Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Battle won, war still ongoing.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Everybody saw this coming.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

You cannot shame the shameless.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

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

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

You are here: Home / Politics / Education / Late Night Open Thread: Trump’s Malign Pandemic Neglect Kills College Football; GOP Complains Indignantly About the Corpse

Late Night Open Thread: Trump’s Malign Pandemic Neglect Kills College Football; GOP Complains Indignantly About the Corpse

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The GOP Death Cult doesn’t give a shite about the unpaid gladiators; they just want their Base to stay diverted. Per the Washington Post:

… Trump is widely popular in many states where college football is a cultural touchstone, including the Deep South and parts of the Midwest, and he has called for the on-time and in-person reopening of schools throughout the pandemic. The president on Monday joined other congressmen in supporting players’ calls to play on, though they did not initially address the players’ other message, in support of forming a union…

Reader Interactions

71Comments

  2. 2.

    Jerzy Russian

    The Mountain West conference has postponed all fall sports.  It won’t be long until everyone else does the same thing.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    Rep. Jim Jordan

    @Jim_Jordan

    America needs college football.

    Gym Jordan is …probably not the best person to be visibly demanding the return of college sports. I mean, better him than Dennis Hastert, but it’s a close call.

  7. 7.

    JCJ

    Five B1G athletes with myocarditis is really scary.  I don’t know how many athletes there are in the Big Ten, but I would guess around 1400 footballers (14 teams x 100 players) so maybe 4000 total?  1 in 800 cases of myocarditis is frightening.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    In March, the NBA shutting down was an important factor in convincing lots of people that this was real, not a joke, etc. Sadly, I don’t think college football doing the same is going to have the same effect; that ship has sailed and all of the Easy Rider cosplayers at Sturgis (for instance) aren’t going to change their behavior.

  17. 17.

    prostratedragon

    So relieved to hear that B1G was cancelling –sorry it took something as serious as myocarditis to bring it about, even after some huge fraction of the MSU team came down with the virus. Now we’ll see what them others do.

    One of the universe of things his supporters have just glided on by is the way he destroyed the USFL largely because of his dishonesty and pissy attitudes. And as the story is often told, he didn’t even really care about the league as such, only about using it as a wedge into the NFL —which arguably he also didn’t care about beyond the bragging rights and power he thought it would give him.

  18. 18.

    Kent

    The silver lining is that I’m going to have lots of fun on FB this week explaining to my rural MAGA relatives in MI and PA how Trump fucked up so badly that now they don’t get to watch Michigan and Penn State play this fall.

  21. 21.

    brantl

    I really can’t feel bad about not being able to send people to college, and then having them ram their heads together. I don’t think that is what college is supposed to instill in students.

    Having said this plainly and simply, I am now wondering who will contort this into my being a Nazi/White Supremacist Apologist.

  23. 23.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Mike Pence @Mike_Pence · 4h
    America needs College Football! It’s important for student-athletes, schools, and our Nation. These Great athletes have worked their whole lives for the opportunity compete on the college gridiron and they deserve the chance to safely get back on the field! #WeWantToPlay

    He’s heard the rumors about trump wanting to replace him, so he’s starting to tweet like trump, starting with Random capiTals!

  24. 24.

    brantl

    I want a t-shirt that says America needs College Football like college students need repetitive concussions

  30. 30.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kent: I knew it was going to hell when Michigan v THE Ohio State University was in the middle of the season.

  31. 31.

    cain

    @dmsilev:

    Essentially if any of these assholes want to ever hit a stadium and watch sports or watch it on TV – they better get with the program.

  32. 32.

    Quinerly

    @Alison Rose: I just got in a “dust up” with someone I didn’t know in the comments section on FB of a local Eastern NC newspaper. She was “screaming” Obambi. Others were “screaming” Obummer. Yes, they talk like that. And, yes, I shouldn’t have gotten out of the boat.

  38. 38.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Geoduck: I would not put it past Trump to try and steal Biden’s thunder by immediately just declaring Nikki Haley (or more fantastically, Ivanka or maybe Laura Ingraham) is his new VP choice.

