likely a comment I will regret but here goes. Looking at Wikipedia South Dakota Governor portrait. Those very long hair extensions may be vulnerable to any activity that may surround her.
What I don't understand is why on earth you, Miles Taylor, and all the Generals, and Cabinet secretaries and advisors who actually saw what he did and attempted to do- why didn't some of you, all of you speak out then?? I'm sick to death of all of it and of all of you who failed to speak out when it could have mattered.
First, it's not really fair to have expected the top brass to speak out because the military has a doctrinal aversion to getting involved in politics in any way, which is our lauded tradition of civilian control of the military. And look what immediately happened to Alexander Vindman.
As for the others, the thinking was if they spoke out, they'd be instantly exiled from TrumpWorld and their replacements would be much worse. That's the Adults In the Room theory that Miles Taylor and Anonymous at least bought into. The Internal Resistance.
As for the lower level hangers-on, Omarosa, Stephanie Grisham, etc., there's very little use for it beyond wanting to save the juicy stuff for a book they think will exonerate them. Heh.
As for the bottom-rung staffers who went the full mile with the J6 Committee, Cassidy Hutchinson, Sarah Matthews, Olivia Troye, Alyssa Griffin, I have nothing but praise for their introspection on this. Imagine how tough that decision would be at that young age.
I completely agree that it is up to us, the voters, to save our American system of government with all of its checks and balances. But when I envision a Biden win, even if it is (hopefully) by a landslide, all I can see is violence. I’m an optimist, a glass half full kinda gal, but I don’t see any possible way that MAGA won’t fight, both figuratively and literally, a Biden win. I believe that all of the so-called militias are right now planning and practicing for that day.
I'm less worried, Cathy, and here's why: Trump had been calling for protests in front of the Manhattan courthouse and the turnout has been less than pathetic and lately, almost nonexistent. He has to gin up astroturfed "ralles" at a construction site and a bodega with the help of the NY Young Republicans. And while, sure, Manhattan voted overwhelmingly for Biden, 85k people in that borough voted for Trump. And then there's Staten Island (70% Trump) and North Jersey. Tri-State Metro is the most densely populated conurbation in the US.
So where are the angry Trumpers? Maybe because J6 taught them a lesson. I think mainly because it's one thing when you're in power and Trump could sell a vision of himself as near-omnipotent and all he needed was a little push at the end. It's another thing when you've decisively lost an election as a challenger. Likely Trump voters may be overrepresented in the polls; there's not a lot of enthusiasm for Trump this time around. It's one thing to say we don't like Biden, let's try something different. Rationalizing Trump's baggage for any voter not his hardcore base is mentally exhausting. And his hardcore base don't want to be J6'ed again.
There may be _some_ violence, of course. But I predict much less than on J6.
Well now we know the camps will be in South Dakota with Kristi taking recalcitrants out to the gravel pits. Where no one can hear them scream. She’s gonna be the death camp cutie in Trump 2.0. Too icky to be veep.
I mean, the memes just pop all over the place. Kristi's head in a German officer's cap photoshopped into a poster for one of those 60s soft S&M sexploitation flicks about Ilse Koch, the Beast of Belsen.
She actually wrote that to show off her MAGA street cred, that she'd be the one to do the ugly but necessary jobs like shooting a puppy in the face and torturing a goat to death for, you know, smelling like a goat. And then her daughter shows up and goes "Where's Cricket?"
She writes this stuff down in a book. To show to people. I guess we shouldn't be surprised for a woman who's been banned by three Native American nations from ever setting foot on 18% of her own state. Hey Trump, you got illegals at the border to eliminate? Gimme the shotgun.
This won't matter to Trump. He hates dogs. I hope to gods he picks her; the campaign ads would write themselves. She makes Sarah Palin look like Elizabeth Warren, ROTFL.
