Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Come on, man.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

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

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Books are my comfort food!

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Donald Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Saturday Night Open Thread: Old Man Yells At Crowds

Saturday Night Open Thread: Old Man Yells At Crowds

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  1. 1.

    Lee

    Looks like Flynn had decided to go states evidence.

    Hopefully he has good security as Putin deals harshly with those that cross him.

  2. 2.

    Keith P.

    The GOP had 7 years to plan. Drafted a bill no one likes. Debated it for 17 days, during which Trump took 3 vacations.

    That kind of reputation (taking too many vacations, blowing political capital on failed legislative fantasies) took W four years to achieve.

  3. 3.

    Hal

    I just watched Rogue One for the first time. So good, and so fitting for the times we are living in right now.

    No spoilers, but I should have realized the end of Rogue One would be the beginning of A New Hope.

  4. 4.

    jl

    Democrats need to make a big stink if Trump sabotages PPACA, or stands by while any problems arise or get worse. Would be perfect time to advocate for their program for improvements.

    As for tax reform. Will that really be easier? I guess it depends on what they have in mind. If they want to do something simple with relatively predictable effects, like simply ramming through more tax breaks for wealthy interests, should go well for them (if not for us). If they want to do the goofy border adjustment tax, either for some vague and incoherent GOP ‘policy vision’, or to give more tax breaks to the rich and corporations, then it might not be that easy because effects of a new tax system will be hard to predict. Maybe they just want to get a VAT-like tax scheme passed, since if it is not property designed and placed within a strong social safety net, it can be very regressive, which GOP likes.

  8. 8.

    jl

    @Keith P.:

    ” That kind of reputation (taking too many vacations, blowing political capital on failed legislative fantasies) took W four years to achieve.”

    It took a long time for GOP to realize that Dub was a secret liberal, and therefore a loser and ineffectual. Not a good reactionary loon ready for bold and swift policy innovation. I suppose the TrumpCare fiasco was innovative. At least, everyone in the know is saying that they’d never seen anything like it before.

  10. 10.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    White House officials, advisers Known felonious liars say Trump is not that upset.

    /Fixed

    In reality Trump had one of his Fixxed News stooges “Judge Jeannie” rip Ryan to shreds tonight, calling for Ryan’s removal from office. (video)

  11. 11.

    amk

    for twitler, blow up obamacare was just a redmeat slogan for the racist rubes to get him elected.

    zegs zegk, on the other hand, is and has been a true believer in that shit since day one. He should be the one that should be more tarred and feathered.

  12. 12.

    Jeffro

    Harwood’s eyes are open by about as much as Jake Tapper and Kathleen Parker these days…although none of them have quite reached J-Rubs’ level of enlightenment.

  13. 13.

    randy khan

    @jl:

    If they try the border adjustment tax, they won’t get it done. Pretty much nobody likes it except a couple of weirdos. One of them is Paul Ryan, but he has basically no leverage now. I sat in a meeting with one of the bigger D.C. trade associations a couple of weeks ago about something else entirely, and it was apparent that they would do whatever they could to stop it.

  14. 14.

    p.a.

    Putin bodycount in Project Make Russia Great Again does not yet include Americans. But the Traitors R Us admin has great incentive to pump up our spider hole capacity, which is woefully inadequate. Thanks, Obummer!

  16. 16.

    Frankensteinbeck

    White House officials, advisers say Trump is not that upset. He was far angrier about travel ban, Sessions recusal, inauguration crowd size.

    I believe this. It was Ryan’s bill. Trump doesn’t care much about legislation, and had little investment in it. He doesn’t see this failure as a reflection on him, so he doesn’t give a flying fuck.

    @amk:

    for twitler, blow up obamacare was just a redmeat slogan for the racist rubes to get him elected.

    Remember what a spiteful, petty, vengeful, incompetent man Trump is. He utterly hates Obama and wants to wipe away all signs of Obama’s presidency. Still, I doubt he even knows this might get in his way. The bill wasn’t something HE did personally, after all, so it doesn’t really exist.

  18. 18.

    SFAW

    @Keith P.:

    That kind of reputation (taking too many vacations, blowing political capital on failed legislative fantasies) took W four years to achieve.

    That’s Shitgibbon’s idea of “winning” — he did it so much FASTER than that low-energy LOSER, Jeb W.

  20. 20.

    jl

    @randy khan: effect on dollar exchange rate is the big mystery, will the tax result in an offset in the exchange rate in response to domestic labor and production subsidies. Lot’s of powerful interests have an interest in how that goes.

    Ryan probably likes anything that gets us closer to a VAT-based system, since he wants to ditch any meaningful safety net, and if he can eventually design the VAT to be very regressive, that would slam middle class and lower on the economic scale. Sounds like a win in the Ryan worldview. He is a weird dude.

  23. 23.

    Another Scott

    @Frankensteinbeck: I agree that Donnie doesn’t care about policy, but he does care about being seen as a winner by his minions. This was a big loss for him and it’s why he was Twittering this AM about “just you wait, Trumpcare will be GREAT!!!” stuff in the face of everyone saying that nothing is happening to Obamacare for the foreseeable future.

