Behold our once and future president:
Republicans backing Donald Trump are threatening Deloitte, a consulting firm that is one of the federal government’s largest business partners, with the loss of billions of dollars in contracts because an employee shared messages from 2020 in which JD Vance, now the GOP vice-presidential nominee, criticized the then-president’s record.
Some guy who happens to work for Deloitte embarrassed the Trump campaign. Result: let's make sure Deloitte never gets another federal contract.
Needless to say, I couldn't care less whether Deloitte lives or dies. But Trump's endless threats against anyone who displeases him make him unfit for the presidency. How long is it going to take for 50% of the electorate to figure this out?
That 47%, I don't buy the 50%, are unfit for whatever level of responsibility they have. Crazy in the Trump crowd has been completely normalized. I have no idea how the country gets through this. I believe Harris will win and that's a first step toward normalcy.
Not without Michigan she won't, and Bibi is pulling out all the stops to ensure that Arab-American and other Muslim voters don't go to the polls for Democrats on November Fifth.
Expect Israel to assassinate Ali Khamenei in the next couple of weeks. They've already shown that they have freedom of the skies over Iran.
Understand their frustration, but such a move puts them in the same camp as MAGA. Sorry, they won't win any fans from the GOP who care even less and lose support among many Dems who view this as existential. Non support equates to tacit approval. Sucks, but we're dealing with the worst of the worst.
Trump by all appearances is America's Slobodan Milosevic, instilling hatred/dislike of one group against another, and MAGA seems to be relishing it. But you'd think these ivy league MAGA trained lawyers (Vance, Cotton, Hawley, et al) would realize you can't contain the violence once something sets it off, instead of piling on Trump's fantasies. Who does Musk think is going to protect his wealth should civil order break down, unless he's counting on a Putin like oligarchy.
I think you answered your own question there at the end.
+1
"But you'd think these ivy league MAGA trained lawyers (Vance, Cotton, Hawley, et al) would realize you can't contain the violence once something sets it off"
Why would they "realize" that? This isn't something that is taught in law school (ivy league or no), and anyway, law school is only 3 years and relatively long time ago in the careers of folks like Vance, Cotton, and Hawley.
"Who does Musk think is going to protect his wealth should civil order break down"
I don't think that Musk thinks that civil order will break down--certainly not in such a way that the World's Richest Human can't address it readily.
I bet that Musk would consider the riff-raff suffering and raising hell to be just plain entertaining. He's one of those guys who build complex protections for themselves for the end times. He could use his wealth and influence to prevent end times, however you define that, but no...
Musk has his own military. He's not worried.
I think the more important question is how long will it take American businesses to wake up to the threat Trump presents to them? Those fools need to realize that is a lot more important to the well-being of their companies than any tax cut.
But their incentives are designed for them to ONLY care about the share price. About nothing else. Modern capitalism is rife with perverse incentives.
Some of the big CEOs already know, but don't care. The tax breaks are the most important, and they'll still be rich even after the company fails.
Maybe some of the small guys will figure it out when their staff is deported, or they lose government contracts because they aren't "loyal" enough to Trump. But most will find a way to pretend macroeconomic problems caused by a Trump admin are actually the fault if some other scapegoat.
"But Trump's endless threats against anyone who displeases him make him unfit for the presidency..."
By some definitions of 'presidency', he's very much fit.
People aren't going into the voting booth to elect representatives, or choose magistrates. They're not picking between alternative policy agendas or competing theories of government.
They're looking for a stick to beat people with that they don't like.
Unfortunately, this is 100% accurate. They have moved beyond name calling and actually want to physically hurt people. This is madness.
Some do. Others just don't care. They don't think they'll be affected. Think about the average German who wasn't a rabid Nazi. They didn't actively persecute the Jewish people in their community but looked the other way when others did. Everyday we inch closer to becoming a fascist state.
yup; 47% want to beat, kill, or imprison people they don't like
another 3% in the swing states just don't give a shit but they'll decide the election
I believe there is a method to this madness. Trump’s threat is real, but he knows that everyone knows he can be bought off. So implicit in this threat is a demand for money. If you were an executive at Deloitte what would you do?
Oh oh KD. Daily Kos is using the lead theory exposure to say why people support Trump (I think kind in jest). You better set him straight or everything will be blamed on lead.
I don't know. These lead filled rural white boys are now lead filled rural white men. They didn't go away. They just got older and now they have a fearless leader who gives them permission to hate on and hurt people.
I’m visiting Michigan from my home in California. I’ve been exposed to more MAGA emotions than I ever see back home.
