I see no possible pitfalls here:
so Elon Musk’s money and leadership is in charge of nearly all of Trump’s get-out-the-vote operation?
lol, lmao
— Eric Budd (@ericmbudd.bsky.social) September 26, 2024 at 3:17 PM
From The Guardian, an exclusive: “Trump Voter Turnout Now Largely Run by Elon Musk-Backed Group”:
“But while the Trump campaign once predicted having multiple Pacs drive the rest of the vote, with six weeks until the election, only America Pac has a material presence of 300 to 400 paid and part-time people knocking on doors in each of the seven battleground states.
America Pac also remains the only entity – Trump campaign or otherwise – with a target to do three “passes” of homes of likely Trump voters in every battleground state before election day.
Turning Point Action, run by the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk and touted by the Trump campaign, for instance, has a smaller footprint; it has a presence in Arizona, Wisconsin and two specific districts in Michigan and Nevada, after dropping Georgia from its initial list.
The situation means America Pac now accounts for an outsize proportion of the unglamorous but critical work of door-knocking and canvassing Trump voters in battleground states to get them to return a ballot.”
Of course, Trump’s campaign also claims to have its own volunteer army. Sounds like that’s going well, too:
“The Trump campaign denied that it had a reliance on America Pac and said it had more than 27,000 volunteers working as Trump 47 Captains, the program in which ardent Trump supporters receive special MAGA merchandise as they get more people to register to vote.
Each volunteer initially receives a list of 10 neighbors to mobilize. If they meet that target, the next tier involves canvassing 24 out of 50 likely Trump voters, followed by canvassing 45 out of 100 voters, with new perks at each tier.
‘Team Trump has hundreds of staff and offices mobilizing hundreds of thousands of volunteers across the country. That’s why everyone wants to take credit for our groundbreaking, data-enhanced, people-powered operation,’ Karoline Leavitt, a Trump spokesperson, said in a statement.
But a person involved with America Pac expressed skepticism about the reach of the Trump 47 captains and noted targeting just so-called low propensity voters in rural areas is no substitute for hitting doors in suburban areas and cities as well.”
I’m not exactly shaking in my boots about the combined organizational might of these captains of industry. Even more inspired for this weekend’s expat voter outreach event I’ll be working, tho! Hope this inspires anyone among the Jackaltariat who’s going canvassing this weekend, too.
Open thread.
Hakeem!
TBone
What could go wrong 😆
🎶
https://youtu.be/gj2iGAifSNI
(Every failure to launch comes to mind. The Xitter “interviews” especially.)
Falling Diphthong
Trump is more focused on grifting than campaigning–at this point the campaign seems to be about keeping the base riled up so they’ll buy commemorative coins in the next few weeks.
And he’s surrounded himself with people more focused on grifting than campaigning. (And Elon, who just wants us all to love him.)
Urza
Balloon Juice alone has nearly that many volunteers working. Maybe they should have hired a top 10,000 blog.
dmsilev
There was a story a week or two ago about Musk’s operation subcontracting the GOTV work to some other company and firing them for, basically, being a grift without producing results. Which is hilarious, the parasites have parasites have parasites. And also means that whatever actual organization they have has to be rebooted five or six weeks before the election.
Attempted Chemistry
Oh nooooo… don’t steal the money meant for GOP outreach. That would be terrible. Wait. Stop.
Chief Oshkosh
@Urza: Yep. Finished another 15 post cards last night.
Rose Judson
What in the name of Mary Kay Ash is that tiered incentive structure, though?
hrprogressive
Part “they don’t care because they’re going to try and steal the election/seize power anyway”
Part “moronic idiot billionaires believe their own hype and believe that their army of bots reaffirming their own superiority are actually voters not pixels”
jonas
So their GOTV operation is basically a multi-level marketing scam. That is so on-brand.
Scout211
Another campaign stumble for the Trump team.
Gee, I wonder why the Trump campaign got two Detroit pastors mixed up. There must be some reason . . . . 🤔
CaseyL
The basic premise – bribing volunteers to go out and find voters – is tactically sound, but even if the whole operation wasn’t a grift, you’re talking “ardent Trump supporters” here as your canvassers.
Hoo boy.
Imagine answering a knock at your door and finding a cultist on your doorstep “asking” you to join the cult. I put “asking” in quotes, because Ardent Trump Supporters are off the deep end, through the mirror, and in Cloud Cuckoo Land. I cannot imagine what their pitch would be, other than loud, ignorant, and unpleasant. Hell, they may even come right out and threaten anyone who doesn’t buy their schtick.
