#let's go Brandon

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

She NEVER disappoints!! MAUREEN CALLAHAN: "I demanded doddery Biden get off his sun lounger and go to Hawaii. But after THAT shambolic visit, I take it all back... The people of Maui have suffered enough."

Biden interrupted his Lake Tahoe vacation on Monday to fly five (5) hours to the island, and insist that the federal government was there for the islanders, despite the announcement of the paltry sum of $700 compensation for each household. 

By Maureen Callahan 22 Aug 2023

We all called for the President last week. Where was he, days after the apocalyptic Maui wildfires?

Actually, we knew where he was: On the beach at his shore home in Delaware. Prepping for his next vacation in Lake Tahoe. Issuing a reptilian ‘no comment’ when asked about the thousand-plus people missing and the Pompeii-like damage and what his plan was.

When was he going to visit?

For what it’s worth, I wrote an impassioned column imploring the president to go.

Now I take it all back. The people of Maui have suffered enough.

Joe Biden finally saw fit to interrupt his second vacation since the wildfires, to don his well-worn mantle as Empathizer-in-Chief, put his feet on the ground in Hawaii and comfort the survivors, 13 days after the fires.

It did not go well.

‘F**k you!’ was the prevailing greeting to his motorcade. Residents held unwelcoming signs: ‘It’s too late’. ‘Actions speak louder than words’.

Right they are.

We all called for the President last week. Where was he, days after the apocalyptic Maui wildfires? I wrote an impassioned column imploring the president to go. Now I take it all back. The people of Maui have suffered enough.

Joe Biden finally saw fit to interrupt his second vacation since the wildfires, to don his well-worn mantle as Empathizer-in-Chief and comfort the survivors, 13 days after the fires. It did not go well. ‘F**k you!’ was the prevailing greeting to his motorcade.

Yet Joe Biden was not humbled. Joe Biden doesn’t know shame. Instead he gave a meandering speech invoking, yet again, his own tragedies, dosed as usual with a soupçon of exaggeration.

‘I don’t want to compare difficulties,’ he said. Spoiler alert: He compared difficulties.

Once upon a time, he and Jill had suffered a kitchen fire while he was off doing a glamorous TV spot on ‘Meet the Press’. He almost lost his classic Corvette! Parked at his waterfront house!

Would the people of Maui, living through the agonies of entire families burned to ashes in their homes, of a 14-year-old boy’s body discovered alone and clutching his dead dog, care to hear those details?

‘It was a sunny Sunday,’ Biden said — oh my God, is there no one in this White House who can keep this president on-message? — ‘and lightning struck at home on a little lake that’s outside of our home — not a lake, a big pond — and hit a wire and came up underneath our home into our heating ducts, the air conditioning ducts.

‘To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette, and my cat. But all kidding aside’ — there’s a joke in here? — ‘I watched the firefighters, the way they responded… they ran into flames to save my wife and save my family… sometimes smoke is so thick… it was that thick inside the home.’

Not so, said the firefighters who responded. The Biden kitchen fire, according to the Cranston Heights Fire Company, was ‘insignificant’ and put out in just 20 minutes.

But hey — Joe Biden never lets facts get in the way of a good story. And no one’s suffering can ever compare to his own.

His speech to the people of Maui was disgusting. It was all about him. Note this line: 'I give you my word, as a Biden.'

As a Biden? How about as President of the United States?

He had such a low bar to clear: Get on the ground, shake hands and offer hugs, look survivors in the eye and listen to their stories, and offer a clear plan of action.

All he had to do was deliver a brief, locked-and-loaded speech and cede the stage to local heroes — take a page from George W. Bush’s promise on the World Trade Center pile after 9/11.

But he can’t do it. Joe Biden is fundamentally, constitutionally incapable of allowing others their grief. He literally claimed that he had ‘a similar experience’ to the Maui survivors.

Protestors greet Biden with 'f**k you' as he arrives in Maui

He had such a low bar to clear: Get on the ground, shake hands, offer hugs - and a clear plan of action. But he can’t do it. Joe Biden is fundamentally, constitutionally incapable of allowing others their grief. (Pictured: Flames devastate Lahaina, Hawaii, earlier this month).

‘By the way,’ he continued, ‘for 36 years I was listed as the poorest man in Congress, so I didn’t get there based on my income.’

Can you believe that was part of his speech to the survivors? How is it germane? Remotely relevant? Does Biden really want to invoke his family’s suspicious riches?

