Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

T R E 4 5 O N

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

No Justins, No Peace

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Republicans in disarray!

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

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

I was promised a recession.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

In my day, never was longer.

Everybody saw this coming.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

White supremacy is terrorism.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

You are here: Home / Politics / GOP Death Cult / Thursday Evening Open Thread: LET THEM FIGHT

Thursday Evening Open Thread: LET THEM FIGHT

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The Horserace Media touts have decided — and this is very much their proclaimed area of expertise — that Liz Cheney has made herself the leader of the Permanent Republican Party in its attempt to retrieve some portion of its power and influence from the death-cultists using TFG as their figurehead. Whether this is an achievable goal, I very much doubt, but watching Repubs ding each other up is always an evening’s entertainment…

Meanwhile, their God-Emperor is lying low in the swamps, probably because he’s aware of his legal jeopardy when it comes to Giuliani’s recent difficulties …


I suspect that Liz Cheney has calculated the odds of TFG being either dead or in federal custody by 2024, and she figures he’ll take a lot of the noisiest current flotsam down with him. Of course, that’s my personal hope, as well!

Reader Interactions

193Comments

  2. 2.

    MattF

    I doubt that Cheney is making a calculation. Her reaction to Trump is visceral disgust.

    ETA: @Alison Rose: Me too. But she’s probably sacrificing her political career.

  3. 3.

    TS (the original)

      2 Bush chiefs of staff, cabinet members, Jeb, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney & even Lindsey Graham. 

    Poor Lindsay – looking for a new bff

  4. 4.

    cain

    It’s an interesting bet – because if she pulls it out – she will lead the GOP for the next couple of decades. It won’t lead to a swing to the left, but it would go back to the Reagan era.

  5. 5.

    HypersphericalCow

    I do wonder about Cheney’s thinking on this kind of thing. She’s in the leadership, has the safest of seats, but is very vulnerable to a primary challenge. So as a pure matter of political careerism, there’s no upside to bucking the party this way. Makes me wonder if she actually believes in what she’s saying and doing.

  6. 6.

    WaterGirl

    @HypersphericalCow:

    Makes me wonder if she actually believes in what she’s saying and doing.

    I’m sure this is pure political calculation on her part, and the part of her father.  This is her big chance to lead the “new” republican party.

    She may also have a visceral reaction to Trump, but that just makes it easier to execute their plan for her.

  7. 7.

    Wag

    @HypersphericalCow:   As much as it pains me to agree with Cheney, I am pretty sure that she wholeheartedly agrees that the TFG era needs to end ASAP.  If it requires the death of the GQP party, so be it.  She’ll move on to the next iteration of a conservative party

  8. 8.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Meanwhile, their God-Emperor is lying low in the swamps, probably because he’s aware of his legal jeopardy when it comes to Giuliani’s recent difficulties …

    Trump does not lie low for reasons like that and never has.  He just gets louder.

    He could bring rallies back any time he wants. No Red State governor would stop him.

    If he could, he would.  Sure, no Red State governor would stop him, so the problem must be something else.  A lack of money or a lack of interest, which may be the same thing.  I’m pretty sure it’s the latter.  Nobody cares what Little King Mushroom Dick thinks anymore.  They don’t want to go to rallies and cheer the guy that lost, especially when he lied to them about whether he could overturn the loss.

    If he’s still alive, Trump is going to anoint the next GOP nominee in 2024.

    I’ve yet to see any sign that more than a handful of GOP give a shit what Trump thinks anymore.  Cleek’s Law requires never admitting Trump is anything less than the best, but it does not require actually paying him any attention.

  9. 9.

    Brachiator

    The GOP will unanimously rally around a hard turd in 2024, if that is the candidate. And I mean that. An actual hard turd.

    Meanwhile I will enjoy their infighting for now.

    Pillars of traditional conservatism pour $$$ into @Liz_Cheney campaign: 2 Bush chiefs of staff, cabinet members, Jeb, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney & even Lindsey Graham.

    I hate Mitch McConnell, but I understand that he will seize any lifeline available. Lindsey Graham is a reprehensible little toad, without any principles. None.

  10. 10.

    dr. bloor

    Give the Cheney gene pool credit where it’s due.  They’re a bunch of sociopathic self-interested greedheads lusting for power, but they ain’t stupid.

  11. 11.

    Mike in NC

    Reading “American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump” by Tim Alberta. I must be a masochist.

  13. 13.

    JMG

    Off topic but good news for me and mine: My daughter in France called me this afternoon and she is now eligible for vaccination there because their standards for overweight are much stricter than here (maybe if she smoked she could get under the limit). She has two dates scheduled, one in mid-May, one in early June. So she will have no problems attending her brother’s wedding in Brooklyn in early August. I am very happy. They are super close siblings.

  14. 14.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    The media is desperate to find a Republican standard bearer who is not an obvious Nazi or raving maniac, so they can pretend we have two political parties again (especially the one they’re wired to support).

    If it looks like Liz is going to be that one, she’ll get all the fawning coverage. Probably even more than TFG did.

  15. 15.

