United States Politics Thread 47

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zompist
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by zompist »

malloc wrote: Sun Jul 27, 2025 9:09 pm
keenir wrote: Sat Jul 26, 2025 5:53 pmMalloc, they've already reached the entire American public, and its barely dinged or dented your awareness.
This scandal will fade just like all the others. Trump has weathered dozens of scandals by this point, each of which would have destroyed any other politicians but which somehow have left him utterly unscathed. Consider how little impact the January 6th coup attempt had on his reputation.
Truly getting tired of your Trump cheerleading. For now a 3-day ban. If you can't stop admiring the fascists, you can do it somewhere else.
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by keenir »

malloc wrote: Sun Jul 27, 2025 9:09 pm
keenir wrote: Sat Jul 26, 2025 5:53 pmMalloc, they've already reached the entire American public, and its barely dinged or dented your awareness.
This scandal will fade just like all the others.
all scandals fade. even with a Kennedy in the Cabinet, nobody cares about JFK's affairs these days.
Trump has weathered dozens of scandals by this point, each of which would have destroyed any other politicians but which somehow have left him utterly unscathed. Consider how little impact the January 6th coup attempt had on his reputation.
I'm not sure we're using the same definition for words anymore; 'reputation' being one such.

also its immaterial - given that his Jan6 supporters are turning on him now....which you'd know if you read this thread.
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by keenir »

zompist wrote: Sun Jul 27, 2025 9:19 pm
malloc wrote: Sun Jul 27, 2025 9:09 pm
keenir wrote: Sat Jul 26, 2025 5:53 pmMalloc, they've already reached the entire American public, and its barely dinged or dented your awareness.
This scandal will fade just like all the others. Trump has weathered dozens of scandals by this point, each of which would have destroyed any other politicians but which somehow have left him utterly unscathed. Consider how little impact the January 6th coup attempt had on his reputation.
Truly getting tired of your Trump cheerleading. For now a 3-day ban. If you can't stop admiring the fascists, you can do it somewhere else.
maybe its just me, but that didn't sound like cheerleading this time; it was more like "Trump's as hard to bring down as a housefly in an empty barn."
*shrugs*
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by zompist »

keenir wrote: Sun Jul 27, 2025 10:04 pm
zompist wrote: Sun Jul 27, 2025 9:19 pm
malloc wrote: Sun Jul 27, 2025 9:09 pm
This scandal will fade just like all the others. Trump has weathered dozens of scandals by this point, each of which would have destroyed any other politicians but which somehow have left him utterly unscathed. Consider how little impact the January 6th coup attempt had on his reputation.
Truly getting tired of your Trump cheerleading. For now a 3-day ban. If you can't stop admiring the fascists, you can do it somewhere else.
maybe its just me, but that didn't sound like cheerleading this time; it was more like "Trump's as hard to bring down as a housefly in an empty barn."
*shrugs*
Shrug. There's some theoretical difference between admiring Trump, and simply declaring him invincible, unopposable, and omnipotent, but the effect is the same.
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by Torco »

zompist wrote: Sun Jul 27, 2025 9:19 pm
malloc wrote: Sun Jul 27, 2025 9:09 pm
keenir wrote: Sat Jul 26, 2025 5:53 pmMalloc, they've already reached the entire American public, and its barely dinged or dented your awareness.
This scandal will fade just like all the others. Trump has weathered dozens of scandals by this point, each of which would have destroyed any other politicians but which somehow have left him utterly unscathed. Consider how little impact the January 6th coup attempt had on his reputation.
Truly getting tired of your Trump cheerleading. For now a 3-day ban. If you can't stop admiring the fascists, you can do it somewhere else.
This is pessimism and exaggeration, not cheerleading. it looks like it won't obtain, as a lot of people have been turning against him and his general approval is pretty low, but his base has proven to be pretty fanatical and according to gallup his approval amongst republicans has stayed pretty stable.
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by rotting bones »

Travis B. wrote: Mon Jul 14, 2025 5:05 pm You said genocide, which involves the deliberate act of killing, and you failed to explain how the fall of the PRC dictatorship would result in that, especially considering what the PRC dictatorship is doing right now to the Uighurs.
I don't think I can convince you otherwise since you think British policies in Bengal weren't genocidal either. If deliberate "economic shock therapy" doesn't count as genocide, then what is it exactly? I'm morbidly curious.

