Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

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

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Accountability, motherfuckers.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

The willow is too close to the house.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

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

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

White supremacy is terrorism.

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

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

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

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

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

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

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

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

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Après Moi Le Déluge

Après Moi Le Déluge

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As a bunch of jackals have noted in the comments, Trump’s entered his burn it down phase:

President Donald Trump has ordered his negotiators to halt talks over a new stimulus package, after the two sides have struggled for months to reach a deal.

“I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon.
So that’s everyone working for a living and every small (and large!) business person…and Wall Street’s MOTUs too! who now knows exactly who to blame for every lost job, (and house), venture, next Ferrari or whatever.

Après Moi Le Déluge

Add that to the fact that older Americans are, seemingly, starting to conclude that it’s a bad idea to vote for a man and a party that sees their deaths as a useful response to the coronavirus epidemic and it’s pretty clear that Trump–or at least anyone around him possessed of greater sentience than Barney Frank’s dining room table–doesn’t think he’s going to win.

 

So why not tank the economy? Leave Joe and Kamala with the most ginormous steaming heap of Republican ordure to clean up and hope they choke on it.

 

Also too: the grift will be in ludicrous mode from now to January 20. I’m beginning to suspect that the reason Trump is cancelling ad buys is because he wants to hang on to every dime of campaign cash until the last dog dies.

 

Over the next weeks/months the only thing worse than Trump losing is Trump winning–and that’s waaaaaaaaaaay worse.

 

Image: Albrecht Dürer, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1498.

Reader Interactions

265Comments

  1. 1.

    Splitting Image

    I’m beginning to believe that Donald Trump isn’t the brilliant businessman he was made out to be.

  2. 2.

    bbleh

    Kinda wondering whether the dex has something to do with it — chemical euphoria on top of a sense of nothing left to lose.  Was also surprised by the 180 on the FDA vaccine guidance.

    IIRC candidates can transfer unused campaign funds to themselves.  His grift has always been kinda nickel-and-dime — I mean, hotel rooms? golf cart rentals? — but this would be an 8- or 9-figure score.

  3. 3.

    Betty Cracker

    As I said in that other thread, I’m beginning to suspect Trump is a Biden-Harris campaign operative. I hope he brings the whole trash party down with him.

  4. 4.

    JPL

    trump is using reverse psychology.

    I so want Biden to talk about the stimulus, but the speech is about unity.  fk unity.  At this point I don’t want to be within six feet of a republican.

  5. 5.

    gvg

    @bbleh: I thought his campaign was close to broke?  I’m not sure he has much left to steal, not counting what he got earlier.  I heard that the really rich donors were upset at him canceling the convention, then asking for more money for the second one when ut was getting obvious that one would probably be cancelled too…..

  6. 6.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Betty Cracker: Errrgh. Reminds me of how in 2016 there was a lot of talk about how Trump had been inspired to run by some conversation he had with Bill Clinton, and speculation that it was all part of the Clintons’ brilliant sabotage plan to get Hillary in.

  7. 7.

    jonas

    Trump is cancelling ad buys is because he wants to hang on to every dime of campaign cash until the last dog dies.

    This creates a problem, you see, because a big part of the grift is funnelling campaign cash to various consultants, media outfits, and organizations connected to the campaign who don’t really do anything (or anything well/effective), but have hookers and blow that need paying for. If Trump wants to keep it all to himself, he’s gonna have to fight a lot of other crooks for it. My guess is that Stepien and his people just go “fuck it” and start stripping the wiring from campaign headquarters.

  8. 8.

    West of the Cascades

    Trump is cancelling ad buys is because he wants to hang on to every dime of campaign cash until the last dog dies.

    Gonna need that cash for all the defense attorney bills for the next ten years.

  9. 9.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    It sounds like Trump in his childish rage is going to end up giving Biden the mandate to do what ever he pleases just as long as it fixes the mess Trump made.

  10. 10.

    greenergood

    “I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon. I am completely convinced that he did not write this Tweet – First, there’s no upper-case letter craziness, second, it’s too logical and sort of considered, which convinces me that this has been written by lower-level Hitler Stephen Miller – Jarvanka is too busy dealing with the Trump toddler, and so far every other Trump operative has been diagnosed positive, which leaves Miller, who is from another planet and therefore not susceptible to Covis-19.

  11. 11.

    bbleh

    @gvg: The surprising thing was, they fell behind Biden, but I don’t think they’re broke.  They had like $325 mil on hand a/o 1 Sept., and IIRC they had already cancelled a lot of their ad buys.  I’m sure they’re still spending on people, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve still got 9 figures sitting around, and I bet Trump would see even high 8 figures as a juicy consolation prize.  (“Sad!”)

  12. 12.

    rk

    I’m beginning to regret my wish of him recovering from the virus. True, I’ve wished him to drop dead numerous times, but when he was sick, I didn’t want him to die. Now I wish he’d dropped dead from COVID. I also feel for the first time in my life I should see a shrink. Because none of what I feel makes any sense.

  13. 13.

    debbie

    Trump has canceled Ohio media buys because he says he’s sure to win the state. I’m wondering if this boneheaded move and all the other boneheaded moves discussed here today are really just the drugs talking.

  14. 14.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Betty Cracker: Eh. I think Martin had it in an earlier thread: He’s a narcissistic sociopath on drugs that cause paranoia, mania, and extreme amounts of energy.

    He’s going to make a number of (to rational people) suicidal moves because that’s what he needs to believe as a person and his mind is even more warped by the drugs into huge overconfidence.

    It also has other overtones: It’s a threat to not sign Stimulus unless he wins (3 more months worth of damage to the country) and simultaneously hands Biden an utterly crippled economy, which he hopes Republicans will be able to further sandbag. It makes him the potential hero and rightfully damages his opponent if he loses, and the only casualties are millions of Americans. Pretty much on brand.

