Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

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

Not all heroes wear capes.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

The revolution will be supervised.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

We will not go back.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Republican Convention Thread – Part Two

Reader Interactions

123Comments

  4. 4.

    Mike in NC

    Jennifer Rubin is already dissecting the shitshow. Expect to see some hilarious reactions in the media tomorrow.

  6. 6.

    Ken

    My only view of the proceedings was through the Balloon Juice comments.  Did Trump ever speak tonight? I thought his plan was to appear all four nights. We also seemed to get a lot of the previously-announced guest speakers.

    Theory which fits those facts: Trump crashed after his appearance this afternoon and they couldn’t get him functional in time for tonight, so they filled in his time with a lot of taped segments that were supposed to be shown Tuesday.

  10. 10.

    Mary G

    O/T, but so funny:

    New Liberty University statement: "Jerry Falwell, Jr. agreed to resign as its President and from its Board of Directors, but following media reports about the resignation, withdrew it."— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) August 25, 2020

  13. 13.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    OK, got the answer to my question about where they’re filming this.  It’s the Mellon Auditorium on Constitution Ave. in between the two wings of the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building.  So I assume the RNC is renting the Mellon Auditorium(it’s Federal property, but if available for rent).

  16. 16.

    laura

    @Ken: Yes he did. Imagine an audition for a game show at the mall – not the fancy one, the old mall. Trump as mc who may have been a prominent local personality way back in the day but now reduced to doing public appearances for the per diems, with 3 or 4 lucky random shoppers roped into teo panels for a brief quiz about some random bullshit for the chance to win an ice chest. So yeah, he spoke tonight and WhoooWee, it was something.

  19. 19.

    Kent

    I’m on the road heading home from a CA college visit road trip with my daughter. We caught the first hour on the radio on NPR.

    Good lord, was that Trump mistress Guilfoyle as utterly unhinged as she sounded on the radio?

  20. 20.

    Yutsano

    So I was watching Tim Scott talking while I was eating dinner but I couldn’t hear him. As I predicted, he didn’t even have the charisma of two wet sponges in a dirty sink. Fortunately I couldn’t hear him except for the Jeebusy parts.

    EDIT: OMG the sweeping angles when Scott was speaking! Nice try to make it look live.

  23. 23.

    Ken

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: OK, enough of the speakers mentioned COVID tonight that they’re at least aware of it, no matter how delusional they are about the federal response.  And they’ve still all traveled to a city to film their segments, all in the same room?

    I didn’t watch, could anyone tell if the speakers had an audience?  If so, they’re idiots. If not, why rent an auditorium?

  31. 31.

    Yutsano

    Now I’m watching clips of Rachel, Nicolle, and Joy Ann. GOD a weekend show with these three would be amazing!

  33. 33.

    laura

    @WaterGirl: kind of. He allowed groups of many peoples to adore him. They were common clay from various walks of life. Totally normal man of the people stuff trump is known for. All done in the White House. He riffed on the usual menu of grievances. Do not believe he asked anyone’s name. First group was essential workers, the second was hostages released due solely to his awesomeness doing deals with authoritarians and such like.

  34. 34.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Ken: They all traveled to DC.  There were a couple of segments that were taped in other locations(the drunk lawyers from St. Louis and the beekeepers), but most were taped at the Mellon Auditorium.  I thought the convention was supposed to be in Charlotte away from the DC swamp.

  35. 35.

    Ken

    @mrmoshpotato: Depends who you talk to. The Trump cult hasn’t mastered doublethink yet, so you’ve got some people stuck with the February “it’s a hoax” lies, and some in the March “it’ll disappear in summer” lies, and so forth.

  37. 37.

    Jeffro

    @Mary G: withdrawing your resignation to own the libs!

    Except…they’ll make him resign anyway.

    Or just ask him, “Sir…how exactly do you expect to lead this institution with a straight face after, um, er, peeking out from a closet as your wife gave her boy toy grief about seeing women other than her?”

  42. 42.

