Hodad

The walls didn't work. Crossings went UP overall and at wall sites. Regardless of how the money was appropriated, I'd prefer that Biden let it languish than waste it on more silly walls.

Rammed? lol. Sad, pathetic and predictable. You'll believe anything said by one of your "alpha" heroes (and a demonstrable liar on the campaign trail) over regular citizens and the police on the scene. Frankly, it's no wonder you have to trust your "feelings" instead of data and original sources--like police reports. That kind of willful blindness the only way for a sub to keep serving your masters. No need to think for yourself. Just swallow it down!

Honestly, Hostess Cuuupcake, you are the ultimate beta, and not in any position to be throwing stones. From your article: The police account of the crash in the central Iowa city of Grinnell diverged from the account told by Ramaswamy’s campaign. Police say they were dispatched to a coffee shop in the city shortly after 1 p.m. for a report of property damage. Police contacted a 22-year-old woman who reported that she had just eaten lunch at a nearby deli and was backing her car out of her parking spot when she accidentally struck a Ford Expedition that was across the street. Police say the woman told them she was not there protesting anything, and had no idea whose vehicle she had hit. Both vehicles had minor damage, police said, and the woman received a traffic summons for unsafe backing. So, in summary, it was a woman, who wasn't part of any protest, who accidentally did minor damage to the back of a campaign SUV while backing up and then didn't flee the scene. Oh, and in further summary, you're a born sucker, willing to say or do anything for a would-be alpha. Why do you let yourself be used like that? Don't you have any self respect?

This is a question that doesn't need to be a question. In terms of electing (or un-electing) a Speaker the parties have been virtually 100% against candidates from the other party in hope of electing one of their own, or at least someone more desirable. I mean really, one has to be pretty confuzzled to think that the 212 Democrats who voted "no" on McCarthy in January would magically turn 180 degrees and vote for him 10 months later. Particularly given the way he's behaved. He COULD have given the finger to the chaos caucus in his party and worked in good faith with the reasonable Republicans and Democrats to get things done, but he didn't have the balls to stand up to the nuts. Hopefully the next speaker will realize that collaborating with Democrats is better than being held hostage by the dead-enders.

I think you're making two mistakes here The first is the mechanism. You're right that people aren't mindless robots who just change values based on whatever a celebrity says. But that isn't the primary mechanism. Celebrities--particularly artists--have followers that tend to already be cultural aligned with the artist. The celebrity didn't have to change their minds, just activate and energize around already shared issues. The second mistake is that these celebrities absolutely do influence decision making. They are called "influencers" for a reason. Companies pay them millions for simple affiliation, let alone explicit endorsement. They are valued so highly because they are effective, particularly at building brand affinity and trust. It doesn't mean that Swift is picking she winner on her own, but celebrities do matter and Swift one of the biggest and most influential on the planet. Don't sleep on someone who can influence millions of young people with a 50 word essay.

Sorry, the Republicans have already claimed those voters. That's why they are dismissive of a woman with nearly a hundred million Twitter followers and 275 million Instagram followers. Any guess at how many of those followers live in the US, are new voters or soon-to-be voters who aren't too keen on Republicans messing around with their reproductive health care? Fun fact: Swift's Instagram account reaches 10x as about people as the NFL Instagram account.

I think the first version is what will play out. I don't think Republicans have any interest in further empowering the kook contingent. They are staring daggers at Gaetz

No, it is in the Democrats favor, and in the favor of rest of the country as well. If there isn't a unified majority then the parties have to compromise and work together, as they did with the bill last week to keep the government running. Bipartisan compromise and cooperation is what the American people actually want. Not blind obstructionism. If the next speaker requires some Dem votes to be elected, that's good news for everyone--everyone except for the hardliners.

The comparison was really to the historical parallel of the attempted coup followed by another run for election. But the playbook was also similar in many ways. The division, the scapegoating, the flavor of the rhetoric etc., even if the goals were not an overt parallel. I think we are probably lucky that Trump's only love and interest is Trump. And I do think Trump was significantly destabilizing geopolitically. Threatening to leave NATO, trying to leave WHO, starting trade wars and making bombastic threats against multiple nations. We give credit for making overtures to NK, but he also radically escalated tensions with NK in wildly inappropriate and dangerous ways. There are very good reasons that the global reputation of the United States, and particularly of our president, plummeted into the basement. Much like he was domestically, Trump was an agent of chaos on the world stage.

Jeebus, he's as dumb as he is mean-spirited, which is saying a lot. Why would someone with as much power as a Trump punch SO FAR down as to pick on a clerk? And what kind of monsters support and cheer on such monstrous behavior? Judge is male, BTW.

