Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Come on, man.

I really should read my own blog.

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

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The revolution will be supervised.

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

Republicans don’t trust women.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

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

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

You are here: Home / Politics / GOP Death Cult / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Much As Expected

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Much As Expected

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Mom made me say this, or else I’d be grounded for Homecoming Week.

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154Comments

  3. 3.

    mrmoshpotato

    Lindsey Graham suggests that George Washington may face a post-presidential impeached for owning slaves.

    Seriously, is Lindsey ok in the head?

  4. 4.

    Baud

    At some point in the next few months, the 2024 wannabes will need to turn on Trump.  That’s when you’ll start to see a scarcity of popcorn.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    @gkoutnik:

    I agree.  It won’t quell everything. I do hope it helps at the margins though. If he still had access to twitter, he would tweet something inconsistent with what he said in the video to egg his supporters on.

  9. 9.

    mrmoshpotato

    Trump is going to betray each and every one of the lunatics and thugs and lowlifes who have supported him and it’s going to be like grinding up pure joy and snorting it off of Aphrodite’s ass

    Who grinds up pure joy, you monster?

  10. 10.

    MJS

    I can’t wait to see the Q and MAGA interpretation of the moving boxes. “No, Trump’s not leaving. Those are the ballots for him that weren’t counted. There are eleventy billion of them. They’re being sent to the Marshall of the Supreme Court, who will interrupt Joe Biden’s swearing in, arrest him and everyone else present, and certify Trump’s second, third, and fourth terms.”

  12. 12.

    Baud

    Big banks, climate activists and banking reform advocates don’t agree on much, but they have joined forces to denounce a proposed Trump administration rule that would make it harder for banks to cut ties with the fossil fuel industry.

    If adopted, the proposed regulation would mean that banks could no longer deny loans to fossil fuel companies, gunmakers or other industries simply because those companies don’t match lenders’ corporate values. Banks could only refuse to lend to companies with a “documented failure” of meeting previously established lending standards.

    Free market, bitches.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    I’ve been hoping some decent (white) Christians would step up. Trump is damaging Christianity the same way he is free damaging the country.

    “Gregory E. Sterling is Dean of Yale Divinity School. The views expressed here are the author’s. Read more opinion on CNN. ”

     

    (CNN)As someone who has devoted his entire life to understanding, exploring and teaching the truth about Christianity, I saw the use of Christian symbols and rhetoric as part of the violent assault on the US Capitol as a desecration of democracy’s chapel and a blaspheme of my faith

  22. 22.

    Baud

    The Trump appointee at America’s top foreign aid agency who minimized last week’s riots at the Capitol in remarks to employees on Tuesday will no longer be at the agency “until further notice,” according to an internal memo sent on Wednesday and obtained by The Washington Post.

    Tim Meisburger, a deputy assistant administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Development, Democracy and Innovation, told staff during a video call on Tuesday that the riots at the Capitol last week were the work of “a few violent people” and that “several million” others were protesting peacefully for electoral reform.

  23. 23.

    RandomMonster

    @Baud: At some point in the next few months, the 2024 wannabes will need to turn on Trump.

    That might be a good time to, say, convict him in the senate.

  24. 24.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud: I’m sure he’ll tremendous bigly them over the next 6 days with steaks, water, vodka, Dump University, and massively profitable, completely legit casinos!

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Slave-owning was legal back when George Washington did it. Also too, Washington is no longer able to seek public office; impeaching him to prevent him from running again is kind of pointless.

  27. 27.

    John S.

    @gkoutnik:  That’s exactly right. The word from the intersection of Q and MAGA is that the video was either 1) Coerced or 2) Deepfake.

    Because no true Trump would ever speak like that or say the things that he said!

    ETA: The “No True Scotsman” fallacy is the gift that keeps on giving.

  33. 33.

    debbie

    I’m wondering who inside the administration was running around with his hair on fire like George Tennant before 9/11. //

  34. 34.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Lindsey, did Washington send a mob into the capitol to hang the VP and stop an election being finalized? Did he ask a foreign government to create dirt on a political rival? No? Then shut up.

    Also, shut up some more.

  42. 42.

    rattlemullet

    Someone should inspect those boxes before being sealed. Need to make sure they do not looting anything. After all he did abscond with art and figurines from the Paris Ambassador.

  45. 45.

