Tuesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Tuesday, October 22, 2024
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22 comments
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About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor 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
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BlueSky.
A sane response to the Trump panic from Josh Marshall at TPM: The GOP Get Out The Vote efforts got bogged down in internal rivalry between PACs.
Quote: “It’s the residue of Kirk’s boastful pitch to take over Republican ground operations, a pitch that fell apart because of a mix of fundraising shortfalls, insufficient organizational and managerial capacity and more. Musk came in to fill the breach because he has limitless money. But they’ve tried to do it almost entirely with contractors and paid doorknockers, a degree of over-reliance on non-volunteers which violates a lot of basic rules about how this is done.”
Source: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/joshs-on-going-dissertation-on-ground-game-studies
In news that should surprise nobody:
Russian Propaganda Unit Appears to Be Behind Spread of False Tim Walz Sexual Abuse Claims
And the man behind all this is an American:
“A former Florida cop.” A current fucking traitor is what he is.
Some interesting things
I went to the dermatologist today. Doctor did biopsies of two moles. Now I have to wait at least a week for the results. One is at most a squamous cell skin cancer but the other could be a malignant melanoma.
For 10-14 days there was VERY LOUD noise going on in a nearby condo unit to mine. That has stopped this morning. The workers didn’t have a permit.
Ezra Klein is head-over-heels in love with Donald Trump. No links provided.
All of you who assumed he is Just A Data Person Who Thinks Differently Guys He’s Cool I Promise.. Yeah, about that. No.
“What we saw on that Pennsylvania stage was not Donald Trump uncertain. It was the people around him uncertain.” — And the stupid continues. This guy.
In 2024, Donald is low energy and low stamina – and it never stops being fun to watch Obama live rent-free in what’s left of Trump’s mind.
Finally made it to London. We are at the Peninsula. And for the record, I grew up in trailer parks and cheap apartments with popcorn ceilings. And at age 34 I was cleaning homes and offices. Also, we used Amex points.
But still, come the revolution…
@Michael Reynolds:
I’ve stayed at the Hong Kong Peninsula. It was an incredible experience after because of our AMEX card use, Dear Wife and I were upgraded to a huge suite.
@Gavin: I read the Klein piece and came to a very different conclusion. IMO, what he was saying is that Trump projects certainty and a significant number of people find that attractive. He’s right about that. For people who are concerned about immigration is there any doubt where Trump stands on immigration? Same for foreigners taking jobs, or wokeness in schools, or big government, or crime.
I’ve said it here for years: A significant number of people crave certainty above all else, and a total fake and charlatan can project certainty better than anyone else. We ask ourselves here “How can people possibly like Trump?”. There’s your answer.
Klein is pointing out the obvious.
@MarkedMan:
Yes. He says one thing (immigrants bad, they’re eating cats and dogs, build the wall, make Mexico pay for it) and does another (passes no immigration bill while in office, killed the bipartisan immigration bill under Biden, etc).
On immigration, like most issues, Trump is unstable and all over the place. The people who vote for him “because immigration” don’t care that Senile Don’s immigration positions are mish-mash of nonsensical contradictions — just like theirs. He telegraphs and validates their racism, and that’s all that matters.
The certainty is that he hates the same people they do. Issues? Meh. Trump voters really do not care about consistency or certainty on big government or crime, for example. Trump spent like a drunken sailor, crime is down under Biden, and Trump is a criminal. They’ll follow Dementia McDonald’s lead on the issues and jettison their supposed principles to do so. As long as they’re all hatemongering against the same people, that’s good enough.
The decision between the two jobs (similar money but different state versus more money but same state) has been made. I’m opting for a similar standard of living but in a much saner location, rather than staying in a state that wants to prevent women of childbearing years from crossing state lines without a permit and jail doctors who provide gender affirming care.
This definitely sounds better than it is: South Korea is considering military aid to Ukraine in response to North Korea’s troops getting involved in the war on Ukraine.
