Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Not all heroes wear capes.

In after Baud. Damn.

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

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Second rate reporter says what?

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

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

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

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

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

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Saturday Night Dim Bulbs Open Thread: The Ongoing Ensh*ttification of the GOP

Saturday Night Dim Bulbs Open Thread: The Ongoing Ensh*ttification of the GOP

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No, really — Erick ‘Voice of the GOP Gated Community’ Erickson said that. And he wasn’t the only one, per Jon Chait, at NYMag:

President Biden commemorated the 80th anniversary of D-Day with a traditional American speech about the civic values this country has taken from that event: Democracy is good, fascism is bad, allies are necessary, etc.

Conservatives had two plausible options in response. The highbrow rejoinder would be to praise the speech and note that of course they, too, were rooting for Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan. The lowbrow response would be to circulate misleading clips of Biden to make him look older than he actually is. (Many of them did this.)

But some elite conservatives chose a third option: Angrily denounce the platitudes about democracy as an attack on their own values…

Biden noted, “Ukraine has been invaded by a tyrant bent on domination.” He warned, “To surrender to bullies, to bow down to dictators is simply unthinkable.” He denounced “isolationism.” He praised democracy and warned about authoritarianism:

Now, we have to ask ourselves: Will we stand against tyranny, against evil, against crushing brutality of the iron fist?
Will we stand for freedom? Will we defend democracy?

What part of that do conservatives object to? Trump doesn’t claim to be an isolationist, a lover of dictators, or an opponent of democracy. They insist he doesn’t want to break up NATO and only wants to toughen up the allies. His supporters only take attacks on these things as an attack on Trump because they understand he actually loves dictators, believes in isolationism, and hates democracy…

Breaking!!!

And then there was Trump’s Phoenix rally on Thursday, sponsored by low-rent scam-front Turning Point (TP-USA)…


You’d think the least they could’ve done would be to hand out paper cups of water… or maybe some nice cool Flavor-Aid.

Phoenix resident:

And the payoff, for the lucky winners?

On the ‘bright’ side, I’m not sure even the extremely experienced Republican turd-polishers are gonna be able to drag this decompensating degenerate to the finish line, a whole five months from now.

Reader Interactions

71Comments

  1. 1.

    Yutsano

    Oddsfish. I seem to be first here.

    EDIT: And so I am! Weird.

    Anyway, fuck the GOP and the Painted Fuckstain they’re saddled with.

    EDIT II: Where the fuck is everyone?

  2. 2.

    satby

    Just finished watching a movie, Six Minutes to Midnight*, about fifth column NAZIS in Britain just before the start of WWII. You wonder how British citizens would have been induced to betray their country, and then I come here and read about the MAGA imitators willing to do the same thing. History really just keeps repeating.

    *Eddie Izzard wrote, starred, and produced it, Judy Dench stars too. Really well done.

  5. 5.

    A Ghost to Most

    “America will always do the right thing, after exhausting all the alternatives.”

    Attributed to Winston Churchill

    We got this.

  8. 8.

    dm

    That second bit about stripping the store, and It closes, and the town’s economy is hurt…. he’s talking about Private Equity firms and leveraged buyouts, right?

  9. 9.

    WaterGirl

    In all fairness…

    I was at the Obama Rally the day that Obama announced Biden as his VP.  It was hotter than fuck and so much sweat was running down my face that my eyes were blurry.  I assumed from all the salt in my sweat, but who knows?

    They were passing out water to the people in the crowd.  Still, they carted several people off who fainted from the heat.

    It was an amazing day, and I am so glad that I went to Springfield for it.  We got our texts at 3am or 5am and they announced the rally so several of us headed over.  A truly magical day.  Barack and Joe both running up the steps to the stage.

    A lot of years have passed since then.

  14. 14.

    Suzanne

    I have gone to many, many events in Arizona that require waiting outside in long lines in order to get through security/magnetometers. (I will note that when SuzMom and I went to a Trump rally to heckle, it was at the Phoenix Convention Center, not Dream City Church…. which is much smaller.) It’s really awful, and you shouldn’t go to any events if you can’t handle it. Cool water, sunblock, proper clothing…. and it’s still tough. It’s utterly exhausting, even for fit and healthy people.

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    What Ewickson has done is conceded that That Felon Guy is a fascist.

  16. 16.

    Ken

    The venue holds 2700, but there were hundreds of people with tickets who couldn’t get in. Hmm. I’ll take a wild guess here, and say that they were charging for the tickets, and venue size took a backseat to revenue.

