Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, it’s door #2)

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Let there be snark.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

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

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

How stupid are these people?

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Trumpflation (Open Thread)

Trumpflation (Open Thread)

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Inflation is rising faster that expected:

(CNN) — The cost of food and energy continued to climb in January, hitting 3% for the first time since June 2024, pushing the cost of living higher for Americans.

Consumer prices rose 0.5% from December, resulting in an annual inflation rate of 3% for the 12 months that ended in January, according to the latest Consumer Price Index data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Economists were expecting inflation to pick up 0.3% from December, keeping the annual rate at 2.9%, according to FactSet consensus estimates.

Is the price spike Trump’s fault since he was ceremonial president for only 10 days of the look-back period? Yep. It is definitely Trump’s fault. That’s how it works.

Empty egg case at supermarket

Also, where are my fucking $3 EGGS, Trump? No excuses — the president is responsible for egg supply as well as inflation increases, everyone knows that. Even if he has outsourced his job to a apartheid South Africa-born weirdo dipshit who wears a spawn on his head to ward off Luigis.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault. Pass it on!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

201Comments

  3. 3.

    Caveatimperator

    I’m sure everyone who voted for Trump because the media told them there was a recession starting in January 2021 is happy.

  4. 4.

    oldster

    Where do I get my adhesive sticker of Trump saying “I did that!” so that I can stick it on the shelves where the eggs should be?

  6. 6.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Absolutely pin inflation on Trump! It would be political malpractice not to.

    As a policy matter, the Trump team is doing absolutely nothing for the avian flu spread that is driving the increasing in egg prices, & DOGE will crater USG’ capacity to mount any kind of warning or action, so things are set to get worse. Therefore, it is not even demagoguery to blame high price of eggs on Trumpian incompetence.

    Of course, the Biden team didn’t do much about the H5N1 spread, either, but Biden is no longer President.

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    When I was at the local farmers market this weekend, the line for the vendor selling eggs was bonkers long. Probably because (a) they’re better than supermarket eggs, (b) they actually have them for sale, and (c) now that Trumpflation has continued, they’re actually pretty much the same price as supermarket eggs.

    (yes, yes, bird flu, small farmer vs. industrial virus-farm. Shut up. )

  10. 10.

    Dave

    @Baud: The flip was so immediate it’s pathetic.  Went from pointing and screeching at eggs to “well actually prices are determined by many external factors outside of the President’s direct control and regardless some pain is worth it to achieve goal “Y” (a goal that will never ever be obtained).

    It’s painful just painful.

  11. 11.

    TBone

    I luv you, B.C.  Now I feel I am not ranting all alone by myself today.  It’s a murder of crows cackling along with me.

    (PS that is a high compliment, those corvidae are smart and they know their shiny objects.)

  13. 13.

    MazeDancer

    Have been channeling my anxiety into cat food shopping. Now have 3 months worth. Thinking I might need more.

    It’s not about cost, which is grim, but Purina will continue to price gouge. Nothing I can do about that. It’s about being able to get any.

    Between bird flu and Trump starting a war somewhere because he really, really wants to watch bombing on TV, while wearing a uniform, I have concerns. Also, I recognize those concerns might be overblown.

  14. 14.

    Butch

    @dmsilev: We have a small flock and sell a dozen eggs for $2.  We’ve finally had to limit what we sell to one person because we can’t keep up, and some of the regular customers have gotten pretty aggressive toward us when we don’t have eggs for them.  No good deed goes unpunished, I guess.

  15. 15.

    zhena gogolia

    @sentient ai from the future:

    Biden certainly deserves much blame on this account since his physical and mental state left him unprepared to make the aggressive defense of his policies that was needed.

    Stopped reading right there. Fuck him.

  17. 17.

    Gin & Tonic

    I am very happy for Mark Fogel’s release from russia, but what’s the quid pro quo? The idea that Putin would send him home and get nothing in return is patently ridiculous.

  20. 20.

    bbleh

    @schrodingers_cat: I mostly keep it to the passive-aggressive, eg, offhand remarks like “my gosh have you SEEN the prices of eggs this week?” [shakes head]

    They will NEVER admit they were wrong, NEVER admit they were conned.  It’s tied to their self-esteem and their personal identities.  Instead they will propose the most outlandish, ridiculous, childish reasons for what’s happening, or even not admit they’re happening at all (was discussing gas prices with a guy at the gym and he finally reverted to “well I remember when gas was …”).

    But yeah I’ll needle them.  At a minimum it makes them seethe — which at least is some recompense — and at best it plants a seed of doubt that can only grow.

    Of course, I am a Bad Person …

  23. 23.

    Jeffro

    it’s sooooooo hard not calling, texting, emailing, and standing outside my MAGA relatives’ windows with a bullhorn…

    “LOOKING GOOD AMIRITE?  We’re gonna ‘take Gaza’, invade Greenland, and let a psycho drug addict and his brain-damaged gang of teenagers roam around in 330M Americans’ private data??”

    …but their only response would be something incredibly stupid, regurgitated from Fox or Twitter, which would then get on my nerves all day.

    I choose to let them stew in it and know that I was right all the way back in late 2015, when I warned them that if they didn’t run away from trumpov, fast, they’d follow him all the way down the spiral.

  24. 24.

    Soprano2

    @schrodingers_cat: I’d ask them “how about those egg prices, huh?” just to watch them squirm. Don’t have to mention politics directly at all. If my mother were still alive, I’d definitely needle her about it.

