Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

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

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

The lights are all blinking red.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

I really should read my own blog.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Giving up is unforgivable.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

You are here: Home / Open Threads / ‘Republicans Eat Their Young’ – Straight from the Horses Mouth

‘Republicans Eat Their Young’ – Straight from the Horses Mouth

by | 159 Comments

This post is in: 

Truth from the liar-in-chief!  I would not have predicted that.

I know, I can’t normally listen to him, either. But it’s only a few seconds, and it’s totally worth it.

⭐️

Sunday seems like a great time to mock our opponents, who at this point are also our enemies!

But wait, there’s more!

This left me in tears.

Pete Davidson opening on YouTube:

⭐️

It wouldn’t be Balloon Juice if we didn’t careen from mockery to serious, from sadness to joy, from anger to tears, from snark to heartfelt sharing.

Totally open thread.

Reader Interactions

159Comments

  5. 5.

    Alison Rose

    Wow, I looked it up — had no idea Pete Davidson’s father died on 9/11. He was a firefighter for Ladder 118. “He was last seen running up the stairs of the Marriott World Trade Center just before the building was destroyed when the Twin Towers collapsed.” Heartbreaking.

    Also, um…was that what TIFG was supposed to say????

  12. 12.

    zhena gogolia

    My husband: “I don’t know who Pete Davidson is.”

    Me: “Benedict Cumberbatch’s student.”

    Husband: “Oh, him! 😂”

  14. 14.

    Anoniminous

    I said last night, Israel is making a huge bet Hezbollah won’t get involved.

    This AM: Israel, Hezbollah exchange fire amid fears of regional escalation

    “Israel has declared its northern border with Lebanon a closed military zone after deadly clashes with Hezbollah as fears grow of the opening of another front amid an ongoing bombardment of Gaza Strip.”

    and

    “Israel has also struck the airports in Syria’s Aleppo and Damascus in an apparent effort to prevent Iran from using Syria to enter the conflict. ”

    I’d say regional escalation has already occurred.

  17. 17.

    TaMara

    (And neither should you.)

    @LordAvebury: I’m going to say this as nicely as I can, because all of us FPers have addressed this. We don’t get paid, we provide content to you free of charge and we do the best we can. Until another source comes along that makes it easy to embed and to find news items quickly, we’ll all do our best but will still use twitter.

    You and your scolding can find somewhere else to get content if you so please.

    Until then, unless you want to provide us $$ for our time writing these posts, honey, hush.

  18. 18.

    WaterGirl

    @CaseyL: I was going to ask what an ICE car is, because I have never heard that before, but I figured it out.

    ICE = Internal combustion engine.

    From your article:

    This year’s Australian national Dyson Award winner tells us more about the bolt-on REVR retrofit kit he’s developing, that aims to convert ICE cars to practical, efficient hybrids for less than US$3,200, taking less than a day to install.

    It sounds like a bonkers proposition from the outset, but RMIT University design student Alexander Burton is well into prototyping the most mechanically complex part of the system: the flat, power-dense, liquid-cooled 50-kW motor designed to sandwich in between your wheel and brake disc.

    bonkers.  That word doesn’t get used enough.

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    @CaseyL: A fatal flaw is likely “unsprung weight”. You’re adding a lot of mass to the suspension, so the ride and tire-meets-the-road characteristics change a lot. It’s a solvable problem with enough time and money, but it’s never going to be as good as a clean-sheet design.

    With all that said, maybe it would be fine for short commutes, “city cars”, and similar applications.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  26. 26.

    smith

    I think we are faced with an interesting timing issue with regards to TFG. The corporate media is assiduously avoiding reporting much about his obvious mental decline (they’re too busy pointing out that Biden is old. Did you know Biden is old?), but seems like every day there’s a new incident that shows pretty clearly how far his already limited mind is wandering. He’s said that Jeb Bush started the Iraq war, that Obama is currently president, that windmills are killing whales, and of course his praise for Hamas. There’s also how he acted when he attended  2 and half days of his fraud trial in NY — he seemed like someone barely hanging on to any fragment of self-control with only two fingernails.

    This is going to get worse. He’s edging inexorably towards the cliff, and he still has to weather the loss of his businesses and a big chunk of his wealth in the expected outcome of the fraud trial, and hopefully guilty verdicts for Chesebro and Powell, and most likely will have to sit through two criminal trials of his own (I’m assuming that the DC and GA trials will take place this year, and “Judge” Cannon will successfully move the FL trial to 2024). He couldn’t even make it through 3 days in the NY trial. How is he going to last through months of required attendance at two criminal trials where his personal freedom is on the line?

