TRUMP THE GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bingo T Dog]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-s-alligator-alcatraz-flooded-a-day-after-announcing-facility-is-hurricane-proof/ar-AA1HQuEP?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=41418d85a25d4386f7f0bc692a3f375b&ei=23

[Suckrates]

52 minutes ago, Bingo T Dog said:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-s-alligator-alcatraz-flooded-a-day-after-announcing-facility-is-hurricane-proof/ar-AA1HQuEP?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=41418d85a25d4386f7f0bc692a3f375b&ei=23

Like EVERYTHING Taco Don has done,  he never thinks it thru....... he only considers the part that Harms Americans,  and THAT is enough for him,  even if his plan Cant work or is the most stupidest idea in the world......Trump loved the idea of FREE alligator workers.......  There should be a Prize given for greatest idea and use of alligators. 

NO waste fraud and abuse in THIS plan !  

[bucknaway]

[bucknaway]

[Suckrates]

THE MELODRAMA IS OVER........

TRUMPS "piece-de-resistance" of death and destruction has PASSED and will become the law of the land.   Billionaires have just gotten RICHER while regular Americans will be poorer and sicker.....

The spineless, cowardly GOP have caved and given Taco Trump his dream....his Bill of Destruction,  but of course we knew they WOULD, no matter how they feigned FAUX outrage at the policys.   with only 2 holdouts voting with the Dems....   Their FEAR of Taco Don drove their vote !   They either vote FOR the american people OR they vote for THEIR JOBS.....  They chose THEIR JOBS....

Taco Don will take his victory lap on July 4th.....so symbolic and the reason he pushed for it to be passed by that date,  and he will yap and Congratulate himself, all the while hiding the truth from the American people of how this Bill will in reality HARM THEM......    And since most of the policy wont take effect until AFTER mid terms, as Mitch McConnell said, ""it will ALL be forgotten".....  And Trump WINS again......   BUCKY,  post those Tik Toks !    (and make SURE, most of them will be BLACK folk, just to enhance your points)

America has fallen even further TODAY.    America will soon be "unrecognizable".   Taco Don, The Great DICTATOR. 

BTW:   not sure what the point of delegated party savior "robotic" Hakeem Jeffries hours long oration was for, when we KNEW the bill was gonna pass anyway.   The Dems are handicapped and weak and are no match for the current incarnation of Trump and the GOP, so for me, poor Hakeem appeared small and desperate and in the end INEFFECTIVE, which is the current sad state of the Dems......"Hakeem, sit down Boy !"   If the Dems NEED a poster boy,  give me WES MOORE   😍

[bucknaway]

[Suckrates]

Taco Don made MAGA and MAGAlite Americans BELIEVE gangs of immigrant black and brown criminals were running thru and ravaging their towns, EVENTHOUGH no MAGA has ever seen any......   Its the same way he had made them believe all his cutting of shit that benefits THEM now will be good for them later.   

and the crowd cheers "YES DADDY"   

Hail Taco Don,   you may be Americas WORST President,  but you sure are Americas BEST DICTATOR...... Your dream is realized !  

[stevenkesslar]

37 minutes ago, Suckrates said:

Taco Don made MAGA and MAGAlite Americans BELIEVE gangs of immigrant black and brown criminals were running thru and ravaging their towns, EVENTHOUGH no MAGA has ever seen any......   Its the same way he had made them believe all his cutting of shit that benefits THEM now will be good good them later.   

and the crowd cheers "YES DADDY"   \

Hail Taco Don,   you may be Americas WORST President,  but you sure are Americas BEST DICTATOR...... Your dream is realized !  

I completely agree with everything you said.  But I'll muddy the waters.   It's the 4th of July, and a good time to think about what makes us Americans.  Or unites or divides us.

On an emotional and family level, the hardest thing for me right now is that I have a niece and a nephew who I love and spend time with.  And they are both Gen Xers who, like much of their generation, are the political backbone of Trump and his worldview.  I just spent time in a red state with one of these people and his extended family at a really fun family event.  Which included some really conservative discussions about how Jon Ossoff is an asshole and even Brian Kemp, who I see as a relatively effective and pragmatic Republican Governor, is a country boy asshole because he doesn't suck up to Trump.  It gave me a good taste of MAGA.  Not that I needed it.  And, again, Rule #1 for me is this is family and I love family.

