Midweek shithole administration

[ESF]

Given the choice between defending his wife, or defending Trump, McConnell chooses Trump.

[anlo]

Answer as spineless as his neck.

[mx27]

she married him, so what does that say about her?! gross on every level.

[mx27]

you didn't answer the question, gobble neck!

[Pom]

“Shithole administration” is my favorite.

Maybe EC should also Ditch Mitch.

[carmenere]

If y’all need something to lift your spirits, take joy in knowing that Judge Jackson has completely banned Roger Stone from posting on social media - including reposting and liking.

www.npr.org/2019/07/16/742333663/roger-stone-barred-from-using-social-media-as-judge-tightens-gag-order

[ESF]

Had a momentary freak out and then I remembered that he retired like ten years ago. Phew!  ETA: and this is very sad for him and his family. He was a good justice and I'm glad he got some time to enjoy retirement.

[isabel]

Wow. That was really something.

[kadams767]

Jul 16, 2019 19:25:38 GMT -5 ESF said:

Had a momentary freak out and then I remembered that he retired like ten years ago. Phew!  ETA: and this is very sad for him and his family. He was a good justice and I'm glad he got some time to enjoy retirement.

  

I am so sad to see this. But 99 years old, a SCOTUS justice until age 90, what a life.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Jul 16, 2019 19:25:38 GMT -5 ESF said:

Had a momentary freak out and then I remembered that he retired like ten years ago. Phew!  ETA: and this is very sad for him and his family. He was a good justice and I'm glad he got some time to enjoy retirement.

So did my husband.

[msmerymac]

Jul 16, 2019 19:25:38 GMT -5 ESF said:

Had a momentary freak out and then I remembered that he retired like ten years ago. Phew!  ETA: and this is very sad for him and his family. He was a good justice and I'm glad he got some time to enjoy retirement.

My husband freaked out too and said, "WHO IS THE GUY I'M THINKING OF?!"

Me: "Stephen Breyer"

Him: "oh yeah

[mbcdefg]

Footage unearthed of Trump and Epstein at Mar-a-Lago in 1992 (not that it’ll matter):

[bronxgirl]

Jul 17, 2019 7:45:09 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Footage unearthed of Trump and Epstein at Mar-a-Lago in 1992 (not that it’ll matter):

Fake news!  They've never met.

[ESF]

People on twitter are saying that the woman with the short hair behind Epstein is Ghislaine Maxwell, his madam.  You can see her face quickly a couple times starting at about the 15 second mark. I think they are right.

[TR]

Jul 17, 2019 7:45:09 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Footage unearthed of Trump and Epstein at Mar-a-Lago in 1992 (not that it’ll matter):

It won’t matter bc I don’t think he’d said he didn’t know him, he said he was never a fan. He’ll just say he was faking it, entertaining him bc he had to, blah blah blah.

[Poppy]

Obviously this is nothing we hadn't heard of, but part of that tape also shows Trump grabbing a woman to pull her toward him, then patting her rear. ~1:22. He is so gross, and shameless! In another part of the tape he tells Epstein "this is NBC" about the camera, so he's very aware how public this is. Blech.

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tape-shows-donald-trump-jeffrey-epstein-discussing-women-1992-party-n1030686

[ESF]

I want to know exactly how much unseen or forgotten Trump footage America's media companies have in their possession.

Where were these tapes in 2016?

[downtoearth]

Jul 17, 2019 11:30:08 GMT -5 ESF said:

I want to know exactly how much unseen or forgotten Trump footage America's media companies have in their possession.

Where were these tapes in 2016?

I feel like if the Access Hollywood tape didn't convince his voters, that all this other footage wouldn't have either. And I don't think it will change any GOP opinion b/c case-and-point McConnell today.

It's a problem that we have non-college educated, non-urban voters who are his ride-or-die base with a contingency of rich people who want to just do what they want with their money and are not in for him, but for themselves, plus the anti-abortion hatred of religious right who care more about anti-abortion than the character and deceit of the president or their neighbors. Broken people who got out to vote b/c of a sensationalist asshole who told them lies and sold it as the "real truth" as if he is some insightful, rich every-man, instead of a racist, misogynistic jerk.

[downtoearth]

And if you need some history of 40 years of racist Trump, the Atlantic delivered it... so if a Trump voter believes a tweet about "not having a racist bone in [my] body" over four decades of history of racist remarks and discriminatory acts, I will remind them that they are spackling shit and a complacent racist themselves (that includes you - Uncle Don and Aunt Virginia)!

