Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

So very ready.

White supremacy is terrorism.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

When we show up, we win.

Books are my comfort food!

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

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

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Friday Night Fights Open Thread: Repubs in Disarray!

Friday Night Fights Open Thread: Repubs in Disarray!

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the reason why Pim Tool and no one else at TENET media realized they're taking Russian cash to make propaganda is that a mysterious sack of money to talk shit is how ALL right-wing media works

— Rev. Poppy Haze (ITAR compliant) (@poppyhaze.bsky.social) Sep 5, 2024 at 9:18 AM

And Groyper spokesphibian Nick Fuentes feels cheated!!! by (former) God-Emperor Trump:

White nationalist Nick Fuentes blasts Trump for admitting that he lost the 2020 election: "So, why did we do Stop the Steal? … It would have been good to know that before 1,600 people got charged." www.rightwingwatch.org/post/a-big-r…

[image or embed]

— Right Wing Watch (@rightwingwatch.bsky.social) Sep 4, 2024 at 3:22 PM

“I would have never FA’d had I known I’d eventually FO!”

— Not great, Bob! (@sometoast.bsky.social) Sep 4, 2024 at 4:01 PM

Reader Interactions

145Comments

  1. 1.

    JCJ

    It is really tough knowing that Darth Cheney will be voting for Kamala Harris.   There used to be a restaurant nearby in Waukesha named Gyros West.  Cheney campaigned there in 2004 right before the election.  I refused to ever go in there again.

     

    Regarding a different Kennedy from the one referenced above:  RFK Jr is to RFK as Four Seasons Total Landscaping is to the Four Seasons Hotel

  4. 4.

    opiejeanne

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: I was ok with his daughter being on our side, at least temporarily. I’m really torn by Darth Cheney joining us, no matter how pure his motives may be… and just writing pure motives in relation to him made my head spin like Linda Blair’s did in The Exorcist.

  5. 5.

    TS

    @opiejeanne:

    He has not “joined us”. he was not asked to do this – I don’t believe there is any payment or obligation for him to do this.

    Two votes in a non competitive state – easy for both of them – but just maybe a few folks in competitive states may follow either one of them, I would suggest, just hold your nose & take the win.

  6. 6.

    SpaceUnit

    At the end of the day there’s no downside to Dick Cheney or Nick Fuentes turning on trump.

     

    We don’t have to erect statues of these assholes.  We can bury them in cow manure, just as they deserve.  But if they’re splintering the GOP . . . please proceed.  And then go fuck yourselves.

  7. 7.

    dc

    I think the Cheney’s want to position themselves to take over the Republican party, once they get rid of Trump and his minions.

  8. 8.

    SpaceUnit

    @dc

    I agree.  But the rightwing base is unlikely to go along with anything that resembles moderation at this point.

     

    They want unbridled fascism and death camps.

  9. 9.

    Ruckus

    Folks, we are in a political situation that I don’t believe we’ve ever been in. And if we have I don’t believe it’s been in the last 75-100 yrs. We are, because of shitforbrains, at a point we have to fix this mess. Now SFB has seemingly gone full old fart and lost it completely. So keeping him out, while it has to be done, should be obvious to most of the voters. Personally I think Harris will be a great president. It will be different because she of course is a woman, but she is smart, politically and in general a strong person. And it’s about damn time we got away from the concept that someone like shitforbrains is in any way capable of being a leader/president. His thought process (even such as it was) has fully left the building. A long time ago. He has aged out – badly. He cannot be president, or in charge of anything, ever again.

  12. 12.

    dc

    @SpaceUnit: ​
      They’ll be looking for a new base, the people who despite not knowing what they’re talking about (and probably without being aware of their ignorance) always answer with the “common sense” floating around (thank you, mainstream media) that they trust Republicans with the economy and security, but who won’t vote for Trump and don’t want to be identified with him.

  15. 15.

    SpaceUnit

    @dc:

    Yeah.

    Creating a new base will be an interesting proposition, though.  It will mean that so many media outlets will have to disavow themselves from the existing paradigm. They’ll have to realign in significant ways and I’m not sure that many of them are institutionally capable of it.

  16. 16.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @dc: Yeah, they’re totally in it to take over the country through taking over the Republican Party, but apparently even Darth Cheney has moral limits, and they can recognize that if the Trumpists remain in power, the GOP as the Cheneys know it is doomed. Before they can take it over, they’ve got to “save” it. Because we’re not too far from the point where the American left and center and moderate right are forced to decide the only solution to the GOP problem is the Ripley Solution (as in: “nuke it from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure”).

  17. 17.

    Ishiyama

    I will give two cheers for Dick Cheney. Or, as is said in The Mikado, “modified rapture”. Stephen Douglas supported the Union in 1861, even though his previous political manipulations were implicated (by Lincoln, among others) in the Dred Scott decision and the plot to extend slavery nationally by judicial fiat. Sometimes a political actor shrinks back from the abyss.

  18. 18.

