Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Bluespiderman57]

https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-...n-2022-2021-10

Two GOP officials have urged Republicans in some cases to vote Democratic in the 2022 midterm elections as one of several ways to bolster the party from candidates they described as "pro-Trump extremists."

Miles Taylor, a Trump-era Department of Homeland Security chief of staff, and Christine Todd Whitman, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, wrote a New York Times op-ed article that ran Monday. Taylor is best known for anonymously writing a 2018 op-ed article in The Times describing a "resistance" of Trump administration officials working to tamper what he called the former president's "worst inclinations."

Together, Taylor and Whitman asked that the GOP's base consider supporting Democrats so "conservative pragmatists" could retake control of the party.

"Rational Republicans are losing the party civil war," they wrote. "And the only near-term way to battle pro-Trump extremists is for all of us to team up on key races and overarching political goals with our longtime political opponents: the Democrats."

I mean, if nothing else it's an interesting take. But to anyone who has been paying attention the last 5 years, it's kinda ridiculous. Serious, who do they think they are talking to? How many years have we heard of the evils of the 'demoncrats'? And now they want their constituents to vote for them? Not only that, but why do they think their voters even want "Rational Republicans"? I think it's been made pretty clear what they want is bread and circuses.

They added: "It's a strategy that has worked. Mr. Trump lost re-election in large part because Republicans nationwide defected, with seven percent who voted for him in 2016 flipping to support Joe Biden, a margin big enough to have made some difference in key swing states."

The two argued that this move was necessary because the Republican leadership had "turned belief in conspiracy theories and lies about stolen elections into a litmus test for membership and running for office." Taylor and Whitman also renewed a threat for them and more than 100 other former GOP officials to try to start a new center-right party if Trump-backed candidates continued to win Republican primaries.

"The best hope for the rational remnants of the Republican Party is for us to form an alliance with Democrats to defend American institutions, defeat far-right candidates, and elect honorable representatives next year — including a strong contingent of moderate Democrats," Taylor and Whitman wrote.

Their strategy would involve GOP voters supporting Democrats like Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona in what they called "difficult races" likely to feature Trump-supported Republicans. They also advocated defending what they called a "small nucleus of courageous Republicans" such as Reps. Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and Peter Meijer.

Nooooo, Trump got even more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016. Biden won in 2020 because progressives got over themselves, held their noses, and voted for him.

[Breccia]

Serious, who do they think they are talking to?

Mattis.

Kasich.

@Skroe

They are talking to the remaining Republicans who are watching their party being destroyed in the name of one criminal's ego. They know full well that a non-Trump candidate has the advantage against classic Republicans...until enough of them run, and lose. Only if, for example, 2022 and 2024 is a swath of Party of Trump members losing purple or even burgundy counties, handing Pelosi and Schumer a more solid majority, will they have the ability to say "Trump isn't working" without being, well, murdered.

That's who they're talking to, and that's why.

Now, maybe classic Republicans are that 7-percent minority, maybe it's a little higher and some haven't left the Party of Trump yet. It might not work. But look back at 2020 sand ask "if 1% more of the population had swapped from a red vote to a blue vote, what would have happened?" A 2% swing is actually pretty big. All those lawsuits in all those states? Gone. Gap would be too wide to challenge. Also, Biden picks up North Carolina.

There are classic Republicans still out there. They are outnumbered in the Party of Trump, but...you know how the Republican Party intentionally took on the gun nuts and the religious right, and then those people formed the minority Tea Party and thought they owned the party? Without that minority, the Republican Party would have been split and started losing a bunch of elections and votes. So the Republicans bowed to their every demand. What's left of the classic Republicans could do the same. They're afraid to, they likely fear the physical violence Trump supporters have proven they're willing to do on the world stage. See also this post in which I ask @TexasRules to talk about Babbit and he didn't yet so I'm ready to answer for him.

But they could do it more fearlessly...if they could do so behind the closed door of a voting booth. That one place in the country nobody's allowed to look over your shoulder. That one place Republicans are still trying to damage, because they know it's important -- and yes, I hope the irony strikes them. They could tank the Party of Trump at the polls in a false flag, point at the losses, and say "Trump lost, get over it".

I mean...I guess they could just murder Trump, but who resorts to violence to change political discourse? Terrorists. Trump supporters, and terrorists. Classic Republicans aren't there.

- - - Updated - - -

I think this has been discussed already but apparently Team Trump had a thing with gifts from foreign governments just going missing and not being disclosed. Basically the Saudis showered Team Trump with gifts that, somehow, weren't disclosed on the mandatory legal filings until Jan 19, 2021, what a coincidence.

Also a bunch have gone missing. Once Team Trump left the State Department, they found that gifts intended for G7 dignitaries were just gone. Also, while some items were just found in the wrong department (in storage in the Treasury, for some reason), over a dozen are just...gone.