So I have now read several articles, all from conservatives, about this new Gallup poll that shows Republicans are prouder of America than ever.  And in one way or another every one of these right-of-center articles argues that this is because Republicans are good people who care about principles.  And Democrats are bad people who care about politics.  The one that is furthest out there is mostly about how Republicans go to church, and fear God, and don't abort their babies.  Which has exactly nothing to do with patriotism, or the questions Gallup asked about patriotism.  But the argument is this is why Republicans are good, and Democrats are bad.

Also, every one of these right-of-center articles doesn't even mention the fact that patriotism among Independents has dropped like a rock in the last 25 years.  You can see above the big drops in patriotism among Independents occurred when W (the Iraq War) and Trump have been President.  I am curious about that.  If it were only partisan Democrats like me, I would say maybe it's fair to say this has something to do with Democrats or politics.  But for whatever reason, which I am actually curious about, Independents are less proud of America.  Especially when Trump is President.  One wonders why.  Isn't MAGA curious?   (LOL.  Of course not.)

For me, especially now that America kinda sorta barely chose Trump twice,  it actually helps for me to think of these people as family members I love.  Because some of them are.  And, to go to the extreme, are these people Nazis?  No.  Are they rounding up Jews and Gays and Communists and putting them in concentrations camps? No.  They are rounding up "illegals", and are happy and proud Trump is doing it.  And they fear God, and they go to church, and they don't abort their babies.  And they do feel that they are the better Americans, who have good God fearing principles.  

It is what it is.  In a way I can say I am happy for my niece and nephew.  And if they love America for what THEY want it to be, well good for them.  Meanwhile, what that poll says loud and clear is that most of America - Independents and Democrats - are building a reaction against this.  This is not the America we want. 

So we'll see.  It is a new civil war, I believe.  But at least we are (mostly) not killing each other.

[Suckrates]

5 minutes ago, stevenkesslar said:

I completely agree with everything you said.  But I'll muddy the waters.   It's the 4th of July, and a good time to think about what makes us Americans.  Or unites or divides us.

It is what it is.  In a way I can say I am happy for my niece and nephew.  And if they love America for what THEY want it to be, well good for them.  Meanwhile, what that poll says loud and clear is that most of America - Independents and Democrats - are building a reaction against this.  This is not the America we want. 

So we'll see.  It is a new civil war, I believe.  But at least we are (mostly) not killing each other.

There is nothing to be Proud of now in America.  Certainly NOT of its leadership,  and opposition and dissent could/should be more robust and constant.   Taco railed against "shit hole" countries, but it only took him 7 months to turn America into one.   All the things people coveted that made them want to come here and live here have been "stolen" and what is left.....Noone wants.  And to think that only 30% of the population assisted Taco in his mission...   What a good DADDY...LEAD your people !  

[Suckrates]

15 minutes ago, stevenkesslar said:

I completely agree with everything you said.  But I'll muddy the waters.   It's the 4th of July, and a good time to think about what makes us Americans.  Or unites or divides us.

On an emotional and family level, the hardest thing for me right now is that I have a niece and a nephew who I love and spend time with.  And they are both Gen Xers who, like much of their generation, are the political backbone of Trump and his worldview.  I just spent time in a red state with one of these people and his extended family at a really fun family event.  Which included some really conservative discussions about how Jon Ossoff is an asshole and even Brian Kemp, who I see as a relatively effective and pragmatic Republican Governor, is a country boy asshole because he doesn't suck up to Trump.  It gave me a good taste of MAGA.  Not that I needed it.  And, again, Rule #1 for me is this is family and I love family.

