I know I shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that not only is Trump holding an indoor rally during a pandemic AND that people are lining up to attend, but at some level I still am. It’s like a weird mélange of the Mask of the Red Death with the Nuremberg rally, but with less rhythm and shoddier costumes. Nevertheless, they insisted.
What makes it even more amazing is that there really is no point to this rally other than to stroke der Fuhrer’s peen. Politically, it is pointless. He’s going to win Oklahoma no matter what, so it’s not like he needs to shore up support there. It’s not close enough to the election that anything that happens here is going to have any positive impact on voter turnout. There literally is no strategic or tactical upside. There is, however, a significant downside, in that in a few weeks we will be inundated with reports of half of Tulsa in an ICU with corona. Basically, this is the equivalent of going all in on a 2-7 offsuit with two aces on the flop in the first round of a poker tournament, which may explain how Trump is the only casino owner in history to continuously have his establishments go bankrupt.
I suppose that now that NASCAR has banned confederate flags, the venue does provide an outlet for the deplorable to peddle their wares. So there is that.
Fucking morons. I’m torn between whether or not the media should broadcast it. Part of me says quit giving that guy oxygen. The other half of me wants everyone to watch it and his supporters, so we can squelch out the Stein/manic progressive whinges about Biden being just as bad as Trump, which you know are fucking inevitable.
Whatever. Did I say fucking morons yet?
Frankensteinbeck
From the Administration’s viewpoint, there is no goal more important. From the attendees’ viewpoint, they get their hate on, which is a huge thrill.
Just Chuck
Hard to launder money when you show a profit.
Hunter Gathers
The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward stupidity.
Mary G
I have no interest in watching it, but hope the deplorables behave themselves.
The Moar You Know
The media should not broadcast it and nobody should go protest it. He is desperate to have a street war outside his mini-Nuremberg. Cut off his fucking oxygen, and he, his campaign, and his deranged supporters will all vanish. This isn’t hard.
Litlebritdifrnt
Just saw a clip where a reporter asked a MAGAT what it would take for her not to support Trump. “Comit adultery against our great classy First Lady” Reporter: “But he already did that with Stormy Daniels” MAGAT: Oh but that was before he was President. You can’t with these people they are a cult now.
MattF
Trump will be ‘energized’. Which translates to multiple instances of cruelty, dominance, and projectile defecation.
David Evans
“half of Tulsa in an ICU with corona.”
How many of these people are from Tulsa? My fear is that many of them will be back in their home states spreading destruction and the connection with today may not be obvious to the media.
Roger Moore
The hat of the red death.
LuciaMia
It cant be said enough.
catclub
I think they will do a pretty good job in identifying those cases all over the country as being caused by attendance at Trump rally.
Ruckus
@The Moar You Know:
I agree. shitforbrains entire point is the racism and how great he is. Any protestors should stay far away, and let anyone not already convinced see that his shit stinks so much that no one actually cares. If protestors show up, shitforbrains will use that to show that he’s right. He needs the protestors far more than we all hate him. Protest anywhere else, everywhere else but let the COVID factory hum at full strength by itself.
scav
@Litlebritdifrnt: hmmm. So was that a good Xian wife blithely unconcerned about her husband’s adultery as he’ll surely give it up when he’s elected to high office or a righteous conservative male absolving himself, confident that he’ll never be forced into a situation where continence is required of him?
Joe
as an Oklahoma progressive I’m fascinated by the media thinking this is only affecting Oklahoma. probably one-third to one-half of the people in that arena will be from out of state, taking the virus and their racism back to their hometowns.
Tractarian
You mean, there is no electoral college upside. But, from the Trump campaign’s perspective, if you wanted to send a signal of defiance to the nationwide BLM movement to your white supremacist fellow travelers, holding a rally at the site of the single worst incident of racial violence in American history might be a winning strategy.
That may sound a little extreme, but it’s impossible to be cynical about these people.
As for airing the rally, if they do, the news networks absolutely must superimpose live fact-checks. It shouldn’t be that hard – he lies about the same things all the time…
Tokyokie
The city of my birth this week has been showing why I moved out of the state 43 years ago.
bjacques
They should broadcast it, and pan across the crowd a lot. That’s the way to identify the super shedders depopulating their respective workplaces afterward.
