Late last week, Trump’s attorneys sent a letter to the RNC, telling them to “immediately cease and desist the unauthorized use of President Donald J. Trump’s name, image, and/or likeness in all fundraising, persuasion, and/or issue speech.” Well, that couldn’t stand since Trump is the RNC’s cash cow — every fundraising letter is a slobbering paean to the Orange Calf and a plea to supporters to pony up to show their undying loyalty. So, here’s how the RNC responded, as reported by Politico:
In a letter sent Monday afternoon to Trump attorney Alex Cannon, RNC chief counsel Justin Riemer asserted that the committee “has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech, and it will continue to do so in pursuit of these common goals.”
What was behind the Trump demand? Politico quotes “senior Republicans” who allegedly attribute the brush-back to shady advisors surrounding the twice-impeached, two-time popular vote loser, as if Trump himself isn’t a known fraudster who is capable of the most profoundly nefarious schemes, such as unduly influencing his dying father, an end-stage Alzheimer’s disease patient at the time, to rob his deceased brother’s children. C’mon, man.
Maybe that fairy tale is an opening salvo of a scheme concocted by Republican grandees — an attempt to try to separate the base marks from Trump by portraying him as a clueless naif who’s being taken advantage of by charlatans (Lewandowski and Parscale among them). Good luck with that, boys.
Anyhoo, Trump’s response yesterday was so much better than I hoped for:
He didn’t start his own party, which is complicated to do and be competitive, but Trump is trying to set himself up as the place where money for Republicans should go as opposed to GOP committees pic.twitter.com/IPaiXTaIEy
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) March 9, 2021
Arguably, it would be better for Democrats if Trump started a third party. But this might evolve into a fine outcome for Democrats after all. Since Trump has the attention span of a fruit fly and is motivated solely by spite and greed, a third party would have probably only fielded candidates to primary Republicans Trump considers disloyal, leaving the ruthlessly efficient Republican machine to operate as usual in other districts.
The Trump crime family directly muscling in on the party’s money machine makes the stakes much higher. The Trumps may not know or care who’s running for the House seat in Cockroach Acres, Florida or Sheepshag, Wyoming, but they’ll damn sure want a cut of the donation haul. They’ll have their sticky fingers in every little pie, and that’s good news for Democrats.
Open thread.
citizen dave
ABG
Always Be Grifting
(just saw the opportunity to Occupy slot #1–never done that before!
Maybe the DNC can send a letter out supporting the RNC view: please keep using the Orange One’s visage and name in your fundraising. What can we do to help?
Cheryl Rofer
REPUBLICANS IN DISARRAY!
Wapiti
And at the time of the second impeachment, a lot of us saw this coming. The Repubs should have cut a guy.
Immanentize
Let them fight!
The RNC reply is gonna made Trump ssooooo mad!
RandomMonster
You can rest assured that the money won’t be spent in any way meant to win Republican elections. What isn’t siphoned off as “consulting fees“ for family will be used to pay lawyers and buy favors.
Baud
The best thing we could do for the Republican base is raise their taxes so they have less money to throw away.
rikyrah
polyorchnid octopunch
In that first paragraph… ‘s/paean/peen/’: “every fundraising letter is a slobbering peen to the Orange Calf” there, much more accurate.
Betty Cracker
That clip of Lindsey Graham’s Axios interview, where he babbled about Trump bringing “the magic” and having the power to make the party bigger or destroy it, makes more sense now.
Baud
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Good. A friend worked at one recently, and the tales she told are absolutely horrifying.
Tony Jay
“Democrat strategy for 2024 in chaos as GOP reinvents political fundraising”
Tomorrow’s NYT Headlines, Today
Baud
TS (the original)
@rikyrah:
From your link
The last guy took hatred of political rivals to a level not seen in my lifetime (and no doubt longer).
Ken
Doesn’t the NYT have copy editors any more?
(Rhetorical question, most newspapers got rid of them years ago. And yes it’s a tweet but work with me here.)
dmsilev
@TS (the original): He’s going to get Jon McNaughton to paint his official painting, isn’t he?
(Partially because McNaughton won’t mind when he’s inevitably not paid)
Baud
@TS (the original):
I hope Biden puts Hillary’s portrait where Trump’s should be.
SFAW
@Tony Jay:
Maybe you can fill in at NYTimes Pitchbot when DougJ needs a breather
Jeffro
How much am I loving this dynamic? A LOT!
trumpov insists on running all the GQP’s fundraising through him, ensuring he skims off an ever-increasing amount…GQP committees are starved for cash due to the skimming…more voters of all types start to see the GQP for what it is…big donors stop donating, except directly to their pet candidates (and those candidates are getting nuttier all the time on the R side)
I used to want the orange moron to keel over a.s.a.p. But now I’m thinking that perhaps I should wish him a long and healthy life. He might be able to keep this up for a decade, right? And then his kids can take over the new family “business” and keep up the skimming, etc. LOLOL
Karma, she is a beast!
SFAW
@Baud: @Baud:
Damn, you’re on fire today
TS (the original)
@Baud: you have interesting hopes – but I’d like to see President Obama there before wondering what to put in the next space.
Baud
@TS (the original):
I’m quite confident Biden isn’t going to boycott President Obama’s portrait.
AxelFoley
Trump vs the RNC?
Let them fight
edit: Well, shit. I see Immanentize beat me to the punch
line.Baud
@SFAW:
I had spicy food last night.
SFAW
@AxelFoley:
“Grenades at dawn, sir!”
SFAW
@Baud:
There may have been days when you were talking out of your ass, but today ain’t one.
Immanentize
OMG ?
I believe it was exactly one year ago today that I had to pull the plug on the sea cruise that the Immp and I had scheduled. It was the last moment of fretful denial for me.
I still thank all the Jackals who kept me virtual company while I worried about what to do.
Raoul Paste
Contemplating the portrait that Trump commissions for himself could be an all day thread
It will be hilariously self aggrandising, and in embarrassing bad taste
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Ugh. Hollywood also has to censor same-sex romance out of it’s movies for the Chinese market too. The result is often minor scenes that hold little meaning cab be easily edited out for international release. I know it’s not just because of the PRC that they do this, but it’s still irksome. They’re a huge market.
One of the few things I can ever say I agreed with Shill Barr on, though I’m sure he didn’t have LGBTQ+ rights in mind:
Frankensteinbeck
Trump didn’t bother doing this until now. That means that his supporters aren’t giving him money anymore, and he’s getting desperate.
Betty Cracker
@Jeffro: It’s possible the RNC is attempting to use a pitifully small bribe to avert the extortion scheme. [WaPo]
Maybe they think they can placate him by directing occasional cash spigots at his properties. People who are being extorted by an aggressive mobster often think the next cash drop will be the last…
Immanentize
@Raoul Paste: I think the best possibility will either be a portrait like the “missing” Graham Sutherland portrait of W. Churchill, or perhaps a simple portrait —
“Trump in Eternal Repose”
Lacuna Synecdoche
Betty Cracker @ Top:
The GOP is making money off his name and likeness, and he resents not gettting a percentage of the take.
Because he’s greedy and stupid, he decided to go whole hog on them, instead of proposing a joint fund-raising agreement that would regularly deposit money in a campaign account he could raid as a slush fund.
Any speculation that makes it more complicated than that simply isn’t taking into account how dumb, angry, resentment-fueled, vicious, and avaricious, the orange man-baby is.
No one had to advise him to do it. The orders all came from his own scheming head, and issued forth from his own scheming mouth.
