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Main Paineframe
Oct 27, 2010

Archonex posted:

So sounds like I was right to wonder if it was sociopathy then. Seems like he just has no remorse for his actions and intends to keep going until he's stopped, either by someone with more power than him or his own actions sabotaging himself past the point of no return. :shrug:

Also did he actually frame a bunch of people for crimes? Because if so the dude should be under some sort of investigation.

It was defamation and slander, so civil lawsuit stuff, rather than go-to-jail levels of illegal.

He paid some actors to read a script describing sexual assault accusations, and then anonymously released a video presenting the Dem candidate as the subject of those accusations.

When he got caught and sued, the local party wanted to condemn him and publicly call on him to resign. He responded that he wouldn't resign, and that if they issued such a public statement he would go nuclear on them. They went ahead and issued that statement anyway, and two days later Capps was on TV claiming that the head of the local GOP personally instructed him to make the video. Except that earlier the same day, Capps had a secret meeting with his co-conspirators where they decided who to blame for the video, cooked up cover stories that would fit the evidence in case a reporter tried to dig into it, and so on. Real class acts.

quote:

A secret recording released Friday shows that three Republican officials sought to frame the county’s Republican chairman for a falsified ad they put together smearing then-mayoral candidate Brandon Whipple. One compared their mission to that of the man who shot Wichita abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. “Us Republicans, we all agree,” Sedgwick County Commissioner Michael O’Donnell said. “The murder of George Tiller was bad. But am I sad that he’s dead? No. I’m just glad I’m not the one who pulled the trigger.” Tiller was assassinated in 2009 by anti-abortion extremist Scott Roeder during a Sunday morning service while Tiller was serving as an usher at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita.

State Rep. Michael Capps said the anti-Whipple video was justifiable to derail Whipple’s candidacy, because he’s a “liberal Democrat.” “It’s what we do,” Capps said. “It’s the way the system works. Nobody wants to know how the sausage is made, they only want the sausage when it’s done. And that’s the principle: This is the sausage making — nobody likes to see that.”

The statements were on a secret recording made by Matthew Colborn, hired to produce a video smearing Whipple in his campaign to unseat former Mayor Jeff Longwell. Colborn’s attorney, Michael Schultz, released the audio to media Friday. O’Donnell, Capps and Wichita City Council member James Clendenin were behind the plot. And when their involvement was coming to light, they decided to lie and frame members of their own party, the recording reveals.

Initially, they thought to implicate both county GOP Chairman Dalton Glasscock and County Clerk Kelly Arnold, a former chairman of the state Republican Party. They ultimately decided not to try to implicate Arnold because he was more capable of fighting back and they felt it was a war they couldn’t win.

Glasscock said Friday evening that he was “disappointed, disheartened and disgusted” by what he heard on the recording. “Anyone that is associated with this is not fit for public office,” he said.

O’Donnell is the only one of the three politicians on the ballot in the Nov. 3 election, where early voting is already ongoing. While the county Republican Party hasn’t spent any money in O’Donnell’s race against Democrat Sarah Lopez, the state GOP has been sending out frequent mailers in the 2nd Commission District attacking Lopez and supporting O’Donnell.

Glasscock said he’ll be contacting state GOP Chairman Mike Kuckelman and asking him to turn off the flow of campaign spending to boost O’Donnell. “I will do everything in my power and my advice to Chair Kuckelman to make sure we don’t spend a dime in that race, that the state Republican Party does not spend a dime in that race,” he said. “Voters have begun voting in this election and we’re 11 days out from the general election, and I hope that voters will look at all these allegations,” he said. “And I trust the voters of Sedgwick County to make a decision on Election Day that shows that character matters and character counts.”

In the secret recording — about 50 minutes long — O’Donnell, Clendenin and Capps craft a calculated narrative meant to mislead the public and cover their tracks while saving their political careers.

...

The audio indicates that O’Donnell, Capps and Clendenin were involved in the smear campaign and an attempted cover-up. All three officials were named in the Whipple lawsuit this month and Colborn’s name was dropped from the lawsuit after he handed over information.

The bogus narrative by O’Donnell, Capps and Clendenin centered on Capps’ appearance on former Republican legislator John Whitmer’s radio show. O’Donnell told Capps to lie, but to do so in a way that couldn’t be proven false while shifting blame to Glasscock. “I’m just trying to keep us out a refutable lie,” he said.

O’Donnell, who has fought off several scandals in his political career as a City Council member, state senator and county commissioner, offered a nugget of advice to the others. “Like I’ve always learned in politics, it’s always avoid the truth at all expense, right? And just go on the attack.” O’Donnell said.


