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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

People are complicated. Love is not.

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“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

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After dobbs, women are no longer free.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

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You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Cheap Snark Open Thread: Another Call on the World’s Tiniest Violin Market

Cheap Snark Open Thread: Another Call on the World’s Tiniest Violin Market

by Anne Laurie|  February 11, 201711:05 pm| 132 Comments

This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!, Assholes

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Really hard to overstate level of misery radiating from several members of White House staff over last few days.

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 10, 2017

From Politico, of course — “Trump vexed by challenges, scale of government“:

Being president is harder than Donald Trump thought, according to aides and allies who say that he’s growing increasingly frustrated with the challenges of running the massive federal bureaucracy.

In interviews, nearly two dozen people who’ve spent time with Trump in the three weeks since his inauguration said that his mood has careened between surprise and anger as he’s faced the predictable realities of governing, from congressional delays over his cabinet nominations and legal fights holding up his aggressive initiatives to staff in-fighting and leaks…

Trump often asks simple questions about policies, proposals and personnel. And, when discussions get bogged down in details, the president has been known to quickly change the subject — to “seem in control at all times,” one senior government official said — or direct questions about details to his chief strategist Steve Bannon, his son-in-law Jared Kushner or House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump has privately expressed disbelief over the ability of judges, bureaucrats or lawmakers to delay — or even stop — him from filling positions and implementing policies.

After Trump grew infuriated by disclosures of his confrontational phone calls with foreign leaders, an investigation was launched into the source of the leaks, according to one White House aide. National Security Council staffers have been instructed to cooperate with inquiries, including requests to inspect their electronic communications, said two sources familiar with the situation. It’s not clear whether the investigation is a formal proceeding, how far along it is or who is conducting it.

The administration is considering limiting the universe of aides with access to the calls or their transcripts, said one administration official, adding that the leaks — and Trump’s anger over them — had created a climate where people are “very careful who they talk to.”…

Apart from, y’know, the ‘nearly two dozen people’ who chose to share these secrets with Politico. Oopsie!

… The interviews paint a picture of a powder-keg of a workplace where job duties are unclear, morale among some is low, factionalism is rampant and exhaustion is running high. Two visitors to the White House last week said they were struck by how tired the staff looks…

Kushner, who is among Trump’s most trusted advisers, has been incensed by reports that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has ripped the White House over its implementation of Trump’s executive order restricting travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries, could want a job in the White House as part of a “second wave” of staffers that will replace initial hires. While Christie hasn’t said he wants a job, the rumor has been fanned by his allies. Kushner has long had tensions with Christie and played a key role in blocking him from getting a senior job in the administration.

Some staffers worry about running afoul of Kushner, and say they’re unclear about his role, describing his portfolio as amorphous. “No one quite knows what it is,” said one. “It’s confusing.”…

Kushner’s job is “being the son-in-law”. Which is not a role where HR is gonna have much luck finding a replacement candidate, unless Princess Ivanka decides to divorce Jared, and I don’t see either Bannon or Priebus as her type, frankly. Nice (*of the Christie faction to let us*) to know the guy’s so popular, though!

… There are indications, however, that the new White House team is moving forward – and looking for reinforcements, among other ways to calm the waters…

On Wednesday, some of Trump’s top advisers met with James Baker, a Republican Party statesman who was chief of staff in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, and talked things over…

This gang of idiots really is trying to re-enact their GOP vision of the 1980s, which was a half-arsed version of an idealized 1950s, as filtered through Reagan’s decaying memories of popcult media. Here’s hoping they fall down that rabbit hole and break something that isn’t our national treasury and/or the rule of law.

One recipe I've found for happiness is to not do cruel and terrible things for bad reasons, and then lie about it. https://t.co/Sigm33PiD9

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) February 10, 2017

Also, finding the light switch. pic.twitter.com/dmv90uRWWc

— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 10, 2017

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Reader Interactions

132Comments

  1. 1.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2017 at 11:08 pm

    I like the word “vexed.”

  2. 2.

    amk

    February 11, 2017 at 11:08 pm

    SEE YOU IN COURT.

  3. 3.

    zhena gogolia

    February 11, 2017 at 11:09 pm

    Really hard to overstate level of misery radiating from all decent human beings since Nov. 8, 2016.

  4. 4.

    aangus

    February 11, 2017 at 11:13 pm

    YAY! Cheap snark! ;)

  5. 5.

    Mike in NC

    February 11, 2017 at 11:14 pm

    Gone in under six months?

  6. 6.

    efgoldman

    February 11, 2017 at 11:16 pm

    @aangus:

    YAY! Cheap snark! ;)

    GODDAMNIT! I’ve waited the whole fucking day for expensive, yuge, classy, bigly overpriced snark.
    I demand my rights!

  7. 7.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    February 11, 2017 at 11:17 pm

    Trump voters saw way too many movies where the clueless outsider if put in charge, and creates a shakeup that fixes everything. But in the movie version, the clueless outsider had pristine motives, plus a wise mentor who could guide them through the inevitable screwups. Trump has Bannon and Conway.

  8. 8.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2017 at 11:17 pm

    @efgoldman: I want value for my money snark.

  9. 9.

    p.a.

    February 11, 2017 at 11:18 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Maybe best to avoid words related to radiate/radiation about this clown posse of an executive.

  10. 10.

    Mike E

    February 11, 2017 at 11:19 pm

    @Mike in NC: February, the longest month

  11. 11.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 11, 2017 at 11:21 pm

    Garbage people, garbage family, garbage supporters.

