President Trump has finally signed the coronavirus relief bill — 5 days after calling it a “disgrace” and less than 24 hours after allowing 12 million + Americans to lose unemployment benefits.
— Jeremy Diamond (@JDiamond1) December 28, 2020
Per the Washington Post:
President Trump unexpectedly capitulated Sunday night and signed the stimulus bill into law, releasing $900 billion in emergency relief funds into the economy and averting a Tuesday government shutdown.
White House officials didn’t explain why the president decided to suddenly back down and sign into law a bill he had held up for nearly a week and had referred to as a “disgrace” just days earlier.
Trump signed the bill while vacationing in Florida and on a weekend when he had allowed unemployment benefits for 14 million Americans to expire…
In a statement he issued after signing the law, Trump released a long list of false claims and grievances. He said he would be sending a “redlined” version of the bill back to Congress “insisting that those funds be removed from the bill.”
Trump has less than a month remaining in his presidency, and lawmakers are likely to ignore any such request…
Pelosi: "Now, the Prez must immediately call on Congressional Republicans to end their obstruction & to join him & Democrats in support of our stand-alone legislation to increase direct payment checks to $2,000, which will be brought to the Floor tomorrow" https://t.co/lBX51E8yTx
— David Dayen (@ddayen) December 28, 2020
So the ultimate effect of Trump waffling on the coronavirus and omnibus bill is that Democrats clarified that it was Republicans who blocked $2,000 checks, not Democrats, and millions of people lost unemployment benefits for a week.
Really can't overstate how needless this was.
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) December 28, 2020
People rightly focusing on the just-signed COVID bill's relief it provides so many struggling Americans
But it also has critical money for vaccine distribution and for states to ramp up testing.
Because there's still a pandemic going on
And America is the global hotspot
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@ashishkjha) December 28, 2020
Step 1: refuse to engage publicly for months.
Step 2: watch a supermajority pass a bill.
Step 3: forcefully threaten to veto it unless demands met.
Step 4: back down and sign it; look weak.As a bonus, you enrage your party and hang your SecTreas out to dry.
What a world.
— Matt Glassman (@MattGlassman312) December 28, 2020
so this imbecile stormed in and tried to tank a deal, ran around and tripped all over his dick, got no discernible benefit to himself, made everything worse for everyone else, and agreed to the original deal.
one last masterclass by donald trump, complete circus animal
— Normie Transition Team (@CalmSporting) December 28, 2020
The credibility of the office is just going to a farm, upstate https://t.co/Hjgttk4qpr
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) December 28, 2020
#MoscowMitch limps up…
I applaud the emperor's magnificent new clothes! https://t.co/zR58LsQjxI
— Daily Trix (@DailyTrix) December 28, 2020
On The Road – Albatrossity – Winter Hawks of 2020
J.
I’m still waiting for the fat lady to sing.
Lacuna Synechdoche
I’m not sure why people keep saying irony is dead. This is practically a dictionary example of living irony:
satby
Blech
Geminid
There is a vote planned today in the House to override trump’s veto of the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act. It passed the House with a “veto proof” majority, with only 40 Republicans and 37 Democrats voting no. This override vote has not gotten much attention, perhaps because there is so much else going on, perhaps because the override is still thought to be a foregone conclusion.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Trump’s antics are just exhausting. Most days now I just glance at the news and move on because there’s such a sameness to it. I’m just hanging on, counting the days until Jan. 20, and hoping he doesn’t do too many disastrous things in the meantime.
I’ve been drafting a blog post about how in an effective plot, after a character overcomes some challenge, they have to go on to a bigger and different challenge. If they climb a mountain, we’re not impressed if they climb a bigger one. Trump is just climbing a mountain over and over. Crazy and hateful, crazy and hateful.
Albatrossity
This is all easily explained by his overwhelming desire to just keep his name in the headlines as long as possible, and Putin’s overwhelming desire to keep the Russian hacking episode out of the headlines.
Geminid
@Geminid: The NDAA includes the Corporate Transparency Act, which was added earlier this month. A writer for Fortune Magazine called this “the most sweeping anti corruption measure America has seen in decades.” It would drastically restrict the use of shell companies to hide financial misdeeds, and is probably the main reason for trump’s veto.
OzarkHillbilly
Unexpected by who? Because it was exactly what I expected.
Amir Khalid
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starting to have doubts about how much Trump really knows about the art of the deal.
Frankensteinbeck
@Albatrossity:
This is all easily explained by Trump being a whiny ass titty baby who’s been throwing a nonstop tantrum since he lost the election.
Bluegirlfromwyo
@Amir Khalid: Seems much more familiar with the art of the squeal.
