Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

When we show up, we win.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

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

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

Bark louder, little dog.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

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

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Late Night Open Thread: The KKKlown-Car Gish Gallop

Late Night Open Thread: The KKKlown-Car Gish Gallop

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Clownshoes are better than jackboots.

[image or embed]

— Kakistocracy Hat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) November 13, 2024 at 5:18 PM

Trump is obviously not a smart man, but his low cunning & long media / WWE experience has given him a genuine talent for throwing so many bad ideas at once that his questioners are overwhelmed by the sheer volume. His proposed administrative picks these last few days have been the staffing equivalent of a Gish gallop, where exposure of the manifest unfitness of every new candidate is overridden by the next ‘surprise’ candidate…

Massive blight & ‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk seems, for the moment, to have been distracted by the shiny-object promise of a politically futile ‘agency’ where he and a suitable noxic second banana / Trump sycophant (Vivek Ramaswamy) can strut and talk tough.

Pairing Elon and Vivek is like a buddy comedy written by someone who doesn’t understand buddies or comedy

[image or embed]

— Kakistocracy Hat (@kenwhite.bsky.social) November 12, 2024 at 8:17 PM

Then there’s the ‘FAFO’ candidates: Tom Homan for dictator of Homeland Security (i.e., deportations), and Mike Huckabee for Ambassador to Israel (Netanyahu cheerleader). Both of them, if allowed free reign, will be catastrophic. Both of them have been greeted with anger, but not surprise. Trump promised to deport ‘all the illegals, the bad people’ if he was elected, and to give Bibi Netanyahu ‘a free hand’ against ‘Islamic terrorists’. Homan & Huckabee are obvious (terrible) choices.


In the last couple days, we’ve gotten into full-on foreign-asset / QAnon craziness. Pete Hegseth is a media-photogenic thug whose defense expertise involves abusing military captives and defending those who commit war crimes.

Matt Gaetz is a nepo-baby sexual thug who Trump wants as his Chief Enforcer against his enemies, real and imagined.

Tulsi Gabbard is a wholly-owned foreign asset of Putin’s Russia, who can be trusted to sell out America’s allies and kill a lot of American agents while treating the department as her personal goodie bag… just as Donald Trump has.

And now it looks as though RFKennedy Jr, despite his manifest insanities, might be given the chance to turn Health & Human Services into the Department of Just Asking Questions.

But, as Chris Cillizza and Astead Herndon assure us, it will be Tremendous Content!

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    95Comments

    2. 2.

      TBone

      Just as Leonard Leo organized his takeover of the judiciary, there will be string pullers working together in concert to organize the effort to dismantle everything we hold dear. Do not be distracted by who is propped up in front of the TV cameras wearing the clown shoes!

      Reply
    3. 3.

      TBone

      Digby on how the recess gambit might play out. Quoting Former Harry Reid staffer Adam Jentleson:

      For recess appointments to happen, the Senate has to be in recess. For a decade or so, the Senate has not been going into recess when it adjourns but pro forma sessions, which can last up to 3 days. Long story, it goes back to Rs blocking Obama from doing recess appointments.
      Gonna try to avoid the weeds here, but the fact that Senate has been going into pro forma sessions is why you have the odd spectacle of senators gaveling the Senate in and out of session every three days during longer “recesses” like holiday breaks. ANYWAY…
      To recess, the Senate needs to pass an adjournment resolution, which is and has always been a majority-rule vote (because nearly everything in the Senate used to be majority-rule until relatively recently). The House has to approve the Senate’s adjournment res, and vice-versa.
      The Constitution gives POTUS the authority to adjourn both the House and Senate “in case of disagreement between them” about when to adjourn and for how long.

      https://digbysblog.net/2024/11/14/how-the-recess-gambit-might-play-out/

      Oh, now they care about the Constitution.

      Reply
    4. 4.

      YY_Sima Qian

      I don’t understand the sentiment of clown cars over jack boots, they are equally bad in different ways.

