I did my freshman and sophomore years at Iowa State and my baby sis is a U of I grad. We both proudly, eagerly and emphatically raise all four of our middle fingers to salute the former guy.
Sigh... I've looked closely at that picture. The fingers don't appear to match the proportions of the hands. Maybe doctored (although another picture of that individual from a different angle seems consistent with giving Trump the finger). But overall, most of the crowd with upraised hands are giving Trump the QAnon salute :(
Unfortunately there is also film (or whatever they're using these days) of him being exuberantly cheered and adored as he leaves after the game. But, like you, I guess I'll enjoy some pleasure the bird flipping students give me.
Remember it’s a college game. A good portion of the student body isn’t from Iowa.
That said, Trump is just the malignant tumor, the cancer is the party itself. Trump didn’t have to extort or even coax the politicians who tried to send fake electors to congress, or to storm the Capitol. They were happy to oblige. Remember, 21 members of Congress including senators were indicted by the grand jury in GA, even though Willis didn’t pursue charges.
That said, the republicans know they can’t win a fair fight, so no illegal scheme is beneath them, because the next election will have two outcomes.
MAGA dies the death it deserves or MAGA wins, and we get more unqualified federalists society judges, who will rule this nation by Judicial fiat should any democrats ever get elected again to the executive.
And if you think I’m crazy, look no further than Florida which has fired two elected DA’s, and is now trying to remove democratic judges by changing how they are elected. In WI, a Supreme Court judge is going to be impeached before she ever has a chance to rule on a case. In NC, a sitting democratic judge is being investigated by the Judicial Standards commission: she is black. In AL, the state refused to change the re-districting map, per a SCOTUS ruling, and instead has defied the courts. And how many of these morally bankrupt charlatans have been arrested? None!
The MAGA party is on life support, so expect no quarter. They will scheme and try every means possible; legal or not to upend the next election to get Trump elected. It is a zero sum game!
And to make matters worse, they’re no shortages of right-wing organizations and billionaires that will finance their schemes!
And all this has been in the works since Reagan! Trump just unleashed it, aided by state party hacks who gerrymandered districts to insert total morons in the US Congress, none of them with any intention of governing (assuming they know that's the job or how to do it).
MAGA GOPers are in that very dangerous category of “nothing left to lose”. Without their autocratic plans, their movement will die, or go permanently underground, and they know it. They’re going for broke. The fact that they’ve created and shared their “Project 2025” document which openly destroys the Constitution and our democracy, is an unequivocal sign,
I have been saying this over and over. They are behaving as if there are no consequences for their actions - therefore we should all be paying attention to what they are planning to do in order to avoid the consequences. This includes how they are planning to not lose (steal) elections. Pay attention and believe them - they have no intention of giving up power, ever. We cannot afford more failure of imagination. Imagine the worst and fight like everything depends upon defeating MAGA and the GOP, because it does.
One thing about Trump, his Magas and Republicans. They are very transparent. They shout about what they want this country to become, a fascist regime. And they shout and try actions towards their goal. We have 14 months to act and prepare. I don't care about polls. Biden won by 8 million vote and that was before Trump got indicted and is facing trials. He was demented before, but he is getting worse. Would any of Biden's voters suddenly decide to vote for Trump in 2024? I don't think so, on the contrary, I think that he will win more voters. As if we went to the store and selected an apple slightly bruised over one obviously rotten. When we go back for another apple, do we choose the rotten one even if there still a slightly bruised one?
The issue could be that more bruised apple buyers decide not to buy any apple at all, while the rotten apple buyers overwhelm the grocer. Or they just hijack the apple cart at some point before/during the trip to market.
I have been thinking that about all the lawyers charged in the GA case. What were they thinking? They must have known what they were doing was fraudulent. I'm sure they are motivated by power - like Graham, as Will Saletan says, they want to be in the room where it happens.
It must be that they figure, as all white-collar criminals do, they won't get caught. They'll disrupt the election and Trump stays in office and his DOJ won't pursue them. Although I'm not sure how that calculation affects the state crimes they committed.
The Framers were right in putting the responsibility for national elections in the hands of the states.
