U.S. Politics megathread (merged)

[JFK-1]

Trump and the GOP Rocked by Bombshell Woodward Tapes: A Closer Look

 

 

[JFK-1]

3 hours ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

It has gone beyond absurd, gone beyond parody, gone beyond craziness.  The man is a lying, shameless, dangerous, racist *******, yet thousands of Americans scramble to grovel at his feet at his Nuremberg-style rallies.

 

The country has lost all sense of morality.

 

For me it's gone beyond baffling that this thing could have even a remote chance of being re-elected. The hard core cult nuts are like any other cult nuts, lost causes, incapable of rational thought.

 

But what about everybody else? What non brain damaged adult human could possibly think yes let's go for another 4 years of this never ending stream of insanity, blatantly implausible lies, and turmoil. Seems like a good idea to me.

[JFK-1]

Primed this to begin at a point where Trump takes the first question from journalists at his most recent press conference. And this guy was blunt. All journalists should always have been as blunt as this with him.
 

 

[The Real Maroonblood]

1 hour ago, JFK-1 said:

Primed this to begin at a point where Trump takes the first question from journalists at his most recent press conference. And this guy was blunt. All journalists should always have been as blunt as this with him.
 

 

The ramblings of a head case.

Embarrassing stuff.

[Jambo-Jimbo]

10 hours ago, JFK-1 said:

 

The absurdity has gone on so long and in such volume that it's now normality in terms of Trump. To the extent nobody gives it much notice. 

Covid-19 struck during Trumps watch, he has failed to deal with it (America Is Trapped in a Pandemic Spiral), Bidens fault.

Our cities are burning, on my watch, if Biden is elected there will be anarchy in our cities. WTF?

 

9 hours ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

It has gone beyond absurd, gone beyond parody, gone beyond craziness.  The man is a lying, shameless, dangerous, racist *******, yet thousands of Americans scramble to grovel at his feet at his Nuremberg-style rallies.

 

The country has lost all sense of morality.

 

It's all straight out of the Goebbels propaganda handbook.

All this MAGA pish, demonising sections of society, undermining of the media, the constant lies, the almost daily it's somebody elses fault, let's blame the Mexicans, the Muslims, the Democrats etc etc etc, this was all done in Nazi Germany in the '30's and large sections of the German people fell for it all then, and just like then so are large sections of American people now, it's all pretty much the same propaganda & rhetoric but geared to an American audience.

 

America is at a very dangerous crossroads and I have to keep believing that one day very very soon they will wake up and realise WTF has been going on.

[Sharpie]

1 hour ago, Jambo-Jimbo said:

 

 

It's all straight out of the Goebbels propaganda handbook.

All this MAGA pish, demonising sections of society, undermining of the media, the constant lies, the almost daily it's somebody elses fault, let's blame the Mexicans, the Muslims, the Democrats etc etc etc, this was all done in Nazi Germany in the '30's and large sections of the German people fell for it all then, and just like then so are large sections of American people now, it's all pretty much the same propaganda & rhetoric but geared to an American audience.

 

America is at a very dangerous crossroads and I have to keep believing that one day very very soon they will wake up and realise WTF has been going on.

 

Hannity was on last night about all Trumps kept promises. One he mentioned was the wall. The statements I hear are that the majority of what has been done was replacement, not a lot of new wall. Also Mexico said and I seem to recall its true they are not paying for the wall. Its not the people who are maintaining Trumps position, its the enablers in Fox and the Republican party.  just like Goebbels, Goering, Hess, Himmler et al.

Edited September 11, 2020 by Sharpie

[Justin Z]

On 04/09/2020 at 03:10, Mauricio Pinilla said:

President ordering a hit through twitter

 

Absolutely incomprehensible times. 

 

Following up on this

 

 

The official account was of course that the suspect was armed and responded to US Marshals' commands by brandishing a firearm, so they took "protective action," shooting at him 30-40 times.

 

American police lie daily as part and parcel of their culture, and this is one of the highest profile recent examples of it. It's no wonder they are massive majority Trump supporters, the fit is like a glove.

[Maple Leaf]

52 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

 

American police lie daily as part and parcel of their culture, and this is one of the highest profile recent examples of it. It's no wonder they are massive majority Trump supporters, the fit is like a glove.

 

It's not just American police. 

