Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
I’ve transited through four countries since June 19th and I am not quite certain what time or day it is, but sources converge on it being Friday morning UK time.
Just going to throw up an open thread featuring this very amusing post by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA):
I am almost through my work backlog and will have more to say later about my first, very brief, visit to the US during Trump II. Meanwhile, good morning or whatever; talk amongst yourselves.
Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" is absolutely bombing with the American public
It's quite spectacular just how unpopular the President's flagship bill is
usapolling.substack.com/p/trumps-big…— Polling USA (@usapolling.bsky.social) June 26, 2025 at 4:35 PM
As Trump tries to push his One Big Beautiful Bill through Congress, the American people don’t seem particularly thrilled about what it entails. Polling from several firms reveals that Americans are broadly opposed to the bill, as even the most favorable poll still shows strong opposition.
A Fox News poll conducted by Beacon and Shaw found that 38% of Americans support the bill, while 59% oppose it. Support only declines from there, as YouGov reports 35% in favor, while Quinnipiac and Pew Research both found just 29% support.
Three of the four polls show opposition to the bill above 50%, except for Pew, which still finds 49% opposed to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act…
What’s especially notable is that Republicans aren’t uniformly in support of the bill, as one might expect. Support among Republicans ranges from a high of 73% to a low of 56%, suggesting many on the right aren’t sold on the bill’s contents.
Independents are firmly against it, with opposition ranging from 51% to 73%. Among Democrats, support never climbs above 10%…
YOLO Is the Order of the Day in GOP Budget Logic talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/yolo-…
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) June 25, 2025 at 11:53 AM
With the President’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” there’s been a general assumption. It’s super, super unpopular. And, also, it doesn’t matter. It’s going to pass anyway. That assumption is very likely true. Perhaps they’ll hit some speed bumps that prevent the bill from passing in time for July 4th, as Trump wants and has demanded. But these kinds of bills tend to be “failure is not an option” type affairs. You have obstacles but they get crumpled like things that go under a steam roller or mashed up in an industrial trash compactor. That’s particularly the case in Trump’s second term, where hints of the old ungovernable GOP caucus get flattened when word comes from Trump that it’s over. But here we see again the central tension point of the Trump presidency: he owns, dominates and controls everything but public opinion.
That much of it is almost conventional wisdom at this point. The bill thing is really, really unpopular. Even the inside-DC sheets say as much. So Republicans are starting to do something we’re used to seeing Democrats do with some of their more aspirational policies. Which is basically this: You think it’s unpopular. But that’s just because you’re not polling it right.
Famous last words….
… There are things in the bill that actually do have some public support: no taxes on tip income, a small but real tax cut for average earners (more on this in a moment), an increase in the child tax credit. But these are generally small, ancillary parts of the bill and the bill has already been defined as a mix of massive tax cuts for the very rich, draconian cuts to Obamacare and Medicaid and exploding deficits. That’s sticking because it’s the simple numerical reality of the bill. But it’s also sticking for an equally important reason: Even more than the first, the second Trump presidency has overflowed with the atmospherics of ultra-wealth and communicated clearly that it is government, to paraphrase Lincoln, of, by and for the ultra-rich.
You see it in the Cabinet, in the trooping of billionaires at the front seats of Trump’s inaugural, the world’s richest man given two or three months to actually run the government by himself. Trump critics get lost in the doomerist plasma of “Nothing matters.” But these things do matter. The public is getting the impression that the Trump BBB is taking things from average families to give things to the ultra-wealthy not only because that’s what it does but because Trump’s been communicating in imagery for months that that’s what this White House is about.
And there’s one additional point that doesn’t figure into most of these conversations. People assume that there are massive tax cuts. They may go mostly to the super rich. But, people assume, they’re there.
Only they’re kinda not there…
Late Night Open Thread: GOP Self-Interest RulesPost + Comments (41)
(Image by NEIVANMADE)
Almost all of Ukraine is under air raid alert because of Russian drone swarms at 3:00 AM local time in Ukraine/8:00 PM EDT.
The cost:
Kyiv says goodbye to 11yo Mariyka and her mother — two of the nine beautiful lives stolen by russia’s latest missile strike. The victims aren’t numbers. These are real people. Mothers, daughters, families, classmates, colleagues. russia is a terrorist state.
— Olena Halushka (@halushka.bsky.social) June 26, 2025 at 10:35 AM
President Zelenskyy addressed the European Council meeting today.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi: "The President ignored the Constitution by unilaterally engaging our military without Congressional authorization. I join my colleagues in demanding answers from the Administration on this operation which endangers American lives and risks further escalation."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) June 22, 2025 at 10:25 AM
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People surprised by this forget that Nancy Pelosi voted against the Iraq War in 2002. She's a China Hawk, sure. But she also is a big believer in the House being able to rein in the Executive Branch.
— Eric Michael Garcia (@ericmgarcia.bsky.social) June 25, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Axios:
House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday threw her weight behind a rapidly accelerating effort by Democratic lawmakers to limit Trump’s power to unilaterally strike Iran.
