Paul Manafort on Friday resigned as Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, after the Republican nominee earlier this week announced a new leadership structure for his campaign.
“This morning Paul Manafort offered, and I accepted, his resignation from the campaign. I am very appreciative for his great work in helping to get us where we are today, and in particular his work guiding us through the delegate and convention process. Paul is a true professional and I wish him the greatest success,” Trump said in a statement.
Manafort, given the revelations of his potentially illegal foreign lobbying, is probably going to spend more time with his money and his lawyers. Two quick things:
1.) Remember, I think it is extremely indicative that how a candidate runs their campaign is how they will run the country. See Obama. Can you imagine the catastrophe that a Trump administration would be given this campaign so far?
2.) FWIW, the VERY first time I heard Manafort speak, I got a “OH MY GOD THIS IS A SOCIOPATH AND IT WOULD NOT SURPRISE ME AT ALL IF HE HAS PRESERVED BODIES IN HIS BASEMENT.” He just has dead eyes and talks like what I imagine a serial killer would sound like. He just has dead eyes.
Joel
Hat tip to Univision for their reporting here.
amk
donnie dick wants as many scampaign manager as wives.
wanna bet the worthless msm would spin this too as a great pivot?
Aimai
I read a weird blog post somewhere about how Manafort came from CT and was upper class and elite so the early alliance he made with southern white supremacists had to be, somehow, put on or not authentically him. Just SMDH at how resistant some white people are sbout acknowledging how pervasive white supremacist attitudes are smong genteel northern whites.
MattF
Well, fer Pete’s sake, the severed heads in the refrigerator are just a hobby.
Tokyokie
I can’t see how this is going to please Влади́мир Влади́мирович and his allies to whom der Trumpenführer is beholden.
Humdog
Trump only hires those who work for Chaos or whatever we call evil villains incorporated. A real rogues gallery the whole lot!
I bet their cumulative body count even surpasses the Clintons’.
CONGRATULATIONS!
He was fired Wednesday. It took him this long to figure it out.
RepubAnon
So, has CNN hired him yet to comment on the Trump campaign? Or possibly for updates on the Crimea?
burnspbesq
Sometime before the end of the year, a kayaker in the Potomac below Great Falls is going to snag something with a paddle, and “something” will turn out to be Manafort’s severed head.
amk
Ok putin (and assorted russian mafia). Time for you to move in into trump towers.
eta: don’t forget the cement bags.
Tom Levenson
If I have time I’ll blog this in a bit, but Adam Weinstein and Ken Silverstein’s story over at Fusion on Manafort’s work in direct opposition to US interests in Ukraine is a smoking gun. The Republican nominee’s campaign has been run for months now by an agent of a foreign power, in service of policy directly opposed to our national policy. This should be resignation material — not for Manafort, but for the man he served.
Mike J
different-church-lady
Ladies and gentlemen, your next commissioner of the NFL!
Chyron HR
@Tom Levenson:
“I regret any treason I may have been involved with. I am the most regretful–hugely regretful.”
Amir Khalid
I half-expect die Trumpenkinder to come back from their summer holidays and sack Bannon.
dmsilev
@Tom Levenson: I have to wonder whether some or all of the …interesting stories about Manafort that appeared in the last week emanated from tips from US intelligence agencies as sort of a warning shot both towards the Russians and towards the Trump campaign.
Waldo
@Aimai:
He’s from New Britain, CT. Trust me, there’s nothing elite about it.
Mike in NC
@RepubAnon: Manyfarts is holding out for a counter offer from FOX News. He’ll do fine with his fans in the Village.
dmsilev
@Amir Khalid:
Aleta
@burnspbesq: oooh, I can see it clearly. Could it be because his head is already severed from his soul?
MattF
@Chyron HR: “I regret that anyone is unhappy about any anti-American occurrences I may have been involved with somewhere.”
Kay
See Bush. His 2004 campaign was very good. Democrats were outmatched on just about every measure that I saw. The worst part was local Democrats were somewhat delusional. They thought he was hated. He was not.
So… not always.
SFAW
You listen to Deadbeat Donnie too much, there’s a risk that you start talking like him.
scav
Some enjoyable bits over at the WaPo’s How Trump adviser Manafort revived his career — and business fortunes — in Ukraine. Including
So, apparently, Ukrainian oligarchs are easier to train.
one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer
The bestest executive decisionmaker EVAR! You can tell it by his hires.
Punchy
9:37AM CDT, Manafort resigns. 10:01AM CDT, CNN hires him to do election coverage.
SiubhanDuinne
Rick Gates (Manafort’s deputy [I almost typed ‘manifest destiny!] ) has also resigned, according to a reporter from Bloomberg.
SFAW
@Punchy:
I call bullshit! CNN would only take about 7 minutes to hire him.
Waldo
@RepubAnon:
Rumor has it he’ll be paired with Lewandowski for a revival of Crossfire — where they’ll argue over who gets to set a cross on fire.
amk
@SFAW: bullshit. cnn signed the contract at 9.36 am cdt.
Immanentize
@Tokyokie: That should be:
just in case the alt-right wants a fun target.
FTFY
WaterGirl
@Punchy: I was about to ask whether that is a prediction or something that has already happened. Then I noticed that it is 9:59 central time as I am typing this, so I’m going with “prediction”.
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
I continue to think that it’s a ve-e-e-eery innnnnnteressstinng coincidence that all this staff shakeup just happened to take place while Uday and Qusay were off in Alaska killing helpless animals and Ivanka and Jared were holidaying on the Adriatic with the former Mrs. Rupert Murdoch.
Immanentize
@dmsilev: I really think this is just the Ukraine letting information flow (yes to probably hurt Russian interests). The US is not as all-powerful or able to influence all players as we like to suggest — remember, our nukes are working off of 8 inch floppy discs.
Marc
Booman has the perfect music video to capture the moment:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2016/8/19/105615/959
Gin & Tonic
@dmsilev: The stories have been largely common knowledge in Ukraine for some time.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Where are Uday, Qusay, and Lolita? Aren’t they supposed to be running this shitshow?
scav
@amk: That would fit his recent employment pattern are better. Far less of an overlap even — he must be struggling.
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yes; Someone waited for die Trumpenkinder to leave town before commencing this latest round of firings. Someone who couldn’t show his hand while they were around.
amk
Too many wives. Too many scampaign ‘managers’.
It’s obvious the lil peckered fecker can manage neither his personal life nor his political life.
And yet the gutless clowns called the gop ‘establishment’ couldn’t stop him.
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne: I agree — Maybe Uday and Qusay are working with the Russians seen from Palin’s porch for a little invasion (WOLVERINES!) while Eva Braun is meeting with the Euro far right to bring some prestige, class and accented immigrant hatred to the family campaign?
dmsilev
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Uday and Qusay are apparently off somewhere slaughtering inoffensive animals. Alaska, I think I heard. Trumpette was last sighted in the Balkans vacationing with Rupert Murdoch’s ex-wife (now rumored to be Vladimir Putin’s girlfriend).
