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

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#237701: Apr 6th 2018 at 12:27:46 PM

[up] yeah, it's just sort of funny to me.

[up][up] what's the chances of Prince getting a subpoena, you think?

edited 6th Apr '18 12:29:40 PM by megaeliz

PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#237702: Apr 6th 2018 at 12:30:18 PM

Hey, have some respect for the dead.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#237703: Apr 6th 2018 at 12:31:31 PM

[up] what?

That was just referring to why the press even bothers to ask the office of the Special Counsel's office for comments, when they already know what the answer will be.

edited 6th Apr '18 12:35:01 PM by megaeliz

PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#237705: Apr 6th 2018 at 12:36:13 PM

[up][up][up][up] I'd say probably not, given that he's already testified. If the discrepancies are significant enough then it could go either way, but based on what we're seeing they may have already got what they wanted from him.

He's a pretty slippery dude. Just look at everything that went on at Blackwater Xe Academi, or his current super shady venture. I'm sure he'll land on his feet, we just need to make sure we get everything he knows first.

edited 6th Apr '18 12:40:00 PM by archonspeaks

They should have sent a poet.
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#237706: Apr 6th 2018 at 12:39:13 PM

DOW is down 700 points (erasing this week's gains and then some), mostly due to fears of an impending trade war with China.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/06/investing/stock-market-dow-jones-trade-war-china/index.html

On the economic subject, you see a lot of stories where businesses and individuals in Russia or a given Banana Republic get sanctioned specifically. Any chance of that happening to the Trump Organization/various individuals involved in it?tongue

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
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
#237707: Apr 6th 2018 at 12:39:18 PM

all the ownership/management and money players behind Cambridge Analytica were quick to start up a new data analysis company (Emerdata) and will attempt to continue to influence elections and public perception in shady ways.
Called it.

Speaking of Republicans who are not Trump, it looks like Gov Kasich is not not running for President by visiting New Hampshire. Full article text 

MANCHESTER, N.H. — John Kasich had been here before. This much he pointed out, twice, before anyone had a chance to wonder why he was back.

“Wow!” he called out, stepping into the Red Arrow Diner on Tuesday for an unannounced stop. “It was just this crowded the last time.”

He sidled up beside the counter, squatting to greet a young customer, Sophia Bauer.

“How old are you?” he asked. “Five? Are you going to be in first grade? Do you have a dog? Oh, really?” Soon, Sophia was being tickled by the two-term Republican governor of Ohio.

It is both unclear what Kasich is doing here, in the first-in-the-nation primary state, and entirely clear what he is doing. He is not not running for president.

There would be nothing unusual about this but for some inconvenient political context for Kasich.

President Trump intends to run for re-election in 2020, and he has beaten Kasich before — here (by nearly 20 percentage points), elsewhere, and everywhere but the governor’s home state during the last round of primaries. In a party that has broadly pledged itself to Trump, the president would almost certainly beat him again if the race were held today.

But the race is not being held today, and Kasich is not exactly who he was in 2016, when he finished a semi-surprising second here. He is one of the few prominent Republicans willing to knock Trump on health care, climate change, Russia and other issues in front of any television camera that will have him. In doing so he has won a new set of national admirers, though not always those who vote in Republican primaries.

A University of New Hampshire poll released in February found that 60 percent of the state’s Republicans would support Trump again in a primary.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#237709: Apr 6th 2018 at 12:41:04 PM

[up]x5 The reason I ask, is because he testified before the House Intel committee, instead of with the FBI, or even the senate, and I think we can all agree that that investigation was a sham.

I've actually seen speculation that part of the reason why the House Republicans were so eager to shut the investigation down, is because they were worried that they would get implicated in this. We already know that other Republicans have used Cambridge Analytica, and may have some sort of financial tie to them or a related shell company.

edited 6th Apr '18 12:55:04 PM by megaeliz

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#237710: Apr 6th 2018 at 1:02:43 PM

The Pruitt story, just got weirder, if that were possible.

