Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“But what about the lurkers?”

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

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

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

A consequence of cucumbers

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Turnout

Turnout

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Josh Marshall has some observations about Iowa turnout:

Roughly 110,000 voters turned out for last night’s caucuses. That compares to 187,000 in 2016. (2012 and 2008 were closer to last night’s numbers 122,000 and 120,000, respectively.) But that’s still the lowest turnout in more than a decade and dramatically lower than the last contest in 2016. […]

Josh looks at a couple of possible reasons, including cold and the fact that Trump’s nomination is a foregone conclusion.  But he also thinks that it’s another example of lackluster enthusiasm on the part of Republicans (something we’ve seen for the last couple of years.)

For all of the context-free “if I could talk to the animals” pieces about Trump voters in diners, the political media’s coverage of Iowa voters doesn’t talk much about the role of Fox News and allied conservative outlets as cynicism factories.  The daily Fox message is “everything is fucked up and bullshit,” which is a easy message since on any given day of the year, things are fucked up and bullshit.  What Fox is missing, in marketing speak, is a Call to Action (CTA).  “Everything’s fucked up, vote for Trump” is not a valid CTA when their audience has voted for Trump once and, let’s face it, have gotten very damn little.

Anyone with two eyes, two ears and a barely functioning brain can figure out that things were still fucked up and bullshit under Trump’s benighted reign — and whether you agree or disagree with them, there are a lot of Iowa Republicans with eyes, ears and at least a wee bit of common sense.  The one “real” accomplishment of the Trump era, Dobbs, is a hobby horse for a smaller percentage of the Republican electorate than I think is usually recognized, especially if it means your daughter might bleed to death because her OB is afraid of doing an emergency D&C without approval of the church and the district attorney. His tax cuts weren’t that great for middle-class, older voters.  Trump never did build his wall:  voters in rural states like Iowa realize that you can’t run a packing plant or a pig confinement operation without migrant labor, so I’m guessing that migrant caravans might be something that people complain about, but it’s not enough to get voters to a high school gym when it’s -20 and blowing snow.

Finally, Trump’s schtick isn’t new anymore, and his legal troubles have made him (and his rhetoric) far more inward-focused than he was in 2016.  Never forget that Trump had the most free media of any candidate in modern history, The Apprentice.  You could see why Iowa voters would be excited about him 8 years ago when he was a shiny new toy.  Today, he’s no more exciting than boring DeSantis, or brown/female Hayley.  Better to stay home on the recliner than to risk frostbite to vote for any of them.

Reader Interactions

270Comments

  3. 3.

    MattF

    Let’s not forget losing the deduction for state and local taxes under Trump. A lot of people (including me) had to move to the standard deduction. The media always portrays the Trump tax policy as the Trump Tax Cuts, but it was a significant tax increase for many.

  4. 4.

    David ⛄ 🎅The Establishment🎄 🦌 🕎 Koch

    Dems turned out 239,000 voters on a freezing night, with people returning from the holidays on January 3, 2008.

    Jan. 4, 2008

    DES MOINES — A record number of Democrats turned out to caucus more than 239,000, compared with fewer than 125,000 in 2004 producing scenes of overcrowded firehouses and schools and long lines of people waiting to register their preferences.

  5. 5.

    Martin

    Yeah, this is the problem with a LOT of reporting not just on elections. Percentage support, etc. only really has meaning if the context of percentage of WHO or WHAT is communicated, and it rarely is – at least with the kind of focus that the percentage is reported. This is common in climate reporting, Ukraine war reporting, etc. and it’s a given with election/polling.

    I think it’s notable that, for all intents and purposes, the incumbent Republican only got 50% of the vote is pretty damning. Imagine if Biden only gets 50% in Iowa what those headlines would look like.

    But reporting from the rallies also indicates that the crowd just isn’t into it. Because elections are largely exercises now in base turnout and not very much in selling policy, that should be getting more attention but the clicks are in the horserace.

  6. 6.

    Kay

    That rings true to me mistermix but I just don’t know. I don’t feel like I can say what they’ll do anymore, and I know and am around a lot of them.

  7. 7.

    Bupalos

    I think it’s fair to say that “Let’s get back to 2019” isn’t a killer rallying cry and I do agree that 2024 Trump doesn’t have the same personal force. But I’m really not sure anyone needs to be looking for reasons for a 35% drop in participation beyond “It’s way too fucking cold” and “everyone already knows the outcome and it doesn’t matter.”

  8. 8.

    kindness

    The MSM (the reporters, editors and producers, not to mention the guilded owners) love them some Republican Daddies.  They know they use Republican framing on every single issue.  They aren’t stupid, just a bit evil, that’s all.

  9. 9.

    eversor

    Trump is advocating true Christ demanded patriarchy, gender roles, and all of that.  That’s all that matters.  I opened more door and walked to work this morning and none of the churches were burned to the ground…. so Trump should be elected.  And his voters should get their theocracy.  I intended to help them.  And should their be electional violence I would be proud to join the side being violent for our theocracy since we have Christianity.

    Theocracy NOW.  Or death.  The only good non theocrat is a dead one.  Give us our faith back!

  10. 10.

    lowtechcyclist

    The daily Fox message is “everything is fucked up and bullshit,” which is a easy message since on any given day of the year, things are fucked up and bullshit.  What Fox is missing, in marketing speak, is a Call to Action (CTA).

    Even if the only CTA is ‘vote Rethuglican’ that would probably work if things from their POV were getting less fucked up as a result.  And things in FoxWorld undoubtedly seem as fucked up as ever.

