or Trump Tariff Taxes and war did this...... Nice bumper sticker material and stickers for gas pumps everywhere. What was good for the goose is good for the gander.
Linda - can’t believe there aren’t replicas already for sale. Gen-yoo-ine replicas in the brightest simulated gold coating. Maybe the container ships had to make a detour on their way from the Chinese sweat shop, via the Hormuz Strait?
This!!! How many times do you have to get hit over the head before you realize who is really on your side. I keep thinking of Back to the Future with Biff Tannen and George McFly where Trump is Biff and Trump’s supporters are George. I’m waiting for today’s George to make a turn against Biff, but that required the inadvertent intervention of his future son, Marty McFly and happenstance in the movie, and I don’t see that here. I think Independents finally get it.
Well, Biff WAS based on Trump, and it’s easy to see why. Loud, dumb, bullying, obsessed with money and power, etc. Spot on! 😀
I don’t know if George is the equivalent of the Trump fans, though. I think they’re the sycophants who follow Biff because he makes them feel powerful. I think George symbolizes the majority who are just trying to get by without too much damage. We definitely need a Marty to show us how to stand up to Biff.
Wow!! Biff was based on Trump!! Hilarious. You have a good point about George and Biff’s followers. George was doing Biff’s homework and Biff was always taking credit for George’s work in the present before Marty gets sent back in time. .
As a fellow former Republican, my old belief that America had basically gotten over the race thing by electing Obama is probably the most wrong I ever was. With every state legislature in the south rushing to get rid of Black representation following the VRA travesty, Bill is right - very little appears to have fundamentally changed since the 1900s. It's still racism all the way down.
I thought that too, for that one night when he won the nomination. I don't know if I've ever been so happy, even when I had my babies. It didn't take long for the racists to crawl out of the woodwork, with Trump leading the charge. That's the main reason I cried when Trump won in 2016 and again in 2024.
I think a lot of Trumpism can be understood as the violent reactionary counter revolution to the progress we made from Slavery and Civil War and Jim Crow and the tough on crime racially coded politics of the 70s-00s towards multicultural pluralistic democracy and equal rights of citizens up to 2016. The re-election of the nation's first black president was an existential crisis for all the rascist chuds who are worried about "Western Civilization" which is their dog whistle for white supremacy
This is probably right. Like Tom and Pat, I'd thought, upon Obama's election, "Behold America! We are not perfect, but we persist to work towards our better selves!"
When Barack was elected, I was so happy that it brought tears to my eyes. I should’ve known better. His election caused the pot to start boiling. With Trump’s election, it boiled over. The racists came out from under their rocks. They’re out in the open now. Friends who’ve been exposed are now merely acquaintances.
I posted this on Lauren's article the other day, but the best firepower against redistricting should be led by the actual people being stripped of their rights, using the best leverage they have.
No black college athlete should play in any state where they are actively being disenfranchised. Don't sign with LSU, South Carolina, Clemson. If you are there, transfer immediately. Let those programs field all-white football teams. Hit them where it hurts the most. Probably the only thing MAGA Louisianans love more than hurting "the other" is LSU football. Same goes with any SEC program/state. And there are plenty of NIL dollars awaiting the best players at Michigan, University of Southern California, Penn State, Kansas, and Oregon.
Put the SEC out of the running for the foreseeable future! Maybe forever. Most of the SEC schools survive on sports money because their states sure as hell can't support them. As you said, hit them where it hurts. I live in Louisiana, too, and I'd bet that most of the people here love football more than Trump.
I love the sentiment, and I would smile if it happened. But we should not expect black kids to pay such a price for trying to fix our country. America isn't in a mess because of black voters. It is because of white voters. If white Americans vote for racism and authoritarianism, we can't expect black Americans to bail us out. We have to fix what we broke ourselves, or it won't get fixed.
For many of these football players, this is a chance at a real payday. Even if they never play in the NFL, it could be enough to change the course of their lives. And look at what they see around them. Billionaires, who already have more money than their great-grandchildren could ever spend, paid for Trump's election so they could have a little more. Hedge fund managers support Trump (and many members of Congress) to sustain their carried-interest deduction. Rich lawyers agreed to do Trump's work for free to get just a little more money. Everyday middle-class Americans voted for Trump because they wanted to pay less for a fucking chicken egg. And you are asking an 18-year-old black kid to give up NIL dollars at LSU? They are going to take what they can get when they have a chance, just like white heritage Americans. And it's not like fans in Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, or Indiana are any less racist that ones in Louisiana or South Carolina.
Black kids know white Americans are out to screw them, just like we have been screwing their families forever. NIL money is their chance to get back at "the man." They aren't going to pass, and we shouldn't ask them to.
But the SEC should have "been careful what it wished for." Football players have always been paid, but it wasn't as much and it was under the table. The SEC dominated for a long time because they were willing to cheat more than the other schools. They cheered when suddenly it was legal to do what they have always done, and now they can do it out in the open. But it's a different game now. Rich people who weren't willing to fork over dollars in a back alley have come to the table. Do fans of LSU really have more money to spend than alums of Ohio State and the Hollywood crowd at USC? And who knew that Indiana would spend more than anyone? But here we are.
Yes, this. Black voters have been in danger always. This is new to us, not them. Asking them to give up money and opportunity now doesn't sit right with me. However, each individual will do what they feel is right. And it shouldn't surprise anyone when many athletes choose colleges that are less restrictive of their rights, and when people want to live where they don't think they will be disenfranchised.
