I believe noem and ICE “… arrested … gang members along with sexual predators …” about as much as I believe the MAGAs are going to wake up tomorrow morning and embrace humanitarian causes. I might believe she wasn’t told this was a no-risk raid on normal unarmed immigrants, but I doubt that one too.
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I hate polls like this because he’s posting it as a win as if that’s representative of the country.
They polled 1,200 viewers but the viewer stats from last night were 51% republicans, 27% independent, and 20% democrats.
So these poll results are in line with the viewership, it’s not a sampling of the country.
His approval rating outside of his supporters is in the toilet.
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Yeah, and Anonymous was all “We’re going to take action” and nothing has happened.
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[proof by blatant assertion warning]
CBS polls are particularly suspect of late. Recently, and as @tcg550 wisely references, CBS posted that trump’s approval rating was significantly “above water” while all other national polls had him significantly below. The assumption is that CBS is in litigation with trump-land (over something 60 minutes) and apparently think that buttering up the bastard will get them a better deal. @#$!
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It only makes me wonder when the last audit was conducted, and if these MFs haven’t already figured out how to move the gold in time for their prime-time “Open the Vault” special. They’re probably laughing about acting shocked at revealing the crime they committed, and practicing catchy terms for all the Democrats they will blame for the theft. Every accusation is a confession…
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I wrote the below in response to a very politically active friend - no shade whatsoever in this person’s intellect and analysis - who saw in the speech, Trump’s absolute power including a power to bring a big portion of the country along with his agenda, in a repeat of Reagan 1985, especially given the prosperity Trump promised is just rolling 'round the bend. My friend as well called it a masterclass. Here are my thoughts:
Can’t agree with this analysis. This isn’t the 1980s, when Reagan could be a moderate (now would be a far leftist) on immigration and LGBTQ people were ignored and mocked while being ravaged by AIDS. The working class is in a more precarious position and declinism is unavoidable, making everything far more volatile than you describe (and volatile in a way I don’t even want to put on Meta) precisely because of the tragic absence of class or anti-fascist organization. Also - and this is a big also - Reagan attacked what they call the administrative state but wasn’t on a project of the wholesale dismantling of it. He cruelly attacked the most vulnerable. He didn’t attack the basic functions of running a “competent” capitalist/imperial state. The Trumpists are enacting a far more radical agenda without a mandate to do it. No one voted for an unelected Apartheid overlord cutting cancer research. No one voted for kids to die from whooping cough. No one voted for the WWE sex traffic/child abuse coverup artist to run the Dept. of Ed. No one voted for the drunk rapist on Fox News to run the military. Yes these bread crumbs existed throughout the campaign, but we forget quickly the way Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 and the way the post-convention Dem campaign made this a referendum on joy until raising the specter of fascism only in the final days, when it looked like a desperate Hail Mary. (And this was with Vance having called Trump in 2019 “An American Hitler!” How was that not in every commercial?) And they never posed an alternative plan to solve the crisis, because how could there be a crisis given all the joy? And how can you call to tax our freak-show oligarchy back to the stoneage when they are funding your dismal campaign?
But back to the speech. Far from a convincing victory lap, it was a theater of the absurd as well as largely irrelevant. We make a mistake by over focusing on a SOTU that was riddled with lies in a way that would have put Lee Atwater to shame. Taking a SOTU speech from Trump at face value is like tuning into SNL weekend update for the news. It’s not just about his shameless mendacity. It’s that this speech - especially given the week the markets have had and a much reported on looming recession - was Trump fan fiction. With all respect, it’s not helpful to use a SOTU - especially from this guy - as a starting point for any concrete analysis. Our biggest obstacle is not the cruel chaotic incompetence of this administration. It’s the voluntary compliance - and complicity - of countless institutions that stood up to him in 2016 and the fact that the Democrats who get that they are in a true existential crisis comprise a severe minority. (Rep. Al Green should have sung “I’m so tired of being alone” last night, when being led out of the Capitol.) More to say, especially about the 1/10th of the 1% becoming more self-aware as its own class with its own agenda and the turning this country into a crypto slush fund. All new dynamics. But I’ll stop there. Solidarity and respect.
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Might be?
That’s been my suspicion all along, since 1) Tramp clearly thinks he’s untouchable now, 2) Nothing matters more to him than massive wealth hoarding, and 3) He’s therefore doing all he can now to fatten his accounts.
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Can someone do a pic of Smaug in his lair, surrounded by his hoard of gold, with Trump’s head superimposed on the dragon’s? It may turn out to be relatively bitingmild satire in the next few days.
ETA or that pic of Trump hugging/kissing the flag. Remove flag, insert pile of Fort Knox gold.
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I’m repeating myself, but this is basically Goldfinger and Die Hard With a Vengeance rolled into one, but without the good guy with a gun who foils the heist at the last minute.
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I had to deal with this with a relative last night, patiently explaining why they wouldn’t clear out a person once they died.
• to prevent fraud (someone trying to recycle a number and name)
• for historical data:
• life expectancy changes
• tracking work and professions
• tracking income over time and geography
• tracking tax income over time and geography
• legitimate benefits paid out to a survivor(s)
The IRS tracks data in a manner similar to the census, but in a different manner and different granularity. Taken together they can be very powerful tools to understand how a country functions.
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The should make him count it by hand. Have fun moving the gold bars!
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Right. Exactly the sort of factual truth the fuckwits from project christofascist 2025 do NOT want! Any fact is at risk of getting in the way of a prejudice or fantasy, They must be all cleansed from the public domain to avoid that risk.
Are his hands big enough to grasp a bullion bar?
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I’ll be praying for a headline that indicates they’ve both been crushed in the collapse of a poorly stacked tower of bars.
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[…]
Trump went on to invoke the name of Ronald Reagan, clearly one of Trump’s favorite presidents, especially since the current president seems perpetually stuck in a 1980s mindset.
[…]
Thing is, Reagan was perpetually stuck in a 1940s mindset…
Ah well, time to dust off the old cartoons.
(Not the one I was looking for, but it’ll do. There was an “I have a dream” themed one in I think Newsweek at the time.)
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Thank you for sharing!
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