    K-Mo

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: Same.  If they throw a couple contracts to Halliburton, DIck will  fall in line.

    But generally, neocons who actually care about national security need to caucus with us.  I don’t know what’s taking them so long.

  19. 19.

    Tony Jay

    I don’t see any problem with taking the Cheney vote-switch for exactly what it is – an admission by the previous dynasty of GOP scumbags that they’re never going to regain control of their native lands on their own and now see a complete Democratic victory as an acceptable short term price to pay for destroying their rivals. Happens a lot. That’s literally all the Never Trumper faction is about, and they’ve done sterling work without becoming inhabitants of the Big Blue Tent.

    There’s no quid pro quo. No formal alliance. Just a grouchy old bastard swallowing decades of arrogant fuckery to tell people who wouldn’t listen to a Democrat that voting for Stench is a mistake. And when the corporate media starts trying to connect this Cheney statement to Kamala’s ‘vow’ to put a Republican in her Cabinet, everyone should ignore that too.

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    Heh. Sign seen hanging from the ceiling inside the entrance of a casual eatery in NY.

    “This establishment plays music which may contain explicit lyrics.”

  22. 22.

    EireIAm

    The Cheney family is directly and indirectly responsible for Trump. I still think they are only doing this because he took so much of the power and control they meticulously gathered over the years away from them.

    Voting for and endorsing Harris is the least they could do. But I have no doubt that once Trump is banished they’ll stab Democrats in the back or shoot them in the face.

  23. 23.

    Jay

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Thank you for asking, these days. always up late.

    GYN appointment yesterday. DR was surprised that I was there and in the room.

    Dr was also surprised

    that we havn’t had sex in 3 years. TMI?

    So, no painkillers, and they carved a 1/4″ by 2″ out of her cervix for a biopsy sample.

    JFC

    T almost broke my hand, and had massive leg cramps as well.

    It is what it is, she is my love.

  24. 24.

    Rusty

    Regarding the Cheney’s, Harris should say “Thank you for your vote.”, and move on.  All votes are equal, they are the same if they come from the most ardent supporter or from someone that voted based on the fact that the candidate’s name was the same as their best friend in third grade.  The Cheney’s are two more votes, and their public announcements might gain a few more.   It doesn’t mean that Harris has some obligation to include anyone like them in her cabinet (she only said she would consider a Republican,  not a guarantee she would appoint one) or in any other policy position.

  25. 25.

    Sally

    @EireIAm: This is the point Prof Tim Snyder makes (over and over). Once you elect an authoritarian, you lose control. No matter who they are or what they’ve promised, they can run you over. And they probably will. Sooner or later. Once they have the power, you don’t.

    Time and time again, people think they can control the dictator. Nope.

  27. 27.

    Rusty

    @Jay: Sharing information is sharing the load.  You and T (and the friend you mentioned previously), continue to be in my prayers.  May you find even some brief moments of grace as the two of you move through all this.

  28. 28.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @TS:

    It’s about providing space for whichever normie Republicans are left – particularly business oriented women in places like Georgia, NC and PA, as well as a lot of purple congressional districts – to head for the liferaft. It totally eviscerates the “Comrade Kamala” narrative, so they can be more comfortable with the choice.

  29. 29.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Jay: LOL @ TMI?  Yes and no 🤭

    They do not know nor do they care much about women’s pain. But we knew that.

    As always, I am glad you are there for her and glad you found each other in this life.

  30. 30.

    p.a.

    CW: “Everything tRump touches dies.”

    Me: why does it have to take so long?

    CW: “… gradually, then all at once.”

    Me: let’s get a moving!

     

    also too: reforming the R party?  How do you get the overt racism, sexism, general bigotry back into the Bush/Reagan/Nixon/Goldwater tube?  The base isn’t (for the most part) new, just “incentivized”.

  35. 35.

    Jay

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Yeah.

    One would think that crawling around somebody’s red widow infested crawlspace,

    to reconnect power and cable would count for something, for free.

    I am always the quiet guy, until I am not there

    No diss on Red Widow Spiders, I like them.

  37. 37.

    Aussie Sheila

    @Tony Jay:

    Thank you.
    What you said.
    I’m fed up with worrying what the US electorate will do next.

    I’m fucking over it.

    The place is fucking going to kill us all. The best little Constitution that the 18th C ever produced (except for that 3/5ths bit) , is by now flea bitten and fit for the dust bin of history.

    The reality is unless the Democratic Party wins every election between now and 2032, there is a real risk of another ‘war for freedom’, this time against China.

    God help us.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    Reddit

    Russia is backing 600 US-based influencers

    Screenshot of a tweet linking to a Wired article. I haven’t clicked through to see the article.

  41. 41.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Baud: I saw that earlier. What’s that bit about stand up comics?  Greg Gutfeld is a right wing news guy who fancies himself a comedian. Maybe that

    Eta: well duh, never mind, I’ve suddenly remembered several comedians who have gone hard right.

