Study finds that Trump voters were not driven by economic concerns but rather concerns that their dominance as white Christians was being threatened.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

Ever since Donald J. Trump began his improbable political rise, many pundits have credited his appeal among white, Christian and male voters to “economic anxiety.” Hobbled by unemployment and locked out of the recovery, those voters turned out in force to send Mr. Trump, and a message, to Washington. 

Or so that narrative goes. 

A study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences questions that explanation, the latest to suggest that Trump voters weren’t driven by anger over the past, but rather fear of what may come. White, Christian and male voters, the study suggests, turned to Mr. Trump because they felt their status was at risk. 

“It’s much more of a symbolic threat that people feel,’’ said Diana C. Mutz, the author of the study and a political science and communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she directs the Institute for the Study of Citizens and Politics. “It’s not a threat to their own economic well-being; it’s a threat to their group’s dominance in our country over all.”

There have been other studies that have proven this point as well, and of course  even our own powers of observation should lead us to a similar conclusion.

Trump recognized this ethnic anxiety among white Christians during his time publicly calling for President Obama to reveal his birth certificate.

And that made him a hero to these self entitled white racists.

Then all he had to do was drag Sarah Palin back onto the national stage to give him her seal of approval, and the basket of white supremacist deplorables were all set to do their thing. 

Racism, and fear of "the other," has been a theme uniting these Trump supporters since the very beginning, and it is only a uniting of the more enlightened among us that will defeat them in the upcoming elections.

As the midterms approach Republicans retreat from all things Obamacare.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Republicans are retreating from calls to repeal ObamaCare ahead of this year’s midterm elections. 

Less than a year after the GOP gave up on its legislative effort to repeal the law, Democrats are going on offense on this issue, attacking Republicans for their votes as they hope to retake the House majority.

ObamaCare’s favorability in polls has improved since the repeal push last year, with more now favoring the law than not. A Kaiser Family Foundation poll in March found that 50 percent of the public favors the law, while 43 percent holds an unfavorable view. 

GOP strategist Ford O’Connell said the political winds have shifted on the issue, turning ObamaCare into a subject Democrats want to tout and many Republicans want to duck. 

“I don’t think it’s seen as a winning issue,” he said. “It’s also an issue that tends to fire up the Democratic base more so than the Republican base.”

I KNEW this was going to happen eventually.

Now the Democrats can run on improving Obamacare so that it better serves their constituents, while the Republicans have to pretend that they never even heard of the Affordable Care Act.

Sadly for the GOP their past votes are just the kind of ammunition that can be used to blow their campaigns out of the water.

I think this, plus the changing debate on guns, added to the GOP's ties to Donald Trump, signal HUGE victories for the Democrats moving forward.

Wait, people still interview Sarah Palin?

Courtesy of Fox News Insider:

The 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate said she sees "hypocritical double standards" when it comes to the left's push for more gun control measures. 

She said all Americans have the constitutional right to protect themselves and their families in the same way celebrities and politicians are protected. 

"We have every right, we have a God-given right that’s codified in our Bill of Rights to protect ourselves and to protect our property and our families. It’s not just a select few that government will choose who gets to be protected. The movie stars, the politicians in D.C., those in a courthouse, no. The Bill of Rights does apply to every single citizen of the U.S.," she said. 

Responding to President Trump's renewed calls for border security, including using U.S. troops, Palin said it's "obvious" why Democrats are opposed. 

"I think that they just fear that Americans aren’t gonna vote Democrat, so by golly they’ll import people who will," she said. 

Palin said those in favor of "globalization" want cheap labor and Americans are getting "sick of it." 

"It comes back to either supporting the rule of law, our legal immigration system, or supporting and incentivizing illegal immigration with no expectation of assimilating any of the people into our culture or anything else. It’s really whack. People are really sick of it," she said. 

It's really whack?

Do you know what else is "really whack?" The fact that Sarah Palin does not understand that you cannot "import" people who will vote the Democratic ticket because they are not yet US citizens.

Unless of course Palin buys into that conspiracy theory that claims the 3 million votes that Hillary Clinton beat Trump by in the popular vote were cast by illegal aliens.

But that's just crazy, right?

Of course the idea that ANYONE would seek an opinion about ANYTHING from this whack-a-doodle has been is equally crazy.

Barack Obama wants to create "a million Barack Obamas."

Courtesy of the Washington Examiner:  

Former President Barack Obama talked about his future plans for his post-presidency life at a conference Sunday in Japan, addressing how he might shape "a million" new, young leaders in his mold. 

