That Time-Honored Tradition of Ruining Thanksgiving with Politics
[guest post by JVW]
We’ve talked about it before: that present mania of various political advocacy organizations to suggest that you steer the family Thanksgiving discussion into the realm of hotly contested debate. I mean, why let a family gathering ostensibly set around an elongated weekend of quiet reflection on the things for which we are extremely grateful be devoid of peckish quarrels about taxes, or health care, or foreign policy, or the Deep State, or wokedy-wokeness? You’ve got your captivated audience; why not use the opportunity to unload your entire sense of injustice and victimization?
Fortunately, as in years past, social media is full of ideas as to how to ensure that mom ends up quietly crying in the kitchen, Uncle Ben storms out of the house in a huff, and cousin Kate nervously drinks herself into a stupor. First up, the ever-redoubtable ACLU:
Some of our personal favorite Thanksgiving conversation starters:
💬 "My pronouns are…"
💬 "Firing people for being LGBTQ is illegal and Trump asked SCOTUS to change that"
💬 "Who loved Pose season 2?"
💬 "Please pass the pie, and the Equality Act"
— ACLU (@ACLU) November 27, 2019
Maybe those topics are too safe and generic for you, though. Perhaps you want to ensure that a quiet yet earnest discussion quickly escalates into a red-faced shouting match. I know: bring up abortion, a suggestion that elicited this hilarious response from National Review’s Charles W. Cooke:
“Hi guys! It’s so great to see you. Hold on, let me go back to the car to get the graphs, articles, and toolkit for my abortion presentation.”https://t.co/55oixmnVez
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) November 27, 2019
I don’t know about you guys, but in my family we always stuck to pretty safe and conventional topics at holiday meals: the severity of the recent snowstorm, whether the Broncos will be able to bounce back next year, and mild gossip regarding a cousin who was away at college and didn’t make it home for the holiday. I think in the long run that will be much better for family cohesion than knowing that Katie’s new “boyfriend” prefers to use “ze” and “zer” for the third-person pronoun.
Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
– JVW
Naturally the Associated Press gives us this dreadful story.
JVW (54fd0b) — 11/27/2019 @ 6:30 pmKatie has a new boyfriend?
nk (dbc370) — 11/27/2019 @ 6:33 pmYour grace/His grace
Dave (1bb933) — 11/27/2019 @ 6:37 pmThe ACLU and the Left have so much to be thankful for…
Paul Montagu (00daa1) — 11/27/2019 @ 6:49 pmThese woke imbeciles project so much. It’s as if they can’t even remember ever having been simply boringly and blessedly normal.
Dana (cb74ca) — 11/27/2019 @ 7:37 pmAnother in the long list of the type of lunacy which got Trump elected.
harkin (337580) — 11/27/2019 @ 9:00 pmAnother conversation not to have around the table, at least in mixed political company.
Paul Montagu (00daa1) — 11/27/2019 @ 9:55 pmCon woman.
Con man.
Discuss.
Nation’s Progressives Give Thanks That They Have So Much To Be Angry About This Year
Kevin M (19357e) — 11/27/2019 @ 10:09 pmI’m a minimalist when it comes to seasoning good cuts of meat, so I’ve been making my holiday grilled lamb chops with just salt, black pepper, oregano, and lemon juice spooned over them hot off the grill. Tomorrow, I’m going to add light sprinkles of minced garlic and cumin. That will probably be the main topic of conversation.
My daughter’s mother shares Dana’s (apparent) sentiment about Thanksgiving. She thinks it’s the most American holiday of all because it’s all about family, without any religious or patriotic overtones except just being American, as some people might even say, “blessedly normal” and “boring”. If we turn the TV on at all, it will probably be to the Disney Channel (seriously).
nk (dbc370) — 11/27/2019 @ 10:37 pm“You can get anything you want at alice’s restaurant!” What we got is the 50th anniversary of kent state may 4th 1970.
asset (4efc37) — 11/28/2019 @ 12:42 amReally? I thought it was originally about giving thanks to, uh, God.