    Martin

    @HypersphericalCow: I think she does. She’s been consistently in front of this in a very pointed way. In fact, she’s spoken more plainly about this than even many Dems (not that I think she believes it more strongly than Dems, more that she’s willing to say it in plain terms where Dems are still trying too hard to be cordial).

  17. 17.

    Jeffro

    @Frankensteinbeck:  On some level, he doesn’t want to go out there and acknowledge that he got his ass kicked. I don’t mean that he’d say anything like that – I mean just the fact that he’s not. in. the. White House, and all his nasty, corrupt, scummy schemes to stay there failed.

  18. 18.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @JMG: ​
      A neighbor’s son is coming home from Germany to get vaccinated. It surprised me that he had to do that. I believe he’s in graduate school there.

  20. 20.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    OT Query – you guys tend to have broad interests. I just started acoustic guitar lessons (middle daughter bought me one for my birthday a couple of weeks ago), and while I can do a few chords and scales, I’d like a decent country/rock tab book for beginners that doesn’t include Red River Valley, Shenandoah, Michael Row Your Boat Ashore or Kumbaya. I’ve checked Amazon and am overwhelmed.

    I have obtained a stand, strap, some picks and a gig bag, and a tuner with an exercise book is coming this weekend.

    Any recommendation will be appreciated.

  21. 21.

    Roger Moore

    @WaterGirl: 

    I’m sure this is pure political calculation on her part, and her father’s. This is her big chance to lead the “new” republican party.

    I don’t care much either way. I’m glad to see at least one prominent Republican stand up and fight the crazies on this issue. Maybe it’s better if it’s an act of political calculation, because at least that means there’s someone who thinks the crazy is a political loser.

  23. 23.

    Mary G

    @JMG: Yay!

    I know a red state governor wouldn’t try to stop a rally, but a mayor struggling with a tight budget might. The campaign has never paid its bills for security, permits, etc. for any of its rallies, and one town has sent a $200,000+ bill to collections. The Proud Boys who missed 1/6 would  probably show up looking to fuck something over, and if no liberal counter protesters are there, they have no problem getting drunk and fighting in the streets amongst themselves.

  24. 24.

    dmsilev

    @Alison Rose: 

    I really dislike having even the tiniest shred of concurrence with Liz Cheney on anything.

    “If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons” – Winston Churchill.

  26. 26.

    Ken

    @Frankensteinbeck: They don’t want to go to rallies and cheer the guy that lost, especially when he lied to them about whether he could overturn the loss.

    TFG doesn’t believe that, so it wouldn’t stop him from holding the rallies.  Unless you lean to the theory that, deep down, he does realize he’s an abject failure, so — even if he won’t consciously admit it — understands that he’d end up with a nearly-empty auditorium.

  28. 28.

    dmsilev

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: A colleague of mine in Japan was saying a week or so ago that he might well come here over the summer both for actual professional reasons and to get a vaccination. The roll-out there is truly screwed up; they’re still largely in the “critical medical worker” phase (Bloomberg’s “time until herd immunity” chart has them at 3.3 years).

  29. 29.

    Ken

    @Keith P.: I wonder what Trump will want for his 2024 King-making services.

    Two scoops of ice cream at dinner, and could the pretty nurse tuck him in tonight?

    Of course his spawn, or whoever ends up maintaining the public facade, might demand more.

  31. 31.

    Haydnseek

    Think of some songs you really like that feature a fairly simple acoustic guitar chord progression.  In my experience you should be able to find guitar tab for those songs on the web.  It makes learning much more satisfying when you begin to work your way through a song you already know.  It worked for me.

  32. 32.

    Brachiator

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: 

    The media is desperate to find a Republican standard bearer who is not an obvious Nazi or raving maniac, so they can pretend we have two political parties again (especially the one they’re wired to support).

    Trump moved the GOP into openly accepting a racist autocrat as the nominee. The Republicans show no signs of retreating from this new low, and they don’t care what the media thinks about it.

    The GOP could nominate a candidate who advocates having every tenth reporter killed, and a good chunk of the media would simply note this and move on.

  33. 33.

    Doc Sardonic

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Unfortunately, I can’t/won’t/don’t read tab, but anything by Alfred music or Hal Leonard is usually pretty good. If you are interested in songs by a particular artist you can find some pretty good song specific lessons on YouTube, I tend to learn better by ear and watching someone’s fingers on the fretboard and tab is always presented itself as upside down to me so to use them I have to flip the book around and then it becomes a process like reading Korean/Arabic at the same time.

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I think a lot of this is that being deplatformed really cut Trump off at the knees.  His fans really connect to the constant stream of hate, and without that they’ve started looking elsewhere for their fix.  Yeah, there are probably some diehards who would come back, but without the whole media circus surrounding his every action, it just isn’t the same.

  37. 37.

    artem1s

    @Ken:

    he’d end up with a nearly-empty auditorium.

    that had been the case for awhile.  He doesn’t have the dough to promote them and they stopped bringing in the big bucks a long time ago.  the most important thing TFG remembers about 1/6 is what a bad image his horrid followers cast on him.  He now knows and understands fully that he’s been hanging around with a bunch of losers and none of the really cool kids want to be seen with him anymore.  I hope the next four years of watching Joe hang out with the really cool kids eats up what’s left of his tiny little heart.