  40. 40.

    cain

    @MisterForkbeard:

    I would laugh my ass off – since Pence would be out in the cold – with nothing to show for it. Plus Trump will fucking kick his ass if even thinks about entering politics again.

  41. 41.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Yutsano: Sad that the problem began six years ago with an indecisive government and a whole lot of ammonium nitrate and ended with this one.  If Hariri gets back in power, that will be a travesty because his government didn’t act either to address the ammonium nitrate storage/disposal issue.

  43. 43.

    Yutsano

    @Amir Khalid: @Felanius Kootea: I hope Hariri doesn’t get back in. He was a disaster the last time around. And if he doesn’t get hounded out of office himself would give Bibi the green light to start attacking. Unless Israel actually learns restraint here.

    I’ll be more sad if the tripartite government falls here. Majority rule caused the civil war last time and that’s the very last thing that needs to happen here. There is the extreme option: that France retake control of Lebanon. That just seems like a bigger problem waiting to happen to me.

  44. 44.

    LesGS

    @HumboldtBlue: Ha! (But cinnamon with beef is pretty yummy. One of our family faves is Greek stifado, a beef/onion stew with cinnamon as one of the major seasonings.)

  46. 46.

    LeftCoastYankee

    It’s not at all surprising.

    One of the “funnier” things in the last few weeks was an NFL trade between Seattle and the NY Jets, where Seattle sent a bunch of high picks for this year’s draft to the Jets for a star safety.

    All the pundits declared that Seattle was stupid and desperate (particularly  because they didn’t sign the new player to a long term deal).

    Seattle implied they didn’t think there would be a college football season this year, so the draft would either be canceled or a crap-shoot on players who hadn’t played in a year.  Given their wait and see approach on the contract they seem to have the idea the NFL season is possibly unlikely as well.

    What is “funny” is it will likely be many moons before the football pundit intelligentsia grasps what their calculus was.

    Also, too as a childhood NY Giants fan, the Jets are always “funny”.  No surprise their owner is a MAGAT.

  49. 49.

    Joey Maloney

    @Geoduck: The Lincoln Project should wait until after the GOP convention, when the slate is set, and then go after Pence like they did Parscale. See if they can get Trump to drop Mikey after the ballots are pinted.

  50. 50.

    VOR

    @Joey Maloney: just need to convince Trump of the money making potential. After all, the MAGAts will have to buy new T-shirts, bumper stickers, flags, and other merchandise with the new name.

  51. 51.

    Martin

    @Joey Maloney: One of the benefits of Lincoln Project is they’re really showing Dems how to run negative ads against Republicans.  Both how quickly they produce them, but also their focus on using them to change Trumps behavior – such as demoting Parscale.

  52. 52.

    Chyron HR

    “We’re going to beat the Vagina Virus by pretending it doesn’t exist!”
    “Sir, all professional and college sports have been cancelled indefinitely.”

    “PRETEND HARDER!”

  53. 53.

    ThresherK

    Six days ago a headline I noticed

    UConn first major college team to cancel season due to Covid-19.

    As a lifelong Nutmegger, I must observe that the word major is doing a lot of lifting in that sentence.

    (Every conference planned to go conference-only, and UConn is unaffiliated Div I-AA this year. So it was only natural that UConn decided to stop very early in the process. Very glad they stopped.)

  54. 54.

    Ian

    @Felanius Kootea:

    The alternative to Hariri is Hezbollah.  I’m not sure the word travesty means what you think it means in this case for the half of the population of Lebanon.

  56. 56.

    SFAW

    @Quinerly: 

    I just got in a “dust up” with someone I didn’t know in the comments section on FB of a local Eastern NC newspaper. She was “screaming” Obambi. Others were “screaming” Obummer. Yes, they talk like that. And, yes, I shouldn’t have gotten out of the boat.

    Now, now, I think you should have tried to “meet them halfway,” in order not to alienate them from (possibly) voting for Joe Biden. One possible response to help them: “Only a racist fucking moron who hates America would say something as stupid and racist as you fucking morons keep typing. If having a positive IQ were a requirement for being able to breathe, you racist fucks would have self-asphyxiated — oops, I mean ‘self-ass-fix-ee-ate-ed’ (not that you moronic fucks know what that means) — a long time ago, and America (and the world!) would be a better place. Have a nice day!”

