Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Come on, man.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

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

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

“But what about the lurkers?”

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

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

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House" / Saturday Night Open Thread

Saturday Night Open Thread

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Wow- those Hands Off rallies were really something. I am seeing a ton of reporting in the MSM and my personal social media feeds are filled with friends from real life going and bluesky is filled with stuff. Awesome. I, of course, had no idea this was happening this weekend and have no idea when I missed it. On a personal note, I am really bad with dates- like I see them, and it will say 5 April, but it will not connect, as if I am in January still and 5 April is a super long way away, so I don’t pay attention. I am notorious for seeing advertisements for things and saying to Joelle “We should go do this” and she will just quietly say “maybe next year because that was two weeks ago.”

Joelle and I had a very lazy day. We slept in, I made some lattes, we did a few minor things around the house, Joelle went to the grocery, and I puttered and played video games. We do not have a bunch of time left together before I have to go back to WV, so we are not making plans just hanging out. Going to have a little dinner and catch a show.

Y’all behave.

Reader Interactions

84Comments

  1. 1.

    hoytwillrise

    Good. Lived in Tucson 1994-1998, loved the hiking but not the summers. Except monsoons.

  2. 2.

    Jackie

    Joelle and I had a very lazy day. We slept in, I made some lattes, we did a few minor things around the house, Joelle went to the grocery, and I puttered and played video games. We do not have a bunch of time left together before I have to go back to WV, so we are not making plans just hanging out.

    Sounds like a perfect wknd! If only Joelle could work from home and hangout with you and ALL the critters in WV…

    Parting is sorrow – minus the BS “sweet.”

  4. 4.

    oldster

    Have been watching “Berlin ER” on Apple TV. Wow. Compelling, but a bit too much for me. Have watched four of eight episodes, think I won’t watch the rest. Just too much. Excellent cast, but too goddamn depressing.
    now I need to watch something very light and silly as a palate cleanser. Bugs Bunny? Fred and Ginger? No more junkies and blood, please.

  7. 7.

    Percysowner

     

    I too missed the rallies. I had a good reason, I went to a local rescue and got a foster dog. He’s great. He’s 9+, house trained. I hate calling it housebroken, I don’t BREAK my dogs, I train them. After some intense sniffing he jumped up on the couch and slept with me. After dinner he’s back on the couch snuggled up to me. He walks great on the leash. I have to take him back for his final vaccines, and then when they can fit him into their schedule he is in desperate need of a dental. They think he could lose most if not all of his teeth. The grandkids went with me to meet him and he’s gentle and loved on them. Basically, once we take care of the dental, I will foster fail and he will be mine. Bonus points, my oldest grandkid wants to name him, but his mom said if he already has a name he knows, he would keep it. Turns out he’s just stray, so grandson can name him. Plus, he and the cats are currently being civil. He’s more than happy to share, except when food is involved because Beagle. The cats are still nervous but I’m pretty sure they will come around.

    I have always been lucky and gotten so many sweet dogs.

  8. 8.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    Probably just for me, but I’m seeing that “changing slogan” at the top of the page show up, and then disappear a fraction of a second later. Some javascript issue?  It started a few weeks ago, after the last site minor revamp.

     

    Not the most critical issue, but I do enjoy those slogans.

  9. 9.

    CaseyL

    Sounds like a lovely day, except for the getting-ready-to-leave part.

    Are any of the critters going back to WV with you, or have they all decided to stay with Joelle? You’d miss Steve the most, I think (and he’d miss you).

    I’m the same way with dates: I have them in my head, but seem unable to connect them to conscious awareness of the timestream. If I don’t put them on my calendar, with notifications, I’d miss a lot more than I do already.

  10. 10.

    PsiFighter37

    Did not know this was happening. It needs to happen more often, but at least it’s a start.

    Schumer being down 20 points to AOC in a hypothetical Democratic Senate primary in 2028 better wake his ass up.

  12. 12.

    narya

    @oldster: Blazing Saddles earlier; Meatballs now. I forgot how subversive the former really is—everybody gets a plot of land.

  14. 14.

    Gin & Tonic

    Damn, that Florida-Auburn game was good. Now joining with everyone in rooting for Duke to get spanked.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    @oldster

    now I need to watch something very light and silly as a palate cleanser.

    On Apple TV+? Schmigadoon.

    Alternatively, on Prime, Benidorm.

    :)

  19. 19.

    Another Scott

    @Snarki, child of Loki: Not just you.  It seems to mostly be a Chrome browser thing – you can see them in Firefox.

