LTG McMaster, the Assistant to the President-National Security Advisor (APNSA), is scheduled to hold a press conference at 11:30 AM EDT. As BettyC wrote this morning, the President’s 7 AM tweets seem to have completely undercut the statements of LTG McMaster, his senior deputy Dina Powell, and Secretary of State Tillerson from late yesterday afternoon/early yesterday evening. I would expect that this morning’s press conference will be a further attempt to redirect and conduct crisis communications to manage these reports rather than to create further crises.
Here is a link to the (now correct) live feed:
Calouste
We’ll see if McMaster has any honor left or whether he is just a chump.
germy
I think “redirect” is the key word here.
The Moar You Know
If he has anything like the brain he’s supposed to have the only thing he can say is “I quit”. I’m betting that intellect of his is overrated and he stays.
MobiusKlein
@Calouste: anybody with honor or dignity would have quit on their first day, or even earlier.
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
Hey sir,
Resign your position as head of NSC and drop that retirement packet. It ain’t gonna get better.
Signed,
Every grunt, POG, and leg that’s ever had a bad CO
rikyrah
Preet Bharara is on the Warpath Against Trump
by Martin Longman
Mon May 15th, 2017 at 01:20:33 PM EST
Preet Bharara is the inspiration for the character played by Paul Giamatti on Showtime‘s hit program Billions. I’m not sure how he feels about that since the portrayal isn’t entirely sympathetic, but it’s an indication of Bharara’s reputation in certain powerful circles, as well as of the importance of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. As the show indicates, the Southern District covers Wall Street, and investigating the richest people in America for possible indictment is not a job for the weak kneed.
After coming into office, Trump quickly asked for the resignations of the currently serving U.S. Attorneys, but he made an exception in Bharara’s case. He explicitly asked Bharara to stay on, which may have been an acknowledgement of his reputation or simply admiration for his status as a fellow celebrity. I don’t know.
What was more significant was that the president quickly changed his mind and fired Bharara, and that this decision came at a time when rumors were circling that Bharara might be investigating him or his cabinet.
At first, Bharara expressed his astonishment and displeasure but was fairly muted about it. That’s changing now.
Over the weekend, he had a piece published in the Washington Post that called for “a truly bipartisan investigation in Congress” of Russian interference in our election. It also called for “an independent and uncompromised special counsel to oversee the Russia investigation.”
And then today, Bharara took to Twitter to comment on rumors that Trump is thinking about firing a bunch of his senior staff.
Calouste
@MobiusKlein: There’s that. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that his sense of duty overrode his honor when he took the job, bit it is clear now that he is just asked to put up a front for the indefensible, just to get stabbed in the back the next day.
Immanentize
Is anyone else here a fan of Was Not Was? This whole thing is making me think of one of their songs:
Bernie
@The Moar You Know:
Yes, because everyone’s answer should be to run away, instead of staying in a position where you might be able to mitigate some of the damage. Way to put party above country.
rikyrah
The GOP’s Morally Repugnant Argument About the ‘Undeserving Sick
by Nancy LeTourneau
May 16, 2017 7:02 AM
For decades now the Republicans have leaned on the idea of the “undeserving poor” to garner support for their attempts to do away with the social safety net. We’ve seen it in everything from Ronald Reagan’s reference to “welfare queens” to Romney’s attempt to define almost half the country as simply voting for Democrats because they give people “free stuff.”
We are now witnessing that same kind of argument being employed in order to defend Republican attempts to repeal Obamacare. Arguments are starting to surface about the “undeserving sick.” The groundwork for that was laid by Paul Ryan in his power point presentation about how those with pre-existing conditions are driving up the costs of insurance for those who are healthy.
It was first and foremost a ridiculous claim in which Ryan demonstrated that he either doesn’t understand how insurance works or thinks he can fool the rest of us into not understanding. But underlying the argument is the idea that those who need medical care can/should be cordoned off from the rest of us who are healthy, as if any of us at any given moment might not face the reality of a change into which group we belong. That set up the “us vs them” way of framing things.
As I wrote recently, Rep. Mo Brooks took it the next step.
In other words, the Republican health care bill protects “people who lead good lives” from those who don’t. The latter are the “undeserving sick.”
Это курам на смех
@Immanentize: Does polonium change the flavor of ice cream?
clay
@The Moar You Know: It’s possible that he’s just smart enough to think he can fix this. (By “this”, I mean this whole fucking mess that the country finds itself in.) Or, at least, think that he’s the thumb in the dyke to prevent something worse.
If he quit, who knows? Trump might try to appoint Flynn again!
cervantes
The generous interpretation is that McMaster was trying to put out the fire with the country (possibly Saudi Arabia) that provided the intelligence. I.e. his motive was not to protect Orange Julius so much as to tamp down the consequences of the incident. What he might say this morning, however, is hard to imagine.
Roger Moore
@Calouste:
Smart money is on chump. That’s the problem with trumpsubstantiation.
Immanentize
@rikyrah: this is so true. I’ve been blowing this horn in my work since the ’90s. My friend and I came up with a term for it — Prison Keynesianism –. Half the poor will be in prison while the other half are employed as police and prison guards. See, also, Clockwork Orange. Race will be a factor.
rikyrah
If this muthaphucka here doesn’t go down and STFU
The Hill
✔
@thehill
JUST IN: Mitch McConnell supports Merrick Garland to replace James Comey as FBI director http://hill.cm/zn2Dcc6
9:01 AM – 16 May 2017
rikyrah
Carrie JohnsonVerified account @johnson_carrie
BREAKING: Two friends of Merrick Garland tell me he “loves being a judge and he intends to remain on the bench” despite calls to run FBI.