    But I don’t trust these anonymous reports about what “Trump thinks” or “Trump said” or whatever. E.g. his being upset that his daughter-wife and son were away until Friday. He’s probably upset every minute when they’re not around. There’s so much palace intrigue going on there that we don’t know if Bannon has it out for Jared or Pence has it out for Melania or who knows what else, but we know that daughter-wife needs to be close….

    Trump is brain damaged. The quicker the 25th Amendment is activated, the better off we’ll all be. Pence is a monster, but he’s not insane.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  26. 26.

    Jeffro

    Ken Tremendous’ tweet sums it all up better than massive amounts of print, clicks, and – god help us – cable news commentary. Because it really was just that simple: Obamacare is a pretty good solution given all of the current dynamics in American health care, and you can’t do hardly any better without changing some of those dynamics.

  27. 27.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    @debbie: I suspect he called her and vented and asked her to front his comments on her show. a set up, from beginning to end.

  28. 28.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @jl:
    He’s a true believer in the teachings of Ayn Rand. This was a woman who publicly declared she had the hots for a man who committed a brutal and unnecessary murder. Why? Because he told the ‘morality’ that everyone else believes in to go fuck itself. It is a sadistic philosophy, and Ryan obviously believes that making the poor poorer and hurrying the weak towards death is morally good.

  30. 30.

    th

    i’m a lurker having fun with letters (not sure how this will post or if it’s already been noted/said) :
    traitor
    russian
    unamerican
    mobster
    pedophile

  31. 31.

    PeakVT

    @jl: If Ryan actually likes a VAT or a VAT-like system, that would be very unusual. American conservatards generally hate VATs because they are “efficient” (in economist terms, aka simple and hard to evade) and a federal VAT could easily direct a huge new stream of revenue to the federal government

  34. 34.

    gene108

    At my mom’s this weekend in NC. She will retire and move to NJ, where I live.

    We moved to NC in December 1984.

    Though I have lived in NJ for the past 20 years, I usually came back to NC once a year to visit mom. I sort of have an anchor / connection here because of that, but this will more than likely be my last trip here.

    Assuming my mom gets her place sold soon, she will be listing next week, she will likely move in about six weeks.

    Feels like a bit of a good bye to the place I did a lot of growing up in.

  36. 36.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Charlie Sykes @SykesCharlie

    Trump officially now has worst first 100 Days of any president. And that includes William Henry Harrison.

    283 replies 2,592 retweets 7,074 likes

  37. 37.

    Mary G

    Boris Epshteyn is out now (Politico link):

    But Epshteyn had added to the impression of an antagonistic White House by throwing his weight around in network greenrooms in a manner that has further strained the relationship between the administration and the television networks.

    Earlier this year, Epshteyn threatened to pull all West Wing officials from appearing on Fox News after a tense appearance on anchor Bill Hemmer’s show.

    Epshteyn also earned a reputation as someone who is combative and sometimes difficult to work with, even when he arrives at studios as a guest of a network. He has offended people in green rooms with comments they have interpreted as racially insensitive and demeaning.

    Epshteyn entered Trumpworld as a surrogate, thanks to a friendship with Eric Trump developed as fellow undergrad students at Georgetown University.

  38. 38.

    PeakVT

    @th: Traitorous Russia-loving Unelected Mobbed-up Pedophile.

    Doesn’t really roll off the tongue, though.

  41. 41.

    jl

    @randy khan: Easy to see why. The border adjustment tax has been advertised to be a US jobs program because of the deduction of value of US labor content. But there is also a provision in it for value of domestic real estate contributing to value added, which I admit I don’t understand much about. Whether any of that will work at all to promote domestic production depends on how the dollar exchange rate will respond. If a lot, then it won’t do much to subsidize domestic content.

    So, as I understand it, it is kind of an gnome underpants business plan. There is a big mystery lying between enacting the policy and its success. So, makes sense for a Ryan plan.

  42. 42.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Mary G:

    He has offended people in green rooms with comments they have interpreted as racially insensitive and demeaning.

    Christ. Journalists only break out that line when you’re actively using racial epithets, or saying stuff like ‘Don’t let that black guy in here, he’ll steal something.’ Maybe he was complaining about the Jews who run Hollywood?

  43. 43.

    efgoldman

    @jl:

    I guess it depends on what they have in mind.

    I’m pretty sure that anything they try is now subject to filibuster, IF it passes the house.

  44. 44.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    FBI + Congress need to investigate the persistent allegations that Paul Ryan murdered 5 Rent Boys in Wisconsin. ☠️

    Many, many people are saying this is true but the Ryan murders are being covered up by Trump and the White House.?

    Note: Ryan has refused to deny his involvement in the Green Bay murders.?

  45. 45.

    jl

    @PeakVT: I’m guessing Ryan plans to make any VAT-like aspects of it as regressive as possible, and if too much money coming in, can always cut the tax rate. GOPers love to cut tax rates.

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    A request.
    AL could you stop putting pictures of the asshole Republican president on the front page? I’ve already had one heart attack, every time I see his ugly mug, 5 words spring to mind. “It’s the big one, Elizabeth!”

  51. 51.