  41. 41.

    Spanky

    I’m not sure Liz will be able to maintain as much power without her father looming in the background. I think it’s his connection to power and especially money that boosted her career. Once he runs out of unicorn blood and goes the way of all undead flesh, I think we’ll see a few more GQPers gunning for her.

  45. 45.

    Anne Laurie

    @HypersphericalCow: So as a pure matter of political careerism, there’s no upside to bucking the party this way. Makes me wonder if she actually believes in what she’s saying and doing.

    Cheney’s parents are successful political professionals, and she was raised to continue a dynasty.  I’m sure it’s galling for her to watch the current crop of misfits and malcontents squander the GOP’s reputation for nothing more than an evening’s attention from Fox News.

    By the same metric, there’s no reason for her to jump into the kiddy ball-pit.  Assuming she can be primaried out, the worst that happens is she goes to one or another highly-compensated RW ‘think tank’ for a few years, further burnishing her rep as an intellectual.   And there’s a *lot* less competition for Sensible Conservative, right now.

  46. 46.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:

    That is so sweet. Such a loving gesture. I kind of wish Dr. Jill had blown the seeds the way we used to as kids, to spread the love everywhere.
    (Also, I am totally loving this style thing she’s doing recently of using a bit of her dress pattern on her mask.)

  49. 49.

    Another Scott

    @Frankensteinbeck: +1

    I don’t think he has anyone competent working for him, and he knows it.

    The Tulsa rally was a disaster.  They got, what, 7000 actual people to show up after thinking that a million people had requested tickets?  He was president then (6/20/2020).  He hadn’t lost the election yet.  He hadn’t gotten Brownshirts riled up to attack the Capitol and get people killed to try to keep him in power – and failed.  He hadn’t slunked off to Xanadu rather than accept the election results.

    He’s a has-been.

    An attempted rally would be a disaster for him.  He knows it.

    He’s trying to figure out a way to shape the future to his benefit, but he has no power.  He’s just waiting for the DSW full of shoes to drop, while milking the GQP for every kopeck he can before the others realize it…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  50. 50.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    President Joe Biden reconnected with Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in the southwest Georgia town of Plains on Thursday as they rekindled a fruitful political friendship that stretches back decades.

    The two friends met for roughly 45 minutes in Carter’s house in Plains, putting a bow on a relationship that stemmed from a young senator taking a chance that an unknown peanut farmer could be president.

    ***“He showed us throughout his entire life what it means to be a public servant,” Biden said of Carter.In the most recent biography of Carter, “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life,” Jonathan Alter wrote that Biden was the first senator to endorse Carter in his bid for the presidency. “Biden would appear in dozens of states for Carter in 1976,” Alter wrote.

    “He joked that. at age 33, he was still two years shy of the constitutional age requirement to be president. So, since he couldn’t yet run himself, he was backing Jimmy.”

    (link)

    (Bidens with Rosalynn)

    (Biden with Senator Warnock)​​

  52. 52.

    West of the Rockies

    I keep hoping for a 1,000 page book detailing all the criminal and incompetent aspects of TFG administration, down to the last sour fart in the Oval Office.

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Nicolle Wallace said today a Republican friend of hers is contemplating running for President as a Republican, as an anti-trump candidate. I know she’s tight with Chris Christie, but I can’t imagine he would do it.

  54. 54.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Word on the street: Aaron Rodgers to be traded to Denver

  56. 56.

    steppy

    Not replying to anyone in particular, but several above.

    Rallies require MONEY to rent the venues, hired goons to beat up protestors, etc. T***p is certainly not going to put out his own money, and his rudimentary survival instinct realizes that the bucks he grifted from the rubes are going to have to go to legal defense. We are not, inshallah, going to see him out on the road anytime soon.

  58. 58.

    cain

    @Brachiator:

    Trump moved the GOP into openly accepting a racist autocrat as the nominee. The Republicans show no signs of retreating from this new low, and they don’t care what the media thinks about it.

    Why would they care? The media is so desperate for two sides that if the GOP took the position that the earth must be destroyed because it is flat – they’d objectively compare the two positions with equivalent relevance.

  59. 59.

    CaseyL

    I would love someone to sell the idea of a Thunderdome gladiator contest to the GQP, to sort out the competing wanna-be Kingmakers and Kings.  “Two choads enter, one choad leaves.”

    Tell them it’ll prove which among them has God’s favor.

  61. 61.

    steppy

    @Roger Moore: Just checking: frank speech dot com is still video loops of Mr. Pillow and nothing else.

    Had you not thought of Mr. Pillow in the last week or so? Neither has anybody else.

  63. 63.

    Mary G

    She’s certainly committed to the Never-Trump act:

    I disagree strongly w/@JoeBiden policies, but when the President reaches out to greet me in the chamber of the US House of Representatives, I will always respond in a civil, respectful & dignified way. We’re different political parties. We’re not sworn enemies. We’re Americans.— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) April 30, 2021

    For now. I don’t trust her one tiny bit.

