Trump, July 2017: Tweet more

Xpost That statement is more likely to piss off angry racist White Voters than anything

AG Rosenstein and Mueller both inform them he does not have that authority and decision is challenged in court.

challenged in court by who

the slow death of the US as a functioning democracy

Some could argue that this has roots much further back, but I think the rudder actually snapped in half in 2010.

Democracy only works if politicians actually give a shit beyond "doing things just to piss off liberals"

I actually as a lark looked into whether I qualified to emigrate to Canada and I most likely do plus my job would move with me so...lol.

I think even if Trump got impeached, the lasting damage to the system is already done. Look forward to President Toby Keith in 2028

I actually as a lark looked into whether I qualified to emigrate to Canada and I most likely do plus my job would move with me so...lol.

Me, too.

vote Keith/Richards "Government Is the Problem" '28

the slow death of the US as a functioning democracy

Some could argue that this has roots much further back, but I think the rudder actually snapped in half in 2010.

― El Tomboto, Thursday, July 20, 2017 4:44 PM (fourteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my money is on that time the supreme court picked george w bush to be president in 2000

I think there's a fair chance that I'll live to see something in US government on par with Caligula appointing his horse as consul. Not that our current president is that far off.

that's a terrible thing to call Ivanka

The point wasn’t necessarily to get things done; it was to retaliate against the media and other enemies. This had always seemed fundamental to Trump’s appeal, but people had been less likely to express it so starkly before he entered office. “For those of us who believe that the media has been corrupt for a lot of years, it’s a way of poking at the jellyfish,” Karen Kulp told me in late April. “Just to make them mad.”

This is the reasoning that gets to me: "Oh sure, take away or fuck my healthcare up more than it already is, ruin the environment, push our military into ill-advised situations with unnecessary fatalities--it's all worth it BECAUSE WE PUT THE MEDIA IN THEIR PLACE!"

Cognitive dissonance, bro. All this stuff Trump does is just harmless entertainment. I mean, it's on tv, right?

It's probably about time for things to fall completely apart and for all of us to have a nice long think about what makes a society function while we forage for nuts and berries for a couple thousand years.

Look forward to President Toby Keith in 2028

Lee Greenwood wants to have a word with you.

"Oh sure, take away or fuck my healthcare up more than it already is, ruin the environment, push our military into ill-advised situations with unnecessary fatalities--it's all worth it BECAUSE WE PUT THE MEDIA IN THEIR PLACE!"

You say that like it's not a very real motivator for some people. Not that alone, and not just the media. But I've seen PLENTY of middle-finger-voting rightwingers express similar sentiments.

It's not just like the excerpt quoted; it's like, "No, I don't personally approve of everything Trump says and does (cf. 'I'm not voting for him to be my pastor'), and maybe he's not really going to build a wall / repeal Obamacare / whatever. But: 1. Hillary Rodham Clinton will never be president (HRCWNBP), and 2. He's sticking it to the coastal elites. All the rest is gravy."

Like a lot of us I have grown SOFA KING WEARY of "conservatives in the mist" thinkpieces. But this most recent New Yorker one at least got that right: it is not about policy, it is about tribe, tone, and poking the jellyfish.

Also, it wasn't about grizzled old steelworkers but about women and Latinx immigrants and outcasts and intellectuals who find the Trumpian mode compelling.

Another thing, the only thing I am more sick of than another "conservatives in the mist" thinkpiece is another rehash of the Baffler-style "why are these dummies VOTING AGAINST THEIR SELF-INTEREST???!!!eleven???!!" As if self-interest were purely economic/rational and not visceral/tribal/groinal.

I'm sick of American politics existing and being a thing I think about

I actually as a lark looked into whether I qualified to emigrate to Canada

Is there an online test?

I don't think anything was posted from the NYT Mag piece last Sunday on DC Under Yam... I liked these two passages:

As a general rule, the most time-efficient and foolproof approach for a Trump-weary Republican is to simply walk through the Capitol as if protected by a selectively permeable bubble filtering out certain unwelcome words (e.g., ‘‘Trump’’). Mitch McConnell is the master of this, and I caught the Senate Republican leader as he walked off the Senate floor on the day of the Comey hearings. ‘‘What’d you think of Comey?’’ I asked as he headed back to his office. He kept walking, remaining impassive. The McConnell Zombie Walk is familiar to any reporter who has spent time on Capitol Hill. But this was a rare privilege to be *exclusively* blown off by McConnell. It was just me alone with him and his security detail moving down an empty hallway. I asked the question twice more, until we passed Lindsey Graham, who was walking in the other direction. Of late, Graham had been a font of backhanded Trump defenses. ‘‘He can’t collude with his own government,’’ Graham said last month on ‘‘Face the Nation.’’ ‘‘Why do you think he’s colluding with the Russians?’’ (He had also suggested to reporters that it was no big deal that Comey had accused Trump of lying, because ‘‘everyone in the primary accused him of lying.’’) I asked Graham how he would characterize this moment in the capital, given that he has seen many Washington circuses over the years. He paused and took a breath, as if he were about to deliver the first line of a sermon. ‘‘I yearn for the good old days of impeachment,’’ he said, then ducked into a meeting....

