After revoking the WaPo’s press credentials for accurately reporting that he insinuated President Obama is in league with terrorists, Trump is now doubling down on that very same bat-shit insane accusation and tweet-wanking over his own alleged prescience yet again:
An: Media fell all over themselves criticizing what DonaldTrump "may have insinuated about @POTUS." But he's right: https://t.co/bIIdYtvZYw
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2016
The embedded article from Trump propaganda outlet Breitbart is entitled “Hillary Clinton Received Secret Memo Stating Obama Admin ‘Support’ for ISIS.” Vigorously auditioning for the role of “MiniTruth” in the dystopian hellhole of a Trump administration, the Breitbartians offer proof of nothing but their own disconnection from reality and inability to comprehend an intelligence report. Hillary Clinton is not amused:
Your @GOP presidential nominee responding to a terrorist attack with lies and conspiracy theories.https://t.co/TZJmXefmx4
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 15, 2016
Early on in this circus, someone observed that Trump’s success in the GOP primary was based on his willingness to ratchet up the insults and accusations beyond the bounds of rational discourse but that eventually, he would run out of room to escalate without sounding like a drooling psychopath.
Fellow citizens, we’ve arrived at that moment: The primaries officially ended last night, and Trump is already accusing both his opponent and the sitting President of the United States of being traitors who conspire with ISIS. I don’t believe in Peak Trump, but I am having a hard time imagining where he goes from here. The Illuminati? Chem trails? Lizard people? Help me out here…
Trollhattan
Hillary’s alligator took that poor kid in Florida.
BGinCHI
Trump will claim the election is rigged, long before the election.
Lee
I think he circles back around to birther.
It really seems like he is doing everything he can to force the GOP into denying him the nomination.
Droopy
Next up: Obama brought down the towers because Trump was about to discover that was where the secret studio where they faked the moon landing was located exactly 666 feet above street level.
Iowa Old Lady
I’ll repost this here from below, since here was where I meant to put it in the first place.
I was thinking today about how Ds seemed to gradually coalesce around Clinton over the primaries. Lots of people i saw were at least Sanders curious at the start. Over the campaign, events happened that would make one or another shift to Clinton. Maybe it was Sanders saying he’d achieve his goals by getting millions of people to demonstrate in DC. Maybe it was the NYDN interview. Maybe it was him dismissing southern voters or calling PP part of the establishment. Maybe it was his delegates behaving badly in NV and him seeming inclined to excuse it. Whatever. Different people reacted at different points.
I think we’ll see the same with Trump. Not that Trump and Sanders are comparable as human beings much less as candidates for president, but that voters who were previous inattentive are watching and some of them will react badly. Not all, sadly. But enough, I think.
Sourmash
Chem-trails eventually, for sure. But I think a demand to audit the Fed is up next. He knows a lot about bankers and stuff, so he’ll outPaul Ron and have a selection of “The BEST freeze dried food on the planet! Buy this stuff, folks, we’re living in a house of cards here…”
MattF
Maybe you should ask Alex Jones or Jerome Corsi. On the other hand– no, don’t.
Der Trump is being more explicit about it than lil’ Marco was (if you recall) but the meaning is the same. Trump just has fewer inhibitions, but he’s saying the same things.
ETA: BTW, MD Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, says he’s not voting for Trump.
Yutsano
@BGinCHI: I thought he was claiming that already. That the whole process is “unfair” to him.
@Sourmash: “My steaks are the best steaks! They freeze better than any other steaks you have seen! They’re YUUUUUGE!”
MattF
@BGinCHI: Because… losing can’t possibly be his fault.
The Dangerman
I got money he drops an N bomb before Cleveland.
ETA: …and not long odds on him dropping an N bomb and a C bomb in the same sentence.
BillinGlendaleCA
He’ll go next to Precious Bodily Fluids.
MattF
@The Dangerman: It’s possible that, one of these days, Trump goes into full meltdown mode. I assume the cable channels are hoping for that.
Cacti
But Bernie still has a sad that more Republicans don’t get to choose the Dem nominee.
Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) | Twitter
https://twitter.com/BernieSanders
3 hours ago
“We need real reform within the Democratic Party. And that means open primaries.”
No, it doesn’t.
