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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

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

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

The willow is too close to the house.

This fight is for everything.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

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They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

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You are here: Home / Politics / GOP Death Cult / Open Thread: The GOP Death Cult Is Not A ‘Party’, It’s A Mob

Open Thread: The GOP Death Cult Is Not A ‘Party’, It’s A Mob

by Anne Laurie|  September 9, 20226:59 pm| 110 Comments

This post is in: GOP Death Cult, Open Threads, Republican Politics, Trumpery

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One reason the GOP is a policy-free party is they have no capacity to legislate anything but blunt-force bills imposed by leadership, mostly around the committee system, bc so many Repubs are sociopathic performance artists who can’t work with others & with whom others won’t work https://t.co/On8pgBpJMs

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) September 9, 2022

it’s cool that republican voters just don’t actually care, at all, if their candidates plan to actually do anything useful with power if they manage to gain it https://t.co/tLThqwBcdR

— GONELIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachi) September 8, 2022


“We have an all-star lineup ready to investigate President Biden’s border crisis, energy crisis, inflation crisis,” @repjamescomer told me today.

— Kadia Goba (@kadiagoba) September 7, 2022

4/Republican members of Congress have told me that the targets will include: Dems’ handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, inflation, energy and what they are calling the “politicization of the DOJ.”

— Kadia Goba (@kadiagoba) September 7, 2022

4a/In a POLITICO interview, Comer also said Oversight will focus on the business dealings of Hunter Biden & the origins of COVID. https://t.co/panp6b2FsU

— Kadia Goba (@kadiagoba) September 7, 2022

It seems Republicans can't help themselves and existing in a hermetically sealed world is not good for your political party

— vocational politics stan account ???? (@Convolutedname) September 7, 2022

With all due respect letting James Comer mouth off about what he's going to do IF the GOP wins the majority a month before your outlet launches …

… Is horrible news judgment.

Stop coddling fascists. https://t.co/mxtTMXPFj3

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) September 7, 2022

well wouldja look at that, it evolved pic.twitter.com/lbaxL9v3Ik

— Patrick Dillon (@mpdillon) September 9, 2022

"The Republican Party is just a vehicle for Trump now" tends to get explored in terms of what that means for Republican beliefs, but a big question looms about what that means for other Republicans https://t.co/oEbXiPDqHY

— ProofOfBurden (@ProofofBurden) September 8, 2022

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Previous Post: « Call Me Crazy, but I Think We Can Take the Governor’s Office in TX, FL and GA (Open Thread)
Next Post: War for Ukraine Day 198: A Lot Going On spy v. spy flyouts»

Reader Interactions

110Comments

  1. 1.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 9, 2022 at 7:08 pm

    Jill Biden is currently in Philly hugging the Phanatic and preparing to throw out the first pitch at the Phillies game.

    And now she’s hugging a little cancer survivor of cancer at home plate as the Phils honor children battling cancer.

  2. 2.

    Craig

    September 9, 2022 at 7:08 pm

    The GOP is nothing now except for what Charlie Pierce calls conjuring words.

  3. 3.

    germy shoemangler

    September 9, 2022 at 7:09 pm

    I just watched some of the NBC news with Lester Holt.

    They did a (very brief) segment on Biden’s speeches.  They showed a brief clip of Chuck Todd asking VP Harris if perhaps going after trump would be “too divisive” for the country.  She gave a good answer but then they cut to Rick Scott for a rebuttal, giving him the last word.

  4. 4.

    lollipopguild

    September 9, 2022 at 7:14 pm

    They have become the political party equivilent  of a dog chasing it’s own tail. They stand in a circle and huff each others farts.

  5. 5.

    Albatrossity

    September 9, 2022 at 7:14 pm

    The party is Trump, and Trump is the party. They are hopeless/deplorable/irredeemable, and will remain so long after Trump is gone.

  6. 6.

    Citizen Alan

    September 9, 2022 at 7:14 pm

    Posts like this are why I’m so despairing over the future of this country. I am 53 years old, and there is no chance I will live to see a day when around 40% of the country doesn’t want to burn everything down just for the lulz. In the future, every two years, we will have to fight another MAGA-zombie apocalypse, forever. Hell, a zombie apocalypse would be better than sharing a country with MAGA trash. In most zombie fiction, it is acceptable and even expected to respond to attacking zombies with lethal force. With the MAGA trash, we’re not even allowed to hurt their feelings or the media will scream at us for our lack of civility.