Kristine
@dmsilev:
AugustusDeMorgan, in “A Budget of Paradoxes”:
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ’em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.
KatKapCC
@Rose Judson: Would not shock me in the least if the Trump crew is all super into MLMs.
Harrison Wesley
Elon is the perfect captain for the Trump Titanic. Wouldn’t your first choice to run your campaign outreach be a guy who created a company that drills giant holes to nowhere?
cain
@dmsilev:
The entire GOP landscape is one big grifting operation with a side of religion. They are The Swamp(tm) personified.
topclimber
Does Elon have a better record of paying vendors than TBCFG? Asking for a friend.
Note: B stands for one of Musk’s loonier ventures. Think Journey to the Center of Dumb.
Bill Arnold
@dmsilev:
Just for reference, they are called hyperparasites
ETA Or “metaparasites”, which should not be confused with the Meta Corporation. (Because lawyers.)
Steve LaBonne
Is Trump’s campaign undergoing a rapid unplanned disassembly?
TBone
@topclimber: 😆
Maxim
Turnout-adjacent: I’ve seen / heard some local political ads recently. The GOP ones against Kipp Muller are hitting him hard on cost of living, making all sorts of claims about taxes he wants to raise and other ways he wants to make things harder for the middle class. “Costly Kipp Muller — we just can’t afford it.” If I were a low-info voter, I would find it persuasive.
Garcia’s ad features his own voice, speaking very gently, as if he were reading a bedtime story, with soft piano music in the background, while he talks about all the things he’s “working” and “fighting” to do for his constituents. (Lowering costs, pro-police, with a bonus mention of “the fentanyl streaming across our border.”) The production values are high. Someone in GOP land is willing to spend some serious money on both these races.
Muller’s ad against his opponent, and the ads against Mike Garcia, are hitting hard on abortion and the extremist anti-choice stances of those two candidates.
Baud
A cyber truck in every garage…
Maxim
@Steve LaBonne: It would have to be assembled first.
StringOnAStick
Since the Trump crime family controls the RNC, I wonder if we’ll ever know just how much they will manage to make off with before they flee the country when he loses? I don’t suppose we’ll get an itemized list of what the Mar a Lardo docs sold for either, maybe just a package price.
BR
I called my Rep and told her office that she needs to tell Hakeem Jeffries to call for Eric Adams to step down or step down himself. Tolerating blatant corruption isn’t something Dems should be ok with. Sure Adams has the presumption of innocence, but he can do that on his own time, not in public office.
trollhattan
@Baud:
“We’re gonna need a bigger garage.”
karen marie
@CaseyL: Your name and address go on a list of people who aren’t “cooperative.”
HumboldtBlue
When you’ve got such a winner as a running mate, who the hell needs a ground game?
BR
@HumboldtBlue:
I so hope he gives an answer like that at the debate. Smug and stupid at the same time.
Villago Delenda Est
Leon Musk being in charge of GOTV efforts for TCFFG/PAB has both grift and fail written all over it in comic sans.
Villago Delenda Est
@HumboldtBlue: Sez a guy who is both weak and dumb, which explains why he left the Marines after his initial enlistment.
Belafon
And their GOTV effort is torn between using “Vote and Elon will give you a child and take care of your cats” and “Don’t vote and Elon will give you a child and take care of your cats” to persuade voters.
dmsilev
@HumboldtBlue: That’s a …unique definition of ‘details’ he’s got there.
Ishiyama
@Kristine: So good of you to remind us of that classic verse!
TBone
Just caught this episode of Matty making magic happen, American style. Trigger warning for the feint of heart, but dayum he’s laying it out. I might make this feast when we win. 🎶Regrets, I’ll have a few 😆
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7buz4p
It’s Suppertime!
Jackie
Reminder to don’t get complacent until Nov 6, 7, or ???
At this very moment TCFG’s campaign and Elon are plotting to steal the Presidency so we won’t have to vote ever again after THIS election!
TBone
@TBone: oops faint
FelonyGovt
@Rose Judson: It’s the Herbalife (or Amway?) of Presidential campaigns!
Caroline
I have now written 150 of my 300 postcards to Michigan voters! Doing 10-15 a day.
scav
Oh no! Their secret sauce efficiency outreach guy is all indignant about not being invited to the UK-cool-doods investment-fest in the UK. How dare they get all fussy about shit he posted, he’ll show them, more lines posted! In Sharpie! All-caps! That’ll show em. King of multi-tasking, clearly.
Mr. Bemused Senior
And I see @Kristine beat me to it.
