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You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Dank Grey Dawn Open Thread: ‘Becoming Ungovernable’ At the Libertarian Con(vention)

Dank Grey Dawn Open Thread: ‘Becoming Ungovernable’ At the Libertarian Con(vention)

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This year’s Libertarian nominating convention is being held in Washington DC, so TFG’s handlers had the bright idea of sending him to speak before a pre-screened crowd with which (they assumed) he would have much in common. It’s true that we all joke about libertarians being ‘Republicans who want to smoke weed’, but as with any other schismatic cult, it’s very important to observe the exact contours of the separatist ritual.

Per Will Weissert, the Associated Press — “Trump, accustomed to friendly crowds, confronts repeated booing during Libertarian convention speech”:

Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing the Libertarian Party National Convention on Saturday night, with many in the crowd shouting insults and decrying him for things like his COVID-19 policies, running up towering federal deficits and lying about his political record.

When he took the stage, many jeered while some supporters clad in “Make America Great” hats and T-shirts cheered and chanted “USA! USA!” It was a rare moment of Trump coming face-to-face with open detractors, which is highly unusual for someone accustomed to staging rallies in front of ever-adoring crowds.

Libertarians, who prioritize small government and individual freedoms, are often skeptical of the former president, and his invitation to address the convention has divided the party. Trump tried to make light of that by referring to the four criminal indictments against him and joking, “If I wasn’t a Libertarian before, I sure as hell am a Libertarian now.”

Trump tried to praise “fierce champions of freedom in this room” and called President Joe Biden a “tyrant” and the “worst president in the history of the United States,” prompting some in the audience to scream back: “That’s you.”

As the insults continued, Trump eventually hit back, saying “you don’t want to win” and suggesting that some Libertarians want to “keep getting your 3% every four years.”…

Despite the raucous atmosphere, Trump continued to press on with his speech, saying he’d come “to extend a hand of friendship” in common opposition to Biden. That prompted a chant of “We want Trump!” from supporters, but more cries of “End the Fed!” — a common refrain from Libertarians who oppose the Federal Reserve. One person who held up a sign reading “No wannabe dictators!” was dragged away by security.

Trump tried to win over the crowd by pledging to include a Libertarian in his Cabinet, but many in the crowd hissed in disbelief. The former president did get a big cheer when he promised to commute the life sentence of the convicted founder of the drug-selling website Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, and potentially release him on time served.

That was designed to energize Libertarian activists who believe government investigators overreached in building their case against Silk Road, and who generally oppose criminal drug policies more broadly. Ulbricht’s case was much-discussed during the Libertarian convention, and many of the hundreds in the crowd for Trump’s speech hoisted “Free Ross” signs and chanted the phrase as he spoke…

I hope Mr. Ulbricht wasn’t getting his hopes up, because even if by some evil fluke the GOP does recapture the Oval Office, Trump is not a man who forgets or forgives slights against him.

Apparently the invitation to Trump was approved by party Chair Angela McArdle (no relation to the blog’s favorite chewtoy that I can find)…

Commentor Jay helpfully shared a long Nitter thread from Pekka Kallioniemi (#Vatnick Soup) if you want more granular detail.

Angela McArdle is a MAGA Republican masquerading as an “antiwar libertarian”. Her views have nothing to do with traditional libertarianism, and @GrandTurion has even popularized a term for this type of actors – Kremlintarians.

Nor are TFG’s MAGAts the sort of people who put grievances behind them:

It was not difficult to predict that Trump’s speech would not be greeted with the usual credulous media-friendly awe:

Previously, on ‘Rage of Our Lives’…

As the con wraps up Sunday afternoon, we leave the Capital-L Libertarians to their ancient rituals…

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  1. 1.

    sab

    My feeling about this election in November is hopefully we win, or if we don’t I will follow suit like my immigrant in-laws from authoritarian states and just move on with my life without politics. Seems unimaginable but there we are. I am not going to go out on the streets and protest for people who cannot be bothered to vote.

  4. 4.

