stevenkesslar

Or: Trump is playing a game, NOT governing. And Democrats are allowing him to do it. Geez. Haven't we seen this movie before? Wonder how it ends. The fact is Democrats have almost no power. In a way that is convenient. If they had a two seat House majority they could for sure block a lot of the worst shit. But they don't. So whether they are falling for it, or simply powerless, is a moot point. The power to block lies at the state level, with Governors, and some Democrats are using it. The more important point is that Trump is playing a game, NOT governing. The insolent pig's approval ratings are tanking. There is not much a stupid and insolent pig can do about his stupidity and insolence, is there? Our kinda lobotomized yapping dog @Barknaway did his very best, being a mostly brain dead marvel, to support the insolent pig and his dumb shit. As if Tik Tok is what most Americans rely on for the truth. I was impressed with the effort. But what is a dumb yapping loyal dog gonna do, other than mirror the stupidity of his Master? This is a shit show. It doesn't get better for the insolent pig.

HA HA FUCK YOU ASSHOLES! I PAID FOR THE GOVERNMENT I WANT YOU GAY ASSHOLES. I CAN BUY ANYTHING I WANT AND YOU CAN PROTEST YOUR FAIRY LITTLE GAY ASSES ALL YOU WANT AND FUCK YOU! YOU HAVE NO POWER. I HAVE ALL THE MONEY AND ALL THE POWER AND ALL THE CARDS. THERE IS NOT ENOUGH MONEY IN THE WORLD WITH THE DNC OR WHOEVER TO PAY FOR YOUR GAY LIBERAL ASSES TO STOP ME FROM DOING ANYTHING I WANT. SO YEAH GO GET PAID TO PROTEST WHINING POWERLESS GAY LIBERALS AND I WILL DEPORT YOU AND YOU CAN SEE HOW YOUR GAY ASS LIKES IT IN SOME PRISON IN EL SALVADOR. HA HA HA. LOSERS! YOU ARE USELESS QUEERS LIKE MY DEAD SON DAUGHTER! THE ONLY REAL PROBLEM IN AMERICA IS THE LEFT IS TRYING TO TAKE AWAY MY FREEDOM OF SPEECH! HA HA HA! CONSERVATIVES IN AMERICA HAVE NO MONEY OR POWER OR FREE SPEECH SO MAYBE WE JUST HAVE TO DEPORT YOUR GAY ASSES TO PROTECT OURSELVES. HA HA HA! LOSERS!

How the Bond Markets Tamed Trump It's beyond ironic that Mike Pence's former Chief of Staff is calling out the insolent pig Trump for being a dumb shit. The American people get it. The insolent pig does not. What a useless insolent pig this bankrupt leader is. By the way, is this a new Trump bankruptcy yet? To add to the irony, the Pope apparently told JD Vance that there is an afterlife. Trump apparently needs a redo on life, since he was an insolent pig this go round. The Pope told Vance Trump is due to come back as the bond market. Apparently it is God's plan. Jim Carville could not be reached for comment. 😉

In fairness, if they are White people rampaging thru our communities and schools with guns, murdering children and parents, they get our thoughts and prayers.

Well, there is good news. Trump always has to have someone to blame for his incompetent governance. With COVID he could blame it on the China virus. Wait for it. Wait for it. Wait for it. Now his tariff nonsense will be known as the "Chiner recession". 🙄

