In 2016 and today, Trump’s principal selling point is that a vote for Trump is one of the few ways that the average frustrated American can give the Double Bird.
The following observation from Matt is particularly is on point:
"In the fifteen years before the oft-mocked real estate magnate ran for president, the U.S. introduced torture, kidnapping, warrantless arrest (back for the first time since 1861), drone assassination, Minority Report-style predictive policing, preemptive war, mass surveillance, and a long, long list of other lunacies into our culture. These weren’t small changes, but sweeping rewrites of Schoolhouse Rock promises, things that as a citizen made you want to puke from shame."
I am not sure whether to laugh or cry at Matt's 'Schoolhouse Rock' re-write comment. How far we have fallen in such a short time.
I suspect that those fall under the larger umbrella of 'Schoolhouse Rock' promises, the things that we were taught in elementary school that were foundational to our constitutional republic form of government.
I have a local horror story created by erstwhile young voters at the polling place to Vote Blue No Matter Who. Thanks to Soros and Sam Bankman-Fried money.
I studied the Constitution in 8th grade history in northern Illinois. Remembering the Preamble by song enabled me to write it completely. Holy shit, I just tried it and remembered it still. Schoolhouse Rock rocked.
Ah, Schoolhouse Rock, grammar version. Great, now I'll have the "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here" song stuck in my brain for the rest of the day.
Just imagine the rewrites: "Polly wolly wolly / get your torture here" instead of adverbs. And instead of learning how a bill becomes a law, we could learn how a drone becomes an assassination machine. And instead of "Conjunction Junction," we could learn about "Rendition Junction."
Coincided with the growth of the web. I always wondered if releasing the Internet technologies (ARPAnet) to the public for commercial use was a trojan horse to expand the surveillance/spycraft apparatus. Too hard to say, but is it really the coincidence it appears to be?
Edit: DARPA gave funding to Vint Cerf to develop ARPAnet, so the military had a hand. We can only speculate (I'm being gracious) about the intent.
The second I bought a cellphone I was fairly confident that I had just bought the key to my own cage. I think we're learning the degree to which social media was created and used for data mining.
I'm not understanding what Matt means by "warrantless arrest". Police may arrest without a warrant under many circumstances and it's been that way as long as we've been a republic. He's obviously referencing something specific, can anyone explain for me please?
As just one example, FISA court doesn't require 'probable cause' as the 4th *does require, thus anyone can be arrested and jailed indefinitely for walking into a public government building, during regular business hours, whenever the feds feel like it. That's relatively new in US history.
I'm aware of the FISA court and serious abuses including the illegal monitoring of millions of Americans and the fraudulent affidavit submitted by the FBI to spy on Carter Page, and by extension the Trump campaign. Exposed by the Durham prosecution. But not what you're describing. Do you have a source for that?
Hard to say. The first time around he was actually quite good compared to the prior years. No new wars and respecting every country's right to govern instelf. He cleaned up the border and started genetic testing so people claiming to be family and trafficking kids across the border were stopped.
Changing those policies. Trump is no ideologue, so this probably is not on the top of his list. But perhaps he could be persuaded. I think folks like Matt, Glenn Greenwald and Julie Kelly might have his ear on such things. But I seriously doubt any other politicians would be open to defying the State in that manner. Our politicians are mostly facemen for the establishment. Actors who can get elected. Trump is unusual because he has the resources to fight back in the face of all the prosecutions heading his way. Can you imagine any other big name in Washington who could possibly defend themselves against the 6 ways from Sunday crowd?
If they defeat Trump it shows that even if he was an ideologue, nobody can stand against the Establishment. Because he has both a following, and resources.
Or to paraphrase Michael Moore: Toss a human Molotov cocktail into the middle of the DC establishment that's been ruining the lives of average Americans for the last several decades.
The real Molotov cocktail is the lived disconnect between the lives of the American Republic's citizens and the lie sized DNC/Davos/CCP psyop trying to install the world corporate fascism that will reduce the peoples of the free world to serfdom. Hannah Arendt's "banality of evil" observation is the true description of the second rate evil clown D.C. operatives and sycophants attempting to stare "we the people" down.
Had enough?
Every day of the Epstein week some transparent whispering MSM grifter or shyster legal cooler comes forward to pretend that the evil little looters aren't looting and the evil little fixers aren't fixing. How long will the American people pretend trust, and endure the transparent rogues gallery of moral cripples foisting the second rate failures of their avaricious social and economic policy, so their pretend aristocracy can fly to the island with Jeffrey's ghost, and toady perp the latest Davos/WEF/EU/CCP/DNC canard. They are visionless, laughable, dangerous grifters subsumed by the immensity of the inhuman lie they represent. OUR VISION, the vision of "we the people", brand spanking new to the world is pushing an infant 250 years.
No one gave Hitler, Stalin or Mao and their operatives permission. They just did it. How powerful is the truth and the politics of the human heart? --- We're about to find out.
There is a subset of journalist's, who are predicting a staged cyber attack targeting the net and world banking, intended to disrupt the coming election and further dismantle American civil liberties. It is being painted as a conspiracy of the big tech/CIC surveillance state and DNC/CCP/Davos/globalist billionaire central bankers. True or not, the "tell" is the fact that the distrust and suspicion that springs from the machinations of the would be billionaire monarchists has so poisoned the psyche of the worlds free peoples that healthy human reality has become borderline. "Everything means everything so nothing means anything." The Constitution and the Republic are the only engines of human survival.
"Hold the line."... and some physical money, ammo, and a couple months worth of food. Preppers may have sounded ridiculous a decade ago, but they'll be vindicated eventually. :)
Moore was too weak to help Trump in his efforts. Trump is hardly an ideologue, and needs to be helped to the right direction. But ultimately Trump is interested in being the greatest President. And he could be with help.
It may have been that in 2016 but I think it is much more today. We are slipping into totalitarianism . Whether Trump can put the brakes on that, I have my doubts. But one thing I think is almost certain: with a Biden win, the accelerator will be full speed ahead. I think many sense this and it is more than the two-finger salute that motivates Trump supporters in 2024.
Anyone COULD. The question is whether they have the NERVE and RESOURCES to do it. The prosecution of Trump shows the State does not fear the people. However Trump, unlike any other political actor in Washington, has the resources to fight them. Only if the people show up will it matter. Keep in mind the vote harvest. The great 40% plurality that could care less and lets whomever shows up with a couple of smokes harvest their votes. We need to find them and get these people to vote for freedom.
I think Trump is interested in Greatness, but he needs some direction to get there. He is the only vehicle who can do it.
I disagree I don’t think anyone “could”. It will take incredible discipline, management and leadership skills to change things. Trump does not have those things. Not sure any of candidates do but DeSantis has the first two but may lack the charisma necessary for the third.
Trump could not do it himself no matter how disciplined. He has a whole cabinet and cadre of appointed officials. Trump is the face-man for change. He shakes hands, scares our opponents (and lazy friends) overseas with his demeanor and the power behind him. Nobody else is willing to carry that torch and Trump is the only vehicle available. But maybe some people will start showing up. One thing for sure is that hiring the same old Washington lackeys to run the show isn't going to do it.
That is for sure ie hiring the same old lackeys. Someone has to choose and manage the cabinet and set the tone. That's the president. But it's all a moot point, looks like we are stuck with him.
I can’t find ur response Orenv saying you hav no problem with Trumps Warp Speed. For that very reason & his continuing to brag about; I’d NEVER vote for him. He is one of them. He did pretty much everything THEY wanted.
If I could withdraw my citizenship, I would. For now I withdraw any vote in a crime syndicate. On his watch my sis got the death shot on n the not so free state of Florida
Until Trump, the gatekeepers of the establishment insured that no outsiders would ever have the resources to win the Presidency. When one finally did, they worked endlessly to thwart him at every opportunity. Nothing will change until we elect outsiders at every level.
Trump was totally ineffective beyond the symbolism against the Establishment. The only major thing he did was decrease taxes on the Rich like all politicians (similar temporary cuts were made by W Bush, and made permanent by Obama). Unless Trump could clean DC of all the Head Bureaucrats (DC, Northern VA, Maryland are all Democrats who share the DC mindset), he would be a largely ineffective President once again. Obama refused to give offensive weapons to Ukraine; Trump was impeached for less-- he was the only President not allowed to direct foreign policy. A repeat of the Palace Coup is likely if Trump is re-elected; his base of populists has no power in DC. Bush of course brought in lots of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson University graduates, but those are not Trumpers.
In contrast we have Biden, "the adults in the room", the humorless puppets of the Coastal Global Elites, who want to throw out all constitutional rights of Americans (remember Biden bragging about writing the Patriot Act?) Indeed they seem to have no major interest in Americans at all relative to Israelis and UkroNAZIs. Biden is a smug, deranged megalomaniac, self-deluded that he is a Great Military General. He is steadfastly trying to start as many wars as possible knowing that War Presidents win Elections (voting against him, you are a traitor!)
Regarding Trump maybe. But consider this, after one of his first briefings as POTUS James Comey slithers up and says "[A] word sir?" Then he unveils for the already being investigated Trump as a result of the Steel dossier the existence of said dossier without disclosing that the FBI knew it was fake. Practically from.the get-go. This would have left Trump with the false impression that Comey and the FBI had his back, that they were loyal to him. Trump, and anybody that reads, knows that was not the case. Nor will it be the case if he is re-elected. Was Trump manipulated in his first term? Absolutely. By people who make yesteryear's machinations in monarchies look like child's play. I say give him his mulligan. He will know enough to shake it up. He can't just fire them but he can scatter them to Sioux City and like places where they can be adequately supervised.
Decentralizing FBI headquarters from their control hive in D.C. and scattering them around the country would blow their minds. Something like this is going to have to happen in order to clean house. If Trump is elected and back at the helm, I think change is going to come swiftly.
I do remember that. All of the pouting and foot stomping and the "I'm gonna quit" like they thought that most people didn't think, a) that was an excellent idea and, b) that it was a great start toward getting rid of the Ivy league drones and hiring people who had some actual exposure to and experience with agriculture into the department of agriculture.
We have an independent judiciary in this country, in theory at any rate. So, if Trump was under the impression that "Comey and the FBI had his back, that they were loyal to him," then it's merely an example of Trump's bottomless ignorance and turpitude, especially concerning any subject relating to his job at the time, which I believe was president, or something like that..
FBI are part of the executive, not the judiciary. As such, they certainly SHOULD be loyal to the president, at least to the extent of following orders or resigning. But there's documentary evidence that they weren't. Hardly anything more dangerous than political police with their own agenda.
Gee I seem to remember trump being partially responsible for four years of no wars. Any where. Wasn’t he the president then? I might be mistaken because I’m a stupid conservative, but I’m pretty sure. And then there was the possibility of prosecuting things like nuland, vindman, Biden’s, Obama’s, yeah, along with some help from putin, but I might have that wrong too. Totally ineffective? You need to pay better attention boy. Get off msnbc.
There were some missteps and I hope he does better next time like pardons for Assange and Snowden. He also should have done something to take marijuana off Schedule 1. Operation Warp Speed was a disaster, but how was he supposed to have that kind of background? I believe he would do better a second time and he did many good things the first time.
I can imagine Trump not being that interested in removing drugs off schedules. People like to recreate, but drugs including marijuana are in fact harmful. Taking it off Schedule 1 will cause a great many more people to imbibe. So it is a tradeoff of freedom. Should people be free to get hooked on fentanyl? Some would say yes. But legalizing it would result in a lot of children who are not fully cognizant getting hooked and dying. MJ is not fentanyl, but it is also not harmless. Trump lost his brother to substance abuse and is supposedly a tea totaler.
While Trump should be credited with no new wars, his underlings Pompeo, Bolton and Abrams tried hard to get more going. Probably why Trump was not allowed to be re-elected.
But Trump did not reverse any of the wars (his deal with Afghanistan was taken over and screwed up by Biden). Obama's illegal invasion of Syria was continued by Trump "for the oil". I don't think Trump would have been allowed to end the civil War in Ukraine, and the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, probably at Pompeo's direction, was a deliberate provocation for War with Iran (which almost everyone in DC wants).
He didn't start any wars, but he DID withdraw from treaties with Iran and Russia that helped keep the peace. Biden is really just following in his footsteps, as Obama did in Bush's.
Biden, among other things (paraphrasing or quoting CNN, mostly):
1. Reversed the "Muslim ban" (restrictions or limits on refugees from "un-vettable" or difficult-to-vet countries and on passport holder travel from such countries).
2. Revoked easing of certain federal regulatory requirements.
3. Revoked Trump's stricter work requirements for federal welfare.
4. Revoked Trump's limitations on *legal* immigration due to Covid-19.
5. Revoked Trump's apprenticeship program.
6. Expanded the United States Refugee Admissions Program and rescinded Trump policies that limited refugee admissions and required additional vetting.
