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 ...
HoosierPoli says:
No one in their right mind would have taken that bet. The revolving door is the new kickback, and by new I mean quite old.
David says:
What a smarmy, slimey fuckwad. I rarely use the word hate, but in this instance…I hate this man. Fuck him. I hope he chokes on his wife's dick.
Elder Futhark says:
Well, since he never had to buy in, you can't accuse him of selling out.
PWL says:
Well, isn't that why you go into politics these days…so you can get a big fat job afterwards with the people you shilled for while in Congress?
(Wanna bet that's what Brary does when his days in the Oval Office are over?)
punkdavid says:
@David: LMAO! Perfect.
zach says:
My long shot "What the fuck is he thinking?" response is that he wants to be VP on the Republican ticket. That's the only thing I can think of with his ridiculous 180 degree spin from "Washington is too partisan" to ingratiating himself to the worst of corporatism via the Chamber and a contract with Fox News.
He's just finally made it complete acceptable to say what nearly every Democrat in Indiana has thought for years, that the guy is a dick and only cares about himself. There were plenty of that opinion, just too many afraid to say it since his lackeys controlled the state party.
acer says:
At the time, Marc Cooper also called out this scumbag, in his avuncular fashion:
http://marccooper.com/bye-bye-bayh-not-soon-enough/
In fact, if memory serves, Bayh was such a big-money tool that his self-serving "moment of reckoning" didn't sell to anyone left of Gordon Gekko.
Middle Seaman says:
Bayh represents legions of Americans who thing that the Republicans are nice people. When the revolution comes, we'll get rid of them all. (We dream.)
Da Moose says:
The head of the Chamber is a member of my parrish. He is an enormous asshole.
Skye says:
Three thgnis I love about the summer are:1) The warm weather and spending time outside.2) Going to the Beach with my husband and friends.3) My Birthday, and this summer having my first baby!