The General 'Murican Politics Thread

[Tornado]

 

Ha ha McConnell's face.

[Patticus]

Apparently, Trump didn't like the way Priebus refused to "return fire" on Mooch after his curse-filled New Yorker interview, so he got rid of him.

Because apparently retaliating in kind, the thing good parents teach their children not to do, the thing businesses train their employees not to do, the thing we expect all good politicians to not do, is the something Trump prizes in a subordinate. But then again, it's no secret that he specifically chose underlings that he knew would form their own rival factions. I think he generally expects a level of conflict among the White House's internal departments.

In other news, Scaramucci's wife is divorcing him, because she hates Trump, and Scaramucci is toadying up to him like the power-hungry brown-noser he is.

However, there's a silver lining to Priebus's firing:

Tell-all gossipy memoir, here we come!

 

Also this week, Donald Trump encourages police brutality!

Quote

President Trump told police officers not to be "too nice" to suspects they are arresting while giving a major law enforcement and immigration policy speech in Long Island, N.Y., on Friday.

"When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddywagon, you just see them thrown in, rough. I said please don't be too nice," Trump told the audience at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood, where the county's police force is centered.

"Like when you put somebody into a car and you protect their head? ... I said you can take the hand away, OK?" Trump added.

Trump was referencing the way officers routinely place suspects into the back of police cars, appearing to suggest officers take less care to make sure suspects don't hit their head while entering the vehicle.

The suggestion was met by cheers in the crowd.

Trump was giving a speech detailing the administration's plan to defeat the MS-13 gang. New York is a sanctuary city, and Trump's speech was expected to take a hard line on the link between immigration enforcement and the rise of gang-related crime.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/344364-trump-encourages-cops-to-be-rough-with-suspects

For a supposedly Christian nation, people sure are happy to treat others like absolute dog-shit on a daily basis, aren't they?

"But they're illegal, they don't got rights, hurr durr!"

Fuck off.
 

But anyway, MS-13 is a very dangerous organization on the rise, and while I suppose that I appreciate the administration trying to crack down on it, Trump's cack-handed attempt at laying down the law on illegal immigration is probably making the gang stronger, rather than weakening it. So say actual gang members, and families of their victims.

Quote

And several people familiar with MS-13, including two gang members themselves, told CNN they think Trump's crackdown on immigrants is actually making MS-13 stronger because witnesses are more reluctant to come forward for fear of being deported.

"It's not like before, where ... they (the gang) were more hidden," said Margarita, adding that a decade after fleeing violence in El Salvador she has never felt more afraid. "People can get deported, so they don't call the police. So they (MS-13) feel more free."

"I think it's emboldening them, because this gives them the opportunity to tell immigrants, 'What are you gonna do? Are you going to report us? They're deporting other innocent people ... (so) they're going to associate you with us by you coming forward,'" said Walter Barrientos, Long Island coordinator with Make the Road, an immigrant advocacy group.

"'So what are you going to do? Who's going to protect you?' And that's what really strikes many of us."

But a senior Trump administration official disputed that thinking.

"The reality is that we are removing MS-13 and other criminal gang members in very large numbers, and they are hurting," the official said.

"As far as reporting crime is concerned, the biggest impediment as I said earlier, is sanctuary cities, where ... illegal immigrant gang members are released from a prison or jail and then we have to go searching for them at great costs ... and at great personal risk to the officers.

"If you want to be looking at strategies that need to change and change right away, sanctuary cities would be at the top of that list."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/28/us/ms-13-gang-long-island-trump/index.html

I can't trust the thinking of Trump administration officials in regards to anything, especially matters related to immigration - I mean, they believe a border wall will solve the problem of illegal immigration, when it's patently obvious that it never will. Targeting sanctuary cities and making that the focus of the anti-MS 13 strategy, rather than, say, amnesties for witnesses and the like, may only make things worse.
 

Take the following with a bucket of salt:

It's best not to trust anonymous sources making predictions about the future, since that's just a way for staffers to gauge public and media reactions to hypothetical events without putting their necks on the line - and it's a way for journalists et al to generate more traffic for their publications. However, it's still interesting couple of tweets, and if it happened, it would drag the US much deeper into uncharted waters than it is already.

I can possibly see some Republicans joining the ranks of the Democrats calling for impeachment and removal proceedings if Trump really does go on a renegade war against his own party. If he unmoors the White House from the party entirely, I can see the path to a Pence presidency become the only viable one for the GOP, moving forward.