  28. 28.

    Soprano2

    @zhena gogolia: That was the first thing I thought. He’s probably asking for a list of spies or something. I agree that it’s not credible that he released Fogel as a goodwill gesture because FFOTUS is helping negotiate peace with Ukraine (which is probably isn’t actually doing).

  30. 30.

    matt

    He has shut down anyone who might work on stopping bird flu and eggs are the biggest component of the inflation.

  31. 31.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Dave: At least a goal is cited. I haven’t heard a Trumphumper yet explain to me what they’re expecting to get out of being put through a bunch of pain.

    It really is pathetic.

  32. 32.

    Belafon

    @Jeffro: They’re not ready yet. The ones around me don’t care about any of our international engagements, and would be just as happy to see them go away, even though some of their paychecks depend on those existing.

  34. 34.

    Nukular Biskits

    Okay, I’m being a nag here, but how many of y’all  (for those unfortunate to have them) have called your Trump-suppporting Republican officials demanding, among other things, to know why they and Trump have raised the price of eggs?

    Yeah, I know: It is a bit sophomoric and dishonest framing, but we need to keep these fuckers constantly on the defensive.

  35. 35.

    suzanne

    @Soprano2: I don’t know why this idea persists that liberals don’t talk about politics with the conservatives in their lives…. if there are any conservatives in their lives.

  36. 36.

    Bupalos

    I think it’s really important not to just tit- tat the inflation thing and basically lie by saying “trump did it.” It’s not that easy. That actually plays into the dynamic destroying democracy, as does increasing bots/people suggesting Musk rigged the election for Trump.

    So don’t talk about eggs? No, definitely talk about eggs. But find a truthful message. A sticker with Trump saying “I will lower grocery prices on day one”

  37. 37.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @zhena gogolia:

    Stopped reading right there. Fuck him.

    It’s unfortunate that Baker had to throw that in there (I’m guessing such comments are gonna be the new ‘hippie punching’ metaphor going forward) because the rest of the piece has some good stuff:

    It’s true that the people who voted for Trump in large numbers do not follow the major media outlets, but this does not mean their views were not affected by what the NYT, NPR, and the rest report.

    Even if people get their news from TikTok influencers or what their friend rants about over a beer, it’s likely that their sources views were in some ways affected by what appears in the major media outlets.

    If these outlets were regularly reporting on “pandemic inflation” and highlighting the many successes of the Biden administration, some of this would have percolated through to the least informed voters.

    Instead, they were invariably hyping the negative.

  40. 40.

    Geminid

    …where are my fucking $3 EGGS…?

    Be patient, Ms. Cracker. Trump has a lot on his plate, but he’s already gotten eggs up to $1.50 each. Once his and Elon Musk’s policies are fully implemented we’ll see $3 eggs, maybe even $4 eggs!

  41. 41.

    p.a

    @Nukular Biskits: Yeah, I know: It is a bit sophomoric and dishonest framing, but we need to keep these fuckers constantly on the defensive.

     

     

    Yes, exactly.  Their side has used bullshit issues and framing since Reagan.  The difference is they have a media ecosystem to pump pump pump it up.  But too often the libs don’t (or haven’t) even tried.  “Sooo primitive”- ObiWan Kenobi

  42. 42.

    Nukular Biskits

    @suzanne:

    My brother, who I love very much but who can also be quite the asshole, and I have an unspoken agreement to not talk politics.

    When Momma was in her decline back in (2021), he and I got into it about masking against COVID. I finally had to tell him if he felt he had the right to infect others with a contagious disease, he’d better stay away from her or I’d beat his ass and that was the end of that.

  43. 43.

    Papa Boyle

    I have to admit I was absolutely sure renaming The Gulf of Mexico was going to fix inflation. Why else would Trump have spent so much time on renaming seawater when so many of his voters are suffering?  Oh well.

    Maybe invading Gaza will fix inflation?

  44. 44.

    Kay

    Justice system collapse is really picking up speed:

    https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/adams-dismissal-adds-political-dynamic-to-prosecution-decisions-ea996d58?st=h4rEFN&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

     And this week, several Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi urging her to review the Biden administration’s decision to charge Indian billionaire Gautam Adani with bribery, alleging a selective prosecution that could complicate relations with a foreign ally.

    I figured letting Adams off would lead quickly to a new round of politically motivated deals to halt corruption prosecutions.

    This is the part where they protect the regimes friends – next comes going after the regimes enemies.

  45. 45.

    Elizabelle

    There has always been undisclosed price gouging by corporations.  But I wonder if some of the inflation is companies running up the prices now, while consumers can still afford to buy, in the face of a recession/depression now gestating

    I do not know how you would look at Trump and Musk administration’s actions, and not expect a disastrous outcome.

  46. 46.

    Chief Oshkosh

    I still find it useful to simply ponder aloud “now how is THAT gonna lower the price of eggs” any time the conversation includes things like renaming the Gulf, buying/stealing Greenland or Gaza, etc. Since I work in a mixed crowd, it usually results in the Trumphumpers getting pretty defensive and uncomfortable, pathetic shits that they are.

  47. 47.

    Jesse

    Cue up those who would respond to this by saying “When they said ‘eggs are too expensive’ they didn’t literally mean eggs; they meant ‘eggs’ as a stand-in for a whole spectrum of the basics of life, including but not limited to eggs.”

    (I think we’ve actually seen some apologetics like this, but I expect the genre to proliferate.)

