Imagine if these morons were actually able to go 5 minutes without punching themselves in the dick. There would be no election this year and the republic would be no more. I bet they’ll be better prepared this time.
Raising my children, I got painfully aware of how "lasts" work.
The last time your baby asks you to pick them up. The last time they ask you to take them trick-or-treating. The last time you read a bedtime story.
The one thing that is common to all the lasts is you never know it was the last time until it's too late. It's always already a memory. At the time it seemed like every other time so you didn't even savor it.
What I'm trying to say is, if they manage to usurp the election this time, then 2024 won't be the last democratic election. The last democratic election would be the previous one.
My tinfoil hat theory is the Rs have progressively put increasingly stupid people into the party to see how much the nation will tolerate. This started with Bush Jr., then tried with the tea party, backed off a bit, and let it bake for a while.
Then, once they got their ducks in a row, they got behind Trump. Someone so fucking stupid that anything he tried, they would just chalk up to insanity. When they saw it worked, they went all in, now with a fucking plan in Project 2025. Now ANYONE they put in ANY leadership role knows exactly what to do to burn it all to the ground.
Any New Yorkers here? I'm interested in your perspective on Giuliani. I only have a cursory knowledge of him. He first came to my attention when he made headlines busting some crime family as a DA way back when. Then he was in the news a lot as the mayor of NYC during 9/11. He seemed pretty respected at the time? I dunno. And next thing you know, he resurfaces as an enforcer for the Trump administration, winding up getting disbarred and generally shunned by society. I guess I'm curious as to whether he was always a scumbag or grew into the role?
NY metro here at the time. He was close to being shunned by 2001. He wasn't performing well, he wasn't that smart, he wasn't effective. Then 9/11/01 we suddenly all had to band together. Nothing saves a term in office like massive tragedy in which everyone is emotionally charged and any act of rebuilding is "doing their best". His platform prior to that was that he was tough on crime and took credit for a drop, but you can see the trend started prior to his terms and there was a national drop as well, so it's not his sole doing. The 80s were a terrible time in NYC, way more dangerous than whatever fears the right enstills in their following today. Plus, statewide/nation wide impression of him won't match the city's impression, since he was still conservative. I will say, he wasn't as far into conservatism in his policies as he and his cohorts are now. So while he may not have been as favorable across the board, he wasn't so polarizing.
That's very interesting. Thanks for the write-up. Reminds me a bit of the premier of Ontario where I am. Started life as a petty drug dealer before getting into right-wing politics, and quickly fell out of popularity cutting services and tearing down wind turbines across the province. But with his career on the rocks, the pandemic suddenly hit. That was basically his 9/11 and people rallied behind him. Never mind that his previous cuts to healthcare had exacerbated the crisis. But he's back to his douchebag ways now.
Was there any chance for being against the war on terror or the government? Sincerely for like 10 years I felt you could easily get suckerpunched for just seeming hesitant about Iraq's invasion or saying something negative about America's Mayor.
I had to look up who was mayor during the pandemic. Bill de Blasio. I just remember seeing an overhead view on CNN and thinking "Is that an honest to god mass grave in NYC?!?" That's a hell of a legacy.
Never liked him, but I acknowledge that he had some effective economic policies during his time as mayor. He was at least competent and sane. He went completely off the rails a long time ago, though.
He's often credited with cleaning up Times Square, which was known for prostitution back in the 80s. But honestly, he reaped what his predecessors sowed to a large degree.
He used 9/11 like his personal sword and shield. He was lucky to be in a prominent position related the biggest and least controversial issue in America. I don't imagine he ever would have been on the national stage otherwise. He was pretty much at the natural end of his career before then.
NYC has a history of conservative mayors, which seems a bit odd since we're so solidly liberal in federal elections. It sure doesn't help when we get a Democrat as infantile and corrupt as our current mayor, Eric Adams. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_prosecution_of_Eric_Adams