Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Second rate reporter says what?

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Let there be snark.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Open Thread: What’s the Japanese Translation for “Grifter-in-Chief”?

Open Thread: What’s the Japanese Translation for “Grifter-in-Chief”?

by | 121 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , ,

CNN [warning: autoplay]:

… Swanning through the club’s living room and main dining area alongside Abe, Trump was — as is now typical — swarmed with paying members, who now view dinner at the club as an opportunity for a few seconds of face time with the new President.

But as he sat down for the planned working dinner with Abe, whose country is well within range of North Korea’s missiles, it was clear his counterpart felt it necessary to respond to the test. The launch occurred just before 8 a.m. on Sunday morning in Japan.

Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and chief strategist Steve Bannon left their seats to huddle closer to Trump as documents were produced and phone calls were placed to officials in Washington and Tokyo.

The patio was lit only with candles and moonlight, so aides used the camera lights on their phones to help the stone-faced Trump and Abe read through the documents…

Eventually Trump and Abe, along with their collection of aides, stood and moved from the dining terrace and toward a marble-trimmed ballroom, whose gilded columns were concealed by more sober-looking black drapes.

Standing in front of an American and Japanese flag, a stern-faced Abe called the launch “absolutely intolerable,” and insisted North Korea adhere to United Nations Security Council resolutions barring it from testing of ballistic missiles.

Trump, in his short remarks, didn’t mention the launch. He used a short statement to vow support for Japan instead…

He declined to read from a set of prepared remarks, which photographers captured images of, that were resting on his podium. Those remarks did mention the missile test specifically and vowed cooperation between allies to “safeguard and protect” against North Korea’s “provocative acts.”…

Trump left the impromptu briefing room without taking questions, having delivered the first emergency foreign policy statement of his presidency.

But even as he confronted one of the gravest matters of his office, Trump nonetheless found it impossible to resist dropping in on a nearby wedding reception, already underway in his treasured Grand Ballroom. Trump designed and built the space himself after purchasing Mar-a-Lago in the 1980s.

Entering the ornate room, Trump took a photo with the bride and her bridesmaids, who posed in red gowns next to the commander in chief, mimicking his signature thumbs-up.
Then he grabbed a microphone.

“I saw them out on the lawn today,” Trump said of the bride and groom, who were standing nearby. “I said to the Prime Minister of Japan, I said, ‘C’mon Shinzo, let’s go over and say hello.’ ”

“They’ve been members of this club for a long time,” Trump said of the newlyweds. “They’ve paid me a fortune.”

Yeah, Trump knows just how to handle an international crisis — now that he’s President-Asterisk, membership fees at Mar-a-Largo have doubled.

The Japanese government must be nostalgic about the good old days, when the worst diplomatic faux pas was Bush Sr. vomiting on the Prime Minister during a state dinner.

Reader Interactions

121Comments

  1. 1.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    What I want to know is who is disgusting enough to WANT to belong to this tacky place. Names and businesses….

  2. 2.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Apparently, that photo is on the instagram timeline of a young woman who was a Juicy Couture sales associate, there at a wedding. The fat fuck was flirting with her.

  7. 7.

    Quinerly

    Good morning from Poco, the traveling ex city street dog, and me from Abiquiu, NM! We have 1400 miles under our collar and belt 6 days into our 6 weeks road trip. The Abiquiu Inn is as lovely as in previous visits….Living Social coupon deal in a sweet large room with a kiva fireplace. Poco watched the cows that were just a few yards away for at least an hour after our afternoon arrival before dinner. He can’t believe how lucky he is….heard him whisper “Best vacation ever, Mom.” Our best wishes to everyone! Have a great day!

  9. 9.

    Gvg

    I wonder what the Japanese newspapers are saying about their American “allies”. Dear lord. Do we have an ambassador to Japan yet? All of our other allies must be reporting this too.
    Trump is a salesman. He can’t turn it off and he doesn’t even notice that the world has many things that aren’t about sales.

  10. 10.

    Quinerly

    @Mustang Bobby:
    I get to Abiquiu usually every other year for a day trip from Santa Fe when I’m out here. Decided to mix it up a bit and spend a couple of nights here this year. Winter mix has set in so I’ve explained to Poco that the hike in Plaza Blanca might be on hold. He’s agreeable…he’s still on a doggy high from running the hills of Cerrillos with his new “girlfriend,” Tularosa. Doggy dreams of chasing rabbits last night.?

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @m0nty:

    The Secret Service must have given up on security at this point.

