I like the libertarian magazine Reason’s claim right about here.  “Of course, Libertarians are leading the fight against Trump“.

To be sure, this is a look over at a British publication and a slight lack of nuance on American politics —

And to be sure, the “Great Libertarian” or libertarian-ish, politico in the Senate is not covered in the Reason blog post…

But… So says Rand Paul, Republican Senator of Kentucky on Michael Flynn.

“I just don’t think it’s useful to be doing investigation after investigation, particularly of your own party. We’ll never even get started with doing the things we need to do, like repealing Obamacare, if we’re spending our whole time having Republicans investigate Republicans. I think it makes no sense.”

I suppose the murky underside of Russian intelligence is of no concern for Paul.  Oh well.  At least he’s holding forth against John Bolton, even if he just gave a partisan game of his away.

I remember early in the Obama Administration, sitting through conservative punditry that took it as a given that the whole Obama Administration is failing, that the news media failed to “vet” him and now we have — a complete nincompoop and disaster.  It was something where the very act of proposing policies and making some attacks on some of his political opponents — see the self-sainted US Chamber of Commerce — was proof of this.

It’s maybe a reflex, and I strain to remain historically grounded.

Assume the worst.  How did he hold a solid approval rating, with a faint “everyone but Republicans” honey-moon.  Trump?  Not so much.  Why?  Well… part of has to do with… oh… acting presidential.  Sooner or later, every administration barks at “the media” in frustration.  Trump declares it the enemy of the people.

The People, beloved by Bane in the Batman movie.

And to be sure, the Trump Administration is successfully moving forward with … action.  At the What The Republicans are thinking on Trump point.  Beyond that, we’re in a realm of a continued cycle since the Harding Administration.  So much an issue, that it’s a libertarian argument against government watchdog agencies — sooner and later, we’ll just have the Foxes guarding the henhouse and — BLAMO!  Teapot Dome!

But you know… accountability is an issue.  November 6, 2018, eh?  A slight problem.  Here are the Senate seats up.  McConnell sits as Senate Majority Leader for this entire Trump / Pence term.  I suppose we’re back to a “50 state strategy”, down to the local state level… with the Democrats trying to figure out how to move beyond the city enclaves again.

One observation as what is considered the “Left” moves about in copying the “playbook” of the “Tea Party Right” as at the dawn of the Trump Administration as at the dawn of the Obama Administration.

And as we see some of the same basic tropes — some disruptions at town halls, Republicans crying wolf on “astro-turf”.

(Wait.  Is there a bizarro Koch Bros?  Sure.  But they just randomly pluck out Soros for the role.
At any rate, until they finally come up with a coherent following of some money trail, we’re back at the “You all Right!  We learned it by watching you!”)

You know one thing the “Tea Party” failed to do?  Stop Obama’s re-election.
Also you know one outcome we don’t really want?  Some Democratic version of Donald Trump seceding him.

“For me, being a 49ers fan, Joe Montana will always be the greatest.  But I’d definitely put Tom Brady in the top 2 or 3.”

Granted, it is the case that if someone comes around and wins ten superbowls straight for some other team not the Patriots, someone will be saying “For me, being a Patriots fan…”

Simply put:  Any particular reason?

The answer is Otto Graham, by the way.
But no one will say it because no one alive really has any emotional connection / odd identification with any games he played, and everyone’s history of professional football begins in the late 1960s.
So tell me why it’s wrong and Otto Graham isn’t the Greatest.

Americans Now Evenly Divided on Impeaching Trump.

Oh, the poll is probably something that in terms of elections and campaigns is better is Democratic years than Republican years.

It is worth pondering the current stark division on Capital Hill.  Jeff Sessions in by party-line vote, more or less — Joe Manchin was the Democrat who crossed over.  Betty Devos with just two Republican defections to party line vote.  Is there any way out for the next Democratic administration?  Or the coming Mike Pence administration?

