The Real timschochet

Such statements really don’t serve you well.

You’re really stretching to find excuses for Robinson. I barely touched on his craziness- since my initial post I learned that that he thinks 9/11 was an inside job and believes lizard men control the Earth. Defend him if you want he’s the biggest embarrassment for the GOP since that 10 Commandments dude from Alabama- well other than Trump that is. This isn’t leftist hyperbole. The left has its crazies and always has; the right has its crazies and always have. The difference is that the left hasn’t allowed its crazies to take over. You guys have. When you opened up the Pandora’s box that was Sarah Palin you allowed for the wackos to be given respect and treated like normal. Now, with Trump, they dominate your party. The best thing Joe Biden can do tonight is say “Hey I’m normal.” In the end that might be enough.

I already know that Biden will make the case for a good economy. I know his arguments, know the rebuttals, so it doesn’t interest me that much. I also know that he will push for Ukraine funding. Again I think we all know the arguments and rebuttals and we shouldn’t expect anything new there. There are 3 items that interest me: 1. The border. What will Biden propose now? How much executive authority will he take? 2. Israel. Kamala Harris was pretty critical and called for a ceasefire. Will Biden actually criticize Netanyahu publicly? How far will he go? 3. Trump. Now that he’s got the nomination will Biden go after him hard?

Looking forward to the State of the Union speech tonight… OK not really. They’re usually so boring and Joe Biden is not exactly an inspiring public speaker. But I’m a political junkie so I will be watching. if I can I will provide a running commentary. Lol

Bias and dishonesty aren’t the same. Vox is definitely biased. Dishonesty suggests they’re lying.

Another mass shooting this one in Philadelphia. Ugh.

Thanks. I don’t read HuffPost. I read Vox from time to time if the subject is interesting to me. I go in knowing their perspective. I also enjoy reading National Review, and I know THEIR perspective as well. I haven’t found either to be dishonest.

Just type in Mark Robinson. There’s literally a dozen articles that show up talking about how crazytown he is. Lots of different sources; choose one you like.

Wow that’s quite the interpretation. Not what I heard but hey I’ll accept the possibility that there’s some context here. Unfortunately it’s one comment out of literally dozens. Care to explain the Moon landing hoax, the Holocaust denial, the accusation that George Soros funded Boko Harem terrorism, calling gay people “filth”, wanting a ban for all abortions with no time period, no exceptions allowed? If you do there’s always plenty more.

OK, as promised an extensive review of Donald Trump’s stated policy positions. Might as well start with the biggie: the border and undocumented immigration. Here is an op-ed by Trump in the Des Moines Register in which he states his case, dated Jan 3 of this year: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/caucus/2024/01/03/donald-trump-joe-biden-border-disaster/72093156007/ Basically he blames Biden for reversing his executive orders, including an end to “catch and kill” and “remain in Mexico” and this has led to the chaos currently at the border. Trump has pledged on day 1 to return all of his executive orders but will also go further: he will finish the wall and use all powers at his disposal to deport several million undocumented people already here. My thoughts: 1. If Biden’s reversal of Trump’s policies had caused the current explosion then logically there would have been a similar large number of migrants under Obama prior to Trump’s policy changes. Since there wasn’t, it’s reasonable to assume that the current crisis has less to do with policies either by Biden or Trump, and more to do with outside factors. 2. Actually Biden didn’t reverse “catch and release”, the truth is that Trump had trouble getting rid of it. Each time he tried he was challenged in the courts and this wasn’t resolved when Biden took over. Trump’s initial effort led to the separation of families, and the subsequent uproar and pressure forced Trump to reverse himself. 3. Biden attempted to keep “Remain in Mexico” in place as long as he could using emergency Covid restrictions until the courts reversed him. There is no way that Trump can enforce this again by executive order (which may be why he has suggested that he needs to become a dictator to deal with this issue. 4. Trump cannot finish the wall without Congressional support, which he will never get, and without facing numerous legal challenges. Thus this is a meaningless promise unless, you know, the dictator thing. 5. Trump cannot deport millions of people without Congress again, which won’t happen. It would also tear this country apart but that’s a different issue. So my main takeaway is that Trump’s proposals on this issue, awful as they are IMO, are basically unworkable and if he is elected very little will actually change.

Seriously what happened to Republicans pushing, you know, less government, lower taxes, and a atrong defense? Where have the normal Republicans gone? I heard Mike Johnson today and he is proud that his new budget reduces funding for the FBI. Proud! You’d think he was Abby Hoffman or some other hippie. Johnson believes that cutting the FBI will ensure a stronger GOP majority in November, because the public wants to see the FBI shrunk. Huh?

https://www.vox.com/politics/24092798/mark-robinson-north-carolina-governors-race-2024 How many typical black conservatives like to quote Hitler, deny the Holocaust, reject the moon landing, and believe that women shouldn’t be allowed to vote?

Have you listened to this particular black conservative?

Always. But in this case I heard excepts of speeches from Mr. Robinson, saying some really crazy sh!t, and then Donald Trump calling him the next MLK. So I didn’t need much interpretation to form an opinion.