  7. 7.

    germy shoemangler

    September 9, 2022 at 7:16 pm

    The Trumps official White House portrait. pic.twitter.com/pzTucVFTfF

    — Pamela Grillo (@pjg0014) September 8, 2022

  8. 8.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 9, 2022 at 7:17 pm

    A question was asked about the general captured in Ukraine.

    TAKEN: Yesterday, videos featured a RU officer captured on the Kharkiv front. He was assumed to be a local commander— he was, in fact, Lieutenant General Andrei Sychevoi, General in command RU’s “West” Group. Sychevoi is the most senior Russian officer captured since WW II.

    Also, for those interested, Frances Tiafoe in one match away from the Men’s Final at the US Open. Tiafoe’s backstory is pretty amazing.

  9. 9.

    germy shoemangler

    September 9, 2022 at 7:18 pm

    pic.twitter.com/y6T4qUcTtr— Pamela Grillo (@pjg0014) September 9, 2022

  10. 10.

    Baud

    September 9, 2022 at 7:21 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    If you’re only 53, you’ll live to see the defeat of the GOP and the new golden age of the USA.

  11. 11.

    kalakal

    September 9, 2022 at 7:21 pm

    @germy shoemangler: I love the way they always paint him as much better looking than in real life. Especially the way they make him look so much fitter and athletic

  12. 12.

    dexwood

    September 9, 2022 at 7:23 pm

    Thieves, liars, traitors, ghouls, fools – the republican fascists.

  13. 13.

    Alison Rose 💙🌻💛

    September 9, 2022 at 7:27 pm

    I LOL’d:

    It’s Official: Sarah Palin cost the GOP a House seat

  14. 14.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    September 9, 2022 at 7:28 pm

    @Baud: So will the new Golden Age start after we get Baud 2028 or Baud 2032?

  15. 15.

    SpaceUnit

    September 9, 2022 at 7:29 pm

    Gotta disagree with Houle and anyone else who claims that Republicans don’t have any real policies anymore.  The Republican Party has all sorts of policies.  They’re just all horrible and so the media pretend they don’t exist.

    They want to strip away reproductive rights.  They oppose any action on climate change or gun violence.  They want to restrict voting.  They want to use cruelty to choke off immigration.  They want to eliminate Social Security and kill the ACA.  They want to burn books.  Etc.  Etc.  I could go on all day.  These are their actual policies even if their politicians deflect on them in public.  Our MSM is simply in denial.  They like to think that maybe if you get trump out of the picture the Republican Party will reset to 1980.

  16. 16.

    Geminid

    September 9, 2022 at 7:29 pm

    Mr. Comer is an optimist. He says Representative Harrell (NM-2) will be leading investigations next year. My understanding is that New Mexico Democrats redrew her district to be D+2. Las Cruces City Councilor Gabe Vasquez may well be the second CD’s Representative come January.

    House Republicans are counting their chickens before they are hatched. Or maybe, whistling past the graveyard.

  17. 17.

    Nicole

    September 9, 2022 at 7:30 pm

    Twitter tonight is discussing fines Columbia U in 2004 to the USDA paid due to Oz’s mistreatment of dogs in laboratories there:

    https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Columbia_University#Animal_cruelty_.26_welfare_violations

    I mean, not the worst Columbia U’s staff has done to animals (!), but he’s the only one currently running for Senate.

  18. 18.

    Martin

    September 9, 2022 at 7:37 pm

    Dems should pledge here and now, that since Republicans are upset about college loan forgiveness, that they’ll pass a bill in the next congress to eliminate mortgage interest deductions for second homes and for taxpayers earning more than $125K individuals or $250K household since it’s unfair for renters to help pay off their mortgages.

  19. 19.

    Cacti

    September 9, 2022 at 7:40 pm

    @Citizen Alan: Posts like this are why I’m so despairing over the future of this country. I am 53 years old, and there is no chance I will live to see a day when around 40% of the country doesn’t want to burn everything down just for the lulz. In the future, every two years, we will have to fight another MAGA-zombie apocalypse, forever. Hell, a zombie apocalypse would be better than sharing a country with MAGA trash. In most zombie fiction, it is acceptable and even expected to respond to attacking zombies with lethal force. With the MAGA trash, we’re not even allowed to hurt their feelings or the media will scream at us for our lack of civility.

    Jake Tapper literally said this evening that the “clever move” for Biden would be to invite Trump to the royal funeral in London.

    These fucking people.

  20. 20.