MattF
Lindsey Fucking Graham isn’t cooperating (via WaPo):
JPL
@MattF: I also read that it’s unclear whether he has to go through the entire process, since he was previously confirmed… Lindsay will do whatever the president tells him to.
Omnes Omnibus
Masque, damn it. Unless you were going for a COVID related play on words – in which case, cool.
JPL
Pence is going to be the opening act. Maybe it’s his audition. It’d be a shame if they both came down with the Virus.
MisterForkbeard
@David Evans: Yep. That’s the problem with the convention, too: Probable infections that get spread all over the country.
MisterForkbeard
@MattF: This is just ass covering. Graham has been completely fine with ditching the blue-slip process for judicial nominations, and this has minimal impact: If the guy got through, Biden can fire him instantly. But Trump will probably push it through somehow without Graham’s help, so he’s not making any kind of stand here.
This is just Graham pretending he has any sort of credibility.
Leto
Maybe, but it bears repeating. Continually.
Ken
@JPL: Have there been any pictures of the venue yet? There was speculation the speakers would be in a giant plexiglass cube, like supermarket cashiers.
Someone also suggested they might be in a different room (or state) entirely, and only visible on the jumbotron. I doubt that, if only because Trump insists on having a crowd visible behind him. Though I guess with a zoom background…
Redshift
@catclub:
Umm, how? We have a little information about the street protests, and that’s only because Seattle asked protesters to get tested and a lot of them did (and had testing available.) Much as I’d like to see that kind of tracking done with MAGA plague carriers, it’s doesn’t seem too likely.
CaseyL
@catclub: Maybe now they will, but I’m not sure.
Remember when T* abruptly, and with no preparation at all, told all Americans in Europe to come home? No provisions were made for an increased influx at the airports. Thousands of people stood in close-packed lines for hours. There was no follow-up; we have no idea how many cases came from that, or where.
low-tech cyclist
The opening act should be a Death Cab for Cutie tribute band named Death Arena for MAGAts.
Jinchi
Not until January. I’m pretty sure Barr moved now to clear out all the cases against Trump before he loses all control over the situation.
MattF
@MisterForkbeard: Well, OK… but the plot is thickening. I doubt that Graham would do this without the high sign from McConnell.
low-tech cyclist
I’ve got cousins that live in Tulsa, dammit. I can only hope and pray that none of this shit falls on them. I think they all have enough common sense to stay as safe as possible.
FelonyGovt
The whole point of this is for Trump’s minders to get him to stop banging around the White House morose and angry and shooting himself in the foot even more. Reminds me of the guy on Twitter who says he’ll believe Trump doesn’t have the mind of a toddler when people stop treating him like one.
JPL
Maybe this guy is auditioning for HHS secretary Andrew Kimmel
Redshift
@Ken:
Nah, his campaign may only care about the visual, but Trump needs the adoring crowd in front of him. If he could be satisfied with any kind of video crowd, this whole shit show wouldn’t be happening.
(Heh, Android tried to correct “whole shit show” to “white shit show” and I can’t disagree.)
Brachiator
A wonderfully apt description.
Redshift
@low-tech cyclist: Death Cult for Trumpie
debbie
@Joe:
And that’s just Florida!
Mike in NC
It would be a real shame if his Nuremberg rally was suddenly disrupted by one of those twisters that Oklahoma is infamous for.
NotMax
“The address will be sober, restrained and short.”
– Joe Isuzu
wvng
A white woman was arrested in Tulsa a short while ago. She had a rally ticket, is a 20+ year Tulsa resident, and was wearing an “I can’t breathe” tee shirt… which was the reason for her arrest.
JPL
hmm NEWS: Six staffers working on the Trump Tulsa rally have tested positive for coronavirus.
low-tech cyclist
@The Moar You Know: @Ruckus: Agree strongly that protesters should skip this one. Give the police no excuse to fulfill the Orange Dumbshit’s fantasies of protesters being clubbed and gassed.
And if no protesters show up, maybe the police will get confused and beat up some of the more hippieish-looking MAGAts.
rikyrah
Thread
Omnes Omnibus
@JPL: That was fast.
debbie
I'll be Frank
I’m not sure where I first read the “Trump rule” but to the best way to anticipate what he will do next is to image the stupidest thing he could do given the situation.
low-tech cyclist
@Redshift: Nice!
