2016 Republican Presidential Clown Car Begins!

Trump is embarrassing not only himself but the country as well. The world is paying attention. How can Trump garner any kind of respect when he says the stupid things he has said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...nd-amendment-assassination-guns-a7182316.html

 

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The call remains the same: If Trump keeps shooting himself in the foot every week for the next three months, we have a good chance of stopping him. If he doesn't, the election is probably a tossup at best - and the vote suppression mechanisms are if anything better and more solidly in place than in 2012.

To think otherwise is to presume that the US media will have a sudden moment of enlightenment, purge itself of half of its punditry and its corporate leverage, and prove as effective in altering the mental framework of white men aged 35 - 65 as it has proved in creating it.

Today is the deadline for any alternative Republican candidate to get their name on the ballot in Ohio.

 

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Trump is now claiming the media is rigging the election.

 

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https://www.rt.com/usa/352623-gay-sex-workers-cleveland-rnc/

 

Donald Trump is two things in this context:

(1) The candidate of the internet trolls.

(2) Absolutely and iconically emblematic of the superficial, myopic ethos of the Reagan/MBA years during which the American economy accelerated its transformation into something akin to rentier.​

Donald Trump might never have done cocaine―yeah, you know, it was the eighties, I kind of doubt he's as substance-free as he claims―but he is what the coked-up, glamour-obsessed, hooker-laden, yuppie ambition hoped to be. I tried a version of explaining that earlier, but can't seem to staple it into coherent form. I mean, if you remember the name Leona Helmsley, then, yeah, Donald Trump is the eighties version of a Leona Helmsley you were actually supposed to be able to like. But, seriously, if you can remember that awesome anti-drug commercial where the father sets the kid up―"Where did you learn this? Who taught you how to do this?"―and the kid lays him out―"It was you, Dad! I learned it from watching you!"―this is the ambition that had that father strung out to hell trying to keep up with the Joneses. If you remember the absent bourgeois parents of the Brat Pack films, or the snotty, passive-aggressive indifference of the bourgeois parents in teen-scream horror films, this is the ambition possessing their souls, and why they can't seem to recognize their own children.

But he's also similarly emblematic of how those of us who didn't attend military school understood it to go. Bullies are as bullies do, but only another bully can teach them the value of saying yes sir and no sir. It's probably more appropriate to say he resembles the stereotype of a military school bully brat.

And he's a television personality. This is a personality cult. He is, ultimately, the glamorous emblem of a dying iteration of an American dream. These are the relics that will orbit his gravity for the rest of his political and business life. Personally, I think he's just going to spend the rest of his career fleecing these suckers.

For the record, if Bernie had brought an actual platform, I might be sad we didn't pick him. Rule number one, I need to know how to sell the platform, and if the candidate himself can't do it, and the movement can't do it, really? it's my job to do it for them? or something approximately like that. In the end, doing another round of the traditional Democratic compromise means I also get the first female president, a civil rights president, a president whose manner and paradigm I can at least recognize, and thus whose lines I can read between. I actually get tired of assuaging my neighbors' concerns by saying we could do worse. Truth is, Americans are about to get a damn good president.

 

Republicans are urging the RNC to replace Trump.

http://www.nebraska.tv/story/32712322/trump-critics-urge-rnc-to-replace-trump-in-special-meeting

 

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Any Republican file for the ballot in Ohio before the deadline yesterday? No?

Then that decision's been made.

Trump is standing on probably 40 - 45% of the vote, solid. Clinton probably can count on about the same. The US media will continue to present the campaign as a horse race between "both sides", of more or less equivalent respectability and legitimate prospects of governance, if at all possible. Clinton is a weak campaigner with very high "unfavorable" numbers, who probably cannot take over and ride a wave of reaction to victory. Trump is a strong campaigner, who despite his high "unfavorable" numbers can take over and ride a wave of reaction to victory.

So the election is Trump's to lose. So far, he's been losing it. Cross your fingers - three months to go.

(There's an outside chance he could take down the US news media, as well as the Republican Party - now that would be a major benefit.)

 

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-08-11/republicans-beg-rnc-to-abandon-trump

 

I was just talking with a big Trump supporter. He didn't know about the letter from the intelligence officials declaring Trump a threat to the US and the world. He didn't know about Trump wanting to kill the families of terrorists or his desire to use torture. He is all worried about what Fox News SAYS Hillary would do but knows nothing about what Trump actually said he wants to do!

If Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to the US and the world, as former CIA/NSA chief Hayden says, then so is Fox News. They have created Trump through a decades long campaign of misinformation. They and idiots like Limbaugh are responsible for this.

 

Reince to the Rescue, and Other Notes

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That will go in the scrapbook among other astounding utterances of the electoral cycle.

Don't get me wrong, it's not quite actual politician-tier as gaffes go, but still, come on, man.

