Give this thread a look if you can stomach it:
I had a GREAT call with my all time favorite POTUS, President Trump!
I’m so grateful for his support and more importantly the people of this country are absolutely 100% loyal to him because he is 100% loyal to the people and America First.
Cont’d…
— Marjorie Taylor Greene ?? (@mtgreenee) January 30, 2021
A lot can happen over the next three years, but you can go ahead and note that I’m saying this now: Marjorie Taylor Greene will run for the Republican nomination for president in 2024. And I think it is highly likely that unless something significantly changes within American politics in general and the Republican Party and the conservative movement in specific, she is likely to be the nominee.
Now I know what you’re all going to say in the comments, starting with “what do you know, you just have a PhD in political science and you can’t spell properly”, but stick with me for a couple of minutes. While I don’t believe that Josh Hawley’s announcement that he’s not running for president in 2024 is worth the breath he expended to make it, Hawley is a piker compared to Greene. He’s been all over the map the past several weeks because he is self aware enough to know what he’s done and is still doing, but he’s not capable of brazening it out without giving the game away. Ted Cruz is. Unfortunately for Ted, and fortunately for us, no one likes Ted Cruz.
While there are two far more experienced Republican women who are already positioning themselves for a 2024 run – Nikki Haley and Kristi Noem – they too don’t have what Greene has. In Nikki Haley’s case, despite spending several years trying to position herself as the heir apparent to Trump and Trumpism, specifically as a pleasant, civil, polite version of it, she’s NOT WHITE!!!!! No matter how hard she tries, she isn’t. And that’s going to become more and more of a liability over the next three years as the racist attacks by Republicans and conservatives focused on VP Harris’s Indian heritage increase. Kristi Noem is white. She’s also conventionally attractive and all in on the oppositional-defiance disorder and aggrieved victimhood part of Trumpism, MAGA, and America First. Unfortunately for her she’s the governor of South Dakota, which is not a very large platform. Greene has her tied on the conventionally attractive, one ups her because she’s blonde and Noem isn’t, and as a member of Congress, rather than a governor who is incompetently dealing with an uncontrolled spread pandemic, has far more time on her hands and a far more national platform to drown Noem out.
Sure, sure there are going to be a bunch of Republican senators contesting this thing too. Rick Scott, Tom Cotton, Micro Rubio again most likely, Rand Paul to maintain the family grift. And there will be some Republican governors running like Ron DeStupid and Noem. But all of them have the same problems that Hawley, Cruz, and/or Noem have: they can’t beat Greene at this game. They’re either not capable of brazening things out like Trump or Cruz are or they’re completely unlikeably weird like Cruz and Scott are or they’re just not going to out tickle the pleasure spots of aging white Fox News viewers like Greene can.
Unless something significant happens to change American politics in general and Republican and conservative politics in specific, and provided Greene is able to maintain her scary-crazy, but conventionally attractive farm girl appearance while continuing to effortlessly pump the uncut and unfiltered Trumpism, MAGA, and American First herrenvolk victimhood directly into Republicans and conservatives veins, she’ll be the one to beat.
The only question now is which adult film star they cast in the parodies…
ETA: Allow me to add one important caveat. If Trump runs, he’ll be the nominee. If he doesn’t then the above holds.
Open thread.
jackmac
Dear GOP: Please, please nominate Trump in 2024. We’ll make him a three-time loser! (Rep. Q Anon can be his veep mate).
Mary G
My instinctual reaction is “No, not even Republicans can be that…”
Then I remember saying that in 2015….
cope
I can guess where Rich Lowery will be hanging out in Tampa.
ALurkSupreme
Eh, what do you know?
You just have a PhD in political science and you can’t spell properly.
Ken
Did I see a report that Rep. Greene had raked in a huge amount from GoFundMe? If so (or if not, when it inevitably happens), how do the rules about gifts to Congressmen work with that?
sdhays
I guess you don’t think Donny John is actually going to run again and also don’t think Ivanka or Donny Jr. are going to try to pick up the banner?
* Chef’s kiss
Timurid
The 2024 GOP nominee will be Donald Trump. Greene and all the others competing to be his chosen heir are just lining up to get stabbed in the back.
It’s going to be a shock switching suddenly from the era of the endless presidential primary to a cycle with no primary at all (an incumbent Democrat facing a rival party fully owned by one man).
Adam L Silverman
@sdhays: I don’t think they will. I think they’ll tease it, but they have so much legal exposure at this point, I’m not sure it’ll happen.
Adam L Silverman
@Timurid: If he runs, then yes. If he doesn’t, then no.
West of the Rockies
Please proceed, congresswoman…
Lapassionara
I remember when Sarah Palin was considered a rock star in Republican circles. How long did it take for her to creep back into obscurity? I’m thinking the jury is still out on Ms Looney Tunes. I doubt very many of her constituents had seen the many videos now circulating. If a sane person comes at her in the Republican primary, she could end up being a one term wonder.
MagdaInBlack
The thought makes my stomach turn.
Eta: probably because I think its so possible.
Adam L Silverman
@Lapassionara: A very politically and religiously conservative, but otherwise sane neurosurgeon ran against her for the nomination for her congressional seat. She wiped the floor with him.
Poe Larity
Her only problem is her first same. Does she have a nickname?
Hildebrand
Oh, honestly. This a load of utter waffle. It’s New Republic levels of defensive crouching.
This lunatic is going to be lucky if she keeps her seat, let alone find her way to the presidential race. I mean, she may want to, but the other knaves who have the ‘presidential fever’ gripping their every action are not outed school shooting deniers (which will not endear her to the corporate overlords trying to find a relatively sane useful idiot).
I understand the impulse to think this new flavor of loon is the future – but she is simply the latest iteration of Michelle Bachman.
Gary K
Thanks a lot, Adam. If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the bathtub cutting open my veins.
Omnes Omnibus
She’ll burn out. Too much crazy.
@Hildebrand: That’s the long version of what I am saying.
Shalimar
Boebert also got elected almost solely because she’s attractive, though in her case being dumber than her guns might be a hinderance. Same with Cawthorn when he gets old enough to run.
West of the Rockies
If Rand Paul is the answer, the question is really stupid.
feebog
Adam, you make a good case, but there are some unknowns that are pretty damn sure to pop up. First unknown; will she tweet something or a series of somethings so offensive that she gets banned? I’d say that the odds are pretty good given her track record. No social platform means no voice, no voice means no viability. Second unknown, will Trump himself run? While i doubt it, mostly because he will be mired in legal and financial entanglements, he is certainly considering it at this stage. Of course, she might make a viable VP partner for Trump. Third unknown, she has to win re-election in 2022. Although she will have the incumbent advantage you can bet someone will be trying to primary her out, certainly not out of the question given her current trajectory. Fourth unknown, if as you suggest she gains in popularity with the Trump base, will a bunch of rivals gang up on her and try to take her out, either in the 2022 election or via the usual Republican ratfucking MO?
Brachiator
Interesting call. I would say “who knows” and also note that a lot can happen between now and 2024.
However, I absolutely believe that the GOP leadership refusal to let Trump be punished will give aid and comfort to white nationalists. And this will form an ongoing threat to American democracy.
I also expect the GOP to do everything they can, including voter suppression and gerrymandering, to take back control of the House.
I also expect more openly racist candidates to run for office as Republicans. They may try to envelop their racism in elaborate conspiracy theories, but it will be blatant bigotry.
I am not saying by any means that these people will succeed. But they will give it a damn good try.
We have our work cut out for us to stop this.
I could see Trump running if he has any energy left in him at all. But he is a loose screw. He may need to concentrate on maintaining his business empire, such as it is. Ivanka, Don Jr and Youg Jared are wild cards. I don’t think the GOP leadership gives a shit about these dopes. Don Jr lacks his daddy’s grifting skills.
replicnt6
I came to the same conclusion recently, when I was considering how we used to think that Dan Quayle was the height of stupidity.
They just get stupider and stupider and this is a feature, not a flaw. Cruz and Hawley can feign stupidity, but the base can tell the difference between a fake stupid person and an actual stupid person.
I think the 2024 nominee is going to make Trump look like a stable genius.
Hildebrand
@Omnes Omnibus: Yep – we are on the same page.
SiubhanDuinne
I just want to snuggle up with this for the rest of the afternoon.
debbie
She will be one of 27 candidates and will not qualify for a space on the debate stage.
West of the Rockies
@Hildebrand:
I dont see the GOP base going for a person with lady bits. They’re not gonna hand over the keys to The General Lee to a woman.
Subsole
@Shalimar: I believe Cawthorn has some issues with claiming military credential he does not deserve. The Republicans would embrace him to hurt us, but that will sink him with Independents.
Otherwise he is a younger Greg Abbott. A man who thinks his wheelchair gives him license to crush the disabled.
schrodingers_cat
I doubt it. The party of misogyny will prefer a male standard bearer. She lacks one thing the orange clown had when he ran for President, name recognition. My money is on Tucker Carlson if he has political aspirations. Margarine is a stupider version of the Orange Clown.
sdhays
@Adam L Silverman: I’m rooting for Princess PowerPoint to take out Micro Rubio as your Senator, but I’m afraid the FSM doesn’t love me enough to make that happen.
MattF
I wonder if the crazy lady will now moderate her views (microscopically), in the coming days. If so we can anticipate cheers from the peanut gallery and, yeah, political advancement.
In the meantime, this Politico article on Benedict XIII is illuminating.
Brachiator
@West of the Rockies:
The GOP base loved Palin. Their sexism always makes exceptions for certain politicians.
