US Politics Thread

[Federberg]

PS: You know what else it is? it's a waste of money. Where's the fiscal responsibility? Did anyone ask DOGE if it was ok? The LAPD is still doing all the work, while the National Guard is sort of guarding federal buildings. And now he's sending in the Marines. What are THEY going to do?

It's an abuse of power, it risks enflaming a situation that simply isn't that bad, and he's wasting money, just like with that military parade he's throwing himself.

but don't you see your outrage is exactly what he wants? Yes you're right. Everyone knows you're right. HE knows you're right. But he's lost poll numbers due to tariffs, and prospects for his fiscal package look grim. He's done this before. For the life of me I don't understand how smart people keep falling for the same trick. Clench your outrage. Please. Don't react. Protesters go home. Ask him about tariffs, ask him about the fiscal bloat and corruption embedded in his bill. DON'T let him get away with it. Why is it so hard to see. He's playing you folks like a puppet

 

[Moxie]

but don't you see your outrage is exactly what he wants? Yes you're right. Everyone knows you're right. HE knows you're right. But he's lost poll numbers due to tariffs, and prospects for his fiscal package look grim. He's done this before. For the life of me I don't understand how smart people keep falling for the same trick. Clench your outrage. Please. Don't react. Protesters go home. Ask him about tariffs, ask him about the fiscal bloat and corruption embedded in his bill. DON'T let him get away with it. Why is it so hard to see. He's playing you folks like a puppet

But I'm saying we can think about more than one thing at a time. We're getting used to it with Trump. The protests in LA are about immigration, which is hugely important to that city, particularly. That one IS full of outrage and emotion. The ones this weekend, and in the recent past are about general disapproval of Trump and his policies, including immigration, but also economic ones, and others. These have all been peaceful, and are not limited to Democrats, you should note. Just because you don't think this is the path, don't give me that face palm. Politicians and lawyers and courts have their place, but public protest is one of the main ways for the general public to make their disapproval heard. And a way to "ask him" about the above, as you say. How am I otherwise supposed to "ask him?" Send him an email? Reply on Truth Social?

 

[Federberg]

But I'm saying we can think about more than one thing at a time. We're getting used to it with Trump. The protests in LA are about immigration, which is hugely important to that city, particularly. That one IS full of outrage and emotion. The ones this weekend, and in the recent past are about general disapproval of Trump and his policies, including immigration, but also economic ones, and others. These have all been peaceful, and are not limited to Democrats, you should note. Just because you don't think this is the path, don't give me that face palm. Politicians and lawyers and courts have their place, but public protest is one of the main ways for the general public to make their disapproval heard. And a way to "ask him" about the above, as you say. How am I otherwise supposed to "ask him?" Send him an email? Reply on Truth Social?

I hear you, but the battle is being waged in different places by the two sides. Trump's sole objective is to get his failures off the front page. This isn't about about what the opposition thinks. This is about winning the news cycle. Getting voters to forget about tariffs and the fiscal bill. I don't doubt the ability of the opposition to multi-task. But the problem is that he might be your opponent, but to him you (protesters etc) are just his tool for him to achieve his objective. Fight what he's doing with the National Guard in the courts. Don't let him win the news cycle. He's a natural born SEO killer. I have to respect the game

 

[Moxie]

I hear you, but the battle is being waged in different places by the two sides. Trump's sole objective is to get his failures off the front page. This isn't about about what the opposition thinks. This is about winning the news cycle. Getting voters to forget about tariffs and the fiscal bill. I don't doubt the ability of the opposition to multi-task. But the problem is that he might be your opponent, but to him you (protesters etc) are just his tool for him to achieve his objective. Fight what he's doing with the National Guard in the courts. Don't let him win the news cycle. He's a natural born SEO killer. I have to respect the game

I respect what you're saying, but there's nothing I can do that will make him stop whatever chaos-making he will do to deflect attention from his actual failures and disasters. We are becoming more practiced at keeping the attention where it should be. At the same time, there are battles on more than a few fronts...he's made sure of that. The question is not whether I can resist every shiny object, but if the media can.

 

[Federberg]

^Yup. It’s the responsibility of the Dems to force the media cycle back to tariff’s and the Bill. Ironically Trump is so thin skinned it would be easy to bait him. It’s actually the most effective way to pull him away from his California stunt

 

[Federberg]

Thoughts?

 

[Moxie]

Thoughts?

*sigh* Yet another rando filming himself while driving, and spouting untruths. I'll tell you what he's right about...what he says right up front. That the few people who are doing violent things are feeding into a right-wing media and social media that what's to believe: that LA has dissolved into chaos, thereby justifying Trump's (likely illegal) actions, and confirming, erroneously, what they like to think about anti-Trump actions.

What he follows it up with is cynical, and basically wrong. He seems to be trying to say that people participating in the protests are doing it performatively, and have no real stake in it. Also, I'm not sure where he gets "Death to America" chants. I've heard nothing of that.

