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

Steven (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#331926: Oct 6th 2020 at 6:29:27 AM

"A serum made from his antibodies"

I don't want any part of Trump inside me, thank you.

Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#331927: Oct 6th 2020 at 6:29:37 AM

If that's what passes for "miracles" these days, then it's a good thing I don't believe in the divine.

I do and am analyzing my own beliefs that God might actually send a plague to strike the democracy stealing monsters here.

I choose not to believe that of my deity but just barely.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
SatoshiBakura (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#331928: Oct 6th 2020 at 6:30:08 AM

Remember that Trump hasn’t recovered at all.

Have we heard from him yet this morning?

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#331929: Oct 6th 2020 at 6:34:43 AM

Unfortunately:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313449844413992961

Flu season is coming up! Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#331930: Oct 6th 2020 at 6:37:06 AM

Is he trying to find a way to become less popular?

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#331931: Oct 6th 2020 at 6:38:44 AM

Fictional Stalin:

It doesn't matter who votes, it matters who counts the votes.

Trump no longer cares about anyone but his cult.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
TitanJump Since: Sep, 2013 Relationship Status: Singularity
#331932: Oct 6th 2020 at 6:38:59 AM

[up] x3

Aka "I surrender, suckers! And I take NO responsibility at all!" - Quote Donald Trump.

He is not even going to try fight Covid-19 at all from this point as he just rolled over on his back and caved-in like what he did when it came to Putin.

How his cultists still can consider him as "strong" is a effort of sheer delusion.

Edited by TitanJump on Oct 6th 2020 at 3:39:12 PM

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#331933: Oct 6th 2020 at 6:39:46 AM

Jim Bakker still has a ministry.

So, there's some people who will never betray their masters.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Oct 6th 2020 at 6:40:23 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Scarecrow4774 from In Wonderland Since: Mar, 2017 Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
#331934: Oct 6th 2020 at 6:40:38 AM

I really think he's struggling with every new development since he got infected.

“We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.” - Lewis Carroll
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#331935: Oct 6th 2020 at 6:42:10 AM

I do and am analyzing my own beliefs that God might actually send a plague to strike the democracy stealing monsters here.

I choose not to believe that of my deity but just barely.

Semi-Serious question, but doesn't He have reputation for exactly that kind of thing? I recall at least one instance involving first-born sons.
Little more on-topic:

'Out of his mouth will come these wild Trumpisms': Harris preps to take on Pence – The undercard debate takes on increased importance with Trump laid out and the status of the final two presidential showdown up in the air.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/06/veep-debate-harris-pence-kamala-426574


Jim Bakker still has a ministry.
Little less on-topic:

That Fraudsters podcast I've mentioned a few times because of their episodes on Jacob Wohl have actually started a two-parter on Jim Baker.

Edited by sgamer82 on Oct 6th 2020 at 6:53:22 AM

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#331936: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:04:23 AM

@sgamer82 it should be noted that God usually at least gives ample warnings before sending plagues.

For what it’s worth, while don’t view this as a divine punishment per se, nor necessarily I do believe God directly caused it, I do think he’s using it to try to wake America up.

Covid is omnipresent, difficult to ignore, doesn’t care if you believe in it or not, has shut down most of our avenues for escape, exposed the foolishness of our leaders and you can’t even go to Canada to escape. It’s a perfect wake-up call.

Leviticus 19:34
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#331937: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:13:23 AM

Semi-Serious question, but doesn't He have reputation for exactly that kind of thing? I recall at least one instance involving first-born sons.

I'm not a Biblical literalist so the idea of a plague is against my conception of a supreme being.

It's just I hate Trump and the GOP THAT much.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#331938: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:14:19 AM

Nothing particularly unusual about this. It's simply the logical end result of Trump and the GOP's mishandling of COVID-19 and their hubris.

In particular their eschewing of basic safety precautions and overly relying on rapid COVID-19 tests gave them a false sense of security.

