Blanche: "I’ll never say no, and we will always investigate any evidence of misconduct, but as you know, it is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein. And some of these men may have done horrible things, and if we have evidence that allows us to prosecute them, you better believe we will. But it’s also the kind of thing that the American people need to understand that it isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein."
< Tim rubs his eyes >
The one thing I'm grateful for during these last 11 years is people have revealed their true selves. For some, their ambition overrides their moral compass (assuming of course they had one to begin with), and this is the case for Blanche. He knows deep down that his boss is a moral degenerate of the highest order, and yet because he desperately wants to be AG, he's willing to do **anything** to get there. There's a high probability that Trump had sexual encounters with underage girls, which is why he appointed his own lawyer to acting AG in order to bury the evidence.
Speaking personally, I believe the country deserves the embarrassment and shame that comes with this. The electorate made an amoral, corrupt bargain with Donald Trump, and because the electorate is largely stupid, it didn't occur to them that Trump would renege on that bargain.
I believe I read that most of his Save America, $120m-125 was spent on lawyers’s fees. Except for $120k that went to whoever took care of his wife’s hair.
Jim Crow (Plessey v Ferguson) has seeped into the Great Plains states, the rural Northwest, and are split, out West. The Mid-West and the Upper Great Plains did not know Jim Crow directly. But they've 'heard it thru the grapevine'. They watched TV news about all the black murders happening the cities. On TV. Everyday. They got scared. They voted GOP.
Grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Mother told me our family fought hard in the Civil War on both sides; or as she described it 'The War Between the States' (or in Georgia where I lived for 40 years 'The War of Northern Agression'). Many in my family died on both sides. But then she said sadly: "We all would have been better off if the South just won the war."
Later she suggested, "You should read this book 'Atlas Shrugged'." Gave me a copy. "Then you'll know who we are." I still love my departed mother. Before she died she told me "You know, I think maybe we should have gun control...That may end the problem" She just beginning to understand...
I grew up 1st in a Catholic grammar school in the 60's with 3 pictures on the wall: Jesus Christ on the cross in the middle, Gandhi to the right, and MLK to the left. Then went to a Latin school. 60-40 Liberal and Conservative at the time. Got it all. Totally cool.
Today the Latin school is thriving better than ever, with much new infused big money influences (while it still values individuality as it's raison d'etre). But is now owned by Sinclair Broadcasting...It is more of a Trumpist mind, (but less extreme not like Hillsdale). The South thinks it's finally winning the long march from the original war, given its new geographical allies and newly federalized power. So much for states rights.
We need to do better. Lincoln went to the mat for us and he almost lost. Then he won. WE must all become small Abraham Lincolns.
Maybe Trump is the one now being guided by God to finally rip the blindfold from the MAGAt's eyes...be nice to them, accept those back that see the light--like progigal sons and daughters. Do not hate them for they know not what they do. They have been fooled by a "Supernatural Anethestist". Their eyes will quickly hurt in new light, then begin to focus again, while healing. We have to be there to shephard those that repent.
I am hearing a distinct turn against Trump in MAGAt circles. Even they cannot keep up with all of Trump/Bannon's shit "flooding the zone". This creates the opening that Lincoln got from Sherman. Here, Trump's own failures create the same space to "Get Back to where [we] once belonged". The True America.
Stay Strong,
Peace and Love.
PS I hope Trump's cage fights lets a lot blood flow, and smeared all over the fighters and then onto the arena floor, like I see on TV UFC fights. Fighters bleeding profusely all over each other...that should bring the women on board.
Jennifer Rubin's Contrarian column this morning made a similar argument as Bill Kristol made: Focus on Epstein. Don't try to go after him for everything and anything. Make it all about Epstein. It seems Bondi may have handed the Senate their easiest entre to this topic when she testified that everything Epstein-related was due to something Blanche was responsible for. Do we believe her? Doesn't matter. She was AG and she said her top deputy was responsible for handling the Epstein case. That puts him squarely in the metaphorical cross-hairs for anyone who chooses to hammer him about Epstein during his confirmation hearing. Go for it, Senate. https://www.contrariannews.org/p/how-to-kill-the-blanche-nomination
I strongly disagree that "the country" deserves this. MAGAs touched the hot stove and deserve it. Certain Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters for whom the cause of Palestine was their reason not to vote as a protest deserve it. People who don't bother to follow the news but still think they are qualified to vote deserve it.
But all the people who worked their hearts out and/or donated more than they could afford during the 2024 election, and all the women and girls who are victims of sexual violence and exploitation every day do NOT deserve this! And the immigrants and racial minorities and LGBTQ+ do not deserve this. Please think before you cast blame.
Will, I understand you disagree with my comment. And that's fine; I take no offense. But keep in mind that when you add the MAGAe, left leaning voters for whom Palestine was an issue, and low information voters, you're talking about a plurality of the electorate. And when you also consider that our erstwhile allies are not drawing any distinction between those who support Trump and those who don't, the United States absolutely deserves what's coming. And that's because **we're not a serious people**. We're decedent, we're unappreciative of what we have, and we're horrible at gauging risk. If we weren't, Kamala Harris would be POTUS.
"And that's because **we're not a serious people**. We're decedent, we're unappreciative of what we have, and we're horrible at gauging risk. If we weren't, Kamala Harris would be POTUS."
No, not "WE". Maybe you are willing to accept blame for being an "unserious person", but I never will.
By the way, as a serious activist, I have to ask, what are YOU doing to counteract all of this?
I accept that there are things in this life that I can do nothing about. I accept there are some people you just can't reach. And if you believe as I do that we are morally and intellectually responsible for the consequences of our actions and apply this to politics, then I believe allowing the electorate to experience the consequences of Trumpism or abstaining from voting for various reasons is necessary. As I often say, people are allowed to vote or not vote how they wish. I'm allowed to make judgments about their character.
What do I do to counteract things? Well, in the case of one of my siblings, I speak truth to power. Recently this sibling asked me if I was losing my mind about Trump, and I answered no because I wasn't surprised by anything he did. This particular sibling thought they'd get Trump 1.0 when they voted for Trump in 2024. I told this sibling that was an egregious failure of analysis because Trump 1.0 was Trump with adults staffing him and keeping things from going off the rails. Trump 2.0 is who and what Trump truly is, I told them, and noted that if the thought of a sundowning narcissistic sociopath having exclusively control over our nuclear arsenal didn't scare the shit of them, then there was nothing I could do.