Capps agreed and lamented that he wasn’t as good at that as O’Donnell. “That’s one of the political skills that I’m lacking,” Capps said. “It’s not that I can’t develop it, but it’s the engineer in me, because engineers see things in very finite . . . terms.”

“Black and white,” interjected Clendenin.

All three officials agreed framing Glasscock was the best route to take. “If it’s the narrative as just discussed, I’m fully bought into (it),” Clendenin said. “This is not an ideal narrative, and I’m going to accept the fact that it’s not,” Capps said. “I also am looking at this purely from a business/political perspective that it’s either our necks or his,” Capps said of Glasscock.

The four participants in the meeting brainstormed talking points for the Whitmer show and discussed how they could manufacture their narrative around a meeting with Glasscock that never happened.

At one juncture, Capps pointed out that Glasscock had been traveling out of town and asked O’Donnell to sift through his text messages and find a day when Glasscock was actually in Wichita, to add plausibility to Capps’ claim that he’d met with him. They also settled on what their story would be if Capps were asked where the purported meeting occurred. They considered saying it was at Capps’ and Cledenin’s shared office, but rejected that because it could cause problems with their landlord.

“You don’t have to say it was at our office because if you get real specific and this does go to court, then there’s all sorts of (expletive) that’s going to hit the fan,” Clendenin said. Then they considered saying it was at the Candle Club, an east-side private club popular with Wichita’s business and political leaders. They rejected that because they didn’t want to hurt the business. They finally settled on just saying the nonexistent meeting was at an unnamed private club.

Glasscock said “unequivocally no,” when asked if the purported meeting ever occurred. He said he learned of the accusations in the video about the time it was released publicly.

They decided the details could remain vague because Whitmer was unlikely to ask any hard questions. Capps assured the others that Whitmer wouldn’t press because he “wants Dalton’s head.” “He just doesn’t want to hunt. He just wants to collect,” Capps said. Whitmer denied targeting Glasscock and said he feels like he had been used by Capps.

Whitmer said Friday that he hadn’t had time to listen to all the recordings, but that he “absolutely” felt he had been used. He defended his interview with Capps and said he asked hard questions. Whitmer also objected to Whipple pursuing the case through the court because of the near-impossibility of a prominent public official actually winning a defamation suit. “It’s unfortunate this whole thing is being politicized and that the courts are being weaponized to influence the outcome of an election,” he said.

In the recording, the three officials and video producer also initially discussed trying to frame Arnold along with Glasscock. At one point, Capps, practicing for his Whitmer interview, proposed how he would do that, saying: ”... I do believe that Dalton Glasscock with the assistance of Kelly Arnold conspired to cover this up.” When no one immediately objected, Capps said: “Wow, that was an easier sell than I thought. I genuinely thought you were going to have a conniption fit over that.”

“No, no,” O’Donnell said. Capps explained: “All I’m trying to do is direct light at Kelly Arnold. I’m not trying to make an accusation.” They ultimately decided Arnold was too popular in Republican circles to take on. They were also worried if they did draw Arnold into it, he could team up with Whipple’s lawyer, Randy Rathbun, and help expose the plot.

Shortly after Capps was linked to the faked video, Glasscock and the entire leadership team of the county GOP called for Capps to resign. The secret recording was made two days later.

“It was so dumb,” O’Donnell said of Glassock’s decision to call for Capps’ resignation. “But that’s where we want to bring up Kelly, but we’re not going to.”

“No,” Colborn agreed. “We can’t win that war.”

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Paracaidas
Sep 24, 2016
Consistently Tedious!

Herstory Begins Now posted:

Trumpists obviously aren't, but what matters is what the rest of the republican party does.
I've not seen anything to indicate that the same dynamic that led to his rise has changed:

Everyone else in the primary benefits when Trump falls out. Nobody benefits from pushing him out (and in fact bears a heavy cost for doing it). Surprising noone: Republicans solve the tragedy of the commons by just letting the most obnoxious neighbor burn the field to ashes.

Shitposting from a Christmas Eve airport, the least depressing way to post!

Hieronymous Alloy
Jan 30, 2009


Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!




Morbid Hound
I'll believe it when I see it. And I'll have to see it more than once.

The Glumslinger
Sep 24, 2008

Coach Nagy, you want me to throw to WHAT side of the field?


Hair Elf

FlamingLiberal posted:

I’ll believe the GOP is abandoning Trump only when it happens

I do think it’s more likely now than it was a year ago, but I think it’s still more likely than not Trump wins the primary

They'll abandon trump when they can figure out who they can rally around. They don't exactly have a super deep bench at the moment and nobody there really screams super star. They had so many people wash out in the 2016 primary and now have the stink of failure on them. Maybe Desantis could pull off a plurality in a primary against Trump, but it doesn't exactly feel inevitable. Kemp? Murkowski makes a centrist bid?

