US Politics Thread

It's becoming increasingly clear that some parts of the executive branch have been on autopilot, and the other parts have been run by Jake Sullivan.

Democrats and their mainstream media friends have been lying directly and by omission about Biden for the last four years. The game's up.

The Biden administration is full of Obama's people, and quite a few Clinton folks. According to USA Today and UVA's Miller Center, 75% of Biden's top 100 aides worked for Kenya Slim. When it comes to Kamala Harris, who said she couldn't really think of anything she would have done differently to Biden (Obama 3), would we expect anything else?

The Democrats and their media allies from day one told us that Joe Biden was basically a moderate centrist, and his history proved that. Fine. What's fascinating is watching dyed-in-the-wool progressives attack Democrat Senator Joe Manchin and former Democrat Senator Krysten Sinema for de-railing what they call Biden's intended progressive agenda. Except it never was Biden's progressive agenda. Why on earth would a centrist Senator from Delaware have a progressive agenda? He always was a puppet that does what he is told.

The political class in America is made up of countless organizations, departments, and factions. However, four unique groups can be defined.

First are the politicians and all those who are appointed by politicians. Think of presidents, senators, and representatives, but also cabinet members, ambassadors, and federal judges. These are many of the most-visible members of the political class. They’re who people picture when they think of American politics.

Second, there are all the unelected bureaucrats who make up the permanent, administrative components of the federal government. Most of them can be found in the dozens of executive agencies located in and around Washington, DC. Where the first group is made up of a couple thousand people, the second group accounts for close to three million. It’s the bulk of the federal government.

The third group is what we can call the official or “court” intellectuals. These are the “experts” in academia and at think tanks, as well as the “journalists” at the most prominent media organizations, who excuse and justify the actions and ambitions of the rest of the political class.

As Murray Rothbard explained in the third chapter of Anatomy of the State, political authorities have always relied on intellectuals to affirm the state’s legitimacy in the minds of the broader population. Intellectuals, who are often frustrated with how little people are willing to pay for their intellectual services, are easily lured into serving the state’s interest in exchange for official recognition, access, and tax dollars.

The fourth and final group are the plutocrats. They are the people and firms who owe their profits and wealth to the actions of the federal government and who lobby and pay to use government power to line their pockets. Think of the heads of the big banks or the weapons companies that supply Washington’s war machine.

These four groups form the coalition that makes up the political class. The “establishment” simply refers to the established, or current, political class. And, together, this coalition works to empower and enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.

Court intellectuals use their establishment-sanctioned “expertise” to argue that society’s problems must be solved with government interventions. Politicians offer to enact these interventions in exchange for votes and donations. Plutocrats work to warp the interventions to their own benefit and then lobby and pay politicians to legislate even more lucrative interventions. After they are enacted, the easily predicted bad consequences of the interventions are used by court intellectuals and politicians to justify even more interventions.

Meanwhile, the bureaucratic group gains jobs, money, and power that it works with court intellectuals to protect and expand. The ever-growing interventions build up more government power that is then offered up to interested plutocratic buyers. All the while, politicians put on their sham fights with each other over minor policy differences along with their electoral and legislative rituals to obscure the scam and to keep us all believing that we live in a representative democratic republic.

That is the cycle churning in Washington, DC. The fact that the president is cognitively impaired is essentially irrelevant.

That is unless it begins to wake the American public up to the fact that the government does not work for us like we were all taught it does in elementary school. But until then, the churn continues.

 
In other news, newly elected (albeit not yet crowned!) King Donald has, once again, fucked over America while out of office but controlling his sycophantic, scared little puppies!!

Here is HIS Speaker of the House having his cake and eating it, too, in a real world example of “No, seriously, you’re just not seeing the alternate facts here!”

Speaker Mike Johnson just told reporters that he and House Republicans were as committed as ever to cutting the size of the federal government, even though the bill on the floor would raise the debt ceiling for another two years. (Something Republicans fight tooth and nail to stop Dems from EVER doing, but which would give Trump carte blanche to enact more tax cuts for the wealthy and spend, spend, spend in his first term without having to worry about the ballooning debt they say they care about!!)

The extension, Johnson insisted, “in no way reflects any lack of enthusiasm on our part to get about those serious cuts for the American people.” He did not take any questions.


Shocked! Shocked, I say!

And, supposedly, Biden is still President, although I have no physical or photographic evidence to suggest it is true!
What's the complaint here?

That Johnson is a Rhino? That Trump has too much influence? That Biden isn't even tryingvss President?

I'm confused.
 
