Curb Your Authoritarianism? The 2016 Conventional Wisdom Thread (Elections, Part 6)

if he really wants to stick it to trump he'd endorse hillary. you wonder if he really believes that nonsense about democrats tearing apart the country, maybe he spouted it so much that he really does. alternatively he just thinks that endorsing hillary will make him a pariah.

― iatee

lol "make him" a pariah

because he wasn't going to win reelection anyway

xp

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/furious-christie-refuses-to-pick-up-trumps-dry-cleaning

Important Q: is the 'T' in the Trump/Pence logo penetrating the 'P' or is the 'P' a hand delicately jerking off the 'T'?

VP nod is basically a way for Pence to avoid having to run for governor, possibly catapult him onto the "national stage" without losing a humiliating election in his home state. This way when Trump loses he will still be a national GOP figure w career prospects.

xp

NO BOROWITZ
xp

yeah, let's make this a borowitz-free zone

VP nod is basically a way for Pence to avoid having to run for governor, possibly catapult him onto the "national stage" without losing a humiliating election in his home state. This way when Trump loses he will still be a national GOP figure w career prospects.

xp

― Οὖτις

i know people talk about what a close race he was running, but he really wouldn't have had that much trouble winning re-election. his would-have-been opponent is a mustachoied nonentity.

Wasn't there one time when Borowitz forgot to be desperately unfunny

lies

a 25% chance at becoming vice president and maybe then president - sure why not roll the dice

ok then what's yr explanation rushomancy? Pence dumb enough to think he can win the long odds?

I read that url as: jeb-bush-does-not-represent-the-future-of-the-country--or-the-gop, and I thought that's harsh of the WaPo, but fair.

ok then what's yr explanation rushomancy? Pence dumb enough to think he can win the long odds?

― Οὖτις

i have no explanation. he does have a reputation for being quayle-stupid, though.

That is the most logical explanation.

This way when Trump loses he will still be a national GOP figure w career prospects.

I think this is otm. Unless I've missed something, it's not like Mike Pence had some other incredibly bright potential future in store. I actually think the "say goodbye to your career" cost of associating with trump is pretty consistently overstated, at least for most GOP-ers. Not that anyone in this thread is saying that; I just see that a lot in the media generally, in my twitter feed, etc. But it seems pretty obvious that a far right dummy like Pence will have a much higher profile and better opportunities after this, even if he's on a losing ticket. It's not like anyone's going to blame him if they lose.

See: Sarah Palin

If Sarah Palin is the example then Trump will still be obnoxiously present years from now

I like this line from Nate Silver's state-of-the-race thing today--not saying it's actually ominous or anything, he's just throwing out questions ("What would keep me up late at night if I were Clinton?") because it's July and he has to write about something, but I think there's some validity to it: "In a big-picture sense, I’d be worried that Americans come to view the race as one between two equally terrible choices, instead of Trump being uniquely unacceptable."

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/election-update-10-questions-about-where-the-2016-race-stands/

yeah, I liked that piece too. It's good to see that guy back doing the thing he's actually good at.

https://twitter.com/ShaneGoldmacher/status/754095475888836608

don't know if people reading the front page of yahoo will catch the "satirical" aspect

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/Screen%20Shot%202016-07-15%20at%206.05.42%20PM_zpsms4ledfj.png

If Sarah Palin is the example then Trump will still be obnoxiously present years from now

― Nhex, Friday, July 15, 2016 7:24 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Trump will be and was always gonna be obnoxiously present until he wheezes his final, fetid breath. The only difference is that he will soon be actively hated by a number of people who are now reluctantly supporting him once the veil drops and they realize how much damage was done to the GOP by the demon baby they birthed.

I don't think anybody posted this today--"top aides" going rogue.

http://twitter.com/DanaBashCNN/status/754007849022480384

We should remember that "destroying his own political career' is a moot point when you can be a failed prez candidate and land a six-figure contract with FOX News; some of these guys DO run so they can get their old age pension check signed by Roger Ailes.

interesting post from an FB friend:

The Trump Pence symbol is hysterical, it is obvious latent homosexuality. I really think, that almost all white males who vote Republican after 2008 are latent homosexuals. At the last Republican Convention in Tampa there was a 242% increase of grindr use in the city.

