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[Rendville]

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[Emile]

1. K & R Walz and Bernie both get it.

[RJ-MacReady]

2. He is correct

Too many paid consultants who are out of touch with the every day person. Rigid adherence to scripted events and interviews also hurt greatly. Have to get out there and talk to people, engage with them. Oh and no more trotting out celebrities. That needs to be a thing of the past.

[Alice B.]

18. Am I misremembering or didn't we have a similar conversation about celebrities after Hillary's loss?

... That they weren't the edge we thought they were, vs TSF's F-listers?

[MichMan]

54. Trump got more out of the McDonalds and Garbage Truck stunts than anything the Harris campaign did with celebrities

and it cost them virtually nothing.

[NewHendoLib]

3. Most Dems never take enough risks.

They play it too safe and don't realize times have changed.

[usaf-vet]

21. Would you if you were making a minimum of $175,000 per year? With free health care and too many perks to list.

TERM LIMITS should be staring them in the face every day. And don't give me the OLD response. "WE will lose the good ones"! They will always be outnumbered by the dead-brain ones who only want to hold on to the perks. And they would eat shit sandwiches for lunch if Djt told them to.

[Walleye]

27. Sorry we have term limits. It's called elections. Actual term limits would be unconstitutional

So it would take an amendment to the constitution I don’t think that’s gonna happen. I don’t think it’s a good idea anyway, what would stop the lame duck congressmen from feathering their nest in their final term?

[Polybius]

45. Exactly

Even the 22nd was a reactionary mistake.

[KPN]

47. Come on. As if they don't anyway? Too many if not most of them

feather their nest with lobbying roles for big money already. Too many of them practice insider training already. Too many of them take gifts already.

[Walleye]

72. Yes, but a lame duck elected official feels they don't have to answer to the voters anymore

[SickOfTheOnePct]

59. There is no free health care

For Congress

[usaf-vet]

62. Maybe they pay a fee, but it's available to them at a moment's notice. As to the election, who are you kidding.

Elections are stolen every time we have one.

Investigative journalist Greg Palast has conducted extensive research into voter suppression tactics during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, focusing on key swing states such as Wisconsin and Georgia. His findings suggest that these tactics disproportionately affected minority communities and may have influenced the election outcome.​

Wisconsin: Milwaukee and Madison
In Wisconsin, Palast's investigation highlights significant issues in Milwaukee and Madison:​

Milwaukee: Palast reports that Black and Latino voters in Milwaukee faced substantial challenges, particularly concerning mail-in ballots. He asserts that these communities experienced higher rates of ballot rejections and faced obstacles that prevented their votes from being counted, attributing these issues to targeted voter suppression efforts. ​

Madison: The presence of large student populations in Madison became a focal point in Palast's analysis. He notes that students, who often rely on mail-in voting due to residency requirements, encountered interference that led to their ballots being discarded or uncounted. ​

Georgia: Targeting Black Voters
Palast's research in Georgia uncovers similar patterns of voter suppression:​

Voter Challenges: He documents that self-appointed "vigilante" vote-fraud hunters challenged the eligibility of numerous voters, with a significant focus on Black communities. These challenges often resulted in the removal of eligible voters from registration lists or the rejection of their ballots. ​

Mail-In Ballot Rejections: Palast highlights that mail-in ballots from Black voters were more likely to be rejected due to minor clerical errors or stringent verification processes, effectively disenfranchising a substantial portion of this demographic. ​

Implications on the 2024 Election
According to Palast, these voter suppression tactics had a decisive impact on the 2024 presidential election. He asserts that if all legal ballots had been counted without unjust disqualifications, Kamala Harris would have secured victories in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, thereby winning the presidency with 286 electoral votes. ​
Palast's findings have sparked discussions about the integrity of the electoral process and the need for reforms to protect voting rights, especially for marginalized communities.

Take ten minutes to listen to the report IF YOU BELIEVE ELECTIONS in Wisconsin are fair without external money pressure. In this case, Elon's billions are working to buy a Republican Judge a seat on the Supreme Court.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/108432050

[SickOfTheOnePct]

64. I didn't say anything

about the election, although I believe that Greg Palast is the last person I would listen to if I wanted actual facts .

