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allegro
09-02-2020, 01:49 PM
You know, I CAME HERE to post THIS:

This was going on yesterday in Kenosha, ignoring the Trump visit; this is the Kenosha I know and love:

https://twitter.com/JosephBrusky/status/1300867922529746945?s=20

marodi
09-02-2020, 01:52 PM
On a lighter note: Iwu Jima is the new Yo, Semite.

allegro
09-02-2020, 01:56 PM
On a lighter note: Iwu Jima is the new Yo, Semite.

And soup-throwing is the new militia.


You wanna know who uses soup as their logo, though?

Boogaloo Boys:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/19/what-is-boogaloo-movement/3204899001/

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2020/06/18/USAT/19204aca-c728-4fc2-ac89-0fa54efb395a-AFP_AFP_1TM83E_2.jpg?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp

allegate
09-02-2020, 02:04 PM
Left-Communism, of the sort elaborated by the American theorist Paul Mattick and the Dutch astronomer Antonie Pannekoek. I believe in the inevitability of the abolition of generalized commodity production for exchange and the value form. Democracy is superseded where production is for use.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/DA886NAGx3BaQrOZ15a1pI1Z-P4nLsNiZiLLe4untd40-NhDCmmlPj7OlChjzcdJ5EllFnS7tI-CX6n-7fboMOkZwuS_aZRKJSQrWOC2nS3_c9cWRwGISHacG-JQRQoXbpmCKtDCpDEWTw5sJ-KERN-hAz8

Einzige
09-02-2020, 02:21 PM
This shit is embarrassing.

https://twitter.com/communistsusa/status/1301175089443074050

sweeterthan
09-02-2020, 02:21 PM
It's ALL drift. I'm no longer participating.


@sweeterthan (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=50): Can we please do something about this?

it is drifting from trump so let’s get back on topic: worst president ever. Einzige feel free to start a thread about....the evils of a two party system? american politics?

versusreality
09-02-2020, 02:39 PM
This shit is embarrassing.

https://twitter.com/communistsusa/status/1301175089443074050

truth is, you probably should just leave the country. it will never turn in to what you want it to be. you may be better off in China or Russia, but that's not a guarantee. better yet, you can always start your own communist community in the jungles of Guyana if you'd like.

Einzige
09-02-2020, 02:40 PM
truth is, you probably should just leave the country. it will never turn in to what you want it to be. you may be better off in China or Russia, but that's not a guarantee. better yet, you can always start your own communist community in the jungles of Guyana if you'd like.

I don't want "the country" to turn into anything. I want "the country", and all countries, to be dissolved by proletarian revolutions.

But again, liberals are all conservatives.

Jinsai
09-02-2020, 03:15 PM
I don't want "the country" to turn into anything. I want "the country", and all countries, to be dissolved by proletarian revolutions.

And I want a flying pony. I will name him Whiskers, and when I fly upon his back, I will think back fondly upon this thread.

It's nice to want things. Anyway, back on topic, I want Trump to lose this election so the world doesn't end. Unlike the other shit we're talking about here, there's a real possibility of that happening.

Einzige
09-02-2020, 03:18 PM
I want Trump to lose this election so the world doesn't end.

Trump is an utterly generic conservative Republican President (which is itself little different from milquetoast Democratic Presidents). Outside of his pretend-populist "outsider" rhetoric, there's absolutely nothing distinguishing him from his predecessors.

versusreality
09-02-2020, 03:19 PM
I don't want "the country" to turn into anything. I want "the country", and all countries, to be dissolved by proletarian revolutions.

But again, liberals are all conservatives.

again, why wait for the revolutions when you can start one yourself?

Einzige
09-02-2020, 03:21 PM
again, why wait for the revolutions when you can start one yourself?

You can't "start one yourself". That's Blanquism, and It Is Bad.

Jinsai
09-02-2020, 04:15 PM
this interview with William Barr is insane... he's basically the AG version of Kayleigh or Kellyanne. He's an apologist to the level where he really insinuates that the whole "racism thing" isn't as big of a deal as everyone is saying it is.

paul_is_dead
09-02-2020, 04:55 PM
https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1300918107976986624

marodi
09-02-2020, 04:58 PM
this interview with William Barr is insane... he's basically the AG version of Kayleigh or Kellyanne. He's an apologist to the level where he really insinuates that the whole "racism thing" isn't as big of a deal as everyone is saying it is.

I didn't watch it. Did he say he has a lot of black friends? Everyone knows you're not a racist if you have black friends.

And what I want is an otter. I'm going to train it to attack orange things.

Jinsai
09-02-2020, 05:19 PM
I didn't watch it. Did he say he has a lot of black friends? Everyone knows you're not a racist if you have black friends.

Pretty close... he actually brought up Jessie Jackson in a misquote where he said that he'd be "relieved to look behind him and see that the people following him were white! Does that make HIM racist!? Does that make him racist!? Hmmmm?!"

So crazy.

NotoriousTIMP
09-02-2020, 05:38 PM
this interview with William Barr is insane... he's basically the AG version of Kayleigh or Kellyanne. He's an apologist to the level where he really insinuates that the whole "racism thing" isn't as big of a deal as everyone is saying it is.

Jesus, I just watched that interview....can someone answer me why conservatives LOVE conspiracy theories?

allegate
09-02-2020, 05:47 PM
https://twitter.com/_cingraham/status/1301240433628950528?s=20

allegate
09-02-2020, 05:55 PM
https://twitter.com/briantylercohen/status/1301284245449576453?s=20

wtf is he even trying to say. Jesus.

allegro
09-02-2020, 08:28 PM
Omg - THAT is the shit he’s accusing Dems of doing.

allegate
09-02-2020, 09:44 PM
I thought about this on the way home and it's basically him setting up the very election fraud that he's warning against and will certainly point to as the "voting irregularities" if he loses.

Jinsai
09-02-2020, 09:55 PM
He's also probably hoping that his most rabid followers will follow his advice, maybe thinking it's "a clue from Q" and that they will be protected from prosecution. I really do think he's hoping his crowd tries to vote twice and that it actually does swing things his way... and then he could give a shit if any of them go to jail.

bobbie solo
09-03-2020, 03:43 AM
Generally speaking, yes it does. Accepting the fiction of the sanctity of national integrity on any level makes you a nationalist.

The alternative, at this point, is to attempt to reach out to the Russian (and Chinese) proletariats and work towards a unified, international Communist Party set against their respective bourgeois States.

you know, you started out making some fair points and I was going to engage. But when the DSA or similar are still part of the problem in your eyes, well then you're basically acting like an anarcho-squatter street punk (albeit a well-read one with a very good education) that isn't operating in good faith within the bounds of reason in modern society. Enjoy your Leftover Crack live tapes.

Einzige
09-03-2020, 06:27 AM
you know, you started out making some fair points and I was going to engage. But when the DSA or similar are still part of the problem in your eyes, well then you're basically acting like an anarcho-squatter street punk (albeit a well-read one with a very good education) that isn't operating in good faith within the bounds of reason in modern society. Enjoy your Leftover Crack live tapes.

The DSA are going to end up being the equivalents of the German SPD members in 1914 who voted for war credits and split the Second International on the basis of "social patriotism".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Ebert#/media/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-00015,_Friedrich_Ebert(cropped).jpg

"I hate (the revolution) like sin." - Friedrich Ebert

This guy, who was probably "to the Left" in his context of where AOC is in hers (and certainly far to the left of Biden, who believes in nothing), loosed the freikorps - anti-Semitic proto-Nazis - on German socialists. I guarantee you that, in an equivalent situation in America - with "wild mobs" of angry workers battering down the doors of Capital - President Sanders or President Ocasio-Cortez or whatever would do likewise. They couldn't do otherwise.

Indeed, as a rule of thumb, the party-political Left is always at loggerheads with the real movement of the proletariat (you must preserve commodity production for exchange in order to implement welfare capitalism, after all, to say nothing of preserving all those lucrative positions in think tanks and parliaments). The revolution is not a "political leftist" phenomenon, but is the product of the objective functions of Capital and the nature of the working-class.

This isn't something I've invented wholecloth. It's basic Marxism:


When socialist writers ascribe this world-historic role to the proletariat, it is not at all, as Critical Criticism pretends to believe, because they regard the proletarians as gods. Rather the contrary. Since in the fully-formed proletariat the abstraction of all humanity, even of the semblance of humanity, is practically complete; since the conditions of life of the proletariat sum up all the conditions of life of society today in their most inhuman form; since man has lost himself in the proletariat, yet at the same time has not only gained theoretical consciousness of that loss, but through urgent, no longer removable, no longer disguisable, absolutely imperative need — the practical expression of necessity — is driven directly to revolt against this inhumanity, it follows that the proletariat can and must emancipate itself. But it cannot emancipate itself without abolishing the conditions of its own life. It cannot abolish the conditions of its own life without abolishing all the inhuman conditions of life of society today which are summed up in its own situation. Not in vain does it go through the stern but steeling school of labour. It is not a question of what this or that proletarian, or even the whole proletariat, at the moment regards as its aim. It is a question of what the proletariat is, and what, in accordance with this being, it will historically be compelled to do. Its aim and historical action is visibly and irrevocably foreshadowed in its own life situation as well as in the whole organization of bourgeois society today

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/holy-family/ch04.htm

I should add that even Lenin's position eventually became analogous to that of the German SPD under Ebert - that revolutionaries should participate in parliaments and elections, as a "gauge of popular support" if nothing else. As a consequence, the Soviet Union basically functioned as a militant social democracy and nothing more.

allegate
09-03-2020, 10:20 AM
And soup-throwing is the new militia.


You wanna know who uses soup as their logo, though?

Boogaloo Boys:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/19/what-is-boogaloo-movement/3204899001/

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2020/06/18/USAT/19204aca-c728-4fc2-ac89-0fa54efb395a-AFP_AFP_1TM83E_2.jpg?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp
Do you know that just from listening to him talk about the soup and people carrying it in bags I had a mental image of people carrying wet bags of cooked soup? Like in that one episode of Schitt's Creek where Mr. Rose was handed a bag of soup to go. I assume it's because I had just watched that episode, though it's also because he's such a terrible communicator.

I was so confused, especially when he said it would hurt worse than a brick. A wet bag of soup = a brick?

I swear I'm a functioning adult. Usually.

allegate
09-03-2020, 04:11 PM
From paychecks received September 18th to December 24th if the employees gross social security wages in any given pay period is less than $4,000 they will have their social security taxes deferred until 2021. This also means that if an employee’s social security wages are higher than $4,000 for a given pay period for any reason, most notable would be an award of any kind, they would not have their social security taxes differed just for the pay period that met the $4,000 criteria.
Please note this is a deferral of taxes owed and the employee will still end up paying for these taxes however the IRS hasn’t communicated exactly how that will occur. We hope to hear more from the IRS in the coming month on how the taxes will be calculated and collected.
There is no way to opt out of this and if the employee meets the under $4,000 per pay check criteria mentioned above the employees taxes will be differed.

so wtf is this bullshit. I thought he was "getting rid of it", not "you get a pay bump that means nothing because you'll have to pay it back anyway in four months".

