2024 - the MAGA Presidency and Revenge Tour

[El Guapo]

Bernie Sanders Tells People to Suck It Up and Vote for Biden Because the Alternative Is Living in Hell

In a nearly nine-minute video posted to X on Thursday, Senator Bernie Sanders told his supporters that while he believes Joe Biden’s response to Gaza has been “dead wrong,“ and he has “disagreements” with the president on some other issues, “it’s important to take a minute to think about what a [Donald] Trump presidency would mean to our country and, in fact, the world.” Then he went onto describe the hell Americans—and people all over the globe—would live in should Trump win a second term in November.

“If Trump is elected in November, the fight against climate change is over and the people of this planet will have lost,” Sanders tells viewers. “If Trump is elected in November, the already obscene levels we are experiencing of wealth inequality will only get worse. If Donald Trump is elected in November, he and the Republican Party will escalate the attacks on women’s reproductive health in the country...If Donald Trump is elected in November, and I say this with a heavy heart, but it is likely that the 250 year experiment of American democracy is all but over...We have got to do everything we can to defeat Donald Trump and reelect Joe Biden.”

[Punisher]

I'm not sure if this belongs here but I'll ask anyway.
If people are worried about Biden because of his age aand other factors why dont the democrats put up a different candidate?
Even if he wins they will still need someone to take his place in 4 years so why not do it now?
Unless trump succeeds in getting fulll presidential immunity and biden beats him to the punch and declare himself king...

[YellowKing]

I think there are multiple reasons:

1. Biden wants to run, and who's to tell a sitting President to step aside from a second term?
2. Biden has two advantages over a new candidate - the power of incumbency and the fact that he has beaten Trump before
3. Pulling Biden would be a sign of weakness and show a lack of confidence

Biden's age is a risk, but there are also risks associated with running a brand new candidate that the country doesn't know.

[Dogstar]

Just automobile industry talk by a guy who has never used violent imagery or language to advance his vision.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[waitingtoconnect]

In the same speech he was insisting that Biden had beaten “Barack Hussein Obama” in elections nationally that never took place.

[hepcat]

He’s all over the place in these things. He was also telling everyone he made a fool out of democrats when he released the tapes of his phone call with Zelensky back during the quid pro quo crap.

…there are none, and never have been.

[LordMortis]

5 times in the last 2 hours CNBC has railed against media taking "bloodbath" out of context and misrepresenting what he said. And yet, I've seen it, and it's not out of context. They have played it in or out of context exactly zero times. They are claiming to appeal to "rational moderate people." I soooo need a different morning news source. I just don't know which way to go.

[YellowKing]

That's Trump playbook 101. Say something outrageous. Laugh it off as a "joke," "locker room talk," or "Taken out of context." Repeat until that language becomes normalized. That's how we've gone from laughable lies about inauguration numbers to inciting mass violence from the same guy, and the media is still making excuses.

[Skinypupy]

Trump is very good at leaving just enough wiggle room for people to say "that's not what he meant" or "he's taking it out of context"...when everyone knows exactly what he meant

[Carpet_pissr]

Trump is very good at leaving just enough wiggle room for people to say "that's not what he meant" or "he's taking it out of context"...when everyone knows exactly what he meant

What wiggle room in this case? Seems pretty clear cut and straightforward to me.

[Skinypupy]

Trump is very good at leaving just enough wiggle room for people to say "that's not what he meant" or "he's taking it out of context"...when everyone knows exactly what he meant

What wiggle room in this case? Seems pretty clear cut and straightforward to me.

Just look at what the media has been doing since he said it. If you squint hard enough and run yourself through enough logic pretzels, you could make the (very thin) argument that when he said "bloodbath" in his mealy-mouthed way, he was referring just to the financial state of the auto industry and not the broader context of anyone who disagrees with him.

Everyone with half a brain knows exactly what he meant, but there is just the slightest room for it to be interpreted a different way. We all saw all the MAGA grifters come out and defend him to the death...with a wink and a nod.

[LordMortis]

Everyone with half a brain knows exactly what he meant, but there is just the slightest room for it to be interpreted a different way. We all saw all the MAGA grifters come out and defend him to the death...with a wink and a nod.

Not just MAGA grifters. The CNBC news deciders editorialists reporters and the people they interview in an appeal the to the monetary influencers. It's pretty obvious at this point they've thrown their hat in for TFG. It's strange they are where they are and yet MSNBC is also biased as they are the other way. Makes me wonder what's up with Comcast/NBC.

