And so it begins…
NEW: Source: Trump transition team undergoing "Stalinesque purge of people close" to Gov. Christie. https://t.co/QhRhigv8PV pic.twitter.com/ds2HweQse8
— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) November 15, 2016
The Donald Trump transition, already off to slow start, bogged down further Tuesday with the abrupt resignation of former Congressman Mike Rogers, who had been coordinating its national security efforts.
Two sources close to Rogers said he had been the victim of what one called a “Stalinesque purge,” from the transition of people close to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who left Friday. It was unclear which other aides close to Christie had also been forced out.
The Trump transition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prior to entering politics, Congressman Rogers was a Special Agent in the FBI. He worked in the Chicago Field Office specializing in organized crime and public corruption.
NBC goes on to report:
Rogers was initially seen as a leading candidate for CIA director, but now is likely off the list, a source told NBC News. Rep. Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is now a top contender.
Rogers’ departure follows Christie’s demotion from head of the team to a vice-chair, with Vice President-elect Mike Pence taking over for him last week.
The purge indicates the emphasis on loyalty — and significant influence of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, husband of Ivanka — that characterized Trump’s campaign will carry over into his White House.
Multiple sources indicated that Christie was demoted because he wasn’t seen as sufficiently loyal to Trump, failing to vocally defend him at key moments on the campaign trail.
Elliot A. Cohen, a former senior advisor to Secretary of State Rice, has reversed his position of last week:
After exchange w Trump transition team, changed my recommendation: stay away. They're angry, arrogant, screaming "you LOST!" Will be ugly.
— Eliot A Cohen (@EliotACohen) November 15, 2016
Cohen’s statement above is a reversal of his thoughts last week published at The American Interest.
You asked what I thought about going to work in a Trump Administration. I do not have to worry about that, of course: I was one of the ringleaders in denouncing him as unfit by temperament, character, and judgment for political office. They will have no use for me, or, to be fair, I for them. But others, including some of my younger friends, will have jobs dangled in front of them, because the government has to be staffed.
It seems to me that if they are sure that they would say yes out of a sense of duty rather than mere careerism; if they are realistic in understanding that in this enterprise they will be the horse, not the jockey; if they accept that they will enter an administration likely to be torn by infighting and bureaucratic skullduggery, they should say yes. Yes, with two conditions, however: that they keep a signed but undated letter of resignation in their desk office (as I did when I was in government), and that they not recant a word of what they have said thus far. Public service means making accommodations, but everyone needs to understand that there is a point where crossing a line, even an arbitrary line, means, as Sir Thomas More says in A Man for All Seasons, letting go without hope of ever finding yourself again.
It goes without saying that friends in military, diplomatic, or intelligence service—the career people who keep our country strong and safe—should continue to do their jobs. If anything, having professionals serve who remember that their oath is to support and defend the Constitution—and not to truckle to an individual or his clique—will be more important than ever.
It is unclear if Cohen’s reversal applies to those currently serving – I would hope it does not, we need them to do exactly what he suggests they do in that third paragraph.
None of this – the purging as related by NBC or the vindictiveness and revanchism related by Cohen – should be surprising. It was both a hallmark of the campaign, but it is also emblematic of the President Elect’s social darwinian outlook and belief in eugenics.
In an interview for US TV channel PBS, the Republican presidential nominee’s biographer Michael D’Antonio claimed the candidate’s father, Fred Trump, had taught him that the family’s success was genetic.
He said: “The family subscribes to a racehorse theory of human development.
“They believe that there are superior people and that if you put together the genes of a superior woman and a superior man, you get a superior offspring.”
As well as Steve Bannon’s avowed Leninism.
Then we had a long talk about his approach to politics. He never called himself a “populist” or an “American nationalist,” as so many think of him today. “I’m a Leninist,” Bannon proudly proclaimed.
Shocked, I asked him what he meant.
“Lenin,” he answered, “wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.” Bannon was employing Lenin’s strategy for Tea Party populist goals. He included in that group the Republican and Democratic Parties, as well as the traditional conservative press.
Bannon isn’t the only avowed Leninist on the American right.
[Norquist] talked about how to build a broad coalition. “If you want the votes of people who are good on guns, good on taxes, and good on faith issues, that is a very small intersection of voters,” he said. “But if you say, Give me the votes of anybody who agrees with you on any of these issues, that’s a much bigger section of the population.” To illustrate what he meant, Norquist drew three intersecting circles over a piece of paper. In the first one he wrote “guns,” in the second he wrote “taxes,” in the third he wrote “faith.” There was a small area where the circles intersected. “With that group, you can take over the country, starting with the airports and the radio stations,” he said. “But with all of the three circles that’s sixty percent of the population, and you can win politically.”
While I have a longer post on personalities matter, relationships matter, and personnel is policy coming later this week, the keys to continue to watch as this attempt at transition occurs are largely the positions for staffing key White House positions, many of which do not require Senatorial confirmation. We’ve already seen the Chief of Staff position go to someone with no experience except as a party functionary (largely for Governor Scott Walker) and the Chief Strategist/Senior counselor position go to an anti-Semite and white supremacist with no government service other than a ten year stint in the Navy. Reaching the rank of Officer Level 3 (O3) as a lieutenant senior grade in the Navy is not something that prepares one for elected or appointed office at the National strategic level. This has readily been apparent with several former O3s who are now serving in Congress.
So keep an eye out for the picks for National Security Advisor and Deputy National Security Advisor, as well as Spokesperson and Deputy Spokesperson, as well as the speech writers. The important Cabinet level picks to watch for are Attorney General, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and Director of Homeland Security. The Directors of the FBI, CIA, and Directorate of National Intelligence all have time left on their appointments that extend past the end of the Obama Administration. The Director of the FBI serves a fixed, single ten year term – so he is very hard to replace, but the Director of Central Intelligence and the Director of National Intelligence both serve at the pleasure of the President, so they will offer, at least, pro forma resignations. It will also be important, though we likely won’t see it until late January 2017, what happens with the Service Chiefs, as well as the Director of the NSA. All of these gentlemen are four star general officers/flag officers. What is important to realize right now, however, is that the Trump transition team has not, as of yet, even responded to the requests from the Department of State and Department of Defense to begin the transition work. This may very well be because of the sentiments expressed by Cohen and others to other Republican and conservative foreign, defense, and security policy professionals to not accept appointments in the Trump Administration. I’ll have more on this in the upcoming personnel is policy post later this week.
Update at 4:40 PM EST
After considering several comments regarding the title of this post, I have appropriately renamed it. We now return you to your regular Tuesday afternoon.
gogol's wife
This is so bad. Not seeing a silver lining here.
Timurid
This is totally insane. And we’re only a week in. I wonder if some people will start changing their tune about the whole electoral college mutiny thing. [/wishful thinking]
Hungry Joe
ESTRAGON: I can’t go on like this.
VLADIMIR: That’s what you think.
― Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@Timurid: Only if the Russian honeypot tape emerges, come on CIA get with the program damn it !
jacy
The Eliot Cohen tweet is seeing a lot of play on my Facebook.
dmsilev
@gogol’s wife: Here’s a possible silver lining: This might finally be enough to damage the myth that Republicans are competent to run the country. GWB temporarily dented that myth, but the upcoming Trumo shitshow might do it more lasting harm.
Of course, there will be a hell of a lot of collateral damage to a hell of a lot of people, so it’s not exactly what any of us would have wanted.
C.V. Danes
Is it possible this thing could crash and burn even before the inauguration?
Timurid
@Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap:
I’ve said this before, but the intelligence pros should be seeding Trump’s intel briefs with tailored data and then watching for it to appear in Russian correspondence.
Barney
Chris ‘Trotsky’ Christie? Well, it was wise to kick out the rat with the indictment hanging over his head. That does show a basic instinct for self-preservation that can look like common sense in a favorable light.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@Timurid: I bet this has been done, or maybe I hope that this has been done.
NotMax
It’s not purging, it’s enhanced job creation.
;)
Roger Moore
Sorry, but a real Stalinesque purge would involve executions, or at least show trials. If it just winds up with people being fired- or not hired in the first place- it’s just an ordinary set of layoffs.
ETA:
If Kushner is really heavily involved, personal history is probably at least as important.
Mary G
This is some elegant snark right here, Adam:
@gogol’s wife: @dmsilev: Yes, I think the incompetence will do a lot of damage, but it might make it easier to challenge via lawsuits, etc.
jacy
So, here’s a question — if they’re having trouble staffing positions, what are the chances that they’ll be cannibalizing elected officials that are serving now at any level? I mean, what effects would there be in destabilzing lower level power structures? Are there congressmen or governors or what have you that would be tempted to take positions in the administration?
Timurid
…and in the outside world everyone from elected officials and the press to random football players is normalizing as fast as they can.
Ella in New Mexico
Maybe what we all need to be doing is contacting the Electoral College electors who will vote for the next President in November with all these news reports.
It’s our only hope at this point.
bluehill
What a surprise. Trump is consolidating his power and putting his allies into key positions. Repubs that think they can control Trump are in for a rude awakening. Trump is his own party so unless you bend a knee, which I expect most will, you will be cast out.
One skill that Trump has is bullying people and now that he has the power of the U.S. at his disposal. I would expect to see him wield it in new and frightening ways. How does he get Mexico to pay for a wall? Threaten to impose steep tariffs or cut off trade. Want Nato to pay more? Threaten to withdraw troops from Europe. Don’t like WaPo’s coverage? Have the FTC look into their business practices. I think these actions will be effective because he has the ultimate leverage. Of course, in the long run, the ramifications are negative. It’s like putting Tony Soprano in the White House.
Mnemosyne
I guess this is where we see how strong the “Party Before Country” urge is in the bureaucrats who staff federal offices.
I am not feeling optimistic today, but maybe I will tomorrow.
Barbara
Jared Kushner prizes loyalty above every other consideration. In the article I circulated around previously (Tablet), rather than blaming his father’s jail sentence on the fact that, you know, he broke the law in about 16 different ways, Kushner blamed his aunt and uncle for not joining the conspiracy to obstruct justice and tamper with witnesses, along with the prosecutor for having the temerity to prosecute his father for illegal behavior. Chris Christie seems to have engaged in some seriously deluded wishful thinking to imagine that he could ever be forgiven for having been that prosecutor. Baby, this is an episode from the Sopranos, not the USG we are talking about here.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
Hey Adam you said, “So keep an eye out for the picks for National Security Advisor and Deputy National Security Advisor”
TPM Says
mai naem mobile
@dmsilev: oh,bullshit. George W. Bush was the epitome of incompetence and that was only 8 ducking years ago. No,we have to learn every 8-16 years that the GOP are incompetenot because every generation buys into Randian garbage and has to learn with a GOP baseball bat rammed up their asses.
