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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
October 4, 2024
Survey finds majority of Michigan Democrats and Republicans reject Trump tariff proposal
(Michigan Advance) Throughout election season, jobs and the economy have been a central issue for both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, each presidential candidate has floated their own proposals for protecting and building up American manufacturing.
While Harris has proposed closing tax loopholes for some large corporations and providing government support for specific areas of the manufacturing sector like clean energy and semiconductors, Trump has pointed to tariffs as a key component of his trade policy, proposing a 10% or 20% tariff on all imported goods and a 60% tariff on goods imported from China.
Trump has also proposed a reciprocal trade policy, where the U.S. would charge countries the same tariff for their goods if they raise tariffs on American goods above what the U.S. has imposed for the same type of products.
....(snip)....
According to a recent survey from the University of Maryland Program for Public Consultation, voters in six swing states have spoken out against Trump’s proposals of raising tariffs 10 to 20%, with a majority of voters on both sides of the aisle supporting low tariffs on countries that abide by mutual trade rules while continuing to impose high tariffs on China. ....................(more)
https://michiganadvance.com/2024/10/03/survey-finds-majority-of-michigan-democrats-and-republicans-reject-trump-tariff-proposal/
October 4, 2024
(Salon) The evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s mammoth filing in Donald Trump’s election interference case as “utterly damning,” legal experts told Salon, but the Supreme Court could intervene yet again to aid the former president.
Smith’s much-anticipated filing on Wednesday provided the most complete picture of the case against Trump. The special counsel described Trump’s campaign to overturn the election results as “private” after the Supreme Court shielded him from charges related to the core functions of the presidency.
....(snip)....
Hofstra University law professor James Sample told Salon that the filing was “thorough, detailed, and — in a world where objective facts mattered — would be utterly damning.” Sample noted, however, that Trump might still find refuge at the Supreme Court, depending on how the court decides to interpret it own ruling on presidential immunity.
“But Trump’s delay tactics, ably assisted by the Supreme Court have thwarted legal justice,” Sample said. “Now only the voters can prevent a scenario in which Smith’s filing is but the prologue to a national Shakespearean tragedy.” ................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/03/he-has-zero-nothing-legal-experts-say-has-no-factual-defense-against-jack-smith-filing/
"He has zero, nothing": Legal experts say Trump has "no factual defense" against Jack Smith filing
(Salon) The evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s mammoth filing in Donald Trump’s election interference case as “utterly damning,” legal experts told Salon, but the Supreme Court could intervene yet again to aid the former president.
Smith’s much-anticipated filing on Wednesday provided the most complete picture of the case against Trump. The special counsel described Trump’s campaign to overturn the election results as “private” after the Supreme Court shielded him from charges related to the core functions of the presidency.
....(snip)....
Hofstra University law professor James Sample told Salon that the filing was “thorough, detailed, and — in a world where objective facts mattered — would be utterly damning.” Sample noted, however, that Trump might still find refuge at the Supreme Court, depending on how the court decides to interpret it own ruling on presidential immunity.
“But Trump’s delay tactics, ably assisted by the Supreme Court have thwarted legal justice,” Sample said. “Now only the voters can prevent a scenario in which Smith’s filing is but the prologue to a national Shakespearean tragedy.” ................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/03/he-has-zero-nothing-legal-experts-say-has-no-factual-defense-against-jack-smith-filing/
October 3, 2024
(Salon) Police responded to a call that a pregnant woman was overdosing. When they arrived, they administered Narcan, the life-saving drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Afterward, they charged the woman with "abuse" of her “unborn child,” according to documents obtained by Pregnancy Justice.
This is one of 210 examples of pregnancy criminalization the nonprofit organization has documented in a report released last week that tracks police investigation and criminal court files involving pregnant people in the year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision. A previous report from the nonprofit organization showed that more and more pregnant people were being charged in the decades leading up to Dobbs. The year since saw the highest number of prosecutions the research team has documented in a single year, report co-author Wendy Bach told Salon.
“The report shows how pregnant people are really under increased surveillance in all kinds of ways, in particular when there's a pregnancy loss,” Bach said in a video call.