    Good to see you.  Your ‘nym always makes me smile.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  21. 21.

    Matt McIrvin

    I wasn’t prepared enough to have a sign but I at least got out and waved and yelled a little. And getting there and back was a nice walk that I needed–the rain held off until I was on the way home.

  22. 22.

    Jackie

    @PsiFighter37:

    Schumer being down 20 points to AOC in a hypothetical Democratic Senate primary in 2028 better wake his ass up.

    Why? It’s more than time for a new generation in Congress. I appreciate the old guard, but I’m really looking forward to new blood!

  25. 25.

    Bill Arnold

    Inside President Trump’s whirlwind decision to upend global trade – Ultimately, Trump resolved to follow his own instincts — and was surrounded by senior officials who enabled him. (April 4, 2025, WaPo, Natalie Allison, Jeff Stein, Cat Zakrzewski and Michael Birnbaum)
    (For those with a WaPo sub)
    Navarro appears to be responsible for the tariff calculation (emphasis mine):

    Not long after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the administration’s economic staff went to work on a daunting task: determining tariff rates for dozens of countries to fulfill the president’s campaign pledge of imposing “reciprocal” trade barriers.
    After weeks of work, aides from several government agencies produced a menu of options meant to account for a wide range of trading practices, according to three people familiar with the matter.
    Instead, Trump personally selected a formula that was based on two simple variables — the trade deficit with each country and the total value of its U.S. exports, said two of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to recount internal talks. While precisely who proposed that option remains unclear, it bears some striking similarities to a methodology published during Trump’s first administration by Peter Navarro, now the president’s hard-charging economic adviser.

    Also of note (emphasis mine):

    Inside and outside the White House, advisers say Trump is unbowed even as the world reels from the biggest increase in trade hostilities in a century. They say Trump is unperturbed by negative headlines or criticism from foreign leaders. He is determined to listen to a single voice — his own — to secure what he views as his political legacy. Trump has long characterized import duties as necessary to revive the U.S. economy, at one point calling tariffs “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.”
    “He’s at the peak of just not giving a f— anymore,” said a White House official with knowledge of Trump’s thinking. “Bad news stories? Doesn’t give a f—. He’s going to do what he’s going to do. He’s going to do what he promised to do on the campaign trail.”

  27. 27.

    Raoul Paste

    Manned the ramparts at a rally 50 miles away.  The signs we constructed, barely made it through an hour in the rain.  There were grandmothers, children, Nixon-era  protesters, and wet dogs.

  31. 31.

    gene108

    @Steve LaBonne:

    he’s going to kill the Republican Party, as even Ted Cruz is warning. Please proceed!

    No chance in hell Trump kills the Republican party. Between billionaire bucks, black people existing, “migrant caravans, etc. The GOP will recover after one or two election cycles, as it always does.

  32. 32.

    Glory b

    @Jackie: That outfit skews very left, I’d want to see the same numbers replicated by a more neutral one before I believe it.

  34. 34.

    Jackie

    @JoeyJoeJoe: Who’s the youngest Senate member? That’s where we need new blood. Six years commitment once Senators hit early 70s is when they should start looking towards retirement IMO. Start collecting SS while it’s still available //

  36. 36.

    Matt McIrvin

    @CarolPW: I even had a big piece of cardboard that was white on one side, it was just a matter of thinking up something pithy.

  37. 37.

    Scout211

    @Bill Arnold:

    “He’s at the peak of just not giving a f— anymore,” said a White House official with knowledge of Trump’s thinking. “Bad news stories? Doesn’t give a f—. He’s going to do what he’s going to do.He’s going to do what he promised to do on the campaign trail.”

    I’ve read this quote several times in news stories. It may be true, it may not be, because anonymous quotes these days are often misinformation designed to push a message. However, it does ring true for me.  He really doesn’t seem to care about anyone or anything beyond his personal revenge agenda and his need to feel like the king that he thinks he is. He certainly doesn’t care who is harmed by his policies. And he probably doesn’t even care to know most of what is being done in his name .

    It’s like he got his get out of jail free card and a team to carry out his revenge, so he’s set.

  39. 39.

    Gretchen

    @Bill Arnold: Rachel Maddow figured out that the economic expert Navarro uses as his authority doesn’t exist. His name is an anagram of Navarro.

  41. 41.

    Geoduck

    I didn’t attend the Olympia, WA rally but I went by on the bus, and there were long streams of people marching down the main drag of the town away from the state Capitol Dome. Lots of fun signs.