  48. 48.

    Dave

    @Jeffro: Basically a mix of “we deserve those places Canada and Greenland are somehow taking advantage of us” and in the next sentence “it is just a negotiating strategy stop freaking out” never mind they contradict each other.

    The response to Tech-bro Wonder and the entitled rich tech brigade seems to be “oh so you are for corruption” which if it makes you see red then that response is doing what it was designed to do.

  49. 49.

    Dave

    @Chief Oshkosh: Something about Elon Musk’s vision of the future that they somehow miss either has them working 90hrs a week for company coupons of just goes to Soylent Green but at least their team is winning.

  50. 50.

    Betty Cracker

    @Chief Oshkosh: I got an answer on that from one of my uncles: smaller government, as if any “efficiencies” wouldn’t be hoovered up by the billionaires at the expense of seniors, veterans, school kids, etc. The conversation went downhill from there in the predictable ways. It’s truly pointless to talk to these brick walls, as I’ve learned over many decades.

  53. 53.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Good lord, I just learned that our glibertarian, tech bro governor who insultingly puts a “(D)” after his name first raised the “how getting rid of the penny will save us money” last December.

    For an honest look at the lie that is that concept:

    https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/10/business/costs-of-pennies-and-nickels/index.html

    Of course this discussion is nothing new.  I found a GAO testimony piece from 1996:

    https://www.gao.gov/assets/t-ggd-96-153.pdf

    Even back then, they figured getting rid of the penny was gonna potentially cost a bundle.

  56. 56.

    oldgold

    Was Musk’s performance in the Oval Office (no suit and tie, wearing a ball cap and bringing his young son) a calculated dominance display or more proof that he is a goofball?

  61. 61.

    Starfish (she/her)

    @oldgold: Obama put his feet on his desk once so anything Musk was doing up to pooping on the desk is Presidential because that is how white supremacy works.

  62. 62.

    Layer8Problem

    @schrodingers_cat:  But egg prices and inflation are easy, and pointing out that they are just as pertinent on this side of the election as they were on the other side of the election back in the peaceful but boring past is at minimum fun.  Every tap one makes on the wedge makes the cracks a little wider.

  66. 66.

    Redshift

    @Betty Cracker: As Stuart Stevens succinctly put it, the only fixed principle they believe in is “you don’t get to tell us what to do, we get to tell you what to do.” That’s what “smaller government” actually means.

  69. 69.

    Bupalos

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Biden was unable to message effectively in this new era. It undid him. It wasn’t all age related cognitive decline, he really never was a show pony and always a work horse and that simply isn’t how you win elections now. Or really ever, but especially now.  But there was significant age related cognitive decline and the underlying point isn’t wrong. The reason we need to get comfortable with that idea is we need to win the next election. We need someone that can do national narrative.

  70. 70.

    Steve LaBonne

    @zhena gogolia: He could have stayed above the belt and just said, what most of us who admire Biden’s presidency agree to be true, that he never was a great communicator.

  71. 71.

    Eolirin

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: They won’t. And the people who voted for Trump don’t really pay attention to the news, like at all.

    Which is why all this focus on what Dem leadership is saying is infuriating, and calls for scorched earth opposition are counterproductive. A government shut down will be noticed because it has effects on people’s lives, and not just on their media environment. If people associate that with Democrats, Republicans have no incentive to negotiate at all.

    The electorate isn’t going to care about USAID or CFPB, they’ll care about junk fees coming back. No one understands how anything works and no one cares. They just want someone to blame for the bad things in their lives and for someone to make them go away. We will never get credit for success, only blame for there continuing to be bad things in people’s lives when we hold power.

    We might be able to get some traction on basic values things around democratic norms. I do think people care a little bit about continued rule of law and aren’t going to be happy about an unelected billionaire usurping the office of the president. But they don’t follow what’s going on in the abstract. It has to be concrete and tangible to their real lives to penetrate. Everything else is osmosis and a lot of that is driven by insinuation and lpropogandizing; there’s no inherent understanding of how anything works and no real ability to evaluate the information that’s coming in. So it has to be catchy slogans. 

    Eggs are bad for Trump. Unaccountable billionaires are stealing power and money is bad for Trump.

    Very little else has a chance of even penetrating.

  72. 72.

    Librettist

    Eighteen quail eggs were cheaper than a dozen chicken eggs.

    I watched some dumbshit staring at the cheaper free range eggs, but wouldn’t pull the trigger; like they would be denounced on FOX News if they bought them.

  73. 73.

    catclub

    @Gin & Tonic: ​&nbsp

    ;I am very happy for Mark Fogel’s release from russia, but what’s the quid pro quo?

    Umm, this sounds like the Cuban missile crisis.WE got Russian missiles out of Cuba, but we never bothered to tell the American people that THEY got US missiles out of Turkey.
    I found that out about 50 years after 1963.​
     

    ETA: How much Russian oil have we promised to buy?

  74. 74.

    Dave

    @Redshift: Exactly small government is much like States Rights you can find the occasional sucker that actually believes in it but really it’s just slogan that covers the aforementioned “I tell you what to do you don’t me what to do”.

  76. 76.

    Dave

    @Eolirin: Basically very little has a chance to until the impact on day to day life for a huge number of people becomes undeniable.

    That doesn’t mean they will automatically blame who and what they turns out there are massive systems in place to prevent that little outcome but until it impacts them very little has a chance to penetrate the disinformation fog.