      One can laugh at total incompetence in governance & bureaucracy, until the SS checks don’t go out, the government websites don’t work, the Treasury miscalculates when the US will hit the debt ceiling, the FBI can’t catch mobsters or serial killers, Justice can’t successfully prosecute criminals, Interior is incapable of conducting safety checks on oil wells, the FAA don’t have enough controllers to prevent mid-air collisions, the FEMA doesn’t show up to help w/ AGW induced natural disasters, the DOD looses track of nuclear weapons, the CDC is MIA during at the start of a new pandemic, etc.

      Reply
    5. 5.

      TBone

      Where is everyone this morning?  Wow, I really feel like I am screaming into the void with no echo. Is everyone hung over and still in bed or too busy puking?

      Reply
    9. 9.

      TBone

      @NotMax: good morning, now I remember the FBI routing whistle blower calls directly to the Rump White House for pre-screening. 🤦‍♀️

      But keeping hold of our senses of humor is still vital, thank you for your assistance!

      Reply
    12. 12.

      Shalimar

      The only question with Gaetz is whether senators are forced to vote in favor or they wimp out and take a week off so Trump can recess-appoint him.

      Reply
    13. 13.

      Bruce K in ATH-GR

      @TBone: I’m trying to get by day-by-day, selfishly grateful that I’m buffered from the incipient train wreck by a third of a planet and several layers of government that are, if not fully honest, at least not obscenely corrupt.

      Reply
    14. 14.

      TBone

      @NotMax: 💙 holy shit, that should be aired on the Sunday morning talk shows, it’s of more value!  I saw something Chuck Toad posted yesterday and he was viciously clapped back.  This is the perfect response for so much!

      Reply
    15. 15.

      Gretchen

      Apparently Cheryl Hines is very upset that RFK was cheating on her. How could she have predicted this when he cheated on his second wife with her, and kept a sex diary of all the other women he cheated with? How could she predict that he wouldn’t be faithful to HER? Leopards, meet face.
      Interesting that Trump, Kennedy and Gaetz are all credibly accused of going after underage girls. That must be the required credential for this administration.

      Reply
    19. 19.

      Shalimar

      @Gretchen: I do not trust any reports that she is upset.  Fucking as many women as possible is apparently one of his hobbies.  She cannot be so stupid she didn’t know that.

      edit: maybe she’s upset so many people know about it now.  She married the most prominent living Kennedy, I assume for the prestige or nostalgia since he seems to be a pretty noxious person.  Now that image she wanted is tarnished.

      Reply
    20. 20.

      p.a.

      These cabinet meetings will remind me of my coworker’s question when our boss got back to report on management’s “Our Vision for Next Year” get together,

      “So how did the MENSA meeting go?”

      Reply
    22. 22.

      Shalimar

      @p.a.: Reminds me of Dr. Evil with all his henchmen around the table, talking about how their grifting operations have been going.  I hope Gaetz goes into the shark tank first.

      Reply
    27. 27.

      TBone

      @Shalimar: I’m way past that point now.  It’s the propaganda information bubble gulag they live inside of.

      Tulsi is Pooty’s girlfriend on Russian state TV but no MAGA will ever know that, they’ll never see it.

      Reply
    31. 31.

      Gretchen

      @Shalimar: They don’t want this. They’re just too stupid/uniformed to know what they’re voting for. Friend told me today of discussion with Trump-voting relatives. They didn’t realize that the abortion bans affected miscarriage care. One said, under that definition, I had an abortion. Also didn’t know that the number one cause of death of children in the US is firearms. Really? If you can’t be bothered to learn basic facts you shouldn’t vote.

      Reply
    40. 40.

      sab

      @YY_Sima Qian: So true. Back in 1991 we took our car out of the US and drove it abroad with leaded gasoline, destroying its catalytic converter. To get it back into the US and back on the road we had to post a $10,000 bond with the EPA. The bond was supposed to be released and refunded as soon as we proved that the catalytic converter had been replaced. Due to severe cutbacks in funding for the EPA under Reagan and Bush, the EPA didn’t have the staffing to deal with our little problem so they held that money for more rhan a year before they could get around to doing the paperwork to get our bond money released.

