Mad_Machine76
Mad_Machine76's JournalIs this the report
That was commissioned by Barr over the Inspector General’s failure to find anything wrong with the Trump/Russia investigation as handled by the Obama/Biden WH?
I guess they figured since Comey came out with his announcement and it helped Trump that they can pull the same trick? Except it won’t because it will be so obviously and nakedly partisan that people won’t take notice. I don’t get what got people so worked up about the whole e-mails thing though but I’m going to guess that a lot of people were already pre-disposed to think of anything Hillary as being “shady”, a problem that Biden doesn’t seem to have.
How bad are things really?
So, for people out there in Portland, Chicago, New York, etc or wherever else Trump and his Faux are describing as violent hellholes that Mr. Wannabe Dictator/Strongman wants to send “Federal Agents” into to restore “Law and Order”, *how bad* are things, really?! I know he’s using “protecting federal buildings” as his “hook” to get his people in there but that’s obviously not what they’re doing- or all of what they’re doing if recent news reports are any indication.
Good
I've listened to a few of them and while I'm heartened by much of what they have to say, they do still sometimes veer into the Republican habit of warning about the consequences of Democrats going "too far to the left", which sometimes bugs me. But if they're all in for a Democratic tidal wave in November, I'm fine. Where we might be 2-4 years later remains to be seen how much they might become more active participants in terms of the Democratic Party agenda or if they'll turn on us after Trump is gone, if we start enacting policies that they feel are "too far left". I also don't want to see them having an outsized influence on the Democratic Party/DNC. I mean, it's fine if they want to support us and give us assistance but I just don't want us to feel like we have to start bending in their direction and towards their agenda, which AFAIK is still likely going to be an aggressively pro-corporate agenda, in exchange for said support. One of the things that Biden would have to work on right off the bat is fixing the damage Trump inflicted on the Affordable Care Act and possibly expanding it some with a Public Option, which I'm not sure whether or not Never Trumpers even support?
Never Trumpers and Senate Races
It just occurred to me the other day that, while I know that Never Trumpers via The Lincoln Project and other means are aggressively working to elect Joe Biden and UN-elect Trump in 2016, do we know if they are also working to re-elect a Republican Senate as well (House seems like it's going to safely remain Democratic in 2020)? Does it seem likely that they will split their tickets in 2020 and vote for Biden at the top but still vote solidly Republican in the downballot races? And if so, will that blunt or hurt our efforts to re-take the Senate in 2020? Has anybody heard anything that this might be the case? While their alliance against Trump is useful in the grander (and more important IMHO) goal of defeating and getting rid of Trump in 2020 is certainly a beneficial one, I fear that, if Republicans are able to hold the Senate, they will just return to their obstructionist tactics honed during the Obama years, ESPECIALLY if Moscow Mitch gets re-elected (which seems more likely than not in all honesty).
That's what these people don't get about this
Some of them online are like, "Wear a mask if YOU want to!" or "Stay home if YOU'RE scared!" They don't register that this is a bad virus that people can both catch AND transmit (and transmit even if they don't know they have it). I guess we will someday need to think about teaching basic epidemiology in school. I was mentioning to my wife too the other day, maybe mask-wearing while sick should become a norm in our country like it is in Asian countries. Just think how much healthier we might all be if we did that?
How does Trump potentially win a second term?
Aside from outright rigging/cheating in this election (which I don't want to get into here), is there ANYTHING substantive that could potentially change between now and Election Day that would be either extraordinarily beneficial to Trump to help him win re-election or extraordinarily damaging to Biden that would depress his vote and cause him to lose? Any other complicating factors (i.e. additional "major party" candidates joining the race) that could cause the polls to tighten or make the margin close enough for Trump to limp to re-election? At the moment, the race appears to be Biden's to lose, but we're still fairly far enough out that anything could still happen and I'm trying to maintain some perspective.
It's really depressing and surprising to remember
that *that* race was as close as it was
Too many people always seem willing to give lame a** Republicans a chance to govern after a successful Democratic Presidency instead of another highly qualified Democrat. I understand why people don't want to keep electing a succession of Republicans after they sh*t the bed but I don't get why they feel like they have to switch after a successful two-term Democratic Presidency. Do Republicans just get super-activated and we just get complacent and don't show up? If we as a country are doing well under Democratic Presidencies, why wouldn't we want that good streak to continue? I don't get it.
Yes
Although, frankly, I don't even understand the "give him a chance crowd" in 2016 and why they felt that it was even remotely acceptable to give a reality star with a reputation for a string of bankruptcies, a history of racist actions, unspeakably crude manners, misogny, admitted sexual assaulter, etc. "a chance" instead of going with a woman whose entire life was dedicated to public service, was a Senator for several years, a Secretary of State, intelligent, etc.
And lets not forget that, as bad as things are, he's still got legions of people and entire states that are going to still vote for him in in the EC a few months from now.
Yup
But, hopefully, some of the factors that helped cause this won't exist this time. The 2018 mid-terms were encouraging and things have only gotten worse for Trump since then. And hopefully, there won't be any serious third- or fourth-party contenders whom help dice the vote up. And people are wiser about Russia and online disinformation. Keeping fingers crossed. Won't breathe easy until Biden is peaceably inaugurated in January 2021.
Profile Information
Name: Mara Alis ButlerGender: Female
Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana
Home country: USA
Current location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Member since: Sat Feb 28, 2004, 01:13 AM
Number of posts: 24,402