But to each their own.

[usaf-vet]

69. You are right we each get to pick who we believe. Some will swear Fox has all the experts. I choose other sources.

Greg Palast is an investigative journalist, author, and filmmaker known for his work on voter suppression, election integrity, and corporate fraud. His professional background includes:

Education: Palast holds a degree in finance from the University of California, Berkeley. He later trained as an economist and investigated financial fraud cases. Who has worked as an actuarial dealing with complex numerical interactions

Actuaries possess the skills necessary to investigate election results for potential anomalies or irregularities. Their expertise in statistical analysis, data modeling, and risk assessment equips them to apply various election forensic techniques effectively.​

Actuarial Skills Relevant to Election Analysis:
Statistical Analysis: Actuaries are proficient in analyzing large datasets to identify patterns, trends, and deviations, which is crucial in detecting anomalies in election data.​
b] Risk Assessment: Their ability to assess and quantify risk can be applied to evaluate the likelihood of irregularities in voting patterns.​
Modeling Techniques: Actuaries utilize advanced modeling techniques, including machine learning and predictive analytics, to interpret complex data, aiding in the identification of unusual voting behaviors.​

Election Forensic Methods Applicable:

Benford's Law: This statistical principle predicts the frequency distribution of digits in naturally occurring datasets. Deviations from this distribution in election results can indicate potential fraud. Actuaries' familiarity with such statistical laws enables them to apply these tests effectively. ​

Risk-Limiting Audits (RLAs): These are statistical methods that provide evidence about the accuracy of election outcomes by examining a random sample of ballots. Actuaries' expertise in risk assessment and statistical sampling makes them well-suited to design and interpret RLAs. ​ arxiv.org

Machine Learning for Anomaly Detection: Actuaries' experience with machine learning can be leveraged to develop algorithms that detect unusual patterns in election data, which may signify irregularities. ​arxiv.org

Investigative Journalism: He gained recognition for exposing corruption in politics, corporate fraud, and voter suppression tactics, often focusing on the U.S. and the UK

.

BBC and The Guardian: Palast worked for the BBC’s "Newsnight" and wrote investigative reports for The Guardian and other major outlets.
Books & Films: He authored several books, including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and How Trump Stole 2020, detailing voter suppression tactics. He also produced documentaries on the same themes.

Some people believe Djt wrote The Art of the Deal He Didn't lie as usual. At best, he collaborated.

Election Investigations: Palast has investigated controversial elections in the U.S., uncovering voter roll purges, suppression efforts, and corporate influence on politics.

His work has made him a key figure in uncovering voting rights issues, particularly regarding the disenfranchisement of minority communities.

[JI7]

4. It wouldn't have made any difference

maybe if the ticket was Walz/Harris it might have.

Because we know what the real issue was.

[True Blue American]

11. Quit with the old excuse.

Out of date.

[JI7]

17. I don't ignore reality. Trump was a fucked up candidate

Kamala Harris kicked his ass in the debate.

People saw and know what the candidates are and they voted for that fucked up shit.

[RandomNumbers]

19. I really wish it were "out of date"

But it is reality.

The two most relevant issues in Harris' loss are things she could do nothing about: she is not white, and she is not male. I absolutely think the "not male" is the bigger issue with more voters. The percentage of women who think another woman shouldn't be in a high leadership position, is heartbreakingly high. And don't even get me started on the men.

[calguy]

22. That is the unfortunate reality

We ran very qualified women against trump both times, and narrowly lost both times to the least qualified, most fkd up candidate possible.
The country is nowhere near accepting of a woman president, and we should run one if we want to win in the near future. It’s not the ladies’ fault that the cards are still stacked against them, but they are.

[dalton99a]

28. +1. Trump can be defeated by a white man. Biden did it

(but he was younger)

[MichMan]

53. There was one thing she could have done something about and didn't

When asked multiple times what she would do different than President Biden, she said "nothing"

A softball question on a sympathetic show like The View no less. The campaign had to know that question was coming from the media, yet they weren't prepared with a better answer. More than once.

In my own working career in manufacturing, we always tried to be prepared on what we would say when asked a particular question. One could think an army of highly paid political consultants could have figured that out.

