US Politics: holding our breath waiting to see what happens next

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, mormont said:

So Trump is now prepared to admit the possibility that the next administration might not be his:

https://news.sky.com/story/donald-trump-time-will-tell-who-will-be-in-the-white-house-in-january-12131999

I expect that the next step will be hearing him explain how many people, including many very beautiful women and perhaps a large, manly veteran with a tear in his eye, amazing, a big strong man like that reduced to tears, can you believe it, have begged him - begged him - to keep fighting this really outrageous fraud in court, where of course he is certain to win, he has such a beautiful, wonderful case, so much evidence of foul play, really, it's unprecedented, everyone has said so, the scale of it, it's really horrible. But Donald has searched his heart and decided that in the best interests of the country, and out of the goodness of his heart, despite the fact that he clearly won, of course, that he should begin working with the Biden administration on a transition of power. Of course he will keep fighting these cases, not for himself you understand, but for ordinary decent Americans who deserve the best government, you really do. Then quietly, and without ever publicly conceding, he'll pack it in.

Until the day he dies, he'll never admit that he lost: he'll only say that he was cheated, that he was persuaded to leave office for the good of the country, that it was a big mistake as anything that goes wrong in future would never have happened under his watch, that he did the nation a huge favour by agreeing to be President in the first place, that he's much better off now that he's a businessman again, he could have been making so much money all along, andthat many people say his administration was the best ever. So much winning.

And of course he's currently running the shredding machines 24/7 and having the lawyers check everyone's NDAs.

But he will go.

This is the kind of method posting one can never recover from. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

54 minutes ago, Ran said:

There is practically no part of that poem applicable to Trump. It's not so much propaganda as an attempt to make him feel better.

You mean to say Trump has never once "breathed a word about his loss?"

[Fragile Bird]

11 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Literally the only two high points of this administration were Sean Spicer hiding in the shrubbery at one point and the Ten Days of The Mooch.

Measuring time in Scaramuccis is a wonderful thing!

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

3 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Measuring time in Scaramuccis is a wonderful thing!

[Rippounet]

2 hours ago, Ran said:

There is practically no part of that poem applicable to Trump.

That's what I find funny. But I'll admit to having a twisted sense of humor.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Literally the only two high points of this administration were Sean Spicer hiding in the shrubbery at one point and the Ten Days of The Mooch.

I thought it was eleven days. Either way, he should have gotten Depp's contract. He was fired from the garbage Harry Potter "film," but because he shot one scene, he gets to collect all of his nine digit contract. That has to beat out CZJ getting like $60m to shoot three commercials for..... which service was it for again? I was just looking at her and not paying attention. 

[Kalbear]

This would be why you shouldn't use betting markets as a proxy for winning. 

 

[Fez]

1 hour ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

Literally the only two high points of this administration were Sean Spicer hiding in the shrubbery at one point and the Ten Days of The Mooch.

I found the endless insistence that it was finally "infrastructure week" to be grimly humorous.

And it seems likely to continue into the Biden administration, as pundits keep saying "Well, maybe Biden and McConnell can agree on infrastructure at least." 

[Fragile Bird]

This is the day of the Million MAGA Man March in Washington. So far I’ve seen reports of about 5,000 people showing up. Trump took a cavalcade out to drive around and wave to his idiots, and then, lol, he went to the golf course! A million Trump supporters are going to show up but he went to the golf course!

 

eta: 8,000 to 10,000 now! Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Stop the Steal.

Sample: All those states that stopped counting at midnight and mysteriously restarted with thousands of votes for Biden the next day! And any state using Dominion Software, which adds votes for Biden! And Republicans who say the vote was legit are part of the swamp and need to be cleaned out! And there’s fraud in state elections too!

[Martell Spy]

20 minutes ago, Fez said:

I found the endless insistence that it was finally "infrastructure week" to be grimly humorous.

And it seems likely to continue into the Biden administration, as pundits keep saying "Well, maybe Biden and McConnell can agree on infrastructure at least." 

Similar to the media's "Trump is about to pivot and start acting like a normal President" fixation.

[Zorral]

The Steal happened because Cuba, Venezuela and China did the machines, changing all those shoggoth votes to Biden.  I read it on twitter so it is True!

In the meantime while magamarchin' have a pancake or a few tens thousands pancakes.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/11/the-million-maga-march-hashtag-has-been-taken-over-by-images-of-pancakes

 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

17 minutes ago, Martell Spy said:

Similar to the media's "Trump is about to pivot and start acting like a normal President" fixation.

If only the media had been nicer to him, and Democrats had attended his inaugaration, and cheered for him...

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

14 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

If only the media had been nicer to him, and Democrats had attended his inaugaration, and cheered for him...

Cueing tweets about Biden's inaugural crowd size. 

[kairparavel]

Feel bad for all the service industry workers who have to deal with them. 

The cops on the other hand...

 

[Zorral]

A friend in Maine says They are planning an anti-mask, shoggoth support event state-wide tomorrow.  It consists of massing, maskless, in the supermarkets and grocery stores.

Locals, particularly people who work and manage these food emporiums, are begging for intervention by the state and the cops.