  15. 15.

    Ken

    If only we had someone who could plant the idea that he should hold the Barrett nomination hostage too. “I am withdrawing the nomination of Judge Barrett until after the voters re-elect me.”

    He does know she gave him covid, doesn’t he?*

    * Statement may not be factually true as indicated by the “?” mark.

  16. 16.

    randy khan

    I just said this on LGM, but worth repeating here: If, as seems likely, this means there’s no COVID-19 relief bill if Trump loses, it may set up the perfect scenario for killing the legislative filibuster, as you could end up with Republicans trying to block aid legislation needed to keep the economy from going over the edge and that the entire country knows is necessary. The Senate rules are not as suicide pact, so to speak.

  17. 17.

    Martin

    Wall Street has picked their side. Now telling clients that a blue wave would lead to a faster recovery and more jobs.

  18. 18.

    bluehill

    Saw a tweet speculating about McConnell’s strategy. Trumps refusal may cost him the senate, but it may already be a lost cause. So, McConnell will ram through the Barrett nomination as well as other judges and let the economy tank, thinking the repubs can rely on the court to protect them and weakening dem attempts to fix it until the midterms.

  20. 20.

    VeniceRiley

    @bbleh: IIRC candidates can transfer unused campaign funds to themselves. His grift has always been kinda nickel-and-dime — I mean, hotel rooms? golf cart rentals? — but this would be an 8- or 9-figure score.

     

    Since he can’t run again, he obviously fears his creditors more than he fears Tish James.

  22. 22.

    The Moar You Know

    Wall Street has picked their side. Now telling clients that a blue wave would lead to a faster recovery and more jobs.

    @Martin: noticed that starting late last week. They might want to get a lot more vocal about that.

  26. 26.

    debbie

    I wonder if his canning the stimulus talks will have any effect on his base. Not all of them can be prospering economically.

  27. 27.

    bbleh

    @bluehill: Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s exactly what Moscow Mitch is thinking.  These 4 years have been gravy anyway — everybody figured Clinton would win — so I’m guessing they decided about a year ago that they had squeezed everything out they could, except for packing the Judiciary, and they were just gonna ride it out.

    And of course, the worse things are going into a Biden administration, the better for Republicans politically.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    Also a good time to point out that Congress can override Trump on anything if the GOP would stop sucking his dex-infused dick.

  29. 29.

    Jeffro

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:It sounds like Trump in his childish rage is going to end up giving Biden the mandate to do what ever he pleases just as long as it fixes the mess Trump made.

    I think Biden’s going to get sworn in, and walk right over the Capitol with our House and (new) Senate majorities and start signing away.

    Screw it.  Undo everything trumpov ever did in three days, then get blitzed that Friday night ;)

  31. 31.

    Morzer

    FWIW, I think this is just the usual moronic bullying by Trump. This is how he behaved after 2018, it’s how he wrecked his businesses. He really believes that brainless posturing is the way to triumph, despite all the accumulated evidence. It’s possible that the drugs have fed his delusions a little, but they haven’t created any radically new behavior in him.

  32. 32.

    Sab

    @greenergood: Yes that will work. ” I won’t give you what you need and want until after the election when you have proved you supported me. At that point I will be a Constitutionally mandated  lame duck who only acts transactionally. So you have nothing left to trade with me.”

    Doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker, but yeah.

  34. 34.

    Jeffro

    @greenergood: what is the logic here?  “I could help you now, but instead, I will wait until after I’m re-elected”…never mind that if Biden & Co and Dem majorities in the House and Senate are elected, the Covid-19 relief bill will be what, two or three times as large?

    How does this orange moron walk away from a $2T stimulus/relief package IN OCTOBER in an ELECTION HE’S LOSING BY DOUBLE DIGITS???

  35. 35.

    PaulWartenberg

    @debbie:

    either that or he’s received confirmation that his GOP operatives in the state have rigged the results already. >:(
    In which, keep voting. They can’t fake 80 million Biden voters out of existence.

  37. 37.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I thought you could only donate leftover campaign money to other campaigns? I know you can get away with hiring your pals are consultants or whatever and giving them the money for ‘work’ but I thought you yourself were not allowed to hang onto the money. Anyway if I were the cities and towns that he still owes for security expenses etc. I would go after the money with interest and collection costs.

  40. 40.

    Immanentize

    @debbie: I think that his reelection team is telling him that he is cruising to a huge victory in Ohio and on November 3.  He really thinks he is going to beat Biden.  Which is kinda dangerous.

  41. 41.

    Jeffro

    @debbie: this news alone should send every Republican elected official with two brain cells (admittedly, not a large group) running for the hills.

  43. 43.

    NickM

    There are tens of thousands of mostly union employees around airport hubs and larger airports across the country who will know exactly who to blame for the coming layoffs, and they’re going to be painful.  Trump can’t blame the Dems for breaking off talks.  It is so stupid on every level and more so politically. Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis, etc – hubs or huge airports in swing states – it’s going to change votes.  Does he think he can ransom the economy to win the election?

  45. 45.

    HalfAssedHomesteader

    Your periodic reminder that ALL of this — every last bit of it — could have been halted had the Senate Republicans decided to convict him at his impeachment trial.

  47. 47.

    jonas

    @debbie:Trump has canceled Ohio media buys because he says he’s sure to win the state.

    Yeah, but if Biden and Project Lincoln, among others, flood the zone in the meantime, that might change. Particularly if they can drive turnout.

    If they’re abandoning Ohio, it’s not because they’re confident. They’re panicking and triaging, hoping to save states like Florida, Georgia, and NC.

  48. 48.