But those kids being recruited by LSU, Alabama, Georgia, and Ole Miss can probably get plenty of money from other conferences, where they are more likely to be treated as equals. They don't have to play here. I'm not asking them to give up their chance to make some real money, just asking them not to do business with racists. For one thing, the danger doesn't stop at not being able to vote. MAGA wants people of color GONE, and it appears they don't care how that happens. Frankly, if the only way to get rid of MAGA is civil war, money might not be the most important thing on the agenda. Also, it doesn't really have to be all of them: a few really great players publicly saying they won't play for college or NFL teams in states where their vote doesn't count might be enough. The South really does love football.
The market for college football players is a deep shade of red. Here are the final AP rankings from last season: 1. Indiana 2. Miami 3. Ole Miss 4. Oregon 5. Ohio State 6. Georgia 7. Texas Tech 8. Texas A&M 9. Alabama 10. Notre Dame 11. BYU 12. Texas 13. Oklahoma 14. Utah 15. Vanderbilt 16. Virginia 17. Iowa 18. Tulane 19. James Madison 20. USC
Only two of these schools are from solidly blue states: Oregon and USC. Three are from purplish states: Georgia, Virginia, and James Madison, and one of these (Georgia) is an SEC school. The rest are very red, even redder, and reddist of all. Do you really think it is better in Iowa than in Mississippi? For nearly two decades, the most overtly racist member of Congress was Steve King from Iowa.
Also, keep in mind that the money comes from advertising, and that goes preferentially to the very best players. Michael Jordon is a billionaire, and he made more from advertising than he did from his basketball contract. He told us why he never said anything political: because Republicans buy shoes too.
As a native Iowan, I say that Iowa is “better” than Mississippi in the sense that the voters in Steve King’s congressional district did not re-elect him after his noxious racist garbage became widely publicized. Also, the state’s non-partisan commission draws districts in a way that has been described as the “gold standard” approach, and while I’ve been extremely disappointed by the fact that the voters in these fairly-drawn districts have voted red in recent election cycles, I believe the results are going to be quite different in November, 2026. https://harkininstitute.drake.edu/news/drawn-out-how-iowa-got-redistricting-right/
I am a native Iowan also, and I went to college in Steve King's district. I don't think his voters had any problem with his racism. They turned on him after he committed the unpardonable sin of getting kicked off the agricultural committee.
I have no words to express how disappointed I have been in the place where my family had such deep roots. Every branch of my family had been in Iowa for generations, some since before it was even a state. A few years ago, representatives from my alma mater approached me about setting up a scholarship fund. I seriously considered it, and I had the resources to do it. But Iowa had voted for Trump, and then they did it again (and again). And the legislature passed a law that banned thousands of books from public schools. I decided that investing in a place that had turned it's back on education would be wasted money, and I looked elsewhere.
I look forward to Iowans rethinking their political choices, but I'm not holding my breath.
Important distinction, they dont want them gone, just back out in the fields or at the factories where they belong. You ask a southerners if they support slavery and tgey will say no, but ask them if a immigrant or person of color should be paid the same for the same work and they'll scream hell no from the branches. They know they shouldn't say they support slavery, but they do.
That might be tough for some states, such as Oregon, with only 2% of the population being black. To my knowledge, Oregon has never elected a black congressional representative and barely has any black representation at the state level. It's not, for example, Mississippi, with 41% of the population being black.
I grew up just up the road from Oregon in Washington and it is much the same. I recall a time, back in the 80's, when folks were complaining about Californians moving in and driving up all of the property values. I can't believe it took me 40 years to figure out that they were probably complaining out loud about black Californians...
this may appear in later comments, but why wouldn't you ask that the WHITE players refuse to play in states that promote racism? Make it shameful for ANYONE to play college football in a state that tries to eliminate the influence of black voters. Why would you give white player a pass to play wherever they want, but tell the black players to play only for certain colleges?
As a former athlete at the University of South Carolina, I absolutely agree with this. I am not a POC, but POC's of all ethnicity should avoid these states. This should be expanded to include those who excel at academics, like medical and legal programs as well.
Sadly, the opposite could be said about states who are redistricting in favor of democrats. The maga folks can easily say "they dont care about white republicans." (Have to play devils advocate here)
ScottG - The southern states don't hate young black men. Quite the contrary; they love them as long as the teams win championships. But once they graduate they need to know their place and never get uppity if they want to stay in the good graces of the massa. Lincoln may have freed the slaves, but he never managed to drive a stake through the twisted heart of slavery, and the south is determined to bring it back.
I'm not sure how realistic it is for student athletes to do what you suggest, but I'm all for a coordinated "strike" in which all non-white student athletes sit out all games of all college sports on a given weekend.
Or the Trump Charity, which was found never to have accomplished a single charitable act, using monies donated instead for things like a full-size oil painting of Trump himself; and which was deemed by a court to be so corrupt that corporate capital punishment was the only option.
From the original WaPo Oct. 29, 2016 story on Trump's charitable giving: "[The foundation's] smallest-ever gift, for $7, was paid to the Boy Scouts in 1989, at a time when it cost $7 to register a new Scout. Trump’s oldest son was 11 at the time. Trump did not respond to a question about whether the money was paid to register him."
