Quote :

" I think the Dems have shifted left"

how?

11/19/2023 12:24:50 AM

Quote :

"Yeah, I used to be one of them, but FUCK THAT! It's a brainless death cult these days. And not to suggest that my previously-held positions were well-reasoned or defensible."

Same. Grew up Republican and mostly stuck with those beliefs through my time at NCSU and even a bit after that, although getting out of my small town and in Raleigh helped expand my horizons. I was more on the fiscal conservative side and didn't give a shit about legislating morality, drugs, abortions, as I was more libertarian in that sense (do what you want as long as it doesn't bother me, I don't give a shit). I thought Trump had no chance as a candidate, but I have also disliked him since the 90's. The way the Republican party talked shit about him in the primaries and then couldn't stop fawning over him once he became the candidate was one of the grossest things I had ever seen. These previously "principled" politicians lined up to kiss the ring to one of the most narcissistic people blew my mind. By then I had already been voting on both sides at times depending on the candidates, but after MAGA took over the Republican party I can't in good conscience vote for them anymore. So yeah, another reformed Republican still here on TWW.

11/19/2023 11:39:57 AM

I’m not reformed. I haven’t changed much. I don’t think I needed reformation.

They’re just really fucked up now, so much so that the Dems are easily the lesser evil.

11/19/2023 9:54:13 PM

I, too, don't let new information change my mind about opinions I developed as a teenager.

11/20/2023 1:32:20 AM

I'm trying to think how dems shifted left. I guess technically obama ran on opposing gay marriage, and now democrats support transgender rights. But we all knew obama was just saying that to appear centrist, and democrats only support transgender people because republicans started attacking them-- of course we're going to defend them. It's not like there was an organic movement within the DNC to push transgender rights, less than 1% of the population, as a major issue.

11/20/2023 11:02:31 AM

https://www.slowboring.com/p/shifting-left

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-the-democrats-have-shifted-left-over-the-last-30-years/

https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/both-white-and-nonwhite-democrats-are-moving-left/#:~:text=Democratic%20voters%20moved%20sharply%20to,it%20is%20among%20Republican%20voters.

^^ I shifted considerably overall to the center and sometimes even to the left since I was a teenager. Since early-to-mid 20s (i.e., the last 2 decades or a little more), my views have been pretty much the same. Minor shifts here and there.

11/20/2023 8:35:07 PM

^^why is your focus on Obama?

11/20/2023 8:53:26 PM

https://www.npr.org/2023/12/06/1217562544/trump-and-insiders-craft-plans-for-unprecedented-power

12/6/2023 4:20:02 PM

America, please don't be stupid enough to elect this guy again. RIP USA.

12/6/2023 6:58:53 PM

https://collecttrumpcards.com/#Suit

Lmao, their campaign fundraising is crazy.
Taking a smart advantage of the cult following

12/12/2023 1:50:35 PM

Quote :

"The Most Historically Significant Artifact in United States History"

Poon S, Singapore

12/12/2023 6:48:58 PM

wayment....they're selling their shit via crypto???

12/12/2023 10:54:01 PM

Quote :

"The Most Historically Significant Artifact in United States History"

I mean, if the Constitution is worthless...then sure.



[Edited on December 13, 2023 at 4:30 PM. Reason : ]

12/13/2023 4:29:24 PM

^^

Unlimited foreign donations

12/15/2023 12:28:51 AM

I thought republican shtick was crypto funds terrorists

12/15/2023 10:33:05 AM

I tried looking it up and it appears that 47 trading cards is just under 5k…they’re 99 each. So, you can get dinner with Trump for just 4600? Seems kind of a low amount. I assume this would be some dinner in a yuge hall with hundreds of other folks.

12/15/2023 12:47:11 PM

It's probably a "virtual" dinner

12/15/2023 12:50:08 PM

No, it's at his place in Florida. But yeah, it's in a ball room type thing.

12/15/2023 1:24:48 PM

The experience of a lifetime for the diehards to dine on Trump's table scraps.

