Once I can get my hands on a transcript I’ll do a longer and fuller treatment. My initial impression and key take away from Mr. Trump’s foreign policy remarks is that the Trump Doctrine is: America will be treated fairly. Essentially National Security and Foreign Policy Narcissism. It is all about us and being treated well, properly, fairly however Mr. Trump defines those things. More to follow later on.
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NotMax
Repeating for truth.
Shorter Trump foreign policy message: “Neener, neener, neener! You’re not the boss of me!”
charon
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/us/politics/donald-trump-transcript.html?ref=liveblog
not the speech, something else
Frank Wilhoit
If he didn’t win, he wasn’t being treated fairly.
QED
SiubhanDuinne
OFFS. Just heard BBC headlines (radio) and the newsreader said (paraphrased but accurate) “Trump launched a scathing attack on President Obama’s foreign policy, calling it reckless, rudderless, and aimless.” Period. That was it. If this is a sample of what media reaction is going to be, I think I just want to crawl into my blanket fort and take a nap.
Mike E
But, he’s the victim here
LAO
Frankly it was a largely substantive free speech, except for Trump repeated “fuck offs” to the neo-cons. Who were sitting in the audience, presumably, gritting their teeth.
ETA: They sure as heck, weren’t applauding.
Mike in NC
Both Trump and Putin are thin-skinned egomaniacs who constantly worry and complain about not being respected and treated fairly. Both appeal to insecure and poorly educated people in need of a strongman to comfort them.
Adam L Silverman
@charon: Thanks, I’ve already read those.
Miss Bianca
@LAO: Now that, alone, would have made it fun to watch. For the rest, it sounds like being forced to watch a dentist drill someone’s teeth with no anaesthetic.
Betty Cracker
It’s easy to imagine Trump 65 years ago as the whiny, entitled little shit who was always clutching his kindergarten teacher’s hem and screeching, “That’s not faaaaaaiiiirrrrr!” He parlayed that into a business philosophy and now wants to impose it on a powerful nation that is bristling with nuclear weapons and resentment. Dog help us all if he succeeds.
catclub
@Mike in NC: At least poorly enough educated not to notice that their strongmen are whiny and insecure.
SiubhanDuinne
I am concerned* about Trump’s health. Maybe it was just nerves or something, but his breathing seemed very shallow and gaspy, and he looked plain uncomfortable. Camera didn’t get close enough for me to see whether he was sweating, but he didn’t look like a well man. Anybody else notice?
*(“Concerned” may not be quite the word I want.)
bemused
@SiubhanDuinne:
I thought he was sucking in breath due to nerves.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Leery?
Trollhattan
@Mike in NC:
and could be simultaneously be in charge of the planet’s two largest nuclear arsenals. File under “W” for What could possibly go wrong?
pamelabrown53
I so look forward to your deeper analysis. IMO, you are an amazing addition to this blog.
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m concerned to the extent that it would suck if that sack of shit suddenly drops dead and the Republicans get a mulligan on their horrible nomination pick. Other than that, not so much.
Emma
@SiubhanDuinne: Don’t you think he looks tired? *grin*
MattF
@LAO: Well, someone had the bright idea of slowing down one of Der Trump’s speeches by 50%. Oddly revealing.
Miss Bianca
@Betty Cracker: This.
SuzieC
@MattF: Revealing what?
Kropadope
@Trollhattan:
The Earth can survive climate change. Civilization may not.
I doubt even the Earth can survive those two numbskulls with nukes.
MattF
@MattF: And here’s the link that I omitted.
hellslittlestangel
Did he mention lebensraum yet?
Gin & Tonic
@Miss Bianca: Sir Laurence Olivier is the reason I didn’t visit the dentist for at least a decade.
MattF
@SuzieC: I left out the link. See above.
gbbalto
Transcript as prepared
daveNYC
Trump is a tool, but ideas like respect and fair treatment (for us) aren’t going to be that difficult to sell to the public.
Kropadope
@Betty Cracker:
I don’t see this helping them. Trump’s already crying foul play every turn. Imagine the suspicions raised if he were to suddenly drop dead; even if under clear, proven natural causes.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Mike in NC:
Fixted it for you, I did.
Mike J
@Emma:
If I could write a Doctor Who/Hamilton crossover Balloon-juice would fall at my feet.
bemused
@Betty Cracker:
I had the same thoughts and then wondered who the GOP would try to put in, Paul Ryan or even Mitt.
catclub
@Emma: The technical term is ‘low energy’.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Betty Cracker:
He’s an older white guy with undoubted bad previous habits and a bombastic personality. Things have been known to happen to people like that, bolt out of the blue, nothing sinister at all – just bad health coming home to roost.
Andrew Breitbart comes to mind when I hear Trump, and Breitbart was younger when he shed his mortal coil of rage.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker:
Probably why his dad sent him to a private military school.
Doesn’t seem to have had the desired effect.
Emma
@Mike J: OOOOH, plot bunnies!
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
Oh, and BTW, I can afford to be smug. I put on my high school track team coverup jacket this weekend, and it fit me a little loose.
NotMax
@Mike J
Creating a government is the definition of what hard is
If only we had access to someone with a TARDIS
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: I don’t think the mouth breathing base will be satisfied with Ryan bot.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Gin & Tonic:
Fred probably wanted to smack the smartass off his mouth on a daily basis.
catclub
@Kropadope:
I really really want someone to ask Trump how he carries grudges – with evidence such as lawsuits – and how that would work out if Barack Obama carried grudges the same way.
Gin & Tonic
Hastert gets 15 months in the can.
catclub
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Actually, no. Trump does not drink or smoke, and basically never did.
He is obsessed with cleanliness and things that are disgusting, however. Shake his hand and then try to give him a hug!
Comrade Mary
@SiubhanDuinne: CBC will probably echo it. I had JUST put my radio back by my bed (I sleep with the radio on) but had to switch it off several times this morning because while I have sympathy for struggling journalists in media, I cannot fucking stand this bullshit “balance”.
Roger Moore
@schrodinger’s cat:
But the establishment would be, and they’d most likely be the ones installing Trump’s replacement.
bemused
Trump has no interest in policy. He is only about his vast personal opinions and the multitude of things and people that disgust him.