  17. 17.

    hells littlest angel

    I’m sure Trump cares, in his own depraved way, about the people who collapsed in the heat while waiting to see him. He probably brags about them.

  18. 18.

    Anne Laurie

    @Ken: I’ll take a wild guess here, and say that they were charging for the tickets, and venue size took a backseat to revenue.

    TurningPoints wouldn’t even have had to charge a ‘handling fee’.  As I understand it, they make most of their money the old-fashioned Vigurie way, by selling their mailing lists.  So… get a bunch of Trump-friendly old people to send for tickets by mail, turn around & sell those addresses to (other) scam artists hawking reverse mortgages, prostate pills, and of course MAGAt merch.

  19. 19.

    Quaker in a Basement

    Biden said this: “I simply refuse to believe that America’s greatness is a thing of the past.”

    Is that the partisan attack Erick thinks he heard? That America doesn’t need to be made great again because it never stopped being great?

    Weak sauce.

  20. 20.

    Princess

    Trump’s lies about urban areas in the US (burned-out wastelands full of crime and poverty) are identical to old Soviet propaganda about the West.

  21. 21.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Ken: It was the biggest crowd in history in Arizona, right? I bet they turned away over a hundred thousand people.

  22. 22.

    Central Planning

    “We don’t hand out water at Trump rallies because we don’t want water handed out at polling places. Checkmate, libtards!”

  23. 23.

    Scout211

    @Ken:I’ll take a wild guess here, and say that they were charging for the tickets, and venue size took a backseat to revenue.

     

    I think the tickets are free. But they require you to “register” to get the tickets.  Here’s a sign-up to register for the Las Vegas Rally.  It looks like an email and phone number capture operation.  My guess is they register more suckers than the capacity of each venue.

  24. 24.

    Princess

    @WaterGirl: Hey! I was there too! I still have the sign I got there. The first Obama-Biden signs ever made — the ink was still warm on it when they handed them out.  It was hot, but nothing like Phoenix.

  25. 25.

    CaseyL

    I really think most of the people who go to these rallies are the fascist equivalent of Deadheads: retired losers, traveling from rally to rally, who really just want to hear the old hits.  TCFG’s stale repetitions are their version of “Playing in the Band.”*

     

    *Looked up what song was played most often at Grateful Dead concerts, and this was it.

  26. 26.

    Anyway

    Are there any details about the SF fundraiser? Many MOTUs in attendance? Silicon Valley bigwigs have turned fash- adjacent and probably give heavily to Rthugs – they used to be reliably D in previous cycles.

  28. 28.

    Scout211

    @Anyway: Are there any details about the SF fundraiser?

    Here’s a Report from Reuters

    A few snippets:

    SAN FRANCISCO, June 6 (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump raised $12 million on Thursday, two sources said, at an event hosted by two tech venture capitalists in San Francisco that drew Silicon Valley investors turned off by the Biden administration’s policies.

    Venture capitalists David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, as well as Sacks’ wife Jacqueline, held the reception and dinner with Trump at the Sacks’ swanky mansion in the Pacific Heights neighborhood, according to an invitation seen by Reuters.
    . . .
    Executives from crypto exchange Coinbase, crypto investor twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss and other crypto leaders were in attendance, Dhillon added. Trump talked about how Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has warned about crypto being used by scam investors and criminals, is “going after crypto,” according to Dhillon.
    . . .
    Senator J.D. Vance, a potential running mate for Trump who previously lived in San Francisco and worked in venture capital, was also on site. Vance helped organize the fundraiser and was a point of contact between Sacks and the Trump campaign, according to another source familiar with the discussions.

    Sacks thanked Vance in his speech, according to the source, saying “this all started with J.D. Vance calling and asking if we could host an event for President Trump.”

    He called himself “ the crypto president” and earned the “coveted” David Sacks endorsement.

    ETA: Vance is still #1 on my list for the veepstakes.  He brings the money.

  29. 29.

    zhena gogolia

    Much as I hate to say it, there’s a comma after “Texas.” He says, “Here, [and] in Texas, I think (Texas is second in a list). I’m eager for Trump deterioration but I don’t see this as an example of it.

  31. 31.

    Scout211

    @zhena gogolia: I heard that, too.  It was spoken as a list. Here (and in) Texas

    But he speaks so quickly after his dose of Adderal that it all runs together.

  32. 32.

    John Revolta

    Trump: They go to some of these stores, 500 people walk in.. they walk out out with air-conditioners, they strip the whole store. The company goes out of business. The store is vacant for 25 years. The whole city becomes a slum

    Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes……The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… MASS HYSTERIA!