    I really believe a serious breakdown is coming. The timing problem is that I think it’s to the advantage of Dems if he wins the nomination before a final breakdown that forces even the media and at least some Rs to acknowledge that he’s too incompetent even to decide what to have for breakfast, much less to sit in the oval office. That would leave the GQP in a dire situation, looking to find and fund a replacement candidate at short notice. Unfortunately, at the rate he’s going they may end up with enough time to slot in a plausible-looking fascist like Youngkin, and we’ll be back to discussing whether Biden is too old, or if he’s really, really too old.

  27. 27.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @smith: They won’t be able to just slot another candidate in. The GOP is too divided. It will be the speakers debacle on steroids.

  29. 29.

    Alison Rose

    @Villago Delenda Est: Pete really seems like a good guy. I love how crazy it drives some incel dudes that he dates all these beautiful women when he’s not as conventionally attractive. Ted Cruz even whined about that once. It’s like, maybe because he’s nice to them and respects them??? Most women who date men would rather be with a guy who is average looking but kind and funny and thoughtful than a gorgeous man who is a total asshole. When women do end up with total assholes, it’s usually because he pretended to be nice in the beginning.

  38. 38.

    sab

    @Alison Rose: That  loss of his father probably is what caused him to develop his personality disorder. He has borderline personality disorder, which is the only one in cluster B that is capable of empathy. (Narcissistic is also in cluster B.)

  39. 39.

    Brachiator

    @smith:

    I really believe a serious breakdown is coming. The timing problem is that I think it’s to the advantage of Dems if he wins the nomination before a final breakdown that forces even the media and at least some Rs to acknowledge that he’s too incompetent even to decide what to have for breakfast, much less to sit in the oval office.

    Interesting speculation. But it don’t matter. The GOP is committed to Trump and to Trumpism. They will easily slot in another candidate if necessary.

    The media will continue along being stupid and grasping at narratives that help Republicans.

    Democrats just have to work hard and win.

  40. 40.

    Ruckus

    @LordAvebury:

    My twitter/X account no longer works. So I can’t see anything if I click on a tweet. My life is better without it. And far better without elon’s fucking with it. I do rather enjoy that he spend $44 billion for the right to prove who and what he really is.

  41. 41.

    Alison Rose

    @sab: Certainly seems like he manages it well. And yeah, he seems like a very empathetic person, which is another attractive quality, and another one most GOP men lack!

  43. 43.

    PJ

    @Brachiator: The only way Trump doesn’t get the nomination is if he’s dead.  If he’s babbling (even more) inane gibberish, if he’s drooling on camera, if he’s been convicted of 91 felonies, the base will still love him, and Republican politicians will still suck up to him.  As far as an audience of Republicans goes, if Trump just came to a rally and recited “Eentsy Weentsy Spider” over and over for an hour, he would still be their guy over some nice-presenting monster the media adores, like Youngkin.

  44. 44.

    JoyceH

    @Brachiator: “easily slot in another candidate”? I don’t think so. Nobody else seems capable of inspiring that weird immovable devotion and I don’t think Trump being removed from the board will change that. Some bits of MAGA will migrate to this candidate and others to that, but I don’t think they can coalesce. They just aren’t capable of it.

  45. 45.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus: Speaking of Elmo, we spent a good part of yesterday in South Bay Area and holy hell, I think Tesla won. Yeah, I get the factory is right there even if he hates us Rich Liberal Hippies but at times  they comprise half the traffic.

    Insofar as normalizing EVs, the impact has been a good one overall.

  46. 46.

    New Deal democrat

    On Meet the Press, Hakeem Jeffries just put in his opening bid for a coalition Speaker:

     

    We want to ensure that votes are taken on bills that have substantial Democratic support and substantial Republican support so that the extremists aren’t able to dictate the agenda. The current rules of the House have facilitated a handful of Republicans being able to determine what gets voted on in the House of Representatives and that undermines the interests of the American people. We can change the rules to facilitate bipartisanship and that should be the starting point of our conversation.

  47. 47.

    JPL

    So google is telling me that Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation said to DeSantis, As you know Governor Palestinians are Semites.    From the little I saw, DeSantis said that Arabs had to take care of Arabs.  Ron has already moved on from Gaza strip to all  Arabs.   That was quick.   It took him a few weeks to move on from trans to all gays.

    So my fellow Americans, only talke care of your own, and fk the rest.

  49. 49.

    Alison Rose

    @PJ:

    The only way Trump doesn’t get the nomination is if he’s dead.

    Considering the whole JFK Jr thing, I’m not even sure this would be an obstacle. They’ll insist he’s still alive and should be on the ballots so he can triumphantly return on election day.

  51. 51.

    WaterGirl

    @sab: When you wrote “loss of his father” I thought you were talking about Pete Davidson!  Which made no sense.  Then I realized you must mean Trump

    edit: oh wait, you do mean Pete Davidson.  my head is spinning.

