US Politics the Biden's age a nothing burger edition

[Larry of the Lawn]

I think that whatever dichotomy people are seeing in the Republican party that has everyone so excited or predicting a schism is, in reality, a distinction without a difference.  Maybe a few more reasonable people, or people who suddenly have some sense of propriety or decorum that they didn't have in 2020 decide to stay home, split a ticket, or leave the prez column blank.  

There's enough smoke and talking-head chatter that anyone looking to rationalize a vote for Trump can tell themselves and the world that he's the victim of a witch hunt, Jan 6th was spun by the media, blah blah blah.  The airwaves and Internet are loaded with justification for any argument you want to make.  In that way we do live in a post truth world.    

The GOP fracturing to the point that there are electoral consequences though?  I think it's a pipe dream.  

Edited December 9, 2023 by Larry of the Lawn

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 hour ago, Bironic said:

Chair of the Florida Republican Party accused of rape, uses the "Trump did it as well" defense

Will this have an effect on the Florida elections in 2024?

We don’t know.  So many Republicans simply refuse to accept reality is anything beyond what they… believe… it to be that I’m not sure this will have impact.

The Republican Party should change its motto to: “

ex solopsism potestatem

Edited December 9, 2023 by Ser Scot A Ellison

[Bironic]

1 hour ago, Larry of the Lawn said:

There's enough smoke and talking-head chatter that anyone looking to rationalize a vote for Trump can tell themselves and the world that he's the victim of a witch hunt, Jan 6th was spun by the media, blah blah blah.  The airwaves and Internet are loaded with justification for any argument you want to make.  In that way we do live in a post truth world.    

The GOP fracturing to the point that there are electoral consequences though?  I think it's a pipe dream.  

I agree, I think the movement Trump heads isn’t going away even when the cult leader is repeatedly defeated, jailed and ultimately dead. It’s now ingrained in the Republican party. Add to that the effect of right wing propaganda channels like fox combined with the anti-social media algorithms that keep a good percentage of the populace misinformed… and underneath all of that you have the problems of a widening income/wealth gap, globalization, automatisation/AI, climate change, immigration etc. 

[TrackerNeil]

1 hour ago, Larry of the Lawn said:

 The GOP fracturing to the point that there are electoral consequences though?  I think it's a pipe dream.  

Agreed.

When I was an undergrad, I wrote a paper on UFO cults...you know, those folks who think the spaceships are coming on such-and-such date to take true believers to paradise. What I found, time and time again, was that when the date came and went with no alien visitation, many if not most of the faithful did not change their beliefs one bit. They came up with excuses to keep on keeping on--they got the date wrong, they weren't worthy, blah blah. This is how I first learned that beliefs not formed by rationality cannot be changed by rational means. People change their ways when they are emotionally ready to do so, and not before. (Took me a long time to really accept it, though, because I wasn't emotionally ready, either.)

Republican voters are not ready to change, and I see no sign they will ever be. No matter how many policy disasters Republican politicians stumble into, GOP voters will always tell themselves a story that allows them to keep voting red. They'll say GWB wasn't a true conservative, or that the Iraq war just needed better execution, that Terri Schiavo really could recover, that Hurricane Katrina was just an isolated incident and not a result of cronyism and underfunding in FEMA, that Donald Trump must be taken seriously but not literally...whatever suits the moment. And they'll keep voting red.

Edited December 9, 2023 by TrackerNeil

[maarsen]

I am seeing online that Hunter Biden has been indicted in California for tax evasion. Apparently he has already paid back the taxes he owed with, I assume, some kind of arrangement with the IRS. If so would this not then be a case of double jeopardy?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 minute ago, maarsen said:

I am seeing online that Hunter Biden has been indicted in California for tax evasion. Apparently he has already paid back the taxes he owed with, I assume, some kind of arrangement with the IRS. If so would this not then be a case of double jeopardy?

Not as I understand it.  He was never previously indicted for this crime… he was never previously put on trial for this crime.  Thus “double Jeopardy” wouldn’t apply.  However, if the State explicitly stated it wouldn’t prosecute based on “Action X” from Biden… it may be barred by “wavier” or some other such concept.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, TrackerNeil said:

Republican voters are not ready to change, and I see no sign they will ever be. 

This is a hard truth people have to accept. The 21st century has seen event after event that should have completely and permanently tanked support for the Republican party and nothing sticks. I thought the pandemic would finally do it. I really thought Jan 6 would. But nope. At this point Jesus could come down and tell them they're wrong and their response would be similar to the Blues Brothers getting bottles thrown at them in the hick bar. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

And now that ty has given you all nightmares about Mitch McConnell singing Ghost Riders in the Sky with in a plaid shirt with a cowboy and boots and all.

This is your chance to say thank you, ty.

[Zorral]

Finally, here it is, saying so in ms media -- there are NO "GOOD" Republicans.  

Finding a Santos Successor Is Proving No Simple Task for Republicans
Party leaders have vowed not to repeat the vetting mistakes they made with the expelled congressman. But getting to yes is proving messy.