  80. 80.

    Bupalos

    @Chief Oshkosh: They aren’t exactly the most thoughtful or eloquent bunch, but people finding their way into the right-wing post-truth authoritarian fold in the United States and elsewhere aren’t so much masochists as frightened children fleeing uncertainty.

    There’s some masochism in there too.

  83. 83.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @zhena gogolia:

    That was really just one line in an otherwise accurate description of the political media’s role in putting Trump back in the White House.

    Was it Murc’s Law or just the writer’s need to appear above it all?

    What strikes me is that this guy is writing this in February 2025 when he could have read us right here saying the same things over a two year period.

  85. 85.

    Librettist

    @Gary K:

    Kid on shoulders. They think he doesn’t want to get shot like that healthcare executive.

    I’d say it vibes more like late stage Michael Jackson, who had a lot of issues, and OD’d.

  86. 86.

    Layer8Problem

    @Gary K:  Musk taking one of his numerous kids around with him as a presumed quickly deployed shield in case a shooter comes after him like that Luigi guy who assassinated the health insurance company CEO.  Kinda like Greg Stillson in Stephen King’s The Dead Zone.

    It always looked more likely to me that he’s trying to increase his likability vibes with the crowd.  “Stop thinking I’m a poorly groomed geek with bad hygiene and weird affect!  I’m a family man!”

  88. 88.

    Anyway

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Agreed. DeanBaker’s article was good zg’s knee-jerk reaction notwithstanding.

    If these outlets were regularly reporting on “pandemic inflation” and highlighting the many successes of the Biden administration (half-century lows in unemployment, record rates of new business formation, fastest real wage growth at the bottom since the 60s), some of this would have percolated through to the least informed voters.

  91. 91.

    Captain C

    @Melancholy Jaques:

    That was really just one line in an otherwise accurate description of the political media’s role in putting Trump back in the White House.

    Was it Murc’s Law or just the writer’s need to appear above it all?

    Maybe an editor added it for the sake of ‘both sides.’

  92. 92.

    TBone

    Repost from 6:30am. Because I also freakin’ mock V.D. at every opportunity, as well as make veiled references to politics IRL when I must be covert about it.  It’s now new and improved! (Emphasis added.)

    While I was administering the tube feeding and meds, my weather man, standing in front of his big map, used the phrase “the beating heart of fake corporate love” twice in two separate references.  I fucking love this guy so much. He is also a part time meteorology professer at local uni.

  93. 93.

    Bupalos

    @Eolirin:

    they’ll care about junk fees coming back

    I’d like to believe this but the reality is the CFPB didn’t make much of a dent in the predatory economy. A lot of our piecemeal ameliorative initiatives simply weren’t effective enough for anyone to really notice amidst the waves of limbic capitalist destruction. The CFPB yearly clawed back the equivalent of like 3 days of online gambling losses. Or half the reported e-commerce fraud. Not counting the subscriptions you signed up for but forgot to cancel. It’s like trying to get people to appreciate the Cleveland Browns. It’s easier to believe they’re part of the conspiracy against you.

  94. 94.

    Captain C

    @Josie:

    @Layer8Problem:

    A 3-year-old is a small kid, though, and can’t block every spot a shooter might aim for.  Is Elon planning to actually try to hold the kid out between him (Skum) and the shooter like an actual shield?  What kind of sick fuck does that?  (Yes, I know, Lone Skum.)

  96. 96.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Steve LaBonne: Or he could’ve been really honest and admitted that the overwhelming, bad faith, shit-pile that the media, Republicans, and Progressives heaped on Biden was something that no politician could’ve effectively countered no matter how young, bright and skilled at communication they might be.  It was no different than Bannon’s flooding the zone with shit tactic bought into whole-heartedly by everyone, not just the GOP.

  98. 98.

    Layer8Problem

    @Captain C:  I really think that he is not using the kid as a handy bullet sponge, more that people are saying it must be that in order to piss Musk off or make him look more like an asshole.  More in the asshole line and more likely is that he’s trying to indoctrinate the kid that daddy’s a manly man’s man and earth-spanning power and force of nature.  Instead of an asshole.

  99. 99.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Steve LaBonne: If [?] there is a presidential election in 2028, the Democratic candidate will be Gavin Newsome because he’s male [and white], handsome [and white], heterosexual [and white], and has great hair [and white].

    Did I mention that’s he’s white?

  100. 100.

    Gin & Tonic

    More on the Marc Fogel release – friends in Kyiv say last night’s bombardment, starting at about the time Fogel landed in the US, was the worst they’ve experienced in months.

  101. 101.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Anyway: It’s not knee-jerk to recognize that Baker’s premise that a better candidate could’ve somehow countered the unprecedented attacks from their own party, is some bullshit and extension of the media’s long history of always needing to somehow blame the Democrat.

  103. 103.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @schrodingers_cat: Confronting MAGA relatives is easy. The problem is it changes absolutely nothing in my personal experience. Even if they consider your point for a minute, they run home and bury themselves in right wing media to take away the pain of having to consider another viewpoint.

  105. 105.

    Bupalos

    @The Thin Black Duke: Democratic presidential nominees have been disproportionately black the past 2 decades. The reason the next nominee is less likely to be black is because the same-identity benefit looks to have disappeared. Harris improved our margins with whites over Biden or Clinton and slightly lowered them with blacks.

    The nominee is likely to be whoever can create a positive and somewhat populist narrative for the Dems that breaks back into the very shaky Trump coalition.

