Political Current Events March 3-4 | SOTU Address

[Mulberry Heel]

Buckle up buttercups. Bend over and find your bootstraps, boys!

Unfortunately, despite the momentary schadenfraude, this type of phenomenon is extremely concerning as a seed of murderous and mass thieving right-wing thug mobs, i.e. Sturmabteilung.

Yep. That's the fear (and it's real) - when the manure hits the fan and these people become desperate, will they arm themselves, organize into groups, and decide to take their frustrations and misery out on liberals and minorities they don't like? Because it has certainly happened in other countries before, and could easily happen here. Instead of turning against those who brought them to their low state, they just scapegoat and go after minorities and people they don't like.

 

[CFordUNC]

If I were a Democrat and I saw that beat down last night I'd be worried about what my party is becoming compared to what the American people are wanting.
It was a smackdown. If you think it was horrible then that is the best thing a Republican could possibly has hoped for.
Keep on keeping on...

Lmfao at anyone considering a friggin' presidential address to a joint session of Congress to be a "beat down" like it's Ohio State football playing Youngstown State. What an incredibly weird mentality.

 

[MOUNTAINH33L]

If I were a Democrat and I saw that beat down last night I'd be worried about what my party is becoming compared to what the American people are wanting.
It was a smackdown. If you think it was horrible then that is the best thing a Republican could possibly has hoped for.
Keep on keeping on...

 

[ZenMode]

1. Whether the president is a de facto king

All presidents have tested the power of their office, often via EO.

2. Whether there can exist independent agencies with protection against abuse by the executive branch

Like above, the President, who heads the Executive branch, is testing the limits of his power on agencies that are under the purview of the Executive branch. I don't think this is anything new.

3. Whether the environment is worth saving

I'd agree that there is a difference of opinion regarding how far is necessarily/reasonable to go to protect the environment.

4. Whether it's good or bad for the world to look up to America, and whether it's good or bad to act like a mafioso in international affairs

Again, I'd say this is a question of degrees. The US leverages money/power to get the results it wants around the world. Not one of those "needle moving" items that is going to sway voters.

5. Free trade, apparently

Tariffs could become a needle moving issue in 2028.

6. Whether Russia is an enemy, apparently, and relatedly whether the Neville Chamberlain approach is good.

I wouldn't call this a needle moving topic at this point.

There are many others. But you know, nothing of the magnitude of trans women playing sports.

 

[4thgenheel]

If I were a Democrat and I saw that beat down last night I'd be worried about what my party is becoming compared to what the American people are wanting.
It was a smackdown. If you think it was horrible then that is the best thing a Republican could possibly has hoped for.
Keep on keeping on...

 

[4thgenheel]

All presidents have tested the power of their office, often via EO.
Like above, the President, who heads the Executive branch, is testing the limits of his power on agencies that are under the purview of the Executive branch. I don't think this is anything new. I'd agree that there is a difference of opinion regarding how far is necessarily/reasonable to go to protect the environment. Again, I'd say this is a question of degrees. The US leverages money/power to get the results it wants around the world. Not one of those "needle moving" items that is going to sway voters. Tariffs could become a needle moving issue in 2028.I wouldn't call this a needle moving topic at this point.

your justifications for / explanations of 1 and 2 are like the holy grail of bo'siding.

stop it. there is ABSOLUTELY. NO. precedent for what is going on with 1/2 right now. and 1 also includes the matter of the insane executive immunity decision by republican controlled scotus, not just EO's.

 

[Callatoroy]

You wouldn't understand being decent and reasonable

Your side views politics as a sports event

I know there is nothing decent and reasonable about dook. You sense some truth in that as you spend your time on a mostly UNC dominated board. So never forget whose bitch you are and who sent your rat faced coach and his troll wife out on the back of a golf cart in humiliating fashion.

 

[ZenMode]

your justifications for / explanations of 1 and 2 are like the holy grail of bo'siding.

stop it. there is ABSOLUTELY. NO. precedent for what is going on with 1/2 right now. and 1 also includes the matter of the insane executive immunity decision by republican controlled scotus, not just EO's.

Trump is really testing things, I agree. But my point was that each party is looking for differences between them to move the needle when it comes time for voting. Disagreements about breadth and depth of Executive power, over the executive branch, probably isn't one of those topics that's going to get people out to vote...like social issues will.

 

[4thgenheel]

the executive attempting to be a monarchy will be a needle mover with the voting public if/when he actually tries to carry out any of the absurd, illegal threats that he floats almost every day.

 

[Callatoroy]

Lmfao at anyone considering a friggin' presidential address to a joint session of Congress to be a "beat down" like it's Ohio State football playing Youngstown State. What an incredibly weird mentality.

Oh it was definitely a public relations beat down. Your side couldn’t even clap for a 13 yo boy battling brain cancer or to show support for Laken Reilly’s family. I get the latter as it was your policy that got their daughter murdered.

 

[CFordUNC]

Oh it was definitely a public relations beat down. Your side couldn’t even clap for a 13 yo boy battling brain cancer or to show support for Laken Reilly’s family. I get the latter as it was your policy that got their daughter murdered.