"I'm sure gifts to Presidents and their team get taken all the time."

For Obama, the number of missing presents was zero. For W, it was also zero. Team Trump got lavish gifts (and some fake ones, lol), never told anyone, and then kept them. The common term for this is "bribery". It can also be theft, since the gift (if not a bribe) is meant for the office not the person and supposed to stay with the office.

This is more evidence that Team Trump is filled with unethical criminals, as if we needed any.

Now to be fair, the NYTimes did find some of the items when investigating -- including some taken by Mrs. Pence, who said the ethics lawyers said it was okay. "My lawyer told me it was okay" could be true, and if it isn't it's a believable excuse. Karen, yes that's her name, is a schoolteacher and is probably not 100% up to speed on American grift laws. But others are just in the wind.

It's also worth noting that Team Trump seemed to end up with a ridiculous number of sharp weapons, including daggers. In an American soap opera, when there's a rich family at odds with each other, there's only one place the dagger ends up. The good news? Trump has natural armor, over one hundred pounds of it, so stabbing him in the back is likely nonlethal.

[Hollycakes]

Help me understand something if you guys don't mind.

"Voluntary resignations jumped to 4.3 million in August, the highest on records dating back to December 2000, and up from 4 million in July, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday."

I was told Biden (and only he!) was to blame for all the government handouts he was giving as the reason why people weren't working.
Remember all the patriot governors refusing the money?
Those heroes were stopping this I thought?
If those payments were ending, why would people quit?
Remember he pays everyone to stay home, yet they aren't getting paid now.
What am I missing?
Was I lied to?

[Breccia]

What am I missing?

It's quite the mystery. We should mandate finding out. I'm sure, if we give it a shot, we'll figure it out. It doesn't have to be one of us, antibody can get in on this.

In all seriousness, I am kind of curious what will happen to all those people who voluntarily quit because of vaccine mandates. You can get unemployment benefits when you quit, in some cases, it depends on why you quit. I don't think this is a legally acceptable reason. Also, why wait until the higher payments vanish, then quit?

"Well Breccia, surely the commie librul companies waited until the unemployment bonuses ended, then dropped a mandate, therefore forcing people to quit and they could hire others for lower pay in those empty spots."

I mean, that does sound kind of corporate evil, up to the line "forcing". Anyone could have just gotten a vaccine and stayed employed, ruining this master plan of evil. But the timeline doesn't work out, as this piece demonstrates, there's more than one factor involved and not just me being snarky.

As COVID-19 cases surged in August, quits soared in restaurants and hotels from the previous month and rose in other public-facing jobs, such as retail and education. Nearly 900,000 people left jobs at restaurants, bars, and hotels in August, up 21% from July. Quits by retail workers rose 6%.

Yet in industries such as manufacturing, construction, and transportation and warehousing, quits barely increased. In professional and business services, which includes fields such as law, engineering, and architecture, where most employees can work from home, quitting was largely flat.

Other factors also likely contributed to the jump in quits. With many employers desperate for workers and wages rising at a healthy pace, workers have a much greater ability to demand higher pay, or go elsewhere to find it.

The data from August is probably too early to reflect the impact of vaccine mandates. President Joe Biden’s mandate was not announced until Sept. 9. United Airlines announced its mandate in early August, but it was one of the first companies to do so. And layoffs were unchanged in August, the report found.

When workers quit, it is typically seen as a good sign for the job market, because people usually leave jobs when they already have other positions or are confident they can find one. The large increase in August probably does reflect some of that confidence among workers.

But the fact that the increase in quits was heavily concentrated in sectors that involve close contact with the public is a sign that fear of COVID also played a large role. Many people may have quit even without other jobs to take.

So yeah, if you read back through @Benggaul 's posts, you'll see August was "Holy Shit Month". While, yes, I suppose there could have been some people fleeing a mandate ("how DARE you protect yourself legally and also force me to show consideration for my fellow man?") there could have been a lot of "Wait, the kids of Auntie Vaxxer are coming back to my school? Fuck that, I'm out". And some "You want me to come back to the office? Well ABC Marketing down the street doesn't, so pay me more or I'm swapping jobs".

Oh, and unemployment is down to (checks news) 4.8%, and as you Trump supporters will remember, it was 42% before Trump took office. Biden lowered unemployment by thirty-seven percent. Heh, just kidding, 42% unemployment? Only a brain-dead cultist would believe that. Yeah BLS says it's down from 6.2% and to be clear, this is almost all the free market in action -- Biden hasn't signed a ton of laws that would create tons of jobs. It is merely welcome news that happened to take place under his watch.

[gondrin]

Help me understand something if you guys don't mind.

