Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Breccia]

So @Benggaul hasn't said much about West Virginia. We've talked about their governor in the past, not always in glowing terms of recommendation, since he's on the front lines defending Trump, coal mining, and Fallout 76.

Well he wandered in front of the cameras and said

Unfortunately, today we have an overwhelming amount of deaths: 74 people died. Seventy-four more people have died since Wednesday. And they’ll keep dying. That’s all there is to it. We just are going to keep lining the body bags up, and we’re going to line them up and line them up.

At the end of the day, we’re going to do one of two things. We’re going to run to the fire and get vaccinated right now. Or we’re going to pile the body bags up until we reach a point in time to where we have enough people that have natural immunities and enough people that are vaccinated. Now, that’s all there is to it. I would really highly encourage you to get vaccinated.

Yeah, I'm not defending this guy at all, but when even someone like him is mourning the effective suicide rate of his people, and saying "don't pull a Joe Rogan people, come on!" you know it's serious.

As per usual, I'm using the NYTimes COVID tracker and it says cases in WV are higher than they've ever been. Hospitalizations and deaths are almost as high as they've ever been. And all three are on an upwards course. At this point, the governor of WV could have literally any alignment other than Chaotic Evil and they'd be front and center saying the same thing, even if the motivations are less "please save your loved ones" and more "you're making me look bad in front of Trump" they'd still say it.

The WV governor has not implemented any DeSantis-like policies like a mask ban or "because we just don't want to" policy, not that I can see. The CDC says every county should be masking up, but to be fair, there's a lot of the country that should say that. WV is not the worst state out there, but it's bad enough.

- - - Updated - - -

Capitol Police refuse to make the same mistake twice.

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said the force has has been working "around the clock for the last several weeks" to ensure there isn't a "repeat" of January 6. Although it's unclear how many protesters will attend, the rally permit is for 700 people, who are expected to show their support for those who have been imprisoned for their involvement in the Capitol riot in January.

Manger said it's "tough to say" whether the threats received ahead of the rally are credible or not, but it would be "foolish not to take the intelligence we have seriously."

"We're not taking any chances," Manger told reporters during a press conference Friday.

The U.S. Capitol Police says it is ready for the Saturday rally, and multiple law enforcement agencies are working with them. Fencing has already gone up around the perimeter of the Capitol, after it was taken down in July. But the National Guard will only be called on if the event is longer than expected and Capitol Police need assistance securing the perimeter. Manger said that he has not asked for the guard to be armed.

"Our request for assistance will be if the event goes longer than we think it'll go, they would be available to help us to secure the area around the Capitol, but if the event comes and goes, there will be no call to them for assistance," Manger said.

Manger said his biggest concern about potential violence is a clash between counter-protesters and protesters.

From what we've seen so far, there aren't nearly enough Jan 6th "oh they were just loving tourists" on site to storm a Denny's, let alone a federal building on high alert. But yeah, I suppose someone could get shot in the foot and blame Antifa.

Oh, and also

Although multiple members of Congress have been invited to the rally, he said he doesn't believe any have accepted.

"To my knowledge, all of them have declined," Manger said.

Ain't nobody who matters wants a piece of this.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh wait, I forgot this part:

As CBS News has previously reported, the Department of Homeland Security informed law enforcement partners they're aware of a "small number of recent online threats of violence" connected to the rally, including "online discussions encouraging violence the day before the rally." According to an intelligence bulletin obtained by CBS News, social media users have discussed storming the U.S. Capitol the Friday evening before the rally.

Now, I'm guessing these online threats are blowhards that won't even be there. But, yeah, that would be a reason law enforcement would take this seriously.

[Breccia]

my favorite part of the low attendance expectations is that some of the idiots think it’s a false flag to round them all up.

I mean, it could just as easily be self-sacrifice, members of the rabid fanbase intentionally trying to get arrested so they can say "See? SEE? We were right!"

But...I don't think either is the case.

[Benggaul]

Friday's report:

157,925 new cases; around 32k fewer than two weeks ago.

