Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Adam Jensen]

You all know the words, sing along now!

If we're singing a song about the QAnon Shaman Muffin Man it's this:



In an interview this morning, he said it wasn't an "attack" and that he went into the capital to spread "good vibes and positivity" and even stopped some insurrectionists from stealing muffins!

The guy's a farce.

[Breccia]

I can't find anything about that specific one being purchased.

Yeah, neither could I. Well, if it does sell, it'll be interesting to see who bougth it.

- - - Updated - - -

In an interview this morning, he said it wasn't an "attack"

Farce indeed. If you have to break windows, doors, or skulls to get in, it's an attack. "I thought I was bringing joy to all the childrens" is not a legal defense to "OH MY GOD WHY DID YOU BREAK INTO MY HOUSE???"

[Katchii]

My point is that if education is a statistically significant predictor of whether someone is a crazed anti-Vaxxer, flat-earther, trump sycophant, etc, then education is obviously the best way to rectify those things.

That won't necessarily fix who they vote for though. They don't have to be a Trump sycophant to vote for him, they just have to dislike, disbelieve or be disenchanted enough with the other side enough to not vote for them.

I agree that higher education is a good way to educate folks on things like anti-vaxx, but I'm not convinced that will affect their vote. And stupid people will always exist, you can't force people to be educated. It's already required by law that they go to school, but there's no law that says they have to pass or that they have to understand and believe certain things. Will it help? Of course, but I'm skeptical that it would have enough of an impact to matter, at least not without other significant changes to infrastructure that really allows folks to take advantage of the education that's offered.

[Kaleredar]

That won't necessarily fix who they vote for though. They don't have to be a Trump sycophant to vote for him, they just have to dislike, disbelieve or be disenchanted enough with the other side enough to not vote for them.

I agree that higher education is a good way to educate folks on things like anti-vaxx, but I'm not convinced that will affect their vote. And stupid people will always exist, you can't force people to be educated. It's already required by law that they go to school, but there's no law that says they have to pass or that they have to understand and believe certain things. Will it help? Of course, but I'm skeptical that it would have enough of an impact to matter, at least not without other significant changes to infrastructure that really allows folks to take advantage of the education that's offered.

But it does affect their votes. Trump led the polls in uneducated white males. Conversely, he did not lead in polls with educated people.

Like I said, there’s a fairly evident correlation between voting preference and education level. Especially as the GOP continues to abandon any sort of legitimate policy pretense for strict reactionary fear mongering.

[Adam Jensen]

Farce indeed. If you have to break windows, doors, or skulls to get in, it's an attack. "I thought I was bringing joy to all the childrens" is not a legal defense to "OH MY GOD WHY DID YOU BREAK INTO MY HOUSE???"

I mean, unless you're Santa Claus lol

[Felya]

If we're singing a song about the QAnon Shaman Muffin Man it's this:

It’s all an Antifa plot going back decades... When playing FF7... did you ever ask what Tifa’s first name was? It’s Ann!!!! /micdrop

[Biglog]

When today and tomorrow pass and Biden remains President and Trump remains a civilian that is a former President with no more authority than you or I, my hope is that Q folks really start to step back into reality with the rest of us. There's only so many times that someone's claims can turn out to be completely false before even the most hardcore supporter has to second-guess their credibility. I'd have thought that would have happened long ago since his record is like 0-20, but I really hope this is the last straw for them and faith in Q.

Reality is that Trump's authority ended at 12:00 hours on 1/20/2021. Since then he's had no more authority than you or I. None. At that minute he no longer remained commander-in-chief, his nuclear launch codes expired, etc. Any other theory is delusional and not based on reality.

Former Presidents are given *access* (not to be confused with *authority*) to daily Presidential security briefs for a short-time after leaving office to help with the transition to the new President in case they seek advice or have questions on an ongoing issue. It sounds like that access for Trump will be removed very soon if it hasn't already since he was counter-productive to the transition anyway. And former Presidents also get Secret Service protection for 10 years after leaving office, so he gets that.

[Belize]

my hope is that Q folks really start to step back into reality with the rest of us.

Haaaaaaa hahaha.

Let's not kid ourselves here.

[Katchii]

But it does affect their votes. Trump led the polls in uneducated white males. Conversely, he did not lead in polls with educated people.

Like I said, there’s a fairly evident correlation between voting preference and education level. Especially as the GOP continues to abandon any sort of legitimate policy pretense for strict reactionary fear mongering.

