Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

We still have time to mess this up!

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Open Thread: Team Trump Can’t Stop Tap-Dancing…

Open Thread: Team Trump Can’t Stop Tap-Dancing…

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“Donald Trump questions Gold Star parents’ patriotism” was the lead story on the national news this evening. And the man can’t stop fanning the flames!

…Trump’s dispute with the Khans has dominated the White House campaign in recent days and underlined the uneasy alliance between many leading Republicans and the party’s freewheeling, unorthodox nominee for the Nov. 8 election.

Rob Wasinger, a onetime congressional candidate who has been working for the Trump camp on congressional outreach, sent an email to senior Senate aides saying, “We want to get several member statements out today on this, and would really appreciate your help.”

A similar appeal was made to Republicans in the House of Representatives, according to a senior aide.

Attached to the appeal were talking points lawmakers could use to try to tamp down the controversy growing since last week’s appearance at the Democratic convention by the Khans, the parents of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed by a bomb in Iraq 12 years ago.

Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trump, said that the campaign was grateful to have support in Congress and that Republicans are working to keep Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton from winning the presidency. Wasinger refused to comment when contacted by telephone.

The appeal did not generate any help for Trump…

I hear the youngs have a meme about such situations: New phone who dis.

And big Tough Guy Corey Lewandowski, “ex” Trump spokesthug, ain’t helping:

Just like his master, the man can’t shut up. He’s doubling down on attacking the Khans, even while reminding every media person (“don’t touch me!!!”) that he got strategically reassigned to CNN after physically assaulting a female reporter. And good for Quinn, making him look like the tetchy little toddler he’s never outgrown.

The Combover Caligula’s still got his base supporters, though…

Among the great Molly Ivins’ many wise maxims: It’s okay to step on your own dick now and then, but you shouldn’t just stand there.

Next time some earnest Both Sides! acquaintance starts worrying about whether Hillary possesses the acumen, the perceived toughness, to win this bitterly contested election… tell them that one advantage to Hillary’s “not having a dick” is that she won’t keep stepping on it.

Reader Interactions

187Comments

  1. 1.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    Just when you think, surely it can’t get any stupider than this incident, you discover you are wrong again.

  3. 3.

    Trentrunner

    The spouse and I were trying to think of someone worse for Trump to insult than the Khans.

    I can’t. Nancy Reagan? Elder Bush? Tom Hanks? The dead wife of Oscar Pistorius?

    I think Trump has insulted–and then megaphoned–the worst possible people for his campaign.

  4. 4.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    The words. They are failing me. Even the mangled apricot nutsack’s really big, good words.

  5. 5.

    Adam L Silverman

    Its like the guy who called into Shannyn Moore’s radio show. According to Moore, the conversation went like this:
    https://www.facebook.com/shannyn.moore/posts/10151214119893021

    I had a listener say he didn’t trust the president and that he thought he’d “made the Sandy hook shooting happen” to get re-elected. I explained that Sandy Hook had happened AFTER the election. His response? “That’s your opinion.”

  9. 9.

    JPL

    @Trentrunner: During the debate he will mention, that because of Hillary’s looks, Bill had no choice, but to cheat. Trump will also mention that Bill could not attract the type of tens that he does.

  11. 11.

    Emma

    I consider myself a pretty realistic (cynical?) person, but I have been well and truly flummoxed by the stupidity revealed by my fellow Americans. Bless their hearts.

  13. 13.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dmsilev: Now you’ve done it, Schrodinger’s Cat will be along any time to explain cyclical time from a Hindu perspective. Why don’t you just go stand in front of a mirror and say “Bloody Mary” three times while you’re at it…//

  14. 14.

    sukabi

    @Adam L Silverman: supposedly he fired one of his communications people today, but I’ve gotta think that Manafort and his other Russian implants will keep advising him to keep it up, just FOR the diversion.

  15. 15.

    dmsilev

    And Donald not only continues to step on his own dick, apparently this afternoon he took the trouble to change into cleated shoes:

    In an interview today with a local ABC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio, Donald Trump suggested that what angered critic Khizr Khan was Trump’s aggressive efforts to prevent terrorists from entering the country.

    “It’s a very big subject for me, border security is very big. When you have radical Islamic terrorists probably all over the place, we’re allowing them to come in by the thousands and thousands. And I think that’s what bothered Mr. Khan more than anything else. And, you know, I’m not going to change my views on that. We have radical Islamic terrorists coming in that have to be stopped. We’re taking them in by the thousands.”

  16. 16.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @Adam L Silverman: if by Schrodinger’s Cat you mean ‘an australian archaeologist who’s bored of writing lectures’…. actually these lectures are fun. I’m teaching a class using films and fictional archaeologists to do some tough discplinary critique (around gender, race, colonialism, etc) this week we’re onto aliens and pseudoscience, meaning I spent 30 minutes yesterday looking at Ancient Aliens memes to populate my lecture

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    A musical, more lighthearted interlude of what ought to be the theme song for the assorted Trumpflacks.