7. Rescinded Trump’s memo requiring immigrants to repay the government if they receive public benefits.
8. Rescinded the “Mexico City Policy” (the ban on US government funding for foreign nonprofits that perform or promote abortions).
9. Elevated climate change as "an essential element of US foreign policy and national security" and kicked off development of a new emissions reduction targets.
10. Reinstated Covid-19 travel restrictions for individuals traveling to the United States from the Schengen Area, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa.
11. Reversed the Trump administration’s ban on transgender Americans joining the military.
12. Restored certain powers of federal-employee unions and laid the foundation for $15 federal minimum wage.
13. Stopped the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization and made Dr. Fauci the head of the US delegation to the WHO.
14. Rejoined the Paris climate accord.
15. Canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and directed agencies to review and reverse more than 100 Trump actions on the environment.
16. Rescinded the Trump administration’s 1776 Commission and directed agencies to review their actions to "ensure racial equity."
17. Required non-citizens to be included in the Census and apportionment of congressional representatives.
18. Undid Trump’s expansion of immigration enforcement within the United States.
19. Stopped construction of the border wall by terminating the national emergency declaration used to fund it.
20. Rescinded Trump’s regulatory approval process (which included many things, including requiring agencies to identify two regulations for repeal for each new regulation proposed).
He also ended the very successful "wait in Mexico" policy which insured that hundreds of thousands of bogus asylum applicants weren't storming the border and becoming dependents until their cases could be adjudicated. Either you missed it or he did it on Day 2 or later.
While many of Trump's executive orders were thrown in the garbage can by DC power brokers, Obama's weren't. Probably Obama's most unlawful executive order was DACA which Trump tried but failed to throw out. It would have been legal if passed by Congress (as it should have been, but Congress creatures were too busy with political games such as Russiagate and their stock trading). Federal courts, despite agreeing the Executive Order was illegal/ unconstitutional, allowed DACA to limp along waiting on Congress, who effectively refused to act. The illegal DACA executive order was reinstated by Biden:
Arguably Trump's Tax Cut for the Rich (savaged by State Media) is standard Republican (and more stealthily) Democrat policy.
Trump's overthrow of Obama's Iran deal had bipartisan support (only Obama and Kerry and many Americans (who don't count) supported the deal. Obama bought Saudi Arabia not to interfere by supporting the Genocide of the Yemeni. Trump's moving the American embassy to Jerusalem was actually The LAW passed by Bill Clinton in 1995. So in effect Trump's successes were the ones the UniParty wanted anyway.
One correction: "he did was increase taxes on the Rich" Taxes increased for those making, say, $500,000 due to the limit of $10,000 on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction.
That tax change got rid of rid of large deductions that helped the rich, it happened to me. I can no longer deduct many investing expenses like subscriptions and attending conferences. The mortgage deduction got limited which only affected the rich. State tax deductions got limited and the standard deduction went way up. I am still trying to figure out how Trump helped "the rich"
The underlying problem is the passivity of the people. The system could not function the way it does if the masses were not so servile. Until a significant minority makes the system contestable there will be no progress.
That's harsh but not wrong. I'd say that Trump is no more a populist than he is a Marxist. He is a typical big city Democrat of the 1990s...centrist, neo-liberal and tough on crime. But he scandalizes people who crave 'dignified' leadership. Worse still, he acknowledged what a poor condition the US is actually in.
Well, the real reason that the Establishment is so united in opposition to Trump is that America's vassals, satraps, puppets and flunkies are less willing to blindly follow American orders if a Trump is in charge.
Exactly. Because Congress has abandoned its role in the Constitutional system beyond spend, spend, spend, the executive branch rules - rules, not governs - by executive fiat (executive orders and agency rules/regulations). And that has been the case for so long that the career bureaucrats in the executive branch no longer feel the need to obey the executive. As evidenced by the fact that they essentially selected the current POTUS. Nobody who cast a ballot in 2020 cast an informed one. No one was allowed to cast an informed ballot. This scenario is the true threat to the republic, a Constitutional crisis of the first magnitude.
Yes and many vote for only the figurehead. Unfortunately when Trump was the figure head he slowed down the “hope and change” but he was incapable of stopping it. He is unable to lead a broad coalition imo. I think he will be more ineffective this time and it will be a destructive free for all. Russia gate will look like child’s play.
I have never been enamored with Trump but voted for him as the lesser of available evils. With the 'Uniparty' an actual thing, I am still struggling with viable alternatives if only for the reason Feral Finster stated.
Disagree here Feral Finster. Trump was the only figurehead that was not preordained to move the power and the system along. Name one president from FDR on that did NOT do exactly what the (global) system required. I am including Reagan in this.
I did not say that he did, but he did thwart plans and timelines. The Paris Accords, NATO, WHO, climate hoax; exposed the lying mass media complex, ended ISIS – all these things had a time table that he disrupted. Agenda 2030 had many planned items put on hold, which put them in jeopardy. That is why John Kerry said as soon as Biden was elected, he will put his foot to the pedal and move the nation forward much faster than anyone could realize (to the new world order). There was a fundamental shift out of despondency for many Americans as their rages rose and taxes decreased, and delivered the Abraham Accords, record oil and natural gas and put some sanity back in regulations.
We have to start somewhere. Trump's first foray was tragically challenged in so many ways. If he prevails come November there's going to be even more tragedy for us to live with before the air gets cleared, you can count on that.
We is definitely not the Dems. Perhaps not even most Repubs since they had their heads in the sand or hands in the till while this snowball has been barreling down this hill. “We” is probably more of a hope than a reality. The only candidate with the managerial skills to accomplish the goal is DeSantis but he doesn’t seem to have the charisma to get elected. He certainly does not have Trumps comedic skills!
So I am happy to give Trump his mulligan. But I agree about his lack of management skills in the public arena. You really can't run the nation as a family business. Oh wait, that is exactly what the current POTUS is doing. Oopsie. And come to think of it, what the Uniparty has done for decades now, at least. Well family and friends. But DeSantis is largely successful in Florida because he has a Republican legislature and apparently the widespread support of his constituents. On the national level that will no longer be true. Which is why I say give Trump his shot. What some call vengeance I call necessary putting the house in order. Then let a DeSantis or a Ramaswamy take it in 2028. Not a Haley though; she is a Republican Hillary Clinton. Or Christie; he is a Republican Biden. Uniparty Republicans should be studiously avoided in my opinion.
It took decades to get here, maybe a century. So it will take at least that long to turn it back knowing the Establishment (funded by a big guy cut of 10% of the federal budget - $780B last year not counting the Cartel cut) is always sniping away.
I agree. Neither the Democrats or the Republicans learned a thing from 2016.
The Washington political establishment regained power and simply went on it’s merry way, comfortably ensconced in their comfortable offices, paying lip service to the electorate and ignoring the realities unfolding around them.
You forgive him for warp speed? If so please explain.
He did pretty much everything the elite wanted Even Opportunity Zone $$ was totally co-opted for the uber rich. First tax cut followed by Cares Acts sent the debt skyward. I thought Matt originally left Useful Idiots to write a book on where Covid money went. Then we were asked to be patient a long time while he was off at The Twit. Now doing what he did in 2016 (I get he’s pissed however we are too) and I don’t give a flip about the elections after what they all did. Even Rand Paul invested in deadly Remdesivir.
I have no problem with warp speed. Trump never REQUIRED people to take the shot. It was an attempt at mitigation and it is perhaps helpful for those at high risk (a very limited subset of people).
Strangely enough Vivek Ramaswamy is not in Trumps crosshairs. My bet is that the Trump campaign is working as hard as they can to get him to join the Trump team as VP. I don't think Ramaswamy will do that.
I also believe that Ramaswamy's polling will surge in and after Iowa in a big way. If Trump somehow gets hung up legally and can't run, he's going to throw all of his support to Ramaswamy.
Finally, IMO it's a bit terrifying what the landscape of our country might look like on November 6th if Trump does win. I can imagine mass violent protests, burning blue cities, curfews, and a call for marshal law. This of course would only embolden the DC establishment and 3 letter agency spooks to crack down even more on 2A, spying on the populace and lawfare based on political leanings.
Regardless, the next 10 months is going to be a shitshow so buckle up.
So you at least realize that Trump did not kill America. Let's go ahead and pretend that's what happened anyway, okay? It makes insurrection sound so much better
Either B Clinton's election (one year short) or Near Gingrich's take over of the House (one year long). Depends on feldspar's political leanings. I think I'd date it 9/12/2001, when we willingly gave up rights for safety.
Is that why you took up a career spying on American citizens for the US government? My understanding is that most "spooks" are deeply cynical. But maybe you can reform yourself. I'm rooting for you.
Make it 40 years ago---the advent of Ronald Reagan and the policy basket of unpleasantries he and his cronies delivered to America's doorstep that have spawned many more unpleasantries. Neo-liberal economics, i.e. the steady displacement of sound banking and fiscal policies by sharp-elbow finance, a significant (and permanent) reduction in the top marginal tax rate for the top 10%, regular tax cuts for the same cohort, etc., ultimately shifting more and more of the financial burdens of the country onto the shoulders of the 90%.
The newly empowered religious right beginning to make make common cause with retrograde Republicanism to make war on the constitution and secular state. Retrograde Republicans making common cause with corporate America (soon to be joined by the Democrats): the gutting of labor and the middle class through the displacement of entire sectors of the economy overseas, and the wholesale loss of jobs and real income (living wages) that entailed.
The usual. A shitty, unaffordable, cruel healthcare system that every year became more shitty, unaffordable...on and on and on. No money for healthcare but plenty of it for wars and tax cuts. Couple of hundred other bad developments along the way. Nothing new to report, under the sun, to write home about...
Everybody and everything seems to have become impoverished in a heartbeat and a blink of an eye. Politicians being fully owned by those who can afford to own them are no longer interested in legislating. There's no longer any pretense to it. This I find interesting.
Here’s my current fantasy. Ramaswamy for the win; the pardoning of political prisoners and the appointment of Trump as the Comedy Czar. Razzle Dazzle ‘em.
Listen to him on quick, no time to think answers from asshole “journalists” looking for a gotcha. It’s pretty impressive that he doesn’t stutter, or have to think about it and hem and haw. It’s just bam like a razor. I’m hopeful that when they do finally put PDT down, which I’m sure is in the offing for the ds, he rises up to the surface.
Ramaswamy copies Trump’s insults, but doesn’t get the point. As Taibbi points out, Trump is an insult comedian. Vivek doesn’t get that the insults are supposed to be funny!
I've been worried about November 6th too. One can only look at the unending stream of people illegally coming across the border by the 100's of thousands and wonder how this will affect the election. We know that Democrats want everyone of those people made into future Democrat voters and every border crosser feels beholden to Biden for letting them into the country with access to the social service perks. If Trump were to win, would it unleash the fury of millions of angry "migrants" worried about possible deportation? Could that be the secret weapon that will be used to create chaos?
If elections are clean, you might be surprised. A Guatemalan illegal crosser I know who has been here a long time said, "I would rather see Trump elected and get deported, than see the US become Guatemala". That was back in 2015
Hmm, the Dems and Deep State let Trump win? The illegals that have been entering the country, even during Trump's time, are mostly hand picked for future select purposes. There have been more Chinese boating directly to beachheads like in Florida and also seen coming by the thousands through the Darien Gap. Sex and age both appropriate for the worst possible acts.
Elise Stefanik has already been penciled in for that role. Trump will determine that there is room for only one unhinged candidate on the Republican ticket, and that disqualifies crazy man Prince Rama-salami.
Very interesting theory. I almost might think she was deliberately put out front for the Fancy School Presidents lynching to raise her profile for that reason. Though with her fancy "Leadership" position, she can make happen most of what she wants.
Stefanik is a neocon who kissed the golden ring when she entered Harvard at 18. She has been slicked up to slide right to the top. Cool cucumber . . . was told when to kiss the second gold ring. Let's see if it works.
You are scaring me. No female VP, especially her. Stefanik was taught to play within the system, she is part of it. She is a Bushy, a neocon plant like the others.
Until the 2021 congressional session she had a worse voting record then Liz Cheney. And she wanted Liz’s job (House Republican Conference chair) when Liz was ousted. She ran for it against Chip Roy and got DJT’s support. He also backed McCarthy, McConnell and McDaniels, all losers. Here is a JBS Freedom Index Scorecard comparison between Stefanik and Roy and Banks (including him because once chair, she immediately planted negative stories about Jim Banks, a possible competitor, and his aid Buckley Carlson (Tucker’s son) for which Don Jr. told her she went too far) and Byron Donalds who ran against her the next House term for conference chair and he lost.
Lifetime: 48% v 96% v 74% v 93%
2023-2024 60% v 100% v 79% v 100%
2021-2022 68% v 100% v 82% v 90%
2019-2020 30% v 87% v 73% v N/A
2017-2018 40% v N/A v 65%
2015-2016 43% v N/A v N/A
Chip Roy is not running again - smart man that’s had enough. To affix conservative/Trump bona fides to moderate Stefanik, she was given a set of questions to use in the Trump/Ukraine impeachment trial. It made her an instant star as planned. In 2019 I was already retired and I watch the whole trial. I thought who in the heck is she to get to center stage.