  46. 46.

    TS

    @Rusty:

    “Thank you for your vote.”, and move on.

    This is exactly what the campaign has done – on her behalf. From many reports

    Jen O’Malley Dillon, Harris’ campaign chair, released a statement saying, “The Vice President is proud to have the support of Vice President Cheney, and deeply respects his courage to put country over party.”

  48. 48.

    Spanish Moss

    @rikyrah: I love this song/video! I have been enjoying it for weeks, it brings a smile to my face every time I hear it. Oh my, good Lord.

  51. 51.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @VeniceRiley: I don’t think that “she’s hard on her staff” stuff is going anywhere. Her reply is obviously I’m in the second highest office in the land, running for the highest office, of course I demand a lot. Plus, look at the guy I’m running against. His catch phrase is You’re fired! And a bunch of his former staff are doing actual time or under indictment for doing things he told them to do. My demands never got any of my staff sent to prison.

  52. 52.

    satby

    I always assume most people scan back over the previous posts from last evening, but in case you didn’t Anne Laurie posted an urgent pet bleg on my behalf for a woman whose 92 year old mother passed away leaving four middle aged to senior cats, plus a young bonus outdoor kitty she was feeding. The house is sold, the clock is ticking, and ALL rescues in the area are full, including ours. WG helped get the pictures posted, so far we have two spoken for out of the five, though some potential interest on the others. Not to be overly dramatic, but these cats are at extremely high risk. Please look, and share, thanks!

    again, my email is skinluvvers (at) gmail dot com to contact me directly.

  53. 53.

    TS

    @MagdaInBlack:

    She isn’t giving the media anything to discuss/argue or retaliate against. Given some staff were complaining she was too knowledgeable, asked too many questions, this seems to be how VP Harris has told the staff to respond, not the staff acting alone.

    The more I get to know, the better she becomes. If she were a man, she would be so far ahead in the polls, trump would be begging for a pardon.

  55. 55.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    I welcome the announcement that both Cheneys are voting for Harris. They’re not allies but if it gives more permission for normie R’s to vote for Harris we’ll take every one of those votes. We may not be able to count on their votes next time but if we don’t win this time there won’t BE a next time. It’s nice to have the former staffers and Adam Kinzinger types but the Cheneys are much more high profile and may sway more never Trumpers to vote for Harris rather than not voting for President. It might help some at the margins and that matters.

  56. 56.

    lowtechcyclist

    The Dems’ attitude should be one of “we are glad to have support from whatever quarter in our fight to save American democracy.” That can be said without giving any power to the Never Trumpers on the other side.

    Sure, they want their old evil GOP back. So what? Na ga ha pen. It’s the crazies’ party now, and it’ll be the crazies’ party even after Trump is dead, in prison, or in memory care. It would be a pleasant surprise with respect to the 2024 election to find that Never Trumper Republicans represent even 5% of the population. Maybe after Trump has experienced one of the above events, they can expand that to 10%. Maybe.

    What I would hope to come out of this for the Never Trumpers at all levels is:
    1) They come to see the Dems as adversaries rather than enemies. This is already happening, but it needs to become durable.
    2) This needs to become a permission structure for them to take an honest look at what Dems and Republicans believe, and reassess things. It’s fine if they do that in accordance with their ideology, but hopefully they can do that in accordance with science and known facts. Global warming in particular comes to mind, but also things like gay and trans rights.
    3) And some of these things might force them to modify their ideology as well. For instance, there’s just no way to deal with global warming without collective action. Given the heavy lift this is, I welcome all the allies we can get on this.

    And I’ll say again, welcoming their help doesn’t mean giving them any power within our movement. Fuck that.

  57. 57.

    Tony Jay

    @MagdaInBlack: @Aussie Sheila:

    Thanks. People get it, and those people who don’t are either looking for something to be outraged by or are deliberately catering to the biases of those Xtreme Centrightists who always want to promote the other prong of Putin’s Pundit Package as representing the opinions of Teh Left.

    End of the day, this isn’t like the UK where the Starmerpartei actively moved right to court the approval of conservatives. Harris and Walz are getting endorsements from the likes of the Cheneys despite, not because, of their policy platforms. There’s no pay off. No meeting of the minds. The GOP Old Guard lost their war and are just hoping that the Democrats win today so that they can make their play for tomorrow.

    It’s an admission of conservative weakness more than anything else. The losers and their corporate media pals would just never phrase it like that.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    @EireIAm:

    But I have no doubt that once Trump is banished they’ll stab Democrats in the back or shoot them in the face.

    They will. We once had the “Obamacans” – Republicans who supported Obama. By the first midterm they were “Tea Party Republicans” and screaming incessantly about death panels.

  62. 62.

    SomeRandomGuy

    Trump sent people to stop the count when he was ahead, and to count every vote where he was behind! What kind of rational human being with any form of bullshit detector could rightfully claim that they *believed* the most transparent of lies in the first place?

