I knew Trump’s approval rating was low, but I didn’t realize this.
At 37%, Trump today has a lower Gallup approval rating than Obama ever had in his entire presidency. pic.twitter.com/jSnFjmGbMT
— Ray Wert (@raywert) March 19, 2017
I’ve come to believe that what will hurt Trump most with voters is not that he’s a pussy-grabbing crook who’s being blackmailed by Putin with tapes of him peeing on prostitutes, but that he’s something much worse: a typical Republican. He’s a sucker for letting Ryancare become Trumpcare, and reg’lar Murkins like Meals On Wheels and PBS, no matter that the American Enterprise Institute thinks.
Baud
I think it’s his voters who are the suckers. And we are along for the ride.
Joeff
That’s what happened in 2006. But a lot of damage was done before then.
Timurid
That 37% is more than enough to primary the GOP Congressional caucus back to the Stone Age, so this train still has no brakes…
Roger Moore
It’s not just that he’s a typical Republican policy-wise. It’s that he’s simultaneously a typical Republican without the kind of history in the party that gives him real political capital with the rest of the party, or even the kind of political experience that would let him get some political capital. So he’s going to be advocating awful Republican policies but lack the juice to get them passed.
Mathguy
It will eventually limit out to the infamous 27% asymptote.
Schlemazel
@Roger Moore:
His crude and stupid lying is not winning him any love since he is not aiming at Dems now
Iowa Old Lady
@Baud: I saw yet another article today about Trump voters who were shocked at, in this case, losing Meals on Wheels, and I asked myself why I felt no sympathy. I think it’s because he never hid what he was. Any adult could see it. So his voters damaged themselves and I don’t care. I do care that they damaged other people too.
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
And even if he doesn’t have his neener, he’s still straight trippin.
Yarrow
What’s really going to hurt Trump is that he’s a loser. The very thing he said everyone else was. Sad!
bystander
Adam Schiff is saying there is circumstantial evidence of collusion and direct evidence of deception. He’s a former prosecutor so I don’t think he’d say this lightly. (My Evidence professor said all evidence is circumstantial.).
Anyway, I like that Schiff is emerging as a Dem spokesmodel.
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady: I’m in the same place.
And frankly, I’m tired of the Trump voter genre in the media.
Yarrow
@bystander:
Trump’s going down. It will happen. I have confidence. I just want him to take as many Republicans with him as possible when he goes. I think he’ll throw everyone else, with the possible exception of Ivanka, under the bus before he goes, so there’s a good chance he takes down a lot of Republicans too.
Me too. Smart Dems will see that this Trump mess is an opportunity for them to lead and make their name known. He’s doing a great job.
Oatler.
It’s religion (politics). The fucked-over “base” will stab themselves, or others, rather than see the light.
Baud
Trump is at 37% while still enjoying the honeymoon, the fruits of the Obama economy, and the absence of any major non-self-inflicted crises.
lollipopguild
@Iowa Old Lady: Two months in and a few of them are waking up and smelling the fire, others will take longer others will never leave trump no matter what he says or does.
Doug!
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini:
Yup.
lollipopguild
@Baud: Gee, what wonders/horrors await us?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Yarrow: I would prefer that he go down before we’re engaged in a massive World War in China or North Korea with a newly-revived draft.
Or a very quick nuclear exchange. That would be unpleasant too.
Baud
@lollipopguild: All of them, Katie.
A Ghost to Most
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini:
Could I get that in ‘olds’?
Rex
@Iowa Old Lady:
The guy played “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at all of his campaign events. It was there, plain as day, for anyone with ears to hear.
Roger Moore
@Yarrow:
IMO, he isn’t going to take many Republicans down with him. Most of them have never really embraced him, and they seem to be trying harder to stay at arm’s length. That’s only going to be more pronounced when he gets in worse trouble. Unless there’s good documentary evidence they were in on the Russia stuff, they’ll be able to stay far enough away to avoid direct damage. Damage to the Republican brand is another question.
Baud
@Roger Moore: As long as the Dems are committed to civil rights for all, the Republican brand will never be damaged.