Subsole
I actually had my metaphorical money on Tuberville. Mean, greedy, famous football coach, and dumber than thrice-boiled gelatin.
David Rickard
But she’s still a girl, and the MAGAts won’t accept being led by a girl.
germy
This might not be helpful for her presidential run.
Then again, who knows? I remember how pleased I was when Trump won the Republican nomination. I thought HRC would win in a landslide.
The nation’s pulse, my finger is not on it.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: Palin was good looking. Forgive me for being shallow but Margarine looks like a potato with eyes.
germy
@schrodingers_cat:
She reminds me of a younger Sidney Powell.
ant
yeah, I see this coming too. She pisses off the libs, and with cleeks law, an all……….
When I read her statement pushing back on criticism of her past facebook BS, it made me think she is likely a psycho/sociopath, with her seamless manipulative dishonesty, and apparent inability to express shame or guilt. I doubt she has any conscience, and isn’t able to recognize any mistakes she has made.
Trump was able to get the psycho/sociopath people to come out and vote for him, and they obviously lied to the pollsters just like they lie to everyone about everything, but I still think it’s folly to rely on these people to turn out on election day. They are particularly ill-suited to solving collective action problems. The well known coat expresses and sums up their life motto quiet succinctly: :I don’t really care, do U?”
We’ll see I guess. I imagine there are others who can pick up Trumps torch easily enough, and to REALLY and accurately make America great again requires that women know their place, and therefore we’ll need it to be a white MAN to be making all the important decisions, deciding how to maintain the social hierarchies, and reinforcing inequality.
Mike in NC
Watching MSNBC a little while ago, there is a move to get Greene out one way or another. It might happen. She’s liable to pull something outrageous that even McCarthy can’t ignore, like physically assaulting another member.
Nikki Haley got as far as she did in the GOP because a lot of people in SC thought she was Cherokee and she did nothing to correct that impression.
Omnes Omnibus
@Brachiator: How far did Palin get? She was a good headliner, but did she ever have any traction as a candidate?
debbie
Miss Bianca
Eh. I’d say even money on whether she’s in jail or the GOP nominee by 2024. Or, even more plausibly, both.
Open thread? I got one of those EIP cards in the mail, and I *think* I managed to transfer the funds into my bank account, but I practically had a nervous breakdown getting it done. Between trying to set up an account online, and not getting anywhere I needed to go on their website, and then calling the number, trying to follow the prompts, having them chirp “sorry” when I hit the wrong buttons on my phone because my phone helpfully decided to either go dark-screen or pop up my “hi, do you want to adjust your brightness and sound levels now?” tab while I was doing it, so I had to call back again, I’m kind of a wreck. Why the everloving FUCK couldn’t they have just sent a check.
Subsole
@West of the Rockies: Disagree. If she is up against a sufficiently loud, stupid, bigoted asshole with dangly bits, she loses.
If she runs against the 2016 slate minus Trump, she wins.
The key is who hurts us more. That is their sole criterion. They would prefer a man do it. They will accept a woman if no other option is available.
JanieM
@debbie: I may never stop laughing at that.
JanieM
@ant:
How does this distinguish her from 99% of the rest of her party?
MagdaInBlack
I work in an area where women come in my office wearing sweatshirts that say ” Bigger is Better” with a graphic of (what I assume to be) rifle cartridges in ascending order.
So ya…I’m sure I work among fans and Q-folk.
trollhattan
Doesn’t she have some pending felonies to clear up or is that the other Republican gun moll–I get them mixed up. And yes I know, feature not bug–you can’t go wrong committing felonies when they’re intended to own the Libs.
I’m already assuming Kate McKinnon can do a wicked impression. Strap on the sidearm and proceed, Kate.
germy
@MagdaInBlack:
Ahh… real Americans.
Mike in NC
The wild card will be if Trump bolts the GOP and forms the Patriot Party. That will cause millions of deplorables to follow him like lemmings over a cliff.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
Palin was McCain’s VP candidate. Had he won, who knows what might have happened.
Historically, the Republican Party has had as many women political leaders as the Democrats. They may have been first in allowing women to vote in some states.
debbie
@germy:
I’m going to stop calling snowflakes Karens and instead call them Marjories.
Subsole
@David Rickard: They. Will.
If it hurts us, they will. All she has to do is make appropriate mouth-noises about believing in the Biblical role of a woman in God’s holy covenant of marriage* and they will line up for her.
*That’s evangelical for a docile woman who accepts instruction from her husband. I.e. “I’m a broad, but don’t worry guys, I’m not uppity. I know my place.”
germy
@trollhattan:
No, I think Boebert is the one who had frequent brushes with the law. Greene owned a gym, then sold it, and found herself with lots of cash and the freedom to say all the crazy stuff she’d been bottling up. (When she owned the gym, she was worried about alienating potential customers)
debbie
@Miss Bianca:
I think she’ll be too focused on 2024 to win in 2022.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
I think the trump brand is fading and will fade even farther. He’s loud and racist and far worse than useless, but he’s know a known useless at a time when useless had killed a lot of people, not from war, the normal republican useless, but from the useless itself. And the bills are coming due, the latest loans for millions of cash for trump are signature loans, not collateral. And that is going to hurt him badly, especially if no one steps in and rescues him. And I ask, why would anyone do that? So for me that leaves the other current loon, which is Greene. And as the current republican party is seemingly only looking for loons, who else is available? None of the well known republican politicians have the right degree or direction of loon for what it looks like the republican voting public wants. They have been at least trying to get in on the loon ride, but it’s obvious that while they are loony, it’s not the right lunacy. trump is normally the right lunacy, but he’s become obviously just more loony, a more demented lunacy, not lunacy for lunacies sake. Greene is lunacy for lunacies sake.
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: Qbert has quite the rap sheet, but afaik, no pending felonies. Yet.
ETA: Check it out
germy
@debbie:
She’s a rising Morningstar.
Subsole
@trollhattan: That’s Boebert. The brunette.
piratedan
@West of the Rockies: I dunno, I could see many much moosen of GOP dudes thinking “If I was her bestie, I could run the country why she gets me a sammich and a beer while wearing push-up bras and heels” and it will be GREAT!
THAT is exactly who these fuckers are. There’s a not insignificant portion of Conservative femmes, some stupid, some not, who tap into this ongoing income source and media attention ceaselessly.
S. Cerevisiae
Doubling down on the crazy seems to be the ticket to getting the wingnut base worked up and she does have the “_ilf factor” that Caribou Barbie had to get the incels all worked up but as others have said a candidate with ladyparts may be a bridge too far.
Hildebrand
I think we too quickly forget that Trump was a well-known commodity, not just the latest iteration of a right-wing troll. He won because far too many decided that his time as a ‘businessman’ was going to be what the country needed. It’s utter nonsense, but he was an able carnival barker, and had been for a very long time. He planted that seed long before he ran.
A lot of those folks who voted for him likewise had a serious misogynistic hate for Hillary Clinton. Additionally, he was able to win in an atmosphere that was much different than it is now – we were rolling back our military presence, the economy was stable (not great, stable), health care coverage had increased, and the only terrorism we were dealing with on a regular basis was homegrown school shooters (still dreadful – but not categorically the same as ‘foreign’ terrorism). It was a safer environment in which to cast a vote for a less serious person.
While this election was closer than we would have liked, Biden won, because this a more serious time.
We need to stop ascribing superpowers to the haters and the degenerates – they won’t win if we do the work like we did the last two elections.
cmorenc
If Trump does run and end up with the R nomination, he will lose again and by a greater margin than in 2020 – unless the Rs are able to engineer a catastrophic economic failure gripping the country in early 2024.
MattF
@Ruckus: I do think that if any of the Trumpenkinder had shown even a hint of political talent, the Succession would have been set by now and the Trump heir-apparent would be ruling the Republican Party. But that’s not the case.
Another Scott
Stipulating that I know less than almost anyone here about the state of internal GOP politics…
So, who do I think it will be? No idea. It might even be a place-holder who has no chance but is a necessary transition for 2028.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
sdhays
@germy: As the years go by and it’s usefulness in justifying horrible things decreases, the right has come to realize that 9/11 actually happened to places they hate.
Curtis
I don’t know if in 2012 we would have been able to call out Donald Trump as the 2016 nominee, so I wouldn’t be too confident in this prediction. Did we think Joe Biden was going to be the nominee of 2020 in 2016? There’s a lot that can happen in 3 years. But I can definitely see, barring no change in the current dynamics of the Republican party and no change to MTG’s position in general, that she’d definitely have a good shot if she ran.
germy
The dustup between Greene and Cori Bush was an example of how a racist white woman will exaggerate any encounter with a person of color.
Greene was marching down a hall yelling into her phone. Cori Bush shouted at her from a distance to please put her mask on. By the time Greene got finished describing the incident, she made it sound like a direct and aggressive attack from Cori.
Brachiator
@Ruckus:
RE: I could see Trump running if he has any energy left in him at all. But he is a loose screw. He may need to concentrate on maintaining his business empire, such as it is. Ivanka, Don Jr and Youg Jared are wild cards. I don’t think the GOP leadership gives a shit about these dopes. Don Jr lacks his daddy’s grifting skills.
People have been underestimating Trump since he announced for the 2016 primaries. I don’t know what he might do.
I don’t want to get into deep speculation about what Trump or some other potential candidate might do.
Trump may fade. The anger, resentment and bigotry festered before Trump came along. He loved basking in it. He loved unleashing it. It will wait for someone else to wallow in it.
