Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

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

That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Come on, man.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

In my day, never was longer.

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

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

You are here: Home / Archives for Open Threads

Target! (Open Thread)

by | 272 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,

Valued commenter Sanjeevs flagged some news that deserves its own thread:

CNN — Former President Donald Trump said in a social media post that he’s been informed by special counsel Jack Smith that he is a target of the criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

“Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

Trump also received a target letter earlier this year from Smith before he was indicted in the investigation into the mishandling of classified documents.

Why is he shouting about Sunday night? Anyhoo, I’m short on time at the moment, but please feel free to discuss this or anything else — open thread!

Target! (Open Thread)Post + Comments (272)

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: The Daily Grind

by | 139 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,

Start with the good news:

Then… ICYMI yesterday’s posts:

There’s nothing this gonif won’t try to steal…

show full post on front page

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: The Daily GrindPost + Comments (139)

Grifters Gonna Grift Open Thread: No Labels, and Damned Few Ethics

by | 86 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

Joe Manchin can’t resist media attention any more than I can resist potato chips, and this wouldn’t be the first time he traded a short-term dopamine hit for a long-term political survival problem. But I can’t see Manchin actually committing to a No Labels run — he’d torch whatever credibility (bankability) he still has, in return for… what? An excuse not to contest his Senate seat with Jim Justice?

No Labels is absolutely ‘serious’ (about collecting all the moneys, from (mostly deluded) big and small donors, to throw the 2024 election to the GOP. Joe Manchin, I get the feeling, is just enjoying whatever spotlight he can trap. The media is only too happy to have another Dems in disarray! story for their blessedly shrinking files of same…

No Labels is taking another new, notable step advancing toward a potential third-party presidential bid in 2024, organizing a campaign-style event in New Hampshire on Monday featuring Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.

The move comes as the Washington-based advocacy organization looks to recruit a Democrat and a Republican to form a bipartisan presidential ticket in 2024 — a prospect that could send an unpredictable jolt through the 2024 presidential race, which as of now is trending toward a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

No Labels’ founder and CEO, Nancy Jacobson, told NBC News that No Labels is near its fundraising goal of $70 million, which will go toward its efforts to gain ballot access for its would-be presidential ticket in all 50 states. No Labels is scheduled to hold a convention next April in Dallas, where it’ll formally nominate its presidential ticket.

Manchin continued to leave open the door to a third-party presidential run with No Labels, repeatedly declining to rule it out in an interview with NBC News…

show full post on front page

Grifters Gonna Grift Open Thread: No Labels, and Damned Few EthicsPost + Comments (86)

Hitler Gained Total Power Through Democratic Procedures–And Trump Is Using The Same Playbook

by | 55 Comments

This post is in: , ,

The story is old and familiar.  Hitler led the Nazi party in the last Weimar Reichstag.  In the autumn 1932 elections, his share of the vote declined, but the Nazis remained the largest political force in the body.  So when the last center-right to right-wing coalition fell, President Hindenberg named Hitler as the new Chancellor–the head of what was still, nominally, a coalition government.

And then he got to work, consolidating authority in his office, isolating non-Nazi figures in the government, exploiting the false-flag of the Reichstag fire, and then achieving a majority in the parliament in an election in the spring of 1933 in which unreliable sectors of the electorate were subject to all the varieties of voter suppression that Hitler’s men could come up with.

Hitler Gained Total Power Through Democratic Procedures--And Trump Is Using The Same Playbook

Today we learned via the New York Times of Trump’s men working along very similar lines to similar ends:

Donald J. Trump and his allies are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over the machinery of government if voters return him to the White House in 2025, reshaping the structure of the executive branch to concentrate far greater authority directly in his hands.

Their plans to centralize more power in the Oval Office stretch far beyond the former president’s recent remarks that he would order a criminal investigation into his political rival, President Biden, signaling his intent to end the post-Watergate norm of Justice Department independence from White House political control.

Mr. Trump and his associates have a broader goal: to alter the balance of power by increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House, according to a review of his campaign policy proposals and interviews with people close to him.

