Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

No one could have predicted…

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Come on, man.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

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

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Open Thread: Point & Mock

Open Thread: Point & Mock

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Of course — a broken windows theory for the One Percenters! If only there were a drive for zero-tolerance policing of that class…

Tom Ricks, at very serious Foreign Policy, has the second installment of his “Trump Handler Diaries”:

Bottomless line: I HATE being Trump’s handler.

As when Frau Merkel visits! She read him riotous act on what she likes to call “KGB.” She says Mister President I lived under Russians most of life in East Germany. She says she knows how they do. When he interrupts, she stops him, says, Herr President, you being played like chump. Instead of smiling and politely thanking her for her interest in national security, “Big Orange” reacts as four-year-old child caught with hand in cookie jar…

Our staff placed in covert jobs in greater Palm Beach there complain of poor treatment by capitalist visitors. Code name “Moose,” one veteran of many ops, now working as waiter, says rich Americans in Palm Beach are peoples of “no culture.” (Coming from Russian, bigly insult there.) Also, his report states, they tip on the pre-tax total, which he terms “excessively thrifty.” I suggest with bright laugh that he organize workers. But he is failing to see the humor of it…

But enough of such banal matters. Here a big sigh. My problem remains of course Big Orange. Even more, what is my mission with him? If to get information, he is Grade-D source — meaning, nothing checks out! (Good thing I didn’t buy his health plan!) And if mission is simply to undermine American democracy, is not my work here done? Have been awaiting clarification for months. Lubyanka merely responds, “All will be clear.”

Personally, I think President Vladimir Putin never expected him to win, and don’t know what to do now. Just wanted to harass Clinton. Now we are like dog who caught car. A big fat American car…

THANKS, REPUBLICANS!

Reader Interactions

102Comments

  3. 3.

    hellslittlestangel

    Nobody knew that making an angry simpleton the most powerful person in the world would be so complicated.

  4. 4.

    GregB

    Beta Whitehouse! A bunch of decadent soft puds like Reince, Trump and Bannon.

    Laugh my ass off.

  6. 6.

    Suzanne

    I love how these assholes think that no one is really affected while they “beta-test” their bullshit. It’s a tacit admission that they don’t think they matter.

  7. 7.

    MattF

    Looks like ‘Axios’ is peddling clicks + bullshit. Their metaphor doesn’t work– Trump’s White House is more like software projects that fail because every single person working on the project is incompetent.

  8. 8.

    JPL

    Today a Jon Ossoff supporter came to my door, and a local news station who was doing a poll called.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: We really need a letter that comes before alpha to set the proper analogy. I would say “still in the design and prototyping phase”, except that’s also giving them too much credit for planning and foresight.

  11. 11.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MattF: Trump’s White House is more like software projects that fail because every single person working on the project is incompetent.

    a software project run by people who have never used a computer. And their sons-in-law

  13. 13.

    Starfish

    @JPL: Is this a good sign? I will take it as a sign of “They have enough money to go door to door.” But i hope they are going to the doors of people who need to be nagged about voting and not just the doors of definite supporters.

  15. 15.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Mentioned this in a thread a day or so ago, but to me one of the genius things about that cover is the golf balls all over the lawn, just in time for the Annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

  19. 19.

    Roger Moore

    @dmsilev:

    I would say “still in the design and prototyping phase”, except that’s also giving them too much credit for planning and foresight.

    They’re in the trial and error stage, with definite emphasis on the error. I’m hoping more of them go to trial in the near future.

  24. 24.

    FlyingToaster

    @Roger Moore: The only competent person on staff is the build guru, who’s somebody’s trophy wife’s stepnephew. He’s using this joint as a stepping stone to get the VCs to place him in a viable startup.

  25. 25.