Though it's also kind of genius in that if he loses then when all of the taxes come out in January they can blame Biden for it.

halo eighteen
09-03-2020, 04:14 PM
so wtf is this bullshit. I thought he was "getting rid of it", not "you get a pay bump that means nothing because you'll have to pay it back anyway in four months".

Though it's also kind of genius in that if he loses then when all of the taxes come out in January they can blame Biden for it.

A) his base is too dumb to understand that it's temporary and will have to be paid back - and yes like you said they can just end up blaming Biden somehow.

B) I think he's also (illegally?) promising that if re-elected, he will make it so you don't have to pay it back next year.

GulDukat
09-03-2020, 09:34 PM
Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’ (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-americans-who-died-at-war-are-losers-and-suckers/615997/)

allegate
09-04-2020, 09:50 AM
https://twitter.com/breningstall/status/1301872818242686976?s=20

that lily-livered piece of shit.

Jinsai
09-04-2020, 10:05 AM
Trump mocks Biden for wearing a mask; implies there's something psychologically wrong with him for wearing a mask so much (https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/03/politics/trump-biden-coronavirus-mask/index.html)

Just... goddamn it.

Magnetic
09-04-2020, 10:41 AM
Gah. I can't read this thread anymore.
Back to ignoring the amount of insane bullshit that comes from this putrid pile of decaying animal.

I have never hated anyone so much in my life.
There is no sentence that would bring justice to this depraved lunatic for all the hurt, damage, and destruction he has done.

Jinsai
09-04-2020, 11:16 AM
Trump just defended himself on his treatment/attitude towards the military by bragging about weapons spending and advancing "our nuclear"

allegro
09-04-2020, 12:29 PM
A) his base is too dumb to understand that it's temporary and will have to be paid back - and yes like you said they can just end up blaming Biden somehow.

B) I think he's also (illegally?) promising that if re-elected, he will make it so you don't have to pay it back next year.

He’s saying he wants to REMOVE THE PAYROLL TAX, PERMANENTLY.

This means that the whole system - Social Security, Disability, Medicare, etc. - would be totally bankrupt by 2023, according to auditors. He’s been saying he wants it privatized, but he has no replacement. He HATES these programs; he sees them as welfare.

The good news is that he doesn’t have the power to do this.

allegate
09-04-2020, 12:43 PM
I was thinking about Barr this morning. Can you imagine if the Republican Party of 2016 knew what they knew now? That they could get away with this much stuff because the government as we knew it was all gentleman's agreements with no teeth? Keebler would have never recused himself from the Mueller investigation for one.

I almost think we'd be in a much worse place than we are right now and we wouldn't have any idea how bad it actually was. The only thing saving us really is how inept they are at doing anything quietly. They are constantly saying the quiet part out loud and telling on themselves. Which takes me back to the no teeth thing, sadly. :(

october_midnight
09-04-2020, 03:30 PM
Fox News itself has now sold him out lmaoooo. THERE WILL BE TWEETS.

https://twitter.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/1301972236790886402

Jinsai
09-04-2020, 05:13 PM
this press conference is maddening.... he'll get asked a question about the time he said that John McCain was "only a hero because he was captured" and about liking people who aren't captured, and he just responds by saying that he disagreed with McCain a lot. WHAT THE FUCK. I cannot take this. That was NOT THE QUESTION YOU WERE ASKED!!!!!

And now, re: the accusations that he called troops "suckers," he brings up how great he's been for the military because Space fucking Force. SERIOUSLY.

Space Suicide
09-04-2020, 08:11 PM
he brings up how great he's been for the military because Space fucking Force. SERIOUSLY.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQqqUNdWm-PIuQ5P6SlQAD_l33_jc5H_Ijgiw&usqp=CAU

Wretchedest
09-04-2020, 08:13 PM
Fox News itself has now sold him out lmaoooo. THERE WILL BE TWEETS.

https://twitter.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/1301972236790886402

The article in which that happens is Olympic verbal gymnastics. It's like 3 paragraphs of deflection before it cuts to the chase

Jinsai
09-04-2020, 09:05 PM
well, if this is the thing that sinks him, great. I don't know WHY it would take something this obvious (that he's not a very good person) to really be what's necessary to spell it out to people.. but Trump is not a good guy, he's not religious, and he doesn't care about the military / vets. If you didn't realize that, you're a... well, sucker.

GulDukat
09-05-2020, 06:15 AM
Chaos at Fox News as some refuse to believe the network’s own reporting on Trump’s contempt for troops (https://www.rawstory.com/2020/09/chaos-at-fox-news-as-some-refuse-to-believe-the-networks-own-reporting-on-trumps-contempt-for-troops/)

I will say, Greg Gutfeld is one of the biggest idiots I have ever seen over at FOX, and that's saying something.

paul_is_dead
09-05-2020, 10:22 AM
Not really surprising is it? He was an ass towards John McCain in like 2015?

GulDukat
09-05-2020, 10:24 AM
I think it's true. I believe he said it. Totally sounds like something he would say.

sweeterthan
09-05-2020, 10:28 AM
I think it's true. I believe he said it. Totally sounds like something he would say.

there are multiple accounts of him expressing his views including at john kelly’s son’s grave. clearly the man has no heart if he says i don’t get to the father of a slain soldier at the goddamn gravesite. he thinks the military are his props. remember he wanted a military parade for his inauguration?

Jinsai
09-05-2020, 04:56 PM
Apparently the Trump Boat Parade in Texas didn't turn out so great (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/us/Texas-boat-parade-trump.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes)

I know this is juvenile, and I'm just enjoying some schadenfreude, but I need these brief glimmers of sunlight to keep me going.

versusreality
09-05-2020, 05:21 PM
sadly, the Trump boat parades (yes, multiple) in NJ were filled with hundreds of boats today. fucking disgusting.

Jinsai
09-05-2020, 05:30 PM
what is it with the "boat parade" thing? Is it "I have enough money to blow on an ostentatious hobby, and that aligns with my political telegraphing?" Otherwise, what's the "message" here? Why boats specifically?

Someone needs to do some art project / protest thing... riding some haunted ghost craft with starving immigrants/refugees being forced to row, and then on the top deck, a Jerry Falwell Jr impersonator watching his wife fuck the pool guy.

Jinsai
09-05-2020, 09:42 PM
Cohen's new book alleges that Trump hired an Obama lookalike so he could yell at him and "fire him" and stuff (https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/05/politics/michael-cohen-book-trump-white-house/index.html)

It sounds too out-there, but he's got a picture of this Obama impersonator, and really, is anything too out-there at this point?

allegate
09-05-2020, 11:40 PM
https://media.tenor.com/images/caacd84d68af33c4cb2d575db41f2793/tenor.gif

Trump directs federal agencies to cease anti-racism training (https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/09/05/Trump-directs-federal-agencies-to-cease-anti-racism-training/9021599316245/?ocid=uxbndlbing)

versusreality
09-06-2020, 04:39 AM
^ this is fucking horrible

and as for hiring the Obama impersonator, I'll say it: just coming across as a slave owner. yelling at and "owning" (humiliating) a black man.

thelastdisciple
09-06-2020, 09:42 AM
https://www.facebook.com/ron.james.792303/videos/10158691211468256/

Going viral on FB, Ron James is a comedian from Canada and has some choice words for the U.S. and it's Trumpmania.

Some may be insulted by this but oh boy was it epic.

Jinsai
09-06-2020, 10:46 AM
Watching that video where Trump yells at the fake Obama made me feel very weird and uncomfortable.

allegate
09-06-2020, 02:22 PM
FBI arrests 2 armed men headed to Kenosha to possibly 'pick people off' (https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/09/04/FBI-arrests-2-armed-men-headed-to-Kenosha-to-possibly-pick-people-off/9171599239690/?ocid=uxbndlbing)

GulDukat
09-06-2020, 02:51 PM
Ohio Voter on President Trump: "I Think He Almost Walks On Water" (https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/09/06/ohio_voter_on_trump_i_think_he_almost_walks_on_wat er.html)

BRoswell
09-06-2020, 02:56 PM
Ohio Voter on President Trump: "I Think He Almost Walks On Water" (https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/09/06/ohio_voter_on_trump_i_think_he_almost_walks_on_wat er.html)

I know this is supposed to be shocking, but it's not at this point. He's their golden god, and they treat him as such. It's a fucking cult.

allegate
09-06-2020, 06:37 PM
Cohen's new book alleges that Trump hired an Obama lookalike so he could yell at him and "fire him" and stuff (https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/05/politics/michael-cohen-book-trump-white-house/index.html)

It sounds too out-there, but he's got a picture of this Obama impersonator, and really, is anything too out-there at this point?https://twitter.com/Pervaizistan/status/1302427987929899008?s=20

Jinsai
09-07-2020, 05:50 AM
That’s true... the initial report made me think he kept some faux-Bama actor handy to scream at and “fire” when he lost his temper. The fact that that even seems believable freaks me out a bit, but it is what it is.

on the election point, it’s looking like the debates might carry a lot more weight than expected. Polls show that despite majority support for Biden, for whatever reason Trump is the popular favorite by FAR to “win the debates.” Trump is probably the worst debater I’ve seen. Biden should be able to wipe the floor with his unprepared ass, and if he does, this is in the bag

Space Suicide
09-07-2020, 05:30 PM
Ohio Voter on President Trump: "I Think He Almost Walks On Water" (https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/09/06/ohio_voter_on_trump_i_think_he_almost_walks_on_wat er.html)


I know this is supposed to be shocking, but it's not at this point. He's their golden god, and they treat him as such. It's a fucking cult.

Every president has their idiotic sycophant apologists. Trump's not special.

GulDukat
09-07-2020, 05:50 PM
Every president has their idiotic sycophant apologists. Trump's not special.
I think he is, and not in a good way.

I don't remember people putting Bush or Obama flags on a flag poll. There is something cultish about some of his supporters.

Space Suicide
09-07-2020, 05:53 PM
I think he is, and not in a good way.

I don't remember people putting Bush or Obama flags on a flag poll. There is something cultish about some of his supporters.

He used fake populism to advocate for his presidency. Neither other president pandered that base as hard as he did. He also has a right slant (and a huger right slant than Bush did) so it allows floodgates for more idiots to flock.

Jinsai
09-07-2020, 07:27 PM
He used fake populism to advocate for his presidency. Neither other president pandered that base as hard as he did. He also has a right slant (and a huger right slant than Bush did) so it allows floodgates for more idiots to flock.

The conspiracy theory shit is also "unique" really, and let's not overlook it in the hurricane of craziness. He appeared on Info Wars and thanked Alex fucking Jones!
THIS HAS NOT BEEN NORMAL FOR A VERY LONG TIME NOW. Don't mistake it for normal. We've already normalized way too much of this, and that's inevitable. You'll go crazy battling with the gaslighting. But DO NOT mistake Trump for "just another republican politician."

He is very "special."