That is all true. If things fall apart, all bets are off. Worked for Hitler.

I think there are many confounding factors that make current polling untrustworthy. And it's sending confused (and confusing) mixed signals. Clear majorities think Trump should be prosecuted. Are we to also believe that a majority think he should be elected? That doesn't add up I think very few people are excited about Biden. While Trump inexplicably has rabid, unwavering support from an unreasonably large portion of the GOP. In other words, there is an enthusiasm gap. But the grass is always greener on the other side until you remember that the other side tried to stage a coup. Only one side is campaigning now. I don't expect a Trump advantage to survive a real, binary campaign, and outside of a third party split, I don't think he's electable anymore. Too much damage and too much baggage. .02

Democrats aren't doing the kooks any favors. Gaetz is widely disliked in the mainstream GOP. He can't get the speakership. And without the Gaetz faction the Republicans don't have a functional majority to reinstate McCarthy. Which means, to get someone elected the Republicans will likely have to put someone up who can garner Dem votes. Or to put it another way, with a fractured GOP, the Dems have leverage to get more of what they want. Better to compromise with moderate Dems than to reward the "burn it all down" faction.

This has been a worsening problem in the House for many years now. They only have to win votes in their small district, so it's much easier for extremists to get into office. For the Democrats it means a few people with views outside the mainstream, like AOC. Which is sort of the point of the House, and she's not going to get the votes and not going to get her way. For Republicans it means people who are leading the race to the bottom--people who would rather just burn it all down--in a contest to out-crazy one another. And you just don't need that many votes to sabotage and paralyze American government. I don't think our founding fathers really contemplated the idea that a few people would get into government not to govern, but to destroy government.

I can't escape the thought that you're referring to the Confederate States of America.

Yes. This is Trump's closest confidant in the white house, telling it exactly like it was. Confirming that what Trump has said publicly is indeed exactly what he says privately. When someone tells you who they are, believe them. Trump is a truly awful excuse for a human being. How does one defend the indefensible? I can only assume that those who defend and revere the man are equally awful.

Whatever you say, Hostess Cuuupcake. You're the expert on fragile feelings.

You people would all make excellent toddlers. Indeed, toddlers are the only other demographic who think that consequences for breaking established rules equates to the authority figures being "meanies." As Republicans used to believe, "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime." Or basic accountability and responsibility for one's actions and behaviors. Those values seem to have fallen out of fashion since you all decided a would-be dictator should be above the rules, as long as his gross abuses of power serve your interests.

And like I've told you a hundred times, counting total deaths is not a way to evaluate efficacy. You can do as much math as your rabid little heart desires, but until you do the right math you're just fooling yourself with this nonsense. At any rate, you can go on shaking your fist and shouting at the sky. You're very obviously beyond reason and I'm not interested in a religious debate.

You are absolutely right--and faster than the rest of us. It took most of us many weeks and dozens of posts to stop taking the bait and just ignore the COVID obsession. The poor logic and statistical malpractice are annoying, but it's like trying to reason with a religious zealot. It's not fun and has no possibility of success.

How long is "so long"? These dipshits are still playacting about election fraud in 2020, completely without evidence and even after the liars have confessed to making it all up. Lack of evidence is clearly no impediment to prolonged jackassery by Trump's GOP.

OFFS, politically, it was a dumb move, but it was like 12 people doing outdoor dining at a legally open restaurant. It's not like he brought thousands of people to an indoor, unmasked superspreader rally that killed Herman Cain. ? This is some of the most disingenuous outrage you've ever mustered.

I think certain posters have adopted the same approach. If they lie constantly and we all know they are lying then, in their minds, they aren't really lying scumbags. The FOX News and Sidney Powell defense.

Climate change is a well documented global phenomenon, but to "see" it you'd have to pull your head out of your ass.

That's such a bunch of projected crap. You know full well exactly which party and politics contemporary Nazis are aligned with. They are marching with the other creeps at the Unite the Right rallies and waving flags and saluting at Trump rallies. They peddle "replacement theory" and dehumanize immigrants and jews in online forums. White supremacism and White nationalism are alive and well--thriving--in Trump's GOP. They used to be on the fringe of conservatism, but Trump welcomed them in--and they rejoiced! You are welcome to disavow their beliefs, but don't try to pretend that they have anything to do with the Liberal America. It's a lie, and just makes you look like a jackass. They're your problem. If they like your politics, perhaps reexamine your politics.