American Politics Thread

[zoroarctic]

Getting really annoyed with Republicans crying anti-Catholicism over Democratic opposition to Barrett. The Democratic Presidential nominee is Catholic, the Speaker of the House is Catholic, and there are way more Catholic Democrats in Congress than Catholic Republicans. Knock it off already!

 

[omahanime]

Getting really annoyed with Republicans crying anti-Catholicism over Democratic opposition to Barrett. The Democratic Presidential nominee is Catholic, the Speaker of the House is Catholic, and there are way more Catholic Democrats in Congress than Catholic Republicans. Knock it off already!

How anyone call themselves a Catholic, when they support a man who has broken all 10 commandments and hasn't repented?

 

[zoroarctic]

How anyone call themselves a Catholic, when they support a man who has broken all 10 commandments and hasn't repented?

Because he appoints pro-life judges. A lot of conservative Catholics are single-issue voters.

 

[Aulos]

Yikes. RBG passing away when she did would have removed any faith I had in a deity if I had one. Funny how even though I've been consistently non-religious for nearly a decade, that is the exact thought that came to me that night.

I never say stuff like "this is the worst timeline", but seriously... that is one of the worst-possible things that could happen next to Trump being elected again. I've always hammered how electing Biden is essential because of the Supreme Court. I can not believe that leftists and Democrats did not understand this back in 2016. We are so unbelievably screwed now.

 

[omahanime]

Because he appoints pro-life judges. A lot of conservative Catholics are single-issue voters.

And religious types aren't always the smartest.

 

[zoroarctic]

View: https://twitter.com/weijia/status/1310005445797580800?s=21


What year is it?

 

[Proxima Centauri B]

Wow, did they forget who's running or something. I guess they forgot what year it was,and they love to say Biden has dementia....

 

[omahanime]

Wow, did they forget who's running or something. I guess they forgot what year it was,and they love to say Biden has dementia....

Why would anyone say President Trump has dementia?

President Trump said that the Continental Army "took over the airports" from the British during the American Revolutionary War
Trump says the Spanish Flu in 1917 “probably” ended the Second World War.

See what a grate mind, you didn't know that.

 

[Proxima Centauri B]

Why would anyone say President Trump has dementia?

President Trump said that the Continental Army "took over the airports" from the British during the American Revolutionary War
Trump says the Spanish Flu in 1917 “probably” ended the Second World War.

See what a grate mind, you didn't know that.

Trumpers: "Biden doesnt remember what he said 5 minutes ago and doesnt know what he's running for. Trump always knows exactly what he's doing. Genius!
Also Trumpers: "Better make sure we beat Obama in November"

 

[Aulos]

Trumpers: "Biden doesnt remember what he said 5 minutes ago and doesnt know what he's running for. Trump always knows exactly what he's doing. Genius!
Also Trumpers: "Better make sure we beat Obama in November"

Don't forget when they blamed President Obama for not taking action during Hurricane Katrina.

 

[Volphied]

View: https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1310263180858454017


This is the right decision. Let's keep the pressure. The entire court lost its legitimacy and an expansion of it is the only way to fix it.

 

[zoroarctic]

Breaking news! NYT got the tax returns!
Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance

 

[zoroarctic]

Getting really annoyed with Republicans crying anti-Catholicism over Democratic opposition to Barrett. The Democratic Presidential nominee is Catholic, the Speaker of the House is Catholic, and there are way more Catholic Democrats in Congress than Catholic Republicans. Knock it off already!

Excuse the horrible pun, but speak of the devil.

View: https://twitter.com/existentialfish/status/1310203051635077122?s=21

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Breaking news! NYT got the tax returns!
Trump’s Taxes Show Chronic Losses and Years of Income Tax Avoidance

No wonder why he's gone to such extreme lengths to hide his tax returns. He's only paid 750 in taxes in 2016 and 2017. He, of course, calls it "fake news" and claims that he's never released them because they're under audit, which I call BS on.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

Part of me's excited for the pressure the tax release is going to put on Trump. He can't release his tax returns, because that'd prove them right, but he can't keep hiding them, because that'd just look suspicious! He can't pretend it's too classified to share, it's tax returns, even Nixon shared them!

But... then I remember the Ukraine scandal. Where we had the acting chief of staff outright say that, yes, he wanted to withhold funding, sure it's a quid pro quo, we do it all the time, and you can see this on a whitehouse.gov transcript:

Q So the demand for an investigation into the Democrats was part of the reason that he ordered to withhold funding to Ukraine?

MR. MULVANEY: The look back to what happened in 2016 —

Q The investigation into Democrats.

MR. MULVANEY: — certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation. And that is absolutely appropriate.

Q And withholding the funding?

MR. MULVANEY: Yeah. Which ultimately, then, flowed. By the way, there was a report that we were worried that the money wouldn’t — that if we didn’t pay out the money, it would be illegal, okay? It would be unlawful. That is one of those things that has the little shred of truth in it, that makes it look a lot worse than it really is.

We were concerned, over at OMB, about an impoundment. And I know I just put half of you folks to bed, but there’s — the Budget Control Act — Budget Control Impoundment Act of 1974 says that if Congress appropriates money, you have to spend it. Okay? At least that’s how it’s interpreted by some folks. And we knew that that money either had to go out the door by the end of September or we had to have a really, really good reason not to do it. And that was the legality of the issue.

Q But to be clear, what you just described is a quid pro quo. It is: Funding will not flow unless the investigation into the Democratic server happens as well.

MR. MULVANEY: We do that all the time with foreign policy. We were holding money at the same time for — what was it? The Northern Triangle countries. We were holding up aid at the Northern Triangle countries so that they would change their policies on immigration.

