Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

He really is that stupid.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

Bark louder, little dog.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Late Night Open Thread: At Least You Don’t Have This Guy’s Job…

Late Night Open Thread: At Least You Don’t Have This Guy’s Job…

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From the TPM article, “Priebus: Trump ‘Trying Very Hard To Be Presidential’” —

… In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Reince Priebus also expressed uncertainty about whether the party’s presumptive presidential nominee needs to heal his frosty relationship with House Speaker Paul Ryan before the GOP launches fall campaigns to capture the White House and defend its control of Congress. Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, has declined to endorse Trump, though the two men met privately Thursday in a session both said was positive.

“I’m not sure,” Priebus of the need for a Trump-Ryan embrace. But he added, “I do think that Donald Trump understands, and I certainly understand and believe, that the more unity we have, the better off we’re going to be.”…

Priebus, who attended Thursday’s meeting between Trump and Ryan, said the session “was more Midwest than New York” and said he believes Ryan will end up chairing the party’s July national convention in Cleveland. Trump had threatened to keep Ryan from that largely ceremonial role but has since backtracked.

Priebus repeatedly referred to the problems political professionals have had assessing Trump’s candidacy, saying people have been “completely wrong about Donald Trump and the playbook.”…

… Especially the Repub professionals who thought they could use Trump as an attention-getter before one of the ‘serious’ candidates took the Trump voters. Not everybody looks forward to Monday mornings, but at least we’re not Reince Priebus.

Reader Interactions

85Comments

  1. 1.

    hellslittlestangel

    Now there’s a man who deserves to have a thankless, shitty job. Have an extra shot of Bailey’s on your cereal tomorrow, on me. Jerkoff.

  3. 3.

    Mnemosyne

    Knitting convention was fun, but my bad shoulder cramped up on me, so I’ve spent most of the evening laying on the floor on various hot and cold packs. The massage ball helped, too.

    Oh, and Melissa Leapman was not at all what I expected her to be like. Discuss.

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    Donald was on the phone with NYT’s MoDo, and he called Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas”. He’s not exactly trying his utmost to act presidential, is he?

  7. 7.

    Mnemosyne

    @Amir Khalid:

    So far, Warren’s response to those taunts seems to be, “Is that all you’ve got?” We’ll see how it goes. Bigots seem to give a lot of credit to people who stick with bigoted taunts long after everyone else is tired of them.

  8. 8.

    shortribs

    There have already been so many moments where Trump says something insulting to some demographic or Republicans call him non-Presidential that we’ll have an endless supply of Trumpism mash-ups to make between now and November.

  10. 10.

    ruemara

    This whole owning a modern car thing is very fun. But I now comprehend all those car cover things and the urge to wrap your car in bubble wrap.
    on a perfeshunal note, waiting to hear if I’ve made it into at least one small festival. But the follow-up episodes continue apace! Despite all the distractions. Although one of the distractions seems to inspire more writing after he’s done distracting me. But I’m getting that nebulous “this is good” feeling, which is good. Took forever to get that buzz going.

  12. 12.

    Fair Economist

    Priebus dodges questions on Trump impersonating spokesman: ” I don’t know what to tell you”

    That may be more of an honest answer than a dodge. What DO you say when your presidential nominee is such a joke?

  17. 17.

    daves09

    @Amir Khalid: Democrats won’t talk to MoDo, so she’ll probably be on the phone with Donny a lot. Which will only make her hate HRC more, if that is even possible.

  18. 18.

    AnotherBruce

    I would be happy to scrub all night truck stops with floss from Donald Trumps rat’s nest on his bald spot rather than kowtow to the cocksucking theater that is being enacted by the republican senate whores. I should have been aware how fast they would assume the position but I was shocked at how fast they all bent over. Even so I think that the establishment is prepared to accept it long and hard. And Trump wont be giving a wrap around.

  19. 19.

    Tenar Darell

    @Amir Khalid: Pocahantas was a BAMF. Lewis & Clark were pikers w/o her. Man can’t even insult people right. ETA He seems pretty dumb; mean, angry, dangerously ignorant but dumb.

  21. 21.

    seaboogie

    @Amir Khalid: I think if we keep poking that bloated, rotten carcass (especially the wimmin-folk – he has a seriously soft under-belly there) – the whole thing is going to ‘splode in a hail of coiled and twisty guts. Don’t hammer this one on normal political stuff. Hammer him where he cannot resist responding. And then double down on that. EW has this figured out. Hence the Pocahontas statement.

  22. 22.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    In a blistering condemnation of Donald Trump’s political platform, President Obama told graduating seniors at Rutgers University to be smart and not dumb on Sunday, NPR reports.

