16 votes

Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of September 8

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Tags: politics.usa, usa, recurring.weekly

This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.

This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.

8 comments

  1. [4]
    KapteinB
    Link
    Congress Reveals Epstein Birthday Note Trump Said Doesn’t Exist (Rolling Stone)

    Congress Reveals Epstein Birthday Note Trump Said Doesn’t Exist (Rolling Stone)

    Donald Trump sued The Wall Street Journal in July over a story about a lewd birthday note the paper reported he sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the early 2000s. The president insisted the note did not exist, calling it a “fake thing.”

    Well, the note does exist, and the Journal published a picture of it on Monday, noting that Epstein’s estate provided it to Congress. House Democrats released an image of the salacious birthday note shortly after the Journal published its story.

    15 votes
    1. hobbes64
      Link Parent
      The Epstein letter is real, and it’s bad

      The Epstein letter is real, and it’s bad

      The most puzzling aspect of the total-denial approach is that it robbed Trump’s supporters of any fallback defense. The Epstein letter is eyebrow-raising—“We have certain things in common,” Trump writes, closing with the wish, “May every day be another wonderful secret”—but it is not an explicit confession. Trump could have admitted to being its author while arguing that the commonalities and secrets alluded to mundane, or at least legal, activities. Instead, he described the letter as “false, malicious, and defamatory”—conceding that, if it were real, it would be pretty bad.

      Guess what? It’s real. And it’s bad.

      When the Journal story first broke, Vance demanded, “Will the people who have bought into every hoax against President Trump show an ounce of skepticism before buying into this bizarre story?”

      The episode certainly does tell us something about Trump and the need for appropriate levels of skepticism. Don’t count on the president’s cultists to draw the right conclusion.

      17 votes
    2. [2]
      balooga
      Link Parent
      What note? On Epstein sketch, Republicans revert to shrugs. (NYT paywall, archive link) The whole situation is abhorrent, but this line in particular really rankles me. The phrase “his word”...

      What note? On Epstein sketch, Republicans revert to shrugs. (NYT paywall, archive link)

      “The president says he did not sign it, so I take the president at his word,” Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, the chairman of the Oversight Committee, said.

      The whole situation is abhorrent, but this line in particular really rankles me. The phrase “his word” actually means something. A man’s word is his reputation, his credibility, his track record of speaking truth and standing by it. An upstanding man’s word is as good as gold. A dishonorable man’s word is less than worthless.

      I can’t name a single person with a more tarnished relationship with truth than Donald J. Trump. He is antagonistic to truth. Lies are, to him, as natural as breathing. So don’t talk to me about his word, or why anyone should consider any statement he utters to be trustworthy or credible. The proof is in the pudding. Anyone claiming to trust Trump, after he has demonstrated his total untrustworthiness (an astonishing uncountable number of times) is either a sycophant or a comically poor judge of character.

      Neither should be in Mr. Comer’s position of power.

      12 votes
      1. hobbes64
        Link Parent
        A few years ago there was an article on The Atlantic about how Trump is a bullshitter and not just a liar. The difference is that a liar tells lies strategically and may mix them with half truths...

        A few years ago there was an article on The Atlantic about how Trump is a bullshitter and not just a liar. The difference is that a liar tells lies strategically and may mix them with half truths for plausibility so that you have trouble detecting it. A bullshitter just lies about everything at all times whether you can verify it or not. Trump lies about his height and weight for example when it’s clear he’s fatter and shorter than claimed. He’ll tell a general he knows more about the military and tell a doctor he knows more about medicine.

        And most people can see that he’s a bullshitter, but a shockingly high number of voters and representatives are fine with it.

        11 votes
  4. FishFingus
    Link
    Apologies for the Xitter link - Fox host Brian Kilmeade suggests Aktion T4-esque forced euthanisation of the homeless and mentally ill: https://x.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1966714947208888512

    Apologies for the Xitter link - Fox host Brian Kilmeade suggests Aktion T4-esque forced euthanisation of the homeless and mentally ill:

    https://x.com/SpencerHakimian/status/1966714947208888512

    6 votes
  5. Bet
    Link
    New bill would give Marco Rubio “thought police” power to revoke U.S. passports … Archive

    New bill would give Marco Rubio “thought police” power to revoke U.S. passports

    Now, a bill introduced by the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee is ringing alarm bells for civil liberties advocates who say it would grant Rubio the power to revoke the passports of American citizens on similar grounds.

    The provision, sponsored by Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., as part of a larger State Department reorganization, is set for a hearing Wednesday.

    Mast’s legislation says that it takes aim at “terrorists and traffickers,” but critics say it could be used to deny American citizens the right to travel based solely on their speech. (The State Department said it doesn’t comment on pending legislation.)

    Seth Stern, the director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said the bill would open the door to “thought policing at the hands of one individual.”

    “Marco Rubio has claimed the power to designate people terrorist supporters based solely on what they think and say,” Stern said, “even if what they say doesn’t include a word about a terrorist organization or terrorism.”

    …

    Lawmakers also tried to pass a “nonprofit killer” bill that would allow the Treasury secretary to strip groups of their charitable status if they are deemed a “terrorist-supporting organization.” The bill was beaten back by a coalition of nonprofit groups, most recently during the debate over the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill.

    Mast’s bill contains eerily similar language, Stern said.

    “This is an angle that lawmakers on the right seem intent on pursuing — whether through last year’s nonprofit killer bill, or a bill like this,” Stern said.

    Archive

    3 votes