babylonsister
babylonsister's JournalTrump's base of support continues to be much softer than advertised
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/12/25/1905326/-Trump-s-base-of-support-continues-to-be-much-softer-than-advertisedTrump's base of support continues to be much softer than advertised
Kerry Eleveld for Daily Kos
Daily Kos Staff
Wednesday December 25, 2019 · 12:00 PM EST
Donald Trump's base of support continues to be much more tenuous than conventional wisdom suggests. While no one knows exactly how impeachment will play next November and what might transpire between now and then, Trump voters are more iffy about him than anyone ever lets on.
In November, I covered polling showing that 65% of Republicans aren't "proud" of Trump and just 58% say they are "excited" about him. Those are some pretty low numbers for someone who supposedly inspires a cult following among the GOP faithful. Following up on that softness comes a December poll from Civiqs testing how sure voters are about their support for Trump. Civiqs laid out six scenarios for respondents: I support President Trump, and there's almost nothing that could change that; I support President Trump right now, but I'm open to changing my mind if things change later; I neither support nor oppose President Trump; I oppose President Trump right now, but I'm open to changing my mind if things change later; I oppose President Trump, and there's almost nothing that could change that; unsure. Here's the results:
Support Trump, could change later: 14%
Neither support nor oppose Trump: 3%
Oppose Trump, could change later: 5%
Oppose Trump, won't change: 48%
Unsure: 0%
Two things jump out about those numbers immediately: 1) 14% of Trump supporters are open to changing their mind about him; 2) stalwart opposition to Trump registers nearly 20 points higher than diehard support for him. Additionally, Trump's growth opportunities are minimal since literally 0% are unsure about him and only 8% seem tepidly open to supporting him.
Again, we're still a long way from the election, but polls throughout 2019 have continued to demonstrate just how hardened voter opposition is to Trump. So the next time you see Trump spewing absolutely repulsive things at a raucous rally, just remember that only about a third of the country is 100% committed to his reelection.
Conservative Columnist Calls Trump a 'Sick Human Being' for Hateful Attack...
Conservative Columnist Calls Trump a Sick Human Being for Hateful Attack: He Clearly Wants to Inflict Pain
Published
on December 25, 2019 at 11:12 AM ET
By Alex Henderson AlterNet
No matter how many offensive things President Donald Trump says, most people in the right-wing media are afraid to call him out and true to form, they remained silent when Trump attacked and defamed the late Michigan Rep. John D. Dingell during a December 18 MAGA rally in Battle Creek, Michigan and implied that he was in hell. But Kathleen Parker is one conservative journalist who isnt giving Trump a pass: in a scathing Washington Post column, she points to the Dingell controversy as a prime example of how low Trump can sink.
Implying that Dingell was in hell was Trumps way of taking a cheap shot at the late Democratic congressmans widow, Rep. Debbie Dingell, who voted to impeach him. John Dingell, who was 92 when he died on February 7, 2019, was the longest-serving congressman in U.S. history: he entered the U.S. House of Representatives via Michigan in 1955 and remained until January 2015.
Although right-wing politically, Parker is far from a knee-jerk Republican Party hack along the lines of Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity and over the years, she has taken some positions that strayed from Fox News/AM talk radio orthodoxy. Parker, for example, declared that nominating Sarah Palin as Sen. John McCains running mate in the 2008 presidential election was a colossal blunder for the Republican Party. And when Barack Obama was president, she viewed him as a centrist rather than a staunch liberal.
Trumps attack on John Dingell, Parker writes, was motivated by a desire for revenge. Parker explains, Trump no doubt expected Debbie Dingell to reward his beneficence by voting no on impeachment, which didnt happen. He was angry. But Trumps is no ordinary anger. When he lashes out, he goes for the kill. He clearly wants to inflict pain and then spit on his preys grave.
more...