That can be a tough bid. The Iran "excursion" is another card example. Iran has the cards since they drew an inside straight w control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Andrew: "This is remarkable, unprecedented political loyalty. Without it, Trump could never have gotten back to where he is today—and he’d certainly be in no position to shake down the sheikhs. And how does his family repay this loyalty? By selling his poor dumb true believers a vaporware phone."
The best thing about the past 11 years has been watching a sizable percentage of the electorate reveal themselves to be both credulous and irredeemably stupid.
The worst thing about the past 11 years is realizing that a brigade of Cleti can effectively destroy American prestige both domestically and internationally.
And added to this, these people, MAGA; we know the Trumps were born with no shame, don’t care that the mess this country is in is on them, and them alone. They’d rather burn their house down and complain the matches made them do it!
Just so happens I knew a Cletus form my youth. Never guess his last name - Link. Of course, you'll know his nickname of a middle name - Missing. His name matched his profile.
Important to always remind yourself they had the willing cooperation of every single Republican and no small number of Democrats. If we're going to teach pur political leadership a lesson, we'll need more than 12 rounds for the firing squad.
Mind you, I cant think of a better use for the marine corps budget.
I’ll just keep saying it: the core of Trump’s support is a cult. Cults are not rational. Stop expecting them to behave in ways that take political realities into account. Likewise, Republicans who depend upon the votes of the cultists to survive in a primary have no leeway to act normally.
I got zero sympathy for anybody who sent $100 in for that phone. These people are simply never going to learn. And it’s not even a matter of if they’ll notice the next time? When next time comes, they’re gonna send their money.
Pretty much, as long as we stipulate that that equation only works in one direction (not the Brit boi band). Money given to the Trump Family is like a Vegas trip - what goes there stays there 💸💸💸
They voted for this stupid mobster because they didn't like the price of eggs.
And yet, they have $100 to throw away on an imaginary, tacky gold phone. They'll grin and bear it while waiting for Bullwinkle J. Moose to pull that damn rabbit out of his hat.
Reminds me of the yacht guy who was complaining about the economy. When interviewed he was complaining about the economy, yet he couldn’t articulate was that he or his kids were suffering.
Andrew wrote: "[For] many MAGA superfans, being endlessly shaken down for cash via a blizzard of unbelievably sleazy campaign-solicitation texts and emails has become a defining feature of their digital lives." But don't you *dare* call them dumb or imply they're suckers and losers!
Oh, and Trump is the biggest freeloader in America. He doesn't know what food, housing, transportation, or health care cost Americans. And he doesn't care what food, housing, transportation or health care cost Americans.
Q: To what extent are Americans' financial situations motivating you to make a deal with Iran?
TRUMP: "Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody."
No one should be shocked that Republicans are running hard enough to break their own legs in the process to strip rights of everyone who disagrees with them. They are literally telling the world that either you are with us, or you are to be subjugated without rights.
We are in a civil war folks. This is the preamble, where Republicans make every effort to solidify their racists and rapist view of the world. They are trying their damndest to take us back to wealthy White Men literally owning the labor force. Everyone who supports them is complicit. Yep - that means your friends and family that folks just can’t stop associating with - they are against you and you having rights. I hope you recognize exactly who they are and how little they think about your value to the world beyond what you can do for them.
Diehard MAGA folks are often candid about the fact that they don’t watch the news. They have a certain image of the Leader in their minds and they want to keep it that way.
Yesterday, I saw a post on FB that said something along the lines of "They didn't need to watch the MSM because Fox News provides plenty snippets to know what they are saying."
It's so frustrating for people to "know" what the MSM is saying without actually watching it. Fox News loves it and encourages this policy.
If you want to have a little "fun" or a desire to pull your hair out...go to the Fox News website and look what news articles they choose to display on their homepage. Do it for like 5 days in a row. You will then begin to understand exactly why their audience believes what they do.
I actually did this for 8 straight years. 6 months into it...I dropped my support of the GOP and became independent because it was so blatant ESPECIALLY in support of Trump's first term.
Realtor: Yes, ma'am, I know you put a deposit down on the house, but the owners may or may not sell the house at some point in the future. I thought we made that clear at the open house.
Tesla dealer: Yes, sir, I know that you put a deposit down on our flying cars, but at this time our inventory is strictly terrestrial.
Unregulated capitalism is just a grifters paradise. These people will keep getting swindled and keep loving their swindlers and hating the people who point the swindle out, and keep calling any regulatory regime Bolshevism.
Well, the people who are pointing the swindle out are effectively calling them stupid. Nobody likes to be called stupid--and the truly stupid seem to get even more upset about it than the people who just did something stupid once.
The people who know they are stupid and are taking advantage of it actually say they are smart.
The Tesla comparison is closer than you suspect. After all, the car is just hardware -- the company controls the software and owns it in the same way Amazon owns all those Kindle texts you downloaded. Your hardware can be bricked at any time.
That’s what will likely happen. As a former library manager, the problem with large donations is that they cost money to process, accession and catalogue. And mostly the donations don’t include funds to do this. So a financial donation will be needed as well as the physical items.
I sometimes think Obama’s election, while enraging to the right, has somehow given permission to go hard after “color blind” policies that become effectively racist. No need for any accommodations anymore, since Obama’s election proved we are not racist. I sure miss that family in the White House.
My MAGA friends often say that Obama was the most racist President we've ever had. I simply shake my head at the heartbreaking irony, ignorance and lack of self-awareness.
