My 2024 "McLaughlin Awards" [Part 1]
Everybody ready? Here is the first installment of our year-end awards, with our obligatory nod to The McLaughlin Group television show for coming up with these categories.
As always, it's a marathon. It's really, really long. Don't say you weren't warned! And since it is so long, that's all the introduction we're going to bother with.
Ready?... everyone buckle up... here we go....
Biggest Winner Of 2024
This one's pretty undeniable. Donald Trump was the Biggest Winner Of 2024. Several people did suggest Elon Musk for this award, but he didn't so much "win" anything, instead he bought himself the job of "co-president" (we'll see how that works out...).
But keeping to a literal interpretation of the award, we have to admit that Donald Trump was indeed the Biggest Winner Of 2024, achieving something (a non-consecutive second presidential term) that has only been achieved once previously in American politics.
Biggest Loser Of 2024
If we were in a literal mood, we might have chosen Kamala Harris for Biggest Loser Of 2024. After all, she lost the biggest race in the country.
President Joe Biden doesn't really qualify, since he took himself out of the running by, well, not running. Because he didn't finish his campaign, he technically didn't lose it.
Over on the Republican side, we did consider Nikki Haley, because she was the last woman standing against Donald Trump in the primaries, and (even though the media mostly didn't comment on it) managed to get a larger "protest vote" against Trump than what was happening on the Democratic side with Biden. Then Haley, after dropping out, threw her support to Trump anyway. Which Trump completely ignored -- he never let her campaign for him anywhere. When he won, he immediately announced that Haley would not be one of his nominees for any position in his administration. Which makes Nikki Haley a very certain type of loser, to be sure.
But we have to agree with reader "nypoet22" who suggested a more abstract nominee, and say that the Biggest Loser Of 2024 was "objective reality." Donald Trump has succeeded in gaslighting roughly half of the American populace. Reality, to his followers, is what he says it is -- facts be damned!
Fact-checking Trump is a tilting-at-windmills sort of thing to do. He even started refusing interviews during the campaign whenever anyone threatened to do real-time fact-checking of anything he said. That's how much he "can't handle the truth." And he's quite successful at his flim-flammery -- he can make his followers believe anything, no matter how laughably insane it is.
There are two sayings in American politics that spring to mind: "You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts," and: "Reality has a liberal bias." Neither of these apply any more, obviously, since Trump does seem to get away with his own "facts," and reality can have any bias it wants these days because it just doesn't matter.
The whole nation has gone through the looking glass. Reality is in the rearview mirror. Use whatever glass-based metaphor you want, but we find we have to agree with the suggestion. Objective reality was indeed the Biggest Loser Of 2024. And it's not going to get any better any time soon, with Trump back in office again, surrounded by his team of sycophants. Remember Sharpiegate? Expect a whole lot more of that type of ridiculous gaslighting very soon now.
Best Politician
We got two competing suggestions for this category from readers, and it took us a while to choose between them. We also considered Trump and Biden and Harris, but while they all ran political campaigns none of them really stood out as politicians per se this year (apart from the campaign, in other words).
So our runner-up comes from reader "Kick", who nominated Hakeem Jeffries, commenting: "Nothing happened in the House this year unless Jeffries negotiated and/or allowed it. Expect more of that in 2025." Which is an excellent point, we had to admit. The Republican speaker was stymied by the Chaos Caucus in his own party over and over again and it took reaching out to Democrats to actually pass all the bills that had to pass. Without Jeffries, this simply wouldn't have happened.
But we had to agree with nypoet22's nomination instead. So this is somewhat of a curveball, but we're going to hand the Best Politician award to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Mostly because he still is speaker.
Normally, that wouldn't be all that notable an accomplishment, but seeing as how the last Republican speaker (remember Kevin McCarthy?) crashed and burned, it truly was.
Johnson had many tightropes to walk, this year. He seems to have navigated all of them successfully (well, "successfully enough" at any rate). He kept the seething rage of his most radical members under enough control that they never managed to subject him to a real threat of deposal. Which is more than McCarthy managed. And more than we expected (we were predicting at the start of the year that he wouldn't last past Valentine's Day).
Of course, the House didn't get much of anything done. Which, in its own way, was a relief. The hotheads never really got to drive the bus. When crucial votes were needed, Johnson wasn't afraid to turn to the Democrats to get must-pass bills through the chamber. So there were no government shutdowns and no fiscal cliffs all year long.
We realize that is a pathetically low bar for the United States House of Representatives, but hey, it is what it is -- this is the world we live in now.
So for keeping his own Chaos Caucus happy enough not to usurp his leadership role while also working with Democrats to keep the government's lights on, we have to grudgingly admit that Speaker Mike Johnson deserves the Best Politician award.
Worst Politician
We had quite a few nominees to choose from here. Joe Biden? Kamala Harris? Nikki Haley? JD Vance ("childless cat ladies," etc.)?
Two users suggested Kari Lake, and we have to say, that is an excellent choice. She's now lost every race she's attempted in Arizona, and the Republican Party there might be in a much better place if she had just never run at all.
We almost went with Kristi Noem, since (after all) it was her own memoir that sank her chances of becoming Trump's running mate. Her charming and endearing story of shooting the family dog in a gravel pit was so horrifying that even Trump knew she was politically radioactive at that point. And it was self-inflicted harm. Noem could have decided not to tell the story in her memoir, but she went ahead and did so -- which is not exactly being the smartest politician in the world.
But we had forgotten all about Mark Robinson. The lieutenant governor of North Carolina was running for the top job this year, but his gubernatorial hopes went down in flames after CNN released a bombshell of a scoop detailing Robinson's online history.
It wasn't just that he regularly frequented a porn site. It was what he commented on the site that truly torpedoed his chances of getting elected. Robinson, who is Black, referred to himself as a "black NAZI!" He called Martin Luther King Jr. a "f*cking commie bastard," as well as a completely racist name. Want more? How about: "Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it back. I would certainly buy a few." His view of the government under Barack Obama: "I'd take Hitler over any of the sh*t that's in Washington right now!"
That's not just bad -- that's "worst." Which is why we have to give the Worst Politician this year to none other than Mark Robinson, who we sincerely hope will never run for any office ever again.
Most Defining Political Moment
This award should have gone to what reader "Kick" suggested: the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling. That could be a defining moment far beyond just this year, we do realize. But we've got another award in mind for that particular travesty.
Instead, we tried to choose between two rather related moments, and finally decided they were so linked that they could be spoken of as a single one. Which is why Most Defining Political Moment goes to President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance and then his dropping out of the presidential race.
These two things (linked together) absolutely defined the entire year in politics. Historians will study the abrupt end to the Biden campaign and the incredibly foreshortened Kamala Harris campaign for decades to come, most likely. America has truly never seen anything like it -- the closest parallel was Lyndon B. Johnson dropping out of the 1968 race, but that happened much earlier in the calendar year.
Biden's debate performance was the most meaningful any of us has likely ever seen. In previous presidential debates, there may have been one moment or a particularly poignant quip that sticks in the mind, but Biden was just awful from start to finish. He looked about as far from "presidential" as can be imagined.
Here's how we wrote about it, the next day:
It's hard to even imagine how Biden could have done any worse -- that's how bad it truly was. His voice was raspy and hard to hear (very quiet), his thought trains derailed during almost every single answer he gave, he occasionally drifted off and froze for a few seconds, he could not keep on the topic at hand even when it was the most favorable to him (case in point: he started talking about an immigrant who murdered someone during his answer on abortion), he got his facts and figures wrong (he bragged about creating "15,000 new jobs" instead of 15 million), and even at his most animated he was hard to hear and almost impossible to logically follow.
We even had to agree with one reviewer who used the term "slack-jawed" to describe Biden's appearance. That's how monumentally bad it was.
Biden, true to form, took forever to make his final decision. He wasted almost an entire month before he announced he would be stepping down from his re-election effort. Which set the stage for Kamala Harris to try to salvage the Democrats' chances of victory. But the decision to step down wouldn't have happened without the debate itself. Which is why both moments win the "Most Defining Political Moment" of the year.
Turncoat Of The Year
We considered R.F.K. Jr. for this award (for obvious reasons), but then found we had given him the same award last year, so we thought that was enough. We also considered Nancy Pelosi and George Clooney, for their very public push to get President Joe Biden to step away from his re-election campaign, but they felt they were acting in the best interests of their party, so while they did turn on Biden they were doing so for what they considered loyal reasons.
There was the head of the Teamsters, who appeared at the Republican National Convention, but Unions aren't technically part of political parties so while it was rather shocking it somehow didn't rise to the level of this award.
Instead, we are giving Turncoat Of The Year to the Supreme Court justices who turned their back on the United States Constitution -- after half a year's delay -- and decreed that United States presidents can do whatever they please while in office, without ever having to worry that any of it will be considered illegal. All they have to do is call it an "official act" and they've got a big fat green light to do pretty much anything they wish. Even (as was argued in court, during the case) sending SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival.
This turns the concepts of "no man is above the law" and "we have a government of laws, not men" on their heads. It bestows the president with kinglike powers that are an absolute affront to the Constitution and to the bedrock idea of America.
We are all going to rue this ruling in the future (perhaps in the very near future). At some point, some future Supreme Court is going to have to overturn this travesty of a ruling and subject the president to the same laws the rest of us have to live by -- but that's not going to happen any time soon.
For turning their coat on the United States Constitution and allowing any president to break any law he or she wishes (as long as they call it an "official act"), the justices on the Supreme Court who joined in this ruling are definitely the Turncoats Of The Year.
Most Boring
This one is an easy one.
The 2024 primary season wins Most Boring, hands down. It was all a foregone conclusion before it even began. There was no real drama at all. Everyone know before any votes had been cast that Donald Trump and Joe Biden were going to be the two major parties' nominees. In fact, the entire exercise was so soporifically boring that there's really nothing else to say about it. This year's primaries were the Most Boring ever.
Most Charismatic
This one may surprise some people, but we are going to hand the Most Charismatic award to none other than Kamala Harris.
Was it enough? Well, obviously not. But it was impressive nonetheless.
Harris was handed an almost-impossible task. Take over a flailing campaign with just over 100 days until Election Day, put together a Democratic National Convention that got the party enthused again, and convince swing voters to back her rather than Trump. She was Joe Biden's vice president, which meant she had to share some of the baggage of his dismal job approval ratings -- and it also meant she couldn't differentiate herself effectively from "the Biden/Harris administration." She had won no primaries (they were all over by that point) and yet had to unify the party behind her with no time to spare.
