I have to admit, I’m not feeling very optimistic about November. With the media’s obsession over Biden’s age while ignoring all of Trump’s terrible baggage things were already pretty dicey. Democrats aren’t even united behind Joe Biden with Jon Stewart, Clooney, Carville and more all calling for him to drop out.
To add further complications Trump has been elevated to Hero/Victim/Martyr/Messiah status. Overcoming these obstacles is starting to seem insurmountable. That doesn’t mean I don’t think something could shift favorability back to Biden. At this point it just doesn’t seem likely. Even if there is good news for Biden and bad news for Trump I don’t see the MSM reporting it that way.
Please don’t take my message to mean that I feel it’s hopeless. It means we’re going to have to try harder. I just don’t know what try harder is yet.
"If you tell people the truth about who we are and what we want to do to them they will naturally want to kill us." Say representatives of the silent majority, the moral guardians who know they would win in landslides were it not for all the cheating.
I’m fine with a “cooling off period” which will last exactly long enough for someone at the RNC convention - may well be Trump himself or his VP pick - makes a thinly veiled, if veiled at all, reference to “taking down Joe Biden” or “striking back at the [insert your MAGA boogeyman of choice] who control the Deep State,” or any one of a number of intemperate to the point of lunacy statements that has characterized the fascist Replublican party for fucking decades. Then the Dems, including the President, can take the gloves off again.
Trump is an agent of chaos and violence. This shooting is just another example of his chickens coming home to roost, IMNSOHFO.
It is my intuition that this is something that is starting to resonate with actual voters (whether they realize it or not), his “victimhood” and “bravado” notwithstanding.
Thank you, Stephen. I watched five minutes of CNN then turned it off, after telling my husband I was tired of CNN (insert rude sexual comment here) Trump. He lost a piece of his ear. Let’s not forget the ugly language toward anyone who isn’t MAGA.
Let’s also not forget that Project 2025 seeks to erase some from people from existence
Barely sentient lickspittle Mike Lee (UT’s shame) has already called on Biden to (somehow) force to have all charges dropped on poor innocent long-suffering Trump in all the various principalities of his adjudicated and pending adjudication crimes. Of course that won’t happen but the fact that a sitting Senator thought that was a reasonable request to make should alarm us all. I will never ever understand how this violent, amoral sociopath always manages to weasel out of whatever accountability is sorely due him either officially or in the public consciousness. Yeah, he got shot at, and now the media (a media he excoriates and puts under threat with his every utterance) is going to fall in line and pay obeisance to his own personal martyr mythology. Nearly falling victim to his own violent rhetoric is called consequences. It does not make him any less of an asshole, or more deserving of sympathy, as he was the day before. If anything it will make him worse. Much worse. He literally feels bulletproof now. And he did not need any more reasons to feel invincible. Shit’s going to get (more) nuts. But hey, Biden’s old, right?
This is a great article and it reminds us of the horrific statements that will be a model for the footsoldiers. All these lickspittles are one-upping each other for the favor of President Klan Robe and it's going to be a continuous escalation.
The MAGA fascist movement can't...it won't...allow the "temperature to go down."
I liked what Biden said last night, for all the good it did. He also wove in the political violence from the right very deftly (for example talking about the kidnapping plot against Gretchen Whitmer). But we're going to have to get through Murc's Law-based coverage as Republican-owned media slobber to cover President Klan Robe. Because at the end of the day, Biden is old and competent, and brought into power by Black people. And that's boring.
And once again a parent buys a weapon of war for their kid who goes on to kill others. So tired of this happening.
I’m a public school teacher and have extensively researched the little bit of data researchers have been allowed to collect on young people and gun violence. My heart sank when I read this “loser”’s age. Yes, he attempted to commit an atrocious act but the data points to suicidal ideation in many of the shootings perpetrated by young males, including school shooters. I know we don’t have any info yet on motive but until we do, I can’t understand why no one is asking about the overt indoctrination, suicidal ideation, and easy access to firearms as a triple threat to our young people today.
My kid asked me what we would do if Trump were elected. Would we move?
