In fairness, it was kind of a setup. The owner released the footage to Fox and was quick to jump on Tucker's white power hour to talk about it. The hairdresser who works there even said this was political by the owner.

But it's still a dumb move by a dumb politician who keeps power in a really dumb party.

Tell us how you really feel about her!

I saw the interview. Opinions may differ on the “setup”, but this a quote from the owner, “There was no way I could've set that up. I've had a camera system in there for five years. I mean, I didn't go in there and turn cameras on as soon as she walked in and set her up. So that is absolutely false."

Who released the footage? Is it common to release footage of customers?

Hell, I know a small business owner (pizza joint) with a camera system and he barely looks at the recordings.

We received notice of the Trump deferments today and I asked if we're able to opt out. We are not allowed to opt out of them.

Completely believable.

Donald Trump, in a White House meeting, asked that a military parade exclude wounded veterans, because "nobody wants to see" amputees. My story here: https://t.co/4PUGrR7tCS

— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) September 3, 2020

He has more or less said this same thing on TV. Not a big shock.

I'm still laughing at the concept of somebody thinking, man I was going to vote for Biden because Trump is so disgusting and a horrible human being, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut Pelosi did not wear a mask at a salon she was invited to. So I will take my religious high road and vote for the guy who makes fun of disabled people.

This sounds impossible. Even if he thinks it, that he would say it?

Queue new Lincoln Project video in 3... 2... 1

Completely in line with what he said about McCain.

This wasn't meant to move the needle. It is red meat for a base to show them this is all some big hoax to get Trump.

Maybe the Lincoln Project should sit this one out.

I love these Trump campaign polls.

Push-polling has a long and undistinguished tradition. It's what got me out of doing phone surveys as a job many years ago.

The media is still so into “high level unnamed sources” that they still think that a story about “high level unnamed sources” saying that President Trump said things in private that he has said publicly for years is a real news story.

There's always a tweet.

shot, chaser pic.twitter.com/e7fDqjHnx5

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 4, 2020

There's always a tweet.

Here's, there's also recorded interviews.

I'm still not sure why the WH is pushing back against this so hard.

It tells us nothing about Trump that we didn't already know before the last election. It's baked into the Trump cake already.

Who was planning to vote for Trump yesterday morning who would have their mind changed by "You know how Trump said that he didn't like soldiers who got captured? Well, apparently, he meant it."

Right-leaning military veterans seem to have become more and more leery of him has time has gone on, and I just checked some numbers: as of 2018, 70% of enlisted males were white. As of 2017, only 7% of enlisted personnel had college degrees. These statements should be most personally offensive to non-college white males--his top demographic. I get this one being concerning to them.



(And I guess for that matter, if he's really thinking about trying to order the military to do illegal stuff around the election and its aftermath, he certainly doesn't want to have them pissed off at him.)

I think there's enough polling now to conclude that Trump's plan to focus on rioting isn't likely to help him win.

All good news, and yet... I wish the election was tomorrow.

Lots of recent polling data here re: military. The 38% favorable seems to be reflective of the overall country.

Trump’s popularity slips in latest Military Times poll — and more troops say they’ll vote for Biden

https://www.armytimes.com/resizer/me...CA3KT6KHHM.jpg

All that said, when I was in my home town in July, I got together with 4 long-time friends to talk race, politics, and faith. There's a chance all four of them would have said "Biden" for every single one of the above items--and most definitely for the majority of them. But two of them are planning to vote for Trump, two either Trump or 3rd party.

I wouldn't doubt that, but I expect they were Trump voters before any of the protests, yes? Trump has to expand his voters from 2016. His voters were older and not replaced by new adult voters that break sharply against him and don't vote as often. Third-party voters in 2016 are breaking 2 to 1 to 3 to 1 for Biden in 2020 polling. I think there's enough polling to be pretty sure focusing on protests and riots isn't the key for Trump to expand his voters.

Ben, did they say why they were voting Trump?

Thanks. That makes sense to me.

