Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

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

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Trump Goes Down on His Microphone

Trump Goes Down on His Microphone

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Trump Goes Down on His Microphone

Since Trump’s whole campaign, as well as most of the DC press covering it, has the mentality and instincts of the 90s, what better site to screenshot for this breaking news story.  I’m not linking — anyone perverse enough to want to see this can google it for themselves.

I was at the gym yesterday and had to LOL at all the poll noise noising on CNN.  The View was also on another TV, and they had a mixed review for this ad, featuring Julia Roberts narrating a scene of two women voting for Harris in defiance of their doofus Trumper husbands.  Just get a divorce already, Jesus, was my reaction, but I’m obviously not the audience for this ad.  (Some of the View concern trollers / anti-Trump Republicans thought it was condescending and poorly acted, but, like me, they’re not the audience, either.)

I see that Bette Midler is going after Nate Silver on Twitter because she’s apparently got a poll addiction and doesn’t like what Nate’s algorithm is doing.  The only utility of public polls at this point in the election is to give Trump some ammo to say he shoulda won when he loses.  It’s pointless to look at them when a good deal of the actual polling (i.e., voting) has already been done.

This week, I was moving into a new short-term rental, and was exceptionally busy with the four-letter scourge that starts with “w” and ends with “ork”, but at least that meant that I didn’t read all my usual political news, which was such a blessing that I’m thinking of buying a “blessed” t-shirt and matching coffee mug.

Reader Interactions

175Comments

  1. 1.

    KatKapCC

    Just get a divorce already,

    I’m sure you know this, but in many of these situations, a woman saying she wants a divorce would not lead to the beginning of divorce proceedings but rather to a beating. Please don’t go down the “why doesn’t she just leave” road.

  2. 2.

    Butch

    I think it’s been pointless to look at the polls for quite some time now.  I also wish that the cable news folks would realize that everything that can be said about this election was said weeks ago and stop the nonsensical blathering about nothing.  (I also know when a wish won’t be granted.)

  5. 5.

    TBone

    Tiedrich takes on oral fixation (at the very end, so worth the wait):

    this week in stupid: November 2 edition – by Jeff Tiedrich

    also, Brent Tarhune, garbage worker!

    https://youtu.be/dC0VgyR8rZg

    Brent’s portrayal of a teary-eyed, star-struck cultist is so over the top that there’s no way anyone would mistake him for one of Donny’s actual worshipers, right?

    wrong

    imagine having your head so far up Dear Leader’s ass that when you hear the phrase “Garbage Force One,” instead of laughing hysterically, you swoon.

    after getting mercilessly dogpiled for being so clownfuckishly gullible, Charlie Kirk deleted this tweet — but the internet never forgets.

  7. 7.

    Citizen Alan

    @KatKapCC: Honestly, isn’t the entire incel thing about guys who are angry that they can’t force women into marriage and beat them if they get uppity anymore?

  9. 9.

    Liminal Owl

    @Citizen Alan: Not quite. Many of them don’t want marriage—just sex. After all if women age out of attractiveness at 25 (or 21, or 18), the incels don’t want to be tied diwn for years.

  12. 12.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Meanwhile, over at Trump Campaign Headquarters

    Entering the final weekend of October, I noticed something in conversations with numerous Trump staffers: resignation. They had long since become accustomed to working in the high-intensity, zero-margin-for-error environment created by Wiles and LaCivita. But this home stretch of the campaign hadn’t just been hard and stressful; it had been disillusioning. Several campaign officials had told me, throughout the spring and summer, how excited they were about working in the next Trump White House. Now those same people were telling me—as paperwork was being distributed internally to begin the process of placing personnel on the transition team and in the prospective administration—that they’d had a change of heart. The past three months had been the most unpleasant of their careers. Win or lose, they said, they were done with the chaos of Donald Trump—even if the nation was not.

  13. 13.

    Scout211

    As a retired therapist who did a a lot of couples counseling over the years, it always shocks me when people expect all women to feel their own agency.  It’s not just a fear of reprisals in the form of domestic violence, intimidation and control.  It also can be from a low level of self confidence and self-worth that so many females experience growing up and in the work world that keeps them doubting  their own agency.  Those women, and there were many in my career, trust their husband’s advice and doubt their own ability to make a choice.

    The people who criticize that Julia Roberts narrated ad are reacting to their own discomfort and their own need to deny that abuse and control are still there in marriages and also that many married women don’t feel their own agency.

    I really like that ad and feel strongly that it is a message that married women voters need to see and hear.  But I get that it makes people very uncomfortable.

  14. 14.

    Anoniminous

    One of my long term hopes for this election is it will provide over-whelming proof women have political agency and “Women’s Issues” (sic) are vital for winning elections.

    “Women’s Issues” because in their little Right Wing Hate Fest World men don’t care if their child goes to bed hungry or gets a bullet in the head at school.

  15. 15.

    Captain C

    Since Trump’s whole campaign, as well as most of the DC press covering it, has the mentality and instincts of the 90s

    If a Democrat did this, it would be a scandal to rival Clinton’s (and an even bigger nothingburger).  Though just as we found out which Republican congresscritters were blatantly cheating through that scandal, we might find out which reporters were actually going down on Republican operatives and politicians this cycle.

  17. 17.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Jo
    @JoJoFromJerz
    10m
    History books are gonna have a helluva time recounting when an orange-painted, racist, rapist, former reality tv star felon who talked about dead golfer dick and fake-fellated microphones ran a 2nd time for the political office he once lost and was indicted for trying to steal.

    When I said Trump was going down, this isn’t what I meant.