Einzige
09-08-2020, 05:05 AM
Trump is still completely indistinguishable from Reagan, the Bushes, etc. And from the Democrats, for that matter (for instance, Bill Clinton was the first President to politicize immigration in the modern era by signing the 1996 law that created ICE (https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11515132/iirira-clinton-immigration)). They're all the same flavor of shit, and while Trump is terrible, most of the pearl clutching surrounding him as some kind of uniquely terrible presence is simply designed to corral dissidents back into voting for the Democratic Party. The more Trump is constructed as a unique threat, the safer the system becomes from any kind of thoroughgoing critique.

Everything bad Trump has done has precedent in not only prior Republican, but prior Democratic Administrations (again, Bill Clinton deported 1,800,000 immigrants (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/time-bill-clinton-apologize-immigrants/601579/)).


But one effect was clear: After IIRIRA, deportation from the United States went from a rare phenomenon to a relatively common one. "Before 1996, internal enforcement activities had not played a very significant role in immigration enforcement," sociologists Douglas Massey and Karen Pren have written. "Afterward, these activities rose to levels not seen since the deportation campaigns of the Great Depression."

...

Democrats are at a historic juncture, soul-searching and reconnecting with a neglected base. The 1996 laws have made it very difficult for rising stars to campaign with a clear conscience. The obvious response when they criticize the current president for predatory immigration enforcement is that the laws were created by Clinton, not Trump—and, by and large, that’s true. President Barack Obama was dubbed “deporter in chief” because he continued to fund the system Clinton built (https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/obama-record-deportations-deporter-chief-or-not)

If anything, Trump is marginally better on issues like criminal justice reform (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Step_Act#:~:text=The%20Formerly%20Incarcerat ed%20Reenter%20Society,President%20Trump%20in%20De cember%202018.) than the conservative, authoritarian Democratic Party. And the Democratic Party has always been conservative, and it has always been authoritarian. Even such periods of "radicalism" under its watch as the New Deal were mere attempts to stabilize and protect capitalism.

GulDukat
09-08-2020, 07:12 AM
He still doesn't get it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3en1Lo_xXio

Jinsai
09-08-2020, 07:50 AM
Trump is still completely indistinguishable from Reagan, the Bushes, etc. And from the Democrats, for that matter (for instance, Bill Clinton was the first President to politicize immigration in the modern era by signing the 1996 law that created ICE (https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11515132/iirira-clinton-immigration)). They're all the same flavor of shit, and while Trump is terrible, most of the pearl clutching surrounding him as some kind of uniquely terrible presence is simply designed to corral dissidents back into voting for the Democratic Party. The more Trump is constructed as a unique threat, the safer the system becomes from any kind of thoroughgoing critique.

Everything bad Trump has done has precedent in not only prior Republican, but prior Democratic Administrations (again, Bill Clinton deported 1,800,000 immigrants (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/time-bill-clinton-apologize-immigrants/601579/)).



If anything, Trump is marginally better on issues like criminal justice reform (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Step_Act#:~:text=The%20Formerly%20Incarcerat ed%20Reenter%20Society,President%20Trump%20in%20De cember%202018.) than the conservative, authoritarian Democratic Party. And the Democratic Party has always been conservative, and it has always been authoritarian. Even such periods of "radicalism" under its watch as the New Deal were mere attempts to stabilize and protect capitalism.

yeah but nobody gives a fuck comrade, your solutions are fantasy Marxist dogshit. You are just saying dumb shit like “Bill Clinton was the same as Trump and Bush and...”

nobody agrees, and nobody’s going to. Stop “contributing” with this nihilistic horseshit drift

d1stinct
09-08-2020, 08:17 AM
They're all the same flavor of shit, and while Trump is terrible, most of the pearl clutching surrounding him as some kind of uniquely terrible presence is simply designed to corral dissidents back into voting for the Democratic Party.

I can't speak for everyone on this post, or forum, but I base my opinion regarding Trump as a piece of shit on his past, and current actions, what he says in news conferences and what he posts on his twitter (which I don't follow or look at often) - not because of the media, or the Democrat Party's "designed" portrayal of him.

Why are you here? I hope you're a fan of Trent, but it seems odd that you just appeared out of the blue and started posting last month - and I get that you might've been a forum lurker for years and decided to make an account, I've been there, done that. It just seems like you over complicate the discussion by purposefully injecting comments that butt heads with the majority of people that use this thread. You seem to refer back to laws, or policies that were enacted by previous Presidents, which is fine, but please keep in mind that we are in the present, and political parties (or is it Party's?, I dunno!) have always evolved/changed based on the people that support that party.

Jinsai
09-08-2020, 09:09 AM
Pretty much... maybe if we weren't facing down this election after years of hell, it'd be more tolerable to have someone insisting that there's no distinguishable difference between Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump, but I just don't have the patience for it now. There's nothing specific about this "argument;" it's generalizing bullshit that's completely in the service of unpacking some communist utopia garbage

By all means though, make a separate thread. I'll avoid it.

Einzige
09-08-2020, 09:48 AM
there's no distinguishable difference between Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump

Funny you should mention Carter, because he wasn't that distinguishable from Trump.


Flyers circulated by the Carter For Governor campaign, 1970:

https://external-preview.redd.it/bx0pcxII23cJAMsC4R2KLOj26TdnwZeel4DU3RoGnQc.jpg?au to=webp&57861063

If you can't read it:


WILL THE GOOD PEOPLE OF GEORGIA RE-ELECT A MAN



Who refused to let Governor George C. Wallace address the Georgia legislature after he had been invited to speak by a group of Georgia's leading statesmen?
Who has the endorsement and active support of Hubert Horatio Humphrey- the Minnesota wind tunnel- and the rest of the Washington ultra-liberals?
Who sold Georgia out in the Presidential election to L.B.J. the left-wingers and the national Democrats in order to obtain special favors?
Who is supported by Julian Bond, Sen. Leroy Johnson and the black bloc vote?
Who went into office a po' boy from Augusta - and came out worth millions?



Also Jimmy Carter: “I'm not going to use the Federal Government's authority deliberately to circumvent the natural inclination of people to live in ethnically homogeneous neighborhoods.” (https://www.nytimes.com/1976/04/07/archives/carter-defends-allwhite-areas-says-government-shouldnt-try-to-end.html)

Carter campaigned as a race-baiting evangelical Christian who opposed big gub'mint and favored deregulation, harkening in the age of neoliberalism with his deregulation of airplanes, beer, and other industries. Ref. Salon: "How Reaganism actually started with Carter." (https://www.salon.com/2011/02/08/lind_reaganism_carter/) His governance was indistinguishable from Reagan or later Republicans like Trump.


but I just don't have the patience for it now. There's nothing specific about this "argument;" it's generalizing bullshit

The argument is generalized that capitalist politicians simply function in largely the same ways, and that the system itself is garbage.

allegate
09-08-2020, 09:58 AM
I feel like I've read all this before. And the point that d1stinct made about coming in out of the blue with a new account and yet you sound like you've been here before, knowing exactly what buttons to push for max annoyance, is an interesting one.

versusreality
09-08-2020, 10:03 AM
if you hate capitalism so much, why live in a country that supports it?

Einzige
09-08-2020, 10:04 AM
I feel like I've read all this before. And the point that @d1stinct (https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/member.php?u=5773) made about coming in out of the blue with a new account and yet you sound like you've been here before, knowing exactly what buttons to push for max annoyance, is an interesting one.

NIN fans are a type - typically college educated, middle-class strivers - and as such almost uniformly liberal in the American sense. And as American liberalism is, functionally, the representative ideology of the left-wing of Capital, without any internal coherence other than that required to service its faction of Capital, it's pretty easy to push those buttons.

Einzige
09-08-2020, 10:05 AM
if you hate capitalism so much, why live in a country that supports it?

All countries support it (including autarkic capitalist states like the DPRK, in which production for exchange is engaged in under protectionist conditions). Capital is the ruling paradigm of the world today. When it ceases to be so, there will cease to be countries.

Jinsai
09-08-2020, 10:29 AM
NIN fans are a type - typically college educated, middle-class strivers - and as such almost uniformly liberal in the American sense. And as American liberalism is, functionally, the representative ideology of the left-wing of Capital, without any internal coherence other than that required to service its faction of Capital, it's pretty easy to push those buttons.

So... you are admitting you're just trolling?

Einzige
09-08-2020, 10:32 AM
So... you are admitting you're just trolling?

With Facts and Logic.

Tom
09-08-2020, 10:57 AM
...
I'm no Marx scholar, but assuming you're right that from the perspective of this quite abstract political theory, Trump and Biden are effectively equivalent, I don't know that this point is as interesting or relevant as you seem to think it is. The idea, in a nutshell, is just that a certain political theory, which has no realistic prospect of ever being implemented, taxonomises things in a certain way. Perhaps in a thread about that theory, or political theory more generally, this might be an interesting or relevant point, but in this thread it's little more than trivia. From the political perspective occupied by the majority of participants to this discussion, Biden and Trump clearly differ significantly; from the political perspective that you're attempting to occupy, they do not. The disagreement here doesn't really turn on anything to do with Biden and Trump, but on a clash of political perspectives, and a thread explicitly focused on Trump doesn't really seem (to me, at least) like a good venue for that.

allegate
09-08-2020, 11:12 AM
In other way more disgusting news.

https://twitter.com/DrGJackBrown/status/1303138734309687296?s=20

GulDukat
09-08-2020, 11:38 AM
if you hate capitalism so much, why live in a country that supports it?
What are you suggesting? Gain citizenship/a work permit in another country? Sounds like that "love it or leave it" nonsense.

Einzige
09-08-2020, 11:39 AM
What are you suggesting? Gain citizenship/a work permit in another country? Sounds like that "love it or leave it" nonsense.

American liberals are functional conservatives. Every single time.

allegro
09-08-2020, 11:53 AM
He’s right about Jimmy Carter, though. Carter was a terrible President. He deregulated a ton of shit. Sure, he put solar panels on the White House and was pretty cheap, but there were SO many instances where he was, in fact, as bad as Reagan in many ways.

But this thread is about TRUMP. Anything drifting outside of that topic is drift.

In the Olden Days, we got warning bars and then got use limits for drift violations. Not saying we need to go back there (the drift was SOOOO excessive back then), but we should keep topics on track or start new threads.

Edit: The more ALL OF YOU engage with him in this drift, the more YOU are contributing to the problem.

GulDukat
09-08-2020, 11:54 AM
American liberals are functional conservatives. Every single time.
Nope.

versusreality
09-08-2020, 12:21 PM
What are you suggesting? Gain citizenship/a work permit in another country? Sounds like that "love it or leave it" nonsense.

no, his response proved my point: you can't live anywhere in the world without capitalism involved.

his fantasy world will never exist. must drive him mad.

ltrandazzo
09-08-2020, 05:42 PM
American liberals are functional conservatives. Every single time.

Quiet, you.

Back to talking about our Large Adult Son.

allegate
09-09-2020, 12:40 PM
https://twitter.com/MyDaughtersArmy/status/1303747844990529537?s=20

BRoswell
09-09-2020, 12:57 PM
It's pretty damning stuff, but like everything else this moron says, we'll see if it actually sticks or gets tossed aside.

