Just left 2 MAGA I know in stunned silence

[Chasstev365]

I said to them, "So you believe Hillary Clinton ran a pedophile ring out of the basement of a DC pizza parlor based on not one shed of evidence, just what you read online, but you've seen dozens of pictures, a suggestive birthday card, thousands of communications of Trump's decades long association with Jeffery Epstein and you don't believe Trump did anything wrong?"

Stunned silence. No even the usual "But"... "What about"...

I think some MAGA are painfully realizing Trump lied to them and the spelling is breaking.

[democratsruletheday]

1. The spell MIGHT be breaking but they'll still

vote 'R' for the rest of their miserable lives. Just who they are.

[Chasstev365]

2. Fair Point

[ms liberty]

3. Demoralize them enough and they will stay home.

[Tree Lady]

11. I think that is the best we can hope for

They will never vote for a democrat unless the maga thing is something they did last ten years and not a lifetime.

[LiberalArkie]

36. That is what they used to do. I grew up around them and they were never engaged politically. BUT,

when we started grabbing people at the shopping centers, at the malls, and just about everywhere with our "Get Out The Vote" drives, we started enabling them. They used to would never make the effort to go to the courthouse and register to vote. "It is just not worth the effort" was the common refrain.

[Wifes husband]

14. No. They will vote

[LymphocyteLover]

32. EXACTLY

[calimary]

29. One thing we always have to keep in mind with these folks:

If they've trusted their whole lives and belief systems to a completely wrong, and false, that's an awfully hard reality to have to face. And some folks just would rather not have to. I think that's why we still see antiquated viewpoints still dominating so much public discussion.

[TexLaProgressive]

35. As a lifelong Texan

I witnessed the state shift from reliably blue to rrrred This kind of shift can occur in the twinkling of an eye.

One thing to keep in mind the MAGAt faction is not a majority of the GOP voters.

[blubunyip]

41. But

the MAGA base (the have-nots) are the most likely to shift, right? The MAGA wealthy will never shift.

[Jkanad]

43. The ones who I know

The MAGAs I know will never vote for a Democratic candidate. They’ll stay home first. They’ll be looking for a trump successor, just like him with hate for the people they hate.

[patphil]

4. What will probably happen is they'll condemn Trump, but make excuses for the rest of the GOP,

even though almost all the republicans in congress are essentially pedophile enablers.
To do otherwise would be tantamount to admitting they've been voting for the wrong people for decades.

Republican voters have an ethics problem. They only demand ethical behavior when Democrats are involved.

[D00ver66]

5. I doubt it

MAGA. doesn’t care. Facts mean nothing they are in a cult. Close to 35 percent of this nation would have supported Hitler. They would not admit it because lying is their mode of operation. It’s obvious children and people of color are not safe with republicans in control of any levers of power. There is not fixing them, we just need to bury them and make it uncomfortable to come out from under their rocks ever again. People need to aggressively push everyone to vote blue to clean the palette. Register. Vote.

[efhmc]

45. Admitting to the truth hurts and they will make excuses forever and deny their hate until they die.

[guss]

6. Pizza parlor

If I Remember correctly, Some Guy busted in, fully armed to free the kids.
Asking where's your Basement?
The pizza Parlor told him we don't have a basement.

[Chasstev365]

7. The stupid: it burns!

[ShazzieB]

37. You remember correctly.

I did some googling, because I remembered what you did but couldn't recall any further details. I found out some interesting stuff...

In December 2016, Edgar Maddison Welch marched into the Comet Ping Pong pizza restaurant in Washington, DC, armed with an AR-15 and a handgun, with the evident intention of rescuing the nonexistent children who were supposedly being held and abused in the restaurant's nonexistent basement. He was eventually arrested and was convicted of armed assault and sentenced to four years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. (Interesting footnote: the judge who sentenced him was Ketanji Brown Jackson, then a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.)

Earlier this year, Welch, now out of prison, was shot during a traffic stop, in which he was the front seat passenger. Cops recognized him as someone with an outstanding arrest warrant for violating probation and attempted to arrest him, upon which he pulled a handgun from his jacket, pointed it at an officer, and refused to put the gun down when ordered to do so. He ended up getting shot, because, well, that's what cops do when somebody points a gun at one of them and refuses to drop the weapon. (He died from his injuries a couple of days later.)