    Ken

    @laura: OK, so there were some taped segments with Trump, but he didn’t actually make a speech tonight.  I’m sticking with my theory at comment 6.

  43. 43.

    Jeffro

    @Ken: Makes sense!

    • it’s all the fault of the Chinese…except they’re great, buying our soybeans and giving my daughter trademarks!
    • Biden’s totally senile and also an evil liar and also a puppet of the left and China loves him, except they love me, no wait…
    • I love Black people and also want to ban them from the suburbs!

    And on and on and on…it must be exhausting, keeping up with the Daily Message(s)

  51. 51.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Fat Timmy Dolan offered a prayer to this sloppy mess? Even now, the politics of the Catholic Church fascinate me. I’m sure Francis would like to send him to a comfortable monastery up around the Alpine lakes. One thing that was sometimes interesting about Tweety, he knew something about the factions in the upper reaches of the Vatican, he and EJ Dionne had a few interesting conversations about it around the time of Benedict’s abdication. Throw Charlie Pierce in there and it could be some interesting television

  54. 54.

    Jeffro

    Jen Rubin, already firing on all cylinders: I Was Promised Optimism!!

    The white supremacy was barely disguised as 26-year-old Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA and Students for Trump said Trump is the “the bodyguard of Western civilization.” Let me translate: Anyone who is not a White American is foreign, alien and “the other.”

    Robert P. Jones, chief executive of Public Religion Research Institute and the author of “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity,” tells me that “references to saving or protecting ‘Western civilization’ are commonly used as a euphemism for White culture or identity by white supremacist groups,” which he noted has been documented by both the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Once you ask the question, ‘Saving or protecting Western civilization from what?’ the meaning becomes fairly clear.” He explains: “This language — captured also in the ‘Make America Great Again’ rhetoric — is about preserving an ideal of a White Christian America, protecting it from the changing culture and demographics in the U.S.”

  56. 56.

    laura

    @different-church-lady: I don’t think there’s a quarter of a chance that tonight will reflect well on any of the participants. All that was missing was the skree skree violin sounds for emphasis as each horriblized about a socialist radical Biden administration.

  64. 64.

    James E Powell

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    I saw something on twitter that the Biden campaign was angry that the networks broadcast it live. More free air time for Trump. I guess they just can’t help themselves.

  65. 65.

    Yutsano

    @Sister Golden Bear:  I shared that on Twitter with the Cal peeps I could remember off the top of my head.

    EDIT: I did listen to a (small) clip of Guifoyle speaking. WHY WAS SHE SO SHOUTY???

  66. 66.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Ruckus: the large adult children know their mother accused their father of rape, under oath. They know both of those people. They know what happened. And they spend every moment of their lives trying to earn that man’s affection and approval, desperate to keep the money spigots open. It’s go to take a toll.

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack

    Interesting George Raft movie starting on TCM right now—Nocturne (1946). Stylish semi-noir.

  70. 70.

    West of the Rockies

    Is Vernon Jones a blue dog?  What is his reputation within the Democratic party?  His speech seemed ill-planned if he hopes to remain a solid Dem.  Any thoughts?

  75. 75.

    FlyingToaster

    OT:  Parenting in the “During” time sux.

    Just now, WarriorGirl (who was put to bed an hour and 10 minutes earlier) came downstairs.  The first words out of her gob were, “EWWWW it smells weird”.

    FT/EvilMom:  Yeast.  Baking Bread in oven.  Rising pizza dough on counter.

    WG/PITA: Well, I need Ice and Water and goddamit mom the water is hot.

    FT/EvilMom:  Notice the volume of bubbles in the mixing bowl in the sink?  Second time through tonight.  Learn patience and wait for the cold water.

    WG/PITA: And the lights are still on in the living room…

    FT/EvilMom: Which is where I’m copying 454 gigs of music onto your new computer.  Which you want me to do so that you can synch your phone, right?

    WG/PITA: I was just asking…

    FT/EvilMom: We did put you to bed an hour and ten minutes go, right?  You DO want to be at Zoom camp tomorrow, Right?