    “Class of 2016, let me be as clear as I can be: In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue,” said Obama, a remark “widely interpreted” as criticism of Trump.

    Without naming the presumptive Republican nominee, Obama slammed a number of key Trump policies, including “building walls,” “disparaging Muslims” and “not knowing what you’re talking about.” From CBS News:

    “Facts. Evidence. Reason. Logic. An understanding of science,” Mr. Obama said. “These are good things. These are qualities you want in people making policy. These are qualities you want to continue to cultivate in yourselves as citizens.”

    “We traditionally have valued those things, but if you were listening to today’s political debate, you might wonder where this strain of anti-intellectualism came from,” he continued. “So class of 2016, let me be as clear as I can be: in politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue. It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about. That’s not keeping it real or telling it like it is. That’s not challenging political correctness, that’s just not knowing what you’re talking about. And yet we’ve become confused about this.”

    Ali Obama Bumaye!

  23. 23.

    Anne Laurie

    @Soonergrunt: By Murphy the Trickster God, I most sincerely hope that by mid-morning Breitbart’s claiming the page was hacked.

    Quite possibly by breitbrat staffers, but at least pretend it was unintentional.

  25. 25.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Rinse Shortbus is no Yoda:

    “No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.”

  26. 26.

    scav

    @Amir Khalid: Consider the possibility that this actually is giving being presidential his best shot.

    Also rather intrigued by the description of the session as “more Midwest than New York”. Is that really an issue (echoes of New York values) they really want to be dragging back into the active fray, especially given their presumptive anointed?

  29. 29.

    piratedan

    despite it all, hate is a helluva motivating factor, so until all of the votes are counted, I’ll still be worried. Doesn’t matter that he’s a lying misogynistic bastard who isn’t even a good businessman, much less a fair weather racist. He’s wearing the R colors, so there are a LOT of folks that will vote for him because they think damn near any Dem is the devil incarnate, regardless of how the politics affect them. They’ll gladly ignore their own cognitive dissonance because the tribe says that R’s are Good and D’s are Bad and that’s that.

    Now the soft squishy middle is another story and you can watch our devoted to the horse race media do the dance that says, sure, he’s a liar and a bigot and he has the sensitivity of a doorknob to anyone who isn’t a white male, but dammit, Hilary may have done something shady about her e-mail correspondence and you can’t exactly trust her either. After all, she took money from Wall Street in return for speeches, for gawdsakes…..

    and we’re supposed to take that shit seriously and scary enough, some fucking people will.

  31. 31.

    Anne Laurie

    @scav:

    Also rather intrigued by the description of the session as “more Midwest than New York”.

    I think Midwesterner Priebus was trying to signal that Midwesterner Paul Ryan kept everything very polite, unlike the natural inclinations of you-know-who.

    From my personal experience — I grew up in NYC, moved to the Midwest for 15 years, and then dragged my Midwestern-born Spousal Unit away to New England before it was too late — those “very polite” Midwestern disagreements can go very wrong indeed. As in, “Fargo could’ve been a documentary” wrong. Differences and disagreements plastered over with we-won’t-talk-about-that pleasantries until one seemingly innocuous incident triggers the sort of angry displays that end up on the local news.

    Which would indicate that, consciously or not, Reince Preibus expects something really dramatic to happen, probably at the RNC convention (because family gatherings are where these ‘disagreements’ tend to blow up).

    Or maybe that’s just my inner Trickster being gleeful.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    said the session “was more Midwest than New York”

    So held in a room which also displayed a butter sculpture of Reagan, then?

  33. 33.

    Major Major Major Major

    Rrgh, I’m running out of Bernie supporters on Facebook that I haven’t temporarily unfollowed. A man of the utmost intelligence just posted a screed about how the Nevada process is un-democratic because Bernie lost, that somehow missed the part where a) bernie got fewer votes and b) caucuses, especially with their BS three-tier system, are stupid and un-democratic in the first place.

  34. 34.

    burnspbesq

    Having grown up in a town in New Jersey where Rutgers wasn’t even considered a viable safety school, i wonder whether Obama’s message went in one ear and out the other with that crew.

  35. 35.

    scav

    @Anne Laurie: I agree that’s probably what he meant to say — the politeness thing, I mean — but there are less triggering ways of saying it. Some sort of slippage, either fake or subconscious, because the trying to be presidential isn’t exactly full throated either. Spinning with faint praise.

  39. 39.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @scav: Sounds like a lyric from Dig a Pony*.

    *”Everybody had a wet dream
    Everybody brought a hot dish
    Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah”

  40. 40.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    Wow, Luther is brutal. Very good, but brutal. I’m not sure I buy the character of Alice Morgan, but I suppose we’ll see where it goes. What is really hard to believe is that John Luther would still be on the force after the way Season 1 ends.

