Panic in Trumpistan?
“The Donald J. Trump Campaign for President, which has set a historic record in the Republican primary having received almost 14 million votes, has today announced that Corey Lewandowski will no longer be working with the campaign,” the campaign spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said in a statement. “The campaign is grateful to Corey for his hard work and dedication and we wish him the best in the future.”
Time for Lewandowski to write his book.
Corner Stone
So now instead of employing 30 people nationwide in his campaign he has 29 total.
O. Felix Culpa
@Corner Stone: Addition by subtraction, perhaps.
Corner Stone
Political campaign managers, by and large, are not the most respected collective group of people. But having Paul Freakin Manafort as your Campaign Manager?
Elizabelle
Well, that will turn the campaign around.
Any day now.
The Dangerman
Hope he got paid in cash.
Elizabelle
@Corner Stone: on the Donald’s orders? Or Putins?
Corner Stone
More time for Lewandowski to work on his technique on the speed bag. Get ready to deal with reporters on his next campaign.
TS
@Corner Stone: Seems like “you’re fired” will be often heard in the next few months. Could become a campaign of 1.
Emma
Does that mean Manafort is left in sole charge? A good time will be had by all.
hovercraft
But I thought that he was the most loyal person ever. He was the biggest proponent of the ‘let Trump be Trump’. One can only hope that this means we are finally going to see GE Trump. A 70 year old dog cannot learn new tricks. Lipstick on this pig will not disguise the stench of swine. Enough cliches.
It was so hard for Trump to do this, so sad.
JPL
SAD
dr. bloor
Let’s hope Hair Furor uses some of the money to hire a publicist who doesn’t murder the language with every press release.
Bill
Wow! Strange time for this change.
We are through the looking glass.
dr. bloor
@JPL:
Fixed!
piratedan
well….. Bill Kristol is still available……
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Corner Stone: I admit I’ll miss the entertainment value he added. And that I’m surprised such a sensible decision was made.
hovercraft
@Elizabelle:
Trump wants an early start on creating that great relationship with Vlad. Remember he knows more about foreign policy than anyone. Manafort provides a direct line to Putin.
Corner Stone
I love the way the press is trying to sell this as a move by Trump to signal to the RNC and Republicans that he’s ready to do something in a more serious manner. Or some similar bullshit line like that.
He is what he is. There will never be a serious candidate there. He can’t help himself.
CONGRATULATIONS!
I guess now is time for that famed “pivot to the center” where Trump presumably does…something else other than what he’s been doing.
Maybe he’ll yell more, it’s not like the American public hasn’t gotten yelled at enough this election already.
rikyrah
Congressional Black Caucus balks at two political reforms being pitched by Bernie Sanders
By John Wagner
June 19 at 10:39 PM
The Congressional Black Caucus is voicing strong opposition to two key political reforms being sought by presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention: abolishing superdelegates and opening up Democratic primaries and caucuses to independent voters.
Sanders is seeking to leverage his unexpectedly strong showing against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential race this year to secure a series of policy and political objectives. Although none of the political reforms Sanders is seeking would affect his standing now, they are rooted in his frustrations with the contest against Clinton.
As of Sunday night, 587 superdelegates had announced their support for Clinton compared with 48 for Sanders, who sought to make a virtue of running against the “political establishment.” As a rule, the senator from Vermont also performed better against Clinton in primaries and caucuses where independent voters could participate.
In a letter sent to Sanders and Clinton on Saturday, the Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus said they oppose changes in both areas.
The Democrats utilize a system under which candidates win pledged delegates based on their performance in primaries and caucuses, but also seek support from superdelegates, Democratic elected officials and other party elites who have a say on the nomination but are not bound by the results in their states.
The letter, first reported by Politico, said that the current system “has worked quite well” because it allows members of Congress to serve as superdelegates “without the burdensome necessity of competing against constituents for the honor of representing the state during the nominating process.”
“There is no need to succumb to the pressure of a few individuals to make this change,” said the letter, signed by Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The letter also said that opening up primaries to voters who aren’t Democrats “would dilute minority voting strength in many districts across the country.”
Elizabelle
Any bets on the anonymous source speaking to NY TImes? Manafort himself?
Hoodie
No doubt Lewandoski is a true believer who was walling Trump off to “let Trump be Trump,” which, while an effective strategy in primaries where the electorate is as much or more bigoted than Trump and has an exaggerated view of its own specialness, has been a disaster in the general. Trump is really just another Sharon Angle. Unlike most politicians, he is only effective as a communicator of things he personally believes in, and those seem to be limited to the inferiority of non-whites and his own super specialness. You take away “Trump being Trump,” there’s nothing much left over.
kindness
So, Trump is going with Manafort now? Oh the optics on that will be so much better. A guy who was a paid lobbyist for Putin and other cretin tinpot dictators scattered around the globe.
germy
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
msnbc is saying there is ‘bedlam’ within the campaign because of his collapsing and is very aware of what the media is saying about him, and he is very angry about the congresscritters scurrying away from him. Poor Donald.
Shell
Now if only they’d dump that spokesperson chick thats always on CNN, then Id be happy!
sp98
A feature, not a bug.
Iowa Old Lady
@JPL: Is SAD the this campaign’s “also too”? Because that is awesome.
The stuff between the commas is vintage Trump. He has to stop to brag a little on his way to firing someone.
germy
@rikyrah:
And don’t forget Rush Limbaugh’s “operation chaos”
Here’s an article from breitfart, January 2016:
Shell
Hey, is Hugh Hewitt available?
SiubhanDuinne
As J. A. F. Rusty Shackleford noted in the previous thread:
To which Amir Khalid wisely replied:
If Hope Hicks is smart, she’s putting the final touches on her updated résumé right now. Just, you know, in case.
rikyrah
Wasn’t there a civil war in the campaign between this dude and someone else?
I guess the other guy won.
phantomist
Wow. There really is nobody that wants to work for him.
different-church-lady
@rikyrah: “I joined this party so that I could reform it so that nobody would ever have to join this party.”
Betty Cracker
@Iowa Old Lady: That jumped out at me too. Kinda wish Hillary would reply with a release wishing Lewandowski godspeed from the “Hillary Rodham Clinton for President Campaign, which received nearly two million more primary votes than the record-setting Donald J. Trump campaign.” But she’s too classy for that.