    SpaceUnit

    No real comment, just wringing my hands as I make my way to bed.

     

    Five months plus to go, but all is going accordingly to plan.

  5. 5.

    sab

    Electoral college wins  against the popular vote used to be a rare but unlikely win. In my adult lifetime these wins are now the norm.

  7. 7.

    sab

    @Baud: My oldest grandaughter was born in 2000. She is voting now and she thinks all this stuff is normal. I guess it is now. New antidemocratic norms. Note the d is small case.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    @sab:

    Fascism was normal in the 1930s. People still opposed it and we got around to defeating it.

    Hopefully this time we won’t wait so long to doing it.

    ETA: Also too, Jim Crow was really normal until it wasn’t.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    Dunno if y’all saw the photos of the D.C. Young Republicans waiting outside in anticipation of purloining the seats up front reserved for convention delegates.

    They’re all dressed in the now mandatory blue suits an long red ties.

    Buffoonery on parade.

  11. 11.

    sab

    @Baud: So you think I should just hang in there and protest? Possibly my civic duty since I did luck out and be born into a democracy. So duty bound to keep plugging on and not roll over like a dying cockroach.

  13. 13.

    Geoduck

    Can’t imagine any of the Libertarians are now going to vote for Biden, but hopefully he pissed off some  enough to push them out of the GOP category.

    And I guess Mike Lee went with the “outside agitators” shtick to explain all this.

  14. 14.

    SpaceUnit

    @NotMax:

    God help me, but I’m starting to wonder if a dipshit fascist movement can’t just clown itself into the dust.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    @sab:

    I only ask that people vote.  And keep their minds true and not succumb to the gaslighting and propaganda. But if you want to live you’re life as a normie, I have no beef with that.

    I’m not a huge fan of protests these days because I think they’re often seen as a substitute for other things.

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    As Harding (another corrupt Republican) coined the word normalcy, Dolt 45 personifies. “innaormalcy.”

    Or perhaps instead anormalcy. Take yer pick.
    //

  17. 17.

    Betty Cracker

    What I want to know is which staffer/hopeful suck-up told Trump is was a good idea to hit up LibCon. Grenell? Seems like I read something about his involvement in the debacle.

    Anyhoo, we can probably cross that person off as a potential hazard in a second Trump admin, though that would be pointless since a second Trump administration would basically be Nazis all the way down.

    @sab: & @Baud: If y’all figure out how to do that, let me know your technique.

  18. 18.

    sab

    @Baud: I grew up white in the Jim Crow South.  It’s impact on blacks is known. It’s impact on white southerners who disagreed  was also substantial but nothing like on blacks. Difference is that with a lot more bravery those whites could have fought it and didn’t.

    ETA In authoritarian regimes you cannot keep your head down. You have to commit or you get flushed out of civic and economic life.

  21. 21.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    Reddit comment

    I want to know who in their mind thought this was a good idea, so that I can send them a present

     

    If y’all figure out how to do that, let me know your technique

    I’ve already failed once. The problem is Balloon Juice. I wish I knew how to quit you.

  22. 22.

    sab

    @Betty Cracker: I have no idea. My sister’s husband is a Chinese national sensible person who left China because local job politics there tend to become bigger and political. Sucky scary way to live. Got a green card here but keeps his head down because of past experience. Politics is dangerous.

    I don’t want us to become politics is dangerous.

  25. 25.

    Jay

    @Betty Cracker:

    The invite came from the Misces Caucus, which is an “internal” coup attempt to turn the Libertarian Party into MAGAt’s.

    TIFG’s staff/Shitler accepted, because ithey probably did not note that 1/3rd of the Libertarian Party has already split off because of the coup attempt and formed their “own” party,

    and the remaining 1/2 hate TFIG’s guts.

    The Misces Caucus probably sold it as a “favorable done deal”.

  27. 27.

    Splitting Image

    The best way for a convention of Libertarians to end is for the building to burn to the ground with everyone inside because no one bothered to follow the fire codes.

