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You are here: Home / The last thing they’ll ever do is act in your interest

The last thing they’ll ever do is act in your interest

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Trump didn’t win because he’s a political genius or because the voters are dumb. He won because our institutions failed:

These same institutions can still stop Trump from destroying our country if they do their jobs? How can we pressure them to do their jobs? That’s what we have to figure out, and of course there isn’t just one answer.

In the meantime, another example of how our media fucked up and gave us a potential Hitler, in this case by deciding not to run stories about connections between Russia and the Trump campaign:

I have spoken privately with several journalists involved in the reporting last fall, and I believe a strong case can be made that The Times was too timid in its decisions not to publish the material it had.

[….]

There were disagreements about whether to hold back. There was even an actual draft of a story. But it never saw daylight. The deciding vote was Baquet’s, who was adamant, then and now, that they made the right call.

“We heard about the back-channel communications between the Russians and Trump,” he said. “We reported it, and found no evidence that it was true. We wrote everything we knew — and we wrote a lot. Anybody that thinks we sat on stuff is outrageous. It’s just false.”

I don’t believe anyone suppressed information for ignoble reasons, and indeed The Times produced strong work on former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. But the idea that you only publish once every piece of information is in and fully vetted is a false construct.

Reader Interactions

156Comments

  1. 1.

    Culture of Truth

    The NYT covered for the GOP in the run up to the Iraq war, and on warrantless wiretapping, so this is no big surprise.

    The trouble with saying the parties have failed is that in country this big, with only 2 parties, is saying ;these two large organizations, with tens of millions of members, the only existing means of elected office’, have failed, which isn’t saying much but the people have failed.

  2. 2.

    The Dangerman

    We’ve made it nearly 12 hours without a new shooting war starting under 45. I’m slightly surprised.

  3. 3.

    Jeffro

    @efgoldman: Seconded, yes he most certainly did win because most of one party’s voters are in fact dumb, and blind by their hatred of the things they’ve been conditioned to hate about their fellow Americans.

  4. 4.

    JordanRules

    I think a good part of the resistance is going to be diverse in tactics and strategy. I expect a lot of hand wringing over that and hope we can build something that makes sense and empowers that diversity.

  6. 6.

    tobie

    I don’t want to restart the flame wars we had here immediately after the election, but I really don’t see how the Democratic Party failed us. The party failed in that it didn’t win the election but not being effective is not the same thing as “failing us” (i.e., betraying our trust). The media and the FBI definitely did betray our trust and we need to think about ways to call out the media when it adopts Republican framing on issues as it invariably does. I’d like some suggestions about what to do besides contacting tv networks regularly when they show bias.

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    We can’t go back, so let’s pound the living crap out of the media to report on all the ongoing investigations of Manafort, Page, Stone, and whip them to ask “what did Trump know about the collusion, and when did he know it?” Same with Pence. Same with Ryan & McConnell – when did they first hear about it, and why did they choose to hold it back before the election?

    Let’s run these fuckers to earth and make them pay for their abetting. To help a hostile foreign power have its way in our election! All to benefit their Randian wet dreams!

  8. 8.

    Mike in NC

    Asshole RWNJ neighbors had about eight cars on the street for their Trumpfest earlier. All were gone by 9 PM since these shits are all on Medicare and don’t stay up late. If anybody had parked in my driveway without asking I’d have deflated a few tires.

  10. 10.

    Jeffro

    @tobie:

    I don’t want to restart the flame wars we had here immediately after the election, but I really don’t see how the Democratic Party failed us. The party failed in that it didn’t win the election but not being effective is not the same thing as “failing us”

    You aren’t restarting anything and the Dem party didn’t fail us or America. The Rs didn’t vet their candidates and let Don the Con continue to gain traction because they were afraid of cracking their party in two if they alienated his Tea Party/know-nothing/racist/low-info voters. Hillz ran a good campaign but was beaten by the Russians and Comey’s betrayal.