Corner Stone
@Shell:
No, I believe MSNBC has him perma-locked in their Green Room cryo-chamber so they can parade him out multiple times a day with no notice.
YEEEAAARRRGGGHHH!!!
MattF
Just a day after Der Trump endorses racial profiling. I see a problem here.
hovercraft
@rikyrah:
The CBC obviously doesn’t know what is best for them, if they just sign up to Bernies’ plan their voices and influence will be stronger. The young and independents are the true voice of the future. If they just sit down and let Sanders take over, it will be the days of milk and roses.
dmsilev
Huh. Wasn’t Lewandowski the guy in charge of the VP vetting effort? Wonder how that’s going….
different-church-lady
@dmsilev: TRUMP: “What the hell do you mean I can’t be my own vice president? You’re fired!”
Corner Stone
@phantomist:
You know what they say, “When your campaign for president is on the line, and you absolutely have to go all out for the win, go with the guy who ran the campaign for that third tier congressperson from a tiny congressional district in Minnesota who got something like five figures in votes.”
Fair Economist
@germy:
Durn tootin’ she did! If he’s leaving, she’s not going to be getting all that sweet, sweet wingnut welfare anymore. Whatever his thoughts, she’s going to say he’ll stay until the day he leaves.
Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian
Well, Trump’s been having a bit of trouble finding a running mate. This move means Corey’s available.
lgerard
So Trump is going to outsource his entire campaign to the RNC
I imagine Reince made it pretty clear that “no one is coming to your party unless you tone it down and get rid of some of the troublemakers”
Too bad, I was looking forward to the parade of Z List wingnuts that Trump would have been stuck with for four nights
MattF
So, what happened to the supplier of deck chairs on the Titanic? Just asking.
Fair Economist
@Corner Stone:
He’s mentioned as having run her *Presidential* campaign where she quit before getting any votes at all.
Something to think about.
maya
The Trump campaign so far has succeeded in letting all the dogs out. Now is the time to find someone to bring them back in, but…..
Who, who, who, who’ll bring the dogs in?
Who, who, who
agrippa
I have my doubts about Trump wanting to be President. I think that the vulgarian with short fingers is running a con.
Corner Stone
@Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian: I’m thinking he’s going to pull his own version of when GWB tried to get Harriet Miers on SCOTUS. Someone who is close to his campaign and completely unqualified for the VP slot.
Maybe he’ll have his remaining 29 employees compete against each other ala The Apprentice and the last one standing is VP.
MattF
@agrippa: Considering that Donald Trump is already Donald Trump… What else could he want?
nonynony
@lgerard:
Doubtful – if Obvious Anagram Reince Preibus had made anything like that clear to Trump at all, Trump would likely double down in a “you can’t tell ME what to do don’t you know who I AM” moment.
This has been his intention all along, actually. You can kind of see it. He “self funded” his primary campaign (mostly through the kindness of the various 24 hour infotainment channels who donated a whole lot of hours to his campaign) but is not planning on spending any more money on it. If the RNC wants to win, they’ll need to campaign for him. And you just know that when he loses, he’s going to blame the RNC for sabotaging him. Because it’ll be someone’s fault, and that person won’t be The Donald.
It’s pretty widely reported that Lewandowski and Manafort where fighting with each other for control over the Trump campaign (such as it is). I think it’s more likely that Lewandowski lost that fight and is leaving because of it. I suspect because the polling for Trump last week was not so good, and Trump is someone who thinks that winning his “ratings slot” from week to week is the way to win the election. So if he’s not winning the polls it must be somebody’s fault. And that person a) isn’t The Donald and b) needs to be fired.
I wonder how long Manfort will last.
hovercraft
Mark Halpern is saying that they want to bring in new people. And that since Lewandowski travelled with him and whispered onto his ear on the plane, and was the let Trump be Trump. Now they will be able to get a new Trump whisperer, the question is will he listen to him? Inquiring minds want to know.
SiubhanDuinne
@Shell:
The one who wore the necklace made of bullets that one time?
Corner Stone
@lgerard:
But what actual leverage does Reince have over Trump? Trump seems fine having a ghost shell of a campaign, spending minimal money and holding fundraisers in freakin’ TX for goodness sake. I don’t think Trump minds one tiny bit if all the down ballot races go down, well I would say “in flames” but at this point I don’t think those races have enough oxygen or fuel to ever light a pilot light.
James E Powell
Will there be a de facto split between the Republican congressional campaigns, taken as a collective whole, and the Republican presidential campaign?
Can they pull that off?
Mike in NC
Isn’t Steve Schmidt available or is the guy who discovered Sarah Palin already onboard with Trump?
Corner Stone
@MattF:
I think you mean after Trump “triples down” on racial profiling.
Gin & Tonic
@hovercraft:
I’ve always thought I had a pretty inquiring mind, yet this is something I actually do not want to know.
satby
@agrippa: evidently Jeb Bush has taken to Twitter to say the same thing. And to all but say that the Drumpf is a Democratic sleeper agent.
SiubhanDuinne
@Iowa Old Lady:
I noticed that too, and thought the same thing. But I also wondered how smart it is to say, basically, “It was the best campaign ever, so I’m firing my campaign manager.”
MattF
@Corner Stone: Fair comment.
cmorenc
@piratedan:
Actually, Kristol would make an excellent campaign manager. Just do the opposite of whatever he says, and things will go just great.
Plantsmantx
@rikyrah:
I think that’s one reason why the Sanders camp favors open primaries.
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
It’s Drumpf smart!
So not very much at all.
different-church-lady
@satby:
Well gosh, Jeb, what does it say about your party that he succeeded so wildly?
boatboy_srq
@SiubhanDuinne: We are also seeing a campaign by someone whose signature quotes include “you’re fired.” It’s unlikely tRump sees this as a negative the way the VSPs do: foe him this could be a positive thing, or at least BAU.
different-church-lady
@nonynony:
As long as the money does.
