Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Gorsameth]

Trump's inner circle is appparently worried that Trump is losing his draw. No, it's not because of the various lawsuits, investigations, and of course the murderous insurrection. It's because he lost that last election, the defeat of Trump cultists Wright in Texas.



One loss does not a pattern make, but they're right to be concerned. The Republican Party has become the Party of Trump. Their 2020 platform says so. If Trump can't bring in a candidate (this was a GOP vs Party of Trump runoff) what happens in the future? Also, what kind of meltdown is Trump having behind the scenes? He hasn't tweeted in...oh. Right. Forgot.



Trump can't both endorse everyone, and also only pick winners. But it is encouraging to see the former Republican Party, now the Party of Trump, starting to wonder if they made a mistake. The upcoming Ohio race is also Trump cultist vs. classic Republican. Let's keep a buckeye on that one.

They are wonder if they made a mistake because their losing, not because they realise fully threw themselves behind an utterly despicable person.

I wouldn't call that encouraging.

[Kaleredar]

Trump's inner circle is appparently worried that Trump is losing his draw. No, it's not because of the various lawsuits, investigations, and of course the murderous insurrection. It's because he lost that last election, the defeat of Trump cultists Wright in Texas.



One loss does not a pattern make, but they're right to be concerned. The Republican Party has become the Party of Trump. Their 2020 platform says so. If Trump can't bring in a candidate (this was a GOP vs Party of Trump runoff) what happens in the future? Also, what kind of meltdown is Trump having behind the scenes? He hasn't tweeted in...oh. Right. Forgot.



Trump can't both endorse everyone, and also only pick winners. But it is encouraging to see the former Republican Party, now the Party of Trump, starting to wonder if they made a mistake. The upcoming Ohio race is also Trump cultist vs. classic Republican. Let's keep a buckeye on that one.

I'm sure the GOP at large is eager to drop Trump to get back to their much more standard, banal, enrich-the-wealthy, do-nothing brand of evil.

And seeing as Trump is all of those things WITH the added addition of anti-education, ignorance is strength, fascist overtones who actively encourages violence both in attitude and in rhetoric, removing him is... progress, I guess?

[Breccia]

I'm sure the GOP at large is eager to drop Trump to get back to their much more standard, banal, enrich-the-wealthy, do-nothing brand of evil.

Maybe they want to, but they can't. It's the same with the gun nuts and the religious right. Without them, they can't get close enough to 50%.

They had their chance in 2016 but blew it. Now it's all conspiracy theories, anti-vaxxers, and outright lies for good. They chose this. If it keeps working they'll keep doing it. If it doesn't, maybe we'll see them stumble as they tear each other apart for an election or two.

[Kaleredar]

Maybe they want to, but they can't. It's the same with the gun nuts and the religious right. Without them, they can't get close enough to 50%.

They had their chance in 2016 but blew it. Now it's all conspiracy theories, anti-vaxxers, and outright lies for good. They chose this. If it keeps working they'll keep doing it. If it doesn't, maybe we'll see them stumble as they tear each other apart for an election or two.

That’s what I’m saying. If they see the importance of trumps support faltering, they’ll drop him like a rotten pumpkin because the GOP establishment likely wants him out of their hair.

Which like I said I’ll interpret as “progress.” There’s a lot of cleaning up after the GOP to do, but at least getting the shit-flinging orangutan out of the room is a good first step.

[Breccia]

Which like I said I’ll interpret as “progress.”

Agreed. I hope they realize how much they lost by embracing a madman. Honestly, I'll be happy to see the classic Republican party back. I didn't agree with most of their platform, but they at least made sense.

[Benggaul]

I'm not on Twitter much anymore after my suspension for correctly identifying Ann Coulter as a stupid bitch, but I learned about this Tweet today from Marco Rubio:

"Our SecDef is vaccinated

But he arrives in the Philippines wearing a mask AND a face shield

Embarrassing COVID theatre"

1. The rules in the Philippines are that you must wear both face mask AND shield while in public places. Soooo he's calling following protocol "theatre".
2. Even if those weren't the rules, masking up even when vaccinated is still recommended.
3. Rubio...how exactly is Florida doing these days?...