Miss Bianca
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class: Gloat. Gloat. Gloat some more, it’s good. : )
@NotMax: @Mike J: Y’all are scaring me…
Mike J
@NotMax: [snort]
Paul in KY
@bemused: They would have to put in Darth Creepy, IMO.
schrodinger's cat
@Roger Moore: Sure but if the Trump base does not vote for Ryan bot, he won’t become President.
starscream
I have no idea how this stuff plays in America. I assume most people don’t give a shit about the content of the speech and will vote on the candidate’s personality.
bemused
@Paul in KY:
Very reluctantly but they are stuck. The GOP sure has landed themselves in a cesspool of their own making.
Kropadope
@starscream:
So, the speech should be a net loss for Trump then, right?
Roger Moore
@schrodinger’s cat:
Sure but two points:
1) Who else are they going to vote for, Hillary?
2) The Republicans probably won’t win even if the Trumpenproletariat do vote for the (R) candidate.
As far as I can see, the main drawback of Ryan as a candidate is that he probably genuinely doesn’t want to run. He’s already Speaker of the House, and he’d probably have to give up his House reelection campaign and chance of remaining Speaker to run for President. He’s not going to do that unless he has a good chance of winning, which he’s smart enough to recognize he does not have. They’ll need to find a different sacrificial victim.
Gin & Tonic
CNN is reporting that Cruz will select Fiorina as his VP candidate.
Have two more unlikable people ever been paired?
Kropadope
@Roger Moore:
Well, lucky for him he didn’t want to be speaker to begin with.
Kropadope
@Gin & Tonic:
When, 2020? Or do you mean “would?”
catclub
@Mike J: There was a report on NPR on popular music returning to musicals – Hamilton leading the way.
Then they mentioned one pop singer with a show called ‘Waitress’ and the next pop singer (Sheryl Crow) with one called ‘Diner’.
I think someone (or both) is going to lose out with two similar seeming shows coming out at the same time.
catclub
@Kropadope: He did not give up his seat to run for VP, why give it up to run for Pres? This is an ego driven politician, who is also looking out for himself.
Matt McIrvin
Ronald Reagan got a lot of negative publicity for announcing his running-mate pick before the convention in 1976. But part of that was because it was Richard Schweiker, a liberal Republican who he picked as a ticket-balancer, and conservatives got upset. I wonder if people care now?
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Nixon and Agnew a distant second.
Wallace and LeMay take third.
Brachiator
@SiubhanDuinne:
Assuming that Trump cruises to the nomination, his VP pick could be very interesting.
shortribs
Always the victim when the GOP is involved, bizarre.
D58826
Howard Fineman has an article on Trump the wrecking ball. Trump has destroyed every one of his opponents. He is now aiming at the democratic nominee, most likely Hillary. I know the Bernie folks point to polls that show him doing better against Trump than Hillary but given where Trump has come from in the past 12 months and the number of politicians he has polished off, I’m not sure that Bernie would fare any better than Hillary. This is not meant to be a knock on Bernie. In one sense you can explain Bernie as one more liberal/progressive insurgency in the democratic primaries. Dean and Obama being the previous two. Bernie might be a good deal more leftist than the other two but he follows a pattern. Trump is simply off the wall different. He breaks every rule and prospers. Hillary might be better off at dealing with Trump since she is a known quantity and has been dealing with these kind of tactics for all her career. Bernie is enough of an unknown quantity that there is something out there that Trump will find and it will destroy Bernie. A rev. wright moment maybe. I remember how VP candidate Tom Eagleton was destroyed by his history of depression and Ferraro was destroyed by her hubby’s business dealings. And of course the most recent example the sage of Wassilla These were things that came out late in the process about a candidate that was relatively new to the national stage. Most of Hillary’s history is already baked in.
I don’t mean to make it sound like one more pitch for Hillary vs Bernie. It’s just as Fineman says in his article be careful what you wish for. Trump may be a joke and a buffoon and a bigot but take him lightly at your peril. None of the normal rules apply this year. The apple really does fall up and you can unscramble the egg.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-clinton-establishment_us_57203686e4b0b49df6a9a6d0
NonyNony
@starscream:
Honestly I think that most people vote for the party they’re inclined to agree with. The hard part is convincing voters to show up and vote. There aren’t that many people left who jump between parties (mostly because the parties are no longer fairly close together in their ideology the way they were in the 70s and even into the 80s).
Paul in KY
@bemused: The poor dears.
? Martin
We have 4% of the worlds population and 16% of the worlds GDP. White men born to rich parents should be so well off.
Mike J
@Gin & Tonic: As one wag has already said, the second worst merger she’s been involved in.
Gin & Tonic
@Kropadope:
Villago Delenda Est
So, essentially, it’s all about us, not about those nasty foreigners.
Well, this is going to go over well everywhere outside the boundaries of the United States.
/rolls eyes
JustRuss
It’s very odd that a billionaire who is the son of a mutli-millionaire slumlord is always kvetching about fairness. If life were fair, where does he think he’d be?
Mnemosyne
@catclub:
Rock musicals have been a thing for quite a while — we may have a chance to see “Hedwig & the Angry Inch” next year.
“Waitress” is based on the movie of the same name and has done pretty well off-Broadway. Not sure about “Diner.”
Emma
@D58826: I don’t think Hillary will take him lightly. But the truth is that Trump could do what he has done because his Republican opponents are, at best, lightweight. Pair that with a Republican base made out of Great White Resentment Voters, and, really, he was a shoo-in.
Roger Moore
@catclub:
As VP he could get away with it because the focus was away from him. As the presidential candidate, he would be tacitly admitting he didn’t like his chances, which would make him look weak. The only way he could get away with it were if he were made the candidate so close to the election that there was some excuse related to replacing him on the ballot for his House seat.
Paul in KY
@NotMax: I was going to say Margaret of Anjou & the Earl of Warwick, but then I remembered that the Earl wasn’t despised by all (at that point).
I’m not coming up with any better than yours.
catclub
@D58826: There was a long article at Slate (!) on how Bernie leads Hillary in Hillary vs Trump, and Bernie vs Trump comparisons, and how those would go away VERY fast once the GOP aims at all the things that Democrats do not mind about Bernie, but the rest of the nation would not stand.
Ah here it is
NotMax
@JustRuss
Fred Trump may have been many things but slumlord is not among them.