    Oh, Fuentes. He means “why did you confess, making me look bad?” to which the solemn, frank, and earnest answer is “oh, come on, dummy, you did that *yourself*. I just provided the opportunity!”

  64. 64.

    lowtechcyclist

    @VeniceRiley:

    And this from WashPo is the admission from former staffers I’ve been waiting for.

    She expected them to be prepared! They weren’t. https://x.com/notcapnamerica/status/1832164996966420579?t=QsHcJRGxeKs1nCTvQwCylw&s=19

    From the WaPo piece:

    “It’s stressful to brief her, because she’s read all the materials, has annotated it and is prepared to talk through it,” said one former aide.

    “You can’t come to the vice president and just ask her to do something,” said another staffer. “You need to have a why.”

    That behavior manifests in other encounters, the staffer continued, such as when someone pays her compliments. “She’ll turn to them and say ‘why?,’ and that throws them off,” the staffer said.

    No shit, Sherlock! Hell, as a GS-13, I expected to have to defend my conclusions, line by line if necessary. I was rarely doing this for anyone higher than a GS-15, but they were working for the Vice President of the whole motherfucking United States. If they couldn’t take the heat, they didn’t belong in that kitchen.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    @SomeRandomGuy:

    If I ran newspapers every article about Trump would include “Mr. Trump insisted he won the 2020 election for four years but finally admitted he lost in 2024”. Just drop that in anywhere. Every time.

  67. 67.

    Baud

    @lowtechcyclist:

    That behavior manifests in other encounters, the staffer continued, such as when someone pays her compliments. “She’ll turn to them and say ‘why?,’ and that throws them off,” the staffer said.

     

    Horrible. I would never question any of you for complimenting me

  71. 71.

    Kay

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Women are raised to be and expected to be “nice” no matter the circumstances or role so what would be normal “high standards” manager behavior is always portrayed as excessive and “mean”. It’s really deeply ingrained. Other women are often the biggest perpetrators of the societal expectation. It’s an exended version of the “smile” demand, where women are ordered to smile.

    You never see articles like these about men for a reason.

    I have witnessed rumpled, (seemingly) easy going Sherrod Brown bark out orders to campaign staff when he’s unhappy with their work but you’ll never see them run to media with it because he’s a man and they accept it from a man.

    These people are intensely competitive people or they would not be there. They’re ALL demanding bosses.

  72. 72.

    Marleedog

    @m.j.:

    I’m looking at this photo of Colin Gray and I can’t identify the tattoo. 

    It looks like it might be a poorly spaced stylized Roman Numeral III, signifying 3%ers a far right wing ammosexual cult.

  75. 75.

    Tony Jay

    @TBone:

    Is this where I reply with “Why?” and you instantly hear the knock of a WAPO whataboutist at your front door asking for a quote they can run? 😂

  76. 76.

    Kay

    I saw the FOP endorsed Trump. A felon.

    Remember that when you read labor unions stats, that there’s a very large group of labor union members who are far Right and endorse criminality and law breaking. They skew the labor numbers Right – it wouldn’t be fair to lump private sector or teachers unions members in with them. They’re part of the reason we only pull 55% of “union households”.

  77. 77.

    Starfish

    @MagdaInBlack: I saw someone on some social media platform trying to coach these anonymous staffers into quitting. “Look, if you don’t want to be working on a presidential campaign because the pressure is too intense, quit!”

  78. 78.

    TBone

    @Jay: oh dear, that is so hard to just read, I’m sorry you both had to endure it.  Having had surgery between the corner of my eye and the bridge of my nose to remove cancer with only local anesthesia and nothing for pain after (and the “before” needles stuck in my forehead and around my eye were exquisitely painful) I can imagine you are both very glad that is over.  I send you both best wishes for continuing fortitude.

  79. 79.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Tony Jay: On “The Professional Left” podcast they were talking about all the right wing folks building” life-rafts” right now. I imagine Fuentes to be one of them.

  80. 80.

    Starfish

    @catclub: Bushes, Pat Toomey, Mike Pence.

    All the “I am going to do a write-in” cowards are why there was no accountability for Trump.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    @Starfish:

    Yup. Oddly, the only “mean bosses” in the Senate are women.

    What are the fucking odds, right? The United States is a very sexist country. Backward on that issue, with media people being the absolute worst example.

  85. 85.

    Spanish Moss

    @Kay: So true! As a female in a male-dominated tech industry I was told I was “intimidating”. Maybe so, but I had to learn to interrupt like all of the other males in the meeting or my voice would not be heard. They just weren’t expecting it from a female. It took me a while to remember to dial back my new “skill” with female groups like my book group. Our socialization is definitely different. I first began to have some hope of progress towards equality at work when my company began unconscious bias training. Certainly won’t be achieved in my lifetime though.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    @Starfish:

    I once had a really contentious hearing – both sides!- and afterwards in the elevator the opposing lawyer said “I can’t believe you’re a mother”.