 

In a recent high profile case in Toronto a police officer shot a teenage boy on a street car 7 times, four of which were after the kid was on the floor. The cop testified that the kid had lunged at him, and several other officers on the scene backed him up, under oath.  Unfortunately for the police, the entire scene had been videotaped.  There was no lunge from the victim.  He had been high on drugs and had been ridiculing the cop, calling him names.  The cop lost his cool and emptied his gun into the kid.  

[Sharpie]

2 hours ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

It's not just American police. 

 

In a recent high profile case in Toronto a police officer shot a teenage boy on a street car 7 times, four of which were after the kid was on the floor. The cop testified that the kid had lunged at him, and several other officers on the scene backed him up, under oath.  Unfortunately for the police, the entire scene had been videotaped.  There was no lunge from the victim.  He had been high on drugs and had been ridiculing the cop, calling him names.  The cop lost his cool and emptied his gun into the kid.  

 With all the testing thats done on recruiting, all the training that is given and offered how has what was once a proud profession gone so low in their own self esteem to behave and cover what they do. As I am apt to do I think of my own days, joined at 20, left school at fifteen, regular teenager, no police problems but no angel. Military service, understood discipline and the rules, knew if you done no wrong you could be fine, but if you lied career suicide. Took no shit from no one, and only offered any to those I felt needed it. Above all  valued all life and the right to live it safely and honestly. Where did it all go wrong.

[JFK-1]

1 hour ago, Sharpie said:

 With all the testing thats done on recruiting, all the training that is given and offered how has what was once a proud profession gone so low in their own self esteem to behave and cover what they do. As I am apt to do I think of my own days, joined at 20, left school at fifteen, regular teenager, no police problems but no angel. Military service, understood discipline and the rules, knew if you done no wrong you could be fine, but if you lied career suicide. Took no shit from no one, and only offered any to those I felt needed it. Above all  valued all life and the right to live it safely and honestly. Where did it all go wrong.

 

You remember Mary Whitehouse?  I used to think her an interfering old busybody. An old busybody complaining about all the bad language and violence and sex on TV. Immoral behaviour in general.

That will become a norm in our society she claimed. People will be inured to it. Think it normal, acceptable.

Now many think the old busybody may have been proven right.

 

[JFK-1]

 

[Maple Leaf]

2 hours ago, Sharpie said:

 With all the testing thats done on recruiting, all the training that is given and offered how has what was once a proud profession gone so low in their own self esteem to behave and cover what they do. As I am apt to do I think of my own days, joined at 20, left school at fifteen, regular teenager, no police problems but no angel. Military service, understood discipline and the rules, knew if you done no wrong you could be fine, but if you lied career suicide. Took no shit from no one, and only offered any to those I felt needed it. Above all  valued all life and the right to live it safely and honestly. Where did it all go wrong.

 

When we were young, Bob, the cops walked the beat or rode a bike.  We knew them by name, and they knew us.  They were part of the community.  That's no longer the case.  For most people, the only time they interact with a policeman now is when they receive a speeding ticket. 

[JFK-1]

14 minutes ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

When we were young, Bob, the cops walked the beat or rode a bike.  We knew them by name, and they knew us.  They were part of the community.  That's no longer the case.  For most people, the only time they interact with a policeman now is when they receive a speeding ticket. 

 

I grew up in the 60's and 70's. There was a beat cop who walked around the area and he himself had grown up there. He knew everybody even before joining the police and they knew him. If there had been mischief he knew who the likely culprit/s were as soon as he heard of it.

Any crime taking place he would go around talking to all the kids. The kids know everything because adults often spoke around them as if they weren't there. There's going to be at least one kid who knows something about a burglary or whatever. And he will tell other kids.

That's the way it worked. I still remember that guys name. Malcolm. He tried to be everybody's friend and that was smart.

[Sharpie]

Watched Trump today presenting an extremely brave young soldier with the Medal of Honour. What a hypocrite, he praises the men who died and the valor shown in this case, here he is a coward who dodged the draft by phoney medical reasons, and is reputed to have insulted the dead of two world wars. How he can be allowed to bestow such an honour is just not right.

[JFK-1]

Just now, Sharpie said:

Watched Trump today presenting an extremely brave young soldier with the Medal of Honour. What a hypocrite, he praises the men who died and the valor shown in this case, here he is a coward who dodged the draft by phoney medical reasons, and is reputed to have insulted the dead of two world wars. How he can be allowed to bestow such an honour is just not right.

 

And obviously the timing of the honour is entirely unrelated to his losers remarks. Mere coincidence. And fake news anyway.