GulDukat
09-09-2020, 01:19 PM
It's pretty damning stuff, but like everything else this moron says, we'll see if it actually sticks or gets tossed aside.
Probably most of his supporters will dismiss it as "fake news" or he misspoke, or make up some excuse. But hopefully it hurts him a little in the polls. Trump has a narrow path to 270 as is, a loss here and there could really do some damage.

cdm
09-09-2020, 01:49 PM
Today's news cycle is even more overwhelming than the typical. < click >

allegate
09-09-2020, 03:01 PM
https://twitter.com/jonallendc/status/1303784321313054724?s=20

https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1303780767252742144?s=20

Oh God, is it November yet.

versusreality
09-09-2020, 05:07 PM
every day, I have a growing anxiety and unease that he will win again, regardless of what happens between now and Nov.

I need convincing that he will not cheat his way to victory, or just outright win. I think Biden's the one with the uphill battle still, not Trump.

onthewall2983
09-09-2020, 05:42 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPoFf78XHQo

sweeterthan
09-09-2020, 05:44 PM
every day, I have a growing anxiety and unease that he will win again, regardless of what happens between now and Nov.

I need convincing that he will not cheat his way to victory, or just outright win. I think Biden's the one with the uphill battle still, not Trump.

same. i keep getting triggered by the yard signs and bumper stickers. whhhy god why does he have any support whatsoever? it makes no sense. everything about him is unamerican.

GulDukat
09-09-2020, 06:09 PM
same. i keep getting triggered by the yard signs and bumper stickers. whhhy god why does he have any support whatsoever? it makes no sense. everything about him is unamerican.
There are some other music boards where I lurk, where the fan base is mostly White guys in their 50's, and they defend Trump over everything. It's like the upside down--like they live in a different universe.

richardp
09-10-2020, 12:05 AM
Saw my first MAGA face mask today.

Just let the California fires overtake the whole country. Burn it all down.

versusreality
09-10-2020, 05:06 AM
one of my black friends posted a pic of an old white guy wearing a "Black Lives MAGA" shirt. my friend wasn't sure if it was meant to be an compliment, or a failed insult. I'm guessing the latter.

GulDukat
09-10-2020, 05:53 AM
Saw my first MAGA face mask today.

Just let the California fires overtake the whole country. Burn it all down.

Trump could have gone on TV in February and told the truth about the coronavirus, and then gone around with his MAGA mask, telling people to wear masks and stay six feet apart for a while. His base would have loved it and right now he could be sitting at a 52% approval rating, cruising to reelection. I still wouldn't have voted for him but I would give him credit for avoiding a disaster.

sweeterthan
09-10-2020, 07:33 AM
one of my black friends posted a pic of an old white guy wearing a "Black Lives MAGA" shirt. my friend wasn't sure if it was meant to be an compliment, or a failed insult. I'm guessing the latter.

i saw this pic too and i also can’t tell if it’s sarcastic or complementary. i say we just assume this person supports BLM and think they will make america great.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jinsai
09-10-2020, 09:51 AM
Trump is trying to shift the blame for early inaction onto Woodward (https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/515815-trump-blames-woodward-says-he-should-have-released-interviews-earlier)

He's really trying to "argue" that it was Woodward's responsibility to ring the alarms back then. Even if that's TRUE, the last person who can say that is Trump. Really, "why didn't you warn people about me back when I revealed what an egregiously irresponsible leader I was? Like, when I told you I was awful and doing the wrong thing and lying to everyone, why didn't you rat me out then? What's wrong with you?"

Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson is trying to shift the blame for the Woodward interviews to Lindsey Graham for setting up the meetings... yeah, it's Lindsey Graham's fault that Trump willingly sat down for 19 interviews and said what he said into a fucking microphone. Sorry Tucker, this isn't going to float.

ickyvicky
09-10-2020, 09:56 AM
My husband and I were talking politics with my in-laws last night during dinner - and they believe if Trumps wins again, there will be a huge uproar of protests and demonstrations from the people who are anti-Trump/Democrats/liberals more so than if Biden were to win, there would only be a small percentage of protests and demonstrations from Trump fans/Republicans/radical rights.

I don't know...I think it'll be pretty equal, or at least the Trump fans will definitely be the ones who will more so lose their shit.

I hope nothing happens, scary to think about.

allegate
09-10-2020, 10:15 AM
Trump is trying to shift the blame for early inaction onto Woodward (https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/515815-trump-blames-woodward-says-he-should-have-released-interviews-earlier)

He's really trying to "argue" that it was Woodward's responsibility to ring the alarms back then. Even if that's TRUE, the last person who can say that is Trump. Really, "why didn't you warn people about me back when I revealed what an egregiously irresponsible leader I was? Like, when I told you I was awful and doing the wrong thing and lying to everyone, why didn't you rat me out then? What's wrong with you?"

Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson is trying to shift the blame for the Woodward interviews to Lindsey Graham for setting up the meetings... yeah, it's Lindsey Graham's fault that Trump willingly sat down for 19 interviews and said what he said into a fucking microphone. Sorry Tucker, this isn't going to float.
but if it directs some Republican ire at LG I'm all for it.

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/757/498/89c.gif

allegate
09-10-2020, 10:18 AM
My husband and I were talking politics with my in-laws last night during dinner - and they believe if Trumps wins again, there will be a huge uproar of protests and demonstrations from the people who are anti-Trump/Democrats/liberals more so than if Biden were to win, there would only be a small percentage of protests and demonstrations from Trump fans/Republicans/radical rights.

I don't know...I think it'll be pretty equal, or at least the Trump fans will definitely be the ones who will more so lose their shit.

I hope nothing happens, scary to think about.
one side is much more heavily armed than the other so size is relative. 😬

ickyvicky
09-10-2020, 10:23 AM
Exactly, that's what I was saying - but they didn't seem to thing that they will be shootin' their guns around.

allegate
09-10-2020, 10:29 AM
https://twitter.com/catvalente/status/1304075036672884742?s=20

allegate
09-10-2020, 11:34 AM
https://twitter.com/tomiahonen/status/1304034397537087488?s=20

twitter threads are much harder to read now but this one lays a lot out.

sweeterthan
09-10-2020, 12:39 PM
Trump is trying to shift the blame for early inaction onto Woodward (https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/515815-trump-blames-woodward-says-he-should-have-released-interviews-earlier)

He's really trying to "argue" that it was Woodward's responsibility to ring the alarms back then. Even if that's TRUE, the last person who can say that is Trump. Really, "why didn't you warn people about me back when I revealed what an egregiously irresponsible leader I was? Like, when I told you I was awful and doing the wrong thing and lying to everyone, why didn't you rat me out then? What's wrong with you?"

Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson is trying to shift the blame for the Woodward interviews to Lindsey Graham for setting up the meetings... yeah, it's Lindsey Graham's fault that Trump willingly sat down for 19 interviews and said what he said into a fucking microphone. Sorry Tucker, this isn't going to float.

the weird thing about this story is that anyone who was paying attention in february, march, april and may knows he was downplaying the virus. he didn’t even pretend to care about masks until june.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jinsai
09-10-2020, 01:12 PM
the weird thing about this story is that anyone who was paying attention in february, march, april and may knows he was downplaying the virus. he didn’t even pretend to care about masks until june.

And even then, he made it seem like he was being dragged kicking and screaming into actually putting a mask on a couple times. He never urged governors to push mask mandates, he pushed against that... and his cult listened to him when he downplayed it. They didn't want to be scared of the democratic hoax. And then he held indoor rallies. It's just insane.

So sure, I knew he was downplaying the severity of this and that he was lying, but I always suspect that he's lying. I don't trust a goddamn thing he says. There are people who follow his every word though.

allegate
09-10-2020, 01:40 PM
As I said it's hard to follow tweet threads now but this post I think is the one that lays out the main idea:

https://twitter.com/tomiahonen/status/1304034430315646976?s=20

allegate
09-10-2020, 01:47 PM
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1304116217205096449?s=20

so why not a third and fourth impeachment?

M1ke
09-10-2020, 02:08 PM
Jesus Christ.

Can the republicans rescind his nomination? Or is it too late for that?

richardp
09-10-2020, 02:27 PM
Jesus Christ.

Can the republicans rescind his nomination? Or is it too late for that?

But why would they tho. He hasn't done anything wrong ever ever ever? He's the most truthiness president in the long history of EARTH.

Jinsai
09-10-2020, 02:28 PM
this is just absurd... why would he say these things?!?!?!

Everyone who hates him already suspected this to be true, but now we have audio receipts, and WHYYYYY?! this feels like that time OJ wrote a book about "what if I did it?" Surely Trump realized that these statements would find their way into the book. Did he really not think this stuff was damning?

M1ke
09-10-2020, 02:39 PM
this is just absurd... why would he say these things?!?!?!

Everyone who hates him already suspected this to be true, but now we have audio receipts, and WHYYYYY?! this feels like that time OJ wrote a book about "what if I did it?" Surely Trump realized that these statements would find their way into the book. Did he really not think this stuff was damning?

I was reading that a lot of the calls for the interviews came from Trump late at night, I wonder if he was just coked out of his head, made the calls and then just ran his mouth and maybe doesn't even remember saying it????

allegate
09-10-2020, 02:44 PM
I was reading that a lot of the calls for the interviews came from Trump late at night, I wonder if he was just coked out of his head, made the calls and then just ran his mouth and maybe doesn't even remember saying it????
I read that this is more than likely and also the reason he could pass a possible lie detector test: he has no clue he said these things and is why he lies so much. It's not so much a lie by knowledge but rather a lie by forgetting what he's said in the past.

Jinsai
09-10-2020, 02:53 PM
Trump just said "Dr Fauci said we saved hundreds of thousands of lives by putting the ban on China"

NO. HE. FUCKING. DID. NOT.

He never ever fucking said that. GODDAMN this lying fucking LIAR. Also, the CDC said your ban on travel from China was ultimately ineffective and accomplished pretty much nothing.

OMG... now he's talking about Clinton, and what the hell is even going on anymore. I don't even remember what the question was anymore! Wow this meandering "greatest hits" thing is just unsettling at this point. He just praised every propaganda talking head on Fox in some pointless list... and he just won't shut up and what the hell are we talking about now?!

Erneuert
09-10-2020, 07:27 PM
Speaking of masks, I can't get this out of my head. Him saying he likes how he looked in a mask, like the Lone Ranger. Like that's all that matters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMKgX3V3Y_k

M1ke
09-11-2020, 06:36 AM
I apologize, my sentence probably wasn't clear.

One of the articles I read did specify that Trump called Woodward late at night for many of these recordings. The guess about being coked out of his head came from another thread someone posted with analysis of fragments of white substance coming out of his mouth that suggest heavy drug abuse.