That’s the overview. The details are worse:

“The president’s plan should be to fundamentally reorient the federal government in a way that hasn’t been done since F.D.R.’s New Deal,” said John McEntee, a former White House personnel chief who began Mr. Trump’s systematic attempt to sweep out officials deemed to be disloyal in 2020 and who is now involved in mapping out the new approach.

“Our current executive branch,” Mr. McEntee added, “was conceived of by liberals for the purpose of promulgating liberal policies. There is no way to make the existing structure function in a conservative manner. It’s not enough to get the personnel right. What’s necessary is a complete system overhaul.”

…

“What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them,” said Russell T. Vought, who ran the Office of Management and Budget in the Trump White House and now runs a policy organization, the Center for Renewing America.

The Fuhrerprinzep is strong in Mr. McEntee and Mr. Vought, but it’s vital to recognize that Trump is the face of this effort, but the campaign is one as old as Reagan’s mainstreaming of the John Birch Society’s politics.  This is what a substantial and now dominant fraction of the GOP and its oligarchs have been seeking for a long time–really since class-traitor FDR conceived of government as something that could serve the broad public.

The justification for this would-be coup is that hallmark of conservative argument–a bogus constitutional argument that requires those who advance it to ignore both the plain language of the text and 250 years of experience:

The legal theory rejects the idea that the government is composed of three separate branches with overlapping powers to check and balance each other. Instead, the theory’s adherents argue that Article 2 of the Constitution gives the president complete control of the executive branch, so Congress cannot empower agency heads to make decisions or restrict the president’s ability to fire them. Reagan administration lawyers developed the theory as they sought to advance a deregulatory agenda.

An aside: to call this a “theory” is a bit of MSM normalization of extremism. It was an ad hoc argument by radical right wing figures to provide a fig leaf of cover for their otherwise untenable claims.

Trump is in it for himself–as the article notes, “Personal power has always been a driving force for Mr. Trump. He often gestures toward it in a more simplistic manner, such as in 2019, when he declared to a cheering crowd, “I have an Article 2, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.”

That’s pretty clear. We already know from the actions of GOP figures in the states and on the Supreme Court that actual free and fair elections are a threat to their rule.  A President that achieves the unitary executive model of government can shape elections any way he wants; Trump made it clear that he thought he could do that in 2020! If he gets in again that’s the starting point.

All of which is to say that though the NY Times piece does not IMHO state the fascist threat clearly enough, it’s still a clear and pretty unflinching account of the clear and present danger that Trump himself and the movement that is attempting to use him pose to the United States.

2024 really is an existential election.

Open thread, as per usual.

Image: William Hogarth, An Election Entertainment, 1755

Hitler Gained Total Power Through Democratic Procedures–And Trump Is Using The Same PlaybookPost + Comments (55)

Monday Evening Open Thread: Proposed Democratic Theme Song 2024

by | 34 Comments

This post is in: , ,


 
Commentor Miss Bianca suggested we use the Hank Williams classic as our theme for the 2024 races. I’m partial to this version from Hank Jr., with assists from Reba McIntire, Willie Nelson, and Tom Petty.

And on the topic of business and good Democratic governance… Michigan Governor Whitmer’s campaign slogan in 2018 was Fix the Damn Roads — a bipartisan favorite in a very car-dependent state whose climate is hell on manmade construction. Gov. Gretch has kept her promises, and she’s not ashamed to share the news:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 12, 2023

LANSING, Mich. — Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) will begin multiple road and bridge repair projects next week including repaving work on M-227 and rebuilding a ramp on the I-94/I-69 interchange in Calhoun County, resurfacing and other improvement work on M-50 in Jackson County, resurfacing work on M-123 in Luce County, repairs and upgrades to the US-31 bascule bridge over the Manistee River in Manistee County, and chipsealing on M-88 in Antrim County, M-93 in Crawford County, and M-18 in Roscommon and Crawford counties. Based on economic modeling, these investments are expected to support 2,876 jobs.

