An hairpiece-free excursion (by request!) to bring howls of joy to your day:
And, (apologizing for the nod to the orange one from whom we so need respite) a reminder of the wellsprings of political philosophy that animate our “friends” across the aisle, not just the nominee, but his entire foreclosed on, possession taken, bust-out-begun party.
I know what’s happening when Donald Trump is one tight election away from Götterdämmerung ain’t even remotely funny. But Messrs. Python are, and sometimes we all can use a break.
Open thread.
Matt McIrvin
I actually started tearing up during the Corden bit. It started to hit me just how much I’m going to miss having the Obamas in the White House, after everything that’s happened.
misterpuff
Breaking New: UK Brexits from Internet.
dmsilev
Via Kevin Drum, Trump has numbers:
I’d try to figure out what he’s saying, but it’s not even 9 AM here on the left coast and it’s far too early to start drinking.
Elmo
Hey! That’s the unlikely hero guy from Dr Who! I love him!
Immanentize
LAO posted that Carpool Karaoke in comments a couple of threads down. I am with Matt McIrvin — it made me tear up with both joy and sadness. Of course, when Missy Elliot joins the carpool….
Immanentize
@dmsilev: I love the Dadaist poets —
Like Hugo Ball who wrote the lyrics to I Zimbra
(Talking Heads put it to music)
Tom Levenson
@Immanentize: Missed LAO’s comment. Great minds and all that….
Immanentize
@Tom Levenson: It is so fabulous, I sent it around to a few dozen friends after I saw it. Thanks for front paging it!
hovercraft
Coolest FLOTUS ever. I’m sad to see them go, but seriously driving down the road with your favorite jams playing loud enough to drown out your terrible voice is one of the joys of life, and she’s been unable to do it for 8 years. As much as we’ll miss them, I have no doubt that she is counting down the days till she’s free. Fly buterfly fly.
Brachiator
This is great. And yet, in a parallel universe, stick up the butt pearl clutchers would see this and foam at the mouth over how Michelle Obama is destroying the dignity of First Ladies, which can only be exemplified by bland white women.
The Obamas have been a wonderful gift to this country.
Face
I’m amazed at how off-the-radar the Obamas have kept their daughters. Yes, the Bush twins were older and thus more prone to shenanigans (read: drunk stupid shit), but they regularly made the news for dumb things and statements. Whereas the 2 Obama girls have been almost completely non-existent in the media, for anything and everything they’ve done. It’s admirable to be both such an effective leader of a nation and also so focused on molding successful behavior in preen and teen daughters.
Aimai
Im crying. I really hsve loved bring represented by them on the eofld stage. It was an honor to have them as our first family.
rikyrah
I loved that. I am going to miss FLOTUS so much. Michelle Obama as First Lady has been more than I ever expected. More than I dared to dream when I realized we were going to have the first Black First Lady. Love her. Loved her way before I loved him. I am a Michelle Obama Stan, and I will miss her terribly. In so many ways, it was more important to me to have HER in the White House than even POTUS.
Dork
@dmsilev: So “45, 55, and 65” are numbers reflecting manufacturing. Uh huh. Are those expected unemployment percentages in PA under a Trump presidency or the just the ages of the 3 employees left working for Heinz during a Trump presidency?
Punchy
@dmsilev: I simply cannot fathom how he expects to debate HRC on….well….pretty much anything. He really knows almost nothing about anything. He can bluster during a stump speech all he wants, but in a non-primary debate not lead by Foxies and not involving 27 questions on how much they hate the ACA, he simply cannot seem to muster a cogent, error (lie?)-free statement of import about anything of global significance.
I realize that the MSM will give him 1,931 free passes in order to maintain the facade of a horserace, but ordinary peeps will likely be aghast at his wanton dumbfuckery.
dogwood
@Aimai:
The irony of the Obama family is that they really exhibit the values that “conservatives” like Brooks claim to admire. Respect for institutions, self-respect, self-restraint, good manners, and discipline. A terrific family.
MDC
I was thinking the other day that this Python skit was a fair substitute for a live feed from Cleveland:
a href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsQM9HKtvA4″
MDC
Let’s try that again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsQM9HKtvA4
MDC
Let’s try that again — this is the link.