Faux News
@Waldo: Ouch! New Britain is my home town. New Britain is NOT Greenwich or Darien. Trust me :-)
Kropadope
@Kay:
I think the issue there was that to the Bush administration, the politics were all important and the policies negligible. The government shouldn’t do anything anyway, so just look the other way while Wall St. treats Main St banks’ assets like casino chips.
Immanentize
@dmsilev:
Really? I mean, no snark — is this possible?
Emma
@CONGRATULATIONS!: Well, I don’t know about the animal murderers but Ivanka walked into a buzzsaw.
Immanentize
European immigrant hatred, I believe I read, is being actively supported (and exploited) by Russia as it weakens the EU. Also, they have a lot more ability to curb Syrian immigration if they chose to. This is such a weird election.
dmsilev
@Immanentize: Yep. Wendi Deng, former Mrs. Murdoch, now rumored to be Vlad’s gal. Oh, and she’s also rumored to have had an affair with Tony Blair at one point. FASCINATING taste in men.
catclub
I thought the NBC logo for the picture was an armband on Manafort.
Emma
@Immanentize: Nope. The rumor has been pretty much debunked by a couple of Brit newspapers, but people think they were looking in the wrong direction. She wasn’t a mistress, she is a bagman and a fixer.
Cacti
@Tom Levenson:
Read that yesterday.
Apparently in 2006, Manafort organized an anti-NATO rock throwing protest at U.S. sailors and marines in Ukraine.
What a guy.
Immanentize
@dmsilev:
FTFY
Enhanced Voting Techinques
I don’t know, I mean the real surprise is why someone running for president let somone so distinctly un-American into their inner circle and why one of his oppenents in the primary called Trump out on it (well beyond Ted Cruz has his own issues about being thought a murderious alien)
Villago Delenda Est
@SiubhanDuinne: Yup, I’ve noticed that too. Well, the kids had better get busy writing some resumes, because Daddy is pissing away what’s left of Gramps’ fortune right now.
ET
I have no sympathy. At all. But I do wonder how toxic he is now. Good thing he has connections in Russia.
David Hunt
My first thought on reading Trump’s statement was to wonder who wrote it. There was absolutely nothing in it about how great Trump was.
Matt McIrvin
Clearly it’s really no problem that Trump is such a buffoon, because he’ll surround himself with the best people.
catclub
Somebody said it was going to be a bad week for Manafort. I guess they were right.
Immanentize
@Emma: Fixing all the leads to the Donald’s bank accounts?
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Emma: Damn. Lolita tells unpaid staffer to write piece on why not getting paid is awesome, and decorates it with emojis of black women. Are we SURE Andy Kaufman isn’t dead?
Richard Mayhew
@Chyron HR: It was only a little bit of light treason
Hal
One of my favorite missing the whole point criticisms of Obama was that, sure he’s great at running for president, but…
You don’t get to the presidency by running a shit show.
catclub
@Punchy: 1002: Corey Lewandowksi beats him up in the CNN mens room.
Peale
@Mike J: The funny thing is that I’m angrier about Ryan Lochte than I am about Trump at the moment. “Get your whiny white ass down to Brazil and hire a lawyer, you stupid jock.”
Immanentize
@Villago Delenda Est: I saw this poll of military families and thought of our earlier conversation. Although the rank and file still seem to be with Trump, it is closer than in prior elections. You may end up right that the military will not overwhelmingly go republican this time around.
gogol's wife
@Waldo:
You caught that before I did.
Smiling Mortician
@catclub: Pretty sure it was Weinstein — who broke the story. So yeah. That was a safe prediction.
Meanwhile, Manafort’s replacement is arguably worse, since he burns shit down just for fun.
Emma
@CONGRATULATIONS!: The whole family seems to go through life… well, stupid is too mild a word and invertebrate is too strong…. unconscious?
SiubhanDuinne
@Waldo:
“Corey, you ignorant slut.”
Emma
@Immanentize: Fixing whatever Putin wants. There’s a half-ironic thing I’ve seen, calling her “the woman of mystery.” She does always seem to be in the middle of things.
dexwood
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Andy Kaufman is living in Albuquerque.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-belief-that-andy-kaufman-is-alive
Peale
Honestly, I think we need to just turn the blog over to synchronize swimming and drop the politics all together. There’s no point in covering Trump until November 10.
danielx
Manafort will probably have an agent lined up before the end of the day.
Woodrowfan
he f’d up. and the FSB is a lot nastier than even the KGB was. oops.
catclub
@SiubhanDuinne:
Really!? They went on vacation right after the convention??
That is incompetence on the scale of Newt going on vacation during the primaries. You will have plenty of time for vacations after the election.
Kay
The best part is we know absolutely nothing about Trump’s personal or business finances and no one even asks anymore. Clinton will be running an ad asking why he gets this special exemption. Thank God for PAC’s huh?
He alone gets this deference. We just have to trust him, because he’s special.
Imagine if Bill or Hillary Clinton refused to release tax returns AND they owned an incredibly sleazy and questionable business empire.
Kay
@SiubhanDuinne:
Can they disappear Trump’s wife forever? Another instance where no other candidate gets the special exemptions he gets. Imagine if Tim Kaine has trotted his wife out as a political asset and then she was never heard from again. No one even asks! The Great Man has made another new rule that applies only to him.
Brachiator
I almost cannot keep up with this stuff. Trump has managed to pack two months worth of bullshit into a week. When did the Republican Convention end? Seems like a year ago.
I guess getting rid of Manafort is a sign that Trump is finally going to get down into some serious campaigning. I also heard on the radio news this morning that he is starting to run ads in 5 swing states.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@RepubAnon:
No, but RT will.
Origuy
I have a Russian-American friend who comments on Facebook about politics. I’m waiting to see his take on all this, along with those of his friends. He’s visiting family in Russian right now, so keeping a low profile. I’m sure the FSB has a file on him.
Calouste
There was someone else during this election that we just should trust even though we knew hardly anything about his personal finances, because he was special. And who also had a campaign manager who worked for Viktor Yanukovych. But he didn’t get asked questions either.
It’s definitely backwards and in heels for Clinton. Old white guys just get a pass on stuff that should have sunk their campaign before it left the harbor.
Bobby_D
Well, it looks like I can retire now to a life of leisure and luxury. See, I bought call options on popcorn futures about six months ago, and now I am filthy rich. Thanks, Donnie!
Kay
But they never mattered anyway. The “pivot” wasn’t for them. He can literally say anything he wants about people who have no power. The only reason he fake-apologized to Khan is Khan kicked his ass. Khan won. That’s why Trump “felt remorse”.
Waldo
@Faux News: You’ll always have Walnut Hill Park. ;)
Gin & Tonic
@Origuy: I am traveling to Kiev tomorrow.
BR
gogol's wife
@Gin & Tonic:
Schastlivogo puti!