    Booing Trump off the stage, however, I shall regard as acceptable.

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: For sure the blog exacerbates the addiction but I don’t think it’s the root cause. I’m not sure what makes one person obsess over this shit while others don’t pay attention.

    I’ve mostly settled on blaming my mom for making me watch the Watergate hearings as a child and subjecting me to her running commentary on it. She made it seem both outrageous, important and amusing.

    @sab: The immigrants I know who fled/come from families that fled horrific autocracies don’t seem to keep their heads down and eschew politics. In many cases, it’s a good thing — they add new voices and perspectives.

    But I do wish some would observe a period of disengagement while they develop a realistic sense of how politics in this country work, i.e., the ones who insist on pounding the square peg of U.S. politics into the round hole of the old country’s politics.

  32. 32.

    sab

    @Betty Cracker: Your mom sounds like my mom. In retrospect I am surprised by her intensity. Shows how little I understood her. To me she was just a mom. To herself she was a person with issues.

  34. 34.

    Baud

    It’s always amusing how the one set of freedoms libertarians never speak out about are women’s freedoms.

  36. 36.

    Brachiator

    Trump doesn’t normally speak to crowds who are not already true believers of the MAGA cult. He knows he is losing. He’s desperate.

  37. 37.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    Age and experience matters.  Changes one’s outlook.

    What can you do if a beached whale keeps swimming back onshore  after you rescue it?

  38. 38.

    sab

    Sunrise here. Gotta get up and face a new day. Cats have been up for HOURS awaiting breakfast.

  40. 40.

    satby

    @NotMax: yes, officially retired as of April 27, but now making bespoke soap for The British Treat House, another vendor there, plus I promised my customers I would do seasonal “editions”. I’ll send out an email to my customer list with what’s available, and they can purchase online or I may get a booth for a day each time. Back to school edition is late August, Fall/Holiday will be late October.

    And after almost 8 years, I’m slowly getting my house put back to rights. Slowly.

  43. 43.

    NotMax

    @sab

    “From the day of our arrival we led an active life. The first morning saw us up at 6, breakfasted and back in bed at 7. This was our routine for the fist three months We finally got so we were back in bed at 6:30.”
    – Captain Spaulding
    ;)

  44. 44.

    Betty Cracker

    @Brachiator: That’s my most hopeful interpretation too. Even a ramshackle outfit like the Trump campaign has internal polls that tend to be more informative than public polls. He’s made some desperate moves lately, including open calls to sell policies in exchange for support. It’s not the behavior of a confident person.

  46. 46.

    satby

    @Baud: About where I am. When Fox Noise was ascendent it was reasonable to assume people were propagandized. Now I’m older, crabbier, and sort of sick of telling people (like young women about Roe) that their rights are/were endangered. We (collectively) worked so hard to progress during the last decades of the 19xxs, it’s frustrating beyond imagining to see it rolled back by apathy.

  49. 49.

    Baud

    @satby:

    I’ve been throwing around the phrase “natural serfs” recently, and I think I’ll keep doing it.

  50. 50.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    Like with the first Trump term, I’m more concerned about what he’ll do overseas. At some level, as a nation, we deserve what we get.

  53. 53.

    hueyplong

    Kind of hoping we’ll look back on this libertarian/Bronx weekend as part of the tipping point (combined with, we hope, a conviction in NY this upcoming week).  The accounts summarized above look like a reveal of everything Trump does as mere Potemkin popularity.  The thing to watch for now is whether there is widespread coverage (i.e., stuff that gets absorbed by “normies”) of Trump being booed, pull-back, tracking shots of Trump revealing that the tight shot “crowd” is totally fake, etc.  He doesn’t fear many things more than being perceived as a loser, and 1980 Jimmy Carter can tell him that once the daily news story is that he’s a loser, he is in fact a loser and that’s that.

    Irrevocable loserdom status would also dry up the money.  Asshole billionaires don’t like wasting their money.  It’s almost as bad as paying taxes.

