Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

He really is that stupid.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Come on, man.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickel?”

Found liable for massive fraud, is required to post a massive bond, gets a break, then files a *fraudulent* bond!

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

This really is a full service blog.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

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

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Here’s the Deal About Sessions

Here’s the Deal About Sessions

by | 203 Comments

This post is in: 

Die he, in my mind, lie under oath? Yes. His answers were intentionally evasive.

Will he be found guilty of perjury in a court? Probably not, because I doubt anyone has enough courage to charge him or carry through with anything, plus he was weasily enough he could probably skate on a technicality?

Is he toast? Who knows. Republicans have been lying and doing whatever the fuck they want for so long and never paid a price (and, in fact, been electorally rewarded) for so long that I doubt it.

But what is important is that his word is now shit, Republicans are on the defensive, we have more evidence of Republican wrongdoing re: Russia, and it will cripple the Republicans and have them on the defensive any time Sessions does something shady.

Other than that, he fits right in Trump’s swamp.

Reader Interactions

203Comments

  3. 3.

    RoonieRoo

    I think that his word being “shit” now is going to be the important piece moving forward.

  4. 4.

    TenguPhule

    it will cripple the Republicans and have them on the defensive any time Sessions does something shady.

    Cites facts not in evidence.

    Nothing that Trumptraitor and his flying monkeys does will cripple the GOP politically. NOTHING. They’ve thrown away the rulebooks and are playing Calvinball with the government.

  6. 6.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Die he, in my mind

    Paging Dr. Freud. Dr. Sigmund Freud to the courtesy phone, please.

    Edit: Ah shit. [::waves weakly to TenguPhule::]

  7. 7.

    Mike J

    Vice President Mike Pence routinely used a private email account to conduct public business as governor of Indiana, at times discussing sensitive matters and homeland security issues.

    Emails released to IndyStar in response to a public records request show Pence communicated via his personal AOL account with top advisers on topics ranging from security gates at the governor’s residence to the state’s response to terror attacks across the globe. In one email, Pence’s top state homeland security adviser relayed an update from the FBI regarding the arrests of several men on federal terror-related charges.

  8. 8.

    debbie

    This probably explains Ryan’s recent crankiness; his dreams have begun to escape his grasp.

  12. 12.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    I assume that the intelligence community has, or is close to, putting all the pieces together, including all the kompromat on Trump. It feels like they’re playing the line out one length at a time hoping that the Congress grabs it and does its job, but, if they don’t, they’ll feed it to certain media members and/or Dems or a Republican who will actually do something to throw them all under the bus. This is a snowball just getting rolling now, and it will soon become clear to the Republicans that they’re all going down in an avalanche sooner than later and will be turning on each other sooner than later.

  15. 15.

    mai naem mobile

    I wonder if Al Franken knew the real answer to the question before he asked the question . He’s not on any of the Intel/DHS/Foreign Affairs committees. I’ve been really impressed with Franken and Adam Schiff. I hope Schiff ends up in a higher position in the next few years.

  16. 16.

    TenguPhule

    @Mike J:

    show Pence communicated via his personal AOL account with top advisers on topics ranging from security gates at the governor’s residence to the state’s response to terror attacks across the globe.

    The crime, gross stupidity. The Penalty, death by irony.

    AOL, FFS. Pence needs to be put to death just for that alone.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    @Mike J: No shit. Everyone does it. Only one person was persecuted it. I’m still sick that even on BJ there was a serious debate about it.

  20. 20.

    Yarrow

    @Mike J: BUT HER EMAILS!

    These leaks will keep coming until and unless Republicans decide to do the right thing. If they don’t, then they’ll pay the price because the evidence will show them to be traitors (in the non-legal sense). Their best move has been and continues to be to call for a an open investigation and be on the side of the good guys. They don’t and they’ll pay a price.

  23. 23.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    I think this whole crew is on borrowed time. No administration can make it for four years with this shit hanging over them. They can’t do anything any longer, because all anybody cares about any longer is who said what to which Russians when, and who was there and who else knew about it, and when did they know, and on and on and on. Sooner or later, I think Republicans are going to cut Trump off and he’ll be on his own. Whether he ends up in jail or whether the only ones to do time will be flunkies is something we’ll have to wait to see. But I think we’ve already reached the point beyond which there’s no going back. I could be wrong, Lord knows, I’ve been wrong before more times than I can count, but I think this administration is already dead. The only thing left up in the air is when the burial will be.

  24. 24.

