President Biden and US politics catchall

[fishfoodie]

The thing that gets me is why are some of these seemingly well educated folk in senior positions still supporting Trump after all this? For me it can only be because Trump has so much dirt on them and has been using it to ensure they did his bidding. They are more scared of what is going to come out than ruining their political ambitions. Ok - one or two might have been suckered into all the hype and one or two might want to take over the Trump mantle but I suspect the overwhelming majority are just shit scared of the man and what he is capable of. It will be really interesting to see what shit emerges over the next few weeks and months and you can bet your bottom dollar that Trump will try and drag them all down with him, he will have no problem in throwing a few to the wolves to save his own skin. Many will stick with him in the hope of a pardon but Trump wont save others and watch himself going down! The concrete wellies will be on everyone.

The even bigger question is who has what dirt on Trump? There will be the inevitable court cases, led by NY over his finances and alleged rape but once he is of no longer any use to possible 'foreign interests' then it will be interesting to see what they do with him. His handler Melania will have a big role here. He is obviously shitting himself big style and I don't think it is about tax avoidance, he has been there before and can stall that type of issue for years. I suspect the Steele dossier is probably pretty close to the truth - I look forward to the pee tapes suddenly appearing on YouTube!

I think this is overthinking it. They just want to hold on to their cushy jobs and not go back to the real world. If they think Trump is the best way to get votes they will stick with him, if not, they won't. I don't think he has any particular cunning plan or dirt, he is just a cunt who has no problem destroying lives, careers and reputations.

I tend to agree; for the GOP he represented an opportunity, a useful idiot.

[Slick]

Happlily, he will go down as the worst President in American history.

Unhappily, the long lasting notoriety might be just fine with him.

[Thor Sedan]

Matt Gaetz had all guns firing.

If he had them point blank to his own head he'd still miss

No matter how incompetent he is - there is no way he is missing that massive forehead from point blank range.

[dpedin]

Thank fuck Trump is such a moron.

If he wasn't completely brain dead he might have actually done some damage.

Ummm...is this a troll or have you mis-read the situation again?

Irony?

[tabascoboy]

I tend to agree; for the GOP he represented an opportunity, a useful idiot.

A useful idiot they thought they could just about keep on a leash, and misjudged the depth of his amoral unpredictably.

And even worse, for the sake of diplomatic expedience our own government has kowtowed to him.

]

[Hong Kong]

The thing that gets me is why are some of these seemingly well educated folk in senior positions still supporting Trump after all this? For me it can only be because Trump has so much dirt on them and has been using it to ensure they did his bidding. They are more scared of what is going to come out than ruining their political ambitions. Ok - one or two might have been suckered into all the hype and one or two might want to take over the Trump mantle but I suspect the overwhelming majority are just shit scared of the man and what he is capable of. It will be really interesting to see what shit emerges over the next few weeks and months and you can bet your bottom dollar that Trump will try and drag them all down with him, he will have no problem in throwing a few to the wolves to save his own skin. Many will stick with him in the hope of a pardon but Trump wont save others and watch himself going down! The concrete wellies will be on everyone.

The even bigger question is who has what dirt on Trump? There will be the inevitable court cases, led by NY over his finances and alleged rape but once he is of no longer any use to possible 'foreign interests' then it will be interesting to see what they do with him. His handler Melania will have a big role here. He is obviously shitting himself big style and I don't think it is about tax avoidance, he has been there before and can stall that type of issue for years. I suspect the Steele dossier is probably pretty close to the truth - I look forward to the pee tapes suddenly appearing on YouTube!

I think this is overthinking it. They just want to hold on to their cushy jobs and not go back to the real world. If they think Trump is the best way to get votes they will stick with him, if not, they won't. I don't think he has any particular cunning plan or dirt, he is just a cunt who has no problem destroying lives, careers and reputations.

I tend to agree; for the GOP he represented an opportunity, a useful idiot.

I think it’s more a question of them seeing the fan base of the orange shitgibbon and not wanting to alienate them, agree to support him to ensure the dullards follow the GOP candidate in 2024

[JM2K6]

I think we had a robust discussion on this a few months ago, when I pointed out that the Tea Party takeover of the GOP had led to this. Insane, anti-reason, anti-intellectual, xenophobic, populist nightmares were suddenly mainstream in the GOP.