  12. 12.

    efgoldman

    February 11, 2017 at 11:21 pm

    On Wednesday, some of Trump’s top advisers met with James Baker, a Republican Party statesman who was chief of staff in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations

    No matter what Baker, or any body else who actually knows anything, tells them, they won’t/can’t do it. They don’t have the character, discipline, or smarts. They all think they’re the scorpion in the fable, except the scorpion wasn’t a fucking coward liar – it told the truth.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2017 at 11:21 pm

    So they’re gonna work to build a wall around Dolt 45?

    Poifect.

  14. 14.

    PK

    February 11, 2017 at 11:21 pm

    I hope they keel over or stroke out. That’s how much sympathy I have for them!

  15. 15.

    TenguPhule

    February 11, 2017 at 11:22 pm

    And yet the shit-gibbon still can authorize first strikes with military forces and nuclear weapons without Congress or the Courts to stop him.

    He’s going to try to smash the obstacles in his path. Its what Fascists do when they’re upset and don’t care about the consequences.

    This is not normal.

  16. 16.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 11, 2017 at 11:23 pm

    Who could have predicted that if you go through your entire life being an asshole to everyone you encounter, when the chips are down, you’ll have no friends.

  17. 17.

    Ksmiami

    February 11, 2017 at 11:23 pm

    May they all choke to death on their own incompetence. seriously I’m amAzed this White House staff can wake up in the morning and not die tying their shoes.

  18. 18.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    February 11, 2017 at 11:24 pm

    More snark for ya… here’s Deadspin’s take on that Politico article: http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/donald-trump-stunned-to-learn-presidency-is-an-actual-j-1792215349

    Totally worth it.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2017 at 11:25 pm

    @TenguPhule

    1960s on line 1.

  20. 20.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2017 at 11:27 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Me mum loves me.

  21. 21.

    amk

    February 11, 2017 at 11:29 pm

    @polyorchnid octopunch: Yup. Excellent takedown of gopolitico.

  22. 22.

    efgoldman

    February 11, 2017 at 11:31 pm

    @Ksmiami:

    I’m amAzed this White House staff can wake up in the morning and not die tying their shoes.

    There’s a secret to that.

  23. 23.

    Chet Murthy

    February 11, 2017 at 11:31 pm

    @PK: Is it too much, to hope for boxed-in syndrome on those strokes? Hmmm …. yeah, probably that’s going too far.

  24. 24.

    Lyrebird

    February 11, 2017 at 11:31 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I want the Gibbon of Excrement to *retire* and make the world a tad safer, but I doubt I’m gonna get what I want on this one.

  25. 25.

    JGabriel

    February 11, 2017 at 11:34 pm

    Politico via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    Two visitors to the White House last week said they were struck by how tired the staff looks…

    Yes, look at Trump. Don’t you think he looks tired?

  26. 26.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2017 at 11:34 pm

    @Lyrebird: Just ask for a pony.

  27. 27.

    jc

    February 11, 2017 at 11:34 pm

    Part of Trump’s game is to “quickly change the subject — to seem in control at all times.” He’s a shyster at heart. Only he’s got no heart. He tries to fake it, but he can’t even do that competently. I expect him to get trapped in telling a huge lie in a crisis situation and having it drag him down the drain. But of course he’ll do enormous damage to the country in the process.

  28. 28.

    JGabriel

    February 11, 2017 at 11:35 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I like the word “vexed.”

    Me too. Particularly when it’s attached to “Republicans”.

  29. 29.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2017 at 11:36 pm

    @JGabriel: Yep.

  30. 30.

    oklahomo

    February 11, 2017 at 11:37 pm

    @polyorchnid octopunch: “spray-tanned fart balloon” and “corned-beef dirigible Donald Trump” had me choked down from laughing.

  31. 31.

    TenguPbule

    February 11, 2017 at 11:38 pm

    @NotMax: 10 points.

    But I would prefer something a little more reassuring then a military coup.

    That its even a viable option now when we had law and order just FOUR WEEKS AGO says things about our country I am very very ashamed of.

  32. 32.

    dmsilev

    February 11, 2017 at 11:38 pm

    In turn, some NSC staff believe Trump does not possess the capacity for detail and nuance required to handle the sensitive issues discussed on the calls, and that he has politicized their agency by appointing chief strategist Bannon to the council.

    “He’s an idiot, and has appointed a Nazi-wannabee to a top security post”.

    A reminder: We’re less than a month in to this nightmare.

  33. 33.

    TenguPbule

    February 11, 2017 at 11:39 pm

    @JGabriel: Dr. Who for the win.

    Wait, what are the odds that Trump is actually the Master in disguise? It wouldn’t be the first time…..

  34. 34.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2017 at 11:40 pm

    @polyorchnid octopunch

    Said it before. say it again: Jack Smurch

    Thurber short story also made into a nifty little TV production shown on PBS many moons ago.

  35. 35.

    Mike in NC

    February 11, 2017 at 11:40 pm

    Melissa will need the Emmy this year.

  36. 36.

    Svensker

    February 11, 2017 at 11:40 pm

    @polyorchnid octopunch: wow

  37. 37.

    John Revolta

    February 11, 2017 at 11:41 pm

    I don’t like Baker being around. If anybody could get this bunch of morons to start getting organized enough to actually start carrying out their evil schemes, he’s it.

  38. 38.

    Lyrebird

    February 11, 2017 at 11:42 pm

    @polyorchnid octopunch: Beautiful. I think “butter-soft septuagenarian nincompoop” should get entered in with all of those Scottish titles.

