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 ...
OliverWendelHolmslice says:
The whole "God hates you" because he made it rain reminds me of one of the funniest damn things I've ever seen in mocking the religious right:
Last year it rained at the NYC Gay Pride Parade and there is always a small and obnoxious group of evangelical protesters with signs like "God Hates Fags" cordoned off in a small area. It started to rain as we passed by their desperate outcry for sexual liberation expressed as political hate speech, and they kept yelling about how the rain was proof that God hated us. This fierce queen next to me decided he had had enough and screamed "BULLSHIT HONEY!! GOD DOESN'T HATE US, HE JUST GAVE US A WET T-SHIRT CONTEST!!"…at which point a large group of men took their shirts off and gyrated in front of the protesters. The sun wound up breaking through later in the day anyway and a merry time was had by all.
Maybe the right could learn a thing or two…although I hope they keep their shirts on.
Evan says:
That might be misconstrued as support for the "theory" of climate change.
Debra says:
I had the thought earlier that it is the left getting the "god wink" with the incredible ignorance that has brought us this gift of teabagging led by a man called Dick Armey….priceless!!
Daniel says:
Can anyone can confirm if Hannity really did his show live from one of the protests in Atlanta? Has Fox News turned into ESPN???? I know that MSNBC did this for the conventions last summer, but this is ridiculous even for Fox News. What is this, College Gameday? Quick, someone make Hannity wear a pig costume!!! Who ya got Sean, LSU or Georgia???
J. A. Baker says:
Sean Hannity IS Lee Corso!
J. A. Baker says:
Seeing as how these teabagging events are allegedly taking place nationwide, such a claim would be transparently ridiculous, but totally in character for these doofuses.
Kevin says:
I need to fucking move…
http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/archives/2009/04/perry_says_texa.html
If you go to the Houston Chronicle's main page (www.chron.com) you can listen to a woman compare today's teabagging to the protests of the early 70's…. something tells me she didn't participate in those…
Peggy says:
@Oliver:
a)your handle cracks me up every time and I love it.
b)WET TSHIRT CONTEST. This is why I love drag queens. (That and all the jealousy glitter, I suppose.)