Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

When we show up, we win.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Second rate reporter says what?

Not all heroes wear capes.

Republicans don’t trust women.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

It’s a doggy dog world.

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

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden For President / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Saturday’s Child Works Hard for A Living

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Saturday’s Child Works Hard for A Living

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Read the rest here (or click on any of the tweets above).

As confirmation, Brad Parscale just ain’t even trying any more…

Counter-argument:

Reader Interactions

288Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    In 2016, my information bubble outside of Balloon Juice was just awful toward Hillary.

    Now, my information bubble is like an extension of BJ.

    On one hand, I’m happy to see this. However, it makes me sad and angry about 2016. So much pain could have been avoided.

    I’m proud this place has been on the right side of history.

  4. 4.

    Punchy

    I’m beginning to wonder if Trump will straight-up quit some time in Sept, under the condition (somehow) that New Prez Pence pardon all his (soon-to-be-revealed) tax crimes. If hes going to lose, and I think he knows it, why not grab the get outta jail card ahead of time?

  8. 8.

    Wanderer

    Great ad. This national nightmare of Dump can’t conclude fast enough. So glad the NH Superspreader event was cancelled. Hopefully the real reason was lack of interest and he won’t reschedule.

  11. 11.

    mad citizen

    @Punchy: My theory, based on nothing but gaming it out if I was him (although I did it before I realized he had dementia–so from the aspect of someone with their wits about them) is that he does it by or on Labor Day weekend.  It’s always been kind of the end of summer, etc.  If it’s possible to do it at the lowest profile time (my god, he is the POTUS!), it would be July or August.  Think Dick Nixon in August.  The solution unravels

     

    He won’t give one shit about how it affects the Republican party, which he never really was anyway.

  13. 13.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud: 
    You have an information bubble other than BJ?
    The only one I have is academics. They were all “but her e-mails.” Now they’re too preoccupied with Covid to say anything about Biden.

  14. 14.

    Chyron HR

    @Baud: 

    I’m proud this place has been on the right side of history.

    Albeit retroactively in some people’s cases.

  15. 15.

    debbie

    @Wanderer: 

    It’s not going to end when President Biden takes the oath just like racism didn’t end when Obama was sworn in. The MAGAts won’t disappear back into their murky swamp. They’ll get louder, spit more at mask wearers, and rage at everyone they think has wronged them.

    Biden will win, but this shit will not end.

  16. 16.

    Chyron HR

    @Punchy:

    I’m beginning to wonder if Trump will straight-up quit some time in Sept, under the condition (somehow) that New Prez Pence pardon all his (soon-to-be-revealed) tax crimes.

    He must know that lampposts will still exist, right?

  17. 17.

    zhena gogolia

    @debbie:

    But if we get the presidency and Congress we can start undoing the damage, bit by bit. If we don’t, it just gets worse and worse.

  18. 18.

    gkoutnik

    @Punchy: This is  a guy who doesn’t wear a a mask ’cause people might make fun of him.  Would quitting and getting pardoned (by Pence, of all people) be more embarrassing than losing the election and dining out for the rest of his life on how he got robbed?

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Pandemic sidelines more than 1,000 incarcerated wildfire fighters in California

    It’s the usual abuse of people who have little in the way of choices:

    “Every fire season it’s the same,” said Romarilyn Ralston, who leads Project Rebound, a California State University program that supports formerly incarcerated students. “The pay is so little, the work is so dangerous. Now we add Covid-19 to the story, and it gets even worse.”

    The crews are both crucial and heavily exploited, said Ralston, who worked at a fire camp while incarcerated. In exchange for extremely dangerous work, prisoners earn time off their sentences and are paid between $2 and $5 a day, plus $1 per hour when they are on a fire. Because incarcerated firefighters are paid so little, the program saves the state of California $90m to $100m a year.

    “It’s a super imbalanced system; it’s much like the system of slavery,” said Deirdre Wilson, a master’s student of social work at the University of Southern California and a member of the California Coalition of Women Prisoners. “There’s a reliance on this population, on this cheap labor.”

    People choose to participate because the training camps in the California wildlands are a chance to “get out of the oppressive environment of the correctional facilities”, Ralston said. For many women, the program is an opportunity to see their children more often and outside the harsh backdrop of a prison, she added.

    I know that if it were me I’d be among the first to volunteer even with the sword of Damocles hanging over my head,

    But incarcerated fire crews are among the most vulnerable first responders. Crew members and trainees who are injured on the job or fail to keep up have to rejoin the general prison population. “So there’s a lot of pressure on folks just tough it out at these fire camps when they’re sick, injured, when they’re depressed,” Ralston noted.

    But then they add insult to injury,

    Meanwhile, options for incarcerated firefighters to finish training and become full-time firefighters after they have served their sentences are extremely limited. Most fire departments require full-time firefighters to gain EMT certification, but the state categorically bans anyone with a felony conviction from earning EMT certification for 10 years after they are released from prison, and it bars people with two or more felony convictions from the EMT program forever.

    “The government would rather do what looks tough than what’s right and fair,” said Andrew Ward, an attorney with the non-profit Institute for Justice who is legally challenging the policy blocking two-time felons from obtaining emergency medical training.

    Researchers at the Public Policy Institute of California urged officials this week to employ larger crews to clear fire-fueling vegetation and manage the state’s fragile mountain forests. Thousands of formerly incarcerated Californians who served on inmate crews are among most qualified and experienced candidates for these jobs, Ward and other advocates have pointed out.

    “We can protect the environment and give people opportunities to just live, if we stop stigmatizing oppressed people,” Wilson said.

    “It doesn’t make sense that these people have risked their lives to save Californians, they’ve already been doing the job, and yet they’re barred from these jobs after release,” added Ralston. “When there’s a fire burning, when your life is in danger and you can’t breathe – you’re not going to do a criminal background check before you let someone save you.”

    The stupid, it hurts.

  22. 22.

    debbie

    @zhena gogolia:

    Absolutely, and it will be a great life in the blue states. Just not so much everywhere else in this country. Listening to the local news, stories of anti-maskers, viewer polls, etc., it’s become obvious that there’s a lot more than 27% who are enjoying the Trump era and would be happy to see it continue.

  23. 23.

    Brachiator

    @Punchy:

    I’m beginning to wonder if Trump will straight-up quit some time in Sept, under the condition (somehow) that New Prez Pence pardon all his (soon-to-be-revealed) tax crimes.

    Trump is not going to quit.  This sounds like the 2016 predictions that Trump was going to drop out of the race.

    Being president is too sweet a con game for him to abandon it now.

    And there are no soon-to-be-revealed tax crimes, certainly not anything that will be revealed before the election.

    And definitely not unless somebody leaks some of his tax returns.

  24. 24.

    Gvg

    He can’t shut up and he craves being the big shot and center of attention. He’d have been a much more popular President if he was able to shut up. Even if he agreed to leave, he would take it back a minute later. He’s would immediately try to take the power back if he did resign and would critisize every decision a successor President made even if it was Pence who had pardoned him. He’ll keep talking when his lawyers tell him to shut up as a Biden administration builds a case for conviction. And he’ll be a huge distraction while that happens for Biden. I don’t think Biden will look forward not back because he won’t be able to. trump will be an outrageous trouble maker till he silenced in jail….maybe even then.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    “They fundamentally undercounted the Trump vote” in 2016, she says. “I believe that same thing is happening right now.”

    I read it and I think there’s perhaps truth to what she attributes the undercount to- she says they are people who only came out for Trump in 2016 and will again only come out for Trump in 2020. They were non voters. They are specifically and exclusively Trump voters. Democratic Bds of Election members and poll workers said that after 2016. Maybe it’s anecdotal, but that is what they witnessed.

    What would be different this time would be the margins. Biden’s margins in these states would be bigger so even if the just Trump voters appear again there won’t be enough of them.

  31. 31.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    But incarcerated fire crews are among the most vulnerable first responders. Crew members and trainees who are injured on the job or fail to keep up have to rejoin the general prison population

    Given the number of virus outbreaks in California prisons, being on a fire crew is probably a much better option right now.

    The legislature should look into changing these rules related to EMT certification.

  32. 32.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    However, it makes me sad and angry about 2016. So much pain could have been avoided. 

    Yup!  Congrats to all of the non-voters who didn’t have to live through 4 years of a Hillary Clinton presidency.  Good for them!

  33. 33.

    SFAW

    Even voter suppression will be unable to block a massive Trump defeat

    Fuck off, Dana. Feel free to scream “bye bye, American Lie” (or whatever) from the rooftops AFTER he loses massively, however. But until he loses (massively or otherwise) let’s not have a repeat of “Hillary’s got it in the bag,” nor “there’s a Blue firewall,” nor any of that other shit. Any I would bet a case of good beer that the Party of Traitors will find new and “better” ways to suppress votes, as long as they control various legislatures.

    Do you think you can push hard for crushing the Rethugs without the other stuff? Act as if we’re going to lose; I bet it will be a better motivator. [Not saying “believe we’re going to lose” — just act as if there’s a decent possibility, and work harder to prevent that.]

  34. 34.

    Lapassionara

    Good morning. The spread of COVID-19 illustrates the vast lie that is the foundation of the GOP’s ideology — that government should be small and stay out of the way of the job creators.

  35. 35.

    Quinerly

    @debbie: I had heard of them thru legal circles and from friends that live near them. Had no idea about the bee story and the story about his litigation with his family. Have friends that knew he and his brother in HS (where someone went to HS is a very big thing in St. Louis. McCloskey went to all private boys’ school “Country Day” ). Said the brothers normal back then but dumb as a box of rocks. Legacy students.