The Glumslinger fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Dec 25, 2022

FlamingLiberal
Jan 18, 2009

Would you like to play a game?



I'm wondering if this is DeSantis' doing yet again

https://twitter.com/NoahGrayCNN/status/1606833110519275523?s=20&t=B2f6OphwuS9U0eWrpbS19w

https://twitter.com/NoahGrayCNN/status/1606850219341414401?s=20&t=B2f6OphwuS9U0eWrpbS19w

Really glad that we're busing migrants up to freezing northern states to make a dumb political statement

Gyges
Aug 4, 2004

NOW NO ONE
RECOGNIZE HULK

The problem with our, approaching decade long, library of articles about how the knives are out for Trump and how's he going to survive when the party hates him is that all of them are meaningless. He's never been popular with the politicians and established powers of the the party. From the start he basically forced his way into leadership by winning against all the favored and unfavored sons.

From the start the party apparatus very clearly bent the knee with all the passion and fervor of the Necromongers bowing to Riddick because "You keep what you kill". Of course they don't want the guy they hate and who they see as making their cushy lives in the halls of power more difficult to win again. Let me know when the articles about Trump rallies looking like Hillary events drop.

Edge & Christian posted:

The article linked gives a rundown:





The man has like zero footprint on the internet besides "being a guy who went to every 2020 Trump Rally in a brick suit" and also I guess is hanging out at Mar-a-Lago now. He was also at the Capitol on January 6th.

How anyone looks at this man and thinks "Brick Man", instead of "Wall Guy" I don't know. I remember his brief virality, and nobody was talking about Brick Man they were all taking about the guy who dressed like The Wall to get on stage.


Archonex posted:

As a side thing to this, I know people say that Desantis is too much of a vicious thug to succeed in a national election but I do wonder if they aren't making the same mistake as they made with Trump. The hard R voters don't give a flying gently caress if a person is personable. The ones that are ride or die for Trump have a lot of crossover with the ones that will pull the lever for anyone that says they'll hurt whichever group they hate at the time. And you know that Desantis is going to go on the whole "We have to genocide trans people by denying them healthcare protect our children from this insidious trans menace." bullshit once he gets a platform.

DeSantis' problem is that he has little if any charisma, is a coward, and has no ability to think on his feet. The hateful people who are champing at the bit for all of DeSantis' cruelties will jump behind almost any candidate. Despite all of the things that should disqualify Trump from every succeeding in getting even a single vote, the dude is a consummate entertainer who is the embodiment of the fusion of Carnival Barker and Reality TV. The result is that there is a significant number of votes that follow only Trump in the primary, and that gives him a very favorable position that other candidates don't have in most primary scenarios.

If you're looking for a thug bully there's going to be no shortage of choices no matter the size of the field in 2024. So far DeSantis isn't bringing any more to the party/media designated front runner table than the last Florida Governor to be there.

Edge & Christian
May 20, 2001

Earth-1145 is truly the best!
A world of singing, magic frogs,
high adventure, no shitposters

Gyges posted:

How anyone looks at this man and thinks "Brick Man", instead of "Wall Guy" I don't know. I remember his brief virality, and nobody was talking about Brick Man they were all taking about the guy who dressed like The Wall to get on stage.
To be fair his social media/personal branding is "'Bricksuit', not "Wall Guy". He's also apparently cosplaying as Sebastian Gorka now too. At least I assume that's what's going on with his facial hair.

socialsecurity
Aug 30, 2003

FlamingLiberal posted:

I'm wondering if this is DeSantis' doing yet again

https://twitter.com/NoahGrayCNN/status/1606833110519275523?s=20&t=B2f6OphwuS9U0eWrpbS19w

https://twitter.com/NoahGrayCNN/status/1606850219341414401?s=20&t=B2f6OphwuS9U0eWrpbS19w

Really glad that we're busing migrants up to freezing northern states to make a dumb political statement

At some point this becomes attempted murder right or at least manslaughter? Abducting people and leaving them in dangerous conditions?

the_steve
Nov 9, 2005

We're always hiring!

socialsecurity posted:

At some point this becomes attempted murder right or at least manslaughter? Abducting people and leaving them in dangerous conditions?

The bitter cynic in me suspects that there's somehow enough wiggle room and "Well TECHNICALLY..." that he'd either wiggle out of it on a technicality, or it'd be a Kyle Rittenhouse situation where the prosecution keeps stepping on rakes because they're more interested in trying to make some big statement than in presenting the evidence and making a compelling case.

