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Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

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When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

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

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

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Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

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Not loving this new fraud based economy.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / 2024 Primaries / Thursday Evening Open Thread: You Knew What I Was…

Thursday Evening Open Thread: You Knew What I Was…

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Maggie Haberman and the FTFNYTimes do their very best to fluff TFG as a dynamic colossus sweeping all before him — “Inside Trump’s Cutthroat Conquest of Iowa and New Hampshire”: [gift link]

… Standing backstage at his victory party in downtown Des Moines, Mr. Trump appeared almost giddy with disbelief as television screens blared the news of an outcome so lopsided it was called while the voting was still underway. He had won more than 50 percent of the vote — and 98 of the state’s 99 counties — and his rivals, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, were clustered together far behind. Mr. DeSantis edged just ahead of Ms. Haley, enough to stall her momentum but not enough to save his candidacy.

“Did you think it was going to be like this?” Mr. Trump remarked to an adviser, according to two people who witnessed the interaction…

How Mr. Trump swept the first two states — smoothing his path to the nomination at this early stage — is certainly a tale of cutthroat politics. But that’s only part of the story.

The former president and his allies had luck and a cunning strategy on their side. They put Mr. Trump’s unerring instincts for revving up the Republican base and belittling his opponents to effective use. He benefited from criminal indictments that rallied Republicans around him and a fractured opposition that spent millions of dollars savaging each other instead of him — a replay of the 2016 Republican primaries. Along the way, Mr. Trump consistently evaded ideological labels, along with misguided and mistimed efforts to diminish him.

In 2016, Mr. Trump finished in fifth place among voters in Iowa who had said “shares my values” was their top criteria, winning a meager 5 percent of such voters, according to entrance polls. In 2024, Mr. Trump dominated that category, pulling in 43 percent of those voters.

Mr. Trump’s values had not changed. The party’s had…

He had won the first two states — a feat never achieved by any Republican who wasn’t a sitting president. But Mr. Trump had grudges to settle, mocking his former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in a social media post aboard his plane. “I don’t get too angry,” he had explained during his speech. “I get even.”

Calling DeSantis p*ssy-whipped and saying Haley was a brown-skinned woman with a funny name — that’s unprecedented genius, per the Court Jester of Mar-A-Lago. If Trump doesn’t stroke out by May, Haberman just might.

And another little gift to The Big Guy, from the guy who gave us Citizens United Not Timid — “RNC Moving to Declare Trump Its Presumptive Nominee”:

… The draft resolution, obtained by The Dispatch Thursday morning, was proposed by David Bossie, an RNC committeeman from Maryland and close Trump ally. His effort to put the national party on a general election footing behind Trump follows RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel saying after the former president defeated Haley in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary that it was time for Republicans to unite behind the frontrunner and focus on defeating President Joe Biden.

“RESOLVED that the Republican National Committee hereby declares President Trump as our presumptive 2024 nominee for the office of President of the United States and from this moment forward moves into full general election mode welcoming supporters of all candidates as valued members of Team Trump 2024,” reads a key portion of the draft resolution.

Under current RNC rules, Trump still has to win the requisite number of nominating convention delegates—1,215—to become the party’s unchallenged presumptive nominee. After the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, Trump leads Haley in the race for delegates 32 to 17.

But passage of this resolution, possibly next week at the RNC winter meeting in Las Vegas, could begin a preemptive process of the national party working with the former president as if he had already done so. And under RNC rules, that is permissible. This resolution, even in draft form, also functions as another sign that the GOP establishment is anxious to coalesce behind Trump and put an end to a presidential primary that, after his victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, the former president looks poised to win…

“Who cares what the RNC says?” Haley campaign spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said after this report was published. “We’ll let millions of Republican voters across the country decide who should be our party’s nominee, not a bunch of Washington insiders. If Ronna McDaniel wants to be helpful she can organize a debate in South Carolina, unless she’s also worried that Trump can’t handle being on the stage for 90 minutes with Nikki Haley.”

Failing in line like good little sheep…

Reader Interactions

131Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    I wish someone would do a study of headlines to compare the words they use when talking about Trump and Biden.

  3. 3.

    RaflW

    “Donald J. Trump’s campaign couldn’t have scripted the results in Iowa any better.” Barf.