https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2019/12/conservative-columnist-calls-trump-a-sick-human-being-for-hateful-attack-he-clearly-wants-to-inflict-pain/?fbclid=IwAR1lAAppboYKuEESP581uj1nutHGnh7p9-ZSakcIXZoFZRHu5EOIrMg7rsw
Lessons from John Dingell: Civility trumps partisanship
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2018/12/02/john-dingell-may-bush-inspire-us-remember-our-history/2183581002/?fbclid=IwAR0MmOTqp88lfhi6IQdDwtvjwx_d8vl67Xt7JdQg2MWBWm2rUukKnouMDxELessons from John Dingell: Civility trumps partisanship
John Dingell Published 2:00 p.m. ET Dec. 2, 2018 | Updated 9:46 a.m. ET Dec. 23, 2019
Editors' note: During his speech in Battle Creek Wednesday night, President Trump insulted U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell and her recently deceased husband, Dearborn Democrat John Dingell, when he said it was possible the deceased U.S. representative was "looking up" from hell. Since this has generated a lot of conversation about civility, we thought it appropriate to reprint a column John Dingell wrote on this topic last year on the occasion of the death of George H.W. Bush. The following article first ran in The Detroit News on Dec. 2, 2018.
Our friendship was forged over countless games of paddle ball, wild game dinners and intense, yet respectful, policy debates. We were from a political generation that understood delivering for the American people was more important than political wins. The success of government and good public policy is the success of hard-working men and women. Remember the note he left President Clinton on inauguration day: You will be our president when you read this note. Your success now is our countrys success. I will be rooting hard for you.
We were members of Congress at a time when people got to know each other. President Bush was never too important to not spend time with his friends. We knew each others wives and children some of our children dated and we knew we all had responsibilities to each other and the constituents of their districts as well as ours. At dinners or in the gym we shared the ups and downs of life, our thoughts on issues of the day and actually listened to each others perspectives. We didnt always agree, and could have some very tough discussions. I proudly wore the label President Bush gave me that I could be a giant pain in the ass. But he and I knew if either of us gave our word it was golden and you could take it to the bank.
President Bush always cared about people. He and Barbara paid attention to the little things. They knew when people were down, needed a kind word, a helping hand. They would make people feel at home, comfortable, and at ease. Deborah remembers working with Barbara on many projects, particularly childhood health.
George Bush came from a time (as did I) when we believed that American equality demands that we treat one another with the same dignity and respect with which we expect to be treated. He was horrified at the harshness our national discourse has taken and deeply disturbed at watching too many people speak past each other. We both shared deep concern about the hateful taunts, the despicable actions and language that plague our political cultural.
We both acknowledged to each other that we are looking at our lives in the rear view mirror and that it was time to turn over our responsibilities to a younger generation. But it is my hope, that as millions of Americans remember my friend, it will inspire them to remember the history of America and how we endured tough times. May the stories of my good friend help us find our way back to a society that promotes dialogues, not demagogues, and that it helps us to remember we, the people, have the ability to restore this great nation to common ground rather than letting it continue its downward spiral into constant chaos.
I am an old man now and imagine I will soon be joining my friend, George, in heaven ( I hope, for both of us). Barbara will have to watch out for me for awhile, because I pray the lovely Deborah has a lot more time on earth to carry out the mission of public service. Our ages bore with them responsibilities to share what we had witnessed and experienced in our lifetimes so that future generations can learn and with some luck avoid making some of the same mistakes we made and history has witnessed.
Godspeed dear friend, I suspect I will be seeing you soon. But may your life inspire generations and, as your life work is remembered, teach some of these young pups some valuable life lessons.
John D. Dingell, a Dearborn Democrat, was the longest serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He died Feb. 7, 2019.
Trump vs. Nixon: The difference between 2019's impeachment and Watergate is shame
Suzanne Garment Trump vs. Nixon: The difference between 2019's impeachment and Watergate is shame
Nixon, a canny political analyst, knew the jig was up. But Trump will do almost anything to avoid acknowledging defeat.
Dec. 24, 2019, 8:32 AM EST
By Suzanne Garment, author of Scandal: The Culture of Mistrust in American Politics
Poor Richard. When we think of President Richard M. Nixon during Watergate, many people picture an irrational and pitiable figure drinking too much, wandering the halls of the White House, talking to the paintings on the walls, trapped in a crisis created by his crazed resentments.
That isnt the whole of it, though. This was a man who, by the time of Watergate, had been in national public life for more than 30 years. He had served as a congressman, a senator and then vice president for President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Nixon was a skilled lawyer who had argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and survived political crises both public and personal. He knew the powers and limitations of each piece of the U.S. government including his own.