  52. 52.

    Alison Rose

    @WaterGirl: They were talking about Pete. As noted in the video and my comment above, Pete’s father died on 9/11. And Pete has been open about having a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. TIFG has zero empathy at all

    ETA per your edit: LOL :) It’s been a discombobulating week or so…

  54. 54.

    Brachiator

    @Scout211:

    From SNL last night for all of you jackals interested in the relative famousness of Taylor Swift v Travis Kelce (and you know who you are).  It’s a fun segment.

    That WAS fun.

    Thanks.

  55. 55.

    smith

    @PJ: I think there’s a real possibility that TFG will commit acts of violence when he’s pushed too far. Remember, this is someone who threw plates of food at the wall several times a week when he wasn’t under nearly as much pressure as he’s feeling now. He will snap. Possibly in court — remember, he will have to sit there and listen, day after day, to people saying bad things about him. I don’t see how he can take that, given how fragile he is now. If he does do something rash, I don’t think any of the judges would show him any leniency.

    Sure, it might not change any minds among his hard core, but it might take that cohort down to its natural 27%.

  57. 57.

    MattF

    @New Deal democrat: Jeffries correctly emphasizes that the current situation is the result of choices made by nearly all the Republicans. The ‘moderates’ all went along with it, so… maybe they really aren’t so moderate.

  58. 58.

    Ruckus

    @smith:

    As someone not much younger than SFB/TFG and who lives in a seniors complex (over 55 to rent) there are a lot of people here for whom this is the last place they will live. I know a number of over 90 folks, one is 97. She is in far better health than SFB, can still remember things from decades ago and from yesterday. But life has a start, a middle and an end. SFB is showing definite signs of aging out, on that short road to end point. Mentally he’s a wreck, always has been. Now he’s just an old wreck. Physically he’s never really taken care of himself, mentally he’s aways been about money/value. He started with a lot of money, some of which he redirected to himself from his siblings, IOW he’s always been about the money. Mostly about his failure to do anything with it other than throw it away with his great lack of actually useable intelligence. He’s not an idiot, at least not born one, he just acts like one. He’s good at acting like one. It’s his only positive trait, acting like himself. Note that it’s not positive for anyone else, just for him, and that anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together can see who and what he is.

    My point is that he is a failure as an actual human being. He’s alive, he’s shit on 2 feet and his brain could be studied for it’s lack of understanding of much of anything. And his decline is going to be as bad as his prior life and it’s going to be public. Lucky us.

  59. 59.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Eolirin: We don’t have a shot in Florida. I continue to hold out hope that things will turn around in Texas and we will hold on to Arizona.

  61. 61.

    raven

    We’re prepping for what will probably best the last Boolebark Doggie Costume Parade. It’s been a good run and the group has raised a good bit of money to help pet rescue but the competition with “Porch Fest” has really hurt the effort. I have a lot of personal issue with the organization but, since I’m only a support person, I’m keeping my mouth shut. There are 40 dogs signed up for the costume contest and who knows how many we’ll get for the parade?  I’m leading it in my truck again and Artie will sit (lay down) in the front because she’s scared! On the upside it’s nice and cool so it should be fun.

  62. 62.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    Jack Smith via WaterGirl:

    To sell snake oil successfully, you have to know how to read a teleprompter…otherwise you might accidentally accuse your donors of being child-eating cannibals.

    To be fair, the teleprompter supposedly said, Republicans eat their own, instead of Republicans eat their young.

    So, even if Trump had read it correctly, he still would have been accusing GOP donors of being cannibals – but, metaphorically speaking, the kind of cannibals that prefers beef over veal.

  63. 63.

    trollhattan

    @Alison Rose: ​
    With the current generation of true-believer Republicans, it’s not merely suspension of disbelief, they took disbelief out, shot it, set it afire and dragged it behind a pickup far enough that nothing was left.

    I do not see them coming back in my lifetime.

  64. 64.

    wjca

    @smith: I really believe a serious breakdown is coming.

    What’s wrong with that? I mean from TIFG’s perspective.  It sets up a “Not guilty by reason of mental incapacity” verdict.  So what’s not to like — it keeps him out of jail and grifting.

  68. 68.

    Eolirin

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: If Florida were to have an one off 2-3 point shift we could theoretically take the state for that one cycle. Definitely super longshot territory and I don’t have any expectation we could hold it, but it was a very near thing in 2018, and Biden didn’t lose the state by that much in 2020. It’d indicate a complete collapse of the Republican party, and I doubt that’d be durable in the long run, but if things are a complete catastrophe for them this cycle it’s not mathematically out of reach.

  70. 70.

    Brachiator

    @PJ:

    The only way Trump doesn’t get the nomination is if he’s dead.

