All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[JackDaw]

Assuming that HE did want to win and not just build his brand. Somebody wanted him to win, though.

Yes..maybe he wasn’t even fully committed to winning. That makes closeness of popular vote even more remarkable, surely.

If he runs again I think he will lose...as long as Democrats avoid running a disastrous candidate against him.

But in long term, losing next Presidential election is better for Republicans I suspect than another term for Trump.

Let’s assume that happens...and Democrats have run a fairly elderly candidate to win the Presidency (eg. Bernie Sanders or Hilary Clinton)..then in election after Republicans run a decent young candidate against the incumbent Democrat...straightaway I think Republicans would be favourites to win popular vote.

I really don’t buy theory that Republicans will never will popular vote again.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Assuming that HE did want to win and not just build his brand. Somebody wanted him to win, though.

Yeah, THIS guy....



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Mexican Ambassador To U.S. Won’t Confirm Trump’s Trade Pact

Martha Bárcena Coqui says Mexico expects to see higher levels of trade with the U.S. without the imposition of tariffs. To quote the legendary Vince Lombardi, "What the hell is going on out here?"

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2020 Democrats Pitch Iowa Party Leaders On How To Defeat Donald Trump

Nineteen Democratic presidential candidates gave rapid-fire plans to Iowa party leaders Sunday on how they will win back the White House. Once upon a time, I chided the GOP for having way too many candidates back in 2016, but the Dems look to have topped them.

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Chris Christie Rips Sarah Sanders, ‘Press Staff’ For Trump Interview At D-Day Graves

The former New Jersey governor, however, refused to criticize Trump’s behavior directly during his trip abroad. Good to know the Outlaw Jersey Whale continues slurping Trump. Meanwhile....

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Trump Goes On Rant Against ‘Little Donny Deutsch,’ Admits It’s ‘Not Presidential’

Trump concedes he “hardly” knows the MSNBC host but terms him a “total loser. Deutsch recently called Trump a “criminal.” An adult would simply shrug off slights against him. Clearly Trump ISN'T an adult.

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California’s Santa Anita Racetrack Refuses To Close Despite 29 Horse Deaths

The California Horse Racing Board requested the racetrack suspend racing for the duration of the season. Two additional horses died this weekend. It's hard to be impartial since I've never been a fan of hose racing, but this is beyond obscene.

[PwrdOn]

Yes..maybe he wasn’t even fully committed to winning. That makes closeness of popular vote even more remarkable, surely.

If he runs again I think he will lose...as long as Democrats avoid running a disastrous candidate against him.

But in long term, losing next Presidential election is better for Republicans I suspect than another term for Trump.

Let’s assume that happens...and Democrats have run a fairly elderly candidate to win the Presidency (eg. Bernie Sanders or Hilary Clinton)..then in election after Republicans run a decent young candidate against the incumbent Democrat...straightaway I think Republicans would be favourites to win popular vote.

I really don’t buy theory that Republicans will never will popular vote again.

They certainly could win the popular vote again if they really wanted to, they'd just have to shift their policies more to the center and appeal to a more diverse voter base. But I have a hard time seeing that, because their current strategy of doubling down on racism, voter suppression, and court packing is just working so well, so why would they change?

[JackDaw]

They certainly could win the popular vote again if they really wanted to, they'd just have to shift their policies more to the center and appeal to a more diverse voter base. But I have a hard time seeing that, because their current strategy of doubling down on racism, voter suppression, and court packing is just working so well, so why would they change?

They will change when their present strategy fails...they will do what is necessary to win elections.

I think it’s unrealistic to believe Republicans will sit back and not change policies and attitudes as demographic and social attitudes change. They are more pragmatic than that!

[numberthirty]

They will change when their present strategy fails...they will do what is necessary to win elections.

I think it’s unrealistic to believe Republicans will sit back and not change policies and attitudes as demographic and social attitudes change. They are more pragmatic than that!

Also seems unrealistic that they could make any such shift while largely holding onto their current base.

[PaulBullion]

They will change when their present strategy fails...they will do what is necessary to win elections.

I think it’s unrealistic to believe Republicans will sit back and not change policies and attitudes as demographic and social attitudes change. They are more pragmatic than that!

Also seems unrealistic that they could make any such shift while largely holding onto their current base.

They won't need to make that shift as long as breaking democracy is easier.

[PwrdOn]

They will change when their present strategy fails...they will do what is necessary to win elections.

I think it’s unrealistic to believe Republicans will sit back and not change policies and attitudes as demographic and social attitudes change. They are more pragmatic than that!

That's just not what we've observed though, over the last couple of decades the attitudes of Americans have shifted significantly to the left, particularly on social issues but now increasingly on economic policy as well, but the GOP has responded to this by moving further right and the Democrats seem keen to follow them, chasing after those working class white swing voters.