    ByRookorbyCrook

    Lindsey needs to go back to crying in his bourbon, like last Wednesday. He momentarily poked his head out of Trump’s ass like the Groundhog and saw his shadow, now it is 6 more weeks of carrying Trump water. The question is which personage Graham will attach himself to once Trump is gone? Will he become a Cotton remora or will he become a Grover Dill to Ted Cruz’ Skut Farkas?

  46. 46.

    Cermet

    @Baud: That’s all that so-called christian has to say? The thug party has destroyed that so-called ‘religion of love and caring’ since Ray-gun while not just using its words but with support of all these so-called christians. Yet it took an insurrection and, murder of a cop and storming/occuying the capital to get this person to decry that christian symbols were used for bad purposes. Sorry, far too late and so little self awareness as to borderline on comedy.

  48. 48.

    Jeffro

    @Baud: It’s going to be marvelous.

    The odd-numbered sentences in their statements will praise trumpov to the moon; the even-numbered ones will note that he’s a criminal under multiple indictments, incited the Capitol Hill Insurrection, etc etc.  Total gaslighting whiplash.  Should be fun!

  49. 49.

    satby

    Interrupting the topic flow just to kvetch about my stimulus payment being sent as a paper check, by mail last Wednesday, even though the SSA, and the IRS have current direct deposit info. Of course it’s not here yet. Just can’t wait for competent people back in government, and the malicious incompetents fired /charged.

  51. 51.

    Jeffro

    I hope everyone takes a moment to download the latest INDIVISIBLE guide – “A Practical Guide to Fixing Our Democracy“.  Focuses strictly on legislation (not Constitutional amendments) and things currently in the realm of the possible, as well as how to influence MoCs and beat back the inevitable trumpublican astroturf backlash.

    I mean, take the week off, enjoy the Inauguration next Wednesday…but then we’ve still got work to do, happy warriors!  ;)

  53. 53.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Baud:

    I’m actually OK with this loud identification. The more people that are driven away from the smarmy religiousity of American Christianity, the better.

  54. 54.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    @Baud:  For me the one last spring was direct deposit, the one last week is a paper check.

  55. 55.

    germy

    The Trump administration has invited Biden to stay overnight at Blair House on the eve of the inauguration… this is customary. Thoughts?

    — Eileen Zucker Noga, Ph.D. (@Stellablue9) January 13, 2021

    Doesn’t sound safe to me.

  56. 56.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @John S.:

    Of course, Graham is a member of the party that runs the crystal ball to seance the intent of those who drafted the Constitution, soooooo…..

  59. 59.

    trnc

    Trump is going to betray each and every one of the lunatics and thugs and lowlifes who have supported him

    CNN reported that DT said not to pay Rudy Caloodie because of the impeachment. I assume this means Half Ass Nosferatu was working this entire time and expecting to get a lump sum at the end. I wonder if DT even paid the single dollar like you see in the movies before a lawyer will give you advice, and whether attorney client privilege applies here.

  63. 63.

    Dave

    @debbie: I know you kid but there were at least a few trying to read morris code in his hand gestures because it literally impossible to satire and out stupid the “Q” true believers.

  64. 64.

    Betty Cracker

    Cabrera tweet above:

    Senior Trump adviser tells @Acosta Trump is “clueless what any of this means internationally or historically,” but Trump has told aides and advisers he does fear what the violence at the Capitol has done to his businesses and “the long-term brand.”

    This is probably the only justice we’re ever going to extract from Trump personally, but the good news is that it’s likely to be substantial. It’s also the sort of consequence he can understand.

    With any luck, every Trump is already beginning to rue the day Donald Trump became president and the vulture adult children will descend to pick over the depleted carcass, viciously squabbling all the way.

  65. 65.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @trnc:

    Privilege still applies even without payment – that’s longstanding and clear.

    The rub on this, however, is that Rudy’s license is likely to go away forever, so he’ll have no real motivation to honor that privilege.

    It’ll be a joy to behold.

  66. 66.

    Peale

    Lindsay Graham should only hope that we go down the path of impeaching George Washington. The crime we are actually interested in, though, happened a week ago. And we are very much focused on that, even though it is technically “in the past”. Next up – “Why aren’t liberals examining their role in this? Until they admit that they are at fault, we can’t be expected to examine our role in it”.

  69. 69.

    Kristine

    @MJS: This actually fits in quite well with all the other Qspiracy predictions I’ve seen. And some of those make a Gordian knot look like a single strand of dried pasta.

