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U-S-A! The American Politics Thread. (Read 499848 times)

Oldmanmatt

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#550 Re: Trump
August 04, 2017, 09:14:32 pm

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#551 Re: Trump
August 04, 2017, 11:15:20 pm
interesting analysis of the reasons why the Senate GOPs are getting more vocal, whilst the House remains compliant:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-senate-seems-more-willing-to-push-back-against-trump-than-the-house-why/

the TR:DR version is "don't get your hopes up, self-interest still rules".  That said, the continued divergance in the Approval vs Disapproval rating chart is heartening.  Maybe even "the base" is realising that the desired prospects of environmental rap, corporate tax cuts, and financial deregulation are a heavy price for drowning in global embarassment, handcuffed to a leaden moron, and being viewed as a stooge to Putin. 

Btw, for "whistling in the dark" relief, I recommend the Pod Save America cast.  It has serious faults - very "preaching to the converted" - but its weaknesses are also strengths - hosted by ex-Obama / Clinton speechwriters - so they know how the White House should work, and can provide well informed details of the mechanical defects of the current adminsistration (beyond the normal "Trump" is a cretin").

https://getcrookedmedia.com/here-have-a-podcast-78ee56b5a323

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#552 Re: Trump
August 04, 2017, 11:55:09 pm
interesting analysis of the reasons why the Senate GOPs are getting more vocal, whilst the House remains compliant:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-senate-seems-more-willing-to-push-back-against-trump-than-the-house-why/

the TR:DR version is "don't get your hopes up, self-interest still rules".  That said, the continued divergance in the Approval vs Disapproval rating chart is heartening.  Maybe even "the base" is realising that the desired prospects of environmental rap, corporate tax cuts, and financial deregulation are a heavy price for drowning in global embarassment, handcuffed to a leaden moron, and being viewed as a stooge to Putin. 

Btw, for "whistling in the dark" relief, I recommend the Pod Save America cast.  It has serious faults - very "preaching to the converted" - but its weaknesses are also strengths - hosted by ex-Obama / Clinton speechwriters - so they know how the White House should work, and can provide well informed details of the mechanical defects of the current adminsistration (beyond the normal "Trump" is a cretin").

https://getcrookedmedia.com/here-have-a-podcast-78ee56b5a323

We (wife and I) were saying this morning that Trump has pretty much lost Senate Republicans at this point: there are very few who are wholeheartedly onboard. This has to be a sign. The simple explanation? There are far more nutters in the House. As to the base, at its core, the ones who will be the last ones standing, the commitment is almost entirely emotional and entirely divorced from any rational means/ends analysis.

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#553 Re: Trump
August 05, 2017, 07:29:47 pm
When Mueller gets round to handing his final report to the House (if Trump hasn't succeeded in sacking him first, in which case it will be another prosecutor) I think Trump will try to bring everything down around him to avoid responsibility, having whipped his remaining supporters into a state of hysterical denial. Listening to him speak to his fans it feels dangerous tbh.

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#554 Re: Trump
August 06, 2017, 02:24:38 pm
I think Trump will try to bring everything down around him to avoid responsibility, having whipped his remaining supporters into a state of hysterical denial. Listening to him speak to his fans it feels dangerous tbh.

His rally in West Virginia on Thursday evening, hours after the news that Mueller has convened a Grand Jury, was very instructive. There was a strong emphasis on a new narrative about how "they" were trying to deny "your" (the crowd's) future. As indictments appear ever more likely he is clearly preparing the ground for a delegitimisation of the Special Counsel's investigation and its possible findings. I think that strategy will work in the sense that there is a constituency ready - eager - to buy that story. I was at a local music festival yesterday and noticed a number of signs of Trump support on t-shirts, hats etc. That's happens in daily life too, like the Trump yard sign that disappeared after the election but that has now reappeared. They haven't gone away and they're not about to any time soon. It does feel dangerous.

And then there's this ... a frightening endpoint to where all this rhetoric seems to be inexorably leading us.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/05/nra-new-york-times-video-coming-for-threat-dana-loesch

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#555 Re: Trump
August 09, 2017, 03:52:26 pm
Interesting development, been kept quiet for a couple of weeks

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40879798

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#556 Trump
August 12, 2017, 09:09:51 pm
The videos in this article are hard to watch and difficult to see the act as "accidental" (I wondered if it was a panicked reaction, prior to actually seeing it).
The third link is the most telling, with the grey car obviously moving from clear streets into the crowd at speed and then reversing away fast and purposefully.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/charlottesville-protesters-unite-right-rally-vehicle-injuries-a7890396.html

Why in the Trump thread? Because their leader claimed they were there to fulfil Trumps promises.

« Last Edit: August 12, 2017, 09:26:35 pm by Oldmanmatt »

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#557 Re: Trump
August 12, 2017, 09:46:50 pm
Well, the whole Korea thing sure does take the focus off the Russia enquiry.... just like house of cards...


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#558 Re: Trump
August 12, 2017, 09:49:44 pm
Those video clips are horrific OMM.

