Fraudulent Failson Judgement: JD Vance “Ain’t From Here”
As always with DC’s gossip press, they exercise almost none of the scrutiny with Donald Trump that they do with others.
One recent example comes in the treatment of Joe Biden and Trump’s sons’ involvement in campaign decision-making.
There was a whole flood of stories because Hunter Biden was part of his father’s decision on whether to stay in the race, as he has been involved in past such decisions.
Hunter Biden has joined meetings with President Joe Biden and his top aides since his father returned to the White House from Camp David, Maryland, on Monday evening, according to four people familiar with the matter.
The president’s son has also been talking to senior White House staff members, these people said.
While he is regularly at the White House residence and events, it is unusual for Hunter Biden to be in and around meetings his father is having with his team, these people said. They said the president’s aides were struck by his presence during their discussions.
A federal jury in Delaware found Hunter Biden guilty last month on gun-related charges. He remains under indictment accused of tax-related felonies, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Shortly after the jury found him guilty, he returned to his home in California.
One of the people familiar with the matter said Hunter Biden has been closely advising his father since the family gathered over the weekend at Camp David after Thursday’s debate. This person said Hunter Biden has “popped into” a couple of meetings and phone calls the president has had with some of his advisers.
Another person familiar with the matter said the reaction from some senior White House staff members has been, “What the hell is happening?”
The insinuation, of course, is that no convicted felon should be involved in such decisions.
The gossip press exhibited no such qualms that Paul Manafort — whose tax fraud was an order of magnitude greater than what Hunter is accused of, and who was hiding the foreign clients with whom he was sharing campaign strategy — was back advising Trump.
Crazier still, the gossip press seems to have little awareness that since May 30, there’s always a convicted felon involved in strategy meetings involving Trump.
I’m more interested in the double standard regarding the involvement of Trump’s sons in campaign decision-making.
Sure, in the Mueller investigation, Don Jr avoided charges for accepting campaign help from the Agalarovs because Mueller rightly figured the failson could argue he had no idea you shouldn’t do that. But both sons have been implicated in their Daddy’s fraud, first when they misused charity donations to benefit Pops, and then when they fiddled with real estate valuations.
Hunter Biden undoubtedly sold on his father’s influence — though he has not been criminally charged with doing so — but Trump’s sons have been involved in fraudulent claims about their father so he’d get that influence. They’re just conmen like their Daddy, selling the brand.
And on top of the fact that Don Jr has long been targeted by foreign spies and Neo-Nazis, he’s painfully stupid. As Michael Cohen testified, “Mr. Trump had frequently told me and others that his son Don Jr. had the worst judgment of anyone in the world.”
Yet, in all the reviews (or, in some cases, shameless beat sweeteners) of the sons’ involvement in Trump’s recent decisions, there has been no question about whether their cooperation in Dad’s fraud or their poor judgment should disqualify them from such a role.
That’s particularly true given their decisive role in picking JD Vance. The stories describe how the sons, especially Don Jr, were able to convince their Dad to ignore the counsel of actual political consultants like Kellyanne Conway and instead pick an inexperienced extremist who once called Trump America’s Hitler as his running mate.
With the clock ticking to the Republican National Convention last week, Donald Trump met privately to discuss his running mate search with two of his closest advisers: his sons.
The conversation quickly turned tense when the former president indicated that he was leaning toward Doug Burgum, until recently the largely unknown governor of North Dakota — but someone whose low-maintenance, no-drama personality would never threaten to outshine Trump.
That’s when Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump chimed in.
“Don Jr. and Eric went bats— crazy: ‘Why would you do something so stupid? He offers us nothing,’” a longtime Republican operative familiar with the discussion told NBC News.
“They were basically all like ‘JD, JD, JD,’” the operative said.
Trump ratified his sons’ recommendation here Monday, selecting Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his vice presidential candidate. Trump called Vance with the news 20 minutes before announcing it on social media, a source familiar with the call said.
In choosing Vance, Trump made a different calculation than he did in 2016 and leaned fully into his MAGA base. Back then, he looked to his daughter and her husband — the more establishment-friendly Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner — for strategic advice. This time, his red meat-throwing sons have a more central role. And instead of going with a longtime traditional Republican like Mike Pence, Trump chose the MAGA warrior Vance.
Apparently, Don Jr — he of the poor judgment — was impressed by Hillbilly Elegy, a memoir that treats Trump’s people as deplorables.
The eldest Trump son, who had been a fan of “Hillbilly Elegy” before the campaign, had come to like Vance personally, and the two developed a close friendship after Vance won his Senate race.
And so, in spite of the fact that JD Vance actually underperformed Republicans in his Senate race, Trump was convinced that Peter Thiel’s errand-boy will help him win the Rust Belt.
Thanks to Vice President Harris’ accession to the candidacy, media outlets are stumbling over each other to invite Andy Beshear on to explain how furious he is that Vance monetized calling people from Eastern Kentucky, “lazy.”
I want the American people to know what a Kentuckian is, what they look like, because — let me just tell you — that JD Vance ain’t from here. The nerve that he has to call the people of Kentucky, of Eastern Kentucky, lazy.
Listen, these are the hard-working coal miners that powered the industrial revolution, that created the strongest middle class the world has ever seen, powered us through two World Wars. We should be thanking them, not calling them lazy.
And in his first solo appearance, JD Vance attempted to make a joke about Diet Mountain Dew, which flopped.
Which has led superstars like AOC …
… and Mallory McMorrow to make fun of him.
There are already reports that, in light of Biden ceding the ticket to Kamala, the campaign may be regretting that decision.
Even the selection of Ohio’s Senator J. D. Vance as Trump’s running mate, campaign officials acknowledged, was something of a luxury meant to run up margins with the base in a blowout rather than persuade swing voters in a nail-biter.
Even in Pennsylvania or Michigan, JD’s extremism, especially on choice, will be a liability. And only a spoiled brat like Don Jr would have missed that Hillbilly Elegy insulted Trump’s deplorables, it didn’t celebrate them.
I suppose I should take solace from the fact that NYT is wasting beat sweeteners pretending that Don Jr is anything but a less effective conman than his Daddy.
By all means let Don Jr steer Daddy into stupid decisions.
It just gives smart girls one more thing to laugh at.
Also yesterday one of the Ohio RepubliKlowns that appeared with Vance had to immediately apologize for his comments:
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2024/07/22/ohio-senator-civil-war-save-country-jd-vance-rally/74500707007/
‘Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance’s hometown state senator said at his rally Monday that if Republicans don’t win the 2024 election it could lead to a civil war to “save the country.”
‘The comments came from Ohio state Sen. George Lang, R-West Chester, right after he took the stage at Vance’s first solo rally in Middletown and chanted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”‘
JD is still in the post-convention honeymoon phase, so it’s especially fun to watch how flat he falls (while cracking himself up). I expect DJT will soon show public signs of rage at his lame Apprentice.
The threat of violence has hung over the Russian Party since the announcement of Trump’s candidacy in 2015. It’s all they really have to influence the electorate, and this ‘influence’ is backfiring spectacularly. Co-opting all things American, all things Godly, and all things responsible, this faction depends on bibles, beer, bullets, bombs, and blame. This traitorous party cannot be, eh?
Marcy wrote:
“By all means let Don Jr steer Daddy into stupid decisions.
It just gives smart girls one more thing to laugh at.”
When Trump chose JD Vance, prior to Joe Biden stepping aside as the Presidential nominee, I had my first really good chuckle of relief envisioning the VP debate.