Why bite the hand that's propping up the administration, though? Very bizarre behavior. He has attacked its members before with no consequences, but this would be another level of hostility.

[Phos]

So I decided to actually write an Oompa Loompa Song to go with Priebus's firing:

Spoiler

Oompa Loompa doopaty doo...

I've got the perfect puzzle for you

What do you get from the Repub committee?

Anyone who sucks up to those criminals I would pity. 

Except that you chooooose it. 

Stay away from the RNC

And they can't sack you to hide their tape of Pee Pee

They are paranoid and like to shift the blame

And run the government for their own 

Fortune 

And

Fame!
 

 

[Tani Coyote]

If Trump's crazy enough to go independent, that will certainly be a thing. There goes support for any of his more radical priorities.

Question is if the GOP would have the boldness to actually toss him out; they'd risk alienating his voter base and possibly splitting the vote in the next several election years.

http://nypost.com/2017/07/25/white-house-aide-quits-before-scaramucci-can-fire-him/

A White House staff resigned upon hearing Scaramucci planned on firing him, denying him the privilege.

Scaramucci has already stated in an interview that he might fire the whole White House press staff to root out leakers, and Trump has apparently expressed support for the proposal.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Never ceases to amaze me how we went from Obama to this mess...

[SonicComicFanboy]

7 hours ago, Conquering Storm's Servant said:

Never ceases to amaze me how we went from Obama to this mess...

 Well, decades of poor public education, a bipolar economy and conservative media demonizing liberals and lying to/manipulating their paranoid bigoted base pretty much leads to stuff like where we are now.

 

 But yes it is sad we have gone from a refined/dignified man like Barack to a tangerine man-child.  Heck even Bush wasn't as bad as the clown we have now. 

[Dizcrybe]

For one, Bush was actually able to handle criticism, even if he never learned from them.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

2 hours ago, Dizcrybe said:

For one, Bush was actually able to handle criticism, even if he never learned from them.

He also didn't come across as so blatantly bigoted. Time really got better for him the moment Trump was sworn in, because now he actually looks like a much more decent president (who fucked a number of things up) by comparison to his opponents...however much that's saying.

[Tani Coyote]

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-base-sticks-him-except-south-n787856

Trump 2020 might be in trouble.

Trump has enormous net approval (approval minus disapproval) in Wyoming, West Virginia, and North Dakota, at well over 20 points, but the rest of the country is sobering.

In red states like Texas, Georgia, and Arizona, his net approval ranges from -7 to -9 points.

In the key swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania that narrowly delivered him the Presidency, he's at a net -9 to -10 approval.

In the swing states like Iowa and Ohio that have a GOP lean but backed Obama, he has -4 and -1 for net approval respectively.

This is just adults, not necessarily registered voters, but if Democrats get a good candidate who can turn out the Obama coalition again, Trump's odds of a second term are looking bad. Democrats might just end up flipping Arizona and even Georgia as well as retaking the states Obama carried that Trump flipped in 2016.

[KHCast]

The fact I'm STILL seeing this BS from my friends on the right, (and he's a trump supporter full on) I can't believe these ideas still float around that we're after people's guns, and freedom of speech and religion. I mean for what? Asking for equality among others, wanting to take guns away from fucking mass murderes? 

[Tani Coyote]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/politics/anthony-scaramucci/index.html

Hours after John Kelly became Chief of Staff, Scaramucci has been fired after 11 days as Communications Director. Bear in mind Scaramucci is the one who made Spicer resign and who helped push Priebus out.

The White House's official statement is that Scaramucci wanted to give Kelly more room and left of his own free will, but the insider statements are Kelly did not want Scaramucci onboard, feeling he has exhausted his credibility. Also likely: Scaramucci didn't want to report to Kelly, but directly to Trump.

The Trump White House is less of an administration and more of a game of musical chairs at this point. The staff turnover rate is insane.

[8ther]

23 minutes ago, KHCast said:

The fact I'm STILL seeing this BS from my friends on the right, (and he's a trump supporter full on) I can't believe these ideas still float around that we're after people's guns, and freedom of speech and religion. I mean for what? Asking for equality among others, wanting to take guns away from fucking mass murderes? 

Jesus, I don't even think your friend even understand the words coming out of his mouth

[KHCast]

This was in response btw to me saying obama wasn't trying to take the 2nd amendment away from everyone. 

 

What's even crazier is he think the right is actually doing more to help equal rights and protecting minorities!

