.
A normal president would be cruising to reelection on the strength of the economy. Trump’s racism is a liability, not a shrewd campaign strategy https://t.co/N68YW6zzYc
— Michael McDonald (@ElectProject) July 28, 2019
The “adults in the room” of the Permanent GOP Party embraced Donald Trump because he seemed like a bargain-basement solution to overcoming Hillary Clinton’s predicted landslide victory. Now that Trump’s gleefully ravaging the whole party’s chances in 2020, they’re stuck — they can’t cross the Oval Office Occupant’s rabid “Base” (not to mention the GOP traitors like McConnell and Nunes, who’ve traded their souls for Russian payola and ‘red meat’ votes), but all the still-normal Repub voters and “independents” can’t stomach the stench. Let a thousand tiny, tiny violins play!
One problem Trump's advisors don't seem to grasp is that being good for the president's base is not necessarily concomitant with being good electoral strategy, overall. This error cost Trump in 2018 although it may have helped the GOP in some Senate races in very red states. https://t.co/qOZnrjKcDQ
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 27, 2019
It’s a dumb strategy, but it’s not surprising since Parscale isn’t a real political operative, he’s a professional Trump ass-kisser. It’s what Trump wants to do, & it’s what happens when the campaign manager never says no & the brains of the operation is Kushner https://t.co/UjK3SQheWc
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) July 28, 2019
Trump’s racist, nativist rhetoric is now central to his re-election strategy to appeal to white voters, @ToluseO & @AshleyRParker report https://t.co/jEWtCkotDD
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) July 27, 2019
No cost in suburbs, really? In @FoxNews poll 58% of college + whites say Trump doesn't respect racial minorities & same said his "go back" tweets were racist. GOP holds just 16/165 most urban/inner suburb House seats & just 1/4 of districts w/more college grads than ntl average. https://t.co/IQsq8bfgdw
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) July 28, 2019
And rather than formulating a plan to rebuild GOP in urban America Trump “uses cities to intensify the culture war & agitate his base,” as @carloslcurbelo says. As metros forge the US future, he is tying GOP’s l/t fate to a single ?: how long can Paducah tell Seattle what to do? https://t.co/AYBCnntgKc
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) July 28, 2019
"Mr. Trump sees attacking African American members of Congress as good politics, as it both warms the cockles of the white supremacists who love him and causes so many of the thoughtful people who don’t to scream." https://t.co/virwecpr8m
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 28, 2019
I have a theory that it’s backfiring with the women. https://t.co/vQhM1iWqkC
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) July 27, 2019
The overwhelming majority of Republicans in Congress are not condemning Trump's openly racist attacks and/or defending them.
How is this even a question open to speculation? It's a fact. https://t.co/wDl3ZsuGGm
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) July 31, 2019
You know what defeats the hatefulness of Trumpism? The largest electoral margin defeat since Goldwater. That is what he deserves. A humiliating, historic landslide loss. And that is actually possible.But it takes a bigger coalition than your twitter bubble. Build the army.
— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) July 18, 2019
Monala
I posted this on an open thread earlier today, but it’s probably more relevant here: a political editor of the NYT Jonathan Weisman’s was thoroughly rationed on Twitter yesterday. It went like this: Claire McCaskill said “free stuff from the government doesn’t play well in the Midwest;” Justice Democrats spokesman Waleed Shahid pointed out that Rashida Talib and Ilhan Omar are from the Midwest; in response Weisman tweeted that saying Talib and Omar are from the Midwest is like saying John Lewis is from the Deep South or Lloyd Doggett is from Texas.
He was rightly skewered for that comment, and ended up deleting it, while trying to excuse it by saying that he was just commenting on the urban/rural divide.