Although there is a lot of work to do, the stark contrast in rhetoric, policy, track records, and wit could not be more evident.
Thanks.
I think the chuckle will still be appropriate whether (a) JD stays with his threat not to debate or (b) debates player-to-be-named-later, whoever that is.
And if it is renowned hillbilly Andy Beshear…
I anticipate a full-on guffaw, for both (potential) Presidential and VP debates.
In battles of wit, one opponent will remain unarmed, and the other may be only half equipped.
Vance isn’t stupid, and he’s a decent public speaker. His policy positions might be reprehensible, and that’s putting it lightly – he drifts pretty close to eugenics in Hillbilly Elegy – but he’s not a fool by any means. I don’t think a VP debate would be at all one-sided; after all, tens of millions of people agree with him about the issues. He’s a dangerous person.
Why in July 2024, nine years after Trump first announced he was running for POTUS, would the NYT need to write bloody “shameless beat sweeteners” for any member of Team Trump.
As if the NYT ever failed to give Team Trump access to its pages. As if NYT hadn’t already provided so much irrationally favorable coverage Trump is still a viable candidate and his failsons aren’t yet treated like the unethical, immoral, and stupid gits they are.
You’d think NYT was doing the marketing copy and scripting for The Apprentice-Re-election Edition.
Don’t look now bc Maggie and Swan did a VERYYYYY long piece on how Trump will be an asshole to Kamala in which Maggie erased her own role in those attacks in 2016.
I saw it — Trump’s New Rival May Bring Out His Harshest Instincts — and couldn’t make myself open it. Welcome to the NYT’s reset launching attacks on Harris, which already include assigning Ken Vogel to cover Democrats’ donations, David Leonhardt on what’s wrong with the Dems, and both Ross Douthat and David French opining on what’s wrong with Dems’ support of Harris.
Not to forget Shane Goldmacher’s The Promise, and Risks, in Turning to Kamala Harris. He’s turning into the alt-Haberman; if Haberman sucks up to Trump, Goldmacher bashes the opposition.
Yes, the language in that headline was…forgiving. “Harsh” describes a mild rebuke, clothing that rubs you the wrong way, or an acrid smell. “Instincts” is no better. Neither describes Trump’s behavior as well as, say, brutal, vicious, vindictive, racist, or misogynist.
I’m shocked – shocked, I tell you.
In other news, the sun rose in the east this morning.
Right now on the electronic front page, this article is titled:
Donald Trump’s campaign against Kamala Harris may bring out his tendency for personal attacks against female rivals.
When you click on the link, it is still:
Trump’s New Rival May Bring Out His Harshest Instincts After years planning to face President Biden, Donald J. Trump and his team will be campaigning against Kamala Harris. He has attacked female rivals and critics in brutal and personal terms.
I haven’t noticed any changes on the bot.
There were some complaints in comments.
While I can’t afford to dwell in schadenfreude-landia for long, I thank you for reviving “stupid gits” before I depart.
One part of the reason is there’s huge institutional inertia in terms of staffing. Times execs decided literally years ago that they would break up the campaign coverage – reporters and editors – between Republicans and Democrats.
It didn’t have to be that way, of course. They could have decided to create teams focusing on issues, for example. They could have a Team Environment, Team Economy, and so on. But once they created a Team GOP, that team is going to do whatever it can to seek out GOP sources for stories about GOP personalities and churn out whatever GOP talking points emerge.
What’s made things worse in recent years is that Times execs have started funnelling more and more resources toward the GOP side. When Carolyn Ryan was the top political editor for the 2016 election, she put her thumb on the scale hard against the Clinton campaign, which she signalled by personally negotiating for the rights to run Peter Schweizer’s Clinton Cash nonsense. And it’s gotten even worse under AG Sulzberger’s leadership. Team Democrats still exist, but they’re constantly forced to play catchup.
The internal standards for getting assignments, for having stories run, and for getting them on the front page has been wrapped up in how deeply sourced a reporter is in the GOP world. Times execs tell themselves that this is not inherently biased, because theoretically this could mean that reporters write negative stories about the GOP. But in reality every reporter and editor knows that management will punish those who make GOP insiders unhappy even when it means good stories that drive readership.
And whenever negative news about Trump can’t be avoided, the pressure is on reporters and editors to give the GOP first crack at spinning it. In the narrowest sense the Times meets standards of objectivity, but of course in any meaningful sense Sulzberger, Kahn, and Ryan have created institutional conditions that make real reporting impossible.
Hold that thought. You’re going to want to repeat some of that in a thread in a near-term future post. :-)
I look forward to reading more. It was somewhat cathartic last night to watch a very somber Lawrence O’Donnell call them out.
Trump (his candidacy, his presidency, whether the actual past one or potential future one) = $$$ for the Times, the Post, CNN, and all other essentially corporate media.
Notice the sidelining of reporters who once covered the spread of disinformation and its leakage from the internet into the mainstream. Brian Stelter and his peers have lost their forums because they must convey the truth that the seepage has crept into their own media homes.
The soft normalization of Trump by the Times did indeed begin nearly a decade ago. Clinton Cash was part and parcel of the Times’ pursuit of Trump clicks and subscriptions, just as the Dump Biden Project (pursued alongside the insistent refusal to call out Trump and his campaign for their truly extreme acts and goals) has been part of a pursuit of the same farcical Trump “horserace.”
I feel much freer now that I cancelled my Times subscription. You should try it.
“I love you guys.”
– JD!
“Please clap.”
– Jeb!
And of course there’s a world of difference between Jeb’s pathetic “please clap” and Kamala’s “you can clap, hahaha!” (We have to figure out a way to represent the laugh in writing)
From the annals of failson political expertise:
“If it is what you say it is, I love it.”
Yes, and …“especially late in the summer”
From: Call and Response: Putin Demanded Greater Russia and Trump Agreed
https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/02/12/call-and-response-putin-is-demanding-greater-russia/
I was prepared to respond with just that ^^^ because it’s now late in the summer,
but then I read this from yesterday, and !!!:
World Leaders, With Outlook Uncertain, Praise Biden but Speak Carefully
Foreign leaders did not wade into the turmoil of U.S. politics. Many opted instead for statements of empathy that lauded the president’s record. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/21/world/europe/biden-election-world-leaders-reaction.html Sarah Maslin Nir, from Berlin
Published July 21, 2024 Updated July 23, 2024, 7:46 a.m. ET
‘Smart girls laughing’ is a chef’s kiss for this brilliant, concise piece on the dynamics of the fail-sons’ poor advice and how different the focus between Biden and Trump in The NY Times.
Marcy’s work reveals how obvious truths are passed over by prominent Fourth Estate institutions in exchange for access coverage and superfluous narratives.
“Gossip Press” is a wonderful description. I suggest an addition: The gossamer gossip press.
I usually go with “Beltway Heathers” to highlight the high school clique behavior. Always be on the lookout for who holds the scrunchie.
Am I being given a sales pitch for a bang up twelve-cylinder Beshear SUV, reasonably priced?
If Harris picks him, it is her choice, not mine. I’d prefer Jamie Raskin.
As to “not from here” I could not tell a hillbilly being one, from looking at one in a finely tailored expensive suit, since my pre-image is affording such an extravagant suit is not usually associated with hillbillies. Yale, Venture Capital Hillbillies, I say show me one, I’ll listen, but if bashing elites to MAGA crowds, and you are elite, handle that task well, as it is hard to pitch when you left San Francisco Venture Capitalist status and connections to be a Senator, and then say, “I share your pain.” While Ayn Randian.
