Democrats reach +14 in midterm election poll, with "59% of registered voters say[ing] it’s highly important to them to support a candidate who shares their opinion of the president."
Like it or not, November 6 is about Trump, not ideology.
https://t.co/w4XSkg3ki9 (via @ABC)— David Jolly (@DavidJollyFL) September 4, 2018
Two months ahead of the midterm elections, Democrats hold a clear advantage over Republicans in congressional vote support, with antipathy toward President Trump fueling Democratic enthusiasm, even among those in the party who stayed home four years ago, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.
The survey also points to broad unrest and frustration with the political system generally. More than 6 in 10 Americans say Trump and the Republican Party are out of touch with most people in the country. While Democrats fare better, a narrower 51 percent majority also judged them out of touch.
Registered voters say they favor the Democratic candidate over the Republican candidate in their district by 52 percent to 38 percent. That is a marked increase from the four-point edge in an April Post-ABC poll but similar to the 12-point advantage Democrats enjoyed in January…
our years ago, when Republicans made gains in the midterm elections, the GOP enjoyed a 10-point advantage on this question in Post-ABC surveys that fall, 71 percent to 61 percent. The latest survey also asked whether people had voted in 2014, and among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents who say they did not, 63 percent say they are absolutely certain to vote in November.
The past three midterm elections — 2006, 2010 and 2014 — produced substantial losses for the party that held the White House. In 2006, Republicans lost control of the House, but they regained it four years later. In 2014, they captured control of the Senate. Trump’s victory in 2016 gave them full control of the executive and legislative branches.
Presidential approval has become a strong indicator of which party voters will support in midterm elections. More than 8 in 10 voters who disapprove of a president’s performance have backed opposition party candidates in recent midterm elections…
Something tells me the “elections have consequences” people won’t interpret a mid term thumping as a rejection of all their programs.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) September 5, 2018
Meanwhile…
I feel like the insanity of that very matter-of-fact statement isn't really getting through.
This national anthem kneeling debate is total Trump catnip. He routinely uses the POTUS bully pulpit to hammer it.
He's not doing so here, because the company at issue is paying him.
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) September 4, 2018
#BEBEST
He’s gone from 4.9 lies a day to 8 lies a day and in last 3 months has actually hit 15.4 lies a day. Impressive! https://t.co/MJQt6dqkE9
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) September 4, 2018
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
JPL
@rikyrah: Good morning!
Patricia Kayden
Mika is so annoying with her “I just don’t want to believe that Kavanaugh would turn his back on the poor father” nonsense. He did! It’s on video. Stop acting as if you don’t know that Kavanaugh is rightwing trash.
Schlemazel
@Patricia Kayden:
I am not convinced that this debacle will move any GOPper Senator to vote no because GUNZ. It would be nice to be wrong but it seems unlikely. The sad fact is unless we can get at least 2 of them to vote no it will be ‘Associate Justice Rightwing Trash’ before the election. It would have been nice if people had recognized this as the likely outcome 2 years ago but too many spent the time pissing into the tent
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
OzarkHillbilly
The space station was obviously damaged by an errant drill bit. The question remains, who wielded it?
It’s a mystery.
TS (the original)
I have to keep hitting my head against a brick wall to remind myself that this is the president* of the United States.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: I am so on board with “Blech!” this morning.
p.a.
These polls will drive more overt voter suppression by Rethugs at the fed, state, and local level than the more subtle efforts of the last decade. They’re already seeding the ‘stolen election’ meme encouraging post-election violence. It’s the fascist way: one man. One vote. One time.
JPL
@Immanentize: Did little Imma narrow down his choices for college?
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning sweetie!
@OzarkHillbilly: @Immanentize: to be honest, blech pretty much sums up how I feel too.
Schlemazel
@TS (the original):
I wonder how much longer that will be true. It occured to me that the GOP could easily flip the conversation about the election if they moved now to enforce the 25th amendment and make that nice sane Mr. Pence POTUS. Sure, the loons would howl but they will still vote for their GOP representatives. Meanwhile the GOP got everything they have ever wanted out of the POSOTUS and with Pence they can pretend they are sane. Originally I thought they might try this after the election but if things keep looking as bleak for them as they do now they might consider kicking the game board over & taking their chances
rikyrah
Astead (@AsteadWesley) Tweeted:
What an image in our story: Here’s Ayanna Pressley’s stepdaughter watching her mother claim victory and become the first black woman ever elected to Congress from Massachusetts.
https://t.co/1K6KYIiteN https://t.co/XE3jtcx3wm https://twitter.com/AsteadWesley/status/1037183734301315074?s=17
TS (the original)
@Schlemazel: Given that the orange one will fight tooth and nail to keep the presidency (can’t say “to keep his job” – he doesn’t work) it would take a long time to enforce the 25th – & I don’t think the option would have enough starters to even be mentioned. He has turned Lindsay Graham – still don’t know how/why – and probably many others that we hear little about. It will only end at the polling booth or with his death.