[Hong Kong]

I think we had a robust discussion on this a few months ago, when I pointed out that the Tea Party takeover of the GOP had led to this. Insane, anti-reason, anti-intellectual, xenophobic, populist nightmares were suddenly mainstream in the GOP.

Yep and his fan base love him for it

[GogLais]

I wonder if it dawned on the Republicans in the Chamber that the mob might not have been too fussy about who was who if it bullets had started flying at them.

[TB63]

Happlily, he will go down as the worst President in American history.

Unhappily, the long lasting notoriety might be just fine with him.

Not according to him..

"Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th," Trump said in the statement released overnight after Congress certified his defeat. "I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it's only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again."

[sockwithaticket]

There's 3 tiers of elected Republicans as far as I can tell.

Genuine loons who reject science, reason and reality.

Those happy to ride Trump's coat tails and willing to say or do whatever in the process because they don't give a shit about anything except retaining their seat.

The ones who think of him as useful idiot for their personal and donor enrichment ventures.

I supposes there's a 4th tier of one or two individuals who might actually have some principles, but they're negligible.


As for competent staffers and such... most of those are long gone aren't they? The ones still hanging around know who and what they're dealing with and either don't care so long as they've got a job or are still telling themselves lies about it being necessary to support the office.

[JM2K6]

[sockwithaticket]

Thank fuck Trump is such a moron.

If he wasn't completely brain dead he might have actually done some damage.

Ummm...is this a troll or have you mis-read the situation again?

Irony?

Perhaps not. Bad as things look now, they really could be orders of magnitude worse.

[Sandstorm]

As for competent staffers and such... most of those are long gone aren't they? The ones still hanging around know who and what they're dealing with and either don't care so long as they've got a job or are still telling themselves lies about it being necessary to support the office.

I wonder how many will move onto new, greater careers after "4 years working as an aide to President Trump" appears on your CV?

I guess "Able to work under the most trying of circumstances and get through the week without putting a pistol in your own mouth....." goes in the Plus column.

[Sandstorm]

Perhaps not. Bad as things look now, they really could be orders of magnitude worse.

Fair point. If the DC Police had had much higher numbers in place, there could have been a proper clash on the stairs and 150 dead MAGA hat wearers.

1 dead woman, several dented cops , a fat bloke sitting in Nancy's office chair and someone carrying a lectern down the corridor was pretty tame in comparison.

[stemoc]

well most were fat Americans who died of heart attack possibly.. one was shot dead, she would still be alive today had she been at home in the kitchen as her lord and saviour Lord Shitgibbon had proclaimed..

Christ, I’d hate to hear what you thought of George Floyds death, if the above disdain is anything to go by.

FLOYD DIED on the street, murdered by Police, this lady got shot trying to trying to take over capitol hill which the Constitution of the US defines as Terrorism... watch the video of her shooting,s she was warned not to enter but she did..

[sockwithaticket]

Perhaps not. Bad as things look now, they really could be orders of magnitude worse.

Fair point. If the DC Police had had much higher numbers in place, there could have been a proper clash on the stairs and 150 dead MAGA hat wearers.

1 dead woman, several dented cops , a fat bloke sitting in Nancy's office chair and someone carrying a lectern down the corridor was pretty tame in comparison.

4 dead, although we only seem to have details about that one braindead woman who thought breaking into the chamber was a good idea.

Oh yes, this particular incident could be so much worse, but I'm thinking even more broadly. A leader with a Trumpian authoritarian bent, but far more competent, could have been a president who won the election, didn't lose the senate and have America even further down the road to a true fascist dictatorship.

Similarly we could be looking at insurrection and domestic terrorism across the country rather than one riot in DC. Still time I suppose...

There must be a certain amount of trepidation about impeaching or enacting article 25, because the last thing anyone wants will be to stir up more of the cultists and risk the above, but then that means they've won. Their threats and attempts at intimidation would be preventing officials from actually doing their fucking jobs.

[fishfoodie]

well most were fat Americans who died of heart attack possibly.. one was shot dead, she would still be alive today had she been at home in the kitchen as her lord and saviour Lord Shitgibbon had proclaimed..

Christ, I’d hate to hear what you thought of George Floyds death, if the above disdain is anything to go by.

