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These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

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You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Everybody saw this coming.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

I really should read my own blog.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

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Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

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You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Republican Stupidity

Republican Stupidity

C.R.E.A.M. Open Thread: Repubs Humping the OBBBA ‘Yuge Ugly Horrible Budget’

by Anne Laurie|  June 28, 20252:57 pm| 70 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republicans in Disarray!

Quickly on the big bill:
– they released updated (not final) text overnight
– it got worse in many places (energy tax credits specifically) and the nods to moderates are token at best
– Paul, Johnson, and Tillis are confirmed no to move forward today
– Thune can't lose another vote

— David Dayen (@ddayen.bsky.social) June 28, 2025 at 11:23 AM

Nothing like spending a summer weekend watching the world’s worst semi-human beings debate the parameters of a bill that seems to have been named after the sprawling monster that comes for greedy children in a third-rate children’s book…

Thune is not very good at this. There's no way McConnell would have let this thing come out without 50 +1.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) June 28, 2025 at 11:56 AM


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I truly think it’s reprehensible that elected Republicans are calling the largest Medicaid cuts in history by far “protecting Medicaid.”
This bill would kick more than ten million people off Medicaid. It isn’t strengthening the program – it’s denying access for millions.

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— Bobby Kogan (@bbkogan.bsky.social) June 28, 2025 at 9:47 AM

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Right now, no one knows:
-how large the Medicaid cuts are
-how many people will lose health insurance
-how large the tax cuts are
-who wins/loses by how much
-how much it adds to the deficit
Rs are going at lightning speed BECAUSE they want to pass the “big beautiful bill” before anyone knows

— Bobby Kogan (@bbkogan.bsky.social) June 28, 2025 at 1:10 PM

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TPM’s live feed: “Senate GOP Keeps Medicaid Cuts, Delays Implementation in Revised ‘Big Beautiful’ Bill”:

show full post on front page

The wildly unpopular “Big Beautiful” reconciliation package has encountered possibly existential challenges, though Senate Republicans still hope to bring it to the floor this weekend.

Senate Republicans rewrote key provisions of it after Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough rejected many of Republicans’ proposed Medicaid cuts, forcing their hand. Senate Budget Committee released the updated legislative text, with changes to the Medicaid and clean energy portions, shortly before midnight on Friday. The new text keeps the controversial cut to the provider tax, pushing back the implementation up to 2028.

It is unclear if the changes will get Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to a favorable whip count this weekend to pass Trump’s megabill.

Several senators are still worried about the bill’s deep Medicaid cuts, specifically the proposal that would curtail provider taxes. Others continue to push back against the bill for not going far enough, claiming it does not cut nearly enough in spending…

I mean, what is funny about all this if we take a step back is how large a repudiation of everything going on is of Elon and what he was trying to accomplish.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) June 28, 2025 at 1:42 PM

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Elon, Johnson, Trump, et. al: "THIS IS WHEN WE'RE GOING TO GET THE HOUSE IN ORDER. REDUCE THE SIZE AND SCOPE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, DRAMATICALLY CUT SPENDING."
~*fast forward 5 months*~: Listen if you squint at the numbers right it prints money and we're not spending 4 trillion, bing bong

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) June 28, 2025 at 1:44 PM

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Fakest guy on the planet.

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— Clean Observer (@hammbear2024.bsky.social) June 28, 2025 at 1:56 PM

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Mike Johnson would hate for the public to know anything.
Republicans rely on clueless constituents.

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— Being Liberal ®🗽🇺🇲🇨🇦🇲🇽🇪🇺🇺🇳🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 (@beingliberal.bsky.social) June 26, 2025 at 8:20 PM

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🚨🚨BREAKING: Susan Collins is concerned.

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) June 24, 2025 at 3:20 PM

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No one ever loss money voting on Susan Collins to wimp out. What are the odds?

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— David Corn (@davidcorn.bsky.social) June 28, 2025 at 1:45 PM

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I will admit that it's kind of funny watching the GOP insist this bill is going to save their electoral prospects in the midterms when like 20% of the country actually likes it and it's even not in great shape with their own party.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) June 28, 2025 at 12:33 PM

C.R.E.A.M. Open Thread: Repubs Humping the OBBBA ‘Yuge Ugly Horrible Budget’Post + Comments (70)

SCOTUS (Mis)Education Open Thread: Every Parent A Cleric

by Anne Laurie|  June 28, 20259:43 am| 181 Comments

This post is in: Education, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Supreme Court Corruption

Wow that’s broad. Incredibly broad.
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p…

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— Raffi Melkonian (@rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social) June 27, 2025 at 11:04 AM


===
Mister, we could use a man like Ronald Reagan agaaain…

the percentage of white children in school was around 80% in 1980. today it is right around 45%, give or take.
as the supreme court attempts to uphold that this is a white man’s republic it is going to smash headlong into reality, and the results are going to be catastrophic.