    A mother. Harps playing and fairies dancing. I was too insulted to say anything so I just stared at him. He doesn’t understand mothers at all if he thinks it’s a job for creampuffs.

  88. 88.

    Betty

    @dc: That has been the long game she chose the minute the MAGAs kicked her out. I trust the Cheneys to have a plan.

  89. 89.

    Gvg

    @dc: More likely position the next generation to take over. Does she have children? Anyway, they are probably going to be too tainted to win back leadership themselves, but other younger ones that they see as their heirs could win back control. At least a party of money and business interest could. The current crop of conservatives are business and economic morons even if they do currently have money. Their “ideas” especially about tariffs and women not working would kill the world economy including the wealth of most of their supporters. That’s why Russia is financing them. It really is a war. Sabotage.

  93. 93.

    ssdd

    I doubt shotgun Dick’s endorsement will move any votes directly. All the non-crazy goppers have already bailed, at least for the duration of the present Trump emergency. But what it, along with all the others like Liz and Kinzinger, might do is give the media permission to lay into Trump. Their heads are so far up their boffsidesing butts it will literally take both sides calling Trump a threat to democracy for them to say it, too. And that might actually make a difference.

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @Spanish Moss:

    I had to train myself to stop smiling to appease people in the workplace. I was literally 50 when I managed to both become aware of it and stop doing it.

    Advanced coursework is not answering every question, no matter how dumb or inappropriate or personal. I have perfected just letting the silence -the non response – sit there.

    I loved when Harris said “next question”. That’s it – that’s the thing exactly.

  96. 96.

    Gvg

    @MagdaInBlack: yeah well I could understand and mostly deal with that kind of old evil. We had some strategies and workarounds. Admittedly it will be even more of a challenge during the climate crisis so while they are in disarray and rebuilding we should push them way back and get more of the anti monopoly and union protections back plus environmental laws reinstated quick. But, they had a logic and reason I could follow, not made up fairy tales that explode underground and won’t die from factual testimony. We do need to send white color criminals to jail more though.

  97. 97.

    Starfish

    @Spanish Moss: Over the past few months, in the tech industry, I felt like I was interrupting MORE because some dude was misrepresenting what I was saying, and it was so exhausting.

  98. 98.

    TS

    I only just saw this one – another way for trump & his bff RFK to make a mockery of the election rules and processes. They will try anything. They OWN the judiciary in many places. They cannot win a fair election, so they do this.

    North Carolina court ruling on RFK Jr. threatens to disrupt mail voting

    A state appeals panel upended election preparations in North Carolina on Friday, ordering a halt to the distribution of mail ballots in the battleground state after granting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request that his name be removed from contention for the presidency.

    Friday was the deadline for local election officials to mail ballots to the roughly 130,000 North Carolinians who had requested them so far. County offices had been preparing for weeks with ballot design, printing orders and envelope preparation.

    That effort immediately stopped under instructions from the State Board of Elections following the court ruling, and officials estimated it will take a minimum of two weeks and more than $1 million — borne by cash-strapped county offices — to design, print and prepare new ballots.

    gift link

    wapo.st/4dSApTg

  99. 99.

    Suzanne

    @Spanish Moss: I’ve been told that I’m intimidating and that I don’t smile enough in performance reviews at work. I was also told that I wasn’t nice, by a man who directed the word fuck at me during a meeting, in front of others.

    I find myself using the rhetorical strategy of asking questions to which I know the answer, in order to make sure things are said, even if I don’t say them. I hate it. It makes me feel stupid and dirty.

  102. 102.

    artem1s

    @SpaceUnit: We’ll see the downside when the MSM starts hounding the campaign day and night demanding to know when Harris is going to appoint Darth Jr to a high level cabinet position. Her timing is ‘interesting’ no?

    Given the Bush and Cheney crime family history of conning the world into believing the US has to act as the World Police to protect their business interests how will you feel about it when she starts to make public comments about Gaza and Ukraine? Let’s hear what she has to say about refusing to help Obama shut down Gitmo, what her role was in the 1,567,347 Benghazi hearings  and what her opinion was of the withdraw from Afghanistan?

    TCF wasn’t the first member of the Executive branch to refuse to divest their stock holdings and turn over all their financial records. Fuentes and the MAGAts aren’t the only chumps at the GOP poker table.

  104. 104.

    TBone

    @TS: grrrrrr

    Brain Worm himself will end up paying for those costs (if they follow what we did here in PA), but only after protracted litigation.

    In the meantime, sand in the gears is what they do.  Damnit.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    @Suzanne:

    The funniest thing is giving some men performance reviews. More than a few times they have tried to preempt my review with their own review of their performance. They then profess to be completely ignorant about why this tactic might be unproductive. Not even a defense of my criticism – this is right out of the gate before I start. I’m always amazed by it. They really believe they’ll get away with this.

    “The best defense is a good offense!” :)

  106. 106.

    Tony Jay

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Scene in the NYT Politics & Editorial bullpen right now.