    Erection interference.

    Ba-da-bump.

  18. 18.

    Scout211

    @Anoniminous: One of my long term hopes for this election is it will provide over-whelming proof women have political agency and “Women’s Issues” (sic) are vital for winning elections.

    Yes!  And as much as I am not a fan of social media, I give credit to the Harris-Walz campaign for so effectively using social media to reach beyond the television screen to connect with women and their loved ones in so many new ways.  Its’s been a joy to see that.

    Well done Harris-Walz team.  Well done.

    I like our chances.

  19. 19.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Anoniminous:

    in their little Right Wing Hate Fest World men don’t care if their child goes to bed hungry or gets a bullet in the head at school.

    You are correct, but I will note that a whole lot of the women don’t, either.  The men see their wives and children as property and the women see their children as property and their husband as a decision they have to justify.

  20. 20.

    Harrison Wesley

    I don’t get the Republican erotic attraction for inanimate objects.  Microphones?  Furniture? WTF?

  21. 21.

    Shakti

    @HumboldtBlue:

    And the thing is Hinchcliffe as a comedian, from a pure comedy standpoint, is just not that funny.  Racist and awful, but literally bombs at every open mike. There’s a reason I’ve never heard of this guy before last week, and Jon Stewart defending this guy is mystifying.

     

     

    Now this is inappropriate as hell for a political rally, and downright odd for a platform that’s Anti-Non-Reproductive-Sex and Won’t Someone Think of the Hypothetical Children.

    But Trump on stage with a microphone (in a bit) kills (his political campaign?):

    https://x.com/benwikler/status/1852546912370544659

  23. 23.

    wjca

    I read about the Musk GOTV operation requiring the folks they recruited (without telling them they were working for Trump/Vance) to leave their phones GPS on.  So the guys in charge can track whether they actually make the rounds.  Something about lots of folks flat lying about it.

    And I wonder how many of the workers will dutifully make the rounds.  And, every time a pitential voter comes to the door, pitch Harris.  It would be soooo karmic.  FAFO on a whole new level.

  24. 24.

    ArchTeryx

    @Citizen Alan: More like they can’t force women to have sex with them, because they feel like they have an absolute right to womens’ genitals. That they ain’t getting any nookie isn’t ever their fault, it must be women going for beta cuck males instead of their manly bodies.

    I just threw up in my mouth a little. These people make me ill.

  26. 26.

    Betty Cracker

    It’s mind-boggling that the demented orange asshole is polling above 2%. Only in a seriously fucked up country would this be possible.

  28. 28.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Lots of points to this article by Tim Alberta about the inside of Trump’s campaign

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/trump-2024-campaign-lewandowski-conway/680456/

    I never know what to think about these articles about poo flinging. Like this statement about why the kook Laura Loomer came and went:

    What sealed Loomer’s fate, according to two people who were part of these conversations, wasn’t just her racist diatribes but also her appearance: Trump, who is generally appalled by plastic surgery, was disgusted to learn about the apparent extent of Loomer’s facial alterations.

    Seriously? What about his wife, daughter, son-in-law, Guilfoyle, Kelly Ann Conway, lots of his Mar-a-Lago crowd, etc., ad infinitum.

  29. 29.

    Anoniminous

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    For those of us who give a damn one of the hardest things to learn is the impossibility of helping people who refuse to be helped or actively resist being helped.  Can’t save everyone, pointless to try.  What we can do is change the overall political environment so those who want to be saved can be saved.

  30. 30.

    Betty Cracker

    I saw the clip, and Trump really does simulate blowing the microphone. And fapping. All to bitch about the quality of the microphone. I mean, he humps American flags onstage like a horny chihuahua on a shin, so it’s not surprising. But man, what a sick fuck.

  32. 32.

    ArchTeryx

    @West of the Rockies: Yeah, that was an absolute horror movie, made twice as horrific as any slasher movie because it reflected REALITY

    Yes, stalkers will go to just those lengths to track down women they think escaped their clutches. And they have a disturbing tendency to think that if they can’t have “their” women, nobody else should be able to, and go on murder-suicide sprees. These people are goddamn dangerous.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    In the morning thread, Kay said there was a big article in the NYT today about Wokeism. This post is exactly what they were talking about.

    It’s getting to be that a disgusting old white guy can’t imitate fellatio in public while running for president anymore.

  37. 37.

    KatKapCC

    @Harrison Wesley: Maybe that’s why they’re so obsessed with the furries thing. They don’t understand people being sexually aroused by animals when furniture and kitchen tools are right there.

  40. 40.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Captain C: Remember how they were calling Harris cruel and viscous until it came how she was simply calling bullshitters on her staff for their bullshit. (EDIT: I can see how that would be a nightmare boss for the most of the MSM)

  41. 41.

    Betty Cracker

    I’m watching the Ohio State – Penn State game on a streaming service, and it’s wall-to-wall political ads. Because Penn State, I guess. But you’d think geo-fencing and micro-targeting would allow those of us who are NOT in a swing state to escape the ad bombardment!

    Good game, BTW. I don’t like either team, but it’s an exciting matchup. Later, I’ll be watching the Dawgs of Georgia chew up my poor crappy Gators. On the other hand, Vandy beat Bama, so anything is possible!

  42. 42.

    JoyceH

    I’m starting to get exhausted from the rage. Not theirs, mine. When you’re watching the news and there’s yet another story about a young pregnant woman dying after days of agony and pleading with the hospital staff for help but the treatment she needs to save her life is illegal now — and then cut to commercial to learn that in a few minutes on your computer you can get home delivery at under a dollar a tablet of what are essentially male recreational drugs… Vote? How about we riot?

