Puterbac News Network and Political Discussion Thread

[hedge]

On the bright side, a great many people who voted for Trump are well accustomed to not getting what they want in life, so this will just be one more disappointment they'll be able to grumble about for the rest of their life...

[Toemeesleather]

Supporters resplendent in their “I’m With Her” and “Madam President” T-shirts filed in and stood shoulder to shoulder as they watched the returns trickle in on the large television monitors overhead. Under the signature glass ceiling lit by an ocean-blue hue, they watched the network broadcasts and listened to a string of surrogates from pop star Katy Perry to Sen. Chuck Schumer fire up the crowd.

Clinton’s campaign anthem, “Fight Song,” blared across the room, and an official block party formed outside for a spillover crowd who held American flags and prepared for victory.

Mook and Jennifer Palmieri had been in a staff room on the same floor, watching CNN, when polls closed in Virginia and Florida at 7 p.m. As the first returns came in, Mook dashed into the room next door, where Elan Kriegel and a couple of his data analysts compared the results with the campaign’s projections. Having guided Terry McAuliffe’s gubernatorial campaign in 2013, with Kriegel at his side, Mook knew the nooks and crannies of Virginia precincts as well as anyone in the political universe.

It’s OK, he thought. It isn’t great, but it’s OK. Then a cluster of African-American–majority precincts around Jacksonville, Fla., came in. Those numbers looked strong, robust enough for a few fist pumps around the room.

“Florida started coming in fine,” one top Hillary aide said. “And then Florida started getting tight.”

F–k you, [Democratic pollster] John Anzalone thought. You’re being too pessimistic. From the boiler room, the veteran pollster and his fellow Clinton campaign consultant Jim Margolis were on the phone with Steve Schale, an old pal from their Obama days. It was 7:45 p.m., and Schale had called to say Hillary was in deep trouble in Florida.

No one in the party had a better feel for the state than Schale, a Tallahassee-based operative who had worked on the Draft Biden campaign in 2015. “It’s in real bad shape,” Schale warned his friends. “What the f–k are you talking about?” Anzalone asked. Hillary was on her way to turning out more Sunshine State voters than any previous candidate of either party. Yeah, Trump was winning exurban and rural areas, but surely Democratic hot spots like Miami-Dade and Broward would erase the deficit.

No, Schale explained, Trump’s numbers weren’t just big, they were unreal. In rural Polk County, smack-dab in the center of the state, Hillary would collect 3,000 more votes than Obama did in 2012 — but Trump would add more than 25,000 votes to Mitt Romney’s total. In Pasco County, a swath of suburbs north of Tampa–St. Petersburg, Trump outran Romney by 30,000 votes.

Pasco was one of the counties Schale was paying special attention to because the Tampa area tended to attract retirees from the Rust Belt — folks whose political leanings reflected those of hometowns in the industrial Midwest. In particular, Schale could tell, heavily white areas were coming in hard for Trump.

Hillary sat stone-faced, trying to process the unexpected and abrupt reversal of her fortunes. “OK,” she said over and over as she nodded. It was all she could muster.

Down in Florida, Craig Smith’s phone rang. The former White House political director, and the very first person hired onto Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, had been ignoring calls and texts. This one, he took. The raspy voice on the other end of the line asked him if Florida could be turned around.

“Sorry to be the one to tell you,” Smith said in an Arkansas drawl echoing the former president’s, “but we’re not going to win Florida.” Bill hung up and called Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who was eager to depart Virginia for the victory party at the Javits Center. Don’t bother coming, Bill told him.

Hillary was still surprisingly calm, unable or unwilling to delve into the details of how her dream was turning into a nightmare. Bill was less reticent. He’d had a sinking feeling that the British vote to leave the European Union had been a harbinger for a kind of screw-it vote in the United States. He’d seen the trans-Atlantic phenomenon of populist rage at rallies across the country, and warned friends privately of his misgivings about its effect on Hillary’s chances. Now his focus turned back to the international movement he’d seen gathering. “It’s like Brexit,” he lamented. “I guess it’s real.”

At 11:11 p.m., White House political director David Simas was seated at a conference table in the West Wing looking at results with fellow Obama aides and perusing Twitter when the AP called North Carolina for Trump. At the time, Hillary was leading in Pennsylvania, but many of her strongholds had already reported vote counts.

Twenty minutes later, Fox News called Wisconsin for Trump — a judgment that other news agencies declined to validate for hours. At the White House, the writing on the wall was clear. It was just a matter of time before Donald Trump would be declared successor to Obama.

