U.S. Politics megathread (merged)

[Gizmo]

3 hours ago, Jeffros Furios said:

Biden's actions in Afghanistan was far from great .

Following through on Trump's promise, if I recall. 

[Jeffros Furios]

8 minutes ago, Gizmo said:

Following through on Trump's promise, if I recall. 

Oh that's alright then .

[Sharpie]

3 hours ago, Jeffros Furios said:

Oh that's alright then .

I had concerns about the tone Trump adopted when he made the pact with the Taliban. He did at one time state that if the terms of the agreement were not fully followed he would unleash the might of the USA upon the Taliban and Afghanistan. I guess when he did not get reelected that promise was now incumbent on the new President, and I can understand why he would not want to implement that action. Why did they have the volume of equipment in Afghanistan that they did. The worlds acclaimed greatest army needed all that to fight a bare footed tribal manned civilian army led in fear of fellow Afghanis who would kill them if they did not fight.

[JackLadd]

7 hours ago, JFK-1 said:

 

Being better than Trump is easy, Homer Simson would be better and smarter. Biden is a great President.

 

I like Biden and think he's getting blamed for stuff that Trump created. Anyone that got rid of Trump is a hero by default anyay.

[JFK-1]

13 hours ago, JackLadd said:

 

I like Biden and think he's getting blamed for stuff that Trump created. Anyone that got rid of Trump is a hero by default anyay.

 

The great label was actually sarcasm encouraged by a comment that he was hopeless which makes no sense. They have had no greats since Kennedy and Biden is in a bind with a Republican party who would oppose absolutely anything regardless of how beneficial.

And despite that he has actually engineered a lot which will benefit the nation. Such as a system of what the UK would call family allowance. If that's what they're still calling it. You know, like Trump giving tax breaks to billionaires. 

[Cade]

Biden has been hamstrung by deadlock in both Congress and the Senate AND the Supreme Court is now heavily stacked to the far right.

Doesn't help that some "democrat" congressmen/senators keep voting against things (due to funny money).

Nothing he tries gets through, and anything that does get passed is immediately attacked as "not good enough" (it only passed because you forced it to be watered down ya dicks)

 

It's a total mess and only a strong showing in the next mid-terms can salvage it.

 

 

[A Boy Named Crow]

11 hours ago, Cade said:

Biden has been hamstrung by deadlock in both Congress and the Senate AND the Supreme Court is now heavily stacked to the far right.

Doesn't help that some "democrat" congressmen/senators keep voting against things (due to funny money).

Nothing he tries gets through, and anything that does get passed is immediately attacked as "not good enough" (it only passed because you forced it to be watered down ya dicks)

 

It's a total mess and only a strong showing in the next mid-terms can salvage it.

 

 

The Republicans / Trump bampots are fired up, the Democrats are in disarray,  the midterms could be an absolute bloodbath!

[ri Alban]

Seems Vlad doesn't have the same influence over Wee Joe . Trump would probably hand the Ukraine over himself.

[ri Alban]

Wee Joe has the US economy on overdrive. Biggest growth(5.7%) in 40 years and the dollar is kicking arse. Hopefully for it him it continues.

[JFK-1]

 

[Sharpie]

Another week passed of CNN, MSN, and Fox News, and the only conclusion I can come to is that America is fecked.

[Spellczech]

The quality of US Presidents is shockingly poor. I actually quite liked that they stopped pretending and just started voting in the joke candidate with Trump. 

 

Then we only went and did the same and got offered up a choice between Bojo the Clown and Comrade Corbyn...!! Depressing the lack of quality in politics now that most of them are professional politicians straight from school.

[Spellczech]

On 28/01/2022 at 05:35, ri Alban said:

Seems Vlad doesn't have the same influence over Wee Joe . Trump would probably hand the Ukraine over himself.

Nothing to celebrate. Putin probably had dirt on Trump, and the Biden family appear to have some interests in Ukraine...

