So the Harris campaign's David Plouffe saw public polls showing they might be ahead in early October when Real Clear Politics showed that Harris' last lead ended September 29th

. . . there was these public polls that came out in late September, early October, showing us with leads that we never saw.

 

Here. 

 

I'm scratching my head over that, but I think everyone's focusing on a fiction of their own making. Plouffe never said they never saw Harris ahead in their internal polling at all, only during the period in question.

 

In the public polling, Harris went ahead in the averages on August 30th and duked it out with Trump throughout September, with the lead changing hands six times. Plouffe can't be talking about that.

 

It would make sense that their internal polling never showed a lead in early October, because it had already disappeared by then.

 

Nevertheless, Harris had recaptured Michigan and Wisconsin by the end of October in the polling averages, even though Trump retained his lead in the Electoral College.

 

I think Plouffe's memory of early October is just a little faulty.

 

That's all.

 

September 19th Harris ahead with 276

September 29th Trump ahead 281

I don't care if it was expected, core pce inflation is higher in October

 Yeah, and the preferred gauge is core dammit, 2.8%, not the headline 2.3%.

Fed’s preferred inflation gauge rises to 2.3% annually, meeting expectations

We have been range-bound since April, averaging 2.7% year over year for six months. 

The Fed is making ZERO progress, and yet . . .

... traders increased their bets that the Fed would approve another rate cut in December.

 

Mama said always look on the bright side

 

Kamala Harris is the 2028 Democrat frontrunner lol

 

Never go left

 

Just a reminder that way back in February Emerson College Polling showed Democrats had no options other than Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, with Trump beating Joe by one point and Harris by three

 

 

 The Nancy Pelosi/Barack Obama/Jane Fonda-Rob Reiner cabal which ousted Joe Biden deserves all the scorn it has received, and more.

In February 2024, when 2023 articles from this cabal about dumping Kamala Harris were in the rearview mirror, Harris was under-performing Biden v Trump by just one point, and Harris v Trump was doing 7 points better than Gavin Newsom v Trump and 10 points better than Gretchen Whitmer v Trump. There was no alternative to Joe but Kamala.

Emerson here.

 

 

And Joe always knew that, which is why he immediately endorsed Harris on the Sunday of the July coup. He knew she was weak, but he knew her Democrat competition was weaker.

In the end Trump's win over Harris was by only 1.61 points, half what Emerson had predicted, and almost the one point by which Emerson had predicted Trump would beat Biden, the stronger candidate.

Democrats should never have dumped Joe Biden.

They panicked, and the panic lost them The White House. Had they rallied around their president, he might have survived. Instead they lost their nerve and abandoned him to the predator.

Democrats have too many herd followers, not enough leaders. And had Harris truly been a leader, she would have rallied the troops to her president, and she did not. And the pressure from the herd is also what made Joe Biden drop out, signaling his weakness.

Donald Trump, on the other hand, got bloodied by a gunman but defiantly got up and continued to fight, just as he's done all along, rallying his followers by himself to himself, the simple elemental difference between winning and losing.

 

 

This is pretty funny

 

Trump’s second administration set to be filled with losers 

 At least 17 of his picks have previously lost elections:

Marco Rubio

Linda McMahon

Lori Chavez-DeRemer

Doug Burgum

Doug Collins

Pete Hegseth

Scott Turner

RFK Jr

Lee Zeldin

Matthew Whitaker

Tulsi Gabbard

Dr Mehmet Oz

Pete Hoekstra

Mike Huckabee

Dave Weldon

Vivek Ramaswamy

Karoline Leavitt

 

Biden cashiered 8k for refusing COVID-19 jabs, Trump to remove 15k trannies from US military

 

Headlines like this are appearing because of the fools we have put in charge

 Germany draws up list of bunkers amid Russia tensions: App planned for public to find emergency shelter in places including underground train stations and car parks

The country of 84 million people has 579 bunkers, mostly from the second world war and the cold war era, which can provide shelter for 480,000 people, down from about 2,000 bunkers previously.

Maybe try Schlachthof Fünf.

 

 

The War Between The States never ended

 

The advice Republicans, and Democrats, never seem to internalize

It's a feature of a libertarian country, not a bug.

 

Trump's mission against the Swamp is far more grandiose than his mission to repeal Obamacare, but it will end up the same way

 

 And Roger Kimball should know better.

Kimball completely underestimates the role that will be played by the federal government employee unions in opposing Trump's efforts to axe them. And it's downright preposterous to think that the Leviathan State is going to be unraveled by July 4, 2026 when it took literally decades to erect it.

Trump will fail to drain the swamp, and it will consume all the valuable energy of his victory, too, keeping him from succeeding on the agenda items which are within his reach. His actions might even strengthen those unions. His own new Labor Secretary actually advocates for that!