    I was never much of a leftist, but half a century ago, I knew quite a few. And it seemed at the time like the world was always fucked up from their POV.  I’m sure they had plenty of calls to action – boycott grapes and the like.  But if, no matter what you do, the world is still fucked up, then you might as well be like Candide, tend your own garden, and stop worrying about the larger world.

    I think the movements of the 1960s would have eventually fizzled anyway, but I’m sure that sense of things still always being fucked up after years of activism helped things fizzle.  And maybe something similar is finally happening on the right.

    ETA: Mmmm, pastry!

  11. 11.

    Baud

    @Bupalos:

    When the Dem primary in SC has a low turnout because there’s no contest, you can bet your bottom dollar that it will signal a loss of enthusiasm for Biden as far as the media is concened.

  15. 15.

    moops

    I’d say getting 110,000 people out in that weather counts as a good turnout.  It was a brutal day.  Extreme cold, and a lot of snow on the ground and blowing in the wind.  It was legitimately dangerous for many participants.

  19. 19.

    Scout211

    Since this is an open thread, a PSA for Mac users who haven’t upgraded to Sonoma yet:

    Starting this month, Macs users are being upgraded to Sonoma by Apple, without our permission. I restarted my Mac just now and found out that the Sonoma installation process was then triggered.  I never set any of my devices to automatic updates and typically wait for the bugs to be fixed before I update.

    I just checked online and found that this is happening to many, many angry Mac owners.  Grrrrrr!

    /rant

  23. 23.

    Marmot

    What Fox is missing, in marketing speak, is a Call to Action (CTA).  “Everything’s fucked up, vote for Trump” is not a valid CTA when their audience has voted for Trump once and, let’s face it, have gotten very damn little.

    So, without fail, when there’s a Repub on the teevee or radio, he* generally says, “Well, I sure liked his policies and he got a lot of important things done.” Of course, I’m always, “Bullshit!!! Bullshit!!” at the offending appliance.

    But do Repubs actually believe it to be true? That he got a lot done, passed a lot of important bills, etc.?

    *Usually. Often with a squirrel tail hanging from his face.

  27. 27.

    Jeffro

    Finally, Trump’s schtick isn’t new anymore, and his legal troubles have made him (and his rhetoric) far more inward-focused than he was in 2016.  Never forget that Trump had the most free media of any candidate in modern history, The Apprentice.  You could see why Iowa voters would be excited about him 8 years ago when he was a shiny new toy.  Today, he’s no more exciting than boring DeSantis, or brown/female Hayley.  Better to stay home on the recliner than to risk frostbite to vote for any of them.

    He’s EXTREMELY boring to all but the most culty of cultists.

    There’s also that trump-stink about him…Eau de Loser

  29. 29.

    Scout211

    @Alison Rose:  Yeah, but I guess the good news is that with my slower internet it was already downloaded somehow and only had to install.  But now my printer is obsolete and will not work with Sonoma.  And I finally had a printer that I loved after messing with awful HP printers for too many years.

    /whining

  30. 30.

    Jay

    @Baud:

    Knee pads or a soft cushion if you are down in the dirt.

    3 rules of getting old,

    #1 Lift with your legs, not your back.

    #2 Stretch and limber up before any heavy physical activity like moving a fridge to clean behind it or putting your socks on in the morning.

    #3 Never, never trust a fart.

  31. 31.

    Matt McIrvin

    “Everything’s fucked up, vote for Trump” is not a valid CTA when their audience has voted for Trump once and, let’s face it, have gotten very damn little.

    They made us really unhappy, and that, to them, was all they really needed.

    Fundamentally, the thing to understand is that a whole lot of our neighbors hate us and want us to suffer.

  32. 32.

    FelonyGovt

    I think this is a very well-reasoned analysis, mistermix. I hope it’s true. I do think once the public starts hearing TIFG’s increasingly incoherent and alarming speeches again, many will be appalled.

  33. 33.

    Marcopolo

    So I’ve now read a couple turnout numbers crunchers who’ve pointed out that caucus turnout fell much more in areas of IA (Johnson County for example) where the “suburban R soccer mom voters” used to reside than in the rural areas.  The theory is that a lot of these better educated folks are now former Rs and thus no longer participate in R caucuses.  This analysis appeals to me (which is why I am taking it with a ton of salt ), but if it is correct & continues to play out in other places it’s bad news (yay!) for the GOP come Nov.

  34. 34.

    FelonyGovt

    @Scout211: I really like the Epson printers that use ink bottles instead of cartridges. They’re reliable and much more economical. I’m a Mac user as well.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    @Scout211

    Obvious (as in you undoubtedly already know this, am putting it out there for those who might not) first step is to go to the printer manufacturer’s site and see if there’s a new driver for your model.

  38. 38.

    Scout211

    @NotMax: first step is to go to the printer manufacturer’s site and see if there’s a new driver for your model.

     

    Yeah, I did.  They don’t have one for Ventura, let along Sonoma.  But it’s always good to remind people do that.  Thanks.

  39. 39.

    Bupalos

    If anyone heard the clip of Trump telling people they needed to come out even if they were sick or whatever, at the end he kind of shouted something like “YOU GOTTA GET UP AND GET OUT” and it was the first time I thought he’s slipping into weaker old-man treble tones.

    He did accidentally say “we lost by a whisker” and then had to save himself by mumbling something about “the printing presses running that night.”