    Yeah. This seems . . . irresponsible:

    The patio was lit only with candles and moonlight, so aides used the camera lights on their phones to help the stone-faced Trump and Abe read through the documents…

  14. 14.

    romeo24

    @Gvg: Abe is in one sense delighted because it’s back to the good ‘ol days when men golfed and made the decisions. The press here is less kind: “Indeed, I’m sure Trump is not used to playing 27 or whatever holes of golf and then heading to the clubhouse for an impromptu stare down via press conference with North Korea,” said James Schoff, a senior fellow with the Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment.

    “I think it did catch them a little off-guard, in that everyone was probably very focused on the remaining logistics related to Abe’s visit, but the White House overall (and State and Department of Defense) has been expecting a North Korean missile launch in February or March.”

    Still, added Schoff, “it seemed to me that Trump’s team was thin on the ground and not well prepared to deal with an international statement. They deferred to Abe’s team and let him handle it. There was no substance to Trump’s statement, and he should have mentioned South Korea too. It was poorly handled, but that is what we come to expect from the White House now, and the fact that this happened when Trump was away from Washington — and the bureaucratic support network — shined a light on that shortcoming.”

  16. 16.

    Quinerly

    @raven:
    Love that place! Green Chile Cheeseburger planned for lunch. Had hope to make the 13 mile drive with all those switchbacks to see those beer brewing monks at the monastery on the side of a mountain but we have a light dusting of snow so a lot of mud. That road is tough enough on a dry day. Loving all the comments on my morning posts. Thanks for all the kind words and interest.

  17. 17.

    weaselone

    I’m going to just have to give a big shrug to the North Korea dimension of this story. We’ve had the “My Pet Goat” incident. Trump reviewing documents because the only leader on the planet worse than him decided he was bored and needed to play with his missiles again to get some attention seems a bit nit picky. Trump continuing to solicit business at his personal property while in the President, that’s a big deal. The fact we’ll probably spend over two billion dollars in the next four years so one child can keep attending the same school and another can play president at his country club, that’s fucking infuriating. Dealing with a “crisis” that occurs more regularly than most people rotate tires and offering a refreshingly low key response? Sorry, I just can’st summon the outrage. Seems too much like the crap Fox would use to fuel the Obama Derangement Machine.

  19. 19.

    m0nty

    Do they pat down all of the guests? Are there metal detectors in the lobby? Are all the wait staff cleared by the SS? Seems like a Sirhan Sirhan waiting to happen.

  21. 21.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    And a pleasant good morning to you, too?. I’m sure you want to hear details about that giant piece of incredibly dense prickly pear cheesecake with the exciting coulis that I squirreled away from dinner in the cafe that awaits me for me breakfast in an hour or so.?

  23. 23.

    Gvg

    Mar a largo is paid access to the President….what are the odds that several of the rich members are now foreign spy’s? I can understand a business man thinking if his rival company has access to Trump, he’ll have to go in order to counter any actions that can kill their business, but I wonder if they realize that our IC has now got to examine every memeber of the club for spies. This idiot doesn’t know as much about spies as most comic book reading 10 year olds. This story is really full of disaster.

  27. 27.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    My beautiful accommodations not only has a kiva fireplace, fine linens, and an oversized tub….it has a refrigerator and a coffee maker with an assortment of ground coffees.? Cheesecake was very safe.

  29. 29.

    Kay

    James Comey has to confiscate every phone with photos of classified documents. I hope he’s getting FISA warrants together. Arguably he also has to interview every club member and club employee in the room because all a foreign agent would have to do is pay the club membership fee or get a 10 dollar an hour job working for Trump at that club.

    I’m sure he’s outraged.

  30. 30.

    Kay

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    They discussed this as they were served by Trump employees- to breach the mighty security barriers of the Trump Administration you just have to be capable of getting a crap temp job as a server – he pays less than 11 an hour and hires new people every season then lays them off.

    Country club guests can also bring guests. They have no idea who’s in the room.

  31. 31.

    Kay

    Boy the GOP has really brought “honor and dignity” back to the White House. Trump is selling access LITERALLY. His family pocket the purchase price.

    Gross. They are gross people who will never, ever self-police of use any restraint of any kind. This won’t stop until there’s an injunction and even then they’ll slime their way around it.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I’m sure he’s outraged.

    I hear he’s this close to breaking protocol and speaking out publicly about this whole thing.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    Where are all our nation security hawks in media? Jake Tapper- your country needs you. Andrea Mitchell- get to a secure phone line- stat!

    These people spent 18 months on Hillary Clinton’s email server based on “national security” and Trump is conducting meetings surrounded by random people at a club. It was all garbage. They didn’t mean a word of it- intended solely to take Clinton down.

