The Many Faces of US Politics...

[J70]

McConnell now backing Trump's futile electoral fraud fantasy.

Both GA senators asking the Republican who is in charge of the elections in Georgia to stand down because he is supposedly overseeing a corrupt election.

They truly are now the party of Trump and QAnon, living in an alternate reality world of their own, with no interest in democracy, only raw power.

It would be laughable if they weren't in power and holding sway over almost half of the population.

These people are sick in the head and this country is fucked.

Men like Barry Goldwater must be rolling over in their graves.

[Eamonnca1]

Don't suppose any of you seen channel 4 news?

Matt Frei was interviewing Brendan Boyle D-PA, and asked him if the internal markets bill in Westminster would mean no trade deal with the US.

The bould Brendan responded with "If the UK moves forward with this Internal Market Bill... there will be no US-UK trade deal – period".

https://www.channel4.com/news/if-the-uk-moves-forward-with-this-internal-market-bill-there-will-be-no-us-uk-trade-deal-period-democratic-congressman-brendan-boyle


I think its one of the few things that there is cross party agreement on in the US. I would think it'd be something they'll happily use to be seen to be cooperating too.

Trouble ahead for "the shapeshifting creep" methinks.

Sure did

Enjoyed the bit where Matt Frei suggested the special relationship would not be between Washington and London but Washington and Dublin

It's been like that for a long time, the Irish have long had more clout in DC than the Brits ever had. The "special relationship" between the UK and the US is something only people in the UK talk about, most yanks have never heard of it. The pro-Europe faction in Britain has recognized this for a long time, and Michael Heseltine has spoken about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6y7ggURro0

[imtommygunn]

I don't know much about the goings on with these court cases and recounts etc. They seem like the shenanigans of a madman clinging on to power however a small part of me is nervous as if this guy were to get back in it would be to a horrendous horrendous thing. Biden probably wouldn't(won't) be great but he would by default bring less division which can only be a good thing in a hugely divided world. He would also keep more check on the brits with brexit etc. For trump to somehow scramble this back is unthinkable really

[Tony Baloney]

McConnell now backing Trump's futile electoral fraud fantasy.

Both GA senators asking the Republican who is in charge of the elections in Georgia to stand down because he is supposedly overseeing a corrupt election.

They truly are now the party of Trump and QAnon, living in an alternate reality world of their own, with no interest in democracy, only raw power.

It would be laughable if they weren't in power and holding sway over almost half of the population.

These people are sick in the head and this country is fucked.

Men like Barry Goldwater must be rolling over in their graves.

See talk earlier that following the firing of the Defense Secretary, Trump might yet have a lash at Iran before he leaves.

[J70]

I don't know much about the goings on with these court cases and recounts etc. They seem like the shenanigans of a madman clinging on to power however a small part of me is nervous as if this guy were to get back in it would be to a horrendous horrendous thing. Biden probably wouldn't(won't) be great but he would by default bring less division which can only be a good thing in a hugely divided world. He would also keep more check on the brits with brexit etc. For trump to somehow scramble this back is unthinkable really

Trump is not going to get back or win this. That is not the issue.

The issue is that he is trying to foment an uprising among his support and that his party don't have the balls, the dignity or the integrity to stand up to him. Its the damage he can do and the fact that he is being indulged when there is simply no basis for it beyond his petulant, fragile ego.

[imtommygunn]

Yeah that to me is a major concern for what happens in four years time too. Even if they don't have trump if they are of that ilk they won't be good. A more clever version of him would not be good.

It feels like a pipe dream etc but the guy just makes me nervous. He is a dangerous man.

[sid waddell]

Yeah that to me is a major concern for what happens in four years time too. Even if they don't have trump if they are of that ilk they won't be good. A more clever version of him would not be good.

It feels like a pipe dream etc but the guy just makes me nervous. He is a dangerous man.

I keep hearing about "a more clever version of Trump", but I'm not sure how you could have one

Surely the key point about Trump is that his outward comedy buffoonery is the perfect persona to put the fantasy world of make believe that is required into practice

A more outwardly clever but duller person would have a harder time doing it, and the dullness would mean they would not attract the same cultish following

The comedy buffoon element is essential

Tucker Carlson, Trump Junior, Ivanka Trump, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley and Mike Pence don't have that comedy buffoon element, they're either dull, as in the case of Pence and Hawley, empty as in the case of Ivanka, or very outwardly nasty and threatening with no comedy element as in the case of Carlson and Trump Junior

Cotton is all three - dull, empty and threatening

So Trump is actually extremely clever in terms of strategy as regards what he is trying to carry out

Trump has created this almost parallel world of weirdness and novelty which never seems to wear off - him being president is like when a TV character from one series suddenly pops up in another series, like if JR Ewing had appeared in character in Glenroe

The scary thing is that I can see there being a very strange yet deep nostalgia for these last four years within quite a short time after January 20th - it has had the world transfixed - and that, I guess, is Trump's real victory - attention for him is like oxygen, and he has secured himself a place in infamy, he will be remembered forever no matter what

In a world where our popular culture has fragmented into a million pieces, nobody knows who's top of the charts and nobody watches the same things, the one element of world popular culture that everybody is familiar with and everybody has an opinion on is Trump

He has made American politics the new English football

He has been in some ways been a comforting figure mentally - whether you love him or hate him - and non-crazy people despise him

He has to an extent allowed the world to retreat into comforting certainties because everybody is so sure about their opinion of him - yet he has also demolished certainties within the minds of people - he has provoked a massive drive in people to learn, through both American history and world history, and psychology, about the true danger he today represents

He makes people feel energised either in cultish adulation or outright disgust, he makes people feel alive  - I myself have felt genuinely electrified and have had a very conscious sense of living through something huge over the last week

Yet conversely he also makes every day a mentally and emotionally draining grind - I suppose that why the last week has felt so electric

He is a throwback to a time when many major news stories were imagined as good v evil - and in this case, that good v evil narrative is actually true, because he is f**king appalling in a very real sense - a shameless, bloodsucking ghoul

If he didn't exist we would almost have had to invent him

[screenexile]

Lou Dobbs interviewing Giuliani . . . Hillary Clinton orchestrated the whole thing and there was collusion across states East and West to not let observers see the mail in ballots!!

