Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

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

Optimism opens the door to great things.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

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

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

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

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

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

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Chill Grey Dawn Open Thread: Now President Joe’s Just *Messing* With Them

Chill Grey Dawn Open Thread: Now President Joe’s Just *Messing* With Them

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Seriously, though — these are great places to get Biden’s message out. Kudos to his media team!

"Polls Show Joe Biden Would Be Perhaps a Decade Younger if He Would Give Us an Exclusive Interview Explaining Why He Dares to Still Love His Nasty Fuckup Son More Than AG's Daddy Ever Loved Him"

[image or embed]

— chatham harrison is tending a new garden (@chathamharrison.bsky.social) May 6, 2024 at 9:38 AM

Reader Interactions

76Comments

  1. 1.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    hot ones is no joke. sean evans is an excellent interviewer.

  3. 3.

    lurker

    @opiejeanne: pretty sure that refers to the current publisher of the NYT (FTFNYT?) – dad was the previous publisher – the NYT is owned by a family, and the position of publisher has been in that family for a long time as a result

  4. 4.

    opiejeanne

    @lurker: Thanks. I knew about the progression through the one family,  but wasn’t sure that’s who was meant.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    he’s straight up going to be on Hot Ones give Pitchbot an interview before he deals with the fuckin new york times jerkoffs

    Fixed.

  6. 6.

    SpaceUnit

    The NY Times are trying their level best to be a stupider version of USA Today.

     

    Just a matter of time before their restaurant critics start doing write-ups on Arbys.

  7. 7.

    mrmoshpotato

    Biden to the FTFNYT: 🎶Fuck yourselves and get down tonight, fuck yourselves and suck Trump’s ass tonight 🎶

  8. 8.

    mrmoshpotato

    @strange visitor (from another planet): Yes!  Sean Evans and his team do excellent research!

    I would like to see a duo interview (ala Tenacious D) with W and President Cheney.

    “So why did you war criminal motherfuckers lie the country into invading Iraq?  Why did you use the 9/11 victims’ lives like that?”

  9. 9.

    mrmoshpotato

    @SpaceUnit:

    Just a matter of time before their restaurant critics start doing write-ups on Arbys. 

    New York Times!  WE SUCK TRUMP’S ASS!

  13. 13.

    Baud

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Not ridiculous. Strategic. They’re field testing talking points.  Like how faux leftists on the Internet try out reasons why something positive Biden has done isn’t positive.

  16. 16.

    Suzanne

    I thought this was a good piece: Why is the simplest explanation of campus protests so hard to accept?

    Variations on this idea that young people have been snookered into opposing Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza have been rampant in recent weeks. It’s a subset of a much longer-standing belief, particularly on the right, that young people arrive at their beliefs as a function of being brainwashed by various actors or technologies.

    The reality is simpler: Many young people (and many Americans) object to how the war is conducted. The encampments are an inexpensive way to demonstrate those objections. But this impulse is presented as some grand conspiracy — including by a prominent member of law enforcement.

    It’s a strain if thinking I see on the right all the time: “nobody believes this on their own, they’re brainwashed!”. Fucking tiresome.

  18. 18.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Suzanne: ​
     

    It’s a strain if thinking I see on the right all the time: “nobody believes this on their own, they’re brainwashed!”. Fucking tiresome.

    They’ve even brought that golden oldie, “outside agitators!” back from the civil-rights and early antiwar days. Everything old is new again.

  20. 20.

    p.a

    @Suzanne: That is the Phillip Bump from, IIRC, the Philadelphia Inquirer?  He’s been good for a long time.  Good on the WaPo:  credit when due.

    He will be a fly in the CW ointment.

  21. 21.

    Tony Jay

    @Suzanne:

    Everyone not part of the In-Group is an outsider, and you don’t get much more outside the golden circle of assumed credibility than people who think Palestinians are human beings who shouldn’t be used as convenient props in the Israeli Right’s campaign against the constraints of international law.