  39. 39.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    The FBI are STILL planting news stories defending Trump. They issued some propaganda to the Washington Post about how they reviewed Flynn’s calls with Russian ambassador “but found nothing”. It’s an exact replay of what they did on October 31st when they planted that story in the NYTimes denying that Russia interfered to elect Trump.

    There is no functioning federal law enforcement as far as Trump or his hires. They’re corrupted. Apparently “the NY field agents” now run the entire show. It’s outrageous that Comey is still collecting a paycheck. I resent paying him.

  44. 44.

    Immanentize

    @Quinerly: What a fine trip but you are making so jealous. I taught at UNM for a semester and I would love to be headed for the hot baths at Ojo Caliente as my muscles need a break from all yesterday’s shoveling. Then again, I can just get after today’s shoveling instead.

  46. 46.

    Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire

    @Kay: Exactly. “BUT HER EMAILZ!”

    Last night I was reading Adam’s post about the JPL engineer’s phone to my husband, and told him that his “third party” vote here in Ohio meant that he voted for this kind of shit, and he tried to tell me that he voted “against Trump.” No, no you didn’t, hun. If you didn’t vote for the one person who could defeat Trump, you voted FOR him.

    I will be reminding him of his bullshit until my dying day, or when we are rounded up with all the other Latinxs in this country. Or maybe until he gets deported to Mexico by the ICE folks because no one in their right minds carries their birth certificate around with them, and a drivers license is easier for a shady ICE agent to destroy.

    I am in an extra pissy mood about politics already this morning. So I’ll just say good morning to rikyrah and everyone else here. :-(

  47. 47.

    debbie

    Maybe I haven’t been listening carefully enough, but I don’t remember Trump acting as Consoler in Chief after floods, tornados, etc. Did I miss something? Have there been any statements about offering aid?

  49. 49.

    Kay

    What a proud day to be an American. The “Winter White House” is a Trump-branded for-profit packed with low wage employees and the Trump Family pocket the profits.

    We’re all part of this sleaze now.

  51. 51.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly: Enjoying hearing of your travels, and Poco’s satisfaction. All tucked away in wintry weather with a kiva.

    And best to all in the snowy climes. Be careful out there.

    Thank dog for Quinerly and Poco.

    It’s almost, almost, funny to think of Trump poseuring his way through the missile test. Look at me, diners. I’m presidenting.

  52. 52.

    Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire

    @Baud: Not your fault. It just pisses me off people can’t see the forest for the trees. Sexism is at the heart of all this.

    Baud 2020, though!

  53. 53.

    James E Powell

    @Kay:

    The difference is that they absolutely hated Hillary Clinton. Trump, they like on some levels. He’s odious, maybe dangerous. But they do not feel or express the loathing they did for Hillary.

  54. 54.

    Kay

    God Almighty if the Democratic Party doesn’t put a mole in the kitchen staff of The Winter White House they should all be fired. Just hit record on that phone you’re carrying and we can all find out how this pack of incompetents conduct foreign policy. Stragecially leak it like the political campaign arm of the FBI does- put it out October 31st of 2019.

  57. 57.

    Quinerly

    @rikyrah: @Elizabelle: @Immanentize:
    Thanks for all the kind words. I’m really enjoying these early mornings together.? So far, no new turf covered. Starting tomorrow mixing it up from previous years so looking forward to helpful hints and suggestions for the next 5 weeks. We move on to check out Cuba, NM and then a week in Bernalillo before heading to Holbrook, Winslow, and Cameron, NM. Have a great day everyone. Take care.

  61. 61.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    It’s unbelievable to me. Funds aside, extending sympathy takes zero effort. I really wish some reporter would ask Sean Spicer about it.

  62. 62.

    Kay

    @James E Powell:

    Fuck them. Seriously. 18 months of phony handwringing over the emails and apparently no one in either law enforcement or media can bother with Trump’s absolutely egregious “security breaches”.

    The hatred of Clinton was weird and unprofessional. They did a bad job.

    It’s also bullshit that Trump hates them. The NYTimes has an exclusive interview with one of the grown kids once a week. Ivanka and the boys use the NYTimes as a promotional tool. If the Trump Family believed the NYTimes was a threat they wouldn’t give them all this access. This is a game. Trump pretends they’re a threat and they pretend he’s targeting them. It benefits both parties.

    I read Propublica hired more staff. Maybe they’ll investigate something. Commercial media don’t reprint their stuff though, so no one will ever hear about it even if they do.