    JoyceH

    September 9, 2022 at 7:41 pm

    @Citizen Alan: We don’t have to fight them forever, because they’re going to die. Post had an article the other day about statistical analysis of COVID deaths in 2022, meaning after the vaccine became available. While rates of cases were the same in Trump and Biden counties, the death rate in the Trump counties was 40% higher. Someone called it suicide for spite. And MAGAs are transferring their medical skepticism from COVID to pretty much all medical advances. So hang in there, we’ll outlive the bastards.

  21. 21.

    Geminid

    September 9, 2022 at 7:43 pm

    @Alison Rose 💙🌻💛: Alaska’s Republicans opposed the Ranked Choice ballot measure. When it passed, the party tried to adapt with a “Rank Red” campaign. Nick Begich went along and announced that he would rank Palin second on his own ballot. But some of his voters decided otherwise.

    Now Palin claims the outcome of the special election shows that Begich should drop out of the contest to fill Alaska’s House seat in the next Congres.

    Begich disagrees. He says that the outcome shows that Palin is “unelectable.”

  22. 22.

    germy shoemangler

    September 9, 2022 at 7:43 pm

    @Cacti:

    Tapper has a terminal case of pundit brain.

  23. 23.

    Martin

    September 9, 2022 at 7:46 pm

    @SpaceUnit: These aren’t policy issues. A policy has a defined benefit to society and a defined cost.

    These are cultural demands executed through government. I mean, ‘kill all the Jews’ wasn’t a Nazi policy, it didn’t have a defined benefit to society – it was just something they did to keep everyone in line. Beating your spouse isn’t a policy. Arbitrarily denying healthcare to kids because Jesus isn’t a policy. Shooting black people isn’t a policy.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    September 9, 2022 at 7:46 pm

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:

    Technically, it’ll be after the coup and then the Glorious Restoration.

  25. 25.

    Mike in NC

    September 9, 2022 at 7:48 pm

    ‘Roevember’ will be a rude awakening for the GQP.

  26. 26.

    p.a.

    September 9, 2022 at 7:52 pm

    Somewhere on my seldom used laptop there’s a file on how to get Italian citizenship (via grandparents).  I should dig it up just in case.  I know enough to order a sammy & water, and get my face slapped.  When the US political outlook becomes such that Italy looks good… 😳

  27. 27.

    Percysowner

    September 9, 2022 at 7:53 pm

    Jake Tapper thinks Biden should invite Trump to go to the funeral for Queen Elizabeth. Which, no just no.

    CNN is currently doing a panel discussion about if Biden should invite Trump to the Queen’s funeral. Jake Tapper says it would be “clever” for Biden to do it. pic.twitter.com/PB6vQK9FpL
    — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 9, 2022

  28. 28.

    JoyceH

    September 9, 2022 at 7:57 pm

    @Percysowner: ​
     

    Bleah. Just… no. Do these too-smart-for-school pundits grasp that the UK is a foreign country and an important ally and might have their own wishes about who they want at the funeral of their beloved monarch?

  29. 29.

    p.a.

    September 9, 2022 at 7:57 pm

    @JoyceH: Dying of Whiteness is a book abt the gunhumping medicaid/medicare hating assholes slashing their own demographic’s throat.  The author, a MD & sociologist, is very evenhanded in the need to understand.

    I’m not.  Addition by subtraction.  They’re the ones talking of cleansing and 2nd Amendment solutions.

  30. 30.

    Kirk Spencer

    September 9, 2022 at 7:58 pm

    @Baud: So Baud 2032. got it.

  31. 31.

    Geminid

    September 9, 2022 at 7:58 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    Go north, young man!

    From CBS Minnesota:

        Minnesota unemployment holds at 1.8%, tying an all time record.

    I believe your outlook will improve once you are living in a blue state.

  32. 32.

    Sister Golden Bear

    September 9, 2022 at 7:59 pm

    @lollipopguild:

    They have become the political party equivilent  of a dog chasing it’s own tail. They stand in a circle and huff each others farts.

    More like a circular human centipede.

  33. 33.

    Dan B

    September 9, 2022 at 8:02 pm

    @p.a.: Italy is on the verge of electing a right wing government.  Do not pack your bags yet.

  34. 34.

    mrmoshpotato

    September 9, 2022 at 8:02 pm

    @Percysowner: Jake Tapper, go home, you’re a dumbass.

  35. 35.

    SpaceUnit

    September 9, 2022 at 8:05 pm

    @Martin:

    The examples I gave represent the goals the Republican Party will absolutely pursue given sufficient political power.  It isn’t a hypothetical.  We’ve witnessed it.

  36. 36.

    mrmoshpotato

    September 9, 2022 at 8:05 pm

    @Sister Golden Bear: LMAO!  Gross!