    David Spikes

    Ryan and taxes. hmmm.
    Important to remember that in !8 yrs. in House Ryan has co-sponsored two bills that actually passed-Dubya’s tax cuts. Other than that, zilch. His supposed tax plans were no numbers jokes that only impressed the village.
    The big dogs in the senate say it will be at least Aug. before they can have a bull ready. Can Trump be patient that long? bill I don’t think so. He and Ryan-because Paulie doesn’t have much political capital left- may very well rush out another shit show that the senate will then leisurely dismantle. Now that repeal and replace is finished with all the blame on Ryan and Trump, McConnell has no incentive to hurry this along.
    My prediction for 2017: no budget; no tax bill; no infrastructure bill.

  54. 54.

    efgoldman

    @jl:

    if he can eventually design the VAT to be very regressive, that would slam middle class and lower on the economic scale. Sounds like a win in the Ryan worldview.

    He has to have actual power to do that, or anything like it. Asterisks aren’t gonna’ do it any more. I doubt he will be “speaker” long enough to do much more real harm, in any case.

  55. 55.

    PeakVT

    @PeakVT: Actually, IIRC at +4, efficient in economist terms means the tax doesn’t cause actors (companies) to change their behavior. But a VAT is still generally considered harder to evade than other taxes.

  57. 57.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox Mar 24

    At some point in the nearish future, Trump will look directly into a camera and say, “I never tried to repeal and replace Obamacare.”

    378 replies 6,282 retweets 20,187 likes

  60. 60.

    Ruckus

    @Jeffro:
    Many of us have been saying this and asking the purity ponies to explain how they would get single payer or universal health care. I can not recall even one of them having a fucking clue how the insurance business works (or any business really) They don’t seem to understand how Medicare works or Medicaid or SS or even the DMV. They have no idea about the scope of the issues, how disruptive it would be for all sides to have any possibility to make it work. I had to explain to people why it took 4 yrs to roll out the ACA.

  64. 64.

    sdhays

    Unless tax “reform” doesn’t increase the deficit, they have no way of passing it without Democratic votes, right? And what’s their plan for getting 8 Democrats to vote for cloture?

    I can’t believe that they have one beyond “it will all work out”, as usual.

  65. 65.

    efgoldman

    @jl:

    Ryan plans to make any VAT-like aspects of it as regressive as possible

    Doesn’t matter; he no longer has any juice even in his own caucus. He’s a figurehead at best. Nobody’s going to go for his plans after this week’s fiasco. Nobody can trust him to whip and deliver votes, and his caucus can’t trust him to provide political cover.
    He’s a dead “speaker” walking, even if they don’t turf him.

  69. 69.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Oh… those photos… that is just WRONG… that guy on the right edge of the photo, in the really colorful jacket, looks like he wants to jump up and start punching that dirty old man in the face… you know, the one with the little girl grinding her butt into his lap… I’m surprised he’s not stuffing dollar bills down the front of her top…

  70. 70.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Ruckus:

    Many of us have been saying this and asking the purity ponies to explain how they would get single payer or universal health care.

    Bernitude. Sheer Bernitude.

    This is why Conyers’ perennial HB676 has always been doomed to ~50 cosponsors and crickets, but this time it will be different.

    RoseAnn DeMoro promises it.

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mary G: Epshteyn has a conviction for drunk and disorderly – beat some guy up in a bar brawl. Also, it has been speculated he’s tied to the Bratva and some have suggested he is source E in the Steele oppo research.

  73. 73.

    Jeffro

    @Ruckus:

    I can not recall even one of them having a fucking clue how the insurance business works (or any business really) They don’t seem to understand how Medicare works or Medicaid or SS or even the DMV.

    Yup. And unfortunately this is a bipartisan issue (failing?) – so many folks seem to think things are simple, and have no idea of the complexity involved. Or they do, but they’re ok with a simple solution regardless of who/what gets hurt. Not sure what would help. Even showing them that health care is about 1/6 of the entire US economy, or how market shocks related to “simple” solutions might tank their 401k or IR, might not get through such thick skulls.

  75. 75.

    Raoul

    So our Republican President tweeted that everyone should watch some old shouty woman who may have been a judge and is now a Saturday night Fox personality.

    She has, in her style perfectly attuned to 70+ year old stubborn men with hearing loss who refuse to use hearing aids, spelled out why Ryan is toast.

    Huh. I wonder what all that means?

  76. 76.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    Trump officially now has worst first 100 Days of any president.

    And has he even been in office 75 days yet?

  78. 78.

    Jeffro

    @sdhays: Their only option is to try and pass tax cuts w/ a “sunset” provision, just like W did. Which, hopefully, Dems will oppose because it’s tough at the end of that ‘sunset’ phase to be the one who gets painted as raising people’s taxes.

  80. 80.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    ‘Worst 100 days we’ve ever seen’: David Gergen slams Trump’s ‘delusional’ response to Trumpcare fail

    We’re only on day 64. We’ve got 36 days of incompetence, atrocities, and cluster fucks left.

  82. 82.

    Yarrow

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    In reality Trump had one of his Fixxed News stooges “Judge Jeannie” rip Ryan to shreds tonight, calling for Ryan’s removal from office.

    I wonder if Ryan is going to be pressured to step down as Speaker or even resign? Wonder what horror show they can dredge up to replace Ryan as Speaker.

    As for the “Lolita” pictures, the whole family is disgusting. They’ve been horrid as long as I can remember. They all need to disappear, preferably into a prison of some sort for their treason. Barron can be excepted.