Top 10:

Fuck Florida.
Texas: 15,258 new cases; 376 deaths
California: 11,096 new cases; 118 deaths
Ohio: 8,447 new cases; 69 deaths
North Carolina: 7,905 new cases; 95 deaths
Tennessee: 6,446 new cases; 52 deaths
New York: 6,113 new cases; 36 deaths
Georgia: 5,592 new cases; 117 deaths
Pennsylvania: 5,198 new cases; 43 deaths
Kentucky: 5,128 new cases; 45 deaths

As @Breccia mentioned, West Virginia has had their highest number of new cases and deaths ever ever the past week and are doing poorly. Yesterday I wrote that they're one of those listed as "severe" risks. They also have a positivity of about 14%--AKA "Florida level". They also have the third-worst vaccinated % in the country and currently have the highest number of infections per 100k. They do not, however, have a governor that is standing in the way of safety precautions and is instead essentially pleading with the population to get vaccinated and stay safe. West Virginians are standing in the way of West Virginians. Meanwhile, the big three Florida, Texas and California all appear to have diminishing new case numbers which is pretty much driving the dive in the national level numbers. As West Virginia can attest, there are still plenty of states in the thick of it.

1,932 deaths is around 100 more than two weeks ago and brings the total to 690,714. Florida and Texas are up top as usual but this time around Alabama leapt up to the third slot with 192 deaths. Given their curve has been declining for some time now--and they had fewer than 1k new cases on Friday--I have to assume this is at least in part a correction or data dump.

Related news:

Amid COVID surge, states that cut benefits still see no hiring boost

New state-level data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the group of mostly Republican led states that dropped a $300 weekly unemployment benefit over the summer added jobs in August at less than half the pace of states that retained the benefits.

*A-FUCKING-HEM*

Schools get the brunt of latest COVID wave in South Carolina--Far from the only state with this problem, but South Carolina's been getting hit hard recently too.

“Just pray for me please”: Laura Loomer suffers “brutal” symptoms after hoping she would “get COVID”--I know this has already been discussed, but I just want to point out how fucking stressful it's been the past year for those of us who aren't predisposed to wishing ill on others. I mean, they're making this so difficult. Thoughts and prayers.

Stay safe, folks.

[Odinfrost]

Capitol Police refuse to make the same mistake twice.

From what we've seen so far, there aren't nearly enough Jan 6th "oh they were just loving tourists" on site to storm a Denny's, let alone a federal building on high alert. But yeah, I suppose someone could get shot in the foot and blame Antifa.

Oh wait, I forgot this part:
"Insert CBS News quote of threats of violence here"

Now, I'm guessing these online threats are blowhards that won't even be there. But, yeah, that would be a reason law enforcement would take this seriously.

So, when is Insurrection 2: Disappointment in Humanity Peaks happening?
I know it wont actually be another insurrection (I hope) but it is still a sequel that should have never happened.

*A-FUCKING-HEM*

Schools get the brunt of latest COVID wave in South Carolina--Far from the only state with this problem, but South Carolina's been getting hit hard recently too.

“Just pray for me please”: Laura Loomer suffers “brutal” symptoms after hoping she would “get COVID”--I know this has already been discussed, but I just want to point out how fucking stressful it's been the past year for those of us who aren't predisposed to wishing ill on others. I mean, they're making this so difficult. Thoughts and prayers.

Stay safe, folks.

For the first article: FUCKING HELL PEOPLE! I would have thought that politicians had seen these scenarios enough over the past year to not continue to fuck up that hard. Nevermind what I said above. NOW my disappointment in humanity has peaked.

For the second article: "Clears throat" HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! Maybe finally, FINALLY some people will start seeing sense... maybe. But I do hope for her swift and safe recovery, because despite me laughing, I don't wish people to be harmed by the virus even if they literally asked for it. Unfortunately I've become so jaded by the entire thing that I still feel I could do a second round of laughing, so excuse me for a moment. HAHAHAHAHA!

[s_bushido]

“Just pray for me please”: Laura Loomer suffers “brutal” symptoms after hoping she would “get COVID”--I know this has already been discussed, but I just want to point out how fucking stressful it's been the past year for those of us who aren't predisposed to wishing ill on others. I mean, they're making this so difficult. Thoughts and prayers.

Don't worry. I'm a terrible enough person for the both of us. I have some sympathy for those who have been duped by people like this. But the ones trying to make a living selling dangerous disinformation? No. Fuck them. They deserve everything that comes their way. It's not just their lives they're risking, it's everyone's by prolonging this.

[Breccia]

Did you see the letter Trump sent the GA Sec of State yesterday?

I did not. Huh.

Well, let's break 'em down.

1) I find it highly unlikely that, somehow, Trump would find a report of election fraud in Georgia that was credible, but somehow, Faffensperger didn't know about it. Yes, I'm leaning on "credible" because I know it can sustain the weight.

2) But just to give the claim every ounce of credit it's not due, I looked for 43000 ballots in Georgia to find which story Trump was talking about. I did not find the original story, but I didn't need to, WaPo did it for me.

