367 Comments

I think I read that Haley does well head to head against Joe. In polls.

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Note that if The Orange One were to shake off this mortal coil, under the rules of succession, Don Jr. would become President for Life, and then his eldest son and so forth. It's an Envar Hoxha kinda thing.

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Ta, Stephen. They're all delusional.

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If Trump isn't in the race for whatever reason (death, prison), none of the current candidates will get the nomination, because they aren't Trump. That's the only thing MAGA will see.

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I don't think prison prior to the election is a possibility, both because I don't think his criminal trials that might result in prison sentences will reach a verdict by then, and because unlike a poor nameless schlub, PAB isn't going to have to sit in prison while his appeals wind their way the system -- his cell will wait on his appeals to be exhausted.

Death, though -- that's a possibility, and in a kind of clinical way I'd be interested to see what the result of him dying would actually have on the race. Would the MAGA crowd suddenly shift their support to Shilter Lite, or would they shock us all by going with Ramaswamy? (Even though Haley's currently in second place, I can't believe that bunch of misogynists would want to put a lady in charge.) Would they fragment completely? Would they be so despondent over the death of their Mango Mussolini that they'd either just stay home, or, believing his death *had* to be due to the Deep State and not all the hamberders, decide to stage another raid on the Capital, looking for retribution?

Hopefully not the latter -- the last thing I'd want to see is a bunch of gun-humping lunatics decide they're ready to see if they can become the next Lee Harvey Oswald.

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The hardcore MAGA would refuse to believe that he was dead, inventing elaborate conspiracy theories about how he had to go into hiding in order to flush out the baby-blood-drinking demoncrats.

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Oh, you know they would. I saw a part of a segment on MSNBC -- I think Jen Psaki's show -- where she was talking about Never Trumpers despairing over trying to convince the faithful that electing PAB to a second term was going to be Very Bad. And I was thinking in response, "You guys spent 40+ years building a media bubble for those people so that they'd only hear the "truth" you told them. You spent 40+ years telling fungelicals they were the Most Important People around and their causes were your causes. Don't come crying to me now that your base either believes nothing you tell them that contradicts what they hear from the rest of the cult, or that now that those fungelicals have gotten their hands on the levers of power that they want to do what they've always wanted, and reshape the US into a theocracy. You fucking built this. This was what you wanted, and if it wasn't, then why the fuck did you put so much effort into creating it?"

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After JFK's assassination, Democrats wandered in the desert for a long time, fielding lackluster presidential candidates who never excited the base because they weren't JFK. Jimmy Carter was a weird aberration, a response to Watergate. The Dems didn't really break through their ennui until Bill Clinton came on the scene.

I'm waiting to see if the Republicans go through the same journey, dismissing any and all candidates for the horrible crime of not being Trump and just not caring.

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I would die happy thinking the Rs were unlikely to field a viable POTUS candidate for a generation because they were depressed over the loss of their cult leader, and that when they finally did, it would probably be a completely different kind of politician (assuming they stuck to the same pattern).

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OHJB retires at the start of the Dem convention. Kamala gets nomination. ᵗᶠᵍ flees to Argentina to avoid prison time in Georgia. Nimrata gets GOP nomination. 3.14% of population turn out to vote. Manchin outpolls both with 1.41% in a three way split. Hand-basket resumes descent.

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Nov 20, 2023Liked by Stephen Robinson

I just checked the Multiverse. In all of the 16 trillion possible versions of this reality, there is not one where Nikki Haley gets 45% of the Presidential vote.

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Nov 20, 2023Liked by Stephen Robinson

Haley's not going to get the nomination. And even if she did it would be a pyrrhic victory because Trump would just go independent and try to burn everything and everyone to the ground

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Well, there's always the possibility that Trump drops dead or is in fact physically locked up.

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Nov 20, 2023·edited Nov 20, 2023

PAB claims to be a republican but that's just a technicality. His only true loyalty is to himself. Isn't he already trying to burn everything down?

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He IS the Party now! And they will be changing their history books to state that fact soon.

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I think he doesn't give two shits about them. It's all about the grift.

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I don't remember when I read this exactly or when it was that Trump stated it, but he basically said that he could never run and win as a Democrat which is why he was a Republican he also claimed to like the poorly educated which you know I think one party is a little bit lopsided in that department compared to the other

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“Get used to this face, I’m not going anywhere,”

No. No, you're not going anywhere.

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Beat me to it! And by a mere 12 hours!

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In fact, she's not going anywhere _fast_.

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Nov 20, 2023Liked by Stephen Robinson

Let's just say Haley (or someone else) beats out Trump for the nomination. What are the chances that he and his batshit crazy mouth breathing mob of political Neanderthals accepts their defeat and he fades into whichever prison exercise yard he is relegated to first? And, the MAGAts switch their allegiance to the person who took down their Lord and Savior? No fucking way.

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author

That's what seemed bizarre to me. Were Republicans truly delusional enough to think that the Big Lie was rooted in any sort of reality or even was just Democratic specific? No, Trump and his thugs would never accept a loss.

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Nov 20, 2023Liked by Stephen Robinson

Yeah, he was claiming the primaries were rigged in 2016 until he started winning.

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If Haley were to get the nomination, you'd see an insane amount of misogyny and racism being trotted out, and she'd ride that right to the White House, because a lot of people on the Left would vote for her out of pity (they're being so mean to her!), or obligation (it's time we get a woman as President, so maybe this is how we have to do it. At least she's not Trump).

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Uh, maybe some folks on the Left, but ... not that many I think.

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I have more faith in our side than that. I'm s woman and I definitely want a woman to be president but it's offensive to suggest that I would vote for just any woman because she was a woman or because I feel sorry for her.

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I have little qualms with Trump going full crazy on other members of the Republican party.

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𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘚𝘕𝘉𝘊 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘣 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘈𝘎𝘈-𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦.

Where 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 it resonate? As far as I can tell, "Republican country club appeal" is as dead as feathered hair.

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In NC, the "country club appeal" is definitely a thing, or was. Maybe that's so 80's and 90's. I dunno. The MSNBCRCCA dies not appeal to me, so maybe it's faded away without my noticing.

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The other day I found myself hoping Haley somehow gets the nomination, even though she would be more likely to win the general. Republicans are bad, bad human beings, but Donald Trump is not even a human being. I’ve lost the confidence I once had that he’s a proven loser and will lose again, especially with Mike Johnson in the house.

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Fine. I suppose I can get used to Haley's face, seeing how her looks are the least objectionable thing about her. She's pretty on the outside.

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The ugly goes right to the bone, though.

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True. If her outside matched her inside, she would likely resemble the Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth, who enjoys eating hungry children and looks like Mitch McConnell.

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I don’t know. Maybe she can pull this off.

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True that. Like, for instance, a meteor could hit the polling place just in time.

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"One in a million shot."

"So you say there's a chance..."

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Nov 20, 2023·edited Nov 20, 2023

Her going for it as hard as possible makes total sense, though. If Trump ends up getting convicted of a crime*, that might do the trick. And if he doesn't - still, the better she polls, the better her talking head/wingnut-grifter-circuit gigs will be.

Her optimism isn't delusional, it's strategic.

*Oh please oh please

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If TFG gets convicted before primaries close (huge if), the court will hold off putting him in the clink so that he can continue to hold pitchfork rallies, shit talk people on social media, and raise money.

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Who is bankrolling this trip to nowhere, and, why?

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founding

The multi-million dollar question...

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"Haley boasts the MSNBC Republican country club appeal that doesn’t resonate anymore..." That's funny. My first good chuckle of the day.

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