  64. 64.

    patrick II

    @Anne Laurie:
    She is just 55.  Her long-term future rests on the success of the GQP.  If they do well with their overt racism and voter suppression and the Supreme court making sure the voting suppression works and that everyone has a gun to work it out in other ways, the country’s slide will continue and so will hers.​

  66. 66.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    If he’s still alive, Trump is going to anoint the next GOP nominee in 2024.

    I’ve yet to see any sign that more than a handful of GOP give a shit what Trump thinks anymore.

    You know the scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy accidentally throws water on the Wicked Witch of the West and the witch dies? And then the palace guards come towards Dorothy and say “She’s dead. You killed her.” And then it turns out that all the guards and flying monkeys are absolutely thrilled that the witch is dead because they hated and feared her all along.

    That’s how I picture Republicans when TFG finally shuffles off this mortal coil. As impotent palace guards and terrified flying monkeys who will rejoice at his passing. Every one of them.

    ETA: I don’t think many of them are stupid enough to rejoice out loud, and they’ll blather encomia for TFG until their tongues give out, but I’ll bet they’ll all be secretly relieved and ecstatic.

  67. 67.

    Ken

    @cain: if the GOP took the position that the earth must be destroyed because it is flat

    Anticipating the Pompeo 2024 candidacy, I see.

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    If he could, he would [hold rallies]. Sure, no Red State governor would stop him, so the problem must be something else. A lack of money or a lack of interest, which may be the same thing.

    I think it’s the money. When he was president he had the enormous resources of the federal government at his beck and call. All he had to do was say, “I’m holding a rally in Dallas on such and such a date,” and the vast machinery would start clanking to make it happen. And money no object, because it’s the president and it’s official government business. ?

    Now he has a much smaller staff, and if he says, “Let’s do a rally,” someone is pretty quickly going to ask, “Uh, how do we pay for this?” Not to mention he doesn’t have the huge staff to make it happen. And isn’t Trump’s jet up on cinder blocks at some shithole airport? Lots of logistical problems.

  70. 70.

    kindness

    I’m thinking it’s the money that runs the Republican show and what the money wants will determine which way the party will go.  You have a lot of nutcase billionaires on the one hand and a lot of very conservative billionaires on the other.  Who wins that cage match?  I’d buy tickets to see that.

  71. 71.

    Ohio Mom

    Here in my Red suburb of college-educated professionals, a good number of my neighbors voted for Biden because TFG was repulsive to them.

    I don’t think they’ve figured out that the other people they regularly vote for, including (soon to be retired) Rob Portman, supported and enabled Trump — that their votes against Trump and for Republican representation were at cross purposes.

    Being able to vote for a Republicann presidential candidate who looks “sensible” like Liz Cheney might would end their flirtation with voting Blue. They are slow learners, they need a few more cycles of Trump-level crazy on the ballot.

  72. 72.

    Steeplejack

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I’ve yet to see any sign that more than a handful of GOP give a shit what Trump thinks anymore. Cleek’s Law requires never admitting Trump is anything less than the best, but it does not require actually paying him any attention.

    Then why do they go to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring?

  73. 73.

    Another Scott

    It’s clown cars all the way down. BlueVirginia:

    Crazy stuff…but sadly typical for today’s Virginia GOP. As the following press release from the Democratic Party of Virginia says, “It’s Lord of the Flies in the Virginia GOP right now.” Check out the full story, by NBC News, here, and also highlights from reporter Alex Seitz-Wald and some more reactions below.

    (Some of the original tweets:)

    If the Virginia GOP can’t even run an open, transparent primary process, how can they possibly govern Virginia?https://t.co/uJKi1teTqN

    — Virginia Democrats (@vademocrats) April 29, 2021

    The funniest part about the Virginia GOP's mess of a convention is that they can't even resolve questions about the rules because @petesnyder is paying off the party's general counsel. #VaGovhttps://t.co/p33bsbzYaW pic.twitter.com/Nb6g2Vn43q

    — Grant Fox (@grantxfox) April 29, 2021

    (Fingers crossed that this posts…)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  75. 75.

    Falling Diphthong

    I’m sticking to my prediction of MT Green, if Trump is dead or so feeble that his family somehow convinces him not to run. The base want a true believer, not some goober who claims he can be Trump with brains.

    Like the folk at the top of the thread, I think she’s sincere in this. She’d rather go down swinging than simper like McCarthy.

  76. 76.

    Roger Moore

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    There will be many a dry eye in the Republican party when TFG dies, but there will be many wet ones, too.  There are a ton of people in the party who always wanted to let their freak flags fly, and they love TFG dearly for letting them.

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G: Liz Cheney voted to acquit trump the first time, to my knowledge never significantly broke with McCarthy et al on oversight, never spoke up through all the grifting and profiteering and the slander of multiple civil servants and military personnel…

    I’ll welcome her high-profile dissent as long as it lasts and for all the good it does, but I wouldn’t even vote for her as Best Cheney.

  78. 78.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Multiple sources confirming something BIG is coming this Wednesday.?‍☠️— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) April 24, 2021

    Told you… — The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) April 28, 2021

    Lincoln Project must have sources within DOJ and/or FBI and they knew about the Giuliani raid ahead of time. In the video below, they are now saying something BIG, if not BIGGER, will occur this Monday.