  110. 110.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Bupalos: No, in this current timeline, bigoted White Americans are more comfortable embracing their racism, so it’s very unlikely that they’ll cast a vote for a black man again. Obama short-circuited too many white people’s brains, unfortunately, so they will happily settle for a barely-sentient lump of melanin-free mediocrity.

  111. 111.

    Bupalos

    @UncleEbeneezer: By all measurables Harris immediately and substantially improved our electoral prospects.

    The only reason to revisit this is because there’s a damaging “no one can do anything” nihilist streak in some of this anti-Biden conspiracy stuff. The odd thing here is that this is a one-off line in a long article that mostly agrees with what I think is a mostly wrong or mostly pointless exercise in wailing about “the media.”

  113. 113.

    Bupalos

    @The Thin Black Duke: This is simply plugging your ears, covering your eyes, and yelling. A higher percentage of white people voted for Harris than Obama. A lower percentage of black and much lower percentage of brown people did. Ethnic identity is becoming measurably less salient in our elections as post-truth populism breaks down traditional frames of reference. This isn’t an America-only phenomenon. We’d do well to revisit the things we think we just know never change. We’re sleepwalking into Orbanism.

  115. 115.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: I’d consider that a form of stupidity. I know it’s gotta be difficult to accept that ones loved family include absolute, morally challenged idiots, but here we are.

    And I understand that it doesn’t matter if you confront them, attempt to educate them… it just doesn’t matter, they are never going to get it.

    They’re determined to die of whiteness.

  116. 116.

    Citizen Alan

    @Bupalos: Democratic presidential nominees have been disproportionately black the past 2 decades.

    Two out of our last six nominees have been black. Three out of seven, if you count obama twice. Though I suppose that is disproportionate if you compare it to the republicans, who don’t even have a single plausible black presidential candidate in the entire party. Just a handful of demonstrably crazy lunatics who are perfectly happy to grift as low level politicians who get paid well to say bullshit about “the democratic plantation.”

  118. 118.

    Manyakitty

    @MazeDancer: first thing I did after the inauguration was to break my “no Chewy” stance and order a small pet shop worth of canned cat food. I plan to supplement the back stock with purchases from my local brick and mortar places, but I needed the volume and the discount.

  120. 120.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Citizen Alan: “There is no horseshoe. There is only white people who are at best uncomfortable with any power being held in Black hands. Those white people are at all points of the ‘left-right’ spectrum.”

    The next Democratic nominee will be a white man.

    Americans* have made this perfectly clear, even if some of us refuse to see.

  121. 121.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Professor Bigfoot: Believe me, sometimes I’m not comfortable being the Angry Black Man Yelling At White Clouds, but I think it’s foolhardy to dismiss the impact of racism in the political landscape.

    And yeah, I know it’s not All White People.

    Just enough.

  124. 124.

    Bupalos

    @Citizen Alan: I guess I did Obama Obama Clinton Biden Harris as 20 when it should be 16. The point I’m really making is that to the extent the switch to Harris was an ethnic identity play, it seems to have failed pretty spectacularly. It’s doubtful strategists will be applying the same value that for the upcoming election. And simply in reply to the hyper-identity comment from Duke, the results of the election seem to show exactly the opposite of what he is claiming about white support for black candidates.

  127. 127.

    Manyakitty

    @zhena gogolia: one of many reasons I leave my firearm at home is that I find myself wanting to shoot all the trump yard signs then turn toward the house. Very bad idea overall.

  128. 128.

    FelonyGovt

    @Professor Bigfoot: You’re absolutely correct. American racism will insure that presidential nominees from here on out are white, just as American misogyny will insist that they are male.

  129. 129.

    Jackie

    @Soprano2:

    @schrodingers_cat: I’d ask them “how about those egg prices, huh?” just to watch them squirm

    Also apologize for the lack of baked goodies and other food items missing from family gatherings due to the exorbitant cost of eggs…

  132. 132.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @schrodingers_cat: To be fair, there are more than a few BJers here who do get it, who do understand the complicated racial divisions in the United States and I’m grateful for that. However, I won’t engage in arguments with anyone who attempts to deny the validity of my own experiences as a black man in White America. Case in point, Trump was just as incoherent in November as he is now, but people voted for him anyway. White America were telling me that Harris was the brain-dead presidential unqualified candidate. Fuck that white noise. It’s the racism, stupid.

  133. 133.

    TONYG

    @Manyakitty: Off-topic but … Yesterday I got into a “debate” with a Trump supporter.  His main arguments were: 1) Barack Obama is gay.  2) Michelle Obama is actually a man.  That guy needs to upgrade his operating system.  Obama has been a private citizen for more than eight years now.  Yes, there are really people like that out there, and they vote.

  134. 134.

    Jackie

    @oldgold:

    Was Musk’s performance in the Oval Office (no suit and tie, wearing a ball cap and bringing his young son) a calculated dominance display?

    Watching the FFOTUS squirm and make disgruntled faces the entire time President Musk was talking…

    Absolutely YES.

  137. 137.

    Kay

    @Served:

    Thanks. I figured it would unleash a whole new level of corruption.

    The DOJ collapsed more quickly than I anticipated.

    I realize I could repeat the prior sentence over and over the last ten years – “it collapsed more quickly…”

  139. 139.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    It can’t be Newsome. He’s from California and I have been advised that the rest of the country hates everyone from California.