  72. 72.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @trnc: And yet this morning I also saw a report that Giuliani will head Trump’s impeachment defense. That puzzled me but maybe Giuliani doesn’t care if he gets paid. Maybe he’s having too much fun being crazy in public.

  74. 74.

    satby

    @Baud:  No, because they said if you got SS by direct deposit you didn’t need to do anything. I paid taxes by direct deduction in 2019 (and again this year) and all previous years got direct deposit refunds. The IRS has my account info, they just refuse to use it.

  75. 75.

    germy

    Trump has instructed aides not to pay Giuliani’s legal fees, two officials said, and has demanded that he personally approve any reimbursements for the expenses Giuliani incurred while traveling on the president’s behalf to challenge election results in key states. They said Trump has privately expressed concern with some of Giuliani’s moves and did not appreciate a demand from Giuliani for $20,000 a day in fees for his work attempting to overturn the election.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-isolated-impeachment/2021/01/13/0595675a-55b6-11eb-a931-5b162d0d033d_story.html

    If Rudy doesn’t get paid, will he turn on Trump? Will it become a big face eating leopard party?

  80. 80.

    hueyplong

    I’m not sure Trump is even going to have non-Senator defenders.  No  one wants to do it, not even the execrable Dershowitz.  The tell was Hannity spewing forth about how the whole thing is so absurd that Trump shouldn’t even bother to send a team.

    It’s a fluid situation, but I’d bet a dollar that that’s the state of play at the moment.

    Letting it leak out that he’s putting the shiv in Rudy is weird.  Rudy knows a lot of things.  I wonder if he’s normally a tea drinker.

  81. 81.

    gvg

    @satby: I had that happen too and looked online for why. Apparently the direct deposit info they have for most of us involves an intermediate account from whatever company did our processing (I used one of those “free” ones recommended by the IRS. The intermediate accounts have been closed down months after the tax season as the companies gear up for the next year. I gather that the original deposits didn’t come directly to us even though the appeared to. The IRS didn’t ever record our account number? something like this. But the IRS knew this would be an issue, or at least experienced employees did and said so, and nothing was dine to prepare, which they could have.  That goes back to incompetence and possibly not believing anything would really get passed.

  83. 83.

    Ken

    @germy:  Good to see that Trump approves of auditing people’s travel and other expenses (like, say, golf cart rentals for Secret Service).

  84. 84.

    RSA

    @rattlemullet:

    Someone should inspect those boxes before being sealed.

    Or better, inspect them after they’ve been taken off the premises. Most of the time, prevention of a crime is better than detection and prosecution afterwards, but in this case…

  85. 85.

    satby

    @gvg: not in my case, the IRS has my checking account info because I’ve been making tax payments. I do my own taxes and have direct deposit info on file too. It’s sheer malicious lazy incompetence, I bet folks who work there like Yutsano have been going crazy for four years with the management stupid they’ve had to work under.

  86. 86.

    John S.

    I just heard on CNN that Q nut job announced she is introducing articles of impeachment for Joe Biden the day after his inauguration. Because… reasons.

    I’m sure her constituents are proud of what an ignorant fool they elected.

  88. 88.

    hueyplong

    I appear to have gotten a direct deposit.  Two possible factors:

    (1) residence in a former Confederate state that Trump won both times

    (2) being so very white that my teenage appearances in shirts vs skins hoop games usually elicited references to Procol Harem.

  89. 89.

    satby

    gotta bail, back to every comment being labelled a duplicate. Even after closing my browser, even after switching devices. Only happens here. Have a good day all.

  90. 90.

    Josie

    @satby:

    I think you are right.  I have been receiving direct deposit refunds for years and paid taxes last year directly, so they should have my stuff on file.  It’s so maddening.  I had moving expenses and really needed that money.  I can imagine others are in even more dire situations.

  92. 92.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    …in response to various local, state and federal officials asking people not to travel to Washington, D.C., we are announcing that Airbnb will cancel reservations in the Washington, D.C. metro area during the Inauguration week. Additionally, we will prevent any new reservations in the Washington, D.C. area from being booked during that time by blocking such reservations.

