Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

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

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

A consequence of cucumbers

This really is a full service blog.

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

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

You are here: Home / Politics / GOP Death Cult / Chill Grey Dawn Open Thread: Car Ride! Car Ride!

Chill Grey Dawn Open Thread: Car Ride! Car Ride!

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Hat tip, commentor Patricia Kayden:



NYTimes, abandoning the sunk cost of Trump-fluffing:

President Trump sought to dispel any perception of weakness on Sunday with a surprise and seemingly risky outing from his hospital bed to greet supporters even as his doctors once again rewrote the official narrative of his illness by acknowledging two alarming episodes they had previously not disclosed.

The doctors said that Mr. Trump’s blood oxygen level dropped twice in the two days after he was diagnosed with the coronavirus, requiring medical intervention, and that he had been put on steroids, suggesting his condition might be more serious than initially described. But they insisted that his situation had improved enough since then that he could be released from the hospital as early as Monday.

The acknowledgment of the episodes raised new questions about the credibility of the information provided about the commander in chief of a superpower as he is hospitalized with a disease that has killed more than 209,000 people in the United States. With the president determined not to concede weakness and facing an election in just 30 days, officials acknowledged providing rosy assessments to satisfy their prickly patient…

Mr. Trump, who historically hates hospitals and anything related to illness, has been hankering to get released, according to two people close to him, and some aides expressed fear that he would pressure Dr. Conley into releasing him by claiming to feel better than he actually does. But advisers were also troubled by the doctors’ prediction that they might release him on Monday because if they do not, it would signal that the president is not doing as well as indicated. They also worried that a premature return could lead to a second trip to the hospital if his condition worsens…

One reasons he’s liable to stay in the hospital — Things That Are Not Gonna Happen:

Reader Interactions

67Comments

  7. 7.

    Just an observer

    Look at the bright side, folks. For the upside-down Bible jaunt, too MANY innocent folks were attacked, for this one jaunt, only a FEW innocent folks in the SUV were attacked. Of course, if you are among the FEW, I wish you the best healthcare in the world to fight off Covid; and sue Twitler.

  11. 11.

    p.a.

    Would not put it past him that this is a bit of ‘FU’ to the Secret Service for the complaints from them leaked to the media last week.

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    Very impressed by a documentary series found on Prime, The Hitler Chronicles. Because of the sheer amount of relevant archival film presented (including well-preserved color footage) and the contemporaneous sources, both military and civilian and many previously unpublished, dug up and extensively quoted which provide direct, timely context in a most effective manner.

    More than any other Hitler biography, the Chronicles depict everyday European life between 1889 and 1945 in impressive images, many of them in color.
    Based on the most extensive compilation of archive material to date, with almost half of it previously unpublished sources, Hitler’s life is shown in detail against the social backdrop of the first half of the 20th century in a contemporary interpretation. Source

    Trailer.

  13. 13.

    Chyron HR

    If Trump d*es can we get a discount on the “Trump beats Covid” commemorative coins?

  14. 14.

    dopey-o

    If trump returns to the white house monday and suffers a relapse on friday, pence will have to move to the resolute desk and take over.
    this will open the door to a false flag october surprise that trump hopes will swing the november 3rd vote. eric prince must be very busy getting the logistics ironed out

  16. 16.

    mrmoshpotato

    Hear me out.

    Give Dump’s car to Elon Musk (with Dump in it.)

    Musk fires it into outer space.

  17. 17.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Matt McIrvin: how long before Trump insists on appearing in person on the street for another one of those things? This time, spewing virus?

    Has the Soviet shitpile mobster conman set to date for when he wants to shoot someone on 5th Avenue?

  18. 18.

    Gvg

    I dropped my ballot off last night at the special drop box in front of the supervisor of elections office. Will start checking if it’s counted on line, later today. From Florida, straight Democratic votes, and especially Biden. Tiresome Trump has got to go.

  19. 19.

    WereBear

    @NotMax: That sounds great! Thanks, will check it out.

    And I just sorta got my sleep back, and now the Car Ride. A part of me knew the Toddler in Chief would insist on something stupid. It’s what he does, when he’s not doing something cruel. This is both!

  20. 20.

