Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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

The choice is between normal and crazy.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

The words do not have to be perfect.

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

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Empty Promises, Empty Threats (Open Thread)

Empty Promises, Empty Threats (Open Thread)

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It has nothing to do with the post, but I’ve been obsessed with this song lately.

It’s a haunting cover of an atmospheric ballad by Jason Molina, whose tragically brief oeuvre should be discovered and savored on its own terms.

Okay, now on to the post proper: Ready to see a candidate with a bloated, flabby orange head topped with a mess of piss-colored cotton candy run straight into a buzz saw?

Former President Trump said Sunday that he will decide “pretty soon” whether to back a national abortion ban…

“We’re going to find out,” Trump told Fox News host Howard Kurtz on whether he would back the policy. “Pretty soon, I’m gonna be making a decision. I would like to see if we could make both sides happy.”

The Trump campaign pushed back on reports of the policy last month but did not deny that Trump was considering it, instead offering a vague statement saying Trump would “sit down with both sides and negotiate a deal that everyone will be happy with.”

So apparently the idea is the scammy fraud can “negotiate” a settlement to put to rest an issue that’s roiled American politics for 50-plus years. Fran Lebowitz was right: “You do not know anyone as stupid as Donald Trump. You just don’t.”

Trump can seem immune to the laws of political gravity thanks to his lone talent for conning and bamboozling the gullible. But the rest of us don’t have to buy into that framing, even if the NYT does.

Josh Marshall shared semi-related thoughts on the occasion of Trump’s latest threat of violence (Après moi, le bloodbath), but the same principle applies to delusions of grandeur as well as threats. There’s no point in analyzing any of it because it’s all bullshit. We already know everything we need to know:

Trump is a lawless bully who will toss out the constitution, refuse to accept the results of an election and work with enemy foreign powers all for his own personal power.

I mean, we literally know all of this. It’s not speculation. He’s done all of that.

If a mob boss says someone is going to go sleep with the fishes I’m not going to get into an argument about whether that person has a big aquarium in his bedroom. Because he’s a mob boss and I’m not a chump and murdering people is what he does.

It can be difficult because civic minded people find it a challenge to grapple with lawless degenerates. But it can be done.

I believe it can, it must, and it will be done.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

143Comments

  1. 1.

    Jeffro

    “We’re going to find out,” Trump told Fox News host Howard Kurtz on whether he would back the policy. “Pretty soon, I’m gonna be making a decision. I would like to see if we could make both sides happy.”

    Translation: “I haven’t figured out what polls best yet”, said America’s Most Principled Man

  2. 2.

    Ten Bears

    It’s a bully’s momentum, the wind in its’ sails. Soon as the wind goes out it collapses

    I’ve been calling its’ bluff for a long time but nobody listens. And the bluff is bigger than just it, that army of wannabe brownshirts are just that: wannabes. When the wind goes out they’ll collapse

    Bloody the bully’s nose, they’ll collapse …

  3. 3.

    BC in Illinois

    I was displeased to see this bit of garbage on Twitter :

    Rod Blagojevich
     @realBlagojevich

    12 years ago today I walked into prison to serve 14 years for practicing politics. Weaponized prosecutors did to me then, what they are doing to Trump now. I would NEVER GIVE IN & neither is Trump. Some things are so important you must be willing to go down fighting!

    I lived in Illinois when Blago was impeached, removed, and convicted for his crimes. “Weaponized prosecutors / practicing politics” is such a pile of bullshit.

    I lived in Maryland when various governors were sent to prison for their crimes. (The only reason that Spiro Agnew was allowed to plea-bargain his way out of a bribery conviction was the absolute necessity for getting him out of the way, so that Nixon could be removed.)

    I have never understood the “how terrible it is to prosecute a president” line of thought.
    What’s terrible is a president committing crimes.

  5. 5.

    cope

    That is a haunting cover but I’m feeling haunted so it’s OK.

    As soon as he negotiates a plan that makes both sides of the abortion issue happy, he will use a compass and straightedge to square the circle.

