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A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

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

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

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

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

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

Peak wingnut was a lie.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

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Trumpery

You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Trumpery

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Lest We Forget

by Anne Laurie|  March 30, 20166:59 pm| 68 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Republicans in Disarray!, Assholes, Republican Crime Syndicate - aka the Bush Admin.

"I did credential a male prostitute once for the White House press room, but those were weird times." https://t.co/iJMVjopRyW

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) March 30, 2016

Rove blasts Trump: 'Of course, I never manhandled a reporter or anyone else' https://t.co/KllEZTvgak | AP photo pic.twitter.com/p5yJohwfdz

— POLITICO (@politico) March 30, 2016

The Repubs have been just this bad for a loooong time. But in Dubya’s day, they could get away with being less public about their non-stop venality.

Apart from adjusting the signal-to-noise ratio, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Lol remember how the Republicans have this deep, formidable bench this cycle hahahahahhahaha

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) March 30, 2016

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Lest We ForgetPost + Comments (68)

Late Night Open Thread: Schadenfreude Strikes Again

by Anne Laurie|  March 30, 20161:09 am| 61 Comments

This post is in: Cruz-ifiction, Election 2016, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!, Schadenfreude

Donald Trump is no longer keeping pledge to support the Republican nominee https://t.co/RoFQW8YW1w #GOPTownHall https://t.co/QXb50c17Ws

— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) March 30, 2016

That sound you just heard is @Reince having a heart attack.

If Trump turns on the GOP, the GOP is dead. https://t.co/iBGwsOArSS

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) March 30, 2016

As though anyone with a historical memory extending back more than six months ever expected Donald Trump to stand by a signed pledge, once it became inconvenient.

For fairness (and because I enjoyed it), Jim Newell raises the question “Why Did Ted Cruz Spend Seven Months Sucking Up to Donald Trump?”:

“If you look at a number of the candidates that took on Donald Trump early on,” Sen. Ted Cruz told Wisconsin radio host Charlie Sykes on Wednesday, “they ended up as roadkill.”

These comments mark the first public occasion of Cruz describing the rationale behind his roughly seven-month strategy of kissing Donald Trump’s ass. Seven months ago seems like a quaint and gentler time in American politics, considering that Trump and his allies are now, for example, pushing the message that Heidi Cruz is Thomas Eagleton without the looks. These garbage attacks, which are really happening, worked the usually self-possessed Cruz into a lather on Thursday, culminating in Cruz calling Trump a “sniveling coward.” (He was not so enraged, however, as to rule out supporting Trump should he become the nominee. Country comes first.)…

Cruz is a smart, calculating politician, and surely from the beginning he recognized that Trump was a nightmarish fraud. The reasoning here that he didn’t go after his principal rival for the nomination because he was worried about Trump trouncing him confirms cowardice on his part. It also promotes a causal myth about why those other candidates who did go after Trump became “roadkill.” Worst of all, it portrays the relationship that Cruz sought with Trump too innocently. He wasn’t making an end-run around Trump so much as he was using Trump as a tackle to clear his own lane through the field…

What’s most inexcusable and morally shameful about Cruz during this time—and he would probably agree—is the way he stood down during some of Trump’s vilest moments…

I agree with Cole that Cruz would be an even worse president than Trump, if only because Cruz has actual plans and goals were he to reach the Oval Office. On the other hand, I also think Ted Cruz is such a repellant excuse for a human being, even by Repub standards, that if a coup is attempted at the Cleveland convention the stalking horse will be “Anyone But Ted Cruz.” (Probably Paul Ryan, if he’ll offer Kasich the VP slot, although Willard Romney can never be ruled out of fruitless contention). Someone at TNR said Cruz seemed to be “fetal pig tissue grown in an old cowboy boot”, which sums up his affect nicely.

Late Night Open Thread: Schadenfreude Strikes AgainPost + Comments (61)

Open Thread: There Is No Bottom to the GOP Barrel

by Anne Laurie|  March 25, 20166:17 am| 160 Comments

This post is in: Cruz-ifiction, Election 2016, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republicans in Disarray!, Assholes

Just because the National Enquirer was right about John Edwards doesn't mean it's right about Ted Cruz being 5 weasels in a man skin suit.

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) March 25, 2016

So the National Enquirer claims Ted Cruz had immoral congress with at least five women who are not his wife (which is a nasty enough image over breakfast, for sure). Some people say the story was planted by Donald Trump, and even claim that one of those women might just be Donald Trump’s current campaign spokesperson. This after personally insulting Mrs. Ted Cruz! Surely a Godly and publicly uxorious man like Ted Cruz would be righteously outraged by any hint that his most potent political rival would stoop so low! Surely a gentleman like Ted Cruz would repudiate any possible further working relationship with… oh, wait:
.