  37. 37.

    p.a.

    September 9, 2022 at 8:05 pm

    Someone pointed out that, as marshmallow as the MSM is, the Rethugs are so ensconced in the Fox/OAN/hate radio bubble, and in the misunderstanding of how shitty their few issues look, even underhand lobs look like Nolan Ryan fastballs to them.

    (Almost used Lefty Grove or Bob Feller, but I don’t think B_J’s demo is that far gone 😉)

  38. 38.

    Ksmiami

    September 9, 2022 at 8:07 pm

    @Citizen Alan: that’s why I’m ok with fighting them once and for all. They can barely move

  39. 39.

    kalakal

    September 9, 2022 at 8:08 pm

    @JoyceH: Exactly. We loathed and despised him.

    So did the Queen and the rest of the Royals. He’s one of the very last people they’d want there

  40. 40.

    dmsilev

    September 9, 2022 at 8:08 pm

    @Percysowner: I dunno, is Britain planning a Viking funeral for her or anything like that? We could “accidentally” leave Trump on the pyre.

  41. 41.

    kalakal

    September 9, 2022 at 8:10 pm

    @dmsilev: 👍👍

  42. 42.

    Geminid

    September 9, 2022 at 8:11 pm

    @Geminid:

     

    @Citizen Alan: Of course, that’s if the jobs you are now looking at don’t come through. Good luck with them!

  43. 43.

    Splitting Image

    September 9, 2022 at 8:11 pm

    “We have an all-star lineup ready to investigate President Biden’s border crisis, energy crisis, inflation crisis,” @repjamescomer told me today.

    It just goes to show how much Trump has changed the GOP in just six years. As recently as 2016, the Republicans had a fully laid out platform to run on, beginning with impeaching Hillary Clinton, who they expected to win, on day one.

    Um, come to think of it. Maybe Trump hasn’t changed them much at all.

  44. 44.

    Sure Lurkalot

    September 9, 2022 at 8:13 pm

    @Percysowner: Apt reply to Rupar’s tweet:

    Laura Rozen
    @lrozen
    have mercy, find the power cord for your tv and unplug it.

  45. 45.

    Barbara

    September 9, 2022 at 8:14 pm

    @Percysowner: So, basically, turn a funeral into a frenzy for US reporters to feed on.  Funerals are so boring, especially the kind of funeral that stands on so much decorum, so why not unleash Trump and see what happens?  Stupid and disrespectful, definitely — but clever, no, not in any sense of that word.

  46. 46.

    japa21

    September 9, 2022 at 8:14 pm

    @p.a.: ​
      Alas, some of us are that far gone.

  47. 47.

    Gin & Tonic

    September 9, 2022 at 8:16 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: I have not seen solid confirmation that that is actually Sychevoi.

  48. 48.

    kalakal

    September 9, 2022 at 8:17 pm

    @Splitting Image: The Webb telescope couldn’t pick up a collection of Republican ‘stars’. They haven’t had much in the way of policies for years but since 2008 all they’ve had is bile, grifting, tax cuts for their owners, and vicious spite.

  49. 49.

    prostratedragon

    September 9, 2022 at 8:19 pm

    @Percysowner: ​
    “clever”
    I do not think that word means what Tapper thinks it means.

  50. 50.

    Bex

    September 9, 2022 at 8:20 pm

    @JoyceH: Jake Tapper should be ashamed of himself for staying at CNN with the new right-wing owner.  On second thought, maybe no one else wants him.

  51. 51.

    MagdaInBlack

    September 9, 2022 at 8:22 pm

    @japa21: I saw the pair of Sandhill cranes and kids out by Goeberts tonight, grazing with the geese. 😊

    One morning this summer I had to wait while they herded their kids off the road…..Higgins Rd. Yikes.

  52. 52.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    September 9, 2022 at 8:31 pm

    @Albatrossity: ​

    The party is Trump, and Trump is the party. They are hopeless/deplorable/irredeemable, and will remain so long after Trump is gone.

    For 35 years Republicans idolized Reagan, a C-grade movie star, and made his politics the center of the party. Now it’s Trump, a D-List game show host – and his sociopathic revanchism will be the GOP’s “moral” center for, approximately, the next 22-34 years, I suspect.

  53. 53.

    patrick II

    September 9, 2022 at 8:33 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

     
    Jake wants to keep his job under the new regime.

  54. 54.

    Timill

    September 9, 2022 at 8:35 pm

    @Dan B: An Italian passport unlocks the ability to live anywhere in the EU, not just in Italy.

