Just an observation . . .

[Pens1566]

I'm not saying you don't have a point but that 74M was long before DD was chopped off at the knees in NY, not to mention 4 sets of indictments and 91 felony counts. There's no way that doesn't have of some sort of impact.

Those of us on Earth One are slowly piercing the MAGA reality distortion field. You might not want to admit it and I'm sure most Trump voters SAY they'll vote for him, but I'm also sure that none of them want a Putin-style dictator.

DD may say that's what he's going to and we can flick it off as Donald being Donald. But that's not a completely unrealistic scenario.

I think you underestimate the rational thinking capacity of your run of the mill Trump voter. Nothing he's done so far has caused them to flee in droves. He increased his total votes from 16 to 20 after being a complete failure of a POTUS in all respects.

You're more likely to see a meaningful overall dip in his #s due the sheer volume of covid deaths in red vs blue areas TBH. Even then, your whole hypothesis relies on about 12 or so highly unlikely outcomes all taking place. Like I said, never gonna happen.

 

[Charmonium]

@Pens1566 I can't argue with you, honestly. This is just bald face speculation on my part. But there's one thing to keep in mind. If you live in an area where DD won by a landslide, are you really going to start talking him down to the true believers. Fuck no. You're going to keep your opinions to yourself and express them at the polls. So when that DD district just barely registers a win for him or even worse, swings D and everyone is looking around like 'how the fuck did that happen.' Well, you've already got your answer.

 

[Pens1566]

@Pens1566 I can't argue with you, honestly. This is just bald face speculation on my part. But there's one thing to keep in mind. If you live in an area where DD won by a landslide, are you really going to start talking him down to the true believers. Fuck no. You're going to keep your opinions to yourself and express them at the polls. So when that DD district just barely registers a win for him or even worse, swings D and everyone is looking around like 'how the fuck did that happen.' Well, you've already got your answer.

I can state emphatically that this new scenario isn't true. I live in one of the (if not the most) Trumpy areas in the country. It's like a giant cult compound around here and if anything, it's getting worse as the followers reinforce each other.

Anyone sane has already exited the ride (suburbs, etc). The rest are riding it off the cliff. And some of the ones that have left, will just not vote for the presidential race instead of voting for another party. This has been evident in some of the midterm and off cycle results that show different #s/%s between Trump and down ballot GQP candidates.

 

[Charmonium]

@Pens1566 You have my sympathies. I keep to myself pretty much but when I was in a bowling league years ago before covid, a lot of people liked to poke at me with Trump/MAGA comments - I think it because of the long hair and I guess I just look like a lib.

And self reinforcement is how you get huge groups of people who really believe the universe is 6k years old. That's where this all started you know - with the radical evangelicals. It's a much, much more comforting world view and I got sucked into that myself. The only diff is that I didn't think everyone else was a willing or de facto servant of Satan.

And the more such groups are criticized, the more they curl up into little tardigrades.

It's not hard to ignore reality and substitute your own. We've been doing it since . . . forever. All you can hope for is that something comes along such that it both blows your rickety beliefs out of the water and is SO inconsistent with reality that it can't be denied.

 

[Indus]

I'm not saying you don't have a point but that 74M was long before DD was chopped off at the knees in NY, not to mention 4 sets of indictments and 91 felony counts. There's no way that doesn't have of some sort of impact.

Those of us on Earth One are slowly piercing the MAGA reality distortion field. You might not want to admit it and I'm sure most Trump voters SAY they'll vote for him, but I'm also sure that none of them want a Putin-style dictator.

DD may say that's what he's going to and we can flick it off as Donald being Donald. But that's not a completely unrealistic scenario.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1707541967389987201

That's pretty much on par with how cults work.

 

[Pohemi]

^
Figures, and shows just how stupid and blinded by partisanship/idolitry his fanbase is. Things that would make most people reject him and say wtf are just making these morons more rabid for their orange god.

 

[hal2kilo]

^
Figures, and shows just how stupid and blinded by partisanship/idolitry his fanbase is. Things that would make most people reject him and say wtf are just making these morons more rabid for their orange god.

It's a cult.

 

[Charmonium]

Well at least the house passed the CR (continuing resolution) but no Ukraine or FEMA money.

Did you know that the so-called Ukraine money is really so we can restock our supplies.

I think interest rates are going to be high for a while with this money surging into system

 

[Charmonium]

Swalwell on Gaetz - He's not my monkey and this is not my circus.

