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The GQP: Trumpist Death Cult

Hugo Stiglitz

By Hugo Stiglitz
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aggie08
aggie08

This is such unbridled horseshit. I live in fucking California, and I'm not sure if I've ever seen a Fuck Trump shirt/flag/bumper sticker/whatever in person. I can't go a day without seeing Let's Go B

Jive Turkey
Jive Turkey

Did not have former Skid Row lead singer Sebastian Bach talking shit to MAGA cult members on my bingo card. But here we are.  

Ghost of LL
Ghost of LL

Yep. I was a George Will/Ronald Reagan/Al Laffer conservative.  I genuinely thought that if you cut taxes for the upper classes, then they would spend and invest and the economic result of that w

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Longhorn_Fan68

Longhorn_Fan68 34104

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, NameAlreadyInUse said:

This makes me incredibly sad. If we can’t solve for this it’s only a matter of time until this country is finished. 

which America were you born in? This has been gospel and creed among any republican I've known in the 41 years I've been in this earth. Jeebus saves, fuck libtard scientists

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Hugo Stiglitz

Hugo Stiglitz 23367

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11 minutes ago, NameAlreadyInUse said:

This makes me incredibly sad. If we can’t solve for this it’s only a matter of time until this country is finished. 

We elected a racist imbecile that got impeached, destroyed democracy, crashed the global economy, and killed 100k+ Americans due to negligence in his first term.  It’s going to be hard to clean up. 

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Message Board User

Message Board User 12405

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JFC.

The effects are already manifest. In conversation after conversation with voters here Thursday, Trump supporters repeatedly—and completely unsolicited—say Democrats are attempting to steal the election from the president.

“I lived in Chicago for six years. We know how Mayor Daley stuffed the ballot box for JFK against Nixon.” says Keith Brudder, a 72-year-old landscape contractor from the nearby town of Willis. “That’s what the Democrats in charge here want to do, with this mail-in voting. There’s just no way to have accountability for those ballots like you do when people come to the voting booth.”

“In Wayne County alone, more than a million people who weren’t registered to vote in 2018 got to vote anyway, and that’s how Whitmer and these Democrats got elected,” says Matthew Shepard, a retired career military man who drove his hulking, orange paramilitary-style truck 90 minutes south from Shiawassee County to cheer on the president. (He offered no documentation for those statistics.) “That’s the only way Trump loses this election—this mail voting scam.”

 

Deborah Fuqua-Frey, who sits on the board of the Washtenaw County GOP and helped organize the pro-Trump rally here, says the United Auto Workers union “controls the outcome of the 2020 election.” And that terrifies her. “Because nobody knows how to stuff the ballot box like the UAW,” she says. “Trust me, I was a third-generation UAW member, and I know they’re always looking for new ways to cheat. That’s what they’re going to do with the mail system.”

 

According to Fuqua-Frey, this would represent a sinister final attempt to remove Trump from office, after the failure of the Mueller Report, the Ukraine-inspired impeachment process, and, most recently, the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Isn’t it kind of convenient that as soon as impeachment failed, we’ve suddenly got this virus?” she asks, alternating between puffs on a Winston and her inhaler. “This was domestic political terrorism from the Democratic Party. They’ve got all these numbers inflated, especially the deaths. Nobody can explain why nobody’s dying from other causes anymore. Most of these people who are ‘dying from coronavirus’ aren’t actually dying from coronavirus. It’s domestic political terrorism. But Trump will be fine. His voters know better. We aren’t falling for it.”

“This was the most exciting day of my life. Okay, the second-most exciting day, after the birth of my grandkids,” says Paula Stone, an Ypsilanti resident, after the president’s motorcade passes. Tonight, Stone says, like every other night, she’ll watch Fox News and click around the internet and social media for information about the president. But she’s not particularly interested in the highlights of his speech inside the Ford plant.

“I want to know more about this vote-by-mail fraud,” she says. “I’ve heard some shady shit is going down.”

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 106891

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1 hour ago, Message Board User said:

“Isn’t it kind of convenient that as soon as impeachment failed, we’ve suddenly got this virus?” she asks, alternating between puffs on a Winston and her inhaler. “This was domestic political terrorism from the Democratic Party. They’ve got all these numbers inflated, especially the deaths. Nobody can explain why nobody’s dying from other causes anymore. Most of these people who are ‘dying from coronavirus’ aren’t actually dying from coronavirus. It’s domestic political terrorism. But Trump will be fine. His voters know better. We aren’t falling for it.”

This, my friends, should be our new national symbol -- an insane woman alternating puffs on a Winston and an inhaler while spouting irrational nonsense.  If you boiled down America to its purest essence, that's it.

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Tom

Tom 2960

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5 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

This, my friends, should be our new national symbol -- an insane woman alternating puffs on a Winston and an inhaler while spouting irrational nonsense.  If you boiled down America to its purest essence, that's it.