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I believe a strong case can be made that The Times was too timid in its decisions not to publish the material it had.

    Jeebus Fucking CRIPES, Liz? Ya think??

  12. 12.

    Chet Murthy

    @tobie: This. The Rs didn’t excommunicate Grandpa Walnuts or Mittens when they failed to beat back Our President. Instead, they doubled-down and worked as a -team- to get theirs back. And they did.

    No more circular firing squads. We reserve fire for the enemy. I never used to think of them as the enemy — rather, as the opposition (yes, I know they didn’t return the favor). Now they’re the enemy. Clarity is refreshing.

  13. 13.

    Suffragete City elftx

    The fucking NYT doth protest too fucking much. Day after Reid’s letter their story drops claiming it’s all bullshit. And to use the excuse that no one there thought Trump was going anywhere is another god damn whiny fucking excuse.
    I almost feel better after that.. naw who am I kidding. Four years of excuses and whining by “esteemed publications”.
    A whole new era of Whocuddanode!

  15. 15.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mike in NC: Steak knives, cheap ones purchased at a discount store and handled only while wearing rubber gloves. One through the sidewall of each tire.

  18. 18.

    Steve in the ATL

    One of my cousins was seeking ideas on what to write on her sign for tomorrow’s protest. Another cousin suggested “don’t blame me-I voted for [wilmer]”.

    I was not kind in my response.

  25. 25.

    Mary G

    I just sent Liz an incoherent outraged email about why I cancelled my subscription after the Matt Lauer town hall where he interrogated Hillary and gave Donald a tongue bath and they changed their story from “Trump said X, which is false,” to “some said Trump stretched the truth,” and her incredibly condescending column on Sept. 10 about “all you people are wrong about false balance, because we know journalism and you don’t,” and that I had planned to read any number of free articles on the numerous devices in my house, but I haven’t bothered because their reporting isn’t worth my time.

  29. 29.

    hilts

    There isn’t just one answer.

    Doug,

    For starters, how about encouraging people to donate money to organizations willing to hold Trump accountable such as:

    The ACLU
    Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
    The Electronic Frontier Foundation
    The Center for Public Integrity
    The Center for Responsive Politics
    ProPublica
    Democracy 21

  31. 31.

    Arm The Homeless

    @Omnes Omnibus: Problem with steak knives are the serrated edges tend to snag in the rubber. a long, slim knife, wiped with motor oil makes the puncture easier and muffles the sudden deflation of the tire.

    Also, too: Crushed spark-plug ceramic will spider safety glass with nary a sound if thrown with a decent amount of force.

  32. 32.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Arm The Homeless: Interesting viewpoint. I stand by steak knives, but I will gleefully adopt the oil idea.

    Spark-plugs? Excellent.

    As long as we are on this, shrimp shells in curtain rods will do a number on someone’s house.

  34. 34.

    ArchTeryx

    You know, since I delurked to holler and scream what may be my last months to a bunch of snarling jackals, I actually felt less marginalized then I have in a long time.

    And then news of the EO attempting to disassemble the ACA via extralegal means came out. Unless I manage to find a job soon, I truly feel like I’m a dead man walking.

    On the other paw, I managed to get myself certified for the NYS Medical Marijuana Program due to my IBS and the chronic pain it brings, so at least I’ll be able to drug myself into being “comfortably numb,” as Pink Floyd once sang, for a while.

  35. 35.

    eemom

    Shit. This is like all those times people tell you you’ll feel better AFTER you throw up, AFTER the tooth is pulled, AFTER your ex moves out, etc etc. AFTER he’s really “president trump.”

    Anyone feeling better yet? I personally feel like shit.

  38. 38.

    Emerald

    @efgoldman:

    I too am on Medicare, and I’m rushing to get my hip replacement(s) done while there still is a Medicare. I didn’t watch, but read about Paul Ryan’s shit-eating grin today. No doubt he was dreaming of all of us Medicare spongers decreasing the surplus population sometime soon.

