American Politics from 2019 on

[Brian Peacock]

Interesting. The Scottish parliamentary elections are coming up in May, with seats elected by a form of PR. This makes ruling coalitions far more likely, so there's more of a political coalescence around the centre ground than first past the post - where parties tend to define themselves by their differences from and opposition to the other lot in a system designed to be a two-horse race.

Even though we're in two-horse race land the UK is seeing what looks like the beginnings of a multi-party politics as the public abandons the two traditional main parties. I'm wondering if there's any sign in the US that people are similarly abandoning the two main parties and, crucially, thinking of putting their X somewhere else rather than staying at home.

[Tero]

Andy Borowitz, Facebook and Borowitz report

So, why has he been hitting the bottle so much lately? Maybe he’s seen the recent polls in South Carolina.
An Impact Research poll shows only 34 percent of the state’s voters hold a favorable view of Graham, with a brutal 61 percent unfavorable. And a daunting 57 percent say they are “looking to vote for someone else.”

An array of candidates, both Democratic and Republican, are salivating to be that someone else. And Lindsey has made himself a pillowy-soft target by bragging about his latest geopolitical masterstroke: convincing Donald Trump to launch the most idiotic war in US history.
Graham, who loves bombing almost as much as he loves getting bombed, has spent the past few years leaning on the Dunce-in-Chief to take a whack at Iran. “I told him before he took office... if you can collapse this terrorist regime, that’s Berlin Wall stuff,” Graham told Politico. That’s an apt comparison, if you spent a billion dollars a day trying to tear down the Berlin Wall and somehow left it standing.
When the war of Lindsey’s dreams finally commenced on February 28, he took to X in a fit of abject obsequiousness, panting, “As I watch and monitor this historic operation, I’m in awe of President Trump’s determination to be a man of peace but at the end of the day, evil’s worst nightmare. Well done, Mr. President.”

This humiliating display of public suction prompted Doug Stafford, Rand Paul’s chief political adviser, to respond, “I’m in awe of what a warmongering fool you are.” (Note: the most unforgivable aspect of Trump’s second term is how often he has forced me to be on the same side as people like Rand Paul.)

After four weeks of air strikes in which, to hear Pete Hegseth tell it, the US obliterated, re-obliterated, and re-re-obliterated the Iranian military, Lindsey doubled down, appearing on “Fox News Sunday” to tub-thump for a ground invasion of Iran’s principal oil export hub, Kharg Island. “We did Iwo Jima, we can do this,” he said, stupidly name-checking a campaign in which 6,821 US service members perished.