The first thing I pulled up on my Google search was a bunch of articles on the traffic stop. Here's one of them: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/pizzagate-gunman-killed-police-traffic-stop-north-carolina-rcna187082

More details about the pizza Gate shooting incident are here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/north-carolina-man-sentenced-four-year-prison-term-armed-assault-northwest-washington

Welch sure sounds like a fine, upstanding example of MAGA manhood, doesn't he? I'm sure the only reason he wasn't at the January 6th insurrection is that he would have still been behind bars at the time.

Seriously, he sounds like a deranged sicko, but i can't help seeing him as one more person whose blood is ultimately on the Orange Hellbeast's hands. Schlump has gotten where he is by convincing unstable and ignorant individuals like Welch that he gives a crap about them and manipulating them to do his bidding. Don't get me wrong; I hold people like Welch responsible for their poor choices, but I also hold Schlump responsible for his unscrupulous use of people who are stupid, unwell, or both to do violent things for his personal benefit.

[Cha]

40. Well said and reported, ShazzieB... I didn't

know any of that.. I stayed away from the "pizza gate" stories. except I do remember the guy who police shot because of the gun being pointed at them during the traffic stop.

Bonus points for "Orange Hellbeast".. That's something I haven't seen much and needs to be. It describes him perfectly.. Stomping around the World.. Hellbent on Destroying Everything..

[Beacool]

38. You're correct.

The pizzeria didn't have a basement. That was the funny part of the whole thing to me.

[OldBaldy1701E]

44. The was one of our fine North Carolina rednecks, if I recall correctly.

Sometimes I have to just sit down for a moment when I think that the state that has Research Triangle Park, which has one of the oldest higher education facilities in the country, has a state capital that used to have around 25 universities just in the city itself, and gave birth to many inventions over the decades is also the same one that gave us that guy.

And, the others like him that are keeping that sham of an Assembly in power. OH well...

[ChicagoTeamster]

8. They will resent the person who revealed they were duped more than they resent the one who duped them.

[not fooled]

13. That's my experience, too.

MAGAs tend to be resentful by nature so it's always there just waiting to be exercised against anyone who tries to enlighten them.

I now practice avoidance, although I still talk to non-voters (latter probably also a waste of time but I try).

[niyad]

24. Exactly!!!

[GreenWave]

31. They fear you will say "Wait til I tell everybody!"

[Initech]

9. Not just Trump, they've been lied to consistently for 15 years 24 hours a day.

By criminally insane, ultra fascist propagandists like Sean Hannity and Alex Jones, who keep saying the quiet part out loud. If we don't stop these monsters, they are going to do something ridiculously horrible. In addition to the hundreds of crimes they commit daily.

[2na fisherman]

10. Cognitive Dissonance

For many of the MAGA faithful it is very painful to admit to themselves that they have been stupid enough to be swindled by Trump and his rebranding of conservatism. Even many well-educated conservative minds have succumbed to his twisting them into justifying fascist ideologies while denouncing Antifa as the enemy within. Deep down, it must make them feel anxious to be on the wrong side of history when they remember all the American soldiers and allies who died fighting against the Nazis in WWII.
And now many must find it impossible to accept raping children as a thing to be ignored when they ask themselves how they would feel if Trump raped their daughters.

[PATRICK]

46. They have to be personally afraid

of the Beast they fed, something more than conscience fled.

[DownriverDem]

12. Nice, but

if the House votes to release the Epstein files, it goes to the Senate. If the Senate votes to release the Epstein files, it goes to trump to sign it into law. Who thinks this will ever happen? No way. No how.

[gab13by13]

16. Think long and hard about that scenario, let's play it out.

1. I predicted there would be more than 4 House Magats vote Yes to release the files, yesterday I heard there may be 40 or 50, today I heard there may be more than that,

2. With so many House Magats voting Yes the pressure will be on the Senate to vote Yes.

3. The Bill passes and goes to Krasnov, so Krasnov vetoes it, there just might be enough votes to override Krasnov's veto.

Even if there aren't enough, what a narrative that will give Democrats; what is Krasnov afraid of, what is he hiding, is he protecting pedophiles, was he involved with little girls. Then that narrative carries Democrats right back to controlling Congress where they can subpoena Acosta, and others, can unredact the Epstein files.

This Epstein vote is a BFD and Krasnov is scared shitless. He is so scared he may invade Venezuela, wag the dog?

[DownriverDem]

19. Okay Overriding

the veto is the only way the files will be released. My point is that many folks seem to think that the House just has to vote on it.