Uneducated in those polls meant those without a college education. That doesn't necessarily speak to a person's overall intelligence level, I know plenty of highly educated folks who were either Trump supporters, or staunch Republicans who voted R because they didn't want to vote D. College is not a legal requirement and without significant reform in our system, will still be unattainable for many folks. Not denying it will help, but still not convinced it would have that big of an impact on the population numbers of those who are "uneducated" and those who are as to affect elections. I'm skeptical of the scope of the impact, not whether or not it would have an impact. There are plenty of stupid smart people.

That said, I agree with you that pushing the reform necessary to make college more accessible would help ensure more folks have access to a college education and would therefore increase that "educated" population. But if a college education is what differentiates between those who are educated and those who aren't that won't affect folks who are old enough to vote but aren't yet old enough to have received a college education, or simply have chosen not to pursue a college education right after high school. There's been huge pushes recently for that population of people to vote, and the 2020 turnout was reportedly the highest it's been.

[tehdang]

Uneducated in those polls meant those without a college education. That doesn't necessarily speak to a person's overall intelligence level, I know plenty of highly educated folks who were either Trump supporters, or staunch Republicans who voted R because they didn't want to vote D. College is not a legal requirement and without significant reform in our system, will still be unattainable for many folks. Not denying it will help, but still not convinced it would have that big of an impact on the population numbers of those who are "uneducated" and those who are as to affect elections. I'm skeptical of the scope of the impact, not whether or not it would have an impact. There are plenty of stupid smart people.

That said, I agree with you that pushing the reform necessary to make college more accessible would help ensure more folks have access to a college education and would therefore increase that "educated" population. But if a college education is what differentiates between those who are educated and those who aren't that won't affect folks who are old enough to vote but aren't yet old enough to have received a college education, or simply have chosen not to pursue a college education right after high school. There's been huge pushes recently for that population of people to vote, and the 2020 turnout was reportedly the highest it's been.

I’m also going with correlation, not causation.

Trump lost re-election because the same white males living in the suburbs that elected him in 2016 didn’t vote for him in 2020. This more than offset Trump’s gains in Latinos and blacks. This all despite an election that saw GOP performance outstrip polling in both houses of Congress. It is all much more complicated than the formal education questionnaire on exit polls. It could also signal continuing erosion of GOP support in those demographics, who knows.

[Fugus]

I agree with everything you're saying but wanted to touch on this specific piece.

Any religious conservative that seriously supports the Republicans, let alone Trump, after they literally made a golden idol of Trump for CPAC is an absolute fucking hypocrite. That's literally in their top 10 worst things you can do, so giving a pass to them for that, along with all the other shit they pull....the amount of cognitive dissonance is absolutely unreal. I just can't take any of them seriously anymore.

Same, I even pointed out how his actions and those he supports spits in the face of the philosophies both he and his religion claims to support. He didn’t see it.

At that point I told him that watching him and his religious people supporting him is like watching a false prophet leading his flock into damnation and gleefully marching to hell saying they praise god with their words while spitting in gods face actions and those they support.

[Breccia]

Once again it's time to play Guess the Speaker!

They fight for RINOS that have so badly hurt the Republican Party. That's where they are and that's where they will always be. Fortunately, nobody cares much about The Wall Street Journal editorial anymore. They have lost great credibility.

Yep, that's Trump, firing back at the WSJ for pointing out that
a) Trump lost in 2020
b) Trump directly pushed the Georgia Senate elections, but the Republicans lost anyhow
c) Trump never polled above 50% except on polls that rhyme with "my ass, you sayin?"
d) Trump losing the popular vote...twice.
e) and of course, Trump's nonstop claims of fraud that never turned out to be based in fact. (See also: "lost credibility")

Mr. Trump's base of support means he will play an important role in the GOP. But as the Biden months roll on and the policy consequences of the 2020 defeat become stark, perhaps the party's grassroots will begin to look past the Trump era to a new generation of potential standard-bearers. As long as Republicans focus on the grievances of the Trump past, they won't be a governing majority.

Naturally, Trump tweeted about it.

"No, he didn't."

Well he ranted on Facebook.

"No, he didn't."

He said it in a FOX News interview.

"That was Donnie Dum-Dum Jr, that was a week ago, and he acted like he was coked out of his mind. Trump hasn't had a FOX News interview since Feb 17, where he spent the whole time lying about the election, and FOX News let him continue unchallenged."