    Stay tuned. #AbeKnowsAll pic.twitter.com/rzj4Ag2Tnc— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) April 29, 2021

  79. 79.

    Steeplejack

    @HypersphericalCow:

    Is Cheney “very vulnerable” to a primary challenge? Wyoming has about the same population as Milwaukee (580,000-590,000), so it might be useful to think of it in terms of dynastic city politics—although a really spread-out city, to be sure. I’m sure there are nutters to the right of Cheney, but are there enough of them to pose a threat? She’s got national stature, national media exposure and, most important, national moolah pouring in.

  81. 81.

    Fair Economist

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Isn’t the Lincoln Project *always* saying “something big” will happen on some date within the next week? And at least most of the time that day is no more notable than any other?

    I remain dubious about their prognostication powers.

  86. 86.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Second of these tweets I’ve seen today

    Ben Wikler @benwikler 2h
    Friendly reminder that, in opposing the American Rescue Plan, Rep. Glenn Grothman voted AGAINST the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

    Rep. Glenn Grothman @RepGrothman · 8h

    The Restaurant Revitalization Fund will provide relief to food and drink businesses in-need following #COVID19 lockdowns and capacity limitations. Registration begins this Friday and applications open Monday at 11 a.

  89. 89.

    Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    A bunch of the grifters r-u-n-n-o-f-t’d after their grifting and shit behaviours were exposed, but a bunch of the staffers remain.

  91. 91.

    Anne Laurie

    @West of the Rockies: I keep hoping for a 1,000 page book detailing all the criminal and incompetent aspects of TFG administration, down to the last sour fart in the Oval Office.

    Were you politically conscious in, say, 1977?   Remember what happened in the publishing industry, after Watergate broke?

    The Trump Misadministration won’t get a Robert Caro, but there *will* be a tsunami of books — good, bad, & indifferent — spelling out all the many crimes & failures of the 2015-2020 era.

  93. 93.

    WaterGirl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Huh.  I knew Steve Schmidt disappeared after the big scandal.  One week he was still doing his podcast Battleground with David Plouffe, the next week it was just David, who announced that Steve was taking the week off, and the week after that, it was David Plouffe with some other fellow, and David was introducing that fellow as the new person for the Battleground podcast, and David Plouffe was out.

    I guess I thought they all kind of disappeared like that.

  94. 94.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @WaterGirl: They’ve have a podcast, a nightly broadcast show on youtube, their social media is very active, but most importantly, they’re still cranking out attack ads like sausages.​ (including some great ads during the Georgia races)

  95. 95.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Steeplejack:

    Then why do they go to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring?

    They don’t.  It’s a major part of why I can tell he’s a has-been.  McCarthy and Gaetz are playing loyalist.  He got to host one dinner when the GOP was hosting a convention nearby.  Has he gotten that money from the RNC?  They’re not kissing the ring.  They’re ignoring him.  Only a tiny handful still care about anything other than saying whatever is the most Fuck You, Libs when asked about him.

  97. 97.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Delk:n  my

    Thank you – that looks perfect. My thought is that a good country background will carry me through a bunch.

  98. 98.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @WaterGirl: Rick Wilson has been pretty much un-personed from his New Abnormal podcast with Molly Jong-Fast, as well.

    I wonder why Plouffe quit his podcast that, to be fair, I never heard.

  99. 99.

    WaterGirl

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I was under the impression that David Plouffe didn’t quit – they didn’t say so in so many words, but it sure looked like they were replaced on the podcast with two new hosts because of the Steve Schmidt/Lincoln Project scandal.

  100. 100.

    counterfactual

    @WaterGirl: The Lincoln Project kicked out the guy sexting the interns, and the supposed financial scandal turned out to be, “no more corrupt than any other Republican political op.”

  106. 106.

    Mary G

    FWIW. Stuart Stevens DMed me on Twitter after I posted that the Lincoln Project was the Soviet Union in WWII, and now we have defeated our common menace we could go back to being enemies. He said he and a few of the women who’d been doing most of the actual work while Steve Schmitt and Rick Wilson swanned around taking credit were restructuring, and to bear with them.  I still don’t follow them or donate. He seems like a sincere repentant ex-Republican, but he’s worked for enough dirtbags to never get the shit all the way off his shoes.

  107. 107.

    persistentillusion

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: ​
      LP did a live podcast today, quite good. Nearly all of the comments were about the possibility of Rick’s return. Which I would enjoy, being a fan of his particular brand of fulsome invective.

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    @lgerard: Wowser.

    In the private text messages, Greenberg described his activities with Gaetz, repeatedly referring to the congressman by his initials, “MG,” or as “Matt.”

    “My lawyers that I fired, know the whole story about MG’s involvement,” Greenberg wrote to Stone on Dec. 21. “They know he paid me to pay the girls and that he and I both had sex with the girl who was underage.”

    Thank god these people are stupid and not just evil.

  109. 109.

    Another Scott

    @lgerard: That’s not news.