Miss Bianca
@Bobby_D: Speaking of popcorn…I have a kitten crawling into a popcorn bucket right now. Little pig just can’t get enough!
@Gin & Tonic: Paul?? Paul, IS THAT YOU??
Kay
@Calouste:
Clinton put “national security at risk” with her email management but Donald Trump was duped by a person who works for foreign agents and he gets a complete pass. Trump got played by this guy. Because he’s stupid.
David Hunt
@dmsilev: I’m looking forward to the much more entertaining llama portion of the campaign.
gogol's wife
Speaking of popcorn, has anyone seen Florence Foster Jenkins yet? I’m probably going tomorrow. She was a big hero at the Conservatory when I was in college — also her accompanist Cosmé McMoon.
Brachiator
@Immanentize:
Interesting poll. Glad that they gave some detail.
When you break the result down by gender or by race, you get signigficantly different results.
And many people, in the news, and in casual conversation, seem to assume that the military is all white. Even some folks speculating about an American coup presumed that the military would be a monolith, acting to back or reject coup plotters.
Gin & Tonic
@gogol’s wife: Спасибо!
amk
@Brachiator:
really? after these serial fuckups, you are sill going to give him the benefit of doubt?
Origuy
@Gin & Tonic: Flying through Sheremetyevo? Have a nice trip. I hear Kiev is a beautiful city. I’d like to go there and Lviv.
NotMax
Wow, the info about Manafort in that first intelligence briefing must have cast quite the pall.
redshirt
@Calouste: This seems less than sexism and more of the usual Republican/Democratic imbalance, amped up to 11 because of the insanity of Trump.
gogol's wife
@redshirt:
I think he’s referring to Bernie.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
Speaking of lies, Trump now regrets saying hurtful things…
He said those words.
“He said, and said, and said those words. He said them, but he lied them.”
eric
@Kay: if only there was a network that spanish speaking immigrants could watch to get their news.
amk
the trumpmorons.
eric
@NotMax: might have gone “nice campaign you have there, be a shame if we had to publicly release the BAD stuff while he still works for you.”
NotMax
Somewhere in a solitary basement, BiP cries.
Good.
Gin & Tonic
@Origuy: I don’t fly through Russia.
L’viv is indeed beautiful – it’s like what Prague was before it was overrun with tourists. You definitely feel as if you’re in Austro-Hungary.
Kay
In a move that should surprise no one, he remains a fraud. Not even 24 hours from lie to reality.
Mike E
@Peale:
The criticism wouldn’t miss a beat! (plus those nose pincher clips would facilitate 2 handed typing, too)
ETA oh look, we’ve made srv angry now, he’s threatening thermonuclear war toe-to-toe with the Rooskies!
The Ancient Randonnuer
Trump fires this guy to hire Bannon:
I think I’m seeing a pattern here.
p.a.
@Brachiator: exactly. Even in election years this is typically a slow news period. Not with donnie!
Brachiator
@gogol’s wife:
I just can’t do it. There are posters calling it an inspiring true story. But I can’t shake the idea that it is a movie about a deluded wealthy woman who had people kiss her butt and pretend that she had talent in order to get access to all the good things her wealth and status allowed.
Why? Was this because of her former skills as a pianist?
randy khan
A link to the Trump ad, in case anyone wants to see it:
Foreign people bad
The link title is a summary, not a comment. He’s doubling down on immigration, so not going to broaden the coalition at all.
gogol's wife
@Brachiator:
No, as something to point and laugh at.
gogol's wife
@Brachiator:
I saw clips on Charlie Rose last night, and it looks as if Hugh Grant gives a fantastic performance. I love him.
Blueskies
@Tom Levenson: That article is incredible. If we had a real press, the Trump campaign would simply cease today. A lot of my family is military and veteran. I’m sending them all this article.
Just incredible. A true Manchurian candidate, right down to the probability that he doesn’t even know he’s the useful idiot of the puppet masters.
NotMax
@randy khan
There’s a reason his supporters are called “the base.”
p.a.
Would the nat’l security apparatus have the stones to tell Trump: no security updates until Manafort is gone? (They prolly feel Don the Mouth is at least as big a security threat, but he IS the nominee, so really can’t avoid at least meeting with him.)
Ceci n'est pas mon nym
@gogol’s wife: My wife, a music major and a generally nice person, hates the entire concept of Florence Foster Jenkins. Hates the idea of listening to bad singing, hates the idea of this lady being laughed at by the entire world.
From what I’ve read, she may or may not have known she was terrible but if so, she was a pretty good sport about it. And she obviously loved the performing and drawing the crowds.
Jeffro
Kay:
Yeah – wasn’t Trump supposed to have some info out by now “clarifying” Melania’s immigration issues?
Kay
@The Ancient Randonnuer:
I love how it’s still phrased like we’re “interest groups” .
Shorter = “most people”. He disparaged the majority of people. Doesn’t matter. We’re still “the other” in relation to the implied norm. There could be 10 white men left and they’d still be comparing everyone else to The Standard.
gogol's wife
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym:
The people I knew who laughed the most were singers, but I don’t think they were being mean-spirited about it. They had a sneaking suspicion/fear that they were just like her. I think it’s about stage fright, self-questioning, etc., etc. You laugh about things you’re afraid of. It takes a lot of guts to get up on stage and sing — I think it’s far scarier than playing an instrument.
Blueskies
@Cacti:
If the article is accurate, rock throwing was just one tiny part of the clearly anti-US program Manafort was running. I don’t know about treason, but he VERY clearly cause DIRECT harm to US military personnel, and in the bigger picture, aided very directly is blocking US aims in the region.
Villago Delenda Est
@Immanentize: If they break it down further, you’d probably find that those with degrees, just like in the civilian sector, are more likely to go Hillary than Drumpf. They may not like Hillary all that much, but Drumpf is someone who would give them very bloody makework that they’ve had enough of already, thank you.
redshirt
@gogol’s wife: Possibly, though it does seem like Trump. But even if its Sanders, I don’t think that was primarily sexism either. Sanders has a ton of dirt that never came out because it was obvious that he wasn’t going to win, so why bother? And Republicans didn’t want to push it either because they wanted Sanders to be the nominee. No one had any motivation for dinging Sanders, so it never happened.
Brachiator
@Kay:
I don’t care about Trump’s wife, his kids, nor the spouse and kids of any other political candidate. I barely have any idea of what Kaine’s wife looks like.
There are parts of the presidential campaign kabuki which bore me to tears. The wholly irrelevant presidential spouse is one of them.
Mike J
Trump’s donation page on his website loaded a js library directly from github. Meaning that anybody who wanted to could modify the code and potentially run it on his site. It’s been fixed, and there’s no evidence it actually happened, but very sloppy.
Tell me again about email servers….
Immanentize
@Villago Delenda Est: I agree. The article says Romney won the military vote by 20% Trump is only up by 10. I think that is real good news for Hillary.
Mike J
@Brachiator:
Bill Clinton’s cookie recipe has been getting the opposite of raves. Not that it was horrible, just distinctly meh.
