US Politics, August 2018: There must be something wrong, please recheck that poll!

Also we open up a discussion about “Q” and why the anger and vitriol by liberals at the mere mention if it really is the fake conspiracy they claim?

— Curt Schilling (@gehrig38) June 28, 2018

Q is real and all the liberals are in on it

Shhhhhhh, they're listening!

agreed, if one is so convinced something is a conspiracy with no merit whatsoever, it would be ridiculous for them to spend large amounts of their time tweeting about it.

"If it's not real then why are they all laughing at us!!!"

"If you're so innocent, then why won't you admit you're not?"

Nuclear deterence is based on convincing others that you will use your nuclear capability against anyone who does whatever actions you want to deter. The difficulty with this policy choice is deciding what it is you want to deter and whether using hydrogen bombs against the target you are threatening is worth the risk. Because deterrence doesn't work if you aren't willing to back it up.

The problem with nuclear super hawks being in charge of this decision making is that they see far less risk in nuking opponents than anyone else sees. During the 1950s and 1960s the nuclear super hawks in the Pentagon actively urged the USA to strike the USSR preemptively, based on the theory that the USA would lose upwards of 60% of its population from retaliatory strikes, but it was worth it, because our enemy would be 90% destroyed, while we would only be 60% destroyed... meaning VICTORY!!

― A is for (Aimless)

there's a bigger problem with nuclear deterrence in the trump administration than the willingness to back it up. it's very difficult to successfully implement a policy when its implementation of any policy is dependent on an administration led by a serial liar who changes his entire set of principles depending on his current misunderstanding of the last thing somebody said to him. there is no reason at present for anybody to comply with the trump administration on anything because there's no evidence that complying will benefit them or that not complying will damage them. the president will gladly denounce you as the worst person in the world and simultaneously demand you receive billions of dollars in tax breaks. as often happens with the current adminstration, current language to describe this phenomenon such as "credibility gap" seem wholly inadequate for describing the scale of the incompetence involved.

in short, if the trump administration wants to go ahead and nuke everybody, they are going to go ahead and nuke everybody, and there's not really anything anyone not named vladimir putin can do to prevent that outcome.

https://d2ycltig8jwwee.cloudfront.net/features/111/fullwidth.1ff3ed50.jpg

if Trump really has no friends, explain THIS

Thank you to Chairman Kim Jong Un for keeping your word & starting the process of sending home the remains of our great and beloved missing fallen! I am not at all surprised that you took this kind action. Also, thank you for your nice letter - l look forward to seeing you soon!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 2, 2018

the letter was covered in a white substance

it definitely was once trump was finished with it

dear reader, i'll let you decide for yourself whether it was powdered sugar or jizz

Welp taking a sick day now thanks bizarro

whither the tax returns?

yr welcome, enjoy xp

More on QAnon:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/as-the-bizarre-qanon-group-emerges-trump-rallies-go-from-nasty-to-dangerous/2018/08/01/063ed6f8-9585-11e8-a679-b09212fb69c2_story.html?utm_term=.7a5b65dea870

Stomach churning

these are fuckers we're going to be dealing with long after Trump is gone

Trump needs to change the tenor of these rallies. With more gatherings coming up this week, he should act immediately, first with a public statement that calls off the anti-media dogs. And then by his demeanor and his words at the events.

Defending press rights — and the safety of journalists — would be a sign of real patriotism, as opposed to hypocritical flag-waving.

That’s a fantasy, of course, given how crucial this coordinated anti-media messaging is for Trump.

Nevertheless, it would be a way for him to show that he is more than just the president of his base. And it should happen before his hands are splashed with blood.

oh good, more 'sir! sir! what about civility, sir!' handwringing

i hate people tbh

trump's desire to show that he is more than just the president of his base is absolutely non-existent - 18 months into his presidency, can we be pls spared any more appeals to a better nature which trump simply doesn't possess

i mean the fact that this qanon is a thing is pretty depressing

We're going to be dealing with the Daily Trump Dump and his followers for years and years. Loses the congress? Trump tweets every day. Loses the senate? Trump tweets every day. Loses in 2020? Trump tweets every day. Leaves in 2024? Trump tweets every day.

We had been dealing with these people before Trump too. Recall the Planned Parenthood shooter.

The GOP will blow dog whistles long after Trump goes back to Sheol

Trump would stop hosting those rallies if the media didn't cover them. Sure, Fox would still be there, but if every other news network turned their backs on him and his chuds, he'd get bored within a month. All he wants in life is to see himself on TV.

trump's desire to show that he is more than just the president of his base is absolutely non-existent

Not true. He's desperate to be seen as broadly loved. He denies his own unpopularity with every fiber of his being. That's why cable news gets so deep under his skin - because they repeatedly remind him that he's very, very unpopular.