Cimber
Feb 3, 2014

FlamingLiberal posted:

I'm wondering if this is DeSantis' doing yet again

https://twitter.com/NoahGrayCNN/status/1606833110519275523?s=20&t=B2f6OphwuS9U0eWrpbS19w

https://twitter.com/NoahGrayCNN/status/1606850219341414401?s=20&t=B2f6OphwuS9U0eWrpbS19w

Really glad that we're busing migrants up to freezing northern states to make a dumb political statement

I'm sure Jesus would approve of treating the needy this way.

Killer robot
Sep 6, 2010

I was having the most wonderful dream. I think you were in it!
Pillbug

Gyges posted:

DeSantis' problem is that he has little if any charisma, is a coward, and has no ability to think on his feet. The hateful people who are champing at the bit for all of DeSantis' cruelties will jump behind almost any candidate. Despite all of the things that should disqualify Trump from every succeeding in getting even a single vote, the dude is a consummate entertainer who is the embodiment of the fusion of Carnival Barker and Reality TV. The result is that there is a significant number of votes that follow only Trump in the primary, and that gives him a very favorable position that other candidates don't have in most primary scenarios.

If you're looking for a thug bully there's going to be no shortage of choices no matter the size of the field in 2024. So far DeSantis isn't bringing any more to the party/media designated front runner table than the last Florida Governor to be there.

It's also important to remember that Trump won in part because he was, in legislative history, a blank slate, while simultaneously being a household name already. He was a long-time celebrity of trashy reputation, but he had never served in office, and his promises were all over the place, vague, and it was easy to read him as being anything you wanted him to be. Does he have a health care plan? He says he does. Is the wall talk just red meat for the Republican primary before he mellows out in office? Hell, why not? He was an outsider the party spent the whole primary trying to bury, so can't just assume he'll be another Republican. He spent his campaign throwing things at the wall and repeating whatever got the loudest applause, and you could find news stories saying everything about him. And you sure couldn't show any voting record or signed legislation proving otherwise, since he had none.

Either way, he won a lot of votes from people who thought he was a moderate, compared to that known arch-liberal Clinton. Were those people idiots? Well yeah. But that doesn't apply to someone who's party establishment. DeSantis isn't Trump. He's just Jeb or Walker, in a post-Trump Republican party. Could he win? As much as anyone. But he absolutely won't win in the same way Trump 2016 did.

Main Paineframe
Oct 27, 2010

socialsecurity posted:

At some point this becomes attempted murder right or at least manslaughter? Abducting people and leaving them in dangerous conditions?

Probably just negligence or something. They are going willingly, albeit under false pretenses, and it's highly unlikely that the transporters are actually intending to kill them. Depends on exactly what promises were made to them about the destination, I suppose.

nine-gear crow
Aug 10, 2013

Main Paineframe posted:

Probably just negligence or something. They are going willingly, albeit under false pretenses, and it's highly unlikely that the transporters are actually intending to kill them. Depends on exactly what promises were made to them about the destination, I suppose.

At this point I'm not even sure if someone actually dying while in transit on one of these human trafficking PR stunts would even deter DeSantis from continuing them, let alone see him even fined for it much less prosecuted.

Ghost Leviathan
Mar 2, 2017

Exploration is ill-advised.

nine-gear crow posted:

At this point I'm not even sure if someone actually dying while in transit on one of these human trafficking PR stunts would even deter DeSantis from continuing them, let alone see him even fined for it much less prosecuted.

Why do you think that wouldn't encourage him?

Herstory Begins Now
Aug 5, 2003
SOME REALLY TEDIOUS DUMB SHIT THAT SUCKS ASS TO READ ->>

Gyges posted:

The problem with our, approaching decade long, library of articles about how the knives are out for Trump and how's he going to survive when the party hates him is that all of them are meaningless. He's never been popular with the politicians and established powers of the the party. From the start he basically forced his way into leadership by winning against all the favored and unfavored sons.

From the start the party apparatus very clearly bent the knee with all the passion and fervor of the Necromongers bowing to Riddick because "You keep what you kill". Of course they don't want the guy they hate and who they see as making their cushy lives in the halls of power more difficult to win again. Let me know when the articles about Trump rallies looking like Hillary events drop.

trump gets like .2% of the press and clicks and views that he got at any point between 2015 and 2020. the thing is that the republicans don't actually need to knife him, he's already politically DOA and 3 elections in a row have shown that Trumpism is not a winning strategy. In particular they've shown conclusively that Trump's personal brand of insane anti-democratic bullshit is electoral cancer.

the reason why I pay attention to 'knives out for trump' is because 1) it's almost certainly a necessary step for republicans to move past him to start winning national elections again and 2) figuring out how to jettison trump while not driving away 100% of trump supporters is the defining task for the republican party right now and 3) that's basically an impossible task, but also most Rs are aware by this point that it has to happen

if trump wasn't completely dead politically there'd be even a single trump supporter trying to scheme to get him elected again. instead every plan to get trump back into power involves basically some form of elaborate coup because even his supporters know he's cooked

Discendo Vox
Mar 21, 2013

This does not make sense when, again, aggregate indicia also indicate improvements. The belief that things are worse is false. It remains false.