The Ancient Randonnuer
@Kay:
The validity of The Standard is never questioned because it is The Standard.
Kay
@Jeffro:
She’ll never give a press conference on why she gave an interview sternly scolding other immigrants on their lawbreaking ways, just like he’ll never release any financials on his sleazy business empire.
They’re special.
When pigs fly.
nonynony
@Kay:
Bush was a real outlier. Normally the way you manage a campaign reflects how you’re going to manage the Executive Branch but Bush is the exception. As an Executive Branch manager he seemed to rely completely on a handful of advisers who had major ideological blinders for major decisions and handed out jobs to cronies like they were candy. His campaign, though, was staffed with experts who actually knew what they were doing and jobs seemed to be given to people with actual skill rather than cronies – jobs for cronies were off in areas where they couldn’t do any damage.
To me it pretty much reflects the fact that he cared about campaigning, but he didn’t care about managing the country beyond a few pet projects (like making sure Iraq got invaded one way or another to satisfy his Daddy Issues).
It wasn’t just local Dems. The entire Internet was awash in people who were sure that Bush was vulnerable and that Kerry had it won.
That election was Bush’s to lose and he didn’t lose. Kerry wasn’t going to beat him without some kind of a serious upset coming along.
Brachiator
@The Ancient Randonnuer: RE: Kurt Bardella, who worked with Bannon at Breitbart for two years, says the former Breitbart News chairman regularly disparaged minorities, women, and immigrants during daily editorial calls at the publication.
Last night’s Maddow show included a segment about how some Breitbart editors regularly spout racist, sexist filth on social media and elsewhere.
Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos has been permanetntly suspended from Twitter for his ravings.
Trump is very comfortable about diving into the sewer for his new crew of campaign advisors,
jonas
@Brachiator:
Manafort’s tenure was probably the high water mark. Manafort was a seasoned political operative and protege of Lee Atwater. This guy from Breitbart is a white supremacist agitprop clown who knows how to get the base riled up with internet rumors about Bill Clinton’s private jet orgies or whatever, but that’s not the same as running a national election. Trump just doubled down on being Trump, not being a serious campaigner.
Brachiator
@Mike J:
I saw this and thought it was stupid for a former president to be putting out a cookie recipe. I imagine that somebody, somewhere thought it was cute, or an ironic comment on the past expectations about women, etc.
Kay
And she’s the good Trump. The rest are far worse.
dmsilev
@Brachiator: Apparently Bill submitted the exact same cookie recipe that Hillary used during that kerfuffle in the 92 race. I can only read that as being a raised middle finger towards the whole idea, so good for him.
randy khan
@Brachiator:
There’s a Parade Magazine candidates’ spouses cookie poll, or something like that, and the B. Clinton recipe is for that purpose.
I read somewhere that it’s actually the same recipe that Hillary submitted in 1992 and 1996, which you could take as commentary on the whole exercise.
TriassicSands
Paul Manafort has resigned.
Says who? Says who?
Q: When is Trump going to thank himself for the incredible work he’s done, but due to factors beyond his control, he finds it necessary to resign from his own campaign?
nonynony
@Kay:
The only good Trumps can be found in playing card decks.
Everyone in that family is a mess. How could they not be given the parents and the grandparents?
@randy khan: If true, that’s hysterical.
(Parade magazine. Good lord – is that still around?)
cmorenc
@Tom Levenson:
So this means Trump has been a genuine example of a “Manchurian” er. Crimean candidate? Except I’m having a hard time picturing Denzel Washington in the Trump role in the upcoming movie version of this saga, although I will note that in the movie “Primary Colors” (where John Travolta clearly played Clinton, in uncannily dead-on fashion) – they used a black actor Adam Lester to play what was unmistakably the George Stephanopoulos role in Clinton’s campaign. However, just as I doubt Lester would have worked in the Clinton role, I doubt Washington would work in the Clinton role, though he might play a quite credible Obama.
Brachiator
@jonas:
Actually, I agree with you. I should have noted that I think that Trump is going to get down into some serious campaigning by flinging shit and focusing on appealing more to hard core racists and sexists and gay bashers.
And there will be a concentrated effort to try to tear Hillary down.
But this is what is exactly what is serious to Trump. His campaign style has never been traditional. The GOP pearl clutcher kept begging Trump to be “more presidential,” more conventional, to pivot into a mainstream style. But Trump is comfortable in the gutter, in the fringe, in birther alley. One of his buddies is owner of The National Enquirer. I get the impression that the Breitbart people, who have always traded in vile filth, have convinced Trump that they are a perfect fit to his “counter puncher” sensibility.
And Trump seems to sincerely believe that these people can help him appeal to voters and win.
randy khan
@nonynony:
You bet. My wife flips through it every Sunday.
There occasionally are some good recipes, actually, but mostly it’s utter fluff.
Shell
What is so funny is all the Trumpots trying to spin yet another setback as something GREAT! CNN had Levandoski (sic) on, saying how this just shows how active the Trump campaign is, and how it shows how Trump will do anything to win.
‘Anything to win’? Thats supposed to be a good thing?
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Brachiator:
This to the infinite power.
Melania’s not running for office. Neither are the kids. What they do or don’t do on their own time is irrelevant at best.
Same for Bill and Chelsea.
Brachiator
@dmsilev:
Still don’t care.
I want to see Clinton as part of the crew tearing down Trump’s pretensions to be a serious candidate. I didn’t give a shit about cookie recipes in 92. I don’t give a shit about cookie recipes today.
The people who want to waste campaign time with this cute shit should be put in a room somewhere and slapped.
@randy khan:
Parade Magazine still exists? And people still read it?
MomSense
@Woodrowfan:
yup. He’ll have to pick his own food and prepare it himself for awhile.
scav
I think there’s more to a story or a performance than mere quality of singing. Compare Margaret Truman’s issues and singing career / experiences to those of Florence Foster Jenkins’. It’s not all simply attributable to sucking up to money and power v. vocal perfection. There’s the ineffable charisma, the inexplicable ability of society, fashionable or otherwise, to adopt pet rocks and fads and run with them to bizarre extremes, and I’d image the snark and self-conscious irony gene was kicking along even then.
bemused
@Emma:
Joe Biden rightly pointed out the irony of Trump boasting he will make lives of middle class better when he has no clue about the middle class and doesn’t want to understand them. Trump’s kids are just as clueless and disinterested in finding out.
cmorenc
@Brachiator:
Someone (can’t remember who) made the astute observation yesterday that Trump’s new strategy (courtesy of his new team) has given up on trying to make him more convincingly Presidential, and instead will be concentrating on viciously tearing down Clinton sufficiently to reduce her turnout (or else drive enough of her potential voters to 3P candidates) that Trump once again is electorally competitive with her. This is not at all a new GOP strategy, the difference is how amped-up on steroids and nuclear-grade weaponry it will be this time around.