My main point is that by refusing to disavow Trump, the GOP has opened itself up for all kinds of evil. They are choosing political expediency over democracy.
This cannot work out well.
oldster
To paraphrase Dorothy Parker, the possibility of MTG’s candidacy should not be lightly tossed aside: it should be hurled with great force.
Adam, I can’t deny you are onto something, I just hope that events will turn out otherwise.
Gravenstone
She’ll be dead before then. She’ll do something aggressively stupid and someone will “stand their ground” and put half a dozen bullets in her. Hoist on her very own petard, as it were.
West of the Rockies
@germy:
Agreed. Long cheeks, a dull look in the eyes. Drab and smug.
germy
@oldster:
This Dorothy Parker quote always reminded me of Trump:
“If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to.”
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
Haha, my thoughts exactly. But who knows.
indycat32
@schrodingers_cat: I was going to say she is not conventionally, or any other way, attractive, but I like your description much better.
Mallard Filmore
@debbie:
I’m rather partial to calling them “Blizzard”.
zhena gogolia
@indycat32:
Boebert at least has that “young, evil Edith Prickley” vibe, as Steeplejack so astutely observed.
oldster
@Mike in NC:
“Nikki Haley got as far as she did in the GOP because a lot of people in SC thought she was Cherokee and she did nothing to correct that impression.”
Wow. I did not know that.
“Hey, if Columbus can confuse Indians with Indians, why not me?”
Poe Larity
@germy: Conspiracy thinking is mainstream.
Most Republicans believe Antifa was responsible for 1/6. There a millions of Truthers on the left and middle. Anti-vaxxers are everywhere in your workplace and on your FB. 30% of Americans don’t want the vaccine and those are the folks who turn out for primaries.
Greene will need a sidekick to appeal to voters perception of authority. Perhaps Green-Flynn.
Suzanne
I wholeheartedly believe she has a very good chance of being the nominee. Terrifying. But true. The GOP is totally choosing to double-down on the crazy.
Also saw that HRC called on TIM Ryan to run for Portman’s seat. Barf. No more mediocre white dudes for the Dems.
Brachiator
@Omnes Omnibus:
She got onto the ticket with McCain. She was still dumb as a post. But I have no idea what might have happened had McCain won.
I mean, hell, Republicans voted for Trump.
TS (the original)
@replicnt6:
I don’t think anyone can make trump look like a stable genius.
I also don’t think he will run again – to much garbage that might be ignored by the some in the media but won’t be ignored by anyone else the second time around. If I am wrong, democracy as we know it is dead.
Starboard Tack
@Mike in NC:
“A consummation devoutly to be wished.”
trollhattan
@Miss Bianca:
Whoa, busy gal!
germy
@Poe Larity:
When Obama first won the presidency, a coworker told me he was the “Manchurian candidate”.
I quit that job about five years ago, but I recently checked their website and I see that coworker is now in management.
Baud
@Suzanne:
I’m not a Ryan fan, but it is Ohio.
Splitting Image
Greene’s biggest problem is that she’s been steeped in the crazy for a long time. I think one of the advantages that Trump had over his competition was that he was a convert.
I don’t think you can underestimate how much evangelicals love to fall for that shit. What the average G.O.P. voter knew about Trump was that he was a New York businessman who had been schmoozing with the New York upper crust his entire life and had forsaken it all to join up with the Republicans. Wingnuts eat that shit up. Life-long G.O.P.ers like Greene can speak the language but they don’t excite the looneys the way Trump did. Any Republican who did what Trump did in office would have owned the libs, but Trump doing it owned the libs even more because he was (in their minds) supposed to be a lib himself.
So what you’re looking for if you’re handicapping the next election is someone who moved in liberal circles a few decades ago, but who has turned over the years into a raving wingnut. Joe Rogan comes to mind, but I think you’re right that an attractive woman with a similar pedigree would beat him.
JanieM
@Ruckus:
Yes. This is a good explanation of why I’ve always just shrugged when people talk about the political ambitions of Clickbait’s offspring. Not one of them has the magical evil quality he has of bending all the attention on himself, all the time. You don’t do that with a frozen face (Javanka) or the boring flat word salad of Clickbait Jr.
I would say Clickbait’s own lunacy is too tired, and too tainted by loser stink, to maintain its magic. But then, I can’t even believe his fans and I are in the same species, or on the same planet, so I won’t pretend to read their minds on that score.
germy
@Splitting Image:
Glenn Greenwald!
(He was never a liberal, but…)
Suzanne
@Subsole: I think being a woman will not be a problem for the MAGAts…. as long as that woman says that they are following the lodestar of tRump.
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
Yeah, I can see the Prickley thing. She reminds me of a chipmunk.
trollhattan
@oldster:
2016 showed us when presented with the choice “Your Mom, or Mussolini?” we went for Mussolini. I consider myself eternally disqualified guessing the whims of the American voter after that.
Suzanne
@Baud: Tim Ryan strikes me as the dude you go with when you want to get an easy 44% of the vote. Also known as a SAFE LOSER.
No. I’m sick of mediocre white dudes.
Benw
My $ is on Ivanka. She’s a Trump, Republican-pretty for the white men and will suck back in the white woman who were grossed out by Trump in 2020
eta: course it really doesn’t matter who is the Republican candidate: they’ll be a full blown fascist and the solution to 2024 is obvious: vote D like we voted for Biden/Harris!
karen marie
@Miss Bianca: Republicans can blame Biden.
Reading this post, I am doubly glad “recreational” marijuana is now legal in Arizona.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suzanne: So who is your pick?
matt the semi-reasonable
I’m not really seeing the conventionally attractive thing with her. She looks pretty frumpy and old to me, and has baseline unrefined trailer park-ish features.
Brachiator
@Poe Larity:
There’s a weird thing where these people adopt crazier and more extreme nonsense and conspiracies in order to deny their plain, garden variety racism and bigotry.
They talk about child slavery rings so that they can pretend to be saviors, not the pathetic seditionists they really are.
oldster
@trollhattan:
Yeah, kind of. I share your despair, but it’s worth remembering that a *significant majority* of Americans went for “your Mom” over “Mussolini.”
It took several very weighty thumbs on the scales, from Russian hacking operations, to media misogynists, to the Comey letter, to the execrable abomination called the Electoral College, to deprive us of the candidate who won the democratic majority.
So, yeah, too many of our fellow Americans suck. But more than half of us do not.
Adam L Silverman
@Hildebrand: I’m not defensive crouching. I’m not scared of her as a candidate, I just think she’s likely to be the candidate. That’s it.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: I’ve heard Dr. Amy Acton mentioned. That would be great. She was really impressive this year.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: I think Carlson is the other likely nominee. If he chooses to run.
evap
Way to harsh my mellow, Adam. Geez.
By 2024, spousal unit and I will be old enough to sign up for Medicare and I can retire. Then we can spend 90% of our time in Ireland, coming back to visit family and friends, and to get our hip replacements and whatnot.
germy
I think Grim is nit-picking here. Hawley won’t get into trouble. But it was an interesting slip anyway.
Citizen Alan
@Suzanne: Who would be a plausible Dem candidate in Ohio?
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: @germy: @West of the Rockies: @indycat32: I don’t personally find her facially attractive at all. To me it looks like she’s had some work done, it did not go well, and she’s covering it with lots of makeup. Specifically, it looks to me – as a martial artist of over 35 years – that her nose has been broken at least once and it caused some damage to her cheek bones too. And it was either not set right or not reconstructed right. But I’m not the target audience. The target audience are a bunch of aging white males, and some not so aging white males, that watch too much Fox news and whose porn preference is MILF. Which is why she keeps streaming her workouts.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: Ryan would be a good fit for the seat given the constituency.
Adam L Silverman
@Splitting Image: Apparently she was not a raving loon until she sold her gym, took over the family plumbing business, had several affairs, and then decided to run for Congress. She self radicalized on social media and YouTube into a Qnut and a 9-11 truther.
Suzanne
@Citizen Alan: I answered that above…. I have heard some of my Dem friends in Ohio talking about Dr. Amy Acton running for the seat. She was the director of their DoH and has a very impressive biography.
catclub
What, no love for TIM Scott? I wonder why.
Geminid
If I had to bet money today on the 2024 Republican nomination, and the proposition was the two top delegate winners, I’d bet on Pompeo and Christy. Neither might win a majority, though. The convention might be like a Sumo match.
Citizen Alan
@Suzanne: Didn’t she quit her job because of death threats? I imagine as a Senate candidate, she’d face even more threats.
Cheryl Rofer
Plausible enough, Adam, with the proviso that everything keeps on keeping on pretty much the way it has the last decade or so.
But a number of things have the potential for change.
Trump owns the Republican Party now, whether he runs in 2024 or not. So the delusional will continue to pile up and compound. Thus, MTG.
But what happens if Trump goes to jail and the kids start fighting over whose Republican Party it is? That is, if they don’t go to jail too, which is likely if Daddy goes to jail.
And the biggest unknown right now: Prosecutions for the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The FBI is rolling up the social media stars and moving on to the probable conspirators. How many Republican members of Congress will they find in the networks? And MTG certainly seems like she could be one of them.
Both of those scenarios will have major effects on the Republican Party. It could be that the last 35 of them will nominate MTG in a last covid redoubt in northern Idaho, so that they can make their not wearing masks meaningful. Or it could be that the money wing of the Republican Party purges the Qfolk to rebuild.