Dadadadadadada
@MattF: How exactly would that be different from what he’s already doing?
MattF
@Dadadadadadada: I think there would be a real difference. But we shall see.
glory b
@Sourmash: Yup, I’m taking chem trails for 500.
dr. bloor
@BGinCHI:
More precisely, it will be “phony.” Every damn thing is “phony” these days.
Who the hell even uses that term anymore, anyhow?
dr. bloor
I eagerly await his explanation of Baud!’s role in all of this.
Mike in NC
Another nickname should be Double-Down Drumpf.
pat
It’s one thing for fox news and hate radio to start these false rumors that too many people are only too eager to believe, but this clown is supposedly a nominee for POTUS. How can this go on for another 5 months?
I wonder if someone is thinking maybe a “medical emergency” will force him to withdraw. Maybe he’ll stroke out during one of his tirades.
Frankensteinbeck
@MattF:
Yes, but plausible deniability before the press and comfortably uninvolved whites has been THE Republican strategy at least since Reagan. The line is drawn at a point absurdly friendly to racism, but Trump keeps stepping over it.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@Cacti: He’s a fucking dipshit and needs to go away.
schrodinger's cat
I will tell you where he goes from here. I am going full Godwin, because that’s where he is headed.
1. Revoke the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act
2. Get rid of birth right citizenship
3. Revoke the citizenship of the people Trump finds not American enough
so far this list includes:
Person whose parents are naturalized citizens
Naturalized citizens
Person with one citizen parent
Person with two non-citizen parents
Anyone or any group Trump doesn’t like
4. Start a war with the rest of the world.
His aspiration seems to be to top Hitler.
FEMA Camp Counselor
@The Dangerman: I’ve got a betting pool going on how long it will be until he starts dropping slurs.
@Cacti: He does realize that the states set their own rules for the primaries, right?
Carl W
So if he’s currently linking his opponents to Al-Qaeda and ISIS, the next step would have to be less popular than those organizations. I can’t think of many options; off the top of my head, all I can come up with are “Obama and Clinton are Nazi sleeper agents” or “Obama and Clinton are Satanists”.
indianbadger
@The Dangerman:
I will not accept your bet. But the caveat I have is he will use it in a deniable way. By that I mean, he will say things like “Wilmore called him the N word at the WHCD, why can’t I?” or the old Chris Rock routine about Black People Vs. N(word). He will get it out there but will claim “I was only quoting someone else”. He is doing everything he can to gin up the 25-30 percent of the country that is racist, stupid, and/or insane.The only difference is he is not using Dog Whistles anymore; just regular Trumpets.
Elie
@MattF:
I think that this is more of a possibility as each day goes on and the escalation continues. There is some real information about him that might be driving this: 1) how much sleep is Trump getting? 2) Is he on medications? I heard that he doesn’t drink or smoke, but he is big and fat and swollen, so he might be on anything from anti-hypertensives to mood stabilizers. 3) Has he had a mini-mental assessment recently? This is used to assess cognitive problems in seniors. He is 70 years old. His behavior is quite aggressive and escalating. If he starts talking progressively out of reality, he may have a for real problem in the old cabeza.
Frank Wilhoit
(Sorry if this is a duplicate; the first attempt disappeared.)
Let’s take this in two stages:
“…run out of room to escalate without sounding like a drooling psychopath…” He sounds like a drooling psychopath to us, but he is not talking to us. Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton are talking to totally disjoint audiences, with no overlap whatever.
“…run out of room to escalate…” At this point, there are two possible outcomes. Mr. Trump cannot win the election. He can either lose it, or else reduce the country to such a state of chaos that the outcome will not matter, nor even whether or not it is held. If he stops escalating, he will lose. He is programmed to not-lose and to escalate, so these are what he is going to do. The point is that his followers cannot be stood down.
Sourmash
@glory b: I think he pulls some piece of tech-like aluminum out at a rally and shows it around and says that armed thugs from NOAA put it on his plane and he has it from “THE BEST” experts that “This shows they do it, folks. This is how they put all the mind control chemicals into the air and water. It’s happening in MY Plane!”
Elie
@Cacti:
Oh my goodness, we’re still here? I also heard that he didn’t endorse Hillary. I thought that was coming right after the last primary. Man oh man, who thought he would end up like this? Where can he really go from here? Is he really gonna try to disrupt the Democratic convention?