  44. 44.

    Princess

    When I saw the video of Trump fellating the microphone, I thought of Mike Johnson and all the evangelicals who are going to vote for Trump as their God-given leader. I love this gif them, I truly do. I hope they choke on their votes.

  45. 45.

    Another Scott

    Maybe Tmurp is evolving into a cat??

    myrmepropagandist

    @darrenmorin

    To be fair, for a cat she knows a lot about how “talking” works. You have to make different sounds at someone and let them know how you feel. You should respond and take turns making sounds. The sounds unlock people doing what you want.

    A compelling emotional appeal is more important than fancy “words.”

    Nov 02, 2024, 01:07 PM

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  49. 49.

    Rudi666

    tRump isn’t getting any from Melania. Laura Loomer is his lot lizard now. I wonder if she serviced him in the garbage truck…

  50. 50.

    bjacques

    @ArchTeryx: On the BBC yesterday, it was reported that a teenage boy was sentenced to life in prison for stalking and stabbing to death his ex-girlfriend for leaving him. And Sleeping With The Enemy haunts me to this day.

  52. 52.

    Librarian

    I’m following Jon Ralston, and it’s mostly because of him that I have occasional panic attacks because of his analysis of the NV early vote. I just know he knows as well as anyone that Harris will win NV, but he’s manufacturing fake suspense to get eyeballs and clicks. Trump lost NV twice and we’re supposed to believe he might win it now? He’s not fooling anybody.

  54. 54.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @West of the Rockies:

    I won’t forgive Stewart for quasi-defending Hinchcliff.

    I won’t forgive him for his interview with Obama, where he spent the whole time blaming Obama for Republican obstructionism.  That was all Stewart wanted to talk about, how Obama had failed to deliver ‘change’ defined as bipartisan cooperation.

    And the guy is friends with O’Reilly.  If you are able to put polite words on it, Stewart is just fine with your racism.

  55. 55.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Princess: I’m pretty sure my evangelical niece in law will, along with her father. Her mega church pastor (where she also works) went on record to tell his flock that it was ok to vote for a flawed human being (we’re all flawed, don’t you know?). Made me want to be in the audience, arm waving, “please take a few minutes to several hours to enumerate those flaws I should overlook.”

    Not sure about how my nephew will vote. Unfortunately, post his conversion to evangelical Christianity, we don’t talk about personal matters much. My sister does and thinks he’s conflicted. So, maybe an example of a man’s secret vote against trump.

  56. 56.

    ArchTeryx

    @West of the Rockies: Stewart decided to be a gadfly 14 years before Hinchcliffe. His bloody 2010 “rally” on the Lawn may well have helped the Republicans win more seats Congress that year, while posing as a “nonpartisan” rally.

  58. 58.

    ArchTeryx

    @Sure Lurkalot: Nobody can self-deal like an evangelical megachurch pastor, and their televangelist ancestors. These people make actual con artists look like rank amateurs.

  60. 60.

    Scout211

    Wired

    Elon Musk’s America PAC and several other defendants, including the reelection campaign for Representative Michelle Steel, a Republican from California, are accused of violating California labor law in a class action lawsuit filed in Orange County on October 30, according to court documents obtained by WIRED.

    The named plaintiffs, Tamiko Anderson and Patricia Kelly, were canvassers for Steel in October of this year, according to the suit, which alleges that they weren’t paid agreed-upon wages. America PAC is named because it provided campaigning services for Steel.

    The plaintiffs are also suing over an alleged failure to reimburse business expenses and for allegedly being provided inaccurate wage statements. The suit seeks class certification for “All current and former non-exempt employees of Defendants in the State of California who were employed as canvassers and canvassed for Michelle Steel at any time from October 30, 2023, through the present.”

    FAFO?

  62. 62.

    AWOL

    @West of the Rockies: Jon Stewart is a blob of Republican-shilling shit, going back to his days on that awful show where he plugged right-wing books multiple times per week and yucked it up with the fascist authors. His legacy going back to 2005: He has made the face of fascism human.

    That March for Sanity bullshit in DC exposed him as the vain, insane creep he is.

  64. 64.

    bbleh

    Gotta admit I didn’t have “Trump gives public blowjob to microphone” on my bingo card …

  66. 66.

    Bostondreams

    @Sure Lurkalot: as a long time history teacher I predict that it will be a paragraph long and barely touch on things. Florida and Texas are two of the biggest spenders on textbooks and they won’t want to piss them off :-/

  67. 67.

    Shakti

    @West of the Rockies: Jon Stewart is a relic from a different time. He stopped doing the Daily Show right around the time Trump launched his campaign.

    He’s a fellow who doesn’t understand or pretends not to understand that centrism has shifted several Overton Window paces much further right and there is no centrism in American politics, just political positions that get flung to the outmost corners of a centrifuge.

    He ended up giving a teaser reel of Hinchcliffe’s other work in the context telling people to focus on Trump,  which explains so much.

     

    I miss the world pre 2015. So it goes.

  68. 68.

    Anoniminous

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Going to be a Danny Downer.

    White evangelical males overwhelmingly support Trump. So do white evangelical women. Apparently whipping oneself into psychotic hysterics once a week causes cognitive dysfunction.

  69. 69.

    ArchTeryx

    @AWOL: “Rally to restore sanity and/or fear,” in October 2010. He was playing the “left wing” side, and Colbert was playing the “right wing” side. With a ton of “independents” like Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman filling stage time. Even Sheryl Crow was there.