[Sharpie]

32 minutes ago, Spellczech said:

Nothing to celebrate. Putin probably had dirt on Trump, and the Biden family appear to have some interests in Ukraine...

 

It seems Bidens son has earned millions with minimal; published skills, Ukraine and China two sources.

[JFK-1]

I'm beginning to think Trump should be highlighted on one of those dumbest criminals shows. This nitwit is going to talk himself into jail. He's so incredibly dimwitted just give him long enough and he admits, unprompted, everything he ever did and denied.
 

Trump Admits Coup, Says He’ll Pardon Jan. 6 Rioters if He Wins in 2024
 

 

 

[JFK-1]

People Who Go to Trump Rallies Are Very Sick

 

 

 

[Jeffros Furios]

4 hours ago, JFK-1 said:

People Who Go to Trump Rallies Are Very Sick

 

 

 

That's ****in disturbing , what a bunch of ****ups ..

[Sharpie]

Pence has come out and stated that Trump was totally wrong about election fraud. A strange move, in a strange time. 

[FWJ]

5 hours ago, Sharpie said:

Pence has come out and stated that Trump was totally wrong about election fraud. A strange move, in a strange time. 

He might be positioning himself for 2024?

[Sharpie]

2 minutes ago, FWJ said:

He might be positioning himself for 2024?

That seems to be the general opinion, but it is a two edged sword, are there enough non Trump supporters to overcome the heavy Republican Party Trump support, but there do appear to be cracks in that also.

[FWJ]

34 minutes ago, Sharpie said:

That seems to be the general opinion, but it is a two edged sword, are there enough non Trump supporters to overcome the heavy Republican Party Trump support, but there do appear to be cracks in that also.

I suppose the wavering Democrats, floating voters, middle-of-the-roaders and scunnered-by-the-whole-thingers would go for Pence over Trump though.

[JFK-1]

I can't remember if Pence was always a rational actor or just became one. Maybe after Trump set a lynch mob on him. 

[JFK-1]

Trump Is Obsessed With Being a Loser - His electoral defeat has pulled him into a deep, dark place. He wants to pull the rest of us into it as well.
By Peter Wehner; FEBRUARY 7, 2022

 

Quote

Donald trump has made clear time and time again that, in his view, the worst thing that can happen to a person is to be judged a “loser.” In the 2020 presidential election he was, in fact, a loser, but his narcissism and the incredibly fragile self-esteem that undergirds it won’t allow him to accept that reality.

He has spent the past 15 months attempting to overthrow the election in an effort to make himself the winner and, after that effort failed, rewriting the narrative, portraying himself as a victim of “THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY.”

Almost every public comment Trump makes these days is focused on the election. America’s 45th president said in a statement last week that his vice president, Mike Pence, should have “overturned” the election. In a speech, he indicated that if he were to become president again, he’d likely pardon the people who on January 6, 2021, violently stormed the Capitol to stop the certification of the election, part of his ongoing effort to turn insurrectionists and those charged with seditious conspiracy into martyrs.

He also warned that he would incite unrest if prosecutors who are investigating him and his businesses took action against him.

Trump’s mind has no room to entertain any other thoughts, at least not for long. His defeat is his obsession; it has pulled him into a deep, dark place. He wants to pull the rest of us into it as well.

 

I discuss trump in psychological terms because I have said for a half-dozen years—and previously in these pages—that the most important thing to understand about Trump is his disordered personality; it’s the only way to even begin to think about how to deal with him. (I’m not the only person to think that.)

 

Trump seems unable to incorporate anything critical about himself, hence his need to create an imaginary world in which he really won the 2020 election but was the victim of a conspiracy that borders on intergalactic.

 

He’s performed a moral inversion in which the supporters who stormed the Capitol are the true patriots; they, like he, are being unfairly persecuted. They are the defenders of democracy; the people who are holding them accountable are the enemies of America.