    Also, winning an allegedly MAGA state by a majority of only 1% doesn’t seem ideal. Nor does losing against Hayley + DeSantis in DesMoines, that county, and the two adjacent suburban counties.

    eta: I need an airsick bag. “They put Mr. Trump’s unerring instincts for revving up the Republican base…”

    Really, Mags. Unerring? He lost the last general election. 2022 was crap for the GOP. Not very revved sounding to me. And these three brilliant minds (and their editors) assert without backing that the criminal indictments have helped Trump. Based on what?

    I think Haley keeping the race going so far tells us that no, the criminal cases (and civil, as discussed earlier today) aren’t helping Trump.

  4. 4.

    Yutsano

    Such good little sheep they are…lining up behind Dear Leader and bending the knee before his presence. I’d ask them how it tasted but that requires shame.

  6. 6.

    Kay

    Another lavish, wildly expensive Trump spread at the NYTimes and still no coverage of Biden voters.

    They’re so boring and predictable

  7. 7.

    satby

    We knew that unless the tangerine traitor dropped dead the election would be between him and Biden a year ago. The press are all frustrated as hell that there’s no exciting primary contests going on where they can make the candidates dance for their attention. And fearful that they’ll be next on the press purge list, so extra cranky.

  8. 8.

    RaflW

    Ronna McRomney makes Reince Priebus seem like a towering intellect and a strategic genius by comparison. Which, to be clear, is not about his meagre abilities.

  9. 9.

    Brachiator

    Trump racks up endorsements from Republicans in Congress as any resistance that once existed fades

    This was to be expected if Trump’s base came out for him, even by a small winning margin.

    The GOP leadership opposition to Trump was never particularly strong or honest. And now it’s evaporating.

    One question now is how many Trump loyalists will be willing to try to steal the election for him?

    And even the most craven Republicans understand that Trump is extremely vulnerable. Outside of his base, many voters despise him or fear the prospect of seeing him back in office. The GOP will have to pull some desperate shit to win.

  10. 10.

    RaflW

    @Kay: The NYT politics team hates their readers. That’s about what it all boils down to. They have developed a loathing for the people who pay their bills.

    The feeling is more than mutual by me.

  11. 11.

    Scout211

    The RNC moving to “declare Trump the presumptive nominee” is crazy. The entire RNC operation will be at the Trump campaign’s beck and call, not to mention their ATM. All of this for the primary, even before Super Tuesday.

    Talk about election interference. Yikes.

  12. 12.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @Kay:

    Another lavish, wildly expensive Trump spread at the NYTimes and still no coverage of Biden voters.

    If only Biden voters had all day off to sip coffee at ‘Murkin diners, then they’d get coverage!

    /s

  13. 13.

    Jeffro

    “Who cares what the RNC says?” Haley campaign spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said after this report was published. “We’ll let millions of Republican voters across the country decide who should be our party’s nominee, not a bunch of Washington insiders. If Ronna McDaniel wants to be helpful she can organize a debate in South Carolina, unless she’s also worried that Trump can’t handle being on the stage for 90 minutes with Nikki Haley.”

    Rooting for injuries here

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    @RaflW:I think Haley keeping the race going so far tells us that no, the criminal cases (and civil, as discussed earlier today) aren’t helping Trump.

    They most certainly aren’t!

    I just want Nikki to flex in Ron DeSantis’ direction and say, “SEE…this is how you do it, you wimp!”

  16. 16.

    RaflW

    BTW, have folks heard about the Republicans in Ruin (a bsky offering as counter to Dems in Disarray) in Colorado?

    The GOP House minority leader apparently racked up a DUI and a gun charge and kept it secret from his own caucus. Which then deadlocked on kicking him out as leader. They did finally manage to get him to resign his chair position, but only after looking like maximum doofuses. Oh, and that House minority leader? He was planning to run for the retiring Ken Buck’s Congressional seat.

    What a delightful collection of derp. And he’s damn lucky he didn’t kill someone, or get shot by the State Patrol: “According to a state patrol report, Lynch was driving 90 mph on I-25 and tested at twice the legal for alcohol in his blood when he was stopped near his home [on] September 30, 2022.”

    “Cpl Matthew King… noted that Lynch was so impaired that he had lost the ability to perceive the seriousness of the situation and react appropriately.

    “He told me he had a little .380 and said ‘Iit’s not a big deal.’ I informed him that pulling a gun out of your pocket when in contact with the police was, in fact, a big deal and people get shot that way.”

  17. 17.