FLOYD DIED on the street, murdered by Police, this lady got shot trying to trying to take over capitol hill which the Constitution of the US defines as Terrorism... watch the video of her shooting,s she was warned not to enter but she did..

and there was a damn sight more than 50 violently breaking the law; but that's about how many they arrested.

If anything; yesterday confirmed everything BLM has said repeatedly about the institutional racism in the Police

[Un Pilier]

Ummm...is this a troll or have you mis-read the situation again?

Irony?

Perhaps not. Bad as things look now, they really could be orders of magnitude worse.

There’s still time

[Sandstorm]

Perhaps not. Bad as things look now, they really could be orders of magnitude worse.

Fair point. If the DC Police had had much higher numbers in place, there could have been a proper clash on the stairs and 150 dead MAGA hat wearers.

1 dead woman, several dented cops , a fat bloke sitting in Nancy's office chair and someone carrying a lectern down the corridor was pretty tame in comparison.

4 dead, although we only seem to have details about that one braindead woman who thought breaking into the chamber was a good idea.

Oh yes, this particular incident could be so much worse, but I'm thinking even more broadly. A leader with a Trumpian authoritarian bent, but far more competent, could have been a president who won the election, didn't lose the senate and have America even further down the road to a true fascist dictatorship.

Similarly we could be looking at insurrection and domestic terrorism across the country rather than one riot in DC. Still time I suppose...

There must be a certain amount of trepidation about impeaching or enacting article 25, because the last thing anyone wants will be to stir up more of the cultists and risk the above, but then that means they've won. Their threats and attempts at intimidation would be preventing officials from actually doing their fucking jobs.

[And 1 guest]

I think some kind of action needs to be taken against Trump. Simply condemning him and the brain dead scum who follow him hands the next move to him.
There's nothing to stop him organising more rallies where greater police numbers would guarantee greater bloodshed.

[stemoc]

Had BLM tried to go up the stairs of capitol hill if this was a protest about BLM, the capitol police would have shot them right there, but somehow these "white" terrorists were not just allowed to 'scale' the walls of capitol hill but to make it as far as the Senate sitting room forcing senators to take cower .. this is the America that we all know and love since Trump took office, i'm just glad it happened this way cause a few Republican senators who were supposed to vote for EC being removed, chose not too, the Republican senators and Governor till this point thought they run the country a until they were themselves cowering in a corner...w.e should actually thank the republican party, they gave Trump so much rope, he will now be able to hang himself with it.

[GogLais]

Many things astonished me yesterday. One of them was the lack of physical security in the Capitol building. Surely they must have addressed the possibility of terrorist attack before now, at least after 9/11. The idea that doors and windows deliberately weren’t secured doesn’t bear thinking about.

[stemoc]

This ppl should either resign or be forced out.

bandicam 2021-01-08 01-05-53-401.png (308.14 KiB) Viewed 856 times

[fishfoodie]

This ppl should either resign or be forced out.

bandicam 2021-01-08 01-05-53-401.png

there were also ~100 Republican congress men & women who supported the election fraud lie; & who sought to subvert the vote of millions of Americans

[JM2K6]

[stemoc]

Many things astonished me yesterday. One of them was the lack of physical security in the Capitol building. Surely they must have addressed the possibility of terrorist attack before now, at least after 9/11. The idea that doors and windows deliberately weren’t secured doesn’t bear thinking about.

Cause americans still think white ppl cannot do no harm in the US..i like how trump is passing the blame to ANTIFA and QANON when he is basically the spiritual leader of both terrorist factions

[SaintK]

Many things astonished me yesterday. One of them was the lack of physical security in the Capitol building. Surely they must have addressed the possibility of terrorist attack before now, at least after 9/11. The idea that doors and windows deliberately weren’t secured doesn’t bear thinking about.

You are not the only one puzzled or astonished!

The Washington Post have an interesting look this morning at the security implications of yesterday’s events, when a pro-Trump mob easily broke into the Capitol. They report Kim Dine, chief of the Capitol Police from 2012 to 2016 saying “It’s like watching a real-life horror movie. I mean, we train and plan and budget every day, basically, to have this not happen.”

