their voters greater than their fear of McConnell or their weakness for his blandishments. Lisa Murkowski is a write-off. If Trump gives away Alaska later this month, “moderate” Murkowski can express her dismay at presidential policies from her new seat in the Duma as representative of the Alyeska Oblast (but stil vote the United Russia line).

  118. 118.

    TenguPhule

    @bjacques:

    Damocrats can’t do much to stop Trump getting his SCOTUS pick, but Republicans can

    There are no moderate Republicans in the Senate.

  119. 119.

    bjacques

    @TenguPhule: They don’t have to be moderate if they’re cowardly enough. I mean the ones up for reelection in what used to be safe states. A guy can dream.

  122. 122.

    Fair Economist

    @TenguPhule: Right. Kelly’s replacement will still kidnap babies, and he will do something else vile that Kelly doesn’t. Remember Republican can, and will, always get worse.

  123. 123.

    TenguPhule

    @bjacques:

    They don’t have to be moderate if they’re cowardly enough.

    The only thing they fear are challengers from their right wing.

  124. 124.

    TenguPhule

    Rule of law, what’s that?

    In an interview with Mother Jones, Austin-based immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch says that by denying bond and forcing migrant parents to remain in detention while they apply for asylum, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “completely disobeying the judge’s order—intentionally.” Jodi Goodwin, a south Texas immigration lawyer who is working with separated parents at the Port Isabel detention center, agrees that the bond denials conflict with the recent injunction.

    How many divisions does the Federal Judiciary have?

    After a person passes a credible fear interview, ICE deportation officers make bond determinations, setting the amount of money the individual must post in order to be released from detention while the immigration case moves forward. The bond money is returned to the migrant after the case is resolved. Lincoln-Goldfinch, who is working with separated mothers at the T. Don Hutto detention center near Austin, says that until late last week, parents at the facility who passed credible fear interviews were usually being released with bonds of about $1,500.

    But that appeared to change on Thursday, when a mother Lincoln-Goldfinch is representing was denied bond despite passing her credible fear interview, meaning she could be forced to remain in detention while her case is considered. Lincoln-Goldfinch says the deportation officer assigned to her client said he received instructions from his superiors to deny bond to separated mothers. Lincoln-Goldfinch says she was “completely shocked and in disbelief that the Trump administration would outright violate a judge’s order.” When she asked how the decision could possibly be in compliance with the injunction, Lincoln-Goldfinch says the deportation officer told her, “I don’t see how it is.”

    Because they’re gonna need all of them.

  125. 125.

    Miss Bianca

    @TenguPhule: Oh, she’d like to see “Roe” go, as quickly as possible? Gee, Megan…it’s when you say shit like this that I realize I’d like *you* to go, as quickly, if not painlessly, as possible.

  126. 126.

    Mai naem mobile

    @laura: I was thinking about he Janus ruling. Instead of a ‘union’ can you have the union people represent individual employees as their agent. I mean like the way tv people and movie stars have agents why can’t teachers and other employees have ‘agents’ instead of unions? I have no idea but I am guessing most public employees recognize the value of a union/agent.

  128. 128.

    Lyrebird

    @Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot: I wish I didn’t find Betty’s concerns so persuasive… been having similar thoughts myself.

    Thanks for your take, and your nym. Made me smile on a tough day.

  130. 130.

    TenguPhule

    @Mai naem mobile:

    I have no idea but I am guessing most public employees recognize the value of a union/agent.

    Unfortunately Janus says you have no obligation to pay them for their services. Because paying for services rendered violates free speech.

  131. 131.

    Ohio Mom

    @TenguPhule: Maybe unions could purposefully do half-assed jobs when representing individuals who stiffed them? I mean in stuff like disciplinary cases.

    This is inspired by having a unmotivated young adult in the house. “I did my best!” Uh huh.

  132. 132.

    TenguPhule

    @Ohio Mom:

    Maybe unions could purposefully do half-assed jobs when representing individuals who stiffed them? I mean in stuff like disciplinary cases.

    I expect it to go along those lines, but more subtly to avoid lawsuits accusing them of failing to perform.

    Can of worms that nobody sane wanted opened.

  133. 133.

    CindyH

    @Elizabelle: I’m curious as to how you think we can stop it? This is the prize that McConnell and republicans have been waiting for and I don’t see him stopping at anything to get this nomination before the midterms. I just don’t see any republicans with the courage to go against their party leaders who will try anything to get this. I hope you’re right and I’m just missing something.

  134. 134.

    Duane

    @laura: I’ve worked union shops. Do people have nerve enough to walk around saying they don’t pay union dues? Seems like a person could get hurt that way.

  135. 135.

    Brachiator

    I don’t know what that’s going to look like, to be honest. I don’t remember 1968, but we may be in for a similar level of national strife. White supremacy was on the ballot in 2016, but it’s possible that not everyone got the memo. It will be on the ballot again, only in all caps and bold font. Will we get it right this time?

    Damn, it’s been 50 years since 1968. Maybe it is past time for fighting in the streets.

    A reminder about some of the events of 1968, one of the key times when people tried to change the world.