I have: Republicans look to blunt Dems’ advantage on family tax credit Oh, wait! There's a problem. THE REPUBLICANS are the ones saying it now. I will go to the grave believing in the close race we had this one thing could have put Harris over the top. One poll I don't particularly believe is one I read a few years ago when inflation was raging, and the tax credits expired, thanks in part due to Manchin. The poll claimed that after the tax credits expired, parents who were no longer getting them shifted seven points toward the Republicans. If such a shift even happened, I don't know that it was directly cause and effect. But we know that Trump won in 2024, narrowly, with 49.8 % of the vote, thanks to inflation. And the perceived failure of Democrats to do anything about it. At the time this went down, the chief advocate of the expanded child tax credits in the House, Rosa DeLauro, said Democrats were making a big mistake. Her husband is Clinton era economic populist pollster Stan Greenberg. He has done endless polls showing raising taxes on billionaires like Elon Musk and extending help to the working class with things like child tax credits are among the most popular issues Democrats have. If you don't believe me, ask Josh Hawley, or other Republicans, who are stealing these populist ideas. Or ask AMLO in Mexico. His chosen successor, who makes Harris look a bit conservative, won in a landslide even as Kamala lost. The simple but true explanation I buy is that AMLO literally put money in the hands of the working class and seniors, despite inflation that was just as bad as in the US. It worked. He got shit done in the eyes of the Hispanic working class. Harris got slammed hard, and to some degree rightfully, because she couldn't point clearly and emphatically to how she had already fought hard for the working class on kitchen table issues. But what if she had ranted for months about how Trump will fight like hell for tax breaks for Elon Musk. And Trump will fight like hell to give Elon Musk the government he bought and deserves. And Trump will work tirelessly to fire veterans and take their health care away. But I already fought like hell for the children of working class parents. I already fought like hell to cut child poverty in half. And, frankly, I don't care if some Hispanic Dad in Michigan uses his kids' tax credits to buy a big ass truck to take his kids to school. This is America. Everyone deserves to drive a big ass truck! That's how I think Kamala could have won. That is how Ruben Gallego won by over 3.4 % in Arizona, even as Harris lost the state by 5.5 %. Instead of helping Hispanic Dads, we got democracy and Liz Cheney.

Interesting and thoughtful Politico article that goes through the debate about whether any of this makes sense. Trump wants to make a deal with China. Here’s how he’s trying to make that happen. As much as I have never been a huge fan of fabulously rich and smug Wall Street titans, I think the common sense award of the day goes to Jamie Dimon. Translation: "While you bluster your way through the volatile and poorly thought out one-man Trump Tariff Show, asshole, the rest of us will pay for the destruction with a recession."

Actually, the polls got it mostly right. In 2024 RCP's poll average showed a tie. The last average showed Harris winning by a whopping 0.1 %. Trump won the popular vote by 1.5 %. Well within the margin of error. In 2016 RCP's poll average showed Hillary winning by 3.2 %. She won the popular vote by 2.1 %. Again, very close. 2016 was when this stuff about the polls being wrong started. The predictions were wrong. But the polls, which measured popular vote, were very close to the actual results. One thing that has been reliable is that Trump, when he runs, will exceed what the polls say by a bit. And the reason is now well understood. He tends to attract unreliable voters who don't pay much attention to politics and like an asshole who will ............you know ................. just burn the fucking building down. Just fucking burn it down. Burn it down. Nuke it. Blow the whole fucking thing up, okay? That is what got Trump his slim winning non-majority (49.8 %) in 2024. And now the whole world is paying the price for it. I think it all confirms my point. Bernie and AOC have not come close to figuring out how you win 50.1 % of the vote in a pissed off and turned off country.