When he was sure there was no path to victory, and after having conferred with the president, Simas placed a call to Mook, who was in Hillary’s suite at The Peninsula. “What’s going on in your camp?” Obama’s aide asked. “I don’t think we’re going to win,” Mook replied. “I don’t think you are either,” Simas agreed. “POTUS doesn’t think it’s wise to drag this out.”

Mook now stood between a president interested in ensuring the smooth, democratic transfer of power after Trump had complained for months that the election might be rigged and a candidate who hadn’t yet given up on the idea that Rust Belt states might flip in her direction.

The president wants you to concede, Mook told her, adding his own analysis: “I don’t see how you win this.”

“I understand,” she said. But she used her place in history as a shield in the same way Mook just had with Simas. “I’m not ready to go give this speech.” Though she focused her pushback on the nature of her remarks — How should she frame the election of Donald Trump? What would she say to little girls and elderly women who treated her as a champion? Could she hit the right notes? — the effect was the same. Hillary wasn’t quite ready to put an end to the dream she’d pursued for at least the past decade.

‘You need to concede,” President Obama told his former secretary of state. For the past eight years, their interests had aligned almost perfectly. She’d lent him credibility with her own supporters and in the Washington establishment. He’d given her the State Department springboard from which to relaunch her political career.

He needed to ensure that the end of his presidency didn’t devolve into a post-election circus. He had vouched for the sanctity of the electoral process and he needed Hillary to follow along.

She wasn’t ready yet. But she was getting there. One by one, the obstacles were being removed. Pennsylvania was gone. The AP had just declared Trump the winner of the election. Now the president — the one who had convinced her to take the State job by framing it as a patriotic call to duty — was asking her to do the right thing for the good of her country. He wanted her to make it abundantly clear to the public that she wasn’t going to fight the result.

Kellyanne Conway picked up Huma Abedin’s call and handed her phone to Trump. Hillary took Huma’s phone and faked a smile with her voice. “Congratulations, Donald,” she said, suppressing the anger that touched every nerve in her body. “I’ll be supportive of the country’s success, and that means your success as president.” Trump credited her for being a smart opponent who ran a tough campaign. The denouement lasted all of about a minute.

The news spread fast because Mook was on a conference call with other top officials. Hillary’s voice carried over his open line. “She’s literally in the background,” one campaign aide said. “You could hear her talking to Trump, conceding.”

Original Hillarylander Capricia Marshall, the former White House social secretary and chief protocol officer of the United States, couldn’t come to terms with the decision. She retreated to the living room, finding a spot on the couch that had been Bill Clinton’s home for most of the night.

Now, as Trump made his way to the podium at the Hilton, Bill chomped on the back end of a cigar. Philippe Reines, a third refugee from the discussion around Hillary, came in to watch Trump’s victory speech. Bill looked over at the man who had played Trump in debate-prep sessions. “I wish it was you up there,” he said wistfully.

In the fog of a shocking defeat, there was one moment that crystallized everything for Hillary. Not long after the concession call, Abedin approached her once again, phone in hand. “It’s the president,” she said.

Hillary winced. She wasn’t ready for this conversation. When she’d spoken with Obama just a little bit earlier, the outcome of the election wasn’t final yet. Now, though, with the president placing a consolation call, the reality and dimensions of her defeat hit her all at once. She had let him down. She had let herself down. She had let her party down. And she had let her country down. Obama’s legacy and her dreams of the presidency lay shattered at Donald Trump’s feet. This was on her. Reluctantly, she rose from her seat and took the phone from Abedin’s hand.

“Mr. President,” she said softly. “I’m sorry.”

[Professor Tiger]

Wrong wrong wrong! The Russians stole the election. Hillary is the legitimate president.

[hedge]

That's what makes it even more tragic. That, and the fact that so-called american citizens like you don't give a shit...

[Professor Tiger]

How exactly did the Russians get former Obama voters in Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to switch parties and vote Trump?

[Toemeesleather]

I guess some folks "give a shit" about facts more than an attempted journalistic coup....

[Cletus]

Are you really claiming that you give a shit about facts? Really?

[Toemeesleather]

Losing a sure thing is your problem, not mine. Landslide, remember, can't lose!

[hedge]

How exactly did the Russians get former Obama voters in Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to switch parties and vote Trump?

How are the votes tallied? By hand?

[Professor Tiger]

So your conspiracy theory is the Russians tampered with the vote count. Do you have any evidence to support that claim? And how did the Russians actually pull that off? With the help of the Trilateral Commision?

[Toemeesleather]

The Obammer justice dept taking control of Baltimore PD is paying off:


http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2017/04/2 ... -for-help/

[bluetick]

If nothing else, President Trump has already secured a place in history. It is his grasp of history that seems less secure.