    PRAGUE SPRING.
    TET OFFENSIVE.
    LBJ BEDEVILED BY VIETNAM.
    MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. ASSASSINATED.
    STUDENTS PROTEST ALL OVER THE WORLD.
    ROBERT F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATED.
    CHICAGO DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION.
    OLYMPIC PROTESTS

  136. 136.

    brettvk

    @TenguPhule: She’s 45 and has not had a child. Abortion will never be a problem for her, and it’s less so with every passing day.

  137. 137.

    James E Powell

    @Duane:

    I’m a member of a public sector union and a fairly large number of co-workers are RWers who have been very vocal about their desire to avoid paying dues. I’ve never known it to get more than eye rolls.

  138. 138.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @schrodingers_cat: I don’t think it’s Kelly as savior as much as recognizing that the power tensions between the two camps exist, and that power balance will change when he leaves. AFAIK, he doesn’t leave a coterie behind to maintain his position, so Bannon et al will slither into the power vacuum.

  139. 139.

    TenguPhule

    @James E Powell:

    I’m a member of a public sector union and a fairly large number of co-workers are RWers who have been very vocal about their desire to avoid paying dues. I’ve never known it to get more than eye rolls.

    Back to the old school of hard knocks.

  140. 140.

    Elizabelle

    @CindyH: I don’t think every single Republican is down with this, and we have to pick off the reasonable ones for a delay.

    It might not work, but it is worth a serious effort.

    Lot of Republicans would rather be remembered as Howard Baker than as Theodore Bilbo. Play to that angle.

    Mostly, I don’t want to see anyone gaming out how to play this out politically for the midterms. That did not work out with Merrick Garland.

    Voters want to see us fight for important stuff, fight really, really hard, to protect us all, and to protect the rule of law.

  141. 141.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @laura:

    Im actually sitting at my desk trying to make sense of a Members request notifying her public agency employer to cease deducting her dues “based on last weeks Supreme Court Ruling that government employee unions cannot require represented workers to pay union dues or fees.”
    The employer forwarded the request to my attention so I instructed her on the process.
    In reply, she informed me that her request said nothing about ceasing her membership, she’s merely requesting to not have dues deducted from her payroll check.

    Wait. She thinks she can now choose not to pay dues, but still be a union member? Not just have the benefits of having the union negotiate on her behalf, etc., but actually have free membership?

    What an idiot.

  142. 142.

    Elizabelle

    @bjacques: Thank you.

    Damocrats can’t do much to stop Trump getting his SCOTUS pick, but Republicans can. Make their fear of their voters greater than their fear of McConnell or their weakness for his blandishments.

    And maybe their place in history books.

  144. 144.

    L85NJGT

    @Calouste:

    There was a “custom” chopper (shops bolting together after market parts and motors) bubble right before the Bush collapse, and now a bunch of bikes out there that are sunk investments.

    History Channel & A&E seem to be in the business of spinning up old nostalgic white guy collector bubbles.

    The yield curve is crossing, which is a pretty good indicator of soon-to-be recession.

    IIRC the conventional wisdom is most November voters lock-in early summer, which would explain the Trumpistas thrashing around to change the narrative.

  145. 145.

    Tokyokie

    `@Duane:

    What’s below rock bottom?
    Trump.

    I was going to suggest hell, but I see you beat me to it.

  146. 146.

    James E Powell

    @Elizabelle:

    And maybe their place in history books.

    But they are all true believers. They are certain that the history books will say they saved America.

  147. 147.

    L85NJGT

    @James E Powell:

    I’m not sure if OLYMPIC PROTESTS meant Tommie Smith and John Carlos offending white America, or the Federales gunning down people in the streets of Mexico City.

  148. 148.

    Brachiator

    @James E Powell:

    Although it may fall under the general category of “student protests all over the world, the events of May 1968 in Paris require special mention because it became so much more.

    Fair point. I tried to point to international events, not just stuff happening in the US.

    Prague Spring and the Paris protests were among the most world changing events.

    It’s worth taking a look at the entire year.

    Little things with big later consequences. For example.

    July 17 – Saddam Hussein becomes Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Council in Iraq after a coup d’état.

    September 24 – 60 Minutes debuts on CBS and is still on the air as of 2018.

  150. 150.

    James E Powell

    @Brachiator:

    It’s worth taking a look at the entire year.

    Ten years later, Harry Reasoner did a TV documentary on how the events of the year changed America. It’s even more clear now that 1968 was a turning point, to the extent that such things exist.

    I urge everyone to watch at least the first segment on youtube at the link above. Here how different Harry Reasoner’s tone and diction are from what we have today.

  151. 151.

    Mike in DC

    @Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot: Well, long term, by 2060 or so you get an electorate that’s at least 52% nonwhite, even factoring in lower turnout and some vote suppression. In that mix, you can get 70% of the white vote and still get blown out, if you’re only getting 25% or less of the nonwhite vote. White nationalism is not going to push nonwhite support towards the GOP.
    We saw the effects of the demographic shift in 2012. Romney got the same percentage of the white vote that Reagan got in 1984. Lost the popular vote by 5.