      The ticking of misaligned clocks turns a leaden silence oppressive. A dozen on-trend haircuts hang low over twenty four manicured hands, keyboards clickless, screens blank.

    A cough. An intake of breath. An unsure –

    “We could take another run at Walz. See if any of his old students have criminal records now…”

    – tails off into nothingness under the weight of glaring eyes. Someone swallows. A phone vibrates. Heads turn as the message is checked. A low moan vibrates the air.

    “We lost Cheney.”

    Heads droop. A chair scrapes back and a figure moves towards the windows, click-clack of heels and the scent of Eau el Lago soap. Maggie stands silhouetted against the Manhattan skyline. The sun is behind her. Only her glasses catch the light like twin rings of fire. She turns the handle, looks back.

    “It’s been a pleasure working with you.”

    There’s no scream. She’s just not there anymore. An intern closes the window to block out the distraction of real lives.

    A cough. An intake of breath.

    “Profile on Nick Fuentes?”

    The silence deepens. The clocks tick on.

  109. 109.

    TBone

    Today I learned that indicted Russian operative Simes is a former Donvict campaign adviser.  I’d missed that detail.

  110. 110.

    Spanish Moss

    @Kay: @Suzanne: Interesting, I never thought about the smile issue, perhaps because I tend to laugh and joke a lot in general, even in meetings. Though when I was talking over people trying to interrupt me I am pretty sure I wasn’t smiling.

  112. 112.

    Bupalos

    @opiejeanne: Politics is practically never about pure motives and in the United States isn’t really even supposed to be about pure motives. It’s basically how we’ve made it this far.

  113. 113.

    JWR

    @VeniceRiley: From your Twitter link:

    In the latest article about Kamala Harris’ staff turnover in the Washington Post, former staffers complain that she expects her team to be just as prepared as she is, and to be able to explain everything they put in her briefings and schedule. pic.twitter.com/siAAPUqdkr
    — chris evans (@notcapnamerica) September 6, 2024

    OMG! Do you mean to tell me that Kamala Harris went so far as to expect the people she hired to know how to do their jobs?! For shame!

    Plenty of star-struck individuals out there who’ll take a job without having more than a passing notion of what’s expected of them.

  114. 114.

    Ken

    @Tony Jay: After Trump selected Vance, Fuentes posted some vileness about Vance’s wife being a non-Christian non-white daughter of immigrants. I suspect that whatever he may be saying now, that remains a big reason for his break.

  115. 115.

    Ken

    @Tony Jay: A low moan vibrates the air. “We lost Cheney.”

    This is the replacement for the “Mein Führer… Steiner…” line when you’re putting together the Downfall parody.

  116. 116.

    K-Mo

    @Starfish: This.

    We talk about the Rs needing to develop a new base, but this whole saga has been first and foremost a failure of their elites.  They have gone along with so much that they had to know was wrong for many decades but especially the last decade and now they have this nutty base that is activated and empowered and fully in possession of the R brand.

    The way out is a long road, likely involving many painful years of compromising with the Dems.  If they are willing to do it.   Most of these folks aren’t.  They need new elites.

  117. 117.

    Bupalos

    @Kay: Trump has not “admitted he lost” in anything but the most technical sense, and I think we make the same mistake here that news people make with him all the time, cleaning up the statement while ignoring all the simultaneously conflicting statements, to create a logically meaningful claim about the truth that meets our expectations or hopes. We’re treating a statement that still fully fits within the alternate election-destroying universe he operates in as if it’s somehow conclusive and dispositive. This helps Trump do his work. He isn’t making claims or admissions about reality in the traditional sense. He’s shaping a message that serves his needs.

    Everyone steeped Trumpism will clean up the statement as “I had the best election in history and am the most popular American in history. They imported enough illegals and faked just enough votes to make it look like I lost by a whisker, and the sheep believed them.” Indeed, depending on his momentary needs he’s likely to say that explicitly 10 minutes after (in OUR cleaned up version “admitting he lost.” Trump appearing to tone down the democracy subversion right now to the broader electorate serves his interest in seizing power. That the articles do this “he’s finally saying he lost” without further discussion of the complicated nuance and political utility of this rhetorical move is a continuation of the way the media proves itself unable to deal with the post-truth politician

    Trump is not admitting he lost the election in any traditional sense.

  118. 118.

    sdhays

    With the discussion of Harris’s management style, I think it’s important to remember that her opponent’s management style involves throwing ketchup at staffers and getting into such a rage that a staffer has music from Cats ready to go on his phone in order to calm him down.

    That’s real. That happened.

  119. 119.

    Tony Jay

    @Ken:

    That’s exactly what I thought. That or the bit from I Claudius where Augustus is bouncing off the walls after news of Teutoburg came in wailing “Varus, give me back my legions!”

    “Nicky! Give me back my stormtroopers!”

  120. 120.

    cmorenc

    @TS:

    Two votes in a non competitive state – easy for both of them – but just maybe a few folks in competitive states may follow either one of them, I would suggest, just hold your nose & take the win.