    MattF

    Yeah, Trump is in a manic phase. One may wonder about his dosage and dosage schedule. OTOH, it may be better to stay ignorant. Note, though, that steroids suppress immune response, so… But, we are all now climbing Mt. WTF and the ambient oxygen is thin up here.

  49. 49.

    Jeffro

    @PaulWartenberg: well, yeah…he probably thinks he’s going to win the popular vote this time, the EC, and has “his” SCOTUS as backup.

    I gotta get me some of this dexywhatever it’s called.

  50. 50.

    randy khan

    @Martin:

    Legislative filibuster is dead if Dems take the Senate. They’ve had a team working on that for weeks.

    I don’t disagree.  But if you wanted a scenario that would help you sell it to the public, Republicans refusing to rescue the economy is about the best you could get.  I’d rather have the legislation now, but the intransigence is a gift.

  52. 52.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jeffro:

    How does this orange moron walk away from a $2T stimulus/relief package IN OCTOBER in an ELECTION HE’S LOSING BY DOUBLE DIGITS???

    I think there’s a clue embedded in your very question…it comes after “orange” and before “walk”…

  53. 53.

    jl

    @debbie: “Trump has canceled Ohio media buys because he says he’s sure to win the state. ”

    Ohio is a toss up now.

    Trump campaign messages such a disaster now, maybe Soros should throw in some $ to keep it going?

  57. 57.

    Captain C

    @bbleh:  And given that he has nine figures worth of debt coming due…

    Though I suspect the kids will try to get their hands on that stash, too.

  61. 61.

    Miss Bianca

    @NickM:

    Does he think he can ransom the economy to win the election?

    Errr…yeah?

    Admittedly, the word “think” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there…

  62. 62.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Betty Cracker: Yes.  Destroying the GOP is the kind of “burn it all down” Wilmerista idea I can get behind.

    Shame it didn’t happen 20, 30, 40 years ago.

  63. 63.

    debbie

    @The Moar You Know:

    NPR just reported that the market dropped 300 points after Trump announced the end of stimulus negotiations. If he pays attention to the market like everyone says he does, wouldn’t he have changed his mind by now?

  65. 65.

    The Moar You Know

    Think Trump is too fucked up AND out of touch to realize “his” party is leaving him for dead on the beach.   Mitch got what he wanted.  They’ll come back in two years demanding to know why that incompetent senile Biden hasn’t fixed everything and probably get the Senate back at that point.  I’ve been seeing this pattern all my life.  Republicans fuck it up, Democrats clean it up.

  66. 66.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

  67. 67.

    Subsole

    @debbie: He’ll tell his base it was pedophile cannibal unwhites moving into the suburbs what done it.

     

    They will allow themselves to believe this, because the alternative is admitting to themselves that they voted for all of this misery out of petty spite.

  69. 69.

    dmsilev

    I have to say, the analogy implied by the post title is grossly unfair to the Bourbons. Trump is, at best, one of the more inbred Hapsburgs.

  74. 74.

    JR

    @whoever

    Speaking of burning everything down: I can’t believe that the nuclear launch codes are in the hands of a man who is at baseline unstable and who is now on megadoses of drugs known to cause psychosis.

    Surely someone has taken away the keys?

  75. 75.

    Ken

    @jonas: If they’re abandoning Ohio […] hoping to save states like Florida, Georgia, and NC.

    Ohio’s closer than those three.  Oh wait, I just used rational thinking with the Trump campaign. Hmmm….

    OK, they’re dropping Ohio because he’s still mad at Goodyear.  And they’re trying to hold Florida because it’s his new home state.  But I can’t think of any Trump-personal reasons for or against Georgia and NC, so no way to predict what they’ll do there.

  76. 76.

    PJ

    I guess “Fuck all y’all!” is Trump’s campaign strategy from here on out.  I honestly don’t think it’s going to move many votes to the Democrats at this stage (how many undecided voters thought Trump was going to help them in a time of crisis?), but it can only help emphasize how anti-citizen Republicans are, which may help with downballot votes.

  77. 77.

    Emma from FL

    No offense but why are some of you dooming and glooming 2022? Jesus on a Harley, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Stop pissing on your own parade!

  79. 79.

    Ken

    @debbie: If he pays attention to the market like everyone says he does, wouldn’t he have changed his mind by now?

    He, or more likely the relatives, probably shorted the market before the announcement.  If we could see what they’re doing now, we could figure out if he’s going to change course tomorrow.

  81. 81.

    RandomMonster

    He probably thinks the alliance against him cannot hold, and that Armeeabteilung Steiner will counterattack at any moment.

  83. 83.

    Barry

    @gvg: “I thought his campaign was close to broke? I’m not sure he has much left to steal, not counting what he got earlier. ”

    I’m assuming that most it has already been stolen, but that now the grift rate can be set at 100%

  85. 85.

    greenergood

    @Jeffro: Because he’s drugged up to the eyeballs and doesn’t know, or care, about what he’s talking about. His tweets that aren’t just lots of upper-case letters aren’t from him – they’re from his minions – Miller, and maybe Jarvanka, if Jarvanka is still capable and not tested positive. But the tweet is too logical though twisted, which makes me think Miller.

  88. 88.

    hueyplong

    [voice of Ray Liotta]  “And then finally, when there’s nothing left, when you can’t borrow another buck from the bank or buy another case of booze, you bust the joint out. You light a match.”

    There goes the Bamboo Lounge.

  89. 89.

    Subsole

    @jl: Famine

     

    Wearing a hood, though now that you mention it I cannot unsee it.

    Could also be a very full and luxuriant bowlcut, if you squint.

  90. 90.

    Matt McIrvin

    @debbie: Holy crap! Ohio is one of the most knife-edge-close states in the country right now. And Trump needs it, Biden doesn’t.

