Good post. The only part I don’t agree with is around accountability. That aside, I think people assuming that he’s out in January need to start preparing themselves for the real possibility that he’s re-elected, fairly and legitimately. All Biden has to do is hold the white suburbs that Democrats gained in 2018 and he wins. If he doesn’t, he loses. It really comes down to that, and it’s not clear whether or not he will. The only area where Trump has had somewhat consistent success is foreign policy, but that’s not going to carry him to victory. As for the election itself, we could not have picked a worse year to try mail-in voting on a larger scale. Everyone agreed that the USPS is not equipped to support it until Trump said so, now all of a sudden it’s a must-do. It’s pretty stupid considering there is no reason why elections can’t carry on as normal, even with COVID. The post office has been laughably underfunded since 1999 and last quarter carried a $2.2 billion loss, which is routine for its finances. Now we have to rush to get it funded. We are setting ourselves up for a months-long election cycle with both sides pre-declaring illegitimacy if the other side wins. If anyone thinks it’s one and not the other, then that person is just an idiot. I can’t wait to blow my vote on a 3rd party again.
He's negotiated peace with NK and Israel and got nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (by a fringe European fucknut, but still...) There has been progress with drug seizures at the border (go figure) and the opioid crisis. The economy is a pretty major accomplishment, although it may not be built to last. For me, he's forced everyone to acknowledge that China isn't a developing economy any longer and we have to re-examine our relationship there. Also, he's made us truly look at the influence the media has on our politics. The outcome of that was emptying a port-a-potty in your lunch, but I don't think any of us are watching the news the same way we were in 2014 or so. He's made some strides and while he's not the most genteel of cunts, we can't progress and de-radicalize folks until you acknowledge them, I think. Clearly, he's got far more negatives than positives. But one side saying he's as perfect as Jesus and the other saying he's incapable of doing anything good simply forces both sides to dig into a position that's inherently false. You want to burst the bubble of a cult of personality, you have to show that he's just human: some good, some bad, and best judged based on accomplishments, rather than a perception of character innately biased. Juicy: if this is accountability, we are living in Grand Theft Auto, complete with pastel skies, police that....oh shit. Seriously, what has he been held accountable for? No one in the GOP has demonstrated any balls to say "no, no sir, you will not do that." The millions spent on his resorts, the Russia thing, that other Russia thing, the election interference, on and on and on. It's mind-boggling all the scandals and he's not gone under oath.
He was impeached for Russia based on bullshit information, what other accountability are you looking for? What laws were broken with staying at his resorts? I agree that its a conflict of interest, but there is not even a precedent to judge it against. But why has he not been brought up on charges for that by the House? Again, I don't necessary equate him not being in handcuffs with a lack of accountability. But to say he hasn't been held accountable by the press and the Democrats just isn't true. And if you somehow think the Democrats would have taken a higher road in the same circumstances and convicted their own candidate during an election year, I have a bridge to sell you. I dont want to see him reelected, but on the basis of a conviction in search of a crime in order to throw a president out of office is just idiotic. Everyone can feel free to start drafting your bullet points of why he should be in jail, but save yourself the trouble. Im well aware of just about everything that's unfolded. You're not going to convince me it warrants impeachment + forcible removal of a President from office.
I disagree that Russia was bullshit, but my arms are tired and that horse is still dead. I also think the argument of "the democrats wouldn't have done any differently" is just as tired, and dead. Or am I overlooking a Democrat "billionaire" candidate with a resort to pile the secret service into at a cost of millions? There isn't a valid comparison between parties anymore because the GOP is a personality cult, driven by trolling and the Dems are delusional thinking they are still trying to govern based on actual policies. The emoulements clause for one, if anyone had the balls to prosecute it. Campaign finance violations aplenty. Hell, inciting violence.... I think I am a bit vague and you're right: seeing trump in handcuffs is unrealistic. Perhaps a better way of putting it is: no one stands up to him, and no one has said "no sir, the president can not do that" in his own party. Hell even Twitter won't do anything despite him repeatedly violating the terms of service. And held accountable by the press is laughable, considering his relationship with fox and friends. The press has already exhausted us with him on both sides, resulting in absolutely nothing. The fact that he still gets the amount of airtime he receives is the biggest issue with the media. Anyone else would have simply been ignored, and maybe moving forward we need the press to say, "you know what, we are not running the next crackpot that happens to be a celebrity" when they start spouting political conspiracy theories, so we don't end up with a Busey/Sheen ticket in 2024.