The wide-ranging discussion repeatedly touched on the Obama Foundation's efforts to engage the digital space to help young people in the U.S. and across the world get connected. 

"If I could do that effectively, then -- you know -- I would create a hundred or a thousand or a million young Barack Obamas or Michelle Obamas," Obama said. "Or, the next group of people who could take that baton in that relay race that is human progress."

Speaking of a million if you go and open your window right now that is how many Republican heads you can hear exploding.

Could you imagine if Obama combined forces with this group of Parkland students?

He already reached out to them once.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s the letter @BarackObama and @MichelleObama wrote to the #ParklandShooting survivors. In it, the former president and first lady tell the teens that they’ve “inspired” them, and commend them on “awakening the conscience of our nation.” https://t.co/FOQYVguNFw pic.twitter.com/xEPHE6iUL2

— Mic (@mic) March 21, 2018

And THAT sound you are hearing is a million more Republican heads exploding.

Thousands register to vote at March For Our Lives rallies.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

At least 4,000 people registered to vote on Saturday at "March for Our Lives" protests across the United States, Reuters reports. 

According to Reuters, at least 4,000 people had registered to vote by 8:30 p.m., with the number of those who signed up growing as more cities concluded their sister marches and reported registration totals. 

Survivors of the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., have made voter turnout a primary focus of their calls to action. 

"March for Our Lives" rallies across the country aimed to honor the memory of the 17 people who were killed in last month's shooting and show lawmakers the widespread support for gun control. Many speakers called on people to vote in their local and national elections to support candidates who will address gun violence.

My guess is that this 4,000 number is only the very beginning.

This is why these marches have panicked the conservatives so much.

It is not only that it is dramatically changing the gun law debate, it is that they are also recruiting new voters for the 2018/2020 elections. 

And how many of these new voters do we really think are planning to vote Republican?

Overwhelmingly voters want to elect politicians that will stand up to Donald Trump.

Courtesy of USA Today: 

Americans are mad, and that is putting Republicans at risk. 

A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds voters looking toward the midterm elections are overwhelmingly unhappy with the country's direction, dissatisfied with its political leadership, and interested in electing a Congress that will confront President Trump. 

By close to 2-1, 58%-32%, those surveyed say they want to elect a Congress that mostly stands up to the president, not one that mostly cooperates with him. 

The level of voter unrest is rare at a time of prosperity, when a 55% majority rate the economy as being in a recovery. Even that assessment has a partisan cast: Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats to say the economy is growing. 

Seven in 10 Republicans say the country is headed in the right direction. But more than eight in 10 Democrats say it's off on the wrong track, and seven in 10 independents agree with them.

This of course reinforces what we have already witnessed in these special elections where Democrats are emerging victorious in places that have traditionally been GOP strongholds.

That blue wave is definitely coming, and it is being driven by women, minorities, and the newly energized young people of this country.

This could be a bloodbath.

Metaphorically speaking of course.

Jesus, even George W. Bush is capable of understanding that the Russians hacked our election.

Courtesy of the AP: 

Former President George W. Bush said on Thursday that “there’s pretty clear evidence that the Russians meddled” in the 2016 American presidential election, forcefully rebutting fellow Republican Donald Trump’s denials of Moscow trying to affect the vote. 

While never mentioning President Trump by name, Bush appeared to be pushing back on Trump’s attempts to have warmer relations with Russia, as well as his comments on immigration. 

The White House did not immediately comment on Bush’s remarks. 

“There’s pretty clear evidence that the Russians meddled,” Bush said at a talk in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. “Whether they affected the outcome is another question.” 

Bush also said that “it’s problematic that a foreign nation is involved in our election system. Our democracy is only as good as people trust the results.”

Remember this guy?

I must have said every single day that he was in office that he was the dumbest son-of-a-bitch we had ever elected to lead this nation.

I truly believed that once he was out we would NEVER make a mistake of that magnitude again.

And here he is recognizing the evidence that our current commander-in-chief refuses to even acknowledge.

I would really like to say that after Trump is dragged from office that we will never be stupid enough to elect such an incompetent, unqualified, traitorous leader ever again.

But now that I understand just how critically stupid many people are in this country, that would just be a waste of my breath. 

Kris Kobach, head of Trump's bullshit election integrity commission, is upset because he cannot get to any meetings due to all of the pending lawsuits.

Courtesy of The Topeka Capital-Journal: 

President Donald Trump’s controversial commission on election integrity should meet again in January after being delayed for months because of eight lawsuits demanding its staff’s time, the group’s de facto leader, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, said this week. 