    Bruce K

    New York County now lists my ballot as “arrived”. My vote is in, I consider my courier money well spent, and I’m fine with Trump being in Walter Reed long enough to have to announce his concession from there. I do hope he recovers, because how do I make my pilgrimage to the prison cell where he died if he doesn’t?

  21. 21.

    J R in WV

    I guess the only way to make him stop is for the cabinet to declare him incompetent so that he can no longer give insane orders.

    Because that’s what that was yesterday — an insane man spreading a bioweapon to his own security team. If that isn’t crazy then I don’t know what is! And the Republicans are afraid to do something about it… which makes them pretty crazy too,  as well as stupid!

  22. 22.

    Winston

    A couple of weeks ago, Watergirl made a post about everyone’s favorite 5 movies, based on how many times one had watched it and would one watch it again. It’s taken me this long but here’s the list.

    1. Gettysburg
    2. Lonesome Dove
    3. Avatar
    4. Saving Private Ryan
    5. Return of the King (directors cut)

    Series:
    1. SG1
    2. Battlestar Galactica (redo)
    3. Band of Brothers
    4. Star Wars (9 movies)
    5. Travelers

    You’re welcome. I enjoyed reading everyone else’s selections a lot.

  23. 23.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @JPL: I voted yesterday by absentee ballot. Put it in a drop box to limit the volume the USPS has to handle. There’s a drop box an easy walk from my house.

  24. 24.

    Winston

    Gvg: Still haven’t received mine in Polk County. Hope it arrives today. Now thinking about taking it to Bartow or Winter Haven drop boxes. Both about a 30 minute drive from where I live and 30 minutes back.

  28. 28.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches in a SUV towards Walter Reed

  29. 29.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us

    Like I’ve been saying…we don’t need to worry about whether Trump will leave if he loses because I guarantee you his Secret Service detail is so sick of the guy (possibly that is a literal statement as sad as that is) that they will man haul him to the gates of the White House grounds and throw him outside the gate if he won’t leave. That’s if he survives until then of course.

  30. 30.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    The Americans who don’t listen to science or medicine who think masks are too intrusive, who pack bars, who willfully risk spreading the virus, you are making it worse for all of us. You are extending how long this pandemic will last. And it is tragic to say, many, if not most, of you are taking your cues from the leader of the free world.

    ***

    Sick and in isolation, Mr. President, you have become a symbol of your own failures. Failures of recklessness, ignorance, arrogance. The same failures you have been inflicting on the rest of us.

    – Jake Tapper

    For once the Village isn’t giving them a free pass.

  31. 31.

    wvng

    My sister-in-law received a massive steroid dose as treatment for MS, and the family spent the next month trying to keep her from doing crazy stuff due to the euphoria it caused. Trump is receiving major doses of the steroid dexamethasone.

  33. 33.

    Ruckus

    @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:

    CA ballots supposed to be mailed, well today, Monday. Mine arrived on Sat. I am voting this week and walking it over to the drop box my next day off. Which day depends on the work load. Last week I worked 1 3/4 days. I’ll get a call later today if any new jobs come in. Might work my normal 3 days, might not work at all. This year my take home pay has been, well better than some, but not near what I was hoping so I could retire next year. I’ve been, like many, many others, completely screwed by every republican president this century. And those assholes still get votes. There must be some pretty racist fuckers in this country.

  34. 34.

    JPL

    @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:  Although I requested a ballot, Fulton Cty didn’t send me one for the primary.   I decided not to take any chances.   I was going to vote on the 12th, but since it’s a holiday the lines might be longer.   What ever I do I’ll arrive a half hour before the voting site opens.

  39. 39.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Ruckus: I’ve been wondering how you were doing work wise. I’m back at work, 40 hours, no more OT, which was about 10 hours/week. I would say the body shop biz ( here in the Chicago market) is 75% of pre-covid.  Corp of course, screaming like its our fault. No retirement in my near future either. Ain’t the golden years grand

    Eta: I work for one of the big groups, 600+ shops in the US and Canada.

  40. 40.

    Winston

    @Baud: That’s been the news in Florida for the last few weeks. DiSantis has instructed that no news of school cases be released.

  41. 41.