12/15/2023 5:30:03 PM

Quote :

"4900 DOLLAR HAMBURDERS"

12/15/2023 6:45:23 PM

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/16/trump-immigrants-new-hampshire-rally

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1736113307319210375


What do you call this instead of dog whistle? Dog megaphone?

12/16/2023 7:59:12 PM

I've just noticed. You can tell by the way they say "country." Vivek and Trump have the way they speak in common, not just rhetorically, like the accent they give on certain words and endings.
Is it just me?

12/17/2023 11:01:52 AM

Colorado said, "You're fired!"

Probably won't stand, but credit to them for trying since nobody else is doing shit.

12/19/2023 6:31:42 PM

Not sure how I feel about this

12/19/2023 7:27:23 PM

Well, how do you feel about a dangerous traitorous demagogue having a fairly high probability of becoming president again and everyone just shrugging?

12/19/2023 7:42:17 PM

Not so good

12/19/2023 8:21:20 PM

Yeah, same.

12/19/2023 8:27:10 PM

Trump shouldn’t sweat this at all. He’d do at worst 2nd place as a write in candidate

12/19/2023 9:54:17 PM

The ruling almost certainly won't stand. There's enough ambiguity in the text as to whether it covers a Presidential candidate that I suspect the SC will err on the side of caution and toss that portion and put Orange Jesus back on the ballot.
I also reluctantly give a bit of credence to the due process concerns of one of the dissents. As much as I think Cheeto should be DQed, he should be convicted of the crime first. Seems like that has been the general procedure for others recently.

12/19/2023 11:05:52 PM

Colorado has been a blue state since before I was born, so it won't really matter

12/19/2023 11:12:08 PM

^^

gonna reaffirm this as my thoughts

12/19/2023 11:23:34 PM

Then again, the Court has recently been on a kick that state courts get to make decisions about state elections, so... I'll risky hold my breath for them to be consistent about that...

12/19/2023 11:58:09 PM

The typical timelines of due process inclusive of the expected multiple appeals and delays do not dovetail with national election cycles. This is problematic when theoretically an election winner can self-pardon for the charges likely to be still pending.

12/20/2023 7:35:36 AM

Dumb shit like what CO just did will only help Trump in the election.

12/20/2023 8:22:17 AM

How will that appreciably help?

12/20/2023 8:50:58 AM

It can't help him if he's not on the ballet.

12/20/2023 8:54:28 AM

Quote :

"The typical timelines of due process inclusive of the expected multiple appeals and delays do not dovetail with national election cycles. This is problematic when theoretically an election winner can self-pardon for the charges likely to be still pending."

Of course. It's especially problematic with a candidate such as Trump who so effectively abuses the protections provided by the Constitution at every turn, especially in the courts. Is the solution then to throw out those protections for everyone just so that Trump can't abuse them?

On some level, we can blame Jack Smith for slow-walking the investigations here. We should also blame Trump for obstructing the investigations by asserting ludicrous levels of privilege over plainly non-privileged things, but, frankly, Smith had plenty of time to get the ball moving on this earlier. But, what I wouldn't want to see is a scenario where the courts decide what an insurrection is at an accelerated timescale, either. This is the current GOP frontrunner. DQ-ing him should be as airtight as possible, if only for international legitimacy.

Also, recognize that whatever you do to Trump can and will be done by him to others. If you take shortcuts to declare he was part of an insurrection, he and his sycophants will do the same. Due process via a conviction in the courts is the best answer against that, unfortunately. Otherwise, he will come out and claim that Joe Biden's endorsement of BLM counts as an insurrection (and believe me, some of Cheeto's suporters wholeheartedly believe that), and he might be able to get a few of the more partisan state SCs to agree (I'm looking at you, NC).

I don't think the 14th Amendment was designed to act on current election cycles. It certainly wasn't designed with the idea that the fucking President was involved. Much of the Constitution wasn't designed for a candidate this shitty. The whole situation is garbage at this point, and the real solution is for the GOP to have the moral fortitude to stand up against Trump. They don't, so here we are. The other solution is for the Dems to run somebody palatable, which shouldn't be that high of a bar; but, well, they have their own problems at this point, so a decliningly lucid octogenarian is their best shot. Yaaaaaaaaaay America!