 

Most people have a similar dynamic to the family dynamic you experience.    We have family, friends, neighbors, partners, coworkers etc with whom we DO NOT share political views....  Personally,  I used to be able to co-exists and converse with these people in MY life,  but NO MORE.....   These folk have become combative, nasty and immovable, and I dont find any need anymore to try to make them understand a different point of view, because they dont want one.   They are locked into their TRUMPISM, and believe its the greatest thing since slice WHITE bread.   I have had to CUT these people from my life, for my own peace and sanity.    There ius no way in hell I can buy what they are trying to sell me.    They are toxic and bring nothing constructive or useful to my life.   I do long for the olden days  where we could get together, have a drink and peacefully shoot the shit.   Those days are now long gone with the onset of Taco Authoritarianism.   All we can do is mourn the loss of those bonds we once had. . 

[stevenkesslar]

14 minutes ago, Suckrates said:

There is nothing to be Proud of now in America.  Certainly NOT of its leadership,  and opposition and dissent could/should be more robust and constant.

Again, I completely agree with you.

In part because it is the 4th of July, I'll muddy the waters.

I do think we can still be proud of being a democracy.  We are for sure a democracy under stress.  As are many democracies right now.  But if you buy the concept of checks and balances and blah blah blah, that was always baked into the cake.

For me, it is also helpful that Trump won a plurality in 2024.  He did not win a majority.  He got 49.8 % of the vote.  So, right out of the gate, this is not some mandate, like what Reagan clearly got in 1980 and 1984.  This is America deeply divided.

The one place I do disagree with you a little is on tactics, maybe.  It is not like Democrats did not speak up about the dangers of Trump.  Part of the righteous indignation of good God fearing MAGA folk is this.  You told us we were Nazis.  You told us we were racists.  You told us we were fascists.  You told us we only care about rich people and their tax cuts.  You told us we are horrible people.  Well fuck you.  You are the assholes.  So go fuck yourselves while we love our country as it SHOULD be.

Okay.   Well then.

Again, we have seen this movie before.  It is almost a repeat, really.  You can even track it in Trump's disapproval ratings and how they gradually and incrementally grow. 

So especially in the sequel, I think it is going to have to involve letting people absorb all the shit "they" voted for.  Again, as you say, "they" is maybe 30 % of actual Americans.  But in 2024 he did get more votes than Harris.  And Pew says if everyone voted, Trump would have actually won by a slightly bigger margin.  Who knows.  But it is a democracy.  And Trump won.  So we can all sit with the consequences for four years, while the world laughs at us or feels sorry for us, and see how we feel.  I think we can make an educated guess how the movie ends.  But then again, that just makes us those awful college-educated elitists.  So who knows?

Where is our AMLO?  Who is our AMLO?  To me, that is the most important question.  AMLO is some dude who, like Trump, will not stop and just keeps fucking fighting endlessly.  It took AMLO several elections to win power.  But once he did he had a clear mission and a plan to help the Mexican working class.  And it won't last forever.  But he now has a political coalition that is - for now - unstoppable.  Mostly because it produces results for the working class.  So they want more of it.

That is what Democrats need most now.  Where is our AMLO?  Where is our Claudia?

[Suckrates]

10 minutes ago, stevenkesslar said:

Where is our AMLO?  Who is our AMLO?  To me, that is the most important question.  AMLO is some dude who, like Trump, will not stop and just keeps fucking fighting endlessly.  It took AMLO several elections to win power.  But once he did he had a clear mission and a plan to help the Mexican working class.  And it won't last forever.  But he now has a political coalition that is - for now - unstoppable.  Mostly because it produces results for the working class.  So they want more of it.

That is what Democrats need most now.  Where is our AMLO?  Where is our Claudia?

Who the hell knows.   Even if one existed, Americans as they currently exist wouldnt allow that person to "flourish".   Take Mamdani for example.  Regardless what you think of his politics, the man has a plan, hes charismatic well spoken and likable.   And young New Yorkers embraced him as a Dem leader....  But everyone else attacked him and wants to hold him down.    They rather have people resembling spineless GOP self-serving puppets..     And he's just a local leader wannabee.   Leaders on a national level are even harder to break thru.   Regardless, truth is The Dems are popular with Americans.  Perhaps its because they are currently hobbled, and thats not their fault.   But they ARE guilty of whining and pearl clutching and talking down to Americans.   They need to get out of their OWN way !  