Danielx
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yes. One long scream of “pay attention to me!”.
Baud
There will be people who will criticize Biden for not being bold like Trump.
rikyrah
@Geminid:
Yep???
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
@Baud:
They can go phuck themselves ?
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Baud
@Geminid:
I think override is assumed, but who knows how many GOP members switch their votes to kiss Trump’s ass?
Baud
@rikyrah: Yes. Yes they can.
TS (the original)
@Baud:
Enter the US political media.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Dumb Smug Arrogant are at it even now.
Baud
@TS (the original):
“Sure the government is stable and competent, but my ratings are down!”
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: What do you think about the newest squad members?
Baud
The Trumpeters were right. They’re coming for our freedoms.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
?
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: DSA ??
Bowman and Bush are making noises that they will oppose Pelosi for Speakership.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
I don’t understand. Is there someone else who joined the Squad?
ETA: Just saw the ETA.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman
Princess
Trump always caves. He’s weak. Everything he has managed to do, he has only managed because McConnell has allowed him to do it. McConnell has been the one really in charge the whole time. Remember that.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
No one is running against Pelosi. It’s all performance art.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
What’s wrong with nose picking? All the best people do it!
Joe Falco
@Amir Khalid: I doubt he knows the Cliff Notes of the deal.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
She’s wearing gloves. That doesn’t count!
Geminid
@Baud: And trump is not the only rich crook out there who is threatened by this bill. They are probably working hard to suborn republican congressmen to vote against the override.
Princess
@Baud: Some, but probably fewer since Trump pulled that stunt with the appropriations bill after it passed both houses in semi-good faith. I bet his refusal to sign and “demand” for $2000 pissed a bunch of GOPers off who were not so annoyed with him before.
debbie
@Amir Khalid:
Not as easy to bully 300 million people as he thought, eh?
Baud
@Princess:
Good money is on an override. I think the House vote is more uncertain because we have a good number of no votes on our side too. I don’t know if any Senate Dems are voting against this.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I know that and I am tired of their ? show. The entire BS brat ecosystem is toxic.
The Squad, the ? children, the journo bros in the media. All of them.
debbie
@Geminid:
That, and that provision which would allow him to sue social media companies. That was Trump’s planned revenue stream!
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
Sometimes, she’s not.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
WTF, Amir? Do you have a collection of these photos?
LurkerNoLonger
@Princess: Hopefully he dies soon. Oh man, that would be sweet. I’m counting on you, 2021!
Baud
To bad this didn’t come out yesterday. It would have been perfect for the garden thread.
Elizabelle
Had you guys seen these match.com ads? Believe Ryan Reynolds may have had some part in writing them. Satan … finds his perfect match. These are youtube links.
First up: Match Made in Hell. This one has lots of sight gags, so watch it on as big a screen as you can.
Second: When Satan Met 2020. More dialogue-driven. They are sitting on a couch.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@LurkerNoLonger: I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I’ve had that thought too. I just looked it up and McConnell is 78. By Senate standards, that’s not extremely old, so we may not be able to count on it. To me, he looks older than that.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: I say Lizzie is scratching.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
No, but they’re very easily found on the Intertubes.
Punchy
@Bluegirlfromwyo: and art of the steal….
SFAW
OT, but: for awhile, I was hoping that Twitter would shut off the Murderer-in-Chief on 1/21/21. [That gives him a day to clean out his desk and box up all the random tweets.] But the more I think about it, I’m kinda-sorta hoping that his account remains open …
… until such point that his accumulated tweets can be used as evidence for:
Not that I think the Biden DoJ would charge him with Sedition (or whatever), but a kid can always hope.
Elizabelle
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Older and unhealthy. Spite and greed for power keep that bastard alive.
cmorenc
I am starting to notice that over the last couple of weeks, we are progressively seeing/hearing less and less of Trump, especially regarding election challenges – and such attention as he gets is focused on his veto / threats regarding the COVID relief and defense spending authorization bills. Not that he’s nearly gone away yet, but we can watch his significance eroding bit by bit day by day. Also, while there’s still some ongoing quite significant news about the Senate runoffs and Biden cabinet picks / announced plans, what a relief it is that national politics isn’t quite as much of an endless series of catastrophic car crashes we can’t avoid constantly focusing on. We have an incoming president we can go a day or two without thinking much about at all (though while not taking our eyes totally off the ball) – what a relief!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@cmorenc: Exactly, that’s what I’m finding too.
hueyplong
@SFAW: I think prosecutors will likely stick to financial crimes. They’re more likely to (eventually) peel away Trump supporters and move us back toward “normal” than prosecution of political crimes, especially if Trump ends up having to plead out, i.e., admit guilt.