  41. 41.

    sm*t cl*de

    Priebus dodges questions on Trump impersonating spokesman: ” I don’t know what to tell you”

    “Let me ring you back under a false name.”

  42. 42.

    Brachiator

    … Especially the Repub professionals who thought they could use Trump as an attention-getter before one of the ‘serious’ candidates took the Trump voters.

    The Republican grandees were never happy with Trump, or comfortable with him. And they never thought he was just an attention-getter, not when he began attacking the mainstream GOP candidates early and often.

    And now they are stuck with him.

    Donald was on the phone with NYT’s MoDo, and he called Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas”. He’s not exactly trying his utmost to act presidential, is he?

    Oh, hell, no! And now he is insulting the Brits for shits and giggles. From the Guardian:

    Donald Trump has warned that he may not have a “very good relationship” with David Cameron after the prime minister branded his proposal to ban Muslims from the US as “stupid”.

    The US presidential hopeful also sniped at the new London mayor, Sadiq Khan, calling him “ignorant” for comments he made after being elected and warning him: “I will remember those statements.”

    The presumptive Republican nominee, who is likely to go against Hillary Clinton in a bid for the White House in November, was speaking to Piers Morgan on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

    The crazy thing is that this kind of thing will only make Trump’s supporters love him even more.

    Some American voters seem to want to be defiantly infantile. They are eagerly supporting a know-nothing blustering bully with an exceedingly thin skin. And the Republican elite seem to be convinced that they can either do business with Trump or contain him if he gets too far out of hand.

    And yet with each new outrageous or stupid statement, Trump demonstrates that he is an empty sack. And still the GOP don’t have the brains to jettison his sorry ass and try to save themselves. This leaves it up to the voters to do the right thing.

    God help us all.

  43. 43.

    Elizabelle

    Morning all.

    What drives me nuts: as with the story about Obama’s speech at Rutgers graduation: the NY Times, and most mainstream media, encapsulating the crazy in the person of one individual, the presumptive nominee, Donald J. Trump.

    When the whole Republican candidate field this year (with the exception of John Kasich) was batshit cray cray, cruel, and not necessarily experienced (Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, who else have we forgotten, mercifully?)

    The party is toxic, its followers have been radicalized by rightwing talk radio, which everyone gives a pass. (Freedom of speech, or fear? Anybody remember Rwanda?)

    Trump would not be out launching these ridiculous comments if he hadn’t observed they’re gold with the crazy ass Republican base. He did not star in a show called “You’re Fired, Muslims.” He’s feeding on what he’s finding in Republican party circles.

    And the NY Times makes it all about ONE INDIVIDUAL.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/us/politics/obama-swipes-at-trump-but-doesnt-name-him-in-speech-at-rutgers.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fus&action=click&contentCollection=us&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront

  44. 44.

    Brachiator

    Madeleine LeBeau, widely believed to be the last surviving credited cast member from the movie “Casablanca” died May 1 at age 92, but her death is only now being widely reported.

    She played the special friend of Bogart’s Rick who is later shown singing “La Marseillaise” while tears stream down her face.

    BTE, Lebeau’s then husband, French actor Marcel Dalio, also appeared in the film, playing the croupier Emil.

    Both Lebeau and her husband had fled from the Nazi invasion of France. The Nazis in occupied France used Dalio’s picture chillingly on posters as a representative of “a typical Jew”. No doubt this will inspire President Trump when he comes up with his anti-Muslim campaigns.

  45. 45.

    J R in WV

    @Soonergrunt:

    Glad to hear from you. Thanks for looking at Breitbart so I don’t have to. Hope you’re doing well, take care the high deserts get hot soon, if they aren’t already.

  46. 46.

    Zinsky

    Trump is desperate. He knows he could get stomped in the general election by as big of a margin as Walter Mondale. So, he is saying and doing anything to avoid that, even making nice with Eddie Munster (Paul Ryan), whom I suspect he despises. I feel as comfortable as ever saying that, barring a stroke or an indictment, Hillary Clinton will be the next president of the United States.

  47. 47.

    TriassicSands

    @Brachiator:

    A good example of desperation is being reduced to hoping that American voters will do the right thing.

    More likely we’ll have large numbers of stealth Trump voters — voters who are reluctant to admit publicly they support a racist POS, but will happily vote for him in the privacy of a voting booth (or mail-in ballot). I expect many white male Democrats to do so, and there are probably lots of no-nothing Independents who will join in. Person-to-person polling will be especially suspect.

  48. 48.