After graduating Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 06 she hired on (was planted) as a staff member of the US domestic Policy Council in GW Bush’s Admin. Then went to work with Bush’s WH Chief of Staff. Then she worked for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Foreign Policy Initiative founded in 2009 (defunked in 2017) by Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol. She helped Paul Ryan in the 2012 presidential election cycle. Before she was elected to Congress in 2014, she owned a minority interest in a townhouse near Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., valued at $1.3 million. When seated in Congress, at the time Jan 2015, she was the youngest woman ever elected. Young and brand new – surprise, she is appointed to the House Armed Services Committee. In Feb that year she was appointed vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Readiness. She was invited to join the Senior Advisory Committee at the Harvard Institute of Politics shortly after her election. [skids had to have been greased]
She was against Trump’s 2017 withdrawal from the Paris climate debacle, and she joined the bipartisan Climate Solution Caucus. She then co-sponsored legislation to remove genetic privacy protections which would allow employers to require employees to undergo genetic testing, which it could see the results of, or risk paying penalty. She opposed Trump’s temporary travel ban into the US by nationals of 7 Muslim-majority countries. She voted in 2019 with Dems to override Trump’s veto of the Dem’s declaration the national emergency at the southern border was over. When Trump’s FCC repealed O’s net neutrality in 2017 she urged colleagues to pass legislation restoring the policy. She voted for the Equality Act in 2019 and then introduced a bill that would prohibit discrimination against LGBT people. In 2022 she voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.
Perhaps Trump is what others have said, one of "them," who only did enough to keep his supporters content while bankrupting the nation even further?
Today's article had an even more than usual fever-dream quality to it. We have the Pope with his balls somehow hanging out and a guy with antibiotics curing the clap for aristocrats.
(A) Get well soon. (B) Great essay. Absolutely up to form. Many, many great points in this essay. It's a beautiful essay. Some might say the most beautiful.
What America needs (IMO) is less Federal control and more states rights regardless of who's in power. Trying to force one direction onto the entire country is like trying to shove a saggy corn cob down a pissed off goose's gob hole, it's just not terribly viable.
Well, what "rights," in your opinion, would you like the "states" to assume that the states are currently not assuming? And what "rights," in your opinion, has the Federal government subsumed that ought not to have been subsumed by the federal government and ought to be the province of the states?
States' rights and Federal prerogatives are laid out in the Constitution, however imperfectly, and sussed out periodically by the Supreme Court, however imperfectly.
I have long admired Romney’s observation that it is like having 50 labs. Some state will pass a law that sounds well-intentioned. When it is found to be ineffective, other states notice and reconsider. I, in no way, like Romney but I found the statement to be sound
No it is 2023 and we are badly in need of recognition that strong central authority only leads one direction and that the course we have been on since 1858 (using your cut-off year) needs to be corrected. We are after all a federalist system and contrary to what you appear to believe that does not mean dominance down to control.of earth, wind, fire, water and everything therein by the federal government. All it has wrought at this point is a massive, unwieldy bureaucracy to large too manage. And what has been done, and is to be done, in the guise of "management" does not bode well for the citizens.
It's neither 1858 nor 2023. And don't sweat it: any and all central authorities---from the Federal government to the customer service helpline of your insurance company---will be going down, courtesy of the elements earth, wind, fire, water---soon enough.
Taibbi’s writing is the perfect medicine for whatever ails you. (Do not read while driving or operating heavy machinery. Not recommended for pearl clutching ninnies.)
This is one of the reasons why the GOP will never be the same. Donald Trump connects with people on a profound and personal level. I know the importance of this as an entertainer myself. He's also funny as hell. He speaks common language. He offends people. The first amendment was created to protect that speech. The Deep State has ALWAYS hated that. He CONFRONTS the press rather than panders to them. I have a funny feeling this has changed the mind of many "liberal" journos like Mr. Taibbi and Mr. Shellenberger. Respect.
I don’t think Trump changed their minds. What they found out about a completely corrupt deep state coordinated destruction of the constitution and the bill of rights did.
But you do realize that this concentration on Trump’s rhetorical style here is more or less the same kind of vacuous analysis we got of Obama for 8 years? “Obama is such a stirring orator! And he talks with such inspiration about bridging divides!” Okay, sure…but you understand it is policy and action that actually makes things happen, yes? Did Obama’s failures not make clear the hazards of elevating style over substance? Making “he’s confrontational, plainspoken, and funny, and he ticks off the establishment” some kind of argument for supporting Trump is as braindead as making “he’s such an eloquent and inspirational speaker, and ticks off the evangelical right!” an argument for voting for Obama.
You're using moral relativity to compare apples to oranges. Donald Trump did everything he promised he'd do in office. Barack Obama was NOTHING BUT his speeches. Donald Trump parrots successes. Nice try, but that's an airball.
How biased can you be? You may not like what Obama accomplished, but starting with “Obamacare” and Dodd Frank reform, repealing don’t ask, don’t tell, turning the economy around from the devastating 2008 crash…
Oh Dear God. For 8 years, the GDP growth was 1% IN SPITE of Obama's destructive policies. Healthcare is still BROKEN. He took $800 billion for green energy that never was realized. I don't even know where to start.
ODG is right. Just be HONEST about political records. Trump did not achieve any more promises than most other Presidents. Now we can start a lengthy economic debate using all sorts of metrics. Obama came in inheriting Bush eras worst economic crash. Healthcare is broken? Hmm..didn’t Trump promise to get rid of Obama care?? If I mention O pulled our military out of Iraq, as he promised, the war the GOP started, that will start another critique …and so it will go…because you know, there’s always a much better approach to everything according to arm-chair quarterbacks on the other side of political leanings. I was disappointed in Obama many times, but I was dismayed and disgusted so many times by Trump. Just don’t generalize so blatantly about topics that too complex for generalization.
I've always said that Madison anticipated Lenny Bruce with that 1st Amendment thing. The Deep State hates Trump because the Deep State is more Lenny Bruce-oriented. This is obvious. And George Carlin was a straight-up CIA creation and operative. Carlin was also a mole for MI6. All of this is obvious, too.
"They" view Trump as an unfunny cad and boor who relies on shopworn material and the general humorlessness of his audience. They've never laughed at Trump and are not laughing now.
Feldspar, you are going to have to document that "George Carlin was a CIA operative claim." Go ahead, check with your sources, I know that you have them. ; )
Are you suggesting that I can't name a famous philosopher or a famous standup comedian, or that you can't name a famous philosopher or a famous standup comedian?
No...they have the same impact, and they speak language people can understand. Not everyone can understand Thomas Paine, Montesquieu or John Locke. That's just the way it goes. Yes, schooling fails, but understand why comedians exist: to challenge orthodoxy and people in power.
And what does a politician have to give YOU to get your vote? While I can't stand to hear Trump speak for more than 10 minutes. However he was a pretty good president. I can't recall him holding American Citizens as Political Prisoners, nor trying to put his opponents & their families in jail or stealing their money with trumped-up charges or calling 74 million American Citizens Extremists. Not to mention, he did NOT start any wars.
And a perfect metaphor for the lefty-climate-hysteric: a bomber jet that doesn’t leave an “environmental” footprint. This sums it up so well! They love war but hate the fossil fuels for which most wars are fought.
Wow Matt, you managed to get this off while suffering from Covid? Good on you man!
"If Barack Obama was the avatar of upper class probity, a lean multiracial scholar fawned over by the Nobel Committee, Trump was the opposite, an artery-clogged casino boss with bankruptcies and a comb-over."
Love it! "Transparency" vs. cold, hard reality eh?
Yet after two decades we find ourselves still being kept in the dark. I sure would like to see some real, genuine light being shone to illuminate details hidden in the shadows of those years.
I think the best person to shed “some real, genuine light...to illuminate details hidden in the shadows of those years” is RFK Jr. He’s doing better as an independent than anyone thought possible - I hope Matt will include him in future election commentary. Who is he likely to take more votes from - I don’t think the answer is obvious.
This is absolutely the best journalistic essay on Donald Trump ever. If somone gets it, if Taibbi and Kirn get it and they transmit their understanding to us, not all is lost. I am old and born and raised in Communist Cuba, with extensive readings in Socialist theory, a survivor of a Socialist upbringing, a revolutionary family and a demagogic enviroment, and an ex political prisioner, 5 years in the Ariza Concentration Camp, from age 18 to 23, for writing a counterrevolutionary poem in high school, and I can assure you -whomever you might be, oh reader of my comment to another great piece by Taibbi- that the same elitist, hyperintellectualized, college educated class of lawyers and doctors (Castro, Dorticós, Guevara, Vilma Espín, Celia Sánchez, etc., the offspring of Cuban landowners and oligachs, Ivy League educated brats, well-to-do nihilists and radicalized snobs) brought down in a mater of 5 years a modern and rapidly developing free Republic. Not the ignorant peasants, not even the plebeian Fulgencio Batista. But the very same forces at work in America today. Cerntainly the feeling of impending doom is quite similar.
I recently completed a Spanish degree for fun. My Alma Mater has had distanc education for years. In one of my classes there was an idiot young student talking about wonderful Cuba and the free healthcare. Getting straieghtened out be a fellow student who was Cuban was the most effective thing possible. In another class there was a Hugo Chavez apologist. For that student I brought up a bunch of links about persecution of Gays in Venezuela. These kids really have no clue.
Thanks for this. Yes, Michael Moore in his sickening documentary "Sicko", gives Cuba as an example of free world class healthcare. All the while I was sending BandAids an Bayers Aspirin to my relatives in the island. The Catroists blame it on the embargo, but their plans to build more and more hotels and resorts for European turists grow each year. Not one new hospital, though.
My dear friend of 30+ years is a first gen Cuban American. Her parents were on one of the last flights out of Cuba with the maternal grandmother. The maternal grandfather refused to leave. He died there. About 10 years ago, she and her brother took their parents back to Cuba. We talked about the experience and the one thing that I'll never forget her saying is, "we never ate fish...not at one restaurant...even though we were on an island." Then she told me it was because there were no boats for fear that they'd be used to escape to the US. So crazy.
I know someone who worked at the Cuban embassy in Havana and found out the doctor visit is "free", but the drugs are not and simple antibiotics cost a month's salary. Maybe you can confirm as I did not hear that directly.
We can’t even get our old people, or adults, to learn from that life. What makes you think youngsters are even capable of even getting close to understanding.
There's a great book that depicts the inner workings of the State Department at the time of Castro's take over: The Fourth Floor, by former US ambassador to Cuba, Earl E. T. Smith. Great, illuminating reading. According to Smith half the State Department in 1959 was pro-Castro, something that goes against the traditional narrative of "the US supported Batista dictatorship". Cuba was, and still is, the canary in the coal mine. A coal mine situated in a Banana Republic. There's much to be learned from the Cuban experience.
This article is may be violation of the First Commandment of the Censorship Industrial Complex: "Thou shalt not humanize Donald Trump." Seriously, Matt, it's awesome.
Who among the luminaries of the Democrat Party thinks suing your way to elective office is a winner in America? I think it was Axelrod who posited that when voters get around to "rationalizing their vote" rather than telling pollsters they are for Trump as an expression of general irritation, they'll come back to the safe, boring choice for President. And as a bonus, we'll make it easier to see the proper way forward by removing that other guy's name from the ballot, in the name of protecting democracy.
What will they say when write-ins for Trump number more than traditional ballot ticks for Biden? 'Trump' is pretty easy to spell, even for uneducated rubes. And telling Americans they can't do something they expect to be able to do - namely vote for a preferred candidate - guarantees voter anger, maybe the best turnout motivator of all.
This spectacular demonstration of inability to read the room and the mood of the public that doesn't read the New York Times bodes ill for their desired result in the fall. And they've made it a hanging offense to question vote counts post hoc. Schadenfreude, thy vessel be Trump.
This is about the acquisition and preservation of power...nothing else. While some of us believe in the ethical pursuit of personal accomplishment, there are others who are 100% OK with the Machiavellian route.
"...Who among the luminaries of the Democrat Party thinks suing your way to elective office is a winner in America?"
Or...who in America thinks a traitor and anti-constitutionalist ought to be prevented from seeking and holding office, as clearly articulated in the Constitution?
It should properly be seen as humiliation and repudiation that the candidate defined as insurrectionist, traitor and anti-constitutionalist is ahead in the polls. A majority of the polity doesn't buy the premise, I guess. Better find another argument.
"No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
The text mentions "elector of President and Vice President" but omits President and Vice President from the list of the disqualified. Since Electors have as their sole function the choice of and election of a President and Vice President, if the amendment authors had intended to apply the disqualification to President and Vice President, they'd have simply included President and Vice President in the list since Electors were simply a mechanism to transmit vote results from the several states.