  153. 153.

    rekoob

    @PPCLI:
    Oddly enough, I believe the nominee would have been GHW Bush, since he was running strong in the ’76 Republican primaries. Nixon and Reagan hated each other, and Bush would have appealed to the country club set. Bush senior may have prevailed in that election and perhaps another. There’s even a slight chance that Nelson Rockefeller might have been a contender. Alternate histories are fun to think about, but the sad truth is that Republicans have chosen a miserable path for the last nigh-on 60 years and we are suffering the consequences.

  154. 154.

    Dev Null

    @TenguPhule: No doubt everyone knows this, but just for completeness: she first blogged under the nom de plume “Jane Galt”.

  155. 155.

    Dev Null

    @TenguPhule: In view of Original Commenter’s nym, I think “TinkerBelle” would be more appropriate than “Green Lantern”. (No offense intended towards Original Commenter.)

    Where did Green Lantern come from, anyway. Wasn’t Peter Pan out long long before the radio program?

    I’ll never forget the sinking feeling in my gut the first time I heard “Clap louder, kids, or TinkerBelle gets it behind the ear.”

    Ah, yes, here you go (pimps Wikipedia): 1904.

  156. 156.

    Dev Null

    @TenguPhule:

    Apparently 5 R Justices believe that all money is free speech

    Wasn’t that the essence of Citizens United?

    Every dollar gets to vote?

    Very much the attitude of Mercer (and possibly Thiel) IIRC.

  157. 157.

    Dev Null

    @PPCLI: I absolutely fail to understand D’Souza.

    He’s of Indian origin, no?

    He’s smart, with the usual qualifier “for some definition of smart”.

    And yet …

    … he’s an out-and-out racist, a con man, a complete and utter liar and agit-prop generator, he keeps getting tangled up in his lies …

    … and he’s a world-class hater.

    He was already a dick by the time he got to Dartmouth.

    He’s still a dick.

    How did he get to be the bundle of pathologies that he is (and has been)?

    Oh, and I forgot: he’s a Republican.

  160. 160.

    Dev Null

    @BruceFromOhio:

    come with more electronic gadgets than ever.

    As a matter of personal curiosity, what is the relevance of “more electronic gadgets”?

    Pretty sure that’s true across the board for both motorized and human-powered vehicles.

    Well, not so much kiddie trikes, but true for cars and road bikes.

  161. 161.

    Dev Null

    @Jack the Second: Hasn’t “populist” always had a tinge of “racist and xenophobic”?

    You left out “Republican”.

    Kinda reflects the way Republicans demonized the words “liberal” and “progressive” (the latter of which IIRC was also tinged with “racist & xenophobic” back in the day).

    Now Republicans are demonizing their self-descriptions.

    Seems fair.

  162. 162.

    Dev Null

    @TenguPhule:

    Will no one rid me of these corrupt assholes?

    /Fuck Civility

    Hey, waitaminnit, Mister.

    As you told me yesterday (or maybe the day before): IOKIYAR. ~snark~

    (Well, OK, that’s a translation … I believe your words were “we’re not Republicans”.)

  165. 165.

    Dev Null

    @Kay:

    I’m glad they’re admitting they’re overturning Roe and 40 years of precedent, though. I expected some more patronizing scolding about “hysterical liberals”

    Before the election I told a libertarian bud that Roe v. Wade was on the table. “That’ll never happen”, he snarled. And “Clinton scandals”, naming a Clinton pardon controversy that I had to look up to remember.

    Still a little early to revisit that conversation, but I don’t think I’ll have to wait long.

    They’re going hard Right.

    What puzzles me a little about this is that they’re so open about it. They’re a minority. They won a fluke election with an October Surprise enabled by half-a-dozen improbable events (think Weiner, and before him Bill Clinton talking to Loretta Lynch on the tarmac.) They stole a SCOTUS seat. They’re demonizing the browns and the blacks.

    They’re doing this because they can; I get that.

    But what they’re doing makes no sense as a long-term electoral strategy, unless by “long-term strategy” one means “hold onto power – never yield power – by any means at hand, no matter what.”

    Even locking in a hard-right majority on SCOTUS isn’t a permanent win, because a future Congress and sympathetic president could pack SCOTUS by adding a couple of seats.

    Doing what they’re doing, the way they’re doing it, almost certainly guarantees that if-and-when they lose power, they’ll lose in a landslide.

    So it seems to me, anyway.

  166. 166.

    Dev Null

    @Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot: Someone – Kevin Drum, I think – made the point recently that the older demographic will always lean conservative because, well, they’re older.

    He meant: they lived long enough to be old, which statistically speaking means that they had better health care than those who did not live to be old, which means that they were (again statistically speaking) wealthier …

    … and “wealthier” tends to mean “more conservative”.

    No particular point except that a young liberal cohort doesn’t necessarily age into an old liberal cohort, entirely aside from the claim that people get more conservative as they age.

  168. 168.

    Jaker

    In my opinion, Trump’s child kidnappers “Ice” is the US version of “Isis”. Like Isis, they seem to like administering torture on families

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