    I have been saying (with bitter sarcasm) that I guess we have to find a white Christian male with military service, a full head of hair, a blonde wife who has never worked outside the home, and at least two children, none of whom have ever had as much as a traffic ticket.

  140. 140.

    Bupalos

    @The Thin Black Duke: I guess I’d just like to hear the theory on how the black candidate pulling a higher percent of the white vote and a lower percent of the black vote is either evidence or irrelevance that flatters your hyper-identity thesis and contingent prediction about white behavior in the future.

    The trend is pretty clear over decades that ethnic identity while still undeniably potent becomes less salient over time. And post-truth populism seems to be an accelerant. Or at least, how do you see the massive shift of brown voters to Republicans?

  141. 141.

    Bill Arnold

    @Layer8Problem:
    Elon Musk is a “family man” who has just committed[1] mass murder, including of hundreds of thousands of babies and children, by shuttering USAID on the basis of an absurd and entirely false set of overlapping conspiracy theories.
    [1] Future, but locked in; low probability that USAID medical/relief efforts will fully resume.

  142. 142.

    Jackie

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I am very happy for Mark Fogel’s release from russia, but what’s the quid pro quo? The idea that Putin would send him home and get nothing in return is patently ridiculous.

    Him, per the NYT:

    The Trump administration is releasing Alexander Vinnik, a cybercriminal who last year pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, to Russia as the ‘exchange’ for retrieving the American schoolteacher Marc Fogel,” the New York Times reports.

    “Vinnik is a nonviolent offender and is forfeiting tens of millions of dollars in assets in the exchange.”

    That last paragraph is more than likely NOT TRUE.

  144. 144.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Melancholy Jaques: If the country survives Idiocracy 2.0, America will be ready for the new bright and shiny white savior, even if he’s a tofu-munching, pot-smoking hedonist from Kalifornia.

  145. 145.

    Kay

    @Served:

    So the next indicator we should look for is the DOJ capitulating on the reverse – bringing charges against an innocent person on the orders of Trump/oligarchs.

    Here they’re letting wealthy and powerful criminals OFF, it’ll be a new lower level when they capitulate TO imprisoning innocent people. They’re halfway there though – won’t be long.

    If you go to the DOJ website right now you’ll see the long list of less powerful and wealthy people they’re (still) prosecuting, so everyone needs to understand this lawlessness isn’t for regular folk – we’ll still get hammered. Its just oligarchs and friends of oligarchs who are untouchable.

    Lawyers have been a real disappointment in this oligarchical coup – and I say that as a lawyer. We folded in advance of orders.

  146. 146.

    TBone

    @The Thin Black Duke: at this point, I don’t even care if he’s purple or pink or whatever as long as he’s not a fascist.

    And yes, I stll hate the white patriarchy with intense passion and am seriously disappointed.

  148. 148.

    suzanne

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:

    Confronting MAGA relatives is easy. The problem is it changes absolutely nothing in my personal experience.

    Agreed. I don’t know why there’s an assumption that we’re persuasive, either. There seems to be an idea that we can persuade one another in large numbers and that doesn’t bear out, in my experience.

    The other thing to remember is that many people have largely “sorted out” geographically and socially.

  150. 150.

    Kay

    @suzanne:

    I also love people in deep blue states ordering us to confront MAGAs. They’ve arranged their lives so they rarely encounter one but they’re very brave telling us how to confront them.

  151. 151.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Bupalos:

    Or at least, how do you see the massive shift of brown voters to Republicans?

    Not so sure it’s massive. I see it as the reluctance of some voters of every ethnicity to vote for a woman for president.

  152. 152.

    Kay

    @Melancholy Jaques:

    That doesn’t explain Florida. Very diverse areas in FL are now red. It tipped gradually, over the last ten years. If its a bell weather (and it may not be) there was a realignment.

  153. 153.

    Bupalos

    @Kay: The difference in  the MAGA occupation of a “Red” state like Ohio and a “Blue” state like NY is like 1 out of 8 people. And all the people that make for that imbalance fit in a 2 mile radius.

    This is by no means on that geographic level. It’s not even “urban areas” versus “rural” because 75% of the country lives in some really mixed part of the spectrum. It’s pretty much school district by school district. Lots of truly courageous people in NY and lots of cowards in Ohio and vice versa. We all better find our courage.

  154. 154.

    Juju

    @Butch: Your only obligation, if there is an obligation, is to sell eggs to your regular customers when you have eggs. If they get pushy and rude tell them to go elsewhere, and, oh by the way, the eggs are now $4.00 a dozen.

  155. 155.

    Bupalos

    @Juju: I’ve been getting $4 since 2015. Customers insist on giving us $5. If anyone was snippy at us not having eggs for $2 they’d be getting their egg right between the eyes.

  156. 156.

    Kay

    @Bupalos:

    I don’t think Ohio tipped because of a realignment on race or ethnicity though. I think Ohio tipped because Right leaning Democrats flipped to Republican.

    My county is about 90% white. It went from 45D to 25D between 2012 and 2016. Right leaning white Democrats stopped voting for Democrats.

    FL is different. They really HAVE had a realignment and its in no way limited to white people.

  157. 157.

    suzanne

    @Kay: I personally have worked on cutting MAGAs out of my personal life, and I love that for me, but I understand why others make different choices.

    I just don’t know why anyone thinks (1) that we don’t have political interactions, or (2) when/if we do, why that would be persuasive. Persuasion is rare!