The author could have easily just said alternating puffs on a cigarette and inhaler.  I like that the author included the brand name to show this wasn't any COPD smoker, but someone with COPD smoking one of the most white trash garbage brand of cigarettes.  He really went above and beyond to paint an accurate picture of the modern day Trump supporter.

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Kyrie Eleison

Kyrie Eleison 9312

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2 hours ago, Message Board User said:

JFC.

The effects are already manifest. In conversation after conversation with voters here Thursday, Trump supporters repeatedly—and completely unsolicited—say Democrats are attempting to steal the election from the president.

“I lived in Chicago for six years. We know how Mayor Daley stuffed the ballot box for JFK against Nixon.” says Keith Brudder, a 72-year-old landscape contractor from the nearby town of Willis. “That’s what the Democrats in charge here want to do, with this mail-in voting. There’s just no way to have accountability for those ballots like you do when people come to the voting booth.”

“In Wayne County alone, more than a million people who weren’t registered to vote in 2018 got to vote anyway, and that’s how Whitmer and these Democrats got elected,” says Matthew Shepard, a retired career military man who drove his hulking, orange paramilitary-style truck 90 minutes south from Shiawassee County to cheer on the president. (He offered no documentation for those statistics.) “That’s the only way Trump loses this election—this mail voting scam.”

 

Deborah Fuqua-Frey, who sits on the board of the Washtenaw County GOP and helped organize the pro-Trump rally here, says the United Auto Workers union “controls the outcome of the 2020 election.” And that terrifies her. “Because nobody knows how to stuff the ballot box like the UAW,” she says. “Trust me, I was a third-generation UAW member, and I know they’re always looking for new ways to cheat. That’s what they’re going to do with the mail system.”

 

According to Fuqua-Frey, this would represent a sinister final attempt to remove Trump from office, after the failure of the Mueller Report, the Ukraine-inspired impeachment process, and, most recently, the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Isn’t it kind of convenient that as soon as impeachment failed, we’ve suddenly got this virus?” she asks, alternating between puffs on a Winston and her inhaler. “This was domestic political terrorism from the Democratic Party. They’ve got all these numbers inflated, especially the deaths. Nobody can explain why nobody’s dying from other causes anymore. Most of these people who are ‘dying from coronavirus’ aren’t actually dying from coronavirus. It’s domestic political terrorism. But Trump will be fine. His voters know better. We aren’t falling for it.”

“This was the most exciting day of my life. Okay, the second-most exciting day, after the birth of my grandkids,” says Paula Stone, an Ypsilanti resident, after the president’s motorcade passes. Tonight, Stone says, like every other night, she’ll watch Fox News and click around the internet and social media for information about the president. But she’s not particularly interested in the highlights of his speech inside the Ford plant.

“I want to know more about this vote-by-mail fraud,” she says. “I’ve heard some shady shit is going down.”

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Pescado_Rojo

Pescado_Rojo 19587

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1 hour ago, Tom said:

The author could have easily just said alternating puffs on a cigarette and inhaler.  I like that the author included the brand name to show this wasn't any COPD smoker, but someone with COPD smoking one of the most white trash garbage brand of cigarettes.  He really went above and beyond to paint an accurate picture of the modern day Trump supporter.

Generic would have been better. Winston is name brand, so high falutin rednecks. 

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elfenix

elfenix 34749

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 5/19/2020 at 10:50 PM, Bama Chick said:

Pompeo thread - https://www.surlyhorns.com/board/index.php?/topic/13456-mike-pompeo-is-a-fucking-dunce/

i should have started the rudy thread instead of the pompeo thread.  had a much better title for that one.  'shut your fucking face cousin fucker: the rudy giuliani thread'

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Francisco 2.0

Francisco 2.0 32588

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She's a natural for today's GOP:

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2020/may/22/nevada-congressional-candidate-not-voted-12-years/

Quote

A Republican business owner running for a Southern Nevada congressional seat has not voted in 12 years and did not register to vote until late 2017, county records show.

Lisa Song Sutton, 35, said she was busy focusing on her businesses and community work, including her stint as Miss Nevada in 2014, and wasn’t very politically engaged.

 

Quote

Sutton said in a statement that she was previously registered in Arizona and Florida when she was in college and graduate school.

“Upon finishing school, like many people, I focused on building my career and businesses,” she said in a statement.

Sutton likened herself to many Nevadans who are eligible to vote but did not register or who are registered to vote but choose not to cast ballots.

 

Quote

“I have come to the realization that private sector individuals must come off the sidelines if we truly want to help our communities,” Sutton said. “Many of my supporters are engaging in politics for the very first time.”

Sutton later said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press that the last election she voted in was in 2008, as a Republican. She noted that when she announced her candidacy in an online video, she said, “I haven't always voted.”

