Trump Trial Time - banish all memories of Mueller.

[Spandauer]

Is this #132?
Still trying to rid the world of this troublesome twat.

Old thread here:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4912378-trump-gets-gagged-mccarthy-gets-booted-whats-next-in-trumpworld

So glad to see the Obamas' endorsement. And I have no problem with their timing.

Brian Taylor Cohen (who recently gave Piers Morgan a bloody nose) had an interesting take on the timing including some forensic analysis of Kamalas outfit 😀

Also, it was noted elsewhere that all these new voter registrations are going to be absent from all the polling so far, and also won't help with the "how did you vote last time" polling that is key to targeting resources.

It really does feel like a sea change from over here.

I had to rescue my sodding robovac this morning. It appeared to have backed itself into a corner and was convinced it could escape by banging the wall. As a metaphor for the Trump campaign, it seemed timely.

@AcrossthePond55
@SerendipityJane

Yes, completely agree with those points.

As always, the Obamas did things right, as I knew they would. It was absolutely fitting that they would wait until Biden had done a public address. I don't usually get the celebrity endorsement thing - why would I change my vote because of George Clooney? But I have to admit, I've enjoyed seeing Jennifer Aniston shaming Vance and Connie Britton ruining Friday Night Lights for all those right wing fans.

I'm at our house in the US right now and two weeks ago noted the lack of Trump banners and signs, but have now seen a large number pop up since the announcement. Seems the Trumpers are well and truly triggered. On a related note, the flag thing is out of control. Multiple American flags, blue lives matter flags, military flags, etc etc. Contstruction cranes have enormous flags. Every lamp post in town is flying Old Glory. American flag bathing suits, bikinis, t-shirts, sweatshirts, earrings. Some houses are so draped in patriotic fabric you can hardly see them.

Kamala's 1st ad

The last line of the song bears repeating: "Im-a keep on running cuz a winner don't quit on themselves".

And her tag line "When we fight, we win!!"

@Wallaw

We're not really noticing a huge uptick in 'patriotic displays' in our area (red county in a blue state) although the one guy who puts up a shade and sells Trump/Maga gear (+ the flags, 'blue line' & military stuff) is back at the Walmart/Bass Pro parking lot. What gives us the giggles is when he puts up the 'Women for Trump' banner and then sits there under it with nary a Trumper woman 'minding the store'. We've often wanted to ask him if he's 'identifying as a woman today' when we see him sitting under the banner, but figure what's the point. He probably wouldn't get the irony anyway.

I assume you're in a different neck of the woods than we are if they're out in force where your house is.

Wallaw
American flag bathing suits, bikinis, t-shirts, sweatshirts

This continues to surprise me: back when there were protests in England against the Vietnam war I was told it was illegal in America to deface The Flag by wearing it (no idea of that was true). People would use it to patch the holes in the knees of their jeans, and True Patriots got outraged about that.

And there is this: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/4/8

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

The law refers to using an actual flag for clothing, etc. Using flag-printed material, patch, or similar isn't illegal.

The items @Wallaw is talking about are, I'm sure, not made out of actual flags.

The protesters back in the 70s were using actual flags as cloaks and cutting them up and sewing things out of them.

Ah, that explains it. Thanks!

I am still slightly surprised that people in no distress at all feel able to fly their flag reversed as some sort of political comment; actually, in the case of at least one Supreme Court justice and his wife, I rather hope that next time they fly the flag reversed to show they are aboard a vessel in distress, their house sinks rapidly into the earth.

It is possible to read too much Tolkien when you decide to read all three volumes of Lord of the Rings when you are meant to be reading your setbooks for Eng Lit O level.

I think the Lost Laundry Lists (shorthand for all the fragments cobbled together and published well after the author's death) are Too Much Tolkien, really. And I am not convinced that the Silmarillion isn't a bit much.

We're in a blue state, but not by huge margins. Not a lot of urban areas, but lots of college-y and touristy towns. The towns are very blue, rural areas redder. Probably giving it away, but they do continually re-elect someone I would have considered one of the world's stupidest senators until the past several years, which have provided a wealth of competition.

But the flag thing, I've never seen it like this before. And liberal friends tell me they're now hanging them out to show the other side doesn't own the flag or patriotism. It's a sea of stars and stripes and buntings. It all makes me want to head back to the UK where the majority of people (quite properly) would sooner eat nails than display any kind of fierce allegiance. 😅

@Wallaw

And liberal friends tell me they're now hanging them out to show the other side doesn't own the flag or patriotism.

I've actually heard that a lot from liberals, but I haven't heard of any kind of 'ground swell' movement. Of course, how would you be able to tell?