“Enclosed is a report of 43,000 Absentee Ballot Votes Counted in DeKalb County that violated the Chain of Custody rules, making them invalid,” the letter continues. After that, he helpfully suggests, Raffensperger can “start the process of decertifying the Election, or whatever the correct legal remedy is” — a funny addendum since there is no such remedy even if one were warranted.

And here, none is warranted. This “Chain of Custody” claim being made by Trump stems from a report by a pro-Trump website called Georgia Star News. It’s part of a group of sites established to mimic local news coverage but largely promoting stories friendly to the right. The author of the DeKalb County story, for example, writes for “The Georgia Star News, The Tennessee Star, The Ohio Star and The Arizona Sun Times,” which must yield her a ton of mileage reimbursements.

The claim is this: People hired to transport ballots from drop boxes to the county were mandated to do so immediately, but sometimes those ballots weren’t logged by the county until hours later or the next day. This is shown in documents obtained by the website that purportedly show the transfer of the ballots. (It’s worth noting, by the way, that when the site asked for these documents in November, the county’s failure to turn them over at that point spurred a story about how the documents might not exist. They did, as CNN quickly determined.)

The story does not suggest that any votes were altered in any way, if such a thing were possible without detection. It does not indicate that anyone had talked to the county about why the forms might have been incomplete (in some cases) or indicated gaps between collection and being logged. There’s nothing to suggest that this was anything other than, say, a team collecting ballots at the end of the day and finishing the job the following morning. There’s obviously good reason for ballots to be transmitted as quickly as possible, but there’s nothing to suggest this was anything more nefarious than campaign workers doing their jobs a bit less assiduously than one might hope.

But Trump doesn’t even actually claim there was fraud, since there’s no evidence there was. He just says the equivalent of Hey, you seeing all this fraud? and then asking Raffensperger to throw out the whole election somehow because of the gaps on those forms. It’s not even a Hail Mary. It’s like showing up on the field the day after the Super Bowl and loudly complaining that your opponent was offsides.

Yep. Trump heard a story that, even though it was as far right as a Nazi sympathizer demanding only he get welfare, still wasn't fraud. He heard what he wanted to hear, assumed he was right, and made legal demands based on telephone-game level of speculation hearsay purple monkey dishwasher.

To expand on that, not that I need to elaborate on a Washington Post story but I will anyway because my ego is a registered deadly weapon, even if these ballots were declared invalid, there's no way of knowing who they were for. Or how many other ballots that would also be tossed.

2a) Also "Georgia Star News" appears to be along the lines of "Some Guy On Twitter News". Some Guy On Twitter is free to present evidence in a lawsuit or other court hearing if Some Guy wants. While looking for their website, the literal second page I found was NPR pointing out how they push election misinformation. They don't even warrant a Media Bias Fact Check. I could, not figuratively, literally make a "news" site just as trustworthy, reliable, and professional as theirs. I have no desire to, and even if I did, I have no desire to "there's no such thing as bad press" myself into the headlines by making shit up.

3) If Trump wants something investigated he's free to actually sue with his own money. Get on the stand, say things under oath. Go for it, fatty fatty fatass. Put your money and your perjury on the line. Trump doesn't live in Georgia, his "I demand you bla bla bigly bla" doesn't even have "I pay your taxes you work for me" behind it.
3a) Also Trump doesn't pay taxes so he still couldn't say it.

4) Trump tries "many other claims" and cites nothing. Possibly because he knows they've been debunked.

5) This Rolling Stone headline:

Decertify the ‘Illegitimate’ Election, Says Man Under Investigation for Election Interference

I don't think I can add to that. But it does lead into

6) "As stated to you previously" has the legal weight of an iced tea and apple fritters fart outside in a 10mph wind. Well, that's my plan anyhow, I've been looking forward to those fritters for a month, they're amazing. But seriously, let's follow that up with an easy example:

Protection Warriors are underpowered as fuck because they don't have a Shield Block that shoots fire and lightning

There, I've stated that to you. Does "as stated to you previously" make it true? No. Lying multiple times in a row does not magically make it true.

7) As hinted at before, even if a large number of irregular votes were found, which they have not, but even if they were, that's not enough to overturn the election. Even if, using Trump's effectively dartboard number of 43,000 was correct, there's nothing saying that they were all for Biden. There's nothing on them all, they don't exist, but a claim of irregular votes does not magically become "overturn election Trump wins because he said so".