Immanentize
@Это курам на смех: Mistake made! I read plutonium, not polonium!!
polonium will never be used for that purpose. Too valuable. Radioactive waste is much more useful. Two birds and all that.But I think that people use tea or coffee to mask the bitter metallic aspects.Now the Bulgarians and their ricin umbrella — that was spy craft!
Corner Stone
Any D who says with a straight face that Garland is the right pick to head FBI needs to be having a Come to Jesus meeting ASAP.
Walker
@rikyrah:
This is a Republican ploy to open up a seat on the D.C. Court
Calouste
@Roger Moore: It was a rhetorical question.
Jeffro
@rikyrah: Mitch is a douche par excellence and I hope someday karma catches up with him. Someday soon.
Cheryl Rofer
I can’t see that podium without thinking of Melissa McCarthy.
clay
@rikyrah: Has anyone asked Garland if he even wants or would take the job? It’s hard to see how any half-way intelligent person would leave a lifetime, influential judgeship to join the self-immolation of the Trump administration.
Until Garland says anything, I’ll assume that Repubs are just spitting into the wind when they mention his name.
EDIT: Ah, I see your follow-up post. That’s what I figured.
Edward Marshall
Is this the right feed? It says Spicer from April.
Immanentize
Garland would be a super FBI head. His work in Oklahoma City was definitely a management success and filled with integrity. But I doubt he would answer the call from Trump only to be fired in a month.
Jeffro
Nickel bet McMaster resigns…comeoncomeonpleaseberightforonce…
Corner Stone
As I mentioned to Adam the other day, there might have been a time when a patriot could try to make the argument that it was better to serve your country from inside this admin. But we are very, very far beyond that point now. There are no checks on what Trump may/will do next. The after action clean ups or trying to repair breaches with allies/friends will always be undermined by Trump himself. Any time you are asked to come out and make a statement you should say sure thing, in 24 hours.
There is no honor in serving this administration. You can’t save the country from Trump.
Calouste
@Immanentize: Polonium was used to assassinate a Russian dissident on London a few years back. And the amounts you need are so small that taste won’t be a concern. Still very expensive though.
Elie
I cant think why he would have a press conference. What can he say?
This whole regime is dangerously incompetent and unstable without any sign of righting itself. Things will continue to get worse – I see catastrophe ahead without instruments to save us because the Congress is dysfunctional and corrupt. I hope that changes before it’s too late
Chyron HR
@rikyrah:
This is just an excuse to recycle their “We did what the liberals wanted and they’re STILL complaining” arguments from last week.
rikyrah
Trump’s Leak to Russians Was Worse Than Reported
May 16, 2017
By Taegan Goddard
Erick Erickson says he knows one of the sources who told the Washington Post that President Trump gave classified information to the Russian foreign minister and “the source is solidly supportive of President Trump, or at least has been and was during Campaign 2016.”
“But the President will not take any internal criticism, no matter how politely it is given. He does not want advice, cannot be corrected, and is too insecure to see any constructive feedback as anything other than an attack. So some of the sources are left with no other option but to go to the media, leak the story, and hope that the intense blowback gives the President a swift kick in the butt. Perhaps then he will recognize he screwed up. The President cares vastly more about what the press says than what his advisers say. That is a real problem and one his advisers are having to recognize and use, even if it causes messy stories to get outside the White House perimeter.”
“I am told that what the President did is actually far worse than what is being reported.”
Immanentize
@Calouste: yes. I totally agree I fixed my comment as soon as I could . I read it wrong. Sorry….
Kay
It’s weirdly fascinating waiting to find out just how much Republicans and the wealthy people who bankroll Republicans will trade for a tax cut.
They made this trade. Now we’re all going to pay for it. The only question is how much we’ll pay- the amount we’ll have to sacrifice to get the top 1% their tax cut.
rikyrah
How Trump Hurts the Spying Business
New York Times
May 16, 2017
The man seated across from me had been a spy for the United States for several decades. Recruited by a C.I.A. officer, this man, at great risk to his and his family’s lives, had provided critically important intelligence that formed the basis of innumerable raw intelligence reports, some of which found their way into the President’s Daily Brief.
We met because he wanted to tell me something. With tears in his eyes, he explained that he was drawn to work for us by the idea of America — that America stood for justice, decency and freedom and against tyranny, oppression and injustice. He said that he agreed to divulge critical secrets about his government’s leaders and his country’s capacities — not because the agency had compromising material on him (it did not) and not for money (he was paid, but not much), but because he believed in America.
This man’s story is hardly unique. Many people agree to become spies for the C.I.A. because they see a stark difference between our ideals and the repressive and brutal regimes of their own countries.
A friend told me recently about one of his best recruits, a full-fledged member of a terrorist organization. This person was captivated by the prospect that after his days of spying against terrorists were over, he might be able go to the United States and pursue the American dream. He, too, viewed America as embracing the world’s downtrodden and dispossessed, not their oppressors, and offering everyone the opportunity to succeed.