  38. 38.

    Brachiator

    It’s nearly impossible to imagine any scenario—not even a massive Russian cyberattack—where things turn around in Trump’s direction. Even voter suppression will be unable to block a massive Trump defeat

    Things are definitely looking good right now. But I will fell much better if things are still looking good in late September through October.

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Brachiator: Like I said, corona or not I’d jump on it in a NY second. I literally need to be outside every day to live, and that chance to taste the free air even tho I wasn’t would not be passed on.

  40. 40.

    Kay

    @SFAW:

    Any I would bet a case of good beer that the Party of Traitors will find new and “better” ways to suppress votes, as long as they control various legislatures.

    I think it’s almost a given we get some kind of “leaked” or “released” information from Wikileaks or another shady source which is then laundered thru the Trump Administration that is uncritically parroted in major media. But it isn’t really “4 months” until voting. Cut 6 weeks off that with early voting so they’re going to have to launch this bullshit by August.

  41. 41.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: I can’t imagine what would cause Al Watkins to withdraw as their atty. A publicity hound if there ever was. If you want a morning laugh, Google his bio on his firm’s page. Both he and Kodner were classmates of mine (SLU Law ’85). Watkins was the class joke. I didn’t see any of the interviews on Fox and CNN but old classmates of mine who saw them were laughing their asses off. I guess Watkins appeared very drunk in at least one of them.

  42. 42.

    mrmoshpotato

    @rikyrah: I can hum the theme song and remember that Rick Wilson, etal can all go fuck themselves at the same time. :)

  43. 43.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @debbie: Racism was here when I was born and it will be here when I die. But I will do my best and live my life while I’m here. It’s the price of the ticket. And as the esteemed ef goldman said, fuck ’em.

  45. 45.

    RSA

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Congrats to all of the non-voters who didn’t have to live through 4 years of a Hillary Clinton presidency.  Good for them!

    Also to Trump supporters who said, “We survived 8 years of Obama; we can survive 4 years of Trump.” Only off by 140,000 dead Americans and counting!

  49. 49.

    Chris Johnson

    We already have the fucking massive Russian cyberattack. We have had it all this time. That’s how we got here, that part is not going to be able to ramp up in any significant way: what we’re seeing is ALREADY that maxed out.

  50. 50.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Kay: Thing is, what keeps me cautiously optimistic is COVID-19. The virus will still be here and Trump and his minions in the GOP will continue to do stupid things in response to it. When a quarter of a million people are dead by November, nobody will give a damn what sleazy narrative about Biden the Republican manufacture. We don’t know how how bad it’s going to get. What we will know is that we want it to stop and Trump keeps slamming his foot on the gas.

  51. 51.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Chyron HR:

    I think he quits shortly after the Electoral College vote tally. Pence pardons him, his slackjawed spawn, Kushner, Pompeo and Barr prior to Inauguration Day.

    Were I Biden, I’d go ahead and pardon Stone, with the intention of squeezing him through contempt and jail, if he continues to insist. Were I a senator or congressman, I’d grind Barr’s pardoned fat ass through so many hearings and contempt citations that he’d rue the day he ever became a lickspittle.

  52. 52.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Like I said, corona or not I’d jump on it in a NY second. I literally need the outside air to live, and that chance to taste the free air even tho I wasn’t would not be passed on.

    This gets really wild, since a fire team member could only psychologically taste the air. In a brush fire, the air around you would be thousands of degrees and consumed by the fire.

    But great metaphor.

    And California brush fires are just part of life, so much so that Governor Newsom and the fire department officials had to announce new protocols for fire crews and people who are evacuated in order to account for the pandemic.

    It’s insane.

  53. 53.

    Kay

    Osita Nwanevu
    @OsitaNwanevu
    ·8h
    Not sure why we aren’t seeing more defenses of Blake Neff tonight given that we’ve heard so many people establish losing your job for holding views people disagree with is inherently wrong. Seems like a clear cut example!

    Can Tucker Carlson fire his insanely racist head writer? Isn’t that cancel culture? If not, why not?

  54. 54.

    satby

    @debbie: I’m at the farmer’s market right now and some huge loud guy is talking at the top of his lungs about how he’s not wearing a mask and no one can make him. Since there’s no enforcement if the “mandatory” mask rule here, no one even asked him to put one on, it’s a performance for all the masked people shopping.

    I know the economy is down, but mask wearers have reduced their shopping here, and assholes who loudly prolaim their freedumb to infect others have started penalizing vendors that wear masks by not shopping with us. This year has been a bloodbath. But at least I still have an income from SS.

  55. 55.

    Matt McIrvin

    They’re going to find SOME way to revive the Tara Reade story at the eleventh hour–some sort of “new evidence” or shocking claim is going to surface in late October, and a chunk of the left will run with it. This is how election politics works. It’s just a question of whether anyone pays attention.

  56. 56.

    mrmoshpotato

    @RSA:

    Also to Trump supporters who said, “We survived 8 years of Obama; we can survive 4 years of Trump.” Only off by 140,000 dead Americans and counting! 

    And let’s not forget about the non-COVID-19 victims of these rat bastards.

  57. 57.

    Brachiator

    @Kay:

    Can Tucker Carlson fire his insanely racist head writer? Isn’t that cancel culture? If not, why not?

    I thought the guy resigned.

    Of course, Carlson will just hire another racist writer to replace him. Carlson is all in on nativism.

  58. 58.

    Kay

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    I agree. But it will be big news when Barr announces the investigation into Biden so I just price it in. Trump was impeached for threatening another country trying to get them to announce an investigation into Joe Biden. It’s not will they do this. They’ve already done it.

    They desperately, desperately want to remain in power. It’s been incredibly lucrative for the wealthiest Trump supporters and the best thing that ever happened to the sleazy Trump hires.

  59. 59.

    Quinerly

    @mrmoshpotato: good morning to you! We are tribe of 2 now. JoJo las Orejas will be 9 mos old at the end of July. 50 lbs, huge paws. Vet thinks he will top out at 60lbs. I had planned be traveling so much after 9/2019 that my John Lennon, fearless rescue kitty, went to live with one of my best friends. Her kitty had lost her companion kitty and was very lonesome. JL and Tinker Bell fell for each other immediately. I have been busy here raising the “World’s Most Interesting Puppy” and working on the finishing touches of this walk out basement project that I started almost 3 years ago. It has evolved into an “art project.” Trying to finish the copper penny mosaic floor in the bathroom. Seemed like a fun project at the time. Hope you are doing well!

  60. 60.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Perhaps monuments should be more temporary in nature, anyway. I have a fantastic idea for a COVID memorial.

    Every year, Sydney has a glorious event called VIVID, where lasers project beautiful and intricate color patterns on buildings and structures. Shouldn’t be hard to configure them to show the names of COVID victims and the text of Trump tweets onto various buildings – Trump owned towers, Mitch McConnell’s house, the homes of Federal judges who delayed things, protected him or otherwise kicked the can. The beauty is that it can be done at a distance, and can be focused in a way that the images never go inside a window or open door.

  61. 61.

    germy

    That trojan horse ad…

    This is literally the shittiest political ad I’ve ever seen. The rightwing dotards to whom the message might appeal will be puzzled by the animation, and the kids will just laugh at it.

    It’s like they thought the staff of Turning Point USA needed some fluffing. https://t.co/7J141qtdDP

    — Roy Edroso (@edroso) July 10, 2020

    My guess is that Parscale is hiring some computer illiterate to create this garbage, paying him peanuts then billing the campaign mid-six figures. Working on acquiring another yacht, Lamborghini or Florida condo.

    — Gustavo (@littleyoyo4) July 10, 2020

  63. 63.

    Kay

    @Brachiator:

    Well, but he had to resign. His views are being cancelled. I don’t have an opinion on the cancel culture controversy but one would think if all these public intellectuals are going to draft and sign a letter they would have considered that there isn’t anything new about people being fired for embarrassing their employer or company.

  64. 64.

    mrmoshpotato

    @germy:

    Working on acquiring another yacht, Lamborghini or Florida condo. 

    Sir Grifts-A-Lot

    “I like big yachts and I cannot lie!”

  65. 65.

    debbie

    @satby:

    Food servers here have been physically attacked for requesting masks be used. The police (panties in a twist over BLM) have been of no assistance.

    Stay safe!

  66. 66.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kay:

    I’d also find it hard to believe that all the Dem internal polling that’s been released has the same flaws

  68. 68.

    Kay

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Trump held a fundraiser last night that required half a million dollars to get in the door. His wealthy and powerful supporters (of which there are many) very much want him to remain in power because he is worth billions and billions of dollars to them.

  70. 70.

    Quinerly

    Might be of interest. I took a chance on a cheap “FU45″ T shirt on Amazon. Quality very good for price. They run small and I don’t care for tight t shirts. Ordered Men’s large in the Heather, rainbow writing. I’m 5’5”,120lbs. I like the fit. Bopping around in it with JoJo on our walk shortly. Washed nicely.
    FU45 Fuck Trump Protest Vote 2020… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084X8CSDG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

  74. 74.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Her point is that they aren’t polled, because they’re not in the regular voter groups. They have no political interest or leanings outside of Donald Trump. They’re not GOP voters. They’re Trump voters. I think she’s right that that group exists in Michigan (where she runs) and also Ohio. I don’t think there are enough of them to flip it unless it’s close.

    OTOH she has an interest in saying this because she’s in such a Trumpy district, so there’s that to factor in. HER race will be close, no matter what happens.