I think that the reason Republicans can adopt absurdities like global warming being a lie, the earth was created in 7 days, low taxes create jobs is because they spend everyday denying to themselves that they are at least bisexual, and from this root self-deception, all other lies flow out from.

Well, there's always the chance that faceless dude who messages you will turn out to be Aaron Schock, so you might as well try your luck

Saw on Twitter that "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was played over the PA at the Trump/Pence announcement event.

Trump's been using that song a lot

jagger should intervene but he's too busy impregnating pretty girls 1/4 his age

apparently this pence introduction was quite something

Heard just a bit of Trump's VP speech in the car. He's still cheerleading "the Evangelicals." If he ever becomes president, I think you're going to see a society-wide explosion of superfluous articles.

Hee: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/dominance-and-humiliation-no-middle-ground

Early on I realized that when it came to Trump if I figured out the stupidest possible scenario that could be reconciled with the available facts and went with it, that almost always turned out to be right. The stupider, the righter. So with this rule of thumb in hand, as the empiricist my Dad taught me to be, I just kept following that model and it kept working.

i could barely listen to this speech. although it definitely wasn't as strident or as high pitched as normal; sounded very telepromptered. but still full of ridiculous bs and I barely heard him mention Pence.

trump's razor

Jamison Foser
‏@jamisonfoser Jamison Foser

An overt racist who knows absolutely nothing just picked a vicious homophobe VP and MSNBC gives you this analysis:

"Were you surprised nobody pointed out Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy in this hotel” — Brian Williams,

Trump seemed to deviate from the talking points on several occasions and instead launched into his stump speech, at multiple times talking at length on what he feels the state of the country is, before seemingly reminding himself of the nature of the event and muttering, "back to Mike Pence."

Trump said the primary reason he chose Pence, interjecting "other than he looks very good," and talking about his family, was because of the governor's record in Indiana.

"He's a solid, solid person," Trump said.

Trump said he won the state of Indiana in a "landslide." His last words on stage about Pence were recalling the governor's prior endorsement of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Trump suggested that Pence endorsed Cruz because he was under pressure from established Republicans.

"Even though he was under pressure, it was the single greatest non-endorsement I've ever had in my life," Trump said. "I will tell you."

As the two shook hands on stage, the microphone picked up Pence telling Trump, "You're amazing."

Trump said he won the state of Indiana in a "landslide." His last words on stage about Pence were recalling the governor's prior endorsement of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Trump suggested that Pence endorsed Cruz because he was under pressure from established Republicans.

"Even though he was under pressure, it was the single greatest non-endorsement I've ever had in my life," Trump said. "I will tell you."

can anyone explain what he was trying to say here

trump's ego is such a black hole that non-endorsements by their negative nature imply their corresponding endorsements. staggering but kind of perfect in its way.

before seemingly reminding himself of the nature of the event and muttering, "back to Mike Pence." is also amazing.

but...the corresponding endorsement to the non-endorsement (i like to fart and i'm crazy) was pence's endorsement of cruz!

i only want to understand

he looks very good

it makes sense if Trump wants to communicate utter contempt of Pence; maybe his lizard brain was doing just that

does he have a non-lizard brain?

Nope!

Hence the success, quoted above, of JMM in explaining how this shit pans out every time

I think the non-endorsement statement was a lame joke. Didn't hear the speech but if you add a little sarcastic self-deprecation it can be read as "ha, ha, amirite?"

but...the corresponding endorsement to the non-endorsement (i like to fart and i'm crazy) was pence's endorsement of cruz!

i only want to understand

― I look forward to hearing from you shortly, (Karl Malone),

PUA Trump negging his date Pence in front of his pals The American People, m/l

RIP the best logo ever.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/16/1548865/-Trump-Pence-Logo-Completely-Scrubbed-from-Campaign-Website

Wow.

I kinda feel like the campaign was smart enough not to go for a logo that made everyone think "toilet paper" but didn't realize that they were getting trolled by the graphics team with the alternative.

One thing I'd be queasy, maybe even panicked about, if I were Trump is how so little media attention is being paid to the convention--which starts in, uh, two days. I have no numbers to back this up, just my own sense from following closely in '08 and '12. A lot of that is undoubtedly a by-product of the awful and chaotic news stories of the past few weeks--it feels like the world is in the middle of some version of 1968--but I also think it's directly linked to what still feels like the unreality of Trump. It's still hard for me to get my head around the idea that there's a convention where he'll be given the nomination.