Elie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Siubhan, I have been noticing and calling Trump (in medical slang), a “set-up” for a while. He does not drink or smoke apparently, but he is very overweight and physically not in good condition. His face is frequently bright red during his speeches and he doesn’t move with energy. He has been quoted as “having trouble sleeping” — DEFINITELY not good. He is 70 years old and in a very stressful campaign that will probably increase in stress and this is just the primaries. If he won after a long and bruising general, he would still have to find the energy to govern. He is not a sharp thinker and has an unstable personality under the best of circumstances. Imagine a very tired Donald near the nukes for a minute. …. I dunno if anything is gonna happen to him healthwise, but as I said, he is at high risk. If he becomes President, we are all at risk.
Paul in KY
@D58826: Sen. Sanders & his wife honeymooned in the USSR in about 1974. Think he would just start with that & move on to full-on-Emmanuel Goldsteining.
? Martin
@Gin & Tonic: Well, kudos to Fiorina for her perfectly executed campaign to be Ted Cruz’s running mate. And kudos to Democrats and the pundits for convincing the Republicans that identity politics is even a thing among non white male voters.
Roger Moore
@JustRuss:
He thinks he be exactly where he is; narcissism and self-awareness do not go together.
Paul in KY
@D58826: We should NEVER take him lightly. He has more upside than Cruz, is a better campaigner, etc.
Mnemosyne
Also, I need to take a brief opportunity to rant about a Facebook friend of my brother-in-law’s since I can’t rant at her:
Anyone who thinks it’s strange that the former two-term US Senator from New York would win that state over a guy who moved away 30 years ago has NO FUCKING IDEA how electoral politics work. Sit down and shut up about the supposed “conspiracy” that the EEEEVVVIIILLLL Hillary carried out by being more popular.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
When have conservatives ever cared about anybody but us?
People were hoopin’ and hollerin’ when Dubya talked crap about “either wit us or aggin’ us.”
And there have always been mokes who think that diplomacy is for sissies, and the natural role of the US is to stand tall and give marching orders to our lackeys, uh, I mean allies.
Cacti
@D58826:
I’m sure Clinton will take him seriously as an opponent, but I don’t take him especially seriously as a threat to win the Presidency.
His combination of bigotry, bombast, braggadocio was electoral gold in the party that values those traits. But in the general, who will Trump be winning over that McCain and Romney didn’t?
On the other hand, he’ll almost certainly lose women and Latinos by even wider margins than the other two. I’m not seeing his path to 270.
catclub
@? Martin: 4% getting 16% is not good enough for them. The 1% have about 10% of the US GDP,
so by that standard we are being treated unfairly.
NobodySpecial
@Mike J: What’s going to make it worse is when Cruz sheds his skin and eats her whole on the teevee.
catclub
@Brachiator: Israel excepted, of course, for all your conclusions.
Trollhattan
@catclub:
He claims to have not done any of those naughty things but has also regaled interviewers of his times and the wild goings on at Studio 54, so I have my suspicions whether that’s always been the case. “Supermodels. Unbelievable!”
catclub
@Paul in KY: Did you also read that Slate article? It mentioned that.
Adam L Silverman
@pamelabrown53: I’m blushing.
Paul in KY
@Mnemosyne: You could say ‘she won 2 statewide elections for Senator, Sen. Sanders moved away to Vermont 40 years ago.’
Mnemosyne
@D58826:
IMO, the other point in Hillary’s favor vs Trump is that she would not get sucked into the MANLY MAN bullshit that the Republican candidates keep letting themselves get dragged into. Trump isn’t going to be able to offer to compare dick sizes, and I’m pretty sure she’s already heard every sexist insult he can throw at her multiple times. Trump will be out of his comfort zone as a candidate, which will be mighty interesting.
Paul in KY
@Cacti: His whole shtick, though, is to pull in people who haven’t generally voted. There are quite a few of them out there.
D58826
@Emma: I hope.
@catclub: I’ve been beating that drum on this blog for 6 months. I suspect that Hillary has a room full of negative research on Bernie but it made no sense to destroy party unity in the general by using it. If she had been losing it might have been different. Since the media has been more interested in the horse race so Bernie’s past is still very much a blank slate. For many reasons the Clinton history has been hashed and rehashed for the past 20+ years right down to the time Bill gave his 3rd grade teacher the raspberries. Once the general starts the GOP slime machine in general and Trump in particular will do a number on Bernie and his favorables will drop. He still might do better than Hillary but we don’t know that yet.
Trollhattan
@Cacti:
It’s bad enough knowing tens of millions will happily vote for him, but I’m reasonably confident, if not sanguine, that Hillary will beat him like a palooka selected for a heavyweight’s first bout coming out of early retirement.
She might could even have coattails and such.
Adam L Silverman
@hellslittlestangel: Nope, didn’t even mention Lebanon.
Adam L Silverman
@gbbalto: Thanks! I’ll have Part 2.0 up this evening.
Mike J
@D58826:
Raspberries!
Paul in KY
@catclub: I read it somewhere, catclub. Might have been Slate. I usually do a quick scan of articles there (love Dear Prudence & the astronomer guy). I Just face palmed & thought ‘did you also attend the 19th Comintern Youth International too?!’
D58826
@MattF: and when youi play it backwards does it say ‘Paul is dead’
Elie
@D58826:
I think that there has been a singular lack of creativity in dealing with Trump. The media has wanted him to last and sell copy or clicks and his opponents are just about the most incompetent and impotent group of so called adults ever gathered under the banner of the Republican Party. Bull rushing this guy is exactly the wrong thing — personal attacks, negative information, getting down in the gutter with him — no. What works we got a little taste of when he lost Ohio and a couple of other states and related to him being seen as weak… notice how he snapped out of being more so called Presidential after his new manager said he was going to be and that his crudeness was just an act. He is trapped in this aggressive bully role which is a vulnerability that no one yet has explored. He has to destroy himself… I think if he just hammer and thongs Hillary, he will make her life very easy. He is getting creamed in the woman vote and it will get worse but more than anything — and I count on it — the pressure on him is going to get so much heavier and the cumulative lack of rest and conditioning might also play a role.
Jeffro
@Trollhattan:
I’m trying to explain this to my right-leaning dad, who somehow sees the foreign policy address as something that was, and I quote, “well-received by foreign leaders from everything I’ve heard”. Yes, that’s a real quote.
You might guess where he gets his news from…
Cacti
@Trollhattan:
No less than Chris Christie’s wife visibly rolled her eyes on stage when Drumpf started into his “Hillary would only get 5% of the vote if she was a man”.