    Jeffro

    @Scout211:The RNC moving to “declare Trump the presumptive nominee” is crazy. The entire RNC operation will be at the Trump campaign’s beck and call, not to mention their ATM. All of this for the primary, even before Super Tuesday.

    Something along those (ATM) lines would make for a great Biden/Harris campaign ad:

    “so…it’s Feb 2nd…Groundhog Day.  And once again, the RNC establishment is lined up waaaaay early to kiss Donald’s ring.  Way before the rest of Republican voters in this country have had their say.  Way before Donald’s 91 felony charges have even been tried.  Way before most ANY Republican voters have heard that he was found liable for rape, convicted of fraud, and so on.”

    “X% of donations to the RNC go to pay Donald’s legal bills for all those messes, did you know that?”

    “Once again, just like they do every time, the RNC and Donald Trump are playing you (and your wallet) for suckers.  This Groundhog Day, let’s do something different: not. one. more. dime. for Donald’s lawyers.  Not one more of your hard-earned dimes going to pay for his crimes.”

  18. 18.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @RaflW:

    I have but then I live here.

    I loved his reaction I think yesterday or day before calling the entire unrevealing of the arrest a “hit job”.  By his own party.  Friendly (on purpose) Fire!

  19. 19.

    Jeffro

    @Baud: it does, but I can’t see any GOP candidate who took a serious stand one way or the other this cycle doing well in 2028.  The hardcore trump supporters will have nothing…the ones who even remotely took trump on will be hard pressed to cobble together a majority.

    Only the folks smart enough to keep their heads down this year (and come up with magical GOP unity-speak for the two years leading up to 2028) would seem to have a prayer.

    ie, Kemp, Youngkin, or other GOP pols yet-to-be-named.

  20. 20.

    gene108

    @Baud:

    Staying in also raises her profile for 2028.

    I think she’s doing a good job raising her profile for 2028. I’m not sure how much it will matter, if Republican voters still want Trump or a Trump-clone.

  21. 21.

    Princess

    The RNC is nuts to be doing this. It’s obvious Trump is going to be the nominee — probably by or on Super Tuesday his lead will be insurmountable. Keeping the race going probably helps bring loyal goppers who don’t like Trump back on side. Stopping the fight now makes him look weak, like they need to hush him up and get him off stage. It’s such a bad move it makes me think there’s actually something really wrong with Trump that they need to hide.

  23. 23.

    NobodySpecial

    Republicans are lemmings. It only took one going off the cliff for all the rest to join.

  24. 24.

    RaflW

    @Princess: Colbert has been hammering Trump’s incoherence the last few nights. There’s definitely an undercurrent among the not-NYT haigographs of it getting noticed that Trump’s past circular locutions no longer even have a beginning and an end. They just spiral helpessly.

  26. 26.

    RSA

    Along the way, Mr. Trump consistently evaded ideological labels, along with misguided and mistimed efforts to diminish him.

    I think Haberman should go into more detail about which attempts to diminish Trump she thinks were “misguided,” to explain how that judgment call comes from objective news reporting. Misguided because… ?

  27. 27.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    Staying in also raises her profile for 2028.

    Trump would have to die sometime before 2028.

    Hayley is a woman who has defied him. Even if he is all orange bronzer and toothless, he will rally his base against her. He will be a bucket of rage until, well, until he kicks the bucket.

  28. 28.

    Kay

    A new study on public attitudes toward abortion laws finds that the more people know about pregnancy, the more likely they are to oppose legislation that limits women’s access to abortions – regardless of political ideology. The study also found that laws that limit access to abortion after 12 weeks did not have greater support than laws that limit access to abortion after six weeks.

    “There is a tremendous amount of research on public attitudes toward abortion in the United States, but very little of that work has been done since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade,” says Steven Greene, co-author of the study and a professor of political science at North Carolina State University. “We wanted to ask questions that directly address the policy issues raised in state legislatures in the wake of Dobbs.

    Good for NC State for caring enough about it to study it.

  30. 30.

    RaflW

    @Jeffro: Ronna “can organize a debate in South Carolina, unless she’s also worried that Trump can’t handle being on the stage for 90 minutes with Nikki Haley.”

    Ouch!

    I’d say Trump’s shuddering brain is now an open topic of conversation in GOP circles.