Adam L Silverman
@gogol’s wife: @dmsilev: A teaser (aperitif?) for the personnel is policy post: the vast majority of positions they need to fill across the government are for Deputy Assistant Secretaries, Directors, and Deputy Directors. Basically the folks in between the top level political appointees and the senior executives and senior civil servants, and in the case of DOD the general officers flag/officers and senior officers as well. If they can’t get the folks that no how to do this, or their proteges, then they’re going to just fill them the way they’ve done everything else with folks that don’t know what they’re doing. At the DOD, including the 17 intel agencies that are part of it, as well as DOS, DHS, CIA, DOJ most likely as well (FBI will have continuity if Comey stays as his people will stay with him), the career senior executives, senior civil servants, and senior military, both generals/admirals and colonels/captains, will eat these people alive. These are the people that really run things anyway. Managing them means managing the people that have made it to the top of the mountain in their specific career areas with very specific professional competencies. You can’t put the Boris Epsheyns in charge of them. They’ll be polite, they’ll be respectful, then they’ll go and do what has to be done because the reasons they’ve all made these different positions a career, regardless of their political views, is more important than what an inexperienced political appointee stuck into position wants. And when it reaches the breaking point, they are all very, very proficient at making sure they are not holding the grenade.
dmsilev
Maybe we should take a page from the right wing’s book and start raising money for a set of billboards with Obama’s face and ‘miss me yet?’ on them. With the advantage that Obama is fairly popular and isn’t leaving behind a smoking pile of rubble the way Bush did.
Ella in New Mexico
@Roger Moore:
Umm, yes to the first point, no to the second. How about “Neo-Stalinesque”?
Adam L Silverman
@Timurid: He hasn’t even gotten a Presidential Daily Brief. That’s in the NBC reporting. The Intel folks cannot, apparently, get his transition folks to schedule one.
Barbara
@Mnemosyne: The leaks are going to start coming fast and thick about the various flavors of crazy being enacted. An administration beset by infighting can’t really do much. Not happy, not optimistic, but this is not Reagan’s revolution. The worst of the worst, if it happens, is going to be perpetrated by Congress.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@dmsilev: At the rate things are going we may even have to put a few of the Bush “miss me yet ?” ones too. Ha ha, not even funny anymore.
NotMax
@Ella in New Mexico
To what end, really? Only reasonable scenario is that they’d throw the final decision to the House.
That enough would ever alter to get HRC to 270 is beyond a pipe dream.
dr. bloor
Air-brushing Christie out of all those campaign photos is going to be some feat.
Mnemosyne
@Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap:
Next up, a giant purge at the CIA.
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
@Mnemosyne: Or this is how they get people to finally believe Obama was a member of ISIS.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: Thank you, thank you very much. I’ll be here all week. May sure to tip your waitress!
Or read this, some of my previous work on this topic.
http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2015/03/the-47ers.html
Cain
My fear is that by putting incompetent newbs in charge will be seen as a point of weakness by foreign powers and especially something islamic might try to attempt another 9/11 style attack. The shit show after that will be even further to the right and of course we might see all kinds of shit against minorities like me. I’m deathly afraid of this. I really want to ask people like Cohen to join up for the sake of the countries security.
The other thing is that hacking is going to be a big problem, Trump doesn’t even know his way around a computer. We are truly fucked when the man probably won’t even understand cybersecurity issues. This can’t be won by nuclear weapons or anything else.
We need to be very clear in our messaging going forward because we are going to be the ones the Republicans are going to blame when everything goes south. They never will take responsibility for anything they are the complete opposite of whatever conservative ideology they espouse.
Mnemosyne
@Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap:
And since my comment wouldn’t let me edit:
“Islamists” are the new Communists. Ironically, that was exactly how the US fucked up in Iran in 1979 — we thought it was a Russian-inspired Communist revolution that was pretending to be religious. Apparently we still have a lot of conservatives who just can’t give that way of thinking up.
“I have here in my hand a list of the names of 39 … no, 64 … no, no, 132 known Islamists!”
hovercraft
Nothing that’s going on with this group of sociopaths is surprising, Omarosa told us that the priority would be loyalty to the Shitgibbon, any one who has ever be disloyal to it will pay. Competence is not a requirement for service in it’s administration, dissent will not be tolerated, and until they circular firing squad starts to injure those who the beltway deems sacred cows, they will say nothing. These people are patently unqualified to run a lemonade stand, but now they are about to run the most complex important institution on the planet, and they can’t get their shit together enough to even begin to learn how much they don’t know about how to much they are responsible for, let alone actually do the job they were elected to do.
Oy vey.
Mary G
@Barbara: Like father, like son-in-law.
This cracked me up:
Adam L Silverman
@jacy: There’s a fair amount of that. The problem is they’re paranoid. And you’ve got too many people trying to play trusted lieutenant/right hand man. You’ve got Kushner, who has no experience with government at all. Bannon, also with no experience with government. Flynn, experience with government, but only from the perspective of the uniformed service side at general officer level – though this often provides a better understanding than the civilian side at that level. You’ve got Priebus who is basically going to be a glorified legislative liaison. Etc, etc. etc.
And my guess is none of them trust each other at all.
Gin & Tonic
I wrote this on the dead thread downstairs but it bears repeating, A graf from the NYT’s story on this fiasco:
Apparently no editor thought it worthy of mention that in his more recent history, Manafort installed Putin’s puppet Yanukovych as President of Ukraine and reportedly pocketed US$12M in cash for services rendered.
Kay
Don’t worry. 70 year old Trump is well on his way to becoming a statesman and a completely different person. We all just have to be nice to him and help him. I heard it on NPR.
Rally round the angry toddler who is our President and prop him up or you’re not patriotic!
Gin & Tonic
Didn’t Chris Christie used to be somebody?
This is hilarious.
Mnemosyne
@Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap:
A large majority of Trump’s voters already think Obama is a secret Muslim. In fact, that was the #1 indicator that someone was going to vote for Trump.
Richard Mayhew
@dmsilev: so “yes minister” is the model
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Not at all pleasant, but am flashing back to the specious staffing of the Coalition Provisional Authority staff in Iraq.
Mary G
@Adam L Silverman: Those were the names that came to mind, all right.
Amir Khalid
A pretender God of Thunder is showing that he has no idea how to pick up Mjolnir. I can’t say I’m surprised.
Adam L Silverman
@Barbara: I’ve put the link to that article up a couple of times. I think Kushner is the most dangerous of the bunch. He’s smarter than all the other family members, and through Ivanka, clearly has mastered manipulating the President Elect. In fact he’s the son the President Elect wishes Eric and Jr. were. Of the remainder of the inner circle, other than LTG Flynn, he’s smarter than those people too. My guess is he sees himself as the actual power behind the throne. Its going to be like watching a made for HBO drama with a live, captive, national audience…
Shalimar
At least they admit publicly that they want to destroy the country. Too bad many people still won’t believe it.
Adam L Silverman
@Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap: I saw that this morning. She’s nuts. Her boss, former Assistant Secretary of Defense Gaffney is also nuts.
Peale
@Cain: Why should he do anything about cyber security. Poor cyber security helped him win. He probably sees it as an upside.
Roger Moore
@jacy:
There’s always quite a bit of that in any new administration. Look at the Obama cabinet. Just looking at people who were in office at the time they were brought on board, he had 2 senators (Clinton and Salazar), 2 governors (Napolitano and Sebelius), 3 Representatives (Emanuel, Solis, and LaHood), and the head of the CBO (Orszag). There are always arguments about the need to bring in competent people vs. the need to keep them in their existing jobs for fear of losing the post to the other party (e.g. Napolitano being replaced by Jan Brewer).
LeeM
@Mary G: Having served in the Coast Guard and worked with the Navy, I believe most O-3s have reached the point where they can just effectively run a large department or a very small ship without constant supervision from the Senior Chief.
Mnemosyne
@Gin & Tonic:
Don’t forget who worked for Manafort on that campaign: Sanders campaign chief Tad Devine.
But I’m sure it was just a total coincidence that Russian-connected campaign advisers just happened to show up and run the campaigns of the two antiestablishment candidates this year.
germy
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: Very, very hard to do. Even Porter Goss couldn’t do it as Director of Central Intelligence. The CIA came through that period, the torture/enhanced interrogation stuff notwithstanding. It’ll come through this.
GregB
I agree, this is too tender to be Stalinesque. Neo-Stalinesque does work. As I said days ago, Night of the Short Fingers.
Adam your point about the long time pros bumping up against a passel of neophyte hacks reminds me a bit of Chamdrasakarians’ book Imperial Life in the Emerald City.
Though in Iraq there was really no push back against the incompetence because Iraqi civil and governmental society had been dismantled so the boobs ran the Titanic into an iceberg.
This time there will be actors behind the scene and we shall see how that turns out.
Timurid
@Cain:
An al Qaeda/ISIS attack would be bad, but what I really fear is that weeks and months of white supremacist threats and violence will incite some kind of terror attacks with an explicitly racial agenda. It wouldn’t even have to be 9/11 or anything close to that. If just one paranoid schizophrenic of color goes off his meds and pulls off a Sandy Hook/Orlando/Nice level attack and leaves behind a rambling manifesto about how whites and teh Donald are leading the Reptiloid Invasion or somesuch… we will be fucked into tiny little pieces. There will be literal Brownshirts marching in the streets after that…
Villago Delenda Est
Donald is a perfect example of all the wrong genes in one disgusting body.
HIs spawn are equally bad.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: The NY Times is approaching Augean Stables like conditions.
bluehill
Experience would matter if these guys were trying to run an effective government, but they told us that government was the problem so experience isn’t necessary only loyalty. I hope the dem party is spending more time trying to figure out what Kushner and Bannon’s end goals are, because those guys are calling the plays. First step is to realize that those two are playing a different game, and I don’t think it’s about creating a more perfect union.
Anne Laurie
Not for the first time, I wish I could find a linkable version of Hunter S. Thompson’s Kentucky Derby report, specifically his report on his childhood peers. It included a nice (in the original sense of the word) summary along the lines of “Racing people know that if you breed a fast, somewhat crazy mare to a fast, slightly crazy stallion, you may end up with a horse that is very fast and extremely crazy. This explains the dating habits of the people in the owners’ boxes.”
Kay
I just wish media would stop scolding people to support Trump. Why do I have to support him? He’s a grown man. I would never have hired him. They say it like a threat, like if I withhold support something bad will happen to me.
I have absolutely no control or influence with a far Right one-party government. None. Whether I “support” him or not makes not a bit of difference.
It’s ridiculous how they’re coddling this 70 year old man. They should be worried about the 50% of us who have no power and influence.
rikyrah
@gogol’s wife:
never ever was a silver lining.
Cain
@Peale:
Yeah, until it starts making him look bad and it will. The leaks that will happen… I suspect that cyber hacking organizations on the left like Anonymous is going to be doing the same thing as the Russians. Will wikileaks do something similar and release the leaks? That should prove interesting.. Assange is going to be screwed when Trump starts focusing on him.