So where are the impeachments trials for these if they are so air-tight? The idea the Democrats won't bother because they know the Senate wont convict isn't true, because they've obviously shown otherwise. I agree with you on this, but the concept of "stand up to him" is still pretty vague. I don't know what that means in terms of meaningful action other than removal from office in an impeachment. Maybe it should have meant not nominating him for the GOP ticket? I'd buy that. But other than those two items and pure bloviation, I can't conceptualize what else that could be. So Fox News. Who else? Maybe the NY Post and sometimes the Wall Street Journal? There is in no way an equilibrium of coverage. I do agree that the press obsession with his every tweet/word/action has completely exhausted the public, but that's also why people are just tuning out at this point. Look I don't disagree that Trump is a piece of shit, but my point is leveraging impeachment/conviction as a means to undermine an election is incredibly stupid. The Democrats blew their political wad on impeachment and out of a field of 30 candidates, nominated someone who is clearly suffering from cognitive decline. Busey seems like a wash with Biden. I just can't fucking believe that they blew another god damn slam dunk, and now it might be razor-thin.
Exactly. There aren't any. No one is saying, "fuck that, that's not allowed." That bugs me. The DOJ is now stepping in on a civil case? Da fuq? I agree: there is absolutely no reason this should be close. Regarding the coverage: its so incredibly tilted on what he said, and how someone's feelings are hurt, yet glosses over what he does or doesn't do, which is far more important. I could give a fuck about his shitposting on Twitter, but him flaunting norms, legislating by EO, and failing to fix or even attempt the things he ran on, are far more important to report on. The problem is that requires actual research, instead of punditry, and it either gets buried in the torrent of outrage or it doesn't get done. Seriously, its 1000:1 articles on his tweets, vs. An explanation of the impact of his legislation. Hell, the Cares act was absolutely monumental and I know more about his diet.
Its not even just that, I could go to the front page of Fox News right now and find a few articles about what "outrageous" thing CNN is reporting on or something a CNN pundit said. And I could go to MSNBC or CNN right now and find the exact same thing about something someone said/did on Fox News. This is whats passing as journalism. I think back to the few days after the 2016 election to when the New York Times declared that they were re-dedicating itself to hard, fact-based journalism. They then went on to put an anti-white psycho on their editorial board and report on absolute nonsense. Pundit-based journalism is complete fucking bullshit. I hate that we have to pretend that everyone's opinion has value or that if we don't want political news in our faces 24/7 that means we don't give a shit. I don't typically have emotional reactions to politics, but having it thrust in our faces non-stop has worn my patience thin.
Trump should have been removed from office for his unconstitutional and illegal bombing campaign in Syria. Why that shit still doesn’t seem to count with anybody, I don’t know. People either forget it happened, or pretend that it didn’t. But it did, and Trump should be put against a wall and shot for it. That’s what war criminals deserve.
Edit. I posted some shit but I reread it and it's just the rants of the guy at the end of the bar no one wants to talk to so beep boop deleted. Need to stay out of this thread.
The Trump cult when interviewed by a reporter about the pandemic. Did these old fucks not see Herman Cain die from this shit? https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1304462473718902784
A little insight into how clueless the average voter is: A transsexual, Satanist, anarchist just won the primary for the sheriff's race in a NH county. The GOP primary.
Where did all of the money go? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...shes-ad-spending-in-key-states-in-cash-crunch I'm trying to not read too heavily between the lines but all I can figure is that either they overspent expecting donations to start picking up and they just didn't or the embezzlement has overwhelmed the campaign or both. But cutting advertising doesn't seem prudent even with all of the free press that these books on Trump have been giving him.
If they’re short on cash, why not just openly embezzle some funds? Don’t even bother to be crafty about it any more. If anybody says anything, they can just shrug it off and call it fake news. One more unaccounted fuck-up for the pile.
OR D), Trump is actually tired of being president and is trying to throw the game? OR E), he's not concerned about those states BECAUSE HE'S GOING TO FUCKING CHEAT.