  31. 31.

    piratedan

    I think the GOP is in trouble as a national party because of Trump and if they don’t succeed in a fascist overthrow of our Democracy that they are on the fast track to implosion.  the crucible is Trump himself, a self-professed wannabe dictator with him in charge and a lengthy list of sycophants that want to gravy train on his coattails… the other faction is one that wants to have the folks behind the curtains calling the shots, a star chamber of rich folks that want to use the GOP as their mouthpiece.  So my guess is that they’ll be a schism of sorts as these two factions war with each other for control of a disintegrating national party apparatus with each of the states trying to fight for donors from these two factions.  They’ve been “peacefully” co-existing until lately when all of the Trump and his ilk have been in court flinging lawsuits like MST3K quips during a movie, but that shit costs and bills are coming due and the star chamber folks are looking at diminishing returns from their investments.  It will be interesting to see what happens when they turn on each other, but I will shed no tears for either faction and I am concerned on how many of us and our institutions may be harmed when it happens.

  32. 32.

    Kay

    @RSA:

    Just bizarre. Does the NYTimes political team now do advising work? Are they actually ON Team Trump? She weighs in on this?

    I genuinely wonder if they will ever cover the Biden campaign or of they’ll continue with the 100% Trump coverage. Kooky.

  34. 34.

    Splitting Image

    @Kay:

    Another lavish, wildly expensive Drumpf spread at the NYTimes and still no coverage of Biden voters.

    They’re so boring and predictable

    All due respect to DougJ and his work, but when he started the Pitchbot he landed himself the easiest job in the entire world.

    These fuckers are the easiest people in the world to predict and they never change their tune, ever.

  35. 35.

    Kathleen

    I eagerly await Maggie’s next breathless paean to Trump’s next inevitable he man juggernaut in Dixie: “He’ll blast through South Carolina like Germans did in Poland!” She’s probably already claimed the office next to Stephen Miller in the Ministry For Propaganda and Enlightenment:

    The former president and his allies had luck and a cunning strategy on their side. They put Mr. Trump’s unerring instincts for revving up the Republican base and belittling his opponents to effective use. He benefited from criminal indictments that rallied Republicans around him and a fractured opposition that spent millions of dollars savaging each other instead of him — a replay of the 2016 Republican primaries. Along the way, Mr. Trump consistently evaded ideological labels, along with misguided and mistimed efforts to diminish him.

  38. 38.

    Jeffro

    @Princess:Stopping the fight now makes him look weak, like they need to hush him up and get him off stage. It’s such a bad move it makes me think there’s actually something really wrong with Trump that they need to hide.

    DING DING DING!!!

  40. 40.

    dm

    @Kay: There aren’t any Biden voters yet. The start of the Democratic primary is still a month away.

    I suppose they could talk to people who wrote in Biden in the Democratic Party of New Hampshire’s side show.

    I sometimes think that part of the reason we have Cletus safaris is because those people are exotic. It’s easy to understand people who vote for Biden. It’s the Trump delusionists who need explanation.

  41. 41.

    Jeffro

    @piratedan: spot on!

    I’m gonna want to repost this tomorrow but even ol’ Eugene Robinson of the WaPo is like FUCK THIS – burn it all down

    bye-bye GOP!

     

    If you want the GOP to be a serious conservative political party and not a MAGA cult, send Republicans into the wilderness. Vote for Biden. Take away Republicans’ control of the House. Give Democrats a bigger majority in the Senate. Vote Republican officials out of statehouses, city halls and school boards.  Make the metaphorical ashes from which a new GOP can rise.

  42. 42.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @NobodySpecial:

    Republicans are lemmings.

    Funny story:  Lemmings don’t charge over cliffs or drown themselves swimming across lakes/the ocean.  That was all made up for a Disney documentary and they literally pushed lemmings over a cliff (I think a very small one) to get footage.

  43. 43.

    dm

    @Jeffro: Yes. I think they want Trump out of the lime-light, so they can keep his mental decline under wraps. I doubt that he’ll go along with the idea of keeping him off stage, though.

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    The former president and his allies had luck a compliant media and a cunning gutter strategy on their side. They put Mr. Trump’s unerring instincts for revving up lying to the Republican base and belittling his opponents to effective use. He benefited from criminal indictments that rallied Republicans around him and a fractured completely moronic opposition that spent millions of dollars savaging each other instead of him — a replay of the 2016 Republican primaries. Along the way, Mr. Trump consistently evaded ideological labels, any sort of serious media scrutiny, along with misguided and mistimed completely fact-based and country-first efforts to diminish him

    fixed Maggie’s quote here

  45. 45.

