stevenkesslar

Agreed. But as a footnote I will add that the American people never voted for this guy. They never voted for Trump, in a way. He has never actually won 50 % of the vote. Neither did Bill Clinton, to be fair. But that was because both times Clinton ran Perot was a significant third party candidate. Trump ran in a two way race and he could still not get 50 % of America to back him. America certainly never voted for Musk. He is a special interest corrupt political donor who feels he is above the law and can buy a Presidency or buy whatever he wants. And he is particularly inept and emotionally immature in how he does it. It's worse than trump. "Look at me! Look at me! I can fire the people who keep America safe! What could possibly go wrong? Look at me! Sorry, but I'll go data geek now. What scared me a few weeks ago but maybe isn't as bad as it seemed is what young people, especially young men, think about Musk. Democrats now have a young male problem - both White and Hispanic. And they have a young Black male problem, too. But with young Black men it's more that they are just alienated, period. They wouldn't vote for Harris because they didn't care. That hurt her in Philly, Miwaukee, Detroit. With a lot of young White and Hispanic men, and possibly Asian men, it is that they are attracted to this stuff. Elon is the great entrepreneur. Elon will save us. He'll bring us to the moon, when people mostly just want to be able to fly from Kansas to DC safely. YouGov polls this stuff about weekly, so they make it easy to track. In their Jan 5-8 poll, Musk had 43/46 net disapproval. In their new Jan 26-28 poll it's 44/48 net disapproval. How Musk fired the competent FAA head because he feels above the law and doesn't want to be accountable to public safety has only begun to play out. So that new poll could not have measured it. But in both polls, Musk does not have the approval of even a plurality of Americans. This asshole is NOT what America wants. By the time his attacks on the FAA and public safety became known, more people will likely feel he was a DANGEROUS HIRE. What I found scary in the early Jan. poll is that even though Musk overall had a net 43/46 disapproval rating, among voters aged 18-29 it was 48/42 net approval, And among all men, in both polls, Musk has 53/42 net approval. So it is safe to assume a lot of young men like this guy. He's their Daddy, or their entrepreneur role model, or the cool guy that owns X, or whatever. Now he's the guy with a distaste for public safety, the law, and FAA efforts to keep Americans safe. So we'll see. But even by this latest YouGov poll voters aged 18-29 now net disapprove of Musk, 43/47. So the respect was never deserved, and didn't last long. In the latest poll Musk actually gained a little approval among older voters who are conservative and now probably see him as Trump's ranting oligarch and special interest billionaire donor. Democrats have to be clear in attacking this asshole that this is not what America voted for. He represents a minority of Americans who are happy to trash democracy, trash public safety, and watch special interest billionaires get their taxes cut as they try to destroy the government they don't want taxing and regulating them.

The Contentious History Between Elon Musk and Former FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker Here's some good news for people heartbroken about this tragedy. Musk won't last. That is now certain. Trump does not like messes he did not cause. Even though he would never admit that publicly. And only Trump is arrogant enough to think God chose him to save the human race. Having JD for an obedient lap dog who backs his attacks on the FAA? That's fine. Having a No. 2 in the job of saving the human race? Or at least savings America? Or Trumpland, or whatever he thinks it is? That's too much. And if Trump is too weak to do it, time for Democrats to kick in. This guy needs to go. What an arrogant, awful, despicable, and totally useless piece of shit. Ugh! Maybe he can figure out how to actually get people to the moon safely some day. Great. Do that. Try to do something good. But all he has done for weeks is systematically attack and humiliate the FAA, among other government agencies. Why? FOR DOING ITS JOB. FOR UPHOLDING PUBLIC SAFETY. FOR HAVING THE BALLS TO FINE THE ARROGANT FUCKER FOR VIOLATING PUBLIC SAFETY. Fire the asshole. Or let him resign for the good of the nation and FAA, like Republicans forced Washington to do. But Musk of course has neither the character nor humility to do that. He is just arrogant, small, and cruel.