As for what I do here to counteract this, I speak truth to power, albeit in a snarky, profane manner, but where my small-c conservative temperament is being tested on an hourly basis, I often hold back on what I really think. If you think I'm bad, then I'd like to know what you think of guys like JVL, Nick Catoggio, Tom Nichols, and George Conway who point out the same thing as I do but are far better at it. Consider what Catoggio wrote the day after the 2024 election:
"Trump’s voters broke America and deserve to get what they’ve bought, economically, politically, and morally. I was right about the rottenness of the electorate and I’ll be right, in spades, about the rottenness of Trump’s abuses in a second term. And when millions of our friends and neighbors decide they don’t care how abusive he’s being so long as he’s hurting the right people, I’ll remind everyone who’s scolded me for assuming the worst about our wonderful fellow Americans that I was right about that too. If you’ve been dismayed by what Trump voters have been willing to condone in the past, get ready. You ain’t seen nothing yet."
Or Tom Nichols from the day after the election (gift article):
i agree; trump's silver lining is that all the pretending is over.
a burnt hand is the best teacher; even our six year old knows what kind of man he is, so there's hope that future voters will see the next one coming in time.
Shots: "One may only wonder what Second Lady Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants, thinks."
I, too, wonder what Usha Vance thinks, but -- like a lot of immigrants whose families made it -- I think she's mentally pulled up the ladder and dismissed the fact that it could have been her at one time. See the many people of Indian heritage in the Trump administration, along with people of other once-vilified ethnicities.
Yes, I always wonder what fairy tales Harmeet Dhillon has told herself about her specialness and how she is an exception to all the MAGA vitriol spewed at brown people like her. "They'll never come after me. I'm part of THEM".
She and her family followed the rules, that's what she is thinking. And her educated self is far more important to the US than some strawberry picker who crossed the border.
Self-delusion is a beautiful thing, isn't it? 😃 Then again, that's what Trump voters do every single day. Delude themselves into thinking he cares about them.
Anyone is useful to a point. For folks like her, once they've outlived their usefulness, there will be one last "hurrah!" as they become useful as yet another body to count when they're deported/disappeared.
I think that you're completely correct. She's decided that pulling up the ladder is more important than having a conscience. My guess is that she and Vance bonded over both feeling like cultural outsiders (her coming from an immigrant Indian family and him coming from a blue collar family in the Midwest) and their naked opportunism.
I can't claim to understand why some immigrants align with politicians who disparage them, but to me it looks similar to the way so many women identify with powerful, misogynistic, abusive men like Trump. It's partly a way of seeking protection and partly a way of vicariously enjoying power they know they'll never have themselves.
Remember, Mrs. Vance is also an attorney. It may come as shock to non-lawyers, but many attorneys are not overburdened with morals, ethics, or honesty.
I have worked with many lovely Indian students who came from wealthy Brahmin (there are still castes, even if officially they are outlawed) families, and they were generally very conservative and very convinced that their parents had “made it” due to their hard work and talent. We read Outliers at that time, and not one saw themselves in those stories.
I would like to point out that while it is not a crime to simply party with Mr. Epstein and his ilk, it IS a crime to fail to report what happened at his parties. It IS a crime to know about sex trafficking, particularly of minors, and not report THAT crime.
A lot of people, a lot, knew perfectly well what was on offer from uber-host Epstein. They all know, whether they participated in the sex trade or not, that their failure to report was/is criminal.
And they all know Trump is the only thing between them and prison.
If you can't handle an interview with Kristen Welker- an All-American pitcher of softball questions- without hobbling off in a huff, you are truly a snowflake.
She DID try. And I think she did as well as anyone could have. But I would like her to just let Trump cook. She kept trying to pivot to Todd Blanche. Trump wanted to go on and on about the election. I think she should have let him just get crazier and crazier and more unhinged. Just let him explode. America needs to see who's running the country.
I think the best way to interview Trump is rapid fire questions with followups quickly. (Welker did that)That way he doesn't do the Trump thing with his talking points. DJT can't think quickly off the top of his head. The best interviews of Trump were Jonathan Swan and Chris Mathews. Mathews peppered him so fast. That was the one where Trump said women should go to prison if they had an abortion. (in 2015)
I normally can’t bring myself to watch Trump, but I watched that “Meet the Press” interview, every second of it. At the end, when he was so rude and insulting to Kristin Welker, I was amazed she held her composure. If she had slapped him I would’ve cheered, he was so bad. She deserves combat pay and a raise. He cannot stand it when women act like journalists and seek an actual answer to a legitimate question. He’s used to the simpering, obsequious likes of Maria Bartiromo, whose questions are, “How do remain so singularly awesome day after day?”. Welker reportedly called him again even after that train wreck of an interview and said he’d agreed to another one. I hope there isn’t one, he should stick to the safety of MAGA media.
Right wing complaints about the slowness of the California vote count remind me of the kid in the car kicking the driver’s seat and chanting, “Are we there yet?”. This is just like 2020 election night, when he was whine by midnight. Patience is not a MAGA virtue.
I was surprised at her composer too. She would never have done this but when Trump was getting up to leave, he had to steady himself by putting his hand on her shoulder. Then he said; Thank you darling. Kristin then should have said; I am not your darling. I do know what I would have said.
He didn't appear all that steady to me as he got up, slouched over as Trump is. Older people get up slower and maybe with a little help.( a hand on an object). As for darling, it is one of those annoyances. Like when a waitress calls a customer; honey or sugar. Use the word sir, mister or miss. Full stop.
It never ceases to amaze me that MAGA suckered their supporters into believing that only liberals were part of the Epstein class when most of the coverups were done by Alex Acosta, Pam Bondi and Todd Blance.
This should put an end to the speculation over whether Trump truly believes that 2020 was stolen. And with that, any doubt that he is not mentally well.
I heard some phone caller today, say it was impossible for Biden to get more votes than Obama, duh, the pop increased by twenty million and perhaps more got off the couch
He was irresponsible, lying his butt off and acted like a 3rd grader ( for him that is sometimes an upgrade ) in the white house briefing room, that was the worst for me, I kept hoping his feet would come back to earth and he would speak like an adult. Some remember, some I talk with. The Fauci hate (?) is still climbing, personally I had great mistrust the whole way through w D Birks/Birx
I know she did a ' clean up ' tour, I think she did what he told her do or say.
He sure is draining the pocketbooks, covid, tariffs and a conflict!?
I have two comments on the MTP interview. It's hard to believe this irrational POS is president of this country. Trump's detachment from any fact not manufacture in his own mind or his or in his sycophants is clearly visible in this interview. This man has access to the nuclear codes!
