>> If he’s re-elected, this is likely his final term and Trump can’t risk Cornyn suddenly discovering his conscience when free from electoral consequences.
"Of course, as Clint Eastwood once said, “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.” Trump is loyal to no one but himself."
One of my favorite movies and that one had a lot of great lines, but remembering that deserve really doesn't have anything to do with outcomes in this world is tops.
All these people think they're the World's Smartest Gnat who'll totally defeat the pesky bug zapper. And they bow to him because they want the allegiance of his terrible, terrible cultists, who ALWAYS vote. America's Pilonidal Cyst is a gibbering fool, but he's the gibbering fool that hates the same minorities the unreconstructed hate. So we'll continue to see people destroy their careers for him.
It’d help if they believed they’d face consequences for supporting him. Right now their incentives are “support the evil man and if he wins, you’re safe, if he loses no one will hurt you.” No—they need to know they’ll be hurt by an avenging bastard who is taking names like the Corleones. That would change the calculation for at least some of them.
Yes, Democrats must concede that Garland botched Trump's prosecution -- appointing a special counsel way too late. And Biden botched the political aspect of dismantling MAGA. As a result, there is no reason for a Republican to follow in Cheney or Kinzinger's footsteps.
Yep, exactly. And beyond that, why would Bezos, Zuckerberg, even Musk NOT kowtow to Trump? It’s clear Trump would try to hurt them if they didn’t, while even today Democrats give no inkling that any of these people will be punished for collaborating with him.
President Shapiro will welcome Bezos, Zuckerberg, and even Musk back to the White House with open arms. Musk is at no risk of losing his federal contracts even if Dems regain the White House.
Bingo—if he has no fear of even losing his government contracts (let alone actual criminal prosecution) it’s obvious he has no downside for being Trump’s pal.
I have no idea who I’d support going into 2028 but I want to see a “retribution and consequences” candidate. This happens to overlap with being a “strength” candidate.
Honestly, I want a “there will be tribunals and executions” candidate. I sure as shit don't expect one, but God it would be nice.
Even leaving aside the fact that everyone in Trump's regime is implicated in enough corrupt horseshit to get them a lifetime stay in a federal prison or worse, dragging musk in front of a tribunal and then marching his ass out to a gallows would go a long way towards restoring my faith in our government.
Massie and Cassidy have joined with Dems to shoot down some of trump's pet projects, which is clearly a consequence that trump didn't think of. That's the problem with being hell-bent upon revenge - you may get your revenge, but at a very high cost. And sure, it would have been better if they had worked with Dems before losing their primaries, but better late than never. At least Massie worked with Dems regarding the trump-Epstein Files, which is what got him targeted by trump. Another consequence of trump's wrath - spending money on primaries that he and his supporters normally wouldn't have. Finally, the trump endorsed candidates may excite the magas in the primaries, but could cost them the seats in the general election.
It's too bad that our national media is too shallow and too intent upon currying trump's favor to see beyond the "he still has power in the Republican Party!" hype. And for all their pandering, he still hates them.
The MAGA base may be shrinking, but they still hold an enormous amount of power relative to their numbers. They are likely to continue to do so as long as fealty to the whims of Trump are the only condition for membership, MAGA voters are the ones that show up for primaries, and MAGA politicians and appointees are fine with breaking the law to achieve their political outcomes (which is what MAGA is all about, really). I don't think we've seen the worst of it yet. This will be an interesting summer, November will be harrowing, and the last two years of this "presidency" is going to be devastating to *everyone* unless you are a Trump crony. As Bette Davis once famously observed, fasten your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
I can see Trump having increasing control over a shrinking GOP (decent Republicans are increasingly likely to no longer be Republicans) but I’m wondering if Democrats are able to capitalize on this. Their vote share hasn’t noticeably increased since 2016, somehow it looks like a lot of disgusted people just sit it all out.
It’d help of course if Democrats just tore the shit out of Republicans—I’d love to see Talarico get so nasty on Paxton that he crushes that gross sweaty bastard. But somehow I see the guy not wanting to taint his nice guy image. In which case he’d better define himself for the electorate before Paxton defines him (they’re already making up “vegan” shit).
I think Crockett's major problem isn't that she's willing to get nasty but that she comes across as a partisan Dem. No one wants to hear this but in a red state, you need someone willing to bash Dems and Republicans alike. (That's also not someone like Fetterman who doesn't really go after Republicans much anymore.)
Yep—the needle to thread in a non-blue constituency is hit the enemy hard in terms that aren’t purely from the Left. You can hit corruption, incompetence, “extremism” (defined so even moderates are repelled by such extremism) so people across a broad coalition will resonate with such attacks.
Also, didn’t she enter late, and make little headway with key Dem constituents (like Hispanics)? Had she done better there she might have been the nominee.
Regardless, Talarico had better learn that we don’t win by “going high.” We win when we knock the pig shit out of a shit pig like Paxton. Hit the airwaves NOW and define the race before the shit stackers define it for you.
>> If he’s re-elected, this is likely his final term and Trump can’t risk Cornyn suddenly discovering his conscience when free from electoral consequences.
Good point.
"Of course, as Clint Eastwood once said, “Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.” Trump is loyal to no one but himself."