Again, no context. You are wanting us to think .....................what? Say something. "I am ignorant. I have no context, and no understanding. So instead of exposing how ignorant I am, I will post a video that says nothing. Twice." Is that what you mean to tell us, Oh Silent One? I am asking you fair and honest questions. "I don't like Blacks. I don't like Asians. I don't like Hispanics. People who are not White are generally ignorant people. They are DEI hires." Is that what you mean to tell us, Oh Silent One? Since I have to guess, I would guess maybe that is what you are trying, ineptly, to say. Even if the guy in the video could not answer questions about his aviation experience to your satisfaction, Oh Silent One, at least he could answer questions. Why can't you? Anyway, you are confirming to my satisfaction that you are deeply ignorant, whatever your hidden motives. 1. You can not call someone a "DEI hire" when they were never hired. Rep. Budd, who your video features, played his part. But Ted Cruz was leader of the pack in blocking Washington. So your video is ignorant, and inaccurate. 2. If you want to use the term "DEI hire", and be honest, what you need to add is context, which you have none of. What are you, ignorant? The Republicans, led by Cruz, attacked this Black man, like many other Black men Biden appointed, as incompetent and a "DEI hire". So this is a Republican slur, generally and broadly used against Blacks, and not a fact. And it is ridiculous, and disrespectful, that our Black Defense Secretary was somehow more "DEI" because he is not an alcoholic, he does not cheat on his wife, he does not ruin marriages, and he does not think having Gays in the military is a Marxist plot. Like Dumb Hire Hegseth does. Did you know any of this, Oh Silent One? 3. This confirms that Trump and Musk's multi-faceted attack on the FAA and its widely respected administrator was ignorant and dangerous. Whether it was by luck or something else, what we learned when Republicans attacked Washington for being a DEI Black man is that the FAA could function for months without having an Administrator. There was no major aviation tragedy while Republicans held up his nomination. Maybe we just got lucky. When the Republicans refused to budge, Washington saw the handwriting on the wall. And for the good of the FAA, he withdrew his nomination. Kudos to him. If the point was to say, "Give us someone who is super-qualified," that worked. Biden then appointed the White guy Trump and Musk attacked. Why? Because Musk is lawless and does not like being fined for threatening public safety. That guy was confirmed unanimously by the Senate for a five year term. Musk started to attack him last year and called for his resignation right after he decided he was above the law. And so if the FAA fined him for public safety violations, that of course meant the FAA Administrator needed to go. None of that managed to kill 67 people in the worst plane crash in over 15 years. Maybe we just got lucky. 4. Maybe they are just unlucky. But Trump and Musk managed to string together enough chaos and attacks on the FAA day after day to result in a deadly plane crash. Musk needs to resign. He is a lawless man. And 67 dead people are more important than his $600,000 fine. Like Washington, he should have some basic dignity and resign now for the good of the FAA, and the nation. What Musk and Trump did to the FAA and its head, Michael Whitaker, is far worse than the attack on Washington. If Republicans want to say we we want nominees to meet the highest standards (e.g. don't rape women, don't ruin marriages, don't be an alcoholic, don't attack Gays for being Gay) that is fine. But then when they get an FAA head who does his job and is unanimously confirmed and makes public safety a priority, they ought to support what they claim to stand for. Instead, Musk attacked Whitaker because he is a small and cruel and lawless man. He somehow thinks he knows how the FAA should be run and how the government should work. Well, maybe Musk was unlucky. But all he just proved is that he knows SHIT about public safety. If he knew something about public safety, 67 people might not have died in the worst plane crash in 15 years after he relentlessly attacked both the guy who ran the FAA, and the FAA itself. In addition to firing an FAA head WHO WAS UNANIMOUSLY CONFIRMED for doing his job and insisting on public safety, Trump and Musk froze government spending and attacked the people in place to help keep the FAA and the American public safe. Trump fires heads of TSA, Coast Guard and guts key aviation safety advisory committee Trump spent weeks relentlessly attacking the FAA, firing its respected and competent head, and attacking FAA public safety and personnel. All because his biggest special interest donor was pissed about having to pay a $600,000 fine for violating public safety standards. It shows what a small, cruel, ignorant and arrogant man Musk is. This man is who we want to preserve public safety, and improve government service? DANGEOUS HIRE VIOLATES PUBLIC SAFETY ATTACKS FAA FOR KEEPING THE PUBLIC SAFE FAA UNDER SIEGE AND THEN 67 PEOPLE DIE IN PLANE CRASH MUSK NEEDS TO RESIGN

How did Trump or Musk "fix" the problem by forcing out an FAA head who was broadly and deeply respected, and confirmed unanimously by the Senate, simply because he fined Elon Musk for safety violations? In what way is a lawless vengeance campaign an attempt to "fix" a problem? Because everything Trump has done to attack the FAA since he was inaugurated simply seems to have made things worse. Is there a Tik Tok video that explains this?

