stevenkesslar

She has been one of the best political leaders of my lifetime. Her values and determination are awesome. I'll miss you, Nancy. The Democrats will too. Books have been and will be written about her. But these are a few paragraphs that get to the heart of it. Democrats can’t fill the Nancy Pelosi void Call me liberal. But to me, she is both amazingly effective, and beloved. 💕

Sing it, Steve. The bells are ringing. Trump's going to hell. The birds are singing. Trump's going to hell. Everybody's been knowing Straight to Satan he's going Cause for years he's been sowing Cruelty meanness and hell They're congregating. Trump's going to hell. Satan is waiting. Trump's going to hell. Cause next year We're gonna win a Senate seat or two Or three or four or more In our land. Trump's going to hell.

Is there even a question? When has the man not been a mean cruel pig? Even Steve Bannon gets it. ‘There Should Be Flashing Red Lights’: Steve Bannon on Mamdani’s Win It's significant that Mamdani won. It's significant that Spanberger won. What is even more significant is that both could win by whopping margins at the same time, attracting everybody from lefty Zoomers to moderate suburban Moms. Some of it is anti-Trump. But deeper it is affordability and populism and people power. If the Democrats can figure that out they will kick ass. AMLO started as Mayor of Mexico City. Then he took it national and created a working class revolution in Mexico. I'm not saying Mamdani will be President. He can't be, legally. Bannon wants him deported. These mean cruel pigs like Trump and Bannon are scared. All they are good for is meanness and cruelty.

Q.E.D. People noticed that the cruel pig is a cruel pig. Oink. What a cruel mean piece of shit Trump is. Oink. Voters all over Americas rejected the cruel mean pig and his cruel mean cruelty. Oink! Voters in California rejected the cruel mean pig and his cruel mean cruelty. Oink! Voters in New York rejected the cruel mean pig and his cruel mean cruelty. Oink! Voters in New Jersey rejected the cruel mean pig and his cruel mean cruelty. Oink! Voters in Virginia rejected the cruel mean pig and his cruel mean cruelty. Oink! The poor little cruel mean pig. All he can do is cry "socialist" to try to disguise his meanness and cruelty. What a horrible piece of shit mean pig Trump is! Voters can see the cruel mean pig for what he is.

Actually what I settled into is the idea that I love my nieces and nephews who support Trump. In one case that is pretty easy because the nephew is the kind of moderate Republican I was good at cutting deals with as a low-income housing lobbyist. He is very successful and says he has thought about running for Congress (in a red state). But he knows in this polarized environment he could never win. Like my Reagan Republican Dad, we have different ideologies but common values. My niece is arrogant and elitist and can be deeply cruel. I view her as the true Trumper. I'm not saying that all the MAGA folks are elitist or cruel. But she doesn't question anything and just goes along for the ride. I get the feeling she'd be happy enough with a cruel elitist Trump power grab. (Meaning even more extreme than Jan. 6th.) Just keep her taxes low and keep her away from those typical Blacks who only know how to worship Oprah and Michelle Obama. (Her words, verbatim, not mine.) So the key word with her is boundaries. I just gradually keep distancing myself from her because everyone in my family doesn't respect her. As far as outside of family, I cut loose from the friends who embraced Trumpism, albeit reluctantly, long ago. I'm not proud of it. But I'm not ashamed of it either. Their choice, then my choice. I have not settled for Trump. If I have settled for anything, it is the Alinsky notion that the action is in the reaction. Trump will be a cruel mean pig. Then he will be a cruel mean pig. Then he will be a cruel mean pig. Then he will be a cruel mean pig. Then he will be a cruel mean pig. Then he will be a cruel mean pig. Then he will be a cruel mean pig. He'll b a cruel mean pig for over three more years. He may try for more than three. We'll see. Meanwhile, if we are lucky he just dies of his fat mean cruelty. But the reaction is building, just like when he first won. Hold that thought, my dearest and darlingest Sis.