 

Another reason Trump’s mindset matters is that millions of his followers—passionate, committed, incensed, aggrieved, and absolutely sure they are right and righteous—have entered his hall of mirrors. To understand the GOP, one must understand Trump. It’s true that his hold on the party has weakened some since he left office; that was inevitable. But he is still far and away the dominant figure in the GOP and, at this juncture at least, its mostly likely presidential nominee in 2024.

As Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times put it, “the Republican Party is very much still Mr. Trump’s, transforming his lies about a stolen 2020 election into an article of faith, and even a litmus test that he is seeking to impose on the 2022 primaries with the candidates he backs. He is the party’s most coveted endorser, its top fund-raiser and the polling front-runner for the 2024 presidential nomination.”

The Trump era has conditioned many in the Republican Party to think like he does—and those who don’t are too afraid to speak out against his malicious transgressions. Even Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine—who voted to impeach Trump, who represents a blue state, who isn’t up for reelection for four years, and who clearly views Trump as a threat to American democracy—bobbed and weaved when she was asked if she would support Trump in 2024. The proper response would have been: of course not!

As if to prove that the GOP is now an instrument of Trump’s obsession, late last week Republican leaders meeting in Salt Lake City censured Representative Adam Kinzinger and Representative Liz Cheney because of their work on the January 6 committee. The Republican National Committee also announced that it would fund Cheney’s primary opponent.

Cheney and Kinzinger engaged in a “Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens who engaged in legitimate political discourse,” the Republican National Committee’s chair, Ronna McDaniel, said. McDaniel’s words were echoed in the censure, which accused Cheney and Kinzinger of “participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

Even in a Trump-led party, it is stunning that Republican leaders would seek to whitewash a violent attack on the Capitol to overturn a presidential election. This is not just moral degradation; it is moral nihilism.

McDaniel’s insistence, after a great deal of blowback, that “legitimate political discourse” referred only to nonviolent protesters isn’t convincing. For one thing, there is no “persecution”—to use the language from the RNC resolution—by the January 6 congressional committee aimed at people who gathered peacefully before the assault on the Capitol. For another, Trump’s dangling of a pardon could apply only to those who were arrested for attacking the Capitol.

And in a resolution in which the events of January 6 were central, the RNC did not see fit to say a single critical word about the violent mob that stormed the Capitol. That is itself quite telling.

Amanda Carpenter, who once worked for Senator Ted Cruz, put it well: “The fact the RNC is censuring Cheney and Kinzinger for investigating January 6 and not condemning Trump for causing January 6 is absolutely demented.”

Even The Wall Street Journal editorial page felt compelled to issue this warning: “Republicans should not get within 10 miles of defending the Capitol riot. What is to be gained by the RNC’s indulgence of President Trump’s vendettas?” The answer, of course, is that they may be true believers—and even if they aren’t, they understand, perhaps better than The Journal’s editorial writers, what MAGA world is demanding.

To put this “indulgence” in perspective, contrast the behavior of the Republican Party in the United States with the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. As Mark Landler, the Times’ London-bureau chief, has noted, Tory members of Parliament have been far more critical of Prime Minister Boris Johnson—who didn’t incite an attack on the House of Commons but did host drinking parties during lockdown—than Republicans have been critical of Trump. The Tory party understands the distinction between partisan loyalty and craven, unpatriotic fealty; the Republican Party does not.

I’ve sensed lately that some people on the right—individuals who defended Trump at virtually every turn in his presidency but knew privately, deep in their heart, that they had made moral accommodations they weren’t proud of—wish the rest of us would just move on from Trump. Media coverage of the former president brings to the foreground the cost of their Faustian bargain.

Shortly after the election, some of us tried to move on. But unfortunately, Trump and MAGA world had something different in mind—undermining trust in our elections, storming the Capitol, propagating malicious and destructive lies. There is now an entire media industry—Right Wing Inc.—built around the distorted and disturbed mind of Donald J. Trump.