Betty Cracker
@schrodinger’s cat: Wasn’t Trump’s mother born in Scotland? He better watch out before he self-deports and sends two of his trophy wives and associated children into exile!
schrodinger's cat
@Elie: The theories about immigration that Trump has been peddling are not coming out of his fevered brain. They have always existed on the right fringe. Trump is mainstreaming that hate.
BillinGlendaleCA
@schrodinger’s cat:
You do realize that this includes one Donald J. Trump?
schrodinger's cat
@Betty Cracker: Its an article of faith among the nativist right that the 1965 immigration act is responsible everything that has gone wrong in the country since it was passed. As long as the immigrants are from the “right” countries they are OK.
indianbadger
@Cacti:
I never understood the fascination with open primaries. I mean we are selecting the candidate that represents the DEMOCRATIC PARTY, right? If you want a say in that selection; register as one. Otherwise STFU.
schrodinger's cat
@BillinGlendaleCA: I was thinking of Trump’s entire birther case against our President.
bbleh
Well, jeez, you’ve already taken two of my better lines, but let’s see …
– The Trilateral Commission? An oldie but a goodie!
– The Queen of England? A bit too 70s, I think. And ditto the Vatican.
– Chinese, Russians … kinda too easy and all-purpose.
– Koreans? Manchurian Candidate? There was a remake, but it’s pretty obscure.
– How about Israel? Or better yet, some secret Shaolin-in-Galilee cult, once dedicated to the return of the Messiah but now corrupted by, I dunno, cellphone radiation or something? That could work nicely with all the end-of-days types.
– Nobody’s really got on to India or Pakistan yet. India figures in a lot of potboilers, and of course Pakistan is Islamic. Plus, Obama cut and ran from Af/Pak. A bit tired, but maybe still some mileage in it.
– Siberian methane releases? Montessori schools? Mind control by a super-pod of hyper-intelligent octopi?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Elie:
Trump claims, he only sleeps 4 hours a day.
Jeffro
Can’t go much further than calling POTUS and his potential Dem successor terrorist enablers…other than calling for insurrection…
Woodrowfan
@Cacti: a local blue-dog “Democrat” for the county Board just survived an open primary because Republicans crossed over to vote for her. It wasn’t a secret. The only republican on the Board sent out multiple mailings telling his supporters to vote for the blue dog.
Elie
@schrodinger’s cat:
Don’t deny that he is using existing hate talking points but lets see where he goes.
@Frank Wilhoit:
..and your second point is pretty damned scary — its his capability to bring about chaos. To do that however, I am not sure he has the tools beyond inciting his people to do things. The media would have to play a big role and I am not sure that they are where they were with him, though of course, they want the entertainment.
Tricky times
Jeffro
@Frank Wilhoit: you said it better than I did in #39…here’s hoping that Trump deadenders take only the GOP down
The Dangerman
@indianbadger:
I think there is about this much (holds thumb and index finger nanometers apart) between Trump and his butler (or whatever the fuck he was). His Daddy was KKK and the apple don’t fall far from the tree; nah, he’s got a case of Blue Balls for this.and the only relief will be an outright slur.
Woodrowfan
I’d put my money on Chemtrails. With 9/11 twooferism as a possible second.
Jeffro
@Elie: I think we’re seeing signs that the majority of the mainstream media is off the fence at this point and starting to expose this klown for what he really is.
Elie
@BillinGlendaleCA:
That is pretty not good for a 70 year old or anyone for that matter. He is putting a lot of stress on that old brain and body of his. Maybe hate can keep him afloat — for a while… He is putting a lot of load on a system (his health, stamina) and its never been tested at these speeds and loads.
The scariest thing to me is not that Trump is unstable and possibly very destructive, but that he has a party that will do nothing to mitigate the risk he presents to this country. As mad as he and his followers make me, its his party that keeps giving him enough of a pass by providing him resources and ostensible support.
ruckus
@Elie:
Drumphf does have a problem in the head. It’s filled with nothing but hate.