OzarkHillbilly
There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.
Dorothy’s long lost ruby red slippers are going back home a decade after they were stolen.
Viva BrisVegas
The best Brisbane songs.
Guardian Australia poll for the best Brisbane songs. You too can vote for your favourite Brisbane band/song.
My vote went for Stranded by the Saints, one of the great, and earliest, punk bands. Bet you didn’t realise that the axis of punk went Brisbane-New York-London.
Unfortunately for the Saints they couldn’t gain traction in the English punk scene because they could actually play their instruments and they made it plain that they thought people who put safety pins through their noses were pretentious wankers.
If punk is not your thing, check out any of the Go-Betweens tracks.
Schlemazel
@TS (the original):
That depends on why guys like Graham got turned. If Putin is calling the shots and he wants it done Donny whines a little but has no choice. OTOH, they may feel like they don’t need this if all their other work is going to pay off.
debbie
@TS (the original):
Where are all the liberal bots? Why aren’t they saturating the RWNJ feeds shrieking that their Savior-in-Chief is putting profits over their beliefs?
Zinsky
Don’t ever give up. This fight is not over. Tony Benn, a liberal from the U.K., once said something to the effect that, “each generation has to fight the same fight and win the same battles to reclaim the same land as the previous generation”. The 2018 midterm is our fight and we must reclaim the land we lost to the Trumpers. Remember – Demographics is not on their side and it is only a matter of time before the GOP becomes a true rump, minority party!
Quinerly
@TS (the original): But Nike announced in December that it was closing the Trump Tower location. I guess it’s just something else Trump wasn’t told. https://amp.businessinsider.com/nike-is-leaving-its-iconic-niketown-property-2017-12
Quinerly
@rikyrah: ?
OzarkHillbilly
@TS (the original):
Over the years I had to deal with a number of miscreants who managed to keep their jobs without ever doing any work.
Quinerly
@Quinerly: More on Trump Tower’s Nike store that closed in March. Looks like it was Trump’s largest tenant. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2017/12/06/donald-trumps-real-estate-business-is-losing-one-of-its-most-important-tenants/
TS (the original)
@debbie: He attacked Amazon, google, facebook, the media, the NFL, Sec Clinton, Pres Obama, Sen McCain, immigrants, the judiciary, the CIA, FBI, Dept Justice – anyone or any organisation who disagreed with him/ refused to bow down and worship him – but not Nike. That was so unexpected, maybe everyone is like me – 100% stunned.
TS (the original)
@OzarkHillbilly: I find the terminology wrong – “keep getting paid” is the better description. trump will depart the white house with the singular honor of knowing less when he left than when he entered.
debbie
@TS (the original):
I don’t know why anyone’s surprised; all Trump’s ever been about is himself and his money. This needs to forced upon the peons so that they see at last that clown working the levers behind the curtain is playing them for fools.
Immanentize
@JPL: Not yet,. We did decide a few were out. Including, rather surprisingly, Hardey Mudd. The immediate question is what school will he apply to for early admission — October deadline?
OzarkHillbilly
Beetlejuice is at it again:
Kay
I listen to local Right wing Christian radio sometimes in my car. Yesterday was Kavanaugh day. They think he and the rest of the far Right justices will overturn Roe – that this is their judge- the reward for their (overwhelming) support of Trump.
I tend to disagree- I do think they will overturn Roe but that won’t be the main focus of the far Right court. The main focus will be further tilting the playing field towards wealthy and powerful people and gutting federal civil rights protections- gutting federal protections for voting rights will be the first order of business because they’ll need that to stay in power politically.
Should be quite the showdown because as the far Right justices take us all the way back to 1920, here is what is happening in election news:
montanareddog
@Quinerly: @TS (the original):
So Donny Jr and Slabhead were to shit-scared to tell Mango Mugabe that Nike had bailed from Trump Tower. Once he knows, he start slagging Nike, too
Quinerly
More tidbits from “Fear.”
https://www.axios.com/bob-woodward-fear-book-excerpts-donald-trump-9f7fa27f-7c8b-4f28-bcc1-99fcb22be315.html
rikyrah
Just exactly what were Democrats supposed to do? Cohen was not a surprise on our side.
,………..
Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) Tweeted:
I still can’t get over the fact that 2 weeks ago Trump’s longtime personal lawyer stood up in a federal courtroom and, under oath, said he COMMITTED TWO FELONIES WITH TRUMP and absolutely nothing changed.
Nothing changed for Republicans or Democrats. It’s like it never happened https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1036707754654806017?s=17
Quinerly
@montanareddog: I did a search to see if there are any other Nike stores associated with Trump properties. Doesn’t seem to be. There’s a Forbes piece that basically said Nike didn’t want to be connected to Trump. Strange that Trump didn’t use the opportunity to attack Nike.