  75. 75.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Punchy:

    If he loses, he can keep grifting until the day before Biden is inaugurated, resign, be pardoned, and go on his way. No hurry. The Stone pardon reminds us of how shameless he is.

    My website is broken and I’m very stressed out about it, despite having hired someone to fix it. I think my stress level is already so high that any little thing  makes it overflow.

    We went out to walk in town and pick up bagels this morning and a bunch of young guy bicyclists were hanging around out front of the store. Even the ones standing up and talking loudly to one another weren’t masked. I found myself muttering, “Get COVID and die, assholes.”

  78. 78.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    At this point Trump could shoot Lindsey Graham in the middle of 5th Avenue and Lindsey Graham would say, “I had it coming.”

    — Alex Halpern (@HalpernAlex) July 11, 2020

  79. 79.

    Brachiator

    @Kay:

    Well, but he had to resign. His views are being cancelled. I don’t have an opinion on the cancel culture controversy but one would think if all these public intellectuals are going to draft and sign a letter they would have considered that there isn’t anything new about people being fired for embarrassing their employer or company.

    I’d like to see Tucker Carlson and Rupert Murdoch cancelled.

    I haven’t really followed the “cancel culture” controversy. But I do note that Trump has “inspired” more people to feel free about expressing their racism. The pushback against this by people of good will has been encouraging.

    The active rejection of racism and the embrace of diversity is more a reflection of progressive values than the mock shaming of cancel culture, I think.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    It isn’t just covid these people are delusional about either- it’s the economy and that delusion is much more mainstream. They’re telling themselves that the economy can take such a massive ongoing hit with double digit unemployment and there will be a “V shaped recovery” and it will miraculously not matter.

    It’s just nonsense. We haven’t even felt the economic hit yet partly because they pumped massive amounts of money into it. But we are going to feel it, especially in the states that rely solely on sales tax for revenue.

  81. 81.

    germy

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: 

    I found myself muttering, “Get COVID and die, assholes.”

    Unfortunately, they’d probably get it, stay asymptomatic, and then infect dozens of innocent people.

  82. 82.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Quinerly: Cripes what a pair they are. My wife is always quoting a saying of her Mom, “No matter how crooked a pot, there’s a lid to fit it.” Usually that’s in connection with us, but theirs is clearly a marriage made in crooked-pot heaven.

    I got to the part where they destroyed the beehive that the synagogue next door was keeping as a children’s project, and just couldn’t go any farther.

  83. 83.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quinerly: Well it’s good hearing from you. I was just about to send you an email to see if you were still alive or not.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    @Brachiator:

    It’s just a really difficult question and they breezed right past it. We had a municipal judge here who loathed immigrants. There’s no other way to put it – his “views” are that he loathes immigrants. Ohio judges have to read a “bench card” at an initial appearance – a bench card is something a judge has to recite, required by the states highest court, to ensure rights are protected. It’s a response to some judges not protecting rights. There’s a bench card about a right to an interpreter. He used to read it sarcastically-just dripping with contempt. That’s his view! That’s how he expresses his opinion!

  88. 88.

    Brachiator

    @Kay:

    Her point is that they aren’t polled, because they’re not in the regular voter groups. They have no political interest or leanings outside of Donald Trump. They’re not GOP voters. They’re Trump voters.

    I really enjoyed the article that discussed this. In some ways, this reflected an error in polling technique that was magnified by significant numbers of voters who were attracted to Trump.

    Pollsters tried to select “likely voters” based on past voting habits.  But this missed people who had not voted before, but who were definitely going to either vote for Trump or against Hillary Clinton.

    I don’t know. Outside the South, maybe some of these people will sit out the election if they think that Trump will likely lose. In the South, particularly, I think the anti-abortion zealots will still vote for Trump.

    But in a larger sense, a lot of these people don’t vote because they don’t see either party as representing them. They will be looking for another Trump in the future.

  89. 89.

    Anya

    @Punchy: He’s not going to quit. I don’t think he’s capable to acknowledge or realize how badly he’s losing. I’ll bet on him making an open deal with Putin (America’s secrets for my win) than him quitting. He’ll do anything in his power to win and while he’s working on that he’ll focus on the grift. What can he loot and who can he destroy before this all ends. And this is if he even believes he’ll lose. I think 2016 taught him the wrong lesson. He believes in his base and his ability so much that I don’t think he’ll fully believe he will lose.

  90. 90.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Brachiator:I haven’t really followed the “cancel culture” controversy

    Neither have I but it sure sounds like “free speech” to me, and the people complaining about it the loudest are the ones who are used to having their every utterance treated with the utmost deference.

  91. 91.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: Been hanging a lot with Red here. She is adding a lot of neat tile, pebble, mirror mosaics in the basement apt. I have no interest in going out to my old haunts in Soulard. The Venice has truly gotten weird and Jeff treated our Red like shit before Mardi Gras. She won’t ever go back. I miss live music and my band guys but just don’t have it in me under these conditions to hang at a bar. Stupid shit going on. Employee at Frazer’s tested positive so he closed down again and then reopened. Nadine’s joint had a customer who had symptoms, got a test 6 days prior and while waiting for results, went to the bar and hung out for 4 hrs. You can guess what the test results were. I heard nothing has really changed at 1860’s…just like pre Covid with the old guys at the bar, huddled together. Did you read the stories about the owner of Henry’s being arrested for murder? There’s also a good background piece in the RFT on the guy he shot. Worth checking out (Henry’s is the old Shanti, old Allen Avenue). Hope you are well. Call Red. ?

  92. 92.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I think that same article notes that “fire season” is year round now.

    Sometimes it certainly feels that way.

    And of course, the long periods with no rain has only made the problem worse.

  93. 93.

    mad citizen

    @germy: I watched the ad.  It is truly stupid and low-effort/energy.  The thing is, the Trojans (Democrats in the Biden horse in the ad) were the clever fuckers, right?  Also, how many of the low information Trump voters even get the reference/context of this ad?

  94. 94.

    Quinerly

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: the beehive part got me too. The entire piece is really worth the read. There was a piece in our local Black paper about their search for a nanny in the 1980’s. An applicant had kept the 4 pages of “demands/directions” for anyone hired to nanny their only child (daughter). These people have always been monsters. Racists, homophobes.

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @Brachiator:

    I think Trump knows about them and THAT’S who he is talking to a lot of the time. That’s why he says all those “a lot of people don’t know this…” things. They WOULDN’T know Lincoln was a Republican. They’re not and have never been in a political Party. The conventional wisdom is if you’re relying on new voters- either young or have never voted- you lose so there’s real resistance to the idea that he won with them among political pros but in those extremely close states (WI and MI) I think that’s exactly what happened. That’s what Slotkin is talking about. IMO that’s a real thing and Trump did achieve it.

    One of the D pollworkers here said “they came out from under rocks” which is mean (obviously) but she’s been a pollworker for 20 years and there’s only 30k people in this county. These were people who had never shown up before.

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    BTW: I don’t know if this handy chart about the relative risk during Covid-19 of various activities has been posted before. It’s from the Texas Medical Association

    What’s more risky:

    1. Spending an hour at a playground or grocery shopping?
    2. Going to a beach or going camping?
    3. Working a week in an office building or staying two nights in a hotel?
    4. Going to a hair salon/barbershop or visiting a library/museum?
    5. Going to a bar or sitting in a doctor’s waiting room?
  100. 100.

    Kropacetic

    @Ken: It was the Greeks inside the horse, but yes, that was the side that won and that historically was considered the good guys.

    Well, of course, they wrote the story didn’t they?

  103. 103.

    Suzanne

    @Punchy:

    I’m beginning to wonder if Trump will straight-up quit some time in Sept 

    Mr. Suzanne, who is usually right about these things, says that Trump is not going to quit, but just go all-in on golf, Twitter, and trips to Maralago. He says he thinks the presidency is just going to be nothing but pardons for cronies and vacations once he realizes that he’s lost, and that he won’t do anyThing having to do with the job.

  104. 104.

    Kay

    My daughter was exposed at work again- asymptomatic and untested when she treated, tested positive days later. it’s exhausting for health care people. This now happens once a week. She has been tested so many times I don’t even ask her for the results anymore- one period just runs into another. Obviously the’re taking the same precautions for all patients, covid and non, but they’re all being notified constantly that they’ve been exposed.

  105. 105.

    germy

    @Kay:

    These were people who had never shown up before.

    I remember the day I voted for HRC.  There was a man, looked like he was in his early sixties, who had to be shown how to cast his vote.  He had no idea how the procedure worked.  My impression at the time was that he probably had never voted, or else hadn’t voted for decades, but was inspired by trump.

  106. 106.

    Brachiator

    @Kropacetic:

    RE: It was the Greeks inside the horse, but yes, that was the side that won and that historically was considered the good guys.

    Well, of course, they wrote the story didn’t they?

    For a long time, The Iliad was lost. Folks had The Aeneid and the commentaries.

    The Greeks, and especially Ulysses, were perceived to be sneaky and untrustworthy.

    And for all kinds of weird reasons, some conservatives really admired the Trojans, even seeing nobility in their defeat.

    I look forward to seeing the GOP have to suck up Trump’s defeat in November.

  108. 108.

    Suzanne

    @Kay:

    I read it and I think there’s perhaps truth to what she attributes the undercount to- she says they are people who only came out for Trump in 2016 and will again only come out for Trump in 2020. They were non voters. They are specifically and exclusively Trumpvoters. 

    Hard to believe, but Trumpism is an aspirational brand for a cohort of people whom I am too polite to accurately name.