  54. 54.

    satby

    @Baud: “natural serfs” doesn’t quite capture the “you’re not the boss of me” ethos of a lot of them: rugged individuals all who don’t believe in any common good. I think I’ll stick to calling them natural assholes.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    @satby:

    I think we disagree. If they’re willing to let Republicans govern their bodies, then I wouldn’t classify them as rugged individualist.  What they’ve done is accept the idea that “owning the libs” makes them strong, and that’s all they need.

    IMHO, many natural serfs are more than willing to talk tough about their oppressors. They’ll just always find an excuse not to take action, and will say they’re just waiting for the right time to do something.

  57. 57.

    Baud

    Via Reddit

    COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — A jury has awarded more than $1.1 million to an Idaho drag performer who accused a far-right blogger of defaming him when she falsely claimed that he exposed himself to a crowd, including children, during a Pride event in June 2022.

  60. 60.

    satby

    @Baud: I think you missed the sarcasm intended by the “rugged individuals” comment. It’s the apathy, or entitlement and laziness. that might cost us our democracy.

    So, I sold bar soap, for example. And lots of college kids would come by, enjoy smelling the different scents, but announce they used liquid soap. And I would say “that’s cool, no worries. Of course, I’m old, and I’ll be dead when all you younger folks are dealing with all the plastic pollution” (often to the snickers of their friends). Even if they didn’t buy (often they did) they had something to think about. It’s like no one taught them that real world problems could possibly affect them personally. That’s what I mean about the loss of a concept of common good.

  63. 63.

    Rusty

    As repellent as Trump is, the libertarians want to give him competition.   The NRA are squishes, no driving licenses, the ultimate fuck-you-I-got-mine attitude?  We are infested with them here in New Hampshire.  Funny, for all their blather about freedom they happily vote abortion restrictions, anti-trans, are homophonic and more.  They really are the worst of the worst.

  64. 64.

    artem1s

    and suggesting that some Libertarians want to “keep getting your 3% every four years.”…

    that TIFG even knows how federal matching works tells you exactly why he exposed himself to this mockery. i figured he was only there to try and rake in some easy donations because some suck up told him what easy marks they are. but of course he always has to say the quiet parts out loud. wouldn’t surprise me if the point of this is to grab their matching dollars and cause havoc with their nomination results. Buchanan successfully neutralized the remnants of Ross Perot’s Party in 2000 by doing exactly this. the GOP was concerned the Perot nominee would take more votes away from W in the general than the Dems (again). he went in and caused a rift in the leadership (over who controlled the matching money I’m sure) and they ended up with two nominees. guess who the courts decided which nominee got on the ballot?
    projection. it’s always projection with these guys

  65. 65.

    artem1s

    That was designed to energize Libertarian activists who believe government investigators overreached in building their case against Silk Road

    great, now it’s time to turn the free pot king into a martyr. Silk Road was an international money laundering scam built to enable drug dealers, terrorist, and human sex traffickers. Ross isn’t some innocent who just wanted to help his friends get baked. he’s now a libertarian god because he was making crypto work as a viable alternative to using federal banks. these assholes who want him freed think the money laundering, tax evasion, and sex trade part are features, not a bugs.

  66. 66.

    Geminid

    I guess the Libertarians will nominate their candidate today. I wonder who the Libertarians will pick. Not Trump, and probably not RFK Jr. either.

    The candidates I’ve seen are also white men, though. There is a modicum of diversity in that some wear glasses and some do not, and at least one doesn’t have a goatee.

    Last time they nominated Jo Jorgenson, a lecturer at Clemson University and the Party’s 1996 VP candidate. She pulled in 1.8 million votes. That was less than Gary Johnson’s 3.3 million in 2016, and more than the 1.2 million Johnson won in 2012. The Libertarians might do better this year, but if they do I think it will be at Trump’s expense.

  68. 68.

    Fair Economist

    I hate autocracy because I study history. Autocracy means you must always fear a knock on the door. No matter how much you keep your head down, you may become part of a group that becomes the villain-of-the-week, or have something the autocrats want to take. Fascism sucks for everybody.