FlamingLiberal posted:

I'm wondering if this is DeSantis' doing yet again

https://twitter.com/NoahGrayCNN/status/1606833110519275523?s=20&t=B2f6OphwuS9U0eWrpbS19w

https://twitter.com/NoahGrayCNN/status/1606850219341414401?s=20&t=B2f6OphwuS9U0eWrpbS19w

Really glad that we're busing migrants up to freezing northern states to make a dumb political statement

It's apparently Abbott:

https://twitter.com/NoahGrayCNN/status/1606866037126975490

CNN got the scoop on this (sounds like they heard first from a source in local law enforcement). Looks like only local news, WJLA has any separate coverage. Law enforcement seemed to have some advance notice of the second and third buses, at least once the first one arrived. There's no coverage on any of the conservative platforms that would usually carry this, so I think it was particularly unplnned (and of course the optics for Republicans aren't very good, even among their base, with this particular timing).

edit: in case that tweet isn't clear, the DC government is paying to bus the migrants from Harris's residence to a local church, and based on other accounts it's all in cooperation with local activist groups who usually act as the safety net for this sort of activity.

BIG-DICK-BUTT-FUCK
Jan 26, 2016

by Fluffdaddy

Tayter Swift posted:

To be fair (ugh) I dunno what the hell a candidate should be doing right now, over a year before the nearest primary. I don’t think anyone else has declared yet.

Seriously, once he targets a couple primary opponents to beatup on he'll be back in the mix. He's still leading the republican primary polls and his support numbers have stayed constant. I wouldn't count him out just yet ;)

Timmy Age 6
Jul 23, 2011

Lobster says "mrow?"

Ramrod XTreme
The thing that gets me is that, for all the handwringing from the Sununus of the world, when asked directly if they’d vote for Trump if he was nominated, they all say yes. They can’t exactly try to cut the cord while still saying they’re happy to vote for the guy.

Ghost Leviathan
Mar 2, 2017

Exploration is ill-advised.

BIG-DICK-BUTT-gently caress posted:

Seriously, once he targets a couple primary opponents to beatup on he'll be back in the mix. He's still leading the republican primary polls and his support numbers have stayed constant. I wouldn't count him out just yet ;)

Yeah, a huge part of Trump's appeal has been on beating up on other Republican party figureheads that everyone hates. Once he has momentum and a few skulls under his belt, poo poo changes.

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

Cranappleberry
Jan 27, 2009
the future of the republican party is whoever has enough charisma to co-opt the largest plurality of their voting base.

it's Trump until he loses the primary, regardless of what polls or articles say. Astroturfing DeSantis might work, pundits are hedging their bets, but everything is hypothetical until something actually happens.

BIG-DICK-BUTT-FUCK
Jan 26, 2016

by Fluffdaddy

Timmy Age 6 posted:

The thing that gets me is that, for all the handwringing from the Sununus of the world, when asked directly if they’d vote for Trump if he was nominated, they all say yes. They can’t exactly try to cut the cord while still saying they’re happy to vote for the guy.

it's VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO, just for the other team.

Gyges
Aug 4, 2004

NOW NO ONE
RECOGNIZE HULK

Herstory Begins Now posted:

trump gets like .2% of the press and clicks and views that he got at any point between 2015 and 2020. the thing is that the republicans don't actually need to knife him, he's already politically DOA and 3 elections in a row have shown that Trumpism is not a winning strategy. In particular they've shown conclusively that Trump's personal brand of insane anti-democratic bullshit is electoral cancer.

the reason why I pay attention to 'knives out for trump' is because 1) it's almost certainly a necessary step for republicans to move past him to start winning national elections again and 2) figuring out how to jettison trump while not driving away 100% of trump supporters is the defining task for the republican party right now and 3) that's basically an impossible task, but also most Rs are aware by this point that it has to happen

if trump wasn't completely dead politically there'd be even a single trump supporter trying to scheme to get him elected again. instead every plan to get trump back into power involves basically some form of elaborate coup because even his supporters know he's cooked

Being general election poison doesn't matter until the general election. Unlike Democrats in the primary, Republicans don't give a gently caress about electability in the primary. So there are no schemes really needed for the front runner to get elected again before the primary ends. Donny is still their guy until something actually happens.