8) What "now proven facts" is he talking about? He admits in the letter he doesn't even think the Some Guy On Twitter story is confirmed. He wants Georgia to investigate it with their own money on the strength of Trump's word. My dick has more strength than Trump's word.

9) And finally, there is no legal process to decertify a Georgia election. If enough evidence is presented to an upper-level judge to show the results could have been changed, that judge could order a new election. Raffensberger can't do it, even if he wanted, which he doesn't. Neither can Kemp.
9a) See earlier points about court cases. None are ongoing. Some Guy on Twitter and Trump are free to start such a court case with their own money and take the stand themselves. Fucking do it, fatass, I'll take a sabattical or quit just to watch that meltdown live in person. (Just kiding, I love my job)

I can't find anything about this letter which is anything outside of the span between "meaningless" and "ridiculous" and at this point I'm hoping qualify as libel/slander, harassment, election interference (he is saying to overturn the election and declare him the winner) or something else that would be evidence enough to actually arrest Trump. I don't think it is, but I dare to dream. But I think everyone here including myself knows I'm kind of biased against Trump and any other serial racist adulterer lying thief. We need a Trump defender in on this. I know @TexasRules is my go-to, but let's not forget @GreenJesus @Ghostpanther @Sulla and why not @Thwart too. I'm calling in an air strike. Any and all Trump defenders, read that letter, defend literally any sentence on its face value. Go for it.

You know the rules. 24 hours or I get to answer for you, and spoiler alert, my answer is "Trump is making shit up, he has no evidence, and by not answering I admit I'm a coward".

- - - Updated - - -

So, when is Insurrection 2: Disappointment in Humanity Peaks happening?

Hmm, quite a mystery. Let's ask Scooby Doo!

The whatever they’re calling it is today.

Not very soon, apparently. Zoinks!

EDIT: Holy shit, I just now caught your name is Odinfrost. That name is fucking badass.

- - - Updated - - -

Okay so USA Today is being a dick about me sharing their copyrighted pictures without permission but, yeah, their article has like ten pictures of a fucking army of police and law enforcement and also two supporters with a flag. It reminds me of all those "what would actually happen if Obama came to get your guns" cartoons.

Oh, and there's a counter-protestor with a giant "LOSER" sign, but that was shown by AZCentral HAHAHAHAHA Arizona I love it.



Feel free to grab that for any time the Trump supporters on these forums fail to answer my challenge, or more generally just watch Trump do something deplorable and ignore it because they're unable to defend it. Don't call them losers directly, no no no, just cite the story about this rally and happen to do so when they're cowering in their bunkers, crying into their single scoop of ice cream.

Me? I'm getting those apple fritters. Back later.

[Rasulis]

Friday's report:

157,925 new cases; around 32k fewer than two weeks ago.

Top 10:

Fuck Florida.
Texas: 15,258 new cases; 376 deaths
California: 11,096 new cases; 118 deaths
Ohio: 8,447 new cases; 69 deaths
North Carolina: 7,905 new cases; 95 deaths
Tennessee: 6,446 new cases; 52 deaths
New York: 6,113 new cases; 36 deaths
Georgia: 5,592 new cases; 117 deaths
Pennsylvania: 5,198 new cases; 43 deaths
Kentucky: 5,128 new cases; 45 deaths

As @Breccia mentioned, West Virginia has had their highest number of new cases and deaths ever ever the past week and are doing poorly. Yesterday I wrote that they're one of those listed as "severe" risks. They also have a positivity of about 14%--AKA "Florida level". They also have the third-worst vaccinated % in the country and currently have the highest number of infections per 100k. They do not, however, have a governor that is standing in the way of safety precautions and is instead essentially pleading with the population to get vaccinated and stay safe. West Virginians are standing in the way of West Virginians. Meanwhile, the big three Florida, Texas and California all appear to have diminishing new case numbers which is pretty much driving the dive in the national level numbers. As West Virginia can attest, there are still plenty of states in the thick of it.

1,932 deaths is around 100 more than two weeks ago and brings the total to 690,714. Florida and Texas are up top as usual but this time around Alabama leapt up to the third slot with 192 deaths. Given their curve has been declining for some time now--and they had fewer than 1k new cases on Friday--I have to assume this is at least in part a correction or data dump.

Related news:

Amid COVID surge, states that cut benefits still see no hiring boost

*A-FUCKING-HEM*

Schools get the brunt of latest COVID wave in South Carolina--Far from the only state with this problem, but South Carolina's been getting hit hard recently too.

