108) Good piece from HCR on the Far Right’s attack on American institutions

What is missing from is a theory on what effort the attack serves. Can’t say we look to Trump for a rational explanation. The man has little space for such thinking being incapable of understanding of his own mind and rarely controlled impulses

This is a not criticism of the piece, more pointing to the impound developing a narrative for persuadable voters

https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/january-20-2024

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

109) The inevitable has happened and a little earlier than expected.

The #DeSantis campaign is no more and the chastened Governor of #Florida is now genuflecting and tugging his forelock before #DonaldTrump

Apparently, a suposedly gussied up version of #Trumpism doesn't fly. That notion has been cast upon the ash heap of history. It is either #Fascism #Trump style or nothing else for the majority of the #GOP faithful

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/21/ron-desantis-drops-out/

110) As the #GOP primary race draws to a close before it has barely started, the only question left is, can #NikkiHaley make any kind of dint in #Trump's dominance of the #Republican Party.

We'll know on Tuesday when the #NewHampshire primary takes place. Unless former Governor Haley is within an ass’s roar of Trump, that will be curtains for the #Republican primary

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/20/new-hampshire-primary-independents-haley-trump/

111) After today’s #NewHampshire primary, we’ll likely see the end of #NikkiHaley’s quest for the presidency

While Ms. Haley might be a more palatable than the #facist candidate known as #Trump, her campaign shone a bright light on the absurd historical fact avoidance engaged in by many #GOP types

https://open.substack.com/pub/davidpepper/p/cartoon-tuesday-nik-haley-history

#Republican #Primary #Republican #USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

112) Today’s parlor game features the punditry class yammering about whether #NikkiHaley will remain in the #GOP Primary race following an 11% defeat by #DonaldTrump in #NewHampshire

While Governor Haley outperformed expectations, many polls had her down >20%, a route to victory is minuscule with the exception of judicial rulings derailing #Trump

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/24/trump-5-takeaways-new-hampshire-00137511

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

113) What purports to be #NewsMedia on #FoxNews

#RightWing pundit deeply upset with #TaylorSwift's call to register to #vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knHdSQ4dcms

#USpolitics #Politics #Election2023 #NotJournalism #Journalism

114) The #Trump #Republican Party is not in the business of solutions, unless a positive outcome can be claimed to the exclusion all others.

Come to think of it, the #GOP is not in the business of possitivity, their activities might be better described as being deeply invested in the cultivation of fear and anger, particularly directed at people with darker skin

#MittRomney is calling it correctly:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/romney-trump-immigration-border-senate

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024 #Migration

115) What needs to be done this election year when #democracy is under threat?

The need to organize and take action is imperative. A good place to start is getting involved with @indivisibleteam which has groups all across America gearing up to persuade the persuadable

Visit their site and signup for your local group => https://www.indivisible.org

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

116) An excellence from Clay Jones

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/29/2220184/-Cartoon-Swifty-Bowl

#Trump #UsPolitics #Politics #Cartoon

116) I've been thinking a lot about the structural issues that plague Western democracies. My particular focus is on #USPolitics as I live in #NYC and am staring down the barrel of a nasty presidential election

Job 1 is to make sure #Trump is not relected.

Job 2 is to reduced the malaign influence of extreme wealth on democracy - this is a #Garch" problem which I go into on this #podcast episode. More to come in the next few weeks

https://www.nuttyinnyc.com/13-garchs-aint-good

#Politics #Oligarchs #Election2024

117) The #RightWing media sphere is going all sorts of bonkers with #TaylorSwift conspiracy theories

If takes a special type of paranoia to suggest that #SuperBowlLVIII is rigged. Apparently a #KansasCityChiefs victory featuring the pop star’s boyfriend #TravisKelce’s will be used to announce a #Biden endorsement

Madness, but that’s where we’re at

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/taylor-swift-targeted-conspiracies-chiefs-super-bowl-1234955940

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

118) a good piece here from Todd Belton on #RagePolitics and why it works for #Trump particular during the primary season when polarized and partisan #FarRight voters are at their most influential

