The Frankish Reich

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_campaign I got the "Maoist" idea from economist Scott Sumner, who is hardly some kind of lefty (he's a pretty standard monetary hawk Republican). He makes a good point about the competing visions for America, both strangely echoing Maoist theory, albeit in different ways: https://www.themoneyillusion.com/the-age-of-irony/ Consider two definitions of Maoism: 1. Radical egalitarianism. Public shaming and forced apologies when people fail to spout obvious nonsense like, “All differences in pay between ethnic groups reflect racism.” (I guess there’s lots of racism against white Christian Americans, as they make less than Jews from Eastern Europe or Hindus from India.) 2. Resentment against the intellectual elite. Shut down the universities and send the intellectuals to the countryside. Over the next four years, I expect to be eagerly munching on my popcorn as these two types of Maoists go after each other.

Because they're Maoists. They hate intellectuals and academics.

Well, the last line is the key. And I agree with it. But I think you're a little too optimistic about the status of the filibuster. I can't imagine Trump getting a majority in both houses and then just sitting back and saying, "well, I guess I'll just have to compromise away until I get 8 or 9 Democrats to join me." They'll be intense pressure on the new majority leader to kill it. And who will that new majority leader be? It would be a more sharply divided Senate with no obvious Machiavellian manipulator like McConnell. And Trump would have 4 years, not the hope of 8, and he's 77, so he knows time is not on his side ... the pressure to act fast will be intense.

The off the record comments of Trump campaign staff: they expect Harris to get a publicity-driven bump in the polls and to be in the lead (nationally) within the next few weeks. No doubt this is why Trump is talking about debates. If he felt secure in his lead, he'd probably say "I already agreed to debates with Biden; too late to change it up now." Bottom line: still a very close election. And as everyone says, the rest of us might as well sit it out and let Michigan/Wisconsin/Pennsylvania duke it out.

I expect more and more of this stupidity. No, Kamala was not made "border Czar." She was given the nebulous task of finding the "root causes" of a wave of Central American immigration. Did she ever issue a report? Discuss her findings? Meet with Central American leaders? All fair questions. Was she the "border Czar?" That was something made up or used as shorthand by media sources. There was no such thing. The blame for actual border policy falls squarely on Biden and Mayorkas. Ask her questions about policy going forward, since that's what she will be in control of if elected.

That's why we should have elected Mitt Romney in 2012 ...

Let's say the election plays out like Dems feared it would about a week ago. Trump wins. The Republicans increase their majority in the House, and they retake the Senate. How long will it take for Senate Republicans to kill the filibuster? I'd give it a month or two. What happens to medication abortion with an anti-abortion activist put in place at the FDA? Will Trump really refuse to sign a 15-week abortion ban that sails through the House and Senate? I see what you're saying. The issue is not front and center with most voters now. But I also think you need to game plan this through... it will be Kamala's job to make the case. We will see whether she is able to do it.

Why is this a bad thing? You want kids to skip school? You want parents who make kids work in a family business, etc., instead of sending them to school? So now she gets criticized by you guys for enforcing the law? And the original Twitter comment: what does an IEP have to do with skipping school?

My question for the candidates (it'll never get asked): "Ronald Reagan famously called the former Soviet Union an "evil empire." Do you consider Putin's Russia today to be an evil empire?

Kamala and the Second Gentleman are quite prudent in managing their money. https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/how-kamala-harris-manages-her-money-index-funds-and-a-2-625-mortgage-f9d026e2 A really nice low-rate mortgage locked in. Boring index investments. No obvious financial conflicts. I like it.

Y'all just jealous that you can't do edgy.

I simply cannot believe the new Trump stance on abortion. The "leave it to the states; everyone's happy" stance. There were more abortions in America in the first post-Dobbs year than in the year before Dobbs. If you believe that abortion is actually the taking of an innocent human life (I respect that position; I think it's wrong, but I respect it), how can you live with this? How can you "take the win" and say, oh well, at least we've made abortion a little less convenient for women in the southern U.S. We'll stop now. No. The Christian Right did a lot to get Trump nominated again, and they'll do a lot to try to get him elected again. They will not stop. The drive will begin with an attempt to kill "medication abortion" - Trump's FDA will be a Trump-controlled FDA, and they'll try to ban it on bogus "not safe and effective" grounds. There will be proposed legislation to ban abortion, at least post-15/16 week abortions, at a national level. We are in a Missouri Compromise moment on abortion. Hey look, we've finally settled that pesky slavery question! Except we hadn't. We might have made it worse, even more divisive. The issue will not go away.

Maybe starting an alternate "Bills Fan Forum" in which people can feel free to post rabid left-wing conspiracies under the cover of a football forum? I can't recall; did some rabid right-winger already do that?

I am pleased to report the results of my investigation: no credible evidence that Megyn Kelly had an affair with one of her superiors at Fox. Indeed, it appears quite clear that Roger Ailes asked her (as he did all female on-screen employees) to stand and twirl around for him to assess her body. That would constitute sexual harassment in every jurisdiction. On the other hand, I convict her of being a rather shameless profiteer. Trump famously insulted her, and she claimed she left (was fired?) from Fox. After failing at her post-Fox gig, she has now learned that being a right-wing commenter/podcaster is more profitable than the alternatives.

Hmm, I'm gonna have to do a little Megyn Kelly research ...

Sorry, I can't agree with doubling down on the progressive side. Ever since Trump took over the Republican Party the middle has been wide open. Progressives will turn out; Trump as the candidate assures that. The key is convincing the very small percentage of voters in the middle (and on the RFK "a pox on both their houses" fringe) that the Democrats won't tack wildly to the left. The Governors and Kelly help there.

Trump's makeup is curiously close to Kamala's natural skin tone.

And Astro was restored to his prior status as the Jetsons' dog!

Sorry, I'll let you get back to this.

Wow, that's really damning. Sounds like a VP tasked with raising morale to DOS employees at the Embassy in Manila. This will swing the election!

Oooh, someone has a thing for the Trump Girls ...

I have a weird reaction to the new JD Vance. I think at his core he is smart and has some sound ideas on policy. But he's trying too hard to sound like Trump or Tucker Carlson. This is what did in Ron DeSantis. Be yourself, even if it isn't in lockstep with Trump. He needs to be himself. DARVO. I was unfamiliar with that. Explains a lot.

And to think that his uncle was an MIT physicist…

Holy Kamala, Batgirl! https://www.reuters.com/world/us/harris-leads-trump-44-42-us-presidential-race-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2024-07-23/