The Trump health stuff is starting to feel like wishcasting on all sides
— Cooper Lund (@cooperlund.online) August 29, 2025 at 1:57 PM
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Dick Cheney is still alive despite his heart exploding a couple of times. But these are fun stories regardless and reporters should ask him about them, especially when Vance is there next to him.
— Stephen Nuñez (@socio-steve.bsky.social) August 29, 2025 at 2:15 PM
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Wishcasting, but also, I mean, he's not well. Maybe he's not dying, but he's not well. Any story that undermines Trump is one worth hammering, I think, if only for the political capital of it.
Besides, a Democratic President would be getting the same treatment but worse, and we all know that.— Max 🇺🇸 🌐☯ (@maximumeffort433.bsky.social) August 29, 2025 at 2:00 PM
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Donald Trump recently said that he has “the right” to do anything he wants—not unlike the antagonistic Homelander of the TV show "The Boys"—and his followers are determined to prove him right.
www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/…— Tom Nichols (@radiofreetom.bsky.social) August 28, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Live by the meme, die by the meme… Tom Nichols, at the Atlantic, on “President Homelander” [gift link]:
A man with the power to destroy the entire world announces that no one and nothing can restrain him. “I can do whatever I want,” he says. Raised without love, he has become both omnipotent and neurotic. Unfortunately, his inner circle is a group of hapless subordinates who are scared to death of him. The corporations and public-relations spinmeisters who created and sold him to the public now realize that they are powerless to stop him.
I am speaking, of course, of Homelander, the evil version of Superman who is the main antagonist in The Boys, the Amazon series based on a series of graphic novels. Homelander (played to menacing, narcissistic perfection by the actor Antony Starr) is both ludicrous and terrifying. Like Superman, he can fly and shoot lasers from his eyes, but his brain is definitely not superpowered: Immature and somewhat dim, he is ruled by impulse, rage, and ego.
Watching Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting—a three-hour-plus public ritual of sycophantic praise for Donald Trump from his lieutenants—I couldn’t help but think of Homelander. President Trump, like the sadistic superhero, is surrounded by grown men and women who are reduced to simpering flunkies in his presence. (“There’s only one thing I wish for,” the presidential envoy Steve Witkoff said during the meeting, that the “Nobel Committee finally gets its act together and realizes that you are the single finest candidate since the Nobel Peace, this Nobel award was ever talked about.” Yikes.)
Little wonder that Trump sees no limits to his power. When asked about his authority to deploy the National Guard, Trump said: “I have the right to do anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States. If I think our country’s in danger—and it is in danger in these cities—I can do it.”…
The parallel isn’t perfect, but both the fictional villain and the real president seem to share a childlike need for adoration and are quick to anger when contradicted. And both could destroy most of the planet. Homelander could do it with his eyes and his muscles. Trump could do it with a small card he carries that would allow him to order the launching of almost 2,000 nuclear weapons anywhere he dictates…
I don’t know how The Boys will end Homelander’s story. But Donald Trump is not a superhero: He’s a politician whose powers and abilities are only those of mortal men. He is limited by the Constitution, by American law, by Congress (despite its current fecklessness), and especially by the courts, which seem so far to be Trump’s kryptonite. Other actions could constrain Trump further—if voters in the pro-democracy coalition have the courage and the endurance to take them.
First, everyone, including ordinary citizens, media leaders, and elected officials—especially Republicans—should speak plain truth every time Trump says something as bonkers as “I have the right to do anything I want to do.” No, Mr. President, you do not: The powers of the presidency, especially in matters of national security, are indeed considerable, but they are not boundless, and Americans should all say so, every day, to their neighbors, to the reporters and commentators they watch and read, and especially to their elected officials…
Everyday citizens have options as well. The president’s strength rests on obedient majorities in Congress, and that power can be stripped from him at the ballot box. Elected Republicans’ jobs are in danger at all levels of government, as the Democratic capture of an Iowa state-Senate seat this week showed. Trump is worried, which is why he’s so eager to have red states conjure up extra House seats as soon as possible.
And finally, it’s important to remember—and, again, to say out loud—how ridiculous Trump is when he launches into his woozy, narcissistic harangues. Authoritarians build their regimes by creating an aura of strength and inevitability around themselves, daring anyone to oppose them or focus on their weaknesses. Laughing in their face when they say I can do anything I want is a powerful antidote to their bullying. So far, California Governor Gavin Newsom seems to have perfected this kind of satire, and it’s clearly getting under Trump’s nanometer-thin skin…
JPL
It’s past time for the democrats to point out that Vance is just as bad. just sayin
JPL
Anne, your comment below at 18 was good. It was in response to Rikyrah and you might reprint it here.