[stevenkesslar]

47 minutes ago, Suckrates said:

Who the hell knows.   Even if one existed, Americans as they currently exist wouldnt allow that person to "flourish".   Take Mamdani for example.  Regardless what you think of his politics, the man has a plan, hes charismatic well spoken and likable.   And young New Yorkers embraced him as a Dem leader....  But everyone else attacked him and wants to hold him down.    They rather have people resembling spineless GOP self-serving puppets..     And he's just a local leader wannabee.   Leaders on a national level are even harder to break thru.   Regardless, truth is The Dems are popular with Americans.  Perhaps its because they are currently hobbled, and thats not their fault.   But they ARE guilty of whining and pearl clutching and talking down to Americans.   They need to get out of their OWN way !  

Actually, you just made my point.

AMLO was the Mayor of Mexico City.  Obviously the biggest city in Mexico.  That gave him a big lab to experiment in.  It also gave him legitimacy when he said I want to take the show to Broadway now.  Many of the things that have worked on the Big Stage were things he tried in Mexico City:  old age pensions, social programs.  Mamdani wants free child care and city-run grocery stores.  Sounds crazy!  Sounds socialist!  Is it crazy?  Ask AMLO. 

AMLO left Mamdani a very specific playbook on how to pull this off as a Mayor.  Mamdani is a smart and eloquent guy.  I hope he reads the playbook.  I can see why his schtick on affordability worked - especially if the alternatives were Cuomo and Adams.

Speaking of New York, it is questionable who likes Rudy Ghouliani more, Trump or AMLO.  Back in the day, Rudy was America's Mayor, and he was tough on crime.  People loved it.  AMLO hired Rudy to help him develop a zero tolerance for crime policy in DF.  People loved it.  Point being that AMLO grew up in a poor part of Mexico and has always been intuitively good, better than Trump even, at understanding and playing to the centrist sensibilities of the working class.  Take notes, Democrats.

These days I joke with some friends and family members that I am the fucking problem.  If you need to understand what is wrong with Democrats, blame me. 

I am a liberal Democrat.  I am college-educated.  But I would not describe myself as a woke liberal Democrat.  My biggest mentor, my college professor Paul Wellstone, wrote the textbook on how to overturn a Republican lock on the Senate (in Minnesota) by being VERY attentive to the sensibilities of the working class.  It was intuitive for him.  Tim Walz, who represented the purple district I went to college in and also went to Camp Wellstone, could write the same textbook. 

Although, in my view, Harris/Walz 2024 was a bit too woke.  Where the fuck were the White men, other than Walz's own son in that wonderful tear jerking moment?  Did we REALLY need that commercial on toxic White males?  Who, by the way, said FUCK YOU I'm voting for Trump.  They should have had moderate Democrats who were White football players and were trained by Coach Walz everywhere, singing the fucking national anthem. I think that would have helped.

So as I just indicated, I am not a woke Democrat.  As far as I am concerned, it is open season on woke Democrats.  Which is a problem.  Because Mamdani also kind of sounds like a woke Democrat to me.  So we'll see.  But his challenge is to figure out how to focus on working class affordability, while he actually manages a city well if he wins (my advice:  make deals with billionaires to promote affordable housing, like AMLO did), and IF he can avoid falling into the woke bullshit traps that have badly hurt Democrats.

It's on us, Sis.  I have always been proud of you.  I think we can do it!  😀

[Suckrates]

1 hour ago, Suckrates said:

Who the hell knows.   Even if one existed, Americans as they currently exist wouldnt allow that person to "flourish".   Take Mamdani for example.  Regardless what you think of his politics, the man has a plan, hes charismatic well spoken and likable.   And young New Yorkers embraced him as a Dem leader....  But everyone else attacked him and wants to hold him down.    They rather have people resembling spineless GOP self-serving puppets..     And he's just a local leader wannabee.   Leaders on a national level are even harder to break thru.   Regardless, truth is The Dems are popular with Americans.  Perhaps its because they are currently hobbled, and thats not their fault.   But they ARE guilty of whining and pearl clutching and talking down to Americans.   They need to get out of their OWN way !  