  84. 84.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    JΞSŦΞR ✪ ΔCŦUAL³³º¹‏ @th3j35t3r

    #BuckleUp It’s gonna be a rough few weeks America. And that’s about all I’m gonna say on the matter, aside from… keep the bubbly on ice.

    566 replies 3,619 retweets 7,900 likes

    Famed special opts hacker and anti-Trump hackivist.

  85. 85.

    SFAW

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:

    We’re only on day 64. We’ve got 36 days of incompetence, atrocities, and cluster fucks left

    You just don’t appreciate the jeenyus of Shitgibbon: he is so bigly smart and awesome, he can cram 100 days of clusterfucks into two-thirds of that time. I ask you, who else could do that?

  87. 87.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Yarrow: Meanwhile in public, Trump, Pence and Spicer continued to offer support for Ryan and praise his effort.

    “It doesn’t work like that… there aren’t any arguments or curses like in the movies…. they come as your friends, the people who’ve cared for you all of your life. And they always seem to come at a time that you’re at your weakest and most in need of their help.”

  90. 90.

    FlipYrWhig

    Two signs that the order has gone out to change the subject:

    1. At the gym on Friday evening, which is the only place I ever see Fox News, while the other channels were blaring about the bill’s defeat, Fox was doing something about a crime by an undocumented person.

    2. My Trumpiest friend today, who usually avoids politics around me, started talking about how only Fox covers important stories like… crimes by undocumented people, which are so scary, and the even scarier part is that illegal aliens get welfare. I said I was confident that illegal immigrants didn’t get welfare. She got really really mad.

  91. 91.

    Villago Delenda Est

    White House officials, advisers say Trump is not that upset. He was far angrier about travel ban, Sessions recusal, inauguration crowd size.

    Moran doesn’t even know what the hell he should be upset about.

  94. 94.

    ??‍? Martin

    Trump will continue failing. Free markets work when both supplier and consumer can opt out of the market. That’s why health care cannot possibly function as a free market. But Trump has always worked in an environment when he could step away from a deal. Government is an institution, not a corporation. It cannot step away from problems. Trump cannot step away – he has to work through to the best solution he can. He doesn’t understand that concept – it’s new to him. Ryan is such a Randian (along with the freedoms caucus) that he has the same defect.

    BTW, the Trump rally in Huntington Beach looks like it was primarily a white supremacist rally given the nazi flags and tats. Not too surprising – there’s a non-trivial white supremacist vein cutting through Orange County. They’re normally pretty underground, but Trump has given them an opportunity to be more visible. Nice of Rep Rohrabacher to give them a forum. People will remember that.

  95. 95.

    Chet Murthy

    @Omnes Omnibus: Dude, I’m sure you’ve seen the pics of Dampnut and daughter-wife, from when she was …. uh ….. young. You’ve just forgotten ’em (lucky you). The rest of us …. lordy, ain’t no way we can wash that stain away from our eyeballs.

  97. 97.

    amk

    General Saadi said he had demanded that the coalition pause its air campaign to assess what happened and to take stricter measures to prevent more civilian victims. Another Iraqi special forces officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said that there had been a noticeable relaxing of the coalition’s rules of engagement since President Trump took office.

    Before, Iraqi officers were highly critical of the Obama administration’s rules, saying that many requests for airstrikes were denied because of the risk that civilians would be hurt. Now, the officer said, it has become much easier to call in airstrikes.

    Some American military officials had also chafed at what they viewed as long and onerous White House procedures for approving strikes under the Obama administration. Mr. Trump has indicated that he is more inclined to delegate authority for launching strikes to the Pentagon and commanders in the field.

    Adam, the ball is in your court now.

  99. 99.

    Corner Stone

    Has anyone actually ever tried to watch any of the Hunger Games movies? They are awful. And stupid. And boring as fuck.

  103. 103.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Moran doesn’t even know what the hell he should be upset about.

    Perhaps it’s dawning on him how just thoroughly good and farked he actually is already… w/ Flynn rolling over and potentially Manafort, Page, & Stone lined up like dominoes right behind him… it’s not there’s any way to cover this much shit up anymore… I suspect Putin’s stopped taking his phone calls by now, too…

    Shorter Trump:

    I didn’t like being President anyways… no fun… SAD!

  104. 104.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Boris Epshteyn, the Russian immigrant who played a prominent role in Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and then went on to take a high ranking job in Donald Trump’s White House, has abruptly resigned today without giving a reason. Epshteyn has had deep financial and business connections to his native Russia in recent years, and his sudden resignation today – as reported by CNN – comes as the Trump Russia scandal is exploding in real time.

    Epshteyn was best known to the public as the comically inept Trump campaign surrogate who made a series of bumbling appearances on cable news networks. But behind the scenes, Boris – who was born in the Soviet Union and then immigrated to the United States in 1993 – was deeply involved with Russian financial interests. In 2013 he moderated a conference panel in New York City called “Invest in Moscow” (source: Huffington Post) which created such controversy for the city that Mayor Michael Bloomberg ultimately disavowed its sponsorship of it. In the same timeframe, Boris appeared in a YouTube video (link) in which he offered the Russian government tips on how it could win over more American money.