    Aleta

    He should be jailed just for all his puny flimflam. He sang a little list of the countries whose ambassadors he’s met. It’s not about how many ambassadors Sessions knows; it’s about how many Trump helpers Kislyak knows.

  27. 27.

    tobie

    Have we talked about Jared Kushner meeting with the Russian Ambassador during the transition period in Trump Tower? I gather that’s the latest breaking story. The noose is tightening, as several commenters have noted.

  30. 30.

    TriassicSands

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    I think this whole crew is on borrowed time. No administration can make it for four years with this shit hanging over them.

    As bad as we thought it would be; it’s worse. I don’t think it was possible, before Trump took office, to understand fully just how bad things could be under a totally incompetent president. In part that is because presidents tend to surround themselves with people who do know something and can govern (even if they do it poorly). But Trump’s insecurities, his inexperience, and the fact that he doesn’t know people who know competent people has left us with a clusterf*ck of truly amazing proportions.

    I honestly can’t even begin to imagine how this is going to turn out. Resignation? Impeachment? The 25th Amendment? A high-level intervention? Trump muddles through from one screw-up to another and one scandal to another while the country drifts more or less rudderless?

  31. 31.

    zhena gogolia

    I know that “kislyi” means “sour,” and apparently “kislyak” means something bad or boring, as in “it’s not a comedy, it’s a kislyak”

  33. 33.

    Yarrow

    @tobie: Why I don’t think we have brought up the Jared Kushner meeting with Kislyak. No time like the present. And it looks like they wanted to keep it a secret:

    Kislyak wasn't caught on CSPAN camera for Trump Tower meeting w/Kushner and Flynn in December, so was deliberately brought in the back way— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) March 2, 2017

  36. 36.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    I have been assuming Bannon was in charge of the Office of Finding Cartoon Villians To Fill Cabinet Posts, but now I’m starting to think that Putin personally created the short list of villains.

  38. 38.

    ?eric

    Just imagine the potential nominee that CANNOT make it through vetting by the Trump crew. Pollard? Manson?

  40. 40.

    zhena gogolia

    As someone mentioned earlier, this wasn’t even the question Franken was asking. He was asking, what would you do as AG if it came out that people in the Trump campaign had had contact with Russia? I guess Sessions’s guilty conscience made him answer a different question — did you have contact with Russia? It’s very strange.

  41. 41.

    Yarrow

    Has this been covered yet?

    Christopher Steele, the former MI6 spy who prepared the explosive Trump report, has been approached about testifying before the US Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the new President’s alleged links with Russia, The Independent can reveal.

    Mr Steele’s friends say it is currently unlikely he would be willing to travel to the US. But it is understood Democrats – as well as some Republicans – in Congress are prepared to facilitate discreet initial meetings in the UK or on other neutral territory.

    By all means, let him testify.

  43. 43.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    I saw a clip of Trump on what looks like a submarine, trying to get through without having to listen to all the nasty little reporters asking him shit about Sessions. You could just see him seething that these nobodies have the gall to question him–him, Donald Fucking Trump. You could almost see him struggling to keep from yelling at them, “Don’t you little assholes know who the hell I am? Who are you to ask me anything? Fuck off!”

  44. 44.

    tobie

    @Yarrow: Someone asked if Kislyak took the service elevator with Trump’s undocumented workers to avoid detection. He didn’t come in the front entrance. That’s why CSPAN doesn’t have a record of it. Now we need to ask why Trump transition team insisted on operating out of Trump Towers instead of the facilities provided by the govt at no charge to incoming administrations. Who else was visiting them?

  46. 46.

    Mickee

    @TenguPhule: In fact, Perry got sworn in at EPA today and immediately released budget that slashes EPA funding by 70%, leaving them with a whole $29,000,000 to address climate issues.

    Assuming these assholes ever have a sense of decency or shame is a losing bet.

  48. 48.

    JMG

    At what point does Putin decide Trump is a sunk cost and opens the bag for the CIA, FBI, etc.? Better that than have his entire Western espionage operation rolled up.

  52. 52.

    Roger Moore

    @Yarrow:

    Mr Steele’s friends say it is currently unlikely he would be willing to travel to the US.

    It’s highly questionable that CBP would let him enter the country if they knew he was going to spill the beans on Trump.

  53. 53.

    DCrefugee

    @TriassicSands:

    I honestly can’t even begin to imagine how this is going to turn out. Resignation? Impeachment? The 25th Amendment? A high-level intervention? Trump muddles through from one screw-up to another and one scandal to another while the country drifts more or less rudderless?