    Exactly.  Harris did not have to make any deals or enticements to earn the Cheney endorsements – they are freebies.  Their contribution is toward creating the permission structure for other never-Trumper Republicans to vote for Harris rather than 3P or sitting at home.   If that’s the difference in some close swing states, that’s worth at least a golf clap, even though we could not bring ourselves to the level of an actual cheer.

  123. 123.

    K-Mo

    @Kay: Well said.  It’s a constant challenge.  Also, not trying to solve everybody’s problem.  If some people aren’t into smiling, chit-chatting before meetings, etc. or even if they are prone to negative/dead affect, so what.  We are trying to get some shit done so let’s get to it.  I try to remember, you never know what may be going on with a person personally.  I’ve been there.  Smiling isn’t part of the job.

  124. 124.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay:

    Women are raised to be and expected to be “nice” no matter the circumstances or role so what would be normal “high standards” manager behavior is always portrayed as excessive and “mean”. It’s really deeply ingrained. Other women are often the biggest perpetrators of the societal expectation. It’s an exended version of the “smile” demand, where women are ordered to smile.

    You never see articles like these about men for a reason.

    Good point – I tend to forget how so much of the world still is.  I’ve had better socialization, I guess – my three closest female friends in high school have two PhDs and a law degree between them, and my sisters both have master’s degrees.  I never doubted that they were my equals.

    I’ve had a number of woman bosses over the years:  for instance, my first boss at Census was a woman who didn’t suffer fools a minute longer than she had to, and I had no problem with that – I figured it was up to me to live up to her standards, or at least give it my best try.  I still think of her warmly.

  126. 126.

    RevRick

    @dc: If taking over the GOP post Trump is the Cheney’s hope, they’re delusional. The political entropy points in one direction and one direction only. More fascist. If Trump is still alive in 28, he’ll be the GOP nominee. After him, it’ll be JD Vance or Tom Cotton or Josh Hawley or Ron Johnson or Rick Scott or MTG.
    The Cheney’s have burned their bridges.

  127. 127.

    unrelatedwaffle

    As our delightful friends Driftglass and BlueGal have said in their podcast, the Cheneys are building lifeboats. The rats are finally fleeing the sinking ship, and they are going to use this very public vote declaration as proof they never supported Trump or his clown car full of mobster junior varsity syncophants. The right wing media will memory hole Trump if he loses, and the mainstream media will have eighty thousand think pieces about how “sanity has been restored” in the GOP. The base will go along with whatever Fox News tells them to do.

  128. 128.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: Part of the problem, as I’m sure people like the Cheneys realize is “After Trump, then what?”

    Because ex-President Circus Peanut is not, as many have noted, going to last much longer—so once he’s gone, where do they turn?
    No matter how badly they want it, I’m pretty sure the Trumplets don’t stand a chance—between their general obnoxiousness and the general loser stink they carry, I don’t imagine there are many that see them as flag-bearers.
    DeSantis hasn’t covered himself with glory, and JD Vance isn’t doing all that well as an inspirational figure. Hawley? Cotton? Larry Hogan? Ted Cruz? Darling Nikki?

    I don’t see Kari Lake or Kristi Noem playing all that well outside the Crazy Chalk Circle, and the same goes for a lot of what’s in Congress right now as well. As for other GOP governors—I don’t see most of them carrying over all that well to a larger stage.
    So it’s a problem, and Darth Cheney is both good at spotting a problem & maneuvering for a position of significance.

  129. 129.

    RevRick

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: Nobody is asking any Democrat to abandon their critical faculties. The Cheneys got nothing in exchange for their public endorsement. They have abandoned all their previous political positions. They are asking the Democrats to do to them all the things they were adamantly opposed to just four years ago. And what did they get out of this deal?
    A promise not to get shot or dumped in Guantanamo and a continuation of some of the realpolitik in dealing with adversaries.

  130. 130.

    Kay

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Women can tell if you like women. In my experience.

    I had a brand new law school graduate this past year (has not passed the bar yet) and although he is a conservative and we had a lot of lively banter about politics that intersects with the law practice – it got a little tense on immigration (he kept insisting he and I were “indigenous” to the US – ridiculous)  he likes women and we worked really well together. I hired his mother when she was (very) pregnant with him over the objections of the other lawyer who was interviewing that round and it was the best hiring decision I ever made. So he comes by it natural :)

  131. 131.

    Kay

    @lowtechcyclist:

    When I get nervous about the election I can really almost panic about womens rights in the US, because I believe to my bones that Trump AND Vance hate women. They hate us – me, my sisters, my daughter, my granddaughters, my employees, my friends.

    So we just have to win, right? Come on Pennsylvania! Don’t let the country down.

  132. 132.

    opiejeanne

    @Jeffg166: When I was a kid we buried my grandma’s cat after he was hit by a car. My sister held a funeral, cried over Buddy’s grave and put fresh flowers on it for a week, until Buddy showed up on Grandma’s front porch asking to be let in.

