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VR spaces is where the next generation of teenagers will probably be. That’ll be a new load of outrages and headaches.

They shouldn’t have to talk about pronouns any further than “if it makes you feel good do it.” There’s no need to go down the rabbit hole and giving some gender studies explanation of it which will just make people think pronouns are somehow a Democrat priority. That said, Democrats are not going to win on trans athletes or taking the power away from parents who don’t want their decisions on things like hormone treatment and puberty blockers taken away. That’s one thing, at best, they’ll have to leave to states for now. It’ll probably enrage some people, but sometimes you have to set things aside when it keeps you from winning. I know it’ll piss some people off and harm people, but the choice is no rights under Republicans or 90 percent of the rights you want under Democrats. Under Democrats, you can at least be sure that 10 percent of rights will probably come when society is ready to accept it.

You want every vote you can get. You just don’t need to say “we’re doing this for you Republicans.” They got many Republican voters in 06 and 08 without doing anything more than acknowledging that they’d work with them and Obama saying he’d have a republican in his cabinet. I think they really got complacent in 2012 when they bought into the whole “demographics are destiny” thing. I think they just assumed the growth of the nonwhite population would ensure a permanent majority within a decade. Didn’t pan out and I think the “demographics are destiny” idea is officially dead.

Musk will probably quit when he finds out he’s not surrounded by yes men to tell him all his ideas are great. Dude melted down after what should’ve been predictable questions from Don Lemon.

Whatever Republicans they were going to get, they got in 2020.

I don’t think it’s too terribly different than the Republican domination of the media in the early 00s. The media was different but the right wing still dominated alternative media like the Internet forums and blogs, radio and cable news. Back then it was terrorism, illegal immigration, racism and homophobia … so not much different. Republicans dominated the house and senate by degrees that make today’s split seem insignificant. Eventually, though, people started to actually feel the impacts of Republican’s shitty policies. When people felt it, that’s when things changed. No amount of Fox News and Limbaugh could’ve changed that. Really, the big difference now is that Democrats don’t take the fight to those spaces. Aside from Mayor Pete and Newsom, you don’t see Democrat office holders on Fox News, the manosphere or other places. Democrats have had the media disadvantage from the start of the 21st century. The big difference is now that they seem to believe that they can create their own alternative space and people will come … but they don’t. They’ve got to get back into going into enemy territory.

Trump is the one that amplifies them. He gives them access and they carry his water. DEI, transphobia and whatever they’re harping on now aren’t going to be what people are worried about in the near future. Their shelf life expires for the majority. Plus, people get bored fast when the rage is gone.

You’re saying no Trump needed but everything you said goes back to Trump. He is the one who is at the heart of the woke harping and conspiracy theories because he pushes them nonstop and the people who follow tune into these other media sources to compliment what they get from Trump, not vice versa. There is no one that matches Trump. Not Rogan, not Shapiro and not even Carlson. Without Trump, the heart of Trumpism dies. Others tried to move in and become that after he left office and not even DeSantis came within spitting distance. Without Trump, the rightwing media system will fracture and most of it will likely die. The majority of his followers are not ideologues, they are cult members. Without their leader, cults usually die pretty quickly.

I’m not sure if it is as much as the media environment as it is Trump. If he has one skill, it’s his ability to manipulate the media and getting people to buy into what he’s selling. I don’t think any other Republican can do that because they don’t have his charisma. When he’s no longer a factor, you have a bunch of unlikeable people who sound like politicians whose ideas are shit. The current media environment is built around Trump — right, left and legacy. All bets are off when he is no longer there.

There is a lot of people who keep talking about Democrats being “annihilated” and “finished” but the deficit with the GOP was much greater in the first half of the 00s. Remember 2006 and 2008 where Republicans were decimated to the point where people thought they’d be a permanent minority. Sure, the media environment is different but hard times and disorder always sink in with most people. Biden didn’t have disorder but his poor communication skills and the sidelining of Harris through much of his term allowed that perception to grow. I think the Democrats will learn that lesson about communicating the narrative next time.

