US politics: Everything in moderation, including moderation

[DMC]

28 minutes ago, Fez said:

But Ellzey did best in the bluer precincts, so it wouldn't be that surprising if there was at least a bit of Dem support. Although, those precincts are also likely to have the less far-right Republicans as well.

Could be.  Feel like it should be noted the only significant difference between Ellzey and Wright is Trump endorsed the latter.  In no way is Ellzey a "moderate" Republican - including continuing to kiss Trump's ass.  With such low turnout, I think the fundraising numbers are a much more interesting indicator (and also likely negate any Dem influence).

[Fez]

6 minutes ago, DMC said:

Could be.  Feel like it should be noted the only significant difference between Ellzey and Wright is Trump endorsed the latter.  In no way is Ellzey a "moderate" Republican - including continuing to kiss Trump's ass.  With such low turnout, I think the fundraising numbers are a much more interesting indicator (and also likely negate any Dem influence).

Right. Any Dems who did vote I think would be exceptionally plugged in ones, who specifically just hoped to embarrass Trump by having his endorsement fail.

[briantw]

14 minutes ago, DMC said:

Could be.  Feel like it should be noted the only significant difference between Ellzey and Wright is Drumpf endorsed the latter.  In no way is Ellzey a "moderate" Republican - including continuing to kiss Drumpf's ass.  With such low turnout, I think the fundraising numbers are a much more interesting indicator (and also likely negate any Dem influence).

Imagine kissing the ass of the person who endorsed your rival.

[DMC]

2 minutes ago, briantw said:

Imagine kissing the ass of the person who endorsed your rival.

It's likely to happen quite frequently in Republican primaries this cycle.

[A True Kaniggit]

3 minutes ago, briantw said:

Imagine kissing the ass of the person who endorsed your rival.

Ha. This is like the Ted Cruz insult. 
 

“Imagine kissing the ass of the person who insulted your wife”

[briantw]

1 minute ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Ha. This is like the Ted Cruz insult. 
 

“Imagine kissing the ass of the person who insulted your wife”

Also like Durant joining the Warriors.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, mormont said:

My impression is that at the moment, Trump's favour is extremely useful in winning a Republican primary... but not necessarily in winning an open election (with some exceptions geographically). Is that the situation?

Other's have addressed this and I agree with their answers. I'll just add that I find it extremely odd that Republicans are still tying themselves to a person who lost back to back popular votes and will lose it again in 2024 if he runs (if he does he'll win the primary with ease). The party cannot get past him because they spent so long before Trump ran in 2016 sowing the seeds of pure delusion and now the tiger has caught its own tail. I don't see how they break out of this anytime soon. Defeat isn't shaking them loose of this. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

9 minutes ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Ha. This is like the Ted Cruz insult. 
 

“Imagine kissing the ass of the person who insulted your wife”

And accused his father of playing a role in the assassination of JFK. A servile puppy dog indeed. 

[A True Kaniggit]

10 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

And accused his father of playing a role in the assassination of JFK. A servile puppy dog indeed. 

Also this. 

[DMC]

17 Republicans voted with all 50 Dems to advance the bipartisan infrastructure deal.  Importantly, final details are still being worked out.  McConnell was one of the 17, but not John Thune (his whip), which is kinda surprising considering the latter has been like Portman's cheerleader on the deal.

[Kalbear]

54 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Other's have addressed this and I agree with their answers. I'll just add that I find it extremely odd that Republicans are still tying themselves to a person who lost back to back popular votes and will lose it again in 2024 if he runs (if he does he'll win the primary with ease). The party cannot get past him because they spent so long before Trump ran in 2016 sowing the seeds of pure delusion and now the tiger has caught its own tail. I don't see how they break out of this anytime soon. Defeat isn't shaking them loose of this. 

He lost POTUS in a weird year by something like 47k total votes across 3 states. The notion that Trump got crushed - or that anyone should care about the popular vote - is meaningless. 

47k votes across three states when they're ramming in as much voter suppression as they can and getting carte blanche from SCOTUS to do so should not really fill you with a lot of optimism. 

[Fragile Bird]

Lol, I’m watching CNN and they’re about to do a story on how Mo Brooks was wearing body armor under his clothes at that “very peaceful” Trump rally on January 6th.

eta: from a report in Slate. He was told the situation might be volatile over the next few days, so he didn’t go to his condo but slept at his office instead. He wore that windbreaker at the rally to conceal the body armor.

So Brooks was warned of possible trouble and then goes to the rally and makes an incendiary speech about collecting names and kicking ass. Nice.