Josie
@rikyrah:
For some strange reason, I would take the CBC’s advice on keeping the Democratic party strong rather than that of a cranky old Vermonter. It might have something to do with many years of activism and hard won battles.
lgerard
@Corner Stone:
I’m certain Reince has influence where it counts….Trump’s children. They are no fools and I am equally certain they have no desire to see their father act like a buffoon while being egged on by a juvenile delinquent like Lewandowski.
I would expect to see Manafort quietly marginalized as well. as ‘professionals” from the RNC assume most of the campaign functions.
boatboy_srq
@Plantsmantx: Deliberately diminishing the power of voices Sanders couldn’t hear clearly? Bernie is many things, but it’s hard to include overtly malicious in them. Not that there’s no argument to be made for that, just that it’s more difficult to get there than to mere stupidity/cluelessness.
catclub
@dmsilev: I am pretty sure that Ben Carson was the face on the front, but Manafort was in charge of the VP choice.
amk
Michelle Fields @MichelleFields 1h1 hour ago
Hey @CLewandowski_ I hear @BreitbartNews is hiring
catclub
@Corner Stone:
But not making his 20(!) fundraising phone calls.
Plantsmantx
https://twitter.com/alivitali/status/744898321093959680
Iowa Old Lady
@Betty Cracker: SAD!
Roger Moore
@lgerard:
I’m pretty sure the only place the influence matters is with The Donald himself.
cmorenc
@Shell:
She is actually doing as good a job of advocacy/analysis for Trump proponents as could be done with such abysmally terrible material to work with – imagine if your job was to be the advocate for turds at a banquet. The fact that it’s impossible to convincingly dress up much of Trump’s belligerent ignorance and racism as anything but the stinky turd it is makes her come across sometimes as dumber than she really is, and the fact that cosmetically she’s adopted the Barbie-doll airhead look further handicaps her efforts, as well as the fact that she’s voluntarily chosen to be in the corner of Cheetos Jesus, which doesn’t reflect well on anyone. Yes, I also find her irritating to listen to. But I’ll give her credit for making as game an effort as is possible for someone in Trump’s corner.
Patricia Kayden
@phantomist: Because Michele Bachmann’s Presidential run was so successful. Umm. Wait.
@hovercraft: Halperin is so desperate to have Trump pivot and be an actual viable Presidential candidate. It irks him that Trump cannot pretend as well as the other Republican candidates — at least in public (we all remember Romney’s off the record comments about the 47% during a private fundraiser).
The Thin Black Duke
@boatboy_srq: Trouble is, a stubborn cluelessness about racism can be just as deadly as the malice that compels a bigot to hurt anybody who is different from them. For example, juries that refuse to convict white cops who murder black children armed with toy guns.
Corner Stone
@boatboy_srq:
The argument for Bernie’s actions being deliberate mainly write themselves. He and his supporters repeatedly made the statement that decisions by voters “in the South” should not count. Every one of his actions to this point have been about settling scores. He clearly sees a unified minority vote, in this case black people, as going against him. And he wants them diminished for it.
Did he engage with anyone in the CBC or other organization invested/representing votes by PoC ? Highly doubtful based on prior attitude and actions.
yellowdog
@lgerard: Why would his children care if he acts like a buffon; he’s been doing it for years. And the male children, at least, seem capable of giving Daddy a run for his money in the horrible, horrible people stakes.
Quinerly
What a mess.
http://www.gq.com/story/hope-hicks-mystifying-triumph-donald-trump
gratuitous
Well, that’s just strange, is all I can say. According to all the reports from the podium where Trump speaks, he’s been running the smoothest, best, most flawless campaign ever, setting records all over the country for getting votes, and the people just LOVE him! Now Trump is firing his campaign manager after such a sterling record?
Just strange as all get out. Well, I heard somewhere that Clinton has changed the woman who does her nails, so both sides!
Corner Stone
@lgerard:
What money and influence his children currently have are directly due to his acting like a buffoon. For the last twenty years. Do you think his kids did not know how he ripped off every one he did business with? Ran small business owners out of business? Hired illegal workers and did not pay them?
They know who their father is. I sincerely doubt they have any standing to tell him to back off and stop embarrassing them.
amk
Time to coin #cds a la #ods?
lgerard
@Roger Moore:
I.m sure the story will come out shortly, so we shall see
I’d be very surprised if Trump’s kids were not the prime movers behind this, and equally surprised if the RNC does not exercise a great deal more influence over the campaign in the next month
Iowa Old Lady
@Corner Stone: I thought his kids might worry about him damaging the brand and thus cutting into their inheritance.
Origuy
@hovercraft:
I bet he didn’t say, “Respice post te. Hominem te memento”.
SRW1
This has gotta be THE opening for Dick Morris!!!
boatboy_srq
@The Thin Black Duke: @Corner Stone: I stand corrected. I suppose that, in spite of the mounting evidence, I just didn’t want to assign intent when inattention would normally suffice. One wants to believe Sanders is interested in the common weal, even as he continues to disappoint in that regard.
trollhattan
@yellowdog:
Something he shares in spades with the last Republican nominee, who demonstrated their “patriotism” by campaigning for dear old dad.
hovercraft
@Origuy:
What delusions of grandeur ? He will win this race, everyone loves him.
Per Katy Tur, Corey was fired by phone and was escorted out by security. The coup was a combo of Trump’s kids, the RNC and Manafort.
trollhattan
@Corner Stone:
Two sins in a family like that: losing, getting caught.
SRW1
The real tell all book about Trump 2016 is gonna come from his Trumpiness himself. One of its major points is gonna be how it was the GOP loser establishment that stole the general from his awesomeness after he gloriously triumphed in the primary. And the Lewandowski ‘firing’ is gonna be one of the landmarks of how the loser establishment didn’t let Trumpy be Trumpy.
Plantsmantx
@boatboy_srq:
It wouldn’t have to be malice. It could just be political strategy. He didn’t win the nomination because he didn’t win the Democratic primary black electorate.
Corner Stone
@boatboy_srq: Well, I happen to find him a spiteful, petty man who is looking to settle scores with what waning influence he has left. If you look at the items he is asking, nay demanding, they are platform related. As others have previously mentioned, he hasn’t said a word about policy in weeks.
