Every Trump supporter is like "welllll we're about *this close* to civil war! It's a good thing, we're ready to start murdering!" and every news outlet is like "ooooh, Joe Biden better not force the right to start murdering" and honestly……. we don't have to put up with this https://t.co/KwNzFm92vW
— Hemry, Local Bartender (@BartenderHemry) September 7, 2022
Over the next few days, you will notice high-profile conservatives publicly distancing themselves from Trump, people you wouldn't expect. It has already begun, but it will become glaringly obvious by the end of the week. Everyone is hearing the same rumors; Trump is done.
— Christopher Bouzy (@cbouzy) August 30, 2022
Former Republican (and unreformed curmudgeon):
… I know that some of my friends and colleagues believe that Biden, as president, must continue to reach out to MAGA voters because they are our neighbors and our fellow citizens. (The former GOP operative and my fellow Never Trumper Tim Miller made this point just this morning.) My instinct is to agree with them. But how do we reach those voters? These citizens do not want a discussion or a compromise. They don’t even want to “win,” in any traditional political sense of that word. They want to vent anger over their lives—their personal problems, their haunted sense of inferiority, and their fears about social status—on other Americans, as vehemently as possible, even to the point of violence.
How do any of us, and especially the president, engage with such a movement, when every discussion includes the belief that the only legitimate outcomes are ones in which the MAGA choice wins? Such an insistence is not civic or democratic in any way, and it is not amenable to resolution through the democratic process…
As a native son of the Commonwealth, I have no concerns that the Bay State is going to elect someone on Donald Trump’s say-so. But Trump’s authoritarian blather makes Biden’s point. The MAGA movement isn’t interested in politics, or policies, or compromises. It is interested in destruction and seeing others made as miserable as its followers are. MAGA is a movement of people who seem to be, in so many ways, deeply and profoundly unhappy, and suffering from an emptiness and anger deep in their spirit. There is no political solution for that. All Joe Biden did was finally say this obvious truth out loud.
Five days of every Republican performing outrage about Biden calling MAGA semi-fascist and Trump straight up posts a meme of himself as Big Brother. Amazing, no notes. pic.twitter.com/6bpGp4ENBD
— Ben Silverstein (@bensilverstein) August 30, 2022
The funniest part of people finding and reposting this is that at the time it got basically zero coverage because it was completely par for the course for Trump. https://t.co/w7iZReXFbe
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) September 2, 2022
Trump Supporters Fill Their Diapers Over Biden's Blunt Speech on MAGA Fascism https://t.co/nUjQy8GoO2 pic.twitter.com/Jq3ZQmGWRL
— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) September 2, 2022
This is a pretty good roundup:
President Joe Biden delivered an important speech in Philadelphia on Thursday night about the threat that Donald Trump and his followers pose to the future of American democracy. It was fiery and blunt by Biden standards. And there’s probably no better proof that Biden’s speech was desperately needed than the reaction it received online. Trump’s army of whiners and assholes absolutely lost their shit…
Georgia radio host Erick Erickson, who has previously tweeted approvingly of dictator Augusto Pinochet’s use of helicopters to kill dissidents and who once shot bullet holes through a New York Times article he didn’t like, sent dozens of tweets and retweets Thursday night, absolutely disgusted that President Biden could be so mean to Trump supporters…
But whatever the reaction in the polls, the backlash we’re seeing online proves that Biden hit a nerve. Trump’s worldview may be hard to pin down into a coherent ideology, but it’s ugly and dangerous, whatever you want to call it. And Trump supporters know, given how unpopular Trumpism is, that they need to mask the anti-democratic nature of the Trump movement—at least until Trump is able to take power again.
Click through to see some of the responses to Biden’s speech on Thursday, along with some helpful context. These people won’t be undone by their hypocrisy, but it’s still important to call it out, just as a reminder that Trumpism’s pearl clutching is always done in bad faith by people who fundamentally reject the notion of democracy.
