A few GOP folks--most publicly DeSantis--are gunning for that Trump lane in the GOP. And, critically, Trump hasn't been able to destroy them and make them come back and kiss the ring like he did with Cruz.

The longer DeSantis is allowed to signal that he's Trumpism without Trump, the more that Trump's base will wander over to him (or Abbott or whoever ends up as that guy)

Does she float?

I don't think we should count Trump out, yet. Especially if he ends up back on Twitter. The incredible amplification of his every message will allow him to shape messaging a lot.

I don't think that anyone should count out Trump either.

I just think that if he goes down, it won't be because people finally realized that he's stupid and corrupt and racist. It will be because someone even stupider and more corrupt and more racist steals his base.

The interesting thing though might be to witness an actual fight between Trump and someone like DeSantis. Let's face it, Rubio and Cruz and the like are not the fighting type. They and everyone else in 2016 folded, rolled over to Trump from a fight standpoint. I don't know that DeSantis would do that. Also, I feel like the Governor pulpit is a stronger one than that of Senator. At least for a big state.

Senators traditionally make poor POTUS candidates, especially when compared to Governors. IMO, it's because being in the Senate means more votes on the record, more opportunities for equivocation, etc.... Also, you're not really "in charge" of anything.

One of Trump's great skills, IMO, is having the instinct for when to jump into a fight and when to keep his powder dry.

The fact that he hasn't attacked DeSantis yet is telling. It means that his instincts are telling him that it's a fight he might not win.

You can call it a skill, but it's just the nature of a bully to me. Trump doesn't pick on people unless he's sure they can't do him harm.

100% and that is exactly why he has been hands on on DeSantis

I fear it won't be anyone "stupider." I fear it is going to be someone who is smart enough to really go the direction Trump was headed.

My mother in law posted some meme basically saying Trump was right about everything and we should have listened to him. One of her buddies then posted a bunch of bullet points about how things would be if he was still in charge.

In back to back points she said

"Russia wouldn't have attacked Ukraine if Trump was in charge"

"If Trump was in charge he would have given military aid to Ukraine much quicker"

But even if think you have a 67% chance of beating Trump in a primary, who has the guts to actually run and risk their political career if Trump guts them? That's why I think it's still Trump's nomination if he wants it and basically nobody will contest him.

Did her friend mention how getting dirt on Hunter Biden would have affected the timeline on that military aid?

In the Georgia GOP primary for Governor, the Trump-backed candidate David Perdue has suddenly gone quiet. The money that had been pouring in from out of state has suddenly dried up, and he only has three scheduled events for the last week of the campaign. I'm sure pretty soon the Trump camp will claim they really never supported Perdue in the first place, and it was all fake news.

Living With The Far-Right Insurgency In Idaho | HuffPost Latest News

Worth a read.

Idaho has been a haven for this type of crap for as long as I can remember, going back to when I was growing up in Utah in the 70's and 80's, but this is scary even be those standards.

And Ammon Bundy finds himself in the center of it. Shocking...

Definitely a very common discussion in Idaho these days, whether people want to leave or not, and how big the far-right element actually is relative to how loud they are. We'll find out a lot tonight.

I may have vented about this here before, but the weird thing about living in a deep red state as a liberal is that your personal relationships are mostly the same as they'd be anywhere else. I just went on a trip with 15 Idahoan friends - no trumpers, no anti-vaxxers. I don't have a single Trumper or anti-vaxxer friend or acquaintance. I didn't really do that on purpose. But if you're in Boise and my age or younger, you can assume that the people around you that you come across at parties, bars, through friends of friends, through volunteering - really anything outside of a church context - are most likely liberals or at least moderate apolitical types. The far right people are closed off in their families, churches, and smaller communities I'm not a part of.

Of course overturning Roe v. Wade and everything that may come after cuts through all that and impacts peoples' lives. Some people are thinking of leaving because of that. And this general fear of a far-right takeover.