    Redshift

    @Kay:

    The study also found that laws that limit access to abortion after 12 weeks did not have greater support than laws that limit access to abortion after six weeks.

    The one thing everyone learned from Dobbs and what has followed is that every Republican “compromise” offer is a lie, intended as a stepping stone to a total ban.

  47. 47.

    danielx

    @Princess: ​
     As they say in Texas, perhaps they don’t want to “overexpose the candidate”. Although at this point anyone with two functioning brain cells has a pretty good idea of what TFG is all about, so I can’t see why RNC consultants would have an issue.

  48. 48.

    zhena gogolia

    So because he won in NH they blew up the negotiations? God, I hate each and every one of them. And every single person who votes for them.

  50. 50.

    dm

    @lowtechcyclist: Thanks for the correction.

    I had been hearing the Pod Bros talk about how hard a slog Desantis’ not-yet-suspended, ignored-New-Hampshire campaign faced in the month-long march to South Carolina, and I didn’t look closely enough at the results of googling “South Carolina Primary 2024” in another tab before posting. and assumed they were on the same day.

    I see South Carolina has early voting, too — 22 Jan to 2 Feb, though I guess it still might be hard to find those voters to interview them.

  53. 53.

    Redshift

    @dm:

    There aren’t any Biden voters yet. The start of the Democratic primary is still a month away

    Did they wait until after Iowa to talk to Trump voters?

    In any case, early voting in the Virginia primary has already started. I haven’t heard about anyone hearing from the NYT.

  54. 54.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Kay:

    Another lavish, wildly expensive Trump spread at the NYTimes and still no coverage of Biden voters.

    FTFNTY: “What are these ‘Biden voters’ of which you speaker?

    @satby:

    And fearful that they’ll be next on the press purge list, so extra cranky.

    Nah, they’re sure a Trump presidency won’t affect them, but they’re cranky that others have the temerity to challenge their Conventional Wisdom(tm). Don’t people unwashed masses know who they are?!

  55. 55.

    Spanky

    @RaflW:

    “He told me he had a little .380 and said ‘Iit’s not a big deal.’ I informed him that pulling a gun out of your pocket when in contact with the police was, in fact, a big deal and people get shot that way.”

    Ah. So he’s definitely so lily white.

  56. 56.

    Steve in the ATL

    Need advice on how to start a drunken brawl without leaving any fingerprints. Hotel restaurant is a mix of Goldman Sachs recruiting event for Notre Dame students and junior hockey parents.

    I’m thinking of sending rounds of tequila shots to the hockey parents and having them loudly toast the Avignon papacy.

    Second question: do I bill the tequila shots to my client, or sneak them onto the Goldman Sachs tab?

    TIA!

  57. 57.

    Bobby Thomson

    41 didn’t get this kind of a tonguebath in 1996 when Pat Buchanan got a lower % of the vote than Haley.

  58. 58.

    Wapiti

    @Jeffro: If the RNC had two brain cells they’d insist that Trump debate Haley before South Carolina. If he can’t debate Haley, it means his campaign – and the RNC – knows he’s not fit to debate Biden.

    And Biden’s campaign should start working that message. Work the weakness like a boxer works the cut above his opponent’s eye.

  59. 59.

    Yutsano

    @Steve in the ATL: ​ Hmm…the problem is hockey parents most likely drink beer. That could be tougher to expense on the Goldman Sachs account. Not hard to get them drunk, but get a rumour on the Sachs side that they think Bobby Orr sucks and you might not even need more alcohol.

    I’ll send my itemized* bill in the morning.

    *I have limits. Itemised just looks ridiculous to me. On that one Webster was correct.

  63. 63.

    Wapiti

    @Princess: hopefully a bad case of covid courtesy of his lawyer. It would raise vaccine awareness and save a lot of American lives if it came out that he was really, really sick.

  64. 64.

    Anoniminous

    There’s a damn good reason Republicans are sucking Trump’s dick.  He got 74,223,975 votes in 2020 to Biden’s 81,283,501 but the actual loss was ~44,000 votes spread across Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin.  In 2016 Trump won Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin; Trump won those states by 0.2, 0.7 and 0.8 percentage points, respectively — and by 10,704, 46,765 and 22,177 votes.  In both cases the victories would have flown ‘under the polling radar.’

    Given that history Trump could very well win this year.

