2024 Presidential Election Thread - Let's keep the party going.

[WhatTheBuck 28,776]

1 hour ago, Firemans4Horn said:

Good. More people can see how batshit crazy he is these days. The more people see of Trump (post 2016) the less they like him. 

Yeah but when he incites violence, he’ll reach a wider audience. 

[Covri 6,247]

3 minutes ago, 'stache said:

So he’s really going back on Twitter? Let me guess, all comments will be heavily restricted, mushroom lickers only. 
 

I had to sign up again to follow some drama involving a client. It was the only way I could see commentary on the situation we’re involved with. I absolutely hate it, when will it just fucking die already!

You got a link to this twitter drama? Can we help turn it into a bigger drama? 

 

[Thatguy 8,686]

These guys just won't let this go.......

 

 

[Fudge Nuggets 19,190]

1 hour ago, wildcat09 said:

Mostly agree with this, though I worry that if GA and AZ hold out and a blue wall state is close, SCOTUS will be very tempted to try to figure out a way to steal it.  

Twice assured me that SCOTUS can't do shit.

https://www.surlyhorns.com/board/topic/36618-2024-election-fuckery-tracking-thread/page/2/#comment-6355063

 

Edited August 12 by Fudge Nuggets

[Pig Bellmont 8,712]

I refuse to believe the attempts at Swiftboating Walz gains any traction with anyone other than people who listen to Charlie Kirk or Ben Shapiro. Especially when it’s fucking Trump on the other side 

[LCHorn 2,616]

6 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

These guys just won't let this go.......

 

 

I don’t know why John Kolb feels the need to say anything at all.  Maybe he considers himself the savior of the republic because hiring an E8 instead of an E9 in the Minnesota National Guard is obviously disqualifying.  

[Goredho 17,399]

How has Trump or Vance ever run towards guns in their storied military careers?

[mdmost 43,001]

10 minutes ago, Pig Bellmont said:

I refuse to believe the attempts at Swiftboating Walz gains any traction with anyone other than people who listen to Charlie Kirk or Ben Shapiro. Especially when it’s fucking Trump on the other side 

I think if you are the type that buys into this bullshit, you were just looking for any excuse to not vote for Kamala and Walz. I'm beyond tired of military service being a purity test for a candidate. Guy was in there for 24 years. He served his fucking time. This is a non-issue for the majority of people. If this were a problem, he would've never made it to Congress or the governorship. 

[Old Freak Nasty 821]

1 hour ago, Ted Lange said:

Trump is back posting on Twitter for the first time since getting the boot in Jan of 2021

When was Trump Social founded?  I guess his exclusivity expired?

[Pancho 44,757]

22 minutes ago, 'stache said:

So he’s really going back on Twitter? Let me guess, all comments will be heavily restricted, mushroom lickers only. 
 

I had to sign up again to follow some drama involving a client. It was the only way I could see commentary on the situation we’re involved with. I absolutely hate it, when will it just fucking die already!

Yes and twitter is eating it up. Everyone is just quote tweeting it saying “oh you must’ve just gotten your internals for Texas and Ohio” 

 

others are saying he’s either back on because he’s see numbers or because Elmo is making it a requirement before tonight 

[Bozo_Casanova 26,444]

Just now, mdmost said:

I think if you are the type that buys into this bullshit, you were just looking for any excuse to not vote for Kamala and Walz. I'm beyond tired of military service being a purity test for a candidate. Guy was in there for 24 years. He served his fucking time. This is a non-issue for the majority of people. If this were a problem, he would've never made it to Congress or the governorship. 

exactly - this is the kind of bullshit Democrats have twisted themselves into pretzels trying to spin or message their way out of. Fuck all that. My guess is that Walz, Harris and co. have learned the lesson and will plow right through it. 

[DixonHur 11,296]

57 minutes ago, Michael Knight said:

You're thinking of dago guinea wop greaseball goombahs

Thanks for clearing that up.  As someone of Italian descent I just want to make sure there's not cultural appropriation of the pejoratives.  We earned those names fair-and-square.

Stay in your lanes!

[DixonHur 11,296]

28 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

These guys just won't let this go.......

 

 

Talk about dishonorable and misleading... 

John Kolb was NOT Tim Walz' Battalion Commander!

He was the commander of the battalion AFTER Walz retired in May.