Both of these men romanticized America, and no doubt the C.I.A. officers who recruited them played on their somewhat exaggerated image of this country. But that image of the United States as the “last best hope of earth,” proclaimed by our leaders for decades, is an enormously effective recruiting tool, not least because it has always had a ring of truth.
I am reminded of these recruits, and many others like them, when I hear the Trump administration lavish praise on autocrats, when it tries to close our borders to refugees from war-torn countries and when Secretary of State Rex Tillerson proclaims that the United States must de-emphasize human rights.
This departure from decades of bipartisan foreign policy is rightly criticized for ignoring the critical role that “the American idea” plays in promoting our interests abroad, particularly when it comes directly from the president and the secretary of state.
Tom
Taking the other side of this argument, McMasters was a tank company commander who fought one of the most brilliant tactical actions of the first Gulf War. He has been widely regarded as being one of the Army’s best senior officers. I’d far rather have him in this thankless position that whatever piece of compromised imbicility would be brought in to replace him (if the Vatican turns her down, Calista Gingrich would be available).
LAO
Has he said anything of interest? Can’t watch — my computer is acting all tetchy.
opiejeanne
@The Moar You Know: Can he quit, though? He was active duty when he was appointed and I thought someone explained to us that he had no choice to turn down the appointment because of that.
Tom
@Corner Stone: I disagree. There is a great deal of honor in trying to mitigate the damage that Trump is doing and will continue to do, no matter how thankless the task or ultimately unsuccessful the outcome may be.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Congressional Republicans could do a lot. Congress has huge power. They decided not to, because they want to cut taxes.
They have not done one thing to rein in Trump. This is a straight-up trade. They’ve decided ordinary people will take all the risk and that’s okay, in return for tax cuts.
GregB
In times of crisis that we find ourselves in, I rest easier knowing that Invanka Trump is one of the top advisers to the President.
? Martin
@Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire: What if McMaster was the individual who saw the threat that the Russians could have blackmailed Trump and was the one who approved the leak to the media, to achieve what Adam described yesterday? From that perspective, he did the nation a service. Is that a task we want put in the hands of another compromised flunkie, like Flynn?
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@Edward Marshall: Yeah, I got a pre-Easter Sean Spicer press briefing.
Adam L Silverman
@opiejeanne: He can announce his retirement and thereby his resignation. He had been told prior to this appointment that there would not be a 3 star command or 4 star promotion for him and he should prepare for retirement from his then assignment of Deputy Commanding General, US Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and Director of US Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC).
Tom
@Jeffro: Today would be good.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
I still say that Garland’s response to the offer will be one of the three I told G to give when the company that had laid him off asked him to come back for less pay and a lower title: No; Hell, no, or; Go fuck yourselves.
rikyrah
Administration Scales Back Obamacare Options For Small Biz
Published MAY 16, 2017 9:39 AM
Small businesses will no longer be able to use a platform on the HealthCare.gov Obamacare exchanges to offer their employees insurance plans, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The move to scale back the enrollment portal, known as the Small Business Health Options Program (or SHOP), has minimal practical import — it was used by some 8,000 employers to cover a cumulative 40,000 employees, according to the Journal — but symbolically it represents the Health and Human Service Department’s efforts to wind down certain administrative aspects of Obamacare, while Republican lawmakers seek to repeal parts of the law.
The roll back of the SHOP exchanges was announced by the Trump administration Monday in a statement in which Seema Verma, the director of Centers for Medicare/Medicaid, said that the “goal is to reduce ACA burdens on consumers and small businesses and make it easier for them to purchase coverage.”
Roger Moore
@Corner Stone:
Garland would be a terrible choice to head FBI, even if it weren’t just a transparent ruse to get him off the federal bench. However, as a sitting federal judge, he’d be an excellent choice to head an independent commission to investigate the trump/Russia business.
Kay
Blah, blah, blah. Congressional Republicans do nothing.
Time spent making weak and ineffective complaints about Donald Trump = time not spent doing anything about Trump
JPL
@Kay: True! McConnell also wants Garland at the FBI, in order to put a conservative on the 11th circuit court. Trump would fire Garland after being on the job for a week.
GregB
Oh and Merrick Garland has said he has no interest in being Mitch McConcsciousless’ stooge.
Bruce K
Given the circumstances of the intel exposure … there have to be two witnesses, right?
That’s the bar set by Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution. “Two witnesses to the same overt act.” (Or confession in open court, but given the cheeto, fat chance of getting that.)
And if you could get a few Republicans who actually remember their oath was to the Constitution, and take the time to read it, then they might realize that if Article III, Section 3 applies, then that means Article II, Section 4 applies … right?
schrodingers_cat
Hate to say, I told you so but the brass is not going to save us. That includes McMaster, along with Kelly and Mattis.
Calouste
@Mnemosyne: I think Garlands’ best response would be to pretend he is interested, draw things out for a bit, and them say no anyway
amk
Barbara
@rikyrah: I will say it to anyone. A lot of our power is actually very soft, the result of having earned the trust and sometimes the admiration of people around the globe. That kind of power cannot be enforced, it can only be used. Think about it this way. Would the USA ever let a sovereign nation build military bases on our soil? Yet, many nations have extended to us that very privilege. Trump can bellow whatever he wants about doing this or that to ISIL, but if Turkey won’t let us use their airspace or Bagram Air Force Base, or Saudi Arabia wants advance notice for any fighter jets taking off in order to give permission, well, Donnie won’t be able to take his war very far. I am sure Erdogan will be delivering that very message. Trump is an idiot.