And, with his standard vitriol for women, he could not keep from addressing Welker as "darling" as he left, just to make sure she knew he was "putting her in her place." This unhinged man needs to be removed immediately, he is a supreme embarrassment and unfit to lead this country... morally, intellectually, and physically.
At some level, he must be aware that J6 convicts got into legal trouble because they acted on his own exhortations, for his benefit. The J6ers know it too, as do all the finest thinkers of MAGA-land. But it serves their purposes to write a counternarrative about sinister forces manipulating and victimizing True Patriots.
The surprising part to me is that he's so insistent on wanting to get money to them. He doesn't like paying his contractors, so what's different this time?
I just want somebody, anybody, to ask him "if you want so badly for them to get money, why not give it to them out of your own pocket?" (We all know the answer to that, but I'd like to hear his answer anyway.)
With every allegation of criminal or sleazy behavior by Trump, we eventually get to the point where his people say, "Yeah, he did it. So what ?" That's where we're headed with l'affaire Epstein. Todd Blanche says it's not a crime to "party" with Epstein. Well. The word "party" is doing a lot of work.
As long as "family values" continues to mean "close your eyes and stop whining when the billionaires come for your children," then yes. Hey those Purdue Pharmaceutical guys need yachts.
"So what?" was always at the heart of Trumpism. The doctrine that Trump should always get a pass on anything was central to pro-Trump apologetics from the start.
“There’s tremendous evidence. There’s nothing but evidence. . . . All I have to do is look. . . . I listen to people.”
Welcome to “The World According To Trump”: Heads I win, Tails you lose!
So 62 lawsuits later—all which were thrown out. Several recounts and audits and the results remained the same—Trump Lost.
Do you know who never got a constitutional recount (Florida) thanks to our venerated Supreme Court with the vote count under 5,000: Gore!
And he had more reason to be wary since Jeb Bush was the Governor. Katherine Harris (Secretary of State) was Dubya’s State election chair and also oversaw the elections, and there was ample evidence of state troopers stopping bus loads of minorities—while a bunch of yuppie brown shirts stormed the Miami election office stopping the recount.
And yet here we are: The same clowns—Federalist Society, Heritage and an even more devious, nefarious and corrupt SCOTUS have allowed Trump to destroy our Republic into piecemeal. Coincidence! Just saying!…:)
Hey, just because no evidence has been uncovered doesn't mean it won't turn up one of these days! You just wait! They're hiding it! 11!!!!1!!!!11 <plotz>
YouTube ads are all well and good (the Wal-Mart spoof is particularly clever), and probably make consultants a lot of money, but algorithms will make sure that those who need to see them won't see them. What those who oppose Trump need to do is start buying ad space on highway billboards in Trump country that show Trump palling around with Epstein, Musk, Bezos, etc. with the simple caption, "Do you really think these guys care about you?" That will put that question in people's heads every time they drive somewhere.
I agree. Making ads for the people the algorithms send them to seems like wasted time and money. I love the billboard idea. It'd be so simple to come up with ads that can work.
The one good thing to come out of the Democratic autopsy was the idea that ad buys are simply funding Republicans and their right-wing media at this point.
Douglas - gas stations also putting reminders in people's heads every time they drive somewhere... and prices every grocery store trip. The more the misery-er 🫨
The media's coverage of elections over the years is part of what makes some people believe elections are manipulated. The horse race talk...who's in the lead, who is trailing, so and so caught up to the leader, the leader fell back. That image of a race with horses or people running on a track leaves the mental image of action going on during the counting instead of simple counting of what is already there. Really all an election is is counting votes that were cast either before or on Election Day. Most states have extensive laws on how the process is to work. It isn't something left to chance or to elections officials or workers. Large cities won't have immediate results because there are so many more ballots to count.
I mildly bragged yesterday on T Miller's pod about the welker interview about MN
like more persons turn out, that was about it. and I got a reply, saying well in 2008 it took too long to get Franken across the line, the guy was weird, I simply said back, don't you have
your own U S Rep to worry about ? and I accused him of what about.
I wish California didn't make it so difficult. I'm glad they have mail-in ballots, but given the US Postal Service and the number of people in the state, they should make the deadline for mail-in ballots the Friday before Election Day and make the postmark date Election Day itself and arrival in county offices maybe the Thursday after. The arrival in county offices date is TOMORROW -- a week out from Election Day. That's insane.
People see Election Day as the deadline...like April 15th is. If the Post Office did its job properly there wouldn't need to be grace time to get the ballot where it needs to be.
Another thought.. Why should vote by mail voters have a different deadline that in person voters. Seems unnecessarily complicated for voters to remember what deadline they are supposed to meet. No I don't claim voters are too stupid to note it, just that this is another little impediment to voting...every bump in the road can be a deterrent to voting at all.
1. Unfortunately, a lot of the places that vote en masse for Republicans do so because they perceive cultural and demographic changes (or ongoing tragedies) in their places as something being imposed upon them from outside, so they vote for Republicans to "stop the carnage." Amoral Republicans like Vance smell opportunities by finding useful scapegoats like immigrants. The problem is that the culprits of misery in Republican living areas are typically other Americans citizens, not immigrants. Case in point: Vance's mother was a nurse who became a drug addict by stealing drugs from her workplace.
2. I have a hobby of trolling Trumpers on social media by questioning them, and the Meet the Press interview interaction bears a resemblance to their behavior when they're asked about voter fraud:
-Me asking for evidence
-Trumpers not providing any evidence yet repeatedly claiming that it is happening and saying to "look around"
-After I point out that they're not providing any evidence and continue to ask for evidence, they mentally break down, call me names, and then disappear
The reason why a lot of Americans voted for Trump is because they share the same narcissistic beliefs about reality being optional.
3. Trump's quote "I love the farmers and the farmers love me" could simply be a wager that the average American farmer would pick their emotional needs of thinking that a wealthy celebrity really likes them over their pressing financial ones. He may not be wrong.
Not to be obtuse , but family owned farms are not the rule . To be profitable most farms , family owned or not , have very very expensive tractors and threshers , (that they are not allowed to repair per John Deere ) , mechanics if they can afford that , irrigation equipment that is hard to maintain , that has to be dragged around the fields , accountants for sure , people who deal with shipping ,even if those people are family members who are also employees . There are also one or several with a pesticide license , and the farmer may be running > 1 crop , in our area , in case prices drop for grass seed or berries or hazelnuts , and someone in the family has a job in town to provide health insurance . Oh , the fields are spread out with other people land and roads and even towns between them , and the kids may have a half hour ride to school each way on the bus ---and no one can take 2 hours a day to drop off and pick up . These are complex businesses , and successful farmers may still vote " against their own interests" from my point of view but it's not to meet their emotional needs .