    But he won’t do it until they’ve made sure we can’t vote, and they may have to get an actual SCOTUS justice confirmed first. So I may have time.

  40. 40.

    Redshift

    @Omnes Omnibus: If it’s not in your own driveway or street, I learned from my high school electronics teacher (speaking from sad experience) that a broken picture tube will slash tires but good. Picture tubes are harder to come by in the age of flat screens, but conversely, the ones we have sitting around are less valuable.

  41. 41.

    Arm The Homeless

    @Omnes Omnibus: Cheap steak in air ducts was my go-to, but the shrimp shells in curtain-rods is devious if you’ve got the access and time. I heartily approve.

  42. 42.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @eemom: I was on the road (loud punk rock – no Soft Cell) for a while and aggressively ignoring events the rest of the time. Oddly, I was helped by the fact that someone close to me was having surgery for a broken ankle today. She chose today to shelter from the shitshow.

  43. 43.

    Redshift

    @eemom: I feel ill pretty much all the time. And the few times I’ve accidentally seen pictures of the inauguration, my brain tries to tell me they’re from a comic book story where a supervillain manages to get elected president…

  45. 45.

    Davis X. Machina

    G’Night, all. I’m going to bed.

    If all those Mexicans aren’t gone in the morning, I’m going to be some pissed.

  46. 46.

    TriassicSands

    Trump didn’t win because he’s a political genius or because the voters are dumb.

    There is no one reason why Trump won — lots of things contributed, but I disagree emphatically that the stupidity of the electorate is not one of those reasons. If so many voters weren’t stupid and profoundly ignorant (often as a direct result of stupidity), Trump wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the number of votes he got. Voter stupidity allowed people to accept that the email scandal was a really big deal, just as it allowed voters to see Hillary Clinton as more dishonest than Trump. Stupidity also meant that voters could listen to Trump lie his ass off and come away believing he was an authentic candidate who just said what he meant.

    Without voter stupidity the Russians, James Comey, the failure of the media, none of that would have kept Clinton from being elected.

    Voter stupidity is a crisis. Sadly, I don’t think there is anything that can be done to fix it. You can’t will people to be smarter, and dumb people are not good at learning what they need to know and realizing that much of what the think they know is simply wrong.

    I would rank voter stupidity as the number one reason why Trump is president today. A smarter electorate would never have fallen for the buffoonery, the lies, the nastiness, and the utterly empty campaign promises.

  47. 47.

    GregB

    By the way, executive orders used to be a sign of Obama tyranny and now they are a sign of Trump freedom.

    War is peace.

  48. 48.

    Gretchen

    @efgoldman:
    They wouldn’t have printed it anyway. Last week they had an editorial about the dangers of Trump properties worldwide being terrorist targets, and the massive conflicts of interests, and I signed in with a comment about how it would have been very helpful if they had published these concerns before the election, rather than going with “EMAILZ!” 24/7. Oddly, that comment was never approved.

  49. 49.

    Suzanne

    Ed (Gin and Tacos) writes:

    I guess it’s unreasonable to expect Trump supporters to travel to DC and attend the inauguration when 75% of them need a motorized cart to go 100 feet from the Funyuns to the Jeff Dunham DVDs at Walmart.

    I personally have decided that utter contempt is what I do well, and I’m going to roll with it.

    Mr. Suzanne, who is a fairly good prognosticator, predicts a single Trump term (one he may not ever complete), that is characterized not by action, but really by amateurism and incompetence so notable that, in four years, many Trump voters are going to lie and say they voted third-party or what have you. Then there will be an unspoken attempt to NEVER SPEAK OF THIS AGAIN.

    Fuck this. I plan to make a list of everyone I know who voted for Trump so I can remind them that they suck. I am going to be so fucking insufferable about it. I hope I make someone cry.

  50. 50.