    Because a smile amongst torment by lunacy is always good.

  18. 18.

    Adam L Silverman

    @sukabi: Nothing shows up in a quick keyword search.

    @efgoldman: @sukabi: Actually I was being largely facetious about the Russia stuff. Its still being covered. Largely because his surrogates just sound patently absurd when they’re answering questions about it. His remarks over the weekend about Russia not having incurred into Ukraine didn’t help either.

  19. 19.

    Mnemosyne

    We’re watching “The Red House” on TCM and were shocked to find out that the young town hottie was being played by Julie London. Frankly, we’re only old enough to know her from “Emergency!” 25 years later, so I guess we just didn’t know.

  20. 20.

    scav

    @Adam L Silverman: To be fair, my first thought was to somehow riff on those that the believe in Science! — you know, Devils! for a bit and then drag in Ecclesiastes somehow. and the earth has four corners not that cheap marble they photographed in black & white.

  21. 21.

    Chris

    And the man can’t stop fanning the flames!

    Like I said on another thread: why should he? From his point of view, he beat sixteen candidates in the Republican nomination by never backing down, never apologizing, always being the most offensive and bigoted person in the room. He hasn’t hit the brick wall yet, and I don’t think he even realizes that there is such a thing.

  24. 24.

    Mary G

    Tomorrow Trump will leave a litter of Corgi puppies locked in a car in full sun. His supporters will say that they had it coming.

    Seriously, I just love imagining the tantrum he threw when informed that no statements arrived from Congress members. The poor flunky who drew that straw!

  26. 26.

    burnspbesq

    @efgoldman:

    the worst own goal I remember in national politics.

    That depends on what you consider an own goal. I see Shelby County as an own goal, because the Supremes made it quite clear in their earlier opinion in Northwest Austin what would happen if the coverage map for pre clearance wasn’t updated, and Congress chose to do nothing.

    Never call the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court always has pocket aces.

  28. 28.

    Anya

    I was watching the HBO documentary Meet The Donors. I did not know Senator Obama ended presidential candidates using public financing of elections. Well, that’s discombobulating.

  29. 29.

    Gin & Tonic

    @dmsilev: I can’t help wondering why these thousands and thousands of imported radical Islamic terrorist are so darned… ineffective.

  32. 32.

    dmsilev

    @TheMightyTrowel: Fun “fictional archeologist” story. I used to work at the University of Chicago and a few years ago, the Admissions department received a package addressed to one Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones of the University Faculty, said package containing a diary with notes about the location of the Ark of the Covenant…

    Much head-scratching ensued (was it a prospective student trying to impress Admissions with a stunt?). After a bit of Internet crowd-sourcing, it turned out that it was a replica of the prop from the movie made by a guy in Guam who sold such things on eBay and by some weird postal screw-ups ended up at the University rather than with the buyer. The seller said the University could keep it and he’d make a new one for his buyer. Much wrangling between several departments ensued as to custody; the winner ended up being the Oriental Institute because of course “it belongs in a museum”.

  34. 34.

    NotMax

    @Trentrunner

    Maybe Jesus?

    “What’d he ever build, anyway? And how much was he worth? Zilch. The big goose egg. Bad businessman. And turn the other cheek? Such a pu$$y, believe me.”

  37. 37.

    Seanly

    Wow, that Corey douchebag is wound pretty f’king tight. Seems like a complete asshat & I’m sure he’s a delight to be around.

  38. 38.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Adam L Silverman:

    His remarks over the weekend about Russia not having incurred into Ukraine didn’t help either.

    Especially when a quote surfaced from an interview he did with Fox in April of 2014, where Trump said

    “Well, he’s [Putin] done an amazing job of taking the mantle, and he’s taken it away from the president and you look at what he’s doing. And so smart. When you see the riots in a country because they’re hurting the Russians, okay, ‘We’ll go and take it over.’ And he really goes step by step by step, and you have to give him a lot of credit.”

  40. 40.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TheMightyTrowel: Actually I was referring to the commenter who goes by the nym of Schrodinger’s Cat. But if you feel that you’ve been summoned…

    Might I recommend The Airmen and the Headhunters? Its protagonist, such as it is, is not an archeologist, so much as an anthropologist (though ornithologist by training) – Major Tom Harrison. Harrison led Task Force Z, largely made up of Australian special forces (I think there were also a few Kiwis as well), on a mission to link up with and organize the Dayaks of Borneo against the occupying Japanese. I used the video in my Culture, Strategy, and Policy seminar:
    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2t0ald

    Also, if you want, and we can navigate the time zone issues, I have a lot of professional experience with these issues and would be happy to speak to a seminar with your students via facetime or skype if you’d like. Just let me know offline.