Baud
@rikyrah: The people that need to change are the people who ran away from Hillary in 2016.
Baud
@Quinerly: Nike is Greek for Putin.
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
Morning to Poco and the tribe ??
Quinerly
@rikyrah: Waves, tail wags, and meow back to you!
Kay
@rikyrah:
I actually feel like that part of “the system” is functioning- there is an investigation, there have been and will be indictments.
What’s not being taken care of is the rampant corruption in the executive branch by Trump’s appointees and also the GOP Congress, but if Democrats take the House they can start some inquiries and get some information/transparency there.
Trump focuses so much on the Mueller (and other federal prosecutors) investigations of him because he knows that part is functioning.
OzarkHillbilly
Colin Kaepernick is out of the NFL but he is more powerful than ever
The closing paragraph kills it:
Kay
I used to think Rand Paul was the biggest phony in the R Senate but I must say Ben Sasse has him beat.
I actually prefer the blatantly corrupt servants of plutocrats on the Right to the sanctimonious, scolding patronizing frauds- if I have to choose.
Baud
@Kay: They all take turns lapping each other.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Good. I’m sick and tired of those Ford and Chevy truck commercials.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: always with the flag waving in the background sooner or later.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Should be the Russian flag for the sake of truth in advertising.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Why did the image of 2 dogs cleaning each others bungholes pop into my head when I read that?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Because you want to get the image of Republicans out of your mind?
Jeffro
@TS (the original): Some enterprising reporter should start asking real ‘Muricans how they feel about the prez’s non-response re: Nike and if they feel it might be linked to the prez’s getting paid by Nike. Come on, NYT, get on it! There’s nothing better you like than talking to real Americans (ie, Trumpov voters), right?
Speaking of NYT: I read it so that you don’t have to, and reading Ross DoucheHat is just one of many special sacrifices I make for this place. Here he is, claiming he’s right, Trumpov hasn’t damaged America in any fundamental way:
Duuuuude: no staffing of the cabinet or judiciary with unqualified cronies? No practical concessions to Putin??
Duuuuuuuuuude: do you really think he has held off from firing Sessions just ’cause Senate Republicans have said he couldn’t???
Oh Ross, you cute lil’ naive thing you…
Baud
@Jeffro: Yeah, that’s nuts.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Now dammit, where did I leave that bottle of brain bleach?
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Probably in the back of your Ford or Chevy truck.
:-P
rikyrah
@Kay:
Why either/ or
Let’s do both/and?
OzarkHillbilly
@Jeffro: How come he didn’t mention the Gestapo…. I mean ICE, and their obsessive campaign of racial cleansing? It is after all one of trump’s “successes”.
SFAW
Back when I was an athlete, this was called ramping up, to peak at just the right time.
[Well, OK, I was never an athlete, but I knew a guy who watched sports on TV, so that makes me an expert, right?]
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: His goal is to ease the minds of white liberals by focusing on the things they care about.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I drive a dodge :<-
Jeffro
What’s amazing is that DoucheHat and so very many others on the right (no doubt, many of them are on cable TV right this very minute) are okay with saying, “It’s okay that the president* is mentally unstable, a complete moron, and utterly unfit for the job, because his staff/Congress/etc HAVE. HIM. CONTAINED.” That is just insane with a capital “I”.
Translated: “It’s okay because…he’s a Republican”.
Translated: “It’s okay because…he’s still able to sign our crazy-ass legislation and appoint judges”.
Translated: “America, it’s up to you to stop us this November”.
Jeffro
For what it’s worth, here’s the end of DoucheHat’s column:
Translated: “America, we’ve gotten lucky so far…”
Jeffro
@Jeffro: Translated: “It will be unthinkable until it happens”.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: He’s failing.
OzarkHillbilly
@Jeffro: “When the shit hits the fan, I won’t be standing in front of it.”
Jeffro
Meanwhile, Trumpov’s animal cunning kicks in and realizes that calling Jeff Sessions “a dumb Southerner” is perhaps one of the riskiest things he’s done…
Unfortunately, buried in the article about the Sessions insults, there are clear indications that the GOP will continue to roll over and has accepted that Trumpov’s going to fire Sessions:
So…people in his own party say outright that Trumpov is essentially a banana republic dictator wannabe…that he wants to ‘award [his] friends and criminalize [his] enemies’…and they. do. nothing. Same with preparing to fire the AG so that he can better obstruct an investigation into his own campaign’s conspiracy with a hostile foreign power.
But hey…let’s not be insulting Southerners!!
Dorothy A. Winsor
I see Rep Hunter and his wife appeared in court yesterday. I wonder what percentage of congress members have been indicted versus percentage of the general public. It seems high.