In the meantime, on the D.C. magamarchy merch tables today:

 

[Jaxom 1974]

2 hours ago, Fez said:

I found the endless insistence that it was finally "infrastructure week" to be grimly humorous.

And it seems likely to continue into the Biden administration, as pundits keep saying "Well, maybe Biden and McConnell can agree on infrastructure at least." 

I actually hope Biden rolls out some dirty if FDR 100 days type scenario with Covid relief, infrastructure, global warming, income equality and job growth, student debt relief, and other items, all designed to make the economy hum,  but packaged in such a way that states should be clamoring for the stuff forcing their senators to choose whether to risk voting against the interests of their states...

I realize it's unlikely, but it's a nice dream...

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Fez said:

I found the endless insistence that it was finally "infrastructure week" to be grimly humorous.

Because you're a Jets fan?

[Ser Reptitious]

On 11/12/2020 at 6:53 PM, Gaston de Foix said:

Message > Money.  Warnock and Ossoff need to define themselves as moderate and independent.  Loudly proclaim they are against court-packing and defunding the police.  Pro-Israel.  

Or they could instead, you know, talk about the sort of issues that the average voter actually cares about:

- how to make sure people can earn a living wage without having to work two or three full-time jobs at once (decent minimum wage);

- what can be done to help protect them from the fallout of the Covid pandemic (adequate unemployment insurance);

- the fact that the Republicans are right now in front of the Supreme Court trying to eliminate the ACA, including the pre-existing conditions protection (health care);

- the ability to obtain some sort of post-high school level certification (which is often vital to get any half-decent job) without it costing an arm and a leg; 

- etc.

But sure, let’s instead talk about whether moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was a good idea. That will surely move the needle among your average Georgian voter struggling to keep his/her head above water!

Also, they could try to not suck at messaging when confronted with the above-quoted issues by reporters. How about trying these responses for size:

- “Pack the courts? That’s what the Republicans are doing right now. They are packing the courts with the sort of people who wish to make The Handmaid’s Tale a reality! All we want to do is explore various judicial reforms to prevent that sort of fanaticism from taking hold over our courts.”

(Seriously, how the fuck are Democrats playing (timid) defense on the courts issue after everything the Republicans have done the last few years?)

- “Defund the police? The police are doing a very difficult job and we have the deepest of respect for the numerous officers who give their all to protect the weak and vulnerable among us. But we also have to make sure that there is a system in place that weeds out the bad apples, for the sake of the community served, as well as the  morale of the rest of the police force.”

 

[DMC]

I really don't think "messaging" matters too much in the Georgia races - or really any runoff.  Virtually all those that will vote already cast their ballots in these races.  The election is not going to hinge on "packing the courts," "defunding the police," and certainly not Israel (WTF?!?).  The GOP will certainly (or at least should) try to capitalize on activating the "ticket-splitters" that led to congressional candidates outrunning Trump by warning of a Democratic Senate, but that's entirely out of the candidates' control.  Any runoff is going to be won or lost on turnout.  As for the "issues" - that were already well played out in first round - the advertising or "messaging" is going to look more like this:

Quote

There will be so many ads on television during the holidays that “there won’t be any room for Santa Claus.”

In one released a day after the general election, Warnock revealed that he eats pizza with a fork and once stepped on a crack in a sidewalk. It was his tongue-in-cheek way of letting voters know that negative -- and sometimes outrageous -- ads were about to hit the airwaves. It didn’t take long.

A few days later, Loeffler released an ad connecting Warnock with Chicago pastor Jeremiah Wright, a bogeyman for the right whom Republicans also used against Barack Obama when he was seeking the presidency. Warnock shot back a day later with an ad that criticized Loeffler for selling shares in pandemic-related companies after she had been privy to confidential Covid-19 related briefings.

 

[Lollygag]

On Nov 3, folks cast their ballot on a Dem House, an up in the air Senate and a Presidential race that polled as a Biden landslide but everyone said was actually a lot closer.

This special election is cast on a weaker Dem House, the Senate hinges on this race, and a Biden presidency with a great deal of Biden's success or failure riding directly on the backs of Georgians. Not really fair to them, but that's what it is. Totally different election and if you side-eye both parties, the calculations are totally different. I know this being an Ohioan who normally has to vote based on national calculations rather than how I'd personally prefer to vote because until recently, too much weight landed on us for the whole thing.

1 hour ago, DMC said:

I really don't think "messaging" matters too much in the Georgia races - or really any runoff.  Virtually all those that will vote already cast their ballots in these races.  The election is not going to hinge on "packing the courts," "defunding the police," and certainly not Israel (WTF?!?).  The GOP will certainly (or at least should) try to capitalize on activating the "ticket-splitters" that led to congressional candidates outrunning Trump by warning of a Democratic Senate, but that's entirely out of the candidates' control.  Any runoff is going to be won or lost on turnout.  As for the "issues" - that were already well played out in first round - the advertising or "messaging" is going to look more like this:

 

Messaging is the same as campaigning except it's more substantive than just a general pep rally. You use messaging to increase or suppress turnout. New ad.