We have to heal the Nation by giving the Qanon shaman the Presidential Medal of Freedom https://t.co/61Jpy7hQkY
— Matt Negrin, HOST OF HARDBALL AT 7PM ON MSNBC (@MattNegrin) September 2, 2022
Leading Human Contrary Indicator (& favorite blog chewtoy) Megan McArdle:
We're explaining that violent insurrection will be met with force to preserve the constitution. This is easy enough even for pundits to understand. https://t.co/XuANPWSzeh
— I, Fred, will knock you all down!! (@LesserFrederick) September 2, 2022
Oh, I'm sorry. Perhaps he should have tear gassed a crowd so he could have a photo op in front of a church.
— I, Fred, will knock you all down!! (@LesserFrederick) September 2, 2022
BWAHAHAHAHAHA no turning back that's fucking great yeah no turning back got it buddy thumbs up https://t.co/BsEFn2g554
— Lord Businessman (@BusinessmanLego) September 2, 2022
Yes, flabby old right-wingers feel comfortable holding forth to random service workers about how a "civil war" is coming, because our media has characterized this as a legitimate political position. What my twitter account supposes is, what if it wasnt
— Hemry, Local Bartender (@BartenderHemry) September 7, 2022
What if it was actually regarded as legitimate fighting words. What if you want to the fancy cocktail bar talking about civil war and all the bartenders just beat your ass in public because you're full of shit about how dark brandon gives you no choice but to rebel against the US
— Hemry, Local Bartender (@BartenderHemry) September 7, 2022
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
This is truly the decade of FAFO (F**k Around and Find Out)
The Moar You Know
Let them try? They won’t try. I call the bluff right now. They had their four years where they had permission and would have all gotten pardons and they didn’t do jack shit. Nobody should be afraid of these people. They are lazy and like to talk shit and talking shit is all they have.
Fuck ‘em, as a great man once said.
West of the Rockies
Is Christopher Bouzey correct in that above observation (Tweet) about prominent Republicans turning their backs on Trump imminently? I’m not sure I’m seeing that…
piratedan
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: and our weapons will be our votes. As much as I would like to fantasize that I could stand on the hood of my vehicle and gunning down asshats like Leonard Leo; I would really enjoy watching them flush all of their fucking money away and STILL being repudiated.
piratedan
and the pundits trying to both sides and placate these folks could be better employed working on solar farms out in rural New Mexico.
Amir Khalid
My perception is that Biden waited as long as he did to denounce MAGA Republicans because he reckoned he needed to first give them every chance, and then some, to come around. He may have waited longer than some other Democrats would. But based on the outcome, I would say his timing was dead on.
JoyceH
@West of the Rockies:
I’m not seeing it either, but the guy is a journalist and he says the distancing is GOING to happen, not that it’s happening now – maybe he has sources. And something that occurs to me is that some of these Republicans in Congress are either high ranking or on the right committees, and get briefings and know stuff we don’t know.
Something that I’ve been thinking for a while is that the other nation whose nuclear information Trump had is Israel. I think that because it’s the nation whose nuclear information would have the greatest monetary value to the people Trump would be likely to be shopping it to – the Saudis AND the Russians. And since it’s info and not something unique like a piece of art or jewelry, he could sell it TWICE. Whether or not he’s already sold the stuff or is just considering it, who knows? But no Republican wants to get crossways with Israel!
Dangerman
@JoyceH: If what Bouzey says is true, that high profile R’s run away from Trump, then buy the good stuff and all the popcorn because the DOJ has DJT by the short ones.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
@piratedan: I think you misunderstand. I say it’s the decade of FAFO not because I’m some sort of 80’s movie cliché action hero wannabe, but precisely because I have some neural tissue between my ears and realize that being loud and breaking s**t is the perfect way to get mangled this decade.
Brexit, Early COVID, Political COVID Denial over the summer, Lawyers “Truth-ering” before January 6th, January 6th, Vaccine Denial, Delta wave, Omicron Wave, Russia invading Ukraine, overturning Roe vs. Wade, and most recently the MAL documents along with many others.
What is the thread that connects all of these? Politically aggressive idiots thinking that by “moving fast and breaking shit” with their overwhelming advantages in money, clout, and lack of morality trying to get more power with “one simple trick” and are getting wrecked.
Stand up for your rights? Yes. Organize? Yes. Do all of the boring, hard and unappreciated work to actually DO stuff? Yes.