"Voluntary resignations jumped to 4.3 million in August, the highest on records dating back to December 2000, and up from 4 million in July, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday."

I was told Biden (and only he!) was to blame for all the government handouts he was giving as the reason why people weren't working.
Remember all the patriot governors refusing the money?
Those heroes were stopping this I thought?
If those payments were ending, why would people quit?
Remember he pays everyone to stay home, yet they aren't getting paid now.
What am I missing?
Was I lied to?

Well, yes, you were lied to by the standard talking heads that complain about any form of handouts. Unemployment(and any other government program that is a safety net) has never been a factor of staying home. There are a few outliers, of course, with anything like this.

It is simple really. The reason why(and this is my own assumption and the things that come with that) is that people know the job market for workers is good right now. Basically, people are sick of their job(for whatever reason(customers, boss, hours/wage, work/life balance) and can easily find a new one quickly. Also, while this isn't a job I would recommend(as these jobs completely suck in various ways), businesses are also competing with the likes of Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and the like which removes people out of the traditional workforce.

- - - Updated - - -

It's quite the mystery. We should mandate finding out. I'm sure, if we give it a shot, we'll figure it out. It doesn't have to be one of us, antibody can get in on this.

Cue the "Boo this Man!" scene from Half Baked.

[Hollycakes]

lol thanks guys, was hoping was one of our resident patriots would explain but I guess like Breccia's questions it shall go unanswered;
Yet we shall hear a repeat of this same talking line in the future no doubt.
Never onward! should be their motto.
So for all the words that Yups and Roch et al. put out, still none of substance.
Pages and pages of ccp microchip nonsense etc. but nothing when posed valid questions.
Weird innit.

[gondrin]

lol thanks guys, was hoping was one of our resident patriots would explain but I guess like Breccia's questions it shall go unanswered;
Yet we shall hear a repeat of this same talking line in the future no doubt.
Never onward! should be their motto.
So for all the words that Yups and Roch et al. put out, still none of substance.
Pages and pages of ccp microchip nonsense etc. but nothing when posed valid questions.
Weird innit.

I'm still waiting for my magnetic superpowers to kick in and for my cell phone to get 5G service from myself. I've been swindled I say, swindled.

[Edge-]

I'm still waiting for my magnetic superpowers to kick in and for my cell phone to get 5G service from myself. I've been swindled I say, swindled.

Seriously, I'm bigly disappointed. I was looking forward to lighting fast internet on my phone no matter where I am, but I still bounce between 3G-5G at my home like I did before. I was looking forward to starting up a new business as a traveling cell signal booster.

[Fugus]

Well, yes, you were lied to by the standard talking heads that complain about any form of handouts. Unemployment(and any other government program that is a safety net) has never been a factor of staying home. There are a few outliers, of course, with anything like this.

It is simple really. The reason why(and this is my own assumption and the things that come with that) is that people know the job market for workers is good right now. Basically, people are sick of their job(for whatever reason(customers, boss, hours/wage, work/life balance) and can easily find a new one quickly. Also, while this isn't a job I would recommend(as these jobs completely suck in various ways), businesses are also competing with the likes of Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and the like which removes people out of the traditional workforce.

A little anecdote but locally we are hiring all over the place, the McDonalds down the road from here is actually closing early due to short staffing. They are advertising that they are starting at $9-$12 an hour starting depending on shift.

Well, besides the fact that they should have been offering those wages back in 2007 honestly but it gets worse, my niece has a friend who just quit from there. The reason why he quit was because that, while they were offering new hires those wages, they weren't willing to give the current workers those wages. He would be better off quitting and coming back in 6 months just to get that wage than to actually stay there and not get it, at least he can look for another job while waiting that out.

[gondrin]

A little anecdote but locally we are hiring all over the place, the McDonalds down the road from here is actually closing early due to short staffing. They are advertising that they are starting at $9-$12 an hour starting depending on shift.

Well, besides the fact that they should have been offering those wages back in 2007 honestly but it gets worse, my niece has a friend who just quit from there. The reason why he quit was because that, while they were offering new hires those wages, they weren't willing to give the current workers those wages. He would be better off quitting and coming back in 6 months just to get that wage than to actually stay there and not get it, at least he can look for another job while waiting that out.

This too. I remember someone saying "Why should your employees show you loyalty when you show them none."

Why should employees stay when they can(and have been) laid off/fired when a bad quarter happens? Why should employees stay when they are told they are needed but not given any form of incentive to show for it? Basically, if that McDonalds can give their new employees that pay(which they should get), they can give their current employees(especially ones that have stuck it out) a higher pay. Otherwise it is just a slap in the face on those who choose to be loyal.

Loyalty is a 2 way street. If you are willing to give none, don't expect in return. I just find it funny that employers(especially franchises now) are crying to the news and whoever else will listen.