    Guests whose reservations are canceled will be refunded in full. We also will reimburse hosts, at Airbnb’s expense, the money they would have earned from these cancelled reservations. HotelTonight reservations also will be canceled.
    [snip]
    We are continuing our work to ensure hate group members are not part of the Airbnb community. As we’ve learned through media or law enforcement sources the names of individuals confirmed to have been responsible for the violent criminal activity at the United States Capitol on January 6, we’ve investigated whether the named individuals have an account on Airbnb. Through this work, we have identified numerous individuals who are either associated with known hate groups or otherwise involved in the criminal activity at the Capitol Building, and they have been banned from Airbnb’s platform. Source

  93. 93.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Immanentize:

    I think a published tell-all would more than make up the loss of both the Trump fees and his prospective legal income.

    I also figure that most conversations were held with multiple participants, including non-lawyers – privilege issues would be muddy and probably more related to work-product privilege (which may not be enjoinable).

    That’s a back of the breakfast napkin guess.

  95. 95.

    Gin & Tonic

    @hueyplong: Doesn’t even have to be tea. They put Novichok in Navalny’s underwear. [No, I don’t want to think about Rudy going commando]

  96. 96.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @John S.:

    “She’s fighting for US! It may not improve our lives at all, but it’s what we want!”

  97. 97.

    Geminid

    @trnc: Guliani has criminal exposure in at least one federal criminal case, probably more. Hope for a pardon may explain the desperation with which he’s advocated for trump since the election. Now Guliani may not even get that.

  100. 100.

    Citizen_X

    @germy: The Trump administration has invited Biden to stay overnight at Blair House on the eve of the inauguration

    Going to check Admiral Ackbar’s Twitter feed right now…

  102. 102.

    Peale

    @John S.: Unfortunately, they are happy. They elected someone to shoot AOC and I have no reason to believe that at some point, she’ll try.

  104. 104.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Gin & Tonic:

    He also will have that slackjawed son of his to support. That guy is fucked – ugly, talentless, and has the lowest paid Trump regime job chained to his neck for eternity.

  107. 107.

    John S.

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I swear it’s always projection with these scumbags. They think impeaching Trump was a game and political theater, because that’s how they think of it. Just staggering that they think lying about receiving oral sex is an impeachable offense, but fomenting an insurrection is not.

  108. 108.

    cmorenc

    That’s a huge stack of unassembled moving boxes.  Since the White House comes essentially fully furnished to each successive incoming President, aside from wardrobe and a few books, papers, and knick-knacks – you’d think the amount of personally owned stuff an outgoing President & family occupants needs to take with them would be significantly less than what would be involved with an ordinary household move from one house to another.

  110. 110.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: The WaPo had an article yesterday about the vulnerability of trump’s business interests. It begins with the warning friend and adviser Tom Barrack gave trump in November: back off on this election fight, or you’ll hurt your businesses. Deutche Bank has already said they will stop lending, and they were the only big bank that would. trump’s business was built upon his spurious prestige. Now it’s probably about to enter a death spiral, with his properties starting to slowly circle the toilet. There is a trump Winery about 30 miles from me that probably will be one of the first assets sold. Hopefully, at a loss.

  111. 111.

    John S.

    @raven: Her district is nutty fruit cake territory, isn’t it?

    ETA: Oh yeah, GA-14. They’ll literally vote for anyone as long as they have an R next to their name.

  112. 112.

    Patricia Kayden

    Some Republicans say they’re worried that if they vote to impeach Trump they they might get killed. Think that over the next time you talk about “Antifa.” Right-wing politicians are scared to vote their conscience because they might be murdered by harder right-wingers. https://t.co/XQ1UlEUiA0— Christian Christensen (@ChrChristensen) January 14, 2021

  113. 113.

    trnc

    @John S.: I’m sure her constituents are proud of what an ignorant fool they elected.

    Hell, she probably just won reelection by announcing that.

  114. 114.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @cmorenc: This Trump, the White House isn’t normally filled with the gold lead covered kitsch that is the Trump brand. So many cat clocks and Kinkade paintings.

  115. 115.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @John S.:

    Just staggering that they think lying about receiving oral sex is an impeachable offense, but fomenting an insurrection is not.

    Fixt.

  117. 117.

    artem1s

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Lindsey Graham suggests that George Washington may face a post-presidential impeached for owning slaves.

    Seriously, is Lindsey ok in the head?

    maybe not, but his constituents in rural SC will eat this up.