But it could be closer to what TTBD suggests, not a willful plot but stubborn blindness. I just find his repeated decision to not actively engage with a wide spread of voters* he does not understand to be borderline malicious.
*To be clear, not saying all black people vote the same or for the same reasons. Just that votes showed BS did not do very well on the whole with that “group”.
boatboy_srq
@Plantsmantx: Possibly, except that the last time such a strategy was truly successful the US knew it as Jim Crow.
TTBD and CS make good cases for a deliberate tone-deafness in the Sanders camp.
SiubhanDuinne
@hovercraft:
I am by no remote stretch an admirer of or apologist for Corey Lewandowski, but if this is true it’s just chickenshit levels of cowardice. Fired by phone?? That’s really despicable, even for Trump.
gwangung
@Plantsmantx: That’s a third rail for Democratic politics. An incompetent would try to attack the black electorate.
Adam L Silverman
@Emma: Yes. According to Gabriel Sherman’s reporting, Manafort is now solely in charge of the campaign. Additionally, Lewandowski’s ouster was orchestrated by Trump’s three adult children from his first marriage: Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/06/trump-kids-ousted-corey-lewandowski.html
ET
@The Dangerman: Given Trump’s penchant for not paying, I wonder if he got paid at all. True believers may be a bit more flexible in terms of the when and how all in service of the “great man” and his “goals” but even they have to pay for food and lodging.
hovercraft
@boatboy_srq:
Just like you one initially I gave him the benefit of the doubt, it was a consistent pattern of dismissive behavior and statements towards black people. We are very attuned to slights and paternalism. You cannot imply that our choices stem from ignorance and expect us to turn around and vote for you. As much as the Sandernistas claim to be the future of the democratic party, see how far it can get if you piss off the most reliable, most loyal voters in the party. Any expansion of the map is based almost entirely on increases in the minority vote share in the south. NC, GA, VI, NM. The democrats should know better than to bite the hand that feeds them.
hovercraft
@SiubhanDuinne:
I like the image of Trump’s goons escorting him out of Trump Tower.
Poetic justice.
Also too, wouldn’t Trump have been upstairs in his apartment. That’s cold not bothering to come down and do it face to face. True loyalty.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: He’s the Winter Pundit. They thaw him out only for specific operations…
dmsilev
@hovercraft:
His kids, huh? I have this vision of how Trump’s declining years will play out.
King Lear.
Adam L Silverman
@lgerard: He wants to, but can’t. The RNC barely has the resources to do what it is doing now. If they were to accept the outsourcing of the Presidential campaign, they’d have to set up a completely separate staff. They don’t have the money or the bodies for that.
Adam L Silverman
@Fair Economist: He was also in charge when Ron Paul’s campaign were paying to have Iowa big names that endorsed her switch to endorsing him for a payoff.
ET
CL was clearly in way over his head and the operation of an insurgent, vanity candidate is not the same thing as the presumed, official candidate.
I wonder if he got the “You’re Fired!” send off a la The Apprentice?
MattF
@dmsilev: His line in Act V: “Yoooge, Yoooge, Yoooge, Yoooge, Yoooge.”
Plantsmantx
@boatboy_srq: Opening up all Democratic primary elections to any and everyone without even requiring them to make a token commitment to the party would probably have the effect of diluting the black vote. It’s not just that, though. Bernie Sanders wants the Democratic party to be the party of the working class, and the white working class in particular. He’s much less concerned with appealing to them with social liberalism than he’s concerned with appealing to them with economic liberalism. He’s lamented the fact that the party’s focus on advocating for “social issues” has made the party unattractive to socially conservative, white working class voters, and he thinks the party should ease up on that advocacy and focus primarily on leftist economics. That’s kind of ironic, when you remember that he wrote us Southern black Democrats off as “conservative”.
catclub
@gratuitous:
Trump did all that in SPITE of how Lewandowski was a loserly loser. Now he will be even greater and more winning.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: Katrina Pierson.
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/12-craziest-things-about-trumps-spokeswoman-katrina-pierson
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/katrina-pierson-donald-trump_us_57617e9be4b0df4d586eccc1
Corner Stone
From a CNN piece:
SFAW
In case LAO (and your Mom, I think?) is/are reading this thread:
I think Trump should hire a PROVEN manager, one who is currently in NYC most of the time already, and perhaps may be available sometime soon.
Specifically: Terry Collins.
He’s a manager second only to Bill Kristol in decision-making prowess; he’s someone willing to follow the “conventional wisdom,” even when it’s no longer applicable, and someone who has proved himself to have a keen insight into “the game.”
And if he could take Kevin Long with him, that would complete the Trump brain trust.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
That’s her, thanks! Couldn’t remember her name.
Fair Economist
@SiubhanDuinne:
Maybe Lewandowski is a concealed-carry kind of guy?
Emma
@Adam L Silverman: If God is just Donald Trump will end up in a golden cage “protected” by his children.
Corner Stone
@catclub:
His tweets will now *ring* with a Churchillian authority. His divergence from prepared remarks will speak to his Mandela-esque inner courage in the face of all opposition. The ghost of Ghandi shall manifest itself through his rallies endowing upon him the wisdom of the ages!
trollhattan
@Fair Economist:
2nd Amendment job security remedies?
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone: This leopard cannot change his stripes. Ever.
lgerard
@Adam L Silverman:
i don’t mean that Reince is going to run things, I mean that the campaign will suddenly be populated by people vetted by the RNC to do communications, scheduling, policy positions, etc. They will formulate a plan and try to get Trump to stick to it
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: Its the crazy eyes… They suck you right in! Don’t look directly into them!
lgerard
@SFAW:
everyone is down on Kevin Long
they did get one hit yesterday at least
Corner Stone
@trollhattan: If you had seen him stiff some hundreds of people over the years, not to mention who knows what kind of screwing that went on during this campaign, wouldn’t you have hinted darkly about things that might happen if you didn’t get paid? I mean if you were a thug like CL, that is.
Adam L Silverman
@lgerard: Nope. That’s not how presidential campaigns work. The RNC doesn’t have the ability to do this type of vetting for a presidential campaign. What Trump has apparently been floating is what I described, which also is not going to happen.