That’s why I say it’s the FAFO decade. Not because I feel I’m a hero. I “chop wood and carry water” in my own humble way when idiots with a overpowered sense of their own competence decide to keep sticking the fork in the power outlet.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
A former spokesperson from NYPD dropped by on the new CNN to say DOJ should stop the investigation because they’ll never be able to prove intent.
Now if NYPD does a search and finds a pound of cocaine in someone’s office they don’t say, “gee, let the guy go, we can’t read minds and we’ll never be able to prove intent.” No, they arrest ’em right there for possession and if it’s above a certain weight they’re charged with intent to distribute.
Then he said the people who are really in trouble are the staffers who packed the boxes and the lawyers who said there’s no classified material at MIL.
Ain’t that some shit.
By this rational Al Capone wasn’t responsible for the Saint Valentine’s Day massacre, instead it was the gas station attendants who filled the getaway cars with gas.
bjacques
Civil War 2.0 is indistinguishable from the background noise of shooting sprees by mostly angry white men. The gun-humpers are a bigger danger to themselves and immediate family and friends than they are to anyone else. And the would-be militia leaders are in jail or being laughed out of town, fleecing their followers either way.
J R in WV
Here in our rural mountain cove the current temperature is 57F at 3:47 am. Earlier this afternoon iirc the high for yesterday was in the low 80s.
The HVAC equipment is set to keep indoor temps above the lo- to-mid 60s. I know that many of us live in places where the weather can be quite stressful and dangerous… I’m not bragging, just informing folks about some of the natural variations in currently experienced weather in the lower western side of the Appalachian men’s. If you recall, just east of WV recently there was heavy rain causing flash flooding with loss of life and property destruction in KY!
So you guys take care, stay out of running water, get a tetanus shot and a new bivalant Covidis vaccination!!
sukabi
@David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: was that their new hire John Miller?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/abcnews.go.com/amp/Entertainment/wireStory/cnn-hires-intelligence-expert-john-miller-89418667
MazeDancer
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: What an excellent point.
The world is separated into those willing to do the hard work and those that aren’t. While they may not enjoy the necessary work, they understand it has to be done.
Fortunately, more of the workers are Dems.
The fact that the Dem base is mostly women and PoC is, of course, completely coincidental.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@sukabi: Yes
matt
those nasty bums are the people we’re supposed to reach out to? lol.
Amir Khalid
I’ve been practising with the new guitar. It hews close to the late 1950s Gibson Les Paul at a fraction of the price of a 1959 reissue Les Paul. The pickups sound just like the PAF humbuckers on a 50s LP, the neck is thick like that on a 50s LP, and the body is heavy — dang, it’s heavy — like a 50s LP. I’m loving it.
Matt McIrvin
@The Moar You Know: Well, every so often one shoots up a kindergarten or a church and everyone kind of treats it as one of those things that happen.
Patricia Kayden
No one who is sensible can treat Republicans as if they are normal Americans. They have fully embraced a fascist, dangerous, violent liar. January 6th changed everything. We now know that one party is okay with overturning a free and fair election. There’s no reason to be polite anymore.
mrmoshpotato
Hilarious, Chris. Just hilarious.
Aren’t you part of the media who could’ve pressed the fascist orange shitstain on his fascism?
Barbara
@JoyceH: This is the point David Rothkopf was making. No doubt Republicans are expressing disgust with Trump to journalists but they have done that many times, and it’s time to stop giving them the benefit of the doubt that they will actually do the right thing until they actually, you know, do it.
rikyrah
@Patricia Kayden: 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Geminid
@Barbara: One dynamic in play now between trump and Republican leaders is the imminent midterm election. Congressional leaders still hope to win back the Senate and the House.
They believe that they can’t do this without trump’s hard core supporters and they could be right. Senators Warnock and Ossoff probably would not have won their runoffs had it not been for the disgruntled trump voters who would not come out for Loeffler and Perdue.
I’m not certain that Republican politicians will break with trump after the midterms (although I think many will). But they definitely won’t break with trump before November 8.
Rocks
@J R in WV: Shoot, did they move Kentucky again?
Wanderer
Those folks in the picture sure do look angry at whoever is speaking. Such an unhappy group of people.
The Thin Black Duke
@Wanderer: I think that’s why they hate the rest of us so much. We’ve found a place of serenity in our lives and they deeply resent it.