“No,” I said [I didn’t say, we are too old and one of us too infirm for many places to take us in]. “Remember, attractive healthy little white girl living in a blue state, you are pretty safe no matter what.”
She rolled her eyes. But I can’t say I haven’t been keeping sweet with an acquaintance I would rather avoid because they live overseas, because I don’t trust this situation one bit.
Today I got a reminder via social media celebrity that many people really resent being told that voting third party is abetting fascism right now. That they were angry at Biden about Gaza and now they’re also angry about Biden having a bad debate performance and being old and that they will, it seems, refuse to vote for him for any reason rustled up by Russian trolls or Republicans. And I’m not actually older than these people, but they seem to have been active on social media longer than me and I can’t help wondering about that.
And then there are the ones younger than me, who hold all those beliefs plus the “duopoly” one that makes them think burning it all down is the only solution. They apparently don’t remember 2016.
So I’m still keeping a line open with that ex in Europe, because I want my kid safe and apparently plenty of Democrats are naive, and it’s not just the politicians.
Not sure that even living in “blue” states will keep you safe from Trump if he delivers a Reagan-level beating on Biden. A longtime argument has been that Trump has cost the GOP election after his fluke 2016 win. If that changes, he becomes an unshakeable figure in the party
You are right to be depressed about how the media is handling this, it's pure garbage and they are greasing the wheels for authoritarianism. If Democrats were halfway competent, this would all be framed as "Republican gun nut tries to kill Trump, kills Trump supporter instead, after years of Trump calling for Second Amendment solutions--what is wrong with the violent authoritarian Right???" That is exactly how Republicans would have played it if a liberal Democrat tried to kill Biden.
Instead, we're getting these absurd calls to "pray" for Trump's slightly injured ear, which has me believing we are in an absurd simulation.
And Stephen, I love following your posts on Twitter, they're often amusing and sharp, but I'm beginning to think everyone needs to quit that site now that it is openly becoming a right wing Super PAC.
The thing about John Wilkes Booth's assassination of Lincoln is it was part of a larger plot to kill a big chunk of the executive leadership in one fell swoop--Andrew Johnson and William Seward were also targets, and Johnson's initial reaction upon taking the presidency was revenge on the former Confederates. This would change over time as his white supremacism would conflict with the congressional Republican agenda.
Fun fact--General Grant was supposed to attend the theater with Lincoln that night, but Lincoln's wife was so notoriously unpleasant that Grant's wife insisted they skip it so she wouldn't have to deal with her. Had Grant been present it's possible he might have been able to foil the assassination.
(It's also pointed out that it's ironic that that very day Lincoln had signed into law the Secret Service act, but it's not as ironic as it sounds, as the Secret Service at the time was an anti-counterfeiting operation, and would not take up "protecting presidents" until the 20th Century).
Major Rathbone must have been too engrossed in the play to notice the 19th Century equivalent of Brad Pitt sneaking in behind the president with a pistol!
"The FBI identified the shooter as a 20-year-old loser from Bethal Park, Pennsylvania. If you’re Black or Hispanic, you likely breathed a sigh of relief when you learned he was white."
Hey, I'm an old white lady and *I* breathed a sigh of relief, too. (And again, when it was reported that he was a registered Republican.)
And you can tell this checks out too that the loser shooter was not a left wing activist because the assholes are very mum about his background and even Jesse Waters went "You can't really read into the political background." If this person were a left wing activist that would be trumpeted on every single channel, whether in MSM or the rightwing media human centipede.
Oh yes. If the shooter was a Bernie-supporting transgender kid, not only would Republicans have their moment, there'd be major repercussions around the country.
I figured it was possible that the shooter was a Far-Left nutjob, but most likely apolitical or Right Wing (turns out he's right wing). There's just no such thing as a "radicalized violent Biden supporter". That's like having a strident opinion about vanilla iced cream!
I was glad it wasn't a "Bernie Bro", we'd never hear the end of "left wing violence" from everyone. Somehow, I just figured it was a white guy, as these shooters disproportionately are.
I have to admit, I’m not feeling very optimistic about November. With the media’s obsession over Biden’s age while ignoring all of Trump’s terrible baggage things were already pretty dicey. Democrats aren’t even united behind Joe Biden with Jon Stewart, Clooney, Carville and more all calling for him to drop out.