Woodrowfan
oh man, if he drops dead of a heart attack with Alex Jones go into low Earth orbit! RW hate-radio and the tinfoilers will absolutely have a record-setting FIT>
seaboogie
@dr. bloor:
Also “goofy” WRT Elizabeth Warren. I think he is stuck on words dear old Pop used when he was a kid.
gogol's wife
@BillinGlendaleCA:
But he’ll never have the charisma of Sterling Hayden.
schrodinger's cat
@ruckus: The hate has existed, he is just the vessel for all that visceral hate. He is like the racist chain e-mail come alive.
dr. bloor
@Cacti: He’s going to look much different after his next meeting with Obama than he did after the first one.
WaterGirl
@indianbadger: I am thinking of a number that is between 25 and 30. Can you guess what it is?
Chris
@schrodinger’s cat:
Hitler with nukes, as the Onion observed yesterday.
Woodrowfan
I wonder what was in those DNC files on Trump the Russians grabbed.
Elie
I could see a couple of scary scenarios in more rural or remote places where Trump’s followers could come out of some violent bags if they don’t like the outcome of the election — or are otherwise incited. I live in a red part of the county with only the county sheriff and his men for protection, spread over a large area. I do not plan to put up any Hillary signs on my house or on my car. I don’t want to be overly paranoid, but why ask for trouble in these times? We have Trump signs with American flags from stem to stern out here….
WaterGirl
@indianbadger: That’s all it takes, right? To participate in a closed democratic primary you have to be willing to say you are a democrat, even if you turn right around and go back to being republican or independent as soon as the election is over. Right? The only thing standing in the way of doing that is that you have to follow the rule that sets a date after which you cannot do that. Am I missing something?
I did that exact thing in order to vote against Daddy Bush in the primaries (whenever the hell that was!). The surprise happy result of my doing that is that I am still on some of their lists so they waste their money mailing me stuff and I get to participate in their phone surveys of republicans.
gogol's wife
The banning of the WaPo, HuffPo, and Politico makes me think he’s taking a leaf out of Vladimir Vladimirovich’s playbook.
Chris
@Elie:
And also if they do like the outcome of the election.
nutella
@Elie:
Possibly. Since he’s not and never has been a Democrat, and he is an entitled asshole. I had been sightly hopeful but he’s not acting like someone who gives a shit about the election result or the will of the voters. Maybe he’ll wise up in the next few weeks.
Elie
@Woodrowfan:
Man, I saw that as not what it seems. Why would the Dems announce that? Maybe rattling Trump’s chain a bit? Or covering for something else? Who knows? Of course, I could just be in a conspirational frame of mind today…
schrodinger's cat
@gogol’s wife: Trump and Putin connection needs to be explored. Trump’s foreign policy such as it is seems to be Putin’s wishlist come true.
Elie
@Chris:
Si ! — I see that — good point.
Betty Cracker
Early polling suggests people aren’t too keen on the way Trump has responded to the Orlando massacre:
Hoo boy…
BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: The Keyes Constant?
PGE
I really, REALLY hope he goes for Lizard People. In fact, I think the national security folks briefing him ought to “accidently” let it slip that that’s a concern
JaneE
I am expecting some riots after the election. Trump supporters are about as good at holding it together as he is. They are just hoping for any reason to let that anger out and do some damage. Some already have.
If Trump loses, which I hope and pray will happen, they will go on a rampage over the “stolen” or “rigged” election. If he wins, dog forbid, then they will see his election as a green light to eliminate Muslims, Hispanics and probably African-Americans and go on a pogrom spree.
I really hope I am wrong, but I do expect to see at least some violence.
VOR
Has anyone seen Hillary’s birth certificate? We need the long form, not the short form. Was Illinois a US State at the time of her birth? Get that crack team of fact finders who came up with so much information about Obama’s birth certificate in Hawaii onto it, stat! Hey, I’m just raising questions.
Iowa Old Lady
@Woodrowfan: Open primaries particularly invite screwing around when one party has an incumbent. Their candidate is already chosen. They can amuse themselves however they like.
dr. bloor
@Woodrowfan: Looks like it’s already found its way onto the Intertoobz.
If the deep-oppo Trump is worse than the public Trump, I’m not sure I want to go digging through it.