I really like Raskin, but he’s had cancer for which he’s been treated within the last couple years, IIRC. His health would be as much a concern as it was for Biden.
ADDER: Reference https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/06/03/jamie-raskin-cancer-maryland-senate/
Yes. It’s also not clear that Raskin would bring many undecided voters along (if you know him, as Rayne does, you like him but remember him in Congress with a bandana head covering during cancer treatment, and if you don’t know him, he’s an older white guy from New York).
Raskin was born in D.C. and represents the fine people of Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.
Sigh. I stand corrected. But I’m not sure it makes a difference to say “an older guy from the east coast”.
He also is the Ranking Member on the House Oversight Committee, where he has been masterful at making Comer look incredibly foolish. If Dems can retake the House, he’d be in line to chair the committee; if they don’t, he’d still be in place to continue making Comer look incredibly foolish.
While there are clearly others who could do the job, I’d prefer to let Raskin offer his skills as a powerful figure in the House.
If Raskin were to give up his seat for another opportunity I don’t think making Comer look incredibly foolish would be a hard job to fill. Moskowirz is more than capable for example.
I have a golden retriever that can make Comer look incredibly foolish. That could free up Rep Raskin for higher level duties.
We paid a high price in Senate majority when Obama recruited highly capable senators to serve in his administration. Some were replaced by Republicans, so Obama only had 60 votes after Franken was seated, until Kennedy was too sick to continue.
We need to keep things like that in mind.
Jamie Raskin is amazing, but he is also Jewish (as am I). I just don’t think the US is ready – yet, perhaps – for someone Jewish — even if Harris’ husband is Jewish.
Cooper, Shapiro, Whitmer, Kelly, Walz, Pritzker. Five governors and a senator.
This is a major liability for them – Trump is old, fat and mentally deteriorating. This boy can’t be trusted to be one hamberder from the Presidency.
VP Harris should call Sulzberger of The NY Times and ask to sit with him for an interview. Maybe he’ll assign a Maggie Haberman-type to Harris, who will write endless puff pieces and provide carefully curated scoops.
You left out the snark tag.
I have no doubt that people approached Hunter because of his connection to Joe, and only a little doubt that Hunter was ok with that, but it bugs me that I don’t remember seeing anyone who hired Hunter ever saying whether he did good work, bad work, or no work.
Have I missed a mountain of reporting about that?
We’ve seen some admissions from Hunter that he did bad/no work in the throes of addiction, but like … that’s about the addiction, not the work.
Most of what he did was corporate board stuff, which I personally take a pretty dim view of in general but what little coverage I ever saw sure made him look at least as competent at that as the average.
Yeah, keeping that in mind is useful. Failson and Eric served in a lot of corporate capacities for entities that ended up in court, which I don’t think is true for Hunter Biden.
Excellent piece—well said!
The Trump criminal syndicate needs Peter Theil’s money, that’s why J.D. Vance was selected as Trump’s VP.
And Peter Thiel always gets something or many things in return for providing money. That’s his M.O.
This is exactly the reason Vance was selected. No one else came with the connections to the crypto-bros that Vance has. That would have been a lot of money to leave on the table.
I thought Doug Burgum had his own money. That was supposed to be one of his attractions as a VP pick. I’ll admit I wrongly expected Trump to pick Burgum; my thinking was that Trump’s ego would not allow him to run with someone younger and hotter, and Burgum would offer the “steady hand” persona as well as some cash.
It seems like a sign of Trump’s deterioration that he would allow DJTJ and Eric (along with Elon) override his instincts. That never would have happened in 2016. And with that Diet Mountain Dew clip going the rounds everywhere, I bet he’s regretting it big time now.
Given that Trump has little or no loyalty to anyone except Trump, I’m wondering how long before Trump decides Vance was a mistake and tried to punt him and find a better(*) running mate.
The stubbornly loyal person in this election was Biden. If Trump is already looking at low poll numbers and lower donations for Vance, does he try to replace him, or leave him in place as a scapegoat for the inevitable defeat?
(*) If Trump does replace Vance, who would he pick? Don Jr. must have even more reprehensible friends to choose from …
Good question!
Trump would need Peter Thiel’s approval to replace Vance.
…and David Sacks, whom Vance convinced to host a Trump fundraiser in SF.
“Trump attended a fundraiser last month at venture capitalist David Sacks’ Pacific Heights mansion that raised $12 million and was the former president’s first visit to San Francisco in at least a decade”
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2024-07-18/why-some-silicon-valley-investors-are-backing-the-trump-vance-campaign
Ballot access deadlines are at or shortly after the beginning of August. After that, Trump can’t replace Vance without a serious mess in what appears on the ballot in the VP slot.
More importantly, unless there’s some kind of very serious new issue with Vance, Trump would have to admit error in choosing Vance to replace him. And Trump never, ever admits error.
Not even in announcing where a hurricane is headed.
As if Trump gives a rat’s ass about making a terrible mess.
And Trump would make it Vance’s fault in some way —- some failure to be loyal which showed that Vance was weak, and only pretended to be strong.
And if Trump does stick with JD, coasts to victory, and has a fatal hamberder event, will prez JD choose Don Jr as his veep? I can think of worse ideas.
Oh, actually I can’t.
You need to up your imagination. How does VP Kimberly Guilfoyle strike you?
Hmmm…would make for quite a VP debate if Kamala chooses Gavin!
Reply to Matt___B 11:56am:
Kamala can’t choose Gavin since the president and VP have to be from different states. Unless one of them changes their official state of residence, I suppose.
*copious dry heaves*
The constitutional prohibition on the president and vp being from the same state isn’t a general one. The consequence is limited to not counting the votes of electors from that state.
That could be decisive if the relevant state were, say, California or Florida. But the consequence can be avoided simply by having one candidate overtly change their residence before the electoral college votes are cast for that state, and it would only be necessary for those on the winning ticket.
Raynesays: @ July 23, 2024 at 12:29 pm
LOL!!!
Boatgeek @ 12:03
Left out the snark tag! I was just further elaborating on Peterr’s fantasy…
Peter @ 11:41
Oohhh — that is creative thinking!
I don’t think so. Trump is running to stay out of prison. He’s desperate to win.
“If Trump does replace Vance, who would he pick?”
Who better than someone who has appeal to independent and cross-party voters, but a proven pro-business outlook, ruggedly handsome and apparently available willing and able to answer his nation’s call ——
Step Forward
—- Joe Manchin /.s
He’s a poor team player.
Shortly after being picked for VP, Vance said something to the effect that “he picked me, it’s official, and he can’t take it back now” (couldn’t find a link, sorry). Hearing that, my first thought–other than that that was a really stupid thing to say out loud–was, you sure don’t know TFG very well, do you? He’ll get rid of you just for saying he can’t! I don’t expect Vance to be on the ticket for long.
TRUMP on VANCE:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/23/us/harris-trump-news-election-biden/293aae5d-e08c-5651-bcea-67b9b000fa07 [21 minutes ago]
“He’s doing really well, he’s really caught on.”
Which seems to me like a preamble to the unspoken
“But, there’s a way to go yet”
Like the Summer Covid? It’s getting around.
The only thing Donald Trump has in common with Jethro Gibbs is that he never apologies: it’s a sign of weakness. Trump would also say that about Vance, while raising the proverbial dagger to cut him from the ticket.
I’m with the good Earl on this one. Trump saying anything else would be admitting error, and I think that would make his head explode.