  91. 91.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @rk: Friend, the USA has gone completely *insane*. It’s *normal* to feel crazy here.

    I mean, think about this. The Mueller Report clearly showed Trump had obstructed justice. The Republicans refused to do anything because they felt the could ride the damage to poll numbers. And, you know what, okay, I can understand that a crybaby like Trump would have a far easier time stepping over the line, so I can’t disagree with them as much as I might.

    Then it came to light that he broke the law, tried to shakedown Ukraine, tried to start corrupt, baseless investigations into a political rival, and all the Republicans had to do was realize that, if they cover this up, the US will *never* be trusted in foreign relations again. They covered it up.

    And that action directly led to the deaths of over 200,000 Americans, and they won’t do so much as *suggest* that Trump could handle the pandemic *a bit* better.

    And then, when Trump’s failures are so great that the most protected human being in the US (and perhaps the world) got sick, they’ll try to claim it’s an advantage.

    We are objectively in crazyland. Not everyone is crazy, but the crazy people are being given bullhorns and treated as wise sages, and people who tell the truth are shouted down.

    I mean, someone actually *asked* “why isn’t Joe Biden fielding tough questions about *his* health?” while Trump was in Walter Reed. That’s beyond crazy. That’s… that’s on a par with Trump thinking “maybe we can shine light in the body, or use those magical disinfectants to clean the lungs…”. Any rational person who is not severely fatigued, etc., should catch such nonsense and realize it sounds crazy before saying it (or maybe while saying it).

    That’s not to say that a counselor couldn’t help – just *talking* to someone can help, and provide some reality checks, and help you find some stability. I’m just advising you and anyone else who feels the same way to view it as “my life is stressful, and the world is crazy”, because it really shouldn’t make sense.

  92. 92.

    Miss Bianca

    @JR: You mean, in the wake of the news that the guy who actually *carries* the nuclear football is also down with the ‘rona?

    Shit.

    @Subsole: *snerk

  94. 94.

    catclub

    @bbleh: And of course, the worse things are going into a Biden administration, the better for Republicans politically.

     

    This not quite right. Things got terrible for almost 4 years before Roosevelt was elected.

    October 1929 through MARCH 1933

     

    Things did not get terrible in 2008 until about september and kept getting bad until late 2009.  Thus was much worse for Obama.

     

    in 2020 things got bad about march 2020, so better for biden if they can turn up rapidly sometime shortly after january.

  96. 96.

    dmsilev

    Trump support craters after contracting coronavirus, new FPU/Herald poll reveals

    Catching coronavirus has been disastrous for President Trump’s re-election hopes, with support for the president plummeting since news of the infection broke, allowing Democratic nominee Joe Biden to open a commanding double-digit lead, a new Franklin Pierce University-Boston Herald poll shows.

    The nationwide poll reveals that instead of a sympathy factor for Trump, there’s been a stunning drop in the Republican president’s poll numbers since he revealed his diagnosis last Friday.

    In two days of polling before Trump got COVID, the president trailed Biden by just a 46%-41% margin. In the three days of polling after the coronavirus diagnosis, Biden held a 55%-34% lead. That means Biden’s lead grew by a whopping 16 points from pre-COVID to post-COVID.

    Among all the 1,003 registered, likely voters in the nationwide Franklin Pierce-Herald poll, Biden now holds a 51%-37% lead over Trump less than a month before Election Day. Three percent support a third party candidate while 8% say they are still undecided.

    That’s the third or fourth poll in the last couple of days to show a 12-14 point gap. Wow.

  97. 97.

    JoyceH

    @Immanentize: @Mai Naem mobile: You can donate campaign funds to your party, you can donate them to other campaigns, or you can keep them for a future political run by you.  You cannot claim them as income or gift or some such.

    Wellllll, yeah… but you also can’t spend money donated to your charity on yourself. I’m sure all Trump sees is a big pot of money under his control, and screw the rules about what he can spend it on.

  98. 98.

    Croaker

    Infidel Defilers.  They shall drown in lakes of blood.

    More wisdom from Thusla Doom.  

    Still no mail-in ballots received in Eastern PA. OH isn’t the game PA is.  They Trumpites know they can mess here and have a chance.

  102. 102.

    Baud

    What I haven’t seen yet is any GOP Senator campaigning on the need to act as check on Biden and the Dem House. Which goes to show how much Trumpism has taken over the Republican Party.

  103. 103.

    LeftCoastYankee

    Because this seems like the type of thing that could seem sensible to me after suffering head trauma, then it’s probably Trump’s plan.

    At least until the drugs wear off, and someone reminds him prison doesn’t have gold toilets and call-ins to Fox News.

  104. 104.

    patrick Il

    @RandomMonster:

    • I think it’s like he only has so many moves and  cannot think of any others. Blackmail, intimidation are the moves he knows, empathy, general welfare, cooperation, not so much.
  105. 105.

    Brachiator

    @MisterForkbeard:

    It also has other overtones: It’s a threat to not sign Stimulus unless he wins (3 more months worth of damage to the country) and simultaneously hands Biden an utterly crippled economy, which he hopes Republicans will be able to further sandbag.

    McConnell was never interested in more stimulus. The main part that interested Trump was possibly buying voters off with another $1200 payment. If Trump loses, he will lose interest in playing president. He will spend his lame duck period on grift, pushing through judges, and writing pardons.

    If the Democrats don’t retake the Senate and keep the House, the GOP will fight any stimulus bill. The GOP will go down with their Dear Leader.

  106. 106.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @rk: Trump dying in office would be a irritating thing because then it would be a repeat of the veneration of St Regan Maximus with the Right.  That’s why I whish Trump a long recovery.

  107. 107.

    Subsole

    @MattF: I am vividly reminded of the scene in Downfall where Goebbels laughs about how the weak Germans who obviously did not measure up to his standards of Aryan greatness were getting their little throats cut by the avenging Red Army.

