The Race For 2024

[Politesse]

Keeping Trump out of office by whatever means is paramount futile if it entails becoming Trump.

FTFY.

No political objective is so vital as to justify any and all means to achieve it.

There's always another "Trump" waiting in line, and a pool of potential sympathizers that never shrinks to nothing. Whether you hold back social progress on their behalf for one century, two centuries, or three centuries, there will still be the same kind of murderous clowns waiting at the other end to take down your democracy as their terms of ultimatum against granting fair and universal rights to the citizenry. If you blink every time they do, you lose very time you do. The question is always how much you're willing to concede to them, not whether it is possible to beat them once and for all time at the ballot box. It isn't. The vote is not all-powerful. But it is important, and a canny population can use it to manipulate politicians to serve their interests, not just the other way around. Trumpistas are really good at that game. Democrats suck pitifully at it.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

The next story was about the far right governor of Montana (previously famous for body-slamming a reporter when he was a Congressman) facing calls from opponents that he's just not conservative enough of an asshole.

Fixed that one for you.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Obstinance seems to be an electable trait for the alt-right these days.

Reminds me of the Family Guy election debate where Lois just starts saying 9/11 and the crowd gets rowdier and rowdier in support of her. Just plug in MAGA instead, and there you have it.

Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and the only reasonable chance the GOP have at swapping a Senate seat in a blue state, said people need to step back, calm down regarding the Trump conviction.

I urge all Americans to respect the verdict and the legal process. At this dangerously divided moment in our history, all leaders — regardless of party — must not pour fuel on the fire with more toxic partisanship. We must reaffirm what has made this nation great: the rule of law.

Lara wasn't having any of it.

Doesn’t deserve the respect of anyone in the Republican Party at this point and, quite frankly, anybody in America.

While I welcome her best effort to try and help the DNC hold onto that Senate seat, it is the height of cult of personality in that it is Trump above party. A party he isn't even a member of in any sense of politics.

 

[Ford]

Keeping Trump out of office by whatever means is paramount futile if it entails becoming Trump.

FTFY.

No political objective is so vital as to justify any and all means to achieve it.

There's always another "Trump" waiting in line, and a pool of potential sympathizers that never shrinks to nothing. Whether you hold back social progress on their behalf for one century, two centuries, or three centuries, there will still be the same kind of murderous clowns waiting at the other end to take down your democracy as their terms of ultimatum against granting fair and universal rights to the citizenry. If you blink every time they do, you lose very time you do. The question is always how much you're willing to concede to them, not whether it is possible to beat them once and for all time at the ballot box. It isn't. The vote is not all-powerful. But it is important, and a canny population can use it to manipulate politicians to serve their interests, not just the other way around. Trumpistas are really good at that game. Democrats suck pitifully at it.

I would disagree that there is always another "Trump" waiting in line.

As much as I hate to credit him, he really is unique in the modern American political landscape. Since his stint in office, there are any number of Republicans who have tried to be "the next Trump," but they've been - on balance - failures. Yeah, there's a gaggle of Representatives that embraced the "be the absolute worst you can be" thing, but Marjorie Trailer Queen, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, and George Santos aren't exactly in line to be the next GOP Presidential candidate in 2028. There have been a handful of "I'm a businessman and therefore I should be President...now watch me while I demonstrate I'm a horrible person" candidates who have failed to launch, and then your Kari Lake/Dr. Oz types who gained a little bit of fame, embraced the "I'm rich, I'm MAGA, and I'm a colossal douche-nozzle, too!" thing and have also failed.

The GOP is in a bit of a pickle because they've not only hung the albatross of Trump around their neck, but also have decided that the only way forward is to find someone who's more Trump than Trump. Which is a fool's errand. He's the complete asshole package, and may never be repeated.

As to your last point? The Democrats need...and I'm spit-balling it here...a populist/democratic socialist candidate who is charismatic, younger than dirt, and doesn't sound like Jackie Mason delivering talking points. They don't have anything even remotely like that.

 

[Politesse]

He has definitely been unusually successful. But not uniquely dangerous. Any of these cretins would happily take down the state altogether if it served their interests. In the first half of the 19th century, a cabal of selfish Americans in Tejas/Texas and the deep South tried to take down not one but two successive governments, the newly formed Mexican Republic and the American Union, in turn to preserve their right to own, work, and rape entire families of their fellow human beings, with the genocidal campaigns against numerous other neighboring nations as a side project, eventually successfully goading all four of those constituencies into disastrous wars with one another, wars that left every segment of their region without oil wells destitute to this day. If you want to know who today would be willing to do the same, look at who abjures those actions, who denies or excuses those actions, and who actively defends some of them. My point isn't really to correctly order the Buzzfeed of worst American autocrats, I don't much care whether Trump or his homeboy Jackson should be in the number 2 or number 3 spot, but rather a more general one: democracy always hangs on a thin nail, it has to be actively preserved in order to survive. I believe the 14th amendment ultimately did more to preserve this nation as a unified entity through the crises of the 19th and 20th centuries than did any of the wars we fought during the same time period, and that we should be willing to take a very firm stand on defending its protections against attack whether it is politically correct this week/news cycle or not.