  43. 43.

    hitchhiker

    @Bill Arnold: I want to know who at the WaPo decided that the best adjective to stick in front of Peter Navarro’s name is “hard-charging.”

    Hard-charging is what you call a pro baseball player barreling for home plate.

    Navarro is stupid, and like a sophomore with a teacher who gives away good grades for effort, he believes himself to be a bit of a genius. His stupid faith in tariffs as a tool for forcing companies, consumers, and whole countries to do what he wants is the basis for his stupid inflexibility.

    Stop making him sound like an ordinary guy with a lot of determination. Christ.

  46. 46.

    Scout211

    This is another news story that keeps being repeated.  Again, who knows if it’s accurate since it’s from an anonymous source, but this one seems more like  a face saving attempt to me.

    Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may be planning to cut and run after Donald Trump’s disastrous “reciprocal tariff” announcement earlier this week.

    During an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Friday, contributor Stephanie Ruhle reported that the key Cabinet member is already looking for an escape hatch.

    “My sources say that Scott Bessent is kind of the odd man out here and, in the inner circle that Trump has, he’s not even close to Scott Bessent or listening to him,” Ruhle said. “Some have said to me, he’s looking for an exit door to try to get himself to the Fed, because in the last few days he’s really hurting his own credibility and history in the markets.”

    Hurting his credibility? Sorry Scott, too late.  It’s already DOA.

  48. 48.

    Geminid

    @Jackie: Jon Ossoff is the youngest Democratic Senator at age 38. Andy Kim is 42 and Ruben Gallego is 45.

    Rep. Chris Pappas (NH01) has announced a bid to succedd Senator Jean Shaheen. Pappas is 44 years old, while Shaheen is 77.

    Last year Elissa Slotkin (50) replaced Debbie Stabenow (74); Lisa Blunt Rochester (62) replaced Tom Carper (77); Andy Kim (42) replaced Bob Menendez (~74); Angela Alsobrooks (52) replaced Ben Cardin (80).

    Adam Schiff (66) won the seat held by the late Dianne Feinstein, who was 90 when she died; and Ruben Gallego (45) replaced Kyrsten Sinema who I think was 52.

    So the collective age age swing for these 6 seats was around 130 years.

  50. 50.

    Kristine

    @CarolPW: At our local Hands Off, I heard someone say they were glad to see a number of USA flags on our side because the other side pretty much claims them as their own.

  51. 51.

    RaflW

    I was looking at a quick trip to Phoenix next weekend to see a friend.

    Two problems: Air fares are bananas (It used to be that there was some competition and last minute deals were a thing. I feel like price collusion is like a 0% worry for the airlines here in 2025 so they all just want $500-600 for a sub-two hour flight DEN-PHX. So, nope!)

    And then I saw that it might hit 100º by next weekend, so I’m not even looking at driving out. I can’t do 100 degrees in April.

  52. 52.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    There were about 5000 people at the Denver rally.  From my vantage point, it was older, and much, much whiter, than the 5051 rally last month which was very Hispanic (mostly Mexican based solely on flag presence).

    I finally connected with mistermix (it was packed where I was) and he indicated that during the actual march (I hung around at the base of the Capitol) that the crowd was younger and not totally white.

    I think what impressed me more were the accounts of rallies nationwide in tons of much smaller places with incredible turnout for those places.

    Given the crowd around me, I wondered what their paper losses where in the stock market over the last couple of days.  Tens of millions of dollars given the demographic.

  53. 53.

    RaflW

    @Kristine: Yeah, I drew an American flag on my “NO Kings!” protest sign today. It’s patriotic to oppose despotism!

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Frisco, CO just 90 mins west (county pop. 30,500) gathered close to 500 people! It was a delight to be there drawing out tons of supportive honks from people heading to-from Breckenridge or their daily lives.

    My home base, Minneapolis-St Paul apparently rallied well over 17,000 (some reports up to 25,000). A bunch of my friends were there.

  54. 54.

    MinuteMan

    … as if I am in January still and 5 April is a super long way away, so I don’t pay attention.

    I feel your pain. It gets worth with age, too.

  56. 56.

    Martin

    @Scout211: Yeah, these tariffs have Navarros fingerprints all over them. I would suggest the stupid formula was his idea as well.

    Burn them all down, nobody should escape criticism here.

  57. 57.