    You left out assassination and death by natural causes…

    As long as the R base continues to support President Asterisk, he’ll remain in office. Personally, I think “Trump muddles through from one screw-up to another and one scandal to another while the country drifts more or less rudderless” is the preferred outcome over the next 1.5 years. If President Asterisk is replaced, we get Pence, and despite also being unsuited to the task and drunk on the GOP Kool-Aid, at least he would bring in competent people to run things. Those competent people also would immediately gear up for the 2018 mid-terms and Pence’s 2020 reelection.

    Painful though it is, the longer President Asterisk remains in office, the better are the Ds chances to take back at least one house of Congress in 2018, and kick the GOP out of the White House in 2020. I just hope the nation can hold together that long.

  54. 54.

    PPCLI

    @zhena gogolia: Yes, very odd. It as if he was anticipating that question and had a denial in the back of his mind.

    Q: “Senator Sessions, do you think Saban can bring Alabama back and regain the national title next year?” A: “If they can develop a reliable quarterback. And I had no contact with the Russians whatsoever.”

  56. 56.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mickee:

    immediately released budget that slashes EPA funding by 70%, leaving them with a whole $29,000,000 to address climate issues.

    Sofa-cushion change. Over at Defense $29 million would be a rounding error.

    I can’t begin to express how much I loathe and detest these people. All of them.

    ETA: Apologies to Katie for not mentioning her by name.

  57. 57.

    Yarrow

    @DCrefugee:

    If President Asterisk is replaced, we get Pence,

    At the moment, yet. As I said above, though, I think Trump will throw everyone under the bus before he’ll leave office. That includes Pence. The leaks about Pence’s AOL email usage today may be part of that. Trump will do anything to muddy the waters and try to get people to Look Over There instead of at him.

    Pence may or may not be tied up in this Russia stuff, but I bet he knew about it. I would not be surprised to see Trump toss Pence to the wolves and try to blame him in hopes of saving his own hide.

    Things could get very ugly.

  58. 58.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @PPCLI:

    Well, they’re all interchangeably stupid and destructive. No harm, no foul.

    ETA:

    Oops.

    I’m slow. That was great.

  59. 59.

    XTPD

    @TriassicSands: He probably plans on going the full Mecham. Something like: Measures to impeach or 25th Amendment Trump are independently ratified by the Senate, and feeling the pressure Trump very reluctantly resigns.* During the resignation, 60+ years of KFC catch up to him and inflict a mortally-wounding infarction, but before that does him in a CIA agent turns his head into pink/orange mist.

    *Assuming of course that he doesn’t end up personally beheading his entire staff, shit on Zucker’s face, and blow up the White House and possible the entire Capitol out of spite.

  60. 60.

    DCrefugee

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I can’t begin to express how much I loathe and detest these people. All of them.

    This. Since hatred (of so many things but especially The Other…) seems to rule our politics, I’m trying to avoid hating anything. Loathing and detesting I can do, however…

  62. 62.

    Dave

    @DCrefugee: I desperately hope not assassination; I don’t want him to become a martyr and the nation does not need that at all it would be worst possible outcome.

  64. 64.

    hovercraft

    But FOX and Friends told me that this is evil Obama releasing this information/disinformation, because Twitler
    s speech was so awesome! You liberals are just creating this fake scandal because you are jealous of how successful our president has been.

  65. 65.

    Yarrow

    @schrodingers_cat:

    In this whole saga, the two people I find most despicable are Ryan and McConnell.

    I think it’s Trump and Bannon I despise the most, but I reserve special disgust for those two. They were told about Trump’s Russian ties. They knew. They put party before country. They are not patriots.

  66. 66.

    Corner Stone

    Who in the hell told Carter Page he should go on Chris Hayes show on MSNBC for an interview?
    That is criminal malpractice.

  69. 69.

    PPCLI

    Came across an interesting series of tweets:

    Yashar‏Verified account
    @yashar

    Follow
    More
    J.D. Gordon a nat sec advisor for Donald Trump’s campaign just told Jim @Acosta that he had meetings w/ Russian Ambassador during campaign.
    Yashar‏Verified account
    @yashar

    Follow
    More
    Yashar Retweeted Yashar
    He also confirmed that it was Donald Trump personally who wanted the amended Ukraine language added to the RNC platform.

    Casey Michel‏Verified account
    @cjcmichel

    Follow
    More
    Casey Michel Retweeted Yashar
    Trump last July: ‘They softened it, I heard, but I was not involved.‘

  70. 70.