And then there's another dynamic of liberals fleeing public service. Our liberal mayor talked about this a while ago - there's a kind of a weird pressure from liberals for other liberals not to not join, or to leave, "conservative" institutions like red state and local governments, especially law enforcement and the criminal justice system. I have felt that kind of pushback a time or two, nothing super hostile in real life, but just a "how can you work there", or "will you leave if X political event happens" kind of vibe. That's always been very weird and backwards to me. Don't we want to encourage liberals, or at least non-crazies, to become public servants at all levels? It seems like the far-right gameplan is to drive us out, but, many liberals also seem to want us out and to abandon these institutions.

I'm inclined to stay, both physically in the state, and in public service, unless and until they make me leave the latter. There's two things that really make me feel like I'm helping out in the world - public service where I can be a non-crazy and ethical cog in the wheel that makes things a little better than they would be otherwise, and dog rescue. And I think I'm in the exact place I can do the best in both, because I'm established here in both things, and because it's maybe the place that needs the most help in both.

But a thing that stresses me out a lot these days is all my friends possibly moving away, and, what that kind of trend, more broadly, means for the state and the city. Trump really changed everything for the worse. I wish we'd all just hold our ground, at least in Boise, and not flee because the crazies talk tough and want us to leave.

Every once in a while someone will ask on Reddit whether they should move to Boise if they're gay/transgender/a minority or whatever and the majority response is always, "no, stay away, things are getting scary", and I respond, "please, come, we need you here".

I went to a drag show with some friends a few weeks ago and it was really uplifting - I was convinced from some of the things said there that there is a very proud element of "fuck you we're here and we're not going anywhere" attitude too. That defiance just feels different, more consequential, like a more meaningful kind of living then you'd have in a place where society didn't face the same challenges. But that's not everyone's cup of tea. I had to go to a drag show to find that kind of defiance I'm feeling, because most of my friends seem to be plotting escapes.

Looks like Cawthorn has LOST his primary-good riddance

Man, he should of kept his mouth shut about the coke-filled orgies.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

At the very least, he should have been demanding to join them or reveal their existence. :)


I think a 7 month lame duck Cawthorn should be some good entertainment

PA nominated a fascist for Governor which is pretty wild.

Extremely tight and still too close to call, but Trump backed Dr. Oz is a few thousand behind Dave McCormick in the GOP primary for PA Senate with 93% reporting. I mean all of the big names from the Trump administration backed Oz. Oz's entire ad campaign for the last month or two was "I'm Trump's guy!".

The main ads I've seen from McCormick have been painting Oz as a RINO and showing clips of him talking about the heartbeat abortion laws (as in, him being against them (at the time)).


I wonder if Dr. Oz going all in as a Trump supporter and then losing a GOP primary will be the end of his celebrity career (we could only be so lucky).

Trump's governor choice in Idaho is getting smashed.

yeah he's a real piece of work. The rest of the candidates were also pretty awful too.

Idaho also has a 3-way secretary of state primary where 2 of the candidates say that Trump won the election, 1 says that Biden did. The Biden guy is way ahead of the pack. Looks like at least some sanity in the Idaho GOP primaries tonight. (and this is a state where there are no dem challengers).

Looks like Oz slipped into the lead by less than a thousand votes. Looks like this one's gonna go on for awhile.

And on the Democratic side, John Fetterman, who would win every election if it was decided in the blood dome, easily beat Conor Lamb.

Interesting re: Idaho. I wonder if the fact that it is safe red makes Republican voters more comfortable voting for the sane candidates.

If it were a swing state, would there be more pressure to nominate one of the "I will never accept a Democratic victory as legitimate" candidates?

I know after reading your words yesterday about your experiences there as a liberal, the Idaho primary results have to be a "breath" moment for you.

I just wanted to say that I really appreciated this post, molson.

This was definitely my take on Idaho politics between 2006 and Trump. The most qualified Republicans tended to be elected.

Since Trump, it feels like a two party-state, with the two shades of red fighting each other.

I dunno about right now. He had a pacemaker implanted and recently had a stroke.

