Random political thought thread.

[Virtual ghost]

The Trump-ally plan to cut Omaha off for Biden is dead … for now

 

[Virtual ghost]

Abortion Might Be a Winning Issue — Even in Florida


Trump won Florida by 3 points in 2020.

 

[Red Herring]

Playing the nazi card in the Third Reich

(English subtitles available)

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I believe this was the case somebody posted about in October. Based on some of her work, I wondered what the motivation was. It seems there is finally a resolution, of sorts:

U.S. NEWS Man charged with murder in death of Detroit synagogue leader Samantha Woll

The suspect — identified as Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 28, of Detroit — had been taken into custody Sunday as part of the investigation into Woll's death outside her home in October, said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy. She added that there are "no facts to suggest" that he knew Woll or that her killing was motivated by antisemitism.


"There's not a shred of evidence to suggest this was a hate crime," Worthy said at a news conference.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Why Trump balked on an abortion ban: Pure politics


If Trump manages to bypass "the abortion issue" Dems are over their heads in problems.

 

[Virtual ghost]

What would it take to turn blue states red? (and other way around)


If someone wants to play with numbers and demographics.

 

[Virtual ghost]

UK’s Cameron meets with Trump ahead of DC swing

 

[The Cat]

 

[Virtual ghost]

Zelenskyy warns Russia has penetrated U.S. politics, invites Trump to Ukraine

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Playing the nazi card in the Third Reich

(English subtitles available)

I have had a lot of arguments like this.

 

[Maou]

Lowkey check these threads to see how far the parallel universe has progressed, and it is always interesting.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Kephalos]

You know, looking at the evolution of the Republican Party over the last 24 years, I think one could very well say that it has become more and more parliamentarized, i.e. it behaves a lot like the kinds of political parties you see in parliamentary systems, both in its behavior in government and opposition as well as in its inner workings, despite the formal legal institucional structure of the Constitution and of the way political parties have traditionally worked in the United States.

You could observe some of this behavior already in the 1990s, when Newt Gingrich was for all intents and purposes a parliamentary opposition leader. Later, one could even compare the failed Clinton impeachment to a failed confidence measure, the kind that happen now and then in parliamentary systems. And during the time George W. Bush (Republican) had Republican majorities in either or both houses of Congress, the Republicans and the Republican administration acted like an absolute parliamentary majority government. When Barack H. Obama (Democratic) became president, the Republican Party behaved exactly like a parliamentary opposition party, both in the minority (congressional hearings, poitless or not, legal or judiciary ooposition, common opposition instruments in parliamentary systems) and with divided government with astonishing party discipline ("cohabitation" in the sense used by the French, although this would be more like a forced "cohabitation").

And now, ever since Donald J. Trump actually became President and later in opposition, the GOP has, in addition to the informally parliamentarist practices of the last decades, a party leader who remains as leader (although informally) and functions as such (selecting candidates, enforcing party-line discipline, etc.) even when the Republican Party has been in opposition, again both under conditions of being a minority opposition and under divided government.

The United States doesn't have the legal or formal structures of a parliamentary system and certainly the sort of adversarial dynamic between parties ("the spirit of faction") and also inside the Republican Party has always been rejected (or only tolerated to the extent that it was inevitable) in American political culture. This itself is problematic, apart from the inherent, ubiquitous, and obvious defects of parliamentarism and weimarization, as opposed to a properly balanced and checked presidential system.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Virtual ghost]

Musk feuds with Brazilian top judge over X

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Biden wants to play wartime President.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Watch his approval ratings soar when we enter a conflict with Iran. Voters don't like to change leaders during a war, even if the leader is somewhat unpopular.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Watch his approval ratings soar when we enter a conflict with Iran. Voters don't like to change leaders during a war, even if the leader is somewhat unpopular.

If that happened it would be extremely weird.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

You know, looking at the evolution of the Republican Party over the last 24 years, I think one could very well say that it has become more and more parliamentarized, i.e. it behaves a lot like the kinds of political parties you see in parliamentary systems, both in its behavior in government and opposition as well as in its inner workings, despite the formal legal institucional structure of the Constitution and of the way political parties have traditionally worked in the United States.

You could observe some of this behavior already in the 1990s, when Newt Gingrich was for all intents and purposes a parliamentary opposition leader. Later, one could even compare the failed Clinton impeachment to a failed confidence measure, the kind that happen now and then in parliamentary systems. And during the time George W. Bush (Republican) had Republican majorities in either or both houses of Congress, the Republicans and the Republican administration acted like an absolute parliamentary majority government. When Barack H. Obama (Democratic) became president, the Republican Party behaved exactly like a parliamentary opposition party, both in the minority (congressional hearings, poitless or not, legal or judiciary ooposition, common opposition instruments in parliamentary systems) and with divided government with astonishing party discipline ("cohabitation" in the sense used by the French, although this would be more like a forced "cohabitation").

And now, ever since Donald J. Trump actually became President and later in opposition, the GOP has, in addition to the informally parliamentarist practices of the last decades, a party leader who remains as leader (although informally) and functions as such (selecting candidates, enforcing party-line discipline, etc.) even when the Republican Party has been in opposition, again both under conditions of being a minority opposition and under divided government.

The United States doesn't have the legal or formal structures of a parliamentary system and certainly the sort of adversarial dynamic between parties ("the spirit of faction") and also inside the Republican Party has always been rejected (or only tolerated to the extent that it was inevitable) in American political culture. This itself is problematic, apart from the inherent, ubiquitous, and obvious defects of parliamentarism and weimarization, as opposed to a properly balanced and checked presidential system.

This reminds me of one of my many complaints with the Democratic party. When the Republican party changes the way the game is played, they don't react accordingly. They keep playing the same way because it's the "noble" thing to do; even though, given the stakes involved, it's not actually that "noble". Many of the Democrats are obsessed with protocol and tradition (which is really a conservative mentality, not a progressive one), treating them as unbreakable laws. If the world is burning down, it is not morally praiseworthy to insist on adhering to tradition simply because it's "the way it's done"; these things aren't laws. Clinging to normalcy when all the evidence shows otherwise is not a sound decision. Meanwhile, the Republicans don't care about protocol and tradition, unless caring about them can help them with their goals. That's hypocrisy, but the voters won't care, which is why they will never stop doing it.

I regret that I'm forced to keep voting for the Democrats because I think the Republican party is almost entirely a fascist movement at this point.