Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

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

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

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

The lights are all blinking red.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

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

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

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Republicans don’t trust women.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Thank the Gods for Nancy Smash

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Thank the Gods for Nancy Smash

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While #MoscowMitch continues his career as a sabateur — more on that later — I’m grateful, again, that we have Speaker Pelosi as an example of how legislating can be done…

Reader Interactions

223Comments

  1. 1.

    dr. bloor

    I’m going to avoid political Twitter for the next several hours while The Roses tell us how Pelosi fucked up and needs to be taken behind the barn and shot so Ilhan Omar can take her rightful seat at the head of the House.

    ETA: Mitch is going to have a lot less fun next term once Trump leaves DC and leaves him with nothing to hide behind.

  3. 3.

    JMG

    Because of our dreadful civics education, even some of the most politically aware people I know have no idea what a legislative leader does. There are plenty of Democrats with post-grad degrees who basically have the same idea of politics as Trump — the leader’s job is to go on TV and bloviate. Pelosi is a superb cat herder. Due to the nature of the Democratic coalition, that’s what its legislative leaders have to be.

  6. 6.

    John Revolta

    Yertle’s plan is obviously to stick a poison pill in the bill, send it back to the House and when they turn it down and the clock runs out let the MSM blame “Congress” or worse, “Pelosi” for killing Trump’s $2000 gift to Americans. Either that or let the Senate vote on it as is but hand out enough Golden Tickets to the Repubs (e.g. Loeffler, Perdue) that need them and then kill it outright.

  10. 10.

    debbie

    @Yutsano:

    How do you figure? Saunders wanted to hold the NDAA hostage until the stimulus went through. McConnell will eat him for breakfast for “toying with our military.”

    Each of the three things should be submitted and voted on separately. Enough of the political mis-maneuvering.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    @Yutsano:

    Nothing weird is happening. Hawley is trying to distinguish himself in a crowded a GOP presidential field, so he’s toying with populism.

    It’s no different than W’s compassionate conservativism.

  14. 14.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: I can’t see the Trumphumpers going for Josh Hawley. He’s terrible, but he’s not obnoxious enough.

    I really don’t know who the heir to Trump is.

    If the GOP was smart, they’d go with Kasich or Hogan. But they aren’t smart.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    @Suzanne:

    Kasich is finished, after supporting Biden.  Hogan would be something like Biden for the GOP.  It would test how loyal their base is.

  16. 16.

    dr. bloor

    @Suzanne: I’d guess Cotton, Noem, and Haley are the ones to beat out of the gate in ’24.  They’re all idiotic nihilists, but with enough meat on the bones for the punditubbies to fawn over and prop up.

  17. 17.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    This excerpt from an essay in the New York Review of Books should appear in every obituary of Mitch McConnell:

     

    If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell. He stoked the hyperpolarization of American politics to make the Obama presidency as dysfunctional and paralyzed as he possibly could. As with parliamentary gridlock in Weimar, congressional gridlock in the US has diminished respect for democratic norms, allowing McConnell to trample them even more… Like Hitler’s conservative allies, McConnell and the Republicans have prided themselves on the early returns on their investment in Trump.

     

    h/t https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/5/17940610/trump-hitler-history-historian

    The original NYRB essay is locked behind a paywall

  19. 19.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dr. bloor: I can’t think like a Republican, but at a guess I’d put Hawley at the front of the pack, in part because he actually will look like a normal person on a stage with Cruz and Cotton. I also wonder if Christie will take another run at it

    ETA: I would bet on Somebody/Haley as the Rs ’24 ticket. I don’t think they’d actually give her the top spot.

  21. 21.

    Suzanne

    @dr. bloor: I might agree with you. But I don’t know. A cohort of Trump’s diehards are going to go back to not voting if he’s not on the ballot, and I don’t know if there’s a winning GOP coalition without him. I don’t see someone like Nikki Haley activating them. Cotton isn’t mean enough. And Kristi Noem doesn’t strike me as smart enough to be ruthless. Dollar Store Sarah Palin, indeed, and FSM knows she didn’t stick.

    I bet someone new comes along.

  22. 22.

    mrmoshpotato

    @dr. bloor:

    Mitch is going to have a lot less fun next term once Trump leaves DC and leaves him with nothing to hide behind.

    Next term, I hope the Democratic Senate majority leader can tell Moscow Mitch to sit down and shut his fascist turtle yap.

  23. 23.

    Ian

    Well if we are going out on a limb and guessing- I will say marjorie taylor greene for 24.

    As for Mrs. Smash, she is always underrated by prognosticators, haters, and critics.  Day in, day out, for the last sixteen years the woman has been the most influential Democratic figure in this country.  And she does it well.  All her critics can utter the words “Speaker Tim Ryan” or “Speaker Kevin McCarthy”.  Which three words sound better?

  24. 24.

    Yutsano

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:  Hawley might be latching on to the Dolt45 base but that only works for him if he also objects on Jan 6th. Cotton has the charisma of wet cotton. Rafael is, well, Rafael. Noem has little national profile outside hardcore wingnut circles. And let’s not forget Uday and Qusay and Ivanka! I honestly don’t know who’s going to win that race.

  25. 25.

    TS (the original)

    @dr. bloor:

    ETA: Mitch is going to have a lot less fun next term once Trump leaves DC and leaves him with nothing to hide behind.

    He had lots of “fun” for the last two years of the Obama administration. This will be the same if he still controls the senate. He has never hidden – is always up there thinking it is fun to treat democratic Presidents as having zero rights.

  26. 26.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: I think Hawley speaks their language, Haley too. I most emphatically do not, so I’m guessing. I don’t know if Christie could pull it off. As somebody once said of the bible thumpers’ distrust of John McCain in spite of his voting history, he gives off the vibe of someone who spends Sunday morning reading the New York Times instead of going to church.

