stevenkesslar

I'd be surprised if there is anything in those files about Trump that is much worse than what we already know. And what his loyal followers could care less about. It does seem like Muller 2.0. I read in one article that Trump was surprised that Mueller let him off the hook, basically, after such a thorough investigation. I thought that was largely Kabuki. By that I mean I think it was an honest investigation. And if Mueller had found something truly shell shocking - like a video of Putin handing Trump money or a video of Trump fucking Russian hookers - he would have gone after Trump. I think we know Trump learned to hide his tracks well from Roy Cohn, among others. He for sure knows how the media works, and how they can go after you or make you famous. So while we may get more smoke, I very much doubt we will get a smoking gun on Trump. It still hurts Trump. While he's explaining, he's losing. Poor thing!

If I didn't grow up with you at an all girls boarding school sucking the cocks of hot young boys, I would swear to God you are Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sis. You even look a bit like her, truth be told. It would be nice if Republicans just tore their assholes apart while Democrats focus on - wait for it - health care and affordability for Americans. Chuck Schumer right now is an example of no good deed going unpunished. While a lot of Democrats, maybe a majority of Democrats, despise him for not fighting hard enough - even if it is a battle Democrats simply do not have the votes to win - it is also true that ending the shutdown and hammering on things that help working class people right now may save the asses of Democrats in swing states that need centrist voters. Centrist voters are not into fighting and shutdowns. Schumer made a prediction months ago, I think during the first fight where the Democrats caved, based on his experience of Trump 1.0. He said when Trump's disapproval rating got to 55 % Republicans would start to split and work with Democrats. Trump's disapproval rating is at 54.7 %. And here we go.

This is diverting the subject from Epstein. And you probably won't agree with this article. But the question could be, WHY are Democrats wasting time on anything other than the direct and immediate needs of working class voters? Especially the ones in the middle who decide who wins? Both Nevada senators spurned their party. They were reading the room. Once a Democratic stronghold, Nevada’s shifting economy — and shrinking patience — are fueling a Republican revival. I agree with that article, and with Rosen and Cortez Masto. Rule #1 for any politician is survival. How does it help matters if Nevada replaces two Democratic Senators with two Republican ones? I think it is correct that of all the swing states Nevada is the one swinging the most Republican, for the reasons stated. And it is all about the working class just getting by. Trump appealed to that with no tax on tips. I think it is true that these people don't want to hear about fight Trump or shutdowns that hurt them or democracy. They want to hear about how you are going to help the working class. Period. The good news to me is that we can have our Mamdani and eat it too, so to speak. I know you'd like a big slice of Mamdani, SIs. 😂 In NYC I hope the Mamdani Zoomers govern well and have some success and don't just create some new example of what the right will label a socialist hellscape. But while that is happening if Democrats can get the votes they can do much more centrist economic things for the people in the middle in Nevada and Missouri - if we can ever win Claire McCaskill's seat back.

I'll take it in a different (rambling) direction and bring Chuck Schumer along for the ride. We could have and perhaps should have had a "the torch has passed" moment around 2023 or so. Smart pundits were thinking there could be a fight to replace Pelosi. And certainly there would be a big fight for the Democratic POTUS nomination. Pelosi, no surprise, organized quiet institutional change among insider institutionalists like Jeffries. Biden just hung on. Oh well. In hindsight, it's easy to argue that too many old people holding on to power for too long cost Democrats the election in 2024. The irony is that Trump is hardly young and fresh. And electing a Black Asian American woman POTUS would have been a fresh idea. Nevertheless, I say this for two reasons. A lot of Zoomers had a deep distaste for Biden that rubbed off on Harris. And many of these newer folks, even if they are not young, are the vanguard for a Sandernista/AOC/Mamdani style economic populism on the left. Less ICE, more child tax credits and ACA subsidies. We'll never know what would have happened if the torch had passed. But we do know it would have matched Trump's right-wing economic populism with some kind of left-wing economic populism that at least knew what it stood for. Our version of Mexico's AMLO. My simple mind keeps thing anything good Hecho en Mexico can work here. It seems clear this is the direction the Democratic Party is going. And wants to go. The action is in the reaction. After eight years of Trump "fight like hell" will be in the Democratic DNA in 2028. Just like eight years of Obama led the GOP to Trump. Mamdani is a big canary in a big apple mine. Slaughtered the metaphor. But you know what I mean. So my point is that this moment right now may be as close as we get to a "the torch has passed" moment. Pelosi is exiting. And there was just a long and good article in Politico about how Schumer is fading, perhaps not by choice. There is speculation that he may not even run again. And if he does AOC may kick his ass. The days when Schumer was the young dynamo who took out two decades of Al D'Amato seem to have ended. Long ago. Pelosi was a fighter, for sure. But she was as much of an institutionalist as you can get. As is Schumer. As was Biden. As was Harris. Although she was in the junior leagues and couldn't quite make the step up. This does not mean that it is inevitable that Democrats will nominate a died in the wool economic populist in 2028. But I do think whoever we do nominate will run as a fighter. And they will have to at least embrace economic populism.

