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

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#273351: Mar 4th 2019 at 11:11:57 AM

Its not about getting anything straight, its about sounding tough while othering your opponents.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#273352: Mar 4th 2019 at 11:19:43 AM

The thing is, he managed to do it in a way that doesn't sound tough.

Like, it's the easiest thing in the world, which is why Trump does it. But it's impressive that he fucked it up by doing it in a way that makes him come across as delicate and hysterical.

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#273353: Mar 4th 2019 at 11:23:57 AM

Trump failed with the NK summit because he set himself up to fail.

Remember how earlier I said that Obama staffers were comparing how they set up negotiations with Iran and Cuba? How there were weeks up lower level staff meetings to sound each other out, work out the roadblocks, and do actually negotiating long before the senior officials set down to talk?

Trump's people only had ''one'' lower level meeting before the summit. And during the meeting the US was made aware that North Korea was going to insist on sanction removal. Nothing was done to actually work anything out regarding this, but Trump wanted a summit anyway. So he went in already with a big problem he wasn't prepared to deal with because he'd ignored it.

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#273354: Mar 4th 2019 at 11:46:19 AM

So even Mitch McConnell is admitting defeat in regards to the "No Emergency Declaration" legislation, though he pulled a fun little bit of Never My Fault in regards to the inevitable veto.

"I think what is clear in the Senate is that there will be enough votes to pass the resolution of disapproval, which will then be vetoed by the president and then in all likelihood the veto will be upheld in the House," McConnell said while speaking to reporters in Kentucky.

Didn't catch it? He's trying to have his cake and eat it by saying that the House will be the one to uphold the veto, thus allowing those in the Senate to take advantage of a Schrödinger's Cat situation - they might have voted to uphold it, or they might have voted to override it, but it won't be necessary because the (more-expendable) House members will take care of matters anyway.

Edited by ironballs16 on Mar 4th 2019 at 2:46:36 PM

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
singularityshot Since: Dec, 2012
#273355: Mar 4th 2019 at 12:02:02 PM

The scene I would like to see play out in the debates would be something like this.

Moderator asks question to Democrat candidate.

Dem starts to answer, Trump heckles, insults and interrupts.

Dem goes quiet, and impassively waits for Trump to finish. Let him get all wound up. Then pause for a few beats, then say "are you finished? Good." and go straight back to answering the original question without addressing any of Trump's bluster.

The issue, as always, is that the Dem has to work much harder to try and catch the three main groups a candidate needs.

  1. Is the base. The Republican base famously only wants someone to follow and identify which group to blame for all their problems. The Democrat base needs to fall in love to fall in line. Trump I think has changed the base somewhat, as I think "Stop Trump" will get a lot of Democrats behind any candidate but technically that was the situation in 2016 and it didn't work out so hot. Keeping on policy where possible is the key here.

  2. Is flip-floppy / low information voters. I know there are true independents out there who do take each candidate at their merits. But I would say that most high information independents are actually kidding themselves. They will have an unconscious bias which really just makes them open minded members of a party base. No, this is the group that only engages tangentially. This is the group that wants the both sides narrative, because it reduces the importance of their decision. For this group, the Democrat candidate has to avoid a both sides outcome. Which in this case, means not getting into a shouting match. Don't let Trump bring it down to his level. It also however means winning the...

  3. media, marketing and meme war. That's how low information voters are really going to engage. So there needs to be a moment that can be capitalized. That's why the candidate cannot be totally unresponsive - that just gives that impression of strength where one person is dictating the conversation. That's why "Are you finished?" could be a good line. It doesn't engage with the substance of Trump's bluster, because that would be the equivalent of nailing jelly to the wall. It just pithily attempts to neutralise all of it as a rant or tantrum - made even better by the contrast of a fuming Trump and an implacable Democrat. That becomes the meme moment - because I think "Are you finished?" easily scales up in voters minds to the Trump presidency in general.

Just my thoughts on the subject, no basis other than that.

BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#273356: Mar 4th 2019 at 12:14:14 PM

"You say back what they're saying, but you twist it just enough so the people they're trying to impress see the lunacy, the comedy in what they're trying to say," Hickenlooper said. "When their audience begins laughing at them, it drives most bullies nuts."
Well, his heart's in the right place. But I don't think you can convince the Cult of Trump to see lunacy and comedy in what Trump says.
Would probably help to merge the ones with almost no population and similat population.

Wyoming is an electoral travesty.

Merging some of the "emptier" states is probably less likely to happen than splitting California into three states.
Did you guys hear that an Alabama newspaper called for the KKK to reform. How long until the Right Wing politicians ask for the same?
The GOP politicians don't need the KKK to reform, they just need the racists to keep voting for them, which they have been doing consistently.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#273357: Mar 4th 2019 at 1:23:48 PM

Oh, I know it's even less likely, but they're already over represented in the Senate and irrelevant in the House and it's a problem that only gets worse.

Edited by RainehDaze on Mar 4th 2019 at 9:25:27 AM

Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
#273358: Mar 4th 2019 at 1:35:53 PM

Today's bombshell expose:

The Making of the Fox News White House.

Not that this wasn't plainly obvious to anyone who was paying attention, but the massive level of influence is just gross.

With reference to this quote from the article:

Nicole Hemmer, an assistant professor of Presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center and the author of “Messengers of the Right,” a history of the conservative media’s impact on American politics, says of Fox, “It’s the closest we’ve come to having state TV.”

She's wrong.

State TV is when the leaders of the country control the media message. This article is describing the reverse: media that has the power to control the leaders.

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.
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#273359: Mar 4th 2019 at 2:21:00 PM

In Russia, the Kremlin controls the news. In the US, the news controls the White House.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#273360: Mar 4th 2019 at 2:33:36 PM

in communist Russia..

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#273361: Mar 4th 2019 at 2:33:48 PM

What is Yakov Smirnoff is up to these days?

Edited by sgamer82 on Mar 4th 2019 at 3:34:15 AM

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#273362: Mar 4th 2019 at 2:37:07 PM

Apparently, a doctorate in psychology until May.

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#273363: Mar 4th 2019 at 4:28:26 PM

Thing is, handling a bully like Trump in such a way that a majority of the audience ends up on your side is very highly dependent on the interplay of personality. There really isnt any way to reduce it to steps or principles- just like you cant fake sincerity for long, unless you are truly a sincere person; you also cant fake moral superiority for long, unless you are truly a moral person, and know how to communicate that effectively and persuasively.

By the way, I wish people would stop responding to every suggestion for persuading voters to support the next Democrat with "Trump supporters can never be convinced to change." No one cares about Trump's core voters- it's the marginal ones we are after, and we only need a couple percent in the right states to carry the EC.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#273364: Mar 4th 2019 at 5:01:48 PM

[up][up] Seriously? Neat.

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/03/04/day-774/

    Day 774: High crimes and misdemeanors 
1/ The House Judiciary Committee launched a broad investigation into possible obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power by Trump and his administration. Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler sent letters demanding documents from more than 80 family members, business associates, political confidants, and entities tied to Trump, including the Trump Organization, the Trump campaign, the Trump Foundation, the presidential inaugural committee, the White House, Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Jared Kushner, Hope Hicks, Steve Bannon, Sean Spicer, the National Rifle Association, and others. The Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over impeachment, and any hearings that explore whether Trump committed "high crimes and misdemeanors" would take place before the panel. (New York Times / Washington Post / Politico / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNN / NBC News / Daily Beast)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-democrats-demand-documents-from-more-than-80-people-and-institutions-affiliated-with-trump/2019/03/04/51c249ec-3e87-11e9-922c-64d6b7840b82_story.html

House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff says there is "direct evidence" of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians. Schiff said the evidence can be found "in the emails from the Russians through their intermediary offering dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of what is described in writing as the Russian government effort to help elect Donald Trump." Schiff says the Russians offered dirt on Clinton and that "[t]here is an acceptance of that offer in writing from the president’s son, Don Jr., and there is overt acts and furtherance of that." (Fox News / CBS News)

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/rep-adam-schiff-says-plenty-of-evidence-of-russia-collusion/