I do think if he was on his death bed, they would have his children visit because it’s all about appearances with his closest aides.
It would be like trump to interrupt the TX/OSU game though.
satby
Considering the obsession with a clearly much more hale and hearty Biden’s health the media indulged in, we should be having almost 24 hour speculation, with panels of bloviators, about the felon’s.
Elizabelle
What started the rumors on Bluesky that Trump had died?
satby
@Elizabelle: he hasn’t had public appearances for a couple of days.
Elizabelle
@satby: Lucky us. Was at the beach, but pay as little attention to The Felon as is possible.
eclare
@JPL:
So true. And as a UT (Tennessee) grad, the UT Syracuse game, which is at the same time.
Professor Bigfoot
@JPL: You seem to think white people will listen.
satby
Good clip of JB Pritzker interview where he lays out some details about responding to the felon’s threats against Chicago.
hotshoe
@satby:
Yes, and possibly the stress will get to him when he hears that people are saying “he looks like death warmed over”.
Whether he lives for many more years, we should keep on repeating whatever things he hates the the most.
Things like:
weak
ill
failing
dying
JPL
@Professor Bigfoot: true
JoyceH
@hotshoe: don’t forget:
mentally failing, stupid, forgetful, crazy
Jeffg166
The president is in great health. Means he has health problems.
The president has minor health issues. Means he dying.
JPL
seen on bluesky
trump and Epstein together again
Bruce K in ATH-GR
It physically pains me to think of how many of those bastards will outlive me. I know that’s not what Billy Joel was singing about when he sang “Only the Good Die Young”, but bringing up Dick Cheney…
Princess
Vance did say something weird n an interview yesterday when asked if he could take over as CoC. He said “I’ve gotten a lot of good on-the-job training over the last 200 days,” it sounds like he expects to take over soon. Any non- ghoulish ordinary person who left couches alone would say “I’m getting good on the job training.”
it would be irresponsible NOT to speculate.
ETA if I were president, and my VP spoke about succeeding me to the press in this way, he’d no longer be my VP if I could make that happen in any way.
Baud
Generalissimo Donald Trump is not yet dead.
eclare
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
I think of that song all the time. It is so true.
JPL
@Baud: sad
Princess
Posting the theme from Swan Lake here so everyone can recognize it when we hear it on Fox:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=9cNQFB0TDfY
eclare
@Princess:
Fingers crossed for a The Godfather baptism type repeat. But for real.
youtu.be/1CDlBLvc3YE?si=kl-C5Wra-EC6_Hlm
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
Yeah, Dems should say that Vance isn’t really racist.
sixthdoctor
*singing* “The best part of waking up is finding that Trump has died…”
Oh well. I was hoping for a morning rush that made the buzz when I learned he got COVID pale in comparison. Man, that was a great day.
topclimber
@Baud: NotAll Couch Humpers.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Well this is a pleasant surprise. I’ve been offline and hadn’t realized the Trump-is-on-his-deathbed speculation was so rampant.
Tony Jay
@Princess:
It’s been noted that Vice-President Crushed, With Eyeliner has been kept out of the country as much as possible since the Bad Thing happened. Meeting and greeting with foreign heads of state, representing the Crown on behalf of the Old King and basically acting like the heir to a soon to be vacant throne.
I still maintain that’s not an accident. His owner/operators, from West Coast Sauron on down, want him in place but distant enough to be presented as (vaguely) unsoiled when the traceless toxins do their work and The Pustule pops a brain vein.
Princess
As Trump suffers his last agonies, I hope he’s getting all his medical advice from RFKjr and is using only RFKjr approved doctors.
Spanky
@Princess: Leeches can still be found in the Potomac tributaries.
mappy!
What Taco (spit) needs, is going to need, is to have J. Divan (spit) pardon him. It’s not too wild to speculate that the wheels begin to turn, 200 days in, setting all this in motion. Loosing Iowa, loosing the Senate? The question maybe is, who is J. Divan (spit) speaking to? Trying to assuage? Not the press. Not the public…
ED – With Taco (spit) gone, the R establishment – MAGA (spit) get to blame everything the public is unhappy with on Taco (spit), thereby exonerating themselves… Clever (spit)
JPL
When Vance made the statement that he’s ready to step in to the role, normally trump would let it be known that he was not going anywhere.
btw the person handling his truth social account should misspell a few words in order to make it appear to be authentic.