    None of them covered themselves with glory, but Stewart was actively sabotaging efforts to lay sandbags against the incoming red wave that year. And he drew almost 230,000 people to the Lawn to see his minstrel show. Whole thing made me sick, and I was THERE to see some of it.

  70. 70.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I won’t forgive him for his interview with Obama, where he spent the whole time blaming Obama for Republican obstructionism.  That was all Stewart wanted to talk about, how Obama had failed to deliver ‘change’ defined as bipartisan cooperation.

    Hey John, was this meeting on inauguration night Obama’s fault for the sin of being elected while black?

    According to Draper, the guest list that night (which was just over 15 people in total) included Republican Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Paul Ryan (Wis.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Pete Hoekstra (Mich.) and Dan Lungren (Calif.), along with Republican Sens. Jim DeMint (S.C.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Ensign (Nev.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.). The non-lawmakers present included Newt Gingrich, several years removed from his presidential campaign, and Frank Luntz, the long-time Republican wordsmith. Notably absent were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) — who, Draper writes, had an acrimonious relationship with Luntz.

    For several hours in the Caucus Room (a high-end D.C. establishment), the book says they plotted out ways to not just win back political power, but to also put the brakes on Obama’s legislative platform.

  71. 71.

    Shakti

    @bbleh: And did you know I’m sure he kills in the Villages. With his bits. And his bits. And the super antibiotic resist–*mike feedback squeal*

    Did he have that scripted on this teleprompter beforehand or did he improv that on the fly?  Like…. whaaaaa?

  72. 72.

    gene108

    @Citizen Alan:

    Honestly, isn’t the entire incel thing about guys who are angry that they can’t force women into marriage and beat them if they get uppity anymore?

    From what I’ve seen on more moderate incel boards (the ones that don’t go into direct harm against women, just frustrated guys who don’t fit in) are guys in their teens to twenties, who lack the self-confidence, and probably self-esteem, to work up the nerve to ask a girl out.

    They find an online community that says it’s hopeless, you aren’t one of lucky ones to get girls, and it’s not your fault. Society is stacked against you.

    Lonely sexually frustrated guys find a like group of lonely sexually frustrated guys, and goes down the incel rabbit hole.

    Kind of sad, like no one is born _______ (insert bad thing).

  73. 73.

    Suzanne

    I grew up around too many Mormon girls and gays to be surprised by patriarchal and abusive relationships. One thing that got fucken tiring was being one of only a few not-LDS friends and therefore being confided in about all sorts of things. Like, at some point, it’s too much: you gotta leave and be an active agent of your own life.

    My anxiety level is not awesome.

    I have decided that I am going to yoga on Tuesday night and I might not come out.

  76. 76.

    Lapassionara

    @Betty Cracker: BC, if I’m not mistaken, you coined the word “hork” (also “horking,” “horked”), and that is the word that I thought of when I saw that image of Trump with his microphone. What a nightmare person he is.

    So many ways your linguistic gifts have enriched our lives.

  77. 77.

    wenchacha

    @Sure Lurkalot:  I’m thinking that the excuse about her plastic surgery is just to humiliate her and leave him out of the trainwreck. He was the one choosing her company.

  78. 78.

    wjca

    @KatKapCC: Maybe that’s why they’re so obsessed with the furries thing. They don’t understand people being sexually aroused by animals when furniture and kitchen tools are right there.

    Animals, like women, can refuse consent.  Furniture and tools, not so much.

  79. 79.

    West of the Rockies

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    My awareness of Stewart only really took hood shortly before he left TDS.  Yeah, sounds  like he’s been well-practiced in dipshittery for a while. Ugh.

  80. 80.

    dmsilev

    @bbleh: Nobody could have written a novel with the plot and side stories of this election. They’d have been laughed out of the room.

  81. 81.

    MisterForkbeard

    @John S.: Yep. Dumb symbolism across the board. And I’ve generally liked Tlaib, but this is dumb.

    I wonder if it’s the same kind of horseshit triangulation media and businesses do. If Kamala wins, it won’t matter. If Trump wins, she’ll say it proved her right.

  82. 82.

    Shalimar

    @Betty Cracker: Vandy is a better team this year than Florida.  Or at least in the same general level of play.  Vandy didn’t just beat Bama.  Bama was lucky to get it close at the end.  Vandy won time of possession more than 2 to 1.  Every time Alabama got a big play to get back in it, Vanderbilt methodically drove down the field to pull further away again.  Bama had no answer for their offense.

  83. 83.

    ArchTeryx

    @gene108: I was once in that camp. My frustration wasn’t so much lack of sex, as lack of women taking me seriously as a romantic partner. I just got repeatedly friend-zoned.

    It wasn’t until much later I discovered I had something of a feminine side, and most women actually saw me like a sister or one of the gals, not dating material. Then I met a lady that was very masculine in her bearing, and we clicked. 18 years later, I’ve never looked back. Understand yourself, understand what you offer, and look to the right folks. Incels aren’t interested in any such self-reflection. Like all right wing creeps, they want to blame everyone but themselves.

  85. 85.

    West of the Rockies

    @AWOL:

    I remember the clip of Jon Stewart skewering Tucker:  (“You’re hurting people…”)

    Sounds like that’s what Stewart apparently has been doing.

  86. 86.

    Ramona

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Thanks for this interesting article. I followed your link and… I cannot think of more just desserts for the entirety of this herd of moral midgets. From top to bottom, from Trump to the youngest, most lowliest paid, they deserve every ounce of the unpleasantness they admit to experiencing working on this campaign, unpleasantness that has been telegraphed for decades!