      Reply
    42. 42.

      TBone

      @sab: JFC

      Reminds me of a story I saw (but did not share) about the guy who invested $500k with fElon crypto and is suing him now.

      But you didn’t have a choice like he did.

      Reply
    43. 43.

      Gloria DryGarden

      The ballot curing links are either dead, or go to “event expired”. Perhaps they aren’t serving any purpose up there on the side bar.

      Reply
    44. 44.

      What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

      @ColoradoGuy: Yeah I’m so old I can remember when the Trump movement was all about Democrats are all pals with Jeffrey Epstein. Now the movement is Jeff Epsteins all the way down.

      Reply
    45. 45.

      mrmoshpotato

      Seth Meyers is reporting that the bear-eating whale head-humper called the fat, orange, fascist shitstain’s diet “bad.”

      So who next up for the HHS nomination?  The late, great Hannibal Lector?  Dahmer?  Jack the Ripper?

      Reply
    46. 46.

      TBone

      @Gloria DryGarden: you just reminded me of something I wanted to quote from Heather Cox Richardson’s letter today.

      But it’s not at all clear that Americans actually want that supercharged neoliberalism. As vote counts are continuing, it has become clear that Trump’s victory was slim indeed. New numbers from Nate Silver suggest he will not clear 50% of voters.

      At the same time, a new study out today from Data for Progress showed that people who paid “a great deal” of attention to political news voted for Vice President Kamala Harris +6, while those who paid “none at all” went +19 for Trump.

      https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-14-2024

      Reply
    49. 49.

      TBone

      @NotMax: teh MAGA neighbor kid had no idea who she was.  I had to school that dumb, illiterate fuck who is now, no shit, a communications director at a Georgia Rep’s office. Liberty University pipeline directly into our gov’t.  Hitler Youth right in the jugular!

      Reply
    51. 51.

      TBone

      I learned how to spell

      antidisestablishmentarianism

      in grade school, the teacher challenged me during a class spelling bee.  She also made me learn “guerilla.” A nice Jewish lady teacher, I’m forever in her debt.

      Reply
    52. 52.

      Princess

      Trump likes fractious underlings. He likes to watch his minions fight. If Wiles or someone said, “No Gaetz, no RFK,” that would be enough to get him to pick them. It isn’t pure oppositional defiance. If they fight with each other, they’re each more dependent on and loyal to him.

      Reply
    55. 55.

      Enhanced Voting Techniques

      @Princess: If Wiles or someone said, “No Gaetz, no RFK,” that would be enough to get him to pick them.

      Supposedly that’s pretty much what happened with Gaetz.

      Reply
    57. 57.

      Enhanced Voting Techniques

      @YY_Sima Qian: the CDC is MIA during at the start of a new pandemic, etc.

      Oh, expect these clowns to activity interfere with the CDC on disease control. With  RFK Jr screaming there is no such thing as a contagious disease,  while most of the populating goes into hiding.

      Reply
    58. 58.

      eclare

      I just scheduled my pneumonia vaccine, and after that I’ll schedule my tdap.  Got my flu and covid last month.  I want to be up to date before the bear cub and whale head weirdo takes over vaccines.  Are there any others I should get?

      I don’t need shingles, I’ve never had chicken pox.  And yes, I’ve had that vaccine.

      Reply
    59. 59.

      TBone

      @Enhanced Voting Techniques: GMA is doing a segment on this right now. Using the word “controversial.”

      Hubby watches some days, but I generally can’t handle more than a few minutes.

      Normie Hubby has taken to watching Michael Landon in all of his glorious forms instead of ANY news in the a.m. (Highway to Heaven, Little House, Bonanza) so that’s my measure of how bad this reality is already.  I made him keep GMA on for a snippet today.

      Hubby has checked out on break.