The NBC article is titled “The inside story of how Trump chose JD Vance as his running mate”.
How are they getting inside sources?
In the wake of the assassination attempt, the Trump Campaign issued a memo with a “total communication lockdown” threatening termination.
https://archive.is/FkBWy
https://archive.is/fUIcg
Which was still just a couple of days after Trump meeting Orban, and before Vance was announced. Which Orban has expressed approval for.
https://archive.is/yf2ho
https://archive.is/LCG1F
And yet he was on the phone with RFK Jr on all those days.
If there is a firewall to prevent information from the campaign from getting out.
And there is information coming out about Vance’s selection, then that is information approved for release from the top of the campaign.
Which makes me wonder what information about Vance’s selection is this type of reporting leaving out. Whatever further information there is about Vance’s selection must be something that the Trump campaign really, really wants to keep behind that firewall.
A distraction of sorts.
I saw excerpts of Vance’s speech at his old high school and it was pathetic. He sounded like a snarky 8th grader. I’m surprised he didn’t tell fart jokes. This guy is a loser and I’m guessing Trump is already regretting this very poor VP choice! Go Kamala!
J.D. Vance aka James David Vance né James David Hamel né James Donald Bowman.
Is this his final name or will he change it to Trump?
You’ve made me realize for the first time that they share a pair of initials (am I the last to notice?). Trying to imagine making a logo out of DJ and JD Trump.
DJ and JD…Narcissus would approve.
If Vance reverted to using his original forenames
DJ JD would render Donald-JohnJohn-Donald
Which even Narcissus would find creepy
Yes! DJ saw his reflection, JD, and fell in love.
Maybe change one of them to “Drumpf”? That opens up some possibilities.
No, it doesn’t.
No, it doesn’t.
Or remember Trump aka John Miller and John Barron. More possibilities.
My theory is that Vance was chosen because it’s close enough to Pence for TFG to remember!
Yeah, but with Pence he just had the P. Now, with Vance he has the V.
Put ‘em together, and whataya got? VP. So, he’s still only got half of what it takes.
Reply to Savage Librarian
July 23, 2024 at 4:19 pm
Indeed!
Colbert is calling him Shady Vance. That’ll work.
Is the selection of Vance a sign that there are no normal people left in the Trump organization? I think of Has every normal person quit or been fired?
Everything now is based on the grinding shortage of cash? I wonder.
The person with the final say is not “normal people”. There are normal people tasked with following the strategic instructions of the person with the final say, but that hasn’t worked so well in the past. No, not 2016. Think 1944-45.
Were there ever normal people in Trump’s campaign? Or his business?
Certainly nobody normal enough to use spellchecker, if White House press releases during the Trump administration are any indication.
I also wonder if recent developments at the Sp Ct and in the Presidential campaign have left President Biden and the intelligence community free to find and block foreign origin influence campaigns and arrest the perpetrators,
Bette Midler channeling her inner Savage Librarian
https://youtu.be/iR6tNriwko4?si=s_4sOfemdZXDOPzt
(Rayne is this proper url format?)
LOL! Thanks for sharing!
Yes, LOL, great teamwork, Bette! Sometime in the 70s, I went to see her at
Blossom Music Center (between Akron and Cleveland.)
That was great! And in a similar vein:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W79jR6ak8VY
Schumer and Jeffries have endorsed HARRIS [posted eleven minutes ago]:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/23/us/harris-trump-news-election-biden/4b6843af-7bf0-5d19-bcea-371311797736
Thanks.
Thanks, harpie.
I sure would like to know the calculus behind the 24-48 hour lag to endorse.
Verdad.
I’ve seen speculation that leadership did not want it to appear as a “coronation,” a word some assholes in the press still used despite the spontaneous expressions of support by Dem voters.
The concern trolling about avoiding a coronation ignores the overt coronation of Donald Trump. It ignores the intense, off-camera lobbying and networking that often dictates the results that the public theater of a convention typically only acknowledges. It ignores the toing and froing with billionaire donors, who want to dictate results or take their money elsewhere. Thankfully, Democrats have a few of those that are more flexible.
The next question is the VP pick. Harris will be sixty when she wins in November. The usual “balance” requirement suggest her VP pick is likely to be a 40-50-year-old white male, from the South or East, There are several to choose from. Schiff and Newsom will have to wait another day. Raskin is two years older, and I don’t think he wants it.
There’s a way to do that. This wasn’t it.
Leaders who want to build real consensus speak last, not first. I’ve probably seen this a dozen times in the various management training/refresher classes I’ve taken over the years.
Transparency is missing. If these leaders were doing a whip on votes they should have said so. Lead by example — not by default or by dragging.
They could even have gone one-two but they didn’t.
Reply to Rayne @ 2:21 PM
You’ve missed the (admittedly terse) point. If you’re whipping votes, you’re speaking first, not last. If you’re “leading by example,” you’re setting the example by speaking first, not last. In a situation where you need real consensus – not manufactured “do what I say or else” or “follow the leader” consensus – those are both mistakes. You want people to make up their own minds, admittedly guided by you, but not led or directed by you. Then they own, and support, the decision much more strongly than if their minds are made up for them.
Ithaqua0says: @ July 23, 2024 at 6:08 pm
My impression is nobody needed much whipping. Everybody was ready for this. From what I hear, people are burning up the phones volunteering to do whatever is needed, wherever its needed.
Saw a great interview with Howard Dean, saying as much in his own words.
This is a really organic thing. Sweet.
Probably keeps the rolling praises in the news longer.
Makes it look like people are thinking about it and not just mindlessly following.
Perhaps, since the debate we’ve had nonstop re-runs of Old Man Biden, that it’s OK w/the Dems to stretch it out and control the news cycles/narrative as much as possible.
[Welcome to emptywheel. Please choose and use a unique username with a minimum of 8 letters. We have adopted this minimum standard to support community security. Because your username is too short it will be temporarily changed to match the date/time of your first known comment until you have a new compliant username. /~Rayne]
This isn’t business as usual. We don’t need two men taking their sweet time to appear together at the same time to pronounce it’s all good.
There were better ways to handle this which also addressed those demanding more transparency while not making it look like a couple men in positions of power weren’t fully on board and in consensus with the first Black Asian American woman POTUS candidate bearing the standard of their party as nominee.
As for controlling the news cycle/narrative: beyond the record volume contributed inside 48 hours, how much more small donor money would it take for you to believe the cycle was owned? Again, this isn’t business as usual. It shouldn’t be handled as such.
What about the Obamas’ much longer lag to make their own, albeit made-for-TV endorsement?
The video is nice, but I’m still wondering what exactly they were waiting for. Thinking back to Obama-era gossip about Michelle chafing at Barack’s supposed crush on Harris…Ah, those innocent days when the DC press corps could truly fulfill its purpose of acting like adult life is high school writ authoritatively large with stupid headlines.
I just read elsewhere on social media that the Obamas wanted to wait until after Biden gave his address.
To me this sounds like an excuse. This is one of those times when Obama’s conservative approach — which dogged him about so many important issues as president, like his position on LGBTQ+ rights — comes off not as restraint for politesse but skepticism.
I watched the announcement. I’ve never seen Schumer Happier. He listened to a few rediculous “got’cha” questons from media present afterwards, then just shook his head in astonishment and he/Jeffries left.
Also, this:
https://www.newsweek.com/nikki-haley-voters-pac-announces-support-kamala-harris-1928198
Rayne,
Like Obama, I think they wanted to let the “open selection process” go forward before endorsing. Now that she has all the votes she needs for the nomination they can endorse.