  68. 68.

    wjca

    @danielx: at this point anyone with two functioning brain cells has a pretty good idea of what TFG is all about, so I can’t see why RNC consultants would have an issue.

    They may know what TIFG is about.  But they may well not have noticed how much he has deteriorated since they last saw/heard him.  As far as the consultants are concerned, having potential voters see what TIFG is like now is definitely TMI.

  69. 69.

    TBone

    Meanwhile, in PA. These motherfuckers are so tiresome.  Take a loser of a legal theory and keep on losing with it, you big LOSERS.

    https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/republican-legislators-revive-independent-state-legislature-theory-in-new-pennsylvania-lawsuit/

    Thank dog for Marc Elias. Can you believe we have a “legislator” so aptly named  (douche)? Who is writing this timeline, Cris Dush?  If you have to cheat to win, you’re still a LOSER douche!

  70. 70.

    RevRick

    @Anoniminous: Yes, this is the sobering dose of reality. And Biden won Arizona by 10,457, Georgia by 11,779, and Wisconsin by 20,682, which means Trump could have been re-elected with a difference of about 43,000 out of the nearly 156,000,000 two-Party votes.

  71. 71.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    The RNC wants to put an end to the primary because turnout is going to be below average to dismal. That would expose how weak their Hair Hitler really is. With no other candidate that stands a chance, the RNC is going with what I call “The Grand Illusion” strategy. If Haley continues she will probably let the cat out of the bag that TFG has “a huge enthusiasm gap” as per Governor Puddin’ Boots.

    End the contest before it’s clear that he’s a loser, pump his ass up with the assistance of the adoring media and pretend their grand illusion is reality. That’s what they are going to do to try and win this.

  74. 74.

    Argiope

    @Kay: ​
      Probably someone else will have already said this, but I’m pretty sure this is another example of how association is not causality. Lack of pregnancy knowledge may well be common to a set of beliefs that includes “abortion is bad.” Whereas people who think nobody should be able to make them stay pregnant may be interested in knowing exactly when the state says one’s second-class citizenship clock starts ticking.

  77. 77.

    TBone

    Hubby is enthusiastically supporting Nimrata every time he sees or hears that ball gargling, orange thunder twat.  He yells out “I’M BEHIND YOU, NIKKI” 😆 at the teevee every chance he gets.  I had to hear “Do me a favor though” for two years every chance he got to say it.

  78. 78.

    catclub

    @wjca: As far as the consultants are concerned, having potential voters see what TIFG is like now is definitely TMI.

     

    And the RNC wants to effectively cancel the primaries because they are scared of him being seen.

  79. 79.

    Jackie

    @Scout211: TWO small electoral states and 12 days into Primary season.

    Good grief, Ronna! Even TIFG wants to win “the old-fashioned way,” but of course not for the right reasons. He hopes to embarrass Haley for daring not to concede and kiss his ring.

  80. 80.

    Anne Laurie

    @RaflW: The NYT politics team hates their readers. That’s about what it all boils down to. They have developed a loathing for the people who pay their bills.

    Au contraire — the NYT’s political writers get their paycheck from the people who own the paper, and those people are not Democrats, they’re oligarchs.

    It would be *nice* if the writers occasionally tried to slip some reality past the corner office ‘Repubs / Trump: All for the Best, in This Best of All Possible Worlds’ bafflegab… but you don’t get hired by the FTFNYT because you are interested in actual reporting!

  81. 81.

    piratedan

    @Anoniminous: also in that history is the likelihood that he killed off just that many of his supporters during COVID.  Also NOT in his corner is the aftermath of Dobbs and the constant repetition of his legal troubles, the insanity that is taking place in Congress and an economy that is rebounding post pandemic in changes that people can see evidence of with more infrastructure projects all around the nation.

    Is it a slam dunk?  No… not with the media and deep pockets of wannabee fascists and other bad actors around the world pumping up the GOP.  I don’t believe that any of us are running victory laps but to deny the anger that is plainly evident with GOP policy and actions is also a thing.  we’ve lived thru 4 years of Trump, we damn well know what it was like.

  84. 84.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steve in the ATL: Tequila shots for the hockey parents, sure.  Then dare a hockey mom to yell “I got your Touchdown Jesus right here” and flash the ND students.*  Put it on the GS tab, duh.

    *What she flashes will dependent on the number of shots and persuasiveness of your dare proposition.  I have faith in you.