[Carpet_pissr]

Trump is very good at leaving just enough wiggle room for people to say "that's not what he meant" or "he's taking it out of context"...when everyone knows exactly what he meant

What wiggle room in this case? Seems pretty clear cut and straightforward to me.

Just look at what the media has been doing since he said it. If you squint hard enough and run yourself through enough logic pretzels, you could make the (very thin) argument that when he said "bloodbath" in his mealy-mouthed way, he was referring just to the financial state of the auto industry and not the broader context of anyone who disagrees with him.

Everyone with half a brain knows exactly what he meant, but there is just the slightest room for it to be interpreted a different way. We all saw all the MAGA grifters come out and defend him to the death...with a wink and a nod.

I think that speaks more to the media creating excuses than it does to how good/savvy Trump is. Though he can be very tricksy.

[Blackhawk]

Leaving wiggle room is a skill that requires either careful scripting, or a great deal of focus while speaking. Neither describes Trump.

Trump doesn't leave wiggle room so much as he is so incompetent that his rants are full of holes. Those holes act as wiggle room. They break all reason, but he isn't talking to reasonable people. He's talking to people who have been trained (groomed?) to believe whatever he says.

[YellowKing]

I still think there is intent for some of this language. Michael Cohen talked about it and it's stuff right out of the Mafia. He runs his mouth so much that there are always going to be accidental opportunities to get away with stuff, but when he's trying to steal votes or blackmail world leaders, he's very intentional in what he says.

[LordMortis]

Or he's so steeped in Mafia in lore and his business that it's his natural speech, which appeals to his cult and cult of personality following as prophesy and directive precisely because of what he says both literally and metaphorically, wherein they are antiheroes in their favorite mafia movies.

[LawBeefaroni]

Or he's so steeped in Mafia in lore and his business that it's his natural speech, which appeals to his cult and cult of personality following as prophesy and directive precisely because of what he says both literally and metaphorically, wherein they are antiheroes in their favorite mafia movies.

He's worked with the mafia. He used them to circumvent labor strukes when building. He used their concrete companies and low wage immigrant "workers". His Trump Air helicopters were used to traffic drugs. I'm sure he fashions himself a don.

[Holman]

Trump says three or four things every week that would, each on its own, have totally foreclosed a normal politician's career in the pre-Trump era. Trump's superpower is simply never acknowledging that this is the case.

A compliant right-wing media ecosystem facilitates this, but absolute shamelessness has a quality all its own.

[waitingtoconnect]

Everyone with half a brain knows exactly what he meant, but there is just the slightest room for it to be interpreted a different way. We all saw all the MAGA grifters come out and defend him to the death...with a wink and a nod.

Not just MAGA grifters. The CNBC news deciders editorialists reporters and the people they interview in an appeal the to the monetary influencers. It's pretty obvious at this point they've thrown their hat in for TFG. It's strange they are where they are and yet MSNBC is also biased as they are the other way. Makes me wonder what's up with Comcast/NBC.

It’s because they consider trump one of them. Like it or not most super rich got their riches by grifting or luck or both and off the backs of their workers they treat as disposable.

And much of their wealth is puffed up by share and property valuations and they have limited fungible assets. If they needed to get half a billion in a hurry the mythos about them might be popped.

They won’t bail him out financially because they don’t do that but they don’t like it when government goes after one of them no matter what they’ve done because they view that as a risk to themselves and their grifting.

[Grifman]

Trump is planning to investigate and prosecute Biden:

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/08/trump- ... probe-2025

[LordMortis]

Doesn't that go against his proposition that you can't prosecute former presidents?

[waitingtoconnect]

https://www.newsweek.com/gen-z-embracin ... ps-1886702

Seems the under 40s would love to see a US dictatorship. Looks like TikTok has washed their brains.

[Kurth]

https://www.newsweek.com/gen-z-embracin ... ps-1886702

Seems the under 40s would love to see a US dictatorship. Looks like TikTok has washed their brains.

Not surprised by this, actually. I think the further we get from WW2 and the Cold War, the more our collective antipathy to fascist/strongman governments erodes. My grandfather fought the Nazis in WW2. Most of my wife's family was wiped out by the Nazis in the Holocaust. I was born in 1974 and spent my most formative years growing up in the Cold War. I remember the Berlin Wall coming down. The evils of fascism and the dangers of a strongman were front and center. We read 1984 and Animal Farm and could see the lessons of those works playing out in realtime in the headlines.

Redfield & Wilton Strategies polled 1,500 eligible voters across the U.S. for Newsweek on February 10. In total 40 percent of Gen Z Americans agreed that "rule by a strong leader, where a strong leader can make decisions without interference from the legislature or from the courts" would be a good system of government for the U.S., versus 27 percent who thought it would be bad.