 

Quote

She moved to Nevada and Las Vegas in 2010, but did not register to vote in Clark County until December 2017, Clark County voting records show.

Sutton said she registered in 2017 after volunteering with the Asian Community Development Council, which registered her to vote as part of its civic engagement outreach.

Sutton’s businesses include a bakery, a shipping store, a lingerie store and a real estate brokerage.

Sutton's voting record was first reported by The Nevada Independent.

Sutton is running in an eight-candidate GOP primary for Nevada's 4th congressional seat, currently held by Democrat Steven Horsford, which includes areas of Las Vegas and wide stretches of desert and rural towns.

 

 

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berlinerbaer

berlinerbaer 692

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35 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

it gets one layer sicker: potus retweeted that earlier today

Savvy politicians know to shut the fuck up and let their opponent's mistakes come back to bite them. Retweeting this is basically giving Biden a get-out-of-jail-free card following his latest "ain't black" gaffe.

There must be a top-level member of Trump's campaign staff who read that retweet and said to himself "this fuckin' guy".

 

 

 

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Francisco 2.0

Francisco 2.0 32588

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I'm old enough to remember when the GOP had a postmortem after the 2012 election on how they could (checks notes) make the GOP more palatable to a larger group of voters.  Sidenote:  Kushner must have pics of Donald fucking Ivanka, because he keeps getting tabbed for more and more things to do.

 

https://www.axios.com/republican-platform-jared-kushner-56cb19ee-d6c7-409e-93e5-088eebd82825.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=1100

 

Quote

For the past six months, top Trump campaign officials, reporting to Jared Kushner, have been working on a radical overhaul of the Republican Party platform.

Driving the news: The Trump campaign's Bill Stepien has been leading the process, working with campaign colleagues and the Republican National Committee. As with all significant campaign matters, they've been reporting back to Kushner.

 

Quote

The president's son-in-law and top adviser has told confidants he wants to shrink the GOP's extensive platform of policy beliefs and principles down to a single card that fits in people's pockets. That's a huge change. The 2016 platform runs 58 pages — the product of extensive debate and heated negotiations.

Kushner told colleagues he wanted "something like the 10 principles we believe in," per two sources familiar with his comments. He asked Stepien to find historical examples of Republican platforms that look more like a "mission statement," per a source familiar with one of their meetings.

Another source familiar with the discussions pointed to the GOP platform of 1856 as an example of a platform that is similarly short. The source used this example to argue that the idea of a one-page platform isn't so new or radical after all.

 

Quote

At noon on Dec. 19, 2019, Kushner shared some of his thinking with colleagues in the Secretary of War Suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the West Wing of the White House.

From his seat at the center of a long table, Kushner told senior White House and campaign staff that more of their policies should be drawing people to the party, so they ought to eliminate alienating language.

As an example of language that would alienate voters, Kushner said that he didn't want to see anything about "gay conversion therapy" in the 2020 Republican platform.

 

Spoiler

The 2016 Republican platform did not explicitly mention gay conversion therapy, but it included this line: "We support the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children." 

Gay Republicans were furious because they viewed it, accurately, as a coded endorsement for the widely condemned practice that's rejected by major medical associations and whose use on minors is banned in many states and some other countries.

Kushner also argued against rebranding "School Choice" as "Education Freedom Scholarships," because he said the latter phrase doesn't resonate with African Americans.

Two sources said they recalled Kushner making a more sweeping point — that they should rethink using the word "freedom" altogether in the GOP platform because polling showed it doesn't appeal to African Americans. But another source familiar with the Dec. 19 meeting pushed back adamantly against this. 

The source said the only context in which Kushner argued against using the word "freedom" was in the context of rebranding "school choice." The source added that "freedom's a great word" and "should be smartly utilized" in the 2020 Republican platform.

(The Trump administration had been using the phrase "Education Freedom Scholarships" since at least February 2019 — more than nine months before this meeting.)

Between the lines: In developing their ideas for the new GOP platform, the Trump team has kept the information flow to an extremely tight circle. It's unclear who, if any, of the state party leaders — whose delegates will ultimately need to vote on the platform — have visibility of the discussions. And most White House officials have no idea these talks have been happening.

A one-page platform has been drafted, but only a few people have seen it.

Sources familiar with the discussions stressed that this is far from a final product and that ultimately it will be up to the 112 delegates on the platform committee to decide on its language at the Republican National Convention in late August. Then the whole slate of delegates will vote on it. 

The sources also added that multiple options have been drafted.

The big picture: Overhauling the platform is no easy feat. Representatives from disparate and well-funded factions of the Republican Party live for their quadrennial fights over what goes into it, language for everything from hot-button social issues to America's relationships with allies and adversaries. And outside interest groups aggressively lobby to shape its contents.