    Hell, I’m so outside on this issue I can just about see William Shatner’s face peering at me though the plane window.

  22. 22.

    Brachiator

    The 2024 Pulitzer Prizes were recently announced. The NY Times and WaPo won a few, as usual. But I wanted to note a couple of other winners.

    And film critic Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times won a Criticism Pulitzer for “richly evocative and genre-spanning” work “that reflects on the contemporary moviegoing experience.” Chang also contributes to numerous other publications, including NPR.

    Chang regularly appears on Los Angeles area public radio station KPCC 89.3, on the program Air Talk. He is a wonderfully perceptive film critic. Both his writing and radio reviews are highly recommended.

    West Virginia, represent!

    The Fiction Pulitzer went to West Virginia writer Jayne Anne Phillips for her novel Night Watch. It’s about a traumatized family in the aftermath of the Civil War.

  29. 29.

    Steeplejack

    @Brachiator:

    I just called up KPCC here in NoVA through the awesome power of Alexa and my Echo Dot. I’ll have to check their schedule to see when Chang is on.

    And kudos to Jayne Anne Phillips. She has been around for quite a while. I read Black Tickets what feels like a hundred years ago (1979, actually).

  30. 30.

    Baud

    Via Reddit

    ARepublican county commissioner has been unseated in Michigan after losing to her Democratic challenger by 20 percentage points.

    Chris Kleinjans won an Ottawa County election on Tuesday with 60 percent of the vote share, while the Republican incumbent Lucy Ebel lost, having received 40 percent

  31. 31.

    p.a

    If Social Security is the 3rd rail of American domestic politics, Israel is the 3rd rail of foreign policy.  Will Bibi lose/has Bibi lost that future support here, and will Israel be able to survive in the future without the US treating it like the 51st state, if that comes to pass?

  33. 33.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Patricia Kayden: Ruth Marcus is nearly as bad this morning, concern trolling over whether jailing Trump for contempt would actually be good for him…the WaPo, always “concerned” that holding the powerful to account might backfire! So let’s not do it!

    IMO jailing him would be terrible for him. He supposed to be this super powerful swinging dick but not even having the power to keep himself out of jail takes the shine right off that image. You can’t dominate if you’re meekly being hauled off to jail.

  35. 35.

    gene108

    @Baud:

    I hope Pitchbot streams the interview live on Balloon-Juice, just like DougJ’s interview with John G. Cole.

  37. 37.

    Geminid

    Biden to the Badger State! And Chicagoland! From Politico Playbook:

    At the White House:

    Biden will travel to Racine, Wisconsin today where he’ll speak about his domestic agenda at Gateway Technical College at 12:15 Eastern. Afterwards, he’ll stop at two campaign events in Wisconsin and Chicago before returning to Washington.

    Biden is also sitting down for an interview with Erin Burnett that will air at 7 p.m. tonight on her OutFront show.

    Also, Vice President Harris will travel to a campaign event in Philadelphia, then return to Washington where she will address EMILY’s LIST’s national gala at 7 p.m.

  38. 38.

    Tony Jay

    @Baud:

    I’m getting the impression that that seems to be happening a lot. Dems winning in out of the way seats and out of the limelight positions where the Republicans have been so comfortable for so long that the very idea of anyone else coming out on top would have been dismissed as laughable just a few years ago.

    Are we just getting the exceptions that prove the rule here or are the fundamentals of the national electoral scene really shifting Blue to a massive degree?

  39. 39.

    gene108

    @Suzanne:

    It’s a strain if thinking I see on the right all the time: “nobody believes this on their own, they’re brainwashed!”. Fucking tiresome.

    Most conservative “grassroots” demonstrations rarely happen spontaneously. They are usually the result of propaganda and are sustained by billionaires’ funding.

    I doubt conservatives actually understand people can form their own opinions and make their own decisions.

  40. 40.