    Donald Trump’s decision to give a prominent role to Boris was yet another instance of Trump loading up his campaign with people who had obvious ties to Russia. That list also included Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Carter Page, and Michael Flynn.

    follow the money follow the russian money

  105. 105.

    catclub

    @sdhays:

    Unless tax “reform” doesn’t increase the deficit, they have no way of passing it without Democratic votes, right?

    My understanding is that the 2001 Bush tax cuts were passed under reconciliation and therefore had to end in ten years. The rule ( I think) is that under reconciliation the law cannot increase the ten-year deficit. The Bush tax cuts sunsetted – remember that – after ten years.

  106. 106.

    efgoldman

    @Raoul:

    She has, in her style perfectly attuned to 70+ year old stubborn men with hearing loss who refuse to use hearing aids, spelled out why Ryan is toast.

    Eh?

  108. 108.

    Pogonip

    Although we still don’t know who the mysterious background bushi is, Samurai Jack was great tonight! I felt bad about the Daughters of Aku, just as Jack did. They were told lies literally from the moment they were born; how could they possibly cope with reality? I am also wondering if Aku knows about them or if their fanatical mother kept their existence a secret from everyone, even their father. I guess we find out over the next 7 weeks.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    Apparently people at this conference are tired of winning, because they keep drawing numbers and calling them out to no response. ?

  111. 111.

    dogwood

    @Mike J:
    I think this Russian stuff will hurt Trump, but I’m not convinced that anyone will necessarily turn on Trump. They’ll turn on each other though.

  113. 113.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mike J: As I stated in the previous post’s comments: it feels right, and she’s not one to go and freelance, but… The problem is we are all working off of open source reporting and documentation. There is a lot of it. It is all circumstantial. And it is punctuated by some selective leaking. So while we’ve got a lot of material that all seems to point in the right direction, we won’t know just how close to North the compass is really pointing until the CI investigation concludes or, until, someone flips. But even then I expect the CI investigators – both the Interagency investigative team and the dedicate CI prosecutors from DOJ working with them, as well as Director Comey to remain silent to circumspect as they work their way from one target of the investigation to the next.

  114. 114.

    Chet Murthy

    @catclub: Uh …. not minimizing that he’s a bona fide Nazi, but …. what should happen? He works for neo-nazis and white supremacists, and we expect them to turf him out? Only if Seb L v. Gorka was the only story ATM. But right now? Heh, he’ll slide right under the radar.

  117. 117.

    Yarrow

    @Thru the Looking Glass…: Trump has always been able to get away with stuff. Disastrous business deals? Walk away, stiff all the contractors and leave the shareholders hanging. He can’t do that here but I’m not sure he knows that. Maybe at some level but I’d guess he’s ignoring it and just figures something will work out.

  118. 118.

    Debbie1

    @David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: The 2nd picture looks like she’s giving her daddy a lap-dance. Why is she on his lap when even younger kids have their own individual chairs to sit on. I think I also saw an old picture taken of Donald and his teenage daughter on a bed. Thank God he wasn’t wearing that shortie robe of his.

  119. 119.

    Chet Murthy

    @dogwood: Someone up-thread noted that the first one to turn state’s evidence gets the cushy deal. There’s a lotta folks who’re gonna wanna turn, eh? Wonder what they have to offer ….

  120. 120.

    efgoldman

    @Thru the Looking Glass…:

    Perhaps it’s dawning on him how just thoroughly good and farked he actually is already…

    Nope. It’s just not in his makeup. His daddy, or his lawyers, or his accountants, or plain dumb luck, have always rescued him before. Why, in his view, shouldn’t it now. He doesn’t do self-doubt or self-reflection. And it’s always someone else’s fault.

  123. 123.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: Also, “…on a scale from 1-10, hard to be anywhere under a 6 at this stage…” may go down as the understatement of the year for those of us who have had red flashing lights spinning around since last summer. But I guess these things take time…

  124. 124.

    sdhays

    @Jeffro: @catclub: Ah, yes… I wonder, though, if they’ll be able to do that again if they get no Democratic support this time. I expect the Freedumb Caucus to do what it does best and be purity pony assholes denying the Republicans a majority without including crazy thing after crazy thing while the Democrats sit back and watch (in amusement and horror).

    Under normal circumstances, I think they could pick off red-state Democrats to join the cause, but Trump and Ryan don’t seem to be interested in even trying that (don’t know about McConnell), so unless the Freedumb Caucus pipes down and gets in line for something less than complete repeal of the corporate income tax, they’ll probably find themselves in the same spot they’re in now.

  128. 128.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Chet Murthy: Manafort is looking to 1) keep from being extradited to Ukraine, 2) personal protection, 3) to keep as much of his fortune intact. Flynn is looking to 1) keep his retirement as a general officer intact as he has no personal fortune. Stone is nuts, I have no idea what he’s actually looking for. Page is strange, but I’d expect he’d be looking to keep as much of his personal fortune intact as well.

  129. 129.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jeffro: Director Comey was speaking truthfully when he said that counterintelligence investigations take time and that 8 months is not a long time in regard to such an investigation. Even if one or more people flip and cut deals, it will still take a while to tie everything up nicely with a bow.

  135. 135.