  6. 6.

    stinger

    So, “pretty soon”? When’s that? In two weeks? Like his anti-Obamacare healthcare plan? Or his infrastructure week?

    And who exactly are the “both sides” he’ll be sitting down with to decide the fate of my body autonomy? MAGA Republicans and Chamber of Commerce Republicans? Protestant fundamentalists and Catholic fundamentalists?

  7. 7.

    Old School

    If a mob boss says someone is going to go sleep with the fishes I’m not going to get into an argument about whether that person has a big aquarium in his bedroom.

    Off-topic: I’ve long suspected that the writers of The Simpsons wrote an entire episode around a variation of this joke.

  8. 8.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    civic minded people find it a challenge to grapple with lawless degenerates.

    Oh, I don’t know, I find it quite rewarding.

    I just wish they’d call after…

  9. 9.

    rikyrah

    This is a compliment towards Sherrod Brown and his new ad out.

     

    David Darmofal (@david_darmofal) posted at 9:48 AM on Tue, Mar 19, 2024:
    Great ad…and I have to say, I don’t know whether Tim Ryan could have beaten J.D. Vance, but this is the type of campaign he should have run. One focused on workers without picking unnecessary fights with the Democratic Party. The stakes were really high in that election.
    (https://x.com/david_darmofal/status/1770100155355726069?t=0GMGoJeRIS6LgUugC6hRuA&s=03)

  10. 10.

    catclub

    Wow. CNN has had it with Musk. 5th paragraph but still.

    At this juncture, calling Musk a right-wing shitposter is no longer provocative. It’s simply accurate. And his ugly behavior is even more troubling because of the fact that Musk is enormously influential, casting a large shadow across multiple industries and doing billions of dollars’ worth of national security business with the US government.

  11. 11.

    RaflW

    You KNOW his ego and self-regard is badly bruised by being functionally broke if he thinks pivoting to discussing a national abortion bad helps.

  14. 14.

    coin operated

    Fran Lebowitz was right: “You do not know anyone as stupid as Donald Trump. You just don’t.”

    I have a RWNJ brother who is running a close second place….

  15. 15.

    RaflW

    @BC in Illinois: I suspect that chiding grammar pisses off MAGAs, but this man was governor of a big state with a top five US city. “I would NEVER GIVE IN & neither is Trump.”

    It’s idiots all the way down.

  16. 16.

    TaMara

    So the rapist, child molester, who likes to grab women by the pussy wants to negotiate with women on how they should use their uterus?

    Oh, wait, how could I be so naive? He means he’s going to sit at a table with a bunch of white men and ‘negotiate’.

    Here he is stripping women worldwide of healthcare

    Empty Promises, Empty Threats (Open Thread)

  17. 17.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @coin operated: I have a RWNJ brother who is running a close second place….

    If your right wing brother were actually stupider than Trump, I suspect Republicans would be making him the runaway favorite for their nomination.

  18. 18.

    Jackie

    Reposting this great news from last thread:

    After two months of litigation and consideration, the Montana Supreme Court overruled the state attorney general’s January finding that a constitutional initiative to explicitly protect abortion rights is “legally insufficient,” resolving one of many obstacles to the proposal being placed before voters on the November ballot, the Montana Free Press reports.

  22. 22.

    Mike in NC

    Looking forward to the GQP making a national abortion ban its signature issue for the 2024 election, while their standard bearer is a convicted rapist.

  23. 23.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @rikyrah: so when he says he wants a bloodbath, we need to take it seriously.

    So to suggest bathing in blood is good for the skin would be tasteless?

  25. 25.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @RaflW: They’re rarely caused by mashing a neighboring key, but probably would be fodder for some quality psychoanalysis.

    Oh, boy, you can have the padded cell next to mine 🤗

  26. 26.

    Miss Bianca

    @Jeffro: So, Orangemandias thinks there’s some way to make “both sides happy” with a national abortion BAN?

    Jesus wept.

  30. 30.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Miss Bianca: So, Orangemandias thinks there’s some way to make “both sides happy” with a national abortion BAN?

    This speaks to his self-image as the consummate deal maker. Führer Further, his immunity to political gravity may not extend to failing to deliver the promised Gilead when they’re so close after 50 years.