[Bluespiderman57]

A little anecdote but locally we are hiring all over the place, the McDonalds down the road from here is actually closing early due to short staffing. They are advertising that they are starting at $9-$12 an hour starting depending on shift.

Man that's nothing. The McDonalds near were I live is offering $17 /h for any shift and $21 /h for manager. And McDonalds seems to be one of the few places that is actually advertising how much they will pay. A lot of other places just have signs up saying "We're hiring", but no starting rate. I'm sure they are doing that because they don't want to drive the rates up with all the competition.

Well, besides the fact that they should have been offering those wages back in 2007 honestly but it gets worse, my niece has a friend who just quit from there. The reason why he quit was because that, while they were offering new hires those wages, they weren't willing to give the current workers those wages. He would be better off quitting and coming back in 6 months just to get that wage than to actually stay there and not get it, at least he can look for another job while waiting that out.

That is exactly what a lot of people that work at a certain ISP I work at did about 5-8 years ago. This certian ISP is kinda shit at given raises to people that have been there for awhile/ are very productive. So a bunch of techs/ engineers left and then came back 6 months to 1 year later with a substantial pay increase. Went on for about 4 years before the company shut that down. Asses.

[Dontrike]

Don't know if this was mentioned, Trump's 2016 campaign manager has been banned from all Trump properties and events.

Lewandowski refutes the claim, but it would be nice if this was true.

If Lewandowski is seen at a MAGA event or Trump property, Trump associates are supposed to alert security or personally shoo him away, The Daily Beast reported.

In text messages and an email, Trump confidants were told to "remove Lewandowski (at least for now) from invitations and emails for upcoming GOP and MAGA festivities," according to the report.

In 2016, Lewandowski had a similar falling out with Trumpworld after being seen on video grabbing a Breitbart reporter by her arm. Charges were later dropped by Palm Beach County prosecutors in Florida.

[Breccia]

Don't know if this was mentioned

I don't think specifically, but he's been on the outs for a while, since he tried to extort Trump for the donation money he was in charge of. However there's a difference between "well screw that guy" and "if you see him, call security"

[Hollycakes]

With stuff like that I just can't help but think;

What Trump thinks:

Vs.
What it really is:

[Kaleredar]

With stuff like that I just can't help but think;

What Trump thinks:

Vs.
What it really is:

Hey now.

That's insulting to Cletus.

[Nastard]

Hey now.

That's insulting to Cletus.

And to Tiffany, Heather, Cody, Dylan, Dermot, Jordan, Taylor, Brittany, Wesley, Rumor, Scout, Cassidy, Zoe, Chloe, Max, Hunter, Kendall, Kaitlin, Noah, Sasha, Morgan, Kyra, Ian, Lauren, Qbert, and Phil.

[Poopymonster]

Don't know if this was mentioned, Trump's 2016 campaign manager has been banned from all Trump properties and events.

Lewandowski refutes the claim, but it would be nice if this was true.

I kinda wanna sign his ass up for all the MAGA once they remove him.

[Edge-]

https://www.businessinsider.com/trum...chines-2021-10

But in his January 22 email to Powell, released as part of that defamation lawsuit, Oltmann said he was working on another project. "You also need to be aware of what we are doing in Colorado in gaining access to the Dominion systems under the radar," he wrote. "We have several county clerks cooperating. Need to settle down the chaos so you can get a grasp on all of the information."

Pro-Trump lunatic apparently admits to Powell in an email that he was attempting to hack Dominion servers shortly after the election, working with Colorado county clerks.

One of whom, Tina Peters, is under investigation for unauthorized access to a voting machine which was likely the origins of the leaked source code.

Just a reminder: It seems that those complaining the most about election fraud and insecurities are the source of the fraud and the attempts to break into election systems.

[DarkTZeratul]

https://www.businessinsider.com/trum...chines-2021-10



Pro-Trump lunatic apparently admits to Powell in an email that he was attempting to hack Dominion servers shortly after the election, working with Colorado county clerks.

One of whom, Tina Peters, is under investigation for unauthorized access to a voting machine which was likely the origins of the leaked source code.

Just a reminder: It seems that those complaining the most about election fraud and insecurities are the source of the fraud and the attempts to break into election systems.

So YET AGAIN, they're accusing others of the same shit they're doing themselves. This is my surprised face.

[Edge-]

So YET AGAIN, they're accusing others of the same shit they're doing themselves. This is my surprised face.

The safest bet is to always assume projection.

Loudly complaining about pedos? Probably a pedo.
Loudly complaining about companies hiring illegal immigrants? Probably Devin Nunes and his family farm staffed by undocumented immigrants.
Loudly complain about the gays? Probably deep in the closet and dealing with deep psychological issues.

The list goes on.