  42. 42.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @Mnemosyne: on the nose. And connecting it to colonial stories like ‘the moundbuilders’ which pre-dated the alien obsession, but inserted lost (white) tribes of israel in their place. The film this week is Stargate.

    Next week it’s apocalypto and shit gets real.

  43. 43.

    Miss Bianca

    I can’t tell whether this is an abnormally stupid silly season, or whether this level of unreasoned discourse is normal for a presidential year. At any rate, I feel like I’m seeing some ugly crazy coming out in friends and family I thought knew better, and it has not been fun. On the other hand, I did have the joy of discovering that my favorite sister was also a fan of HRC, and we got to spend some lovely time together bonding over that in the New Mexico mountains not too long ago.

  47. 47.

    sigaba

    @Mnemosyne: “Dixie get Treatment room 3 ready and a couple of orderlies.” “Sure thing Kel.”

    If Trump was born in 1910 and had his reality show empire in 1970, he would have been an Emergency! special guest, between Mark Spitz, Dick van Patten and Larry Csonka.

  48. 48.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Keith P.: He’s likely to be very unhappy with this then:
    http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/donald-trump-2016-campaign-biography-psychology-history-barrett-hurt-dantiono-blair-obrien-213835

    The personality that looms largest over the 2016 campaign did not emerge on the political scene as an unknown. In fact, Donald Trump might be one of the most deeply studied presidential candidates ever. Beginning in the early 1990s, as the real estate mogul dealt with corporate calamities, and until last year, when he descended the escalator at Trump Tower to announce his candidacy, a half-dozen serious biographies have been written about a man who has imprinted himself on American culture in towering gold letters. But those biographies—which dig into Trump’s family history, his early business successes and later financial disasters, his tabloid sex scandals and the television showmanship that saved him—had largely receded into the depths of Amazon’s bestseller list. Now those books—which have not always been to Trump’s liking; he sued one of the authors unsuccessfully for libel—have become precious source material for those eager to explain Trump’s surge toward the GOP nomination.

    Want to know where Trump inherited his entrepreneurial bent? Gwenda Blair traces it to his grandfather, who ran a series of restaurants in the Klondike that featured some of the best food in town, as well as private areas where “sporting ladies” could “entertain” miners. Who was really doing the deals that made Trump famous? Wayne Barrett will tell you the only signature that really mattered on a contract belonged to Trump’s father, Fred. What broke up Trump’s first marriage? Harry Hurt III writes that Ivana “confided to female friends that Donald had difficulty achieving and maintaining an erection.” How did a man who came perilously close to personal financial ruin sell himself as a master dealmaker? By exaggerating everything, including his net worth, which Timothy O’Brien revealed was far less than advertised. And if you wonder what now drives Trump’s pursuit of the White House, Michael D’Antonio has argued it’s the same deep neediness he felt as a child and that has fueled every business deal and attention-chasing stunt since then.

    In early March, Politico Magazine convened these five Trumpologists: Barrett, a longtime Village Voice reporter; Blair, a bestselling author; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist D’Antonio; Hurt, an author and videographer; and O’Brien, a writer and editor at Bloomberg. They gathered, together for the first time, for a discussion at Trump Grill, a restaurant in the atrium of Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan—where Trump lives and his company is based. Moderated by Politico Editor Susan Glasser and senior writer Michael Kruse and presented in edited form below, the conversation ranged from the emotional wounds that drive Trump to the roots of his demagoguery to his alleged ties to the mob. The rest of the media might still be struggling to explain Trump’s political rise, but these five writers saw his ambition—and ego—from the very early days. Here’s how Trump the candidate came to be.

  51. 51.

    Chris

    @dmsilev:

    Your “weird postal screwup” might have something to do with the fact that, in-universe, Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr. is in fact a University of Chicago graduate.

  52. 52.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @Adam L Silverman: I knew about the story but not that there was a tv doco about it – thanks for the link! This semester is already half over (upside down land!), so i won’t impose on you in teh next few weeks, but I may return to the idea next time I teach this course (2018)… hold this space.

  56. 56.

    Keith P.

    @Adam L Silverman: Yeah, right from the get-go, there’s this:

    What broke up Trump’s first marriage? Harry Hurt III writes that Ivana “confided to female friends that Donald had difficulty achieving and maintaining an erection.”

  59. 59.

    Miss Bianca

    @Adam L Silverman: LOL!! Oh, dear God!

    Yu know, it’s news like this that makes me want to call up my brother – the one who’s always giving me tips on what’s hot in the paranormal world – and say, “It’s time. The world has finally gone completely bonkers. It’s time to go do something that makes sense in these mad times – like search for the Wisconsin Dogman”.

  60. 60.