To quote Barack Obama: ‘Don’t underestimate Joe’s ability to f**k things up.’

Biden went on to perseverate over the loss of his first wife and infant daughter in a car crash — a tragedy he blamed on the other driver, who Biden infamously falsely accused of being drunk.

‘So, I have a little bit of sense of what it’s like.’

No, Mr. President, you do not.

It was the same when he met with Gold Star families whose loved ones died in his botched Afghanistan withdrawal, repeatedly invoking his late son Beau, who he often claims died in Iraq. (Beau died of a brain tumor.)

It was the same when he was caught checking his watch every single time one of those 13 flag-draped caskets were loaded off military planes at Dover.

‘The most disrespectful thing I’ve ever seen,’ said Darin Hoover, father of fallen Marine Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover. ‘They would release the salute and he looked down at his watch on every last one. All 13, he looked down at his watch.’

So now I know: Joe Biden should have stayed away from Maui. He should have sent thoughts and prayers and far more than a $700 check to each surviving family. He should have begged Barack Obama or another esteemed Hawaiian to go.

The Rock would have done better. Jason Momoa. Hell, anyone but tone-deaf, crusty old Joe.

Looking at a canine rescue and recovery dog with protective paw gear, Biden ‘joked’ to the press: ‘You guys catch the boots out here? That’s some hot ground, man.’

Ugh, that ‘man’. Joe’s such a cool cat, don’t you know, just one of us. Amtrak Joe. Watch out: He might beat you up in the parking lot after fourth period. Remember ‘CornPop’? The gang leader with a razor blade at the community pool back in 1962? The 'bad dude' Joe Biden beat back with a 6ft-long chain?

Joe Biden, pathological fabulist, national embarrassment.

He should have stayed away from Maui. He should have sent thoughts and prayers and far more than a $700 check to each surviving family. He should have begged Barack Obama or another esteemed Hawaiian to go. The Rock would have done better. Hell, anyone but tone-deaf, crusty old Joe. (Pictured: Joe and Jill on the beach in Delaware earlier this month).

Those canines, by the way, have only been able to work in short shifts because the ground in Lahaina remains sizzling hot. That’s cause for alarm, not a comedy bit.

How about that climate crisis, Mr. President?

Speaking of — please, for the love of all that is sacred, stay away from Palm Springs and Los Angeles and any future disaster areas in general. The American people don’t need to see their doddering, likely demented president wandering away from a podium, mouth slack and eyes vacant, needing to be guided, as we witnessed on Monday.

This sad showing is a microcosm of the Biden presidency: No one’s at the wheel. The whole world can see it. Is this who the Dems really want to prop up in 2024?

And where’s Jill Biden in all of this? Most wives would gently take their husband by the hand and say: ‘Time’s up. You did your best, but it’s time to leave.’

Most wives would want to protect what’s left of their husband’s dignity. Legacy.

Not so for the Bidens, now safely ensconced in an $18 million vacation home, out of sight.

Awkward moment gormless-looking Biden shuffles away from lectern as Hawaii Democrat tries to speak to him minutes after giving tone-deaf speech to victims of Maui's killer wildfires

Gormless-looking Biden shuffles away from lectern in Hawaii

By David AverreUpdated 07:30 EDT 22 Aug 2023

Biden had a cringeworthy moment with Democrat Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz

President Joe Biden compounded his disastrous trip to Hawaii in the wake of devastating wildfires with yet another gaffe, blatantly ignoring a Democrat senator before gormlessly shuffling off at the end of an uninspiring speech yesterday.

The 80-year-old had a particularly awkward moment with Democratic Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz when, at the conclusion of a press conference, Schatz offered him a sip of water.

Biden completely blanked the senator and turned his back on him. He then began shuffling off, mouth hanging open and gazing listlessly into the crowd, while his wife Jill and Hawaii Governor Josh Green ushered him away from the lectern.

Furious Hawaiians had already greeted the President with ire, shouting 'f*** you' at his motorcade and brandishing signs telling him to go home as the 80-year-old and his wife toured the island of Maui 13 days after the inferno broke out.

The awkward scene came shortly after Biden had delivered a meandering, tone-deaf speech in which he compared the wildfires - which have killed at least 114 people and left 850 missing - to his experience of a small kitchen fire.