The first quotation from Donald Trump ever to appear in The New York Times came on October 16, 1973. Trump was responding to charges filed by the Justice Department alleging racial bias at his family’s real-estate company. “They are absolutely ridiculous,” Trump said of the charges. “We have never discriminated, and we never would.”

To hear more feature stories, see our full list or get the Audm iPhone app.

In the years since then, Trump has assembled a long record of comment on issues involving African Americans as well as Mexicans, Hispanics more broadly, Native Americans, Muslims, Jews, immigrants, women, and people with disabilities. His statements have been reflected in his behavior—from public acts (placing ads calling for the execution of five young black and Latino men accused of rape, who were later shown to be innocent) to private preferences (“When Donald and Ivana came to the casino, the bosses would order all the black people off the floor,” a former employee of Trump’s Castle, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, told a writer for The New Yorker). Trump emerged as a political force owing to his full-throated embrace of “birtherism,” the false charge that the nation’s first black president, Barack Obama, was not born in the United States. His presidential campaign was fueled by nativist sentiment directed at nonwhite immigrants, and he proposed barring Muslims from entering the country. In 2016, Trump described himself to The Washington Post as “the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered.”

Timeline and quotes in the link: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/trump-racism-comments/588067/

[bowies]

Ghislaine Maxwell has been long rumored to be a spy. Her father is Robert Maxwell, who operated much like a British version of Trump.

That would be a reason for the Intel claim on Epstein.

[ESF]

Jul 17, 2019 11:38:20 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

Jul 17, 2019 11:30:08 GMT -5 ESF said:

I want to know exactly how much unseen or forgotten Trump footage America's media companies have in their possession.

Where were these tapes in 2016?

I feel like if the Access Hollywood tape didn't convince his voters, that all this other footage wouldn't have either. And I don't think it will change any GOP opinion b/c case-and-point McConnell today.

It's a problem that we have non-college educated, non-urban voters who are his ride-or-die base with a contingency of rich people who want to just do what they want with their money and are not in for him, but for themselves, plus the anti-abortion hatred of religious right who care more about anti-abortion than the character and deceit of the president or their neighbors. Broken people who got out to vote b/c of a sensationalist asshole who told them lies and sold it as the "real truth" as if he is some insightful, rich every-man, instead of a racist, misogynistic jerk.

Maybe the tapes wouldn't have made a difference in the outcome. But they should have dug them out.

Also while I generally agree that the majority of his supporters do not give a shit, I also think the coverage of his racism and misogyny, as most of the American public saw it, wasn't thorough. And I do wonder if mainstream media outlets had done a better job, whether the outcome would be different.  I - a person who is addicted to news - just learned last week that the 2016 complaint against Trump and Epstein by the woman who was raped by them as a child is actually public and contains allegations far more appalling than I had imagined would be possible. So if someone like me just learned about truly disgusting and shocking facts that have been public for years, how much do people who don't sit around the internet and talk about politics all day long really know?

[Velar Fricative]

Jul 17, 2019 11:30:08 GMT -5 ESF said:

I want to know exactly how much unseen or forgotten Trump footage America's media companies have in their possession.

Where were these tapes in 2016?

My first thought is that this might have something to do with Epstein's ties to Bill Clinton.

[downtoearth]

Jul 17, 2019 11:48:47 GMT -5 ESF said:

Jul 17, 2019 11:38:20 GMT -5 downtoearth said:

I feel like if the Access Hollywood tape didn't convince his voters, that all this other footage wouldn't have either. And I don't think it will change any GOP opinion b/c case-and-point McConnell today.

It's a problem that we have non-college educated, non-urban voters who are his ride-or-die base with a contingency of rich people who want to just do what they want with their money and are not in for him, but for themselves, plus the anti-abortion hatred of religious right who care more about anti-abortion than the character and deceit of the president or their neighbors. Broken people who got out to vote b/c of a sensationalist asshole who told them lies and sold it as the "real truth" as if he is some insightful, rich every-man, instead of a racist, misogynistic jerk.

Maybe the tapes wouldn't have made a difference in the outcome. But they should have dug them out.

Also while I generally agree that the majority of his supporters do not give a shit, I also think the coverage of his racism and misogyny, as most of the American public saw it, wasn't thorough. And I do wonder if mainstream media outlets had done a better job, whether the outcome would be different.  I - a person who is addicted to news - just learned last week that the 2016 complaint against Trump and Epstein by the woman who was raped by them as a child is actually public and contains allegations far more appalling than I had imagined would be possible. So if someone like me just learned about truly disgusting and shocking facts that have been public for years, how much do people who don't sit around the internet and talk about politics all day long really know?

I too didn't know the extent of his racism and his rape/misogyny, but I knew enough to know he wasn't a person I wanted making public policy on anything related to equality. That is a fundamental difference between certain voters - I'm not sure we can change that.