As to your last point? The Democrats need...and I'm spit-balling it here...a populist/democratic socialist candidate who is charismatic, younger than dirt, and doesn't sound like Jackie Mason delivering talking points. They don't have anything even remotely like that.

A boy can dream....

 

[Colonel Sanders]

OTOH, incite to riot is pretty well defined, which is why I've always found it odd that Trump was never charged with it.

January 6th was not a riot, it was a mostly peaceful protest.

To quote teenage girls everywhere: lol wut?

 

[Derec]

January 6th was not a riot, it was a mostly peaceful protest.

To quote teenage girls everywhere: lol wut?

More "mostly peaceful" than the 2020 riots for sure.

 

[pood]

January 6th was not a riot, it was a mostly peaceful protest.

To quote teenage girls everywhere: lol wut?

More "mostly peaceful" than the 2020 riots for sure.

It’s so cute how you Trump cultists always link two entirely different things — one, protests for a legit reason that sometimes got out of hand, and second, an attempt to overthrow the government led by the losing presidential candidate that led to deaths, including of police officers. You folks really have your priorities straight!

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

January 6th was not a riot, it was a mostly peaceful protest.

To quote teenage girls everywhere: lol wut?

More "mostly peaceful" than the 2020 riots for sure.

This is more annoying that capitalism evangelists (old reference from a former poster).

There was violence in protests in 2020 and even some highly violent riots and destruction. There was a lot of peaceful protests in 2020. And there was violence by alt-right wingers in 2020 during those protests. Can you drop your cliche?

 

[ZiprHead]

January 6th was not a riot, it was a mostly peaceful protest.

To quote teenage girls everywhere: lol wut?

More "mostly peaceful" than the 2020 riots for sure.

This is more annoying that capitalism evangelists (old reference from a former poster).

There was violence in protests in 2020 and even some highly violent riots and destruction. There was a lot of peaceful protests in 2020. And there was violence by alt-right wingers in 2020 during those protests. Can you drop your cliche and hobbyhorse derail?

FTFY

 

[TSwizzle]

January 6th was not a riot, it was a mostly peaceful protest.

To quote teenage girls everywhere: lol wut?

More "mostly peaceful" than the 2020 riots for sure.

This is more annoying that capitalism evangelists (old reference from a former poster).

There was violence in protests in 2020 and even some highly violent riots and destruction. There was a lot of peaceful protests in 2020. And there was violence by alt-right wingers in 2020 during those protests. Can you drop your cliche?

I don't see you whining about the constant TDS outbursts in every thread.

 

[Patooka]

January 6th was not a riot, it was a mostly peaceful protest.

To quote teenage girls everywhere: lol wut?

More "mostly peaceful" than the 2020 riots for sure.

This is more annoying that capitalism evangelists (old reference from a former poster).

There was violence in protests in 2020 and even some highly violent riots and destruction. There was a lot of peaceful protests in 2020. And there was violence by alt-right wingers in 2020 during those protests. Can you drop your cliche?

I don't see you whining about the constant TDS outbursts in every thread.

It's adorable the guy who went all in about Hunter's laptop is commenting about derangement.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

January 6th was not a riot, it was a mostly peaceful protest.

To quote teenage girls everywhere: lol wut?

More "mostly peaceful" than the 2020 riots for sure.

WhataboutWhataboutWhataboutWhataboutWhataboutWhataboutWhatabout!

This is why Trumpites aren't worth engaging. Shit arguments, bad faith, and trolling.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

January 6th was not a riot, it was a mostly peaceful protest.

To quote teenage girls everywhere: lol wut?

More "mostly peaceful" than the 2020 riots for sure.

This is more annoying that capitalism evangelists (old reference from a former poster).

There was violence in protests in 2020 and even some highly violent riots and destruction. There was a lot of peaceful protests in 2020. And there was violence by alt-right wingers in 2020 during those protests. Can you drop your cliche?

I don't see you whining about the constant TDS outbursts in every thread.

That'd be another cliche. Dude is running for President, going Christian Nationalist. He is quite relevant, even if The Daily Mail doesn't think so.

 

[TV and credit cards]

Keeping Trump out of office by whatever means is paramount.

What do you suggest to achieve this? Suspend the November elections and install Brandon as supreme leader? Hold off until there is a candidate that is acceptable to you?


Jeezus, the TDS is strong in this one.

