45 thoughts on “Mourning Joe”

  1. ‘tooniong into the times today

    Attribution: Honest Men Have No Future In Washington by R.J. Matson, CQ Roll Call

  2. that jon stewart monologue last night in full

    Jon Stewart covers the latest post-election news from Trump and Biden world, then unpacks Republicans’ strategy of aggressively exploiting loopholes, in contrast to the Democrats’ style of following rules and norms.

     

  6. There might be other pressures on the Mika (shame shame) and Joe (fraud) show.  Cord Cutters News reported that MSNBC might be sold or otherwise going somewhere other than what it is now.  I remember similar reports on the (completely unreliable) internet about MSNBC during the last several months.  Lots of mummers and rumours, where there is smoke there is fire thing.

  7. This is reminding me of the Boris Yeltsin era, when Russia’s oligarchs took advantage of an aging & somewhat incapacitated leader to privatize the state for their own interests.

  8. I never really forgave Joe and Mika for the hatchet job they did on Hillary.  It was “What about her Emails?” while Mika giggled her way through Trump phone calls.  I like their guests but neither of the “stars” adds much to the show.

     

  9. After Imus got cancelled and Joe and Mika got the job, their show became my morning mainstay (love Mika and Know Your Value.) 
    And they remained so up until I moved to the mountain time zone. Now it’s just too difficult to watch in real time even though I record them. After they started mostly doing “zoom-in’s” from wherever they live now, it’s lost its zip. If they want to be Trump Whisperers now, no difference to me. 
     

  10. CNN’s Brian Stelter: ‘Morning Joe’ meeting with Trump was driven by fears of retribution from incoming administration, sources say. “Monday morning’s big reveal led some media observers to suspect that the hosts thought they might be singled out for political prosecutions. Other MSNBC personalities have also privately wondered if they will be targeted.” — https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/19/media/morning-joe-trump-mar-a-lago-meeting-fears/index.html

  14. We should all be watching the rebroadcast of Wolf Hall on PBS and getting ready for the sequel in 2025.

    We’re about to relive it.

  15. OMG. I live in pacific time and never ever see them and certainly would not record it.  talk about the death of journalism.   He is more ridiculous but he is from Florida.  They should use their real names. Mr and Mrs Uriah Heep.

  19. Pilar (If you’re lurking),

    As one old hick to another, I read your comment from yesterday morning and have to agree, at least to a point.  Couldn’t respond in real time – was busy with my real job yesterday until later last night. Our perspectives as similar. but different – we both gather information from people and pay attention to how they deliver it, then when appropriate, turn it back on them.

    Like you I kept waiting for something a little more granular from Kamala as the election approached regarding the plans that would be most important to the working middle class.  I didn’t need to hear it – no way no how was I going to vote for Dumbass, but regardless, I never saw it or heard it.  In the end it may or may not have made a difference – not sure there were many who were persuadable who were listening for what I hoped to hear. In the last days of the campaign what I heard sounded a lot like what I heard 2 months before from a messaging standpoint.  Would an evolving rollout of a plan that focused on economic issues have generated more votes in the 7 swing states? We’ll never know.

  20. Sturge was right about Nancy M.

    Mace (R-S.C.) said earlier Monday she was introducing a measure to amend the House’s rules to prohibit transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the Capitol. House Republicans are putting together a rules package to govern the House that is set to be voted on in early January.
    Asked if she planned to talk to McBride, Mace said: “No, Sarah McBride doesn’t get a say.”

    https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/18/congress/mcbride-responds-to-capitol-bathroom-push-00190293

  21. Pogo, Pilar — as I continue to study results the most pivotal group I keep seeing was the young white men under 30 he was targeting (“I hate Taylor Swift”). They showed up for him in huge numbers I did not expect. Although I had long feared they were a threat, early vote indicated they weren’t. Call them the Joe Rogan voters. Trump’s final weekend 3 hours with him (and his 55 million listeners/viewers!) might have clinched it.

  22. Pilar, Pogo, Craig…
    I also think that trump’s indictments played a huge role…  it pissed off more people than we realized.

  23. Turns out I wrote about the young white non-college men problem a while ago, but didn’t take myself seriously enough. And got fooled when they weren’t showing up in early vote. This is a problem group for society not just politics, needs some long-term attention: How We Lose

  25. When a now 78-year old mean boy has been their role model for half their lives, that’s what you end up with. 

  26. “Mean Boys” is perfect term Ivy. They are a lost bunch. Falling behind in education, job prospects, can’t get girlfriends, obsessed with video games and crypto currency.

    For starters Dems should get back on Biden’s free community college/skills training plan. And go on Joe Rogan talking about it! Point out Trump will never do anything for them except feed their anger and angst.

  28. Craig – Any way to tell what the save-Gaza-don’t-vote folks numbers were, especially in Michigan?  Like, can it be compared to 2020 for Biden?  Missing numbers?  