“Woman, man, camera, TV!”

HAHAHAHA!

But, actually, I think he was referring to Trump’s alleged incontinence issues, although Trump clearly is NOT the sharpest tool in the shed…and that’s not TDS, it’s a FACT!

Only the smartest, most deeply humble, person would threaten to SUE any educational institution he attended if they released transcripts of his educational performance, right?!

P.S. Never forget, that dim bulb you keep referring to from 4 years ago spanked Trump’s stinky ass!!!
Did he :p
 
Pretty funny ( albeit sad) how the Donald supporters are trying to rally behind his choices. Truly unbelievable !
As opposed to what? Opposed them?

Pray tell, how many of Biden's shit choices did Democrats object to?

Go ahead, I'll wait. Feel free to call a friend.
 
ABC News was wrong to settle.

The jury answered, “No.” They didnt say she lied.
Is it essential in the US for libel to have to lower the complainant's reputation? Even if the jury didn't say rape had been proved, but he'd committed a serious sexual assault, can you lower the reputation of someone who would obviously commit rape if he could, or boasts he could shoot someone and get away with it?

Why are you at all bothered about his "reputation"?
 
As opposed to what? Opposed them?

Pray tell, how many of Biden's shit choices did Democrats object to?

Go ahead, I'll wait. Feel free to call a friend.
The starting point is here appointing someone who isn't keen on polio vaccines as health secretary. Whoever you have in mind as a bad choice by Biden, you start with RFK as 99% shit. (1% off for not liking big pharma.)
 
Is your calendar broken? The election was about 2025-2029, and Democrats made the hard decision Republicans were too chickenshit to take!
The hard decision of not having a primary to choose a candidate. Say it ain't so Chicago. Lol


As for DEI hire, I’ll just let you marinate in that, given her presidential credentials FAR EXCEED anything Trump has on his resume, other than Worst President in History!
She was a Dei candidate. Don't blame Frank, blame Biden. He was the one who defined it as such.

“Trump ranked as worst US president in history, with Biden 14th greatest.”​


Lol. You really put up the Guardians rankings. Lol. That was funny.

If I have to explain that, and how it has come down since, AND what control the President has over that, then I’d be wasting my breath at this point, so I’ll leave you to ponder it (or read something intelligent on the subject).

And, you may not have noticed that the DECLINE in US inflation is outpacing other areas of the globe, which experienced the same, brief rise in inflation. (Oh no, I’ve given you a clue with the word “global.”)



Again, the US President does not control the price of oil. The US generated more energy (oil & gas) during the Biden presidency than at any time in US history, making the US energy independent. Prices are not just a function of US production, but they are a function of a GROWING ECONOMY (both U.S. and globally) and OPEC policies.
Here we go with the half truths again. Sure, the U.S. peak production occurred under Biden. But that's just half the story. It's not just peak production that's the issue here but growth.

When Trump entered office, the U.S. was producing 8.9 million barrels per day by 2020 we had increased production to 12.9 million barrels that's a 44% increase in production over 3 years.
While unde Biden we went from 12.9 million BPD to 13.2 million bpd. A measley 2.6 percent growth in production. And this despite unbelievable growth opportunities in 2021 and 2022 that Biden stifled and went begging Saudi Arabia and Kuwait instead to pick up the phone.

So you can miss me with the 'peak production' nonsense. Irs half the story and a terrible one at that.
Shangri-La? Who said we were there? Do you think that is where Trump is taking us? If so, you might want to grab an ID90 and head to somewhere better!

I think he did what any Father would do, given the jackbooted revenge thugs incoming.
Yes Trump made me do it. Lol. Dude Biden and his DOK had been looking for ways to grant little Biden immunity all along. Has nothing to do with Trump. The whole case against him was purposely slow walked so the statute of limitations will runn on some claims and then they slapped him with a minor punishment on gun charges and immunity for anything else not being charged.

It was the judge that caught wind of the nonsense atd balked at the deal. Forcing Daddy to do openly the thing he was attempting to accomplish through plea deal while pretending DEMs just care about principles. It's all nonsense no one but silly leftist ever bought.


And, if you think pardoning your own son (as if Trump wouldn’t do that for his kids?!) is bad, how about Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Flynn or Bannon?

Do you think Hunter will ever be given an Ambassadorship after Daddy’s pardon…you know, like Jared’s father (Ivanka’s father-in-law), who was a NY real estate crook just like Trump himself?
Again, the issue is not pardoning his som. It's the hypocrisy of pretending to have principles you clearly don't.

