US Politics XXXV: My Insurrection Lasted More Than 4 Hours

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i feel that most of our issues as a country could be solved with age and term limits in all branches of government.

[LuckyNumber7]

Originally Posted by Hewson

I've advocated for a maximum age for some time. Maybe 70 to start your first term (you can run for re-election at 73 for example but can't run if over 70 for a second term that is non-consecutive a la Grover Cleveland).



It makes sense to me that if you aren't ready for office until a certain age, you can also definitely age out. All of us (save Harrison Ford of course) will decline physically and mentally as we age, it's just a fact. Sure, the level and timeline of decline will vary widely, but we should have some agreed upon baseline to use.

If you happen to be power lifting 2,869 lbs. and solving the NYT crossword in 6.9 seconds flat at age 114 like Harrison Ford, good for you but you still can't be President, but you can play him in a sequel if you like.

Fuck that, let’s not have some dumb grandfather clause. Maaaaaybe under a soft cap where maximum incumbent age is greater than maximum non-incumbent age so as to not discriminate against capable but old people, but those numbers still need to be close.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

https://twitter.com/UrbanAchievr/sta...2cXPorHMA&s=19

[david]

I turn 45 next month and as I think about middle age and how politics have more or less affected family and relationships over the course of the last decade I’m trying to remember the 90s and what political arguments people had back then. Now, political opinion is easily shared and amplified through social media and constant access to news sources. News media is way more partisan than I ever remember it. As a teenager in the 90s I remember my father (a republican) having somewhat intelligent conversations with my step mother at the time who was a a happy democrat and Clinton supporter. Maybe I am looking at things with rose colored glasses because I was a teenager then, but it seems after the Bush presidency of the early 90s and then the recession rebound coupled with the ending of the Gulf War 93-99 were some pretty chill years. Does anyone else share this take?

[Irvine511]

I think the rise of Fox News and the conservative media complex have pulled a lot of news to the right because by calling mainstream media (inaccurately) “liberal,” they crest a “both sides mentality” as well as the need for journalists to cover the Democrats much more aggressively than Republicans in order to seem unbiased. The result is that bad actors/ideas/takes are legitimized and the so-called “liberal” media pulls itself rightward.

Certainly there is some left wing media, but it’s not even a comparison when it comes to the depth and scope of these respective echo chambers.

Right wing media has also radicalized a lot of white men, and gives conservatives a way to find news that makes them feel better, ie, Fox not covering the January 6 hearings last week.

As for the 90s, it was a lot of the same arguments. I’ve heard literally nothing new from anti-choice folks. The culture wars were fraught. There was an impeachment, only it was about lying about oral sex rather than blackmailing foreign governments to dig up dirt on your political opponent. So things were just as dumb. You could say way, way worse things about gay people in the 90s. Clinton did have a vast right wing conspiracy machine going after him, accusing them both of literally murdering people — it’s just much more accessible now via the internet, rather than limited to talk radio and magazines.

[phanan]

I mean, it’s obvious, right? The radicalization became more pronounced with the rise of Trump. Fox News was around for years but didn’t get to where they are now until Trump came along.

The blame squarely falls on him.

[Irvine511]

Fox was pretty insane when we had a Black president.

I remember watch Bill O’Reilly a little bit in the late 1990s, and it wasn’t that crazy. He just seemed like a cranky white guy who thinks the past was better than it was.

I think a big radicalizing event was 9/11. And then the Iraq War.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Rosen told Trump that the Justice Department could not “flip a switch and change the election,” according to notes of the conversation cited by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“I don’t expect you to do that,” Trump responded, according to the notes. “Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.” The president urged Rosen to “just have a press conference.

i would like you to do us a favor, though

[BEAL]

Originally Posted by phanan

I mean, it’s obvious, right? The radicalization became more pronounced with the rise of Trump. Fox News was around for years but didn’t get to where they are now until Trump came along.

The blame squarely falls on him.