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#559 Re: Trump
August 15, 2017, 12:42:39 am
I should probably write another post. It was a pretty horrible weekend. We're down in Philadelphia for Saturday day/night for reunion with old friends but constantly surreptitiously checking phones for updates. I had a bad feeling long before the terrible events unfolded and then of course, there was shock and sadness. Busy Sunday morning we drove home in time to catch a hastily called rally downtown (for what it's worth I live in a city called Allentown) that had a crowd of about 500. Largely organised by a coalition of faith groups, as well as grass roots political organisations, there was a series of powerful speeches from Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, Hispanics, LGBTQ activists – seriously, I have never heard so many pastors speak in my life till I moved here! The (multiracial crowd) was given a serious schooling in white privilege! Really, the focus and debate has very quickly moved on to reactions and aftermath. Trump was pathetic, his white supremacist sympathies and lack of moral courage very painfully exposed. The Nazis were delighted. Sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, I’m asked the difference between Brexit and Trump. The answer is increasingly unavoidable. Race. Race has become (even more) deeply toxic here in the US. But this is also about history, claims to history, and failures to deal with history. Much of white America has simply failed to come to terms with its history. And I’m not even really talking about the avowed Nazis marching in Charlottesville but rather those who equivocate, try to draw moral equivalence, and ask that people of colour here “move on” and “put the past behind them.”

Oldmanmatt

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#561 Re: Trump
August 15, 2017, 06:22:07 pm
Official Mike Pence for president. Satirical, possibly.

On a more serious note, is there any dirt on Pence? He says today he "never witnessed" any collusion between the Russian government and Trump campaign in the 2016 campaign. I take this to mean he knew all about it. The 1973 playbook says you first bring down the VP (Spiro Agnew) because he's even worse than the prez. Only when the relatively acceptable Gerald Ford is in place do you go all out for Nixon.

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#562 Re: Trump
August 15, 2017, 09:42:01 pm
Wow. Trump just blamed the "Alt-Left"(sic) for starting the violence in Charlottesville, in his New York press conference.
He claims they charged the Unite the Right march "with clubs".
This contradicts both the Police, State Troopers and even the Militia accounts as well as all the media accounts I've seen.

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#563 Re: Trump
August 15, 2017, 09:46:36 pm
Shit! I was watching it live on  WP and he's just gone full Nazi! Reckons R.E. Lee is comparable to George Washington etc. Had to find a non-live link. AP is going berserk, so here's the Beeb's take:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40943425?ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_source=facebook

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#564 Re: Trump
August 15, 2017, 09:50:37 pm
I was watching it live on BBC's "Outside Source" (a great news show BTW) and it was absolutely insane.

Oldmanmatt

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Oldmanmatt

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#566 Re: Trump
August 15, 2017, 10:22:06 pm
And assuming the Guardian isn't inventing quotes, the Militia view point:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/15/charlottesville-militia-free-speech-violence?CMP=fb_gu

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#567 Re: Trump
August 15, 2017, 10:39:03 pm
It's so fucked up. Both what he is saying - and presumably he is being torn in all sorts of directions behind the scenes by his 'teams' - hence the contradictions.

It is gob smacking how he is being allowed to do this - I mean he's not just wrong - he's stupidly wrong. I'm struggling to describe the bonkersness..

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#568 Re: Trump
August 15, 2017, 10:56:05 pm
Presidential, what a shambles, Trump seems to amplify all that's bad within America.

Just when you think things can't get any worse, he opens his mouth or begins to tweet.


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#569 Re: Trump
August 16, 2017, 03:47:26 am
Re-read a transcript in the Washington Journal:

TRUMP: Okay, what about the alt-left that came charging at us – excuse me – what about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt right? Do they have any semblance of guilt?

Did you notice the "us"?

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#570 Re: Trump
August 16, 2017, 08:02:53 am
You know the best thing about this entire fuckup is? It's that this time next week it'll be all forgotten, made obsolete by something even more stupid or negligent he'll say or do between now and then.

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#571 Re: Trump
August 16, 2017, 08:07:28 am
You know the best thing about this entire fuckup is? It's that this time next week it'll be all forgotten, made obsolete by something even more stupid or negligent he'll say or do between now and then.

I think this is pretty bad - as what he said is unpicked. For me the telling comment is the 'us' referring to the alt-right... at a time where he should be trying to bring the country together, he's just picked a side. Everyone probably thought he was on that side anyway, but I (and Isuspect many) hoped he would be presidential in some way and put that to one side for the sake of his country.

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#572 Re: Trump
August 16, 2017, 09:31:47 am
Trump's clearly incapable of putting anything - greater good of his country, peace in SE asia  etc. - ahead of his own ego for more than 24hrs.

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#573 Re: Trump
August 16, 2017, 09:56:07 am
In other news

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/donald-trump-scottish-golf-course_uk_59931c08e4b00914164031d6

At least we can control him doing something.

What are the odds on May cancelling the visit? Or would that be an international disaster?

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#574 Re: Trump
August 16, 2017, 11:03:04 am
Presidential, what a shambles, Trump seems to amplify all that's bad within America.

Just when you think things can't get any worse, he opens his mouth or begins to tweet.

He says that bit about the "alt-left charging" at 13:43. Watching the video, I don't think he does says "us". I think he says "charging at 'em". The audio goes a bit weird at that point, but if you look at his lips he certainly seems to be saying "'em" and not "us". Two distinctively different mouth movements. What do others think?

The Washington Journal does not contain a video clip of him saying anything. The WJ cites Politico as the source of the transcript, but the Politico article that they link to does not contain a transcript, nor does it contain a video clip.


Soooo. Fake news?

 

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