Thor Heyerdahl
I’ve said it before that the death of Trump is going to feel like the Death of Stalin (youtube clip) movie with all of his lackies engaging in a full-on backstabbing battle royale.
JPL
@Thor Heyerdahl: Don Jr will surely try to regain the throne, so Vance best be careful.
Suzanne
@sixthdoctor:
That was a jolt of adrenaline no amount of coffee could hope to replicate.
One of my favorite things in social media was a screenshot of a text conversation between two friends. One asks something like, “Did you see the news?!” and they have a little bit of miscommunication because one is excited about Taylor Swift getting engaged and the other gets her hopes up that FFOTUS died. I love those two.
hueyplong
@Thor Heyerdahl: Pretty much any of us who have seen that movie are wish-imposing its narrative onto any news items about the pig’s health. Kind of hoping S Miller ends up in the Beria role, but I worry that the current crop of authoritarians would instead reward him with a powerful position in the Vance regime.
Princess
One thing I can promise you is that Trump’s post last night about tariffs was not written by him. Totally the wrong style. Identifying the authors of anonymous texts is my day job and I’m good at it, and that’s not him.
Suzanne
George Conway:
LMAO.
JoyceH
The best index will be how often Trump golfs this weekend. It’s a three day weekend. So – three rounds will show him hanging in there, probably good for through the midterms. Two rounds is weak, one round is sick, no rounds is either dying or already dead.
Baud
I just want to thank everyone for their attention to this matter.
Nix Besser
I’ll take notice when he starts missing weekend tee times.
Spanky
@Princess:
Oooooh!
Um, I totally take back every thing I’ve ever said, ever.
Shalimar
On the one hand, I think Vance will be even worse than Trump and we have a long 41 months until we get another president. On the other, I think the recession really started months ago once the numbers are adjusted and Vance could end up being more unpopular than Hoover for destroying Trump’s “wonderful” economy if Trump happened to die now while they’re still pretending.
Snarki, child of Loki
Trump has been brain-dead for YEARS!
And people are just noticing now? Didn’t the smell give it away?
SHEESH!
JoyceH
@Baud: lol at “thank you for your attention to this matter”. Trump only started using that recently and I wish we knew who came up with it for him. It’s so comically pretentious all I can think of is a fifth grader on the playground playing Mister Big Hotshot Executive.
prostratedragon
A little Ellingtonia
Princess
@JoyceH: Evidently he cancelled his plans to golf this weekend. I have no idea if there’s evidence for this but there is some evidence he had planned to go to Bedminster.
Shalimar
@mappy!: They can try that as much as they want. I do not think it will work that way. Cult leaders get deified when they die. Everything good currently will be because of Trump. Everything bad from death forward will be because Vance is an incompetent buffoon compared to Trump.
It won’t even matter that Trump clearly makes horrible decisions and Vance could know what he’s doing. The economy will tank from what Trump and Republicans have already done.
geg6
@Elizabelle:
No golf on the schedule the WH released for the weekend is my guess. I saw someone (Tim Miller, maybe?) discussing that online yesterday. In fact, I think it was Tim Miller and, coincidentally, Tom Nichols having the discussion.
Anyway, my own completely uninformed opinion is that Cheetolini has had a series of mini strokes due to his obviously terrible heart issues, aging and lifestyle. The heart issues are to blame for the edema in his limbs and the bruising on his hands (probably a daily IV line). But the mini strokes and aging are likely the cause for his mental issues, probably a case of vascular dementia. Maybe I’m projecting because the vascular dementia my John is suffering from looks an awful lot like what Shitler is suffering from.
The more I see of what is happening to him, the more I think I’m right. My John doesn’t have the bruises or edema because he doesn’t have heart issues and is otherwise healthy but the dementia issues look almost exactly the same. I think my John will outlive him because he has always exercised and eaten properly.
Baud
I hope he doesn’t die until next weekend. I have a busy week coming up.
Betty
@Princess: As Sherilyn Ifill noted, for a hundred of those days he was on vacation.
Baud
@satby:
It will be ironic if Biden outlives Trump.
p.a
Death, sure. But hear me out: successful 25th Amendment as a blow to his narcissistic personality while he has the mental capacity to understand. If the backers think his buffoonery is hurting Nazification, and that Vance could better implement it…
I doubt this happening (the Cult would explode) but that too is (Martha Stewart voice) a good thing. Also too too, as a social experiment it would be interesting to see if reich-media would be able to win over the Cult: authoritarian personalities want to be led.