  119. 119.

    trnc

    @cmorenc: That’s a huge stack of unassembled moving boxes. Since the White House comes essentially fully furnished to each successive incoming President, aside from wardrobe and a few books, papers, and knick-knacks – you’d think the amount of personally owned stuff an outgoing President & family occupants needs to take with them would be significantly less than what would be involved with an ordinary household move from one house to another.

    Sure, if we weren’t talking about a criminal enterprise level family. I’d like to think some career staffers will be able to check and make sure property isn’t being outright stolen, but I’m not super optimistic about it. I’m sure it’s also understood that when the congressional law ‘n order crowd hears that DT’s crew stole things and trashed the place like they falsely accused Clinton of doing, there will be a collective yawn.

  120. 120.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @NotMax: Hey, thank you for recommending “Pretend It’s a City.” I binge-watched the first four or five episodes the other day and will return this weekend.

  121. 121.

    Ken

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: The Q nut can introduce all the bills she wants. If Nancy is in a good mood, she’ll just file them

    Don’t they become part of the Q nut’s permanent record?

    (Do elementary schools still scare the kids with that?)

  122. 122.

    artem1s

    @Baud:

    Banks could only refuse to lend to companies with a “documented failure” of meeting previously established lending standards.

    so basically anyone seeking funding to go into business with Trump then?

  124. 124.

    burnspbesq

    I’d be a lot happier if those boxes were being unloaded by the FBI to hold documents it was siezing pursuant to a search warrant.

  127. 127.

    germy

    Retired Lt. Frank Adams sued the department in 2001 and again in 2012 for racial discrimination. A Black, 20-year veteran of the force, Adams supervised mostly white officers in the patrol division. He told ProPublica he endured or witnessed racism and sexism constantly. He said that before he joined the division, there was a policy he referred to as “meet and greet,” where officers were directed to stop any Black person on the Hill. He also said that in another unit, he once found a cartoon on his desk of a Black man ascending to heaven only to be greeted by a Ku Klux Klan wizard. When he complained to his superior officers, he said he was denied promotions and training opportunities, and suffered other forms of retaliation.

  129. 129.

    Geminid

    @John S.: I think that’s a district where gerrymandering doesn’t have much effect. That whole area is just Republican. Clever gerrymandering would have extended it into the Atlanta suburbs and pulled some Democratic voters in, making it a 63-37 republican district. This may happen when the Republican  Georgia legislature draws new districts for 2022. It is thought that Republicans want to take out Lucy McBath and/or Carolyn Bordeaux. Some of McBath’s voters may end up in Greene’s district.

  130. 130.

    BruceFromOhio

    …and it’s going to be like grinding up pure joy and snorting it off of Aphrodite’s ass

    The Hat must have some inventory of snappy sayings to help fill out these descriptors; this one is just a classic.

  131. 131.

    evodevo

    @Cermet: As far as the MAGAts/talibangelical religious faction is concerned, the Yale Divinity School is just another snowflake librul institution and worthy only of contempt…nothing this guy could say would have ANY effect on the evangelical community.  They don’t consider them to be REAL XTIANS®

  132. 132.

    Kristine

    @hueyplong: Illinoisan here. Received my money via DD within days after the bill passed. My accountant–who’s in another state–files my taxes electronically using my bank info.

  133. 133.

    JCJ

    @Betty Cracker:

    I still recall geg6 wanting to see Ivanka end up homeless with all of her belongings in a shopping cart with a bad wheel.  I hope geg6 will describe her wish for the other Trumpenkinder since that painted such a beautiful picture.

  135. 135.

    Geminid

    @evodevo: Russell Moore, who heads the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm, called for trump to resign five days ago. But he’s a softshell Baptist who follows the squish Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount. Hardshell Baptists follow the tough, scary Jesus of Revelations.

  137. 137.

    hueyplong

    @JCJ: Can still remember somebody in 2016 hoping that the Trump family would end up living in apartments in inland Florida (Orlando suburbs, maybe) and working for paychecks.

    Don’t give up hope.  It could still happen.

  138. 138.

    trnc

    @Baud: If adopted, the proposed regulation would mean that banks could no longer deny loans to fossil fuel companies, gunmakers or other industries simply because those companies don’t match lenders’ corporate values.

    I guess that sounds pretty good until Hobby Lobby owns the banks, and Planned Parenthood and developers of low income housing need loans.

  139. 139.

    Miss Bianca

    @mrmoshpotato: Well, I don’t know about *you*, but sure – if we need to start impeachment proceedings to make sure a guy who’s been dead for over 200 years *stays* dead and ineligible to run for office, *I’m* here for you, Lindsey!