In fairness, my full on MAGA niece, who loves Broadway, might make a different selection. [TUPTIM, spoken] The King is pleased! (sung) He is pleased with me! My Lord and Master Declares he's pleased with me— What does he mean? What does he know of me This lord and master? When he has looked at me what has he seen? Something young Soft and slim Painted cheek Tap'ring limb Smiling lips All for him Eyes that shine Just for him— So he thinks Just for him! Though the man may be My Lord and Master Though he may study me As hard as he can The smile beneath my smile He'll never see He'll never know, I love another man He'll never know, I love another man The poor piece of shit. Probably nobody ever loved him, and never will. Certainly not Melania.

Maybe if Mayor Pete runs you could be his running mate. It would add to diversity to the ticket. 😉

The only push back I would make to that is that some Republicans don't like cruelty .................... to themselves. As in committing political suicide by fucking over their own constituents on health care. We've seen this movie before in 2018. Just trying to kill Obamacare and pre-existing conditions killed 42 Republican House members. Of course the GOP had a larger majority before the 2018 midterms. So they had more to lose. And as I argued above, killing Obamacare would have been way more severe and hurtful than just taking away relatively new help on affordability. So you can even argue the Republicans are less cruel than in 2018. I don't think they will lose 42 House seats. Democrats have already mouthed off that they are expanding the number of House seats they target to include some House members in what would be considered pretty solid red districts. Running against Trump definitely would be dumb in these districts, since Trump won them. Running against his cruelty and how people were fucked on health care and hunger and prices is a hole different matter. We'll see if Democrats can do a Pelosi-style raw political execution without Pelosi in charge of it. Here's the bad news, regardless of how well things go for House Democrats. First, as you note, we are stuck with Trump for at least three more years. Unless he has a fat attack and dies. Praise Jesus. Second, in that same 2018 election when Democrats romped in the House, they lost two Senate seats. Some red wave! And how it happened is, I think, one of the most important problems Democrats face. Democrats picked up two seats in Arizona and Nevada, and lost four seats in Missouri, North Dakota, Indiana, and Florida. Charlie Cook nailed it that year by calling Trump a "color intsenifier". He makes red redder, and blue bluer. And a handful of states like Arizona and Nevada still don't know what color they are. I don't think this brawl will get settled until Democrats win back states like iowa, North Dakota, Florida, and Indiana. It is simply mathematically impossible to break a Senate filibuster, or even get 51 votes. And I think we know that winni9ng those states means being less woke, and more working class. And right now there are at best only glimmers of hope that this can be done. I ain't holding my breath for 2026. Which means a Senate GOP majority in 2027 is still very likely, if not certain. That said, if they fuck with health care and food prices enough, maybe not. But my main point is that fighting Trump for being Trump is necessary, but not sufficient. It helps in California and New York City. It hurts in Iowa, Indiana, North Dakota, and Missouri. If we want a majority that can actually help the working class, and not billionaires, that needs to be at the center of what the next Democratic POTUS ushers in. Any volunteers? How about you, Sis? 😉