    I don’t know that death would stop him. As another poster notes, Trump’s base might believe that Trump can rise from the dead.

     

    @JoyceH:

    “easily slot in another candidate”? I don’t think so. Nobody else seems capable of inspiring that weird immovable devotion and I don’t think Trump being removed from the board will change that.

    The GOP has never disavowed Trump, even though they make meek noises about how they wish he would bow out.

    I think that they would be relieved if he had to withdraw, or passed away. And the plutocrat money would rain down on the selected GOP candidate.

    It would be harder for the GOP to win. But they are committed to Trump and to Trumpism, win or lose. They have not made any effort to move away from madness.

  73. 73.

    Alison Rose

    @trollhattan: Yeah. And this is why I want to claw my face off when people insist the Democrats have to compromise and work with them and find common ground and blah blah. It’s literally impossible with these people.

  74. 74.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: So the organization that runs Boo-le-Bark is also disbanding?

    I never really knew if that was their primary purpose, or if it was just part of what they do.

    Or am I reading your comment wrong?

  75. 75.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    The SNL sketch was really funny. I haven’t commented on Swift mania, so I’ll take a minute and do so. Of course, she is an enormously talented performer and song writer. She also hasn’t gotten addicted to drugs or alcohol, and makes clear eyed business decisions. All of those things would be formidable and would make her very successful. The reason she is a superstar with a vast empire of devoted fans is because of her real superpower: empathy. It creeps into her music. It shows in the ways she interacts with her fans. That’s one reason they love her so much.

    To give a concrete example, my favorite song of hers goes back to her country days: “Mean”. I relate to it because I was bullied in high school. Most of the song is pretty general, universal really. Then for just a minute, she gets really specific and you know she’s been there too. She’s not just singing about your pain, she’s felt it.

  76. 76.

    Brachiator

    @smith:

    I think there’s a real possibility that TFG will commit acts of violence when he’s pushed too far. Remember, this is someone who threw plates of food at the wall several times a week when he wasn’t under nearly as much pressure as he’s feeling now.

    Never gonna happen. Trump is a coward.

    Yeah, he throws stuff at walls but, to paraphrase Bruce Lee, “walls don’t hit back.”

    I don’t think that Trump has the physical capability to go much beyond a tantrum.

  77. 77.

    wjca

    @Brachiator: The GOP is committed to Trump and to Trumpism. They will easily slot in another candidate if necessary.

    Nope.  Dynasties start because the founder establishes who his successor will be.  See, for example, Kim Il Sung in North Korea.

    Trump has very carefully avoided having anyone who is even a nominal successor ( = threat, in his mind).  Which pretty much guarantees a battle royal (sorry!) once he leaves the scene.  Politically astute, and ambitious, Republicans will already be building alliances and stockpiling blackmail material, against that day.

  78. 78.

    Ramona

    Do you mean there’s a possibility Trump will commit a PUBLIC act of violence? We already know of his attack on Ivana, on E. Jean Carroll, on the driver who refused to drive him to the Capitol on January 6. He is personally violent. So far, he has been canny enough to not show this fundamental aspect of himself in public. I agree with you that circumstances are such  he may well lose this last shred of self control.

  79. 79.

    Dave

    @WaterGirl: Exactly people with BPD can be infuriating and exhausting but they do genuinely care for others, often very deeply, it’s just not easy for them to be stable and they can be very labile with their emotions.

    None of this describes Trump.

  80. 80.

    Geminid

    @Anoniminous: Israel has struck the Alleppo and Damascus airports several times in the past three years. People have paid little attention to Israel’s bombing campaign in Syria, which by Israel’s admission already totaled over 200 strikes as of a year ago.

    The IDF calls this the “war between wars” and has a dedicated intelligence unit that coordinates with the Air Force on targeting. Their main targets have been Iranian missile shipments to Hezbollah.

    An Al Jazeera article a few months ago said Hezbollah’ss stockpile was around 120,000 missiles, Some of these are fairly large and have guidance systems. Israel isn’t about to let Iran add to it just because they are fighting Hamas in the south

  81. 81.

    raven

    @WaterGirl: Oh no, just the parade. Athenspets is vital.

    Athenspets is a hope and a prayer: that a group of dedicated volunteers, some in person, some virtual, can work to make life a little better for the neediest animals in the Athens, Georgia area and the people who love them. We spend time with the animals impounded at Athens-Clarke County Animal Services, providing exercise and socialization for them while learning about them in order to advertise them on social media and help match them with prospective adopters. We also raise funds and collect supplies to help with the extraordinary medical expenses of the shelter animals, make the lives of the shelter animals better, and help pets stay in good, if socially vulnerable, homes, through our Community Spay/Neuter Program and innovative Community Interventions Program.