  87. 87.

    Betty Cracker

    @Lapassionara: Haha, thanks! I have to credit my sweet old fat cat Cosmo for inspiring that coinage — he didn’t merely cough up hairballs; he HORKED them up! It’s an onomatopoeia!

  88. 88.

    KatKapCC

    @Msb: Yep. Which is also why it can take a long time for it to happen. People saying “why doesn’t she leave” don’t realize she might be working on it right at that moment. But it has to be done tiny piece by tiny piece, and with a thousand contingencies planned for. It’s not something that can just happen on the spur of the moment.

  91. 91.

    Josie

    @John S.: ​
     If someone decent decides to primary her, I will definitely donate. She should be ashamed to fail women at this vital moment.

  94. 94.

    Chet Murthy

    OK, I gotta ask: I saw this last night, and -also- saw the full clip where it’s so clear he’s mimicking trying to get the mic to work, and it’s not working.  It wasn’t fellatio at all (at least, to me, in that clip).  For sure, I enjoy a good couch-fucker smear as much as the next progressive!  But c’mon, this is a gag we’re all participating in, right?  Right?

  95. 95.

    gene108

    @John S.:

    Meanwhile, Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib declines to endorse Kamala Harris.

    This isn’t just bad politics, it’s just plain fucking stupid.

    She’s Palestinian.

    It’s pretty clear Palestinians are less important than the security of Israel for almost everyone in the U.S. government.

    The Gaza war must hit home in a way I cannot understand, and the Biden-Harris administration continuing to supply weapons to Israel to kill her people has to be taking a toll.

    Plus, working in Congress where every Republican wants to send more weapons to Israel and some Democrats who would go along with this.

  96. 96.

    Josie

    @Chet Murthy: I don’t know. The way he glanced around after he did it and the way the audience reacted, It seemed to me that he was making a crude joke. It’s just he sort of thing he enjoys doing–being repulsive but leaving some doubt about it.​
     ETA: His way of drawing attention and headlines

  98. 98.

    Ramona

    @Another Scott: search for Todd Talks on YouTube for a cat whose human has convinced me really does know how to “talk” using the button activated recording system devised by animal biologists for dogs and cats. Todd informed his human that when the latter was away on a trip Glamour, an older cat in the household, had been experiencing back pain and the vet confirmed this.

  100. 100.

    wvng

    @Princess: Amazingly, the Times managed to sanewash Trump’s virtual blowjob, by saying “the clip suggested the formers president was pantomining oral sex.”

  104. 104.

    Chet Murthy

    @Josie: And it isn’t obvious that he’s miming the problem of him talking and mic being set up wrong,  so he isn’t amplified?

  105. 105.

    Betty Cracker

    @Chet Murthy: I have seen the clip. He was mock-blowing the microphone, imo. Or else trying to simulate some other action in the most unfortunately suggestive manner possible!

  106. 106.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @gene108:

    My understanding is that she is an American. Anyone who said she is not would rightly be condemned. She is also an elected Democrat; loyalty is a two way system.

    Most important, she is a sentient adult who must know that putting Trump back in the White House will make matters worse for Palestinians.

  109. 109.

    KatKapCC

    @Chet Murthy: I mean…I saw the gif on Substack and it sure as hell looks like that’s what he’s doing. If someone just showed it to you with no context beforehand and asked you “what does that look like he’s miming” what would be the first thought in your head?

  112. 112.

    KatKapCC

    @gene108: And why is it okay to only care about your own people and no one else in the country or the world? And why is it okay to effectively endorse her opponent (because like it or not, that’s what she’s doing by not endorsing Harris) who would be exponentially worse for her people?

  113. 113.

    Chet Murthy

    @KatKapCC: When the House Freedom Caucus does it, we rightly call it terrorism: holding the nation’s economy hostage in order to get their agenda passed — an agenda that even their own Party caucus doesn’t support.

    She knows that even her own Party (the Dems) doesn’t support her position on Israel, so she thinks that by holding the Presidency hostage, she can get her way.

    She’s a terrorist.

  114. 114.

    Chet Murthy

    @KatKapCC: When I saw the shorter clip (IIRC it was from Rupar’s tweet)  I also thought “WTF? Is that fellatio?”  But when I saw the longer clip, it was clear he was just bitching at his sound techs.

  115. 115.

    Chet Murthy

    @KatKapCC: To be sure, I’m lovin’ that the media is runnin’ with “simulating a blowjob”.  Love it, love it!  Just like I loved that Juicy Divans is a couch-fucker.

  116. 116.

    gene108

    @Melancholy Jaques:

    My understanding is that she is an American. Anyone who said she is not would rightly be condemned. She is also an elected Democrat; loyalty is a two way system.

    Dude, seriously…

    If someone still has aunts, uncles, first cousins, parents and/or grandparents in the mother country, their relationship to it is a lot more personal than some white guy, who may have a fifth cousin still in Italy.

    Most important, she is a sentient adult who must know that putting Trump back in the White House will make matters worse for Palestinians.

    At this point, I doubt Trump can do anything to make the situation for people in Gaza worse. The U.S. government no longer has any leverage over the current Israeli government.

    The only thing Trump can do is accelerate weapon deliveries to Israel to make things worse in Gaza.

  117. 117.

    KatKapCC

    @Chet Murthy: I don’t know if I’d call her a terrorist, but she’s definitely a self-righteous idiot. Sitting in what I’m sure is her very safe and fancy home acting like she’s some kind of brave warrior on this issue. I’d really like someone to ask her, for example, if she thinks babies being taken as hostages is acceptable for everyone or only if those babies are Jewish.