Lobbyist couple had to change the locks on Pruitt

Scott Pruitt was only supposed to be living in the Capitol Hill condominium that has become a focal point of his latest ethics controversy for six weeks last year, while he got settled in Washington.

But the new Environmental Protection Agency administrator didn’t leave when his lease ended, instead asking the lobbyist couple who became his disgruntled landlords to revise his lease several times, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.

The couple, Vicki and Steve Hart, became so frustrated by their lingering tenant that they eventually pushed him out and changed their locks. After trying to nudge Pruitt out of their home over the course of several months, the Harts finally told Pruitt in July that they had plans to rent his room to another tenant.

“The original arrangement was that he would be there living out of a suitcase … and it just kept going and going,” said one of the people with knowledge of the arrangement.

The condo, in which Pruitt rented a bedroom for $50 a night, has attracted the attention of the EPA’s inspector general, which said Thursday it was considering opening an investigation, alongside already-existing reviews of Pruitt’s taxpayer-funded first-class travel, his use of a special hiring authority to grant raises to aides and his spending on a soundproof phone booth for his office....

...Both people familiar with the condo arrangement described Pruitt as a difficult tenant who, intoxicated by his newfound power, paid little attention to the headaches he was causing others.

Prior to Pruitt’s arrival in Washington, Steve Hart — an energy lobbyist who, like Pruitt, is a native Oklahoman — had been a friend and supporter of the EPA administrator’s. He and his wife, a health care lobbyist, viewed the six-week living arrangement as a favor to a friend.

They drew up a lease running from February through April 1, 2017, said the people familiar, in order to make sure neither they nor Pruitt ran afoul of ethics rules, which prohibit political appointees from accepting gifts from lobbyists. Under the terms of that lease, Pruitt paid a cut-rate of $50 per night to live in the Hart’s condominium.

That favor turned into a headache for the couple when Pruitt repeatedly asked to extend his lease and the couple began to wonder if he would ever leave. “There were gentle questions regarding, ok, when are you going to leave and what have you...and they even started sending him ads of places close by that he could rent,” said the first person.

“Scott Pruitt is the Kato Kaelin of Capitol Hill. He is the long-term houseguest who takes advantage of his hosts and refuses to take a hint about when it’s time to leave,” the second person said.

A spokesman for Pruitt did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Harts eventually told Pruitt, who had to be reminded repeatedly to pay his rent, that they had plans to rent the room to somebody else — and that he needed to find another place to live, according to the people familiar with events. They also informed him in early August that they were changing the locks on their door.

This is just bizarre.

edited 6th Apr '18 1:17:05 PM by megaeliz

TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#237711: Apr 6th 2018 at 1:11:58 PM

Pruitt in general is bizarre, considering his obsession with privacy and secrecy and such. I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere down the line we learn that he's legitimately a little off.

Edit: Although in this case the answer may be no stranger than that he enjoyed living it up at the fancy condo, and perhaps tried to impress people by passing it off as his own or something.

edited 6th Apr '18 1:15:55 PM by TheWanderer

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#237712: Apr 6th 2018 at 1:37:51 PM

NY Times article about the new Sanctions.

Trump Administration Imposes New Sanctions on Putin Cronies

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on seven of Russia’s richest men and 17 top government officials on Friday in the latest effort to punish President Vladimir V. Putin’s inner circle for interference in the 2016 election and other Russian aggressions.

The sanctions are designed to penalize some of Russia’s richest industrialists, who are seen in the West as enriching themselves from Mr. Putin’s increasingly authoritarian administration.

The action freezes the oligarchs’ assets and prevents any American entities or individuals from doing business with them or their business operations. It also restricts foreign individuals from facilitating transactions on their behalf.

They grow out of an oddly disjointed policy toward Russia on the part of the Trump administration: While President Trump continues to call for good relations with Mr. Putin, Congress and much of the rest of the administration are pushing through increasingly punitive efforts that are sinking relations with Moscow to lows not seen in years.

“The Russian government operates for the disproportionate benefit of oligarchs and government elites,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’s destabilizing activities.”

