gulliver
gulliver's JournalHow to run against Trump by running against Musk
I don't buy that you can't change the votes of Trumpies late in the game. That's boilerplate "pundit wisdom," imo. I.e., seemingly smart but stupid. Everyone knows the feeling of, "Oh shit, what am I doing?" Everyone knows that sales are backed out of at the last minute all the time. People just have to realize their own asses are on the line. Not "democracy," not "sweety-pie altruism and empathy." Not just those, anyway, valuable and necessary as they are. The Trumpies' own asses. Good old number one.
Just two examples of using Musk as a dealbreaker. Please add more to the stone soup if you feel like it.
1. Musk could make the IRS hyper-efficient. Everybody audited constantly in real time using AI. You get a text that says to call a number. An AI bot answers and starts to acquaint you with your tax return errors over the past few years. At the end of the conversation, it informs you of the amount owed. It then lists your property that will be seized and your income sources that will be garnished. It notes that your net worth appears to exceed the expected level based on your income and that it has notified the authorities for criminal investigation into tax evasion. It asks that you stay on the line for a short customer experience survey for quality assurance purposes.
2. Musk could give the government payroll and contractor government deals the "Twitter treatment." Government employees could be laid off by the thousands after being asked to "justify their jobs, or else." Contractor and supplier contracts with the U.S. Government, the world's largest single customer, could be reviewed by AI and flagged for low return on investment (ROI) and the chopping block.
The pie-eyed Musk Trumpie thinks, "Great! Lower taxes! Smaller government!" The dumber Trumpies think that, anyway. But the smarter Trumpies need no more reason to vote Harris. They finally get what Musk-Trump really means for them. It means their very own precious asses. The "Trump's my guy deal" dies of a heart attack.
You see, the government employees fired by Musk's "cost-cutting death panel" are going to go on the job market. That means that the Trumpies in the private and public sector will experience a wave of competition in the job market such as has never been seen. Their bosses will have a historic buyer's market for employees. Trumpies will lose their jobs by the thousands, or they simply won't be hired. Wages will go through the floor.
And government contractors? Well, I doubt Musk's companies will be jeopardized by government cost cutting. But what about all the others? If you own a business, prepare to have your government contracts questioned and renegotiated. If you work for a private business that in any way relies on government purchases, your job goes when the contract goes. If your 401(K) has government contractor dependencies, kiss your retirement goodbye.
Musk owning the United States would be a good episode of Black Mirror
I don't think the poor lost Trumpies know what they're asking for.
Trump and Vance are using cray cray to get attention and it's the media's fault
Vance gave the game away the game when he said (while lying about Haitian pet eating) "If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do." There's the whole trick. They're saying all of these outlandish, rotten things to get airtime for propaganda. They don't give a shit about who gets hurt in the process.
Honestly, by letting the Trump, Vance, and the MAGA influencer industry get away with this ploy, the media are also partly to blame for the harm it does, both to the victims of the defamation and to the country at large.
The media needs to make sure the ploy has a negative political payoff. Whenever Trump, Vance, or a MAGA influencer are given airtime to explain the latest crazy, rotten thing Trump or Vance have said, the questioner needs to make sure that the "true payload" is neutralized, not the cray cray candy shell.
Here is an example:
Questioner: Senator Mouthpiece, Trump just said, and I quote, "A leprechaun from God just told me how to avoid electric sharks in my bathtub."
Senator Mouthpiece: Trump was kidding. But he wasn't kidding about the Southern Bor...
Questioner: Excuse me Senator, but that wasn't the question. I know you want to talk about the Southern Border, and I would like to talk about the bipartisan bill that Trump stands in the way of passing, but could you stick to the electric sharks?
Senator Mouthpiece: Trump was kidding. But he wasn't kidding about the Souther Bor...
Questioner: Could you please answer the question. I would like to talk about how the dramatic increase in Southern Border migration began during Trump's Presidency. But first I would like you to answer my question about Trump's imaginary electric sharks.
Senator Mouthpiece: Trump was kidding. But he wasn't kidding about the Souther Bor...
Questioner: I'm sorry Senator, that's all the time we have.
Elon's black MAGA hat (not red)
When someone wears a hat that is different from everyone else's, it means they want to be distinguished. I think maybe Elon wants to own the United States. Like Putin, Elon could be trying to take over America through Trump and the misguided MAGA losties Trump owns.
True, Elon could just be crazy now. But it seems more likely to me that he's just out-crazying Trump to get cred with the losties. On Twitter, you can see that, while a majority of his posts are now just standard MAGA cray-cray lying, many of them are cogent.
MAGA influencers are fighting for legalized price gouging
We need to go on offense on this.
MAGA influencers are Chicken Littles...Boys who Cry Wolf. They're wailing about "price controls" when no price controls have been proposed. There are no Communists under their beds. MAGA influencers are either paranoids or, more likely, they're actually for corporate price gouging.