    This would ordinarily be a train wreck for the ages, now it’s likely to be an amuse bouche as we approach the trial.

    ETA: Sorry, trials.

  31. 31.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @cope: As soon as he negotiates a plan that makes both sides of the abortion issue happy, he will use a compass and straightedge to square the circle.

    Too late. George Santos has already done that.

  32. 32.

    Skippy-san

    His ability to be manipulated is what the evil people who work behind the scenes with him love. Scum like Miller and Bannon, both of them Eichmann wannabes, know they can sell him on any evil scheme if they pitch it right. The flawed economic theories of scum like Mnunchin are the same.

    It would be funny if the consequences were not so tragic. The Orange Monster has be done away with.

  33. 33.

    coin operated

    The Trump campaign pushed back on reports of the policy last month but did not deny that Trump was considering it, instead offering a vague statement saying Trump would “sit down with both sides and negotiate a deal that everyone will be happy with.”

    Doesn’t matter…whatever ‘negotiation’ he pitches still has to get by SCOTUS and that deck is already  stacked.

  34. 34.

    randy khan

    There’s a meme going around showing the Merriam-Webster dictionary entry for bloodbath, which has “a major financial disaster” as the third definition, and therefore obviously what Trump meant.  I am, ah, not convinced.

  35. 35.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: Too late. George Santos has already done that.

    Well, it’s easy to square a circle when you’re an interdimensional god-king and that’s one of his lower-tier positions, like Congressman.

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    @stinger

    Take a cue from the 70s gas crisis?

    Abortions legal on odd numbered days, illegal on even numbered ones. But going one step further, never on Sundays or holidays.
    //

  37. 37.

    kindness

    Trump… Used to be my biggest concern/question was if the rubes could be saved?  I don’t question that any more.  The answer is clearly no.  40% of (voting) Americans are out of their minds.  Now my concern is more geared towards the media.  Will they ever speak the truth again?  I’m leaning on no, they too are lost.  It’s not a good thing.

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    I was cleaning up all the junk from our telephone table this morning, and I came across a postcard with some reasonable instructions for how to deal with Covid. But on the front side of the postcard, it says in huge letters, “PRESIDENT TRUMP’S CORONAVIRUS GUIDELINES FOR AMERICA.” How I do not miss that asshole, who has to have his own name plastered all over everything. I wish I had never heard the word Trump and never had to hear it again.

  40. 40.

    MattF

    He’s a bully. Do whatever he says to do, give him whatever he wants… or some unspecified bad thing will happen. It’s 99.99% percent bullshit, but it’s not ridiculous to worry about that 0.01%.

  41. 41.

    Dangerman

    “You do not know anyone as stupid as Donald Trump. You just don’t.”

    Each of his voters is as stupid as Donald Trump. Sadly, I know some hardcore Trumpies. They are stupid as a brick.

    This is not a fanciful statement. I ask a brick a question and get roughly the same answer as a Grumpy Trumpy. Glazed brick. Glazed eyes.

    Dumb as a brick.

  43. 43.

    Hoodie

    Part of the problem is that too many of us still worry about how the press interprets Trump. Just go with the worst connotation. Most of the time you’ll be right, and the rest of the time it will be even worse than you could have imagined.

  44. 44.

    Hoodie

    @rikyrah: It’s likely that McConnell is afraid of violence against him and/or his family if he doesn’t bend the knee. Of course, he’s a fucking sniveling coward. One thing you have to say in Pence’s favor, even if his politics are otherwise atrocious.

  45. 45.

    hueyplong

    What is this “sit down with both sides” shit?  When has Trump ever participated in a “negotiation” in which he wasn’t one of the parties at interest?  His playing the neutral mediator has literally never happened in his life.

    This sets aside the fact that “negotiation” to him means simply stalling until he stiffs the other side.

  46. 46.

    Ken

    @RaflW: Nowadays, though, it would be psychoanalysis of the spellchecker.  Perhaps the original was “abortion bam”; why did the checker choose “bad” instead of  “ban”, “bar”, “jam”, ….