I imagine the Clinton camp will bait The Donald into alienating women at every available opportunity.
Trollhattan
@Elie:
Supposedly, part of the apparent bloat and flopsweat is wearing body armor, but I don’t know even that can explain away the bulging neck and puffy mug.
I didn’t think pe-paw McCain would survive eight years of presidency, and perhaps he wouldn’t have, but he’s still very much with us.
NCSteve
Trying to do a serious policy analysis on this speech is like trying to do a critical deconstructionist analysis of a Pauly Shore movie.
Adam L Silverman
@catclub: Its been reported that Bibi Netanyahu has the same OCD type of cleanliness fetish/uncleanliness phobia. So we know this is an essential component in a successful elected official.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
But, but. The guys and gals in Brooklyn couldn’t vote in droves for their homeboy Bernie because evil operatives sabotaged the voting machines.
Frank Wilhoit
If Trump could teach us not to take narcissists and megalomaniacs at their own estimation of themselves, he’d be worth it.
But this is one of the oldest and gravest of human failings and it is impossible to more than faintly imagine what it would take to put it right.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Elie:
Most interesting typo in political commentary this week. Discuss.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Premature running mateulation. One in five male candidates over a certain age…
Uncle Cosmo
@Gin & Tonic: It’s an open question whether Cruz or Fiorina is the bigger imbecile here.
The case for Cruz: Why in hell would you offer the Vice-Presidential nomination to someone with no delegates when you’re behind in the delegate count? Why in hell would you effectively say, OK, Don, door’s wide open for you to cut a deal with Rubio or Kasich–? When Der Drumpfuehrer is almost a lock to end up with enough delegates that either one of them could put him over the top? (NB I can’t see The Donald finishing under 1100 on his own, & that’s good enough to cut a deal with one of them.) And how about that Stop Trump alliance with Grandpa John–what possible reason would he have to honor it now??
The case for Fiorina: Um, Carly, you realize that DetesTed has exactly no official power to impose his choice of VP nominee on the convention? Which means that once he’s been nominated–& after he’s used you to go all attack-dog on his chief rivals–he can shrug his shoulders & walk away? And since those rivals (unlike you) have delegates pledged to them, why wouldn’t he be negotiating with them right now, behind your back, for those delegates in order to get the nomination in the first place?? IOW, do you have a fucking clue how this shit works, or are you as clueless in this merger as you were at HP??
Buy popcorn futures, peeps!
Paul in KY
@D58826: Does it have crackling fire noises too & some guy saying ‘turn me on dead man’?
I’d have to give him a kudo if that was the case.
Rasputin's Evil Twin
@Gin & Tonic: Nixon – Agnew
Paul in KY
@Jeffro: Pravda?
Edit: Or did they rename that Putinvda?
bemused
@Jeffro:
It’s safe to assume your dad hasn’t read that Trump is terrifying a lot of world leaders who are questioning American leaders, diplomats, etc. if they need to be worried. If it isn’t on Fox and company, it doesn’t exist.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: Actually I’d pay good money to see her step around the podium, reach towards her waste band, and say to Trump: “put up or shut up, now unzip and let’s see whose is really bigger”.
NonyNony
@NCSteve: I think you’re underestimating the amount of critical content in a Pauly Shore movie.
Paul in KY
@Trollhattan: He wouldn’t have survived, cause the Snowbilly Grifter would have offed him.
Roger Moore
@Paul in KY:
That’s the claim, but it’s not well supported. What it looks like he’s done is to pull Republicans who have previously voted only in the general election into the primaries.
Elie
@Trollhattan:
Nope. If you check out pics of him before the campaign, he is big and fat with swollen face and eyes. You also gotta watch him move. As I said, time will tell but these campaigns are bruising for younger and fitter candidates. McCain was never in as a bad a shape — certainly not as fat. Again, no predictions. Just observing. I would say its at least likely he is gonna have one very distressing occasion where he loses it or becomes incoherent. He is so hyper-aggressive and emotional and so easy to bait… All that flying around in planes with high stress, little sleep, relatively poor diet and the arteries of a 70 year old layered on an emotional and reactive personality. You can escape your fate for a while but not forever….
singfoom
@NCSteve: All Pauly Shore movies are about the duality of man and returning to the womb.
Paul in KY
@NCSteve: That’s a pretty good analogy!
schrodinger's cat
@Adam L Silverman: Every time I read Bibi, I am tickled. In Hindi, bibi==wife.
bhabi==brother’s wife.
patroclus
Calling him a “serial child molester,” a federal judge just sentenced former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert to 15 months in prison.
Elie
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
LOL!!!
LAO
@Gin & Tonic: Am I missing something, Cruz isn’t the nominee. What a set of balls on him. Have you ever heard of such a thing?
Paul in KY
@Roger Moore: I hope you are right, Roger.
NotMax
@Uncle Cosmo
Fiorina does have 1 pledged delegate.
BTW, for those playing at home, estimated delegate count for those still running:
D (2383 needed):
Clinton – 2134
Sanders – 1387
R (1237 needed):
Trump – 957
Cruz – 562
Kasich – 173
Source
Adam L Silverman
@schrodinger’s cat: I know. Usually Benyamin/Benjamin would be shortened to Ben or Benny. I can only speculate that either he, or one of his brothers, couldn’t say his name right and just kept repeating the “B” sound over and over when referring to himself/to him and it stuck.
Adam L Silverman
@patroclus: And the other inmates just love them some child molester. Even in a Club Fed, they’re going to have to keep him out of general population.
Mike J
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: again: premature running mateulation. One in five candidates over a certain age…
joel hanes
The first ten pages or so of Kipling’s Captains Courageous are a fine depiction of The Donald as a very young man.
It is a great shame that he never fell off the taffrail of a cruise ship.
Brachiator
BTW. Republicans seem to be resigning themselves to the idea that Trump will be their man.
From the most recent NBC poll:
It’s funny how the conventional wisdom of the punditocracy insisted that Trump could never break out past the support of his core base.
I’m not yet worried about Trump should he (as is likely) becomes the GOP candidate, but I am finding it interesting that his candidacy has consistently defied all the smart money. And yeah, I also had predicted early on that he would do something to derail his own campaign.
Gin & Tonic
@LAO: Prior to the 1976 Republican convention, Reagan had committed to picking Richard Schweiker, as a centrist gambit. It failed when the conservative wing balked.