  140. 140.

    jimmiraybob

    I hope that they pack all of the stolen loot with extra care to protect it on its way to insurgent headquarters Mar-a-Lago.  Some day after the rebellion we may want to recovery the goods.

  141. 141.

    trnc

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Lindsey Graham suggests that George Washington may face a post-presidential impeached for owning slaves.

    Seriously, is Lindsey ok in the head?

    I’ve suggested at various times that the constitution should be amended to require presidential candidates to have been elected to office and served at least one term at the federal, state or municipal/county level. Someone pointed out that Eisenhower couldn’t have been elected. I promised not to support retroactively overturning his presidency.

  143. 143.

    trnc

    @Miss Bianca: Well, I don’t know about *you*, but sure – if we need to start impeachment proceedings to make sure a guy who’s been dead for over 200 years *stays* dead and ineligible to run for office, *I’m* here for you, Lindsey!

    You know, my question at this point isn’t why Graham is stupid enough to say something like that – it’s how anyone can hear it and say, “YES! Good point, Senator! Checkmate, libs!”

  144. 144.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @germy: Doesn’t sound safe to me.

    Sounds somewhat safer to me than an Amtrak train the morning of January 20, with 100 miles of track to patrol (some through low-density areas known for RWNJ craziness), minimal evasion potential and no good emergency extraction possibilities. Under normal conditions it would be a fine idea, but in the present danger I devoutly hope Uncle Joe reconsiders and chooses a safer more readily defensible way to his inauguration.

  147. 147.

    Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)

    @Josie: Madame Rasputin and I got ours. It has the name of the Tangerine Ballsac on it. We figure we can cash it after the 20th, and add “ex” to the word “president”.

  149. 149.

    Chris Johnson

    On the subject of QAnon nuts in Congress (repeated for emphasis)

    We have to keep track of people being groomed to be the new Trump, or the Trump of four or eight or sixteen years from now, and we have to be particularly careful of one thing: the ones who are stoking extreme right-wing populist batshit insanity WHILE NOT BELIEVING IT THEMSELVES. Trump’s big handicap is that he believes his own crap, and that’s probably saved us… to some extent. It’s certainly doomed him, he’s extremely fucked and the question is, what’s happening to his horde?

    So we do in fact have to keep track of people like the QAnoners in Congress, because they are looking to martyr themselves, being true believers. But they believe total madness and get so worked up that they become ineffective, they’re the canonical Trump Fleet that sinks because they’re stressed and delusional and can’t operate a boat, handle a taser, or interact with reality without telegraphing how crazy they are. They can’t hide, they can’t plan well.

    All my instincts are absolutely screaming that Madison Cawthorn is a liar: not sure how stupid he is, but one of the things about Nazis is that you cannot take them at face value. This holds for the whole alt-right, and is itself stressful to deal with (there’s good videos on this from ‘Innuendo Studios’ on youtube). You absolutely cannot ‘debate’ or negotiate with people like this on the basis that they will say what they mean: it’s always a tactic, you are the enemy, ANYTHING they do or say is a chess move to get in a position where they can kill you and the other enemies. They really enjoy this, it’s about the only thing they do enjoy.

    So sometimes ‘dumb’ is a front, an intentional tactic and you want to have a thought to what is being accomplished by such a claim, notably: what’s accomplished if they successfully get you to assume they mean what they say?

    That means, you can scorn them, in a sense you can ‘ignore’ them, but you do NOT ignore them in the sense that you’re not paying attention and begin to take their assertions at face value. Some people just fundamentally lie and con and manipulate. Ignore that, and you’re enabling them. You have to call out their untrustworthiness and THEN write ’em off if you like. You do not write them off and then go ‘I’m sure they’re sincere but’… because they are actively violating every norm of civilized society as intelligently as they can in order to conquer it and start killing you.

  150. 150.

    TomatoQueen

    Those moving boxes on pallets were being unloaded not in front of the White House, but the Executive Office Building, next door (ugliest building downtown). The West Wing is a rabbit warren, but the real shoving of paper from one side of the desk to the other, or actual work, is done inside EOB.

  153. 153.

    the pollyanna from hell

    @Cermet: Liberal Christians have talked like that for years, it just doesn’t get in the news. I think your anger or contempt is misplaced.

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