  109. 109.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: One of the D pollworkers here said “they came out from under rocks” which is mean

    Not near as mean as my “They came out of the cess pool.”

  110. 110.

    Kay

    @germy:

    I know it’s real because I saw the other side with Obama. He drew a lot of brand new voters. I met them and we were all excited and they voted in ’08 and then we never saw them again. I don’t think they came out in any numbers in ’12. That was just a slog and Trump has a much tougher slog, because he’s way back.

    That’s part of why Trump lords it over Republicans. His voters aren’t Republicans. He thinks he alone can bring them and he’s right. But it has to be close or they don’t matter.

  111. 111.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    This year is gonna be a motherfucker for you all.

    It already is.

    Fortunately, Jerry Brown left the state in relatively good shape, and Newsom is doing a good job.

    It is just odd to always wake up wondering, “what the hell else is going to happen?”

  112. 112.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quinerly: I never went to the CWE much and then only at somebody else’s insistence. Too many West County fuck ups “slumming it” in the big city for my liking.

  113. 113.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Matt McIrvin:

    It’s just a question of whether anyone persuadable pays attention.

    Narrator voice: “They won’t”

    Suggested addition.

  115. 115.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    She was ACTUALLY much more descriptive than that because she’s funny. “BIg SCRAGGLY beards, I’ve lived here all my life, who ARE these people?”

    There’s a video clip making the rounds with a Trump voter screaming obscenities at fast food employees, refusing to wear a mask – she closes with “Trump 2020”

    My favorite part of the video is the employee who is offscreen. You heard him say “oh, MAN” like “not THIS again” :)

  116. 116.

    SFAW

    @Kropacetic:

    The old one and the (comparatively) new one.

    Ulysses’s (or Odysseus’s) plan was originally given to the general, Maklellanus, four years earlier, but he kept waiting until the gods told him it was OK to go forward with it.

  117. 117.

    Kropacetic

    @Brachiator: For a long time, The Iliad was lost. Folks had The Aeneid and the commentaries.

    The Greeks, and especially Ulysses, were perceived to be sneaky and untrustworthy.

    I did not know this. Though I never read the Aeneid, I had to read the Iliad twice for school (different school systems).

    Given the context of things like the Trojan Horse, it makes sense how the Greeks were portrayed there.  It’s all a matter of perspective.

  118. 118.

    Kropacetic

    @SFAW: Ulysses’s (or Odysseus’s) plan was originally given to the general, Maklellanus, four years earlier, but he kept waiting until the gods told him it was OK to go forward with it.

    The gods are dithering old fools, I demand action!

  119. 119.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Brachiator: “what the hell else is going to happen?”

    And in that vein, I was just reading,

    Plans for the fall semester at the University of California, Berkeley, are in question after 47 new Covid-19 cases tied to fraternity parties emerged in the past week. University officials warn the outbreak could jeopardize the ability to move forward with in-person classes in the months ahead.

    “We have seen the number of University Health Services positive cases increase from a running total of 23 since the start of the pandemic, to 47 new cases in just one week,” university officials wrote in a letter.

    “At the rate we are seeing increases in cases, it’s becoming harder to imagine bringing our campus community back in the way we are envisioning,” the letter adds.

    Officials said the infections were related to social events where students failed to physically distance, wear face masks, limit event size and gather outside.

  120. 120.

    SFAW

    @Suzanne:

    Mr. Suzanne, who is usually right about these things

    Well, his having married you indicates he’s pretty smart. That aside, I agree that the Murderer-in-Chief would never resign, and I think Mr. Suzanne is probably spot-on about the other stuff. Except he left out “destroying all the evidence,” but maybe that’s implied.

  121. 121.

    Suzanne

    @Kay: I used to describe those people as “the people who wear socks with their sandals” until John notes that he does that and I felt (slightly) bad.

  123. 123.

    The Moar You Know

    Trump quit?   Won’t happen.  And as much as I’d like to see him emulate his idol Uncle Adolf, he’s not going to eat a bullet before or after Inauguration Day. He’s not wired that way.

    What he will do as soon as he’s figured out he’s going to lose – and that will be soon – is to start burning America down.  And he’s going to urge his cult members to do the same.  America’s going to get really scary for a while.

  124. 124.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: I hung in the CWE ’82-85,’ cause it was the closest for entertainment back then if living in Mid Town for SLU campus. Dressel’s, Llewellyn’s and Balaban’s. “Those were the days, my friend.” 

    Did you see where Jack Parker died (O’Connell’s)? One of the really good guys.

  126. 126.

    SFAW

    @The Moar You Know:

    What he will do as soon as he’s figured out he’s going to lose – and that will be soon – is to start burning America down.

    Oh, don’t worry, Mattis  Kelly  McConnell  Ryan McMaster  Tillerson  Barr  “the adults in the room” someone will make sure that doesn’t happen

  127. 127.

    Kropacetic

    @The Moar You Know: What he will do as soon as he’s figured out he’s going to lose – and that will be soon – is to start burning America down.

    Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo

    I’ve already gotten warnings from a friend who spends way too much time in the filthiest cess pools of the internet that they’re sharpening their guns or whatever.

  128. 128.

    Suzanne

    @SFAW: Yeah, he’s not going to actually resign. Donnie Two Scoops is going to enjoy every perk he can as long as he can, while not doing a damn thing to actually help the country. I agree with you regarding destruction of evidence, though I also don’t know if he cares or is smart enough to really do a damn thing. I can’t imagine him actually resigning. That implies shame. He is shameless.

    Mr. Suzanne and I did have fun imagining the SCF (Sentient Corpse Flower) writing the goodwill letter for his successor. Then I remembered that he doesn’t know how to write anything.

  129. 129.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Quinerly: Nope, I missed that one. I’m pretty much out of the STL news loop these days.

    ETA tho my oldest keeps me up to date on the things that are important to him.

  130. 130.

    senyordave

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I think he quits shortly after the Electoral College vote tally. Pence pardons him, his slackjawed spawn, Kushner, Pompeo and Barr prior to Inauguration Day.

    What is the upside for Pence?  What possible reason would there be for Pence to accept being president for two and a half months and go into the history books as the person who pardoned Donald Trump?

  134. 134.

    egorelick

    @OzarkHillbilly: EMT’s have easy access to controlled drugs with relatively little supervision.  I don’t know how to square this circle because I have known several decent, compassionate, hard-working people who would lie, cheat, and steal to get a fix.  How do you screen for that?

  135. 135.

    Nora

    FWIW, I thought the Biden ad was powerful: “What won’t we do for our families?” and talking about taking extra shifts and the like.  It’s really hard, even for complete assholes, to take shots at that without looking like complete assholes.

    Though I’m sure the GOP will prove me wrong.

  137. 137.

    Quinerly

    @JPL: I was surprised by the quality. I think it was $12.95 when I ordered it. Bought a “Resist” one from Amazon a couple of years ago. It, too, has held up well.

  138. 138.

    smintheus

    @Kay: She admits it’s a difficult race because she hasn’t spent much time in district campaigning yet. She suggests that it’s because of all the demands the Democratic Party is putting on her to help deal with the fallout from Trump’s national security outrages, but that sounds like deflection. I wonder whether some voters in her district view her as a bit of a carpetbagger who had only lived there for a short time before announcing her candidacy; that would add to her concern about her re-election, though she might not want to admit to a reporter that she feared it was part of the problems she faces.

    I have no doubt there are a lot of Trump voters she’ll have a hard time persuading. But it’s a massive leap to assume as she does that her district is a bellwether for the entire country.

  140. 140.

    Kropacetic

    @egorelick: EMT’s have easy access to controlled drugs with relatively little supervision.  I don’t know how to square this circle because I have known several decent, compassionate, hard-working people who would lie, cheat, and steal to get a fix.  How do you screen for that?

    Having an EMT certification does not require that you actually be hired as an EMT, just demonstrating proficiency in the appropriate skills.

    Do firefighters have that same sort of access to drugs?

  141. 141.

    SFAW

    @Suzanne:

    Yeah, he’s not going to actually resign.

    As you know, I agree. But I see the truth value in DAW’s comment that he’d do it on January 19, so that he can get a Pence pardon. But I don’t think he’d resign in November, December, or early January.

  142. 142.

    Brachiator

    @Kropacetic:

    The Greeks, and especially Ulysses, were perceived to be sneaky and untrustworthy.

    I did not know this. Though I never read the Aeneid, I had to read the Iliad twice for school (different school systems).

    Dante put Ulysses in Hell with fraudulent counselors in Inferno. Ulysses was also perceived to be arrogant for being too eager to pursue knowledge.

  143. 143.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Yeah, I laugh when I read the university re-opening plans that say we’ll just tell the students to wear masks and socially distance and not do anything dangerous or stupid. That will take care of things.

    Have they never spent time with their students? I love college students, but really.

  144. 144.

    RSA

    @senyordave:

    What is the upside for Pence?  What possible reason would there be for Pence to accept being president for two and a half months and go into the history books as the person who pardoned Donald Trump?

    My thought as well. In fact, Pence would have a better chance at being worth more than a footnote if he were to encourage Trump to follow this pardoning plan, and then not issue the pardon. That would be a sort of Alfred-Hitchcock-Presents ending.

  145. 145.

    Kay

    Mitt Romney
    @MittRomney
    · 50m
    Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.