  27. 27.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: White evangelicals love Cotton and Hawley, yeah. But a n important slice of Trump voters are not especially religious, not especially educated, and are just angry as hell. I’m talking about the real cult of personality people. The evangelicals are hypocritical and transactional. They’ll go to whomever looks like the biggest fish at the moment. But the hardcore Trump people…. I don’t know who they will circle around.

  28. 28.

    dr. bloor

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    You might be right, but some dumbfuck out there is going to see Cotton’s languid manner, Adam’s apple, and “plainspoken” manner and compare him to Abe Lincoln.  Book it.

    @Suzanne:

    I think Noem is plenty ruthless, but she might not be subtle enough.  You might well be right about someone new, however.  Time for the Republicans to have their Jimmy Carter moment.

  30. 30.

    Nicole

    It’s kind of cool, knowing we’re here in real time seeing one of the great Speakers of the House. Pelosi is a giant.

    I read a great piece some years back that pointed out one way you could tell how much she scares Republicans is that they refer to her by her last name, not just her first. Good. Trump tried, but “Nancy” didn’t catch on. Good. They should be scared.

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Yutsano: I have a hard time imagining Exurban White Man turning out to vote for Boardroom Barbie’s carefully cultivated if very shallow act, with all the barely reheated corporate and pop-psych jargon from professional women’s empowerment seminar held in 1997, but again, Republicans have only become a bigger mystery in the trump years. I could see Fredo maybe pulling it off in MT or WT, as people used to speculate, but in the last few weeks people are talking about him setting up in Florida, so I guess I’m right back at upside-down shrug emoji

  34. 34.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Nicole:

    Trump tried, but “Nancy” didn’t catch on. 

    Her own name as a means to insult her didn’t catch on.  Weird.  ?

    I guess that happens with a stupid stupid Soviet shitpile mobster manbaby coining nicknames like an assclown.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Nicole: I’ll never forget her utterly sincere look of contempt when a reporter asked her if she had heard trump had a nickname for her. “Who cares?” Her contempt was for trump, but also the reporter.

  37. 37.

    dr. bloor

    @TS (the original): All true, maybe I’m just hoping the calculus is a little different this time around.  Since Obama, he’s bared his ass for Trump (and his own agenda) in a way that no one in their right minds can ignore.*  He also has a bunch of Senate seats to deal with in ’22, and maybe his caucus won’t be quite so malleable this cycle.

     

    *Yes, I know that constitutes a sliver of the Republican party.

  41. 41.

    lamh36

    JIC anyone think the stories about hospitals in LA are “fake news” or stretching the truth…

    I just heard this from a friend of mine who’s works in the lab at a big hospital in LA when I asked her if her hospital was experiencing the same thing

    <blockquote><strong>Yup our intranet says we are SEVERELY overcrowded. And that is because there are already disaster area tents at the ER entrance for the over flow</strong></blockquote>

  42. 42.

    TS (the original)

    @dr. bloor:  Guess I’ve run out of hope for the republican party & those who vote for them and donate millions to them. The only hope for a US democracy is the complete takeover of government by the democratic party (as one entity or two).

  43. 43.

    Suzanne

    @dr. bloor: I think that Kristi Noem is dumb as a fucking stump. Trump is dumb, yes, but he has a killer instinct for other people’s weaknesses, and his utter sociopathy and narcissism wears out his opponents, because few of us are used to dealing with people like that. I don’t know if Kristi Noem has any of that on her “side”. And women can’t get away with as much. I see her flaming out, much like Crazy-Eyes.

  44. 44.

    Brendan in NC

    @dr. bloor: I’m seeing it on there as well. Something about unseating her as Leader, so they can push through a vote on M4A. Never underestimate the (lack of) genius that is Rose Twitter.

  45. 45.

    John Revolta

    It’s not going to be a woman. Trump’s base would never go for it. I think DeSantis and Gaetz are both worth watching. They’re mean enough, wingnutty enough, and they both obviously have their eyes on bigger things.

  47. 47.

    mrmoshpotato

    @TS (the original):

    Guess I’ve run out of hope for the republican party & those who vote for them and donate millions to them. 

    Did you lose this hope before or after the Cuban Missle Crisis?

  48. 48.

    Barbara

    @Baud: He really didn’t activate white evangelicals.  They have been activated for several decades.  Trump activated or perhaps expanded on the people we might have called Reagan Democrats, or Obama to Trump voters.  That was the difference in 2016, and many of them stayed put in 2020.  The question is whether they would vote for Haley or Cotton.

  50. 50.

    lamh36

    @lamh36: dang it

     

    Yup our intranet says we are SEVERELY overcrowded. And that is because there are already disaster area tents at the ER entrance for the over flow

  52. 52.

    Major Major Major Major

    Mitch will be bundling the $2000 bill with a Section 230 repeal. Excited to see who comes out and says that we must play along and repeal Section 230 so we can get these checks out. Seems… short-sighted, given how many Democratic legislators/incoming presidents hate 230.

  53. 53.

    Baud

    Historically, it’s tough to move from the Senate directly to the White House.  Obama was one of the few to have done it, and he wasn’t in the Senate very long.

  54. 54.

    MisterForkbeard

    @lamh36: My brother is a psychiatric nurse that mostly deals with addiction issues over the phone these days, and he says what little contact he’s got at the floor of the hospital says it’s very busy.

    I have a cousin who’s a nurse in the East Bay of CA, and he says he’s never seen so many ambulances. They’re parked in the parking lot and being used as additional hospital beds, in some cases >_<

  55. 55.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Major Major Major Major: Matt Yglesias, though he seems to be implying the repeal would somehow be clawed back (“call their bluff”)?

    Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias 2h
    I think Dems should call the bluff and get everyone the checks

    Kevin Collier @kevincollier · 2h
    I’ve seen plenty of insane claims about Section 230 from Trump and his allies, and endless arguments from wonks I follow about what a replacement could look like. Haven’t seen enough tech companies running around screaming bloody murder about the possibility it gets repealed.