Miss Bianca
OK, so right in the middle of “Put a Ring on It” Lefty Kitty jumps on the screen and starts patting Michelle O’s face. Cute!!
Oh, now every time she sings Lefty wants in on it! She’s perched on the screen and getting all excited by Missy E.! Her little paws are just going now. How am I supposed to do anything today but laugh??
EconWatcher
This article from the FT on the demise of Roger Ailes and the likely waning of Fox News is thoughtful and worth reading:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/add048e4-4e32-11e6-88c5-db83e98a590a.html#axzz4F3V1nBv0
Percysowner
@Punchy:
Well, the first debate venue (Wright State in Ohio) has already pulled out due to security concerns. If he can ramp up the rhetoric enough he may be able to get all the venues to bail and there would be no debates.
@Face: Lord knows the Clintons really tried to keep Chelsea away from public scrutiny. Sadly Rush Limbaugh and his despicable ilk refused to allow that.
Cckids
I saw this late last night; so cool. The part that got me crying a bit was when Cordon asked her what will be hardest about leaving the White House, and she said; leaving all the people working there, that you get to know them & their families & it will just be difficult to walk away. How many FLOTUSes past would say that?? Michelle’s just an amazing human; our country’s been lucky to have her there.
Amir Khalid
@Punchy:
I presume Donald will do everything he can to rattle Hillary: try to Gish-gallop his way past her, claim that her carefully-considered responses are a sign of womanish weakness, pound the table/lectern, insult her. That’s what you do when you know jack about the subject being debated. It worked for him in the Republican debates because he had such feeble opponents, and the moderators couldn’t control him (or didn’t dare try). I think she’ll be wise enough to ignore his provocations and concentrate on making her case.
Mary G
Carpool Karaoke is the best.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Oh definitely. That’s why PBO used to call her “the closer” in Iowa and NH. Once you were in her presence-deal was done. She really is extraordinary.
Kyle
@Dork: They are speed limits. Numbers. Numbers on signs.
sinnedbackwards
@dmsilev: Today the latest unemployment filing numbers were released.
Lowest absolute number since NIXON was president. I haven’t figured %% but it may be lowest since statistics have been kept, since there is a very much larger labor force since Nixon. This sets the stage for higher wages.
And the Village yawns. But Trumpzilla is about to give a shiny new stream-of-unconsciousness speech.
Look, bunnies!
rikyrah
Roundup: Trump’s Son Slams Public Education
Donald Trump Jr. trashes U.S. public schools (though he didn’t attend one)
By Valerie Strauss
July 20 at 4:45 PM
Donald Trump Jr. doesn’t think much of American public schools — even though he never attended one.
In a speech Tuesday night at the Republican convention, the son of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said the following:
Actually, most other countries don’t let all parents decide which school to send their children to. And a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found, according to author Eunice Han, that “highly unionized districts actually fire more bad teachers.”
father pussbucket
@Punchy:
I anticipate that he will keep interrupting and name-calling and the moderator will have to keep shutting him up, and then the Trumpistas will carry on about how the moderator was totally in the tank for Hillary.
Dadadadadadada
@father pussbucket: I wouldn’t be too surprised to see him attempt a physical assault. That seems to be a well-used option for men like him when they feel “belittled” by women.
Roger Moore
@Punchy:
Insults, derogatory comments, snide sexist bullshit, and a few more insults for good measure. He expects to be able to reduce her to hysterics and/or cause her to act like a stereotypical bitch, which will automatically make him the winner.
father pussbucket
@Dadadadadadada: That would be excellent. I wonder if he’d get security briefings in the slammer.
Cacti
Turkey to “temporarily” suspend the European Convention on Human Rights.
The “coup” against Erdogan is starting to look very much like the burning of a certain parliamentary building in 1933.
Central Planning
When I saw the preview picture of the Python video, I was expecting something decent and military
Immanentize
@Roger Moore: And the whole media narrative will be “Did Trump get under Hillary’s skin?” and “Thin skinned Hillary” and “Humorless Hillary!” (Hey, I should copyright that last one….)
Hal
Speaking of giggles, from Facebook today. Posted by friend of a friend.
gogol's wife
Why are all the cool, nice people on our side? I didn’t used to feel that way. Nelson Rockefeller, Lowell Weicker, and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., were cool and nice. Wha happened?