It was me guessing based on two different things I've read about Trump.

allegate
09-11-2020, 10:43 AM
And my post was condensing a twitter thread of analysis of the Trump recordings + his past history of in-general spaciness regarding what he's actually said vs. what he thinks he's said.

so neither of us could help you out, sorry about that. :(

marodi
09-11-2020, 10:52 AM
I know some of you don't like Chris Cillizza but sometimes, he gets it just right. Here's the link to an article he wrote about why Trump gave Bob Woodward 18 interviews for his new book:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/09/politics/why-trump-talked-to-woodward/index.html

allegro
09-11-2020, 11:03 AM
Holy shit

https://twitter.com/realchriswilson/status/1304157786704670720?s=21

allegate
09-11-2020, 11:20 AM
silver lining: at least she knows she's living in an alternate reality?

https://i.gifer.com/fy4a.gif

sweeterthan
09-11-2020, 11:35 AM
Speaking of masks, I can't get this out of my head. Him saying he likes how he looked in a mask, like the Lone Ranger. Like that's all that matters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMKgX3V3Y_k
I love her. She's hilarious. Her videos truly highlight the insanity of his statements.

M1ke
09-11-2020, 11:41 AM
Holy shit

https://twitter.com/realchriswilson/status/1304157786704670720?s=21

Is there anyone here who is good enough with computers that they could just shut the internet down completely? How would one go about bringing technology to its knees worldwide?

allegro
09-11-2020, 12:40 PM
Is there anyone here who is good enough with computers that they could just shut the internet down completely? How would one go about bringing technology to its knees worldwide?

YouTube HAS to get a GIANT enema by Alphabet, for sure. Like, TODAY.

Jinsai
09-11-2020, 12:55 PM
HOLY SHIT... that person basically just admitted that if Biden wins, he's going to murder-suicide his family! Arrest this fucking person... call CPS! That is not acceptable stuff to say.

allegate
09-11-2020, 01:03 PM
real quick google search brings up her insta (https://www.instagram.com/lularoe.tinaarthur/?hl=en) which says she's involved in lularoe.

which actually explains a lot.
LuLaRoe is a United States-based multi-level marketing company that sells women's clothing.

edit: https://www.pajiba.com/politics/we-are-so-screwed-savethechildren.php


Last week, Buzzfeed (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/drumoorhouse/qanon-mass-collective-delusion-buzzfeed-news-copy-desk) made the decision to stop referring to QAnon as a “conspiracy theory” and start referring to it as a “collective delusion.”huh, I did not know that. interesting decision.

allegro
09-11-2020, 01:07 PM
real quick google search brings up her insta (https://www.instagram.com/lularoe.tinaarthur/?hl=en) which says she's involved in lularoe.

which actually explains a lot.

Nearly all of those Sister Wives are selling LuLaRoe (https://shop.lularoebless.com/lularoemeribrown). It's a fugly clothing Ponzi scheme, like Amway but with polyester.

allegro
09-11-2020, 01:17 PM
]edit: https://www.pajiba.com/politics/we-are-so-screwed-savethechildren.php



See also: Crying 'Pedophile' is the Oldest Propaganda Trick in the Book (https://www.wired.com/story/crying-pedophile-is-the-oldest-propaganda-trick-in-the-book/)


The far-right trolls accusing Tom Hanks of pedophilia aren’t original. They’re just the latest propagandists borrowing a tactic that long, long predates the internet.

Believers in the QAnon conspiracy hold that President Trump is a “brilliant four-dimensional chess player” using the Mueller investigation as a smokescreen to root out the murderous, Satanic, pedophilic deep state. (It’s a Trump-era catchall conspiracy: Pizzagate + Seth Rich + the Illuminati.) Hanks is the QAnon conspiracists' perfect target: A Hollywood A-lister who donates to Democrats and has been shielded from moral censure by monogamy and his preternaturally wholesome dad routine—until now. And QAnon has done what they do best: Trumpet the unconfirmed revelation until suddenly, in the eyes of internet search algorithms at least, Tom Hanks, America’s uncomplicated, unproblematic favorite, is a pedophile.

Cooler heads will remember that Hanks is innocent until proven guilty, and there is scant proof to work with here; yet, somewhere a conspiracy theorist is very pleased that you’re suddenly, automatically feeling a little suspicious. All the debunkings in the world won’t extinguish that initial spark of suspicion, and that’s exactly the point.

Hanks is only the most recent protagonist in a spate of high-profile pedophilia accusations levied by far-right commentators. Many, like Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn’s, have been championed by the same citizen sleuths who powered Pizzagate, the unfounded theory that Clinton-linked DC elites ran a child sex-trafficking ring out of a pizzeria. But while crying "pedophile" is a trollish smear many now associate with the digital wing of the American extreme right, the tactic isn’t native to a particular ideology, and long, long predates the internet.

Alleging that your enemy preys upon children is an ancient propaganda tool that’s been used by everyone from medieval Catholics to the Soviet Union. It’s a powerful indictment because it trades on fundamental human fears. It’s designed to otherize the opposition and sabotage any sympathy you might have for them. It’s a ubiquitous tactic because it works.

It’s easy to piece together how this strategy emerged: Someone figured out which crime their society viewed as most morally reprehensible and went with that—the unforgivable act that almost always involves kids. “Children represent the most sacred ideals any society can have,” says Margaret Peacock, a historian at the University of Alabama who has written about the role children play in propaganda. “They represent the future.” Because humans are biologically wired to protect their offspring, painting your enemy as a defiler of innocence and a threat to the next generation instantly dehumanizes them. And because many societies see pedophiles as not just monstrous but irredeemably so, this charge provides endless opportunities to justify mistreating the group accused of it.

Establishing your opposition as a subhuman beast has been justification for the harshest forms of retaliation. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, European Jews were accused of kidnapping Christian children to use their blood in religious rituals; Also throughout the 19th and mid-20th centuries, European Jews were the victims of pogroms and the Holocaust. Where false pedophilia charges go, genocide and repression follow. (A related strategy: Far-right commentators such as Ann Coulter have accused refugees of preying upon children as a way to justify not aiding these groups as they flee deadly, oppressive situations.)

Barely a decade later, the threat of child predation helped rationalize the Cold War, on both sides. The Soviet Union condemned capitalism by suggesting that the US was so reluctant to use social services that its children were forced into lives of crime and prostitution. Over in the US, communism was the real thief of childhood, transforming children into brainwashed robots capable of turning their own parents over to the state for crimes such as hoarding grain. There’s likely some truth to these tales on either side, which is why propagandists chose them: Keeping the focus on mistreated children keeps people from wondering about whether they’re wholly true. The anger stirred by these stories helped keep millions and millions of people on the brink of nuclear destruction because the consequences of allowing the other side to remain unchecked was unthinkable.

GulDukat
09-11-2020, 01:56 PM
A very gross bit of news on how Trump was drooling over Cohen's then 15 year-old daughter. (https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/michael-cohens-daughter-reflects-on-his-time-with-trump)

Erneuert
09-12-2020, 12:56 AM
I love her. She's hilarious. Her videos truly highlight the insanity of his statements.

Same, she’s amazing!

allegate
09-12-2020, 03:56 PM
https://i.imgur.com/cIlSqun.jpg

Jinsai
09-12-2020, 04:36 PM
don't take the bait though... Babylon Bee is a Christian/Rightwing version of The Onion

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/babylon-bee/

GulDukat
09-12-2020, 07:44 PM
A big, beautiful Trump wedding. (https://www.rawstory.com/2020/09/weirdest-cult-ive-ever-seen-bafflement-over-why-trump-tweeted-wacky-pics-of-his-supporters/)

versusreality
09-12-2020, 08:02 PM
was on 5th ave in NYC last week, a beautiful day for a walk with my gf. we were soaking it all in, and then I said, "wow, look at all those barricades and police across the street, what's going on? " she was equally confused. then I look up and saw the sign: "trump tower" . it was literally all blocked off like a moat outside of a castle or something. made me sick.

it was nice seeing the Black Lives Matter street art right outside though!

Jinsai
09-12-2020, 09:42 PM
A big, beautiful Trump wedding. (https://www.rawstory.com/2020/09/weirdest-cult-ive-ever-seen-bafflement-over-why-trump-tweeted-wacky-pics-of-his-supporters/)

If I went to a wedding and it was like this for ANY politician or celebrity or anything, I'd run away screaming.

sweeterthan
09-13-2020, 08:11 AM
If I went to a wedding and it was like this for ANY politician or celebrity or anything, I'd run away screaming.

yes. this is weird at best. it’s not really about love or unity, it’s about owning the libs and getting attention. i put this up there with naming your baby “reznor”.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

bobbie solo
09-14-2020, 04:09 AM
same. i keep getting triggered by the yard signs and bumper stickers. whhhy god why does he have any support whatsoever? it makes no sense. everything about him is unamerican.

Like you just said above, pwning the libs is imo the majority of it. Sure, plenty of past Republicans share their views, but they still operated within the norms of politics. Trump's grotesque behavior just amplifies and encourages the basic tenet his cultists want to express, which is just FUCK YOU to the people that oppose them. They just want to antagonize. It's all part of the overarching idea that you have prolly seen often since 2016..."the cruelty is the point".

onthewall2983
09-14-2020, 08:19 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAL0aU_buLg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml2RSWg0Irk

allegate
09-14-2020, 10:40 AM
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1305240011663577088?s=20

https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1305196075997966336?s=20

BRoswell
09-14-2020, 11:27 AM
everything about him is unamerican.

I'd actually say it's VERY American. The worshiping of wealth and power in this country (from people who have it and from people who don't) is what brought us to this point. If we actually valued compassionate and intelligent people who want to make a difference in this world, Trumpy wouldn't stand a chance.

allegate
09-14-2020, 11:45 AM
Is this where someone cites American Gods by Neil Gaiman?

Jinsai
09-14-2020, 12:13 PM
I'd actually say it's VERY American. The worshiping of wealth and power in this country (from people who have it and from people who don't) is what brought us to this point. If we actually valued compassionate and intelligent people who want to make a difference in this world, Trumpy wouldn't stand a chance.

well, sure, but there's "America USA USA USA!" which is misguided jingoistic bullshit, and then there's the actual concepts that we claim to hold to as being "American" ideals: Inclusion, freedom of religion and speech, the central concepts that the constitution ostensibly should be protecting, the "American dream" that anyone should be able to succeed through hard work and determination...

We could say correctly that a lot of these are really just absurd ideals and pipe dreams, but if you say that those notions are "American," and that they define America as an ideal, then yes, Trump is the most Un-American thing you could imagine.

d1stinct
09-14-2020, 01:55 PM
I know it's behind a pay wall but...

"Trump Health Aide Alleges Broad Conspiracies and Warns of Armed Revolt


Michael Caputo, the assistant secretary of health for public affairs, told a Facebook audience without evidence that left-wing hit squads were being trained for insurrection, and he accused C.D.C. scientists of “sedition.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/us/caputo-virus.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Wiki on him - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Caputo

I won't copy/paste all of the article, since NYTimes is a paid service and I'm sure it's against their policies, but I will paste some of the crazy shit he said...

“You understand that they’re going to have to kill me, and unfortunately, I think that’s where this is going,” Mr. Caputo, a Trump loyalist installed by the White House in April, told followers in a video he hosted live on his personal Facebook page.