    PST

    I have a close friend who, like Kevin Drum, is being treated with dexamethasone (among other drugs) for multiple myeloma. He is a physician and an acute observer of his own mental state. He and his doctors have tried to reduce his dex several times, but that always leads to higher diagnostic markers. So he has years of experience with larger and smaller doses. He has described emerging from periods that seem to him to be the equivalent of senile dementia. There was a time when I thought some reporters and commentators were overstating the national security implications of Trump’s illness. He’s a nightmare, of course, but how much worse than usual? Now I realize it’s a lot worse if Trump is starting on a drug regimen that can make even sane and brilliant people like my friend incompetent.

  42. 42.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Winston: I’m not saying these are my top 5, that would require more thought than I’m willing to put in this early in the morning but:

    1. Roman Holiday
    2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
    3. My Cousin Vinny
    4. Rear Window
    5. Goldfinger

    I’d like to list Forgetting Sarah Marshall here because I HAVE watched that a bunch of times. Also, I could have listed From Russia with Love instead of Goldfinger. Or Thunderball.

    I excluded Christmas movies, because there are some that I watch every year out of tradition rather than because they’re super-good movies. That’s the reason Trains, Planes and Automobiles isn’t on this list, though yeah I know it’s technically a Thanksgiving rather than Christmas movie.

    As for series:

    1. Chuck – still like this blog founder favorite show (it’s been streaming free on Amazon Prime).
    2. 30 Rock – most sitcoms steer clear of political humor but this one was hilarious when it took on political tropes. It was also hilarious when it didn’t.
    3. The Expanse
    4. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
    5. Parks and Recreation

    I went years without Netflix because our account was on my wife’s credit card, that card expired, and she never got around to fixing the issue. Then when we cut the cable cord, which saved us $120 a month, I signed us up under the justification that we were saving a bunch of money, but that’s why the made for internet series I listed are mostly Amazon rather than Netflix series.

    I loved Lonesome Dove, the book but have not seen the movie. I should re-read that – it’s been almost 20 years. One fun western I have watched numerous times is Silverado. It’s got an absolutely all star cast: Scott Glen, Kevin Costner, Kevin Klein, Danny Glover, Jeff Goldblum, Brian Dennehy…John Cleese  has a cameo – the list goes on. Just a fun romp of a western.

    As for TV…any show Michael Schur is affiliated with turns my crank – The Office, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place. Also love Schitt’s Creek. I’m watching lots of comedy to counteract the darkness of the times.

    I just discovered that free on Youtube one can watch old episodes of Newhart (the one where he’s a Vermont Innkeeper). The first couple seasons it hadn’t hit it’s stride yet but starting in Season 3, the humor holds up pretty well.

    Also Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry’s adaptation of P.G. Woodhouses Jeeves and Wooster series are free on Youtube and worth a watch.

  44. 44.

    Burnspbesq

    Have we heard from Amir this morning? I’m concerned about his mental state after last weekend’s Premier League events.

  46. 46.

    satby

    @WereBear: My thoughts exactly. Two pool reporters were also diagnosed positive last week, and like about 35% of this country, shit just isn’t real to our “journalists” unless it directly impacts their lives in some way. Now they know he would have (or did) cheerfully expose them too, and that they’re just as disposable as his MAGAt followers to him. And they are outraged.

  48. 48.

    Eural Joiner

    @Winston: my wife and I just found “Travelers” quite by accident and binged the hell out of it. What a great, smart, thoroughly enjoyable series!

  49. 49.

    Ruckus

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Job shop machinist mostly simple stuff or high precision. Little inbetween for me. 6 people including the boss, sort of normal size for what we do. You get bigger you have to have a foreman to have progress. As a former owner of a similar business, slightly different type of machines that did extreme precision, it’s a decent place for me at my age. Good boss, mostly decent crew. My normal work week is 3 days and other than money I’m getting to like not working as much.

    But not working somewhat regular screws with my sleep. It’s 4:30am  here and no, I didn’t just get up. I’m a night owl by nature so when I don’t have an alarm set…..

  51. 51.

    bjacques

    We were somewhere around Walter Reed on the edge of the the parking lot when the dexamethasone began to take hold.

  53. 53.