Oh, and she's another spouse cheater. With Corey Lewandowski. Sarah's got nothing on this one.
this WILL matter to Trump—remember all he cares about is how things LOOK. If you want to know what he thinks women should be doing look at Melania or Ivanka. I used to work on a bond trading floor and heard a trader tell a woman on her first day as a trader that she should “just sit there and look pretty.” In Trump world, women do not shoot animals and pose with their carcasses, as Noem likes to do. Women should not be doing the shooting—that is for the menfolk.
Kristi Noem has consigned herself to the Trumpian underworld of toads and morlocks like Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon—too ugly and greasy or sweaty to be seen in public facing roles, but vital in the execution of his vile strategy.
I understand this, Jenn, but I don't know if I fully share it. Kristi has the looks angle covered, the collagen-injected trout lips and hair extensions, the slender, shapley bod. Honestly (thinking in Trump terms) she's hotter than Kari Lake, who has that soft-focus, desexualized TV weathergirl aura. THAT's what Trump cares about, beyond slavish loyalty and a lack of their own power base. Like Mike Pence, whose career had just about tanked before Trump picked him as evangelical validator. And Kristi Noem may well have tanked her own power base by shooting a puppy.
Miller and Bannon never fancied themselves as politicians; they're ideologists and inside operators. But women politicians face an inordinate pressure to be "as tough as a man," something which plagued Hillary Clinton's political career. Remember when Joni Ernst -- another farm girl -- bragged about castrating hogs? That probably helped her campaign because Iowans understand that as what farmers and ranchers have to do. But dogs -- let alone puppies -- are not livestock. Shooting a puppy in the face that could (and should) have been re-homed and retrained is likely a bridge too far, even for MAGA farmers and ranchers. Americans _love_ their pets.
And let's not forget Sarah Palin, who delighted in hunting with an AR-15 from a helicopter. She was not someone to shy away from posing with a moose carcass. Women hunters aren't the political turnoff. Women puppy shooters are.
I'd argue (and you don't have to agree with me) that this incident could make it _more_ likely that Trump picks her as VP. Doubtless there's outrage brewing in SD because what Noem did is actionable animal cruelty. If Noem feels her political career is at risk from this, Trump could swoop down and rescue her, the way he rescued Mike Pence from the fallout from RFRA. All it would take is for Trump to have no feelings about shooting puppies. Box checked. And then Kristi would be beholden to her big, strong knight in shining armor and forever in his pocket. Like Pence.
Only Mike Pence, ultimately, had enough of a shred of Christian morality to repudiate an insurrection. Kristi Noem is a fellow sociopath.
I understand your argument, but here’s another thing to think about. Kristi Noem has also exhibited a certain ruthlessness. Does Donald Trump want a ruthless killer sitting behind him knowing that she is a few heartbeats away from the presidency? I think he wants a soft, beta, slavish loyalist. And the oppo ads write themselves. Trump hates dogs but understands that Muricans LOVE dogs so he will absolutely understand “Vote for Trump and the puppy killer” is toxic. She’s toast unless he’s so demented he can’t see that she has instantly exposed what Trumpism is all about.
A long time ago, I worked in the brokerage/investment banking industry. Read “Bonfire of the Vanities” by Tom Wolfe and you will see the world in which I received my training courtesy of Merrill Lynch (RIP). It was a world that would not let Donald Trump in. He was a real estate guy. He was not a Master of the Universe as were the financial guys. New York real estate in the mid 1980’s was kind of grubby and cheap (by New York standards) due to a half decade of ruinously high interest rates and the general griminess at the time of New York. All of this MAGA nonsense is people like Trump who were laughed at, or snubbed, or condemned as “low class” in the communities where they craved acceptance. It’s like the Stephen King novel “Carrie” has infested our politics.
Isn't it wonderfully ironic that the softest, beta-est beta of all, Mike Pence, was the only one to finally stand up to Trump when it mattered most?
