TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

The General US Politics Thread

Go To

Nov 2023 Mod notice:


There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.

If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines before posting here.

Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.

If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules when posting here.


In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.

Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#254326: Sep 7th 2018 at 6:09:26 PM

Trump is both idiotic and malicious.

wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#254327: Sep 7th 2018 at 6:11:10 PM

Trump is not a monster. He's just an idiot who doesn't know what the hell he's doing. He acts on impulse without realizing the consequences of his actions, nor does he acknowledge the limits of his power.

No. His immigration policies are deliberately, intentionally, viciously racist and violent. Nor does he act at random. In any situation, you can rely on him to make the most vicious, racist, sexist choice.

Edited by wisewillow on Sep 7th 2018 at 9:13:24 AM

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#254328: Sep 7th 2018 at 6:18:24 PM

Trump puts children in cages and refused help that has killed 5000 people in Puerto Rico.

He is evil.

Without evil, he's just a jerkass.

But when bodies hit the ground, it's murder.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Sep 7th 2018 at 6:18:06 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
pwiegle Cape Malleum Majorem from Nowhere Special Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Singularity
Cape Malleum Majorem
#254329: Sep 7th 2018 at 6:57:50 PM

Yes and no. He doesn't realize that his racist policies are deliberately harmful to other people, because he's so wrapped up in himself that he doesn't think about anything he does that might affect anyone else. Or, if the merest thought does somehow manage to cross his feeble mind, he just thinks: "Meh, I like me better than you."

This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#254330: Sep 7th 2018 at 7:01:20 PM

I think at best you can say he doesn't realize his racist police are also secondarily harmful to white people. You won't convince me that he isn't actively racist, even if he probably doesn't think of himself as such (because most people don't).

Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
#254331: Sep 7th 2018 at 7:17:42 PM

I Wrote Some of the Stolen Memos That Brett Kavanaugh Lied to the Senate About

The Leahy talking points given to Kavanaugh were from my in-depth research into why the Senate had compelling historical precedent for examining Miguel Estrada’s Department of Justice records, which the White House counsel’s office was refusing to surrender. Other confidential materials Miranda shared with Kavanaugh related to investigations Democrats were pursuing over how Judge Priscilla Owen had handled an abortion case involving parental consent and about the overlap between her funders and groups with business before the courts of Texas. We would never have provided that information—key to our strategy to try to block what we considered extremist judicial nominations—to Miranda or to the White House.

During his testimony, Kavanaugh conflated these adversarial proceedings with ones in which Democrats might have cooperated with the other side, like the Patriot Act and airline liability. But these weren’t hearings on some bill where senators would share their concerns across the aisle to try to get a bipartisan fix on problems in a piece of legislation. These were oppositional proceedings in committee and on the floor over controversial judicial nominees. Kavanaugh knew this just as intimately as I did—our sides fought over those nominations intensely.

As of November 2003, when the sergeant-at-arms seized the Judiciary Committee’s servers, Kavanaugh would have been on notice that any of the letters, talking points, or research described as being from Democrats that were provided to him by Miranda were suspect and probably stolen from the Senate’s server.

But he did nothing. He did not come forward to the Senate to provide information about the confidential documents Miranda had given him, which were clearly from the Democrats.

Kavanaugh also apparently did nothing when the Senate referred the case to the U.S. attorney’s office for criminal prosecution. (Miranda was never prosecuted.)

Eventually, though, Kavanaugh went even further to help cover up the details of the theft.

During the hearings on his nomination to the D.C. Circuit a few months after the Miranda news broke, Kavanaugh actively hid his own involvement, lying to the Senate Judiciary Committee by stating unequivocally that he not only knew nothing of the episode, but also never even received any stolen material.

Even if Kavanaugh could claim that he didn’t have any hint at the time he received the emails that these documents were of suspect provenance—which I personally find implausible—there is no reasonable way for him to assert honestly that he had no idea what they were after the revelation of the theft. Any reasonable person would have realized they had been stolen, and certainly someone as smart as Kavanaugh would have too.

But he lied.

Under oath.

And he did so repeatedly.

Significantly, he did so even though a few years earlier he had helped spearhead the impeachment of President Bill Clinton for perjury in a private civil case. Back then Kavanaugh took lying under oath so seriously that he was determined to do everything he could to help remove a president from office.

Now we know that he procured his own confirmation to the federal bench by committing the same offense. And he did so not in a private case but in the midst of public hearings for a position of trust, for a lifetime appointment to the federal judiciary.

His actions were dishonorable and dishonest.