    Yup, and in a way corruption is like the rona- all these people waving it away or minimizing it are ignoring that it always spreads and it always gets worse and it doesn’t care at all that they’re too scared to face it- it just does what it does.
    They’re so attached to the idea that these institutions can’t be corrupted that they will allow them to be destroyed before they’ll admit that it’s happening. Because it’s scary – political interference in prosecutions are terrifying- they MEAN the system has collapsed- and they can’t face it.
    You can’t have one part of the DOJ wholly corrupt and another just going merrily along on some ethical path. That’s not how it works. It’s systemic.

  146. 146.

    Quiltingfool

    OT: Roger Stone.  I just put on my tinfoil hat, so here goes.  I’m wondering if Stone informing Dolt45 that he didn’t sell him out (but could have) and then being rewarded by Dolt with a commutation wasn’t a mistake on Stone’s part.   Stone dealt with Russia to help Trump get elected, yes?  So now, Stone is openly telling everyone he has the goods on Trump, and by default, on Mother Russia, aka Putin.  Putin is a straight up mob boss.  He might think that getting rid of Stone would eliminate any chance of Stone blabbing.  And we all surmise that Trumpie doesn’t do anything without the blessing of his new daddy Vlad.  So.  Possible that Vlad might find it easier to get rid of Stone outside of jail?

    I think I have read too many crime/spy novels.  Possibly why this crazy notion popped into my head.  But still, crazy is going on every fucking day in this country, so here we are.  Time to get away from the news, go quilt for a client while watching Gotham!  (That’s it!  That’s why I keep thinking all this conspiracy crap!  I’m watching Gotham!)

  147. 147.

    WaterGirl

    @SFAW: That’s perfect.

    Oh, don’t worry, Mattis  Kelly  McConnell  Ryan McMaster  Tillerson  Barr  “the adults in the room” someone will make sure that doesn’t happen.

    Now do another one for all the people and institutions outside of Trump’s sphere that were going to save us – Mueller, the DOJ, the FBI, SDNY, EDNY…

    I’ve gotta say, our faith in this nation and its institutions ran pretty strong.

  148. 148.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly:   Just ordered one.  Went with heather grey too, even though the solid colors are 90% cotton (vs. 50% for the heathered ones).

    Will wear it happily this summer.  Emailed the Amazon link off to some friends.  Comes to less than $16, with tax.

  149. 149.

    Kropacetic

    @Brachiator: Dante put Ulysses in Hell with fraudulent counselors in Inferno.

    Also did not know.  I was supposed to have read that but it was a sort of “bullshit my way through by paying attention to class discussion” type scenario.

    @Brachiator: Ulysses was also perceived to be arrogant for being too eager to pursue knowledge.

    So anti-intellectualism has a long lineage.

  150. 150.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @egorelick: However firemen do not. The whole point of EMT training for all fire personnel is that they be able to deal with the immediate short term problems of any accident, such as a heavy beam falling on a FF or an accident victim unexpectedly becoming a bleeder. Drugs are not an issue.

  151. 151.

    germy

    They’re having a big party. Maybe it’ll end badly.

    Currently outside Roger Stone’s Fort Lauderdale rat hole: a big party with Jessi Melton, repugnant race baiting Republican conspiracy theorist running against @TedDeutch. There’s a big banner for her, flags and a big “FUCK CNN” banner hanging from his house. No masks on anyone.— Lesley Abravanel? (@lesleyabravanel) July 11, 2020

  152. 152.

    Kay

    @Elizabelle:

    My husband, who is a contrarian and a genuinely tough individual, got a pink fabric mask at the local hospital when he went in for an outpatient procedure and he is defiantly wearing it because it is pink.

    He’s basically daring them to make fun of him. It’s kind of nice, Like a linen-y fabric. I’m a little jealous.

  153. 153.

    Brachiator

    @smintheus:

    I have no doubt there are a lot of Trump voters she’ll have a hard time persuading. But it’s a massive leap to assume as she does that her district is a bellwether for the entire country.

    This may be true. But in 2016, pollsters got it wrong because of their wrong assumptions about who were likely voters. One notable exception was a Los Angeles Times poll, that had a much better sample of voters.

    And despite this, some polling companies are still making this mistake, because it can be costly to try to put together a good sample. And because some pollsters are lazy.

  157. 157.

    Yutsano

    @egorelick: You’re not serious. Not every fucking prisoner was a drug addict. And you are absolutely wrong that there are very few controls here. Fire departments and ambulance companies aren’t exempt from federal rules regarding sensitive drug handling. They are still required to keep tabs on their inventory.

    I’m not getting paranoid but I don’t recall your nym before.

  158. 158.

    JMG

    Slotkin’s district is not even a bellwether for Michigan, let alone the US. But she appears to have forgotten that the last election she ran in she won.

  159. 159.

    Suzanne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Have they never spent time with their students? I love college students, but really. 

    No shit. I spent a lot of time in college being, uhhhhh, undistant from others.

  160. 160.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: As an old buddy of mine used to say, “It takes a real man to wear pink.” I want one of those masks.

  161. 161.

    Hungry Joe

    My deja is being vu’d all over again: I’m old enough to remember 2016, when one of the more popular topics was whether, after the shellacking they were about to get, the GOP would fall apart and re-form as something new, or simply exist as a rump party. That phrase popped up a lot: “Rump party,”

    Our response to all the positive signs and encouraging polls should be to double, to triple down. I’m writing postcards to voters in states with possible Senate pick-ups. Was doing five a day, every day; am now determined to do 15. (See “triple down,” above.) This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around.

    Oh, and in case you think the extreme Bernie Bros are coming around, my two BB relatives (in a swing state) continue to assure me that nothing, NOTHING can convince them to vote for corporatist war criminal Joe Biden.

    So … triple down. Find some way to volunteer. Now. Today. NOW.

  162. 162.

    Kay

    @Brachiator:

    I feel like adjusting for education remedies a lot of it. That stuff is fascinating. That “some college” is different than both “no college” and “college degree” and there’s a difference between a 2 an 4 year degree that can be adjusted for. I saw it raised again during the “Trump will be like Nixon w/law n order!” panic. In ’68 15% had college degrees. Now it’s 30, which is actually a hopeful thing and an achievement for the country, while also being good for Democrats.

  163. 163.

    Anya

    @Kay: I mean, even if Trump has some hidden voters, they’re not many. In 2016, he won by razor-thin margins in all the states that matter to the EC, (except Ohio). Basically, a total of 107,000 voters in three states won him the presidency. So, even if his lunatics are so determined, if the trends hold they won’t make a difference. What lost us the race last time was not Trump voters’ enthusiasm but our side’s fraction and lack of enthusiasm.

  165. 165.

    Cermet

    @Chris Johnson: Do know both the NSA and CIA have a lot of people who now hate all things tRump and will launch massive counter attacks and secret ops against these russian bot’s. These guys/gal’s have a chip on their shoulders thanks to that orange underwear stain; they know he hates them and putin is using him to undermine all things Western.

  166. 166.

    Kay

    @Anya:

    I agree and Slotkins brand is almost “nonpartisan contrarian” so there’s that too. I like her! But that is how she is portrayed.

    I just think you understand Trump better when you give him credit for understanding “his” voters (which IMO he does) and understand “his” voters are not the GOP, writ large. I think it’s perfectly in keeping with the kind of asshole he’s been his whole life. He’s a “my people” asshole. “These are my people” – I mean, he knows how to sell them shit. He sold his crap books and the reality tv show to them.

  167. 167.

    Ruckus

    @Chyron HR:

    This whole concept implies that he has any idea about history. Hell, he has no connection to his own actual history, let alone a guy who died before he was born.

  168. 168.

    Kay

    @JMG:

    But the people she’s talking about wouldn’t have come out in a midterm. I’m not her spokesperson but that they wouldn’t come out in a midterm is almost what defines them. So if she’s in a close race she’s wise to consider them, because IMO they exist.

  169. 169.

    Anya

    @Kay: Subsection of his 2016 voters I still don’t understand are the ones who voted for Obama twice and then decided the tacky rich New Yorker was a good replacement. I guess misogyny can explain some of them. But who are these people? What are their motives and are they still with Trump?

  171. 171.

    Kay

    One of the NYTimes political team expressed surprise that Donald Trump has this devotion to the confederacy because NYC is “cosmopolitan” and he grew up there.

    Okay, I hate to break it to them but a majority of the full-blown racists in the Trump Administration came out of NYC. They may be “cosmopolitan” but they are as racist as any county commissioner in Alabama. They are ELITE racists who went to the best schools and they seem to be a particularly virulent variety.

    Barr is WORSE than Sessions and Barr is as sophisticated and privieged as they come. This is a blind spot. They need to see past it because these people are hiding behind it.

  173. 173.

    Tim C

    @Brachiator: agree to a certain point, but the pollsters didn’t get it all that wrong.  It was within margin of error in most states.  The “just Trumpers”  did make a difference.  But so did Democratic complacency.   Michigan, and Pennsylvania so a huge tightening of the polls after Comet decided to kneecap Clinton at the last moment.    Again, those people exist, but Democrats are fertile more energized than before.

  174. 174.

    Kay

    @Anya:

    It’s horrible to say but as someone who has canvassed a lot voters often have really dumb justifications. They’re like “I was with him until…” then they’ll say something ridiculous. I have come to think the justifications are just that- that there is something else there but they want to pretend it’s “factual” or whatever.

    My favorite voter ever was a woman who smiled and said “oh, it doesn’t interest me that much. I just vote for the Democrat because they generally align with my views”. That’s an easy way to handle it and I love that she didn’t pretend to be reading position papers and “voting for the man”. Her approach actually aligns with how this works in practice, too.

