Pete Buttigieg

[PyramidHead]

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

CNN to everyone:

Coming up next, Senator Bernie Sanders doubles down on his view that prisoners should still be able to vote while they're serving time. Fellow 2020 Democrats though aren't as sure about that. We'll get reaction from a former felon, who has since become a lawyer working to restore rights to ex-convicts. Don't miss that.

[15:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Should prisoners like the Boston Marathon bomber have the right to vote while serving their sentence? Democratic Presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders, said yes. And he raised some eyebrows when he argued his point at last night's CNN "TOWN HALL."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If somebody commits a serious criminal, sexual assault, murder, they're going to be punished. They may be in jail for ten years, 20 years, 50 years, their whole lives. That's what happens when you commit a serious crime.

But I think the right to vote is inherent to our democracy. Yes, even for terrible people. Because once you start chipping away and you say well that guy committed a terrible crime, not going to let him vote. Or that person did that. Not going to let that person vote. You're running down a slippery slope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: After he said that, the reaction from his 2020 contenders was mixed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I agree that the right to vote is one of the very important components of citizenship. I think we should have that conversation.

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Part of the punishment when you are convicted of a crime and incarcerated is you lose certain rights. You lose your freedom and I think during that period it does not make sense to have an exception for the right to vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Bakari sellers is an attorney and CNN commentator and Desmond Meade is the president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and Desmond was just in the "Time 100 List" for leading the effort to restoring voting rights to felons in Florida.

So welcome to both of you. And Desmond, let me start with you. You know, you have this felon record. And you have paid your debt to society, you could now vote. So do you think inmates, same question to you, should be able to vote?

DESMOND MEADE, PRESIDENT, FLORIDA RIGHTS RESTORATION COALITION: Well, I think that the question might be -- stated wrong. I think the question should be should American citizens ever lose their citizenship because of mistakes that they made? Right.

BALDWIN: What is the answer to that?

MEADE: When you think about it in that context. The answer is no, they shouldn't lose their citizenship. You know, I have four young sons who every now and then they might make foolish mistakes but they never stopped being a Meade, they never stopped being my son. Nothing speaks more to American citizenship than being able to vote and so -- BALDWIN: Even if you are a convicted murderer or a rapist or a sex

offender, no matter what, you're saying they should be able to vote.

MEADE: If they are an American citizen, they should be able to vote. But you see, I want to be able to address that in a different context. Because what we heard at the "TOWN HALL" was in the context of politicians and their engaging in their little sound bites. The concern that I have is whether or not any of those candidates have really had real conversations with directly impacted people, people like me.

We have people in Louisiana and North Carolina, Pennsylvania and California returning citizens that's been leading this effort for many years. What's very important is that any one of these candidates that's trying to get to the White House, they must have a conversation with people like us to really get a better and deeper context of this debate and then the larger picture of criminal just.

BALDWIN: Sure and when you made the point about speaking in sound bites, last night I heard Bakari chuckle, and I want to talk what we heard from them in a second. But Bakari, just on the question in and of itself on its face, what do you think?

[15:40:00] Should inmates or as Desmond prefers, you know, American citizens behind bars be allowed to vote?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, the answer to that question is no. And I don't believe that the Dylann Roofs of the world or the Boston bombers of the world should have the right to vote.

But even before we get to that point, because there is one small caveat that I'm sure Desmond and I can agree on because he's been doing great work. We have to applaud the work that he has been doing and other returning citizens have been doing. Because I think what they are doing is actually the goal that every candidate should get to. Which is, if you are in this country and you are off your papers, which means you are off parole or you are off probation and you have served your time, then your right to vote must be re-established immediately. And those returning citizens deserve the right to vote immediately.

Those individuals who are incarcerated right now who are serving their time, the answer to that question is no. But the individuals who have served their time in states throughout the country and in fact Florida has now caught up to South Carolina allowing returning citizens the right to vote. I think every single state in the union should have that standard because you should not be punished for the rest of your life because of a mistake that you made. I do agree with that.

MEADE: Bakari, but we're still behind Maine and Vermont. Which, you know, they have their people never lose the right to vote and then there is several states that allow people to vote even while they are on probation. So I think that --

SELLERS: I think that is a debate that we can have. I think that allowing someone to vote while they may be on probation or maybe on parole, while some of the rights are being -- some of the rights are being granted is fine. I think that we can actually find the middle ground. I think that's what Senator Harris was talking about. But I just have a hard time saying that someone like Dylann Roof has the right to vote. And I know that people will say that that's a sensationalized argument and that is the worst of the worst. Well where do we draw that line and I that that's my problem, that's my hard one.