I read Bonfire in college; great novel. And I'm fully versed in Trumpology starting with Wayne Barrett in his early-80s Village Voice columns. I know of the clubhouse machine politics culture Donald and Fred came up in, that Fred basically bilked the FHA to build housing for the returning GIs and then used his business to launder mob money. I can well imagine the lifetime of resentment from Trump pressing his grubby orange nose up against the cut crystal to ogle a world that would never let him in. I can just imagine the sheer, sadistic glee he must have taken when his undocumented Polish laborers took sledgehammers to the priceless Bonwit Teller bas-reliefs he promised to preserve. One can only imagine what that resentment feels now sitting all day in a shabby Manhattan courtroom.
You run a presidential campaign with the VP picks you have, not the ones you want. I get your point about Kristi being a killer, but Trump saw what happened when he chose a goody two shoes; that's why I think Tim Scott has no chance. I don't know how strategically Trump thinks about oppo; after all, he managed to survive the Access Hollywood tape and he's prone to taking his political cues from wingnut randos, although I'm sure Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles would be horrified if he picked Kristi. Kari's just too thirsty for it; Trump despises the thirsty. DeSantis has been too damaged. I don't think Nikki would entertain it at this point, and she'd be more of a threat of a knife in his back than Kristi. Nikki's likely more ruthless than Kristi.
I'm not saying it's a done deal but I can see the reasons for a Kristi pick; your argument about the obvious optics is well-taken. But nothing Trump loves more than holding his favors over someone.
But they are secret favors. Noem is toast. I can just hear Ivanka: “Daddy, she shot a puppy in a gravel pit. That’s so low class and you know the base loves their disgusting dogs.”
I still remember the weekend that Merrill let us out of jail and our class of Pacific Northwest rubes and barbarians got off the train under the World Trade Center and just wandered up from the financial district, gawking and mocking and absorbing. The guys somehow needed to buy cigars and smoke them…whatever. This was spring 1986. We were one of the first classes of Merrill trainees to be educated in Princeton, NJ rather than being penned up at the Barbizon hotel.
It isn’t going to happen Rick. Can’t you guys try to propel folks to action? Like push the Indivisible teams, letter writing, texting, phonebanking. Do a video on how to engage the college folks at campuses across the US. Have Dem parents make it mandatory that the kids whom they pay the bills for at least read about Pr0ject2025? Doom and gloom, we are done with that. If they can squash my husband’s work that would have saved gazillions a life and property, they will not stop. Wildfires, screw it, they did it on all hazards. We need action oriented role outs. Cute girls in Biden tees with dark sunglasses, make it sexy. It sells hell, just do a coffee mug. Engage and lets get it done. Hasn’t anyone seen Handmaid’s Tale? That will be a dream Utopia if they get in.
I haven't read the article, but there's an MSNBC headline in my sidebar about how TrumpCo wants to take the Fed under its wing and make it lose its independence. The King of Debt wants to drop interest rates down to near-zero again for a cheap stock market sugar high.
Don't ever let a MAGAloid tell you they're concerned about inflation again without, well, if you don't want to punch them or throw a pie in their face (the best option), at least laughing loudly at them.
This November, it’s crystal clear. As Trump and MAGA Republicans align with the filthy rich and massive corporations, President Biden firmly holds his ground, committed to making sure the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes, all to the benefit of hardworking American families 🇺🇸
If SCOTUS doesn't specifically rule that Trump doesn't have immunity before the election, then democracy is well and truly dead!
We are all sick of talking about him, you guys, but there are still too many people on his side. Or fooled by him or whatever it is, we gotta get to them or outnumber them and try to fix what made them.
How to Prevent "GOP MASS PSYCHOSIS - How an Entire Population Becomes MENTALLY ILL"
❤️ Discredit totalitarian propaganda everywhere
🤣 Mock GOP worship of dictators
❤️ Promote moral organizations
❤️ Actions by everyone creates freedom
https://youtu.be/09maaUaRT4M
likely a comment I will regret but here goes. Looking at Wikipedia South Dakota Governor portrait. Those very long hair extensions may be vulnerable to any activity that may surround her.