Which she did, admirably well. She hit the ground running in breathtaking fashion. Within roughly 30 hours after Biden made his announcement he was withdrawing from the race, Harris had locked down enough convention delegates to secure the nomination. This precluded a big intraparty fight which could have lasted right onto the convention's floor (which would have been a very ugly thing to watch). She talked all those delegates into backing her somehow, and personal charisma had a part in it.
Harris didn't do very well in her presidential run in 2020 (other than one memorable debate moment), but she had spent the past four years getting a lot better about politicking in general. She revealed herself with a new persona, and it resonated immediately among Democrats. Harris was exciting! She was joyful! Yes we Kam! She was even pronounced "Brat" (for those who understand the reference, which we fully admit we did not, the first time we heard it).
Within a single week, she had turned the campaign completely around. Biden exited the stage and Kamala stormed onto it with a passion. She then made an excellent pick for her running mate, for many reasons (we wrote a whole article about how he was a genuine American Jungian stereotype, the Midwestern good guy, calling him "Richie Cunningham's dad"). Her speeches were exciting, she had plenty of exciting folks on stage with her (lots of popular celebrities) and she gave off an entirely different "vibe" than the Biden campaign. This was all topped off with a joyous and exciting Democratic National Convention. After which, she absolutely cleaned Trump's clock at their one and only debate.
The only problem was that it didn't last. For whatever reason, at some point her surge in the polls and popularity stalled. And in the end, it just wasn't quite enough to defeat Trump. But does anyone out there think Biden would have done any better?
Kamala was something new and exciting, she seemed totally comfortable in her own skin, and she gave off an incredibly positive feeling at the start of her campaign. Which is why we decided she had earned Most Charismatic for the year. We only wish she could have kept it going a couple months longer, that's all.
Bummest Rap
Donald Trump certainly wasn't shy about lobbing accusations towards anyone at all, on the basis of "something he read on the internet," but we're going to tackle the worst of these in a different category.
As reader nypoet22 suggested, we could have gone with: "Joe Biden. Period." Biden got a bum rap all year, really. Combine it with Kick's suggestion: "The U.S. economy," and you get Bidenomics, which certainly got a bum rap. Post-COVID, the American economy was the envy of the rest of the world, as we came to a "soft landing" with no recession, plentiful jobs, and much lower inflation than most developed countries experienced.
Then there was the whole "impeach Biden" effort, which was just laughable from the start. They never uncovered evidence of any wrongdoing by Biden, but that didn't really matter, they forged ahead nonetheless. In the end, they couldn't even manage to convince all the House Republicans to vote for it, so they had to settle for second-best.
Which is who gets the Bummest Rap prize, because the impeachment of the first sitting cabinet member in American history -- Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas -- was a complete farce from beginning to end. Republicans impeached Mayorkas for the "high crime and misdemeanor" of being a Democrat and carrying out a Democratic president's policies, plain and simple. They impeached him because they couldn't manage to impeach Biden.
They almost couldn't even do that -- the first House vote failed, due to Republican absences. The second time around, Speaker Johnson correctly counted noses and it squeaked by, but the Senate quickly dispensed with the entire matter by voting not to even bother to hold a trial. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said at the time that it was "the least legitimate, least substantive and most politicized impeachment trial in the history of the United States," and he was right. Of course, the Republicans howled since they were denied their dog-and-pony show of a sham trial (which would have bred endless campaign ads for them, no doubt), but they didn't have a leg to stand on. After all, the most vociferous Republican senators decrying the vote to dismiss all charges voted for exactly the same thing during Trump's impeachments.
The whole thing was a farce, and a dangerous precedent to set. And at the heart of it was the Bummest Rap of the year.
Fairest Rap
We're going to hand out two awards in this category, one on either side of the aisle, since we found we couldn't choose between them.
The first is a label that really deserves to be used constantly, by all Democrats. Because it fits. The man who will be sworn in as president next month will forever be known to us as "Convicted Felon Donald Trump." After being found liable to the tune of over $350 million for his business fraud and to the tune of $88 million for defaming a woman he sexually assaulted, Donald Trump was found guilty by a jury of his peers on all 34 criminal counts of election interference in the 2016 election, for paying hush money to a porn star and then cooking the books to hide where the payments were going. It's a shame he didn't face juries for all the other charges he faced (all of which were very serious), but he has earned his new title of Convicted Felon Donald Trump forevermore -- it's a fair rap, in other words.
The other Fairest Rap this year is that Bob Menendez is a total sleazebag. Remember him getting caught with oodles of cash and bars of gold stashed away in his house? They were pay-to-play quid-pro-quo payments from a foreign entity, and Menendez sold his influence in the Senate quite blatantly and cheerfully -- right up until he got caught. Then it was time to heap all the blame on his wife, of course (see previous "sleazebag" comment).
There was one very good outcome to the whole fiasco, however, because Menendez going down in flames set forth a chain reaction in the state of New Jersey that went a long way towards dismantling the Democratic machine politics that had pervaded the state for decades. This happened in numerous ways, from the party machine losing the ability to rig the primary ballots to an upstart winning the nomination to replace Menendez (rather than the nepotistic candidate the machine preferred) to a Jersey political boss getting the book thrown at him later in the year.
In the end, the jury did the right thing and pronounced Menendez guilty, and he was forced to resign his Senate seat. But he'll forever be known as a total sleazebag politician, because that was also the Fairest Rap of the year.
Best Comeback
Before we get to the main award, we have to at least give a nod of appreciation for a different take on the word "comeback."
When Marjorie Taylor Greene was being as offensive as possible in a House committee hearing, one of her targets zinged her right back. After hurling plenty of very personal insults at various Democrats on the committee, Representative Jasmine Crockett decided that she had had quite enough. She raised a point of order with the committee chair, James Comer, in the following manner:
I'm just curious, just to better understand your ruling: If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody's bleach-blonde, bad-built, butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?
Comer responded with: "A what, now?"
Heh. Best comeback line in Congress all year long!
But more seriously, even we have to admit that the Best Comeback of the year was Donald Trump winning a second, non-consecutive term as president.
This feat has only been accomplished once before in American history, back in the 1890s when Grover Cleveland managed it. Most failed presidential nominees never get another chance, for what might be called obvious reasons. But Trump managed to pull the wool over the eyes of his own devoted MAGA personality cult, and insisted that he actually had won the 2020 election -- the Big Lie that he persists in spreading even to this day.
This was pretty delusional, especially considering that neither Trump nor any of his followers has ever produced even a scintilla of evidence of the truth of his Big Lie, but the Republican Party as a whole decided it was easier to believe the man behind the curtain than trust in their own lyin' eyes. Which set the stage for Trump's comeback.
Nothing deterred this comeback. Not getting indicted in multiple criminal cases, not getting held liable for sexual assault, not also being held liable for business fraud, not for treating classified documents as party favors among his buddies (even including nuclear secrets and war plans), and not even being convicted of 34 felonies in an election-interference case from the 2016 election. Trump is the ultimate Teflon Don -- nothing ever seems to stick to him.
All of it just seemed to make Trump politically stronger -- which defies conventional political gravity. None of it brought him down.
Trump will be the oldest president ever inaugurated, and it has shown, all throughout the campaign. He is losing his grip more and more. He flubs facts, pronunciations, names, memories, his own position on issues -- just everything. He has so many "senior moments" it is downright alarming. And none of it made any difference.
Trump, after winning the debate he held against Joe Biden, was absolutely humiliated in his debate with Kamala Harris. It didn't matter one whit.
He wound up sweeping all the battleground states and securing a second term, four years after losing an election to Joe Biden.
Even we have to admit, that is a comeback for the ages. Which is why Trump is hands-down the winner of the Best Comeback this year, much as it pains us to admit it.
Most Original Thinker
This wasn't really a great year for original thinking. Maybe Tim Walz for coming up with "weird" to describe Trump and his minions?
We almost decided to give it to the governor of Maryland for his blanket pardon of 175,000 marijuana crimes, reaching back to the 1980s, but while this was indeed impressive he didn't exactly think up the idea (other states have done so, although not in such a widespread blanket manner).
Instead, we are going to give Most Original Thinker to Los Angeles Magazine writer Adam Parkhomenko, for one very striking metaphor. In an article warning of Trump's increasingly authoritarian statements, Parkhomenko came up with an absolutely brilliant metaphor that we hadn't previously heard. It is relatable and it explains not just the public's diminishing capacity for outrage, but also the mainstream media's.
Here's how he put it:
Horror movies become less scary each time they are watched, and Americans have viewed the Donald Trump horror show on repeat for nearly a decade. The villain does not change, but the viewer's response calms dramatically. No matter what Trump says or does, Americans have seen this movie before, and we've seen it so many times that what once shook us at our core is now just background noise.
For this excellent metaphor, we think Adam Parkhomenko deserves the Most Original Thinker of the year.
Most Stagnant Thinker
If the award just read "Most Stagnant," we would give it to Attorney General Merrick Garland. But his stagnation was in not acting, not in anything he thought up.
We considered giving it to the Arizona supreme court, for ruling that an abortion law passed during the Civil War (long before Arizona even became a state) was somehow still valid and constitutional. That was some mighty stagnant thinking, we have to admit -- so bad, in fact, that even some Republicans joined with Democrats in the state legislature to overturn the ancient law.
But we're going to give the award of Most Stagnant Thinker to all of those Republicans who want to start robustly enforcing the Comstock Act again. Here is Senator Tina Smith from Minnesota explaining why it is "ridiculous... that we're even talking about this legislative relic today."
Back in the 1860s, a former Civil War soldier from rural Connecticut named Anthony Comstock moved to New York City for work. He was shocked and appalled by what he found. Advertisements for contraception! Open discussions of sexual health! It all struck Comstock as terribly lewd and anti-Christian.
So he made it his mission to clean up society, creating the loftily named New York Society for the Suppression of Vice and gathering evidence for police raids on places that distributed material he thought was obscene or promoted indecent living. In the early 1870s he took his crusade to Washington, lobbying for federal legislation that would empower the post office to search for and seize anything in the mail that met Comstock's criteria for being "obscene," "lewd" or just plain "filthy." Morality, as determined by Comstock, would be the law of the land, and Comstock himself would be its enforcer, appointed by Congress as a special agent of the post office.