The majority of cases documented in the report involved general criminal laws used to prosecute pregnant people. Ninety percent of charges were for some form of child abuse, neglect or endangerment wile 86% of cases did not require prosecutors to find evidence of harm to the fetus. Instead, these charges could be handed down if the defendant was judged to put the embryo or fetus at risk, noted Maya Manian, a law professor at American University who specializes in healthcare and reproductive rights. .................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/03/new-report-shows-more-than-200-pregnant-people-have-faced-criminal-charges-since-dobbs-decision/
New report shows more than 200 pregnant people have faced criminal charges since Dobbs decision
(Salon) Police responded to a call that a pregnant woman was overdosing. When they arrived, they administered Narcan, the life-saving drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. Afterward, they charged the woman with "abuse" of her “unborn child,” according to documents obtained by Pregnancy Justice.
This is one of 210 examples of pregnancy criminalization the nonprofit organization has documented in a report released last week that tracks police investigation and criminal court files involving pregnant people in the year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision. A previous report from the nonprofit organization showed that more and more pregnant people were being charged in the decades leading up to Dobbs. The year since saw the highest number of prosecutions the research team has documented in a single year, report co-author Wendy Bach told Salon.
“The report shows how pregnant people are really under increased surveillance in all kinds of ways, in particular when there's a pregnancy loss,” Bach said in a video call.
The majority of cases documented in the report involved general criminal laws used to prosecute pregnant people. Ninety percent of charges were for some form of child abuse, neglect or endangerment wile 86% of cases did not require prosecutors to find evidence of harm to the fetus. Instead, these charges could be handed down if the defendant was judged to put the embryo or fetus at risk, noted Maya Manian, a law professor at American University who specializes in healthcare and reproductive rights. .................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/03/new-report-shows-more-than-200-pregnant-people-have-faced-criminal-charges-since-dobbs-decision/
October 3, 2024
"Pro-life" identity politics: GOP's sudden support of abortion shows it was never about policy
Dramatic shifts in abortion polls illustrate how MAGA just wanted a way to bash women
By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published October 3, 2024 5:54AM (EDT)
(Salon) Before Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, the Supreme Court decision that ended abortion rights, it was a truism in the Beltway press that Americans were "bitterly divided" on abortion. Driven by polls that mostly asked people if they are "pro-life" or "pro-choice," journalists portrayed Republican voters as strongly opposed to abortion for moral and religious reasons. So it's quite the shocker to see recent polls show that a plurality — and in many cases, the majority — of Republicans plan to vote for abortion rights in various state ballot initiatives this November.
....(snip)....
What's going on here isn't especially confusing. Prior to Dobbs, calling yourself "pro-life" was a low-cost way for Republican voters to tell a story where they are morally upright heroes while casting feminists, urban liberals, college kids, and racial minorities as oversexed heathens. When abortion is legal, it's easy to condemn other people's abortions as a matter of "convenience" or say they're "using it for birth control" or employ other euphemisms for promiscuity, while quietly believing the abortions you and your friends get are justified.
....(snip)....
It was an outrageous lie by insinuation, but why he lied is not mysterious. Vance understands that his voters want to hear a pretty story where people like themselves will get to have abortions, but those other people — imagined to be "sluts" and "welfare queens" — will not. The problem for him and Trump, as this polling shows, is that the cold, hard reality of abortion bans is hard to ignore, now that they're law and not just an abstraction. Post-Dobbs, "abortion" isn't just a way for MAGA voters to gloat about their self-defined moral superiority. Instead, they realize that the bans apply to MAGA and non-MAGA alike. It's shifted from cheap identity politics to real-world impacts. As these polling changes demonstrate, their actual policy preference has started to eclipse what used to move them, which was culture war nonsense.
....(snip)....