    Amir Khalid

    Trump’s stupidity and recklessness in the face of the pandemic is nothing new. But by flaunting it like this, he is making a stronger case for voting for Joe Biden that even Biden could.

  56. 56.

    Winston

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: The expanse is great, destined to be on my list, but I limited my selections to the shows that are finished. There is at least on season to come. I also liked Dark Matter, Jupiter Ascending, The Matrix movies, and so many others. It’s really hard to drill down to 5 favorites. There are three Lonesome Dove movies; Return to Lonesome Dove, and Streets of Laredo being the other two, all of which I have watched several times. Streets of Laredo is a tossup with the original. Thanks for you list. I have a lot of time to watch movies and am always looking for recs. ?

  58. 58.

    Winston

    Actually Streets of Laredo is probably the best western ever made. But it’s a three part series, so doesn’t really qualify as a movie. James Garner, Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out, but you should watch Lonesome Dove and Return to Lonesome Dove first. S of L is available on Amazon for 3.99.  Guess what I’m watching the rest of today?

  60. 60.

    charon

    Movies:

    1.  Apocalypse Now Redux (only the redux cut)
    2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
    3. Dr. Strangelove
    4. The Manchurian Candidate (Frank Sinatra/Laurence Harvey/ Angela Lansbury version)

    Series:

    1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    2. Breaking Bad
    3. Battlestar Galactica (redo version)
    4. Revolutionary Girl Utena (it’s an anime)
    5. Cowboy Bebop (another anime)
    6. The Wire
    7. Killing Eve
    8. Westworld
  61. 61.

    artem1s

    The election is over for team Trump. The panic set in and started last week. We aren’t looking at someone trying to save his seat in the oval office anymore. We are looking at someone terrified there will be a political coup in his absence from the WH over the next 48 hours. The October surprise may end up being competing GOP factions trying to take control of the government. The death throes of the Trump administration have begun. Questions for the country and media should now be, who are the factions trying to take control?  Who is in control of the VP right now and who is likely to be whispering in his ears. If Dump doesn’t walk out of WR in the couple of days, the back room machines will make sure the press starts howling for Congress to invoke 25.  I think it could happen as soon as this afternoon now just because Trump panicked and made the doctors paint a rosy picture of a full and speedy recovery.

    Will Barr try to convince the newly sworn in Dence to declare martial law and suspend the elections?
    What is McConnell’s play?  Will he try to install his man in the vacated VP slot? who will that be?
    Never underestimate the Bush Crime Family. What are they planning?  A take over of the RNC? The national party is leaderless too.
    Who is whispering to the Joint Chiefs and National Security Secretary?  Outside of 25th the Nat Sec has authority on national security issues.

    We didn’t have a functioning government before Friday and have no elected official running the WH now.  Why isn’t the press screaming this from the rooftops?  The Parade of the Damned was a temporary distraction but it isn’t going to last long. Isn’t this the real calamity we were fearing for the last 4 years?  Normalcy has been lost down a memory hole and no one knows what they should be doing in a crisis – the Executive Office is leaderless and no one knows who is in charge.  Now imagine if Barr wins control of the reigns of power? Now does it make sense that he isn’t quarantining?

  62. 62.

    Dupe1970

    If I was one of the doctors at Reed I would make sure if Trump is released that he sign the AMA form.

    Against Medical Advice. That way when the inevitable decline happens your hands are clean as they possibly can be.

  63. 63.

    Aziz, light!

    @TS (the original): If Trump ever goes to prison (which I doubt will ever happen), will his Secret Service agents sit on folding chairs outside his cell, or have to stay inside the cell with him?

  65. 65.

    J R in WV

    Trump whispers “But I want to be President for Life!”

    And somewhere, a finger on the Monkey’s Paw flexes!

     

    I am stealing this from a commenter, who’s name I have totally forgotten.

    Anonymous here but well educated and thoughtful Commenter, I’m sorry, please accept my apology!! But it is too good not to appear often in these days of glib eldrich horror.

  66. 66.

    Winston

    Gvg: Still haven’t received mine in Polk County. Hope it arrives today. Now thinking about taking to Bartow or Winter Haven drop boxes. Both about a 30 minute driver from where I live and 30 minutes back.

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