Ryan, who was persuaded by his House colleagues to replace Boehner as speaker in 2015, has perfected his ‘‘I don’t need this job’’ shtick. He will frequently express longing for his previous post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. When I interviewed him in his grand office at the Capitol, I asked what he liked best about being speaker. ‘‘The impact, the big impact I can have,’’ he said.

What’s the worst part?

‘‘Everything else,’’ Ryan said. He laughed and then tried to declare what he’d just said ‘‘kinda off the record.’’

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/magazine/washington-dc-politics-trump-this-town-melts-down.html?mcubz=2

You say that like it's not a very real motivator for some people. Not that alone, and not just the media. But I've seen PLENTY of middle-finger-voting rightwingers express similar sentiments.

Actually knowing about policies--their nuances and ramifications--and international relations, and DC processes etc takes knowledge and work. Picking tribal battles and getting childish thrills from some clown "sticking it to" your perceived enemies is much easier and more fun.

Spicer’s adviser stepped in to remind him that he had a TV interview to do in a few minutes. He walked over to a small desk in the corner of his office and started rubbing on foundation. I made a verbal note of this into my tape recorder. ‘‘Don’t you dare,’’ Spicer said, ‘‘just so we’re clear.’’

‘‘You’re putting on makeup,’’ I said.

‘‘You’re going to say that in the story,’’ he charged, ‘‘that I’m putting on makeup?’’

‘‘Well, you are.’’

‘‘I’m going on my way to a television hit,’’ he said. He patted his cheeks a few times with a makeup puff.

‘‘That’s fine,’’ I said.

‘‘So, as long as it’s in context.’’

‘‘You’re going on TV,’’ I affirmed.

‘‘I believe there are too many reporters who are looking for some snarky angle,’’ he said.

We walked out of the White House, and Spicer, looking perfect, veered off to the front lawn to tape his second on-camera interview of the afternoon with Fox News.

mr. trump and his people are good people, sticking it to the liberals

"That's a luxury we don't have" -@JohnCornyn when asked "don't some people want to know the plan before they vote" on health care.

— Kelsey Snell (@kelsey_snell) July 20, 2017

sort of like democracy

Look, it's easy: find a loud person who scares you and reminds you the most of your daddy and do what they tell you to do. All of these 'details' and 'nuances' are just noise.

"spicer, looking perfect"

I saw a spokesman drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's / His foundation was perfect

half-scoop's gonna play this like he threw a kegger when dad and step-mom were visiting tiff's grandparents and didn't have a clue anything was going on till the cops showed up and called him. watch

A member of Congress told me Democrats big 2018 slogan, which is set to be released Monday. It's: "Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages"

— Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) July 20, 2017

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/862317/images/o-PAPA-JOHNS-BOYCOTT-MEME-facebook.jpg

beat me to it

Better Work at Higher Wages, Expenses Paid, and A Car

seriously wtf kind of lame-ass generic slogan is that

Remembering when everyone credulously shared that Jeff Stein thing where a Senate aide supposedly told him the Democrats where going to let AHCA pass for a deal on Russian sanctions.

Make America Better Again

small mercies: they don't mention trump or memes

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51rlqXOqyxL._SX375_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Definitely add that now, after you convinced everyone that the Papa John's slogan was the official one. https://t.co/mh7gHxtTPO

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) July 20, 2017

but her emails, but her emails, but her emails

Yeah, the Dem strategy re: Trump should be to go in the exact opposite direction of Hillary. Any time his name gets brought up, "Sorry? Who? That doesn't sound like anything to me. Anyway..."

Mo Better Blue States

No One Can Do It Better

"I Can't Believe It's Not Trump!"

Of course OJ Simpson gets released this year too.

good fucking god

Well, I guess the Dems don't wanna take back the House after all.

Kid Rock/OJ 2020

Get America Juiced on the Rock Again

Look, it's easy: find a loud person who scares you and reminds you the most of your daddy and do what they tell you to do.

Nauseatingly accurate.

Actually knowing about policies--their nuances and ramifications--and international relations, and DC processes etc takes knowledge and work. Picking tribal battles and getting childish thrills from some clown "sticking it to" your perceived enemies is much easier and more fun.

Sure, but let's not pretend that the number of middle-finger-voting left wingers rests at zero either.

and then i told that teaching lady, i only need to know three letters. U. S. And A

I shouldve corrected this immediately; I've deleted original tweet. Full slogan is "A Better Deal: Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages"

— Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) July 20, 2017

oh, that's much better