Democrats are often accused by the pundits of being the ones who practice "identity politics," usually when they note the real world impacts of sexism, racism, and homophobia on real people. But what Republicans do is pure identity politics, a politics about ego and identity that is disconnected from material implications. Their propaganda apparatus encourages white people to wallow in sick urban legends about cat-eating immigrants, which creates the temporary thrill of feeling superior without doing anything substantive to improve their lives. Or to complain about imaginary "loose" women who use abortions as "birth control." Or to get mad about "cancel culture" or make-believe slights from liberals. ..................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/03/pro-life-identity-politics-gops-sudden-support-of-abortion-shows-it-was-never-about-policy/
"Pro-life" identity politics: GOP's sudden support of abortion shows it was never about policy
"Pro-life" identity politics: GOP's sudden support of abortion shows it was never about policy
Dramatic shifts in abortion polls illustrate how MAGA just wanted a way to bash women
By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published October 3, 2024 5:54AM (EDT)
(Salon) Before Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, the Supreme Court decision that ended abortion rights, it was a truism in the Beltway press that Americans were "bitterly divided" on abortion. Driven by polls that mostly asked people if they are "pro-life" or "pro-choice," journalists portrayed Republican voters as strongly opposed to abortion for moral and religious reasons. So it's quite the shocker to see recent polls show that a plurality — and in many cases, the majority — of Republicans plan to vote for abortion rights in various state ballot initiatives this November.
....(snip)....
What's going on here isn't especially confusing. Prior to Dobbs, calling yourself "pro-life" was a low-cost way for Republican voters to tell a story where they are morally upright heroes while casting feminists, urban liberals, college kids, and racial minorities as oversexed heathens. When abortion is legal, it's easy to condemn other people's abortions as a matter of "convenience" or say they're "using it for birth control" or employ other euphemisms for promiscuity, while quietly believing the abortions you and your friends get are justified.
....(snip)....
It was an outrageous lie by insinuation, but why he lied is not mysterious. Vance understands that his voters want to hear a pretty story where people like themselves will get to have abortions, but those other people — imagined to be "sluts" and "welfare queens" — will not. The problem for him and Trump, as this polling shows, is that the cold, hard reality of abortion bans is hard to ignore, now that they're law and not just an abstraction. Post-Dobbs, "abortion" isn't just a way for MAGA voters to gloat about their self-defined moral superiority. Instead, they realize that the bans apply to MAGA and non-MAGA alike. It's shifted from cheap identity politics to real-world impacts. As these polling changes demonstrate, their actual policy preference has started to eclipse what used to move them, which was culture war nonsense.
....(snip)....
Democrats are often accused by the pundits of being the ones who practice "identity politics," usually when they note the real world impacts of sexism, racism, and homophobia on real people. But what Republicans do is pure identity politics, a politics about ego and identity that is disconnected from material implications. Their propaganda apparatus encourages white people to wallow in sick urban legends about cat-eating immigrants, which creates the temporary thrill of feeling superior without doing anything substantive to improve their lives. Or to complain about imaginary "loose" women who use abortions as "birth control." Or to get mad about "cancel culture" or make-believe slights from liberals. ..................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/03/pro-life-identity-politics-gops-sudden-support-of-abortion-shows-it-was-never-about-policy/
October 3, 2024
HOUSTON -- Manager A.J. Hinch wanted his Detroit Tigers to embody their home city. Hard-working with a never-give-up attitude, but most of all a team that had grit.
That's how they stormed into October -- and just kept going.
Andy Ibanez hit a tiebreaking three-run double in Detroit's four-run eighth inning, and the Tigers swept the Houston Astros with a 5-2 victory in Game 2 of their AL Wild Card Series on Wednesday.
"Our city is built on grit," a jubilant Hinch said in a prosecco-soaked clubhouse. "That's what it is. I remember saying that I wanted to have a team that this city is proud of. I think the city is pretty proud of what we're doing and how we're doing it and the fight that this team shows." ................(more)
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/41574766/tigers-sweep-astros-al-wild-card-face-guardians-next
'Built on grit': Young Tigers rally to sweep Astros
HOUSTON -- Manager A.J. Hinch wanted his Detroit Tigers to embody their home city. Hard-working with a never-give-up attitude, but most of all a team that had grit.
That's how they stormed into October -- and just kept going.
Andy Ibanez hit a tiebreaking three-run double in Detroit's four-run eighth inning, and the Tigers swept the Houston Astros with a 5-2 victory in Game 2 of their AL Wild Card Series on Wednesday.