[Sharpie]

22 minutes ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

When we were young, Bob, the cops walked the beat or rode a bike.  We knew them by name, and they knew us.  They were part of the community.  That's no longer the case.  For most people, the only time they interact with a policeman now is when they receive a speeding ticket. 

I see you remember these bikes, they were made for tall men, they were so high when you sat on them you could be on one in Dalkeith Road an see over Arthurs Seat to Portobello.😇

[Maple Leaf]

14 minutes ago, Sharpie said:

I see you remember these bikes, they were made for tall men, they were so high when you sat on them you could be on one in Dalkeith Road an see over Arthurs Seat to Portobello.😇

 

[JFK-1]

I think it was the Washington Post that posted an article months ago predicting that Trump and co. may be malevolent enough to operate a 'scorched earth' policy if they lose the election. The speculation in the following video being just one facet of it.

Trump Threatens To Crash Economy If He Loses 2020
 

 

[JFK-1]

Did Putin Buy Trump The 2020 Election?

 

 

 

[JFK-1]

 

[JFK-1]

Challenge accepted: Great American speeches
 

 

[JFK-1]

Right now the Economist, which is given the best rating of least biased on media bias fact check, rates Trump as having only a 16% chance of winning the election.

 

Quote

Our model works by simulating 20,000 paths for the election, each time varying candidates’ vote shares to account for polling error, changes in turnout or the political environment and the effects of campaigning.

 

https://projects.economist.com/us-2020-forecast/president

[JFK-1]

The above prediction has now gone from 'Joe Biden is likely to beat Donald Trump' to very likely. Long may the trend continue. Or 7 and a half weeks will suffice.

[Jambo-Jimbo]

Sky News report from Venice Beach in L.A., scary stuff how quickly you can find yourself on skid row in the US, something which thousands all over the country will be having to deal with because of Covid.

 

[Cade]

"I'm calling for a drugs test on Biden. You can't go from not being able to speak in public to speaking well just like that. He must be on drugs"

 

  

[JFK-1]

Mary Trump: My Uncle Donald Is 'Fundamentally A Racist'

 

 

 

[Justin Z]

Yeah we definitely live in a democracy here in the USA

 

 

Jesus ****ing tap dancing Christ

 

Edit to add: Twitter's being weird and now not bringing up the video, so here's an article about it:

Video of Woman Who Got Trump Absentee Ballot Form Goes Viral

 

The mailer was sent out by the North Carolina Republican Party, press secretary Tim Wigginton told CNN. The state party has sent several statewide mailers “to make it easier for interested voters to participate,” Wigginton said.

 

“We want our voters to know they can utilize this tool to cast their ballot in an easy, safe and secure manner. It is important to note that the North Carolina system requires a voter to actively solicit a ballot and go through an easy but important verification process to request a ballot,” he added. “We along with President Trump oppose an all-mail election process where voters are mailed ballots without a prior request and authentication.”

 

Edited September 12, 2020 by Justin Z

[JFK-1]

It's become apparent to everyone, even him, that he cannot win this fair and square. The only way to win it will be narrowly by deceptive means. I would call what's going on criminal. In fact the criminality around this crew is vast.

Yesterday another prosecutor investigating the Russian meddling in 2016 resigned due to hindrance/pressure from Barr. They claim no collusion and further frequently deny anything happened at all. When the entire world knows for an absolute fact that it did.

Russian meddling in any branch of American politics is a hostile act by a hostile foreign power. This has has to be getting into treasonous territory when we have someone like Barr actively trying to prevent investigation into exactly what happened in this attack with a view to protecting the nation against any further attack.

Barr among so many others should be in jail once this is all over. I wonder if he's continuing with this blatant treason even as it becomes clear the ship is very likely to sink because that's the only way to ensue he will be among the Trump pardons before they're all dragged out of there.

 

 

[JFK-1]

Trump likened himself to FDR. Bill Maher response.

"The only similarity between him and FDR is that they both have trouble walking" 

For those not in the know FDR was paralysed from the waist down by an illness.

[ri Alban]

3 hours ago, JFK-1 said:

Trump likened himself to FDR. Bill Maher response.

"The only similarity between him and FDR is that they both have trouble walking" 

For those not in the know FDR was paralysed from the waist down by an illness.

And inbreeding. 

[JFK-1]

46 minutes ago, ri Alban said:

And inbreeding. 

 

He was diagnosed as being crippled by a form of polio at age 39 following which he never walked again. Modern medicine believes it was actually Guillain Barre Syndrome.