I know quite a few Republicans in my state who voted for Trump and likely will again - they will vote party line no matter what. They dislike him as a person, but want GOP policies and so they are holding their noses and voting again for him. I want to change their mind, but I can't see that. They weren't primary Trump voters - they didn't want him to be the GOP nominee for 2016, but they are devoted voters now. This new information makes them discuss that he's "got issues," but they aren't reconsidering or on the line about voting GOP. If he's the nominee, they will vote for him b/c he has reduced taxes. The few that are mad at him and may stay home or vote independent (never D) are ranchers or farmers who are hurt by the tariffs - it hurt them personally, so they are pissed. But they aren't mad about his character half as much as their own interest. I'm not giving up on these people I know - I challenge them and let them know my perspective and how it hurts real people to have a racist (among so many other names I want to call him) in office. I want them to feel poorly about their decision, even if I can't change their mind. If I can get one person to leave that circle blank on their ballot b/c of a second thought, might be my goal. I really wonder how many "swing" voters we can find vs. how many people who just don't/didn't vote who we can find. I admire those who are working on getting new people involved right now so early when we don't have a frontrunner Dem candidate.  

[anodyne]

Jul 17, 2019 12:09:11 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Jul 17, 2019 11:30:08 GMT -5 ESF said:

I want to know exactly how much unseen or forgotten Trump footage America's media companies have in their possession.

Where were these tapes in 2016?

My first thought is that this might have something to do with Epstein's ties to Bill Clinton.

If I remember correctly, we had this discussion on here about the Ds not using Trumps relationship with Epstein prior to the 16 election for this reason. It could hurt Hilary as much as help because of Bill.

[Velar Fricative]

New polling indicates that more Republicans actually like Trump after his racist shit comments. In other shocking news, the sky is blue.

www.vox.com/2019/7/17/20697721/trump-racist-tweet-polling

[ESF]

Jul 17, 2019 12:09:11 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Jul 17, 2019 11:30:08 GMT -5 ESF said:

I want to know exactly how much unseen or forgotten Trump footage America's media companies have in their possession.

Where were these tapes in 2016?

My first thought is that this might have something to do with Epstein's ties to Bill Clinton.

Sort of. I mean I know why HRC didn't send people looking for Epstein dirt. But that's only part of the story. What I don't know is (1) why they weren't able to get their hands on tapes on other topics; (2) whey media outlets didn't search their own archives for Epstein, and other stuff, like racism and misogyny; and (3) why no one in the GOP primary dug around for it either.

The fourth option - that no other bad tapes exist -- just isn't believable to me. 

[ESF]

Jul 17, 2019 13:48:50 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

New polling indicates that more Republicans actually like Trump after his racist shit comments. In other shocking news, the sky is blue.

www.vox.com/2019/7/17/20697721/trump-racist-tweet-polling

Not surprised, though helpful reminder that we haven't reached the bottom. 

The 2020 race is going to be horrifying. 

[mbcdefg]

Yikes.

[downtoearth]

Jul 17, 2019 13:48:50 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

New polling indicates that more Republicans actually like Trump after his racist shit comments. In other shocking news, the sky is blue.

www.vox.com/2019/7/17/20697721/trump-racist-tweet-polling

While I'm totally cynical that Trump supporters will change their minds now... I also cannot figure out how only 37% of Republicans say those tweets were offensive/racist. I mean fucking hell! This is why trying to turn a Trump supporter should not be our goal... but the long game of educated, civic-minded voters and getting young people out to vote and use their Millennial and iGen numbers.

A new poll indicates why GOP members are reluctant to chastise the president. Although a USA Today/Ipsos poll found that a majority of people, 68 percent, saw Trump’s tweets as offensive, there was a stark partisan divide: 93 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of independents found the tweet offensive, while only 37 percent of Republicans did, according to the poll, which was released on Wednesday. Meanwhile, 57 percent of Republicans said they agreed with Trump’s tweets, while only 7 percent of Democrats agreed.

[underwaterrhymes]

Jul 17, 2019 14:02:03 GMT -5 ESF said:

Jul 17, 2019 13:48:50 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

New polling indicates that more Republicans actually like Trump after his racist shit comments. In other shocking news, the sky is blue.

www.vox.com/2019/7/17/20697721/trump-racist-tweet-polling

Not surprised, though helpful reminder that we haven't reached the bottom. 

The 2020 race is going to be horrifying. 

I’m really scared we will continue to see escalating hate crimes and violence against people of color, women, and people of non-Christian faiths. I also fear what comes after the election, regardless of the outcome.