US Politics, April 2020 -- Where's the Vax Returns?

I think you're right Karl. OANN fits well into his portfolio: Trump U, XFL, Atlantic City, wine from Virginia, etc

ahem USFL

oh right, my bad. also add all his pageants to that list

Trump threatened to veto coronavirus stimulus package if it contained bailout money for USPS: reporthttps://t.co/k3Q80BGLaW pic.twitter.com/e77yX15E2O

— The Hill (@thehill) April 12, 2020

This isn’t related to his hatred of vote by mail is it?

It's incredible to me (which is to say, totally not incredible) that the republicans, even in the midst of a global pandemic, are still focusing their ire on their (least) favorite boogeymen, like the national menace that is the post office. I'm surprised they haven't proposed banning solar power yet.

their animus toward the postal service is fucking bewildering to me

this makes me want to re-read Crying of Lot 49

It is 100% about vote by mail

xxxp

hadn’t made that connection before but it makes sense

it’s not 100% about vote by mail. it’s also about privatizing a valuable service that is not currently lining anyone’s pockets.

mailmen/women have always been viewed upon with scorn re: the general public. hence "going postal" and other stereotypes.

but i'm sure VBM does have something to do with it in addition to that.

One that provided jobs and a path to the middle class for tens of thousands -- hundreds of thousands? -- of African Americans in the decades following WWII. There's a lot of racism baked into conservative USPS hatred. -- xp

I guess also the president's anger at USPS is tied to his hatred of Amazon, and the idea that they get special treatment from the post office.

re the USPS:

And this is how Republicans operate. Democrats have to use their leverage in the stimulus to save a basic function of government instead of fighting for better health care or more money going to the states or hospitals. And because Republicans simply don't care, it works.

— Erik Loomis (@ErikLoomis) April 12, 2020

yeah this is an old beef

https://www.cnet.com/news/trump-again-attacks-amazon-washington-post-alleging-post-office-scam/

The Republicans forced the Post Office to have that provision requiring payment of its pension fund in advance; long before voting by mail was ever an issue.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/04/11/coronavirus-economy-stimulus-democrats-leverage-trump-176783?emci=2e457973-d77c-ea11-a94c-00155d03b1e8&emdi=37b0b975-d97c-ea11-a94c-00155d03b1e8&ceid=3836941

Hardball would mean insisting on concessions that Republicans don’t want to make, like sweeping protections for the November election, or far more aggressive public health measures to contain the coronavirus. That doesn’t seem to be a game that Democrats are willing to play.

“The truth is, Democrats just aren’t as willing as Republicans to play severe hardball,” one Democratic leader said in an interview.

Democrats had similar power to shape the $2 trillion CARES Act that Congress overwhelmingly passed in March, and they didn’t drive a particularly hard bargain, getting some of what they wanted but just about nothing Trump didn’t want. Their bipartisan cooperation didn’t even get them invited to Trump’s signing ceremony, a GOP-only photo op.

And while they achieved their goals of increasing the legislation’s aid to hospitals, states and struggling families, Trump is already taking political credit for their work.

David Dayen of American Prospect says about the above Politico article by Grunwald:

I’ve no doubt that Democrats are as afraid as church mice, but let’s face it: setting the frame like there’s some fateful decision-making coming from Washington is misleading. Everyone knows how this game will end, because the die was cast when Democrats swallowed the giant corporate bailout bill with pretty much no resistance. Not only did Republicans get one thing they wanted out of any crisis response, and therefore see no need to give in on anything else, they learned from Democratic behavior that they will always cave in overwhelming numbers.

So Grunwald can list the escalating steps Democrats could conceivably take. And Pramila Jayapal can drop her nice bill to guarantee worker paychecks during the pandemic. And liberal media figures can print their list of “demands” for the next legislation. But it’s all fantasy football, relative to reality. Democrats showed their hand, and Republicans know they’re bluffing. That’s the end of the story.

If the Democrats held the presidency or the Senate, they would be in a much better position to play "severe hardball". Holding just one out of three, against two out of three is a clear disadvantage. Their other extreme disadvantage is the lack of a direct pipeline to voters for educating the public on the difference between their proposals and those of the opposition and the reasons for strategic line they are taking. Having an "official organ" to communicate with the rank and file is indispensable.

not that I don't want them to play hardball, but a shitload of the independent voting public were shitting on them for delaying the CARE act a single day last time.

they should still try it anyway but voters are often too stupid to know hwo to blame in sitches like this

Supreme Court will genuinely have blood on its hands by the end of the month.

— Peter Labuza (@labuzamovies) April 7, 2020

Good morning!

i know we don't watch these any more, but the "press conference" today is just absurd. right now he's playing a 10 minute+ (and counting) campaign video showing how he did a great, perfect job in the coronavirus response, and how all the governors love him

any network showing this (i'm watching a fox tv feed) is straight up just airing a really long trump commercial.

Amazing, huh? That little prepared film reel was absurd--four clips, two of them from Fox!

You can tell Fauci has no stomach for this--you could see real anger when he was asked if he was coerced into his statement.

I reported it on Youtube for disinformation... which most probably means nothing, but in the rare event someone at Google is not a complete spineless tool (slim chance ime) might relate?

this is one of the most pathetic, childish things i've ever seen from. amazing.

seen from (trump)

The CNN crawl ticker (or whatever it's called) says "Angry Trump Turns Briefing Into Propaganda Session."

I tuned in so very briefly while browsing the WaPo front page, and was just stunned. People are dying by the thousands and he's lying about how the US is awash with ventilators and hospital beds and Pence is using Trump's own catchphrases to call his approach to the disaster "a ten". What a lunatic egomaniac. He's a total supervillain, insane and deranged.

this is demented

it's still going strong. what a fucking imbecile

Karl read a book

i highly recommend these books:

https://michaelkelly.artofeurope.com/karl.htm

not watching it but a lot of people on my FB feed are commenting on how crazy this is. are the major networks still airing it?

Fake-news CNN, not sure if anyone else does.

beats me. after the 10 minute campaign video, he then went on an (of course) unhinged rant on how good he was and how perfect etc etc, for like 30-40 minutes straight. he really wants everyone to tell him how good he is doing

i checked in for a few seconds. hoo boy

He's now openly threatening governors who don't follow a federal open-up order.

"when someone is president of the united states, the authority is total"

I haven't watched CNN in years. MSNBC at least has decent commentators.

another case of him playing to his base, insisting on powers he knows he doesn't have

or should know he doesn't have

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/492503-trump-claims-he-not-governors-has-authority-on-opening-state

(xpost) Just came to post that remarkable Nixon-like statement. Not being American, I just assume the call to re-open (still an abstract concept as to what that exactly means) is up to the states, no? It's going to be so bizarre watching the political calculus on states' rights turned on its head. (Obviously, I'm all for the states here.)

yeah, he's full of shit

Wow. In so many words, he just clarified what he means by total authority: he has the ventilators, governors don't.

"when someone is president of the united states, the authority is total"

did he actually say that?

That's a direct quote.

GOP governors and state legislators aren’t dumb enough to give Trump the precedent here. They might be really dumb, but they like having power. Trump is suggesting he can nullify that at a whim.