Duh. Of course our side supports making fun of pediatric brain cancer and getting innocent American girls murdered by rapist illegal immigrants. Where have you been, you miserable little pissant slut? Try to keep up! Next we're going to force your college-aged daughter who definitely got rejected by UNC to get testes secretly implanted so that we can sneak her onto a women's swim team!

 

[ZenMode]

Regarding the state of the Union...

First, holding up the signs was a great idea by Democrats. I wish they would have had more of them to use in response to Trump.

Second, the back and forth between Trump and the Democratic side of the room was pretty funny. Trump is still a liar and a piece of shit, but when he's not immediately acting like a jackass, he can be entertaining . I don't know a lot about British Parliament, but a reminded me of the back and forth between John Burcow (Bercow? Berkow?) and Parliament.

Some ideas for Democrat signs for the next SOTU:

• "OK Karen"
• "Wrong"
• "Please try again"
• This face:

• This face

 

[CFordUNC]

Some ideas for Democrat signs for the next SOTU:

• "OK Karen"
• "Wrong"
• "Please try again"
• This face:

• This face

Honestly, I think the Democrats need to either join the fight in a way that is actually meaningful, or get the hell out of the way. Holding up signs or whatever goofy little stunts they pulled are lame and pathetic, IMO. They should have either boycotted attending the speech altgether, or stood up en masse and walked out.

 

[UNCatTech]

Y'all got a dang squad. Feels like it's Duke's most dominant team relative to the competition since that 1999-2002 era where Duke just ran crazy over the league.

Hey, let's not encourage them.

 

[superrific]

All presidents have tested the power of their office, often via EO.
Like above, the President, who heads the Executive branch, is testing the limits of his power on agencies that are under the purview of the Executive branch. I don't think this is anything new. I'd agree that there is a difference of opinion regarding how far is necessarily/reasonable to go to protect the environment. Again, I'd say this is a question of degrees. The US leverages money/power to get the results it wants around the world. Not one of those "needle moving" items that is going to sway voters. Tariffs could become a needle moving issue in 2028.I wouldn't call this a needle moving topic at this point.

1. Again, I am astounded by your view that what you "think" is relevant. Here's the reality: Every executive branch since FDR has heeded the command of Humphrey's Executor, which provides for some degree of agency independence. This is the first administration to challenge that. And I'm sure you don't know what Humphrey's Executor is, which is understandable because it's a law school thing, but still you probably should sit these conversations out. Point is: this is absolutely new.

2. I didn't realize you were talking about needle swaying in terms of electoral politics. That's quite the amorphous standard, but sure. Under that standard, the environment does not appear to be a needle-moving issue at the present time. It really, really needs to be. We will see what happens.

3. You should stop talking about EOs as if they are law. It is not true that all presidents have tested the limits of their power, and it's especially not true that they do by executive order. The "testing the limits of power" really started with W. Obama participated in that during his second term, in response to Congressional obstruction. Trump and Biden also did it, for different reasons. But the practice began with W. And it wasn't by executive order, because executive orders typically don't do anything.

Obviously Nixon tested the limit of his power but that was seen as aberrational at the time and was clearly rejected by both parties. I'm talking about "respectable" limit-testing.

 

[ZenMode]

Honestly, I think the Democrats need to either join the fight in a way that is actually meaningful, or get the hell out of the way. Holding up signs or whatever goofy little stunts they pulled are lame and pathetic, IMO. They should have either boycotted attending the speech altgether, or stood up en masse and walked out.

Sure, IF you're someone who wants actual results, signs won't do anything.

I'm just looking at entertainment value because SOTU's are generally pretty boring.

My daughter's university basketball fans turn their backs away from the court and yell "Who's that?" every time an opposing player's name is announced.

I'd be ok with Dems doing that, also:

Trump "blah, blah, blah... Pete Hegseth....."

Dems yell "Who's that?!"

 

[CFordUNC]

Sure, IF you're someone who wants actual results, signs won't do anything.

I'm just looking at entertainment value because SOTU's are generally pretty boring.

My daughter's university basketball fans turn their backs away from the court and yell "Who's that?" every time an opposing player's name is announced.

I'd be ok with Dems doing that, also:

Trump "blah, blah, blah... Pete Hegseth....."

Dems yell "Who's that?!"

Or take a leaf out of the Cameron Crazies book: “Hi, Pete, you suck!”

 

[Mulberry Heel]

Honestly, I think the Democrats need to either join the fight in a way that is actually meaningful, or get the hell out of the way. Holding up signs or whatever goofy little stunts they pulled are lame and pathetic, IMO. They should have either boycotted attending the speech altgether, or stood up en masse and walked out.

Agreed. When Trump starting making some of his more controversial claims or insulting Biden and Kamala it would have been more effective and powerful if they had just all stood up silently and walked out. I agree that the paddles and signs didn't help much, and they would have been well-advised to avoid such things.

 

[UNCatTech]

He should bring out a couple of guys with him so those hands don't go to waste.

 

[CFordUNC]

He should bring out a couple of guys with him so those hands don't go to waste.

Oh, I think we’ve got a couple on this board would volunteer.