[betsuni]

60. What should she have said? What should she have done differently from the president often compared to FDR?

Please tell us.

That's the big reason not to vote for Harris: "She didn't say the exact perfect thing (that I won't tell you what it is) on 'The View'"?

[Nasruddin]

48. There was a slim window

You are possibly right, and I don't discount the Bradley-Clinton effect.

But that wave right after she was more or less chosen - it was the moment for a YOLO, wild gambler to charge everywhere.
Go on every news show, talk about fixing stuff, make sure people remember how bad it was and it could be with that other guy.
Go places totally hostile take the beating and get up and do it again. All day, every day. Lots of FOX News. Debate the white supremacists. Everything.

But the campaign got cautious, and tried to replay 2022. It turned out all that latter stuff was so over, and people wanted a barnburner campaign. They didn't want effing Liz Cheney endorsements or Lincoln Project psyops. Dobbs v Jackson had been digested.

It may not have worked anyway because the election might have been baked in the caked months earlier, but it was their only shot. Instead we were all lied to, that we had a real chance, we were ahead, this/that/the other group was going to turn out and stomp the Republicans - all BS (at best) or delusional lies (more likely).

[JI7]

51. She did debate the white supremacist when she debated Trump .

If people need to see her debate white supremacists to know white supremacists are wrong thae people are already lost.

I know there are some that think white supremacists are actually left leaning progressives but that's not true.

[hlthe2b]

5. I agree that Tim Walz seemed muzzled and came off as a jovial but "fade into the background" grandfatherly

figure. But I'm not sure that all the circumstances in total would have resulted in any other outcome--as depressing as it is (unless there really was some Musk-F>>king of election data in a few key states, as a few voices (e.g., Greg Palast) have suggested)...

[yorkster]

55. There was a lot of focus on Walz as a coach

and not enough on Tim Walz as a highly intelligent 6 term congressman and sitting governor of Minnesota. And I think there's no denying the misogyny and racism that were part of the reason Trump got in .

[MichMan]

75. Same with VP Harris as well

Nearly all her ads were about her being a former prosecutor. Being a former Senator and current VP wasn't hardly mentioned

[gay texan]

6. I was screaming this from the fucking rooftops

They had all of this fucking money and refused to advertise or canvas red states.

[Emile]

8. The tv advertisements in Indiana were all Republican.

Made you sick.

[gay texan]

14. Biden advertised in my little super deep red area

Of West Texas.

Beto lost for the same damn reason. He had this huge warchest and only concentrated on metro areas.

I tried in vain to reach someone at their campain HQ

[CrispyQ]

7. Ideally, sure, but I think he's forgetting the three month time frame of their campaign.

The fact is, unless you are very political, Harris was practically unknown to the country & the rallies were the way to get her face & message out there. If they'd had six more months, town halls would have made sense.

IMO, Harris ran a practically flawless campaign & the media handed the presidency to Trump. The media's double standard wasn't shocking, it was rage inducing. It still is.

[True Blue American]

10. You said it in your first sentence. Thanks

[Nasruddin]

49. Flawless for 2012

She ran a flawless campaign for an election or 2+ earlier.
Something different about 2024. Serious misjudgments.
She needed a lot more mass market type exposure, the podcasts, news shows. The campaign needed to do some stunts to get national attention. Something.

[True Blue American]

9. I think they were hampered by the old Guard.

Last edited Sun Mar 9, 2025, 12:31 PM - Edit history (1)

Who should have never turned tail and walked away from Biden because he had a bad 5 minutes.. instead they chosen someone who had few accomplishments and ignored the one who had many..
Bidenn should have chosen some one else 4 years ago. An accomplished young man.

I wish I did not have to say ,this but t,he old guard abandoned Biden. Weare not living 20 years ago. Whole new generation.. they will do the voting if we listen to them.

[Mysterian]

12. He's right

Walz has a vision how Democrats can do better and I agree with it. Go directly to the people because the corporate media is an enemy.

[Passages]

13. He's an honest guy.

[dalton99a]

15. No shit

[Nanjeanne]

16. Absolutely. And it was sad to see all that energy

And excitement dissipate.