Zach
This is the wrong link. Here’s the live feed – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOABDwKlPG8
Cheryl Rofer
Sorry – deleted that one. Out of date.
McMaster’s presser is here.
Betty Cracker
@GregB: Thank dog! I thought he’d be too smart to fall into their trap, but it’s good to have confirmation of that.
Adam L Silverman
So it is looking like this is going to be all about the President’s first foreign trip.
Corner Stone
Why is McMaster giving the agenda for the trip? Is this usual that the NSA briefs the press on things like this?
Adam L Silverman
@Kay: I believe this is what you are looking for:
Lizzy L
I don’t think we need to worry about Garland — he likes his current job. Mitch McConnell is trolling. Weak sauce, dude.
I think it’s very likely that McMaster was the leaker. At some point we might even know for sure who it was. Maybe sooner rather than later…
Zach
@Adam L Silverman: This is quite an itinerary for a first foreign trip. Where’s the time for golf??
Frankensteinbeck
@Kay:
Tax cuts are a side issue. Gorsuch would have had no effect on tax cuts, and Gorsuch is the only thing McConnell has gone balls-to-the-wall for. This is about voter suppression and gerrymandering. It’s about white power. McConnell knows damn well how Republicans got the presidency despite a massive popular vote loss, he knows that same election rigging applies to all Republican power, and the rest of the Republicans know it, too. Ryan is a true Randian, but he is very much in the minority.
Corner Stone
I think we can tell from the way McMaster laughed off how “Sean tells me there may be other questions” huh huh huh, that we aren’t going to get any new news from this.
rikyrah
NBC NewsVerified account @NBCNews
Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort got a $3.5 million mystery mortgage, but paid no tax http://nbcnews.to/2pGneB4
Adam L Silverman
@Zach: Good catch. Sorry bout that. I have fixed it up top. Thanks!
Cheryl Rofer
@Corner Stone: Visualize, if you can, a world in which the President does his job and we don’t worry that he will tell our adversaries the country’s deepest secrets. Recall President Obama. Would be totally normal.
In this case, trying to run the clock out.
Corner Stone
It’s always about the leakers with these guys, never the underlying action.
Betty Cracker
McMaster is flat-out lying. Leaks are the danger! Not Trump’s big goddamned mouth.
Adam L Silverman
@Zach: I do not know. Golf, despite having lived in St. Andrews, is not really my thing.
amk
@Adam L Silverman: so, the usual nothing to see here bluster then?
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: This has been known for a while.
Corner Stone
Ah, more non-denial denials. McMaster isn’t helping himself here.
Betty Cracker
Ask him why they had to run to the IC and clean up after Trump!
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
Yes this is normal, it’s just that normally it’s a non event because no one really cares about it. Yesterdays shitstorm is what’s making it a newsworthy event, plus since it’s Twitlers first foray into the world as pres, there was more interest than normal.
Cheryl Rofer
McMaster hiding behind classification. Easy to do.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: If Trump declassified information, the Washington Post did not leak the information. I think it was Clapper who clarified, that you can’t leak information that is not classified. The Russian media was in the room.
opiejeanne
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks. That clarifies it for me.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: He is giving your governor competition for the Lex Luther role.
Immanentize
@schrodingers_cat: Military leaders rarely translate well to political leadership. For every Ike there are a hundred MacArthurs or Hagues or Norths or (McMaster/Kelly/Mattis). It’s just a very different skill set to lead by example rather than fiat.
Betty Cracker
“If the president did it, it’s appropriate.” Fucking lies and cover.
hovercraft
@Betty Cracker:
As has been said repeatedly, everything and everyone Twitler touches turns to shit.
rikyrah
Mazel Tov CocktailVerified account @AdamSerwer
Sally Yates says Flynn’s name was left unredacted by intel agencies—not at the request of Obama officials. http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-preview-of-our-interview-with-sally-yates …
Zach
McMaster is not good at this. Revealing that Trump made the decision, on the fly, to share confidential information… that could have been avoided.
Steeplejack (phone)
McMaster’s talk so far is bullshit—a bullet-point itinerary with occasional rah-rah cheerleading about how awesome this or that speech is going to be. Also, he just said Trump is going to “meet bilaterally” with somebody. Good job.
(I’m about five minutes behind on the DVR.)
Adam L Silverman
@amk: He’s answering questions now.
@Corner Stone:
From LTG McMaster’s perspective, or anyone with this type of reported leak, the imperative in the crisis communication is to not make it worse. As in not even accidentally give anything else away. Hence the non denial denial yesterday. Or, perhaps, the denial of things that weren’t actually reported yesterday. So far he’s done a pretty good job, but the question is whether he’ll be able to maintain that as he takes more and more questions on the same topic. As much as we all want to know what is going on, the smartest thing that LTG McMaster can do is follow the age old briefing guidance: be seen, be quick, be gone.
tobie
@Frankensteinbeck:
Amen to this. This is about a lock on power forever and ever. The GOP did this by cheating–voter suppression for sure, and ballot rigging perhaps–and they’ll do anything to keep a stranglehold on this nation, Constitution be damned.
schrodingers_cat
@Immanentize: Pakistan also provides a lovely example of the inefficacy of military brass in civilian leadership.
hovercraft
The Western Wall is part of Israel, and then he ducks the follow up, says that’s a policy question.