There's a new poll that says, among Democrats, the progressives are "winning". The popularity of the Bernie/AOC tour no doubt speaks to that. Polls Find Democrats Want a More Progressive Party 50 % want the Democratic Party to be "more progressive", compared to 24 % who want it to be more moderate. But here's the problem: I embody this challenge, which is kind of a fatal flaw. In 2016 I voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, even though my heart was with Bernie. In 2020 I voted for Bernie, but only because I knew Biden was going to win the primary and I wanted to send him a message to lean left. I think I was successful. He did win, and he did lean left. But somehow that didn't build a populist majority. In 2024 I just badly did not want Trump back. Even a decomposed Biden would have been way better than this horror show. So Democrats lost 2 out of 3, and Trump won 2 out of 3. It's not completely clear why the populist right has beaten the populist left - albeit barely. And it's not clear that Bernie or Young Bernie - aka AOC - are the ticket to Democrats winning, other than in very blue places. Andy Beshear can win in Kentucky. Bernie can attract crowds there, but can't win a contest for dog catcher. But Beshear puts progressive Democrats to sleep. I think Ruy Teixeira has his finger on the pulse in his endless but wise rants. He is a liberal who yearned for, and actually predicted, an Emerging Democratic Majority decades ago. He thinks Democrats need to push the economic populism of Bernie without all the unpopular "woke" stuff. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the most recent two term Democratic Presidents, have pretty much said the same. There's a line I heard from Arizona Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego recently that in a weird way summed it up. I have my eyes on him because he did the best job in 2024 of winning a swing state that Biden lost by a higher margin than any other swing state. Gallego said something like, "Every Latino man wants to own a big ass truck." Which is why tariffs on big ass trucks won't endear Trump to Latino men. Fight for that! Not for "Latinx". The minor mystery is why the media and even Democrats are ignoring the fact that Mexico, which for most of my life was a de facto one party state, had all the same inflation problems the US and Canada had. But somehow Mexico elected a progressive Jewish woman running for the incumbent party in a landslide. I think the core thing was that AMLO fought like hell every fucking day for the Mexican working class. And men who wanted to own big ass trucks. Even as he rode the subway. He literally put money in the hands of the poor and the working class. There's a lesson there for Democrats.

Nor would I. I think of Cohn as an important figure in Trump's life. But to extend the point, it's possible to look at Cohn as a sort of key to unlocking an understanding of Trump. It helps explain a few things. First, why Trump will fail - if the job is winning a trade war or a global power struggle with China. Cohn was great at getting away with shit, as you note. And that alone gave him a certain type of respect and notoriety. But that kind of respect doesn't build alliances. Cohn did not build NATO. He was best at attacking and conning people. Second, it helps explain why some of America is attracted to Trump. Fear and loathing, basically. Cohn played a useful role when people were scared of Communists and Evil Gays and wanted an attack dog. Thankfully, Ike was POTUS and McCarthy and Cohn were just relatively minor players. The GOP Establishment could control it as a useful side show. No such luck this time! The simple but I think key problem is that you don't form alliances by bullying people. Or at least by bullying people most of the time. China has their own problems with the same. Including the coercive aspects of Belt and Road. But it seems clear already that Trump's bullying and abdication of strategic and shared democratic interests is just sending lots of nations to China.

I don't get it. Can anyone explain this to me? One simple bumper sticker that makes some sense about what Trump is doing is this: "The whole world against China." Let's forget about the fact that Republicans, more than Democrats, championed the idea that trade and outsourcing and globalization are inherently good and fair. Since billionaires like Elon Musk make more money doing it. Let's also forget that maybe it doesn't make sense to dramatically reverse course after decades of building up China with trade and investment to now say, "Oh, geez. We fucked up." What I really don't get is this. If we assume the goal of the whole world against China is good, how does Trump plan to get there by humiliating, fucking, robbing, and raping the rest of the world? Only a pathological narcissist like Trump would decide that bullying is the way to do this. Jon Stewart recently had a good interview with Oren Cass, who as much as anyone is the intellectual promoting this idea of a new America First conservatism. Cass is smart and interesting. As Stewart noted, his first claim to fame was the 2012 Romney campaign. Wasn't Romney a big promoter of free trade and global capitalism? Cass thoughtfully ticked off all the arguments that make some sense: America carries too much of the defense burden for the world, America is getting screwed by everyone on trade, blah blah blah. Let's also forget about the fact that all these pro-globalization and pro-China arrangements were put together decades ago by a country called ................... what's it's name? Oh. America! As Cass noted, nations are allowed to change their mind every century or so. But the core of the debate is that China is rising and has to be outorganized. Many Democratic foreign policy intellectuals have also been pushing the idea that in a US v. China battle, China is likely to win simply based on size, state-funded innovation, and the hunger of a rising player. While Biden was getting feeble, lots of foreign policy geeks in his Administration pushed Trump-like ideas for organizing the world against China. Rahm Emanuel has been bragging that thanks to smart diplomats like him the US had China kind of on the ropes diplomatically as well as militarily. So now the idea is that the way to build this "everyone but China" alliance is to hurt the economies of all our allies, ask them to pony up lots more for defense, and say nice things about Putin. Only a narcissist like Trump would believe that if he just appeases Putin, Putin will forget about his strategic interest in allying with China against America and democratic institutions. After all, democracy is hardly Trump's first love, either. This seems like a good formula for helping China and Russia win by pissing off every ally we have, and hurting their economies while we insult them. What am I missing?