“I don’t like being alone in Washington,” he said, describing “shadows on the ceiling in my apartment, there alone, shadows are so long.” He then ran through a series of conspiracy theories, culminating in a prediction that Mr. Trump will win re-election but his Democratic opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr., will refuse to concede.

“And when Donald Trump refuses to stand down at the inauguration, the shooting will begin,” he said. “The drills that you’ve seen are nothing.” He added: “If you carry guns, buy ammunition, ladies and gentlemen, because it’s going to be hard to get.”

Mr. Caputo on Sunday complained on Facebook that he was under siege by the media and said that his physical health was in question and his “mental health has definitely failed.”

His job is to coordinate the messaging of an 80,000-person department that functions as the center of the American public health bureaucracy and includes the Food and Drug Administration, the C.D.C. and the National Institutes of Health, which lead the government’s pandemic response.

allegate
09-14-2020, 03:08 PM
his “mental health has definitely failed.”


https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41AUw0wNduL._SX466_.jpg

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1305570417873244160?s=20

allegro
09-15-2020, 06:57 AM
Vindman interview in The Atlantic. (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/alexander-vindman-trump-putin-useful-idiot/616341/). VERY good.


I ask Vindman the key question: Does he believe that Trump is an asset of Russian intelligence?
“President Trump should be considered to be a useful idiot and a fellow traveler, which makes him an unwitting agent of Putin,” he says. Useful idiot is a term commonly used to describe dupes of authoritarian regimes; fellow traveler, in Vindman’s description, is a person who shares Putin’s loathing for democratic norms.

But do you think Russia is blackmailing Trump? “They may or may not have dirt on him, but they don’t have to use it,” he says. “They have more effective and less risky ways to employ him. He has aspirations to be the kind of leader that Putin is, and so he admires him. He likes authoritarian strongmen who act with impunity, without checks and balances. So he’ll try to please Putin.”

Vindman continues, “In the Army we call this ‘free chicken,’ something you don’t have to work for—it just comes to you. This is what the Russians have in Trump: free chicken.”

[...]

Ultimately, he says, he wants to put his knowledge of authoritarianism to good use, “before it’s too late.”

“Authoritarianism is able to take hold not because you have a strong set of leaders who are forcing their way,” he says. “It’s more about the fact that we can give away our democracy. In Hungary and Turkey today, in Nazi Germany, those folks gave away their democracy, by being complacent.”

He goes on, “Truth is a victim in this administration, I think it’s Orwellian—the ultimate goal of this president is to get you to disbelieve what you’ve seen and what you’ve heard. My goal now is to remind people of this.”

allegate
09-15-2020, 10:21 AM
speaking of Russia.

https://twitter.com/fred_guttenberg/status/1305834886448775168?s=20

BRoswell
09-15-2020, 10:27 AM
And, if I recall correctly, it's not the first time he's used Russian military footage. Oh well. Must just be a crazy coincidence!

allegate
09-15-2020, 10:32 AM
And, if I recall correctly, it's not the first time he's used Russian military footage. Oh well. Must just be a crazy coincidence!
https://i.imgflip.com/2evobq.jpg

Jinsai
09-15-2020, 12:56 PM
well, this was really intensely weird...

https://twitter.com/Ky_Gill28/status/1305919512303341576

allegate
09-15-2020, 01:01 PM
In the interest of self-care I'm just going to make sure I never read that tweet again and will scroll it off-screen for the duration of this page.

Pillfred
09-15-2020, 01:17 PM
I know it's behind a pay wall but...

"Trump Health Aide Alleges Broad Conspiracies and Warns of Armed Revolt


Michael Caputo, the assistant secretary of health for public affairs, told a Facebook audience without evidence that left-wing hit squads were being trained for insurrection, and he accused C.D.C. scientists of “sedition.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/us/caputo-virus.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Wiki on him - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Caputo

I won't copy/paste all of the article, since NYTimes is a paid service and I'm sure it's against their policies, but I will paste some of the crazy shit he said...

“You understand that they’re going to have to kill me, and unfortunately, I think that’s where this is going,” Mr. Caputo, a Trump loyalist installed by the White House in April, told followers in a video he hosted live on his personal Facebook page.

“I don’t like being alone in Washington,” he said, describing “shadows on the ceiling in my apartment, there alone, shadows are so long.” He then ran through a series of conspiracy theories, culminating in a prediction that Mr. Trump will win re-election but his Democratic opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr., will refuse to concede.

“And when Donald Trump refuses to stand down at the inauguration, the shooting will begin,” he said. “The drills that you’ve seen are nothing.” He added: “If you carry guns, buy ammunition, ladies and gentlemen, because it’s going to be hard to get.”

Mr. Caputo on Sunday complained on Facebook that he was under siege by the media and said that his physical health was in question and his “mental health has definitely failed.”

His job is to coordinate the messaging of an 80,000-person department that functions as the center of the American public health bureaucracy and includes the Food and Drug Administration, the C.D.C. and the National Institutes of Health, which lead the government’s pandemic response.

I read that yesterday. I had double check it wasn't an Onion article. Dude really has lost his fucking mind.

Jinsai
09-15-2020, 01:50 PM
I read that yesterday. I had double check it wasn't an Onion article. Dude really has lost his fucking mind.

And now, predictably, he's on his way out.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/15/michael-caputo-apology-hhs-staff-415206

allegate
09-15-2020, 01:55 PM
woah woah woah, back tfu here...are you telling me that someone on the Trump team acknowledged they misspoke and aren't doubling down on their farcical statements?

Jinsai
09-17-2020, 11:26 PM
I don't know how anyone can hear about designs for "Patriotic Education" and not think of the Hitler Youth, or hear about "Pro-America Curriculum" and not get chills.

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/17/914127266/trump-announces-patriotic-education-commission-a-largely-political-move?utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR07nhpi7jpwI4VwLxNlFMgYFLE9EVgyfYq2f7dVt uD26JhGaimCt9DCqH0

allegro
09-18-2020, 01:54 PM
Despicable. JK doesn’t mention the PPE that he literally swooped in and STOLE from states (https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/how-the-federal-government-took-control-of-the-ppe-pipeline) that’d already paid for it.

https://twitter.com/notcapnamerica/status/1306842532211552260?s=21

allegate
09-18-2020, 11:29 PM
https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1307009018922258432

I checked - twice - and that def. says CBS, not The Onion.

Jinsai
09-19-2020, 10:39 AM
so Trump's tweeting, and I'm not sure which thread it generally fits in. All I know is nothing he's talking about would belong in the COVID thread...

But naturally, he's vowing to fill the SCOTUS vacancy left by RBG "without delay."

Then he accused the governor of Virginia of supporting the execution of babies after they're born... but don't worry, he's got a big rally he's gonna throw in Virginia, TBA soon!

Erneuert
09-20-2020, 09:23 PM
so Trump's tweeting, and I'm not sure which thread it generally fits in. All I know is nothing he's talking about would belong in the COVID thread...

But naturally, he's vowing to fill the SCOTUS vacancy left by RBG "without delay."

Then he accused the governor of Virginia of supporting the execution of babies after they're born... but don't worry, he's got a big rally he's gonna throw in Virginia, TBA soon!

*insert image of highly intelligent extraterrestrial species flying past earth, listening in and pissing themselves laughing, then flying as far away as possible*

allegate
09-21-2020, 09:48 AM
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/1307473672802676736?s=20

paul_is_dead
09-22-2020, 09:15 AM
https://twitter.com/scottEmovienerd/status/1308388804949143552

allegate
09-25-2020, 01:04 PM
https://twitter.com/AJemaineClement/status/1309351106451918848?s=20

those fiends, waiting until the ninth month to be born.

allegro
09-25-2020, 10:53 PM
BRING IT

https://twitter.com/repjerrynadler/status/1309563510658142214?s=21

allegro
09-25-2020, 11:02 PM
https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/1307473672802676736?s=20

https://twitter.com/joebiden/status/1307491919384260609?s=21

tony.parente
09-26-2020, 02:02 PM
The best part about Trump classifying the KKK as a terrorist group is there are more racists who won’t vote for him over that than there are black folks who will vote for him over it.


Plus classifying antifa as a terrorist organization just cancels out the KKK one. So in November not only will he lose the election and throw a hissy fit like we’ve never seen, but he will also have the egg on his face of not having the KKK support anymore.

M1ke
09-26-2020, 02:23 PM
The best part about Trump classifying the KKK as a terrorist group is there are more racists who won’t vote for him over that than there are black folks who will vote for him over it.


Plus classifying antifa as a terrorist organization just cancels out the KKK one. So in November not only will he lose the election and throw a hissy fit like we’ve never seen, but he will also have the egg on his face of not having the KKK support anymore.

The KKK being classified as a terrorist group needed to happen. I'm kind of surprised that hadn't happened earlier.

Antifa's a weird one though. Is he trying to set up a false equivalency? Or is he looking for excuses to deploy his secret police?

allegate
09-26-2020, 02:52 PM
I asked my wife this morning: So the racist who's been telling you how racist he is is now saying that the KKK is bad and that Juneteenth should be a national holiday?

versusreality
09-26-2020, 03:33 PM
I asked my wife this morning: So the racist who's been telling you how racist he is is now saying that the KKK is bad and that Juneteenth should be a national holiday?

someone wants votes

Jinsai
09-27-2020, 03:31 AM
Transparent pandering isn’t going to work. We’ve got nearly four years of experience. We know who you are.

versusreality
09-27-2020, 05:55 AM
Transparent pandering isn’t going to work. We’ve got nearly four years of experience. We know who you are.

we do. but sadly, and surprisingly, there is still somehow undecided voters.

Jinsai
09-27-2020, 06:53 AM
I want to feel like this on November third... I know it's not ideal, but we can work from here towards something a bit better


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

Swykk
09-27-2020, 05:14 PM
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html?fbclid=IwAR2IHL0i4Kg_Bghmy_BRJn4w1Lu5aa s7myr6YG9plShXK1oIRfiLpXUNx20

Confirms much of what we all suspected (big losses, barely paid anything in, shady dealings suggesting fraud) but not all of it (no real Russian ties reported. Emphasis on “reported”).

That said, we’re seeing it now—he’s going to do whatever he can to be re-elected so he doesn’t have to face whatever NY has waiting if he doesn’t.

somewhat_
09-27-2020, 05:14 PM
The New York Times has obtained two decades of Trump’s taxes

tony.parente
09-27-2020, 05:56 PM
I’ve paid more in federal income taxes this year alone than the president of the United States of America has 10 of the last 15 years combined.

eachpassingphase
09-27-2020, 06:16 PM
I’ve paid more in federal income taxes this year alone than the president of the United States of America has 10 of the last 15 years combined.

Ain't that some shit? "The more we let you have, the less that I'll be keeping for me" indeed.