  158. 158.

    Juju

    @zhena gogolia: I read beyond that, but that comment was unnecessary. My take was that he was surprised after the gross incompetence in governance and the condition the country was in when he, Biden took office, that there was no way he wouldn’t get credit for improving almost everything.

  159. 159.

    Gin & Tonic

    Tulsi Gabbard confirmed as DNI. Five Eyes is now officially dead, with one of those eyes under the control of a russian asset.

  160. 160.

    Kay

    @Bupalos:

    I’ve been organizing on behalf of Democrats in a red county for 25 years. Lower income people here who “confront” their MAGA employer will be fired. This isn’t new. When we organized for John Kerry v Bush and used my law office as a meeting place people parked across the street at a supermarket so no one would see their car. Its easy to say, harder to do. I’m both self employed and well off – I can take risks and even I’ve had a brick thrown, well, AT a window, (dumbass didnt get it through double pane), a road rage incident and had my car vandalized by MAGAs.  Most people in MAGA areas are more vulnerable than me.

  162. 162.

    Bupalos

    @Melancholy Jaques: In electoral terms, it’s as big a realignment as we’ve seen since the late 70’s/early 80’s. This is a “Reagan Democrats” level shift and it’s over multiple elections.

    By the ethnic essentialist arguments within which the hyper-identity focused analysts frame their reality, and which has been party orthodoxy for quite some time (demographics is destiny,) we should have turned Texas some time ago and should be playing American politics on easy mode now. Quite the opposite. America is becoming less white and more right-wing. The Republican party is becoming less white and lower income. Yet the insistence here is that nothing has changed.

  163. 163.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: As I’ve said, my biggest political fear is that FL is a bellwether. I hope to Christ it’s not. But I saw a truly diverse pro-fascist coalition come together with my own eyes. Not sure how to counter that, but I don’t think telling those folks they suck because they’re “white adjacent” will work.

  164. 164.

    Kay

    @suzanne:

    I could never cut them out of my life. They are 75% of the people here. I talk to them daily. I am more careful now though – I think they might shoot me. Its just a fact that a large number of them are armed.

  166. 166.

    Anyway

    @The Thin Black Duke:Obama short-circuited too many white people’s brains,

    Another thing that received a lot of attention around that time was the number of school districts, pre-schools, HS classes that were no longer majority white —  reports on the changing nature of school districts caused (white) people (Hi ProfBF) to freak. it wasn’t just Obama.

  167. 167.

    TBone

    @Kay: you didn’t fold.  Like Liz Cheney (whatever people may think of her), you wear your spine of steel proudly on the outside, like an exoskeleton.  We need more ladies like you at the Bar.

  168. 168.

    Anyway

    @Kay:I could never cut them out of my life. …. I talk to them daily

    yeah, my break room is full of Rumpies – I talk to many of them. I love how quickly they parrot anything he says – they were all talking up the penny thing the other day — WhoTF cares … but they are so engaged in everything he does — I don’t see them FO as people here seem to say

  169. 169.

    suzanne

    @Kay: I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago, and I took Uber twice. First time, I had a driver who said he was a recent immigrant from Peru, and he started talking about how much he liked Trump. Second trip, had a driver who immigrated from Dominican Republic as a teenager, and he started talking about how Trump was going to get mentally ill people off the street.

    Didn’t love being in the back of those Ubers.

  170. 170.

    Jackie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Yes I agree, many do get it. But some of loudmouths who don’t and are overtly hostile get cover from the blog TPTB as “valued commenters”

    I don’t fit your description of “valued commenter” but your continued hostility towards a fair number of BJers is sad to observe. Can’t you just stop, please?

  171. 171.

    Bupalos

    @Anyway: I really encourage everyone running with this “American politics is becoming more dominated by white people, and that’s why it’s turning right” to just take a minute to actually look at demographic voting data and trends.

    The orthodox hyper-identity position is layering speculative anecdote on speculative anecdote against a backdrop of emotional truthiness to produce a lot of hyper-certainty that simply and plainly contradicts the data reality. If your analysis can’t end a sentence with “…and that’s why an increasing percent of white people voted for the black lady and an increasing percent of black and brown people voted for a Nazi Yam” then maybe work it harder. I’m not saying such an analysis isn’t possible. But don’t just whistle past it because you don’t want to change the things you just know in your gut.

  172. 172.

    Kay

    @suzanne:

    So funny. I took Ubers but I got the drivers I like, the drivers who don’t chat.

    I did have to listen to this horrible Trump couple on the way home though – watching FOX with no earphones and gloating really loudly about how he’s mandating plastic straws. An older woman one row across, me, and an older woman to my right exchanged looks. Fellow travelers. The flight attendant didnt tell them to use headphones or turn it off, which as you know they usually do. I don’t really blame her – they would have pitched a fit. We’re all tired and just trying to get home.

  174. 174.

    suzanne

    @Kay: I get it. I have a few people in my professional circle who I talk about politics with. They all know how I see things and we sometimes trade links or memes. But, like, I don’t want to be friends with MAGAs, either!

    I suspect that — within the white people cohort — there’s a big divide. Gender, education, geography, urbanity all play into it.

  178. 178.

    Ksmiami

    @suzanne: all the RT wing immigrants moved from South and Central America to FL combined with white racist midwestern retirees. Now, the state resembles some weird hybrid fascist South American dystopia complete with extra Botox and bad development.

  180. 180.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @TBone: That’s to be hoped for.