  175. 175.

    trollhattan

    @debbie:

    Yes, they’ve been preoccupying themselves protesting against the people who want to save their miserable lives, but with a Dem administration their list of grievances will grow exponentially and their Dear Leader won’t be stopping his Twitterstorm (but, maybe Twitter can finally kill his damn account).

    OTOH since the demographic seems to be skewing even older, perhaps we won’t be subjected to TeaPartY2, this time we’re really, really pissed!

  176. 176.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Just Chuck:

    I’ve watched this three or four times now, and although I kinda sorta a little bit get the Trojan Horse thing, however wrong and misguided, I honestly can’t figure out any of the rest of the ad. I don’t know what it means or what it’s supposed to mean. I don’t know who the target audience is, or what they’re supposed to take away from it. I just plain don’t get any of it.

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    I agree. shitforbrains has always hung around till the bitter end, and often far longer. He completely lacks the concept that he can lose, so he continues on till everything is fully over and he’s got nothing to hang his non existent hat on. Most people would see that sometimes quitting is the only thing left, time to move on. For him, quitting would imply that he’s a failure in his tiny mind. He can’t see the bigger picture, hasn’t been able to before now and can not rise to the occasion now.

  178. 178.

    smintheus

    @Brachiator: Except that pollsters now have information about which voters turned out in 2016. Apart from complete incompetents and partisan pollsters, they don’t automatically assume that midterm electorates are identical to presidential year electorates. It was obvious to nearly anybody paying attention in 2016 that a lot of seldom/never voters came out of the woodwork for Trump, so Slotkin isn’t actually warning people about things they don’t already know.

    What she isn’t doing, at least in that article, is coming to grips with the fact that in 2016 voters could imagine whatever kind of Trump they wanted to. Now they’re stuck with the loser we have. The growing lack of enthusiasm among Trump voters is palpable.

  179. 179.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle: I’m pleased with mine as I said. The heather one has a nice texture/feel. I’m big on black T shirts but have that “Resist” one in black. Plus, one from a Native American flute player that says “Uncivilized” in black. Changed it up a bit. ?

  180. 180.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    When I voted in 2016, there was a whole new system. You vote, take your ballot, and feed it into a machine where it’s counted. That might have been part of the guy’s problem.

  181. 181.

    Kay

    @Anya:

    I canvassed a lady for John Kerry who told me she “couldn’t” vote for him because he didnt support the federal death penalty. She’s a single issue federal death penalty voter? My ass she is. I’m not even sure it’s true but even if it was true, the state death penalty isn’t enough for her? She wants those federal charge executions to PROCEED.

    I prefer the people who say “I don’t want to pay taxes, is the thing”.

  183. 183.

    Barbara

    @Anya: People looking for sliver bullets to a wide array of problems.  They just want someone who seems supremely gifted or confident to fix everything that’s wrong.

  184. 184.

    catclub

    @Quiltingfool: So now, Stone is openly telling everyone he has the goods on Trump, and by default, on Mother Russia, aka Putin.

     

    ‘The goods on Putin’ ha ha. Putin will get thrown out of office if his secret is revealed? disgraced? commit suicide by shooting himself multiple times in the back?

  186. 186.

    frosty

    @Kay: I had the same observation as a pollwatcher in PA. A Lot of voters being asked for ID. So many that I asked the election judge about it since PA shot down the voter ID law.  He told me it was for first time and infrequent voters. Oh.

  187. 187.

    catclub

    @Ruckus: He can’t see the bigger picture, hasn’t been able to before now and can not rise to the occasion now.

     

    actually, the big article on the huge real estate project in NYC that he had, talked about just this, his ability to do a 180 and walkaway with something, that he has now lost. The problem is that walking away now is too public – there is not some set of ‘new’ marks.  plus he has lost a lot mentally. I think they blamed drugs.

  188. 188.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    If you’re me and you’re a pollworker when you remove the scanned ballots from the bin and arrange them in stacks (they’re a paper record so they’re retained) you scan the votes and attempt to count them, but ultra casually. Could not help it. It’s one precinct so it doesn’t mean shit but you cant dangle them in front of me without me counting.

  189. 189.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    It isn’t just covid these people are delusional about either- it’s the economy and that delusion is much more mainstream. They’re telling themselves that the economy can take such a massive ongoing hit with double digit unemployment and there will be a “V shaped recovery” and it will miraculously not matter.

    Their lizard brains may have kicked in more than you realize. I just got back from my weekly errand run and saw a return of the empty shelves. They know something…

  192. 192.

    xephyr

    @SFAW: Couldn’t agree more. We underestimate the lengths to which Republicans will go at our peril. They have shown time and time again they have no principles beyond pursuit of power. Also as we’ve seen, this electorate is unpredictable – mainly because half of it has all the analytical power of a turnip. Fight tooth and nail until it’s over. Dana isn’t helping with his happy talk.

  193. 193.

    catclub

    @trollhattan: OTOH since the demographic seems to be skewing even older, perhaps we won’t be subjected to TeaPartY2, this time we’re really, really pissed!

     

    actually I was guessing the next time will be with more Timothy McVeigh militias.

  194. 194.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Double digit unemployment is double digit unemployment and if they;re like my middle and working class clients they are drowning in debt, which they can carry! As long as it’s booming and they don’t lose their jobs. Then they can’t and it gets bad fast- say 8 paychecks missed. They were barely solvent and auto sales did all this hinky shit that is GOING to come back to bite us. They rolled old auto debt into new car purchases, old + new, and at some point someone has to pay for something. They have a car they can’t afford so they trade it in for a newer car they also can’t afford and they take the deficiency – the debt minus the value, the “underwater” part, on the original debt and roll it into the new loan. It’s magical thinking. It isn’t going to work.

  195. 195.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Punchy:

     

    I’m beginning to wonder if Trump will straight-up quit some time in Sept, under the condition (somehow) that New Prez Pence pardon all his (soon-to-be-revealed) tax crimes. If hes going to lose, and I think he knows it, why not grab the get outta jail card ahead of time?

    Not saying you’re wrong, but what would Pence’s motivation be?

  197. 197.

    Just Chuck

    @SiubhanDuinne: Seemed pretty obvious: Biden is the Trojan Horse for ultra-left radicals like Bernie and AOC to run the country into some Marxist hellhole.  Guess the campaign couldn’t even afford a narrator to say it out loud, so that’s gonna go whoosh.  Half the intended audience will probably think it’s from Spartacus.

  198. 198.

    Jinchi

    @Brachiator: Interesting list. It’s not surprising that the some of the highest risk activities

    • going to a bar
    • working out at a gym
    • attending a large music concert political rally

    were the first things opened back up by right wing governors like Kemp and Desantis.

  199. 199.

    Just Chuck

    @Punchy: A pardon means admission of guilt.  And look, here comes a parade of States AGs not bound by that pardon who now have it as evidence.  Biden never got a prosecutor parade.

  201. 201.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    My dad’s opinion is Trump’s cognitive decline is going be Trump’s escape plan; resign for medical reason so it’s Pence who loses the election and then claim mental incompetence to avoid being tried.

  202. 202.

    hueyplong

    @Quiltingfool: What you’re describing is like a scene out of “Casino.”

    Trump needs Stone to stay quiet and not give him up.  Stone does that and takes the conviction.  Trump commutes the sentence, and trusts Stone (his old pal) will keep buttoned up.

    But the boss isn’t Trump.  Putin, the one who decides whether Stone will get whacked, sees Stone speaking a little loosely to speed up the commutation and says “Why take a chance?”

    And the guy who gets whacked in the movie is named Stone.

    Hope the link works for those who don’t know the refernce.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhUZaAYsaGU

  203. 203.

    Anya

    @Barbara: But Trump is not confident or competent. I know his awful reality show depicted him as an in charge boss and a good business man but he is a ridiculous person. He is insecure and childish. He is crude not confident. How can they not see that?

  204. 204.

    Just Chuck

    @Anya: Fake bluster is just one of the many layers of hypocrisy that make up Republicans.  It’s like a rotten onion.

  205. 205.

    Jinchi

    @Punchy: I’m beginning to wonder if Trump will straight-up quit under the condition that New Prez Pence pardon all his crimes.

    Not gonna happen. Trump is notorious for reneging on deals the moment he’s gotten what he wants. He’d walk away from debts, even when he was perfectly capable of paying. It’s a point of pride and he considers it a sign of strength to screw over the other party. He will never trust another person not to do the same to him.

  206. 206.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    My husband, who is a contrarian and a genuinely tough individual, got a pink fabric mask

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    As an old buddy of mine used to say, “It takes a real man to wear pink.”

    Well, I’m definitely not tough, and the “real man” thing might be a bridge too far, but I wear a pink shirt about once a week. [And, yes, my job requires me to interact with the public, face-to-face.] The way I rationalize it (since I’m not tough, etc.) is that I’m pretty unconcerned about what others think re: my clothes. They think I’m … something? … because I wear pink? Fuckem.

  208. 208.

    Just Chuck

    @SFAW: I could be rightly criticized for wearing pink, since it would pretty much match the color of my skin.  But I do wear a rainbow scarf as a mask.

  209. 209.

    Danielx

    @Ruckus:

    This.

    I am probably becoming a bore about this, but he has never, ever admitted he lost – at anything. He’s not about to  start now. He cannot conceive of losing because he is Donald Trump and therefore by definition cannot lose. If he appears to lose, it can only be the result of cheating on the part of evildoers. He could lose by a margin of twenty points and still would not concede, which is why the period from November 5th to January 20th will be perilous in the extreme.

  210. 210.