  108. 108.

    catclub

    @Jeffro: Covid-19 relief bill will be what, two or three times as large?

     

    The GOP senators have set up their extremely loud caterwauling about the ballooning federal deficit when that happens, by refusing to even vote for any stimulus now.. I hope the Democrats are a) in power and B0 completely ignores GOP and the press demanding fiscal restraint.

  109. 109.

    Sab

    @Baud: Rob Portman hasn’t posted even a chirp, much less a tweet, since before the Debate. Early voting lines around the blocks all over the state.

  111. 111.

    MattF

    @dmsilev: At the least, it’s a measure of Trump’s marginal support. The size of the ‘marginal’ voter block isn’t so small, after all.

  112. 112.

    Matt McIrvin

    @NickM:

    Does he think he can ransom the economy to win the election?

    That is exactly his thinking. “Give me a win and then we’ll see if I let the economy live.” If he loses he’ll try to cause as much suffering as possible during the lame-duck months out of spite. It’ll be pretty bad, just, you know, not the worst thing.

  116. 116.

    A Ghost to Most

    Keep focusing on the symptom, not the disease. If/when he goes, the nazi base will remain.

  117. 117.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I’ve thought for pretty much the last three years that Orange Dbag’s minions are trading  on Wall Street on his tweets. I’d bet for sure Kushner and his family(the VC brother used to or does work on Wall Street) and probably Mnuchin, Ross and Scavino. They all look like arrogant smirking Wall Street crooks.

  118. 118.

    Ken

    @dmsilev: Catching coronavirus has been disastrous for President Trump’s re-election hopes, with support for the president plummeting since news of the infection broke,

    TRUMP STRATEGISTS:  We can make this work for us.

    TRUMP BASE:  Weakling! Failure!

    TRUMP STRATEGISTS:  What? Have you no empathy?

    DEMOCRATS:  Snickering.

  119. 119.

    catclub

    @Ken: He does know she gave him covid, doesn’t he?*

     

    she and her whole family had it over the summer. You might think that means they were not infectious in late september.  or you might be trump.

  122. 122.

    topclimber

    @bbleh: QAnon didn’t get it quite right.

    Trump is not the white knight who will uncover Democratic pedophilia. Rather, he is the secret George Soros golem who will kill the GOP and then bury its corpse in six feet of horse manure.

    That’s the thing with conspiracy theories. You just never know….

  125. 125.

    jl

    @Betty Cracker: “As I said in that other thread, I’m beginning to suspect Trump is a Biden-Harris campaign operative. I hope he brings the whole trash party down with him.”

    Remember that Bill Clinton encouraged Trump to run way back in the day. QAnon never mentions that…. why not? QAnon clearly part of the Deep State plot that QAnon is trying to uncover?

    Scientists will be trying to figure out the puzzles of the Trump era for decades.

  126. 126.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @The Moar You Know: They’ll come back in two years demanding to know why that incompetent senile Biden hasn’t fixed everything and probably get the Senate back at that point.  I’ve been seeing this pattern all my life.  Republicans fuck it up, Democrats clean it up.

    This is about the third time in row with a Republican President,.  Each GOP fuck up worse than the one before. As others have pointed out this is what killed the GOP as a viable party in California. There are a lot of parallels between Biden and Jerry Brown.

  127. 127.

    Jeffro

    @Croaker:Still no mail-in ballots received in Eastern PA. OH isn’t the game PA is.  They Trumpites know they can mess here and have a chance.

    Biden’s Gettysburg speech is being quite well-received.

    The next one needs to put all the trumpistas on notice: break the law in the service of corrupting this election, and you WILL be prosecuted.

  128. 128.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Mai Naem mobile: That’s what the law says but you think Trump is going to let the law stand between him and a pile of money? Not a chance!

  129. 129.

    zhena gogolia

    I’ve got to get a BLM sign stat. My fucking neighbor with the TRUMP 2020 KEEP AMERICA GREAT! sign across our narrow street now has a WE BACK THE BADGE sign. Fuck him.

  131. 131.

    JPL

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Over the weekend, I said I don’t want him to die.   Now I’d be okay if that happened around Halloween or All Saints Day would be fine.    It’d kinda cool to sing  Springsteen’s When the Saints Go Marching In.   

  133. 133.

    James E Powell

    @Martin:

    Schiff warned them of that. He warned them of a crisis that Trump couldn’t handle.

    I feel like someone else warned that he wasn’t up to the job. It was a woman on the TV – the name escapes me right now – but I remember that she seemed pretty sure of it.

  135. 135.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @JoyceH: @Immanentize:

    I’m sure all Trump sees is a big pot of money under his control, and screw the rules about what he can spend it on.

    Is there any thing to stop him (in the short term, which is all he knows or cares about) from holding on to leftover campaign funds indefinitely and claiming that he’s going to run again? It would be totally in character for him to do that while spending it all and gambling that the law won’t catch up with him in time.

  139. 139.

    misterpuff

    Betting it all on Black (Constuhtooshunal Coup).

    Why spend on votes when we ain’ gonna count’em anyway.

    Save the dough for Fixers (Mitch, SCOTUS and lotso Lawyers)!

  140. 140.

    Baud

    @James E Powell:

    So just ask yourself: Do you really think Donald Trump have the temperament to be Commander-in-Chief?
    Donald Trump can’t even handle the rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign.
    He loses his cool at the slightest provocation. When he’s gotten a tough question from a reporter. When he’s challenged in a debate. When he sees a protestor at a rally.
    Imagine, if you dare, imagine — imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.

  141. 141.

    Sab

    Here in Ohio, my stepson, who never went to college and is a machinist, is frothing at the mouth about Betsy DeVos. I would think on a Venn diagram they would have no intercept. Anyone have any idea what the problem could be?