Dola:


This same group had a similar discussion in July 2016, and at that time one of the two that's voting Trump said "I have no idea who Trump will put on the Supreme Court. I don't trust him one bit. But I KNOW what kind of judges Hillary will put on there, so Trump has my vote." During our conversation this year, he flat-out said, "He's the worst human being imaginable. I wish I had another choice, but I don't." Per the earlier convo here (or in some other thread; I lose track of all these conversations,) about "shy Trump voters," that's the kind of person I'm thinking about. He's an educated person, bank exec, past/present board member and financial supporter of multiple non-profits that help the poor, never posted a single pro-Trump thing on his social media accounts, would let no one but his most trusted old friends know he's a Trump voter, would probably readily admit to a pollster that he believes Biden would do a better job of uniting America...


...but is still voting for Trump.

OH yes, sorry. I agree with that. He's not expanding his base by doing this. (Though I do suspect it might help him mitigate the *loss* of voters.) I was moving toward another point, which I made in my non-dola dola. (YOU PEOPLE ARE TOO FAST!!!)

But why? Just because he’s Republican.

If the Devil was running as a Republican would they just blindly vote for him?

That’s some of the dumbest shit I’ve ever read.

How bout the perspective of voting Biden because the Republican Party has failed, to drive change into a better candidate and perhaps not so much corruption, strife and division?

Trump seems to be making the same mistake that Dems have made for a couple of decades, counting on people that don't often vote to suddenly turn out in big numbers. We know Trump's 2016 voters aren't likely to be enough in 2020, but rather than try to appeal to more moderate voters he's going all-in on motivating and turning out people that agree with him, but have little or no history of voting. It really reminds me of all the times Dems have been certain that this year the youth vote was going to turn out like never before.

yeah, I don't get the logic.

I can buy it in 2016, but now there is no doubt who he is. I don't understand the logic behind thinking someone is literally the worst human imaginable yet lets put him in the most powerful position in the world. Logically how can anyone think it ends well?

The thing is there are a lot of people with that mentality. It honestly makes me wonder if I am missing something.

It makes me wonder if I give it too much importance. Is it a lesser deal than I think it is?

Maybe him being a terrible President is no big deal since there are parts of it that he does right? All of the bad shit isn't that big of a deal because of the good shit?

/shrug

It is a big deal.

Set aside all the horrible shit he has done, just the division he has created in this country is going to fracture us as a nation until we all are dead. I suspect it gets worse after the election, and 4 more years of it will be catastrophic.

I mean if you are voting for Trump just to get a pro-Life SCOTUS when we have over 180k dead and the current administration “is what it is” plus all the dead due to escalating the violence but hey he’s Republican. You gotta get smarter friends.

He said it directly in 2016, and referenced it in other conversations (this group tries to get together every July when I visit my home town,) so I didn't ask him directly this year, as I'm sure it's the same thing: Supreme Court justices "trump" everything for him. The other guy is, I'm certain, voting Trump for the same reason, though he didn't say it directly. He didn't have to.

Funny side note to this: "the other guy" and his older brother are both attorneys. Older brother is also a good friend of mine from way back. He was appointed by the current administration to be a federal immigration judge. Older brother was an avid Bernie guy, and is all-in for Biden now. Team Trump, uh, didn't quite vet this guy. I mean, he ran for DA as a Democrat like 15 years ago. It's not like he recently switched parties. It's hilarious to me that Mr. They're-Bringing-Drugs-They're-Bringing-Crime appointed a pro-immigrant life-long liberal immigration judge.

DoD says they are shutting down Stars and Stripes at the end of the month.

Oversight really hasn’t been their thing.

So what's the story? Not enough bootlicking? Someone write an editorial that was lukewarm towards the Commander in Chief?

SI

The $15 million saved is critical to keep our military operational.

Riiiiight /Dr. Evil

No, no - I mean what's the real story?

SI

Just to play a little devil's advocate here, what service does Stars and Stripes provide to today's servicemen and women that they can't get elsewhere?

Seems like we're in the scandal phase where we're just waiting for Trump to say , yes, they are losers, humiliating everyone that defended him.

I could defend it. The military is representative of the country. The country has not shown no real interest in an independent news source as the Stars and Stripes purported to be. My guess would be more people are getting their news from their team websites (CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc.) than from S&S.