Corner Stone
McMaster is bad at this. Of course, given the material he has to work with…
Zach
Q: If it was OK for Trump to say in front of a member of the Russian media, can you repeat the information with us today?
rikyrah
You have no credibility dude. Nobody believes your bald azz.
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: He was already asked this. He said he had no knowledge of what was done by Bossert.
Cheryl Rofer
“Wholly appropriate” will be today’s meme.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: At this point it is the smartest thing he could do.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: What, aren’t you impressed by his shiny bald pate and glib lies?
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
This bullshit about ” all of this has been know by the media for months” doesn’t make sense. If the president chose to declassify, then how could it have been in the media for months. I’m not buying his bullshit, then again I may be more skeptical than most.
rikyrah
Terrell J. StarrVerified account @Russian_Starr
Know that what Donald Trump is doing to America no black person in the history of blackness could’ve ever gotten away with. Удачи!
raven
@hovercraft: sheeeeet
Corner Stone
@hovercraft: It’s normal for the person in McMaster’s position briefs on trip agendas? I guess I did not know that.
Cheryl Rofer
@Adam L Silverman: Probably. But it won’t end the questions.
JPL
What breach of information? The f.king Russian media was in the room at the time. It’s okay for the citizens of Russia to know, but not us. wtf…
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: Neither could any woman of any color, or any other minority for that matter.
rikyrah
Quote of the Day
May 16, 2017
“Their credibility is completely shattered. They’ve engaged in serial lying to the American people on issues big and small –beginning with the crowd size photos. It’s unprecedented for an administration, from the top on down, to embrace a strategy of deception and lying. Even people who have built up reputations for integrity over a lifetime of public service, they risk squandering it in this administration.”
— GOP strategist Steve Schmidt, quoted by Politico, on the Trump White House.
hovercraft
@schrodingers_cat:
No, they need Ari Fleicher or Tony Snow they were world class liars who didn’t look like they were lying even though you knew they were lying.
Zach
@hovercraft:
It also undercuts Trump’s whole argument that this was for humanitarian reasons. Yes, everyone knows for months that USA takes laptop bombs SUPER seriously and probably everyone else should as well… no reason to tell Russia WHY we know this.
Immanentize
@schrodingers_cat: well played, friend. ☺️
Cheryl Rofer
And that’s it.
Adam L Silverman
@Steeplejack (phone): Mahmoud Abbas if I understand correctly. The President and his staff, including his
bankruptcy attorneythe US Ambassador to Israel have all pissed off the Israelis over the past week. The ambassador has referred to the Western Wall as being in occupied Palestinian Territory. His itinerary includes a speech that will, supposedly, be about Palestinian national determination. His forward prep team has briefed the Israelis to expect him to be coming with an outline/ideas for a peace agreement and that he expects them to respond accordingly (as in snap to).Expect Israeli intelligence to start leaking like a sieve.
amk
@rikyrah: yup, mcmaster seems to be just fine by defending the indefensible.
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
I’m not sure if it’s always him but I know that this was already scheduled before last nights shitstorm, Hallie Jackson was saying last night that the WH wouldn’t answer whether it would still happen or if he’d run and hide. I guess they chose to just bs their way though, after the hiding amongst the bushes and turning up the TV’s to cover their wailing.
Immanentize
@Corner Stone: McMaster was directed to brief on the travel arrangements then go out and get some Burger King for the boss Another person pwnd by Trump.
Zach
Well, McMaster made news: Trump’s decision to reveal until-then-code-word-classified intel was made on the spot; no consultation with intelligence community ahead of time.
Could’ve easily been avoided by saying “I can’t discuss deliberations within the intelligence community”
Steeplejack
“It’s those pesky leakers!” The Scooby-Doo defense.
Betty Cracker
@Adam L Silverman: Yeah, about 30 seconds after I posted my comment. It was a bullshit PR dog-and-pony show for a flailing fail parade, but I guess that’s about what I expected.
Chris
@Immanentize:
I’ve seen this in microcosm with my old ROTC roommate (as dogmatic and authoritarian a conservative as you please) becoming the leading whatever-it’s-called in charge of all the other front desk workers in his college dorm. The general review from the people beneath him was that the guy didn’t understand that he wasn’t in the military (or even ROTC), but insisted on running things as if he was. Or trying to, at any rate.
Small example, but I have no trouble at all believing that the same thing happens in positions that actually matter.
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: The new US Ambassador to Israel stated it was in contested and occupied Palestinian territory earlier in the week. One of the many reasons that the Israelis are pissed off at the President and his people.
MCA1
@Corner Stone: Generally speaking, I agree. It’s a runaway train, and you might think you’re a wonderful brakeman, but that’s not going to help. The only possible reason for someone like McMaster to stay on would be as a mole for someone in the GOP power apparatus who wants a tightly documented impeachment case built, with a few silver bullets sprinkled in for good measure. He could be a patriotic hero if he intentionally took down Drumpf from inside the administration. If his reason for remaining is other than that, though, he’s been trumpsubstantiated.
rikyrah
The New York TimesVerified account @nytimes
Young black Democrats, ready to run in 2018, are rejecting the view that their party must court white voters
Timurid
@Adam L Silverman:
Hey, Bibi, how’s that whole “building a foreign policy on trust of an administration full of white nationalists and anti-Semites” thing working out for you, you fucking wanker?