“Across Michigan, we are moving dirt and fixing the damn roads to drive economic activity, help Michiganders go to work, drop their kids off at school, and run errands safely,” said Governor Whitmer. “Through the end of this construction season, we will have fixed, repaired, or replaced nearly 20,000 lane miles of state-owned roads and 1,400 bridges since I took office, supporting 89,000 jobs without raising taxes by a dime. Let’s roll up our sleeves and keep getting things done.” …

More like this, everybody!

Monday Evening Open Thread: Proposed Democratic Theme Song 2024Post + Comments (34)

War for Ukraine Day 509: The Kerch Bridge

by | 56 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , , ,

 

Quick housekeeping note: Today and tomorrow are exceedingly busy for me. I’ve got a bunch of stuff stuff and family stuff and the usual things you didn’t expect stuff. The rest of the week isn’t much better. Anyhow, I’ll not be around in comments and the post are likely to be more bare bones than usual.

As we began discussing in comments, because the news started trickling out after I posted the update, the Ukrainians hit the Kerch Bridge late last night/early this morning.

We’ll have more after the jump.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

show full post on front page

War for Ukraine Day 509: The Kerch BridgePost + Comments (56)

Whitmer’s Pitch (Open Thread)

by | 159 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

The New Yorker‘s Benjamin Wallace-Wells published a lengthyish profile on Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the political transformation of Michigan into a Democratic stronghold. But before we get to that, I have to share something unpleasant: Trump’s oft-touted plan to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours.

As you may know, ever since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Trump has bragged that the war would never have happened on his watch and that he alone could instantly end it. For many months, Trump refused to elaborate on his alleged plan but finally responded with a bit more detail when pressed by Maria Bartiromo on her Fox News program yesterday. Are you ready? Here it is:

“I know Zelenskyy very well, and I know Putin very well, even better. And I had a good relationship, very good with both of them. I would tell Zelenskyy, no more. You got to make a deal. I would tell Putin, if you don’t make a deal, we’re going to give him a lot. We’re going to [give Ukraine] more than they ever got if we have to. I will have the deal done in one day. One day,” Trump responded.

Jesus Fucking Christ. Fran Lebowitz was right: “You do not know anyone as stupid as Donald Trump.”

Okay, now on to the more pleasant topic of a state, Michigan, that went for Trump in 2016 and now has a Democratic trifecta in Lansing: the governorship and both legislative chambers. Wallace-Wells summarizes Whitmer’s approach as follows:

The Governor’s strategy for revitalizing her state has two parts: to grow, Michigan needs young people; to draw young people, it needs to have the social policies they want.

It appears to be the opposite of the DeSantis strategy for Florida, which is to chase the young folks out and lure the nation’s angriest seniors.

In Michigan, Democrats are protecting women’s reproductive healthcare, LGBTQ rights and investing Inflation Reduction Act funds in ways that are improving communities and creating jobs. But their pitch sounds more pragmatic than ideological, and it seems to be working. Whitmer contrasts that approach with the style of hyper-ideologues like Ron DeSantis and his war on Disney:

“I can’t imagine General Motors taking a stance on just about anything where I would go to war with General Motors,” Whitmer said. “It’s just wild to me to see that Democrats are now viewed as a little more pragmatic and business-friendly than maybe some Republicans. But I think that’s good. I think that’s important. And I would consider myself in that vein.”

Whitmer notes that Dems gained a trifecta with a “different kind of coalition than Democrats have relied on before,” and it’s clear Michigan Dems have benefited from meltdowns on the Repub side, which is a hot mess. That said, Dems aren’t taking anything for granted. If they don’t get everything they want, Democrats in the state understand the stakes:

So far, though, the spectre of a Republican comeback has largely kept everyone in line. “It’s such a huge part of what’s happening right now,” Christy McGillivray, a lobbyist in Lansing for the Sierra Club, told me. “Even when we talk about what’s happening legislatively, no one wants to say bad things about the people who are holding off the fascist Christian takeover.”

Anyhoo, the whole thing is worth a read. As we’ve discussed here, Dems at the national level seem to be settling on a message that sounds a bit like Whitmer’s in Michigan, i.e., individual freedom and shared prosperity. I think it can work in other places too.

Open thread.

Whitmer’s Pitch (Open Thread)Post + Comments (159)