He so gets the messaging and so understands how to phrase things. “Call me whatever you want. I just want to feed kids”. Brilliant and right.

[DeeDeeNY]

20. Harris/Walz ran an outstanding campaign, but nothing they could do would have mattered

The amount of ignorance in American voters is scary.

[betsuni]

63. This is the truth.

[aeromanKC]

23. Dems always do. Part of being the adults in the room.

[NotHardly]

24. Democrats fighting the last 'war' ... wake the F*ck up already.

[Martin68]

29. No, Democrats were fighting an impossible fight against a brain-washed zombie electorate. The only thing that will

change their minds is the pain they are now going to feel when Trump's absurd policies kick in. Some idiots have to be burned before they will believe it's dangerous to touch a hot stove.

[Bluetus]

25. "didn't produce a message that resonated with voters. "

Last edited Sun Mar 9, 2025, 06:14 PM - Edit history (1)

OK, I'm not one of those political science geniuses, but isn't this really the first thing any campaign should figure out?

The Harris-Walz campaign was something like this:

65% why we hate Trump -- trump is poopoo head etc
20% abortion rights
10% gender issues
5% everything else including economic fairness issues

The 65% was mostly a waste because you can't just be against something. You have to be FOR something and have real proposals, bold plans the public can understand, remember, and want.

On abortion rights, at least the campaign was FOR bringing back Roe v. Wade. That's something. But unfortunately, it wasn't on the top 20 list for most Americans. Look at this recent Pew research:
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/02/20/americans-continue-to-view-several-economic-issues-as-top-national-problems/

They listed Americans' top 20 concerns. Abortion rights didn't even make that list, nor did gender issues. And the campaign barely touched on any of those top 20 concerns.

See the problem?

[Martin68]

26. Frankly I think we Dems played it right. Nothing we could have done or said would have swayed Trump supporters.

They just have to see for themselves what is going to happen with Trump back in office and Musk by his side. It will be painful, but sometimes a little pain is just what is needed for people to se the light. Fox News and the rest of the batshit crazy right wind media set up an echo chamber that was impervious to facts, figures, reason, or anything else.

[Johonny]

30. Yeah

They ran on the obvious fact if Trump won American way of life and democracy itself was at risk. Too many voters were like nah that won't happen.

Now Democracy and American way of life are on life support. Harris ran against this and too few Americans gave a shit.

[Walleye]

32. And as I say nothing, you can argue will persuade a misogynist or a racist to stop hating

[leftstreet]

46. Trump supporters weren't the problem

Why is everyone forgetting this?

Harris lost because millions of reliably Democratic voters didn't show up

[Martin68]

50. Could you please post a link confirming the fact that Harris lost because "millions of Democratic voters didn't show up?

[leftstreet]

52. You can do it. It was all over the news

Check places like CNN Politics, or any site like Wikipedia that shows vote totals by election year

Biden vs Trump saw Biden with several million more votes than Harris, whereas Trump's totals had less fluctuation.

[Martin68]

76. OK, so you don't have a clue. Just what I thought. It's just not true. If you want to make extraordinary claims, please,

provide extraordinary proof. Otherwise...

[leftstreet]

77. LOL

No, it just doesn't interest me enough to post links for you.

But it's easy enough to do your own Googling. Biden got almost 6 million more votes than Harris did, yet Trump's vote totals were, within a couple million, almost the same as his first run.

No one expected that. The point is, those reliably Democratic voters that didn't show up for Harris are the problem, not some knuckledraggers needing to be swayed by high profile Governors throwing trans rights under the bus.

But I suspect you know all this

[Walleye]

31. Shoulda, woulda, coulda, if only. It's called magical thinking and I hate it. What is the point?

[Boomerproud]

37. Learning from mistakes, big or small,is the only important thing.

If nothing changes, you're right, what's the point.

[W_HAMILTON]

33. I grew to like Walz, but it's ironic that he's criticizing us for playing it too safe.

Walz was the quintessential "play it safe" VP pick.

While we are playing Monday morning quarterback, maybe if Kamala had picked an attack dog in Josh Shapiro instead of golly gee willikers Tim Walz, we could have been more aggressive and attacking in our approach rather than running on what essentially became a diet version of hope and change.