Trump set up his Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity earlier this year after claiming he lost the popular vote to his opponent, Hillary Clinton, because of 3 million to 5 million illegal votes. The group has drawn criticism from organizations that believe it to be a tool for voter suppression. 

Eight lawsuits sit in federal court opposing the commission from plaintiffs including one of the commission’s own members and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. 

“I’m not aware of any presidential commission that has encountered so much litigation from special interest groups,” Kobach said.

Kobach said his commission hasn’t met since September, largely because of that litigation. 

“Much of the past few months has been spent by commission staff answering discovery requests for information and drafting affidavits and things that like — going through the legwork of litigation, and that takes time,” Kobach said. “We have a very small staff in Washington, D.C., and that staff has been bogged down in litigation.”

Aww, poor baby!

 I would like to feel sorry for this doucheknozzle, but I don't.

This is a bullshit commission, based a fake problem, that Trump insists be investigated because he is determined to prove he won the popular vote in 2016.

He didn't.

And nothing this Kris Kobach fellow manufactures is going to prove otherwise.

However if he is successful in getting it up and running, it will of course be used by Trump in 2018 and 2020 to discard Democratic votes and try and steal those elections.

Men accused of plotting to blow up a mosque in Kansas want to make sure that there are trump voters on the jury.

Courtesy of TPM: 

Three men accused of plotting to bomb a mosque and apartment complex housing Somali refugees asked a federal judge Friday to include prospective jurors from rural western Kansas because they are twice as likely to have voted for President Donald Trump.

A defense motion argues that plans to only summon citizens in the more urban counties closest to the federal courthouse in Wichita is a discriminatory practice that excludes rural and conservative jurors. The trial begins March 19.

Gavin Wright, Patrick Stein and Curtis Allen are charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy against civil rights for allegedly planning to detonate truck bombs in the meatpacking town of Garden City the day after the November 2016 election. Wright also faces a charge of lying to the FBI. 

The three men, who were indicted in October 2016, have pleaded not guilty.“This case is uniquely political because much of the anticipated evidence will center around, and was in reaction to, the 2016 Presidential election,” defense attorneys wrote. 

They also argued the case will require jurors to weigh whether the alleged conduct constitutes a crime or whether it is constitutionally protected speech and assembly and the right to bear arms.

So to be clear the argument here seems to be that they want Trump voters on the jury because they believe that they are more likely to see a plan to blow up a mosque full of innocent Muslims as not so much an act of terrorism, as a simple use of their 1st and 2nd Amendment rights.

And the truly troubling part is that they are probably not wrong about how those Trump voters will see this.

P.S. Yes you have read about this case before.

So, do you want to see some of those batshit crazy ads the Russians bought on Facebook. You know you do, don't even try to deny it.

Courtesy of The Daily Beast:

That community, called SecuredBorders, positioned itself as the work of conservative Americans concerned about U.S. border security. In truth, according to (Russian news outlet.) RBC, it was operated by a notorious St. Petersburg troll factory called Internet Research Agency, which is financed by “a close Putin ally with ties to Russian intelligence,” according to a public report by U.S. intelligence agencies. 

Facebook finally closed down the page last month in its belated purge of Russian propaganda. By then SecuredBorders had 133,000 followers. 

So far, Facebook is refusing to release any of the posts and ads from Russia’s campaign, opting instead for this terse description: “The ads and accounts appeared to focus on amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum—touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights.” 

That sanitary language doesn’t do justice to the actual content. The Daily Beast scoured search engine caches and found remains from the now-shuttered SecuredBorders page, just one of Russia’s propaganda communities, including dozens of their posts and graphics.

Here are a few more examples of what these Russian trolls vomited all over Facebook.

I think a new badge of honor should go to those of us who did not see any of this one their Facebook feed, because that means you are not burdened with batshit crazy, potentially racist, friends or family.

However before we pat ourselves on the back too hard, here are some that DID pop up on Facebook for many of us.

I am not sure about the last two but I definitely saw that first one on my Facebook feed more than once.

Remember the Russians did not only target the conservatives, xenophobes, and racists, they also targeted the progressives.

And they will do so again.

New study finds that the reason that Brexit passed is because Britain is full of uneducated morons. They needed a study for that?

Courtesy of The Independent:  

Britain would have likely voted to remain in the European Union were its population educated to a slightly higher level, a new study has found. 

Researchers at the University of Leicester say that had just 3 per cent more of the population gone to university, the UK would probably not be leaving the EU. 

The researchers looked at reasons why people voted Leave and found that whether someone had been to university or accessed other higher education was the “predominant factor” in how they voted.