But yeah, if things keep going the way they’re going, MTG seems plausible as the 2024 candidate.
catclub
So kinda Jane Fonda in leggings thing, eh.
catclub
Can the DC US Atty prosecute Trump for incitement? He is no longer seated president, so the rule on that goes away.
bluehill
@Adam L Silverman: Carlson would be a younger, smarter, harder working incarnation of Trump that would keep me up at night. Used to think it was Tom Cotton, but he doesn’t have the charisma. He’ll be the worse version of Bill Barr. Josh Hawley has potential, but not sure if he can completely escape his east coast elite vibe.
RaflW
@Ken: Even with Pelosi and Schumer in charge, I think the answer when it comes to Republicans is “there are no functioning Congressional rules”.
Now, if she’s done mail fraud or wire fraud, I think the Feds might be able to bust her. That’d be great, and she is probably stupid enough to have already done something crime-y like that.
catclub
@Geminid:
Me too on Pompeo. He kept the Trump faith.
Suzanne
@Citizen Alan: Yeah, she did. I can imagine that that will be a hurdle for her, if she ultimately decides to run. But she was very impressive last year.
Soooo sick of these vaguely schlubby generic moderate white dudes having the inside track to power. There is nothing notable or exciting or relatively impressive about Tim Ryan. And in a state where Dems are not succeeding with the old coalition/approach, let’s try something different. I bet Ohio has lots of impressive Dems.
Evil_Paul
I’m inclined to agree that she’s currently the one to beat. The one major caveat here is that she’s so full-blown MAGA that she might take herself out of the running by doing something illegal (like pulling a gun in Congress). There’s a point where true believer doesn’t just run afoul of reality but runs face first into it…
This is what I expected might happen to Trump in 2015-6. It looked like he had the nomination on lock (thanks to a solid majority minority and the fact that his rivals were splitting the remaining vote) but there was always a chance that a really horrible scandal could have blown him up. IIRC, wasn’t that the origins of the Steele Dossier? Oppo research by the Bush campaign that drifted into Hillary’s orbit after Jeb bailed out?
Adam L Silverman
@catclub:
https://www.gq.com/story/the-gqa-lisa-ann-on-playing-sarah-palin-stripping-at-the-republican-convention-and-endorsing-obama
Adam L Silverman
@catclub: Yes. If he has the evidence to get a Grand Jury to return a true bill.
Ruckus
@MattF:
I don’t think the necessary republican talent from here on out will be political, at least not in the sense, what we call political. They have failed as a political party, in the sense that politics runs a country. In the sense that it ruins a country, then yes. Because that’s what they want to do, finish ruining this country and forming a more imperfect union of all white gun owners. I have no idea what they expect that to do or how to function, as I imagine that they hold the idea that only white gun owners have agency and only white gun owners can something something, all the while scaring off all the billions of non themselves around the world from actually forming a working government. But then their logic, such as it isn’t, has worked so well, so often before…..
Baud
@Suzanne:
That reminds me (in the opposite way), what happened with that special election Nina Turner was running in the primary for? I bet she’ll run for Senate if she loses that one.
catclub
@bluehill:
media people – yes and billionaires – yes, get to jump to the front of the line in nominations campaigns. Ask Jon Huntsman or Mike Bloomberg – without the money, they get completely ignored. Only Trump won the nom, but getting a head start from money is a help.
Brachiator
@Benw:
I think that Ivanka maintains a certain appearance to make Daddy happy.
I think that Trump might like her to run for office even more than he would want to see Don Jr get into politics, but I don’t know that Ivanka has any real political ambitions.
debbie
@Suzanne:
I like her very much, but her schtick is kindness. The GOP will eat her alive.
Mike in NC
Just saw a MyPillow ad on TV. Trump’s riot co-conspiritor is offering huge discounts on his cheap crap. He must know his brand is forever shit, just like The Donald’s.
Jeffro
@Hildebrand:
See – this is why I took the time to read the thread (for once, lol) – I knew someone else wuz gonna say what I wuz gonna say. =)
Let the GOP continue to devolve and show their collective asses all day long. What’s this crazy person going to offer Americans? She’s not rich or glamorous, she hasn’t been on TV for decades, etc etc etc.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Mike in NC: One can only hope and pray this will happen.
Juju
To be fair to Noem, Greene isn’t really a blonde either. As far as Greene being the 2024 Republican nominee, I don’t know. If I had the kind of skill to predict that, I’d use it for picking Powerball numbers.
Jeffro
Democratic candidate in 2024: “remember what happened last time we put a malicious, corrupt moron in charge?”
I used to worry about Hawley; Haley is now my #1 concern. MTG? Not worried at all.
Suzanne
@Brachiator: I tend to agree with you. Especially the artificially blonde hair. Liking that bleachy blonde look strikes me as a very GOP-kind-of-guy preference.
No accident that MTG also has bleach blonde.
It seems very low-class to me.
catclub
@Brachiator:
Wait, I just emphasized this line on the other thread:
We will never solve the real problems if we believe in fake ones. And GOP Qanon conspiracymongering leaped to mind.
Jeffro
@Hildebrand: seconding all of this.
Do you have a newsletter or something? ;)
Martin
Yeah, I agree, with a few caveats.
I think the risk of violence is so high that it’s hard to make any predictions. But if were placing odds it’d be Trump, Boebert, Greene in that order as likely 2024 candidates. You’d think the GOP Senate would want to convict Trump just to keep him out of the running, but I think convicting him exposes too many other members of congress to the same charge, so they’re going to stay quiet and protect each other. I really hope Dems call witnesses. That could shake things up quite a bit. And we’ll see what Garland wants to do here.
But the developments of the last day tells me the GOP has gone full fascist. Even Romney is referencing it as the ‘big lie’. He sees it too. So you can’t think in terms of best conservative nominee, we’re straight up at best fascist nominee.
Suzanne
@debbie: Is that a schtick, or is she genuinely a nice person?
I see your point, though.
bluehill
@catclub: Yeah Carlson has his version of the Apprentice.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
@West of the Rockies: This. I just don’t see Repubs voting for a FEEmale. Too emotional dontcha know. Irrational. Might threaten to blow up North Korea at 3:00 in the morning.
Suzanne
@Juju: The preference for blonde hair is historically bound up in ideas of purity, which translated nicely into white supremacy once there was an idea of whiteness.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jeffro:
This is what happens when the Clintons remove all the Ws from all the keyboards.
germy
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)):
someone over at LGM said he felt strange hoping that America’s misogyny would conquer fascism.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: She’s running for the now open Senate seat.
germy
@Jeffro:
Didn’t Haley take down some confederate flags or statues, though? Would that hurt with the republican base?
RaflW
@Brachiator: It’s as if the GOP base is voting for Best Adult Entertainment Female in a Political Scene, and might accidentally end up with a POTUS.
Zelma
The reason MTG might fulfill Adam’s predictions is the same reason Trump won in 16. As I recall, he never had a majority in any Republican primary until it was him v. Cruz at the end. I do believe that he had fewer than 40% of the overall GOP voters throughout. But there were so many candidates and he was famous. MTG might just do the same in 2024. I’m not saying will, just might.
I’ve always hoped for an afterlife just because I’ve always wanted to see how things work out. Not so sure anymore.
Hildebrand
@Adam L Silverman: I think it carries the sense of giving into the ‘crazy person of the moment zeitgeist’. We keep thinking that Trump came out of nowhere – he did not, his brand was well known, and he didn’t start off sounding a full bore crazy person (he got there, no doubt about it, but he didn’t start the crazy turned up to 11).
Invoking your background in intelligence to talk about this loon is encouraging people to freak out, giving them permission to game out worst case scenarios – it’s clickbait, at best.
Geminid
@Baud: Nina Turner intends to run in the special election to suceed Congresswoman Marth Fudge. The date for the Democrat 14th District primary will be set once Fudge is confirmed as HUD Secretary this coming week. There will be sevaral candidates, and Turner could conceivably win a pluralty victory. Her reputation on the left is high; she is considered tough in a way Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez are not. Turner’s rousing speech at last year’s People’s Party convention got rave reviews.
Adam L Silverman
@RaflW:
https://www.gq.com/story/the-gqa-lisa-ann-on-playing-sarah-palin-stripping-at-the-republican-convention-and-endorsing-obama
Martin
@Hildebrand: I think she’s going to be near the top of the list of GOP nominees. That doesn’t suggest that I think she has a chance of winning.
My whole thesis is that the GOP is on a trajectory to electoral irrelevance by their insistence on hewing to white Christian supremacy at all costs, and throwing away any shot at a voting coalition that can carry a national election. Of course there will be a leader of that movement, and Greene is an excellent candidate. But such a candidate cannot win nationally.
And much of this is going to be the friction between what wins in Alabama and South Dakota and what wins in the US. The more say that the fringe red states get here, and the less say the moderate or blue states get, the less relevant the national party will become. The GOP nothing more than a primal scream that this is still a majority white Christian nation, and they are willing to invent whatever fantasies they need to maintain that mental state.
Dems would be fools to not push through statehood for DC and PR right now. I fear the only way the GOP gets out of this state is by forcing them into such a losing position that it just keeps fracturing further.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne:? ? ?
Starboard Tack
@Mike in NC:
Did you have to wash your eyes?
Mart
@Adam L Silverman: Trying to have reasonable political discussions back in the day could not believe how many old men would say of course I’m voting for her, she’s hot; or the more cerebral I’d hit it.