    Mike J

    I’m starting to fear that Trump may drop out and be replaced by someone who looks sane by comparison, by which I mean anybody on earth. Hillary would still be better qualified than anybody the Republicans could dig up, but they would get tongue baths in the press for dodging a bullet.

  61. 61.

    redshirt

    So I don’t get to watch cable news very often (praise MSM!), but I watched MSNBC tonight and saw Nate Silver on Chris Hayes and I have to shallowly ask: Has his hair always been that terrible?
    It was like a war crime. Just tragic.

  65. 65.

    jl

    So, it was true The Mighty Tunch was denser than a black hole and warped space and time, explaining the oddly out of focus, mysteriously cloudy Cole pet pix?
    I was so gullible, believing that was a joke. Damn it!

  66. 66.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: He does not seem to understand that 1) people can hear and see him and 2) this stuff is being recorded and can be found on the Internet and rebroadcast very easily.

  68. 68.

    dmsilev

    @Chris: Yep. The longer version is that there were two concentric layers of packaging, an outer normal shipping envelope with regular postage and the actual address of the buyer (in Italy, if memory serves), and then an inner layer which was part of the replica, done up as a 1930s-vintage air mail package, with a street address that just happened to be the location of the Admission department today. At some point during the mail handling process, the outer package opened up and the inner one fell out of the sorting machine onto the floor. At which point, the postal workers picked it up, looked at the address on the replica, and sent it merrily on its way to Internet fame…

    Original blog post from Admissions when they got the thing
    A couple of weeks later, mystery solved

  69. 69.

    Aleta

    A friend sang this tonight, a song about Trump written by Richard Thompson a couple of years ago. There’s some new lyrics this year, but not in this one. A couple of good rhymes:

    Fergus he builds and builds
    Yet small is his erection
    Fergus has a fine head of hair
    When the wind’s in the right direction

    Fergus Laing he flaunts the law
    But one day he’ll be wired
    And as they drag him off to jail
    We’ll all shout, “You’re fired!”

  71. 71.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TheMightyTrowel: I’m happy to accommodate you all this semester if you want to work it in. Right now I’m doing consulting work and have the flexibility that comes with it. Feel free to hit me up offline if you want to set something up.

  73. 73.

    sigaba

    @Mnemosyne: You know they were putting together a feature for a few years, sortof a comedy reboot like 21 Jump Street. Ashton Kutcher was supposed to play Johnny Gage. I do not own the set on DVD, there’s Netflix for that — I DO own the movie-of-the-week box set because these aren’t on Netflix, including the clip shows. These are the ones where they went to Seattle (where a pre-Hill Street Blues George Wyner was a doctor) and San Fran (where a pre-TNG John De Lancie was a doctor).

    I’ve had the honor of working with Randy Mantooth on one particular film.

    Webb was a really big Republican, I sorta wish he was still around, he’s tear Trump a new one.

  74. 74.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Miss Bianca: Nah, no offense to OO, but if you’re going to go looking for this type of stuff, then you want the Rugaroux. The food in Louisiana is better.

  75. 75.

    Quinerly

    @Mike J:
    Stuart Stevens (Romney’s campaign manager) called for the RNC to repudiate Trump. Said there was “a mechanism in place” within the RNC. Trump would be replaced by Pence. Pence then picks his VP. I would now like to see polling outfits to poll on this, then the press start asking Pence. Should be fun times ahead

  78. 78.

    hovercraft

    @Trentrunner:
    He’s gone after the pope, at this point the only people he could go after are holocaust victims and the victims from Sandy Hook. “You know if only those jews had been smarter about hiding their special ‘skills with money and used their terrific negotiating skills they probably wouldn’t have gotten themselves killed. And you know if that school hadn’t been a gun free zone and the teachers and kids had guns they could have all rushed the gunman and saved many many lives. Sad.”
    This is snark.

  79. 79.

    Adam L Silverman

    @redshirt: Yes, yes it has. In his defense that style is statistically significant. Neither side of the part binds zero and the results are well into both tails with low eigen values.

  80. 80.

    Miss Bianca

    @Adam L Silverman:

    if you’re going to go looking for this type of stuff, then you want the Rugaroux. The food in Louisiana is better.

    Yeah, but not in the *swamps*, man. I don’t fancy being trussed up and fricassed, my own self, and from what I hear the Rugaroux are just plain *mean*.

  81. 81.

    dmsilev

    @Quinerly: If they couldn’t get rid of Trump before the Convention, how can they possibly get rid of him now (short of “arrange an accident” type approaches)?

  82. 82.

    Adam L Silverman

    @scav: I’m considering ice cream myself. Its almost Shakespearean: “to scoop or not to scoop, that is the question!” Of course the real solution is to not scoop at all and just eat the entire pint…

  85. 85.