    Other notable takeaways –
    -he clearly couldn’t remember what state Jim Jordan was from and just had to say “he’s from…somewhere else other than Iowa.”
    -I guess on Putin’s orders he kept returning to the theme of nuclear war, just tossing it in all over the place and how much unbelievable devastation it causes and how no one understands that that except him.
    -He told endless rambling stories about the people he endorsed and “saved” and who had come to him with tears in their eyes but then who later betrayed him.

  40. 40.

    Scout211

    @FelonyGovt:I really like the Epson printers that use ink bottles instead of cartridges. They’re reliable and much more economical. I’m a Mac user as well.

    Thanks!  I saw that recommded just now on several techie sites.  How is it for air printing?

  41. 41.

    catclub

    @Jay: 3 rules of getting old,

     

    Well my rule of aging is: you can no longer get dressed or stand up without your own special sound effects.

  42. 42.

    FelonyGovt

    @Scout211: You mean remote printing from your phone or iPad via Bluetooth? Works fine for that. We have Model ET-2800 if that helps (and unlike Shaq, they are not paying me to endorse them!)

  44. 44.

    kindness

    When is New Hampshire’s primary?  Next week?  Trump will win that too.  Be curious to see if Ms. Nikki beats DeSantis there.  I’m hoping so just to see DeSantis’s spirit crushed a little bit more.

  45. 45.

    Scout211

    @FelonyGovt: You mean remote printing from your phone or iPad via Bluetooth? Works fine for that. We have Model ET-2800 if that helps (and unlike Shaq, they are not paying me to endorse them!)

    Yes, that is what I meant.  Thank you for the recommendation.

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    @S Cerevisiae: I think another motivation behind the SALT exemption cut was to undercut support for local and state taxes. Theoretically, it could have encouraged voters in high-tax states and localities to vote for tax-cutting Republicans. I don’t think it worked out that way, or at least it hasn’t yet, but that was the hope.

  48. 48.

    RevRick

    In other bad news for Biden, the latest Quinnipiac University poll shows he leads Trump 49-46 in Pennsylvania. Considering Biden only won the Commonwealth by 1% in 2020, and everybody agrees he’s old and sucks, this bodes ill for Democrats.

  59. 59.

    Anoniminous

    NH will be interesting. In 2016 Trump won with 100,735 votes out of 251,412 votes or 35.23%. In 2020 running essentially unopposed he got 129,734 total votes out of 143,578. It’s worth noting Biden won the state in 2020. My take from that is Trump isn’t popular in New Hampshire and Haley has a decent shot of winning. Also since ..

    ETA: Johnson County Iowa Republicans are a good stand-in for NH Republicans.

  63. 63.

    John Revolta

    FOX doesn’t want to come out and support Trump because they don’t really want him…….. Rupert tried dumping him after the last election and his ratings took a nosedive. They came back to at least not being against him and their viewers eventually drifted back, but it’s a marriage of convenience.

    And as others have already pointed out, the MAGAs have got plenty of satisfaction out of Trump’s first term. He pissed off the Liberals, daily, and that’s all they really care about. Some of the more “thoughtful” of them can point to all the judges he put in, esp. at SCOTUS, which of course gave us Dobbs. But for most of them, that stuff is gravy.

  65. 65.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    I am optimistic that Biden will win. That being said, if I’m going to list the things his supporters think Trump accomplished, I’d say it was this:

    1. Blocking migrants from entering the US by any means necessary (which they enthusiastically support)
    2. Drill, baby, drill
    3. (Inheriting) a great economy
    4. Tax cuts
    5. Sending the troops home from Iraq (all of the praise and none of the consequences)
    6. Agreements between some of the Arab states and Israel.
    7. The radical Supreme Court
    8. The fall of Roe.
    9. Constant, unrestrained bashing of liberals

    They love all that. And as someone said here, not that long ago, right-wing culture warriors want machine guns at the border. Mistermix has this completely wrong. They don’t really care that businesses are having a hard time finding workers. They don’t think the problem is a lack of workers. They think the problem is a lack of social will. They believe you would basically have zero unemployment if you’d just force children, disabled people, mentally ill, homeless, convicts, and prisoners to take those jobs and go to church. It isn’t realistic, but that is absolutely how these people think. They are authoritarians. Every problem in their minds can be solved by cracking down harder and taking away options.

  66. 66.

    Anoniminous

    @RevRick: ​
     
    I claim pollster bullshit.

    In 2020 Biden got 424,921 (52.71%) to Trump’s 365,654 (45.36%.)
    For Trump to take the state he either has to find 59,268 new voters or convince 29,634 Biden voters to switch. The first is silly, the second incredibly unlikely.

  67. 67.

    p.a.

    If Haley wins NH we will get tRump’s “I was robbed!” schtick à la every loss he’s ever endured.

    And then he’ll have to think up an insulting nickname for her, burning up more of his  decreasing gray matter.

  69. 69.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Anoniminous: My impression talking to actual New Hampshirites is that there’s a lot of resentment of the Democrats for messing with their precious primary, and Biden may have lost the state just out of spite over that.

  70. 70.

    eclare

    @Scout211:

    Oh no!  Printers are endlessly frustrating and have been for decades.  Office Space is 24 years old.

    I hope you can find a good solution.  Anytime I print something with my printer it takes four or five tries to get it configured just right.

  74. 74.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Anoniminous:

    For Trump to take the state he either has to find 59,268 new voters or convince 29,634 Biden voters to switch. The first is silly, the second incredibly unlikely.

    Or 59,268 Biden voters just have to decide not to vote or vote for RFK Jr. or Vermin Supreme or something. That’s probably the most likely win scenario for Trump.

