Smirking Chimp (2024)

02/11/2024

Carl Gibson in Saturday's Chimp: "On Thursday night, former President Donald Trump made a comment about former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) staring down multiple rifle barrels during a conversation with far-right pundit Tucker Carlson. That comment could result in a criminal indictment. Phoenix-based NBC affiliate KPNX is now reporting that Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) has opened a criminal investigation into whether the ex-president's remarks could be classified as a death threat. Mayes told local reporters that her office is taking Trump's comment seriously."

On Thursday night, former President Donald Trump made a comment about former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) staring down multiple rifle barrels during a conversation with far-right pundit Tucker Carlson. That comment could result in a criminal indictment.

02/11/2024

Heather Digby Parton in Saturday's Chimp: "But of course, the point of the whole thing is to help spread the idea that the election system is rigged against him, even when he is being accommodated."

A couple of weeks ago the gang down in Mar-a-Lago was popping the champagne and gleefully drawing up plans to further destroy the White House gardens once the Trumps are in residence again. They were looking at the early voting in the swing states and they figured they had it in the bag, according t...

02/11/2024

Miles Mogulescu in Saturday's Chimp: "The only way to guarantee that the Trump/Johnson 'secret plan' is to flip a couple of House delegation majorities from Red to Blue. That’s why it’s vitally important for Harris voters to vote in every state and cast their vote for the Democratic House candidate."

The scariest thing at Trump’s quasi-fascist Madison Square Garden rally was not the vulgar and offensive rhetoric by surrogates like unfunny comic Killer Tony’s comments about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of garbage” and Black Americans carving watermelons for Halloween, as disgustin...

02/11/2024

Jaime O'Neill in Saturday's Chimp: "As prejudicial attitudes became extolled and promoted with increasing frequency by Trump and the MAGA hordes, lots of things became more difficult, including teaching. Education itself was targeted by Republicans and other right-wingers who had a long tradition of being anti-education. Teachers were said to be grooming kids to become subversives, to become 'perverts,' or feminists, or even Communists. Legions of unpatriotic teachers were making them 'woke,' encouraging them to hate America. The more such talk, the worse it became."

My younger of two daughters sacrificed some of her hard-earned retirement benefits to retire early from teaching art to Middle School kids last year. She wasn’t burnt out, as people used to say about teachers who had left the profession from sheer exhaustion, having given all they had to a job tha...

02/11/2024

Thom Hartmann in Saturday's Chimp: "The question itself reveals a misunderstanding of how things work for the morbidly rich. They are, uniquely, in a position to profit from the same economic downturns that wipe out average working people or those who’ve put their money into 401Ks invested in the market or certain stocks. This is a story as old as capitalism. During the Republican Great Depression of the 1930s, for example, some of America’s greatest fortunes were made or massively expanded."

In a recent “town hall,” billionaire Elon Musk acknowledged what 23 Nobel Prize-winning economists across the country have predicted: If Trump is elected and he and Elon undertake their project to gut government spending, it will provoke a severe recession.

02/11/2024

Robert Reich in Saturday's Chimp: "When a bipartisan group of billionaires agree that a government official who’s limiting their power must be fired, you have every reason to believe she’s doing her job."

Yesterday, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and the richest man in the world, tweeted that Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan “will be fired soon.”

02/11/2024

The Daily Chimp for Saturday, 2 November 2024: links to all of today's front page posts.

Carl Gibson | Arizona’s Attorney General Is Now Investigating Trump’s ‘Death Threat’ Against Liz Cheney On Thursday night, former President Donald Trump made a comment about former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) staring down multiple rifle barrels during a conversation with far-right pundit Tuc...

01/11/2024

Robert Reich in Friday's Chimp: "Some people seem to have forgotten how bad a president Trump was, so I made a list of the worst things about the Trump presidency, in no particular order. Please share and add anything I missed."

Some people seem to have forgotten how bad a president Trump was, so I made a list of the worst things about the Trump presidency, in no particular order. Please share and add anything I missed.

01/11/2024

Carl Gibson in Friday's Chimp: "Gallup, which is considered one of the more reputable polling organizations operating today, doesn't do election horse-race polls of candidates. However, it does measure public opinion in other important ways that could predict how an election may turn out. On Thursday, Gallup released a series of polls exploring voter enthusiasm among supporters of both major parties and compared it to voter enthusiasm in past election cycles. The organization also gauged at how effective each campaign was at voter outreach."

Democrats have another reason to be optimistic about Tuesday's presidential election after the release of a new Gallup poll.

01/11/2024

Amanda Marcotte in Friday's Chimp: "Who knows if Trump's campaign managers think misogyny is a smart tactic or if they're simply trying to make electoral lemonade out of political lemons. The latter does make sense. Trump and the men he surrounds himself with are so wholly committed to woman-hating that there's likely no way to convince them to tone it down. In MAGA world, the only way to be a man is to embrace toxic masculinity. That much was made clear in a recent Q&A event, where Musk complained, 'If masculinity is so toxic, how come the kids that are messed up don't have dads?'"

