The (no longer) much too early 2024 election thread

[N.E. Brigand]

Returning to the "bloodbath" comment, I think Josh Marshall's take is also valuable: "If Trump didn't mean what everyone heard, maybe he can clear it up by agreeing not to call for any more violence? Maybe he can renounce other times he called for violence if he loses? I'll wait."

I defended Sen. Chuck Schumer's March 2020 remarks at a pro-choice rally in front of the Supreme Court ... Schumer didn't have a history of violent rhetoric [and three more reasons] ... and thus it was reasonable to interpret [his comments] as rhetorical. (Just as one might interpret "bloodbath" as merely rhetorical if not for all the context, starting, I would repeat \, with "that'll be the least of it"* in reference to the auto industry: Trump clearly means something bigger than that.) And in fact, once the Court did overturn Roe v. Wade, the "far right" was "hit" by a wave of pro-choice votes. Nonetheless, Schumer apologized for his rhetoric a few days later.

When has Donald Trump ever apologized for anything?

And to give folks a sense of the dishonesty on the right: this is one of the top replies to Marshall's post. It claims that (then? or former?) Attorney General Loretta Lynch was "actually calling for violence in 2017". And it includes video of Lynch giving a speech intercut with scenes of riots, but Lynch's speech is a call for patience and calm.

*By the way, based on a scan of various pundits' comments, I'm not sure anyone pointed out the "least of it" bit before me.

Donald Trump has never apologized for anything in his life. If we sink to his level, he will have won.

On the contrary, I want Donald Trump to rise to Chuck Schumer's level. This is a chance for him to finally do the right thing and make it clear that "bloodbath" only was meant in reference to lost jobs in the auto industry, and also to explain what he meant by saying "that'll be the least of it." I think it took Schumer one day to walk back his remarks. So Trump has a few more hours to set that right.
If he doesn't, in the face of all of this outrage, then I think "Trump calls for bloodbath if Biden is reelected" is more than fair description of what happened yesterday. We're not sinking to his level. We're setting standards and demanding that he live up to them. Furthermore, because, as I said before, I think the language was there in order to provoke and terrorize, I think the Democratic response should be: "Don't be afraid of him. He's a weak little man screaming into the void. He deserves your scorn not your fear."

Edited to note that I think CNN does all right here:

[N.E. Brigand]

I disagree with this CNN analysis about Donald Trump's "manly vigor":



The year-long affair with Karen McDougal and the one-night stand with Stormy Daniels happened nearly 18 years ago, when Trump was 60. Just last night, President Biden noted in his remarks at the Gridiron Dinner that Trump is not the man he was just four years ago.

He cheated on his wife Melania, who was then nursing their newborn son Barron (who turns 18 next week). Do these panelists really feel that most married women's response to this case is going to be, "I wish my husband had cheated on me with two women when I was home with our crying newborn baby"?

And voters don't really know this well: that's the whole point of Donald Trump making illegal payments to cover it up! He didn't want them to know about it because he thought it would hurt his chances in the 2016 election.

[N.E. Brigand]

Also, what Donald Trump promises to do with the auto industry if elected (and there's no "bloodshed") will cause inflation to skyrocket.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That is an absolutely absurd "analysis" by CNN.

[N.E. Brigand]

President Biden's aides are worried that he spends too much time making sure the details in his speeches are accurate.

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Also today, former Vice President Mike Pence that it's unacceptable for Donald Trump to refer to people convicted for Jan. 6th as "hostages."

And Pence said that one additional reason not to vote for Trump is Trump's unexplained about-face on TikTok.

[RoseMorninStar]

One has to be on guard not to become what they profess to despise. It's very tempting to sink to their level because it's hard to prevail or even hang in there when the other side does not play fair/hold to the same standards.

[N.E. Brigand]

Donald Trump today asked (yes in all caps): "ARE YOU BETTER OFF THAN YOU WERE FOUR YEARS AGO?"

Four years ago today, this happened:

[Jude]

... and then it rose to above that level by the time he left office.

Not defending Trump, just pointing out that you can make graphs back up any claim you like if you choose where to start and end them.

[N.E. Brigand]

... and then it rose to above that level by the time he left office.

Not defending Trump, just pointing out that you can make graphs back up any claim you like if you choose where to start and end them.

Thanks, I appreciate that point! But it's not me who chose where to start and end that graph so much as Donald Trump himself, when he asked if we were better off today than we were four years ago. To that point: today stocks closed at 38,790. Four years ago, it closed at 19,899. That's an increase of 18,891 points, or 95%.