In his latest foray into what may be called the alternative past, Mr. Trump suggested that Andrew Jackson had been "really angry" about the Civil War, which did not break out until 16 years after his death. And for good measure, Mr. Trump questioned "why was there the Civil War" in the first place, suggesting that it should have been worked out.

The comments, made in an interview broadcast on Monday, may have been attributable to imprecision, but for historians they underscored what seems to be a tenuous understanding by Mr. Trump of the course of events that preceded his ascension to power. At various points, he has seemed to suggest that Frederick Douglass is still alive, appeared surprised that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, and mounted a plaque at a golf course marking a Civil War battle that never happened.

"Presidents should have some better sense of the nation's history as they become part of it," said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton.

White House officials said that Mr. Trump was being misinterpreted and that a few random comments had been twisted into meaning something they did not. The criticism of his remarks, they said, reflects a "gotcha" game by intellectual elitists who fail to understand him.

"There's a certain amount of hunting for 'what is it that Trump has done that's dumb?'" said Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, who taught history as a college professor in Georgia and has written multiple historical novels. "Trump's not a student of history. Trump's an extraordinarily successful entrepreneurial personality who learns what he needs to know when he needs to know it. Trump is learning history as he governs."

After Mr. Trump's comments led to criticism, he tried to clarify Monday night on Twitter. "President Andrew Jackson, who died 16 years before the Civil War started, saw it coming and was angry," he wrote. "Would never have let it happen!"

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

[crashcourse]

American history and government are two things this president should have spent a little more time in high school learning

[Professor Tiger]

He's got people for that.

[bluetick]

He's got people for that.

Immigrants, probably. They have to answer the question "Why was there a Civil War" - it's literally on every naturalization test.

[Professor Tiger]

So if Trump doesn't know basic facts about the Civil War, he can ask Melania.

[bluetick]

Tick et al, this is your lucky day. If you have been wondering for awhile, "Will there ever come a time when those inbred yokel racist sexist homophobic transphobic xenophobic religious nutjob deplorables stop supporting Trump?"

That may be about to happen:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05 ... kdown.html

The huge appeal of Trump to his supporters is he says what he means, means what he says, and will do what he says. He was supposed to be different from all the other Republicans who say one thing in the campaign, then go off to Washington and do just the opposite.

By giving up on the wall and sanctuary cities in his first budget, Trump just became another typical Republican politician. Look for Trump's support to start collapsing. I just hope Trump can get another SCOTUS pick before he gets broomed.

Even more significantly, you can kiss the Republican majority in the House goodbye. Speaker Ryan just became, for all intents and purposes, Nancy Pelosi.

An overlooked gem of a post from prof.

Limbaugh and his followers have blasted the WH over the budget deal, and the culmination was Rush's interview with Pence. Pence sidestepped every pointed question about Trump caving on his campaign pledges and even declared a win of sorts, which made Rush all the more furious. The callers afterwards were in meltdown mode.

All of this Limbaugh sentiment got back to Trump, and that became the impetus for his "government shutdown> tweet. It was clear to The Donald that he couldn't spin the budget deal in his favor to anybody, even his core.

[Professor Tiger]

Thanks for the compliment.

You listen to Rush Limbaugh?

::gets dizzy, sits down, applies a cold compress::

But now I want to hear that Limbaugh interview of Pence.

The bigger issue by far is the House. Presidents come and go, but if the GOP House can't even manage to do something so profoundly important to their base as build the wall, defund sanctuary cities and Planned Parenthood, then they simply won't have a base that votes for them anymore, perhaps forever.

The W administration and recent feckless Republican congresses have severely damaged the Republican brand among the Republican base. That's how we got Trump. The Republicans obviously didn't take the big orange hint. So now the Republican congress is on track to finish off the Republican party in a way that Democrats can only dream of. And the funny thing is, they don't even realize it.

[10ac]

I think they realize it. The establishment Republicans want Trump to fail. They had rather be in the minority anyway, lord knows they can't lead. They rather be able to blame the Dems for everything and fool their constituents into thinking they can put a stop to whatever. Fuck politicians.

[Professor Tiger]

I listened to the Limbaugh interview of Pence. It was just as Tick described. The more that Pence tried to polish that turd of a spending bill, the angrier Limbaugh got. I'm sure Limbaugh's listeners burned up the phone lines to every Republican pol in DC.

I honestly think Pence and Trump were surprised at the reaction they are getting from the base. But like you said, AC, they realize their true situation now. Maybe that's why some GOP congressmen suddenly decided to vote on the Obamacare bill. In fact, it looks like an Obamacare repeal vote is now scheduled for tomorrow. In true Godfather fashion, their constituents held a gun to their political head, and assured them that either their signature or their brains would be on that bill.