  118. 118.

    Anoniminous

    @John S.:

    It is bad politics.  Once a candidate is selected you support the candidate.  Even if you want to throw the scummy asshole in a pit of rabid rattlesnakes YOU SUPPORT THE CANDIDATE.

    It is stupid because you just announced you are not a team player meaning forget getting on an important House committee that actually does stuff, e.g., House Ways and Means, until hell freezes over.

  121. 121.

    gene108

    @KatKapCC:

    And why is it okay to only care about your own people and no one else in the country or the world?

    Because there doesn’t seem to be another person in the U.S. government who actually gives a shit about people in Gaza.

    @Chet Murthy:

    She knows that even her own Party (the Dems) doesn’t support her position on Israel, so she thinks that by holding the Presidency hostage, she can get her way.

    She isn’t holding the presidency hostage. Unlike the House Freedom Caucus blocking legislation, she doesn’t have that much power.

  123. 123.

    FelonyGovt

    @HumboldtBlue: OMG I had read the “protect women whether they like it or not” with rage and horror, but to hear it in that sing-songy voice of his makes it even more hideous.

  125. 125.

    Chet Murthy

    @gene108: She isn’t holding the presidency hostage. Unlike the House Freedom Caucus blocking legislation, she doesn’t have that much power.

    Not for lack of trying, though.  She and her Uncommitted folks have been trying to gin up the perception that they’re the deciding vote in MI — that they could flip MI to TCFG by declining to vote for Harris.  I’d like to believe that this just idle talk, and they’re not powerful enough.  I guess we’ll see.  But she certainly aspires to do what the House Freedom Caucus did.

  126. 126.

    gene108

    @KatKapCC:

    I’d really like someone to ask her, for example, if she thinks babies being taken as hostages is acceptable for everyone or only if those babies are Jewish.

    How has Israel’s response helped free hostages?

    Edit: Hamas did a terrible thing on Oct 7. Israel’s response has been even more catastrophic for human life.

  128. 128.

    KatKapCC

    @gene108: Plenty of people give a shit about people in Gaza, including MVP. But to people like Tlaib, if you care even one iota about Jews or Israelis, then you do not care about Gaza. Because that’s how she views it. And she also seems to think that saying “Hamas is bad” means you’re saying “All Palestinians are bad”.

    Again: Does she give a shit about anyone else? Does she care about other POC? About immigrants and refugees? Women, gay people, trans people, disabled people, etc etc etc? Or does she only care about Gazans? Caring about Gazans is a good thing. ONLY caring about them is not.

  129. 129.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @gene108:

    At this point, I doubt Trump can do anything to make the situation for people in Gaza worse.

    Dude, seriously …

    You think it’s a good idea to fuck around and find out?

    Politics requires some tough decisions, but Harris vs Trump on Palestinians is not one of them.

  130. 130.

    Chet Murthy

    @KatKapCC: Even if you don’t care about Israel -at all-, if you’re an -American- and you care about Palestinians to the exclusion of the needs and rights of Americans, that’s unacceptable.  Being willing to work to destroy -our- Republic, b/c you care about people who live in a foreign land, is -unacceptable-.  If you care so much, get your AR-15 and a plane ticket, Rep. Tlaib.  Otherwise, you need to act to preserve -our- Republic -first-.

  131. 131.

    KatKapCC

    @gene108: Well, they have freed some of them, so there’s that. But it’s interesting that you’re removing any and all agency from Hamas, the people who took them. I hate Netanyahu and his government and I loathe most of what they’re doing, but can we please stop acting like the hostages just disappeared into thin air of their own accord? The war will not stop until all of the hostages are freed or released. Demanding that it stop without that is stating that you do not give a fuck about them.

  132. 132.

    TBone

    Philly DA On Terrorizing Election Workers: ‘F*ck Around And Find Out’

    Oh, I like this guy.

     “If people think they’re going to erase votes in Philly or terrorize people who are here to protect those votes, we’ve got some handcuffs, we’ve got some jail cells, and we’ve got some Philadelphia juries who want to hear why, exactly, it is that somebody thought they could erase our votes or terrorize our elections workers,” Krasner, a Democrat, told NBC News in an interview Thursday, just days before the election.

    Krasner said that his “patriotic” team was prepared to handle any issues on Election Day and called any attempts to undermine or influence the vote in Philadelphia “utterly unacceptable.”

    “As they say in Philly, if somebody wants to come and do that, they can F around and find out,” he added.

  133. 133.

    Chet Murthy

    @KatKapCC: The war will not stop until all of the hostages are freed or released.

    The war will not stop simply because the hostages are freed or released. Israel will continue to gobble up the Palestinians land regardless of what happens to the hostages. Just like they have for the last three decades.

  135. 135.

    gene108

    @KatKapCC:

    And she also seems to think that saying “Hamas is bad” means you’re saying “All Palestinians are bad”.

    A lot of Americans view Muslims as terrorists, due to news of the PLO hijacking airplanes decades ago to 9/11.

    Plus, there has been a very strong instinct in the U.S. to correlate the bad action of an individual minority as representative of the entire group. It’s gotten a lot better over the last 20-25 years, but it underlies a significant number of people’s opinions.

    The nuance of Hamas are terrorists and not all people in Gaza are Hamas is going to fall on a lot of deaf ears in this country.

  136. 136.

    Baud

    She’s an adult member of Congress. She’ll take her political hit for this, which will be bigger if we lose than if we win. We’re asking a lot of people who don’t like us to vote for us for the good of the country, so I don’t think this is something that can be just shrugged off.