    RaflW

    @Geminid: I’m hoping Peggy Flanagan (MN’s Lt. Gov) has a good shot at the retiring Tina Smith seat in the Senate.

    She’d be roughly 20 years younger than Smith, who now at age 67 is making a very reasonable and good choice to retire in abt. 20 months.

  62. 62.

    Geminid

    @RaflW: I want to see Rep. Nikki Budzinski replace Senator Dick Durbin in Illinois. Shes 47, I think, while Durbin is 80. Nikki Budzinski was elected to the redrawn Illinois 13th CD in 2022. She’s WaterGirl’s Representative.

  66. 66.

    eclare

    I’m sure everyone is tired of the reporting, but there is finally dryness on the horizon in Memphis.  Currently lightning, thunder, and rain, but it is supposed to stop tomorrow around 6 am.  I’ve said before, I have never experienced anything like this for an extended time.

    But climate change is a hoax.  Grrr.

  69. 69.

    Soprano2

    @eclare: We got that too. One of my bartenders said she drove through Jonesboro yesterday and saw the tornado damage. I didn’t even know they had a tornado there! We’ve probably had 8+” of rain since Wednesday.

    Cole I listened to your podcast, it was good. Your voice is fine. Can’t wait for the next one.

  70. 70.

    Marcopolo

    So two things before I hit the sack:  1) I am seeing a figure of around 3.5 million folks participating in today’s Hands Off protests across the country & around the globe.  There were over 1200 listed locations & I suspect a few more impromptu gatherings.  50 rallies across MI.  In AK between Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau between 6-7K (and I think there were several other locations).  Just a couple examples.  There are numerous videos of folks gathering in deep red areas in numbers.  Small places.  Amazing.

    I hope everyone is feeling good & energized & hopeful because #2) I’m pretty sure I saw that the next protest day is scheduled either for 2 weeks from now or May 1.  Guess we’ll know soon.

    Pretty sure the plan is to grow these protests as fast as possible and hold them regularly so that our neighbors and everyone fucking around in DC will have to pay attention.  Sure hope it works.  I participated with 5 friends today.  We will try to double that for the next one.

    Let’s do this.  Let’s see what we can accomplish!

  72. 72.

    YY_Sima Qian

    View of the escalating trade war from Beijing:

    Ryan Hass@ryanl_hass

    1/ The past several days have been an interesting time to visit China for meetings with government officials, scholars, business leaders, etc. A few brief reflections: counterparts have emphasized China’s leaders will not countenance being seen as passive in response to US.

    2/ Beijing’s response to US tariff announcement on April 2 was on more robust end of their menu. Beijing’s countermeasures included reciprocal tariff hike of 34%; tighter export controls, including on rare earths; etc. Beijing targeted Trump supporters and sensitive sectors.

    3/ There appears to be a widely held view among China’s policy community that Trump’s announcement is designed to undermine China’s economic competitiveness, rather than as a source of leverage for negotiations to resolve specific trade irritants. This colored PRC response.

    4/ There is sense of defiance among PRC counterparts. They argue PRC governance system/society is better able to withstand pain than US. Also reminders that PRC has made breakthroughs in the past when cut off from tech leaders, such as its nuclear program breakthrough in 1960s.

    5/ Many PRC counterparts have argued US is making a mistake that will undermine its own global standing. There’s debate about whether the world is entering a period of blocs or a transition to an era of globalization minus the US. Beijing seems to prefer the latter scenario.

    6/ Two confident predictions: 1) Beijing will seek common cause with other countries coping with US trade measures; 2) Beijing has no near-term expectation for Xi and Trump to speak by phone or meet. Buckle up, we’re entering pretty uncharted waters in US-China relations. END.

    The only thing I differ slightly w/ the above assessment is that there is strong confidence in the PRC that the country is already at the tech frontier, that no tech embargo the U.S. can implement now (even if Trump somehow can convince the rest of the West to go along, a much reduced prospect today) will prove all that adverse.

    The scuttle bud says even the EUV lithography machine will be solved in the next year or two (as in commercialized), & domestic immersion DUVs (as well as the massive quantities imported in the past several years) can serve as an adequate bridge, & perfectly suitable for the vast majority of applications. The PRC did not exempt civilian aircraft engines from the retaliatory tariffs, even though the domestic C919 airliner uses the LEAP-1C engines imported from the U.S., made by CFM (JV between GE & Safran). I guess the PRC government believes the domestic CJ1000A is ready to serve as replacement.