Baud
@Amir Khalid: You’d think she’d have people who would do that for her.
@cmorenc: Yep. I’ve been much happier for weeks now. An irrelevant Trump is the best Trump. I expect his stardom will fall quickly once he’s out of office.
topclimber
@schrodingers_cat:
And yet, the squad is disproportionately brown vs the Dem Caucus, and members like Bush and Brown are agitating for minority rights as much, if not more so, than MFA and the GND.
And yet, in a House the Dems control by maybe a dozen votes, the Squad of has become more influential.
And yet, you think it better to mock them than engage them.
But I am with you about the media. Damn little good analysis to be found there. Or much reporting of news not important to the corporate caste.
topclimber
@topclimber: Make that Bowman not Brown.
Ian
McConnell’s statement says he signed the Defense bill. I havn’t seen any reporting to that. Anyone know if the D*bag signed that one?
Baud
@topclimber:
Not really, since the blue dogs also become more influential.
The fact is, everyone loses influence when our numbers for down.
Baud
@Ian:
He vetoed that.
SFAW
@Baud:
And I expect the Mets will win 120 games next season and take the World Series. Wanna bet a case of beer/wine on which will happen? [A bet which I would be happy to lose OR win.]
Unless he’s in jail for financial crimes, or he’s completely cut off from social media, his MAGAts will still worship at his feet until he runs in 2024.
Amir Khalid
@SFAW:
The thing is, Trump doesn’t tweet ftom the official POTUS account. @realDonaldTrump is his personal account, from which he is free to keep spewing lies and bullshit after 20th January — until Twitter does the right thing and permanently suspends him.
sherparick
@Lacuna Synechdoche: I never thought the Leopards would eat my face, just “those People’s” faces when I voted for them!
hueyplong
@SFAW: I’ll see your stakes, but on the proposition that Trump will be dead by 2024. He won’t have all the perks of the White House, but he’ll still be a drug addict subsisting on a diet of hamberders and Adderall while sliding deeper into dementia.
topclimber
@Baud: I suggest you see how it plays out, not just now but in the years to come. Given the basket case our economy is likely to be for the next few years, a hard left turn in the Democratic Party is quite plausible.
sherparick
Also good news, a whole bunch Artistic work created by long dead artists & authors enters the public domain on Friday, including “The Great Gatsby”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robpegoraro/2020/12/24/youll-be-able-to-download-a-lot-more-stuff-for-free-legally-jan-1/?sh=643c6bdf5aa4
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
Understood. My (attempted) point was that he currently has a shield (in the eyes of the DoJ) from investigation/prosecution related to his tweets. After 1/20, that changes. As is obvious, I’m not a lawyer, but I would think any investigators/prosecutors would prefer to focus on shit he says after he loses that “shield,” to sidestep the inevitable “official duties” crap.
SFAW
@hueyplong:
Damn, a flaw in my “plan.”
Which I’m completely OK with.
ETA: Of course, Baud’s initial proposition implicitly assumes — not unjustifiably — that the Murderer-in-Chief remains alive all four years.
trnc
@OzarkHillbilly:
I know, right? I hope someone who has his attention points out to him that Bill Clinton had the line item veto and used it until the SC ruled it unconstitutional, and that Clinton didn’t have to make things up to justify the items he removed. I think the SC ruling was correct on the merits, and I’m very glad it ended before W and DT were installed in the oval office.
JPL
@hueyplong: I hope you’re correct but past history doesn’t prove that. trump shut down his foundation, because of misuse. trump paid 25 million, because trump university was a scam. His base didn’t care.
Elizabelle
@hueyplong: Prosecute for financial crimes (tax evasion). It worked for Al Capone. Who also had a Florida residence.
At least the good people of the Depression era had the good sense not to elect him POTUS (or let him steal his way in).
Capone was paroled early, because his mind had deteriorated so sharply. He was convicted at age 33 (received an 11 year sentence); released for health reasons seven years later (severe mental disorder, due to late-stage syphilis). Paroled to his estate in Miami, where he lived out his life with his wife and grandchildren. Died 8 days after his 48th birthday.
Al Capone loomed so large over the public imagination — so did Warren Harding and Teapot Dome — and both were out of power way sooner than is remembered. Harding had the grace to die during his first term in office. His term was barely 2.5 years.