Or not. I just got back from two weeks with family in the Midwest. Two of my brothers are way more anti-Trump than me. Even though I am the only liberal Democrat, and they are a centrist Democrat and a centrist Republican. I personally find that funny. One of my nieces is the MAGA diehard in the family. And so we avoided talking about politics. But my MAGA niece did bitch and moan about how her $50,000 a year in free stock options at her corporate job are going to be vested less generously. And her 6 % annual bonus is being cut down to 3 %. Horrors! And this really stressed her out. So much that she almost quit. But it was just too stressful to think about between her spa vacation in the US and her trip to Europe a few weeks later. She actually said all this in front of family members who make a fraction of what she does. You get the picture. It's not a fair comparison. Because she is a cardboard cutout for a snobby country club Republican who really does love to act and look elitist. Especially around waitresses and their ilk when she is not totally pleased with the food or service. I love her, but I hate her. And pretty much everyone else in my family, including her feminist Democrat sister, feels the same way. My point is that this will go on as long the stock market keeps going up and inflation is relatively in control. And truly working class Zoomers and Hispanics and Blacks can get by on two jobs. While the true Republican types like my niece flourish and bitch about how they are not even more affluent. One of my nephews is convinced that the "everything bubble" will pop within six months or so. But he has been saying that for three years or so, when it looked like the bubble was popping in 2022. Hold that thought! As an aside, I made a little money on EDN and SUPV a few years ago when the two Argentinian stocks were much cheaper. I should have just held instead of taking a small (like 50 %) profit. They have increased about 10x from their 2020 low. I bought them back months ago when I thought it was a great buy on the dip opportunity. Instead at one point a month or so ago I was down like 50 % on both of them. So after last weekend's Argentinian elections and the "Trump bailout" they both popped, in the case of SUPV up like 50 % in one day alone on Monday. So I sold it all and made an unexpected $3000 profit on the two. Which paid just about what I spent for a nice vacation home to bring family together for four days. At one point my anti-Trump nephew and I were talking stocks and my MAGA niece was right across the kitchen island. So I pointedly thanked "our great President" for making me enough money to pay for a luxurious home (inferior by Trump standards, of course) for a long fun family weekend. I told my nephew, who thinks Trump is a blowhard fool, I wanted to hear him thank President Trump out loud. They both laughed, because they know I am an acerbic asshole. But that is the way it goes. As long as the party for the country club Republicans lasts and the economy holds on just enough, Trump's working class and Zoomer male cohort will be satisfied enough. And his disapproval rating will "only" be 52 % or so. Like it is today. When the party ends, so will the Trump era. President Divide and Conquer, who can only win 47 or, at best, 49 % of the vote, can only last so long. Hate to say it. But I can't wait for the planned cruelty and endless greed to end. Even if I made a lot of money off it as it happened. I made a lot of money when Biden was President, too. But there was a lot less cruelty.

My hairdresser agrees with you LOL. Was in to get my hair cut yesterday and her comment was it's a positive. But ............. "we'll see how long this lasts." Hamas is clearly genocidal in nature. Israel has a Genocide Jew in charge and they keep electing him. And Israeli - not Arab - human rights groups are using the word "genocide." So at the very least the genocide machine has stopped for a while. And my read is Trump pushed his pal, the Genocide Jew, hard on this. But he is also saying the Genocide Jew ought to be above the law. What a shocker!

Kudos to Trump for cutting a deal between Israel and Hamas. There is no question that Trump pushed this hard. And that in the moment it is a joyous event for lots of people on both sides of a very bitter and deadly conflict that has gone on forever. Trump deserves credit for this. And he'll get it, of course. He'll make sure he gets it. Thankfully, even if Trump somehow forgets to tell us how great he is, we fortunately have our own yapping dog to remind us. How lucky are we? 😉 He doesn't deserve the Nobel Prize, or any prize. He has completely fucked over Ukraine and our allies, he has given Genocide Man more blow jobs than even he can handle, Xi is running circles around him on trade negotiations, and the list goes on. But it is nice to actually be able to feel good about something Trump did. Now if he can talk his pal the Genocide Jew into being a little less genocidal, and we can send Israel fewer weapons to kill children, that would be really nice. But one can only hope for so much. Especially with Trump.

He is a total piece of shit. Sorry. We'll see whether Tik Tok has just voided out 250 years of democracy. Maybe all people care about now is social media influencers on Tik Tok. But I doubt it. I think they care about things like not being able to afford health care and food still, too. Trump fucking sucks. Sorry.

We disagree. And this is where I would say the center is holding. Ted Cruz of all people stood up in Kimmel's defense. Which helped. It's funny because Al Franken used to be a great comedian and was a good Senator. He would tell stories about how he openly mocked Cruz to his face in front of other Senators. So Cruz has no reason to like liberal comedians. But turns out he likes free speech. So the splits in the MAGA party are there, and always have been. Yes, the majority of them to me are whack jobs, or close. Trump has spent a decade proving Hillary's use of the word "deplorables" was quite accurate. Then again, murdering Charlie Kirk was deplorable, too. This is Trump's America. Oh, wait. I forgot. Trump is the angel of love and peace. No one is mean or cruel in Trump's America. He is all love and peace. Period. Plus Trump is a worthless horrible piece of shit.