"Our city is built on grit," a jubilant Hinch said in a prosecco-soaked clubhouse. "That's what it is. I remember saying that I wanted to have a team that this city is proud of. I think the city is pretty proud of what we're doing and how we're doing it and the fight that this team shows." ................(more)
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/41574766/tigers-sweep-astros-al-wild-card-face-guardians-next
October 3, 2024
JD Vance is laying his foundation for a post-Trump GOP
Donald Trump’s running mate has a long-term plan in mind: To be the fascist of the future
By Brian Karem
Columnist
Published October 3, 2024 9:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) If you watched Tuesday’s vice presidential debate hoping for something like a WWE SmackDown event, then you were probably left disappointed. However, if you wondered what fascism on Novocain looks like, or what a political “prevent” defense versus a blitz looks like, you might have enjoyed yourself.
....(snip)....
With a serious tone and knitted brows, CBS News' Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan moderated the debate that ran for 90 minutes at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York. While the ghost of Walter Cronkite was probably wretched in anticipation of the event, which studio heads boasted would feature no fact-checking from the moderators, early in the debate the journalists abandoned that vow after Vance refused to drop the obvious and dangerous lie about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio he’s propagated for weeks.
....(snip)....
“He lost the election,” Walz said of Trump. “This is not a debate. . . Will you stand up? Will you keep your oath of office even if the President doesn't? And I think Kamala Harris would agree. She wouldn't have picked me if she didn't think I would do that because, of course, that's what we would do. So, America, I think you've got a really clear choice on this election of who's going to honor that democracy and who's going to honor Donald Trump.”
....(snip)....
What Trump failed to understand is there was a reason why Vance didn’t burn hot at the debate either. He wanted to put a kinder, gentler face on Project 2025, the GOP’s fascist tendencies and their desire to destroy unions, health care, and the economy. In short, Vance was trying to show that if Trump loses – which is increasingly more likely – then he, JD Vance at 40 years of age is the heir apparent in the Republican Party. He had a long-term plan in mind — to be the fascist of the future— and he may have been successful in playing his hand. ....................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/03/jd-vance-is-laying-his-foundation-for-a-post/
JD Vance is laying his foundation for a post-Trump GOP
JD Vance is laying his foundation for a post-Trump GOP
Donald Trump’s running mate has a long-term plan in mind: To be the fascist of the future
By Brian Karem
Columnist
Published October 3, 2024 9:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) If you watched Tuesday’s vice presidential debate hoping for something like a WWE SmackDown event, then you were probably left disappointed. However, if you wondered what fascism on Novocain looks like, or what a political “prevent” defense versus a blitz looks like, you might have enjoyed yourself.
....(snip)....
With a serious tone and knitted brows, CBS News' Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan moderated the debate that ran for 90 minutes at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York. While the ghost of Walter Cronkite was probably wretched in anticipation of the event, which studio heads boasted would feature no fact-checking from the moderators, early in the debate the journalists abandoned that vow after Vance refused to drop the obvious and dangerous lie about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio he’s propagated for weeks.
....(snip)....
“He lost the election,” Walz said of Trump. “This is not a debate. . . Will you stand up? Will you keep your oath of office even if the President doesn't? And I think Kamala Harris would agree. She wouldn't have picked me if she didn't think I would do that because, of course, that's what we would do. So, America, I think you've got a really clear choice on this election of who's going to honor that democracy and who's going to honor Donald Trump.”
....(snip)....
