Trump

[Haibane]

Lies, deceit and half-truths at every turn...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2020-54504096

[gaggedLouise]

In passing, Trump's doctor said Saturday afternoon that Donnie had been fever free for 24 hours. The striking thing about that is that it exposed their earlier brush-up. They had been denying all week that Trump was experiencing any fever at all - either Trump or Conlin said, on Tuesday I think, that he had now been fever free for 72 hours, which brings us back to Saturday, October 3, his first full day at Walter Reed. At a couple points between Tuesday and Friday, either Trump or his doctors declared that yes, Trump was still fever free.

It wasn't a very credible claim to begin with that his fever had gone after just one night of sleep at Walter Reed, but now we know it was a straight-faced lie and that the fever (and therefore some kind of illness) lasted much longer than that. These doctors are clearly being puppeted by Trump when they discuss his symptoms. Not very strange really, seeing that he is personally Conlin's boss.

[Dhi]

"I'm just about the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico," said Trump to a Florida suicide cult yesterday without any sense of irony. "You better vote for me, Puerto Rico," he continued, demonstrating no understanding of either the rights of Puerto Ricans or the electoral process.

But this can and should be taken as a credible threat.

[gaggedLouise]

"I'm just about the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico," said Trump to a Florida suicide cult yesterday without any sense of irony. "You better vote for me, Puerto Rico," he continued, demonstrating no understanding of either the rights of Puerto Ricans or the electoral process.

But this can and should be taken as a credible threat.

Last night, saw a film clip of one of the leading guys in Billy Graham's old church, saying in late 2016 that God himself intervened in the election to give the victory to Donald Trump and save the USA (and just before that, a snippet of Trump during a rally, asking the same congregation: "Are you all believers in here?"). For sure some people in the Bible Belt will buy into that for this year's election too...   

[Lilias]

[Regina Minx]

Rough translation: #fuckyourMAGA

Loser

No More Orange

[Aiden]

I need one of those

[Oniya]

'Loser' is the mild translation.   

[Regina Minx]

'Loser' is the mild translation.   

Yeah, I hadn't had my coffee this morning and read pendejo as perdedor. I almost feel my abeula ready to slap the back of my head, Gibbs style.

[Laughing Hyena]

All smiles and mockery of this egomaniac is fine but remember to vote. This time people cannot opt out or we get four more years of this man and this topic. I'd love for this to be put to bed.

[Deamonbane]

All smiles and mockery of this egomaniac is fine but remember to vote. This time people cannot opt out or we get four more years of this man and this topic. I'd love for this to be put to bed.

+1

Vote like you had a time machine to go back to 2016.

[Aiden]

2016 feels like so long ago.

[HannibalBarca]

Once he's out of office, those who supported and emboldened him are still around.  He's a symptom, not the cause.  There's a lot of people who wear their ignorance, stupidity, and racism proudly.  Those of us who resist and reject their evil have to present ourselves as such, and not hide it.

I feel, in many ways, that a lot of people took their foot off the gas once Obama was elected, as if racism had somehow ended.  People like Trump's supporters will always be around, though we can reduce their number with education, outreach, and diversity. 

Don't ever forget what we've been through.  At some point, the memories of this time will, like every time of tribulation, fade with the eventual deaths of those who lived through it.  It is up to us to pass on history, so that future generations will not have to suffer as much.  It's no different than every other tumultuous time in humanity's history.  The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

[Oniya]

Yeah, I hadn't had my coffee this morning and read pendejo as perdedor. I almost feel my abeula ready to slap the back of my head, Gibbs style.

She sounds like a real spitfire - mine would have washed my mouth out.

I only know that word from listening to the Hispanic people in my neighborhood.  Also the first word on the sign.

Once he's out of office, those who supported and emboldened him are still around.  He's a symptom, not the cause.  There's a lot of people who wear their ignorance, stupidity, and racism proudly.  Those of us who resist and reject their evil have to present ourselves as such, and not hide it.

One small advantage is that they've made themselves known.  I don't imagine that they'll switch off like a light when he's not around.

[Missy]

I intend to vote, but because of the electoral college I'm not sure it will actually count, it hasn't counted for much before.

[Lexandria]

There's a lot of chance off switching several states at this point. Additionally a lot of red states have some major down-ticket battles, which are just as important as the presidential battle. Flipping the senste, keeping the house, and local elections can do a lot too. The Senate is especially important.