• LTC John Kolb, Aug. 1, 2005 - Dec. 2, 2007

Minnesota National Guard Staff Lineages – Minnesota National Guard (azurewebsites.us)

Fuck these motherfuckers and their Swift Boat tactics.

[mdmost 43,001]

And again for other veterans to shit on Walz service for a fucking draft dodger. For that fucking guy!

[Art Vandelay 1,712]

43 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Who’s a good civil rights attorney?

I want Bill Kunstler, man... or Ron Kuby.

[Dahobbs 17,534]

8 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

Talk about dishonorable and misleading... 

John Kolb was NOT Tim Walz' Battalion Commander!

He was the commander of the battalion AFTER Walz retired in May.

• LTC John Kolb, Aug. 1, 2005 - Dec. 2, 2007

Minnesota National Guard Staff Lineages – Minnesota National Guard (azurewebsites.us)

Fuck these motherfuckers and their Swift Boat tactics.

My assumption is that post is fake anyway (or at least not actually John Kolb). 

[DixonHur 11,296]

1 minute ago, Dahobbs said:

My assumption is that post is fake anyway (or at least not actually John Kolb). 

Nope.  It's actually him.  He's all over the place saying it.

[Macanudo 12,976]

7 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

They sold out to Maverick from Utah.  Kum & Go's will be gone soon.

Plus, they were fairly inconsistent in their locations and layouts.  Tons in central Iowa, but almost none in the far northern part of the state (where I live).  It's all Kwik Trip/Star and Casey's, or mom and pop type joints.  The occasional Love's at a busy interchange too.

How's the gas station pizza near you?  I found a while that it's really a thing and not just the Hunt Brothers shit we get down here but actual honest to goodness real stuff.

[Js1 85,311]

 

[DixonHur 11,296]

Just to circle the square, Snopes did a good job debunking the Swiftboat claims...

Unpacking the Controversy Over Tim Walz's Military Service | Snopes.com

[C-Man 27,214]

More on Elmo doing his best to sway/steal this for Trump: https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/inside-elon-musks-hands-on-push-to-win-800-000-voters-for-trump-0a7d55b3

Quote

Beginning in the spring, Elon Musk quietly blocked out an hour on Fridays for a new pursuit: national politics. 

In weekly meetings, consultants and vendors for a super political-action committee updated him on their progress toward the discussed goal of turning out 800,000 people to vote for Donald Trump in battleground states. They proposed a budget of about $160 million they would need for the task, most of it to come from Musk himself, and talked about raising an army of more than 6,000 canvassers and other workers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Then, less than three months after launching the effort, Musk signed off on firing most of the vendors, only for the super PAC to rehire one of them after the resulting chaos. He also replaced the Texas-based advisers who helped him get the group off the ground with veterans of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s failed presidential bid.

America PAC, Musk’s first major foray into presidential politics, is less pioneering than, say, putting people on Mars or implanting microchips in their brains. But the billionaire’s full-throated support for Trump and the GOP has ignited other prominent donors. He has also received the gratitude of the Republican presidential nominee, who faces a newly energized opponent in Vice President Kamala Harris.

Musk is tackling the election effort in his signature hands-on, chaos-be-damned style, echoing his 2022 takeover of Twitter and early efforts to meet Tesla’s production goals. Whether he and the team he has assembled succeed could be an important part of the election puzzle, and some Republican political operatives said they fear the early stumbles could be costly for the Trump campaign.

The recent overhaul means America PAC, formed in May, is resetting about a month before early voting starts and fewer than 90 days before the presidential election. 

But the super PAC’s new leadership is confident it can execute the group’s mandate and the Trump camp has expressed support for the recent changes. “The New Program 100% better than the old gang. Solidly support this effort!” Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump adviser, posted on X last month.

Musk is scheduled to interview Trump on X on Monday night. 

Texas roots

Richard Weekley in a screen grab taken from a video published on the Texans for Lawsuit Reform YouTube channel.

Musk started America PAC with the help of Richard Weekley, a Texas real-estate developer and Republican donor who had steered an earlier super PAC focused on voter registration in the Lone Star state, according to people familiar with the matter.

Another early adviser was Denis Calabrese, a Republican consultant who is Weekley’s longtime collaborator, the people said.