Fact of the matter is, Kamala and her team ran a pretty damn flawless campaign given the cards she was dealt. It's hard to run against the status quo when you are the vice president of the current administration, but another fact of the matter is that our electorate tends to vote AGAINST something -- not for something.

If (more likely when) we win the midterms and regain some semblance of power at the federal level, it's ultimately not going to be because of how many town halls we ran or the fact that we finally nailed our messaging or anything of that other bullshit people are complaining about now -- it will be because Americans will find that their lives are worse off now and they will take it out on the elected officials currently in office: mostly Republicans.

[Walleye]

43. Yeah, they needed to vote against something and the black woman was a convenient person to vote against

They had all these old hatred to fall back on

[paleotn]

34. "if we're just careful and don't make mistakes, surely the American people won't elect a convicted felon."

Nope. Still need a unifying message that speaks to struggles of a wide swath of Americans. We kind of lacked that.

[Maggiemayhem]

35. It is 2025! Would it hurt the Dems to be more modern in communications.

[NNadir]

36. No, Tim. It's not that you did things wrong, it's a function of the declining...

...intellectual and moral status of the American people.

[Nanjeanne]

38. It's hard to rehash the election and also make sure the rules of DU are followed but I do feel that

Dems in charge do too much focus grouping/polling adjustments to their messaging and then it gets diluted and watered down as they go on. Rather than have the vision and change public perception. Which is what Walz was very good at. It’s what Rs do all the time although their vision always sucks. But they manage to change public perception over and over. Trans in sports? When was that something in anyone’s list of important issues? But Rs made it matter and suddenly lots of people were concerned.

If Ds stuck to what really matters in their vision of America and had a coherent and unified platform it would be easier for the public to know what they stand for. Tim Walz understood that really well. He didn’t apologize for his progressive policies. He normalized them. He made them seem completely reasonable not radical and he didn’t shy away. Unfortunately in the pursuit of R votes and the embrace and campaigning with Rs there wasn’t much discussion of real policies that affected people and make their lives better. Because there were anti Trump Rs on our side the big picture became more anti Trump and pro democracy than pro the policies that make people understand how it affects them directly. Pro democracy is great but pro raising min wage and pro affordable child care and pro paid sick days is much more identifiable.

What I hope for next chance we have is for the Dem platform to be bold and exciting and not incremental and cautious. And that the people on the campaign trail speak about it with passion and conviction and not shy away from Rs trying to put a label on it.

[Srkdqltr]

39. A lot of people out here in reality dont pay attention to politics, ever, they hear a sound bite or 2 on tv .

Our people talked too much. Said too many words to make a point. Didn't say shocking things.
Most people don't live their lives around political stuff. They don't care that in 1970something someone they never heard of did something. People are immediate. What have you done fore me lately, what will you do now.
When he says he will bring back manufacturing most don't ask how they just love that. Even people who know better.

[otchmoson]

40. Weird!

Quite frankly, I think Kamala and Tim were on a role with the mocking "weird" meme. Then I think the political consultants stepped in, took a step into the past . . . and literally blew it for this wonderful pair.

[WA-03 Democrat]

42. Totally agree

they had Donald Trump saying he’s not weird - JD is the weirdo.

In all the time that we have been trying to label trump that fits the consultants pulled the plug and the moment went with it too,

[hadEnuf]

41. We don't have the right tools for messaging. Commercial ads are fine but we need 24/7 saturation. Like Fox and the rest.

We keep looking for objective news reporting but it is just not there anymore.

We are looking for something that no longer exists.

Sure, there is MSNBC but it is owned by conservatives and can quite frankly dissappear quickly.

We've fought the good fight but now it's time to fight the "war" that has been forced upon us.

[Kali999]

44. Pretty sure

the election was stolen . However dragging Liz Cheney around was stupid. Maga hates her and so do we. I don't care what she did right.

[andym]

56. Democrats didn't understand 2024 was a "change" election. With the sitting VP as candidate, that meant bold change

Last edited Sun Mar 9, 2025, 03:36 PM - Edit history (3)

all the time, being shouted from the rooftops-- Kamala needed to break with Biden with bold plans, which was going to be very difficult as Kamala is loyal. Outside of being VP, she was a natural to be the change candidate, as she is young and energetic.