In a fit of Victorian puritanism, Congress passed the Comstock Act into law. But it quickly became apparent that Comstock's criteria were unworkably vague. In its broad wording, the law not only made it illegal to send pornography through the mail, it also outlawed the sending of medical textbooks for their depictions of the human body, personal love letters that hinted at physical as well as romantic relationships, and even news stories.
The whole thing was very silly and impracticable, and that's why the Comstock Act was relegated to the dustbin of history.
Being silly and impracticable is no obstacle for some forced-birth Republicans, though. They want the Trump administration to start enforcing it again. Which would mean that any "article or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion, or for any indecent or immoral use" would be "nonmailable matter" which "should not be conveyed in the mails or delivered from any post office or by any letter carrier."
Good luck defining "for any indecent or immoral use" once again.
The Comstock Act should have been overturned a long time ago, but the only time Congress did so was on a portion of it, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that contraception was legal (they overturned the parts that outlawed sending any contraception through the mails). Which means the rest of it is just sitting there in federal law waiting for any zealot to come along and attempt to enforce it again. And there is no shortage of zealotry among some Republicans.
Anyone who is thinking of reviving the Comstock Act is without question the Most Stagnant Thinker of the year.
Best Photo Op
This was another one that pains us to admit, but we have to agree with readers nypoet22 and Kick -- Donald Trump's reaction to his first assassination attempt was indeed the Best Photo Op of the year.
Maybe it's just some sort of deep-seated instinct in Trump, but he knew he was having a moment and he made the best of it.
After catching a bullet or a piece of shrapnel with his ear, Trump ducked down behind the podium and was surrounded by a "dog pile" of Secret Service agents. When word came that the shooter had been killed, they tried to get Trump up and hustle him off the stage to his vehicle.
But Trump, perhaps because he knew the shooter was dead, decided to make political hay at the best possible moment for him. He appeared, head and shoulders above the scrum of agents surrounding him and defiantly waved his fist, with blood streaming down the side of his head. "Fight, Fight, Fight!" he chanted to the crowd. As the agents finally did get him to move off the stage, Trump continued mugging for the cameras.
The whole thing was politically brilliant, you've got to admit. And totally unscripted -- as mentioned, it seemed more of an awareness that the cameras were all on him and an effort to milk that for all it was worth.
And it worked.
In the history books, the photo of Trump getting hit and crouching down behind his podium won't be shown -- instead they will show him defiantly waving his fist and chanting "Fight!" to the crowd.
Which was indeed the Best Photo Op of the year, like it or not.
Worst Photo Op
We got the suggestion that Biden's debate performance was the Worst Photo Op of the year, but we don't really consider that to technically be a "photo op" -- it was way too long for that, in our opinion. It wasn't fun to see -- Biden with his mouth gaping open, struggling to put his words together -- but it seemed a lot more than just a photo op to us.
There were the insurrectionist flags displayed in front of Samuel Alito's vacation home (and him blaming his wife) -- that one was pretty bad. And there was an ad Trump ran which had in the background a newspaper with the phrase "the creation of a unified Reich" on it... that was so over-the-top that Dana Milbank of the Washington Post wrote of it: "As you've probably heard, Donald Trump has once again raised a führer."
But to us, the Worst Photo Op of the year was R.F.K. Jr.'s Super Bowl ad. This was a blatant ripoff of a 1960 campaign ad for John F. Kennedy (see the original and the ripoff, for comparison), and was an absolutely shameless attempt to leverage his last name to get votes. It was so bad many members of his own family vociferously condemned R.F.K. Jr. for running it. As we called it the day after, the "Nepo Baby Ad" was an affront to everything the entire rest of the Kennedy clan has stood for and meant to the American people, and R.F.K. Jr. trying so shamelessly to benefit from his famous family was just downright disgusting.
Plus, it's a really annoying ad.
Which is all why the Nepo Baby Ad wins Worst Photo Op of the year.
Enough Already!
As always, this is a catchall sort of category, for stuff that didn't rise to the level of any of the other awards. Feel free to add to the list on your own, as we said it's the junk drawer of these awards.
Merrick Garland's endless delays -- Enough Already!
Rudy Giuliani and his Rudy Coffee -- Enough Already!
Ticketmaster's monopoly -- Enough Already!
"Dynamic pricing" for events -- Enough Already!
Hannibal Lecter -- Enough Already!
Supreme Court corruption -- Enough Already!
The Supreme Court declaring presidents kings -- Enough Already!
The insistence on Trump's eternal innocence -- Enough Already!
Trump selling every kind of cheap crap imaginable to grift his followers -- Enough Already!
Worst Lie
Perhaps some personal bias enters into the choice for Worst Lie this year, we will admit.
There were plenty of really odious lies to choose from, of course. Trump was the source of many of them (also "of course"). Just on the subject of abortion, there was Trump repeating (unchallenged, for the most part) over and over again that: "everyone wanted Roe v. Wade overturned -- everyone!" and: "Democrats want to be able to kill babies even after they are born," neither of which was remotely true. And that's just on one subject -- Trump had plenty of other lies on every other subject he addressed (sharks... Hannibal Lecter... Willie Brown in a helicopter crash with him... the list goes on and on).
Early in the year was an absolute head-scratcher of a lie, told by credulous Republicans: Taylor Swift's success was some sort of "Pentagon psy-op" dreamed up at a NATO meeting? Or something like that? The Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl was all somehow part of this nefarious plot? That one really took the cake for bizarreness, we have to admit.
More seriously, there are two lies that we did consider for the award that were indeed of a more concerning nature. The first was suggested by reader nypoet22, that "Biden is sharper than ever." This was a lie (or "spin" if you want to be polite) that was put out by the White House (and plenty of supporting Democrats) when Biden's age and mental faculties came into question in the campaign. "No, no, he's sharp as a tack!" was the basic message. But this was proven wrong when we all witnessed Biden's trainwreck of a debate. So how many people at the White House and beyond had actually noticed Biden was slipping a few cogs and refused to publicly admit it? That is a lie with some serious implications, after all. What if Biden had won? And what if he had deteriorated further? Would all these people just continue to lie about it to the American people?
Then quite recently, Biden pardoned his son Hunter. This made him into a liar by his own action. All during Hunter's court case and legal troubles, Joe Biden insisted he would respect the findings of the court and over and over again also insisted he wouldn't pardon Hunter no matter what -- as a matter of principle. The rule of law was too sacrosanct for him to even consider such a thing. He even maintained this position after the election was over. Right up until he didn't. Biden pardoning his son will be debated for a long time to come, but at the heart of it was a gigantic lie, because he had stated so many times -- and so unequivocally -- that he wasn't going to do it.
But as we said, we have a more personal take on this award. Because to us, the Biggest Lie of the year came from Trump's mouth in his debate with Kamala Harris: "They're eating the dogs... they're eating the cats."
Like many Trump lies, this one was born of an internet rumor that Trump read and treated as Gospel truth. Even after it was pretty conclusively proven that such a thing had never actually happened. It was picked up by his running mate, and then Trump repeated it during the debate when he was backed into a corner by Harris. Harris taunted Trump for people streaming out of his rallies while he was talking, and this just incensed him no end. In the midst of a rambling blustery retort (which we provided in full, the day after the debate), Trump said:
What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country. And look at what's happening to the towns all over the United States. And a lot of towns don't want to talk -- not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don't want to talk about it because they're so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating -- they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country. And it's a shame.
He was referring to an internet rumor that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were somehow on a rampage -- capturing, killing, and eating their neighbors' pets. None of it was true. But that didn't stop the MAGA army from phoning in bomb threats to elementary schools and the Proud Boys marching through the streets of the town. We wrote about it at the time, calling Trump's egging people on by its proper name ("stochastic terrorism"), and denounced it forcefully, because Springfield, Ohio is very close to the very small town where we attended college. When Trump was asked about all this, he couldn't even bring himself to condemn the bomb threats. Against elementary schools.
This is political domestic terrorism, folks. And it is an ugly, ugly thing. Real people's lives were affected by it. Fear spread, for no reason whatsoever. And the fearmonger just didn't care one bit.
Which is why, for us, this was the Worst Lie of the year.
Capitalist Of The Year
While we did have to consider Donald Trump (for continuing to come up with new and inventive ways to grift his own followers -- gold sneakers! $100,000 watches! cologne!), his paltry efforts fell short.
A good case can indeed be made for Elon Musk, who made a $250 million investment that bought him the title of "co-president" and a role in taking a wrecking ball to the structure of the federal government, but even this was rather small in comparison.
No, the Capitalist Of The Year was none other than Taylor Swift.
She just wrapped up a two-year world tour that raked in a jaw-dropping two billion dollars.
That's billion... y'know... with a "B".
This is such a staggering accomplishment for a pop singer that it has to be acknowledged as greater than anything Donald Trump or Elon Musk did this year. Taylor Swift was, hands down, the Capitalist Of The Year.
Honorable Mention
Another category for people who didn't rise to any of the other awards.
So, in no particular order, we award Honorable Mentions to the following:
Representative Al Green, who went directly from getting an operation in a hospital to the House floor just so he could be the deciding vote to stop the impeachment of Homeland Secretary Mayorkas. Speaker Johnson didn't expect him to show up for the vote and thought it would pass with the votes he had, but it didn't (it did later on, but that's immaterial to Green's extraordinary and impressive effort).
Tom Suozzi, the Democrat who flipped a House seat after the defenestration of George Santos.
Joe Biden, for delivering a great State Of The Union speech.
Lauren Boebert's idiocy, for ranting about the "Biden Crime Family" right before her 18-year-old son was arrested on 22 criminal charges.
The United Auto Workers, for organizing an auto plant in the South for the first time since the 1940s.
The guy who lost his case at the Supreme Court, who ruled that he couldn't trademark the phrase "Trump So Small" to sell merchandise.
...and, finally, the absolute best suggestion for this category, from reader nypoet22:
Maya Rudolph, for her portrayal of Kamala Harris on Saturday Night Live.
Person Of The Year
The whole path was frustrating in a lot of ways, but in the end he got there. Which is why our selection of Person Of The Year is Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, because he was the only one who managed to actually make Donald Trump face justice for his crimes.
