US Politics. Trump Crossing the Dnieper. Alea Iacta Est.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Wait, hold on a moment. Why are we talking about snakes in moats? I thought the documentary on Conan the Barbarian proved that they’re best used as arrows. Did I miss something?

[Maithanet]

4 minutes ago, Paladin of Ice said:

That's what I was thinking too. Although back then, Trump was the new hotness, now he's starting to get played out. For all the bluster, his fans have had doubts about him and moments of disagreement. If Fox isn't covering for him 24/7, who knows how many might get their doubts magnified enough not to canvas and put up signs, or even note to vote. (Basically, take that one woman interviewed being shocked to learn that the Mueller Report didn't clear Trump because all she'd ever done is watch right wing media and multiply it throughout the country.)

Fox was at worst Trump agnostic in the 2016 primary.  Trump claimed it was anti-Trump, but that was total BS.  Fox & Friends and Hannity have been in his corner the whole time, and those are two highly rated, hourlong shows.  Trump felt like the news side and particularly Megan Kelly weren't sufficiently fawning of him, and he slapped them down for it, but once the primary was over, there's never been significant anti-Trump sentiment on Fox News. 

I personally doubt that Trump would have survived the Access Hollywood scandal without Fox's continuing support and willingness to keep beating the anti-Clinton drum. 

If Fox News (even just the news side, without the opinions people) decided to change directions and be right wing, but Trump-skeptical, we would be in uncharted waters.  I hope we get there, but I'm not holding my breath. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Maithanet said:

It is pretty amazing to me that any Republican can say that they want to live in an America where the President can ask a favor of foreign leaders to provide dirt on political opponents.  And all the Republican defenses "it was secondhand!" "no quid pro quo!" totally ignore this.  Of course, a recent poll found that only 40% of Republicans thought that Trump actually brought up Biden in the Ukraine call (this isn't even in question).  So I suppose Republicans are just hoping to obfuscate sufficiently to keep voters uninformed and outraged about other things. 

Once you accept that Republicans stand for nothing except power, and that they know it’s permanently slipping away, everything makes sense.

Also, congrats on last night.

[Ice Queen]

1 hour ago, The Great Unwashed said:

I hope Bernie ends up dropping out and backing Warren. Bernie has been my first choice, but I saw him on his Colbert interview and he just sounded exhausted. And now this. 

Be healthy Bernie. Let someone else carry the torch.

He was probably exhausted because of the blockage. It caused a lack of oxygen to his tissues. 

[Jace, Extat]

2 hours ago, Ormond said:

Do you know that authors of newspaper columns do NOT write their own headlines? Headlines are written by editors. There have been several times in my career as a newspaper columnist about the innocuous subject of names where a headline written for my column has been misleading or even implied the opposite of what I wrote. The column you are referring to does not just say Republicans shouldn't renominate Trump, which the headline might imply, but that he should be impeached. So I think your judgment may have been premature. 

So it's just another bland say-nothing in a sea of say-nothing opinion pieces that needed a clickbait headline? Does it say all the things we're all thinking? I'm sure it's totally relevant opining and not outrage porn, however I feel comfortable with my decision to pass.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to revisit the Legacy of the Force series. That's some good literature.

1 hour ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Drivel op-eds get in USA Today and community weeklies. A Times front page editorial like this is usually a good read with some thoughts put into it.

See above.

[Paladin of Ice]

1 hour ago, Maithanet said:

Fox was at worst Trump agnostic in the 2016 primary.  Trump claimed it was anti-Trump, but that was total BS.  Fox & Friends and Hannity have been in his corner the whole time, and those are two highly rated, hourlong shows.  Trump felt like the news side and particularly Megan Kelly weren't sufficiently fawning of him, and he slapped them down for it, but once the primary was over, there's never been significant anti-Trump sentiment on Fox News. 

 I personally doubt that Trump would have survived the Access Hollywood scandal without Fox's continuing support and willingness to keep beating the anti-Clinton drum. 

If Fox News (even just the news side, without the opinions people) decided to change directions and be right wing, but Trump-skeptical, we would be in uncharted waters.  I hope we get there, but I'm not holding my breath. 

Eh, I think that Fox Management, if not Fox Opinion, saw him as an impediment and wanted him out of the way during the very early stages of the primary. Not sure why you're surprised they fell in line once he became top dog, that's what the right wing does.

I gotta agree with you that Trump was definitely lucky to be facing the Right's favorite whipping boy whom they'd been slandering for 3 decades, though. Without that constant drumbeat of "CLINTON BAD!!!!1!1!", I'm inclined to think he would have lost. Given the fickleness of the American public though, and their determination to hand the country right back over to Republicans just after Democrats get done fixing the last republican fuck up, who knows.