— not an art thief (@famousartthief.bsky.social) June 27, 2025 at 10:49 AM

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Worth pointing out that only one of the Republican appointees attended public schools, and I’m guessing none of their kids have.

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— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) June 27, 2025 at 1:15 PM


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It also creates bureaucratic problems for schools. Where do kids go when teachers explain that slavery is bad but Phundie Phylis’s snowflakes leave the class? Who watches them? And how will Phundie Phylis know when her kids should be pulled? Do teachers need to send out daily instruction plans? /2

— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) June 27, 2025 at 1:04 PM


===

show full post on front page

Another impact will be parents "excusing" students from assignments that all of a sudden conflict with their "I just made it up" religion.

— cooptimo.bsky.social (@cooptimo.bsky.social) June 27, 2025 at 1:08 PM


—

looking forward to some parents suing to demand segregated schools because integration violates their religious beliefs

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— jamelle (@jamellebouie.net) June 27, 2025 at 11:16 AM


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it's important to understand that they want to threaten the very essence of public education. the conservative plan – the plot to enslave america – requires them to destroy public education and replace it with private academies for the rich, religious instruction and prison-like schools for the rest

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— mtsw (@mtsw.bsky.social) June 27, 2025 at 11:25 AM


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There is, in general right now, a move on the larger right to change the goal of higher education from an academic enterprise (in all its fashions: taking the best students, pushing knowledge forward, etc.) and change back into a means of enforcing differences of class between groups.

[image or embed]

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) June 27, 2025 at 4:05 PM


—

Like, what they're doing makes perfect sense if their goal is to remove the actual educational purpose of higher ed, and instead transform it into part of the cultural apparatus to enforce an aristocratic white class.

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) June 27, 2025 at 4:06 PM


—

One thing that seems clear is that this case was so poorly decided and not thought out that it's likely going to force this SCOTUS to calvinball and somehow say that Christianity is protected but no other religions are. Which I expect! But they've really dug a hole for themselves.

[image or embed]

— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) June 27, 2025 at 6:42 PM

SCOTUS (Mis)Education Open Thread: Every Parent A ClericPost + Comments (181)

Trump Orders Israel to “Pardon” Netanyahu

by Betty Cracker|  June 26, 202512:39 pm| 176 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, Clown Shoes, General Stupidity

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

[image or embed]

— 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:

Trump on truth social: "FAKE NEWS REPORTERS FROM CNN & THE NEW YORK TIMES SHOULD BE FIRED, IMMEDIATELY!!! BAD PEOPLE WITH EVIL INTENTIONS!!!"

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)

Schrödinger’s Ceasefire (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  June 24, 20257:10 am| 186 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Clown Shoes, General Stupidity

So this happened yesterday:

I mean this is what it would sound like if you asked a fourth grader to imagine what a ceasefire would be like. and yet our entire political class is committed to never mentioning that the man is an imbecile

[image or embed]

— Will Stancil (@whstancil.bsky.social) June 23, 2025 at 11:58 PM

And then this madness a few hours later:

Schrödinger's Ceasefire (Open Thread)

And then this tweet-scream moments ago:

Schrödinger's Ceasefire (Open Thread) 1

Maybe while I was putting pig stickers on my screenshots to spare y’all the sight of his hideous visage, Trump emitted even more crazypants stuff. I don’t know. I’m not going to look.

This is, of course, insane.

Open thread!

Schrödinger’s Ceasefire (Open Thread)Post + Comments (186)

The Vibes War

by Betty Cracker|  June 23, 20259:29 am| 265 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, General Stupidity, Our Failed Media Experiment

“A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”

— Hillary Clinton, 2016

Donald Trump and the Republican Party he acquired as a wholly owned subsidiary are a catastrophe for the United States. We’ve lost ground on every important metric, becoming less free and prosperous at home and less influential as a force for democracy and innovation abroad.

Trump’s U.S. has discouraged and betrayed allies while emboldening and strengthening foes. Trump Republicans are reversing fragile social progress and exacerbating wealth inequality, setting in motion repercussions that will reverberate for generations.

Given the massive setbacks we’ve experienced under Trump’s malign and chaotic rule, it’s unsurprising that so many opponents credit a foreign influence operation for Trump’s rise. And indeed bad actors like Russia indisputably played a part in producing this endlessly humiliating clown show.

But the major force in all of this is something much more pathetic and less sophisticated than spy vs. spy shit. The core fact is that it’s trivially easy to manipulate a belligerent, vainglorious bully, as Hillary Clinton pointed out almost a decade ago.