Trumpist voters crave binary and simple messaging. They abhor notions of uncertainty. General election voters are more accepting of the laws of probability where outcomes are not certain. Call it grown up thinking

https://open.substack.com/pub/thinkbigpicture/p/trump-2024-campaign-rage-conservatives

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

119) The good news on the #Bidenomics economy has been coming for months. Most voters are not regular traders of economic news, the stuff is too dry and subtle for most

Eventually the flood of good economic registers and is it continues, as recognition slowly takes hold. Yesterdays impressive job numbers will have registered favorably with more voters and #Trump claims of a poor #economy are becoming increasingly less credible

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/02/trump-and-his-allies-adjust-their-messaging-on-the-economy-as-it-steadily-improves-00139447

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

120) To the surprise of no one, the House #GOP and #MikeJohnson are not the slightest bit interested in doing a deal on #border #migration. They’re busily engaged in forelock tugging mode before Dear Leader aka #Trump and his master, Czar #Putin

#Republican politics are only about one thing, tax breaks for the #garchs in #Russia, #America, and all other geographies

Want to fix something for the other 99.9%. Look elsewhere

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-05/trump-house-gop-leaders-reject-senate-border-ukraine-aid-deal

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

121) Throughout his life #DonaldTrump, has fought legal actions directed at him through frivolous appeals and delaying tactics

The big question now is whether the absurdity of the total presidential immunity appeal process will resolve for #Jan6 insurrection trial to take place before #Election2024?

Will the #SupremeCourt accept the appeal or will other strategems be deployed to delay the case beyond the election?

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/06/trump-criminal-immunity-supreme-court-00140027

#USPolitics #Politics

122) Some have posited that #Election2024 will be the first #AI #Election

Looks like a certain #Texas based corporation by the name of Life Corporation and its owner Walter Monk can expect to experience some deep law enforecement scrutiny for deceptively impersonating Pres #JoeBiden's voice

Hopefuly this will pursued agressively to dissaude other dirty trick types

#USPolitics #Politics

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/us/politics/biden-robocall-new-hampshire.html

123) Excellent piece from #HCR on the #NewsMedia, Pres #Biden is losing it campaign. Required reading for thoughtful types

Let’s be clear, there is a perverse incentive faced by many for-profit #journalism outfits. A close race, increases clicks, reads, views, listens.

The owners of many of these corporations are also likely fond of billionaire friendly tax policies that #Trump will support

https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/february-9-2024

#Election2024 #JoeBiden #USPolitics #Politics

124) As sure as day follows night, #Trump dusts off his #Putin loving playbook

Just par for the course for a man who has more contempt than understanding of the world order established through the sacrifice of the greatest generation 80 years ago

As #NancyPelosi said of #DonaldTrump back in 2019 :

“With him, all roads lead to Putin”

🔑 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/11/us/politics/trump-nato.html

#Election2024 #USPolitics #Politics

125) It’s more than troubling that #NikkiHaley has to advise voters that #Trump’s anti-NATO #Putin hugging utterances are a problem

Why #DonaldTrump is so quick to to embrace the geopolitical goal’s of #Russia’s arch murderer is a matter of speculation

Maybe it’s #Kompromat, maybe if a love of #petrogarch oil money or just #autocracy fan boy stuff

Whatever, it’s hugely dangerous to world peace

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-12/haley-says-trump-mistaken-to-side-with-thug-putin-over-nato

#Election2024 #USPolitics #Politics

126) Sometimes i agree with even the most obnoxious of Republicans

#Election2024 #USPolitics #Politics #GOP

https://youtu.be/lsww1Nu01gc?si=9plmBl_L58OEJ8mA

127) There is more blood on the hands of #VladimirPutin with the death of #Aleksei Navalny today in a remote Russian prison

Sadly #Putin’s regime of enablers is not confined to #Russia. Far too many #GOP types are obediently following #Trump’s autocratic loving “leadership” and betraying #Ukraine by withholding financial support for the #UkraineRussiaWar

An ugly day for freedom and democracy. RIP #Navalny

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/16/world/europe/aleksei-navalny-dead-russia.html

#Election2024 #USPolitics #Politics

128) I'm rarely aligned with #MikePence. Frankly his #politics are pretty much diametrically oppoed to mine.