Soprano2
God, I hope you’re right about that. I’m afraid that once he loses all that sweet, sweet attention he’ll do progressively more and more outrageous things to try to get it back, and the press is so addicted to him that they might give it to him. I can just hear it – “He used to be president, so the things he says are important”. I sure do hope I’m wrong about it.
burnspbesq
@debbie:
Don’t forget about taking the names of Confederate officers off U.S. military facilities. That’s another thing in the NDAA that Trump opposed.
debbie
@burnspbesq:
I think that was more for “show” than anything else, like that Bible-hoisting stunt he pulled earlier this year.
Soprano2
I sure hope they do, it would only be right. What are the odds, though?
Elizabelle
@burnspbesq: Just a class act all around. Screw the troops; I actually support corruption and Confederates. Those I will go to the mat for.
SFAW
@Soprano2:
To paraphrase Mencken: “No one ever went broke underestimating the cravenness of the American MSM.”
Amir Khalid
@Elizabelle:
Al Capone had grandchildren at 40?
Elizabelle
@sherparick: That’s interesting. Works from 1925 enter the public domain, and 1925 was a very good year. (List of works included.) Mein Kampf was also published in 1925, but won’t enter the US public domain just yet. (Its copyright ended in 2016 in Germany.)
From betanews.com: On January 1 2021, many famous works including ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald will enter the public domain
M31
So if Trump really won the 2020 election, as he claims, doesn’t that mean he’s ineligible to run in 2024?
Gin & Tonic
The content we need today.
jnfr
Whatever broke Trump’s tantrum, I’m happy it did. I know folks who really need that $600, minimal though it is. People are really hurting right now, and it’s hard to see.
Cameron
@Baud: That’s the kind of boldness we can readily dispense with.
Amir Khalid
@M31:
He was talking about running for a third term at his rallies well before the election.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: Hunting that down for you. But yes, very possible he had several by his death at age 48 in 1947.
His only child, a son, was born when Al was 19. That son married in 1941. There were eventually four grandchildren. The son changed his name — dropped the Capone entirely — and died in 2004.
There’s apparently a good article about Capone and his family in HM magazine from a Miami history museum; haven’t found it yet.
But: there is this from Smithsonian mag, in 2016. I guess maybe this treatment awaits Donald fucking Trump once enough years elapse.
Seeking the Humanity of Al Capone
Through interviews with his descendants, one biographer sees the family man behind the infamous gangster
He liked to fish, he liked to sing. Uh huh.
Cameron
@Princess: That’s why I find it so entertaining that Trump is trying to attack McConnell. He’s delusional. Yertle is dreadful, but he also knows what he’s doing. I don’t think Trump’s post-Presidential fantasies are going to amount to anything in the real world.
Betty Cracker
@Gin & Tonic: Is this the totalitarian who is creepily devoted to his horses?
ColoradoGuy
I wonder if Trump will become a straight-up criminal after Jan 20? Or Florida Man?
Mary G
There’s a reason we don’t hear much of Sarah Palin anymore and I hope Twitler meets the same end, but in jail.
Princess
@Soprano2: A good model is Palin after 2008. The press gave her a lot of attention for a while and she was touted as a prime 2012 challenger to Obama. But the schtick got boring, she got crazier, and she faded. Trump is not a young man or a well man. He can no longer stand unsupported for any length of time– watch him cling to his podium for dear life at his next rally. The best thing we can do is refuse to give him attention ourselves once he’s gone. We are often guilty ourselves of feeding the beast.
RandomMonster
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Turtles live a long time.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: Let’s not be passing value judgments.
Baud
@Princess: Word.
MomSense
So all trump managed to do was deny people who are struggling a week of unemployment and remind people that it was Republicans who rejected higher relief payments.
The art of the deal indeed.
Hildebrand
I’m just wondering when the ambitious Republicans, those who have an eye on the White House, sort out when and how to shiv Trump to clear the way for their run in 2024. They have to bury him at some point – they aren’t going to put their ambitions on hold indefinitely.
I think Hawley tries it first.
Baud
@topclimber:
The Dems have been moving left since 2004. There’s not going to be a magical period when they are left enough.
germy
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
This gives me ideas.
Elizabelle
From the Smithsonian article about Al Capone:
Meanwhile, our national nightmare of the 21st century entered the White House with the mind of a childish twelve-year-old in 2017. He will have his ass dragged out in 2021. Shame on the fuckers who voted him in. Shame.
Elizabelle
@MomSense:
During Christmas week! The Grinch is a piker.
Hildebrand
@Baud: It’s like peak wingnut – only for the rose brigade.
Chief Oshkosh
@Geminid: Good read on this at:
https://billmoyers.com/story/reading-the-fine-print-what-trump-didnt-sign/
LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN
Reading the Fine Print: What Trump Didn’t Sign
The Corporate Transparency Act undercuts shell companies and money laundering in America.