Here’s some good commentary about it: https://twitter.com/studentactivism/status/1156525003439034368
Debbie(Aussie)
I feel very angry and upset at the moment. I walked into the lounge where hubby is watching a Netflix show where someone is being tortured and accuses his torturers of being monsters. Of course they are. hubby says it’s a dystopian future. I laughed and said what’s not dystopian about our current, where torturing children and adults seeking asylum has become so normal. Ugh! I hate this timeline. Stop the world I want to get off!!!
Sorry for ranting.
Want to again say what a wonderful place this is and what wonderful people the bj jackals are ? Thank you for being here.
Edited because I forgot to proof read
Steeplejack
Redacted.
Steeplejack
@Debbie(Aussie):
Righteous rant! No problem on the editing.
joel hanes
Rep Will Hurd bailed.
Trump is opening the door for the Democrats to flip Texas.
If we can take the Texas statehouse, and do a fair redistricting, the Republicans will suddenly be the ones with the structural disadvantage.
It is, to re-use an old phrase, the big enchilada.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Monala: Claire McCaskill said “free stuff from the government doesn’t play well in the Midwest;”
They don’t seem to mind all those farm subsidies and tariff bailouts.
BlueDWarrior
@joel hanes: making Texas purple would do so much to balance Ohio and Florida going crazy the last few years.
BlueDWarrior
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: well of course, if it’s money for them, it’s fine. If it’s money for young liberals in college or ethnic minorities, it’s a problem.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
so far $28 Billion in tariff bailouts (with no end in sight). $28 Billion and not a peep.
Yet I’m old enough to remember some mob called the Tea Party rioting over the auto rescue.
Tony Jay
@Debbie(Aussie):
A good rant clears the pipes. Never feel bad about letting rip.
Doug
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Major Major’s father was a sober God-fearing man whose idea of a good joke was to lie about his age. He was a long-limbed farmer, a God-fearing, freedom-loving, law-abiding rugged individualist who held that federal aid to anyone but farmers was creeping socialism. He advocated thrift and hard work and disapproved of loose women who turned him down. His specialty was alfalfa, and he made a good thing out of not growing any. The government paid him well for every bushel of alfalfa he did not grow. The more alfalfa he did not grow, the more money the government gave him, and he spent every penny he didn’t earn on new land to increase the amount of alfalfa he did not produce. Major Major’s father worked without rest at not growing alfalfa. On long winter evenings he remained indoors and did not mend harness, and he sprang out of bed at the crack of noon every day just to make certain that the chores would not be done. He invested in land wisely and soon was not growing more alfalfa than any other man in the county. Neighbors sought him out for advice on all subjects, for he had made much money and was therefore wise. “As ye sow, so shall ye reap,” he counseled one and all, and everyone said, “Amen.”
Mike in NC
Sitting in the port of Holyhead, Wales and awaiting the tour bus. Fondly recall months ago when the bloated orange Idiot-in-Chief sent out a juvenile tweet about how excited he was to be meeting with the “Prince of Whales”.
Baud
Maybe this time the racist strategy will fail because Hillary isn’t going to be alone in the wilderness talking about it.
I can’t blame Trump for going with what brung him.
Mary G
@Mike in NC: Your trip sounds awesome. I hope you’re taking pictures to send to Alain so we can live vicariously through you.
low-tech cyclist
@joel hanes: Texas is closer than it looks. Trump won it with 52.1% of the vote in 2016. Not exactly a landslide.
Alain
@Mary G: yes, we need Welsh pics!
Patricia Kayden
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: But but but those billions of dollars of bailouts are going to Conservative White farmers so it’s all good. They deserve tax payer money unlike those welfare queens and young bucks Reagan railed against.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I blame fred trump sr. If only he’d killed djt in the crib…
A Ghost To Most
My only complaint with the cartoon is that the Rs stopped feeling shame decades ago.
OzarkHillbilly
@A Ghost To Most: That’s why they dog whistled to the polls.
rikyrah
@Debbie(Aussie):
????
rikyrah
@joel hanes:
True??
