Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Endus]

Why do Republicans keep praising Nazi's, including literally Hitler, or at least refuse to explicitly condemn Nazi's?

This country has a Nazi problem, and we really need to start de-Nazifying. I'm not even fuckin joking.

Reminder that fascists of all stripes are, inherently, motivated to inflict genocide. It isn't just an "alternative view"; they're actively trying to gain enough political power to engage in mass murder of those they hate. That's every fascist's goal, because that's what fascism is.

Violence against fascists is just self-defense. And at a minimum, they need to be openly called out for mockery and derision. Not anger; they love people being angry at them. You're just painting a target on your own face so you can be at the top of the death lists in the future. You need to mock them. They can't take it. Their precious little dumbshit egos are too goddamned fragile, their machismo is nothing but a desperate illusion. And anyone calling for "decorum" can take a fuckin' hike. Decorum was off the table the moment fascists expressed their views. Calling for "decorum" is just a fascist tactic to try and shame everyone else into backing off of them, relying on everyone else's basic decency even though they themselves have none.

Members of Congress need to call out their colleagues, in Congress, for being pants-pissing little Nazi shitheads. In that kind of language. Talk about how tiny your Republican colleagues' balls must be to be so fucking afraid that kids might gay. That trying to deny them basic education on things like gender identity is just intentional infliction of suffering upon children, because that's how those Republicans get their jollies.

That's the level of discourse. It can get more pleasant when every bigoted fascist is either dead or too fuckin' scared to open their mouths about it.

[Edge-]

https://thehill.com/news/campaign/32...-debate-panel/

The Republican National Committee (RNC) voted Thursday to withdraw from the commission responsible for organizing presidential debates, taking a line from former President Trump, who has repeatedly leveled accusations of anti-Republican bias against the group.

The unanimous vote by the RNC effectively bars its presidential nominees from participating in events organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which has run such debates since 1988.

In a statement released shortly after the vote, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said that the GOP would “find newer, better debate platforms to ensure that future nominees are not forced to go through the biased CPD in order to make their case to the American people.”

“Debates are an important part of the democratic process, and the RNC is committed to free and fair debates,” she said. “The Commission on Presidential Debates is biased and has refused to enact simple and commonsense reforms to help ensure fair debates including hosting debates before voting begins and selecting moderators who have never worked for candidates on the debate stage.”

The RNC, continuing their efforts to show they're a failed political party and totally not a cult, unanimously votes to take their toys and go home. They will no longer participate in presidential debates unless they themselves organize it.

Should be nice seeing a presidential debate with just the Democratic candidate on stage. Maybe they'll bring a few third party folks on to fill the stage a bit. But maybe not, might just be whoever the Democratic nominee is just standing up there answering some questions.

[Canpinter]

https://thehill.com/news/campaign/32...-debate-panel/



The RNC, continuing their efforts to show they're a failed political party and totally not a cult, unanimously votes to take their toys and go home. They will no longer participate in presidential debates unless they themselves organize it.

Should be nice seeing a presidential debate with just the Democratic candidate on stage. Maybe they'll bring a few third party folks on to fill the stage a bit. But maybe not, might just be whoever the Democratic nominee is just standing up there answering some questions.

Well how could a debate be fair if they don't let tucker Carlson be the host right?

[Breccia]

So how is Trump's social media going?

Trump's Truth Social platform is a slow-motion train wreck

Truth Social has now fallen to a dismal 35th place among social networks on the app store, according to market research firm SensorTower. Some members of the company's own leadership seem to be realizing the effort is a bust.

Some users who have tried to sign up say they haven't been approved. And some content about major brands on the app doesn't seem to be coming from the brands themselves, according to CNN.

When CNN asked a spokesperson for the wallstreetbets community on Reddit whether they were controlling the content about their community on Truth Social, the response was telling.

The spokesperson said that Truth Social was "running the account as an RSS feed under our subreddit name" and while Truth Social had offered to allow the community to run its account itself, the offer was "declined" because "a core tenet of our community is remaining apolitical."