  39. 39.

    TS

    February 11, 2017 at 11:42 pm

    Speaking of the media – as I was on the last thread – this really makes me throw up

    Jill Colvin ✔ @colvinj
    Good morning from Mar-a-Lago. President Trump and PM Abe will be leaving to golf shortly.

    Never noticed Obama’s golf discussed in this fashion

  40. 40.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 11, 2017 at 11:42 pm

    @polyorchnid octopunch: Amazing, thanks.

    We’re all gonna die! Yay!

  41. 41.

    TenguPbule

    February 11, 2017 at 11:42 pm

    Cartoon Level Evil.

    Its like they had a casting call from Captain Planet for lamest villain plot ever. There is literally nothing stupid or stupid-evil these Xenos in human form will not do.

  42. 42.

    Original Lee

    February 11, 2017 at 11:45 pm

    A friend currently living in France, who has in the past railed against all of the “needlessly complicated” rules for stuff there, texted me a few hours ago to tell me, “Now I know why they have all these rules. They’re trying to protect themselves from shit like the Trump Administration.”

  43. 43.

    Lyrebird

    February 11, 2017 at 11:46 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    ..ask for a pony.

    Ah yes, thanks, I had forgotten to review my knowledge of internet traditions!

  44. 44.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2017 at 11:47 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die

  45. 45.

    Ruckus

    February 11, 2017 at 11:48 pm

    @Tara the Antisocial Social Worker:
    The movie version also had script writers and editors. And still a lot of the movies were shit. At least we didn’t have to pay or live through it to find that out. We’ll be paying for this shitty movie for a long time.

  46. 46.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    February 11, 2017 at 11:48 pm

    How long until Trump starts throwing Crucios at his staff?

  47. 47.

    Ruckus

    February 11, 2017 at 11:49 pm

    @Major Major Major Major:
    The old saying about products is no truer than in politics.
    Garbage in, fucking garbage out.

  48. 48.

    amk

    February 11, 2017 at 11:49 pm

    @dmsilev:

    A reminder: We’re less than a month in to this nightmare.

    Exactly. That’s why tool maggie’s “over last few days” got to me. The fucking incompetent deplorables have been on the fucking ‘job’ not even for four fucking weeks and the fucking tool that she is is painting it as if they are jaded due to time.

  49. 49.

    TenguPhule

    February 11, 2017 at 11:49 pm

    @Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman): Or demanding they start cutting off their own fingers to redeem his honor.

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2017 at 11:50 pm

    @TS

    Remember “Now watch this drive” from the last Republiclown in that office?

    Dolt 45 only wants to hear him pronounce “Fore!”

  51. 51.

    Keith P.

    February 11, 2017 at 11:51 pm

    OMG, Melissa McCarthy is back as Spicey. And Kate McKinnon is…Jeff Sessions. It seems like they’re going to have women play every man in the Trump administration not Donald Trump.

  52. 52.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    February 11, 2017 at 11:52 pm

    Maggie Haberman @maggieNYT

    Really hard to overstate level of misery radiating from several members of White House staff over last few days.

    but but…. emails!

  53. 53.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 11, 2017 at 11:53 pm

    @Keith P.: Any Rosie sightings?

  54. 54.

    Keith P.

    February 11, 2017 at 11:54 pm

    @Major Major Major Major: Not AFAIK. I’m only catching bits on youtube (I don’t have cable so rarely get a live stream of TV)

  55. 55.

    Omnes Omnibus

    February 11, 2017 at 11:54 pm

    Jesus. The whole show is politics so far. Lorne has NFLTG.

  56. 56.

    sukabi

    February 11, 2017 at 11:55 pm

    @JGabriel: you’d be tired too if your coked up asshole of a boss called you at all hours of the night bothering you with questions he should know the answers to…if he were qualified for the job.

  57. 57.

    ? Martin

    February 11, 2017 at 11:55 pm

    Flynn led standing ovation of Putin

    In a video posted by the Democratic Coalition Against Trump, not only did Flynn joined in the standing ovation following Putin’s speech, but on closer examination, it’s clear that Flynn and the woman next to him led the standing ovation for Putin.

    Yeah, nothing to see here.

  58. 58.

    randy khan

    February 11, 2017 at 11:56 pm

    I’m beginning to believe that, in their tiny, wizened hearts of hearts, the Trump people figured the job couldn’t be that hard because they saw a black guy doing it for eight years. They’d internalized all of the teleprompter, affirmative action President, too many vacations garbage and decided it was true, and that as Superior White People, the job would be a breeze for them.

    Imagine their shock when they discovered that the job just keeps coming at you, that there aren’t really any breaks, and that there’s all this stuff happening *all* *the* *time.*

    (No, I don’t feel sorry for them, not one little bit. I may feel a touch of pity, although on reflection it might be closer to condescension, an emotion I usually try to avoid, but it’s better than moving on to the level of anger I probably should feel at having those people at the controls.)

  59. 59.

    David

    February 11, 2017 at 11:57 pm

    “Being president is harder than Donald Trump thought”. Of course it is because he thought it was simply a popularity contest. Once he won and was crowned KING of America his job should have been over. I truly believe he is shocked that he is supposed to actually WORK in this job.

  60. 60.

    NotMax

    February 11, 2017 at 11:57 pm

    @Keith P.

    Maybe they can bring back Dana Carvey to portray Melania?

  61. 61.