I would encourage you to listen to this segment from Brian Lehrer today on WNYC, talking to Gustavo Arellano from the LA Times, for a much better view from the ground. The main protests are centered around the Metropolitan Detention Center, which is in downtown LA, a pretty unpopulated area, ironically. Just government buildings. There are organized groups that try to help when people get scooped up by ICE. These are people that are getting "captured" as he says, at their jobs, and when they go for appointments re: their immigration status. These are NOT (all, or even some of?) the dangerous criminals that Trump threatened to deport. They are regular people, trying to live their lives, and do the right thing. There are organized groups that try to help them, once they become detained. There is also a group called the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of LA (CHIRLA), founded in 1986, and is being targeted by Homeland Security. This is the core of the protest, but, yes, others get involved and caught up in the moment. Some of which Trump clearly enflames, through his rhetoric, and his actions, sending national guard and marines unnecessarily.

You can hear how it has escalated over the past days, and how some of the bad actors are just teenagers, caught up in the moment. I have no doubt there are some bad agitators. But Trump is trying to say that there are "foreign actors" and that there is foreign money. Ridiculous.

Point being: it's local outrage for fair reasons, relating to unfair treatment of neighbors and friends. There has been some violence and misbehavior, but nothing that the LAPD has never seen before, including when the LA Dodgers lost the World Series. Or in Philadelphia when the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year.

The View From LA | The Brian Lehrer Show | WNYC

Gustavo Arellano, a Los Angeles Times columnist, talks about the LA protests, the Trump administration's response and how local communities are showing up for their immigrant neighbors.

www.wnyc.org

 

[Federberg]

^Doesn't matter what I think. So you can miss me with your "sigh"

I was curious to hear from Americans how pervasive that view is. Not from the entrenched, but the people in the middle. From a million miles away I see two things.

• Trump is dominating the media cycle with this. So.. mission accomplished. Doesn't mean this is entirely good for him, just that he's managing to take something worse for him away from mainstream attention (that's the bit a lot of people naively misunderstand).
• Newson has been catapulted into being a national politician. Sure he was well known before, but this helps. His platform is going global. Whether that's a good or bad thing for the Dems in 2028 is another matter. If he's smart he focuses on Presidential overreach, not taking the other side of the immigration debate

Also... I'm still trying to figure out what the political consequences of the Padilla arrest will be. Is there any part of the Senate that remains an Article 1 institution, or do Republican Senators just look away. I wonder...

 

[Moxie]

That guy you posted isn't "in the middle." He clearly says that this is a free ad for "our side." Plus, he's a right-wing propaganda machine as to what and who he thinks is out there, in terms of protest.

I don't you should treat others so dismissively to say that they "naively misunderstand" that this is a Trump distraction. No, that's openly discussed. Everyone knows this about Trump by now.

Also, I think you overstate how much this has changed Newsom's fortunes. You are right to say that he was already really well known. He was on the short list of names to replace Biden. Maybe he's a bit more prominent now, and has more exposure beyond the US, but it didn't take a "catapult." But it will be interesting to see how well he comes off in this. I'd say he's doing better in some ways on this than he has in the past.

I'm also curious to see what fellow Senators and congressmen do about what happened to Padilla. That was appalling. (PS: Kristi Noem is almost as creepy as Stephen Miller, just in a different way.)

 

[Federberg]

That guy you posted isn't "in the middle." He clearly says that this is a free ad for "our side." Plus, he's a right-wing propaganda machine as to what and who he thinks is out there, in terms of protest.

I don't you should treat others so dismissively to say that they "naively misunderstand" that this is a Trump distraction. No, that's openly discussed. Everyone knows this about Trump by now.

Also, I think you overstate how much this has changed Newsom's fortunes. You are right to say that he was already really well known. He was on the short list of names to replace Biden. Maybe he's a bit more prominent now, and has more exposure beyond the US, but it didn't take a "catapult." But it will be interesting to see how well he comes off in this. I'd say he's doing better in some ways on this than he has in the past.

I'm also curious to see what fellow Senators and congressmen do about what happened to Padilla. That was appalling. (PS: Kristi Noem is almost as creepy as Stephen Miller, just in a different way.)

it's extraordinary that we speak the same language but you choose to interpret what I write in a particular way. I never said he was in the middle. I said I was curious to know what people in middle would make of it all. At the end of the day in a 45-45 electorate, what that. 10% in the middle thinks is everything.

I never said anything about what I believe will happen to Newson's fortunes. I used the word catapulted because he's been forced to take a stand by this action. I've stated many times that the days of an Uber-slick politician in America might be over, so I'm very sceptical about his chances in 2028. But I will stick with the use of catapulted because in the aftermath of the November loss there really isn't any Democratic politician who can be called the focus. Maybe Trump is being crazy like a fox here.

I used the phrase 'naively misunderstand' because the opposition continues to dismiss Trump's antics. The time to underestimate him is over. Two termers are worthy of respect even if he's a bloated (he's been taking Ozempic right?) orange turd It's really not clear to me that some of the opposition pundit class get that Trump might court adverse controversy IF he believes it shifts attention from something else he perceives as worse. In this case, I think he's pissing in the wind because he's likely already provoked a recession. Folks won't feel it until well into the 2nd half of this year or early next year