All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Based on what happened in Poland when they banned abortion, should the new SCOTUS take a crack at Roe v. Wade... 2022 turnout would blow up in their f***ing faces. Especially without Trump on the ballot. To a lesser extent, if they come after the ACA and a replacement is needed, or if they go after Obergefell v. Hodges.

Hell, if they hang onto the Senate and McConnell continues to go obstructionist on things like Covid-19 stimulus, all judicial and Cabinet appointments, and any number of popular proposals being submitted by the House, Climate Change proposals, tax plans that affect only the rich, immigration reform, modest gun control...

The 2022 mid-terms will not go so well for the GOP. And they have to play defense in a lot of places that aren't as safe as they have been. Murkowski's up for re-election after voting for Coney Barrett. Rubio's up after applauding Trump supporters trying to run a Biden/Harris bus off the road.


There's just no way they're going to have attacked things that 70% of Americans are in favor of without some recourse.

Were already seeing a bit of a flag of peace being waved at Biden now. Lindsey Graham brought up knowing Biden and will sit with him to discuss his cabinet choices. "Nothing to extremist.." he said. But were already seeing Graham realize , shit HAS TO GET DONE this time. Or the country may never recover.

[PaulBullion]

That’s nice.

I don’t need to know - nor do I care - what a cishet white conservative guy thinks ‘seems’ homophobic, when that same cishet white guy supports a party that wants queer people dead - or at least silent and hidden again - in the name of Jesus.

Now, before I go on; to be clear, I want to make sure you get credit here. I know how important that is to Cishet white conservative dudes on the internet. You yourself are not seeking the death and/or silencing of queer voices, not have I seen you ever suggest it, and I appreciate that. And you yourself don’t support Trump. Just the party of which he is the exemplar/avatar/leader...and you support the party he is the standard bearer for, which has as a PLANK OF ITS PLATFORM the dehumanization of queer and trans people and the delegitimization of our lives, our relationships and our families.

So when a queer person looks at Lady G and says, “Huh...I wonder why an effeminate submissive (which is not a bad thing to be, mind...) is so vehement about damning his own people...what a tool...”, that isn’t ‘homophobia’. That is observational skills being put to use by a people who lived for decades (If not centuries) on subtext and subtle clues. Because we HAD to. To SURVIVE. Because people like those leading your party have sought to flush us out and make scapegoats of us, imprison us, castrate us, silence us, deny we exist, demonize us and make the mere fact of our pubic existence illegal. Which is why Pride is a thing...

Lindsay Graham meets all the marks, hits all the notes, and isn’t fooling anyone. He’s either a closet queen with some serious self-loathing brought on by a lifetime of his party telling him how disgusting and evil and sick and vile he is...or he’s just an effeminate, submissive straight guy who likes watching people suffer as much as the next Republican.

Of course, he COULD be like Richard Grenell and be both gay AND someone who enjoys watching others suffer while they themselves stockpile wealth, but...

Anyway, the queer community calling him out as a closet case is, at WORST, pointing out the devastating effects of his hypocrisy and offering Graham a handy - and genuine - escape hatch. If he just admitted what we all know, then we could approach this honestly and offer a potential support network to help him come out and be proud and get away from his abusers. It’s us saying, “You may be a monster to us, but we get you. Come out. Come home. We’ll help you. Stop hurting yourself. You don’t deserve to live this way.”

Because the other option is ‘soulless, hateful coward who only wants to submit to a real man in jackboots so hard, y’all...’. And that sorta person deserves zero compassion or pity...

But yes, my point: DON’T you, a cishet white conservative, EVER deign to tell a queer person what is ‘homophobic’. Same rule that applies when talking to people of color about what is or isn’t racist.

It’s not.

Your.

Place.

And it comes across as smug and condescending, along the lines of ‘So much for the tolerant left...’

You like to be accurate and correct in your speech to a pedantic level...apply it here.

Amen to that. All of that. And some change.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

And speaking of Biden's cabinet I expect a bit of an olive branch from him to be , he'll include some Republicans inside the cabinet he sets up. To show , look approve my pick of people and I'll take some you are high on.

[PaulBullion]

I'd hope that it wasn't any notable amount.

If it actually was?

That would mean that Democrats needed a "Jones"/"Moore" situation to create an opening where they could win.

If that was the case, any real shift back to "Business As Usual..." for those Republican voters would potentially put Republicans in a spot where they could win it back the same way Biden won some things back this time out.

Yes, America on average is still center-right and if Republicans ever decide to run somebody more electable, they can win elections.