  69. 69.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Betty Cracker:

    For sure the blog exacerbates the addiction but I don’t think it’s the root cause. I’m not sure what makes one person obsess over this shit while others don’t pay attention.

    I’ve mostly settled on blaming my mom for making me watch the Watergate hearings as a child and subjecting me to her running commentary on it. She made it seem both outrageous, important and amusing.

    My parents talked politics at the dinner table, so I grew up paying attention. I was reading the WaPo front page when I was 10.  As a result, I am so far from normiehood that for me, normies are about as relatable as some tribe in New Guinea that only came into contact with the outside world during our lifetimes.

  70. 70.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Baud:

    ETA: Also too, Jim Crow was really normal until it wasn’t.

    These days, it’s just called something else, like “principled/fiscal conservatism” or “traditional conservative Judeo-Christian family values”.

  71. 71.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    I’ve been throwing around the phrase “natural serfs” recently, and I think I’ll keep doing it.

    I’m gonna buy a serfboard to bop them over the head with.

  72. 72.

    Trivia Man

    @sab: People like James Reeb were heroes. Outside agitators, yes. White, a comfortable life far from the lynchings and daily dangers, no visible dog in that fight. But they literally gave their lives for justice and civilization. With white skin they are visibly aligned with the opressors as a default. Jim Crow was a white problem that needed white people to bring it to an end.
    Seeing those white people standing arm in arm with the victims it forced other white people to confront themselves and decide which side they were on. Holding the firehose or marching with the crowd?

  74. 74.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Rusty:

    Funny, for all their blather about freedom they happily vote abortion restrictions, anti-trans, are homophonic and more.  They really are the worst of the worst.

    If any form of pleasure is exhibited,
    report to me and it will be prohibited
    I’ll put my foot down, so shall it be,
    this is the land of the free!
    -Rufus T. Firefly, President of Freedonia

    ETA: One good Groucho quote deserves another, right NotMax? ;-)

  75. 75.

    Trivia Man

    @satby: Its like burglars or terrorists – they Never. Stop. Trying. You have to be perfect in defense every time, they only need to succeed once. In politics its a long game so they have to succeed multiple times but the point still stands.
    “It takes a craftsman to build (a policy or law) but any jackass can kick it down.”

  76. 76.

    CindyH

    @sab: I was thinking similarly – I’ve always felt bad about what we’re leaving for our youth, but if the youth vote doesn’t come out for Biden, it’s FAFO.

  77. 77.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Baud:

    I’m not a huge fan of protests these days because I think they’re often seen as a substitute for other things.

    Voting and civic engagement is the most important ways to keep our democracy working.

    I don’t necessarily disagree with your assessment of protests but hasn’t that pretty much always been the case throughout American history; i.e., protests portrayed (mostly) by opponents as “riots”, etc?

  78. 78.

    satby

    @Ramalama: It has to be “British” themed. So Earl Grey Tea, Victorian Sponge (Strawberry, with swirled jam), Queen Anne’s Rose Garden… I’m coming up with lots of fun ideas. Working on a Lemon Curd now; it’s all tied into food David makes.

    And if it becomes very popular I’m not sure how I’ll feel about that 😂

  81. 81.

    Suzanne

    @lowtechcyclist: I grew up living with SuzMom and my grandparents. No siblings. I rarely got to choose what to watch, and my grandfather watched ABC World News Tonight and the MacNeil / Lehrer NewsHour every night. I joke that I was the only first grader who knew who Caspar Weinberger was.

    Then we moved to Mesa, AZ, the most conservative city in America. No, I did not fit in.

  84. 84.

    CliosFanBoy

    @NotMax:

      At least Harding was a nice guy who even his Democratic opponents liked. Yeah, dumb as a box of rocks, and couldn’t keep his fly zipped around a pretty girl, but friendly and nice. Think of him as the himbo of presidents.

  85. 85.