  56. 56.

    mali muso

    Nancy Pelosi FTW!

    Wondering where to donate some $ to have the maximum impact towards helping in GA at this late hour.  Directly to the campaigns?  Fair Fight?  Elsewhere?

  57. 57.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Tech companies are assuming that it won’t happen. If it looks squishy I’m sure they’ll call in some chips.

    The people saying “oh we can claw it back later” don’t seem to understand that Democratic legislators want to “reform” 230 too. Any replacement will compel censorship and hurt small web sites and services the most. The status quo will not be on the table. Especially if Mitch is majority leader.

  59. 59.

    dmsilev

    @Baud:

    Let’s see:

    FDR: Governor
    Truman: VP
    Eisenhower: General
    Kennedy: Senator
    Johnson: VP
    Nixon: VP (with gap years)
    Ford: VP
    Carter: Governor
    Reagan: Governor
    Bush: VP
    Clinton: Governor
    Bush II: Governor
    Obama: Senator
    Trump: Hellspawn
    Biden: VP (with gap years)

    So, 6 veeps, three of whom became President because of death or resignation, one who won election immediately following his predecessor’s eight years, and two who won after the other party controlled the White House for one or two terms. 5 Governors. Two Senators. One General. One …other.

    So, sitting VP is actually a rarer shot than Senator, probably because after 8 years, there’s enough ‘time for a change’ sentiment to act as a drag.

  61. 61.

    TS (the original)

    @mrmoshpotato:  After – the Reagan administration was probably when I realised they were 100% for power and money. The economics of the world was ruined by Reagan & Thatcher.

    The fact that truth is irrelevant when power is involved came with Bush II.

    I’m obviously a slow learner.

  64. 64.

    CaseyL

    Here is where I show my ignorance of legislative procedure, but if the Senate votes for Aid-Plus-230-Poison-Pill, don’t both houses of Congress have to reconcile that with the House bill? And can’t they at that point get rid of the poison pill?

  65. 65.

    Kent

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:@Baud: I think Hawley speaks their language, Haley too. I most emphatically do not, so I’m guessing. I don’t know if Christie could pull it off. As somebody once said of the bible thumpers’ distrust of John McCain in spite of his voting history, he gives off the vibe of someone who spends Sunday morning reading the New York Times instead of going to church.

    Ted Cruz speaks their language.  And no one, I mean NO ONE will ever out-pander Ted Cruz.  Just like George Wallace famously said after his first defeat for governor: “I was out-ni**red, and I will never be out-ni**red again.”  Ted Cruz will never be out-pandered again.

    Plus, they don’t care about the flop sweat and smarminess.  Because they are used to it.

  67. 67.

    WaterGirl

    @mali muso: Opinions vary.  For me, it would be Raphael Warnock because Stacey Abrams keeps asking for money for him specifically.  They are really targeting him with racist ads full of lies, and that’s a lot to combat.

    The other place i might think about is America Votes – Georgia, which splits between a bunch of different smaller organizing groups that are active in Georgia.  Asian-American votes were up 3-4% in 2020, I’m sure because one of those groups, etc.

    But you have choices!

    Balloon Juice for Fair Fight

    Goal Thermometer

    Jon Ossoff YES, this includes the 2018 race and everything since.

    Goal Thermometer

    Raphael Warnock, Georgia Senate Runoff!  (starting at 27,997, hoping DougJ can do a new BJ thermometer for the runoff)

    Goal Thermometer

    America Votes – Georgia

    Goal Thermometer

    If you donate to America Votes – Georgia, they are making sure they get distributed directly as needed to groups that are having the biggest impact on the ground.

    AMERICA VOTES – Georgia

    Organizations include:

    • Asian American Advocacy Fund
    • Black Male Voter Project
    • Black Voters Matter
    • BlackPAC
    • Care in Action
    • Collective PAC
    • Color of Change
    • Georgia Alliance for Progress
    • Georgia Conservation Voters
    • Georgia Equality
    • Mijente
    • New Georgia Project Action Fund
    • Poder Latinx
    • UNITE HERE
  68. 68.

    Kattails

    Nothing would please me more than watching Nancy Pelosi out flank Mitch McConnell. It would be magnum of champagne level giddiness at this point.

    Slightly OT but just saw this Meidas Touch bit about wear your damn mask, had to watch it twice more for the hilarity.

    Back to my desk.  Speaking of magnums of champagne, is it Jan. 20 yet?

  72. 72.

    Kent

    @CaseyL:Here is where I show my ignorance of legislative procedure, but if the Senate votes for Aid-Plus-230-Poison-Pill, don’t both houses of Congress have to reconcile that with the House bill? And can’t they at that point get rid of the poison pill?

    Yes, but after a bill is reconciled, the bill goes back up for re-vote in each chamber before it is finally passed, so if they reconcile the bill past what the GOP Senate or Dem House will accept it won’t pass.  The managers in the reconciliation committee should know this which is they aren’t likely to reconcile a bill past what their chamber will accept.

  74. 74.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Yutsano: I remember when Mike Huckabee was supposed to be the economic populist conservative. He seems to have degenerated into some sort of reactionary standup comic.

  78. 78.

    zhena gogolia

    @Lyrebird:

    Wow, that song is great. Her diction is so beautiful.

    ETA: I have to add, I’ve never heard her before! But I saw this quotation on Wikipedia, and it so confirms what I was thinking. She was putting those lyrics across like Judy.

    During a 2007 interview, Austin spoke of reluctantly attending as a teenager one of Judy Garland’s last concerts and how the experience helped focus her career. “She ripped my heart out. I wanted to interpret a lyric like that, to present who I was at the moment through the lyric.”[8]

  79. 79.