I think she and Lara Trump may share a plastic surgeon.
What I don't understand is why on earth you, Miles Taylor, and all the Generals, and Cabinet secretaries and advisors who actually saw what he did and attempted to do- why didn't some of you, all of you speak out then?? I'm sick to death of all of it and of all of you who failed to speak out when it could have mattered.
First, it's not really fair to have expected the top brass to speak out because the military has a doctrinal aversion to getting involved in politics in any way, which is our lauded tradition of civilian control of the military. And look what immediately happened to Alexander Vindman.
As for the others, the thinking was if they spoke out, they'd be instantly exiled from TrumpWorld and their replacements would be much worse. That's the Adults In the Room theory that Miles Taylor and Anonymous at least bought into. The Internal Resistance.
As for the lower level hangers-on, Omarosa, Stephanie Grisham, etc., there's very little use for it beyond wanting to save the juicy stuff for a book they think will exonerate them. Heh.
As for the bottom-rung staffers who went the full mile with the J6 Committee, Cassidy Hutchinson, Sarah Matthews, Olivia Troye, Alyssa Griffin, I have nothing but praise for their introspection on this. Imagine how tough that decision would be at that young age.
I completely agree that it is up to us, the voters, to save our American system of government with all of its checks and balances. But when I envision a Biden win, even if it is (hopefully) by a landslide, all I can see is violence. I’m an optimist, a glass half full kinda gal, but I don’t see any possible way that MAGA won’t fight, both figuratively and literally, a Biden win. I believe that all of the so-called militias are right now planning and practicing for that day.
I hope I’m wrong.
I'm less worried, Cathy, and here's why: Trump had been calling for protests in front of the Manhattan courthouse and the turnout has been less than pathetic and lately, almost nonexistent. He has to gin up astroturfed "ralles" at a construction site and a bodega with the help of the NY Young Republicans. And while, sure, Manhattan voted overwhelmingly for Biden, 85k people in that borough voted for Trump. And then there's Staten Island (70% Trump) and North Jersey. Tri-State Metro is the most densely populated conurbation in the US.
So where are the angry Trumpers? Maybe because J6 taught them a lesson. I think mainly because it's one thing when you're in power and Trump could sell a vision of himself as near-omnipotent and all he needed was a little push at the end. It's another thing when you've decisively lost an election as a challenger. Likely Trump voters may be overrepresented in the polls; there's not a lot of enthusiasm for Trump this time around. It's one thing to say we don't like Biden, let's try something different. Rationalizing Trump's baggage for any voter not his hardcore base is mentally exhausting. And his hardcore base don't want to be J6'ed again.
There may be _some_ violence, of course. But I predict much less than on J6.
Well now we know the camps will be in South Dakota with Kristi taking recalcitrants out to the gravel pits. Where no one can hear them scream. She’s gonna be the death camp cutie in Trump 2.0. Too icky to be veep.
Death camp cutie, outstanding ;)
Remember the band Death Cab For Cutie?
That was where I got the idea
I mean, the memes just pop all over the place. Kristi's head in a German officer's cap photoshopped into a poster for one of those 60s soft S&M sexploitation flicks about Ilse Koch, the Beast of Belsen.
She actually wrote that to show off her MAGA street cred, that she'd be the one to do the ugly but necessary jobs like shooting a puppy in the face and torturing a goat to death for, you know, smelling like a goat. And then her daughter shows up and goes "Where's Cricket?"
She writes this stuff down in a book. To show to people. I guess we shouldn't be surprised for a woman who's been banned by three Native American nations from ever setting foot on 18% of her own state. Hey Trump, you got illegals at the border to eliminate? Gimme the shotgun.
This won't matter to Trump. He hates dogs. I hope to gods he picks her; the campaign ads would write themselves. She makes Sarah Palin look like Elizabeth Warren, ROTFL.