SiubhanDuinne
@Villago Delenda Est:
I saw what you did there, and heartily approve.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: I don’t think she has that craz-…
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
Oh, I know. She makes Michele Bachmann look centered and grounded.
Villago Delenda Est
@Iowa Old Lady: Ship has sailed directly into the North Atlantic iceberg field. The brand is shit.
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
Hey, that’s better than Trump’s original plan — Tweet it: “Corey Lewandowski! Firing you for your low-energy campaign strategy. Sad! Bringing on someone HUGE! Bill KRISTOL! and Bob SHRUM!”
Shalimar
@Iowa Old Lady: With the way Trump spends money and with how little he seems to have left compared to what he had 25 years ago, his kids aren’t getting an inheritance beyond the huge head start in life he has already given them.
lgerard
@Adam L Silverman:
we shall see
Kathleen
@Corner Stone: You mean he’s going Full Metal Mark Halperin before our very eyes?
Elie
@sp98:
And no one can explain how that makes the party better at all. There is no reason to me why “outsiders” — or people who don’t even want to say that they are a Democrat during the primaries, should be able to decide on the candidate the Democratic Party. Its another attempt at a “hostile takeover” of the Party. Bernie can go eff himself….
SFAW
@lgerard:
Which is one more than I got yesterday, so I guess I shouldn’t complain. Consider me properly chastised.
OK, now that I’ve said the appropriate number of Ave Marias and Pater nosters, can we PLEASE get rid of Long? It’s as if Collins or Alderson is channeling Omar Minaya.
gindy51
@Corner Stone: he’s as bad as Trump only he doesn’t sue to get back at people.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone: @SiubhanDuinne:
She’s a tea partier from Texas, enough said. They brew them extra special down there, Cruz, Geohmert, in fact their entire house GOP delegation is made up of batshit crazy. In other words the perfect spokesperson from Trump.
raven
@Adam L Silverman: And then there is Kate Pierson from the B-52’s!
Elie
@Shalimar:
I know Ivana (first wife) must be thanking her lucky starts that she got out while he still had some dough. I promise that this is gonna ruin the old shit bird more than he knows. HIs business model is largely bluff and perception and if that goes pouf, so does his money…
Adam L Silverman
@raven: Yes, yes there is!
SFAW
@hovercraft:
I don’t know about that — that Blake Farenthold fella seems nice.
Corner Stone
@lgerard:
Scene: Basement of an old castle in Europe, circa 1500AD. It’s poorly lit by torches affixed to the wall.
Cut to our protagonist Sir Adam Silverman, chained to the wall, clothing in tatters.
AS: Damn you, Le Gard! You’ll never get away with this treachery!
Camera cuts sharply to a tall man in a cape, dark brunette hair flowing below his collar.
Le Gard, lowers his eyes to stare menacingly at Adam.
Le Gard: We shall see, Sir Adam.
Le Gard twirls his cape behind him as he sharply turns to leave the dungeon. Cackling hysterically he heads up the stairs.
LG: WE SHALL SEE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
randy khan
Will the Lewandowski tell-all book come out before or after the election?
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: While that’s funny, lgerard is right. What I was describing is both how things have traditionally/customarily/usually been done and what the Trump campaign is actually requesting. We are so far off the map for a presidential campaign at this point, however, that actually trying to even cautiously estimate is very, very difficult.
Brachiator
@lgerard:
Except that Trump consistently fights off the “professionals” at every turn.
Who knew that the GOP presidential circus would be followed by this even more ridiculous theater of the absurd.
Mike in NC
@hovercraft: Per the NY Times, Lewandowski had a background with both the lunatic Tea Party movement and the Koch’s Americans for Prosperity. No wonder such a bottom feeder would end up with Drumpf.
hovercraft
@Elie:
Miss Ellie the are not “outsiders” they are True Progressives. It’s a Truthdig rant by a demented BernieBro, but it gives a frightening insight into how deep the madness has gone.
So it’s not a takeover it’s a take back. Funny how that goes back full circle to Trump’s ‘Take Our Country Back” mantra.
MattF
@randy khan: Depends on how urgent it is for him to settle scores. Rumor has it that Lewandowski was planting negative stories about Ivana’s (current) husband. Not a nice person.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@germy:
I wonder if she dismissed the retirement talk in a drunken late night phone call.
Davis X. Machina
@hovercraft:
¡Bernibros unidos jamás seran vencidos!
Chyron HR
@hovercraft:
“Liberal organizations, liberal media, and liberal pundits are all disagreeing with US! What’s wrong with THEM?”
hovercraft
@Davis X. Machina:
The war is over. The unpure have won. Time for you to regroup. From the same rant:
Fight on the dream will never die.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@randy khan: I’m sure there are confidentiality agreements not unlike the former Mrs Trumps have to deal with. Like the Catholic Church, Trump will always scrape together enough cash to take people to court.
The Other Chuck
@SiubhanDuinne:
Eh, I’m kind of surprised there was even a phone call. I’d have put down even money that he was fired by that very tweet.
Just One More Canuck
@Adam L Silverman: Sarah Palin seemed “more normal” to her. Wow.
randy khan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
There might be a confidentiality agreement, but Lewandowski strikes me as the kind of guy not to worry about such niceties.
Also, the thought of a Trump-Lewandowski lawsuit warms the cockles of my heart.
germy
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Virginia Thomas drunk call set to music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPWlsrFixyU
MazeDancer
Bernie embraced and promoted Obama-hating Cornel West.
Bernie embraced and promoted homophobic, Islamophobic Tulsi Gabbard.
Bernie embraced and promoted anti-choice Marcy Kaptur.
Bernie embraced and promoted Dolores Huerta-attacking, Hillary-dissing Susan Sarandon.
Malice cannot be ruled out of his motivations.
SiubhanDuinne
@MattF:
That doesn’t make a particle of sense. For one thing, per Wikipedia, Ivana hasn’t had a husband since 2009.
But regardless, what possible reason would Lewandowski (or anyone) have for planting negative stories about the fourth husband of a woman Trump hasn’t even been married to for the better part of a quarter-century?