    Matt McIrvin

    @dmsilev: Though all of those Vice-Presidents had also been in either the House, the Senate, or both at some point. It seems like having House of Representatives experience is enough to make VP but not President on its own.

  81. 81.

    Bill Arnold

    @dr. bloor:

    I’d guess Cotton, Noem, and Haley are the ones to beat out of the gate in ’24.

    They have no exclusive right to define themselves, and members of the press/pundits don’t have exclusive rights either. We have four years to define them, spin dominant negative narratives about them, etc.
    Trump got a pass because people were afraid of being sued for damaging his brand. Never again.

  82. 82.

    apocalipstick

    @Yutsano: Not really. Hawley is an appetite dressed as a human. He is perfectly aware that he can say anything he wants with no consequences. He doesn’t mean any of it.

  83. 83.

    Alison Rose

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, one of my favorite things about her is how she so clearly does not give a single fuck for what Republicans think about her, whether politicians or their rabid base. They’ve tried for decades to, I don’t know, make her cry or something, and she’s so totally unbothered by it. I love it.

  86. 86.

    Chetan Murthy

    @apocalipstick:

    Hawley is an appetite dressed as a human.

    That’s right.  Hawley is the guy who simultaneously tried to argue that he was for maintaining protections for those with pre-existing conditions, while his state was joining the suit to remove them.  Man doesn’t have a shred of a conscience, not a shred of shame.  He’s just a raging appetite for a balcony from which to harangue a mob.

  88. 88.

    Yutsano

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Hawley is the guy who simultaneously tried to argue that he was for maintaining protections for those with pre-existing conditions, while his state was joining the suit to remove them he was the Attorney General in the state suing to try to remove them.

    His hypocrisy was even more rank than that.

  89. 89.

    Mike in NC

    Jennifer Rubin’s column today is entitled “Nikki Haley’s mind-numbing inanity”, so she’s not very impressed with her future in the GOP. I recall Nikki as being an absolutely terrible governor of SC, so who knows?

  90. 90.

    Bill Arnold

    @Brendan in NC:

    Never underestimate the (lack of) genius that is Rose Twitter.

    Rose Twitter, in aggregate, helps elect Republicans. It’s what they do, so it is also what they are – ProFa Republicans. Or external hostile (well pro-Republican) influence agents. Or both.

  92. 92.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Yutsano:

    His hypocrisy was even more rank than that.

    Thank you for that.  I had forgotten that grisly detail, which, yeah, it makes all the worse.

  93. 93.

    Bill Arnold

    @John Revolta:

    I think DeSantis and Gaetz are both worth watching.

    Yep, they’re both worth continuous opposition research, and legal troubles/investigations where appropriate. Neither of them are clean.

  95. 95.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Baud:  It’s the Crapture that’s overdue. When all the evilangelicals get lifted up bodily & dropped face-down into the nearest full septic tank.

  97. 97.

    Jay

    We, ( a work group) got word today that our sponsorship of Samayah’s family is a go.

    Lot’s of work to do, but with any luck they will leave the refugee camp in Turkey, in early March.

  98. 98.

    Baud

    @dmsilev:

    To date, 16 senators have also served as president of the United States. Three senators, Warren G. Harding, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House.

    That’s what I was referring to.

  99. 99.

    Bill Arnold

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Mitch will be bundling the $2000 bill with a Section 230 repeal.,

    Section 230 repeal is not a minor thing. It means shutdown or neutering (through slow and gating comment moderation systems), of most online free speech, including non-political on-line venues, but especially political on-line venues, which is the very probably the intent for many advocates.
    Section 230 is Good, Actually (Jason Kelley, December 3, 2020)
    (Interesting bit in that piece about personal liability for the content of forwarded emails being protected by Section 230, for those with relatives who forward emails.)

  101. 101.

    Roger Moore

    @Mike in NC: 

    Jennifer Rubin’s column today is entitled “Nikki Haley’s mind-numbing inanity”, so she’s not very impressed with her future in the GOP.

    I don’t know. Mind numbing inanity seems like it fits very well with the Republican brand.

  102. 102.

    Kent

    @Matt McIrvin:@dmsilev: Though all of those Vice-Presidents had also been in either the House, the Senate, or both at some point. It seems like having House of Representatives experience is enough to make VP but not President on its own.

    Senators and governors both have state-wide constituencies so they know how to run bigger elections, especially if they are from larger states.  Congressional races are usually much lowere key and less competitive.

  105. 105.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    @Suzanne:  It’s going to be a TV/media personality. Some people are saying it will be Tucker Carlson. I have only ever watched a few seconds of him and I believe they may have it right.

  107. 107.

    trollhattan

    @Mike in NC:

    Kathleen Parker was openly opining that Nikki Haley would be our first woman president (May 2019) then, after Haley published her book embracing everything Trump, had to run a “never mind” column retracting that thought (November 2019). Haley is grimly opportunistic and quite awful.

  108. 108.

    ruemara

    @WaterGirl: It should be sarcasm, as the ads about Sanders  – leader of the Democratic secretly SOCIALIST party – is trying to defund the military during dangerous times and  therefore you do not want to vote Ossof & Warnock so we have a balanced government. Because that’s what it will be spun as

     

    @CaseyL: If they add a poison pill section, then pass it, it does go to the House. If the Speaker deems it not important enough to tussle over, they can do a deem and pass – it’s fine, let’s just consider it done so we can go home. If it is too toxic, they can renegotiate the whole damned thing again. This is why Schumer asked for a unanimous consent, so it could just be passed without addendums.

  109. 109.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Mike in NC:

    I recall Nikki as being an absolutely terrible governor of SC, so who knows?