I saw a podcast pointing out the same thing as what you said: the average family owned farm tends to be a complex, high production business with multiple moving parts. That and the podcast had indicated that they didn't vote for Trump blindly either. His administration deliberately being more punitive on immigrant labor made it easier to keep immigrants remaining employed on their farms instead of them moving to places with more favorable wages and employment conditions. That and he had bailed them out before.
Unfortunately, the level of vicarious living that Trump supporters engage it might actually be more of a condition of affluenza (the well off people of rural and exurban tend to be the most rabid supporters) than poor/middle class people doing it.
Bill wrote: "The vote on Blanche can become, it should become, a vote on Epstein." Trump probably understands this (if he understands anything at all nowadays) and may decide to avoid the issue and leave Blanche as acting as Congress goes into its summer recess. Based on recent experience, Blanche will overstay his allowed time as acting, will perform some odius official act which will be challenged and set aside by a competent judge.
Oh, and the humiliation of Trump by Iran and Israel will continue until morale improves.
“It’s repulsive, bigoted demagoguery, all the more vile since it exploits an awful tragedy to praise the Trump administration’s efforts to stop “mass migration.” But what else is new?”
And an apt description of Vance. Let’s not forget how he weaponized the Haitians eating cats and dogs in Ohio incident.
Vance argued that repeating these claims was justified to draw media attention to the "suffering" caused by immigration policies, stating, "If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention... then that's what I'm going to do". Vance—CNN
Bottom line, Vance and Trump will never let the truth get in the way of their nefarious agenda. To them and their movement it’s a zero sum game: The Ends Justify The Means! And the rest is history!…:)
It amazes me that anyone in Europe would respond to Vance with anything but "Oh, you're here because nobody trusts you in your own country, huh? Trump doesn't let you do anything, so sad."
True, but it lets the European leader’s constituents see them fighting g back.
I get your point about wrestling with pigs, but you can’t be a punching bag forever—they must fight back and make their positions clear, which they are doing.
They’re building their own Military Industrial Complex and making side economic and security arrangements with other middle powers, absent US involvement.
And I do understand why they'd want to be quiet about it. Still, anyone there who's listening to Vance is doing it because they want to, not because they have to.
“it isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.”
Translation: Donald partied with Jeffrey.
Also, Epstein was not indicted for felony partying.
And what were the ages of the girls together in as party favors?
Back to you, Mr. Blanche
President Pedo
Has anyone asked Blanche if he had partied with Epstein?
"Let s party like it s 1999"!
Maybe Blanche did also.
blanche talks like maybe he was at those parties, too.
Blanche: "I’ll never say no, and we will always investigate any evidence of misconduct, but as you know, it is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein. And some of these men may have done horrible things, and if we have evidence that allows us to prosecute them, you better believe we will. But it’s also the kind of thing that the American people need to understand that it isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein."
< Tim rubs his eyes >
The one thing I'm grateful for during these last 11 years is people have revealed their true selves. For some, their ambition overrides their moral compass (assuming of course they had one to begin with), and this is the case for Blanche. He knows deep down that his boss is a moral degenerate of the highest order, and yet because he desperately wants to be AG, he's willing to do **anything** to get there. There's a high probability that Trump had sexual encounters with underage girls, which is why he appointed his own lawyer to acting AG in order to bury the evidence.
Speaking personally, I believe the country deserves the embarrassment and shame that comes with this. The electorate made an amoral, corrupt bargain with Donald Trump, and because the electorate is largely stupid, it didn't occur to them that Trump would renege on that bargain.
Surprise, motherfuckers.
Trump yelled at MTG in a phone call that “it would hurt his friends”- translation: him.
Exactly! The only true friend trump has is himself.
And Epstein
Blanche's dinky law firm also netted a cool 5 million from his inept defense of Trump.
I think it was $9m, although I read $10m.
Maybe the five was just the Stormy Daniel's trial.
https://www.artofthesteal.org/actions/save-america-pac-blanche-law-legal-fees
Wow!
I believe I read that most of his Save America, $120m-125 was spent on lawyers’s fees. Except for $120k that went to whoever took care of his wife’s hair.
Total grifter.
some on the side, one could imagine
Roy Cohn springs to mind, though who’s the apprentice now…hmmmm? The conclusion here’s kinda risky “just desserts” but sure do get the sentiment.
In Texas, Paxton’s defense attorney for his impeachment trial, came out publicly to support Talerico.
Awesome - hope this can be pumped on airwaves so idependents see it . I doubt most R care .
One of the true selves being sickeningly revealed is that Jim Crow is alive and well in southern Republican elected officials.
"the southern strategy" . The southern plan to undo the Reconstruction never left us
.
Jim Crow (Plessey v Ferguson) has seeped into the Great Plains states, the rural Northwest, and are split, out West. The Mid-West and the Upper Great Plains did not know Jim Crow directly. But they've 'heard it thru the grapevine'. They watched TV news about all the black murders happening the cities. On TV. Everyday. They got scared. They voted GOP.
Grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Mother told me our family fought hard in the Civil War on both sides; or as she described it 'The War Between the States' (or in Georgia where I lived for 40 years 'The War of Northern Agression'). Many in my family died on both sides. But then she said sadly: "We all would have been better off if the South just won the war."
Later she suggested, "You should read this book 'Atlas Shrugged'." Gave me a copy. "Then you'll know who we are." I still love my departed mother. Before she died she told me "You know, I think maybe we should have gun control...That may end the problem" She just beginning to understand...
I grew up 1st in a Catholic grammar school in the 60's with 3 pictures on the wall: Jesus Christ on the cross in the middle, Gandhi to the right, and MLK to the left. Then went to a Latin school. 60-40 Liberal and Conservative at the time. Got it all. Totally cool.
Today the Latin school is thriving better than ever, with much new infused big money influences (while it still values individuality as it's raison d'etre). But is now owned by Sinclair Broadcasting...It is more of a Trumpist mind, (but less extreme not like Hillsdale). The South thinks it's finally winning the long march from the original war, given its new geographical allies and newly federalized power. So much for states rights.
We need to do better. Lincoln went to the mat for us and he almost lost. Then he won. WE must all become small Abraham Lincolns.
Maybe Trump is the one now being guided by God to finally rip the blindfold from the MAGAt's eyes...be nice to them, accept those back that see the light--like progigal sons and daughters. Do not hate them for they know not what they do. They have been fooled by a "Supernatural Anethestist". Their eyes will quickly hurt in new light, then begin to focus again, while healing. We have to be there to shephard those that repent.