Cameron
@JPL: How did you find this creature? And, BTW, he’s wrong – when HIV and COVID-19 are intermingled, you get covfefe.
debbie
Central Planning
@Mary G: Any bets on Dolt 45 dropping the n-word? Or maybe mics pickup the crowd yelling it?
JPL
@Cameron: At the link there is a video of the interview. BTW he’s not wearing a mask to the event.
Ken
@JPL: Let me guess, they were the ones working the doors and handing out masks.
Redshift
@CaseyL: There was some research later that showed that the explosion of cases in New York (which is the source of much of the current outbreak) was significantly exacerbated by the insane travel ban announcement. Can’t find the source right now, though.
NotMax
@debbie
Cue Kosh.
;)
low-tech cyclist
@wvng: That’s what happens under authoritarian regimes: you can be busted for making Dear Leader unhappy with your opinions.
We’re getting into that territory.
debbie
@Joe:
It’s already started.
Brachiator
I have no interest in the rally itself. It’s just Trump needing his fix of adulation. But a documentary might include a segment on the people as they waited in line. I would also like to see a scan of faces in the audience as they listened to him. You could turn down his actual words and overlay music. But I wonder if the look on the faces of these true believers resembles the worshipful looks old Adolf also got.
These supposed progressives live in an alternate universe in which anyone standing in the way of their political Nirvana is by definition the enemy.
Duane
Trumpov is a plague. Now he’s taking it on the road. Trouble and grief are sure to follow, in ways we don’t even know. Its incredible, in the bad way, to watch it happen. This shit need a slogan. How about, ” 2020- You Bet Your Life!”
Brachiator
@Central Planning:
No. And it really doesn’t matter. There’s no real question about who Trump is or what he believes.
RepubAnon
@bjacques: No, but they should tape it so they can replay the worst bits…. OK, they’ll all be worst bits, but some will be particularly useful for the Lincoln Project’s next few ads.
rikyrah
Dorothy A. Winsor
Calouste
@debbie: Because the police are a white supremacist gang? I thought that answer was pretty clear by now.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: I may just sit here all afternoon, watching that video over and over.
Time’s up.
HumboldtBlue
Watch this! A citizen calls out an elected official who was caught online shopping while a discussion on racism was going on around her. The fury of that man is righteous! #BlackLivesMatter
JMG
@Dorothy A. Winsor: My son did advance work for Obama in 2007. Most advance people, as he was, are low-level roadies. But that means those six were all over that arena. Unless it was deep cleaned this morning, Trump brought the damn virus with him.
different-church-lady
He’s gonna do at least eighteen racisms at a time when three-quarters of the country thinks racisims suck. So yeah, broadcast that mofo.
Elie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Yep. The advance team so I imagine that they have already done their work in spreading it locally and among their team. Those folks may not yet test positive. Not everyone who is positive will be hospitalized, but there is a subset who will get very sick and predicting who that will be is highly uncertain. There is going to be a lot of yelling and screaming and limited mask wearing — Like someone said upstring — many of the Trumpites are coming from other states and will return to those states carrying the virus. This is just beyond — has to be one of the most tragic and shameful periods of US history .
Ken
@different-church-lady: BTW, over at Slate: “Trump is Losing His Grip on White America” (and yes, they could have stopped three words earlier). The article links to a lot of polls showing anywhere from 50 to 80 percent support among whites for policies opposite those of the racist-in-chief.
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore: …Ass-hat…
Tokyokie
Tulsa PD has a long-standing reputation as such. (That was supposed to be a reply to Calouste at #63.)
Eljai
I am hoping that something will shut them up. Just yesterday, on my local Indivisible group’s Facebook page they posted a Biden video. The very first comment was some white guy bitching about how Biden won’t do anything, neoliberal, blahbitty blah. Then he added that he was faced with going on food stamps. I am sorry he’s going through a tough time, but for crissakes we have to defeat the fascists first or we’re not gonna have any safety net.
Aleta
Free network coverage of every rally’s new outrageousness was a 2016 strategy; they’re not original thinkers and it’s still the plan. If violence or infection breaks out and buries coverage of Biden and their crimes, well you just gotta keep that momentum going til November.
James E Powell
@Aleta:
Die Kundgebung in Tulsa is intended to improve Trump’s mood and fire up his horde of deplorables. But it is also aimed at the press/media. Trump has been taking on the stink of a loser and it is starting to show in how the press/media cover him.
I can’t be sure the press/media intended to elect him in 2016, but they definitely promoted him and protected him by not running negative stories that “everybody knows” about Trump.