I desperately want to take some of my family member's faces and shove it into the NYT's article like shoving a dog's nose into wet carpet. Many of my lower income family members couldn't get a car loan or a home loan if they begged on their knees and offered the loan officer a blow job. But guys like Trump can get million dollar loan after million dollar loan, even though there are YEARS of evidence showing that he does not pay his very expensive bills. I have family members who are scared to death to talk to the IRS over a 2 thousand dollar tax bill they owe and can't pay, but Trump pays virtually nothing for the last two years, and literally nothing for the other ten. He gets millions of dollars in refund checks from the government, while I have family members who would have their lives changed by a thousand dollar stimulus check from the government right now.

Those same family members are convinced that Trump cares about them and wants to drain the swamp. It's insane.

Jinsai
09-27-2020, 06:19 PM
I’ve paid more in federal income taxes this year alone than the president of the United States of America has 10 of the last 15 years combined.

The problem is... his supporters are in the same boat and STILL do not care.

You just have to hope EVERYBODY votes this time.... if we vote, he loses and fucks off forever. Right now, voting is our only option.

somewhat_
09-27-2020, 07:03 PM
Ain't that some shit? "The more we let you have, the less that I'll be keeping for me" indeed.

I desperately want to take some of my family member's faces and shove it into the NYT's article like shoving a dog's nose into wet carpet. Many of my lower income family members couldn't get a car loan or a home loan if they begged on their knees and offered the loan officer a blow job. But guys like Trump can get million dollar loan after million dollar loan, even though there are YEARS of evidence showing that he does not pay his very expensive bills. I have family members who are scared to death to talk to the IRS over a 2 thousand dollar tax bill they owe and can't pay, but Trump pays virtually nothing for the last two years, and literally nothing for the other ten. He gets millions of dollars in refund checks from the government, while I have family members who would have their lives changed by a thousand dollar stimulus check from the government right now.

Those same family members are convinced that Trump cares about them and wants to drain the swamp. It's insane.

The amount of people that are going to say “that’s smart” is going to be a stupid amount of people. Just like everything and anything else, unfortunately, this isn’t going to change many votes.

versusreality
09-27-2020, 09:23 PM
Trump's former campaign manager in hospital after attempted suicide

Wretchedest
09-27-2020, 10:32 PM
Try harder Brad!

M1ke
09-28-2020, 06:53 AM
https://i.imgur.com/rMnzNfk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Lbe0ZS1.jpeg

allegate
09-28-2020, 09:52 AM
https://twitter.com/nxthompson/status/1310591077003464714

allegate
09-28-2020, 09:58 AM
Has there been any hints as to where this came from? It seems to by somewhat secret from what I've read in the half hour I've been sitting here.

https://twitter.com/myqkaplan/status/1310436901531324417?s=20

This is an amazing thread that goes into a lot of details:

https://twitter.com/danhreck/status/1310506379459866624?s=20

I guess my question now is: If he's this broke, is this why everyone in his orbit appear to be running their own grifts? because he's not paying them?

allegro
09-28-2020, 02:16 PM
This is huge, omg. It’s all over Twitter, and now Facebook and Zuck is linked to it, including FB EMPLOYEES.

And word is that Parscale is somehow tied to this ...

And this weird thing is happening, where retweets on Twitter are strangely disabled for some of these.

https://twitter.com/ava/status/1310597300918444032?s=21

allegro
09-28-2020, 02:22 PM
Has there been any hints as to where this came from? It seems to by somewhat secret from what I've read in the half hour I've been sitting here.

https://twitter.com/myqkaplan/status/1310436901531324417?s=20

This is an amazing thread that goes into a lot of details:

https://twitter.com/danhreck/status/1310506379459866624?s=20

I guess my question now is: If he's this broke, is this why everyone in his orbit appear to be running their own grifts? because he's not paying them?

He’s been known to not pay people his entire career. It’s the craziest thing, people in real estate (including myself) have never understood why anyone would ever do business with him. I’m Twitter friends with a commercial real estate attorney who’s friends with a commercial designer who worked on Mar-a-Lago, said her friend financed expensive marble HERSELF because she knew he often never pays.

As to where the tax returns came from? I’m suspecting Mary Trump, his niece. But, it COULD be someone inside the SDNY; this is the basis of the criminal investigation, there.

Here’s the NYT story:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/27/us/donald-trump-taxes.html

sweeterthan
09-28-2020, 09:21 PM
my question is how the hell do you get a refund of 80 million fucking dollars if you don’t pay taxes? my husband says it’s about declaring a huge loss but i still don’t get it. it’s just bizarre. it’s not 8000 dollars it’s 80 million. that amount is insane. our tax code is fucked up if you can do that without paying your massive debt.

allegro
09-28-2020, 10:01 PM
my question is how the hell do you get a refund of 80 million fucking dollars if you don’t pay taxes? my husband says it’s about declaring a huge loss but i still don’t get it. it’s just bizarre. it’s not 8000 dollars it’s 80 million. that amount is insane. our tax code is fucked up if you can do that without paying your massive debt.

* He has a bunch of businesses
* Only a few of those are profitable
* Most of his businesses are losing money
* He has a shitload of loans, which he used to buy most of those businesses
* Those loans are writeoffs
* He uses the losses as a writeoff against the profits
* He also writes off a bunch of shit he SHOULDN’T write off, like personal expenses (his hair, his plane travel, his consulting fees when he didn’t actually do any consulting, etc.)
* His losses actually nearly match or sometimes exceed his income according to his tax filings
* This results in his filing for a GIANT refund

Michael Cohen says that Trump cooks the books. Meaning, Trump overvalues his properties when he needs to use them as collateral for loans or needs to sell them, but undervalues them when fighting the tax assessor re property taxes.

As someone said:

“ The assets being depreciated on annual tax returns are the same assets being used by Trump in loan applications to banks for the purpose of obtaining more financing to procure such assets as golf courses, commercial real estate, and prospective NFL teams. Has Trump maintained consistency with regard to reporting the same cost ‘basis’ of each of these assets on his loan applications as reflected on his tax return depreciation schedules? How about on his applications for insurance coverage? What about with regard to his property tax declarations?”

It’s not the tax code, it’s tax fraud; he’s committed tax fraud.

But, yes, the tax code needs to be revised, as well. Especially regarding loss writeoffs. There are companies that exist solely as loss writeoffs. I worked for one. Also, the IRS has been gutted, deliberately. The Republicans have so underfunded the IRS, the IRS now nearly SOLELY focuses audits on the poor and middle class. The wealthy rarely get into trouble. Their audits take YEARS.

Meanwhile, the middle class’s writeoffs have all been removed. You used to be able to write off credit card interest. Gone. The newest GOP tax statute increased the standard deduction and all but eliminated itemized deductions for the average middle class family, thereby removing the charitable deduction, healthcare deduction, and they capped the SALT deduction.

Edit: A further explanatory note, here: Wealthy people and corporations can’t just wait until April 15th to see what their tax bill is and pay it; they are required to pay quarterly estimates.

allegate
09-29-2020, 09:46 AM
https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1310915882483359751?s=20

You know what, good for him.

edit:

sorry, I forgot my https://www.echoingthesound.org/community/images/smilies/wink.png and /s

cdm
09-29-2020, 09:59 AM
Interesting thread regarding one of his UK golf properties:

1310929478030426112

BRoswell
09-29-2020, 10:36 AM
https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1310915882483359751?s=20

You know what, good for him.

As a gay man, I couldn't give a fuck if he's LGBTQ+. Actions speak louder than words, and his father has continued the country's tradition of treating people like me as second class citizens. If he's a part of the community, he should be mortified and ashamed at what his father has done. Instead, he goes on Fox Fucking News and says shit like this. Fuck him.

And for the record, I think he's probably full of shit. It seems like a desperate ploy to get more voters before the election. Republicans always do this come election time. They act like we're the scum of the earth, but when they need our votes, they shake their tin cup in our faces.

allegro
09-29-2020, 10:42 AM
Fredo isn’t LGBTQ, he just didn’t realize what he said.

BRoswell
09-29-2020, 10:46 AM
Fredo isn’t LGBTQ, he just didn’t realize what he said.

No surprise there.

allegate
09-29-2020, 11:17 AM
sorry, I forgot my ;) and /s

versusreality
09-29-2020, 11:38 AM
https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1310915882483359751?s=20

You know what, good for him.
I took his comment as he's part of the NYC community in which the lady who wrote that letter is also from.

allegate
09-29-2020, 12:02 PM
https://twitter.com/marcbernardin/status/1310985666612752386?s=20

richardp
09-29-2020, 12:31 PM
https://twitter.com/revrrlewis/status/1310915882483359751?s=20

You know what, good for him.

LOLOL if you think Eric Trump is in any way supportive of or even, god forbid, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, then buddy, I can assure you, you're sorely mistaken. Eric is about as much of a representative of that community as Ivanka is. Which is absolutely fucking ZERO.

Jinsai
09-29-2020, 05:57 PM
in anticipation of tonight's debate, I'm watching this, and smoking pot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PEEUGk-BCA

if Biden doesn't basically do this, then... maybe I'll try some harder drugs

tony.parente
09-29-2020, 08:10 PM
“Elections have consequences”
- Donald Trump on pushing through Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

slave2thewage
09-29-2020, 08:15 PM
Neither is coming across well so far, but Trump seems particularly disorganised.

paul_is_dead
09-29-2020, 08:24 PM
Watching from Europe.

I agree neither are particularly good.

sweeterthan
09-29-2020, 08:26 PM
trump is a child.

ltrandazzo
09-29-2020, 08:27 PM
Watching from Europe.

I agree neither are particularly good.

“Will you shut up man?”

paul_is_dead
09-29-2020, 08:32 PM
Trump being a cunt.

slave2thewage
09-29-2020, 08:42 PM
Joe’s picking up steam.

M1ke
09-29-2020, 08:47 PM
The problem's going to be that nobody's stopping Trump from steamrolling the entire debate.

Wallace isn't reigning him in very effectively. Biden is barely able to speak because Trump just keeps lying over him.

tony.parente
09-29-2020, 08:47 PM
“Will you shut up man?”
“You are the worst president the United States has ever had”

slave2thewage
09-29-2020, 08:49 PM
I thought Trump would do better on this economic stuff. He seems rattled over the question about the taxes.

paul_is_dead
09-29-2020, 08:49 PM
I'm not sure how anybody could be undecided going into this anyway...

slave2thewage
09-29-2020, 08:52 PM
“Mister President, please stop”

Magnetic
09-29-2020, 09:08 PM
“Will you shut up man?”

Honestly it felt great to see someone say that to Drump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb4a_CLHtBs&amp;ab_channel=ditzydayz

slave2thewage
09-29-2020, 09:10 PM
Trump’s floundering big time imo.

paul_is_dead
09-29-2020, 09:20 PM
Where are these forest cities in Europe, please enlighten me

sweeterthan
09-29-2020, 09:22 PM
he doesn’t care about clean air. he’s given polluters a pass for the year.