I meant to say Dems ARENT popular.   Often passion takes over and distorts my posts....😢

[Suckrates]

42 minutes ago, stevenkesslar said:

So as I just indicated, I am not a woke Democrat.  As far as I am concerned, it is open season on woke Democrats.  Which is a problem.  Because Mamdani also kind of sounds like a woke Democrat to me.  So we'll see.  But his challenge is to figure out how to focus on working class affordability, while he actually manages a city well if he wins (my advice:  make deals with billionaires to promote affordable housing, like AMLO did), and IF he can avoid falling into the woke bullshit traps that have badly hurt Democrats.

It's on us, Sis.  I have always been proud of you.  I think we can do it!  😀

[Suckrates]

The word "WOKE" which Taco Don and the GOP bastardized simply means "aware and concerned".     Whats wrong with being THOSE things.   It shows you are a caring human being.

But Republicans and their supporters HATE that word, because they DONT care about people.    And they want to eradicate, eviscerate and eliminate  all those people that DO   

I am PROUD to be WOKE.......👍

[stevenkesslar]

2 hours ago, Suckrates said:

Most people have a similar dynamic to the family dynamic you experience.    We have family, friends, neighbors, partners, coworkers etc with whom we DO NOT share political views....  Personally,  I used to be able to co-exists and converse with these people in MY life,  but NO MORE.....   These folk have become combative, nasty and immovable, and I dont find any need anymore to try to make them understand a different point of view, because they dont want one.   They are locked into their TRUMPISM, and believe its the greatest thing since slice WHITE bread.   I have had to CUT these people from my life, for my own peace and sanity.    There ius no way in hell I can buy what they are trying to sell me.    They are toxic and bring nothing constructive or useful to my life.   I do long for the olden days  where we could get together, have a drink and peacefully shoot the shit.   Those days are now long gone with the onset of Taco Authoritarianism.   All we can do is mourn the loss of those bonds we once had. . 

I agree emphatically.

This one is a bit painful for me. 

I said that I joke with friends that I am the problem, because I am a liberal Democrat.  But my real point is that, for the most part, I've never been a big fan of what is now easy and popular to label as woke bullshit.  Right now I am a huge fan of Ruy Teixeira, who is absolutely and relentlessly ripping the shit out of college-educated woke Democrats for fucking up his Emerging Democratic Majority.  I don't fully agree with him on every point.  That said, right now I wish Democrats would do 100 % of what Teixeira says.  Don't even think about it.  Don't debate.  Just do it.

I make a big distinction between family and friends.  This is one where my Trump-supporting nephew and I can vibe easily and genuinely.  Years ago he would teasingly joke about how it's fun to pick on White men, like him.  But he is high up in a company that took DEI seriously, and still does.  I have a Gay Pride button he gave me that I cherish.  And he is at heart a Romney-type guy who wants to meet in the middle and get along.  So now he can say, with a slight air of smugness, that maybe my company went a bit too far with this DEI stuff.  But I'm glad we did.  And he means it.  He knows of course that the pendulum has swung hard one way right now, but it will swing back.  And I validate it by saying, sincerely, that some of the woke bullshit just went way too far.

I partly blame myself for losing Republican friends over this.  I was the one that broke the ties, not them.  Most of those people were clients I was close to who were moderate Republicans.  So it was always kind of a business relationship and kind of a friendship and easier to put an expiration date on.  But in several cases for something like 20 years we could easily talk and joke about our political differences.  For me it was actually more interesting than debating liberals who agreed with me.  And I do think that all reflects the way politics used to work in America.

I will spend a few paragraphs on an anecdote that I think reflects the emotional complexity of this.  In 2012 I was in Puerto Vallarta with a moderate Republican client on election night.  I mistakenly mentioned that Obama had just won a few states.  He got pissed at me and walked out of the condo.  Later he apologized and said he is perfectly fine with losing.  But he doesn't want the play by play while it happened.  fair enough.   Fast forward to 2016.  I told him if we go to PV we can NOT talk about the election.  So we are sitting in a restaurant and I say, "Trump is going to win."  We go back to the condo, turn on the TV, and talk about what this means all week long.  For me it was interesting.  Right after I got home I talked to a liberal friend who was in trauma who said, "Oh my God.  That must have been horrible."  And I said, no, it was kind of interesting.  So my point is I think in some ways I was a better sport than the moderate Republican was.  From 2016 to 2018, I was proud of the fact that I was just going to overlook those things.