A wise conservative friend of mine who is a critic of the left recently told me, “At the elite level, the Republican Party is much worse than the Democratic Party when it comes to the health of American democracy. It is led by, and defined by, Trump, who wants to attack our institutions at every level.”

So he does, and so he has. Trump was dangerous, his mind disordered, before; he’s more dangerous, his mind more disordered, now. He’s obsessed and enraged, consumed by vengeance, and moving us closer to political violence. His behavior needs attention not because of the past but because of the future. A second Trump term would make the first one look like a walk in the park.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/02/trump-obsessed-being-loser-2020-election/621505/

 

[JFK-1]

 

[JFK-1]

 

[Cade]

His obsession with water pressure never failed to amuse me.

 

 

[The Real Maroonblood]

2 hours ago, JFK-1 said:

 

It’s apt for him because he spouts shite.

[Mysterion]

On 11/02/2022 at 03:18, JFK-1 said:

 

 

LP always create superb videos. 

They had a bit of scandal with one of the founders, has all that been resolved ? 

[milky_26]

trump and two of his kids, ivanka and donald jr must testify under oath in relation to the investigation into their business practices by new york

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60425457

[The Real Maroonblood]

6 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

trump and two of his kids, ivanka and donald jr must testify under oath in relation to the investigation into their business practices by new york

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60425457

[Cade]

Will he just plead the 5th to every question?

Will he just sit there with his arms crossed, pouting, looking at the ceiling and refuse to say anything at all?

Will he go off on totally unrelated conspiracy rants and end up getting done for contempt?

Will he pull Weinstein and pretend to be too ill to attend court?

 

 

[A Boy Named Crow]

16 minutes ago, Cade said:

Will he just plead the 5th to every question?

Will he just sit there with his arms crossed, pouting, looking at the ceiling and refuse to say anything at all?

Will he go off on totally unrelated conspiracy rants and end up getting done for contempt?

Will he pull Weinstein and pretend to be too ill to attend court?

 

 

Bone spurs can be very debilitating...

[JackLadd]

Brainless moron walked right into that subpoena with his ludicrous statement yesterday. Hope the indictments aren't far away.

[JFK-1]

Trumps world is crumbling. His accountants have effectively fired him. Think about that, a business firing a customer. The thing here is they know he has been providing them with inaccurate figures. And they also know the law is on it so when the shit hits the fan they don't want to be connected. 

[JFK-1]

4 hours ago, Cade said:

Will he just plead the 5th to every question?

Will he just sit there with his arms crossed, pouting, looking at the ceiling and refuse to say anything at all?

Will he go off on totally unrelated conspiracy rants and end up getting done for contempt?

Will he pull Weinstein and pretend to be too ill to attend court?

 

 

 

I believe Trump is even thicker than you think he is. Put him in a courtroom and he's so incredibly stupid he would babble his way into jail taking others with him.

The people smarter than he is, which is almost anybody, will be trying their utmost to get him to never talk about anything.

But he can't do that, an idiot is an idiot and will remain an idiot no matter what you tell him. He will talk himself into jail at these stupid rallies far less a court. He just can't shut up even if his life depended on it. That stupid.

[JFK-1]

 

[crunchy frog]

2 hours ago, JFK-1 said:

 

Very interesting article. We've always known he's a ****ing moron but that ties the final knot in the parcel. Can't wait to see how this all pans out, he's getting it from every angle and I love it!

[JFK-1]

2 minutes ago, crunchy frog said:

Very interesting article. We've always known he's a ****ing moron but that ties the final knot in the parcel. Can't wait to see how this all pans out, he's getting it from every angle and I love it!

 

I think this at long last is something Trump wont be able to wriggle/lie his way out of. He's going to be testifying under oath, everybody even his fanboys know he can't open his mouth without lying. Under oath in a court that lands you in jail.

Somebody and perhaps multiple people may even be going to jail for this. I predict a rush of people trying to throw others under the bus before they themselves are thrown under it.

