American Politics from 2019 on

[Tero]

CA primary is on, results will be available by morning:
The new system folded the previously separate primaries for Democrats, Republicans and third parties into a single race. That means all candidates for a particular office run on the same ballot.

The two candidates who secure the most votes face off in the general, regardless of their party affiliation. In California, that often means a general election can pit two Democrats against each other.

[pErvinalia]

What position is this for?

[Tero]

Primary for governor: California’s race for governor and other key primaries remain unsettled as vote count continues
Republican Steve Hilton and Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer have separated from the pack in the governor’s race. Important House races are still too early to call as well.

(only two of the 3 go to November)

[Tero]

Repunlicans want 1 an oligarch 2 non-politician...for 2028.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... ontenders/

"Trump’s approval has fallen nationally, but he remains dominant inside his party. A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll earlier this year found that 71 percent of Republican voters think Republican leaders should follow in Trump’s mold. But as some prominent figures on the right break with Trump on issues like Iran, party insiders expect someone to test whether Republican voters want an alternative to his brand of conservatism."

That being said -- Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are the two leading candidates for 2028. They are the only two Phillips includes as ----

Standouts:

JD Vance: "As the logical heir apparent, Vice President Vance has hewed close to Trump on nearly everything.

"He has defended the administration’s policies, even when doing so requires him to reverse his positions, like supporting the war in Iran and answering for the president’s stock trading when Vance has called for a ban on such practices."

"He seems ready to run, traveling to Iowa last month, although he’s said privately he won’t make a decision on running until the birth of his fourth child, in July."

Marco Rubio: "Trump’s secretary of state has said he’ll support Vance if Vance runs. But some Republicans aren’t convinced Rubio is sitting it out, and lately, many see the makings of a presidential campaign."

"While Rubio is leading the president’s foreign policy (everything from Iran to Gaza peace talks to Venezuela), his natural approach to politics is more of a traditional conservative than MAGA. Some Republican insiders think there’s a lane for that; others don’t see the party quitting Trump quite so easily."

There are others who Phillips labels "The Middle of the Pack." Here are some on the list:

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp -- Phillips names him the "anti Trump candidate."

2024 challenger former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley

Anti-Trump Kentucky politicians Rand Paul and Thomas Massey.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz -- "The Texas senator appears to be positioning himself as an alternative to Vance specifically."

And two other names -- Donald Trump, Jr. and Tucker Carlson.

[Brian Peacock]

Come on Bezos. You know you want to.

[L'Emmerdeur]

'Secretary of War' Hegseth's antics could populate a thread of their own but he's just another clown in the circus really. He ranted against immigrants and used a curious historical analogy. Being a D-Day event, he described immigrants as dangerous invaders from the sea. Considering who was being invaded by sea on D-Day, it seems an unfortunate analogy at best.

'Hegseth Ripped for ‘Racist Rant’ Against Migrants at D-Day Event'

“Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” President Donald Trump’s Pentagon chief said at the cemetery. “Beaches in Spain, in Italy, in Greece, and Bulgaria—boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not.”

[L'Emmerdeur]

In Los Angeles, the race for mayor is getting some attention from MAGA. A 'reality TV show' muppet, Spencer Pratt, decided to run for mayor as a Republican because he's a narcissistic, privileged buffoon who thinks Trump's a wonderful president. LA's a Democratic stronghold but Republicans have won there in the past. Last Republican mayor was end of the 20th century but still...

California has vote by mail and generally takes some time to produce final tallies but once enough votes are counted things begin to come into focus. Pratt was in second place in early reckoning. As more votes have been counted he's fallen into third place. Overtaking him is a candidate endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, who will challenge the incumbent establishment Democratic mayor in a runoff election.

MAGA is of course shouting 'FRAUD!' 'STOLLEN ELECTION!', claiming that this proves California elections are corrupt and that vote by mail should be eliminated. Fuck 'em for a pack of nitwit lackeys.

[Brian Peacock]

Yeah. Make those grumpy boomers stand out in the sun for 12 hours. That'll increase the Republican vote for sure.

This is just a grievance narrative. If they did get rid of postal voting they'd lose it as a thing to be #OUTRAGED about.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Meanwhile in Colorado, three MAGA Republicans are trying for the office of governor. Two certifiable fruit-loops and one 'normal' climate denier/supporter of a total abortion ban/gun rights extremist. The Democrats have a couple of weak sisters. The author of the piece below thinks one of the Democrats will win in the end because the Republicans' sanest candidate is still pretty far right (and anyway she's unlikely to make it past the primary election) but that doesn't inspire confidence.

'Even in purple Colorado, Republicans can’t find a normal candidate'

Maybe Joe can find a ray of hope in this race. It's be cool if he posted here more often.

[aufbahrung]

[Tero]

The FOX and right wing media approach in general is to tell stories. The single event of an illegal killing a jogger. Open border. Pretty much everything. Antifa rioiting. MAGA did not do any popular events, other than the extremes, with Tiki torch March etc. MAGA liked to sit indoors in an arena and hold up signs Trump made. So their view of the world is built on fears. There is nothing coming in that tells of any good that government did. Not much on FEMA, as FEMA is now nothing.