    Anya

    @Kay: in 2012, in Ohio, a voter told me he was disillusioned about all politicians. He said “look at were we live.” And then he said, he didn’t care about any of these politicians but “my vote for Obama is a vote against centuries of racism.” I respect that. Then he went door to door with me and helped GOTV. Legit was more talented than anyone I’ve worked with.

  211. 211.

    Kay

    Padma Lakshmi
    @PadmaLakshmi
    ·13h
    Neff specifically cyber-stalked and targeted Asian women on
    @autoadmitdotcom
    using terms like “Azn megashrew,”
    Of another woman he was a friends with on Facebook who was freezing her eggs he posted: “Disaster: WuFlu outbreak endangers aging shrew’s quest to freeze eggs.”

    Nice people at Fox, don’t you think? LOW quality hires.
    They make a lot of money too and most of them probably have very expensive educations and grew up in fancy places.
    Trump isn’t an intelligence test or a means test- he’s a character test and well off and well educated does not mean “better” and neither does “cosmopolitan”.

  212. 212.

    SFAW

    @Suzanne:

    Then I remembered that he doesn’t know how to write anything.

    Peripherally related: I think I mentioned here a week or two ago that my daughter (MSW) and wife (RN) each saw his signature and each said something on the order of “that sig indicates psychosis” (or similar wording).

    Those evaluations were done separately, and neither knew what the other had said. Since they’re both pretty good in their fields, I tend to trust their assessments.

  213. 213.

    SFAW

    @Just Chuck:

    since it would pretty much match the color of my skin.

    As long as plaid or a tartan doesn’t match the color of your skin, it’s all good.

  214. 214.

    frosty

    @Kay: My favorite canvass was the young guy who liked Kennedy and decided to vote for Kerry after I told him they had the same initials.

  215. 215.

    Just Chuck

    @SFAW: People get put in prison on the word of graphologists despite study after study showing it to be quack pseudoscience.  It looks a lot like my Dad’s style come to think, and he was as boring as it gets.

  218. 218.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Brachiator: The Trojan Horse story isn’t in the Iliad. That covers a short period in a different part of the war. It gets recapped in the Odyssey, because Odysseus was involved.

  219. 219.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay:   Your husband is a lucky man, in many ways. LOL.

    @WaterGirl:   Now there’s an idea!  No end to the interesting masks we can make, and resist, too.

  220. 220.

    Barbara

    @Anya: He seemed so to many people, who mistook brash certainty for confidence and competence.   To someone like me, anyone who says something like “I alone can fix this” appears to be infected with monomania, but many people were fooled.  Very evidently.  I don’t think we should mistake our own reactions as being the norm for everyone.

  221. 221.

    frosty

    @Kay: I’m a scanner enthusiast too. We had them in Baltimore County then moved to PA with all electronic no paper trail machines. WTF??? They finally switched and we had scanners for 2018.

  222. 222.

    kindness

    We need to keep focusing across the board.  Uncle Joe will get his but I think the Senate races are really important and should be funded to get there.  Without a Democratic Senate the wheels won’t turn.  MoscowMitch has hurt the institution and our country so much he shouldn’t be able to make those calls any more.

  223. 223.

    Yutsano

    Since thread is open: I decided to do a Google Search on 884511320. The hits I found said it’s apossibly British phone number. Maybe it hasn’t sunk into the Zeitgeist?

  224. 224.

    Ruckus

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    shitforbrains at one point in time could walk away from something gone wrong, as long as he could swing an angle. He’s completely lost the ability to do that, so even if he wanted to, he’d have to be convinced that he could, and no one can convince him of anything except that he’s the greatest human ever. Mentally he is slipping, sliding down a steep hill actually, so tell me how he’s going to make this better? He’s not, what little skill he once might have had is long gone. From his perspective, he made the big time, the thing that he’s been going for his entire life, to be recognized. Well he got that. All he had to do was play the racist to the hilt and he’s golden. Oh wait, he wasn’t playing, he is racist to the hilt, he had success, people talk about him, his name is recognized around the world. His supporters like that he’s a racist moron, just like them, and his haters all know his name. His life doesn’t get better than this, never has, never will. And he can’t game out tough calls or convoluted possibilities. What you see is what you get with shitforbrains.

  225. 225.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: My undergrad was building a new rec center when I was in school, so my best friend and l climbed on top of it in January (in Wisconsin, mind you) to be the first people to drink on the roof.  I doubt college students have changed too much.

  227. 227.

    jc

    “Trump will lose.”

    Sorry, at this point I wouldn’t put *anything* past Team Trump. For example, in October, Joe Biden mysteriously contracts Covid-19, or some other serious malady. Just out of the blue, no one knows how it happens, but bizarrely, it will be perfectly timed to throw the election to Trump.

  229. 229.

    BellyCat

    There has NEVER been a boat parade for Joe Biden!

    Do I hear the sound of the trusty old Rotating Tag Line generator firing up?

  230. 230.

    Jinchi

    @Brachiator: But in 2016, pollsters got it wrong because of their wrong assumptions about who were likely voters.

    Polls were pretty spot on in 2016. They had Clinton ahead by 1-3 points in the last month. She won the popular vote by two. Trump won the electoral vote by just barely squeaking over the line in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan and that was just 10 days after Comey dropped his bombshell. There’s simply no way polls could catch that.

    Polls always showed Trump disturbingly close in 2016. It was the political commentariat that assumed Clinton couldn’t lose.

  231. 231.

    Amir Khalid

    I’m pouting a bit right now because Liverpool failed to put their chances away today, and let visitors Burnley grab an equaliser in the second half. 1-1. Pout.

  234. 234.

    Miss Bianca

    @Quiltingfool: At this point, I’m actually rooting for Roger Stone to commit suicide by throwing himself out a window after first shooting himself in Nixon’s face 5 or 6 times.

  235. 235.

    catclub

    @Amir Khalid: I think the number is actually 864511320, which means: 86 Trump on 11/3/2020.

     

    Neat,

    another number to keep in mind – like Appomattox day.

  236. 236.

    Just Chuck

    @MattF: As Lisa Simpson would say: “Prayer, the last refuge of a scoundrel.”

    (The original said “Patriotism”.  Often apropos, but not for Stone.)

  237. 237.

    Calouste

     

    @Kay: So is Romney going to go through on this and draw the conclusion that the best thing he can do in his power to stop this unprecedented historic corrupt president is to not confirm any nominations this unprecedented historic corrupt president makes, specially not judges? Yeah, me neither.

  238. 238.

    Just Chuck

    @jc: If something happens to Biden, his running mate will automatically assume the top of the ticket, name another running mate, and voters will come out in droves to elect her to honor Biden’s memory if nothing else.  It would probably increase turnout.  They would do that anyway if it were to happen before the convention and another candidate got the nom, but there would certainly be far more chaos.

    It’s not in the Constitution, but that really only cares that there is a candidate with a running mate, not the mechanics of nomination, which have varied drastically over the ages anyway.

    There’s certainly sticky bits like ballots that still name the deceased candidate, but the electors are going to name the actual living candidate anyway.  And if it were challenged, the Supreme Court is unlikely to make a ruling that would probably result in mass insurrection, the end of the USA, and their possible incarceration or worse should they find themselves on the wrong side of history.

  239. 239.

    Wolvesvalley

    On the late night thread, Trollhattan mentioned the new comet. I wanted to share this gorgeous photo of it from today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day.

  240. 240.

    Timurid

    @raven: That was me. Toilet leaks slightly from one spot near the front after being flushed. I’m guessing the ring might be cracked there. The leaks vary quite a bit in frequency and intensity, probably because of variations in the ambient water pressure (this is an old building, and there have been periodic issues with tree roots growing into the pipes outside and causing back pressure). So far it’s simply a nuisance, I can just leave a sponge by the spot and it easily catches any water. Sometimes it doesn’t leak at all (currently over 24 hours since last leak).

    In normal circumstances I’d just call the plumber, but I’m not excited about having people working in my apartment as we’re ramping up to a pretty hot outbreak. So I’m wondering if there’s any simple interim fix (I have no DIY plumbing experience) and if this will likely stay just a nuisance or get worse if it’s left alone.

  242. 242.

    Just Chuck

    @Timurid: Replacing the wax ring on a toilet is messy and smelly work, but really quite easy.  You could also try putting some silicone caulk around the base of the toilet.

    Still, it seems easy enough to socially distance from the plumber and clean any surfaces when they leave.  The plumber needs work too.

  245. 245.

    jc

    @Just Chuck:  I’m just convinced that Trump has decided that if he can’t win, he won’t let anyone else win either. At this point I expect the post-election months to be a total meltdown of the process — ballots will go missing by the thousands, votes will be blocked, the counts in several states will go haywire, etc.

  246. 246.

    Just Chuck

    @Ken: Good point, though if the floor is linoleum it’s unlikely to cause any damage.  Would get worse if the ring ended up cracking more though, which it will.  And it’ll smell.

  247. 247.

    NotoriousJRT

    @Gvg: He will pardon himself – either directly or by pardoning all his partners in crime. He doesn’t think he needs Pence, and I’m not sure he does.

  248. 248.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @NotoriousJRT: I’d bet a large amount of money that the pardons of himself and his family members and several others are drafted, maybe even signed, and stored in a safe place.

  249. 249.

    Another Scott

    @Punchy: It’s really hard to predict what will happen with him, especially now.

    We know he craves his Nuremberg rallies.  He’s so defeated when he can’t go, or when they’re tiny compared to his expectations.  I think he’s going to be hurting when the GOP convention is either cancelled, turned into a bunch of clips on YouTube, or has tiny attendance.

