What’s mind boggling to me is how Kirk is being made a martyr to free speech, and the response to his killing is to threaten those engaging in speech they don’t like with societal/political ostracism — or worse.
I won't speak for Kirk or his family, but the way the Trump administration and others are weaponizing his death to attack any and all opposing voices is kind of shameful and shameless at the same time.
You have the Vice President telling people to turn people saying things he disagrees with in to their employers and the US Attorney General saying they're going after people for loosely defined 'hate speech.' Crazy times.
Kirk's death is being used as the touchpoint for this type of authoritarianism. I'm not sure how he'd feel or how his widow and family feel about that though.
It's extremely reasonable to be concerned with government overreach. They almost never let a good "crisis" go to waste. Bondi's comments were ridiculous based on the limited clip I watched and she should walk them back.
“always been about substance”… well, after it started with the birther campaign…and then immigrants being killers and rapists… Hyperbole was what it started with and grew under. Its certainly not devoid of substance, but to say its always been about it?…is absurd.
Of course it was hyperbole. Hyperbole is all over politics. Trump couldn’t have used hyperbole better. His message was about border safety and the Democrats’ unsafe policies. The silly democrats responded by saying not all immigrants are rapists and killers while mumbling about Trump and brown people. The Democrats never responded with messaging about border safety. Trump sucked in the Democrats with a head fake. Trump wins the border issue hands down.
now do birther. And the ridiculous stolen election non sense. We are still waiting on proof for both. We are still waiting to see all sorts of people from the Biden crime syndicate go to jail. Why is taking so long with all that slam dunk evidence Trump claims to have?“always been about substance”… well, after it started with the birther campaign…and then immigrants being killers and rapists… Hyperbole was what it started with and grew under. Its certainly not devoid of substance, but to say its always been about it?…is absurd.
Of course it was hyperbole. Hyperbole is all over politics. Trump couldn’t have used hyperbole better. His message was about border safety and the Democrats’ unsafe policies. The silly democrats responded by saying not all immigrants are rapists and killers while mumbling about Trump and brown people. The Democrats never responded with messaging about border safety. Trump sucked in the Democrats with a head fake. Trump wins the border issue hands down.
Oh, and where the fuck is the Epstein list!?!
@co-hoosier I think that's an incredible reach... Obama's border policy wasn't all that bad. So when Trump was scaring everyone about it, it 100% lacked substance. And then he did little to nothing about it, or with it, in his first term. Biden's was awful, and NOW Trump is doing something about it... he got around to some substance behind his BS, on that issue, but it took him losing the White House to get there.
And like most people that advocate for Trump, you don't address his birther stances, and the impact that had on his very sharp rise in popularity within the GOP. That was more than a short little blip in his campaign, it was instrumental in kicking it off. Obviously it was completely void of substance.
The one thing I will agree on... Democratic candidates and leadership after Obama have, and do, create an enormous substance vacuum. Trump fills that vacuum with doubt and rhetoric, and now he is doing things that are actually filling some of the vacuum with substantive change. Whether that will end up being good change, largely remains to be seen. But him actually doing things, of substance, is a very POTUS 47 development. POTUS 45 was about as empty ill fitting suit as a POTUS could be.
It is absolutely absurd. No they haven’t been about substance. MAGA has been about off the hook emotions, incivility, hostility to fellow Americans who happen to be Democrats, (mostly) imagined grievances, paranoia and conspiracy theories, and unhealthy devotion and loyalty to an incredibly rich man who obviously doesn’t care two shits about most of us to take care of them. None of this is the Republican Party I’ve been a member of for over 40 years. I greatly admired Reagan who was a great President, but I at no time was slavishly devoted to him like most MAGAs are to President Trump. I find the entire MAGA movement distasteful.@co-hoosier "always been about substance"... well, after it started with the birther campaign...and then immigrants being killers and rapists... Hyperbole was what it started with and grew under. Its certainly not devoid of substance, but to say its always been about it?...is absurd.
But him actually doing things, of substance, is a very POTUS 47 development. POTUS 45 was about as empty ill fitting suit as a POTUS could be.
47 is doing some good things and some bad. that's okay.
46 is the worst president in my lifetime
45 wasn't empty. he displayed his inexperience in bungling the covid response. did well later on with vaccines but the narrative etc was a disaster and that falls on trump
And like most people that advocate for Trump, you don’t address his birther stances, and the impact that had on his very sharp rise in popularity within the GOP.
I don’t advocate for Trump. I never have.
I do two things . . ..
First I advocate for his policies I agree with, which are many, and;
Second I make fun of the silly nonsense that passes off as criticism of he or MAGA. That is very entertaining.