Andrew Egger almost jumped on the "color blindness" bandwagon last week when he wrote:
> "Still, there’s a reasonable argument to support Justice Samuel Alito’s conclusion that the way some courts had chosen to apply the VRA over the years had become preposterous—finding that if a state’s population could support a racial gerrymander creating a certain number of majority-minority districts, it was bound by law to do so."
I was flabbergasted and responded to him with this comment:
The "What's the Matter with Kansas" ethos has marbleized throughout the entire country. What do you do when a large portion of the electorate is eager to be scammed, and is happy when the scammers gut any and all regulatory agencies that might sanction scammers? They're tearing down the CFPB. The scammers tell the prosecutors whom to prosecute and whom to ignore. And none of this should be a surprise to anyone, so fuck the 590,000 people who lost $100 to this grift. You lose. Suckers and losers.
You can say it Bill. Trump is a racist. Sam Alito is a racist (and a liar). Roberts, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett and yes, even Thomas are racists (and signed onto the lie). All the Republican governors and legislators voting to carve up Black majority districts and nullify their votes are racists. Ignore what they say. By their actions, they are all racists.
We told everyone they were racists. We told you this would happen. But it turns out that the only thing worse than being a racist was calling them out.
The idea behind the South's eager reaction to Callais stems from the Civil War. This constant theme of US history was reenergized by Reagan and remains a pillar of the republican party. Recognizing it as such is mocked as 'woke' by the current administration. It is a powerful tool honed to near perfection by republicans of all stripes across the country. No amount of logic or reason will ever overcome this curse that defines US.
Just waiting to see the "I'd rather be fleeced by a Republican than represented by a Democrat!" t-shirts at CPAC
instead of t-shirt, maybe a fleece pull over
"Made from 300% REAL AMERICAN WOOL! Best worn over the eyes."
or campaign themes and bumper stickers
Or a "Free the Pedophiles!" t-shirt at a GOP religious revival event.
We can't "free" them, none of them have been charged!
There are plenty of right wing religious types that are currently in the clink.
Not the important ones.
There's all important, Pat. Pedocon Theory is real.
or Trump Tariff Taxes and war did this...... Nice bumper sticker material and stickers for gas pumps everywhere. What was good for the goose is good for the gander.
WILL there be a CPAC again? They're not getting that sweet, sweet funding from Orban anymore...
Actually, I think the money came from Russia. The conservative movement in the US is a Russian “5th column “.
My thought about Steven’s Orban comment immediately meant Putin.
I’m waiting to see a dashboard Trump modeled after the new golf golden calf.
Trump Bobblehead.
When the head tilts limply to the side, you can say "He's resting his eyes."
or when the bobblehead is still
Linda - can’t believe there aren’t replicas already for sale. Gen-yoo-ine replicas in the brightest simulated gold coating. Maybe the container ships had to make a detour on their way from the Chinese sweat shop, via the Hormuz Strait?
Dashboard Donald.
🎼 I don't care if it rains or freezes 🤣 ...St Christopher be like, "Hail NO"
in gold leaf on the hood
maybe a gold leaf hood ornament of Trump on Tesla vehicles
Okay, I am literally thinking about getting one of those made to wear around my section of West Trumpistan.
Lol, here are some mockups you can use https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6ejX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3ca3c7e3-a318-4889-933d-97d3be6f2db0_1024x1024.webp
I thought Hungary was out of money for such enterprises.
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me 891,785 times, I’m a MAGAT.
This!!! How many times do you have to get hit over the head before you realize who is really on your side. I keep thinking of Back to the Future with Biff Tannen and George McFly where Trump is Biff and Trump’s supporters are George. I’m waiting for today’s George to make a turn against Biff, but that required the inadvertent intervention of his future son, Marty McFly and happenstance in the movie, and I don’t see that here. I think Independents finally get it.
Well, Biff WAS based on Trump, and it’s easy to see why. Loud, dumb, bullying, obsessed with money and power, etc. Spot on! 😀
I don’t know if George is the equivalent of the Trump fans, though. I think they’re the sycophants who follow Biff because he makes them feel powerful. I think George symbolizes the majority who are just trying to get by without too much damage. We definitely need a Marty to show us how to stand up to Biff.
Wow!! Biff was based on Trump!! Hilarious. You have a good point about George and Biff’s followers. George was doing Biff’s homework and Biff was always taking credit for George’s work in the present before Marty gets sent back in time. .
115 likes? That has to be a record. Congrats!
Well, I don't know if it’s a record for the Bulwark, but it’s a record for me! Thanks! 😀
Congrats, but I think Travis got well over 200 some time ago.
I'm sure a lot of comments have gotten more likes: that’s why I said it was probably a record for me and not for the Bulwark. 🙂
As a fellow former Republican, my old belief that America had basically gotten over the race thing by electing Obama is probably the most wrong I ever was. With every state legislature in the south rushing to get rid of Black representation following the VRA travesty, Bill is right - very little appears to have fundamentally changed since the 1900s. It's still racism all the way down.
I thought that too, for that one night when he won the nomination. I don't know if I've ever been so happy, even when I had my babies. It didn't take long for the racists to crawl out of the woodwork, with Trump leading the charge. That's the main reason I cried when Trump won in 2016 and again in 2024.
