Massive crowd to see Greg Abbott at CPAC......j/k!

[Nevilledog]

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steven monacelli
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Aug 4, 2022
@stevanzetti
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Replying to @stevanzetti
The room was only about half full during Greg Abbott's speech here at CPAC in Dallas.
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steven monacelli
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Here's a better view of just how empty the room was for Texas Governor Greg Abbott's segment at CPAC Dallas, one of the biggest conservative conventions in his own state.


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11:37 AM · Aug 4, 2022

[50 Shades Of Blue]

1. ROFL!

[malaise]

2. Perfect

Go Beto!

[ProudMNDemocrat]

3. Oh my, what a MASSIVE crowd.

[sop]

4. What kind of crowd did Orban have?

[Mz Pip]

32. That's what I want to know, too

The thought of an authoritarian Christian Nationalist being invited to speak at one pf our political conventions is just chilling.

[Sanity Claws]

5. Is all of CPAC so sparsely attended?

Or is Abbott special?

[sheshe2]

6. ...

[Pinback]

7. 2:30, nap time

Gotta rest up for 5:00 Early Bird Special at Denny’s!

[OAITW r.2.0]

8. "1/2 full" is being generous.

I'd say, < 1/3.

Given the funding and PR promoting this event, I'd say we are a seeing a rather rapid implosion of the so-called conservative/Trump movement. Flush.

[crickets]

9. Very. That's a pathetic showing with so many empty seats. nt

[llmart]

10. And these people were just there...

to get out of the heat and into air conditioning.

[OMGWTF]

21. Good one!

[DFW]

11. That's no better than an outdoor Trump rally in Alaska in January during a blizzard n/t

[sdfernando]

12. Where is Sean Spicer when you need him! /nt

[ShazzieB]

34. Yes, where is he?

Abbott needs him to pop up and declaim: "This was the largest audience to ever witness a CPAC speech, period, both in-person and around the globe!"

And then we can all roll our eyes just like we did when he lied about Trump's inauguration crowd!

[llmart]

40. Hiding in the bushes.

[Beaverhausen]

13. Wasn't there another CPAC a few months ago?

WTF with these things?

[ancianita]

15. In Hungary back in May. This is about building a pro-Putin international autocratic alliance.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/cpac-europe-american-conservative-union-orban-immigration-1355926/

[slumcamper]

19. Whoa...this had escaped me. Thanks for posting!

As the other side organizes, networks, consolidates, and coordinates, what is our side doing?

Just asking!

[ancianita]

22. Building Western alliances, hardening NATO, women, future generations to pay attention to

strongman corporate models of taking over governments and institutions like SCOTUS, DHS, SS, and statehouses, models that use hidden networks of dark money and media networks of so-called free speech disinformation spread.

Our side is training attention to know signal from noise, to know those who are an authority from those who are in authority, to know more and be vigilant about who/what secures or endangers our democratic freedoms.

[reACTIONary]

35. +100 nt

[Evolve Dammit]

20. they were in Hungary worshipping Orban

[ancianita]

24. Way more than that, but yeah, that, too.

Hungary is the european nation most loyal to Putin and Russia.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/04/europe-hungary-viktor-orban-coronavirus-covid19-democracy/609313/

Tucker Carlson conducted his show in Budapest (his father was a lobbyist for Orban) and now Orban is the main speaker in Dallas, or wherever this is. They are solidifying the Axis of the Willing to end democracy from within.