Bragg was not very gung-ho about the effort at first. When he first entered office, he considered the investigation the previous D.A. had done and decided to hold back on prosecuting Trump. Two of his lead prosecutors immediately resigned in protest, because they thought the case should move forward. But then eventually the so-called "zombie case" came back to life.
Bragg filed his charges against Trump before anyone else. The federal charges and the charges in Georgia followed Bragg's indictment, so he truly led the effort to hold Trump accountable from the start.
Plenty of people second-guessed Bragg for bringing the charges, before and during the trial. They were complicated... it was a novel application of the law... what if there's a hung jury?... what if the case just can't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt?... etc., etc., etc. There was also the complaint that this was the most minor of the four cases against Trump, and frustration that the more-serious cases didn't happen first. But Bragg achieved what the others couldn't, because he successfully batted aside all of Trump's efforts to endlessly delay before the trial happened. So America was able to see Trump sitting in a courtroom, facing the music (and often nodding off to sleep) for at least one of his crimes.
In the end, the jury only took 10 hours to deliberate, which is lightning-quick for convictions on 34 separate counts. And the verdict was unanimous, straight down the list: guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty....
Alvin Bragg is now the only prosecutor to have ever taken a former president to court and convicted him of felony crimes. He will go down in history for doing so. While Trump's legal antics were successful in delaying the other three cases against him until after getting re-elected, in Bragg's case justice was not delayed or denied.
For that accomplishment, Alvin Bragg is the Person Of The Year.
[See you next week, for the conclusion of our 2024 awards!]
-- Chris Weigant
If you're interested in traveling down Memory Lane, here are all the previous years of this awards column:
2023 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2023 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2021 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2020 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2019 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2018 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2017 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2016 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2015 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2014 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2013 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2012 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2011 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2010 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2009 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2008 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2007 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
2006 -- [Part 1] [Part 2]
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground
I still think that there should be a Merrick Garland Award. Or maybe the Garland-Comey Award.
Both placed protecting their respective institutions over doing the job of seeing that real justice is done, thus protecting We the People from unlawful conduct. Justice delayed is Justice denied.
Hey nypoet22, I think you should be on the payroll.
great minds think alike :)
First, to some old business..
I watched the video. It did not match the point you were trying to make nor does it match the US government chain of command for congressional security.
Of course it does.. You just can't admit the facts because it violates your PTDS Trump/America hate ethos..
“I feel responsible. We have a responsibility, Terri. We did not have any accountability for what was going on there, and we should have. This is ridiculous.”
-Nancy Pelosi in the immediate aftermath of 6 Jan riot
Pelosi says it there in plain english.
WE HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY
Pelosi failed in her own admitted responsibility..
This is why I don't bother with providing links to you, Bashi..
Because you **NEVER** acknowledge the objective reality of the facts if they violate your ethos of PTDS Trump/America hate....
And, since *I* know that what I am saying is factual and EVERY ONE ELSE (by their silence) knows everything I say is factual and you will **NEVER** acknowledge the facts that violate your PTDS Trump/America hate ethos...
There is simply no valid reason to provide you with any facts that you will never acknowledge anyways...
See how simple it is?? It's so simple even a moron like you can understand it..
075
As always, it's a marathon. It's really, really long. Don't say you weren't warned! And since it is so long, that's all the introduction we're going to bother with.
Since I work so hard and so long keeping the streets of Florida safe, my vote count has suffered..
In an effort to get my vote count up, I am going to break up my responses in multiple comments..
As an added bonus, it gives ya'all more chances to whine and cry and stamp your feet hysterically.. :D Don't say I never do nuttin' for ya'all.. :D
But we have to agree with reader "nypoet22" who suggested a more abstract nominee, and say that the Biggest Loser Of 2024 was "objective reality." Donald Trump has succeeded in gaslighting roughly half of the American populace. Reality, to his followers, is what he says it is -- facts be damned!
Apparently, reality is what you and JL want to make it.. At least for ya'all.. :eyeroll:
What ya'all call "gaslighting" is nothing more than being straight and factual with the American voter..
Which is, incidentally, why President ELECT Trump won and why Democrats got their asses handed to them.
Because it's been DEMOCRATS generally and Token DEI Hire Headboard Has Been Hooker Harris in particular who were gaslighting Americans..
And Americans are a LOT smarter than Democrats realize..
Which is why the vast majority of Americans handed Democrats' asses to them..
He even started refusing interviews during the campaign whenever anyone threatened to do real-time fact-checking of anything he said.
That's because there was no equal-time with fact checking Democrat statements..
If there were, then it would be more obvious than it already is that Democrats tell more lies than Republicans..
I am STILL waiting for someone... ANYONE.. to put forth a President ELECT Trump lie...
NO ONE has been able to accomplish that..
"Gee!! I wonder why that is!!!"
-Kevin Spacey, THE NEGOTIATOR
076
But we had to agree with nypoet22's nomination instead.
Well, we all know who Teacher's Pet is... :D
the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling. That could be a defining moment far beyond just this year, we do realize.
You can blame your own Democrats for that..
Just like you can blame Democrat Harry Reid for the 6-3 Trump SCOTUS court in the first place..
What IS it about you Democrats that ya'all can't see past ya'all's own immediate wants??
THAT is why ya'all Democrats got so utterly creamed in 2024..
Ya'all Democrats played the short game with absolutely NO THOUGHT to long term consequences..
THAT is why we have a 6-3 Trump SCOTUS..
THAT is why we have President ELECT Trump back in the Oval Office where he belongs..
THAT is why President ELECT Trump has total immunity for official acts..
All because Democrats are too stoopid to play the long game..
iden's debate performance was the most meaningful any of us has likely ever seen. In previous presidential debates, there may have been one moment or a particularly poignant quip that sticks in the mind, but Biden was just awful from start to finish.
President Trump kicked the ever lovin' SHIT outta Basement Biden!! :D
And ya'all can't blame Biden's senility and dementia.. :D
Because ya'all's "reality" up to that point was that Basement Biden was "sharp as a tack"...
Ya'all see how ya'all's BS "reality" will ALWAYS come back and bite ya'all on yer arses?? :D
And that's how it's going to be for the next 4 years.. :D So get used to it..
077
This one may surprise some people, but we are going to hand the Most Charismatic award to none other than Kamala Harris.
Oh bbbaaarrrrfffff....
Ya really dropped the ball on this one CW...
Token DEI Hire Has Been Hooker Headboard Harris had ZERO in the way of charisma...
ZERO... ZILCH.... NADA.... NONE....
The ONLY reason she got as far as she did is because ya'all Democrats were so relieved that senile dementia-riddled Basement Biden was out of the picture...
A potato could have replaced Basement Biden and ya'all would have reacted exactly the same...
Put another way.. 2024 Headboard Harris had just as much charisma as 2019 Headboard Harris... Which was ZERO charisma..
Charisma my ass... :eyeroll:
The whole thing was a farce, and a dangerous precedent to set. And at the heart of it was the Bummest Rap of the year.
Point of FACT... Democrats set that precedent with the useless impeachments against President Trump.
So, you can't pin this one on the GOP, son..
Hell, Democrats even had to MAKE UP laws to impeach President Trump over.. That's how bad Democrats were.. :eyeroll:
So, if you want to talk about setting bad precedents with bogus impeachments, you need look no further than your own Democrats...
Just another example of Democrats ignoring long term consequences for their actions to accomplish (or more accurately, FAIL TO ACCOMPLISH) short term goals..
The man who will be sworn in as president next month will forever be known to us as "Convicted Felon Donald Trump."
Not factually accurate..
The *ONLY* conviction that Democrats managed to get is not a valid conviction until it's recorded.. And the conviction is not recorded until sentencing..
So, since the sentencing has been cancelled and the entire case is going to be thrown out anyways, it's a LIE to say that President Trump is a convicted felon..
Not that ya'all really CARE about lies that Democrats spew... :eyeroll:
078
For that accomplishment, Alvin Bragg is the Person Of The Year.
This is a PERFECT indication of how UN-AMERICAN and HATE AMERICA things have gotten here in Weigantia..
A total scumbag who tried to prosecute a REAL AMERICAN HERO for heroic deeds is Weigantia's Person Of The Year...
A completely corrupt person who MADE UP laws to persecute an innocent man is Weigantia's Person Of The Year...
It illustrates so perfectly how much Weigantia is built on hate...
:EYEROLL:
So sad....
079
Democrat plan for "defending democracy"..
http://mfccfl.us/democracy.jpg
Typical Democrats..
Talking out BOTH sides of their asses...
Just like JMCT!!! :D
080
MC [1] and nyp [2],
I agree - Chris should consider adding a Merrick Garland award for public servants who prioritize their institutional dignity at the cost of actual justice or public good.
I agree - Chris should consider adding a Merrick Garland award for public servants who prioritize their institutional dignity at the cost of actual justice or public good.
A DEMOCRAT talking about "actual justice" and "public good"..
Talk about your EPIC :eyeroll:
Son, you don't know the meaning of the words....
081
I'de like to add a category...
LONGEST FILIBUSTER
The longest filibuster took place in 1964.
For 75 Days Democrats filibustered the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT to try and block the Act's passage.
How any intelligent person can be a Democrat is simply one of the mysteries of the universe..
:eyeroll:
082
Democrats TIME's Person Of The Year...
http://mfccfl.us/Time.jpg
I agree - Chris should consider adding a Merrick Garland award for public servants who prioritize their institutional dignity at the cost of actual justice or public good.
I mean, let's look at the FACTS...
Democrats cheered TWO President Trump assassination attempts and were sad that they weren't successful..
Democrats CHEERED the brutal cold blooded murder of an executive who was completely and 100% INNOCENT of any crime...
Is THAT what you call "actual justice" and "public good", JMCT??
THIS is what you Democrats have become..
Ya'all actually have become EVERYTHING you accuse President ELECT Trump of being..
I know, I know... You won't answer this..
Because you CAN'T. Because you KNOW that I am dead on ballz accurate..
You HAVE no response... :eyeroll:
084
After catching a bullet or a piece of shrapnel with his ear,
Here is a PERFECT example of ya'all denying reality to feed ya'all's PTDS and Trump/America hate..
It's undeniably factual that it was a BULLET that struck President Trump's ear..