[8ther]

 

33 minutes ago, KHCast said:

This was in response btw to me saying obama wasn't trying to take the 2nd amendment away from everyone. 

 

What's even crazier is he think the right is actually doing more to help equal rights and protecting minorities!

I'd like to hear his examples of the Right trying to protect the rights of minorities.

[Tani Coyote]

The right certainly does a great job of protecting at least one minority group.

The wealthy!

But yeah, typical "freeeedooooom" nonsense. Everyone talks about how Obama destroyed this country but really it seems like not too much changed. There were no massive gun confiscations, no massive crime wave resulting from a gutting of police forces, no breakdown of order as a result of lax marijuana enforcement... we basically just came out of it with  healthcare that covers more people if at a higher price for some.

Laughing at the idea Trump's a response to Obama as well. No, Trump is a response to Clinton. Clinton had enough baggage and a poor enough campaign strategy (just keep pointing out how awful Trump's views are, and by the way, insult anyone who likes some of his ideas, oh and at the same time, just assume those Rust Belt states he has appeal in will vote Democrat even if you don't spend that much money there) that it tilted a small percentage of people in key states, giving him his victory. Clinton was the popular vote winner (but don't mention that because it turns into gushing about how great the Electoral College is and how it protects small states, when in reality it only protects swing states) and really, had any other moderate Democrat got up there, they would likely have crushed Trump. Comey's October surprise combined with a lack of enthusiasm for Clinton decreasing youth and minority Democratic votes (not to mention voter suppression tactics, but we do a disservice to say the only reason Democrats lose is because Republicans try to stack the deck) came together to give us President Trump.

Tell your friend - and anyone passing Trump off as this hero to people oppressed by the Obama administration, really - that 1/4 of Trump's voters would not vote for him again. That while only 4% regret their vote, that 1/4 statistic holds true. It was an anti-Clinton vote, not a pro-Trump vote. Trump's approval is underwater in all but the rural Midwest; even Texas dislikes him more than it likes him. A good Democrat in 2020 will crush him, especially now that he's made it apparent he cares more about destroying healthcare than passing things people really liked about him, like huge infrastructure projects to create jobs.

The next Democrat needs to have a mostly clean record, as well as a bold plan on healthcare, infrastructure, and job creation that will look favorable to Trump's trainwreck policies in those areas. If they have those, they're likely to crush him.

[Patticus]

Scaramucci had to be escorted from the White House by security.

Gee, I wonder why? Maybe it was the Boneitis...

... or perhaps it was his uncontrollable cocaine-fueled super-rage. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Meanwhile, today it was revealed that Trump Jr. did not write his own statement on meeting that Russian lawyer. So who did? Well...

Quote

Trump dictated son’s misleading statement on meeting with Russian lawyer

On the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Germany last month, President Trump’s advisers discussed how to respond to a new revelation that Trump’s oldest son had met with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign — a disclosure the advisers knew carried political and potentially legal peril. 

The strategy, the advisers agreed, should be for Donald Trump Jr. to release a statement to get ahead of the story. They wanted to be truthful, so their account couldn’t be repudiated later if the full details emerged.

But within hours, at the president’s direction, the plan changed.

Flying home from Germany on July 8 aboard Air Force One, Trump personally dictated a statement in which Trump Jr. said that he and the Russian lawyer had “primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children” when they met in June 2016, according to multiple people with knowledge of the deliberations. The statement, issued to the New York Times as it prepared an article, emphasized that the subject of the meeting was “not a campaign issue at the time.”

The claims were later shown to be misleading.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-dictated-sons-misleading-statement-on-meeting-with-russian-lawyer/2017/07/31/04c94f96-73ae-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.3ac79de56421

I can't imagine Mueller would be at all interested in that, nope, not at all.

[SSF1991]

So updates on the Virginia governor's race happening right now. As I have already said in the past, I live here in Virginia and am getting a front-row seat to the action.

1. Polling's well underway. Democratic candidate Ralph Northam is getting an average of +5% over GOP candidate Ed Gillespie. Not as much as I'd like to see, considering how polling has done in the past year, but better than nothing.

2. I'm starting to hear political ads on the radio. Ed's very first ad already pisses me off. It basically amounts to "Ralph's a liberal, he raised taxes, he did nothing to stop illegals". Yes, he wants to do away with sanctuary cities. In case I didn't need any other reason to not trust this guy. But yeah...3 months of political ads incoming for me. God I don't want to hear another round of GOP propaganda and lies, especially after the 2016 election, but this looks to be the case.