I am hearing a distinct turn against Trump in MAGAt circles. Even they cannot keep up with all of Trump/Bannon's shit "flooding the zone". This creates the opening that Lincoln got from Sherman. Here, Trump's own failures create the same space to "Get Back to where [we] once belonged". The True America.
Stay Strong,
Peace and Love.
PS I hope Trump's cage fights lets a lot blood flow, and smeared all over the fighters and then onto the arena floor, like I see on TV UFC fights. Fighters bleeding profusely all over each other...that should bring the women on board.
Jennifer Rubin's Contrarian column this morning made a similar argument as Bill Kristol made: Focus on Epstein. Don't try to go after him for everything and anything. Make it all about Epstein. It seems Bondi may have handed the Senate their easiest entre to this topic when she testified that everything Epstein-related was due to something Blanche was responsible for. Do we believe her? Doesn't matter. She was AG and she said her top deputy was responsible for handling the Epstein case. That puts him squarely in the metaphorical cross-hairs for anyone who chooses to hammer him about Epstein during his confirmation hearing. Go for it, Senate. https://www.contrariannews.org/p/how-to-kill-the-blanche-nomination
Oh no! The voters are so pure and good. They were just misled! 😎
I strongly disagree that "the country" deserves this. MAGAs touched the hot stove and deserve it. Certain Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters for whom the cause of Palestine was their reason not to vote as a protest deserve it. People who don't bother to follow the news but still think they are qualified to vote deserve it.
But all the people who worked their hearts out and/or donated more than they could afford during the 2024 election, and all the women and girls who are victims of sexual violence and exploitation every day do NOT deserve this! And the immigrants and racial minorities and LGBTQ+ do not deserve this. Please think before you cast blame.
Will, I understand you disagree with my comment. And that's fine; I take no offense. But keep in mind that when you add the MAGAe, left leaning voters for whom Palestine was an issue, and low information voters, you're talking about a plurality of the electorate. And when you also consider that our erstwhile allies are not drawing any distinction between those who support Trump and those who don't, the United States absolutely deserves what's coming. And that's because **we're not a serious people**. We're decedent, we're unappreciative of what we have, and we're horrible at gauging risk. If we weren't, Kamala Harris would be POTUS.
"And that's because **we're not a serious people**. We're decedent, we're unappreciative of what we have, and we're horrible at gauging risk. If we weren't, Kamala Harris would be POTUS."
No, not "WE". Maybe you are willing to accept blame for being an "unserious person", but I never will.
By the way, as a serious activist, I have to ask, what are YOU doing to counteract all of this?
I accept that there are things in this life that I can do nothing about. I accept there are some people you just can't reach. And if you believe as I do that we are morally and intellectually responsible for the consequences of our actions and apply this to politics, then I believe allowing the electorate to experience the consequences of Trumpism or abstaining from voting for various reasons is necessary. As I often say, people are allowed to vote or not vote how they wish. I'm allowed to make judgments about their character.
What do I do to counteract things? Well, in the case of one of my siblings, I speak truth to power. Recently this sibling asked me if I was losing my mind about Trump, and I answered no because I wasn't surprised by anything he did. This particular sibling thought they'd get Trump 1.0 when they voted for Trump in 2024. I told this sibling that was an egregious failure of analysis because Trump 1.0 was Trump with adults staffing him and keeping things from going off the rails. Trump 2.0 is who and what Trump truly is, I told them, and noted that if the thought of a sundowning narcissistic sociopath having exclusively control over our nuclear arsenal didn't scare the shit of them, then there was nothing I could do.
As for what I do here to counteract this, I speak truth to power, albeit in a snarky, profane manner, but where my small-c conservative temperament is being tested on an hourly basis, I often hold back on what I really think. If you think I'm bad, then I'd like to know what you think of guys like JVL, Nick Catoggio, Tom Nichols, and George Conway who point out the same thing as I do but are far better at it. Consider what Catoggio wrote the day after the 2024 election:
"Trump’s voters broke America and deserve to get what they’ve bought, economically, politically, and morally. I was right about the rottenness of the electorate and I’ll be right, in spades, about the rottenness of Trump’s abuses in a second term. And when millions of our friends and neighbors decide they don’t care how abusive he’s being so long as he’s hurting the right people, I’ll remind everyone who’s scolded me for assuming the worst about our wonderful fellow Americans that I was right about that too. If you’ve been dismayed by what Trump voters have been willing to condone in the past, get ready. You ain’t seen nothing yet."
Or Tom Nichols from the day after the election (gift article):
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/11/trump-voters-got-what-they-wanted/680564/?gift=EvbsywoAtlpBNtYLQrS3lb9vPpEjMAQWtnergt0-bLU&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Or JVL the Friday after the 2024 election:
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/a-modest-proposal-let-trump-be-trump?utm_source=publication-search
Part of counteracting this is being honest about our fellow citizens. Otherwise, we're well and truly buggered.
i agree; trump's silver lining is that all the pretending is over.
a burnt hand is the best teacher; even our six year old knows what kind of man he is, so there's hope that future voters will see the next one coming in time.
Right on Tim.
So right on!!
Shots: "One may only wonder what Second Lady Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants, thinks."
I, too, wonder what Usha Vance thinks, but -- like a lot of immigrants whose families made it -- I think she's mentally pulled up the ladder and dismissed the fact that it could have been her at one time. See the many people of Indian heritage in the Trump administration, along with people of other once-vilified ethnicities.
Screw Usha. She married a man of empty ambition and situational ethics and deserves whatever is coming to do.
I don’t know how she lives with herself. Seems like the marriage from hell. Probably she mostly cares about her chy.
I don’t know what she saw in him. He’s a nasty piece of goods.
Yes, I always wonder what fairy tales Harmeet Dhillon has told herself about her specialness and how she is an exception to all the MAGA vitriol spewed at brown people like her. "They'll never come after me. I'm part of THEM".
She and her family followed the rules, that's what she is thinking. And her educated self is far more important to the US than some strawberry picker who crossed the border.
Self-delusion is a beautiful thing, isn't it? 😃 Then again, that's what Trump voters do every single day. Delude themselves into thinking he cares about them.
This.
Anyone is useful to a point. For folks like her, once they've outlived their usefulness, there will be one last "hurrah!" as they become useful as yet another body to count when they're deported/disappeared.
It worked for the Jews of Germany.
Until they turn on her. If she ever says the wrong thing or angers the wrong people she will be gone, too.
Concerning pulling up the ladder -- see : Thomas, Clarence.