From this we can reasonably conclude that omission was deliberate. So whether or not Trump engaged in an insurrection is irrelevant to his qualification for the Presidency.
I can read. But for fun, let's get a bet down. It's possible the SCOTUS will simply delay until the question(s) are moot since this only impacts primaries in states where Trump has little chance in the Fall. That'd be a draw by my definition.
I'm betting that SCOTUS will weigh in and will hold that the Constitution does not preclude a candidate for President or Vice President regardless of any holding as to insurrection.
I expect this will be a unanimous decision but there might be one or two of the three who might dissent. So I'm setting a threshold of 7-2 for a win for my position. A 6-3 or 5-4 in favor of Trump remaining a candidate would be a draw.
Ditto on your side where a win would be a determination that Trump is NOT qualified to be President on account of his involvement in insurrection. I'll spot you a justice so a 6-3 is enough for you to win. A 5-4 to kick Trump off would be a draw as well.
Payoff is as follows: If you win you specify a charity (501c3) to which you want my $100 to be contributed. An appropriate receipt or other evidence of payment will be provided. Conversely, if I win I will name a charity for your $100 contribution.
How confident are you in your belief that only lawyers can read the plain text of the Constitution? And if you like this can be simpler with any majority no matter how narrow determining the win.
It's the Constitution. Explain why Electors are subject to disqualification while President and Vice President are not. You can't. And that'll be the determination.
I don't think actual votes really matter in this circumstance. It'll be enough that primary ballots show an "undervote" leaving the top of the ticket effectively blank. County clerks will know that count. If it isn't reported they'll be asked. Let the denial stories explain how failure to register invalidates those voters' choice or that disqualification means those write ins are meaningless. Hopefully that's the story all evening as votes are counted. Let's tell half of the vote that their opinion won't be considered.
"We're sorry. We aren't counting your vote because...democracy." This is a spectacular public opinion loser.
"And they've made it a hanging offense to question vote counts post hoc."
You'll recall that it was the rioters at the Capitol that erected gallows to "hang Mike Pence", not the press or the Democrats.
Trump, on the other hand, was allowed to prosecute his claims of voter fraud in court. More so than any candidate in modern presidential history. That he was completely unsuccessful because he didn't have the evidence is his fault alone.
I sympathize but the efforts are losing. Americans aren't buying it. As the saying goes, it can be the best dog food, made from the best ingredients ever but if the dogs won't eat it, well...
Trump is up 2 points when he needs to be minus 6 for a Democrat to win. +8 was about the spread favoring Biden at this point in the last race. And this before the assorted third party candidates qualify for ballot access this time. So it's looking bleak at a point when replacing Biden will be hard. I suspect Obama tried to convince him to drop out and failed.
Remember Dems have those superdelegates - various grandees who get nominating votes without actually running in the primary as committed. Absent a commanding delegate count on a first ballot - which Democrats have come to expect - it'll be a nasty convention fight inside with Palestinians, LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter protesters outside to entertain the country. And unlike during the Daley era, the Chicago cops will just let it happen.
Replacing Biden will be one of those smoke filled room deals like in the dark ages of Democrat politics. And the Democrats coming off the bench to replace him will trash each other in the compressed timescale of a convention, again with nationwide coverage.
Republicans will have parties and balloon drops. Democrats will have bedlam.
It’s notable that literally nothing you said in this response salvages the claim that I was pointing out the falsity of, which is that the press and the Dems “have made it a hanging offense to question vote counts post hoc.”
Only matters what the outcome is. And in fairness I don't think any J6 defendants have been given death sentences. I missed photos of the gallows. Are there any?
Your tds is out hanging like the pope’s balls. I know you are aware that not one,0, the integer with no value, of those cases were ever heard. So you come here blathering that as if the rest of us don’t. Try farcebook, it’s more your speed.
“Plaintiffs do not offer any affidavits or special eyewitness evidence to substantiate their assertions,”
“Plaintiffs merely assert in their complaint, ‘Hundreds or thousands of ballots were duplicated solely by Democratic Party inspectors and then counted.’ Plaintiffs’ allegation is mere speculation.
“The motion is based upon speculation and conjecture. Absent any evidence of an improper practice, the court cannot identify if this alleged violation occurred and, if it did, the frequency of such violations.
“Plaintiffs have made only a claim but have offered no evidence to support their assertions.”
"“Simply alleging that poll watchers did not have access to some areas does not plausibly plead unequal treatment. Without actually alleging that one group was treated differently than another, plaintiffs’ argument falls flat.”
“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so,”
“Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.
***
Judge Todd Russell in Nevada looked at the evidence, even of the sort that in other instances had been ruled inadmissible, and literally found EVERY SINGLE CLAIM TO BE TOTALLY UNSUPPORTED: https://reason.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/20-44711.pdf
"“Contestants did not prove under any standard of proof that any illegal votes were cast and counted,”
"The November 9, 2020 hand count audit revealed no discrepancies in the tabulation of votes and the statistically negligible error presented in this case falls far short of warranting relief under A.R.S. § 16-672. Because the challenge fails to present any evidence of "misconduct," "illegal votes" or that the Biden Electors "did not in fact receive the highest number of votes for office," let alone establish any degree of fraud or a sufficient error rate that would undermine the certainty of the election results, the Court need not decide if the challenge was in fact authorized under A.R.S. § 16-672 or if the federal "safe harbor" deadline applies to this contest. "
***
There is also the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which viewed Trump's evidence and concluded,
"The President failed to point to even one vote cast in this election by an ineligible voter, yet he asks this court to disenfranchise over 220,000 voters"
***
ALL OF WHICH IS TO SAY:
You are very much lying. Judges looked at the evidence Trump gave them. And it was practically non-existent in every instance.
The election was vetted, more than any election in recent history, and it was confirmed by the judiciary after looking at the evidence: the orange ape lost.
Did you know you can cure TDS with aggressive Ivermectin therapy? I did it. But now I'm suffering from the same disease as Donald Trump---tertiary syphilis. Though I'm not yet losing my mind like Donald.
And did you know, according to Donald, that Nikki Haley was in charge of security at the Capitol on Jan. 6? And that Donald offered to send her 10,000 troops? Why isn't this being discussed here?
Trump IS easy. A couple elections ago didn't voters in Alaska re-elect Lisa Murkowski via write-in after she lost the primary? But now you've given TPTB a head's-up to get rid of write-in votes, because of course they are remnants of colonialist, pre-Civil War America. Like the statue of William Penn.
This essay Matt! Proof we need your point of view in our mindscapes to pull all the pieces together. The biggest hit to the working class was Clinton’s signing NAFTA. The beginning of the erasure of small town America. I’ll never forget what Clinton said at the time “Globalization is inevitable.”
In 2016 and today, Trump’s principal selling point is that a vote for Trump is one of the few ways that the average frustrated American can give the Double Bird.
The following observation from Matt is particularly is on point:
"In the fifteen years before the oft-mocked real estate magnate ran for president, the U.S. introduced torture, kidnapping, warrantless arrest (back for the first time since 1861), drone assassination, Minority Report-style predictive policing, preemptive war, mass surveillance, and a long, long list of other lunacies into our culture. These weren’t small changes, but sweeping rewrites of Schoolhouse Rock promises, things that as a citizen made you want to puke from shame."
I am not sure whether to laugh or cry at Matt's 'Schoolhouse Rock' re-write comment. How far we have fallen in such a short time.
And Matt didn't even mention censorship, Smith-Mundt "modernization" or Julian Assange.
I suspect that those fall under the larger umbrella of 'Schoolhouse Rock' promises, the things that we were taught in elementary school that were foundational to our constitutional republic form of government.
That word "elementary school" is doing a lot of work, there.
"The Three Ring Government" was required viewing in my elementary school.
What we say vs what we do.
Our smiling press releases vs the smirking reality.
Very fitting.
The History Rock cartoons were the best (though English Rock was a close second). Fireworks, Preamble, No More Kings, Elbow Room... great stuff.
I begin to suspect itdumbed down pretty complex material and as a result created very gullible voters.
Might be. 2024 America sure seems a lot more sinister than Schoolhouse Rock led me to expect.
I have a local horror story created by erstwhile young voters at the polling place to Vote Blue No Matter Who. Thanks to Soros and Sam Bankman-Fried money.
American Horror Story:Woke-Polyamory
I studied the Constitution in 8th grade history in northern Illinois. Remembering the Preamble by song enabled me to write it completely. Holy shit, I just tried it and remembered it still. Schoolhouse Rock rocked.
Ah, Schoolhouse Rock, grammar version. Great, now I'll have the "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here" song stuck in my brain for the rest of the day.
Just imagine the rewrites: "Polly wolly wolly / get your torture here" instead of adverbs. And instead of learning how a bill becomes a law, we could learn how a drone becomes an assassination machine. And instead of "Conjunction Junction," we could learn about "Rendition Junction."
Coincided with the growth of the web. I always wondered if releasing the Internet technologies (ARPAnet) to the public for commercial use was a trojan horse to expand the surveillance/spycraft apparatus. Too hard to say, but is it really the coincidence it appears to be?
Edit: DARPA gave funding to Vint Cerf to develop ARPAnet, so the military had a hand. We can only speculate (I'm being gracious) about the intent.
The second I bought a cellphone I was fairly confident that I had just bought the key to my own cage. I think we're learning the degree to which social media was created and used for data mining.
I'm not understanding what Matt means by "warrantless arrest". Police may arrest without a warrant under many circumstances and it's been that way as long as we've been a republic. He's obviously referencing something specific, can anyone explain for me please?
I think he’s referring to the government repudiation of habeas corpus law:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habeas_corpus
As just one example, FISA court doesn't require 'probable cause' as the 4th *does require, thus anyone can be arrested and jailed indefinitely for walking into a public government building, during regular business hours, whenever the feds feel like it. That's relatively new in US history.
I'm aware of the FISA court and serious abuses including the illegal monitoring of millions of Americans and the fraudulent affidavit submitted by the FBI to spy on Carter Page, and by extension the Trump campaign. Exposed by the Durham prosecution. But not what you're describing. Do you have a source for that?
Warrantless J6 arrests come to mind.
Seeing illegal (warrantless) surveillance via FISA. That was totally outside American jurisprudence.
I think Taibi may have misspoken.
I think he means "unwarranted".
That sounds more likely
Is Trump going to one single thing to change those policies?
Hard to say. The first time around he was actually quite good compared to the prior years. No new wars and respecting every country's right to govern instelf. He cleaned up the border and started genetic testing so people claiming to be family and trafficking kids across the border were stopped.
no, but that's not really the point.
He's just speaks out loud. His supporters like that, and the fact that the establishment hate him.
Without Trump there is zero chance.
Zero chance of what?
Changing those policies. Trump is no ideologue, so this probably is not on the top of his list. But perhaps he could be persuaded. I think folks like Matt, Glenn Greenwald and Julie Kelly might have his ear on such things. But I seriously doubt any other politicians would be open to defying the State in that manner. Our politicians are mostly facemen for the establishment. Actors who can get elected. Trump is unusual because he has the resources to fight back in the face of all the prosecutions heading his way. Can you imagine any other big name in Washington who could possibly defend themselves against the 6 ways from Sunday crowd?
If they defeat Trump it shows that even if he was an ideologue, nobody can stand against the Establishment. Because he has both a following, and resources.
You are a deluded moron. Trump is a malicious fool.
Yeah, this jumped out for me too.
Or to paraphrase Michael Moore: Toss a human Molotov cocktail into the middle of the DC establishment that's been ruining the lives of average Americans for the last several decades.
The real Molotov cocktail is the lived disconnect between the lives of the American Republic's citizens and the lie sized DNC/Davos/CCP psyop trying to install the world corporate fascism that will reduce the peoples of the free world to serfdom. Hannah Arendt's "banality of evil" observation is the true description of the second rate evil clown D.C. operatives and sycophants attempting to stare "we the people" down.
Had enough?
Every day of the Epstein week some transparent whispering MSM grifter or shyster legal cooler comes forward to pretend that the evil little looters aren't looting and the evil little fixers aren't fixing. How long will the American people pretend trust, and endure the transparent rogues gallery of moral cripples foisting the second rate failures of their avaricious social and economic policy, so their pretend aristocracy can fly to the island with Jeffrey's ghost, and toady perp the latest Davos/WEF/EU/CCP/DNC canard. They are visionless, laughable, dangerous grifters subsumed by the immensity of the inhuman lie they represent. OUR VISION, the vision of "we the people", brand spanking new to the world is pushing an infant 250 years.
No one gave Hitler, Stalin or Mao and their operatives permission. They just did it. How powerful is the truth and the politics of the human heart? --- We're about to find out.
There is a subset of journalist's, who are predicting a staged cyber attack targeting the net and world banking, intended to disrupt the coming election and further dismantle American civil liberties. It is being painted as a conspiracy of the big tech/CIC surveillance state and DNC/CCP/Davos/globalist billionaire central bankers. True or not, the "tell" is the fact that the distrust and suspicion that springs from the machinations of the would be billionaire monarchists has so poisoned the psyche of the worlds free peoples that healthy human reality has become borderline. "Everything means everything so nothing means anything." The Constitution and the Republic are the only engines of human survival.