Peale
@Kay: Yes. My guess is that the press doesn’t really care about those other groups. He apologized to them (in that not real apology apology) and as long as he doesn’t insult them, he’s pivoted.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@gogol’s wife: I do both. Sometimes at the same time, often separately. No difference, really.
FWIW I never have had anxiety on stage, ever. Probably the only place where that’s the case. I know I can handle it, always did from the first.
ETA: Florence Foster Jenkins isn’t the first rich person who bought her way onto a stage and packed house and she surely won’t be the last. But legit musicians do tend to get a bit enraged about people who do that.
AngelWhine
After all those years of practice the Apprentice gave Trump for saying those words (You’re Fired), we don’t get to hear them when it counts the most!! Instead, we get a silly passive aggressive demotion that leads to an inexorable resignation… Trump could’ve gotten some mileage out of this, but instead, he dropped the ball.
gogol's wife
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Operatic singing?
SRW1
@Amir Khalid:
Ivanka is not gonna be amused.
Enhanced Voting Techinques
@BR:
Sounds more like it’s out in open now and they aren’t even trying for the moderates. I mean who but an alt-right racist would feel threatened by a blackwoman voting?
Turgidson
@nonynony:
On some level I think Bush ran the government exactly as he thought it should be run. The fact that we got a cesspool of incompetence and corruption was at best considered a non-issue, and at worst considered a feature, by Bush and his circle. He appointed cronies to positions he either didn’t care about or thought were best run by corporate stooges anyway. And we got the results one might expect. He surrounded himself with graybeards for the more high profile positions. And Cheney and Rummy, at least, came into their posts with some amount of prestige – most of the Villagers and lower-info voters thought they were solid, respectable senior figures and Bush was smart to put them on the team. It wasn’t nearly well-appreciated enough that they were demented lunatics until they’d already flung a metric fuckton of poo all over the world.
One of my lasting impressions of the Bush Reign of Error was that it felt like the campaignnever stopped. His spokespeople made the case for him more by insulting Democrats or ripping off a slew of talking points more than engaging on substance. All White House communications teams do this to some extent, but it was just striking with the Bush crew. Obama has had the opposite problem. His White House hasn’t been very good at campaigning from the White House. To be fair, when they try, they get shat on for it. But the general ethos is “do the work, get the policy right, and public opinion will take care of itself.” Uh, no.
? Martin
@cmorenc: It’s neither. Trump isn’t trying to win. He’s got his 30% and now he’s investing everything into owning them outright. It’s not about tearing Clinton down, it’s about having an audience that will still be with him even after he loses. Trump is investing everything in becoming the post-election Roger Ailes.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Immanentize: No, no, no. Eva Braun would never have been given a real job; you need to think Hannah Reitsch instead.
SRW1
@Cacti:
It was just bidnez. He didn’t really mean it!
scav
@SRW1: So, the rocks were sarcastic — dumb misinterpreting military and media.
evodevo
@SFAW: For the King of Dead Eyes, see Tom Delay. Really…
Kay
@Grumpy Code Monkey:
I disagree. Ivanka was widely reported to be developing policy for women and children for her father. I didn’t tell her to do that.
If she wants the upside of power and influence she gets the downside. I don’t really feel like being subject to the whims of random celebrities who happen to be related to Donald Trump. If she wants to stay out of it there’s a way to do that- don’t take credit for family leave policy. She “opened the door”
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
Where else would he go? And why would he go anywhere else even if he could, he’s always been at home in the sewer.
Bobby_D
@gogol’s wife: For me, it’s way scarier than playing an instrument, but only because I can’t sing in key. I cannot stay on pitch, and I can clearly hear how bad it is. I’ve played guitar on stage in hall sized venues, up to about 3000 people, and once the first song is over, the nerves are gone. No way I’d sing, even backup/harmony. But I do get how some people don’t know that they are really bad. It took me years of playing before I could really hear the nuances of music and tell if my instrument was tuned just slightly sharp or flat, and I think voice is harder that way.
Villago Delenda Est
@jonas: This is why I think he’s resigned to losing, and is planning for a Trump TV future. He’s lining up “media experts” to keep his base engaged (and sending in checks).
Miss Bianca
This Manafort article is incredible. What a scumbag.
Atthe same time, I can’t help but feel a little bit of guilty glee at the thought that a guy who’s supposed to be such a slick sorta ratfucker could be made to look so completely ridiculous by the utter non-compos-ness of Candidate Donald Trump. The only thing that could make the long-overdue humiliation of Manafort complete would be the possibility of serious criminal charges being pressed against him for his role in the Ukrainian mess.
gogol's wife
@Kay:
Right. Same goes for Melania.
Brachiator
@? Martin:
What is this supposed to mean? That Trump wants to create his own version of Fox News?
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator: Trump TV. He’s already hinted at it. How he’s going to get Ailes out from underneath the almost certain non-compete clause that had to have been in his Golden Parachute package I leave as an exercise for a team of lawyers.
Gin & Tonic
Now that Manafort is out, maybe the GOP Platform Committee can reconvene and restore the promise of aid to Ukraine that he deleted from the platform.
Villago Delenda Est
@Grumpy Code Monkey: No, but the Ivana Trumpkins are an integral part of Teh Donald’s campaign team. Tiffany much less so, and Barron too young to be involved at all, the poor kid. Chelsea’s role in all this is giving a few speeches, she’s more or less at the Tiffany level of involvement.
Uday, Qusay, and Lolita need to feel the pain associated with the failure of their hoofwanking bunglec#nt of a father.
BruceFromOhio
Clearly this is good news for John McCain.
Also: DEMS IN DISARRAY!
Gin & Tonic
@srv: In other breaking news, Francisco Franco is still dead.
This is ancient news, bro.
boatboy_srq
@Aimai: Of course it’s put on. Added plus: the breakdown gets more esoteric the further Northeast you go. Northern New England breaks down at English / Irish / French-Canadian / Other. They don’t NEED Those People® to have “those people.”
Speaking as one who grew up in the midst of all that.
Ruckus
@Kay:
I don’t normally care about the family of the candidates. Trump is not a normal candidate for president. Not in any way. In the past candidates had a least some level of ability to do the job. Trump doesn’t have one iota. And normally that wouldn’t count against the family. But in this case the family is in the same league as the candidate. Wife a spokesperson who plagiarizes and is now being hidden. The boys? Entitled assholes. It is good information to see what Trump has wrought as a parent, it shows who he is as a person. Who was the R candidate who had a 27 of his kids on stage at a podium or Ted Cruz’s daughter, those are telling moments in personalities. The candidates brought them out and exposed them to us, we didn’t go looking for them. They wanted us to see what they had done, family wise, and it was valuable information for the voters. And the voters rejected them. Job well done candidates, we got to see exactly what you are like at home, and we didn’t like it.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
Ailes needed Rupert Murdoch. Trump doesn’t have the money or knowledge of owning media properties to create Trump TV. This is nothing but gas.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@gogol’s wife: Majority of my solo vocal work is musical theater. If I’m playing with an instrument it could be damn near any kind of gig.