Elie
I wonder if the administration and joint chiefs are modeling certain scenarios. No one ever thinks we might have to prevent a madman from becoming President, but it could happen, right? The Republican Party is pretty powerless. Could Trump be considered to be a real risk to our country’s security and safety? I definitely could see that but am not sure how intense the risk is. As time goes on and if he becomes more extreme and unstable in what he calls for and actually incites his followers, what can be done, legally or whatever you want to call it?
MattF
Here is a tweet-stream from a Trump rally yesterday.
gene108
People have been doing a lot more than insinuating Obama’s in league with terrorists, since 2008.
There’s the “pallin’ around with terrorists” meme from his association with Bill Ayers.
There’s Fox News “terrorist fist jab” comment about a fist-bump he and Michelle had at an event.
I really do wonder how far up their asses the DC media has buried itself for the last 8 years to not notice calling Obama an unAmerican terrorist is SOP for the GOP and their allies.
burnspbesq
@FEMA Camp Counselor:
I don’t see any evidence to support that hypothesis.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Just saw the first “Where are the bodies” go flying past my feed.
Gag.
MattF
@gene108: I think the press corps got desensitized to the crazy during the Clinton years. Didn’t help that there was a strong thread of Clinton-hate in the press corps at that time.
gogol's wife
We need some good news, and technically this is an open thread. Wesleyan University has announced the Hamilton Prize for Creativity. Any of you out there with creative kids, read this link!
burnspbesq
@Elie:
Hillary was responsible for the coup in Honduras. Why not a second one?
/kidding
gogol's wife
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
What does that mean?
Elie
@burnspbesq:
I wonder if similar to Obama, she will be labeled as both responsible for all nefarious activities while at the same time being weak and unable to do anything….
Original Lee
@Woodrowfan: Especially since some Russians are highly placed in Drumpf’s campaign.
Trollhattan
@burnspbesq:
“Honduronians, lovely people, I’m sure some of them aren’t rapists.”
Brachiator
When I heard that Trump was going to turn to the National Enquirer (he’s friends with the CEO), I thought that maybe he might use unconventional methods of opposition research to dig up dirt on the Clintons, stuff that would be distracting even if not significant.
But it’s clear now that Trump is closer to some of his supporters than I realized. He is not a psychopath, and he is not sophisticated. He is like the dim witted callers to late night conspiracy radio. He relishes junk like birther nonsense because this is the limit of his imagination. And I don’t know if he is full tilt racist (how serious was he in his attacks on Cruz and Cruz’ father), but he is close enough in his obsession with conspiracies and nutcase pseudo-information that seeks to insinuate that Obama, Hillary Clinton and her closes aides are secretly trying to undermine America, and put fluoride in our water to sap our precious bodily fluids.
Trump is about three steps away from marking Obama as either a visitor from another planet or in serious cahoots with UFO riders. Behind all his swagger, Trump is a mass of anxiety and deeply unhinged. For now, he is his own worst enemy and is obviously giving his more sober staffers fits.
But Sweet Sufferin’ Xenu, no one could have predicted this, and nobody, absolutely nobody, can say for sure what dimension in nuttiness we will next visit. But the ride there will sure be interesting.
Adam L Silverman
Well that was anticlimactic! A few important things to note. it is marked information, not evaluated intelligence. So this is the observations of whoever submitted the report. Essentially its a summary of events based on the person reporting back. The operative portions that the Breitbartisans get wrong and that Trump has latched on to, is item C on p. 3 under “General Information”. Its an undifferentiated sentence stating:
No shit! Hoocoodanode?
Yep, its true the West, including our NATO ally Turkey and our regional allies and partners in the Gulf States are supporting the opposition. The US at the time was trying to sort out who was who in the zoo. Specifically, which oppositional elements were okay to support and which were tied to the emerging, and ultimately competing, al Qaeda elements of Nusra Front and AQI now known as ISIS. The Saudis were funding both of these. The Qataris are still funding the Syrian and Jordanian Muslim Brothers – largely to screw with King Abdullah in Jordan – and after four years of trying to figure that out, I’m left with that the Qatari Emir just doesn’t like King Abdullah at all!
If this wasn’t so sad it would be hysterical.
MattF
@Elie: And all her speeches are ghost-written by Huma Abedin– and have seeekret Moooslim terrrrist messages encoded in them.
Cacti
@Elie:
At this point he just looks like a small-minded, angry little man. The left wing Trump indeed.