Meanwhile:

House Republicans stage protest in Capitol over new COVID-19 mask rules

Anyone want to keep track of how many around them catch COVID over the next couple weeks? I'm a bit swamped. I realize Rand Paul is in the Senate, but surely he wants to give it another try, right?

[D Luniz]

Blue-Eyes White Ultimate RINO?

Tunnel Rhino getting him a free theme song!
http://ocr.blueblue.fr/files/music/a...%28zyko%29.mp3

[Fugus]

Agreed. I hope they realize how much they lost by embracing a madman. Honestly, I'll be happy to see the classic Republican party back. I didn't agree with most of their platform, but they at least made sense.

I honestly hope for the party as a whole to die, we don't need Classic Republicans, we already have a right leaning party with the Democrats. We need the loons to face consequences for their stuff and the Democrats to actually split and realign so we can get to actually having a left and right party instead of a Right and Righter party.

Need the Republicans to full on collapse where they can't win anything no matter how much they cheat and gerrymander and the Democrats to take the reigns and then push through fair voting laws to prevent them stealing it again which also forces them to also be beholden more to the voters as well.

[Kaleredar]

I honestly hope for the party as a whole to die, we don't need Classic Republicans, we already have a right leaning party with the Democrats. We need the loons to face consequences for their stuff and the Democrats to actually split and realign so we can get to actually having a left and right party instead of a Right and Righter party.

Need the Republicans to full on collapse where they can't win anything no matter how much they cheat and gerrymander and the Democrats to take the reigns and then push through fair voting laws to prevent them stealing it again which also forces them to also be beholden more to the voters as well.

Pretty much this in the long run. Even if the GOP sans-Trump isn't so seditiously evil, it doesn't change the fact that they exist only as a stopping block to governance that ultimately only exists to enrich itself. This was certainly the case under Obama, long before Trump was even in the picture.

But the key part is in getting those voting rights bills passed and seeing the power of the republican party fall on a national level. Until then, the democrats can't afford to split.

[Fugus]

Pretty much this in the long run. Even if the GOP sans-Trump isn't so seditiously evil, it doesn't change the fact that they exist only as a stopping block to governance that ultimately only exists to enrich itself. This was certainly the case under Obama, long before Trump was even in the picture.

But the key part is in getting those voting rights bills passed and seeing the power of the republican party fall on a national level. Until then, the democrats can't afford to split.

Agreed on both points. As far as the GOP history, sadly this goes back to like the 1850s or so when they threw out the working class and went full pro-business. They started losing power because of it and before they lost control of the Senate they admitted I think 6 states going as far as to break Dakota in half while completely ignoring the actual population sizes between them just because they voted conservative I think Wyoming had fewer citizens than individual districts at the time (Also why they don't want to admit DC or PR as states now, they don't vote conservative).

Then when the Democrats kicked the racists out, the GOP welcomed them with open arms because it gave them voters and a slave labor class worked well with the pro-business nature they wanted to push anyways. Then you got the same with Regan and the Religious Right who also worked in businesses favor as it was a voter base who largely refused to think on most stuff while having no issues oppressing and persecuting other and taking stuff on faith which again worked well with their pro-business stances.

For over 150 years now, the Republican party has largely been a party that wants to return to an authoritarian leadership similar to a Aristocracy or Dictatorship and been willing to court anyone on the way that got them there.

[Benggaul]

Just a little preview for tomorrow:

Texas: 11,893 new cases.

Why is this relevant?

Texas governor threatens to fine local officials who enforce new mask mandates

"Texans have mastered the safe practices that help to prevent and avoid the spread of COVID-19."

If by "mastered" you mean "have not even got the basics". Fuck Texas.

[Breccia]

I honestly hope for the party as a whole to die

I wouldn't lose sleep. But I don't think it's as likely as the party damaging itself through infighting as the Trump cultists throw a fit when the classic Republicans try to put them in their place. Think of it as, oh, say, MyPillow taking its ads off FOX News when FOX News won't run with his conspiracy theory. Which happened an hour ago.

Lindell is one of FOX News' biggest advertisers. Forty million on Carlson alone. This is significant.

