It was a 9-0 decision, so it's not like this divided on ideological grounds.

The striking down of Roe v. Wade had to do with the Court's rejection of the Constitutional right of a woman to have an abortion up to a certain point in her pregnancy. It was not based upon there being a federal statute that guaranteed the right to an abortion that the Court decided violated the individual states' rights to regulate it.

That is, the Supreme Court's striking down Roe v. Wade wasn't based upon a violation of Constitutional federalist principles. It was based upon their reversing their view that the Constitution itself protected a woman's right to an abortion. It wasn't a state's rights decision.

I didn't read the recent Trump elections case, but I fully expected the decision to be supportive of keeping him on the ballot. From a practical perspective, I think the Court did the left a favor. The quickest way to get a hesitant Trump voter to commit to Trump is to make him think the other side has their thumb on the scale. That's actually why Trump's numbers keep rising with every new lawsuit brought against him.

It also doesn't hurt him that the Democrats are running someone who is brain dead and they think if they deny it everyone will think he's sharp as a tack.

It also doesn't hurt him that the Democrats are running someone who is brain dead and they think if they deny it everyone will think he's sharp as a tack. — Hanover

The Democrats have yet to master the art of the lying.

The Supreme Court will indeed find whatever they want to find, as long as it helps Republicans. But this isn’t one of them. Trump shouldn’t be removed from the ballot until he’s convicted. Americans should get the chance to vote for this asshole, if they really want to. He seems ahead in the polls, so it seems there’s a chance they will.

The US is a very stupid country, you see. Or, better, extremely ignorant and desperate.

And yet the vast majority of the top universities in the world are in the U.S. And I don't expect that to change anytime soon.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/rankings

"Insurrection? What Insurrection?!" :mask:

Commentary by establishment conservative attorney George Conway on 4March24 SCOTUS' tr45h decision ...



@Ciceronianus @Hanover @Maw

And yet the vast majority of the top universities in the world are in the U.S. — RogueAI

And…?

Nevermind, I’ll make it easy: most people don’t go to universities, and of those who do, few get into the best ones. Of that small group, most are morons.

Read this about Haley today:

"Both national and swing state polls show Haley is a dramatically stronger candidate than Trump in the general election. (A new Marquette University poll has Haley beating Joe Biden by 16 percentage points, while Trump and Biden are in a statistical tie.)"

As there is now a murmur that she might consider running as an independent. In the very unlikely event that she was elected as a third-party candidate, which party would she be more likely to be able to negotiate policies with, in light of the dysfunction that characterises the MAGA-GOP? I think she would get no traction with the Republicans, who would be apoplectic at loosing, and that she would, in effect, be forced into a coalition with Democrats to pass any actual policies.

(Trump is even giving a pretence of presenting policies or ideas for governing any more. He's just ranting.)

I haven't read the ruling but if state electors can vote for someone else than the popular vote it seems prima facie inconsistent to claim it's a federal issue.

, would it be better to say that there are lots of fools (of whatever sort) around?
It's not confined to people that are extremely ignorant, though. Intellectuals may find faults all over (+ focus/magnify), and hence stoke fires all over. Fault-finding isn't that hard anyway.
So, choosing the right battles matter.
(Incidentally another reason that mudslinger-politicians are a turn-off, to me, more so than politicians that focus on what their programs are.)
Anyway, if the US was significantly weakened on the international stage (which could happen by domestic division or foolery), then others would just jump right in. In the present environment, I'm not all that optimistic in case that was to happen, but I guess we'll see (or might).

which party would she be more likely to be able to negotiate policies with, in light of the dysfunction that characterises the MAGA-GOP? — Wayfarer

I'm not entirely sure how the details of these things go, but wouldn't she align with the Lincon Project and draw together the Republicans who don't want to be part of the MAGA cult?

Would it be so bold as to predict that at some point, the Republican party will split and the new faction will be called "New Republicans" or something like "True Republicans" or similar? Gathering momentum among normal people who usually vote Republican. That they would acknowledge that it's problematic to gain traction at this time in history, but that their goal is to build up a sense of trust that voters will get a stable Republican party by voting for them and their internal goal is to clean house and rid themselves of any MAGA supporters. That way, the MAGA cult will probably soon evaporate since they cannot get enough traction by numbers alone and the gullible cult folks who soon get tired of not being represented will move on and just vote for the new republican party while the core MAGA cult will just gather together in some remote location and shoot beer cans or whatever mindless trash they find meaningful.