    Brachiator

    @Steeplejack:

    I just called up KPCC here in NoVA through the awesome power of Alexa and my Echo Dot. I’ll have to check their schedule to see when Chang is on.

    He is often on the program Air Talk, and also Film Week, typically on Fridays. I think the program times are between 10 am and Noon, Pacific Time.

  43. 43.

    Geminid

    @p.a: Axios has an article on two different Congressional briefings yesterday, one by the Israeli ambassador and one by a retired general. There was a lot of scepticism expressed afterwards by audience members, including from strong Israel supporters like Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA).

    Worth a read; I’ll try to link to it later.

  44. 44.

    JCJ

    I would love it if he did Hot Ones.  My only concern would be how he would handle Da Bomb.

  46. 46.

    Brachiator

    @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:

    IMO jailing him would be terrible for him. He supposed to be this super powerful swinging dick but not even having the power to keep himself out of jail takes the shine right off that image. You can’t dominate if you’re meekly being hauled off to jail.

    Trump is a strange man. He has no shame. None. But he desperately employs denial to protect his infantile ego. He has been projecting himself as a political martyr, standing alongside Mandela or even Jesus.

    I used to think that jail time might break him down. Who knows, it might. But he can never acknowledge humiliation. He’s ready to milk the fantasies of his political persecution at the hands of Democrats.

  47. 47.

    Tony Jay

    @catclub:

    Yeah, I mean, what’s the problem? A criminal former President is jailed for so many crimes you’d need a fleet of Brinks Mat trucks to deliver the sentencing paperwork, and if his followers break the law in their post-election dolorations, they can go to jail with him! Thus pleasing their long suffering families, the justice pixies, more than half the country, the ever-greedy prison/industrial lobby and probably them too, as they get to dress just like their Cult Leader.

    I fail to see the issue.

  48. 48.

    narya

    @Tony Jay: For some of these places/races, it also seems that the crazies slide into place . . . and then Regular Folks nope right out of it, someone sane steps up, and the wing nut is gone. I have to wonder whether, as you suggest, it does end up Democratizing (with a capital D) places that have been R for awhile. And my guess is that some of those Ds aren’t particularly lefty, just Not Crazy. I’m glad to see it.

  49. 49.

    Baud

    @narya:

    That’s what we hope to see in November, no? There’s a scenario where the heroes of November will be non-insane Republicans. I gag a little just suggesting it, but whatever it takes to win.

  51. 51.

    narya

    @Baud: I do think there will be some–for all that I disagree with the various R voting officials politically, many of them really stood up for following the rules. (Yeah, they also have a sideline in making it harder to vote.) But I also think (hope) we’re starting to see local, small-town Dems step up AND get elected, too.

  52. 52.

    Eyeroller

    @Baud: More likely non-insane R-voting “Independents.”  It’s well established that nearly all “Independents” reliably vote one way or the other, but they do have a higher propensity to switch than do partisans.  There are enough of such voters to swing elections.

  53. 53.

    Barry

    @SpaceUnit: “Just a matter of time before their restaurant critics start doing write-ups on Arbys.”

    No, because that’s Important.

  55. 55.

    Tony Jay

    @Baud:

    What I meant was, are enough voters in entrenched GOP-heritage areas turning away from the MAGA message to give Dems a chance of pulling off shocks up and down the ballot come November? Or are we just hearing here about the exceptional one-offs and actually Red States are staying safely Red?

    That’s the kind of thing I’d expect your national media to ignore as much as possible until it blows up in their faces.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    @Tony Jay:

    If Biden wins in a landslide, I promise you there will be a media race to be the first to say “Joe Biden didn’t win, Donald Trump lost.”

  57. 57.

    Geminid

    @narya: I think I saw this process starting in 2018. The 40-seat pickup in the House caught a lot of attention, but I remember traditionally Republican county governments in the Philadeplphia suburbs being taken over by Democrats.

    Trump was a potent GOTV force for Democrats then, and while it’s scary having him on the ballot again this year he could drag a more suburban Republicans like Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA01) down with him. He’s a high-risk, high reward candidate for Democratic purposes.