    You see how easy it is? I bet it would turn them into Biden supporters in an instant. Either that, or (one hopes) induce a stroke in their teeny-tiny “brains.”
    I think the Truth and Retribution Commission should also have a look at Rethug voters, to make examples of them.

  58. 58.

    SFAW

    @LeftCoastYankee:

    the Jets are always “funny”

    As a longtime Jets AND Giants fan: fuck you.

    That said: I thought you Demon-rats were supposed to show compassion for the less fortunate. You think it’s easy rooting for a team with a moron owner who keeps hiring moron GMs? I sometimes fantasize that Johnson and the Wilpons get struck by the same bolt of lightning.

    One of the other interesting features of that Seattle deal: the Seahawks were likely going to finish well above .500 for the next few seasons, so the “genius” draft-picks deal wasn’t quite so useful. On the other hand, I hear the Jets could pick up JaMarcus Russell and Ryan Leaf for pennies on the dollar. Maybe Brian Bosworth. Or Vernon Gholston (wait a minute …)

    And don’t get me started on letting Belichick slip away. [Although it’s not clear that he would have had the same freedom that Kraft gave him, thus ensuring failure.]

  59. 59.

    Ken

    @Adam L Silverman: @Sister Golden Bear: Has anyone done a card for more blatant health violations?  “I am exempt from any ordinances requiring use of a toilet when defecating” perhaps, with the small print indicating that restaurant tables, sidewalks, and the courthouse steps are all valid alternatives.

  60. 60.

    SFAW

    @Amir Khalid:

    When it comes to governance, Lebanon is sadly not blessed with a deep bench.

    Reminds me of the ancient gag:

    “The food here is TERRIBLE!”

    “I know, and the portions are so SMALL!”

  61. 61.

    Ken

    @JCJ: I wouldn’t think all the Big Ten athletes have had covid, so the ratio of cases leading to myocardial damage is much higher. That would be consistent with what’s been seen in studies.

  62. 62.

    Barbara

    “We will do and say anything except whatever it takes to solve the problem.” They all talk like the president apparently thinks, that the response to the problem – more testing, reducing contact including contact sports – is the real problem. It is just bizarre.  Going out on a limb to suggest college football players need their health more than the rest of us need to see them on the field. Even if we had exhibited competence on a par with Germany, it’s not clear football would be in the cards.

  63. 63.

    lethargytartare

    @Msb: they’re not.  they’re balancing lost revenue against potential lawsuit settlements and have temporarily decided the latter is the potentially larger number.

  64. 64.

    Butter Emails

    @Martin:

    One of the benefits of Lincoln Project is they’re really showing Dems how to run negative ads against Republicans.  Both how quickly they produce them, but also their focus on using them to change Trumps behavior – such as demoting Parscale.

    The main value in the Lincoln Project is that they can run adds that attract massive media attention without getting raked over the coals by the media for running them. There are plenty of groups that can make good attack, they just wouldn’t (and don’t) get any media attention. There are a few groups and the official campaign who could run adds and get media attention, but it would all be tone policing and fainting couches from the media. The Lincoln Project is a Republican group so they get to play by the media’s Republican Rules. The media applies no standard and gives them time.

  66. 66.

    SFAW

    @burnspbesq:

    ‘There is only one good football team in East Rutherford: the Becton Regional Wildcats.

    Fortunately, the Jets play at Shea, which is in Queens.

  68. 68.

    chopper

    my god, the food at this buffet of consequences doesn’t taste good at all! and such large portions!

  70. 70.

    EthylEster

    Little Marco never fails to fail. I’m mean, the guy is worthless.

    I say: Footballers, you have already embraced a sport that is known to cause brain damage. Don’t let a stupid and tiny weak-assed virus prevent you from playing the game you (and all REAL Americans) love! Just walk off those injuries to your heart/lungs and get back in the game.  Otherwise, the libs win!

  71. 71.

    EthylEster

    @JCJ: 1 in 800 cases of myocarditis is frightening.

    The football concussion rate is much higher than that. Yet that is evidently not frightening (enough).

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