Peale
@Uncle Cosmo: I guess she brings to his primary ticket someone who led in the polls for a week a few months before voting started. I think Cruz is out of money. Maybe she has money? Possible that she raised more than she spent since she was fundraising for awhile but dropped out rather quickly.
D58826
@catclub: Ouch that article is painful. Bernie really is a flak
But his supporters keep trying. there is an open-letter type article on Salon begging the FBI to recommend criminal charges against Hillary over her e-mails in order to stop her. The writer is a Bernie support (or maybe a GOP operative in disguise). I have never read anything more absurd.
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: Lol
@Gin & Tonic: Well, when I said had you ever? You had and rose to the challenge. Well done.
Technocrat
RedState front page: Trump’s Foreign Policy Speech Long On Rhetoric, Short on Details
5 other anti-Trump articles on their front page. Have they hated any other nominee this much?
NonyNony
@Roger Moore:
I have a strong suspicion that he may pull in some White Supremacists who normally don’t bother voting in the general election.
OTOH – I also have a strong suspicion that there will be a number of moderate Republicans in states like Ohio (especially women) who will just skip the presidential line this year if he’s on it. So I suspect it’s a wash – he’ll still end up with the same floor of 46% of the popular vote that every Republican has when election time rolls around.
D58826
@patroclus: And some black kid in Baltimore was charged with crimes that would have landed him in jail for 12 years. His crime – breaking the windows on a couple of police cars. Equal justice. His lawyer plea bargined it down to 6 months in jail at 18 months probation provided he keeps out of trouble. Since the cops seem to have it in for him that part might be difficult to achieve
Mike J
@joel hanes:
Ever seen Chris Elliot’s Cabin Boy?
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@Gin & Tonic: He molested his political protege’s brother, and the protege praised him and defended him until he found out his brother was one of the victims. I guess the other victims didn’t matter. Typical GOP — it only matters if it happens to them.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m guessing Putin does not, given the Judo thing. I’ve heard he’s quite accomplished, and as I understand it, Judo requires a certain amount of occasional direct contact with opponents.
cbear
So Drump gave a serious speech today, huh?
I remember when I was a kid and my military family was stationed in Texas (Ft. Hood) and my brother and I used to go roaming around in the woods every chance we got. We were pretty young (probably 7 & 8 yrs-old) and of course, as young boys, we very into watching western movies and reading magazines like Outdoor Life and Field & Stream and stuff. We were especially fascinated with the stories in the magazines and films about professional trackers and the wise Indian scouts who could discern all kinds of information by studying the tracks and spoor of animals and humans.
So, anyway, one day we were out exploring and came across a large pile of fairly fresh dung by the side of a trail and decided to take a close look and see what we could learn about the creature that had deposited it there. We got some sticks and started poking around in the pile and trying to identify the little pieces of stuff we found, you know, like little stones and acorns and the like. Was it a bear? A mountain lion? Could it be a wolf?
We probably spent about 30 minutes stirring that shit around and looking for clues and trying to figure out what it all meant that we never noticed our father come up behind us until he said, “What in the HELL are you boys doing poking around in that horseshit? C’mon, goddammit, you’re late for dinner again.”
Roger Moore
@NonyNony:
And there’s evidence that he’s helping to boost interest by Latino/Hispanic voters who want to vote against him. There has already been an unusually large boost in the number of green card holders trying to get citizenship in time to vote, and you can bet they like Trump substantially less than the population at large. With somebody like Trump, it’s harder to predict what’s going to happen.
Jeffro
@bemused: I tell you, I still haven’t been able to get my jaw off the floor. In what universe does Donald Trump give a speech on any subject and be well-received by world leaders? After 8 years of Obama, too? Oh my.
I was tempted to send him an “Oh well, I guess really do Democrats fall in love, Republicans really do fall in line”, but why bother? Even my IGMFY “libertarian” brother is having none of this Trump nonsense. He won’t vote for HRC of course, but even he recognizes this is a train wreck for the GOP.
Kropadope
@Gin & Tonic: Right, but my point is that he can’t offer a VP slot that almost certainly isn’t his to offer.
Jeffro
@Brachiator:
You’re right, he has been derailing his own campaign…just not his primary campaign. He’s been derailing his general election campaign since Day 1.
bemused
@Jeffro:
Right wing hope always springs eternal?
catclub
@Brachiator: The remaining core of GOP voters in a blue state (NY, NJ, PA, CA) is very committed and very crazy. And Trump does well there. In Red states, the GOP is more mixed, since it includes people who are fairly moderate but become GOP because that is the only way to go anywhere within the state. Wisconsin is a slight anomaly to this theory.
aimai
@MattF: Wow.
NonyNony
@Roger Moore:
Also true. If Trump turns out to have a lower floor that McCain/Palin after George W Bush brought on an economic collapse and two unfinished wars I’ll be surprised, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. But if it turns out he does it by expanding the size of the Latino/Hispanic voting demographic faster than it’s been expanding over the past few decades it’ll warm the cockles of heart quite nicely.
Haydnseek
@hellslittlestangel: He said they could use whatever bathroom they wanted, he didn’t care.
scav
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:
The confidence, arrogance and manipulation in that set-up is stunning. Little bit of implied blackmail and/or/plus payoff via the investment in the brother’s career and then the messed up fraternal relationships afterward, plus wondering how much one’s own career might have been built a bit off the molestation of your brother. blearghrh.
Matt McIrvin
@D58826: While complacency is never a good idea, it’s also worth remembering that Trump has polled well against all the other Republicans almost from the moment he made his campaign announcement. Against any Democrat, not so much.
Tractarian
This is not the New York Times. The Donald is not “Mr. Trump”.
Gin & Tonic
@Kropadope: I report, you decide.
Matt McIrvin
@catclub:
But they’re generally not in the evangelical Christian right, so they’re not Ted Cruz’s natural supporters. That’s the other piece of the puzzle. Whereas the blue states in the upper Midwest are more Cruz territory.
Trollhattan
@Paul in KY:
Excellent point. First time out with Tawd on the snomashines, doncha just noo sumpin’s gonna happen….
D58826
Interesting article on how to reform the tax code. I do like this quote as it sums up one of the major problems with our political system
and how the tax code treats the wealthy
In short none of the candidates has a credible reform plan for the 21st century information economy. Just tinkering with the tax code that wass designed forthe 20th century facory based economy
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/26/america-changes-but-all-the-presidential-candidates.html
Kay
I heard a Trump ad that was anti-Cruz on the radio, directed to Indiana. It’s Trump for President, Inc. which I have never heard before at the end of an ad. He incorporated his campaign?