Villago Delenda Est
@KatKapCC: A DeVos was Secretary of Education.
Villago Delenda Est
@FelonyGovt: Amway, or whatever they’re calling themselves right now. DeVos family grift.
Elizabelle
@Caroline: Applause applause!
HumboldtBlue
Lindsey Kompromat Graham thinks he can just ignore the Constitution to pander to the GOP’s hateful asshole base.
LIVE: Sen. Graham introduces the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2024
Ruckus
@Scout211:
It’s possible that they didn’t get them mixed up.
It’s possible that they just lied. Look who their leader is…. An aging out old fart who gives not one iota of anything about anyone but his own dumb ass, which of course he extremely over values by far more than any measurable amount.
Elizabelle
@Villago Delenda Est: I know. I can’t wait to see the crater and collateral damage this one leaves.
Also: go Cards Against Humanity with your suit against Musk for encroaching on your legally owned Texas property.
Omnes Omnibus
Top Muslim-voter organization endorses Harris | AP News
catclub
And, I bet the organization that is distributing the perks has to buy them from the Trump store.
There really should be a Harris Walz ad saying that while Trump is selling NFT’s coins and flags to his rubes – rather than campaigning, we are out connecting with voters.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
👍
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@KatKapCC: MLM is a great money maker for the people at the top.
Not so much for the people a few levels down.
You’re right, as a business model it’s a perfect fit for that grifter.
Mr. Bemused Senior
Or, “vote and Elon will not give you a child…” [ETA slight difference in emphasis 😁]
Dinsdale? Dinsdale??
Betty Cracker
Have a cookie!
Shalimar
27,000 volunteers? Wow, that’s not even close to impressive. Doesn’t Harris have that many just in Atlanta?
Harrison Wesley
@HumboldtBlue: What’s grossest to me is that Graham actually knows better; he’s just can’t resist toadying up to King Swino the Diapered.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: Lucky your pups have such short (and cute) little legs.
Especially Tiny Porkface or whatever you are calling Pete.
Harrison Wesley
@Shalimar: Yes, but they’re all AI-generated.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Bill Arnold: Reminds me of a long-ago term paper where I found out that there’s such a thing as “bacteriophages”, that bacteria can get virus infections.
Shalimar
@Rose Judson: My mom’s best friend in high school married a guy whose mother was in Mary Kay from the beginning. They were an extremely rich family as a result.
scav
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: The people at the bottom can manage a teeny bit of lolly if they all just coordinate and claim freebies for talking to each other. Never have to leave their bubble. The few mathematically gifted ones might be running out of closets to store the hats in though.
Yarrow
@Omnes Omnibus: I heard a segment on the radio a couple of days go (NPR station but no idea what the show was) where they interviewed Muslim voters and asked who they were going to vote for in November. These voters were very upset with the Dems. In the piece they said many Muslim voters were strongly considering voting for Jill Stein because they wanted to vote for someone who wanted peace. Glad to see this organization isn’t living in Russian stooge gumdrop unicorn land.
Elizabelle
@Omnes Omnibus: Here’s the statement from Emgage Action, the Muslim group. (Bolding is theirs; italics is mine. They are straightforward about the dangers of voting third party.)
EMGAGE ENDORSES
KAMALA HARRIS FOR PRESIDENT
KrackenJack
Just as KrackenJill and I finished our batch of postcards we got an email from Postcards to Swing States saying they upped their target from 23M to 40M. They are targeting competitive US House districts and Florida plus some new voter lists for swing states and Ohio. We signed up for 200 more. Our original set were third cards to Ohio going out at the end of October.
KrackenJill is talking to her friends to see if they will sign up, too.
Baud
@KrackenJack:
👍
Frankensteinbeck
@StringOnAStick:
That could be the plan. Trump isn’t acting like someone who thinks he’s going to win, but he hasn’t displayed any strategy either. He’s just grabbing money and pumping up his rallies to more and more Hitler-esque levels of hate. I think the latter is just how Harris hurt his pride by pointing out people are walking out.
SFBayAreaGal
@Betty Cracker: Are the cookies sitting on a Fiestaware plate?
frosty
@Betty Cracker: I like your placemat! Also, I see Cedar Key is in the center of the track. At least this year we don’t have a reservation to worry about.
Jackie
@catclub: Add gold watches – “Just in time for Christmas!”
https://www.rawstory.com/the-grift-never-ends-critics-pounces-as-trump-hawks-gold-watches-to-fans/
Leto
So a pyramid scheme. Fits right in with these worthless grifters.
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
they look delicious
rikyrah
Did Jack Smith drop his document to Judge Chutkin?