    Cat48

    @Anya:

    I don’t think that’s true that Obama ended public financing. He chose not to take it and was not the first candidate to do so. It’s still available, but no one wants to take it bc you’re limited on the amount you can receive. Even Bernie turned it down this time, while still screaming at everyone else for being crooked. He was no Saint either. The checkbox to donate is still on ITRs so it’s not eliminated. Always blame the black man, HBO!

  86. 86.

    jl

    Trump got up on his hind legs and barked that Khan was angry that a president Trump would keep Muslim terrorists out of the country.
    What a vile toxic idiot. As I’ve said before, Trump is a type of white bigot I run into more often than I want to think about. Bigot to the marrow of his bones.

    This vile ass could kick ass in front of a crowd of bigots. Now he can’t understand why his act is not wowing more normal people, and will continue to melt down in public.

    Trump: Khan Was Mad I’ll Keep Out Terrorists
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-khan-was-mad-i-ll-keep-out-terrorists

  89. 89.

    Lizzy L

    @dmsilev: The claim here is that Khizr Khan is unhappy with Trump’s “plan” to close the border to the thousands of Islamic terrorists who are now flooding in. /snark How this can be reconciled with the fact that Khizr Khan’s son died in Iraq I do not see. [That’s rhetorical, of course. Trump doesn’t make sense, and he doesn’t need to make sense.] The implication — which others have made explicit — is that Mr Khan supports Islamic terrorism. What a putz the man is!

  90. 90.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    Is that lipless twit Lewandowski married? Is there a woman who chooses to bed him each night? Ugh….

  95. 95.

    sigaba

    @sukabi:

    give him thee Wellstone treatment.

    Too soon for some of us. My parents were big DFLers in the day and still maintain Cheney had him shot down. (So Both Sides I guess.)

  96. 96.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mary G:

    The poor flunky who drew that straw!

    :: clears throat ::

    “Um.”

    :: swallows ::

    :: rolls eyes pleadingly ::

    “Mein Führer….”

  97. 97.

    jl

    @Lizzy L: Go over to Josh Marshall’s twitter feed. See, Khizr Khan’s son was a terrorist double agent under deep cover in the US Army. They are descending into sheer madness.

    Edit: OTOH, if he was a real American, say one of the less scrupulous contractors, why didn’t he just shoot the hell out of the truck and kill everyone in it, rather than act professionally. The reactionaries would have applauded that. They way he did act, though softies call it heroic now, seems suspicious to them, after thinking about it enough.

  99. 99.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Miss Bianca: They’re just misunderstood. Under Governor Jindal’s budget cuts they’ve suffered serious setbacks within their communities that other Bigfoot like cryptids across the US and Canada have not. As a result Rugaroux communities have higher incidences of negative contacts with Bigfoot hunters, including maiming, evisceration, and eating them alive. There is great hop that the reforms now being enacted by Governor John Bel Edwards will ease the desperate plight of these maligned and oppressed Bigfoot sub-culture and place them on the path to peace, prosperity, and higher self esteem.

  101. 101.

    sukabi

    @Lizzy L: he’s using racism 101, “they all look the same” and unfortunately for the rest of us there are a bunch of folks that think the same thing. And it doesn’t help that EVERY TIME there has been some kind of incident in this country, the FIRST bit of speculation is that it’s a middle eastern terrorist.

    When Oklahoma bombing happened, first speculation was middle eastern terrorists.

    They’ve gotten more specific in the last 2 decades, now they are naming a group, and conflating a religion.

  102. 102.

    Quinerly

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Just going on what Stuart Stevens was saying tonight on LOD. Figured he would know. He specifically used the word “mechanism.” I’ll check your link in the morning. Thanks. Still think it would be fun times if the polling operations started polling on replacing Trump and replacing him with Pence. I certainly won’t feel sorry for Pence when Trump turns on him.

  103. 103.

    Miss Bianca

    @Adam L Silverman: Well, it warms the cockles of my liver to hear that the plight of the Rugaroux is being eased under the new government! Maybe now we can get some scholars in to talk with them and record their reminiscences and we can clear up this “Werewolf” v. “Bigfoot” controversy once and for all!

  107. 107.

    dmsilev

    @Adam L Silverman:

    BE IT RESOLVED, That the Republican Party is the party of the open door. Ours is the party of liberty, the party of equality, of opportunity for all, and favoritism for none.

    Man, complete and utter failure right from the first paragraph.

    Edit. Rule 4, on Vacancies:

    (b) The Republican National Committee shall have the power to declare vacant the seat of any member who refuses to support the Republican nominee for President of the United States or Vice President of the United States.

    Oh, my. Someone should ask RNC PR BS about how many RNC members are going to be forcefully ousted.

  110. 110.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @scav: yup :) but I’m careful because while i don’t mind getting complaints about frothing feminism (I get those) it’s harder to defend against religious bias complaints

  112. 112.