The ONLY "shrapnel" that could possibly have existed would be the teleprompters.. Photos of the incident aftermath shows that BOTH teleprompters were intact.. Overhead photos of the incident area shows a CLEAR line of sight from the scumbag Democrat shooter to the stage where President Trump was hit..
So, tell me.. Where could the "shrapnel" have come from???
Once again.. FACTUAL proof positive that ya'all create ya'all's
"reality" out of thin air with absolutely ZERO facts to back it up..
You people are so delusional and in the grip of ya'all's PTDS and Trump/America hate you can't even think straight..
The FACTS that prove this beyond any doubt are as plentiful as they are conclusive..
:eyeroll:
085
“I feel responsible. We have a responsibility, Terri. We did not have any accountability for what was going on there, and we should have. This is ridiculous.”
-Nancy Pelosi in the immediate aftermath of 6 Jan riot
"I feel responsible" in the heat of the moment is not the admission you so desperately want. Trying to frame Pelosi as 100% responsible because she did not predict before hand that Trump would send a mob down to congress is just silly. And has been debunked as I posted. Trying to discount that debunking because it's from a "left" news outlet is weak and intellectually dishonest. If you have a problem an article, point it out. The press isn't binary opposites purely for your convenience. The bias varies all over the place on all sides. Snopes is Left-Center and high credibility.
This is why I don't bother with providing links to you, Bashi..
No, it's because I often read them and find the hyperbole in the headline to get clicks, to which you are trying to make a point, is contradicted by the article it's self...
Because you **NEVER** acknowledge the objective reality of the facts if they violate your ethos of PTDS Trump/America hate....
No, it's that reality interferes with your Trump booty licking/America hate...
"I feel responsible" in the heat of the moment is not the admission you so desperately want.
Of course you would say that..
And, of course, it's just your PTDS Trump/America hate talking with ZERO facts to prove your claim..
I made a claim and backed it up with HARD VIDEO FACTUAL EVIDENCE and you STILL deny the facts..
Which is why it's not even worth giving you the facts..
And, since no one else questions my facts and since it is well documented that, with you Democrats SILENCE GIVES ASSENT...
The facts stand..
The bias varies all over the place on all sides. Snopes is Left-Center and high credibility.
BBBBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You use ANOTHER Democrat Propaganda site to validate your first Democrat Propaganda site!!???
BBBBBBWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
How hilarious you are, Bashi.. :D
086
Of course you would say that..
And of course you would say that. Over and over because you can't back your shit up...
And, of course, it's just your PTDS Trump/America hate talking with ZERO facts to prove your claim..
You mean your Trump booty licking/America hate?
I made a claim and backed it up with HARD VIDEO FACTUAL EVIDENCE and you STILL deny the facts..
That I watched and made a case of why it did not back your argument when I could have followed your lead and ignored it as it was posted on that right wing cesspool, X.
Which is why it's not even worth giving you the facts..
Giving facts is more involved than making shit up or posting opinions then labeling them facts.
Ah, yes. a "silence gives assent" and a bunch of mindless blabbing just to demonstrate you can't back up your argument. Yawn.
Hello Darkness my old friend.. We've come to talk to you again.. :D
President ELECT has signaled his support for keeping Standard Time permanent..
No more switching the clocks...
I know, I know... Ya'all are against that.. But solely because President ELECT Trump is for it... :eyeroll:
I can name ya'all's position on EVERYTHING.. Because it's ALWAYS the opposite of President ELECT Trump's position.. :D
087
Ah, yes. a "silence gives assent" and a bunch of mindless blabbing just to demonstrate you can't back up your argument. Yawn.
I backed up my argument with VIDEO PROOF..
And yet you STILL deny the facts...
Yer wrong, Bashi..
JUST like you were wrong about President Trump going to jail..
JUST like you were wrong about Basement Biden finishing the campaign..
JUST like you were wrong about Headboard Harris winning the election..
You have been WRONG about everything... :D
Funny how that is ALWAYS the case with you PTDS-stricken Trump/America haters...
ALWAYS wrong..
088
Just. Just. Just. All to make up what I have posted because you can't tell posters apart? Weird.
I want trading reopened right now! Get those brokers back in here! Turn those machines back on!! TURN THOSE MACHINES BACK ON!!
- Mortimer Duke, Trading Places
"We did not have any accountability for what was going on there, and we should have."
-Nancy Pelosi referring to the 6 Jan riots..
These are Pelosi's words in the immediate aftermath of the 6 Jan riots..
These are FACTUAL unfiltered and honest words said before Pelosi had time to invoke political machinations or agendas..
These are Pelosi's FACTUAL and ACTUAL feelings on the matter before any kind of agenda-based filter was engaged..
You can spin them all you want Bashi.. But you will never change their meaning..
Those words express how Pelosi REALLY felt about the 6 Jan riots and acknowledged that SHE was responsible...
No amount of your PTDS Trump/America hate will change the FACTS...
089
All to make up what I have posted because you can't tell posters apart?
So NOW you are claiming you never thought Headboard Harris was going to win??
PROVE it..
You can't because the FACTS prove you wrong..
AGAIN....
But hay.. Let's consider that you actually never made a prediction..
If THAT were factually accurate then it proves that you were too chicken shit to put down a position..
So.. Either you were WRONG or you were chicken-shit...
Which is it, Bashit Fer Brains???
BBBBBWWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
090
Democrats may have to redefine what it takes for someone seeking the highest office in the land to be considered charismatic such that they are able to persuade a wide and deep enough swath of voters to win the next presidential election.
If Kamala Harris can win any award, anywhere for being the most charismatic, then Dems should have to look no further than this to understand what went wrong in 2024.
If Kamala Harris can win any award, anywhere for being the most charismatic, then Dems should have to look no further than this to understand what went wrong in 2024.
"I know, right!??"
-Felix, WRECK IT RALPH
Saying Harris was "charismatic" says all that needs to be said about the state of the Democrat Party in the here and now.. :D
Democrats are so far from everyday Americans as to be living in a different galaxy...
Considering all that President Trump has accomplished so far while not even being in office, it's going to be amazing for America and Americans when he actually IS in office.. :D
On another note... Liz, what's your thoughts on Trudeau threatening to cut off America's power in response to tariff's????
Empty threat???
091
DNC fundraiser says Democrats have 'stench of loser' hanging over party following defeat to Trump
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other Big Tech CEOs have made overtures to Trump following his victory
A Democrat who actually understands reality...
And now all the tech CEOs who Democrats swooned over are now sucking up to President ELECT Trump... :D
Big Tech leaders like Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg have all either met with Trump or directly, in the case of Altman, made donations to Trump's inaugural committee after his election victory.
"I'm speaking as a Democrat myself, this brings me no joy to say it. I feel like the Democrats are going to be consigned to the wilderness for at least the next four to eight years and Jeff Bezos is probably thanking his lucky stars that he withheld that endorsement. They're doing everything they can now to continue the détente.
I'm speaking as an immigrant," Li said. "For immigrants like me, who became naturalized Americans, proud and grateful Americans, it's extremely upsetting that people are just flooding into the country willy-nilly."
-DNC Committee Lindy Li
Democrats are simply lusers... Pure and simple..
Who could have POSSIBLY predicted this!??
Oh... Wait... :D
092
So NOW you are claiming you never thought Headboard Harris was going to win??
Now you are assuming what we think? How Orwellian...
PROVE it..
You can't because the FACTS prove you wrong..
Do they? You made the accusation, you back it up. I don't remember making any predictions in these comments. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't but if you are going toss around accusations, it's your job to sift through comments and back them up. Of course we all know you are incapable of that, but that is your problem, not mine.
Which is it Bashit??
Are you wrong or a chicken-shit??
The FACTS prove you are one or the other...
:D
Moved on to ad hominems because you can't back up your accusations, eh?
Sad.
Michale,
Isn't it the premier of Ontario threatening to cut off the power?
Moved on to ad hominems because you can't back up your accusations, eh?
Says the moron who has NOTHING but personal attacks and NOTHING in the way of facts..
What a sad creature you are.. :eyeroll:
094
Liz,
Isn't it the premier of Ontario threatening to cut off the power?
Yea he is...
His sucking up to President Trump didn't work so now he's threatening retaliation.. :D
He's playing with a weak hand..
Canada needs the US a LOT more than the US needs Canada.. :D
095
If you want to see a real clown show, watch Canadian politics.
If you want to see a real clown show, watch Canadian politics.
All politics is a clown show.. :D
"The nature of the beast..."
-Col Hadley, THE FINAL OPTION
096
Seen GLADIATOR II yet??
I am watching it now.. It's pretty good..
097
I've never seen Gladiator I yet. Heh.
You should get out more!! :D
We're gonna watch RED ONE tonight with the grand-babies..
Every other weekend I get a 3-day weekend off.. :D
I got a great job!! :D
For once, Elton John is right – cannabis is deadening to the soul
All of which is why I am in full agreement with Elton John who, as Time magazine’s “icon of the year”, has lambasted the legalisation of pot in North America as “one of the greatest mistakes of all time”.
Sir Elton, himself an addict until he got sober 34 years ago, pointed out that: “It leads to other drugs. And when you’re stoned – and I’ve been stoned – you don’t think normally.”
Well....
That certainly explains a lot about the way ya'all think.... Or, in this case... DON'T think.... :D
099
The square has gone full Sgt. Stedenko...
@liz[23]/m[24]
the award is for being charismatic, not for running a perfect campaign. and given the situation into which Harris was brought, a perfect campaign was what it would have taken to win. EVEN a perfect campaign might not have won, given trump's success at harnessing the media environment this summer.
Kamala came closer to that ideal certainly than I had thought possible, and falling short given the headwinds is no indictment of her growing political ability, much less her charisma. Donald was always going to win unless he blew it, and he didn't.
JL
Who said anything about a perfect campaign? Harris has never demonstrated much of a political ability and I don't expect that to ever change. Nor, in my view, will she ever be charismatic.
She does have a great laugh, though ... 'suppose that's something.
As much as Chris tries to credit Harris with "Most Charismatic" this year, I have to give Elizabeth points in her challenge of that rating.
How much of political "charisma" is inherently male? Who among our female politicians, ever, have been "charistmatic": likable, identifiable, the kind of guy (!) you'd like to have a drink with, the kind of guy (!) you'd like to just hang out with and share some jokes or BS stories?