What has Obama said so far? The lack of openness and lag isn’t helping appearance.
Yes, whatever the reality, the delay conveys reluctance rather than leadership. It suggests disagreement, a lack of enthusiasm or sufficient networking, or a missing, necessary quid pro quo.
That stuffs needs to stay behind the woodshed. Voter enthusiasm requires overt, unquestioning support. A growing snowball effect is nice, but not from the top players.
The optics for a first Black Asian American woman POTUS candidate require something different than status quo.
Men in the Democratic Party need to catch a clue about this, stat.
Biden/Harris outmaneuvered them and forced them to go with Harris. I think AOC was right, they wanted to toss the whole ticket away and start over, which would have been an absolute disaster. They forgot one thing, their ticket has a base, and we are pissed.
I think Shadowalker is right.
He has a Netflix deal.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Obama and Biden seem to have some serious disagreements. It seems as if Obama never wanted Biden to run, because of his age. And it seems to me they had serious disagreements about Kamala Harris. As noted, Biden seems to have out maneuvered Obama. Hopefully time will prove Joe is and was correct.
Fundamentally, Biden is a successful one term President. Harris is not handed the challenge of her party retaining the Presidency for three successive terms.
VP Harris has now repeated this from her first statement after Joe endorsed her:
“On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country. His remarkable legacy of accomplishment is unmatched in modern American history, surpassing the legacy of many Presidents who have served two terms in office,”
~Kamala Harris
I could be wrong, but I thought I heard a few ‘mm-hmm’ s and some chuckles from the adoring crowd in Milwaukee.
I’m guessing the Obama bros weren’t there to hear it.
My nose tells me there’s something going on.
“Mr. Trump had frequently told me and others that his son . . . had the worst judgment of anyone in the world.”
That quote seems applicable to at least the last four generations of Trumps.
“Watchoo gonna Dew when they come for you?”
Dissolve into a jelly-like substance?:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mountain-ewww/
I can count on one hand the number of pop cans I have opened in the last 20 years – carbonated and HFCS infused products are garbage for the most part.
Yikes! Same here: I’m more hops than pop. Eschew the Dew.
( I need a moisture barrier for my computer screen. )
Rue the Dew spew…
punaisesays: @ July 24, 2024 at 6:11 pm
:)
“Gossip press”
It’s almost all gossip press. Watching MSNBC last night it was almost a full hour of gossip, personality points, and horses’ asses race commentary for Rachel Maddow’s panel. Only at the very end of the hour did Cory Booker come on and took the opportunity to list a series of issues that he believes make Kamala Harris and the Democratic ticket the choice over Trmp. Of course, there was no substantive discussion of those issues. Just a listing of them.
These days I tend to believe that the gossip press is there to distract us from the realities of the world we are living in – for instance, the wars we don’t really talk about (Israel, Ukraine) and the wars we don’t talk about at all (Congo, Sudan, Myanmar….). My issue is climate and I have not seen it mentioned on the news that the acceleration in atmospheric CO2 is taking off, that the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica is melting at an unprecedented rate as are the glaciers in Greenland, that the Amazon rainforest is near or at its tipping point, that the oceans are sequestering CO2 at lower levels than they used to and that, preliminarily, it seems the soil is suffering the same lowering of capacity.
We already feel this in food prices and immigration pressures around the world but let’s spend another few days discussing a Presidential candidate’s malapropisms. That’s what’s important.
Donald Trump is the Zaphod Beeblebrox candidate. Zaphod in the book “Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy,” was the president of the galaxy. Zaphod’s job was not to wield power, but to distract you from his wielding of power. It helps when the media is complicit.
His job was to distract you from others who wielded power. But have another Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster.
Exactly. I have had this conversation with several Donvict supporters – the point they cannot grasp is that ‘owning the libs’ is not the flex they think it is. They do not quite realize they will be thrown under the bus most rikci-tick as soon as the election is over.
I am voting agenda – not person. And the rapethuglican/conservative agenda makes Rayne’s copious dry heaves pale in comparision to how I get when I realize that fully a third of voters in this nation actually want this orange turd in a position he can abuse.
Person wise Kamala is a former prosecutor – that gives me pause, however she seems to have the Democratic machine behind her so, okay. I can get over that aspect of her character.
I do not see her at the helm of a vindictive, ego-driven power trip.
The Felon Guy? Fuck him and the machine behind him.
EW – amazing site and I count myself lucky to be able to opine here. Thank you.
Yeah, and Trump would definitely the Heart of Gold too. You know, to replace his own that’s three sizes too small.
He must have used the infinite improbability drive to win in 2016.
All the replies miss my point. It ain’t just the pols. It’s the media itself, corporate as it is. Even without a pol trying distraction techniques to cover their abuse of power, the (corporate) media will still rev up their own distraction machines in order to avoid Al Gore’s (and many other’s) “inconvenient truths” staring us all in the face.
Corporate media, and almost all media is corporate, is frozen in “business as usual,” BAU. Anything that recognizes BAU is, for way too many and too much, destruction and death.
Why would you assume commenters miss your point, simply because they fail to focus their comments on it?
Mamala is brat.
I would just like to say kudos to Ryan @ryanlong03. Nice work! I think you might help to save the world.
“why did I stay up till 3am making a von dutch brat coconut tree edit featuring kamala harris and why can’t I stop watching it on repeat”
In direct opposition to Donald Trump’s stealing of artists’ songs to use on his campaign, Beyonce explicitly gives Harris permission to use her song, Freedom.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/jul/23/beyonce-kamala-harris-campaign-song
Donald Trump Jr. is headlining a fundraiser with Candace Owens. [In Nashville on 7/26]
Here are some of the extremist things she’s said since leaving the Daily Wire. https://www.mediamatters.org/candace-owens/donald-trump-jr-headlining-fundraiser-candace-owens-here-are-some-extremist-things Media Matters 07/23/24 2:05 PM EDT
Also in Nashville:
Nashville struggles to respond as neo-Nazi groups turn focus on to city Upsurge in activity from white supremacists and swastika-toting extremists follows rash of anti-LGBTQ+ state laws https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/23/nashville-neo-nazi-white-supremacists
Ed Pilkington Tue 23 Jul 2024 10.59 EDT
Go to this link to see the poster shown in that Media Matters article:
https://x.com/JonahDispatch/status/1815721868952793403
8:13 AM · Jul 23, 2024
[Bitcoin 2024 – Nashville]
This is from the Guardian article re Nashville:
Local NBC affiliate reporter Phil Williams has long done yeoman’s work in Nashville posing hard questions to tough customers. He has been covering this situation tirelessly–and fearlessly.
Support your local media! They are often the last line standing for truth. And there’s nothing in it for them to suck up.
Michelle Goldberg writes about JUNIOR DON’s campaign event in Nashville, here:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/22/opinion/thepoint/candace-owens-trump-fundrasier [58 minutes ago]
The Antisemite Coming to the Trump Fund-Raiser
We don’t know anything about Hitler? Anyone with a Netflix password can search ‘Hitler’ and find pages of docuseries and documentaries on Hitler. If you don’t have a Netflix password, the History channel runs something on Hitler almost everyday. You don’t even have to get out of bed to know a lot about Hitler. So come girl, get a nice cuppa, curl up with your iPad and get your Hitler on!
There’s also the passive energy old-fashioned way to get to know Mr Hitler –
Karl Dietrich Bracher “The German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialism”.
Alan Bullock “Hitler: A Study in Tyranny”1952.