The only thing I found surprising is that Mad Vlad hasn’t cried “escalation!!” yet.
@DK:
And that matters to people like us. But are people attracted to Trump even aware of what he, or any politician, actually did? He sounds certain. That’s Klein’s point and has been mine for a long time: people crave certainty. A charlatan is better at sounding certain than anyone else.
You said it right there, although I would change it to “don’t know or care”. You are probably right about attributing a lot of it to racism, but it doesn’t have to be only that. Ronnie Reagan sounded genially certain about everything, but was a dimwitted fool in real life. Didn’t change the fact that he sounded certain and that reassured a lot of people.
@Kathy: I wonder if it would be worthwhile for South Korea to supply troops, if they know they will engage the North Koreans? A real world test of armies that have been “getting ready” for close to three quarters of a century.
Oops.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/former-abercrombie-fitch-ceo-mike-jeffries-arrested-sex-trafficking-ch-rcna176555
@MarkedMan:
Other than Macron, I don’t think anyone’s seriously suggested sending troops to aid Ukraine. I don’t think they’d even raise tensions in the peninsula to make Kim nervous about having sent troops abroad.
Rudy’s been ordered to turn over assets to his victims.
This is one major problem I see with the law as it applies to wealthier miscreants: it takes to effing long and costs too much to get any kind of fair redress and justice, and not only in civil cases. See other lawsuits Moss and Freeman have pending, or those by Smartmatic and Dominion, not to mention the many trials pedning against El Weirdo. apparently only New York moves fast enough to matter, having secured a fraud judgment and 34 criminal convictions.
On other news, a rapist in New York was diagnosed with cancer.
This is usually a terrible thing to hear. With this person, if I may use the term loosely, my only reaction is: meh.
Uggh, someone stole my debit card info, although the bank only let them get about $100 before shutting down the card…
@Kathy:
BREAKING: Rudy Giuliani reported chest pains from the stress and was immediately transported by his staff to Mt. Sinai Heating and Plumbing.
@dazedandconfused:
You almost had me for a moment.
On related matters, The Guardian reports Harris was asked on an NBC interview “whether she would consider pardoning Donald Trump (sic) if she were elected, citing the argument some have made that clemency would help unify the country and move on”
Harris refused to engage in hypotheticals. I’ll follow her lead:
Ford pardoned Nixon for exactly that reason. We got Iran Contra, torture, and The Weirdo Felon whose crimes are too numerous to list here. We know what pardoning a high level criminal because he’s also a high level politician gets us. We should try the alternative.
“I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” Trump reportedly said in a private conversation in the White House, according to The Atlantic, citing two people who heard him say this. “People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.”
If this can be at all confirmed, it should be an ad that is played constantly. With all the evil shit Trump has said, this ranks up with the worst.
Interesting to see f the story has any legs.
@Lucysfootball:..I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,..
Nuremberg executions
Trump and his toadies should be reminded what happened to the political and military leadership of Nazi Germany.
Trigger warning! Link includes pictures of the corpses of Hitler’s finest hires.
I just spent 8 hours watching a cattle auction online, waiting for my calves to go thru the ring. I considered going over in person, I’m glad I didn’t. I’d have been PISSED I was sitting there for so long. It would’ve been a 3 hour drive over and a 3 hour drive back.
Cattle prices are higher than they’ve ever been for people like me, we’re actually there when the steak on your plate is born. Usually the prices are stuck at under $2/lb, today they were $2.78 and higher. Thanks, Dark Brandon!
@Jax:
Good on ya! Sounds like you’re handling yourself quite well in this role.
Dairy cows are also selling higher now than in recent years. My vet buddy is shattering himself doing pre-auction health checks.* And this is on top of his usual responsibilities. He’s truly committed to the work (he’s a zero irony do-gooder), and the money is nice, but damn the wear and tear. Methinks you are all too familiar with the wear and tear.
*Lots of owners getting out of the business. Selling off, retiring, and/or moving on to something else. It’s a fraught time in the dairy industry.