Seriously wondering the same thing as I was reading a predictable FB thread a few moments ago...


Liberal: "How on EARTH can you people still support this man??? Look at this link!"
Liberal 2: "I really don't get it. They say they love the military..."
Conservative: "Trump loves the military and the MSM is out to get him. FAKE NEWS!"

If this thread is an accurate representation, Biden is NAILING it in a presser right now:

If what is written in @TheAtlantic is true, "it's disgusting," says @JoeBiden, adding it would mean @realDonaldTrump is not fit to be commander-in-chief.

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) September 4, 2020

That thread is fun - he's come out swinging.

SI

Holy cow. He looks PISSED.

Nice to see genuine emotion other than hatred coming from a leader.

That's what sincerity and conviction looks like. It's nice to see it.

As far as news directed at service members the only other competition is The Military Times and I believe the Stars and Stripes has a far larger circulation. The argument the DOD has made is that newspapers are an outdated form of media, which ignores the fact that Stars and Stripes went online over 20 years ago and most of it's readers use their apps or website now.

We tend to accept that we take a loss on certain morale things for service members. Otherwise, why does nearly every installation need a bowling alley, commissary, movie theater, little league fields, ect? You can step right outside of most CONUS installations and have those needs met.

I think you mean senility and cognitive decline. :D

If that's the Biden that shows up to the debates then the senile and cognitive decline nonsense was a horrible misplay by the Trump campaign.

And there's really no excuse given they should've seen that it was already a horrible misplay by the Bernie campaign.

Trump's statement is risible. Especially to folks who have family members who served in the military. Not surprised Biden was pissed off about it.

I think you way underestimate the level of dedication that people give two things: Pro-Life and the 2nd amendment. As long as they can stop abortion and be able to buy as many guns of any type they want, they can care less about anything else. Seems hypocritical? Sure. Do they care?

Trump is now saying he will not allow the Stars and Stripes to be shuttered. Once again, he is going to save us from his own administration.Somehow, he will blame this on Biden.

You know, everyone has been talking about Trump's October surprises (Barr indicting Hunter Biden, a vaccine being approved, etc.), which I am sure are coming.

But it just now occurred to me with this Trump/troops article coming out. . . . How many people have been around Trump for the last 4 years who are not part of his cult who have been sitting on their information, waiting to bring it to light during the election?

Maybe nothing. Or maybe we will have about one of these a week until the election.

Lol.

Here's the clip: pic.twitter.com/v3xzA49zfc

— The Recount (@therecount) September 4, 2020

Jennifer Griffin from Fox News says she has confirmed the story with two sources.

Trump meltdown coming shortly.

Now Trump says they won't be cutting funding to Stars and Stripes.

dola

Trump tonight:

It was a totally fake story. The sources were made up. And it was probably John Kelly. That guy was with me all the time and is terrible.

It feels about 48 hours from “Of course I said it, and it’s good I said it because the troops are all losers and suckers.”

Followed by the same 41% approval rating we’ve had since he started.

Hell even Fox News confirmed the story.

Of course it probably won’t appear on any of their “news” shows (Ingraham, Hannity or Carlson).

That is a fantastic answer!

Michael Cohen’s book drops next Tuesday and then Bob Woodward has a new one the week after. So, I think the next two are already spoken for. Watching the Cohen one is going to be halfway enjoyable and halfway horrifying. Sort of like in the Office when Jim teasing Andy was funny until Andy lost his shit. Only in this case, it may be nuking Venezuela (or San Francisco) rather than punching a hole in the wall.

I'm just going to pick on movie theaters here. On the Air Force Base I was on, the movie theater was basically empty at every showing I went to. It showed only second run movies and the viewing and sound experience was very sub-par. Most people went to the theater in-town to watch movies.

Now this may be a case on case basis, but there is little reason to support an on-base move theater when there are other options.

So word is now, that trump will award Lou Holtz the Presidential Medal of Freedom, supposedly as a reward for his speech at the RNC bashing Biden and praising his majesty.

And Peter Strzok and Melania's assistant...

When I was a kid, we went to the theater on base all of the time. For the major ones, it was always packed. I remember when Ghostbusters came out, they had to turn people away.