    Quinerly

    @dmsilev:
    Just going on what prominent Republican Stuart Stevens said tonight. He felt that the RNC should pull all support and repudiate Trump, especially after his actions the last 72 hours. Used the word”mechanism” which led me to believe there was something in the rules..he effortlessly said, Trump would then be replaced with Pence and Pence then would pick his VP. LOD didn’t question him in depth on it.

  113. 113.

    jl

    @sukabi: The sad thing is, I run into white bigots who think like this. They just know this kind of nonsense is the truth. I’m a white guy, part of the club. For some reason, I often come off as conservative when people first meet me. These people tell me what they think. I got their talking points and parades of horribles memorized by now. When these people talk about African-Americans, I can tell when the punch line will be “And MLK was a communist, you know that, right?” a few minutes before they drop it.

    Trump probably really thinks that he needs to win more crazy white bigots, like he did in the GOP primaroes. He will spin more out of control, not understanding what the hell is going on when most white people get disgusted with him. This guy is a classic bigot to bone. Sad, but I meet quite a few, and this guy is one of them. It’s no act and he can’t ‘pivot’ or dog whistle it. It’s just buried too deep in his psyche.

  115. 115.

    Adam L Silverman

    @sigaba: Sort of. The Boggy Creek creature is the swamp dwelling Bigfoot of the Arkansas delta area. The Rugaroux is, originally, the Cajun version of the French Loup Garoux or werewolf. Some versions of the Rugaroux legend are straight in line with werewolf legends, just transplanted to the bayou. Others are a curse based legend, similar to the Wendigo legend. Others are just a Bigfoot of the bayous and swamps.

  117. 117.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @Adam L Silverman: I’ll accept that. At least you’re not claiming aliens. Which, incidentally, reminds me this is my biannual suggestion that everyone go to youtube and watch the insanity that is Chariots of the Gods. The soundtrack/score alone is worth it, but so is the saharan rock art that clearly influenced Lucas’s conception of what Yoda should look like.

  119. 119.

    dmsilev

    @Quinerly: I read a bit further in the rules and found Rule 9:

    (a) The Republican National Committee is hereby authorized and empowered to fill any and all vacancies which may occur by reason of death, declination, or otherwise of the Republican candidate for President of the United States or the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States, as nominated by the national convention, or the Republican National Committee may reconvene the national convention for the purpose of filling any such vacancies.
    (b) In voting under this rule, the Republican National Committee members representing any state shall be entitled to cast the same number of votes as said state was entitled to cast at the national convention. (c) In the event that the members of the Republican National Committee from any state shall not be in agreement in the casting of votes hereunder, the votes of such state shall be divided equally, including fractional votes, among the members of the Republican National Committee present or voting by proxy.
    (d) No candidate shall be chosen to fill any such vacancy except upon receiving a majority of the votes entitled to be cast in the election.

    (emphasis added)

  123. 123.

    Barbara

    @Adam L Silverman: Maybe he confused Sandy Hook with Hurricane Sandy? Although making Hurricane Sandy happen to get reelected would definitely qualify as a different kind of super power.

  125. 125.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):

    Is that lipless twit Lewandowski married? Is there a woman who chooses to bed him each night? Ugh….

    ‘Fraid so:

    Lewandowski met his future wife Alison when he was in ninth grade and she was in eighth. She married one of his best friends in 1998, but he died on United Airlines Flight 175 during the September 11, 2001 attacks. She married Lewandowski four years later. Lewandowski is a father of four children.

  126. 126.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: I was out doing quarterly tactical training at an outdoor site all afternoon. 105 or so heat index. I understand completely. I am so looking forward to my next relocation back north.

  127. 127.

    Chris

    @jl:

    As somebody on, I think, this blog pointed out a month or two ago: one of the biggest challenges to Western democracy isn’t terrorism or economics or even global warming, but simply the fact that there are, still, so many bigoted white people weighing in on the system (which ties in to all of the above issues). And who are happy to drag everyone down with them.

  131. 131.

    NotMax

    @TheMightyTrowel

    Remain convinced that Lucas – sometime, somewhere – met a step-grandfather of mine.

    Other than the greenish hue, Yoda is a flawless doppelganger of him.

  135. 135.

    scav

    @TheMightyTrowel: Odd that, because alongside my best book on the moundbuilder topic, I purchased a grand one that put Mormon and locals primary documents leading up to Joseph Smith in Carthage jail side by side — and I was in the RLDS museum bookstore at Nauvoo when I paid the cash. RLDS side of the site had archaeological pits — LDS side was essentially missionaries pretending to be blacksmiths and gunsmiths.

    Museum at Cahokia is fun, although all the books I got there were fearfully dry ones. Go figure.

  136. 136.