    Jeebus.  And in a month she’ll be a teenager.

  78. 78.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Yutsano:

    EDIT: I did listen to a (small) clip of Guifoyle speaking. WHY WAS SHE SO SHOUTY??? 

    Cocaine, cults and uummm……cardio?

  82. 82.

    cain

    @Kent: Good lord, was that Trump mistress Guilfoyle as utterly unhinged as she sounded on the radio?

    Yes.. I keep wanting to respond with giphys of young frankenstein  or some selective shots of the crazy from that movie.

  83. 83.

    TS (the original)

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    It was incredibly basic. All filmed in one room, one backdrop with about 3 different shots of the person. High school film students could do better.

    The shots with trump at the white house had everyone looking like stick figures & trump looked as if he was filmed separately to the rest of them.

    (I watched, I did not listen)

  85. 85.

    Calouste

    So they had Tim Scott and Nikki Haley on tonight, which leaves Ben Carson and Elaine Chao, and then they’re out of PoC, right?

  87. 87.

    TS (the original)

    @Ken:

    I didn’t watch, could anyone tell if the speakers had an audience?

    If there was an audience I didn’t see the cameras show same. i think they were all pre-recorded before it was even decided who would speak when (could be wrong – but that’s how it looked to me).

  88. 88.

    mrmoshpotato

    @TS (the original):

    The shots with trump at the white house had everyone looking like stick figures & trump looked as if he was filmed separately to the rest of them. 

    Manure-filled Soviet Trash 3000?

  89. 89.

    jl

    Good luck, everyone. I’m not touching this stuff with a ten foot pole. I’ll read about the smoking crater of garbage after it’s all over. Only thing I know about tonight, from Josh Marshall’s twitter, is that Don Jr. either was high on something, or his lawyer dropped by to have a serious talk, and Don Jr. realized that the re-election situation is not developing necessarily to their advantage.

    If my the pre-ordained choices for my future life is to live under Trump’s mafia taking all my stuff and threatening me, or Biden Maoist revolutionaries taking all my stuff and threatening me, I’ll just go shop for a do-it-yourself backyard survival shelter kit on the internet. Only question is how deep, 20, 30 40 feet? More?

  90. 90.

    sdhays

    @HumboldtBlue: He has a lot to answer for and he doesn’t get any sympathy from me, but I appreciate that he seems to have enough self-awareness to know how pathetic he is and how vanishingly little the man he devoted his life to gave a shit about him when the going got tough. And there seems, somehow, like there’s possibly some sliver of a soul left in there.

    Maybe it’s how unburdened he seems, how almost relieved he is to have been caught.

  93. 93.

    OGLiberal

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The old retired priest who did Saturday mass at my kids’ church (until he passed away late last year) was all about the gays taking over the Vatican.  Said there was an existential battle for the soul of the church.  Stressed several times that in the priest pedo cases the victims were often teenage boys – ie, this isn’t a pedophilia/sexual assault issue, it’s just a bunch of queer priest and their “boyfriends” trying to turn the church into a gay disco, or something like that.  Wasn’t allowed to flat out say he hated Francis but, yeah, he hated Francis.  Made it clear that he didn’t like “handouts” and was proud of the fact that he grew up in the same neighborhood as Trump.  In our part of NE PA the message probably went over well, in the quarter or less filled church he was speaking to.  He had some interesting and funny stories but not the guy you want if you’re trying to build up a shrinking congregation.  I think that’s the factional divide these days – old school dudes stuck in the pre-Vatican II 50s v. younger folks who the old guys think are social justice gay loving – and often gay! – heretics.  (the pastor of the parish is probably closer to the younger crew’s line of thinking, in part because he has to draw people in, not scare them away). There are young Catholics who are closer to the old dudes but they are more like evangelicals…my wife went to Catholic grade school and high school in the 70s and 80s and these young evangelical-like Catholics are not the Catholics she experienced growing up.

    Me?  I’m an atheist so my wife and I just make sure to tell the kids that sometimes what the priest says is wrong…and sometimes batshit crazy.

