Duke Silver

If we're lucky, Uday & Usay Trump will feel adventurous & pony-up the entry fee for this little shindig in Siberia:

Hopefully this doesn't turn into a tl;dr post... Anyway, just had a really nice convo w/ a couple of my more conservative friends. Like me, they are #neverTrump 'ers. Unlike me, they are way more on the right; I'm a "convictionless moderate" (their term for me). Their evolving views on Trump is clearly, to me, a microcosm of what is happening right now in the GOP. "Trumpism" is not a thing...at least from a policy standpoint. Does anyone doubt that Ryan & McConnell will control the legislative agenda? They control the purse strings... Trump's populism only serves to enable a conservative agenda. Look at his cabinet-to-be. It will be the most conservative cabinet in history. The GOP loves this. Trump is just a distraction as far as the serious members of the GOP are concerned. His tweets & theatrics will entertain & occupy the minds of the pleb Trump supporters. The conservative agenda marches on. That's why we are seeing so many conservatives jump on board. It has sunk in that Trump is far, far from being some kind of revolutionary force (again, from a policy standpoint). Now, things like Russia/Putin??? Well, other than for a select few (McCain, specifically....Graham will get on board), the massive swing to a pro-Russia/Putin policy is doable. It just might be smart business, and it can certainly fit with the anti-Muslim foreign policy/world view. In short, Trump is the one who caved-in. The forgoing is their take on things, and, even though they despise Trump, I can tell the siren song of a GOP-controlled federal government is overcoming their hate of Trump. Seems like as far as they are concerned, if Trump can be a "useful idiot" for Putin, he can likewise be the same for the GOP. ----------- I realize this is hardly new thinking around these parts, but I wanted to type-out the entire thought, just to see how it reads. Figured I might as well post it here.

^^Basically how I'm viewing Obama as well, which is weird. I have excoriated him for many policy decisions (e.g. the much talked about lack of response when the Syria "redline" was breached), but have softened on him ever since Trump became the GOP nom. I'm someone who wants our highest levels of government to have discourse, smart debate. I just rarely feel like we get that with Republicans in charge, and we most definitely won't get that with Trump & his gang of thieves who can barely repress their sheer joy at the coming looting.

My liberal friends are not happy with Obama's responses at the presser.... I'm on multiple platforms carrying on conversations trying to upack all of it. This basically sums up what my liberal friends are expressing to me since the presser ended:

Watching Obama take questions at his presser (btw, his FIFTH since the election; Trump hasn't had a presser in ~140 days)....I can't imagine Trump being able to stand up there & not sound like a total buffoon. I just can't picture it.

^^ A lot of them will, but they'll still blame "libtard cucks" for all their problems. For a party/group of people who claim to believe in "pulling yourself up by the bootstraps" they sure like to blame others for their lot in life. The hypocrisy is glaring to anyone who isn';t willfully blind.

I've posted about Rohrabacher a couple times. His Russia/Putin fetish is bizarre; again, he's a former Reagan speech-writer.

Perhaps, and I know, it' merely anecdotal, but based on Trump supporters I've actually spoken to, specificity isn't required in order for those emails to be damning to HRC. The fact that it was reported on so much, that Trump talked about them so derisively, was more than enough to do the requisite damage. I think that's what scary, to me at least: no one I've spoken to can cite me a single, damning email from the hack, but they all believe the emails to contain damning "evidence of wrongdoing."

So he's going work for a regime that is beloved by neo-Nazis? Mmmmkay...

Good thing he confessed otherwise there might have been a hung jury like in Michael Slager's case (cop who killed Walter Scott when Scott was fucking 18 feet away & running away from him)...

Wow...fallout from Eichenwald's appearance on assface Tucker Carlson's show. Carlson, shockingly, wouldn't let Eichenwald answer a question, so he is doing so now on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kurteichenwald/status/809563905089556481 Seriously...wow. Go to Eichenwald's twitter feed.... Hahahahahahahaha Olbermann is re-tweeting each of Eichenwald's tweets, thusly: Fuck....looks like Kurt deleted the entire lengthy string of tweets. Crap, wish I had screenshotted more than the 3 above.

Yeah, sure, white working class folks. Trump has your best interests at heart. That's why he's loading up his cabinet with oil & bank guys, and also why he's considering a supply-sider like Kudlow to form economic policy. I know Trump voters don't care about what Trump says & does, but I still feel bad for the working class types who are going to get crushed more & more. LMFAO....Kudlow's views went out in the 80's, I thought, around when I was born FFS.