    We know that he’s prone to rash decisions.  We know he wanted to back out of picking Pence to be his VP.  I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there are rumors of him resigning starting up around mid-late August (the GOP convention is Aug 24-27) if he can’t get his rally fix.  But then there will be people walking it back, calling it fake news, and all the rest.

    A lot will depend on what else happens with the state lawsuits.  We know that Donnie is desperate to avoid prosecution.  Perhaps his lawyers are working on Agnew 2.0 – resigning in exchange for avoiding prison for various crimes.

    We’ll see.

    In the meantime, we need to stick to our game plan – fighting for every seat.  We can only control what we do, and the circumstances have never been more favorable, and more important, for big Team D swings everywhere.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  251. 251.

    Just Chuck

    @NotoriousJRT: I’m reasonably sure that the power of pardoning doesn’t apply to the one granting the pardons.  Pulling a Nixon would be his best bet, though Ford only did that after he was elected.  And since since a pardon is an admission of guilt, it would work state AGs into a frenzy of prosecutions.

  252. 252.

    catclub

    @Just Chuck: Ambrose Bierce went on to write something along the lines of:   ‘Not to impugn  an inferior lexicographer, but I daresay it is the first’ … refuge of a scoundrel.

     

    The inferior lexicographer was Dr. Johnson.

  253. 253.

    Just Chuck

    @Timurid: I’m no plumber, but I’m thinking if the ring is cracked, the crack is likely to slowly widen.  The rings do need replacing every 20 years or so.

  254. 254.

    catclub

    @NotoriousJRT: or by pardoning all his partners in crime.

     

    If you pardon the partners but not yourself, they can be forced to testify, and no longer have the 5th amendment to use to refuse.

    I see no reason he will not pardon himself.  Is there black letter law in the constitution forbidding it? If not, he will.

  255. 255.

    Just Chuck

    @catclub: The Constitution doesn’t mention restrictions on the power of pardons, but much like Habeas Corpus, it’s just mentioned by name without a definition.  The definitions are in the Common Law, and the (relative) supremacy of common law is definitely part of the Constitution.  I suspect there’s even precedent forbidding it, but Dog knows I’m not even a paralegal.

  260. 260.

    catclub

    @Just Chuck:

    I suspect there’s even precedent forbidding it, but Dog knows I’m not even a paralegal.

    I ‘m not even a quadrilegal, but the common law might say that Trump asking for political favors from Ukraine, in return for delivery of promised US support and equipment is a crime. and you know where that got us.

    I seriously doubt anyone previous has been shameless enough to even try it. So if there were any precedent, it would be well known.
    But he will.

    The closest precedent i can think of is appointing oneself to an open senate seat. Frowned upon but not illegal.

  262. 262.

    Quiltingfool

    @catclub:  I know, I know! Putin don’t give a shit what dirty secrets of his are exposed – at least for now. Still, the less folk around to blab, the better for him. What will his world look like when Trump isn’t around, I wonder?

    As I said above, I read too much fiction!

  263. 263.

    Just Chuck

    @catclub: True, but the process for indictment and trial was tainted from the start.  The latter anyway, though they did their damnedest to sandbag the former.  And the only reason we had to do that was the extremely dubious OLC claim that POTUS is above the law.  T will have no such protection once he’s out of office, and remember, a pardon will dig him in even deeper among the states that are out for his blood.

  264. 264.

    Quiltingfool

    @hueyplong: See!  I said I read too many spy/mobster books!  And movies, too!  I’ve got to remember fiction isn’t real life – but nowadays, who can tell?  Lol!

  266. 266.

    Just Chuck

    @Quiltingfool:

    Putin don’t give a shit what dirty secrets of his are exposed

    I suspect for some of them he does.  Some of his secrets might involve Russian oligarchs who don’t like being double-crossed.  And I imagine he’s done that a few times.  For the ones he keeps loyal, there will be new targets for sanctions –which are probably coming back with a vengeance in 2021 anyway.

  267. 267.

    Brachiator

    @Matt McIrvin: 

    The Trojan Horse story isn’t in the Iliad. That covers a short period in a different part of the war. It gets recapped in the Odyssey, because Odysseus was involved.

    True enough. I should have included it with the other lost works. The Aeneid was still influential after the decline of Rome and this and other commentaries shaped how Ulysses was viewed.

  268. 268.

    satby

    @catclub: people like him, yelling when no one even asked him to wear a mask, are the people who get belligerent with workers they think can’t fight back. Plus one of the people he was with is an open carry nut.

    Hard nope. Just rooting for injuries in these kinds of folks now.

  269. 269.

    WaterGirl

    @Timurid:

    So it is likely to get gradually worse if left alone?

    I can answer that without even knowing the details, or being even the slightest bit handy.

    If it has anything to do with water, the answer is absolutely yes.  In all caps, bolded and red, flashing.

  270. 270.

    Another Scott

    @SFAW: I don’t expect him to resign either, but if he did I would expect it before the election.

    One of his bigly insults is “Loooser”.

    He doesn’t want to be a loser.  He will do all he can to prevent that (talking up the cheating by the illegals, Xi working for Biden, etc., etc.), but if it’s a blowout then nobody will give that the time of day.

    So, November 2 at the latest.

    “You can’t fire me, I QUIT!!”

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  271. 271.

    Wolvesvalley

    @Just Chuck: It depends on who the omen is for. A comet appeared before the Battle of Hastings. The Normans decided it was an omen of doom for the English. They were right.

    I’d like to think this one is an omen for Trump.

  274. 274.

    trnc

    @zhena gogolia: You have an information bubble other than BJ?
    The only one I have is academics. They were all “but her e-mails.” Now they’re too preoccupied with Covid male to say anything about Biden.

  275. 275.

    trnc

    @Suzanne: Mr. Suzanne, who is usually right about these things, says that Trump is not going to quit, but just go all-in on golf, Twitter, and trips to Maralago. He says he thinks the presidency is just going to be nothing but pardons for cronies and vacations once he realizes that he’s lost, and that he won’t do anyThing having to do with the job.

    So, no change from the current status.

  276. 276.

    ColoradoGuy

    I kind of wonder if he doesn’t get his human-sacrifice convention (people risking death for him is a big attraction), he might just quit out of rage at the entire Republican party. He’s always despised the party; it’s just a means to an end for him. He accurately sees the entire GOP as the biggest bunch of cowards on the planet.

    He doesn’t care about his base, either; he cares about getting his way, and when he doesn’t get it RIGHT NOW, someone else must take the blame. Above all else, he expects loyalty, and a cancelled, or virtual convention, would be the biggest flop imaginable.

    He is asking the governor of the afflicted state to go over the waterfall with him; it’s a matter of loyalty to him personally. Is the governor willing to crash their entire medical system out of loyalty, knowing it will not be returned?

  277. 277.

    SFAW

    @Another Scott:

    I don’t expect him to resign either, but if he did I would expect it before the election.

    Never happen. He will never conclude that he’s going to lose the election. He still believes everyone loves him, except for people who are vote fraudsters, and therefore he’ll win

    ETA: Even if he loses in a landslide, he will not accept it until the Kavanaugh Court tells him no — and even then ….. He’ll cry and scream and stamp his tiny feet, and use whatever tools of power he can to prevent Biden from getting inaugurated. IF we could be guaranteed that his reaction to getting stomped would NOT jeopardize the country and citizens, if would be fun to watch him  melt down. But he and his enablers will fuck us over however they can, unfortunately.

  278. 278.

    SFAW

    @ColoradoGuy:

    He doesn’t care about his base, either; he cares about getting his way, and when he doesn’t get it RIGHT NOW, someone else must take the blame.

    Absolutely.

    Is the governor willing to crash their entire medical system out of loyalty, knowing it will not be returned?

    Abbott, DeSantis, Kemp — YES

    Ducey — Maybe

    Sunununununuuuuu — Probably yes, but keeping his own ass safe

  279. 279.

    J R in WV

    @Punchy:

    I’m beginning to wonder if Trump will straight-up quit some time in Sept, under the condition (somehow) that New Prez Pence pardon all his (soon-to-be-revealed) tax crimes. If hes going to lose, and I think he knows it, why not grab the get outta jail card ahead of time?

    I think the only way it work for Trump is for Trump to write a very brief resignation letter, undated and unsigned, and then to instruct Mike Dense to write and date a pardon, dated that evening, after receiving that “postdated” pardon, Trump signs his resignation, with pardon in hand.

    Just the two of them in the Oval Office… no one could ever prove anything, in fact what would there be to prove???~!!!

    Only question: Is Mikey dumb enough to fall for that? and I dunno!!

  280. 280.

    Another Scott

    In an interview with the New York Times, Elaine Duke, a lifelong Republican who was acting secretary of homeland security for four months in 2017, says that President Trump brought up the idea of selling Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.https://t.co/Guxt9rmPSS

    — Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) July 11, 2020

    Because, of course he did.

    Grr…

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  284. 284.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    “At the rate we are seeing increases in cases, it’s becoming harder to imagine bringing our campus community back in the way we are envisioning,” the letter adds.

    Officials said the infections were related to social events where students failed to physically distance, wear face masks, limit event size and gather outside.

    Am I the only person in the country who thinks that frat boys who endanger every student at their University should probably be expelled right away, before they endanger other people’s lives?

    Sent home with their shit, locks changed on the frat houses, frats closed down for good, no hearings, no possibility of “reinstatement” just over forever!

  287. 287.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Another Scott: surely some smart people on the Biden campaign can figure out how to get that message out among the Puerto Rican community in FL

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