Why do you come here to attack people who are not White? Most of your videos say absolutely nothing. But they imply that something is wrong with someone because of the color of their skin. If I'm misreading your stupid content, which has NO context, please inform me. I'm asking. On the topic at hand, you posted a video of a Black man who WAS NEVER hired and called him a "DEI hire." The implication was that this guy, who was NOT HIRED in 2023, had something to do with an airplane crash in 2025. You seem ignorant yourself. You either don't know, or don't care, that Musk got an FAA head who was appointed by Biden and unanimously confirmed by the Senate fired days before the worst airplane crash in 15 years. You either don't know or don't care that Trump himself said the helicopter pilot was flying too high, above the ceiling that is a hard requirement so this does not happen. Other Congressional Republicans, unlike his sycophants like JD Vance and Musk, are confirming this and saying what is true. You apparently don't want to hear the truth. It seems like you come here mostly to say, "This person has skin that is not White. They are a DEI hire. They are a problem." That is what I get out of your Tik Tok videos. Am I wrong? Is any Asian a DEI hire? Is any Hispanic a DEI hire? Is anyone other than a White a DEi hire? Is Musk a DEI hire because he is lawless and reckless and is already causing chaos with his horrific and stupid and lawless decisions?

SpaceX's Elon Musk calls on FAA chief to resign September 25, 2024 Elon Musk needs to resign or be fired immediately. He is a threat to public safety. He also is showing day by day he is a petty, cruel man who feels he is above the law. What a shocker for Trump's oligarch! His bitch with the FAA started when they fined him $600,000 for safety violations. It's clear this is about Musk's lawlessness and ego. And his desire to buy anyone or anything he wants and have his way, regardless of what the law says. I completely expected that Trump would immediately create chaos if you are an undocumented immigrant. Or if you happen to be a tiny minority - a transgender kid trying to deal with your life, while being cruelly turned into a scapegoat. But I did not expect this. If there is any area where most Americans, whether from California or Kansas, trust government to do the right thing, it is the FAA. They had a great administrator who loved the agency he worked for for decades and who the Senate unanimously confirmed. Sully Sullenberger is still right. Flying is remarkably safe. But this shows us what Musk's lawlessness and attack on "regulatory overreach" really means. What an asshole. Musk is a clear and present danger. He can not buy the law. He can not buy government. He should resign or be fired immediately.

Since you like Tik Tok videos for context, I have some questions. Could you please help me find answers on Tik Tok? I'm asking for a friend. And for context. 1. Did Elon Musk just get 67 innocent people killed because he doesn't like paying fines or taxes? If so, is it fair to say Elon Musk was a DANGEROUS HIRE for DOGE, and that Trump hiring Musk was dumb because he just got people killed? https://x.com/TristanSnell/status/1885204500471861534 2. Musk was Trump's largest campaign donor. He has used his new influence with Trump to do things like force out an FAA head that fined him for safety violations. Is this the kind of political corruption by Donald Trump - making bad and dangerous decisions based on special interest campaign contributions - that RFK describes in the video you posted? 3. Is Donald Trump in part to blame for letting his biggest special interest donor force the qualified head of the FAA out two days before the worst aviation disaster in the US in about 15 years? 4. If we are saying that who runs the FAA matters and is connected to aviation disasters, should Trump's new FAA hire, Chris Rocheleau resign? Because he was a DEI hire, maybe, if that means unqualified people who do bad things? Having the worst aviation disaster in 15 years happen two days after you are named head of the FAA, after a special interest donor and oligarch forces out the qualified guy who was confirmed unanimously by the Senate in 2023, is at the very least a bad look. Granted, Trump wanted his own personal pilot to run the FAA, because that apparently makes him more qualified. Or maybe it is better than hiring a DEI Black. Maybe Tik Tok can inform us. For whatever reason, that plan just didn't work out. Was Rocheleau a DEI hire, and should he be forced out by Elon Musk, too? Or should Musk be forced out for being dumb and dangerous and not knowing what the fuck he is doing? I'm very curious what Tik Tok has to say. Thanks!