  76. 76.

    mrmoshpotato

    Better to stay home on the recliner than to risk frostbite to vote for any of them.

    Surprised that the stupid people of Iowa actually have that much sense, or is it just a sense of self-preservation, ie. not dying from the cold?

  77. 77.

    Anoniminous

    @Matt McIrvin: ​
     

    Maybe they are that fucking stupid. And, realistically, if we have to depend on NH to put Biden over the top we’ve almost certainly lost anyway. NH is a Nice-to-Have, not a Need-to-Have.

  79. 79.

    cain

    @kindness:

    When is New Hampshire’s primary?  Next week?  Trump will win that too.  Be curious to see if Ms. Nikki beats DeSantis there.  I’m hoping so just to see DeSantis’s spirit crushed a little bit more.

    More likely Ron is crushing Casey’s dreams. Seeing her future as 1st lady getting destroyed. Sad.

  80. 80.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Soprano2:

    I’m sure the press will find a way to make this seem bad for Biden. They have a knack of doing that. 

    You mean they haven’t yet?  Wow, the horses’ asses are really falling down on the job.

  83. 83.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Soprano2: Of course they’re referring to Black folks.

    “They been calling us lazy ever since we stopped working for free.”

  84. 84.

    Anoniminous

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Or maybe 200,000 New Hampshire voters will go on a crazed coke, fentanyl, and sex binge, fry their brains, and forget it’s an election year.

    :-)

  85. 85.

    cain

    @Anoniminous: If Haley wins NH – it’s going to be a full on GOP vs GOP war with a lot of ‘perfect’ calls to many GOP reps. He will stomp her like nobodys business.

    He will use overt racial tones and unlike the Dems there won’t be any protection from that because being racist is perfectly fine in that camp.

  86. 86.

    Bupalos

    @catclub: oh yeah I just hadn’t in a blissfully long time. He really is significantly weaker sounding, slightly higher pitched, and even more rambly. He seems to launch off on asides assuming he’ll be able to connect with the audience on something like how much fat is in bacon now…but I think it ends up more convoluted than before and with often very strange phrasing. The thing with bacon was him relating that the bacon in NYC is all fat with “a tiny string of something” and that in Iowa there’s no fat at all, because that’s how it should be because it’s Iowa. I have a hard time believing that comes off as anything but a weird hallucination to an Iowan.

    He did seem less menacing and angry. I assume that will be a negative for him.

  92. 92.

    West of the Rockies

    I truly think Trump has lost more votes than he has created.  65 and older may support Biden now, but did Trump win them in 2016/20?  Some younger voters may be pissed about Biden’s handling of Israel,  but probably more are motivated by Dobbs.   Some Republicans may have been turned off by January 6th.  If one or three out of 100 sit it out or actually vote Joe, Trump is in trouble.   Add to that, the shit likely to surface from his many trials doing further damage to his reputation.  Nonetheless, GOTV.

  93. 93.

    cain

    @rikyrah: Yes, but which Christian fascist? There are so many! It’ll definitely not be Catholic or Mormon. They will go after those folks more than the atheist. I mean its’ all about doing it right so that God will love you more – but you have to kill a number of them to make that clear to them that God will love them more especially after a nice few years of an inquisition.

  95. 95.

    Redshift

    @Scout211:

    Since this is an open thread, a PSA for Mac users who haven’t upgraded to Sonoma yet:

    Well, that’s going to be fun, since my work Mac has updates validated and controlled by the IT department, and their tools tend to fight off and downgrade any extracurricular attempts to update anything.

  97. 97.

    eclare

    @rikyrah:

    A CNN reporter asked Haley how she felt about being the only woman in the race given that TIFG has been convicted of sexual assault.

    “I haven’t looked at” that case.  From the WaPo today.

    What a craven asshole.

  98. 98.

    gene108

    @MattF:

    The media always portrays the Trump tax policy as the Trump Tax Cuts, but it was a significant tax increase for many.

    Loss of the personal exemption caused my taxes to go up by a thousand dollars.

  99. 99.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Professor Bigfoot: @Soprano2:

    “You forgot all the lazy people on welfare. They honestly think there are so many of them that we don’t need any immigrants to work at all if only we’d quit supporting the lazy moochers.”

    Of course they’re referring to Black folks.

    This is 100% true. They are so racist and xenophobic. The howling about the border is happening in part because they really want to stop nearly all immigration. That is real.

    We do need reform. I agree that we can’t have 10K people immigrating every day when we already have a housing shortage. However, I’m in favor of reasonable limits. There is no reasonable limit for these people.

  105. 105.

    Redshift

    @Marmot:

    So, without fail, when there’s a Repub on the teevee or radio, he* generally says, “Well, I sure liked his policies and he got a lot of important things done.” Of course, I’m always, “Bullshit!!! Bullshit!!” at the offending appliance.

    The ones I’ve encountered in person talk about “all his accomplishments” (and also how he did them with no help from the Democrats.) It’s weird. Nobody says something like “all his accomplishments” if they can call to mind a single one of the supposed accomplishments. It’s just “I know he was great, therefore he did great stuff.”

  108. 108.

    Mallard Filmore

    @catclub: 

    Well my rule of aging is: you can no longer get dressed or stand up without your own special sound effects.

    That starts in your thirties, when you grunt getting out of your car.

  111. 111.

    eclare

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Thanks for the clip, WaPo didn’t have it.