Hal
It’s only been 2 fucking months. This is like that episode of Star Trek The Next Generation where the Enterprise was caught in a time loop reliving the last few hours before the Enterprise exploded over and over.
tRump is emotionally and intellectually exhausting. How on earth does anyone associate with him on a day to day basis?
msdc
Yeah, this is what folks mean when they invoke the Berlusconi precedent. You don’t beat him by harping on the scandals and the misbehavior and the abysmal treatment of other people; that’s what his supporters love him for. (I don’t know if this is a perfect analogy – maybe Berlusconi managed to get elected on his own without the help of a foreign dictator and the chief of his own country’s domestic intelligence agency.) You beat him by pointing out all the ways his policies will fuck over ordinary citizens, including the common clay of the new west who voted for him.
I mean, we can point out the scandals and the misbehavior and the overt racism and all that stuff, too. In part because it’s important to tell future generations of voters exactly who and what the Republican party stood for in 2016-17. But it’s the ordinary shit that will throw him and his congressional enablers out of office.
Bess
@lollipopguild:
We should be concentrating on getting to the ones who are waking up. We need their votes in 2018 and 2020.
The 27% who will remain clueless can be outvoted if we do the work.
msdc
@Joeff:
To our credit, we’re getting there a lot faster this time. And the same scale of damage hasn’t been done… yet.
mai naem mobile
Yeah, but Gallup is a losing losinger losingest polling company. Also too, fake polls. Fake news. Rasmussen has Dolt 45 at 43 and they’re the winningest winners.
Lapassionara
@bystander: where did you see this? Nunez is saying no evidence of collusion. I assume you are talking about the Russians and the election.
I don’t see how the country keeps going like this, with Trump insulting our allies and saying things daily that reveal his ignorance, narcissism, and mendacity.
Iowa Old Lady
@lollipopguild: This probably says something bad about me, but I don’t care if they regret their choice. Some of them in the article I read said they lost faith when he didn’t lock HRC in jail. It’s a total crap shoot if they vote more wisely next time. They looked at Trump and said yeah, him.
ETA: Bess is undoubtedly right. I know that. I’m still so angry at these people that I can’t be rational.
marknc
@Mathguy: That is exactly correct. So, when I think about Trump having a 37% approval rating – that is really saying he has 63% against and 10% for. When I saw that President Obama was at 40% – that was 33% against and 40% for.
The 27% would support Satan and would be against Jesus – they don’t count.
Baud
@marknc: Their votes count.
Roger Moore
@msdc:
I don’t know. Trump has done a surprising amount of damage to our reputation already. It’s not as obvious as the damage Shrub did, but it’s going to be pernicious and very hard to undo.
trollhattan
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Trying with little success to convince myself that Trump’s actions towards N Korea are anything other than a precursor to military action. Is it a distraction from the true enemy, Iran? Who does Bannon want to bomb (first)?
Seoul is rubble if we do.
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
@A Ghost to Most:
The lyric Doug posted is from Dr. Dre’s song “Nothin But A G Thang”.
The lyric I posted is what Dre raps afterward.
If he doesn’t have his 9MM pistol with him, he’s still going crazy.
Roger Moore
@Lapassionara:
Schiff said it on his Twitter account. Nuñez doesn’t want to admit the obvious.
MARCION
I’m optimistic that if Trump is bad enough, he might even crush the 27% floor. Maybe get down to 24 or 25%….
Baud
@Roger Moore: Honestly, Our reputation is the least of my concerns. That was baked in on election night. Hopefully, we can minimize tangible damage here and abroad.
gene108
Meh…numbers is bullshit…
His base still loves him and will vote for him and any generic Republican…
Democrats won in 2006 and 2008 because Republicans and Republican leaning Independents were not happy with their Party.
As long as Trump keeps deporting Mexicans (from all those Mexican countries like Mexico, Guatemala, etc), and the economy does not crash, his supporters will still back him.
@Roger Moore:
I think Congressional Republicans are burning a lot of political capital on Trumpcare/Ryancare.
Trump has come out in support of it and it will be harder to separate from Trump, the longer the bill drags on and the more the White House and Congress seem to be in general agreement on screwing people over.
max
@trollhattan: Trying with little success to convince myself that Trump’s actions towards N Korea are anything other than a precursor to military action. Is it a distraction from the true enemy, Iran? Who does Bannon want to bomb (first)?
After listening to them wheeze about it, I’m pretty sure going to war would cut into Trump’s time at Mar-a-lago or however the fuck it’s spelled. The yelling was for the rubes.
max
[‘Actually war is bad for the their approval ratings.’]
debit
I’d been keeping my eye out for another senior rescue dog and mentioned in a thread last night that I was going to see Kelpie, a dog needing hospice care. I brought her home today, but I think anyone would after hearing her story.