Among those sanctioned are Oleg V. Deripaska, an oligarch who once had close ties to Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

Also sanctioned was Suleiman Kerimov — a financier close to Mr. Putin; Vladimir Bogdanov, a top executive of Surgutneftegaz, a Russian oil company; Igor Rotenberg, another oil executive; Kirill Shamalov, an energy executive who married Mr. Putin’s daughter, Katerina Tikhonova; Andrei Skoch, a deputy of the Russian Federation’s State Duma; and Viktor Vekselberg, chairman of the Renova Group, a Russian investment firm.

The sanctions have been under consideration for some time and were not imposed solely because of the recent poisoning in England but rather “in response to the totality of the Russian government’s ongoing and increasingly brazen pattern of malign activity around the world,” a senior administration official said in a conference call with reporters, adding: “But most importantly this is in response to Russia’s continuing attack to subvert Western democracies.”

The sanctions come just as investigators working for Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel looking into the possibility of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, have begun to question Russian oligarchs about possible financial links between those in Mr. Putin’s orbit and people close to Mr. Trump.

Friday’s penalties could be particularly painful for Mr. Putin’s regime. While Russia’s oligarchs make nearly all of their money in Russia, many stash their families, lovers and much of their wealth in places like London, New York and Miami.

Targeted sanctions against the oligarchs are seen as a particularly good way to punish Mr. Putin’s aggressive moves while sparing wider Russian society, which is already suffering under Mr. Putin’s thumb.

The sanctions come just three days after Lt. Gen. H. R. Mc Master, in his final speech as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, warned darkly about the growing Russian menace.

“For too long some nations have looked the other way in the face of these threats,” he said, adding: “And we have failed to impose sufficient costs.”

The new sanctions grow out of legislation passed by Congress overwhelmingly last year and designed to limit Mr. Trump’s ability to lift sanctions already imposed on Russia. Lawmakers in both parties feared that the president would suspend sanctions imposed by President Barack Obama as he pursued warmer relations with Moscow as promised during his campaign and first year in office.

The Trump administration opposed that legislation but quietly acceded to it after it passed with a veto-proof majority. Within that law was a measure requiring the administration to create a list of Russian oligarchs. Lobbying around the creation of the list became intense as Russia’s wealthiest citizens feared punishing sanctions to come.

That is exactly what happened on Friday.

The sanctions list will only hasten the slide of Washington-Moscow relations. This week, 60 American diplomats left Russia as part of a tit-for-tat series of expulsions that followed the nerve-gas poisoning of Sergei V. Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter.

Mr. Skripal’s poisoning on British soil prompted more than 20 countries to expel more than 100 Russian diplomats and intelligence officers, the largest such coordinated action ever. British officials believe that Mr. Skripal’s poisoning, which occurred after an assassin smeared a nerve agent on the door handle of his home, was such a risky operation that it is unlikely to have been undertaken without approval from the Kremlin.

Russia has denied involvement in the poisoning.

But the attack is seen as part of a pattern of increasingly aggressive moves by Mr. Putin, including the seizure of Crimea, military interventions in Georgia, Ukraine and Syria, tacit support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical attacks on his own populace, a direct attack by Russian mercenaries on American troops in Syria and the hacking of elections in the United States and Europe.

The Trump administration’s responses to Mr. Putin’s needling have been uneven. Although Congress gave the State Department $120 million in 2016 to counter Russian hacking efforts, the department has so far spent none of it. And Mr. Trump said this week that he wants American forces to leave Syria soon, an exit that would benefit Iran, Russia and its ally, Mr. Assad.

But the administration has also imposed considerable economic penalties on Russia, with Friday’s action the latest in a string of similar moves.

NATO allies are now thinking anew about more coordinated responses to track and sanction Mr. Putin’s cronies. Both the British Parliament and the United States Congress are considering legislation that would require that the owners of companies and properties be disclosed.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in property in cities like London, New York and Miami are estimated to be owned by Russian oligarchs, who use corporate shields and attorney to hide their identities.