    GregB

    On the bright side, the horrible sunken feeling I had in the immediate aftermath of the election is abating.

    When Trump put in the travel ban I freaked out but there was large push-back in the system.

    Now I think that Trump and his cretinous squad have exposed themselves as inept, venal and shitty at trying to be authoritarians, there are enough people and institutions on to their game that even if they try to use a national tragedy to consolidate power they won’t be able to.

    I was happy to hear that Bannon essentially was told to fuck off by the wingnut caucus. Now he’s going to knee cap Ryan, plus he bleeds another fascist dingleberry insider in Epshtyn.

    The plates aren’t spinning fast enough.

  137. 137.

    Mike J

    Trump learned a lesson on dealmaking

    At one meeting Trump held with members of the “Tuesday Group,” an informal caucus of moderate Republicans, the lawmakers went around the room and answered where they stood on the bill. When Pennsylvania’s Charlie Dent said he was a “no,” Trump replied, “Why am I even talking to you?”

  138. 138.

    Millard Filmore

    @Debbie1:

    Why is she on his lap

    If you look closely, you will see that Donald has not spread his legs for her. He has both hands clapping on her left side. She is off to his right side, maybe sitting on his right hip ??? Could she be sitting on an arm of his chair? Its hard to tell from a single image.

  139. 139.

    dogwood

    @sdhays:
    Looking at the Senate electoral map you can see some red state dems who can be picked off, but I don’t think there are enough to get to 60. There are a shitload of dems up in ’18 and 6 are in states won by Trump. The rest look pretty safe. Casey, Brown, Tester and Manchin seem to have a pretty good shot at holding their seats because they’re big names in their states and it’s an off year. Heitkamp and McCaskill are gonna struggle, I think. There are only 8 Republicans up and Heller looks like the only realistic possibility for a flip.

  141. 141.

    efgoldman

    @dogwood:

    I’m not convinced that anyone will necessarily turn on Trump.

    To save their own sorry asses? Of course they will.

  143. 143.

    amk

    House Rs voted over 60x to repeal Obamacare while Obama was president. They voted 0 times on it under Trump, and are now ready to move on.— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) March 24, 2017

    da trumpanzees will be so thrilled.

  144. 144.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I’d expect he’d be looking to keep as much of his personal fortune intact as well.

    Sure, they all want to keep the money, but I’d think staying out of the slammer (or at least minimizing the time and/or getting club fed) is job one.
    None of these assholes would last a week in a regular prison.

  146. 146.

    Doug R

    @PeakVT: VATs are hugely unpopular and regressive, I could see why Ryan would love it. Canada’s GST is basically a VAT, put in by a Conservative government. The Liberals promised to “Axe the Tax”, the best they could do was drop it from 7% to 5%.

  147. 147.

    efgoldman

    @GregB:

    Trump and his cretinous squad have exposed themselves as inept, venal and shitty at trying to be authoritarians

    This was obvious even before November for anyone who cared to look closely.

  148. 148.

    ruemara

    @FlipYrWhig: Let her know illegal immigrants most certainly do not get welfare. Then ask why someone as christian as her would deny food and housing to the least of these.

  149. 149.

    Chet Murthy

    @Adam L Silverman: Agreed, they each have things they want from a deal. But once the prosecutors have “enough to convict the other low-level guys”, the next one to turn state’s evidence has to offer somebody higher-up, right? That’s all I was implying — that eventually, absent some crazy event, with so many conspirators, somebody’s gonna have to give up a higher-up.

  154. 154.

    chris

    @Doug R: Sorry, no. Harper dropped the tax and because he was a “trained economist” didn’t feel the need to tell us that it would cost the Government $26 billion a year. His way of cutting government down to size prior to the dragging and drowning.

  155. 155.

    dogwood

    @efgoldman:
    I guess it hard for me to see Trump as the mastermind in all this espionage. I’ve yet to see him show any real understanding of anything other than his brand. He’s a thug with money. No doubt he’s financially tied to the Russian mob and Russian oligarchs, but I can’t imagine the spies filling him in on what’s really going on. He’s a very stupid and unsophisticated man.

  156. 156.

    Another Scott

    @Debbie1: That picture is from a set that is easy to find on a Google Image search (“mar-a-lago parrots”). It seems to be from a 1996 profile for Playboy and the parrots are at his Florida Xanadu. Vanity Fair has a funny article from the author about it.

    The other pictures of the parrots don’t look like they’re making out (e.g. one isn’t on top of the other), but it’s easy to jump to that conclusion.

    But, it’s still creepy.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  157. 157.

    Yarrow

    @dogwood: We’ll have to see how things go. If Trump and his crew plus a lot of top Republicans are shown to be traitors selling us out to the Russians, it will affect electoral politics. Republicans will do everything they can to pretend they never heard of that Trump guy, that Sessions guy, that Nunes guy and so forth. But Dems can easily campaign on, “Not the party of traitors” and variations on that theme.

  159. 159.

    Mike J

    William Gibson‏ Verified account @GreatDismal 2 minutes ago
    Trying to imagine the FBI flipping Christie. But would he ever have been privy to any of the real stuff, between making KFC runs? I doubt it

  163. 163.

    m.j.

    What’s it like to have a bad-hair day everyday?