Nope, no clue where you are. The electing 'stupidest senator in the world' can encompass any number of states lol.

Susan Collins??

sent you a pm, but seem to have been signed in under a different user name 😁

Ah! Swapping usernames is my big fail. I only have a couple (for politics and cats 😄) but I then I forget to swap back and forth. 🤷‍♀️

DH's family is scattered across the US - the ones in AZ commented a couple of months ago that there weren't many Trump signs around but I expect that has changed now.
We have a short US visit planned for October so things will be pretty full on by then I expect!

Trump: You have to get out and vote. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four years, it will be fixed, it will be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore.. In four years, you won’t have to vote again.

x.com/acyn/status/1817007890496102490?s=46&t=Uw4lJNwxFZFnX0Xs3doHYg

Is this not a bit concerning? It reads as if he's planning on cancelling further elections. Or am I over interpreting?

Just reading about what he said. Also called Harris "a bum" - twice.

My initial interpretation was the same - he gets elected - no more elections. It's his usual approach - say something vague with no explanation and let others fill in the blanks and do the work for him. Then he denies he ever said anything.

I don't understand why republicans like to call Harris a Marxist (and now a 'bum') when to us in the U.K. the idea that she is that left wing is utterly ridiculous. Presumably it's how they react to any politician from California and in this case San Francisco... California a liberal state, one with a history of student activism (Berkeley) and a large homeless population.

Although I guess it wasn't that vague!

If someone tells you who he is, believe him

From what is, overall, an encouraging report in the Guardian. (Women 😔 and in 2020 they knew who he was)

Exit polls found 52% of white women eligible to vote in 2016 cast a ballot for Donald Trump, a figure which likely helped tilt the election in Trump’s favor. At the time, he was running against Hillary Clinton, who hoped to be the first female president. In 2020, the majority of white women voted for Trump again.

“A majority of white women have voted for the Republican candidate since the 2000 presidential election when white women were almost equally split between Democrat Al Gore and Republican victor, George W Bush,” according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/26/kamala-harris-zoom-answer-the-call?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

"It's his usual approach - say something vague with no explanation and let others fill in the blanks and do the work for him. Then he denies he ever said anything."

This sounds about right. I think if Starmer was giving speeches suggesting we'd never have to vote again it would be front page news. Again and again Trump is given freedom to spout anything.

He does have word-salad issues.

But he also typically repeats the last thing that's been said to him, without understanding the implications (hence his "using bleach internally" press statement during covid).

Him saying this comes hard on the heels of Jack Prosobiec standing on the stage with Steve Bannon (Trump's former and possibly present puppet-master), saying "Welcome to the end of democracy", to rapturous applause at CPAC.

And the Project 2025 document is a road map of reducing democracy – eg where senate or other oversight is required for appointments, just appoint an acting head.

There are legal restrictions on how these acting heads can be appointed and for how long, but as we've seen, it's lifelong Trump strategy to just keep kicking the can down the road for one more day and make hay while he yet is able. It's very effective and is serving him very well even now, with the major legal cases not yet resolved against him.

And an acting head may themselves make rule changes about how appointments can be made.

Eg this document describes the restrictions – and gives an hint of how much had to be rolled back when it they were breached:

Understanding the Federal Vacancies Reform Act
September 9, 2020
https://www.rpc.senate.gov/policy-papers/understanding-the-federal-vacancies-reform-act

The opinion on acting officials at DHS released by GAO in August involved a situation where another statute overruled the FVRA’s default succession rule. The 2017 National Defense Authorization Act allowed the secretary of homeland security to designate other officers at the department to serve as acting secretary. In 2019, Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen used that authority to lay out two different succession plans, one in case of resignation and the other in case of unavailability during a disaster. GAO found that when Secretary Nielsen resigned later that year, DHS followed the disaster plan instead of the resignation plan, and consequently Kevin McAleenan incorrectly took office. McAleenan introduced a new succession plan to allow Chad Wolf to become acting secretary, and then Wolf altered the succession plan to allow Cuccinelli to become the director of USCIS. Because McAleenan originally took office based on an illegal succession, GAO decided, the subsequent succession plan changes were voided, and both Wolf and Cuccinelli were serving illegally.

The TL;DR: yes, I think he's just told us what his team is planning.

Yes, both parts of this. With bells on.

No mentioning of this comment on the BBC or Sky News website, have other MSN outlets reported it?

If only trying to explain what else it could mean?

This is what's currently on the Washington Post website. Trump's remarks are mentioned but not examined.

wapo.st/3Wl3eAf