Granted, in practice that part tends to be something of an afterthought…
Dave (1bb933) — 11/28/2019 @ 3:15 amhttps://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/11/report-strippers-used-sex-toy-on-a-drugged-out-hunter-biden-at-nyc-strip-club/
mg (8cbc69) — 11/28/2019 @ 4:19 amyou people{never trumpers} can get anything you want if your a Biden.
Don’t jive my turkey … Dave!
nk (dbc370) — 11/28/2019 @ 5:35 amBig deal… Hunter Biden was culturally appropriating 1/2 of the Gateway Pundit hiring process.
Dave, you should have used Rub a Dub Dub, Thanks for the Grub.
urbanleftbehind (e3cea9) — 11/28/2019 @ 5:38 amthe exception which mr. Dave left out makes the rule, mr. urbanleftbehind
we thank god for america
it was probably ivanka anyway, mr. mg
that girl just can’t keep her clothes on
nk (dbc370) — 11/28/2019 @ 5:52 amAnybody been watching The Mandalorian? Sergio Leone meets George Lucas? He even sounds like Clint Eastwood.
nk (dbc370) — 11/28/2019 @ 6:10 amThere is so much in our lives that is beautiful. Waddya say we give conflict a day of rest?
John B Boddie (0fa0b7) — 11/28/2019 @ 6:31 amI wish i could believe that they were kidding.
Anyone that encourages people to strive for ways to divide their family at thanksgiving is just a terrible person.
Time123 (ca85c9) — 11/28/2019 @ 7:03 amYou want more Trump?
This is how you get more Trump. Jeez.
B.A. DuBois (80f588) — 11/28/2019 @ 7:12 amItll be all Jr’s fault if they end up in the same search results as Romanov.
urbanleftbehind (e3cea9) — 11/28/2019 @ 7:35 amI’m thankful for an infustion of Bach’s music once a week.
John B Boddie (0fa0b7) — 11/28/2019 @ 7:40 amThe alternative view:
Tom Taylor
@TomForUtah
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Avoiding Politics at the dinner table is how you get Trump.
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NeoN: Automataster
harkin (337580) — 11/28/2019 @ 7:44 am@neontaster
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Except that this bulls**t cycle of “talk sense into your republican uncle” discourse predates Trump by years. It started with selling Obamacare to your family over the holidays.
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Fortunately everyone in my family is normal, and we don’t get together at Thanksgiving to fight over politics. As stated above, this is left-wing trope that’s trotted out every year, about how to deal with crazy conservative “Uncle Bob” at Thanksgiving.
But I don’t think these stories in the MSM are completely untrue, since most Leftists live in a left-wing bubble and simply CANNOT stand any open disagreement. They can’t de-platform “Uncle Bob” or hit him with a bike lock, so it drives them crazy.
rcocean (1a839e) — 11/28/2019 @ 8:37 amThe amazing thing about Thanksgiving is we can actually say the Holiday’s name. Unlike Christmas where it has to be disguised as “The Holidays” or “Holiday”.
I also noticed the MSM has gone easy on the “Remember we killed Indians while you eat that Turkey” stories. Probably because the old Pilgrims-Indians story stopped being taught in schools, and no one under 50 thinks Indians have anything to do with Thanksgiving.
rcocean (1a839e) — 11/28/2019 @ 8:41 amMeanwhile in the news, Liberals show their Thanksgiving spirit by cheering the story of drunken Irish Pol O’Malley (Ex-Gov MD) attacking Trump’s INS Secretary in a bar over “babies in cages”. Lefists are so classy! And full of the Holiday spirit.
rcocean (1a839e) — 11/28/2019 @ 8:45 amThe most obvious thing about these annual Thanksgiving agitprop campaigns is that they never instruct people to listen, only to spread talking points. If anyone asked me to go in a room and watch a political PowerPoint presentation, I’d tell them I’d rather watch a sales pitch for a holiday timeshare.
harkin (337580) — 11/28/2019 @ 8:50 amI saw a couple episodes and thought it was pretty good. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
Dustin (cafb36) — 11/28/2019 @ 8:53 amThe Commander of the Salvation Army has an excellent Thanksgiving message. I’m going to readjust my giving to include this organization.