    Yo, Nimrata, not that you care, but a judge did find TIFG guilty.  I wish we had decent journalists who would have come back with that.

  115. 115.

    HumboldtBlue

    When are these stupid fucking white men gonna learn not to fuck with Taylor Swift?

    Disgraced former NFL quarterback Brett Favre is getting sacked again for stoking a beef with phenomenally successful singer Taylor Swift, accusing her of using her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, in a “money grab.”

    Kettle, meet pot.

    His comments were made in the midst of Republican anger directed at Swift, who used her star power to help register tens of thousands of her fans to vote in less than 24 hours.

    “She’s obviously using Travis Kelce for publicity. It’s a money grab that’s not going to end well. Eventually the Chiefs are going to lose & it will be her fault. She’s bad for football,” Favre said.

    Favre himself was embroiled in a huge controversy in which he attempted to divert millions in welfare funds to build a volleyball facility at his alma mater, University of Southern Mississippi. The smoking gun: his own text messages.

    “If you were to pay me is there anyway (sic) the media can find out where it came from and how much?” Favre’s damning text read.

    Favre was forced to pay back $1.1 million of payment for speeches he never made, and testified for 9 hours in a December 2023 secret deposition for a civil lawsuit.

    Meanwhile, Taylor Swift has been a hugely successful musician long before her budding relationship began, having won numerous awards including 12 Grammys, and her net worth is estimated at an eye-popping $1.1 billion.

    As for Swift being “bad for football,” her attendance at games has resulted in a 53% spike in female viewers between the ages of 12 and 17

    Favre’s off-target criticism of the superstar only helps to further tarnish his fading brand.

  117. 117.

    karen marie

    @Marmot:  That he didn’t get anything done that they can point to is, of course, the fault of the “Pinko Communist Demonrats.”

    For every failure, there’s an excuse.

    If he gets reelected and imprisons and murders his “enemies,” his fans will find other excuses for why their shitty life is still shitty and getting shittier.

    @Jay:  That goes for sneezing too.  I make sure I’ve got my muscles ready before I sneeze so I don’t fall down or pull something.

  120. 120.

    Alison Rose

    We really do not need to do the name thing with Haley. It’s not unproblematic to insist on calling a person of color by a name that more closely aligns with their racial identity than the one they choose to go by. It’s not okay when the right does it and it’s not okay when we do it.

  122. 122.

    wjca

    @Betty: I saw an older guy in Iowa say that in an interview. A vote for Trump was a way to own the libs.

    “Owning the libs” is the important thing (unless you are rich, the one and only thing) that TIFG got done.  So if that’s your sole priority in life….

  123. 123.

    Scout211

    @eclare: I hope you can find a good solution.  Anytime I print something with my printer it takes four or five tries to get it configured just right.

    Thank you.  It took me some time but I was able to reconfigure my printer settings in the systems settings and my old Canon works now.  So yay.

  126. 126.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Fox News doesn’t need a CTA.  Their political one: never in a million years vote for a Dem, is already a given with their viewers.  What Fox really wants is for their viewers to keep watching FoxNews and live in a perpetual state of pants-shitting fear about immigrants, crime, CRT, Transgender Athletes etc.

  128. 128.

    TS

    @kindness:

    The MSM (the reporters, editors and producers, not to mention the guilded owners) love them some Republican Daddies.

    Australian Media – and this is the so called “independent” government broadcaster

    Trump’s record breaking Iowa win was expected but it’s still extraordinary

    Donald Trump’s win in the Iowa caucuses was so resounding, many voters hadn’t voted before it was called

    Most Australians know nothing about Iowa (except they grow corn – taught in geography at school) and less about the US primary voting/caucuses  – so this is what they are fed about trump.

  129. 129.

    gwangung

    @Alison Rose: We really do not need to do the name thing with Haley. It’s not unproblematic to insist on calling a person of color by a name that more closely aligns with their racial identity than the one they choose to go by. It’s not okay when the right does it and it’s not okay when we do it.

    Yes. PLEASE.

  131. 131.

    karen marie

    @eclare:   Did the reporter respond by asking Haley to pull their finger?

    It’s not believable that someone running for the GOP nomination has no knowledge of their opponent being found guilty of sexual assault.

  133. 133.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Alison Rose: ​ 

    Bullshit. She claims this country is not a racist nation, and she knows damn well if she used her given name, Nimrata, she’d be nothing more than a dirty brown immigrant (which is how Trump will treat her from here on out). She gets no fucking grace, she gets no respect, she’s earned every nasty thing that gets thrown her way.

    Fuck her three ways to Sunday, nasty right-wing bitch.

  136. 136.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Anoniminous:

    Or maybe 200,000 New Hampshire voters will go on a crazed coke, fentanyl, and sex binge, fry their brains, and forget it’s an election year.

    Let’s see, the NH House of Representatives is almost that big.

  138. 138.

    Alison Rose

    @HumboldtBlue: Got it, so in your view, it’s okay to be racist against POC if they’re Republicans.

    Tell me: What do you call Tim Scott? Got any special words for him?

    Also: “every nasty thing”? Well she demurred about Trump and sexual assault, so why don’t you go hop into her mentions and make some rape threats? I mean, she deserves it, right?

  141. 141.

    schrodingers_cat

    @HumboldtBlue:Bullshit. She claims this country is not a racist nation, and she knows damn well if she used her given name, Nimrata, she’d be nothing more than a dirty brown immigrant (which is how Trump will treat her from here on out).

    So those of us who use our given names that are not Anglicized are dirty brown immigrants? Wow.

  142. 142.

