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 ...
Andrew says:
Will that be enough to shame the House into passing the extension?
middle seaman says:
Democrats should have insisted on extending unemployment payments on the initial agreement. They don't care much either.
Tim H. says:
"New Democrats" are intentionally more like "GOP lite", a progressive would not be able to accumulate sufficient campaign funds. Staying a step or two left is "Less worse", but may not be enough.
c u n d gulag says:
Tim H.,
I don't know, Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown are pretty popular Democrats, and they represent, along with Bernie Sanders and a few others, that staying more than a step or two left, is 'more betterer.' :-)
c u n d gulag says:
Yes, the Republicans need a reminder to dog-whistle, and not just blurt out their real inner-Id's feelings about people who aren't older, white, male, Christian, and Conservative.
The Republicans are starting to lose their gift of messaging, now that Frank Luntz has decided to retire, along with his dictionary and thesaurus, to his 14,000+ square foot Las Vegas home, with his 10-foot TV, and drink diet soda's while watching it.
And the problem is less the psychopaths who lead the Republican Party – and more the sociopathic stupid and/ignorant sheeple, rubes, suckers, fools, dupes, bobo's, racists, misogynists, xenophobes, homophobes, goons, thugs, dopes, fools, imbeciles, "morans", dim/nit/half/fuck-wits, and Christian-loons, who vote for them.
"Divide and conquer" is almost as old a tool as the club.
And it's working just fine to distract the stupid and ignorant from the ongoing "Class War," and "Cold Civil War," that are being waged on everyone below the top 1%.
And as long as people think it's something other than class, money, and access to power, that divides us, we'll always have the sociopathic stupid and/or ignorant sheeple, rubes, suckers, fools, dupes, bobo's, racists, misogynists, xenophobes, homophobes, goons, thugs, dopes, fools, imbeciles, "morans", dim/nit/half/fuck-wits, and Christian-loons, who vote for psychopaths.
Remember:
"Follow da money!"
Mingent Whizmaster says:
–Jonathon Winters
John Danley says:
Masochism offered to us by refulgent sadists.
Anonymouse says:
I agree with Gulag; this last election was a farce of how much the right-wing doesn't care anymore about alienating the Blahs and the Slutty McSlut-Sluts who think they should be able to have health care, plus all the 99% 'takers'.
Matt says:
Shorter House GOP: "The key is sincerity. Once you learn how to fake THAT, you've got it made!"
neuseriversailor says:
"…people who have to learn how to act like they have emotions."
Oh come now, Boehner cries at the drop of a hat.
Edward says:
The reason why doing this sort of makes sense is that the Democrats do not represent non-corporate people, any more then the Republicans do. Why shouldn't the Republicans seek the support of these people, even if it is complete B.S.?
Grung_e_Gene says:
Real Americans don't countenance the Poor and downtrodden to besmirch their sight. Real Americans kick the person in the be-hind and tell them to take a bath and get a job and pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.
mothra says:
I honestly don't know why they bother to send out such a memo. Poor people who vote for Republicans don't think they are the lazy shiftless bums on unemployment and food stamps–those are the brown people.
Bitter Scribe says:
It's all part of "compassionate conservatism."
If you have to go around declaring that you're compassionate, guess what—you probably aren't.