Betty
@geg6: My husband is also suffering from vascular dementia and is heart healthy. I commented on Threads that the the Cabinet performance this past week reflects how family members are told to deal with their suffering relative. Do not disagree with them and try to enter their reality to prevent angry outbursts. My husband is also soothed by his favorite music. Anyone remember the stories about them playing songs from Cats for Trump?
Jeffro
I’m going to go ask ChatGPT to generate a eulogy of trumpov, as delivered by Joe Biden. THAT’d be a hoot.
Second only to Obama doing the eulogy. BHO knows how to twist the knife.
Suzanne
@p.a: I doubt this is happening, too, but I am enjoying social media right now! LOLOLOL.
Matt McIrvin
@JPL: Vance may well be worse than Trump. He’s a deeply nasty person who as far as I can tell has no principles whatsoever, and he’d be more energetic about perpetrating Trump’s general fascism than Trump.
But I don’t think he could sustain Trump’s personality cult. People would turn on him when things get bad to a degree that they wouldn’t with Trump.
satby
@Baud: it will be justice, in a cosmic sense at least
artem1s
Absolute, number one bestest bluesky “Trump is Dead” post…
Kathleen
@Princess: FWIW I heard thru grapevine that he fired his household staff in Cincinnati and told them he wouldn’t need anyone for the next 12 years.
Jeffro
OMG so, sooo funny:
Biden delivers remarks at trumpov’s funeral:
More fire and brimstone, Uncle Joe! LOL
Jeffro
@artem1s: I’m on the floor
LOLOLOL
Scout211
The big news is the tariff ruling, but there was another ruling of note yesterday.
WaPo (web archive version)
Just a temporary block but at least this issue will have to be defended by the lawyer minions. And the notion that “everyone would be at risk” will be out in the open. More like motive than notion, but at least it will be less secret.
Princess
Speculating a little less widely: if he isn’t dying, it seems quite possible he’s undergoing some kind of medical procedure this weekend, scheduled or no, and if so, control should have been turned over to his VP and the press should have been informed. Another norm he may be breaking and the press is ignoring.
Baud
@Princess:
Nah. They’ll just use the auto pen.
catclub
@JPL: I would say that the media has not continued any Epstein drumbeat now that Reps have returned to DC.
Baud
@catclub:
Have they returned? It’s Labor Day weekend. They usually start up after Monday.
JPL
If trump had a stroke, it would be so sad if he could no longer play golf. 😃😃😃😃😃
catclub
No evidence of this in investment markets. And they are usually forward looking.
catclub
@Baud: I thought they had because Johnson was giving interviews. You are probably correct.
hueyplong
@JPL: I can see the winner of the club golf tournament, tears in his eyes, saying, “Sir, please put your own name down as the winner instead of mine. It would be an honor, Sir.”
JPL
@catclub: Someone on CNBC mentioned that there’s a growing unease among investors, but so far, the economy remains strong.
p.a
@hueyplong: You think the clods playing with him don’t self-adjust their scores higher to lose? Sir, another winning round sir. You’re amazing!
JPL
@hueyplong: haha
this is from Doug, pitchbot President Trump has not been seen for three days, raising fresh questions about Biden’s health. pitchbot
hueyplong
@p.a: Trump imposes a two-stroke penalty on all club players who don’t shit themselves on the course. Between that and some manual ball adjustment on each hole, he’s always in contention.
bjacques
I’m thinking less Homelander and more Ceedrow Willie: LOVE MEEE!!!!
artem1s
@JPL:
That means the brokerages are quietly divesting and shorting stock to position themselves favorably when the market finally rights itself.
Suzanne
“Justkilled Dapresident Vance”.
LMAO.
They Call Me Noni
Put all the money you were saving for Mamaw’s operation into popcorn futures!
Baud
@Suzanne:
Killer Vance is a great Q-Anon conspiracy.
We’re going to bring the crazy people home!
They Call Me Noni
From TikTok:
how will we know?
they will send orange smoke from the White House chimney
piratedan
If we’re playing the speculation game of The Death of Trump to parallel The Death of Satlin, US edition…. it seems as though Peter Pallantir has placed his marker well for maximum return…. one possibility that may follow is getting a better handle on who else reports to Vlad and less obfuscation of the lines on who’s in Leonard Leo’s payroll and who is there for the tech bros and those goons that are specifically there for the cruelty/racism would likely gravitate to Stephen Miller or Bannon, yet who among his cabinet is aligned where?