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: I hope this doesn’t come off as rude (starting this way is never a good sign…), but are you okay? I can’t tell if we should be asking are you in need of professional help in dealing with this or have you lapsed into performance art? Because every comment seems to be screaming: “I cannot deal with this, please help me”. Or: “I’m trolling the crap out of everyone by pretending to go completely around the bend”. Either way, I’m a bit concerned for you.
catclub
@dmsilev:
Nope, GWB is forgotten and Trump will be cast as a one-off. GOP will still be the strong daddies in the room.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: Its a mess. But remember, as long as their screwed up and screwing with each other, they’re not screwing up nor screwing with the rest of us.
Kay
Is anyone in government doing anything to mitigate the effects of the huge Trump Family conflict of interest?
I didn’t really sign on to pad the royal family bank account. They don’t even pay federal taxes! It’s insult to injury to ask me to subsidize their lavish lifestyle.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
Somebody here made a joke about Russian- connected hackers in Macedonia that kind of confirmed a suspicion I’ve had for quite a while about exactly who was paying for an old college friend’s PhD.
Now I kind of wish he didn’t live on the other side of the country, because he probably has some really fascinating insights that can’t be written down in any form.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: On rereading that piece, I think I should have added to the Senator Graham portion that “one would think a senior Staff Judge Advocate, as well as a sitting Senator would know that you can’t use the military in this manner. Perhaps someone should look into this.”
Cain
@Adam L Silverman:
Why is it hard? I assume that Porter Gross was a rational actor. What makes you think that they can’t just do what they want?
Gravenstone
@Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap: And I saw a prominent article this morning about Ghouliani being touted as the favorite for SoS. Damn near made me crawl back into bed, that one did.
Oh yeah, and TPM had a piece up about Jeff Sessions as favored for AG.
If anyone needs me, I’ll be over in the corner whimpering.
Adam L Silverman
@Peale: I believe they’re looking for some 400 lbs 20 something living in his parent’s basement.
WTF
@Adam L Silverman:
I’ll be damned, Adam.
I thought I recognized the name. You were at Pat’s blog. I directed you to that quote by Thomas Jefferson a few years back. “Progress of the human mind….” Panel Four at the TJ Memorial. It may have been awhile ago and I am not offended if you don’t remember. Your life is much more interesting than mine, and I like it that way. Still reading books by old dead white men here. Excellent piece of work, as usual.
JT Davis
hovercraft
@mai naem mobile:
People love the idea of low taxes, and until we can drum it into their heads that it’s not the social services that are bankrupting our country, it’s corporations. They are getting us on both ends, they have all but eliminated our pensions, they have frozen our salaries, and they are driving up our healthcare costs, all in the pursuit of ever more profits, that go into the pockets of the 1%, not back into the economy to create more sustainable jobs. The defense industry has bought and paid for our legislatures, so they continue to fund ever more expensive hardware that the military says it doesn’t need, while we have military families struggling to get by. Then they lobby to have their taxes cut down to next nothing, and in many cases nothing, all while bitching that the government is too generous to the poor, disabled and elderly. According to them, the safety net is an overly expensive luxury, but every loop hole and tax expenditure is a vital element of our nations prosperity, they are raping and pillaging our country while we stand here watching them. The problem is that the media and too many Americans subscribe to this thinking and so vote for these morons, they refuse to see what is really happening, while their rapists blame women, black and brown people, and the gays for their problems.
Mnemosyne
@Timurid:
Not to make you even more twitchy, but apparently the guy who killed all those cops in Dallas was an outspoken black supremacist. And the sovereign citizens are making some inroads with crazy African-Americans, just like they have with crazy white people.
NotMax
@GregB
Maybe Tailored Torquemadas? Alliteration is a plus.
Adam L Silverman
@GregB: Yep. Rajiv’s book is excellent.
Cain
@Timurid:
Possibly, but we will need to talk to black activists then to make sure that we don’t give this government any power. In the end, we’ll have to just do non-cooperation movements ala Satyagraha and bring down the economy. It’s very hard for the government arrest people. If we get to a place where there is nothing left to lose we might as well fuck the entire country over against this kind of crap.
ArchPundit
@NotMax: Dan Senor thinks these clowns are incompetent even.
Jeffro
@Timurid: a lot, I mean a LOT, can happen in the next 4 weeks
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
Two quotes come to mind
1) “I coulda been a contender, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it”
2) “I still AM big — it’s other candidates that got small. Hands, that is.”
sharl
@NotMax:
Beat me to it: staffing of the CPA came to mind very quickly. But if they want Simone Ledeen (daughter of neocon thought leader Michael Ledeen), she might be readily available, assuming she’s still employed somewhere in the bowels of the Treasury Dept. bureaucracy.
I was momentarily intrigued by the mention in the OP of vaping man-baby Grover Norquist, but I see that’s a 2005 link. In any event, Norquist’s Palestinian Muslim wife would probably disqualify him for any visible role in an Administration that includes white nationalist leader Steve Bannon.
ArchPundit
@Kay: No, we are getting them security clearances. Make you feel better?
Jeffro
@ArchPundit: and he would know
SFAW
@ArchPundit:
And he should know.
ETA: (Shakes fist ineffectually at Jeffro.)
Roger Moore
@Adam L Silverman:
Which is undoubtedly the point. If you look at lots of authoritarian governments, the top leader is most worried about is subordinates conspiring against him*. The main way to keep that from happening to to foment infighting between those subordinates so none of them will trust the others enough to be able to form effective conspiracies. It’s sadly effective at its main goal of preventing conspiracies, though the effect on quality of governance is as bad as you might expect.
*Depending on the leader’s level of paranoia and/or realism, their children may or may not be exempt.
Cain
@Kay:
where was this scolding when Obama took over and when he was re-elected? It seems that every time a republican is in charge we all have to genuflect towards the office of the President. They did the same thing when Bush won. We were all supposed to come together in order to support Democracy or some shit like that.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
But, Kay, if we don’t support him and he fails, then it will be all our fault.
Yes, he’s a sulky pre-teen, and the MSM is his doting parents who get pissed if anyone mentions that their Special Snowflake is actually a little jerk.
Gravenstone
@NotMax: Yep, I had that realization yesterday after reading Richard’s early morning post. CPA II (Electric Boogaloo) – now with improved graft and corruption in the name of ideological purity.
Adam L Silverman
@Timurid: What I think is more likely to happen is one or more knuckle draggers decides to start harassing, verbally or physically, an off duty colonel (or equivalent) in civilian clothes or a doctor or lawyer or other professional of color, who both conceal carries and is proficient with his weapon. At that point a lot of white people are going to learn that the phrase “G-d created men, but Samuel Colt made them equal” is a much more inclusive phrase than was previously accepted. At that point you’ll see a freak out about the need for gun control, a la then Governor Reagan in California in the 1960s. And when that happens, among GOP/conservative constituencies, its gonna get ugly.
ArchPundit
It’s nice to think Comey has an appointment for the full time of a Trump administration. He should have to live with this given he helped create it.
Adam L Silverman
@bluehill: Exactly!
gvg
I did think Bush Jr was incompetent…this is a whole ‘nother cellar level. Good lord. I freely admit I don’t have the experience to do any of these jobs but I happen to know it and if I did have reason to think I had to do anything, I would read up and find trainers. Bush actually did know a few things.
T think trade tariffs have to be set/approved by Congress unless they preapprove like TPP? So I wonder how much power Trump has to do what he has promised.
Any department employees that have to deal with these clowns should probably make the reports as short as they can and leave a lot out. Normally I would consider that disloyal to the government but clearly they don’t want to reveal our secrets to a bunch of blabber mouth clowns. CIA is going to be in a really awkward position. reports with identifying pieces are enough. I bet they all leak and frankly I don’t want anything going out to Russia. Its a bad president to keep stuff from a President too…
Yes the countries computer securities need an upgrade and its going to get neglected totally till this clown is gone is the best we can hope for.
Trump may demand loyalty but I bet he doesn’t give it to these staffers to be hired. When something goes wrong in someones area Trump will scream its your fault even if he was warned but didn’t understand or did but didn’t know what to do etc.
WereBear
@bluehill: Tony Soprano during his coma; he at least could think a few moves ahead.
Trump is all in the moment. Pure pithed frog.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: I think some, including myself as you recently alluded to, are having an awful bit of insight in to what is coming. Now, call that whatever you like, but I happen to agree with some of the comments Kay has made recently stating we never really understood how fragile these institutions were. You can destroy an institution many ways, and we’re seeing the first few probes of how they may attempt it.
Adam L Silverman
@Cain: I actually know how the CIA works and is structured. I also know what Goss’s marching orders were from the Bush 43 Administration.
Yoda Dog
@Timurid: The dipshit admitted he didn’t even bother to vote too… smdh, what a clown…
JPL
@Barbara: You might be right. The non disclosure forms might have holes in them.
Jeffro
@Kay: this friendless 70 year old man…Who still wants to sleep in Trump tower every night and make his own children his advisers
ArchPundit
We are less than 1 week from when he won and Trump’s team is already going through purges for purity of essence, personal loyalty tests, and people running away from the chaos. That brief moment in the morning when I wake up and think, “maybe this won’t be so bad,” keeps getting shorter every day.
NotMax
@ArchPundit
Damn, totally spaced out it’s Talk Like Snagglepuss Day.
(No offense, low hanging fruit.)
Timurid
@Mnemosyne:
Yes, I’m familiar with Dallas and Baton Rouge, but those attacks caused relatively few casualties because the terrorists observed some minimal rules of engagement. They targeted only police officers, their version of ‘enemy combatants.’ If the next people in line decide to target civilians and go for maximum body counts, it’s going to be much, much worse.
debit
@Corner Stone: And even worse is that they don’t even know what they’re destroying. Like a cranky kid who can’t make a complicated toy work, they smash it in a fit of petulance then cry because it’s broken.
Jeffro
@SFAW: ha! ?
By 10 seconds, lol
Cain
@Adam L Silverman:
I get that. I just don’t know what can stop a group of people who don’t care about rules, and are willing to just remove people if they are not loyal.
Major Major Major Major
@Mnemosyne: And neither of them have released their tax returns!
Roger Moore
@bluehill:
Is this that hard? At least Bannon’s goals are pretty clear. I’m not sure if Kushner has any goals beyond revenge and personal enrichment.
Adam L Silverman
@WTF: Its me. I came here full time when it became time for me to move on at the old hangout.
And I do remember you directing me to the quote.
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
Gee thanks, so not only do we have the stupidity of the Shitgibbons to deal with, we have a Rasputin wannabee. Kushner’s immorality and cunning is probably more dangerous than the ineptitude of the former. Something else to worry about, what is his world view, if he’s the real source of power, then we need to find out what he wants.