Not sure if Ms. Greene will get the nod, has she been vetted by Putin and Zuckerberg?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman:
Yes, she does have an odd nose. I suspect having to wear a mask hides that and her appeal to the middle age conservative will go down the more her nose is exposed.
Hildebrand
@Martin: I agree that pushing through DC statehood makes a lot of sense (and its good policy).
Democrats need to adopt the Stacy Abrams model and work our tails off every day starting right now. We have an actual agenda, real policies that make a difference, and that is going to be the golden ticket as we move forward. People are realizing right now that they like competence, and sleeping at night. Which means we need to get that feeling and the difference between the two parties imprinted on everyone’s thinking right now. We do that – and the ‘loon of the day brigade’ will wither on the vine.
sab
@Citizen Alan: She did not quit her job because of death threats. She put up with those for a couple of months. She quit her job because she was being pressured into loosening some of the Covid restrictions, which she thought was unsafe.
Baud
@Geminid:
She is a good speech giver.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
In your guts, you know she’s nutz
Benw
@Brachiator: ivanka is definitely daddy’s favorite!
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
Just an opinion but I don’t believe her dad had any real political aspirations either. At least not any actually political ones. He didn’t run for the politics, he ran for self gratification, griftification and protection. Not to be around the money, but to grab as much as possible.
Haroldo
@SiubhanDuinne:
Nicely, nicely done.
Yutsano
@Miss Bianca: Mine’s going towards a new computer as soon as I can get the wherewithal to get moving. I would order it off Amazon but everything was at least seven days to delivery. I’m wondering why Prime is worth it if they take a week plus to deliver.
RaflW
Maybe 2024. Maybe 2028
But more broadly, I agree with Anat Shenker-Osorio (who is quote-tweeted in the above tweet). That we need to “Ask [ourselves]: Is what I am doing helping conspiracy theorists and hate peddlers gain prominence? Raising awareness about horrors isn’t a theory of change; building our own power so we can address those horrors is.”
She continues “We must denounce the lies and incitement to violence. We can do this without repeating them but rather placing ourselves as the central actor in the story. Assert our power and values then demand all those who endanger and enflame are unfit to serve us.”
Geminid
@Baud: Some of Turner’s fans were disappointed that she is running as a Democrat, not as a People’s Party candidate. But the more savvy probably appreciate Turner’s opportunistic, “inside/outside” strategy.
Just Some Fuckhead
I don’t pretend to have any special insight into Republicans any more since I’ve blocked them all from my life but this does seem to be a ridiculous prediction. I’d like to imagine even Republicans realize they can’t run the village idiot. Yes on the village business magnate, no on the village idiot.
germy
debbie
@Suzanne:
No, she is genuinely nice. She was awesome as the state director of health. This is the kind of thing she engendered in decent people. (This was in late March. Have Kleenex handy.) She now works at a local foundation as the Director of Kind
ETA: Jesus. Check out the cases/deaths in the video’s chyron. I could cry all over again.
Just Chuck
No one in politics liked T either, but all he had to do was be the loudest asshole in the room and the primary voters flocked to him in droves. Cruz’s problem is that he’s the kind of weaselly snot that people like T would give swirlies to in high school, and that’s harder to get away from.
I suppose I am forgetting about T’s reality show. I can’t fathom how anyone could watch it and come away even close to liking him, and I thought that well before 2016. Asshole appeal again, I guess.
sab
@Baud: That special election is still in the works and Nina Turner is still interested. So are some other people, including Emilia Sykes (current state senate minority leader (from Akron), Shontel Brown (Warrensville Heights) and Jeff Johnson (Cleveland.) Brown is the first black head of Cuyahoga County Democratic Party. Both Brown and Johnson have been on their respective city councils.
raven
@Yutsano: Most of the stuff I order comes in two days but there is a huge facility outside of Atlanta.
Subsole
@matt the semi-reasonable: That is pretty much the conservative beauty standard. Generic fox news bobblehead.
RaflW
@Just Some Fuckhead: The idiots are the future of the party. It is on us to make sure they aren’t the future of the nation.
And no, the right will not come to their senses.
NoraLenderbee
@Another Scott: Thanks for posting the link to John’s conversion post in yesterday’s thread.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Suzanne: Sherrod Brown, for one. :-)
Subsole
@Adam L Silverman: I think he’s happier over at Fox trying to chart out the path to a full-on red/brown alliance with his good buddy Glenn Greenwald. He seems a little too Buckley-slick for that crowd. Maybe that’s just me.
Ruckus
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Thing is, 4 yrs ago they did just that, elected the village idiot. Now granted he acted like he’s also the village rich boy, but really, how rich is he, how much of that is acting and how much is borrowing? And how much has been decades of failing?
Dave P
How about Stormy Daniels?
sab
@Adam L Silverman: Well that’s a relief. She has no chance statewide in a primary after what she did to Hillary.
UncleEbeneezer
The only thing I can add to this discussion is that Brandi Love would be the most obvious answer to your casting question. Though hopefully she would refuse the role (don’t know anything about her politics).
Subsole
@Geminid: Nope. No way. Christy lost to Trump. He was broken by him. He is inherently emasculated in their eyes. Less than a full man.
Pompeo has the petulant fratboy swagger; he’s a slimy, abrasive self-aggrandizing asshole; he may lose out on the overt racism, but pick up the difference in the “bend over for Bibi so Jesus doesn’t lock us out of heaven with the gays” caucus.
sab
@Suzanne: Does bleached blonde pass the purity test, or do Republican men like the trampy look.
ETA Saw you guys already noted this.
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: Ewww. I need some brain bleach stat.
Subsole
@Cheryl Rofer:
Also, and y’all would know better than I, this is before the next bombing or shooting or act of violence.
If (as I think is onevitable at this point) qanon goes full militia and starts shooting up banks in the suburbs or icing people in the walmart, Ms. Greene’s trajectory may acquire a steep downward arc.
Citizen Alan
And yet, he’s still a part of it! I can understand Republicans who are not fascists living in total denial of the fact that the GOP is a fascist party. But for the life of me, I cannot comprehend Republicans who loudly say (in so many words) that “my party is a fascist party” in a way that signifies their opposition to GOP fascism as “a bad thing” and still stays in the party!?! I mean honestly, if there is anyone in the GOP right now who could make a big show of going Independent and still likely hold their Senate seat for life, it’s got to be Mitt Romney. What’s he waiting for? The ghost of George Romney to show up in his bedroom on Christmas Eve and yell at him for ruining the family name?
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I remember that as a reply to Goldwater’s “In your heart you know he’s right”. Classics never go out of fashion :-)
Another Scott
@NoraLenderbee: You’re quite welcome.
To be clear, that’s just the final step in the Road to Damascus and it was after Schiavo . The final straw was the RWNJ attacks a kid (Graeme Frost) on SCHIP, and granite counter tops, and all the rest.
tl;dr – Healthcare is the Democrats’ super power.
Cheers,
Scott.
schrodingers_cat
I doubt that YAllQueada are going to give up their cushy lives and become suburban mujaheeden. I am not seeing it.
Miss Bianca
@Yutsano: Oh, hey, you’re here! If you don’t mind, I have a weird IRS question to ask you: I got a notice a few days back showing some amount saying, “THIS IS NOT A TAX BILL – It shows the taxable interest paid to you during the calendar year by the IRS. If you are requested to file a tax return, report this interest as income on your return. This amount may represent interest on an overpayment for more than one year, or more than one kind of tax. This interest may have been paid with your tax refund or part or all may have been applied against other taxes you owed.”
To which my response is: “huh?” and “how do I know what they decided to do with it?” I did get a refund on some back taxes, but I can’t remember whether it was last year or this year. COVID has really messed up my sense of time passing.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Revenge of the Nerds
Ella says she’s shocked because she struggled with her body image growing up. Don’t know why, she’s mesmerizing (photo)
This has got to kill the Dumps. Ivanka so wanted to be a supermodel: she bought a ton of plastic surgery , hair dye, and years of lessons. And here comes this unknown, completely authentic and down to earth, not even trying, and a bidding war breaks out over this overnight star.
schrodingers_cat
OT A sad marker for India. It is M K Gandhi’s death anniversary and the people that revere his assassin sit in the halls of power in India today.
As Gandhi would have said, Hey Ram.
Subsole
@Suzanne: Eh, some girls can rock it. But it has to be organic to their appearance.
And so much of Republican-pretty just seems to be checking boxes on a list. Granted I’m not the target audience but it just feels so plastic. Utterly soulless and forced.
Just Some Fuckhead
I think the candidate who prevails in the 2024 Republican primary is the one who can appeal to both the Trump/insurrectionist wing and the rest of the Republicans who were appalled by the attempted Capitol Coup. I don’t think you have to be one of the insurrectionists to appeal to the insurrection wing. You can just be someone who kept your head down and didn’t cross Trump. At this moment in history, it isn’t clear who can appeal to Republican voters because so many Republican voters aren’t interested in democracy any more. Perhaps things will look different in three years.
Jim Appleton
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Adam is on to something. His prediction may not hold, but the fundamentals are spot on.
Not so much idiot v magnate, it’s which reality TV star can send a tingle up the legs of the village nazi morons.
They’re going to be in the driver’s seat.
Warblewarble
More to the point, what needs be done to beat all or any rethug in 2022 and 2024 . Lets not elevate these cruds to imagine them as something more than they are. Democrats have the House , Senate and a President in office ,work with that. Work it for America, work and fight like hell for the win. The sky is not falling, do not drag it down.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@schrodingers_cat:
I agree, I think many discount the role of Trump being on the TV machine helping with his run in 2016. Many people don’t differentiate between what an actor does and real life. Trump, the Governator, and Reagan are good examples.