Oh, and she's another spouse cheater. With Corey Lewandowski. Sarah's got nothing on this one.
this WILL matter to Trump—remember all he cares about is how things LOOK. If you want to know what he thinks women should be doing look at Melania or Ivanka. I used to work on a bond trading floor and heard a trader tell a woman on her first day as a trader that she should “just sit there and look pretty.” In Trump world, women do not shoot animals and pose with their carcasses, as Noem likes to do. Women should not be doing the shooting—that is for the menfolk.
Kristi Noem has consigned herself to the Trumpian underworld of toads and morlocks like Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon—too ugly and greasy or sweaty to be seen in public facing roles, but vital in the execution of his vile strategy.
I understand this, Jenn, but I don't know if I fully share it. Kristi has the looks angle covered, the collagen-injected trout lips and hair extensions, the slender, shapley bod. Honestly (thinking in Trump terms) she's hotter than Kari Lake, who has that soft-focus, desexualized TV weathergirl aura. THAT's what Trump cares about, beyond slavish loyalty and a lack of their own power base. Like Mike Pence, whose career had just about tanked before Trump picked him as evangelical validator. And Kristi Noem may well have tanked her own power base by shooting a puppy.
Miller and Bannon never fancied themselves as politicians; they're ideologists and inside operators. But women politicians face an inordinate pressure to be "as tough as a man," something which plagued Hillary Clinton's political career. Remember when Joni Ernst -- another farm girl -- bragged about castrating hogs? That probably helped her campaign because Iowans understand that as what farmers and ranchers have to do. But dogs -- let alone puppies -- are not livestock. Shooting a puppy in the face that could (and should) have been re-homed and retrained is likely a bridge too far, even for MAGA farmers and ranchers. Americans _love_ their pets.
And let's not forget Sarah Palin, who delighted in hunting with an AR-15 from a helicopter. She was not someone to shy away from posing with a moose carcass. Women hunters aren't the political turnoff. Women puppy shooters are.
I'd argue (and you don't have to agree with me) that this incident could make it _more_ likely that Trump picks her as VP. Doubtless there's outrage brewing in SD because what Noem did is actionable animal cruelty. If Noem feels her political career is at risk from this, Trump could swoop down and rescue her, the way he rescued Mike Pence from the fallout from RFRA. All it would take is for Trump to have no feelings about shooting puppies. Box checked. And then Kristi would be beholden to her big, strong knight in shining armor and forever in his pocket. Like Pence.
Only Mike Pence, ultimately, had enough of a shred of Christian morality to repudiate an insurrection. Kristi Noem is a fellow sociopath.
I understand your argument, but here’s another thing to think about. Kristi Noem has also exhibited a certain ruthlessness. Does Donald Trump want a ruthless killer sitting behind him knowing that she is a few heartbeats away from the presidency? I think he wants a soft, beta, slavish loyalist. And the oppo ads write themselves. Trump hates dogs but understands that Muricans LOVE dogs so he will absolutely understand “Vote for Trump and the puppy killer” is toxic. She’s toast unless he’s so demented he can’t see that she has instantly exposed what Trumpism is all about.
A long time ago, I worked in the brokerage/investment banking industry. Read “Bonfire of the Vanities” by Tom Wolfe and you will see the world in which I received my training courtesy of Merrill Lynch (RIP). It was a world that would not let Donald Trump in. He was a real estate guy. He was not a Master of the Universe as were the financial guys. New York real estate in the mid 1980’s was kind of grubby and cheap (by New York standards) due to a half decade of ruinously high interest rates and the general griminess at the time of New York. All of this MAGA nonsense is people like Trump who were laughed at, or snubbed, or condemned as “low class” in the communities where they craved acceptance. It’s like the Stephen King novel “Carrie” has infested our politics.
Isn't it wonderfully ironic that the softest, beta-est beta of all, Mike Pence, was the only one to finally stand up to Trump when it mattered most?