MattF
And.. the Tsar’s evil advisors are misleading Him, as ever.
In fact, it’s evident that the Former Guy intends to dominate the Republican Party. And that includes various Congressional leaders who may not have prostrated themselves sufficiently. Or, worse, who control disbursement of $$$$.
Immanentize
@Lacuna Synecdoche:
Exactly. Trump wants his beak wetted. But from what I have read, he has already shoved enough up his beak, so he should have just made a deal.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker: exactly!
A one-time event fee at Mar-a-Lago vs skimming a nice big % of all that cash sloshing around? Pu-lease, GQP! You know trumpov, dumb as he is, has already run those numbers…
tom
“Sheepshag, Wyoming “ is the content I keep coming back for. Thanks, BC!
cope
Sheepshag, Wyoming, where men are men and sheep are nervous.
Trump is the black hole gravitationally bound to the red giant GOP, trying to suck all the mass/money in for himself. Metaphor over.
Frankensteinbeck
@MattF:
And I see no sign he’s succeeding. He’s getting shit roles. Being a headliner at CPAC is a sign that the most asshole wing of the party thinks you troll liberals, and that’s it. FOX let him on air once, and wasn’t happy about how it went. The RNC is letting him have a talk to donors, but isn’t holding the rest of their event at his property. Oh, and Trump is now so desperate for money he’s suing the RNC. No Republican is going to give Dems a victory by admitting it, but it’s less than two months since Biden took office, and Trump is well on his way down the memory hole.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Immanentize:
I bet you’re glad you never went! That could’ve been a nightmare. Did the cruise line issue some kind of voucher for another trip with them or something? Maybe you could still have that cruise later this year
geg6
This is fucking hilarious. Now they’ve agreed to using Mar-a-Loco for their fundraisers, so that Trumpenstein gets a cut both ways. A piece of the RNC action and massively padded invoices for shitty steaks and cheap cocktails.
I keep reading stuff that says not to take any GOP infighting seriously. That they are evil geniuses and just trolling us so that we don’t see their nefarious plans happening in the dark recesses that we simply are too naive to see. I don’t know. Stuff like this really gives me doubts.
TS (the original)
@Raoul Paste:
Cannot imagine he would have the patience to sit for a portrait – or organise to get it done. He’ll probably get Andy Thomas to do one for him.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Frankensteinbeck:
It seems that way. Still, we’ll see if he tries to run again. If he does, he’ll win the GQP primaries easily. All of the GOP voter suppression techniques are not making me sanguine
charon
@Baud:
I remember Darkie toothpaste from my expat days in Malaysia, complete with grinning black fellow on the box. I was wondering about “Darlie” in that piece, until I read of the name change.
Baud
@geg6:
They aren’t evil geniuses, but their voters are extremely dedicated to their cause.
Frankensteinbeck
@geg6:
No. They’ve let him have one single dinner for whatever donors want to go, while the rest of the event that dinner is attached to happens elsewhere with Trump not involved. This is sad. They’re tossing Trump a tiny scrap.
To be Frank
I wondered about this 6 years ago. He lost any control of use of his image and name when he made himself a politician. For someone who’s only business is self-promotion that choice seemed to be giving the milk away for free. All of us are free to use his name and image to raise money to oppose, support, or ignore him as we choose.
MattF
@Frankensteinbeck: Maybe. Defeated Dem presidential candidates usually disappear rather promptly, but not so much for Republicans. And R political aspirants need those core voters.
geg6
@Betty Cracker:
Yep. It’s like a mobster’s protection racket. Totally on brand.
Tony Jay
@SFAW:
“With compromise all the rage in DC, the Fringe Left turns to online sabotage as a panacea for irrelevance”
Tomorrow’s NYT Headlines, Today
I’m on it. Beats working anyday.
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: I think you’re right about the top-tier “conservative” media ecosystem and Republican establishment being eager to memory-hole Trump. But so far, their voters aren’t letting them, which is why McCarthy, McConnell, et al., walked back their initial denunciations of Trump’s role in 1/6.
Geminid
@Jeffro: One of the republican candidates for Virginia Governor cited trump in a radio ad I heard yesterday. “[Candidate] believes in president trump’s pro-jobs policies…” I am sure trump has no legal right to stop this, but if trump complained would the candidate defy him? Unlikely.
trump probably is trying to figure out a way to extort money from Republican primary contenders: so many dollars for using his name, so many more for trump not attacking him. A lot more for an actual endorsement. Platinum level will get a trump endorsement, plus attacks on the candidate’s two closest rivals.
Luciamia
@dmsilev: How will McNNaughtn resist putting all those extra figures in. ((Jesus, The Forgotten Man.)
Immanentize
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I am glad we didn’t go, but still salty that we couldn’t.
I’m sitting on two fat vouchers good for booking within two years. I am not ready to trust a cruise this summer and, as it is, Viking isn’t sailing until at least June. So, maybe winter cruise? Or next summer? Who knows?
schrodingers_cat
I see that the Vichy Times and MAGA Haberman is determined to keep the defeated twice impeached Orange President in news.
zhena gogolia
@Ken: I was reading a profile of Nobel-Prize-winning writer Kazuo Ishiguro in the NYT magazine and saw the phrase, “On the philosophical plain . . .” NO EDITORS
Old School
Ever since Trump sent his cease-and-desist letter, I’ve been hoping that AOC or Obama would send their own letters demanding that their names/likenesses not be used in Republican fundraising emails as well.
Immanentize
@Tony Jay: How goes the Royals baiting today?
zhena gogolia
@Immanentize:
My husband and I were just remembering the one-year anniversary of when Martin and some others here talked us out of going to Philadelphia on Amtrak!
Amir Khalid
I googled Cockroach Acres, Florida and Sheepshag, Wyoming. It appears that they are not in fact real places. I am vaguely disappoint.
Trump is now trying to shake down the entire Republican party. You can’t fault the guy for not thinking big. But will it finally be enough to make the party’s base realise that he’s just bad news for them, after they’ve willfully ignored all the other indications so far? I tend not to think so.
SFAW
@Tony Jay:
Oh, SO close. But “compromise” isn’t “all the rage” in DC, at least not in any FTFTFNYT version of “reality.”
Maybe “Biden and Dem leadership use procedural tricks to pass his bill, but progressives may mount their own insurrection”?
Just One More Canuck
@dmsilev: (56) He’s bad, but he’ll die. – YouTube
SFAW
@Immanentize:
Well, top prospect Bobby Witt Jr. hit a 500-foot home run in a spring training game in Arizona.
Oh, wait — I read that as “Royals batting.”
Never mind.
MattF
@Amir Khalid: Try Palmetto Estates.
Amir Khalid
@charon:
These days it’s a grinning no-particular-race fellow.
Immanentize
@SFAW: Witt is a show off. You only need 425 at most for a homer in spring training!
TS (the original)
@dmsilev:
Sorry missed your selection – guess the fool will use whichever artist pays him the most money. If he’s not grifting, he’s not living.
The Moar You Know
World’s Worst vacation itinerary.
Ksmiami
@Betty Cracker: John Gotti would like a word…
germy
@Immanentize:
...now I try to be amused
@SFAW:
I’m seeing lots of sons of major leaguers in box scores lately. Of course most of them won’t go north, but then there is Fernando Tatis Jr. Sons of Roger Clemens and Cal Ripken Jr. played in one spring training game.