Subsole
@KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): They will absolutely vote for a woman who tells them she knows her place. They don’t have a problem with women, per se. They have a big problem with women who do not center their being exclusively.
All she has to do is make them feel like she will indulge their power fantasies and they will swallow their revulsion. And she certainly knows the lingo well enough to do so.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Trump was on mainstream TV. Reagan was mainstream too. Tucker doesn’t have that type of celebrity status.
patroclus
MTG is (deservedly) getting all the attention (Jews with lasers??!!), but at my alma mater, all the attention is on Congressman Roger Williams, who is on the Board of Trustees at TCU (probably because he owns a huge car dealership and gives a lot of money). He was (briefly) our baseball coach and had an all-time record of 22-24 and that’s how I usually thought of him. That was until he got elected in 2012 and went on to get cited for an ethics violation for inserting a provision in some legislation allowing car dealerships to loan out old cars and not be liable if they ended up killing people. Then, like magic, his dealership got a huge amount of PPP money last year… (there’s more…)
But he was also one of the Congressmen who joined that amicus brief and then voted to disenfranchise Arizona and Pennsylvania voters recently. Many TCU faculty members didn’t like that, so they proposed a resolution in the usually powerless Faculty Senate calling on the Board to remove him. Which they are now considering (although they have characterized it as disallowing anyone holding elective office so as to act in their usual mealy mouthed non-controversial fashion). This, in turn, has turned the usual friendly campus into a veritable shoutfest in which everyone is picking sides and screaming at each other. What does everyone think? Should we throw Roger off the board? All he really did was what Barbara Boxer and Maxine Waters did in 2001 and 2005 and there aren’t any quotes from him that indicate that was also an inciter (as yet). He responded last night and called the TCU faculty “very liberal” and whined that they were trying to restrict his free speech rights. (I thought that the First Amendment applied to him as in “Congress shall make no law” and not to TCU faculty members but what do I know?). It’s a brouhaha…
PJ
@catclub: Neither Bloomberg or Huntsman had a national political following. Nobody knew who Huntsman was. Bloomberg had a name, but no real personal media presence (unless you lived in NYC). And Democrats aren’t going to vote for someone just because they are a billionaire.
Carlson, on the other hand, has a real following. It’s not the same as Trump’s, and he can’t match the blowhard bully charisma of Trump, but I’d bet he could leverage it into a nomination if he wanted and if things broke the right way. I don’t think he could win, and I doubt he thinks he could win, but it might be more lucrative for him in the long run if he did run.
Brachiator
@Benw:
In some many ways….
@Ruckus:
Yep. Don’t know if Ivanka has her Daddy’s same burning resentments and insecurities.
As noted, she is the favored and adored child. Her claim on her Daddy’s favor is more assured.
Don, Jr, on the other hand, is a smoldering bag of anger, insecurity and resentments.
Both are grifters. Ivanka is happy with the grift. Don Jr may delude himself into thinking that he can be president, like his Daddy.
Funny how things work out.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: True. But we have idiots like Ro Khanna go on Tucker and give him a populist cred.
Matt
@Suzanne:
He seems like exactly the kind of candidate the Dems would pick if they’re trying to run the now-thoroughly-discredited “we’re Republicans but just a tiny bit less racist” playbook. He voted for the Stupak amendment in 2010 and was giving out interviews explaining how we “have to raise taxes on small businesses, because deficits”.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
No normie knows who Ro is.
That said, I didn’t know he did that. It is inexcusable.
Another Scott
@Yutsano: You too??
J yells at me when we get Prime deliveries at 10 PM. I tell her I didn’t pick the delivery time, it’s not my fault that Bezos has people working such hours. But she’s not buying it.
I don’t think we’ve ever streamed anything on Prime, and I have my music on Google or Sirius/XM, and I don’t usually really need or want things 4 hours after I order it. I don’t care about that stuff. But “2-day delivery” should really normally be in 2 days…
Cheers,
Scott.
Geminid
@Subsole: You could be right. But Christy will run, and I’m not counting him out, especially when the primaries aren’t for three years. I don’t think we’ll begin to know what’s actually happening with Republican voters until the 2022 primaries in states like Georgia and Alaska, among others. This year’s Virginia Republican races might have shown something, but the party is forgoing primaries and picking nominees by caucus and convention.
Subsole
@germy: As Adam pointed out, she isn’t white tho. As something exotic to look at, fine. Bonus points for her utiloty as s shirld against charges of bigotry (inclusivity flak-vest).
Actually putting her in the drivers seat? No. Never. The other must forever be exploited and subordinate. If I am a fascist, everything revolves around exalting me and my needs. Being bossed by an affiliated foreigner does not do that. Allowing a lesser member of god’s own tribe to beat up on outgroups in my stead does.
Fascism is just infantile solipsism with access to firearms.
mrmoshpotato
WARNING: Ted Cruz’s face inside.
But Bette has a question.
Aleta
Her chosen function nationally at the moment is headline grabbing and diversion. That part’s working well (GOP desperate for it) but it and his slogans are about her only commonality w/ Trump so far. (Along with saying his name a lot.) To me it feels like she has a shorter trajectory, w/ possible crash to come.
Starboard Tack
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan):
Also
“In your heart you know he’s right.”
“Yeah. Far right.”
(That used to be a very bad thing.)
Subsole
@Geminid: Rave reviews from whom, though?
Most centrists I’ve seen kinda despise her for trying to hamstring the party over the last 5 years.
No idea if that matters, just repeating what I’ve seen.
Frans
About to go to bed, but this is nightmare material. Stupid me for checking in on BJ just before bedtime.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Miss Bianca:
People around here were following the postman to steal the checks, the card is more secure. Yes, it was a pain to transfer it to my checking account, but I did it all on-line.
sdhays
Considering how the Republican Party dismantled its primary infrastructure in 2020 to protect Dumpy Dump from having any challenges, I think the chances of no real primary in 2024 is non-zero. Sure, if none of the Dumps are running, they’re going to need some way of choosing a candidate, but if Dump has a favorite, either himself, someone in his family, or some other politician who has debased him/herself enough, it’s no longer inconceivable that they’d just cut out the silly voters and choose for them.
Subsole
@Mart: Does she hurt America or negatively impact Zuck’s ability to make money off dismantling the country? If yes, she is vetted.
Brachiator
@patroclus:
He is weasel. A Texas paper notes:
There was nothing wrong with the elections in these states. Trump lied and weasel Republicans are cowards and liars if they refuse to acknowledge this.
trollhattan
@Subsole:
My money is on Pompeo getting the ’24 nom if daddy doesn’t run/drops dead.
Just Some Fuckhead
Tim Ryan is a great idea if you want someone constantly stabbing us in the back. His schtick is trying to make the Democratic party more Republican.
Hildebrand
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I think a terrific number of folks thought they were voting for the Trump of The Apprentice. That salient fact is central to his rise to power – he had a shtick other than ‘lunatic’ to get the ball rolling.
Subsole
@Just Chuck: The fact these folks thought watching someone get fired was awesome and manly and badass really, really should have been a clue to their inmost nature.
Quantumman
Reading this post was like reading a really scary Stephen King novel.
Brachiator
@Miss Bianca:
The notice should indicate the tax year related to the interest payment.
Subsole
@schrodingers_cat: They don’t need mujahedeen. They need lone wolves, and some online people to ‘run’ them. Plenty of those lying around.
Also, don’t confuse the ex-military 3 percent crowd with q-shaman dudeguy. Some of those folks are…scary.
Starboard Tack
@Subsole:
I think most people run out of empathy and compassion in the face of continued bad faith. I know I do. These people, in contrast, are addicted to spectacles of public humiliation.
sab
@Just Some Fuckhead: He lives in probably the most conservative area in his district, so he listens to his neighbors, who probably vote Republican. He carries his whole district in the 60+% range but I don’t know if he even carries his own town any more.
PJ
@Baud: Carlson is on Fox five nights a week. Fox is the highest rated cable news network, and Carlson’s show is the highest rated news program in the 25-54 demographic: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201216005919/en/FOX-News-Channel-Smashes-Records-With-Highest-Rated-Year-in-Cable-News-History-Across-Total-Day-and-Primetime-Viewership
He may me mean nothing to you or me, but the right wing nutjobs like him. As I said above, he doesn’t represent what Trump does (the “strong successful asshole businessman”) to the RWNJs, and he would have a harder time than Trump overall, but he can also string together a coherent sentence, and the NY Times and the pundits would slobber all over him as the “thinking person’s conservative.” The red/brown alliance leftists and libertarians like Glenn Greenwald would also probably support him.
artem1s
@Brachiator:
uh, no they didn’t – not as a leader of the party. The press loved her and her trashy family for the clicks. It could be argued McCain lost his election because of his poor decision to put her on the ticket. The GOP isn’t going to hand over the party to just because she does the best Trump or Palin impersonation. How many GOP congress critters have leadership positions in the GOP? on committees?
She has yet to get thru a single term. She and Boebert are gone the minute they have to put in some hard work. Just like governor half-term. Hell they are likely to get shived by someone in her own party who actually knows how DC works as they are to get primaried. In GOP land it’s perfectly fine to betray a woman, especially one that doesn’t know her place.
RaflW
@patroclus: As a class of ’87 TCU grad, it’s interesting to see a brouhaha. Hasn’t been much of one since we caused a ruckus about divestment in the mid-80s. It was a truism that the faculty was to the left of the student body (except at MJ Neeley, where the biz students and faculty aligned better).