    Ruckus

    February 11, 2017 at 11:58 pm

    @polyorchnid octopunch:
    Well it had to be said. Of course they weren’t the first to say it. They did do it particularly well though. I mean in this context, spray-tanned fart balloon and corned-beef dirigible Donald Trump is some of the best words ever typed together in the english language. And deserves to be retyped as often as possible.
    I may have to sign up for twitter so that I have another place to copy them again. And again. And again…….

  62. 62.

    NotMax

    February 12, 2017 at 12:00 am

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Cardinal rule of comedy: When the material writes itself, don’t fight it.

  63. 63.

    Betty Cracker

    February 12, 2017 at 12:00 am

    @polyorchnid octopunch: Thanks for that link, which made me snort aloud a couple of times.

  64. 64.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 12, 2017 at 12:00 am

    @? Martin:

    it’s clear that Flynn and the woman next to him led the standing ovation for Putin.

    Was it Jill Stein?

  65. 65.

    ? Martin

    February 12, 2017 at 12:02 am

    @Major Major Major Major: Would probably take them another week to pull that together. They would have already been in rehearsals when the idea for Rosie came up.

  66. 66.

    Ruckus

    February 12, 2017 at 12:03 am

    @sukabi:

    …if he were qualified for the job.

    Or at least an average 4th grade student.

  67. 67.

    efgoldman

    February 12, 2017 at 12:06 am

    @randy khan:

    Trump people figured….

    See, there’s your first mistake.
    You know those NDAs people are going on about? Ever see one of them? Actually they say no-one in the WH or maladministration can ever be, or appear to be, smarter than Hair Furor. All signed in blood.

  68. 68.

    PK

    February 12, 2017 at 12:07 am

    @Chet Murthy:

    Is it too much, to hope for boxed-in syndrome on those strokes? Hmmm …. yeah, probably that’s going too far.

    Not at all. I’m rooting for prolonged suffering followed by painful deaths. Evil deserves no quarter.

  69. 69.

    randy khan

    February 12, 2017 at 12:10 am

    @efgoldman:

    I didn’t say they engaged in actual reasoning. I mean, there’s very little evidence they’re capable of it.

  70. 70.

    Ruckus

    February 12, 2017 at 12:10 am

    @randy khan:
    Pity? For these assclowns? No Fucking Way. Condescension? That’s closer to the reality of this mess but Anger is the best and most appropriate emotion for this. There are a lot of reasons not to be angry all the time, the stress on our health for one, but we are about as close as it gets to having an unworkable government and that only leads to anarchy. And no one comes close to much more than survival then.

  71. 71.

    Rommie

    February 12, 2017 at 12:11 am

    The SOTU is going to be such a clown show. I think Trump will last long enough to give it and get mocked for it.

  72. 72.

    randy khan

    February 12, 2017 at 12:12 am

    @Ruckus:

    If I were as angry about this as I should be, I wouldn’t be functional. We all need to be functional.

  73. 73.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    February 12, 2017 at 12:15 am

    Hey all… glad to be of service :)

    Watching from my perch up in the Great White North, I have to say… it’s amazing.

    As in, puts your mind in a maze.

    Wish I had more to offer than snark, but… figured you’d all enjoy that.

    In the meantime, keep on keepin’ on. I’m very encouraged to see that a massive number of people whom I largely suspect have been running on auto-pilot wrt politics (and probably not voting) have suddenly realised that bailing out on paying attention to this shit will end up coming home to them, and that it’s long past time to grow up and treat democracy with the respect and responsibility it deserves.

    And hey ‘nother… been a while lad :) Nice to see you outside the IWTHM.

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    February 12, 2017 at 12:15 am

    @Rommie

    Technically speaking it’s not a SOTU. Expecting to see lots of MAGA hats and giant foam fingers.

  75. 75.

    Yarrow

    February 12, 2017 at 12:18 am

    You left out one of my favorite lines from that Politico piece:

    Last week, Trump told an associate he had become weary of in-fighting among — and leaks from — his White House staff “because it reflects on me,” and that he intended to sit down staffers to tell them “to cut this shit out.”

    Yeah! You guys cut it out! So strong. So manly. So in control.

  76. 76.

    GregB

    February 12, 2017 at 12:23 am

    @Yarrow:

    He must be getting advice from McCain. Dodgy John was going to mend the Sunni-Shia divide with that very admonition.

  77. 77.

    NotMax

    February 12, 2017 at 12:24 am

    @Yarrow.

    Obligatory.

  78. 78.

    Ruckus

    February 12, 2017 at 12:29 am

    @randy khan:
    There is a difference. I mean you are right but there is no way I can not be angry. Doesn’t mean I don’t keep my head and act appropriately, after all I didn’t say violent, I said angry.

  79. 79.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 12, 2017 at 12:30 am

    Vile shitgibbon deserves all the misery and frustration he’s experiencing. No sympathy for Nazi fucks.

  80. 80.

    Gvg

    February 12, 2017 at 12:30 am

    It’s easy to think Obama and their racism are why he thought the job would be easy and millions of voters didn’t know to laugh him off the stage but this stupid idea has been building for awhile before Obama. Remember how Bush was portrayed as clueless about foreign policy or even geography before his first campaign but voters didn’t turn away from him even after several screw ups….not till it all got catastrophic. I thought they learned after Katrina, Iraq and the great crash…..but noooo, we have to redo that even worse. I hate Trump but I am mad at the STUPID voters. Not just mean, stupid.
    They never really faced Reagans senility either.
    We need to not let them forget this. Competence matters. Expertise matters and it’s earned, not a popularity contest. You want respect? Earn it. Don’t waste my time whining about someone else getting it.