  47. 47.

    hueyplong

    @Hoodie: McConnell’s cowardice is especially repugnant when you consider the fact that he has so little time left anyway.  What is his sniveling cowardice buying, 18 months of ever-lowering quality of life before his trip to the fiery furnace?

  48. 48.

    Van Buren

    Since Trump claims that post birth abortions are a thing, I am willing to accept a ban on them. But I’m not willing to go further.

  49. 49.

    mrmoshpotato

    sit down with both sides and negotiate a deal that everyone will be happy with

    Oh!  So they can “Both sides!” letting women have bodily autonomy or not letting women have bodily autonomy?

    Schrödinger’s autonomy?  Being an orange shitstain, while also not being an orange shitstain?

  51. 51.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @rikyrah: It seems that Trump committed perjury in claiming that he had over $4M in cash/other liquid assets.

    Why should he not be charged for perjury? Who would charge and prosecute that, and in what venue

    ETA: $400M!

  52. 52.

    mrmoshpotato

    If a mob boss says someone is going to go sleep with the fishes I’m not going to get into an argument about whether that person has a big aquarium in his bedroom.

    LMAO!

  53. 53.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Dangerman:

    Glazed brick. Glazed eyes.

    Have you ever raised children?  That conservative empty stare is the four year old refusing to acknowledge your argument, because if he says anything he might not be able to push it aside, forget it, and go right back to behaving the way he wants.  It’s the exact same mental process and behaviors.  Same with the changes of subject.

  54. 54.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Chief Oshkosh: Why should he not be charged for perjury? Who would charge and prosecute that, and in what venue?

    In which court did he make the claim? Was it more than one? Let’s have a nationwide purjury party.

  56. 56.

    dmsilev

    “Make both sides happy” I guess means “make both conservatives and extreme conservatives happy”. Or, more likely, it means that Trump doesn’t have a fucking clue about the issue, since it doesn’t really impact him personally at all, so he’s falling back to his normal bullshitting routine and if he (God forbid) does get back into the White House he’ll be content to be led around by the nose on this particular question, meaning that he’ll do what the fanatics want.

  57. 57.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Van Buren: Since Trump claims that post birth abortions are a thing, I am willing to accept a ban on them. But I’m not willing to go further.

    If Trump, as a final concession, wants to offer himself up as one final afterbirth abortion, I won’t say anything to try to stop him.

    This is all the obvious setup for Trump sacrificing himself for our sins.  It’s all so clear now…

  59. 59.

    Jeffro

    @Miss Bianca: let him short-circuit (or stroke out) trying to figure out how to sell it, whatever ‘it’ ends up being.

    I’m sure it’ll sound like the best plan EVER…to his ears, at least…so I say, “go for it, trump!”

  61. 61.

    Jeffro

    @dmsilev: “Make both sides happy” I guess means “make both conservatives and extreme conservatives happy”. Or, more likely, it means that Trump doesn’t have a fucking clue about the issue

    right on both counts!

    just give him a mike and put him on camera, and let him start explaining away. Pleeeeeease snooze media, I’m begging you!

  63. 63.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: It’s the NY case before Judge Engoron. Trump stated twice in his deposition that he had more than $400 million in cash.

    PDF here:

    https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23932452/452564_2022_people_of_the_state_of_v_people_of_the_state_of_exhibit_s__859.pdf

    Page 79, lines 9-18.

    Commentary at WaPo:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/28/trump-said-he-had-400-million-cash-now-his-lawyers-say-bond-is-struggle/

  64. 64.

    Chris

    @dmsilev:

    “Make both sides happy” I guess means “make both conservatives and extreme conservatives happy”.

    Say what you want about The West Wing, but “actually, what you’ve done is bring together the right with the far right” remains an accurate assessment of the governing style of any Republican representative enough of his party to win the nomination.

  65. 65.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Chief Oshkosh: So it seems like NY ought to charge him.

    Granted, he may have repeated the lies in other courts

    ETA: IANAL. But sure seems like it should just be wherever the act was committed. Now if he did do it in multiple courts, I wonder could one roll them all up or otherwise supersede the others?