    Take heart: Nimrata Randhawa Haley is no Kamala Devi Harris.  By which I mean *only* that the latter is a Democrat and the former is a member of the KKKonfederate KKKonservative KKKlan.   Ain’t no way her primary competitors are gonna ignore that obvious (to them, not to us Dems) hot-button issue.  One of her rivals will run attack ads, and then they’ll all pile on.  She’ll be mincemeat.  I fully expect attack ads calling her a “Muzzie” [ugh] and worse.

  114. 114.

    schrodingers_cat

    Nikki Haley’s parents are practicing Sikhs and immigrants from India. That won’t fly in today’s Republican party.

  116. 116.

    sdhays

    I hadn’t seen this, but apparently Loeffler and Perdue have endorsed the $2000 check House legislation. That means that with VP Dense (who I assume wouldn’t dare to vote against Dump), there exists a majority in the Senate for the legislation. Maybe not 60 votes, but if it was brought to the floor, most of the Republican caucus would have to vote against cloture, and against President Dump, to prevent it from passing.

    I think I’m with Bernie on this one – keep this shit in the news

    ETA: I forgot that Hawley, at least, has endorsed it as well. So there are at least 51 votes for it.

  117. 117.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I got rid of most of my Twitter follows who approvingly retweet terrible Rose Twitter hot takes, but I’ve still got some who contemptuously hate-screenshot terrible Rose Twitter hot takes, so they’re hard to get away from.

  118. 118.

    VeniceRiley

    Meanwhile, the plan is revealed /s this is going around RWNJ FB

    FROM Candace Owens:

    “ At the moment, POTUS is sitting on a stack of Trump cards that he’s just waiting to unleash…a royal flush!
    He has court cases that will go to the Supreme Court and thanks to the Texas case, he’s now aware how to file them properly…under article 3 not 2…so the SCOTUS will be forced to listen…..
    He now has the DNI report. Barr stepped down and can now be a witness…..he did his job. Durham is special counsel and can prosecute, in any state….
    He’s letting civil, criminal and federal courts fail to handle the situation properly…..so he can use military tribunals. He has ALL the data from the NSA, the Kraken supercomputer, the Alice supercomputer and likely many more computers, unknown to us….
    He has the dueling electors from 7 state legislatures. He has VP Pence, as the final arbiter of which ballots to accept…..
    He has the Insurrection Act, the NDAA, the national emergency, the 14th amendment, the 2018 executive order, the 2017 very first EO, the Patriot Act, the FISA warrants, the Declassification of everything, people swearing affidavits by the 1000s.
    He has all the statistical data being analyzed….along with the videos, emails, phone calls and bank transfer statements…..showing the coordination of the coup d’etat.
    He has RICO and he has the crimes against humanity videos. Wikileaks just dropped extensive information and Assange will be pardoned. Assange can then openly discuss the murder of Seth Rich….
    Now that the governors and secretary of states certified and Biden accepted….they each committed and knowingly agreed to acts of Treason….
    Solar Winds was literally just raided and Dominion is closing down, as well. He has the CIA servers, used to change dominion machine votes from Trump to Biden…and he will soon have access to the actual machines, themselves….
    He baited the Deep State into staying in DC, so they can be arrested. Biden hasn’t accepted any transition money and Harris has still not given up her seat on the senate….
    The military has infiltrated Antifa and BLM. He has all their financial records. He knows which politicians took Chinese and Soros money….both Republican and Demo-rat….
    He positioned Christopher Miller as secretary of defense and Ezra-Cohen Watnick as assistant secretary of defense. He literally just wrote an executive order, regarding the military line of succession. Many suspect Watnick to be Q.
    He is defunding the CIA. He just replaced Kissinger & Allbright on the National Security Advisory Board…..with men loyal to him.
    The military has been flying planes, far more than usual, all over the country. The Navy just parked mega fleets on both coasts. The 82nd Airborne is preparing for an operation….which is the same group that General Flynn & AG Donoghue were enlisted.
    Pieces are finally falling into place. POTUS has it all! He is just laying out the pieces and building the narrative. He knows he won and they committed Treason! He set a trap and they walked right in, without hesitation.
    He gave the Deep State the chance to come clean and try to fix things. They chose Treason!
    Patriots in control! Nothing can stop what’s coming.

  119. 119.

    Mary G

    @Jay: Excellent news!

      Sorry if this was discussed earlier, but this dude gotta go:

    President Trump's mood darkened as soon as he walked into Mar-a-Lago before Christmas, sources say. The changes to his private quarters, many of which were overseen by first lady Melania Trump, were not to his liking, and he was mad about it, a source says https://t.co/lYzbL2Up12— CNN (@CNN) December 29, 2020

    Considering her taste in Christmas decoration, he might even have a point. Plus he probably can’t afford it.

  120. 120.

    sdhays

    @ruemara: It should be sarcasm, as the ads about Sanders  – leader of the Democratic secretly SOCIALIST party – is trying to defund the military during dangerous times and  therefore you do not want to vote Ossof & Warnock so we have a balanced government. Because that’s what it will be spun as

    The vote is to override President Dump’s veto. This wouldn’t be happening if not for Dump’s bizarre tantrum. The override will happen, just later than previously expected. I’m not a fan of Sanders, but I think that sometimes we need people on our side who will be the jerk in that clubbiest of clubs, and now seems like a decent time. McConnell is very clearly blocking a bi-partisan majority in the Senate and going against his own Preznit.

    I think that’s a stronger message than whatever spin they can come up with.

  121. 121.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Mary G: Is it petty of me to delight in every report of marital strife from that quarter?  Every bit of pain each can inflict on the other, they each deserve.

  123. 123.

    Mike in NC

    @Chetan Murthy: The WaPo comments in response to Rubin’s piece stress that the GOP is the party of old white men and that isn’t about to change in the next 30 years.

  126. 126.

    PST

    @Jay: It’s been floating around for more than a week. Insane, of course, and it is not getting any more sane as January 6 approaches.

  128. 128.