Being anti-Trump was not enough, because outside of the insurrection, the anti-American value of which was not universally appreciated, Trump didn't do too much damage to the USA in his first term, so voters looked toward the low interest rates during his first term as something they could get again. He handled Covid badly at times, but did allow Operation Warp Speed to succeed. Much of that was because the people in place in the government were knowledgeable like Fauci. Americans have a bad case of "see no evil."

Now I'm sure many are surprised at just how awful Trump's judgment really is when he has surrounded himself with sycophants.

It was champagne and fireworks time at the Trump campaign when Kamala stated she couldn't say what she would have done differently from Joe. I agree with Tim Walz that Kamala and Tim needed to be more bold in their plans.

[yodermon]

57. Contrast this with James Carville, who is currently telling Dems to..

PLAY DEAD , not a joke.

[Nanjeanne]

58. Carville wants company in his crypt!

[Duncan Grant]

61. Consider the timing of this piece.

I think he’s saying pink dresses and ping-pong paddles are “playing it safe”. My .02 cents.

[99MainSt]

65. Hindesight is always 20/20.

Coulda woulda shoulda. Widespread disinformation and mass gullibility prevailed against the truth. Somewhere, there must be a strategy to effectively counter it.

[ecstatic]

66. if we're really doing this post-mortem analysis then we have to go all the way back to the beginning...

First, I don't know if trump actually "won" the election or not. He tried to steal it in 2020, and may have been successful in stealing 2024. Unfortunately, he was never held accountable and that's why we're in this predicament now. Also, millions of voters were purged from the voting rolls and I just don't trust the GOP and Elon.

Let's be clear: If trump truly "won" the election, it was because a large percentage of American voters are hopelessly ignorant and of very low intelligence. Whether they voted for the convicted felon and sexual abuser or stayed their asses home on the couch. Thoughtful Town Halls would not have helped. You can only court stupidity with more stupidity.

But if we're going to discuss actual things that could have helped in a stacked deck environment of really stupid people voting, here is my take:

1) President Biden should have kept it as "one and done" as he initially promised, which would have allowed the primaries to take place at the normal time in 2024.

2) He should have picked an AG who was serious about upholding the law in a fair and consistent manner. MG was not.

3) Finally, the handling of the I-P conflict: bibi netanyahu made a decision on how he wanted to root out and capture hamas, and as the leader of a nation, he had every right to do that, but IMO his strategy and execution was not in line with progressive values. US money and support should have been conditional upon executing the war in a more humane fashion.

Even if President Biden's hands were tied and he did not have the authority to set boundaries, at least create the theater and impression that that's the policy that's being enforced. The indiscriminate bombing and seeming lack of accountability really created a problem for us and created an opening for putin and his trolls to divide the left even further. Millions of people in swing states stayed home as a result.

I know on DU it became a back and forth with finger pointing and accusations of supporting hamas or genocide, etc. I think people in the real world did not view it black and white terms like that. They just didn't want to be associated with children being bombed. I think they just wanted to hear strong boundaries set by our leadership, backed up by the appearance of action, if needed.

[CTyankee]

67. There should have been an ad with Trump saying "There eating the pets, they're eating the dogs....." and Kamila's

look ("are you kidding?&quot when he said it. That was the most insane thing I have heard him say. Even most republicans don't believe that (they just politely don't "hear" it).

[liberalmediaaddict]

68. We didn't play it safe

Our incumbent president ended his reelection campaign because the electorate claimed they wanted a younger candidate. So he agreed to only serve one term mainly to save American democracy from a second Trump term.

Harris picked Walz as VP, a complete unknown, over Shapiro, Kelly and Beshear mainly because progressive Democrats didn't like Shapiro because of his stance on Israel. Another huge risk.

Biden-Harris and elected Democrats thought these unconventional moves would draw people to the polls and help them decisively defeat Trump became that's what the double haters claimed they wanted.

In the end none of that was good enough because Americans preferred the twice impeached convicted felon who violently tried to overturn his 2020 loss and still wouldn't admit Biden won.