    We do our best to accurately portray each animal in our postings and conversations, but we are not professionals. Please come by to meet the animals for yourself prior to adoption and bring any family members (children, other pets, etc.) with whom it is necessary for the new pet to get along so you can judge for yourself whether the particular dog or cat is a good fit for your home.

  84. 84.

    lowtechcyclist

    @smith:

    I really believe a serious breakdown is coming. The timing problem is that I think it’s to the advantage of Dems if he wins the nomination before a final breakdown that forces even the media and at least some Rs to acknowledge that he’s too incompetent even to decide what to have for breakfast, much less to sit in the oval office. That would leave the GQP in a dire situation, looking to find and fund a replacement candidate at short notice. Unfortunately, at the rate he’s going they may end up with enough time to slot in a plausible-looking fascist like Youngkin, and we’ll be back to discussing whether Biden is too old, or if he’s really, really too old.

    I think it’s the other way around: the sooner, the better.  If Trump has that breakdown in September 2024 and Youngkin is slotted in, the media will spend the next two months fellating Youngkin and he might win.

    If he has that breakdown by February, say, then Youngkin would have to jump into the primaries at short notice, and he’d be part of the ‘Republicans tearing each other apart’ show and meanwhile the Dems would get a good fix on how to tear him apart from our angle.

    If Trump falls apart, Youngkin’s the only one I’d be worried about.  He’s got the ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ act down pat.

  85. 85.

    Brachiator

    @Alison Rose:

    And this is why I want to claw my face off when people insist the Democrats have to compromise and work with them and find common ground and blah blah. It’s literally impossible with these people.

    People vote for Republicans as well as Democrats. Unless one party has a clear majority in Congress and also hold the presidency, there will be a need to compromise.

    This is the case, even though the GOP believes that they are the only legitimate political party in the US and are clearly committed to obstruction whenever they don’t have the advantage.

  86. 86.

    trollhattan

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: ​
    Nice insights. She’d be sooooo tempting and easy to hate on and I just can’t find a sliver of anything like that. Runner girl was a Swiftie briefly (middle school era), moving on to music dad would definitely not like. Set point, runner girl. :-)

    I won, to the extent she decided to start collecting old vinyl and her haul include The Kinks and other material from the era. Think it’s because I always had music on beginning when she was an animated ham handed us at the hospital, even the birthing room music I brought for distracting mom.

  87. 87.

    Betty Cracker

    @smith: I wonder about that too sometimes. I feel like a Trump rematch is our best shot, so I find myself in the weird position of hoping he keeps it together long enough to clinch the nomination. The former POTUS and current GOP frontrunner is crazier than a sprayed roach, and it hardly gets any coverage. It’s mind-boggling.

  90. 90.

    Geminid

    @Eolirin: According to an MSNBC Business article last October, out of the $44 billion purchase price for Twitter, $27 billion was put up by Musk, mainly through two large sales of Tesla stock; $13 billion was lent by 7 banks; and the balance was invested by private equity outfits.

    The largest of those was the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which “rolled over” its $2 billion stake in Twitter into the new company.

  93. 93.

    JaySinWA

    @Brachiator:

    This is the case, even though the GOP believes that they are the only legitimate political party in the US and are clearly committed to obstruction whenever they don’t have the advantage.

    The GOP church is the one true Church!/

    ETA former Pope Reagan now Pope Trump.

  94. 94.

    Falling Diphthong

    @smith: The same week that the media worked themselves into a tizzy about Biden wearing sneakers (while picketing with the UAW) Trump called for the death of General Milley, one of the joint chiefs.

    There truly is nothing he can do that the media will say “that’s a shocking thing from the leading opposition candidate, we should report on it.” Or that his base won’t conclude “Obviously, Trump didn’t mean that. He is communicating with me in a secret code.”

  95. 95.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @lowtechcyclist: A very likely scenario.  Which is why if Democrats control both houses in the VA General Assembly after next month’s election, Youngkin is probably done and dusted.

  96. 96.

    Brachiator

    @wjca:

    RE: The GOP is committed to Trump and to Trumpism. They will easily slot in another candidate if necessary.

    Nope.  Dynasties start because the founder establishes who his successor will be.  See, for example, Kim Il Sung in North Korea.

    This doesn’t really apply to the US or to most stable elective governments. Also, thank heavens that George Washington did not have any sons.

    Trump has very carefully avoided having anyone who is even a nominal successor ( = threat, in his mind).

    Interesting point. I don’t know that Trump thinks that far ahead or beyond his own ego, but you are right that Trump keeps his base focused on his own perpetual orange majesty.

    But a question: would Trump select a VP candidate who might represent the future, but also who might outshine Trump himself? Or would he pick another wooden nonentity like Pence, and try to act as kingmaker later?

