Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

It’s a doggy dog world.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

We still have time to mess this up!

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

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

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

White supremacy is terrorism.

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

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  1. 1.

    HumboldtBlue

    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.

  3. 3.

    germy shoemangler

    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

    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.

  6. 6.

    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.

  8. 8.

    HumboldtBlue

    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.

  15. 15.

    SpaceUnit

    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

    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.

  18. 18.

    Martin

    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

    @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

    @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

    @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.”

  23. 23.

    Martin

    @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.

  26. 26.

    p.a.

    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

    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

    @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.

    @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.

  31. 31.

    Geminid

    @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.

  35. 35.

    SpaceUnit

    @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.

  37. 37.

    p.a.

    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 😉)

  39. 39.

    kalakal

    @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

  43. 43.

    Splitting Image

    “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.

  45. 45.

    Barbara

    @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.

  48. 48.

    kalakal

    @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.

  50. 50.

    Bex

    @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

    @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

    @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.

  57. 57.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    @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

    @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.

  61. 61.

    Steeplejack

    @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

    @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

    @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.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @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.

  70. 70.

    Feathers

    @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.

  73. 73.

    Barbara

    @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!

  75. 75.

    Geminid

    @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

    @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.

  78. 78.

    kalakal

    @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

  80. 80.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @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

    “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

    @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

    @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.

  86. 86.

    Villago Delenda Est

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

  87. 87.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @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?”

  89. 89.

    Tony G

    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

    @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

    @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……..

  93. 93.

    mrmoshpotato

    @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?

  95. 95.

    dm

    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.

  101. 101.

    Betsy

    @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

    @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.

  106. 106.

    kalakal

    @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

    @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

    @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

    @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

    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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