Why it matters: Democrats are infuriated that the Trump administration postponed briefings on the Middle East that were planned for Tuesday, and that rage is helping to fuel what was initially a fringe effort.– “Yesterday, the Administration decided to withhold intelligence … in a slap in the face to the Congress,” Pelosi said in a statement.
– “That is why I am supporting War Powers Resolutions which reassert the Article One powers of the Congress and ensure the Administration does not keep the American people and their Representatives in the dark.”
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we went through like twenty years of people not realizing that Pelosi was the progressive wing’s representative in House leadership
— post malone ergo propter malone (@proptermalone.bsky.social) June 25, 2025 at 10:55 PM
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not a member of the nancy pelosi marching and chowder society but the idea that she has been anything other than a pretty huge lib over her career is laughable
— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) June 25, 2025 at 11:04 PM
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Open Thread: Nancy Pelosi, Still Fighting the Good FightsPost + Comments (203)
Set your clock to Stockholm time, 'cause only Sweden knows the score.
Cartoon by Pat Byrnes @patbyrnes.bsky.social— Fiona "Fi" Webster ?????? (@fiona-webster22.bsky.social) June 24, 2025 at 6:55 AM
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Here's an appealing idea that also made me laugh.
— Khashoggi's Ghost (@urocklive1.bsky.social) June 25, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Thursday Afternoon Open Thread: Prize SpecimensPost + Comments (106)
Trump is enraged about the leaked classified report that interrupted his victory dance over the “complete and total obliteration” of Iran’s nuclear program. [NYT]
A preliminary classified U.S. report says the American bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran set back the country’s nuclear program by only a few months, according to officials familiar with the findings.
The strikes sealed off the entrances to two of the facilities but did not collapse their underground buildings, the officials said the early findings concluded.
So, all that huffing and puffing, and it’s entrances blocked? Sad. Like Laura Loomer handcuffing herself to half of a double door at Twitter’s NYC office building sad.
This morning, Trump sent Kegsbreath out to insist that actually, it was TOO a total and complete obliteration, and if you don’t think so, that’s because you hate the troops. Also, wave more flags.
“How about we talk about how special America is?” — Secretary of Defense Hegseth castigates the press for “cheering against Trump” (he even mentions Fox!) and urges them to do unthinking propaganda stories about how awesome the troops are
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) June 26, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Okay, that was weird and creepy and North Korea-like, but it was also ineffective because the smelly overgrown toddler was still throwing toys out of his gilded playpen this morning — after the scoldy Pentagon press conference:
But the tantrum was even weirder last night if you scroll down. Trump orders the judiciary of another sovereign nation to cancel an upcoming trial:
BREAKING NEWS…I was shocked to hear that the State of Israel, which has just had one of its Greatest Moments in History, and is strongly led by Bibi Netanyahu, is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their Great War Time Prime Minister! Bibi and I just went through HELL together, fighting a very tough and brilliant longtime enemy of Israel, Iran, and Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his LOVE for the incredible Holy Land. Anybody else would have suffered losses, embarrassment, and chaos! Bibi Netanyahu was a WARRIOR, like perhaps no other Warrior in the History of Israel, and the result was something that nobody thought was possible, a complete elimination of potentially one of the biggest and most powerful Nuclear Weapons anywhere in the World, and it was going to happen, SOON! We were fighting, literally, for the Survival of Israel, and there is nobody in Israel’s History that fought harder or more competently than Bibi Netanyahu. Despite all of this, I just learned that Bibi has been summoned to Court on Monday for the continuation of this long running, (He has been going through this “Horror Show” since May of 2020 – Unheard of! This is the first time a sitting Israeli Prime Minister has ever been on trial.), politically motivated case, “concerning cigars, a Bugs Bunny doll, and numerous other unfair charges” in order to do him great harm. Such a WITCH HUNT, for a man who has given so much, is unthinkable to me. He deserves much better than this, and so does the State of Israel. Bibi Netanyahu’s trial should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero, who has done so much for the State. Perhaps there is no one that I know who could have worked in better harmony with the President of the United States, ME, than Bibi Netanyahu. It was the United States of America that saved Israel, and now it is going to be the United States of America that saves Bibi Netanyahu. THIS TRAVESTY OF “JUSTICE” CAN NOT BE ALLOWED!
Emphasis mine. What the fucking fuck?
Trump held a grudge against Netanyahu after the PM congratulated Biden on his win in 2020. But since Netanyahu let Trump in on his glorious victory over Iran (i.e., played Trump to obtain U.S. pilots to deliver costly U.S. ordnance), all is forgiven and Netanyahu is “a WARRIOR, like perhaps no other Warrior in the History of Israel.” (More proof Trump has never read a bible in his life.)
Anyway, this is all so fucking weird. I don’t know what to make of it.
Open thread.
Trump Orders Israel to “Pardon” NetanyahuPost + Comments (176)
Even if you are a “I can read it faster than I can watch it or listen to it person”, I hope you’ll make an exception and watch this video.
It’s less than 3 minutes long.
Then maybe we can talk about what we agree with, anything we might not agree with, and maybe use this as a jumping off point to talk about other ideas we might have about how we win.
While I wait 3 minutes for you all to finishing watching the video :-) can I just say that Betty Cracker has had some seriously kick-ass posts here in the morning lately.
Open thread.