At some level, I don’t think these people really know what they are going to do, they wanted to win, but they never really thought they would, so now it’s like, shit, what do we do next?
jacy
@Roger Moore:
I guess I’m hoping that there will be openings in lower level positions across the country where smarter people can come in. We understand that the administration is going to be a clusterfuck, but if we can promote better candidates to fill emptying positions in lower levels of government, that’s at least something to work on.
Adam L Silverman
@ArchPundit: And he knows incompetent.
Applejinx
Told ya so. And you folks seriously thought Paul Ryan would have carte blanche to starve all the grannies he wants?
These people are NOT REPUBLICANS. I’m telling you, they’re more hostile to the Republicans at this point. Everybody’s suspect, everybody’s a traitor, nobody from Washington is to be trusted. You might well end up with Obama on one shoulder and Bernie on the other, like little liberal angels, safely defeated and the only ones to be trusted to tell the truth.
Just because it would piss off the traitorous, backstabbing, power-hungry Republicans so much.
Depends on how frantic the Republicans are to actually run things and relegate Trump to a role as figurehead. I don’t even trust that Pence’s position is safe. Right now, Pence has to prove his first loyalty is not to the Republicans.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
I think — I hope — Kay is just letting loose with the mordant humor she can’t unleash on her clients, who all voted for Trump but are now looking a little green around the gills as they realize just what they’ve done.
I tend towards that direction myself.
ArchPundit
@NotMax: Offense? I love it!
Adam L Silverman
@sharl: That wasn’t there because I think Grover’s going to be in the administration. He won’t be. The Islamophobes around Trump hate him because of his wife. I was putting it there as a further example that despite claims to be conservative, a lot of American conservatives are actually radicals.
bemused
What a hot, smelly mess the Trump hood is. Are Fox fans hearing about any of this?
Adam L Silverman
@Roger Moore: Completely agree.
Mnemosyne
@Applejinx:
This is why Paul Ryan is trying to push the Obamacare and Medicare repeals through the reconciliation process without another public vote. Then he can present Hair Fuehrer with a complicated bill he doesn’t understand and get him to sign it on the down-low.
Barbara
@JPL: No, I mean leaks from appointees and transition team members and ex-members. If Trump starts suing people for violating NDAs he is not going to last. That really would be crazy.
catclub
@sharl:
I wonder how the Jared Kushner – Steve Bannon interactions are going.
WTF
@NotMax:
Don’t worry.
I stopped drinking water and am just drinking vodka now.
Col Ripper and Mandrake
Cheryl Rofer
A caution on wording:
“Stalinesque” goes too far. Yes, I know it’s Christie’s word. Sucks to be you, Chris.
There is no Gulag. Rogers is not being tried in secret with execution as the outcome.
Yet.
It is Stalinesque in the requirement for loyalty above all, but there are other ways to express that.
Similarly, it is not “night of the long knives.” Yet.
We will need these terms for when (hopefully if) the horrors actually start. And using them stokes panic. We need to be focused and as calm as we can manage.
Edited to fix infelicities.
WereBear
@germy: They are showing their true colors. That ugly brown… it used to be a nickname about what they wore… it will come to me.
I got called in a lower thread when it was claimed a bit of my ranting was why Deplorables think liberals are smug. I didn’t quite agree. My response sat on a dead thread, so here it is:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand repeat.
What makes this example thread-pertinent (and minty fresh!) is that I’m not being nasty or name calling or rude or snobbish to point out both their voters and themselves are seemingly incapable of connecting the most rudimentary of logical thoughts, much less manage complex and important enterprises, as we are seeing now.
Grifters are not stupid by any means, but they are usually not long-terms planners, either. They are exquisitely poised to pick up signals from their marks and change direction, backtrack, or come up with a new tentative plan, all on the fly. Watch one of those “I speak to the dead” TV shows and see how often they throw stuff out, reel it in, switch it up… all with the desperate grief-stricken person just incapable of doing anything else but follow along and cooperate.
NorthLeft12
Adam, I don’t know if I missed this in another thread, but I would like to hear your thoughts on how China could come out as the real winner over the next four years. I was thinking about this earlier and discussing with some family and friends that if the US began backing out of many of their previous agreements, that they would be judged as unreliable [at least under Trump and the Repubs] and countries would look more to China for aid and areas of mutual interest.
China seems to be interested and active in expanding their influence in many fields; economically, environmentally, militarily, and culturally. I can’t believe I am writing this, but could they become the “good guy” , or just the dominant player on the world stage that Trump and the Repubs seem to be relinquishing?
I have to admit that I despise the Repubs and Deadbeat Donald so my opinion may be more than a little biased, but it sure makes sense.
Corner Stone
@Barney:
Much more easily understood as a purge by Kushner. The Bridgegate thing has been well understood for a while now and the Trump campaign was fine with him fetching fast food. But Kush wasn’t about to have Christie be somebody in the new admin.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: I am in complete agreement that our institutions are more fragile than most image. A lot of this is because they haven’t aged well and because of the nature of the Constitution it is almost impossible to fix them. But below that there is another level of institutions that have developed throughout the 20th Century, though some date back further, that has created a second foundation, if you will. And this is the bureaucratic state. This is much, much harder to move quickly or to change radically. Could it be done? Perhaps. Is this crowd shown anything near the competence to do it? Not so far.
hovercraft
@Kay:
Especially after they told us for weeks that we must take into consideration the feelings of the Shitgibbon supporters if we won. We were told to remember that it won millions of votes, and that Clinton would have to reach out to them and bring them on board. Now it is staffing it’s administration with the most deplorable people out there, we are being told to just shut up and accept it, fuck that shit. We must denounce every one of these appointments, they are dangerous to our country. While I accept Adam’s view that the country has survived worse, they damage they do will take decades to repair.
NotMax
No requirement a bible (or any book) be used for the swearing in.
Will he place his hand on a signed copy of The Art of the Deal?
Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap
Y’all need to read this Tweet stream / deck whatever. Pretty conclusive that Comey cost us the election, this is coming from Republicans, not Democrats.
Linky here.
Mary G
@LeeM: My ex-husband was sent to Vietnam as an 18-year-old 2nd LT. Due to a spate of casualties, he found himself in charge of a company, far above his pay grade. Fortunately, the lead sergeant was career military in his 30s. The ex asked him what to do. Sarge took him aside, told him never to do that in front of the troops again, but in private he would be happy to consult. Every decision was made by the sergeant.
The next reporting period, they had the fewest casualties of any company in their division. The ex got a commendation, promotion to 1st LT, and a transfer. The Major who replaced him got the sergeant and a bunch of soldiers killed, so many that the company was dissolved.
gvg
oh yeah, a bit over a week ago we wanted Comey’s head, now we may need to leave him alone because we don’t want Trump appointing his sucessor and we want some institutions to survive. it would be bitterly ironic if he is forced to become a democrat. of course by the time this is done, i bet there are a lot of forced to become a democrat. No I have never been a believer in heighten the contradictions, I just think this thing we can’t entirely stop is going to be really chaoticly bad.
Corner Stone
@catclub:
I will hazard a guess and say “very, very well”.
RareSanity
Adam, aren’t there policies and practices in place that make getting a top secret security clearance harder than getting a free sample in the food court?
I mean can a President just start giving them out Oprah style? You get a TS, and you get a TS, everybody gets a TS!
sharl
@Adam L Silverman: I hope the elements of optimism in your analysis are borne out.
The thing I remember about V.P. Cheney is how proficiently his staff – folks like David Addington and (before his perjury trial) Scooter Libby – re-engineered certain parts of the military and NatSec bureaucracy.
Back in those days, soon-to-retire Air Force LCOL Karen Kwiatkowski witnessed that re-engineering process in the Pentagon up close, as a new military intelligence unit was established under the direction of Wolfowitz and Feith, the Office of Special Plans. Kwiatkowski wrote about it in a 3-part series (2003-4).
This new crowd is as evil as that Bush-Cheney crowd, but don’t appear to be as competent. In any event I think these new bozos will be more interested in pillaging the Treasury than starting new wars.
Silver lining if so…maybe…I hope…hell, I don’t know.
bluehill
@WereBear: Unfortunately, Kushner and Bannon are running the show and I’m pretty sure they are thinking many moves ahead as well as anticipating the likely opposition responses. Kushner brought Bannon and Conway in, and however much we despise their choice in candidate, they are effective at their jobs.
Right now, the dems are scrambling because the outcome was so unexpected and the party does is trying to figure out who will lead going forward. I think they have an underlying assumption that Trump et. al will operate following some type of moral or ethical code, but all evidence is to the contrary. In the meantime, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some amount of disinformation going out to keep people guessing and make it harder to understand their real objectives.
Adam L Silverman
@Cain: It is not easy to remove career civil servants. And reforming or changing that legislatively is also not going to be easy and should that legislation pass and be signed into law it will immediately be challenged in court. And remember the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, which is where this will wind up, is now full and has an Obama appointed majority. And its senior presiding justice is some guy named Garland…
WTF
@Adam L Silverman:
You are most gracious and kind,, and forgive me, I should have addressed you as Dr. Silverman.
I’m afraid I’m persona non grata there now, but they seem to be in a bit of a bubble and gone round the bend.
Gin & Tonic
@Major Major Major Major: And never will.
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: Here you go:
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/207559/jared-kushner-shanda
hovercraft
@ArchPundit:
Wow, just wow.
Gin & Tonic
@WTF: I think around here Adam is still the FNG.
WereBear
The second is to make sure of hiring people who are dumber than you.
Be a good trick, that :)
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: I hope its performance venting and trolling. Because I’m concerned.
Mnemosyne
@Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap:
Kevin Drum has an article, too.
I bet a big chunk of the 80,000 voters in Michigan who skipped the presidential race and went straight to the downballot would tell you that it was because of “emails.”
JMG
@Adam L Silverman: I agree with this analysis. The only danger is if Trump appointments are considered so toxic in some departments like Justice, HHS, etc. that the top and midlevel career employees and managers retire/resign rather than serve. Their places would be filled by careerist wingnuts looking to do favors to get cushy private jobs after a few years.
Roger Moore
@gvg:
Bush was incompetent, but we were supposed to be reassured because he had all the competent people from his father’s administration to get the real work done. Trump has no such resource, and doesn’t even seem to have spent any time thinking about where to find the people who are going to work for him.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: That’s why I went with midday!
Mnemosyne
@catclub:
They will be united in their hatred for Muslims for the foreseeable future.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: I understand your thinking on this. But I take a slightly different approach. Cheney and his minions went after the CIA. Set up their own shop and mined the depths looking for what they wanted and discarding everything else. That severely damaged the CIA but the CIA survived a direct assault by a ruthless, and I would suggest competent, antagonist. But look where it lead the CIA and us.
IMO, we’re going to have an indirect assault by bent of sheer incompetence. They may not pass funding needed, they may appoint incompetent lackeys with obscure agendas. They have so many more tools at their disposal *because* of their lack of knowledge and desire to not acquire any.