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said lawmakers found "enormous amounts of evidence" that Trump colluded with the Russians during the 2016 campaign. Sen. Mark Warner said there is "no one that could factually say there's not plenty of evidence of collaboration or communications between Trump Organization and Russians." (Politico / Fox News)

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/03/mark-warner-trump-russia-collusion-1200571

The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to request Trump's personal tax returns. Democrats say they are prepared to "take all necessary steps," including litigation, in order to obtain them. (NBC News)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-democrats-prepare-effort-request-trump-tax-returns-n978246

House Minority Leader Kevin Mc Carthy said the hush money payments made by Michael Cohen to women on behalf of Trump "aren't impeachable" offenses. Mc Carthy downplayed the significance of the payments and referred to the campaign finance violations as mere fines. "I watched — this is a — if it’s a finance campaign, those are fines," Mc Carthy said. "Those aren’t impeachable in the process." He added that other politicians have done "this exact same thing in the past." (ABC News / NBC News)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mccarthy-says-hush-payments-aren-t-impeachable-offenses-n978661

2/ Mitch Mc Connell expects the resolution to overturn Trump's emergency declaration to pass in the Republican-led Senate – but not survive a veto by Trump – after Rand Paul became the fourth Republican to announce he would vote for the disapproval resolution. "We may want more money for border security," Paul said, "but Congress didn't authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it's a dangerous thing." Trump promised to veto the resolution if it reaches his desk, which would be the first veto of his presidency. Neither the House nor the Senate have the votes needed to override a presidential veto. (Politico / Axios / CNN / New York Times / Washington Post / USA Today)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/03/politics/rand-paul-trump-national-emergency-declaration/index.html

3/ Trump ordered Gary Cohn to pressure the Justice Department to block AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner, which owns CNN, a few months before the Justice Department eventually filed suit to stop the merger in the summer of 2017. The next day Trump declared the proposed merger "not good for the country." Trump called Cohn, then the director of the National Economic Council, into the Oval Office along with John Kelly and said to Kelly: "I've been telling Cohn to get this lawsuit filed and nothing's happened! I've mentioned it fifty times. And nothing's happened. I want to make sure it's filed. I want that deal blocked!" (New Yorker)

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house

Roger Ailes reportedly informed the Trump campaign in advance about questions Megyn Kelly would ask during the first Republican Presidential debate in 2015, according to a pair of Fox insiders and a source close to Trump. During the debate in Cleveland, Kelly asked Trump started to ask the question: "You've called women you don't like 'fat pigs,' 'dogs,' 'slobs,' and 'disgusting animals.'" Trump interrupted her question with the quip: "Only Rosie O'Donnell!" A former Trump campaign aide said that a Fox contact gave Trump advance notice of a different debate question, which asked if candidates would support the Republican nominee, regardless of who won. (New Yorker)

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house

4/ A coalition of 21 states filed suit to block the Trump administration's changes to the Title X family planning program, which would shift tens of millions of dollars from Planned Parenthood toward faith-based pregnancy clinics. The new rule that would affect more than 4 million low-income women who receive services including cancer screenings and pregnancy tests through the Department of Health and Human Services program. (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/03/04/california-files-suit-block-trump-administrations-abortion-gag-rule-family-planning-program/

poll/ 41% of voters say they would vote to re-elect Trump in 2020 while 48% say they would probably vote for the Democratic candidate. 58% don't think Trump's been honest and truthful regarding the Russia probe, and 60% disapprove of his recent national emergency declaration to build a border wall. (NBC News)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/nbc-news-wsj-poll-2020-race-will-be-uphill-trump-n978331

    Notables 
Roger Stone suggested he has been "framed" by Robert Mueller in an Instagram post, possibly violating the gag order barring him from criticizing the prosecutors in the criminal case against him. Stone published the post less than 48 hours after Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered his lawyers to explain why they didn't tell her about the planned publication of a book by Stone that could violate her gag order on him. On Feb. 15, Stone said on Instagram that his book, "The Myth of Russian Collusion: The Inside Story of How Trump Really Won," would be published March 1. Digital versions of the book have been on sale since Feb. 19, however. (CNBC / Washington Post)