Pretty alarming how bad PA is at elections. The fascist Governor candidate supposedly wants to make everyone register again. The only thing that’s been holding the loonies at bay for the past 8 years is Gov Wolf. And I don’t particularly like Wolf all that much. Now we have Donny dumps telling Oz to ignore tens of thousands of votes. It’s a sham.

I suggest no parties and just direct voting by the people of concise laws that everyone can understand

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 19, 2022

He's got the political beliefs of a 6th grader trying to sound smart.

dola: Not sure this belongs in the Trump thread, but I figured "celebrity businessman decides to embrace being a right wing loon and enters politics" was close enough.

Or Libertarian, for short.

Well Elon's "I'm a right-winger now!" seems to have been trying to get out in front of the sex pest story.

Agreeing to buy Twitter to put the Nazis back on was probably a touch of overkill, but tacking right and saying that the media will now be out to get you is not the worst way to try to get ahead of a story like that.

dola: That said, I don't think that the turn to the right is entirely a head fake. As the tight labor market continues to allow unions to rise, you are going to see more and more billionaires start to decry the WoKe PoLiTIcs of the left.

Called that one, as it is exactly what he is saying this morning.

Beyond all this, I am still wondering why anything Elon Musk has to say is suddenly become of vital importance over the last few weeks

He's rich, causing controversy and he's threatening to buy one of the most used communication platforms of the day.

And my question still stands LOL, because twitter I get, his opinions that nobody should give a shit about, not so much

Thinking about how big a scandal it would be if it turned out that the spouse of an NBA official had been trying to help one of the playoff teams cheat.

— Matthew Segal (@segalmr) May 20, 2022

"I would invite you to co-author a bill that I'm considering next year that would mandate that each male, when they reach puberty, get a mandatory vasectomy that's only reversible when they reach the point of financial and emotional stability."

— OK State Rep. Mickey Dollens (D) pic.twitter.com/AvszMmDt7M

— The Recount (@therecount) May 20, 2022

So never then?

Is he trying to write a Republican attack ad?

Good times at CPAC.

Viktor Orbán tells CPAC the path to power is to ‘have your own media’ and says shows like Tucker Carlson should be broadcast ‘24/7’ https://t.co/5zxUXFpwTH

— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) May 22, 2022

The Guardian on CPAC: “A notorious Hungarian racist who has called Jews ‘stinking excrement’, referred to Roma as ‘animals’ and used racial epithets to describe Black people, was a featured speaker at a major gathering of US Republicans in Budapest.” https://t.co/Ifqj5ce1zN

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 22, 2022

Trump loses appeal, must testify in New York civil probe

So Trump has to tell the truth?

Or will he set the record for the amount of times "I don't recall" said in an hour.

Definitely the latter, but first it will be appeal,appeal, appeal

Good editorial in the Washington Post today that provides the best reasoning I have heard saying why Trump will have trouble in 2024.

In 2016, he tapped into a disconnect between party leadership and what the GOP base voters wanted. The leadership was behind Jeb, but the voters wanted a Trump.

And now he is a victim of his own success. He was right; the GOP base did want a Trump and not a Jeb. So the party leaders have spent the last 6 years becoming a lot more Trumpy.

So from the perspective of having massively changed American politics for the foreseeable future, he won! Things can never go back to pre-Trump. But, from the perspective of him, personally, getting to benefit from it? Maybe not.

dola: Sort of like Tesla proving that there was a real market for EVs. People doubted them. But they were right!

Now, having done that, they created a ton of EV competitors and have made their future job a lot harder.

In Northern Kentucky, my neck of the woods, 3 long term republican, sitting state reps, lost their primaries to much more extreme right wing candidates. When talking about why they think they lost they hit the insight right on the melon:

“It’s all about getting people mad and angry. And making them feel like they’re getting screwed when they’re not,” Koenig said.

and

“You could agree with some of them, those folks 90% of the time. But if you disagree with them 10% of the time, or you’re not one of them, as they classify it, then they are against you. And that’s very unsettling,” Massey told the Cincinnati Enquirer before the election.

Sound familiar?