As for the Uyghurs, I would support democratic socialist revolutions in China, but the main opposition to the CCP with American connections are various flavors of nationalists and fundamentalists. Do you really think they will let Xinjiang go after China collapses? We need to build a new opposition from scratch. It will be hard because the CCP wants its opposition to be monsters.
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by jcb »

Torco wrote:This is pessimism and exaggeration, not cheerleading. it looks like it won't obtain, as a lot of people have been turning against him and his general approval is pretty low, but his base has proven to be pretty fanatical and according to gallup his approval amongst republicans has stayed pretty stable.
It's defeatism, but Zompist is right: the effect is the same.

In other news, a candidate for California governor has said that the government should set up "labor camps" to solve unemployment and homelessness, and a bunch of anti-Jewish things:
- https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fac ... 57366.html
- https://www.thejc.com/news/usa/californ ... n-lfduc61y
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by bradrn »

jcb wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 12:12 am In other news, a candidate for California governor has said that the government should set up "labor camps" to solve unemployment and homelessness, and a bunch of anti-Jewish things:
- https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fac ... 57366.html
- https://www.thejc.com/news/usa/californ ... n-lfduc61y
Disgusting.
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by Lērisama »

Given the American primary system is entirely mysterious to me, could I ask exactly how bad this is? Is it the bad: random fascist wants to be governor of California (and has just been revealed as what they are), or the very bad: someone with the support of faction X of the Republican Party is a fascist¹, or somewhere in between?
¹ Given the at the very least fascist-adjacent nature of significant parts of the Republicans, I maybe should have worded this differently, but I'm sure people can still understand what I mean
LZ – Lēri Ziwi
PS – Proto Sāzlakuic (ancestor of LZ)
PRk – Proto Rākēwuic
XI – Xú Iạlan
VN – verbal noun
SUP – supine
DIRECT – verbal directional
My language stuff
zompist
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by zompist »

Lērisama wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 2:07 am Given the American primary system is entirely mysterious to me, could I ask exactly how bad this is?
Probably not very. California leans very Democratic; the last few elections for governor have tended to be 60-40 or so. (The 2010 election was merely 54-41. Before that Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor, as a Republican, but he's fairly moderate, and even backed Harris for president.
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by lëtzeshark »

zompist wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 3:07 am
Lērisama wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 2:07 am Given the American primary system is entirely mysterious to me, could I ask exactly how bad this is?
Probably not very. California leans very Democratic; the last few elections for governor have tended to be 60-40 or so. (The 2010 election was merely 54-41. Before that Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor, as a Republican, but he's fairly moderate, and even backed Harris for president.
Indeed. Even in a redder state like North Carolina, at the last gubernatorial election, the one candidate declaring himself to be a "black Nazi" on various internet fora lost very handily: while Trump won NC by about 3 points, the Republican candidate for governor lost by almost 15 points. (There were other scandals that probably contributed, but this particular incident certainly didn't help.)
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Torco
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by Torco »

jcb wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 12:12 am
Torco wrote:This is pessimism and exaggeration, not cheerleading. it looks like it won't obtain, as a lot of people have been turning against him and his general approval is pretty low, but his base has proven to be pretty fanatical and according to gallup his approval amongst republicans has stayed pretty stable.
It's defeatism, but Zompist is right: the effect is the same.
I don't know man. at the risk of getting banned for defeatism myself, it could be the case that trump isn't destroyed by this, or that it doesn't affect his approval too much in the long run. I'd like things to go the other way, but pessimism isn't blameworthy, is it ? like, there's no duty to be optimistic.
In other news, a candidate for California governor has said that the government should set up "labor camps" to solve unemployment and homelessness, and a bunch of anti-Jewish things:
- https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fac ... 57366.html
- https://www.thejc.com/news/usa/californ ... n-lfduc61y
jesus fucking christ man
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by lëtzeshark »