I understand your point, Sis. But why sully a perfectly lovely word like "prostitute" ? 😉

We have an abundance of riches in Guvs. And Newsom, Whitmer, Shapiro, or Moore, to name four, are probably more likely to be able to unify the party than Rahm or Andy. But who knows? I don't think it's possible to guess yet what voters will be in the mood for after four full years of this train wreck. But it won't be Trump.

A few heartening interviews and articles about ascendant moderate Democrats: I absolutely love every moment of that interview. Particularly the part where Rahm states that the tens of millions of Americans who were screwed by globalization or left behind have every right to be furious. Of course, when he runs for POTUS he will also argue that these Trump voters have every right to be furious at Trump for trying to take their Obamacare away in 2017. And (possibly) taking their Medicaid away in 2025 to pay for Elon Musk's tax cuts. The insolent stupid pig Donald "Judas" Trump is way more stupid than Rahm. And I love it that Rahm attacks Democrats as too weak and too woke, and Trump as a corrupt man guilty of betrayal. Trump is the Judas of America. Betraying the working class that trusted him, betraying democracy, betraying Ukraine, and empowering Putin and Xi. I still have high hopes our stupid POTUS pig will find his sorry ass in jail before his destructive and narcissistic life ends. Compared to Rahm, our handsome Kentucky country boy comes off like a pussy cat: Andy Beshear has some advice for Dems on hammering Trump over tariffs I think the idea that the Guv of Kentucky or a loud-mouthed moderate Jew from Chicago, both White men, will be the Democratic nominee of 2028 is quite a stretch. But, at the very least, they will both add to a loud debate that will move the party to the center. And refocus it on the working class and away from culture wars. Good luck, guys!

It means protection of Ukrainian men, women, and children from Putin's genocide. Something you could obviously give a flying fuck about, in your own words. Trump could give a flying fuck about it to. Nor could you give a flying fuck about the absence of democracy in Genocide World. You come here to support genocide, and the mass murder of Ukrainian men, women, and children by Genocide Men. You attack efforts by Ukraine to defend itself from genocide. You are Putin's Genocide Fan.

Talk about blaming the victim! May as well go back to Trump claiming Ukraine started the war with Russia. How long did Trump's lame ass pro-authoritarianism lie last? You fail to mention that the banning of political parties occurred in March 2022. Geez, what happened then? Let me think. Hmmmmm. Oh, that's right. GENOCIDE MAN STARTED A GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE. Your murderous leader started killing Ukrainians. Shocking how Ukraine tried to defend itself from Genocide Man, isn't it? Good luck sorting your way through that. Who knows what is true and what is lies made up by spies on one side or the other? What we do know is that Putin's whole life is about spies, deception, killing opponents, and now genocide. I can see why Ukrainians would be concerned about political parties aligned with the country and leader that started a genocide against them. If you are so concerned about democracy, why not call off the war, let Ukraine have an election to join NATO and the EU, and let Russia have an election where all the real political opponents of Putin are not all killed or jailed?