  81. 81.

    Ruckus

    February 12, 2017 at 12:38 am

    @Gvg:
    It’s like the morons think that government is the lowest common denominator of shit instead of that which binds us together.
    When I talked of anger above I was also talking about the assholes who voted for this motherfucker. And the ones who refused to vote because they couldn’t be bothered. They are the ones who allowed this shit and who are responsible. We should never forget that they have so little respect for even themselves that they were willing to allow this or even ask for it.

  82. 82.

    Raoul

    February 12, 2017 at 12:40 am

    @polyorchnid octopunch: Oh, man, that was fun (and frightening!) to read.

  83. 83.

    Boatboy_srq

    February 12, 2017 at 12:45 am

    I still say that the biggest problem for the GOTea here is that when they elected a “businessman” they thought they were getting a CEO – and instwd they got a sole proprietor.

  84. 84.

    Raoul

    February 12, 2017 at 12:57 am

    @randy khan: Yeah, I’ve been saying similar since the ‘ohhh, math is haaaaaard’ complaints from this WH started rising a few days ago. These shit-bags were unprepared to win, uninterested in speed-learning or hiring experienced people in the days and weeks after Nov 8, and just threw some shit together with Bannon, and now they discover it’s hard … because they watched the last admin run like fucking clockwork (with a few noted exceptions!) and no-drama, no-leak boundaries, and thought “It can’t be that hard, the Affirmative Action guy did it.” Racist idiot jacknobs had/have no idea what presidentin’ is.

    It’d be sort of funny, except it is really dangerous. One of these days, Rump is gonna rage-dial a friendly nation while not one qualified person from State is listening, and we’ll have a fascinating political breech blaring across the news wires and the butter-soft septuagenarian nincompoop won’t even know what he did wrong. So long, Angela. Or special slope friend Theresa. Maybe even so long, NATO. Ugh.

  85. 85.

    FlipYrWhig

    February 12, 2017 at 1:02 am

    I don’t think they thought “hey, well, if a black guy can do it so can we.” I think they thought “all it really takes is big, swinging balls.”

  86. 86.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 12, 2017 at 1:06 am

    @FlipYrWhig: If some member of an inferior race can be President and make it look easy, it should be no problem for a member of the master white race.

  87. 87.

    efgoldman

    February 12, 2017 at 1:08 am

    @randy khan:

    If I were as angry about this as I should be, I wouldn’t be functional.

    For Ruckus and me? Being really angry old men is what keeps us alive and going.

    Oh, and my granddaughter.

  88. 88.

    Neldob

    February 12, 2017 at 1:13 am

    What was it SCROTUS stood for? And why is he hiding his tax returns?

  89. 89.

    Mnemosyne

    February 12, 2017 at 1:21 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Lorne has NFLTG.

    Lorne Michaels loves New York City (and, to a smaller extent, the United States) in the way that only an immigrant made really, really good can love it. He’s pissed about Donald making New York City look bad, and he doesn’t care who knows it.

  90. 90.

    Mohagan

    February 12, 2017 at 1:21 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Reminds me of Commodus in Gladiator :-)

  91. 91.

    EriktheRed

    February 12, 2017 at 1:22 am

    Folks, is it just me or are there increasingly fewer folks sticking up for President Orangutan on twitter these past couple of weeks?

  92. 92.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    February 12, 2017 at 1:24 am

    @randy khan:

    I’m beginning to believe that, in their tiny, wizened hearts of hearts, the Trump people figured the job couldn’t be that hard because they saw a black guy doing it for eight years. They’d internalized all of the teleprompter, affirmative action President, too many vacations garbage and decided it was true, and that as Superior White People, the job would be a breeze for them.

    Not just Obama; GW, Clinton and GH. They were all telling themselves the reason why nothing got done was because none of these guys has the balls to tell people just shut up, do it, or they are fired.

    Also, I am the only one who gets the feeling a Stien or a Nader presidency would have look this way too?

  93. 93.

    Mnemosyne

    February 12, 2017 at 1:25 am

    Oh, and add me to the list of people who think that Trump and his morons thought the job was easy because That One made it look easy, and that guy is black, so how hard could the job be?

    Of course, they’re now going to thrash all over the place blaming other people instead of realizing that, yes, Obama really is that much smarter than they are.

  94. 94.

    fuckwit

    February 12, 2017 at 1:25 am

    Fuck them all with rusty pitchforks. Sideways. No warning or Vaseline.

    I’ve worked for idiots like this before. They think it is easy and the reason nothing is happening to their satisfaction is that we are all incompetent. Then they get the job themselves and the realize, no, it’s actually hard, and they fail even worse than anyone who had it before them.

    Also I’m kind of wearying of all the names for this tool.

    – Troll
    – Twitler
    – Dolt 45
    – SCROTUS
    – President Asterisk
    – Cheeto-faced, ferret-wearing shitgibbon

    etc etc.

    Really, 4, possibly 8 years of this?

  95. 95.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 12, 2017 at 1:29 am

    @Neldob: So-Called-Ruler of the United States.

  96. 96.

    Mnemosyne

    February 12, 2017 at 1:33 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Yeah, but GW and GHW both kinda fucked up a lot (W more than HW, obviously). There was an obvious competence difference between W and Obama.