Could they all work together?
as always, we can root for injuries and a lack of collateral damage.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Ironic and so, so sweet.
p.a
@hueyplong: for REAL!? I don’t golf, but I know that should piss off anyone associated with the sport.
Betty Cracker
From Bluesky.
p.a
@piratedan: Well he wants another parade. If he lasts we can speculate by the seating arrangement.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Her happiness will exceed our collective joy.
prostratedragon
@p.a:
“No, no, no — you second line when you’ve left the cemetery!”
Matt McIrvin
@p.a: As I said in the other thread, I don’t think they’re going to remove him with the 25th Amendment because it doesn’t work like people think it does. For one thing, you can’t actually remove the President with that section of the 25th, you can just deactivate him and give the VP the powers of Acting President. For another, the effect is only temporary unless the President doesn’t push back, and if he does, the only way to keep him inactive is a supermajority vote of BOTH houses of Congress. If you can manage that, you can impeach and convict him–it’s easier and will actually permanently remove him from office.
There seems to be an idea that this is some loophole that’s easier to manage than an impeachment conviction, but it’s not; it’s harder.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Thank you. It’s designed for a comatose president, not one who is nuts.
Chief Oshkosh
@Princess: Vance alone is a non-entity. He’s even more of an empty vessel than Trump. However, Thiel, his owner and master, is a seriously fucked-up human being who truly believes that the vast majority of other human beings aren’t really human beings.
Thiel is serious trouble for the human race.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: JD Vance-the-candidate has not demonstrated above-average electoral strength. Vance had Trump’s endorsement for the 2022 Senate primary, but won with only 32.2% of the vote. It was a crowded field, with Mandel and Dolan at 23% and Gibbons at 11, but still– it was not a strong performance.
That November, Vance beat Tim Ryan by only 53-47%, while Gov. DeWine won reelection 62-37% a 25-point margin. Those two elections tell me something about Vance’s basic appeal to voters.
So yeah, Vance might not be able to excite the Republican base like Trump has. Regarding a hypothetical 2028 race with Vance as incumbent: I assume Vance would be as well-polished and packaged as possible and I’m not sure he’d lose. But I think his path to victory would be a narrow one.
This points to a fundamental challenge for Republicans: how can they reproduce the coalition that (barely) won the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections without Trump? I sure don’t know. But assuming there is a free election in 2028, I know I’d rather have the Democrats’ problem than the Republicans’.
Chief Oshkosh
@JPL: Junior ain’t gonna do squat.
Another Scott
@catclub: The real data always lags. But the extent of the lag varies.
Dean Baker of CEPR.net on his Patreon thing today:
It makes sense that the economy is slowing, for lots and lots of reasons. The stock market used to be forward-looking, now it’s driven by algorithms , and automatic purchases for 401(k)s, and MotUs that have too much money and no place to put it to do real work, so all that money continues to drive the S&P500 index up 14+% over the last year.
Reality always gets a vote. But we’ll see.
My $0.02.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Gin & Tonic
I know Adam is tracking this, but Andriy Parubiy, Ukrainian nationalist ideologue, major figure in the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, and current MP, was assassinated this morning in the streets of Lviv, a city far from the active war zone. It being 2025, the assassin got away on an e-bike.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
rikyrah
I do believe that they needed him off his feet so that they could do a serious round of IV diuretics to get some water weight off of him
Walker
Earlier this week there were multiple TFRs (temporary flight restrictions) for Trump for Labor Day weekend. These are usually to cover where he is golfing. They quietly disappeared Wednesday night. Something is up.
Kathleen
@zhena gogolia: Jake Tapper would still be tramping through the media platforms wailing, gnashing teeth, wringing hands and pimping “Biden so deathy” tales.
Matt McIrvin
@Geminid: I do think Vance was an asset to his ticket in 2024, just because he was able to hold his own and not sound insane in a debate with Walz. That was the moment Trump/Vance’s fortunes started to recover. He’s a fascist Eddie Haskell, only brings out the nasty when he’s in safe territory. His initial rise to fame came from liberals being interested in what he had to say about MAGA psychology.
lowtechcyclist
@Matt McIrvin:
Yeah, the 25th only meaningfully works if the President is literally incapable of objecting to the VP taking over his duties.