The Republican Party's 2016 platform is an unwieldy document, outlining the party's positions on topics ranging from "protection against an electromagnetic pulse" to "our tax principles" to the declaration that "the cornerstone of the family is natural marriage, the union of one man and one woman."

The bottom line: “This is a concept that has been driven by the campaign. A more concise platform is just one of many options being discussed, and it is in fact not a new idea," said Tim Murtaugh, the campaign's Director of Communications.  

"As recently as 2016, a more focused platform was considered. Ultimately, the platform committee of the convention will make the decision, but as is the case with all national conventions, the President’s campaign will play a major role. In any event, we expect the 2020 platform to be the most conservative in history and one which will reflect the President’s conservative imprint on the Republican Party,” Murtaugh said.

Our thought bubble: Trump has enormous sway over the party, and his campaign has hustled to ensure states send Trump-friendly, compliant delegates to the convention. His team obviously has a far better chance than it did in 2016 to get their way.

 

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Wiler77

Wiler77 1628

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Posted
On 5/21/2020 at 10:20 PM, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

which America were you born in? This has been gospel and creed among any republican I've known in the 41 years I've been in this earth. Jeebus saves, fuck libtard scientists

Well, the Dems were just slightly less retarded up until 2020.  So I'm not sure it really calls for a victory lap.  Curious what the numbers showed for prior years--maybe the poll didn't exist them.  In case it needs clarification, the American public in general is fucking stupid, and it crosses both aisles.

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 106891

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I'm old enough to remember when the GOP had a postmortem after the 2012 election on how they could (checks notes) make the GOP more palatable to a larger group of voters.  Sidenote:  Kushner must have pics of Donald fucking Ivanka, because he keeps getting tabbed for more and more things to do.
 
https://www.axios.com/republican-platform-jared-kushner-56cb19ee-d6c7-409e-93e5-088eebd82825.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=1100
 
For the past six months, top Trump campaign officials, reporting to Jared Kushner, have been working on a radical overhaul of the Republican Party platform.
Driving the news: The Trump campaign's Bill Stepien has been leading the process, working with campaign colleagues and the Republican National Committee. As with all significant campaign matters, they've been reporting back to Kushner.
 
The president's son-in-law and top adviser has told confidants he wants to shrink the GOP's extensive platform of policy beliefs and principles down to a single card that fits in people's pockets. That's a huge change. The 2016 platform runs 58 pages — the product of extensive debate and heated negotiations.
Kushner told colleagues he wanted "something like the 10 principles we believe in," per two sources familiar with his comments. He asked Stepien to find historical examples of Republican platforms that look more like a "mission statement," per a source familiar with one of their meetings.
Another source familiar with the discussions pointed to the GOP platform of 1856 as an example of a platform that is similarly short. The source used this example to argue that the idea of a one-page platform isn't so new or radical after all.
 
At noon on Dec. 19, 2019, Kushner shared some of his thinking with colleagues in the Secretary of War Suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the West Wing of the White House.
From his seat at the center of a long table, Kushner told senior White House and campaign staff that more of their policies should be drawing people to the party, so they ought to eliminate alienating language.
As an example of language that would alienate voters, Kushner said that he didn't want to see anything about "gay conversion therapy" in the 2020 Republican platform.
 
Spoiler

The 2016 Republican platform did not explicitly mention gay conversion therapy, but it included this line: "We support the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children." 
Gay Republicans were furious because they viewed it, accurately, as a coded endorsement for the widely condemned practice that's rejected by major medical associations and whose use on minors is banned in many states and some other countries.
Kushner also argued against rebranding "School Choice" as "Education Freedom Scholarships," because he said the latter phrase doesn't resonate with African Americans.
Two sources said they recalled Kushner making a more sweeping point — that they should rethink using the word "freedom" altogether in the GOP platform because polling showed it doesn't appeal to African Americans. But another source familiar with the Dec. 19 meeting pushed back adamantly against this. 
The source said the only context in which Kushner argued against using the word "freedom" was in the context of rebranding "school choice." The source added that "freedom's a great word" and "should be smartly utilized" in the 2020 Republican platform.
(The Trump administration had been using the phrase "Education Freedom Scholarships" since at least February 2019 — more than nine months before this meeting.)
Between the lines: In developing their ideas for the new GOP platform, the Trump team has kept the information flow to an extremely tight circle. It's unclear who, if any, of the state party leaders — whose delegates will ultimately need to vote on the platform — have visibility of the discussions. And most White House officials have no idea these talks have been happening.
A one-page platform has been drafted, but only a few people have seen it.
Sources familiar with the discussions stressed that this is far from a final product and that ultimately it will be up to the 112 delegates on the platform committee to decide on its language at the Republican National Convention in late August. Then the whole slate of delegates will vote on it. 
The sources also added that multiple options have been drafted.
The big picture: Overhauling the platform is no easy feat. Representatives from disparate and well-funded factions of the Republican Party live for their quadrennial fights over what goes into it, language for everything from hot-button social issues to America's relationships with allies and adversaries. And outside interest groups aggressively lobby to shape its contents.
The Republican Party's 2016 platform is an unwieldy document, outlining the party's positions on topics ranging from "protection against an electromagnetic pulse" to "our tax principles" to the declaration that "the cornerstone of the family is natural marriage, the union of one man and one woman."
The bottom line: “This is a concept that has been driven by the campaign. A more concise platform is just one of many options being discussed, and it is in fact not a new idea," said Tim Murtaugh, the campaign's Director of Communications.  
"As recently as 2016, a more focused platform was considered. Ultimately, the platform committee of the convention will make the decision, but as is the case with all national conventions, the President’s campaign will play a major role. In any event, we expect the 2020 platform to be the most conservative in history and one which will reflect the President’s conservative imprint on the Republican Party,” Murtaugh said.
Our thought bubble: Trump has enormous sway over the party, and his campaign has hustled to ensure states send Trump-friendly, compliant delegates to the convention. His team obviously has a far better chance than it did in 2016 to get their way.