And in truth, I'm pretty much ready to invoke Poe's Law at this point. More constructively, though, what just happened in Orlando? Lawrence O'Donnell's↱ attempt to summarize the prospect is perhaps a bit extraneous; he's a host that doesn't like to just leave excellent guests to speak―there are times when you can see his guests itching to answer, and he keeps asking the question for another thirty seconds. Still, it's a pretty good segment, including Peter Wehner explaining why the RNC should try to chase him off the ticket. Ken Vogel, meanwhile, talks about the state of the campaign, according to the Politico↱ article he helped author yesterday.

And the newsline today is insane: Reince Priebus is at a Trump Rally in Erie, Pennsylvania right now. The RNC is riding to the rescue, because Donald Trump is such a terrible campaigner.

And this can't possibly go well.

I would suggest that if you're determined to make loathing Hillary Clinton the centerpiece of your anti-Trump contribution to your society, it might behoove you to pay attention to what's really going on.

Seriously: "Trump is a strong campaigner"?
____________________

Notes:

Caputo, Marc, Ben Schreckinger, and Kenneth P. Vogel. "Trump team, RNC to meet at pivotal moment". Politico. 11 August 2016. Politico.com. 12 August 2016. http://politi.co/2aP9UxY

O'Donnell, Lawrence. "Could Trump’s troubles cost him RNC cash?" The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell. msnbc. 11 August 2016. msnbc.com. 12 August 2016. http://on.msnbc.com/2b2xZnY

 

Obama's going to come and take your guns! He's coming to take your guns!!!

Whoops, wrong election: Hillary's coming to take your guns!!!

It's deja vu all over again.

 

It's an obvious fact. This is a guy who took the Republican Party nomination singlehanded, on the strength of his campaigning ability and absolutely nothing else.

And his opponent is someone who damn near got beat for a Democratic nomination that had been rigged and bought for her a year in advance, by an elderly Jewish self-described Socialist with zip for charisma, little name recognition, and an initial 4% share of the vote.

If you want to call Trump a bad campaigner who just got lucky, ok - but by now all he has to be is significantly better than Clinton. And that's not a very high bar, amirite?

Listening to the tone of the self-congratulary Clinton poll watchers, three months out, the only thing missing is a "Mission Accomplished" banner. Cross your fingers - maybe Trump will shoot himself in the foot every week for the next twelve weeks, maybe the media will adjust their "both sides" narrative to reflect the reality they have been denying for thirty years, maybe the exit polls from the no-trace Republican corporation voting machines will match the tabulations in the key states;

we might get lucky. It's possible.

 

I should probably take the moment to acknowledge that it's true I no longer find any purpose in pretending to take you remotely seriously. Your libertarian is showing. We know why your "left libertarian" attitude is so incapable of comprehending the actual left.

Still, though, it really is a fucking hilarious proposition―

Three weeks removed from the Republican convention, polls show that Trump failed to increase support from within his own party, even as Democrats and former supporters of Bernie Sanders have steadily moved behind Hillary Clinton.

There is a growing chorus of conservatives calling on the Republican National Committee to cut Trump loose and direct its resources to protecting GOP majorities in the House and Senate.

Republicans see the presidential race approaching a crossroads. They say Trump has about a three-week window to turn things around or face full-scale abandonment by the national party.

That would be a disaster for Trump, who is running a barebones campaign that relies heavily on the RNC for battleground staff and other basic functions.

“He’s in big trouble right now,” said GOP strategist Ron Bonjean.

“If we’re at this same point after Labor Day where it looks like we’re still spiraling into a black hole, I fully expect you’ll start to see resources directed to protecting our majorities in the House and Senate.”​

―that you know what's going on with the Republican nominee even better than Republicans. Your faith in Donald Trump is pretty clear. Still, though, Jonathan Easley's↱ report for The Hill reminds of something else that just cracks me up:

The Trump campaign and RNC insist that tensions between the two are being blown wildly out of proportion by the media and that there is no chance the two are headed for a split.

The RNC has repeatedly denied rumors of interventions aimed at making Trump a more disciplined candidate. This week, the RNC disputed a bombshell report that chairman Reince Priebus had warned the candidate that the national party would leave him behind if he didn’t get his act together.

Trump campaign officials are similarly exasperated by the reports.

Adviser Kellyanne Conway called talk about the RNC abandoning Trump “wishful thinking” by his opponents, and said that contrary to media reports, the RNC and the campaign are working in concert to map out a victory strategy.

Priebus introduced Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Friday in a show of solidarity.​

The piling on in response to the murmur and buzz is pretty obvious; Republicans are no more impressed with Mr. Trump's campaigning skills than anyone else save you or Donald Trump himself. Still, though, I occasionally tell these weird tales about how once in a while I find myself standing shoulder to shoulder with unthinkable names from the right wing. Rush Limbaugh and I both want our old partisan colors back. Pat Buchanan and I shared astonishment one day at Dubya's sudden tack to dust up with China in the middle of everything else. Wayne LaPierre and I actually had a moment, I think, in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre. And last year I had a moment when I stood shoulder to shoulder with Rick Perry when he reminded Texans that they can doubt President Obama all they want but this Jade Helm tinfoil is bullshit because you do not take it out on the service personnel.