Soprano2
I still cannot believe Republicans didn’t take the opportunity Democrats gave them on a silver platter to cut the former guy off at the knees.
SFAW
@Immanentize:
He’s young, he’s still fine-tuning his HR-distance skills.
If he keeps this up, it’ll be interesting to see Witt vs Pete Alonso in a home run contest.
germy
Frankensteinbeck
@Betty Cracker:
I disagree. What the voters are adamant about is that Dems not be allowed any victories, ever, on anything. They’ve been forcing McConnell and the GOP leadership to walk back any statement that’s less than total war since 2009. Remember when McConnell and Rove had to issue public apologies?
Trump only got 55% at CPAC. The new voters he brought into the Republican Party, the neo-Nazis and other hard white supremacists, are pissed at Trump because he betrayed them when the FBI started rounding them up. When Q moved to that March 4th Trump inauguration theory, 4 people showed up in DC for it.
But I can offer this actual proof, more powerful than any other: Where are the Trump rallies? In 2017 he started them again immediately. He’s depressed as shit, cut off from his usual attention feed, and they’re his biggest emotional pick-me-up. The only explanation I can see for him not holding them constantly is that he can’t get enough interest to be worth booking even cheap venues. Republican voters will never admit it because Fuck The Libs, but they don’t care about him anymore.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Luciamia:
The original Forgotten Man painting from back in 2010 was especially weird because it looks like Taft is applauding Obama along with FDR and Clinton for stepping on the Constitution
germy
The Moar You Know
@Frankensteinbeck: Totally agree with this. Former Guy is going nowhere and fast. The world, quite frankly, is moving on and he is not (and if there’s one thing we know, he’s not capable of doing that, at all.)
SFAW
@…now I try to be amused:
Vladi Guerrero Jr seems to have some skill, too.
germy
The Bidens need a few rescue cats. They can ask WereBear for advice. In fact, WereBear should be appointed Minister of Felines.
MuckJagger
Is it possible that should any of his chosen candidates lose, that he might contribute money to the Democratic Party candidates if he hates the eventual winner enough? He wasn’t much of a President, but he does seem to excel at revenge.
Hate to use the “getting popcorn” meme, but it *could* be interesting.
germy
SFAW
@MuckJagger:
It’s about as possible as me waking up tomorrow with a full head of my own hair.
NotMax
@Immanentize
Presume Immp has the innate good sense not to be going full tilt Texas “Yeehaw! Everything’s back to normal.”
catclub
I knew it was Betty C
SFAW
@germy:
The Barkin tweet led me to this gem from Jeff Tiedrich:
“Joe Biden was wrong to call Republicans neanderthals. he should have called them a fucktangle of science-denying shitweasels”
MattF
@MuckJagger: I think ‘money’ is the stumbling block. You’re talking about someone who constantly claimed he contributed money to dozens of charities and didn’t actually give anything of value to any of them.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
However, both Stinking Creek and Dismal are real places in Tennessee.
;)
debbie
Why would the RNC be loyal to someone who’s not loyal to them? I just do not get it.
A Ghost to Most
@Amir Khalid: Floriduh IS Cockroach Acres, and the eastern half of Wyoming IS Sheepshag.
Sorry for the confusion.
catclub
@Old School:
and send donations to ActBlue
Jeffro
I think you need to write this up as a funny Petri-style op-ed, seriously! So friggin’ true.
catclub
@NotMax:
But also Paris and Cairo
in Texas! (ETA)
Immanentize
@NotMax: He does. We discussed the environmental danger of Texan insanity. Rice is keeping all “save your life” protocols in place.
I assume you didn’t get washed away?
Jeffro
In fairness, they’ve been conditioned that way ever since 1994, right? “The opposite of what we think libs want, updated hourly…OR ELSE!”
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Immanentize:
Hey, you got another year to decide. Not a bad problem to have ^_^
Jeffro
Excellent point (would also be another funny op-ed to write up ;)
rikyrah
@Jeffro:
All a phucking scam
And they know it’s a scam
But, they are stuck ?????
NotMax
@A Ghost to Most
“That’s Palmetto Bug Acres, carpetbagger.”
:)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@NotMax:
Glad to see you posting.. Some people were worried about you because of a dam bursting in Maui
Tony Jay
@Immanentize:
Easy Peasy. She’s still brown and foreign, he’s still married to her and not a big fan of the British Press, plus they both just won a big money case against the far-Right Daily Mail and are insisting that the apology said frothing hate-spout has to print is on the front page and unequivocal, sooooooooo, yeah, you better believe the baiting is hot and strong and will go on and on and on and on and on until a majority of British dreck-readers are absolutely sure that the Ginge-Duskies are scumbag traitors who absolutely everyone hates, though when pressed they can’t quite put their finger on what they’ve done, but they know it was terrible and who the hell do you think you are asking them to explain their opinions? Bloody elitist!
It’s the British Media, they’ve got a lot of practice destroying the reputations of people who stand up to them and an entire political and cultural Establishment that’s far too complicit and spineless to ever stand up to the shit-flingers.
I don’t envy that pair, but I also can’t bring myself to care overmuch. They’ll stay in America and come out of it with their profiles enhanced for that market, and their children with be raised far away from the Palace and all its intrigues. Win Win.
germy
Nice editorial in the Irish Times:
JMG
Trump is incredibly lazy. I think that’s the main reason there haven’t been rallies. He’s discovered that ex-President is the world’s best gig for a lazy person. Just crank out the press releases (other people do that for him) and ask for money. He’s got enough marks to keep him in Mar-a-Lago “style.”
germy
@Tony Jay:
Did you see the clip of Piers Morgan walking out of his own show?
(comment #74)
NotMax
Immanentize
Partial repeat from late night thread.
Massive rain storm (with intermittent thunder) all day Monday and will last through the night. Beside the normal problems associated with so much wet falling in a short period, there’s this still being updated happening.
Kaupakalua Dam Overflows: Evacuations Ordered, Half Dozen Homes Heavily Damaged or Destroyed
Chez NotMax is distant enough for it not to be of personal concern. Rain continues as we speak. Trash truck pick-up leaves the lid on the rolling bin open after coming by in the early morning. When I went to lug it up the driveway at around 3 p.m. yesterday during a lull in the downpour there was easily six inches of water in it.
debbie
@Tony Jay:
It’s not just the media. I follow the royal family on FB and the racist comments are gob-smacking. They complained Meghan was looking too pregnant just so she could take attention away from Kate.
Tony Jay
@SFAW:
Ahhhhh, but no. Bear in mind that ‘Congress’ has just passed a lot of good stuff that will definitely help a lot of Americans and make their lives measurably better. Has it been blocked that would have been a different story, but since it wasn’t then the idea that there must have been ‘compromise’ has top be pushed in order to imply that the Republicans deserve the bulk of the nation’s gratitude for the ARA’s passage.
The real NYT is a bit behind me on this, but they’ll click to the beat soon enough.
Frankensteinbeck
@Jeffro:
It goes at least back to 1980. Reagan built his plutocrat/evangelical/polite racist coalition on the promise that everyone could agree they wanted to oppose those n-loving Democrats. They were a lot less insane before a black man was elected president, but the basic idea has been Cleek’s Law for a long time.
Geminid
@debbie: the RNC is afraid to lose trump’s voters. They think they can’t win without them, and they are probably right. trump knows he has the Republican establishment over a barrel.
zhena gogolia
@germy:
Hahaha
SC will like that one.
...now I try to be amused
@Frankensteinbeck:
Performative Trump support? Hmm, you may be on to something there.