Herstory Begins Now
Aug 5, 2003
SOME REALLY TEDIOUS DUMB SHIT THAT SUCKS ASS TO READ ->>
They absolutely do care about electability though that obviously isn't universally the primary concern. Anyways practically it's fine if they don't get their poo poo together because it just means more time that they aren't viable in national elections

Ghost Leviathan
Mar 2, 2017

Exploration is ill-advised.
Also helps that from what we've seen Republican primaries are genuinely more democratic than Democratic ones, the party doesn't generally put its thumb on the scale because there's nothing about Trump's campaigning or ambitions they actually disagree with in the slightest.

the_steve
Nov 9, 2005

We're always hiring!

"Electability" is such a subjective phrase anyways, because what makes someone "electable?"

For a lot of Dems, electable meant "Allegedly able to get republicans to vote alongside the dems on things."
For other dems, it was all about who had the most mature grandpa aesthetic to counter the Very Rude Bad Orange Man and who could promise them a return to the status quo so they could go back to brunch without having to pretend to care about things anymore.

Republicans, at least the average voter, sees electability as "who will do the best job of owning the libs" and "who will do the best job of telling me that all of my problems are actually the fault of some black lady buying a box hot pockets with food stamps"

Cranappleberry
Jan 27, 2009

Herstory Begins Now posted:

They absolutely do care about electability though that obviously isn't universally the primary concern. Anyways practically it's fine if they don't get their poo poo together because it just means more time that they aren't viable in national elections

the republican legislatures in several states, including swing states, have set up legal/quasi-legal (untested in court) ways to put their guys in place after state-wide and district contests without having to actually win elections, in addition to gerrymandering. Legalized (at least as far as state laws are concerned) alternative slates of electors for the presidential election chosen by republican state legislature in swing states may be their solution to electability issues of presidential candidates going forward.

I don't know if that stuff will hold up, that may depend on congress and the courts but the outlook isn't great imo.

Kalit
Nov 6, 2006

The great thing about the thousands of slaughtered Palestinian children is that they can't pull away when you fondle them or sniff their hair.

That's a Biden success story.

Ghost Leviathan posted:

Also helps that from what we've seen Republican primaries are genuinely more democratic than Democratic ones, the party doesn't generally put its thumb on the scale because there's nothing about Trump's campaigning or ambitions they actually disagree with in the slightest.

As a reminder, the Republican leaders were absolutely trying to prevent Trump from getting nominated in the 2016 primaries: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/20/us/politics/donald-trump-republican-party.html

The difference between him and people such as Sanders, for example, was that Trump had enough support among voters to overcome these efforts. Sanders did not.

Koos Group
Mar 6, 2013

Ghost Leviathan posted:

Also helps that from what we've seen Republican primaries are genuinely more democratic than Democratic ones, the party doesn't generally put its thumb on the scale because there's nothing about Trump's campaigning or ambitions they actually disagree with in the slightest.

After the 2017 reforms, Democratic superdelegates can no longer vote in the first round, so assuming a candidate is chosen by then (which the primary system is set up to strongly encourage), the Republican and Democratic parties are equal in how democratic the process is - barring the issue of caucuses vs. primaries.

BiggerBoat
Sep 26, 2007

Don't you tell me my business again.

BIG-DICK-BUTT-gently caress posted:

Seriously, once he targets a couple primary opponents to beatup on he'll be back in the mix. He's still leading the republican primary polls and his support numbers have stayed constant. I wouldn't count him out just yet ;)

Kinda this.

If we get to another 10 clown car primary like 2016, Trump still probably has something like 30% of the base on lockdown and the rest spread out the remaining 70%. His supporters are oddly loyal and have been accurately described as a cult to an extent that I've honestly never seen anything quite like it. In a big primary field, I think he can win.

If the GOP only has 3 or 4 primary candidates though, it might go differently and I think that would work against him. I also think a lot of people here underestimate what DeSantis can do and well liked he is in the party. He's insanely popular on talk radio, FOX News and certainly here in Florida. IMO, Republican voters would have no problem whatsoever turning out for him if he gets the nomination and Biden isn't a strong opponent either, slogging along with very low approval ratings. Even democrats don't like him.

My perception of DeSantis may be clouded by living here in Florida in the belly of the beast but folks really seem wild about him.

Mendrian
Jan 6, 2013

I'll believe the GOP is abandoning Trump when Trump is dead. They're all faithless opportunists who will say he's the worst human being to ever walk the earth until his popularity reaches 51% among GOP voters and then they'll fawn over him. Never forget what was said about Trump before the GOP primaries.