I almost wrote the same, exactly the same/ c thomas
Not just pulling it up - putting landmines where the ladder used to be .
And kicks off anyone trying to follow. A true Uncle Thomas.
"Hi tech media lynching"!
I think that you're completely correct. She's decided that pulling up the ladder is more important than having a conscience. My guess is that she and Vance bonded over both feeling like cultural outsiders (her coming from an immigrant Indian family and him coming from a blue collar family in the Midwest) and their naked opportunism.
I can't claim to understand why some immigrants align with politicians who disparage them, but to me it looks similar to the way so many women identify with powerful, misogynistic, abusive men like Trump. It's partly a way of seeking protection and partly a way of vicariously enjoying power they know they'll never have themselves.
She's thinking that her parents entered the country in the correct way so she is safe.
Michelle Malkin pulled this stunt years ago. Her mother wasn’t like those teachers who were trying to unionize, she was a real teacher.
OMG! Michelle Malkin. Now there's a blast from the extremist past. I'm sure she's doing fine, but she just couldn't keep up with the current crowd.
Remember, Mrs. Vance is also an attorney. It may come as shock to non-lawyers, but many attorneys are not overburdened with morals, ethics, or honesty.
Heck, currently vilified ethnicities!
Yes, Usha and her family are the immigrants who did everything the "right" way. They think they're special.
Usha is as ambitious and amoral as her spouse
I dont think they realize for most immigrants from "shithole countries" there is no possibility of doing it the right way .
Or maybe they do realize it, which is worse.
Think? You can't stay with these moral degenerates and be thinking. That's why they all look blown out on booze and hopped up on goofballs.
She has bent the knee like the Republican party. But she bent the knee when she married hillbilly.
I have worked with many lovely Indian students who came from wealthy Brahmin (there are still castes, even if officially they are outlawed) families, and they were generally very conservative and very convinced that their parents had “made it” due to their hard work and talent. We read Outliers at that time, and not one saw themselves in those stories.
I would like to point out that while it is not a crime to simply party with Mr. Epstein and his ilk, it IS a crime to fail to report what happened at his parties. It IS a crime to know about sex trafficking, particularly of minors, and not report THAT crime.
A lot of people, a lot, knew perfectly well what was on offer from uber-host Epstein. They all know, whether they participated in the sex trade or not, that their failure to report was/is criminal.
And they all know Trump is the only thing between them and prison.
1000!!!
Bill kristol, Andrew egger and Cathy Young standing up with the facts for democracy. Thanks
If you can't handle an interview with Kristen Welker- an All-American pitcher of softball questions- without hobbling off in a huff, you are truly a snowflake.
She's better than Dana Bash, at least.
She DID try. And I think she did as well as anyone could have. But I would like her to just let Trump cook. She kept trying to pivot to Todd Blanche. Trump wanted to go on and on about the election. I think she should have let him just get crazier and crazier and more unhinged. Just let him explode. America needs to see who's running the country.
I think the best way to interview Trump is rapid fire questions with followups quickly. (Welker did that)That way he doesn't do the Trump thing with his talking points. DJT can't think quickly off the top of his head. The best interviews of Trump were Jonathan Swan and Chris Mathews. Mathews peppered him so fast. That was the one where Trump said women should go to prison if they had an abortion. (in 2015)
These weren’t softball questions, & she was dogged, God bless her.
To her credit she has realized you have to follow up quickly. DJT can't think quickly. Then he resorts to insults and the victimhood shtick.
I'm sure the hard core base loved it. (DJT and the Victim shtick)
I normally can’t bring myself to watch Trump, but I watched that “Meet the Press” interview, every second of it. At the end, when he was so rude and insulting to Kristin Welker, I was amazed she held her composure. If she had slapped him I would’ve cheered, he was so bad. She deserves combat pay and a raise. He cannot stand it when women act like journalists and seek an actual answer to a legitimate question. He’s used to the simpering, obsequious likes of Maria Bartiromo, whose questions are, “How do remain so singularly awesome day after day?”. Welker reportedly called him again even after that train wreck of an interview and said he’d agreed to another one. I hope there isn’t one, he should stick to the safety of MAGA media.
Right wing complaints about the slowness of the California vote count remind me of the kid in the car kicking the driver’s seat and chanting, “Are we there yet?”. This is just like 2020 election night, when he was whine by midnight. Patience is not a MAGA virtue.
Watch her body language, too. As she pressed him on various points, she was leaning in toward him, not backing away. That probably drove him nuts.
You’re right, her voice was calm, but she was pressing the attack.
Yeah, getting into his space somewhat. Women can't do that! :)
Too bad she didn't say "Shut up Piggy!".
I hope someday some woman reporter snaps and does that. (She’d probably get fired for it, though….)
I am so looking forward to it!
Helen Thomas, come back. We need you!
He might have like that too much...
I was surprised at her composer too. She would never have done this but when Trump was getting up to leave, he had to steady himself by putting his hand on her shoulder. Then he said; Thank you darling. Kristin then should have said; I am not your darling. I do know what I would have said.
That wasn't him steadying himself. Like "darling," that was dominance.
But if enough people cast his grabbiness as evidence of a balance problem, maybe he'll stop.
He didn't appear all that steady to me as he got up, slouched over as Trump is. Older people get up slower and maybe with a little help.( a hand on an object). As for darling, it is one of those annoyances. Like when a waitress calls a customer; honey or sugar. Use the word sir, mister or miss. Full stop.
Dave - journos need to take lessons from basketball: learn to flop & draw a foul
I also see that he complained about CBs - which means Bari has to fire everyone at CBS news . She is in luck , Spencer Pratt will be looking for a job
Has he ever called a male reporter "stupid?" He's called some of them fake news, but I don't remember hearing him ever call them stupid.
I don’t either, but I just asked Google, & it won’t even try to answer or even form a page.
I just asked again, & got:
Yes, Donald Trump has called male reporters stupid and has questioned their intelligence. [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/idhleNS5Vbs, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ln6rkJ3G4gE]
For example, during a November 2025 press event, a male reporter asked him why he was blaming the Biden administration for letting a specific Afghan individual into the U.S. when his own administration claimed to have vetted the man. Trump snapped back at the journalist, asking, "Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?" and "Why do you blame the Biden administration?". [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-are-you-stupid-trump-rebuffs-reporters-question-on-afghan-resettlement-vetting, https://www.c-span.org/clip/white-house-event/user-clip-trump-calls-reporter-a-stupid-person/5181817]
Ahhh..yes, I remember that one now. Thanks. The ratio of females to males is far out of whack though.
He REALLY hates Uppity Women!