Still, the GOP is more dysfunctional because of Trump’s specter. After the 2008 election they moved from W to Tea Party just like that.
germy
Frankensteinbeck
@JMG:
Then he wouldn’t have to sue the RNC. He let anybody fund raise off his name the whole 4 years of his presidency. Now, all of a sudden, he’s demanding a share? It’s because his so-called fans aren’t willing to open their wallets for a loser.
germy
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/09/25/fake-social-media-turning-point-usa
Pappenheimer
@NotMax: There is (or used to be) a Bat Cave, GA
Salty Sam
Hey now! Work your own side of the street!
Tony Jay
@germy:
Heard about it (I wouldn’t watch that no-class suck-up rectal-spasm for all the hemp in Holland) and I wasn’t surprised. I’ve said it before, Morgan is a Zeitgeist hunter, that’s why he sometimes comes across as the “One Honest Reporter” when he slams the Tories for their fuckery. He made a bet on his viewership being racist enough to enjoy him beating down on the attractive brown woman who wouldn’t return his calls and it’s blown up in his undies.
Fuck’im.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
“Some people” didn’t read the overnight thread.
...now I try to be amused
@germy:
An FSM monarchy would have a pirate and a ninja as heads of state by grace of Its Noodly Appendage.
Citizen Alan
@Raoul Paste:
My prediction: He’ll be wearing a toga and a golden laurel crown.
cope
@Immanentize: The following might be the best take on the Royals I have ever read. The saintly Oprah takes a couple on the shins as well.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/harry-and-meghan-the-union-of-two-great-houses-the-windsors-and-the-celebrities-is-complete-1.4504502
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@germy:
A lot of neighboring European countries still have (constitutional) monarchies. Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, etc for example. The popular press doesn’t really talk about them, curiously. I guess it’s the “special relationship” we have with Britain
...now I try to be amused
@germy: Count Binface’s manifesto includes a promise to make Piers Morgan zero-emission by 2050. He’s shooting for 2030 but he admits that’s a bit ambitious.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Um no, I didn’t? I don’t read every single thread. All I saw was raven’s comment from a morning thread about it
Jeffro
@Frankensteinbeck: yeah but I think the graph of their nuttiness took a hard upward turn around ’94, and again in ’08.
germy
dmsilev
The QAnon Shaman guy was asking to be let out of jail while waiting for his trial.
It didn’t go well.
Matt McIrvin
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I’m sure he was, in fact, complaining about censorship that he’d heartily approve of if he was in their place. Because Barr is a liar and a hypocrite.
Tony Jay
@debbie:
And that was one of the examples used as side by side comparisons to show how racist the coverage of Markle was compared to Any White Woman.
The usual suspects are tying themselves in knots trying to explain why the British Media is totally not racist (or at the very least racist-reader friendly) and this is all just about two entitled people not liking the British Media’s principled campaign to hold the rich and powerful to account, but there’s simply not a cargo ship in the world that could haul that much absolute bullshit from source to port.
I give it a day or two and the narrative will shift to ‘outing’ the member of the Windsor Firm who expressed curiosity about the skin colour of the baby and everything bad will be dumped on their weedy, white shoulders. Sacrifices must be made, and isn’t that what being a Royal is all about?
Fair Economist
How does Trump still need money? Didn’t he already scam the Republican donorsphere of a quarter billion with the “stolen election” lies? What the heck is his burn rate?
Matt McIrvin
@germy: Well, that’s one more thing off Vladimir Putin’s plate, if he can count on us doing it ourselves.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Pappenheimer: The Batcave is in Griffith Park.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
The guy didn’t get to be that wealthy by playing fair with his employees, to get that wealthy in business you have to screw everyone, customers, employees, contract workers…… People will still work because they still need to eat and sleep indoors, and shit is better than nothing. You pay your workers a fair wage, you treat them reasonable. But nothing in American business is angled towards the employee. Nothing. 25 yrs ago health care insurance was a reasonable cost of doing business. But that changed and the company I just started working for could not purchase the level of insurance that it had provided for years, not at any price. The employees had to pay a much higher price for far less coverage. That was all that was available. It was meant to keep usage down and profits high. I don’t know what made that happen but our insurance lady tried every company out there and none of them would provide what we had, only what they could screw us out of. Until the ACA it only got worse. And while the ACA is far better than the nothing that came before it, it is far worse than what was available a couple decades earlier. Someone engineered the mess that is the American health care payment system for more profit and we are all paying for it.
Brachiator
@debbie:
That’s a damn good question.
They can’t quit Trump, but they can’t control him.
Even if they think they need his base, they don’t fully understand the heavy price that comes with that.
But in a strange way, they enjoy being dominated by him.
MattF
@Fair Economist: My guess is that he’s very underwater. Big loans coming due soon.
ETA: Not to mention legal expenses.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
along with gold plated surplus dinner statues and fake Time Magazine covers.
Tony Jay
@germy:
Sadly the cellophane intellects running the Labour Party are much more likely to spend a few hundred thousand paying a PR company to test out what combination of phrases appeals to racist, pro-Brexit voters in former Labour seats, release a few contradictory statements that offend everyone, throw their full support behind whatever Flobalob Johnson says on the topic and pivot to blaming ‘Leftists’ for dragging identity politics into a private domestic matter.
It’s what they do.
MattF
@Brachiator: Agree that there’s consenting adults on all sides.
Frankensteinbeck
@germy:
Yep. I have become increasingly aware that as Americans, we define social class so differently (mostly based on money and race) that we don’t see or misinterpret British definitions of social class (mostly based on what titles your ancestors had, with ‘how many generations since you’ve had to work for a living’ second and race third).
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Matt McIrvin:
Oh definitely. I agreed with what he said on it’s face, but I’m sure if he could he’d have no problem with the censorship he decries
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: I hope you’re right because nothing would be better than for that shitbag to drop off the face of the earth into soul-crushing obscurity, but my lived experience tells me the GOP base hasn’t quit him yet. Trump shrines and flags are still up, MAGA letters to the editor are still meeping about how T was robbed, elected Repubs are still touting their T connection, etc.
The dearth of rallies is a good point, but it’s one thing to have a rally about killing Obamacare or signing a bigoted EO or endorsing a sycophant. What would he have a rally about now? He’s no longer president or an official candidate, so his power is diminished for sure. But I’m not convinced his hold on the base is, and elected Republicans have to take that into account.
We’ll see soon enough. If the PAC gambit falls flat, that’ll be a big sign T is dunzo with Republican voters.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Fair Economist:
Loans are coming due, and these folk want their money or else…ya know, accidents happen.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Ruckus: Amazon apparently delights in a deliberately abusive corporate culture out of some kind of screwed up Social Darwinist thing. On the other hand my nephew worked for Amazon for six months and didn’t seem to mind it, but it was in the SF Bay Area with it’s infamous high cost of living so the management might have felt constrained about letting their freak flag fly on their hard to replace employees.
Frankensteinbeck
@Fair Economist:
Gigantic. The fucker has a lot of properties and they’re all losing money.
@Brachiator:
If he was dominating, the whole RNC event would be at Mar-A-Lago, not one dinner. We’re already down to the point where admitting Trump is a loser would be giving Dems a victory, but the man himself is ephemeral.
SFAW
@Tony Jay:
Tony, I loves ya (so to speak), but you’re missing the point.
