Politics Are Still Loco: 2024

[batmagadanleadoff]

Unbowed by Jan. 6 Charges, Republicans Pursue Plans to Contest a Trump Defeat

Mr. Trump’s allies are preparing to try to short-circuit the election system, if he does not win.

Excerpt:

The Republican Party and its conservative allies are engaged in an unprecedented legal campaign targeting the American voting system. Their wide-ranging and methodical effort is laying the groundwork to contest an election that they argue, falsely, is already being rigged against former President Donald J. Trump.

The campaign involves a powerful network of Republican lawyers and activist groups, working loosely in concert with the Republican National Committee. Many of the key players were active in Mr. Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

But unlike the chaotic and improvised challenge four years ago, the new drive includes a systematic search for any vulnerability in the nation’s patchwork election system.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/13/us/p ... -2024.html

_________________

I'm shocked, shocked, shocked that this is happening. Also, if Biden wins by just one or two states instead of the six swing state margin of victory he earned in 2020, you can guarantee yourself a GOP win as the scumbag SCOTUS will step in and pull another Bush v Gore or Trump immunity decision out of its collective assholes to steal the election for the deranged orange madman. Plus, this partisan SCOTUS majority is incentivized to steal the election for the GOP: a GOP administration will stave off the dismantling of this corrupt SCOTUS as well as well-deserved congressional criminal investigations of Thomas and Alito. The Dems are going nuts over that quarter of a million dollar RV that was essentially gifted to Clarence Thomas by multi-billionaire Harlan Crow. Give me a fucking break. Crow is one of America's wealthiest persons and that RV, to Crow, is like one potato chip out of a bag of potato chips to regular folks like us. Those justices no doubt received duffel bags and envelopes stuffed with millions and millions of dollars over the years. An RV! Oh my!

[MFS62]

The list of speakers at the upcoming GOP convention:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/13/politics ... index.html

Hilary was too kind to call them "deplorables".
If I were a medieval king, I wouldn't trust them to clean my chamber pots.

Later

[metirish]

Yikes

[Edgy MD]

What should be my takeaway there?

[metirish]

I guess Trump wants him to drop out and he'll give him a post in his administration, two crackpots

[Edgy MD]

Maybe, but I didn't hear an offer in there.

Not that I can follow his train of thought for more than 30 seconds. Plus, this is his train of thought going when he's probably still pumped with adrenaline.

[kcmets]

Not that I can follow his train of thought for more than 30 seconds.

Neither can he! *bah dum ching*

[nymr83]

What should be my takeaway there?

The takeaway seems to be that Kennedy wants his name in the news

[Edgy MD]

The former president's winning streak continues as Senator Menendez is found, like, really guilty.

[nymr83]

Not sure what the connection is there. I'm probably the "furthest right" poster in this board and I wouldn't try to connect Menendez to anything but Menendez. Guess we need a Trumpy conspiracy theorist to connect those dots for us?

[Edgy MD]

Nothing I wrote is conspiratorial. Please don't suggest otherwise.

The former president has fantastic political instincts and I fully expect, with the convention underway, he will use the Menendez conviction to deflect criticism of him and enhance his profile, and proffer the conviction as evidence that everybody but him is corrupt.

Senator Menendez is clearly guilty. I don't think it's an elusive notion that his conviction is sadly perfectly timed to aid the former president politically, coming right after his case is tossed out.

[MFS62]

What should be my takeaway there?

I didn't get any sound with that, but I understand there is an expanded version of that out on the internet that has him saying that he doesn't like vaccinations, either. That's the scary part.

Later

[Edgy MD]

It's not news though. He's always thrown in with the anti-vax crowd.

[MFS62]

From CNN:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s son, Bobby Kennedy III, posted a video of a phone call between Kennedy and former President Donald Trump in which the former president appeared to endorse false theories about the safety of vaccines. All vaccines that are approved or authorized for use in the United States have been proven safe and effective through rigorous scientific study. Severe allergic reactions are exceedingly rare – occurring in roughly 1 in 1 million people. Far more common are mild side effects, such as pain or swelling at the injection site, which tend to subside quickly. Worldwide, vaccines prevent more than 4 million deaths every year, according to the World Health Organization. While there is still no scientific consensus on what causes autism, vaccines, conclusively, do not.