    Ivy – Lawd, no! Joe I-got-famous-eating-stuff-on-a-dare Rogan leads the pack of misogynists who call themselves “alphas,” but who are terrified of strong women. He should choke on his tongue for helping to destroy democracy. Adolf will probably give him a cabinet position.

  29. It’s not just the boys who are mean. The “girls” are already ganging up against Sarah McBride. 

    Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in a private House GOP conference meeting indicated she’d fight a transgender woman if she tried to use a woman’s bathroom on the House side of the Capitol, according to two people in the room, as Congress’ first openly transgender lawmaker is set to assume office in January.
    Greene, when asked about the comments after the meeting, didn’t explicitly confirm the remarks but said she “shouldn’t have to.”
    “It’s pretty aggressive for biological men to be invading our spaces,” Greene said.
    Separately, she said that Speaker Mike Johnson has backed her up on the point that “biological men” shouldn’t be using women’s bathrooms.

    https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/19/congress/mtg-threatens-to-fight-transgender-woman-00190344

  30. We can have a Hidden Figures-type example of trotting across campus for an out-of-the-way potty. See how well that plays with the public? 

  31. Way back when I was with Equal Rights Colorado, we helped state legislators with LGBTQ issues, the republicans took note that I was using the public women’s restroom.  There was some talk that they would try to have me arrested.  The Colorado capitol was old, many of the restrooms for women on the legislators offices floors were just men’s with urinals swapped to commodes.  The Dem women told me to use any of those and gave me the code.  It took some time to update the laws regarding restroom usage.

  33. The Dem women told me to use any of those and gave me the code.

    Blue Bronc, I sure hope Sarah gets the same kind of support from her fellow Democratic congresswomen and men. MTG is a bully and needs to be stood up to. 
    I moved from Delaware a long tome ago but still have my roots there. I’m proud of my birth state for electing her and feel she is my representative too. 

  34. mandate? what mandate?

    Donald Trump Has NOT Won a Majority of the Votes Cast for President

    […]
    Trump’s popular-vote advantage has declined steadily since election night. As of Monday afternoon, Trump was at 49.94, while Harris was at 48.26, according to the authoritative Cook Political Report’s tracking of results from official sources in states across the country. And we can expect that the Republican’s total will only continue to tick downward as heavily Democratic states on the West Coast finalize their vote tallies.
    Trump’s still ahead of Harris in the popular vote. He also maintains a lead in the decisive, though absurdly anti-democratic, Electoral College— slightly less than Barack Obama’s in 2012, slightly more Joe Biden’s in 2020—based on a pattern of wins in battleground states. So, the failure to win a majority won’t cost Trump the presidency. But he’s lost his ability to suggest that he trounced the Democrat. In fact, she’s now trailing him by just 1.68 percent of the vote.
    Let’s put this in perspective: Trump is winning a lower percent of the popular vote this year than Biden did in 2020 (51.3), Obama in 2012 (51.1), Obama in 2008 (52.9), George W. Bush in 2004 (50.7), George H.W. Bush in 1988 (53.2), Ronald Reagan in 1984 (58.8), Reagan in 1980 (50.7), or Jimmy Carter in 1976 (50.1). And, of course, Trump numbers are way below the presidents who won what could reasonably be described as “unprecedented and powerful” mandates, such as Richard Nixon’s 60.7 percent in 1972, Lyndon Johnson’s 61.1 percent in 1964, or Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 60.8 percent. As Trump’s percentage continues to slide, he’ll fall below the thresholds achieved by most presidents in the past century.
    Harris, on the other hand, is looking like a much stronger finisher than she did on election night. In fact, the Democrat now has a higher percentage of the popular vote than Presidents Trump in 2016 (46.1), Bush in 2000 (47.9), Clinton in 1992 (43), or Nixon in 1968 (43.4). She has also performed significantly better than recent major-party nominees such as Trump in 2020 (46.8), Trump in 2016 (48.2), Mitt Romney in 2012 (47.2), John McCain in 2008 (45.7), George W. Bush in 2000 (47.9), Bob Dole in 1996 (40.7), George H.W. Bush in 1992 (37.4), Michael Dukakis in 1988 (45.6), Walter Mondale (40.6), Carter in 1980 (41), or Gerald Ford in 1976 (48).
    Yes, some of those historic results were influenced by the presence of strong third-party contenders. But most were not. And the bottom line is that the gap between Trump and Harris is narrower than the difference between major-party contenders in the vast majority of American presidential races.
    Why make note of all the presidents who ran better than Trump? Why discuss the narrowness of his advantage over Harris? Why consider, in addition, that the Republican majorities in the House and Senate will be among the narrowest in modern American history? Because it puts the 2024 election results in perspective—and, in doing so, gives members of both parties an understanding of how to respond when Trump claims that an unappealing nominee or policy should be accepted out of deference to his “powerful” mandate.