What Trump failed to understand is there was a reason why Vance didn’t burn hot at the debate either. He wanted to put a kinder, gentler face on Project 2025, the GOP’s fascist tendencies and their desire to destroy unions, health care, and the economy. In short, Vance was trying to show that if Trump loses – which is increasingly more likely – then he, JD Vance at 40 years of age is the heir apparent in the Republican Party. He had a long-term plan in mind — to be the fascist of the future— and he may have been successful in playing his hand. ....................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/03/jd-vance-is-laying-his-foundation-for-a-post/
October 3, 2024
Jack Smith shows his cards just in time: January 6 case looks like the winning hand against Trump
Smith’s filing comes at a crucial time, weeks before Election Day
By Austin Sarat
Published October 3, 2024 6:10AM (EDT)
(Salon) Jack Smith’s latest filing in the election interference case against Donald Trump contains explosive reminders and bombshell revelations about the former president’s conduct following his 2020 election loss that would have made even Niccolo Machiavelli blush. In his famous 16th-century book The Prince, Machiavelli lays out an ultra-pragmatic, no-holds-barred account of how to succeed in politics. Reading it, like Smith’s 165-page response to Trump’s claim of presidential immunity, is not for the faint at heart. Smith, like Machiavelli, pulled no punches.
....(snip)....
Whatever else it is, Smith’s filing is not short on details. As a result, it makes an important contribution to our collective understanding of how close we came to losing our democracy and of Trump’s central role in the coordinated efforts carried out by the sycophants, courtiers, and corrupt lawyers who did his bidding. Reading it is like returning to the scene of a disaster. We are invited to relive the trauma. Sometimes that is what being a citizen in a democracy demands —especially so in the age of Trump.
....(snip)....
Smith makes clear that the charges, which could very well land Trump in jail, are not going away. He reveals powerful evidence to show “the defendant’s and co-conspirators’ knowingly false claims of election fraud.” He claims that “They used these lies in furtherance of… a conspiracy against the rights of millions of Americans to vote and have their votes counted.”
....(snip)....
Smith arrays these facts in a narrative driven by the need to convince Federal District Court Judge Tanya Chutkin that what Trump did was not done in his capacity as president, but rather as a candidate for office. Smith contends, after scrupulously parsing the Supreme Court’s immunity decision, that Trump’s conduct “was not official, and, in the alternative, that the Government has rebutted any presumptive immunity for any of the remaining conduct that the Court finds to be official.” ...............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/03/jack-smith-shows-his-cards-just-in-time-january-6-case-looks-like-the-winning-hand-against/
Jack Smith's October surprise: Jan. 6
Jack Smith shows his cards just in time: January 6 case looks like the winning hand against Trump
Smith’s filing comes at a crucial time, weeks before Election Day
By Austin Sarat
Published October 3, 2024 6:10AM (EDT)
(Salon) Jack Smith’s latest filing in the election interference case against Donald Trump contains explosive reminders and bombshell revelations about the former president’s conduct following his 2020 election loss that would have made even Niccolo Machiavelli blush. In his famous 16th-century book The Prince, Machiavelli lays out an ultra-pragmatic, no-holds-barred account of how to succeed in politics. Reading it, like Smith’s 165-page response to Trump’s claim of presidential immunity, is not for the faint at heart. Smith, like Machiavelli, pulled no punches.
....(snip)....
Whatever else it is, Smith’s filing is not short on details. As a result, it makes an important contribution to our collective understanding of how close we came to losing our democracy and of Trump’s central role in the coordinated efforts carried out by the sycophants, courtiers, and corrupt lawyers who did his bidding. Reading it is like returning to the scene of a disaster. We are invited to relive the trauma. Sometimes that is what being a citizen in a democracy demands —especially so in the age of Trump.
....(snip)....
Smith makes clear that the charges, which could very well land Trump in jail, are not going away. He reveals powerful evidence to show “the defendant’s and co-conspirators’ knowingly false claims of election fraud.” He claims that “They used these lies in furtherance of… a conspiracy against the rights of millions of Americans to vote and have their votes counted.”
....(snip)....
Smith arrays these facts in a narrative driven by the need to convince Federal District Court Judge Tanya Chutkin that what Trump did was not done in his capacity as president, but rather as a candidate for office. Smith contends, after scrupulously parsing the Supreme Court’s immunity decision, that Trump’s conduct “was not official, and, in the alternative, that the Government has rebutted any presumptive immunity for any of the remaining conduct that the Court finds to be official.” ...............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/03/jack-smith-shows-his-cards-just-in-time-january-6-case-looks-like-the-winning-hand-against/
October 2, 2024
There’s a reason Trump doesn’t want you to see this movie – which is why you should
By Brian Karem
Columnist
Published October 2, 2024 5:45AM (EDT)
(Salon) When we first meet Donald Trump in the new movie “The Apprentice” it is in the early 70s and Trump is in his mid-20s. He is a slumlord collecting rent from poor tenants for his abusive father. Some of them pour water on him. Some cuss him out. Some avoid him completely.