The level of higher education in an area was far more important than age, gender, the number of immigrants, or income in predicting the way an area voted, the researchers found. 

Age and gender were both significant but not as important as education level, the researchers found. Income and number of immigrants in an area were not found to be a significant factor in how people voted.

You know just back about seven or eight months ago this would be the part where I would point and laugh, "Ha ha England your country is full of  idiots."

But then this happened.

Yep, no pointing and laughing for us.

Just another opportunity to reinforce the importance of improving our educational systems and in helping our children gain access to colleges and universities.

Remember, dumb people vote for dumb policies and even dumber politicians. 

This seems like an appropriate time to remember this quote.

Remember this Hillary Clinton quote? "I’m the last thing standing between you and the apocalypse." pic.twitter.com/3ZrkjwqaRz

— Sarah Lerner (@SarahLerner) August 8, 2017

Just imagine how much better our situation would be right now if people had really listened to what Hillary Clinton was trying to say.

Oh and that was by no means the only warning.

Donald Trump's "cavalier attitude about nuclear weapons is so deeply troubling.” #DebateNight https://t.co/z66rUZz31J

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 27, 2016

We had the opportunity to elect perhaps the most qualified candidate in the history of this country, and she gave us every reason to do so, and still we could not help but shoot ourselves in the foot. 

The White House just released the personal information of citizens concerned that the new election commission will release their personal information.

They exposed peoples addresses and email addresses, I'm sure so these folks could be harassed/intimidate others 😡

— Jeremy M (@thismyshow) July 14, 2017

Courtesy of Vox: 

The White House just responded to concerns it would release voters’ sensitive personal information by releasing a bunch of voters’ sensitive personal information. 

Last month, the White House’s “election integrity” commission sent out requests to every state asking for all voters’ names, party IDs, addresses, and even the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, among other information. The White House then said this information would be made available to the public. 

A lot of people did not like the idea, fearing that their personal information could be made public. So some sent emails to the White House, demanding that it rescind the request. 

This week, the White House decided to make those emails from concerned citizens public through the commission's new website. But the administration made a big mistake: It didn’t censor any of the personal information — such as names, email addresses, actual addresses, and phone numbers — included in those emails. 

In effect, the White House just released the sensitive personal information of a lot of concerned citizens giving feedback to their government. That’s made even worse by the fact that the White House did this when the thing citizens were complaining about was the possibility that their private information would be made public.

In response to outrage over this a spokesperson for Mike Pence said this: 

“These are public comments, similar to individuals appearing before commission to make comments and providing name before making comments,” Marc Lotter, press secretary to the vice president, said. “The Commission’s Federal Register notice asking for public comments and its website make clear that information ‘including names and contact information’ sent to this email address may be released.”

Seriously it is like we are living inside a parody of American politics these days.

But that does NOT mean that anybody should unregister in response. And here is a video explaining why that is a dumb idea.

If you cancel your voter registration, Trump wins. Please share this message and tell everyone you know to stay registered. pic.twitter.com/NpI4b7j38g

— Jason Kander (@JasonKander) July 14, 2017

Our forefathers, and yes foremothers, fought too long and hard for our right to vote for us to just give it up in response to this trollish bullshit.

By an eight point margin Americans wish they could have Hillary Clinton in the White House instead of Trump.

Oh, so NOW you want me to be your President.

Courtesy of PPP:

Voters are both having buyer's remorse about the outcome of the 2016 election and wishing they could return to the good old days of 4 months ago. By an 8 point margin, 49/41, they say they wish Hillary Clinton was President instead of Trump. And by a 16 point margin, 55/39, they say they wish Barack Obama was still in office instead of Trump. 

One thing hurting Trump is that Americans expect honesty from their President and his aides, and they feel like they're not getting it. Last week Trump tweeted that it was unreasonable to expect his press staff to always tell the truth, but 77% of voters say they do expect the President's Press Secretaries to tell the truth all the time compared to only 14% who say that isn't that expectation. Only 38% of voters say they consider Trump to be honest, to 55% who say they don't think he is. And a majority of voters (51%) outright say they consider Trump to be a liar to 41% who say they disagree with that characterization.

"Lying Hilary." Isn't that how Trump characterized his opponent during the election?

His audiences also chanted "Lock her up." And here today we are seeing an investigation which puts Trump's incarceration well within the realm of possibilities.

Gee if only the American voters had seen any evidence of who Trump would be as president during the campaign.

You know aside from the FUCKING EVIDENCE THAT WE ALL SAW EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THAT CAMPAIGN!