Paul Montagu (00daa1) — 11/28/2019 @ 9:02 amTrump Has Spent $115 Million On Golf Trips ― Or 287 Years Of Presidential Salary
Dave (1bb933) — 11/28/2019 @ 9:02 amThe more time Trump spends golfing and in “executive time”, the less he has to come up with and try to execute his half-baked, ill-conceived proposals. He should play 36 holes a day, every single day.
Paul Montagu (00daa1) — 11/28/2019 @ 9:06 amFind the parades – particularly Macy’s- disgustingly endless hype nauseating along w/repeated ‘Black Friday’ pitches and all cable news bloviators can ‘ruin’ Thanksgiving.
Just one day w/o it all is something to be thankful for. Switch’em off, maybe enjoy a little football and give everyone the bird— w/a little stuffing and taters on the side.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/28/2019 @ 9:51 am“The amazing thing about Thanksgiving is we can actually say the Holiday’s name. Unlike Christmas where it has to be disguised as “The Holidays” or “Holiday”.”
Nobody cares if you say Christmas, dude.
Davethulhu (fe4242) — 11/28/2019 @ 10:01 amHe should play 36 holes a day, every single day.
Vigorous exercise.
Kevin M (19357e) — 11/28/2019 @ 10:13 amNobody cares if you say Christmas, dude.
Except in schools, workplaces, on holiday cards, or in public. I still remember when Santa Monica decked their main shopping district with “Winter Greetings!” ans someone complained that it was hemispherically insensitive.
Kevin M (19357e) — 11/28/2019 @ 10:17 am“Except in schools, workplaces, on holiday cards, or in public.”
You’re ridiculous.
Davethulhu (fe4242) — 11/28/2019 @ 10:28 amHope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
Me too! Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!
nk (dbc370) — 11/28/2019 @ 10:42 am@33. He plays 330 million of ’em, daily, K. 😉
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/28/2019 @ 11:05 amAlternative conversation starters – stuffing vs dressing, canned cranberry sauce: a sin against nature or merely an abomination, favorite fruitcake, is there such a thing as too many appetizers, and whether or not one is required to wait until sunrise to begin drinking.
Jerryskids (702a61) — 11/28/2019 @ 11:06 am18. Time123 (ca85c9) — 11/28/2019 @ 7:03 am
I don’t think they’re lidding, but I doubt that they’re very successful either. (they think this could be the one chance for their choir to convert people, and that’s all they care about)
Sammy Finkelman (1a8726) — 11/28/2019 @ 11:41 amHave never liked cranberries, canned, frozen or otherwise.
Love everything else, from the green bean casserole to the yams.
Have no problem Trump using extra $$$ to play golf where he wants as long as he doesn’t give a few hundred billion to street agitprop orgs and corrupt unions.
harkin (337580) — 11/28/2019 @ 11:52 amThanksgiving is just another day away from office and in a movie theater.
Rip Murdock (42fdfa) — 11/28/2019 @ 11:56 amI wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.
Gawain's Ghost (a89947) — 11/28/2019 @ 12:04 pmTrump makes ‘secret’ visit to troops in Afghanistan; Pence made ‘secret’ trip’ to Iraq a while back.
If you gotta move in ‘secret’– you ain’t winning.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 11/28/2019 @ 12:05 pmWill he be taking potshots at children, executing prisoners or posing with enemy dead as a (further) show of support for war crimes?
Dave (1bb933) — 11/28/2019 @ 12:22 pmSpeaking of those who are thankful today:
Trump dispenses billions of dollars in aid to farmers, hoping to shore up rural base
Moving to offset the impact his trade war has had on rural America, President Trump has bypassed Congress to send some $20 billion in aid to farmers, mostly going to a bundle of states that are essential to his reelection chances next year.
The payments have ranged from as little as $2 for some small-scale farmers to more than $1 million each for some corporate agricultural enterprises. ……
To sidestep Congress, which has long considered price supports for farmers its exclusive domain, the administration cited an obscure law from the 1940s that was passed in the aftermath of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.
Until Trump, no president had ever used that law to make direct payments to farmers, let alone tens of billions.