Hold the line.
"Hold the line."... and some physical money, ammo, and a couple months worth of food. Preppers may have sounded ridiculous a decade ago, but they'll be vindicated eventually. :)
Michael Moore nailed it and my first Trump vote we for that reason. Second was on policy.
Moore disliked Trump and never had any intention of helping him. He was just describing the motivations of supporters instead of demonizing them
Moore was too weak to help Trump in his efforts. Trump is hardly an ideologue, and needs to be helped to the right direction. But ultimately Trump is interested in being the greatest President. And he could be with help.
Now, why would anyone want to do a spiteful thing like that?
Michael Moore??? The Lefty 'producer of documentaries'?
Yup, that's the one. More and more 'lefties' are going over to Trump as the crimes of the War Party are being exposed in this very Substack.
One can hope. MAGA and the freedom left are natural allies.
And this EXACTLY where the link between the traditional center left and center right is being forged.
God, I so hope you all are right about this.
It may have been that in 2016 but I think it is much more today. We are slipping into totalitarianism . Whether Trump can put the brakes on that, I have my doubts. But one thing I think is almost certain: with a Biden win, the accelerator will be full speed ahead. I think many sense this and it is more than the two-finger salute that motivates Trump supporters in 2024.
Totally agree. I just wish we were going to nominate someone who could do something about it.
Anyone COULD. The question is whether they have the NERVE and RESOURCES to do it. The prosecution of Trump shows the State does not fear the people. However Trump, unlike any other political actor in Washington, has the resources to fight them. Only if the people show up will it matter. Keep in mind the vote harvest. The great 40% plurality that could care less and lets whomever shows up with a couple of smokes harvest their votes. We need to find them and get these people to vote for freedom.
I think Trump is interested in Greatness, but he needs some direction to get there. He is the only vehicle who can do it.
I disagree I don’t think anyone “could”. It will take incredible discipline, management and leadership skills to change things. Trump does not have those things. Not sure any of candidates do but DeSantis has the first two but may lack the charisma necessary for the third.
Trump could not do it himself no matter how disciplined. He has a whole cabinet and cadre of appointed officials. Trump is the face-man for change. He shakes hands, scares our opponents (and lazy friends) overseas with his demeanor and the power behind him. Nobody else is willing to carry that torch and Trump is the only vehicle available. But maybe some people will start showing up. One thing for sure is that hiring the same old Washington lackeys to run the show isn't going to do it.
That is for sure ie hiring the same old lackeys. Someone has to choose and manage the cabinet and set the tone. That's the president. But it's all a moot point, looks like we are stuck with him.
I can’t find ur response Orenv saying you hav no problem with Trumps Warp Speed. For that very reason & his continuing to brag about; I’d NEVER vote for him. He is one of them. He did pretty much everything THEY wanted.
If I could withdraw my citizenship, I would. For now I withdraw any vote in a crime syndicate. On his watch my sis got the death shot on n the not so free state of Florida
You can renounce your citizenship.
But that will be shortsighted satisfaction as it was in 2016. We must have 8 years to even begin to fix what is broken.
Until Trump, the gatekeepers of the establishment insured that no outsiders would ever have the resources to win the Presidency. When one finally did, they worked endlessly to thwart him at every opportunity. Nothing will change until we elect outsiders at every level.
Trump was totally ineffective beyond the symbolism against the Establishment. The only major thing he did was decrease taxes on the Rich like all politicians (similar temporary cuts were made by W Bush, and made permanent by Obama). Unless Trump could clean DC of all the Head Bureaucrats (DC, Northern VA, Maryland are all Democrats who share the DC mindset), he would be a largely ineffective President once again. Obama refused to give offensive weapons to Ukraine; Trump was impeached for less-- he was the only President not allowed to direct foreign policy. A repeat of the Palace Coup is likely if Trump is re-elected; his base of populists has no power in DC. Bush of course brought in lots of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson University graduates, but those are not Trumpers.
In contrast we have Biden, "the adults in the room", the humorless puppets of the Coastal Global Elites, who want to throw out all constitutional rights of Americans (remember Biden bragging about writing the Patriot Act?) Indeed they seem to have no major interest in Americans at all relative to Israelis and UkroNAZIs. Biden is a smug, deranged megalomaniac, self-deluded that he is a Great Military General. He is steadfastly trying to start as many wars as possible knowing that War Presidents win Elections (voting against him, you are a traitor!)
Regarding Trump maybe. But consider this, after one of his first briefings as POTUS James Comey slithers up and says "[A] word sir?" Then he unveils for the already being investigated Trump as a result of the Steel dossier the existence of said dossier without disclosing that the FBI knew it was fake. Practically from.the get-go. This would have left Trump with the false impression that Comey and the FBI had his back, that they were loyal to him. Trump, and anybody that reads, knows that was not the case. Nor will it be the case if he is re-elected. Was Trump manipulated in his first term? Absolutely. By people who make yesteryear's machinations in monarchies look like child's play. I say give him his mulligan. He will know enough to shake it up. He can't just fire them but he can scatter them to Sioux City and like places where they can be adequately supervised.
Decentralizing FBI headquarters from their control hive in D.C. and scattering them around the country would blow their minds. Something like this is going to have to happen in order to clean house. If Trump is elected and back at the helm, I think change is going to come swiftly.
Remember when Dept. of Ag moved a couple of agencies to Kansas City? The howls.....
I do remember that. All of the pouting and foot stomping and the "I'm gonna quit" like they thought that most people didn't think, a) that was an excellent idea and, b) that it was a great start toward getting rid of the Ivy league drones and hiring people who had some actual exposure to and experience with agriculture into the department of agriculture.
Why do you think there were howls?
We have an independent judiciary in this country, in theory at any rate. So, if Trump was under the impression that "Comey and the FBI had his back, that they were loyal to him," then it's merely an example of Trump's bottomless ignorance and turpitude, especially concerning any subject relating to his job at the time, which I believe was president, or something like that..
FBI are part of the executive, not the judiciary. As such, they certainly SHOULD be loyal to the president, at least to the extent of following orders or resigning. But there's documentary evidence that they weren't. Hardly anything more dangerous than political police with their own agenda.
😴
Don't make excuses for people when they betray you.
He did not betray me. And I bristle when told don't. It is not like you have credibility with , much less authority over, me.
Gee I seem to remember trump being partially responsible for four years of no wars. Any where. Wasn’t he the president then? I might be mistaken because I’m a stupid conservative, but I’m pretty sure. And then there was the possibility of prosecuting things like nuland, vindman, Biden’s, Obama’s, yeah, along with some help from putin, but I might have that wrong too. Totally ineffective? You need to pay better attention boy. Get off msnbc.
There were some missteps and I hope he does better next time like pardons for Assange and Snowden. He also should have done something to take marijuana off Schedule 1. Operation Warp Speed was a disaster, but how was he supposed to have that kind of background? I believe he would do better a second time and he did many good things the first time.
I can imagine Trump not being that interested in removing drugs off schedules. People like to recreate, but drugs including marijuana are in fact harmful. Taking it off Schedule 1 will cause a great many more people to imbibe. So it is a tradeoff of freedom. Should people be free to get hooked on fentanyl? Some would say yes. But legalizing it would result in a lot of children who are not fully cognizant getting hooked and dying. MJ is not fentanyl, but it is also not harmless. Trump lost his brother to substance abuse and is supposedly a tea totaler.
While Trump should be credited with no new wars, his underlings Pompeo, Bolton and Abrams tried hard to get more going. Probably why Trump was not allowed to be re-elected.
But Trump did not reverse any of the wars (his deal with Afghanistan was taken over and screwed up by Biden). Obama's illegal invasion of Syria was continued by Trump "for the oil". I don't think Trump would have been allowed to end the civil War in Ukraine, and the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, probably at Pompeo's direction, was a deliberate provocation for War with Iran (which almost everyone in DC wants).
True war with Iran would be short. They live on the brinksmanship and the gullibility of stupid Obama et al for funding. See N. Korea.
He didn't start any wars, but he DID withdraw from treaties with Iran and Russia that helped keep the peace. Biden is really just following in his footsteps, as Obama did in Bush's.
By CNN’s count, almost half of Biden’s 1st-100-day executive actions (24/52) were reversals of then-existing Trump administration policies/actions.
So someone thought Trump produced some effects worth countering.
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/politics/biden-executive-orders/#:~:text=Biden%20takes%20early%20lead%20on%20executive%20actions&text=Eliminates%20the%20tipped%20minimum%20wage,federal%20contract%20workers%20with%20disabilities.&text=Reverses%20the%20Trump%20policy%20banning,regions%20to%20begin%20within%20days.
Biden, among other things (paraphrasing or quoting CNN, mostly):
1. Reversed the "Muslim ban" (restrictions or limits on refugees from "un-vettable" or difficult-to-vet countries and on passport holder travel from such countries).
2. Revoked easing of certain federal regulatory requirements.
3. Revoked Trump's stricter work requirements for federal welfare.
4. Revoked Trump's limitations on *legal* immigration due to Covid-19.
5. Revoked Trump's apprenticeship program.
6. Expanded the United States Refugee Admissions Program and rescinded Trump policies that limited refugee admissions and required additional vetting.
7. Rescinded Trump’s memo requiring immigrants to repay the government if they receive public benefits.
8. Rescinded the “Mexico City Policy” (the ban on US government funding for foreign nonprofits that perform or promote abortions).
9. Elevated climate change as "an essential element of US foreign policy and national security" and kicked off development of a new emissions reduction targets.
10. Reinstated Covid-19 travel restrictions for individuals traveling to the United States from the Schengen Area, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa.
11. Reversed the Trump administration’s ban on transgender Americans joining the military.
12. Restored certain powers of federal-employee unions and laid the foundation for $15 federal minimum wage.
13. Stopped the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization and made Dr. Fauci the head of the US delegation to the WHO.
14. Rejoined the Paris climate accord.
15. Canceled the Keystone XL pipeline and directed agencies to review and reverse more than 100 Trump actions on the environment.
16. Rescinded the Trump administration’s 1776 Commission and directed agencies to review their actions to "ensure racial equity."
17. Required non-citizens to be included in the Census and apportionment of congressional representatives.
18. Undid Trump’s expansion of immigration enforcement within the United States.
19. Stopped construction of the border wall by terminating the national emergency declaration used to fund it.
20. Rescinded Trump’s regulatory approval process (which included many things, including requiring agencies to identify two regulations for repeal for each new regulation proposed).
He also ended the very successful "wait in Mexico" policy which insured that hundreds of thousands of bogus asylum applicants weren't storming the border and becoming dependents until their cases could be adjudicated. Either you missed it or he did it on Day 2 or later.
Evidence Trump should be reinstated
While many of Trump's executive orders were thrown in the garbage can by DC power brokers, Obama's weren't. Probably Obama's most unlawful executive order was DACA which Trump tried but failed to throw out. It would have been legal if passed by Congress (as it should have been, but Congress creatures were too busy with political games such as Russiagate and their stock trading). Federal courts, despite agreeing the Executive Order was illegal/ unconstitutional, allowed DACA to limp along waiting on Congress, who effectively refused to act. The illegal DACA executive order was reinstated by Biden:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deferred_Action_for_Childhood_Arrivals
Arguably Trump's Tax Cut for the Rich (savaged by State Media) is standard Republican (and more stealthily) Democrat policy.
Trump's overthrow of Obama's Iran deal had bipartisan support (only Obama and Kerry and many Americans (who don't count) supported the deal. Obama bought Saudi Arabia not to interfere by supporting the Genocide of the Yemeni. Trump's moving the American embassy to Jerusalem was actually The LAW passed by Bill Clinton in 1995. So in effect Trump's successes were the ones the UniParty wanted anyway.
The reason DACA wasn't passed is because it was not popular. Despite the media telling us it was.
Trump ripped the curtains down and exposed the Wizards. No POTUS has ever achieved such a feat. Now for the clean-up crew.
One correction: "he did was increase taxes on the Rich" Taxes increased for those making, say, $500,000 due to the limit of $10,000 on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction.
That tax change got rid of rid of large deductions that helped the rich, it happened to me. I can no longer deduct many investing expenses like subscriptions and attending conferences. The mortgage deduction got limited which only affected the rich. State tax deductions got limited and the standard deduction went way up. I am still trying to figure out how Trump helped "the rich"
All correct.
SALT limitation was really a big hit.
Thank you for your explanation!
Reduced capital gains taxes. Which is a good thing IMHO.
Sounds like you're rich.
Pure stupidity....
The problem is power and the system, not the figurehead nominally in charge.
The underlying problem is the passivity of the people. The system could not function the way it does if the masses were not so servile. Until a significant minority makes the system contestable there will be no progress.
