Auchincloss: "When you have a badge & gun and you are interacting with a citizen who has committed no crime, the onus of responsibility is on you to exercise good judgment. Nobody watching that video will buy the argument that he had no other resort other than to shoot her in the face 3 times."

This is the heart of it. Any press coverage that gullibly paints this partisan punitive campaign of retribution as "fighting crime" or "enforcing immigration laws" is actively complicit in a government campaign to punish dissent.

whats missing from all the coverage is that the president is using the military to harass, brutalize and punish areas of the country that didnt vote for him

They're not trained. They hire right wing lunatics lured by the promise of having a gun and immunity with which to terrorize immigrants and protesters. The killer did exactly what he hoped he'd get to do.

People are not going to be convinced to put us in charge by laying out facts and evidence. They're going to be convinced to put us in charge by looking like we expect to be in charge and that we will use the power at our disposal.

The Administration's guiding principle is a mocking show of force that "might makes right." Their lies are not meant to persuade, they're to taunt us.

We have to stop handcuffing ourselves by having to have a logical justification for voters to vote for us. "You don't like those people. Vote for us " is all it takes, and sounds a lot more human.

The problem is that regular people see that and think "wow, he's tough, but we shouldn't take him literally." And the media scolds us if we do. He gets to have his cake and eat it too, every single time.

Everyone who has signed up to join ICE in the last 12 months should be on a watch list.

Everyone who has signed up to join ICE in the last 12 months should be on a watch list.

California, New York and other blue states to sue Trump over $10B cut to welfare funding

Legal falsity aside, I think “our masked, anonymous paramilitary thugs have an absolute right to kill you and your job is simply to trust that they won’t” isn’t so much a defense as a confession

this in fact is part of why they’re like this, because they want him to like them, whereas since the dems have historically respected them they don’t fear offending us. we need to treat them like trump does.

Anyone who uses "alpha" and "beta" in earnest is obviously an enormous pussy.

Folks. They don't even actually believe their own bullshit. There's no need to argue on the facts. Their lying is not meant to convince anyone, it is a show of force. We need to respond in kind.

A government agency recruited right-wing lunatics to cosplay as law enforcement and gave them guns in order to produce this exact outcome.

They have a terrible habit of trying to run against fascists by pointing out the fascists promised things they didn't deliver. People who like fascists and support them aren't rational. Those voters are getting the racist, misogynist hate regime they wanted and they love it.

Experts don’t lose public debates because they’re wrong. They lose because they’re hard to hear. In energy, complexity without a clear takeaway gets ignored. Simpler, louder stories take its place. My latest piece is about starting with clarity and then layering nuance. medium.com/@jan.rosenow...

TDS is an affliction on the right where Republicans abandon any semblance of principles to support a wussy, embarrassing loser.

Yes, the uninformed voters who decide presidential elections want the appearance of strength regardless of whether there's any actual toughness behind it. They definitely don't care about well thought rationales.

"Dominant predator force" lmao these pussies are trying so hard to sound tough

Our being beholden to logical consistency -- in contrast to Republican shamelessness and lack of coherent principles -- actually reads as weakness to the average voter. This is the point!

Because we didn't prosecute the case in the court of public opinion in the way that the average voter would actually care about. Pearl-clutching about high-minded principles, democracy, the Constitution, sounded out of touch. The narrative needed to be that Trump is an embarrassing loser, period.

Donald Trump is a pussy.

The average (ignorant, uninformed) voter didn't care about the factual accuracy of Trump's accusation, they saw the brazenness and shamelessness as a show of strength. We're not going to win with fact-checking and debate team logic that just make us look like losers. We need to drive narratives.

Trump's "They're eating the dogs!" statement was effective (total racist bullshit) but effective because he said it with great confidence and certainty & it triggers fear. We can use "Trump's destroying our country!" with the same certainty & confidence. "Trump's driving up our prices!" etc more.

People will see Republicans celebrating this and, while they may not like the outcome, they will see "owning the libs" as a sign of strength.

We rightfully mock this, but this is exactly the level on which the average person digests the news, and we have to engage on this level or we will lose.

Guys, we're not gonna win by pointing out logical inconsistencies about Trump's attitude on foreign intervention and saying "gotcha." Regular voters don't care. Debate team logical arguments make us look weak and wussy. Drive a narrative. Tie everything back to Trump being insecure and fake-tough.

People with fake bone spurs are not tough. At every turn, he either escaped responsibility or got others to fight his battles. Trump is a pussy.

Guys, we're not gonna win by pointing out logical inconsistencies about Trump's attitude on foreign intervention and saying "gotcha." Regular voters don't care. Debate team logical arguments make us look weak and wussy. Drive a narrative. Tie everything back to Trump being insecure and fake-tough.

The most embarrassing part of this whole episode is Trump trying to look tough with an obviously staged photo to create the impression of strength and gravitas. These people are losers.

People want the appearance of toughness. That's why Trump won. That's what people like Schumer don't understand or aren't willing to reckon with. Hiding behind norms, laws, process, decorum, screams weakness. Stuff Trump in a locker. Point out his unmanliness, trying to look tough.

This Maduro stuff is a trap. Not just a distraction from Epstein (though obviously that too). They're baiting us into reacting, protesting, playing the part of the bleeding heart activists out of touch with regular people, letting Trump play the strongman dictator. This contrast is what he wants.

Of these, only the latter actually mattered. The ignorant, disengaged voters who decide elections don't care about Liz Cheney or niche leftist issues. They voted vibes, and we needed to keep hammering the "creepy weirdo" attack to undercut the Republican bogus "strength" narrative.

Presidential elections are decided by the least engaged voters who vote 90% by vibes. People wanted the appearance of "strength". Republicans' shamelessness in driving absurd narratives about immigrants, etc., looked a lot stronger than Democrats' fact-checking and leaning on norms, law, and logic.

We need to act, but we need to be smart about what narratives we're driving. Trump *wants* to look like a dictator. It projects "strength." Disengaged voters don't care about democracy or the Constitution. Complaining about power overreach just screams weakness. We have to go after his manhood.

We are going to have to work from now until November 3rd to mobilize people to vote out every Republican in Congress. We can start by talking to friends or family who don't vote. We need to remind them that every vote matters and their silence hurts their children's future.

The wealthy are always so GD worried some poor people are gonna commit some small time fraud. Meanwhile, big corporations are committing HUGE afraid. Just look at defense contractors. Why? Because we have all been taught to see the wealthy as virtuous and to see the poor as lazy and unworthy.

The President of the United States is an embarrassment and a national disgrace.

Once again, Republicans are held to no standards and nothing is demanded from them.

A new Bluesky member. Please consider following him.

This Maduro stuff is a trap. Not just a distraction from Epstein (though obviously that too). They're baiting us into reacting, protesting, playing the part of the bleeding heart activists out of touch with regular people, letting Trump play the strongman dictator. This contrast is what he wants.