This week, as part of his efforts to be elevated to the highest court in the land, he has calmly continued to deceive, falsely claiming that it would have been perfectly normal for him to receive secret Democratic letters, talking points, and other materials. And if this absurd notion were somehow true, it would not even be consistent with what he testified to 12 and 14 years ago. Back then, he didn’t state it would have been normal for him to receive secret Democratic strategy materials.

Instead, he explicitly and repeatedly went out of his way to say he never had access to any such materials. These objectively false statements were offered under oath to convince the committee of something that was untrue. It was clearly intentional, with Kavanaugh going so far as to correct Sen. Kennedy when the senator described the document situation accurately.

That’s why—without even getting into other reasonable objections to his nomination—he should not be confirmed.

In fact, by his own standard, he should clearly be impeached.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Sep 7th 2018 at 3:18:13 PM

If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#254332: Sep 7th 2018 at 7:26:35 PM

What happens on the off chance that a potential Supreme Court Justice isn't confirmed?

Do not obey in advance.
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#254333: Sep 7th 2018 at 7:31:49 PM

In that highly unlikely scenario, Trump would just nominate a new puppet yes-man.

BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#254334: Sep 7th 2018 at 7:35:30 PM

I figured as much.

Do not obey in advance.
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#254335: Sep 7th 2018 at 7:38:46 PM

[up]That would also likely be the case in the scenario in which Kavanaugh is impeached. If the Dems retake the house, then they have the power to impeach a Supreme Court judge if they feel it necessary. (Depending on votes.) But that wouldn't stop Trump from nominating someone even worse.

tricksterson Never Trust from Behind you with an icepick Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Never Trust
#254336: Sep 7th 2018 at 8:14:53 PM

[up]x7 So Psychopathic Manchild? Type B I would say

Edited by tricksterson on Sep 7th 2018 at 11:23:39 AM

Trump delenda est
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#254337: Sep 7th 2018 at 8:20:31 PM

Impeaching a Supreme Court Justice takes more than just the House, it takes the same as impeaching the president.

Now if the Dems take the senate they could block any Trump nominee for any positon that requires senate conformation, but that requires the senate.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
MJTrooper Since: Apr, 2011
#254338: Sep 7th 2018 at 10:11:37 PM

In lighter news, there was a man in a plaid shirt near the front row of one Trump's rallies who kept making facial expressions ranging from uninterested to baffled to the stuff Trump said, to the point where he was replaced by someone else. It looks like Plaid Shirt Guy is already becoming a Memetic Bystander.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#254339: Sep 7th 2018 at 10:13:09 PM

I'm sometimes disturbed by just how easily a person can become a meme.

Disgusted, but not surprised
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#254340: Sep 7th 2018 at 10:14:06 PM

Replacing someone in the crowd because someone in charge of the camera didn't like their reactions feels a little Orwellian

Do not obey in advance.
MrAHR Ahr river from ಠ_ಠ Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: A cockroach, nothing can kill it.
Ahr river
#254341: Sep 7th 2018 at 10:19:18 PM

Eh. I mean it sucks but swapping out someone in a crowd facing the camera honestly strikes me as sort of mundane PR.

the evil is not in the act, but in who is doing it.

Read my stories!
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#254342: Sep 7th 2018 at 10:29:07 PM

Trump and co believe they are closing in on the Op-Ed author.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/07/politics/white-house-oped-writer-search/index.html

I'm just grateful because this and Woodward's book have more or less totally distracted Trump from NAFTA. More scandals, please.tongue

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#254343: Sep 8th 2018 at 6:20:46 AM

So did Papadopoulos flip on Trump or not?

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#254344: Sep 8th 2018 at 6:22:38 AM

So did Papadopoulos flip on Trump or not?

Since he was sentenced to 14 days for lying to the FBI probe I would say signs are pointing to yes.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#254345: Sep 8th 2018 at 7:06:29 AM

He's been flipped for a while now. Papadopoulos was revealed to be working with the investigation last October as part of a plea deal, kicking off speculation that he may have been wearing a wire.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#254346: Sep 8th 2018 at 7:11:13 AM
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#254347: Sep 8th 2018 at 7:13:49 AM

[up]Any chance this will delay the Senate vote?

Edited by kkhohoho on Sep 8th 2018 at 9:13:29 AM

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#254348: Sep 8th 2018 at 7:17:48 AM

That's a completely hilariawesome coincidence.

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#254349: Sep 8th 2018 at 7:19:41 AM

Okay, can someone explain why the judge reviewing it is so significant?

kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#254350: Sep 8th 2018 at 7:23:03 AM

[up]Merrick Garland was Obama's pick for the Supreme Court.

Edited by kkhohoho on Sep 8th 2018 at 9:25:46 AM


Total posts: 417,856
Top