The first example is Trump accountants, Mazars, they have seen the evidence the prosecutor has compiled ,and immediately bailed out saying they can no longer attest to Trumps accounts for the past 10 years being reliable. They're going to co-operate with the prosecutor.

In addition it would appear Trump has financial problems, for the first time in his life he's going to be evicted from Wonderland into reality. A reality where you can't just lie and expect people to go along with it.

 

Trump, Deep In Debt, Faces Dwindling Options To Preserve Faltering Business

 

 

[Jambo-Jimbo]

A lot of people have waited a long time to see Trump and his clan go down, and I don't mean so much getting sent to jail, but more for their business empire to crash around them, jail time would be the cherry on top though.

 

 

 

[All roads lead to Gorgie]

I can see Trump's fanboys gathering outside the court for this. Could be crazy scenes again if the morons see their hero go down.

[ri Alban]

Pleading the 5th under a witch-hunt, will be the order of the day. This will strengthen his hold on his vote and will probably have him back in power. What a country the US has become.

[Maple Leaf]

Trump is the modern day Teflon man.  Nothing sticks to him.

 

Nothing significant will happen to Trump as a result of this investigation.  He will continue to have a strangled hold on the Republican party and the cultists will continue to worship him.

[The Real Maroonblood]

21 minutes ago, Maple Leaf said:

Trump is the modern day Teflon man.  Nothing sticks to him.

 

Nothing significant will happen to Trump as a result of this investigation.  He will continue to have a strangled hold on the Republican party and the cultists will continue to worship him.

Well he’s got a partner in Johnson.

[Maple Leaf]

12 minutes ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

Well he’s got a partner in Johnson.

I think they go to the same barber.

[The Real Maroonblood]

17 minutes ago, Maple Leaf said:

I think they go to the same barber.

[Sharpie]

Some believe here that the Canadian trucker protest is Trump related and that some information and strategies are being advised from that direction. If Trump faces public trial for these charges, I honestly fear for the extent of the breach of public peace in the States, and in some other Countries, like my own present abode.

[JFK-1]

14 hours ago, Maple Leaf said:

Trump is the modern day Teflon man.  Nothing sticks to him.

 

Nothing significant will happen to Trump as a result of this investigation.  He will continue to have a strangled hold on the Republican party and the cultists will continue to worship him.

 

This time, I don't know. I'm convinced in court he and his brood will plead the 5th across days and hundreds of questions. That's not a good optic.

While you're not saying anything you're effectively admitting guilt, by conceding that anything you say may incriminate you. There can be nothing you could say to incriminate you unless you have indeed committed criminal acts. That goes without saying.

In addition Trump himself, idiot that he is, commented while in the WH that anybody pleading the 5th looks guilty. Because of course in all likelihood they are. even he in his crazy land grasps that.

Now we know Trump is a simpleton and a wacko, and we know the Republicans in general are pretty wacko too these days. But I see no way to legitimately spin this. To portray Trump as anything other than the obvious crook and liar/idiot he is.
 

I always felt they had to get Trump on something sometime to try to rescue the country from this insanity. And given that he's such an idiot and has been scamming his entire life that's the path they have taken.

They could probably do it eternally there will be so much dirt to be found. There aren't enough toilets in Trump tower to flush it all.

This same prosecutor has convicted him before, he doesn't intimidate her in the least. Somebody ahs to pay for this, I think Trump may be running out of bodies willing to take the fall.

Edited February 19, 2022 by JFK-1

[Maple Leaf]

19 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

 

This time, I don't know. I'm convinced in court he and his brood will plead the 5th across days and hundreds of questions. That's not a good optic.

While you're not saying anything you're effectively admitting guilt, by conceding that anything you say may incriminate you. There can be nothing you could say to incriminate you unless you have indeed committed criminal acts. That goes without saying.

In addition Trump himself, idiot that he is, commented while in the WH that anybody pleading the 5th looks guilty. Because of course in all likelihood they are. even he in his crazy land grasps that.