[worstblogever]

It was on this date in 2015 that "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" had a profile of former Montana House of Representatives member Jerry O’Neil, a man who prior to entering politics, was being investigated for practicing law without a license, but soldiered on by outspending the entire $2000 budget of the Montana Supreme Court’s Commission on the Unauthorized Practice of Law. Eventually, though, O’Neil would (What else?) begin a political career is a Montana state legislator, where he stood out by trying to draft bills that would allow for people sentenced to prison to commute their sentences by instead agreeing to corporal punishment, such as large quantities of canings or spankings (really) and his demand that his legislative salary should be paid in gold, like the Constitution intended (there’s no mention of state legislators being paid in gold). O’Neil ended up being beaten in the 2014 elections by Democrat Zac Perry, and has apparently decided to call it a career, at least for now.


On this date in 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of the current U.S. House Representative for Wisconsin’s 7th District, Sean Duffy, a former contestant on MTV’s reality show “The Real World” (shown here gyrating in his underwear for his housemates). Duffy was yet another beneficiary of the Tea Party Wave, storming into office to replace twenty-one term Congressman Dave Obey back in 2010, and if you ask Sean Duffy, it’s a real struggle to survive on the measly $174,000 salary he gets as a member of Congress, to which some might advise him that he should have stopped having kids sometime before his ninth. Hypocritically, while refusing a pay cut on his own six figure salary, Duffy advises other public workers should accept pay cuts. Of course, with 8 children, it comes as little surprise that Sean Duffy is also a die-hard pro-life supporter. In January of 2016, however, he caused an uproar on the floor of the U.S. House after he decided to express that anti-abortion fervor during a discussion about the Black Lives Matter Movement by presenting inaccurate statistics to chastise the Congressional Black Caucus for not supporting black lives because they allow higher abortion rates racially than whites. That’s not only statistically incorrect but totally racist. Congresswoman Gwen Moore perhaps responded best that, “It’s painfully obvious that Representative Duffy’s concern for life ends as soon as the umbilical cord is cut.” But Duffy doesn’t always act like he knows it all, like the time he was asked at a town hall about his position on trans-vaginal ultrasounds, and he dodged the question by saying, “Well, I haven’t had one.” Of course, either quote could have been a worse statement… like the time Sean Duffy’s wife, and fellow “Real World” alumni Rachel Campos-Duffy compared abortion to slavery and the Holocaust, as Republicans are frequently in the habit of doing.

The more bizarre thing is that Wisconsin’s 7th District has only a +2 Republican lean according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, yet Duffy won a fourth term in office IN 2016 with 62% of the vote in spite of repeatedly changing his endorsements as candidates dropped out of the race before settling on Donald Trump, saying that the racist billionaire demagogue “fit the template of the conservative movement” with his border wall and financial background. After the election, Duffy embraced authoritarian fascism in full, encouraging Donald Trump use his Twitter account to “push back against the media” regarding negative stories about his transition team (which considering they were all talking to Russians, it’s a good thing it didn’t work).

Within two weeks, Duffy was on CNN, where in an interview with CNN he was being asked why Donald Trump took WEEKS to condemn Neo-Nazis who began a spree of hate crime assaults, vandalism, and threats against minorities to “celebrate” Trump’s election, Duffy tried changing the topic by claiming that the Neo-Nazis were similar to the Black Lives Matter movement. Host Jim Sciutto was having none of that s*** on his network, and shut Duffy down, and fast. Only a few weeks after that in December of 2016, Duffy was being interviewed by Tucker Carlson, when he claimed that the city of Madison, Wisconsin, one of the few liberal bastions in the state what with the University of Wisconsin there, was “communist”. After he was widely criticized for this stupid, stupid remark, Duffy played the victim by getting on Twitter to post:

”The PC crowd is humorless. For those offended by my ‘communist’ comment, I'll send a therapy dog to your ‘safe place’ of choice in Madison.”

Ah yes. The sensible political strategy of embracing your inner ***hole. It’s no wonder Rep. Duffy was on the Trump transition team (no word on if they trusted him to talk to Russians, yet. YET.) But the real shock from Sean Duffy came in February of 2017, when he began arguing that the media was deliberately not reporting Islamic terror attacks (ones that they actually HAD reported on), Duffy started trying to claim that white terrorism didn’t exist, and even if it does, it wasn’t the same thing as Islamic terrorism because it has a “bright side”while embarrassing himself while arguing in defense of Donald Trump’s attempted Muslim ban in a CNN interview with Alisyn Camerota. He also added a bizarre claim that the man who shot Gabby Giffords was a Marxist. But hey, Duffy is an idiot, so what do facts matter?

