I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE BOTTOM IS • US presidential elections part VIII

rudy out there dutifully mainstreaming fringe conspiracy my lord

Do you mean his Sunday morning interview on Fox? He was throwing everything out there--Hillary's health, Lewinsky-era charges, etc. I think he's going to take on the role that Pence (who seems invisible right now) either isn't interest in or isn't very good at.

the hillary health thing particularly, what a scumbag

but he's America's mayor

I don't think anybody posted this last week:

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-appalling-last-act-of-rudy-giuliani

My recollection was that he was just as slimy at the 2008 convention, contemptuously hissing out "community organizer," but I went back and looked at some of the speech on YouTube, and he was milder than I'd remembered.

his performance has def gotten wilder while still maintaining essentially the same subhuman core

the health thing especially seems like a whisper campaign if it were done by that one dude in high school who was incapable of lowering his voice to a whisper yet inexplicably persisted in trying to talk all the time in the library

I'm sure that all sorts of calculations have gone into this (although with Trump's terrible organization thus far, maybe not)--if we can only get x percent of the vote here, and x number of people out there--but Trump's apparent belief the last few days that he's going to win on the strength of the African-American vote is really, really strange.

he's more signaling to nervous white conservatives that voting for him is okay and doesn't make them racist than he is actually courting black voters

like it's all just a really elaborate version of some of my best friends are black

the fact that trump literally closed his pitch to black voters by yelling WHAT THE HELL HAVE U GOT TO LOSE is blowing my mind

the only people who thought it was a good speech are white conservatives whose "concern" for black people ONLY EVER comes up during flailing attacks on their political nemesis.

trump camp has totally walked this back fwiw he was prob just telling a room full of ppl what he thought they wanted to hear

Would be a hilarious fall if Trump stayed in the news by completely reversing all of his positions.

the only people who thought it was a good speech are white conservatives whose "concern" for black people ONLY EVER comes up during flailing attacks on their political nemesis.

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Sunday, August 21, 2016 5:31 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

these are the same people who said "What are you guys talkin about, he clearly said he DIDN'T want the thanks for being right" after his post-Pulse comments.

he's more signaling to nervous white conservatives that voting for him is okay and doesn't make them racist than he is actually courting black voters

Agree that's a large part of it, but I also think Trump's side knows they can't win today with just white conservatives--I think there's an 11th hour bid to win some black support. Whether their behind-closed-doors goal is a) more than the 1% they polled last week, b) enough to avoid a rout, c) enough to help with house/senate races, or d) enough to actually win, I don't know.

If they'd done all this as soon as they'd secured the nomination, it might have been welcome (although just as transparently phony). Doing so the third week of August, and with Trump's typical bombast, is just weird.

Trump treats politics like a fire sale.

By "Trump's side," I mean the new brain-trust he's brought in--Kellyanne Conway, specifically, who I suspect is the driving force behind all this.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CqWdgAKWgAAYHIQ.jpg:small

hmm

However, if the wife votes for Hillary...

but it does help put those years in perspective xp

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/magazine/the-easiest-way-to-get-rid-of-racism-just-redefine-it.html

It’s not that anyone denies that institutional racism once existed. But the belief now is that systemic racism is a national cancer that was excised long ago, in an operation so successful it didn’t even leave lasting effects. All that remains is individual hatred in the souls of the most monstrous among us — or else, depending on whom you ask, in vengeful minorities who want to nurse grievances and see whites suffer for the sins of past generations. Through the willful perversion of shared history, whites have been able to appropriate the victimhood of minorities and, in an audacious reversal, insist that an obvious thing isn’t real — otherwise known as gaslighting. And as in any case of sustained abuse, gaslighting is integral to institutional racism.

^^ Great piece, thanks for sharing

Ha ha...

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/767685048703279104

Some day, when things calm down, I'll tell the real story of @JoeNBC and his very insecure long-time girlfriend, @morningmika. Two clowns!

Keep waiting for that pivot, folks.

If trump wins I'm not talking to any of you ever again. (That was meant to be a threat, but I suppose it could be the opposite)

the best, most beautiful pivoting

Some day, when things calm down, I'll tell the real story of @JoeNBC and his very insecure long-time girlfriend, @morningmika. Two clowns!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2016

Tried watching low-rated @Morning_Joe this morning, unwatchable! @morningmika is off the wall, a neurotic and not very bright mess!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

Neurotic and not very bright? Look in the mirror. https://t.co/FPaqGW9JWv

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC)

More cannibalization. A friend of mine who's much more familiar with the show than I am (don't have MSNBC--I'll see clips occasionally) says it fawned over Trump in the early stages, and gave him a more vocal platform (daily calls), than anyone.