A typical DougJ (as NY Times Pitchbot) headline from the FTFTFNYT might be something like:
“The Biden ‘Stimulus’ Bill Led to the Creation of 15 Million Jobs, but the Dems Seem Hesitant to Share Credit with the GOP”
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
He’s the successful con artist, with a lust for public adulation. As any con artist could attest, the less you provide or need to provide and can still suck money out of the riff raff the better you are. shitforbrains it rather good at providing far less than zero value for every dollar spent in his name, hence the perfect con artist. Of course he’s swallowed his own bullshit long ago, conning not only his followers but himself as well. And as his con is, as most are, complete and utter bullshit, but with a racist twist, he has a huge following, one that has zero level of reality to it. That it screws a huge percentage of the population is fine with the people that buy into it. Better than fine actually, they are willing participants because of the nature of the con and the fact that shitforbrains believes every asinine word that comes out of his mouth.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Plus, he’s going to need tons of money for lawyers too, to defend against the myriad criminal and civil lawsuits against him. I do wonder how much the stacking of the federal judiciary is going to affect these cases, though. The recent case of an insurrectionist being allowed to travel to Mexico by a T-appointed judge comes to mind
MattF
@Betty Cracker: I think it depends on just how delusional/desperate everyone is. I think, e.g., Trump family members running for office would be a sign of desperation.
SFAW
@…now I try to be amused:
Outstanding
SFAW
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Nah, he’ll just get Rudy and former JAG-off Lindsey Graham to do it pro bono.
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@Amir Khalid: Any town or City in Pennsylvania could be renamed “Pothole, Pennsylvania” with complete accuracy. Although in the past I think Western Pennsylvania had an edge due to more corrupt highway constructing contractors and more freeze-thaw cycles in the winter weather. That may still be true I haven’t been to Pittsburgh in the late winter/early spring* for many years.
*the peak pothole growth and reproduction season.
Tony Jay
@SFAW:
Methinks the job is yours because that is golden snark.
trollhattan
Scotland to Miami, and perhaps a return voyage. A tiny pirate ship is collecting messages along the way.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I was wondering about why no rallies myself.
I can see several reason why no rallies.
1) To find Trump friendly venues will force Trump to travel and he hates that.
2) Trump will have pay money up front for the rallies since he isn’t the president now since everyone knows his word is shit on debts.
3) The Republicans are simply blocking those rallies behind the scenes because they don’t want 6th style coup attempt in their communities.
4) Trump’s own base is terrified of being arrested and tried as a large, young black man if they go to to a Trump rally now (You know, “In a shocking turn of events the Judge ordered Mr Celtus Smith, 54 of Lockjaw, Tennessee, tried as a 23 year old 300 pound black bodybuilder named Leroy Freeman from Detroit. Trial Experts say that Mr Smith almost sure to get the death penalty for his disturbing the peace and lottiering charges with this development,,,”)
Just One More Canuck
@Pappenheimer: Is there a Gotham City nearbyÉ
Matt McIrvin
@Immanentize: A turning point for me was when I said I wasn’t going to the Nathaniel Rateliff concert in Boston that I’d given my spouse tickets to as a birthday present. It was really tough–she was upset. But she thought about it and ended up deciding not to go either. I think the concert actually went on as scheduled, but I knew that if I went I’d be too scared to enjoy anything. That was, I think, a little later in March.
We had tickets to a lot of other things, but after that point they started cancelling shows.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Most of the legal rumblings I’ve heard about are in state courts, so no The Former Guy judges there.
Kathleen
@Baud: I’m a contractor assigned to giant grocery retailer and I can attest to complexity involved in making a change to a product. Even changing a size or count takes a lot of work. We got the Aunt Jemima brand change notification awhile back and it will involve updating a lot of systems. Good on suppliers and retailers who make the chages.
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
BC,
We know now that Jared had shell companies that they pilfered a FEW HUNDRED MILLION from the GOP’s bank accounts.
You think after getting THAT, this is going to be enough for him?
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
germy
Here’s a 19th-century fable from Ambrose Bierce:
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
It’s the only access she has. Only way to stay relevant.
Never has ‘access journalism’ looked so obvious as looking at her and the kinds of stories she’s turned in since 46 was inaugurated.
It’s so phucking obvious that she was the Dolt45 stenographer we all said she was.
schrodingers_cat
@To be Frank: I don’t think he seriously entertained the possibility that he would be elected.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Oh, good!
Geminid
@Fair Economist: I think the money trump raised to contest the election is reported to and regulated by the FEC. trump may not be able to use it to say, make bank payments on his property loans. If this is so, he’ll try to find a way to launder it. If he is desparate, he might just grab these funds. In a few months, he may have bigger problems than the FEC.
Kathleen
@schrodingers_cat: Axis Maggie always be spinning.
debbie
@Tony Jay:
It was Camilla, I’m sure. Charles is so cowed by her, he turned against his son.
rikyrah
@Frankensteinbeck:
Folks want their money UP FRONT.
He doesn’t pay his bills. We have cities, coast to coast, who he stiffed and didn’t pay for the security. He could do that as President.
Nobody has to provide security, or a venue for a private citizen.
They want their $$$$ up front before they will book him.
debbie
@Brachiator:
I think if they stood up to him over something like RNC funds, he’d back down. So much of his words and actions are bullshit anyway. Toss something out just to see if it flies.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SFAW:
Ha! Only the greatest legal minds for Lord Lard! It’ll be just like out of Stupid Perry Mason
“Your honor, my client could not have incited the 1/6 insurrection because Antifa did it. Defense rests.”
rikyrah
@germy:
$$$ drying up.
germy
@rikyrah:
Yes. And his fear of investigations into his sources of $$$.
Another Scott
Speaking of clowns, IrishTimes:
(via CharlesPPPierce)
Cheers,
Scott.
StringOnAStick
@Frankensteinbeck: That Irish Times editorial is pitch perfect.
My husband had a boss for awhile who had left Britain because he was the “wrong class” to rise very far in the business world; he’s done quite well for himself here.
schrodingers_cat
His aura is diminished because he is no longer the President. He knew it would happen that’s why he went to the lengths he did.
Brachiator
@debbie:
I am actually kinda serious about this. Republican leaders, particularly the men, enjoy being dominated by Trump.
Also, Trump is deranged, but gets stronger and more empowered the more the GOP refuses to hold him accountable for anything.
The GOP has had numerous opportunities to rein Trump in. They never did.
Yeah, Trump might back down if challenged. But the GOP will never do it. They are more afraid of him than he is of them.
BTW, note that one of Biden’s strengths is that he easily brushes Trump off. He is neither impressed by the Orange Beast, nor is he intimidated by him in any way.
Cameron
@SFAW: …and they’ll be worth every penny!
schrodingers_cat
Why do you think that is the case what hold does he have over elected Rs. Why hasn’t there been a single elected R “leader” who has stood up to the Orange One.
gbbalto
@StringOnAStick: Same with my grandparents in 1923. My grandfather was an excellent engineer but had grown up as a bright working class boy. The UK’s loss, as with so many others…
mrmoshpotato
I’m sure not convicting the motherfucker in the Senate (You fuckers had TWO chances!) is feeling mighty good now.
Anyway, butter, cheddar or caramel corn?
JPL
@debbie: Since the person mentioned it to Harry, I think it was Charles. There would be more of an opportunity for discussion
StringOnAStick
@Immanentize: My turning point a year ago was the dental office I worked at closing, but only after my boss and I yelled at each other over the risks and every patient called and cancelled that day after the news on Covid was the #1 story the night before.