Like I was saying yesterday, hardly anyone actually reads the damn thing. It’s not like it’ll take them an hour – more like five minutes at the outside. It’s longer than most Constitutional amendments, but that’s not saying much; most of them are just a single paragraph.
Kathleen
@Walker: FWIW because there are multiple street closures around JD Vance’s home in Cincinnati speculation is that he will be here over the weekend but last I heard that has not been confirmed.
Scout211
We’ve been discussing the lack of a social media messaging game on the Democratic side to counter all the right wing messaging that has been going on for years.
This “Trump is dead” meme is showing that the anti-Trump social media game is getting more powerful. It’s taking up a lot of space on social media but now there are online new sources that are having to report on it. The reports are not just saying that Trump is not dead, they are also explaining why the rumors started, going into all of his symptoms and also the weird JD Vance statements.
The “Trump is dead” memes are starting to change the news and this is very encouraging. The reporting that has been “Trump did this”, “Trump did that”, “Trump is all powerful” to now “Trump is ill” and “Is Trump dead?”
Along with Newsom’s social media team (and I hope others in the future) knocking down the image that Trump is all powerful is a very good thing, IMHO.
Betty Cracker
Hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but White House pool reporters spotted Dumbfuck Hitler on his way to play golf this morning. 💩
jayne
Someone gave Melania the go-ahead to start spiking his diet coke with polonium.
JPL
@rikyrah: It’s looking like that. He is off to play golf
lowtechcyclist
@Scout211:
“Turn me on, dead man!”
ETA: Paul McCartney is still alive. For some reason.
geg6
@Scout211:
Agreed.
Scout211
@Betty Cracker: Just because it’s not true doesn’t mean we need to stop speculating. That’s the rule, I didn’t make it up.
It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
So he’s not dead? Make him prove it!
rikyrah
About that BULLSHYT “Dark Money is paying Democratic Content Creators” article, here is the 411 about those ‘Dark Money ‘ entities in question.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8BgpHwu/
Let me be clear…the clown who wrote that article,
IMO, IS A PHUCKING OP
CHECK HER BANK ACCOUNT
Splitting Image
@Scout211:
I agree with all of this, and I’ll add that it will be easier to start the rumour mill going next time. Trump may not be on death’s door, but he is sick and isn’t going to get much healthier. (Or if you prefer, he looks sick and isn’t ever going to look much healthier.)
Ocotillo
@Baud:
Fixed it for you.
JML
@Chief Oshkosh: Thiel is definitely someone who believes in the idea of a “surplus population”.
(I love the Dr. Who reference in the title on this post. If only…)
BC in Illinois
@Scout211:
I was mentally transported by this phrase to 1969, when I was present for (if not really a part of) a detailed analysis of the cover of the Abbey Road album, trying to determine the health and/or life-state of Paul McCartney.
Sir Paul is still alive at age 83. (So they say.)
Scout211
I thought of that, too! What a huge thing that was for all of us fans of The Beatles back in the day. We were even trying to find the secret message in our records. But trying to spin those turntables backwards was kind of a mess. Ask me how I know. LOL
Yes, I remember it well. ;-)
mappy!
A meme that pushes “he’s sick and looking for a pardon” might have traction potential…
Princess
@rikyrah: That makes a lot of sense. And Vance is wishcasting. But they should have told us and any other president, Jack Tapper etc would be all over the story.
i don’t envy the people who’d have to keep Trump resting and immobile while they stick things into him.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker: 😂
Another Scott
@Scout211:
ELO’s Fire on High (1:41) also too.
:-)
Best wishes,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: Ugh.
Teresa
@Baud:
ROFL! You are on a roll this morning. I nearly spit my morning coffee out, laughing.
Scout211
@mappy!: Yes.
I was thinking, “How much money did Trump give (any of the SCOTUS six) to rule in his favor?
Or, “Trump’s secret bribe to (any of the SCOTUS six) has made them billionaires.”
Not true? Prove it!
Princess
@Betty Cracker: See, that was Trump’s body double. 😉
Gvg
Not sure it’s an open thread, but the irs is seeking public comment on direct file. Survey irs.gov/newsroom/irs-asks-for-public-input-on-free-tax-filing-options-to-inform-congressional-report
I hope this works. I want to keep direct file and have thought the odds were low with this administration. It’s so much less annoying than the old way trying to figure out which private company will do it free for your demographic in your state. Usually a different one each year. The irs is still kind of annoying because of identity verification. I suppose that is inevitable. I hope it’s a one time thing.
twbrandt
@catclub: Krugman has a good post on why the markets are not freaking out—yet.