BY HEATHER COX RICHARDSON | DECEMBER 28, 2020
Amir Khalid
@Elizabelle:
Being a family man doesn’t make Capone any less of a monster. It just tells us that he was both. And Adolf Hitler doted on his Schäferhundin, Blondi. (She was poisoned with cyanide in the Führerbunker around the time he offed himself.) Still doesn’t make him a decent person either.
L85NJGT
@Mary G: @Princess:
That turkey interview was the end of her national career. The village doesn’t do gauche. They’ll bury Trump in the same manner.
germy
I had a dream last night that I was walking down the street and passed a banquet hall with big front windows. I could see a big crowd of people having a party, none of them wearing masks.
I got so mad I tapped on the window and when some of them saw me I gave them the finger. Then I walked away. Two of them followed me out (a young man and woman) and started talking loudly to each other behind me about how science had proved large indoor gatherings were NOT a way of spreading COVID. I kept walking and they kept following. Finally the man crossed in front of me very closely, and I said to him “Keep your distance, you pig.” Then I woke up.
This is the first COVID dream I’ve had. My wife told me she sometimes dreams she is in a crowded store and then realizes she has forgotten her mask. Anxiety dreams.
JPL
@Princess: CNN has learned a valuable lesson, and I doubt trump can depend on the network. I assume trump will turn to MSNBC to get his daily ego fix.
L85NJGT
@Hildebrand:
They will boot his dumb kids out of the RNC and go to a proportional delegate haul in the primaries.
hueyplong
@RandomMonster: “Turtles live a long time.”
But Trumpers are the type to kill an endangered species just for shits and giggles. Ask Jr.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: I totally agree. And Joseph and Magda Goebbels and their young children. The epitome of family life — not.
And: Al Capone had at least one grandchild by the time he died. She was born in Miami Beach when he was 44; he would have seen her. There were three other grandchildren, but I don’t know when precisely they were born (and they may still be living; born in the 1940s).
From findagrave:
WaterGirl
I think this should be a rotating tag:
Capri
What kills me about all those articles is that even after all this time the media acts as if there is some sort of strategy to what Trump is doing. It’s all stimulus/response
Betty Cracker
@JPL: CNN really has changed its tune this year. I’m not Chris Cuomo’s biggest fan, but did an on-point anti-Trump rant over the holiday weekend that I wish I could make my father watch. Cuomo made the point that if we (as a nation) don’t reach a consensus that Trump was a bad president, we’ll never get back on track. I think that’s true.
There will always be Trump dead-enders, but if something like 70M Americans go on believing Trump was a great president, our democratic experiment is doomed to fizzle. It’s very much an open question, IMO.
It’s as if 45% of drivers in the country just up and decided they’re going to drive on the left side of the road and that red lights mean “go” and green lights mean “stop” — and they’ll change the rules again if they sense it will piss off the other group of drivers. I don’t know if they’ll come to their senses, but they must — or we’re all screwed.
Elizabelle
@germy: Smithsonian Magazine — no paywall:
How the 1918 Pandemic Got Meme-ified in Jokes, Songs and Poems
In newspapers across the country, the public dealt with the heartache of the moment by turning to humor
danielx
@Capri:
Ehhhh….I’ve read any number of articles lately in which the words “unhinged” and “chaotic” are used in describing Trump’s behavior. Granted those adjectives could have applied to him at many points over the last four years, but at least they’re saying it out loud now (so to speak). There was never a strategy nor yet any long term goals beyond what Donald Trump thought was good for him personally on any given day.
Geminid
@Chief Oshkosh: Thanks. I’ll give them a read.
germy
@Elizabelle:
Thank you for that link.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker:
I agree with you and Chris Cuomo. And at least gasbag Rush Limbaugh is in his final months. Deplorable he is still drawing air today.
germy
Elizabelle
@germy: You always come up with great ones for me. (And it was trending, among Smithsonian readers.)
germy
@Elizabelle:
He did his last show so that’s something. He cried and everything.
yellowdog
@Baud: I am not sure that override can be assumed in the Senate.
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: Yep. Limbaugh has been a festering boil on American democracy’s ass for 30-plus years. He can’t take a dirt nap soon enough to suit me.
mrmoshpotato
Haha
JPL
@Betty Cracker: Limbaugh is the last person who should be labeling females as sluts.
PsiFighter37
Of course Donnie signed it; he’s an idiot who is displaying how he gets a deal done, which is to say that he whines about it and then meekly agrees out of sight. Fuck him for needlessly putting millions of people in more financial trouble unnecessarily.