  33. 33.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @dm: ​  He’s toooo dumb to understand a LBO. Most likely he’s describing how his dad’s mob friends would do a “bust out” as dramatized in “Goodfellas” (video)​​

  34. 34.

    Another Scott

    @John Revolta:

    The store is vacant for 25 years. The whole city becomes a slum

    [… puts socks back on after counting on toes …]

    So he’s running on criticism of Clinton’s economy in 1999??

    Wasn’t he president for a while a few years ago? Maybe he could have done something about cities becoming slums when he was president??

    [ groucho-roll-eyes.gif ]

    “Republicans don’t lie to be believed. They lie to be repeated.” – LOLGOP

    Meanwhile, how about that Dolphin-head nebula, eh?

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  35. 35.

    NutmegAgain

    Regarding the heat-stroked magats:

    Jaysus you’d think at some point they’d figure out that he really doesn’t give a shit about them. But they’re in too deep, and realizing that would blow up their whole cosmos and how they think the world fits together.

  37. 37.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Anyway: ​
     no demo is monolithic. Dubya, Mittens all had reactionary money from the VC

  40. 40.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Scout211: If I were to post what I think should be done to Sacks I’d be banned. He is a festering syphilitic boil on the ass of humanity.

  42. 42.

    RaflW

    Contra Chait, Trump does love him some dictators. His pen pal relationship with Kim in North Korea is a thing of legend. Trump recently was praising China’s ability to just crack down at will on drug users.

    That nitpicking aside, of course the GOP feels attacked. They do hate representative democracy. Good of Ewik son of Ewik to make that plain for us (again).

  43. 43.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Princess:

    Trump’s lies about urban areas in the US (burned-out wastelands full of crime and poverty) are identical to old Soviet propaganda about the West. 

    Fitting for an orange shitstain who has sucked Kremlin ass hole since at least 1987.

    Fuck ’em.

  46. 46.

    RaflW

    @Yutsano: I was out enjoying the embers of a bonfire and watching the pink wisps of clouds fade to grey and night. It was lovely.

    This joint does seem pretty quiet this evening…

  47. 47.

    The I Want Song

    You’d think the least they could’ve done would be to hand out paper cups of water… or maybe some nice cool Flavor-Aid.

    I see what you did there…

  48. 48.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    for decades oligarchs hid behind bullshit reasons for their financial support of repubs: we want a strong defense against the russians, we want international trade, we want family values, we want individual freedom, etc. but Dump is against all of that. He lays bare their true reasons are for taxes, cronyism, and cleek’s law.

  49. 49.

    jimmiraybob

    “The big lie. It’s the same mind-numbing stuff every single speech.”

    Numb minds make the best cults.

  50. 50.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Yutsano: I was out riding the new tandem with Mr. Rudbek. It’s a DaVinci with independent pedaling, which is interesting getting used to after nearly 30 years of riding regular tandem bikes where the captain and stoker pedal together. Mr. Rudbek likes it so far as he thinks we climb hills better, and we seem to be able to start on uphills better as well.  So maybe tomorrow we’ll try a longer ride, as today’s ride was the standard one through Old Town Alexandria up to Potomac Yard for shopping, with a stop at the yarn store for worldwide knitting in public day.

  52. 52.

    Sister Golden Bear

    What part of that do conservatives object to? Trump doesn’t claim to be an isolationist, a lover of dictators, or an opponent of democracy. They insist he doesn’t want to break up NATO and only wants to toughen up the allies. His supporters only take attacks on these things as an attack on Trump because they understand he actually loves dictators, believes in isolationism, and hates democracy…

    Hit dogs holler.

  53. 53.

    rebelsdad (aka texasboyshaun)

    Good evening, everyone. Have I said how excited I am about Andy Kim yet?

  54. 54.

    DrDaveChemist

    @Kayla Rudbek: I had some friends back around 1990 in Indiana who had a Counterpoint tandem: stoker recumbent in front, captain upright in back, and independent gearing. They took pride in the ability of, in their words, “a grizzled old man and a WOMAN” to cruise past a fit young man on a racing bike.
    Our Cannondale tandem is sadly gathering dust in the garage, but I can still impress people by describing how we rode it all the way across Indiana (a little over 160 miles) in a single day, often leading a pace lane of a half dozen or so “passengers” on single bikes.

  57. 57.