Elie
@hovercraft:
Its pretty weird to me…. The reality that these people talk about completely ignores the fact that the American people and Democrats have selected their path — It is not an extreme path but one closer to middle of the road. THEY selected the path that they wanted — not some idealized notion of what that path should be. I tell ya, these folks remind me of the Khmer Rouge and I have absolutely no use for them. In a democracy, there is hopefully always enough in the “soil” to nurture some aspects of outsider flowers and their ideas, but many of them are not about democratic choice per se but about installing their vision of utopia — by all means necessary if possible. That part of these flowers usually gets suppressed and as the rant you linked demonstrates, they are enraged that their utopian vision is being suppressed. Castro has starved and manipulated his people for years and underneath this utopia is some of the same shit — they still have a dominant class — mostly white Cubans, running things and getting all the goodies. Was the “revolution” all bad? Well, the Cubans are scrappy and well educated, providing many excellent physicians that they have sent all over the world. They are natural enterpreneurs and know how to make money stretch, but the “revolution” and utopia that they were promised never happened….
Emma
@SiubhanDuinne: I think people confuse Ivana with Ivanka.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@hovercraft:
This is Exhibit A of the desperate flailing by young white males to come up with a rationale to reassert white male privilege 8 short years after it’s been clearly demonstrated that 2/3 of white males voting GOP still isn’t enough to maintain the presidency in the hands of white supremacist patriarchy, as it’s been since the founding until Obama. The reality of a PoC/women coalition – the real revolution – has been percolating through the shifting paradigm for 8 years, and these Bernfeeling idiots are too unself-aware to see that they’re not only not “revolutionaries”, they’re counter-revolutionaries. It’s like trying to explain water to fish, and when you point it out to them, this babbling nonsense is what you get. Not to say there isn’t some truth to their critique of capitalism, but they’re not only not the answer, angry white men are THE problem and the primary obstacle to any real solutions. It’s not a revolution, it’s a tantrum. They don’t want to share.
MazeDancer
@randy khan:
Bidding to break that agreement is no doubt already high. And if it is true that Corey was on an 8:30 AM campaign phone call and that he got no warning or severance, then NDA might have been violated. Unless Corey signed something with no compensation or conditions from the other side.
Certainly will round out the optics. Maybe the NY Judge, unlike that Hoosier fellow, won’t postpone depositions til after the campaign…
hovercraft
The democrats are just so divided how will Hillary ever get them to come together? It’s been a week, how is she doing so far. Per Gallup.
Brachiator
@dr. bloor:
Hair Furor. Very good.
nutella
@Shalimar:
Ivanka was clever enough to marry a (really) very rich guy, but the brothers may eventually have attempt to get actual jobs. That will be sad.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@MazeDancer: I also don’t think you can overstate the degree to which the man believes that anyone who disagrees with him, on anything, or doesn’t support his candidacy is either corrupt (other elected officials) or stupid (voters) or both, hence all the shifting criteria on which state primaries count, and which party rules are unfair. The flip side of that is that anyone who agrees with him and his candidacy must needs be pure, holy and good, like he is.
I was avoiding cutting and pasting the tweet-reports from BernieCon in Chicago this weekend, but there some LOL’s to be had in Dave Weigel’s feed, and a few others.
randy khan
@Plantsmantx:
Even now, Bernistas are convinced that more black people would have voted for him if they just understood how good he would have been for them. I just had a back-and-forth with someone on my neighborhood listserv who responded to a comment I made about how I would be wary about suggesting that African-American voters are not well informed and don’t make rational decisions about which candidate to support by saying (and this is a direct quotation, except for fixing a typo):
They really don’t get it.
different-church-lady
@hovercraft: I’m so stunned I can’t even headdesk.
SFAW
@Emma:
Based on some of his creepy comments, I’m guessing Deadbeat Donnie does, too.
MattF
@Emma: Quite possible. I was just copying names from a tweet– not exactly a reliable source.
different-church-lady
Why does every thread about Trump turn into a thread about Bernie?
People, time to leave Sanders Derangement Syndrome behind. It was fun for a bit, now it’s just weird.
sigaba
@Emma: considering Ivanka is just a diminutive of Ivana it’s understandable. Ivanushka!
SiubhanDuinne
@Emma:
Then it makes even less sense.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@different-church-lady:
Bernie and Trump are two sides of the same coin.
Feebog
The Trump campaign is the Hindinberg with more flames. What are the odds that Manafort lasts until the convention?
hovercraft
@randy khan:
Yes just what I need a 74 year old white man and his predominantly white male supporters telling me a black woman that they know what is best for me. Condescending much?
sigaba
@SiubhanDuinne: it’s completely within the realm of possibility that Ivanka’s husband is quite a bit more wealthy than Donald– maybe Corey was just helping the bosses ego.
different-church-lady
@Feebog: At this point what are the odds that Trump lasts until the convention?
gwangung
@Elie: Think they also forget that the vast majority of people are not THAT fed up with the system. They see Obama has changed it a little, but not without a lot of pain. They see a choice between incremental change and wholesale change….and they naturally choice incremental choice because that’s safer. You need to show you know the details cold in order to even THINK of substantial change….and I don’t think Sanders made the case for that.
sigaba
@different-church-lady: The betting line is 85% and it’s been falling precipitously since Thursday.
The Thin Black Duke
@randy khan: Oh, fuck me. Words fail.
Tripod
@hovercraft:
Indeed. Bernie may just be a stubborn old goat whose politics are forty years past sell by date, but the refusal to go away with some dignity taints him with the rat-fuckers and kooky dead enders.
Calouste
@Brachiator:
That’s what he has in common with his supporters, they just can’t believe that there is someone who knows better than them, if even those professionals have spend a couple of decades more in their field than they have. A state of mind of course not exclusively limited to the extreme right, anti-vaxxers are a prime example as well.
SiubhanDuinne
@sigaba:
Corey is many things, but I don’t really think he’s that stupid. Oh well, I guess it’ll all shake out sooner or later. One thing I know, and that is that I’m going to LOVE reading all the various campaign memoirs and analyses and “Making Of…” books once this is over. The publishing bidding wars must be glorious.