    TBone

    If things truly go south in November, I’m not going down quietly quitting.  If I must go down, it’ll be while I’m howling, caterwauling, hissing, spitting, scratching, and disemboweling anything deserving within reach.  Might as well go out in style.

  86. 86.

    eclare

    @satby:

    I ordered a bar hair conditioner this morning, and the website told me that I saved 2 oz of plastic from a landfill or the ocean.  It’s a drop in the bucket I know, but I’m making the change, and if everyone else did…

  88. 88.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I don’t have any evidence to support this claim and I’m too lazy to go looking for any but I think protests are often the genesis of actual movements, perhaps not large ones, in which people recommit to civic engagement on the local and state level.  Leading to small but substantive changes for the better (or, in the case of those TEA Party asshats, for the worse).

  90. 90.

    smith

    @Suzanne: I grew up in WV in the 50s and 60s with parents who were liberal political activists. I have too many stories to tell in a blog comment, but I can say that it certainly set my course for life.

  91. 91.

    RaflW

    @Baud: They also totally whiffed on same-sex marriage. Because they operate in fantasy land, their most common answer “the government shouldn’t license marriage” was a theoretical retreat to a system that has not even a 3% chance of existing here.

    They gave themselves and out and didn’t and still to my knowledge don’t support LGBTQ+ liberty. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a libertarian defend a trans person’s right to seek the health care outcomes that suit them, for example. Maybe some do, but if it’s as quiet as a mouse fart, who cares?

  92. 92.

    RaflW

    @lowtechcyclist: Family activities for the W family included choosing between attending the UU church or watching This Week With David Brinkley, depending on the Sunday topic in the monthly newsletter & checking who the scheduled guests were in the TV listings. Charlie Rose was a weeknight nitecap staple, esp. any politics episodes.

    That said, dad was a classic Eisenhower-type Republican. And mom was a Swedish citizen and used that status to ignore most of this (except the UU church which she quite loved) by retreating to the kitchen, or a novel, or the small TV in the den.

    I have a sneaking suspicion ours was not a normal family (and yes, I’ll include our family having a den in addition to the family room in the not-normal part).

  93. 93.

    Melancholy Jaques

    If Biden gave a speech where he was booed and heckled like that, the videos would run forever. Let’s see how long the story lasts when it’s Trump. I’m thinking done by Monday morning.

  94. 94.

    Ramalama

    @satby: I am now curious about Earl Grey scented soap. It’s my favorite flavor of tea. I drink 3 thermoses of it on the daily. Last year I went to London (first time ever in the UK), with aunts and cousin, and went to a super fancy high tea that was incredible but because I overdo it on the Earl Grey, decided to drink Something Else, what the Brits drink. It was pretty good, whatever it was I had. But then my cousin let me sip her Earl Grey at this high-tea and I kicked myself, ever so slightly. Daintily you might say.

  95. 95.

    cmorenc

    I suspect the majority of libertarians imagine themselves as the sort of superior being who will win out in the minimalist legal / regulatory environment of glibertarian paradise, their lot not among the masses living off the breadcrumbs falling off from increasing wealth concentration.  Inside, they imagine themselves as more modestly scaled versions of Elon Musk

  97. 97.

    Paul M Gottlieb

    It is false that “Libertarians are who want to smoke weed.” A great many Libertarians are fascists who want to smoke weed

  98. 98.

    RaflW

    @TBone: A dear friend who is a retired UU minister, and a very slightly built late-70ish cis-straight woman with a warm smile and a calm, clear voice recently said to my partner “I’d lay down in the streets to save you” and he could tell by the steel and the love in her voice that she meant it.

    She amplified, saying that she’s lived a long life and has so many queer friends she’d literally die for, if it would help save us.

    Dang.

  99. 99.

    rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)

    @sab: I mostly agree. I don’t want to completely cede the political sphere to them, but we have many other areas and institutions where we can effect change and strengthen institutions. Local and state politics, for starters.

  102. 102.