Chicago, you are too smart to pretend you don't understand what's at issue here. It's not the pardoning, it's the hypocrisy.



Trump wants pardoned real estate developer Charles Kushner to become US ambassador to France

Image

FILE - Charles Kushner arrives for the funeral of Ivana Trump, July 20, 2022, in New York.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday he intends to nominate real estate developer Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France.
Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post, calling Charles Kushner “a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker.”

Kushner is the founder of Kushner Companies, a real estate firm. Jared Kushner is a former White House senior adviser to Trump who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka.

The elder Kushner was pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after pleading guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.

Prosecutors alleged that after Charles Kushner discovered his brother-in-law was cooperating with federal authorities in an investigation, he hatched a scheme for revenge and intimidation. (Honey trap with a hooker on video! Nice family, huh?!)

Hmmm, I sense a common love of these two traits!!


I can only hope you have something more for your Trump-lovefest!

I know for a fact you’re not going to like his picks for the NMB!!
Yes, Kushner was a douchebag. But no one Trump pardoned is a greater Douchebag than Michael Conahan of the infamous Kids for Cash scheme...

As usual, the hypocrite hid the commutation in the midst of the 1500 commutations ( apparently for low level criminals who were sent home during COVID). Yey amongst them are some of the worst of the worst.

These bastard was taking bribes from a for profit juvenile facility and sending as many kids as he could find anything to stick on. Some of the kids committed suicide... That's who Biden is commuting. So you can miss me with all the Anti-Trump stuff.
 
Is it essential in the US for libel to have to lower the complainant's reputation? Even if the jury didn't say rape had been proved, but he'd committed a serious sexual assault, can you lower the reputation of someone who would obviously commit rape if he could, or boasts he could shoot someone and get away with it?

Why are you at all bothered about his "reputation"?
ABC did not settle because they thought they'd lose the case. They settled because Discovery probably would have caused more damage to their reputation as an unbiased arbiter of news and information. :)
 
The starting point is here appointing someone who isn't keen on polio vaccines as health secretary. Whoever you have in mind as a bad choice by Biden, you start with RFK as 99% shit. (1% off for not liking big pharma.)
That's a smear. And it's false.
 
“The middle class is in trouble,” said candidate Biden in 2020. “It’s not just their perception. They are in trouble.”

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden had “the most accomplished record of any modern commander in chief and rebuilt the middle class because of his attention to policy details that impact millions of lives.”

Dec. 19th 2024

Biden rebuilt the middle class. In 4 years. He's totally reversed a 50 year decline. It's as amazing an achievement as putting a man on the moon. Yet the ungrateful middle-class wretches just won't give Biden the credit for the resurrection. Apparently it's just their perception things suck for them, they really aren't in trouble and government statistics prove it.

J.P. Morgan analyst Matthew Boss colloquially described low- to middle-income consumers as being in a “selective recession” earlier this year, meaning they are under financial pressure due to rising prices, which took an incremental toll on their savings. A recession formally refers to a “significant decline in economic activity” that lasts more than a few months, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. Boss was not available for an interview.

“There are many people in the middle class who are not in their ideal circumstances,” Columbia Business School professor Brett House told MarketWatch. While House did not go as far as to characterize the middle class as being in a recession, he said the increase in the cost of living and in interest rates over the last few years “has not fallen on people in an equitable or equal way.”

Trump’s major policy proposals “would be unlikely to make middle-class Americans better off,” House added. Tariffs, reduced immigration levels and mass deportation, for instance, would “unquestionably push up costs” for businesses and “increase the prices that Americans pay for essential goods,” he said.

The share of Americans in middle-income households, as well as the percent of total household income they held, had already been in decline for decades before the pandemic, according to the Pew Research Center. During the pandemic recovery, middle-income households saw the slowest wage growth among all groups between 2019 and 2023, according to data from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.

By 2024, consumption became “dominated by high-income households, which have enjoyed enormous gains in household wealth, along with strong interest, dividend and property income,” J.P. Morgan analysts wrote in a 2025 year-ahead report.
Other consumers, in the meantime, have been more cautious.

Historically, middle-income consumer sentiment tracked that of high-income Americans, Kayla Bruun, lead economist at the polling firm Morning Consult, told MarketWatch. But when inflation heated up in 2021, the gap in financial well-being between high-income consumers and everyone else started widening. Middle-income consumers were able to cope with rising prices for a while, but “starting in late 2023 and the first half of this year, the middle-income group really started to deteriorate and behave more like lower-income consumers,” she said.

 

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