  85. 85.

    mrmoshpotato

    Calling DeSantis p*ssy-whipped and saying Haley was a brown-skinned woman with a funny name — that’s unprecedented genius, per the Court Jester of Mar-A-Lago. If Trump doesn’t stroke out by May, Haberman just might.

    Doubtful.  I think she lives for this shit.

  88. 88.

    Jackie

    @Brachiator: After he loses AGAIN this year, I think even the MAGA camp will put him out to pasture. It’ll be interesting to see who they’ll deem worthy to step into his elevated shoes.

  90. 90.

    Anoniminous

    @piratedan:

    US Census Bureau:  AIAN, Hispanic, and Black people have had higher risk for COVID-19 deaths compared with White people.

    which hits Democrat oriented voters

    Countering this, we know old white fucks – speaking as an old white fuck – are more apt to vote for the White People’s Party and we know Covid hit retirement homes hard so can we say the whites that bit the dust were vastly more likely to be Republicans?

    My guess is Covid ended up being a wash.

  91. 91.

    Jackie

    @Princess: “Because he ‘had’ to be in court.”

    His words, not mine.

    I believe it was a fundraiser, and ticket holders expected to see the Orange One.

  94. 94.

    wjca

    @Jackie: After he loses AGAIN this year, I think even the MAGA camp will put him out to pasture. It’ll be interesting to see who they’ll deem worthy to step into his elevated shoes.

    Nobody will be.  Look for them to recycle waiting for the Second Coming.

  95. 95.

    Alison Rose

    Open thread? Open thread! My friend adopted a dog today and she’s the cutest little bean and she’s already sleeping in her lap on the couch and it makes me happy. Over the past year and a half, my friend has lost her mom, her cat, and her dog. She needed a companion and I’m glad she has one.

  96. 96.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​
     I appreciate your confidence in me. And the gold domers here appreciate your faith.

    Also, I have a view of Touchdown Jesus from my hotel room. Or I would if it weren’t raining.

  99. 99.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Yutsano: ​
    from what I’ve seen, hockey parents will drink anything! Perhaps to forget how rambunctious their kids are. Seriously–I was here last fall when there was a junior hockey tournament and it got so bad that the hotel banned that federation.

    @Geminid: ​shot everyone?

  100. 100.

    Kay

    @Argiope:

    I don’t think so. They don’t know how length or term of pregnancy is measured – not “from conception” – a vaguely religious/political measure that isn’t used when caring for pregnant women or measuring a pregnancy, but instead from the date of the womens last period.

    They also found a connection between anti abortion views and what the authors call “hostile sexism” – people who have negative views of all women. It’s a closer connection than gender, so men who like and trust women are pro choice while women who dislike and don’t trust women are anti choice.

  101. 101.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Spanky:

    @Steve in the ATL: Billing your client is bush league. Billing Goldman is chef’s kiss.

    @WaterGirl:

    @Spanky: Beat me to it!

    I like to think that these two comments go together

  104. 104.

    waspuppet

    a preemptive process of the national party working with the former president as if he had already done so.

    Working with = giving him money.

    You all realize by now Donald Trump is flat broke, right?

  105. 105.

    RaflW

    @Princess: Kari Lake successfully ousts Arizona GOP chair Jeff DeWitt amid bribery scandal? Just because AZ Repubs are in open chaos. No good swooping in on that fun.

  106. 106.

    Kirk

    Y’know, all these pundits keep saying the MAGA primary was a fight for who could get the VP slot. I’ve come to believe Ms Haley has a different reason. She’s figuring that that guy will win unless he can’t (dead, prison, etc) and the person who’ll get the candidacy is the person still standing.

    She’s there. So long as she can stay in the fight the chance exists. Doesn’t have to win, just has to stay strong enough to be viable if/when consequences catch up with him.

    That woman actually kind of scares me. She’s not faking smart and her positions aren’t really that far from that guy’s. Just not as blatant.

  109. 109.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Anoniminous: Covid was killing more Democrats than Republicans in the timeframe of the 2020 election. When the vaccines appeared that turned upside down.

  110. 110.

    RevRick

    @BruceFromOhio: The first year of COVID hit the blue states of Southern New England and the Middle Atlantic hardest, plus Michigan and New Orleans. While the initial outbreaks were on the West Coast, when Trump initiated a travel ban from Europe, suddenly the international air terminals were jam-packed with panicked returnees. And within weeks NYC was using refrigerator trucks to store corpses.