Edited by M84 on Oct 6th 2020 at 10:15:06 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#331939: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:17:12 AM

Could we not go down the rabbit hole of "COVID-19: God's holy retribution to smite the wicked?"

That would be great, thanks.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Oct 6th 2020 at 7:18:25 AM

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#331940: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:21:20 AM

John Olliver gave a reminder that poll watching has happened before:

The Democratic National Committee said yesterday that it would file a $10 million Federal suit today against the Republican National Committee, charging harassment and intimidation of black and Hispanic voters in New Jersey on Election Day.

Eugene Eidenberg, executive director of the Democratic committee, said it had affidavits from more than 80 voters asserting that they had been harassed or had witnessed harassment by the Republicanbacked National Ballot Security Task Force during the election on Nov. 3.

Mr. Eidenberg said the affidavits, along with photographs of task force members, some of whom were armed off-duty policemen, would be submitted as the case proceeded in Federal District Court in Trenton.

The Republican National Committee said it had established the task force to prevent voter fraud at the polls. Task force members patrolled polling places on Election Day and put up posters warning that it is a crime to falsify a ballot or to violate election laws. Richard Richards, chairman of the Republican committee, said that without such an effort, the Democrats would have stolen the election.

'Nothing to Fear'

When informed yesterday of the Democrats' plans to sue, William Greener 3d, director of communications for the Republican committee, said: We haven't done anything wrong. We have nothing to fear.

One of the Democrats' affidavits, according to Kenneth J. Guido Jr., a lawyer for the party, was signed by a voter who was physically pulled out of a polling place by a member of the task force,

He said that other affidavits had been signed by persons who said they had seen members of the National Ballot Security Task Force ask voters for voter registration cards and then had turned them away from the polls when they failed to produce the cards.

Mr. Eidenberg said the impending suit was not intended to reverse the state's gubernatorial election, which the Republican candidate, Thomas H. Kean, won by 1,677 votes of the 2.28 million cast.

Rather, Mr. Eidenberg said, it will be an attempt to insure that the techniques the task force is said to have used are not used again by the Republicans in other elections around the country. 'Grotesque' Abuses Charged Editors’ Picks Do Politics Belong in Retirement Planning? Lang Lang: The Pianist Who Plays Too Muchly Can Halloween Be Saved? Yes, Experts Say. Here’s How.

The abuses were so grotesque and reprehensible that we had a legal, moral and political responsibility, looking toward 1982, to put a stop to it - even if only one person was harassed, Mr. Eidenberg said.

The chairman of the Republican National Committee indicated that this was not a local idiosyncratic event, he said, but a larger strategy to reduce the normal Democratic vote by going after people on the basis of race.

The suit will not mention Mr. Kean, who will be sworn in next month as Governor. We have no evidence that Mr. Kean or his campaign workers made any policy decisions on this operation, Mr. Eidenberg said. But I don't know what Mr. Kean knew before, during or after the election about the task force.

The Democrats will charge that the actions of the task force were consitutional violations of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and of the Federal Voting Rights Act.

Mr. Guido said that people who had signed affidavits complaining of intimidation on Election Day had not been listed as plaintiffs because of their nervousness of becoming targets of more harassment by the Republicans. Mr. Eidenberg said they would be identified in court as the suit progressed. Republicans to Be Named

Along with the Republican National Committee and the New Jersey State Republican Committee, the suit will name the organizer of the task force, John A. Kelly, and two other employees of the national committee as defendants. Mr. Kelly was suspended from the political division of the national committee by the Republicans after it was reported that he had falsely represented himself as a lawyer. He is still drawing his salary, according to Mr. Greener.

The New Jersey Democratic State Committee and a vice chairman of the state committee, Virginia L. Feggins, will join the suit as plaintiffs.