Jeffro
@bemused: this cycle it sure does!
I think HRC will slap him around like a little baby – if/when he spouts the usual right-wing BS, she’ll point it out, if/when he spouts complete nonsense, she’ll point that out, and when’s it’s both (because there is significant overlap, as we already know) he’s really gonna get it.
I’m already glad to see her incorporating “love trumps hate” and “if doing X is ‘playing the woman card’, deal me in!” at every opportunity. She doesn’t even have to address his nonsense – she can keep tweeting that GIF of her brushing dust off her sleeve during the Benghazi hearings and keep talking about bringing people together. It’ll work.
D58826
@Matt McIrvin: True but the assumed wisdom was at some point the air would go out of his balloon as well as Carson’s and the GOP could get down to picking from the serious candidates – Bush, Christie, etc. I think everybody just figured that he would go the way of Carson, the 999 pizza guy from 2012 and Michelle Bachmann .Well they were right about Carson but Trump, so far, not so much
? Martin
@Peale:
She brings a vagina to the ticket, which is what Cruz thinks will win over some Republicans both those that are incensed by Trump but also those that think that a woman on the ticket is needed to beat Hillary. That’s why he’s picking a VP now, and that’s why he picked Fiorina.
She has no money, and will get no meaningful money out of her home state. She’s an anchor in that regard.
? Martin
@Kay: Why not. When you have unlimited corporate cash, why not just incorporate?
? Martin
@D58826:
Yep. It’s shitshow all the way down.
Cacti
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
I’ve long suspected that Putin’s prowess as a judoka is similar to Pablo Escobar’s as a footballer. He never loses, because his opponents prefer to live.
Peale
@Kay: Yeah. I would want to be personally shielded from the liabilities if something went wrong at one of my events, too.
Matt McIrvin
@D58826: It was a faulty analogy with 2012. The big difference from the 2012 clown car was that in that cycle, Mitt Romney was always there running a very strong second even when he wasn’t the frontrunner of the week. This time, the closest establishment analogue was Jeb Bush–but with the fatal flaw that nobody liked Jeb Bush. He was just never anywhere near Romney’s level of support. The only guy with consistent strength in the primary race was… Donald Trump. He was the Romney, not any of the very serious guys.
I too thought he might be another Herman Cain, until Ben Carson’s little boom ran out of steam and Trump was still there. Then I started getting skeptical of all the impending-end-of-Trump articles.
Redshift
@Paul in KY: We should never take him (or any opponent) lightly, but it’s important not to equate primary voters with general election voters. Trump doesn’t have magic powers and he’s not a great campaigner. He’s succeeded because he’s openly appealing to what the Republican base really wants (white resentment, racism, anti-intellectualism, misogyny) that most Republicans only talk about in code.
And the reason the rest talk about them in code is because they know the test of the country (and even a good chunk of Republicans) doesn’t like those things, and they can’t win with base voters alone.
So, yeah, Trump has destroyed all his Republican opponents, but only by burning down their general election prospects, and even that he did by being who he is. He’s not a genius who will be able to turn that around and somehow do the same thing to a Democratic opponent.
bemused
@Jeffro:
Several months back I found out that a conservative female relative who has granddaughters liked Trump. I don’t know if she still does and I won’t ask. As far as I am concerned, just the way he talks about and treats women including his own daughter should be an immediate disqualifier as a human being for anything let alone a presidential candidate.
Origuy
@Peale: I think incorporating your campaign committee is pretty standard. I just did a search for “senate” at the CA SOS website and pulled up pages of listings, going back to Arthur Laffer and Alan Cranston.
Brachiator
@D58826:
The author of this piece, former NY Times reporter David Cay Johnston is one of the most consistently interesting people writing about taxes. However, this bit is really too vague to be informative.
And some of the methods he alludes to are also available to people with modest incomes.
But I did appreciate this little nugget:
Bush and the Republicans had tax reform at the top of their agenda. The Democrats, as far as I can tell, have preferred to simply tinker with bits and pieces of the tax code, and never have had any comprehensive reform ready. Unfortunately, Obama’s preferred method of deferring to Congress, of trying to get them to work together and compromise, only pitched to the Democrats’ weak spot.
Even if the Republicans still control the House after the November elections, the Democrats would be in a stronger position if they forced the GOP to react to their tax plans. This could help them in the mid term elections.
Or the Democrats could keep noodling along.
D58826
If we need any further proof that the 2016 election cycle is totally off the charts, the sage of wasilla just posted something on facebook that is actually funny and makes sense. Her reaction to the Cruz/Fiorina ticket – ‘It’s smarter to actually put the ball thru the HOOP before you claim victory.’ Caps in the original.
chopper
@Miss Bianca:
you all should try the diet I’ve been on since Saturday. it’s called “gastroenteritis”.
Peale
@Origuy: Yeah. Makes sense. If the campaign ends up broke and stiffs the workers and vendors, the candidate probably doesn’t want to have to file bankruptcy to pay the bills. Sue the broke corporation. I can’t believe California took a pass on Arthur Laffer.
smith
@chopper:
Ooooh, I’ve been on that diet. It once sent me to the ER thinking it might be a heart attack.
Peale
@Redshift: Yeah. One of my fears is still the pass that he’s going to get for ‘doing what it took to win.” “He’s effective” press pass he’s going to be given. “Look at how he’s growing into the role.” “He’s not as bad as the whiny liberals are saying.”
PurpleGirl
@Gin & Tonic:
Probably why his dad sent him to a private military school.
He was tossed out of several other schools for bad behavior and low grades. He didn’t like schools and even if his father gave The Wharton School a ton of money they wouldn’t have given him admission.
LAO
This is an interesting examination of Trump’s speech. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/04/trump-declares-war-on-foreign-policy-experts.html
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: I am staying the hell off FB for the duration. In fact, I think the only use I’ll ever have for it again is to PM old friends I want to stay in touch with. Oh, that and cute cat/dog video shares.
@chopper: Oh, noo…no thanks. Ouch! Poor bunny : (
Ken
@Gin & Tonic:
Yes, but it means I have to Godwin the thread.