Nixon was a skilled lawyer who knew the powers and limitations of each piece of the U.S. government including his own.
Toward Watergates end, Nixon took stock of his situation in light of his deep experience and educated judgment and, in a farsighted move, resigned the presidency before the U.S. House of Representatives could impeach him. Nixon, in other words, knew when the jig was up.
Today, its Donald Trump whos enmeshed in a presidential scandal. Its hard to imagine a man whose political experience and temperament are less like Nixons. Nixon had a lifetime in politics; Trump never held a political office before the presidency. Nixon, at least in public, spoke and wrote in the measured tones of an accomplished government official; Trump well, we know how Trump expresses himself. Nixon was a subtle strategic thinker; Trumps signature skill, as his wife Melania has said, is to "punch back 10 times harder."
more...
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-vs-nixon-difference-between-2019-s-impeachment-watergate-shame-ncna1106586?fbclid=IwAR1nROvdoWVSQrebe38-vQ5T05_zIxGbLNxovvHauPQ9YWGIHRinenxkZ3g
The Times Brands Sanders and Warren as Far Left
https://prospect.org/blogs/tap/the-times-brands-sanders-and-warren-as-far-left/The American Prospect
The Times Brands Sanders and Warren as Far Left
by Robert Kuttner
December 23, 2019
The sheer ideological bias of the mainstream press continues to astound. Todays offender is a piece in The New York Times (page B2 of the Monday print edition) with the headline Democrats Are Cautious About Ideas on the Far Left.
The Times examples are Medicare for All and free public higher education. Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought far left referred to such ideas as nationalizing the means of production. You know: Lenin, Fidel, Chairman Mao.
Free public higher education is about as far left as Lincolns land grant colleges. For more than a century, it was the norm in America.
snip//
So, by the Times definition, 69 percent of Democrats are evidently far left. What gives? Could it be that respondents have inconsistent, context-dependent preferences, depending on how the question is asked?
Well, yes, as any competent pollster can tell you. Thats just Political Science 101. The Times betrays three bad habits: overwriting headlines and stories, misunderstanding the dark arts of polling, and a not-so-subtle bias favoring the political center.
Rudy Giuliani rails against 'a--hole' New York prosecutors in belligerent, alcohol-fueled interview
Rudy Giuliani rails against a--hole New York prosecutors in belligerent, alcohol-fueled interview
By Chris Sommerfeldt
New York Daily News |
Dec 23, 2019 | 3:41 PM
In an unhinged, alcohol-fueled interview published Monday, Rudy Giuliani railed against a--hole prosecutors in New York, claimed hes more of a Jew than George Soros, spun outrageous conspiracy theories about Ukraine, forgot to zip up his fly and fell into a wall.
The man formerly known as Americas mayor gave the unglued interview to New York Magazine on Dec. 8 over Bloody Marys at the Mark Hotel on Manhattans Upper East Side.
Giuliani had just returned from Ukraine, where he had continued his hunt for dirt on President Trumps political opponents despite the House impeachment proceedings.
He unleashed a torrent of insults against the federal prosecutors at the U.S. attorneys office in Manhattan over revelations that they are investigating him as part of a criminal probe that involves his two Ukrainian dirt-digging pals, Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas.
Giuliani who used to run the U.S. attorneys office in the 1980s added, Ive been doing this for 50 years. I know how not to commit crimes.
more...
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-rudy-giuliani-prosecutors-alcohol-interview-20191223-vhhxzjsk3bawpibv3zzxuod3zu-story.html
Nike's Colin Kaepernick shoes sell out on first day
https://www.axios.com/nike-colin-kaepernick-shoes-sell-out-first-day-ccd3ef64-6dc9-4f7b-b87c-51f5818306ec.html14 mins ago
Nike's Colin Kaepernick shoes sell out on first day
Kaepernick.
Adult sizes of Nike's "True to 7" sneakers, which pay tribute to former NFL quarterback and political activist Colin Kaepernick, sold out on their first day, according to the company website.