I really hope my state picks the right candidate here. Even with the rural turnout that took place last year, it still wasn't enough for Trump to win. Hillary won Virginia, so it makes me wonder how the race will go this year. My concern is that this time, blue voters don't turn out. Anti-Trump feeling is very much alive and well in my state, but whether it's enough to elect Northam...we'll see.

My Democratic governor is the only thing keeping my state from getting the full fury of the GOP/Trump agenda. He's kept a lot of their policies away from the state. Electing Gillespie...god help us.

[Remy]

8 hours ago, Lord Liquiir (Ogilvie) said:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/politics/anthony-scaramucci/index.html

Hours after John Kelly became Chief of Staff, Scaramucci has been fired after 11 days as Communications Director. Bear in mind Scaramucci is the one who made Spicer resign and who helped push Priebus out.

The White House's official statement is that Scaramucci wanted to give Kelly more room and left of his own free will, but the insider statements are Kelly did not want Scaramucci onboard, feeling he has exhausted his credibility. Also likely: Scaramucci didn't want to report to Kelly, but directly to Trump.

The Trump White House is less of an administration and more of a game of musical chairs at this point. The staff turnover rate is insane.

Damn dude lost his wife (?) over a job he had for less than two weeks. Cocaine is a helluva drug!

[Phos]

Was honestly not expecting to have to write another one so quickly.  By the way, I'm omitting the parts that are the same in all the songs.

Spoiler

 

Oompa Loompa Doopaty Doo

Why did it take this long for your wife to leave you?

(Sung as a round) That's the only puzzle hereeeeeee

Mimicking his motions like a mocking     bird

But he's human garbage, haven't you    heard?

Copying him without his illicit   collusion

Your embarrassment was a forgone    conclusion 

Stay away from this disaster zone

But this is something you should have known

 

 

[Tani Coyote]

57 minutes ago, Remy said:

Damn dude lost his wife (?) over a job he had for less than two weeks. Cocaine is a helluva drug!

Considering she most likely had expressed her disapproval of Trump early on and he took the job anyway, I don't think the divorce had a role in Scaramucci's departure. The guy is an A class douche, and his wife presumably feels going to work for Trump solidified that. Scaramucci's wealthy. There was no pressure on him to take the job.

This is 100% Kelly trying to bring some order to the chaos Trump's White House has been, and that meant someone inflammatory like Scaramucci had to go. Kelly's a General - he wants order in his newfound army, which means anyone stoking infighting is sent packing.

We'll see how long until Kelly is forced out, though, when Trump refuses to follow his advice on Kushner, Conway, or others. Or Trump feels Kelly is calling all the shots, because odds are Kelly will think almost everyone needs to go.

[Tani Coyote]

https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/voting-laws-roundup-2017

A good summary of voting law changes nationwide this year.

Trends are many states are making registration easier, but voting more difficult. That said, we have surprises: Florida, Kansas, Tennessee, and Utah have all expanded absentee voting.

16 hours ago, SSF1991 said:

I really hope my state picks the right candidate here. Even with the rural turnout that took place last year, it still wasn't enough for Trump to win. Hillary won Virginia, so it makes me wonder how the race will go this year. My concern is that this time, blue voters don't turn out. Anti-Trump feeling is very much alive and well in my state, but whether it's enough to elect Northam...we'll see.

My Democratic governor is the only thing keeping my state from getting the full fury of the GOP/Trump agenda. He's kept a lot of their policies away from the state. Electing Gillespie...god help us.

McAuliffe is fairly popular as memory serves, and that's likely to give a Democratic successor a bit of a leg up. Add this with anti-Trump sentiment, and odds are decent of a Democratic win. Doubly so since McAuliffe can use his veto to keep the GOP from engaging in voter suppression.

Of course, we can't rely on Presidential results all alone. It's common for states to have radically different state and national choices; Alaska and Kansas are solid Republican in every Presidential race, but Democrats (and third parties, in Alaska's case) are fairly competitive at the state level and routinely get into the Governorship.

Virginia has also passed a bill that allows people to vote absentee if they have a protective (restraining) order from a court.

Here's hoping Democrats pull off a miracle and flip the House of Delegates while they're at it. Then it's just a case of winning over 2 GOP Senators in the state Senate, and Virginia can move towards Medicaid expansion.

[rosedust]

It's just sad how trainwrecky this administration is. It might as well be a sitcom.