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Erneuert
09-29-2020, 09:40 PM
lol, Biden just says "military personnel have voted with mail in ballots since the end of the civil war and it was fine then. Why is it a problem now? Why is it suddenly a fraudulent process now?" and Trump just stands there blinking with a stupid look on his face.

slave2thewage
09-29-2020, 09:42 PM
Watching the NBC stream. The hosts are in shock.

paul_is_dead
09-29-2020, 09:43 PM
Two more of these? What use are they going to be...? More chaos

allegro
09-29-2020, 09:45 PM
Now I have a migraine.

marodi
09-29-2020, 09:47 PM
Biden was really getting under the Orange Idiot's skin.

In the end, I think Biden showed more empathy for the American people than the Moron in Chief. And Biden seems to have a plan if he wins. I hope it will count for some.

allegro
09-29-2020, 09:48 PM
The moderators in the next debates MUST have the ability to cut Trump’s mic.

It was an immature, stupid display by a President who looked like a third grader.

Ugh, that was exhausting.

Edit: “Proud Boys ... Stand By” WTF?!?!?

slave2thewage
09-29-2020, 09:51 PM
I’m just going to come out and say it: how much coke did Trump do before that?

allegro
09-29-2020, 09:52 PM
Exactly. ^^

Or Adderall.

Space Suicide
09-29-2020, 09:58 PM
This debate was absolute idiocy. No one won but the US citizens lost, that's for sure.

allegro
09-29-2020, 10:02 PM
Trump was MANIC, out-of-control. Spewing total nonsense.

I have PTSD, and all that really triggered my PTSD pretty badly. I checked Twitter and I’m not alone.

My husband just said, “I kinda feel violated.” James Carville is on MSNBC and he said “I was being PAID to watch that and it was tough to watch.”

It was aggressive abusive awful shit, none of it informative or useful.

Piko
09-29-2020, 11:50 PM
Total shitshow. About what I expected. What happens when we elect a nutjob. It's not going to get more normal.

At the very least, hopefully it woke some people up. Probably not though.

One guy kept messaging me. Told me Trump destroyed him. How? Lol

GulDukat
09-30-2020, 12:10 AM
I honestly hope that they cancel the next two debates. What's the point? Let's just get this fucking election over with already.

richardp
09-30-2020, 02:19 AM
I’m just going to come out and say it: how much coke did Trump do before that?

Both Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo openly speculated about this on CNN after it was over. Pretty wild to finally hear the press acknowledge it like that, so blatantly and openly. Because yeah, I even said to my partner like halfway through it, "dude must have taken the fattest fucking rail before walking on stage". It was the most insane thing I've ever seen. Worst Black Mirror episode ever.

And I agree, they either need to cancel the next two debates or not be afraid to actually cut Trump's microphone. Chris Wallace should be fuckin ashamed of himself for letting Trump do that, and then just sitting there and nervously chuckling multiple times.

versusreality
09-30-2020, 06:08 AM
he wants his people to take the streets.
he wants the polling stations to be taken over by his people.

and they will do just that, because they are a cult.

we are in trouble.

chuckrh
09-30-2020, 06:58 AM
I honestly hope that they cancel the next two debates. What's the point? Let's just get this fucking election over with already.

I do want to see Harris destroy Pence though. Just for fun.

ltrandazzo
09-30-2020, 07:17 AM
The next debate is a town hall format, so the questions will be coming from people while the moderator, Steve Schully from CSPAN will try to keep it on topic and flowing.

I don't think it's controversial to say Biden won the debate. These things are determined on style points alone and he looked like the physical representation of every person who is tired of this asshole. I think he hung on well and surprisingly, his appeals towards the cameras seemed to break through a little? I normally hate that.

sweeterthan
09-30-2020, 07:26 AM
Trump was MANIC, out-of-control. Spewing total nonsense.

I have PTSD, and all that really triggered my PTSD pretty badly. I checked Twitter and I’m not alone.

My husband just said, “I kinda feel violated.” James Carville is on MSNBC and he said “I was being PAID to watch that and it was tough to watch.”

It was aggressive abusive awful shit, none of it informative or useful.

yes!! maddow called trump an abuser and said wallace was a victim in addition to biden. she was in shock when it cut to her after it was over.


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sweeterthan
09-30-2020, 07:37 AM
Total shitshow. About what I expected. What happens when we elect a nutjob. It's not going to get more normal.

At the very least, hopefully it woke some people up. Probably not though.

One guy kept messaging me. Told me Trump destroyed him. How? Lol
yes! i’ve seen that magats on twitter saying he “owned” biden. so interrupting people is ownage now? is that what our government elections have been reduced to? who can talk loudest? welcome to costco. i love you.

also trump lies all the time. he reverses his words all the time. why can’t he lie and deny white supremacy? then tell his white bois the opposite in a few hours. would they really not know he still loves them? that part of the debate to me was the weirdest and most twisted part. we’ve gone thru months of unrest that he’s done nothing to quell. just say some shit about unity and human race. would it kill him to say it? i dare you, trump.


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cdm
09-30-2020, 07:53 AM
Full disclosure: I did not watch the majority of the debate. I intended to watch and watched the first 12 or so minutes but I had to turn it off. That was all I needed to see. I followed along on Twitter and got the broad strokes but I don't fully know the degree of shitshow that was on display.

With that said, Biden should absolutely pull out of the final two debates. There is nothing to gain by standing up there with him again, regardless of the moderator. Before last night my SO said she was surprised Biden agreed to the debates and there was little in it for him to participate. I mostly agreed with the point but not participating would give the Trump campaign talking points..."what is he afraid of?" and "well clearly he's unfit" and "he's senile". They'd already floated those attacks and not agreeing to debates would have put fuel on the fire.

Last night changed that. Biden got up there and, from what I've read, did as well as one could expect with a fucking lunatic across the stage. There is no reason to participate in anything further. Trump showed his ass, don't give him the chance to pivot and do damage control, or worse, ratchet the insanity up a notch or five. Do town halls or something to talk to voters and address questions but DO NOT get on that stage with him again.

And if Trump wants to put the drug use of large adults sons in play...

1308179513755435009

Space Suicide
09-30-2020, 09:11 AM
I’m not into censorship but the tweet above makes me question how such brain dead “information” can be given to the world and accepted by so many.

cdm
09-30-2020, 09:30 AM
I’m not into censorship but the tweet above makes me question how such brain dead “information” can be given to the world and accepted by so many.

Agreed. I like how Twitter has added the note about mail voting but I think it should go several steps further by pointing out much of what is stated / suggested in the video is A. a lie and B. illegal.

allegate
09-30-2020, 09:50 AM
yes! i’ve seen that magats on twitter saying he “owned” biden. so interrupting people is ownage now? is that what our government elections have been reduced to? who can talk loudest? welcome to costco. i love you.

also trump lies all the time. he reverses his words all the time. why can’t he lie and deny white supremacy? then tell his white bois the opposite in a few hours. would they really not know he still loves them? that part of the debate to me was the weirdest and most twisted part. we’ve gone thru months of unrest that he’s done nothing to quell. just say some shit about unity and human race. would it kill him to say it? i dare you, trump.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If all you watch is Fox News where 'he who talks the loudest wins" then yeah Trump fucking killed it.

allegate
09-30-2020, 09:54 AM
I’m not into censorship but the tweet above makes me question how such brain dead “information” can be given to the world and accepted by so many.
it's the same weird slippery slope that Q used by glomming onto the child trafficking: Censorship is bad but you see that and think "you know, maybe not all censorship is bad?"

I can't get my thoughts into the right order to make sense via text right now so I apologize for letting you infer what I'm getting at vs. my stating it clearly.

allegate
09-30-2020, 03:55 PM
https://twitter.com/gabrielsherman/status/1311404049238036480?s=20

Jinsai
09-30-2020, 04:10 PM
I honestly don't think I'm going to watch the next debates. I heard my mind audibly snap at some point last night.

M1ke
09-30-2020, 04:33 PM
Honestly, I feel like it's not good for me to keep paying attention to this garbage....all that's going to happen is that Trump is going to confirm he's a shitbag......

But for whatever reason I just can't stop.........

I'm tired. But I know I won't stop watching.

GulDukat
10-01-2020, 08:48 PM
Hope Hicks has Covid and traveled with Trump this week. (https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/10/01/us/trump-vs-biden/hope-hicks-coronavirus)

allegro
10-01-2020, 08:51 PM
https://twitter.com/chrismurphyct/status/1311772833048154113?s=21


https://twitter.com/chrismurphyct/status/1311772837963862017?s=21

versusreality
10-01-2020, 08:51 PM
"virtually nobody gets it"

indeed, a nobody got it.

M1ke
10-01-2020, 09:47 PM
Hope Hicks has Covid and traveled with Trump this week. (https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/10/01/us/trump-vs-biden/hope-hicks-coronavirus)

So, if Trump dies before the election is over, does a vote from Trump/Pence just become a vote for Pence?

paul_is_dead
10-01-2020, 10:12 PM
Joe Biden has a very good excuse to pull out of the next debate now?

Just hope Joe doesn’t get it.

Piko
10-01-2020, 11:08 PM
Joe Biden has a very good excuse to pull out of the next debate now?

Just hope Joe doesn’t get it.Should be fine. Didn't go near him, did he?

allegro
10-01-2020, 11:27 PM
This is disturbing, but the comments in the thread had me laughing so hard omg ...

The Twitter peeps FOUND this asshole, of course ... Amazing. Y’all Qaida, LOL.

https://twitter.com/davenewworld_2/status/1311672180464386048?s=21

allegro
10-01-2020, 11:46 PM
Here’s another one. Already located by Twitter peeps ... he owns a lunch counter in Brooklyn. Another hilarious Twitter thread.

https://twitter.com/rexchapman/status/1311792968316133386?s=21

allegro
10-01-2020, 11:52 PM
Lol lol lol

https://twitter.com/anthonycwalker/status/1311788227104301057?s=21

allegro
10-02-2020, 12:10 AM
The rumors were true. The rumors are also that this is bullshit, because Trump is a liar.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1311892190680014849?s=20

thelastdisciple
10-02-2020, 12:14 AM
So Trump and Melania have COVID now supposedly but who actually knows? The next debate is Oct. 15th.. I guess that's enough quarantine time from now until then (dependent on subsequent testing), i thought maybe he's actually trying to dodge the rest of the debates since COVID would make a great excuse. I bet he couldn't handle Biden telling him to shut up and had a big ol tantrum about it.

EDIT: allegro beat me to it.

Wretchedest
10-02-2020, 12:28 AM
I haven't been this happy all year.

GulDukat
10-02-2020, 12:28 AM
I highly doubt that they are pretending that he has Covid-19 to weasel out of a debate.

allegate
10-02-2020, 12:29 AM
You're both thiefs of joy. You know that?

Lol

Wretchedest
10-02-2020, 12:33 AM
Hopefully he's got his bleach and hydrochloroquine to get him through this

botley
10-02-2020, 12:36 AM
Confirmation from the White House physician.

https://twitter.com/AngelaSterritt/status/1311901582779281408

onthewall2983
10-02-2020, 12:43 AM
Several of the first responses below his tweet I read are all in some strange language with scary pictures attached.

allegate
10-02-2020, 12:52 AM
https://twitter.com/JacobMargolis/status/1311903891072532486?s=19

I should be in bed, damnit.