A few seemingly unrelated items that - just maybe - might be foretelling the future (if Dems can recognize this and have the wherewithal to take advantage:

ITEM 1. One of the biggest Republican donors - hedge funder Ken Griffin - is calling out Trump for self-enrichment. Not what one would expect from a “Master of the Universe”. From Forbes:

Billionaire GOP Donor Ken Griffin Criticizes Trump Administration For ‘Enriching’ Family Members

Hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin on Tuesday criticized President Donald Trump’s administration, alleging that some of its actions had helped enrich the family members of administration officials, in a rare instance of a prominent GOP donor and corporate leader criticizing the White House.

Key Facts

Speaking at a Wall Street Journal event, the Citadel founder and CEO said the Trump administration has “definitely made missteps in choosing decisions or courses that have been very, very enriching to the families of those in the administration.”

Griffin said he was very bothered by the purported self-dealing, saying he wants to believe people in office “have the public interest at heart in everything they do,” and these actions call into question, “Is the public interest being served?”

“I think that there’s just a necessity for us as a society to re-embrace some of the critical concepts of ethics in public service,” Griffin added.

While Griffin has publicly criticized Trump’s policy positions in the past, this is the first time he has spoken out against the alleged conflicts of interest and self-enrichment of the President and his administration officials.

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ITEM 2. Most of the people in the world vbiew the economy as their biggest issue. Not so in the good ‘ole USofA:

Americans view the nation’s biggest challenge far differently from most of the world, according to new international polling.

A Gallup survey of 1,000 respondents ages 15 and older across 107 countries, conducted between March and October 2025, found that 33 percent of Americans identify politics as the country’s most pressing problem—ranking it above the economy.

That focus sets the U.S. apart globally. Only Taiwan recorded a statistically significant higher share, with half of respondents naming politics as their top concern, a reflection of the island’s unique political pressures.

…

Americans view the nation’s biggest challenge far differently from most of the world, according to new international polling.

A Gallup survey of 1,000 respondents ages 15 and older across 107 countries, conducted between March and October 2025, found that 33 percent of Americans identify politics as the country’s most pressing problem—ranking it above the economy.

That focus sets the U.S. apart globally. Only Taiwan recorded a statistically significant higher share, with half of respondents naming politics as their top concern, a reflection of the island’s unique political pressures.

…

The poll comes as other surveys have shown mounting dissatisfaction with the Trump administration amid its aggressive foreign policy and immigration enforcement tactics.

Polls have shown Trump tanking on immigration—previously his strongest issue—with a YouGov/The Economist survey showing growing support for dismantling ICE.

Meanwhile, a January poll conducted by Harvard University and The Harris Poll suggests public opinion has shifted against Trump’s performance.

In the survey, a narrow majority—51 percent—said Trump is doing a worse job than former President Joe Biden, while 49 percent rated him as an improvement. The findings mark a reversal from the same poll taken in December, when a majority of respondents said Trump was outperforming Biden, indicating a notable swing in sentiment in just one month.

A YouGov/Economist poll also found that 71 percent think the United States is “out of control” under Trump, while only 18 percent think the country is “under control.”

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ITEM 3. From our good friends at Fox News:

The view that the Democrats can better handle affordability gives them an early edge in the generic Congressional vote preference, where voters are asked who they will support in the U.S. House race in their district this November. While the question is largely hypothetical this far out, it gives us a baseline for the coming election, according to Republican pollster Daron Shaw.

"Political science analyses demonstrate that aggregate responses to this question begin to more accurately predict the actual House vote by around mid-summer," Shaw added. "But we ask it at this point simply to get a sense of how short-term forces might play out in the general election."

The survey shows if the election were today, 52% of voters would back the Democratic candidate in their House district and 46% the Republican. That’s a 6-point edge, which is right at the poll’s margin of sampling error.

The current 52% Democratic support is the highest recorded for either party; the previous high was 50% for the Democrats in October 2017. [Emphasis mine]

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ITEM 4. And there is ALWAYS Epstein:

So…

Some very influential Republicans are starting to get fed up with Trump, Americans are fed up with Politics (and still very worried about the economy), Dems have their biggest lead ever in the generic ballot, and Epstein ain’t going away.

Seems to me the door is wide open for a wave election IF, and only IF, Dems are willing to walk through it with purpose, confidence and some guts. I look at the generic ballot and think, “yeah, that may be the biggest margin since the poll started being taken, but it really should be 60-40 Dems, not just 52-46.

We build on that lead not by being timid, conciliatory and acting as if our “Friends” on the other side of the aisle will eventually come around. We build on that by aggressively differentiating who we are from who they are. By offering a vision, not just policy proposals, that voters can identify with while at the same time taking strong stands against the forceful abuses and government overreach of this unlawful Admin.

The brass ring is ours for the taking. Can we convince our leaders to reach out and grab it?

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Scott H9 months ago

While Dems have big leads in generic ballots, there's a ton or polling and reporting on just how pissed off Dem voters are with the Democratic Party. How's that gonna play out come November? Cuz Blue MAGA "vote blue no matter who" crapola has become a very scratchy record.

