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

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.

the relative lack of attention to it is completely the result of turkey/nice/shootings by the police/shootings of the police

barring a continuation of that, there will be plenty of attention on the convention next week

As I say, I agree that that explains it to a great extent. But I don't think completely. There were many instances a few months ago where I'd turn on CNN and they'd cover Trump for hours, putting all other news stories aside (or just paying them lip service) no matter how big. I think there's some Trump fatigue in there too.

There is always a frightening prospect that the convention will indeed be a continuation of these kinds of stories.

A competent politician representing the opposition to the current president would have made Orlando, Brexit, Baton Rouge / Sterling, Minneapolis / Castile, Dallas, Nice and the failed coup in Turkey into a coherent narrative about how feckless and apathetic his opponents are. It doesn't even require a decent amount of self-awareness to pull this off, it just demands a little bit of worldliness and an attention span.

Both of which are basically out of Trump's reach thanks to his apparent addiction to cheap speed diet pills and his phenomenal obsession with how small his own dick is

st paul xp

https://vine.co/v/5Wm7igEpLKX

https://twitter.com/mike_pence/status/754408867912622080

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

ohhh so THAT'S where all teh chilis joeks came from today

would be a srs oversight if he didn't get paid for that

tweet was more about exhibiting his bona fides as A Man of The People

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

It is true that Pence neither collapses into a puddle on the floor, nor does he dissipate ethereally into the atmosphere.

Unless he is some sort of non-Newtonian substance, one might reasonably conclude that he is, in fact, solid.

he does look like you could just thump on him

sometimes u just crave chilis. i don't hold this against him as much as his draconian track record on lgbt issues

what's up, my niggas, we're having Applebee's tonight!

not clicking on that thread title

I feel like the "4 hours of sleep each night" as attested by the campaign itself, plus the "funky diet pills regimen" as undenied by key players thing is just waiting to hatch

Pence's wife started a company called That's My Towel!

http://fortune.com/2016/07/16/karen-pence-towel-charms/

My business is called, “That’s My Towel!” Charm, Inc.

Most of us have matching bath and beach towels, so it is easy to get them confused. I have had so many times where I was swimming at a friend’s beach house, pool, or lake house, using their matching beautiful beach towels. Lo and behold, I would go in the water for a dip or up to the house for a beverage, and when I came back to my towel, it was gone! Someone else had grabbed my towel unknowingly…because all of the towels looked the same.

And how many times have you walked into the bathroom and seen multiple towels on the floor and wondered, "Whose towel is whose?" Towel charms solve that problem and eliminate daily unnecessary laundry.

So to solve this, I came up with the idea of a towel charm. They are a fun, environmentally-friendly, and inexpensive way to eliminate unnecessary laundry, make a statement with your unique charm, and solve the problem of “Who took my towel?”

I designed a charm holder that goes through a towel. My company sells the charm holder and your choice of charm. You can attach the charm holder to your bath or beach towel and identify it as your own. The goal is to eliminate having to wash towels every day because no one knows which towel is theirs. It saves time and money and helps get the bathroom organized. And they are adorable!

They are great for everyday use, hostess gifts at a pool party, housewarming gifts, beach vacations, college students, teacher gifts, etc.

Hopefully your new Towel Charm will save you lots of time and money! And from now on you will be able to state with confidence … "That’s My Towel!"

you have to admit that's a great idea

definitely best as a standalone college graduation gift

So what we know from this is: Karen is a lot smarter than her husband. Raise your hand if you're surprised.

The country may not be ready for a vice president whose daughter is a vampire.

https://twitter.com/mike_pence/status/754408867912622080

hahaha

they went to NYC and ate at Chilis

they are from Indiana after all

Hey, come on. Sometimes we eat at Friday's.

speaking as a transplant to new york, whenever one of these "if you're in NYC don't eat at chili's" things comes up it just makes me kinda want some medicore fast-casual restaurant food. i mean every so often i've hit up mcdonald's even. i ain't too proud. the vampire issue is much more concerning to me.

Most of us have matching bath and beach towels

makes me wonder what the 'us' she imagines she is talking to looks like