    Jay

    @Alison Rose:

    When I was at the last place, everybody called him “Crab”. Skilled Electrical Engineer working a shit job as a “Foreign Student”, going for his Masters.

    His name was Phrabinder.

    I always took care to address him by his given name.

    He appreciated that.

    We call Martin’s ( a close friend’s son) partner Sam, even though we knew her as Samantha for about a decade, before he started transitioning.

  145. 145.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Alison Rose: ​ 

    Timothy is his given fucking name. Sweet Jesus, Nimrata is that bitch’s name, you don’t fucking like it, take it up with her parents.

  146. 146.

    wjca

    @eclare: I think TIFG refers to Haley as birdbrain.

    Which is how we see, yet again, that SFB has mental giants working for him.  It’s so obvious to go from Nimrata => nimrod.

    But perhaps that slang is too recent (1980s) for him.

  150. 150.

    Dan B

    @trollhattan: “I’m not racist but…”  Such self awareness.  Assumes Ramaswamy is a closet terrorist.  Probably believes he wears a turban, a sure sign of terrorism

    And Haley says that America is not racist.  Well she’s gotta or they’ll come down hard against her.

  154. 154.

    Elizabelle

    @HumboldtBlue:  Please don’t be fighting.  I don’t want anyone to go stomping off, and do enjoy the videos you put up.

    Nikki Haley is frequently a hypocrite and a liar.  By any name.  Just leave it there.

  156. 156.

    Alison Rose

    @HumboldtBlue: You call her Nimrata as a racist attack. Not because it’s her fucking name. And now you’re calling her a bitch. So in your view, it’s fine to use bigotry against Republicans, so I’ll ask, if someone called Tim Scott the n-word, would you tell them not to? Because as you have stated, Republicans deserve bigoted attacks. So why would it not be okay to call him a slur? You are 100% using her name as a slur. You might as well be calling her a Patel.

  159. 159.

    JPL

    @HumboldtBlue:  She has been known by Nikki for decades.   I personaly think it is childish when the republicans do something to own the libs, and I feel the same way here.

    If you are comfortable with it, whatever.

  161. 161.

    different-church-lady

    @HumboldtBlue: Oh. Okay, now that we’ve finally got a couple of facts established, why the fuck don’t you explain to us why a person is not allow to chose which legitimate name they’re going to use?

  162. 162.

    Another Scott

    @Scout211: Good.

    Printing on MacOS is paradise compared to printing on Winders.  30+ years and it’s still a nightmare.

    Unless I’m mistaken, MacOS’s printing engine is still basically CUPS which is very well debugged.  It’s usually possible to get almost any printer working (to some extent) with it.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  163. 163.

    coin operated

    A simple lesson:

    Calling him Rafael Cruz is racist…

    Calling him Cancun Cruz is not.

    Lay off the Nikki bullshit, people…it is at least sexist, if not outright racist.

  164. 164.

    different-church-lady

    Goddamn, people actin’ so stupid I gotta defend Nikki Fuckin Haley is not what I had on my to-do list….

  167. 167.

    Geminid

    WTOP News reported that President Biden will meet tomorrow with Senators Schumer and McConnell and Reps. Johnson and Jeffries. The subject of the White House meeting: Biden’s $100+ billion Supplemental Appropriations bill funding armaments for Ukraine and Israel as well enhanced border security.

  168. 168.

    PST

    @MattF:

    Let’s not forget losing the deduction for state and local taxes under Trump. A lot of people (including me) had to move to the standard deduction. The media always portrays the Trump tax policy as the Trump Tax Cuts, but it was a significant tax increase for many.

    It was a gift to plutocrats at the expense of the bourgeoisie. Well paid professionals and executives — especially in states with high real estate prices and high taxes — got dinged. I don’t mean the entrepreneurial professionals who figure out ways to leverage the efforts of others and build businesses rather than a practices, and I don’t mean the denizens of the C suite. Not the masters of the universe, just the educated and well compensated who have it pretty darn good. That’s one reason we don’t have as many country club republicans as we used to.

  169. 169.

    Dan B

    @different-church-lady: I personally think that Nimrata Mandhawa is a beautiful name.  Many Americans, especially GOP, would find it unfamiliar and thus scary.  I wish that wasn’t so.  I also wish that Haley could see how hypocritical her views on racism are

    She also seems to have a huge blind spot about misogyny in the right wing.

  174. 174.

    different-church-lady

    @Dan B: It’s totally legit to point out that if she were going by her first name + maiden name she’d be viewed negatively by a great deal of the voting public.

    It’s totally BULLSHIT to claim the two names she’s using aren’t her “real” names. It’s bullshit because it’s just plain factually incorrect.

  178. 178.

    Alison Rose

    @HumboldtBlue:

    She can use whatever name she wants to use, and I can call out her racist ass for pandering to a party filled with racists

    Sure, of course.

    The question is, can you do this without being racist? Because the rest of us can. You seem to really love calling her Nimrata. You should ask why that is so important to you. We all know her first name. We know her ethnic identity. You can call out her bad politics and hypocrisy without being a bigot.

    Or at least, most of us can. Seems difficult for you.

  181. 181.

    Geminid

    @Elizabelle: The last time (I think) Joe Biden hosted the four top Congressional leaders was late last February. The subject then was the Debt Ceiling, and Kevin McCarthy, not Mike Johnson, was Speaker.

  184. 184.

    Jay

    @HumboldtBlue:

    On my Mother’s side, the family name was Slopak,

    because when my Grandfather Came to Canada as a WWI Orphan/refugee, the Immigration Officers had no clue.