When I was in the Air Force as an adult, we always went off base.

I assume the movie theaters overseas get more run than they do in the US.

The first time I saw a movie off base, I was 14. I couldn't believe they didn't play the National Anthem before the movie.

How has Holtz not drown in his own saliva yet?

The President of Serbia didn't realize he was agreeing to an embassy in Jerusalem.

Ups pic.twitter.com/NkvxvPWgQH

— PaoloStefanini (@PaoloStefanini5) September 5, 2020

dola

Multiple reports of swamped boats and at least one on fire at various Trump boat parades around the country.

Antifa submarines are being operated in lakes around the country.

We spend so much time deciding whether these guys are a militia. Maybe it would be more fruitful to explore whether they are "well regulated."

Joking aside, boats make wakes. Physics 101 type stuff there.

Anyone who knows anything about boating and gives anything like a tenth of a shit about the lives of others on the water knows to reduce wake and do something like this safely.

So, again, a bunch of Trump supporters display ignorance of basic science and/or determine that their good time is worth risking the lives of others.

The metaphor is really apt this time.

Yeah, it's really the perfect illustration of Trumpism. They could space out, go slower and be responsible, but that's less badass, so some boats are just going to have to sink.

It's also pretty appropriate that in Texas, it's happening on Lake (Clay) Travis.

My boat sank in Lake Travis pic.twitter.com/EOsLk7sA9L

— Brent Terhune (@BrentTerhune) September 5, 2020

Hole eeee shit

NEW: In upcoming book, Michael Cohen writes Donald Trump's disdain for Obama was so extreme he hired a "Faux-Bama" to participate in a video in which he "ritualistically belittled the first black president and then fired him." He includes this photo: https://t.co/LGrqsUUrY2 pic.twitter.com/otwYW8VSmQ

— Pervaiz Shallwani (@Pervaizistan) September 6, 2020

That is the most pathetic thing I've ever heard, lol.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Anonymous needs to get a hold of that video.

He even goes into detail about his combover process. Apparently it's to cover scars from a failed transplant.

Hilarious sketch.

Loved the ship's name MAGA-ritaville.

If true, pretty sad. They need to find the actor that played Obama to corroborate. I'm surprise this story hasn't surface already before now.

I'm sure he signed an NDA.

I am sure there will be some BS story about meeting with the leader of a civil rights group and this is all fake news to make him look bad. Everyone always out to get poor Donald.

The video is out there. It was apparently for the 2012 RNC, but someone had the good sense to cancel it at the last minute.

Trump’s great political gift is that he is exactly like his voters. He doesn’t just listen to his voters. He doesn’t just sympathize with his voters. He even goes beyond empathizing with his voters. He is his voters.

And that authenticity comes through. His voters appreciate it.

Well, we knew hat Trump was, it's just sad there are that many Americans that somehow identify with that.

I think Trump voters just reflect Trump. They were pro-military before Trump, but now, it won't matter that he thinks they're cowards. That will just be a part of what they believe too. If he came out in favor of universal healthcare tomorrow, his supporters would be all about that too.

Edit: Or, the Trump continent is a 1-issue sub-party of white nationalists, and they're flexible on everything else. We typically think of abortion as one of those one-issue deal-breakers on the right, but, Trump was strongly pro-choice his whole life and that doesn't matter to them apparently.

I sort of agree. He's definitely the belligerent white nationalist many of his supporters have been begging for, but he really isn't his base and he doesn't even like them. He never socializes with the non-college whites that make up his base. He's quite comfortable being worshiped by those people, but he isn't them and wouldn't want to be stuck with them..

https://www.washingtonpost.com/inves...1c4_story.html

Don't know if DeJoy has enough shame to resign due to these campaign finance violations. I am sure he's not the only one who does this, which means Congress isn't going to push for him to step down (and this DOJ probably isn't going to after him criminally).

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

That is a crime which I'm guessing will not be enforced.

Doesn't the FEC not have enough commissioners to reach quorum because of some crooked shenanigans?

SI

I don't think you can expect the DoJ to push an investigation and prosecution this year, but if there are state level donations involved he could be screwed.