Great. Thanks for your reply. I'm stupid. What context does "DEI outcome", which you have now repeated, add that I am too White and stupid to understand? For context, when you post a video saying "DEI hire", what does that actually mean? Are you saying the guy should not have been hired? Are you saying he caused this crash? What are you saying? For context, inquiring minds want to know. It still sounds like you are saying the problem is a guy with a Black face, who was hired based on DEI, is the problem. What am I missing? And while we are at it DEI HIRE. MARXIST. BAD OUTCOME. Following your logic, Trump is making DEI hires to important positions, like Treasury. Following your logic, this will end badly. In other words, to be very blunt, the guy above is Gay. I don't know whether that is better or worse than being Black. Is there a Tik Tok video on that? To add context, that guy must be a DEI hire because he is a homosexual. So if people with Black skin are DEI hires, people with Marxist sexual orientations are DEI hires too, right? To add more context, our alcoholic authoritative new Defense Secretary, confirmed by a 50/50 vote, says allowing Gays to serve in the military follows a "Marxist agenda." I had to go to CNN for that. Sorry. I could not find a video on Tik Tok explaining whether homosexual Marxists, who should not serve in the military, can serve in other important posts, like Treasury. Is there a Tik Tok that explains that? If so, please post away. That said, like Trump, I think I have common sense. Why would we want a guy with a Marxist agenda to be running Treasury? So this must be some stupid DEI shit. Why is Trump behind that?

Do you enjoy attacking people who are not White? You seem to enjoy posting brief Tik Tok videos that tell us pretty much nothing at all. Other than the color of the skin of the person speaking. And some headline like "DEI Outcome". Which implies but does not state the problem is this guy is Black. And if you don't want bad outcomes, don't hire Black people. Is your point that people who are not White are stupid, and should not be hired? If not, what is your point? By the way, using the same lack of logic, one can make a great argument that people who are White are inherently stupid. I'll give one example. DUMB OUTCOME This dumb White asshole was actually fired from a very important job for being a dumb ass. And the only reason he was rehired, barely, by a mostly White minority, is that young people who watch Tik Tok and don't know much voted for him. The dumb White asshole just proved he is stupider still. He just argued that he has reached a conclusion, using no facts, for a tragedy that has not yet been investigated. And now you seem to be agreeing with that illogical and fact-free conclusion. Are you? Trump's main Republican opponent in 2016, Ted Cruz - who I would not describe as a genius - just did the exact opposite. He used at least a shred of fact to infer that the problem was error by the helicopter pilot. Who was instructed properly by the FAA and apparently screwed up, anyway. If Cruz, a conservative Republican, is correct. We do not know the race of the helicopter pilot. So I have no Black face to post in a Tik Tok video with the headline, "DEI Outcome". To the best of my knowledge the new alcoholic head of DOD is not a fan of women and Gays in the military. But he doesn't seem to have a distaste for Black people,, at least in public. So what is your point about people who are not White?

Sorry. I have to add Trump being Trump as a footnote. It feels like we skipped 2017, 2018, and 2019. And we're already back to 2020. Which was defined by, "What insanely stupid shit did Trump lie about today? Correct. So is it too much to ask that our Presidents don't rape, don't commit crimes, don't break the law, and try to tell the truth most of the time? Not okay. You just proved you don't.