    What’s news is that Roger Stone was (apparently) trying to sell pardons for $250,000.

    Tick, tock…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  110. 110.

    Ruckus

    @TS (the original):

    I’m not going to write what I think bff stands for, I mean I know what it is supposed to stand for but this is LG, the guy that will follow just about any racist shit with a sq in of butt left to leave lip prints on.

  114. 114.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Christie could just run as a non-trumper candidate: not against trump so much as just saying its time to move on. He was loyal enough during trump’s presidency. If all the other candidates go to kiss trump’s ring, Christie may seem the bigger man by staying away.

    It’s hard for me to estimate the hold trump will have over the voters come January 2024, when the primaries will be close at hand. Criminal indictments, civil judgements, business setbacks, mental deterioration, and just time out of office all may undermine his appeal.

    First trump will flex his political muscles in next year’s primaries. Besides Cheney, there are nine other House Republican impeachers to go after. Plus Lisa Murkowski in Alaska, and maybe Kemp and certainly Raffensperger in Georgia. Narcissist that he is, trump won’t care if the challengers he backs lose in November, so long as gets his revenge on those who’ve crossed him. But Republican voters who like winning may not see it the same way.

    As for the 2024 Presidential nomination contest, if I had to bet now on the last two men standing, I’d put my money on Christie and Pompeo.

  115. 115.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Rachel devoted the first 20+ minutes of her show tonight on the weird recount/“audit” of 2020 ballots in Arizona. She had a shorter segment either the AZ Secretary of State a couple of days ago.

    I may have missed it, but I don’t recall seeing any discussion of this on BJ. It strikes me as complete buffoonery on the one hand, but as a sinister and dangerous activity on the other. These “ninjas” have a far-right Q-embracing TFG-supporting agenda, and so far they have worked in near total opacity.

  116. 116.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G: interesting, did he say “swanned around”? cause it’s kind of perfect, though I too will admit to often enjoying Wilson’s rhetoric. I never sent them money and never would. Apparently on of their biggest donors was a big-shot Hollywood lefty. I wanna say Geffen?

    Stevens is one of the rare never-trumpers who will, now, admit the role racism has played in Republican politics. Him, Jennifer Rubin (I think?) and Max Boot. Though I doubt even they are ready to come to grips with Reagan’s racism.

  119. 119.

    Mary G

    @Martin: Yeah, I was kind of impressed he’d bother with a tiny account like mine. I got his book “It Was All a Lie” from the library, but I’m not sure I’ll get around to listening to it before it goes back.

  122. 122.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl:

    March 31 – ABC11:

    WASHINGTON — Rep. Matt Gaetz on Tuesday denied that he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old after the New York Times reported that, according to its sources, the Justice Department was investigating a possible sexual relationship with the girl and whether he paid for her to travel with him.

    […]

    HTH!! :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  123. 123.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    sounds like there’s some news, and evidence

    Philip Gourevitch @PGourevitch 4m
    that Joel Greenberg kept screenshots of his supposed-to-disappear signal messages with Roger Stone about buying a Trump pardon for his sex crimes with Matt Gaetz suggests he was already thinking of cutting a cooperation deal with investigators/prosecutors – or already had

  125. 125.

    TS (the original)

    @Mary G:

    For now. I don’t trust her one tiny bit.

    Given that she said she strongly disagrees with Biden policies – I don’t trust her either.

  126. 126.

    Danielx

    @TS (the original):

    Does Lindsey not realize that when word of his contribution to Cheney gets back to TFG…what will he have to do to get back in TFG’s good graces? Volunteer to let Trump take a large dump on his head?

  127. 127.

    Another Scott

    Protip: if Roger Stone asks you to handwritte a confession to a federal crime so he can use it to [g]et you a pardon, don’t

    — ProbableCauseHat (@Popehat) April 30, 2021

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  128. 128.

    Steeplejack

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    It strikes me as complete buffoonery on the one hand, but as a sinister and dangerous activity on the other.

    I agree, and it also feeds my greater anxiety that the powers that be—and the media—are taking the January 6 insurrection and its aftermath too casually, or maybe too leisurely. (Can’t think of a better word.) A large percentage of Republicans (who represent a smaller percentage of Americans, to be sure) still think the election was stolen from Trump, and I don’t believe that all of the radical militants just decided “Well, that didn’t work” and packed it in. I hope the wheels of justice are grinding efficiently in the background, even if we can’t hear them.

  129. 129.

    Ken

    @Steeplejack: In one of the earlier threads, someone said that the Idaho housing market was very active. I had the stray thought that maybe a few hundred thousand California liberals had decided to move in and tip the balance. Wyoming would be even easier, with a third of Idaho’s population.

  131. 131.

    different-church-lady

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: ​
     

    The media is desperate to find a Republican standard bearer who is not an obvious Nazi or raving maniac

    At this point I’m pretty sure a third of the media is hoping for an actual Nazi.

  132. 132.

    Jeffro

    @moops:I wonder what Trump will want for his 2024 King-making services.  A pardon.

    I still cling to this image of him in a standard police interrogation room, disheveled, crazy-ass hair all over the place, face in his hands.  And the FBI agent goes, “start from the top”.  And trumpov goes, “I first began receiving payments from Russian sources back in 1984…”

  133. 133.