Not really. The Electoral College has confirmed and expanded the people's choice much more often than it has defied it -- and in the 1860 election if we hadn't had the Electoral College, we wouldn't have had Lincoln and we wouldn't be talking about it in one country now.
What has twisted the Electoral College has been the cap on the size of the House of Representatives: the under-representation of the more populous States there has flowed directly through to the Electoral College. Fix the House, and you fix the Electoral College, too.
Also want to say, the dif btw the popular vote and the EC matters ONLY when a candidate, like HRC, wins the popular vote by onnly 2-3 points. Biden won it by 4.5 points. That was enough to give him the EC win.
Interesting. I agree the House needs fixing. I have come to believe in the National Popular Vote Act for the presidency. But there is something wrong with any device, like the E.C., that allows the person with the fewest votes to take the office not won by the vote.
If we fix the House, that should not happen. That only needs a normal law, so I wish they'd get to it in the next Congress.
If you're talking about the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, I think that's too clever by half. I can't see it obtaining approval from the requisite number of states, and I can't see Congress approving it, as it must any interstate compact. But even if it gets past THOSE hurdles, I think it will last exactly as long as it takes for the case of one voter who voted for the winner of her state and saw the state's electoral votes switched to the state loser who was also the popular vote winner in other states in compliance with the compact to get to the Supreme Court.
FYI, I just came across this book, "Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?" by Harvard Kennedy School prof Alexander Keyssar (which means I haven't read it . . .) "After tracing the Electoral College’s tangled origins at the Constitutional Convention, he explores the efforts from 1800 to 2020 to abolish or significantly reform it, showing why each has failed. Reasons include the complexity of the electoral system’s design, the tendency of political parties to elevate partisan advantage above democratic values, the difficulty of passing constitutional amendments, and, importantly, the South’s prolonged backing of the Electoral College, grounded in its desire to preserve white supremacy in the region. The commonly voiced explanation that small states have blocked reform for fear of losing influence proves to have been true only occasionally" (https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674278592).
I agree with a lot of Yascha Mounk's positions, you'll probably find the authors' more congenial, but it's a good discussion, with a lot more light than heat.
I'm a dual citizen, US/Brazil, living in Brazil. Brazil does a lot of things that you might approve of: elections are run nationally by a special branch of the Judiciary, they take place on Sundays, voting is compulsory between the ages of 18 and 70, optional over 70 and between 16 and 18. The President and Vice President are elected by national popular vote in a two-stage process, with the two highest votegetters going to a runoff if no one gets a majority in the first round. Federalism is much less important here for a lot of reasons specific to the different histories of the two countries. Outside of a growing rift on LGBT issues, the Left and the Right, or at least their centrist majorities, are much less polarized than their US counterparts and on issues like immigration, education, church-state relations, identity politics, and even abortion, there's a broad national consensus.
Nevertheless, after every election there are still denunciations from the losing side that somehow the winners aren't "legitimate". Even though voting is compulsory, the losers still complain about turnout. And even with over thirty political parties and proportional representation in city councils, state assemblies, and the lower chamber of Congress, the most common complaint here, as in the US is that "there's nobody to vote for!" This all convinces me that the ability of election reforms to "reform" human nature is ... limited. 😉
He just came out with plans for tariffs if he’s re-elected. He could fail to reimburse farmers for money lost as a result like he did in his first debacle.
After the 2020 election results came out...I quietly said to my GOP loving friends over a beer...that I was concerned that Trump wouldn't support a peaceful transition of power. I was called out for these blasphemous words! None of them has ever brought this up since...
Where I was cautious in 2020...I'm not any more. If Trump gets elected...he will NOT leave office willingly and it will be 4 years of attempting to overturn the election system or flat out getting rid of it.
Fair enough, but what about all the pardons for the falsely accused REAL American’s, who walked peacefully during a normal tourist day at the Capitol, singing Kumbaya?...:)
I hate to be too cynical, but that two term limit thing is just a law (yes, amendment, still just a law) . The guy has called for the suspension of the Constitution and currently leads the pack in the party of law and order. When the 2028 election is suspended due to a 'crisis' and all the red states go along, we will have one hell of a mess on our hands, but one in which till Jan 20th, he'll be the lawful commander in chief.