That is not exactly a revelation.

[Gray Lensman]

Hopefully Biden is smart enough to insist Mitch shows cooperation first. The frog has a better chance not getting stung by the scorpion than not getting stung by McConnel.

[PaulBullion]

I actually found a picture of the first two visitors at the Ivanka Trump First Daughter Library:

[Amadeus Arkham]

Except they aren't "prepping" for anything.



The hypothetical's come from "one former U.S. official and two experts." And I mean, duh the Secret Service would remove him if necessary. But it won't come to that. Trump is a giant baby. He's not going to stand up to the Secret Service physically. He won't let himself be forcibly removed from the WHite House on television. .

Yes, I agree he won’t literally be dragged out but it would be entertaining to watch.

What he's probably going to do is leave one day, quietly, and try to hide form the world because he's going to lose on he biggest stage there is.

This scenario sounds less fun, but most likely to happen but I kind of want to see him get forcibly moved out just for the laughs.

Anyway, next time read the article.

Ah, my apologies. Won’t happen again in the future. I misrepresented the article by mistake. Got to own up to mistakes.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

I don’t think losing the Presidency..in all the circumstances..will be that much of a blow to his ego. He’s got a hatful of excuses.

It's not about ego...he needs the Presidency to A) Make money (via influence access and embezzling taxpayer money) B) Protect himself from financial ruin and debts.

But in the months to come he might have two more significant problems...his financial empire might conceivably unravel, and he might be facing a lot of legal action. (In that respect, he’s lucky that Joe B is a tolerant humane guy.)

As I said in the other board.

1) It's not Biden's job to arrest Trump. That's up to Federal and State Law Enforcement and other independent agencies, not him. It's not really his job as President. There's a reason why Trump himself couldn't directly issue an arrest warrant for Obama and so on (which y'all know he would've done if he could).

2) It's actually not a good thing if Biden decides to, or appears to be deciding to, persecuting Trump because that falls under "lawfare" and an incoming POTUS directly legally bringing his predecessor down. Optically, that's not a good thing even if you do have better grounds to call "a special prosecutor" (like how Trump threatened with Hillary and never did) against him.

3) The only way Biden can do that against Trump is if he pardons him. And Biden will not do that. Nixon got pardoned by Gerald Ford, VP from his own party and that cost him election in 1776 (a very narrow victory for Carter so the controversy about Ford pardoning Nixon did sink him back then). So Biden has no party mandate to pardon Trump, and he has precedent for how badly it ended to the last guy who did that. If anyone can pardon Trump, it's a) himself, and b) Pence (in case Trump resigns during lameduck and has Pence do the transition). However, pardon is an admission of guilt. So if Trump does pardon he is admitting guilt and that means that prosecution can target people peripheral to him and so on.

Biden being an institutionalist and so on means he himself will not be making waves...but everyone else in the Democrat Party and the House (which has power to call investigations) can. Pelosi's House has the authority to say, convene a left-wing version of HUAC and make a hearing about white supremacy and militia support, and the corruption under Trump. Will that be popular? Who knows.

And speaking of Biden's cabinet I expect a bit of an olive branch from him to be , he'll include some Republicans inside the cabinet he sets up. To show , look approve my pick of people and I'll take some you are high on.

The problem for McConnell is that the Senate hangs on the runoffs in Georgia in January meaning between now and Jan, he and his party have to walk a careful line. Not angering and triggering the energized blue-glowing electorate of GA by giving a major gimme to them.

Based on what happened in Poland when they banned abortion, should the new SCOTUS take a crack at Roe v. Wade... 2022 turnout would blow up in their f***ing faces. Especially without Trump on the ballot. To a lesser extent, if they come after the ACA and a replacement is needed, or if they go after Obergefell v. Hodges.

With the Senate hanging on the runoffs in Georgia, the SCOTUS case and rulings on ACA Post-Election will probably playt a deciding factor in how that goes. That and the one on Voting Rights Act coming up, which John Roberts especially wants to gut (do not be decieved by him voting liberal recently, dude's an a--hole to his bones). Roberts' somewhat liberal tilt late 2019 was precisely because the election was coming up, and he didn't want to give the Dems a Dred Scott moment so the SCOTUS rulings were a wash, making some rulings favorable to Trump's anti-mail ballots push but allowing MB in other instances, making that landmark ruling on LGBTQ rights but also doing other shady stuff.