One of my favorite movies and that one had a lot of great lines, but remembering that deserve really doesn't have anything to do with outcomes in this world is tops.
The world is not inherently fair. Far from it.
All these people think they're the World's Smartest Gnat who'll totally defeat the pesky bug zapper. And they bow to him because they want the allegiance of his terrible, terrible cultists, who ALWAYS vote. America's Pilonidal Cyst is a gibbering fool, but he's the gibbering fool that hates the same minorities the unreconstructed hate. So we'll continue to see people destroy their careers for him.
It’d help if they believed they’d face consequences for supporting him. Right now their incentives are “support the evil man and if he wins, you’re safe, if he loses no one will hurt you.” No—they need to know they’ll be hurt by an avenging bastard who is taking names like the Corleones. That would change the calculation for at least some of them.
Yes, Democrats must concede that Garland botched Trump's prosecution -- appointing a special counsel way too late. And Biden botched the political aspect of dismantling MAGA. As a result, there is no reason for a Republican to follow in Cheney or Kinzinger's footsteps.
Yep, exactly. And beyond that, why would Bezos, Zuckerberg, even Musk NOT kowtow to Trump? It’s clear Trump would try to hurt them if they didn’t, while even today Democrats give no inkling that any of these people will be punished for collaborating with him.
President Shapiro will welcome Bezos, Zuckerberg, and even Musk back to the White House with open arms. Musk is at no risk of losing his federal contracts even if Dems regain the White House.
Bingo—if he has no fear of even losing his government contracts (let alone actual criminal prosecution) it’s obvious he has no downside for being Trump’s pal.
I have no idea who I’d support going into 2028 but I want to see a “retribution and consequences” candidate. This happens to overlap with being a “strength” candidate.
Honestly, I want a “there will be tribunals and executions” candidate. I sure as shit don't expect one, but God it would be nice.
Even leaving aside the fact that everyone in Trump's regime is implicated in enough corrupt horseshit to get them a lifetime stay in a federal prison or worse, dragging musk in front of a tribunal and then marching his ass out to a gallows would go a long way towards restoring my faith in our government.
Yeah. The way to heal the nation is for those who made it sick to face real consequences for what they did.
Massie and Cassidy have joined with Dems to shoot down some of trump's pet projects, which is clearly a consequence that trump didn't think of. That's the problem with being hell-bent upon revenge - you may get your revenge, but at a very high cost. And sure, it would have been better if they had worked with Dems before losing their primaries, but better late than never. At least Massie worked with Dems regarding the trump-Epstein Files, which is what got him targeted by trump. Another consequence of trump's wrath - spending money on primaries that he and his supporters normally wouldn't have. Finally, the trump endorsed candidates may excite the magas in the primaries, but could cost them the seats in the general election.
It's too bad that our national media is too shallow and too intent upon currying trump's favor to see beyond the "he still has power in the Republican Party!" hype. And for all their pandering, he still hates them.
"𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸."
~ Pete Buttigieg; September 20, 2025
Less popular but still powerful.
The MAGA base may be shrinking, but they still hold an enormous amount of power relative to their numbers. They are likely to continue to do so as long as fealty to the whims of Trump are the only condition for membership, MAGA voters are the ones that show up for primaries, and MAGA politicians and appointees are fine with breaking the law to achieve their political outcomes (which is what MAGA is all about, really). I don't think we've seen the worst of it yet. This will be an interesting summer, November will be harrowing, and the last two years of this "presidency" is going to be devastating to *everyone* unless you are a Trump crony. As Bette Davis once famously observed, fasten your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
I can see Trump having increasing control over a shrinking GOP (decent Republicans are increasingly likely to no longer be Republicans) but I’m wondering if Democrats are able to capitalize on this. Their vote share hasn’t noticeably increased since 2016, somehow it looks like a lot of disgusted people just sit it all out.
It’d help of course if Democrats just tore the shit out of Republicans—I’d love to see Talarico get so nasty on Paxton that he crushes that gross sweaty bastard. But somehow I see the guy not wanting to taint his nice guy image. In which case he’d better define himself for the electorate before Paxton defines him (they’re already making up “vegan” shit).
"decent Republicans" those two things are mutually exclusive.
Well, voters would've needed to choose Jasmine Crockett for that, alas.
White voters choosing an untested, unqualified, white dude over a competent, qualified black woman.
Where have we seen that before. 😑
I think Crockett's major problem isn't that she's willing to get nasty but that she comes across as a partisan Dem. No one wants to hear this but in a red state, you need someone willing to bash Dems and Republicans alike. (That's also not someone like Fetterman who doesn't really go after Republicans much anymore.)
Yep—the needle to thread in a non-blue constituency is hit the enemy hard in terms that aren’t purely from the Left. You can hit corruption, incompetence, “extremism” (defined so even moderates are repelled by such extremism) so people across a broad coalition will resonate with such attacks.
Also, didn’t she enter late, and make little headway with key Dem constituents (like Hispanics)? Had she done better there she might have been the nominee.
Regardless, Talarico had better learn that we don’t win by “going high.” We win when we knock the pig shit out of a shit pig like Paxton. Hit the airwaves NOW and define the race before the shit stackers define it for you.
He's a white pastor. The odds are not great.
It's going to be an interesting November.
Interesting times really, really exhaust me!