Iowa Old Lady
@father pussbucket: That’s why if I were in charge of the debates, I’d turn off the mic of anyone who’s not supposed to be speaking.
father pussbucket
@Immanentize: Hopefully, PBO will coach her on getting under the Donald’s skin.
gogol's wife
@father pussbucket:
I’d lovelovelove to see a debate between Obama and Trump.
Villago Delenda Est
@Amir Khalid: What a gross insult of the “Deep Field” of the Klown Kar Kavalcade!
O. Felix Culpa
Love FLOTUS and her joie de vivre.
As for whatever it is that spews out of Trump’s mouth, HRC’s challenge will be debating someone who is through the looking glass:
Iowa Old Lady
The Clinton campaign is capable of debate prep that includes having someone play Trump saying, “I never said that,” and having her practice a variety of good answers. Trump’s team will be lucky to get him to do any prep.
Villago Delenda Est
@rikyrah: His children are as execrable as Teh Donald himself.
Jeffro
@shomi:
Agreed.
You know, I don’t want to ‘count my chickens before they hatch’ here, but…once the GOP train wreck of a convention wraps up, and then we have the all-star A-team Democratic one, I think it’s entirely likely that Clinton clears 50% nationally and just never comes down. (It’s unfortunate that so much anti-HRC propaganda will keep it from being a historic rout, but it should still be impressive.)
Trump is only going to get worse as he realizes his campaign is heading for utter disaster, and he doesn’t do too well when he’s on the way down. The GOP can look forward to 10+ weeks of that kind of thing.
We can’t get complacent, but it puts a whole new spin on the season called ‘fall’
Iowa Old Lady
OT whining: We’re under an excessive heat warning, and when I went to B&N for my afternoon writing session, the AC was broken. I gave myself the afternoon off. I just wish I could have done it for the workers there.
MomSense
@father pussbucket:
I hope he has a YUUUUGE tantrum and she just rolls her eyes and makes the yapping sign with her right hand. Make him look like the spoiled brat he is. He acts like a bratty child. You can’t have a rational conversation with a toddler having a tantrum. Can you imagine if she asked him to use his words or his inside voice? I think anyone who has experienced a tantrum from a bratty child would cheer.
Trentrunner
I always admired Hillary’s 2008 primary debate response to the question “Why aren’t you more likable?”
Hillary: “Well, that hurts my feelings.”
(This was right before Obama’s infamous “You’re likable enough, Hillary.)
I always thought that was an amazingly tough, astringent response. Like, filtered through Hillary’s Sarcasm Translator: “I know you think that question should dissolve me into a puddle of helpwess female low-self-esteem, but here’s a big steaming cup of FuckRightOff.”
I am less worried about Hillary in the debates w/Trump than I was about Obama against Romney. (And I wasn’t that worried then.)
I look forward to them.
Cacti
@Jeffro:
If Trump comes out of the GOP convention without a lead: checkmate.
The post convention bounce is typically a candidate’s high water mark.
Iowa Old Lady
I love all the Clinton ads that just quote Trump. Here’s a new one, showing him saying repeatedly what a great person HRC is.
Amir Khalid
@Dadadadadadada:
If Trump is stupid enough to physically attack Hillary (ETA: and he just might be; one never knows), it will be interesting to see what his hair looks like when it emerges from beneath a scrum of Secret Service agents.
Roger Moore
@Immanentize:
That’s assuming Trump actually succeeds. Hillary has a pretty thick skin, and she’ll be expecting it, so I don’t expect him to be able to ruffle her. OTOH, I expect she’ll be subtly- or not so subtly- needling him the whole time, and that he won’t be able to take it for a whole debate, much less a whole string of debates.
dr. luba
@Iowa Old Lady: Try the local public library. That’s what I do when the power is out. Just as distracting as B&N (all those lovely books), but at least I don’t feel the need to buy something.
dmsilev
@shomi:
Obama, maybe, would be better. He seems to have a singular gift for getting under Trump’s skin. But it’s a tough call.
catclub
@Cacti: High point for Turkey looks to be the week before they were turned down for entry in the EU.