I'm not entirely sure how the details of these things go, but wouldn't she align with the Lincon Project and draw together the Republicans who don't want to be part of the MAGA cult? — Christoffer

I don't know either, but I've been following US politics pretty closely - probably too closely - and it seems obvious the current Republican party is incapable of governing. As you will know, two weeks ago they sunk a bill that their own delegates had spent months working on, purely because Trump said it would make Biden look good. They're wasting massive amounts of time on the faux 'impeachment enquiry' on Biden just to help Trump settle imagined scores. Trump, meanwhile, is reduced to near-complete confusion and incoherency - he doesn't know who is President, he keeps confusing all of his many legal cases and simply babbling on stage. He's a complete mess and plainly incapable of governing anything whatever. So if an independent candidate DID win (it's a thought-experiment, not an actual prediction) he or she would have to turn to the Democrats because the Republicans can't manage a piss-up in a brewery.

So if an independent candidate DID win (it's a thought-experiment, not an actual prediction) he or she would have to turn to the Democrats because the Republicans can't manage a piss-up in a brewery. — Wayfarer

I don't think any independent candidate would win, but they would split the votes so much if there were three options available that the democrats would win simply by the lack of enough votes on either side of the Republicans.

However, if, by some miracle, a stable Republican outlier wins instead as an independent, I think that she would gather everyone siding with the Lincoln project and build up a proper party through them. And they might even push out many of the MAGA cult members infesting the other halls of power in congress over time.

Regardless, I think the only way out and away from Trumpism is to have an independent option during election. Too many Republicans who hate Trump hate the Democrats more and they would vote for the independent voice and drag all the ones who's opting out entirely. It would divide the Republicans, but the smart ones would know it's their only option forward as the MAGA cult could very well spell the end for the Republican party as a whole. Soon or later the normal Republicans will have to take some home cleaning action. It's like they've been infested by cockroaches and have given up trying to solve the issue, but if they grow into too much of a problem they will have to start stomping them out and call exterminators.

a stable Republican outlier — Christoffer

The only possible 'stable Republican outlier' is, in fact, Nikki Haley. From the same source I quoted yesterday:

On Saturday, the Trumpified Missouri GOP held its caucuses. Lynn Schmidt, a Missouri Republican, described the scene in an email:

“There were 558 people in the gym for our caucus. When Haley was nominated, the room erupted in boos. Then they asked all of Haley's voters/supporters (62 of us) to line up two by two in the middle of the gym while the other 469 people continued to boo and jeer at us. We were literally lined up in the middle of the gym for all of our neighbors to see… They called us Democrats and talked about hating RINOS.”

You can imagine the MAGA group pelting Halley's followers with rotten fruit and excrement. That's about the level that they've sunk to.

In my view, the net effect of Trump's inevitable victory in the Primaries, is to lead the entire party off a cliff, lemming-like. That it will become obvious between now and the Republican Convention in July that, having won the mantle, there's no way he can actually execute, being so mired in legal problems, and so addled in his thinking.

Americans should get the chance to vote for this asshole, — Mikie

The US is a very stupid country, you see. — Mikie

LOL. I have to agree, in the Political arena anyway. It's all a bit of a joke from outside.

Another 8 months of this crap. Overthinking it, overdramatizing and overanalyzing it.

Should take 30 seconds: vote Biden. 30 minutes to go vote. 30 minutes and 30 seconds. That’s all the time one needs. In a rational world.

Meanwhile, Arctic sea ice may be gone within the decade.