    Glidwrith

    @SpaceUnit: Since we’re finding out that fascists are a death cult, I do wonder if a society holds out against them long enough that they turn on each other.

    I don’t think we’re that lucky. Best case is Shitgibbon loses and goes to jail and his followers fragments back into an incoherent mob. And we still have to deal with the fascist billionaires.

  103. 103.

    Jinchi

    One person who held up a sign reading “No wannabe dictators!” was dragged away by security.

    It’s telling that, in a raucous room of libertarians shouting down the former guy, this is the one who get dragged away.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    @NotMax:

    Buffoonery on parade.

    They have nothing else but buffoonery.

    No actual policies for governing.

    No concept of running a country – only being in charge for themselves.

    Their concept of politics is steal from everyone in any way possible and be as asinine as humanly possible and support the backasswards monied who think that if you aren’t wealthy you aren’t human.

    Your 3 words summarize it perfectly “Buffoonery on Parade.”

  105. 105.

    Ruckus

    @sab:

    THIS.

    There are a lot of people that seem to enjoy insanity in government. They look at themselves as paragons of humanity, but their concept of humanity is not at all inclusive, and that goes against the very basis of our country, even as we still work on that inclusiveness. It is a goal that may never be finished but it gets better the more we actually work towards it. A closed mind is difficult to open, but we have to keep working on it.

  106. 106.

    trnc

    At the end of the ConservBlue2020 tweet when the libertarian dude is talking about pressure on DT by the “Deep State,” someone yells “He should have taken a bullet.”

  107. 107.

    trnc

    I would have absolutely thought that the video in the “license to drive” tweet was an SNL sketch.

  108. 108.

    Liminal Owl

    @satby: YES. And belated congratulations on the retirement.

    I hope I’m on your mailing list. Bought a few of your excellent bar soaps—when I (also belatedly) stopped buying liquid soaps and started trying to get rid of as many single-use plastics as possible.  Will buy more when they are available.

  109. 109.

    Anonymous At Work

    If Angela McArdle, second useful idiot of the surname, is indeed a Kremlintarian, Putin has captured the souls of the Republican, Green, Libertarian, and whatever party ends up endorsing RFK Jr., and probably cheaply.

    As much shit as it would stir up, the prudent responses include seizure of assets linked to Russian firms more broadly than currently and stripping Wyoming’s Cowboy Cocktail (blind trust for shipping foreign assets into US to buy US assets, based out of Wyoming) of all legality.  Stir even more shit by cracking down on Sovereign Wealth Fund ownership of anything.

  114. 114.

    PaulWartenberg

    If there’s any hilarious news, the convention balloting had trump garner SIX write-in votes, less than RFK Jr’s NINETEEN official votes… and BOTH of them got bounced after the first round because they didn’t secure more than 5 percent of the total.

    ELIMINATED!

    bwhahahahahahaha.

  115. 115.

    Ruckus

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s not the behavior of a confident person.

    ShitForBrains is not a confident person. He is a person that thinks he is massively smarter and better than most everyone else, but not all that deep down he at least USED to know better. The worst thing that ever happened to him was to be elected president. Because it changed his glass from 7/8 empty to 1/8 full. And worse yet he always thought it was 7/8 full. Notice that 7/8 empty is equal to 1/8 full – He isn’t anywhere near as smart as he thinks he is and he’s back to being really nothing as far as humanity is concerned. Sure he was president, but the reality was he was play acting, he’s not near smart enough to be able to do the job, which is why he was so bad at it.

  117. 117.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @cmorenc: I suspect the majority of libertarians imagine themselves as the sort of superior being who will win out in the minimalist legal / regulatory environment of glibertarian paradise, their lot not among the masses living off the breadcrumbs falling off from increasing wealth concentration. Inside, they imagine themselves as more modestly scaled versions of Elon Musk

    And one wonders how many times they have to be kicked to the curb by more immodestly scaled versions with more money, better connections and fewer scruples before the flashbang road-to-Damascus insight comes that the only safe world is one where we’re all in it together.

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