His parents were sixth cousins. That means they shared a great great great great great grandparent. I think if that were close enough to be a problem many millions of us may unknowingly be at the same risk.

Who even knows their heritage that far back. For most people that would take you back to probably the 1700's. A sixth cousin on average shares 0.01% of your familial DNA.

[ri Alban]

20 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

 

He was diagnosed as being crippled by a form of polio at age 39 following which he never walked again. Modern medicine believes it was actually Guillain Barre Syndrome.

His parents were sixth cousins. That means they shared a great great great great great grandparent. I think if that were close enough to be a problem many millions of us may unknowingly be at the same risk.

Who even knows their heritage that far back. For most people that would take you back to probably the 1700's. A sixth cousin on average shares 0.01% of your familial DNA.

His wife? 

[JFK-1]

1 hour ago, ri Alban said:

His wife? 

 

Fifth cousins once removed which is also distant. Charles Darwin on the other hand married a first cousin. He knew about evolution but not genetics which had not at the time been discovered.

 

Though people were aware first cousin marriage was potentially problematic. They just didn't know exactly why.

[JFK-1]

 

[Selkirk_Jambo]

This is some insane stuff. I don't think the term 'down the rabbit hole' really conveys the level of nutjobbery at work here. 

 

[Cade]

Roger Stone is openly calling for Trump to ignore the result of the election, invoke the Insurrection Act, declare martial law in all 50 States, arrest the Clintons, Mark Zuckerbuerg, George Soros and other prominent critics of the regime and rule as an emperor.

 

 

[Tazio]

2 hours ago, Selkirk_Jambo said:

This is some insane stuff. I don't think the term 'down the rabbit hole' really conveys the level of nutjobbery at work here. 

 

I’ve always said there’s something odd about the obsession with paedophilia that conspiracy nuts and not very bright types. It’s become the go to insult shouted by the type of person you probably try to avoid. 

[Norm]

9 minutes ago, Tazio said:

I’ve always said there’s something odd about the obsession with paedophilia that conspiracy nuts and not very bright types. It’s become the go to insult shouted by the type of person you probably try to avoid. 

It's the new "Satanic Panic". 

[Cade]

Anyone who's not a Trump cult member is immediately labelled as a communist, anarchist, satan worshipping paedophile.

 

That's the state of play.

[Tazio]

It never seems to stop right now. LA cops ambushed and shocking behaviour by the public. 
 

Los Angeles police officers shot in 'ambush' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54137838

[Maple Leaf]

3 hours ago, Cade said:

Roger Stone is openly calling for Trump to ignore the result of the election, invoke the Insurrection Act, declare martial law in all 50 States, arrest the Clintons, Mark Zuckerbuerg, George Soros and other prominent critics of the regime and rule as an emperor.

 

 

 

That will seem like a wonderful idea to tens of millions of Americans.

[Sharpie]

1 hour ago, Tazio said:

It never seems to stop right now. LA cops ambushed and shocking behaviour by the public. 
 

Los Angeles police officers shot in 'ambush' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54137838

And we often say it could lead to civil war. Its already there with the expected chaos, nothing like an ambitious physchologically damaged President to make our predictions come true. God Bless, Save, Help, whatever word you think appropriate because a great Country and ally is going down the tube.

[DETTY29]

On CNN that Trump still leads with notably Cuban and Venezuelan heritage voters because they believe Trump when he says Biden is a commnist.

 

America and it's immigrant population deserve Trump if you are going to be that easily swayed. (Well not really)

[JFK-1]

None of the polling/predictive models are suggesting anything but a Biden win, some of them by a landslide while all the others show at least a comfortable margin.

Beyond Biden grabbing a pussy on camera before shooting someone dead on fifth avenue there would appear no way for Trump to win this. Or no legitimate way.

So that leaves attempts to rig it which surely has to be criminal. There's just so much this entire cartel has to be held to account for when this is over. Trump should be facing the rest of his life between jail cell and court room.

I anticipate at some point a mentally unfit plea.
 

Edited September 13, 2020 by JFK-1

[DETTY29]

4 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

None of the polling/predictive models are suggesting anything but a Biden win, some of them by a landslide while all the others show at least a comfortable margin.

Beyond Biden grabbing a pussy on camera before shooting someone dead on fifth avenue there would appear no way for Trump to win this. Or no legitimate way.