Lyrebird
@Paul in KY and Mnemosyne: Nice wording you have there. Also, the NY Daily News endorsed HRC with some pretty reasonable reasoning.
When I lived in the NYC area, that wasn’t a paper I reached for, but some of their covers for this campaign season have been beyond awesome, like the advice to Cruz to take the (F)(U) train…
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
How bad is a speech when Huckleberry J. Butchmeup takes to twitter to mock it?
Millard Filmore
@Uncle Cosmo: It could be a last ditch effort to keep California from going to Trump. I know you and I would never consider voting for any ticket that carried Carly, but what of the California Republicans?
Carly only needs to help deliver California Republican votes to Cruz. That is her only job at this time. The rest of the general population, those who are not Republican and not Californians, simply do not matter. It could be a good ploy to stop Trump in California.
Iowa Old Lady
@Elie:
Brilliant typo.
Mnemosyne
@Lyrebird:
FWIW, I had the same wording during the 2008 primary for the people who were shocked that Illinois voted for their US Senator rather than the person who had been born there and moved away. Politics is all about “what have you done for me lately?” and birthplace counts for very little.
Keith G
@SiubhanDuinne:
So what, pray tell, would would expect in a headline from an impartial news headline service?
If you think that the quote you give is improper, maybe a nap is a good idea.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
That extends far beyond taxes. Part of the reason PPACA took so long and gave the Republican opposition so long to attack it is because there wasn’t a plan ready to be taken off the shelf and passed after suitable debate. Everything was on the table with the negotiations taking place mostly in public. The Democrats could have gotten a lot more done in 2009-2010 if they had a whole bevy of measures ready to put up for a vote rather than building from the ground up.
Brachiator
@Millard Filmore:
Most of Republican California loves Trump. This seems to be another exercise in futility on the part of Cruz. He seems to love these little micro-strategy attempts to get delegates, and misses the larger picture entirely.
les
@D58826: Way OT; I saw your interest in labor/jobs/trade in a dead thread below, and wanted to say: Erik Loomis at Lawyers Guns and Money. Really seems good to me; provocative academic, writer and blogger on labor history, trade agreements/globalization, where to put resources for displaced workers, the value of and need for work, etc. I don’t agree with everything he says–natch–but I’ve learned a shitload.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): you guys, (guy/gal), please…the images…the images are just…too much…
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
Hmm. Yeah, I can see this to some degree. But health care was a new proposal.
Tax reform, ideally should have been a follow-up to the financial bail-out and economic stimulus. The Democrats still seem clueless about the economy.
And even though a lot of people look back and see a fight over the “Bush tax cuts,” the other part of tax law that always had to be extended at the last minute were expansions of tax credits that went back to the Clinton administration.
Technocrat
Having a hard time believing the Republican frontrunner said this. I’m a Democrat and I find that line a little creepy. It’s just begging for some ratfvcker ad firm to paint him as “not conservative”. “Donald Trump believes that the nation-state is the basis of happiness and harmony. Is that what you believe?”
les
@Brachiator:
Not totally so. Dems want to tax capital gains and dividends like other income, or at least closer; get rid of the retained interest hole; add a transactions tax to stock/financial transactions; boost the top end marginal rates. All good proposals, never happen with Repubs anywhere at a veto point in the system. And there’s a shitload of veto points. Historically, we’ve redone the tax code every 20-25 years, ’cause it gets incredibly kludged up. We can’t do economic/industrial planning, ’cause commies; so we try to steer with the tax code and it’s a mess. It’s been 30 years since the last rewrite, but we’ll never do it till the Grover Norquist era goes away. Maybe never, then? How’s never work for you? Right, doesn’t fucking work at all.
Miss Bianca
OMG, I just read the transcript of that speech – skimmed rather, I found I couldn’t quite to bear to honor it with actual close attention. I don’t know when I’ve last seen such insultingly fatuous pigshit.
PurpleGirl
@D58826: The .01% do not want the tax code changed. They like how much of their money they get to keep. They do not want it increased for any reason. Companies too.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
Maybe it was, but it shouldn’t have been. Healthcare reform has been a liberal goal for a century, so there’s no good reason that the Democrats should have needed to start with a clean sheet of paper. Somebody, like the Democratic equivalent of ALEC, should have had a proposal drafted and ready to present to Congress.
Gelfling545
@daveNYC: one of his bright ideas seems to be turning our military into mercenaries to be hired out to our allies. I guess there will probably be not a few who think that’s just fine too.
Gene108
@Roger Moore:
Dems – the House, Dodd, and Obama – all had a plan ready to go before the August 2009 recess.
Baucus, filling in for Kennedy, decided he needed more time.
I am not sure how to handle a substitute (Baucus) punching above his weight class, who feels – as all Senators seem to – that they belong in the ring.
Emma
@Miss Bianca: I tried. I really tried, but it was like attempting to eat a plateful of raw, unseasoned eels. To think I would ever agree with Lindsay Graham!
Gelfling545
@Kropadope: No. He already has selected her for actually now but he has not specified just what they could expect to be president & vp of.
EriktheRed
@Betty Cracker: Then they’d just go the other totally shitty option.
? Martin
@les:
That comes nowhere close to solving anything though. It’s nibbling at the edges. How about repealing or significantly curtailing mortgage interest, shifting the balance from corporate taxes toward cap gains, repealing further the health insurance deduction for employers. Eliminate all itemized deductions other than charitable giving. Those are the kinds of things that will put real money in the government coffers without having to change income brackets.
Omnes Omnibus
@? Martin:
It would take an awful lot of selling to get middle class home buyers to buy in to that.
Roger Moore
@Gene108:
I think there are two parts to that:
1) Try to get people who are on-board with the program in important positions. The House does this better by putting more emphasis on ability than seniority.
2) If there’s an important person who isn’t on-board already, work them over before the bill gets into their hands.
I’ll admit that there was more to it than that in 2009-10. The Democrats had refused to do away with the filibuster, but their filibuster-proof majority was tenuous and short-lived. IIRC, some of Baucus’s tinkering was an attempt to lure over a handful of less conservative Republicans to give the bill bipartisan cover and protect it against filibusters. Still, though, the Democrats have never done a good job of having their legislation lined up and ready to go.
Brachiator
@les: RE: Tax reform, ideally should have been a follow-up to the financial bail-out and economic stimulus. The Democrats still seem clueless about the economy.
These are small details that should be part of more comprehensive tax reform.