She was born blind and with a hip problem that doesn’t seem to cause her pain, but makes her walk with a wide, halting almost stagger. She was, believe it or not, an full time outside dog left to roam free on forty acres of farmland. She was also not spayed until after her owner surrendered her, and as her two companion dogs were unaltered male Jack Russell terriers, I am sure she’s had several litters in her lifetime. At the time she was surrendered, she had a large mass on her right side near her hind leg, which was then removed. It was cancerous, and the expectation is that it will return and spread, hence the hospice.
Despite everything, she is a sweet little dog. When I approached her kennel she licked my hand and wagged her curly little tail like crazy. I think she can see a little, maybe only movement and light because she gets around really well. She doesn’t know stairs, and isn’t house trained, and on the recommendation of the Humane Society staff, I bought a kennel for her to go into at will where she can feel secure.
For the moment I’m letting her explore the house without hovering over her, but plan to tether her when I’m home to a) help with house training and b) hopefully make her feel secure.
I introduced Ellie to Kelpie on neutral ground and Ellie sniffed her a few times and then lost interest.
To make this thread somewhat on topic, I commented to my daughter as we drove to Buffalo that we were in Trump country now. And as I was filling out the adoption paperwork, the staffer mentioned that Keplie was not her original name. It was Keller. As in Helen Keller. Har dee fucking har.
MattF
I think it’s great that T is at 37% in the poll. And I fervently hope it’s true. That said, I’d pause and think a bit before trusting any poll.
Baud
@gene108: Numbers are meaningless but they are all we got until election day.
Hopefully, some special elections and state elections later this year will give meaning to the numbers.
Steve in the ATL
I received an”Unknown” call on my cell this afternoon. Was surprised to see a 77-second voice mail; usually it’s a sales person who hangs up. But it was the Jon Ossoff campaign! I believe it’s the first ever such call I’ve gotten on my cell. Not sure about the home phone that we have not answered in several years.
Anyhoo, go Jon!
Timurid
@trollhattan: I wonder if orders to attack North Korea would be where the military opts out… No, not a military coup but more like “We’re not taking orders from this guy. We’re doing nothing but maintaining readiness and protecting our borders and those of our allies until the civilian government wakes up and provides us with a mentally competent Commander in Chief.”
MattF
@trollhattan: The fatal logic for attacking NK is just what pre-1914 Imperial German strategists thought about Russia. “They’re rising and we’re sinking, so we have to attack them sooner rather than later.”
msdc
@Roger Moore: I would gladly take damage to our reputation over the deaths of thousands of New Yorkers and New Orleanians and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
Not that Trump isn’t doing his damnedest to start racking up a body count both domestically and abroad, but so far we’ve managed to head off the worst of it. If we come out of this with little more than some diplomatic bridges to rebuild and a richly deserved hit to our national ego I would consider that a best-case scenario beyond my wildest dreams.
A Ghost to Most
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini:
Perfect, thanks.
Yarrow
@Roger Moore: Maybe. I think Bannon has dirt on a lot of Republicans. And by dirt I mean illegal activity but also collusion with the Russians. They will toss that dirt out in hopes of distracting people and muddying the waters. Also so that Trump isn’t the only one being blamed. When Sessions’ or Nunes or Grassley’s involvement with the Russians comes out, what’s going to happen? Will everyone ignore that and focus on Trump?
germy
@Iowa Old Lady:
(the onion news)
A Ghost to Most
@Lapassionara:
NBC news link about Adam Schiff
debbie
@debit:
She’s a cutie!
Iowa Old Lady
@germy: At least I could still laugh at that!
germy
Failure of imagination and vision from Sully:
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/i-got-a-guy-bill-maher-predicts-2020-democratic-presidential-candidate-if-they-dont-fck-it-up/
Yarrow
@debit: Awww…she’s cute. You are a good soul, debit. I know you’ll give her a loving home for as long as she needs it.
debbie
Does anyone listen to NPR’s “Reveal”? He’s interviewing Richard Spencer about his receiving farm subsidies. Or, more accurately, filleting him.