    As a UK one did :-(

  55. 55.

    japa21

    September 9, 2022 at 8:36 pm

    @MagdaInBlack: May have to head out there soon.  Yes, Higgins can be very busy.

  56. 56.

    karensky

    September 9, 2022 at 8:39 pm

    @germy shoemangler: OMG, so perfect.  Thanks.

  57. 57.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    September 9, 2022 at 8:40 pm

    @Percysowner:

    CNN is currently doing a panel discussion about if Biden should invite Trump to the Queen’s funeral. Jake Tapper says it would be “clever” for Biden to do it.

    I guess Obama wasn’t joking when he noted, in a WHCD monologue, that Tapper had left journalism to go work for CNN.

    I mean, seriously? The Brits hate Trump. Even Johnson – who was basically Trump with a British accent and marginally less silly hair & skin tone – hated the guy.

    Bringing Trump along is more likely to cause an international incident than to be welcome in the UK.

  58. 58.

    Another Scott

    September 9, 2022 at 8:40 pm

    @Citizen Alan: With respect, American politics is usually ruthless.  Remember the posters in Texas before JFK was killed.  Even beyond that – ItsAboutTV.com (from 2016):

    The negative ad, of course, is nothing new. During the election of 1884, to give just one example, Grover Cleveland was rumored to have been the father an illegitimate child. Hence the campaign chant, “Ma, Ma, where’s my Pa?” (See above) Multiply this by a thousand, and you get the idea of an American political scene that has always been rough and tumble.*

    *I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the great lines from the play (and movie) 1776 comes when Stephen Hopkins says to his friend Ben Franklin, “I want y’to see some cards I’ve gon ‘n’ had printed up that ought t’save everybody here a whole lot of time ‘n’ effort, considering the epidemic of bad disposition that’s been going around lately. “Dear sir: You are without any doubt a rogue, a rascal, a villain, a thief, a scoundrel, and a mean, dirty, stinking, sniveling, sneaking, pimping, pocket-picking, thrice double-damned, no good son-of-a-bitch” – and y’sign y’r name. What do y’think?” To which Franklin replies, “I’ll take a dozen right now!”

    […]

    In another spot a girl was seen eating an ice-cream cone. There was the ticking of a Geiger counter. A motherly voice was meanwhile explaining about Strontium 90, a radioactive fallout product found to concentrate itself in milk. Again a viewer was reminded of Goldwater’s apparently casual attitude toward nuclear “devices” and perhaps his opposition to the test-ban treaty.

    […]

    I don’t want to suggest that this kind of campaigning was limited to the Democrats. The Republicans countered with a long-form spot that attempted to suggest that Democrats, and LBJ in particular, were responsible for a “moral decay” enveloping the country. “The decay was depicted through glimpses of topless dancers, pornographic magazines, marquees of nudist films – and rioting.” The film, Barnouw claimed, “associated sexual emancipation and the rise of nudism with Negro protest movements; all were considered aspects of the breakdown of ‘law and order.’” Barnouw’s suggestion that this phrase, “law and order,’ was intended as a coded appeal to segregationists, is one that I don’t particularly agree with; nevertheless, there could be no question that the Republicans were responding to the Democrats in kind. The chairman of the Democratic Party, John Bailey, called it “the ‘sickest’ program in the history of television campaigning,” which I find a bit dubious,* but there’s no doubt that a new form of tele-campaigning was born. You can see that one below. (Goldwater didn’t ban it as much as disown it; it’s true that he prevented it from being shown again, but that was after it already aired.)

    Yes, the times are dangerous and it seems like too many of our countrymates are either insane, idiots, actively evil, or just don’t care. But we always, always have to fight to make the world better. Things are getting better in many ways, they are losing support in many ways, but it’s never easy.

    Hang in there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  59. 59.

    Ken

    September 9, 2022 at 8:41 pm

    @dmsilev: Maybe a traditional celebration at Stonehenge, with ceremonial flint adzes and wicker figures, finishing up with a bonfire.

  60. 60.

    Sure Lurkalot

    September 9, 2022 at 8:44 pm

    On second thought, yes Biden should bring Trump to QE’s funeral:

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/Trump_Baby_Balloon_at_protest_in_Parliament_Square.jpg?20180731220829

  61. 61.

    Steeplejack

    September 9, 2022 at 8:45 pm

    @JoyceH:

    Yeah, why does Tapper think Biden has a say in who gets an invitation? It’s not like bringing a plus-one to a wedding. Idiot.

  62. 62.