Patricia Kayden
And here comes Ben Sasse with his faux both sides are just as bad foolishness. He votes lockstep with Trump all the dang time but still gets kudos for weakly criticizing him from time to time. So annoying.
Leto
@Kay: @rikyrah:
This is the key here. Currently they have no ability to do anything: they can’t launch an investigation, they can’t subpoena people/information… they’re the minority party. During Kavanaugh’s hearing yesterday, there were a few Dem senators who directly referenced Trumpov being an un-indicted co-conspirator in the Cohen case as to why the Kavanaugh shouldn’t be held. They’re putting their voice/concerns on record, and at the moment it’s all they can do. So many people shout, “DEMS NEED TO DO SOMETHING!” but at this point I look at them like people who are always bitching without offering solutions. We tell our airmen all the time, “Don’t just bitch. Offer solutions. You can complain, but you at least try to think of a way to fix this.” If you want the minority party to do more, offer actual solutions that they can legally perform.
Patricia Kayden
@Jeffro: If Trump fires Sessions but replaces him with someone who promises not to interfere with Mueller’s investigation (directly or indirectly), that may be a good thing. Sessions is an awful AG.
danielx
Earlier thread made reference to White House staffers referring to Trump as Chauncey Gardiner.
Chauncey Gardiner with rabies, maybe.
Jeffro
@Patricia Kayden: The replacement will promise whatever’s needed in order to get confirmed…just like Kavanaugh’s promising to be impartial. But both are/will be lying.
danielx
@Baud:
I could so have done without that image.
OzarkHillbilly
from I survived the Warsaw ghetto. Here are the lessons I’d like to pass on
-Stanisław Aronson
JPL
@danielx: That’s so true. I’m tired of waking up in the morning, and discovering that the republicans are still protecting the rabid human in office.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Early on Hitler was not viewed positively by the majority, but the night of long knives solidified his reign of terror. That was in 1934. Trump’s tweet criticizing Sessions for prosecuting his friends, and not going after Hillary and others is horrifying. Because of Woodward’s book, those comments have been swept under the rug.
Every republican in office needs to be asked what they are going to do to contain him.
Leto
@Jeffro: Exactly; if it’s a Trumpov hire expect the worst, but don’t be shocked when it’s even worse than that.
bemused
I believe many, many trump supporters did know he was very unstable right from the start of the campaign, pretending he was not nuttier than a fruitcake. Having a president who is obviously insane is ultimately calamitous for just about everyone but his voters didn’t give a damn.
Kraux Pas
@Jeffro:
If what he means is “take advantage of the tax flow from blue states to prop up poor governance while going as far as generating regular constitutional crises to prevent the government from doing anything to help average working Americans,” then yeah, they’re winning,
Tazj
@JPL: Every Republican needs to be asked about Trump but somehow the press acts like he’s not a Republican and the Republican members of Congress aren’t responsible for him and have no power over him.
Meanwhile, every Democrat must be asked if they endorse Nancy Pelosi for speaker and if Bernie Sanders endorsed them they must disavow being a radical socialist.
JPL
@bemused: They saw him on the Apprentice, and did you know he was a successful businessman.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@JPL: I once had a college freshman comment on the old TV show “Fame,” saying the character played by Janet Jackson was wonderfully modest considering how famous Jackson was. She had completely merged the character and actor in her mind. I’m guessing a lot of people do.
The Moar You Know
And once Trump is gone, most of those currently outraged into action will figure the problem has been solved and they can sink back into their personal morass of apathy.
The problem isn’t Trump, it’s the 60+ million idiots who voted for him. That’s a problem that will decades to solve and it needs to be solved. We’ve been coddling these people since the 1920s – almost a hundred years, folks – fucking around, bothsidering them, pretending their arguments have merit or insisting that while we vehemently disagree, that their voices have a right to be disseminated and heard. THAT NEEDS TO STOP.
Calouste
@Patricia Kayden: The shitgibbon’s interview of Sessions’ replacement is going to exist of exactly one question: are you going to shut down the Mueller investigation?
DonL140
“Like it or not, November 6 is about Trump, not ideology.”
Trump and the GOP ideology are indivisible. It’s about corruption, those who can see it and those who don’t. THIS is the modern GOP. They have the Presidency, the Senate, and the courts, and they are all corrupt. Trump lost by 3 million votes. The Senate represents 18% of Americans. And Merrick Garland should be a Supreme Court judge.
This election is about corruption and that’s all it’s about.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
Bletch, OzarkHillbilly!! Mornings are hard for me too…
Shana
@TS (the original): I saw yesterday that Nike is building a new store on 5th Avenue in NYC and will be moving out of their current Trump-owned or managed space. And they said that the fact that it is a Trump building was a factor in their decision.