Democrats should be encouraged by this.

They are going to have a field day litigating everything Musk and Ramaswamy try to shut down, which will drag everything out interminably. Liberals funded the hapless Kamala Harris to the tune of $1 billion, so I'm confident the Marc Eliases of the Democrat Party will shift the Resistance to this effort with a similar level of support because it has a high likelihood of hamstringing Trump in the same way Russia Russia Russia did.

It's disappointing that Republicans don't understand that Trump is a deeply divisive transitional figure, not a transformational one, but Democrats made the same mistake with Joe Biden, until it was too late, on whom they turned as on a dime.

Trump’s Mission To Dismantle the Administrative State

Roger Kimball, Am. Greatness

 

The more things change, the more they stay the same lol

 

I also want to be clear on one thing. Jake Sullivan and I have had discussions. We've met. For our adversaries out there that think this is a time of opportunity, that they can play one administration off the other -- they are wrong. And we are hand in glove. We are one team with the United States in this transition.

Trump's new Surgeon General might as well have come from the Biden administration

 

A GOP House of 221 might be as good as it gets with uncalled CA-45 going Democrat and uncalled CA-13 barely Republican by 204 votes

 

The White House just does this to itself lol

 

Buh-bye.

I'm leavin' . . . on a jet plane . . .

Donald Trump and George W. Bush are the exact same person

 

Trump's European-style coalition cabinet is full of liberals and conservatism is dead LOL, says tormented son of a member of the John Birch Society

 

 A pro-abortion RFK Jr. at HHS. A pro-union Chavez-DeRemer at Labor. Lefty Democrat Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. And gay George Soros adviser Scott Bessent at Treasury. 

The team represents the Trump worldview: Traditional conservatism is dead — and its biggest, lifelong advocates neutered to the point of irrelevance.          

Mike Allen of AXIOS reminds me of no one so much as George W. Bush: "There is no conservative movement. I redefined the Republican Party".

I think Mike is in a perpetual state of PTSD because his father was a John Bircher.

Donald Trump's problem is that no real conservative wants to be associated with his lame duck brand, so he's got to find people SOMEWHERE to serve in his hapless administration. Might as well be lefties and liberals and Jeb Bush retreads like Pam Bondi at the Department of Justice after the Gaetz flameout.

Meanwhile, Donald J. Trump and George W. Bush are exactly the same person, except Georgie actually got more than 49.83% of the vote.

 

Iraq combat vets wondered why National Guard member Pete Hegseth showed up in Iraq in 2005 leading a platoon

 “I showed up in the 101st Airborne Division, in one of the most storied units in our nation’s history, with a bunch of combat vets who’d already done a tour in Iraq and they looked at me like, ‘Who the hell is this guy?’” Hegseth said in a 2021 interview on “The Will Cain Show” podcast.

One former officer who served with Hegseth said he was surprised to see a National Guard member taking on such a role. He surmised that Hegseth probably wanted to run for office someday and thought a combat tour could help, the former officer said. ...

The former Army officer who served with Hegseth in Iraq said he believes he has latched on to “populist scenarios” in a quest for personal gain. When news of Hegseth’s potential nomination emerged, old acquaintances from those days got back in touch with one another, the former officer said.

One text he received especially stood out. All it said: “WTF?”

More.

The scandal of Pete Hegseth is that HE THINKS the encounter with Jane Doe was bad enough to threaten his job at FOX NEWS but not at the Department of Defense

Trump’s Pentagon pick paid woman after sex assault allegation but denies wrongdoing, his lawyer says

  Hegseth was concerned that she was prepared to file a lawsuit that he feared could have resulted in him being fired from Fox News. ...

The person who reported the assault — whose name, age and sex were not released — had bruises on the right thigh, according to the city’s statement. ...

At the time of the 2017 accusations, Hegseth, now 44, was going through a divorce with his second wife, with whom he has three children. She filed for divorce after he had a child with a Fox News producer who is now his wife, according to court records and social media posts by Hegseth. His first marriage ended in 2009, also after infidelity by Hegseth, according to court records.

 

Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick for defense secretary, paid accuser to save job at Fox News, his lawyer says

 Fox News host Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's pick to serve as defense secretary, paid a confidential financial settlement to a woman who accused him of sexual assault out of concern that the allegation would lead to his firing from the cable news giant, his lawyer told CBS News. ...

The city of Monterey confirmed the 2017 investigation into Hegseth and said in a statement that investigators found the woman had "contusions" on her right thigh. No charges were filed, Parlatore said. 

The Washington Post, which first reported the financial payment, obtained what it referred to as a memo that was sent to the Trump transition team by a friend of the accuser alleging Hegseth raped a conservative group staffer in his room after drinking at the hotel bar. According to the Post, the memo states that the day after the incident, the accuser "had a moment of hazy memory of being raped the night before, and had a panic attack."