Gin & Tonic
@Elie:
Yes. It is almost certain that people working for his campaign organization are at least indirectly on the Putin payroll.
PGE
Feb. 9, 1950 – Joseph McCarthy – ” I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department”
Some day soon – Donald Trump – ” I have here in my hand a list of 205—a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being Lizard People and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department”
Betty Cracker
@Adam L Silverman:
Exactly. And IIRC, it was Republicans like McCain jumping up and down and demanding that the U.S. drop planeloads of weapons into the war zone while PBO was saying maybe we should figure out who the fuck these people are first…
WaterGirl
@BillinGlendaleCA: we have a winner!
MattF
@PGE: And they’ve impregnated the entire State Department with Lizard eggs.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@ruckus:
I said it earlier today – Der Trumpfenfuhrer is a walking, talking, breathing Breitbart comment come to life, a great homonculus which is the perfect facsimile of the conservative Id. If Gozer the Gozerian is the mass of conservative base voters, he is the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man of their creation…
Carl W
Small steps in the right direction: AMA Decides Gun Violence is a Public Health Issue
Chris
@Adam L Silverman:
Mostly unrelated question from a couple days ago: when al-Qaeda came up, you mentioned that it had been popularly misrepresented as a multinational, when it was actually more of a logistics, financing, and training hub.
Would you say the same is true of Daesh, or that they’re a completely different breed of animal?
Original Lee
@Elie: IANAL, so my best guess would be emergency legislation. As if Congress would actually move on this in timely fashion!
Brachiator
@JaneE:
Nonsense. Anti-Trump protestors have been far worse than Trump supporters.
@Elie:
They might want to put together a coup d’etat film festival, featuring movies about a takeover of government/refusal to follow commands. Let’s see. “Seven Days In May,” “Dr Strangelove,” The Caine Mutiny,” a a few select Star Trek episodes. What else should be added to the list.
But while I guess the military could refuse an insane or illegal order, they have to be careful not to do anything that would suggest that they were taking over, which itself would be illegal. But I am sure that there are folks here, including one of our front pagers, who is tons more knowledgeable on this.
However, I think that the Republicans (and Democrats) would be studying the shit out of Section 4 of the 25th Amendment.
This might be the best out that would allow a crazy ass Trump to be removed from office.
This means that for the Republicans the VP choice might be the most important decision that presumptive nominee Trump will make.
Tom Q
@Brachiator: A friend of mine says this election choice amounts to the article in the newspaper vs. the online comments section.
Mister Forkbeard
@dr. bloor: There’s nothing too horrifying in that oppo-dump. Or rather, it’s all the expected level of horrifying, and it’s things we already know about. I’d be surprised if there weren’t more coming.
Almost all of the accusations in it are already public knowledge and sourced from various media and articles rather than independent research.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Elie:
raises hand
BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator:
This is currently the case, but I’d bet it wouldn’t be the case with a Trump general election loss if the campaign continues on the current trajectory.
Cacti
@Tom Q:
This.
Trump is the average online bro-troll commenter turned Presidential candidate. It’s astounding to behold.
The Golux
I’ve come to the conclusion that I would rather register as a sex offender than register as a Republican.
There’s certainly more dignity in the former.
Mnemosyne
@gogol’s wife:
I knew you would be excited about that as soon as I saw it on LMM’s Twitter feed.
Elie
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
I really didn’t. I thought he was more traditionally ambitious and had more self esteem. Instead, he has the same M.O as a narcissist who cannot figure out his risk in any given situation. He is in effect, peeling off his own people who are balanced enough to see what he is truly about. Oh the crazy ones won’t be swayed, but those who voted for him in good faith with normal expectations of how a candidate behaves and the overall good of the party, must be at least somewhat surprised.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Elie:
You could be talking about Birdie or Trump.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@gogol’s wife: How can we believe the Orlando shooting really happened until we see the bodies? It’s a fake news story to use as an excuse to take our guns/set up FEMA camps/arglebargle. //
Brachiator
@BillinGlendaleCA: RE: Nonsense. Anti-Trump protestors have been far worse than Trump supporters.
I think we agree that a Trump loss is greatly to be wished for. The rest is just idle speculation. We’ll see what happens.