Fair Economist
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
From the Wikipedia it sounds like she was in effect a comedy act and appreciated by her audience. So, not the usual vanity performer.
Matt McIrvin
@Ruckus: Melania doesn’t seem to have a major role in Trump’s campaign… but his three oldest kids do. They’re functionally senior advisers, probably because he’s got a shortage of people willing to do this.
Mary G
The dead eyes are raise-the-hair-on-the-back-of-my-neck scary. I found myself looking away as soon as he came on real TV.
Rico
Dead eyes indeed. And that hair….I know the color isn’t real, is the rest of it or is it darkened scraps from Trump’s toupee?
aimai
@Rico: No, they may have worked for Donald but even they wouldn’t lie down for Manafort.
SiubhanDuinne
@Brachiator:
Charlie Pierce sure picked the wrong week to go on vacation!
Keith P.
I don’t know exactly why, but I always look at Manafort and think that if he just had an ascot on, he’d be a dead ringer for Robert Conrad. And I don’t even know that Robert Conrad wears ascots. But Manafort definitely has the ascot look.
rikyrah
12 celebrities you didn’t realize are absurdly rich
Martin Lawrence – Estimated net worth: $110 million
Ray Romano – Estimated net worth: $120 million
Birdman – Estimated net worth: $150 million
Glenn Beck – Estimated net worth: $180 million
Jessica Alba – Estimated net worth: $200 million
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Estimated net worth: $200 million
Jamie Oliver – Estimated net worth: $240 million
Judge Judy – Estimated net worth: $250 million
Keanu Reeves – Estimated net worth: $350 million
Jimmy Buffett-Estimated net worth: $430 million
Gloria Estefan – Estimated net worth: $500 million
Dolly Parton – Estimated net worth: $500 million
rikyrah
for peach flavored shampoo:
Here’s a link to the cannibal in Florida story. Of course, being White – he was taken ALIVE.
KlareCole
@scav: They did get Trump to comb his hair ‘better’, but it, as he, are still hard to look at.
one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer
@rikyrah:
Jimmy Buffett is a unique guy – he’s a workaholic and an incredible money manager. Recognized long ago how the labels were robbing musicians blind. He took a gimmick act with an incredibly cult like, yet smallish following and built brand.
Another one is Ian Anderson – he owns a chunk of England that is pretty large.
bystander
The only way this would get better is if we found out Manafort had handed Melania her RNC speech. As he tucked his shirttail in.
Ben Cisco
@Villago Delenda Est:
I admire your subtlety.
Brachiator
@gogol’s wife:
btw, I was halfway thinking about seeing the new “Ben-Hur,” for empty spectacle, but the reviews so far have been mostly (and expectedly) negative. More Ben-Huh? than Ben-Hur.
Also, I had forgotten that this is the second film about Jenkins.
bystander
@rikyrah: I’m guessing the number shown for Julia Louis-Dreyfus represents only her earnings as an actress. She’s an heiress to the Louis-Dreyfus fortune IIRC.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jeffro:
That’s the great advantage of the Gish gallop — there’s so much other Trumpian stuff being talked about and grabbing the momentary attention of the Villagers that no reporter is even going to remember to follow up on that.
Rico
@KlareCole:
Shouldn’t hair be the word that is in quotes?
; )
NoraLenderbee
Can I do some more hand-wringing? Now that tRump’s campaign has started showing actual TV ads, I’m scared he might win back enough voters to make a difference.
Also, too, if the Republicans ever figure out how to drop the anti-immigrant stuff, they’ll get back a chunk of the Hispanic vote.
And that little mole on the back of my neck is almost definitely a sign of my imminent death from cholera.
Splitting Image
@rikyrah:
Dolly Parton’s the same age as Trump, worth about the same amount of money, and wasn’t given a head start by a slumlord father. Everything she has she’s earned herself. And yet Donald Trump is the one running for President.
Parton’s biggest investment over the years was bankrolling the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. Beats losing money operating a ca-$-ino.
bystander
@gogol’s wife: How about “Hell and High Water” instead?
stinger
@Chyron HR: We have the best regrets!
Iowa Old Lady
I don’t know how anyone keeps up with the Trump tornado of derp. His campaign manager was working for an unfriendly foreign power. Holy crap. Try to picture that in any other year. This year, it’s just swept away by the next stupidity.
Iowa Old Lady
@NoraLenderbee: It’s too late for Trump to get enough of the Hispanic vote back to make a difference. I find it very comforting to look at demographics in general and see that there’s not a single group in which Trump will a bigger percentage than Romney.
Miss Bianca
@one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer:
Probably an even larger chunk of Scotland. Or at least, he did the last time I was checking Ian Anderson’s financials (which, admittedly, was quite a long time ago).
rikyrah
@Kay:
Kay,
you gotta FrontPage this stuff…the post would be epic!!
Just lay it all out there.
Miss Bianca
@gogol’s wife: Good Lord, is this a movie? They made a movie about FFJ?
Ruckus
@Iowa Old Lady:
Piled higher and deeper than anyone else. His bullshit is yooooge.
NorthLeft12
@Immanentize: That 10% more of the military vote would support Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton would[does] scare me a great deal. Says more about the people attracted to the military and their inability to think clearly than it does about Trump’s supposed attributes.
Outside of Trump being male, what else would attract people in the military to support him? Outside of that whole fascist schtick that should get people thrown out of the military.
Cat48
Who did Bill give a cookie recipe to & why? This made me laugh loudly. He needs to take his bored butt out & play golf with the prez. He’ll let u cheat or he could go down to the flood area &’make himself useful. The gov said they need more money from Red Cross, etc. he could raise $$ for them.
Dadadadadadada
@SiubhanDuinne: And we all picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
/obligatory joke
rikyrah
@BR:
Uh huh
Uh huh
scav
Seemingly it’s not the scandal, it’s the possible distraction or worse, the shared spotlight that put the poor boy out on the street.
What to do, what to do, O! what to do when your campaign manager is potentially a larger low-hanging international target of investigation and reporting than potentially either of the presidential candidates? For a campaign organized around grabbing all the news, all the time, good or bad, it would seem that snaring the spotlight might very well be the unforgivable transgression.
sukabi
@Brachiator: doesn’t mean he won’t give it a shot, he’s run countless other businesses into the ground, and with all “the gas” as you put it, this would be an epic Hindenburg flame out. It might even be a “cleansing fire” and take some of the most noxious people with it.
Robert Sneddon
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
The only thing legit musicians worry about is whether the paycheck will bounce. If she didn’t stiff her accompanist or the orchestra then they don’t care. Getting the work in the first place is a plus regardless.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@rikyrah:
Just last night my brother told me William Shatner is supposedly north of $600 million because he got paid in Priceline stock back in the day.
Brachiator
@Miss Bianca:
They actually made 2 movies about her.
‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ or ‘Marguerite’ – Same Story, Very Different Films
MomSense
@Ceci n’est pas mon nym:
Poor woman had advanced syphilis so that may have altered her perception about her ability.
@Robert Sneddon:
She paid him very well.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator: He can get the money from the 27% who are his marks. If the thing ever gets on the air…most cable ventures fail to meet that criterion. Not the point, though…it’s collecting the money from the marks.
rikyrah
@one_particular_harbour, fka Botsplainer:
I knew about Buffett
And, about Dolly Parton. Her writing catalogue alone…when I finally got hip to the fact that the real….’just breathe’ (make it to the first of the month, and the check will be there) money in music is in music PUBLISHING…I got in awe of certain people.
The music person that woke me up – I saw a semi-documentary on the life of Barry Manilow.
I was stunned at all that he had written.
rikyrah
@bystander:
Yep, they mentioned it.
Brachiator
@Steeplejack (tablet):
A few years ago, Forbes said that Shatner’s net worth was around $100 million.
Jerry Seinfeld’s net worth is around $800 million, among the highest among entertainers
Splitting Image
@Iowa Old Lady:
I feel the same. Was it only four years ago that I said Mitt Romney’s campaign was the worst I’d ever seen? He looked pathetic trying to get people cheering for Paul Ryan to cheer for him instead, but Trump? The only precedents who come even close are Alcibiades, Caligula, and Heliogabalus.
randy khan
@rikyrah:
Most of those aren’t surprising at all.
Heck, it’s more surprising that other Seinfeld actors aren’t on the list given the price for the syndication rights (and they all got a cut, IIRC).
Jamie Oliver is kind of interesting, though.
jenn
@Splitting Image: Hold on, Dolly invested in Buffy? I loved that show! Thanks, Dolly!
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
Wouldn’t be enough, although it would make for a funny gofundme campaign.
@sukabi:
Some of his other disasters were just him branding his name to something. I’m skeptical that even Trump has the ego to try something like this. He certainly does not have the competence.
But, what the hey, we shall see. I would love to see him crash and burn in another venture that he blunders into.
GregB
Breaking News:
Donald Trump Begins Apology Tour.
Pass it on.
Shana
@randy khan: Yeah we get Parade in the WaPo on Sundays too. It’s about 6 or 8 pages nowadays. I remember reading it as a child but never realized how all the celebrity “gossip” was so obviously whatever their publicists sent out. “What’s so and so up to now?” crap questions when all they’re doing is PR for their new project. Unreadable.
nonynony
@Brachiator:
I’m gonna stop you right there. Because I’m sure he has the ego.
I don’t think he has the attention span. I think he might THINK he wants to do this but some other shiny thing will come along and he’ll do that instead.
Although I could see him trying to get Breitbart to license his name and rebrand the enterprise as Trump News or something. That sounds like something that would fit with his past history and his short attention span.
Fair Economist
@rikyrah: Most of those celebs don’t surprise me. Jessica Alba would surprise me if I didn’t know she’d started a phenomenally successful baby products company. Glenn Beck is a bit of surprise; guess his gold grifting is working pretty well. Otherwise it’s people who’ve been at the top in their fields for decades.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator: The point of course is not to actually build a Trump TV, it’s to say you’re going to. You know, like how Newt Gingrich begged people for money to run for President in 2008, or Sarah Palin stringing on her moran fans in 2012.
And you pocket all their contributions to the “project”.
Brachiator
@Iowa Old Lady:
Actually, I think that Trump does particularly well with one group.
Calouste
@randy khan: The serious money for the reruns goes to the creators of the show, not the writers or the actors.
? Martin
@Brachiator:
That’s my guess. Other people’s as well.http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/06/report-after-election-trump-considering-media-company-launch-224423
Brachiator
@Fair Economist:
Just being at the top of their fields for decades rarely does it. Celebs rarely build high net worth from salaries. Seinfeld owned at least part of his TV show and made extra bucks from its syndication, made intelligent investments later, etc. As noted by another poster, Jessica Alba had a baby products company.
And sadly, many celebs and sports figures end up squandering their wealth, and being taken for an expensive ride by shady “investment advisors.”
Chris T.
@Kay:
You mean the Norm. That’s a white guy named Norm.
Miss Bianca
Can someone – anyone – out there explain to me how House Republicans leaking classified information in the course of pursuing HRC’s email trail is not, in fact, a crime and a security breach in and of itself? I know I’d hate to be sitting on a red-hot stove till anyone called Republican lawmakers to account for anything, but seriously…isn’t this type of thing subject to some kind of censure, at least, if not actual charges?
catclub
@Splitting Image: Did not list Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, cause enough people KNOW they are very rich.
Peale
@Splitting Image: I would totally vote for Dolly. And yeah, had she run in the Democratic primary, I think Clinton would have been facing a floor fight at the convention.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Smiling Mortician: Chilling. Someone worse than a brown shirt jack booted thug or a Russian spy. Yes Trump gets only the best people!
Fair Economist
@Brachiator:
The top stars *do* earn that kind of money. Hundreds of thousands per TV show, multiple millions per movie, tens of millions for a concert tour. If you can keep it up for 20 years, you’ll have made over a hundred million. Yes, the very top people have usually done some good investments (or are part owners of their shows) but most of these people could be on this list with their earnings plus a few stock index funds.
Squandering/getting ripped off is a big issue, yes. My impression is that most entertainers end up not well off because they blow it all. Billy Joel and Elton John did a tour together with their problems in those departments as backstory (Joel ripped off by his manager; John bankrupted by his own spending.) I think they’re both quite rich again, though.
Gravenstone
@Kay: To be fair, it’s not entirely unprecedented. Romney’s people basically disappeared his own VP candidate after a couple of weeks and a wretched debate performance. Ryan was relegated to private meetings and such after that. No more public appearances with concomitant chances for embarrassment.
jl
it’s interesting and disturbing to watch Josh Marshall’s twitter feed for news on the Trump white nationalist front.
Now South Asian supporters are getting ejected from their rallies. Pretty soon Trump rallies are going to make the GOP House caucus and intern staff look diverse.
Maybe soon you’ll have to show a Trump tattoo to get in?
I gotta learn now to link to individual twitter tweets.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@jl: But will the traditional MSM tell us about this ?
randy khan
@Calouste:
I had remembered (incorrectly) that the cast all had back-end deals, but actually looking it up reveals that they did not. They did, however, negotiate additional royalties from the DVD set, which certainly made them quite a bit, and they all get standard SAG residuals, which are turning out to be quite long-lived as the show’s been in syndication forever.
jl
@Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap: Would be interesting to get a comprehensive report on Trump supporters who have been thrown out of meetings or out of rallies because they are considered a ‘suspect’ demo. My count so far is
African-American (even if you are a state GOP bigshot)
Hispanic (of course)
vaguely ‘Muslim’ ( or is it ‘muslin’?}
Native-American
young white adults who look too much like a ‘liberal college student’. Not sure what the signs are for that, but I guess the Trumpers kinow.
vaguely South Asian
My question is, when they decide to require Trump tats, will they check for temporary rub-ons versus the real deal?