Among millennials, aged 27-42, 35 percent endorsed this type of government against 31 percent who were opposed. Notably a majority of Generation X, aged 43-58, and those from the boomer and silent generations, aged 59 and over, were opposed to such authoritarian leadership.

In total 30 percent of Gen X Americans said "rule by a strong leader" who can ignore Congress and the courts would be good for the country, against 43 percent who thought it would be bad. Among the boomer and silent generations just 18 percent thought this would be good, against 60 percent for bad.

The formative world event for many of these people? Probably 9/11. I don't think we can overestimate the impact on the psyche of this country and the generations growing up in the aftermath of that attack. We quickly shifted into 24 and pop-culture adoption of Jack Bauer-type figures who were strong men "willing to do what it takes" to keep America safe. In that environment, there were lots of people who were willing to trade liberty for security, and that's the cultural milieu many of the people being questioned in this poll grew up in.

This article from The Reagan Foundation (don't throw up!!!) addresses some of these issues.

[Kraken]

https://www.newsweek.com/gen-z-embracin ... ps-1886702

Seems the under 40s would love to see a US dictatorship. Looks like TikTok has washed their brains.

Not surprised by this, actually. I think the further we get from WW2 and the Cold War, the more our collective antipathy to fascist/strongman governments erodes. My grandfather fought the Nazis in WW2. Most of my wife's family was wiped out by the Nazis in the Holocaust. I was born in 1974 and spent my most formative years growing up in the Cold War. I remember the Berlin Wall coming down. The evils of fascism and the dangers of a strongman were front and center. We read 1984 and Animal Farm and could see the lessons of those works playing out in realtime in the headlines.

I was born just 12 years after WW2 ended and it defined my world. Thinking of all the generations of Americans who fought to defend democracy against authoritarian regimes and knowing that we're *this close* to electing a dictator fills me with despair.

[YellowKing]

What fills me with despair is that I don't see how we reverse this. How do you make people suddenly accept reality again? We literally have people in power with no connection to actual reality that are going to act based not on the facts, but on what they choose to believe. It's a frightening prospect, and it shows no signs of stopping. It's actually just getting worse and worse. Where we are today compared to where we were even just 10 years ago is night and day.

We bought ourselves four years with Biden's election, but at some point the luck's going to run out. And when that happens it's game over.

[The Meal]

Don’t forget that “Congress and the courts” are absolute shitstains in recent history. (By design, at least from one party. All part of the plan.)

[LordMortis]

And in my case, the state legislature and many of the groups that power their machines (Insurance companies, Chamber of Commerce, out of state interests, energy lobbies, etc...). But we've seem to have hit a point where there is a fight for our legal souls here. It gets better and it gets worse, so my fear and anxiety get better and it gets worse. I'm not in total despair because it sometimes gets better. Sometimes the people who step up to save the souls of our legal system are among the last we'd expect. At the same time, day to day... yuck, and my trust that it will all work out is low.

It starts locally. It builds at the state. The federal level is the enduring expression, specifically, the courts.

[ImLawBoy]

Don’t forget that “Congress and the courts” are absolute shitstains in recent history. (By design, at least from one party. All part of the plan.)

Yeah, I think this probably colors a lot of those responses. They see Congressional leaders publicly stating a policy of obstructionism. They see lifetime appointees to the SCOTUS taking away rights with no real way to get them back. It's all very dysfunctional.

I'd read this as less of an endorsement of a Trump-type authoritarian government and more of a backlash against the other two branches of government. That doesn't mean it's not concerning, of course, but it's at least a bit understandable through that lens.

[LawBeefaroni]

Powell Memo. If you want to understand how we got here, it's worth the read.



https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/ ... well-memo/

Madam President [pro tem], there is a scheme afoot, a scheme I will be talking about in weeks ahead – a long-running, right-wing scheme to capture the Supreme Court.

Special interests are behind the scheme. They control it through dark money – hundreds of millions of dollars in anonymous hidden spending. We will dwell in later speeches on how the scheme operates. This first speech seeks its origins. The scheme is secret, and because of its secrecy, it is hard to know exactly where the story should begin.

The one place you could begin is with a corporate lawyer – the Virginian Lewis Powell.

....

“Strength lies in organization, in careful long-range planning and implementation, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations.”

Powell recommended a propaganda effort staffed with scholars and speakers, a propaganda effort to which American business should devote “10 percent of its total advertising budget,’” including an effort to review and critique textbooks, especially in economics, political science, and sociology.