      Reply
    60. 60.

      eclare

      @Shalimar:

      Agree 1000%.  And I’m disappointed, I thought she was brilliant in Curb, especially since so much of it was improv.

      She wanted that name and a wedding in Hyannisport.

      Reply
    63. 63.

      Enhanced Voting Techniques

      @TBone: At the same time, a new study out today from Data for Progress showed that people who paid “a great deal” of attention to political news voted for Vice President Kamala Harris +6, while those who paid “none at all” went +19 for Trump.

      I’d believe that. My impression from talking to people at work, those who voted from Trump just selected for BS promise Trump made, ignored the rest of it, and now are in shock.

      My take is Trump support is a mile wide and inch deep. A lot of his voters will be upset rather quickly, but if we’re going to get anywhere with them, we’ll have to make them force us to be the opposition to Trump or they will just blame the whole mess on us.

      We don’t have to be anything right now. It’s  Them who has to be something.

      Reply
    67. 67.

      The Audacity of Krope

      @Enhanced Voting Techniques: A lot of his voters will be upset rather quickly, but if we’re going to get anywhere with them, we’ll have to make them force us to be the opposition to Trump or they will just blame the whole mess on us.

      I’m not planning on doing any more than I have to right now to deal with the problems in front of me. National problems are watch and laugh now.

      Reply
    68. 68.

      TBone

      @Baud: maybe time for a huge chair-pull where we’re so nice to them that they get bored and go away fall over from the shock of us not caring what they do.

      Ha ha fuck who am I kidding?  The MSM is on fire lapping up his turds like ice cream.

      Reply
    70. 70.

      The Audacity of Krope

      @TBone: Ha ha fuck who am I kidding? The MSM is on fire lapping up his turds like ice cream.

      As they have been. As they would. As they want to.

      I hope people get everything they voted for and see it and know. The media faces should be the first eaten.

      Reply
    72. 72.

      Steve LaBonne

      Oh man, you people are tiresome. Steady, competent government is borrrrring! I want to be entertained, dammit, and now I will be.

      Reply
    73. 73.

      p.a.

      @Enhanced Voting Techniques: … people at work, those who voted from Trump just selected for BS promise Trump made, ignored the rest of it, and now are in shock.

       

       

      Who’s old enough to remember the commercial “promise her anything, but give her Arpège”?

      Promise them anything, give them poison…

      Reply
    76. 76.

      TBone

      @p.a.: not me, but this is the second new word I learned here today. NotMax came through with the first!

      The French word arpège translates to “arpeggio” in English. An arpeggio is a chord where the notes are played one after the other, either from the bottom up or top down. The word arpège comes from the French word arpe, which means “harp”

      I’m getting that kazoo so I can fill it with spit takes like Betty Cracker said.

      Reply
    78. 78.

      Enhanced Voting Techniques

      Beu of the Fifth Column was going over the sequence of events – The Clown Show started after the Senate Republicans didn’t make Rich Scott their leader like Trump wanted and then said they would have conformation hearings, this is just Trump throwing a tantrum because someone told him no.

      Reply
    79. 79.

      Anonymous At Work

      @Baud: HHS houses FDA, in charge of inspections/audits of industrial meat and agricultural facilities.  There are legitimate and rational changes that should be made to move this to DoA but haven’t been/won’t be because of historical precedent/regulatory capture/vested interests.

      Reply
    80. 80.

      No Nym

      @eclare: “I don’t need shingles, I’ve never had chicken pox.  And yes, I’ve had that vaccine.”

      Get the Shingrix. I have never had chicken pox either, but I am just now recovering from shingles. You don’t want it. I hope to get my Shingrix in 6 months, if we still have access to it.

      Reply
    81. 81.

      comrade scotts agenda of rage

      @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

      He really is now just trolling the very institution of the Executive Branch.  It’s like he’s daring Senate Republicans to do anything about it.