Facing bankruptcy for discriminatory rental policies, young Donald, looking for help, turns to the one man he believes can successfully bully the government – Roy Cohn. The infamous attorney takes Trump under his wing, teaches him how to dress, act, and above all how to “win." Thus begins an acidic mentorship that ends up giving us the Donald Trump we all know today.
....(snip)....
The movie played to raves at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, but after the real Trump and his lawyers threatened legal action with a cease and desist demand, the producers could not get a distribution deal. Briarcliff Entertainment and Tom Ortenberg stepped in and took up the cause. Ortenburg is well known for having the courage others have lacked in Hollywood and has distributed several controversial projects like “Spotlight,” which won two Academy Awards – including Best Picture.
....(snip)....
It’s an important character story of a characterless man. It entertains and explains how Trump became who he is. All of the abuse, anger, shallowness, greed and insecurity is there from the very beginning; a volcano of human pettiness and greed stoked by the racist fire of his father, his own sense of entitlement and sparked by a man who helped defend Joe McCarthy. ...............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/02/the-apprentice-gets-honest-about-the-making-of-donald/
"The Apprentice" gets honest about the making of Donald Trump
“The Apprentice” gets honest about the making of Donald TrumpThere’s a reason Trump doesn’t want you to see this movie – which is why you should
By Brian Karem
Columnist
Published October 2, 2024 5:45AM (EDT)
(Salon) When we first meet Donald Trump in the new movie “The Apprentice” it is in the early 70s and Trump is in his mid-20s. He is a slumlord collecting rent from poor tenants for his abusive father. Some of them pour water on him. Some cuss him out. Some avoid him completely.
Facing bankruptcy for discriminatory rental policies, young Donald, looking for help, turns to the one man he believes can successfully bully the government – Roy Cohn. The infamous attorney takes Trump under his wing, teaches him how to dress, act, and above all how to “win." Thus begins an acidic mentorship that ends up giving us the Donald Trump we all know today.
....(snip)....
The movie played to raves at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, but after the real Trump and his lawyers threatened legal action with a cease and desist demand, the producers could not get a distribution deal. Briarcliff Entertainment and Tom Ortenberg stepped in and took up the cause. Ortenburg is well known for having the courage others have lacked in Hollywood and has distributed several controversial projects like “Spotlight,” which won two Academy Awards – including Best Picture.
....(snip)....
It’s an important character story of a characterless man. It entertains and explains how Trump became who he is. All of the abuse, anger, shallowness, greed and insecurity is there from the very beginning; a volcano of human pettiness and greed stoked by the racist fire of his father, his own sense of entitlement and sparked by a man who helped defend Joe McCarthy. ...............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/02/the-apprentice-gets-honest-about-the-making-of-donald/
October 2, 2024
The vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz was nice and polite
By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published October 2, 2024 9:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) Writing about a debate on the morning after always feels more like theater criticism than political analysis. How did they look, how did they sound, did they come off as authentic and real or were they phony and glib? Were they believable to the faceless Real Americans watching being asked to decide which of them to vote for? But that's what these televised debates really are. The substance is usually secondary because they've practiced their lines and have a specific message they want to impart regardless of the topic they're being asked to address. They're political rituals that we use to decide if the person appears to be someone we want to watch perform the role of whatever office they are seeking.
....(snip)....
In light of that, it's very hard to see how a vice presidential debate could possibly change anything and last night's event between JD Vance and Tim Walz almost assuredly will not. The two men obviously came into the debate with some very specific performance strategies and they both did what they needed to do. Vance obviously decided that his goal was to shed the intellectual extremist "cat ladies" persona and portray himself as the smart conservative who wrote "Hillbilly Elegy." He is very adept at changing roles, having even changed his name several times, so this came very naturally to him. Walz clearly wanted to highlight his record and show his wonky side with lots of details. He came across as less polished than Vance but effectively made his points on the issues the campaign wanted him to raise even if his performance wasn't as slick.