    In Austro-Hungary, when an “Official” asked you your name, you had to reply with your first name, then your ethnicity, then your last name, and the Immigration official could not spell or hear “Slovak”.

    4 generations now of “Slopak’s” when it is actually Petaroski.

  189. 189.

    Citizen Alan

    I am willing to concede that it is racist to refer to Haley as Nimrata and probably also Cruz as Raphael and Bobby Jindal as Piyush. But more seriously, what are we to make of the fact that a Republican with any degree of non-white ethnicity must do everything they can to erase such cultural ties to have any future in the GOP? Would Haley be electable at any level if she did go by Nimrata? Would Tim Scott be a GOP senator from South Carolina if his name were Jamal or LaMarcus? Democrats eagerly embraced a man named Barack Hussein Obama, who Republicans regularly mocked by calling him “Barry.”

    Relatedly, what’s the over-under on whether Shitgibbon will start calling her Nimrata if she does well in New Hampshire, and, if so, will MAGAts start yelling that at her as an insult.

  198. 198.

    coin operated

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Is it still ok with you if I continue calling him Shithead Ted?

    Sure is.  I do like the ring of Cancun Cruz, but Shithead Ted works as well.

  199. 199.

    different-church-lady

    @mrmoshpotato: Well, I wasn’t going to go into any of this, but since you ask: I haven’t had solid food since the new year, because some kind of viral-fungal thing has gotten ahold of the entirety of the inside of my mouth. For over two weeks now it’s felt like someone is using my tongue as a pincushion and all the mucus membranes light on fire whenever there’s the least little bit of acid. I’ve been existing on nothing but yogurt, Ensure, and thinned out pea soup, so, ribs sound REALLY FUCKIN’ GOOD right now!​

  202. 202.

    Dan B

    @mrmoshpotato: I’m enjoying the view of the  glacier clad volcano Glacier Peak as clouds darken the front range.  Our frigid (for Seattle) weather is turning to rain this evening.  It may be freezing rain on Thursday but it’s sublime at the moment.

  206. 206.

    Jay

    @zhena gogolia:

    1/4.

    Highland Scots, (Dads side) and English,

    Slovak, (Mom’s side) and English Home Child.*

    (orphans, etc sent to Canada as cheap labour)

    https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/people-and-stories/british-home-children

    My Grandmother wound up at a Boarding House, run by Ms. Renolds, at Crowsnest Falls. From what we understand, she was a nice lady, ran a tight house in a coal mining district, had foster children until she died. Grandmother had chores, but also full time school. While exploitive, it wasn’t the horror story that most Home Children experienced. When she got engaged to my Grandfather, Ms. Renolds taught her how to cook some of the key dishes of Slovak cusine.

  207. 207.

    different-church-lady

    @eclare: ​
      Two, and I got four different pharmacological potions fighting on my side of the battle. Today they seem to finally have the attackers on the run.

  208. 208.

    Brachiator

    Coming back to the top line commentary

    Josh looks at a couple of possible reasons, including cold and the fact that Trump’s nomination is a foregone conclusion.  But he also thinks that it’s another example of lackluster enthusiasm on the part of Republicans…

    Fact is that turnout was low. Marshall’s speculation about the reason for it is just pulling stuff out of his ass.

    One thing that might be interesting. Hayley was a close number three, but typically only got single digit votes in all the rural districts. She did okay, but worse than she hoped in the big city and with Republicans who accept that Biden won in 2020. New Hampshire is not Iowa rural.

    Anyone with two eyes, two ears and a barely functioning brain can figure out that things were still fucked up and bullshit under Trump’s benighted reign — and whether you agree or disagree with them, there are a lot of Iowa Republicans with eyes, ears and at least a wee bit of common sense.

    The MAGA crowd don’t see the real world. They only see their dear leader. There appear to be more of these idiots than sane Republicans. I hope that more Republicans wake up out of their fog, but Democrats have to focus on getting out the vote.

  210. 210.

    Jackie

    @cain:

    He will use overt racial tones and unlike the Dems there won’t be any protection from that because being racist is perfectly fine in that camp

    He’s already using the birther issue – insinuating Haley isn’t a true American because her parents were immigrants and at the time of her birth, still not naturalized US citizens. She, of course was born in SC and IS an American citizen…

    I imagine he’ll start referring her to her given name, which is Indian and very “foreign sounding.”

  216. 216.

    Bupalos

    @HumboldtBlue: hahahhaha taylor swift needs to “grab” travis kelce’s money and influence about like how David Koch needs to acquire my half-bag of charcoal or Shakira needs to steal my dance moves.

  221. 221.

    different-church-lady

    @Bupalos: ​
    Kelce has twice as many rings as Favre, and Taylor Swift. It’s like all he’s gotta do is say “scoreboard” and grin.

  222. 222.

    Manyakitty

    @Citizen Alan: all good points. I expect the dumpers to get crappy about her name and a thousand other petty things.

    We can pick on her for tons of legit failures and still not diminish ourselves.

  226. 226.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Dan B: Excellent.

    Chicago is at 2° right now, but we hit -10° over the weekend.

    Above freezing forecast for Monday.  Go 49ers, Lions, and Chiefs!

  228. 228.

    different-church-lady

    OK, let’s take a poll: what’s the first solid food I should eat once I’m capable?

  232. 232.