And nothing happened. It's not just that Republicans acquitted him, but that he can even go out and yell "No quid pro quo! Impeachment hoax!" and people will believe him.

And there's the fact that he's very blatantly violated laws like 18 U.S. Code § 227 (attempting to use official acts to influence a private entity just for partisan politics) and ethics standards about using his office to promote products, and hasn't even had any charges brought against him.

Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!
2/17/19
Great writer and historian, Doug Wead, has written a true (not Fake News) account of what is going on in Washington and the White House. His new book, INSIDE TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE, is an incredible description of a very exciting and successful time in our Country’s history. Buy it!
12/2/19
The great @LouDobbs has a very important new book coming out shortly. “The Trump Century, How Our President Changed the Course Of History Forever”, looks like it will be a big bestseller. Make it Number 1 for Lou. Pre-Order now at http://THETRUMPCENTURY.COM A great honor, Lou!
7/10/20

Or his bragging about going into changing rooms at his shows so he could see women naked, which he said on-air on the Howard Stern show, and nothing happened.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGpVreCqNLo&feature=youtu.be&t=102



And I can't help but worry that this is just going to be another case like that. Republicans in office will just cover for him. The media won't actually put any pressure on anyone about it. And millions of Americans will think it's just fine. Not the one thing he could finally get caught for, but just another example of how much power the US is willing to give him.



On a lighter note I was going through old files and found this edit I made who knows when:

Spoiler

 

[Esserise]

No wonder why he's gone to such extreme lengths to hide his tax returns. He's only paid 750 in taxes in 2016 and 2017. He, of course, calls it "fake news" and claims that he's never released them because they're under audit, which I call BS on.

People keep focusing on the two years of $750, but let's not sleep on the entire decade of $0.

Part of me's excited for the pressure the tax release is going to put on Trump. He can't release his tax returns, because that'd prove them right, but he can't keep hiding them, because that'd just look suspicious! He can't pretend it's too classified to share, it's tax returns, even Nixon shared them!

Looking suspicious has never done much to dissuade him before. It already looked suspicious that he was so evasive about not releasing them in the first place, and he's already reused the (false) "IRS audit" excuse in response to this news break. His supporters live in a parallel reality where being swindled by Trump equivalent to a divine blessing, so they'll just like it, and Trump doesn't care about convincing anyone who's against him because they're, well, against him. Frankly it'd be easier for him to just keep doing what he's doing and let the election insecurities and authoritarian maneuvers steal the election for him.

 

[Volphied]

Reminder that Trump is gonna escape to Russia after he's out of the White House. And his now public tax returns prove it:

One fact stands out far above all the others in its staggering implications: Donald Trump is personally responsible for $421 million worth of loans coming due in the next few years. Not his business. Him. Personally. He has no means of repaying them. He already refinanced his few profitable properties, and sold off most of his stocks to stay afloat. He appears short on liquidity. And we still don’t know to whom he owes the money.

This fact has frightening implications for public policy and national security. Even minor debts are a frequent reason for the government to deny a security clearance, for the obvious reason that indebted and financially desperate public servants make easy marks for bribery, blackmail and potential treason. The potentially destructive power of that sort of hold on a President of the United States is beyond comprehension. It is the stuff of nightmares, bad spy movie plots and otherwise outlandish conspiracy theory. Imagine if a president owed millions to the mob or to those with close ties to a foreign government, and those individuals both controlled the president’s financial future and knew of corrupt criminal activity. The president might act with otherwise strange deference to said mobsters and those connected to them, and bend public policy on their behalf. If they were tied to fossil fuel interests, the president might set the globe on fire rather than cross them. If his creditors were simply a wealthy set of Wall Street tycoons, he might rig all financial policy on their direct behalf.

What we do know is that beginning in the late 2000s, no one would lend to Donald Trump. His history of bankruptcies, combined with whatever horrors were on his personal and organizational financial statements, clearly made every bank run the other direction. Every bank but one, that is: Deutsche Bank. Donald Trump’s history with Deutsche Bank has always merited special scrutiny, but never more than now. The head honchos at Deutsche would have known just how desperate Trump’s financial position was. But they lent to him anyway. Why? It certainly looks even more ominous that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s son was managing the real estate division at Deutsche that lent to Trump, and that Justice Kennedy unexpectedly retired to ensure Trump could seat his replacement. And it looks triply suspicious that Deutsche Bank has been fined and sanctioned over multiple money laundering scandals, including $20 billion from Russian kleptocrats.

 

[omahanime]

All the Republican commercials I see instead of saying good they have done, just fearmongers about Democrats.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

All the Republican commercials I see instead of saying good they have done, just fearmongers about Democrats.

This is accurate. Probably some of the worst I've ever seen. I actually deal with some of the campaign ads for New York and the majority we get are from John Katko. His ads are nothing but fear mongering about Dana Balter, though she still puts out some attack ads as well. Dana Balter's ads do talk about what she'd do. We also get ones from Anthony Brindisi and Claudia Tenney. Tenney's ads are some of the worst. They're full of fear mongering about Brindisi being "too liberal" and how he rarely votes with Trump. Brindisi's ads tend to focus on stuff he's done in Washington.

 

[TechSkylander1518]

The way McEnany opened up the last press conference is basically how all Republicans act these days:

MS. MCENANY: Good afternoon, everyone. The radicals are in control of the Democrat Party. Make no mistake, Democrat radicals want to shatter norms and disregard precedent for the sake of the very norms and precedent they claim must be safeguarded.