I think a lot of Trumpism can be understood as the violent reactionary counter revolution to the progress we made from Slavery and Civil War and Jim Crow and the tough on crime racially coded politics of the 70s-00s towards multicultural pluralistic democracy and equal rights of citizens up to 2016. The re-election of the nation's first black president was an existential crisis for all the rascist chuds who are worried about "Western Civilization" which is their dog whistle for white supremacy
This is probably right. Like Tom and Pat, I'd thought, upon Obama's election, "Behold America! We are not perfect, but we persist to work towards our better selves!"
Yeah, I had that completely wrong.
And where there's racism, other forms of belittling, control, silencing, and exclusion will experience surging support. It affects all of us.
When Barack was elected, I was so happy that it brought tears to my eyes. I should’ve known better. His election caused the pot to start boiling. With Trump’s election, it boiled over. The racists came out from under their rocks. They’re out in the open now. Friends who’ve been exposed are now merely acquaintances.
The No Nothings 2.0.
I posted this on Lauren's article the other day, but the best firepower against redistricting should be led by the actual people being stripped of their rights, using the best leverage they have.
No black college athlete should play in any state where they are actively being disenfranchised. Don't sign with LSU, South Carolina, Clemson. If you are there, transfer immediately. Let those programs field all-white football teams. Hit them where it hurts the most. Probably the only thing MAGA Louisianans love more than hurting "the other" is LSU football. Same goes with any SEC program/state. And there are plenty of NIL dollars awaiting the best players at Michigan, University of Southern California, Penn State, Kansas, and Oregon.
Tim Miller, as an LSU guy; your thoughts?
Put the SEC out of the running for the foreseeable future! Maybe forever. Most of the SEC schools survive on sports money because their states sure as hell can't support them. As you said, hit them where it hurts. I live in Louisiana, too, and I'd bet that most of the people here love football more than Trump.
Pat - Yes! And at least football sometimes gives back to the fans
I love the sentiment, and I would smile if it happened. But we should not expect black kids to pay such a price for trying to fix our country. America isn't in a mess because of black voters. It is because of white voters. If white Americans vote for racism and authoritarianism, we can't expect black Americans to bail us out. We have to fix what we broke ourselves, or it won't get fixed.
For many of these football players, this is a chance at a real payday. Even if they never play in the NFL, it could be enough to change the course of their lives. And look at what they see around them. Billionaires, who already have more money than their great-grandchildren could ever spend, paid for Trump's election so they could have a little more. Hedge fund managers support Trump (and many members of Congress) to sustain their carried-interest deduction. Rich lawyers agreed to do Trump's work for free to get just a little more money. Everyday middle-class Americans voted for Trump because they wanted to pay less for a fucking chicken egg. And you are asking an 18-year-old black kid to give up NIL dollars at LSU? They are going to take what they can get when they have a chance, just like white heritage Americans. And it's not like fans in Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, or Indiana are any less racist that ones in Louisiana or South Carolina.
Black kids know white Americans are out to screw them, just like we have been screwing their families forever. NIL money is their chance to get back at "the man." They aren't going to pass, and we shouldn't ask them to.
But the SEC should have "been careful what it wished for." Football players have always been paid, but it wasn't as much and it was under the table. The SEC dominated for a long time because they were willing to cheat more than the other schools. They cheered when suddenly it was legal to do what they have always done, and now they can do it out in the open. But it's a different game now. Rich people who weren't willing to fork over dollars in a back alley have come to the table. Do fans of LSU really have more money to spend than alums of Ohio State and the Hollywood crowd at USC? And who knew that Indiana would spend more than anyone? But here we are.
Yes, this. Black voters have been in danger always. This is new to us, not them. Asking them to give up money and opportunity now doesn't sit right with me. However, each individual will do what they feel is right. And it shouldn't surprise anyone when many athletes choose colleges that are less restrictive of their rights, and when people want to live where they don't think they will be disenfranchised.
But those kids being recruited by LSU, Alabama, Georgia, and Ole Miss can probably get plenty of money from other conferences, where they are more likely to be treated as equals. They don't have to play here. I'm not asking them to give up their chance to make some real money, just asking them not to do business with racists. For one thing, the danger doesn't stop at not being able to vote. MAGA wants people of color GONE, and it appears they don't care how that happens. Frankly, if the only way to get rid of MAGA is civil war, money might not be the most important thing on the agenda. Also, it doesn't really have to be all of them: a few really great players publicly saying they won't play for college or NFL teams in states where their vote doesn't count might be enough. The South really does love football.
The market for college football players is a deep shade of red. Here are the final AP rankings from last season: 1. Indiana 2. Miami 3. Ole Miss 4. Oregon 5. Ohio State 6. Georgia 7. Texas Tech 8. Texas A&M 9. Alabama 10. Notre Dame 11. BYU 12. Texas 13. Oklahoma 14. Utah 15. Vanderbilt 16. Virginia 17. Iowa 18. Tulane 19. James Madison 20. USC
Only two of these schools are from solidly blue states: Oregon and USC. Three are from purplish states: Georgia, Virginia, and James Madison, and one of these (Georgia) is an SEC school. The rest are very red, even redder, and reddist of all. Do you really think it is better in Iowa than in Mississippi? For nearly two decades, the most overtly racist member of Congress was Steve King from Iowa.