“Just pray for me please”: Laura Loomer suffers “brutal” symptoms after hoping she would “get COVID”--I know this has already been discussed, but I just want to point out how fucking stressful it's been the past year for those of us who aren't predisposed to wishing ill on others. I mean, they're making this so difficult. Thoughts and prayers.

Stay safe, folks.

Florida death backlog is catching up. They broke 50k on Thursday. Then they broke 51k on Friday.

[Benggaul]

Florida death backlog is catching up. They broke 50k on Thursday. Then they broke 51k on Friday.

Really, gosh, because they claim they only had 6 yesterday!
/s

I gave up trying to parse their dishonesty a while ago-- @PhaelixWW has been keeping on top of that. I'll just always keep them at the top of the list as a reminder.

[Rasulis]

Really, gosh, because they claim they only had 6 yesterday!
/s

I gave up trying to parse their dishonesty a while ago-- @PhaelixWW has been keeping on top of that. I'll just always keep them at the top of the list as a reminder.

Way undercounted!!

As of June 4, the state no longer reports non-resident vaccinations, coronavirus cases and fatalities. The state has declined repeated requests to provide non-resident data to the Tampa Bay Times.

[Benggaul]

Way undercounted!!

Oh absolutely, but to be fair, they're not the only ones. Back in May I linked an article about a study saying actual COVID deaths in the US probably exceeded 900k. Back in May. I'm sure we've blown past 1 million by now. I can't blame all of those on Florida, but boy do I think they're making up a disproportionate part of that now.

[postman1782]

The whatever they’re calling it is today.

- - - Updated - - -



Looks jumping! That’s from about half an hour ago. The “rally” starts in about 55 minutes.



https://mobile.twitter.com/GarrettHa...44203544940546

I went to the Washington Monument camera to see if anything is going on there. https://www.earthcam.com/usa/dc/wash...ment/?cam=wamo

There isn't. The only thing you can really see going on, is the flags for the covid deaths thing going on to the right there.

[Hollycakes]

That letter lol!

First it says "if true"
Then says "refuse to acknowledge the now proven facts"

So somewhere between the start of the letter and the end, the facts were proven!

Also gotta love the bit that says "whatever the correct legal remedy is"
You know, cause I don't!

[Breccia]

gotta love the bit that says "whatever the correct legal remedy is"

Which, as I cited before, is "take it to trial". Undoing the election now requires a court case. Raffensperger was clear and specific, and since then, nobody's proven him wrong either.

EDIT: Also, y'all thought I was kidding about the apple fritters.

[Hollycakes]

Good god those look good.

Gonna ask this here instead of the insurrection thread cause it's related and today's "meet and greet" is happening.
Can anyone explain why the Rittenhouse trial is not allowed to show his love of the proud boys and violence etc. to the jury?
I don't get it.
To me it seems so relevant to him going out that night looking for trouble with his gun.

I'm guessing that means they won't get to see the vids after of him at the bar with them too.

[Mihalik]

VW governor.

There's a bunch of "funny" videos of that guy on YouTube of him just being fucking exasperated, arguing for, cajoling, begging, reproaching people to get vaccinated.

You can actually see that it's not act. The guy is fucking over it. He just can't fucking deal with the anti vaxx crowd anymore.

It is actually kinda sad.

[Hollycakes]

Yes I was just reading an article this morning about them excluding it and couldn't find out why.

Also found this guy:

Aside from the Davey Crockett cosplay, You just know he's got good things to say!

[Breccia]

He just can't fucking deal with the anti vaxx crowd anymore.

I do feel a little sorry for the classic Republican lawmakers whose Trump supporters are killing themselves.

The WV governor is not a classic Republican. He was all-in Trump. I'm glad he's angry, but he allowed this to happen. I'm glad it reflects badly on him. And he and I both know it's too late to change things. That death spike will keep going up 2 weeks after cases reverse, and even if literally every single person in WV vaccinated today there would be an increase in cases while those kicked in.

If you invite Rick James into your living room, you should expect muddy footprints on your couch.

- - - Updated - - -

the Davey Crockett cosplay

So, they have a Shaman and now a Hunter.

[Benggaul]

Nothing screams "DOUCHE!" more than fatigues outside of the military.

[jonnysensible]

alot of americas problems could be solved with one simple trick. If you see a guy like that (or a groyper like fuentes) with loads of cameras on him, just walk up and give him a massive wedgie, that would be it. Over. Solved.

[Breccia]

Nothing screams "DOUCHE!" more than fatigues outside of the military.

It's not the fatigues. Hunters wear fatigues. It's the pretending to be a soldier when you're really a cosplayer.