Thursday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Thursday, June 26, 2025
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43 comments
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About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on
Twitter and/or
BlueSky.
People were talking about height yesterday. I was too busy to comment but I will now.
My wife barely measures 5′ tall. Her mother was 4’10.
In 1979 I took my fellow classmate Pam Ford* to our senior prom. Our date was arranged by our mothers. Neither of us had a date till then. Pam was about 4’6 or even shorter.
While I was in the Navy and stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital, I dated Sharon Hyde for a short time. Before we dated, Sharon had played college basketball at Delaware State. She was 6′ tall or only an inch shorter than me.
Both Sharon and Pam were African-American
*= Pam and I both served in student government and were in two classes together- Advanced English and European History- but we rarely socialized before the prom. Here is an article on Pam’s family.
Tell me you’re firing Powell without telling me you’re firing Powell.
A more honest slogan for El Taco would be “This will not end well.” It applies to only 99.999% of what he does.
Oooh! I’m sure they are terrified.
Schumer sends letter to Noem condemning use of force against Democratic senator
The headline of the day- Trump DOJ sues all federal judges in Maryland over deportation order
@Bill Jempty: The DOJ lawsuit against all the federal judges in MD should be declared frivolous, dismissed with prejudice, and the signatories on the complaint sanctioned. This is Emile Bove-esque chicanery designed to force all of those judges to recuse themselves – because they are defendants – and to move the case to a more favorable venue (like West Texas, where Trump stooge Matthew Kacsmaryk wields a MAGA gavel). The Trump DOJ is literally, the Trump DOJ….his personal law firm. We can only hope there are enough righteous judges to stop this crap.
I find this a bit scary in light of the ongoing deterioration of our Dotard in Chief:
“Gift”
I find this a bit scary in light of the ongoing deterioration of our Dotard in Chief:
“Gift”
I find this a bit scary in light of the ongoing deterioration of our Dotard in Chief:
“Gift”
Every time I post I either get a message “You are posting too quickly slow down” or a triple post happens.
I can delete one by editing to a null edit, but that means giving up the edit key for the other two
Candace Owens says she’s ‘embarrassed’ she supported Trump (The Hill)
Someone’s looking for a new grift, it seems. Subscriber growth must’ve really bottomed out post-tariffs.
@charontwo:
I read this earlier today. It is indeed scary.
@charontwo: If you haven’t been talking about the 25th Amendment for the past two years you have no credibility now.
@Fortune:
Yours is a totally illogical assertion.
A) I have been talking about Trump’s senile dementia for much longer than two years, I am notorious with, for example, Dr. Taylor for that.
B) The 25th amendment is a total dead letter for a large number of reasons, it will not be used regardless of how obvious Trump’s deterioration becomes. Trump is surrounded by sycophants including his Cabinet who need him in staying office to keep their jobs. You could never get 2/3 of both Houses of Congress to agree even if the Cabinet did invoke it. A combination of self-interest and fear of the MAGA base voters.
Plus Trump could override it by writing a letter to Congress claiming to be fine. The 25th amendment only works if the President is literally in a coma.
So it is ridiculous to even bring up the 25th amendment for discussion.
@charontwo:
Actually, impeachment is a much easier more viable way to get rid of a President, although that has, so far, never worked either.
@DK: So a disgusting human being is sorry she supported another disgusting human being because he disagrees with her on maybe 1% of the issues. They agree on the other 99%, like hating trans people, hating immigrants, basically hating all the “others”. And she has never had an issue with Trump being a lying rapist (she totally supported Trump when he was sued by E Jean Carroll) and a thief. Buyer’s remorse for Candace Owens? Screw her.
@charontwo: In our system the president is the highest elected official, the executive and commander in chief. He makes all major military decisions or appoints those who do. The Constitutional safety valve is the 25th Amendment. The case for Biden’s dotage is far stronger than Trump’s. Maybe you’re not a partisan who wants unconstitutional exceptions for your team but you’re arguing like one.
@Fortune:
My apologies, I misunderstood your point. You are taking Jake Tapper’s bullshit book sensationalizing and slanting Biden’s decreasing mental agility and claiming, falsely, that Biden was an Amendment 25 territory. Standard bull shit you are choosing to share with us.
Consider: The more sensational the book, the better it sells and rewards Tapper for his efforts.
I know of several actual mental health professionals who have said Trump has senile dementia.