The response reveals that people and organizations recognize that participating in this social network is a political act -- one that directly aligns themselves with the former President and all he has come to represent. Sixty-one percent of American adults, who according to a March 2022 Marquette Law School poll, hold an unfavorable view of the former President, likely would not find that an attractive premise.

Thirty-fifth place in social media? There are even 34 to fall behind? The article didn't spell it out, so I found a list here that has Truth....45th.

I swear, I'm not making this up.



Ten spots behind Grindr.

Wait, didn't the article say 35th? Oh, dear. I seem to have cited a week-old article. Is that embarrassing or what? Let's try again.

Trump’s social media app follows long line of failed ventures

At the heart of the issue is what Joshua Tucker, co-director of the NYU Center for Social Media and Politics, terms “network effects”. “Social media sites are more valuable to you the more people are using them. Like a phonebook, it’s of no value if it only has one name in it,” he said.

Part of Truth Social’s problem was that it set out to exclude a large part of the political spectrum. “They went after the Maga portion of the population, so they were starting with one hand tied behind their backs,” Tucker said. “It’s a tough sell, even before the problems of the launch and rollout.”

Yet Trump has been routinely under-estimated in the past, said Tucker, “yet he somehow seems to lend being a fairly unsuccessful business person to being an incredibly successful political candidate”.

Truth Social was created to counter what many conservatives deride as “cancel culture” censorship from the left. But because of its conservative dominance Trump’s social media platform has become medium for “trolls, self-declared and self-made experts, conspiracy theorists, attention-seekers of all stripes”, said Mark Federman, of the University of Guelph-Humber.

“Trump’s motivation for Truth Social was to … take control of his voice amplification. That’s failed, so he’s had to admit defeat,” he added.

Well, not all stripes. They're losing to Grindr.

But oh dear, oh dearie me, that article is four days old. Surely there's something more recent?

Well, there was that thing where FOX News agreed to join it. Surely that's helped?



Well, it stopped them from losing money for one whole week. Yay! As some of you have pointed out, the stock rose to $100 (spiked to $175 even) and is now on sale for half price. But as Forbes pointed out today, the joining of FOX News was undone by today's trading alone. It dropped 4% at the opening bell. Hmm. Surely there's--

Trump’s Truth Social is duped by fake Fox News account

...what?

Fox News has confirmed that it has no presence on Donald Trump’s embattled social media platform Truth Social after an account bearing the network’s name was listed as verified.

...wow.

Great to have RSS feed for @FoxNews now LIVE here on TRUTH! This adds to @OAN and @NewsMax

-- Nunes Tweet since deleted (I think)

The "no we didn't" story broke this morning and, yep, the stock dropped back down to "almost as worthless as a ruble" territory immediately.

Incidentally, the other story running around the headlines today was "Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter" which in turn would kill CyberTrump 2077. Why? Because Trump, once allowed back on Twitter to spew blatant falsehoods and conspiracy theories, would just abandon his social media platform. Meaning all that "work" everyone did would be wasted, the stock price would drop to "even worse than ruble" and publicly, so everyone knows, once again, Trump sold his most devout followers out.

[solinari6]

Incidentally, the other story running around the headlines today was "Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter"

Gross ... nothing could make me drop twitter faster than it being taken over by that choad.

[Edge-]

https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/04...s-allegations/

LINCOLN — Time after time, Charles Herbster worked the crowds as he attended events, either as a candidate for Nebraska governor, a significant Republican donor or a beauty pageant judge.

He would go up to a group and introduce himself. Often wearing his signature cowboy hat and suit, he would extend a handshake to the men. But when young women reached out for a handshake, as well, on at least several occasions he pulled them into an embrace instead.

Herbster, the CEO of Conklin Co. and now a frontrunner in the 2022 GOP primary race, sometimes went further, according to eight women who spoke with the Nebraska Examiner.

During an event in 2019, for example, Republican State Sen. Julie Slama confirmed that as she walked by Herbster, he reached up her skirt, without her consent, and touched her inappropriately. The incident happened in the middle of a crowded ballroom at the Douglas County Republican Party’s annual Elephant Remembers dinner.