[Evolve Dammit]

41. Tucks father was an Orban lobbyist? JFC. They are all seditionists at least. CPAC was disgusting

with its full-throated rascist, unite the underworld, PS end democracy. "Awake not Woke." That's not too inflammatory against POC is it? They really do want a race war and to rule. DeSantis is sure showing FL the way. The movement is large and must be decapitated.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

43. You reminded me of "The Budapest Bridge" ...

http://hungarianfreepress.com/2017/04/13/the-budapest-bridge-hungarys-role-in-the-collusion-between-the-trump-campaign-and-the-russian-secret-service/

http://hungarianfreepress.com/2017/04/14/the-budapest-bridge-hungarys-role-in-the-collusion-between-the-trump-campaign-and-the-russian-secret-service-part-2/

http://hungarianfreepress.com/2017/04/21/the-budapest-bridge-epilogue/

[ancianita]

44. holy shit what a provocative series. To me it's not as much what HFP here says,

Last edited Fri Aug 5, 2022, 11:21 AM - Edit history (1)

but that it claims that Budapest is the Euro headquarters of the FSB. Which squares with why the outlier of the EU is Hungary, which, next to Belarus, is Putin's foothold into Europe. Why they took in (not very courteously, either) Ukrainians during their war is weird. Also worthy of our NSA/CIA/DoD's investigation.

Anyway, back to your links. That it claims that Euro headquarters for the FSB are in Budapest serves to explain why messaging between putinistas here send messaging (and maybe even funds) back and forth to Russia.

So these links show one reason why the whole press of Hungary can be taken over, including this source, which itself can be simply the propaganda arm of the FSB, that promotes Hungarian power (a willing Putin proxy) when it claims that Hungary was the broker of all outside money flowing into trump's 2016 campaign.

I've not yet been able to verify the credentials of the Hungarian Free Press links that you post, but I do believe the New York Times when it gives the history of how Hungary's free press got taken over after Orban assumed office in 2010. It was Janos Lazar who brokered a solution for Orban's control of Hungary's then troublesome, critical "free" press -- he came up with the tactic of compromising Hungary's major press editors.

And so that was done. These links you use were established in 2014. That they would know that Hungary would be the money source for trump sounds more like bragging, don't you think?

Anyway, thanks for the provocative, but likely propaganda, links. It's kinda weird/cool to probably be reading FSB press, since the FSB has constructed thousands upon thousands of spy legends for its spies in the West. Be careful not to fall for Hungarian hype. That's what our political opponents do.

Hungary, in fact, does not have a free press. This is the autocratic front after ending democratic governments.

EDIT: One more thing. Pro-putini oligarchs govern by smoke and mirrors, over here as well as there (as proven by Sheldon Whitehouse in his "Scheme" series). That's why they've hated Soros for abandoning Hungary and turning to supporting Western democracies, and why rethugs think he's the Democrats' biggest backer, which is far from the truth.


More to consider:

https://europeanjournalists.org/blog/2019/12/03/new-report-hungary-dismantles-media-freedom-and-pluralism/

https://www.vox.com/2020/5/21/21256324/viktor-orban-hungary-american-conservatives

[Hermit-The-Prog]

45. I've held onto those bookmarks even without having verification

It's a long read, and without corroboration, but still interesting.

Thanks for the "[m]ore to consider" links!

[Blue Owl]

14. Everything's big in Texas -- except Abott's Crowd

[LetMyPeopleVote]

16. LOL

[hatrack]

17. Is it just me, or does CCRAP seem to be meeting every four or five months now?

Gotta keep milking the rubes, I guess . . . .

[malaise]

30. Or more n/t

[summer_in_TX]

37. Florida had one in February.

Then the one in Hungary. Now this one.

Last year there were two, Florida in February and Texas in August.

The two states with the big Christian Nationalist mega-churches, both with politically ambitious governors.

[Permanut]

18. The room is completely full..

Any report to the contrary is fake news.

[budkin]

23. Worst governor of Texas ever and we had Rick Perry

Absolute fucking disaster.

[MarcA]

25. And W the shrub. n/t

[Lonestarblue]

29. Worse than Perry and W put together.

Neither of them was a holier-than-thou fake religious zealot. He just says whatever any Republican voter wants to hear, but he is totally controlled by the oil billionaires, especially the three that have funded the push to elect the Talibangelists. I hope this sparse attendance of his own kind means he is losing support. I think many people, except his puppet masters, are just tired of the man and his political stunts, not to mention the lies about fixing the energy grid.