    Of course, we’re talking about people who live in an alternate universe where crime has gone up 40 percent since 2008 and we’re living in a desolate wasteland of unemployment, so never mind …

  97. 97.

    Anne Laurie

    February 12, 2017 at 1:36 am

    @Neldob:

    What was it SCROTUS stood for?

    So-Called Ruler of the United States. Started after Trump complained about that “so-called” judge dissing Trump’s yoooge bee-utiful mooslim ban!

  98. 98.

    Anne Laurie

    February 12, 2017 at 1:39 am

    @EriktheRed:

    Folks, is it just me or are there increasingly fewer folks sticking up for President Orangutan on twitter these past couple of weeks?

    If you wanna google, the professionals say there’s been a 75-80% dropoff since the inauguration in the number of low-post, no-follower accounts — widely assumed to be robo-accounts or paid Russian/Moldavian trolls — who show up to respond to any tweet that mentions a certain DJT.

    No point in Putin paying for pushback any longer, or so the theory goes.

  99. 99.

    mouse tolliver

    February 12, 2017 at 1:40 am

    @Mohagan: “It vexes me. I’m terribly vexed.”

    There is something Trumpian about that quote.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t2pWUWE1Y8

  100. 100.

    Ruckus

    February 12, 2017 at 1:51 am

    @FlipYrWhig:

    all it really takes is big, swinging balls

    I think I see three of the small problems for them.
    Their concept of big, of swinging and of balls.

  101. 101.

    Mohagan

    February 12, 2017 at 1:54 am

    @mouse tolliver: @mouse tolliver: Thank you for the link. Exactly what I was thinking of. Of course Commodus was a narcissistic man child too.

  102. 102.

    Ruckus

    February 12, 2017 at 1:55 am

    @efgoldman:
    Absolutely.
    I figured that after this long I might just get to see what a decent country and government was like. It was pretty good over all for a few years there, up until just over 3 months ago, but no, we can’t have any of that, thank you very fucking much.

  103. 103.

    Bonnie

    February 12, 2017 at 1:58 am

    @Mike in NC: That would be a dream come true.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    February 12, 2017 at 1:59 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Also, I am the only one who gets the feeling a Stien or a Nader presidency would have look this way too?

    Well they are just as incompetent. And moronic. And delusional. And full of shit.
    I’d add wilmer in there as well.

  105. 105.

    Madms

    February 12, 2017 at 2:26 am

    @Mike E: ok that was good!?

  106. 106.

    Bmaccnm

    February 12, 2017 at 2:58 am

    @EriktheRed: He’s only been president these past couple of weeks.

  107. 107.

    Brachiator

    February 12, 2017 at 3:25 am

    On Wednesday, some of Trump’s top advisers met with James Baker, a Republican Party statesman who was chief of staff in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, and talked things over…

    That these people would turn to Baker, as opposed to someone like Cheney, indicates that someone is smart enough to see a problem and take steps to address it.

    I also wonder if the Republican leadership is trying to exert some control over the craziness.

    It would be useful to know which staffers are showing signs of sanity. The infighting and pushback should be fun to watch.

  108. 108.

    Anne Laurie

    February 12, 2017 at 3:28 am

    @polyorchnid octopunch: Wow, that Deadspin piece — shows what you can achieve with a staff of hard-working professionals. Thanks!

  109. 109.

    Mike G

    February 12, 2017 at 3:41 am

    The interviews paint a picture of a powder-keg of a workplace where job duties are unclear, morale among some is low, factionalism is rampant and exhaustion is running high.

    “For the next several years, keep in mind that narcissism doesn’t have an agenda outside itself.
    The charisma and machismo that often leads a narcissist to the top of a social hierarchy cannot sustain them once there.
    Companies and organizations led by narcissists are failure-prone, with low employee morale and propensity toward unethical practices.” -— Josh Grubbs (@GrubbsDr)

  110. 110.

    J R in WV

    February 12, 2017 at 4:06 am

    And don’t forget, The Donald hasn’t even made any appointments below the Cabinet Secretary level. So there are no Deputy Secretaries, Under Secretaries, Assistant Deputy secretaries, etc, at any of the executive agencies.

    So on an org chart with 40 squares for management positions at, say, Department of Justice, or Defense, ONE of those positions is filled now. Mostly. By someone with no experience at running a Department.

    And they have no go-to list of people to consider who might bring expertise to running any of these Departments, who could give a smart but inexperienced Secretary good advice, help them learn how to be a good Cabinet Secretary. All they have is a bunch of hanger-on politicians, would be propagandist wanna-bes, and Russian trolls.

    I’m thinking this is good, because if they got some competent-but-evil people in there they would be able to make more progress towards evil.

    Oh, yes, I see the Justice Department is declining to defend the (former) government position that Trans kids in school have to be treated like human beings in Federal court, where a Texas Judge issued a temporary restraining order, allowing TRans kids to be treated like monkeys again. Because treating them like regular kids would be the American Way!

    And Sessions and Banning and Miller and Trump are against the American Way, because that is the old way we did things, and we have to stop, because that is destroying the country of America…wait, what? Yes, that’s going to be the governing principle, I think.

  111. 111.

    fuckwit

    February 12, 2017 at 4:13 am

    @Mnemosyne: It’s not an alternate universe. It’s rural America.

    Crime really has gone up 40% since 2008, and unemployment has been skyrocketing– in the destroyed rural District 12’s of MI, PA, OH, that shuttled Troll to victory.

