13 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

1. If I don't jump in with the Trumpstink report, Realist will do another of his wordy "Morning" reports.

   So, alas, Trump still stinks.

   Great God Almighty, 

   Trump stinks!

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2. There are a few stories (I've linked them below) on a poll of unaffiliated voters and their feelings about the last election.  None of them is great, but they all have the actual poll linked.

   Here’s why Colorado’s unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly picked Democrats in 2018. The story starts with Donald Trump.

   Poll finds unaffiliated voters in Colo. don’t like GOP, loathe Trump

   Trump torpedoed Colorado Republicans’ appeal to unaffiliated voters, new post-election poll says

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   1. From the Denver Post article and probably why Moddy Meltdown is taking an extended timeout in his hideyhole.

      A post-election poll of unaffiliated voters released Thursday has a sobering message for the Colorado GOP: President Donald Trump’s unpopularity may have accelerated the party’s growing disadvantage in state politics by sinking its chances with independents.

       

      And unlike previous Democratic electoral routs, the poll suggests, it’s less likely Republicans will be in a position to bounce back in two years, when Trump is up for re-election.

      “What is still the most important voting bloc is all of the unaffiliated voters,” said David Flaherty, the founder and CEO of Louisville-based Magellan Strategies. “And the bottom line is that boy oh boy, they did not like what Republicans were offering up. And boy oh boy, they do not like this president. … It could not have been a darker day.”

       

      Trump’s job approval rating among unaffiliated voters was 31 percent, while 62 percent disapproved. Nearly half of respondents said Trump influenced their vote, and among those, the president harmed Republicans’ appeal nearly 3-to-1.

      And unlike previous Democratic electoral routs, the poll suggests, it’s less likely Republicans will be in a position to bounce back in two years, when Trump is up for re-election.

      “What is still the most important voting bloc is all of the unaffiliated voters,” said David Flaherty, the founder and CEO of Louisville-based Magellan Strategies. “And the bottom line is that boy oh boy, they did not like what Republicans were offering up. And boy oh boy, they do not like this president. … It could not have been a darker day.”

       

       

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      1. What's intetesting to me as a policy wonk is that Trump is more moderate than the freedumb caucus, Tea Party goons who want to destroy social security and medicare, drown the government in a bathtub and extend the designated hitter rule to the national league.  Of course, it's a moderation that consists of not knowing dip squat on his own and using racism etc for political appeal.  

         I think it's just that Trump stinks.  He really does.  He is such a foul, vicious, vain, odious backstabbing snake that unaffiliated voters vote against his acolytes even as they loathe the master.

         That is why I totally oppose impeaching stinky boy.  Mike Pence is a decent, articulate even charming man whose policies are even more rigidly right wing. 

         Trumpstink.  It's what's for dinner, Republicans.  Eat shit and die.

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         1. "Mike Pence is a decent………"  You obviously know little about Mr. Pence.

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            1. No, he isn't, but he plays one on TV. 

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3. Trumpstink.  It's what's for dinner, Republicans.

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4. In other news, Jared Golden (D) won the US House Race for ME-02 under Maine's ranked Choice voting system.  The Blue Wave keeps hitting the shore.

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   1. That means that there is not a single Republican in the House from New England. Sweet!

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      1. Just like 2008-2010 and 2012-2014.

          

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         1. Remember, historically New England was synonymous with the Republican Party. Not any more….

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            1. Different time.  Different Republican party.

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5. Now this — A sugar high — from tax cuts and other stimulus — is expected to wear off in the coming year, constricting economic growth.

   President Donald Trump, already in a grumpy post-midterm mood, faces a growing list of economic problems that could irritate him even more next year. Chief among them is a withdrawal from the economy’s sugar high.

   Fiscal stimulus from the GOP tax cuts is likely to start running out. The Federal Reserve is expected to keep bumping up interest rates. And few analysts expect a divided Congress — facing soaring deficits and with its eyes on 2020 — to join hands and pass a big infrastructure package or sweeping middle-class tax cuts to keep the fiscal juice flowing.

   But of course Larry Kudlow and the rest of Trump's "economic" advisers are sure the deficits are just temporary and the big, beautiful tax cut will pay for itself any day now!

   Paul Krugman and most authentic economists predicted this exact scenario a year ago.

   Renowned Physician, Economist and Astrophysicist Mitch McConnell weighs in as well: 

   Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Wednesday flatly rejected the idea of doing a big infrastructure deal with Democrats. “Republicans are not interested in a $900 billion stimulus,” he told reporters.

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