The photos of the "crowds" at the tank parade remind me of when Bill Hicks would come on stage in an almost-empty club, scan the room slowly, and announce "I've had more people in bed than this" ...
When the president sends a cabinet member on TV to announce "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
This is from 2022 but it was absolutely right. The practiced buffoonery of Trump 1, all the "just kiddings" and "seriously but not literallys" absolutely succeeded in desensitizing people who are hardly paying any attention to the harder stuff they always intended to do next. ...
The basic fallacy in chasing votes by being "tough on immigration" is that the modal American's position on the issue is "Deport the Bad ones and keep the Good ones," and they alone know who is which, and that simply does not translate into workable policy. So this kind of gestapo stuff horrifies some of the same people who cheered when Trump promised to do it. There are true sociopaths who love this, but "No, I meant only the BAD immigrants! Not my coworker/friend/neighbor!" is as likely a reaction as enthusiasm. You cannot do immigration policy that satisfies these people because what they want is nonsensical.
So by the time center-left parties fully commit to chasing the far right by "getting tough" on immigration, the backlash has already begun to build and they walk right into it. "I thought you people wanted this!" No, they want something impossible and convinced themselves they'd could have it - the "eat whatever you want AND lose weight!" of immigration policies.
It is hard to grasp but large masses of Americans are both racist/xenophobic AND not racist/xenophobic enough to applaud what Trump is doing. It's goldilocks shit, they want a level of racism/xenophobia calibrated exactly to their personal preferences, and you just can't make that policy. Don't try. ...
AP: Trump extends olive branch, invites Musk to White House cellar to taste some brand new amontillado ...
pmayo says:
For those keeping score at home, it now appears that Joe The Plumber :
# By his own admission, has neither the financial wherewithal, nor the requisite know-how to buy the business
# owes $1200 in back taxes
# along with his boss, lacks the license required to work as a plumber in the county where he now resides
# is distantly related to Charles Keating
In a season full of stupid maneuvers by the McCain campaign, planting this oaf at an Obama event, in order to manufacture a talking point, might be the stupidest. Even if he wasn't a plant, using his ill-informed, inept "confrontation" as a debate stump was an incredible miscalculation.
beau says:
or because he is indeed trying to lose.
Shane says:
I may have to go with beau on this one. The longer this campaign drags on the more I am reminded of your early summer post of the letter from John McCain to the American people, except I don't think the RNC let McCain in on the joke. I am seriously starting to wonder if 2 years ago Bush didn't take a few key Republican leaders aside and say "okay, between you an me, we are on a plane with one wing and a blazing engine and during the next administration we are going down in a giant ball of fire, I have left his place so f*ed up, you guys may want to sit this next one out." So rather than being blamed with the cause and the fall out, they pick someone they think has no chance of winning, but someone that still wants it really bad and will put up a good show, maybe someone old who has always dreamed of being president, and someone they don't like very much…McCain…perfect. The only problem was in July they realized he might actually be able to pull it out of his ass and started to panic, so someone suggests Palin as a great VP candidate, plants a few other huge embarrassments, convinces the oil companies to drop gas by over a dollar a gallon, and they decide to go ahead and let the financial crisis genie out of the bottle a few months early, ensuring that some Democrat will be blamed for disaster of the next administration.
I am not the only one to share this concern either. Of a poll of african american voters who are not supporting Obama one of the main reasons was they felt the next administration was going to witness one of the worst periods of American history and they didn't want a black guy to be in the pilot's seat when it did.
But perhaps I am giving the Republicans a bit too much credit.