    Meth labs everywhere, and meth addictions (and now Oxy addictions) destroying families. No fucking jobs. Water that’s not drinkable (hello Flint). No future. No hope. And plenty of angry white people who remember when it wasn’t like this, when they were prosperous and happy, in the glory days of the 1950s-1970s.

    It’s an alternate universe, all right, but it’s a *real* one that we ignore at our peril.

  112. 112.

    Taylor

    February 12, 2017 at 4:54 am

    @fuckwit: Fuck them. Fuck them to Hell.

    Hillary Clinton had an infrastructure program. She was going to pay for it by going after the rich “because that’s where the money is” (a quote from the debates).

    But you know: Untrustworthy. Ambitious. Speeches. EMAILZ.

    Hope they enjoy Goldman Sachs running the Treasury.

  113. 113.

    geg6

    February 12, 2017 at 7:08 am

    @fuckwit:

    Well, I can’t speak for other counties, but this county in PA, which used to be a Dem stronghold, definitely has an opioid problem, but there are plenty of jobs and more on the way. So many that employers have taken to putting up billboards and signs to recruit. Problem is, there are too many old, retired cranky white people here and the ones who are of employment age are too stupid and lazy to get the training and education required to be hired for anything other than fast food or convenience store jobs. They expect to walk into one of the old steel mills (which have all been torn down and developed over) and get a $50K job that doesn’t even require a high school diploma just like their dads and grandfathers did. They want everything just handed to them. Which is what they say about brown people, but as always with these assholes, it’s all projection. And yes, this county went big for Drumpf.

  114. 114.

    Gindy51

    February 12, 2017 at 8:04 am

    @geg6: Plus many of them can’t pass the drug tests.

  115. 115.

    Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire

    February 12, 2017 at 8:14 am

    @geg6: I would be more sympathetic to their plight if they weren’t interested in having boots on the necks of POC, women, Muslims, LGBTQ. If their sole gripe was economic, not cultural, I would stand with them. But many of them insist on caring about transfolk in bathrooms. What does that have to do with lack of jobs? Nothing, and they know that. They want the world to look and act just like them, when it ain’t so.

  116. 116.

    Kay

    February 12, 2017 at 8:23 am

    @fuckwit:

    Crime really has gone up 40% since 2008, and unemployment has been skyrocketing– in the destroyed rural District 12’s of MI, PA, OH, that shuttled Troll to victory.

    I live in a rural rust belt county that went 72% for Trump. The unemployment rate is 4.6. They’re all working overtime. They will and are hiring people w/felony records. We have three “mini mills” w/in 30 miles. They’re the modern steel mills. They’re all hiring. They haven’t advertised for people since 2004.

    They’re actually borrowing a lot again and they’re budgeting on overtime pay, which is a mistake because overtime isn’t guaranteed. When the economy slows (which it will) you’ll see Chapter 7 bankruptcy spike and a lot of 50,000 dollar pick up trucks repossessed. I would bet my house the people here will look back on 2012 to 2016 as a good economy compared to what Trump will bring. I already do.

  117. 117.

    Barbara

    February 12, 2017 at 8:27 am

    @geg6: They keep mistaking the kind of work they were doing for the union protections and economic conditions that made it pay as well as it did. I worked in a factory in Pennsylvania during college and even the top earners made no better than half of what unionized steel workers did.

  118. 118.

    Applejinx

    February 12, 2017 at 8:33 am

    @polyorchnid octopunch:

    Sometimes he wanders around his office, pecking at the shiny stuff, like a fucking bird.

    Mencken would be proud. Hell, any writer would be proud to close with a sentence that brutal :) (it’s not just the content: the construction of that gag is a thing of spare, laser-like beauty. Not a wasted word)

  119. 119.

    Kay

    February 12, 2017 at 8:38 am

    @Gindy51:

    We had a US Department of Labor program here at a community college. Free tuition and a grant that included a gas card- the college is about 25 miles out from the most rural areas. They had funding for 50 people. 11 graduated. I went to the graduation.

    No one wants to talk about this (because they’re white people) but I’ll tell you what’s bothering young white working class men more than anything else- child support. That’s a big reason they can’t move out of their parent’s houses. They’re 21 and they have 1 or 2 or 3 children. Young white men need to start taking half the responsibility for birth control. This isn’t going to work if the total burden is on young women.

    They’re bitter as hell about paying child support. I could probably predictably gauge Trump support among young white working class men based on their child support order.

    If you’re looking for “political correctness” look at conservatives and rural white working class. There are things we just don’t discuss, like why white working class men are incredibly bitter about supporting the children they father.

  120. 120.

    Applejinx

    February 12, 2017 at 8:42 am

    @Barbara:

    They keep mistaking the kind of work they were doing for the union protections and economic conditions that made it pay as well as it did.

    Of course they do, but given that those union protections and economic conditions are never coming back ever (I think we can all agree on that: it’s part of the sparrow-tamer’s creed and constant stump speech refrain, that worker economics are dead), it’s fair to ask what we propose to do about it?

    Not Trump, fuck him, he has no answers. I remember Hillary more or less acknowledging this but seeming to advocate moving to the precariat/digital economy model because it generates capital for the USA, but it’s a power-law employment picture where most people do straight-up starve. I’m now in the top FOUR percent of all Patreon and I’m still not really close to what I made back when small business DSP coding was more of a thing. I was skeptical of relying on that then, and I’m skeptical of it now, I think it’s a con.

    We built a country and an economy on feather-bedded union workers being able to be in a middle class and buy stuff.