    Note. I normally don’t care much about Trump, but I need something to distract from other news of the day.

  97. 97.

    ARoomWithAMoose

    @Eolirin: Yes, Florida is a tough nut for the Dem to crack, not spending national party dollars on it is probably a good decision.  By party registration numbers it SHOULD be competitive, but 2022 showed an astounding enthusiasm/GOTV gap.  Highly gerrymandered, Dems that win their legislative/mayoral primary don’t need to bother with GOTV efforts for the general, which hurts statewide races.  No statewide Dem seats elected for 20 years beyond Bill Nelson (US senate, knocked out long ago) and Nikki Fried as Ag commissioner (I believe she was elected when Ag commissioner was a nonpartisan elective position, so no (D) or (R) after her name on the ballot).

    I sincerely hope Nikki has a plan (she is now the head of the Florida Democratic state level party apparatus), but it’ll be a big lift even if there’s a path forward.

  98. 98.

    smith

    @Ramona: Yes, it’s always been a good bet that he’s been physically abusive in private all along, but so far has been able to control that impulse in public, at least as far as physical abuse (he’s plenty abusive verbally). But if I’m right that he’s breaking down, or possibly descending  into full-blown dementia, then I’d expect the inhibitions that have kept him under control will fall away. We’ll see what happens, but as I said above, the tremendous stress he’s feeling now is about to get much worse, far beyond anything he’s experienced before, and he will have a hard time coping with it. We’ll find out soon if I’m right.

  99. 99.

    FastEdD

    Kudos to Pete Davidson. Comedy isn’t just a silly frill. It is often the only medicine you can use against tragedy.

    I saw this film yesterday about my racing hero Nigel Mansell. He wasn’t born a rich kid like some drivers are and reached great heights through hard work, skill, and immense courage. He was loyal to his wife when many of his contemporaries were playboys. It made me admire the guy even more.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAHbD9_BMik&t=3s

  100. 100.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: The problem with jumping into the primaries in February is that most of the filing deadlines will have passed. Youngkin has to make his move sooner, probably by Thanksgiving.

    If Youngkin doesn’t he could still be selected by the convention, if the 1st and 2nd ballots are inconclusive and delegates are free to vote their own choice (the Trump delegates will be awfully hard to wrangle though).

    So I think Youngkin will either start a campaign by December, or more likely make a point of cosying up to Trump in hopes Trump backs him if he’s unable to campaign himself.

    In the old days Youngkin would just file in Virginia as a “favorite son.”🤮

    Now, that would enrage Trump’s supporters. So instead Youngkin will probably campaign with the Orange Churl in Virginia, with an eye towards the VP slot. I think Youngkin’s spread sheets tell him his better chance is 2028.

  101. 101.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Even if Trump has complete mental break down on national TV, he won’t resign from the race because only loser admit they are seriously ill and enough of his base will support him to screw up the primaries. (remember Trump was signing blank paper when he had Covid?) Once he’s gone then it’s the GOP hunger games like what is going on in the House right now. And just like in the House it will be survival of the most feral, so doubtless the Q-non Shaman will be the GOP nominee in 2028.

  102. 102.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    SFB is what the goofy old party has become. In my lifetime they have gone from conservative to money worshipers to insanity. They want a world they think existed decades ago but the conservative party wasn’t all that and bag of chips even then. Basically they were afraid of the future, of change from an ideal that never really existed. It worked because of slow, not all that reliable communications that took effort. Now we have an almost overwhelming bunch of fast communications and the ability to see things in real or almost real time that would have taken weeks/months and effort to see when this country started, or never have been seen at all. Some are overwhelmed by the changes we’ve seen in just the last 75 yrs. Growth, science, manufacturing, health, entertainment, food, legislation, politics, communications, travel. And on and on. Life goes by a lot faster than it used to. Some think that we need to go back to simple, controlled life. It wasn’t better, just simpler. Possibly easier to manage for many. Easier to get one’s hate on – now that is at least more controlled and to those that seem to need this, likely think there is more need because there are far more of us. Many humans have not learned to live in this life because it is no longer Mayberry, even as it likely never really was.

  103. 103.

    WaterGirl

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    if Democrats control both houses in the VA General Assembly after next month’s election

    Please, please, please.

    And I think we really need the veto-proof majority in the VA senate, right?  So some of the crap that Youngkin wants can only be stopped that way, I believe.

    (off to make sure I have that right.

    edit: Ah yes, I think I do!  From one of our VA Balloon Juice peeps who is running for office:

    The ideal situation is to win the HoD, and get a supermajority in the Senate, to counter Youngkin’s veto & amendment request powers:  In his first year of office, Youngkin vetoed multiple bills that were popular and bi-partisan, but were introduced by a Democratic state senator he did not like.