Cacti
@Elie:
Everything Barney Frank said about Bernie not working well with others and thinking himself better than everyone else was spot on. Preachy? Strident? Self-righteous? Yes, yes, and yes.
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: Yes. We do extensive checks when we partner with host country elements. This includes both regular and irregular forces. Regular forces are, of course, easier to vet. Irregular harder and require far more on the expertise within our SOF units that do this type of work. There’s actually legal requirements for this under the Leahy Amendment, which can be found here:
http://www.humanrights.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/leahy-vetting-law-policy-and-process.pdf
Elie
@Cacti:
He has real risk here for undermining the rest of his political career… He is not connecting the dots well to the options he has for building on his success Its almost — well — to me — it IS self destructive. And not just for himself but for the causes he wants. Also, aint nobody in the Democrats are going to let some outsider sail in again in the future and appropriate the levers of their party for his own ends — without a very much more aggressive review. He got to call himself a Democrat but it was actually an attempted coup of the Democratic Party to make it into some hybrid socialist/independent party. There are some of his folks here locally trying to do the same thing.
Adam L Silverman
@Chris: This is an excellent question and I don’t have time to tackle it right now in the manner in which it deserves. The short answer is no. With DAESH/ISIS what you have is a localized, group with very specific territorial aims that need to be achieved, then maintained, and then expanded. In this respect they are much more like Hamas, though they go much further in that Hamas is really interested in the territorial aims of the Palestinians. The DAESH affiliates are all sound and fury. They were groups in various places that pledged allegiance to al Qaeda because they thought that made them sound better and when DAESH/ISIS became the flavor of the month they jumped ship. Some of these groups are very, very dangerous and have large territorial aims such as Boko Haram. Others, like the Libyan separatists now pledged to DAESH are the B team.
Percysowner
@The Dangerman: It occurred to me that he might call Michael Steele his “African-American” only using the N word instead of AA one night while watching Steele defend Trump. I hope not, but it’s starting to seem like a possibility. I do expect the C word to make it into a speech or into a debate, should he dare to actually debate Hillary,
BillinGlendaleCA
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: I think our birdie friend may get a tour of the basement of one of the Senate Office Buildings from Harry, Chuck, and Dick to show him his new accommodations if he causes too much trouble for the Dems in Philly.
Elie
@Elie:
I will add that saw Bernie as having similar personality traits to someone very close to me who wrecked much of his career doing the same thing. He was never happy no matter how much stuff he tore up because he knew better than anyone else. He really suffered afterwards knowing that what remained of his life was such a waste, given his many talents. Every time I hear about Bernie and how (I think) he is blowing this, I think of this and it just bothers me beyond what I can even express. Looking back with regret is a particular curse when you are in your golden years — and Bernie at 74 is there. Its all woulda coulda… Unless he sees this as “going out” while leaving his mark — even if it is a scar instead of something positive and more lasting.
Chris
@Adam L Silverman:
OK. I was asking because I’d heard stuff from Middle Eastern friends about Daesh attracting a lot of Chechen jihadis, which sounded potentially similar to what you were describing with al-Qaeda welcoming terrorists from all around the world.
(Also – any possibility for a full front pager post tackling the topic “in the manner which it deserves?” No pressure, I know you’re busy. Just asking).
Elie
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Given my take on his personality, he would love it — would give him something to rage about. The best way to handle him with minimal damage is to ignore him and let everything just dwindle away from him quietly. He welcomes anything that would give him either the reason or opportunity to disrupt and make a big deal.
Ella in New Mexico
@Adam L Silverman: Reading that memo gave me a headache. I realize we were trying to push against Syriah without putting boots on the ground, but sheesh! Talk about strange bedfellows!
Still, stuff like this is gonna be very effective in preaching to the Trump converted, but could it also be misconstrued by the Trump wavering? I’m sure I’ll hear one or two of my dependable R coworkers this week repeating that Obama and Clinton are secret Al Qaida supporters. If i can barely make head nor tail of exactly who was who, and who we were supporting and why, how are information-challenged Republican leaning voters gonna do anything other than take the bait and the easy explanation he’ll be giving them? So yeah, as much garbage as the article is, it’s gonna fit right in with their conspiracy theory-brainwashed electorate. Which is NOT good.