And 90 million eligible voters just stayed at home. I think Democrats took a lot of risks in 2024. In the end the American electorate proved their full of shit about what they want in a president. And now they're blaming Democrats for not saving them from Trump and MAGA's daily cruelty and incompetence.

Falling for the same con over and over again for 10 years will never make sense to me.

[Bluetus]

74. "90 million eligible voters just stayed at home"

That's a problem, but nothing new.
And they didn't stay home for any of the reasons you mentioned.

Among other reasons, they stayed home because Dems don't have any big ideas. No bold plans. Nothing they get fired up about, other than the reproduction and gender issues, and they just aren't the things most Americans are really, really pissed about.

Americans have been really pissed for 25 years, for good reason. And almost all the issues they identify fall into the category of economic fairness.

[Kid Berwyn]

70. "I know his type: TRAITOR!" I'd call the ad, "Air Putins"...

Would have cut to the heart of the matter.

And if the phew fits…



Teamwork.



Trump says what happens in Putin meeting is 'none of your business'

Trump smiles like a serf for Putin



As the World Burns, All Roads Lead to Putin

Find me a conflict zone, and I’ll find you a Kremlin operative with a blowtorch.

GREG OLEAR
WhoWhatWhy.org, 10/12/23

Taken together, the momentous events of the past month — the Russian “scorched earth” tactics in Ukraine, the Azeri offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, the abominable Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, and, yes, the GOP dysfunction in Congress that has hamstrung the U.S. government at this critical moment — represent “an existential threat to the post-Westphalian world order,” as former British diplomat Arthur Snell characterized the war in Ukraine.

SNIP…

As president, Trump allowed Sergei Lavrov and Sergei Kislyak, high-level Kremlin officials, access to the Oval Office. He joked around with them. And he shared with them top secret intelligence from Israel, regarding Iran. For all we know, the piece of intelligence Trump gave the Russians that day was subsequently shared with the Iranians, who gave it to Hamas, which used it in planning its attacks on Israel over the weekend.

SNIP…

The Kremlin contagion has only spread. Republicans in Congress seek to obstruct, to weaken, to starve funds for aid to Ukraine, to leave vacant ambassadorships and key military appointments.

I don’t know if “Putin pays” the likes of Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA); or if Moscow has enough kompromat on them to pull their marionette strings; or if they are just dumb fascists who sincerely hate democracy and have a hard-on for weirdo strongmen; but, by behaving the way they are, they are actively helping the Kremlin.

SNIP…

Curious, is it not, that tensions escalated in Ukraine, and Armenia/Azerbaijan, and Israel/Palestine right after McCarthy was ousted, during an interregnum where the speaker’s chair is vacant, and Congress therefore cannot function? The primary reason the Republicans tried to shut down the government, remember, is that they objected to sending aid to Ukraine. Gee, I wonder who benefits from that?

CONTINUES…

https://whowhatwhy.org/politics/international/as-the-world-burns-all-roads-lead-to-putin/

Inside Joke:

Then Pee-resident Trump gestures to Russia's then-ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, as he speaks to still-Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the Oval Office on Wednesday, May 10, 2017. (Alexander Shcherbak/TASS/Getty Images)

“I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job," Trump said, according to The Times. "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off.”

"I'm not under investigation," he added.



They all laughed.

Sources:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/10/527755991/trump-meets-with-russias-lavrov-at-the-white-house-today

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-nut-job-james-comey-russia-2017-5


Inside Job:



IMPOTUS: "I actually took one when I -- very recently, when I -- when I was -- the radical left were saying, is he all there? Is he all there? And I proved I was all there, because I got -- I aced it. I aced the test. I took it at Walter Reed Medical Center in front of doctors. And they were very surprised. They said, that's an unbelievable thing. Rarely does anybody do what you just did."

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/politics/trump-hannity-coronavirus/index.html

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russias-state-tv-calls-trump-their-agent

What’s another word for being Putin’s Agent? Traitor.

And, as should have soon seen on TV:

[elocs]

71. Too many Democrats were complacent and overconfident in '24.

Where did the 6 million votes go that Biden received against Trump in '20, but Harris never received in '24?

[townie]

73. Yep he gets it !