volkris @volkris@social.cleverlibre.org

So far the main outcome I've seen of the election has been a splintering of Republicans among generational lines.

It's forced a reckoning where the younger group faces the boomers having driven the party off a cliff *while still not admitting that it's off a cliff*.

On conservative talk radio Clay and Buck say it was a disaster and largely Trump's fault. On the other end, Hannity says it's no big deal, the administration was great, and blames that darned media. Kilmeade says something went very wrong, but he doesn't seem sure how to judge Trump on it.

#USPolitics #GOP #Trump #election2026 #media

I remember that as election day grew near Darline Graham was on the campaign trail telling a story about grandkids announcing pregnancies and her role in calling Lindsey Graham first with the news, using that story as a qualification for US Senate.

Think about it this way: the GOP didn't actually care about good governance. They just wanted to be a bunch of elders sitting around and chatting about families and good ol' days while collecting pensions in the sunsets of their lives. They voted based on who they wanted to visit.

We gave them a chance to get with the program, but with this election we'd had enough and finally took the keys away from grandpa who clearly can't drive anymore.

#USPolitics #election #GOP

There's an old idea of fairness that when cutting a cake between two people one person cuts and the other picks the piece they want.

This method aligns the interests of both parties, no matter how corruptible and *human* they may be.

I think it's underappreciated how often the US government design has a similar method in its checks and balances: one group can reject an official, but they don't get to choose the replacement.

See, for example, impeachment proceedings.

After all: "This policy of supplying, by opposite and rival interests, the defect of better motives, might be traced through the whole system of human affairs, private as well as public."

--Hamilton (maybe)

#USPolitics #politicalscience #federalistpapers #hamilton

So far the main outcome I've seen of the election has been a splintering of Republicans among generational lines.

It's forced a reckoning where the younger group faces the boomers having driven the party off a cliff *while still not admitting that it's off a cliff*.

On conservative talk radio Clay and Buck say it was a disaster and largely Trump's fault. On the other end, Hannity says it's no big deal, the administration was great, and blames that darned media. Kilmeade says something went very wrong, but he doesn't seem sure how to judge Trump on it.

#USPolitics #GOP #Trump #election2026 #media

I remember that as election day grew near Darline Graham was on the campaign trail telling a story about grandkids announcing pregnancies and her role in calling Lindsey Graham first with the news, using that story as a qualification for US Senate.

Think about it this way: the GOP didn't actually care about good governance. They just wanted to be a bunch of elders sitting around and chatting about families and good ol' days while collecting pensions in the sunsets of their lives. They voted based on who they wanted to visit.

We gave them a chance to get with the program, but with this election we'd had enough and finally took the keys away from grandpa who clearly can't drive anymore.

#USPolitics #election #GOP

Right wing media setting up for a potential narrative about Trump?

Normalize the idea that a person fleeing the country under suspicion is evidence of the country's corruption so when Trump does it his supporters will believe the same thing?

#Trump #USPolitics

Stuff like this should get more attention.

Even diehard #Trump supporters publicly relate stories showing how senile he is, when he gets confused about who he invites to dinner.

These are Trump supporters giving stories that should discredit the guy even among his base, but folks are too busy being distracted by conspiracy theories about his "real" plan.

#USPolitics

Sarah Hoyt writing on Instapundit is clutching at her pearls that a foreigner was brought in to teach "ENGLISH literature and writing to AMERICAN students" [sic].

If only there was some clue in there that someone outside of the country might have something to contribute on the topic...

#Instapundit #USPolitics #immigration

The latest in #USPolitics for the many on this platform that never seem to have any exposure to #Republicans is that different factions of that side have contradictory claims about what's in the text of the immigration bill introduced to the #Senate.

One side says that the bill is awful because it does x, y, and z, while the other side says those things are emphatically not in the bill.

One side calls out the other for having supported the bill without reading it even as they themselves vociferously reject the bill... without reading it.

It's a really sad thing to watch, but in order to understand this moment in domestic politics one has to know that this intra party dispute over matters of fact is looming large.

And my impression is that it's really not about #Trump, at least not directly, even though he seems to be trying to claim credit for the tides that were moving already, as he often does.

From what I see it's more about conservatives who have no idea how the US government actually works and so had no ability to properly judge legislation, and so threw a giant hissy fit when they didn't get their uninformed way.

#GOP #border #politics

My experience with #Musk is more interesting than just he's a liar or he's a capitalist or most of the other stuff being thrown at him, and in a really important way:

Over years I watched interview after interview where some reporter or fan would press him to answer questions outside of his level of expertise, and he would tell them they'd need to ask an engineer, but they'd demand an answer from him until he sheepishly gave in and told them what they wanted to hear.

I think over time Musk largely decided it wasn't worth trying to resist and started playing along a lot more.

But this is something we see with many public figures. They become caricatures over time, becoming the thing the public wants them to be.

This isn't at all to let Musk off the hook for anything. But since I personally really don't care about Musk, the larger picture is more interesting.