.@tedcruz calls @realdonaldtrump "sniveling coward" – but won't say he won't back him as GOP nominee. Our exchange: pic.twitter.com/ACZMBvr4aS

— Hallie Jackson (@HallieJackson) March 24, 2016


***********
Anybody else as glad to wrap up this week as I am? What’s on the agenda while we do so?

To quote Churchill – a Cruz favorite – "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." https://t.co/iAJnkaQ6PN

— Wyeth Ruthven (@wyethwire) March 24, 2016

Open Thread: There Is No Bottom to the GOP BarrelPost + Comments (160)

Open Thread: “Class Tells When There Is No Class”

by Anne Laurie|  March 24, 20169:00 am| 66 Comments

This post is in: Cruz-ifiction, Election 2016, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Assholes

538 has found an electoral map worthy of its name. https://t.co/Lmu3rUjmhS

— AlGiordano (@AlGiordano) March 24, 2016

Exclusive @FiveThirtyEight projection on what the Electoral College would look like if women refuse to vote Trump. pic.twitter.com/kmjxmjnY1l

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) March 24, 2016


.

I remember the quote in the title as coming from Jimmy Breslin, and yes he was talking about politicians. Hat tip to commentor LAMH36 for the following:

I'll take "Holy shit, this guy is likely a major party's presidential nominee" for $100, Alex. pic.twitter.com/AOSkhFF9Tz

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) March 24, 2016

.@chrisgeidner .@elonjames the final #GOP debate will be a round of The Dozens hosted on a high school bleacher. All Mamas are fair game

— kevin munroe (@kevlarcomedy) March 24, 2016

Apart from buying more popcorn, what’s on the agenda for the day?

Open Thread: <em>“Class Tells When There Is No Class”</em>Post + Comments (66)

Open Thread: GOP Has-Beens for Trump

by Anne Laurie|  March 21, 201610:45 pm| 75 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Grifters Gonna Grift, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Assholes

That gnashing of teeth you are hearing? Those wails? That's Bill Kristol as his pet flirts with Trump. https://t.co/LjQJ0WCs6U

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) March 20, 2016

From The Hill:

GOP White House hopeful Donald Trump huddled with Washington, D.C., Republicans in the shadow of the Capitol on Monday, an attempt by the political newcomer to appear more presidential as he zeroes in on his party’s nomination…

Not a single member of House or Senate GOP leadership attended the two-hour confab, however. Most attendees, like Hunter, were backbencher lawmakers who have already endorsed Trump. They include GOP Reps. Tom Marino (Pa.), Scott DesJarlais (Tenn.), Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) and Chris Collins (R-N.Y.).

Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) were on hand as well. Sessions has endorsed the real estate mogul, while Cotton not backed a candidate.

Former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), now president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, also attended, as did former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), a failed presidential candidate in 2012, and his wife, Callista.

The Gingriches were later swarmed by reporters and TV cameras. Asked by The Hill for his main takeaway from the meeting, Gingrich replied: “The lunch was pretty good.”

Trump did pick up one endorsement after the gathering. Former Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.), who resigned from Congress in 1999 over an extramarital affair and is now a lobbyist, said he voted for another unidentified candidate but now is going all in for Trump…

The businessman also said he’ll release a list of seven to 10 potential choices for the Supreme Court to push back against concerns that he might not nominate a conservative — a charge made repeatedly by his main rival, Ted Cruz…

The Heritage Foundation is helping to draft the list of potential court picks, Trump said.

In case you’ve forgotten the details, Bob Livingston fled congress when Larry Flynt turned up evidence that he’d been calling for Bill Clinton’s impeachment while carrying on his own adulterous affair. I guess he admires Trump as a more successful hypocrite…

Poll: Majority of Americans want to punch Trump in the face https://t.co/KRwVwsc6g5 pic.twitter.com/FgukvynE4z

— The Hill (@thehill) March 21, 2016

(Okay, it was a SurveyMonkey web poll… but I couldn’t resist.)

Open Thread: GOP Has-Beens for TrumpPost + Comments (75)

Monday Morning Open Thread: The GOP’s Nekkid ‘Establishment’ Emperors

by Anne Laurie|  March 21, 20166:23 am| 148 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Excellent Links, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, Republicans in Disarray!

trump tramples liberty toles

(Tom Toles via GoComics.com)
.

Nothing particularly new, but Frank Rich has a lovely Monday morning pick-me-up in NYMag – “Can we please retire the notion that Donald Trump is hijacking someone else’s party?”:

… The Republican Elites. The Establishment. The Party Elders. The Donor Class. The Mainstream. The Moderates. Whatever you choose to call them, they, at least, could be counted on to toss the party-­crashing bully out.