Republican coastal elitist Nancy Mace (SC-1) who famously invaded the male space of The Citadel in the 1990s isn't too keen on men in her bathroom

 But mostly she's just an attention whore.

That's all.

 

Ellen The Degenerate is moving to merry old Muslim England where she'll feel safer

 

Bye Ellen!

Bye Donald!

Pete Hegseth, three days after cheating on his baby mama with a married woman in California in October 2017

 Allegedly.

Hey, he fits right in.

 

 

Earning $100k ain't what it used to be: It used to be a more exclusive club

 In 2023 earning $100k made you top 15% of wage earners, but in 2018 it made you top 10%.

$125k is the new top 10%.

 

2018

2023

 

 

Randi Weingarten of the teachers unions is just thrilled with Trump's new labor secretary

 

Trump's revenge was supposed to be on them, instead it's on us lol

 

Pete Hegseth wasn't honest with Trump about his past

 Trump transition team ‘quietly’ looking at alternatives to Pete Hegseth after he ‘wasn’t honest’ about past

Donald Trump’s transition team is said to be “upset” with Pete Hegseth because he “hasn’t been honest” about the sexual misconduct allegation from his past – prompting insiders to consider other options to lead the Pentagon.

Hegseth was tapped last week to become Trump’s defense secretary but now those in the president-elect’s inner circle are “quietly preparing a list of alternative” candidates, Vanity Fair reported.

“It’s becoming a real possibility,” a source told the outlet’s special correspondent Gabriel Sherman.

The source said that the Trump team was taken by surprise after a serious sexual assault allegation against Hegseth came to light, which led Trump’s incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles to question the former Fox News host on a call last week. Hegseth was never charged with a crime and denies the allegations.

“People are upset about the distraction. The general feeling is Pete hasn’t been honest,” a second source told Vanity Fair.

A “prominent Republican” close to the Trump transition team told the outlet that some are also unhappy with the president-elect’s choice due to Hegseth’s lack of qualifications to lead the nation’s defense. . . ..     

What else would he fail to be honest about?

 

Matt Gaetz again says that he will not be in the 119th Congress

 Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who withdrew from consideration as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general on Thursday, said Friday he will not be returning to Congress next year.

“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” he told Charlie Kirk in an interview. 

More.

 

 

Jonathan Chait just glosses right over the fact that Pete Hegseth at the minimum cheated on his second wife AND on his eventual third wife, who had just had his baby, with a married woman

 The baby was born in August 2017, which coincided with his divorce from his second wife, which means Hegseth cheated on the second wife in 2016.

The "consensual sexual encounter" with the married woman occurred in October 2017.

This is the guy the officer corps should look up to? He's an out of control sexual predator.

Pete Hegseth is a train wreck of a man.

Does he remind you of anyone?

I predict that the US Senate will not get an opportunity to inquire of Mr. Hegseth about his belief that America was founded in proto-Marxism because he will have to withdraw his nomination, just like Gaetz, long before that, preferably by this Friday afternoon's news dump.

Here:

Hegseth denies the allegation and says that the encounter, which took place while he was transitioning between his second and third wives, was consensual. He paid the alleged victim an undisclosed sum in return for her signing a nondisclosure agreement.

Matt Gaetz pulled out for Attorney General after CNN confronted him with new threesome story, House Ethics Committee report still hangs like the sword of Damocles over his head

 CNN here:

The woman who says she had sex when she was a minor with then-Rep. Matt Gaetz told the House Ethics Committee she had two sexual encounters with him at one party in 2017, sources familiar with her testimony tell CNN.

The woman, who was 17 years old at the time, testified that the second sexual encounter, which has not previously been reported, included another adult woman. She also testified to both sexual encounters in a civil deposition as part of a related lawsuit, sources said.

After being asked for comment for this story, Gaetz announced he was backing out as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee. ...

Members of the Republican-led House Ethics panel voted along party lines on Wednesday not to release the results of their investigation and instead decided to meet again on December 5 to vote on the final report.

And The Hill here:

Typically, the committee ends its investigations and does not release its findings on members who have departed the House.

Johnson has argued releasing the report would “open a Pandora’s box” and break a long-standing “rule” of the panel to not publish information on former members of Congress.

But there are some previous examples of Ethics investigators releasing information on former members.

In 1987, the panel released its report into former Rep. William Boner (D-Tenn.) after he resigned from the House. And in 2011, the Senate Ethics Committee released its preliminary report into former Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) after he departed the upper chamber.

 

Putin says medium range ballistic missile was used against Ukraine, not ICBM, but still nuclear capable

 Quoted here:

“In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons, on Nov 21 of this year, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine.