It’s worth a read.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
narya
@Gvg: Done. Thanks for the link–I saw yesterday that there was a public comment opportunity but didn’t have time to do it then; now I don’t have to search for it.
Jackie
@Princess:
He broke that norm his first term. When he was hospitalized for Covid, he refused to turn over the reins to Pence.
WTFGhost
@Baud: Have you been listening to Alanis again? Because unless you do *dramatic* irony, that doesn’t count. No, what will be ironic, is, once Trump dies, Biden will say more stupid shit than Trump does.
@hueyplong: Manual adjustment? “Pele” don’t use no *hands*!
(His caddies call him Pele from his great golfing footwork.)
@Chief Oshkosh: So are most Republicans.
@lowtechcyclist: One reason for the confusion is undoubtedly the January 6 2021 expectation that he’d be declared incompetent, and removed from office for the two weeks remaining in his term, without any congressional action needed.
There are undoubtedly some who also want the nuclear codes out of the crazy old person’s hands as quickly as possible, so that someone with more brains than the average Tic-Tac makes important decisions going forward.
Another Scott
@twbrandt: Thanks for the pointer. Indeed a good and sensible read.
Best wishes,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
New thread up. John Cole is raining on our parade.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Maybe today’s golf trip is a Weekend at Bernie’s event.
Soprano2
When someone is that age, things can change fast, as I learned last year. I wonder, is there anyone around FFOTUS who would overrule him if he says he’s fine when it’s obvious he’s not? If I hadn’t done that, my husband probably would have died last year.
fourmorewars
Hi, anyone hear about the ICE raid on an encampment of firefighters fighting a huge fire in the northwest? Saw it on tiktok.
JetsamPool
I’m enjoying the rumors, especially since the mainstream press will certainly be reluctant to say anything. I will happily contribute to the speculation, as that is something I can do.
zhena gogolia
@Soprano2: There is no one around him who gives a shit about him. You love your husband — that’s a big difference.
Nettoyeur
@Betty Cracker: Nice, but I want Trump to have a stroke that leaves him helpless but conscious for a year. Shut in syndrome …..able to blink but nothing more….would be the best.
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: Those are the practical problems involved in removing Trump via the 25th Amendment. There is a big political problem also: it would likely blow up the Republican Party.
No matter the evidence of Trump’s incompetency, hard-core Trumpers would believe their guy had been done in by the Deep State, and they would never forgive Republican leaders for that stab in the back. A lot of them would boycott the party from then on out.
This is indicated by Georgia’s two Senate runoffs on January 5th, 2021. After the November election, when Warnock and Ossoff advanced to the runoffs, it was commonly assumed they would lose because of the historal pattern for Georgia runoffs; that is, the dropoff in turnout for Democrats was typically much greater than that for Republicans.
In the event, the Democratic turnout dropped by only around 110,000, the result of a strong effort by Georgia Democrats. But Warnock and Ossoff still wouldn’t have won had Republican turnout not dropped by roughly 250,000.* That excessive dropoff was widely atributed to anger among MAGA faithful towards state Republican leaders like Kemp and Raffensperger, because they would not help Trump steal Georgia’s 19 Electoral votes.
So how angry and vindictive would the MAGA faithful be if GOP officials forced their guy out of the White House? Republican leaders really don’t want to find out.
* These numbers are from memory, not notes, but I think they’re pretty close.
Georgia Democrats and their state party really came though in those runoffs, and that took hard work and good organizing. Stacy Abrams deserves some credit here for reinvigorating Georgia’s Democratic party. Abrams has faded from view now, a once-promising politician with two “Ls” after her name. But Abrams helped make Warnock’s and Ossoff’s two “Ws” possible.
mrmoshpotato
I think he looks like he doesn’t have the stamina or the human decency to stay in office.
Probably exhausted from being so OLD and gobbling Putin’s penis a billion times too many!
Jackie
@Nettoyeur:
With Vance staring into those blinking eyes… and smiling.
mrmoshpotato
Hopefully he is dying – from choking on a Big Mac back when Nixon was President.
Ruckus
@Professor Bigfoot:
Some already have.
Many will not.
They want what he is shoveling.
Or at least think they do. But they may find that after his words crap all over them, they might not appreciate it as much as they think they will.
