ndawg

And all authoritarians are this way. They can freely vacillate between nihilistic cynicism and blind trust. They can parrot “everyone does it” when we call their leaders out on their bullshit, as if they trust no one, but then they’ll consistently trust the retarded talking points their party spews. They don’t even believe their party’s bullshit, they just like amplifying it. They are little boys and girls inhabiting adult bodies. Too many people confuse them for being grown ups (not you, of course)

People get confused because the present state seems so salvageable on the surface. But the Republican Party has shown us that they possess the will and desire to destroy the Republic. They have also succeeded in neutering the ability of both Congress and the ballot to stop them. Oh, and they're packing the courts. In the initial moments of a train wreck, as the engine cars crumple, the cabins furthest from impact may look undamaged, but their fate is nevertheless sealed.

There are plenty of true believers among their ranks. I'd put money on Collins being a true believer. That's the most repugnant part about this to me.

If the GOP tried to replace Trump with someone more moderate, they'd lose their energized base. No, I'm afraid 2018 only led the GOP to redouble their Trump support. And going in to 2020, we now get to experience our first presidential election where the incumbent gets to openly solicit foreign interference. Come on, man. Stick a fork in it. We're done.

The sooner you realize that Trump will never not be politically expedient, the better.

When we're warming our hands around a fire blazing out of an oil drum, reluctantly trading blankets for food after returning empty handed from a grueling day of foraging, I can't wait for Anastasis to regale us with the tale of FISA abuse, and how it was the real cause of the steep decline of our civilization.

Everyone has already put this into context for you. You're just not seeing it.

Do you understand what it means to contextualize information?

This. President Fake News abused his office by extorting another country into manufacturing a fake news story about his political opponent. It's that simple. That's where America is at right now.

You guys are doing such a great job taking down their inane talking points that they might have to do something drastic like... like... hide from the Cloak Room for a few days until there's a fresh crop of bullshit to peddle.

Google "September 1752" if you really want to dispel any illusions about these dates having any meaning whatsoever.

I wouldn't bet on it.

I've spent a lot of time racking my brain trying to figure out these people. Here's my best guess: You know how it feels when your sports team is caught in a nail-biter and, in the closing minutes, benefits from an extremely questionable officiating decision? A bit icky, right? How about a bit later on, when that icky feeling mixes with the thrill of a narrow victory? The two conflicting emotions mix to produce a sort of exasperated relief. As time goes on, you remember the call less and less, and more importantly, once you convince yourself of some other calls went against your team, you determine that the officiating evened out in the end, anyways. So it is with all these obvious lies they buy in to. If Trump gets unfairly vindicated, their team wins. It doesn't matter that they got help from the refs every step of the way in the form of obstruction of justice and propaganda. They won, and soon that's all that will matter. Think about these people's psyche for a minute. Underneath it all, their underlying belief is that only the strong survive. If they can't make it in life, it's because they weren't strong. Their entire ego is tied to this identity of being one of the strong. Think about why they bought into the idea of "socialism" (anything to the left of cutthroat capitalism) as a boogey man -- they simply refuse to accept survival on any terms other than having "earned" it through their hard work and valor. And if they can't actually earn it, their ego will point them to the next best alternative -- support the big strong man that will remove competition until they're the only ones left to be declared "winners." The right loves Trump because he gives them precisely what they want. Above all else, they need to feel like they're "winning" in life, and that they're "above" the losers who slip through the cracks. Trump will rig the game for them. That's why they support him, and why they won't stop supporting him. Sure, they get the benefit of some questionable calls. But those go both ways, right? All that matters to them is that they win. They're broken people. We're fucked.

The right just wants to win elections. It's that simple. The only time they're ever honest is when they're gloating over some victory. Every other word they blabber is either meant to gaslight everyone (including themselves) into believing they're knowledgeable, or to gaslight everyone (including themselves) into believing that they care about America. They're broken souls. We're fucked.

Wow Guy Reschenthaler is an utter moron. The true believers are somehow cringier to watch than the crooks.

It won't matter. Her olive branch won't make a difference. When the GOP says "God uses imperfect people," they mean that he uses imperfect Republicans. Their God would only use a Democrat who was absolutely perfect. In other words, Tulsi Gabbard. If it feels like you're on crazy pills, join the club.

One thing I am certain of is that the GOP will perseverate on the same talking points about Hunter Biden and Hillary's emails.

The GOP reminds me of the annoying kid on the playground that constantly makes up new rules to whatever game he just lost at. And while I would have meant that as an analogy in the past, now I mean they are precisely like that kid in every way except for inhabiting adult bodies.

No tears and no frustrations no remorse. This is my Haitian third course.

No, Dems should just run on, "we're raising taxes on the rich."

Welp, I guess I'm a flaming liberal.

This is hilarious. "I will deliberately be completely oblivious to anything Trump does wrong because I will also deliberately be triggered by something one professor said." What a moron.

Yes, I think Putin largely sat idly by while the most likely scenario played out. To be honest, I suspect Putin's a master at this game, and that means he's largely hands off. The work has already been done, and the die has already been cast. Let's just go ahead and presume that Trump is scared shitless of Putin, because frankly, well, he is. With that presumption in mind, and with the walls closing in around Turmp, we can expect that he's going to do everything he can with the time he has left to give Putin every possible advantage -- because he knows Putin is going to decide whether or not to kill him at the end of all this.

I don’t think Putin orchestrated the day to day encroachments. Rather, I think the interplay between Fox, the base, Trump, and the GOP was largely self sustaining. An idiot and his idiot cult.

Trump has accidentally played the GOP masterfully. If the last two weeks went down after inauguration, he’d be toast. Instead, over the course of the last three years the GOP has been worked, little by little. Of course, this isn’t to say that Trump did this on purpose. He did everything he could get away with, but always pushing things just a little further than the GOP would have wanted. The base did the rest. The art of the deal, indeed. Idiots caught in an idiotic feedback loop of epic proportions.