Archonex
May 2, 2012

MY OPINION IS SEERS OF THE THRONE PROPAGANDA IGNORE MY GNOSIS-IMPAIRED RAMBLINGS

BiggerBoat posted:

Kinda this.

If we get to another 10 clown car primary like 2016, Trump still probably has something like 30% of the base on lockdown and the rest spread out the remaining 70%. His supporters are oddly loyal and have been accurately described as a cult to an extent that I've honestly never seen anything quite like it. In a big primary field, I think he can win.

If the GOP only has 3 or 4 primary candidates though, it might go differently and I think that would work against him. I also think a lot of people here underestimate what DeSantis can do and well liked he is in the party. He's insanely popular on talk radio, FOX News and certainly here in Florida. IMO, Republican voters would have no problem whatsoever turning out for him if he gets the nomination and Biden isn't a strong opponent either, slogging along with very low approval ratings. Even democrats don't like him.

My perception of DeSantis may be clouded by living here in Florida in the belly of the beast but folks really seem wild about him.

Yeah, Desantis and these hardcore right wingers and right wing christians types he panders to are loving monsters, full stop. There's just no way to put it other than that, as horrible as it is. And if the past few years have taught me anything it's that other bigoted monsters love to see that trans blood flow now that they can't persecute other minorities as easily. That alone will probably carry him a ways, with how the Republicans and their white supremacists/christian fascist types have been replaying their lines from their old book of lies from the days of black civil rights and gay civil rights against transgender people to justify using trans people as their new punching bag to get people out to the polls and make a buck.

Understand also that this is the state where when they banned trans care members of the crowd pointed out that if their banning of trans care for minors and adults occurred it would straight up literally kill people. To be clear, the Republicans were told in no uncertain terms (After trying to pre-empt any real credible sources from testifying to avoid the shame of being called out on their bullshit.) that there would be blood on their hands (Literally, verbatim this. I can't stress this enough.). The response of the Republicans to this? Literally, it was a nonchalant and enthusiastic, "That's okay!".

Then the idea of a registry for trans people like in the immediate pre holocaust days of Nazi Germany was floated in Texas and Florida Republicans were nodding along enthusiastically. So it's really hard to overstate just how loving nasty and unworthy of any dignity, presumptions of decency, or respect the right wing christian types and other openly hateful parts of the general R base at this point are. They're just the lowest, dirtiest, scum of the earth with an eye for hurting other people for their own gain. We're talking, if they were on fire you'd be doing the world a favor by not pissing on them and just letting them burn.

And these same sorts of people are obviously not going to stop with just trans people. The same groups that push this poo poo so that it becomes the Republican platform think that women shouldn't vote, black people shouldn't have had a civil rights movement ("they were asking for too much" to quote one person I talked too), and LGBT people should be killed (This one gets said when they think you're on their side in private.). And don't get me started on their view on "illegal immigrants". Which tend to be legal, it's just they have darker than potato paste white skin so clearly they don't belong here in their eyes.

TL;DR: People should be concerned about Desantis running, and it's concerning that they assume that he's going to blowout with the Republicans due to personality issues. Dude has more grassroots support amongst all the genocidal shitheads festering in the red areas of the country than you'd expect. Especially since they want the executive so they can do bans like the bans in Florida on a national level in contradiction of the public will. Worse still, he could put on a nice enough face to make people glad that he's not Trump, which would lure low info voters in. It's part of why he's making so many public appearances now.

Archonex fucked around with this message at 00:46 on Dec 26, 2022

Staluigi
Jun 22, 2021

Mendrian posted:

I'll believe the GOP is abandoning Trump when Trump is dead. They're all faithless opportunists who will say he's the worst human being to ever walk the earth until his popularity reaches 51% among GOP voters and then they'll fawn over him. Never forget what was said about Trump before the GOP primaries.

An Increasingly Isolated Trump

Fart Amplifier
Apr 12, 2003

Herstory Begins Now posted:

Looks like the knives are coming out for Trump, or at least bob costa seems to believe so.

I feel like I have heard stories like this since he descended the elevator

Koos Group
Mar 6, 2013

Koos Group posted:

After the 2017 reforms, Democratic superdelegates can no longer vote in the first round, so assuming a candidate is chosen by then (which the primary system is set up to strongly encourage), the Republican and Democratic parties are equal in how democratic the process is - barring the issue of caucuses vs. primaries.

Actually, this isn't entirely correct, because there's also an issue of winner-take-all delegates vs. proportional per state, so the party with more proportional states would be more democratic. I've heard this is the Democrats, but don't know for certain.