  96. 96.

    mrmoshpotato

    @HumboldtBlue: Fuck ’em!  Every single one of these motherfuckers who kept quiet should be crushed by a mountain of their own books.  Including that ratfucking shitstain Rick Wilson!

  100. 100.

    FlyingToaster

    @mrmoshpotato: Shit’s gotta get done.

    @jl:

    Biden Maoist revolutionaries taking all my stuff and threatening me

    Unless your name is Bezos, Gates, Friess, or Adelson, I don’t think the Biden Maoist revolutionaries want your stuff.  Seriously.

  102. 102.

    NoraLenderbee

    @mrmoshpotato: They smell the loser stink coming off Dump and are backing away so it doesn’t land on them. That’s the only reason they’re doing this. No sympathy.

  103. 103.

    TriassicSands

    Thank heaven Trump delivered on his promise of “optimism.” Of course, I don’t have the stomach to watch even a second of this travesty. I’d have to eat anti-emetics like they were M&Ms if I subjected myself to Junior or Tim Scott or “This Country Is Not Racist” Nikki Haley (I can’t watch, but some of the garbage still seeps into my consciousness like raw sewage.) Haley, at home in her little bubble of self-delusion, believes that because she has been successful as a woman of color in a thoroughly sexist, racist political party that means the party is not sexist or racist. It couldn’t mean that the GOP desperately needs a few tokens so they can say “We’re not racist,” and those tokens will do well because they are needed so badly.

    I need to take a half dozen anti-emetics just thinking and writing about this stuff.

    The news today is, as it is every day, filled with Trump’s latest lies (and those of his subordinates). The F.D.A. shockingly “misrepresented blood plasma data.” What a surprise. DeJoy, who really sounds more like he’s just come straight from his latest meeting with the mob boss, continues to lie and pretend and mislead. Headline in the Times: “GOP Mounts Misleading Defense of Trump’s Record.” Defending the indefensible. Don’t look for any truth there.

    @Calouste: 
    Well, apparently, Nobel Prize winner (in Football) Herschel Walker appeared and proclaimed that Trump is not a racist. So, that settles that.

  104. 104.

    HumboldtBlue

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I share the general sentiment but if someone wants to make an honest accounting of their behavior and use it to help Biden/Harris we take it.

    I think the Project Lincoln folks are far more dangerous than Cohen, at least he owned his shit, they have not.

  105. 105.

    CaseyL

    Holy hell, someone on Twitter dug up an interview from 2004 with Gavin Newsom and Kimberly Guilfoyle when he was Mayor of SF and they were married!  She’s, like, an entirely different human being back then.

    Charlie Rose Interview

    I know Newsom went on to have some drug abuse issues, but even with that in mind,  how do you go from Gavin Newsom to Donald Trump Jr.????   Is $15,000/month wages to be Junior’s “girlfriend” enough to blot out the comparison?

  111. 111.

    LeftCoastYankee

    I think Ms. McShouty’s speech was definitely better in the original German, and in black and white.  Mostly white of course….

  113. 113.

    trollhattan

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I figure no matter her bizarre behavior of the moment she continues to serve a purpose: daily, as Gov Gav faces COViD, a borked economy and budget, demonstrations, attacks from Trump and now FIRE he can still take a moment and tell himself, “it could be worse.”

  115. 115.

    trollhattan

    @CaseyL:

    That’s eye-popping. Girl done changed. Does she tell Donny Jr. what a positive thing gheyweddings are?

    Also, Gov Gav before he acquired permanent(?) gravel voice.

  119. 119.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    @CaseyL: I know.  Her evolution is pretty amazing and pretty disgusting (Don Jr.??? JFC!).

  120. 120.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Ken:

    No audience. In retrospect, not even clear that any of the talks were live. I don’t think they were.

    They might have rented the auditorium to do a day’s worth of taping for everybody’s speeches.

  122. 122.

    TS (the original)

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Thanks – maybe they all were – sure looked no different to if they had been taped. Wonder if Rachel knew for sure or was told by the organisers (whoever they might be)?

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