“National television networks should be monitored in the same way that textbooks should be kept under constant surveillance,” he said. Corporate America should aggressively insist on the right to be heard, on “equal time,” and corporate America should be ready to deploy, and I am quoting him here, “whatever degree of pressure — publicly and privately — may be necessary.” This would be “a long road,” Powell warned, “and not for the fainthearted.”
...

And then came the section of the secret report that may have launched the scheme to capture the court. It is called “Neglected Opportunity in the Courts.” This section focused on what Powell called “exploiting judicial action.” He called it an “area of vast opportunity.”

He wrote: “Under our constitutional system, especially with an activist-minded Supreme Court” – I will intervene to say, of course, we have today, as a result of the scheme, the most activist-minded Supreme Court in American history, but back to his quote – “especially with an activist-minded Supreme Court, the judiciary may be the most important instrument for social, economic and political change.”

....

The secret report was dated August 23, 1971. Two months later, on October 22, Nixon nominated Powell to the Supreme Court. Lewis Powell was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on January 7, 1972, less than 6 months after this secret report was delivered to the Chamber.

[waitingtoconnect]

Don’t forget that “Congress and the courts” are absolute shitstains in recent history. (By design, at least from one party. All part of the plan.)

Yeah, I think this probably colors a lot of those responses. They see Congressional leaders publicly stating a policy of obstructionism. They see lifetime appointees to the SCOTUS taking away rights with no real way to get them back. It's all very dysfunctional.

I'd read this as less of an endorsement of a Trump-type authoritarian government and more of a backlash against the other two branches of government. That doesn't mean it's not concerning, of course, but it's at least a bit understandable through that lens.

We just need a president with some strong 3 point plans and a machine gun.

It starts locally. It builds at the state. The federal level is the enduring expression, specifically, the courts.

Yes honour and integrity starts with the people not with our leaders. We can’t hold our leaders accountable for morals we ourselves don’t have.

[Grifman]

Foundation turns down Liz Cheney nomination due to fear of retaliation if Trump is elected president:



And so it begins.

[LawBeefaroni]

Why not just give Trump the award then?

[Hyena]

Why not just give Trump the award then?

No need to give it to him, he'll find this post and claim it for himself now.

"By vote I was given this award, it's the first time ever this award has been given to anyone by public outcry. It's unheard of, "We've never heard of this before," they're all saying. A man came up to me, holding the award, he was a very large men, very tough, lots of muscles, tears in his eyes. He said he'd never cried before, but he had tears in his eyes. Thank you very much."

[hepcat]

And to commemorate this award, I've commissioned this painting of me with a huge bulge in my golf pants and equally huge hands that hold this award up to God as he high fives my other huge hand. This will be hanging in Mar-a-Lago's lobby and....wait....you put the bulge in the BACK of the pants!? YOU SON OF A....

[GreenGoo]

It's unheard of, "We've never heard of this before," they're all saying.

I do this all the time with my daughter when watching tv.

"unforeseen? I didn't foresee that!" No one foresaw it!"

[Punisher]

Why not just give Trump the award then?

No need to give it to him, he'll find this post and claim it for himself now.

"By vote I was given this award, it's the first time ever this award has been given to anyone by public outcry. It's unheard of, "We've never heard of this before," they're all saying. A man came up to me, holding the award, he was a very large men, very tough, lots of muscles, tears in his eyes. He said he'd never cried before, but he had tears in his eyes. Thank you very much."

I think we've found Trumps secret speech writer!

[Hyena]

Why not just give Trump the award then?

No need to give it to him, he'll find this post and claim it for himself now.

"By vote I was given this award, it's the first time ever this award has been given to anyone by public outcry. It's unheard of, "We've never heard of this before," they're all saying. A man came up to me, holding the award, he was a very large men, very tough, lots of muscles, tears in his eyes. He said he'd never cried before, but he had tears in his eyes. Thank you very much."

I think we've found Trumps secret speech writer!

HAHAHA Man, if you could see the argument I'm in over text with the other coaches I work with you'd die laughing. They are all dangling off the last feathers of the right wing, and I'm a much more central, libertarian/Democrat fence-sitter. But I sure like to dunk drumfph in whatever cesspool he's currently swimming in.

[Grifman]

Doesn't that go against his proposition that you can't prosecute former presidents?

Only if their name is Trump, obviously.

[Unagi]

Doesn't that go against his proposition that you can't prosecute former presidents?

Only if their name is Trump, obviously.

Actually, Biden was never legally elected, he stole it - so none of this ‘immunity’ stuff would apply.