So that leaves attempts to rig it which surely has to be criminal. There's just so much this entire cartel has to be held to account for when this is over. Trump should be facing the rest of his life between jail cell and court room.

I anticipate at some point a mentally unfit plea.
 

We need dirt on the kids too.

 

Just in case.....

[Norm]

To give the crazy old ******* some credit, I see he's told big pharma to go **** themselves and is pushing through legislation to finally reduce the cost of some medicines. 

[JFK-1]

Joe Biden might win in a landslide 

For weeks, the mantra of the data nerd has been that President Trump can still win reelection. The Democratic nightmare scenario — Trump loses the popular vote but again wins the electoral college — is very much still on the table.

But the same statistical models that show a path for Trump also outline an oft-overlooked possibility: an outright landslide for Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

The chance of a massive sweep by the former vice president is a reminder that for all the Democrats present this election as a choice between more Trump and a return to normalcy, there’s another possibility on offer.

If Biden turns out voters in numbers that give him a huge victory, they may well elect a Congress and state officials eager and able to enact a sweeping progressive agenda.

The numbers are clear. The average outcome produced by an election simulator I recently built gives Biden 319 electoral votes. Trump still has a chance in this model — he wins about 1 in 5 of the scenarios generated.

 But in roughly 10 percent of the model’s simulations, Biden earned 400 or more electoral votes. In these cases, Biden easily sweeps swing states such as Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, Arizona, North Carolina and Wisconsin and reaches deep into red territory to get electoral votes from states such as Georgia, Texas, Iowa and Ohio. 

In the sunniest simulations, Biden wins enough rural White voters to grab deeply Republican states such as Alaska or South Carolina. Trump mostly keeps his base — Appalachia, the Interior West and the rural South — but those states alone don’t come close to cracking 200 electoral votes.

That might seem outlandish, considering that Obama won only 365 electoral votes in his massive 2008 victory. But Biden has a bigger lead now than Obama did at this point in 2008, and he’s competitive in big red states such as Texas and Georgia. 

That’s why my model — as well as those from FiveThirtyEight and the Economist — see 400 or more electoral votes as an optimistic but plausible scenario for Biden.

The basic political environment makes it clear why the math is suggesting these results. The issues that are most able to swing the polls — the pandemic, the economy and protests against police violence and racism — are volatile and in many aspects out of Trump’s control.

Suppose progress on a vaccine stalls, the death rate shoots up as Americans grow weary of physical distancing and Congress fails to provide more relief to working Americans.

Moreover, imagine what would happen if peaceful protesters — such as the NBA players who temporarily walked away from playoff games — take the media spotlight from looters and rioters. Events could throw Trump into free fall, whether or not he runs an effective campaign.

And if Biden did record a 400-plus electoral vote win, the political consequences would be huge. In the Senate, any new member who rides his coattails to power would serve for six years — safe from potential Republican comebacks in 2022 or 2024.

 

That breathing room could allow Biden — or progressives in Congress — to make significant advances on issues of their choosing, not least because the liberal wing of the party might finally have enough votes to bypass moderates such as Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). Policing, gun control and wealth inequality would all be ripe for action.

 

The long-term benefits might be even more substantial for Democrats. The state legislators elected in 2020 will play a pivotal role in drawing the next set of congressional and state-level district maps.

If Biden can lift Democrats to victory in the states, they’ll be able to replace Republican gerrymanders with fairer maps — or, if they decide to take the unprincipled routes, gerrymanders of their own. Either way, these maps would outlast the Biden administration and shape politics for years to come.

This election is often cast as a straightforward choice: Will voters make Trumpism the permanent, dominant strain in our politics, or do they want a return to Obama-era normalcy? It isn’t that simple.

A stinging rebuke to Trump and the desire to heal the nation may not be compatible — especially with Biden’s campaign relying on the most progressive platform in modern history to excite voters.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/09/joe-biden-might-win-landslide-that-would-make-things-more-complicated/

[JackLadd]

stick a fork in the orange conman, he's done.

[JFK-1]

Was just think back to the beginning of the pandemic. February 26th when 15 cases were reported; Trump said.

“You have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero,”

September 13th.

 

6,706,000 cases. Presumably soon to be close to zero. Like a miracle.

When it hit 1 million cases Trump was questioned by a reporter about his February 26th prediction. He responded.

“Well, it will go down to zero, ultimately,” 

The wisdom of Trump.

[JFK-1]

Trump, Tweeter in Chief.

Trump Loses Mind as Campaign Crumbles, Tweets 70 Times