....(snip)....
I suspect that Vance may go viral with some of his answers though. His lies were overwhelming and the fact-checks were brutal. Walz got dinged for saying that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989 when he was really only there for the demonstrations afterward (and he called himself a knucklehead for saying it). But Vance denied that he had supported a national abortion ban when there is written proof that he did. He whined about the moderators "fact-checking" him —- a real beta boy move. He mansplained to the female moderators, which is something he just can't help doing even when he's trying not to be a flagrant misogynist. And with Olympian-level chutzpah, he said that Donald Trump saved Obamacare. That's just for starters.
....(snip)....
It appears they both accomplished what they set out to do when it comes to issues and the debate watchers were happy to see a convivial debate. But while Vance may have been nicer than they expected they still liked Walz more. I suspect that may end up being more important than any single thing either of them said. .......................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/02/tim-walz-wins-the-nice-guy-debate/
Midwest nice: Walz wins on authenticity
Tim Walz wins the nice guy debateThe vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz was nice and polite
By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published October 2, 2024 9:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) Writing about a debate on the morning after always feels more like theater criticism than political analysis. How did they look, how did they sound, did they come off as authentic and real or were they phony and glib? Were they believable to the faceless Real Americans watching being asked to decide which of them to vote for? But that's what these televised debates really are. The substance is usually secondary because they've practiced their lines and have a specific message they want to impart regardless of the topic they're being asked to address. They're political rituals that we use to decide if the person appears to be someone we want to watch perform the role of whatever office they are seeking.
....(snip)....
In light of that, it's very hard to see how a vice presidential debate could possibly change anything and last night's event between JD Vance and Tim Walz almost assuredly will not. The two men obviously came into the debate with some very specific performance strategies and they both did what they needed to do. Vance obviously decided that his goal was to shed the intellectual extremist "cat ladies" persona and portray himself as the smart conservative who wrote "Hillbilly Elegy." He is very adept at changing roles, having even changed his name several times, so this came very naturally to him. Walz clearly wanted to highlight his record and show his wonky side with lots of details. He came across as less polished than Vance but effectively made his points on the issues the campaign wanted him to raise even if his performance wasn't as slick.
....(snip)....
I suspect that Vance may go viral with some of his answers though. His lies were overwhelming and the fact-checks were brutal. Walz got dinged for saying that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989 when he was really only there for the demonstrations afterward (and he called himself a knucklehead for saying it). But Vance denied that he had supported a national abortion ban when there is written proof that he did. He whined about the moderators "fact-checking" him —- a real beta boy move. He mansplained to the female moderators, which is something he just can't help doing even when he's trying not to be a flagrant misogynist. And with Olympian-level chutzpah, he said that Donald Trump saved Obamacare. That's just for starters.
....(snip)....
It appears they both accomplished what they set out to do when it comes to issues and the debate watchers were happy to see a convivial debate. But while Vance may have been nicer than they expected they still liked Walz more. I suspect that may end up being more important than any single thing either of them said. .......................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/02/tim-walz-wins-the-nice-guy-debate/
October 1, 2024
JD Vance isn't just thin-skinned — he thinks whining is a winning political strategy
Trump's running mate soaks in the online culture of MAGA self-pity and doesn't realize it annoys normal people
By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published October 1, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) To know Sen. JD Vance is to dislike him. The Ohio Republican was relatively unknown to most Americans before Donald Trump picked him as a running mate, and few, if any, politicians have garnered such a negative reaction in such a short period. It's not just his rants about "childless cat ladies." Focus groups show that voters are well aware that, while Vance publicly praises Trump like he's a god, he talks smack about his boss behind his back. But I suspect, like Heather "Digby" Parton wrote at Salon Monday, "his nasty, cold personality" is a factor in Vance's unpopularity.