  66. 66.

    Ken

    @hueyplong: This sets aside the fact that “negotiation” to him means simply stalling until he stiffs the other side.

    “I’ll set the nation’s abortion policy after I see how much both sides are willing to pay me.”

    (Shades of an old XKCD….)

  71. 71.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @NotMax: That last entry is written in with a Sharpie.

    The official writing implement of big bidness…

  73. 73.

    Brachiator

    The Trump campaign pushed back on reports of the policy last month but did not deny that Trump was considering it, instead offering a vague statement saying Trump would “sit down with both sides and negotiate a deal that everyone will be happy with.”

    Trump is in his happy place. He magnified the abortion issue with his Supreme Court nominations, but he is deeply delusional, and keeps trying to present himself as the Master Deal Maker. He might even believe his own bullshit.

  76. 76.

    Dangerman

    @NotMax: Judges will accept it but were looking for the classic “thick as a brick.”

    I believe you are correct in a Tull (Jethro) kinda way.

    I submit to the judges I’m arguing about Trumpies in a Null (no intelligence), perhaps dull, kinda way.

    I’ll mull it over.

  79. 79.

    Roberto el oso

    Since Blagojevich did in fact do time, what is it he’s saying he never backed down from? His refusal to acknowledge that he broke the law? It’s pretty obvious that Trump will never acknowledge any of his crimes but so what? I can certainly live with his proclamations of innocence so long as the whimpering takes place behind bars.

  80. 80.

    Dangerman

    @Brachiator: He might even believe his own bullshit.

    Perhaps, but his synapses have deteriorated into sin lapses.

    Dude is Evil. A term I don’t casually apply to anyone.

  83. 83.

    RaflW

    @Roberto el oso: I think the Illinois Democratic party should run with this.

    “Former Democrat, former hard-time-doer Rod Blagojevich has just tongue-bathed Donald Trump. Let’s do to them both what this match-made-in-hades deserves: Vote Biden.”

  84. 84.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Dangerman: Dude is Evil.

    Former Trumpy friend used to call me evil. Constantly.

    It gave me cause to consider; what is evil? It seems a very ill-defined concept.

    So I set to define it for myself. Evil is abuse of power.

    This is all a roundabout way of agreeing with you. Yes, Trump is evil.

  85. 85.

    NotMax

    Heh. Dialogue from a British program just now.

    Police sergeant walks in on two constables chatting about an occurrence in the nearby woods. One of the constables is married to a doctor.

    Sergeant: “Nature study this morning, is it?’

    Constable: “No, Sarge. No, Kate had to sort out a half-dead badger last night.”

    Sergeant: “What you and your missus do in your private life is your own business.”

  90. 90.

    Geminid

    @hueyplong: I think McConnell’s motive is simple: he wants to retake the Senate this November and thinks an endorsement of Trump will help achieve that goal, while not endorsing would hurt the effort.

  91. 91.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Sister Golden Bear: Trump can’t conceive of either side’s positions being driven by strongly-held core beliefs.

    Trump can’t conceptualize core beliefs. For core beliefs, you meed core knowledge.

  93. 93.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @TBone: I was thinking “words of wisdom” too.

    I’m sitting here like “are we supposed to scrub every word he uttered in the decade or whatever that show was on?”

  94. 94.

    TBone

    That Ninth Commandment is really gonna bite him and his cult right where it counts. Oh, right, never mind…

  96. 96.

    TBone

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: I don’t normally associate Archie Bunker with “words of wisdom” so that never occurred to me.  Words, yes, but wisdom he is not famous for.

    It’s on our cable TV every Sunday night, hubby LOVES it.  I reminisce about the 70s fashions, and what I was doing at the time I first watched the show at grandparents’ house.  As an impressionable kid.

  98. 98.

    Dave

    @Dangerman:  I know some otherwise intelligent people that are Trump voters; the factors that seem to be involved are living in areas where the excesses of some of the dumber areas of liberalism and particularly online leftism are more immediate and it is therefore easier to dismiss the real threat of right wing authoritarianism.