D58826
@Miss Bianca: It’s ok if you are a gooper. But it does make them look even more stupid and venal than usual
jl
@D58826: I wasn’t that concerned about Comey releasing the interview material, until I realized that it was a bunch of notes made by individual investigators, not transcripts, not comprehensive summaries. Now, the whole thing seems fishy to me. The FBI is going to release G-damn notes, scribbled down in a hurry by individual agents during an interview. Or summaries made by individuals from memory after the interview was over. What use are they for getting real info. I can see the use they would be for taking a phrase out of context as part of smear campaign.
Now I gotta ask how usual is that kind of release? Did Comey have his responsible law enforcement hat on, or his GOPer ‘lets keep the HRC electoral vote below 300, and lets keep the Senate’ hat on? I think a valid question given the nature of the material released.
Mnemosyne
@randy khan:
IIRC, Julia Louis-Dreyfus had a better deal than the other supporting cast members, because she hired a better lawyer. Plus, of course, she’s had two successful and award-winning TV shows since then while Jason Alexander went back to Broadway.
Brachiator
@Fair Economist:
It is rare for an entertainer to be a good, let alone a top earner, for 20 plus years. And surprisingly, few entertainers have much in the way of investments.
And even when it comes to investments, some end up losing by investing in what they think they know (e.g., clubs and restaurants). Stocks and index funds used to be a rarity. And even when advisors try to steer celebs in this direction, these types of investments seem too boring.
Some of the top earning musicians I’ve known about earned a chunk from music publishing, but that’s changed.
Historically, once of the worst examples was the boxer Rocky Marciano. He didn’t trust banks, or checks, and insisted in being paid in cash for public appearances. There is a story that he once turned down a check for $5,000 because $2,000 in cash was more real.
D58826
@jl:
I think the answer to that is the later. He is just falling back into his ken Starr mode. Both the notes and his presser are basically public kangaroo courts. His presser was just a list of assertions w/o documentation or cross examination. And it turns out that some of what he said was wrong. Unfortunately the corrections have not caught up with the original statements. Since the notes/memos are just that and not a formal document/sworn testimony/signed statements they also would be little more than hearsay. Which is why they are never released, except when it’s a Clinton
SiubhanDuinne
@Miss Bianca:
@Brachiator:
With a third on the way — a documentary feature about FFJ starring the legitimately great mezzo-soprano, Joyce DiDonato.
J R in WV
@Brachiator:
She had a big heart and donated copiously to musical and artistic groups and causes. She ought musical instruments for talented students who could never have afforded one by themselves. She was generous even when there was nothing in it for her.
She was dotty about her vocal skills, but enjoyed herself immensely, which isn’t a bad thing. I don’t think she got joy from making people kiss her butt, even if some people felt inclined to do that because other rich people needed it.
A good interview with Ms Streep on Fresh Air; she studied Francis pretty intensely to better play the role. I don’t know if I can stand the singing in the movie, as I do have an ear for pitch and key, although not perfect pitch, thank FSM.
randy khan
@Mnemosyne:
Yeah, she’s basically one of the reigning queens of comedy (well deserved, I should add), and presumably has a lot more leverage in getting back-end money now.
J R in WV
@Gin & Tonic:
Fixed that for ya… ;-)
Isn’t that how SNL news read that headline, for months?
Fair Economist
@Brachiator:
Yes, very rare. But – the folks on that list mostly are the rarity – all except Alba, Beck, and Oliver.
J R in WV
@rikyrah:
Martin Lawrence – Estimated net worth: $110 million (1)
Ray Romano – Estimated net worth: $120 million (1)
Birdman – Estimated net worth: $150 million (1)
Glenn Beck – Estimated net worth: $180 million (2)
Jessica Alba – Estimated net worth: $200 million (2)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Estimated net worth: $200 million (1)
Jamie Oliver – Estimated net worth: $240 million (1)
Judge Judy – Estimated net worth: $250 million (3)
Keanu Reeves – Estimated net worth: $350 million (2)
Jimmy Buffett – Estimated net worth: $430 million (4)
Gloria Estefan – Estimated net worth: $500 million (4)
Dolly Parton – Estimated net worth: $500 million (5)
(1) – Never heard of them, won’t even do a Google
(2) – Heard of them, don’t care, don’t deserve it
(3) – You’re kidding!
(4) – earned it, deserve it.
(5) – Deserves every penny, invests it in her community wisely, amazing talent
Just my $0.02.
Dolly Parton can sing anything, with anyone, built things that employ her neighbors, put a ton of work into literacy and giving books to kids. She is a superstar because she is a wonderful giving person with a great talent.
The album Trio, with Emmy Lou Harris and Linda Ronstadt (who is retired because of Parkinson’s, which prevents her from singing, so sad) and Trio II are both great albums of vocal music.
When we were living in Key West, in ancient times, Jimmy Buffet was singing for drinks and tips in bars there, along with some other now well known performers. He’s a pretty good guy too.
Brachiator
@J R in WV:
If you give a public performance, have some talent. If you want to enjoy yourself, sing in the shower. Otherwise, it is a bad thing to inflict your talentless self on others.
It’s like when Paul McCartney’s wife sang with the band. They made sure her mic was turned down low. That way, everyone could enjoy the show.
Maybe the film tries to sell Jenkins as a nice person with an eccentricity. This is OK, but still not anything that I would ever want to see.
What was there to study? I heard a BBC interview with Streep. She could not make the character seem interesting to me.
I’ve enjoyed some movies about characters who are not quite great, who are second rate, realize it, and struggle with or against that realization that they lack a certain creative spark. But I just don’t enjoy movies about delusional people with no talent, especially those who are able to buy some degree of adulation.
Brachiator
@SiubhanDuinne:
Why?
I blame Obama.
I just looked at the Wiki entry for Jenkins.
This is pretty much the definition of anti-music
I ain’t got rhythm, I ain’t got music, but I got money
Who could ask for anything more
NorthLeft12
@Splitting Image: Really? Dolly Parton bankrolled Buffy? I’m a big fan of the TV series and had no idea.
KithKanan
@Chris T.: Except to Diane, who calls him ‘Norman’.
Shaun Appleby
@Emma: Little taste of vintage Aussie politics:
Nobody took it seriously at the time; Palmer was our Trump for a brief, comical period.
bk
From my son: “Trump campaign manager” is today’s equivalent of “Spinal Tap drummer”
Marcion
@bk:
I was thinking more like “#3 guy in Al Qaeda”…
AxelFoley
I hope the FBI drop kicks his ass
Faux News
@Waldo: Oh there are many ways one can enjoy Walnut Hill Park :LOL
Matt McIrvin
@jenn: Dolly Parton was part owner of one of the production companies involved in making both the original movie and the TV show.
She’s done a bunch of other things: her amusement park in Tennessee, Dollywood, is by most accounts a very nice place, though I haven’t been there.