    Corner Stone

    @Dave:

    I desperately hope not assassination; I don’t want him to become a martyr and the nation does not need that at all it would be worst possible outcome.

    I disagree.

  73. 73.

    Dave

    @Corner Stone: What would be worse? Perhaps i should say that it would be a really bad outcome since should always be careful with superlatives.

  76. 76.

    Yarrow

    @Corner Stone: He’s been out on TV for the last few weeks off and on and it hasn’t gone well. I think Trump is making him go because Trump has dirt on him.

    The noose is tightening for all these criminals.

  77. 77.

    D58826

    Listening to Chris Hayes interview Carter Paige. What a slimy piece of garbage Paige is.

  78. 78.

    Joeff

    If you read this deep into the comments, my hat is off to you. On subject of Sessions doing time, weren’t Mitchell and Kleindeinst (both AGs) indicted in Watergate?

  79. 79.

    Ian

    @Yarrow:
    The ones that disgust me the most are the ones Ill Douche publicly threatened during the campaign, Flake, McCain, Ryan, Rubio, and Cruz who now vote lockstep for his administration and its cabinet.

    Do they not remember being on the receiving end of his wrath? Or are they too scared now?

  81. 81.

    Yarrow

    @schrodingers_cat: They could have stopped it even before the election and they can stop it any time they want. They are horrible. They are not patriots. They should be removed from office for dereliction of duty.

  82. 82.

    Corner Stone

    @Oldgold: He looks so young. He seems to think he is the smartest person on the planet or some shit. Did someone drug him before this interview? He is delusional.

  86. 86.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Assassination? No.

    Public execution, with all due deliberation and ceremony? Yes.

  87. 87.

    Lyrebird

    @Yarrow:

    Paul Ryan thinks he can escape scrutiny and tries to walk a very fine line. He is wrong and will fail.

    From your lips to the FSM’s ears…

  90. 90.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Yarrow:

    They were told about Trump’s Russian ties. They knew. They put party before country. They are not patriots.

    I don’t see how they have NOT known… and they ran a compromised candidate anyways…

    Watching Sessions lie thru his teeth on CBS right now… whatafarkin’fraud…

  91. 91.

    TriassicSands

    @DCrefugee:

    You left out assassination and death by natural causes…

    Well, if you’re going there then suicide, however unlikely, must, I suppose, be included.

    I think you’re right about the best course. The problem with that is the very real possibility of some major malfunction. I don’t really think Trump is going to start a nuclear war, but there are other ways to get a lot of people killed and injured (see Bush, George W.).

    Given the makeup of the Senate and the gerrymandered House, it’s going to be difficult for the Democrats to take either house in 2018. The Obamacare repeal and replace saga could be critical. The hope of keeping Trump in office to do maximum damage to the GOP’s 2018 prospects is probably the best thing we have at the moment.

  92. 92.

    DCrefugee

    @JPL:

    Yeah…I get it. My only response is that the Kansas electorate isn’t present in the other 49 states, and Brownback’s elections weren’t nearly as close as the 2016 Presidential. But I think any scenario in which Pence becomes President before the 2018 elections gives the Rs a sympathy vote in the mid-terms that will be problematic for the Ds.

    I guess we’ll have to wait and see…

  93. 93.

    Corner Stone

    @Dave:

    What would be worse?

    If all of our institutions continue to fail and collapse and all the R leadership stay on board with a clearly traitorous, fascist, kleptocratic authoritarian against the best interests of our nation and the constitution.

  94. 94.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    Watching Chaffetz admit Sessions needs to recuse himself… he dos NOT look happy…

  95. 95.

    Gravenstone

    @PPCLI: this would be the same Donald Trump who would likely be hard pressed to find Ukraine on a map if you painted it bright pink for him?

  97. 97.

    Gelfling 545

    @Yarrow: I hope he doesn’t go quietly. I want to see him dragged out in handcuffs. He’d get great ratings!

  99. 99.

    Lyrebird

    @Yarrow: I reserve special disgust for voter-suppressing chain-gang-loving prison-privatizing Sessions, too. He and Bannon and Miller have a lot of shameful attributes in common. Trump is a narcissistic abuser and one of the luckiest members of the lucky $perm club ever, but my loathing for him is not as strong as for the others.

  100. 100.

    XTPD

    @TriassicSands: What are the odds he pulls a Caligula-at-Brittenburg-style* humiliation of the army for not signing off on his military ventures?

