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

[Amadeus Arkham]

Kind of hope Trump’s Patriot Party does take off, and become a thing only to have Trump continue to be a bigger obstacle to winning for the party than Democrats. I suspect Trump will likely try and create his own news media organization so he has a platform to shame and trash Republicans, and hold the party hostage. That’d be a joy to see!

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Didn't Obama sign an executive order when he started to close Guantanamo? Yet it's still open today.

Executive Orders aren't a panacea or solve everything fix, the fact that an executive order didn't shut down Guantanamo doesn't mean it can't do anything.

Nixon famously started the EPA via executive order (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reorga..._No._3_of_1970).

Apparently executive orders do not always work that well, so remains to be seen how it works out for Biden.

Most of the signature Trump stuff was done via executive order rather than passed through Congress. So stuff like the "Muslim Ban", building the Wall, exiting the Paris Climate Agreement, exiting the WHO, all that can be reversed easily enough.

Legislatively, Trump did little, and it was McConnell who had control over the legislation with the tax cut and the hijacking of the judiciary.

[worstblogever]

Remember when Romney lost in 2012, and the GOP did an "autopsy" to assess what they had to do to win back the electorate?

There is no introspection after Trump's 2020 loss. State Party members are tethering themselves to Trump, and all the things he did that doomed them. Fighting against wearing masks, inciting anger, and... oh yeah, more of that "branding based on Qanon". This is real:



Also, a reminder, Gab is the website where Neo-Nazis dwell, because it's the only existing platform that still allows them.

[MajorHoy]

. . . Also, a reminder, Gab is the website where Neo-Nazis dwell, because it's the only existing platform that still allows them.

Perhaps it's a good thing that something like that exists.

At least it's a site authorities can possibly monitor to see what threats might be coming up . . .

[worstblogever]

Perhaps it's a good thing that something like that exists.

At least it's a site authorities can possibly monitor to see what threats might be coming up . . .

[worstblogever]

Well, in schaedenfreude news... People have been cancelling memberships at Trump's Mar-A-Lago club left and right. Maybe it's because they don't want to be associated with a loser, or a seditious f***er, but maybe there's just no benefit to having access to him now that he's not in the Oval Office.

Or the club just isn't as fun because a spoiled, embittered jagoff is raging around it all day long.

[Mister Mets]

So apparently Tom Cotton lied about having been an "Army Ranger" while he only took some "Ranger Training" and now his career is over.

Hashtag: #StolenValor.

Not quite. According to the Salon piece, he completed Ranger training, which does allow him the right to wear the ranger tab.

https://www.salon.com/2021/01/22/sen...idnt-have-any/

Rather, Cotton attended the Ranger School, a two-month-long, small-unit tactical infantry course that literally anyone in the military is eligible to attend. Soldiers who complete the course earn the right to wear the Ranger tab — a small arch that reads "Ranger" — but in the eyes of the military, that does not make them an actual Army Ranger.

[Jack Dracula]

Oh, please . . .
the problem is what is perceived as the "Republican Party" in terms of extremes.
There are Republicans out there who are not as ridiculous as the likes of Ted Cruz, but idiots like Cruz are so bombastic that they drown out the others in the party. Yes, there need to be more Republicans who speak up AND can work with the other side at times. (Its times like this I miss guys like John McCain, a person who could agree with other side some times.)

If those masses of sane Republicans didn't emerge to steer the party back after 1/6 they either don't exist in the necessary numbers or aren't interested.
The conservative electorate has been poisoned by decades of misinformation and opinion masquerading as news so the party now guides the electorate on policies. The reason we don't see people like John Mcain anymore is that the party doesn't allow them to rise in the ranks. They don't fit the message it wants to convey to its supporters. Working with Democrats might lead to the examination of conservative policies and their consequences. That sort of independent thinking can't be tolerated.

[Malvolio]

Trump doesn't create anything, least of all a news network. No, he will negotiate a deal with Newsmax or OANN to re-brand themselves as Trump News. That's what Trump does; he takes other people's creations and slaps his name on them so he can take credit for its success or avoid blame if it fails. Just look at Trump Steaks, Trump Airlines, Trump: The Game...

[DrNewGod]

It’s absolutely amazing how much weaker and quieter he seemed after he lost his Twitter account. Almost like the source of his power was taken away. Twitter and Facebook have done so much damage to the world. Social media has made it so much easier for extremism to spread. freaking Facebook had a helping hand in the genocide in Myanmar.

If Trump's power is fully blunted by social media algorithms, I think you can look for Congress to begin a very quiet, but very determined push to curb social medias power to curb politicians' power. As with all things, partisan dickery could prevent it, but this might be one subject on which McConnell and Harris would find common ground.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump doesn't create anything, least of all a news network. No, he will negotiate a deal with Newsmax or OANN to re-brand themselves as Trump News. That's what Trump does; he takes other people's creations and slaps his name on them so he can take credit for its success or avoid blame if it fails. Just look at Trump Steaks, Trump Airlines, Trump: The Game...

Agreed. Trump doesn’t have the patience or the ability to create something like a news network from the ground up, that’s well beyond his meager skills.

[BeastieRunner]

Not quite. According to the Salon piece, he completed Ranger training, which does allow him the right to wear the ranger tab.

https://www.salon.com/2021/01/22/sen...idnt-have-any/

It just makes him look like a douche to the vets.

They know the score and savvy people do, too.

It also hurts the GOP's ability about attacking other's service records while not going against their own.

Makes them a bunch of hypocrites, don't you think?

Trump's words are really going to haunt this party for the next 12 years.

[Steel Inquisitor]

Didn't Obama sign an executive order when he started to close Guantanamo? Yet it's still open today.

Apparently executive orders do not always work that well, so remains to be seen how it works out for Biden.

That'd require congress to sign off on, they declined when he tried. People think being president is like being king of an absolute monarchy, when the GOP get around that more because they are given more leeway and they still have limits to their power so they're not absolute.

That's why lots of things Obama did were so easily brushed away by Trump, because the GOP blocked him from making them stick with congress bills.

[BeastieRunner]

Obama lost a fair amount of EOs to the SCOTUS due to delays but never overturned.

I believe Trump is the only other one to come close to his record.

I will do some research.

EDIT to add:

Obama had 276 EOs and 1 overturned. 211 challenged, 22 delayed, 1 set aside, 1 split decision. In all, 22 delays that the next admin removed, 1 overturned, 1 set aside.

Trump had 217 EOs and 37 overturned. 155 challenged, 41 apelet injunctions (also counted as delayed), 7 set aside. In all, 41 delayed (17 the current admin gets to remove, I believe they did already), 7 set aside, 37 over turned.

[Robotman]

Democrats make federal election standards a top priority

This is the type of legislation I was hoping for. So many steps need to be taken to stop the next Trump from truly destroying democracy. As many have already said, the next authoritarian president will be much smarter/craftier. Trump’s stupidity, impatience, and irrational behavior is the only thing that saved us.