not that it was ever an “excuse” for most Republicans, but a 5-4 majority with Thomas being 70 is still uncomfortably tenuous.
No, certainly not most. About 85 percent of Republicans approve of Trump. I’m referring to the dwindling number of moderate Republicans out there. The ones who held their noses and voted for Trump, using the Supreme Court as a justification. Even if you feel the courts need to be stacked further, there’s still the House of Representatives which doesn’t vote on confirmations.
What are you worried about …
Nancy says it’s gonna be a blue wave, you have history on your side. The house is usually democrat anyway. Guess the last 2 years really rocked the democrats safe space. I wouldnt worry think 2016 this was the last sputter of conservatism, its was reactionary but isnt sustainable. Unless the democrats keep rolling out unelectable presidential candidates, ones that even the left media cant make look good.
Define governance.
There are a lot of important things that the government does really well. So well, that you forget they are doing them.
I am completely unconcerned about weather conditions in the MidWest. Because no matter what they are, I will be able to go to my grocery and buy plentiful food at a reasonable and reasonably stable price. I don’t worry that a drought will kill the harvest and triple food prices. I don’t worry that a bad harvest will drive farms out of business. I don’t worry that a plentiful harvest will glut the market and drive prices so low that farms go out of business.
The US government puts a lot of work into keeping us fed. They supply weather data and long term forecasting. They provide funding to rural communities that don’t have the population ( and tax base ) to fund construction of essential infrastructure like firehouses. They perform research that has increased crop yields by orders of magnitude over the last 50 years. They buy and stockpile crops when the market is glutted. They provide food aid to citizens which serves (an albeit secondary ) purpose of keeping demand stable.
They are the reason that when we hear the song “Wildfire”, we laugh and say “killing frost”? What’s so damn bad about a “killing frost”?
We only hear about government ineptitude when they fuck up. And they fuck up frequently because they do a lot, but they actually do most of it well
What do you mean usually? From 1995 to today, the GOP has held the house for about 20 years (1995-2007) and (2011-present), and the Democrats have only held it for 4 of those years (2007-11).
Perhaps he’s referring to the ~60 years prior to that?
saw that in some states for the youngest age group ,18-29, early voting is 2x or 3x what it was in 2014. Don’t think that bodes well for the GOP.
I don’t really see a rebuttal here. What I’m hearing translates to, “Trump’s judicial appointees behave more politely than Trump does, and they don’t give voice to every crazy thought that goes through their head, so they’re OK.”
I’m not hearing, “here’s how Trump’s agenda and that of the Federalist Society (which effectively vets his appointees) diverges,” or “here’s the sort of case where I’d expect his appointees to decide against Trump, should it come to that.”
Barring such an argument, I stand by my assertion that if you like Trump’s agenda, you’ll like his judicial appointees.
IOW, the House used to be usually Democratic.
Given that, in the experience of anyone under 40, the House has been more often GOP-controlled than Dem-controlled, applying a present-tense verb to the era when the House was usually run by Dems is absurd.
So I’m not the only one thinking this way. Here’s a NYT opinion bit from yesterday I just read bit making similar observations.
Michael McDonald of the US Elections Project: “The bad news is we’re starting from a low base (it’s easier to double 1 than 100), so there is still a long way to go.”
IOW, doubling really small levels of participation on the part of younger citizens is still a Very Good Thing, just don’t overestimate its effect on election outcomes.
And it the only lens folks look through it the 10 year olds “what does this mean for me and mine”, you can live that way. But a lot of us think that’s no way to live.
Not a slam at you. After all, you were a 10 year old.
Of course it could be just shifting from election day to voting early. But still the raw data, available here is encouraging.
Most recent numbers for Texas for example is that all early and absentee voting (EAV) is up but that it is not just that the to date absolute number of 18 to 29 yo EAV is up fivefold but that the share is up as well. In 2014 it was 4.65% now it is 10.14%. In comparison the share of those 50+ has decreased. Of course I can spin that same data differently! In absolute numbers there is a much bigger increase among older than younger EAVs.
FWIW that site’s modeling claims that 54% of EAVs are Republicans but that the pattern is a share decrease from 2014 for the GOP of 4.4% while Dem has increased by 1.8% and unaffiliated has increased by 2.6%
I am cautiously optimistic but not wanting to believe the hype. After 2016, it seems like anything could happen. Part of me expects the GOP to flat-out cheat to get results they want i.e. tampering with vote totals, though the rest of me says that’s paranoid and there is no evidence of specifically that, so shut up, part of Try2B.
The O’Rourke/Cruz contest looms large to me as an indicator of how things are going. If Beto wins, things really are changing and maybe we’ll get back to sanity and stability. If not, well it is advantage D this year but we are probably in for more pendulum swings of power for awhile.
I very much hope for a smackdown to demonstrate that all of the hate and racism is a losing approach. I find the current climate Quite disturbing. Repeal amendments by EO? :eek: That would be dictatorship!
“Cautiously optimistic” is my approach, too. I drove past my library on this the last day of early voting, and the line was out the door. That’s a good sign, but it’s not time to rest yet.
Setting aside EAVs for a moment, which side usually shows up more on Election-Day voting itself?
I read recently that absentee ballots are heavily Republican; in-person early voting is heavily Democratic; day-of is somewhat Republican. Dems have to run up the score during early voting, in normal years. Thus my cautious optimism.
Today, Trump told Montanans that he doesn’t actually care about them, he only goes there because he’s engaged in a petty revenge feud with Sen. Tester.
Trump isn’t there for you, Montana; he’s there for himself (of course).
You quoted him as saying it’s one of the reasons he’s there so much.
Of all the things to criticize the guy for, that seems kind of . . . lacking?
And of course, what Tester was doing is called doing his job, in this case, Congressional oversight. And in this case, it clearly needed doing. This was hardly one of those cases of sinking a nominee over some minor scandal that gets everyone upset, but has little if anything to do with whether the nominee ought to be confirmed.
But for Trump, it’s all about himself.