Yes that statement was intentionally open-ended.
In the moment I was thinking Biden does whatever is needed to draw in more votes, whatever else he might have besides his immigration executive order. As much as it might be to my dislike, doing the right thing for the Palestinians is out of the question. He hardly needs to draw from the left. I doubt there are many people from the far left that would sit out the election in protest, not with Dickhead on the other side.
Or perhaps Trump ends up in prison beforehand or some outcome from a psychological examination during his pre-sentencing that would disadvantage him. From what I've read, NY probation has free rein to look into every aspect of his life.
I don't know that there is any provision at all where a suspension of the election process can happen. I like that outside the box thinking though.

 

[Shadowy Man]

January 6th was not a riot, it was a mostly peaceful protest.

To quote teenage girls everywhere: lol wut?

More "mostly peaceful" than the 2020 riots for sure.

This is more annoying that capitalism evangelists (old reference from a former poster).

There was violence in protests in 2020 and even some highly violent riots and destruction. There was a lot of peaceful protests in 2020. And there was violence by alt-right wingers in 2020 during those protests. Can you drop your cliche?

I don't see you whining about the constant TDS outbursts in every thread.

It's adorable the guy who went all in about Hunter's laptop is commenting about derangement.

And now the out of control justice department has put a President’s son on trial! When will the madness end? I expect the Republicans to step in any second now to decry the travesty and claim the result will be rigged.

 

[Derec]

It’s so cute how you Trump cultists

I am definitely not a "Trump cultist". I have not voted for him either time, and I do not plan to vote for him now either.

always link two entirely different things — one, protests for a legit reason

There was no "legitimate reason". Derek Chauvin was charged quickly (and in my opinion overcharged) and the riots still went on. Besides, George Floyd, an armed robber who held up a pregnant woman at gunpoint, is a terrible choice for the hero of the movement.

that sometimes got out of hand,

Usually, or almost always.

and second, an attempt to overthrow the government led by the losing presidential candidate

I was comparing how "mostly peaceful" the riots were, not their cause or goals.

that led to deaths, including of police officers. You folks really have your priorities straight!

The only death directly during 1/6 was an unarmed woman being killed for trespassing. Interesting how that shooting is defended, while the shooting of even armed black thugs (such as for example Jacob Blake) is condemned and leads to riots.

The 2020 riots were far more deadly - including a retired police captain and an 8 year old girl. There was also widespread looting, vandalism and arson. There were even occupations of territory that lasted for weeks and even months in the case of the so-called "George Floyd Square" in Minneapolis.
So if 2020 riots are described by the Ilk (and including CNN) as "mostly peaceful", then why can't 1/6? There was no arson at 1/6, no looting, no ongoing occupation and far less vandalism.

 

[Derec]

This is more annoying that capitalism evangelists (old reference from a former poster).

I do not get the reference to capitalism. Which former poster?

There was violence in protests in 2020 and even some highly violent riots and destruction.

And yet the Ilk pretends that they were "mostly peaceful". What is more peaceful?
This:

Or this:

Those who did the former got probation and a small fine, while the latter got 4 years in prison. Is that justice?

There was a lot of peaceful protests in 2020. And there was violence by alt-right wingers in 2020 during those protests. Can you drop your cliche?

The 2020 violence was very widespread, deadly and extremely destructive. And very little of it was by "alt-right wingers". Most of it was by #BLM and Antifa activists who got sweetheart deals by lefty prosecutors, if they were prosecuted at all.
In the case of Montez Lee, who burned down a store with a man in it (killing him), the prosecutor was explicit that it is Lee's #BLM activism that led him to seek a lenient sentence well below federal sentencing guidelines.
Contrary to that, 1/6 rioters were aggressively prosecuted and got harsh sentences even for relatively minor crimes like trespassing and putting their feet up.
Justice should be blind, not politically biased.

 

[Derec]

WhataboutWhataboutWhataboutWhataboutWhataboutWhataboutWhatabout!

This is why Trumpites aren't worth engaging. Shit arguments, bad faith, and trolling.

It's a comparison, not whataboutism or trolling.
If the Ilk is calling the far more violent 2020 riots "mostly peaceful", why can't that descriptor be used for 2020? Fair is fair!

Besides, just because I disagree with the whitewashing of 2020 riots does not make me a "Trumpite".

 

[Derec]

As much as it might be to my dislike, doing the right thing for the Palestinians is out of the question.

What is the "right thing for the Palestinians" in your opinion?
In my opinion, it would be helping Israel to destroy Hamas and help Palestinians to create a government willing to live in peace side by side with Israel. The right thing for the Palestinians is not to tacitly support Hamas remaining in power.
In 1945, the right thing for the Germans was to end Nazi Germany, even if many German civilians died in the process.