Gormless-looking Biden shuffles away from lectern after speech

Biden had a particularly awkward moment with Democratic Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz when, a t the conclusion of a press conference, Schatz offered a sip of water to Biden and gestured beside the lectern at a bottle of water

The President completely blanked the senator and turned his back on him. He then began shuffling off

His wife Jill and Hawaii Governor Josh Green ushered him away from the lectern

President Biden told Maui the nation 'grieves with you' in his first visit to the island since wildfires ravaged the city of Lahaina and the surrounding community

Biden and first lady Jill Biden look at a burned car with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and his wife Jaime Green as they visit areas devastated by the Maui wildfires

People watch as the motorcade carrying President Joe Biden to visit areas devastated by the Maui wildfires passes by. One local gives the president a thumbs down

Furious Maui residents slam Biden before tour of Lahaina

Biden rental at Tom Steyer's $18MILLION home may breach housing code

Biden is back in Lake Tahoe mansion after his awkward Hawaii visit

The President and his wife were not greeted warmly by residents of Hawaii yesterday.

As their motorcade drove through Maui, several people lined the streets waving Trump 2024 flags and shouting obscenities at the passing cars.

One person brandished a sign contrasting the money spent on Ukraine with the assistance sent to Hawaii - calculating that each Ukrainian has received over $1,700 since the war broke out in February 2022.

Meanwhile, the White House announced that each affected household in Hawaii will receive $700 - a sum many islanders considered insulting.

Locals' fury mounted on Sunday when Biden, who was asked about the fires as he relaxed on a Delaware beach, simply replied: 'No comment.' 🤡

And last week, he appeared to forget the name of Maui, repeatedly referring to fires blazing on 'the Big Island'.

Biden interrupted his Lake Tahoe vacation on Monday to fly five hours to the island, and insist that the federal government was there for the islanders, despite the announcement of the paltry sum of compensation for each household. 

Even Democrats were demanding to know why the federal aid had been slow to arrive and so meagre, joining their Republican colleagues in questioning Biden's delay in arriving in Maui.

The death toll in Maui has topped 114, with some 850 people still missing feared dead.

But Biden waited 13 days since the outbreak of the fires to visit the island. 

Biden embraced with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green

[ilikedirt-04672]

Trump rn

[generallemarc]

[hayquetenerpatience]

Bye bye Joe. Good riddance!

[coolcarsntrucksngunsnusa]

From 2 years ago. All come true. It's all worse. Much worse.

[makingdonalddrumpfagain]

[shadowfromthestarlight]

The Biden administration put out a press release announcing that the $83 million in federal funds for the McCain Library were being drawn from the American Rescue Plan’s Capital Projects Fund. The full name of the fund is actually the Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund. The Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund consisted of $10 billion that was supposed to “directly support recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency” in response “to the public health emergency”. Now nearly 1% of that original $10 billion is being used to build a non-presidential library that will somehow help us “recover” from the pandemic. The McCain Library is getting nearly as much CCF cash as the total given to tribal governments. It appears to be one of the largest single beneficiaries of the coronavirus emergency fund. There is something appropriate in one career politician honoring another through a massive misappropriation of funds that were only allocated due to a national emergency. A politician’s library is not a response to a public health emergency. The Biden administration’s justification for the massive misappropriation of funds is the claim that the McCain Library will provide a space for health screenings and job fairs. There were far cheaper ways to provide a space for job fairs than an $83 million senatorial library. Arizona could host ten thousand job fairs for that kind of money and provide actual health resources to the people who really need them. The $83 million in misappropriated coronavirus emergency money had nothing to do with a public health emergency and everything to do with an urgent political emergency. Biden is underwater in the polls and the McCain family have become crucial allies against Republicans. The 2024 presidential candidate didn’t travel to Arizona to promote an $83 million space where someone might occasionally hold a job fair, but to use McCain to attack Republicans. In a speech with McCain family members and former Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who supervised the gubernatorial election that she claimed to have won, in attendance, Biden warned that Republicans represented an urgent threat to democracy. In his ‘democracy’ speech, Biden claimed that, “democracy means rule of the people, not rule of monarchs, not rule of the monied, not rule of the mighty.” If that’s what democracy means, what does it mean when a career politician takes $83 million in public health emergency funding to build an institution honoring another career politician that is backing his unpopular campaign? Biden wasn’t handing out that $83 million and delivering a speech about the importance of democracy to uphold it, but to undermine it. Faced with an unwinnable election, Biden is turning to Arizona as a model for his 2024 election strategy. The plan, there and everywhere, is to stigmatize his political opponents as dangerous extremists, to divide the GOP,  break off influential party interests, and encourage public officials to violate the law in managing the election and counting the votes by insisting that democracy will be destroyed if he loses. This isn’t democracy: it’s an end-run around democracy. The majority of Democrats and Americans don’t want Biden back in office. The polls have been crystal clear about that. But Biden isn’t interested in what the majority of his party and his country think. He’s not betting on democracy, but on a political establishment that bridges party differences. The $83 million in coronavirus recovery funding allocated to the McCain Library shows why Biden, like McCain, feared democracy and chose oligarchy over listening to the people. The real threat to democracy comes from established political interests subverting elections and the multi-trillion budgets they pass and then distribute shows how they subvert America.