    Fair Economist

    @Adam L Silverman:

    As a result Rugaroux communities have higher incidences of negative contacts with Bigfoot hunters, including maiming, evisceration, and eating them alive.

    That particular way of pluralizing the name makes me think of a community that prefers to eat humans in gumbo. Monsters with good taste!

  138. 138.

    Quinerly

    @dmsilev:
    I have to think that since Stevens was Mitt’s campaign manager that this is being “discussed in quiet rooms” somewhere…..

  139. 139.

    Miss Bianca

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m still wondering if “Wiley and the Hairy Man” is specifically Cajun in origin, or if there are similar Bigfoot figures in other Southern states…

  140. 140.

    sukabi

    @sigaba: I wasn’t suggesting our side, was suggesting r’s would do it….soooooo NOT both sides.

    And Cheney or one of his spooks…had NO PROBLEM outing a spy and compromising tracking of nuclear material, so can’t see it being a step too far for him.

  143. 143.

    NotMax

    @Miss Bianca

    The whole megillah. Saw the film where Yoda first shows up with someone who knew step-grandfather, and that person’s comment was mirrored mine from the first time I saw it.

    “Holy cow, that’s Andy!”

  148. 148.

    hovercraft

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Well you pacifists should not have recommended that the jews just march themselves into the ovens. That’s a whole lot of crazy over there. You should know better than to try and confuse people like that with all those pesky “facts” that don’t comport themselves with ammosexuals fantasies. My favorite fantasy is that if only black people had had guns there would have been no slavery. It’s a wonder black people never had the idea to arm themselves and rise up. Oh well.

  149. 149.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Miss Bianca: Fauk Monster in Arkansas (Boggy Creek), Skunk Ape in Florida. There have also been Bigfoot sightings in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. There are a variety of legends and sightings of Bigfoot like creatures across the Appalachian mountain states.

  150. 150.

    Miss Bianca

    @Chris: And as I have had occasion to witness lately, there’s as much white bigotry on the left as there is on the right. Only they get even MORE pissed when you point it out to them.

  151. 151.

    hovercraft

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    Who are you kidding they sent Ivanka in, she’s the only one who was guaranteed to emerge intact. Wearing something form fitting would also be helpful.

  152. 152.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hovercraft: Did you read the comments? Like I said, hysterical!

    As for African Americans and guns. They are not wrong that the original reason for firearm ownership restrictions was on African and then African American slaves and free men (and women). Its an interesting counterfactual given the relative population sizes of African and African American slaves to the white population in a lot of the slave states throughout the South. The former definitely had the numbers advantage. The latter had the advantage of running everything and having all the firearms. And once it occurred they lived in fear of something happening like the Haitian Revolution.

  156. 156.

    Citizen_X

    I’d like to nominate either “That’s not what the internet is saying” or “what’s on the internet is true” for rotating taglines, please. That is all.

  157. 157.

    hovercraft

    @jl:
    Some retired military advisor of Trumps was on Tamron Hall this morning makind that demented case. He said Captain Khan would be alive if the rules of engagement had allowed him to simply light up the taxi and stop it in it’s tracks, he said Trump would allow for that unlike Obama and Hillary. this guy is a real winner.
    EDIT the link is in a post below.

  161. 161.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hovercraft: That’s the guy that told a reporter during the RNC that Secretary Clinton should be hanged for treason. He’s co-chair of Veterans from Trump and from NH. The other co-chair, also from NH, is Jerry DeLemus a current resident of the Multnomah County Jail for his involvement with the Bundy bunch.

  165. 165.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hovercraft: @hovercraft: So more than one veteran who is a Trump surrogate pulled this this morning. Great.

    I don’t know a lot of senior Naval personnel. I know the captains and commanders assigned to the USAWC either as faculty or students and few retired ones I’ve worked with. And I have a former boss, a retired US Army colonel with a PhD who is now a 2 star admiral (recalled to active duty in the uniformed services of the United States at the rank of Officer 6/Colonel and then immediately promoted to Officer 8/Rear Admiral Upper Half) because he’s the Superintendent of the Merchant Marine Academy and that’s a 2 star Naval Reserve Billet.