  58. 58.

    TBone

    The tankies are squawking loudly and repeatedly about Stormy Daniels’ credibility and Rump’s innocence in his knowledge of fraud business records – he just didn’t know what his employees were doing! 😆 Good.  It means that everyone is actually paying attention while the slow motion denouement rolls steadily along.  A glacial pace that nonetheless crushes boulders into sand.

  59. 59.

    Baud

    @Tony Jay:

    Seriously, though, Dems seem to be over performing in these elections.  It’s a better situation than the opposite, but nothing is guaranteed.

  60. 60.

    Tony Jay

    @Baud:

    Followed by President Joe’s solitary campaign communication to the FTFNYT consisting of a gif of him surrounded by celebrating Democrats and bellowing into the camera “If this ain’t winning, I’ll still take it. Thanks, Donald!”

  61. 61.

    Kay

    @prostratedragon:

    They put a lot of work into that story. Thanks. I’m glad they were well informed of the risks before they put themselves in harms way. I see online that the legal defense fund gets bigger every day – they add more schoolsas recipients.

    The Irish/Ireland response is super interesting. Trinity  College, Dublin: 

    In a statement on Monday evening, TCD said it was in “solidarity with the students in our horror at what is happening in Gaza”. The university said it has “initiated a process to divest from investments in companies that have activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and appear on the UN Blacklist”.Trinity is setting up a task force, including student representatives, it added, to discuss preserving academic freedom “while understanding better how we engage – or not – with states that are in contravention of human rights”. The university also condemned “the ferocious and disproportionate onslaught in Gaza” and welcomed the International Court of Justice’s interim ruling in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel.

    I read a bit about it -why Ireland and Irish people are so plugged into this- and as I understand it the sense of solidarity goes back to the Great Famine in Ireland – it’s part of the national culture. I noticed it seemed like a lot of Irish musicians and actors were boycotting US events and such and it seemed out of proportion to the size of the population so I looked into it.

  62. 62.

    TBone

    @Geminid: In 2019, Delaware County, PA went blue for the first time since the Civil War.

    We will continue to rout the traitors this year.

  63. 63.

    Steeplejack

    @Brachiator:

    Thanks!

    I love being able to play virtually any radio station (with a Web presence) static-free without taking up a browser tab on my computer.

  65. 65.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Brachiator: That may be how he plays it but what his supporters see is him being hauled off to jail, just like a normal everyday person. Some of them might buy the martyr schtick but a lot will be like what a powerless loser. And his supporters, even the ones that see him as a martyr, won’t do shit about it because if he’s in jail they know they can’t count on him to keep them out of it.

    The disciples all loved Jesus and saw him as a martyr but that didn’t stop Peter from being all like “Jesus, never heard of him!” when the authorities asked.

  66. 66.

    twbrandt

    @Baud: This is a BFD. Ottawa County in west Michigan is very very red. The fact that a recall against a conservative county commissioner 1) got enough signatures to get on the ballot, and 2) succeeded, tells me things are shifting even in the deep red areas.

  67. 67.

    evodevo

    @narya: Yep..a few years ago we had a talibangelical winger end up mayor in Georgetown, KY.  She had been on the city council for a couple years, so it’s not like her background wasn’t known.  After several years of total chaos, and a blown budget because of her anti-tax stance, a well-liked local guy ran against her on a “not insane” (Really – that was his slogan “Return to Sanity”!) platform and won in a walk.

  68. 68.

    twbrandt

    @Tony Jay:

    What I meant was, are enough voters in entrenched GOP-heritage areas turning away from the MAGA message to give Dems a chance of pulling off shocks up and down the ballot come November? Or are we just hearing here about the exceptional one-offs and actually Red States are staying safely Red?

    That’s a good question. Voters in another deep red Michigan county recalled three of their county commissioners on the same day. In both cases, the voters were apparently angered by specific actions taken by the commissioners. I’m hopeful this will translate into a blue swing come November.