Eventually he and I worked it out and in the year since he has apologised several times and told me how right I was about Covid, which I can say is entirely due to this very blog. I retired rather than go back to dental hygiene, we moved to our dream retirement location, my husband’s company bought out his contract so it all fell into place for us; I try not to feel guilty that this pandemic forced us into decisions that we’re very glad we made. We donated all our stimulus to food banks and will continue to do that and more.
different-church-lady
@Betty Cracker: More proof for the theory that when people fall under Trump’s spell it’s always because they think they’ll gain something from it.
SFAW
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Should have made it more shouty (in honor of Rudy’s brilliant tactics), but outside of that, spot-on.
SFAW
@Tony Jay:
I wish. I was “punching above my weight” on that one, whereas DougJ writes them like a natural.
Brachiator
@Frankensteinbeck:
@germy:
The contemporary royals have no real power. They serve entirely to enshrine classism in the British nonconstitution.
One of the best explanations of the British class system. The comedy sketch I Know My Place.
Oddly enough, working and earning a living does not always move you up the class ladder. Being landed gentry is always better than being a rich tradesman.
James Bond author Ian Fleming’s wife looked down on him because she was from a higher social class, even though he had become wealthy and esteemed because of the Bond novels and movie royalties.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Yes, this, it’s like they are all secretly into gay BDSM as bottoms.
StringOnAStick
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: And they look so small and pathetic while doing it. It’s entertaining for us in some ways but on the world stage it’s appalling. Vlad has to be grinning ear to ear.
James E Powell
@Frankensteinbeck:
I’m with you on this. The common feature of Republican voters is that they hate the rest of us.
They chose Trump because he promised relentless scorn & hatred toward liberals and anything we care about. Trump delivered like no other Republican. He even let a pandemic go out of control just to own the libs. 500K dead and they love him.
Frankensteinbeck
@Brachiator:
The proof will be if they give in to his fundraising demands. If they don’t, then no, they are not dominated by Trump. There is a big, big difference between controlled by Trump and being dead set against letting Democrats hold a Republican accountable. So let’s see how it turns out.
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: My assumption is that it’s because they are spineless careerists.
mrmoshpotato
@Immanentize:
Thanks for keeping us company, and running some of the Zoom chats.
different-church-lady
@Soprano2: Problem is he’s still the “best” thing they have.
debbie
@JPL:
He’s a dolt then. Some father!
Geminid
@Brachiator: In one of his non-fiction travel books, James Michener wrote about a prosperous merchant in a British colony. The merchant prospered so much that he eventually could move on from the business and become a broker. That’s when he was finally allowed to join the top clubs of the city.
piratedan
@schrodingers_cat: for me it wasn’t just that the GOP capitulated to him as a Party, its that so many individuals had the opportunity to stand up and be the adult(s) in the room, anyone from elected officials to Generals to judges and media moguls and they just all rolled the fuck over.
It used to be that there was a certain mythos in the country about Character and how the content of one’s character allowed you to sleep at night, be easy in your own skin (regardless of color) and garnered you the respect of your neighbors and peers.
Seems quaint now.
Dorothy A. Winsor
This thread was already long when I started reading it, and every single comment about the former guy made me happy.
Baud
Good rundown on Nevada situation.
rikyrah
I am getting so excited about 46 signing this into law.
SOOOO many people are going to be helped. On the ground. In their pocketbook. Around issues that affect them everyday.
Folks don’t even understand how it’s going to help them.
JPL
@debbie: I’m not sure that we’ll ever know for sure though. Charles is a dolt though.
rikyrah
@Baud:
Thanks
Barbara
@germy: As I keep telling my husband, why on earth do you pay mediocre, unprepossessing people gobs of taxpayer funds just so they can get better treatment than you? It’s stupid.
schrodingers_cat
@piratedan: Enough of us didn’t but too many did. He tapped into the cultural anxiety many white people felt after Obama got reelected. The kind who patted themselves on their back when he was voted the first time but his second win caused them anxiety they could not explain. It activated their dormant racist tendencies. That is my anecdata on Orange-moron and JS voting couple who were my friends.
Baud
@Barbara:
I agree, but half this country elects Republicans anyway.
Frankensteinbeck
@schrodingers_cat:
When the black man was a token, it was great. When white people as a group tried to stop him and failed, a whole new layer of whites freaked out.
rikyrah
@germy:
Yes
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA AH HA
?BillinGlendaleCA
@schrodingers_cat:
They’re afraid of being un-elected.
Baud
CaseyL
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I think it’s the authoritarian mindset, and being trained one’s entire life to not think for oneself.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Oh, the word is getting out fast. Unfortunately, some people think the changes are already in effect.
But the impact is being felt already. And for a lot of ordinary people, the reality is steamrolling the attempts of the GOP to lie about the relief package.
rikyrah
@Frankensteinbeck:
Remember,
the rubes only paid after the election – during the ‘ELECTION FRAUD’ scam. they were never giving him lots of $$$$.
The money he stole beforehand came from the big donors.
Redshift
@rikyrah:
And one of the great lessons this administration has learned from the Obama years is not to assume they’ll figure it out, and to tell them who should get credit for helping them.
schrodingers_cat
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Even the ones who are retiring or have retired have shown little spine in standing up to the bully.
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
And now Trump is the guy who promised and did not deliver.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Thanks. I was wondering about all of the “so much for unity!” hot takes
Is it really so bad that these democratic socialists were elected in the party?
schrodingers_cat
@Frankensteinbeck: Bingo. Well put.
Barbara
@dmsilev: Yeah, I think the operative distinction is that the flagpole is not a weapon when it is hanging from the wall or ceiling. When you rip it out of its tether and start aiming it at other people it has ceased to be a flagpole and has become a spear.
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Fuckifino. They’ll have a chance to prove themselves.
raven
@Barbara: It’s also our alternative newspaper!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
NVM. I guess the NV Dem party/Reid Machine is worried that these newly elected members could endanger their control of the state and it’s federal delegation in 2022.
Are these folks known for radicalism? Maybe they could be just as pragmatic and reasonable as AOC and Bernie (lately) has been?
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Yep I hope we don’t lose NM. I don’t trust the Roses because they too like to center everything on white grievance albeit from the left side of the spectrum.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@schrodingers_cat:
I think that’s mostly because they don’t want to lose their Wingnut Welfare sinecues or have their lives threatened by Q/Trumpist loons
Barbara
@Fair Economist:
David Farenthold had a good article about how the Trump organization’s major revenue streams are under increasing stress. Obviously, all hospitality based businesses are hurting a lot because of the pandemic, but Trump’s polarizing behavior was already hurting many of his properties, and after January 6, the level of controversy associated with him has made the situation even worse. In addition, Trump owes a lot of money to various organizations, like hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention tax liability to the IRS. I personally doubt whether that situation would be enough to sink him — lenders will be patient enough to let him monetize various real estate assets. But the prospect of civil and criminal liability introduces even more risk over his ability to control his assets to give himself a source of steady revenue.
geg6
@Tony Jay:
Well, Harry has already said it wasn’t Elizabeth or Phillip (which kinda shocks me, I have to say…I was sure it was him). So it’s gotta be Anne? Nah. Kate? Possibly. Will? Possibly. Camilla? I can’t see it. Charles? Possibly. Andrew? Almost certainly.
I’m sure there are other close family royals I don’t know, but it has to be one of the above, I would think.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
I guess, but the entire Dem “establishment” staff resigning isn’t a good look imo. Or forming a separate “party apparatus”. That could just encourage the Dem socialists to develop an even greater siege mentality than they have already and give the GOP there an opening. Wouldn’t it have been better to keep them in the party and try to moderate them instead?