    Peale

    @Chet Murthy: I don’t know. There are some progressives who walked off the reservation who I’m not going to make nice with if they decide to come back.

  57. 57.

    Timurid

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    If you’re daring enough to get inside the car, one of those cardboard pint cartons of milk left under a passenger seat (in case the driver keeps stuff under his seat; if you find a gun down there you might want to reconsider the whole exercise) will make a statement. Put it in there unopened and let nature take its course…

  59. 59.

    Peale

    @Omnes Omnibus: When Glenn Greenwald discovers that Trump really meant that he’ll torture and kill the family members of terror suspects, and it turns out that low and behold we’re actually right about Putin and also that we were right that electing the most bellicose candidate is probably going to lead to more wars – when all that happens, and he decides its time to back a Democrat again, what do you propose he and his Intercept buffoons do to earn it.

  61. 61.

    TriassicSands

    I imagine Trump’s inaugural speech will go down in history as the worst, most downbeat, and most dishonest in American history. Still, it wouldn’t be Trump, if he didn’t kick off his reign of incompetence without lying his ass off.

    I also expect his presidency will blow away rivals for the title of worst president ever.

  63. 63.

    Another Scott

    @Arm The Homeless: My folks are convinced that a mouse crawled into the wall behind their electric doorbell and died. It took them quite a while to find the source of the odor. They’ve presently got the doorbell hanging off the wall with some paper towels plugging the hole. They’re hoping the thing desiccates and stops stinking eventually…. :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  64. 64.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Peale: Greenwald was never a progressive. He is probably a right libertarian – we just agreed with his criticism of the Bush administration and assumed that he agreed with us about other stuff.

  65. 65.

    Chet Murthy

    @Peale: Oh, idunno. As long as they voted for Hillary and (if public figures) endorsed her, I think you might consider forgiving them.

    If they didn’t do that … well, “you had one job — just ONE job!”

    ETA: to be clear, “for Hillary” coudl be replaced with “for the D nominee” or “to ensure that a fascist did not take the Presidency”. I cared less who was the D, than that the D should win. And less that the D should win, than that the fascist should lose.

  66. 66.

    mai naem mobile

    @lamh36: he’s a little little man. I have to admit my first thought when I heard on the news that Lumpys whole family was staying at the WH was wondering what expensive antique trinkets they are going to steal from there. Lumpy probably instructed them to look around and see what they could see that looked valuable that they could ‘arrange’ to get ‘lost’ or ‘stolen’ by the regular WH staff.

  67. 67.

    mai naem mobile

    @Peale: Glenn Greenwald can go fuck himself. Useful idiot. I have zero patience for self righteous purity pricks like him. Buy,hey,ask me how I really feel about Glenn Fucking Greenwald.

  68. 68.

    MomSense

    I know why the Republicans want to kill the arts endowments – they have no taste. Every bit of music I have heard during this inaugural shitshow has been awful. Woke up to some twangy singer butchering a somg that may have been a soul cover. Couldn’t watch long enough to figure it out. And Melania looked like she was a hostage. I don’t think that expression was her cold steel. That was a grimace. The tiny handed tin pot is a boorish dolt.

    I’m now conducting a musical exorcism and listening to Hoodoo Man Blues with Junior Wells and Buddy Guy.

  69. 69.

    Chet Murthy

    @Peale: Work in a hospital in some poverty-stricken part of the world (or the country — there are many) for the rest of their lives. Those fuckers (and Stein) …. no longer part of polite society.

  71. 71.

    Suzanne

    @MomSense: They have NO TASTE!!! At all! They want to feel better about their NASCAR and bloomin’ onions and bird baths of soda and Tom Clancy novels, and SOCKS WITH SANDALS, and they have decided that the best way to feel better about themselves is for anything of any artistic value to go away.

  72. 72.