Killer robot
Sep 6, 2010

I was having the most wonderful dream. I think you were in it!
Pillbug

Koos Group posted:

Actually, this isn't entirely correct, because there's also an issue of winner-take-all delegates vs. proportional per state, so the party with more proportional states would be more democratic. I've heard this is the Democrats, but don't know for certain.

Winner-take-all was only a Republican primary thing last I knew. Democrats don't do that. That was a big part of cementing Trump's lead in 2016 as I recall. When he could shoulder the smaller candidates aside, they got nothing, making it harder to build momentum again.

And seriously the Republican 2016 primary was more fiercely fought than Dem 2016 or 2020, and the establishment gunned hard at Trump. They just didn't have a good angle to go after him that both mattered to the voters and wouldn't hurt the party message (seeing as Trump just ran on a Republican platform with less nice phrasing.) And he was good at smacking down any of the others that seemed to have any chance of rising above the pack. And on top of that, they kept clinging past the point of no hope, dragging each other down.

It was pretty clear that Bernie 2020 hoped for the same thing to happen for him, but didn't make any real effort to force or capitalize on it. Not that I know how one would do such a thing.

Dull Fork
Mar 22, 2009

Archonex posted:

This is a charged question that is liable to set off people on this forum and perhaps even start a string of nothing matters doomerism from certain types, but fine, i'll bite:

(Insert actual effortpost)


Hey thanks, this certainly helped frame things in ways I had overlooked, or not considered, and I appreciate the time it took to write all that up!

Bellmaker
Oct 18, 2008

Chapter DOOF



More substations vandalized, this time in Washington State:

https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1607156737143873536

Not sure if it's related to the Moore County shooting of a substation to disrupt a drag show but it doesn't feel great, especially with the power systems struggling in places to keep power already with this cold snap!

cr0y
Mar 24, 2005



Lol cool glad I need to really considering doing the project to hook my furnace upto my generator because this country is full of psychopaths

A GIANT PARSNIP
Apr 13, 2010

Too much fuckin' eggnog


Archonex posted:

As a side thing to this, I know people say that Desantis is too much of a vicious thug to succeed in a national election but I do wonder if they aren't making the same mistake as they made with Trump. The hard R voters don't give a flying gently caress if a person is personable. The ones that are ride or die for Trump have a lot of crossover with the ones that will pull the lever for anyone that says they'll hurt whichever group they hate at the time. And you know that Desantis is going to go on the whole "We have to genocide trans people by denying them healthcare protect our children from this insidious trans menace." bullshit once he gets a platform.

Like, the cruelty is the point with these bottom feeders. Being a piece of a poo poo isn't a turn off, it's a mark in the candidates favor. It's why Trump had literally no reaction (Aside from cheering on a few occasions) from the crowd whenever he bragged during the campaign trail about not paying his taxes. A lot of these people seem to want someone who will break the rules, since breaking the rules is part of what is necessary to hurt trans people/black people/asylum seekers/whatever demonized boogieman they wish didn't exist.

Hell, if you're talking to the evangelicals that vote hard R then it often becomes apparent that they think it's righteous and just to hurt them, and actively find new ways to justify their hatred by spinning up lies about minority groups. And of course the party follows along since it just cares about selfish opportunism, even if it gets blood on their hands. Just look at the trans demonization in red states as the latest example of it.

I don't think Desantis' problem is that he's a thug, I think his problem is that he looks like a giant baby that's seconds away from crying and if there's people that don't instantly see that then Trump is going to hammer it into their heads.

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Archonex
May 2, 2012

MY OPINION IS SEERS OF THE THRONE PROPAGANDA IGNORE MY GNOSIS-IMPAIRED RAMBLINGS

A GIANT PARSNIP posted:

I don't think Desantis' problem is that he's a thug, I think his problem is that he looks like a giant baby that's seconds away from crying and if there's people that don't instantly see that then Trump is going to hammer it into their heads.

I mean, Rick Scott looks like Skeletor woke up one day and bought a discount human flesh suit at some sort of macabre dollar store to try and fit in with the conservatives and that guy has repeatedly gotten away with defrauding Florida taxpayers and later on the Republican party itself by blaming minorities and the poor so i'm not too certain his appearance is going to matter if he's saying the right shibboleths on which vulnerable people the Republicans want to hurt.

Preferably Desantis should be tried for kidnapping and human trafficking, as the shithead has undeniably done that and the intent and implications behind it should keep him barred from political office for the rest of his life. Unfortunately given how easy it is to derail federal cases like that i'm not sure that's what will happen in time though, especially if the Republican party runs cover for him.

Archonex fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Dec 26, 2022

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