    Honestly, I think if you could disrupt Don’s doo, you could foil his whole presidency.

  164. 164.

    efgoldman

    @dogwood:

    I guess it hard for me to see Trump as the mastermind in all this espionage. I’ve yet to see him show any real understanding of anything other than his brand.

    Follow the money.
    Mastermind? No.
    Tied into the Russians for milllions? Hundreds of millions? Occam sez….

  165. 165.

    dogwood

    @efgoldman:
    Absolutely. He’s financially tied to and dependent on the largesse of Russian oligarchs and mobsters. He’s also dumb enough to think that all these people work for him.

  166. 166.

    ??‍? Martin

    @dogwood: I don’t think Trump is the mastermind. But I think Citizens United created a temptation for the GOP that they couldn’t refuse against Clinton. I think the Russian problems are broader than Trump, but Trump being the candidate doesn’t get a pass for his ignorance.

  167. 167.

    Chet Murthy

    @dogwood: Uh, I dunno. As someone pointed out over at LGM, it takes a -certain- savvy to ensure that your contracts are always structured so you can skate when times get tough, so you can stiff your counterparties. And sure, maybe you can outsource that to a certain extent, but if you’re dumb enough that you can’t check that your minions are doing it right, you’ll get screwed over and over. I suspect that he knew the quid-pro-quo. Hell, we’re talking 19.5% of Rosneft. No way he didn’t want a taste of that. No way. I’ll believe that right after the rape accusations -all- turning out false. All of them.

    ETA: Oh and btw, he’s been mobbed-up for decades. No way he didn’t know you don’t get that kinda $$ from Russia without being in bed w/FSB. Yes, it’s not the same as being able to prove it. But no way he didn’t know. As others have noted, with these kinda sharks (stone/manafort/flynn), you gotta believe at least some of ’em were taping things (heh: I bet -page- wasn’t, the doofus).

    Page is still my choice in the Dead Pool.

  170. 170.

    divF

    Even though it is late … I will observe that the picture of The Donald at the top of the page immediately brought to mind photos of Orson Welles late in life.

    Trump looks much more unhealthy than usual.

  173. 173.

    TenguPhule

    @Hal:

    So good, and so fitting for the times we are living in right now.

    Since the major heroes all die, I hope not.

  174. 174.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Vhh: Perhaps they can hire Flynn as a consultant… I hear he has experience in this sort of business…

  175. 175.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @divF: That’s not fair to Orson Welles.. at least Orson had some real talent… I kinda thought Trump looked like a disgruntled, past-his-prime mafioso in that picture…

  176. 176.

    Chet Murthy

    @TenguPhule: I’m betting heart attack. Only b/c Vladi will want to minimize strings. Tea (polonium) is too easy to trace (radioactive). There are untold number of poisons that could lead to a heart attack. Similarly, with CCTV, too easy for perps to be caught before/after, so I figure, defenestration is out. And bullets? Ehh, so messy. Poisoning is so easy.

  178. 178.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Flynn is looking to 1) keep his retirement as a general officer intact as he has no personal fortune.

    I would have thought for Flynn that it would be 1)Avoid being recalled to duty and sentenced to death as a Russia loving traitor by military court.

    I understand that traditionally Military Justice has been to Justice what Military music is to real music, but this time I think the harshness works towards real justice this time.

  179. 179.

    TenguPhule

    @Chet Murthy: Reliable delivery methods are a pain though. Especially since any that leave obvious entry wounds would raise more flags then silencing Page would. And all jokes aside, poisoning food and beverages is really really not a preferred method due to 1)leaving evidence behind and 2)the basic uncertainty of making sure only your target consumes it.

    My bet would be bullet or car accident. Easy to source and simple operations (relatively speaking).

  180. 180.

    mohagan

    @satby: My mother lived on the Peninsula (Palo Alto), and after I moved to Mendocino County in the 1970s, I would go down every 2-3 months to visit, staying at the house where I grew up. So that’s almost 40 years of visiting. She died in 2014, and I had to spend several weeks there, cleaning out the house before selling it. Now that it’s sold, I’ve been back twice, and it is rather melancholy. I had a long-standing connection to the town, and except for a couple of friends, it is gone. So I know what you’re saying.

  182. 182.

    Brachiator

    @jl:

    As for tax reform. Will that really be easier?

    The outline of the Republican plan has been on the table for months, maybe even a couple of years. Also note that conservative Democrats have, in the past, signed on for much of this as well.

    People in the tax and accounting industry have access not only to the outline, but also to analyses of the potential impact of the tax plan.

    A couple of overviews have been provided by The Hill and NPR.

    Remember, con man Trump brings nothing to the table. He has no detail ideas about tax reform. His main contribution would be to push corporate rates down further than initial GOP plans. He will back whatever the Republicans want.

    Also, how would Trump benefit? Look at his 2005 tax return. He paid $38 million. Trump and the GOP want to eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax, which tries to ensure that the rich pay a little something. With the AMT gone, Trump would have saved $31 million in 2005, and paid taxes at an effective rate of 4 percent. Sweet.

    ETA: Could the Trump/Russia thing be as simple as just following the money?

