DL Open Thread Wednesday, May 1, 2024
I’m not going to bother with a Trump trial wrap-up, because if you consume news you can’t avoid the media’s information avalanche. I can’t tell who’s winning, but it’s pretty clear the loser is the American justice system: The judge fined Trump the maximum amount for nine violations of his gag order: $9,000, or $1,000 per infraction. I think even a fake billionaire can make that nut. Trump also demonstrated that even in the middle of your trial you don’t need a My Pillow to fall asleep.
Normal people debate whether the decline of the GOP into madness is Trump-related. Rachel Maddow points out that it’s loonballs and assholes all the way down. Try to act surprised.
Is it possible for a MAGAt to go too far? South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will never live down her puppy-killing brag, and there are signs that the House GOP caucus has about had it with Marjorie Taylor Green. So maybe there are limits after all.
A 46-year-old Laotian immigrant with cancer won $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot the other day. I’m surprised the anti-immigration crowd isn’t bitching about it.
The floor’s yours.
I think Noem will recover. There is a big cultural divide in this country that many acknowledge, but in my opinion it is of an urban/rural split than rural/suburban. Suburbia is where the most dog lovers live, where people see dogs as members of the family. But Noem comes from genuinely rural roots, where humans have absolute dominion over all animals (and, not coincidentally, where men largely have dominion over women) Rurals see suburbanites as the liberals and crybabies who don’t know how power works. Rurals will accept and exonerate Noem’s actions. Suburbanites will see her as a cruel monster, but at voting time, that won’t mean a fig to rurals…
Rurals are by definition very thinly spread out. They don’t have much voting power except in the senate and ‘lectoral college. So, yes but also no.
This is going to be a close election. I don’t think Trump would risk someone who would be an actual drag on the ticket. He needs the VP pick to be at least neutral.
To Trump, neutral means an ass-kisser who supports giving dogs and fetuses the same right to life.