SiubhanDuinne
@bluehill:
That would be an improvement. (Haven’t read through comments; I expect I’m about the fourth or fifth person to express this thought.)
Cain
@Adam L Silverman:
It can also be used against Republicans when ultimately there is a change of guard. But I would not put it past all of them to work in concert to remove legislative barriers if the end goal is to preserve a Republican majority. In the same vein that they have been taking over local legislative houses across the country.
One hopes that the judiciary will help. If Republicans were smart they would seat Garland to get rid of him and put a conservative in the DC Courts of Appeals and swing the court more conservative. They might still have an opportunity to put a more conservative person when Bader eventually retires. Something to think about. I don’t think they will be able to realize this dream before the 4 years are up, as there will be shit show continuously that will keep them occupied since they are not putting in competent people in charge, so chance of failures will rise.
Adam L Silverman
@NorthLeft12: The short answer is that I expect Xi and the Chinese leadership to be accelerating their plans to supersede the US as the economic hegemon. I would expect them to accelerate their economic influence throughout Asia-Pacific, Africa, and South America. I also expect they will not reign in Kim in North Korea as they are going to want that as an additional distraction for a Trump Administration, unless he becomes to big a threat to them along their northern border. Finally, they will continue their military, especially naval, expansion apace – that really can’t be rushed. You can’t build an aircraft carrier in a month, nor train several air groups to take off and land from it proficiently in short order. That will still take time.
The big unknown is what happens with China’s shadow banking sector. If there is an economic slowdown, this will have a huge effect on China’s ability to do anything because they are tremendously exposed in the shadow banking and financial sector.
GrandJury
This is not even the beginning and it’s already turning into a shit show.
Great time to be a comedy writer I guess.
dimmsdale
@jacy: If they’re having trouble staffing positions, they might follow the example of the New Deal: cull the most loyal state/local civil service employees and bring them to Washington. That’s how my mom & dad ended up in Washington just before the war. Of course, they came to build a nation, not destroy it (minor difference there).
Roger Moore
@Cheryl Rofer:
Night of the long sporks.
karen marie
We’re all going to die, right? Sooner, hopefully?
dr. bloor
@NotMax:
Ivanka’s ass.
Corner Stone
@gvg: I still want Comey’s fucking head. The most god damn irresponsible thing I have ever seen. Not once but then fucking twice.
Fuck James Comey. Fuck him up his stupid ass.
Applejinx
@Mnemosyne:
Oh, I’m sure he’s trying. Paul Ryan is breathtakingly arrogant. And Donald Trump is not incapable of spotting treachery, he just defines everything in terms of himself. Russians trying to curry favor? Fine with Donald, he has no problem with that, rationalizes it. Paul Ryan trying to undermine him? BIG problem.
I think people are confusing Trump’s basic self-absorption with plain stupidity. He’s relatively uneducated but I think he’s quick to spot when people are trying to take his power, and they totally are. Republicans would like to act as though Trump is a simple puppet and they won all their Christmases at once. But getting through the gauntlet of his childishness requires that they give up their own agendas and pledge fealty to his…
Still thinking it will be easier to wrap Dem or even lefty initiatives in Trump gilding, let him take full credit, and pass those. I don’t think the Republicans can avoid their own arrogance here. They must be so, so very frantic to take control, and Trump is hypersensitive to this.
Corner Stone
@dr. bloor: Testify!
Cain
@Mary G:
Ugh.. why didn’t the sergeant also get a commendation? Instead he gets killed? Ugh. ugh. ugh. ugh. This really offends my sense of fairness.
Peale
@bluehill: Bannon is not Rove, neither is Kushner. Bannon may have spent his miserable alocholic rage filled life imagining how he’d destroy our institutions and may have even read biographies of dictators to see how it was done. I’m concerned a great deal about him and some of the other hate mongers that will be running the show. But they are paranoid and they panic and probably can be lead around in circles at least for awhile.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: Smartest decision you can make is to say: “First Sergeant – deploy the Troops.” Then get out of the way!
GrandJury
Why is nobody talking about his businesses? There are serious laws against any conflict of interest whatsoever as far as I know.
He’s gonna try skirt those laws as much as possible but why is the MSM media not even asking those questions yet?
NotMax
@Corner Stone
Also too, Cheney knew where the skeletons were buried and could and would readily use that to apply leverage.
Kamp Kushrump hasn’t clue 1.
WTF
@Kay:
If I may suggest a small symbolic gesture to make you feel like you have registered your disapproval…
Find some way to subtly display an upside down American flag. As an avatar, on a twitter account, a T-shirt. This rioting and demonstrating is counter-productive but I understand it. However, 60,000,000 Americans displaying an upside down flag in some fashion. That is symbolism. And it is constitutionally protected and does not involve defacing or burning. The upside down flag is a universal symbol of extreme distress or imminent danger to life and property.
Adam L Silverman
@RareSanity: Yes, I posted the links to this stuff the other day.
Another Holocene Human
@Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap:
Oh, but the CIA is soooo professional and educated and not taken over by groupthink. I was assured of that just yesterday on BJ.
Twenty. Years. How did they not notice the bad apple in their midst?
Adam L Silverman
@WTF: Adam is fine.
Gravenstone
@Roger Moore: Are they titanium? I love a titanium spork.
gogol's wife
@C.V. Danes:
pleasepleaseplease
Cheryl Rofer
@Roger Moore: That seems accurate.
For now.
Gin & Tonic
@GrandJury: Bloomberg already reporting that if he continues to use his plane he can charge the Secret Service airfare and make money on the deal.
bluehill
@Applejinx: It will be interesting to see what Bannon wants to do with Ryan. IIRC Breitbart/Bannon was actively looking to depose Ryan. When does the repub caucus meet to vote on the next speaker? I think this will give an indication of whether Ryan and the old repub party has agreed to play nice.
CarolDuhart2
I wonder if elected officials even want to. Some may (I’m hedging bets), but considering what is happening with the transition, nobody is going to feel secure leaving a guaranteed job for a job serving “at the pleasure of the President”, especially one who gets displeased easily. Throw in the daily incompetence and infighting, a lot may feel, like Ben Carson, better off in the Private Sector where one has far less drama and better pay and more security.
Remember these appointed offices pay less than the usual CEO compensation: The President receives $400k, many cabinet offices around $100k or so. Then there’s the scrutiny, the need to woo Congress to actually get confirmed and all the rest. Clearly people don’t take these jobs unless they believe in the mission and are willing to hold off benefiting from them until years later. Trump may make that a hard sell.
Starfish
@Adam L Silverman: Kay has made a lot of really good and insightful comments, but she did point out that she is angry. I did not even realize that comment was made by her until you pointed it out.
WTF
@Gin & Tonic:
Me too!
Corner Stone
@karen marie:
Damn!
What did Soonergrunt ever do to you?
GrandJury
@Gin & Tonic: I would think that Air Force one is a much sweeter ride. I don’t think the secret service would allow him to travel on his own plane.
Adam L Silverman
@Another Holocene Human: Do you know what she did at CIA? I don’t. For all you know she was a financial analyst? This is like O’Hanlon, now at Brookings. Always put up as a retired CIA officer. He worked in the finance and accounting department. Then went and got a PhD in International Relations.
Gravenstone
@Gin & Tonic: I wonder what Trump Force One has in the way of air interdiction defenses (as one example)? Costs a shit ton of money and refit time to bring it up to snuff with Air Force One.
CarolDuhart2
@Gin & Tonic: But the plane is already pretty old, nearing defunct status. Nor does it have the security features that make it a good choice. Air Force One is hardened against electronic interference, has new brakes and a constantly maintained infrastructure. You really think he’s going to want to go on a rickety plane with issues?
Major Major Major Major
Trump needs longer knives than a normal person because his fingers are too short to reach the steak with normal knives.
Wapiti
@Jeffro:
The Trump family may say or even believe that they’re some genetic racehorses, but I think old Fred Trump put some serious and lasting emotional abuse on Donald, as Donald did to his own children.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Think a vacuum of leadership here coupled with a steep learning curve will enable China to set out a paper tiger version of TPP?
Mary G
@Cain: The ex tried. He put the sergeant in for a Bronze Star and also gave him all the credit to the brass. No dice. One reason I am so anti-war.
@Applejinx: This is something I take a tiny bit of hope from. It does not forgive insults and gets revenge for everything. Paul Ryan refused to endorse it right off and semi-disowned it after the infamous pu$$y tape. I can see it encouraging Ryan to put every granny-starving idea he’s ever had into the bill and then issuing a veto to get back at him. It is also shrewd enough to know that its popularity would take a hit. “We don’t want our old people dying in the streets.”
bluehill
@Peale: Yeah, I hope I’m overreacting, but they seem to pulled off the equivalent of shooting the moon in hearts and I don’t think it was all luck.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: He won’t be allowed to use his plane once he’s sworn in. It doesn’t have the required safety and security modifications.
GrandJury
I just don’t see this guy doing the job. He’s gonna just be around for photo ops. How long he is allowed to get away with it is up to the press and the public. But Obama played golf once in awhile so both sides.
Major Major Major Major
@Wapiti: this is almost certainly true.
@NotMax: not sure that’s the right use of “paper tiger”? How do you mean?
Adam L Silverman
@Starfish: I’m just concerned. I get the angry, but some have seem to be right there on the edge of despair.
Adam L Silverman
@WTF: I’ve now been here two years. We’ve got at least two others who arrived after me. But whatever!
Applejinx
@bluehill: Doesn’t matter whether they agree to play nice.
Structurally, they’re traitors to Trump. Just having their own agenda and purpose is a threat to Trump. He’s on record saying many things that contradict Republican agendas, he has seen them move against him over and over, he’s kept a detailed list and remembers every slight.
It’s not the same as a John Oliver or Stephen Colbert, mocking him for money and audience hilarity.
These Republicans turned against him and were supposed to be on HIS side. The scary lady talking about how he was going to become the most powerful man in the universe, and have his vengeance? Insert Paul Ryan, and every Republican who seriously challenged his power. The guy very nearly lost, and he must blame the Republicans talking crap about him, being ‘NeverTrump’ and so on.
I think it was Nixon who went on a riff (in a book of his) about how the Chinese symbol for ‘danger’ is the same as for ‘opportunity’…
WereBear
You’ve still got one? After the events of this week?
Major Major Major Major
@Applejinx:
This is one of my optimistic scenarios, but I will be treating Trump like a would-be authoritarian tyrant, a banana republic dictator writ large ready to sell off everything not nailed down to his friends, until proven otherwise.
Hoodie
@bluehill: If Bannon is a Leninist, the code is ends justifies the means.
NorthLeft12
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks for your response. I’m beginning to wonder if the Russians were acting on their own or were used as proxies by the Chinese. WOOOO BOY! That is some crazy conspiratorial shit right there. I think I need to take a long break from political blogs and the news in general.