  104. 104.

    Citizen Alan

    @Alison Rose: When republicans and the media talk about bipartisanship, they mean that the democrats should give the republicans everything they want and get nothing in return. And not only that, but the democrats should meekly accept the blame for every bad thing that happens as a result of enacting Republican policies. I genuinely cannot recall the last time any pundit has suggested that the republicans should move to the left on any issue and try to appeal to Democrat voters, assuming such a thing has even happened in my lifetime.

  109. 109.

    Betty Cracker

    @ARoomWithAMoose: The ag commish race is partisan in FL. Fried won mostly because of GOP in-fighting that traces back to Trump. The ag commish Fried replaced (Adam Putnam) was the FL GOP establishment pick for governor in the primary. Trump upset that apple cart when he endorsed DeSantis, and the AC primary fight was bitter along those same lines.

    I hope DeSantis loses the 2024 primary in humiliating fashion because he’s a fascist and would be catastrophic for American democracy. But if that comes to pass, it could also open a schism in the FL GOP and weaken it too, another worthy goal. There are already signs that DeSantis doesn’t have the mojo he once did with the FL GOP.

  110. 110.

    wjca

    @Brachiator: But a question: would Trump select a VP candidate who might represent the future, but also who might outshine Trump himself? Or would he pick another wooden nonentity like Pence, and try to act as kingmaker later?

    My guess would be the non-entity route for a VP.  As for acting as kingmaker, I seriously doubt he would have any such intention.

    Assuming, for the sake of discussion, that he is aware of the 22nd Amendment, he doubtless assumes that, like any other law, it doesn’t, or at least shouldn’t, apply to him.  I don’t know if he has explicitly thought about becoming President-for-Life, but is he wins in 2024 it will definitely be on his radar.

  111. 111.

    JPL

    @wjca: My guess is that he’ll choose Sen. Tim Scott so he can talk about his black

    Since trump is trump, he might even say my black is better that Biden’s black.

  113. 113.

    Ramalama

    @smith: George Conway had your same thought. He wants people to make Trump go crazy.

    “You can just run ads on TV in the local area where he is…He’s not that far from his bursting point. The more he gets attacked the more he will talk about things he shouldn’t be talking about,” Conway said. “I think you could even get him thrown into jail, by running the right ad,” he added.

  114. 114.

    gene108

    @smith:

    Unfortunately, at the rate he’s going they may end up with enough time to slot in a plausible-looking fascist like Youngkin,

    Youngkin would have to enter the race first, and Republicans are in such disarray no smoke filled room will pick a candidate.

    I doubt Republicans will agree on a Presidential nominee who isn’t Trump. They’re all greedy ego maniacs looking out for themselves.

  116. 116.

    trollhattan

    @wjca: ​My guess would be the non-entity route for a VP.

    Same. Remembering this is the dude shoving European PMs out of the way to get to the cameras, Trump can only be next a banana so second it can barely be located on the bunch.
    And this time he doesn’t even need a Pence to set his bonafides with the fundys, they’re all in on another round of Donny.

  117. 117.

    wjca

    @smith: Yes, it’s always been a good bet that he’s been physically abusive in private all along, but so far has been able to control that impulse in public, at least as far as physical abuse (he’s plenty abusive verbally). But if I’m right that he’s breaking down, or possibly descending  into full-blown dementia, then I’d expect the inhibitions that have kept him under control will fall away.

    Somehow, I doubt that self control has ever been a factor in controling his behavior.  More likely, it’s been straight up cowardice.  In private, or surrounded by subordinates, he cuts loose.  But in public, someone might physically intervene.  So way too dangerous.  Bullies generally stick to soft targets and safe ones.

    So, physically losing control in court is unlikely.  Far less likely than a simple screaming meltdown.

  119. 119.

    catclub

    @lowtechcyclist: it’s to the advantage of Dems if he wins the nomination before a final breakdown that forces even the media and at least some Rs to acknowledge that he’s too incompetent even to decide what to have for breakfast, much less to sit in the oval office.

     

    I was fully in the ‘He may make it through the primaries but there is no way he is healthy enough for the general in 2016’, camp. And was totally wrong.  I do not expect him to fall apart in obvious ways.

    Yes, I know  that was not your original comment.

  120. 120.

    catclub

    @wjca: I don’t know if he has explicitly thought about becoming President-for-Life, but is he wins in 2024 it will definitely be on his radar.

     

    He has already said he should get an extra term because the first term was spent on too many investigations into the Russia connections to his campaign.

  122. 122.

    wjca

    @WaterGirl: I think he might be willing to play kingmaker for his daughter, unless they are on the outs.