As for me, today is Day 3 of ~40 or so without a drink. Feels good, although being woken up by some sort of high-pierced drilling sound around 3:30 AM was weird AF and caused me to lose an hour or so of sleep. Or maybe it was because I was ruing some of the stupid decisions I made in my fantasy football final, meaning I am heading into the second half of the championship behind by 5-10 points instead of being up by a similar amount. Oh well. Today’s staycation agenda is heading to the Edge, the new outdoor viewing platform in Hudson Yards that is ~1100 feet off the ground. Should be fun / slightly heeby-jeeby inducing. Then it’s off to eat Spanish food for lunch (if anything at Hudson Yards is actually open for sit-down outdoor dining) and probably a wander up north to the southern edge of Central Park. Financial advisor Zoom at 4 PM, then deconstruction of the used fake Christmas tree we got for this year (I think we will ditch it and get one of the small real trees next year). Need to figure out how to kill time the rest of this week; tomorrow will probably be a spin on the electric scooter we bought a few weeks back…need to shorten my commute time from a 30-minute walk one way, and this should get it down to something like 10 minutes.
germy
Some people hate squirrels but I like them.
Spanky
@Betty Cracker: I don’t know what it would mean to “come to their senses”, really. What it will take is a large cohort of voters realigning their entire value systems in a relatively short time, and I don’t see that happening.
No, they must be continually outvoted and politically marginalized as much as possible. One really bright spot these last four years has been the emergence of the youth vote as a liberal powerhouse. This has to be nurtured and protected from political annihilation in a way that the 70’s liberals were not as the Reagan youth swept through the schools, driven entirely by GOP dollars.
mrmoshpotato
@satby: Ozarksatby?
Ken
I thought the deal he made with the ghostwriter of “Art of the Deal” showed that.
Baud
@yellowdog:
Not our responsibility. I assume all of our people will vote for the override in the Senate. (Maybe that’s wrong, though, I haven’t checked.)
germy
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@topclimber:
Speaker Kevin McCarthy will appreciate their efforts, since the entire GOP delegation will vote for him.
Soprano2
@Princess: I don’t know, Sarah Palin never actually attained national office, so I think it’s somewhat different. An early indictor of how the press will treat him is how Twitter treats his personal account once he’s not president anymore. Will he be banned after only a few days as if he’s like every other user, or will they come up with some excuse to allow him to continue to lie every day on Twitter? I hope you and Mary G are right, but the press was never addicted to Palin in the way they are addicted to Trump.
Chief Oshkosh
@Betty Cracker:
Not if we get them first…
PsiFighter37
@topclimber: The Squad is a small minority of the Democratic caucus, at best. They get media attention disproportionate to their voting power or their actual influence. AOC getting iced hard on an Energy Committee seat should be a very good indication about how well their brand of politics goes over with their ostensible allies. Tlaib also voting against the compromise package with a dumbshit explanation shows that she’s also really not that bright.
My guess: Tlaib and AOC will be out of Congress before the 2020s are out, and only Ayanna Pressley will have a career beyond what they are doing now.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@germy:
I have a love-hate relationship with the little roof rats. I like seeing them in the trees away from the house, not so much up close (had some gnaw their way in to the eaves).
Soprano2
I noticed that, too. They cannot let go of the idea that there is some grand plan behind the things Trump does, rather than what actually happens, which is that he just reacts in a way to get attention and doesn’t really care what he destroys to get it. Amazingly, they still have not figured out that literally the only thing Trump cares about is himself.
MomSense
@mrmoshpotato:
Just HOW SHORT are his legs???????? Has he been walking on stilts this whole time? Explains the leaning posture.
germy
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I admire them from a distance. Same thing with woodpeckers.
Betty Cracker
@Spanky: I agree the Trumpers have to be marginalized and out-voted as much as possible, but I’m not sure that will be enough. The last election wasn’t even close in raw votes, but Trump’s loss was narrower than Clinton’s in the Electoral College states. Given the structural advantages Republicans enjoy and the fact we’re in a two-party system, there will be exchanges of executive power, even if one party is barking mad.
That’s the part that keeps me up nights. Sometimes I think our only hope is that the plutocrats who are the beneficiaries of GOP policies will weigh that favorable policy treatment motivation with the need to keep the country on the same footing as wealthy, industrialized peers if only so the looting can continue?
It’s an awfully thin reed to hang our hopes on. I hope attitudes toward Trump can change over time among Republican voters. It’s a matter of how many are dead-enders, and the fact that he gained voters after the calamitous first term is deeply worrisome.
germy
@PsiFighter37:
Yes, AOC lost to Kathleen Rice. I guess because AOC can’t play nice with others? Unlike Rice:
https://www.wnyc.org/story/long-island-democrat-leading-revolt-against-speaker-pelosi/
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Final months of life or final months of show? Asking for a spiteful friend.