Adam L Silverman
@Chris: The DAESH vanguard is about 1 to 2 thousand hardened Chechen fighters. They are there to fight! They’re the ones that really worry me. They’re not being trained by DAESH, if anything they’re training the raw recruits – though I’ve got/seen no evidence for that. Its also why DAESH put out a threat to Putin in 2014 – because of the Chechen cadre.
ThresherK
Okay, a new-to-me name from BernieBusters: Sophia McClennen. Is she just another jagoff from Salon’s deeeeep bench of ’em?
joel hanes
Ask yourself: WWRSD ?
(What would Roger “ratfscker” Stone do?)
The answer to that question is too-often observed, but never pretty.
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne:
I think it’s so great!
gogol's wife
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
scuse me while I vomit
starscream
Obama would win at least 45 states against Trump if he could run again.
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne:
But I can’t get into reading LMM’s Twitter feed — that way lies madness. I already spend 3 hours a day trying to play “What’d I Miss” on the piano.
Patient husband.
Bill Arnold
@Betty Cracker @OP:
There’s still plenty of time for new juicy conspiracy theories to appear into RW conspiracy land. Just sayin’ :-)
Gullibility is his primary weakness, and the probable root cause of his future downfall IMO. He has a working intuition, but … feeds it garbage. Lots of garbage. (Surely people don’t believe that there is a conspiracy theory conspiracy? :-)
JWR
@Cacti:
Yep. He’s gone full Lieberman.
Bill Arnold
@Elie:
I too am worried about his mental health. Seriously, I don’t wish him ill; he should calm down, work on becoming considerably more empathic, work on questioning his beliefs and certainty (and confidence), etc. (He won’t, though. :-)
JWR
Hmm. My new gmail address has thrown me into moderation hell…
Bill Arnold
@Elie:
I am certain that plenty of analysts and other personnel have worked out plans for this, kept to themselves. It would be professional malpractice not to do so. Adam Silverman has closer ties to that world and could probably make reasonable conjectures about what people might be thinking, and might even be willing to write them down.
Bill Arnold
@joel hanes:
Do you think he listens to Roger Stone? I’m not entirely sure that he would properly implement RS’s RF-ing advice.
Is there any public material describing the details of RS’s relationship with the DT campaign?
Cacti
@Elie:
Bern was in the strongest position to extract concessions BEFORE the POTUS, VP, and Senator Warren all moved quickly to endorse Clinton. Those three endorsements in succession pretty much sucked all wind out of his sails and left him just with the dead enders.
The longer he holds out endorsing Clinton now, the greater the chance he winds up with nothing at all come convention time. His vanity has reached the toxic and self-defeating stage.
RaflW
He’s more practiced at his schtick than the Alaskan Snowbilly, but I think as people start to try to listen to him, they are realizing that he just strings together reams of brags and insults. There isn’t anything under them. Nothing.
His net favorables (well, of course they are net unfavorables) are plummeting to record lows, too.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Cacti:
Has he ever demonstrated anything other than petulance and gadfly-ism? No, he hasn’t, and is genetically incapable of doing so. I will never understand how he generated such enthusiasm when he’s never accomplished anything through leadership. He’s just another mediocre narcissistic disappointing fraud. It’s hard to distinguish him from Trump in their approach towards their followers, which is basically asking them to suspend disbelief and empirical reality, and trust them. Sad!
JWR
@JWR: Testing, testing… (with my new email address…)
Bex
@gogol’s wife: “Sally, get me that letter.” I’m laughing like a loon while driving. Somebody’s gonna report me…
JWR
@JWR: Yay! Thank you, Moderator!
Adam L Silverman
@Chris: Let me think how to do it without it running up against my actual work.
Chip Daniels
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
Man, I am stealing this.
oklahomo
@gogol’s wife: It’s part of the conspiracy universe: there are no bodies: it was a false flag operation to bring on [insert crazy takeover shit here]. Some of the 9/11 truthers believe that the victims were “vicsims” — fake victims. The same shit went round after Sandy Hook, too. These staged atrocities are part of the larger [insert more crazy shit here] plan.
gogol's wife
@Bex:
It’s sublime! I crack up every time.
gogol's wife
@oklahomo:
Disgusting.