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: There has been speculation for months about the reasons laptop, tablet, and other electronic devices ban on flights from select countries from the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia. If this is the information, specifically the specifics of the potential threat, that was shared, then in a general way it was known. What is not publicly known is where this information was found, who found it, and who shared it with the US.
Richard Engel has reported that his sources tell him that the President told the Russians whatever he told them in order to signal his willingness to work with them/ingratiate himself with them:
Josh Marshall, rightly I think, argues that this type of attempted ingratiation with Russian officials is a sign of a much larger problem.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/puppet-no-puppet-youre-the-puppet
JPL
@MCA1: He’s a good soldier. Why did Powell stay?
GregB
@Adam L Silverman:
I assume later on today Trump will stab our Kurdish partners in the back and will launch Gulen out of a cannon to get a warm attaboy from Strong Leader Erdogan.
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: I am so old that I remember Prime Minister Netanyahu trying to undermine President Obama at every available opportunity. He should love T, no? Didn’t he want an R in the WH?
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
Bibi and his patron Sheldon wanted this, and now they’re faced with this moron who doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the round, but has decided that since every president for the last 50 years has failed to achieve peace he will do it just like that. I have no sympathy for Bibi and his racist friends who have done nothing but make a difficult situation more difficult and unsolvable at every turn. The Likudnicks and their Russian neanderthals are just like the GOP refusing to understand that they cannot fight demographics forever, it’s two states or lose control of Israel.
rikyrah
May 16, 2017
Health Care Puts House in Play
PPP’s new national poll finds that Republicans are facing significant backlash over the health care bill that’s having the effect of firing up Democrats and putting them in position to make major gains in the House next year.
Democrats now have a 49-38 lead overall on the generic Congressional ballot, up from 47-41 a month ago. Even more notable though is that among voters who say they’re ‘very excited’ to turn out in the 2018 election, the Democratic lead balloons to 27 points at 61-34. The outcome of lower turnout midterm elections often hinges on which side is more engaged, and Democrats have the clear advantage at this point on that front- 63% of their voters say they’re ‘very excited’ about voting in next year’s election, compared to only 52% of Republicans who say the same.
The American Health Care Act has been a complete disaster politically for Republicans. Only 25% of voters support it, to 52% who are opposed. Even among Republican voters there’s only 49% support for the measure, while Democrats (76%) are considerably more unified in their opposition to it. Voters say by a 20 point margin that they’re less likely to vote for a member of Congress who supported the AHCA- just 27% say they’re more likely to vote for a pro-AHCA candidate, compared to 47% who are less likely to vote for one.
The health care debate has left Congress with a 15% approval rating and 68% of voters disapproving of it. Paul Ryan (25/59 approval) and Mitch McConnell (21/55 approval) are both very unpopular individually as well.
The current health care debate is also stoking new found respect for the Affordable Care Act. By a 53/27 spread, voters say they prefer the current ACA to the new AHCA. And just 29% of voters say they want to repeal the Affordable Care Act at this point, to 64% who would prefer to keep it and make fixes as necessary.
amk
@Adam L Silverman: the puppet being more loyal than the puppeteer himself?
Gin & Tonic
Couldn’t watch, but I guess the lingering question “does LTG McMaster have any integrity left?” has been answered.
schrodingers_cat
@JPL: That defense didn’t quite work in the Nuremberg trials.
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: No. That is the collateral one offers when one agrees to work for T and his R enablers.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Yes.
And I will state, for the record, that part of the solution to this ongoing crisis and set of problems has to be the institutional Democratic Party and a variety of center left to left of center organizations and groups fully embracing and empowering the people of color and demographic diversity (religious, ethnic, LGBTQ, female, etc) within the Democratic coalition, giving them the authority and responsibility, and letting them lead. You can’t count on this amazingly diverse demographic coalition to show up and vote if the folks they’re voting for, the folks those people hire or appoint (when they get appointment power), etc don’t reflect that diversity.
Barbara
@Adam L Silverman: But, but, his son in law is Jewish! A descendant of actual Holocaust survivors! And his grandkids are being raised as Jews! And all of his accountants have been Jews! Therefore, Trump is Israel’s BFF and Israel should totally stop talking smack about Donnie’s team! I mean, that is the level of thought that goes into this stuff for Trump. Not that I think Israel always has virtue on its side (an understatement).
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: Nor should it.
Timurid
@hovercraft:
Well, there is an Option C, but “ethnically cleanse the Palestinians and become North Korea on the Mediterranean” does not sound like a good time…
amk
twitler is boyd crowder.
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m thinking more puppy than puppet, he lives for that treat he gets when he’s good boy.
Corner Stone
@Gin & Tonic: I think there may still be two lanes on this issue. Some suggest he has been Trumped and the Dignity Wraith claims another persona. Others seem to say, this is what he has to do and he’s the best person we could have in that position right now.