William Shirer’s classic “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich”.
That is why decades ago my spouse started calling it “The Hitler Channel” and she wsn’t wrong.
Anyone with a library card or Internet access can do the same. Hitler is among the easiest historical figures to learn something about.
Btw, Alan Bullock was a typical, iconoclastic Oxbridge don. His biography of Hitler slips in several controversial one-liners. I believe he was the historian who regarded Hitler as a typical German, which ruffled a few of Konrad Adenauer’s feathers, starting with that he was Austrian.
On reflection, I think it was A.J.P. Taylor who described Hitler as no more and no less than the average German.
Taylor, Bullock, and Hugh Trevor-Roper comprised a triumvirate of Oxford history dons, who dominated modern history during the post-Second World War generation.
Interesting reading I have going now.
Victor Klemperer’s “Language of the Third Reich” –how nazi use of language created the desired culture. Klemperer’s diary “I Will Bear Witness,” (2 volumes) is extraordinary.
[^^^ There’s a comment in the pokey here]
[This one, too. Sorry Rayne…don’t know what I’m doing wrong here. :-( []
This was reposted by Sheralyn Ifill [sorry, I don’t know sp]
https://bsky.app/profile/oldsquida.bsky.social/post/3kxpxzyd6dh2c
Jul 20, 2024 at 11:31 AM
Links to:
Confronting the hate, Phil Williams tells neo-Nazis:
‘When I look at you guys, I do not think master race.’
Posted: 1:54 PM, Jul 19, 2024 Updated: 1:43 PM, Jul 23, 2024
What’s been going on in Nashville is shameful and heartbreaking. Glad to see the Music City’s answer to Kent Brockman taking a different tack and not welcoming the alien overlords.
Ps sorry for the Username being off, I didn’t catch the typo.
I love Phil Williams for saying that. I’ve filed it in my memory banks: ‘When I look at you guys, I do not think master race.’
harpie, I just cited Phil Williams above, not having read down to your comment here. As usual, you got here before me! Maybe two voice singing his praises will help?
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/26/us/harris-trump-biden-election/4a3de598-3a6a-5b86-9201-1cd8d52a558e
Chris Cameron July 26, 2024, 4:29 p.m. ET
Edward SNOWDEN is here virtually:
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/26/us/harris-trump-biden-election#6f460398-3490-5edb-9b4a-dac16e493674 Chris Cameron July 26, 2024, 5:21 p.m. ET
And JUNIOR RFK:
Radly Balko’s wife was at the “the Bitcoin freakshow”:
https://bsky.app/profile/radleybalko.bsky.social/post/3ky7u7ym3d32d
Jul 26, 2024 at 7:05 PM
TRUMP arrives [not sure if he’s there or virtual]
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/27/us/harris-trump-biden-election/c0b8fb63-c815-57b1-b341-bcefc0218dfe July 27, 2024, 2:46 p.m. ET
Whereas Vance is essentially a crypto currency lobbyist.
Per his latest disclosures in 2022, he had $100,000-250,000 in BTC, stored on the Coinbase exchange.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/27/us/harris-trump-biden-election/d3b6db34-b61a-5bfc-b905-1ea187a3926b July 27, 2024, 4:16 p.m. ET
OT: Bob Menendez didn’t make the MAGA cut of 34 felony convictions and so is resigning.
Olivia Beavers: “GOP Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) just introduced articles of impeachment against VP Kamala Harris for high crimes and misdemeanors”
https://x.com/Olivia_Beavers/status/1815839150949687533 (includes a screenshot of the articles of impeachment)
Not only are theses articles conceptually fallacious and false, but their drafting reads like the writing of an idiot.
Andy Ogles, whose educational career was not blessed with success, but nevertheless included untrue claims by him as late as 2023 to have been awarded a degree for which he never enrolled or studied, is the sort of idiot who imagined he could pull off sov-cit like bullshit.
Republicans tend to use their most dispensable congresscritters to spearhead false claims like this. Andy Ogles barely graduated with a George W. Bush gentleman’s “C” in “liberal studies” (about the same as a general education certificate). He attended at least three, publicly-supported local colleges in Tennessee to get it.
Politicians or their staff usually vet their history before, during, and after entering the game. But the 53-year-old Ogles was 35 before he finally bothered to look up what college issued him a degree. He’s still fuzzy about what he studied. He’s now serving his first term in the House.
He wouldn’t know what a “high crime and misdemeanor” if he shook hands with Donald Trump, which makes him the perfect foil to file impeachment proceedings against the President of the Senate.
Fascists
To the tune of Fashion by David Bowie with Robert Fripp (guitar)
https://youtu.be/F-z6u5hFgPk?si=kwIWANo4CW_oHmB7
There’s a brand new scam
And we all know its name
That bastards with billions
Are pushing again
They rile up the maggots
Full of tension and fear
They do it in Russia
But WE WON’T DO IT HERE!
Fascists, turn to the right
Fascists, more to the right
Ooh fascists
They are the goon squad and they’re owning your town
Deep-creep, shit-heap
Listen to me, don’t listen too close
Talk to me, you won’t stay free
Dance with me, then bend the knee
No
Bleak-reek
There’s a brand new talk
But it’s not very clear,
ooh bop
That people with power
Are talking this year,
ooh bop, fascists
It’s loud and it’s ruthless
But we’ve heard it before,
ooh bop
You shout it while goose stepping
On the killing floor,
ooh bop, fascists
Fascists, turn to the right
Fascists, more to the right
They are the goon squad and they’re owning your brain
Deep-Creep
Listen to me, don’t listen too close
Talk to me, you won’t stay free
Dance with me, then bend the knee
NO!
LOL! Stop, you’re killing me here.
I can’t resist, lemme give this a go.
Let’s Dance by David Bowie
Intro:
Ah ah ah ah
I’m Vance
I’m Vance
Verse:
I’m Vance Put on my red hat and lick the shoes
I’m Vance To the throng I’m waving, how they love me so
Let’s pray While orange lights up his face
Let’s pray Pray to our god for a single race
Chorus:
If you say run, I’ll run with you
And if you say jump, how high?
Because my love for you has broken the country in two
If you should fall off of the stairs, I’ll get all the power
HAHAHA OMG
beep-beep!
nice work.
Don’t let me hear you say life’s taking you nowhere (angel)
Run for the shadows in beholden years
So very good! I needed the laugh for non-politic reasons.
And overexposure to originals had me singing your words spot on!
punaise, that is my favorite song. Not my favorite Bowie song. My favorite all time by anyone song.
If anyone’s in the back of a dream car twenty feet long, it’s Trump.
What? No mention whatsoever of Jr. for VP? And here I thought they were all on board with this “return to feudalism” schtick, otherwise known as “fascism-curious”? They were crowing about Ivanka in 2016 like she was some kind of princess, maybe the first born son doesn’t shine so bright after all?
Of course he doesn’t, who the hell am I kidding?
If now-resigned USSS director, Kim Cheatle, had been working for Donald Trump’s administration, she would still be in office, would deny an assassination attempt took place, much less on her watch, and that it was either a false flag op to embarrass Trump, “Democrat” propaganda, or both. Trump would then promote her to head the DHS, on an acting basis, because it was only an attempt.
Because Cheatle was hired by and works for Joe Biden, she resigned. Regardless of where the errors lay or who committed them, as captain of the ship, she did the right thing, presumably after making sure deputies and others were ready and able to hold the reins until Biden names a replacement. That’s the difference between Biden and Trump, and it’s not a small one.
