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The conned will hold on till the bitter end, the worse it gets, the tighter the hold of the addict. Gambling that all these nutcases won't go beserk with power, the lemmings will vote to blame the government for having to wear masks in public for a few months for the public health benefit. Now these simple minded conspiracy theory loving folk will vote for a fat cat shark who is barking Bibles and watches on the street corner and talking nonsense on his soap box. My (arguably eccentric) brother and nephew are followers of RFK, jr. No talking to them. They've blocked me if I bring up politics so just keep it to family matters. They are sold and cynical on the spin of Democratic Party sin since Bernie despite our growing up in a Democratic stronghold with my Dad as an elected county official.

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Trump has been running a giant grift show for the past 9 years at least. He first coopted the evangelicals, and then demanded his racketeering rights from the pastors and televangelists, who have been groomed to believe the prosperity gospel and other get-rich-quick schemes. Some Americans are particularly fond of these schemes. Scam/schemes like Bed Bath and Beyond, AmWay (Devos's billions came from that), GameStop, FTX, various multilevel marketing schemes, and of cours the Cryptomania, etc... The Internet is full of these scams.... , and obviously people lose a lot of money because they fall for it, they feel bad, guilty, and then get bitter at "the system" instead of learning their lesson. Meanwhile, the system has its own propaganda: It says "We are the country of unlimited opportunities..." Well, Mr. Ponzi knew that. So did Mr Madoff. So does a guy like Sam Bankman-Fried and Ryan Cohen. These people know how to game the system. Joe and Jane Whatstheirname, struggling plumber, overworked truck driver, exhausted fast-food waitress, bored-to-tears office workers doing McJobs, wannabe computer-wizard, does not. They are sick of working for a pittance and seeing nonentities becoming famous... and they want in. They want money, lots of it, fast, and with the best intentions in mind...

Know this: For any grift to be successful, you first need lots of convinced people. Trump literally owns those people. So he has attracted many smaller grifters demanding their racketeering rights, and that goes through Trump and his understudy, Vance.

They don't want money necessarily. It's power and recognition first. The money comes in that wake.

If there is anything many of the MAGA crowd I have heard lack, it's precisely the mental discipline it takes to even say "I vote Republican by rote, but not this." And without that discipline, they will continue falling for grifters like Trump. Or some fake "alternative guy" like RFK, whose dwindling reputation rests on having once been a decent ecologist (now supporting a man who says the most outrageous BS about green energy). What they find in Gabbard is a mystery to me.... Her support of Assad (and by extension Russia and Iran, by the way) shows questionable ethics.

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Gabbard actually comes from a very conservative abd weird (like cult weird) family in Hawaii. They were Democrats of convenience because the state is so blue. But she was generally to the right of the Democratic Party maybe the Code Pink stuff. In general though, she feels Democrats did not respect her enough and this is her revenge

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Thoughts:

1. Andy Warhol was a prophet.

2. The only Pollyanna spin I have on this? Sinema and Manchin haven't yet joined the cult for their 15 minutes of fame and grift.

3. What annoys me most is Gabbard is in the Army Reserves.

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I do hope you’re incorrect about Liz. If she were interested she’d make a tremendous AG.

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founding

Exactly.

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Concerned about illiberalism, so voting Trump? Talk about your useful idiots.....

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I live in a blue city. A number of people with old Bernie stickers on their cars, replaced them with Kennedy stickers. The political spectrum is not a line but a circle!

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It would be interesting to learn who is paying for all their travel and accommodation costs. 🤔 “Follow the money.” — Mark Felt

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This MAGA title needs to die. Trump is never ever ever going to Make America Great Again. These two are conspiracy nut jobs which is why they were drummed out of the Democrat Party.

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Malicious Always Grifting Anti-Americans

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So these undecideds can't figure things out until the creepy crank and the dimwitted dingbat tell them what to do? We are living through dark times.

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Any fans Tulsi Gabbard had in the Democratic Party left the ranks years ago. She’s been pro-Russia and anti-America for years - and the Russians loooooooove her! They took notice after she met with Assad.

From NBC News , 02/02/201&:

“ Since Gabbard announced her intention to run on Jan. 11, there have been at least 20 Gabbard stories on three major Moscow-based English-language websites affiliated with or supportive of the Russian government: RT, the Russian-owned TV outlet; Sputnik News, a radio outlet; and Russia Insider, a blog that experts say closely follows the Kremlin line. The CIA has called RT and Sputnik part of "Russia's state-run propaganda machine.

All three sites celebrated Gabbard's announcement, defended her positions on Russia and her 2017 meeting with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, and attacked those who have suggested she is a pawn for Moscow. The coverage devoted to Gabbard, both in news and commentary, exceeds that afforded to any of the declared or rumored Democratic candidates despite Gabbard's lack of voter recognition.

Gabbard was mentioned on the three sites about twice as often as two of the best known Democratic possibilities for 2020, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, each with 10 stories. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren had fewer. In each case, the other contenders were treated more critically than Gabbard, with headlines like "'Don't Run': Vermont Paper Begs Bernie Sanders Not to Seek US Presidency in 2020" and "Sexist much? Biden blames 'conservative blonde woman' for shutdown, 'forgets' Ann Coulter's name."

"Her promulgation of positions compatible with Russian geo strategic interests can help them mainstream such discussion in the [Democratic] party," said Alex Stamos, former chief security officer at Facebook and now an NBC News analyst. Gabbard, said Stamos, helps them with all their "lines of attack."

Then, in 2022 she started spewing Russian talking points about the US having bio weapon labs in Ukraine after the Russians invaded their country.

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So she and Trump are kindred puppet spirits.

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All the nutjobs in one party now.

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Oct 7·edited Oct 7

Which is excellent. Because corralling them all into one location might help to keep other places safer. We hope.

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"Blue MAGA is real,” a Trump insider involved with the events insisted. “We’re witnessing a shift.”

What was the follow up to this comment? Did I miss in the story where this anon quote is supported by facts?

And, did I miss where it says how many people show up at these events?

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Two wack jobs.

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I remember watching the Democratic primary debates back in 2019, and both Gabbard and Bill de Blasio stood out to me as the two people who were totally self serving in their appearance on that stage. Gabbard is an opportunist, which perfectly explains her evolution.

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I have to say that I would not place too much confidence in Republican internal data, since they still have me on both Trump and Vance’s mailing lists. I also very much doubt blue MAGA votes, at least not regularly. Why would they when the system is so corrupt? The type of young man that RFK would appeal to, and I have some I’ve taught in mind, are mostly talk. But we will see huh.

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The people I know who liked Kennedy have also told me some variation of the following at least once: "voting doesn't matter, because THEY decided the winner already years ago." So yeah, don't know why they would bother voting if they truly believed what they say.

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