It’s really hard to grasp this. I don’t know why these people are so emotionally angry. A lot of them are relatively well off. The country is peaceful, the economy is great, jobs are plentiful yet people are angry. There is a meanness to their anger. I’m not sure there is a reason for it. More like once the anger set in (maybe by contagion) then it is hard to let go of it.
media poisoning
the contemporary version of lead poisoning?
I always recommend that people watch the documentary "the Century of the Self". Edward Bernays was really an influential figure.
trumpists would love that guy
wiki:
His best-known campaigns include a 1929 effort to promote female smoking by branding cigarettes as feminist "Torches of Freedom", and his work for the United Fruit Company in the 1950s, connected with the CIA-orchestrated overthrow of the democratically elected Guatemalan government in 1954.
"A lot of them are relatively well off"
This is the aspect of it that sticks out to me--a lot of the MAGA folks *are* pretty well off. It's led me to think that they are engaging in politics in the same way as sports fans engage in sports. Like, it's part of their identity, and forms their community. It's not about solving actual problems in their lives (which is why the things the MAGA crowd claims to be upset about, like windmills, trans people, ficticious crime waves falsely attributed to immigrants, are so trivial), but instead about displaying team spirit.
Some groups engage in politics to improve their lives; MAGA engages because it's fun to wear a team jersey and get riled up with others who also wear the team jersey.
+1
I think this is a large part of it. Another large part is that the constant threat and dominance displays frighten their neighbors into conformity. You need to show positive evidence that you're with them so that they don't direct their rage at you. Then, once you've made your bones by joining them, cognitive dissonance also keeps you in line. You need everyone to join you so you can disappear into the mob.
Pretty close correlation between Sinclair Broadcasting coverage maps and MAGA strength. FoxNews gets all the credit but Sinclair plays the ground game.
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/4/17190240/sinclair-local-tv-map-data
And people still think that the local news is bound by broadcasting ethics.
Michigan, outside of the major cities and university cities, is rabid MAGA country.
It could still be a contributing factor.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/states-with-the-most-lead-pipes&ved=2ahUKEwiP9Onrgf2IAxU3m4kEHfukLqoQFnoECBMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0QrhftrcmpTUWr5plkKrkl
Trump's corruption is kind of brilliantly self-regulating, have to say.
1) Say everything is corrupt, rigged, etc.
2) Win over your fans by appealing to their emotions so they feel you are "on their side".
3) Do lots of corrupt stuff yourself which your supporters now like because "the whole system is corrupt" and "at least he's on my side".
These are the actions of a dictatorship. I'm convinced that's exactly what his cult wants. And Republicans sure are more than willing to be accomplices to achieve it.
Another 4 years should do it
If only it worked that way. Victor Orban is popular. Putin got re-elected several times before elections were completely fixed.
Authoritarianism is like cancer. Most often it metastasizes and is only removed by killing the patient.
Yes, Orban is "poplular" and Putin even more so, as is Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un (and his predecessors before him).
Hitler and Mussolini were revered, and Stalin was worshipped as was Mao Zedong and Franco and Salazar were loved. As is Trump and as was Reagan.
Fortunately, nowadays the British only love morons like Churchill, "Iron Lady' Thatcher and Boris Johnson.
Why can't we have nice things like majority rule? Trump has never come close to winning more votes.
"A constitution is not a suicide pact", except when it is. The electoral college and senate misallocation have left us a coin flip away from national failure.
"Needless to say, I couldn't care less whether Deloitte lives or dies."
As someone who works for Deloitte on a Federal contract, this one hits kind of close to home for me...
You are welcome to care. KD is under no obligation to do so.
Why did Hitler come to power and end up going to war? It's not because he had support of 50% of Germany. The Nazi won with 43.9% in 1993.
Why did Putin go to war in Ukraine? Most Russians won't tell you what they really think; they'll claim a disinterest in politics.
There's a majority of people who, when scared, will switch their colors/allegiances or stay quiet. It is unbelievably hard and incredibly courageous for a Liz Cheney to stick up for democracy. You think you'd do it? Maybe, but history has shown that the vast majority of us will not.
Also, only an authoritarian regime ruled by a megalomaniac would remove government contracts from a company because of a mildly political statement from a person within a company of tens of thousands of employees.
But since we're on this path and MAGA insist on it, we should immediately terminate all contracts with Starlink or immediately seize Musk's companies and deport the illegal (because we said so) immigrant.
"How long is it going to take for 50% of the electorate to figure this out?"
You do like your little running jokes, don't you, KD. Being a numerate chap you are well aware that 50% of "the electorate" are at or below 100 IQ and that 100 IQ is pretty low at best - it takes at least 115IQ to begin to show some rational sense together with the level of information processing that is needed to feed any such basic level of sense.
And you know all of that, don't you.
God I wish Dems did this. They send billions to people who turn around and use it to undermine government and boost republicans.