Also, keep in mind that the money comes from advertising, and that goes preferentially to the very best players. Michael Jordon is a billionaire, and he made more from advertising than he did from his basketball contract. He told us why he never said anything political: because Republicans buy shoes too.
As a native Iowan, I say that Iowa is “better” than Mississippi in the sense that the voters in Steve King’s congressional district did not re-elect him after his noxious racist garbage became widely publicized. Also, the state’s non-partisan commission draws districts in a way that has been described as the “gold standard” approach, and while I’ve been extremely disappointed by the fact that the voters in these fairly-drawn districts have voted red in recent election cycles, I believe the results are going to be quite different in November, 2026. https://harkininstitute.drake.edu/news/drawn-out-how-iowa-got-redistricting-right/
I am a native Iowan also, and I went to college in Steve King's district. I don't think his voters had any problem with his racism. They turned on him after he committed the unpardonable sin of getting kicked off the agricultural committee.
I have no words to express how disappointed I have been in the place where my family had such deep roots. Every branch of my family had been in Iowa for generations, some since before it was even a state. A few years ago, representatives from my alma mater approached me about setting up a scholarship fund. I seriously considered it, and I had the resources to do it. But Iowa had voted for Trump, and then they did it again (and again). And the legislature passed a law that banned thousands of books from public schools. I decided that investing in a place that had turned it's back on education would be wasted money, and I looked elsewhere.
I look forward to Iowans rethinking their political choices, but I'm not holding my breath.
Steve King would be at home with today's MAGA.
Important distinction, they dont want them gone, just back out in the fields or at the factories where they belong. You ask a southerners if they support slavery and tgey will say no, but ask them if a immigrant or person of color should be paid the same for the same work and they'll scream hell no from the branches. They know they shouldn't say they support slavery, but they do.
Football teams must have the same ratio of blacks to whites as the state Congressional delegation?
That might be tough for some states, such as Oregon, with only 2% of the population being black. To my knowledge, Oregon has never elected a black congressional representative and barely has any black representation at the state level. It's not, for example, Mississippi, with 41% of the population being black.
Oregon’s 5th congressional district is represented by a black woman, Janelle Bynum: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon's_congressional_districts#/media/File:Bynum_Janelle_119th_Congress.jpg
yes, Bynum defeated Chavez-DeRemer, the former Labor Secretary
You're right. My northern mind was only thinking about the south.
I grew up just up the road from Oregon in Washington and it is much the same. I recall a time, back in the 80's, when folks were complaining about Californians moving in and driving up all of the property values. I can't believe it took me 40 years to figure out that they were probably complaining out loud about black Californians...
this may appear in later comments, but why wouldn't you ask that the WHITE players refuse to play in states that promote racism? Make it shameful for ANYONE to play college football in a state that tries to eliminate the influence of black voters. Why would you give white player a pass to play wherever they want, but tell the black players to play only for certain colleges?
As a former athlete at the University of South Carolina, I absolutely agree with this. I am not a POC, but POC's of all ethnicity should avoid these states. This should be expanded to include those who excel at academics, like medical and legal programs as well.
Sadly, the opposite could be said about states who are redistricting in favor of democrats. The maga folks can easily say "they dont care about white republicans." (Have to play devils advocate here)
ScottG - The southern states don't hate young black men. Quite the contrary; they love them as long as the teams win championships. But once they graduate they need to know their place and never get uppity if they want to stay in the good graces of the massa. Lincoln may have freed the slaves, but he never managed to drive a stake through the twisted heart of slavery, and the south is determined to bring it back.
I'm not sure how realistic it is for student athletes to do what you suggest, but I'm all for a coordinated "strike" in which all non-white student athletes sit out all games of all college sports on a given weekend.
James Cliburne should lead the charge since he will be redistricted out of existence. (the new civil rights protest)
Brilliant. Of course, they'll just gerrymander the college playing field and get rid of the schools they don't...
I’m shocked, shocked! that the man behind Trump University would run another scam!
Or the Trump Charity, which was found never to have accomplished a single charitable act, using monies donated instead for things like a full-size oil painting of Trump himself; and which was deemed by a court to be so corrupt that corporate capital punishment was the only option.
Didn't it also pay dues for whatever Boy Scouts troop one of the sons belonged to?
I hadn't heard that, but it would make sense. They were using it as as personal checking account.
From the original WaPo Oct. 29, 2016 story on Trump's charitable giving: "[The foundation's] smallest-ever gift, for $7, was paid to the Boy Scouts in 1989, at a time when it cost $7 to register a new Scout. Trump’s oldest son was 11 at the time. Trump did not respond to a question about whether the money was paid to register him."
Tom. I heard it was two portraits, one, six feet in length.
Two is worse.
Yup!
Trump Steaks
Trump Vodka
Trump Mortgage (opened in 2007 months before the housing crash)
Trump Casinos
Trump Magazine
Trump cologne
Trump Mattresses
Trump Shuttle
Trump Football
Trump Urine Test Kits (to go with the "personalized" Trump vitamins)...
To be trumped is already listed as a synonym for being fleeced.
And “trumpery” is already a word for showy, useless junk.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trumpery
I’m guessing the cards he holds are from a 500 pack. 10 no trumps!
That can be a tough bid. The Iran "excursion" is another card example. Iran has the cards since they drew an inside straight w control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump would be hard pressed to get 6 spades !
Bible still going strong! Doctor Trump Jesus for the W
All have gone belly up.