    Scout211

    @Mary G:

    I posted that in an earlier thread but it deserves another mention. The article made me laugh, with the sources seeming to delight in his whining and complaining—then sharing the gossip with CNN reporters.

    The thing that really struck me was the fact that Melania was redecorating their home and Camp David and he is shocked and repulsed when he walks into both residences for the first time.

    Poor Donny and Mel, do they not talk anymore?

    /

  129. 129.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Mary G:

    Almost as good as Cole’s.

    Wait, you mean John makes videos, too?  I’ve never seen any!  From his writing alone, that’d be *lit*!

  132. 132.

    Jay

    @grandmaBear:

    @Mary G:

    Samayah was our friend, coworker, and the first in our store to die from Covid.

    He was young, should have had a long life, should have been able to bring his surviving family home to here.

    It’s something we can do, in remembrance.

  134. 134.

    jonas

    @lamh36: Close family friend works in a large SoCal hospital — the other day they commandeered the pediatric unit for Covid patients. Now seriously ill kids get sent to a larger center elsewhere in the state that still has pediatric unit space or out of state.

  135. 135.

    VeniceRiley

    One of my batshit crazy over 70yrs HALF sisters in Ohio (I have 3 of those!) shared that, BTW. From some other random that apparently copy/paste public shared some missive elsewhere, and FB’s demonic secret sauce served it up to her to share.

  138. 138.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    If robots can dance, then how far away are we from robots who pitch and play for the NY Yankees?

  139. 139.

    Amir Khalid

    @Mary G:

    It’s a clash of aesthetic sensibilities. Melania’s sensibility is “two-star hotel lobby”; Donald’s is “Liberace + +”.

    In the first place, why is she decorating a post-presidential home at Mar-a-Lago? I thought the deal was they can’t stay there more than a week in a row, or 21 days all year.

  140. 140.

    FelonyGovt

    @Scout211: She is the typical wife whose husband tells her to go ahead and choose what she likes and it will be fine, only to loudly hate the end result. Except I have absolutely no sympathy for either of them.

  141. 141.

    jonas

    @VeniceRiley: Dear lord.

    These people need professional help. Seriously — like meds and intensive talk therapy. Perhaps in a quiet, institutional setting of some kind. I really can’t summon any other reaction at this point.

  142. 142.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Amir Khalid:  The Third Lady wore thigh high hooker boots last Wednesday.

    Melania Trump on Wednesday ditched her thigh high boots and coat and changed into stilettos and a dress as she left chilly Washington for Christmas in the Florida sun.

     

    She’s more no-tell motel material.

  143. 143.

    WhatsMyNym

    @VeniceRiley:   This was my favorite part

    thanks to the Texas case, he’s now aware how to file them properly…

    Otherwise it makes trump’s tweets look sane.

  148. 148.

    Another Scott

    ICYMI, …

    The problem with propaganda is that the past changes so quickly you have no idea what will happen yesterday https://t.co/Gpmf4J4JZh

    — Darth Putin (@DarthPutinKGB) December 29, 2020

    (Points to a Guardian piece on Russia’s death toll from COVID-19 being 3x the official number.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  149. 149.

    jonas

    @Amir Khalid: I’m sure his reaction is: “Well, let’s see who has deeper pockets or bigger litigation balls — me or the city of Palm Beach?” He’ll do what he wants and tell the neighbors to go fuck themselves. Like he’s always done. Plus, do city council members really want to get death threats from his lunatic followers the rest of their careers?

    They’ll come to an “amicable agreement” sometime around Jan. 20.

  153. 153.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Bill Arnold: What confuses me is that these are *votes* we’re talking about.  You don’t need a supercomputer: any ol’ Raspberry Pi has enough memory to process ’em.  I mean … WTF do you need to do with them, that you need a supercomputer for?

    The only possibility that comes to mind is signature matching.  But those don’t get loaded into computers, I’d bet.

  154. 154.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @VeniceRiley:

    Ah, yes, the Storm.  As every break event happens, like the SCOTUS rejection and the electors voting, more Republicans accept that it’s over.  These people are desperate for That One Weird Trick that will keep them from having lost, so for a lot of them the issue is when they run out of That One Weird Tricks.  There are three left that I’m aware of.  Congress/Pence overturning the election on the 6th.  Trump declaring martial law.  Biden taking power, only to find that it’s a trap and the military (loyal to Trump) takes over everything and arrests him.  That last one seems to have a shelf life of a week or two after the election.

    My best guess is that almost no one will go for that last one.  It will be interesting seeing how many turn on Trump when he doesn’t declare martial law.  So far, their pattern has been that they’re convinced their crazy tricks are real, so whenever a public figure doesn’t perform one, that person is a traitor.

  155. 155.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Amir Khalid:

    It’s a clash of aesthetic sensibilities.

    As anyone who has been in an abusive relationship knows, Trump is in a bad mood, so he took it out on her.  Whether the decorations were the kind of things he likes is irrelevant.  They were an easy target for him to vent his anger at someone.

  156. 156.

    VeniceRiley

    Digging up dead Seth Rich over the objections of his family, and after Fox had to settle a suit? That’s what did it for me. I hope they sue Candace Owens personally.

  157. 157.

    dmsilev

    Luke Letlow, a congressman-elect from Louisiana, died of covid-19 on Tuesday at a hospital in Shreveport, according to state officials.

    Letlow, 41, won a runoff earlier this month to represent the state’s 5th Congressional District, succeeding his former boss, Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-La.), who didn’t run again after three terms in Congress.

    Dr. Scott ‘only old people die of COVID, so the rest of us should just take the hit’ Atlas could not be reached for comment.

  158. 158.

    Chetan Murthy

    @dmsilev: I feel sadly for his wife and kids.  For him?  They say “de mortuis nil nisi bonum”.  So “good”.  Wishing pink foaming death on GrOPer electeds is self-defense in this time of pandemic.

  159. 159.