Weekley and Calabrese guided Musk toward In Field Strategies, a national political canvassing group, to be the PAC’s boots on the ground, and Raconteur Media to handle its digital marketing, including its website, texting campaigns and voter mailings. They also recruited Michael Baselice, an Austin-based pollster. 

In mid-April, Musk met with the firms and advisers in Texas to share his vision for the PAC and ask for a proposed budget, according to people familiar with the meeting. He said he wanted to create a red wave of voters.

The political operatives described an estimated 800,000 low-propensity voters who could be nudged into getting to the polls and said that the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee needed a better ground game, the people said. Musk also wanted the consultants to convince unregistered voters in the swing states to register. 

The subsequent weekly Friday meetings were businesslike. Musk said more than once that “bad news must be repeated before good news,” according to people familiar with his comment. He wanted details: What was the script for the door-knockers? Could they record some of the interactions? 

Musk initially didn’t want to be seen as the face of the group, according to people familiar with the matter.

Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale, a longtime Musk ally who was among the first to join with Musk on the PAC, told potential donors that they needed to give only enough to help the group cover initial expenses after which a mystery donor—who turned out to be Musk—would finance the rest, said people familiar with the conversations. 

Several other associates of Musk, including Antonio Gracias, a former Tesla director and current SpaceX board member, investor Kenneth Howery, and Sequoia Capital partners Shaun Maguire and Doug Leone, cut checks of $500,000 or $1 million, according to Federal Election Commission records. 

Musk’s involvement in the PAC came to light on July 12. Bloomberg reported that Musk donated an unknown amount to the PAC.

Former Tesla director and current SpaceX board member Antonio Gracias. PHOTO: EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/BLOOMBERG NEWS

The next day, Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pa. After the shooting, Musk posted on X, “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” publicly formalizing his support for the former president. 

The announcement was heartily embraced by the Trump camp. “I love Elon Musk! He endorsed me. He’s great,” Trump said in July and August fundraising emails.

But the extent of Musk’s commitment to getting Trump elected was kept under wraps. Musk had emphasized to the group his desire for privacy, according to people familiar with the super PAC. He was angered by a Wall Street Journal report a couple of days after his endorsement that revealed that he told others he had plans to commit around $45 million a month to the group, the people said. He later said on X that he is donating at a lower level. 

Former DeSantis team takes over

By mid-July, the PAC had several new faces, including Generra Peck and Phil Cox, veterans of the presidential campaign and super PAC that supported DeSantis, who bowed out of the race in January.

Their relationship with Musk is traced to DeSantis’s successful 2022 gubernatorial re-election campaign. Peck, DeSantis’s campaign manager, had courted the billionaire’s support. Cox was a senior adviser to the campaign. Peck also managed DeSantis’s presidential campaign and helped map out a super PAC called Never Back Down, set up in large part to focus on field operations.

But the campaign burned through cash quickly, forcing Never Back Down to divert resources to cover the campaign on the airwaves, according to former DeSantis campaign and PAC officials. DeSantis replaced Peck as his campaign manager in August 2023. 

Cox, who is now a business partner of Peck, was a key adviser to the DeSantis super PAC, ultimately overseeing its budget, field and turnout operation. 

Soon after Cox and Peck arrived at America PAC, most of the group’s vendors received an email notifying them that they were fired and thanking them for their efforts.

Elon Musk initially didn’t want to be seen as the face of the group, according to people familiar with the matter. PHOTO: SAMUEL CORUM/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Weekley, the Texas businessman, and his political strategist Calabrese, left along with the canvassing and digital firms—In Field Strategies and Raconteur Media—that represented the lion’s share of the super PAC’s spending. 

In Field Strategies told the group’s leadership that it had helped register more than 4,000 people, knocked on 725,000 doors, had 150,000 substantive conversations with prospective voters and got 26,000 absentee commitments, according to people familiar with data it provided to the PAC.

Raconteur Media, meanwhile, had compiled voter registration forms for 8,500 people from swing states who provided their information on the PAC website, these people said.

The committee paid In Field and Raconteur Media a total of about $20 million from June 12 to July 19, according to Federal Election Commission filings. 

The New York Times earlier reported the involvement of the former DeSantis team and that In Field was being replaced.  

Calabrese and Raconteur Media have a controversial history of working together, according to separate lawsuits filed by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation against Calabrese and Raconteur Media. Calabrese is the former president of the foundation, which was co-founded by John Arnold, a former energy trader and hedge-fund manager who has become a prominent Houston philanthropist along with his wife. 