  145. 145.

    Ken

    @dmsilev: From that poll: “Vice President Mike Pence fares a little better in the Franklin Pierce-Herald poll than Trump.”

    That needs to be amplified so Trump notices.  He won’t stand for Pence being more popular than he is.

  149. 149.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @PaulWartenberg: Yeah this seems to be the case. Farm bankruptcies are at all time highs but the farmers still support Trump. Taxes on truck drivers went up dramatically because of the tax bill they passed, but, again, even though he’s inflicted financial pain on them I would bet most truck drivers are still in the tank for him.

    It boggles the mind, really. I always thought the culture war BS was a distant second fiddle to pocket book issues, but I’m rethinking that because he’s hitting these folks right in the financial nads and they still love him.

  151. 151.

    West of the Rockies

    There’s been discussion here of Tramp crashing on Thursday.  I wonder what that might look like.  Disappearance from Twitter probably to begin with.  I hope he is experiencing bone-deep, soul-crushing misery and humiliation.

  153. 153.

    balconesfault

    At this point Nancy should just troll Donald.

    Send over a stimulus bill that includes $20 million in direct payment to Trump Industries.

    Make the announcement that Dems are willing to negotiate that number upwards if that’s what it would take for Trump to support it.

  156. 156.

    lamh36

    @Baud: maybe the angle distorts the distance, but I sure as heck don’t see any plexiglass.

    Biden and co betta send Kamala with plexiglass and FUQ Pence and co who agreed to it, then tried talking bout if KH needs it cause she’s scared of the virus that’s fine but we don’t.

  157. 157.

    Baud

    @lamh36:

    I bet the angle distorts the distance.  The plexiglass was a last minute thing. I’m sure it’ll be there tomorrow night.

  160. 160.

    JPL

    Would a face shield protect Kamala?     Pence is obviously goading her into canceling, but I don’t want her to.

  162. 162.

    Morzer

    I find myself thinking that the good people of Greenland must be looking at the White House and saying to themselves “We sure dodged a bullet there!”

  163. 163.

    James E Powell

    I saw something on the twitter that Trump was set to make a big speech to the nation about COVID. Is that still happening?

    What’s the over/under on the number of pundits who declare a pivot to a new tone that means that Trump has finally become president?

  164. 164.

    Bill Arnold

    @greenergood:

    First, there’s no upper-case letter craziness, second, it’s too logical and sort of considered, which convinces me that this has been written by lower-level Hitler Stephen Miller

    Dan Scavino is Trump’s twitter (and other social media) guy, and he has some talent, though he tries to channel Trump’s voice so it can be hard to tell. He reported a series of negative SARS-CoV-2  tests about 3 days ago, but I haven’t heard anything since. He has been in contact with Trump; not sure how much of that involved physical proximity indoors, or whether he wears a mask. He and Meadows were both on some of Trump’s recent trips.  (Meadows is also supposedly SARS-CoV-2 negative.)

    Trump’s social media director Dan Scavino is the staffer who’s been around the longest —and he started as Trump’s caddie (Michal Kranz, Pat Ralph, and Grace Panetta, May 20, 2019)

  166. 166.

    Mezz

    @Subsole:

    I skimmed one biography volume to see if I could verify it in reality, but I couldn’t. So this is not declared Truth. But in Downfall, at the end, Hitler blames EVERYTHING on the weaknesses and failures of the German people. They will deserve what’s coming to them because they in the end proved to have failed Hitler and the Real Germany.

    If in some case Trump were to lose the election, he’s absolutely burning it all down, because the American people will deserve it because they rejected him and cheated and conspired against him. Trump cannot fail; he can only BE failed. 

    Which is terrifying to contemplate.

  170. 170.

    artem1s

    @debbie:

    Trump has canceled Ohio media buys because he says he’s sure to win the state he’s already scooped up all the low lying donor fruit when he brought the Debate Plague to Cleveland last week.

  173. 173.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Martin: I’m starting to wonder if we might not get past 60 and not need to worry about the filibuster. It’s an extreme long shot but if things really break our way, maybe? Probably not even then but we have decent shots or better in ME, IA, AZ, KS, MT, AK, NC, SC, CO… that’s an 8 seat pickup if Jones loses. Maybe TX, KY and a couple others fall within reach if things really go off the rails for the Republicans?  Probably a pipe dream but it would be awesome. I’d still nuke the filibuster from space though, just to be sure.

  174. 174.

    JPL

    So I just saw a Perdue ad on TV and yelled f.k you and my dog didn’t even flinch.    This is a sign of the times.

  175. 175.

    PPCLI

    @bbleh: Maybe they are saving the money for the lawyers they will need to fight desperately to exclude Democratic ballots. They seem to be launching lawsuits everywhere.

  183. 183.

    dmsilev

    @James E Powell: Here’s the latest via CNN:

    Trump was poised to record a video message in the afternoon from his new working quarters of the White House — likely the Diplomatic Room — but has no plans to deliver a live address, two officials familiar with the plan said.
    The atmosphere inside the White House was described by one official as “chaotic,” largely because many people were working remotely and the President was calling the shots.
    With the West Wing largely vacant because staffers keep testing positive, Trump was isolating in the White House residence, where temporary office facilities have been stood up adjacent to the building’s basement medical suite.

    Take that for whatever it’s worth.

  186. 186.

    Ken

    @artem1s: Plausible. He’s dropped advertising in other markets, I know; have those also been after one last fundraising event?

    Also, if true we should see more cancellations, since he’s just had two weeks of fundraisers knocked off his schedule.

  187. 187.

    misterpuff

    Amy Coney Barrett is a Communist, she lived in a commune, well, lived in the cult leader’s house while in Law School, so did her future husband. These is weird dudes.