I am not sure that the reporting on the actions of Cheatle since the assassination attempt bears such a benign interpretation of her attitude towards resignation .
Didn’t she repeatedly resist calls for her resignation, and insist she would stay on, even in the face of a joint letter calling for her resignation from Raskin and Comer?
Had she adopted the course that you’re suggesting, wouldn’t the way to have achieved that would have been to tender her resignation to the President and offer to remain in post until proper handover to a successor took place?
What she may have wanted, and what she chose to do, as with Biden, are not the same thing.
Lawrence O’Donnell had an extended segment on the long history of the USSS allowing a president to be shot, and the persistent lack of consequences for the USSS director. Cheatle has been the rare exception, in that she faced consequences for allowing an attack during her tenure.
They have a long history of being the enforcement arm of the Treasury. They got the protection job because they were around. And they’re a small agency – 6500 people, including all the administrative types. They really can’t provide that much protection.
I think it’s now about 8300, but that’s not many for its remit. If the GOP wants it to start doing a better job, it should support increased funding and resources – and a reorganization of the outsized DHS. They should probably stop trying to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, too, and let him get on with the job.
“But Biden had more covid deaths” is one of their favorite red herrings.
Not masking or getting vaxxed and dying to “spite” Biden. They sure showed Brandon (rolls eyes).
Demonstrating that they fail at statistics, too: they act like one year of Donnie is the same as three years of Biden, instead of death rate comparisons, or deaths per year.
If this happened under Trump then KellyAnne Conway would be on Fox bragging that “Trump is in such great shape that he was able to deflect the bullet with his ear. The incredible marksmanship and professionalism of Trump’s Secret Service neutralized the gunman before he could cause Trump serious harm.”
I urge everyone to please watch Kamala’s speech from Milwaukee today. At a minimum it will make you feel good. At a maximum, it’s Game Over for the Convicted Felon.
Feeling hopeful for the first time in a while!
Link to CNN’s coverage on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHKaTy9hD-E
Indeed I thought it was very very good indeed.
Moreover, the Bulwark never-Trumper Jonathan V Last has a very positive response to it in an interesting analysis, which provides a perspective of how this might land with swing voters
https://youtu.be/saF-9txzYpI
Worth a watch too
TRUMP’s lawyer to the FEC [by Maggie, seven minutes ago]
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/23/us/harris-trump-news-election-biden#trump-campaign-files-complaint-over-transfer-of-biden-funds-to-harris
Will the FEC even act fast enough for this to matter? I hope VP Kamala takes the money and deals with the bad faith legal arguments as president.
It’s a joint committee, Biden released his part of the joint control to Harris, since the funds were for both candidates.
The Trump-nominated former Cruz staffer chairman of the FEC disagrees with that interpretation, but almost certainly will be outvoted even by the other two R-nominated members. Which means we can expect him to try to stall out that ineviable vote so “Crooked Kamala” can be a recurring theme up until the election.
Given age, health, accident, fate, and the normal ins and outs of political life, joint accounts are typically available to either or both beneficiaries, not to both acting together, which would normally be unworkable. A pair of politicians on a ticket, for example, often travel, hold meetings and gatherings, and so on, separately, but for similar purposes.
If they throw cogs, $91.5 million will be raised in other ways.
I imagine, from my non-profit work experience with a foundation merge, all donors may be contacted to fill out a redistribution form, to move funds.
If Biden and Harris were joint beneficiaries, and Biden concedes his interest to Harris, there’s no argument that Harris isn’t entitled to use the money for the same purposes that either or both could have used it when it was still a joint account.
The legal commentariat doesn’t give the Trump claims much chance. Like most of Trump’s legal arguments, these are rubbish, designed to dominate the news cycle. They are meant to stir the base, and smear opponents, not to prove impropriety or wrongdoing.
Didn’t the legal commentariat also doubt Trump could get a SCOTUS majority to sign onto his immunity arguments? Precedent and the letter of the law are on their way out the window.
She has brought in over $100 million in a 48 hour period, the mega donors have returned with another $150 million. Meanwhile, Elmo clarified that he wasn’t giving Trump $45 million a month, but instead setup a superpac that would be getting the cash, and to spread it around he mentioned a few others joining him. Tesla just had a 45% profit decline the second quarter, despite a price cut and lower interest loans to boost sales.
OT: the New York Times published an opinion piece by Hillary Clinton today, praising Biden for his hard choice to step aside and calling Democrats to action to help Harris win.
One nice thing about Kamala Harris’s campaign so far is that she isn’t afraid to go for some of that old time religion. Decidedly not fundamentalist state Christianism, but hard, direct, smart, funny, loud electioneering that accurately portrays her opponent and his party for what they are. There’s so much information on them to draw from that the caricatures draw themselves. More of that from Democrats, please.
I agree. I’m LOVING that!
And I’m quite sure there are very many more like us out here!
great read emptywheel. I came to catch up and to ask about the campaign funds that trumpers are questioning if they can be transfered. I’m so pleased this has been brought up. I’ve been ‘giddy like Schumer’ since she announced. VP Harris was asked about her laugh and Kamala stated she knows it grates on some folks. She explained growing up w/women who laughed heartily, from deep down and loudly. I fell in love w/her all over again. I’m also so proud of president Biden. OT/President Biden has planned to address the Nation from the Oval office at the same exact time Bibi (war criminal) Netanyahu will be addressing congress. I delighted in my snickering, he he he. Onward and upward!
Felon vs. Prosecutor
It’s not something he cares to dwell on
or wants to waste the personnel on
He thinks he still can work a spell on
the man who gave him $50 million
Time for Donald to put some gel on
for a Zoom call with Tim Mellon
Will he put his hard sell on
Histrionic, 34 count felon
News is popping for each commuter
They wonder if Trump needs a tutor
We know he probably will be cruder
But face to face debate will suit her
Felon vs. Prosecutor
Trump thinks Harris is an intruder
But he won’t be able to dispute her
And in the end we will salute her
could you please tell me why my comment was removed
thank you
[Moderator’s note: there’s no comment authored by you in the Trash or Pending bin — no comment appears to have been removed. Try again and avoid cluttering comments with complaints. /~Rayne]
Kamala Harris is TFG’s worst nightmare.
A worse nightmare than a jail cell?
I think so. Heroes and villains go to jail. But being beaten in the EC and the popular vote by a woman of color – a double first for the country – has to be the guy from Queens worst nightmare. It makes him a Failure and a Weakling. He’ll dream of daddy getting the paddle, or worse.
After I read about the “DEI” comments on Harris, this headline in The Guardian caught my eye: “Violence against women a ‘national emergency’ in England and Wales, police say”
“Two million women are estimated to be victims of violence perpetrated by men each year in an epidemic so serious it amounts to a “national emergency”, police chiefs have warned.
“Crimes including stalking, harassment, sexual assault and domestic violence affect one in 12 women in England and Wales, with the number of recorded offences growing by 37% in the past five years and the perpetrators getting younger.
“Police chiefs also warned of young men being “radicalised” online by influencers such as Andrew Tate. They demanded technology companies act more quickly to take down extreme material
The story sure hits home here in the US, not only with violence (don’t know the statistics but it’s got to be a lot) but also with rhetoric and hatred. Meghan Markle. Kamala Harris. Fani Willis. And how can you stop it when you have numerous high elected Republican officials spouting it? Teach your children well, I guess.