      And Thune?  “I expect a measure of cooperation from Democrats”.  What for?  He’s no different than the rest, they support the policies, hate the man.  Policies win out every time.  They’re not gonna drown the gubmint in a bathtub, well, they might still use that component but the drowning will be overseen by evil, vandals.

      Reply
    82. 82.

      artem1s

      I think they are making this way too complicated. It always comes down to one thing. What does TCF gain? The pundits can’t figure it out because they are assuming that congressional majorities mean something to TCF. He isn’t going to be relying on the House to legislate. Everything is going to be done via executive order and while Congress is in recess. We already know that TCF doesn’t want to have to mess with a ‘very concerned’ AG that will block him and he’ll eventually have to ‘you’re fired’ or who will rage quit when they suspect they are up for underbussing. It gums up the works on punishing his enemies too much. Gaetz will do anything TCF wants and spend all his time partying with under-aged hookers and blow. He’s TCF dream AG.
      The other factor they aren’t taking into consideration is the Federalist Society hacks who think he’s going to follow their orders and pass the legislation they have been writing for the House for the last 2 decades. They are about to FO that they FA with buying off R-Grifters too many times and assume their latest purchase is going to fall into line just like Ryan and McCarthy and Dense the other GOP hacks did.
      Speaking of which if Dense and Mother hasn’t already booked a plane to Uruguay or some other non-extradition country he’d better get on the ball, cause His Judgement Cometh, and Right Soon.

      Reply
    84. 84.

      Quinerly

      @Shalimar:

      I agree. Hines knew everything about him when she married him, including his second wife committing suicide before Hines ever met him. As an aside, I guess we all know Larry David introduced them.

      His wife’s suicide, her finding his sex journal, and his sexual assaults on the 23 yo babysitter were all over the news. Of course, he blamed his drug habit.

      Reply
    87. 87.

      MinuteMan

      @TBone: ​
      @TBone: Wow, I really feel like I am screaming into the void with no echo.
       

      Maybe the only thing different is that you’ve had an epiphany?

      We could all use the Muench Scream as an avatar.

      Reply
    90. 90.

      opiejeanne

      @Gretchen: We are almost finished with a bathroom remodel, almost. We started the journey in February, the physical project didn’t start until June, and between missing parts, plumbers who wanted to be paid in cash and workmen who only speak Romanian or Russian or Korean or Spanish, it has been a struggle.

      The general contractor (who I’m now sure voted for Trump, probably an Evangelical) stopped by last night to pick up a check. When I mentioned that the laundry room was a nightmare, he suggested that it would be a good project for next year, and when I said we might need to wait 4 years, he looked at me blankly. I said “tariffs”.   It took a moment for him to understand, but I’m not sure he had actually thought about what tariffs would do to his business. The tile for the bathroom floor was from China, and various other parts of the bathroom were imported from at least 3 Asian countries.

      The kicker was when mr opiejeanne could not restrain himself and made a comment about Gaetz being put up for AG, and he had no idea who Gaetz was. He had no idea about the trafficking of minors for sex allegations, and didn’t seem to know what the AG does or that being an actual lawyer with lawyering experience is sort of a good idea.

      He probably went home and googled “tariff”.

      Nice guy, won’t hire him again. I’ll be the general contractor like I’ve done before, and I’ll go find the subs through the suppliers of whatever we decide to do with the gawdawful laundry room.

      Reply
    93. 93.

      Archon

      All these nominations are shocking but as far as Democrats go the ONLY priority is to ensure there are free and fair elections in ‘26 and ‘28.

      In terms of appointments and policies we just need to endure these next couple years as there is no way it will be anything other than massively unpopular.

      Reply
    94. 94.

      Nettoyeur

      Trump II will be like Boris Johnson’s PM ship in UK, just more shocking. Boris and Brexit crippled the UK economy,  the promised special trade deals never materialized, most of the hated immigrants have been able to stay (and a good thing too, coz they do the work. 32% of MDs are from abroad). The Tories suffered the worst Parliamentary loss in 200 yrs, and  the Labour Party, flawed as it is trying to put things back together .

      Reply

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