I think I have deeply divided feelings right now. And speaking of comedy, Jimmy Kimmel had something to do with it. I think that was a symbolic moment. Does the center hold? Do the standards hold? And for me the answer is YES. Albeit a qualified YES. If this were the McCarthy era, they would have dragged Kimmel through the mud and made him a disgrace. The whole point would have been to scare the shit out of everyone. It didn't work. Yes, Mark Zuckerberg is a worthless ass kissing piece of shit who probably would turn most humans into batteries to feed his AI dreams if he could. But hey. What's new? So the capitalist billionaires are mostly lining up behind Trump and kissing his ass. So what? Meanwhile, as much as I think it would be better to have Andy Beshear be our 2028 nominee (moderate Guv who wins in a red state) than Gavin Newsom (California! Liberal!) reality suggests that Beshear is a bridge too far for most (young) Democrats and Newsom is using this as his ride to the top. Classic "the action is in the reaction" stuff. Trump is a massively worthless piece of shit and the majority of Americans do not like him and never fucking will. Piece of shit. Piece of shit. Piece of shit. But I do think the center is holding. So on the one hand I am horrified, and have been since November. On the other hand I feel Jimmy Kimmel, of all people, just delivered a huge grace note. Just tell the truth. Just quietly stand your ground. I think it worked well with him because before the shit really hit the fan he did say some empathetic and correct things about how Kirk's murder was senseless and wrong. And not what we want to be as people or a nation. He got shit on for shitting on Trump. And in my book Kimmel won that fight. He's back and speaking his truth. With humor. To me that is a great lesson.

What the fuck? These assholes from Nobel need to be deported to some shit hole. Maybe Sweden or someplace else filled with assholes and Marxists. And all those ugly black and brown DEI people. I love love and peace and hate black and brown and smarmy Asians who love that DEI shit. Ugh! Racism! This is why Donald Trump is the angel of love and peace. Since he won by a landslide for the third time everyone in America is unified and loving. Love love and peace! Love President Trump! Hate DEI! And the Marxists at Nobel gave the prize to some DEI brown bitch from Latin America! Racism! President Trump promised peace in Ukraine in 24 hours and delivered it in 12. He brought peace in the long war between Melaniaghanistan and Rubania. (Note to self: find them on the map.) As an added bonus, he even figured out that it is bad for pregnant women to take acetrasupercalifragilisticexpialidocious. What more do the Marxists want? Vladimir Putin is the global avatar of love and peace. Especially love to Ukrainian children he killed or stole after killing their parents. Putin is right. Trump deserved to win. Deport Jimmy Kimmel!

I'm trying to imagine not vomiting. But, that said, I do think Mike Johnson is a cutie. Instead of Pepto Bismol, I just tried to imagine him kissing Trump's lovely ass. That sure made me feel better. 🤮

Kimmel jabs 'bully' Trump for restricting free speech II love it that Kimmel came out swinging. I assumed the deal was that he could go back on the air but he'd have to tone it down, if not basically silence himself. Happily, that was obviously not the deal. He reiterated that Kirk's murder was horrific and wrong. And empathy is the appropriate response. And then he laid into the Weak Pussy In Chief. Trump disgusts me. He is national horror. He betrays everything America stands for. Until he doesn't. What a useless piece of shit he is. He betrayed Ukraine, betrayed NATO, betrayed our national security, betrayed our defense. And then after sucking Putin's cock lasciviously for months finally decided .............................. wait for it .................................. that he agrees with Joe Biden. We should be fighting for Ukraine. Genocide Man is wrong. What a weak pussy. The man has no principles. He can't beat Putin, and now we know he can't beat Kimmel either. Kimmel is the hero. And he is the hero because he quietly and calmy stood up for the truth. Trump disgusts me. A bad leader is a bad leader. I'm a patriot. But there is no reason to be proud of or support this unprincipled weak pussy. Trump is un-American.