So the main flow from the stories is what they operate on. National debt? No meaning. Tax rates for anyone over 50 000 income? No meaning. Inflation 4%? No meaning. "The gas is expensive!" That sort of things they recognize. So it's basically a trickle down of bad news to the everyday life and paying bills that they are experiencing.

And who caused it? How long will it be Biden? Will they get any of this by 2028 election?

[L'Emmerdeur]

'Alternative facts,' all growed up now. A comprehensive denial of reality. Absence of evidence only demonstrates the depth that the demonic opposition will stoop to.

'Why MAGA can’t hear the Trump boos'

The most revealing moment of Donald Trump’s week was not the boos that rained down on him at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. It was the almost instantaneous insistence, by him and his media ecosystem, that the boos never happened. What we witnessed this week — the feverish, almost liturgical insistence that a crowd loudly booing the president of the United States was actually chanting “USA!” — is something more disturbing and dangerous than ordinary propaganda. It’s now clear that the crisis we face is not a lack of information; it is a profound detachment from reality, cultivated by right-wing media and anchored by a president who demands that his followers reject the evidence of their eyes and ears.

...

The moment the boos rang out, MAGA influencers and accounts on social media spun the boos into cheers with a speed that should terrify anyone who still believes in the existence of a shared factual reality. White House communications aide Margo Martin posted a clip on X claiming, “Chants of ‘USA’ in Madison Square Garden!” The official White House account posted a photo of Trump saluting, captioned, with absolute, unironic authoritarian flair, “King of New York.” Fox News’ official social media account blasted: “‘USA! USA! USA!’ Chants erupted throughout Madison Square Garden during Game 3 of the NBA Finals with President Trump in attendance.”

...

This is not spin in the traditional sense. Spin acknowledges reality and tries to tilt it. This is something more extreme: the construction of an entirely separate reality in real time, one that rejects the evidence of the senses. This is what the great media critic and cultural analyst Jay Rosen has long called “the post-truth” condition. For MAGA, contrary evidence is not something that prompts reconsideration. It is something that triggers the construction of an alternative explanation.

Selective hearing on this scale is wild, but it is also terrifyingly deliberate. It renders conversation entirely pointless. When confronted with an undeniable fact — in this case, thousands of people booing a sitting president — the healthy human mind adjusts its understanding of reality. The conspiracy brain, however, views the correction itself as evidence of a conspiracy. That reflexive rejection of observable reality is what now defines Trumpism.

...

Look at the recent fallout from the Los Angeles mayoral race. Right-wing media has spent the last week promoting baseless narratives that the election is being “stolen” by progressives. People who absolutely should know better are allowing their motivated reasoning to override basic math, stoking a dangerous fire.

...

It is a profound display of performative stupidity. In California, mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day are legally counted as they arrive in the days following. Progressive voters, younger voters and working-class voters historically vote later or via mail. It is not a conspiracy; it is basic civics. Yet, because the initial election night tallies shifted against the conservative candidate, it is automatically branded as “rigged.”

When House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked by CNN’s Manu Raju to provide a shred of proof for these explosive claims of election fraud, his response exposed the entire intellectual rot of the conservative movement: “Some of these efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream it is impossible to prove. But I think everybody knows instinctively something is wrong here.”

There it is. Instinctively. This is the core of the MAGA epistemic crisis. Evidence either no longer matters or the lack of evidence becomes proof of how sophisticated the conspiracy must be. The feeling of illegitimacy is enough. And because that feeling is rooted in identity and grievance rather than facts, it cannot be disproven.

...

Fact-checking assumes that people care about accuracy. Debunking assumes that false beliefs are held in good faith. But conspiracy thinking is not a knowledge problem; it is an identity defense mechanism.

[Tero]

Yeah but trans athletes. They can maybe see Trump was not the smartest candidate, but they still think "owning the libs" is working. Plus the Democrats will allow trans athletes, and that means the end of the world.

[Tero]

Pills just hiding the fact that every chronic disease caused by vaccination

Politico reported the results of an election within the American Medical Association: "At the American Medical Association’s annual meeting this week, members of the group’s House of Delegates are sending a clear message to their leaders: Call out Kennedy, even if it costs us in the pocketbook...A year ago, a report from Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again Commission was laced with accusations against physicians — for being influenced by the pharmaceutical industry to overprescribe certain medications and for failing to treat the root causes of disease."

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/1 ... s-00957489

[Svartalf]

Yeah but trans athletes. They can maybe see Trump was not the smartest candidate, but they still think "owning the libs" is working. Plus the Democrats will allow trans athletes, and that means the end of the world.

bugger trans athletes... if the disease did not take so long to develop, I'd wish frump to get rassaulted by a platoon of Hiv positive gay rapists