    XTPD

    @Peale: Segura, Scahill, & Biddle were decent throughout the election, so they’re largely exempt from reparations. Most of the rest of the staff should be subject to four years of hard labor at a Pensacola de-education camp.

    Lee Fang, Glenzilla & Zaid Jilani, of course, deserve to be launched straight into a flaming gas crater.

  74. 74.

    MomSense

    @Redshift:

    I’ve decided he is Goldmember. Every time I see him now I say “I love gooold”.

    And gold is not his color. There is a photo of him in the Oval (everyone spit) in front of the new drapes he had installed and he looks terrible. If the spray tan is supposed to hide the jaundice, those drapes aren’t helping.

  75. 75.

    SatanicPanic

    The times sucks. I have to get around to cancelling. Interesting note- the Enquirer is pushing that Trump and Putin are going to bro-down and attack China. This is the garbage the RWNJs are swallowing.

  78. 78.

    MomSense

    @Suzanne:

    No taste in anything. That assmouth has probably traveled all over the world and ordered an overpriced burger well done for every meal. And my god the decor in their tower penthouse is atrocious. Words fail me it’s so horrendous.

  81. 81.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @MomSense: Don’t start me me on his suits. Heavy guys with money can dress well. He doesn’t. I will go full snob here. He is a jumped-up slum-lord. Money but no taste.

  82. 82.

    Suzanne

    @MomSense: I still get my ass chapped over the fact that they claimed that Melania had a degree in “architecture and design” when she really dropped out after a year and no architect would ever live with that gold shit.

  85. 85.

    MomSense

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    What if I wanted to get you started on his suits? He wears his ties too long to try to cover his girth and the fact that he has to hike up his pants too high so they don’t fall down. I’m thinking that is why he has to scotch tape his tie together. He’s like half a step away from a clip on tie.

  86. 86.

    Suzanne

    I should note that approximately 85% of architecture students get cut or quit after the first year.

  89. 89.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Suzanne: My parents have a tiny Chagall, some original Japanese block prints, and stuff from Chicago Imagist friends. What I have is mostly from artists I have met. I get snobby about people like Trump.

  91. 91.

    TriassicSands

    @Suzanne:

    He lives in the world’s most expensive trailer.

    It’s funny, but his home in Trump Tower is similar to many mobile homes. They — and I’ve always found this inexplicable — often have fixtures and decor that rather than being simple and functional, are garish and ornate. Trump’s dump is a study of excess piled on top of excess. Rather than tasteful and elegant it’s just tacky. I might call it broke baroque. Only Trump could make marble tacky.

  92. 92.

    Oldgold

    The NYT has aided and abetted in the 3 worst catastrophes of the last quarter century: 1) White Water and its progeny; 2) Iraq II; and, 3) Trump’s election.
    It is not fit to wrap fish in.

  93. 93.

    Aleta

    @lamh36: They stole the CAKE design ?!?! They couldn’t even research back past 4 years? Or do they believe all inaug. cakes throughout history are required to look like that.

    Next they’ll put their faces in the portraits of the Obama family, get three dogs that look like Bo, and walk out in some cheap ripoffs of FL Michelle Obama’s dresses and PBO’s sunglasses. Go away petty monsters.

  95. 95.

    MomSense

    @Aleta:

    I’m starting to get really concerned for the Lincoln Bedroom. Hope they put the waterproof mattress covers on all the White House beds.

  96. 96.

    Petorado

    I shit you not, Melania tweeted tonight:

    Melania Trump ‏@45th_FLOTUS 20m20 minutes ago
    Melania Trump Retweeted Donald J. Trump
    “And now, the end is near” ? Loved sharing that important moment with the hubby #firstdance #Inauguration #InauguralBall #MAGA #FLOTUS -MMelania Trump added,

    Nancy Sinatra was right, Trump may want to dance to “My Way”, but remember the first line.

  98. 98.

    Peale

    @Oldgold: And let’s not forget “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques”.And the lah dee dah dance around “things that other countries that torture do to people when they torture them are something else when we do them.”

