The (no longer) much too early 2024 election thread

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Should we start a much too early 2028 thread?

[RoseMorninStar]

Oh dear g... no.

The Milwaukee based Charlie Sykes fully realizes the error he made in the crazy rise of the Tea Party & eventually culminating in Trump MAGAphillia. His awareness is welcome although he contributed mightily to it. He has much to make up for.

[narya]

The 22nd amendment only limits the number of elected terms and vacancy filling terms, not the number of terms obtained by other means.

[River]

They think he'll still be alive in 2028? With that waistline? Though given that the national GOP is directing all resources to Trump's legal bills and current campaign, I doubt they have anything left to nurture up fresh blood.

[RoseMorninStar]

They think he'll still be alive in 2028? With that waistline?

By 2028 Trump et al will have declared him a deity and family members will be divine successors (ala North Korea). This isn't even funny to joke about, given his Messiah complex.

[narya]

Which family member, do you think?

[N.E. Brigand]

Which family member, do you think?

Not sure that Trump really wants a dynasty. He seems messianic. Some commentators over the years have noticed his occasional comments suggesting that he hopes to see the end of the world. This comedy sketch from last night reminded me of his self-importance:



"Made from 100% Bible." Decent texture work on that rock, too. "Let us bow our heads; I'm not going to." Happy Easter!

[RoseMorninStar]

Heh. SNL for the win.


narya (and N.E.) I don't think Trump really cares about a dynasty -for the sake of his family/those who come after him- but as a confirmation of his own divinity. I've read a few books about L.Ron Hubbard and the similarities between someone like Hubbard and Trump are rather interesting. Typical narcissism.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The 22nd amendment only limits the number of elected terms and vacancy filling terms, not the number of terms obtained by other means.

That raises an interesting point. Could he in theory run technically as the VP and have the nominal candidate for president resign so that he could become president?

[RoseMorninStar]

The 22nd amendment only limits the number of elected terms and vacancy filling terms, not the number of terms obtained by other means.

That raises an interesting point. Could he in theory run technically as the VP and have the nominal candidate for president resign so that he could become president?

OH! Horrors upon horrors.

Referring back to my comments regarding similarities to grifter L.Ron Hubbard and Trump, I could definitely see Trump turning his MAGA following into a religious 'ministry' to side step being taxed on money he takes in, as L. Ron Hubbard did.

[N.E. Brigand]

Heh. SNL for the win.

The part where Donald Trump doesn't know all the words of the Lord's Prayer probably is based on this incident.

To be clear: I don't care if a politician knows a particular catechism or even if he practices any religion.

[RoseMorninStar]

To be clear: I don't care if a politician knows a particular catechism or even if he practices any religion.

Agreed. But that is not the issue, is it? It's the unscrupulous USE of religion for personal gain that is the problem. It's disgusting.

[N.E. Brigand]

Donald Trump posted more than 70 times to his social media network today, Easter Sunday, between 9:00 am. and 1:30 p.m., then took off about six hours before adding another 25 posts and counting. I read them so you don't have to. Here is my summary of the first tranche. Trump:

1. Shared a fundraising pitch from his aide Dan Scavino that claims the U.S. is suffering from an "invasion" of immigrants.
2. Said that retiring Republican members of Congress like Rep. Mike Gallagher are "cowards and weaklings."
3. Posted a two-word message: "HAPPY EASTER!"
4. Promoted a new book by Todd Starnes about "saving our country from the radical leftists."
5. Shared an article about how candidates benefit in Republican primaries from a Trump endorsement.
6. Shared an opinion piece titled "What Trump's 'Retribution' Really Means" (which claims that Barack Obama is secretly running the country).
7. Shared a misleading New York Post article from a few days ago about the value of Jon Stewart's New York home.
8. Shared the results of five polls that show him leading in states including Ohio and Florida.
9. Shared the results of three more polls that show him leading in swing states. (FYI, these polls are about two weeks old.)
10. Shared a poll showing him leading among independent voters. (This graphic correctly showed him losing independents in 2020.)
11. Shared a poll showing him leading in Iowa.
12. Shared a previous endorsement he made in an Arizona county supervisor race.
13. Repeated the previous post.
14. Shared an excerpt from an opinion piece arguing that Judge Engoron vastly undervalued Mar-a-Lago.
15. Shared a blog post by a commentator defending Trump against supposed left-wing hysteria and fraud (including the "Alfa ping hoax").
16. Shared an endorsement he got (two days ago) from Long Island's Republican Party.
17. Shared a Steve Bannon post attacking President Biden on culture war issues and claiming Trump will "win his third victory" this November.
18. Shared video of a conservative activist confronting Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California) for remarks she made about Trump in 2018.
19. Shared video of a supporter describing President Biden as the worst president in American history, to which Trump added: "President, PERIOD."
20. Shared a former Republican Senate Judiciary staffer's endorsement of Trump's earlier claim that criminal charges against him are election interference. (a)
21. Shared video of a Fox commentator noting how Trump could remake the judiciary.
22. Shared a supporter's call for Georgia officials to investigate Fani Willis, based on a January New York Post article. (a)
23. Shared video of a podcaster describing the criminal charges against Trump as "political weaponization."
24. Shared video of a conservative lawyer discussing the amicus brief he has submitted in support of Trump's immunity argument.
25. Shared a supporter's explanation of how Trump could make the Supreme Court even more conservative. (a)
26. Shared a supporter's claim that Trump was right to tell Mike Pence that certifying the electoral college votes in 2020 would end his career. (a)
27. Shared a supporter's complaint about President Biden supposedly having recognized Easter as "transgender day". (a)
28. Shared a supporter's post about the White House having celebrated Eid-al-Fitr in 2022 and not allowing religious themes on Easter Eggs this year. (a)
29. Shared a supporter's post recapping the previous two posts, including the complaint that President Biden "celebrates Muslim holidays." (a)
30. Shared a Daily Mail article about Biden and Easter that completely fails to mention the points we've noted here.
31. Shared a Fox News story about the White House's non-religious Easter egg rules.
32. Shared a Fox News story about Biden having recognized today as Transgender Day of Visibility.
33. Shared a New York Post article about the political consulting work that Judge Merchan's daughter does. (b)
34. Shared a Right Side Broadcasting Network op-ed noting how Trump "keeps winning against unthinkable odds." (c)
35. Shared Fox News video of Mark Levin and economist Steve Moore criticizing President Biden's budget proposals.
36. Shared a Newsmax article in which country singer Lee Greenwood defends his Bible-selling partnership with Trump.
37. Shared commentary in the Washington Examiner about the "Trump intensity gap," i.e. how his supporters are more enthusiastic than Biden's. (d)
38. Shared a Washington Times op-ed titled "The Crucifixion of Donald Trump" that's about as nuts as you'd guess. (e)
39. Shared a column in the New York Sun claiming "all the wheels are now coming off the Biden administration."
40. Shared a Fox News story from ten days ago about Florida's police union endorsing Trump.
41. Shared a Breitbart story about the same endorsement.
42. Shared a National Pulse op-ed titled "The 'Bloodbath' Hoax."
43. Shared a Wall Street Journal column titled "Biden Is Coming for Your Truck" that decries Biden's support for electric vehicles.
44. Shared a Compact op-ed titled "Trump Is Right About the Auto 'Bloodbath.'" (f)
45. Shared a Breitbart column about Democratic politicians in auto-manufacturing states supporting protectionist actions against China.
46. Reshared Steve Bannon's post (#17 above).
47. Shared a Bannon post praising Trump for supposedly having destroyed ISIS and claiming there were "no dead Russian civilians under President Trump." (g)
48. Shared a Breitbart story from ten days ago in which Trump said the U.S. needs new laws codifying criminal offenses by immigrants.
49. Shared a Breitbart story from eleven days ago in which Trump claimed that the defunct bipartisan immigration bill would have worsened border conditions.
50. Shared a 30-day-old Breitbart story about CNN considering budget cuts that would remove some of its biggest on-air talent.
51. Shared an op-ed at Right Side Broadcasting Network supporting Trump because liberals will "destroy the founding ideals of American patriotism". (h)
52. Shared a Daily Caller article noting that a CNN election analyst has found that Hispanic Americans trust Trump more than President Biden on border issues.
53. Shard a ten-day-old Washington Examiner article noting a Rasmussen survey that found Americans felt worse off economically under President Biden.
54. Shared a Daily Caller article from eleven days ago noting that Trump leads President Biden in Georgia and North Carolina.
55. Shared a Breitbart article from ten days ago about a U.S. Senate candidate receiving a big polling boost following Trump's endorsement (see #5 above).
56. Shared a nine-day-old Breitbart article noting a CNN poll that found President Biden struggling in Michigan.
57. Shared a Real Clear Politics column from nine days ago about Biden having caused an immigration crisis. (i)
58. Shared a month-old article about one of Hunter Biden's ex-partners supposedly having implicated Hunter in malfeasance in Ukraine.
59. Shared a Mar. 1 American Thinker op-ed about an oddsmaker claiming that the U.S. is falling apart but miraculously "consolidating behind Donald Trump."
60. Shared a Feb. 29 Gateway Pundit column about the same "miracle" story, with the headline "Something Supernatural Is Happening with Trump."
61. Shared a Mar. 7 Gateway Pundit article about New York firefighters drowning out "leftist tyrant" Letitia James at a FDNY event.
62. Shared a nine-day-old National Pulse item about Trump having posted a message directed at New Yorkers and criticizing Judge Engoron
63. Complained that Engoron is flouting the Appellate Division's decision regarding the statute of limitations. (I don't know what this means.) (j)
64. Demanded that Engoron and James "explain why he ruled that Mar-a-Lago" is worth $18 million rather than $1 billion.
65. Quoted at length from the column at #14 above, arguing that there were no victims to the fraud for which he's been found liable.
66. Quoted at length from a Mar. 19 op-ed in the Washington Post which argued that New York's law regarding appeals of civil judgement are flawed. (k)
67. Quoted progressive columnist and former (because ineligible) presidential candidate Cenk Uygur making a similar argument on Mar. 19.
68. Quoted more of the column cited at #14 and #65: "But $454 million is not a joke .. what goes around will come around for Democrats".
69. Shared a nine-day-old Bloomberg article about deaths from fentanyl overdoses.
70. Shared a Mar. 3 Vigilant News op-ed arguing that President Biden would prefer to face a different opponent than Trump.
71. Shared a blog post in which Jonathan Turley argues that Trump should appeal Judge Merchan's gag order.
72. And finally, he posted this, in all-caps:

Happy Easter to all, including crooked and corrupt prosecutors and judges that are doing everything possible to interfere with the presidential election of 2024, and put me in prison, including those many people that I completely & totally despise because they want to destroy America, a now failing nation, like "deranged" Jack Smith, who is evil and "sick," Mrs. Fani "Fauni" Wade, who said she hardly knew the "Special" Prosecutor, only to find that he spent years "loving" her, long before the Georgia persecution of President Trump began (and thereby making the case against me null, void, and illegal!), and lazy on violent crime Alvin Bragg who, with Crooked Joe's DOJ thugs, unfairly working in the D.A.'s office, illegally indicted me on a case he never wanted to bring and virtually all legal scholars say is a case that should not be brought, is breaking the law in doing so (Pomerantz!), was turned down by all other law enforcement authorities, and is not a crime. Happy Easter Everyone!

- - - - - - - - - -
(a) #20, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 are all the same person, who clerked for Justice Gorsuch. I'd like to add that Trump's campaign yesterday said that the Transgender day designation was an affront to "Christians and Catholics," implying that the latter are not a subset of the former.

(b) Trump first shared this article yesterday. It features a picture of Judge Merchan's daughter.

(c) That op-ed admiringly refers to Trump as "Teflon Don" and concludes as follows: "As the country gets ready to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ this upcoming Easter weekend, the story of a savior’s triumphant victory over darkness and death is perhaps a fitting time for America as a nation to hold firmly to truth, justice, and work toward the sweet possibility of a future victory for freedom."

(d) A possible new explanation in that one for the unexplained marks on Trump's hand a couple months ago. After Trump works a rope line at Mar-a-Lago in which some of his supporters are very enthusiastic in their hand-shaking: "Trump held out his right hand and showed that the back was covered by a large, greenish bruise. There were also marks left by female admirers with carefully manicured nails. It happened all the time, he said, marveling at the emotional connection people in the crowd felt with him."

(e) Letitia James, Judge Engoron, Fani Willis, and Jack Smith are all compared to Pontius Pilate. Also, the piece pushes false narratives about Trump's scandals, claiming that a "two-year, $30 million investigation demonstrated there was no such connection [between Donald Trump and Russia] and tied the entire affair back to Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party." The piece further claims that Trump never "attempted to intimidate the president of Ukraine into doing his domestic-political bidding" and that Democrats "voted to impeach ... based on" a "third-hand story." The following part also is woefully wrong: "But oddly, Judge Arthur Engoron decided the case himself in the absence of a jury ... Much like Pilate tried to placate the mob by merely beating Jesus nearly to death, the judge 'relented' by lowering the bond required to a paltry $175 million and gave Trump an additional 10 days to secure it." 1. Trump didn't ask for a jury trial until long after the deadline had passed. 2. It was an appeals court that lowered the bond and gave Trump ten more days to submit it.

(f) Despite quoting Trump's "bloodbath" remarks in full, the piece never explains what Trump meant by twice saying that "would be the least of it."

(g) That's not true, by the way. There were successful terrorist attacks in Russia during Trump's presidency.

(h) On that page, RSBN features 13 ads as follows: U.S.-Israel Flag Pins (2), gold (3), My Pillow, Truth Social, Rumble, unspecified cheap internet service for seniors (2), Mike Huckabee's kids books, unspecified car insurance, unspecified workout plan for seniors.