    I have no memory of how or when Buddy eventually died, it was so long ago.

  133. 133.

    Geminid

    @Ken: Fuentes turned on Trump long before the Vance pick. Fuentes claims that Trump has been captured by the RINO Corporate Globalists and is betraying the America First Movement. He’s trying to peel off Trump fans to increase his small following; a clout-building strategy.

  135. 135.

    Geminid

    @a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio): I think Govs. Youngkin and Kemp have more viable paths to the 2028 nomination than the politicians you mention. I’m not saying either will win the nomination, but they are competent campaigners and the big donors like this type of Republican.

    Youngkin has basically been running since the night he beat McAuliffe. Once his term ends in January, 2026 I expect Youngkin will be speaking at every county and state Lincoln-Reagan Dinner he can. Kemp comes free in January, 2027 and he’ll probably do likewise.

    Both Kemp and Youngkin supported Trump this cycle, but I don’t think anyone who did not support Trump can win the 2028 nomination.

  136. 136.

    trnc

    @Bupalos: Trump is not admitting he lost the election in any traditional sense.

    Your entire statement is correct, but if “Yeah, I did actually lose” is actually pissing off Fuentes (which I take with a grain of salt, but we’ll see), it could piss off other people he needs, too.

    The way to use it would be to make it clear that this is after he urged people to riot for his own purposes and spent years keeping the lie going to feed his own ego with zero regard for the consequences. Millions riled up, thousands prosecuted and several directly linked deaths, all because he threw a tantrum.

    Could be useful.

  137. 137.

    SomeRandomGuy

    @Spanish Moss: We non-Neurotypicals sometimes have an easier time of it. *I* tell female peers that they may have “trouble” sometimes, especially with male peers, and I explain sexism to them, like it was an intellectual failure common to people with a disability.

    It’s a lot harder to explain that someone who looks like me, and thinks like me, might nevertheless be stone-cold *stupid* when listening to a female peer. “Always double-check your facts and calculations – anyone can let a decimal point slip, but *you* can’t, not in what you present. And once you’re sure you’re right, don’t back down. You can acknowledge that the other side won the argument, but at least explain your concerns to your manager, and explain you’re willing to stop talking – so long as everyone knows your concerns.”

    In short: your boss needs to know you could have “told them so!” but you, yourself, shouldn’t try to “told you so!” until you’re sure they’ll listen – if not at this job, than at the next.

  138. 138.

    trnc

    @Princess:

    @Kay:

    They hate, hate, hate us. It’s palpable.

    I feel like there’s a big difference between how each of them channel that hatred and that JV’s is more active and focused. Both vile, of course, and I don’t mean to minimize, but I’m curious if you feel that way.

  139. 139.

    SomeRandomGuy

    @Kay: pre-emption of criticism *is* a good tactic, if you’re understanding why, and when, your manager criticizes, and *if* you can answer criticisms. You’re right, it’s a horrible thing if they’re dismissing your concerns, or downplaying the problems they cause.

    Now, the last thing I want to do is downplay *any* of your personal experience. But, as a guy, I know that if you are going into your boss’s office, for a bad meeting, it’s a common, reasonable, tactic to know what they want to say, and to have thought about how you’ll respond.

    The asshole contingent tries to rework criticism to deny it. They’re the real ones you need to zap. Others might need to explain they don’t *want* to do that, or they *try* not to do that, and they might need some help and encouragement. It’s the ones who can’t acknowledge, and deny and deflect, they’re the ones to shut down *hard*.

    Still, if you were talking to me, and I said “sometimes I need to shut down the conversation, and move it to e-mail,” well, that’s a good and wise response to “sometimes you get silly-sounding at the end of a phone call.” I know you’re right, my conversational ability does die at the end of a long conversation, I’m not saying you’re *wrong*, I’m acknowledging I need to practice my “full explanation in e-mail” closing, etc.. That’s good managerial give-and-take.

  140. 140.

    Bill Arnold

    @Bupalos:

    “lost by a whisker”

    Trump essentially never admits to a big loss.
    Here, he is closely associating himself with the word “lost”.
    This is a notable deal for him and for some of his cultists.

  141. 141.

    wjca

    @Bupalos: Trump has not “admitted he lost” in anything but the most technical sense, and I think we make the same mistake here that news people make with him all the time, cleaning up the statement while ignoring all the simultaneously conflicting statements, to create a logically meaningful claim about the truth that meets our expectations or hopes.

    I think you rather miss the point.  Which is that his “admission” makes an effective soundbyte.  Something to dispirit his supporters.  At minimum, get them to stop being out-and-proud supporters and urging others to support him.  At best, to decide to just sit this one out — to the benefit of down ticket Democrats as well.

  143. 143.

    Ken B

    @K-Mo: Neo-Cons have a somewhat eccentric view of National Security, one that involves lots of explosions.

    How many wars has Biden given them?

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