Also gotta agree that the news side of "Fox News" being either anti-Trump or even just honest would be a whole new zone for us. Currently they don't even allow for clips of Shep Smith calling bullshit on Trump to stay online,lately I tried searching for certain clips where either news anchors on Fox called out Trump for lying or Trump made himself look bad talking to Fox personalities and they're nowhere to be found. They only exist if another news organization (like CNN) did a story about them, but it looks like otherwise Fox keeps the originals offline and cries copyright when anyone tries to upload them.

[Ormond]

15 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

So it's just another bland say-nothing in a sea of say-nothing opinion pieces that needed a clickbait headline? Does it say all the things we're all thinking? I'm sure it's totally relevant opining and not outrage porn, however I feel comfortable with my decision to pass.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to revisit the Legacy of the Force series. That's some good literature.

See above.

Of course it wouldn't say "all the things we're all thinking" because no such piece would be possible. 

[Bonnot OG]

 

[maarsen]

7 hours ago, Martell Spy said:

Trump Privately Responded to Border Crisis With Dreams of Alligator-Filled Moats

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/trump-wanted-border-wall-alligator-filled-moats-snakes-spikes-shoot-immigrants.html

Of course this begs the question of how do you keep them fed? I mean how much of  meal would Hillary make? 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 hours ago, Gertrude said:

I'm listening to our Toddler in Chief throwing a tantrum in front of the Finnish President and it's so god damned embarrassing.

Did it really run that long? I turned in at 2 CT and he was blowing his stack at a press conference.

And yeah, the Finnish President looked like he wanted to be literally anywhere else in the world than there.

[Fragile Bird]

So the State Dept. IG calls for an urgent meeting for an envelope of newspaper clippings about conspiracy theories? What the...

[Jace, Extat]

17 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

So the State Dept. IG calls for an urgent meeting for an envelope of newspaper clippings about conspiracy theories? What the...

I'll bite. What are you talking about? The funny pages reveal no insight.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

I'll bite. What are you talking about? The funny pages reveal no insight.

Best I got:

Quote

• Reports indicate that the State Department Inspector General Steve Linick has briefed a number of House and Senate Committees about recent instances of “political retaliation” by department leaders against career staff over Ukraine.
• Linick left Congress moments ago and we’re expecting further details on the briefing shortly.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2019/oct/02/donald-trump-news-live-today-impeachment-ukraine-pompeo-briefing-latest-updates

 

ETA: Sounds like BIRD! was right for the most part.

[Mexal]

45 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

So the State Dept. IG calls for an urgent meeting for an envelope of newspaper clippings about conspiracy theories? What the...

Well, doesn't help that the Secretary of the State is discussing those documents with his top aids. If he's actioning them to work with Giuliani, that's an issue.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Low key the Dow has dropped close to a thousand points over the last few days. 

[Jace, Extat]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

Low key the Dow has dropped close to a thousand points over the last few days. 

DEMoCRATS ARE TANKING the economy! IT'S WHY I don't build there! I won't build in MIAMI! BEcause of the TANKING! The corrupt NEWS MEDIA............. .........

want us to not do it, folks! THAT'S WHY, because of the TANking. I said "WOW! Will you just look at? Just the way it, with the numbers!" and they all say "Mr. President"- I love it when they say- Don't you? We love the Presidency here don't we? Gotta respect THE OFFICE. Gotta HAVE reshpekt. They're very DISrespectful, the DEMOCRATS HAVE NO RESPECT! NONE, DO THEY?

[Mexal]

27 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Low key the Dow has dropped close to a thousand points over the last few days. 

Didn't you read, it's because of all the impeachment talk by the nasty Dems, not the terrible manufacturing report that's exacerbated by continuing tariffs.

[Zorral]

Every instance of going into a tariff war that I can think of in history, which for me, what I can think of in this area goes back to Henry VII, has caused that country enormous economic misery and tribulation.  For another, more recent instance than Henry VII, think of Thomas Jefferson's trade war starting in 1807 -- it tanked the baby US's economy for years.  Everybody told him not to ... but then, it's hard to think of a president who understood trade and finance less than TJ -- other than bedbug, of course.  And Andrew Jackson.  He too tanked the US economy with his preposterous policies.

[Fragile Bird]

Sorry, I had to go out after posting. From what I saw on CNN the State Department IG received an envelope from one of it’s lawyers, received anonymously in the State Department, filled with clippings about various conspiracy theories. The IG thought he should finally hand them over. I think the inference was Pompeo was using the conspiracy theories for his investigations.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

21 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Every instance of going into a tariff war that I can think of in history, which for me, what I can think of in this area goes back to Henry VII, has caused that country enormous economic misery and tribulation.  For another, more recent instance than Henry VII, think of Thomas Jefferson's trade war starting in 1807 -- it tanked the baby US's economy for years.  Everybody told him not to ... but then, it's hard to think of a president who understood trade and finance less than TJ -- other than bedbug, of course.  And Andrew Jackson.  He too tanked the US economy with his preposterous policies.

Indeed.  Trade wars invariably make bad situations worse.