    Mary G

    White guy only 41 years old:

    Breaking via WDSU: Congressman-elect Luke Letlow has died after contracting COVID-19 last week.Letlow, a Republican, just won the 5th District seat representing Northeast and Central Louisiana. https://t.co/gNJCMLEBkK— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 30, 2020

    Will it cause any covidiot to wake up? Doubtful.

    ETA: Oops. dmsilev beat me.

  160. 160.

    dmsilev

    @VeniceRiley:

    He has court cases that will go to the Supreme Court and thanks to the Texas case, he’s now aware how to file them properly…under article 3 not 2…so the SCOTUS will be forced to listen…..

    ‘We deliberately started out with lawyers who didn’t know what they were doing just to lull people into a false sense of security.’

  161. 161.

    jonas

    @Mary G: Lol. Melania clearly fancies herself a style maven and her tastes run towards a kind of ultra-modern/geometric minimalism, in contrast to her husband’s preference for a “tacky, late-period Saddam Hussein” look in residential space. She redecorated Camp David? The quintessential “rustic” presidential getaway? “Ya. I haff replaced ze vooden chairss and ze qwilts with aluminum feeturs and ze porch iz now infinity pool for ze lounging in bikini.”

  162. 162.

    Bill Arnold

    @Chetan Murthy:@Bill Arnold:
    Also, nobody names reuses the name of a old supercomputer for a new supercomputer. This is not done.
    No real evidence of computerized vote rigging has been put forward in the various legal challenges.
    In particular, the machines where a touch screen is used to create a human-readable ballot that can be inspected by the voter should be fine as long as maybe 10-20 percent or more voters eyeball their ballot.

  163. 163.

    Matt McIrvin

    It’s been interesting to see “The Kraken” mutate: for Sidney Powell it was a lawsuit, then I heard it was secretly the name of a military unit that was going to carry out the coup for Trump, now they’ve decided it refers to a supercomputer…

  166. 166.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @dmsilev:

    ‘We deliberately started out

    To This One Weird Trick type thinkers, this makes sense.  Doing things the normal way doesn’t work.  Failing as fast as you can to get through all the preliminaries, and saving your good evidence for the final authority sounds right if you see the world in those terms.

  167. 167.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Frankensteinbeck: After a while you end up with a remnant who are like the cultists who are forever reinterpreting the date of the apocalypse to explain why it didn’t happen.

    Some of these people will never abandon the idea that the government of the United States will be overthrown for the true Trump regime. I’m sure that even after Trump is long dead they’ll have their Lost Cause mythologies and pretenders to the throne, just like neo-Confederates or the loyalists of overthrown royal dynasties.

  170. 170.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Matt McIrvin:

    you end up with a remnant

    True, but I think it will be a tiny remnant who will not vote.  They’ll just gather online and swap bizarre prophecies.

    EDIT – @Matt McIrvin:

    now they’ve decided it refers to a supercomputer…

    From what I’ve seen, this is not quite right.  There’s already a name for the supercomputer in their conspiracy theory.  I forget what it is.  They’re just calling it Kracken now because it was featured in the Kracken lawsuits, that’s all.

  174. 174.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Amir Khalid: There was a Kraken in Clash of the Titans, but I figure the proximate reference is the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie, most likely, because lots of releasing of the Kraken happens there.

  176. 176.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Matt McIrvin: In what movie do they release a bunch of traitorous motherfucking shitstains who lose scores of court cases while trying to overthrow the duly elected incoming US president?

  179. 179.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Matt McIrvin: I think the meme/joke goes back to whem Liam Neeson was in Clash of the Titans.  Whenever that was.  I mean, I didn’t watch it, I only know the joke from its countless retellings.

  180. 180.

    Punchy

    Just read that a Trump veto has never been overridden before now.  Are we certain he will abide by the override and allow (“allow”) the bill to go into effect?  Or could he write a signing statement saying he’s ignoring the whole thing?  Petulence and cry-babyism and all that….

  181. 181.

    Bill Arnold

    @Matt McIrvin:

    It’s been interesting to see “The Kraken” mutate:

    It’s almost as if some [actor] is manipulating right-wing conspiracy spaces for their own agenda/amusement purposes. :-)

  184. 184.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Matt McIrvin: I was thinking 50+ scenes of these idiots yelling “Release the Kraken!” in the courtrooms where they lost and judge after judge shouting at them, “Get the fuck out of my courtroom, you idiots!”

  185. 185.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    @VeniceRiley: Thankfully I can sum up this blather in two emoji:

    ??

    You all may, in the interest of hygiene, want to add this: ?, the material this should be written on.

  186. 186.

    Bill Arnold

    @mrmoshpotato:

    In what movie do they release a bunch of traitorous motherfucking shitstains who lose scores of court cases while trying to overthrow the duly elected incoming US president?

    Pretty much. The Real Kraken is the massive disinformation campaign by Republican traitors, no doubt with the support of malicious foreign actors, alleging massive anti-Republican vote rigging[1]. It will live on for decades, continuously causing damage the the United States of America. The perpetrators and enablers of this disinformation campaign should not be allowed to continue their lives unpunished.
    In my protected-speech political opinion, of course. :-)

    [1] All accusations by Republicans are confessions.

  187. 187.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Punchy:

    Are we certain he will abide by the override and allow (“allow”) the bill to go into effect? 

    Speaking of getting laughed out of court…

    “We’re overriding your stupid veto, you Putin-humping shitpile.”

    “WAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!  Hoax!  Unbigly!  Total loser!  Rigged!  Daddy Vladdy!!!!”

  191. 191.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G: they let these jumped-up new money trash redecorate Camp David?

    This is not the first time the President’s personal taste has clashed with that of his wife. Trump was also not thrilled with some of the decorative updates to Camp David, another project of the first lady, when he saw them during the Thanksgiving holiday, according to another source familiar with the President’s reaction after the visit.