[Tani Coyote]

Speaking of trainwrecks and shitstorms, we've got ourselves a new one brewing:

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/344196-dem-campaign-chief-vows-no-litmus-test-on-abortion

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has said that it will not use positions on abortion as a litmus test to deny candidates funding in 2018. This is part of a move to try and flip at least some red state seats so Democrats can gain a majority.

Naturally the decision has caused strong feelings from both sides of the issue within the Party. There are concerns it could lead to a Bernie Bro effect from unconditional abortion supporters that costs Democrats seats.

I'd question the logic behind not giving support to Dem candidates anyway, given a Republican majority full of abortion opponents is going to be a lot more dangerous than a Democratic caucus with a small pro-life wing. Then there's the fact there's a broad spectrum of views on abortion rights and I don't think the DCCC's plan is to endorse "abortion is murder" people, so much as "abortion is a personal choice but we should try to organically reduce how many there are."

We'll have to wait a few months to see whether this policy change holds and who exactly the DCCC ends up backing.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/bipartisan-group-of-house-members-plots-obamacare-fix.html

Meanwhile, hot on the heels of successful legislation to limit Trump's ability to reduce sanctions on Russia and pending legislation to ban the President from firing special counsels, there's bipartisan House legislation on the way to provide funding for the Obamacare subsidies. Trump has threatened to cut the subsidies as a way to pressure Congress, so it looks like both sides of the aisle are coming together to make this another area he can't do anything.

I swear, the way things are going, Trump is going to cause the US Presidency to become more like the French Presidency in how it shares power with legislative leaders. He is causing Congress to consider all kinds of laws restricting how much power the President has.

[Dizcrybe]

5 hours ago, Lord Liquiir (Ogilvie) said:

Naturally the decision has caused strong feelings from both sides of the issue within the Party. There are concerns it could lead to a Bernie Bro effect from unconditional abortion supporters that costs Democrats seats.

Sanboys make me angry. They curse Dems every chance they get, insist they're nothing without them, that they and they alone are the key to Democratic victories, and then wonder why they don't wanna be their friend. Sanboys operate on a level of arrogance and conceitedness that even the Hillary campaign couldn't have hoped to match.

[Tani Coyote]

11 hours ago, Dizcrybe said:

Sanboys make me angry. They curse Dems every chance they get, insist they're nothing without them, that they and they alone are the key to Democratic victories, and then wonder why they don't wanna be their friend. Sanboys operate on a level of arrogance and conceitedness that even the Hillary campaign couldn't have hoped to match.

Well at least you understand why the Democratic leadership are increasingly concerned about this policy position alienating unconditional abortion rights supporters.

Honestly, I think access to late term abortion is one of the worst hills to die on. They make up such a small percentage of procedures that I think there's little harm in allowing Democrats who support restricting late term abortions into the Party. And yet, despite being such a small percentage, it is one of the biggest grievances of pro-life people. Plus, for something posed as a women's rights issue, women oppose late term abortion at higher rates than men.

While there are chances of pro-life Democrats crossing the aisle to enact restrictions with pro-life Republicans, they do so at risk of their own political capital within the Democratic caucus. And ultimately, that's why moves should be made to gauge how pro-life a person is. Wanting to restrict late term abortions is a far cry from "abortion of all kinds is murder." Finally, we have moderate Republicans like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski who consistently defend abortion rights, limiting what damage a handful of pro-life Democrats could ever cause. Let's also remember many Republicans adhere to the big three exceptions, meaning a blanket ban isn't likely.

Really though, there's an opportunity here to take back the pro-life position from the clutches of far right ideologues. There's a real case to be made for greater parental leave, raising the minimum wage, expanding healthcare, and relaxing welfare restrictions if one's goal is to reduce abortions. Never mind increase funding for science so as to reduce the number of cases where abortion would be necessary in the first place.

But, on the Bernie bro mentality. If someone thinks withholding a vote for Democrats because they've allowed some more pro-life positions within the Party - thus allowing Republicans to pick up more seats - is somehow advancing the cause of women's rights, I question their reasoning power. They'll feel good for taking a stand, certainly, but now they just let a Party where crazed anti-abortion talk is hardly rare to take power.

We live under FPTP. Lesser evils are the name of the game. One Party might restrict late term abortions, but will also work to give tens of millions of people access to better healthcare, education, and put a leash on Trump. The other Party will restrict abortions in general, and work to try and take away healthcare and education, while only slightly leashing Trump.