I agree with Chris that Harris made an almost superhuman effort to convey an upbeat, optimistic, and friendly personality. The laugh, right? and the tone of voice, the projection of sincerity and good humor. But did she succeed, given her invisible profile on the national stage right up until her sudden denomination as Biden's successor and the Democrats' flag-bearer? I don't think she did, at least not with enough people to make the difference.
And I think the reason is, in the end, that women political candidates still face a different standard of voter judgement, both from men and women voters, than males do. "Charisma" is a double-edged sword, I think. Some men have it. Almost no women have it, if the term is defined in the male-oriented sense that has so long constrained it.
John,
I am a bit biased, though, truth be known. I have never forgiven her for her shabby and wholly disingenuous treatment of Biden during the 2020 Democratic primary, particularly during one of the 'debates'.
It seems I am capable of holding a grudge for a long time. :)
I think it will be a very, very long time before an American woman will emerge with the kind of charisma that can get her elected POTUS. And, perhaps by then the definition will have changed.
23
Lizbeth
If Kamala Harris can win any award, anywhere for being the most charismatic, then Dems should have to look no further than this to understand what went wrong in 2024.
This is silly unless you’re saying that Trump was more charismatic than Kamala. You know, that Democrat Presidential candidate that was held to a vastly higher standard than was Putin’s Bitch Trump.
MtnC for [43]
I know it's a fraught topic and an unclear word, but I would have to say that Trump does indeed have a variety of charisma that partly explains his political success. A strongly expressed personality, emotional delivery, deliberate body language, etc. are all parts of his persona that makes his followers believe in him and vote for him no matter how false and even criminal his actual record shows him to be to those who aren't his followers.
JL,
is no indictment of her growing political ability, much less her charisma.
You must not have read any of the After Action reports from Democrat Donors in the aftermath of the UBER drubbing that Headboard Harris received from President ELECT Trump..
Harris' political career is over. She will never run a political campaign again because not a single Democrat donor will ever give her another penny..
What you (and CW) call "charisma" is nothing more than the huge relief that you Democrats felt that Basement Biden was out of the race..
As I indicated above, if a potato had replaced Biden, you and CW would have assigned the same amount of "charisma" to that potato and Democrats in general would have felt the same "joy" for that potato that they showed for Headboard Harris...
Caddy,
You know, that Democrat Presidential candidate that was held to a vastly higher standard than was Putin’s Bitch Trump.
Oh waaa waaaa waaaa...
"Harris was picked on because she was a girl and Putin helped Trump!!"
That schtick is getting so old it actually creaks... And only an UBER moron would try and resurrect that old RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA bullshit.. :eyeroll:
Harris was a moron, pure and simple. It had NOTHING to do with her being a female and EVERYTHING to do with her being a MORON...
She had the most softball "interviews" a politician could EVER have and she even blew those.. Harris actually BOUGHT and PAID FOR those softball interviews...
She was asked questions that were so easily predictable ("What would you have done differently??") and she was completely and utterly UNPREPARED for the totally predictable question..
She was even UNPREPARED when the totally predictable question was asked for a SECOND and even a THIRD time!!!
And she gave the exact same MORONIC answer EVERY TIME!!!
It takes a SPECIAL kind of moron to be so completely and utterly CLUELESS to totally frak up a completely expected question THREE TIMES!!!
Harris' loss had NOTHING to do with her gender/sex and had NOTHING to do with Putin..
Harris' loss had EVERYTHING to do with her being a COMPLETELY unprepared and a totally moronic candidate..
She was a moron in 2019 and she was a moron in 2024..
And ANYONE who thinks that Harris has a political future is even a BIGGER moron..
Read the After Action report from Uber Mega Democrat Donor John Morgan if you don't believe me..
Harris will be lucky to win in an election for county dog catcher...
101
This is silly unless you’re saying that Trump was more charismatic than Kamala.
President ELECT Trump has more charisma in his nail clippings than Headboard Harris has in her whole existence..
Even John M From CT agrees with me on that...
Yer out in the cold on this one, Caddy...
102
And in the PRESIDENT ELECT TRUMP KICKS ABC's AND STEPHANOPOLOS' ASS department!! :D
ABC News and its top anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his defamation suit, which will result in the news network paying the president-elect $15 million.
Stephanopoulos and ABC News also had to issue statements of "regret" as an editor's note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024, online article, about comments made earlier this year that prompted Trump to file the defamation lawsuit. The note reads, "ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024."
What IS about and moron Demon'rats that the have to LIE about President ELECT Trump??
I mean, if President ELECT Trump was REALLY so bad as ya'all claim, why would ya'all Demon'rats have to LIE about him??
Shirley, just the FACTS alone would be sufficient if President ELECT Trump was REALLY as bad as ya'all claim, eh??
But apparently, the FACTS prove how AWESOME President ELECT Trump is.. Which is why Demon'rats have to LIE...
And are CONSTANTLY getting caught in those LIES!! :D
Speaking of LIES..
I am STILL waiting for one of ya'all to point out ANY "lie" that has come from President ELECT Trump..
Since ya'all have been SILENT about those alleged "lies" that must mean that ya'all can't find a single solitary lie that President ELECT Trump has told...
I guess ya'all are STILL stinging from the time I PROVED that ya'all's claims of President Trump being a racist was nothing but Trump/America hating BS.... :D
Understandable.. :D
103
This sad laughably incompetence of the Basement Biden/Headboard Harris administration simply CAN'T come to a close too soon..
DAVID MARCUS: Drone debacle perfect end to Biden’s 'You don’t need to know' presidency
Why would anyone expect to get a straight answer from this White House?
Up in the air. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the Biden administration’s final bit of credibility on fire in the form of giant mysterious drones over New Jersey.
As President Joe Biden limps away from one of the worst presidencies in American history, these unidentified flying objects, whatever they are, serve as a reminder that the general attitude of this White House towards the American people has been, "you don’t need to know that."
We didn’t need to know that the president of the United States was suffering severe mental decline, we didn’t need to know that he was actually open to pardoning his son Hunter while swearing he never would.
Even back in 2021, when breakthrough COVID cases among the vaccinated that weren’t supposed to exist were popping up all over Washington DC, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked then Press Secretary Jen Psaki how many had been detected at the White House.
"Why do you need that information?" was her incredible reply.
In other words, you don’t need to know.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/david-marcus-drone-debacle-perfect-end-bidens-you-dont-need-know-presidency
And ta think there are actually people out there who buy into the complete and utter BS that the Basement Biden/Headboard Harris administration was actually competent!!???
Mind-boggling... :eyeroll:
104
Well, Michale, now we get to see how the Trump/Vance administration will get along!
If we're up to watching, that is.
Well, Michale, now we get to see how the Trump/Vance administration will get along!
If we're up to watching, that is.
We know that the American people are 110% behind President Trump...
If Democrats can get on board, there is simply no limit to what the US can accomplish...
But you and I both know that some Democrats won't get on board, even if it would be best for the American people..
Still, even with the Democrats trying to drag down the country, I expect great things from the 2nd Trump administration... :D
105
Michale,
Your voice here, in a reality-based political blog, has always been one to remind us of how divisive and hypocritical and, yes, even incompetent the realm of politics can be, across all points on the political spectrum.
My hope going forward is that your voice will also be one of reasonableness without the signature vitriol that commonly shows up in any online comments section.
I am actually looking forward to a comprehensive ongoing discussion about how the US plays its cards - domestically and within this crazy world in which we live. In that respect, I am reserving any judgement about what Trump/Vance will do or how they will do it until they are actually sworn in on Jan 20th.
I hope we will all be capable of conversing with each other in a way that would respect the reputation of Chris's excellent blog which has created this wonderful space for free, fair and open conversation about the issues that are important to us.
Liz,
Your voice here, in a reality-based political blog, has always been one to remind us of how divisive and hypocritical and, yes, even incompetent the realm of politics can be, across all points on the political spectrum.
Why!! Thank you!! I think... :D
My hope going forward is that your voice will also be one of reasonableness without the signature vitriol that commonly shows up in any online comments section.
My vitriol has ALWAYS been in response to the hate and vitriol that has been a constant component of Weigantia since Jun of 2015...
The fact that you and I can converse in rational and civil tones is a testament to that fact...
If others could stop the Trump/America hate and PTDS inspired vitriol, I would respond in kind..
But they can't so I don't.. :D
I am a product of my environment, Liz... Always have been, always will be.. I am but a mirror that reflects all those around me.. :D
The fact that I will likely be entirely funding the next year of Weigantia proves I am willing to do my part.. :D
I am actually looking forward to a comprehensive ongoing discussion about how the US plays its cards - domestically and within this crazy world in which we live. In that respect, I am reserving any judgement about what Trump/Vance will do or how they will do it until they are actually sworn in on Jan 20th.
That fact that you are reserving judgement puts you head and shoulders above everyone else.. They are all HOPING and PUSHING for President Trump (and America) to fail..
Goes back to the Trump/America hate and PTDS vitriol discussed in the previous paragraph..
I hope we will all be capable of conversing with each other in a way that would respect the reputation of Chris's excellent blog which has created this wonderful space for free, fair and open conversation about the issues that are important to us.
I hope we all can do that as well..
But considering the tone of the majority of comments to date (sans yours and mine of course) I don't think we're going to get there..
The hate and bigotry is simply to deep, too strong, too ingrained and too much a part of the Democrat psyche to be overcome..
I mean, look at it..
They'all are CHEERING for a brutal assassination of a completely and utterly INNOCENT family man..
Did you EVER think in a MILLION years that Democrats in general (and Weigantians in particular) would CHEER and JOKE about a brutal assassination in cold blood of a completely innocent man with a wife and children???
It simply goes to show the depths of depravity that Left Wingers are plumbing..
"'tis sad 'tis true.... 'tis true 'tis sad.."
0106
END OF WATCH
Sergeant Rick Finley
Selmer Police Department, Tennessee
End of Watch: Saturday, December 14, 2024
And remind the few..
When ill of us they speak...
That we are all that stands between...
The monsters and the weak...
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/13839e8d10b9303c8d9aee50576e15b15f4844be91d15073a21097a85b780c50.jpg
The fact that I will likely be entirely funding the next year of Weigantia proves I am willing to do my part.. :D
Wow! Glad to know you are going to fully fund Chris’ needs for this site. I was going to enter my donation this week, but since you are claiming to be fully funding this site, I guess my money can go somewhere that it is actually needed. If Chris wonders why some people did not give this year, you should remind him of the FACT that you claimed to be “fully funding” this site for him and our money was no longer needed. Very generous of you! Nice job!
