Speaker Pelosi's office just sent out a press release referring to @gopleader as "McCarthy (Q-CA)" pic.twitter.com/I0Ijghe0R3
— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) February 3, 2021
Thursday Evening Open Thread: Nancy *SMECK*Post + Comments (214)
This post is in: A Woman's Place Is In The House, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat
Speaker Pelosi's office just sent out a press release referring to @gopleader as "McCarthy (Q-CA)" pic.twitter.com/I0Ijghe0R3
— Grace Panetta (@grace_panetta) February 3, 2021
The most popular congressional leader in America: Nancy Pelosi
(from new Q poll) pic.twitter.com/PZ9rEcRXuD
— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) February 3, 2021
Elsewhere, the Disloyal Opposition:
McConnell warns on Vote-a-Rama amendments: "We're gonna put senators on the record" – including on Keystone Pipeline, $15 min wage, stim checks to undocumented immigrants, and more
— Erica Werner (@ericawerner) February 4, 2021
Pleeeease don’t throw us in that briarpatch, Massa Mitch!…
Thursday Evening Open Thread: Nancy *SMECK*Post + Comments (214)
by Betty Cracker| 280 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics, Impeach the Motherfucker!, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity
This should be interesting (Le Post):
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the lead House impeachment manager, asked former president Donald Trump on Thursday to provide testimony under oath “either before or during” his Senate trial scheduled next week. In a letter, Raskin asked for testimony about Trump’s conduct Jan. 6 when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in a deadly assault.
If the latest clown carload of lawyers carry the day, the reviled ex-POTUS will probably refuse on constitutional grounds. Is that something the Supreme Court could rule on? I have no idea.
Alternatively, Hair Furor could be deposed at his Disgraceland estate in Florida rather than appearing in person at the crime scene. I hope so. The sound of his silence has been so soothing that I dread the prospect of it ending. I was reflecting on the delights of The Beast’s abrupt muzzling earlier today on Twitter:
It's like someone was blowing an airhorn in our faces for four-plus years, and then it stopped. Nearly four weeks later, I'm still savoring that sweet silence. pic.twitter.com/NQN4MuMvsU
— Betty Cracker ? (@bettycrackerfl) February 4, 2021
TPM is doing a “Your De-Trumping Story” series where readers write in about how they’re experiencing Trump’s absence. Some liken it to leaving an abusive home. Others compare it to completing an odious, stressful task. For me, it’s like an obnoxious noise ceased. Or maybe the relief of depositing a bag of dogshit in a garbage can at the end of a long dog walk. How about you?
Open thread!
ETA: Godspeed, Smartmatic!
Here is the 285-page, $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit that election tech company Smartmatic filed today in state court in Manhattan against Fox, Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell: https://t.co/VYwrKETtyS
Intro: "The Earth is round." pic.twitter.com/dZzyPBuIvd
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) February 4, 2021
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You
new Quinnipiac Poll on how Americans view Biden’s $1.9T covid-relief plan:
Democrats: 97% support,
3% opposeindependents: 68%-25%
Republicans: 37%-47%
that’s a bi-partisan coalition
https://t.co/GnezNEyPZt— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) February 3, 2021
Schumer is passing the organizing resolution and resolution establishing committee memberships by unanimous consent.
Translation: the power-sharing agreement is now officially in place, and Democrats now hold the gavels in the committees.
— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) February 3, 2021
House approves budget resolution for relief package without Republican support https://t.co/xwXTzK6NFL pic.twitter.com/hSjtuGmyqw
— The Hill (@thehill) February 4, 2021
House votes to set the stage for party-line approval of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill https://t.co/hbHP8cBbRX
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 3, 2021
Another thing Biden learned from 2009: Don't wait. Don't have a big, protracted national debate. Don't give Republicans time to flood the zone.
Move forward now.
— Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) February 3, 2021
Democrats have taken to talking about "survival checks" instead of "stimulus checks"
— Erica Werner (@ericawerner) February 3, 2021
The idea that Biden and his team actually learned the proper lesson by what Republicans did in 2009 really vexes some in the press who want him to learn it all over again, for unity.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 3, 2021
Important bite from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) just now on COVID relief bill: "If it's $1.9 trillion, so be it."
"If it's a little smaller than that and we find a targeted need, then that's what we're going to be." pic.twitter.com/nfokxHyhnM
— The Recount (@therecount) February 3, 2021
Thursday Morning Open Thread: President Bi-PartisanPost + Comments (195)
This post is in: Military, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Our Failed Media Experiment
I asked @PressSec if President Biden planned to keep the Space Force, or its scope, and she declined to say.
