American Politics from 2019 on

[Tero]

Ignoring Harris would be a good idea. Running the same candidate does not work for Democrats. Only for Trump. But then...we have a slick guy and a fat guy that Trump has started shaming even while he remains fat and sick.

Here's the three whose stars have risen:

"California Gov. Gavin Newsom has had the best year of any front-line contender — in large part because he has emerged as one of the spikiest counterpoints to Trump.

Newsom scores points for his constant stream of social media posts that have grabbed attention and irritated Trump. He also gets credit for his successful reapportionment ballot measure in California.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. "AOC, as the New Yorker is almost universally known, has drawn huge crowds at a series of rallies throughout the year with fellow progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

"But perhaps the biggest boost to Ocasio-Cortez came through Mamdani’s victory in New York."

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, "who didn’t have to seek the limelight this year. Media attention was brought his way by Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago."

On the other hand, here are three who's luster has dimmed in the past year.

Vice President Kamala Harris. Her year was highlighted by the publication of her book "107 Days."
"The book sold well — its publisher, Simon & Schuster, reported first week sales across all formats of 350,000 copies.

https://thehill.com/homenews/the-memo/5 ... ting-2023/

[macdoc]

Does not mention Liz Warren ...one of the best and prolific anti-dumpf voices.
https://bsky.app/profile/warren.senate.gov

[Tero]

Europe? What Europe?
https://www.threads.com/@militarynewsua ... ggv&slof=1
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the EU has no right to determine what constitutes international law, let alone dictate how America protects its interests.

[Sean Hayden]

I just can’t believe we’ve got to murder people from all over the world to be a successful country. There’s no way this government has our support for yet another attack on strangers.

What good are the other branches of government? I guess the executive is just the fall guy at this point for every terrible thing the real power wants…

[Brian Peacock]

If you're going to wag your finger at Americans, and you actually want things to get better, you should also acknowledge the incitement of hatred is the point.

Trump isn't America. MAGA isn't America. Members of the Houses of Congress, SCOTUS, ICE, the armed forces or the police aren't America. Like Soylent Green, America is people, and if some of those people are dicks why shouldn't we wag our fingers at them or tell them to get their shit together?

[Sean Hayden]

Go for it, I'd just also recommend acknowledging that they're being manipulated. They're human and the impulse to hate is normal, though not very helpful here, especially when it can be used by others to make you do things to make matters worse.

[Tero]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... osecution/

"Before the case was dismissed this week over a separate issue, lawyers for James B. Comey argued in federal court that the former FBI director’s indictment was improperly motivated by political animus. Many share the view that this and other recent high-profile Justice Department cases have been driven by partisanship or revenge. Of course, President Donald Trump also believes that prosecutors have targeted him for political reasons."

"We are caught in a vicious cycle. The in-group is using the law against the out-group, which will surely feel empowered to respond in kind once the tables turn again. Americans widely believe that prosecutions are increasingly being weaponized, even if they disagree about who started it. To stop the spiral and restore confidence, we propose a novel prosecutorial check."

"In deciding whether to prosecute politicians, the Justice Department must navigate two vital imperatives: Politicians should not be immune from prosecution, and the decision to prosecute should not be influenced by partisan politics."
"We propose that Congress give federal judges another option. When a prosecution appears politically motivated, a judge should have the discretion to impanel a “prosecutor jury” to assess the propriety of the indictment.

"The prosecutor jury would be composed of 20 randomly selected former U.S. attorneys, evenly divided between those nominated by Democratic and Republican presidents. A prosecution could proceed only if at least two-thirds of this panel — 14 out of 20 — concluded that the indictment was appropriate. This supermajority would ensure that at least a substantial minority of prosecutors nominated by a defendant’s own party supported the prosecution."

"This framework would help ensure that politicians are not above the law, since they would remain subject to prosecution. But politicians and, more important, the nation would be better protected from partisan prosecutions. Should a prosecutor jury approve an indictment, Americans would know that a bipartisan supermajority of professionals endorsed it."

To test their proposal, the authors convened a panel and asked for their recommendation on Trump's indictment on possession of classified documents and his conduct on Jan. 6, 2021. The panel of former prosecutors approved the documents case but did not support an indictment on Trump's Jan. 6 comments.

[Tero]

Elsewhere

There's more than a bit of desperation in the GOP and MAGA. They can see the polls and their internal polling showing they are going to wipe out in the midterms. There's even concern about losing a seat in Tennessee that was Trump+20 in 2024.

So they pull out all the stops - every half bit drooling conspiracy is given attention, NewsMax tries to convince you that being angry at Trump is a psyop, Trump's cabinet just plain lies to our faces saying the economy is just fine and dandy, and of course those darn trans are gonna invade wimmen's sports I tell you! The hope is to get MAGA back in a state of anger at people they never encounter once more and into the voting booth.

Will it work? I couldn't tell you.

[Tero]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — President Donald Trump and Republicans will try to bounce back from recent losses around the country when Tennessee voters choose the next representative for the reliably conservative 7th U.S. House Congressional District on Tuesday.

The special election, which was organized after Republican Rep. Mark Green resigned this summer, saw an unexpected surge of spending in recent weeks, flooding the airwaves and filling residents’ mailboxes with campaign flyers.

https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-sp ... cdb467164b