    What are we going to do that will get people ABLE to buy stuff? Giving them incentive to not die and to fight each other for work isn’t filling that gap. It’s like getting mad at millenials for not buying diamonds and cars. The whole thing breaks down, and I think that breakdown is accelerating.

  121. 121.

    Kay

    February 12, 2017 at 8:54 am

    One could vastly improve the economic prospects for young white working class men by shifting the focus for birth control from an exclusive focus on young women to 50/50 boys/girls.

    But conservative rural people won’t do that, because the sexism is cultural and deep. The parents need to educate their sons on the realities of supporting children on 12 dollars an hour. They’re bitter and a lot of the young men are mad at the young mothers and that’s because their parents and the broader rural culture tells them they don’t have to worry about birth control. Yes, they do. They will not get out of the hole they’re in if they’re paying child support at 18 or 19 or 20.

  122. 122.

    Barbara

    February 12, 2017 at 8:59 am

    @Applejinx: I think about this all the time. Too early on Sunday to put thoughts down.

  123. 123.

    ET

    February 12, 2017 at 9:02 am

    A few thoughts..
    1. Of course being President is hard. ANYONE could see it. Except him who shall not be named. He saw the cool things and the adulation. He didn’t see the Work. Being President is not like being DJT on The Apprentice.
    2. That pesky Constitution and the law and reality…they get in the way- particularly when one doesn’t know what they are. Again being President is not like being DJT on The Apprentice.

  124. 124.

    philadelphialawyer

    February 12, 2017 at 9:13 am

    More economic anxiety crap. Unemployment is down everywhere. And if there is less opportunity where you live, you should move elsewhere if you are young and able. Sorry, but it is not the responsibility of the rest of the world to make sure that just the job you want and are able to get is waiting for you when you graduate from or drop out of high school in East Buttfuck, White Rural America.

    And, of course, at that, Hillary was all about raising the minimum wage and infrastructure spending. And we could talk about Obamacare and food stamp expansion too. And, oh yeah, saving the US auto industry. Sorry, but the Democratic party, of the two major parties, is far, far and away more on the side of the WWC than the Republicans, when it comes to actual economic matters. So can it. Like, yesterday.

    Flint? Anyone honestly think the the GOP is gonna protect the environment? You gotta be shitting me.

    Hope? Which side is more about equality of opportunity? Which side favor robust public education, and a robust public sector generally?

    And, funny, when Black people or Hispanics or hippies or anyone else uses drugs, it is all on them, but when WWC folks do it is all somebody else’s fault.

    Just STFU, already, with this lame ass, salf of the earth, won’t somebody please consider the poor widdle white people, bullshit.

  125. 125.

    msdc

    February 12, 2017 at 9:14 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Also, I am the only one who gets the feeling a Stein or a Nader presidency would have look this way too?

    Well, I mean, Stein also would have had Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor.

  126. 126.

    Barbara

    February 12, 2017 at 10:04 am

    @philadelphialawyer: It’s hard to disagree with you. A lot of what is happening is the sense that something special has been lost. Nursing a grievance rarely leads to a better future.

  127. 127.

    Neldob

    February 12, 2017 at 10:22 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: thanks. Not quite as pungent as the actual hemorrhoid. (I was gonna say acronym, but my phone …)

  128. 128.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    February 12, 2017 at 10:56 am

    @Anne Laurie: I started keeping an eye on Deadspin after they took on (and basically took out) Rob Ford in Toronto. They did real investigative work on that, even if it was of the form of looking for video of him hitting the crack pipe. They also engaged in serious mockery… serious serious mockery. I’m pretty sure that there are Toronto people on staff there, and they understand that reactionaries can handle all kinds of abuse, but once the mockery starts the reactionary’s days are numbered.

    And few people do mockery like us Canadians do… there’s a reason it was Colin Mochrie who figured out that Lord Dampnut is an anagram of Donald Trump… and that ex-pat Canadian Lorne Michaels is doing such an effective job of hammering the shit out of Lord Dampnut.

  129. 129.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    February 12, 2017 at 11:09 am

    @Kay: BOOM! Headshot….

    This is so true. I have two children who live with their mom in Quebec. I’ve always supported my children. People ask me how I can take it, and I sit here and wonder why the fuck so many of the guys I know here don’t support their children and why they don’t get ostracized for it. It’s bananas… and all of these guys (who are all so angry about having to cough up money to FEED THEIR KIDS ffs) form the majority and all of ’em have it way better than the industrial wastelands mentioned in this thread.

  130. 130.

    WereBear

    February 12, 2017 at 11:17 am

    @Kay: There are things we just don’t discuss, like why white working class men are incredibly bitter about supporting the children they father.

    I think it is because they used to be Little Tin Kings — and now they are not. Their cudgel has been taken away.

    Back in those glorious days of Wingnut Yesteryear, a young white working class man would feel trapped into marriage; but now they were fussed over and catered to by a woman who was trapped here because of the children, and everyone walked softly around him and kissed his ass and made him feel powerful and important; even if all he could reliably generate was fear, it was better than nothing.

    Instead, the woman won’t put up with their selfish shit anymore, dump him, and now he still has to support them.

    Now, they have nothing.

  131. 131.

    WereBear

    February 12, 2017 at 11:21 am

    @Tara the Antisocial Social Worker: I picture them screaming “We’re in the wrong movie! This is the one with that guy in the hockey mask!”

  132. 132.

    The Pale Scot

    February 12, 2017 at 12:18 pm

    @Keith P.:

    “We all know there are two kinds of crime, regular and black.”

    That seems about right

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