Later

[Lefty Specialist]

Trump is like a mob boss in that he never says things in a straightforward way on a phone call. But the people involved get the message. The message here is that Trump realizes he's losing more support to RFK Jr than Biden is. The vaccine stuff is key here; he wants to woo Kennedy to his side. I'm sure Donald had all his shots, but the anti-vax message is strong among Republicans- and ones that are nervous about Trump might just pull the lever for RFK.

I would not be the least bit surprised if this was leaked on purpose to garner RFK more Republican votes. His apology was a bit lame as was his explanation. But I would also not be surprised if Trump was trying to pull him into the tent and it backfired.

[Edgy MD]

Kimberly Guilfoyle doesn't strike me as a very good neighbor.

[Frayed Knot]

Maybe it's her look that just screams 'Real Housewife'!

[metirish]

Damn

[Edgy MD]

Maybe it's her look that just screams 'Real Housewife'!

It's certainly a look.

[Edgy MD]

The Post reports today that the contact between President Trump and Mr. Kennedy was part of a discussion between the two in which Kennedy drops out and endorses the former president in exchange for a high-profile position in the potential next Trump administration.

It was rejected by the campaign out of concern that it might look like the former president is trading jobs for endorsements, because that's what it would be.

[MFS62]

Findings from the most recent YouGov poll: ( I get the results since I participate in them)
Do Americans support Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee?
32% "strongly support" Kamala Harris as the new Democratic nominee for president. She is strongly supported by 62% of Democratic respondents.32% of Americans

Does the country have a favorable opinion of J.D. Vance?
22% have a "very unfavorable" view of the new Republican VP candidate, J.D. Vance.22% of Americans

How important are the presidential candidates’ choice of running mate this year?
23% of people think that the choice of running mate for this years election will be very important.23% of Americans

How much more likely is violence in this current political landscape?
67% of the country think that violence is more likely to break out in this political landscape than times before.67% of Americans

How do U.S. Citizens describe the Democratic and Republican parties?
34% describe both the Democratic party and the Republican party as “corrupt”.34% of Americans

The response to that anticipated violence question is scary.
Later

[MFS62]

Democrats aren't buying Teslas because of Musk's politics:

In a new report based on findings from an analytics firm called CivicService, Yahoo Finance reports that Tesla's favorability among registered Democrats — who are far more likely to purchase electric vehicles than their oil-loving Republican counterparts — has dropped precipitously from 39 percent in January to 16 percent in July.

Interestingly, the EV company's favorability is also down from 36 percent in January to 23 percent in July among GOP voters, suggesting that Musk isn't winning himself any new buyers with his sudden turn of support for Trump and regressive social ideas.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-buy ... elon-trump

Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

Ohio is following in the footsteps of Michigan. On Election Day, Ohioans will get to vote on a ballot measure to amend their state Constitution. If it succeeds, the proposed Constitutional amendment will take redistricting out of the hands of partisan politicians who have already gerrymandered themselves into an impenetrable majority.

“This certification is a historic step towards restoring fairness in Ohio’s electoral process,” said retired Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a Republican who helped draft the amendment. “With this amendment on the ballot, Ohioans have the chance to reclaim their power from the self-serving politicians who want to stay in power long past their expiration date while ignoring the needs of the voters.”

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/p ... 336416007/

Too bad Wisconsin's state Constitution prevents this kind of ballot measure from being voted on. Wisconsin's a bluish-purple state that has been gerrymandered up the wazoo by the GOP.

[TransMonk]

Too bad Wisconsin's state Constitution prevents this kind of ballot measure from being voted on. Wisconsin's a bluish-purple state that has been gerrymandered up the wazoo by the GOP.

The Wisconsin Supremes overruled the GOP gerrymander this past December and fair state legislative maps proposed by the Governor have been adopted for 2024. I'd say it's even money the Dems take the State Assembly this fall and the State Senate in 2026 (which is what you would hope for with legitimately fair maps). Once/if they get a trifecta, I believe they will amend our constitution, too.

Things are looking bluer in Wisconsin, but yes, they have been getting ratfucked by the GOP for the past dozen years.

The US Congressional maps are still pretty gerrymandered in WI, though. We are basically a 50/50 swing state that has 6Rs and 2Ds representing us in congress. It's possible Dems could make gains in the fall, but the maps are not in their favor there.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Thank you and a big shout-out to our man in Wisconsin. I'm slapping my own forehead for forgetting because I knew what the Wisconsin Supremes did. Huge election win when Janet Protasiewicz won her seat and flipped the ideology of that court to the good guys.