    JPL

    @Starfish: Since I have been working for a local election that is the same day, it appears that they are using the A list of voters. Interesting story though, the gal was a senior in high school, and her mom was driving her. The mom is a republican, and so excited that her daughter is doing this. The reason I know is the mom also supports the person running for city council and mentioned my sign. We had a nice chat. City Council is non-partisan, so I’m careful when I go door to door for that race, but folks with Ossoff signs are really excited. The other dems running need to drop out now and support Jon, but they won’t.

    Price still won 60/40.. so there’s that.

  28. 28.

    Redshift

    @dmsilev:

    We really need a letter that comes before alpha to set the proper analogy. I would say “still in the design and prototyping phase”, except that’s also giving them too much credit for planning and foresight

    It’s a “prototype” created by a VP who thinks he can code, handed off​ to some Junior exec wannabes who read some articles about coding, with regular developers assigned to assist but not being allowed to make any decisions or being given any other information about how the final product is supposed to work. Yeah, there should be a word for that; maybe in German.

    (I’ve worked on projects that almost got that description, except for the junior executive wannabes. Unfortunately, they rarely end with the VP getting fired, which would be the only sane response.)

  30. 30.

    FlyingToaster

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Actually, alas, it looks like a lot of bad-idea-project beta code.

    Back in the mid-90s, I worked on several large projects where I ended up in charge of the beta cycle (e.g, integrating each coder’s contribution to the whole and wrangling integration testing).

    For one project, where computer-based-training was damn near the ideal approach to teaching that shit, it worked wonderfully.

    For the next project, where it was a bad M&A CEO’s idea of how to convince the troops to “own” their work, it was utterly, completely horrible. And yes, the M&A CEO was bad, AND his idea was bad. And the company is dead as a fucking doornail, leaving artifacts all over the place. The code ran, but I wish to FSM I’d figured out a way to sabotage it. A fucking embarassment all around.

  34. 34.

    Chet Murthy

    As brilliant as the commenters are around here, I’m -still- surprised that nobody stooped down to (uh) pick up the obvious turd lying there ….. man, I think you guys are just too polite. Or at least, a whole heckuva lot more presentable to my Mom’s friends, than I am.

  38. 38.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Mike J:

    And some of them regard electricity like climate change, evolution, gravity… it’s all just egghead elitism! Two Corinthians didn’t say Jack about no damn climate change.

  42. 42.

    JPL

    @Starfish: I will add that since there is a city council run-off the same day, that should increase turnout. I’m not sure that helps. If it were just a district 6 election, the repubs might stay home assuming that they’d vote in a runoff. In GA you have to get 50 percent of the voters. I believe that he needs to win outright, which is what they are shooting for. Tomorrow I’m going to a forum that some dems and some rep candidates are attending. Since I will be there representing a city council candidate, I have to behave. I’ll update here though.

  44. 44.

    mainmata

    Who knew Tom Ricks was a pretty cool satirist (BTW, I think he is very good on defense analysis). Obviously, will have to check out the first installment.

  45. 45.

    FlyingToaster

    @Chet Murthy: I think if you can find a way to make the turd entertaining, go for it.

    Otherwise, it’s just too fucking sad to acknowledge.

  47. 47.

    patrick II

    @dmsilev:

    We really need a letter that comes before alpha to set the proper analogy. I would say “still in the design and prototyping phase”, except that’s also giving them too much credit for planning and foresight.

    I would suggestw an “infinite amount of monkeys writing code” except in that analogy the monkeys eventually get something right.

  48. 48.

    Shalimar

    They’re in the Selling The Big Idea To The Venture Capitaliat phase, before actually hiring employees with expertise to tell them whether health, immigration and trade reform are possible and also a good idea.

  49. 49.

    dmsilev

    @Tokyokie: That’s actually unfair to Schilling and his company. They did produce one game which by all reports (I never played myself) was a decent piece of work. It was when they tried to make the jump from ‘decent single-player game’ to ‘massive online world with thousands of players at once’ that things went south in a hurry.

  51. 51.

    lahke

    If this thread has a topic, this comment will be off it–anyone going to be in Portland, Oregon in August for the solar eclipse, and want to meet up? I will be encumbered with family, but maybe free on the evening of the 19th. Early, I know, but I’m booking the flights and car now, so just thinking ahead.