Dine said he was surprised to see that, on Wednesday, the Capitol Police had allowed rioters to gather so close to the building, on the Capitol steps — and that, once they forced their way inside, the rioters were not immediately arrested.

“We protect the people, the place and the process that makes us the United States. That’s why we’re there,” Dine said. But, he said, on Wednesday, “The people, the place, the process — all were attacked.”

One source told the Washington Post that the police were simply unprepared.

Law enforcement officials said the Capitol Police and other federal agencies also seemed to underestimate the potential threat posed by Trump’s supporters — even as the DC police grew more alarmed. DC police patrol the streets around the Capitol but do not usually have any role in protecting the building itself. In recent days, DC officials said, they had tracked reservations for incoming buses, and read Trump’s calls for supporters to gather for a “wild” protest in Washington. “It was then that we realized this could be a stadium-sized crowd — a full-fledged Trump rally, and much bigger than anything we had seen previously,” said a senior District official.

Former commissioner of police in Boston, Ed Davis, told the Post as he watched events unfold that the force’s preparations around the perimeter were inadequate:

A good perimeter, and then a show of force. Enough people that can deal with the crowd that’s coming at you. Right now, there’s almost nothing here. This is incomprehensible.

[JM2K6]

This made me laugh:

On the cops being unprepared - this has to be deliberate. The conservative groups have been talking ever since the election about Jan 6th. Never forget that a huge percentage of LEOs are Trump supporters.

[Rinkals]

Thank fuck Trump is such a moron.

If he wasn't completely brain dead he might have actually done some damage.

Ummm...is this a troll or have you mis-read the situation again?

I take your point that the idea of overturning the Presidential Election was moronic to start with, but I'm suggesting that a better prepared losing incumbent would have been significantly more dangerous.

If, instead of leading them on with vague ideas about marching to Capitol Hill to "see what's happening there" and to give the Republican Lawmakers there "a bit of courage", Trump had communicated more effectively with the ring leaders so that they had better planning and were better armed, the insurrection (such as it was; at times it seemed like some harmless high school japes) may have lasted days and drawn some concessions.

But, yes. I suppose these things rarely end well.

Maybe I'm a little disappointed that the insurrection was quite so amateurish and quite so poorly organised.

[Raggs]

This made me laugh:

On the cops being unprepared - this has to be deliberate. The conservative groups have been talking ever since the election about Jan 6th. Never forget that a huge percentage of LEOs are Trump supporters.

The whole clip is amazing. She's upset and surprised she got maced, and literally goes on to say that they were storming the capitol and it's the revolution...

[GogLais]

This made me laugh:

On the cops being unprepared - this has to be deliberate. The conservative groups have been talking ever since the election about Jan 6th. Never forget that a huge percentage of LEOs are Trump supporters.

I remember seeing plenty of "Cops for Trump" t shirts at his rallies.

[Hal Jordan]

The cops are full of racist shitheads who would have happily marched for Trump had they not been ordered to stand outside the Senate, looking the other way and going, "La la la la la" with their fingers in their ears.

[Hal Jordan]

This is how the DC National Guard prepared for the BLM demonstration back in June, and this is just the Lincoln Memorial, not the Capitol.

[Sinkers]

I understand that when it comes to calling out the national guard in DC it’s down the the secretary of defence - you know, the one that works for Trump.

[Rinkals]

"Sorry Don, it's out of your hands now.

"You poked the bear."

Not sure if that is serious or not: it could be a parody.

Difficult to tell these days.

[Insane_Homer]

[GogLais]

"Sorry Don, it's out of your hands now.

"You poked the bear."

Not sure if that is serious or not: it could be a parody.

Difficult to tell these days.

Looks serious to me, for what that’s worth.

[Paddington Bear]

Question is, does the US Union survive the next few years? What happened was disgusting and is clearly supported by a not insignificant chunk of Americans, I would bet concentrated in some areas. The Republicans will cry bloody murder at everything the Dems do in government. Clearly the coastal types and the middle already have contempt for each other. Can this carry on?

[Raggs]

Question is, does the US Union survive the next few years? What happened was disgusting and is clearly supported by a not insignificant chunk of Americans, I would bet concentrated in some areas. The Republicans will cry bloody murder at everything the Dems do in government. Clearly the coastal types and the middle already have contempt for each other. Can this carry on?

Split in two, or split into many states?