[DMC]

Speaking of Trump endorsements and GOP primaries, just finished this deep dive into the life of Max Miller, a 32 year old Trump acolyte and former staffer running to displace Anthony Gonzalez - one of the Republicans that voted to impeach Trump - in the Ohio 16th.  

It's a decidedly gossipy piece, and I'm not a huge fan of devoting so much attention to what high school acquaintances generally thought of Miller when he was, ya know, in high school, but the juiciest tidbit was this:

Quote

But there was nothing ambiguous, said the three people, about the physical altercation in late April of 2020 that happened amid another confrontation about Grisham’s charges of infidelity: Miller pushed her. He slapped her. She fled. The temperatures that evening dipped into the 40s, and Grisham left with no coat, only her purse.

Stephanie Grisham had stints as Trump's press secretary/comms director and Melania's chief of staff.  After Miller had his attorney reveal emails between the two surrounding the incident that they thought vindicated him from any wrongdoing, Grisham refused to comment on the article.  Real classy move there by Miller.  The piece goes on to tell us Miller is now engaged to Emily Moreno - the daughter of Bernie Moreno, one of the 7,452 GOP candidates vying to replace Senator Rob Portman.  

[Jaxom 1974]

3 hours ago, L'oiseau français said:

The thing is, Americans don’t do anything in moderation.

False. Americans are exceedingly moderate when it comes to dealing with the consequences of our own history.  Total slow roll in things like dealing with racism or removing the institutions of said system born of racism...

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Kaligator said:

He lost POTUS in a weird year by something like 47k total votes across 3 states. The notion that Trump got crushed - or that anyone should care about the popular vote - is meaningless. 

47k votes across three states when they're ramming in as much voter suppression as they can and getting carte blanche from SCOTUS to do so should not really fill you with a lot of optimism. 

What it signals is the continued lack of national support for the Republican party, a problem that will only worsen with time as every day more likely Democratic voters than likely Republican voters turn 18 while at the same time more likely Republican voters die than likely Democratic voters, and Covid is only accelerating the latter. Yes there are a number of structural problems, and yes there is the real fear Biden wins in 2024 with a Republican controlled Congress that won't certify his election, but the long term prospects of the Republican party are bleak and there's no reason to think they'll change course anytime soon.

[Kalbear]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

What it signals is the continued lack of national support for the Republican party, a problem that will only worsen with time as every day more likely Democratic voters than likely Republican voters turn 18 while at the same time more likely Republican voters die than likely Democratic voters, and Covid is only accelerating the latter. Yes there are a number of structural problems, and yes there is the real fear Biden wins in 2024 with a Republican controlled Congress that won't certify his election, but the long term prospects of the Republican party are bleak and there's no reason to think they'll change course anytime soon.

So what? National support is immaterial. Who cares if dems win the popular vote by 10 million but lose the EC?

[Larry of the Lawn]

3 hours ago, Kaligator said:

He lost POTUS in a weird year by something like 47k total votes across 3 states. The notion that Trump got crushed - or that anyone should care about the popular vote - is meaningless. 

47k votes across three states when they're ramming in as much voter suppression as they can and getting carte blanche from SCOTUS to do so should not really fill you with a lot of optimism. 

And it was that close after completely mishandling covid, with hundreds of thousands of dead Americans.  Difficult to see how Trump loses 2020 without bumblefucking the pandemic response.

[DMC]

1 minute ago, larrytheimp said:

And it was that close after completely mishandling covid, with hundreds of thousands of dead Americans.  Difficult to see how Trump loses 2020 without bumblefucking the pandemic response.

I don't like this counterfactual because it basically demands you assume there was no covid.  And with no covid, who knows what happens to the economy and subsequently how much the electorate blames Trump for it if it stagnates - which he basically got a pass on due to covid.  Too many unknowns.

Anyway, while it's a banal point to say national support is "immaterial," national support is an indicator regarding the three states that are in reference to 2020 - Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin.  Those states are gonna be correlated to national trends more than most others, plus of course Biden would only have to win one of them.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

22 minutes ago, Kaligator said:

So what? National support is immaterial. Who cares if dems win the popular vote by 10 million but lose the EC?

If Texas becomes purple in the not too distance future this is all immaterial. 

And like it or not, corporations, much as I loath it, are probably going to have to save the democracy. That's where the widening gap in the popular vote may really affect politics. 

[Kalbear]

7 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

If Texas becomes purple in the not too distance future this is all immaterial. 

As long as Republicans control the Texas state that is a pipe dream. 

7 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

And like it or not, corporations, much as I loath it, are probably going to have to save the democracy. That's where the widening gap in the popular vote may really affect politics. 

Yeah, corporations which benefitted most from tax breaks and from being all over the world are going to...save voting. Good luck with that.