    Sounds like MaraLoco is going to turn out to be one more trump super-spreader

    The fabled Mar-a-Lago black-tie New Year’s Eve party, which Trump and his family attend each year and which guests pay thousands per ticket, is still slated to take place Thursday night, said a member of Mar-a-Lago, who has heard buzz that at least 500 reservations have already been confirmed.

    “fabled”? nobody’d heard of it until four years ago

  196. 196.

    Suzanne

    Do you think that the GOP will take COVID seriously now that they lost a freshman? Man, that shit is crazy.

  197. 197.

    Suzanne

    @dmsilev:

    The Kraken ends up battered, deep-fried, and served with a zesty marinara dipping sauce in Rhode Island. 

    This is a great ending. I love seafood.

  200. 200.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Suzanne:

    Do you think that the GOP will take COVID seriously now that they lost a freshman? Man, that shit is crazy. 

    You forgot the sarcasm tag! ?

  201. 201.

    Chetan Murthy

    @gwangung:

    No. “It’s not me, so it doesn’t matter.”

    Once enough of them sicken and die of it, the survivors will take it seriously.  If that means they all must sicken and die, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether” [with apologies to A. Lincoln]

  202. 202.

    Suzanne

    @mrmoshpotato: NBC News threw some great shade. Under a header reading “Operation Warp Speed”, the headline reads “Vaccinating American To Take 10 Years At Current Pace”.

    I’m needing something to turn around here soon. Can we kick things up a notch? Add some garlic? Cayenne pepper? Harissa? BAM.

  203. 203.

    opiejeanne

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: There was a cute short story by a sci-fi writer that was about a major league team called the Superbas that had robot pitchers. I don’t remember who wrote it, might have been Bradbury.

    The implication was that the Superbas were the Dodgers, since at that time they had both Drysdale and Koufax.

  208. 208.

    Steeplejack

    @VeniceRiley:

    Thank you for your unsourced Internet bullshit. This lengthy quote, verbatim, is all over Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and the usual RWNJ sites, but nowhere can I find any link to Candace Owens actually saying this (reprehensible though she may be).

    Even “Silent Majority For President Trump” on Facebook, for one, wrote: “Sorry this was a copy and paste from friend on Twitter. I removed Candace Owen’s name as I can’t find where she said this myself.”

    But now we can look forward to endless future comments on Balloon Juice about “Remember when Candace Owens said . . .” or “I read somewhere that Candace Owens said . . .,” etc.

    What possible contribution do you think you have made to the “discourse” with this, here or anywhere else? “QAnon nuts are crazy”? Whoa, stop the presses.

  211. 211.

    Bill Arnold

    @Steeplejack:
    The Kraken part is one item in one of the theories that were almost immediately circulating about the Nashville explosion. I recall seeing an explicit mention of the Tennessee supercomputer (if it was the Tennessee Kraken, it was decommissioned 2014 in real reality!) in a response to a Lin Wood tweet. Didn’t seem to be a bot account.
    Fact check: Debunking conspiracy links between Nashville explosion, Dominion and AT&T (December 29, 2020, Reuters Staff)

    The post also mentions the “Kraken” or “supercomputer” and says that the cooling system for this computer was located in the AT&T building.

    Which is similarly insane. First, a typical gamer machine has more computing power than a supercomputer of a few decades ago. Second, none of these theories have bothered to explain how exactly one would use a supercomputer to rig an election in a way that couldn’t be done with a cheap laptop computer with a good network connection. Third, the voting machines are pretty hard to rig; most states have done away with machines without at recountable paper. (I have a friend who does contracted device audits (he focuses on the hardware) for voting machines (and similar secure devices) and he’s pretty confident in the ones he’s looked at, and he is competent.) Risk-limiting audits to audit machines that count paper ballots are also done.

    I’d still like an explanation for why polling was did not match the reported state results in many battleground states (but not others, e.g. neighboring Minnesota) and was always overpredicted the Democratic votes. But so far there’s no public evidence of Republican fraud to explain this. And no public evidence of Democratic fraud either.

  212. 212.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Bill Arnold:

    I wasn’t debating the facts; the whole post is a blender load of conspiracy bullshit. I just thought it was an extra layer of bullshit to attribute it to right-wing hobgoblin Candace Owens with no link. She has enough to answer for in reality. And it gives the bullshit a veneer of veracity: “this specific person said it.”

  215. 215.

    opiejeanne

    @Captain C: Yes, I knew that about the Dodgers. It’s why I was pretty sure that the story was aimed at them, because of their pitching staff.

  216. 216.

    opiejeanne

    @Captain C: Our kids gave mr opiejeanne some Kraken socks for Christmas. The colors on the socks are about the same as the Seahawks and at first we both thought that was the team being celebrated.

  219. 219.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kattails: Of course, but pop-culture references have short memories; I was assuming it was something relatively recent.

    The original Clash of the Titans from the 80s was based on the Andromeda myth, and the monster in the story was supposed to be Cetus (like the constellation), but the movie called it a Kraken even though that was a name from Norse mythology, probably because it was cooler. Then again, it also imported a character from Shakespeare!

  220. 220.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Bill Arnold:

    Which is similarly insane. First, a typical gamer machine has more computing power than a supercomputer of a few decades ago. Second, none of these theories have bothered to explain how exactly one would use a supercomputer to rig an election in a way that couldn’t be done with a cheap laptop computer with a good network connection.

    This is people getting their ideas of what computers can do from movies and TV shows, in which a sufficiently powerful computer basically has magic powers, particularly to affect electrical devices.

  223. 223.

    J R in WV

    @VeniceRiley:

    FROM Candace Owens:

    This is the greatest assemblage of crazed ranting that’s totally incorrect in every way I have ever seen. Incoherent, inaccurate, irrational, and completely just nuts.

    Thanks for sharing.

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