I don’t regret going there — I got a full tuition scholarship, so why not! — but it was a very educational place as far as me realizing that I abhorred the country club republican set that I’d grown up around (and mostly avoided, Breakfast Club-like as a misfit nerd in H.S.).
Even living at Tom Brown, the later-demolished ‘academic’ dorm, I couldn’t really avoid the BMWs and brews, the bros and brahs and frats. Thank goodness for the dozen philosophy students and a handful of poly-sci dorks!
Subsole
@Geminid: Really. So they don’t even let their own voters vote anymore, huh?
Geminid
@Subsole: The people who rave about Turner are not Democrats. And it’s not just centrists who despise Turner. Some liberal Democrats despise her as much if not more. Speaking personally, I may have problems with Bernie Sanders, but it’s his hard core backers that really repel me. Turner’s one of the worst.
catclub
@Miss Bianca: The IRS says it is income, they know about it. They know it was for 2020. Include it when you fill out the income section of your 1040.
Just Some Fuckhead
@artem1s: My question to the people who think Palin is evidence of anything is, “Where is she now?” Fact is, no one knew a thing about her when she was thrust on the country. And when they found out about her, she had a very short political life. Mrs. Family Values divorced Todd last year.
catclub
@artem1s:
yeah, 2012 she was gone.
patroclus
@Brachiator:Yeah, it goes without saying that Roger is a weasel and a dumbass. But the question is – should we throw him off the Board of Trustees? Which would feel good but would lose his money (as well as more from other blowhards), make him a “martyr” and give them another example to claim the “cancel culture.” I’m more in favor of just mocking him.
sdhays
@?BillinGlendaleCA: A ridiculously large number of people believe to this day that Dump is a successful businessman because that’s what he was presented as on TV. I’ve had discussions with otherwise intelligent people (who weren’t Dump supporters) absolutely convinced that he’s wildly successful businessman, and no amount of pointing out his numerous bankruptcies or mountains of cash thrown at his creditors by his actually rich father will convince them otherwise.
Baud
@PJ:
Despite all that, his celebrity status isn’t close to what Trump or Reagan’s were.
Subsole
@trollhattan: Yeah. He has real potential.
Again, it might devolve to the Honor Israel to Speed the Apocalypse crowd vs. the Incite a Race War for the dank meemz crowd. Which is kiiiinda where 2016 was going when the field narrowed to Trump and Cruz. But Cruz was way too feeble and left it waaaay too late to make his play.
RaflW
@PJ: Tucker has incredible power over (so called) movement conservatism, with almost no risk exposure. Maybe he is more ambitious than he lets on, but I think he’s content to pull strings and make plenty of money and have all the hangers-on he could want.
Even shitty presidenting a la Trump is a lot more work (or at least the appearance of demands on one’s time) than slapping together TV talking head hours, courtesy of a fleet of producers.
Subsole
@Starboard Tack: Yep. Low-grade sadism.
sab
@Just Some Fuckhead: He is a very reliable Democrat on most issues. He has come around on a couple of bad spots ( abortion and guns) since he married a teacher about five years ago.
Starboard Tack
@Subsole:
Definitely. It’s something that the OSG elevated into a ritual. I think that’s what really got them hooked.
patroclus
@RaflW: The Startlegram is all over it, it’s taken over the killerfrogs forum and everyone is screaming at each other!! It’s the biggest thing to hit TCU since Colby Hall Dorm allowed males to visit for 20 hours a week!! But should we throw Roger off the Board??
Subsole
@Geminid: Yeah, I can agree on that. Bernie is actually pretty tame compared to some of the gibbering loons he staffed his campaign with.
And that’s before you get into the outrage profiteers like Virgil Texas and assorted chudniks.
RaflW
@patroclus: TCU has a $1.6 Bn endowment. I know no University is ever satisfied with what sort of massive cash cushion they have, but as far as I’m concerned, they get nothing from me.
I give to my local Minneapolis community and technical college. It doesn’t have car dealers and C-suite alums who fork over. I know it’s way down on the list of things needing to be fixed, but a lot of schools abuse endowment building.
Last year TCU drew 4.3% of their endowment (before new inflows). The scrappy little church foundation where I used to volunteer routinely gives 5 or 5.5%. Meanwhile TCU’s tuition is absurd (as are all private schools). I get so grumpy about the twisted economics of higher ed in the U.S.
Adam L Silverman
@UncleEbeneezer: She’s a Trump supporter.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/meet-brandi-love-the-pro-trump-porn-star-who-writes-for-the-federalist
RaflW
@patroclus: Should we throw Roger off the Board? Just on general principles*, yes.
Honestly, TCU became just another thinly disguised business venture with an educational veneer when they parted ways with the board of the Disciples of Christ.
I’m pretty sure that even in my day, the typical TCU student would have looked upon a reincarnated Jesus as some sort of weirdo from over in AddRan. “What’s with the sandals and jeans jacket? When was your last shower?”
*I think a sitting member of Congress, conservative or liberal, probably should resign from all boards while serving in office.
Brachiator
@patroclus:
I would. But I have this thing about people who aid and abet sedition.
I’m pretty sure the school would find other donors.
West of the Rockies
@UncleEbeneezer:
She is a full-on Trumper.
LuciaMia
Thats teenage fan-girl talk. No grownup, let alone a sitting member of Congress, talks like that.
patroclus
@RaflW: Well, that’s another issue. TCU has always been a separate institution, but as you say, after Addison and Randolph died, they were temporarily run by the DOC – the Brethren. Which, at the time, included my grand-dad (an eminent octogenarian DOC preacher), who was instrumental in accepting the Ft. Worth bid to get out of Baylor’s whacko town. Since then, much of my family has had the attitude that we kind of “own” TCU and there’s always been a family member attending there. There’s even a bust of one of us in Sadler (or whatever they’re calling it these days). Trust me, it should be independent of the Disciples. All right, you’ve convinced me – Roger is gone. Screw the right-wing blowhards – they don’t run my school!
Amir Khalid
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Lessons? Like, she went to a modelling school?
Omnes Omnibus
@LuciaMia: Yeah, no one on our side has ever said anything like that about Obama – certainly not on this blog.
Chris Johnson
I agree with some of what Adam’s got here, but it doesn’t mean it’ll work.
Here’s the thing: massive Russian ratfuckery, in government and in media and anywhere in the tech sector they’re allowed to simply buy it (i.e. Facebook, Twitter). That’s what drove Trump. That’s what drives QAnon. Knowingly or not, that’s what drives these crazy seditionists. In some ways they’re more effective when they don’t know they’re puppets, but it’s also a handicap to them.
A guy like Mitch McConnell is able to leverage working with the Russians without forgetting who he is, and though he plays a dangerous game he’s most likely to get out of it alive and with money and power. The loonies are purely cannon fodder. The media attention is paid for. You know how accusations are projections? These folks are the quickest to say places like the NYT are puppets for the liberal establishment, knowing they are puppets for Putin… but not all the time, that’s not how Putin rolls. They just know to spend ten times the attention and money on promoting the ‘new conservative firebrand’.
If it’s a knowing traitor like Paul Ryan, and things don’t go well for him, he’ll fade back in hopes of making a return some other time, since he is not a loony, he’s a traitor like McConnell is. These guys will be HARD to remove.
The loonies don’t play it like that because they don’t know they’re cannonballs. And so, like Trump himself, if they get success it’s a pleasant surprise to those who run them, and they’re not played for the long game, they are there to make the biggest mess possible in the short term.
So watch for who is hyping the loonies, as that’s a tell for who is in the woodwork playing their part for Vladimir Putin (or indeed whoever else is out there with lots of money wanting to bring America to collapse). If Greene is the nominee for President, that tells you about a LOT of things and a lot of people who aren’t her. She is almost irrelevant: much like Trump, who could have done a lot more damage if he wasn’t another cannonball.
Geminid
@Subsole: The Virginia Republican Party goes back and forth on primaries. In 2013 they decided the Governor, Lt. Governor, and AG nominations with caucuses and a convention. Bill Bolling, the Chamber of Commerce type Lt. Governor, would probably have won a primary but did not try to contest the caucuses. That left the convention for tea party type Ken Cuccinelli to win, and then Terry McAuliffe easily beat him. There were Republican primaries in 2017. This year it’s back to a convention, probably because the people in charge are deathly afraid dingbat State Senator Amanda Chase might win a plurality in a primary. Then she might drag the entire Republican ticket into the Dismal Swamp. The Democrats will have a primary, and Terry McAuliffe will most likely be the nominee again and win. Virginia Democrats, like Democrats in many other states, are motivated, organized, and unified. And a majority of Virginia voters just are not buying what Republicans are selling.
PJ
@RaflW: Yeah, if I were him, I would stick with the TV thing.
J R in WV
An interesting post/thread.
I don’t think Marjorie Taylor Greene is at all attractive. We have a long time acquaintance a little younger than we are, many kids who are successful, in spite of their mom, who is border-line psycho.
Got a reasonable job working as a custodian in the school system — got caught on video catching fish from the aquarium, frying them for late night dinner.
She is kinda nearly almost attractive in the same way Marjorie Taylor Greene is almost attractive. But their face is not quite normally formed. Nearly attractive, but not, really. Reflects their mental distortion, actually, to me.
I suspect Marjorie Taylor Greene will be indicted for something so strange we can’t forecast it. Because regular normal people can’t imagine the things that deranged folk get into their minds, and thing is normal and OK to go forward with.