I read Bonfire in college; great novel. And I'm fully versed in Trumpology starting with Wayne Barrett in his early-80s Village Voice columns. I know of the clubhouse machine politics culture Donald and Fred came up in, that Fred basically bilked the FHA to build housing for the returning GIs and then used his business to launder mob money. I can well imagine the lifetime of resentment from Trump pressing his grubby orange nose up against the cut crystal to ogle a world that would never let him in. I can just imagine the sheer, sadistic glee he must have taken when his undocumented Polish laborers took sledgehammers to the priceless Bonwit Teller bas-reliefs he promised to preserve. One can only imagine what that resentment feels now sitting all day in a shabby Manhattan courtroom.
You run a presidential campaign with the VP picks you have, not the ones you want. I get your point about Kristi being a killer, but Trump saw what happened when he chose a goody two shoes; that's why I think Tim Scott has no chance. I don't know how strategically Trump thinks about oppo; after all, he managed to survive the Access Hollywood tape and he's prone to taking his political cues from wingnut randos, although I'm sure Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles would be horrified if he picked Kristi. Kari's just too thirsty for it; Trump despises the thirsty. DeSantis has been too damaged. I don't think Nikki would entertain it at this point, and she'd be more of a threat of a knife in his back than Kristi. Nikki's likely more ruthless than Kristi.
I'm not saying it's a done deal but I can see the reasons for a Kristi pick; your argument about the obvious optics is well-taken. But nothing Trump loves more than holding his favors over someone.
But they are secret favors. Noem is toast. I can just hear Ivanka: “Daddy, she shot a puppy in a gravel pit. That’s so low class and you know the base loves their disgusting dogs.”
I still remember the weekend that Merrill let us out of jail and our class of Pacific Northwest rubes and barbarians got off the train under the World Trade Center and just wandered up from the financial district, gawking and mocking and absorbing. The guys somehow needed to buy cigars and smoke them…whatever. This was spring 1986. We were one of the first classes of Merrill trainees to be educated in Princeton, NJ rather than being penned up at the Barbizon hotel.
It isn’t going to happen Rick. Can’t you guys try to propel folks to action? Like push the Indivisible teams, letter writing, texting, phonebanking. Do a video on how to engage the college folks at campuses across the US. Have Dem parents make it mandatory that the kids whom they pay the bills for at least read about Pr0ject2025? Doom and gloom, we are done with that. If they can squash my husband’s work that would have saved gazillions a life and property, they will not stop. Wildfires, screw it, they did it on all hazards. We need action oriented role outs. Cute girls in Biden tees with dark sunglasses, make it sexy. It sells hell, just do a coffee mug. Engage and lets get it done. Hasn’t anyone seen Handmaid’s Tale? That will be a dream Utopia if they get in.
I haven't read the article, but there's an MSNBC headline in my sidebar about how TrumpCo wants to take the Fed under its wing and make it lose its independence. The King of Debt wants to drop interest rates down to near-zero again for a cheap stock market sugar high.
Don't ever let a MAGAloid tell you they're concerned about inflation again without, well, if you don't want to punch them or throw a pie in their face (the best option), at least laughing loudly at them.
Excellent! Bring on Adam Kinzinger, if you haven't had him before.
This November, it’s crystal clear. As Trump and MAGA Republicans align with the filthy rich and massive corporations, President Biden firmly holds his ground, committed to making sure the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes, all to the benefit of hardworking American families 🇺🇸
If SCOTUS doesn't specifically rule that Trump doesn't have immunity before the election, then democracy is well and truly dead!
This is the best 2024 election t-shirt so far 👇
libtees-2.creator-spring.com/listing/byedon24
Love it!
That is an awesome shirt! Donald’s hair…
We are all sick of talking about him, you guys, but there are still too many people on his side. Or fooled by him or whatever it is, we gotta get to them or outnumber them and try to fix what made them.
Outnumber them is the way to go. Get others to vote. Our democracy is at stake.