@germy:
Oh hallelujah! Best Christmas present of my life!
germy
Looters are going to loot, but unfortunately their interests don’t align with any sort of decent social safety net for the rest of us. They want all the marbles.
mrmoshpotato
@PsiFighter37:
Eek! All the yikes!
JPL
@germy: They moved on and are humanizing the suicide bomber.
mrmoshpotato
@germy:
Must be the sister city of Sisterfuck, AR.
Gin & Tonic
@germy: Not a popular view on this blog, but she’s not entirely wrong here. A leadership team composed entirely of octogenarians is not a good look for a party that needs and ostensibly wants young voters.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic: The quoted excerpt doesn’t mention age as a rationale for her views.
germy
@Gin & Tonic:
AOC and “the squad” get attacked here more often than Rice. And yet Rice and her blue dog squad wanted to replace Pelosi with… who?
Baud
@germy: Rice sounds like a piece of work, but AOC and the Squad are in the news and in people’s social media much more. That affects what people talk about.
mrmoshpotato
@MomSense: Haha. Btw, have you prominently displayed your Dumpster Fire postcard? Mine’s in my fridge along with last year’s postcard.
MomSense
@mrmoshpotato:
I tweeted mine and driftglass retweeted me! It’s also on the mantle with the other cards.
MomSense
@mrmoshpotato:
BTW I won one of the resist bracelets a couple years (decades?) ago.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Duplicate post, please delete.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Betty Cracker: We got Andrew Jackson on the twenty, Mt Rushmore, statue in next to the White House, even though the Jackson was a murderous, racists, economy destroying clown and things still function. If we can survive Mr Trail of Tears then I think we can survive Trump.
Geminid
@germy: Rice was not a member of the Blue Dog Caucus. Neither were Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Tim Ryan (D-OH), the ringleaders of the group that challenged Pelosi in 2018
In the event, Rice, Moulton, and Ryan all voted for Pelosi as Speaker.
NotMax
@Enhanced Voting Techniques
Jackson is not on Mt. Rushmore.
Chyron HR
@topclimber:
Yes, congratulations, Bernie has his own version of Diamond and Silk willing to give cover to his “white working class lives are what REALLY matter” schtick.
Betty Cracker
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Well, that was about 190 years ago, but I like your optimism!
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: “has blocked other Democrats from advancing” – since advancement in leadership is purely a function of longevity, I read this as a comment on age.
topclimber
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Tell that to the Conserva-Dems, who are ones who have challenged her for real.
The Thin Black Duke
@Gin & Tonic: Fair enough. But on the other hand, I’d take these young loud firebrands a lot more seriously if they could deliver more voters to the polls. I’m more impressed by the folks that get things done, not speeches. That’s why I believe Ayanna Pressley has quietly but purposely separated herself from ‘The Squad’.
topclimber
@Chyron HR: Hate to break it to you, but Bernie is not the boss of them.
Elizabelle
@The Thin Black Duke: Stacey Abrams. Stacey Abrams. Stacey Abrams.
Stacey Yvonne Abrams.
Mike in NC
We learned over the past four years that two of Fat Bastard’s favorite words are “disaster” and “disgrace”, and both pretty much would sum up his pathetic Reign of Error. Also, too, there are lots of “nasty” women out there.
The Thin Black Duke
@Elizabelle: Huh. Oddly enough, my wife mentioned Abrams as I was typing this. Thing is, I think of Abrams as an old-school pol in that although she has a superb media presence, Abrams doesn’t shy away from doing the work behind the scenes when the cameras aren’t there. Abrams gets sh*t done.
Elizabelle
@The Thin Black Duke: I am going to be thinking of her as (Secular) Saint Stacey if she pulls off two — even one — win in Georgia.
All power to Stacey.
LOL: I have a friend who’s briefly in Chattanooga TN for some family matters. She was complaining about seeing all the political ads, all the time on TV and — ah yes. Chattanooga is about 8 miles north of the Georgia border and in the Georgia media market.
What hell to see those ads all the time, and have no vote whatsoever in the outcome. I feel her pain.
Elizabelle
@Mike in NC: Strongly. He says those words strongly.
Elizabelle
New thread up. By John Cole. About the “strongly” asshole and his perceived negotiating skills.
Gin & Tonic
@The Thin Black Duke: Hakeem Jeffries is good too, and only 50.
Baud
@Elizabelle:
That’s been up for a while.