Another Trump-backed candidate accused by multiple women of inappropriate groping.

"They're all just leftist liars!"

One of them is a Republican state Senator.

[Paranoid Android]

You are all so boring with your Republican posts <snark>.

Republican legislator in Tennessee:

“Homelessness is not a dead end. A lot of these people can come out of this. Hitler was living on the streets, and later went on to live a life that got him into the history books”

His uplifting story I guess about how you can get out of being homeless to one way make a success of yourself.

[Zan15]

Alright, I’ll drop the kidnapping charges, we can leave it at trafficking.

the best part is most of these people will end up in florida when catholic charities and others pay for them to relocate from DC.


hahahh

[Edge-]

the best part is most of these people will end up in florida when catholic charities and others pay for them to relocate from DC.


hahahh

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/s...78190323314688

Literally yes. And on Newsmax. They're happy to be used as political props because they're getting a free ride to a location WAY closer to their ultimate destination: Florida.

So thanks, TX taxpayers, for paying to send migrants part-way to their destination in Ron DeSantis's Florida.

- - - Updated - - -

So we've talked about the Tennessee Nazi Republican guy, but have we talked about the bill proper?

https://wreg.com/news/mid-south/tn-c...erty-a-felony/

Tennessee lawmakers are close to sending Gov. Bill Lee a proposal that would threaten felony penalties against homeless people who camp on local public property, including in parks.

Making being homeless a felony isn't going to stop people from being homeless. It just puts them in prison and costs tax payers more, while ruining their lives and making it more difficult for them to find gainful employment to get re-housed.

The cruelty is the point.

The bill also introduces a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a $50 fine and community service for camping along highways, including under bridges or overpasses, or within an underpass.

Yes, fine people who can't afford homes and force them to do "community service" - which is functionally indentured servitude in this case.

The. Cruelty. Is. The. Point.

This does not solve any problems, it just creates more problems.

Can they make it so only Republican tax dollars go towards this government expansion and waste?

[Breccia]

I wonder what the overlap is:

A) The people who back this bill, making homelessness a felony
B) The people who said "Oh, you want to help a refugee? Invite them to your house, don't make it the government's problem".

I suspect it's very high.

[Forogil]

Making being homeless a felony isn't going to stop people from being homeless. It just puts them in prison and costs tax payers more, while ruining their lives and making it more difficult for them to find gainful employment to get re-housed.

I guess there's an answer to that as well:

“Prison is not a dead end. A lot of these people can come out of this. Hitler was sent to prison for treason, and later went on to live a life that got him firmly into the history books.”
/s

[Endus]

Yes, fine people who can't afford homes and force them to do "community service" - which is functionally indentured servitude in this case.

The. Cruelty. Is. The. Point.

Let's be clear; the USA is the only developed nation that still permits slavery.

Which it clearly does. The Constitution is very clear that slavery's still allowed. Just only within certain constraints. The 13th Amendment specifically carved out an exception when it came to those convicted of crimes, and if you want to make the intent even more clear, look at the much higher incarceration rates for black Americans ever since. That's intentional, because it's the only way to keep enslaving them.

[Twdft]

Let's be clear; the USA is the only developed nation that still permits slavery.

I hate to say it, but here in Germany prisoners have a duty to work too. Fucked up § tbh.

[Kaleredar]

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/s...78190323314688

Literally yes. And on Newsmax. They're happy to be used as political props because they're getting a free ride to a location WAY closer to their ultimate destination: Florida.

So thanks, TX taxpayers, for paying to send migrants part-way to their destination in Ron DeSantis's Florida.

- - - Updated - - -

So we've talked about the Tennessee Nazi Republican guy, but have we talked about the bill proper?

https://wreg.com/news/mid-south/tn-c...erty-a-felony/



Making being homeless a felony isn't going to stop people from being homeless. It just puts them in prison and costs tax payers more, while ruining their lives and making it more difficult for them to find gainful employment to get re-housed.

The cruelty is the point.



Yes, fine people who can't afford homes and force them to do "community service" - which is functionally indentured servitude in this case.