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @James E Powell:

    You know I’ll just say it. It scares me that the Trump Administration are going after voters with this voter fraud bullshit they’re pushing. It scares me because the Trump Administration and the GOP don’t seem unduly concerned about their lack of popularity. Why aren’t they concerned? Are they planning some massive voter suppression effort?

    The FBI are apparently on Team Trump and now the DOJ too. We have no federal law enforcement. Who would stop them? Blue state AG’s? There aren’t enough of them.

  68. 68.

    Lurking Canadian

    Most of the vileness of this episode has been well covered already, but I’d like to call attention to this bit:

    It was poorly handled, but that is what we come to expect from the White House now

    They’re still grading him on a curve.

  69. 69.

    Kay

    Even if Democrats take back Congress they’ll never put ethics and conflicts rules in for the President because if they did Republicans would use them to tie up the President with endless investigations and prosecutions.

    The new low sleazy standard the Trump Family have set will be the norm from now on. They haven’t regulated this because every prior President complied voluntarily and the regulation itself would be a nightmare. It was always dependent on self-policing and the Trumps don’t self-police.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I don’t see how Trump gets around a state law that limits ballot access based on disclosure of federal tax returns. That seems like a smart mechanism to me. People love transparency and they want to see the returns. They should use state election law. California or NY could do it. Both.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    When I was small and I did something bad that wasn’t expressly prohibited by statute or parental rule-making my father used to say “what if everyone did that?” I never had an answer. Obviously it would be bad if “everyone did that”. That’s self-policing. That’s what the Trumps don’t have. To me it’s directly tied to privilege and a sense of entitlement. They believe these rules don’t apply to them and they’re counting on “everyone” not behaving like them. They’re right too. They get away with it BECAUSE everyone doesn’t do what they do. If everyone did there would be a thicket of new laws and rules. They see other people as chumps who follow the rules which allows them to disregard them. Special snowflakes.

  74. 74.

    Quinerly

    @satby:
    Oh, I know. Have actually met him in person and we have mutual friends in St. Louis. He marched with our little group for the Women’s March. He’s actually a pussycat in person. Don’t tell anyone, though. I don’t want to be responsible for blowing his rep.

  75. 75.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Looking at that photo, I’m eagerly awaiting the first major Trump sex scandal and the frantic excuses by the same evangelicals who shrieked about WJC’s blowjob as they say “but but King David”.

  79. 79.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly: Yup. You can get around it by italicizing some of the forbidden kitteh word, or you can break it up.

    P us syhats. Since italics might be hard on a small keyboard. After your third cup of curated coffee.

  85. 85.

    Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire

    @Baud: lol, no, don’t say that. My husband is an awesome guy, really, just really, well I don’t want to say ignorant, but yeah, ignorant about politics. (And not really sexist. He says things that can be taken as sexist, and I point it out to him every time.) 2016 was the first time he ever voted (retired military, so figured it was too difficult since he was legally a resident of California all that time but never actually IN the state). He just never paid attention to it like I have (since at least 12). I’m in the process of educating him on the subject.

    I guess my anger since November stems from the fact that I grew up in the Borscht Belt with lots of Jewish friends who had family that included Holocaust survivors. That, combined with my background in history, really has me drawing parallels with Nazi Germany. I’ve been on high alert for months now. It frustrates me that lots of people fail to see the obvious.

  90. 90.

    Elizabelle

    So we’re 24 days in to the Trump administration?

    I don’t know that I’d take a bet that he will be in office a year from now. He’s so clearly unsuited, and dangerously inept. And compromised.

    Maybe the real life Media Whores Jake Tapper and Andrea Fucking Mitchell are fine with that, but I hope that some enterprising journalists and intelligence community members and other better angels are hard at work. You cannot keep an edifice of shit operating at this level for that long. Maybe it will be a beneficial foreign power that comes to our aid.

    A year ago, we had just barely gotten past the Iowa and New Hampshire caucus and primary. Who had any idea of the wild ride we had in store?

  93. 93.

    Aleta

    He may be looking at the camera but he’s seeing all the cash and demand for tables pouring in. Finally achieved his life’s dream, presiding over the hottest club.

  95. 95.

    SFAW

    @satby:

    Happy trails to you and Poco! Ozark is just a tad jealous, like the rest of us

    Correction: Ozark is jealous, we are merely envious.

    But if Quinerly doesn’t save us all some prickly pear cheesecake (if such a thing really exists, rather than just a literary device to bust Ozark’s stones), then the banhammer might need to be taken out for walkies.

  96. 96.