    Fingers crossed, her calculation is that she can do this because she believes we’re on track to win.

  138. 138.

    Chet Murthy

    @Baud: Fingers crossed, her calculation is that she can do this because she believes we’re on track to win.

    Murc’s Law, Israel/Palestine Corollary.

  139. 139.

    AWOL

    @ArchTeryx: Excellent description. Thanks. And I pity you. I just watched the end on CSPAN and saw, as usual, he was a pathetic bothsiderist.

    I have produced dozens upon dozens of liberal/left books for a Top 5 publisher for this entire young century after escaping legal and acdemic publishing.

    He has never hosted one of my authors.

    And that has never surprised me.

    Why he has a cult following just displays how conservative even “radical” entertainment is in this nation built on greed, slaves, and religious hate.

  141. 141.

    John S.

    @schrodingers_cat:

    So she’s been a performance artist for a while now.

    Look, I get that elected officials are supposed to support their constituents, but her position isn’t gonna do shit to help them. She apparently subscribes to the tankie left theory of burning down the house from the inside before making renovations.

    Just pure fucking stupidity.

  144. 144.

    Soprano2

    @Baud: I think it’s a bunch of old white conservative men who are mad that they can’t make gross jokes anymore without someone disapproving of them. Regardless of what they say they are free to tell the joke or say the gross thing they want to say, but they can’t make people tolerate it. That’s what they’re mad about.

  146. 146.

    gene108

    @KatKapCC:

    The war will not stop until all of the hostages are freed or released. Demanding that it stop without that is stating that you do not give a fuck about them.

    I never wrote anything about a ceasefire, the war stopping, or abandoning hostages.

    I think a few things (1) Israel response to the Hamas attacks has hurt Israel’s credibility.

    (2) Whether or not Hamas’s ability to attack Israel has been substantially degraded by this war is not conclusive.

    (3) Hostages should be released as a pre-condition for a ceasefire.

    (4) Tlaib’s non-endorsement of Harris is not a big deal to me. I didn’t know about it until linked in this thread. Her relationship to Palestine is much different than mine and I do not fully understand it. This will influence her view of a Harris endorsement differently from other Democrats.

    (5) I think the Biden administration’s attempt to limit civilian casualties in Gaza, provide relief supplies, and keep the war from spreading to the rest of the region has not been successful.

  147. 147.

    Greebe

    @Shakti: @21…
    Earlier this week I watched an episode of Punching Up—part of the Resolute Square group on YouTube.
    https://www.youtube.com/live/ptHrQGDZOhY?si=jlfgZHf0wepsm6PZ
    ———
    From the description:
    Host Maya May and a panel of comedians discuss and debate where the line is or should be for political comedy.
    ———
    None of the comedians thought the MSG comedian was funny at all, in fact, they pretty much accused him of being lazy in his writing and that he was performing Troll comedy (defined as a step below Roasts).
    It was interesting, although I would have enjoyed more insight from a group of professionals about how they go about writing jokes.

  148. 148.

    ETtheLibrarian

    Josh over at TPM had a piece on how many on the trump campaign and many of the younger men supporting him are 4Chan/incel types and that sort of explains some of trump’s campaign moves (and a bit of how he is acting/talking) and that does track. If you haven’t give it a read for a well thought out observation.

  150. 150.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Baud:

    Fingers crossed, her calculation is that she can do this because she believes we’re on track to win.

    That was the calculation of quite a few people in 2016 who were sure Hillary Clinton would win: Sanders, Bernie Bros, the NYT, and most of all Comey.

  151. 151.

    John S.

    @gene108:

    Tlaib’s non-endorsement of Harris is not a big deal to me.

    Sure. I mean convincing over 100k Democratic voters in Michigan that Harris is a genocidal maniac couldn’t possibly have consequences in a state we desperately need to win.

  153. 153.

    Baud

    @gene108: Putting aside my own hard line on this election, the fact is, Biden isn’t the candidate, and Harris hasn’t been a central figure in the Gaza response. She would be a fresh opportunity for something different vs. either Biden or Trump.

  155. 155.

    Another Scott

    @John S.: As I noted when I commented on this a week or so ago, she endorsed Biden on October 30, 2020.

    She’s stating her position now at a time where it will have the greatest impact (because she knows the press loves nothing more than “Dems in Disarray”). More of a “more in sorrow than in anger” kinda thing, IMHO.

    Rashida Tlaib
    @RashidaTlaib
    Nov 1

    Trump is a proud Islamophobe + serial liar who doesn’t stand for peace. The reality is that the Biden admin’s unconditional support for genocide is what got us here. This should be a wake-up call for those who continue to support genocide. This election didn’t have to be close.

    Abdullah H. Hammoud
    @AHammoudMI
    Nov 1

    The architect of the Muslim Ban is making a campaign stop in Dearborn. People in this community know what Trump stands for – we suffered through it for years. I’ve refused a sit down with him although the requests keep pouring in.

    Trump will never be my president.

    To the Dems – your unwillingness to stop funding & enabling a genocide created the space for Trump to infiltrate our communities. Remember that.

    Nov 1, 2024 · 6:00 PM UTC

    She’s still got a couple of days to make an announcement. She might, or she might not. But it’s clear that she doesn’t want TCFFG to win.

    FWIW. YMMV.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  156. 156.

    John S.

    @Another Scott:

    I don’t tolerate cynical talking out of both sides of the mouth coming from a Republican, so I’m sure as hell not going to accept it from a Democrat.