[wiggs]

20. Even IF the Senate over-rides his veto, TSF can refuse or delay release until scotus can hear the issue. Then

we have to believe that the files have been un-redacted, un-touched, un-modified, and not classified in the last year.

Not saying this will happen certainly and exactly but by now we should all understand that it is a real possibility. I hate that we have to explore all the ways he can diminish the office and the US every day. If he can do it, he will. He has gotten away with far worse so far IMHO. Just...so far.

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

42. I'd like to hear their excuse for why the Epstein files need to be classified.

[Wiz Imp]

18. The House and Senate could override a veto.

I still don't think that's very likely, but if as many as 100 House Republicans vote for the bill as is being reported as possible, then that is more than enough to override the veto. The question is the Senate. If the Senate passes it (not saying that is likely, just putting a hypothetical out there), then that means at 13 Republican senators have to vote for cloture. Assuming those same Senators vote for the bill, then only 7 more would be needed to override the veto.

I think the next couple of weeks will be big, as more info continues to leak and we see how the public reacts to it. It's possible that the Senate could find itself under enormous pressure from the public to vote to release the files. We shall see.

[librechik]

33. If Trump is innocent he will sign it and watch Clinton and other Dems go down

gloriously redeeming his name. What's the problem? Trump is innocent right? Right?

Release them! Get revenge, Trump!

[DFW]

15. If you have the time and inclination

Read “Lost Legacy” by Robert Heinlein.

Although back then, Trump Republicans seemed like an exaggeration out of someone’s evil imagination, Heinlein wrote like he knew that Foxsucking Magats would exist in the not-too-distant future—seemingly rational people acting like they didn’t see what was happening in front of their eyes because it suited their agenda not to.

The story was SO prescient, you’d think someone in 1950 showed him a secret documentary about America between 2016 and 2026, and it disturbed him to the point where he thought up his story to warn us.

[PATRICK]

47. One of the simple basics

is resentment, betrayal, powerlessness. Then they get attracted to rage/outrage outlets rather than against what is responsible. However, a disappointing Party or political icon can make them leave Church forever. I was just remembering a nice normal couple who left the Church because the priest didn't get to bless their house. And my father who was not allowed a Church wedding to my Baptist while a rich couple's mixed marriage was. My grandmother especially was livid and disillusioned, but I guess we don't have the same reaction as a good chunk of the decent population.

OK I'll slip it in. Don't take loyalty of the better half of the population for granted. REALLY serve the public, the law and real economic and constitutional supports. Get the truth out. Then maybe we won't be so unnecessarily divided and playing the few percent game.

My low tolerance extends mostly to businesses caught defrauding or food poisoning people. Goodbye trust- forever, fair or not.

[Justice matters.]

17. Show them that billboard: (from a X post)

Link to tweet

[FakeNoose]

39. For the twitterless, it's also posted on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRCyy7vCacB/

[wiggs]

21. in their world, transgressions by the alpha male are part of the package, understandable and forgivable. They

revere the domination and patriarch way and BDE...and the fact that he has gotten away with it all.

He has said, famously, that he could shoot someone on 5th avenue and not lose a vote. He now thinks, and might be able to say out loud, that he could be Epstein's best friend and that underage girls lined up to be with him (in his mind it was their honor I'm sure) and he will remain in office and escape any meaningful consequences.

Is there anyone who really thinks he hasn't assaulted women and girls whenever he can? DUers know about his convictions, the 2016 women grabbing confession, the statements of 26-28 women re assault, and more? Didn't it get him elected not once but twice?

[Martin Eden]

22. Anyone who believed that pizza parlor store is an imbecile

Doesn't matter if they're smart in other things. That level of gullibility exposes a void in their skulls.

[marble falls]

23. I'm stealing that.

[KS Toronado]

25. So you believe Hillary Clinton ran a pedophile ring

Fantastic opening line!

[RockRaven]

26. The spell breaking is going to be exceedingly rare. There is too much sunk cost for most of them.

They spent a decade making fools of themselves; they cannot admit it. Too painful.

[BurnDoubt]

27. Perhaps they'll Hang Him.

Must-see TV.

[malaise]

28. Well done

Rec

One day they’ll realize it was, is and will always be projection from Donvict the Slobfather

[frogstar0]

30. Drip, drip, drip....

There are cracks in the dam of double think, and rationalization. And the water is seeping through them. It takes time for the seeds of doubt to sprout and grow. But slowly some are waking up.

[pansypoo53219]

34. what is alex fucking jones saying. is trump a crisis actor now?