It never ceases to amaze me that MAGA suckered their supporters into believing that only liberals were part of the Epstein class when most of the coverups were done by Alex Acosta, Pam Bondi and Todd Blance.
BINGO! That is why they started pursuing it with conspiracies in the first place. Remember Hillary and fazzledrip?
remember? I never knew about razzledrip and I dint want to know now
It’s “frazzledrip” and Google AI says it’s a thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory.
Sorry Lynn!
Exactly. I see that constantly; “all the men in Epstein’s crowd were Democrats.”
You should link directly to the Meet the Press interview.
It is stunning how disconnected Trump is from reality.
Demonstrated through the interview, but particularly unraveling talking about paying J6 convicts.
At 34:00:
https://youtu.be/4EusZcKt5fs?si=xvtaGCkjzhGIdCQ-&t=2038
This should put an end to the speculation over whether Trump truly believes that 2020 was stolen. And with that, any doubt that he is not mentally well.
Eh, the only thing Trump truly believes is the little narcissistic voice inside his head. It tells him whatever it takes to protect his fragile ego.
I heard some phone caller today, say it was impossible for Biden to get more votes than Obama, duh, the pop increased by twenty million and perhaps more got off the couch
Nobody remembers how mad people were at Trump about Covid.
Some of us remember it well. Right next to the anger was terror: He's screwed this up, so what else will he do if he's reelected?
He was irresponsible, lying his butt off and acted like a 3rd grader ( for him that is sometimes an upgrade ) in the white house briefing room, that was the worst for me, I kept hoping his feet would come back to earth and he would speak like an adult. Some remember, some I talk with. The Fauci hate (?) is still climbing, personally I had great mistrust the whole way through w D Birks/Birx
I know she did a ' clean up ' tour, I think she did what he told her do or say.
He sure is draining the pocketbooks, covid, tariffs and a conflict!?
I never doubted he believed it. His ego is too massive to admit that he lost an election.
I have two comments on the MTP interview. It's hard to believe this irrational POS is president of this country. Trump's detachment from any fact not manufacture in his own mind or his or in his sycophants is clearly visible in this interview. This man has access to the nuclear codes!
He does, but he doesn’t know where they are or what they mean! We could only hope.
From your keyboard to God's ears.
Fingers crossed—toes too!
And I am keeping my rabbit’s foot…along with the complete rabbit! Then I have four times the luck!
And, with his standard vitriol for women, he could not keep from addressing Welker as "darling" as he left, just to make sure she knew he was "putting her in her place." This unhinged man needs to be removed immediately, he is a supreme embarrassment and unfit to lead this country... morally, intellectually, and physically.
At first I just saw it as passive aggressive, but you’re right, let’s add his usual barely contained rage at women.
At some level, he must be aware that J6 convicts got into legal trouble because they acted on his own exhortations, for his benefit. The J6ers know it too, as do all the finest thinkers of MAGA-land. But it serves their purposes to write a counternarrative about sinister forces manipulating and victimizing True Patriots.
The surprising part to me is that he's so insistent on wanting to get money to them. He doesn't like paying his contractors, so what's different this time?
I just want somebody, anybody, to ask him "if you want so badly for them to get money, why not give it to them out of your own pocket?" (We all know the answer to that, but I'd like to hear his answer anyway.)
Same!
He knows he needs bodyguards he can trust.
It’s not HIS money this time!
That was his money. This is taxpayer money, and he doesn’t want to give it to undeserving people, only his people.
I don’t agree: they all believe the stolen election stuff. The J6ers were righteous!
With every allegation of criminal or sleazy behavior by Trump, we eventually get to the point where his people say, "Yeah, he did it. So what ?" That's where we're headed with l'affaire Epstein. Todd Blanche says it's not a crime to "party" with Epstein. Well. The word "party" is doing a lot of work.
The party of traditional, family values was always destined to end up supporting a historical moral degenerate.
As long as "family values" continues to mean "close your eyes and stop whining when the billionaires come for your children," then yes. Hey those Purdue Pharmaceutical guys need yachts.
Traditional family values like being married to your cousin? Why do rural folks from WV and KY so identify with the orange Jesus?
In Wuthering Heights, young Cathy successively marries two first cousins.
They have for 10 years.
It's definitely doing the heavy lifting!
"So what?" was always at the heart of Trumpism. The doctrine that Trump should always get a pass on anything was central to pro-Trump apologetics from the start.
Parties include raping children apparently.
“There’s tremendous evidence. There’s nothing but evidence. . . . All I have to do is look. . . . I listen to people.”
Welcome to “The World According To Trump”: Heads I win, Tails you lose!
So 62 lawsuits later—all which were thrown out. Several recounts and audits and the results remained the same—Trump Lost.
Do you know who never got a constitutional recount (Florida) thanks to our venerated Supreme Court with the vote count under 5,000: Gore!
And he had more reason to be wary since Jeb Bush was the Governor. Katherine Harris (Secretary of State) was Dubya’s State election chair and also oversaw the elections, and there was ample evidence of state troopers stopping bus loads of minorities—while a bunch of yuppie brown shirts stormed the Miami election office stopping the recount.
And yet here we are: The same clowns—Federalist Society, Heritage and an even more devious, nefarious and corrupt SCOTUS have allowed Trump to destroy our Republic into piecemeal. Coincidence! Just saying!…:)
Hey, just because no evidence has been uncovered doesn't mean it won't turn up one of these days! You just wait! They're hiding it! 11!!!!1!!!!11 <plotz>
Chronicles - in 2 weeks, like nobody's ever seen before 🙄
Fair point, I certainly can’t argue with that logic🤪
All while they claim to be morally superior!
100% agree..:)
YouTube ads are all well and good (the Wal-Mart spoof is particularly clever), and probably make consultants a lot of money, but algorithms will make sure that those who need to see them won't see them. What those who oppose Trump need to do is start buying ad space on highway billboards in Trump country that show Trump palling around with Epstein, Musk, Bezos, etc. with the simple caption, "Do you really think these guys care about you?" That will put that question in people's heads every time they drive somewhere.
They absolutely are doing billboards: https://newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/sticker-shock-summer-temperatures
Great to see that!
I agree. Making ads for the people the algorithms send them to seems like wasted time and money. I love the billboard idea. It'd be so simple to come up with ads that can work.
I agree, too. They won't see it on social media, but they will see it when they drive.
If you have "Facebook friends" who are magats, share the videos. That way at least some magats see them.
Move On and Inequity in the Media are doing this.
Driving south from Duluth, MN, this past weekend, in MAGA land, was a billboard with, “Impeach Hegseth”. That’s a first. Hopefully more to come.