    The other part I’ve seen is a tendency to contrarianism and residing in either West Coast or New England urban centers.  The other exception is not necessarily dumb but wants the “right and natural” hierarchy to be enforced lest chaos ensue (this is almost universally coupled with at best barely hidden misogyny).

    All of this except the last example is almost invariably accompanied with either unexamined or still palpably impactful past trauma. This also seems to be accompanied with an impulse for chaos often and in those cases that I’ve seen there is often a burnt and fallen idealist under it.

    More of them are dumb as stumps or at least completely ignorant thought than the other categories.

  99. 99.

    NotMax

    @Geminid

    IIRC his wife, formerly a cabinet member in the Dolt 45 administration, has publicly made never Trump noises, so it appears that family is burning the candle at both ends.

  101. 101.

    Misterpuff

    @BC in Illinois: 12 years ago today I walked into prison to serve 14 years for practicing politics.

     

    But of course, he did not serve 14 years.

    In fact, President Trump commuted his sentence so he was released on February 18, 2020.

    OK Rod!

  104. 104.

    Jackie

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Trump committed perjury in claiming that he had over $4M in cash/other liquid assets.

    Why should he not be charged for perjury?

    He just might! And on the teevee news, Habba has made the same confident claim, with the newsies suggesting SHE be charged with perjury! Of course her defense would be that’s what TIFG told her – which lands the ball back in his court. 😁

  105. 105.

    trollhattan

    @Chris: Ronald “Ron/Ronaldus” Reagan (PBUH) planted that flag, raised the big tent, screwed the fundy pooch in 1980 and that’s been their modus ever since. Stuffing our courts with True Believers provides quite a firewall against breaking apart the coalition, today.

  106. 106.

    Ken

    @NotMax: IIRC [McConnell’s] wife, formerly a cabinet member in the Dolt 45 administration, has publicly made never Trump noises

    And her sister, Angela Chao, recently died when her Tesla accidentally backed into a pond. Coincidence? Probably, but the entirety of QAnon is based on less.

  108. 108.

    jackmac

    @BC in Illinois: Fortunately, Rod Blagojevich has slipped into well deserved obscurity. And except for his occasional social media outburst he’ll never be known for any accomplishments other than being the answer to the trivia question: Name the Illinois governors (or ex-governors) who have gone to prison.

    Answer: Otto Kerner, Dan Walker, George Ryan and Blago.

  109. 109.

    Brachiator

    @Dangerman:

    Dude is Evil. A term I don’t casually apply to anyone.

    A fair assessment, perhaps. He is certainly childishly malignant. And he has corrupted the political fabric of the country, and promises to bring more suffering.

  110. 110.

    JPL

    @Geminid: Someone should ask McConnell whether he agrees with trumps plan to withhold funding to public schools that mandate vaccines.

  111. 111.

    Jackie

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: I know for sure TIFG said he had $400+ million in cash and that total was growing daily, at one of the E. Jean Carroll hearings. I just saw that clip within the last day or so.

    Eta: I think it was during 2nd hearing when Carroll’s attorney quoted TIFG while asking the jury to hit him hard enough to make him stop slandering Carroll.

  113. 113.

    hueyplong

    @JPL: I hope others also enjoyed your joke about the possibility of McConnell giving a rat’s ass whether someone else gets polio, when that issue runs up against the possibility of naming/blocking Supreme Court nominees.

  114. 114.

    NotMax

    @TBone

    By pure chance caught the premiere episode (people tend to forget it was a mid-season replacement show with virtually no prior hype). Happened to be in an acquaintance’s digs and the TV was on. Flipping through the channels in search of something to watch after a previous program finished, there it was. Complete astonishment ensued.

  115. 115.

    brendancalling

    I met Jason Molina through a bandmate of mine, who went to Oberlin with him (if you saw the tribute on Letterman when he died, you saw Jennie). We hung out at SxSW, I think in 2000 or 2001. He was hilarious. As now, I was an out-of-the-loop dipshit, and had no idea who he was and that he was “important.” I just remember him as talented and funny.

  120. 120.

