Trump

[Tahlvin]

And they've unearthed a legal document from when he turned Mar-a-Lago into a club that states that there will be no permanent residents. He's got some explaining to do.

[Phoebe]

Every single thing he freaks out about other people doing is a case of narcissistic projection. Why the Joe Scarborough thing (and all the previous Clinton things) are so scary. He is furious about voter fraud because he knows he is doing it himself and he assumes everyone else is a cheater too. General Republican problem these days. They know they're a minority party so the only way to win is to cheat, and they think losing means losing their America. Their America is not first and foremost a democracy, obviously, so they do what they think they gotta.

Republicans here are having a remarkable psychological struggle. Many of them are trying to find a way to say that what happened to George Floyd was wrong, because watching someone die on film is quite a thing even for the hardest hearts, but they also need to be able to say that it's okay to shoot protesters on sight. Very difficult. It's like, he should not have been killed and we pray for his family, but also why was he a criminal who played a stupid game and won a stupid prize? That is literally the exact phrase that people have been using about not only him but another person here who was killed. I repeat for the accuracy of relaying the thought process. "I don't hate anyone, I'm not racist, I just want people I fear to be shot dead."

[poorpete]

[poorpete]

I don't like saying his name, but also I don't like giving him nicknames, making fun of his weight or his makeup, or his hair, or his original last name. Why stoop to his level? I mean "be best," right?

But.....

"bunkerboy" might win me over.

[akiva]

[poorpete]

Reminds me of in school, I got the nickname "pistol pete" and it was used by the bullies, but it came from a friend, who liked how scrappy I was playing basketball in gym class. I wasn't a fan of it, but it was ok. I had worse. Month later, a bully claimed he came up with the nickname. Why, why even lie about that?

[akiva]

Lisa Murkowski, and basically just admitted that she's a coward: "When I saw General Mattis' comments yesterday I felt like perhaps we are getting to a point where we can be more honest with the concerns that we might hold internally and have the courage of our own convictions to speak up."

[Phoebe]

Oh criminy, you're a US senator, and it would take only three or four of these gnat brains to put a stop to almost all of this shit, and they deliberately choose not to do it. If Murkowski or Collins or Sasse or Corker had joined forces with Romney, the biggest part of this nightmare would be over. We would still have big problems, but it would be a lot better, and if they stayed consistent in occasionally defying their dark emperor McConnell, we might even achieve semi-functionality. This woman and her ilk will be remembered forever as useless cowards. She still has a very slight chance to redeem herself. I won't hold my breath. At least she's not the worst. I think it's pretty clear McConnell is the worst. I struggle with who gets the next few ranks - maybe it's Ted Cruz because I don't know what kind of man lets another man say those things about his father and then goes and licks that man's derriere for years. A not-even-a-man, that's what. But someone suggested Tom Cotton should not slip off our radar and that's a good proposal! He has been one of the most batshit lately.

[Phoebe]

No! I figured out the right answer: Rand Paul. Which sadly means Kentucky has given us the two worst senators in the nation, but there's no getting around it. To compound his many other failings, Rand Paul is worried that we might be defining lynching too broadly, as evidenced by all the many situations where ... Oh wait, there is no evidence of that. He just wanted to mark the occasion of George Floyd's funeral by making a stink to delay the lynching bill, giving a puffy speech about the history of lynching while sending a little wink and nod to his real supporters. He's definitely our number two here.

[Stan]

Chuck Grassley said he'd block new appointment until there's an explanation for the firings of inspectors general. It's something at least but it reminds me of the old saying that is along the lines of closing the barn door after the cows have already gotten out. Many judges rated unqualified were appointed to high level lifetime positions. Most cabinet members have huge conflicts of interest, and people what are known partisan hacks are brought to the forefront.

[Phoebe]

Grassley definitely knows better but I feel like by the time guys like him stand up, it will be too late. This is like watching a scary movie where you know it's going to happen, and the only question is how they're going to try to do it. I was worried about this group not going quietly if Biden wins, and I was worried about election integrity, but now I'm worried it will happen before the election.

[akiva]

[Stan]

Once detailed examination of the ICE concentration camps occur, there will be many arrests. There are literally thousands of sexual abuse cases, mostly involving separated minors.* Moving moving people around, spreading Covid-19 is criminal mismanagement. With limited testing, there are 1400 positive results so far. Without oversight, these abuses are probably the tip of the iceberg.


*Why did Trump want to separate children? Did Epstein give him the idea?

[Tahlvin]

So that produces swabs for corona virus testing, refuses to wear a mask, and now the company will have to throw away all of the swabs produced during that visit. Thankfully, they planned ahead and were only doing limited production on that day. Either way, it means pretty much an entire lost day of production of a scarce resource, all so Trump could have a photo op.

[Phoebe]

Well, at least nobody got teargassed or beaten for THIS photo op.

[FlameBlade]

Trump rally!

If you want to go, you gotta sign a waiver absolving Trump campaign of any responsibility regarding coronavirus! Great!

Seriously, I do wonder if people who are affected by those who went could sue.

[Tahlvin]

His performance at West Point was... interesting?

[FlameBlade]

[FlameBlade]

I keep going back to 2016 of this thread, and dang, we really called out that Trump is really awful, but we had no clue just about how awful he will be.

[poorpete]

Trump claiming people never heard of Juneteenth until he made it popular is extremely arrogant.

And probably partially true. I admit I didn't hear about Juneteenth until after college, and well into my years at History. Every few years I need to check the wikipedia to reread its history because I forget, and I almost never remember the day until seeing tweets about it. This was my blindspot, I don't feel good about it, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was the only one.

And yes, it's obvious his stumble of dumbness has directly led to me getting a day off tomorrow (and hopefully every year onward), which I will spend rereading the wikipedia article and then teaching my kids what Juneteenth is.