 

How fucking stupid and pointless. A platform of principles for a party that has none.
I can save them space - we can write the party’s entire platform on a postage stamp: “TRUMP”
That’s it. That’s all they believe in. Whatever he says or does in the moment is their platform.

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Bozo_Casanova

Bozo_Casanova 26850

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30 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

 
 
 
Spoiler

  Reveal hidden contents

The 2016 Republican platform did not explicitly mention gay conversion therapy, but it included this line: "We support the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children." 
Gay Republicans were furious because they viewed it, accurately, as a coded endorsement for the widely condemned practice that's rejected by major medical associations and whose use on minors is banned in many states and some other countries.
Kushner also argued against rebranding "School Choice" as "Education Freedom Scholarships," because he said the latter phrase doesn't resonate with African Americans.
Two sources said they recalled Kushner making a more sweeping point — that they should rethink using the word "freedom" altogether in the GOP platform because polling showed it doesn't appeal to African Americans. But another source familiar with the Dec. 19 meeting pushed back adamantly against this. 
The source said the only context in which Kushner argued against using the word "freedom" was in the context of rebranding "school choice." The source added that "freedom's a great word" and "should be smartly utilized" in the 2020 Republican platform.
(The Trump administration had been using the phrase "Education Freedom Scholarships" since at least February 2019 — more than nine months before this meeting.)
Between the lines: In developing their ideas for the new GOP platform, the Trump team has kept the information flow to an extremely tight circle. It's unclear who, if any, of the state party leaders — whose delegates will ultimately need to vote on the platform — have visibility of the discussions. And most White House officials have no idea these talks have been happening.
A one-page platform has been drafted, but only a few people have seen it.
Sources familiar with the discussions stressed that this is far from a final product and that ultimately it will be up to the 112 delegates on the platform committee to decide on its language at the Republican National Convention in late August. Then the whole slate of delegates will vote on it. 
The sources also added that multiple options have been drafted.
The big picture: Overhauling the platform is no easy feat. Representatives from disparate and well-funded factions of the Republican Party live for their quadrennial fights over what goes into it, language for everything from hot-button social issues to America's relationships with allies and adversaries. And outside interest groups aggressively lobby to shape its contents.
The Republican Party's 2016 platform is an unwieldy document, outlining the party's positions on topics ranging from "protection against an electromagnetic pulse" to "our tax principles" to the declaration that "the cornerstone of the family is natural marriage, the union of one man and one woman."
The bottom line: “This is a concept that has been driven by the campaign. A more concise platform is just one of many options being discussed, and it is in fact not a new idea," said Tim Murtaugh, the campaign's Director of Communications.  
"As recently as 2016, a more focused platform was considered. Ultimately, the platform committee of the convention will make the decision, but as is the case with all national conventions, the President’s campaign will play a major role. In any event, we expect the 2020 platform to be the most conservative in history and one which will reflect the President’s conservative imprint on the Republican Party,” Murtaugh said.
Our thought bubble: Trump has enormous sway over the party, and his campaign has hustled to ensure states send Trump-friendly, compliant delegates to the convention. His team obviously has a far better chance than it did in 2016 to get their way.

 

How fucking stupid and pointless. A platform of principles for a party that has none.
I can save them space - we can write the party’s entire platform on a postage stamp: “TRUMP”
That’s it. That’s all they believe in. Whatever he says or does in the moment is their platform.

I have to admit that I'm fascinated by this exercise, to move towards a unifying slate of (ostensibly) positive unifying basic principles instead of an irrelevant and incoherent grab bag of policy positions. I wish the Democrats would do something similar.