    *the Neptune episode

  102. 102.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    Repubs trying to spin this every way they can think of…

    It was a simple mistake…

    He (Sessions) had good reason to talk to Kislyak…

    Trump now speaking… it’s PARTISAN POLITICS… Democrats have parted ways w/ reality…

    Doesn’t matter… the taint is there… just one domino after another…

    And Trump’s back to insulting people, just like that…

    He looks ridiculous in that outfit… maybe he’ll decide to come out dressed like a football player next… shoulder pads… helmet…

  103. 103.

    mainmata

    Yeah but if he gets to continue to be AG, he continues to undermine the VRA , civil rights, fail to press anti-trust and in general reinforce the racist oligarchic state the Republicans want to cement. So his lack of credibility doesn’t matter if he’s still in control of Justice.

  104. 104.

    Corner Stone

    What the hell just happened? Chris Hayes is an incredibly soft interviewer who gets rolled by 95% of his rwnj guests and he destroyed Carter Page. Page looked like a student who had forgot to study for his sophomore English Lit midterms.
    That was…awkward.

  106. 106.

    Yarrow

    @Gelfling 545: He would! It would be the best show on TV. More people watching than the OJ trial! Huge ratings!

    That’s why I don’t think he’ll go quietly. He’s not a long time politician like Nixon was. Nixon knew when the jig was up and he wanted to leave with his dignity. Trump doesn’t care about that sort of thing. He’s a showman and he wants to win. I think he’ll do everything in his power to stay president. He’ll throw everyone else under the bus, with the possible exception of Ivanka, before he goes. He’ll go for maximum drama and chaos in hopes of clinging to power, or “winning” as he’d call it. Every single other person working in the White House and their relatives better be ready

  107. 107.

    wuzzat

    Other than that, he fits right in Trump’s swamp.

    For the record, I’d like to point out that draining swamps generally leads to soil erosion and catastrophic flooding.

    And that’s still less destructive than Trump and his team.

  108. 108.

    Dave

    @Corner Stone: Fair enough; We actually aren’t that far apart since I suspect an assassination would increase the probability of that outcome and it’s staying power significantly.

  109. 109.

    Lizzy L

    @Corner Stone: I had to Google him (Page) — can’t tell the players without a scorecard. Interesting article about him in Politico today. His sense of entitlement is breathtaking. He’s a lot like Trump; not as grandiose. And he does indeed appear to be nuts.

  110. 110.

    efgoldman

    @Joeff:

    weren’t Mitchell and Kleindeinst (both AGs) indicted in Watergate?

    Mitchell went to the sneezer;

    In 1982, Kleindienst was accused of having perjured himself to the Arizona Bar regarding how much he knew about a white-collar criminal he represented. He was cleared of all criminal charges brought against him. [[wiki]

  111. 111.

    Ruckus

    I really didn’t want the last whatever years of my life to be this fucking miserable because of asshole politics. But the last 4 months has once again proven to me that the Rolling Stones were fucking wrong. Not only can’t I get what I want, I never get what I need.

  113. 113.

    magurakurin

    @hovercraft: and tens of millions of people believe what Fox tells them. You all are too hopeful. I am still in a dark cloud of despair. Here’s to the hopeful being right.

  114. 114.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Corner Stone:

    I desperately hope not assassination; I don’t want him to become a martyr and the nation does not need that at all it would be worst possible outcome.

    I disagree.

    CS, no, you can’t be serious. We would all like to live on a planet and in a country that didn’t have Donald J. Trump as President of the United States of America, and if he were to leave office in any fashion, including natural death, I suspect there are few of us who would mourn him. Most of us, in fact, would welcome the news.

    But not assassination. Apart from the “martyr factor,” which would doom us politically for a couple of generations, I just think it’s morally wrong to wish for the random violent death of a political opponent. And as far as justice is concerned, having Trump and his gang all rot in prison for the rest of their natural lives would be a wholly satisfactory outcome to any legal proceedings.

    Seriously, Corner Stone, please don’t wish for the assassination of anybody, up to and including Trump, no matter how abhorrent they may be.

  116. 116.

    PVDMichael

    Upon reading the NYT story that the Obama administration intentionally spread the Trump investigation across multiple parts of the government, my first thought was “Voldemort is never going to find ALL the horcruxes! Thanks President Obama!”

  118. 118.

    JMG

    Every reporter in Washington worth a damn (many aren’t, but many are, too) is calling everyone they can think of in the Trump administration with the following message, “better talk now, before he throws you over the side. Remember, Nixon didn’t go to jail, the people who worked for him did,”

  119. 119.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ruckus:

    the Rolling Stones were fucking wrong. Not only can’t I get what I want, I never get what I need.