Interesting interview you posted . Who dies in the end has been relatively predictable, I think. It is the logical conclusion of who is spiraling out of control all season. In Season 1 it was clearly Armand, although Tanya was a nut case as well. She got hers in Season 2. The confusing thing about Season 3 is that both Tim and Rick seemed to be nut jobs spiraling toward their inevitable demise. So which one would it be? Mike White cleverly did both in, in a way. It's just that one was imaginary, and the other real. Which also feeds into Mike White's main theme: money rules, and corrupts. Of course the nut job with the most money would live. Despite the fact that he fantasized about killing his entire family, and almost pulled it off. It's hard to see Chelsea as a nut job spiraling out of control. But that article you posted makes the case as well as it can be made, in the words of the actor who played her. Another comment I read somewhere summed it up as a great example of how women who try to fix broken men always end up getting hurt in the end. I did feel the finale of this season was lame compared to the first two. I think its because Armand and Tanya's deaths were played for laughs. I saw it as a Gay man doing satire about The Evil Gays. And I loved it as such. This was more like a Shakespearean tragedy. Nothing wrong with that. But I like my Evil Gays better, sorry to say. We didn't even get Lochlan as the incestuous demon twink, as it turned out. Exactly WTF is an Evil Gay gonna do for comedy now? 🙄 On that note, I do have a few recommendations for Season Four. Parker Posey is the new Jennifer Coolidge, both Gay icons. So to be fair to The Evil Gays, Mike White has to bring Victoria back next season and kill her off. The easiest way is for her to dump Tim and find another rich guy. I'd suggest Saxon, who could simply take over the family business. At least Mike White could finally deliver on all the teasing about incest. 🤑🤢🤑 And maybe Lochlan could be the new Greg, who likes to watch his Mom and brother get off!

I'm happy to take a hit for being less than perfect in backing Lichtman, until he was proven wrong this time. It's off topic. But the question of why a smart guy like Lichtman was wrong this time is interesting I still think his theories make sense. Of the 11 elections he predicted in advance, Lichtman got 9 right. The 2 he was wrong on - Gore in 2000 and Harris in 2024 - were both close races. His retrospective predictions going back to the Civil War of who should have won, based on his Keys, were also wrong twice: 1876 and 1888. The 1888 race is interesting because it also involved tariffs. And the only other incumbent POTUS to lose re-election, Grover Cleveland, who then came back from the dead to win a second term four years later. Remember, the co-author of the Keys theory was a Russian expert who loved peace and democracy. Oh, the good old days! When Vlad was a good guy! Vladimir Keilis-Borok Where I really part company with Lichtman is his own very defensive analysis of why he was wrong in 2024. He's essentially arguing voters were stupid, and they fell for all kinds of disinformation by Trump. Kind of like Old Joe arguing voters didn't understand how great Bidenomics was for their pocketbook. What I like the most about his Keys is that they argue democracy matters, and voters are smart. (Not really something that has ever been proven in Genocide World, I know.) So I would argue that in 2024 voters were smart. They recoiled from inflation and high prices. So I think Lichtman got his short-term economy key wrong. Technically, there was not a recession. But poll after poll showed that people felt like there was one. Lichtman split the difference on his foreign policy keys by calling Gaza a military loss for Biden but Ukraine a military victory. That is debatable, of course. Change those two keys and it would have predicted a narrow Trump victory instead. Or, in short, history is complicated. None of this bodes well for Trump. 1. If the election were held today, Trump would do even worse on the short-term economy key. He promised to lower prices. Smart voters understand that he will instead raise prices through unpopular tariffs. 2. Americans started out unified behind Ukraine, but by 2024 were divided on partisan lines. We can thank our lying traitorous Donald "Judas" Trump for turning Republicans against Ukraine and the defense of democracy, in the US or elsewhere. But as much as Americans were gradually divided on the Ukraine War, they are already unified in their repulsion of Trump's global trade war. It is a disaster that hurts democracy, hurts capitalism, and only helps Xi and Genocide Man. 3. Democrat Cleveland won the popular vote in 1888 by defending consumers and explaining that tariffs hurt them. But he lost the electoral college, because Republican Harrison had the strong backing of pro-tariff industrialist fat cats. Sound familiar? Four years later Democrat Cleveland came back to win, still arguing - with plenty of evidence - that Republican tariffs that helped people like Elon Musk and other rich donors hurt the working class. Sound familiar? The insolent pig Trump is a stupid, stupid, stupid pig who understands neither the economy nor history.