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 106891

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Bozo_Casanova said:

I have to admit that I'm fascinated by this exercise, to move towards a unifying slate of (ostensibly) positive unifying basic principles instead of an irrelevant and incoherent grab bag of policy positions. I wish the Democrats would do something similar.

The concept?  Fascinating.  The execution of that concept by a "political party" that has proudly declared itself as nothing but a cult of personality?  Horrifying.

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Mdhorn

Mdhorn 6166

Posted
Posted
On 5/21/2020 at 11:02 PM, Hugo Stiglitz said:

 

They'll trust science when science backs their bias.  

 

On 5/22/2020 at 11:10 AM, Bama Chick said:

These people are just nauseating.

Deplorables was too kind.

79a26b69e9f52c35dad98ef281568887.jpg

What if DOTARD assisted in spreading pestilence? But I love this in so many ways because it really further divides while not allowing for recalibration or growing their cult.  Outsiders looking in can't understand the attraction.

 

3 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

 
 
 
Spoiler

  Reveal hidden contents

The 2016 Republican platform did not explicitly mention gay conversion therapy, but it included this line: "We support the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children." 
Gay Republicans were furious because they viewed it, accurately, as a coded endorsement for the widely condemned practice that's rejected by major medical associations and whose use on minors is banned in many states and some other countries.
Kushner also argued against rebranding "School Choice" as "Education Freedom Scholarships," because he said the latter phrase doesn't resonate with African Americans.
Two sources said they recalled Kushner making a more sweeping point — that they should rethink using the word "freedom" altogether in the GOP platform because polling showed it doesn't appeal to African Americans. But another source familiar with the Dec. 19 meeting pushed back adamantly against this. 
The source said the only context in which Kushner argued against using the word "freedom" was in the context of rebranding "school choice." The source added that "freedom's a great word" and "should be smartly utilized" in the 2020 Republican platform.
(The Trump administration had been using the phrase "Education Freedom Scholarships" since at least February 2019 — more than nine months before this meeting.)
Between the lines: In developing their ideas for the new GOP platform, the Trump team has kept the information flow to an extremely tight circle. It's unclear who, if any, of the state party leaders — whose delegates will ultimately need to vote on the platform — have visibility of the discussions. And most White House officials have no idea these talks have been happening.
A one-page platform has been drafted, but only a few people have seen it.
Sources familiar with the discussions stressed that this is far from a final product and that ultimately it will be up to the 112 delegates on the platform committee to decide on its language at the Republican National Convention in late August. Then the whole slate of delegates will vote on it. 
The sources also added that multiple options have been drafted.
The big picture: Overhauling the platform is no easy feat. Representatives from disparate and well-funded factions of the Republican Party live for their quadrennial fights over what goes into it, language for everything from hot-button social issues to America's relationships with allies and adversaries. And outside interest groups aggressively lobby to shape its contents.
The Republican Party's 2016 platform is an unwieldy document, outlining the party's positions on topics ranging from "protection against an electromagnetic pulse" to "our tax principles" to the declaration that "the cornerstone of the family is natural marriage, the union of one man and one woman."
The bottom line: “This is a concept that has been driven by the campaign. A more concise platform is just one of many options being discussed, and it is in fact not a new idea," said Tim Murtaugh, the campaign's Director of Communications.  
"As recently as 2016, a more focused platform was considered. Ultimately, the platform committee of the convention will make the decision, but as is the case with all national conventions, the President’s campaign will play a major role. In any event, we expect the 2020 platform to be the most conservative in history and one which will reflect the President’s conservative imprint on the Republican Party,” Murtaugh said.
Our thought bubble: Trump has enormous sway over the party, and his campaign has hustled to ensure states send Trump-friendly, compliant delegates to the convention. His team obviously has a far better chance than it did in 2016 to get their way.

 

How fucking stupid and pointless. A platform of principles for a party that has none.
I can save them space - we can write the party’s entire platform on a postage stamp: “TRUMP”
That’s it. That’s all they believe in. Whatever he says or does in the moment is their platform.

"Trump" to some, "Grifters" to others.  Both are synonymous.  

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Francisco 2.0

Francisco 2.0 32588

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GOP on GOP crime in Idaho.  The Governor and Lt. Governor haven't spoken in some time, and the Lt. Gov is defying the Governor on Covid lockdowns:

 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/idahos-lt-gov-janice-mcgeachin-has-gone-rogue-over-coronavirus

 

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When the Republican governor of Idaho issued a plan to safely reopen businesses in the state, he ordered bars to stay closed until at least June 13. Last weekend, in defiance of those guidelines, Idaho’s lieutenant governor—also a Republican—reopened the tavern she owns with her family in Idaho Falls.

A few days before reopening The Celt Pub and Grill, Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin penned a scathing op-ed in which she slammed Gov. Brad Little’s oversight of the coronavirus pandemic. 