    Can’t get no satisfaction?

    (At some point, all those double negatives are going to rise up and bite.)

  120. 120.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @schrodingers_cat:
    Never underestimate that they are from the same pool as their base. Yes, they may hate Trump, but there’s an existential war for the supremacy of white male power going on. Little things like self-respect have to be left by the wayside.

  121. 121.

    efgoldman

    @Thru the Looking Glass…:

    Watching Chaffetz admit Sessions needs to recuse himself… he dos NOT look happy…

    He’s askeert of all those Soros-paid demonstrators actually voting.
    Also, he knows damned fucking well that at the very least he’s on ethical thin ice, which could be a problem for him in very Mormon Utah. I think his plans to run for Hatch’s senate seat are under the bus.

  122. 122.

    Calouste

    @Yarrow: At one point the IC is going to be fed up with waiting on the GOPers in Congress to act, and they are going to drop something on a Republican in Congress. It’s pretty obvious from their behavior that Ryan and McConnel are in it up to their eyeballs.

  123. 123.

    Ruckus

    @Yarrow:
    dignity
    Drumpf has no dignity. He holds no concept of dignity. Or honor. Or humanity.
    All the things that make a hugely, horribly, shitty individual, all of those he has in an overabundance.
    All those things that are direct opposites of that hugely horrible, shitty individual? Not a traceable amount of even one.

  124. 124.

    Debbie1

    @schrodingers_cat: “Serious question why do these white supremacists seem to have no lips?”

    My guess is that’s not where they talk. It’s just conjecture, though.

  125. 125.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @rikyrah:

    I do believe that the International IC is working in conjunction with our Spooks, filling in the gaps about this treachery.

    Given the degree to which almost all of Western Europe loathes and fears Putin, and the US intelligence services appear to loathe and fear Trump, I can’t imagine this is NOT happening…

    Nice thing about anything that comes from the Europeans? Trump can’t scream about illegal leaks…

  129. 129.

    TenguPhule

    @Villago Delenda Est: Seconded!

    And I can look the other way while we disregard the “cruel and unusual” bit in the Constitution. Giving Trump a Rasputinian execution is fine with me! Better safe then sorry.

  131. 131.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @DCrefugee:

    Yeah, I can feel hatred chewing me up inside, and that can’t be good. Am making a conscious effort — sometimes successful, sometimes not — to avoid using the word or even thinking it.

  132. 132.

    efgoldman

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Seriously, Corner Stone, please don’t wish for the assassination of anybody, up to and including Trump, no matter how abhorrent they may be.

    He’s from Texas. Everything’s bigger, including Hyper Bowls.

  133. 133.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @efgoldman:

    I think his plans to run for Hatch’s senate seat are under the bus.

    I certainly hope you are right, especially on this last point…

    Every time I see a picture of Chaffetz, the words ‘squishy little shit’ come to mind… that’s gotta be one of the most punchable faces in DC…

    Those farkers went on and on and on about birth certificates… servers & emails… Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!…

    And now… do they expect us to play nicy-nicy about all this shit?

  135. 135.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud: But you have to make sure the CIA caps all the Trump era officials, underlings and other garbage when you have power. Otherwise they’ll burrow into the woodwork like Communist Termites.

  136. 136.

    Timurid

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Assassination (and the ensuing violence) would be a very bad outcome but that’s not close to the worst outcome.
    The worst case would be would be Trump and/or his successors realizing their dream of a one party white nationalist state.

  137. 137.

    TenguPhule

    @Calouste:

    At one point the IC is going to be fed up with waiting on the GOPers in Congress to act, and they are going to drop something on a Republican in Congress.

    Ideally an actual anvil. on Ryan’s head. Which would be a great improvement over the way it is now.

    And some anvils need to be dropped.

  138. 138.

    p.a.

    They’re going to have to start a war or instigate (false flag??!!) a major domestic terror attack. ‘Rally ’round the flag’ will be all they have left.
    “Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.”

  139. 139.

    Dave

    @Timurid: I think that we SiubhanDuinne and I have this view because we think it’s the most likely event, and one completely out of the control of any group, to bring about a one party white nationalistic state. Not the only event that could cause this just the most likely.

  140. 140.

    Yarrow

    @Calouste: Yep. Exactly. The IC is giving Republicans in Congress all the opportunities to do the right thing. But at some point if they don’t, the IC will drop something about a Congressional Republican and that person’s ties to Russia. And then all hell will break loose.