For example: boost the top end marginal rates. Only affects individuals, what about corporate tax rates, R&D credits, NOLs, allocation and apportionment? What do you do to get more corporate income back into the US? Gift tax, estate tax. There is huge room for mischief in trust taxation. Should Roth IRAs and other instruments that massively reduce income subject to tax still exist?
I have not seen any country manage economic/industrial planning well. Both political parties here talk about stimulating small business and employment, and even here they fail more than they succeed.
bobbo
Did you see Mark Halperin’s tweets? My God what a tool. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/04/donald_trump_s_major_foreign_policy_address_was_a_pseudo_event_staged_to.html
Miss Bianca
@Emma: @Emma: mmm…eels…wait, unseasoned? Aw, naw…
Yeah, Lindsey Graham must have decided he’s out of Fucks to Give as well.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Millard Filmore: It isn’t. It’s an awful idea if such was his intent. Few people are as universally hated in CA as Fiorina is. She ruined a lot of tech careers, and a lot of those techies are Republicans or “Independents” (read: libertarians).
Reads to me like he’s trying to recreate the Sarah! magic with someone who can speak English. Didn’t work then, won’t work now.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore: RE: But health care was a new proposal.
Yeah, but a goal and a plan are not the same thing.
Yep. You are right about this. I vaguely remembered it, and went back to look at some of the reporting. The first Bush tax plan (EGTRRA) was introduced in the House on May 15, 2001 and signed into law on June 7, 2001. And I think Bush and the GOP kept shouting about “up or down vote,” get it done, get it done. And clearly, this had been outlined earlier.
BTW. From the Wiki:
What a farce.
Technocrat
Trumpism: “We have to be unpredictable. And we have to be unpredictable starting now.”
There’s no way that degree of self-parody is accidental. Donald Trump is doing some next-level satire here. This is 12th dimensional chess.
Jeffro
@bemused: Unfortunately, he’ll always *techinically * be qualified as a human being. But yeah, anything other than that…
I’ve been a bit surprised at how Trump is being received by my dad, mom, and brother. Dad, as I’ve mentioned before, would have rather had Jeb or Kaisch but seems to be falling in line now that inevitability is settling in. My brother is appalled (“snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” against HRC), but he’ll still vote for all the down-ballot Rs and maybe even Trump.
My mom, however, is absolutely, positively, not going to pull the level for Trump due to what she describes as his “jerkiness” – his complete inability to be for anything other than himself, and oh also being stupid. She’s a pretty religious-right voter but doesn’t even like Cruz. I think she may write in Kaisch (or Reagan for that matter) and she may well vote straight R down-ballot, but she’s sure as heck abandoned the party’s presidential nominee.
I bet there’s plenty more like her, too.
Bill Arnold
@Kay:
I don’t know, but did you see the story about a contract that he (allegedly) makes his volunteers sign? — Donald Trump’s volunteer contract forbids all criticism of Trump for life
Mar 15, 2016, so there may be updates; didn’t look for them. It does mention “the Company”.
Brachiator
@Adam L Silverman: And since we’re talking about foreign policy, it might be fun to highlight this VOX piece on Hillary Clinton: “Is Hillary Clinton really the foreign policy super-hawk she is portrayed to be?”
One tidbit:
The article notes the areas where Clinton appears to be more hawkish, but with more nuance than you find in most places.
Dr.McCoy
@Jeffro:—- “I bet there’s plenty more like her, too.”
All around, on every side.
bemused
@Jeffro:
Hope so. Heck, not voting for a prez candidate would be the only principled thing a true Republican could do.
les
@Roger Moore:
There were plans. Congress, unlike the states, likes to pretend it’s full of big boys and girls, and can write it’s own bills. I’ve read one thing that hurt the Clinton health care proposal was that it was a “ready plan” that the admin tried to cram down on congress. So, Obama had to watch the idiots dick around for months to get the ACA out.
les
@? Martin:
I agree. But, you don’t get overall reform such as you’re proposing without total overhaul, to get everybody back to “even” and then try to make sane decisions. Nibbling is the best we can hope for, I fear. Hell, take 10% of the fucking defense bill and the deficit goes away. That’s not happening either.
les
@Brachiator: I agree–the Code’s a mess and we are overdue for a rewrite. But it’s not happening with the current Repubs in control of any choke point.
Brachiator
@les:
The Republicans can prevent it from being adopted. They cannot prevent it from being presented. The Democrats have to make this a PR issue. “We’re helping the American people and the Republicans won’t let it be voted on.” Make it a mid term issue.
The Democrats don’t have to wait until they become the majority again.
les
@Brachiator:
I’m all for it. There’s a pile of issues like that, and I agree the Dems don’t seem good at the PR part. We don’t seem good at voting in midterms, either. I don’t know, man, it’s enough to make a grumpy old hippy crazy. How the fuck did we get to be the worst voting population in the fucking world?
SiubhanDuinne
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
@Adam L Silverman:
Second most interesting typo in political commentary this week. Discuss further.
gogol's wife
@cbear:
Best metaphor of the day.
SiubhanDuinne
@Miss Bianca:
“Fatuous Pigshit” is definitely the name of my next band.
Dr.McCoy
@Iowa Old Lady: !!!!Scaringly.!!!
redshirt
@SiubhanDuinne: Electric Waste Band was the name of my jazz band. We put out an album in the 90’s!
Miss Bianca
@SiubhanDuinne: LOL!!
cbear
@gogol’s wife: Thanks!
IMO,trying to figure out what Trump might actually do according to what he might say in any given moment is an exercise in futility.
Uncle Cosmo
@Jeffro: Is your mom as bad at spelling Kasich’s name as you are? Is it hereditary?
Paul in KY
@Kay: One of our ex-Governors did that. Brereton Jones. There was Brereton Jones the Corporation & Brereton Jones the person. Brereton Jones the person could loan Brereton Jones the Corporation money. Now Brereton Jones the person could not solicit money to pay Brereton Jones the Corporation, but Brereton Jones the Corporation could solicit donations to pay off Brereton Jones the person, who Brereton Jones the Corporation owed money to.
Politics for the rich!!
Paul in KY
@Redshift: Anecdata here, but I have spoken with several usually reliable Democratic voters who are not enamored with Hillary & are talking about Trump.
Paul in KY
@Lyrebird: I generally like The Daily news. Like the online version. Get a good cross section of news.