    Tlaib and her sister are both working very hard to get Muslim Americans to NOT vote for Harris (with polls showing large numbers moving to Stein of all the useless fucking people), so it doesn’t really matter what she says in the end. She’s showing her ass.

    The stakes are way too high for playing games, and Tlaib should know that.

    ETA: That tweet from Tlaib is pretty fucking clueless. If Harris gave Tlaib a pony, she’s right that it wouldn’t be close; it would be a blowout for Trump.

  157. 157.

    Geminid

    @gene108: I’m not letting Tlaib’s non-endorsement bother me either. Her constituents can choose someone else in the 2026 primary if it bothers them. Tlaib has been a fairly solid Representative otherwise and they are best suited to judge her.

    But I’m pretty sure the IDF has significantly degraded the ability of Hamas and allies like Palestinian Islamic Jihad to attack Israel again. That doesn’t justify the excessive civilian toll from the IDF attacks which Hamas deliberately instigated with their savage attack last October 7, but the IDF has been fighting Hamas and Hamas has been fighting back throughout this war..

  158. 158.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Another Scott:

    Are you sure? Many people enjoy the Ds losing if they can say I told you so. Just check the blogs and news reports in the weeks after the 2016 election.

    And Representative Tlaib’s suggestion that Gaza is making this election close is true, but in a completely different way than she thinks. If Biden had ceased support for Israel the Democrats would get wiped out in the election.

  159. 159.

    John S.

    @Melancholy Jaques:

    The Palestinian groups that are so concerned about their voices being heard (including the one Tlaib’s sister runs) have repeatedly refused to sit down with the Biden administration to have any dialogue.

    That makes them shitposting trolls.

  160. 160.

    wjca

    @Anoniminous: Once a candidate is selected you support the candidate.  Even if you want to throw the scummy asshole in a pit of rabid rattlesnakes YOU SUPPORT THE CANDIDATE. 

    And yet, pretty much everybody here trashes Republican officeholders for doing just that.  Might want to consider a bit less righteousness on the topic.

    EDT There’s plenty of other reasons to fault her position.  But not, I think, that one.

  161. 161.

    John S.

    @wjca:

    There’s a bit of a difference between Republicans supporting any asshole with an R next to their name despite how awful they are and urging Democrats to support candidates who represent 99% of their positions and not abandoning them because of a single issue — especially when that issue has been grossly misconstrued.

    Apples and tire rims.

  163. 163.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @West of the Rockies: I saw that and thought, “OK, now do Jews and Israel — right Jon?” I’m sure Jon would find it HIGH-LAY-REE-US if someone at a Nazi rally called Jews garbage people and Israel a garbage country. I’m just bustin’ a gut laughing at that.

  165. 165.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Chet Murthy:

    I. Don’t. Care.

    The guy is such a complete and utter fuck-up and asshole that if every once in a while his actions and statements get misconstrued, well, tough shit. He’s worked hard to earn that.

    But nah, I don’t don’t give him the benefit of the doubt here. In his mind(?), he was sucking off Putin. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

    That’s my hypothesis. I’m designing experiment now to test it.

  166. 166.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Chet Murthy: “Juicy Divans”

    Oh man, I had not heard that. Don’t worry, I can clean the screen. And the cat will, eventually, get over being startled (extremely) while sleeping peacefully on my lap.

  167. 167.

    Another Scott

    @Melancholy Jaques: Yup.

    And I’m sure she understands all that as well.  But she also knows that change doesn’t come unless people are willing to fight for it.

    Lots of things are coming to a head now:  Israel / Gaza / Lebanon / Iran / Yemen.  Ukraine.  Georgia.  And on and on.

    • November 5, 2024 – Election Day.
    • December 11, 2024 – Certificates of Ascertainment Due.
    • December 17, 2024 – Electoral College Meets.
    • January 6, 2025 – Joint Session of Congress.
    • January 20, 2025 – Inauguration Day.

    And the Continuing Resolution expires on December 20.

    And on and on.

    Harris’s plate will be full, and Biden’s plate will be overflowing over the next 79 days (until January 20).

    An awful lot that happens in the next few month/years, and how we address it, depends on who else is elected with Harris and Walz on Tuesday.  A clear repudiation of Trumpism makes a lot of better things possible.  We need to run up the score!!

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  169. 169.

    Chris Johnson

    @Chet Murthy: You are high or trolling if you believe that. What you saw is dementia and disinhibition and it doesn’t matter what kicked off orange man’s weird impulse, the fact is he clowned it up for the crowd by jacking off the mic and then going down on it to emphasise how much it was dick.

    Claiming anything else is gaslighting.

  170. 170.

    Msb

    @KatKapCC:

    Damn right.

    And God bless every one of them that gets out alive. We need to make it easier to leave earlier and live to tell the tale.

  171. 171.

    Msb

    @ETtheLibrarian:

    Josh Marshall has had so many important insights:

    – people submitting to trump as “dignity wraiths”

    – Trump’s absence of ground game

    – this one about R bro staffers.
    TPM subscription is really worth it.

  174. 174.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @ArchTeryx: I once dreamed that I was playing a survival-evasion-escape video game that involved getting away from a stalker, and it was one of those nightmares that woke me up from a sound sleep. Not sure how well a video/mobile game like that would sell, I suppose it depends on the exact story line.

  175. 175.

    Chris T.

    @Betty Cracker: I know I heard (well, read, I prefer text when possible, it’s usually so much faster and more accurate) “hork up a hairball” many years ago. Pretty sure it was before I read any of your things, but can’t be 100% positive…

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