  52. 52.

    ThresherK

    @EBT: That was my first thought too. We are dealing with a set of males which throw around the term “cuck” with abandon, and specialize in projection.

  53. 53.

    Это курам на смех

    @lahke: The August 21 eclipse will cross the Willamette Valley with its center about 40 miles south of Portland, missing Portland itself. So we will be driving south a bit that morning.

  54. 54.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lahke:

    If this thread has a topic, this comment will be off it

    Can we make this line a rotating tag, please?

  55. 55.

    lahke

    @Это курам на смех: Right, I’ll be driving over to the Dalles on the 20th, then down to Madras on the 21st (left the hotel booking till too late, due to afore-mentioned family, so couldn’t get into the valley itself for a room. ) I talked to the Madras Chamber of Commerce last year when I was finally getting going, and they’ve already booked all the port-a-potties in the state for the folks who are just driving in for the day…..

  56. 56.

    Steve in the ATL

    @JPL:

    Today a Jon Ossoff supporter came to my door, and a local news station who was doing a poll called.

    Nice! No Ossoff signs or door knockers here, but I have received many mailings (two today alone!), a text and VM to my personal cell phone, and not sure about calls to my home phone as we have not answered it in several years.

    A D win in this district would be HUGE!

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    @GregB: As I’ve said before: if you have to tell everyone you’re an alpha male, you’re not.

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lahke:
    @Это курам на смех:

    I’m close enough to the path of maximum coverage that I will simply drive, either to TN or SC, hang out someplace (in a rest stop or along the highway if I have to) to watch, and then head back to the ATL. I really hope it’s a nice clear day. I lived in Tampa in the early ’70s when it was supposed to get a great solar eclipse (the one billed as “Darkness at Noon”) but it was rainy and cloudy and so overcast that it was impossible to tell when the sun-darkening occurred. I want things to be so dramatic in August that the birds stop singing and automatic streetlights go on and King Arthur’s entire court worships me as a high priestess.

  62. 62.

    lahke

    @SiubhanDuinne: in that case, you need to be in a desert, and about the only shot for that is central Oregon and maybe some of Wyoming, all of which got booked up over a year ago. This will be my 9th eclipse, never clouded out once, and it’s based on hitting the driest spots possible. Thought about heading to maximum totality in the Kentucky/Tennessee area, but they call that area the Smokies for a reason, and so Oregon it will be.

    I love going to see eclipses, and it’s not just for the frisson of watching the sun go out, and the area around the shadow start up thunder and lightning due to the temperature differential. It’s the forced deadline that gets me out of my cave-like niche and out of the fuzzy mode of “I’ll get to visit Turkey/Japan/Australia/Mongolia one day”, and instead says “go now, now, now or you’ll miss it!”

  63. 63.

    FlyingToaster

    @lahke: I expect we’re heading for Kansas City and catching totality at St. Joseph’s Rosecrans Field. I’m not in charge of this; HerrDoktor was the astrophysics undergrad. I’ll book flights and rooms after we get the final schedule for summer.

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lahke:

    It’s the forced deadline that gets me out of my cave-like niche and out of the fuzzy mode of “I’ll get to visit Turkey/Japan/Australia/Mongolia one day”, and instead says “go now, now, now or you’ll miss it!”

    You just summed up a lot of my life.

    A trip to the PNW isn’t in the cards for me anyhow this year, but I’ll do fine in the SEUSA. As I said, I can do it all in less than a day — totality is not more than 2 or 2-1/2 hours away from where I live — and as long as I pack a couple of sandwiches, some dark chocolate, and plenty of water, it should be easy and gratifying.

  65. 65.

    Ruckus

    @dmsilev:
    This is the monkey version of prototyping. Throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. In their book, that’s the good stuff.

  68. 68.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Agreed. I’ve participated in beta programs, and they pretty much worked and we testers were finding the last of the problems before the final release. This WH is alpha at best.