MEADE: Bakari, I think that is a great point. But we cannot engage in picking and choosing who is worthy of being able to vote and who is not worthy of being able to vote. Because when we get there, I mean that line could be drawn in so many different ways from so many different people.

And just like when you engage in the topic of violent versus nonviolent, at the end of the day, people that we're talking about are people. And we have to be in a comfortable position to understand that our protection of rights that are afforded to people like Dylann Roof is important for our own protection. Because the minute that we erode those protections for the worst among us, all of us are vulnerable.

ETA: What Bernie Sanders said to citizens in Muscatine, Iowa almost twenty days before the CNN Town Hall:

At a town hall meeting in Muscatine’s West Middle School gymnasium Saturday, the Vermont senator was asked whether the imprisoned should have the right to vote. Only his home state and Maine allow felons to vote from behind bars.

"I think that is absolutely the direction we should go," he said.

While most states disenfranchise felons, Sanders said the convicted still have a right to participate in elections.

"In my state, what we do is separate. You’re paying a price, you committed a crime, you’re in jail. That's bad," he said. "But you’re still living in American society and you have a right to vote. I believe in that, yes, I do.”

What Elizabeth Warren said in Storm Lake, Iowa, March 30th, almost a week before what Sanders said :

“Once someone pays their debt to society, they’re out there expected to pay taxes, expected to abide by the law, they’re expected to support themselves and their families,” she said. “I think that means they’ve got a right to vote.”

“While they’re incarcerated, I think that’s something we can have more conversation about,” she concluded.

Iow, none of this was some sort of CNN "gotcha" question aimed first at Sanders (as if it came from the 2016 primaries) and then at Buttigieg in the same fashion as your meme heavily implies, but nice job of mimicking Russian influencing tactics.

 

[PyramidHead]

Relevant to this thread is the following:

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Part of the punishment when you are convicted of a crime and incarcerated is you lose certain rights. You lose your freedom and I think during that period it does not make sense to have an exception for the right to vote.

This, as I have argued elsewhere, is a view that most developed nations would regard as kind of backwards and draconian. But it's a common sentiment in our society, and among the privileged class I expect it will earn Pete some points. The way Pete phrases it is interesting and scary: he implies that in order to retain the right to vote, we would need to "have an exception" to the general rule that prisoners should lose their rights--by this wording, it sounds like the expectation is that ALL rights should be lost upon conviction, save those for which we "have an exception". That's a remarkable perspective, and not in a good way.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Relevant to this thread is the following:

Does that mean you understand how your meme was irrelevant to this thread and further that it was deliberately deceptive and trying to emotionally link Buttigieg to Sanders as targets of "establishment" media and you should therefore never share it again?

Just want to make sure you understand what you did, even if initially you didn't understand what you were doing by sharing it.

 

[PyramidHead]

Relevant to this thread is the following:

Does that mean you understand how your meme was irrelevant to this thread and further that it was deliberately deceptive and trying to emotionally link Buttigieg to Sanders as targets of "establishment" media and you should therefore never share it again?

Just want to make sure you understand what you did, even if initially you didn't understand what you were doing by sharing it.

The meme was saying that Buttigieg is beloved by the media while Sanders is hated, not that they are linked. Pete wasn't asked the question in the context of a specific criminal, he was just asked about prisoners in general. When Bernie was asked, they steered him into making a soundbite that painted him as supportive of a hated terrorist. They should have asked all the candidates the same question in the same way.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

The meme was saying that Buttigieg is beloved by the media while Sanders is hated, not that they are linked.

Interesting interpretation.

Pete wasn't asked the question in the context of a specific criminal, he was just asked about prisoners in general.

As was Sanders almost a month prior. And that only after the question had been put to Elizabeth Warren. Had you read my sources you would have noted how the whole question came up (and it was NOT CNN):

Sanders skipped that presidential forum, which Warren, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former U.S. housing secretary Julián Castro, former Maryland U.S. Rep. John Delaney and Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan attended.

In Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has advocated this year for a constitutional amendment to allow people convicted of felonies to automatically have their voting rights restored once they have served their sentence. Right now, Iowa is one of two states that only allow felons to vote if a governor gives them permission.

So, in Iowa, first Warren was asked about her views on what Reynolds had proposed and she sort of skated it. Then about six days later, Sanders was asked to chime in his opinion.