[Sara Nilsson]

What is a down ticket battle?

[Norwegian One]

The way I understand it, it means that there will be close fights further down the system, at state and local levels.

[Lexandria]

So, down ticket is like... your local mayor, a senator for your state legislature (which, btw, has a house of representatives and a senate), your governor, etc. A lot of big changes start little, at the city or state level, and then slowly work their way up the chain.

[Various]

Down ballot is ESPECIALLY important in a 10 year election. The legislatures of 2021 will be the ones to redistrict following the census and that can mean representation (or not) for you for a decade given things like gerrymandering.

[gaggedLouise]

Trump will probably try to get the Ukraine/Biden story back into the campaign as a last-ditch effort to smear Joe Biden. The thing is, early this summer Joe and Hunter Biden were cleared of suspicions of wrongdoing in the Burisma affair by a team led by the then head prosecutor of Ukraine, they took a solid look at the affair as part of a cold-case review. This was the same prosecutor that Trump had tried to get Zelensky to put on the case - when they didn't have Trump breathing hard down the back of their necks, they did a thorough review and cleared the Bidens. Now it turns out that Zelensky has fired this head prosecutor - he's a bit like Trump, he'll fire people on a whim if they don't get the results he wants in a few months time. And under the new prosecutor, the old thing has been revamped...

This sounds like a "Battle of the Prosecutors" - it all began with another prosecutor -  but I think one has to remember that Ukraine is a country waist deep in corruption where there's no problem finding cops or prosecutors who are willing to do a hit job or a smear job fpr money, to help bring somebody down or as part of a wider intrigue. Those things are often up for sale in Ukraine to try to score a hit on somebody. This revamp really sounds like trying to flog a dead horse for political reasons.

[Haibane]

Once he's out of office, those who supported and emboldened him are still around.  He's a symptom, not the cause.  There's a lot of people who wear their ignorance, stupidity, and racism proudly.  Those of us who resist and reject their evil have to present ourselves as such, and not hide it.

He is a focus though. Others on here highlighted that he is like a cult leader. If a leader is removed the cult is severely weakened or often collapses, so without Trump the racists have less power and focus. Think of the racist right as strong sunlight and Trump as their magnifying glass. With him they can burn and do serious harm, without him they are just unpleasant and can be mitigated.

[TheHangedOne]

I remain concerned that when Trump is removed, that these "militias" and such will have significant outbursts of violent activity.

[Haibane]

In a bleak upside down way that might be a good thing, although loss of life, injury and suffering are always bad, but if they get up to politically motivated violence that will help the USA point towards them being a bad thing and the forces of law and order will have no alternative but to come down on them hard as the FBI did in the Michigan planned abduction case.

If we get more exposure that these groups are "embedded into" or being condoned by the police that will be a good thing too; if things pan out that far too many police officers are revealed to have extreme right wing tendencies that too will be a good thing. Death, loss and suffering aside I see that plotline of events as a really helpful thing to help fix the malaise that's damaging America. Once again, as so often, it all comes down to gun laws. The gun laws were instigated in the 18th century when life was entirely different, we are now in the 21st; it really is a time for change.

[Skynet]

In a bleak upside down way that might be a good thing, although loss of life, injury and suffering are always bad, but if they get up to politically motivated violence that will help the USA point towards them being a bad thing and the forces of law and order will have no alternative but to come down on them hard as the FBI did in the Michigan planned abduction case.

If we get more exposure that these groups are "embedded into" or being condoned by the police that will be a good thing too; if things pan out that far too many police officers are revealed to have extreme right wing tendencies that too will be a good thing. Death, loss and suffering aside I see that plotline of events as a really helpful thing to help fix the malaise that's damaging America. Once again, as so often, it all comes down to gun laws. The gun laws were instigated in the 18th century when life was entirely different, we are now in the 21st; it really is a time for change.

Unless the argument is to loosen gun laws so that low-income and disenfranchised groups can more easily access firearms traning, shooting ranges, and less subject to stop and frisk as a form of police harassment, gun control laws aren't necessarily going to fix systemic inequality, corruption, or the root causes of what motivates right-wing domestic terrorism. I've discussed it earlier in another thread, but given that said laws have a history of being disproportionately enforced against minority groups it's not going to target white conservatives who overwhelmingly make up the militia movement. This has been the case even with liberal governments in charge; most US liberals don't realize that a blanket restriction isn't going to be enforced evenly.