“In combat conditions, one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was tested, among other things. In this case, with a ballistic missile in a nuclear-free hypersonic equipment.”

The whole point of stories like this is to make you think "crony capitalism" isn't a description of what's been going on and continues to go on right now

 

 Ken Griffin just hates tariffs, which funded the (necessarily very small) federal government until the 20th century.

Meanwhile he's afraid the 12,000 lobbyists which already populate Washington procuring handouts like the Chips Act's billions of dollars for businesses will be replaced with 12,000 other ones lobbying for something else, ROFLMAO.

 

 Citadel’s Ken Griffin says Trump’s tariffs could lead to crony capitalism

“I am gravely concerned that the rise of tariffs puts us on a slippery slope towards crony capitalism,” the billionaire investor said Thursday at the Economic Club of New York. ...

“Those same companies that enjoy that momentary sugar rush of having their competitors removed from the battlefield, soon become complacent, soon take for granted their newfound economic superiority, and frankly, they become less competitive on both the world stage and less competitive at meeting the needs of the American consumer,” Griffin said at the event. ...

“Now you’re going to find the halls of Washington really filled with the special interest groups and the lobbyists as people look for continued higher and higher tariffs to keep away foreign competition, and to protect inefficient American businesses have failed to meet the needs of the American consumer,” Griffin said.

 

Trump 2.0 is Amateur Hour 2.0

 Yesterday Trump complained about senators missing votes, but J. D. Vance deleted his tweet admitting he missed the Embry Kidd vote on the 18th because he was meeting with Trump on a more important matter!

Same bs from Trump, different day.

He has learned nothing, and he's as full of it as ever.

Vance deleted this, but the internet is forever. He hasn't learned anything either.

No, Matt Gaetz will not be in the 119th Congress lol

 

Matt Gaetz withdraws as nominee for Attorney General lol

 

“There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General,” he said.

More.

Putin uses ICBM for first time to attack Ukraine, signaling how the war could go nuclear

 The attack comes two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine that formally lowers the threshold for the country’s use of nuclear weapons. Ukraine on Tuesday fired several American-supplied longer-range missiles and reportedly fired U.K.-made Storm Shadows on Wednesday into Russia. ...

The developments come as the war has taken on a growing international dimension with the arrival of North Korean troops to help Russia on the battlefield — a development that U.S. officials said prompted U.S. President Joe Biden’s policy shift on allowing Ukraine to fire longer-range U.S. missiles into Russia. The Kremlin responded with threats to escalate further.

More.

The case for gold gets stronger in a world of global fiscal misbehavior led by the United States under Trump

 “If every country is looking equally irresponsible, then the chances of [a US budget crisis] happening are slim, certainly on a sustainable basis. But when all the countries are experiencing high debt ratios and high deficits, then it′s less likely because in effect there is nowhere to run, with the possible exception of physical assets like gold.” ...

“It would take another country, another region like the euro area supplanting the U.S. with regard to fiscal responsibility. That’s tough to see happening,” he added.

More.

J. D. Vance gets his sorry ass back in the US Senate after missing critical confirmation votes on Monday and Tuesday which confirmed at least one horrible Biden nomination to a lifetime judicial position

 

 If all Republicans had shown up and Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-Pa.) absence held, the GOP would have defeated the nomination [of Embry Kidd] temporarily.

If all senators had shown up, including Fetterman, it would likely have forced a tiebreaking vote by Vice President Harris.

Adding to the drama, Harris left Washington for Hawaii on Tuesday, depriving Democrats of a potential ability to break a 50-50 tie.

Despite the math, GOP members were incensed at the no-shows, which stretched into Tuesday as Vance did not show up for the morning vote.

Other senators, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), tagged along with Trump to the SpaceX Starship launch in Brownsville, Texas, further exacerbating the situation as Schumer prepared to hold another long night of nomination votes on Tuesday. ...

Vance, who missed all of Monday night’s votes in addition to the first one on Tuesday, received the lion’s share of criticism.

The outgoing Ohio senator initially defended his decision, saying that he was meeting with Trump as part of interviews for potential candidates to become FBI director and for other slots.

“I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45,” he added.

However, he backtracked and deleted his post on X. He also showed up for the pair of Senate votes during Tuesday’s afternoon session.

Full story here. 

Showing up is the easiest, most important thing senators can do, and they were too busy.

It's unforgivable.

 

All this realignment of the country to the GOP talk has been BS: Trump has now won only by a plurality, and the GOP House majority could well end up at a mere 220-215

 It was no Red Wave, and that fool Trump just had to poach from what little he got.

 

Steel for the GOP in CA-45 was ahead days ago, then went 50-50 with the Democrat, and is now behind