To add further complications Trump has been elevated to Hero/Victim/Martyr/Messiah status. Overcoming these obstacles is starting to seem insurmountable. That doesn’t mean I don’t think something could shift favorability back to Biden. At this point it just doesn’t seem likely. Even if there is good news for Biden and bad news for Trump I don’t see the MSM reporting it that way.
Please don’t take my message to mean that I feel it’s hopeless. It means we’re going to have to try harder. I just don’t know what try harder is yet.
"If you tell people the truth about who we are and what we want to do to them they will naturally want to kill us." Say representatives of the silent majority, the moral guardians who know they would win in landslides were it not for all the cheating.
My favorite caption for the picture of PAB doing his Nazi salute with drops of blood coming from his ear:
Whatever you do, DON'T get your ears pierced at Claire's!!!
I’m fine with a “cooling off period” which will last exactly long enough for someone at the RNC convention - may well be Trump himself or his VP pick - makes a thinly veiled, if veiled at all, reference to “taking down Joe Biden” or “striking back at the [insert your MAGA boogeyman of choice] who control the Deep State,” or any one of a number of intemperate to the point of lunacy statements that has characterized the fascist Replublican party for fucking decades. Then the Dems, including the President, can take the gloves off again.
Kamala Harris is the best insurance policy against a Biden assassination.
Trump is an agent of chaos and violence. This shooting is just another example of his chickens coming home to roost, IMNSOHFO.
It is my intuition that this is something that is starting to resonate with actual voters (whether they realize it or not), his “victimhood” and “bravado” notwithstanding.
Thank you, Stephen. I watched five minutes of CNN then turned it off, after telling my husband I was tired of CNN (insert rude sexual comment here) Trump. He lost a piece of his ear. Let’s not forget the ugly language toward anyone who isn’t MAGA.
Let’s also not forget that Project 2025 seeks to erase some from people from existence
Barely sentient lickspittle Mike Lee (UT’s shame) has already called on Biden to (somehow) force to have all charges dropped on poor innocent long-suffering Trump in all the various principalities of his adjudicated and pending adjudication crimes. Of course that won’t happen but the fact that a sitting Senator thought that was a reasonable request to make should alarm us all. I will never ever understand how this violent, amoral sociopath always manages to weasel out of whatever accountability is sorely due him either officially or in the public consciousness. Yeah, he got shot at, and now the media (a media he excoriates and puts under threat with his every utterance) is going to fall in line and pay obeisance to his own personal martyr mythology. Nearly falling victim to his own violent rhetoric is called consequences. It does not make him any less of an asshole, or more deserving of sympathy, as he was the day before. If anything it will make him worse. Much worse. He literally feels bulletproof now. And he did not need any more reasons to feel invincible. Shit’s going to get (more) nuts. But hey, Biden’s old, right?
This is a great article and it reminds us of the horrific statements that will be a model for the footsoldiers. All these lickspittles are one-upping each other for the favor of President Klan Robe and it's going to be a continuous escalation.
The MAGA fascist movement can't...it won't...allow the "temperature to go down."
I liked what Biden said last night, for all the good it did. He also wove in the political violence from the right very deftly (for example talking about the kidnapping plot against Gretchen Whitmer). But we're going to have to get through Murc's Law-based coverage as Republican-owned media slobber to cover President Klan Robe. Because at the end of the day, Biden is old and competent, and brought into power by Black people. And that's boring.
And once again a parent buys a weapon of war for their kid who goes on to kill others. So tired of this happening.
I’m a public school teacher and have extensively researched the little bit of data researchers have been allowed to collect on young people and gun violence. My heart sank when I read this “loser”’s age. Yes, he attempted to commit an atrocious act but the data points to suicidal ideation in many of the shootings perpetrated by young males, including school shooters. I know we don’t have any info yet on motive but until we do, I can’t understand why no one is asking about the overt indoctrination, suicidal ideation, and easy access to firearms as a triple threat to our young people today.
It's clear that he didn't have any intention of living through this assassination attempt.
My kid asked me what we would do if Trump were elected. Would we move?