TS
One of the reasons trump supporters gave for wanting him as President was “a real family in the White House” – Melania was going to be a “real first lady”. They have ended up with trump in Florida and his current wife in New York – that has to be disappointing to the MAGA crowd.
debit
@Yarrow: Thank you. I had my doubts about adopting so soon after Walter, but when I heard her story and found out she’d been there since the beginning of February, I knew she needed to come home with me.
germy
@debbie:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/richard-spencer-cotton-farms-louisiana-subsidies
Pogonip
@debit: I hope she has a happy death with you, as Walter did.
Baud
@germy: I’m thankful he didn’t pick me.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: Yep. He never snookered us. We were shocked that he was even considered to be a real Presidential contender and never dreamed that it would get this far. This is beyond farce. We’re living in a Twilight Zone horror which will last for at least four years.
Chris
@Iowa Old Lady:
Because they not only voted for this, they wanted this. Conservative voters vote time and time again to impose this kind of crap on “the moochers, the loafers, the affirmative action hires, the immigrants on welfare, the Cadillac moms,” all the people that they consider Undeserving. It’s not that they didn’t want this to happen, they were just dumb enough to think it wouldn’t happen to them.
As I figured out about myself throughout the teabagger years, I can forgive stupidity, I can’t forgive malice. Sure, if they voted because they were honestly just that dumb that they thought trickle down would make everyone’s life better and had no idea that it might hurt anyone, be it them or some poor single mom in Detroit, well, fine, that’s one thing. But come on. There’s, like, five people like that in the entire country. For the vast majority, it’s about hurting people.
debit
@TS: I was just thinking the other day, when was the last time Trump saw his youngest kid? Since inauguration?
Lapassionara
@A Ghost to Most: thanks. I am illiterate about Twitter. Illtwiterate? Anyway, I depend on people here to flag tweets for me. So thanks.
Yarrow
@debit: I hope you keep us updated on her too. She may star in some fun videos like Walter and the french fry.
Pogonip
@germy: Farm subsidies are a general scandal, going as they do to such poverty-stricken sharecroppers as this guy and Scotty Pippen.
Patricia Kayden
@debit: Kelpie looks like a keeper.
Ruckus
@debit:
How did I know that you’d make the trip and come back with her……..
You are a softy. Thank you for that.
Pogonip
@Yarrow: I missed Walter & the french fry. What happened in the video?
Yarrow
@debit: No, Barron came down to Mar-a-Lago recently. There was a photo of them (Melania and Barron) on the airplane stairs. Maybe last weekend?
Chris
@Baud:
As I pointed out last year after all the primary votes were counted, it’s somewhat surreal that we kept hearing so much about Trump voters, Sanders voters, and NeverTrump voters, but never a thing about Hillary voters, despite the fact that they were actually the largest of the four groups.
Mary G
@debit: I thought you would take her and bless you for doing it. I was wondering when I read the blurb because it described her as both energetic and needing a lot of exercise, but then as in hospice, so I appreciate the explanation. You have a huge heart??
Another Scott
@msdc: I’ve seen others make the point that Trump should be treated like Berlusconi, but I don’t know how instructive that is. BBC:
One would hope that Donnie’s voters would come to their senses before Donnie was in office multiple terms, caused another Great Recession, was convicted in court multiple times while in office, etc., etc.
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
ThresherK
From 47% to 37% is the kind of trend some “win the morning” pundit should write a story about.
Maybe Nick Kristoff can Times-splain it to us Dems how that 37% of bigoted assholes needs to be the left’s sought-after demographic for the next elections.
Yarrow
@Pogonip: Walter gets fries from 5 Guys. It’s the french fry sliding into the video frame that just slays me.
Chris
@Roger Moore:
Yeah, most of them were careful to distance themselves from him during the primary so that once he’d lost the election, they could all say “what, him? He was never with us.” They’ve temporarily buried it, but it’ll come out again in force if he loses an election or otherwise gets really screwed.
Baud
@Chris: Yep. I and others said we were the new silent majority. Unfortunately, we fell just short.
SFAW
@A Ghost to Most:
From that article: Susan Collins, when asked if Shitgibbon can be taken at his word: “Yes.”
Why will I not be surprised if she votes to pass RyanDeathCare?
Ruckus
@Chris:
It is not trickle down. It is tinkle down. Come on folks let’s at least get their stupidity right.
Why do you think dumpf hired hookers to piss on a bed?
germy
@Baud:
America simply isn’t ready.
JMG
@SFAW: If she does, then she cannot be taken at HER word.
sukabi
@Rex: also played “it’s the end of the world and I feel fine”. about the only thing he didn’t do was actually publicly shoot someone, although he did ‘joke’ about it.
ruemara
@debit: that’s so sweet of you. Welcome Kelpie! You have a kind nature, debit.