Hard to find a candidate for major office in this country worse than Donald Trump but this Mark Robinson fellow, the new Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, seems to fit the bill. I had never heard of the guy until a few days but damn what a whackjob. Of course Trump calls him a new Martin Luther King only much better.

i strongly doubt it’s going to be a big win or a big loss- either would very much surprise me. I’m expecting a win but a loss won’t surprise me either. Will I be depressed? Sure for a few days or so. But I’ll wish Trump well (so long as the country does well), I’ll pay my debts (I’m gonna owe a few people around here some money) and then keep on fighting the good fight. We will survive. But I’m not expecting or looking forward to that outcome.

@shadrap I have no idea if you’re a Trump fan in particular but you’re definitely a conservative and, based on this post and others you’re opposed to Ukraine funding and believe in a hardline against undocumented immigration, which puts you firmly in the Trump camp this time around. Now there’s no doubt that when we poll the public a majority thinks that the country is not moving in the right direction- heck even I would agree with that and I’m very much an optimist. But I don’t think everyone would share your specific reasons for thinking so. So if you believe that everybody who is pissed is going to automatically vote for Trump to come back I’m just not convinced that will be the case.

I listened to Chuck Todd give some analysis today and I thought he sounded smart. One thing he said that fascinated me: even with the current border crisis, even with the majority of the nation concerned about it, he’s still not convinced it will be much of factor in November. His point was this: the border and undocumented immigration is most important to conservatives but they’re voting for Trump anyhow. It’s least important to Democrats and they’re voting for Biden anyhow. That leaves the independents, and Todd thinks they are very concerned about the border but not enough to make it a priority issue. Todd also doesn’t think that either Ukraine or crime or the threat to democracy are priority issues either. So what, according to Chuck Todd, are the issues that will actually move the needle with independents? Economy, inflation, dislike of either candidate, and abortion, not necessarily in that order.

Wow. I couldn’t disagree with you more strongly. An intractable lead? Hardly. In fact I don’t think it’s any kind of real lead at all. As I’ve said all along this race hasn’t begun yet because the majority of the public isn’t paying attention and they haven’t accepted that it’s Trump vs Biden. Once they do, and it still may not happen for a few months or until the conventions- the numbers will change. Even then, this election is going to come down to a handful of states- mainly Pennsylvania and Michigan. It will be close no doubt but I firmly believe that Biden will win. I do agree with you that the legal cases won’t move the needle.

So over the next few days I plan on using this thread to examine Donald Trump’s campaign promises in detail. I will look at what he has said on a variety of issues, and offer my opinion.

No none of it. I hate all of it. I’m for a totalitarian regime along the lines of Chairman Mao’s PRC. I can’t wait for the Great Leap Forward.

As I wrote last night Adam Schiff will win easily. But his opponent Steve Garvey is a boyhood hero of mine, so now I have the excuse to post some fond memories: Steve, you could lose a thousand elections, you could pose with Donald Trump (that will likely happen), you could be MAGA all day and I will always love you. Why aren’t you in the Hall of Fame? Thats a travesty.

Your first point is only true in a swing state. But I do believe that in a swing state it IS true. In most elections it wouldn’t matter. In 2000, for example, votes for Ralph Nader in Florida helped George W Bush defeat Al Gore. So what? i didn’t care. If folks want to vote for Nader that’s their right. But this election is different because IMO Trump represents an existential threat. So I think it should be all hands on deck. I completely reject your second point. Fock the Democratic Party. I never hope for bad things to happen so that the guys I like better might win later on. That’s Trumpian thinking and I frigging hate it. There were liberals during Trump’s last time as President who wanted the economy to fail so that Trump would lose in 2020. There were liberals who were happy that Covid was such a disaster and Trump was so inept because they hoped it meant that Biden would defeat him. Fock all of them, if Trump wins this time around, I agree with you that it will likely be a catastrophe. But I won’t be rooting for it. If he wins I will wish him well and honestly hope, as I did last time, that his actions bring us prosperity and good things. Because to me that’s what being an American is all about.

1. Yes I think Swalwell has integrity. 2. Donald Trump is now the de facto Republican nominee for President. He represents an existential threat IMO to the future of this country as a free democratic republic. Therefore I don’t think any amount of attention paid to him right now is excessive. When Trump is out of politics and in prison where he belongs, rest assured I’ll stop thinking about him.

This isn’t a good description of me as in the past I’ve rarely voted for the Democratic Party, or any party consistently. Honestly I’ve been pretty middle of the road. But Donald Trump has taken the Republican Party and turned it into something I don’t recognize and detest. Perhaps it was always that way, I don’t know. But I can’t support a party that is xenophobic, isolationist, anti-immigrant and anti-trade. I won’t do it, their beliefs go against everything that I fundamentally believe in. So for the foreseeable future I will be voting Democratic all up and down the ticket. When and if the GOP becomes the party of Reagan again, I’ll reconsider.