RevRick
What is wrong with all these comments, people?!
I get that we all want to see Trump exited from the worldly stage, but he is not gone yet.
One thing we know about malignant narcissists is that when they feel the cold breath of death about them, they become more dangerous. We are entering a time of maximum peril. His assertion that he can do anything he wants should be viewed as the ominous threat it is. And given that he still “enjoys” the backing of 84% of Republicans, we need to find ways to corral his power. And that includes deliberately screwing things up.
Ruckus
@Snarki, child of Loki:
Didn’t the smell give it away?
He has smelled for decades, so no one is actually going to notice the smell. Unless it gets a lot worse. But that actually takes a few days after……
Anyway
Agree, the VP debate was a low point for our side. Vance had been the subject of so much mockery and managed to get past that and put Walz on the defensive. There’s no point dwelling on the past but it hurts leading to what-ifs….
Ruckus
@RevRick:
I don’t believe that we – as a nation have ever seen anyone in this office this bad and getting worse by the minute, maybe faster. And part of that problem is that he seems like he was worse than any prior office holder when he first got in. The last time.
zhena gogolia
@Anyway: If Walz had gotten Vance in a full nelson and frogmarched him off the stage, it wouldn’t have made a goddamned bit of difference to the election outcome.
If they didn’t pay any attention to Kamala wiping the floor with Chump, they didn’t pay any attention to the VP debate, for god’s sake.
Ruckus
@zhena gogolia:
BINGO.
The people that voted for him wanted him, why I’ll never understand, but they did.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: cackling with laughter at that one!
jimmiraybob
I used to speculate that they could just set him behind the Resolute Desk and manipulate him like a Muppet and his diehard cultists would obey and praise. Now, with AI, it will look a lot more realistic. And, legacy media will keep on keepin’ on.
Professor Bigfoot
@Scout211: “I want to make the son of a bitch deny it!”
JetsamPool
@RevRick: Sure, he can get worse, even though things are pretty bad now. I believe he is not closely involved in drafting his executive orders, or maybe not involved at all. If he were putting out his own orders, they would be more unhinged, approaching Nuggan’s abominations from Pratchett’s Monstrous Regiment. Ban the color blue! Broccoli! Rename NYC to Trump City! Take a 10% interest in ActBlue! You get the picture.
Matt McIrvin
@zhena gogolia:
They did pay attention. You could see it in the movement of polls. Harris was leading Trump until the VP debate.
WTFGhost
Sorry, Trump is precisely as dangerous as he used to be, no more, no less. Yes, he could destroy us all, and he still might. But not because he fears death – because he’s a nasty-minded imbecile who doesn’t understand anything whatsoever.
zhena gogolia
@Matt McIrvin: Post Malone ergo Propter Malone
Another Scott
@fourmorewars:
Popehat points us to this.
Best wishes,
Scott.
fourmorewars
@Another Scott: Thanks. I hope it can be frontpaged here. I mean…THEY’RE FIGHTING A FUCKING WILDFIRE. Christ, it should go national, with the added details, that the too-casual news follower probably is behind on, of all the arresting-them-when-they-report-in-with-the-courts atrocities.
But raiding actual firefighters, you would think, would offend everybody. Speaking of which, as a too-casual attention payer myself years ago, I had actually not been aware of the changeover to ICE from whatever they were called before, until reading about ICE going around a stadium in San Diego being used as a refuge center, after some horrific fires there, and rounding up undocumenteds. This was years and years ago, so they’ve never not been scum.
Captain C
@Matt McIrvin: With FFOTUS, the cult always has someone else to blame. A President Vance would quickly become that person as the economy sinks, especially as the inevitable rumors spread of Couchfucker’s involvement in Dear Leader’s demise.
Captain C
@Princess: If the press even remotely suspected Biden of this, they’d have a major hernia.
tam1MI
The obsession with Biden’s health was designed to immunize the much more sickly, dementia-riddled Trump from the same treatment Biden got.
Uncle Cosmo
But ended up in Bleedmister instead…
Gravenstone
If only there were a mechanism in place to allow the VP to formally question the President’s capacity to fulfill his obligations of office….
Not that I wish that couch fucker to be any closer to the actual levers of power.
Gravie
@Thor Heyerdahl: I have been thinking about that movie a lot lately. Glad you brought it up. Like Stalin’s inner circle, Trump’s inner circle will tear each other to shreds, fighting for power. I am here for it.