[ophilosoraptoro]

https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1751377207501504565?t=AUgkKg-8RHOr8Wgie4Cxcg&s=09

[thingstrumperssay]

Based on this reaction I can only guess that Brandon Johnson is the new mayor of Chicago.

Good.

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Backfired ✊

[dhaaruni]

As Democrats have been busy tackling climate change and rebuilding the country’s manufacturing base for the twenty-first century, Republicans have been shifting even further to the right, engaging in partisan politics, and ignoring the interests of the Americans they represent. Greene isn’t the only one who is potentially in the firing line. According to the F.T.’s analysis, more than three-quarters of the new investments in green energy and semiconductors, and most of the new jobs they will create, are situated in G.O.P.-controlled congressional districts.

[mitchipedia]

Cory Doctorow: “If only the Democratic Party was as scared of its base as the Republicans are of their own.”

Progressives need to learn from the lunatic wing of the Repubican Party.

The GOP is wildly unpopular among Americans and maintains power due to voter suppression and antimajoritarian institutions such as the Senate and Electoral College. The Republican Party has only one one Presidential election on popular votes in the last 36 years, in 2004, when GW Bush won a plurality (not a majority).

36 years!

Doctorow:

The GOP’s platform just isn’t popular. Take the groomer panic: 71% of Americans approve of same-sex marriage. The people losing their shit about queer people are a strange, tiny minority…. Every one of the GOP’s tentpole issues is wildly unpopular: expanding access to assault rifles, banning immigration, lowering taxes on the rich, cutting social programs, forcing pregnant people to bear unwanted children, etc. This is true all the way up to the GOP’s coalescing support for Trump as their 2024 candidate. Trump has lost every popular vote he’s ever stood for, and owes his term in the Oval Office to the antimajoritarian Electoral College system, gerrymandering, and massive voter suppression…. … Dem leaders are basically ‘normal’ center-right politicians, not radicals. And, unlike their GOP counterparts, politicians like Clinton, Obama and Biden don’t hide their disdain for the radical wing of their party. Even never-Trumper Republicans are afraid of their base. Romney declared himself “severely conservative” and McCain “put scare quotes around ‘health of the mother’ provisions for abortion rights….. The GOP fringe imposes incredible discipline on their leaders. Take all the nonsense about “woke capitalism”: on the one hand, it’s absurd to call union-busting, tax-dodging, worker-screwing companies ‘woke’ (even if they sell Pride flags for a couple of weeks every year). But on the other hand? The GOP leadership have actually declared war on the biggest corporations in America, to the point that the WSJ says that ‘Republicans and Big Business broke up’.

Meanwhile the Biden administration has no coherent policy and governs by doling out favors to the coalition of wings of the Democratic Party.

This isn’t just bad for policy, it’s bad politics, too. It presumes that if some Democratic voters want pizza, and others want hamburgers, that you can please everyone by serving up pizzaburgers. No one wants a pizzaburger. The failure to deliver a coherent, muscular vision … has left the Democrats vulnerable. Because while the radical proposals of the GOP fringe may not enjoy much support, there are large majorities of Americans who have lost faith in the status quo and are totally uninterested in the Pizzaburger Party.

This opens the door to someone like RFK Jr., who is the Democratic Party’s version of Donald Trump, tapping into the party rank-and-file’s legitimate outrage at their party elite and the US government.

[hayquetenerpatience]

This is one sorry excuse for a presidential candidate. Trying to be Chief Airhead.

[nialbu]

I genuinely don't know what "Let's go Brandon" means. I know it's a thing conservative Americans have adopted, and I think Trump fans in particular. But beyond that, I don't know. Thus far, I have never had it explained to me. I have, in fact, gone out of my way to avoid any attempts to explain this to me.

Explain it to me. Wrong answers only.

[geezerwench]

Let the healing begin.

It's 100 days until Halloween. Or so I'm told. Spirit Halloween has taken over.

[pharosproject]

Crayola Joe did that.

Crayola Joe did that!