    Juju

    @Anyway: Every time I read about one of these big fundraisers for Trump I wonder how much of that money will actually be used for the campaign and not his defense fund.

  58. 58.

    TBone

    Hubby got a money heg in the mail the other day. It read exactly like Aaron Rupar’s tweet.  It was like the green baloney sandwich they serve in prison day after day.

  60. 60.

    Ken

    @RaflW: it is notable that Trump only drew about 3,000 for this event.

    It’s a semi-open secret that his staff has been booking smaller (and smaller, and smaller) venues because he throws a tantrum if the place isn’t full.

  61. 61.

    lowtechcyclist

    Good morning, y’all! Slept late after being up a couple hours in the middle of the night, deciding if I have the energy to put on clothes and go for a bike ride. Maybe in another hour or so. Since it’s a Sunday morning, car traffic should be light, and that’s always a plus.

    Interesting discussion of tandems in this thread. I confess I could probably count on my fingers the number of times I’ve seen one in action, and my wife’s knee and ankle problems are such that there’s about zero chance I could get her on a bike of any sort. I would be interested in seeing how they do the mechanics of independent pedaling, though, since I’ve always just assumed the riders had to pedal at the same speed, which I gather is still the norm. Especially on hills, I can see a big advantage if each rider can pedal at their own rate.

  62. 62.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Ken: ​
     

    It’s a semi-open secret that his staff has been booking smaller (and smaller, and smaller) venues because he throws a tantrum if the place isn’t full.

    Sounds like the Spinal Tap farewell tour – let’s hope it’s his!

  63. 63.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Ken: In 1964, Dick Gregory would tell a hilarious joke that Goldwater was forced to hold “Blacks for Goldwater” rallies at phone booths.

  64. 64.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @satby: A lot of the British elite though Hitler was ok because he hated the Commies and kept the little people in their place. It was only after Poland, when Hitler wouldn’t do as he was told, they decided he was evil.

  65. 65.

    Dave

    @Princess: It works on his base because of years of media preparing the battlefield for him. The number of people (mostly white but I’m sure there are some exceptions) that are terrified of their local city is not insubstantial.

    That city can range from NYC to the the terrifying city of Nowhere Nebraska (population 30,000) that to be fair probably does have a higher crime rate than NYC.

    Same with the organized shoplifting thing. It happened and does happen but the same one or two videos are shown constantly giving the impression it happens all the time.

    He’s effective at this because it’s the world he fully and enthusiastically inhabits.

    Media has done a brilliant job regarding what actually destroys communities and local economies.

    I’m hoping that the cracks in his persona are going to continue to grow and that enough people are tired of him that he totally craters but we’ll have to see.

  66. 66.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Scout211:  “Cypto Venture Capitalist” sure fits the claim Trump’s base is a Dentist who sells cocain out the back of his office.

  67. 67.

    Chief Oshkosh

    As much as I loathe these people, they are people, and the man’s flagrant disregard for their welfare is gross as hell.

    The comment that even the fainting Trumpers are people and so deserve medical attention is of course correct, but aged cultists risking death by idiotically standing in AZ midday heat reminds me of the dead anti-vaxxers who did their own research. Given enough time, this is a self-correcting problem. Unfortunately, we don’t have that much time.

  68. 68.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I am pretty sure the whole commemoration of D-Day is an attack on Trump is because Biden going there reminded Trump of how badly he screwed up his own trip to Normandy.  Trump is a narcissistic after all, and the only reason Trump is pro-dictator is they are another group of people who happen to demand the absolute obedience of others.

  69. 69.

    artem1s

    @Scout211: ​ 

    ETA: Vance is still #1 on my list for the veepstakes. He brings the money.

    Vance is the country’s worst nightmare for succeeding TCFG. He can carry the MAGAt vote and the normie GOP vote and independents and glibertarians.
    When TCFG dies or becomes ineligible due to prosecution or health, Vance becomes THE real threat to democracy. whether it’s a 2024 October surprise or as the GOP challenger to Harris in 2028. This guy has an agenda and the GOP mon$y guys love him. We know the old GOP vanguards have a backup plan. The not crazy ones know TCFG isn’t going to last long. I expect Darth Jr. to hitch her trailer to Vance within 5 seconds of the power vacuum.
    Be afraid, be very afraid.

  71. 71.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @lowtechcyclist: there is an additional freewheel on the left side of the DaVinci tandem so the captain and stoker can pedal independently. So when we’re riding that bike, I do have to look down and check what Mr. Rudbek is doing, and he’s started to tell me that we’re stopping for lights.

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