TS
@debit: Someone else has probably mentioned – he sometimes goes south for the weekend – the difference with the Obama family is stark.
SFAW
@JMG:
Hey, I hope I’m wrong, but I get tired of the lip service the so-called “moderate” Rethugs pay to decency, only to vote against it in the end.
TS
Meanwhile this is a headline in Australia this am
“Asylum seekers make perilous crossing into Canada from US seeking ‘safety, protection and home'”
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-20/asylum-seekers-cross-into-canada-from-us-seeking-protection/8366108
It is like the world is upside down. It will take a caring sane democrat to bring trust of the US back into world politics.
jharp
This is before he takes the health insurance away from 26 million Americans and gives the money to those earning more than $250,000.
msdc
@TS:
They don’t give a shit. Melania’s not black.
Bill Arnold
@lollipopguild:
Was at a social occasion today with a bunch of elderly Zionists (don’t ask), and while in a buffet line heard complaints that Trump is doing what he said he would do. I asked one, who said that she was a conservative and so had voted for Trump, why she was surprised that he is doing what he said he would do and she said she didn’t want to go there.
So there is some disquiet. Keep the pressure on; keep it relentless, and accurate and well-argued and free of talking points.
Baud
@msdc: Yep.
Yarrow
@Bill Arnold: Yes. This. I ask Trump voters why they are surprised he’s doing what he’s doing. He said this is what he was going to do. You voted for him, so why aren’t you happy? It works best if I don’t act upset but act confused. “He said this is what he was going to do. Isn’t this what you wanted?” *very confused face* They really can’t answer the question.
trollhattan
I’m conflicted, because finger-jabber Jan Brewer is making human noises.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
but, but…. rallies!
Baud
@trollhattan: No conflict. She is right. But she doesn’t get a vote.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
on a serious note, can you imagine how the fake-media would be going ape shit if Clinton or Wilmer’s support had collapsed like a wet taco.
Uncle Cosmo
@Mathguy:
So can we call the deadenders “asymptotebaggers”?
(…On second thought, close, but not quite close enough…)
germy
Kay
She didn’t vote at all and her husband was a big Trump supporter. I don’t feel like I’m being an unsympathetic jerk if I believe they have to start paying more attention to who and what they vote for.
These are white rural people. They’re not even a Democratic voter group, generally, yet Democrats got them health care. It wasn’t even a politically smart thing to do. Why should Democrats bend over backward to benefit them? There’s no reward.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
President Snowflake
Kay
I wonder how much of it is because he’s such a jerk. You like to think it’s some rejection of conservative policy but Trump really is a nasty, small person and maybe that eventually sinks in.
msdc
@Another Scott: The point of the Berlusconi comparisons is that the American left can’t repeat the mistakes the Italian left made in focusing on his personality, which only fueled his popularity and returned him to office.
Ordinary politics are how they beat him (including twice in 1996 and 2006, both well before the economic crisis). And ordinary politics, specifically the toxic politics of enacting the Republican dream of taking health insurance away from tens of millions of people, are what’s dragging Trump down right now.
Major Major Major Major
@Another Scott: the argument goes that Berlusconi didn’t suffer any political consequences for his policies because people kept attacking him on personality. The details are less important.
Hunter Gathers
A White Trash president for a White Trash country.
Ksmiami
@Yarrow: that’s nicer than what I say- I say to anyone who voted for Trump that they r a sucker and my enemy and I’m deeply ashamed of them. Then I turn and walk away as they erupt
Mickee
Devin Nunes just let slip on Fox News that ‘one person’ in the WH is currently under active investigation. That person, whoever he/she may be, has now been alerted to the fact they are a target which, in any normal world, would be obstruction of justice. On live TV. Nunes also said only a single crime has been committed to date in the Russian hacking mess and that is the leak of General Flynn’s name–so, priorities.
Curiouser and curiouser. It was suggested last week that Comey did not brief the House IC, which Nunes chairs, as thoroughly as the Senate IC. And then there was that weird presser where Schiff publicly disagreed with Nunes regarding the nature of the evidence they had just seen. Seems like Nunes may be in a bit of a pickle here.
AxelFoley
You can’t convince me DougJ ain’t black. Not with him slipping random Hip Hop lyrics in his thread titles.