The point being, that long before CNN picked up on and expanded upon what Sanders had initially been asked, this question was already "in the wind" so to speak, and Sanders had already given his answer to the easier version of the question that you are claiming Buttigieg was also asked.

So it makes perfect sense that a CNN follow up question to Sanders would be more in-depth than the earlier, more shallow question asked of him about a month earlier.

They should have asked all the candidates the same question in the same way.

No, "they" should not have, since, again, Sanders already answered the version of the question that was asked first of Warren then of him then of other candidates except Buttigieg, apparently, who wasn't involved in any of the earlier debates in Iowa.

ETA: It wasn't CNN that asked Sanders the question (emphasis mine):

At a CNN town hall in New Hampshire, a Harvard junior asked Sanders if he supports voting rights for all convicted felons, including Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 25, who was sentenced to death for carrying out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing which killed three people and wounded more than 260. The Democratic presidential candidate said earlier this month that he believes convicted felons should be able to vote even when they are still behind bars.

Took me a while to find it, but here's Cooper's question to Buttigieg verbatim:

COOPER: Just before we go to the audience, one more question. Senator Sanders earlier this evening said he's in favor of felons being able to vote even while serving their prison terms. He was asked specifically about people like the Boston Marathon bomber, people convicted of sexual assault, rape, and other things, pedophiles. He said the right to vote is inherent to our democracy, yes, even for terrible people. Senator Kamala Harris just said we should have that conversation. She didn't really answer one way or another.

What do you think? Should people convicted of sexual assault, the Boston Marathon bomber, should they be able to vote?

Not only was he asked the same question, whoever "occam sockam razors" is clearly rewrote Cooper's question.

So, once again, are you going to stop sharing that meme? I'm curious, because now you have ample reason not to, so the fact that you probably will still share it online ties into some very relevant research.

 

[PyramidHead]

Interesting interpretation.



As was Sanders almost a month prior. And that only after the question had been put to Elizabeth Warren. Had you read my sources you would have noted how the whole question came up (and it was NOT CNN):

Sanders skipped that presidential forum, which Warren, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former U.S. housing secretary Julián Castro, former Maryland U.S. Rep. John Delaney and Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan attended.

In Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has advocated this year for a constitutional amendment to allow people convicted of felonies to automatically have their voting rights restored once they have served their sentence. Right now, Iowa is one of two states that only allow felons to vote if a governor gives them permission.

So, in Iowa, first Warren was asked about her views on what Reynolds had proposed and she sort of skated it. Then about six days later, Sanders was asked to chime in his opinion.

The point being, that long before CNN picked up on and expanded upon what Sanders had initially been asked, this question was already "in the wind" so to speak, and Sanders had already given his answer to the easier version of the question that you are claiming Buttigieg was also asked.

So it makes perfect sense that a CNN follow up question to Sanders would be more in-depth than the earlier, more shallow question asked of him about a month earlier.

No objections there. But saying a convicted felon should be able to vote after serving their sentence is a very different question with very different implications.

At a CNN town hall in New Hampshire, a Harvard junior asked Sanders if he supports voting rights for all convicted felons, including Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 25, who was sentenced to death for carrying out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing which killed three people and wounded more than 260. The Democratic presidential candidate said earlier this month that he believes convicted felons should be able to vote even when they are still behind bars.

Yeah, that's exactly it. On CNN, every Harvard failson and faildaughter was plucked from the Ivy League bubble to ask loaded questions like that one. The town hall format is not literally an open forum where whoever raises their hand first gets to ask an independent question, not sure if you were aware of that. The Harvard students were harsher on Sanders than even the Fox News audience.

Took me a while to find it, but here's Cooper's question to Buttigieg verbatim:

COOPER: Just before we go to the audience, one more question. Senator Sanders earlier this evening said he's in favor of felons being able to vote even while serving their prison terms. He was asked specifically about people like the Boston Marathon bomber, people convicted of sexual assault, rape, and other things, pedophiles. He said the right to vote is inherent to our democracy, yes, even for terrible people. Senator Kamala Harris just said we should have that conversation. She didn't really answer one way or another.

What do you think? Should people convicted of sexual assault, the Boston Marathon bomber, should they be able to vote?

Not only was he asked the same question, whoever "occam sockam razors" is clearly rewrote Cooper's question.