Seeing as how I am 76 now, if Trump is re-ensconced in the White House in '24, The odds are pretty good that I probably won't be around in 2028 to enjoy his coronation/assassination, because, short of a heart attack or massive stroke, the latter is the only way he'll ever leave.
I think about the many dangers of another Trump presidency a lot lately. I have no idea what current polls really mean. But after 2016, I take nothing for granted. Trump was green the first time. Next time, not so much.
Given how readily so many Americans seem to be ready to ignore the 14th Amendment, what makes the 22nd immune from disregard? They'll just make up some reason why it would be for the better to just ignore it, lest we upset MAGA.
Technically, the 25th Amendment would have to be repealed, since it sets presidential term limits. However, it also establishes the succession order. For all of their vileness, I don't think even House Republicans would go there in sufficient numbers. If Trump won, and the 25th was shredded, then it would be a legitimate free for all, because if Trump died, technically anyone could succeed him. If there is no established order, than the Viveks of the world will take advantage.
Look at the 14th Amendment, it isn't automatic, someone has to implement. That's my concern with term number 3. Your bottom line is correct: it'll turn into a free for all.
That picture of the ball game in Iowa perks up my black little heart. :)
I love that photo!
Give that guy an honorary BW+ subscription.
Was Trump auditioning for a role as Spock in a remake of Wrath of Khan?
I did my freshman and sophomore years at Iowa State and my baby sis is a U of I grad. We both proudly, eagerly and emphatically raise all four of our middle fingers to salute the former guy.
Just like Putin--hiding out behind a wall of glass, nowhere near the fanpeeps he says he loves so much.
Sigh... I've looked closely at that picture. The fingers don't appear to match the proportions of the hands. Maybe doctored (although another picture of that individual from a different angle seems consistent with giving Trump the finger). But overall, most of the crowd with upraised hands are giving Trump the QAnon salute :(
Unfortunately there is also film (or whatever they're using these days) of him being exuberantly cheered and adored as he leaves after the game. But, like you, I guess I'll enjoy some pleasure the bird flipping students give me.
Remember it’s a college game. A good portion of the student body isn’t from Iowa.
That said, Trump is just the malignant tumor, the cancer is the party itself. Trump didn’t have to extort or even coax the politicians who tried to send fake electors to congress, or to storm the Capitol. They were happy to oblige. Remember, 21 members of Congress including senators were indicted by the grand jury in GA, even though Willis didn’t pursue charges.
That said, the republicans know they can’t win a fair fight, so no illegal scheme is beneath them, because the next election will have two outcomes.
MAGA dies the death it deserves or MAGA wins, and we get more unqualified federalists society judges, who will rule this nation by Judicial fiat should any democrats ever get elected again to the executive.
And if you think I’m crazy, look no further than Florida which has fired two elected DA’s, and is now trying to remove democratic judges by changing how they are elected. In WI, a Supreme Court judge is going to be impeached before she ever has a chance to rule on a case. In NC, a sitting democratic judge is being investigated by the Judicial Standards commission: she is black. In AL, the state refused to change the re-districting map, per a SCOTUS ruling, and instead has defied the courts. And how many of these morally bankrupt charlatans have been arrested? None!
The MAGA party is on life support, so expect no quarter. They will scheme and try every means possible; legal or not to upend the next election to get Trump elected. It is a zero sum game!
And to make matters worse, they’re no shortages of right-wing organizations and billionaires that will finance their schemes!
And all this has been in the works since Reagan! Trump just unleashed it, aided by state party hacks who gerrymandered districts to insert total morons in the US Congress, none of them with any intention of governing (assuming they know that's the job or how to do it).
MAGA GOPers are in that very dangerous category of “nothing left to lose”. Without their autocratic plans, their movement will die, or go permanently underground, and they know it. They’re going for broke. The fact that they’ve created and shared their “Project 2025” document which openly destroys the Constitution and our democracy, is an unequivocal sign,
I have been saying this over and over. They are behaving as if there are no consequences for their actions - therefore we should all be paying attention to what they are planning to do in order to avoid the consequences. This includes how they are planning to not lose (steal) elections. Pay attention and believe them - they have no intention of giving up power, ever. We cannot afford more failure of imagination. Imagine the worst and fight like everything depends upon defeating MAGA and the GOP, because it does.