  141. 141.

    hovercraft

    @Thru the Looking Glass…:
    The other thing to remember that many of our allies aren’t sharing all their intelligence with us, so Twitler and co. don’t know the full extent of what they have on them. They seem to think that they can bluff their way through, but spooks don’t play, if they want to screw you you will get screwed but good.

  143. 143.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Timurid:

    It is tragic that we’ve come to a point where we’re no longer seeking the “best” or even a “good” or “acceptable” outcome — merely the “least terrible” outcome.

    ?????????

  145. 145.

    jl

    @Baud:

    ‘ Are we back to our disaster porn fetish? ‘

    No, I don’t think anyone was talking about your humiliating and disastrous presidential campaign.

  147. 147.

    hovercraft

    @efgoldman:
    I suspect Evan Mcmullen would be there to thwart any senate ambitions, he still seems genuinely offended by the people who fell in line behind Twitler.

  150. 150.

    jl

    @efgoldman: Looks like Chaffetz and Issa are both scared pissless over their chances to keep their electoral racket going. No other reason I can think of that would make them utter sounds that can be interpreted to contain an honest factual assertion or reasonable opinion.

  151. 151.

    magurakurin

    @Baud: are you watching? I saw she tweeted that her story would be “a game changer.” No way for me to watch.

  152. 152.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @hovercraft:

    They seem to think that they can bluff their way through, but spooks don’t play, if they want to screw you you will get screwed but good.

    I’m thinking Twitler and his minions don’t have any choice but to try bluffing their way thru this…

    I suspect sphincters are getting uncomfortably tight all over DC right now…

  153. 153.

    Baud

    @magurakurin: I don’t know if it’s a game changer. It’s a leaked report that extreme vetting is a waste of time because most people get radicalized after being here for several years.

  156. 156.

    efgoldman

    @jl:

    Chaffetz and Issa are both scared pissless

    The Kalifornia Kar Thief barely won last year. The state is getting bluer by the day. I think he’s probably toast.
    Punchable One got elected in a landslide. It’s unlikely any Dem wins that district. He’ll either be forced out because he’s an asshole, or get primaried; if McMullen decides to run for senate (assuming senile Hatch leaves) I don’t know enough about Utah politics to know who else is available.

  161. 161.

    Aleta

    Listening to Page makes me shrink from the idea of humans. Same goes for the rest of those slime trails.

    The way that Sessions lied about not lying to Congress is insulting. He even avoided directly saying that he had helped the campaign. (I think he said something similar to ‘I’ve been called a surrogate once or twice.) Why bother unless there was a potential issue.

    The whole pack of them are like malevolent shape shifters.

  162. 162.

    jl

    So, ex-Trump foreign policy adviser says that while Russian ambassador was breezing around the GOP convention, Trump was personally pushing for change in GOP platform to take out plank on arming Ukraine in fight against Russian separatists. Trump said he did not want to ‘go to WWIII over Ukraine’.

    Decision to not send weapons to Ukraine is reasonable policy position to hold. One can agree or disagree with it. But… Trump… policy??
    Running around making decisions because you, or your Russian flunky advisers, want to do favors for Putin is not a reasonable policy position that one can agree or disagree with.

    Details on the GOP platform change to be Pro-Russia after Trump/Kislyak meeting at the RNC convention. Totally normal!!
    https://twitter.com/NetworkJunkyz/status/837443306569228288

    Found via Josh Marshall’s tweeter twit feed.

  165. 165.

    efgoldman

    @Baud:

    Wish there were a way to combine all three.

    “Trouble With Tribbles?”

    @Aleta:

    The whole pack of them are like malevolent shape shifters.

    Except Odo was much better at it.

  167. 167.

    Dave

    @SiubhanDuinne: Oh I can see good outcomes from this if things fall correctly. Starting with a wave victory in 2020 which would help to undo gerrymandering. I can see a reasonably likely scenario where this is the last gasp of regressive forces and really is peak wing-nut and the creation of new and better shared standards. I even think this is a reasonably likely scenario I’m just in no way complacent about it and there are plenty of scenarios that are worse from mildly so to extremely ugly. And there will be quite a bit of unnecessary suffering and pain in the interim.

  170. 170.

    schrodingers_cat

    @SiubhanDuinne: What I find inspiring is that the generation after India’s partition did its utmost to put the carnage and hatred behind and pull together as a country. I am seeing the post independence era of movies in India in a different light. Many of the industry’s leading lights were themselves refugees from what became Pakistan.
    Sahir Ludhianvi’s ecumenical prayer from the movie Hum Dono (Us Two) 1961
    Allah Tero Naam, Ishwar Tero Naam
    Ishwar == God in Sanskrit
    * Your name is Allah and Ishwar..
    Ludhianvi was a Communist, he was born a Muslim and he relocated to India after the partition because he missed his Hindu and Sikh friends.