    Of course, the latest retaliatory tariffs imposed by the PRC do not truly come into effect for another month, allowing time for pressure to build on Trump in the U.S. The export controls on critical minerals, & the sanctions against select U.S. companies, however, take effect immediately.

  73. 73.

    tam1MI

    @Marcopolo:I hope everyone is feeling good & energized & hopeful because #2) I’m pretty sure I saw that the next protest day is scheduled either for 2 weeks from now or May 1.  Guess we’ll know soon.

    I believe there are some boycotts coming up also.

  76. 76.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @sab: The logic of the formula proposed by Chair of CEA Miran is highly dubious, & yet it was misapplied even according to that dubious logic. To calculate the tariff to be levied, the highly dubious formula should have divided the import price elasticity to tariff, which is close to 1. However, they used the retail price elasticity to tariff, which is 0.25. Thus, they produced tariff rates that are 4X of what their dubious logic should have produced.

    Had they “correctly” applied their dubious logic, most country’s would have seen the 10% baseline tariff. The reaction around the world would still have been negative, but perhaps not the earth shatteringly negative level seen now. The whole thing went ahead probably because Trump & Navarro love tariffs, the higher the better.

    The world changing because of idiocracy certainly tracks for the timeline we live in.

  77. 77.

    sab

    Re protests today. I am amazed and heartened. But I still want to remind people this is still amateur hour on both sides.

    It will get worse and probably violent. Trump’s people want a third term and for that they need martial law. That will require serious provocation because our side is committed to non-violence so far.

  78. 78.

    Unknown known

    @cain:

    Boomers still dominate which is pretty interesting. I think we will likely skip GenX and go straight to Millennials 

    That’s how it usually seems to work most places (spoken as a just-on-the-cusp Gen Xer)

    Also John’s date blindness resonates with my ADHD experience. I see people saying “well that happened May 2022, so it’s been X time…” And I couldn’t tell you what I did last week without looking at a calendar. I’m good at remembering spaces, but time and names and faces have, like, Teflon on them

  80. 80.

    David_C

    Made lasagne in the morning and protested in the afternoon. Did some genealogy in the evening after feasting on said lasagne. After the week we in the bureaucracy had, it felt good, and at the rally I connected with a long-time friend who had gone silent on social media.

    I think people were surprised that so many showed up. Somehow this went under the radar of a lot of people.

  81. 81.

    dnfree

    @Geminid: Illinois has several representatives at this point who would be excellent senators.  A number of them were first elected to the House in 2018.  In my immediate vicinity, Sean Casten, Lauren Underwood, and Raja Krishnamoorthi come to mind, but there are more.  Dorothy Winsor and I used to have Casten but now have Krishnamoorthi since the 2020 redistricting.

  83. 83.

    Ella in New Mexico

    Saturday’s are always hard for me. Working 4 ten hour days and often 11 on Friday catching up on patient notes leaves me exhausted on Saturday. I slept in till 10 and we thought the rally was a 2 in down town Albuquerque so lallygagged before going.

    Around 130 realized the damn thing was 2 EASTERN time and 12 here. I’ve lived in Mountain Time for close to 40 years and I STILL forget to double check time zones and do the damn math so don’t feel bad John re: dates and times.

    It was pretty nasty out yesterday here, cold, windy, cloudy and we got snow on the mountains and foothills. Very, very proud of my fellow New Mexican’s who did show up (thousands per the paper) on my behalf. I promise I’ll do better at future rallies.

    Cuz I’m guessing these are gonna become a regular thing…

  84. 84.

    Geminid

    @dnfree: Yes, Reps. Underwood, Casten and Krishnamoorthi would all make good Senators.

    The only reason I would put Nikki Budzinski in the mix is her connection to Governor Pritzker. Budzinski was a senior advisor for Jay Pritzker’s first campaign and headed up his transition office. Then she was the Governor’s key liason with the legislature during his first term.

    Later on, when the legislature redrew the 13th CD, Republicans complained that Democrats did it with Budzinski in mind and they probably were right. But she came to elective politics in her 40s, and could be happy staying in the House.

    Another Pritzker campaign/administration alumnus I keep my eye is 34-year old Quentin Fulks. He managed Raphael Warnock’ s second Senate campaign and served as Chief Deputy campaign manager for the Biden/Harris campaing.

    Fulks is from south Georgia and there are a couple Georgia Democrats– Sanford Bishop and David Scott– who will likely retire from the House next year. I would not be surprised if Fulks replaces one of them. He’s said to be very good with people and that makes me think he’d be a strong candidate

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