I'll echo something @Latbear4blk said on a recent post on another thread. Part of his point, as I took it at least, is that we ought to think about how we contributed to the mess we are in. If that is what he meant, I emphatically agree. This election was a poster child for Saul Alinsky's maxim that "the action is in the reaction." So, yes. As you have noted, Sis, maybe 1 in 3 Americans are full on MAGA and, in my view, they drank the Kool Aid, Even more eagerly than Nicole Kidman drank the milk. (At least she got a hot guy to show for it lol). As you say, they are a lost cause. As I say, let them drink milk. 😉 But even within the Republicans, maybe on a good day half still support same sex marriage. Maybe one in three do not agree with the alternative reality that Jan. 6th was just about patriotic tourists visiting the Capitol. When we get to Independents, it all looks a lot better. So my point is that we Democrats gave people a lot to react to. And a bunch of it was just asking for trouble. And I think Not A Majority Leader Can Never Get 50 % Rapist Felon Criminal Weak Pussy Should Be In Jail Donald Trump is the product of that reaction. Am I being too blunt, Sis? Two words summarize two very different aspects of the reaction to me: First, inflation. Second, woke. The first and most important thing Democrats fucked up is we allowed inflation to happen, which voters all over the world reacted to very negatively. And I say that tongue in cheek. Because unlike self-described "progressives" Like Larry Summers I do not think Democrats caused global inflation with things like child tax credits that helped tens of millions of working class families. Those families might have actually fought for Democrats if we actually fought for them. Other economists who are just as smart like Mark Zandi at Moody's have argued that all the spendy stuff Biden THAT HELPED THE WORKING CLASS did maybe add a part of one percent to inflation. Meanwhile, things like the child tax credits and Obamacare subsidies wiped out the entire burden of thousands of dollars in added cost for the tens of millions of working class families who got them. Maybe we should focus on things like that. This is not a theory to me. This is fact. In this case, "fact" is a six letter word and it is spelled M-E-X-I-C-O. AMLO had just as much bad shit - rampant inflation, mass COVID death - happen during his term that resulted in incumbent parties, including Biden/Harris, being tossed out all over the world. Thank high rents and mortgage rates and gas prices for that. Why did AMLO survive and thrive, and get a Jewish woman elected in a landslide as his successor - who is now herself wildly popular? They drew fucking blood and ranted every fucking day about how we are fighting right now for the working class. They helped the Mexican working class work for good money. And they also gave "free stuff" like pensions away to seniors and other people who were not well off. Why can't Democrats do that? The second part of my rant is that Democrats did prove we will fight hard for "woke" stuff. And it is very clear that some of that hurt us. And I am not describing "woke" as the idea that two men fall in love and want to get married. I think we won that battle, and we won it with compassion and heart. "Woke" to me, at its toxic worst, is the idea that young Latino men are toxic because they were never slaves. So somehow they fit into a pattern of White male oppression that makes America a bad place even though their parents broke the law to get here. Turns out all along they were just pissed about shitty wages and high rent. But I can't make this argument. Because I myself am a White male oppressor who is inappropriately culturally appropriating concepts like "protest" and "grievance" from the Black civil rights movement. Which I have no right to do, of course. Being a White male oppressor and what not. Even if I am Gay. There was a boatload of that shit. And it turned lots of people off. Including lots of Democrats. The guy who Swift-boated John Kerry again cracked the code and made sure everyone in America heard maybe 47 or 48 times that Kamala Harris wants publicly funded sex changes for prisoners. In her own words. Have I made my point? Not to be a bitch, or anything. But you know I have a bitchy side, Sis. So we have plenty to think about. We helped cause the reaction that pisses us off. And is in fact extreme as can be, when it comes to the Weak Pussy In Chief and his Kool Aid Krowd. But most Americans are not extreme. Proof of concept is that most Americans do support same sex marriage. And the action is in the reaction. Biden did create a reaction AGAINST undocumented immigrants that lots of black and brown people said pissed them off when strained public services went to people who are not US citizens. Now Trump is doing the opposite. There is more support for the melting pot, and the idea that immigration is good for America, than ever before. 79 % of Americans agree on this. When has the raping criminal traitor unprincipled piece of shit Trump who caused this reaction ever gotten 79 % of the vote? Or 50 %? What I will be adamant about is that Trump and his cult is extremist. And most Americans did not vote for him - ever. And they do not support his un-American and sometimes criminal behavior. Which is mostly stupid and unprincipled as well. And speaking of bad leadership, one last point in my "back to being verbose" rant. We all now know Biden should not have run. That was our bad and a gift to Trump. The verdict is out. But perhaps Harris was a gift to Trump as well. As David Axelrod just said, if there is a political strategy behind her new book, it is a bad one. The point to me is it perhaps explains why Kamala did have a hard time explaining what she would fight like hell for, in a way that sounded authentic. If she wants to write a book about the election, why not make it about what she stood for, and almost won? Instead she mostly made it about grievances, it sounds like. If it is political strategy, it is a bad one. The larger point is that can't and won't get settled until we have a leader like AMLO or Sheinbaum, or Trump for that matter, that fights like hell. And we don't. And Harris just wrote a book about how she ain't it. Nor is Schumer. And not Minority Leader Robot. Hopefully we find someone who will fight like hell for the working class. Or, more likely, they find us. Like Clinton and Obama did. Otherwise, we are fucked. And maybe we deserve to be.