And I did, in fact, hear Kellyanne Conway pitching her bit this week, and it was pretty flaccid. Then again, neither was she as far out on a limb as you are posturing yourself.

But, seriously, dude, we get it. And at this point you're just embarrassing yourself.
____________________

Notes:

Easley, Jonathan. "Is Trump in danger of losing GOP?" The Hill. 13 August 2016. TheHill.com. 13 August 2016. http://bit.ly/2aKm4gb

 

So that replaces the too easily debunked "no sign of left" you posted earlier, while leaving the "misogynist" option open when it falls apart.

No mystery there - that was kind of embarrassing, no? Four or five specific leftist critiques from me, explicitly of Clinton, in the very discussion, and they never registered in your koolaid addled brain. You never saw them.

Because everyone who has been warning you about Trump for like a year now has "faith" in the guy? Or is it that everyone who has been trying to keep some reality attached to the koolaid crowd is perforce among the Trump "faithful"?

And that reassures you. The peerless pros who brought us all Reince Priebus and the Great Dwarf Debates think Trump needs correction and management from them,

the Trump who made a picnic lunch out of their entire primary and prospective campaign, and currently owns their Party,

and you think they know what they are talking about - you settle back to watch the masterful campaign of Clinton roll to victory?

Says the guy who iirc called Hillary Clinton the best and most capable American politician of the 20th century, words to that effect.

Good luck. Sincerely - Trump is a disaster, and Clinton is our only viable hope. We're all pulling for you guys, over here in the sanity sandbox - I've got my fingers crossed it all works out, and you never have to wake up.

 

Will "The Donald" debate Hillary? That's the question. The first debate is about 5 weeks away. That's not very far off. The Donald has complained about the debate schedule. He has claimed the debates are rigged. He has claimed the election is rigged. He has claimed the press is rigged. Probably the easier question to ask The Donald is what isn't rigged?

Republican entertainers were out enforce today spewing The Donald's rigged excuses. It really does sound like Republicans are preparing themselves for a huge defeat this fall.

So will The Donald attend the debates? He has been very quite about the debates. He has yet to commit to the debates. So will The Donald debate Hillary? The Donald didn't show up for all of the Republican primary debates. There is a very real possibility The Donald won't show up for the debates. The Donald isn't one for preparing or learning. Hillary would clean his clock in a debate, and I think that fact is not lost on The Donald. I wouldn't be surprised if The Donald decided to throw another charity benefit on debate night. Debating a Democrat isn't like debating a Republican. Debating Hillary isn't at all like the Republican primary debates. You can do well with mindless repetition of Republican memes in a primary debate, and Trump did. But that won't work in a debate with a Democrat.

I think things are going to get real ugly from here on out for The Donald, not that they aren't already ugly for him.

 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/charlie-sykes-conservative-media-created-trump-monster

In other words because of the right-wing media, Trump followers are ready to believe anything. All basis in reality has been lost.

 

It was lost when Reagan was elected.

The lack of a base in reality, brought about significantly by the vicious and malign role of "conservative" talk show hosts such as Charlie Sykes, has been glaringly obvious since at least as far back as the Clinton Derangement of 1994 - and long before that visible to anyone paying even casual attention to American politics.

For Sykes to pretend that this is something he just realized recently, with the rise of Donald Trump, is ugly. Sykes has made a successful and well-paid career out of shilling for scum, and the only acceptable apology from him would be to devote the rest of his influence and public position to demolishing the smoking tower of delusion and slander and lies he helped build

and was adding bricks to right up to about yesterday: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/04...fends-sampling-atrocious-video-fave-neo-nazis

Sykes and his fellow "conservative" media boys didn't build the monster Trump. Sykes helped build the monstrous factory that built Trump, the monstrous Party that Trump took over, the monstrous train that Trump is driving, the monstrous voting base that Trump is perched on, flapping his wings. And he got paid a lot of money to do that.

 

Sarcasm: intentional use of irony to demean or offend.

Donald J "Sarcasmic" Trump

Donil J Trumpovich

Donny "The Goldfish"

Donnie "Fingers" Trumpetti (yeah, nice one arfa)

Donald "Why Don't People Like Me?" Trump

Donald "Is It The Hair?" Trump

Donaldo "Il Magnificente" Trumperor

Donald "I Was Being Sarcastical" Trump

('sigh')

 

Il Douche

is still my favorite. But I suppose the young folks don't recognize it. https://imgflip.com/i/wislg https://twitter.com/oranaise/status/691665584589647872