[MarcA]

46. Agreed. When the likes of Perry and W are not your worst

you have big problems. You mention three oil billionaires funding the talibangelists. I assume one is koch, who are the others?

[Lonestarblue]

47. Brothers Farris and Dan Wilks, plus Tim Dunn.

All are religious extremists who want to replace public education with Christian schools, I’m sure teaching only their brand of right-wing patriarchy and Old Testament treatment of women and children as chattel. They have funded the most extremist candidates to be found in Texas. They are of course anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ. They push the idea that the Bible should be used as a textbook in public schools.

“CBN's [Christian Broadcasting Network] Brody reported: "The Wilks brothers worry that America's declining morals will especially hurt the younger generation, so they're using the riches that the Lord has blessed them with to back specific goals." One of those goals may be David Lane's insistence that politicians make the Bible a primary textbook in public schools.

Here's Dan Wilks speaking to Brody: "I just think we have to make people aware, you know, and bring the Bible back into the school, and start teaching our kids at a younger age, and, uh, you know, and focus on the younger generation." And here's Farris: "They're being taught the other ideas, the gay agenda, every day out in the world so we have to stand up and explain to them that that's not real, that's not proper, it's not right." https://prospect.org/power/meet-billionaire-brothers-never-heard-fund-religious-right/

The third is Tim Dunn. “Over the last decade, Dunn and his wife, Terri, have contributed more than $18 million to state candidates and political action committees, while Wilks and his wife, Jo Ann, have given more than $11 million, putting them among the top donors in the state.

The beneficiaries of the energy tycoons’ combined spending include the farthest-right members of the legislature and authors of the most high-profile conservative bills passed in recent years, according to a CNN analysis of Texas Ethics Commission data. Dunn and Wilks also hold sway over the state’s legislative agenda through a network of non-profits and advocacy groups that push conservative policy issues.

Critics, and even some former associates, say that Dunn and Wilks demand loyalty from the candidates they back, punishing even deeply conservative legislators who cross them by bankrolling primary challengers. Kel Seliger, a longtime Republican state senator from Amarillo who has clashed with the billionaires, said their influence has made Austin feel a little like Moscow.” https://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2022/07/how-two-texas-megadonors-have-turbocharged-the-states-far-right-shift/

[Sky Jewels]

26. Feel the Gregmentum!

... Or not.

[snowybirdie]

27. Wouldn't it be fitting

if the electricity went out at CPAC because of grid problems? Love to see these fools sweat.

[Sky Jewels]

33. Bwa ha ha!

That would be poetic justice.

[niyad]

28. looks more like a quarter full if you see the camera panning to the back.

[Stuart G]

31. Beto, Beto, Beto, Beto....K and R for Beto O' Rourke

[Heather MC]

36. I bet his breath smells like hot vinegar

[Goonch]

38. 👇👇👇👇

[Upthevibe]

39. Nevilledog............

Good to see.

Since I'm a Native Texas (although I've lived in CA almost my entire adult life - since '88), I still have friends that live there.

I've dropped one childhood friend and have a very spotty relationship with another.

However, I have two friends who I'm still somewhat close to. One said she thinks Beto's chances are 50/50 (which thrilled me). The other said she and her husband think it's more 65/35 (with Abbott at 65).

I'll be emailing my friends here In Cali. (something I've done for the past few elections cycles) letting them know where the close races are regarding seats and Governorships that we really have a chance of picking up so they can donate, phone bank, etc. for places where there's a real chance.

My LGBTQ friends are very active and look to me regarding some of these issues since I keep the closest eye on politics....

[Liberal In Texas]

42. My neighborhood my not be that representative as we're pretty blue around here

but there are lots of BETO signs in yards and I have not seen one Abbott so far.