  69. 69.

    tybee

    for the eclipse, or what i see of it, i”l be drunk on a beach just south of savannah.

  70. 70.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Starfish:

    I will take it as a sign of “They have enough money to go door to door.”

    Last thing I read said the Ossoff campaign had raised FOUR MILLION DOLLARS… when a Democrat running in that Congressional district typically raises maybe $10,000…

  73. 73.

    RandomMonster

    @dmsilev: It’s actually not unfair. Schilling thought that he — a rich guy who knows nothing about how games are made and what makes them successful — could start a company and go up against and beat World of Warcraft. Hubris mixed with incompetence.

  75. 75.

    Это курам на смех

    @lahke: Chances of a mid-August sunny day in the Willamette Valley are pretty good (its cloudy only nine months a year here!). Regarding your plans, driving out to The Dalles to get to Madras is out of the way; you can go straight there via Mount Hood on Hwy 26. Be prepared for Madras to be mobbed because the town and a number of travel vendors are staging a big event there.

  77. 77.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @RandomMonster:

    Hubris mixed with incompetence.

    Didn’t Schilling do it w/ gub’mint money, to boot?

    Oh yeah… a $75 loan from the state of RI… I thought Curt went back and asked for more when the 1st $75MM was all gone and in the end, he got investigated for fraud…

    Definitely an alpha male in action…

  78. 78.

    Brachiator

    Great New Yorker cover, and very insightful comments. Lots of metaphors jammed into the image. Loved the sky reminder of Easter eggs on the White House lawn.

    I recall how some conservatives used racist insinuations to suggest that Obama’s presence desecrated the White House. This image makes plain Trump’s disregard for the White House and the whole damn country.

  79. 79.

    WaterGirl

    @Adam L Silverman: I had two dogs, Bailey and Murphy. Murhphy was a cocker spaniel and Bailey was a 40-lb black & white mutt. I would throw the ball and they would both run after it, and if Bailey got there first, sometimes Murphy would grab the ball out of Bailey’s mouth.

    People who weren’t paying close attention would comment that Murphy was the alpha dog. Nope. 9 times out of 10 Bailey would let Murphy grab the ball from him, but when it really mattered it was very clear that Bailey was the alpha dog. He didn’t have to pump himself up and act like the big dog all the time – he knew he was the big dog.

    edited

  82. 82.

    Jeffro

    @SiubhanDuinne: @lahke:

    I hear this summer’s eclipse is supposed to go right over Southern Illinois (where I have a lot of family)…that is a tough call, right there. ;)

  83. 83.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Miss Bianca: Samurai Jack is a cartoon by Genndy Tartakovsky. Same guy that came up with the Dexter’s Laboratory cartoon. Both on cartoon network. Samurai Jack is about a samurai who is wrenched through time from his home in feudal Japan to a dystopian future ruled by a ruthless, mystic powered demon warlord name Aku. The story through line is Jack’s struggle to survive and find a way home while also becoming a ronin (masterless samurai/literally: wave man/man floating on waves) who fights on behalf of those that Aku, his minions, and other’s have oppressed. The show was cancelled/ended before Jack found a way home. Tartakovsky recently brought the show back to life and the fans hope that they’ll get a proper resolution to the story arc.

  84. 84.

    Glidwrith

    @Miss Bianca: Samurai Jack is an awesome animated series about a samurai (natch) seeking to destroy ultimate evil in the form of Aku (originally voiced by Mako). This is the final season after a multi year hiatus. Truly unique in style and dialog (or lack thereof).

    This season won’t mean as much to you if you haven’t watched the previous four.

    ETA: Dammit Adam! He said it better. (Goes off into corner to pout).