 

[Charmonium]

I just stole this from Steve Bannon. Let's have a moment of shame. [bows head]

Trump Davidians. Oh shit, SB is a "funny" guy.

 

[Charmonium]

There are currently 17 states with litigation to remove Trump from the ballot based on the 14th's sedition clause. Only CO and MN are "awaiting ruling."

The other states are MT, NV, AZ, NM, TX, WI, MI, NY, VT, MA, CT, NJ, DE, WV, SC.

 

[Charmonium]

Well the knives are finally out for the various billionaires funneling cash and gifts to mostly Clarence the Clown Thomas but also Alito. And of course the Rs are fighting this like the angry weasels they are.

In other "news," abortion has been the asshole sized "red pill" for the Rs. In all 6 special elections this year that specifically touch the issue in favor of a woman's right, the Rs have gotten butt f'ed.

It also looks like Man-chin probably won't lead a third party NoLabels bid to challenge Biden. JM is pretty far to the right of most Ds so even if he did run, I think he'd siphon votes mainly from the Dumpster, but hopefully we won't have to deal with that agita.

 

[dainthomas]

House R's are sending subpoenas to Biden family members today. They obviously have plenty of free time since they're not worried about the government shutting down next week.

 

[cytg111]

Is Hunter required to drop his pants and present his cock for inspection or where is MTG at these days?

 

[Charmonium]

Damn. This Israel-Hamas shit is starting to feel like a modern version of the Crusades.

News coverage has shown pro-Palestinian/Palestine rallies, anti-semitic rallies, pro Israel rallies (not quite the same as the previous).

I'm sure there's plenty of anti-semitism out there and some portion of the pro-Palestinian people just hate Jews. Although I don't really think of bigots going out of their way to protest much of anything.

 

[Pohemi]

The rocket attack by Hamas justified a response IMO, but also IMO Bennie used it as an excuse to just start bombing anything and everything. He wants to drive them out for easier expansion. Less people to clear out once the dust and debris setlles.

 

[Charmonium]

Yeah, I don't really trust Bibi either. A lot of the hatred between Jews and Palestinians is mutual.

I think that assessment is a bit uncharitable, but not one I'll argue with.

I think he's starting to feel the heat though. US officials have been pretty blunt about their . . . let's call them "moral obligations."

The thing about rage though is that it's not especially discerning. But it seems like he finally got the message.

 

[Charmonium]

Rachel (as in Maddow) was busting out the five dollar words tonight like inchoate.

Normally, she tries to be as plain spoken as possible but on the subject of Trump, vermin and Nazis, she was having none of it.

 

[Charmonium]

Wow, the anger among the Rs - at each other mind you - is almost boiling over. I really hope that they get the CRs passed before they form their traditional, circular firing squad.

 

[Charmonium]

It looks like Iran's foreign minister is Baghdad Bob version 2

 

[cytg111]

Rachel (as in Maddow) was busting out the five dollar words tonight like inchoate.

Normally, she tries to be as plain spoken as possible but on the subject of Trump, vermin and Nazis, she was having none of it.

Holy crap, just one of the snips that is online

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/report-paints-ominous-picture-of-early-days-of-planned-second-trump-term-197265477713

Trump is going all in on this end of democracy thing... And the Heritage Foundation is all over this. God damn.

 

[iRONic]

She echoed the same vitriol last night as a guest on Colbert. Who, btw, has dropped his refusal to utter the name of tfg and RAILED on the tangerine terrorist during his monologue.

 

[Charmonium]

I love The Colbert but I couldn't watch during the Trump admin. Not sure why. I think it just sort of amplified my frustration.

It's still a major theme for The Colbert, but there is a reason why we like good guy/bad guy movies. And that has everything to do with watching the bad guy getting slowly roasted to ashes.

That's where I am on Trump.

 

[Charmonium]

Oh, speaking of 'turning to ashes,' the old Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing movies are really marvelous.

But of course in those, Dracula always comes back from the dead.

I've only seen 2 so far - the first and last that Hammer made. I especially loved the Satanic Rites of Dracula.

 

[Charmonium]

People say 'bring back the death penalty.' I say bring back the brazen bull.

Brazen bull - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There seem to be a lot of folks out there that aren't especially afraid of dying, at least from a purely conceptual point of view.

But dying in unimaginable, screaming pain is something most would prefer to avoid.