  183. 183.

    amk

    At some point in the nearish future, Trump will look directly into a camera and say, “I never tried to repeal and replace Obamacare.”— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) March 25, 2017

  184. 184.

    amk

    The Art of the Deal1. Don’t learn abt the deal2. Take someone else’s deal3. Let 3rd party offer worse deal4. Beg5. Give up on the deal— Seth (@spllck) March 24, 2017

  186. 186.

    amk

    [2016]GENIE: I will give you the Presidency now. But next year, you’ll try to repeal the ACA and completely beclown yourselves.GOP: Deal— Daniel Lin (@DLin71) March 24, 2017

  188. 188.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @mohagan: We’ve had some rain(snow up there) this year. It was really cloudy up there with a cool breeze. I was hoping for some nice views of the city, but instead got some cool pics of clouds below us. I anyone is in Southern CA, I’d recommend the hike from Eaton Saddle to Mt. Lowe, it’s a pleasant 3 mile r/t hike with a mild elevation gain. The kid said it was easier than the Observatory to Mt. Hollywood.

  189. 189.

    sukabi

    @debbie: he’s got that in the first 60 days. This far in we were still only speculating on how bad W was going to be. And the “scandals” involved the “w” being taken off the WH keyboards….seems kinda quaint.

  191. 191.

    amk

    "I'm Steve Bannon. i've been in politics since August 2016. You will bow before me, elected Republican officials! I ran a website!"— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) March 25, 2017

  193. 193.

    Patricia Kayden

    @debbie: Lol! You are hilarious. Isn’t it amazing that we have a President who has admitted to lusting after his own daughter and yet received almost unanimous Evangelical support? Strange times.

  194. 194.

    SFAW

    @amk:

    Timeline of tax reform pic.twitter.com/Y4sFfCH1AE— Daniel Lin (@DLin71) March 25, 2017

    That timeline is wicked pissah. I also liked one of the responses:

    “Replace all stairs with Golden Escalators. Make the disabled pay for it.”

  195. 195.

    SFAW

    I expect this thread is dead — certainly dying — but if schrodinger’s cat is still reading this: Check out Daniel Lin’s tweet of Feb 26.

  196. 196.

    bystander

    Dead thread? I reserve the right to repost.

    For anyone wondering how long before Trump turns on ZEGS, the answer is right away.

    Only this time Trump is having unindicted felon “Judge” Pirro do his backstabbing.

  198. 198.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Raoul: Who cares if Ryan is toast? I don’t get what Trump thinks he is accomplishing with bringing down Ryan. Whether he likes it or not, he has to work with the Republican apparatus which includes party officials like Ryan and McConnell. What does he think this is? One of his private businesses?

  200. 200.

    Bruce K

    @Patricia Kayden: That may be the crux of the cheeto’s dilemma: thinking he can run the country like he runs his business. I think he still truly doesn’t get that the President of the United States is an administrator, not a despot.

  201. 201.

    Chris

    @FlipYrWhig:

    So people being on welfare is “even scarier” than people committing crimes.

    Twit, cretin, imbecile, fool, dimwit, nincompoop.

  202. 202.

    hueyplong

    Seeing how every other president has aged in office and knowing what we do about Trump’s trim athleticism and control over his emotions, I’m kind of tempted to go with Trump himself in the above-referenced “dead pool,” assuming as I do that Putin normally reserves shot-in-the-street treatment for Russian nationals. He might rightly assume that Fox News is a safer guarantor of his secrets than broad daylight rubouts in American cities.

  204. 204.

    Bill Arnold

    @Chet Murthy:

    As others have noted, with these kinda sharks (stone/manafort/flynn), you gotta believe at least some of ’em were taping things (heh: I bet -page- wasn’t, the doofus).

    At this point any of Trump’s team who are not surreptitiously recording conversations are being naively trusting. And those of them who are naively sure that the other party(ies) is(are) not recording them are … naive. Just saying.

  208. 208.

    Nora

    @FlipYrWhig: My husband and I noticed the same thing at the gym this week — twice they were running the same story about some undocumented kids who were charged with raping a girl at their high school.

    My husband saw it as Fox trying to take up time and space so they wouldn’t have to deal with the shit storm.

    I was impressed that the Fox people clearly had to do something they hated — believing that a rape was real, especially a rape of a teenage girl — instead of taking their usual stance that the lying slut was asking for it. I suppose it was easier for them because the defendants in this case were immigrants, but still. . .

  210. 210.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Patricia Kayden: Not a lot of difference in spelling between godbotherers & bodgrabhers, amirite?

    In fact the godbotherers slithered out to vote Thuglican after their preacher-creatures assured them that in short (dis)order the Tangerine Ferret-headed Shitgibbon would (shazam!) depart the Oval Office (by a process unspecified) in favor of their theocratic dreamboat Mike Dunce.

    And that’s the rub, folks. Anyone who thinks the Dunce is demonstrably compromised by the Rooskies enough to be vulnerable to impeachment is dreaming.

    Call me paranoid, but my personal nightmare since Nov 9 last has been that Dolt45’s untimely demise would be arranged (bonus points if blame could be fobbed off on, say, a dark-skinned person with weapons training whose dear parent/sibling/spouse is being deported) & that the Dunce would take office with an LBJ-style mandate & proceed to railroad the country down bullet-train tacks to Gilead. I haven’t seen anything in the interim to take that scenario off the table.

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