I’m a little surprised that Marjorie Taylor Greene didn’t go off on her black fellow GA congresswoman in a way that would be not legal, threats and deranged ranting. I think if she doesn’t catch herself she could make a real scene, on hi-end video, that would be really useful for anyone running against her. Anyone sane, to be more specific.
West of the Rockies
@Omnes Omnibus:
Forever FLOTUS much?
Yutsano
@Miss Bianca:
Sorry to get to you late! I got lost down a YouTube rabbit hole. Happens to all of us.
You most likely got it in 2020. There’s a line for interest (don’t know the number off the top of my head) and you report it there. You would add it in with any bank interest etc. as a final total. It almost never makes a difference in the final outcome but yeah if you got the notice just include it on your 2020 return.
trnc
@Adam L Silverman:
She lives in a crazy ass district. Gohmert beats the crap out of his primary opponent with at least a 60% margin (when there is one), and I really doubt he would have a shot at prez.
DT was a media darling from the 70s at least until the birther nonsense. He got a lot of credit for being a great businessman and all sorts of other crap we now know is complete BS, and he managed to squeak by in the 2016 general against a woman demonized by the media for 25 years. We’ll see how MGT is doing in a couple of years, but I wouldn’t lay odds on her getting far in 2024.
Another Scott
ObOpenThread – Wonkette: Publix heiress put up $300k for Donnie’s insurrection rally on 1/6.
Some people have too much money. And it’s dangerous.
Cheers,
Scott.
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: It says “Calendar year 2020”.
Which is interesting, because I haven’t filed for 2020 yet.
LuciaMia
@Omnes Omnibus: We’re not members of Congress.
ColoradoGuy
The real question is where QAnon is going. Is it a straight-up Russian op, a creation of a bored game designer, a combination of both, or something else altogether? Miss Jewish Space Laser is the media darling of the QAnon crowd now, but what bizarre rat-hole will preoccupy the GOP 3 years from now?
Omnes Omnibus
@LuciaMia:
But we are grownups, yes?
different-church-lady
I’m thinking a walk in the park might do you some good.
Miss Bianca
@Yutsano: Thank you! (and everyone else who responded!) I tend to slip and fall on the panic button when I get a letter from the IRS.
different-church-lady
@Miss Bianca: Is this a 1099-G?
johnnybuck
@Just Some Fuckhead: “The media giveth..and fuck you!”
Ammo Barbie is burning too bright to last.
Geminid
@J R in WV: The problem with Greene electorally is that no Democratic candidate has gotten more than 30% of the vote in the GA 14th since it was created in 2012. As long as she can prevail in a Republican primary that seat is safe for her. Georgia does have primary runoffs, so it’s possible a strong Republican could beat her. But 14th District Republicans knew more or less what she was last year, and her win in the runoff wasn’t even close. Lauren Boebert, on the other hand, faces a tough reelection in the Colorado 3rd District. She carried it by only 6 points. Colorado will gain a seat through reapportionment this year, and the 3rd district will change some. The redistricting committee is supposed to act neutrally, but I won’t be shocked if somehow Boebert gets screwed over.
LuciaMia
Not exactly anybodys favorite pen-pal.
Another Scott
@J R in WV: Humans seem to be hard-wired to find symmetric faces to be attractive.
By that metric, MTG’s face probably scores pretty highly (though her eyelids and dimples are different).
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
(“Who usually tries not to be lookist.”)
Yutsano
@different-church-lady: 1099-INT.
@Miss Bianca: Calendar year here just means the year that the interest was paid out. Fun fact: everyone who was an individual filer who got a refund last year got interest. It was a fun quirk of the late filing date because of COVID-19. I ended up owing last year. I haz a sad.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: I filed prior to April 15 and got no interest.
J R in WV
An interesting post/thread.
I don’t think Marjorie Taylor Greene is at all attractive. We have a long time acquaintance a little younger than we are, many kids who are successful, in spite of their mom, who is border-line psycho.
Got a reasonable job working as a custodian in the school system — got caught on video catching fish from the aquarium, frying them for late night dinner.
She is kinda nearly almost attractive in the same way Marjorie Taylor Greene is almost attractive. But their face is not quite normally formed. Nearly attractive, but not, really. Reflects their mental distortion, actually, to me.
I suspect Marjorie Taylor Greene will be indicted for something so strange we can’t forecast it. Because regular normal people can’t imagine the things that deranged folk get into their minds, and think is normal and OK to go forward with.
I’m a little surprised that Marjorie Taylor Greene didn’t go off on her black fellow GA congresswoman in a way that would be not legal, threats and deranged ranting. I think if she doesn’t catch herself she could make a real scene, on hi-end video, that would be really useful for anyone running against her. Anyone sane, to be more specific…
debbie
@Miss Bianca:
I got one too, for a $16 refund I received from last year’s taxes.
ETA: My form was a 1099-G.
J R in WV
@Matt:
And again, who is “he” in this comment, please? The language uses pronouns for second use, with a proper noun at first use.
Miss Bianca
@different-church-lady: It says “1099-INT” in teeny-tiny print on the side.
Aleta
Has Paul Ryan been ruled out re planning to run ?
Impressions from the shallows: positioning (moved to MD, has a ‘foundation’ branded with “American” + “idea” that advertises “solutions to problems”); gathering support (incl. Fox Corp); placing himself in opposition to the coup and to Trump. He left DC with ambition intact, timed to hide from blame.
Omnes Omnibus
@J R in WV:
It was a reply to a comment where the person was named.
Richard Guhl
Hey Adam, can we get through the 2022 high wire act first? A lot depends on how successful the Biden administration is in enacting its agenda in the next two years. If they can ram the COVID-19 relief package through reconciliation opportunity one, and then the Build Back Better/Green New Deal measures in reconciliation opportunity two, coupled with successful vaccination measures, the likelihood is the economy will be roaring back at 6-8% annual growth. That bodes well for Democrats in the midterms.
In early 2022 there will be an additional opportunity to do reconciliation that ought to provide more juice to the economy.
This means that the GOP nominee in 2024 will be a frothing at the mouth version of Alf Landon.
MTG is certainly a possibility then, but before that she may choose to run for GA governor or the Senate against Raphael Warnock. I think the former is more likely as Kemp is now on Trump’s hate list.
johnnybuck
@Aleta: Ryan, like Romney, seems like the kind of nominee you run when you’re facing a popular incumbent sure to win. It may come to that, and I’d welcome it. He’s a tiresome has-been.
Hildebrand
@ColoradoGuy: It’s the Protocols of the Elders of Zion for the 21st century. A ghastly reworking of blood libel tropes. There is a good reason the white nationalists have taken to this so quickly.
schrodingers_cat
@Subsole: Timothy McVeigh clones are going to be a problem but I don’t think there is going to be widespread insurgency as predicted by some doom posting corners of Twitter and the intertoobz.
MomSense
I’ve seen some bizarre reports that Pence and Mother are “homeless” and couch surfing. Is this really a case of Pence never bothering to find housing or is this a Gaddafi situation where it’s not safe to sleep in the same bed twice?
StringOnAStick
MTG went down to Mar a lardo and kissed the tRump ring, and so now she is untouchable by McCarthy and the rest of the R House. They won’t censor her or get her to tone it down. This sounds bad, but I expect a fairly spectacular flameout, possibly during the impeachment trial because of evidence against her and Qbert as well, or more of the DOJ roll up of insurrectionists. I don’t think she’s smart enough to have adequately covered her tracks, too much of a true believer to think she even needed to.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: I don’t know anything first-hand, but when this has been discussed here, someone said they have surely rented a house from someone but that they are not wanting to say where they are staying.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
Somewhere I read that Pence was convinced there would be a second term and so hadn’t planned to need a residence.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Perhaps. But in the last month, at least, he would have known that wasn’t happening. I can’t imagine that they don’t have a place.
But a person probably can’t go wrong underestimating Pence…
J R in WV
@Omnes Omnibus:
Well, Duh!
The language was designed long before Web usage, and first use should get a proper name. Same for places when discussing vote tallies and weather…
Maybe I’m just more borderline since the insurrection on the 6th of January, but really, that doesn’t matter, the rule for sentences and paragraphs is still use a proper noun first, and pronouns after that.
Now I’m going to bed….. :~)
Martin
@Citizen Alan: The GOP isn’t completely lost yet, though it’s close. At a minimum, he’s got an impeachment hearing to gauge where things are.
brantl
@Mike in NC: I think you misspelled that, it should be “putztriot party”.
Geminid
@debbie: Pence needs to line up a job now. He is not wealthy, and according to a 2019 Forbes Magazine article his pensions add up to $85,000 a year. I’d be fine with that income, but I’m not married to Mrs. Pence. Thank God.
debbie
@Geminid:
He is dead meat in politics.
Joseph A Miller
@Suzanne: You gonna run a POC in Ohio for U.S. Senate? Would they even have a chance there?
wetcasements
Barring jail (I’d put the odds at 1:3) the GOP ticket for 2024 is going to be Donald / Ivanka.
H-Bob
@ColoradoGuy: When any Democrat makes a remark critical of Israeli policies, it is demanded that Democratic politicians denounce such antisemitism; Greene made the most blatantly anti-Semitic remark this millennium from a member of Congress, so why isn’t every Republican required to denounce her?
Geo Wilcox
@jackmac: If Trump runs, Greene will be his VP.
UncleEbeneezer
@Adam L Silverman: Well, she’s white so I figured there was a 50+% chance of that being the case.