Doubling down here. I have not been verbose for a while. So I get a few wordy posts. Why Democrats Couldn’t Hold Out Any Longer on the Government Shutdown I read that article right after I made my post. It makes many of the same points, which I obviously agree with. But here is a statement by Schumer critic and "cave in" critic Josh Marshall made that I think captures a very key point: Exactly. The message for the next year to the midterms should be this: Trump is a cruel cold-hearted piece of shit who wants you to pay a lot more. Trump is a cruel cold-hearted piece of shit who wants you to pay a lot more. Trump is a cruel cold-hearted piece of shit who wants you to pay a lot more. Trump is a cruel cold-hearted piece of shit who wants you to pay a lot more. Trump is a cruel cold-hearted piece of shit who wants you to pay a lot more. Trump is a cruel cold-hearted piece of shit who wants you to pay a lot more. Trump is a cruel cold-hearted piece of shit who wants you to pay a lot more. Trump is a cruel cold-hearted piece of shit who wants you to pay a lot more. Trump is a cruel cold-hearted piece of shit who wants you to pay a lot more. Trump is a cruel cold-hearted piece of shit who wants you to pay a lot more. Trump is a cruel cold-hearted piece of shit who wants you to pay a lot more. But, hey. At least the poor billionaires will get their tax cuts.

Emotionally, I agree with you, Sis. I think that is baked into the cake. The animating spirit of Democrats now, and arguably since 2017, has been, "Fight back like hell." I think we have had enough time to conclude that this approach is necessary, but not sufficient. We won some (see 2018 and 2020 elections) and lost some (see Trump's 49.8 % 2024 victory.) Angus King is my kind of guy. In defending the deal he is probably exactly right that there is a 50/50 chance that once the deals are cut - or not - at some future point maybe the health care subsidies won't expire. Too many Republicans in close districts understand it is essentially the same as taking a knife in their hands and slitting their own throats open. Then again, too many Republicans said "Fuck no, and what part of fucking no do you not understand you fucking idiot?" to prevent a deal from happening now, despite all the uproar and pain. Angus King explained that fact in less inflammatory terms. So I think the message is clear that when it came to hunger and health care, Republicans said "Fuck no." This may explain why Trump's approval rating has gotten even worse since the shutdown started. People understand Team Trump says "fuck you" on hunger and "fuck you" on health care. This is what all the winning Democrats said in this month's election. This is why many Independents who don't particularly like the "woke" Democrat thing voted for a Democrat. Including rural Independents who both grow and eat food. They don't like "fuck you" as a message, it turns out. Who knew? Trump is a cruel piece of shit. And this does not go unnoticed. Despite the incessant barking of our rabid dog @barknway, Trump is now moving toward being as unpopular as he was at his lowest point in 2017. Let's see. What happened in 2017 that brought his approval rating to the lowest point of his first term? Oh. That's right. He tried to kill Obamacare. People did not like that. His disapproval rating just spiked to 54 % in the RCP average. Granted, it is not quite as high as the 57 % disapproval in 2017 when he tried to kill Obamacare. Perhaps because while Trump will now fuck tens of millions of people, including many Trump voters, on health care, it is still not quite as massive a "fuck you" as killing Obamacare would have been. Either way, people seem to notice what Trump's real agenda is. Those poor billionaires like him need their tax cuts. So people basically don't like being told "fuck you" on health care and hunger by Team Trump. And even if Chuck Schumer and Robot Jeffries are not half the woman Nancy Pelosi was as Speaker, the message is clearly getting through based on both elections and polls. I keep going back to one key fact. Fighting Trump is necessary, but not sufficient. Democrats need an affordability and working class agenda. There is a one word bumper sticker for what we need: "Mexico". If that is too verbose, an even shorter one: "AMLO". Democrats who want to win should be studying what AMLO did in Mexico to foster a working class political revolution. Granted, Mexico is much more working class today than the suburbs of the US are. But the basic formula is the same. Fight like hell for the working class. Put money in the hands of seniors and food on the tables of the working class. AMLO did that. And look what happened. If Democrats can not figure this out, and fight, I agree with you. We deserve to lose.

Justices decline case seeking to overturn landmark same-sex marriage ruling The high court turned down a petition from Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky who objected on religious grounds to issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. This is great news. Except for poor Kim, the bitch. Sing it, Randy.

Hell, maybe even White House butlers. It's not a new idea. But nobody does it like Trump. The rotten piece of shit.

That's such a racist video. 🙃 It's almost as if you are saying Trump is causing Black and Brown kids to be hungry. Haven't we all had enough of that DEI shit? White billionaires are not the cause of Black and Brown kids being ignorant and lazy. Let alone hungry. SNAP out of it, Sis!

Well, it's a theory, my darlingest Sister. I've just never been good at reading subtle body language. It is so much easier when all I have to do is get down on my knees and suck a well hung cock. Something Karoline no doubt seldom has the opportunity to do. Shucks!

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!