(i) There's some irony here. Republicans lately have been citing something that Biden said in a 2019 Democratic primary debate, that the U.S. should "immediately surge to the border all those seeking asylum." What's ironic is that Biden was taking heat then for being too tough on immigrants. Univision anchor Jorge Ramos asked Biden why Latinos should trust him:

“As a presidential candidate in 2008, you supported the border while saying, ‘Unlike most Democrats, I voted for 700 miles of fence.’ This is what you said,” Ramos, one of the debate’s four moderators, directed at Biden. “Then, you served as vice president in an administration that deported 3 million people — the most ever in U.S. history. Did you do anything to prevent those deportations?”

Ramos added that Biden had dodged this question in the past. Biden replied to say he was proud of President Biden's immigration efforts, but that times had changed, and he went on:

“I would in fact make sure that there is, that we immediately surge to the border — all those people are seeking asylum. They deserve to be heard,” Biden said. “That’s who we are. We’re a nation that says, ‘If you want to flee and you’re fleeing oppression, you should come.’”

(j) Trump adds that Engoron has been overturned five times in this case ("a record"), says that he will post the reduced bond set by the Appellate Division, and concludes with this all-caps rant: "I did nothing wrong, and New York should never be put in a position like this again. Businesses are fleeing, violent crime is flourishing, and it is very important that this be resolved in its totality as soon as possible. Thank you!"

(k) The column by Ruth Marcus boils down to the bullshit argument that the more money you steal, the better the law should treat you. Trump cheated his way out of $350 million. If he wanted to only have to pay $150 million, he should have limited his cheating to that much. Cenk Uygur's argument is that this is unfair to all civil defendants not just Trump: "What if he wins the appeal? So you made him sell all of his properties to get the collateral, but then he can't buy them back". I guarantee you that other defendants have had to sell their homes in similar cases and Uygur hasn't spoken up for them. The only argument in favor of reducing the bond that makes sense to me is the one that V shared: it's probably easier for Letitia James's office.

[Sunsilver]

One thing for sure - he definitely was NOT in church on Easter Sunday!
Which should not suprise anyone who REALLY knows him...

!#**X%%## hypocrite!

[N.E. Brigand]

About 15 minutes before Donald Trump's first post in that four-hour, 72-post streak this morning, President Biden tweeted this:

"To all those gathering in churches and homes around the world today: Happy Easter. May God bless and keep you"

- - - - - - - - - -
Turning to the remainder of Donald Trump's Truth Social posts today, starting after 7 p.m., I'm only seeing a half-dozen posts and not that two dozen that I mentioned earlier based on others' reports. So to complete the day's summary, this evening, Trump:

73. Wished his attorney Alina Habba a happy birthday. (Her birthday was six days ago.)
74. Shared a picture of himself receiving a golf trophy from Jack Nicklaus.
75. Linked to video of Habba on a podcast speaking about the New York civil case and complained that Judge Engoron "was an out of control disaster."
76. Shared a Daily Mail poll showing him winning a hypothetical election against Michelle Obama. (a)
77. Reshared Mark Levin's interview with economist Steve Moore that he'd shared earlier in the day.
78. Shared a video from two days ago showing New York police officers clapping as Governor Kathy Hochul left the funeral of a murdered police officer. (b)

And that was Trump's Easter.

- - - - - - - - - -
(a) Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. shared a meme claiming that Michelle Obama is secretly a man.

(b) For reasons I don't understand, people are blaming Democrats for Diller's death; he died after being shot by a man in a traffic stop.

[Sunsilver]

a) Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. shared a meme claiming that Michelle Obama is secretly a man.

I first heard this back when Obama was still president. I also heard that Obama was gay, or at least had had gay relationships and that their children (obviously!) weren't their own.

Oh, and I know someone who actually believes it... He's a very good, skilled tradesman, but we don't discuss politics when he's working for me.

[N.E. Brigand]

If I ever cite the polling analyst Frank Luntz, remind me of this tweet, posted five hours ago and still not corrected, in which Luntz laments that (1) President Biden is visiting Green Bay, Wisconsin today rather than "more racially diverse Milwaukee or college town Madison," and (2) that this is Biden's first visit to that crucial swing state in the past two years.

Because, as is explained in the very article that Luntz cites there, (1) President Biden is visiting Madison not Green Bay, and (2) this is Biden's tenth visit to Wisconsin during his presidency and his third visit in 2024.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I promise to set you straight if you are ever so misguided as to cite Frank Luntz.

[N.E. Brigand]

ABC reports that Tulsi Gabbard of Hawai'i, the Democrat turned Independent (in 2022) who was a member of Congress from 2013 to 2021 and ran for president in 2019-2020, says she turned down an offer from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be his running mate.

[N.E. Brigand]

Alex Thompson lists several examples of conservative media figures who were praising RFK Jr. six months ago but criticize him now.