So far the Democrats are all over the place but there are a few who have found their voices. I wrote about Chris Murphy’s excellent twitter videos the other day. But no one does it like AOC. The following is from Evan Hurst at Wonkette: This week AOC, as she is known in the world of initials, hopped on Insta Live, and it sounds like she’s going to do it every week in this new era, maybe more. We watched every bit of it, and we think it may be our first weekly assignment of the era of Stupid Hitler, to help keep us connected, to keep us focused, and to keep us sane. This is part of what she said: This is the United States of America. And I don’t care what Elon Musk is doing behind a presidential seal. In this country, we hate Nazis. Kind of like a foundational, defining thing. Two of probably the most foundational, defining things about American history is that we beat the Confederates and we beat the Nazis. And I don’t know what side people may be on today, but I still am not rocking with anyone sympathetic to Nazis. And I will do that until I am six feet in the ground. Like, kind of foundational to me as a human being.
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And get a whole lot louder in the right spaces It’s going to be a long several years until the nation collapses. Or Trump does and VP Elegy takes over. Or the world somehow survives. A couple of posts to flag. Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) notes that hardcore MAGA types are beyond reaching. “Most,” anyway. Democrats trying to placate them, policy-wise, will win no points with them. Democrats need to do they best they can policy-wise to pursue their own agenda without compromising in the mistaken belief it will help their electoral prospects in Trump country. They cannot oppose Trump by trying to play nice with him and prove they are the adults in the room. It only makes the weak appear weaker. Nobody wants to vote for that. And even if they do, they won’t turn out to vote for that. Will Stancil has sharper words on pushing back visibly. For all their experience, the Democrats’ gerontocracy is bringing 20th-century knives to a 21st-century gun fight. Too many learned politics in the 1980s. Even if they could learn new tricks, they’re not the ones to bring it now. The Trump-oligarch alliance is not your grandfather’s country-club Republican Party.
As I have been saying for months, now that Trump has received (in his mind) vindication and restoration — and stayed out of jail — there are only two things he really wants: vengeance and money. Nothing else interests him. I think it’s clear he plans to leave office a vastly wealthier man than he enters it. He’s well on his way. And then there’s this from Axios. Did they think he was joking? By the way, the revenge tour is not just aimed at DC politicians. He is seeking revenge in various ways against all of blue America. None of us are exempt.
Mike Johnson is an extreme Bible thumping super-Christian who talks about it at every opportunity. When he was first elected speaker he said this: During an interview Thursday evening with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Johnson said he has been asked by members of the media for his positions on myriad issues. In response, he has told them to turn to Scripture to truly understand his perspective on the matters of the day. “Someone asked me today in the media, they said, ‘It’s curious, people are curious: what does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’” he explained. “I said, ‘Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it — that’s my worldview.’ That’s what I believe, and so I make no apologies for it.” Maybe he hasn’t gotten to the Jesus part yet. If he had, what Budde said would have been very familiar.
One of the greats. He had our number a long time ago:
Biden wanted to lower them so naturally he’s doing the opposite. I think Democrats would be wise to make this a bigger story. Whether it materially affects people’s current prescription drug bill or not, the intention is obvious and people need to know about it: The Trump administration’s first drug pricing action — rescinding a Biden executive order encouraging Medicare to help lower prescription costs — is befuddling drug pricing experts. “It is perplexing why Trump would have included receding this drug cost executive order on Day One,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF. “It at least sends a signal that Trump may not be serious about addressing drug costs.” He’s joking, right? Trump not serious about addressing drug costs? Why, that would mean he doesn’t really care about the American people after all. That can’t be right.
Everyone seems to be very upset with Biden for pardoning his family members ahead of Trump’s restoration. Considering that Trump made clear that he planned to pardon at least some of the people who tried to overturn the election by storming the capitol as it was counting the electoral votes, you’d think it wouldn’t ‘t really be necessary. He wouldn’t have the balls to go after Biden’s family after that, right? And since he is flamboyantly swallowing a firehouse of corrupt money without even trying to hide it, no one would think it makes sense for him to try to continue the jihad against the Bidens. Well, he went even further and pardoned almost all of them, even the ones who tried to kill cops. And he granted clemency to those who plotted it. Does anything still think he has any limits? Well, not everyone agrees with that. This is from Townhall: Congress should immediately launch an investigation into this, both the House and Senate. Subpoena everyone.
Time to bring back that WW1 marching song? Donald Trump represents everything that for my entire lifetime this country flattered itself it was not. His reelection puts the lie to that national fantasy. The long arc of the moral universe took a nose dive on Nov. 5 like the stock market on Black Monday. Trump’s “United States of Backlash,” Paul Waldman calls it: What is the society Trump now seeks to create? It’s one in which virtually all the social progress of the last half-century is reversed. Not only will efforts to address racism in both public and private institutions be eliminated, even talking about racism will be either forbidden (as in schools) or banished through intimidation. Even the most milquetoast efforts to improve diversity will no longer be allowed. Millions of undocumented immigrants and their families — including both legal immigrants and U.S. citizens — will be deported, while legal immigration is drastically reduced, the result of which will be a re-whitened nation in line with a blood-and-soil conception of American identity.
Back in 2021 when Biden was elected, a lot of people were still working from home so they were able to watch the inauguration. But the same thing was true yesterday. It was a national holiday and most people were home and could have watched Trump’s restoration. They did not. Nielsen found that ratings across ABC, CBS and NBC’s coverage of Trump’s swearing in as 47th president on Monday hovered around 26.05 million viewers on average from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m (ET), reported The Hollywood Reporter. According to Nielsen’s ratings, viewership for the two previous inaugurations, which includes Trump’s first term, faired much better by around 32 percent. Around 39.87 million people tuned in to watch Biden take the oath of office in 2021. A hair behind Biden, Trump’s first inauguration in 2017 pulled in an average 38.35 million viewers. However, THR reported that viewership then was measured from 11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. (ET). In terms of where audiences tuned in to watch the presidential fanfare, Fox News overwhelming held the most viewership. During the 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sadly, my first thought when I saw what she said yesterday was, “I hope they are providing her with security.” I mean it. That’s where we are now.