Chris Braunsdorf

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” - J.R.R. Tolkien

lmfao Andrew Tate looks like a raccoon that all the other raccoons have exiled to live alone and haunted in a failing açaí place’s recycling bin

It continues to be interesting to me just how many men, when presented with a clear and obvious answer to a test of morality and empathy, will nevertheless choose to "devil's advocate" themselves into a position of complete assholery

a year later, looking back, I think Charlie Kirk marks the high water mark of the right's cultural dominance for a little bit there they actually managed to force civil society as a whole to crack down on people saying mean shit about one of their own, and it turned out to be a massive overreach

@themountaingoats.bsky.social

The NYT accurately describing what Trump says as “lies” and not “falsehoods” or some other weasel word is a welcome change (10 years too late, but let’s focus on the positive): “Candidates up and down the ballot have embraced his lies about American elections.”

Something crucial to understand: Trump views commerce the way he views his businesses. His businesses got goods and labor, and then simply refused to pay for them. The "paying for them" is what he counts as commerce. In his mind, "not doing business" means getting things from people and not paying.

I’m going to check this out now.

@themountaingoats.bsky.social

How cool is it that Trump can CONSISTENTLY shit all over the military, throw away dead troops like they are less than nothing to him, and it barely moves the needle. Can you imagine if a President Kamala Harris was like ‘Yeah, fuck them troops, look at my ballroom.’ AYFKM.

Trump continues to disperse disaster recovery funds based on how states vote, which for any other president or public official, in any other time, in any other country, in any other context would be a morally horrific scandal that would dominate headlines for months.

“We could do tremendous good for ourselves by just not trading with countries” — Trump’s bonkers view of trade is that you become wealthy by not engaging in commerce

Write it on the blackboard a thousand times: they will have to demolish the ballroom, the arch and so forth. They will have to make a show of it. You will get the usual sons of bitches saying we don’t do that in this country. We do now. That is not emotion, it’s politics. To do less is dereliction.

maria barta no mo

The steady flow of Trump appointees going on TV and vilifying Canada, when we are the ones bullying them for no apparent reason, is just disgusting.

I feel like we’re on borrowed time before China or North Korea decides to do something provocative to take advantage of our current chaos.

Glad to see this is back.

Twas a different time.

Being philosophically embubbled is fine if your views align with the voting *majority.* But when your views are weird, eugenicist, generally evil and in the voting *minority,* it will prove fatal. This is the biggest problem Republicans have right now. They're losing and don't realize it.

Perfect message for the midterms.

my mentions all day yesterday were filled with establishment dem apologists arguing that "democrats cant just..." and it fills me with sorrow because this party gives you nothing, doesn't try, and you roll over for them. they serve us, not the other way around.

Jesus Christ, this. Platner was given the benefit of the doubt despite having a fucking Totenkopf tattoo on his own skin, while many of the same people are demanding El-Sayed answer for any random comment from anyone who supports him.

The good news is that almost everything is better than it was 40 years ago. The bad news is that almost everything is worse than it was 10 years ago.

When I am president (Jan. 20, 2033; mark your calendars), I’m renaming every body of water to Google’s competitors. Lake Bing. DuckDuckGo Ocean. I’m curious how quick compliance will be.

I think the general consensus of people around the world is that Americans can get fooled by a con man once, but to return him to power a 2nd time after having seen his corruption, incompetence, ignorance, & buffoonery, the problem isn’t just Trump it’s the American people.

the Milo thing is an early preview of the next two years once November makes clear just how much of a failure this admin is, and they lose control of Congress, the backstabbing will truly begin in earnest

None of this means that the coming fights are going to be easy, or that the Dems are destined for electoral dominance, or that the progressive wing is destined to win the intraparty struggle. But the structural transformations happening in American politics right now will reverberate for decades.

This is such an embarrassing time to be alive.

This morning CNN published some bullshit about Dolly Parton being ”neutral.“ Here she is performing Woody Guthrie’s Deportee. Fuck CNN. youtu.be/oDfqXkYWzZM?...

If RFK didn’t have money and connections he’d probably be on the street and oblivious about why.

The most racist, bigoted person you've seen on your timeline who regularly calls for the government to slash funding for charitable causes: "Genuine tears for Dolly Parton passing. She stood for so much."

Trump on Canada vs. Trump on North Korea

Mark Carney: "This fall we will begin intense discussions with the European Union, the world's second-largest economy, to build a much stronger and deeper economic and security partnership"

i genuinely think that the way this admin is treating Canada will be looked back on as of the most shameful chapters of modern US history far too many people are laughing it off as unserious but the reality is that they’re spitting in the face of our closest ally for no reason

Ontario Premier Doug Ford: "The red states we're gonna hit hard ... you think an insult from him [Trump] hurts me? Bring it on, buddy. You're a loser."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford: "We need to throw everything and the kitchen sink that them -- electricity, fuel, potash, uranium ... we can put massive pain on the US. President Trump underestimates us. And that's a mistake."

As with war war, in a trade war, which side is more willing to endure pain is shaped by who started the fight and why.

The vandalism and desecration of the White House isn't just vanity and it's not trivial. It's caesarism, as in literally what Julius Caesar did to the symbolic architecture of civic republicanism. Our national iconography matters and allowing the disfiguring of it to persist is a substantive harm.

If the ballroom gets built, the next President should just start knocking down the Supreme Court building one day. Throw up some cubicles in the ballroom and tell them they can work out of there until a new one is built.