    MCA1

    @eclare: All I know is that I hope for his sake Jordan Love has someone in his posse whose sole purpose is to ground his ego.  Seems to be something in the water in Green Bay that leads their modern era quarterbacks to develop into Hall of Famers on the field while devolving into irredeemable shitbirds off of it.  And after this past weekend, it looks like Love might be on the on-field path blazed by Favre and Rodgers.

  234. 234.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @HumboldtBlue: This is one of the shittiest comments I have seen on Balloon Juice that not come from a troll.  You are utterly  wrong about this.  End of story.

  236. 236.

    different-church-lady

    @C Stars: What, frozen?
    Never mind: I’ve never had pho and until now I had no idea there were so many solids in it!​

  238. 238.

    Bupalos

    @Alison Rose: this is very well put. More than that, I find it heartening when people are still able to operate by values and principles in the face of a polarized politics that encourages us to forget them.

    And I also understand how folks feel so threatened that they do sometimes forget them.

  240. 240.

    wjca

    @Baud: For electability reasons, I’m changing my nym to Bob.

    Are you sure you don’t want to just drop one letter?  And go with:

    Bad

  242. 242.

    wjca

    @coin operated: I do like the ring of Cancun Cruz, but Shithead Ted works as well.

    It’s a matter of picking either the alliteration demographic or the rhyming demographic.  (It could be a fascinating study, as in PhD level, to see what kind of politics correlates with each.)

  243. 243.

    Jackie

    @Baud: I asked my daughter, who’s a Swifty AND NFL fan, what’s in GB’s water that eventually turns their QBs into moronic idiots?

  244. 244.

    Bupalos

    @MCA1: Farvehehre was never really that great a qb. He played a certain style that garnered him more appreciation than he actually deserved.

  246. 246.

    karen marie

    @Dan B:  She doesn’t have a blind spot about any of it – any more than she “hasn’t heard” about Trump being found guilty of rape in the Carroll civil suit.  She’s just working within the parameters of the road she’s chosen.

  247. 247.

    Scout211

    @different-church-lady: OK, let’s take a poll: what’s the first solid food I should eat once I’m capable?

    My vote: anything sweet and chocolatey.  After a nice cheesy quesadilla.  That’s what I ate after my last colonoscopy.

  250. 250.

    Jay

    @zhena gogolia:

    If you have the last name, and a little family history, it’s not hard to find out, as the Scot’s were all arranged, (and many still are) on the Clan system. A system of family relations and allied groups.

    On my Scot’s Grandfather’s side, I have family tree’s from the Clan, going back to the 800’s.

  254. 254.

    wjca

    @Manyakitty: my immediate response is spaghetti.

    Any kind of pasta.  As long as it’s with pesto.

    EDT Note that marinara is made with tomatoes, which are acidic.  And acidic was one of the problems.   Just being on the safe side for the first steps back to normal.

  256. 256.

    Jay

    @different-church-lady:

    Alton Brown’d ribs**, Alton Brown’d Baked Potatoes*, steamed carrots, broccoli or rabe

    *a good russet, stabbed with a fork, (to let the steam out) coated with olive oil and salt, baked at 450F, “Fluffy!!!!!”

    Ribs, sour, (lime juice),  a little heat, (chilli paste), brown sugar, some Worstechesterchestire sauce, some liquid smoke. Bake, tightly wrapped in foil at 270 for 2 hours.

    Fridge overnight, (turns all the chewy stringy stuff into mouth fat).

    The next day, rewarm, use the drippings to add to or be the base of your BBQ sauce.

    Coat ribs with sauce, and caramelize the sauce under the broiler or on a BBQ.

  257. 257.

    C Stars

    @different-church-lady: I guess soup might not be what you’re craving if you’re reverting back to solid food, but it is a wonderful thing to eat when it’s chilly outside. And yeah, the beef slices…yum

  263. 263.

    lowtechcyclist

    @different-church-lady:

    Oh. Okay, now that we’ve finally got a couple of facts established, why the fuck don’t you explain to us why a person is not allow to chose which legitimate name they’re going to use?

    It’s obvious: she was Assigned Nimrata At Birth, so she isn’t supposed to be allowed to switch to another name.

    Yes, I’m being sarcastic, but HB’s logic does seem to overlap with that of the anti-trans crowd.

  265. 265.

    wjca

    @Manyakitty: Alfredo is good, too.

    Alfredo is acceptable, albeit a bit bland.  But it’s hard to go wrong with more garlic.  (For more substance, you can gild the lily with bacon bits.  Yum!)

  267. 267.

    Eduardo

    @Alison Rose: Agree 100%, it is foolish, and by the way, immigrants and everybody else should be able to change our names or “go by” a shorter version of it without busibodies judging.  In the case of Haley, what if Nikki wasn’t his name?  What if she even changed it to fit better in famously racist South Carolina?  Would that make her a bad person?  What is she had change it to win elections?  What is wrong with being ambitious?

    That’s not the issue with Haley.  It is how unbelievably craven she is.  Like in this thread someone pointed to a video of her pretending not to know Trump was found liable of being a f*ing rapist.  I mean, he is so disgusting, he has to repulse her as a female, I think.  That’s the issue.  Freedom means freedom for everyone and changing their name is everyone’s prerogative.

  268. 268.

    different-church-lady

    @lowtechcyclist: Here’s the rub: my whole fuckin’ point is that she was ALSO “assigned” Nikki at birth. Forget about intent, the attack is wrong on the facts.

    But you are absolutely right: here we are at a place where we’d be pushing back hard on anyone insisting on deadnaming a trans person, and one of our usually valued commenters is pulling this dumb shit?

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