    Jeffro

     

    Someone should ask McConnell whether he agrees with trumps plan to withhold funding to public schools that mandate vaccines.

    I would love to see much, much more public discussion and reporting of trump’s remarks in this area.  It would add another several million votes to Biden’s column.

  122. 122.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Jackie: I’m a man. He will go after me with some emasculating and homophobic BS.

    Not entirely baseless, but I only enjoy that kind of commentary in private with an intimate partner.

  123. 123.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Jackie:

    You’ll know you hit pay dirt when you’re called NASTY. Or a DOG. NASTY as a DOG wins the gold!😉

    What if you’re called “such a nasty woman” by a Kremlin-humping, orange shitstain, manbaby with piss-colored cotton candy on his bald head?

  124. 124.

    Geminid

    @JPL: Reporters could ask, but they wouldn’t get an answer. McConnell is practiced at deflecting inquiries about Trump.

  126. 126.

    Jackie

    @Geminid:

    I think McConnell’s motive is simple: he wants to retake the Senate this November

    But, McTurtle’s stepping down from Leadership – effective Jan ‘25 – so endorsing TIFG gives him nothing! Even if (spit) they win back the WH and senate. Of course, he could always renege on his promise… it wouldn’t be the first time.

  130. 130.

    Geminid

    @Jackie: McConnell is a party man, and retaking the Senate would be good for his party whether or not he was there to enjoy the fruits of victory. It would be his legacy.

  133. 133.

    Paul in KY

    @Jackie: As far as I know, you are not under oath when you say shit on TV. TFG was under oath in that deposition, though.

  135. 135.

    BC in Illinois

    @jackmac:

    Name the Illinois governors (or ex-governors) who have gone to prison.

    Answer: Otto Kerner, Dan Walker, George Ryan and Blago.

    When I was still living in southern Illinois, I went to a trivia contest that included a round called “Indicted or Not-Indicted.”

    Blago was a trick question. At the time, he had been impeached but not yet indicted.

  136. 136.

    Jackie

    Amazingly, FAUX cut off Navarro mid-sentence, but other news outlets didn’t.

    NBC News: “Before turning himself in, Navarro held a press conference in a strip-mall parking lot down the street from the facility. Near a Papa John’s, Navarro gave an extended speech airing his grievances against the government and his prosecution, painting himself as a victim of political persecution.”

    Said Navarro: “I will walk proudly in there to do my time. I will gather strength from this: Donald John Trump is the nominee.”

    Here’s the link re FAUX:

    https://www.rawstory.com/peter-navarro-fox-news-2667549307/

  137. 137.

    Geminid

    @Melancholy Jaques: Tim Ryan lost by 8 points, and I’m not sure a more forthrightly partisan campaign would have closed that gap by much. It certainly would have left Ohio Democrats in a better mood though, and that is a consideration.

    But I think Democratic candidates can rally the base and still appeal to Indies. I’ve seen them do that in Virginia.

  138. 138.

    RaflW

    @Jeffro: It’s not discussed often, but McConnell is a polio survivor. As I’ve said elsewhere, it’d be a hella f’ked up legacy if McConnell’s endorsement contributes to the US becoming a vaccine backwater and polio makes a resurgence.

  139. 139.

    Brachiator

    @jackmac:

    Name the Illinois governors (or ex-governors) who have gone to prison.

    Prison almost seems to be the next political office after the governorship in Illinois.

  141. 141.

    mrmoshpotato

    @RaflW:

    It’s not discussed often, but McConnell is a polio survivor. As I’ve said elsewhere, it’d be a hella f’ked up legacy if McConnell’s endorsement contributes to the US becoming a vaccine backwater and polio makes a resurgence. 

    You mean he’d be adding to his fucked up legacy.

  142. 142.

    Princess

    @BC in Illinois: I’ve always wondered how much Dick Mell paid Trump for that pardon. My stylist used to cut Mell’s hair and she told me that he told her that Blago and Patty Mell were completely whacked out on coke and needing more coke was the reason for his crimes. Not sure I trust my source but the story itself is plausible. Maybe Blago and Don jr are friends.

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