[J70]

Lou Dobbs interviewing Giuliani . . . Hillary Clinton orchestrated the whole thing and there was collusion across states East and West to not let observers see the mail in ballots!!

I'm sure Soros is in there too.

Which is the point.

This is all about rabble rousing, chaos and, I'm sure, fund raising.

Whatever about Trump himself, the rest of them are under no illusions about him actually winning this thing.

[An Watcher]

Just reading up on Brendan Boyle. His father is from Glencolumbkille and emigrated in 1970.  Some story

[whitey]

Just reading up on Brendan Boyle. His father is from Glencolumbkille and emigrated in 1970.  Some story

Definitely a rising star

Hopefully AOC and the other Nazis don't take him out at the knees

[Eamonnca1]

Play your part in finishing the job of taking back the senate. Don't let these 2 remaining Georgia senate seats slip back into the hands of Mitch "block everything then blame the Democrats for getting nothing done" McConnell. Write postcards to Dem voters in Georgia and make sure they see how important it is that they get out and vote these monsters out:

https://postcardstovoters.org/

[Eamonnca1]

Yeah that to me is a major concern for what happens in four years time too. Even if they don't have trump if they are of that ilk they won't be good. A more clever version of him would not be good.

It feels like a pipe dream etc but the guy just makes me nervous. He is a dangerous man.

I keep hearing about "a more clever version of Trump", but I'm not sure how you could have one

Surely the key point about Trump is that his outward comedy buffoonery is the perfect persona to put the fantasy world of make believe that is required into practice

A more outwardly clever but duller person would have a harder time doing it, and the dullness would mean they would not attract the same cultish following

The comedy buffoon element is essential

Tucker Carlson, Trump Junior, Ivanka Trump, Tom Cotton, Josh Hawley and Mike Pence don't have that comedy buffoon element, they're either dull, as in the case of Pence and Hawley, empty as in the case of Ivanka, or very outwardly nasty and threatening with no comedy element as in the case of Carlson and Trump Junior

Cotton is all three - dull, empty and threatening

So Trump is actually extremely clever in terms of strategy as regards what he is trying to carry out

Trump has created this almost parallel world of weirdness and novelty which never seems to wear off - him being president is like when a TV character from one series suddenly pops up in another series, like if JR Ewing had appeared in character in Glenroe

The scary thing is that I can see there being a very strange yet deep nostalgia for these last four years within quite a short time after January 20th - it has had the world transfixed - and that, I guess, is Trump's real victory - attention for him is like oxygen, and he has secured himself a place in infamy, he will be remembered forever no matter what

In a world where our popular culture has fragmented into a million pieces, nobody knows who's top of the charts and nobody watches the same things, the one element of world popular culture that everybody is familiar with and everybody has an opinion on is Trump

He has made American politics the new English football

He has been in some ways been a comforting figure mentally - whether you love him or hate him - and non-crazy people despise him

He has to an extent allowed the world to retreat into comforting certainties because everybody is so sure about their opinion of him - yet he has also demolished certainties within the minds of people - he has provoked a massive drive in people to learn, through both American history and world history, and psychology, about the true danger he today represents

He makes people feel energised either in cultish adulation or outright disgust, he makes people feel alive  - I myself have felt genuinely electrified and have had a very conscious sense of living through something huge over the last week

Yet conversely he also makes every day a mentally and emotionally draining grind - I suppose that why the last week has felt so electric

He is a throwback to a time when many major news stories were imagined as good v evil - and in this case, that good v evil narrative is actually true, because he is f**king appalling in a very real sense - a shameless, bloodsucking ghoul

If he didn't exist we would almost have had to invent him

I wonder if someone like Sean Hannity would fancy a presidential run. He's used to roaring at the camera, but it wouldn't be a huge leap to roaring at a crowd. And someone with an ego his size would probably relish it. He'd be a lot more dangerous than Trump because he might actually know where the levers of power are, as opposed to Donald "I hereby send this tweet and it shall be done" Trump.

[sid waddell]

Just reading up on Brendan Boyle. His father is from Glencolumbkille and emigrated in 1970.  Some story

Definitely a rising star

Hopefully AOC and the other Nazis don't take him out at the knees

The far right have lost their minds, that's why they're far right

To them, everybody left of the Nazis is a Nazi

Good example of that phenomenon here

[sid waddell]

I wonder if someone like Sean Hannity would fancy a presidential run. He's used to roaring at the camera, but it wouldn't be a huge leap to roaring at a crowd. And someone with an ego his size would probably relish it. He'd be a lot more dangerous than Trump because he might actually know where the levers of power are, as opposed to Donald "I hereby send this tweet and it shall be done" Trump.

Wouldn't massively surprise me

He's very Trump-like in his style and appearance and certainly has the ego

But Fox is widely despised, and Hannity has been a political operative all his life, he is despised outside of his echo chamber

Trump was despised too, mind

Carlson has a permanently scowling face and cannot smile

Hannity has perfected that fake, cheesy smile, almost a grin, beloved of so many right-wing Americans and a fake macho man image so you can see how he would attract a cult following around him

Don't know why I didn't think of him in my earlier post, actually

I agree he would be extremely dangerous