  111. 111.

    Captain C

    @Kathleen:

    I eagerly await Maggie’s next breathless paean to Trump’s next inevitable he man juggernaut in Dixie: “He’ll blast through South Carolina like Germans did in Poland!” She’s probably already claimed the office next to Stephen Miller in the Ministry For Propaganda and Enlightenment:

    No one’s told her, and she unsurprisingly hasn’t figured out herself, that that particular room is actually Stephen’s personal torture chamber.

  112. 112.

    Captain C

    @Steve in the ATL:

    I’m thinking of sending rounds of tequila shots to the hockey parents and having them loudly toast the Avignon papacy.

    Perhaps with a second round toast to Henry VIII.  That will ensure a rumble.

    Second question: do I bill the tequila shots to my client, or sneak them onto the Goldman Sachs tab?

    The latter, of course!

  114. 114.

    Captain C

    @Anne Laurie:

    Au contraire — the NYT’s political writers get their paycheck from the people who own the paper, and those people are not Democrats, they’re oligarchs.

    And the owners, of course, care most about what the people paying for the various jewelry and Hamptons real estate ads think, and how to keep the attention of the targets of those ads.

  117. 117.

    Bill Arnold

    @Anoniminous:

    My guess is Covid ended up being a wash.

    The studies I’ve seen make a decent case for a GOP-tilted differential kill (maybe 200K), especially after opposition vaccines became a part of Republican identity. But even before that, Republicans were proudly opposed to public health measures, compared with Democrats.

  119. 119.

    Another Scott

    @RevRick: Made me look. Wikipedia.org Georgia 2020 results:

    First time voter

    First time voter 52% Biden 45% TIFG
    Everyone else 48% Biden 52% TIFG

    It looks like investing in turnout of first-time voters has a very big upside.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  120. 120.

    Argiope

    @Kay: That part about liking and trusting women tracks for me.  My 83-year-old stepmom doesn’t think abortion should happen unless the mother’s life is at stake.  I think she generally doesn’t trust anyone, male or female.  And she isn’t interested in how gestational duration is calculated because to her, it’s all or nothing, either pregnant or not pregnant.  She’s not interested in understanding more about the biology; with 5 kids she has lots of experiential knowledge.

    That’s how I read the article–while I’d like to believe it means people who learn more become more opposed to bans, it’s equally possible that people who are pro-choice may educate themselves more as part of a worldview that embraces science and respect for women’s bodily autonomy.  Especially now that bans are going into effect, understanding exactly what “6 weeks” means is much more important to those folks.  People who favor bans are less likely to know anything about the biology and don’t want to be bothered to learn.  It’s so much simpler just to be abstract about it all; that lets them hold onto the binary sense of right and wrong around abortion that they are comfortable with.  Ignorance is, for them, bliss.  They don’t want to be confused with the facts.

  121. 121.

    frosty

    @Steve in the ATL: No question. Goldman Sachs. If you’re client looks at the charges too closely you’ll be in bad shape. Goldman Sachs spends so much they won’t care and if they do they’ll blame the hockey parents downing the shots!

  123. 123.

    Citizen Alan

    @Kay:

    They also found a connection between anti abortion views and what the authors call “hostile sexism” – people who have negative views of all women.

    Well, of course, anti-abortion politics is driven by hatred of women! Eve ate the apple, so God created pregnancy to torture all women! Everything else in the movement is sophistry intended to disguise that fundamental truth!

  124. 124.

    Subsole

    @Princess:

    Have you heard his speeches lately?

    They do need to hush him up and keep him off stage. Why? Because it is agonizingly clear the man has nothing but pureed cockroach between his ears.

    I’ll be amazed if he debates this time. And amazed if the media does anything but roll over and say ‘okay’ when he tells them what to kiss.

  125. 125.

    Subsole

    @Kay:

    Frankly? After the way they ‘covered’ Clinton, I’d rather the worthless little suck-asses stay far away from our campaigns.

    I no longer trust them to be anything but saboteurs. They have spent the last of the goodwill that far, far better reporters accrued through long, hard labor.

  126. 126.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Subsole:

    I’ll be amazed if he debates this time.

    I have seen the ‘refuse to debate’ scenario play out in Kentucky.  You can pull it on also-rans.  If Trump tries it on Biden he’ll look scared, and GOP voters hate that.  It will sap their enthusiasm like nothing else you can imagine.

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