Of course. Once elected, Trump governed like a more dysfunctional version of Dubya.
That's harsh but not wrong. I'd say that Trump is no more a populist than he is a Marxist. He is a typical big city Democrat of the 1990s...centrist, neo-liberal and tough on crime. But he scandalizes people who crave 'dignified' leadership. Worse still, he acknowledged what a poor condition the US is actually in.
Well, the real reason that the Establishment is so united in opposition to Trump is that America's vassals, satraps, puppets and flunkies are less willing to blindly follow American orders if a Trump is in charge.
Remind me.
What small nation did he invade? Did Dubya ruffle NATO feathers?
The only reason Trump did not get into hot wars in Syria and Iran was because of the extreme forbearance shown by those countries.
As far as NATO goes, see my comment above.
Exactly. Because Congress has abandoned its role in the Constitutional system beyond spend, spend, spend, the executive branch rules - rules, not governs - by executive fiat (executive orders and agency rules/regulations). And that has been the case for so long that the career bureaucrats in the executive branch no longer feel the need to obey the executive. As evidenced by the fact that they essentially selected the current POTUS. Nobody who cast a ballot in 2020 cast an informed one. No one was allowed to cast an informed ballot. This scenario is the true threat to the republic, a Constitutional crisis of the first magnitude.
Well put.
Yes and many vote for only the figurehead. Unfortunately when Trump was the figure head he slowed down the “hope and change” but he was incapable of stopping it. He is unable to lead a broad coalition imo. I think he will be more ineffective this time and it will be a destructive free for all. Russia gate will look like child’s play.
I have never been enamored with Trump but voted for him as the lesser of available evils. With the 'Uniparty' an actual thing, I am still struggling with viable alternatives if only for the reason Feral Finster stated.
There are no current viable alternatives. The closest was Bernie, but his policies would lead to collapse.
Disagree here Feral Finster. Trump was the only figurehead that was not preordained to move the power and the system along. Name one president from FDR on that did NOT do exactly what the (global) system required. I am including Reagan in this.
Trump as weak, stupid and easily manipulated. He didn't change the system in any kind of fundamental way.
I did not say that he did, but he did thwart plans and timelines. The Paris Accords, NATO, WHO, climate hoax; exposed the lying mass media complex, ended ISIS – all these things had a time table that he disrupted. Agenda 2030 had many planned items put on hold, which put them in jeopardy. That is why John Kerry said as soon as Biden was elected, he will put his foot to the pedal and move the nation forward much faster than anyone could realize (to the new world order). There was a fundamental shift out of despondency for many Americans as their rages rose and taxes decreased, and delivered the Abraham Accords, record oil and natural gas and put some sanity back in regulations.
I wouldn't call that any sort of coordinated plan on Trump’s part.
We have to start somewhere. Trump's first foray was tragically challenged in so many ways. If he prevails come November there's going to be even more tragedy for us to live with before the air gets cleared, you can count on that.
Worse than what has been happening these last 3 years? I think not..
There will be nationwide “grassroots” riots election night if Trump wins for starters.
Fortunately they'll be mostly peaceful, despite all the fire and death.
And occurring in deep blue utopia's.
Also if the election is stolen from him… again.
A lot less likely for many reasons. The MAGA coalition is working people with something to lose.
Kansas and Iowa farmers?
Oh Feldspar, go spy on somebody else.
I'm mainly loitering, with a little snooping in between to keep everyone honest.
Who cares. Dems are the only group that will poop in their own nests..
Who is "we?" I hope it's not Democrats, because they haven't fixed anything in five presidential terms.
We is definitely not the Dems. Perhaps not even most Repubs since they had their heads in the sand or hands in the till while this snowball has been barreling down this hill. “We” is probably more of a hope than a reality. The only candidate with the managerial skills to accomplish the goal is DeSantis but he doesn’t seem to have the charisma to get elected. He certainly does not have Trumps comedic skills!
So I am happy to give Trump his mulligan. But I agree about his lack of management skills in the public arena. You really can't run the nation as a family business. Oh wait, that is exactly what the current POTUS is doing. Oopsie. And come to think of it, what the Uniparty has done for decades now, at least. Well family and friends. But DeSantis is largely successful in Florida because he has a Republican legislature and apparently the widespread support of his constituents. On the national level that will no longer be true. Which is why I say give Trump his shot. What some call vengeance I call necessary putting the house in order. Then let a DeSantis or a Ramaswamy take it in 2028. Not a Haley though; she is a Republican Hillary Clinton. Or Christie; he is a Republican Biden. Uniparty Republicans should be studiously avoided in my opinion.
Trump needs help. There are far too many Uniparty Republicans that need to be changed out. It was them who thwarted Trump.
I agree. A small band of noble warriors would be nice. I hope Pompeo has a key role. And leave the kids to manage the family businesses.
It took decades to get here, maybe a century. So it will take at least that long to turn it back knowing the Establishment (funded by a big guy cut of 10% of the federal budget - $780B last year not counting the Cartel cut) is always sniping away.
fix it? no. it would be easier to throw it out and start over.
I agree. Neither the Democrats or the Republicans learned a thing from 2016.
The Washington political establishment regained power and simply went on it’s merry way, comfortably ensconced in their comfortable offices, paying lip service to the electorate and ignoring the realities unfolding around them.
Why should they? Once in office, Trump proved weak, stupid and easily manipulated.
Trump's *greatest* selling point...
fify
DJT has *many* points of sunshine. The Fascists have none.
I just wanna see Trump fuck them in the ass, metaphorically speaking.
You forgive him for warp speed? If so please explain.
He did pretty much everything the elite wanted Even Opportunity Zone $$ was totally co-opted for the uber rich. First tax cut followed by Cares Acts sent the debt skyward. I thought Matt originally left Useful Idiots to write a book on where Covid money went. Then we were asked to be patient a long time while he was off at The Twit. Now doing what he did in 2016 (I get he’s pissed however we are too) and I don’t give a flip about the elections after what they all did. Even Rand Paul invested in deadly Remdesivir.
I have no problem with warp speed. Trump never REQUIRED people to take the shot. It was an attempt at mitigation and it is perhaps helpful for those at high risk (a very limited subset of people).
I would say a single bird. The Deep State gave us the double bird back. Biden and Harris
Strangely enough Vivek Ramaswamy is not in Trumps crosshairs. My bet is that the Trump campaign is working as hard as they can to get him to join the Trump team as VP. I don't think Ramaswamy will do that.
I also believe that Ramaswamy's polling will surge in and after Iowa in a big way. If Trump somehow gets hung up legally and can't run, he's going to throw all of his support to Ramaswamy.
Finally, IMO it's a bit terrifying what the landscape of our country might look like on November 6th if Trump does win. I can imagine mass violent protests, burning blue cities, curfews, and a call for marshal law. This of course would only embolden the DC establishment and 3 letter agency spooks to crack down even more on 2A, spying on the populace and lawfare based on political leanings.
Regardless, the next 10 months is going to be a shitshow so buckle up.
It might be calm in the streets if Trump loses but that will be because America will be dead as we know it.
As I know it, America was dead 30 years ago and the emergence of Trump on the scene confirmed it.
So you at least realize that Trump did not kill America. Let's go ahead and pretend that's what happened anyway, okay? It makes insurrection sound so much better
what was it that happened 30 years ago?
Either B Clinton's election (one year short) or Near Gingrich's take over of the House (one year long). Depends on feldspar's political leanings. I think I'd date it 9/12/2001, when we willingly gave up rights for safety.
Yep, Susan, 9/12/01 was the Day the Music Died, in terms of America/freedom.
Why doesn't everyone see this?
I became cynical long before my time.
Is that why you took up a career spying on American citizens for the US government? My understanding is that most "spooks" are deeply cynical. But maybe you can reform yourself. I'm rooting for you.
Less saccharine, Pacificus, less saccharine.
That’s nice, I’m smiling…but maybe put that aside and answer my question?
Make it 40 years ago---the advent of Ronald Reagan and the policy basket of unpleasantries he and his cronies delivered to America's doorstep that have spawned many more unpleasantries. Neo-liberal economics, i.e. the steady displacement of sound banking and fiscal policies by sharp-elbow finance, a significant (and permanent) reduction in the top marginal tax rate for the top 10%, regular tax cuts for the same cohort, etc., ultimately shifting more and more of the financial burdens of the country onto the shoulders of the 90%.
The newly empowered religious right beginning to make make common cause with retrograde Republicanism to make war on the constitution and secular state. Retrograde Republicans making common cause with corporate America (soon to be joined by the Democrats): the gutting of labor and the middle class through the displacement of entire sectors of the economy overseas, and the wholesale loss of jobs and real income (living wages) that entailed.
The usual. A shitty, unaffordable, cruel healthcare system that every year became more shitty, unaffordable...on and on and on. No money for healthcare but plenty of it for wars and tax cuts. Couple of hundred other bad developments along the way. Nothing new to report, under the sun, to write home about...
Everybody and everything seems to have become impoverished in a heartbeat and a blink of an eye. Politicians being fully owned by those who can afford to own them are no longer interested in legislating. There's no longer any pretense to it. This I find interesting.
If it's nothing else, "America" is the best damned reality show in the known universe.
It's loud, obnoxious, treacherous and stupid AF. In other words, perfection.
Unlike us here in Canada, where our country more closely resembles the cringey schlock you find on The Food Network or HGTV.
haha! "The Amazing Disgrace" perhaps? ;-)
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Here’s my current fantasy. Ramaswamy for the win; the pardoning of political prisoners and the appointment of Trump as the Comedy Czar. Razzle Dazzle ‘em.
Doubtful. Ramaswamy is an establishment creature, who rides Trump's coattails by copying his talking points.
I thought that originally, but the more I've listened to him on long form podcasts, I'm not so sure. We'll see I suppose.
Listen to him on quick, no time to think answers from asshole “journalists” looking for a gotcha. It’s pretty impressive that he doesn’t stutter, or have to think about it and hem and haw. It’s just bam like a razor. I’m hopeful that when they do finally put PDT down, which I’m sure is in the offing for the ds, he rises up to the surface.
Ramaswamy copies Trump’s insults, but doesn’t get the point. As Taibbi points out, Trump is an insult comedian. Vivek doesn’t get that the insults are supposed to be funny!
"Two Dick Cheney's in high heels" was A+ shit! lol
Maybe … if your purpose is to advance Haley over DeSantis.
It’s like when the Soviets dubbed Margaret Thatcher the “Iron Lady”: intended as an insult, it came across as a compliment.
Thanks! I didn't realize the Soviets came up with that. Any idea who coined "Maggot Scratcher"?
Never heard of that one.
I've been worried about November 6th too. One can only look at the unending stream of people illegally coming across the border by the 100's of thousands and wonder how this will affect the election. We know that Democrats want everyone of those people made into future Democrat voters and every border crosser feels beholden to Biden for letting them into the country with access to the social service perks. If Trump were to win, would it unleash the fury of millions of angry "migrants" worried about possible deportation? Could that be the secret weapon that will be used to create chaos?
If elections are clean, you might be surprised. A Guatemalan illegal crosser I know who has been here a long time said, "I would rather see Trump elected and get deported, than see the US become Guatemala". That was back in 2015
Hmm, the Dems and Deep State let Trump win? The illegals that have been entering the country, even during Trump's time, are mostly hand picked for future select purposes. There have been more Chinese boating directly to beachheads like in Florida and also seen coming by the thousands through the Darien Gap. Sex and age both appropriate for the worst possible acts.
We all know that mass amnesty is coming.
I am thinking that the Blob might become desperate enough to go back to their antics in the Sixties, namely a well placed bullet.
Oh thats a no brainer. I’m sure that the attempts already thwarted are deep state.
"Oh thats a no brainer."
Not sure if that's a deliberate or accidental JFK reference. Either way, it's bang-on. ;-)
Elise Stefanik has already been penciled in for that role. Trump will determine that there is room for only one unhinged candidate on the Republican ticket, and that disqualifies crazy man Prince Rama-salami.
Very interesting theory. I almost might think she was deliberately put out front for the Fancy School Presidents lynching to raise her profile for that reason. Though with her fancy "Leadership" position, she can make happen most of what she wants.
Stefanik is a neocon who kissed the golden ring when she entered Harvard at 18. She has been slicked up to slide right to the top. Cool cucumber . . . was told when to kiss the second gold ring. Let's see if it works.
A suck-up like Stefanik needs no slicking-up. From anyone.
Stefanik for VP 🎉🇺🇸
You are scaring me. No female VP, especially her. Stefanik was taught to play within the system, she is part of it. She is a Bushy, a neocon plant like the others.
Until the 2021 congressional session she had a worse voting record then Liz Cheney. And she wanted Liz’s job (House Republican Conference chair) when Liz was ousted. She ran for it against Chip Roy and got DJT’s support. He also backed McCarthy, McConnell and McDaniels, all losers. Here is a JBS Freedom Index Scorecard comparison between Stefanik and Roy and Banks (including him because once chair, she immediately planted negative stories about Jim Banks, a possible competitor, and his aid Buckley Carlson (Tucker’s son) for which Don Jr. told her she went too far) and Byron Donalds who ran against her the next House term for conference chair and he lost.