Time to watch something uplifting …….like The Walking Dead.
Gin & Tonic
@CarolDuhart2: Secretaries at Cabinet level make $203k.
karen marie
@Applejinx: I think Trump cares less about actual power than whether people are walking around talking about how great he is. He couldn’t care less who does what as long as he gets all the credit when things look like they’re going well and someone else takes the blame when they’re not.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Toothless facade.
And yes, am aware China is not a part of the TPP. Thinking more along the lines of a regional pact as a way to derail anything similar with the West amongst the signatories.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: That’s not how China operates. Like him or not, and I don’t and think he should be in the Hague for war crimes, Kissinger’s analysis here is correct:
WTF
@Mnemosyne:
E-mails, yes. But as I said on another thread, 20 years of Clinton bashing leaves a real mark.
We’ll never know what might have happened with Bernie, but the Bernie bashing might not have left much of mark, in the shorter time they had to hit him between nomination and Nov.
But it’s too late to rewind.
Major Major Major Major
CNN says Ryan has been nominated as speaker, election in January. Let the ratfuckery and skullduggery begin!
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: I work at a place with very good retention. You can be “new kid” for 10 years.
The Dangerman
I met Devin Nunes a little over a decade ago; I think he was still fairly new to the House. Was in a room with 3 or 4 other people (and him) and he sat to my immediate right, IIRC. I interacted with him a fair amount.
Unless there has been a dramatic change in him, he being CIA Director should scare the shit out of everyone.
Roger Moore
@dimmsdale:
The problem is that most of the career civil servants are in their jobs because they genuinely believe in the work they’re doing. You are going to have a ton of trouble finding insiders who are going to help you blow up the system.
karen marie
@Corner Stone: I just keep smoking cigarettes because people keep telling me that I’ll die sooner. Except Mike Pence. Can I report him to the international court and have him charged with torture?
Adam L Silverman
@NorthLeft12: The Chinese would not help with this. They are neo-Confucian and do not like chaos and disorder. Putin both wants and needs chaos and disorder. He thinks he can master it to his own advantage. I think he is going to be sadly disappointed. But the Chinese want and need order. It is necessary for their long term strategic goals to bear fruit.
Roger Moore
@WTF:
An American flag pin.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: I got the toothless facade part then, just not the motivation. If the US as a body politic (other than the permanent government types) is hell-bent against anything resembling TPP, as seems to be the case, I don’t see China getting anywhere with that…
Mary G
I don’t usually approve of outing politicians’ underage family members, but this is weird and published by Ivanka herself. Donald Trump Granddaughter Arabella Kushner Captivates China
It reminds me of the movie “Parenthood,” with Rick Moranis’ character overwhelming his toddler with index cards.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: You all need a defense and security strategist?
Kay
@WTF:
I just think it’s nuts that they’re ordering us to provide emotional support to Donald Trump.
Yuck. Not my job. He should have grown up a long time ago. Why do I have to lower my standards to pretend Donald Trump meets them? Why doesn’t he raise his?
Chris
@Mnemosyne:
Repeating my point from yesterday: the right wing, from McCarthy to Nixon to the Bush administration, hates the CIA. They think it’s a liberal conspiracy. They’ll be happy to gut it just on general principle.
CarolDuhart2
@Gin & Tonic: Still less than a lot of private sector jobs that also include stock options and expensive perks, like say golf memberships and the like. Yes, some Cabinet members use Air Force planes, but its not like a Gulfstream luxury jet that you could eventually afford to buy.
germy
@Anne Laurie:
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
That reminds me, I need to re-watch The Lion in Winter.
GregB
@Applejinx:
It makes me wonder if that ethic was behind the trial balloon of failed Sen. Kelly Ayotte as Sec. of Def. Let her start taking and early victory lap them smash her hopes with the word that her chances were DOA.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Not really our line of business.
jheartney
@WTF:
This piece has a sample of what the GOP oppo research had in store for Bernie:
Kay
I sometimes listen to Right wing Christian radio in my car when I’m working. I thought they would have stopped lecturing and scolding people given that they all lined up lockstep to support the decadent and ethically bankrupt Trump Family, but no- they’re still haranguing people about morality.
Mind-boggling. They refer to him as “Mr. Trump” in hushed worshipful tones.
WereBear
Adam, appreciate your assessment of what an old DC hand told me was called, in his area, The Membrane. Politics come and go, but there is supposed to be a very tough layer that keeps on keeping on no matter what.
He worried it might have been damaged beyond repair. I will have to tell him it is still there.
Chris
@GregB:
Well. Not unless you consider an entire nation (minus the Kurds) rising up in insurgency “pushback.”
CarolDuhart2
@germy: And the combination may be unrideable, negating the whole experiment. No good having a racehorse no jockey could tame. And you could even just get crazy.
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
What they’re more likely to do is to present the US as hopeless and try to push their own alternative that shuts us out and ropes the rest of East- and Southeast Asia in with them.
The Moar You Know
I always thought it would be cool to live in Ancient Rome, watch the power struggles and all that.
Well, now I am and jeez, what the fuck was I thinking? A society in chaos is not fun to live in AT ALL.
Barbara
@Applejinx: I agree with this. I am going with symbolic and public domination as Donald Trump’s strongest urges. Somehow, he is going to humiliate Paul Ryan in ways I probably am too nice to contemplate.
Ruviana
@Adam L Silverman: Not precisely the same thing but adhering to the similar principle that one is always nice to the secretaries.
gvg
@GrandJury: Trump is such a show of multiple train wrecks, that the media can’t focus on anything for long. Conflict of interest HAS been mentioned, but the media had to keep moving along to the NEXT story that it isn’t sticking. I am kinda concerned about that now you reminded me. People have been shown to associate Hillary with EMAILS=SCANDAL because the media repeated it for years and nothing came up to knock them off message. Our populace has short attention spans. We can’t ban short time/repeated advertising and remote controls on TV’s, but we have a population trained to expect quick entertainment not in depth reporting and I think that is part of our problem.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
Raven will be very glad of that!
Kathleen
@Mnemosyne: I’m with you Ms. Mnem.
Schlemazel
@WTF:
after reading your comments at the other place I can’t imagine why you are not welcomed here with open arms
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Think about it…
Chris
@Timurid:
Yep.
As an aside, I believe historians nowadays think that the Reichstag fire was not, in fact, a Nazi false flag operation – it legitimately was a crazed communist operative, and the Nazis just seized onto it to pass what they wanted to do all along. There’s always idiots like that lying around. And the fascists are happy to use them.
(For a toned down version of same, see also the anarchist bombings post-WW1 – which killed a grand total of 1 person, I believe – that kick-started J. Edgar Hoover’s career).
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: He has been. We correspond frequently. Good people the Raven is.
hovercraft
@karen marie:
Well if all o us and it’s quick, then we’ll never know, so there’s that. The not knowing and wondering is what will give drive you nuts and kill you slowly.
CarolDuhart2
@jheartney: The Ortega thing would have been immediately lethal-even among Democrats. Why? there’s a fair number who have fled autocratic nations, both fascist and communist. Also the party spent umpteen years telling people-“we’re not Communists or anything like that”. And then you nominate someone who praises Ortega in a public rally?
NotMax
@Roger Moore
Thank you. That’s more what was getting at. Still working on first mug of java for the day.
gene108
@Applejinx:
McConnell’s RNC speech basically boiled down the Congressional GOP’s relationship to Trump. Trump will sign bills put before him. He’ll nominate ultra-conservative judges.
Congressional Republicans will get their wish list.
Trump only cares about himself, in the sense of what will personally bring him more material wealth or more attention or more praise.
I doubt he has the attention span to get into the weeds with Congressional Republicans to hash out what he wants in legislation.
I fear he’ll sign anything.
Miss Bianca
@Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap: Will we be talking about “Lopezism” the way we currently talk about “McCarthyism”?
“I have a LIST here, a LIST, of Muslims who have infiltrated key positions in the government!”
bluehill
That didn’t take long.
Roger Moore
@CarolDuhart2:
With horses, that’s a price you’re willing to pay. It only takes one breeding success to make up for a bunch of failures. Most people aren’t willing to be quite so ruthless with their own offspring.
bemused
@WereBear:
They are cults. Their “morals” have nothing to do with Christ.
WereBear
@Kay: That was why Pence was VP. They are probably praying for something to “happen” to Trump, while I’m sure the usual R suspects are plotting Trump’s impeachment as we speak.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Your comment, it has been fixed.
Peale
@CarolDuhart2: The Ortega thing would have reminded me that he’s essentially a rehash of the late 1980s college lefties who agitate and then disappear, agitate and promise to build things, and then disappear again. They have these followings, but they never seem to do anything to gain actual power by building anything sustainable. All they do is rile up the young and leave them hanging after college angry about things but never providing any outlet to continue after college. They feed off the young and spit them out every single generation. Yeah! I marched against the Contra’s too and I know what a waste of time it was in the end pretending that Ortega was a “different kind of communist”
Major Major Major Major
@karen marie: slightly out of date, but, Vonnegut:
hovercraft
Reposting from downstairs.
Official in West Virginia on leave after racist Obama post
We can’t make nice with these people, they are irredeemable. The county is 98% white, and went over 75% for the Shitgibbon.
Tazj
@Kay: I completely agree. It’s insulting to us as citizens that he ran for president and could not be bothered to educate himself about what the job entails until now.
Enhanced Voting Techinques
@Mnemosyne:
A lot of well conected conservatives there. I don’t see that going well with an admin that already has Russian troubles as it is.
NotMax
BTW, for those who haven’t yet seen it, Trump Tower residents threaten to leave amid protests.
Gilt-edged schadenfreude.
gene108
@Mnemosyne:
Reconciliation avoids a Senate filibuster. Budget bills passed via reconciliation are just subject to a straight majority vote in the Senate.
NorthLeft12
@GrandJury:
I am pretty confident in predicting that he and the Republicans in Congress will be blaming Obama and Clinton for the next four plus years. And that great defender of democracy and the little guy, the protector of liberty and the downtrodden, and the unresting pursuer and prosecutor of the corrupt and criminal, the free and unbiased media of the USA are ready to ensure that the lies and lamentations of the right will get the fair hearing they deserve, even if the facts must get buried and hidden beneath them.
Applejinx
@Major Major Major Major:
‘Would-be’? The trouble is, that’s all perfectly true. Doesn’t change the fact that he’s likely to be more hostile to the Republicans (who don’t think or act like they are defeated). There’s also the problem that he has nothing in particular against granny-starving, other than Paul Ryan is advocating it.
It’s true that if we give him stuff to succeed with, we’re enabling him. However, if we give him exclusively nightmare policy scenarios to enact, we live the nightmare. There’s something to be said for keeping things chaotic, and very much something to be said for keeping ourselves alive while we ride this out. Big difference between ‘infrastructure projects’ and ‘kill all the hispanics’, or ‘remove the vote from women and get them out of the workforce so men can have the jobs’.