IMO, McMaster performed poorly yesterday when he read his previous statement out loud. And he performed very poorly today in that he knows the truth, can’t say it to the press, and so answers in ways that make it evident this story is worse than what we have seen in reporting.
geg6
@Adam L Silverman:
Fuck Israel. Their asshole PM did his best to de-legitimize the previous president and his first SoS. And also did what he could to prop up Dolt 45. Fuck him and fuck them. I hope Dolt sells them out, too.
Adam L Silverman
@Timurid: Also, the Adelson’s will give testimony in the legal case against Bibi when they arrive in Israel this week.
Adam L Silverman
@GregB: At this point anything is possible.
MCA1
@Corner Stone: I just want someone either in the media or among Democratic lawmakers to start shouting “There’s a RAGING FIRE going on! And all you can talk about is who called the fire department?” No one’s calling them on this bullshit obsession with leakers. They won’t stop until someone outside liberal blogs points out how ludicrous it is.
Corner Stone
@Cheryl Rofer:
It makes me wonder if his team told him that any time he got hit with a tough question the phrase “wholly appropriate” should be employed. Because it doesn’t really mean anything, one way or the other.
rikyrah
Why Trump Looks So Compromised by the Russians
by Martin Longman
May 16, 2017 11:36 AM
Less than a week ago, Politico Magazine published Susan Glasser’s piece: Russia’s Oval Office Victory Dance. At the time, there were three main narratives. First, there was the timing. Coming the day after the president unceremoniously fired FBI director James Comey for (many suspected) investigating his ties to Russia, it seemed a little inopportune to meet with Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in the White House. Second, since the American press was barred from the meeting there were no photographs. Yet, a Russian photographer was allowed in and his pictures quickly appeared on the Russian wire services, which even top Trump officials admitted was a boneheaded blunder, especially because it revealed that the controversial Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak was also in attendance. And, third, there was the question of why the meeting was happening at all, since it isn’t customary for our head of state to meet with another country’s foreign minister. Glasser explained this last part:
The chummy White House visit—photos of the president yukking it up with Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak were released by the Russian Foreign Ministry since no U.S. press was allowed to cover the visit—had been one of Putin’s asks in his recent phone call with Trump, and indeed the White House acknowledged this to me later Wednesday. “He chose to receive him because Putin asked him to,” a White House spokesman said of Trump’s Lavrov meeting. “Putin did specifically ask on the call when they last talked.”
The meeting was Lavrov’s first in the White House since 2013—and came after several years of the Obama administration’s flat-out refusal to grant him an Oval Office audience, two former senior White House officials told me. “The Russians were begging us for years to do that,” one of the former officials said. “They were constantly pushing for it and we were constantly saying no.”
This was interesting on several levels. Even before Russia was caught breaking into our political parties’ virtual filing cabinets and trying to affect the results of our presidential election, our government’s policy was to shun Sergey Lavrov. But Trump quickly granted the request. Originally, Lavrov was planning to come no closer to DC than Fairbanks, Alaska where he and Kislyak did in fact attend the Arctic Council. But suddenly he was being welcomed into the inner sanctum of the Oval Office with a photographer in tow.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: To quote the oldest living former head of Shin Bet when discussing Netanyahu: ayn strategiq, raq takteeq/ no strategy, only tactics.
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: I have no sympathy for them either. I was just reporting so you all could decide. Fair and balanced like…
Corner Stone
“Absolute right”
“Wholly appropriate”
A new drinking game or buzzword bingo session?
Seanly
@rikyrah:
I would say that the Democratic Party doesn’t need to court racist white voters. I’m white and I vote straight Democratic at this point and I don’t want to see my party courting racists. We should court people on a progressive, inclusive, and empathic message that addresses their economic, security, environmental, judicial, and fairness concerns. How many times do those of us not in the party leadership need to shout that the way to win is not to be Republican Lite?
Brachiator
What a day. My local Starbucks could not process food orders because its payment systems were hacked (they graciously handed out free coffee). Cyber pirates may be holding Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” hostage. And I also have to deal with Moron-in-Chief in the White House. And it’s only Tuesday. Damn. I picked the wrong week to give up amphetamines.
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
BillO is that you? What have you done with Adam, I could have sworn that he could take you, did you poison him?
rikyrah
The Fallout From Trump’s Leak to the Russians: A Question of Competence
by Nancy LeTourneau
May 16, 2017 10:19 AM
Last night we learned that Trump revealed classified information to the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador during his meeting with them in the Oval Office last week. Before discussing the fallout from that leak, it is important to be clear about exactly what happened.
First if all, what the president shared with the Russians wasn’t U.S. intelligence, it came from an unnamed ally.
The information the president relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing arrangement considered so sensitive that details have been withheld from allies and tightly restricted even within the U.S. government, officials said.
The partner had not given the United States permission to share the material with Russia, and officials said Trump’s decision to do so endangers cooperation from an ally that has access to the inner workings of the Islamic State.
Secondly, the Washington Post describes what the president leaked as “code-word information.” Amy Zegart explains:
There are three basic levels of classified information. Confidential information is defined as anything that could reasonably be expected to “cause damage” to American national security if shared without authorization. Secret information is one step up, considered to have the potential to cause “serious damage” if revealed. Top Secret information is a higher classification level still, comprising anything that could reasonably be expected to cause “exceptionally grave damage” to U.S. national security if revealed.
Code word is beyond Top Secret. It limits access to classified information to a much narrower pool of people to provide an extra layer of security.