Everything you said is correct. That part I quoted above seems particularly predictable. Again, we've seen this movie before. In Trump 1.0 the point where his approval hit the lowest was, not coincidentally, when he tried to take Obamacare away from people who voted for him. And these people said, on videos, that Trump would never do that to them. Trump would never hurt them. And yet he did! He cut taxes for billionaires, screwed working class people who rely on the Affordable Care Act, and kept lying and insisting I'm FOR the very people I screw. He's about to do it again. Warnock was saying during Kennedy's confirmation hearing that lots of working class Georgians are about to get their health care premium subsidies taken away. Why? So that Elon Musk can get the lower taxes he deserves. Poor rich oligarchs! I really feel for them. The only way I would change what I quoted of you above is that I would make it a causal statement. Trump's support will wane BECAUSE the damage will already be done. That's very sad. There will be many crashes. I did not vote for it. But it will be sad to watch, just like this was. That's the answer to what you said about Tik Tok, as well, I think. Yes, you're right. Trump used it to win. It's a particularly good tool to spread misinformation and little bits of true things that are incredibly easy to then totally misrepresent. Welcome to social media and America 2025. Who has time to read a paragraph, or seek facts? Who even wants to seek facts anymore? People do seek facts when planes crash. Like now America wants to know, "Why did all these people die? Will my plane crash?" And they don't want a stupid Tik Tok video as an answer. So even though the bullshit is neck deep and always is with Trump, there is nothing new about Roy Cohn politics. In fact, we saw THAT movie, too. Fellow Travelers was excellent, and also had gorgeous Jonathon Bailey in it! I'll overwork the metaphor and make one other point about this plane crash as a great symbol about Trumpism. Which is that sometimes accidents are just waiting to happen. That is true at DCA. The FAA should investigate, not speculate. But Ted Cruz is speculating, and probably correct. He thinks it will probably be pilot error by the helicopter pilot. It is described as a "training flight". I won't be shocked if the pilot turns out to be a trainee. From what Cruz said, it sounds like the air traffic controllers did exactly what they should have. So, no, it's not because some transgender Black fuck up was using the wrong bathroom when they were supposed to be watching the skies. The helicopter pilot probably made an error and was looking at the wrong plane. So the worst thing you can say about the FAA is that skeptics have been saying for years that people, like helicopter pilots, can make mistakes. One probably just did. So maybe they should just have less air traffic near that airport. But air travel is still exceptionally safe, as Sully just said. That's a fact. And a fact people care about. So I think the same is true about why Trump won. It was an accident waiting to happen. And I think the simple cause is what you say: the price of eggs. Or gas. Or, most importantly, rent. Trump won in 2024 precisely because of people who are less old and less White, ironically. And Trump can tell the truth sometimes. He said he won because of inflation, and also feelings about open borders. Young people who don't own homes or stocks were just pissed. And Harris was a bit too little too late to fix that. Nice try, though. The election data geeks have not fully investigated yet, either. But there is no mystery here. In 2020 Trump won people over 65 by 52/47, according to the CNN exit polls. In 2024 Harris lost that slice by only 50/49. Did I mention I am older and White, and I made a shit load on homes and stocks in the Biden/Harris years? Those are facts. Meanwhile, Biden won young people 18-29 by 60/36 in 2020, again according to CNN. And they were 17 % of all voters. In 2024 they were only 14 % of all voters, and they went for Harris by 54/43. The election geeks may tweek that CNN data. But it won't fundamentally change. This was an accident waiting to happen. To oversimplify, it was young guys - many of whom are not White - who feel alienated and pissed and probably like Tik Tok. Trump played to that. Having heard for much of my life that being Gay is toxic, I don't particularly blame young men who heard enough about "toxic masculinity", or using the right pronoun. Democrats did some stupid shit that helped Trump make us look like extremists. Democrats better NOT blame young men. We need to figure out how to help them in 2026 and 2028 in ways they actually want help. The one thing we have going for us is that Trump predictably will not help them. I think it's actually predictable that he will find ways to fuck with them. But that is an accident still waiting to happen. There are many crashes to come. Buckle up. Sad. Very sad.

I'll start with a paragraph about January 2009. What happened in the Miracle on the Hudson in Obama's first month of his first term was a potent symbol that still resonates. Of course Obama did not save the lives of all the US Airways passengers. Any more than Trump is personally responsible for killing all the passengers on the American flight. But that safe landing on water in January 2009 was still a very powerful moment during the worst of the misery of the Great Recession. It said that we have a reason to hold on to hope. In retrospect, as a Never Trump Democrat, I now feel lots went wrong during the Obama era. Like that's when Democrats were bleeding support from the White working class, who felt screwed in ways Obama did not cause and could not change. But he did hold on for eight years. And in particular Obama kept the Black and Hispanic working class loyal to him during some very hard times. Sully himself is now all over the news on this crash. One of his main messages is that flying is "exceptionally safe". That's indisputable. The fact that we have not seen such a deadly crash in 15 years is probably the best example in our lives today about how well government and regulation can actually work. Meanwhile, many people needlessly die of gun violence every day. And Republicans don't want to do shit about that. But now Trump wants to rail against government, Biden, and diversity for killing 64 people. What an asshole. Trump advertised all through 2024 that he was just going to fuck with people and make things crash. And he's keeping his promises, more often than not in completely unsurprising ways. If you are an undocumented immigrant, we will fuck with you. If you are transgender, we will fuck with you. We don't care if we hurt you. We want to hurt many of you. We want to make an example of you and hurt you. And if we're talking about the likely suspects, like immigrants, I actually don't blame Trump at all. I happened to finally just see the film version of Wicked. It's a great film. And a nice reminder of how wannabe fascists always find some outsider or freak to blame. No surprises here. So Trump is just doing what's expected of assholes like him. Democrats knew for a fact they made themselves vulnerable on open borders. Which is why they got in bed with right wing Republicans to craft a right wing immigration bill in 2024. Didn't quite work. So my point is a lot of the ways Trump is going to fuck with people are very predictable and were openly advertised. No surprise crashes if you are a raping murdering immigrant. Arguably, you are just getting what you deserve. What's interesting about the first month of Trump 2.0 is that he's gone way beyond the first month of Trump 1.0. Back then freaky Muslims were his target of choice. Now he's basically willing to fuck with everyone. (Well, maybe not billionaires. Elon Musk is safe.) You're relying on Medicare or Medicaid? We'll fuck with you. We'll hurt you. Even if the government freeze that lasted 48 hours or so was not supposed to make old people crash, it still scared the shit out of them. Ask any Republican Senator. But don't ask RFK, Jr, who showed Republican Senators he doesn't understand Medicare and Medicaid, not to mention vaccines. Good thig RFK wont be running the FAA. Are you some poor Black or Hispanic kid that counts on a free lunch at school? Great. We'll fuck with you, too. Of course we won't do shit about guns in schools. But now we'll fuck with your free lunch. We don't care if we hurt you. In less than a month, Trump managed to come up with an almost endless list of old and poor and vulnerable Americans he is willing to fuck with. Shit you count on is going to crash. Just get used to it, okay? So to me, this is a perfect symbol of the era we are entering. People who have no reason to think they are going to get hurt, and who don't deserve to get hurt, are going to find themselves involved in some crash. Thankfully, at least most won't be fatal. Trump himself doesn't seem to know or care what crashes and burns, and who will get hurt. Just freeze shit, and see what happens. Just attack, and lie, and see what happens. He got away with January 6th. Why not move on to bigger and better crashes? The outcome of all this is very predictable, too. We have seen this movie before. Trump started with less than a 50 % approval rating in 2017, and it only got worse. Right now on right of center Real Clear Politics he has an approval rating of 49.1 %. Which is slightly less than the less than 50 % of the vote he won. Geez. Can anyone guess where this goes from here? Trump is going to crash and burn, too. It happened before. And he is proving that he is smugger, crazier, and more careless. Couldn't happen to a nicer asshole.