Maybe I’m naive, I don’t know
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Barbara: the NYT did a deep dive on trump’s assets a few months ago, and his three most valuable assets are 1/3 interests in three high-rise office buildings, two on the West Side of Manhattan and one in downtown San Francisco. I’m a bit skeptical about the end of the office, but I do think things are changing, and those assets are probably looking a bit shaky right now
ETA: also, I think his Chicago property, which he is heavily invested in, as opposed to the licensing agreements of so many of the “branded” properties, has been a money loser even before the pandemic, even before he rode down the escalator.
Uncle Cosmo
And the Crime Family Guy’s portrait where it deserves to be: At the bottom of the Oval Office bathroom’s commode. Rotating tag: “We aim to please; you aim too, please!” alternating with “Bombs awaaaaaaay!“
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@schrodingers_cat:
In NV? A lot of the supporters of Bernie, tbf in 2016 and 2020 in NV were Hispanic union members
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Sounds like they’re concerned the new leaders won’t support existing incumbents. Don’t know if that concern is valid.
geg6
@Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!):
I can attest that it’s still true. And the number of gigantic heavy vehicles required for cracker plant and fracking pipelines has increased it exponentially.
Another Scott
@Baud: “Hey, Bezos! Why can Amazon have union workers in Europe but not in the USA?”
Cheers,
Scott.
JPL
The Royal’s have released a statement .. .
https://twitter.com/mollymhunter/status/1369340734831214601
Maybe Betty can front page it
I assume that the queen was instrumental in this statement.
germy
Doc Sardonic
@Ruckus: Would be interesting for someone to do a historical dive on the changes in our healthcare. I can remember that when I was a child and young adult that we never saw a bill for hospital or doctors because my dad’s railroad insurance covered it. The first health insurance policy I had to buy in 80 or 81 when I was on my own had a small yearly deductible but a secondary policy covered that. It wasn’t until later on that copays showed up
Uncle Cosmo
“B-b-b-but Officer, I was only trying to help the poor animal get over the fence…”
Baud
@JPL:
I was wondering why you were interested in the Kansas City Royals.
schrodingers_cat
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): IDK the makeup of the NM Roses. Besides one doesn’t have to be white to center those concerns.
Mainly the supposition that economics triumphs everything else.
Short answer, it doesn’t.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: It is valid Roses spend more time attacking Ds than they do attacking Rs.
Another Scott
@Betty Cracker: I predict attendance will be low. Lower than “we had a million tickets requested!!” Tulsa.
Cheers,
Scott.
Tony Jay
@debbie:
@geg6:
Gawd only knows. They’re all such a mob of privileged pricks who spend their entire social lives in a bubble of bright, white entitlement I could see any of them coming out with the question and not comprehending for a moment how anyone could possibly be offended.
The Firm probably hope it was Andrew. The PR kraal erected to protect him from his past crimes is already so sturdy they can count on the crony Press to He Said/She Said the scandal into the back pages just to be consistent.
What a country.
polyorchnid octopunch
@Old School:
If they’re smart they’re waiting until the RNC writes back agreeing to the terms… then it’ll be time for them to ask them to extend the same courtesy.
geg6
@gbbalto: My grandparents left Britain in the 1890s for the US because they were solidly working class and knew they wouldn’t be able to better themselves any more than that. Plus, they were townies in Cambridge, not an easy thing to endure with all the toffs all over town. He became a skilled electrician in a steel mill here and worked solidly all through the Great Depression. Not many people did and they were considered upper middle class here.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Being on Twitter is different than having a real job. The rest of the country will be watching to see how they handle it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Tony Jay:
Also, too, it was Phillip. I get that Harry doesn’t want to throw Grandpa under the bus, and I can respect it, given the moment. But it was Phillip.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: I hope the experiment doesn’t cost us the Senate.
I don’t know much about Nevada, but Ralston does, and he does not seem enthused.
Doc Sardonic
@mrmoshpotato: Porque no los tres
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Me too. Honestly, no voters anywhere care who runs the state party. They won their offices legitimately, now they have to show what they can do.
citizen dave
The one thing I’m wondering about from the big ex-royal interview is that Harry, a 36 year old man, was dependent on his 70 something year old dad for his money (allowance). wtf?
That and when they talk about “doing our job” that means going to a play, or going on a VERY nice foreign holiday and walking around and warmly greeting people.
Yes, blame Andrew and banish him to Epstein’s island.
Long live ‘Merica!
Aziz, light!
Trump isn’t traveling because he can’t fly our our dime on AF One, and his corporate plane is in the shop. As for holding rallies, the turnouts will be disappointing unless he pays people to attend, fat chance of that. His cult is still going but is bleeding members week by week.
Brachiator
@Geminid:
This was a very sharp observation by Michener.
EM Forster is a shrewd observer of how the class system operates in his wonderful novel Howards End.
mrmoshpotato
@Doc Sardonic:
True. I do love those big variety cans.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That’s another thing. If they get the incumbents knocked out and they lose, they’ll blame Dems for the losses
Doc Sardonic
@Aziz, light!: It also is still missing an engine I believe. Quite possible Tangerine Tiberius hasn’t paid the bills to complete the maintenance.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
I guess we’ll see. The “Reid Machine” immediately started building some alternate party apparatus to oppose the newly elected Dem socialists. I sure both sides (yes, really) know what they’re doing
Geminid
@schrodingers_cat: Kinsinger (IL), Cheney (WY) and other Representatives were willing to vote for trump’s impeachment, and face certain primary challenges next year. The first two might survive, and Washington jackals say Herrera-Butler will protected by their jungle primary system. Tom Rice of South Carolina seems like a goner.
On the Senate side, six of seven impeachers are either retiring or like Cassidy (LA) do not face reelection until 2026. But Lisa Murkowski defends her Alaska seat next year, and trump says he’ll campaign against her. Alaska has a novel jungle/ranked choice system that will make Murkowski hard to beat. A ranked choice open primary will be held first. The top four candidates will then compete in a ranked choice runoff in November. The vindictive trump could inadvertently help elect a Democrat. If that meant Murkowski lost, he would count it as a win.
While he barks at all the impeachers, the churlish trump snarls at Cheney and Murkowski the most. A very gallant man.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
Yeah, Trump might back down if challenged. But the GOP will never do it. They are more afraid of him than he is of them.
No idea. I mentioned that Republican men in particular seem to love being dominated by Trump. And I don’t mean this in any simplistic sexual sense.
But Trump insulted Ted Cruz’ wife, humiliated Marco Rubio and Chris Christie and Lindsey Graham, and they kept coming back for more.
There was the famous dinner between Trump and Romney where Romney thought he had a shot at becoming Secretary of State. Trump later enjoyed making Romney look like a grovelling fool, and of course did not give him any cabinet position.
And yet the GOP kept coming back for more.
The GOP got little from all this. And now Trump is trying to play at being a clumsy kingmaker, leaving the party in disarray. And yet they refuse to cut him loose.
Some suggest that the GOP is just hot to deny the Democrats any kind of victory. If this is their strategy, it is not working out.
Timill
@citizen dave: Just like (say) the Trump children.
Ken
I suspect it was “Uncle Eddy“. They normally keep him locked up so most people don’t even know he’s still alive, but there have been… incidents where he got loose.