Harris' loss had NOTHING to do with her gender/sex
Then why do you continue to insult Harris by referring to her as “Token DEI Hire Has Been Hooker Headboard Harris ” at the very least in every post you make regarding her? You constantly refer to her as being a “moron” without offering any evidence showing why that description might be warranted.
My vitriol has ALWAYS been in response to the hate and vitriol that has been a constant component of Weigantia since Jun of 2015...
Except you are the only one on here who constantly spews vitriol in every post. You post 10x the number of comments of any one else on here and they are almost always toxic in their accusations. Don’t blame others for the person you present yourself as on here…that is ALL on YOU!
Hell, Democrats even had to MAKE UP laws to impeach President Trump over.. That's how bad Democrats were.. :eyeroll:
Show us in the Articles of Impeachment where false charges that are not based in law were leveled against Trump. Please, point them out to us! Tick…Tock…Tick…Tock… And still you offer absolutely nothing to support your accusations. But why should today be any different than all of your time on this site?
Since I work so hard and so long keeping the streets of Florida safe, my vote count has suffered..
Congrats on the new job actually assisting law enforcement after spending years on here lying about your 2 and a half decades of working in law enforcement. I so want to know how you explained that to those hiring you for this job. I mean, you DID list that on your employment history, right??? Or did you lie to them too?
What you (and CW) call "charisma" is nothing more than the huge relief that you Democrats felt that Basement Biden was out of the race..
@m,
I know reading comprehension isn't necessarily your strongest skill set, but this one was a bit shocking for its lack of awareness about my point of view. when president Biden left the race and endorsed kamala, my precise words were (and you can look this up),
in that order.
it was a terrible long-term move, and I still think I was right about that. Biden would probably still have lost, but it would have been without the ridiculous sense of desperation that the democratic establishment communicated by throwing Kamala in the deep end halfway through the race without a warm-up.
that Kamala was able to make a race of it in spite of the massive disadvantage she started with, is testament to her charisma. if democratic donors don't like the way things worked out, they should be looking in their gilded mirrors for changing horses mid-race and without a second primary, not at the vice president for failing to achieve the near-impossible.
that is my opinion, and it's as good an explanation for the results as any other I've read; certainly better than anything you've dreamed up so far.
JL
JL,
I know reading comprehension isn't necessarily your strongest skill set, but this one was a bit shocking for its lack of awareness about my point of view. when president Biden left the race and endorsed kamala, my precise words were (and you can look this up),
"stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid,"
in that order.
Yes, at the time, you said it was stoopid..
Yet, at the same time, just before you agreed that Harris had charisma.
Your two claims are not mutually exclusive..
it was a terrible long-term move, and I still think I was right about that.
And, at the time (and to this day) I completely and unequivocally agree with you..
Biden would probably still have lost, but it would have been without the ridiculous sense of desperation that the democratic establishment communicated by throwing Kamala in the deep end halfway through the race without a warm-up.
Agreed.. Basement Biden would have definitely lost..
But, at the very least, Democrats would have been able to at least hold on to the delusion that they were defenders of democracy..
Once they completely and utterly short-circuited and totally by-passed ANY semblance of democracy, they no longer even had the DELUSION of being "defenders of democracy"...
that Kamala was able to make a race of it in spite of the massive disadvantage she started with, is testament to her charisma.
NOT factually accurate. It was a testament to the RELIEF that Democrats felt that Democrats were no longer stuck with the senile and dementia-riddled Biden..
Basement Biden could have endorsed a rutabaga and Democrats would have assigned the same level of "joy" and "charisma" to said rutabaga...
2024 Harris had JUST as much "charisma" as 2019 Harries.. Namely, ZERO...
if democratic donors don't like the way things worked out, they should be looking in their gilded mirrors for changing horses mid-race and without a second primary, not at the vice president for failing to achieve the near-impossible.
Yes.. agreed... Donors share a measure of blame for the debacle that followed..
OTOH, Donors are rightly pissed off that Harris blew thru OVER TWO POINT FIVE ***BILLION*** DOLLARS even though Harris' own internal polling said she COULDN'T win... And she blew thru that exorbitant amount of money in just a little over 100 days!!
And blew thru those multi BILLION amount of dollars for the STOOPIDIEST of things...
Namely buying multi-million dollar softball interviews that Harris STILL totally frak'ed up...
Does THIS sound like a person who has even a SMIDGEN of charisma???
Not in this reality...
that is my opinion, and it's as good an explanation for the results as any other I've read; certainly better than anything you've dreamed up so far.
It's your opinion and I respect it as such..
But you have ZERO facts to support ANY indication of "charisma"..
Whereas my opinion has OODLES of real and actual documented FACTS that PROVE Harris doesn't have the charisma that the gods gave a rutabaga....
109
Russ,
Very generous of you! Nice job!
You are new here.. There was a time before ya'all Trump/America haters came and trashed the place that CW hisself appreciated the irony of me funding Weigantia.. :D
But your acknowledgement is appreciated.. :D
Then why do you continue to insult Harris by referring to her as “Token DEI Hire Has Been Hooker Headboard Harris ” at the very least in every post you make regarding her?
Because it's a factually accurate term that reflects Harris' history as a person who slept her way to her political positions before she was selected, SOLELY based on her race and gender, that had NOTHING to do with her abilities or (lack of) competence..
Basement Biden himself said he was going to nominate a black woman for VP..
So, if ANYONE is being racist and sexist, it's Basement Biden..
But, of course, you don't care about that..
Show us in the Articles of Impeachment where false charges that are not based in law were leveled against Trump.
The 2nd Trump impeachment were not really crimes at all..
I am sure you can look them up..
Congrats on the new job actually assisting law enforcement after spending years on here lying about your 2 and a half decades of working in law enforcement.
Not factually accurate.. But I understand why you have to resort to lies..
Considering I have PROVED that you had nothing to do with Law Enforcement..
You thought LEOs were "commissioned" like military officers.. They are not.. They are "sworn"..
So, it was YOU who has been lying this whole time..
I so want to know how you explained that to those hiring you for this job. I mean, you DID list that on your employment history, right??? Or did you lie to them too?
If you HAD any sort of Law Enforcement experience, you would know that an E911 Operator has to go thru the same exhaustive background checks that a patrol officer has to go thru..
I simply put ALL of my 2 and a half decades of LEO experience on my resume and I passed both my background checks AND Polygraph with flying colors..
As I said, I went thru the same checks a patrol officer has to go thru.. Matter of fact, once my obligatory duty term to COMM is complete (a few years) I may be transferring to the road.. Or to Corrections.. Not sure which yet..
But irregardless of all that, the facts are clear..
I have more LEO experience in my little pinky fingernail than you can even HOPE to DREAM about...
Yer a joke, Russ... Plain and simple.. The closest you have ever came to being in Law Enforcement is in your dreams...
NO Department in this country would EVER hire a cop-hating Democrat such as yerself..
Run along and go back into hiding.. :D
110
People with "charisma" don't have to PAY millions of dollars for softball interviews...
People with "charisma" are prepared for totally expected softball questions...
People with "charisma" don't have to resort to word salads that goes on for dozens of minutes and says absolutely NOTHING of value..
People with "charisma" don't have to lie about working at McDonalds to try and appear close to "common people"...
Harris had ZERO in the way of charisma...
President ELECT Trump has more charisma in his nail clippings than Harris has in her whole body throughout her whole life...
"These are the facts of the case. And they are undisputed."
-Captain Smilin' Jack Ross, A FEW GOOD MEN
111
JL, (and CW..)
I get it. I really do... ya'all needed to give Harris SOMETHING. A participation trophy.
But charisma!!?? Com'on.. there were ZERO acts of charisma let alone enough acts to justify a year end award..
But hay. Let it not be said that I am a fair guy.
Give me 3 acts of this "charisma" that ya'all claim Harris exhibited.
The "joy" that Democrats felt doesn't count as Harris charisma.. The facts clearly show that THAT "JOY" was nothing but relief that Democrats felt for not being saddled with Basement Biden.
So, balls in your court. 3 instances of factually documented charisma..
Go...
112
After being forced to bend the knee to President ELECT Trump and kiss Trump's ring, Georgie Stephanpussy quit X...
What IS it about Democrats that they are such wussies. :D
Poor Democrats. They are soooo way in over their heads... :D
113
not that i'm cheering, i'm not, but being CEO of united healthcare doesn't make one innocent of the millions of deaths the company caused by its routine denial of coverage for life-saving medical care. nobody deserves to be murdered, neither by a gunman shooting you in the face nor by a corporate rule refusing to approve a cancer treatment.
Give me 3 acts of this "charisma" that ya'all claim Harris exhibited.
okay, it's obviously a matter of opinion how charismatic someone is. however, if one requires hard evidence, her local and state races, which she won, all showed how well and charismatically she connected with voters. especially in the 2002 race for SFDA where she went door-to-door, and had to fight the perception that she slept her way to campaign funding. but also the 2010 race for California AG and the 2016 race for California Senator; all of these races were against skilled politicians, and her main advantage was how she presented herself - charisma. running for president of the United States is the big leagues, and in that game her charisma just wasn't enough, in 2020 or in 2024. but insisting that it never existed at all is just being a poor sport.
JL
not that i'm cheering, i'm not,
Not cheering.. But you were making jokes..
but being CEO of united healthcare doesn't make one innocent of the millions of deaths the company caused by its routine denial of coverage for life-saving medical care.
Only if you define "guilty" as whatever your ideology says is "guilty"...
ZERO.... Let me say that again for the cheap seats...
ZERO deaths were caused by denial of coverage..
ZERO... ZILCH.... NADA.... NONE....
Any denial of coverage would be, AT WORST, contributory..
Of course, you can redefine "cause" to anything you want as required by your ideology.. :eyeroll:
But, in the history of the planet, denial of coverage has **NEVER** caused a single death...
This is FACT...
okay, it's obviously a matter of opinion how charismatic someone is.
Yep.. So far, so good..
however, if one requires hard evidence, her local and state races, which she won, all showed how well and charismatically she connected with voters.
Perhaps.. But we're talking about the here and now and THIS campaign.. Not what occurred 10-20 years ago..