However today we're in agreement, on the this saddest of days ,when a brave man has died far from friends and family in a Russian penal colony

Those #GOP politicians that equivocate and waffle when it comes to supporting #Ukraine in #Congress are aiding and abetting #Putin. #Democracy and geopolitical stability are at stake

#Navalny #USPolitics

https://thehill.com/policy/international/4472262-pence-gop-putin-apologists-navalny-death

129) Cash is getting a little tight in #Trump world. Apparently inflating one’s net worth to the size of a bull frog is not a winning business strategy.

The #Engoron ruling requires the posting of a bond or actual cash within 30 days.

Given the former president’s has filched much of the cash from those foolish enough to donate his collection of PACs, I imagine his current crop of attorneys must be wondering if they’ll be paid

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/16/nyregion/trump-civil-fraud-trial-ruling.html

#politics #USPolitics

130) Central to #Trumpist politics is the stoking and packaging of fear which produces and reinforces a radicalized #FarRight.

Few produce fear based #TV better than #Sinclair broadcasting and that fear and its ugly stepchildren, anger and revenge, are the fuel for #Trump’s election campaign. Nothing else is being offered beyond vengeance

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/16/sinclair-broadcasting-conservative-media-trump

#politics #USPolitics #Election2024

131) I've watched this scene before from the #WestWing. It still speaks powerfully to me especially when I hear some awful unctous biblical reference to justify something reprehensible

The #Bible is filled with contradictions and peculiarities and for politicians, who like to use"Tthe Good Book" as justification, #Shakespeare in the Merchant of Venice reminds us that "The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose" likely based on his reading of Luke 4:9-13

#Politics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77lEqpAz1KM

132) The tortured #GOP efforts to conflate #HunterBiden's troubles into a Joe #Biden corruption story continues to be confronted by embarassing realities and truths

Sadly the smear, rather than the truth, aided and abetted by the velocity of #SociaMedia and a variety of #GOP useful idiots continues their contribution to the deterioration of American #democracy

There will be no shameful admissions nor acknowledgement of error. This is the #RepublicanParty

#Politics

https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-burisma-fbi-informant-lying-6969656f6012780a23a4b8841ce2689b

133) I watched the #Oscar nominated “20 Days in Mariupol” last night. It is not for the faint of heart.

It depicts the horror of the #RussiaUkraineWar and its devastating impact on civilian populations

Should be required viewing for #GOP types withholding their support for #Ukraine and think geopolitical stability is to be sacrificed on the altar of #Trump’s slavish fanboy love of #Putin

https://youtu.be/gvAyykRvPBo?si=2flYASDckj-t3BWo

134) Nobody was surprised by the outcome of the #SouthCarolina primary.

The word “trounce” is being used by the #NewsMedia in describing #Trump’s victory, but 40% of #SC’s voters preferred #NikkiHaley which in #RedState land ain’t exactly a glowing endorsement

Will these disgruntled voters show up for #DonaldTrump in November? What does that presage for Independent voters?

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/24/south-carolina-takeaways-trump-haley-00143177

135) Some interesting data from the #SouthCarolina exit poll conducted by the @washingtonpost

When it comes to voters motivated primarily by concerns over temperament (16% of the total), 95% voted for #NikkiHaley

36% of #SC #GOP voters indicate that #Trump criminal conviction woukd render him unfit the presidency

https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2024/02/24/south-carolina-exit-polls/

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

136) it seems that the #SupremeCourt has decided to slow-walk #DonaldTrump’s date with justice.

What tortured reasoning is behind the court’s reasoning in taking a case deciding whether Trump’s expectation of eternal presidential immunity remains to be seen.

The certainty that #Trump will face trial on #Jan6 charges prior to the #Election2024 is now in serious doubt. It’s up to voters to end Trump’s drive for autocracy

#Politics #USPolitics
https://www.npr.org/2024/02/29/1235017841/supreme-court-trump-immunity-hearing

137) Like many folks who abhor #DonaldTrump, I was disappointed that the #SupremeCourt decided to take Trump’s presidential immunity case.