To say it didn’t turn out that way would be one of the great understatements of American political history. Even now, many Republican elites, hedging their bets and putting any principles in escrow, have yet to meaningfully condemn Trump. McCain says he would support him if he gets his party’s nomination. The Establishment campaign guru who figured the Trump problem would solve itself moved on to anti-Trump advocacy and is now seeking to unify the party behind Trump, waving the same white flag of surrender as Chris Christie. Every major party leader — Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Reince Priebus, Kevin McCarthy — has followed McCain’s example and vowed to line up behind whoever leads the ticket, Trump included. Even after the recurrent violence at Trump rallies boiled over into chaos in Chicago, none of his surviving presidential rivals would disown their own pledges to support him in November. Trump is not Hitler, but those who think he is, from Glenn Beck to Louis C.K., should note that his Vichy regime is already in place in Washington, D.C.

Since last summer, Trump, sometimes in unwitting tandem with Bernie Sanders, has embarrassed almost the entire American political ecosystem — pollsters, pundits, veteran political operatives and the talking heads who parrot their wisdom, focus-group entrepreneurs, super-pac strategists, number-crunching poll analysts at FiveThirtyEight and its imitators. But of all the emperors whom Trump has revealed to have few or no clothes, none have been more conspicuous or consequential than the GOP elites. He has smashed the illusion, one I harbored as much as anyone, that there’s still some center-right GOP Establishment that could restore old-school Republican order if the crazies took over the asylum…

Did the pillars of the Establishment fail to turn back the Trump insurgency because they have no balls? Because they have no credibility? Because they have too little support from voters in their own party? Because they don’t even know who those voters are or how to speak their language? To some degree, all these explanations are true. Though the Republican Establishment is routinely referenced as a potential firewall in almost every media consideration of Trump’s unexpected rise, it increasingly looks like a myth, a rhetorical device, or, at best, a Potemkin village. It has little power to do anything beyond tardily raising stop-Trump money that it spends neither wisely nor well and generating an endless torrent of anti-Trump sermons for publications that most Trump voters don’t read. The Establishment’s prize creation, Marco Rubio — a bot candidate programmed with patriotic Reaganisms, unreconstructed Bush-Cheney foreign-policy truculence, a slick television vibe, and a dash of ethnicity — was the biggest product flop to be marketed by America’s Fortune 500 stratum since New Coke…

For all the Republican talk about “personal responsibility,” the party’s leaders have worked overtime to escape any responsibility for fanning the swamp fevers that produced Trump: They instead blame him on the same bogeymen they blame everything on — Obama and the news media. What GOP elites can’t escape is the sinking feeling that a majority of Republican voters are looking for a president who will repudiate them and, implicitly, their class. Trump refuses to kowtow to the Establishment—and it is precisely that defiance, as articulated in his ridicule of Romney and Jeb Bush and Megyn Kelly and Little Marco, that endears him to Republican voters and some Democrats as well. The so-called battle for the “soul” of the Republican Party is a battle over power, not ideology. Trump has convinced millions of Americans that he will take away the power from the pinheads on high and return it to people below who feel (not wrongly) that they’ve gotten a raw deal. It’s the classic populist pitch, and it will not end well for those who invest their faith in Trump. He cares about no one but himself and would reward his own class with extravagant tax cuts like any Republican president. But the elites, who represent the problem, have lost any standing that might allow them to pretend to be part of the solution…

***********
Apart from the schadenfreude of enjoying a good rant over breakfast, what’s on the agenda as we start another week?

Monday Morning Open Thread: The GOP’s Nekkid ‘Establishment’ EmperorsPost + Comments (148)

Late Night Open Thread: Utah in Play… Maybe

by Anne Laurie|  March 21, 20163:33 am| 52 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Religion, Republicans in Disarray!

Updated to add this insane stat from new poll out tonight. Will Utah be in play in general? https://t.co/tm79JYUh7W pic.twitter.com/fApF84iP1W

— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) March 20, 2016

Sometimes progressives assume — not without reason — that calling oneself a “religious voter” really means “I’m a narrow-minded bigot looking for an excuse to feel all superior about my racism and misogyny.” But there are people who won’t vote for Donald Trump because his loudly professed xenophobia is contrary to the teachings of their religion, and some of them are Christians.

On the other hand, since I’m not well-versed in Mormon theology, I’m not sure how Ted Cruz’s oleaginous Domininism measures up, or fails to, for Latter-Day Saints less bipolar than Glenn Beck…

The White Horse's Ass Prophecy? pic.twitter.com/aJqWaaxKiH

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) March 20, 2016

Late Night Open Thread: Utah in Play… MaybePost + Comments (52)

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