  69. 69.

    Tony Jay

    @Kay:

    While over here Downing St has dragged in University leaderships to talk about “antisemitism and campus safety” in conversations that will have in no way included threats to funding. Not at all. Perish the thought.

    It’s pretty clear that the UK Establishment’s PR strategy here is to (re)redefine antisemitism as “anything a member of any extremist pro-Israeli lobby group says is antisemitism” (worked between 2017-20) and use that to justify heavy handed crackdowns on all pro-Palestinian protests. All while newlabourinc’s Light Blue Meanies nod along on the sidelines, weaseling on about being ‘a changed Party’ while releasing anonymous briefings about “infiltration by the racist Left”.

    Nothing if not predictible.

  71. 71.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Tony Jay:

    Yeah, I mean, what’s the problem? A criminal former President is jailed for so many crimes you’d need a fleet of Brinks Mat trucks to deliver the sentencing paperwork, and if his followers break the law in their post-election dolorations, they can go to jail with him! Thus pleasing their long suffering families, the justice pixies, more than half the country, the ever-greedy prison/industrial lobby and probably them too, as they get to dress just like their Cult Leader.

    I fail to see the issue.

    Yes! Couldn’t have put it better myself.

  72. 72.

    TerryC

    @twbrandt: My little, quite conservative, Lodi Township’s Board, Clerk, and Supervisor all have Democratic opponents for like the first time ever. (It’s in Wahlberg’s domain.)

  73. 73.

    Kay

    @Tony Jay:

    It’s just super interesting to me that there is no discussion at all of anti Muslim or anti Arab sentiment in either the US or the UK, when everyone who has a pulse in this country is aware of it and has probably seen it – particularly during the absolute elite freak out after 9/11 when everyone was a terrorist.

    I saw that  a Muslim advocacy group petitioned the US Department of Education for a meeting on it, which they’ll get. I keep saying this but it really is true – if they’re not enforcing consistent, neutral rules for speech and bias then they aren’t following US law. Colleges (or cities) simply cannot shut down speakers because people in power (including people in the Biden Administration) don’t like what they say.

    Are they listening to GOP politicians? It is rank bigotry towards Muslim and Arabs, every single day. Fight anti Semitism, absolutely, but they have to include other marginalized groups. They cannot pick a side in the Gaza conflict and use state power to enforce that political opinion. It’s against the law.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    @Tony Jay:

    I spend some time in Denmark and Danes are just basically anti Muslim at this point. It’s sort of tied to immigration, but I;ve come to believe “immigration” is almost a cover for them just not really liking Muslims. I love how this bias that I have seen in Denmark and the United States is just never mentioned as religious discrimination. For some reason it doesn’t count :)

    I’m not at all religious, so have no dog in this War of the Major Religions fight but I’m also not goddammed blind and deaf. Part of the reason the entire Right wing is supporting the war in Gaza is they have a huge and (blatant and proud) bias against Arabs and (especially) Muslims. Go ask any evangelical Christian fundamentalist about Muslims and stand back- the hatred spit will be flying.

  75. 75.

    strange visitor (from another planet)

    @Kay: the reason is the rapture. they don’t give a rat’s ass about muslims, they DESPISE us red-sea pedestrians, but no ISRAEL, no RAPTURE.

    (i think also, the numerical disparity is something the biden people keep in mind. there are literally BILLIONS of muslims, millions upon millions of arabs spread across the world. conversely, there’s but a handful of jews in a few countries.)

    it’s why, IMO, the “genocide” talk seems flat and forced. no one is killing all the muslims. no pne is trying to kill all the arabs. the IDF isn’t even trying to kill all the palestinians.

    so, i mean, WTF?!? jews are ALWAYS accused of dual loyalties, but here you have arab-AMERICANS threatening to hand this country over to the fascists by action or inaction, and people are like, “meh.”)

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