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#237713: Apr 6th 2018 at 1:39:10 PM

Is calling Pruitt "the Kato Kaelin of Capitol Hill." an insult to Kato, given the general trend of any comparison directed at this administration being an Insult to Rocks?

edited 6th Apr '18 1:39:16 PM by sgamer82

TheRoguePenguin Since: Jul, 2009
#237714: Apr 6th 2018 at 2:13:54 PM

Blake Farenthold resigns from Congress effective immediately. Presumably all those sexual harassment allegations weren't worth the trouble anymore.

edited 6th Apr '18 2:14:12 PM by TheRoguePenguin

TroperOnAStickV2 Call me Stick from Redneck country Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!
Call me Stick
#237715: Apr 6th 2018 at 2:21:57 PM

[up][up]He seems to think it is.

edited 6th Apr '18 2:22:14 PM by TroperOnAStickV2

Hopefully I'll feel confident to change my avatar off this scumbag soon. Apologies to any scumbags I insulted.
Grafite Since: Apr, 2016 Relationship Status: Less than three
#237716: Apr 6th 2018 at 2:25:26 PM

[up][up][up][up] Thank God there are republicans in the administration and congress that won't tolerate Russia's current worldwide dickishness, even if they have to go over the president's wishes.

edited 6th Apr '18 2:25:36 PM by Grafite

Life is unfair...
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
#237717: Apr 6th 2018 at 2:26:21 PM

“While I planned on serving out the remainder of my term in Congress, I know in my heart it’s time for me to move along and look for new ways to serve,” the Texas Republican said in a statement.
How about serving 10-20 years behind bars?

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
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
#237718: Apr 6th 2018 at 3:03:08 PM

Double posting here to share the obligatory dumping of cold water on Democrats; how dare we get our hopes up that the Blue Wave will give us anything but abject failure. Full article text 

Senate Democrats seeking good news don’t need to go far to find it. The latest batch comes in a pair of polls out this week. The first suggests Democrat Mike Espy is the early front-runner in the November special election in Mississippi—Mississippi!—to replace recently retired Republican Sen. Thad Cochran. The second has Democrat Phil Bredesen up double digits—double digits!—in a hypothetical general election matchup in Tennessee to replace soon-to-be-retired GOP Sen. Bob Corker.

Those results are undeniably positive for Democrats running in states Trump won in landslides in 2016. But things aren’t quite as rosy as they seem—either in those specific races, or in their larger quest to gain control of the Senate.

I’ll start with the caveat that should be painfully obvious for anyone still nursing 2016 wounds: Polls don’t predict the future, they only tell us about the present, and even then they can only tell us so much. Seven months out from Election Day, they offer a helpful snapshot of where a race stands today, but they don’t show the entire picture.

Consider Mississippi, where an intraparty fight on the right and a few quirks of state law have given Democrats a slim chance of winning a special election this fall. On Tuesday, Espy’s team touted internal polling that had him leading a three-way race with 34 percent support over a pair of Republicans, interim Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith with 27 percent, and longtime GOP gadfly Chris Mc Daniel with 21 percent. The problem for Espy? Finishing first on Election Day won’t necessarily be enough to win. State law dictates that if no candidate tops 50 percent in the nonpartisan special election, the top two finishers proceed to a runoff. At that point, a healthy slice of conservative voters would be expected to rally around the only Republican left standing, even if Hyde-Smith and Mc Daniel spend the summer attacking one another as they’re expected to.

It’s also not clear how much higher Espy can go. According to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, which got a look at the specifics of the internal survey, Espy’s own pollsters found that the vast majority of respondents, 94 percent, were already familiar with him. It’s possible, then, that most voters have already made up their mind about Espy, who served as a U.S. congressman before becoming secretary of agriculture under Bill Clinton.

Another problem? The Mississippi poll is already largely obsolete. On the same day Espy’s campaign began hyping it, what had been a three-way race became a four-candidate contest when a second Democrat, Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton, jumped in. The dynamics of the race change considerably with two Democrats running, since there won’t be party primaries to narrow the field. Given their overlapping bases, Espy and Shelton could end up splitting the vote on the left, thereby ruining their party’s chances of getting a candidate into the runoff in the first place.