    Mallard Filmore

    September 9, 2022 at 8:46 pm

    @Baud: 

    Technically, it’ll be after the coup and then the Glorious Restoration.

    My next YouTube click-bait title:
    “Baud admits he is unelectable!”

  63. 63.

    Another Scott

    September 9, 2022 at 8:50 pm

    @Martin: I think your working definition of “policy” is too restrictive.  Google tells me:

    a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by a government, party, business, or individual. “the administration’s controversial economic policies”

    Yang’s latest Look at Me and Give Me Money activities don’t have any stated policies (except Look at Me and Give Me Money), but the GQP definitely does.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  64. 64.

    zhena gogolia

    September 9, 2022 at 8:50 pm

    @Steeplejack: They are saying that the Royal Family leaves it up to heads of state to decide whom to bring.

  65. 65.

    OzarkHillbilly

    September 9, 2022 at 8:51 pm

    @Percysowner: Let Jake tapper take him.

  66. 66.

    Eric S.

    September 9, 2022 at 8:51 pm

    @p.a.: I would’ve been with you on Lefty and Feller. Still, probably a solid choice in general.

  67. 67.

    Dan B

    September 9, 2022 at 8:51 pm

    @Timill: Phew!

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 9, 2022 at 8:53 pm

    @Steeplejack: ​
      The US President will get an invitation and probably send a representative. I would guess either the VP (of Jamaican and Indian heritage) and Second Dude or the Obamas. The Obamas, of course, might get a separate invitation.

  69. 69.

    Baud

    September 9, 2022 at 8:54 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Biden said he’s going.

  70. 70.

    Feathers

    September 9, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    @Martin: The problem with this is that this deduction would mostly hit blue state voters in areas where housing prices are astronomical and those salaries barely cover the mortgages.

    Something needs to be done about the currently insane housing prices, and balancing the tax kid better, but it will have to be multifaceted and not just punch  Democrats in the face.

    An upper income surcharge in states that are federal “takers” budget wise would be a start.

  71. 71.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 9, 2022 at 8:56 pm

    @Baud: ​
      Okay, then. No chance the VP goes too. Perhaps still the Obamas.

  72. 72.

    WaterGirl

    September 9, 2022 at 8:57 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: What do you want to bet that the Queen made a list of who she wanted to be invited and who she did not want to be invited?

  73. 73.

    Barbara

    September 9, 2022 at 8:57 pm

    @Lacuna Synecdoche: ​Tapper wants it for himself to generate ratings. It’s using a funeral — usually a staid event — as a vehicle for bringing back the Trump circus.​​ I mean, who gives a fuck about the queen, let’s make it about us!

  74. 74.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 9, 2022 at 8:58 pm

    @Feathers: ​
      Also, governing by trolling is not a good plan (unless you are Baud in which case at least it’s a plan).

  75. 75.

    Geminid

    September 9, 2022 at 8:59 pm

    @Lacuna Synecdoche: My gut feeling is that trump’s adherents within the Republican party are louder now, but their absolute numbers have declined since he left office. At least, that was a slow but noticeable trend in polling over the last year and a half.

    But he remains a larger-than-life figure both for those who identify with him and for those who fear and loath him, I think.

  76. 76.

    Barbara

    September 9, 2022 at 8:59 pm

    @Feathers: ​A start would be to limit it to first homes or new homeowners. Lots of incremental changes like that would not unduly hurt blue state homeowners.

  77. 77.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 9, 2022 at 9:02 pm

    @WaterGirl: After a life of trying not to piss people off, saying fuck it and having specific disinvitations sent

  78. 78.

    kalakal

    September 9, 2022 at 9:04 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: It’s quite likely the Obamas will get an invite, she really liked them. They’re also really popular with the rest of us. The only other head of state I’ve heard mention it is Erdogan who’s said he’d love to go. Most of the invites are automatic. TFG would not be on the automatic list so his only chance is that they were so dazzled by his charm & wit when he was there previously that they’d want him back

  79. 79.

    Steeplejack

    September 9, 2022 at 9:06 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Well, that changes everything!

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 9, 2022 at 9:07 pm

    @kalakal: only chance is that they were so dazzled by his charm & wit when he was there previously they’d want him back

    How long did it take you to type that, what with the vomiting, buying new keyboards, etc.?

  81. 81.

    different-church-lady

    September 9, 2022 at 9:10 pm

    “Hey, I got an idea: what if take the Facebook algorithm, feed it nothing but Q-Anon postings, and let it run the party?”