  92. 92.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Adam L Silverman: Well… then think of Speier’s call as the cherry on the sundae… actually, I just heard Rachel Maddow say that all nine Democratic members of the committee are now asking for Nunes to recuse himself… and Schiff has finally been ‘allowed’ (snort) to see the super-super-super top secret intel Nunes ran to the WH w/ and has said, ‘I see no reason why everyone on the committee shouldn’t see this stuff…’

    Well played, Rep. Schiff…

  93. 93.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Thru the Looking Glass…: Yep. And Schiff, who I will remind everyone, is a former US Attorney who actually successfully prosecuted a FBI Special Agent for being compromised by the Russians, not only actually knows and understands how all this works, unlike Nunes, he also stated that he didn’t see anything in what he was shown at the White House that would allow Nunes to draw any of the conclusions he did.

  95. 95.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Adam L Silverman:

    … he also stated that he didn’t see anything in what he was shown at the White House that would allow Nunes to draw any of the conclusions he did.

    That’s the part I liked… IMHO, Schiff put Nunes on the spot by saying what he did…

    I kinda think that Nunes was looking for some sort of angry reply on Schiff’s part that perhaps could be spun in some manipulative way, resulting in a silly, ‘No, You go first’ kind of argument…

    Instead, Schiff went soft and polite and hanged Nunes out to dry… now Nunes has to do something… well played…

  97. 97.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    I have a theory about Flynn’s offer to testify in return for immunity…

    Let’s see what some of the actual lawyers here think of it…

    (I’m not a lawyer… I just like to play one in the theater of my own mind…)

    So here’s what I’m wondering…

    Were Flynn and the Trump WH trying to set a trap? I read a comment today in a Twitter thread (Seth Abramson) where someone said it’s unusual for a person to ask for immunity so publicly… it’s usually done confidentially… not only that, I wonder why Trump was openly urging Flynn to testify…

    Was the trap that if Flynn was given immunity, would he then say he did it all on his own and no one in the Trump Admin knew anything about this?

    1) Flynn, having been granted immunity, would be untouchable and…

    2) Trump would be protected from any further charges…

    I’m relieved to see no one took Flynn up on his offer at this point…

    Does my scenario make sense?

  99. 99.

    TenguPhule

    @Thru the Looking Glass…:

    Was the trap that if Flynn was given immunity, would he then say he did it all on his own and no one in the Trump Admin knew anything about this?

    No. Because before giving immunity, he’d have to sign that 1)he isn’t lying and 2)his information pertains to taking down other more important parties.

    His immunity would be void if he tried that stunt and he’d also face new counts for perjury.

  100. 100.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @TenguPhule: You’re making the assumption that both Flynn and Trump are smart enough to understand all of that… and so far, how often have they proven that they’re anywhere near truly intelligent?

    Just look at the stunt someone on the inside dreamed up with Nunes and his super-super-super top secret intel? No, it didn’t work but yes, it did work because how matter how silly it’s turned out to be, it STILL gave Trump some cover… hell, O’Reilly was asking Sessions yesterday (I think) not about Russia but about the WIRETAPPING story…

    The issue isn’t whether or not they fool you or me… it’s can they get their followers to eat that shit?

    Perhaps the story will be something like, ‘What are the Dems afraid of? Why did they turn down Flynn’s offer? What are they trying to keep secret?’

  102. 102.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    Here are links to some interesting commentary on what Flynn’s request for immunity might be about…

    This one was written by Andrew Kent for Lawfare…

    What Lies Behind Flynn’s Public Request for Immunity?

    Here’s another one from Lawfare, written by Paul Rosenzweig…

    Immunity

    By Alex Whiting at Just Security

    Flynn’s Public Offer to Testify for Immunity Suggests He May Have Nothing to Say

    Lastly, here’s Seth Abramson… warning… he posted thru his Twitter account and what he has to say is broken up over multiple tweets which can get annoying after a bit…

    (MEGA-THREAD) RETWEET if you or anyone you know wants to understand the legal implications of Mike Flynn seeking immunity from prosecution.

    Good stuff… a lot of information about a complicated subject… I think I was right about what I said above… the offer was meant as a trap for the Dems… Schiff looks too smart to fall for it…

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