(She poked fun at the question about an entire branch of the military as the "plane of today," referring to when she'd been asked about the Air Force One paint job.)
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) February 2, 2021
You can lead a media whore to context, but you can’t make them think.
Like kids in the toy aisle pursuing blind bags, much of the WH press corps became addicted to the Trump administration’s high-octane press briefings. Sometimes there was a Chucky doll, sometimes a box of live scorpions, frequently the gaudy packaging contained nothing at all — but it was always something different, therefore EXCITING! (And it didn’t require thought, much less research, to write up afterwards.)
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) February 2, 2021
The White House would like to make clear that it doesn't regard Space Force as a bunch of red shirts.
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) February 3, 2021
Cue the predictable outrage!
Jen Psaki mocked our service heroes.
There is nothing funny about the Space Force.
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) February 2, 2021
It's literally the punch line of an entire TV show. https://t.co/aLkhe8bjmh
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) February 2, 2021
Counterpoint: Netflix’s “Space Force” was not funny. https://t.co/1356Cb0YL1
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) February 3, 2021
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate." https://t.co/z7ik3hSHoU
— Peter Wolf (@peterawolf) February 3, 2021
"We are not revisiting the decision to establish the Space Force," @PressSec says
— Jordan Fabian (@Jordanfabian) February 3, 2021
imo most of the outcry was in bad faith, and you can kind of hear psaki rolling her eyes as she typed her tweet https://t.co/cdZMZEiV77
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) February 3, 2021
do you guys have any conception of how thrilled the coast guard is that the space force exists. dad's got a new punching bag, and hoo boy, it is punchable.
— Peloton InfoSec Analyst (Incident Response) (@CalmSporting) February 3, 2021
Late Night Open Thread: SPACE. FARCE — AgainPost + Comments (48)
This post is in: GOP Death Cult, Impeachment, Trumpery
OAFS OATHS OF FEALTY!!!
BREAK: @MattGaetz tells #WarRoomPandemic he would be willing to resign his Congressional seat in order to defend President Donald Trump in the upcoming impeachment trial. https://t.co/bCRtEnmC0P
— Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) February 3, 2021
This is pure performance art, of course, but it’s a bold opening bid in the GOP Death Cult’s Who Can Be Most Loyal to Our Dear Leader and His Beloved Mob? competition…
this defense amounts to saying as long as a president thinks he’s right he cannot be impeached https://t.co/Ubw5oLf8XD
— kilgore trout, back in some form (@KT_So_It_Goes) February 2, 2021
Impeachment managers: "Since our Nation was founded, it has been well recognized that impeachment is warranted for 'betrayal of the Nation's interest—and especially for betrayal of national security.' Trump's pursuit of power at all costs is a betrayal of historic proportions."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 2, 2021
“No president had ever refused to accept an election result or defied the lawful processes for resolving electoral disputes. Until President Trump.”https://t.co/ReigmXl3hv
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) February 2, 2021
After Trump's team claimed in brief Tues Senate trial was unconstitutional and Trump's speech has 1st Amdt protections, lead impeachment manager Rep. Raskin tells House Dems the Trump defense amounts to "absurd constitutional arguments," w/ @mkraju https://t.co/TJdxZadWLb
— Jeremy Herb (@jeremyherb) February 3, 2021
… Both the House impeachment managers and Trump’s legal team submitted pretrial legal briefs on Tuesday ahead of the trial that begins on February 9. Both sides are expected to submit one more round of pretrial briefs on Monday before the trial begins the following day.
Trump’s lawyers argued Tuesday that it was unconstitutional for the Senate to hold an impeachment trial for a former president. Trump’s team also contended that the former president’s speech about election fraud did not incite the rioters and was protected by the First Amendment. “The 45th President exercised his First Amendment right under the Constitution to express his belief that the election results were suspect,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
But Raskin argued on the Democratic call that Trump’s remarks at a January 6 rally before the rioters attacked the Capitol were not First Amendment-protected speech. His comments weren’t like shouting fire in a crowded theater, Raskin said, but like a fire chief sending a mob to the theater, according to the source.
