Trump

[buckett]

[Stan]

[Phoebe]

I think this is true - more meddling afoot just like last time, from people who are probably paid to do it rather than actual voters. Still, the real-human Bernie bros I have encountered this week, whether influenced by that type of meddling or not, have a lot to say about Warren/Harris/Gillibrand/Hillary that chaps my hide because the sexism is SO transparent. They will tag those ladies for things they aren't even aware their saint might be guilty of. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled to have people like Bernie hammering home the message about wealth disparities and basic provisions government should be expected to offer. I don't have a heck of a lot of time for people who want to condescend to women or minorities who were loyal to Hillary and aren't ready to jump on board the Bernie train this time after what happened last time. Coming out of the gate there is a need to heal some wounds, not just expect them to agree with your assessment of all of Hillary's negatives.

[mimekiller]

Cory Booker quote-tweeting the Hot Pockets account on the day of his announcement really sets the tone for his presidential campaign.

[mimekiller]

congrats to joe biden on somehow not being the democrat caught wearing blackface

[mimekiller]

die boomers die

https://www.axios.com/2020-presidential ... gn=organic

[Mike]

No, no... that's German for: "The boomers. The."

[mimekiller]

Trump completely destroyed Elizabeth Warren. He dropped the bait, she took it, and now her presidential ambitions are done for.

[Mike]

You give Trump too much credit. It's not as if he had a plan. Trump makes fun of anyone who disagrees with him. He thought that a woman who looks white claiming native heritage was ridiculous, so he made fun of that. He got a huge reaction so he kept doing it.

All subsequent missteps were entirely Warren's, and Trump just coincidentally benefits.

[Phoebe]

Bye, Warren. Not sorry. She was not going to win, so it's for the best. The hilarious thing is, Trump has done 100 things more dishonest and wrong and racist than this, but his people don't care, they love that.

[Tahlvin]

It would have been much better if she had come out and said, "our family always told the story that we had Native American ancestry, but it turns out the story was wrong, and I apologize." I know how that can happen: one of my ancestors married a Native American princess, so we were always told about it growing up. My mother later found out that the princess had died, our ancestor had remarried, and the new wife wanted nothing to do with the half-breed kids of the first marriage, so they were shipped off to a reservation, and we are descendants of the new wife rather than the first wife, so we actually have no direct Native American ancestry. I was probably in my 30's by the time we found that out. Although, we never tried to claim Native American ancestry for anything, since this was enough generations ago that we only would have been like 1/64 or 1/128, I believe, which wouldn't have qualified for scholarships or anything like that.

[Mike]

I've talked about it on the podcast, but my great grandmother was supposed to be full blood Cherokee. Research shows a possible native ancestor on the other side, but that was generations back. So potentially I'm one-eighth native. But our family has never identified as native and it is not a part of my upbringing--I didn't even know any of this til a couple years ago.

But who knows. I have family stories, but no clue how accurate any of this is. If I took a DNA test, it could come back anywhere from 0.5% to 10% native ancestry and I wouldn't be surprised. I get where Warren was coming from, but there's a difference between telling stories about possible native ancestry and identifying yourself as Native American on official school forms, as Warren did.

It's too bad. I like Warren. She has the right ideas, the passion, and the experience, and I understand how her decision seemed harmless back in 1984, but the world has changed, she hasn't handled this well, and she's effectively taken herself out of the running with this.

[Tahlvin]

There was a family I went to high school with that was 1/8 Native American. They did identify themselves as such in order to qualify for scholarships and other aid. But as far as the rest of us were aware, they looked and lived just like the rest of us. I don't know whether they celebrated their heritage at home or elsewhere. But even if they did not, should they be scorned now because they claimed benefits that they were legally entitled to, but did not have to deal with all of the prejudices of the population intended to receive those benefits? And this was a case where they had verifiable proof of Native American ancestry.

It's another one of those situations where something that was acceptable behavior 30-40 years ago may no longer be considered acceptable, but how much should someone who was a teenager at that time be held accountable for their or their parents actions? Life is complicated.

[poorpete]

This Virginia mess reminds me again of the difference between supporting "until" vs. "despite". Ala "I supported Northam until I learned about his blackface past" is way better than "I support Trump despite learning he is a vulgar racist wannabe-authoritarian assaulter."

It's not only "way better" but it's right. And inevitable. You support politicians and some of them will disappoint you and some of them will down-right horrify you. And you realizing that some of your teammates are actually awful (or were awful) and making a change (by not supporting that politician's career advancement) makes you right. We didn't marry Northam and they didn't marry Kavanaugh. There's millions of us. You can let them go.

[WillyGilligan]

Over the last couple of years I've seen a narrative among some conservatives that the President's more extreme positions and ridiculous statements are there to pull attention and make room for more rational conservative policies to be pushed forward. That he serves a purpose in drawing fire from the Left like a lightning rod (or rodeo clown, if you like), and this is fine because it allows conservatives to gain traction in the public mind and the more ridiculous things aren't going to happen.

I think about that when I hear some of the statements attributed to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and see the reactions from right wing media. And then I find myself wishing that nobody had ever conceptualized the damned Overton window.

[mimekiller]

Is this legit? shocking!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -cent.html

[Mike]

I can't tell if you're sarcastic or trolling or some combination thereof, so I don't know if response is warranted.

Rasmussen is notorious for leaning 5 points to the GOP, but in this case, even adjusting for that puts them several points above the average for other polls over the same time period. Trump has not reached as high as 43% since the first two months of his presidency. This is minor static for right now.

[mimekiller]

I'm honestly shocked the dailymail ran with it actually. But maybe the nuances of USA websites or sources is lost in translation

[Stan]

Fake national emergency to gain financial powers normally reserved for congress. Increased usage of military for policing and other non-military powers. That's the road to tyranny with a weak, rubber stamp legislature.

I would have thought it would take an evil genius to accomplish that. It turns out that a narcissistic idiotic racist con artist can do it as long as they are abetted by a greedy political party and voters who are either racist or lack enough empathy to be concerned with anything other than hoped improvements on their tax return.

[akiva]