Yarrow
@Ksmiami: It depends on the situation. I have some people that I have to work with on a regular basis that I can’t say that sort of thing to. For them I use the “Why are you surprised? He’s doing what he said he was going to do.” tactic. Watching them squirm is fun.
jharp
@Ksmiami:
For my part I walk out of restaurants that put our racist piece of shit President on their TV.
And tell the manager exactly why.
Shell
This is what his hard core supporters wanted. They actually like that he’s sowing random destruction of the government. They WANTED a bull in a china shop. That was their idea of “shaking things up.”
Mathguy
@Uncle Cosmo: I see what you did there.
germy
SFAW
@jharp:
Find a better verb.
Skimming? Mooching? Stealing?
No, I’m not an anti-capitalist, nor do I believe that everyone, or even most of those, getting paid more than $250K/year is a moocher. But there are far too many, especially at the stratospheric numbers, who don’t produce value greater-than-or-equal-to 1 percent of their wages, but are still idolized by the RWNJ morons as being “job creators,” etc.
bemused senior
@Mickee: Nunez co-owns a winery with Russian partners. Their distributor is a pal of Putin.
lurker dean
@debit: you are a saint for giving kelpie a home! i hope the house training goes well and ellie learns to like her the way she liked walter. and praying the cancer doesn’t return.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
Here’s a little hypothetical: if Ivanka is put in the position of having to choose between Daddy and Hubby, with which one does she cast her lot?
Jay S
@germy: It is interesting that the Meals on Wheels mistaken report has gotten huge traction, when the no evidence feeding kids improves results nonsense is largely ignored. It is probably easier to believe in the homebound old than the hungry youth.
Anne Laurie
@Jay S:
“Every(Trump-voting)body knows” that Meals on Wheels go to saintly old white people, many survivors of the Greatest Generation.
“Everybody (also) knows” government-funded school lunches (and breakfasts, and sometimes dinners these days) go to the teeming spawn of Those People, moochers gangbangers & terrorists all.
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne: I don’t know. I think she could try to play the poor, innocent princess so misled and mistreated by the men in her life. She might get away with it if she positions herself as the innocent mom of three young children, just trying to be a Good Wife and help our her dad.
Of course Ivanka’s company promoting a Russian app that supposedly helps people with their fear of flying but instead tracks them. It also turns on the microphone. The company that created it has ties to the Russian government. So that might be a problem for her. What’s her connection to Russia? She’s taken quite a few trips there and is buddies with Putin’s daughter as well.
I really hope they all go down.
James Powell
@Baud:
I’ve been tired of those articles and the Real Americans attitude since long before the election.
Why do you suppose the NYT and other papers keep running them? Trump voters don’t read their papers.
Ian
@trollhattan:
Most analysts rate the South Korean military much higher than the Norths. Seoul is only rubble if they use nukes, but so will be Pyongyang. The North’s leadership isn’t very bright, and their leader is even more insane than ours, but they do have self-preservation as their number one goal.
James Powell
@Jay S:
Hungry youth do not vote.
SFAW
@James Powell:
“Don’t” or “can’t”?
Tenar Arha
@Iowa Old Lady: Yep.
I give them this, they really only heard him saying the stuff about “I wouldn’t take vacations or go golfing” to criticize Obama & ignored much of the rest of what he said. The fact that the information about how he might govern was actually out there in the Trump University scam, multiple bankruptcies, multiple lawsuits where he scammed multiple contractors & vendors, well that’s practically a treatise on selective attention & confirmation bias. I guess it really shows what 30 years of propaganda can do to a population, that even with that information out there they never heard it.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
It was kind of an idle question. I honestly don’t give a big rat’s ass what happens to any of them, as long as just they go away and quit messing up the lives of ordinary people.
Didn’t know about the app, though.
I feel so reassured.
Another Scott
@Steve in the ATL: I’m getting a billion e-mails from his campaign and everyone else who wants him to win. It’s great to see such enthusiasm, but pestering me isn’t really going to help very much, living in NoVA and all. I’ve given what I can.
Cheers,
Scott.
Chris
@SFAW:
Anti-capitalist I’m not, but I certainly think the economy ran better back when the absurdly high 1%er salaries of the present era were reined in by things like unions, taxes, and social norms.
Above a certain level, it’s just “how? Seriously. Are you actually contributing that much more to the company than your basic employee? Are you actually that much more irreplaceable to the company than your average employee?* Were you actually that much harder to train than your average employee? What in the hell justifies this?”