Unless we get a new constitution or the US totally falls apart, we’re pretty much stuck with what we have. I don’t think having an executive branch is the problem, I think we just have gotten to a point where presidents can be unchecked. I think Bush II was the real breaking point when the executive was handed so much power after 9/11. I think Germany and Switzerland have two of the best systems when it comes to the executive branches of their government. I think a future government of some sort could combine the two in a way.

The only time Trump really comes close to saying something true is when he projects things onto others.

As co-chair she conflicted with a lot of his original campaign people. She was unlike a lot of them because she was trying to keep Trump focused on less crazy stuff and ultimately failed. This is why I thought it was a curious choice. You can speculate a lot but she doesn’t seem the sort that would allow the RFK sorts into his orbit. I just kind of wonder if he needed someone to take the heat when he doesn’t appoint a lot of the fringe characters that he made promises to during the campaign. Trump is stupid but does have an instinct for finding ways to keep himself for receiving direct blame for things.

Miller is a pretty common name amongst Anglo/German Jews. Seems like it was adopted a very long time ago before many emigrated from Europe.

So, we know who’s going to be running much of the show: https://www.yahoo.com/news/factbox-susie-wiles-ice-maiden-003556705.html Curious choice. I figured it would’ve been Miller.

Weird since Vance has only been in politics for two years.

Oh, thought I’d add that Musk probably thinks that real life infrastructure works like Sim City or City Skylines. I guess he didn’t learn from whatever that tube debacle was in Las Vegas. Can’t wait to hear him whining when his yes men aren’t there to protect him from being told his ideas are shit and that you can’t just make something happen.

Trump seems to have an instinct when it comes to his sycophants trying to get more out of him than vice versa. He wants two things: glory and money. If he sees Musk turn public opinion against him, he’s going to drop him and say “I never bought into that” or “He didn’t tell me about that.” Trump always tries to divert blame for fails as much as he tries to take credit for good things.

I’m certain it won’t take long for musk to have an “emperor has no clothes” moment.

If there is one thing we know about Trump it’s that he backs down pretty fast if he thinks it’ll cause his base to get pissed. Most of them probably haven’t heard anything about cuts being made to the social safety nets that affect them. But if some Republican brings up cutting social security or something, he’ll be out there trying to throw them under the bus. Now, considering his cognitive state, I’m not sure if he will even be aware outside of what the people around him say. Republicans will definitely try to rig things but they have the same incompetency problem as Trump. If there is anything we learned from this last congress it’s that Republicans hate each other at a ridiculous level. They spend more effort backstabbing and undermining each other than they do actually working. No matter how hard they try to rig things, they do a good job of turning the public against them and Trump, again, happily throws them under the bus … and as we know he actively encourages his minions to fight against each other. If Democrats can find a leader that knows how to speak to the public’s concerns and not sound like some PC lecturer, they can capitalize on that.

I think the tariff is one of those things he says and never follows through with. It’s his thing.

I think one of the first things we will see the public pushback on is whatever Musk plans comes to light. He is a guy surrounded by people who tell him all his ideas are good and so far he has gotten the public to believe he’s a genius too. Whenever it comes time though, I think people will see it and be like “WTF?” and say “no way,”

It’s too bad Biden didn’t choose to step aside earlier. Democrats have a lot of great candidate on the bench and we could’ve had a great primary there. Harris may have still won but she’d at least have an opportunity to break with Biden more clearly.

A little early but imagine what the 2028 clown show is going to be like because I don’t see all the power hungry Republicans stepping aside for Vance to coast into the nomination. Here’s my list of who we will likely see in a primary without Trump to clear the field: Hawley DeSantis Cotton Cruz Halley (probably first one to drop) MTG Donaldson Crenshaw (maybe) a couple of never Trumpers … and probably a dozen more. It won’t be like last time for sure.

I think he’s going to screw RFK because he is no longer useful. Someone in his orbit will get close enough to him and say “you can’t actually give this guy an office.”