Cooper specifically made a point of mentioning Bernie's answer and the context of the question before asking Pete, though. It wasn't "Pete, do you think rapists and murderers should have the right to vote?" It was "Bernie Sanders is in favor of letting terrorists, pedophiles, and rapists vote, do you agree?" Which of course he didn't, and to phrase the question in a way that highlighted the small minority of heinous criminals that would gain voting rights worked in Pete's favor, and against Bernie. He got to play the tough guy who doesn't tolerate terrorists, because you don't want someone weak on crime to be president, do you?

More generally, the media are highly favorable to Pete as a rising star whose every personality quirk deserves its own puff piece. From his record collection to what school of Hogwarts he belongs to, he's the sanitized and friendly youth pastor who everyone's mom is proud of. Mostly harmless coverage, with some real head-scratchers thrown in:

So, once again, are you going to stop sharing that meme? I'm curious, because now you have ample reason not to, so the fact that you probably will still share it online ties into some very relevant research.

I don't share images more than once if I can avoid it, so in general you can expect to see some other manifestation of the dirtbag left from me the next time I want to put my head in a microwave after reading one of your posts. You can add that to your fucking research report

 

[blastula]

What I learned from Augustus Hill.


[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgR2Aihs4PM[/YOUTUBE]

 

[TSwizzle]

Not only was he asked the same question, whoever "occam sockam razors" is clearly rewrote Cooper's question.

Russia interfering in US elections. I thought it would have been obvious to you.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

It's painfully fucking simple, but let's go through it again for the slow folk shall we?

Here's the chronology:

1. March 30th, Huffington Post hosts a Town Hall meeting in Iowa. Four 2020 candidates (and one possible), will be there (but not Sanders): former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, former Rep. John Delaney (Md.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), as well as Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio), who has been considering a bid, about their vision for rural America.
2. They are all asked the question about felony voters, because Iowa is one of three states that permanently disenfranchises people with felony convictions, but Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) wants to amend the state’s constitution to change that. Warren answers, but shies away from coming right out and saying felons in prison should be allowed to vote, but that, "While they’re incarcerated, I think that’s something we can have more conversation about"
3. April 6th, Hosted by Muscatine’s West Middle School, Sanders is asked about his position on the same question and for the same reason. He responds:
   

   Sanders said the convicted still have a right to participate in elections."In my state, what we do is separate. You’re paying a price, you committed a crime, you’re in jail. That's bad," he said. "But you’re still living in American society and you have a right to vote. I believe in that, yes, I do.”

4. April 22nd, 9 pm EST, CNN hosts a series of "town hall" question and answer one-on-ones that spans several hours (see below). Sanders is asked:
   

   CUOMO: All right. Next question, Anne Carlstein, junior at Harvard, studying mathematics from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Anne? QUESTION: Senator Sanders, you have said that you believe that people with felony records should be allowed to vote while in prison. Does this mean that you would support enfranchising people like the Boston Marathon bomber, a convicted terrorist and murderer? Do you think that those convicted of sexual assault should have the opportunity to vote for politicians who could have a direct impact on women's rights?

   Sanders answers:
   

   Now, here is my view. If somebody commits a serious crime, sexual assault, murder, they're going to be punished. They may be in jail for 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, their whole lives. That's what happens when you commit a serious crime.
   
   But I think the right to vote is inherent to our democracy, yes, even for terrible people, because once you start chipping away and you say, well, that guy committed a terrible crime, not going to let him vote. Oh, that person did that, not going to let that person vote. You're running down a slippery slope.
   
   So I believe that people commit crimes, they paid the price. When they get out of jail, I believe they certainly should have the right to vote. But I do believe that even if they are in jail they're paying their price to society, but that should not take away their inherent American right to participate in our democracy.
   
   (APPLAUSE)
   
   CUOMO: Applause for the answer. My follow question goes to this being like you're writing an opposition ad against you by saying you think the Boston Marathon bomber should vote not after he pays his debt to society, but while he's in jail. You sure about that?
   
   SANDERS: Well, Chris, I think I have written many 30-second opposition ads throughout my life. This will be just another one. But I do believe, look, you know, this is what I believe. Do you believe in democracy? Do you believe that every single American 18 years of age or older who's an American citizen has the right to vote?
   