The notion that #POTUS is immune from prosecution in a republic which champions the rule of law is patently absurd.

But this blog post makes the case that rather than slow walking multiple #Trump cases, it may ultimately speed things up

Worth a read 👇

https://blog.stephaniejones.com

#Jan6 #Election2024 #Politics #USPolitics

138) For months I’ve read a variety of news stories positing alternatives to the #Biden vs #Trump match up. My political calculus leaned heavily in favor of the that likelihood

It is not that I would have wished otherwise. The persistence of #DonaldTrump in American political life is sad testimony to the degradation of #USPolitics

Despite #JoeBiden’s political successes, I wish he was 10 years younger, but he is not and he will have my unqualified support

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/06/us/politics/trump-biden-rematch-election.html

#Politics

139) Clearly I’m late realizing there is a term for the odd voice used by Senator #KatieBritt of #Alabama in her state of the union response.

I was trying to put my finger on the tone which seemed to vacillate between someone fearful of an off camera kidnapper and a fervent supporter of #Torquemada

With thanks to #JessPiper for introducing #BabyFundieVoice to my vocabulary.

Now, if only I could unhear Senator Britt

https://open.substack.com/pub/jesspiper/p/the-fundie-baby-voice

#USPolitics #JoeBiden #Politics

140) Of course #KatieBritt Senator from #Alabama has now been caught in a lie about the awful sex trafficking story she recounted in her #SOTU response

The case she describes did not happen in the USA and did not happen during the #Biden administration. Apparently the case dates back to Bush II 2004 - 2008

The #Trumpist #GOP modus operandi: fear mongering, lying and BSing is all they have

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/09/us/politics/katie-britt-republican-response-sotu-border.html

#USPolitics #JoeBiden #Politics

141) Sometimes one has to step back, take a moment, and laugh.

The madhouse that is American #politics reached a whole new pitch with Senator #KatieBritt’s #SOTU response

Unsurprisingly the junior Senator from #Alabama provided rich fodder for #SNL delivered pitch perfect #ScarlettJohanson

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2024/03/saturday-night-live-scarlett-johansson-katie-britt/677709/

#Alabama #GOP #USPolitics

142) Sometimes a single panel #cartoon does more to capture an important truism than a 1,000 words.

Will the #SupremeCourt act as a guardian of American #democracy or will they provide #Trump with an #autocracy imprimatur?

#politics #USPolitics #Election2024

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/3/9/2228532/-Cartoon-Royal-court

143) #Election2024 will be driven by turning out the base for both #Biden and #Trump respectively

While the #Trump fan base continues to be motivated, the support for #NikkiHaley during the #GOP primaries reveals fault lines which are being exploited by conservative #NeverTrump types

Cracking #Republican turnout is one of many factors which will yield a #JoeBiden win on Election Day

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/us/politics/republican-voters-against-trump.html

#politics #USPolitics

144) We all have #liberal friends who have expressed misgivings about the upcoming election #Biden is too old etc.

#Democracy will only be preserved in #Election2024 if the #Democratic base turns out in big numbers and we manage to persuade enough of the middle 1/3 of the country to see things our way

So when you see a liberal friend vacillating about #voting, have them watch this viedo from @DavidPepper

RINSE AND REPEAT!

#Politics #USPolitics

https://davidpepper.substack.com/p/its-trump-vs-you

145) I’ve long ceased attempts to divine exactly what #Trump means in his rambling incoherent speeches.

Frankly the #GOP nominee may not really understand what he is saying himself beyond his craven need for the adulation he receives when he uses words like “bloodbath” and the vilification of #immigrants.

Anger and revulsion seem core to Trump’s essence and something he seeks to stoke in his #Trumpist fan base

#USPolitics #Politics #Election2024

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/16/trump-immigrants-not-people/

146) When #Trump makes fun of those who suffer from a #disability, how do his supporters feel about that?

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/03/trump-disabilities-supporters-responses/677812

#GOP #USPolitics #Politics #Election2024