This is the kind of guy who would enact singlepayer just to piss traitorous Republicans off, and not actually care that it would wreak economic havoc and shatter the socioeconomic class of a whole industry or three. The trouble is, it’d wreak economic havoc because we pay insanely more than anybody else for healthcare and it’s flat impossible to just reform the system without wrecking it. How badly does Trump want to wreck people who didn’t believe in him? (cue Richard Mayhew with an OH HELL NAW)
Roger Moore
@NotMax:
I don’t think they’re going to be as successful with that as they might hope. The rest of the area can always stick with the status quo if they don’t like the looks of whatever China is proposing- and at the very least I would expect Korea, Japan, and Vietnam to look at everything China is proposing with very great skepticism.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
MSNBC polling question of the day: “Do you think President Obama is responsible for creating the atmosphere that allowed Donald Trump to win the presidency last week?”
So I guess Chris Hayes is gonna lose his slot to Hewitt, Rachel Maddow to Michael Steel, and O’Donnell to… I was gonna say Schmidt or Wallace but they’re not Trump-y enough… Boris Epstyn (sp)? Steve Cortes? that Scottie MacMillan whackaloon?
Chris
@WereBear:
I didn’t respond to your response, but I want you to know I did see it. Despite it being a “dead thread.” :)
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I have refused to watch any news since the election. They’re toxic.
Gator90
@Mnemosyne: Has Jared Kushner expressed antipathy toward Muslims?
manyakitty
@ArchPundit: My dad is convinced they’ll appoint Comey to SCOTUS. That gives me the shuddering horrors.
WTF
@jheartney: @Chris:
Considering what just happened, that nay have helped Bernie.
And I apologize for going there.
@Roger Moore:
Flag pin is perfect!
As far as the Nazis and False flag ops, it it was Colonel Lang who I learned this from, Operation Canned Goods
But the larger op was Operation Himmler.
But I know there is some controversy about Kristallnacht
Major Major Major Major
@hovercraft: I don’t know, she sounds awfully economically anxious to me.
hovercraft
There will be no conflicts of interests in the Shitgibbon administration.
Ivanka Trump Wore a $10K Bracelet From Her Own Label on 60 Minutes — and Social Media Is Erupting
But I’m sure this all just fine and dandy, it’s nothing like the Clintons’ turning the Lincoln Bedroom into a Holiday Inn, right Tweety? This is just savvy business, right all you sanctimonious gasbags who were just aghast at the crassness of the Clinton’s.
Jeffro
@Roger Moore:
I’m dyin’…thanks RM
NotMax
@Roger Moore
Yeah, pretty much why I used the paper tiger term, a pact that in fact alters little but is the proverbial camel’s nose poking into the tent.
Major Major Major Major
@gene108: reconciliation has some weird restrictions like not adding to the deficit. They’d have to dupe or go around the CBO and senate parliamentarian to use it to repeal Obamacare.
WereBear
@Chris: Cool. And I AM ranty lately: guilty.
catclub
@The Moar You Know:
Well, they do tell you that “May you live in interesting times” is a curse, so you have been warned.
SFAW
@Mnemosyne:
It will be OUR FAULT whether we support him or not.
Unless the MSM suddenly decides to do their fucking job(s) for a change. But that’s less likely than the Jets winning the Super Bowl this year.
manyakitty
@catclub: I think they have similar goals, so no bedfellow is too repulsive.
Corner Stone
This is normal. It’s all normal here, now.
Emerald
@gvg:
Agree. I am ever more thankful for Obama’s calm disposition. Anybody else would have fired the a$$hole. Obama always plays the long game, however, and knows that Putin’s Puto would appoint somebody much worse.
Unless Puto fires him, that is. But consequences result from that action.
hovercraft
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m still on strike from them, I’m thinking of making it permanent. I have found that I had a huge backlog of good stuff on my DVR, that I had been ignoring for too long. According to the kids, there’s at least 200 hours of viewing on there, of programming mostly I chose to record, so that will keep me away from them. I think I’m ready to venture back to Maddowblog now, I like Benen.
Corner Stone
JOE WILSON IS TOO MUCH OF A SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN TO WEAR A MAGA HAT INDOORS?
WTF YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT KASIE HUNT. DID YOU JUST SAY THAT AND NOT MENTION HE SCREAMED AT PRESIDENT OBAMA, “YOU LIE!”
FFFFUUUUCCCCKKKK YYYOOOOUUUUU!!!!
WTF
@WereBear:
The one fellow who bucked the trend and predicted Trump would win now predicts he will be impeached, by the Republicans. President Pence.
Corner Stone
@Emerald: Fire Comey. Trump just put a white nationalist racist bigot in charge of the West Wing. Fire Comey and let’s see the media spasm to death in outrage.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Well, I’m sure all the people who were all upset about the Clinton Foundation will prove consistent in their outrage and insistence on optics above all
WaterGirl
@Adam L Silverman: Then you’d better be worried about a whole bunch of us, Adam. I don’t see anything worrisome in Kay’s comments, except of course that there is a lot of truth in them and that truth is pretty hard to bear.
Bill Arnold
Others have sort of covered this. My questions (repeated from a month ago, and not entirely rhetorical) are (1) what traits are being selected for? (2) who is doing the mate selection?
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
Or just repeal the parts that involve spending money while keeping the taxes in place. In any case, the reconciliation process, including the part requiring things to be budget neutral, is part of the Congressional rules, not the Constitution. They can change the rules if they feel like it. ETA: Not to mention that they can, and have, appointed hacks to run CBO.
WaterGirl
@ArchPundit:
QFT
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
Breath, just breath. Now step away from the TV, or better yet change the channel.
As a recovering addict I suggest that if you don’t want to go cold turkey, confine yourself to Tamron Hall at 11, and then if you must, you can watch the prime time hosts, who are not blameless for what happened, but at least now understand what we are up against.
schrodinger's cat
@WTF: No, they are cowards they won’t stand up to a bully.
Chris
@Miss Bianca:
I, too, think the “Stalinesque” and “Night of the Long Knives” analogies for the purge go too far.
Your comment, in contrast, doesn’t go far enough. However vile McCarthyism was, it wasn’t about at a particular ethnic/sectarian group. It sometimes crossed over into that (the Rosenbergs’ trial drew a fair antisemetic crowd), but that wasn’t its primary purpose – quite the opposite, in fact, since the whole appeal of the witch hunt was “ANYONE could be a Red! Your neighbor, your co-worker, your family!” This, in contrast, is very much aimed at placing one particular sectarian group (and/or ethnic groups; Islamophobia’s always blended over into general racial mistrust of anyone from that part of the world) in the crosshairs by whipping up hysteria about their penetration of our highest circles of power.
The correct analogy here isn’t McCarthyism. It’s the antisemetic conspiracy theories of European history.
I don’t know Lopez, but based on the description (and I certainly do know the type), at best we’ve got someone here who’s looking to put America through its own Dreyfuss Affair. I don’t need to go into what some of the worse options are.
GrandJury
@Applejinx: I would just stop with this idea that he will be in ideological conflict with Republicans.
He will be in conflict because he’s an asshole and everyone hates him. But ideologically he will not. Just look at all the people running his transition. Die hard republicans. So I would drop that idea if I were you and absorb the full force of that sad fact right now.
He probably won’t even be around that much and just get Pence to run things however Pence wants. But Obama played golf sometimes so both sides.
Applejinx
@WTF: One fellow? That ain’t Mark Blyth, who predicted this and Brexit.
I don’t think Blyth would predict impeachment, nor do I. Why? Because Trump will flip out and he controls the mob. Easy to paint such a move as ‘Traitorous Washington Insiders Try To Hurt The Great Revolution Of Trumpy Love And Justice’.
No way. No WAY can they pull that off. They’ll get fucking killed. Literally killed. Trump will ask his bare-chested best friend for a little help with domestic issues. I think that’s a zero percent chance.
We’d arguably be better off if impeachment driven by Republicans was a plausible scenario, but I think no way. Nah ga ha pen.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WTF: I have no trouble believing that, if their polling shows they can survive their primaries after doing it, the Republicans will impeach Trump. a big IF, but not impossible. A even less likely IF, but IF polls show them at risk in 2018, you’ll hear a lot of it.
also, too, this is three hours old, so we’ll see if it holds
rikyrah
@Kay:
Because they know he’s a phucking fraud and they helped put him there.
no. We are not going to be your accomplices.
Applejinx
@GrandJury: Trump has NO ideology. There can be no conflict when there’s no ideology. You watch. He is not a Republican, he’s not on the side of the Republicans, the Republicans will get the full brunt of his wrath if they try to take control.
More and more, the people running his transition are rootless nutjobs and republicans in name only. At this point there’s little connection, and it’s eroding with each thing the Republicans do to try to wrest control from Trump. And they are trying to. They’re arrogant and think he takes orders from them and follows their rules.
Chris
@Peale:
Aside here (I have no doubt of the impact of any of this on Sanders’ campaign, mind you), but didn’t the Sandinistas, in fact, turn out differently? I seem to recall that they held elections less than a decade after the revolution, which were certified free and fair by all the relevant international observers (though the Reaganites refused to recognize the result). And that there was an orderly transition of power in the early nineties to another party. Before further elections brought them back.
I haven’t the slightest doubt that Nicaragua was and is still riddled with problems and its government has plenty of abuses and flaws, but it was my understanding that the local lefties were, in fact, not just a mere repeat of the Castro/Che revolution.
Major Major Major Major
@Roger Moore: I wasn’t saying it was impossible, just that it isn’t a magic bullet for removing the filibuster. Most of Obamacare wasn’t even passed using reconciliation, contrary to popular belief.
WereBear
@WTF: I read that. Fascinating.
They might not be ready yet. But let them get to know Trump a little more.
Applejinx
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Ooo fuck. If the Republicans are going to oppose his very first nomination and closest, whackiest faithfullest best buddy who’s never let him down, there will be blood.
WTF
Just heard on the news, Rudy may be the next one to fall. Money from Qatar, I only caught a bit of it but it may stall or kill his appt.
Chris
@GrandJury:
Co-signed.
Doesn’t mean we can’t hope for spectacular infighting, of course.
WTF
I know the news is depressing but we all gotta keep our eyes on the ball.
And thank each and everyone of you for making this FNG feel welcome here.
As the Governator would say, I’ll be back.
Chris
@Applejinx:
Correct. This can’t be emphasized enough. It’s a massive source of leverage for Trump over the rest of his party.
What else can’t be emphasized enough: the fact that Republicans have had the last six years to acclimate to the fact that the angry mob they thought were their tools are increasingly running the show. The people who didn’t leave the party are those who’ve made their peace with it.