EVERYTHING TRUMP TOUCHES....
Dies
" I'm Shocked that there is gambling in this establishment"!
But a half a million people fell for it.
Andrew: "This is remarkable, unprecedented political loyalty. Without it, Trump could never have gotten back to where he is today—and he’d certainly be in no position to shake down the sheikhs. And how does his family repay this loyalty? By selling his poor dumb true believers a vaporware phone."
The best thing about the past 11 years has been watching a sizable percentage of the electorate reveal themselves to be both credulous and irredeemably stupid.
The worst thing about the past 11 years is realizing that a brigade of Cleti can effectively destroy American prestige both domestically and internationally.
And added to this, these people, MAGA; we know the Trumps were born with no shame, don’t care that the mess this country is in is on them, and them alone. They’d rather burn their house down and complain the matches made them do it!
It’s all about money now for the Trumps.
I know it was about money for this family. Presently it is only about money for them; steal as much as they can because that’s what MAGA is for.
I used to think these folks lived in a MAGA “bubble,” but bubbles are fragile and fleeting. I now believe they live in geo-domes.
Just so happens I knew a Cletus form my youth. Never guess his last name - Link. Of course, you'll know his nickname of a middle name - Missing. His name matched his profile.
Important to always remind yourself they had the willing cooperation of every single Republican and no small number of Democrats. If we're going to teach pur political leadership a lesson, we'll need more than 12 rounds for the firing squad.
Mind you, I cant think of a better use for the marine corps budget.
I’ll just keep saying it: the core of Trump’s support is a cult. Cults are not rational. Stop expecting them to behave in ways that take political realities into account. Likewise, Republicans who depend upon the votes of the cultists to survive in a primary have no leeway to act normally.
Bryan - true. We can add ‘economic’ to ‘political’ in your second sentence… tho we hope the stove touching might yet register sufficient discomfort
All the more reason they should stop surviving, and thier cultists along with them.
I got zero sympathy for anybody who sent $100 in for that phone. These people are simply never going to learn. And it’s not even a matter of if they’ll notice the next time? When next time comes, they’re gonna send their money.
Dawn - bright side: there’s $100 they won’t be able to donate to a republican campaign fund
Well... I am not so sure, at this point, that donating to the GoP isn't the same thing as donating to the Trump family.
Pretty much, as long as we stipulate that that equation only works in one direction (not the Brit boi band). Money given to the Trump Family is like a Vegas trip - what goes there stays there 💸💸💸
I'm certain they'll dig deep and find another $100. It's not a legitimate movement if folks are not willing to make sacrifices for the cause.
editor sez: strike 'movement', insert 'cult'
According to Marketing, "movement" polls better than "cult" with swing voters.
lol 😺😺
or less for gas
They voted for this stupid mobster because they didn't like the price of eggs.
And yet, they have $100 to throw away on an imaginary, tacky gold phone. They'll grin and bear it while waiting for Bullwinkle J. Moose to pull that damn rabbit out of his hat.
No they voted for this guy because of the racism and sexism. The price of eggs is the face they put on that to not look racist and sexist.
That is completely understood. But eggs sounds so much more polite.
Reminds me of the yacht guy who was complaining about the economy. When interviewed he was complaining about the economy, yet he couldn’t articulate was that he or his kids were suffering.
They just parrot a script.
Jeri, We’re talking about people who are very afraid one of their friends will get it. Their social group will get it. But they will be left out!
"There is a sucker born every minute"....... PT Barnun, endorsed by DJT
Andrew wrote: "[For] many MAGA superfans, being endlessly shaken down for cash via a blizzard of unbelievably sleazy campaign-solicitation texts and emails has become a defining feature of their digital lives." But don't you *dare* call them dumb or imply they're suckers and losers!
Oh, and Trump is the biggest freeloader in America. He doesn't know what food, housing, transportation, or health care cost Americans. And he doesn't care what food, housing, transportation or health care cost Americans.
He's out there calling the White House a shithouse. Excuse me, who pays for Trump to live in the lap of luxury on endless golfing trips? ME! YOU!
And to make my point:
Q: To what extent are Americans' financial situations motivating you to make a deal with Iran?
TRUMP: "Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody."
https://bsky.app/profile/kylegriffin1.bsky.social/post/3mlofy3zadc23
He's such a freeloading cheap moocher.
Among other things...
No one should be shocked that Republicans are running hard enough to break their own legs in the process to strip rights of everyone who disagrees with them. They are literally telling the world that either you are with us, or you are to be subjugated without rights.
We are in a civil war folks. This is the preamble, where Republicans make every effort to solidify their racists and rapist view of the world. They are trying their damndest to take us back to wealthy White Men literally owning the labor force. Everyone who supports them is complicit. Yep - that means your friends and family that folks just can’t stop associating with - they are against you and you having rights. I hope you recognize exactly who they are and how little they think about your value to the world beyond what you can do for them.
Diehard MAGA folks are often candid about the fact that they don’t watch the news. They have a certain image of the Leader in their minds and they want to keep it that way.
✅ Where “I do my own research” meets this new know nothing era
Yesterday, I saw a post on FB that said something along the lines of "They didn't need to watch the MSM because Fox News provides plenty snippets to know what they are saying."
It's so frustrating for people to "know" what the MSM is saying without actually watching it. Fox News loves it and encourages this policy.
Fox doesn’t report the scams.