 

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“As Lieutenant Governor, I am one heartbeat away from the governor’s chair,” McGeachin wrote. State residents, she added, were “sidelined and left to watch silently as the government closed Main Street by unilaterally deciding which businesses were ‘essential’ and which ones were not.” 

The definition of “essential” workers came from the White House, not the statehouse, but that was lost in the remarkable animosity between Idaho’s top leaders. According to the Idaho Statesman, McGeachin and Little have not spoken in weeks. 

 

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As the country enters its third month of lockdown amid a slumping economy, right-wing protesters often funded by a network of deep-pocketed conservative groups, have called for states to be “liberated” from a patchwork of measures meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. But public health experts warn that reopening prematurely will only make things worse. Weeks after it reopened, Texas has experienced a surge in COVID-19 deaths.

A majority of Americans, on both sides of the aisle, say the nation is reopening too quickly, but among politicians the dispute is largely split down party lines. In Georgia, the Democratic mayors of Atlanta, Savannah, and Albany are opposed to Republican governor Brian Kemp’s reopening plan, saying it is too early. The Democratic mayor of Des Moines, Frank Cownie, has criticized Iowa governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican, for the same reason. 

 

Spoiler

However, the feud between McGeachin and Little is playing out among two conservatives in a deep red state. Idaho state representative Greg Chaney, a Republican who has been openly critical of McGeachin’s position on reopening, told The Daily Beast he hasn’t seen anything like it in his lifetime. 

“This particular administration has been in office not quite two years, and so their working relationship is relatively new,” said Chaney, “but historically I can't recall a similar example, even [back in the 1980s] when we had a Repubiclan lieutenant governor and a Democratic governor.”

In Idaho, the governor and lieutenant governor are elected individually. Little clinched Idaho’s 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary with 37 percent of the vote; McGeachin won with 29 percent. They both were voted into office with 60 percent of the vote in the general election.

Neither responded to requests for comment for this story.

The day after Little’s broad stay-at-home order eased earlier this month, McGeachin attended a “Disobey Idaho” protest outside the state capitol building. “Disobey Idaho” was organized by the Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF), a right-wing group backed by the conservative State Policy Network. In a blog post, Wayne Hoffman, the IFF’s executive director, told followers that the state, country, and economy “are in a death spiral, inflicted by our elected officials and their teams of ‘health experts.’”

Following her appearance at the demonstration, McGeachin flew to the town of Kendrick with Idaho GOP chairman Raul Labrador to support the reopening of the Hardware Brewery, a local brewpub, which authorities said was restricted from opening until mid-June. A week later, the Idaho State Alcohol Beverage Control Bureau warned the establishment that its liquor license could be pulled if it continued to violate the governor’s order by staying open. 

McGeachin accused Little of abusing his power to “harass and intimidate private businesses.” Hardware Brewery co-owner Christine Lohman took it a step further, comparing Idaho under Little’s leadership to Nazi Germany. 

The brewery has remained open, contrary to state orders, Lohman told The Daily Beast. She said she is unsure if the business will be fined or penalized, but that she has been in touch with the Idaho Department of Health about safety guidelines. The establishment has “met them on some of it,” including canceling events and using paper plates and disposable cutlery, Lohman explained, but said they’re still “trying to work on the social distancing.”

“I don’t have so much of an issue that they want us to do it, but I don't think private businesses should be told by the government to police the public,” she continued. “Our public are critical-thinking adults, for me to say, ‘I need to check your temperature,’ or that only six people can sit together although eight or 10 came in together... I say, ‘When is it going to stop?’”

Lohman and her husband have depleted their retirement savings in an attempt to keep the brewery’s lights on, she said. Little, however, “has not lost his check, he has not lost his medical.”

“The lieutenant governor has more stones than the governor,” said Lohman. “Brad Little has acted like a Democrat through this whole thing, and the people know it. These are people who want their freedom. This is the perfect time for America to fight for its civil rights.”

McGeachin, 57, was a delegate for Donald Trump during the 2016 Republican National Convention, and vice-chair of Idaho’s statewide committee to elect Trump. Her 2018 campaign website for lieutenant governor, which is still active, boasts a photo of her in a MAGA hat alongside Donald Trump Jr., under the headline: “President Trump Keeps Making America Great Again!” 

Born in New Mexico, the staunchly anti-abortion McGeachin is Idaho’s first female lieutenant governor. In addition to The Celt, which opened in 2012, McGeachin and her husband operate a successful auto transmission business. Last year, on the 24th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City by white supremacists, McGeachin administered an oath at a rally hosted by a right-wing militia called the Real Three Percent of Idaho, which the Southern Poverty Law Center says is part of an “extreme anti-government” movement. A month earlier, McGeachin was photographed posing with far-right militia members in what appeared to be a message of support for Todd Engel, who is currently serving a 14-year sentence for his part in an armed confrontation with federal agents.