The. Cruelty. Is. The. Point.

This does not solve any problems, it just creates more problems.

Can they make it so only Republican tax dollars go towards this government expansion and waste?

It jives completely with the GOP notion that "poor people are only poor because they don't work hard enough, they wouldn't be poor if they weren't lazy."

Even if we were to accept the notion that homeless people "just need to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps" and could somehow lead a normal life, it completely ignores the reality that many homeless people suffer from mental health issues and addiction problems that aren't going to be solved by fining them or throwing them in prison.

Now, I know the GOP don't care, they want a law that sounds like they did something about homelessness that sounds good to their "by your own bootstraps" voter base who think homelessness is caused by pure laziness and will endlessly cite articles wherein conservative news pundits site that some panhandler supposedly makes significant money standing on some street corner and that means that all homeless must both be able to make a lot of money and are also lying about being in duress.

[Ripster42]

I hate to say it, but here in Germany prisoners have a duty to work too. Fucked up § tbh.

Canada pays their prisoners less than 7 looneys a day for work (before being charged up to 30% for food/rent), so germany pays their prisoners for work better than canada does. Don't feel too bad.

[Endus]

Canada pays their prisoners less than 7 looneys a day for work (before being charged up to 30% for food/rent), so germany pays their prisoners for work better than canada does. Don't feel too bad.

The question isn't how bad the pay may be, the question is whether you have the choice, as a convict, whether to work for the wage at all.

In the USA, convicts do not have any such rights.

[Dontrike]

https://thehill.com/news/state-watch...n-to-homeless/



Why do Republicans keep praising Nazi's, including literally Hitler, or at least refuse to explicitly condemn Nazi's?

This country has a Nazi problem, and we really need to start de-Nazifying. I'm not even fuckin joking.

I'm trying to understand why he's saying "Be like Hitler" and then admitting Hitler didn't have a productive life. So he wants them to have an unproductive life? What's his point besides being stupid?

[Clone]

I wonder what the overlap is:

A) The people who back this bill, making homelessness a felony
B) The people who said "Oh, you want to help a refugee? Invite them to your house, don't make it the government's problem".

I suspect it's very high.

The Venn Diagram is just a single circle.

[Ripster42]

The question isn't how bad the pay may be, the question is whether you have the choice, as a convict, whether to work for the wage at all.

In the USA, convicts do not have any such rights.

Wasn't defending the US. Texas doesn't have any compensation for workers. Not only are they forced to work, they don't get paid.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm trying to understand why he's saying "Be like Hitler" and then admitting Hitler didn't have a productive life. So he wants them to have an unproductive life? What's his point besides being stupid?

The whistling.

[Breccia]

I won't quote the headline, it's misleading. But we have a text-based timeline on how two Republicans saw election->Jan 6 unfold.

Mike Lee and Chip Roy, leading contenders in the "most first names" competition, both were texting Meadows in that time frame. At first, they were supportive.

At first.

When it slowly became clear that there was no evidence and no path forwards, they backed away slowly. Basically it went from

1) Here is how you proceed
2) What do you mean, no evidence? Can the states swap electors?
3) Wait, what's Giuilani doing?
4) Why is Sidney Powell contacting us? What do you mean, Trump blocked her number?
5) This won't work, I'm out.
6) Shitshow.

No, really.

This is a shitshow. Fix this now.

-- Jan 6 text

"From which one?"

Does it matter?

Roy and Lee both voted to certify the election.

- - - Updated - - -

This should be interesting.

So apparently there's an OH primary coming up and OH GOP members are begging Trump to stay out of it.

JD Vance is a former Trump critic and the GOP feel they need to remind Trump of this fact.

"Okay, but why?"

They think Trump's forgotten, or more realistically, they think Trump believes Vance will win and will back Vance on the grounds of "he's going to win and I need a win". In any event, the 30 GOP members who signed the letter to Trump took the time to point out JD Vance is not a registered Republican.

OH GOP members are likely correct in being concerned. If the race comes down to a Democrat and a non-Republican, moderates might actually go Democrat.