Lifetime: 48% v 96% v 74% v 93%
2023-2024 60% v 100% v 79% v 100%
2021-2022 68% v 100% v 82% v 90%
2019-2020 30% v 87% v 73% v N/A
2017-2018 40% v N/A v 65%
2015-2016 43% v N/A v N/A
Chip Roy is not running again - smart man that’s had enough. To affix conservative/Trump bona fides to moderate Stefanik, she was given a set of questions to use in the Trump/Ukraine impeachment trial. It made her an instant star as planned. In 2019 I was already retired and I watch the whole trial. I thought who in the heck is she to get to center stage.
After graduating Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 06 she hired on (was planted) as a staff member of the US domestic Policy Council in GW Bush’s Admin. Then went to work with Bush’s WH Chief of Staff. Then she worked for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Foreign Policy Initiative founded in 2009 (defunked in 2017) by Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol. She helped Paul Ryan in the 2012 presidential election cycle. Before she was elected to Congress in 2014, she owned a minority interest in a townhouse near Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., valued at $1.3 million. When seated in Congress, at the time Jan 2015, she was the youngest woman ever elected. Young and brand new – surprise, she is appointed to the House Armed Services Committee. In Feb that year she was appointed vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Readiness. She was invited to join the Senior Advisory Committee at the Harvard Institute of Politics shortly after her election. [skids had to have been greased]
She was against Trump’s 2017 withdrawal from the Paris climate debacle, and she joined the bipartisan Climate Solution Caucus. She then co-sponsored legislation to remove genetic privacy protections which would allow employers to require employees to undergo genetic testing, which it could see the results of, or risk paying penalty. She opposed Trump’s temporary travel ban into the US by nationals of 7 Muslim-majority countries. She voted in 2019 with Dems to override Trump’s veto of the Dem’s declaration the national emergency at the southern border was over. When Trump’s FCC repealed O’s net neutrality in 2017 she urged colleagues to pass legislation restoring the policy. She voted for the Equality Act in 2019 and then introduced a bill that would prohibit discrimination against LGBT people. In 2022 she voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify the right to same-sex marriage in federal law.
Perhaps Trump is what others have said, one of "them," who only did enough to keep his supporters content while bankrupting the nation even further?
Matt, your writing is spot on, Covid or not.
Get well soon!
Most journalists can't write this well 100% healthy and functioning.
Today's article had an even more than usual fever-dream quality to it. We have the Pope with his balls somehow hanging out and a guy with antibiotics curing the clap for aristocrats.
It's most excellent.
It's really not fair, speaking as a mere mortal, just sayin'.
Get well, Matt!
(A) Get well soon. (B) Great essay. Absolutely up to form. Many, many great points in this essay. It's a beautiful essay. Some might say the most beautiful.
Many are saying that.
That was damn fine!
What America needs (IMO) is less Federal control and more states rights regardless of who's in power. Trying to force one direction onto the entire country is like trying to shove a saggy corn cob down a pissed off goose's gob hole, it's just not terribly viable.
It's easy if you kill the goose first, that is what is happening.
Please post that saggy corn cob video if you have it. :-)
I think I should probably just keep that one in my private collection, for the time being...
"...less Federal control and more states rights?"
Even if this was practical it's no longer practical. In ain't 1858 no more.
You're right, it's not 1858 anymore. But I fail to see what that has to do with states rights.
States Rights got a boost here in the 2020s when Roe v Wade was overturned. States Rights is challenged because it does not have MIC payola.
Abortion rights terminated because Raytheon didn't pay the bill on time. Now, that's a conspiracy theory that might have legs.
Raytheon bribing the Supreme Court? That sounds like a diversionary tactic. Good luck with that conspiracy theory.
Don't be so modest! That's your conspiracy theory, not mine. And I wish you godspeed in its dissemination.
Well, what "rights," in your opinion, would you like the "states" to assume that the states are currently not assuming? And what "rights," in your opinion, has the Federal government subsumed that ought not to have been subsumed by the federal government and ought to be the province of the states?
States' rights and Federal prerogatives are laid out in the Constitution, however imperfectly, and sussed out periodically by the Supreme Court, however imperfectly.
I have long admired Romney’s observation that it is like having 50 labs. Some state will pass a law that sounds well-intentioned. When it is found to be ineffective, other states notice and reconsider. I, in no way, like Romney but I found the statement to be sound
No it is 2023 and we are badly in need of recognition that strong central authority only leads one direction and that the course we have been on since 1858 (using your cut-off year) needs to be corrected. We are after all a federalist system and contrary to what you appear to believe that does not mean dominance down to control.of earth, wind, fire, water and everything therein by the federal government. All it has wrought at this point is a massive, unwieldy bureaucracy to large too manage. And what has been done, and is to be done, in the guise of "management" does not bode well for the citizens.
It's neither 1858 nor 2023. And don't sweat it: any and all central authorities---from the Federal government to the customer service helpline of your insurance company---will be going down, courtesy of the elements earth, wind, fire, water---soon enough.
Taibbi’s writing is the perfect medicine for whatever ails you. (Do not read while driving or operating heavy machinery. Not recommended for pearl clutching ninnies.)
LOL!!
This is one of the reasons why the GOP will never be the same. Donald Trump connects with people on a profound and personal level. I know the importance of this as an entertainer myself. He's also funny as hell. He speaks common language. He offends people. The first amendment was created to protect that speech. The Deep State has ALWAYS hated that. He CONFRONTS the press rather than panders to them. I have a funny feeling this has changed the mind of many "liberal" journos like Mr. Taibbi and Mr. Shellenberger. Respect.
I don’t think Trump changed their minds. What they found out about a completely corrupt deep state coordinated destruction of the constitution and the bill of rights did.
Yes, but Trump was the seed of all of this. The left's hatred of him and his followers left them exposed on their flank.
True but Trump exposed that. I do not think he did so intentionally but it was exposed because of him.
But you do realize that this concentration on Trump’s rhetorical style here is more or less the same kind of vacuous analysis we got of Obama for 8 years? “Obama is such a stirring orator! And he talks with such inspiration about bridging divides!” Okay, sure…but you understand it is policy and action that actually makes things happen, yes? Did Obama’s failures not make clear the hazards of elevating style over substance? Making “he’s confrontational, plainspoken, and funny, and he ticks off the establishment” some kind of argument for supporting Trump is as braindead as making “he’s such an eloquent and inspirational speaker, and ticks off the evangelical right!” an argument for voting for Obama.
You're using moral relativity to compare apples to oranges. Donald Trump did everything he promised he'd do in office. Barack Obama was NOTHING BUT his speeches. Donald Trump parrots successes. Nice try, but that's an airball.
How biased can you be? You may not like what Obama accomplished, but starting with “Obamacare” and Dodd Frank reform, repealing don’t ask, don’t tell, turning the economy around from the devastating 2008 crash…
Wow. You’re still here just waiting for someone to dump on on your shiny negro. Impressed.
Oh Dear God. For 8 years, the GDP growth was 1% IN SPITE of Obama's destructive policies. Healthcare is still BROKEN. He took $800 billion for green energy that never was realized. I don't even know where to start.
ODG is right. Just be HONEST about political records. Trump did not achieve any more promises than most other Presidents. Now we can start a lengthy economic debate using all sorts of metrics. Obama came in inheriting Bush eras worst economic crash. Healthcare is broken? Hmm..didn’t Trump promise to get rid of Obama care?? If I mention O pulled our military out of Iraq, as he promised, the war the GOP started, that will start another critique …and so it will go…because you know, there’s always a much better approach to everything according to arm-chair quarterbacks on the other side of political leanings. I was disappointed in Obama many times, but I was dismayed and disgusted so many times by Trump. Just don’t generalize so blatantly about topics that too complex for generalization.
I've always said that Madison anticipated Lenny Bruce with that 1st Amendment thing. The Deep State hates Trump because the Deep State is more Lenny Bruce-oriented. This is obvious. And George Carlin was a straight-up CIA creation and operative. Carlin was also a mole for MI6. All of this is obvious, too.
"They" view Trump as an unfunny cad and boor who relies on shopworn material and the general humorlessness of his audience. They've never laughed at Trump and are not laughing now.
Feldspar, you are going to have to document that "George Carlin was a CIA operative claim." Go ahead, check with your sources, I know that you have them. ; )
I pieced it together from a couple of classified ads in some old issues of Lobster Magazine.
Comedians are history's greatest disruptors. G'head...name a famous philosopher. Now, name a famous standup comedian.
Are you suggesting that I can't name a famous philosopher or a famous standup comedian, or that you can't name a famous philosopher or a famous standup comedian?
Dick Gregory, Mort Sahl and Professor Irwin Corey.
I had Thoreau and Red Skelton in mind.
I didn’t know that Thoreau was a comedian. 🤔
Funny! Brainless and mortifying. Level of education chaos.
No...they have the same impact, and they speak language people can understand. Not everyone can understand Thomas Paine, Montesquieu or John Locke. That's just the way it goes. Yes, schooling fails, but understand why comedians exist: to challenge orthodoxy and people in power.
SOME comedians!
And what does a politician have to give YOU to get your vote? While I can't stand to hear Trump speak for more than 10 minutes. However he was a pretty good president. I can't recall him holding American Citizens as Political Prisoners, nor trying to put his opponents & their families in jail or stealing their money with trumped-up charges or calling 74 million American Citizens Extremists. Not to mention, he did NOT start any wars.
And a perfect metaphor for the lefty-climate-hysteric: a bomber jet that doesn’t leave an “environmental” footprint. This sums it up so well! They love war but hate the fossil fuels for which most wars are fought.
Yes, but I hear the Sierra Club plans on retaining its fleet of B-52s just in case the seaweed-burning engines of the new bomber don't pass muster.
Wow Matt, you managed to get this off while suffering from Covid? Good on you man!
"If Barack Obama was the avatar of upper class probity, a lean multiracial scholar fawned over by the Nobel Committee, Trump was the opposite, an artery-clogged casino boss with bankruptcies and a comb-over."
Love it! "Transparency" vs. cold, hard reality eh?
Yet after two decades we find ourselves still being kept in the dark. I sure would like to see some real, genuine light being shone to illuminate details hidden in the shadows of those years.
You're doing a fine job man, stay on it.
I think the best person to shed “some real, genuine light...to illuminate details hidden in the shadows of those years” is RFK Jr. He’s doing better as an independent than anyone thought possible - I hope Matt will include him in future election commentary. Who is he likely to take more votes from - I don’t think the answer is obvious.
The fringe right, the fringe left and the ruling class uni-party all fear him. He must be doing something right.
This is absolutely the best journalistic essay on Donald Trump ever. If somone gets it, if Taibbi and Kirn get it and they transmit their understanding to us, not all is lost. I am old and born and raised in Communist Cuba, with extensive readings in Socialist theory, a survivor of a Socialist upbringing, a revolutionary family and a demagogic enviroment, and an ex political prisioner, 5 years in the Ariza Concentration Camp, from age 18 to 23, for writing a counterrevolutionary poem in high school, and I can assure you -whomever you might be, oh reader of my comment to another great piece by Taibbi- that the same elitist, hyperintellectualized, college educated class of lawyers and doctors (Castro, Dorticós, Guevara, Vilma Espín, Celia Sánchez, etc., the offspring of Cuban landowners and oligachs, Ivy League educated brats, well-to-do nihilists and radicalized snobs) brought down in a mater of 5 years a modern and rapidly developing free Republic. Not the ignorant peasants, not even the plebeian Fulgencio Batista. But the very same forces at work in America today. Cerntainly the feeling of impending doom is quite similar.
You should do a YouTube video telling your story. It would be a valuable cautionary tale for our young people.
I recently completed a Spanish degree for fun. My Alma Mater has had distanc education for years. In one of my classes there was an idiot young student talking about wonderful Cuba and the free healthcare. Getting straieghtened out be a fellow student who was Cuban was the most effective thing possible. In another class there was a Hugo Chavez apologist. For that student I brought up a bunch of links about persecution of Gays in Venezuela. These kids really have no clue.
Thanks for this. Yes, Michael Moore in his sickening documentary "Sicko", gives Cuba as an example of free world class healthcare. All the while I was sending BandAids an Bayers Aspirin to my relatives in the island. The Catroists blame it on the embargo, but their plans to build more and more hotels and resorts for European turists grow each year. Not one new hospital, though.
My dear friend of 30+ years is a first gen Cuban American. Her parents were on one of the last flights out of Cuba with the maternal grandmother. The maternal grandfather refused to leave. He died there. About 10 years ago, she and her brother took their parents back to Cuba. We talked about the experience and the one thing that I'll never forget her saying is, "we never ate fish...not at one restaurant...even though we were on an island." Then she told me it was because there were no boats for fear that they'd be used to escape to the US. So crazy.