Raskin added on the call that extremist elements in Russia and Germany view the storming of the Capitol as a great victory for 21st Century fascism…
Speaking to Pennsylvania radio station KYW Newsradio on Wednesday, Trump attorney Bruce L. Castor said he plans to focus on the “technical” defenses of Trump, and that he was not pressured to try to craft a defense relying on Trump’s false and baseless claims of widespread election fraud.
“There are plenty of questions about how the election was conducted throughout the country, but that’s for a different forum. I don’t believe that’s important to litigate in the Senate trial, because you don’t need it,” Castor said…
Like you could stop your client from repeating this bullshite, in whatever forums he can still find.
Trump's impeachment submission says Trump denies it's false that he won the 2020 election in a landslide.
It's basically two submissions: 1) Constitutional arguments; 2) Trump doing his usual lying except filtered through lawyerly language. pic.twitter.com/l8R0UdJg8W
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 2, 2021
Trump's brief today: "It is denied
that President Trump intended to interfere with the counting of Electoral votes."Trump's tweet in January: "The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors."
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) February 2, 2021
GOP senators are wary of Trump’s emerging impeachment defense, which relies partly on advancing the lies about election fraud despite what Castor said today.
Sen. Cramer:
“I think it’s got lower percentage of success than a Hail Mary in the Super Bowl.”https://t.co/uo3JHW70ub— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) February 3, 2021
Fortunately, we own the refs here. And the recording equipment in the video booth. So it’s our word against… well, ‘the truth’ is what we’ll make of it, at least in *this* forum…
Do you have any idea how unbelievably bad a case has to be that Alan Dershowitz feels it is "morally wrong" for him to take it? https://t.co/WyD48v5uM9
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 3, 2021
Bad Craziness Open Thread: Trump’s Second Impeachment ‘Defense’Post + Comments (136)
by Betty Cracker| 167 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity
Someone in the morning thread mentioned a column in The Post by Gary Abernathy, and because I’m addicted to rage like a common Trumper, I went over and read it. I wish I hadn’t, but now that I’ve suffered, I’m asking you to suffer with me by hearing my thoughts on it.*
First, some context. Remember when The Times channeled its self-doubt, repressed guilt, etc., about not foreseeing the outcome of the 2016 election into a series of idiotic Midwestern diner interviews, which were ostensibly about trying to understand Trump voters? They weren’t the only outlet that did that, and they and fellow media anthropologists have been rightly ridiculed for that pointless exercise. But there are worse things. Things like Abernathy.
The Post is a better paper, at least when it comes to covering national politics. They screw up — a lot, sometimes — but their Beltway crew is generally heads and shoulders above The Times, IMO. That said, in a way, The Post’s reaction to the self-doubt, etc., occasioned by being blindsided by the 2016 election outcome was worse than The Times’ tiresome Cletus Safari reaction. The Post went out and bagged themselves a gen-yoo-wine Cletus, carried him metaphorically back to DC and placed him in their opinion page.
That’s Abernathy, Voice of Cletus, a state Republican Party operative and former editor at a Trump-supporting rag in some Christ-forsaken Ohio hellhole.** And ever since he got his Post gig, Abernathy’s output is exactly what you’d expect, i.e., somewhat less interesting than the diner drivel because there’s not even the menu and atmospherics to discuss. It’s been four solid years of unalloyed apologetics for an increasingly unhinged authoritarian wannabe president and defensive screeds about how elitist libs made the Common Clay turn Nazi by being woke scolds.
Okay, enough context. Today’s Abernathy column is different from its predecessors in one way: a new mission intruded on Abernathy’s usual shtick, and that was the need to make “move on from Trump” an attractive offer to “both sides,” i.e., to Trump supporters and to woke scolds. It doesn’t work. The column’s title, written (whether by Abernathy or not, I do not know) from the Trump supporters’ perspective, foretells its failure: “You can disavow Trump without apologizing for his presidency.”
Actually, no, you can’t. Abernathy’s premise is that while Trump is flawed, his supporters are pure and have nothing to apologize for, and Democrats should stop insisting that they apologize and we’ll all just move on like it’s 2015 again. Unpossible, as Abernathy demonstrates. But first, he establishes his Trump voter spokesman bona fides:
I think I can safely speak for millions of Trump voters when I say that the disparaging things said about us by people who never liked us anyway only make us more obstinate.