Amir Khalid
@hovercraft:
As I recall from the HuffPo profile, Katrina Pierson used to work for Ted Cruz. She was a volunteer on Ted’s Senate campaign, until Heidi Cruz got jealous that she was seeking Ted’s attention and had her fired.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@different-church-lady: I’ve thought for a while, way back when i was still saying there was no way he’d get the nomination and didn’t even want it, that the best case scenario for him was the rogue elephant pretending to be wounded, trumpeting and trampling all the tents and pissing on them and anybody he crushed inside them.
Then I think about the story that said he would pick a Veep who would do all the boring busy work of the presidency, and he would just marinate in all the attention, and that makes just as much sense. Not that I think he can win (mostly), but I’m sure he, in the parts of his brain he acknowledges, thinks he can.
Elie
@sigaba:
Yeah — and supposedly he came from a Democratic family? They say he is one of Trump’s “advisers”. If so, it doesn’t say much about his advise OR, like anyone else, he is doing the best he can with a very deranged narcissist. I tell ya, the old man is gonna put everyone’s money at risk — particularly his sons, by the time this is all over. That weakness will beget a lot of close scrutiny to come so I hope everyone has their legal and business shit in order, because all of it will be in play. That is just what happens when you burn your bridges to the degree that ol Trump is doing… and he went after Jeb Bush again!…. He is so underestimating these people in their willingness to slit his throat and watch him bleed out like a pig in a slaughter house….
Emma
@SFAW: Will.Not.Go.There. *gagging sounds*
Tripod
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He’s repeating standard white power tropes that the Democratic voting underclass can’t be trusted with self governance.
Calouste
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: The main difference seems to be is that Sanders is lying about his tax returns because he wants people to believe that he is far poorer than he is, where as Trump is lying about his tax returns because he wants people to believe that he is far richer than he is.
/snark
Paul in KY
@hovercraft: Probably make a good movie out of that. Add some robots & shit…
Emma
@SiubhanDuinne: Ivanka’s husband is Jewish (she converted IIRC), from a well-known Democratic family, and, believe it or not, his dad was sent to jail by the New Jersey Burger Carrier. Who knows at this point? The whole Republican election thing has blown past telenovela territory and into Grand Guignol.
different-church-lady
@hovercraft:
…BUT THERE’S NO FUCKIN’ WAY WE’RE GOING TO BE QUIET ABOUT IT!!!!
sigaba
@Elie: I guess Jared Kushner is at least a big a Democrat as Donald Trump was :). You get the sense that when people have that much money sloshing around the party affiliations aren’t so precious.
hovercraft
@Amir Khalid:
I’m pretty sure that Heidi has little to fear from people trying to poach on her turf, a more repulsive, creepy person is hard to fathom. But then again Donald Trump.
O/T But one of the late night comics remarked last week that with each birthday Trump celebrated, Melania celebrated one year closer to freedom.
Elie
@gwangung:
THIS. AND he himself was not adverse to some of the blandishments of success — the little Vatican junket with a big rented jet and cordon bleu meals, is one example He’s had his palms filled with silver from the military industrial complex also. And that whole Jane issue with Burlington College where a whole lot of dough disappeared. He is just a fake and black people over the years, have a fair amount of experience picking up on the showboats… Also, the profound dis to the first black President of the US. That is some serious insult to most of us anyway…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Chris Hayes is calling for his prediction of Ivanka’s run for office to words that are marked. Maybe he knows more about her than I do– actually that’s a near certainty– but the flaw in the whole Trumps as the American Le Pens (or did the Cheneys already do that) thing is that the LePens have a clearly identifiable ideology. Is Ivanka really gonna run for office on her father’s ego and need for cheers from the great unwashed? Also, I don’t see her running for the House or lower office, and (again not knowing much about her), it’s hard to imagine a platform based on vicarious celebrity and some more mainstream party stances, in whatever state she chooses to buy residency.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Calouste:
re tax returns: The Donald is hiding his own cons, and Sanders his hiding his wife’s cons.
By the way, someone messaged Al Giordano earlier today that they were on a plane where pure pure St. Bernard of Burlington was flying first class, and Pat Leahy was in coach. Bernie isn’t even the best Senator from Vermont.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@hovercraft: Dan Amira, who once wrote for New York magazine, got on Trump’s twitter shitlist and just tweeted back “Your wife is waiting for you to die”. Trump, as you might imagine, went nuclear.
SiubhanDuinne
@Emma:
Ivanka is also, apparently, very good friends with Chelsea Clinton. Makes a certain amount of sense. They are of similar ages, extremely smart and accomplished daughters of world-famous parents and raised in the media spotlight, both married wealthy Jewish men, their children are roughly the same ages), and I know that Chelsea has, at least in the past, spoken very highly of Ivanka.
But I can’t help feeling that 2016 may put a certain amount of strain on the friendship.
hovercraft
@Elie:
politico profile
bloomberg profile
He seems to be a great fit for the Trump family.
Brachiator
@Calouste: RE: Except that Trump consistently fights off the “professionals” at every turn.
But political consultants are often part of a weasel class. Their decades of experience often do not amount to much, and too often their advice is cynical, cheap and obvious marketing derived BS. And sometimes I don’t know which is worse, the charlatans who keep getting hired even though their candidates lose, or those who are successful guns for hire and will work for liberals and conservatives without regard to any sense of personal ethics.
I kinda understand it when Trump dismisses some of the “professionals.” When he tries to rein himself in, or read from a teleprompter, he comes across as stiff and insincere.
But Trump’s larger problem is that he is an ignorant fool whose beliefs are odious. Here, the “professionals” are not trying to change his thinking, or educate him, as much as they are simply trying to disguise his reprehensible views, the way that a crooked supermarket tries to make bad steaks look edible.
gwangung
@Elie: Yeah, well I’m not even going onto the more glaring weaknesses in the Sanders campaigns (of which there are many). He needed to be fairly mistake free and competent, and he wasn’t any of that. (Yes, he pisses me off in many ways, but I don’t need to go into that; emphasizing his incompetence should be enough).
nutella
@Elie:
I note that you are describing recent issues and actions by Sanders while the idiot quoted earlier wanted black voters to be grateful that he marched with MLK and had nothing to say about anything Sanders had done with or for black voters in the past 40 years. Perhaps because there isn’t anything to talk about from the last 40 years.
nutella
@SiubhanDuinne:
Another point of similarity: Both Ivanka’s and Chelsea’s fathers-in-law are criminals who’ve spent time in jail.