Although it’s easy to manipulate a dumb and insecure yet powerful person, it’s dangerous too. We’ve all witnessed the sad parade of “dignity wraiths” who’ve attached themselves to Trump to achieve their own ends, only to be cast aside when they proved inconvenient. Jefferson Beauregard Chifforobe Sessions was possibly the first in that now very long and pathetic line.

But the fact remains that Trump really is easy to manipulate — it’s just that the consequences are unpredictable. Elon Musk appears to be sorting through that fallout now.

Though currently sidelined, it’s possible Musk will emerge victorious if he and fellow billionaire elites succeed in creating and controlling a surveillance state to underpin a techno-feudal form of government in Trump’s wake. But that outcome isn’t preordained.

Right now, thanks to Trump’s fragile ego, whoever is in charge of Fox News programming is in effect running foreign policy. New York Times political coverage is terrible, but one thing access journalism occasionally horks up is insight into how decisions are made, and holy shit:

Mr. Trump had spent the early months of his administration warning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel against a strike on Iran. But by the morning of Friday, June 13, hours after the first Israeli attacks, Mr. Trump had changed his tune.

He marveled to advisers about what he said was a brilliant Israeli military operation, which involved a series of precision strikes that killed key figures in Iran’s military leadership and blasted away strategic weapons sites. Mr. Trump took calls on his cellphone from reporters and began hailing the operation as “excellent” and “very successful” and hinting that he had much more to do with it than people realized.

Later that day, Mr. Trump asked an ally how the Israeli strikes were “playing.” He said that “everyone” was telling him he needed to get more involved, including potentially dropping 30,000-pound GBU-57 bombs on Fordo, the Iranian uranium-enrichment facility buried underneath a mountain south of Tehran.

In a podcast released just before the U.S. attacked Iran, Josh Marshall noted that Trump is very much in favor of blowing shit up, but he fears commitment. Marshall said Trump would find a “one-night stand” type of military engagement irresistible, and that turned out to be true.

The president was closely monitoring Fox News, which was airing wall-to-wall praise of Israel’s military operation and featuring guests urging Mr. Trump to get more involved. Several Trump advisers lamented the fact that Mr. Carlson was no longer on Fox, which meant that Mr. Trump was not hearing much of the other side of the debate.

The very silly statements administration officials have made since the bombing — like J.D. Vance’s absurd claim that the U.S. isn’t at war with Iran but only with Iran’s nuclear program — underscore the point that Trump believes this was a “one-and-done” military action. But in a war, the opponent has agency too.

That’s the unknown here. What is known is that for the foreseeable future, we’re all hostage to one uniquely terrible person’s ego-driven whims and how they are shaped by the media he consumes.

Open thread.

The Vibes WarPost + Comments (265)

The Horrors (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  June 22, 202510:24 am| 224 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Foreign Affairs, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, Clown Shoes, General Stupidity

Senator Murphy summed it up succinctly:

Donald Trump, a weak and dangerously reckless president, has put the United States on a path to a war in the Middle East that the country does not want, the law does not allow, and our security does not demand.

— Chris Murphy (@chrismurphyct.bsky.social) June 22, 2025 at 12:53 AM

Did anyone else see Kegsbreath’s grotesque and obsequious “briefing” this morning? I just cannot with this shit. Gonna watch just birds for a few days.

Open thread.

The Horrors (Open Thread)Post + Comments (224)

Open Thread: Golden Words

by Anne Laurie|  June 18, 20252:17 pm| 53 Comments

This post is in: Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality

Twenty years ago the Republican party stood for huge tax cuts for the rich and wars of choice in the middle east, but then Donald Trump totally remade the party and realigned American poltiics, and now the Republica party stands for…huge tax cuts for the rich and wars of choice in the middle east.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes.bsky.social) June 18, 2025 at 11:48 AM

This is often a feature, not a bug of out of power coalitions.
The benefit of not having the presidency is you don't need to be unified, the party can kind of be whatever it needs to be in whatever race its running. This is part of how you win lots of seats.

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) June 18, 2025 at 10:35 AM

Yep. The dem coalition is basically "everyone who doesn't love Trump and want to hug and kiss are orange boy."
This is a lot of different people with a lot of very different views, which can be pandered to individually to win races because you don't need a national agenda beyond "Trump bad"

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— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) June 18, 2025 at 10:40 AM

(Pretty sure that should read ‘don’t want to hug and kiss our orange boy’)
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Dems in dis array and dat array

— Chris Labarthe (@chrislabarthe.bsky.social) June 18, 2025 at 10:43 AM

Open Thread: Golden WordsPost + Comments (53)

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