By the way, if anyone knows anything about necromantic immortality rituals, please contact the nearest British consulate and give them the code phrase “I can put the Ripper to rest.”
Betty Cracker
@geg6: Wasn’t there one family member (like Philip’s niece or someone not in the core family circle but a relative with whom they’d have socialized) who famously wore a racist brooch? I can’t remember the details, but I’m sure I read something like that a while back, unconnected with the present brouhaha. Could have been around the time of the H&M wedding.
I didn’t watch the interview, but from clips I’ve seen and what I’ve heard about it, it sounds like H&M gave almost no details at all on the comment, so it’s impossible to know if it was a hateful racist statement or a lesser species of offensive comment, like Bush the First’s “the little brown ones” description of his own grandkids.
VeniceRiley
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Harry said it would be too damaging to say. That means either a head that will be crowned sovereign (Charles or William) or someone in hospital (Phillip.)
Who would care about damaging Andrew? *snort
...now I try to be amused
@StringOnAStick:
Fiona Hill said the same thing in her impeachment testimony, only she was talking about government (and academia?).
scav
@Betty Cracker: Princess Michael of Kent. Married to a cousin of the Queen, daughter of a SS Major. Wore it to a Christmas banquet. Apologized.
Tony Jay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
My money’s on Crazy Cousin Ricky who they keep up in the attic of Balmoral Castle. He’s got no eyes, no skin and a single fused leg-stump but somehow he manages to be as racially rascally as his dear old Uncledaddy, whomever he might turn out to be
ETA – Damn you, Ken!!! Shakes tiny fist.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: From the way Meghan reacted, I think it must have been of the offensive variety. Plus, they didn’t consider the not-yet-born baby to be royal, for the first time EVER in the history of that monarchy, so I don’t see how it could have been anything other than blatant racism.
Ken
You’re fighting the lag as the Morse dahs-and-dits cross the Atlantic and back.
BTW, looking forward to your next Brexit
diatribeanalysis, and hoping you’llstomp onmention the UK government’s clever scheme to plant favorable articles in thelapdogpress.Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@WaterGirl:
Wait, WHAT!? Now that I never heard about. That’s pretty blatantly racist
Tony Jay
@Ken:
There’s just so much awful shittery going on over here every, fucking day that its hard to keep up.
It’s like the darkest days of Trump Twitter Time, only worse because we don’t have an Opposition as much as an endlessly solicitious doormat with a spine of lumpy custard.
I will vent eventually.
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: I heard this second-hand, so I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but the explanation for not giving H&M’s kid titles right off the bat is that he’s the great-grandson of the Queen, whereas only children and grandchildren normally get titles. Now, they made an exception for K&W’s kids, but that’s allegedly because they are in the direct line of succession, whereas H&M’s kid is not. From what I understand, H&M’s kid(s) will get titles when their grandpa becomes king.
Betty Cracker
@scav: Okay, thank you. I knew I hadn’t hallucinated something so specific! :)
Brachiator
@Tony Jay:
What can the Opposition actually do?
I keep hearing commenters I follow talk about how they hope things will change in the 2024 general election.
But BoJo may reduce the country to a ruin long before then.
What, if anything, can stop him now?
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
From the Wiki:
I guess that his parents are raising Archie to be a private citizen. But who knows what happens to all the trappings that he might be entitled to.
I would love it if all of William’s kids partner up with people of color when they grow up.
rikyrah
@Geminid:
the FEC should get more teeth.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
tee hee hee
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@MattF: Grigori and I will take that as a pat on the back
rikyrah
@Frankensteinbeck:
And, 44 was competent. More than competent. Black competence and excellence….terrifies folks.
James E Powell
Trump’s popularity with the base will rise & fall with Republicans’ ability to obstruct Biden & the Democrats. If Biden racks up several victories or ‘victories’ in a row, the rabble will clamor for the return of their Great Leader who knew how to own the libs every day.
James E Powell
@scav:
According to the BBC it wasn’t a racist brooch, it was merely a brooch that critics have called “racist.” Is the BBC where the NYT learned how to talk?
Tony Jay
@Brachiator:
Oppose, simple as that. This is a Government that has failed, utterly at every challenge they’ve faced. They’ve lied every time they’ve opened their mouths, they’ve looted the Treasury to the tune of hundreds of billions and they’ve mishandled a pandemic at the cost of tens of thousands of lives, but Her Majesties Loyal Opposition seems to believe that attacking them over any of this would be terribly partisan and off-putting to the racist, tabloid reading voters the Labour Party is so eager to appeal to.
And yet they’re trailing the Tories by anywhere between 9 and 14 points in polls and Starmer lags way behind Sir Chubby of Chequers in every ‘most prime ministerial’ poll. It would be funny if it wasn’t so disastrous for the country. We need an Opposition to tell the public over and over and over again that this is wrong and there is an alternative, but they just won’t.
The bile is rising, I’ll leave it there.
Betty Cracker
@Brachiator: Wait, now that I think of it, I don’t think Princess Anne’s kids have “prince” and “princess” titles, and they are the Queen’s grandkids. But I’m pretty sure her brother Andrew’s kids do, or at least I think so because one of them wore a funny hat to the wedding and there was press coverage of Princess So-and-So’s hat? Anyhoo, I’m not sure how it all works. Just glad my tax dollars aren’t supporting any of that nonsense!
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: They did not get into any of those details in the interview, so I have no knowledge on that subject. They explicitly talked in the interview that nothing like this had ever happened before. Were there no great-grandchildren ever before this? I have no idea.
germy
So Piers Morgan got fired.
gvg
@Doc Sardonic:
I didn’t have health insurance in the 80’s. Restaurant jobs didn’t have insurance till you were management and sometimes not then. I went without till College which had a student plan you could buy.
Bill Arnold
Wondering a bit how Mr. Former Guy feels about unflattering images, and about their use and promotion.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=unflattering+donald+trump+images&search=&form=QBLH
...now I try to be amused
@germy:
One step closer to a zero-emissions Piers Morgan! Count Binface is ahead of schedule.
Brachiator
@germy:
A well deserved sacking
From CNN
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@…now I try to be amused: I like that, Count Binface.
Is there a British Murdoch outlet for him to turn up on now?
J R in WV
@Fair Economist:
What is it about the concept of GREED that you don’t understand after the past 4 years? ;~)
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I think the booklicking in those circles isn’t a metaphor. Just consider the number of stories of sex abuse or like Farwell killing his friend’s cat for the luz of it. And by secret I mean they hiding this from themselves.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
Last week I saw a 4×4, new of course, with a Fuck Biden flag flying. That is in southern CA, I can not imagine what I would expect in the reddish state I lived in 16 years ago. Do have to say, I don’t see shitforbrains signs/flags and don’t remember seeing them during campaign time.
Ruckus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Unless there is no option, I buy nothing through Amazon. I’m not letting the asshole make any more money off me than I have to. Unfortunately he has changed the business model for retail to an almost overwhelming degree.
Ruckus
@schrodingers_cat:
They have been doing this stick together no matter what for decades, they can’t imagine any other way of working. And the high end donors demand it because it’s worked better than any policy concepts they have ever come up with. It boils down to “Own the libs, no dissension allowed no matter the policy concept BS.” And any policy concepts boil down to how do we build power, and have nothing to do with better or worse government. Power and therefore money is all they care about whatsoever. Anything else is window dressing.
Tehanu
@Betty Cracker:
That’s practically the whole of The Sopranos, right there.
@Lacuna Synecdoche:
Couldn’t agree more.