The story is a bit brighter for Democrats in Tennessee, where Corker’s pending retirement has made his seat one of their top pick-up opportunities this fall. A new Middle Tennessee State University poll out Thursday found Bredesen up 10 percentage points, 45 percent to 35 percent, on GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the conservative firebrand he’ll likely face in the general election. That’s the biggest polling lead that Bredesen, a former governor and one of Democrats’ top recruits this cycle, has had among the handful of surveys that have been released to date.

The results also speak to the crossover appeal of Bredesen, the only Democrat to win a statewide election in Tennessee in more than two decades. Twenty percent of self-identified Republicans said they’d vote for Bredesen, compared with just 5 percent of Democrats who said the same about Blackburn. That should terrify the GOP, which was already worried that the proudly un-P.C. Blackburn would turn off moderate conservatives. Still, roughly 1 in 5 respondents said they haven’t made up their mind, and it’s only been a little more than a month since Corker took himself out of the running.

Even if Bresden proves to be as dominant as the poll suggests, a victory in Tennessee won’t be enough on its own to deliver the Senate to Democrats. They need to pick up at least two seats this November, there are currently only two other GOP-held seats that appear to be within reach this fall: in Arizona and Nevada. (Mississippi is not yet seen as competitive, though it has been trending that way.)

The other half of the equation is even more daunting for Democrats. They are defending four seats that the nonpartisan handicappers believe to be at just as much risk of flipping as the three GOP-held ones the Democrats are targeting, and another three where the Democratic incumbent has only a slight advantage. Put another way, a total of 10 Senate races are currently competitive; Democrats would need to win nine of them to claim the upper chamber if nothing changes. That’s possible, of course, but it won’t become probable unless the Democrats’ run of good news continues for a good while longer.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#237719: Apr 6th 2018 at 3:11:09 PM

Rep Blake Farenthold (R-TX) is resigning due a scandal involving him paying off a sexual harassment accuser with tax payer money.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/06/politics/blake-farenthold-resigns-congress/index.html

His district is R+13, so it probably isn't winnable, barring a serious local/national wave.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#237720: Apr 6th 2018 at 3:13:15 PM

[up][up]This isn't really new, the odds of the Democratic Party taking the senate was very unlikely to begin with and Jones' victory simply downgraded it to unlikely. Doesn't mean that abject failure is likely or plausible, it's not.

edited 6th Apr '18 3:13:42 PM by Fourthspartan56

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#237721: Apr 6th 2018 at 3:27:50 PM

S.C. Republicans introduce bill to consider secession over gun rights [1]

A group of Republican state legislators in South Carolina introduced a measure Thursday that would allow the state to secede from the United States if the federal government began to seize legally purchased firearms in the state.

The bill, which was referred to the state House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, would allow South Carolina lawmakers to debate whether to secede from the United States if the federal government were to violate the Second Amendment.

It states that "the general assembly shall convene to consider whether to secede from the United States based upon the federal government's unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution if the federal government confiscates legally purchased firearms in this state."

You tried that once, and look how that worked out for you.

On a more serious note, this seems like something that could easily have been promoted by the Kremlin.

edited 6th Apr '18 3:28:59 PM by megaeliz

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#237722: Apr 6th 2018 at 3:31:55 PM

Go on. Just try it guys.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
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
#237723: Apr 6th 2018 at 3:33:43 PM

But ... federal and state government confiscate legally purchased firearms all the time - like when the owner who purchased them is now arrested for a felony.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#237724: Apr 6th 2018 at 3:39:38 PM

Common sense and obviousness didn't matter to the traitors 150 years ago, why would it matter now?

archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#237725: Apr 6th 2018 at 3:41:38 PM

Secession isn't really a serious agenda item. Like, nowhere even near the realm of realism. The people who put that bill forward know it just as well as we do, which is why it's such an easy way for them to get in the news without actually doing anything. Especially for a state like South Carolina, which receives seven times its statewide revenue in federal funds every year.

edited 6th Apr '18 3:42:23 PM by archonspeaks

They should have sent a poet.

Total posts: 417,856
Top