    Hmmm.  Possible, I suppose, since she’s clearly the favorite among his children.  On the other hand, could he cope with a woman, even her, in even nominal authority over him?   He might suppose he could make her his Medvedev.  But I wonder if that would be a risk he would be willing to take.

  123. 123.

    gwangung

    I really respect Taylor Swift as a businesswoman; she’s pleasant enough as an artist. Oddly enough, that’s enough to make me a fan…

  124. 124.

    trollhattan

    @catclub: ​
    Yeah, me too. I had odds on Trump living through/surviving his first term set as minuscule. This was under the presumption his obvious bad health-bad habits would collude to bring him down, and then not even covid could get the job done (thanks for nothing, covid!). Given I also believed his obvious unfitness for office and lurching clown behavior assured a clobbering in the general, I’m uniformly unsuited to make any predictions re. Trump’s fate.

  126. 126.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:

    Ice Spice was the musical guest on SNL last night. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are the subject of intense social-media gossip right now. Kelce appeared at the end of the Fox NFL Sunday skit (at #28 above). Having Swift pop in for a micro-appearance was a nice touch. Ice Spice also collaborated with Swift on a remix of Swift’s song “Karma.”)

  127. 127.

    catclub

    @gwangung: Yes.

    Swift  either turned down generous offers to sell (lie about) NFT’s or asked intelligent questions about what the fuck they are,  and was not asked  to front them any more.

  128. 128.

    wjca

    @gene108: I doubt Republicans will agree on a Presidential nominee who isn’t Trump. They’re all greedy ego maniacs looking out for themselves.

    Does anyone know what the rules are in the various states, if a party fails to put up a nominee?  Or, more likely, has more than one individual claiming to be the nominee?

    My assumption is that there is a process of some kind involving someone in the party bureaucracy notifying the states of who their party’s candidate is.  But are all the states the same on how they phrase just who that is?

  130. 130.

    Geminid

    @wjca: I think the National Republican Committee would determine a nominee if the convention deadlocked. But I think someone will get to a majority in Milwaukee. A lot of delegates might not stick around for the nominee’s acceptance speech though, and delegates definitely will not end the convention with a chorus of “Kumbaya!”

  131. 131.

    WaterGirl

    @Steeplejack: Ice Spice is a musical group.  check.  Ice Spice was on SNL last night.  check.  Taylor Swift had a cameo appearance introducing them.  check

    I did not know those things!  thank you.

  135. 135.

    kalakal

     

    @PJ:

    The only way Trump doesn’t get the nomination is if he’s dead

    They’ll just run an extension cable to the podium

  139. 139.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: He did look thinner, and like he’s drained of energy. A friend who follows Trump closely described his demeanor at a rally 3 weeks ago as that of “a defeated man.”

    Trump has always talked tough, but I regard tough talk as a “tell” that the talker is not in fact tough, but rather is weak. Trump is under stress now like he’s never been before. We’ll see how he holds up.

  140. 140.

    WaterGirl

    @Geminid: I agree that if someone tells you they are the big dog, they are, in fact, not the big dog.  They are a  big dog wanna-be.

    Also pretty sure Soros doesn’t walk around telling people how rich he is!

  146. 146.

    Raven

    @WaterGirl: I shot some but there were newspapers and lots of shutter bugs so I expect to have a bunch. Leading the parade in my truck with the school kids behind me is the best photo position.

  147. 147.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Can’t say I was ever a “Three’s Company” fan, but a lot of you were, and will be sad to learn that Suzanne Somers has died, age 76.

  151. 151.

    Betty

    @TaMara: It wouldn’t matter to most BJers, but where I live  I am prohibited from seeing SNL content except through an intermediary like X so I appreciate the link.

  153. 153.

    Another Scott

    @WaterGirl: Doesn’t Betty live on a Caribbean island?  There might be area-restricted broadcast rights, etc.

    Just a thought.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  156. 156.

    Ruckus

    @Eolirin:

    Yes, I understand. But He got them to give it to him and then screw up what he spent it on. A small loss for us, it still has cost him a tad bit and showed that while he may be considered rather wealthy, he really doesn’t have a lot of cash or easy to sell stocks, which means while his net worth may be high his available assets are a hell of a lot less. Which is a part of the description of most “rich” people. Most of what they have is rather difficult to change into cash, it’s “value” not actual money.

  157. 157.

    Ruckus

    @trollhattan:

    Yep, in most reasonably – heavily populated areas of CA one will see Tesla’s all around. At least in my area of northeastern LA county there are a lot of charging stations and I’ve seen a few other brands of electric autos around here as well. When I lived in Pasadena, the apartment owners put in a 5 car charging station in the underground parking. There were already 2 Teslas before that installation, 2 more popped up shortly thereafter and that was almost 5 yrs ago.

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