The big picture: Kaepernick has been a controversial figure since 2016, when he began taking a knee during the national anthem to protest racial inequality. Nike embraced the athlete in 2018, featuring him prominently in the 30th anniversary of its "Just Do It" ad campaign. The company's support for Kaepernick resulted in a #BoycottNike movement.
Kaepernick's criticism of a Betsy Ross-inspired shoe from Nike earlier this year also prompted the company the cancel its release.
Kaepernick is no longer in the NFL. He alleged in 2018 that NFL team owners colluded to keep him off rosters due to his politics, but settled a lawsuit against the league in February.
Go deeper: Kaepernick becomes new face of Nike's "Just Do It" campaign
Buttigieg picks up more than 200 foreign policy endorsements
Axios1 hour ago
Buttigieg picks up more than 200 foreign policy endorsements
Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
Pete Buttigieg announced Monday that he received endorsements from more than 200 foreign policy and national security officials, per USA Today.
Why it matters: It's another way for the South Bend, Ind., mayor to take aim at Joe Biden as his list includes a diverse group of Obama administration alumni described as the "next generation of foreign policy leaders" by the Buttigieg campaign's foreign policy head.
Biden similarly released a number of top-level Obama administration foreign policy endorsements last month, per the Washington Post. He has also received the endorsement of former Obama Secretary of State John Kerry.
The big picture: Targeting Obama alumni for endorsements is a strategy that much of the wide Democratic field is pursuing in order to target Biden. Elizabeth Warren released her own list of 200+ Obama alumni endorsements last week.
Read the full list of endorsements @ link:
https://www.axios.com/pete-buttigieg-foreign-policy-national-security-endorsements-5990d13e-349b-4619-b795-89db7c46afae.html
Christianity Today receives boost in new subscriptions after calling for Trump's removal...
Politics
Christianity Today receives boost in new subscriptions after calling for Trumps removal, editor in chief says
Published Sun, Dec 22 20193:47 PM ESTUpdated Sun, Dec 22 20193:58 PM EST
Spencer Kimball
The Christian magazine that published a blistering editorial calling for President Donald Trumps removal from office over his blackened moral record has received a boost in subscribers despite a public backlash among leading evangelicals, according to the publications editor in chief.
Mark Galli, the editor in chief of Christianity Today who authored the op-ed, acknowledged to MSNBC on Sunday that the magazine has lost subscribers, but he said there has also been an outpouring of support.
In the editorial published Thursday, Galli argued that Trumps effort to use his power as president to coerce a foreign leader to investigate Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.
Galli called on evangelicals who continue to support Trump despite his blackened moral record to remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior.
more...
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/22/christianity-today-receives-boost-in-subscriptions-after-call-for-trump-removal.html
McCarthy recommends Collins, Ratcliffe, Jordan to represent Trump in Senate impeachment trial
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/475657-mccarthy-recommends-collins-ratcliffe-jordan-to-represent-trump-in?fbclid=IwAR1WcMk3bCg-btHGU_BiotYbJw8mE_vvqaNqHRicyHe6cv98IfrrPKCZugcMcCarthy recommends Collins, Ratcliffe, Jordan to represent Trump in Senate impeachment trial
By Zack Budryk - 12/22/19 11:25 AM EST
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said on Sunday that GOP Reps. Doug Collins (Ga.), John Ratcliffe (Texas) and Jim Jordan (Ohio) should represent President Trump in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial.
These are individuals I would actually pull in at the White House, McCarthy told Foxs Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures, adding you want people that have been through this, understand it, been in the hearings even when they were in the basement, referencing the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility where the initial closed-door House impeachment hearings took place.
All three members named by McCarthy were vocal defenders of Trump during the Houses impeachment hearings, including Collins, who is ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, and Jordan, who serves on the Judiciary panel and was also temporarily transferred to the House Intelligence Committee for its portion of the impeachment hearings.
Ratcliffe, a former federal prosecutor, was nominated to replace Dan Coats as Director of National Intelligence in July following his questioning of special counsel Robert Mueller, but withdrew his nomination amid reports that he had embellished his prosecutorial record.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has delayed transferring two House-passed articles of impeachment over Trump's dealings with Ukraine to the Senate and has not named Democratic impeachment managers for the president's trial in the upper chamber.
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