Ya think? 😊 Huh? What? Evidence? This is what the Trump Administration is already about. And it only took one week. Who knew? But now at least I know to be on the lookout for airplanes when I go into same sex bathrooms. That makes me feel safer.

And the J6 pardons are wildly unpopular, especially among the Independents Trump needed to win. Almost 6 in 10 opposed Trump pardons for Jan. 6 rioters: Survey There is this perpetual hope, which I myself feel sometimes, that Trump will rise to the occasion and play to the center. And try to solve real problems like the deficits he helped explode in his first term, etc. There's even talk that he wants to expand the child tax credits to sharply reduce child poverty, like Biden did for one year - until Manchin and the Republicans killed that awful idea. So what we seem to always come back to is that Trump is Trump. The Jubilant Patriotic Cop Beating was a day of love. If you see a cop today, try to be nice. And carry a baseball bat, so you can break her bones and fuck her up some. Trump will be proud of you.

Everything you said is true. But there's one other thing that is true, in every country in the world. Certainly in Europe right now. Immigrants are convenient political scapegoats. They do lots of good things for society. Including helping blowhards like Trump get elected. This is just a fact. The far right has won in a few places in Europe and they have come dangerously close in others by scapegoating immigrants. And now we have Trump. So if there is any issue where my party, Democrats, said, "Hey. Here's a thought. Let's fuck ourselves. Let's lose. Why not be losers?" this is it. This is Democrats' fault. Meaning me. My party. We fucked up. And to be clear, this has nothing to do with what is right and wrong It has to do with a 100 % correct way to lose an election. In other words, Obama was wise and Biden was a stupid dumb ass. Obama road the center on immigration. In part because as the Black son of immigrants he was vulnerable himself. It worked. Obama's ex-staff, like on Pod Save America, talk all the time about how they were careful not to pander to the off-center impulses of left-wing immigration groups. Especially when they pushed Obama to do politically unpopular things. Biden of course knows this (see crime bills, 1980s, among others) and he won the nomination in 2020 by being the Democrat pandering to the center left. So why he let this happen is really a bit of a mystery. I'd take it as an indicator that his political instincts really did start to get old and tired. Trump said, correctly I think, that he won because of inflation and the border. If you live on a planet called Earth, you know pretty much everyone everywhere at once was hit hard by inflation. So I don't blame Biden and Harris for that, like many voters did. I do blame them for the political set up on the border. Obama simply played his cards better. And he won in 2012 despite being in a much shittier economic situation than Biden and Harris were in. The interesting thing the American media is completely ignoring is that a very different result happened in Mexico, despite the fact that inflation was as bad or worse. AMLO hand picked his leftist successor and she simply kicked ass. I think it is because AMLO is a genuine populist who would simply not shut the fuck up every single day about how he was fighting for YOU. And he did. And he had the receipts. I think that is why people in Mexico leaned into AMLO, whereas Mexican Americans leaned into Trump. It was the economy, stupid. But it is ironic that Biden probably thought being soft on the border would help him with Latinos. And it probably hurt him instead.