[PhaelixWW]

Just a little preview for tomorrow:

Texas: 11,893 new cases.

Why is this relevant?

Texas governor threatens to fine local officials who enforce new mask mandates



If by "mastered" you mean "have not even got the basics". Fuck Texas.

Yeah, today's numbers aren't pretty. Apparently, yesterday wasn't as much of a "correction" day as we'd hoped, though I will point out that this:

Wednesday's report:

483 deaths is about 250 more than last Wednesday

...was a mistake, as last Wednesday was actually 406, which makes yesterday only about 80 more, not 250.

[Breccia]

Apparently, yesterday wasn't as much of a "correction" day as we'd hoped

Seven-day averages are mostly up. This is not a great trend.

I'm going to have to look over the state-by-state again. Even 24 hours can tell you something.

[Benggaul]

Yeah, today's numbers aren't pretty. Apparently, yesterday wasn't as much of a "correction" day as we'd hoped, though I will point out that this:

...was a mistake, as last Wednesday was actually 406, which makes yesterday only about 80 more, not 250.

Thanks! I thought it looked odd but figured it was, as I said, a correction. As time goes on it's getting harder and harder to get my cursor to hover over the right date in the timeline to check past totals--which says all that needs to be said about how long this has been dragging on. If I remember I'll include your correction tomorrow in my Thursday report.

[PhaelixWW]

Seven-day averages are mostly up. This is not a great trend.

I'm going to have to look over the state-by-state again. Even 24 hours can tell you something.

Florida will be down today, as it looks like they do one bigger "catch-up" dump per week and last week's was on Thursday while this week's was on Wednesday. The two-day totals are pretty similar, though. Wed/Thu this week was 148, while last week's Wed/Thu was 144.

New cases are still pretty much up across the board, however, so don't hold your breath on death rates doing anything but going up in the near future.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks! I thought it looked odd but figured it was, as I said, a correction. As time goes on it's getting harder and harder to get my cursor to hover over the right date in the timeline to check past totals--which says all that needs to be said about how long this has been dragging on. If I remember I'll include your correction tomorrow in my Thursday report.

Hah, yeah, I made a bookmarklet to scrape the data to my console for easy reading for the same reason. Maybe I'll update it (it's been a while and formatted weirdly for easy dumping into excel) and DM you a copy.

Edit: Also, a cheap way to make those bars easier to target is to increase the page zoom temporarily while making the window as wide as you can, as well.

[Zaydin]

Just a little preview for tomorrow:

Texas: 11,893 new cases.

Why is this relevant?

Texas governor threatens to fine local officials who enforce new mask mandates



If by "mastered" you mean "have not even got the basics". Fuck Texas.

And here I thought conservatives wanted more local control. Or is that only when localities do what conservatives want and need to be restrained when they do things conservatives don't like?

[Masark]

And here I thought conservatives wanted more local control. Or is that only when localities do what conservatives want and need to be restrained when they do things conservatives don't like?

Any level of government controlled by conservatives needs more power.

Any level of government not controlled by conservatives needs less power.

That way, they can keep playing musical chairs every time some electorate gets tired of their shit and kicks them out.

[Dontrike]

And here I thought conservatives wanted more local control. Or is that only when localities do what conservatives want and need to be restrained when they do things conservatives don't like?

The party of state's rights until that state does something they don't like.

[DarkTZeratul]

Politico reports that McConnell is (understandably) worried about Trump promoting Senate candidates who can win the primary, but would have a hard time winning the election. They specifically call out Trump's support for Herschel Walker in Pennsylvania (who has a record of violent behavior, including threatening to shoot his wife, due to dissociative identity disorder) and Eric Greitens in Missouri (who was accused of tying up his mistress and taking nude pictures to blackmail her into silence), and his refusal to support Doug Ducey in Arizona (whom most Republicans see as being the most capable of defeating an already flush with campaign cash Mark Kelly).

Worse, while McConnell indicated he would back electable candidates over Trump-supported candidates, the current head of the NRSC has espoused a commitment not to financially support any one primary candidate to ensure an even playing field. A laudable goal, but one that could backfire if Trump cultists vote for candidates that would get demolished by their Democrat opponents.