He’s got the aggrieved tone right. The sentence conveys the ever-present Trumpist delusions of persecution and channels Trumpism’s mass oppositional defiance disorder pretty well. It puts us libs on notice that haranguing Trump supporters only makes things worse. But after dense paragraphs of false equivalences and both-sidesing, Abernathy fails to stick the landing at the nut graf aimed at Trump supporters. He fails because he assumes his fellow Trumpers are where he, Abernathy, is:
But they [Trump voters] must also acknowledge that Trump’s refusal to admit his election loss, and his reckless admonition to “show strength” in order to “stop the steal” just before an angry mob marched on our U.S. Capitol, are acts that no patriotic American can defend.
Abernathy probably realizes the importance of repudiating the Big Lie because he’s an embedded cog in a conservative propaganda machine that exists to sell unpopular plutocrat-friendly policies to the so-called Heartland and Deep South by packaging it in belligerent culture war bullshit. As such, Abernathy knows national instability from whatever quarter is bad for business, a fact Trump propagandists (as opposed to true believers) receive as relevant and actionable information.
But the problem for Abernathy and fellow propagandists is that an indeterminately large portion of Trump voters are true believers, and among their beliefs is that the election was stolen from Trump. They therefore view insurrection as a good thing. Maybe this distinction is less of an abstraction to me than it is to Abernathy because I saw my Trump-poisoned neighbors screaming about it for weeks in front of the local courthouse. Or maybe Abernathy knows that and is just being disingenuous to shoo them along.
Regardless, everyone who carried Trump’s water as he lied constantly and ultimately fomented a violent attack on the US Capitol is responsible for the present national crisis, including Abernathy. I don’t give a shit about their feelings, and I don’t care if they ever apologize. What their support for a malignant, bigoted, incompetent narcissist says about their character is something they need to figure out for themselves if they’re interested in personal growth.
But while we don’t have to give a fuck about their feelings, what we do have to see before we “move on” is that a sufficiently large plurality of the Trump cult is willing to crawl back under its rock instead of engaging in further destabilizing sedition. When the question of whether Trumpism will destroy American democracy is settled — when those who violently turned on our democracy are held to account and those who cheered them on acknowledge reality in deeds if not in words — then we can move on. And not one second sooner.
Open thread.
*Or just skip all the horseshit above and use this as an open thread. That’s my recommendation, actually.
**I live in a Christ-forsaken, swampy Florida hellhole, which I love and have no intention of ever leaving, so I describe Abernathy’s hometown in that way without judgment. I assume his hellhole, like mine, has its unique delights and saving graces too.
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, President Biden, Proud to Be A Democrat
S&P: Biden coronavirus relief proposal would restore economy by summer https://t.co/4i5FNIQjNm pic.twitter.com/aLDP4sBFHZ
— The Hill (@thehill) February 2, 2021
… “We find that if the $1.9 trillion package were put into law, the U.S. economy would reach pre-crisis levels in the second quarter of 2021, with a stronger demand-driven path of growth through 2023,” the report said.
Biden’s proposal would also set the economy on course to exceed its pre-pandemic growth path until the end of 2022, when it would start to slow, S&P said.
On the jobs front, S&P said the injection of government funds would likely push unemployment down below 4 percent by mid-2023, a year earlier than its current forecast. The nationwide unemployment rate stood at 6.7 percent in December, the most recent figures available from the Labor Department…
Question: is President Biden's Covid aid number still $1.9T?@PressSec: "It is."
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) February 2, 2021
well i mean they could pass it *with* republican support. republicans are free to vote for it if they wish. https://t.co/JVV7HroH2W
— Peloton InfoSec Analyst (Incident Response) (@CalmSporting) February 2, 2021
<deadpan>Gee, I’m shocked, I never saw that happening</deadpan>
Name a big vote where Manchin was a deciding vote vs Dems. I’m pretty sure you can’t.
Schumer’s been acting supremely confident about this from the moment we won the GA seats. He’s known for a while he had Manchin https://t.co/LlGaK5iOGF
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) February 2, 2021
In COVID politics, doing something always > doing nothing. Plus, my broken-record reminder that there is no constituency for fiscal conservatism, and that includes among conservatives. => https://t.co/xAj0UEpwsJ
— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) February 2, 2021
pass an incredibly popular covid relief package and then make every republican vote against it. run on it during the midterms. if you lose, you were gonna lose the house anyway. you got people relief. if you win, you win, and people got money and, you know, you won. twice.
— Peloton InfoSec Analyst (Incident Response) (@CalmSporting) February 3, 2021
Proud to Be A Democrat Open Thread: Moving Forward on the Covid Relief BillPost + Comments (333)