  82. 82.

    different-church-lady

    September 9, 2022 at 9:12 pm

    @JoyceH: ​
     

    Do these too-smart-for-school pundits grasp that the UK is a foreign country

    We conquered them in 1776!

  83. 83.

    Matt McIrvin

    September 9, 2022 at 9:17 pm

    @Splitting Image: I recall they were discussing the possibility of impeaching President-Elect Hillary Clinton before she entered office, during the lame-duck period. It would have been possible because she was a former Secretary of State.

  84. 84.

    kalakal

    September 9, 2022 at 9:17 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I used voice to text so the keyboards fine. Took ages to edit out the transliterations of Blech and Huuggguh. I never liked that mic anyway

  85. 85.

    Cameron

    September 9, 2022 at 9:40 pm

    @Percysowner: A cunning plan!

  86. 86.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 9, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    Tapper, Clitzilla, and the Toddler are the top three poster bois for Broderism, the disease that kills journalism.

  87. 87.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 9, 2022 at 9:51 pm

    @Cameron: “Am I jumping the gun, Baldrick, or are the words “I have a cunning plan” marching with ill-deserved confidence in the direction of this conversation?”

  88. 88.

    mrmoshpotato

    September 9, 2022 at 9:52 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: OMG! 🤣🤣🤣

  89. 89.

    Tony G

    September 9, 2022 at 9:57 pm

    That’s right.  The present-day GOP offers nothing to anyone, except angry, privileged gibberish.  The real question, though, is how many Americans will look at these morons and say “yeah, they have my vote”.  In a healthy society these jackasses would get maybe 2% of the vote.  This is not a healthy country.

  90. 90.

    catclub

    September 9, 2022 at 10:05 pm

    @Cacti: ​
    &nbsp

    ;the “clever move” for Biden would be to invite Trump to the royal funeral in London.

    And don’t let him back in the country.

  91. 91.

    Ruckus

    September 9, 2022 at 10:07 pm

    @p.a.:

    My grandfather was supposed to be from Sicily, asked to leave because he was an enforcer who enjoyed his job a bit too much or was too good at it, it’s not entirely clear. That’s the family story and I have no idea if their is a micron of truth to it. But if having an Italian grandfather would help……..

  92. 92.

    WaterGirl

    September 9, 2022 at 10:10 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: She would get the last laugh.

  93. 93.

    mrmoshpotato

    September 9, 2022 at 10:10 pm

    @catclub:

    the “clever move” for Biden would be to invite Trump to the royal funeral in London. 

    And don’t let him back in the country.

    Why do you hate our UK friends?

  94. 94.

    Timill

    September 9, 2022 at 10:10 pm

    @catclub: Weren’t there some dubious dealings around his Scottish courses? He probably doesn’t have diplomatic immunity any more…

  95. 95.

    dm

    September 9, 2022 at 10:17 pm

    If we were to keep the House, the howls of “sTolEn eLEctIon!!!111!!!” and hurt right-wing fee-fees will be deafening. Democrats should do the civil thing and just concede the election now.

  96. 96.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 9, 2022 at 10:18 pm

    @dm: Signed, Jake Tapper.

  97. 97.

    Chris Johnson

    September 9, 2022 at 10:24 pm

    @different-church-lady: But you repeat yourself…

  98. 98.

    Betsy

    September 9, 2022 at 10:35 pm

    @Cacti: Also, rude!  You don’t invite your own guests to someone else’s event.

  99. 99.

    A Man for All Seasonings (formerly Geeno)

    September 9, 2022 at 10:43 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: “I see. Not quite as cunning as one would have hoped”

  100. 100.

    citizen dave

    September 9, 2022 at 10:45 pm

    Currently watching the Baz Lurman Elvis movie.  It’s terrible.

  101. 101.

    Betsy

    September 9, 2022 at 10:49 pm

    @Percysowner: The notion that the world’s greatest protocol experts planning one of history’s most stately and significant state funerals would just *hand out free passes* to be used by guests like blank tickets to a high-school graduation …

  102. 102.

    Tony G

    September 9, 2022 at 11:00 pm

    @SpaceUnit: That’s right.  And the GOP in 1980 brought us Reagan, who really was Trump with a more family-friendly carapace.  The Republican Party has been very bad for a very long time, at least since 1960.

  103. 103.

    prostratedragon

    September 9, 2022 at 11:00 pm

    @Betsy:  Well actually, according to this CNN article the choice of delegation has usually been left up to the guest heads of state:

    https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/politics/biden-queen-funeral/index.html

    But the people doing this one could do something different, or Biden could make his own decision. It there’s a specific disinvited I’d expect we would never know.