I don't put the blame on him. Trump is a grifter. He's always been a racist, a russian asset, and just an overall horrible human being. But he was a friend of the Clintons, he was pro choice.....he switched all of that when he discovered he could make more $$$

Things really started to change for me after 9/11 and then the Iraq War. The latter really dividing the country even more, with the GOP (before Q) basically labeled you a terrorist if you did not support the war 100%

Then Obama gets elected and the Tea Party starts showing up. MAYBE the original intent was smaller government, but it quickly turned into racist conspiracy bullshit. Obama a muslim, Obama not born here

Trump took the Tea Party and transformed it into MAGA.

Trumps gift to the GQP base is that he removed any feeling of shame from our political discourse, or at least from their side. People felt good being able to say the worst possible stuff about one another, with no real blowback.

Careers have been ended in the past for saying some of the least offensive stuff Trump and others have said out loud multiple times.

Imagine running for Governor and getting arrested by the FBI for participating in trying to overthrow the Federal Government / Transfer of Power.......and it actually is a positive for you winning the nomination.

[david]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

Fox was pretty insane when we had a Black president.

I remember watch Bill O’Reilly a little bit in the late 1990s, and it wasn’t that crazy. He just seemed like a cranky white guy who thinks the past was better than it was.

I think a big radicalizing event was 9/11. And then the Iraq War.

Those things PLUS the fallout from the 2000 election. There definitely was a shift after 2001. But as I think more about my exposure to politics in the 90s and being around relatives who were in their late 30s and early 40s obviously I was a generation removed from all the things they lived through prior 60s/70s and to an extent the Reagan years.. I was a teenager riding the 90s high of just being a teenager and tuning out from the world and figuring my own things out. Racial inequality, wealth divide, wars, gender politics, human rights issues, political blame etc that all existed in the 90s.

[Hewson]

Add in the rise of social media to all of the factors you guys named above.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

obama getting elected is really when the right went off the deep end. i mean they had a month discussion over a tan suit.

Trump being elected was when the deep end collapsed and the pool flooded the whole god damn backyard.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...-before-jan-6/

this story is wild

[mikal]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...-before-jan-6/

this story is wild

Damn paywalls

[Bluer White]

Originally Posted by david

Maybe I am looking at things with rose colored glasses because I was a teenager then, but it seems after the Bush presidency of the early 90s and then the recession rebound coupled with the ending of the Gulf War 93-99 were some pretty chill years. Does anyone else share this take?

It was a nice run, wasn't it?
For music too.

[Irvine511]

One could argue that divided government led to fairly good governance in the 80s and 90s. No one would have thought so at the time, but I don’t think we had the same sense of pending apocalypse we did when Trump had the nuclear codes.

However, today’s GOP is not your 1980s GOP.

[Irvine511]

For example, there’s been a possibly intentional flashpoint of a party that calls gay people groomers and accuses everyone of pedophilia and then applauds Kyle Rittenhouse for (unknowingly) killing a pedophile and then has politicians and “activists” (Ethan Schmidt) calling gay people pedophiles and pastors in Texas calling for the execution of gay people and the “Patriot Front” in Coeur d’Alene showing up ready to start a riot with riot gear at a Pride parade in the park and Trump ally Mark Burns (R-SC) openly calling for the execution of gay people.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I was today years old when I found out that Lauren Boebert's dad was a professional wrestler trained by Ric Flair, and I was today years old when I discovered this little nugget while reading that Lauren Boebert had two abortions during her former career as an escort.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I have never wanted a story to be true more than I've wanted the Lauren Boebert was an escort who slept with a Koch family member and probably Ted Cruz story to be true.

[BEAL]

It’s from the same group that attacked Madison C correct ?

Also, i know it’s usually the case for midterms but it still sucks to see it potentially play out

https://twitter.com/billkristol/stat...pDddzUl9TDGYPw

https://twitter.com/billkristol/stat...pDddzUl9TDGYPw