The US is a very stupid country, you see. Or, better, extremely ignorant and desperate. — Mikie

As an American I believe this observation is only true of less than half of the half of the population who bother to vote. :mask:

:D What a circus

'More than a majority' of RNC members want to help pay Trump's legal bills: insiders
^{— Travis Gettys · Raw Story · Mar 6, 2024}
Bloodbath at RNC: Trump team slashes staff at committee
^{— Alex Isenstadt · POLITICO · Mar 11, 2024}

The Clown supporters I've chit-chatted with don't think about or care that their efforts add to efforts beyond their neighborhood against them

Oh well

AI (voice only) :D

AI Trump: The Second Campaign Ad (2024 Mar 6 · 1m:29s)
AI Biden: The REAL State Of The Union (2024 Mar 7 · 1m:31s)

As of 1Feb24[18Mar24[] the "great business man" will be, in effect, cash poor whining squatting & shitting his old man diapers on a pile of fire-sale depreciating assets & compounding civil lawsuit debts ... — 180 Proof

Yeah, Putin's Bitch f*cked around and is finding out! :lol:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/politics/trump-464-million-dollar-bond/index.html

F*cking pathetic, gaslighting brokester!

"I'm really rich." :rofl:

Today in Trumpenfreude! :smirk:

https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/comment/889817

*Biden-Harris 2024*

I'd still be willing to bet that Trump will not be the Republican candidate for the Presidency at the next election. — Wayfarer

Okay boys, how much are we wagering?

I’m saying he’ll be the nominee, almost certainly. I’ll give you 5:1 odds. — Mikie

I wouldn’t put it past him to run as an independent or Patriots Party or something like that, but there will be no need: the voters will vote him in as a Republican.

Also, when you say it won’t be Joe Biden as the nominee — care to bet on that too?

In both cases I wouldn’t mind losing money. — Mikie

All right then, you're on. I bet $10 at 5:1 odds. So $50 to you if you're right in either case. And yes, I'll be VERY happy to pay it, because I hope you're right on both counts.

[Edit: personal bets are probably looked down on here, so how about this instead: I'll donate $50 to TPF if you're right, and you donate $10 if I'm right. Deal?] — Mikie

US$10.00 payable to charity of your choice :up: — Wayfarer

Like taking more filthy lucre from a baby! :smirk: — 180 Proof

Alrighty boys…ready to pony up that $10 each to TPF?

I’m sad I won that bet. But I’m often right about these things… :razz:

I’m sad I won that bet. — Mikie

Trump’s candidacy is not official until the Nominating Convention in July in Milwaukee. And a lot could happen between now and then. At the 2016 convention there was a last-minute push by Never Trumpers that almost made it to a floor vote, and if you haven’t noticed, he’s picked up a lot of Republican enemies since then.

So if he comes out of the Convention the nominee, then I pay up.

It’s possible he will have been convicted in one of the felony cases he’s facing. While it’s true that (inexplicably) this doesn’t disqualify him, it will at least have some bearing on the Conference decision. (imagine the headline: ‘Republicans stick with Trump despite two impeachments and criminal conviction.’)

Trump’s candidacy is not official until the Nominating Convention in July in Milwaukee. And a lot could happen between now and then. — Wayfarer

Have it your way — I can wait a little longer :lol:

imagine the headline: ‘Republicans stick with Trump despite two impeachments and criminal conviction.’) — Wayfarer

If he’s convicted before then, this is exactly what will happen. They’ll stick with him.

The chances that he’ll be the nominee are practically 100%, in my view. Barring his death.

Have it your way — Mikie

I don’t write the rules.

I don’t write the rules. — Wayfarer

Yeah, but come on. It’s over. He’s secured the nomination. The rest is formality.

But this wasn’t really meant too seriously. I don’t really care about the money or the bet. Just thought it was funny.

I still refuse to believe in Trump. Believing that he will win feeds the demon. In reality he’s leading what used to be the Republican Party into oblivion.

I get it. I’m far from a supporter, of course. But I have no faith in the Republican Party, and am beaten down with the facts— which is that his supporters are large enough and loyal enough to push him through almost anything.

Trump’s candidacy is not official until the Nominating Convention in July in Milwaukee. — Wayfarer

The Republican National Committee has been taken over by Trump. Party Chairman Michael Whatley was picked by Trump. Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, will serve as the co-chair and was elected by unanimous vote.

If there has been nothing so far that has distanced the party from Trump I don't know what would. His trials are being treated as an asset. Us against everyone including the whole judicial system that they are claiming has treated him unfairly.

I know all of that. Furthermore, they were forced to drop a motion to firewall off any Party finances from Trump's enormous legal expenses. He completely owns the Republican Party, and if and when he fails at the polls or is incarcerated, they'll be so much the worse for it. (In fact for Democrats, Trump might end up being boon rather than a bane.)