12/20/2023 10:20:54 AM

Yes, pretty depressing overall.

Quote :

"Is the solution then to throw out those protections for everyone just so that Trump can't abuse them?"

Undecided.

The current GOP is rarely bound by history or convention. Of course, I would prefer not to need to break down conventions that would later be used against those who broke them first, but I'm also not sure that not breaking them is in any way preventative or protective. This is an existential threat of sorts that may require some new ways of thinking. Not that the republic will cease to exist, but of course it will never be the same. I think it is important to take reasonable efforts to head off a vindictive and mentally unstable dictator.

12/20/2023 12:56:03 PM

What do you think Trump would do if he got elected?

12/20/2023 1:20:14 PM

And here we go

https://www.wral.com/story/nc-republicans-rush-to-protect-trump-as-effort-to-ban-him-from-2024-ballots-gains-momentum/21204436/

Quote :

"U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis said he would file a bill in Congress to strip federal elections funding from any state that cites the 14th Amendment to ban Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot. North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore wants to ban the NC Board of Elections from being able to make those kinds of decisions."

[Edited on December 20, 2023 at 3:02 PM. Reason : ]

12/20/2023 3:02:37 PM

Quote :

"Trump is facing multiple criminal charges for his alleged support of the Jan. 6 attack, which was meant to keep him in office despite losing the 2020 election. Like all other criminal defendants he's considered innocent until proven guilty. However, courts have held since the 19th century — including the North Carolina Supreme Court — that someone doesn't need to be convicted of insurrection-related crimes to be deemed a supporter of an insurrection and therefore banned from holding office."

12/20/2023 3:53:36 PM

Quote :

"What do you think Trump would do if he got elected?"

Continue to be an insufferable asshole, but again imbued with the power of the Presidency and now with no concern about re-election and surrounded by an army of complete sycophants with an organized plan to further increase Presidential power to accomplish their policy goals.

More specifically, pardon himself and his cronies (as well as possibly anyone charged related to January 6), pull out of important environmental agreements again, truly weaponize the justice department to persecute anyone he perceives to have wronged him, appoint additional extreme conservative justices to the Supreme Court, genuflect to strongmen, piss off our allies, ignore and contradict science at the highest possible official level, and continue to break behavioral norms and hollow out cherished American institutions that have taken generations to build.

That's an absolute minimum. It won't be good.

12/20/2023 8:17:54 PM

^

Quote :

"hollow out cherished American institutions that have taken generations to build. "

Yeah, that's my main concern. In between governments and presidents, having a strong 'state' is important to maintain stability. If that starts to wither, that's how a country begins to fall.

The Coz of our destruction

12/20/2023 11:41:32 PM

Oh, if Trump wins again it's all over. Biden just kicks the can down 4 more years if he's re-elected, but Trump's next term will be far, far worse than his first.

12/21/2023 5:00:22 PM

If Biden wins, Trump is convicted of felonies in 4 different courts before 2028. They've got him dead-to-rights in all 4 cases. He's playing a delaying game, because he and his attorneys know it. That *might* be enough for the GOP to finally drop him. Might.

12/21/2023 5:41:10 PM

Quote :

"Oh, if Trump wins again it's all over"

what does that exactly constitute in your eyes

12/21/2023 6:05:56 PM

The country devolve into an authoritarian dictatorship. Or civil war. Or both.

12/21/2023 6:34:43 PM

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2023/12/21/donald-trump-recorded-pressuring-wayne-canvassers-not-to-certify-2020-vote-michigan/72004514007/

lordy, there are tapes

12/21/2023 7:49:58 PM

No one not already decided to vote against Trump cares.

12/21/2023 9:05:26 PM

Ronna Romney should be charged and go to jail

Will honestly be amazing to see this happen

Guiliani just went down, hopefully all these morons who think trump will save them realize trump will just discard them as soon as they’re not useful

12/22/2023 12:19:58 AM