    NorthLeft12

    Not sure what the concern is over the behaviour of the future president will be, because whoever it is, and however that person acts, that will be presidential. You guys had eight years of Bush the Buffoon, and other Presidents established all sorts of odd and hypocritical behaviour standards through the centuries, so the [unlikely] chance of the Donald getting in office and acting like an idiot should not be the end of the world.

  49. 49.

    Amir Khalid

    @NorthLeft12:
    Well, our American friends quite understandably don’t want the Donald defining “Presidential conduct” that far down.

  51. 51.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @NorthLeft12: I wish people would stop saying “Trump wouldn’t be so bad”. Yes, Trump would be that fucking bad. This country barely survived the Bush presidency, and Trump would be the final nail in the coffin. I wish I was exaggerating.

  53. 53.

    RedDirtGirl

    Technical question…Is the Speaker of the House really a higher ranking title than the Senate Majority Leader?

  54. 54.

    Patricia Kayden

    @The Thin Black Duke: Only people with nothing to lose and in extremely privileged positions could claim that a Trump Presidency wouldn’t be a disaster. The man is deranged and bigoted and has no filter. Anything that comes to his mind is hastily blurted out without any consideration of consequences. Imagine him accessing classified info and nuclear codes.

  55. 55.

    BlueNC

    @RedDirtGirl: Yes. Speaker is third in line for the presidency after President and Vice President. Next is the Senate’s pro tempore president (which is not the same as the majority leader).

  61. 61.

    gogol's wife

    @Zinsky:

    Come sit by me. I keep going to dinner parties where the conversation is all about how we have to get used to saying “President Trump.” I live in Bernie country.

  62. 62.

    dww44

    @Soonergrunt: I’m also glad to see your post and thanks for the twitter link. I’ve become one of your followers. That’s all I do on Twitter;follow people I like.

  63. 63.

    catclub

    @Brachiator:

    Donald Trump has warned that he may not have a “very good relationship” with David Cameron after the prime minister branded his proposal to ban Muslims from the US as “stupid”.

    If there are any debates ( I think he will try to dodge them)
    I really want someone to ask him how an angry president who bears grudges would work out in the real world.

  64. 64.

    Cermet

    @RedDirtGirl: Simple answer – yes; more complex – previously, senators where not elected but House members were; hence, the Speaker of the House was in line after the VP since he was elected and the Senate Majority leader was not.

  66. 66.

    Zinsky

    @catclub:

    …how an angry president who bears grudges would work out in the real world.

    We already know – George W. Bush, worst president in American history, fits the description. No, it didn’t work out well.

  67. 67.

    The Other Chuck

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Only people with nothing to lose and in extremely privileged positions

    In other words, the Republican ideal of America. A desperate mob ruled by the 0.1%

  75. 75.

    raven

    Bortz is filling in for Herman Cain and is railing against Trump. “If the next administration is going to be a disaster it needs to be THEIR disaster”!

  77. 77.

    J R in WV

    @RedDirtGirl:

    Not title, position. The Succession is partly set by the Constitution and partly by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947.

    Speaker of the House becomes President if both President and Vice-President become unable to fulfill the duties of the office, and the Senate President pro tempore (currently Orrin Kerr, the most senior Senator) is third in line, followed by the Secretary of State and down the cabinet membership in order of seniority established by the Act, assuming the holder of each office is eligible for the Presidency.

    For example the current Secretary of the Interior is Sally Jewel, who is not a “natural born” citizen, and is hence not part of the succession. She was born in London of British subjects.

    See this LINK to learn more.

  80. 80.

    rikyrah

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym:

    Wow, Luther is brutal. Very good, but brutal. I’m not sure I buy the character of Alice Morgan, but I suppose we’ll see where it goes. What is really hard to believe is that John Luther would still be on the force after the way Season 1 ends.

    Alice Morgan…a crazy woman that grows on you.

  82. 82.

    Beckya57

    That’s “obvious anagram Reince Priebus” AKA “the emptiest suit in American politics” as per Charlie Pierce.

  83. 83.

    ET

    Do you think that RP gets up everyone morning for the last month and wonders why he wanted to be head of the RNC?

  84. 84.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Technical question…Is the Speaker of the House really a higher ranking title than the Senate Majority Leader?

    @RedDirtGirl: Yeah, in a lot of ways – and in one way that really counts, third in line to the presidency.

  85. 85.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Do you think that RP gets up everyone morning for the last month and wonders why he wanted to be head of the RNC?

    @ET: He may be thinking he’s having a nightmare and while he think’s he’s awake, it’s just part of the dream.

    Hey, Trump will come and go, and he’ll still be around, whether that’s next year or nine years from now. I doubt he’s worried about much of anything.

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