It's true -- they started the trend of letting him call in.

cool and considerate

http://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2016/08/florida-congressional-candidate-goes-on-twitter-tirade-104864

here's another sterling republican running for office:
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/32805595/republican-congressional-candidate-apologizes-for-incendiary-comments-toward-japanese-people

The end of that article is truly special:

Hawaii Republican Party Chair Fritz Rohlfing said in a statement Friday Kaaihue's comments "do not represent the views, values, or the sentiments of our Party and its members."

"Her vulgar, racially-bigoted, and religiously-intolerant descriptions of Democratic Party candidates are offensive, shameful, and unacceptable in public discourse. I unconditionally denounce her despicable statements. I strongly urge all Hawaii Republicans to join me in disavowing her candidacy."

Kaaihue says she doesn't care what the republican chair says about her.

"Well he's nobody, that's what he is. He's a nobody, and he should be replaced, that's what I think," said Kaaihue.

Also, what in the world at attacking Japanese Americans *in Hawaii*? That's a Pete Wilson/Prop 187 self-own right there.

"Well he's nobody, that's what he is. He's a nobody, and he should be replaced, that's what I think,"

the trumpification of political speech is not a good look for humanity. pls stop

there's a lot i don't get about ethnic politics in HI and i don't think reading that facebook screenshot has made it any clearer to me

Would it be clearer if it wasn't so heavily censored?

I suspect this candidate is seriously mentally ill

she clearly has not thought this through terribly well but hawaiian-japanese resentment dates to plantation labor practices and in more recent decades has gotten v tangled up w Land; i note from article she has development frustrations

otoh there just aren't enough "pureblood" anything in HI to succeed broadly w this kind of politics -- even people who might mutter over drinks about japanese developers will be a third japanese, or their auntie's half-japanese, or their husband, or failing all that they at least live here and know a garbage racist appeal when they hear it

japanese developers? is there something salient about putting "hawaiians and haoles in your houses" or is she just cray

meanwhile:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/local/public-safety/fbi-uncovered-at-least-14900-more-documents-in-clinton-email-investigation/2016/08/22/36745578-6643-11e6-be4e-23fc4d4d12b4_story.html

(my # of free wapo articles is gone btw)

HRC has this amazing combo: a little bit shady, a little bit bumbling, a little bit uncharismatic, a little bit insular, where all magnify each other in the stupidest way

huh, you don't say

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d98c99e8626549d984d3695ac6ef589f/racism-and-talk-religious-war-trump-staffs-online-posts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump's paid campaign staffers have declared on their personal social media accounts that Muslims are unfit to be U.S. citizens, ridiculed Mexican accents, called for Secretary of State John Kerry to be hanged and stated their readiness for a possible civil war, according to a review by The Associated Press of their postings.

Hawaii Republican Party Chair

could there be a more thankless job in american politics

xpost reaction will be half "you can't expect the President to govern his staffers' behavior, action will be taken" and the other half "SO WHAT, IT'S THE TRUTH THAT THE LAMESTREAM MEDIA WON'T TELL YOU"

come to think of it, Donald didn't say he'd secure "95% of the Black vote" through voluntary means

HRC has this amazing combo: a little bit shady, a little bit bumbling, a little bit uncharismatic, a little bit insular, where all magnify each other in the stupidest way

― goole

shhh Morbs will HEAR you

so this "Obama plays golf while Louisiana is under water" meme is gonna keep going no matter how many times the governor said he asked Obama not to visit yet due to the pain in the ass of setting up a detail for him during a time of recovery, huh?

or perhaps Republicans really think that the reason everybody was pissed in 2005 was because Bush didn't show his hairpiece in LA a week or two earlier and not the horribly sluggish response by his administration and FEMA to the disaster, despite having more advance warning than in this instance.

come louder?

xxp

feel like trump senses that the media just *needs* him to come back a little bit just because they are so bored right now, like i expect the narrative to switch to a oh no here comes the reformed trump if that's not already happening

Don't worry: we'll hear about emails again soon enough

"A graphic designer for Trump's advance team approvingly posted video of a black man eating fried chicken and criticizing fellow blacks for ignorance, irresponsibility and having too many children. A Trump field organizer in Virginia declared that Muslims were seeking to impose Sharia law in America and that "those who understand Islam for what it is are gearing up for the fight.""

game on!