For those who don't know, Dred Scott the worst case in SCOTUS history which said African-Americans had no claim to citizenship was so absurd and incoherent in its ruling that even in 1850s (a time of white supremacy even among those who wanted to end slavery), it ignited the wrath of the American people to such an extent that it propelled Lincoln to the WH.

So the SCOTUS is not infallible. It depends on popular legitimacy and the SCOTUS has been losing that since Bush v. Gore and even more so with the theft of Merrick Garland's seats and RBG's legacy. Lincoln packed the courts and outright contested Taney's decisions and refused to enforce them. But then he was Abraham Lincoln, the best POTUS in American history.

The 2022 mid-terms will not go so well for the GOP.

On paper they are no more favored than the Dems. And in any case, polling and so on is not gonna be listened to by either party next time so both will be campaigning like hell.

Right now, the runoffs in GA is where it's at.

[Tami]

Yes, America on average is still center-right and if Republicans ever decide to run somebody more electable, they can win elections.

That is not exactly a revelation.

More electable usually means more trustworthy, less likely to be corrupt, less likely to be put Special Interest or personal interests over the welfare of the country, more honest/transparent than most Republicans....

There are a few out there that might meet the criteria, but few of those would make it past the Republican Primary.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Yes, America on average is still center-right and if Republicans ever decide to run somebody more electable, they can win elections.

The popular victories of the last 10 years says otherwise.

The population as a whole is never on average one thing or another.

-- Florida went red this election but at the same time they voted to increase the minimum wage by $15. A good chunk voted for Trump and voted for this progressive measure too.
-- Social Welfare programs and the ACA are so popular that the Republicans never outright deleted or removed it when they had trifectas and a SCOTUS majority.

[PaulBullion]

The popular victories of the last 10 years says otherwise.

The population as a whole is never on average one thing or another.

-- Florida went red this election but at the same time they voted to increase the minimum wage by $15.
-- Social Welfare programs and the ACA are so popular that the Republicans never outright deleted or removed it when they had trifectas and a SCOTUS majority.

True, I should have said that the Electoral College makes a center-right government more likely in the US.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

True, I should have said that the Electoral College makes a center-right government more likely in the US.

That's certainly been the case for a while. Dixiecrats tanked a bi-partisan move to remove the EC (supported by Nixon) by filibustering it seeing the EC as their only hope to cling on to power. Eventually the Dixiecrat ideology infected the Republican party as a whole and became part of Republican ideology nationally to become a support for American oligarchy as a whole. A bit like how Germany got Prussianized by Bismarck and others rather than Germany actually being united under him. The Democrats consistently fielded Southern candidates from -- Truman (Missouri), LBJ (Texas), Carter (Georgia), Clinton (Arkansas) -- but since Al Gore (Tennessee) lost to W. (a Connectitut transplant to Texas), we have had northern or non-south candidates, Obama (born in Hawaii, Senator from Illinois), and now Biden (Delaware). Kerry was from MA and HRC was born in Chicago and became a NYS senator. Exceptions of course are FDR (NYS Governor) and JFK (MA).

The Republicans also don't have southern candidates since W. McCain is from Arizona, Romney is from Utah, Trump is from NYS.

So in some respects, the Dixiecrat slaveowning oligarchy for whom the EC was created in mind, and who fought to preserve it have finally been incorporated to the Union thanks to these shenanigans.

The EC has to go.

[Kirby101]

It's not really center-right at all. Only one Republican got a majority of votes for President in the last 8 Presidential elections. The Democrats in the Senate have gotten more votes than the Republicans for decades, even when the GOP gets the majority due to small Red States. And the House remains Democratic.
And there is this, look at the big Blue States in the Electoral College, CA, NY, IL. They went overwhelmingly for Biden and there is little chance of them tu4rning Republican anytime soon. Now look at the big Red States, TX, FL, NC, and GA. Trump won with a small percent and there is talk about when the will be Blue, or at least purple. Georgia is going for Biden and NC is very close.
If anything we are a straight center country rather than center-right.
One more thing, if you ask people about policy in a way that doesn't sound like left/right, on things like Rights, Healthcare, Taxes, etc...they are much more progressive than conservative. The GOP has just convinced too many working people that they are on their side while they take away what they have to give to the Rich.

[InformationGeek]

Matt Gaetz just tested positive for COVID. Shoulda wore that gas mask more.

[DrNewGod]

It's gonna be super interesting to see how much NOT having Trump on the ticket helps or hinders Republicans in Georgia.

Strikes me the GOP base in those states might power high turnout with near-rabid they-stole-our-presidency outrage.