A MAGA commenter in my local online newspaper (Tampa Bay Times) wrote yesterday "the New York Times just admitted that climate change is a HOAX!"
I'm sure he heard that on Fox "news." I read the NY Times, and no one wrote anything of the sort.
If you want to have a little "fun" or a desire to pull your hair out...go to the Fox News website and look what news articles they choose to display on their homepage. Do it for like 5 days in a row. You will then begin to understand exactly why their audience believes what they do.
I actually did this for 8 straight years. 6 months into it...I dropped my support of the GOP and became independent because it was so blatant ESPECIALLY in support of Trump's first term.
I believe it would actually break their brains if they acknowledged that the orange one and his criminal family scammed them.
They might not come back from that!
Nah, they always have a "whataboutism" handy to defend themselves from ignorance of thier own idiocy.
Not even Fox? Which might have the occasional fact?
Realtor: Yes, ma'am, I know you put a deposit down on the house, but the owners may or may not sell the house at some point in the future. I thought we made that clear at the open house.
Tesla dealer: Yes, sir, I know that you put a deposit down on our flying cars, but at this time our inventory is strictly terrestrial.
Unregulated capitalism is just a grifters paradise. These people will keep getting swindled and keep loving their swindlers and hating the people who point the swindle out, and keep calling any regulatory regime Bolshevism.
Well, the people who are pointing the swindle out are effectively calling them stupid. Nobody likes to be called stupid--and the truly stupid seem to get even more upset about it than the people who just did something stupid once.
The people who know they are stupid and are taking advantage of it actually say they are smart.
If they decide to offer an actual phone for sale, IT DOESN’T CONSTITUTE ACCEPTANCE OF AN ORDER. It’s not like preordering a book from Amazon.
IT DOESN’T GUARANTEE THAT A DEVICE WILL BE PRODUCED OR MADE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE. There may never BE a phone for you to buy.
Thank you for gifting the Trump family $100.
Tesla Dealer: Although if you gain enough speed and drive down a hilly road...you might become anti-terrestrial upon occasion.
I'm picturing Thelma and Louise in a Cybertruck
The Tesla comparison is closer than you suspect. After all, the car is just hardware -- the company controls the software and owns it in the same way Amazon owns all those Kindle texts you downloaded. Your hardware can be bricked at any time.
And the Kindle books only last your lifetime. You can’t leave them to your kids. Same with iTunes.
Why I still buy actual books. Unfortunately, none of my family want to inherit them.
You can always donate them to your local library.
That’s what will likely happen. As a former library manager, the problem with large donations is that they cost money to process, accession and catalogue. And mostly the donations don’t include funds to do this. So a financial donation will be needed as well as the physical items.
Good thinking. At the library where I worked, volunteers did the sorting and stacking for donations, but every library is different.
Don't worry, I'll buy them used from Thriftbooks.
Yes, I know what you mean!
I’m a firm believer in Ruskin’s supposed adage:
“A book worth reading is a book worth owning”.
I sometimes think Obama’s election, while enraging to the right, has somehow given permission to go hard after “color blind” policies that become effectively racist. No need for any accommodations anymore, since Obama’s election proved we are not racist. I sure miss that family in the White House.
My MAGA friends often say that Obama was the most racist President we've ever had. I simply shake my head at the heartbreaking irony, ignorance and lack of self-awareness.
Carey - exactly. Since Obama’s election proved America isn’t racist, nothing anyone does now could be racist. Ipso facto, QED 🎤💥
I’ve seen even moderates defending the gutting of the VRA on grounds of “color blindness.”
Hi Frau Katze:
Andrew Egger almost jumped on the "color blindness" bandwagon last week when he wrote:
> "Still, there’s a reasonable argument to support Justice Samuel Alito’s conclusion that the way some courts had chosen to apply the VRA over the years had become preposterous—finding that if a state’s population could support a racial gerrymander creating a certain number of majority-minority districts, it was bound by law to do so."
I was flabbergasted and responded to him with this comment:
https://thebulwark.substack.com/p/tit-for-tatting-democracy-to-death-gerrymandering-redistricting-supreme-court-louisiana-voting-rights-act?r=q73tk&utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=252946787
The "What's the Matter with Kansas" ethos has marbleized throughout the entire country. What do you do when a large portion of the electorate is eager to be scammed, and is happy when the scammers gut any and all regulatory agencies that might sanction scammers? They're tearing down the CFPB. The scammers tell the prosecutors whom to prosecute and whom to ignore. And none of this should be a surprise to anyone, so fuck the 590,000 people who lost $100 to this grift. You lose. Suckers and losers.
You can say it Bill. Trump is a racist. Sam Alito is a racist (and a liar). Roberts, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett and yes, even Thomas are racists (and signed onto the lie). All the Republican governors and legislators voting to carve up Black majority districts and nullify their votes are racists. Ignore what they say. By their actions, they are all racists.
We told everyone they were racists. We told you this would happen. But it turns out that the only thing worse than being a racist was calling them out.
The idea behind the South's eager reaction to Callais stems from the Civil War. This constant theme of US history was reenergized by Reagan and remains a pillar of the republican party. Recognizing it as such is mocked as 'woke' by the current administration. It is a powerful tool honed to near perfection by republicans of all stripes across the country. No amount of logic or reason will ever overcome this curse that defines US.
As some people down here have said for forever, "The South will rise again!"
And so it is proving.