Geminid
@Gin & Tonic: while Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, and Chief Whip Clyburn are octogenarians, Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn is 50 years old. The talented Jeffries is widely thought to have the inside track to replace Pelosi in 2022. Hopefully as Speaker.
Uncle Cosmo
Try the 23rd of Never. The next 4 years of GOP politics is going to be a replay of the 2016 campaign, when every Presidential candidate not named Trump stood patiently by, ready to scoop up his supporters once he crashed & burned, but mortally afraid to aid (much less start) the process lest the Trumpistas turn on him in fury. Every one of them wanted to stop him but none of them could forge an alliance to do so before it was far too late.
They’ll literally have to bury him, then scramble to deflect the responsibility for his death (which conspiracy-mongering QAnon and 2Xchan will look to pin on someone) while mouthing pieties over his grave.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Yeah. I just noticed it.
With gems like “Mitch McConnell knows roadkill when he sees it.” Never go away, Cole.
SFAW
@germy:
His last show for 2020. Not clear that it’s his last show ever.
tam1MI
@Gin & Tonic: They can get rid of Steny Hoyer’s wrinkled ass anytime.
The Thin Black Duke
@Elizabelle: Huh. Oddly enough, my wife mentioned Abrams as I was typing this. Thing is, I think of Abrams as an old-school pol in that although she has a superb media presence, Abrams doesn’t shy away from doing the work behind the scenes when the cameras aren’t there. Abrams gets sh*t done.
There go two miscreants
@germy: Rusty Dildo, PA.
Considering some of the town names in PA, I would not be surprised if that one turned out to be real!
germy
@SFAW:
One can only hope.
Geminid
@The Thin Black Duke: This summer a leftwing rag I call Jerkobin Magazine did a long piece on Stacey Abrams, try to explain to their readers how Stacey Abrams is not what she is cracked up to be. While the author picked various nits in her Georgia legislative career, his biggest gripe was that often when she voted correctly she justified her stand with pragmatic reasoning. I thought this argument did not reflect on Abrams so much as it did on Jerkobin.
My Atlanta friend spent a lot of time following the 2018 races, and was very impressed by Beto O’Rourke and Andrew Gillum. But he thought that in both her public speaking and her interviews, Stacey Abrams was in a class of her own.
Miss Bianca
@Amir Khalid: One of the notes of grim humor in Downfall (which has a surprising amount of grim humor, really) is that right around the time that we see that Blondi has been dispatched, Eva Braun turns to the young secretary protagonist (whose name, to my shame, I forget) and confides that she’s always hated Blondi.
ETA: It’s not that I find Eva’s dog hate amusing, you understand – it’s that up till that point Eva has been so relentlessly, maddeningly upbeat about everything, that it’s one of those shock-laughs when she finally caves and shows some sign of recognizable human emotion, even if it’s just jealousy of Hitler’s dog.
glory b
@germy: Maybe, but Rice hasn’t been in the media hinting that her fellow Dems need to get primaried out of office. Sunshine Dems and Justice Dems have said they are targeting those in safe seats (many of them are CBC members), looking to unseat them. After she won her primary, AOC unsuccessfully campaigned with BS against at least one member, (can’t remember who, Sharice Davids maybe) before she even got into office. Kind of stupid to think that this makes friends and influences people.
It’s not ALL about Pelosi, some of them are mad at her all on their own.
glory b
@mrmoshpotato: Hasn’t that been the site of several suicides recently?
Geminid
@glory b: In July 2018 Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders were flown by Justice Democrats to Kansas City to campaign for Brent Welder. Welder worked for Sanders in 2016, while his strongest opponent, Sharice Davids, did not. Davids beat Welder and went on to flip the seat in the general election.
The Justice Democrats would have done better to bring their stars to Chicago, where liberal Marie Newman was locked in a close primary with the incumbent Ted(?) Lipinski. But Newman had not supported Sanders in 2016. Marie Newman finally knocked out Lipinski this past July. The Justice Democrats jumped on her bandwagon this time, two years late.
Geminid
@Geminid: Justice Democrats chief Saikat Charkrabarti gave an interview on the flight to Kansas City. Sharice Davids was a Native American and a lesbian, and Welder was a straight white male. Charkrabarti must have been asked about this, because he explained that it was time to move beyond “identity politics.” The JDs try to have it both ways on such matters.
Charkrabarti ended up as Ocasio-Cortez’ Chief of Staff, but he lost his job in the aftermath of the Democratic Caucus blowup over emergency border funding in July of 2019. He had thrown his share of gasoline on the fire. But I’ve followed Charkrabarti recently, and he seems to have come around to a more measured view of Democratic party politics, unlike many of Sanders’ crew.