  100. 100.

    MomSense

    @TriassicSands:

    The lobby has one of those water feature walls that was popular back in the day. Oh my god it’s a giant golden shower! The lobby is all marble and gold escalators but it smells like a pool.

  104. 104.

    Emerald

    @Peale:

    There are some progressives who walked off the reservation who I’m not going to make nice with if they decide to come back.

    when all that happens, and he decides its time to back a Democrat again, what do you propose he and his Intercept buffoons do to earn it.

    I don’t want ’em back. They say they hate the right wing, but they spend literally all their time doing the right wing’s dirty work for them.

    I’ve had it with them. Not only are they not reliable allies, they are not allies (this comment includes, of course, Wilmer himself). Their verdamnten immature, white privilege egotism can’t do anything but weaken our party.

    And we don’t need ’em. We need to conquer voter suppression and get more of our actual base to the polls. Wilmer’s zealots and the Intercept buffoons are not our base. They’re not even Democrats. Plus they insist they’re not Democrats because the Democratic party isn’t good enough for them, yet they want to run it.

    I want them to just freakin’ go away and form their own damned party. Run some candidates and win some stuff–after all, they are the only ones who know how to do that, right? Fine, do it and leave us Democrats to fight our own fights.

    Without them constantly sniping at us from our own side we might be able to get something actually done, especially when Obama comes back.

  105. 105.

    Aleta

    @MomSense: Say goodbye to it now. They’ll claim they redecorated by mistake. Later the original furniture will turn up at a gold club.

  107. 107.

    Aleta

    I get to help carry a banner tomorrow: There Are No Strangers Here.
    Names of women who couldn’t come will be pinned to the back.

  108. 108.

    Suzanne

    @TriassicSands:

    They — and I’ve always found this inexplicable — often have fixtures and decor that rather than being simple and functional, are garish and ornate.

    It’s a signaling thing. For some people, especially for those who haven’t been taught about quality and style and proportion, etc, they see garishness and think of wealth. The Platonic ideal of “rich house” is like Versailles or the Vanderbilt mansion or whatever.

  112. 112.

    TriassicSands

    @Emerald:

    …get more of our actual base to the polls.

    I suspect you’d be more successful in getting the group you hate to see the error of their ways than you will be in getting most non-voters to vote. Voter suppression, while a real and serious problem, is not what is keeping millions of what should be natural democratic voters from voting. Their problem is apathy, stupidity, ignorance, or a combination of more than one of those. Good luck overcoming those — the trend is in the wrong direction.

  113. 113.

    Eljai

    @MomSense: I think you’re on to something. I wish millions of us had taken to the streets while Obama was still in office to demand that the senate vote on Merrick Garland. Conservatives never play by the rules. Maybe we need to be just as power hungry, but for better ideas. I’m hoping to put all this in my new self-help book, “Hostility Can Set You Free”.

  116. 116.

    Chet Murthy

    @Eljai:

    “Hostility Can Set You Free”

    Eljai, if you’re not joking, more power to you. If you are joking …. somebody needs to write the book. Or, erm, the manual on how us progressives can grow some constructive hostility.

  119. 119.

    Suzanne

    @TriassicSands: That’s because you aren’t trying to signal wealth without actually having it.

    Look, much of this shit is aspirational. Look at those farking sunglasses with the giant designer logos on the sides. No one with money and taste wears those. The truly spendy optical shops don’t sell them. They’re a way for middle-class people to attempt to signal their desire to belong to their “social betters”. It’s all semiotics at play.

  120. 120.

    mai naem mobile

    I saw the cake thing on twitter. Jeezus whhyyyy? They have these cake shows. Fucking well google cake ideas. They could have gone back to at least the 50s. Why plagiarize the Obama cake?

  121. 121.