    Here’s RADM Kubic’s bio:
    http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=20785643&privcapId=20725235
    Mr. Charles R. Kubic serves as President of ECC International, LLC. Mr. Kubic has more than 30 years of worldwide engineering and construction experience and a distinguished military career. Most recently, retired Rear Admiral Kubic served concurrently as Commander of the 1st Naval Construction Division and 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group during the US-led Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served as Commander of the Pacific Division of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command and 3rd Naval Construction Brigade in Pearl Harbor, HI from 1999 to 2002. Prior to 1999, he served as Vice Commander of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Washington, DC. Mr. Kubic has also served as Director of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command’s Strategic Programs Office, Commanding Officer of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion THREE, Production Officer of Navy Public Works Center Norfolk, Vice Commander of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command’s Atlantic Division, and Commander of the 22nd Naval Construction Regiment. He served as White House Fellow and served on the staff of President Ronald Reagan’s Domestic Policy Council since mid-1980s. His awards and commendations for outstanding service to his country include the Legion of Merit; Defense Meritorious and Meritorious Service medals; Navy Commendation and Achievement medals; Global War on Terrorism and Armed Forces Expeditionary medals; and National Defense, Vietnam, Armed Forces, and Humanitarian Service medals. He is a licensed professional engineer and Seabee Combat Warfare Officer. He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in civil engineering from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

  167. 167.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: Does it come with yellow mustard, the green relish, sport peppers, tomato slices, and celery seeds on a poppy seed bun? Oh hodag, not hot dog!

  170. 170.

    hovercraft

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I skimmed them, are ready to march voluntarily into the ovens and distract the guards while the armed types get away. And next time make sure to check Wikipedia to make sure you have all your facts straight. Hilarious.

  173. 173.

    Ruckus

    It’s okay to step on your own dick now and then, but you shouldn’t just stand there.

    Especially if you are wearing golf shoes.

  174. 174.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hovercraft: I liked the 1/3 of comments where they were arguing over whether the Jewish Armed resistance I referred to included the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Bielski Brothers or whether I didn’t know what I was talking about because I didn’t specifically mention them. And then the sub-argument that broke out among these guys about some of them not knowing the difference between the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Warsaw Uprising.

    Then there were the 1/3 of the comments that just ignored the post and started discussing when the new American Revolution will begin, who should call for it, and which one of them was prepared to fight for Freedom!!!! (Scots wa hae…)

    There was the one comment from one of the regular front pagers there (does firearm reviews), the retired Jewish American lawyer who called me a self hating Jew and was upset that I’d denigrated Israel. Of course, as you read, the post had nothing to do with Israel, I never mentioned Israel. And when I engaged with him in comments he never replied.

    And then the final 1/3 of the comments where people made a good faith attempt to engage with what I wrote.

    And the kicker: I never intended this to be a post. I read an earlier guest post that someone wrote on how when the visited the US Holocaust Museum they were shocked there was nothing on Jewish Armed Resistance. I wrote the publisher, who’s parents were Holocaust survivors, an email explaining why this was inaccurate. He simply published the email as a guest post. I didn’t even know I had done a guest post until I went over there one day and saw it. Good times!

  175. 175.

    hovercraft

    @Adam L Silverman:
    It was an amalgamation of tropes, you’re a self hating coastal jew a la Bloomberg,
    JADE HELM and the NSA are coming for us.
    The only thing missing is WOLVERINES. What’s that country they’re building out in Idaho, for the true patriots? We should do a collection for them and make sure they have a nice big border wall to keep the rest of us out.

  181. 181.

    Mike in DC

    Trump is running for president. President of the United States of 4chan, InfoWars and Stormfront.

  182. 182.

    TriassicSands

    Stephanopoulos to Trump; You played golf together (with Bloomberg).
    Trump: Maybe once…And I hit the ball…and I hit the ball a lot longer and a lot better.

    For almost any other human being that response would be ridiculous. But Trump, in every discussion, on every topic, has to find a way to express how great he is, how much better than everyone else. Bloomberg criticizes Trump and Trump has to denigrate Bloomberg in every possible way. Trump thinks that saying he can hit a golf ball farther than Mike Bloomberg matters.

    Mental illness isn’t pretty.

  183. 183.

    Central Planning

    @dmsilev: someone should ask Trump about Rule 4. You know he would take the bait and start demanding they declare Kasich’s and Cruz’s seat vacant for starters

  185. 185.

    sherparick

    I know the “dominance and submission” thing is very much Trump’s scthick, what his fans dig the most since they love to play “Dill” to Trump’s “Farkus,” but he has run into a man in Dr. Khan with whom it does not work (this is turning somewhat into the scene where Ralphie just beats the crap out Farkus). He has taken what would have been a forgotten footnote and is making this year’s “August Story.” I am tempted say that Trump and his boys seem to have forgotten the “first rule of holes,” e.g. when you are in one, stop digging.

    However, in his mind, I think he believes he is winning. Trump is doing this I think.

    1. First, he is what he is and always lets his Freak Flag Fly.

    2. He still believes he wins because he is dominating the news cycle.

    3. And likely 40% of the voting population is cheering him on and now want to lock up both Hillary and the Khans. It should be remembered that for all talk of “love of Constitution” etc., our Neo-Confederate Brethren really want a Government that protects their privileges and puts all those “Others” in their proper place and as well giving the hippies a good punch. It is one of the reasons they are such fan boys (and girls) for torture, deportation, and indefinite detentions.

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