The lawsuits alleged that after being alerted by federal authorities to possible wrongdoing, the foundation discovered that Calabrese hired Raconteur Media and other vendors at inflated prices and that they in turn paid him millions of dollars in kickbacks.

Calabrese pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 2019 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was later ordered to pay more than $8 million in damages as a result of the Arnolds’ civil suit and was released from the judgment after paying back the foundation. The Arnolds’ lawsuit against Raconteur Media was settled out of court. 

Not hyperpartisan, Musk says

Musk discussed founding America PAC in a July 22 interview with psychologist and author Jordan Peterson. Musk said he created the committee after concluding that the Republican Party was more aligned with his beliefs in meritocracy and free speech than the Democratic Party. 

“It’s not meant to be sort of a hyperpartisan PAC,” Musk told Peterson. “The intent is to promote the principles that made America great in the first place.” 

The group’s filings with the Federal Election Commission state that its expenditures are in support of the Trump campaign.

America PAC has replaced In Field strategies with firms that include Blitz Canvassing, which is part of communications and public affairs company GP3 Partners, according to people familiar with the move. 

Push Digital, based in Charleston, S.C., and IMGE, also part of GP3 Partners, took over from Raconteur Media, said the people. Cox is the founder of GP3 Partners and chairman of IMGE, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Since the former vendors were fired, the PAC’s advertisements on Facebook and Instagram have stopped running. Social-media accounts for the PAC haven’t been updated since July 17. 

The turnover at the PAC was followed by online glitches and complaints from election officials in swing states that the website was collecting personal info without helping people register to vote.

A Journal review found that people from the swing states were asked for personal information and then directed to a page asking to fill in yet another form. But broken code on the page prevented the form from appearing in all cases except for visitors from North Carolina. 

The website draws people in with digital ads. America PAC spent $899,458 on Facebook and Instagram ads between July 8 and July 23, according to data from Meta Platforms’s Ad Library.

Some ads feature a photo taken immediately after the assassination attempt on Trump. Those ads started running on July 16, three days after the shooting.

The website was never meant to register voters online, said people familiar with the website. In swing states, information provided by website visitors is used by the PAC to fill out voter registration forms, which are then supposed to be mailed to the prospective voters to sign and drop back in the mail. But Raconteur Media was fired before it mailed the 8,500 voter registration forms it had compiled. 

Earlier this month, America PAC rehired Raconteur Media to mail out voter registration forms and patch up the website.

 

[Blotto 23,498]

20 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

Nope.  It's actually him.  He's all over the place saying it.

We should be more concerned that he married the Alien from American Dad. 

 

[DixonHur 11,296]

2 minutes ago, Blotto said:

We should be more concerned that he married the Alien from American Dad. 

 

[Chopper 17,230]

1 hour ago, Old Freak Nasty said:

When was Trump Social founded?  I guess his exclusivity expired?

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1849635/000119312523276045/d408563ds4a.htm

<Shockingly it's a loophole you could drive an Incel Camino through. (If it happened to be drivable at the time.)>

Edited August 12 by Chopper

[Mdhorn 5,948]

26 minutes ago, Blotto said:

We should be more concerned that he married the Alien from American Dad. 

 

Thank you for your service.  You're wrong, thoroughly debunked, but thanks anyways.  

[GhostOfTomJoad 9,324]

48 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

Nope.  It's actually him.  He's all over the place saying it.

Sounds like someone's bucking for the easy grift of the Newsmax/OAN/Fox circuit followed by the GQP talk circuit. He can make enough money in the next 2-3 months to get those satellite dish ears of his tucked.

[WhatTheBuck 28,776]

1 hour ago, Old Freak Nasty said:

When was Trump Social founded?  I guess his exclusivity expired?

After he was banned from Twitter. After Musk bought Twitter he llifted the ban but Trump had his fake Twitter to promote so he didn’t go back until now. With Trump’s fake Twitter failing, maybe he’s hoping Musk will eventually buy him out. I don’t know. But I think he’s also desperate to have the exposure that Twitter gave him before that he’s not getting now. 

[Dutchrudder 11,137]

Also have to think that many of people seeing Trump's Truth Social post screenshots are often accompanied by fact checking, context, criticism and jokes. It probably hurts him to have so much of it framed by others who aren't drinking the orange Kool aid. Now he can post directly on Twitter and let millions see his unfiltered idiocy first hand! 