During that week in PV in 2016 there was a line I will never forget.  "I want two, and three if that bitch dies."  This Republican was for some reason very interested in SCOTUS and law.  So I knew what he meant.  Two SCOTUS seats, and three if that bitch RBG dies.  Which, of course, she did.  So my point is where I went over the edge and bailed ship on these Republican friends is 2018 during the Kavanaugh shit show.  I'm not sure why.  But that was for sure one huge culture war moment that was very divisive.  Charlie Cook at the time said Trump is a "color intensifier".  And that SCOTUS fight was a textbook example of it.  He makes red states redder, and blue states bluer. 

In some ways it is like this inexorable force tearing at the fabric of the body politic, and tearing us apart.  Which, of course, is not entirely coincidental.  Putin has to be absolutely thrilled.  Let democracy destroy itself.  That is his long game.

One other anecdote, involving two of these Republicans.  In Fall 2016, before Trump won and while everyone thought he would lose, I had dinner with two of these Republican friends.  We all lamented the fact that someone like John Kasich was NOT the Republican nominee.  The unspoken context was these two moderate Republicans were saying with someone like Kasich, unlike Trump, they could probably beat Hillary.  What I was saying is I admire Republicans like Kasich.  And if he beat Hillary I could live with it.  It's a democracy.  Kasich is very much a principled conservative who loves to meet in the middle.

So my point is I blame this first and foremost on Trump.  As Cook's "color intensifier" comment implies, Trump is a master at divide and conquer.  I view him as symptom, not cause.  He was there at just the right moment in American politics.  He has won barely, twice, by fanning culture war and playing divide and conquer. 

It does come with consequences.  A Republican like Kasich can and does brag that in the 1990's he was one of those deal makers that helped get us to a budget surplus, driven of course by Bill Clinton.  Trump will instead drive us closer to bankruptcy, while he inflicts pain on working class women and children who will lose their health care.  Kasich barely won his first Ohio Guv race.  He was re-elected in a 2-1 landslide. Because a lot of Democrats like me respect him, or at least can tolerate him.  Trump can't do that.  It is always divide and conquer.  It is always narrow wins.  And just like in 2018 and 2020 my college-educated guess is there will be deeper and deeper disgust. And he will get his ass kicked.

Did it have to be this way?  Who knows.  That is an interesting question historians will fight over for a long time.  But I blame this on Trump, first and foremost.

In fairness, Biden deserves some blame, too.  Temperamentally, he is is the Democratic version of John Kasich.  Meet in the middle.  He did not really govern that way.  This is where I would argue AMLO was just a better leader.  He is more left wing than Biden.  But he focused like a laser on the economy, stupid.  And instead of falling into woke traps like Biden did - immigration especially - AMLO like Trump championed culturally centrist or even conservative views.  A lot of college-educated liberals in Mexico despised AMLO.

So I'm not proud of my own decision to cut ties with Republicans.  But at the end of the day I don't blame myself. 

They embraced Trump, not me.  It is on them.  And they are clearly proud of it.  Good for them.  Happy 4th of July.  Enjoy it while it lasts.

[bucknaway]

[stevenkesslar]

52 minutes ago, Suckrates said:

The word "WOKE" which Taco Don and the GOP bastardized simply means "aware and concerned".     Whats wrong with being THOSE things.   It shows you are a caring human being.

But Republicans and their supporters HATE that word, because they DONT care about people.    And they want to eradicate, eviscerate and eliminate  all those people that DO   

I am PROUD to be WOKE.......👍

Good for you, Sis.  I am proud of you, as always.