Much has been made out of the fact that Donald Trump's campaign did nix one "joke" in the now-infamous speech by podcast host Tony Hinchcliffe during the dizzyingly hateful MAGA rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday: calling Vice President Kamala Harris the c-word. As I wrote in the Standing Room...

01/11/2024

Jaime O'Neill in Friday's Chimp: "Ya know, after so many years of hearing how sensitive and easily offended Republicans and other fascists can be by people who have the temerity to criticize their words or their behavior, you could begin to wonder if maybe there’s something wrong with these people. I mean, really, if you are going to parade your racism, your misogyny, your greed, and your ignorance around so proudly, shouldn’t you expect that some other human beings are going to react to that? They might even be prompted to say some unflattering things about you? What did you think would happen?"

Ya know, after so many years of hearing how sensitive and easily offended Republicans and other fascists can be by people who have the temerity to criticize their words or their behavior, you could begin to wonder if maybe there’s something wrong with these people. I mean, really, if you are going...

01/11/2024

Thom Hartmann in Friday's Chimp: "Dear Louise, It’s been almost a year since the last time I saw you, as they were arresting me on the “designated enemy within” sedition charge that’s kept me in this prison. If the underground network here succeeds, you should get this letter within a few weeks; it’s the third I’ve written you that got out of the prison, but I understand the first two couriers were busted for carrying contraband mail and are now in prison themselves."

It’s been almost a year since the last time I saw you, as they were arresting me on the “designated enemy within” sedition charge that’s kept me in this prison. If the underground network here succeeds, you should get this letter within a few weeks; it’s the third I’ve written you that g...

01/11/2024

Robert Becker in Friday's Chimp: "Remarkable timing, the perfect villainous foe, and a precedent-breaking choice together offer America a rare boon. It’s no mystery, however lamentable, that here’s only the second woman close to running the White House. How electrifying that, without the primary noise but also the elevation, a spirited California woman of color stands poised to make history. A Harris win not only fulfills an incredible, opportunity-fostering storyline but restores the American promise of gender neutrality – recognizing half the population is qualified, talented, and electable. Assess the moral arc of justice if her breakthrough ascension neatly trounces the most unfit, primitive, chauvinistic, and scandal-besmirched nominee ever from a national party."

How ironic for a steadfast, scandal-free, ex-prosecutor and human rights leader to dethrone the world’s creepiest, scandal-ridden misogynist, immigrant-hating demagogue, white supremacist fan and convicted s*x abuser.

01/11/2024

The Daily Chimp for Friday, 1 November 2024: links to all of today's front page posts.

Robert Reich | The 101 Worst Things About Trump’s Shambolic Presidency Friends, Some people seem to have forgotten how bad a president Trump was, so I made a list of the worst things about the Trump presidency, in no particular order. Please share and add anything I missed. Trump fueled division a...

31/10/2024

Amanda Marcotte in Thursday's Chimp: "But, as Harris's speech should remind us, the crybaby antics and self-victimization are just a cover for what Trump and his acolytes want, which is far more serious than insincere flattery. As investigative journalists like Kathryn Joyce for Salon have documented, the Capitol riot was rooted in Christian nationalism and other far-right ideologies that explicitly preach a belief in strict social hierarchies that put white men in authority over everyone else. Even being the crybabies they are, MAGA doesn't break windows and attack cops because some people mocked them on Twitter. Their real goal — the one they hide under all the bad faith complaints about 'wokeness' and 'cancel culture' — is a level of dominance over others that is incompatible with basic American values like human rights, democracy, and equality."

In the days since Donald Trump's hate-filled rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, what's striking is the pettiness of the stakes MAGA defenders have laid out. In the final days of a dead-heat contest for the most powerful office in the world, Republicans argued we must elect a textbook fascist....

31/10/2024

Maya Boddie in Thursday's Chimp: "'I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a little secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,' the GOP nominee said. In a Wednesday, October 30 column, The Nation's Elie Mystal explained what he believes the MAGA hopeful and Republican House leader may be hiding."

During his Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, October 27, Donald Trump told MAGA supporters that he and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) have a "secret" that the former president can't reveal yet.

31/10/2024

Robert Reich in Thursday's Chimp: "Why have these two oligarchs been willing to take actions that cause so many of their customers to jump ship? What’s the connection between Bezos’s preventing the Post from endorsing Harris and Musk’s weaponizing X for Trump? Here’s a hint: Just hours after Bezos stopped the Post from endorsing Harris, executives of Blue Origin, Bezos’s private rocket company, met with Trump in Austin."

Elon Musk (worth $271 billion) and Jeff Bezos (worth $262 billion) — the richest and second-richest people on the planet — are now showing America why it’s dangerous to have great wealth concentrated in so few hands.