How delicious is the irony, that if McCormick does overtake Oz in Pennsylvania, it will be due top the absentee ballots? That has to be making Trumps head explode.

TIL Bill Gates grows cheeseburgers in "Peach Tree Dishes"

I'll give you 1 guess...

So the only person charged in John Durham's investigation into probe into Trump's 2016 campaign by federal agents so far-Michael Sussman, a democrat lawyer who was charged with lying to a senior FBI agent went to the jury and it took less than a day to come back with a not guilty verdict:


https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...lQauDc_3q8nByk

fresh off yet another rambling appearance on MSNBC's Art Melber, Peter Navarro arrested for criminal contempt of Congress

Great! I look forward to hearing how the case is still pending in January of 2024.

Better that than to be out there selling his conspiracies to any who would listen.

So after the Navarro arrest Congressman Gohmert goes on NewsMax and says the following:


Jason Campbell on Twitter: "Rep Louie Gohmert on Navarro indictment: "If you're a Republican, you can't even lie to Congress or lie to an FBI agent or they're coming after you"… https://t.co/jgXCLcv3vE"

I had to listen because their was no way he could have said that, but I forgot two very important things.

1-It's Louie Gohmert
2-Louie Gohmert is the dumbest MFer in government, despite how low that bar is.

Plus he doubled down at the end

It is funny when someone who has power faces a tiny amount of consequences for their actions and has a meltdown over it. Like this guy was complaining to the judge that he was handcuffed like every other person who gets arrested. It's just a view into the minds of these people and how they think they are above everyone else.

Why would that stop him?

McCormick concedes. That's going to be one .... interesting ... Senate race.

Over the past couple of days DeSantis has vetoed $35 mil from the budget that was earmarked to go to the Rays to build a facility to support youth sports because the organization came out in support of gun control and forced the special olympics to drop their vaccine requirement after threatening to fine them $27 million for violating state law.

If he keeps this up he crushes Trump in a primary.

Yeah, Trump was nowhere as effective at crushing stuff as DeSantis is turning out to be.

I have no clue, how this state, which has only 1/3 registered voters identifying as GOP, gets so many of these extreme nutjobs, it's like a petri dish, or as their ilk likes to call it, peach tree dish.

It's really embarrassing...

So Jan 6th public hearings airing in primetime tomorrow night. Anyone planning on watching? I think I will, but not expecting much to come out of this that moves the needle sadly.

I'll be watching. It's certainly historic.

NEW —->

U.S. officials under Trump slowed family reunifications, migrant lawyers say - The Washington Post

https://t.co/1I24q3ln1U

— Maria Sacchetti (@mariasacchetti) June 8, 2022

The criminal immigration system was working efficiently enough that parents were being convicted and sentenced quickly enough to keep them from being separated from their kids.

Which infuriated the Trumpers, so they purposely slowed the process down because taking people's children away from them as punishment was always the point

This is going to get lost in the middle of everything else. But it is really one of the most reprehensible pieces of news I can think of. Maybe it's just the parent in me.

That we, as a country, have not fully rejected MAGA (save a fringe 5% or so) is to our everlasting shame.

Unfortunately, we have a certain segment of the population that is just bitter about life and wants to exact revenge on everyone who is not just like them.

I will try to watch some of it. Of course the people who probably need to see it most, Fox viewers, will not be able to see it live on the prime Fox channel, but apparently Fox Business will have it. They are going to do recaps of them, and the usual commentary from Tucker, Hannity, and the like which I'm sure won't be biased against Democrats :)

This. It is sad at how resigned I am that we are about to become a new Nazi state.

You really think that only 5% of the country has fully rejected MAGA? I think the number is far greater than that. But I also think it is made up of people who, by and large, are not willing to invest themselves fully into the fight like the other side is. And I'll be upfront and admit my wife and I (and kids) are in that group.

I haven't even confronted my parents about their Trumpism because I don't want the waste of time, energy and destruction of our relationship that would follow from that point until their deaths. It's just not worth it to me. I don't want to be an activist poll worker, I don't want to spend hours on social media promoting or sabotaging political candidates, or speaking at city commission meetings or school board meetings and getting insults, objects and death threats hurled at me, etc.