     

     

    Am I doing the ratf*cking right? GOPers?

  188. 188.

    Calouste

    @dmsilev: Still too sick to do a live address is what I take from it. The taped thing will probably be 5 minutes which took half a day to shoot because he needs 15 minutes to get his breath back after every few sentences.

  189. 189.

    randy khan

    @dmsilev:

    That’s the third or fourth poll in the last couple of days to show a 12-14 point gap. Wow.

    I’m seeing that some people are saying it’s because Trump supporters refuse to respond to pollsters, and that really he’s doing fine.  smh.

  191. 191.

    Steeplejack

    As was discussed a bit in the COVID thread this morning, it is starting to look like the White House doesn’t want to do any contact tracing because it probably would reveal that they were doing only slipshod, sporadic testing—or none at all—before this latest crisis hit the fan. And, bonus points, it might reveal that beloved jurist Amy Coney Barrett or her family was the super spreader at the #RoseGardenMassacre. Or, hell, it could even have been Trump himself. ?

  192. 192.

    Jay C

    @dmsilev:

     

    where temporary office facilities have been stood up adjacent to the building’s basement medical suite.

    So Donald’s the one “campaigning from the basement”, now??

  196. 196.

    moops

    I think rob the GOP campaign funds was the original plan way back in 2016 when he thought he was going to lose.

    I’m pretty sure rob the campaign funds is the primary grift this time. If he can clear $500M then he leaves the Presidency in the black.

  197. 197.

    James E Powell

    @dmsilev:

    @Calouste:

    I’d guess it’s a combination of him being too sick to do a live speech, to rocked on various drugs to do any kind of speech, and a fear on the part of his people that he will go on an unhinged rant.

  199. 199.

    debbie

    Reports are that early voting went very smoothly in Franklin County. The line began to form at 5:00 am. Someone who went to vote at lunch time estimated the line at about 200 people and said it took 18 minutes from the time she arrived to when she left after having voted. No “poll watchers” either.

  203. 203.

    CaseyL

    @randy khan:

    I’m seeing that some people are saying it’s because Trump supporters refuse to respond to pollsters, and that really he’s doing fine.

     

    The “shy Trump voter”? I acknowledge they exist, but not in the numbers “some people” claim.

    By definition, “shy Trump voters” have to be living in blue enclaves where they’re soooo outnumbered they don’t dare say they support Trump. If they’re that outnumbered, Biden will win those enclaves.

    The Trumpies who live in Trump country are by no means averse to proclaiming their support – to pollsters and anyone else.

    The shoe is usually on the other foot, with Democrats who live in red states afraid of revealing themselves.

  204. 204.

    germy

    ST. LOUIS — A grand jury indicted [RNC speakers] Mark and Patricia McCloskey Tuesday on charges of exhibiting guns at protesters in a June incident in their neighborhood.

    Additionally, the grand jury added a charge of tampering with evidence for both. https://t.co/yb5try153J

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) October 6, 2020

  205. 205.

    jl

    @debbie: For some types of contact tracing, you want to see all the tests that exist through the chain of case transmission and exposure, and the results to decide who should be traced and where to next. The best guess about the nature of the outbreak will sometimes indicate moving forward from the case to those the case exposed, sometimes move backward from the case to find out who exposed them, and then work forward from the first case you can ID. A lot depends on whether you are dealing with individual transmissions with one chain (former), or a big superspreader event with a lot of chains from the case who started the whole big mess (latter).

    They probably don’t want a serious outside expert investigation since might reveal the WH testing regime was mostly BS and PR ‘alternative facts’.

  206. 206.

    JPL

    @Frank Wilhoit:  Oh my..  did you see the story about the wildlife park in England having to remove the birds, because they were yelling fk. u .  Five birds from different owners all saying the same thing..  who woulda thought.   Definitely a 2020 story.

  207. 207.

    germy

    BREAKING: Facebook bans QAnon across its platforms

    Facebook “will remove Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts for representing QAnon” like any other militarized social movement, militia or terror group.https://t.co/ci8npcCLxa

    — Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 6, 2020

    This is a start. Next ban Facebook

  208. 208.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Croaker: Delaware County here. Called the county election office today and they told me all ballots had been mailed out Saturday.

  215. 215.

    Ken

    @Jay C: So Donald’s the one “campaigning from the basement”, now??

    Bravo.  Wish I were on twitter or facebook so I could steal and amplify it.

    Maybe I should… (takes look at platforms and recoils)  No, best not.

  219. 219.

    Steeplejack

    @debbie:

    It would be logical, because the whole point is to trace who people have had contact with when they’re positive (either person). So negative tests would presumably narrow the time window.

  220. 220.

    Geminid

    @debbie: Very few actual farmers will see that money. I heard an analysis of the last $20 billion in agricultural support payments. The bulk of them went to LLC’s, and to people whose addresses were in gated golf communities, or large cities like Minneapolis and San Francisco. Investors and heirs, not farmers.

  222. 222.

    The Moar You Know

    Was it known he had cancer?

    @debbie: It’s been public knowledge for more than a decade. Some statements from Roth back in 2018/19 indicated that VH (the band) was no longer able to be a going concern, but you could have read what he said a lot of different ways.

  224. 224.

    Percysowner

    @jl: Well Ohio suddenly has shenanigans.

    Some Franklin County voters receive wrong absentee ballots in mail

    Please see the following statement from @FranklinCoBOE regarding the absentee ballots affected by the error. pic.twitter.com/KfwO3LiFNY— Franklin Co. Boe (@FranklinCoBOE) October 6, 2020

    Today we became aware of a company named Civitech, unaffiliated with our office or any county board, which mailed voter registration applications to certain individuals, but with names/addresses pre-printed on the application that are different from the recipient. (1/2)— Ohio Secretary of State Comms Team (@SecLaRoseComms) October 6, 2020

  225. 225.

    debbie

    @Geminid:

    Then their support is beyond irrational. He’s decimated their livelihoods. They will never get their market share back. ??‍♀️

  227. 227.