  171. 171.

    jl

    @chris: But remember, another one of his campaign slogans was ‘We still have time to mess this up!’
    That promise got me on board.

    Baud: typical politician making different promises to different groups.

  174. 174.

    Miss Bianca

    @jl: dear God – from your mouth to His ears. The thought of that smarmy little umbilical stub Chaffetz having to sweat his re- election fills mewith a savagely mellow satisfaction.

  175. 175.

    debit

    @Baud:

    Watch kitteh videos instead or Hindi movie songs, or Star Trek.

    Wish there were a way to combine all three.

    If they had let Bryan Fuller remain at the helm of the new Star Trek you probably would have had your wish. I say this with some certainty after all three season of Hannibal (gone too soon, alas!!).

  180. 180.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    Bill Clinton, 1998

    I did not have sexual relations with that woman…

    Jeff Sessions, 2017

    I did not have communications with the Russians…

  181. 181.

    DCrefugee

    @Dave:

    I agree, but I think making President Asterisk a martyr would be the least of our worries. It would be post-9/11 on acid. The Rs would have permission for The Final Crackdown, and many of us wouldn’t live through it.

  188. 188.

    magurakurin

    It would be post-9/11 on ̶a̶c̶i̶d̶ PCP

    After we were done peaking, our response to 911 on LSD would have been made with crystalline clear, calm, and thoughtful judgement. LSD somewhat gets a bad rap as producing outright craziness…PCP on the other hand…

  192. 192.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Aleta: That’s because it’s a brand name (less the t at the end) of a drug often involved in spamming.

    You can stick html open/close tags right in the middle of the word to get it past the filters, though.

  198. 198.

    Manyakitty

    @schrodingers_cat: YES. They knew about the Russian interference, and possibly much more, yet they carry on. Resigning in disgrace is the very best they should expect. Tick tock, motherfuckers.

  199. 199.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Aleta:

    Put, say, italics tags in the middle of the offending word:

    amb<em></em>ient

    Nothing gets italicized, but FYWP doesn’t see a forbidden word.

  200. 200.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    why do these white supremacists seem to have no lips?

    Because the scary hated black Negro Men have big lips, and so the white supremacists have all been concentrating on NOT having big lips ever since they were 18 months old. Also avoiding the sun, in case they would get a tan, because darker is NOT better.

    SATSQ, but sad.

  201. 201.

    seaboogie

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: I agree with you re: the Intel Community’s objectives and strategy.

    Since the admin is busy undoing the State Dept. too, I guess it’s the CIA who is going to bring the whole thing out.

    Possibly Trump hangs on to Sessions because he really needs him there, unless congress gets on board because they realize that their jobs are threatened with this scandal and the whole uprising around the ACA.

    One silver lining as our democracy hangs in the balance, is that Sessions is out sooner or later, but will definitely be out – and that means he’s out as a Senator too, so we will get to see the house troll go out in a blaze of “inglory”.

    Didja all see that little smile of his when Franken was questioning him about how he’d handle investigating admin ties to Russia during the election, and Sessions stupidly offered up a side-dish of perjury when he had no reason to – as Franken was not asking about his own involvement?

    What a weirdly guilty tell that was.

    ETA: I don’t think Trump lasts the year, he’s already mad-tweeting, and it’s not even 3 am yet. He’s under big stress right now.

  202. 202.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    But what is important is that his word is now shit, Republicans are on the defensive, we have more evidence of Republican wrongdoing re: Russia, and it will cripple the Republicans and have them on the defensive any time Sessions does something shady.

    No, it won’t.

    Nobody is going to hold Sessions or Congressional Republicans accountable for anything. Oh, sure, Franken and a few other Democrats will make noise, but it won’t amount to shit. It will be dismissed as Dems being bitter about losing.

    And in 2018 they’ll all get re-elected, because awful as they are, they’re not Democrats.

    Our only hope is that reasonable and reasonably sane Republicans will start winning seats in Congress.

    Democrats need to focus on winning state houses and building the bench.

  203. 203.

    No One You Know

    @Baud: If only that information would start investigations on how and why it’s likelier to be radicalized here after several years than in the country of origin.

    Homesickness? Racism? Serial disappointment and frustration?

    Doesn’t explain the McVeighs, though.

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