[WhatTheBuck 28,776]

1 hour ago, DixonHur said:

Talk about dishonorable and misleading... 

John Kolb was NOT Tim Walz' Battalion Commander!

He was the commander of the battalion AFTER Walz retired in May.

• LTC John Kolb, Aug. 1, 2005 - Dec. 2, 2007

Minnesota National Guard Staff Lineages – Minnesota National Guard (azurewebsites.us)

Fuck these motherfuckers and their Swift Boat tactics.

I wonder how much the Trump campaign paid him for the hatchet job. 

[Born to Run 6,569]

2 hours ago, chainsaw said:

 

Mr Lebowski was pretty spry before that chinaman took his legs.

[Disco Strangler 1,866]

42 minutes ago, Blotto said:

We should be more concerned that he married the Alien from American Dad. 

 

Yeesh.  This guy needed to clean out those ears.  His pappy told him, "son, find yourself a girl who longs to give head."  He heard, "son, find yourself a girl with a long head."

[Loch Ness Monster 3,533]

Bone Spurs Trump claimed veterans were suckers and losers / never served a day in his life. Said not getting an STD was his personal Vietnam. Disrespected John McCain. MAGA can fuck right off.

[Js1 85,311]

 

[Js1 85,311]

Noise - she dropped a point, no change for Trump. Still above water at +2, Turnip is now -12

Turnip hasn’t been double digit underwater in favorability in this poll since Memorial Day

 

[Born to Run 6,569]

9 minutes ago, Disco Strangler said:

Yeesh.  This guy needed to clean out those ears.  His pappy told him, "son, find yourself a girl who longs to give head."  He heard, "son, find yourself a girl with a long head."

After your mean comment, she is going to be crying herself to sleep tonight on her giant pillow.

[Blotto 23,498]

social media dorks. If it bothers you, quit the motherfucking platform like the rest of us. Like Elmo gives a shit if they log out for a few hours. 

 

[Chopper 17,230]

Kamala Harris needs to use this idea at a debate.

[Pancho 44,757]

9 minutes ago, Js1 said:

 

[Bullneck 19,079]

1 hour ago, Js1 said:

 

LOL at RFK, Jr. 

[Sawbonz 27,547]

8 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Mavericks are good. 

 

[Biff Tannen 45,674]

So dotard and Elmo are teaming up to do what exactly?

[Js1 85,311]

1 minute ago, Biff Tannen said:

So dotard and Elmo are teaming up to do what exactly?

[Pato del Muerto 52,489]

1 hour ago, Blotto said:

We should be more concerned that he married the Alien from American Dad. 

Do you think he could have done better?

[Hank Kingsley 20,921]

1 minute ago, Biff Tannen said:

So dotard and Elmo are teaming up to do what exactly?

Ensure both of their downfalls? 

*crosses fingers *

[RDCanecutter 26,411]

2 hours ago, Thatguy said:

These guys just won't let this go.......

 

 

Meh. Anytime you are around sergeants vying for limited higher rank, it turns into Sensitivity and Resentment Night at the wine bar. If you've made it to E-7 or E-8, you've thrown a few elbows and made a few sullen conniving enemies. And if you don't suck, you've probably pissed off a few officers who thought they were perfect too.

Especially in the National Guard where it can turn into a soap opera with guys knowing shit on each other from high school, work, or just being stuck in the same unit too long.

[Brisketexan 105,095]

How Trump plans to steal this election. Pretty good article.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/12/trump-overturn-result-presidential-election-vote

 

This will be the biggest FAFO moment if it comes to pass.

Yep.

If they try stunts like the above…there should be only two options. Immediate arrest, or violence. Refusing to certify a vote that your opponent won is Venezuela/Maduro shit. FAFO indeed.

[Hank Kingsley 20,921]

 

[RDCanecutter 26,411]

13 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

 

 

6 minutes ago, Js1 said:

This song and this dance go together in an oddly beautiful way

[ultimaton 2,972]

15 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

So dotard and Elmo are teaming up to do what exactly?

murder suicide pact

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11,669]

31 minutes ago, Born to Run said:

After your mean comment, she is going to be crying herself to sleep tonight on her giant pillow.

It’s like spootnik!