He's desperate to be seen as broadly loved

what difference does that make if he's not willing to enact policies or really say or do anything which would help him achieve that goal

what difference does that make if he's not willing to enact policies or really say or do anything which would help him achieve that goal

That's Trump in a nutshell, though - he wants things, but either has no idea how to get them or repeatedly sabotages his own stated goals just by being a fucking imbecile with zero self-control.

I guess the Qanon upside is that these people will probably think that the Democrat who beats Trump in 2020 is actually his hand-picked successor who will fill in Medvedyev-style until Trump is done scuba diving into underwater pedo-domes with a huge lance

An interesting article:

Nobody's Neutral About Trump's Job Performance

xpost Let us very subtly encourage that belief. Perhaps by vociferously denying it while soaked in sweat and looking around nervously.

Not true. He's desperate to be seen as broadly loved. He denies his own unpopularity with every fiber of his being.

This is why I -- foolishly, I now see -- thought there was some chance Trump would buck GOP orthodoxy and actually spend federal money generously on the great mass of Americans of moderate means. But now I see that what really drives him isn't the love of people who are authentically grateful to him, it's the love of the servant who ostentatiously bows and scrapes and pretends to marvel at his benevolence. The more CEOs and GOP pols debase themselves, the more they get what they want, and, unlike normal people, CEOs and GOP pols have very little limit on how much they're willing to debase themselves in order to get what they want.

He's desperate to be seen as broadly loved
what difference does that make if he's not willing to enact policies or really say or do anything which would help him achieve that goal

seriously if he didn't hold both titles of the world's dumbest and laziest man he could have an approval rating over 45.

The approval ratings polls really cry out for likert scaling in these times

lotta 1s and 5s there

I think eephus is otm here

Trump definitely wants to be broadly loved, and has walled himself off into a reality where he is (see his "wow, I'm more popular than Honest Abe!" tweet). But his other base impulse is showing up the haters and losers, and that's the grievance that keeps his pathetic little heart ticking. Like his one true governing principle is "the opposite of what Obama did"

oh man remember when the pundit wisdom was that he was going to be rolling out popular share-the-wealth chicken-in-every-pot schemes any minute now? tbf it's still infrastructure week so anything could happen.

xxp
"On a scale of 1 (actual Hitler) to 5 (actual Christ) how would you rate the job performance of Donald J. Trump?

"On a scale of 1 (wouldn't trust him if he said it was raining and I was literally drowning in floodwaters) to 5 (I have given up my current children and the rights to any future children for him to adopt) how trustworthy would you rate Donald J. Trump?

"On a scale of 1 (wouldn't let him run a lemonade stand) to 5 (invested heavily as junior partners in Trump Industries) how would you rate Donald J. Trump's handling of the economy?

"On a scale of 1 (he is a Manchurian sleeper agent for Russia bent on world destruction) to 5 (he is a god-warrior savior here to rescue America from global elites) how would you rank Donald J. Trump's handling of foreign policy?"

This is why I -- foolishly, I now see -- thought there was some chance Trump would buck GOP orthodoxy and actually spend federal money generously on the great mass of Americans of moderate means. But now I see that what really drives him isn't the love of people who are authentically grateful to him, it's the love of the servant who ostentatiously bows and scrapes and pretends to marvel at his benevolence. The more CEOs and GOP pols debase themselves, the more they get what they want, and, unlike normal people, CEOs and GOP pols have very little limit on how much they're willing to debase themselves in order to get what they want.

― Guayaquil (eephus!),

most OTM post of this young month

He's desperate to be seen as broadly loved
what difference does that make if he's not willing to enact policies or really say or do anything which would help him achieve that goal

Do? He doesn't need to do anything other than hold rallies. If his popularity with the not-already-on-board dips, he can just hold another rally and get reenergized by the adulation of the MAGAmaniacs.

Eventually his schedule will be 100% rallies.

Eventually his schedule will be 100% rallies.

Best possible outcome for the country.

um when would he have time for golf then

Golf rallies

make America golf again

the sole bright side of this qanon shit is that you could probably troll one of them really hard by pronouncing it like "canon"

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/400053-ivanka-i-dont-think-the-media-is-the-enemy-of-the-people

"Wow! LITTLE IVANKITA TRUMP thinks the witchhunting, lying media is a-ok, despite the bias and lies! Not good.

I would hope she'd change her tune if she wants to be included in my will! SAD!"

Right, because the actual enemy of the people would be that shoggoth who infected you with his genetic taint.

(Addressed to Shoggotha Trump, obvs.)

lol @ "Shoggotha"

take it to good names for daughters

Eventually his schedule will be 100% rallies.

we're basically a month away.. after labor day the midterms-2020 primaries deluge will begin, and if 2016 is any example, will end sometime in 2022.

After we invade Venezuela for getting Bernie elected