“No,” I said [I didn’t say, we are too old and one of us too infirm for many places to take us in]. “Remember, attractive healthy little white girl living in a blue state, you are pretty safe no matter what.”
She rolled her eyes. But I can’t say I haven’t been keeping sweet with an acquaintance I would rather avoid because they live overseas, because I don’t trust this situation one bit.
Today I got a reminder via social media celebrity that many people really resent being told that voting third party is abetting fascism right now. That they were angry at Biden about Gaza and now they’re also angry about Biden having a bad debate performance and being old and that they will, it seems, refuse to vote for him for any reason rustled up by Russian trolls or Republicans. And I’m not actually older than these people, but they seem to have been active on social media longer than me and I can’t help wondering about that.
And then there are the ones younger than me, who hold all those beliefs plus the “duopoly” one that makes them think burning it all down is the only solution. They apparently don’t remember 2016.
So I’m still keeping a line open with that ex in Europe, because I want my kid safe and apparently plenty of Democrats are naive, and it’s not just the politicians.
Not sure that even living in “blue” states will keep you safe from Trump if he delivers a Reagan-level beating on Biden. A longtime argument has been that Trump has cost the GOP election after his fluke 2016 win. If that changes, he becomes an unshakeable figure in the party
You are right to be depressed about how the media is handling this, it's pure garbage and they are greasing the wheels for authoritarianism. If Democrats were halfway competent, this would all be framed as "Republican gun nut tries to kill Trump, kills Trump supporter instead, after years of Trump calling for Second Amendment solutions--what is wrong with the violent authoritarian Right???" That is exactly how Republicans would have played it if a liberal Democrat tried to kill Biden.
Instead, we're getting these absurd calls to "pray" for Trump's slightly injured ear, which has me believing we are in an absurd simulation.
And Stephen, I love following your posts on Twitter, they're often amusing and sharp, but I'm beginning to think everyone needs to quit that site now that it is openly becoming a right wing Super PAC.
The thing about John Wilkes Booth's assassination of Lincoln is it was part of a larger plot to kill a big chunk of the executive leadership in one fell swoop--Andrew Johnson and William Seward were also targets, and Johnson's initial reaction upon taking the presidency was revenge on the former Confederates. This would change over time as his white supremacism would conflict with the congressional Republican agenda.
Fun fact--General Grant was supposed to attend the theater with Lincoln that night, but Lincoln's wife was so notoriously unpleasant that Grant's wife insisted they skip it so she wouldn't have to deal with her. Had Grant been present it's possible he might have been able to foil the assassination.
(It's also pointed out that it's ironic that that very day Lincoln had signed into law the Secret Service act, but it's not as ironic as it sounds, as the Secret Service at the time was an anti-counterfeiting operation, and would not take up "protecting presidents" until the 20th Century).
Oh Mary!
Major Rathbone must have been too engrossed in the play to notice the 19th Century equivalent of Brad Pitt sneaking in behind the president with a pistol!
"The FBI identified the shooter as a 20-year-old loser from Bethal Park, Pennsylvania. If you’re Black or Hispanic, you likely breathed a sigh of relief when you learned he was white."
Hey, I'm an old white lady and *I* breathed a sigh of relief, too. (And again, when it was reported that he was a registered Republican.)
I'm so sad and angry I even had to feel that way.
And you can tell this checks out too that the loser shooter was not a left wing activist because the assholes are very mum about his background and even Jesse Waters went "You can't really read into the political background." If this person were a left wing activist that would be trumpeted on every single channel, whether in MSM or the rightwing media human centipede.
Oh yes. If the shooter was a Bernie-supporting transgender kid, not only would Republicans have their moment, there'd be major repercussions around the country.
I figured it was possible that the shooter was a Far-Left nutjob, but most likely apolitical or Right Wing (turns out he's right wing). There's just no such thing as a "radicalized violent Biden supporter". That's like having a strident opinion about vanilla iced cream!
I was glad it wasn't a "Bernie Bro", we'd never hear the end of "left wing violence" from everyone. Somehow, I just figured it was a white guy, as these shooters disproportionately are.
I never considered that it would have been anything BUT a white male shooter.