Hard to guess how long and how low they will go.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: I think there’s a good chance that she’ll needle him into losing control at least once, and a nontrivial possibility of goading him into a full-out screaming meltdown.
catclub
@Iowa Old Lady: link does not exist.
catclub
@dmsilev: Elizabeth Warren. Obama does a lot more just ignoring, since he has a job to do most days.
catclub
@gogol’s wife: John Anderson, GOP of long ago.
Cacti
@dmsilev:
I think of it in terms of experience in dealing with types.
Hillary has a lifetime of experience handling boorish men who talk down to women.
Trump has virtually no experience having strong women tell him he’s full of crap, or laugh derisively at his nonsense.
rikyrah
Most men debating a woman try and avoid looking sexist. Ferret Head won’t even try.
? Martin
Clinton will eat him alive. She’s quite good in debates, and she’s taken so many punches that she’ll shake off any of his. It’ll really come down to *how* she plays the debates, either as informative to the audience or as trolling Donald to force him off balance. I think her instinct is the latter based on how she did previously.
Iowa Old Lady
@catclub: Let me try again. Does this work? If it doesn’t, I found the link on the campaign roundup post on the Maddow Blog.
cckids
@shomi:
It makes me wish they’d do a debate sitting down, so she could give him her “chin-on-hand, bring on the bullshit” Benghazi-hearings face. Including brushing him off her shoulders.
JPL
@Iowa Old Lady: Wow!
Bex
@rikyrah: I saw her speak a few months before the ’08 Iowa primary. She was great, and talked a bit about how she and Barack met, which is the subject of the upcoming movie, “Southside With You” to be released in August.
Matt McIrvin
I think there’s an excellent chance that Trump will just find some excuse to not debate Clinton at all. Probably at the last minute. He’s done it before, at least twice, and it got praised as a strategic masterstroke, like he’d pantsed his opponents.
dedc79
Compare:
and
BR
Sadly, I think the thing that would lose Trump the most support is if the slow motion video clip of him trying to kiss Pence is replayed for his base over and over. And add in the video of him with Giuliani in drag, and I think his base would melt. They can’t handle that sort of thing.
Chyron HR
@dedc79:
What in God’s name are you blathering about?
dmsilev
Ezra Klein, notable as a Villager-in-Training, has penned a pretty good why Trump shouldn’t be President piece if anyone happens to have friends or relatives that (God forbid) are Trump-curious. Doesn’t rely at all on policy, but purely his character (or lack thereof).
Matt McIrvin
@dmsilev: On the other hand, Hillary is a better all-around debater than Obama. Tough call indeed.
dedc79
@Chyron HR: I tried to include that line, but it screwed up the formatting. Hard to pick favorite scenes from the film, but that one is up there for me.
gogol's wife
@Trentrunner:
She’s not as nice a person as Obama, and I think that will be an advantage in the debates.
Iowa Old Lady
@gogol’s wife: LOL. As a crabby old lady, I cannot tell you how much I love this comment.
rikyrah
How the RNC turned into The Mistake by the Lake
07/21/16 01:05 PM—UPDATED 07/21/16 01:10 PM
By Steve Benen
It’s not as if we haven’t seen bad nominating conventions before. During the 1968 Democratic convention, there were literal riots outside the hall. At the 1972 Democratic convention, the presidential nominee chose a running mate, then felt the need to swap him out for someone else.
As the 1992 Republican convention, the American mainstream recoiled when Pat Buchanan declared a religious war. Twenty years later, Clint Eastwood got into an argument with an empty chair – and somehow managed to come out on the losing end of the quarrel.
And yet, reading the New York Times’ David Leonhardt’s summary of the 2016 Republican gathering, it’s hard not to marvel at this week’s developments in Cleveland.
Screaming matches between delegates. Past nominees who refused to attend. Speakers who seem allergic to mentioning the nominee’s name – or policies. The runner-up refusing to endorse the winner.
Plagiarism. Lies about plagiarism. Talk of Lucifer from the stage. Humanizing stories about the nominee relegated to obscure time slots. Multiple speakers calling for the jailing of the opposing nominee. A prominent delegate calling for that nominee’s execution by firing squad.