How appropriate you defend the lying barking dog. You at least appear to be defending the lying barking dog by posting thread titles that didn't quite nail what actually happened. Okay, mea culpa. I am less than perfect. But I was not spreading lies like the lying barking dog comes here to do. It is ironic. Genocide Man is a fountain of lies. Starting with his dismissal of any notion that he kills all his political opponents in Russia. And his lie that Ukrainians he mass murders actually want to be part of Genocide World. And his lie about stealing the children of Ukraine after murdering their parents. Although I must admit George W. Bush gave Murderous Vlad a run for his money with his WMD lies. Oh, the good old days! In fairness, I think most of what you say is factually correct. Or at least debatable. Even if it is mostly intended to support genocide, and attacks on democratic institutions and alliances.

Bonus question for 25 Trump Lies And Hate and Racism points Which Fake News DEI leader, who was only respected because he was a DEI Black piece of shit loser, sold Zelenskyy the platinum mine? A. Nelson Mandela B. Desmond Tutu C. Martin Luther King D. Any other useless stupid incompetent Black appointed by Joe Biden, such as DEI Veep Kamala Harris. The lying barking dog only comes here to spew lies and hate.

Bonus question for 10 bonus Trump Lies And Hate points. Which two Brady children died of the measles? The lying barking dog only comes here to feed us lies and hate.

I don't think anything will change until the midterms. Democrats will at least take back the House, more than likely. At that point a coalition of Democrats in the House and centrists in the Senate, including ones like Collins and Murkowski, can hold sway and keep Trump in check. Depending on how bad things get, Democrats maybe can turn the tide in rural and working class areas where we supposedly have no mojo anymore. The apt comparison to me is Sherrod Brown v. JD Vance. In 2024 Vance had the wind of voter anger at inflation at his back. Even so, he was on a ticket that barely won. Meanwhile, Sherrod Brown was finally taken down by an association with a party that is supposedly out of touch. Even though he basically did everything right when it comes to the working class - except being a Democrat. MAGA populism may lose its luster to rural and working class voters when it results in inflation and recession. The lesson is: be careful what you wish for. I just spent two weeks hiking in Utah and Arizona with one of my brothers, who I will call a McCain Republican. I recall in 2016 when he explained to me that he would vote for Trump, who he thought would be good for the economy, because it "will be interesting." My response at the time was that nuclear war would be interesting, too. But that doesn't mean I'd vote for it. By 2020 he voted for Biden, arguing that even though he still thought Trump was better for the economy, he had proven himself to be a "megalomaniac." In 2024 he bit his lip and voted for Harris, for the same reason. If Trump fucks up the economy, it takes away the one thing he barely had going for him. The insolent pig is stupid and weak. The stupid pig does not even understand that he is fucking up the one thing he had going for him. What a stupid, stupid, stupid pig!

It's the inflation, stupid! What is wrong with our insolent stupid racist POTUS pig? Why can't his deformed narcissistic pig brain understand this? It is not that difficult a concept. Even the elite media and terrified Republicans can get it right. ‘The opposite of what Americans voted for’: Market turmoil causes Trump backlash With the markets in chaos as a result of Trump’s tariffs, the president is facing the most sustained criticism of his term from within the GOP. It's the inflation, stupid! What is wrong with the insolent pig's stupid brain? Can't he fathom what voters are pissed about? The crude racist insolent pig Donald "Judas" Trump has been a racist his whole life, back to his filthy racist lies about the Central Park Five. The racist pig had a brief moment when Black and especially Hispanic and Asian Americans were open to him, due to well documented anger about too many high prices and too many undocumented immigrants in their communities. There is no question that working class Hispanics in particular lifted Trump to his narrow victory in 2024. So what does the racist insolent pig do? Attack diversity, dishonor Black Americans in particular, and RAISE PRICES. He has set the entire working class back, regardless of skin color. We now have equal opportunity in America. We all have the same opportunity to have a stupid racist insolent pig as President.