   Once you start chipping away at that, believe me, that's what our Republican governors all over this country are doing. They come up with all kinds of excuses while people of color, young people, poor people can't vote, and I will do everything I can to resist it. This is a democracy. We've got to expand that democracy, and I believe every single person does have the right to vote

   The student very clearly first references his response from two weeks prior and then expands on that answer to ask a more in-depth question about exactly where he stands.
5. April 22nd, 11 pm EST, Buttigieg is now in the hot seat. Cooper refers back to Sanders' comments and the question he was asked and throws it to Buttigieg:
   

   Senator Sanders earlier this evening said he's in favor of felons being able to vote even while serving their prison terms. He was asked specifically about people like the Boston Marathon bomber, people convicted of sexual assault, rape, and other things, pedophiles. He said the right to vote is inherent to our democracy, yes, even for terrible people. Senator Kamala Harris just said we should have that conversation. She didn't really answer one way or another.
   
   What do you think? Should people convicted of sexual assault, the Boston Marathon bomber, should they be able to vote?

It was very clearly not "Bernie Sanders is in favor of letting terrorists, pedophiles, and rapists vote, do you agree?" and there were no super secret Harvard plants in the audiences. As every moderator made clear at the beginning of the Q&A sessions:

CNN partnered with the Institute of Politics at Harvard University to dive into the youth vote and with the New Hampshire Institute of Politics here at Saint Anselm College in Manchester.

The entire audience was made up of students from Harvard and Saint Anselm.

Here was the line up:

• CNN Hosts Town Hall With Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Presidential Candidate. Aired 7-8p ET
• CNN Presidential Town Hall with Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Aired 8-9p ET
• CNN Hosts Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Presidential Candidate in a Town Hall Discussion. Aired 9-10p ET
• CNN Hosts a Town Hall with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) Presidential Candidate. Aired 10-11p ET
• Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) Presidential Candidate Fields Question at Town Hall. Aired 11-12p
• Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) Presidential Candidate Fields Question at Town Hall. Aired 11p-12a ET

Try pulling your head out of your ass before you post again. It will save everyone a lot of time.

ETA: Harris was asked the same question before Buttigieg's turn in the spotlight:

LEMON: Another issue that I want to talk to you about -- this is really important -- I'm not sure if you were watching earlier, but Senator Bernie Sanders said that he is in favor of felons being able to vote while serving in prison. He was asked specifically about people like the Boston Marathon bomber, also people who are convicted of sexual assault. And he said, this is a quote, "The right to vote is inherent to our democracy, yes, even for terrible people." Do you agree with that, Senator?

HARRIS: I agree that the right to vote is one of the very important components of citizenship and it is something that people should not be stripped of needlessly, which is why I have been long an advocate of making sure that the formerly incarcerated are not denied a right to vote, which is the case in so many states in our country, in some states permanently deprived of the right to vote.

And these are policies that go back to Jim Crow. These are policies that go back to the heart of policies that have been about disenfranchisement, policies that continue until today, and we need to take it seriously.

LEMON: But people who are in -- convicted, in prison, like the Boston Marathon bomber, on death row, people who are convicted of sexual assault, they should be able to vote?

HARRIS: I think we should have that conversation.

So, she parrots what Warren had said back in March.

Buttigieg was asked the same thing with the added position by Harris. So it was: Sanders said this radical position that no one else has ever argued before on TV and Harris (and Warren) said "we should have that conversation," what do you think, Buttigieg?

No great anti-Sanders conspiracy. His own words; his own position explored and addressed by Sanders and then others in the same series of Q&A's asked their take on it.

 

[ZiprHead]

Pete Buttigieg Has His Very Own Ratf*cker

So this showed up at Medium today:

Pete Buttigieg Sexually Assaulted Me

My name is Hunter Kelly. I am 21 years old. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do. For the past three nights, I have not slept even a single hour. I have vomited eight times.

I was sexually assaulted by Mayor Pete Buttigieg. I didn’t know who he was back in February, only that he told me he was an important politician. When I started seeing him on television three weeks ago as a Presidential candidate, I thought about coming forward.

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Pete Buttigieg Has His Very Own Ratf*cker

So this showed up at Medium today:

Pete Buttigieg Sexually Assaulted Me

My name is Hunter Kelly. I am 21 years old. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do. For the past three nights, I have not slept even a single hour. I have vomited eight times.

I was sexually assaulted by Mayor Pete Buttigieg. I didn’t know who he was back in February, only that he told me he was an important politician. When I started seeing him on television three weeks ago as a Presidential candidate, I thought about coming forward.

The most telling part that it's bullshit is the ending:

In the days and weeks ahead, I will share my full story with the nation.