Voters are concerned about Trump taking away Obamacare. 47% of voters now say they support the Affordable Care Act to only 39% who are opposed. It just keeps getting more popular. And only 32% think the best course of action to take on health care is repealing the ACA, while 65% would like Congress to keep it and just fix parts that need fixing.

Ironically, had Hillary Clinton come into charge as President, the popularity of the program would not be rising so fast.

The funny thing about “Impeachment” on this short date.  It’ll be claimed that this is adding to a spectacle of American politics.  Even though, that train already left the station.

Trying to maneuver through the meaning of the Superbowl ads, I have this thought — as I watched a handful of games at the end of the season and a smattering of the playoffs…

… and only the last quarter and overtime of the Super Big Game…

The ad for the NFL was a groaner.  “Between these lines”.  “We have our differences, but…”.  Cut up to the football field, see the outline of geographic America.  And so the equation of patriotism as the league suffers a few lashes over the past years… admittedly from a towering height.  (It is a thing I’ve noted in ads on games over the past year.  A more concerted effort to wrap up a narrative for football than I remember from years ago.)

Hm.

Meanwhile, conservative televangelist Pat Robertson couldn’t contain his enthusiasm for the Super Bowl, on “The 700 Club,” singling out Lady Gaga’s halftime performance as a highlight. “Lady Gaga did a fantastic halftime show,” he said. “If you went to sleep, you missed a great evening!” 

Actually it’s weird that Pat Robertson is praising the song “Poker Face”.  Political or not, it is just a bunch of sexual innuendo.  So… just so long as you don’t make an explicit statement that “President Trump” sucks, you’re okay with some of these moral purveyors right now.

Thoughts as I’m watching Ellen DeGeneres make a political point with use of the movie Finding Dory,  and asked the question.   Shall I take political cues from the didactic teachings of children’s entertainment?  Or, plenty of items floating out there whose “message”, if you pair it down to such, land on the suspect, I’d tend to want to throw a thumbs up on.

And that which I’ve mulled when I saw some conservative  argument that raunchy allusions in episodes of the tv series Friends foretell the coming of President Trump, ala the acceptance of the vulgar up from society to the highest office.

And when I’m reading a local alt weekly feature that drafts the Barenaked Ladies and the band Earth Girls are Easy in a long list of problematic band names, in what I take to be a long series of lecture articles to set “Progressive Men” straight for diversity grounding.
(I bring up “Earth Girls are Easy” due to the confusion — never heard of the band, but then again never heard of most of the bands — but know the name from a silly comedic movie — and really only know the movie because of an episode of Siskle and Ebert of “guilty pleasures” (or perhaps “Worst Movies” with Siskle picking this just because Ebert gave it a positive review).

Both getting at the same argument, really:  The “This is why people are voting for Trump”.  A culture that needs to be soaked of one variety of vulgarity or another.
A smirking comment I’d see to stories along the lines of, oh, a college paper on the White Feminine Privilege of Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte.

And when I see Andre Dice Clay chime in on Conan O’brien that “Trump is stealing my act” — your line of things come full circle as he may just well be making the same argument, minus artistic culpability.

Interesting concept and retort being tossed out there… we see it as the sidebar “And here’s what the (concerted effort to get the perspective copy and so this is the thematic story being thumped out there we keep seeing) Trump supporters in forgotten red America are saying” news items … the Protesters to this President are protesting what the President told everyone he was going to do if and when elected.  As though this is an issue — that the president is exactly as we thought he would be in the campaign season.

Of course.  This guy only enacted policies in the manner he had campaigned.

   And for that matter, so too this guy.

But, whatever.

The “good news” for Democrats out of the Trump victory — the silver lining as everyone sits through four years of fairly horrible policies — is that the Democrats were unlikely to win both the 2016 and 2020 presidential election, and if you had to choose one, you would choose 2020 and all the redistricting that goes with what happens down-ticket.

But the problem is we still have to sit through four years of President Trump, and try to keep the Overton Window somewhere.