    Another Scott

    Rep. Matt Gaetz is going on tour. And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is joining him https://t.co/C03AJYK8vC

    — Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) April 29, 2021

    Oooh. Maybe Boebert and Hawley and Rubio and Cruz and the rest of the gang can join them – make it easier to round them all up at once.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  134. 134.

    Jeffro

    @Mary G: we don’t have to trust Liz Cheney on anything, other than she recognizes the danger the country is in, and may have some actual principles other than “the opposite of what libs want, updated hourly” and/or “whatever will line my pockets”.

    Which if you think about it is a sea change for GQP pols in general.

  135. 135.

    Jeffro

    @Another Scott:Maybe Boebert and Hawley and Rubio and Cruz and the rest of the gang can join them – make it easier to round them all up at once.

    Hey if they all stand reeeeeeally close, all it will take is just one gren…oh, never mind.  I do hope they all tour together and keep acting out.  Highlight the contrasts, GQP!

  137. 137.

    Gravenstone

    @Fair Economist: To quote Maiden, “predicting war for millions, in the hopes that one appears”. The one stupid trick of wannabe prognosticators everywhere.

  140. 140.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Steeplejack: ​
    I read them both. That list is fucking sad, and the ‘all roads lead through Donald Trump’ line is, shockingly, from Donald Trump’s assistant. Trump is a has-been. He’s doing better than I knew, but that’s clearing a very low bar, and he’s not clearing it by much.

  143. 143.

    TS (the original)

    @Danielx:

    Lindsey wants a friend in DC – I think it foretells the end of trump as a GOP leader if he is supporting Liz Cheney.

  144. 144.

    Another Scott

    Dear @GOPLeader: Please remove Rep Matt Gaetz from the House Judiciary Committee immediately. The Committee has jurisdiction over the Department of Justice that is investigating Rep Gaetz, including allegedly for sex crimes with a minor. This is an untenable conflict of interest. https://t.co/H3ZzJYoCzs

    — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) April 30, 2021

    Tick, tock, …

    (via nycsouthpaw)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  145. 145.

    jonas

    @RSA: ​  I’ve read that some 40% of Americans have gained unwanted weight during the pandemic, an average of about 30 pounds.

    *sheepishly raises hand*​

  146. 146.

    Ken

    @Gravenstone: The one stupid trick of wannabe prognosticators everywhere.

    For the (checks calendar) 40th straight year, economists are warning that hyperinflation is just around the corner.

  148. 148.

    different-church-lady

    @RSA: I lost 18 pounds.

    Of course, all of that was a result of having (supposedly non-COVID) pneumonia…

  149. 149.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    quite a news night…

    Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw · 28m
    Washington Post scoop: FBI gave #RonJohnson defensive briefing in 2020 warning he was being targeted by Russia to spread disinformation on Biden.
    What did he do? He considered it “completely useless and unnecessary”
    With his usual paranoia, he thought FBI briefing was a trick

    (thread)
    he was on that infamous July 4 trip to Russia, wasn’t he?

  150. 150.

    Yutsano

    @Jeffro:

    whatever will line my pockets

    Lemme stop you right there Chief. Elizabeth of the clan Cheney was right by her daddy’s knee learning every single way to grift off both Republican donors and rubes since she was a wee bairn. She’s getting her bread. It’s just not all that visible* yet.

    *It’s entirely possible part of this is playing the long game, swelling Daddy’s coffers, then when the virgin blood supply runs out there’s a last minute trust fund transfer and Daddy finally kicks the mortal coil.

  152. 152.

    Kay

    Paying for sex with a 17 year old seems illegal.

    Am I missing something here?  What’s the hold up on the lights and sirens?

  153. 153.

    Mary G

    Axios:

    President Biden put his Cabinet in place faster than any other administration since President Reagan, the White House Office of Presidential Personnel says in a report provided first to Axios.

    By the numbers: Biden has announced his intent to nominate 233 people for Senate-confirmed jobs — more nominees than any past administration at the 100-day mark, according to the White House.

    Of Biden’s roughly 1,500 agency appointees, which the White House said was double the number of any previous administration at 100 days:

    58% are women.
    18% identify as Black or African American.
    15% identify as Latino or Hispanic.
    15% identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander.
    3% identify as Middle Eastern or North African.
    2% identify as American Indian or Alaska Native.
    14% identify as LGBTQ+.
    4% are veterans.
    3% identify as disabled or having a disability.
    15% were the first in their families to go to college.
    32% are naturalized citizens or the children of immigrants.
    Read the fact sheet.

    Competence. Makes me hot.

  154. 154.

    different-church-lady

    @Kay: ​
    Al Franken is no longer a senator because he was ‘handsy’.

    Matt Gaetz will continue to be a representative despite purchasing sex from an under-aged girl.

    I see no double standard here, do you?

  155. 155.

    Jackie

    @RSA: I’ve lost 20lbs – unplanned – but needed. I give eating at home full credit. No restaurants or fast food in over a year. I guess putzing around the kitchen burns more calories than going through a drive thru or sitting in a restaurant!