Paul W.
I just wanted to note that they are already downscaling from recent, in the last month, bragging on headcount. Down from 30k volunteers for Trump campaign proper to “The Trump campaign denied that it had a reliance on America Pac and said it had more than 27,000 volunteers working as Trump 47 Captains”
I think the $$$ shortfall is having a real impact. I believe the last numbers I saw for the Kamala campaign are over 2,200 paid staff. And then of course 100s of thousands of volunteers signing up at a time for events.
Anoniminous
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
And viruses can be infected with a virus.
Betty Cracker
@SFBayAreaGal: Yes. I love Fiestaware!
@frosty: It’s been a tough year for Cedar Key. Two hurricanes, and now a third. There was a fire on Dock Street last week that took out four businesses. Lucky the whole thing didn’t burn down — you know how they’re all packed in together on the waterfront. Steamers is my family’s traditional dinner place there, and it is shut down because the kitchen was lost in the fire. Hopefully they reopen.
gkoutnik
@KrackenJack: Yep – my 200 from Postcards to Swing States are on their way. Four hundred done, waiting for mailing day. Wondering if mailing 4,000 postcards in one week will have an impact on DeJoy’s USPS.
Anoniminous
@Jackie:
Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, grifters gotta grift.
Nothing that asshole does surprises me anymore.
Matt McIrvin
@Frankensteinbeck: Trump didn’t act like he thought he was going or even trying to win in 2016 either, but he did.
Redshift
@dmsilev:
And now they’re working on getting a new subcontractor. And they’ll have to hire the minimum-wage canvassers, for a job that will last a month. That’ll definitely get them some quality hires…
TBone
Did someone mention masterful? The always masterful Tiedrich:
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/elderly-golfers-latest-speech-so
Also takes Higgins on.
KrackenJack
@Betty Cracker: Heavens those look good! Love the crinkly tops.
Reminds me of the NPR cookie science article.
We’ve stuck with the Food Labs recipe for several years now. It involves some lead time, so we make a batch, bake what we need and freeze the remaining dough balls. We can bake one of two at a time in a small pan.
ArchTeryx
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Bacteriophages are one of the most important predators of bacteria there are. They’re actually thought to help keep our gut flora in check and keep bacteria where they are supposed to be in our bodies. We have an entire ecosystem of “friendly” viruses in our body.
But bacteriophages can also turn feral. Some will insert genes into bacterial genomes that turn harmless bacteria into monsters, or worse, will introduce antibiotic resistance genes into them.
Geminid
@Maxim: Which Republican is Kip Muller running against? I know Mike Garcia’s opponent is former NASA administrator George Whitesides.
Tony G
There’s an old saying that “You can’t bullshit a bullshitter.”. But I guess sometimes you can — if the bullshitter is as dumb as Donald Trump.
TBone
@KrackenJack: wow, thanks for sharing that cookie science!
scav
Phew! New Olive and Mabel.
Villago Delenda Est
@Betty Cracker: Droooooooool…..
VFX Lurker
As long as the USPS can still handle the annual 1.3 billion Christmas card flood, we should be good with Postcard to Swing States’ 40 million postcard effort.
Thank you so much for writing those postcards!!! I have 200 Postcards to Swing States waiting for their mailing date, plus I’m writing Postcards to Voters for Senator Sherrod Brown. I will write more postcards tonight.
bbleh
@rikyrah: Haven’t seen any mention of it yet, but I don’t check the docket. It’s due by 5 and they said they’d have it by then (in a dig at the Felon’s lawyers, who keep filing late).
HumboldtBlue
Turns out, Trump does hate his base, but he’s not above stealing from them, and the stupid motherfuckers deserve every bit of it for supporting his thieving ass.
Ramalama
@Betty Cracker: Cookies look so good. Bonus: Fiesta ware. Fiestaware? Fiesta Aware
Edit: Oopsie with the unoriginal comment. But I do like your dinnerware!
Soprano2
@Betty Cracker: Oh that’s not fair…….they look great! Too bad I can’t take one off the screen.
Geminid
@Geminid: Now I see that Kipp Mueller is running against Suzette Valladares in Cal Senate district 22(?). The Republican incumbent is termed out. The district is inland and includes part of San Bernardino County.
California’s Senate districts have larger populations than its U.S. House districts.
I’ve some negative news about the race to succeed Katie Porter. Sen. David Min, the Democratic opponent, trails the Republican in polls. Min was convicted on a drunk driving offence last year and is being pounded on the issue.