Why "in the days and weeks ahead" and not everything in that post? That was the whole purpose of such a post, after all, to tell your story, which is already told by making the accusation. No one teases the details of such a story out over "days and weeks."

I was raped by a Presidential candidate. But that's not the important part. To hear the details, you have to keep coming back over the next few weeks...

 

[Politesse]

We all knew he would be accused of pedophilia and sexual abuse if his candidacy progressed. National attitudes toward homosexuality made it nearly certain.

 

[southernhybrid]

While I'm not supporting this candidate, I don't think he sexually assaulted anyone. I'm sure there will be all kinds of things made up about many of the candidates and whoever becomes the nominee will be viciously attacked by false stories that come for the far right. After all, last time Clinton was accused of running a pedophilia operation out of a pizza store basement, and some people believed it.

Yet, for some reason, when the truth comes out about some of Trump's corruption or sexual behavior, all he has to do is call if "fake news" and his supporters believe him. He certainly has some type of power over his cult.

 

[ZiprHead]

The mayor was briefly accused of assaulting a young man. A GOP source says right-wing operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman approached him to make similarly untrue accusations.

 

[ZiprHead]

[YOUTUBE]https://youtu.be/vuY7WEdko4o[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Elixir]

While I'm not supporting this candidate, I don't think he sexually assaulted anyone. I'm sure there will be all kinds of things made up about many of the candidates and whoever becomes the nominee will be viciously attacked by false stories that come for the far right. After all, last time Clinton was accused of running a pedophilia operation out of a pizza store basement, and some people believed it.

Yet, for some reason, when the truth comes out about some of Trump's corruption or sexual behavior, all he has to do is call if "fake news" and his supporters believe him. He certainly has some type of power over his cult.

Hate to say it, but it is probably time to fight that particular fire with fire.
Did you all know that Trump has been taking "personal care" of all the underage female amnesty-seekers from the Southern border? When he's done with them he sells them to MBS!
Why isn't anyone talking about Trump's heroin habit? He gets it for free in return for keeping insulin prices high. People are saying that. I don't know, but that's what many people are saying. Many people.
Everyone knows Trump pays for his victims' abortions. Most recently a couple of months ago, he knocked up a Penthouse model... now she lives in a penthouse.
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.
Etc.

Yes, I know. This will have ZERO effect upon his core supporters, even if they believe all of it. But that is maybe, on the high end, 30% of the electorate. Let's make Putin's job as difficult as possible, and make sure the other 70% doesn't vote for him - especially the ~20% who are susceptible to persuasion by propaganda!
I also think that the one thing Bezos should do out of gratitude, is to buy the National Enquirer and run constant stories about how Melania is an alien, Trump runs dungeons under the white house etc....

 

[Koyaanisqatsi]

We all knew he would be accused of pedophilia and sexual abuse if his candidacy progressed. National attitudes toward homosexuality made it nearly certain.

And of course it won't end here. And then it's going to become about that and not his policies (which still don't exist) and he will get a bump in the primaries that could put him over the top (because, again, nobody votes in primaries except diehard voters like the elderly, who, because of his homosexuality won't vote in the primaries, leaving the younger most inexperienced voters to push him over the top) and then we're fucked.

 

[Gun Nut]

I don't understand how, in the United States, a gay man with the word Butt in his name can possibly think he can win a national election. There are states he can become governor, for sure.. my state in particular. Buttt the idea that he can win nationally is just ridiculous.

 

[PyramidHead]

We all knew he would be accused of pedophilia and sexual abuse if his candidacy progressed. National attitudes toward homosexuality made it nearly certain.

And of course it won't end here. And then it's going to become about that and not his policies (which still don't exist) and he will get a bump in the primaries that could put him over the top (because, again, nobody votes in primaries except diehard voters like the elderly, who, because of his homosexuality won't vote in the primaries, leaving the younger most inexperienced voters to push him over the top) and then we're fucked.

I agree with your take, and think it's a lot like the situation with Biden, where everyone will try to take him down with the groping stuff when it's so much easier to point to his shitty voting record and consistent pattern of being wrong about everything. But those older voters who always show up to the primaries won't stay home because one candidate is gay, they'll just vote for what they feel is the safest alternative, who is Joe Biden. They did the same kind of thing in 2004 after Howard Dean's candidacy imploded and everybody jumped on the Kerry bandwagon--just a few months prior to that, Kerry was polling in the single digits.

I don't think Pete is the one who will benefit from young voters coming out to vote in the primaries more than before, though.