JGabriel
Nate Silver via Anne Laurie @ Top:
Nate’s usually more astute than this. Helping the GOP win very red-state Senate races it was going to win anyway isn’t any help for them at all. It’s like being the guy who starts the racist chants at a KKK rally – they’re racists, they were gonna chant anyway!
JGabriel
@Mike in NC:
So, wait, you’re not in NC?
*Sigh*
I feel so disillusioned now.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Monala: Claire McCaskill said “free stuff from the government doesn’t play well in the Midwest;”. Jesus wept, McCaskill is a clueless dope. She never met a farm subsidy she didn’t like, but handing out money for nothing just doesn’t play in the Midwest? Yeah, right.
Don’t see those farmers turning down free money, ever. And I never hear politicians worry about how handing out said money will play in the Midwest, because they know handing out free money to middle aged white folks in rural areas plays just fine there.
JGabriel
Michael McDonald via Anne Laure @ Top:
The economy is not strong. The Fed just cut rates. Most Americans haven’t seen a significant increase in real, inflation-adjusted, income since the Clinton administration in the late 1990s – which is to say, since last century.
satby
@JGabriel: and word that the TOTUS would impose tariffs on China again put the stock market in a tailspin.
debbie
@Debbie(Aussie):
This is why I can’t read dystopic fiction anymore. I get enough of it from the news.
P.S. And why does every author think they have to write a dystopian novel? Yuck.
SRW1
@Mike in NC:
Going to or coming from Ireland?
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
” …if only he’d killed djt in the crib… ”
Or just worn a condom that one time!
Matt McIrvin
Maybe their plan is to lose in 2020 and let the economy collapse on the new Democratic President, then come roaring back Reagan-style with a promise to fix the economy. (“Remember how good it was under Trump? We can give you that without his grossness…”)
Steve in the ATL
@JGabriel: I know. You can’t trust that guy at all.
Steve at Lake Oconee
Mike in NC
@Mary G: Once we get home I plan to edit/crop the best pictures and will humbly submit them for posting on BJ.
Mike in NC
@SRW1: Left Dublin yesterday and will hit Belfast on Sunday. Sometimes it’s all a blur…
Juju
@Mike in NC: It sounds like a wonderful trip. I’m saving up for mine.
Ken
@joel hanes:
I suppose. But I would love to see a hugely unfair Democratic gerrymander of Texas reach the Supreme Court, so someone could say to Roberts “Some years ago, this court ruled itself incompetent to address gerrymandering.”
Nelle
@Ken: As if. They will find a new way to twist the pretzel of It’s only okay if you are Republican.
AnotherBruce
@Ken: Gerrymandering should be done in blue states. Democrats should take advantage of the Supreme court decision. Let California make as many blue districts as can be made. And make sure to erase Devin Nunes, and Kevin McCarthy’s districts.
Manxome Bromide
@AnotherBruce: We used to. In fact, we used to do it worse than a lot of places. It resulted in representatives who were completely unresponsive to the populace because they knew all their seats were safe. Gerrymandering doesn’t always work that way, but it did here.
We put in a semi-independent commission to handle redistricting over the objections of both parties, and even with fair districts, only 7 of our 53 districts are Republican now.
Jinchi
@BlueDWarrior:
Florida has been so close to the edge for the last several elections that a light breeze could blow it over. One hundreth of a percentage point separated Bush from Gore. One tenth of a percentage point separated Scott from Nelson, Four-tenths of a percentage point separated DeSantis from Gillum. All this while the Republicans have had their thumb on the scale, including disenfranchising about 10% of the population.
Jinchi
@AnotherBruce:
No thanks. Gerrymandering is a politician-protection racket. We need to push for voters rights.
Personally I like the solution California already came up with. Having a civilian commision create districts combined with the top-two primary system is a pretty effective way to ensure that voters are truly represented, and that even “safe” districts don’t become havens for extreme ideologues. I also doubt you could make California much Bluer using gerrymandering than voters did last election.