If we define "woke" as "aware and concerned", I am with you.  If the idea is that we are aware and concerned that Trump just won a victory that means throwing over 10 million people off health care and making women and children sicker, poorer, hungrier, or dead ................. all because they are unworthy and Elon Musk needs the tax cuts more ............ than I am definitely with you.

When I use "woke" I mean it the way Ruy Teixeira does.  Which is very different. 

I have posted many of his articles and praised Teixeira a lot.  This guy is the liberal who, along with John Judis, wrote The Emerging Democratic Majority.  While W. and the Iraq War were at their height of popularity.  Everyone thought they were crazy.  Judis used to write for In These Times.  I've always viewed him as a democratic socialist.  So these are not closet right wingers.  They are left wingers who have an analysis I agree with about how college educated woke Democrats helped fuck up their Emerging Democratic Majority.  In a sentence, focus on the working class.  Focus on economic issues that help the working class.  Don't get caught in culture war traps.

Ruy Teixeira Asks Whether America Has Reached “Peak Woke”

Note that was October 2022.  If there is one phrase that sums up what is problematic with "woke" it is this:  DEFUND THE POLICE.

Few if any Democrats who wanted to actually win an election embraced that phrase.  Biden ran from it.  Which is partly why he won the 2020 primary.  He said we need to FUND the police, but be thoughtful and fair about how we do it.

I think we now know the answer to the question Teixeira asked in October 2022.  We had not reached peak woke.  Had we done so, 2024 was a close call.  And it might have turned out differently.  I think several small changes could have made a difference.  Were Biden 20 years younger and fit to actually run again, I think running as the incumbent he might have won.  Again, not the Biden of 2024.  The Biden of twenty years ago, younger and sharper. 

Immigration was part of the woke thing.  Both Trump and Chris LaCivita have said Trump won the 2024 election for two reasons:  prices, and the border.  We'll never know.  But had Biden been Deporter In Chief, like Obama was, maybe that would have changed the outcome.  It didn't help that Harris was easy to label as The Failed Border Czarina.  For most of his second term, so far, Trump has  had net approval on his border policies.  They actually just turned net negative.  So even on that people are beginning to feel they have had enough.  But there is no question that "woke" immigration policies hurt Democrats in multiple elections. 

In talking with people about where Harris went wrong, most people feel like me.  Given the circumstances and the time she had, she was awesome.  Things would have been worse if Biden stayed in the race.  Then they talk about The View and the "what would you do different?" question.  My own 20/20 hindsight suggestion is she should have said, "You know, frankly, some of that woke bullshit just went too far for me."  She might have talked about Latino rapists.  She might have talked about how as a prosecutor she always was wary of Defund The Police.  Her actual answer, "I'd change nothing," more or less, made a lot of people groan.  If she had simply used the words "woke bullshit" I think for a lot of people it would have been a huge sigh of relief.  In part because she was also Vice President Word Salad.  And there is nothing word salad about "woke bullshit".

I'll be curious to see how that plays out for Mandani.  To me, immigration and ICE is one area where he sounds "woke" in a way that could blow up in his face. I hope not.

 

 

 

 

[stevenkesslar]

17 minutes ago, bucknaway said:

 

I'm bad at math.  Let me see if I get it.

Trump's bill is essential, and will lead to a Golden Era for America.

First, it reduces government spending by throwing over 10 million working class and low-income people, many of whom are women and children and many of whom voted for Trump, off their health care plans.

Second, this money is then reallocated to programs that are essential for America's future.  Like giving a $300,000 a year tax break to the very richest Americans. Which is three times what the average American makes in a year.  You can't have a Golden Era without tax breaks for rich Trump donors.

Third, this is all cruel bullshit.  But we will try to persuade you of the exact opposite.

Am I pretty close to understanding?   Asking for a friend on Tik Tok.

[bucknaway]

[Suckrates]

9 minutes ago, bucknaway said:

There is NOTHING more heinous and misguided  than a BLACK MAGA.....    Bro, if you think this con man cares about you and the shit he tells you, or the misinformation that is released by a biased deceiving White House,  than you DESERVE the shit that is coming down the pike and is gonna hit YOU !    You are not only a disgrace to your RACE, you are an American disgrace. 

[bucknaway]