31/10/2024

Jaime O'Neill in Thursday's Chimp: "Remember Ari Fleischer? If you watch much Fox 'News,' you should have no trouble remembering him. He's one of the ghouls from the past who now hang out on Rupert Murdoch's cable channel. He was press secretary for George W. Bush where he polished his skills at prevarication and dissembling in preparation for his work in the private sector, pointing out just how much better Republicans were than Democrats on most every issue, and doing so on a consistent basis."

Remember Ari Fleischer? If you watch much Fox "News," you should have no trouble remembering him. He's one of the ghouls from the past who now hang out on Rupert Murdoch's cable channel. He was press secretary for George W. Bush where he polished his skills at prevarication and dissembling in prepar...

31/10/2024

Mitchell Zimmerman in Thursday's Chimp: "If Harris gets my vote for president, it does not mean I approve of her acts or her statements on Gaza. It only means I think our country, our way of life, and the future of Gazans, too, will likely be better if Harris holds that position of power than if Donald Trump does. Either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will be elected president. One or the other, no one else. No one can argue with a straight face that it doesn’t matter which."

Israel has annihilated the institutions and infrastructure that made Gaza a society—public schools, hospitals, places of worship, universities, housing, farms, the agencies that distribute food to the needy, utilities, water supplies. Israel’s relentless bombing and shelling have killed or wound...

31/10/2024

Thom Hartmann in Thursday's Chimp: "One of the most common reasons people don’t vote is because they think their vote won’t matter. That it’ll be lost in a sea of millions of votes. Over the past 21 years of doing a daily nationwide radio program, I’ve heard this excuse at least a few thousand times. But it’s wrong: In reality, when people think like this, they have their math upside down. Elections aren’t additive or subtractive: they’re comparative. That’s literally the whole point of an election."

Last night, in a brilliant speech before 75,000+ people on the ellipse in Washington DC — the place from which Trump sent a murderous mob against our Capitol — Vice President Kamala Harris asked for your vote.

31/10/2024

The Daily Chimp for Thursday, 31 October 2024:: links to all of today's front page posts.

Amanda Marcotte | “Obsessed With Revenge”: In Dual Rallies, Trump Celebrated Fascism, but Kamala Exposed Its True Face In the days since Donald Trump's hate-filled rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, what's striking is the pettiness of the stakes MAGA defenders have laid out. In the final ...

30/10/2024

Thom Hartmann in Wednesday's Chimp: "But that noble old concept is now lost on most among the current crop of billionaires and multimillionaires. Instead of devoting themselves and their fortunes to bettering our nation, so many are instead promoting climate change denial, funding politicians who promise them tax cuts, and spearheading efforts to strip America of its social safety net and public education system."

Last Sunday the richest man in America — who owes most of his wealth to President Obama bailing out his electric car company and government contracts — endorsed a man for president who’s a naked racist, fascist, and xenophobe who famously said:

30/10/2024

Amanda Marcotte in Wednesday's Chimp: "The Post reporters assume, incorrectly, that when Musk, Trump and their allies are ranting about 'illegals,' they mean immigrants who don't have proper documentation to live and work in the U.S. But if you pay attention to how the word is used in context, it's clear Musk and company use 'illegals' as a catch-all category for all non-white immigrants, and, increasingly, any native-born American citizen whose skin color or ethnic heritage MAGA dislikes. To MAGA, an undocumented white immigrant is fine. But a legal immigrant with darker skin — or even a native-born citizen — is an 'illegal.'"

Last week, the Washington Post reported that Tesla CEO and Donald Trump super-fan Elon Musk was once, to use the term favored by MAGA, an "illegal." Which is to say, he did what the vast majority of undocumented immigrants do in the U.S. After he traveled here legally, he overstayed a visa and then....

30/10/2024

Maya Boddie in Wednesday's Chimp: "The WSJ reporters note that 'many people of Puerto Rican descent live in the U.S. mainland, particularly in Florida and New York, but also in the swing state of Pennsylvania, which the donor said was particularly concerning.'"

After comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage" during his appearance at Donald Trump's Madison Square Garden rally Sunday, the MAGA hopeful's team rushed to announce that kind of rhetoric does "not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign."

30/10/2024

Jaime O'Neill in Wednesday's Chimp: "So, it wasn't entirely surprising when I found a scribbled note left on my windshield on Sunday, left there by someone who wanted to insult the unknown vehicle owner for his or her support for reproductive rights, the fight against global warming, and the election of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the highest office in the land, and maybe even the world. Referencing the handicapped parking permit issued for my wife, that note read: 'Handicap parking is for the physically handicapped, not the mentally handicapped.'"

If some of you subscribe to the Sacramento Bee or the Wichita Eagle, there's a really terrific essay making the rounds of publications about the culture of pickup trucks and the guys who own them. I've had a few such vehicles, but I still tend to stereotype other guys who drive them as redneck assho...

Smirking Chimp

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