    But let’s also remember that 2 out of 3 white dudes support Trump; and it’s only rational to wonder if that one might quietly do so.

    Finding another Dark Brandon or Coach Walz is more than I hope for.

  181. 181.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Kay: It’s that simple– white people no longer will vote for a Democrat.

    Why should they, when the party of the white man is right there?

  182. 182.

    PJ

    @Professor Bigfoot: The Democratic primaries are three years away, and I cannot begin to predict what this country will look like then, but I would bet the next Democratic Presidential Candidate is a white male governor (Pritzker, Walz, Shapiro? I don’t think Newsom will make the cut), though maybe a Senator like Ossoff could pull it off.  After 2016 and 2024, I don’t think Democratic voters will be thinking this country is sufficiently less racist and less misogynistic to vote for a candidate who is non-white or a woman.

  184. 184.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @PJ: There’s another question– in our neo-Nazi fanboi age, is a Jewish candidate viable?

    I think it HAS to be a straight white Christian male in order for Americans* to vote for him even though he’s part of “the party of Negroes.”

  185. 185.

    Miss Bianca

    @Papa Boyle:

    I have to admit I was absolutely sure renaming The Gulf of Mexico was going to fix inflation.

    Now *there’s* a rotating tag if ever there was one! lol – I am so stealing this for future reference.

  187. 187.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Jackie: Is having a different political opinion and expressing it, hostility? If people feel attacked is that my fault?

    Also, do I not have a right to defend myself when attacked personally. I have been at the receiving end of many personal attacks and stalking.

    Have I attacked you? Can you post a link?

    For the most part though I hardly post here anymore or even respond to those attacks.

  189. 189.

    Jackie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Have I attacked you? Can you post a link?

    I never claimed or accused you of attacking me. I just don’t like attacks to or from other jackals at all, and silly me – wish it would stop.

    Debating differences of opinions is healthy, while personal attacks are ugly, and, I wish didn’t happen here.

  192. 192.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @Jackie: Is it a personal attack to recognize the whiteness inherent in the views and responses of some people, even here on this almost 10,000 blog?

    Is it a personal attack to ask why some people seem to need to defend their whiteness?

  193. 193.

    Professor Bigfoot

    @TBone: Hope is always there… if only the to outlive the bastards, or to take as many of them to Hell with you as possible.

    We’ll start and work on simply outliving the sonsabitches first. 😉

  195. 195.

    Citizen Alan

    @Kay: This. I have cut all MAGAs out of my life as much as possible and may well go no contact with my sister after we get the inheritance situation resolved. But my every interaction with a MAGA in the wild is colored by my belief that every single one of them is, to some extent, insane.

    I said before the election that even if we ran the table (Harris wins, Dems take the House and keep the Senate), we would still have to grapple at some point with the fact that 70 million voters in this country are out of their god-damned minds. And now, those 70 million lunatics are running the asylum.

  196. 196.

    Citizen Alan

    @Professor Bigfoot: Speaking as a white male, no it is not. I am acutely aware of how shitty most of my own demographic is. TBH, I am still amazed given my background (white male, born in Mississippi in 1969, working class parents) that I did not grow up to become a Republican, or at least a conservative Dem. I attribute it to three things.

    First, I had a very strong mother who was quietly feminist. As in, she would have denied being a feminist even as she was the primary bread-winner in our household because she fought to get a technical job with AT&T that was only opened up to women because of a Title VII consent decree issued just a few years before I was born.

    Two, going into the 9th grade, I switched from a county school to “the city school” (the “city” in question had a population if 7k), which was where virtually all the black children in our county went. So I developed a lot of friendships with black kids that I would not have had if I’d stayed in the de facto segregated county school system.

    Third, Bill Clinton came along in 1992 to capture my imagination at a time when my disillusionment with the GOP was at its peak. Even at 18, I was incensed that the Iran Contra guys all got away with it and by 1991 was utterly cynical about the the Gulf War.

  197. 197.

    tsquared2001

    @Bupalos:

    I made some edits to your comment.

    I guess I’d just like to hear the theory on how the black candidate pulling a higher percent of the white (female) vote and a lower percent of the black (male) vote is either evidence or irrelevance that flatters your hyper-identity thesis (another GREAT band name) and contingent prediction about white behavior in the future.

    The trend is pretty clear over decades that ethnic identity while still undeniably potent becomes less salient over time (decades compared to 400 years of American history). And post-truth populism (see the GOP for the only example of this phenomenon) seems to be an accelerant. Or at least, how do you see the massive shift of brown voters to Republicans (the same way I see the Venezuelans losing their TPS status; as suckers)?

  198. 198.

    sab

    One huge good thing about media covrage is it is all Trump Trump Trump.

    No way will they ever push the next tariff tanked economy on Biden. Biden, who is he? Some old guy in government.

    Best president of my lifetime domestically, but that is just me.

  199. 199.

    FelonyGovt

    @Professor Bigfoot:– in our neo-Nazi fanboi age, is a Jewish candidate viable?

    No, absolutely not. I’m old enough to remember how happy my dad was when JFK was elected- he said if America could elect a Catholic, “maybe a Jewish guy could win someday”. Well, that’s not going to happen in my lifetime any more than a woman being elected.

  201. 201.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Kay: far too goddamned many of us lawyers bought into the Federalist Society and sold their souls to the devil. As one of the true lawyer jokes go, “ninety percent of lawyers give the other ten percent a bad name”

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