    MomSense

    @Eljai:

    I noticed how much the Reich Wing Nut Jobs were enjoying our justified tears about the election and decided not to give them the satisfaction. Then I started thinking about all the bullying they do and how they love that trait in their leader. It’s so infuriating that I cannot make nice, promote harmony, surround them in light or any of the other unsatisfying responses more enlightened people are suggesting.

  122. 122.

    TriassicSands

    Facing threat of military intervention, Gambia’s president agrees to leave

    A current headline in the Post. Maybe, in a year or two, we’ll see a similar headline only with a different country.s name. After all, we’re a banana republic now.

  123. 123.

    Eljai

    @Chet Murthy: I think I was joking, but now that you mention it, perhaps I should get to work on a book proposal. It may prove to be more productive than yelling at my TV.

  125. 125.

    mai naem mobile

    On Raw Story it says the WH website hasade space to hawk Melanomas QVC jewelry line. I can’t believe that. I don’t feel safe going onto the WH website because they took the privacy stuff off. Is Melanoma still going to go on QVC? I don’t even want to know at this point.

  126. 126.

    Eljai

    @MomSense: I’m on an email list for a spiritually minded group of people and they were suggesting that we pray on inauguration day that our leaders will be guided by higher guidance or whatever. I just deleted it. F*ck ’em! I can get on board with seeing good people prevail with, hopefully, no damage to the republic. But I’m not sending white light to the goons for chrissakes!

  127. 127.

    Emerald

    @TriassicSands:

    And yet voter suppression took out many times more voters than the margin that the shitgibbon “won” by.

    As far as convincing the Intercept zealots, fat chance. These people live in their own world (I know, a dear relative is one of them). They are unreachable. My relative is literally laughing at the very idea that the Russians had anything to do with the election. Glenn Greenwald and RT told her that she’s got the revealed wisdom and the rest of us are dupes. (And RT has to be reliable, because they give so many progressives their own shows on RT! Proof!)

    Our real problem is that we don’t have the propaganda machine that the Republicans have been cultivating for decades. Starting with Limbaugh, the rest of hate radio and then Faux News, they have dumbed down their portion of the electorate until those folks too are unreachable.

    And yet, with the demographic changes that have already occurred in this country it should not have been possible for a Republican to win on white votes alone, except for the voter suppression. That Combover Caligula managed to do it was a combination of the decades-long propaganda war the the Dems don’t even try to fight; the voter suppression, which worked this time; and—ahem—only 76,000 votes that overwhelmed nearly 3,000,000 because they were properly placed??

    We’ve got to get more of our demographic base to the polls. We’ve got to be sure they’re legal and we’ve got to get them there. With that, the Rethugs literally cannot win, at least not at the national level. We don’t need the Intercept zealots.

  129. 129.

    MomSense

    @Emerald:

    And don’t forget that the constant benghazimail hearings and media endlessly repeating all that crap (including Russian hacked info) was also a form of voter suppression. It was intended to make people discouraged, feel turned off by the whole campaign, push people into a lesser of two evils kindest, etc.

  132. 132.

    Major Major Major Major

    And I still can’t get over what Kellyanne Riefenstahl was wearing. I swear, every Republican needs somebody to just look at them and either nod yes or shake their head no before they go outside every day.

  133. 133.

    ThresherK

    Liz Spayd is like a public health official who is always spreading the last infection. She ain’t never gonna prevent the next one.

  134. 134.

    TS

    “f the new president was in fact colluding with a foreign adversary, journalists and investigators should feel enormous pressure to conclusively establish that fact. If it is not true, both Trump and the country deserve to have this issue put to rest.

    One rule for Hillary and a different rule for Trump – they didn’t seem to think Benghazi/emails should be put to rest.

  135. 135.

    Kropadope

    @TS: Sure they did, just not when they finished what could reasonably be termed an investigation. After the election, it was immediately put to rest.