The escalating conflict seen now between McGeachin and Little is “emblematic of the same chaotic approach to the pandemic we are seeing at the federal level,” Craig Holman, a government affairs expert at the watchdog nonprofit Public Citizen, told The Daily Beast.

“Though Trump and Pence are more or less in agreement, the constant contradicting of senior health officials by Trump has rendered the government's response to the pandemic listless at best,” said Holman. “Fortunately for some states, Trump has now decided to turn over control of the pandemic policies to the states. However, for Idaho, the state response will be as divided and chaotic as it has been at the federal level.”

As a business owner, McGeachin clearly has a financial stake in reopening, though she has pushed back at the idea that her family broke any rules by re-launching dine-in and drink-in service in mid-May.

Under the state order, bars don’t reopen until May 30, but McGeachin said in a Facebook post that The Celt is a restaurant and was allowed to reopen earlier. But she also put The Celt in the same category as Hardware Brewery, which has already been cited for breaking the rules.The Celt says it is taking precautions: operating at 50 percent capacity; capping parties at six people; using paper menus. But while employees are required to wear face masks during their shifts, customers are not. 

That endangers staff as well as other diners in the space, said Luisa Franzini, chair of the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland, College Park.

“There should be social distancing, wearing of masks, and so on,” even for outdoor dining, Franzini told The Daily Beast, adding that she believes indoor dining remains unsafe. “I haven't found two jurisdictions that have the same policy. It makes you feel that your health and safety are really dependent on where you happen to live.”

An employee who answered the phone at The Celt told The Daily Beast that staff members were instructed not to speak with reporters.

Idaho has more than 2,400 confirmed cases of COVID-19 to date.

In some parts of the state, the rate of COVID-19 infections has been low. Of Idaho’s 44 counties, 11 haven’t had a single case, Greg Chaney explained. Yet, he said, Blaine County, where the Sun Valley ski resort is located, at one point exceeded the per capita infection rate of any other place in the country, including New York City—the “hottest spot” in the U.S. 

“I think it’s understandable to express disagreement, or even frustration, given everything that’s going on,” Chaney said, “but I think it’s important that we all look for constructive ways to express that. “While we’re in the heat of the moment, trying to get people to work together to address what’s happening, it’s certainly poor timing to undermine the governor in charge.”

“Governors across the country have proven themselves to be real leaders during this time, particularly given the dearth of strategy from the White House,” adds Democratic strategist Andrew Taverrite. “I would think Idahoans—like the rest of the country—are looking for science-based information rather than political fights right now.”

McGeachin’s stance on reopening doesn’t much surprise Deborah David-Simonds, a retired RN living in Idaho Falls.

David-Simonds notes that while McGeachin has actively encouraged Idahoans to disobey Gov. Little’s stay-at-home order, Little has taken a “thoughtful approach” to reopening. He has listened to advice from state health officials, further drawing criticism from the right, David-Simonds told The Daily Beast. She sees the issue as a health concern, nothing more, and can’t comprehend “why masks are seen as a violation of someone’s constitutional rights.”

And although business closures have taken a great toll on people’s finances, Luisa Franzini urges people to consider the bigger picture.

“Of course there is individual freedom, but the freedom ends when your freedom starts hurting someone else,” she said. “In the case of an epidemic, it’s justified to put some restrictions on people, and some just ideologically are not accepting that.”

 

 

 

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NWBuck

NWBuck 8629

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Interesting article (sorry if the research has a bit of Aggy on it): The Trump effect: New study connects white American intolerance and support for authoritarianism

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Their study finds a correlation between white American's intolerance, and support for authoritarian rule. In other words, when intolerant white people fear democracy may benefit marginalized people, they abandon their commitment to democracy.

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"The GOP has dug itself into such a hole on this that the most practical effort to stave off these impending losses is to disenfranchise the votes of the same ethnic/racial outgroups against whom GOP messaging has been stoking animosity," Miller tells me. A party built on demonizing and attacking marginalized people is a party that will have to disenfranchise those same people if it is to survive.

Blaming authoritarianism on partisanship suggests that both sides are equally to blame for the erosion of democratic norms. But greater commitment to abortion rights and free healthcare in the Democratic party isn't a threat to the foundations of democracy. The growing concentration of intolerant white voters in the GOP, on the other hand, has created a party which appears less and less committed to the democratic project. When faced with a choice between bigotry and democracy, too many Americans are embracing the first while abandoning the second.

"Social intolerance isn't just leading to GOP support as we know it and see it now," Miller says. "It's leading to preferences in favor of the kind of candidate the GOP ultimately nominated and supported for president." In embracing the politics of white identity, then, the GOP made a Trump possible — and is likely to make more Trump-like candidates successful in the future.

 

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