Five days after the election, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Charles T. Manett, asked the United States Attorney General, William French Smith, to investigate whether the Voting Rights Act had been violated by the task force. Mr. Eidenberg said yesterday that the Democrats had received a letter from the assistant attorney general in charge of the Civil Rights Division, Bradford Reynolds, asking for more details.

The Democrat said that the suit that is to be filed today would be sent to the Civil Rights Division as further evidence in the matter. Prosecutor Investigating

The Essex County Prosecutor, George L. Schneider, has been conducting a statewide investigation into the task force but so far has not brought any charges.

The planned suit against the Republicans, which seeks compensatory and punitive damages, contends that county deputy sheriffs and local policemen, prominently displaying revolvers, two-way radios and armbands, with the words National Ballot Security Task Force, were hired to patrol certain black and Hispanic precincts.

The task force obstructed and interfered with the operations of the polling places in black and Hispanic precincts, according to the papers prepared for court by the Democrats.

The Democrats will also charge that the Rupublicans knowingly placed names from outdated voter registration lists on lists of persons whose eligibility to vote they were challenging.

The Democrats said the Republicans had challenged more than 45,000 people from districts that were predominantly black of Hispanic, despite warnings from commissioners of registration that many of the people were registered or were otherwise qualifed to vote.

These people were showing up with revolvers and armbands. Clearly the GOP never was all that above fascist tactics.

Also, those waiting lines are insane. Waiting in line for seven hours just to vote?

I have lived in some of the biggest cities of my country. You know how long I generally have to wait? Five minutes, tops, with maybe one or two people in front of me. That's what an effective national voting system looks like.

Edited by Redmess on Oct 6th 2020 at 4:26:36 PM

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#331941: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:24:29 AM

Could we not go down the rabbit hole of "COVID-19: God's holy retribution to smite the wicked?"

Note: I've had Covid-19 so I hope not. :)

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#331942: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:29:02 AM

I am unbearably smug right now [lol]

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#331944: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:30:29 AM

He mocked Clinton for having pneumonia and now he's visibly suffering.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
TitanJump Since: Sep, 2013 Relationship Status: Singularity
#331945: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:30:30 AM

[up] Please put that in a short synopsis for the rest of us, please...

(In text, preferably.)

Edited by TitanJump on Oct 6th 2020 at 4:30:49 PM

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#331946: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:30:50 AM

[up]I just did.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#331947: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:30:56 AM

What comes around goes around

Edited by Ultimatum on Oct 6th 2020 at 2:32:09 PM

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
TitanJump Since: Sep, 2013 Relationship Status: Singularity
#331948: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:32:20 AM

I was still typing when the answer arrived, pardon me.

...

It's just the wheel of karma crushing his non-existent marbles one more time...

Lazlo74 from A tropical hell-hole Since: May, 2018
#331949: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:33:03 AM

As an Indonesian, the way Americans (at least the Trumpeteers) dismiss wearing masks as a form of slavery/mind control/leftist media conspiracy appalls me. Everyone around here wears masks except for a bunch of overconfident shitheads or people who are just plain ignorant. These people always bring up the same arguments when it comes to arguing against health measures, which typically include:

  • Masks don't work because (insert questionable or misinterpreted research here).
  • Sweden didn't lock down and was successful, even though they suffered economic damage and has much higher fatality rate than most European countries nonetheless.
  • They simply outright call it a liberal hoax or at the very least downplays its threat.

What the fuck is wrong with these people? Maybe it's just me living in a country where people still has respect for authority and compassion for others, but this is truly sickening. All because they feel like their freedoms aren't respected or something.

Edited by Lazlo74 on Oct 6th 2020 at 7:35:59 AM

Scaled seeker
GoldenKaos Captain of the Dead City from Cirith Ungol Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Captain of the Dead City
#331950: Oct 6th 2020 at 7:37:11 AM

A lot of factors in America, Trump being only the latest one, has primed a large section of the populace to believe in lies that are patently untrue.

"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."

Total posts: 417,856
Top