Give me one good reason why I should ever mention birther? If you think Trump’s rise in popularity has anything to do with birther, you are mistaken. Obama was an ineffective president, and we are learning now that he was worse than being ineffective. His birth status is way down the list of his problems.
@mcm666 He did little, to nothing, of substance in his first term. He campaigned on changing immigration, health care, cutting regulations... and had both the house and Senate when he came in to office. He used that to accomplish basically nothing. He talked shit, he golfed, and then when Covid hit, he hid in his "basement"...as you like to say of Biden. Finally, after months of pressure... he committed resources and direction to get the vaccine brought to market sooner. He did so though, while putting a Democrat out in front of the world, and shit talking behind his back the entire time. POTUS 45 was useless for most of his term, and became awful when his first crisis hit.
POTUS 46 continued that awfulness... in some ways made it even more awful.
POTUS 47 is doing a lot. Time will tell how good or bad it will have been. Many of the things he's done, are temporary fixes. He's early in his term, so he has a chance to make them more permanent. But the ICE efforts, the National Guard presence in DC, these aren't actual long term fixes. But he does deserve credit for "doing things" this time around. No doubt.
@co-hoosier Because Donald Trump, as a viable GOP politician, doesn't happen without the birther campaign. Before that junk, I'm not sure many republicans would have even claimed him in their party. In fact, most of them didn't. Say some racist shit about Obama, and all of a sudden his polling numbers surge. His strategists had an absolutely brilliant game plan. Systematically tap in to these built in beliefs and feelings in the GOP party, that had long been taboo (for good reason).
You mentioned Trump and MAGA being based on substance. It isn't. And how it largely started is a great example of that. Whether you want to talk about it or acknowledge it or not. There's enough time behind Trump and MAGA, now, that he/they are getting around to providing some more substance to their rhetoric. And Democrats do help them out greatly with that...they're making it easier and easier on him/them.
Say some racist shit about Obama
i think that's a bit hyperbolic and unfair. trump resonated with the white working class for myriad reasons. hilary was horrible. people were talking about having to go learn coding etc. the feelings of the right were trickle down to take care of the rich. the average blue collar white guy who makes this country didn't fit in. economically. and that's what trump tapped.
by 20 trump fatigue was real. old joe biden was a centrist his entire career. F it let's try uncle joe. we were naive and didn't see he was woke and we got a bait in switch. old joe was really aoc and cori bush. one disastrous policy after another. pandering to minorities and trannies and celebs and academics and forgot about the average electrician. no average guy throwing a football around with his boys relates to walz or pete or harris or any of the left
so here we are with trump round 2
Agree that Trump is much more substantive now than in his first term. He was a fish out of water in his first term. He learned. I think Trump has appointed the best overall cabinet in my lifetime. These people are all very effective at what they are doing.
i
I read all of your posts. I must say this drives me away. I would enjoy an honest forthright discussion about Trump. This isn’t that:
MAGA has been about off the hook emotions, incivility, hostility to fellow Americans who happen to be Democrats, (mostly) imagined grievances, paranoia and conspiracy theories, and unhealthy devotion and loyalty to an incredibly rich man who obviously doesn’t care two shits about most of us to take care of them.
@mcm666 We'll never know how it would have went down without his birther campaign. But we do know that his popularity, and the seriousness of his campaign, surged during and after it.
Something that should have immediately ended his campaign and relevance as a serious candidate, did the exact opposite.
Calling in to question Obama's birth status, and how and what he said about it, was 100% racist. Before he started in on it, he wasn't a GOP candidate. After, he was.
It can be spun however anyone wants to spin it. And the things you said can also be true for many. But I have serious doubts on Trump becoming a viable candidate, in the 16 election, without the birther campaign.
I think Trump has appointed the best overall cabinet in my lifetime. These people are all ever effective at what they are doing.
What do you think about the stolen 2020 election conspiracy theory? What about the unprecedented number of Executive Orders and the vast expansion of Presidential power? We both complained about that during the Obama Presidency, but this President has "trumped" that bigly.I don’t advocate for Trump. I never have.
I do two things . . ..
First I advocate for his policies I agree with, which are many, and;
Second I make fun of the silly nonsense that passes off as criticism of he or MAGA. That is very entertaining.
Give me one good reason why I should ever mention birther? If you think Trump’s rise in popularity has anything to do with birther, you are mistaken. Obama was an effective president, and we are learning now that he was worse than being ineffective. His birth status is way down the list of his problems.
This term the President has mostly shutdown illegal immigration at the southern border, and I think that's great. He's done a few normal Republican things too, which is nice. What are his other policies that you admire so much?
By the way, the birther thing was, and is, very popular among many MAGA. I still see social media posts from MAGA claiming that Obama was never not born in Hawaii and not a US citizen. It's important to them, though I've never understood why.
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