Well, sure, when you put it that way, it sounds like things haven’t gone well.
dmsilev
@Matt McIrvin: It worked in the primary, but it would backfire badly in the general, especially if he tried that stunt for the first debate. Clinton would say that Trump is afraid of her, and that she’ll show up anyway to answer questions and so forth, and the press (which loves those debates) would eat Trump alive.
gogol's wife
Of course everyone remembers the Lazio-Clinton debate. Let’s hope Donnie tries something like this.
gogol's wife
I’m in moderation for some reason.
gogol's wife
I was trying to remind everyone of the moment when Rick Lazio tried to physically intimidate Clinton. It sank him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMJZo4UeTYQ
gogol's wife
I guess I can’t post a comment about the Lazio-Clinton debate.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I love Dino and Luigi Vercotti…
gogol's wife
@Iowa Old Lady:
If you could see my comment, you could look at the YouTube of her debate with Rick Lazio. As he’s talking, she’s looking at him with eyes of steel.
Matt McIrvin
I’ve been watching the national polls that came out over the course of the convention. There aren’t that many yet. I think the best you can say is that Trump didn’t obviously get a negative bounce from the first few days. Hard to say whether he got a positive one or not–if he did, it was small.
Mnemosyne
@gogol’s wife:
IIRC, Lazio was dumb enough to try a bit of physical intimidation by walking some kind of list over to Clinton’s podium. It did NOT go over well with NY state voters, to say the least.
Dadadadadadada
@Matt McIrvin: Then the convention was a disaster for him. Candidates usually count on a large bounce from the convention. He got the media’s undivided attention (for free!) for a solid week, and the best he could do was break even. He is toast.
cain
@Dadadadadadada:
Please. He isn’t toast. You’re talking about a man on national tv, who outright said that he would hand off the duties of the president to his vice president. He has said so many things that would sink any other candidate, but not him. So, let’s not for a moment believe he is toast until voting day.
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne:
Yes, he takes some kind of pledge over to her and badgers her to sign it. She stays cool. It was amazing. Too bad BJ won’t let me link it. I hope Donnie tries something similar.
Matt McIrvin
@Dadadadadadada: Convention bounces are generally short-lived anyway–the best you can do is parlay it into some positive media buzz for a week or two.
Dadadadadadada
@cain: If he were “sunk” by such comments, what would that look like? I don’t think it would be much different from what we see today: a lot of desperate flailing, denial from the insiders and deafening silence from a lot of people that should be his strongest supporters.
Brachiator
@Dadadadadadada:
@Matt McIrvin:
The convention bounce, for either party, is one of a number of meaningless reactions about which the media dutifully writes during campaign season. It’s like a reporter talking about airport snarl during Thanksgiving or Christmas. It’s filler. Nothing more.
I think that Trump is in trouble, and would be even if he had a perfect convention. But the real test will be when both campaigns hit the road after the convention.
Brachiator
@? Martin:
Clinton is OK in debates. Have people entirely forgot her debates with Obama in 2008?
Clinton can overwhelm Trump with her mastery of background and experience. But the question will be how she will do on conveying leadership.
And obviously, viewers are not neutral. Trump supporters are ignorant rubes who simply want to see Trump project power and authority. I keep hearing his supporters proclaim that Trump doesn’t need to know anything about foreign or domestic policy since his notably key strength is his ability to assemble the best advisors. Oddly enough, people said much the same thing about Dubya back in 2000. This was a tremendous error in judgment, but some people never learn.
J R in WV
@Cacti:
I suspected this a day or two after they were shut down so fast. Then the lists of people to be fired and arrested showed up, before the “coup”…
Fascists are everywhere. They appear to use the same tools over and over. One way to recognize them. Perhaps we should recognize Kurdistan sooner rather than later, and invite it to join NATO?
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
As we saw during the primary, Trump’s debating style is to challenge his opponents to whip it out and have a measuring contest. So, yeah, this is going to be like a drunk frat boy challenging the Rock to a fistfight even if Hillary is not objectively the greatest debater in all of American history. “Pretty darn good” (which is what she is) will be more than good enough.
ETA: Also, Obama is himself a terrific debater, so “came in second to Obama in the debate” is a recommendation in itself.
J R in WV
@Iowa Old Lady:
Yes, that works, and on so many levels. Thanks for the link, and Donald, thanks for the accolades for Hillary!
Kenneth Kohl
@Matt McIrvin: Yep, I am truly going to miss the Obamas. IMO, this White House was just as much ‘Camelot’ as the Kennedy W.H.