Even if we WERE to count that as pertaining to her "charisma" award, the FACTS would belay your claim..
First off, Harris BARELY eeked out wins in those races..
PLUS it's well documented that much of Harris' "charisma" was displayed when she was on her back.. Or knees..
I guess one could consider that "charisma"... of a sort..
and had to fight the perception that she slept her way to campaign funding.
And WHERE did that perception come from??
From the facts..
running for president of the United States is the big leagues, and in that game her charisma just wasn't enough, in 2020 or in 2024. but insisting that it never existed at all is just being a poor sport.
While I would dispute that she EVER showed any charisma that didn't come from her back or knees, the "charisma" award that CW gave her was for this election..
And I have laid out MANY MANY facts that proves she had ZERO charisma in this election...
Read the words of Uber Donor John Morgan... He's a Democrat (ACK!!!) AND a lawyer (DOUBLE ACK!!!) so he is not credible to begin with... But his facts are hard to argue when he is speaking as an Uber Donor..
Which is why Harris' political career is over.. Because Morgan is speaking for all the other donors who gave Harris money even though her own campaign knew she couldn't win...
You won't find many (if any) Democrats willing to give her a bus token after she blew thru 2.5 BILLION dollars for a lost cause..
Democrats should simply have conceded the White House and used that $$$ for down-ballot races.. If they had done that, they might have retained the Senate and won the House..
114
nobody deserves to be murdered, neither by a gunman shooting you in the face nor by a corporate rule refusing to approve a cancer treatment.
Except for the fact that ONE is real and actual MURDER and the other is, oh shall we say, "Democrat Murder"...
As I said, if you want to change definitions to fit your agenda (as Democrats are wont to do) you can "prove" ANY case you want..
But it's not real.. It's not factual.. It's not reality...
It's simply part and parcel to the Democrat existence.. Changing reality to whatever suits their agenda.. :eyeroll:
Russ,
Congrats on the new job actually assisting law enforcement after spending years on here lying about your 2 and a half decades of working in law enforcement.
Lest you forget...
My military and LEO bona fides have been well documented and confirmed by 2006-CW and Mountain Caddy themselves..
I get it.. You have no factual argument so you have to flit around Weigantia in flights of fantasy..
I understand.. And I forgive you...
115
In a nutshell, here is why Democrats lost..
Trump gained significant ground with Latino, Black, Asian, Arab, Gen Z, and big-city voters. And that, as much as Kamala Harris’s loss, has spurred Democrats to reconsider the role that identity politics plays in their coalition. “Identity politics needs to go the way of the dodo,” Elissa Slotkin, who just won a Senate race in Michigan, said in a meeting of fellow Democrats. “Identity politics did not work electorally, and it failed miserably strategically,” Rahm Emanuel told Politico. “Some Democrats are finally waking up,” the New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote, “and realizing that woke is broke.”
Identity politics killed the Democrat Party in the 2024 election..
No one here batted an eye or spoke up in protest when in 2020 Basement Biden said to black Americans, "If you are unsure about voting for me, you ain't black."
Just another example of how 2016+ Weigantia is a far FAR cry from the glory that was 2006-2014 Weigantia....
116
Even hi profile Democrat John Fetterman is blasting the lawfare and persecutions of President ELECT Trump..
"The Trump hush money and the Hunter Biden cases were both bullshit and pardons are appropriate.
Weaponizing the judiciary for blatant partisan gain diminishes the collective faith in our institutions and sows further division."
-John Fetterman
And Fetterman even released this quote on President ELECT Trump's own TRUTH SOCIAL!!
The Democrat Party is rolling in it's grave that President ELECT Trump is completely and 1000% INNOCENT of all criminal accusations...
This is documented FACT.... :D
117
Biden/Harris/Democrat lies that Weigantians ignore...
1. They said that legal and illegal immigration are the same thing. That "NO ONE IS ILLEGAL".
2. They said that illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than Americans. By simply being in the US illegally, illegal immigrants are committing crimes.
3. They said that all immigrants boost the economy. Over 60% of illegal immigrants are on welfare that COSTS the economy..
4. They said that illegal immigrants cost nothing. That's a lie. Over 150 BILLION dollars of taxpayer money goes to illegal immigrants.
5. They said that illegal immigration is inevitable. This is one partially factual statement. But illegal immigration was ONLY inevitable *AFTER* Biden/Harris got rid of President Trump's policies that were successful in curbing illegal immigrants.
So... Please...
Unless ya'all are ready and willing to call out Biden/Harris/Demrat lies...
Ya'all have NO moral or ethical foundation to call out President ELECT Trump's alleged lies..
118
in order to tell a lie, one must have at least a passing understanding of the difference between true and false. in that sense, Donald's insistence that he won and/or was cheated out of the 2020 election, or his insistence that his inauguration crowd was larger than Obama's, or any of the thirty-plus thousand or so things he said that are abjectly false, are not so much lies as a pathological inability to say anything true. in that sense, Donald has never lied, just as he's completely innocent of all the crimes he has committed. what was it that George from Seinfeld said, it's not a lie if you really believe it.
even were we to reverse the polarity of the universe and say that everything Donald says is true, when there are two different groups of people with two different versions of objective reality, that's proof positive that it has been defeated, eviscerated, and buried in the dirt.
[67]
1- The quote was no human being is illegal and was some democrats quoting Elie Wiesel after Biden called a murderer "an illegal". A bit disingenuous to blame Biden/Harris but if you want to blame anything a democrat says on the Biden/Harris administration, then we get to blame Trump for anything a republican says, and low level republicans say a lot of odd ball stuff...
2- An odd lack of knowledge for an alleged one time police officer. It depends how they got here. Improper Entry is a misdemeanor, Unlawful Presence is actually not a crime. But we know you are just being pedantic. When it comes to violent crime or property crime, crimes that affect other people, illegal immigrants commit fewer per capita than citizens.
3- extremely misleading. Illegals can't use most welfare programs as they don't have SS numbers but naturalized children can. So house holds with or headed by an illegal can get welfare for their children who are citizens.
4- And how much do they pay in total taxes? Close to $100 billion in income taxes alone. Then add sales tax and it comes dam close to a wash. Which is what is meant by "nothing".
5- You are likely referring to Title 42. It it not meant to be a permanent law but to specifically deal with communicable diseases. Once COVID was over, the law had to end by design.
Oh, we have an absolute moral or ethical foundation to call out Trump on his lies (as well as yours) and will continue to do so...
JL,
n that sense, Donald's insistence that he won and/or was cheated out of the 2020 election,
That's not a lie, it is factually accurate..
1. Zuckerberg bought entire county election boards in strategic counties and staffed them exclusively with Democrats.
2. Big Tech and Big Media conspired to hide and censor any news that was detrimental to Democrats, including the Hunter Biden laptop.
3. Basement Biden was able to campaign from his Basement for virtually the entire election. Had this not been allowed, Basement Biden would have been exposed for the senile idiot that he turned out to be..
If any ONE of those things had not happened, President Trump would have won the 2020 election.
So, President Trump saying he was cheated out of a win is factually accurate..
I would also point out that Hillary Clinton herself acted the same way about the 2016 election after she had recanted on her concession speech..
So, not only did I prove that President Trump's claim is not a lie (as I said I would) I ALSO have shown that Democrats ALSO lied about an election.. And ya'all never condemned Democrats for that lie.. Which was ACTUALLY a REAL lie..
or his insistence that his inauguration crowd was larger than Obama's,
That is nothing but campaign hyperbole...
Much like Harris' claim she worked at McDonalds or Basement Biden's claim that NO American Soldier died on his watch..
Once again, you give Harris and Biden a pass for their lies..
just as he's completely innocent of all the crimes he has committed.
President Trump IS completely innocent of all crimes that he has been accused of..
This is documented FACT..
when there are two different groups of people with two different versions of objective reality,
Yes that's factually accurate..
You have President Trump and his supporters with the REAL and actual reality..
And then you have Democrats whose "objective reality" is that words can be defined in whatever manner supports the Democrat agenda and an "objective reality" where Headboard Harris actually had "charisma" in the 2024 election and whose "objective reality" where President Trump wasn't really shot that the assassination was staged and there was no wound and whose "objective reality" is that a man can be a woman just by believing he is a woman and the "objective reality" that a woman can be a wolf just by believing she is one.
So, you are absolutely factually accurate...
Trump and his supporters have "objective reality" that is the real and factual reality.
And Democrats have THEIR "objective reality" that is, much like Democrat "science" is whatever they want it to be that coincides with the Democrat agenda..
So we are in agreement on the issue of "objective reality"...
0119
To recap, you and CW do not have objective reality. Because you have one objective reality that applies to Republicans and then a different objective reality that applies to Democrats.
Therefore what you all call objective reality is actually subjective reality.
Subjective reality allows you to change the definitions of actual reality.
For example you can change the definition of woman to include men. You can change the definition of racism to make it so that black people can't be racist.
This is subjective reality not objective reality.
You see how that works??
120
It all fits so perfectly.
In subjective reality President Trump can be guilty of any crime you want. Even crimes that aren't really crimes.
Subjective reality allows you to make up crimes and then make up the fact that President Trump committed those fantasy crimes. Subjective reality allows you ignore existing laws that establish Statutes of Limitations. Subjective reality allows you to make up laws on the fly solely to target a specific person or persons..
It's all subjective reality not objective reality..
121
We can explore this more in depth after my shift ends.
See ya in the morning.. :)
122
@m,
once again we encounter an instance of you not quite understanding what a word means. inconceivable!
in this case two words, objective and subjective. objective refers to those things that occur in the material universe, while subjective refers to the ways we humans categorize and evaluate those things. it goes right along with the distinction between facts and opinions, which you also haven't gotten straight yet.
as always, i'll try my very best to explain what the words mean, but i'm not holding my breath until i'm understood, because i'd almost certainly suffocate.
in order to tell the difference, you need to imagine a world in which the people are just biological machines that move around and process chemicals, not moms and dads and kids and basketball players. in this physical universe, a person did some things and did not do some other things, pushed some buttons on a device and said some words. that's what's objective. if we take those actions and assign them values like guilt or innocence in relation to some law that exists, we limit our objectivity.
beyond that I can't speak to your misunderstanding of objective vs. subjective reality, because it seems like you just made up what you think the words mean, or what you'd like them to mean, rather than understanding what they actually do mean.
JL