Do you know of even one, just one, who have said that about Biden? I would think, given all the attention Tapper’s book and its fallout have gotten, we all would have heard about it if even there were even one.
NEWS FLASH!
Dateline: Washington DC
Joe Biden is not the President USA.
Donald Trump is the President USA.
@Fortune:
You weren’t here talking about the 25th Amendment from 2016-2020, so you have no credibility now.
@Neil Hudelson: You’re trying to badger away reality. It doesn’t work.
@Fortune: “If you haven’t been talking about the 25th Amendment for the past two years you have no credibility now.”
Unlike you, who has had no credibility ever.
Our developing national surveillance state:
“Olivia Troye”
This information is all shared with a number of Federal agencies including CBP, ICE, DHS etc. and some foreign countries also.
@Fortune: Neither does your tired schtick here. Be gone drone.
@charontwo:
“All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again”
If this sounds familiar, refresh your memories on Admiral Poindexter’s Total Information Awareness project:
@Jim X 32: If truth doesn’t “work” it’s on you.
@Fortune:
He’s now become a parody of himself.
@Fortune:
I’ll be very interested to see whether Republicans go forward with hearings into Joe Biden’s mental state. They’ll do their best not to let Democrats pose similar questions about Trump. It won’t work.
Weird, I thought I was making fun of a silly, sad little troll whose schtick has worn thin. Apparently I was ‘badgering away’ reality itself.
@Neil Hudelson: I know it’s hard to admit it but the whole world has acknowledged Biden’s mental deterioration for a year now, outside of a handful in denial. If you’re only talking to people who pretend Biden was mentally fit, you need to fix it.
Maybe I’ve missed something, but I’ve not seen any discussion here today of Mamdani’s apparent win in the NYC D primary. Here’s Atrios quoting Bill Ackman,
Mamdani seems highly relevant to the ongoing discussion here of what Ds should do. I found it striking that while Cuomo is eligible to run in the general as an independent, Ackman is looking for Mr. Perfect to come from nowhere. Apparently even Ackman realizes Cuomo is way past his Use By date.
@Fortune
You don’t seem to be addressing anything I said.
@Neil Hudelson:
The Cookie never does.
Trump posted on Truth Social that Ralph Reed told him that God spared his life in Butler, Pa. so he could bomb Iran.
https://michaelrlowry.substack.com/p/critical-hurricane-forecast-tool
CNN notes that tomorrow will be a big day at SCOTUS.
Despite the black letter of the Fourteenth Amendment, I fear a Roberts Special, a kick the can down the road decision allowing deportation of people born here until the Supremes get around to the question, maybe next term, maybe not. And that would be the good alternative. At worst, they may start a process to cancel the 14th and 15th Amendments. For Originalism, some parts of the Constitution, like the bit about “a well regulated militia” are just too inconvenient.
LGMquotes Adam Bonita on Substack,
No wonder Trump said to Roberts at the SOTU, “Thank you again. Thank you again. Won’t forget.”
@CSK:
Given the effectiveness of the bombing, I don’t think God got a good return on his investment.
Bill Moyers, 91, has died. RIP.
@gVOR10: The LGM’s link to the data isn’t working so I can’t see the cases they’re counting. However the LGM article admits the lower courts are opposing Trump policies, the appeals courts are more split, and the Supreme Court is accepting Trump policies. Leaving out the middle step is misleading. The pattern is more like court shopping, with lawfulness gradually asserting itself.
@CSK: The problem isn’t that Ralph Reed says stupid things to shine on a credulous goofball. It’s that Ralph Reed may well still be the smartest guy in the politico/evangelico brain trust room. Working off of a nearly 40-year-old script. Yikes!
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
What a truly appalling thought.
@gVOR10: There actually was a lot of discussion about the NYC election in yesterday’s Open Forum, and I think one other place. I posted my own six thousand word analysis there…
@Fortune:
I think this is the saddest, and most succinct, description of the collapse of our democracy.
Per the constitution, the Supreme Court is the final adjudicator of the application of our laws.
Should the Court decide that the Constitution and its amendments don’t have the plain meaning of their words, words like “equal protection” and “due process“ and “ under the jurisdiction of “; should they deem that the executive is more important than the legislative branch and has the power to ignore laws; then our country will be governed at the whim of whomever is president. A dictatorship; not a republic, not a democracy.
It seems there is no hope to salvage the dream that Benjamin Franklin was so doubtful about.
“If you can keep it”, indeed.
@charontwo:
I can confirm that this is a long-term concern.