One thing about Trump, his Magas and Republicans. They are very transparent. They shout about what they want this country to become, a fascist regime. And they shout and try actions towards their goal. We have 14 months to act and prepare. I don't care about polls. Biden won by 8 million vote and that was before Trump got indicted and is facing trials. He was demented before, but he is getting worse. Would any of Biden's voters suddenly decide to vote for Trump in 2024? I don't think so, on the contrary, I think that he will win more voters. As if we went to the store and selected an apple slightly bruised over one obviously rotten. When we go back for another apple, do we choose the rotten one even if there still a slightly bruised one?
The issue could be that more bruised apple buyers decide not to buy any apple at all, while the rotten apple buyers overwhelm the grocer. Or they just hijack the apple cart at some point before/during the trip to market.
I have been thinking that about all the lawyers charged in the GA case. What were they thinking? They must have known what they were doing was fraudulent. I'm sure they are motivated by power - like Graham, as Will Saletan says, they want to be in the room where it happens.
It must be that they figure, as all white-collar criminals do, they won't get caught. They'll disrupt the election and Trump stays in office and his DOJ won't pursue them. Although I'm not sure how that calculation affects the state crimes they committed.
The Framers were right in putting the responsibility for national elections in the hands of the states.
But they were sure wrong about the electoral college.
Not really. The Electoral College has confirmed and expanded the people's choice much more often than it has defied it -- and in the 1860 election if we hadn't had the Electoral College, we wouldn't have had Lincoln and we wouldn't be talking about it in one country now.
What has twisted the Electoral College has been the cap on the size of the House of Representatives: the under-representation of the more populous States there has flowed directly through to the Electoral College. Fix the House, and you fix the Electoral College, too.
Also want to say, the dif btw the popular vote and the EC matters ONLY when a candidate, like HRC, wins the popular vote by onnly 2-3 points. Biden won it by 4.5 points. That was enough to give him the EC win.
Thx for this.
Interesting. I agree the House needs fixing. I have come to believe in the National Popular Vote Act for the presidency. But there is something wrong with any device, like the E.C., that allows the person with the fewest votes to take the office not won by the vote.
If we fix the House, that should not happen. That only needs a normal law, so I wish they'd get to it in the next Congress.
If you're talking about the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, I think that's too clever by half. I can't see it obtaining approval from the requisite number of states, and I can't see Congress approving it, as it must any interstate compact. But even if it gets past THOSE hurdles, I think it will last exactly as long as it takes for the case of one voter who voted for the winner of her state and saw the state's electoral votes switched to the state loser who was also the popular vote winner in other states in compliance with the compact to get to the Supreme Court.
FYI, I just came across this book, "Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?" by Harvard Kennedy School prof Alexander Keyssar (which means I haven't read it . . .) "After tracing the Electoral College’s tangled origins at the Constitutional Convention, he explores the efforts from 1800 to 2020 to abolish or significantly reform it, showing why each has failed. Reasons include the complexity of the electoral system’s design, the tendency of political parties to elevate partisan advantage above democratic values, the difficulty of passing constitutional amendments, and, importantly, the South’s prolonged backing of the Electoral College, grounded in its desire to preserve white supremacy in the region. The commonly voiced explanation that small states have blocked reform for fear of losing influence proves to have been true only occasionally" (https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674278592).
I'm for whatever puts the person with the most votes in the office they got the most votes for.
I'm willing to try the interstate compact because I don't see another path for that anymore.
Frankly, I do not see how the federal govt is "fixed" in any way at this point -- none of it.
If you haven't seen it yet, you might enjoy this recent conversation in Persuasion:
https://www.persuasion.community/p/levitsky-ziblatt#details
I agree with a lot of Yascha Mounk's positions, you'll probably find the authors' more congenial, but it's a good discussion, with a lot more light than heat.