Taking a platform position against all forms of yahoo miscreant protestors
Whatever the cause, including MAGA, pro-Palestine, anti-Broccoli, or whatever, I think nearly everyone agrees that some of the so-called protesters we see in the news are bums and should be considered so. Imo, Dems should take a bright line position against them all. They're the same people, just with different resentment flavors. Given the importance of our core principles, including the preservation of democracy, Dems can't afford to be saddled with the miscreants who are often mis-identified (by the Republicans, the media, or by the miscreants' own unwelcome self-identification) with us.
Platform proposal: Protesters who do the following should be subjected to shame socially and in the media but, also, prosecuted and punished (if guilty) to the full extent of the law. Punishment can include any legal form, including fines, imprisonment, deportation, etc.
- Vandalism (graffiti, statues, window-breaking)
- Other Crime (looting, violence, threatening behavior)
- Intentionally blocking traffic with some guardrails to allow for street protest
- Taking over public spaces past some threshold time (to allow for protest but not encampments)
- Taking over non-public spaces (such as offices and buildings)
Thoughts?
If Trump were losing, the media would have competing "Trump Exposed" pieces 24x7
Trump has enough material to flood the media market with attacks on him. Why don't the jackals jump on him? I think it's mainly two reasons, but I'd like to know more.
1) Trump and his crowd (Republicanists) bite back when bitten. Some may remember Dan Rather and Megyn Kelly.
2) The media don't want to kill the goose that could be laying golden eggs for them for four years
If Trump were losing (more clearly), they'd be helping drag him to the ground. They'd want to get as much face time and as many paychecks out of him as possible before he disappears from screens and makes his way to prison.
These are the actual reasons, imo. The face-preserving rationalizations are many. They usually start with, "I don't report on Trump being a shifty old nutball and can keep my reputation as a journalist, because X." (Where X is actually just ego-preserving, paycheck preserving BS)
Some of these protesters and paraders would be such good opportunities for Dems to disavow.
I really do wish we could find it in ourselves to say, "Nope...yuck...too far" when some lostie outlier does something no good and people mistakenly associate them with Dems and the left.
It's important that we say what we're not. We can't have the poor lost Trumpies saying, for example, Dems are Ok with nimrods parading naked through public streets, vandalizing statues, blocking traffic, etc. We're not Ok with it. We think they're nimrods too. What keeps us from saying that could simply be a lack of common sense. A mature, adult's experience and security in knowing that there is always a "too far." If so, we need to grow up and get secure.
We have all the good issue positions. We don't need to let Republicans associate us with bad ones.
The guy who mugged me was "deceived"
(Fiction)
So, I'm crossing the parking lot in the dark. Glancing at my gold Rolex, I noticed the time was about 11:45pm. My car's in the upper deck, so I head to the dark stairwell. The guy who was behind me seemed like he must have been parked on the same deck. He followed me into the stairwell.
Surprisingly, at the first landing on the stairs, the guy asks me if I have a light for his cigarette. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my lighter. It took a second, because the diamond stud caught on my money clip.
The clip falls out of my pocket. Great, I thought, now my hundreds are gonna get dusty.
I started to light the guy's cigarette, but then I noticed he hadn't gotten it out yet. I was puzzled.
The guy says, "let me get that for you," and reaches for my money clip on the ground.
"Thanks," I said.
Anyway, he gets the clip and, instead of handing it to me, starts to walk off with it. Can you believe that?
So, I said, "Hey, that's my money clip."
This guy...this guy turns around and says, "Not anymore!"
"Wait. You're stealing it?"
He just looks at me like I'm an idiot.
"You're stealing my money?"
"No," he says. I'm just reclaiming it. "This guy I listen to told me you stole it from me."
"Which guy?"
"Stage hypnotist guy. He's great."
"Did you believe him?"
"Sure."
"I don't think you do."
"Maybe I don't. I'm keeping the money though."
I was going to give him a piece of my mind, but he ran off.
The old, good "worthiness" framing vs. the new, stupid "mental health" one
I just saw some supposedly CBS poll results where they asked people if the two candidates do or do not have the "Mental & cognitive health to serve as President." The poll clearly shows something. It shows just how lost the media and people are. Terribly lost. We seem to have forgotten about virtue in the popular discourse and practice.
To the lost, the concept of virtue seems suspect. Tao Te Ching Chapter 45 comes to mind.
Because of this lostness in terms of virtue and this desperate (but accepted) clinging to half-digested "popular scientific" concepts like "mental health," it becomes unrealistic to expect the news media to ask people if the two contestants are or are not "worthy of being President of the United States."
The important question can't be asked, because it's considered vaguely corny and unscientific by the lost and foolish.
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