Okay okay, he released a statement.

"Where?"

Uh...(flips through windows)...I don't know. I only saw this on two names-worthy sites, Newsweek and TheHill, and neither gave a specific source. Hold on, didn't he have an "Office of the Bigly Yuge President" or something?

(does Google search)

(does Yahoo search)

(sighs)

(does Bing search)

Huh. I know he has an office and a logo and everything, but damned if I can find the site. Can anyone find Trump's "Office of the Former President" website? Surely it exists by now, that article I linked was from Jan 26th. I'm a math teacher and even I could have a website up and running in six weeks. I mean, this cyber is kid's stuff, or so I've been told.

Man, it is just so strange to that I can't find Trump's website anywhere. You'd think someone who said "nobody cares about this publisher anymore, they have lost credibility" would say that from, you know, a publisher that people cared about and with some credibility.

[Clone]

So when will trump go to jail?

[Ivanstone]

I’m also going with correlation, not causation.

Trump lost re-election because the same white males living in the suburbs that elected him in 2016 didn’t vote for him in 2020. This more than offset Trump’s gains in Latinos and blacks. This all despite an election that saw GOP performance outstrip polling in both houses of Congress. It is all much more complicated than the formal education questionnaire on exit polls. It could also signal continuing erosion of GOP support in those demographics, who knows.

In 2016, ~51 million white people voted for Trump. Over 60% of those were male.
In 2020, ~58 million white people voted for Trump. Over 60% of those were male. Yes, there might’ve been a small decline in white male voter percentage but he still managed to find 4 million more white males to vote for him.

He lost because Biden had even more people show up.

[postman1782]

So when will trump go to jail?

Even with him being a shitty subhuman orange slimeball, he still gets Due Process. But with all of the investigations taking place, and even him being an unindicted co-conspirator in the Cohen case, I don't think there is any way he can avoid jail time. Especially with all of the evidence against him.

[Breccia]

A new study finds the worst states in the US for COVID and children are...Texas and Mississippi.

Nah, just kidding.

They're 48th and 49th. Louisiana is last.

And then the next day this wanders across my feed:



Ah, good times...good times...

Funeral workers, Louisiana's last responders, reflect on 'unimaginable death' seen from COVID-19

Like the Texas power outage, Louisiana is going to survive this only due to outside help pouring in. (checks calendar) Until the tourists arrive for Mardi Gras.

[Benggaul]

68,321 new cases, about 10k fewer than last Thursday.

Top 5:

New York: 7,854 new cases; 125 deaths
Texas: 7,357 new cases; 289 deaths
Fuck Florida.
California: 5,226 new cases; 420 deaths
New Jersey: 3,193 new cases; 42 deaths

*Insert comment about poor Texas testing here*

New York and Texas have been swapping places in the top spot for the past week but New York's little bump looks to be largely controlled whereas Texas is still underreporting. For comparison, New York has a positivity right around 3% whereas Texas is still above 10%.

1,993 deaths is about 450 fewer than last Thursday and brings the total to 533,636. California's still spiking a few times as reports come in but their overall trend continues to decline. By next week we should be regularly under 2k.

Related news:

Alabama to Lift Mask Mandate in April Amid Coronavirus Pandemic--This is after extending the mandate another month. They tried, I guess?

Scream, not swab: Dutch inventor hopes he discovered new COVID test--I saw this in person while hobbling my way to work the other day and it's pretty interesting. I imagine it must be cathartic to be able to scream your guts out in a sound-proof booth for a couple minutes in these times. Me, I just want a safe, judgement-free space to sing Boston's "More Than A Feeling".

Stay safe, folks.

[Breccia]

This is after extending the mandate another month.

Clearly they beat COVID in that additional month. I mean, it's not like they're one of the worst deaths per capita, are they?

(checks literally anywhere)

Oh, right. They are. Right next to Louisiana, and between the Dakotas.

[Benggaul]

Clearly they beat COVID in that additional month. I mean, it's not like they're one of the worst deaths per capita, are they?

(checks literally anywhere)

Oh, right. They are. Right next to Louisiana, and between the Dakotas.

To be fair, I wasn't expecting them to even do that much. They elected Tuberville.

[Breccia]

To be fair, I wasn't expecting them to even do that much. They elected Tuberville.

I mean...my name is "jagged rock" so I'm not one to throw stones judge, but, why would you elect someone whose name is "town of potatoe"?

(some of you will get that last one)