The strategy bears some resemblance to the one Trump used to shift millions of dollars that Congress appropriated for the military to pay for sections of his border wall. Unlike the border wall money, however, the farm aid has not drawn challenges from Congress, perhaps because Democrats have their own political reasons for not wanting to oppose help for rural areas in politically important states.
The payments are likely to reach nearly $25 billion by early next year, making them roughly twice the net cost to taxpayers of President Obama’s auto industry bailout during the Great Recession of 2008. Even so, they may fall short of fully covering farmers’ losses from the trade war with China or fully mitigating the political fallout Trump has faced in some Midwestern communities. …..
Rip Murdock (42fdfa) — 11/28/2019 @ 12:23 pm”Will he be taking potshots at children, executing prisoners or posing with enemy dead as a (further) show of support for war crimes?”
Dave (1bb933) — 11/28/2019 @ 12:22 pm
Why get Bush involved?
Munroe (dd6b64) — 11/28/2019 @ 1:13 pmI guess that’s why you get your fighting out of the way on Wednesday night, but
what’s with these Acela corridor Dem toughs…almost makes me wish Kookinelli had those kind of cousins:
https://nypost.com/2019/11/28/homeland-securitys-ken-cuccinelli-driven-out-of-d-c-bar-after-fight-over-immigration/?utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons
urbanleftbehind (6279b7) — 11/28/2019 @ 1:19 pm
“Will he be taking potshots at children, executing prisoners or posing with enemy dead as a (further) show of support for war crimes?”
Much better to send spyware emails to the defense attorneys and reporters and use your own leaks as an excuse.
And oh yeah, then issue awards for doing so.
harkin (d79cbb) — 11/28/2019 @ 1:42 pmI have two sisters, one of whom thinks about as much of President Trump as our host, and the other who is a strong supporter of his. My wife, of 40 years, six months and nine days, despises the President, yet we’re still married, still live in the same house, and still sleep in the same bed.
Yet we all had Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday — my wife had to work today — and we didn’t worry about politics, had a fine time together, and left still liking each other.
The other Dana (13dd7c) — 11/28/2019 @ 2:26 pmHappy Thankgiving.
NJRob (7b1885) — 11/28/2019 @ 2:41 pmHappy Thanksgiving from all of us consigned to the group W bench.
Mark (056bb0) — 11/28/2019 @ 3:37 pm@43 Yeah, that’s why FDR made a secret trip to Yalta in Feb 1945. We were losing WW II. Yep.
rcocean (1a839e) — 11/28/2019 @ 4:17 pmIIRC, every Presidential visit to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has been kept secret until he arrived there, from Bush 43 onwards.
Kishnevi (98ea1b) — 11/28/2019 @ 5:48 pmLijian Zhao 赵立坚
@zlj517
In Washington, the white seldom go to SE area, as it’s an area for the black. President Trump even demanded 4 women lawmakers of color to leave US. Out of respect for President Trump, US & the black there, please follow “America First” policy & take care of racial discrimination.
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Austere Scholar HuntingLucidity
harkin (337580) — 11/28/2019 @ 6:10 pm@HuntingLucidity
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Found time to tweet. Must be a slow day at the organ harvesting plant
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Well, someone brought up how happy everyone is in Cuba, how everyone gets paid the same, and how good their medical care is.
My response was: “Don’t you think that system lacks incentives? As Jimmy Carter said: ‘No one stays up all night with the state’s sick pig.'”
I love that Jimmy Carter quote as they can’t attack the speaker.
Kevin M (19357e) — 11/28/2019 @ 6:40 pmNY Times digital front page headline on Trump trip:
Trump Says He Reopened Talks With Taliban, 3 Months After Ending Them
https://www.nytimes.com/
I’m sure they’ll memory hole that soon.
Kevin M (19357e) — 11/28/2019 @ 6:43 pmApparently it’s Zhao’s job to defend and distract from organ harvesting
Kishnevi (e89fd2) — 11/28/2019 @ 6:44 pmSouth China Morning Post from August of this year
Talking about who should have been aborted and who needs a post natal abortion gets everyone involved around the dining room table.
asset (3e7ae6) — 11/29/2019 @ 12:37 am