Sorry, got a little worked up there.

More voters trust Donald Trump than trust the media covering his presidency. Because facts simply don't matter anymore.

Courtesy of the New York Post:  

President Trump has largely eroded America’s trust in the national political media during his first few months in the White House, according to a new poll. 

On the eve of Trump’s 100th day in office, a new national poll by Morning Consult finds that more voters trust the president than the reporters covering his administration on a daily basis. 

Thirty-seven percent of voters believe the White House has been more forthright than the media, versus 29 percent who favor the press. Another 34 percent were unsure or had no opinion. 

Trump has made media criticism a staple of his administration, often claiming that mainstream outlets are egregiously biased and guilty of disseminating “fake news.”

And that is how you dumb down America folks.

Undermine public education.

Push religion on the masses.

And convince people that the press is biased against a certain political party and their candidates. 

The next thing you know you have a disaster, which we have now come to know as the Trump presidency.

Trump voters right now.

1 in 3 American voters give the Trump presidency an "F." The rest must not be paying attention.

Yeah that right there is what you call a "fake poll." Full of those stupid facts and everything.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

President Trump's first few months in office gets a grade of F according to 1 in 3 voters, a new poll Friday says. 

The McClatchy-Marist poll found that 38 percent of registered voters approve of Trump’s job performance, while 51 percent disapprove. 

Thirty-two percent of respondents graded Trump an F, while 22 percent gave him a B and 15 percent each graded him at A, C and D. 

In contrast, at this point in his presidency in 2009, President Obama got an A or B from 58 percent of respondents and an F from just 11 percent.

I wonder when all of this "winning" that Trump bragged about is going to start?

Can't argue with that.

Yep, we got exactly what some of the people in this country voted for, but not the majority.

The question is, did they expect this kind of circus?

And are they even aware that it is happening?

In case you missed it here is Donald Trump admitting that the Republican health care bill screws the very people who voted for him.

Here's Trump openly admitting that the Republican health care plan screws the people who voted for him. pic.twitter.com/mMs0HXLjY1

— Zack Ford (@ZackFord) March 16, 2017

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

CARLSON: This bill has as one of its centerpieces a tax-cut for investors that would primarily benefit people making over $250,000 a year. They’ve already done pretty well in the past ten years, as you know. 

TRUMP: Yeah. 

CARLSON: A Bloomberg analysis showed that counties that voted for you — middle-class and working-class counties — would do far less well under this bill — 

TRUMP: Yeah. Oh, I know. 

CARLSON: — than the counties that voted for Hillary, the more affluent counties. 

TRUMP: I know. It’s very preliminary. 

CARLSON: It seems like maybe this isn’t consistent with the last election. 

TRUMP: No. A lot of things aren’t consistent. But this is going to be negotiated. 

From there, Trump went on to merely complain that Democrats “hate the Republicans so badly that they cannot see straight, so they’re always going to vote against us.” He never said anything more to address the actual substance of the legislation and the impact it’ll have on the many Americans who depend on the insurance they can access through Obamacare, which they would lose.

I am not even surprised that the people who will be hurt the worst by the GOP policies are the ones who voted Donald Trump into office.

And the sad fact is that they are very likely too stupid to even see it, and in the next election cycle they will once again vote Republican just like a victim of domestic violence who keeps convincing themselves that this time things will be different.

Here is the Bloomberg article that Carlson is referencing. 

Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez is the new DNC Chair.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

After a difficult 2016 campaign that saw them lose in the White House, both chambers of Congress and in state houses across the country, Democrats elected Tom Perez, the former labor secretary during the Obama administration, to lead the Democratic National Committee on Saturday.

Perez won in the second round of voting during the 2017 Winter DNC Meeting in Atlanta, earning 235 votes from the 447 DNC members — the voting bloc that decides the chairmanship. Perez was considered the heavy favorite of the Democratic establishment. 

Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison, the preferred candidate of the Bernie Sanders wing of the party, came in second, earning 200 votes in the second round of votes. Half ballots are given to Democrats voting abroad.

I have to admit that though I followed this with interest I really did not have a dog in this fight.

In my opinion all that matters with a new DNC head is that they recognize what is happening all across the country right now in response to the election of Donald Trump and that they find some way to harness that activism and organize it into overwhelming voter turnout for the next election cycles.

With that goal in mind I think that having somebody from the Obama administration is not exactly a bad thing since it means that our former President will likely become more involved, and with his sky rocketing approval numbers that can only help moving forward.

Perez also had the good sense to appoint Keith Ellison as his deputy chair. So this is clearly not a dumb man.