Now we know Trump is a simpleton and a wacko, and we know the Republicans in general are pretty wacko too these days. But I see no way to legitimately spin this. To portray Trump as anything other than the obvious crook and liar/idiot he is.
 

I always felt they had to get Trump on something sometime to try to rescue the country from this insanity. And given that he's such an idiot and has been scamming his entire life that's the path they have taken.

They could probably do it eternally there will be so much dirt to be found. There aren't enough toilets in Trump tower to flush it all.

This same prosecutor has convicted him before, he doesn't intimidate her in the least. Somebody ahs to pay for this, I think Trump may be running out of bodies willing to take the fall.

 

I know what you're saying, but we've heard it all before.  When his lawyer flipped, we said 'That's him done now'.  But he sailed through unscathed. 

When the numerous tell-all books came out, documenting his idiocy as president, highlighting him as a nitwit, nothing changed.  His fans stuck by him.

When his own niece, a qualified medical professional, spoke about his narcissism and other personality problems and his unsuitability as president, his fans stuck with him.

The Lincoln Project, run by Republicans, tore him a new anus, but nothing changed.

 

Even if he gets charged in this current investigation, which I doubt, the case might get tossed.  If he gets convicted, he'll appeal the decision. If he loses the appeal he'll appeal to a higher court.  If he keeps losing, he'll appeal to the SCOTUS.  Wanna bet how they will rule?  In any event, that process will take years.  By then, he will either be back as President and therefore immune, or he will be so old and decrepit no-one will care anymore.

 

And the cultists will stick by him the entire time. 

[A Boy Named Crow]

1 hour ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

I know what you're saying, but we've heard it all before.  When his lawyer flipped, we said 'That's him done now'.  But he sailed through unscathed. 

When the numerous tell-all books came out, documenting his idiocy as president, highlighting him as a nitwit, nothing changed.  His fans stuck by him.

When his own niece, a qualified medical professional, spoke about his narcissism and other personality problems and his unsuitability as president, his fans stuck with him.

The Lincoln Project, run by Republicans, tore him a new anus, but nothing changed.

 

Even if he gets charged in this current investigation, which I doubt, the case might get tossed.  If he gets convicted, he'll appeal the decision. If he loses the appeal he'll appeal to a higher court.  If he keeps losing, he'll appeal to the SCOTUS.  Wanna bet how they will rule?  In any event, that process will take years.  By then, he will either be back as President and therefore immune, or he will be so old and decrepit no-one will care anymore.

 

And the cultists will stick by him the entire time. 

Yup, everybody should brace themselves for this to end up being a big nothing. That's not to say Trump isn't guilty, or that he shouldnt be irreparably damaged by this... just that he won't be. It's the way of the world, if you're rich enough snd/or have strong enough support,  problems go away!

[JFK-1]

3 hours ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

I know what you're saying, but we've heard it all before.  When his lawyer flipped, we said 'That's him done now'.  But he sailed through unscathed. 

When the numerous tell-all books came out, documenting his idiocy as president, highlighting him as a nitwit, nothing changed.  His fans stuck by him.

When his own niece, a qualified medical professional, spoke about his narcissism and other personality problems and his unsuitability as president, his fans stuck with him.

The Lincoln Project, run by Republicans, tore him a new anus, but nothing changed.

 

Even if he gets charged in this current investigation, which I doubt, the case might get tossed.  If he gets convicted, he'll appeal the decision. If he loses the appeal he'll appeal to a higher court.  If he keeps losing, he'll appeal to the SCOTUS.  Wanna bet how they will rule?  In any event, that process will take years.  By then, he will either be back as President and therefore immune, or he will be so old and decrepit no-one will care anymore.

 

And the cultists will stick by him the entire time. 

 

Generally I would have been of the same seen it all before mentality, but I just get a feeling this time may be different.  And there are others such as a former federal prosecutor who are thinking the same thing. Which they describe in this video posted just hours ago. These guys feel he's going to be nailed for something.