I'm a dual citizen, US/Brazil, living in Brazil. Brazil does a lot of things that you might approve of: elections are run nationally by a special branch of the Judiciary, they take place on Sundays, voting is compulsory between the ages of 18 and 70, optional over 70 and between 16 and 18. The President and Vice President are elected by national popular vote in a two-stage process, with the two highest votegetters going to a runoff if no one gets a majority in the first round. Federalism is much less important here for a lot of reasons specific to the different histories of the two countries. Outside of a growing rift on LGBT issues, the Left and the Right, or at least their centrist majorities, are much less polarized than their US counterparts and on issues like immigration, education, church-state relations, identity politics, and even abortion, there's a broad national consensus.
Nevertheless, after every election there are still denunciations from the losing side that somehow the winners aren't "legitimate". Even though voting is compulsory, the losers still complain about turnout. And even with over thirty political parties and proportional representation in city councils, state assemblies, and the lower chamber of Congress, the most common complaint here, as in the US is that "there's nobody to vote for!" This all convinces me that the ability of election reforms to "reform" human nature is ... limited. 😉
Well said and thank you....:)
The blank stare says it all. Trying hard (but failing) to mask the realization that those who don't adore him, hate with everything they have.
That isn’t funny and it IS hilarious! (-:
He just came out with plans for tariffs if he’s re-elected. He could fail to reimburse farmers for money lost as a result like he did in his first debacle.
Not "could" but "would."
Won't work. All his cult members think China pays the tariffs. Reality isn't their strong suit. :)
After the 2020 election results came out...I quietly said to my GOP loving friends over a beer...that I was concerned that Trump wouldn't support a peaceful transition of power. I was called out for these blasphemous words! None of them has ever brought this up since...
Where I was cautious in 2020...I'm not any more. If Trump gets elected...he will NOT leave office willingly and it will be 4 years of attempting to overturn the election system or flat out getting rid of it.
He will still need the terror the induce in the hearts of the House and Senate GOP members.
He still needs their love and adulation: He is a narcissistic sociopath, after all...:)
Fair enough, but what about all the pardons for the falsely accused REAL American’s, who walked peacefully during a normal tourist day at the Capitol, singing Kumbaya?...:)
Exactly. Executive action to void the two term limit or some such thing. If he gets in again the only way he's going out is in a box.
I hate to be too cynical, but that two term limit thing is just a law (yes, amendment, still just a law) . The guy has called for the suspension of the Constitution and currently leads the pack in the party of law and order. When the 2028 election is suspended due to a 'crisis' and all the red states go along, we will have one hell of a mess on our hands, but one in which till Jan 20th, he'll be the lawful commander in chief.
Seeing as how I am 76 now, if Trump is re-ensconced in the White House in '24, The odds are pretty good that I probably won't be around in 2028 to enjoy his coronation/assassination, because, short of a heart attack or massive stroke, the latter is the only way he'll ever leave.
Folk wisdom sez, "You can't kill a man born to hang."
Was it Malcolm X who created the "ballots or bullets" slogan? We can add "burgers" but so far no good.
I think about the many dangers of another Trump presidency a lot lately. I have no idea what current polls really mean. But after 2016, I take nothing for granted. Trump was green the first time. Next time, not so much.
Given how readily so many Americans seem to be ready to ignore the 14th Amendment, what makes the 22nd immune from disregard? They'll just make up some reason why it would be for the better to just ignore it, lest we upset MAGA.
They've already floated this trial balloon. The third term will be "reparations" for the failed Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.
What's to actually stop him fro from a third term? Someone has to step up and say "no." Hasn't happened yet.
Technically, the 25th Amendment would have to be repealed, since it sets presidential term limits. However, it also establishes the succession order. For all of their vileness, I don't think even House Republicans would go there in sufficient numbers. If Trump won, and the 25th was shredded, then it would be a legitimate free for all, because if Trump died, technically anyone could succeed him. If there is no established order, than the Viveks of the world will take advantage.
Look at the 14th Amendment, it isn't automatic, someone has to implement. That's my concern with term number 3. Your bottom line is correct: it'll turn into a free for all.
Nothing would stop him. This is precisely his plan already. Just watch.
death
Amen 🙏 RIP 🪦
Tomorrow would be even better!
The thought of your granddaughter on your lap while you're on the Bulwark is very pleasing.. Hooray for Little Ones!