  137. 137.

    patrick II

    I heard nytimes exec editor Steve Baquet interviewed by Terri Gross on NPR. Mr. Baquet thinks he did a swell job because he used the word “lie” once in a headline covering Trump. He was impervious to any question that might imply they did less than a stellar job. I think he believes it, that somehow the stories on Trump lies and the future uninsured and rising oceans and unnecessary military threats and giving even more money to the already rich, threats of violence to minorities and reporters at his rallies, his Russian connections, and his fake charity all call for a balance with a hundred stories on Hillary’s email.
    I quit my subscription to the NYTimes some weeks ago. I added the Washington Post.

  142. 142.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Don’t start me me on his suits. Heavy guys with money can dress well. He doesn’t. I will go full snob here. He is a jumped-up slum-lord. Money but no taste.

    He tried to be as stylish as his father, but Fred’s white sheets didn’t fit once Shitgibbon became obese.

  143. 143.

    SFAW

    @MomSense:

    Then I started thinking about all the bullying they do and how they love that trait in their leader. It’s so infuriating that I cannot make nice, promote harmony, surround them in light or any of the other unsatisfying responses more enlightened people are suggesting.

    One possible response is to get one of those things J Lo had in “Out of Sight,” put it to good use.

  145. 145.

    Woodrowfan

    @TriassicSands: that’s why his fans like him, They’d do exactly the same thing if they had the money. reminds me of a late elderly aunt’s place back in the day. only in her case it was all purple and ornate, like a tacky Roman-themed casino.

  147. 147.

    pluky

    @Suzanne: They called it “Architorture” when I was an undergrad for good reason. Dated a guy in the program (five years, BTW, not the standard four) who related how a design project was graded. One had to assemble a structure out of cardboard (the kind on the back of a note pad). The examiner would pull out a business card and run it over the joins. If it slipped in, he would crush the model, hand it back, and state “Try again.”

  148. 148.

    Applejinx

    @The Dangerman: If I was Putin, I wouldn’t want a shooting war to start under my puppet state. That would totally undermine my ability to project power through my puppet, wasting all my effort.

    I’d start one if I knew my puppet was being taken from my hand.

    Don’t be expecting it now, be expecting it when/if we are seriously on the verge of ditching Trump and getting back under American control. That would be the time to stage a US unprovoked strike on some hapless country. Not now…

  149. 149.

    Debbie1

    @Jeffro: I agree with you and tobie about the “Parties failing us” narrative. The Democratic Party is not perfect but their 2016 candidates were not the reason the U.S. has a reality show host as president. The only thing I can think of is the media is incapable of pointing out Republican misconduct without throwing a gratuitous kick at Dems too. You know, Both Sides, and all that.

  151. 151.

    Debbie1

    @mai naem mobile: Why not copy the inauguration reception cake layer for layer when you plagiarized PBO’s wife’s speech, and for the past 2 months Trump’s been taking bows for every positive jobs number under Obama’s watch, and yesterday his Twitter picture used a background from the Obama flag-waving (not to mention populated) inauguration picture to try to fake enthusiasm that was lacking on his own day.

  152. 152.

    Debbie1

    Speaking of the media, one journalist wrote the following: We treated Trump like he was a legitimate candidate – he wasn’t; we treated Clinton like she was a criminal – she wasn’t.

    You’ll be shocked to hear that he had this epiphany AFTER the election, not before when it counted. Anyway, I disagree with the 1st part, Trump was a “legitimate” candidate, in that he met the minimum eligibility requirements of being over 35, native born, etc. Like any other candidate however, he should have been asked questions IN PERSON (Joe Scarborough), and should have been investigated for bus. conflicts and Russian ties & made to release his taxes. In this case though, the press treated Trump like a QUALIFIED candidate – he wasn’t. Still isn’t. Never will be. And he knows it. Sad!

  153. 153.

    NCSteve

    Q: What to Glenn Greenwald and Dan Baquet have in common?

    A: Neither has ever, in his entire professional career, uttered the words “I was wrong.”

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