  104. 104.

    different-church-lady

    September 9, 2022 at 11:01 pm

    @p.a.: pfft… SMOKY JOE WOOD!

  105. 105.

    Betsy

    September 9, 2022 at 11:31 pm

    @prostratedragon: Okay.  Well, at least we can be at ease knowing this country and this administration will use their graduation tickets wisely.

  106. 106.

    kalakal

    September 10, 2022 at 12:31 am

    @prostratedragon: The ceremony will be in Westminster Abbey. That holds about 2,000 people. For Liz’s Coronation they put up a load of extra stuff around the place and there were 8,000 guests in all. The interment itself will be at Windsor Castle in the Royal Vaults, that’s super private.If the past is anything to go by, and boy is it when it comes to royalty, most of the guests are automatic, heads of state, the great and good from the UK & Commonwealth, royalty from around the world, wether actually ruling or not , and family (big overlap with the previous category) and the Royal Families huge when you get down to extended cousins which this genealogically obsessed bunch will. Anything left over will be guests/friends so expect to see the likes of Elton John & quite possibly the Obamas. I think with the heads of state the choice is them or a representative in their place. I know Bidens said he’s going but even if he couldn’t make I’m willing to bet every penny I’ve got he’s not going to send TFG as his rep.

  107. 107.

    Matt McIrvin

    September 10, 2022 at 7:49 am

    @JoyceH: They keep making more. And most of the people who die from COVID are old anyway, so the effect of that is limited.

    That said, younger generations do vote better than older ones on average so their only real hope is to eliminate democracy. The problem is that in a number of potential swing states they effectively have eliminated democracy, the constitutional structure of the US means that they can use this as a lever to exercise federal control, and revolutions are a lot harder than voting the bastards out. The end goal is that the whole US effectively ends up ruled by a coalition of a few state legislatures that are under perpetual rigged Republican control. They probably can’t sustain it forever but the end of it will be unpleasant.

  108. 108.

    artem1s

    September 10, 2022 at 8:34 am

    @Splitting Image:

    As recently as 2016, the Republicans had a fully laid out platform to run on, beginning with impeaching Hillary Clinton, who they expected to win, on day one.

    Um, come to think of it. Maybe Trump hasn’t changed them much at all

    McConnell in 2008 made it the GOP lead Congress’ mission to deny Obama a second term. They’ve been making these pronouncements for a long time. When they do get to play their full obstructionist game they typically end up looking like jackasses – see Trey Gowdy flop sweat and Benghazi investigation 6,594

  109. 109.

    Uncle Cosmo

    September 10, 2022 at 8:59 am

    @Ruckus: When last I looked, one could obtain an EU passport through the Italian government if you had a parent who was considered an Italian citizen at birth, regardless of other citizenship (like being born in the USA). If your nonno was still an Italian citizen at the time of his child/your parent’s birth, that child would have been considered an Italian citizen by blood (jus sanguinis or something like that), and you’d qualify.

    If he had already renounced his Italian citizenship (in order to become an American citizen), things are murkier. My guess is that Italy would still have considered him a citizen after that renunciation, and you’d qualify.**

    What you’d need is a “chain of descent” – copies of your grandfather’s birth certificate, proof of his arrival in the US, his marriage certificate, your parent’s birth certificate, his/her marriage certificate, and your birth certificate. All of which have to be translated into a very specific and arcane form of Italian and then submitted to the appropriate authorities in Rome, along with a hefty fee. (There are operations that provide so-called “a postile” services that will do all this for you.) Takes several hundred dollars and probably the better part of a year. Auguri!

    (ETA: Where in Sicily? My dad’s family is from the dead center, a few miles from the city of Caltannisetta. Sicily is beautiful within 5 km or so of the coast; farther inland, ain’t nuffin’ but sulfur mines and pea farms…)

    ** I need to look into this myself: the best documentation I have is for my maternal grandfather, who had filed papers for US citizenship (including renunciation of Italian citizenship) the year before my mother was born, but did not actually become a US citizen until four days after her birth. If the renunciation didn’t count until then, my mother would have been an Italian citizen by birth. I’m fairly sure I’d qualify through any of my other 3 grandparents, but the documentation would be much harder to come by.

  110. 110.

    jlowe

    September 10, 2022 at 9:52 am

    No, the GOP is not a ‘mob’. It is worse that that. It is a state-sponsored domestic terrorist organization with its own armed wing. I live within an hour of outposts of that armed wing. in a GOP-dominated district. ‘Mob’ is scarcely descriptive.

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