Geminid
@Geminid: The dropoff in Republican votes between the November Georgia Senate election and the January runoff must have alarmed the party’s leaders. In November Perdue beat Ossoff by 88,000 votes. A Libertarian candidate won 115, 000 votes, enough to deny Perdue a majority and require a runoff.
Purdue’s total on January was 240,000 less than in November while Ossoff’s was only 103,000 less than in November, and that made the difference. I listened to Atlanta’s WSB election coverage the night of the runoff and heard a reporter describe Republican county leaders as “chagrined” by the low turnout.
Warnock’s numbers are harder to compare because in November he ran in a “jungle” primary to fill Johnny Isakson’s seat. Warnock ran about 20,000 votes ahead of Ossoff in January
The dropoff in Republican voting was widely atributed to the anger of trump supporters towards the establishment leaders who “allowed” Biden to win their state. Now Republicans are afraid these voters won’t come out in the midterms, and this drives their pusillanimous posture towards trump’s apparent treason.
SFAW
@West of the Rockies: I guess it depends on which frame of reference should be used for “in the next few days.” He made that statement on August 30; it’s September 8, and I can say I’ve heard much distancing. Maybe he’s speaking in geological terms? Maybe he’s using TFG’s eventual death as the demarcation point (after which the standard “mainstream” Rethug statement will be akin to “I NEVER supported Trump”).
Shorter SFAW: Bouzy’s probably wrong.
ETA: Yes, I saw the “by the end of the week.” Reminded me of the typical software-development schedule/milestone presented in project meetings: “Two weeks.” Everything was “It’ll take two weeks.” It never did, of course, and the “starting from NOW” date kept changing.
SFAW
@SFAW:
“CAN’T say I’ve heard much distancing.” JFC, I need coffee.
Chris Johnson
@West of the Rockies: Well, it started with Mitch McConnell, not to overlook Bill Barr. Bouzey is not wrong. The thing his sources appear to know is that Trump is a motherfucking nuclear spy and Russian asset and has been, all this time.
So he does not care about your election prospects or seeking power for Republicans, and all those assholes got well and truly played.
Whether they will be distancing themselves in a Cheney-like way, a Barr-like way, remains to be seen, but they can’t NOT distance themselves. Trump is guilty. Trump is busted. Delaying actions (such as by Trump’s judge) seem only to make things worse and more obvious. They’ve got to distance themselves or be wrapped up right along with him.
Russia is busy. It can’t help them. They chose poorly. They’re on their own now, hoping not to get whacked by the Russian mob for what they must do, which is weasel out of trouble frantically and swear they knew nothing.
Also note: Russia does not want them powerful. Russia wants US civil war. Russia’s no friend to the Republicans at this stage, it’s Trump fascism ONLY, and if that’s in the form of a hunted and ragged band of terrorists, that was always the plan. Republican power was never going to be the end game here.
Chetan Murthy
@SFAW:
Bouzy’s wrong for a different and deeper reason: if TFG is sidelined or dies or (oh please please) flees to a non-extradition country, it won’t change the MAGAts and GrOPers: TFG taught them what works, and what works is Racial Holy War. They’re not going to unlearn that lesson just because he’s shuffled-off. Or perp-walked.
Or, more pithily put: “DeathsAnus: hold my beer”.
Jim Appleton
@Wanderer: I believe they’re facing away from him, gesturing to his reviled Fake Media.
ian
I sure hope so. It should be noted I have heard variations of this phrase since 2016. Nothing since then has changed the minds of his followers.
J R in WV
@Rocks:
Well, crap. I call 4 am posting. Thanks for the quick correction…
piratedan
@Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]: apologies Heidi, my comment was piling on to your thought in support, not to imply that you were inclined to lash out in violence.
eachother
@Patricia Kayden: “There’s no reason to be polite anymore.”
Patricia. This is a philosophical conundrum for me. Nice or not polite will generate an outcome. One of the outcomes is how I will feel as consequence. Or whether my soup comes with spit. Being nice doesn’t guarantee a nice outcome. Being nasty doesn’t likely yield a nice outcome either.
I would rather be nice and disappointed.
stinger
@eachother:
Wonderful comment, especially this part. I have to live with myself.