Min was busted in Sacramento during a state Assembly session. If he loses, maybe he can do ads for Uber. If Min had just called for a ride he’d likely be on his way to Congress now
Frankensteinbeck
@Matt McIrvin:
I never agreed with this assessment. He campaigned constantly. He outsourced his ground game, but he outsourced it to groups that did the job. All that ‘He doesn’t want the job’ stuff flew in the face of Trump’s ego.
Ramalama
@CaseyL:
I’m thinking dudebro volunteers will round up the finite number of other dudebros by door knocking, and then at some point Elmo will point his satellites and drones over the GOP red zones in various states and not see any action until his joystick brings him to three different empty lots where there’s a number of fist fights to the death among the dudebros who forgot to go out and drum up the vote for Trump.
Sure Lurkalot
@Rose Judson: Mary Kay, spot on! I recommend the first season of the podcast, The Dream, about multi level marketing. Most interesting is the history and the whole industry should have been outlawed at the Amway stage.
HumboldtBlue
Ya gotta give the Spanish credit. They played the long game in war against England, and now Spanish galleons are parading down the Thames!
karen marie
@TBone: Why is it filmed so that the top of the guy’s head is cut off? So weird.
Mousebumples
@CaseyL: also, everything is a grift.
Any chance the MAGAts say they did the work when they didn’t?
“I was in a Trump flag parade that drove past that house! I’m sure that persuaded the voter who may not have even been home!”
Anyway
I don’t agree- he hustled his ass off the last few weeks leading up to the elections – he had tons of rallies, was everywhere and maintained buzz among his supporters.
He’s not doing as much this year but may not need to.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh, good!
Maxim
@Geminid: He’s running against Suzette Valladares (Ballotpedia entry).
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@HumboldtBlue:
So … the GOP’s plan involves alternate universes?
HumboldtBlue
Lincoln Project with another left hook, this time for Vance.
Maxim
@Geminid: Mueller is running in District 23, but yes, against Valladares.
prostratedragon
@Scout211: Now that made me laugh out loud. Greater Grace is a large, prominent, and well-established church in Detroit (where I happen to know members) so it shouldn’t be easy to mix it up. This is likely to be preached about soon.
ron
This is happening because they are putting all their efforts into stealing the election.
Gvg
So, does this mean the rest of the GOP is also hurt by the lack of organized get out the vote, or have they got their own organizations? Normally the RNC effort help down ticket races too, but I don’t think we have ever seen this kind of scenario. I wonder what the PACs for other republicans are doing. If they have any brains, they are keeping their money and organization separate. Trump was also demanding a cut if they used his name in campaigning which would make things difficult.
Anyway
@HumboldtBlue:
What gets me is Trump and Vance’s answers to questions are all variations on “magical thinking”. And there is little pushback.
Whereas MVP is expected to provide specifics – chapter and verse … her proposals have so much more details.
pabadger
@Paul W.: Plus all the supporting organizations. Are any of the postcarders on here going through the party or candidate committees? My wife and I aren’t.
That said I think we should assume they will get their vote out.
Gretchen
@Betty Cracker: looks good! How is the storm in your area? My son in Naples said it passed them by.
Gretchen
@gkoutnik: I wondered that too, if the USPS will be able to handle all the postcards. My 300 are all pretty local.
Gretchen
@Redshift: Quality hires indeed. They had paid canvassers collecting signatures to recall our mayor (Trumpers were mad that he was in favor of diversity). When asked why the mayor should be recalled they had no idea -just doing it for the paycheck. The recall effort failed.
Ruckus
@CaseyL:
We have rather strong “screen” doors at our complex. 1/2 inch square steel tube with a sheet metal “screen” (a lot of smallish holes punched into it) all welded together and a house key operated bolt lock. Then the regular front door with a same key bolt lock. One could break in but not without a LOT of noise, an electric powered cut off grinder, a portable generator to run the grinder and very likely not in time to beat the police. A battering ram might work but the police would still get here in time.
Ruckus
@cain:
Good description. At one point long, long, long ago the rethuglican party was not all that bad. Still wasn’t great but they hadn’t sunk to their current level, like electing shitforbrains because he claimed to be worth a l
otfair bit of money and as you know money (and having a lot of it) is the most important thing in the universe. Just ask shitforbrains. (I always thought that being a better person was more important. After a long haul on this planet – I still do)Ruckus
@Steve LaBonne:
Wouldn’t that be a shame……
Lily
deleted
Ironcity
@FelonyGovt: #37 It’s Shaklee also! Vilest vitamins and supplements I’ve ever seen. Think that was started in Michigan also. Is there something in the water there?