* That one in particular is rich given how many companies treat their CEOship as a musical chairs position…
J R in WV
@Another Scott:
Yeah, I finally hit the unsubscribe button to stop the begging. I’m still hitting the campaign with a weekly act-blue donation, though, the best I can do from southwest West Virginia.
Turgidson
@germy:
Good lord. The Gav, a presidential candidate? He’s more likely to win NBA Finals MVP between his “zomg SF liberal” pedigree, history of plowing his best friend’s wife and then blaming it on alcoholism, and being kind of a shit in general.
Trump may have shown that you can be a well-known creep and still win, but I’m not convinced yet that those rules would be suspended for a Democrat. Only for a Republican running against the media’s favorite punching bag Hillary Clinton, and who everyone assumed would lose.
Also, Sully’s idea of “scouring the landscape” is probably to think of Bernie and Elizabeth Warren, sneer at their “leftism”, and go back to wanking about political correctness on campus.
bemused
@Yarrow:
Perfect questions though it might be quite awhile before I get the opportunity to use them. They are usually pretty damn quiet around their liberal friends and family when their Republican votes go bad on them.
artem1s
@debit: She is wonderful! How could anyone not love her beautiful face!
debit
@lurker dean: Well, Kelpie likes Ellie a lot and has been licking her face whenever she can. So far one accident, but that was my fault, I was distracted and not watching.
Chris
@James Powell:
There are really pathetic overtones in the mainstream media’s fluffing of conservative/heartland voters of a creepy stalker who continues to follow and try to chat up that one girl even though she’s made it clear for years that she wants nothing to do with him.
debit
@artem1s: I think potential adopters saw the word hospice and imagined all sorts of dire things. She’s been a perfect little lady, other than the pee. Sees or smells the cats and is respectful, so that’s good.
DeliciousGuac
The Trump voters I know in Mississippi *detest* Paul Ryan, and they don’t strike me as folks who follow politics or policy closely. Just before the election, I warned a couple of them that if Trump won, he’d probably sign anything that Ryan put in front of him. They were horrified by the idea, and assured me that Trump would get rid of all the “insiders” like Ryan right away.
catclub
@TS:
i.e. white people with a man as President.
Ksmiami
@Yarrow: I’m fortunate that my co-workers are all Dems but I live in tx now so …(whispers) I’m surrounded
catclub
@Ian:
My understanding was that NK has vast numbers of artillery pieces that can hit Seoul.
catclub
@Bill Arnold:
You probably think calling them stupid assholes might be counter-productive.
But that is accurate and free of talking points.
DissidentFish
@SFAW: Trump voters have barely learned to sh*t on the paper.
Chris
@DeliciousGuac:
Huh. And what do they say now?
MoxieM
@debit: I admire you so much for giving these needful and loving doggies the home they deserve. It is such a gift.
debit
@MoxieM: You know it’s as much for my benefit as it is theirs. I really enjoy seeing an older dog blossom.
RM
@Kay: Because it’s the right thing to do and what distinguishes us from the GOP is that we’re actually trying to help people, even if they suck?
DeliciousGuac
@Chris:
Not yet sure…we’re all avoiding political discussions so far. If I get a read on it I’ll let y’all know.
Debbie1
@Hal: “tRump is emotionally and intellectually exhausting. How on earth does anyone associate with him on a day to day basis?”
I strongly suspect that’s the reason we’re all subsidizing Melanoma’s stays in New York. It’s got NOTHING to do w/ their spawn’s school because 1) all past presidents’ (ugh!) families have made the move after the inauguration; 2) some presidents’ kids were even older & at trickier, more challenging grades; and 3) that’s part of the bargain or price you pay for running for president. So, I think that if Tr*mp were paying for his wife’s NY stay, rather than taxpayers, he’d haul her ass to D.C. so quickly her head would spin.
acallidryas
I think this is absolutely correct. They like the racism, and talking about how Democrats are using government to help other people, but they actually like what government does for them.
I was at a policy conference shortly after the inauguration with a very rural, fairly pro-Trump crowd. A Heritage fellow had come to talk about healthcare and straight up told their plan apparently not knowing to lie about it. She was torn apart. It made me think the best thing that could happen to the Democrats is to have Heritage and AEI true believers go on the road to talk about their dreams for the country. Reg’lar Murkins hate ’em.