"Messy" is a weasel word, of course, to be expected from a ms media org such as the NYT. All those who are stepping up to be replacement candidat for Santos are all just like him -- liars, crooks and grifters.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/nyregion/santos-republican-candidates.html

Quote

.... The torrent of revelations washed away the message of order and unity that top Republicans sought to project in the wake of Mr. Santos’s hurricane. And suspicions that many of the unsavory disclosures about the candidates had been seeded in the press by rival Republican camps left some fretting that the party was playing straight into Democrats’ hands. ....

This would be funny, if it wasn't just another piece of the tragedy that is the end of everything working as it should.

[Zorral]

5 hours ago, Bironic said:

Chair of the Florida Republican Party accused of rape, uses the "Trump did it as well" defense

Will this have an effect on the Florida elections in 2024?

Yes.  This is the right defense.  Because he got away with it, it's the license that every 7 year old boy can recognize that he can do it too when the time comes.  This is what the last years have wrought.  But, you know, let's all wring our hands over the fact that Biden is elderly, even though the rapist in chief also is.

In the meantime a woman in TX pregnant with an inviable fetus, has been sentenced to death for having a unviable fetus -- and if by some means, she does manage to get an abortion to save her life, she will also face the death penalty, if those ilks have their way.  Yes, indeed, wring our hands over Biden being elderly.

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by Zorral

[Altherion]

Following up on the discussion about college presidents and the Congressional hearing, the president of Penn has resigned and so has the chairman of Penn's board of trustees. The president of Harvard has apologized, but it's looks like neither she nor her MIT counterpart will be as impacted as the Penn one.

[The Anti-Targ]

15 hours ago, Larry of the Lawn said:

I think that whatever dichotomy people are seeing in the Republican party that has everyone so excited or predicting a schism is, in reality, a distinction without a difference.  Maybe a few more reasonable people, or people who suddenly have some sense of propriety or decorum that they didn't have in 2020 decide to stay home, split a ticket, or leave the prez column blank.  

There's enough smoke and talking-head chatter that anyone looking to rationalize a vote for Trump can tell themselves and the world that he's the victim of a witch hunt, Jan 6th was spun by the media, blah blah blah.  The airwaves and Internet are loaded with justification for any argument you want to make.  In that way we do live in a post truth world.    

The GOP fracturing to the point that there are electoral consequences though?  I think it's a pipe dream.  

I guess most people to the right of the Democratic party's right faction have abandoned the Republican party and have subscribed to the Lincoln project Youtube channel in the hopes of trying to bring some sort of rationality to the American right. Unfortunately the American right is hard to distinguish from the far right of most liberal democracies. The most right wing party that has seats in our parliament looks like the moderate faction of the congressional Republicans.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Larry put it very well earlier-

"We are living in a post truth World."

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

4 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Larry put it very well earlier-

"We are living in a post truth World."

 

There is no such thing as a “post-truth world”.  Only the descent into solipsism which the Republican Party has embraced with disturbing alacrity.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Ser Scot A Ellison
Thank DWS

[DireWolfSpirit]

"Descent"

I'll have to look up this solipsism Scott.

 

[ThinkerX]

Hiding in an airtight propaganda bubble is one thing. However, whether that propaganda bubble can survive hard contact with reality is another matter. 

 

The republican party is fast reaching the point to where their propaganda bubble, even combined with gerrymandering and police state tactics, is not enough for them to retain power. Witness the midterms, and their continual losses in the popular vote counts, both presidential and on ballot initiatives. Plus, in many instances, the more insane republican legislation, like book bans, is being used against them (banning the bible, religious exemptions to anti-abortion laws.)

 

Having a hardcore cadre does little good if you are out of power. 

Edited December 11, 2023 by ThinkerX

[Zorral]

Sweet summer child. 

[fionwe1987]

I dunno. I think there's a danger in assuming the Republican party and its bubble is totally beyond being affected by reality. Nothing in the world works like that. 

Now, whether interaction with changing reality will lead to a clean end to the party to be replaced by a wonderful rational system... Yeah that isn't what's gonna happen either.

But I think it's worth noting that totalitarian systems are brittle. That they have structural weaknesses that are exploitable. That these weaknesses can compound when their strategies are tied to the whims of one person. 

None of this means what comes next will be net good. You may get a violent splinter cell that wreaks havoc and large scale destruction, for example. I don't think anyone wants that, but such a result would, I think, cause realignments in the political landscape that can have negative impacts on the Trumpian right wing as it exists today. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

6 hours ago, ThinkerX said:

Plus, in many instances, the more insane republican legislation, like book bans, is being used against them (banning the bible, religious exemptions to anti-abortion laws.)

A school district in the US state of Utah has removed the Bible from elementary and middle schools for containing "vulgarity and violence". The move follows a complaint from a parent that the King James Bible has material unsuitable for children.Jun 2, 2023

 

https://www.bbc.com › news › worl...

 

Utah primary schools ban Bible for 'vulgarity and violence'

 

 

[The Anti-Targ]

I'm prepared to believe the right-wing bubble of hate and lies won't survive the reality check of global warming. Unfortunately many of the reality-based community won't survive it either.