    The Moar You Know

    Next ban Facebook

    @germy: I do not know how one can reconcile “ban all social media” with living in a democracy, but it’s plainly obvious that if we don’t do exactly that, we’re not going to be living in a democracy anymore.

  234. 234.

    geg6

    @Croaker:

    Dang, that’s surprising.  My shitty little county in the west (Beaver County) got them out late last week.  My guy and I dropped them at the county election office today.  All bubbles filled for Dems.  Go Conor Lamb, Steve Krizan and Bob Williams!

  238. 238.

    MazeDancer

    Apparently, Stephen Miller, working from home, has tested negative for 5 days. Until he didn’t.

    So worried that is the case with Pence, too.

  239. 239.

    Central Planning

    @Steeplejack:

    They have long maintained they were protecting themselves and their property from people hurling threats.

    I take that to mean yelling at them. Hilarious.

  243. 243.

    RaflW

    Heard an episode of Fresh Air maybe 10 days ago, about nuclear weapons. The guest described to Dave Davies that decades ago Trump called some top political appointee who was to be negotiating with the Soviets on (probably?) SALT — or START. Anyway, Trump calls the guy and says, I have the thing for your negotiations: Go into the room on the first day, slam your hand down and yell at them. And walk out.

    Of course it’s utterly idiotic. Maybe, possibly, some stunt like that works when you’re an NYC developer and you’re unhappy about the price of concrete or electricians.

    It’s not how nuclear non-proliferation works, and it for sure isn’t how winning a campaign works when you’re down by 12 points and all your staff are getting infected with a nasty virus.

    “I’ll fuck over the stimulus bill!” will impress voters as much as the similar move would have impressed Russian nuke-diplomats.

  244. 244.

    Citizen Scientist

    @Croaker: I received an e-mail today saying I’d receive my ballot in “10 to 14 days”.  It really seems like I got my primary ballot a lot faster, but at least it’s reportedly on its way.

  250. 250.

    J R in WV

    @VeniceRiley:

    @bbleh: IIRC candidates can transfer unused campaign funds to themselves.

    Nope, not any more. Used to be allowed, stopped several to many election cycles ago, though.

  251. 251.

    ballerat

    @jl: Thanks for that link.

    Very interesting, “backward” tracing is more effective than forward testing, that is, who infected you is more important than who you came into contact with since becoming infected.

    On a thread the other day Martin said it’s all about the timeline. Now I think I see what he was getting at.

    Edit: wrt the rosegarden super-spreader event, it must be they want avoid identifying the date and identity of “patient zero”.

  253. 253.

    Bill Arnold

    @MazeDancer:

    He didn’t get it from her.
    But Trump proximity was apparently closer…

    If somebody hasn’t arranged/doesn’t arrange for a genetic sequence of the Trump Strain, I’ll be saddened.
    This will be very useful for mapping the infection directed graph. (Whatever epidemiologists call it.)

  254. 254.

    WaterGirl

    @Morzer: I agree.  This is in preparation for hopefully a Biden win and a new sheriff in town in January.

    “Dad, I’ll be good.  You don’t have to take the car keys away, I’ll be really responsible and I’ll always have my homework done before I go out.”

  256. 256.

    Barbara

    @Subsole: I am not sure the pundits do know better. They are much closer demographically on average to Republican voters. They want their side to be the side of competence and virtue.

  257. 257.

    Barbara

    @JoyceH: You are both missing the obvious. Why do you think Trump Jr. is being pushed to run for office? He will be a candidate who can get the benefit of the donations.

  258. 258.

    WaterGirl

    @MazeDancer: I’m worried about Biden.  I think he should be in isolation, too after having been exposed to the untested and likely already COVID positive on Tuesday.

    I really don’t understand why he isn’t modeling that.

  260. 260.

    jl

    @ballerat: ‘ Very interesting, “backward” tracing is more effective than forward testing, that is, who infected you is more important than who you came into contact with since becoming infected. ‘

    Martin is correct too, it’s a combo of time window over which the test result is informative, and type of outbreak you think you are working. Backward generally gets far more bang for the buck with big superspreader outbreaks. For single chain close contact outbreaks, forward usually better, but depends on time window of test and result.

  262. 262.

    chopper

    i can’t figure out if trump’s confidence here is because he’s got some way of stealing it (he’s down over a dozen points and counting, i have no idea outside of a full-on military coup how you cheat your way out of that kind of loss) or if he’s loopy and his staff are just buttering him up.

    god, i hope it’s the latter tho.

  263. 263.

    J R in WV

    @greenergood:

    His tweets … they’re from his minions – Miller, and maybe Jarvanka, …

    Actually, I heard on the evening Joy Reid show that Herr Miller is now Plague Positive, which was the best news this evening, so far as I recall. I knew his frau was positive yesterday, so this Good News didn’t surprise me much.

  264. 264.

    J R in WV

    @Miss Bianca:

    You mean, in the wake of the news that the guy who actually *carries* the nuclear football is also down with the ‘rona?

    Actually, the coasty Lt Cmdr carrying the foot ball the past few days was a she. Could be the first, but she’s down with the Trump Plague right now. Was a Cross Country runner at the CG academy, IIRC.

  265. 265.

    no comment

    @RaflW:

    Anyway, Trump calls the guy and says, I have the thing for your negotiations: Go into the room on the first day, slam your hand down and yell at them. And walk out.

    At first I thought this was some secret code because of his ties to the Russians.

Comments are closed.