    SFAW

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    I’m struck by the numbers of what I perceive as the Trump base as opposed to the number of early Nazi voters in the 30s.
    It appears fairly equivalent.

    And you appear to have SDS. (Shitgibbon Derangement Syndrome).

    I mean it’s not as if anyone in its Administration is a Nazi, or lurves them some Nazis.

  101. 101.

    Aleta

    I feel bad for the Abes. Their protocol requires the p.m. to demonstrate a good one-to-one connection with the US president, to reassure their electorate who fear how much influence the US has over Japan’s stability. They have a long list of issues to bring up. Instead they get dragged around. Then a serious incident takes place that’s a real threat to Japan, and T photo ops it to be the center of a party. This must be freaking the hell out of Japan. Meanwhile Trump is like

  104. 104.

    Larkspur

    @Quinerly: Your travel notes are so much fun. @OzarkHillbilly: Your comments make it even more fun.

    I’ve never been to New Mexico, but I’d love to go. I’ve been following along with you from time to time, and here are today’s little factlets:

    Abiquiú is mentioned in Willa Cather’s 1927 novel Death Comes for the Archbishop, Book Five Chapter 1.
    Ghost Ranch is home of the Ruth Hall Museum of Paleontology, named in honor of Ruth Hall.
    “Abiquiú” is the title of episode 11, season 3 of the AMC television drama Breaking Bad.

    Via Wiki, of course.

  105. 105.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @debbie: There were quick tweets, obviously by staffers, not by Donald.

    He could care less about the rubes in flyover country now.

  108. 108.

    Larkspur

    @Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire: Adria, I spent my teens in a community where the public schools closed on the first days of Pesach, Rosh Hashana, and of course Yom Kippur simply because there weren’t enough students present in the classroom. I grew up with Anne Frank as my literary “best friend”. I knew kids whose parents had no older living relatives. I saw numbers on arms. It has all affected me much the way your growing’ up affected you. It just resonates so heavily down through the years. (This is a very personal reaction, but I would never get a tattoo, especially on my arms. I don’t hate tattoos, just can’t get one myself.)

  109. 109.

    Larkspur

    Talk about first world complaints. I got hung up on the mention of “wedge of iceberg lettuce with bleu cheese dressing”. WTF? I mean, iceberg lettuce is great and crunchy when chopped up and added to stuff or put in tacos, but in a wedge with salad dressing? Gives me 1950s flashbacks. We had our wedges of iceberg smothered in fluorescent orange French dressing.

  110. 110.

    Larkspur

    @Aleta: So far no one has barfed on them.

    Also, does it not seem like the engineers and safety people a residents of Oroville are doing a damn good job under hazardous, challenging conditions? Obama would have noted that publicly long before now. Heck of a job, Trumpie.

  112. 112.

    SFAW

    @Quinerly:

    It exists. And it is half price on Sundays. I’m a known tightwad.

    Well, then you had better borrow enough money to get enough for everyone here. Even Ozark. And make sure you keep it refrigerated.

    [Yes, I realize that being a tightwad does not necessarily equate to being poor. Just trying to give you the benefit of the doubt.]

  113. 113.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    If everyone did there would be a thicket of new laws and rules.

    Except, if it were THIS Congress making the laws, the new laws and rules would say “Hey, we’re OK with that, as long as we keep getting our money from the 0.001 percent.”

    ETA: Upon reflection (so to speak), it would be “Hey, we’re OK with that, as long as it’s the 0.1 percent doing it. The rest of you suckers — kiss your asses goodbye.”

  116. 116.

    sukabi

    @debbie: as far as I know, there haven’t been any…closest he came to a sympathy statement was the memorial for the navy seal that got killed in the Yemeni raid…then it turned into a statement about Ivanka….

  117. 117.

    Quinerly

    @Larkspur: @SFAW:
    Walked the village today. It never changes on my visits. It’s been two years this time between visits. At Bode’s General Store eating a humongous Green Chile Cheeseburger. I’m a good eater. Next up a hike with Poco at Plaza Blanca. There’s also the cemetery that I have never checked out. I have a bit of a “thang” for these Northern NM cemeteries. Have hundreds of pictures. Always try to find a little, old Spanish man to ask permission, though. Thanks for all the interest!

  120. 120.

    Quinerly

    @SFAW:
    Thread be dead. I’ll check it later if you wander back. Know nothing of this cemetery you speak of. Do tell.

  121. 121.

    NW Phil

    iceberg wedge salads
    People in the East still eat those? But I guess the farmers in CA still have to earn a living in the winter.

Comments are closed.