  35. https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/19/politics/mehmet-oz-trump-medicare-medicaid/index.html
    “Trump names Dr. Mehmet Oz to head Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services”

    “His views on Covid-19, however, sparked controversy. Early on in the pandemic, for instance, Oz talked up the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a way to treat the coronavirus — despite the lack of firm scientific evidence that it was an effective treatment.”

    “If confirmed, Oz would be responsible for overseeing the Affordable Care Act exchanges, which have enrolled more than 20 million people in 2024 – a record – between the federal and state-run marketplaces. In Trump’s first term, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services pulled back on marketing and enrollment assistance, as well as shortened the sign-up period, leading to a decline in the number of people covered.”

    “The CMS administrator is expected to play an important role in the second Trump administration since Republicans are expected to propose changes to Medicaid, which they have sought to shrink in the past. Plus, the White House and GOP lawmakers will have to decide what to do next year about the enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies that are set to expire at the end of 2025.”

    “As a physician, for example, Oz advocated that everyone in America have insurance – a view held by progressives, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has long pushed for Medicare for All. Oz has said that the government should provide health care coverage to Americans who cannot afford it.”

    *We’ll see if that sticks, not that it will matter since tRUMPsky will be a dictator in day one.

    “Oz would also have control over two major federal health programs, Medicare and Medicaid, which cover tens of millions of elderly Americans and low-income residents, respectively.”

    “Oz has long voiced support for Medicare Advantage, a fast-growing program in which the federal government pays private insurers to provide coverage to senior citizens and disabled Americans. The Biden administration has made several changes to the program in recent years to address criticism that insurers are overpaid.”

    “In 2015, a group of physicians wrote Columbia University, saying they were “dismayed” Oz was a member of the school’s faculty. And in 2014, Oz was scolded by senators during a congressional hearing over his promotion of weight-loss products on his television show.”

    *Another grifter. Wonder how much he got paid to hawk that stuff?

     
    Dr. Phil, Dr. Phil.  Paging Dr. Phil.  (Any minute now.)

  36. I saw Sherrod Brown on MoJo this AM and he made great points about Dem messaging.  Man’s smart as a whip and IMHO knows that the Dem party needs to get back to its roots of being the working man and woman’s party.  We’ve already got the educated vote but have lost ground with folks who aren’t in the educated and professional ranks, at least it seems that way to me.  Shit, back when I worked at Connor Steel, the guys in the mill and on the ground were all union and were by and large Democrats, and knew that Democrats supported them and their financial interests (this was in the years following the Wallace and Nixon years, and the Southern exodus from the Dem party was in full swing by then although the racist past of the southern rednecks was still alive and kicking among the working class).  They knew that the guys who wore ties (my Dad, f’rinstance) were Republicans. I don’t really believe we’ve gotten away from that support from a policy perspective, but from Joe the Plumber forward, the repubs have developed connections with the dark side of the working class and have leveraged the racism that exists among that group, anti-worker policy be damned.  That’s a conundrum that I’m not sure how we get around.
     
    Just musing about here while I get ready to head for home to cook, so pardon me if I’m not totally coherent.

  38. Well, the clown show of the idiot and his puppet masters is really coming into focus.  A cabinet comprised of worthless fools, only installed to follow the orders of the masters.  A cult gathering of magats to limp to fight back when the masters tell them to drop their drawers and bend over, not willing to say eek when a mouse pees on their toes.
    If perchance the orange idiot is out of office, walking or not, Vance would not replace any of them so he does not fall out a window.  And, they are his insurance policy that he makes it longer in office because the House speaker is just as bad.  So even if vance and johnson end up removed it is the clown show that the next president would come from.  Whoever in the puppet masters group came up with this sick plan really did good.

  40. McMahon is also the former CEO of the WWE

    She might better serve managing MTG in the Congressional ladies room.

  42. https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/19/politics/howard-lutnick-commerce-secretary/index.html

    “Donald Trump announced Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as his pick for secretary of the Department of Commerce on Tuesday…

    The Commerce secretary is tasked with supporting US businesses and often acts as an emissary between other nations to negotiate trade deals and increase foreign investment. There are 13 bureaus housed under the Commerce Department, including the Census Bureau, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Patent and Trademark Office.
    Project 2025 — the controversial blueprint for a newly reimagined federal government that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign despite numerous ties to its authors — called for NOAA to be “broken up and downsized” and said the agency was part of the “climate change alarm industry.”
     
     
    “He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,” Trump said in a statement.
     
    *You think the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald will be able to explain how tariffs work to Orange Adolf?

    Walmart issued a release about price increases if tariffs go into effect.

    *Hello, inflation. Have you met polio and white supremacy?

  44. Just saw Monica Crowley on a clip in Kimmel’s monologue. Time has not been kind. Now, I’ve experienced that phenomenon, and it ain’t pretty. Ask Monica. 

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