Gosh you're impatient Sis! 😉

That's an interesting one, where I think the "woke" stuff went too far. That anti-trans ad was Exhibit A. It was devastating because it was in Kamala's own words. I think she lost because of inflation and immigration (which Trump himself has said). But the "woke" stuff hurt at the margin. I can go to family on almost all these things. I have a nephew and wife in a liberal state (not the one I mentioned above, who is in a red state) with two daughters. One looks a bit like a tomboy. She has a first name that is kind of ambiguous as to gender. So in Washington what they found is that a bunch of woke people just assumed that the daughter, who is a girl and identifies as a girl, was transitioning. It got weird enough that they started calling the daughter by her middle name, which is quite feminine sounding. In order to make it clear she is a girl. This is a 6 year old kid. So it is just weird. I would argue it is a bit the opposite of my problem at her age. I went to a Catholic elementary school where I had no idea I was Gay, no one discussed it, and there was zero support for it. So I get, and support, the idea of having a supportive environment. I also get that my Democratic nephew and his wife feel this is "woke" run amok. Right or wrong, the polling is incredibly clear. Democrats need to adjust on some of these issues if we want to win. Especially if we want to have more than 50 Senate seats. That requires something anyone who can count to 51 gets: being able to win Senate seats in places like Ohio and Missouri and North Dakota. The message the Republicans are sending is clear: Democrats are for the trans prisoner, not the working guy. That is not really true. But it is a toxic message, as we all just saw. I like John Fetterman on this issue, since he starts and ends with empathy. He has been clearly playing footsie with lots of Trump ideas. Because he knows he needs votes from the center to stay in office. But on trans stuff he pushed back on the bullying. He basically said these kids have a hard life. So stop picking on them. So, yes, you are right. The right wing is picking on vulnerable kids to win elections. What a shocker! And our resident cruel clown, @EmmetKruelty, loves the sick torture.

I'll throw this in here because I just read it yesterday. And anything Ron Brownstein writes I take seriously. Why ‘Late Regime’ Presidencies Fail This is every progressive's worst fear, and @EmmetKruelty's great dark fantasy: 12 or more years of glorious MAGA rule, with Trump on Mt. Rushmore rather than in jail. Or maybe we could rename America Trumpland, rather than buy Greenland? I'd argue Brownstein could be right - if Trump were not the narcissistic felon he is. I agree with Mark Halperin (and Karl Rove) that Trump is a grade A feral political animal with great instincts about how to almost get 50 % of the vote on his third and best try, thanks to global inflation and someone smarter than him like Susie Wiles. But 49.7 % does not a majority make. Let alone a Reagan landslide - as Brownstein points out . Halperin likes to think Trump will rise to the occasion, if only because he wants to be on Mount Rushmore, and do unifying right of center things that create a MAGA majority. Don't hole your breath. That's kind of like hoping a reptile will act like MLK. They are just very different things. We'll know soon enough, I think.

This is all very interesting stuff, because I love all the people involved - my family. And it is an example of how things are not as bad as they seem. I'm almost sure my nephew voted for Trump, although I haven't actually asked him. He understands I'm basically a Sandernista at heart. And the best thing I could hope for is higher tax rates on the Fortune 500 corporations he services. Like when we were talking about poverty (what weird people talk about THAT over the holidays? lol) I said the single best thing Trump or Biden or anyone could do is raise tax rates on rich people and do things like child tax credits. He does not disagree. He loves to talk about how we could fund child tax credits if they got the money by cleaning up the tax code and government waste. The most negative thing I could say is that he is like most people, and has a "pox on all their houses" attitude about the inability of anyone in Congress to not to fuck it all up. Ironic, in his case. I could say, "You work for a big accounting firm just like the one that fucked us with Enron and fucked us with with so many other frauds, you fucking fuck. Who are you to judge?" Needless to say, I don't say that. He does wish Congress could figure it out and eliminate child poverty, which we have the money to do. What I don't think he fully appreciates is that, in the end, US Reps and Senators will usually serve the interests of big accounting firms and corporations over poor kids. So he actually is kind of the problem. Because I don't think he wants to admit that all politicians (who are smart) are whores and they do what voters want, so they stay in power. So it's really just wishful thinking on his part. In terms of Gay stuff, he and everyone in my family are models of DEI behavior. Because I am Gay and liberal, he likes to talk about his pride in his company's inclusive behavior. Including how it is good for people like his daughters. Before clowns like @EmmetK ruelty trashed DEI, it actually existed decades ago as a way to meet the needs of LGBTQ people in corporations. So I can have open discussions about Gay stuff with my nephew and his wife and their kids at dinner, even though this was all happening in a Southern red state. I love that my nephew's wife, who is a very kind person, could openly say she'd have a hard time adjusting if either of her daughters turned out to be a lesbian. I think the good news, which we all fought very hard for, is that now you can have open and tolerant discussions about these very sensitive things with most people.