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/03/roger-stone-suggests-robert-mueller-framed-him-despite-gag-order.html

Trump blamed Michael Cohen's congressional testimony for the reason that negotiations with North Korea collapsed. At the time, Trump said he walked away from the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un because of a disagreement about economic sanctions on North Korea. (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-blames-cohen-testimony-for-failed-deal-with-north-korea/2019/03/03/4d11c082-3e26-11e9-a44b-42f4df262a4c_story.html

North Korean hackers continued to attack the computer networks of more than 100 companies in the U.S. and ally nations while Trump was meeting with Kim Jong-un last week. The attacks began in 2017 when Trump mocked Kim as "rocket man" in a speech at the United Nations. (New York Times)

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/03/technology/north-korea-hackers-trump.html

Trump has made 9,014 false or misleading statements over the last 773 days. Trump averaged nearly 5.9 false or misleading claims per day during his first year in office, and he hit nearly 16.5 per day in his second year. In 2019, he's averaging nearly 22 per day. (Washington Post)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/04/president-trump-has-made-false-or-misleading-claims-over-days/

Edited by sgamer82 on Mar 4th 2019 at 6:02:30 AM

vicarious vicarious from NC, USA Since: Feb, 2013
vicarious
#273365: Mar 4th 2019 at 6:09:30 PM

huh, apparently the re-election in where I live in NC is not gonna have Mark Harris, since he dropped out, mostly due to health reasons.

It's some other dude that's some county commissioner somewhere.

Interesting, but I guess it doesn't really matter to me since I plan on revoting for Mc Cready anyway.

BJV Since: Jun, 2013
#273366: Mar 4th 2019 at 6:13:40 PM

The Ilhan Omar poster at the West Virginia event is an embarrassment to the GOP even by Trump standards.

Even if her religion was a legitimate link to the attacks, which it isn't, I don't think she was even thirteen at the time! It is the modern pinnacle of how partisan the matter of religious hate has become in my country and it saddens me.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#273367: Mar 4th 2019 at 6:15:57 PM

Surprising no one (intelligent); Hillary Clinton has ruled out a 2020 run.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/04/politics/hillary-clinton-2020/index.html

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
PhysicalStamina i'm tired, my friend (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#273369: Mar 4th 2019 at 10:02:55 PM

She can come back after the NPVIC is ratified by a majority of votes.

(Hey, she won the popular last time!)

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#273370: Mar 5th 2019 at 12:48:28 PM

Individual One is having a bad day.

Now that they realize the only Collusion with Russia was done by Crooked Hillary Clinton & the Democrats, Nadler, Schiff and the Dem heads of the Committees have gone stone cold CRAZY. 81 letter sent to innocent people to harass them. They won’t get ANYTHING done for our Country!

The greatest overreach in the history of our Country. The Dems are obstructing justice and will not get anything done. A big, fat, fishing expedition desperately in search of a crime, when in fact the real crime is what the Dems are doing, and have done!

PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!

Republican Approval Rating just hit 93%. Sorry Haters! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

It’s fun to watch him meltdown on twitter now that the House acting like a coequal branch of government again.

Edited by megaeliz on Mar 5th 2019 at 3:50:10 PM

CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#273371: Mar 5th 2019 at 12:54:26 PM

"Republican Approval Rating just hit 93%"

How many people stopped identifying as Republicans this month, I wonder.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#273372: Mar 5th 2019 at 12:55:52 PM

If his overall approval is sub-40 percent, and 93 percent of Republicans approve of him, then the math clearly shows that they are in the minority of the country as a whole. So much for democracy.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#273373: Mar 5th 2019 at 12:57:37 PM

I think it's around 43% right now.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#273374: Mar 5th 2019 at 1:08:14 PM

So, basic math says that if zero non-Republicans support Trump, at most 46% of the population can identify as Republican in polls.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#273375: Mar 5th 2019 at 1:14:12 PM

Where does that 93% come from? I feel like not taking Trump at face value should be a given now.


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