Now, as we pointed out, Wisconsin’s 7th actually is supposed to have a +2 Democratic lean. In a year with so much Democratic momentum, somehow, Sean Duffy still won re-election with 60% of the vote. Thus, the moron we’re focused on in this article was granted a FIFTH term in office. He has since returned to Washington, and returned to being a total wanker:

• January 22nd, 2019: Duffy cannot be arsed to bother to vote against HR 676, which would prevent Donald Trump from doing the unthinkable and walking away from our allies in NATO to appease the Russians.
• January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Duffy voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
• February 28th, 2019: Sean Duffy votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
• March 14th, 2019: Rep. Duffy votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
• April 4th, 2019: Sean Duffy is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
• June 4th, 2019: Duffy votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.

We’ll add that Sean Duffy apparently hasn’t learned his lesson about being interviewed by Alisyn Camerota, getting his ass handed to him again in a discussion about Donald Trump’s proposed border wall on CNN this past February, where he claimed that somehow people crossing the U.S./Mexico border were responsible for people in Wisconsin “dying from meth” and heroin overdoses. (At this point, the only person who sounds like they’re on drugs is Duffy.)

[SquirrelMan]

That's just not what we've observed though, over the last couple of decades the attitudes of Americans have shifted significantly to the left, particularly on social issues but now increasingly on economic policy as well, but the GOP has responded to this by moving further right and the Democrats seem keen to follow them, chasing after those working class white swing voters.

Again, I am curious about some examples from presidential races.

The candidate most talking about getting back the working class white voters is Sanders, and he hardly does it by moving further right.

[worstblogever]

Easiest way to win back the white working class:

"Guys, you realize the GOP is a bunch of rich morons who are suckering you with empty promises and ridiculous claims that minorities are to blame... when it's the rich who are to blame for all your woes? No, really, there's proof of this. They literally have their campaign strategies spelled out that this is how they stay in power. F*** them, and don't fall for it ever again."

[jetengine]

Easiest way to win back the white working class:

"Guys, you realize the GOP is a bunch of rich morons who are suckering you with empty promises and ridiculous claims that minorities are to blame... when it's the rich who are to blame for all your woes? No, really, there's proof of this. They literally have their campaign strategies spelled out that this is how they stay in power. F*** them, and don't fall for it ever again."

"Fake news"

"Who believes the experts, their all rich university educated liberals"

"Conspiracytheoryconspiracytheoryconspiracythe ory"

[PaulBullion]

Easiest way to win back the white working class:

"Guys, you realize the GOP is a bunch of rich morons who are suckering you with empty promises and ridiculous claims that minorities are to blame... when it's the rich who are to blame for all your woes? No, really, there's proof of this. They literally have their campaign strategies spelled out that this is how they stay in power. F*** them, and don't fall for it ever again."

How does that stop abortion doctors from killing 3 year old toddlers in Pizza parlors in Benghazi, though?

[Tendrin]

Easiest way to win back the white working class:

"Guys, you realize the GOP is a bunch of rich morons who are suckering you with empty promises and ridiculous claims that minorities are to blame... when it's the rich who are to blame for all your woes? No, really, there's proof of this. They literally have their campaign strategies spelled out that this is how they stay in power. F*** them, and don't fall for it ever again."

We've tried this. It won't work. It won't work because white people who are voting for the GOP don't /care/ about any of that. They care about white supremacy. They may not say it out loud, they may not be 100% consciously aware of it, but that's what they're voting for and it's whjat they'll choose, over qand over again, in the ultimate expression of white identity poilticsl

[WestPhillyPunisher]

We've tried this. It won't work. It won't work because white people who are voting for the GOP don't /care/ about any of that. They care about white supremacy. They may not say it out loud, they may not be 100% consciously aware of it, but that's what they're voting for and it's whjat they'll choose, over qand over again, in the ultimate expression of white identity poilticsl

Exactly! White voters, especially poor, uneducated or undereducated whites will continue siding with the GOP and their abhorrent policies without fail because minorities are getting the shaft. Never mind that those same whites are going down with the ship with everyone else, as long as they're on the top deck instead of in steerage, that's perfectly fine with them. Better to die at the top of the societal ladder than at the bottom, THAT'S the rationale of white voters and their undying support for Republicans.

[Tendrin]

Exactly! White voters, especially poor, uneducated or undereducated whites will continue siding with the GOP and their abhorrent policies without fail because minorities are getting the shaft. Never mind that those same whites are going down with the ship with everyone else, as long as they're on the top deck instead of in steerage, that's perfectly fine with them. Better to die at the top of the societal ladder than at the bottom, THAT'S the rationale of white voters.

A demand to maintain the social hierarchy is one of the primary roots of conservatism. It might be couched in other ways but it's /always/ about maintaining a social hierarchy, and in this case, it's a hierarchy that puts whites at the top.