Corner Stone
@WTF:
Presuming a little much there, aren’t you friend? Have you shared any links to pics of your pets yet? Boy do you have a lot to learn.
The Truffle
This is going to be like Nixon on steroids. And look what happened to Nixon.
I’m almost tempted to say that we should step back and let this administration self-destruct.
Almost. I’m smarter than that.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
Yup, he is.
WTF
@Applejinx:
Not sure who it was. Just skimmed it…..
Allan Lichtman
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/11/prediction-professor-who-called-trumps-big-win-also-made-another-forecast-trump-will-be-impeached/
WTF
@Corner Stone:
I’m SOL then! I don’t have pets, he replied squeamishly as he skulked away from the keyboard!
OGLiberal
@Timurid: Thanks, Mike Evans, for protesting BUT NOT VOTING! Idiot. I’d kick you off my fantasy team if you weren’t carrying it this season.
Enhanced Voting Techinques
This seems like something that happens in the Trump camp every couple of months or so – someone gets Trump’s ear and the old manager and his court are fired and new one is put in place.
Major Major Major Major
@Corner Stone: Why, I don’t think he(?)’s even complained about in-laws.
ETA: @WTF: maybe you have in-laws with pets?
WTF
@schrodinger’s cat:
Cowards, yes, bullies, yes.
It is the fact that they have power now that worries…
but although I have never met Adam in RL, the fact that people like him are there, and many of them, makes feel a little bit more reassured.
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
True. But this kind of thing reflects the big reason I’m at least as worried about the Congressional Republicans as I am about Trump. Trump is a neophyte who is having trouble putting together a working team to run his administration. He’s going to have a hard time actually implementing policy unless he finds some unexpectedly effective folks in the odds-and-ends boxes he’s currently searching through for appointees. In contrast, the Congressional Republicans have a bunch of experienced hands who have spent a long time building up their own institutional power. They know what the rules are and how to bend and break them. They’ve installed some of their pet hacks in important positions so the numbers will turn out the way they want them to. And they have a list of stuff they’re itching to do the moment they can. The last thing we want to do is to spend all our time gawking at the clusterfuck over in the West Wing and take our eyes off the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
WTF
@Major Major Major Major:
Heh. My inlaws are pets!
sukabi
@C.V. Danes: that’s my biggest wish and prayer at the moment… or that the votes currently being counted tip the balance of the electoral college to Hillary…extreme longshot at best.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
MSNBC goes from hosting a comically goatee’d Dana Milbank saying Obama was too positive in his remarks about the transition yesterday (hey Dana, here’s a smart person’s read on those remarks– ominous and unnerving).
Now they’re cheerily introducing a guy who is I’m pretty sure (I’ve got it muted, because Dana Milbank) is one of those Duck Dynasty guys.
Chris
@Roger Moore:
… and they are, in their own way, just as crazy as Trump is.
I can just see a scenario in which they help Trump get everything he wants WRT the issues he or at least his base care about (Muslims, Mexicans, blacks – enough of them got to where they are by playing to the same crowd, or actually want to do it themselves) in order to keep him happy, while he leaves all the nitty-gritty details of government to them. Including every bit of their weird, esoteric ideology concerning taxes, the safety net, abortion…
Davebo
Great post Adam.
Is it really that difficult to replace the Director of FBI? It’s happened before and according to this there are no statutory conditions on the President’s authority to remove the FBI Director.
Is it just a matter of political headaches?
EBT
http://wonkette.com/608602/mike-pences-dog-ate-his-transition-homework
So pence won’t even sign a legally required NDA so that the transition of government can begin. Are they factually planning to just pick the keys up on the 20th and just make it start?
Applejinx
@Chris: Assumes they are trying to keep him happy and vice versa.
Why would they trust him? Why would he trust them? Does it look like they’re working harmoniously for the benefit of fucking over the rest of us?
WereBear
That actually cheers me no end. They Moebius stripped themselves right around to where their own nominee and voters are their enemy.
Chris
@Applejinx:
I assume that they’d try to keep him happy because they know where the power is.
I don’t assume that he’d want to keep them happy, but he may just generally feel well disposed towards them if they give him enough of what he wants and if he feels like he’s treated with enough respect.
Adam L Silverman
@Davebo: He can be fired. Its only been done once since they changed the rules post Hoover.
Applejinx
@Chris: Oh, nuh nuh nuh. They are arrogant, our Republicans. To them, THEY are where the power is, the only conceivable legitimate source of power. It is purely not acceptable to them that Trump have ANY power in his own right.
And in turn, he can’t possibly believe any overtures of respect because he KNOWS it’s bullshit and masking treachery, and he’s not wrong (and he’s pretty good at identifying power threats when they are that personal, which it is to him: personal only and always)
I suppose they could get along if all the Republicans drank Kool-Aid and (like Pence and Giuliani?) totally brainwash themselves into being his devoted acolytes. I think the chances of that are about zero, though. And the chances of them conning Trump are also about zero. Even if they were licking his boots, he’d mistrust them at this point. This is not a normal guy, and normal levels of ‘give him what he wants’ won’t work. They despise him, and I’m sure he senses that and it drives him completely crazy.
The funniest part is, I think Trump instinctively recognizes that Obama, of all people, has the least reason to fuck with him and the most reason to be helpful and transition power without treachery. And so you see him accepting Obama’s guidance, to what extent we may never know.
Fun fun fun. And here… we… go…
I despise the lot of ’em and am cranky with my own side, so fuck ’em as far as I’m concerned :)
Steeplejack
@Jeffro:
Might owe a tip o’ the hat to dmsilev back in May.
Stamped with the front-page seal of approval.
Mistersnrub used it way back in October 2009.
NotMax
Well, that explains the “page not found” message when refreshing.
The Truffle
@Applejinx: I am somewhat less cranky with our side as Keith Ellison looks to be in the running for DNC chair and the Democrats are stepping up to condemn Bannon while Republicans continue to be good Germans.
I’m guessing that this bunch will be at each other’s throats before long. And Trump voters will be kicking themselves in a year.
We can’t stop the nastiness that’s coming, but we can get the popcorn ready.
We can also get ready to rebound big time in 2018. Seriously. I want 2018 to be another 2006. 2006 was a great year.
Chris
@Applejinx:
Hat tip for Joker reference. Even if that Joker wasn’t Mark Hamill.
And speaking of pop culture, it’s funny: just a few days before the election, I found myself reading a TVTropes thread called “Fascist, But Inefficient.” It opens with the following commentary on real-life fascism:
TL/DR: one of the most accurate portrayals of the day-to-day functioning of the Nazi state was probably Hogan’s Heroes.
And it’s striking me more and more over the last couple days that this is basically what all our hopes are pinned on going into the Trump administration.
Leslie
@Anne Laurie: Does this count?
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@WTF: I’d be more surprised if he isn’t impeached. It’s entirely possible that Congressional Repubs know full well that they can’t control him. Pence, OTOH, would be much more acceptable.
ETA: I wrote this comment before I read the article. There’s a lot I don’t know, but I doubt this is rocket surgery.
Archon
@gene108:
I’m not sure about that. Trump has a mandate from white America to make their lives better regardless of the consequences for non-whites and the world at large. Movement conservatism of the Paul Ryan kind cannot and will not make the lives of white America better, because movement conservative’s main ideological interest is making rich people richer, regardless of race. If Trump governs as a hard-right movement conservative I think his support will collapse fairly quickly (at least with the non-reactionary subset of Trump voters who are expecting policies that help them, mainly the Obama12/Trump16 voters)
If he governs as a white economic populist even at the expense of civil liberties and social justice for minority groups I could see his support growing with white America, particularly with the Bernie Sanders cohort of the left who believe that America’s number one problem is why white men can’t get good jobs.
Chris
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:
Republicans have gotten to where they are by never, ever, irreparably damaging their relations with the far right/racist voter base. Impeaching Trump will be such a giant “fuck you” to that base that most of them will never be elected again.
jheartney
Possibly stupid question: If they decide to impeach Trump, won’t they need Dem votes to convict? And if they impeach and fail to convict, won’t that subject them to a supernova of wrath from the shitgibbon? (Plus open war between Trump and Pence if the former thinks the latter was conniving with the impeachment plotters.) I should think the Dems would have a lot of leverage when the impeachment vote happened in the Senate.
Enhanced Voting Techinques
@jheartney: 1) yes, and why would the Dems do that? The Senate don’t like removing elected officals.
2) Yes. Wouldn’t that be a howler. Not to mention all those Trump voters.
3) Like is going to happen the second Pence sees himself as the power behind the throne.
Davebo
@Enhanced Voting Techinques: Pence could be the power behind the throne (ala Cheney) or he could be the typical meaningless suit living at the Naval Observatory.
Or he could start out as the power behind the throne, then Donald wakes up in a crappy move and sends him back to said residence to write condolence letters and attend Trump hotel openings for all we know!
If I were Pence, I’d be pretty nervous either way. Seeing as how he hitched his wagon to bat shit crazy he deserves whatever he gets.
waysel
@Adam L Silverman: Ask us again when they’ve installed three Scalias and really get to work tearing down the pillars of the Constitution. I’m with Kay. Very scared that they Willa ll do what they’ve been promising to do for decades.
liberalandlovingit
@WereBear:
That actually made me laugh. First time in a week.
Mike G
“They believe that there are superior people and that if you put together the genes of a superior woman and a superior man, you get a superior offspring.”
Apparently Trump thinks the only thing women bring to the genetic table are looks, since he seems to exclusively date and marry bimbo fashion models.
Mike in dc
#Christieleaks will be a thing soon, and it won’t just refer to his incontinence.
Seth Owen
@Adam L Silverman: If he’s a good first sergeant. During my second battery command the incumbent first sergeant was ineffective. He never left his office during drill (this was Army NG). After first drill I went to the battalion commander and said he just wouldn’t do.
Fortunately my old platoon sergeant from my time as a platoon leader had made E-8 and was available in some staff gig. Brought him over and things got 100 percent better the very next drill. My man was never IN his office until drill was over. That’s when he did his paperwork. Let me concentrate on officer stuff.
Had or saw similar experiences at every level. The officer/NCO dynamic is a great strength of the western military system but it requires careful nurturing by both wise officers and even wiser NCOs.
First thing a new officer had to do is size up his platoon sergeant/first sergeant/sergeant major and figure out if he’s a good one or a problem and act accordingly.
Sandra L Hanlon
@WTF:
I am so sorry we let the Republicans claim the flag. I am protesting and carrying the flag upright, because I am a more of a Patriot than most flying the flag – I pay my taxes gladly, understanding what a bargain it is – I do support the troops with gratitude and taxes and willingness to pay more for veterans programs. I am reclaiming the flag and gently suggest we all consider it. Symbols will be strong. It is a shame we gave that symbol to the opposition.
I say fly it right side up. We need to own it first – things will get worse. We may need to reserve the upside down flag for later.