It will be interesting to see if that changes if he looks like a sure loser.
joel hanes
@debbie:
Why are they playing bouncer for a hate rally?
What part of “Tulsa” is so hard to understand?
Ruckus
@I’ll be Frank:
The only thing shitforbrains knows is how to fuck up. He’s been doing it since at least high school and knows no other path. He’s a career fuck up. Probably most of us know at least one or two who would hope to be as proficient at fucking up as shitforbrains is, but whose luck is such that every once in a while they actually act normal. Not shitforbrains. He is a world class fuck up, of that there can be no doubt. You’d think, because he’s so good at being a fuck up that he has talent, but alas you’d be wrong. He’s a fuck up of epic proportions precisely because he has zero talent at anything, the IQ of a flat rock and started off with a reasonably large inheritance.
Central Planning
@Brachiator: I agree with what you’re saying. His polling isn’t at 27% yet, so there are (hopefully) still some people that can be motivated to not vote for him.
jonas
On the surface, this is good news. But it’s hard not to be a bit cynical. 1. Will disagreeing with Trump’s disgusting racism actually make them vote for Biden, or will they shrug and just go “well, whaddya gonna do? Trump will be Trump!” 2. The Bradley Effect is a thing. Respondents often tell pollsters what they think the politically correct answer is, rather than what they actually think, or what actually motivates their voting decision. Hope I’m wrong this time.
laura
School boards have long been a training grounds for budding politicians – way too many rightwing and pro-charter schools and Connie deserved to take her lazy ignorant shopping self on down the road. That Righteous Fury from this Communitee Leader was balm for the soul.
Ruckus
@jonas:
I think as we get closer and shitforbrains gets more desperate, there will be more people who shy away from him, even if they don’t vote for Biden. As more people die, as more of his supporters do stupid shit, like attend/infect this rally, more will move away from him, because if nothing else survival is a strong factor for all but the very dim. And the very dimmest, shitforbrains, knows what he wants, but his way really, really isn’t working any more. I think that in this case, time can be on our side. Time he’s still being himself is never on our side but what he’s doing with it isn’t working, he knows it, but he is too locked in to his being to see or understand he has to change, or have any idea how to change, so he won’t. IOW he’s his own worst enemy.
Frankensteinbeck
@James E Powell:
Moot. In 2016, the not-paying-close-attention knew Trump as that funny guy on TV, and he couldn’t be worse than what they’d heard about Hillary for decades. Now, everyone is paying attention. Trump is a known quantity, and that quantity is ‘wheelbarrow of shit.’ Biden is also a known quantity, ‘fun uncle.’
catclub
worst game of CLUE ever.
catclub
They say (e.g. in that Politico article when it said GOP party bosses see Trump in glidepath to landslide) that significant numbers (enough to skew the polling substantially) of Trump supporters either refuse or lie to pollsters.
I suspect it is actually pretty small, and there is a countervailing left wing block they are cancelling out.
sherparick
@Roger Moore: That’s good, very good. I am going to have to steal that:-)
.
Frans
Inspired title John Cole.
Brachiator
@jonas:
Good polling tries to adjust for biased responses, and in 2015 and 2016, Trump supporters were not shy about expressing their support for him. And his base continues to be fiercely loyal to him.
And yet, the very link you provided also debunks the Bradley effect, citing absentee ballots and bad polling practices.
Ruckus
@I’ll be Frank:
Most people can not imagine as stupid as shitforbrains can do in real life. He’s an expert at stupid, he revels in his stupid, most people have some level of unacceptable, but not shitforbrains.
mrmoshpotato
@LuciaMia:
Exactly. The more “fucking morons,” the ummmm……merrier I guess.
Fucking morons.
Barry
@scav: “So was that a good Xian wife blithely unconcerned about her husband’s adultery as he’ll surely give it up when he’s elected to high office or a righteous conservative male absolving himself, confident that he’ll never be forced into a situation where continence is required of him?”
That was a woman playing the ‘it doesn’t count if…’ card, which is a wild card. Then again, one false priest discussed Trump getting a ‘religious muligan’.
The Pale Scot
May be not. I’m sure that a maroon of those yahoos drove from afar or even flew in. So I expect lots of small clusters popping up all over red ‘America soon enough.
I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be a flight attendant flowing out of Tulsa Sunday night