  159. 159.

    Kay

    @different-church-lady:

    “I hope you are prepared to wire me $250,000 because I am feeling confident,” Stone wrote to Greenberg on Jan. 13.

    Just wild. It’s almost over the top, like they watched too many gangster movies.

    The pardons make more sense now, though. Guiliani didn’t get one because he doesn’t actually have any money. It’s amazing that he doesn’t have any money all by itself. He’s been grifting at the highest levels for 25 years. All he has to show for it is big mortgages on tacky houses.

  160. 160.

    Barbara

    @RSA: I’ve lost weight because I make all my own meals and have traded commuting time for two fitness classes a day. Around 20 pounds.

  164. 164.

    jonas

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: ​  I can predict (if it’s true) that Chris Christie’s outing as a GOP presidential candidate in 2024 will be about as momentous and effectual as Bill DeBlasio’s attempt at the Democratic ticket last year. Republicans want insane fascists as candidates. Christie is a big, ol’ corrupt traditional GOP pol who probably won’t lead chants to “lock up” AOC at rallies and cut ads where he fires automatic weapons at cutouts of Kamala Harris. Hence he’s unelectable.​

  165. 165.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Jeffro: Hey if they all stand reeeeeeally close, all it will take is just one gren…oh, never mind.

    Get ’em to pose for a group picture, & wheel a Claymore out in front of the photogs. They wouldn’t even need to stand that close.

  173. 173.

    mrmoshpotato

    @rikyrah:

    The reason for no rallies is because folks, knowing his reputation, would want their money UP-FRONT.

    By certified check in US dollars drawn from a US bank, and not a personal Russki check in rubles.

  183. 183.

    Mary G

    Least surprising news ever:

    Washington Post scoop:

    FBI gave #RonJohnson defensive briefing in 2020 warning he was being targeted by Russia to spread disinformation on Biden.

    What did he do?

    He considered it “completely useless and unnecessary”

    With his usual paranoia, he thought FBI briefing was a trick
    — Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) April 30, 2021

    2. And then, worse of all, Johnson continued to use his office to act as a conduit for the Russian disinformation campaign to interfere in the 2020 presidential election.

    As @AshaRangappa_ and I detailed at length here.?https://t.co/c9cPzX5l8B
    — Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) April 30, 2021

    Dude gotta go. Any likely Dem opponent for him next year or should I  just increase my contribution to Wisconsin Dems? I like Ben Wickler.

  184. 184.

    Fair Economist

    @Amir Khalid: Gaetz remains a Congressman until he resigns or is removed by a 2/3 vote of the House. If he’s in jail I don’t think he could vote, but he could theoretically still hold his seat. If he does resign or get removed, then his seat is vacant until there’s an election; the Constitution doesn’t allow appointed replacements for the House (unlike the Senate). Normally FL would hold a special election in a couple of months.

  186. 186.

    StringOnAStick

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:  Pick some songs you like and Google the title plus the word ‘chords’, you’ll get websites with tab and chords; try for easy chords and not too many too  quickly to start.  Then use YouTube to find a version to play along with or just backing tracks to play with.  There’s tons of those out there.  There’s websites that will show you every possible chord and inversions of them.  Always practice with a backing track or a metronome to get your time right.  Consider lessons online and in person once you feel safe; it keeps you from developing bad habits that can be hard to break.

  187. 187.

    Yutsano

    @Mary G: He’s being awful cagey about his options right now. He did promise when he ran he would only serve two terms. There have been rumours about him possibly running for governor but again no real confirmation. I know it’s still early but based on his fundraising numbers he’s not acting like a man who wants to keep any political office right now. There is a possibility he could run and lose, but as of right now he hasn’t said one way or the other.

  188. 188.

    RaflW

    @Steeplejack: Right. When he was (eghad) POTUS, cities basically couldn’t say “nope, sorry, can’t come without a cashiers check clearing our bank for the security deposit.”

    He’s just TFG now. Can’t run a tab. So … sad.

  189. 189.

    Joey Maloney

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Maybe someone has already recommended this in the intervening hundred and sixty-some messages, but: Peghead Nation. Video courses from instrument masters, levels from absolute beginner to advanced. Each course is a series of 10-20 minute lessons, each either covering a particular topic or teaching a song. I highly recommend them.

  190. 190.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    It seems there are some in the gop that sees that they have gone to far, too openly racist, too shitforbrains. Those people want to go back a few steps, to see if the can reverse the cliff dive of open racism and theft of everything not tied down of the shitforbrains era.

    Can an era be this short a time?

    Can one reassemble a political party after this big of a disaster?

    I’m hoping that between the disaster that was the shitforbrains whatever the hell you call it, and the gross ignorance shown by so many of the members of the shitforbrains party that the answer is NFW.

  193. 193.

    Geminid

    @karen marie: If the Republican presidential primaries were being held now, I also think Christie would lose to trumpier candidates. In 2024? I’m not so sure. It’s a 50 state race, with delegates coming from blue states and red states alike. Christie could win a plurality in a Virginia primary, for instance.

    But I think he will run, so we will get to see.

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