Vance can't seem to speak without whining. Every interview with him is a grievance-fest where he plays the victim of "the media," lies while falsely accusing his opponents of lying, and acts put out by inconsequential nonsense. He's as full of self-pity as Trump. Vance can be even more aggravating because, by all accounts, has a great life well beyond what he deserves: a beautiful family he doesn't appear to appreciate, a Senate seat purchased for him by a tech billionaire, and millions of dollars, despite not offering any real value to society or the economy.
....(snip)....
On Sunday, David Frum of the Atlantic argued that Vance "seethes with petty peevishness." But Frum also appears to believe that Vance is acting like a brat on accident. For instance, Vance threw a fit on CNN after host Dana Bash asked him why he lies about Haitians eating cats. The freshman senator insisted he was forced to lie by "the media," because they otherwise won't cover the stories he wants them to. Frum paints this tantrum as a "mistake," an impulsive admission by a thin-skinned bully who let his ego get the better of him. Frum also views Vance's aggrieved responses whenever he's asked about "cat ladies" in the same light, as Vance's childish inability to control his petulant emotions.
Perhaps, but looking at the reporting from the New York Times and Politico — and adding my own experience observing Vance — I'd say the likelier explanation is that Vance thinks whining is a political strategy. The would-be vice president is a man who spends an excessive amount of time online and in conversation with alt-right, incel-adjacent posters and Elon Musk. He inhabits a space populated by right-wing windbags who have convinced each other, through endless repetition, that they are the most put-upon people in history. Having spent that much time in that toxic brew, Vance has come to believe that griping non-stop is political gold. ....................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/01/jd-vance-isnt-just-thin-skinned--he-thinks-whining-is-a-winning-political-strategy/
JD Vance isn't just thin-skinned -- he thinks whining is a winning political strategy
JD Vance isn't just thin-skinned — he thinks whining is a winning political strategy
Trump's running mate soaks in the online culture of MAGA self-pity and doesn't realize it annoys normal people
By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published October 1, 2024 6:00AM (EDT)
(Salon) To know Sen. JD Vance is to dislike him. The Ohio Republican was relatively unknown to most Americans before Donald Trump picked him as a running mate, and few, if any, politicians have garnered such a negative reaction in such a short period. It's not just his rants about "childless cat ladies." Focus groups show that voters are well aware that, while Vance publicly praises Trump like he's a god, he talks smack about his boss behind his back. But I suspect, like Heather "Digby" Parton wrote at Salon Monday, "his nasty, cold personality" is a factor in Vance's unpopularity.
Vance can't seem to speak without whining. Every interview with him is a grievance-fest where he plays the victim of "the media," lies while falsely accusing his opponents of lying, and acts put out by inconsequential nonsense. He's as full of self-pity as Trump. Vance can be even more aggravating because, by all accounts, has a great life well beyond what he deserves: a beautiful family he doesn't appear to appreciate, a Senate seat purchased for him by a tech billionaire, and millions of dollars, despite not offering any real value to society or the economy.
....(snip)....
On Sunday, David Frum of the Atlantic argued that Vance "seethes with petty peevishness." But Frum also appears to believe that Vance is acting like a brat on accident. For instance, Vance threw a fit on CNN after host Dana Bash asked him why he lies about Haitians eating cats. The freshman senator insisted he was forced to lie by "the media," because they otherwise won't cover the stories he wants them to. Frum paints this tantrum as a "mistake," an impulsive admission by a thin-skinned bully who let his ego get the better of him. Frum also views Vance's aggrieved responses whenever he's asked about "cat ladies" in the same light, as Vance's childish inability to control his petulant emotions.
Perhaps, but looking at the reporting from the New York Times and Politico — and adding my own experience observing Vance — I'd say the likelier explanation is that Vance thinks whining is a political strategy. The would-be vice president is a man who spends an excessive amount of time online and in conversation with alt-right, incel-adjacent posters and Elon Musk. He inhabits a space populated by right-wing windbags who have convinced each other, through endless repetition, that they are the most put-upon people in history. Having spent that much time in that toxic brew, Vance has come to believe that griping non-stop is political gold. ....................(more)
https://www.salon.com/2024/10/01/jd-vance-isnt-just-thin-skinned--he-thinks-whining-is-a-winning-political-strategy/
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