Since there's a clear southern element to the genesis of the current movement, I think the GOP should just adopt the SEC slogan...

"The GOP - It Just Means More."

Because it's true. Many of the most fervent Trumpists/GOPers believe this is the early stages of a holy war to take the country back. I don't feel that strongly and likely never will.

Since Trump was elected, there's a line from one of my favorite band's songs - released 30 years ago - that has repeatedly come to mind:

"I don't betray my country, I survive my government."

That's kinda how I feel at this point.

I think he’s saying at this point only 5% should be supporting it and the fact it’s way more is shameful.

That's not extreme anymore.

Yeah. I see how it was confusing the way I wrote it.

I meant that 5% of the country should be MAGA and the other 95% of us should be making them ashamed to be in public.

Not on Fox News tonight - "Jack Del Rio should shut up and coach."

He's doing his best to make Snyder the second most hated person connected to that team.

Raw Story isn't exactly the most neutral site, however, I'll argue that this is more a thought piece on how this shit happens and I'd argue, is exactly how it would play out here. We're already a couple steps down the road at this point. Given what Bannon has been saying, we're not far off of a few more after the 22 mid terms.

What would an American fascist government look like? - Raw Story - Celebrating 18 Years of Independent Journalism

I think this was the most rattling of the article:

Well-being of children, y'all.

New lawsuit seeks to block Texas trans child abuse investigations | The Texas Tribune

I HATE HATE HATE this, but it is the law working as intended. This was never about child safety; it was always about punishing trans kids and families for being different. And no one honestly pretended any differently.

The choice in America in 2022 is clear. You vote Dem, or you support this. It sucks that we ended up here. But pretending it isn't true does not make it any less true.

(And, yes, this is a subtweet to all the young liberals I follow on twitter who swear they aren't voting Dem anymore unless Biden drives to their house and cuts them a personal check for their student loan balance. And a bonus subtweet to all the young conservatives I follow who insist that they are "really more libertarian actually")

Well, it should also be a subtweet to the "third way" "I hate Trump but I'll never vote Blue" folks, too. Of course I figure a lot of them are really fine with this anyway, they just don't like Trump's loud mouth.

Re the young Libertarians, have you seen what they believe? It's not anything close to the old "classical liberal" ideology. It's just another faction of Trumpism.

FBI today raided the home and arrested Michigan candidate for Governor Ryan Kelley for his participation in Jan 6 riots:


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...date-rcna32761

What's a few Trans kids lives if my gas is cheaper?

I don't get it. Did we finally find a way to turn Trans kids into gas?

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes

I think the point is people like trans kids are the collateral damage of the right's culture war that comes along with the economic benefits of voting GOP. Insert, "my 401k" or "lower taxes" or whatever else you want to put in there.

Right. It isn't "I hate trans kids!" No, no. I love trans kids. I really do. But I'm also totally fine with a few trans kids dying if it means that my gas will be .50 cheaper per gallon.

Yup. You could add women dying because of abortion laws, or school kids dying because of lack of gun restrictions. Hey, as long as gas is cheaper that is all that matters. Drill baby drill!

My boy Blake involved in this, only the best in Arizona. SMH

Crazy Video Shows Arizona GOP Candidate Attacks Man in BLM Shirt

It really is incredible how the GOP treats the constitution like an ala carte menu. Will die to defend their second amendment rights, but fuck your first amendment rights!

How about dude with cane telling him "you care about school children but not unborn babies murderer" as the complete irony of that statement went completely over his head.

Garland has to be so uncomfortable watching this.

Liz Cheney's opening statement was outstanding.

Not watching. Is the committee calling him out for being a dickless wonder?

I'm still of the opinion he was hired to do exactly nothing because that's what Biden wants. Biden doesn't want to do the right thing because it will usher in a new era of political criminal prosecutions - which is going to happen anyway, but he doesn't want that to be his legacy. Or something along those lines.