I share them on "The Book of Face" where my magat acquaintances see them.
The one good thing to come out of the Democratic autopsy was the idea that ad buys are simply funding Republicans and their right-wing media at this point.
Douglas - gas stations also putting reminders in people's heads every time they drive somewhere... and prices every grocery store trip. The more the misery-er 🫨
Marvelous idea!
The media's coverage of elections over the years is part of what makes some people believe elections are manipulated. The horse race talk...who's in the lead, who is trailing, so and so caught up to the leader, the leader fell back. That image of a race with horses or people running on a track leaves the mental image of action going on during the counting instead of simple counting of what is already there. Really all an election is is counting votes that were cast either before or on Election Day. Most states have extensive laws on how the process is to work. It isn't something left to chance or to elections officials or workers. Large cities won't have immediate results because there are so many more ballots to count.
Yup, the media tries to pretend every race is a dead heat, which makes this problem worse.
I mildly bragged yesterday on T Miller's pod about the welker interview about MN
like more persons turn out, that was about it. and I got a reply, saying well in 2008 it took too long to get Franken across the line, the guy was weird, I simply said back, don't you have
your own U S Rep to worry about ? and I accused him of what about.
I wish California didn't make it so difficult. I'm glad they have mail-in ballots, but given the US Postal Service and the number of people in the state, they should make the deadline for mail-in ballots the Friday before Election Day and make the postmark date Election Day itself and arrival in county offices maybe the Thursday after. The arrival in county offices date is TOMORROW -- a week out from Election Day. That's insane.
People see Election Day as the deadline...like April 15th is. If the Post Office did its job properly there wouldn't need to be grace time to get the ballot where it needs to be.
Another thought.. Why should vote by mail voters have a different deadline that in person voters. Seems unnecessarily complicated for voters to remember what deadline they are supposed to meet. No I don't claim voters are too stupid to note it, just that this is another little impediment to voting...every bump in the road can be a deterrent to voting at all.
A couple of responses:
1. Unfortunately, a lot of the places that vote en masse for Republicans do so because they perceive cultural and demographic changes (or ongoing tragedies) in their places as something being imposed upon them from outside, so they vote for Republicans to "stop the carnage." Amoral Republicans like Vance smell opportunities by finding useful scapegoats like immigrants. The problem is that the culprits of misery in Republican living areas are typically other Americans citizens, not immigrants. Case in point: Vance's mother was a nurse who became a drug addict by stealing drugs from her workplace.
2. I have a hobby of trolling Trumpers on social media by questioning them, and the Meet the Press interview interaction bears a resemblance to their behavior when they're asked about voter fraud:
-Me asking for evidence
-Trumpers not providing any evidence yet repeatedly claiming that it is happening and saying to "look around"
-After I point out that they're not providing any evidence and continue to ask for evidence, they mentally break down, call me names, and then disappear
The reason why a lot of Americans voted for Trump is because they share the same narcissistic beliefs about reality being optional.
3. Trump's quote "I love the farmers and the farmers love me" could simply be a wager that the average American farmer would pick their emotional needs of thinking that a wealthy celebrity really likes them over their pressing financial ones. He may not be wrong.
Not to be obtuse , but family owned farms are not the rule . To be profitable most farms , family owned or not , have very very expensive tractors and threshers , (that they are not allowed to repair per John Deere ) , mechanics if they can afford that , irrigation equipment that is hard to maintain , that has to be dragged around the fields , accountants for sure , people who deal with shipping ,even if those people are family members who are also employees . There are also one or several with a pesticide license , and the farmer may be running > 1 crop , in our area , in case prices drop for grass seed or berries or hazelnuts , and someone in the family has a job in town to provide health insurance . Oh , the fields are spread out with other people land and roads and even towns between them , and the kids may have a half hour ride to school each way on the bus ---and no one can take 2 hours a day to drop off and pick up . These are complex businesses , and successful farmers may still vote " against their own interests" from my point of view but it's not to meet their emotional needs .
I saw a podcast pointing out the same thing as what you said: the average family owned farm tends to be a complex, high production business with multiple moving parts. That and the podcast had indicated that they didn't vote for Trump blindly either. His administration deliberately being more punitive on immigrant labor made it easier to keep immigrants remaining employed on their farms instead of them moving to places with more favorable wages and employment conditions. That and he had bailed them out before.
Unfortunately, the level of vicarious living that Trump supporters engage it might actually be more of a condition of affluenza (the well off people of rural and exurban tend to be the most rabid supporters) than poor/middle class people doing it.
The Trumpers claim that there’s no media stories about the stolen election because they’re covering it up.
Bill wrote: "The vote on Blanche can become, it should become, a vote on Epstein." Trump probably understands this (if he understands anything at all nowadays) and may decide to avoid the issue and leave Blanche as acting as Congress goes into its summer recess. Based on recent experience, Blanche will overstay his allowed time as acting, will perform some odius official act which will be challenged and set aside by a competent judge.
Oh, and the humiliation of Trump by Iran and Israel will continue until morale improves.
“It’s repulsive, bigoted demagoguery, all the more vile since it exploits an awful tragedy to praise the Trump administration’s efforts to stop “mass migration.” But what else is new?”
And an apt description of Vance. Let’s not forget how he weaponized the Haitians eating cats and dogs in Ohio incident.
Vance argued that repeating these claims was justified to draw media attention to the "suffering" caused by immigration policies, stating, "If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention... then that's what I'm going to do". Vance—CNN
Bottom line, Vance and Trump will never let the truth get in the way of their nefarious agenda. To them and their movement it’s a zero sum game: The Ends Justify The Means! And the rest is history!…:)
It amazes me that anyone in Europe would respond to Vance with anything but "Oh, you're here because nobody trusts you in your own country, huh? Trump doesn't let you do anything, so sad."
Great point. I would love to see them do that. So far, they still acting too cautiously and diplomatically—still deferring to the global decorum.
They need to wake up, the world has changed…:)
what gain would there be in falling to our level? t***p doesn't listen to anyone and its unlikely JDV will ever be POTUS .
True, but it lets the European leader’s constituents see them fighting g back.
I get your point about wrestling with pigs, but you can’t be a punching bag forever—they must fight back and make their positions clear, which they are doing.
They’re building their own Military Industrial Complex and making side economic and security arrangements with other middle powers, absent US involvement.
And I do understand why they'd want to be quiet about it. Still, anyone there who's listening to Vance is doing it because they want to, not because they have to.
Good point, especially the fascists in Europe…:)
myself, I continually think of his speech in Germany