Mike R
@SFAW: The people would demand Blake for VP if they just saw this picturehttp://juanitajean.com/ducky-pajamas-and-whining/ Presidential material that one.
Elie
@nutella:
I tell you, I still don’t “get” Bernie and what he really expects to get out of his recent games with the Democratic Party. This whole shtick of dissing first Obama and now Clinton by not conceding or congratulating her — like what does that really do for him? His dead enders will hang around for a while sniffing the ever evaporating fumes of the utopian delusion, but Bernie and Jane are going to experience a very hard and depressing landing that, like Trump, will play out in many many negative consequences for a long time. He and Trump, as said upstring, really do seem to have certain personality traits in common…
nutella
@Elie:
It makes sense if his goal is maximum damage to the Democratic party. I don’t really want to believe that but what else could account for his very strange behavior?
(Honest question! Anyone got any theories?)
hovercraft
@Brachiator:
You’re right, the problem is the candidate. No amount of firings and consultants can fix this. Much like they were able to make Sarah look good for one speech, and had the beltway proclaiming her a star, as soon as she was off the teleprompter she was exposed. Trump on script is stiff and boring, he cannot run for 5 minutes let alone for 5 months without exposing himself. His ego tells him he knows best and that will not change. Trump is Trump. And the democrats will keep reminding everyone of his statements. Again and there are many more coming as long as he keeps talking.
bemused
@hovercraft:
If someone wrote a fictional screenplay for a movie about a Trump figure and his family, the movie studios would all probably reject it as too farfetched unless it was rewritten as a total farce.
different-church-lady
@nutella: He’s the guy at the office who read the safety manual cover to cover and is now obsessed with finding every violation he can.
SiubhanDuinne
@nutella: Yes! And their own fathers (Chelsea’s and Ivanka’s, I mean) have been, shall we say, somewhat colorful and controversial. Really quite a lot in common, take it all in all.
SiubhanDuinne
@bemused:
I’m thinking only grand opera can do him artistic justice. After all there have been operas written about Richard Nixon, Lizzie Borden, and Anna Nicole Smith. And nobody much cares if an opera libretto is over-the-top unbelievable.
Brachiator
@SiubhanDuinne:
Die Zauberhaar?
maya
@SRW1:
Mein Drumpf
Patricia Kayden
@nutella: Senator Sanders has promised to do all he can to work with Secretary Clinton to ensure that Trump doesn’t win in November. That doesn’t sound too bad. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he’ll come around and campaign hard for Clinton and that bygones will be bygones as we near November.
Elie
@nutella:
People with unmanaged personality disorders and/or other mental conditions will sometimes do things that they believe are the best and only superior choices and don’t really think about consequences per se. In both Trump and Bernie there seems to be a fundamental anger/rage/grievance thing that stands apart in both men, though draped with somewhat different superficial rationales. The anger/grievance is the operating principle? I know much will be written about both men after all of this…. Also — both political parties won’t soon forget and what they will do in response will be another set of interesting books/articles…
Elie
@Patricia Kayden:
..and he could not concede or congratulate her because?….
Elie
@SiubhanDuinne:
I agree and think it would make a fine opera. They could do a scene where the stage opens up to hell and Trump is swallowed in fire (staged bright lights), etc….
Chyron HR
@Patricia Kayden:
So, really, it’s her fault for just laughing every time Bernie tells her to concede for the good of the country.
germy
Trump is Roy Cohn’s final project:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/21/us/politics/donald-trump-roy-cohn.html?_r=0
randy khan
@hovercraft:
@The Thin Black Duke:
I was, to say the least, taken aback.
But this same guy also is insisting that Clinton engaged in voter suppression in some unspecified way, and when I pointed out there was no evidence of this, essentially said I should do some research.
catclub
@germy:
From the NYT article.
There is a video of Charlie Sheen telling a similar story. Trump wants to give a wedding gift, gives Sheen platinum cufflinks with 1 ct diamonds.
They were pewter with cubic zirconia – bad cz.
Gravenstone
@hovercraft: Da fucking fuckfuck was that? The stupid not only burns, it purges all possible counterarguments from existence.
daves09
@yellowdog: Trump’s father encouraged him to be a total jerkwad, to always be the take no prisoners, never admit a mistake dick he is. I’m sure the boys have competed for his attention by each trying to be “better”(read worse by normal moral standards) at being a dick-generation after generation.
SFAW
@Elie:
Il Comb-endatore from Don(ald) Juan?.
daves09
@nutella: People talk about Sanders’ ideas. He doesn’t have ideas. He has an idea. Ending income inequality will literally cure everything, whether racial, sexist, international-everything. Anyone or anything that gets in the way of that is not even worth considering.
gwangung
@randy khan: Yeah, I thought these were caricatures, but there are lots of dead enders in the wild who proclaim Bernie is better for civil rights because he marched with King, Clinton was a Goldwater Girl, etc. Not very swift….
Plantsmantx
@randy khan: Well, that person doesn’t get it, that’s for damn sure. It’s funny how they assume we don’t see and hear the same media they do, including the Internet.
Plantsmantx
@MazeDancer: Sanders social liberalism is…let’s say considerably less effortless than his economic liberalism.
J R in WV
@Patricia Kayden:
If he hasn’t spent a couple of weeks working hard for Hillary before the convention, I wouldn’t even authorize tickets for the SOB and his wife.
I don’t trust Bernie as far as I could throw Jane, and I’m elderly and disabled. Which is why I don’t trust Bernie, I’m old enough to have seen this crap before. And if he gets to speak, it should be at 11 am or 12:30 am, if you see what I mean. And he LOST the election(s) already – it’s over for him – why does he get Secret Service protection?
Ruckus
@J R in WV:
why does he get Secret Service protection?
Well there is a mathematical possibility that he can win. It is what you might call a long shot, as in nofuckinway long shot, but I believe all the hated supers have to do is switch to him and he’d win. Of course that’s not taking into account that he thinks the supers are a very bad idea and undemocratic……..
I believe the word you are looking for is delusional.