The Guardian piece is here
https://amp.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/23/violence-against-women-national-emergency-england-wales-police
The cultural question of political leadership you point to is important along with education. One important contributor to both mentioned in the piece is
“Harriet Wistrich of the Centre for Women’s Justice said: “The [NPCC] report makes little mention of the issue of police perpetrators of VAWG, which – following the recent exposure of the scale and nature of this issue – has massively dented trust in the police from victims.
“It also does not tackle head-on the issue of criminalisation of survivors of violence which, aside from being an affront to justice, is a huge waste of criminal justice resources.”
Educating the criminal justice system is an essential component to educating wider society about the scope and extent of the problem and what needs to be fixed
Here is link to CWJ resource page re criminalisation of survivors of violence. I recommend the 30 min film
https://www.centreforwomensjustice.org.uk/stop-criminalising-survivors
I believe these issues, though discussed in the British context, have wider resonance.
Two unsurprising developments suggest the decline of the MAGA movement. Former UK prime minister, Liz Truss, attempts to deflate the Harris movement by claiming Harris is not among the ‘brilliant American women in politics.’ LMFAO.
Truss is trying to reinvent herself – she was tossed out of office for gross incompetence after less than six weeks – as a US-based MAGA spokesperson. Good luck with that. Her envy and projection are palpable.
Of more domestic interest, Elon Musk has apparently changed his mind – after a week – and decided NOT to give Donald Trump $45 million a month after all. His promises are worth no more than one from Donald Trump, so only Trump would have started spending the money before he got it. Let’s hope other Republican donors smell chum in the water.
https://www.rawstory.com/liz-truss/
https://www.rawstory.com/elon-musk-2668800627/
Harris has outlasted whole seasons of lettuce in every office she’s held. Truss should remember that…
LOL!
She’s in the US to forget, and to find work.
There seems to be some grumbling on the right that the dems should have done a snap primary to select Harris for her new position at the top of the ticket. Since the states administer all elections involving public office (including primaries), if the dems tried doing this, it would be unconstitutional as well as violate state election laws, and it would be well within the state’s purview to reject any result of this primary, because it was never certified by the state(s).
The norm for candidates withdrawing before a convention is to release delegates. Biden did that. Sure, Republicans want a food fight. Bless ’em.
Dems will not tell Republicans what to do. It’s a pattern. Republicans want to tell Dem women how to handle their physician-patient affairs. Dem women don’t interfere into such things for GOP females. Dems think GOP females should have a choice available, which is a rational and neighborly attitude.
Moreover, Republicans are running an old mean demented fool. Dems are pointing that out, but not saying the Reupblicans should do otherwise.
Oh, my, who thinks the GOP will demand anything, no matter how absurd, that doesn’t work in their favor and against Democrats. LOL.
I notice that you have both English UK (“Judgement” in the blog title) and English US (“judgment” throughout the text).
Perhaps this is what happens to Americans who live in Ireland. :-)
Yes. The exact assumption under which I was operating when I posted. Maybe I should have made that clear. No grammar Goody Two-Shoes intended.
Some commentators are so judgemental.
If you’re taking advice from Failson, stop digging, you’re at rock bottom.
The buyer’s remorse over Vance is delicious. The icing on the cake is that he loves the spotlight and puts his foot in his mouth repeatedly which will make Pops trump jealous.
Dream scenario is that trump fires JD and picks Lara, why not? She knows how to please him.
That’s not an image that I want to have in my dreams…
TRUMP is a Whiny-Ass-Cry-BABY!
Trump demands equal airtime from TV networks in light of Biden’s planned address. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/07/24/us/harris-trump-biden-election#trump-equal-airtime-biden-speech Michael Gold and Jim Rutenberg July 23, 2024, 10:45 p.m. ET
NYT, cont’d:
Trump camp’s GC, David Warrington had a very busy day WHINING for TRUMP.
See above:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/07/23/fraudulent-failson-judgement-jd-vance-aint-from-here/#comment-1062537
LOL
I think Trump’s lawyers have reason to know that under a ‘Recent Important Decision’ a President addressing the Nation on matters of public concern falls comfortably within the outer perimeter of official acts, and a highly context specific analysis sensitive to the avoiding danger of unnecessarily intruding on Executive Branch prerogatives is necessary for those claiming the contrary. Given that Trump surrogates have called into question Biden’s fitness to continue in office, nothing the President says touching on his withdrawal from the election and explaining his continuation of his Presidency is capable, under this ruling, of being an unofficial act.
BWAHAHAHAHA!
Nick Anderson’s been on a nice roll on this topic lately.
(what a sweet, short speech from Joe tonight. I was moved like few politicians have ever moved me.
Re: Joe’s speech,
I thought it was very good and —— Very Presidential.
Despite the occasional stutter it was fluent coherent and compelling. And repeatedly made the point that the election is the opportunity for the American people to reject the autocracy and bad faith leadership which is the GOP prospectus, and protect their democracy from this threat.
LOL. Some people trolled Vance by claiming that he wrote in his memoir that he’d had sex with a couch, and it got to the point that the AP put up a fact check, “No, JD Vance did not have sex with a couch” (https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-jd-vance-sex-couch-038130326229)! A selection of jokes about it — “JD no, that’s not what intersectional means,” “With all this stress I bet JD Vance is desperate to unload on his therapist’s couch,” “(Biting lip) ‘I did not have sexual relations with that couch,'” “The most you can say at this point is he didn’t put it in his memoir, NOT that he never put it in the sofa,” “JD Vance: barren elites with toxoplasmosis say chaise lounge, divan, recamier, settee. now I may be a small town former editor of Yale Law Review but where I come from, in Peter Thiel’s real Amerikkka, we call them “Love Seats” for a reason. Worker: sir this is a HomeGoods and you need to leave.”
Sofa, so good. Was it in Davenport?
No doubt he would say chaise “lounge.”
I’m not particularly witty myself, but here are a few more from elsewhere:
“As any student of history like JD Vance can tell you, the Ottoman Empire didn’t just reproduce itself.”
“southern grandmas had that plastic cover on their couch for a reason I guess”
From Taming of the Shrew: “Or wilt thou sleep? we’ll have thee to a couch Softer and sweeter than the lustful bed”
Thanks for the laughs!
https://bsky.app/profile/natlseccnslrs.bsky.social/post/3ky3e4bjkoh2l
Jul 25, 2024 at 12:06 AM
Oh my. I’m going to have a Leonard Cohen earworm all day after that.
I love Marcy’s framing of this:
https://bsky.app/profile/emptywheel.bsky.social/post/3ky2nrphyhf2y
Jul 24, 2024 at 5:26 PM
We must relentlessly subject TRUMP / VANCE etal
to ALL the RIDICULE they so deserve…
Guffawing loudly as we do so.
Thanks, harpie!
Yes.
How damaged does one have to be to make humor, wit, and joy the objects of ridicule?
(Rhetorical)
And a few more:
“I’m sorry, but typically in these situations, it is not a one-off. Waiting for other couches to come forward.”
“Like any good patriot, Vance saw a widening sectional divide and he rushed to fill it. It’s remarkable how he’s made us all come together.”
“When JD Vance is told to sleep on the couch, that’s an open marriage”
“a little bit of the old up-and-downholstery”
“Listen you guys, it is only an unfounded rumor that JD Vance fucked a couch. Help to combat misinformation; be sure to post as much as possible about this so that everyone knows that there is no evidence to date that JD Vance has fucked so much as a chifforobe much less an entire couch.”
Reply: “Wait. The chifferobe ALSO wasn’t fucked, along with the couch? How deep does this go?”
Reply2: “With Vance I suspect it can only go so deep.”