But for the record, here's the Dow Jones Industrial Average by president:

--Biden, Jan. 20, 2021-Mar. 18, 2024: rose from 30,931 to 38,790, an increase of 7,859 points (25%) in three years, 58 days = 0.022% per day

--Trump, Jan. 20, 2017-Jan. 20, 2021: rose from 19,827 to 30,931, an increase of 11,104 points (56%) in four years = 0.038% per day

--Obama, Jan. 20, 2009-Jan. 20, 2021: rose from 7,949 to 19,827, an increase of 11,878 points (149%) in eight years = 0.051% per day

--Bush Jr., Jan. 20, 2001-Jan. 20, 2009: fell from 10,578 to 7,949, a decrease of 2,629 points (25%) in eight years = -0.009% per day

--Clinton, Jan. 20, 1993-Jan. 20, 2001: rose from 3,242 to 10,578, an increase of 7,336 points (226%) in eight years = 0.077% per day

--Bush Sr., Jan. 20, 1989-Jan. 20, 1993: rose from 2,235 to 3,242, an increase of 1,007 points (45%) in four years = 0.031% per day

Even with the pandemic, the stock market is one economic data point where Trump's numbers, though short of Obama's and Clinton's, exceed Biden's. (It would be churlish of me to point out that Trump's numbers only regained their original high a few days after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, but Trump himself has made a like argument as regards the stock market gains during Obama's last two months in office.)

[N.E. Brigand]

It was on Fox, not CNN.

Despite Fox airing the interview in which former Vice President Mike Pence said he would not be endorsing Donald Trump's presidential campaign, Fox only devoted four minutes of coverage to that major story over the next three days, as compared to one hour nineteen minutes on CNN and one hour fourteen minutes on MSNBC.

Fox also gave zero coverage to Donald Trump's March 11 comments about cutting Social Security in the three days following that news breaking. The other cable news networks didn't give it that much attention either, though: nine minutes on CNN and twenty-one minutes on MSNBC in the same period.

In both cases, this tells you that Republicans are worried about those two stories. That's where Democrats should focus.

[N.E. Brigand]

I mentioned in another thread that four years ago today, Elon Musk predicted that U.S. daily Covid cases would fall to zero by the end of April 2020. They did not.

Also four years ago today, then-President Donald Trump said that the number of daily U.S. Covid cases was "at the low level ... we're going to be pretty soon at only five people, and we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time".

(Alarming now to watch that video again and realize no one in that room is wearing a mask. I don't even have Covid, but I'm wearing a mask at work because of this flu-like thing that hit me last week so as not to spread it to my coworkers.)

This summary, though slightly tongue-in-cheek, seems pretty accurate to me:



Except it omits the part where he's privately telling Bob Woodward he knows it's going to be bad.

[N.E. Brigand]

Trump says that bloodbath "is a commonly used phrase when you're getting slaughtered economically, when you're getting slaughtered socially, when you're getting slaughtered." (I listened to the full quote starting at 13:20 here; the clip is not misleading.)

I think that hampers the claim that he was just talking about the auto industry or about the economy generally when he said "bloodbath."

Tell us more about being "slaughtered socially" and slaughtered in general, Mr. Trump.

He also never explains what he meant by saying the auto industry bloodbath would be the "least of it."

He further says that unlike the UAW leadership, the auto workers are on his side. He never mentions that when he was on strike, he spoke at a non-union shop.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Your state took a step towards helping the Democrats keep the Senate today.

Trump-endorsed Moreno wins Ohio GOP Senate primary, CNN projects

Not sure what to make of these numbers. Probably not very much.

[N.E. Brigand]

Bernie Moreno outperformed the polling average by 17%.

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Down in Florida, the state Democratic Party had opted not to run a presidential primary. Because that meant fewer reasons for Democrats to turn out today, some Florida mayoral races normally won by Democrats went to Republicans.

[Sunsilver]

Trump pandering to his Evangelical fans by pretending to go to church. If you look closely, you will see the photo is clearly A.I. and not just because of the number of fingers...

[N.E. Brigand]

North Carolina's lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, a Republican who is running today to be his party's nominee for governor, holds garbage views.

"GOP Candidate Mark Robinson Attacked US Gymnast Simone Biles for 2021 Mental Health Break."

"Whenever I think about being wore out and being tired -- you know, somebody get this on their phone and it will probably end on Facebook -- but I ain't no little, weak gymnast that quits when the going gets tough."



It took a while, but this quote is indeed being shared on social media.

[N.E. Brigand]

Bloomberg reports on Republican plans to raise the age of Social Security eligibility.

More reporting on this from NBC.

[N.E. Brigand]

Bernie Moreno, the Republican who won yesterday's Ohio Senate primary, said on Fox News today that someone who wants to support "the party of Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney," i.e., moderate Republicanism, can vote in November for the Democrat, Sherrod Brown.

[RoseMorninStar]

Bloomberg reports on Republican plans to raise the age of Social Security eligibility.

According to people I know who watch right wing media, our social security is going to end because it's all being given to 'illegals'. After they murder us all.


In January Trump claimed he didn't want any Nicki Haley voter donations, stating on social media:

“Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp,” Trump wrote. “We don’t want them, and will not accept them, because we Put America First, and ALWAYS WILL!”

( ).

While Trump has changed his tune, Haley donors took that message to heart: At Least Half Dozen Major Nikki Haley Donors Now Fundraising For Biden

[N.E. Brigand]

Who are you going to believe: RFK Jr. or RFK Jr.?