Glad you're here.
I know someone who worked at the Cuban embassy in Havana and found out the doctor visit is "free", but the drugs are not and simple antibiotics cost a month's salary. Maybe you can confirm as I did not hear that directly.
We can’t even get our old people, or adults, to learn from that life. What makes you think youngsters are even capable of even getting close to understanding.
There's a great book that depicts the inner workings of the State Department at the time of Castro's take over: The Fourth Floor, by former US ambassador to Cuba, Earl E. T. Smith. Great, illuminating reading. According to Smith half the State Department in 1959 was pro-Castro, something that goes against the traditional narrative of "the US supported Batista dictatorship". Cuba was, and still is, the canary in the coal mine. A coal mine situated in a Banana Republic. There's much to be learned from the Cuban experience.
Thanks for this, Nestor, give us more. BTW: am I correct in thinking that Alejandro "No borders" Mayorkas was born in Cuba? A Castroite mole!
Sadly.
This article is may be violation of the First Commandment of the Censorship Industrial Complex: "Thou shalt not humanize Donald Trump." Seriously, Matt, it's awesome.
Who among the luminaries of the Democrat Party thinks suing your way to elective office is a winner in America? I think it was Axelrod who posited that when voters get around to "rationalizing their vote" rather than telling pollsters they are for Trump as an expression of general irritation, they'll come back to the safe, boring choice for President. And as a bonus, we'll make it easier to see the proper way forward by removing that other guy's name from the ballot, in the name of protecting democracy.
What will they say when write-ins for Trump number more than traditional ballot ticks for Biden? 'Trump' is pretty easy to spell, even for uneducated rubes. And telling Americans they can't do something they expect to be able to do - namely vote for a preferred candidate - guarantees voter anger, maybe the best turnout motivator of all.
This spectacular demonstration of inability to read the room and the mood of the public that doesn't read the New York Times bodes ill for their desired result in the fall. And they've made it a hanging offense to question vote counts post hoc. Schadenfreude, thy vessel be Trump.
This is about the acquisition and preservation of power...nothing else. While some of us believe in the ethical pursuit of personal accomplishment, there are others who are 100% OK with the Machiavellian route.
"...Who among the luminaries of the Democrat Party thinks suing your way to elective office is a winner in America?"
Or...who in America thinks a traitor and anti-constitutionalist ought to be prevented from seeking and holding office, as clearly articulated in the Constitution?
It should properly be seen as humiliation and repudiation that the candidate defined as insurrectionist, traitor and anti-constitutionalist is ahead in the polls. A majority of the polity doesn't buy the premise, I guess. Better find another argument.
Nice rejoinder! But in general, don't feed the trollish Feldspar.
Humiliation and repudiation for and from whom?
You really want a second bite of this poisoned fruit? Just bow your head and move on.
Rufo.
Let's not forget Eugene Debs who received over 900,000 votes while in prison for speaking out against the WWI draft. Technically, maybe a traitor.
Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Stacey Abrams ... to name a few
And right there is this cheap jewel’s contribution to the conversation. Lol
Did you just call me a whore?
Ah. Just a useful but inexpensive mineral.
Yes, I agree Biden should be prevented from seeking and holding office.
If it is so clearly articulated in the Constitution, then why are we waiting for SCOTUS to review it?
Not as clearly as some suggest.
"No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
The text mentions "elector of President and Vice President" but omits President and Vice President from the list of the disqualified. Since Electors have as their sole function the choice of and election of a President and Vice President, if the amendment authors had intended to apply the disqualification to President and Vice President, they'd have simply included President and Vice President in the list since Electors were simply a mechanism to transmit vote results from the several states.
From this we can reasonably conclude that omission was deliberate. So whether or not Trump engaged in an insurrection is irrelevant to his qualification for the Presidency.
Now you're a lawyer.
I can read. But for fun, let's get a bet down. It's possible the SCOTUS will simply delay until the question(s) are moot since this only impacts primaries in states where Trump has little chance in the Fall. That'd be a draw by my definition.
I'm betting that SCOTUS will weigh in and will hold that the Constitution does not preclude a candidate for President or Vice President regardless of any holding as to insurrection.
I expect this will be a unanimous decision but there might be one or two of the three who might dissent. So I'm setting a threshold of 7-2 for a win for my position. A 6-3 or 5-4 in favor of Trump remaining a candidate would be a draw.
Ditto on your side where a win would be a determination that Trump is NOT qualified to be President on account of his involvement in insurrection. I'll spot you a justice so a 6-3 is enough for you to win. A 5-4 to kick Trump off would be a draw as well.
Payoff is as follows: If you win you specify a charity (501c3) to which you want my $100 to be contributed. An appropriate receipt or other evidence of payment will be provided. Conversely, if I win I will name a charity for your $100 contribution.
How confident are you in your belief that only lawyers can read the plain text of the Constitution? And if you like this can be simpler with any majority no matter how narrow determining the win.
On the other hand, as an "officer of the United States" it seems the Presidency is included. A poorly worded law.
It's the Constitution. Explain why Electors are subject to disqualification while President and Vice President are not. You can't. And that'll be the determination.
By the way, very little in the Constitution is "clearly articulated." This was intentional by the authors.
I looked into write-ins recently. Apparently a candidate has to register as a write-in in order for votes for them to count.
Dang, that invalidated some of my prior protest votes.
I don't think actual votes really matter in this circumstance. It'll be enough that primary ballots show an "undervote" leaving the top of the ticket effectively blank. County clerks will know that count. If it isn't reported they'll be asked. Let the denial stories explain how failure to register invalidates those voters' choice or that disqualification means those write ins are meaningless. Hopefully that's the story all evening as votes are counted. Let's tell half of the vote that their opinion won't be considered.
"We're sorry. We aren't counting your vote because...democracy." This is a spectacular public opinion loser.
We weren't talking about primaries, were we? I was talking about the actual presidential election.
"And they've made it a hanging offense to question vote counts post hoc."
You'll recall that it was the rioters at the Capitol that erected gallows to "hang Mike Pence", not the press or the Democrats.
Trump, on the other hand, was allowed to prosecute his claims of voter fraud in court. More so than any candidate in modern presidential history. That he was completely unsuccessful because he didn't have the evidence is his fault alone.
I sympathize but the efforts are losing. Americans aren't buying it. As the saying goes, it can be the best dog food, made from the best ingredients ever but if the dogs won't eat it, well...
Trump is up 2 points when he needs to be minus 6 for a Democrat to win. +8 was about the spread favoring Biden at this point in the last race. And this before the assorted third party candidates qualify for ballot access this time. So it's looking bleak at a point when replacing Biden will be hard. I suspect Obama tried to convince him to drop out and failed.
Remember Dems have those superdelegates - various grandees who get nominating votes without actually running in the primary as committed. Absent a commanding delegate count on a first ballot - which Democrats have come to expect - it'll be a nasty convention fight inside with Palestinians, LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter protesters outside to entertain the country. And unlike during the Daley era, the Chicago cops will just let it happen.
Replacing Biden will be one of those smoke filled room deals like in the dark ages of Democrat politics. And the Democrats coming off the bench to replace him will trash each other in the compressed timescale of a convention, again with nationwide coverage.
Republicans will have parties and balloon drops. Democrats will have bedlam.
Republican chuds aren't buying it. Don't confuse Republican chuds with "America." It will only cause future heartbreak.
It’s notable that literally nothing you said in this response salvages the claim that I was pointing out the falsity of, which is that the press and the Dems “have made it a hanging offense to question vote counts post hoc.”
Nice non-sequitur, though.
Only matters what the outcome is. And in fairness I don't think any J6 defendants have been given death sentences. I missed photos of the gallows. Are there any?
Troll.
Your tds is out hanging like the pope’s balls. I know you are aware that not one,0, the integer with no value, of those cases were ever heard. So you come here blathering that as if the rest of us don’t. Try farcebook, it’s more your speed.
Again, like I had to say to another poster:
This is categorically false, and it's a testament to the cult of Trump that his defenders don't know (or care to know) that it's false.
Let's provide an exhaustive account of why it's false, shall we?
Many judges looked at the evidence presented in the cases and what they found was completely insubstantial.
***
Judge James Bass in Chatham County, Georgia: https://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-judge-dismisses-trump-campaign-case-in-chatham-ballot-dispute/YKBA6IYQKBB4JCSQEIJBQQT6QI/
“The court finds that there is no evidence that the ballots referenced in the petition were received after 7pm on election day,”
***
Judge Timothy Kenny in Michigan:
https://www.michigan.gov/-/media/Project/Websites/AG/releases/2020/november/Stoddard_et_al_v_City_Election_Commission_et_al_-_11-06-2020.pdf?rev=2fa32f93caa94365a1ee8c1c492a4e75
“Plaintiffs do not offer any affidavits or special eyewitness evidence to substantiate their assertions,”
“Plaintiffs merely assert in their complaint, ‘Hundreds or thousands of ballots were duplicated solely by Democratic Party inspectors and then counted.’ Plaintiffs’ allegation is mere speculation.
“The motion is based upon speculation and conjecture. Absent any evidence of an improper practice, the court cannot identify if this alleged violation occurred and, if it did, the frequency of such violations.
“Plaintiffs have made only a claim but have offered no evidence to support their assertions.”
***
There's Judge Steven Grimberg, who threw out the case due to standing issues, but he took a look at the evidence, and stated the suit's claims has "no basis in fact or law". (https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/federal-judge-denies-trump-supporters-attempt-halt-georgia-election-certification/ZA2QFZXOJJFZZBUSB43CCMMCXA/)
***
There's Judge Matthew Brann, who looked at the evidence of a suit brought in Pennsylvania: https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.pamd.127057/gov.uscourts.pamd.127057.202.0_1.pdf
"“Simply alleging that poll watchers did not have access to some areas does not plausibly plead unequal treatment. Without actually alleging that one group was treated differently than another, plaintiffs’ argument falls flat.”
***
There was judge Stephanos Bibas, who looked at the same case after it was appealed: https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/203371np.pdf
“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so,”
“Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.
***
Judge Todd Russell in Nevada looked at the evidence, even of the sort that in other instances had been ruled inadmissible, and literally found EVERY SINGLE CLAIM TO BE TOTALLY UNSUPPORTED: https://reason.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/20-44711.pdf
"“Contestants did not prove under any standard of proof that any illegal votes were cast and counted,”
***
Justice Brutinel on the Arizona Supreme Court looked at the evidence in Trump's case and made similar conclusions: https://casetext.com/case/ward-v-jackson-2
"The November 9, 2020 hand count audit revealed no discrepancies in the tabulation of votes and the statistically negligible error presented in this case falls far short of warranting relief under A.R.S. § 16-672. Because the challenge fails to present any evidence of "misconduct," "illegal votes" or that the Biden Electors "did not in fact receive the highest number of votes for office," let alone establish any degree of fraud or a sufficient error rate that would undermine the certainty of the election results, the Court need not decide if the challenge was in fact authorized under A.R.S. § 16-672 or if the federal "safe harbor" deadline applies to this contest. "
***
There is also the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which viewed Trump's evidence and concluded,
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-882/164938/20201229165341814_No.%2020-__PetitionForAWritOfCertiorari.pdf
"The President failed to point to even one vote cast in this election by an ineligible voter, yet he asks this court to disenfranchise over 220,000 voters"
***
ALL OF WHICH IS TO SAY:
You are very much lying. Judges looked at the evidence Trump gave them. And it was practically non-existent in every instance.
The election was vetted, more than any election in recent history, and it was confirmed by the judiciary after looking at the evidence: the orange ape lost.
Get over it.
Did you know you can cure TDS with aggressive Ivermectin therapy? I did it. But now I'm suffering from the same disease as Donald Trump---tertiary syphilis. Though I'm not yet losing my mind like Donald.
And did you know, according to Donald, that Nikki Haley was in charge of security at the Capitol on Jan. 6? And that Donald offered to send her 10,000 troops? Why isn't this being discussed here?
Trump IS easy. A couple elections ago didn't voters in Alaska re-elect Lisa Murkowski via write-in after she lost the primary? But now you've given TPTB a head's-up to get rid of write-in votes, because of course they are remnants of colonialist, pre-Civil War America. Like the statue of William Penn.
If you like write-ins why not mail-ins?
The Vatican line absolutely slayed me.
Roll on, 2024! Let it all hang out.
I almost sneezed my morning coffee as I read that... have to be more careful when I open Matt's next efforts.
GBS Matt, GBS.
I can't picture how the Pope's balls could be hanging out.
With faith, brother!
Classic Taibbi column! Get well soon ...
This essay Matt! Proof we need your point of view in our mindscapes to pull all the pieces together. The biggest hit to the working class was Clinton’s signing NAFTA. The beginning of the erasure of small town America. I’ll never forget what Clinton said at the time “Globalization is inevitable.”
Bill Clinton also said, "blow jobs in the oval office are also inevitable."