Torco wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 9:14 am
jcb wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 12:12 am
Torco wrote:This is pessimism and exaggeration, not cheerleading. it looks like it won't obtain, as a lot of people have been turning against him and his general approval is pretty low, but his base has proven to be pretty fanatical and according to gallup his approval amongst republicans has stayed pretty stable.
It's defeatism, but Zompist is right: the effect is the same.
I don't know man. at the risk of getting banned for defeatism myself, it could be the case that trump isn't destroyed by this, or that it doesn't affect his approval too much in the long run. I'd like things to go the other way, but pessimism isn't blameworthy, is it ? like, there's no duty to be optimistic.
In some ways, Trump's approval isn't the most relevant: he can't run for re-election under the current law, so, even if his popularity approaches that of herpes, it really doesn't matter. Similarly, his approval among Republicans isn't the most relevant (though primaries do matter, but primaries matter more to a specific base of the party, and each state has different rules for their primaries). What matters more is how his cronies and enablers are seen in the lead up to the next election, both in the primary and the general election(s), and who can be galvanized to vote against them. Incidentally, the first of those elections is in November for the governorships in New Jersey (not really at risk) and Virgin(ia) (which could flip).

From a more local standpoint, in my state (North Carolina), the incumbent senator, Thom Tillis (Republican), announced his retirement after opposing the latest budget bill and Trump announcing support for a primary challenger. On the Democrat side, though, the popular former governor, Roy Cooper, is running, so the race could be quite competitive despite NC's slight lean towards Republicans in general. Personal popularity often trumps party loyalty in many more local races, so...
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by Torco »

I don't know, man, he keeps just... you know, outright flaunting laws and, seemingly, getting away with it. "willy nilly", as the americans say
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by Travis B. »

Torco wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 7:29 pm I don't know, man, he keeps just... you know, outright flaunting laws and, seemingly, getting away with it. "willy nilly", as the americans say
That's cause he has stacked the Supreme Court with his yes-people and both branches of Congress have majorities of them.
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by jcb »

Lērisama wrote:Given the American primary system is entirely mysterious to me, could I ask exactly how bad this is?
Not very. He probably won't even be the Republican nominee, and probably no Republican will win. I note it as something that shows the turbulence of the current times.

Trump said that Virginia Giuffre was "stolen" from him by Jeffrey Epstein, and that's what caused their friendship to break.
- https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politi ... rcna221810
- https://youtu.be/aymOs5wRYGI?si=3L6UA9dUbwO-2Doa&t=1450

I think Hasan Piker puts it best:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR7baIbz3I8
"It's like saying that Jeffrey Dahmer stole my lunch. I was going to eat my own parents, and then Jeffrey Dahmer stole my mother and ate her instead. I was going to do it!"

I note that we are about 1/8 of the way through Trump's presidency. I'm so very tired already.
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by keenir »

jcb wrote: Wed Jul 30, 2025 9:35 amTrump said that Virginia Giuffre was "stolen" from him by Jeffrey Epstein, and that's what caused their friendship to break.
on one hand, I'm glad that Trump actually has lines in the sand that he won't cross...on the other hand, thats his line?? :)
I note that we are about 1/8 of the way through Trump's presidency. I'm so very tired already.
I think this is one of the reasons why John Scalzi commented during the last presidency that "Biden wasn't in the news today. Thats a good thing." or words to that effect.
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by malloc »

Torco wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 7:29 pmI don't know, man, he keeps just... you know, outright flaunting laws and, seemingly, getting away with it. "willy nilly", as the americans say
Yes, exactly. I am hardly rooting for Trump, only observing that his scandals never seem to matter however outrageous they seem to everyone outside his base.
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by Richard W »

doctor shark wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 2:33 pm In some ways, Trump's approval isn't the most relevant: he can't run for re-election under the current law, so, even if his popularity approaches that of herpes, it really doesn't matter.
What prevents the majority of the electoral college being people who have declared they will vote for Trump as president? Peers of the realm (e.g. Tony Benn on 4 May 1961 in a by-election to replace himself as MP) have won parliamentary elections in the UK despite being ineligible.
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Re: United States Politics Thread 47

Post by zompist »

Richard W wrote: Wed Jul 30, 2025 11:14 pm
doctor shark wrote: Tue Jul 29, 2025 2:33 pm In some ways, Trump's approval isn't the most relevant: he can't run for re-election under the current law, so, even if his popularity approaches that of herpes, it really doesn't matter.
What prevents the majority of the electoral college being people who have declared they will vote for Trump as president? Peers of the realm (e.g. Tony Benn on 4 May 1961 in a by-election to replace himself as MP) have won parliamentary elections in the UK despite being ineligible.
The current law is called the Constitution of the United States. There's no leeway there.
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