If we take control of something, per MM, how much of that will be due to the "Pull the Car Outta The Ditch" theory of electoral politics he posted a year ago?

Combine that with, as stated below, a Dem leadership that, if nothing fundamentally changes in terms of the kind of Dem that gets elected (or past the primary), we'll most likely see some brakes applied. Okay, that's great in terms of slowing down the amount of time until the car plunges over the cliff, but we're still heading toward the cliff.

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

PS I dowloaded a screenshot of the original text in the Ragnar Blackwell post on goat fuckers for my meme collection yesterday. I wish the video version wasn't AI generated and had used a real goat herding farmer type gentleman with a live goat. There are so many of us who keep goats but I guess on short notice AI was the best they could do.

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

I am not a goat keeper but there are many in my immediate vicinity.

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

In addition to DOJ forcing their inexperienced immigration attorneys to work themselves into breakdown mode (i.e., Julie Le asking for contempt of court so she can get some sleep),

"Reassignment is not voluntary, and they're grabbing workers from HR and even the IT departments. Supervisors reportedly first asked for anyone who had experience in the front-line fields to consider the roles, but they ended up grabbing people with no prior experience working directly on tax issues."

https://crooksandliars.com/2026/02/better-not-count-getting-tax-refund

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C P9 months ago

Simple thermostasis and the usual Republican ability to reach untold new heights in awfulness seems to guarantee that Democrats should do well in 2026 hopefully 2028. Two main questions remain:

One, if and when Democrats take back the government, does that just mean yet another year of centrists kneecapping everything we try to do until any enthusiasm or trust from the election has utterly evaporated and party leaders timidly go along with the whole mess?

Two, if and when Trump intervenes to stop Democrats from taking back the government, what do they do then?

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Scott H9 months ago

In all likelyhood, yes, ie "yet another year..."

But, it'll depend on who makes it out of the primaries. If it's craptastic candidates like Mein Gluesenkampf, the odious mayor of Evanston and the rest of the Abundo crowd, yup, we're gonna be disappointed.

If all the insurgent primary candidates make it and get in, well, at least we'll know we've got a lineup that might strike out but at least they'll swing at pitches.

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Kay W.9 months ago

I’m amused and gratified that the billionaires are getting a little nervous. They should be - I’m getting a real guillotine vibe from the rabble.

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

"Westboro Baptist Church tried to make an Anti-Luigi Mangione poster but it just looks like Luigi is threatening billionaires and goes unironically hard af"

https://bsky.app/profile/werlyloveluigi.bsky.social/post/3me2remmmrc2c

😆📸

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

"I mean, did they CONSIDER that facial expression for a second? The only way you could make this look more badass is if you added Gritty in there."

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

"I was trying to buy happiness with the power of cold hard cash and just really getting my ass handed to me. A total bloodbath."

https://bsky.app/profile/lukeoneil47.bsky.social/post/3me3ayqeesc2f

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

Oh noes Elno!

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

Another meme from my collection:

Dear ICE

one of ours, all of yours

x o, everybody

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

I don't wanna be Eeyore and I continue to have hope that some candidates with fire and guts emerge victorious. The weapons are laid out all over the ground, just waiting to be picked up and used!

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

Caveat is the myriad intimidation tactics the rethugs will use to depress turnout.

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mister mixAuthor9 months ago

You look at what's happening and of course want to swing for the fences, try to grab the brass ring (pick your cliche).

Current D leadership looks at what's happening and see that they can win without really changing much.

Two different perspectives. I think most of the engaged base is in your camp. They just need to pull leadership in that direction, kicking and screaming.

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C P9 months ago

Murc's observation at LGM is that in a political scene where thermostasis is God, Republicans have pretty much decided that since they'll be back in power in a few years no matter what, nothing they do matters, so they might as well swing for the fences while they do have the power.

What's really scary is that the Democratic establishment may have figured out the same thing. Nothing matters, so do what you wanted to do anyway. Except what they want to do isn't swing for the fences; it's sit there calmly sipping tea while the country burns down around them.

This is pretty much what Labour in the U.K. is doing. I'd like to believe the Dems won't go down the same path, but...

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

I read yesterday that Dem Speaker was already accepting a watered down proposal for reforming ICE. I don't know if true, but gatdang. Way to read the room.

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

"After demanding ICE and other federal agents be banned from wearing face coverings, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer decided to fight for less, adding caveats and loopholes to their mask stances during a press conference on Wednesday."

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

"Above all, this is yet another confusing concession from a party whose base is desperately starving for its leaders to do something, anything, to stop the Trump administration from continuing to enact terror in their communities. Jeffries and Schumer are once again appealing to the GOP’s good faith and honesty—a move that has yet to actually work for them."

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Sepideh M9 months ago

Meanwhile "No Money for Murderers"

This ad is definitely dark and designed to get people to be pitbulls on this topic with their Democratic lawmakers, and it does the job. https://youtu.be/mscsRNm4KF4?si=ccwaqCU9KOOEc-vW&t=100

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TBone Dinosaur9 months ago

Fantastic slogan. Hope they can air this during the Super Bowl!