Actually, that is a good answer. Avoid doom and gloom. 😊 My favorite organizing line, and maybe my favorite line about politics, is "the action is in the reaction." That's Saul Alinsky. The reaction to COVID chaos ended Trump's Presidency in 2020. And the reaction to inflation and the border brought him back in 2024 - by 49.7 % of the vote. I did what I felt I could before the shit storm broke. So did 48.3 % of Americans. I'm going to avoid doom and gloom and wait for the reaction to play out. Although I'm sure the MAGA folks need not worry. I mean, it's not like Trump did anything that led to bad electoral outcomes for himself and other Republicans in 2018 or 2020, right? 😉 My nephew I just visited, who is filthy rich and saves corporations lots of money in taxes and voted for Trump I'm sure, even though I didn't ask (I love him deeply, who needs to know that?) is on the board of his state food bank. It pisses him off that politicians can't compromise more, to do things like end hunger and poverty. His knee jerk reaction is to throw all the bums out. But it's fun to talk with him about things like child tax credits that cut child poverty in half for one year under Biden and Harris. JD Vance talks about this fairly often, as a pro-family strategy. Trump has also said he wants to expand the child tax credit. The money is sure there, if they chose not to give it to their donors, and themselves, in fat cat tax breaks. So we'll see. Trump could be the blue collar billionaire who ends child poverty in America. Or he could be be the hateful raping liar who divides America on purpose and will be remembered as the failed narcissist he is. I'd be happy if Trump ended child poverty and made Republicans the truly compassionate conservatives. Don't hold your breath, @lookin. Just wait for the reaction.

Old news. Boring. Run out of Gay bashing ideas?

Interesting factoids. In the latest YouGov poll, Luigi's favorable rating is 20 % favorable, 43 % unfavorable But here's a breakdown among the oldest and youngest voters: 65+: 5 % favorable, 65 % unfavorable 18-29: 39 % favorable, 30 % unfavorable That speaks for itself. Elon Musk has a favorable rating of 48 % favorable, 40 % unfavorable among all voters. Not surprisingly, he is popular with conservatives and unpopular with liberals like me. Here is the rating broken down by oldest and youngest: 65+: 42 % favorable, 50 % unfavorable 18-29: 56 % favorable, 36 % unfavorable They don't break the age groups down by gender. But Musk has a 58/37 approval rating with men overall, and a 39/47 unfavorable rating with women. So I'm guessing strong support among young men is driving Musk's ratings up. This is a huge problem for Democrats. I think a good starting theory is that this is what we should have expected after years and years of preaching to young men about toxic masculinity. I don't think Musk is really offering them anything. Other than an unattainable fortune, and a government shutdown. But Democrats better deal with this. The idea that we could just wait for older MAGA voters to age out is no longer true. It has to be anger and alienation on the part of young men of every race.

Backlash builds as Elon Musk endorses Germany’s far right “Only the AfD can save Germany,” said the key Donald Trump ally. Which answers the perplexing question, is there someone I can respect even less than Donald Trump? Happily for Elon, all his political contributions are but a fraction of what he will make thanks to tax cuts and oligarchy.

Perhaps he is meeting with his therapist, to work on his mental health issues. I hope so, at least. But, probably not. Maybe he is meeting with a lawyer to make sure he doesn't get sued. Trump allies suggest Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker should be sued for calling Trump a ‘rapist’ Thing is, for the cruel and fact-free wing of MAGA, rape and sexual harassment are of no concern. Trump and Hegseth can grab whatever pussy they want. Sadly for @EmmetKruelty, it should be a pussy rather than a cock. That whole Gay thing is frowned upon, especially in the military. Sex with underage girls is just fine, though. It's not whether you do it that matters. It's that you are able to deny it, and then sue anyone who accuses you. I think @EmmetKruelty is probably just laying back to make sure it is okay to bully transgender kids and call Black women smelly and stupid. Other than that, all's well.