Jesterea

It’s called motivated reasoning.

I’d be curious to know what specific lies were hurled at him. Do you have any examples from her book?

Of the people named, only 7 of the 159 he accused turned out to be spies. Now this might seem like vindication, until you realize a few of them were already known to US authorities.

He was right that the soviets were trying to spy in the US, but everyone already knew that.

For the other 152, several of them were actually investigated and the claims were found baseless. While I couldn’t tell you that every single person on his list is definitely innocent, I can say that whenever this man was pressed for proof, he provided none.

Alright, provide the evidence that every person he accused having communist sympathies or being a soviet agent was what he said they were. He could never do it, but I’m sure you’ve got this.

McCarthy’s issue wasn’t the fact he was critical and suspicious of communism. Joe McCarthy was a problem because he accused tons of people of being communist without ever providing a single shred of evidence.

His accusations ruined people’s careers unnecessarily.

quote:

---

SCOTUS had an opportunity to do its damn job, and examine the mess, but the cowards shrunk from the task. Congress likewise had the ability, but it too tucked tail, and ran. Those actions were inexcusable. They were dangerous. Now, six years after the fact, we are actually doing what should have been done contemporarily.

---

I was going to go through each of your questions, but I feel like it’s better to examine this. What if it’s simply the case that Trump and the people in his camp didn’t provide enough evidence to warrant further investigations of his claim. In a country of 350 million, people there’s likely impropriety somewhere, but that’s the case in any large scale effort, the question is if there was enough to alter the results of the election. Trump and his team could muster no evidence of this.

Have you ever tried arguing the other side of your questions before? People who believe the election is legitimate don’t care if you, a random citizen confirm it, they care if people in positions of authority do.

When Trump lied about the results of the 2020 election with no evidence, he used the credibility of his office to sell the lie. He’s the president of the United States, so no matter how much he stains his own credibility, the ethos associated with his office is strong enough that if he repeats the lie, millions will believe him because of the authority he holds and their own confirmation bias.

To look at a recent example, when Ossoff questions the potential DNI about whether Trump lost the election, he understands that each new high ranking official that refuses to condemn the lie, adds to the credibility of it for those who already believe.

Now you may ask, why would these people lie or not simply concede the issue? Well they have incentive not to. The person nominating them has made the 2020 lie a central part of his identity, so now it’s his strongest purity test for establishing loyalty among his followers.

On the other hand, if several right wing pundits and politicians were to come out and denounce the myth that the election was stolen, the lie would lose its credibility. Less people would believe it, and there would be more trust in our institutions than currently exists.

Now you may not buy any of this, but this would be the reason that anyone would want someone in a position of influence to denounce something that’s untrue.

Facts simply don’t stand on their own and never have. If every public official in the United States came out tomorrow and stated that they have proof the earth is flat, it wouldn’t matter if they did or not, people would believe them.

You’ve got the speaker of the house, don’t you?

Georgia and North Carolina are the most likely losses for the republicans. Michigan probably stays red if Sayed wins the dem primary. Who knows about Alaska, it’s tiny. I would say Collins is done, but she outperformed in her last race and won. Ohio and Texas are likely safe. Talarico isn’t as good a candidate as Beto was and Ohio has trended pretty red lately.

ETA: I would say 70% like someone above. But it’ll gas prices don’t come down soon, that number will look worse by the day.

If you’re a prosecutor that’s told to look into someone specifically and to bring them up on charges, but no evidence exists, what would you do?

I’d be surprised if they would be able to change the maps this late in the game, but it will certainly be meaningful for 2028