Adam L Silverman
@amk: I don’t know. The President has had very strange, as in way outside of the mainstream of either party and either party’s ideological spectrum, regarding the Soviet Union, NATO, and how the US should interact with them since the mid 1980s – shortly after he took a trip to Soviet Russia, partially at the insistence of Roger Stone. At least as he publicly began stating them then. He has consistently held these positions ever since. There is a lot of speculation regarding why he has these views, when he developed them, etc. At this point it really doesn’t matter. For all his being erratic, he is consistent on these positions and in adapting his pro Soviet cooperation views to pro Russian cooperation views after the fall of the Soviet Union.
GregB
If General McMaster is the one who has to tell Pres. Low-T that he can’t send the 82nd Airborne into Chicago, then I will understand his abasing conduct.
MCA1
@JPL: Because as foolish as W was, he wasn’t a brainless single-celled organism with zero impulse control and a narcissism more powerful than a black hole that destroyed everyone who ever came into contact with him. He wasn’t a very good president, but he also wasn’t a walking, talking existential threat to the republic and every human within a large radius that was fundamentally incapable of being influenced positively by experts around him.
Adam L Silverman
@Barbara: It is interesting that the only Jews he knows either have a lot of money (or that have a lot of money and he’s now related to), work with money, are his lawyers, and/or are his doctors.
Cheryl Rofer
Another piece of news is that Trump is planning to visit sites of all three Abrahamic (I think his minions use the word “great”) religions to emphasize unity. I think I’ve seen something like this surmised or said before.
I am finding myself without words more and more frequently these days. Here’s a try.
The vainglory of arranging a trip to show the US President as the Great Unifier of the Abrahamic religions is beyond parody. Trump plans to give a speech about Islam in Saudi Arabia and hold a tweet-fest with children in a state that clamps down on social media. The trip to Masada has been canceled, due to summer heat they say, but he is going to the Western Wall. I suppose he will school the Pope on Catholicism.
I guess it will be a way to get news coverage.
Adam L Silverman
@geg6: Would you please, in the future, take the time to tell us how you really feel? Thanks!
Cheryl Rofer
@Corner Stone: It means “we will decide, you STFU.”
Adam L Silverman
@hovercraft: Just checking to see if everyone was awake.
Adam L Silverman
@GregB: Considering that other than the rear detachment, they are forward deployed all over the place, I don’t think they’re going to get the nod regardless.
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer: He won’t be going to any religious sites in Saudi. He is not Muslim and cannot be taken to the holy sites in Mecca. I doubt the Israelis are dumb enough to create the security nightmare that would ensue if they allowed him to visit the Temple Mount/Harem es Sharif. So I don’t see him visiting any Muslim holy sites on the itinerary.
D58826
@Cheryl Rofer:
He can barely recite “Jesus Loves Me’ and he is going to talk on Islam. Did the editors of the Onion join the WH nat. secuirty team w/o telling any one?
hovercraft
PPP Poll Has Support For Impeaching Trump 48-41, Health Care Issue Gives Dems 49-38 Lead Over GOP
Fuck them, these morons refused to listen and now they have buyers remorse? Fuck them, it’s too late now.
Yes it’s PPP but still we’re not four months in, Twitler hasn’t yet gone overseas and insulted anyone yet, just think how bad it will be at 6 months ( the new 100 day benchmark according to Twitler and his apologists).
scav
So, Trump was apparently bragging about his all the best top secret classified information that was totally reported in the media for months in order to impress the Russians and also to take care of their poor people in danger on planes because the Russians apparently couldn’t read our best top secret classified published in newspapers for months information. Are the Russians impressed yet? Could we maybe round up enough spare change so they can get a newspaper subscription and free up Trump’s time so he can get back to the important stuff like tax breaks and perfecting his golf swing?
Chris
@Cheryl Rofer:
Ah Christ. This is really going to suck.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: I can’t help thinking of the ghosts of Leonid Brezhnev and Yuriy Andropov looking and this, slapping their foreheads and saying “It was that easy?”
Kay
Apparently Team Trump called Trump “the leaker in chief” during the campaign.
If political media knew this, shouldn’t they have told the public? Jesus Christ. Give people a fighting chance.
Steeplejack
@Adam L Silverman:
You make good points. My point was rhetorical: when two parties meet, it is by definition bilateral. And it’s a tell when a speaker starts larding up his speech with redundant and “fancy” verbiage to becloud the underlying meaning (or lack thereof) of what he’s saying. That was just the biggest clanger that struck my ear.
As for McMaster’s presentation in general, I think it will only fan the flames. At one point—when asked about the city named in the leak (or “leak”) in question—he said (paraphrasing very loosely) something like, “Hey, we could all probably name some cities in ISIS-held territory, and the president didn’t tell the Russians anything that wasn’t already available from open-source reporting.” But he won’t name the city, and his statement is at odds with the fact that the White House staff was running around yesterday trying to scrub the transcript from Trump’s meeting with the Russians.
I was glad to see in the aftermath on MSNBC that Kristen Welker said the press is going to keep arguing for the release of the transcript, since there are apparently no problems with it. // (My snark, not Welker’s.) I wish one of the reporters had asked McMaster point blank in the press conference to name the city. That would have been a priceless moment.
SgrAstar
@rikyrah: Of course yrtl wants Garland at the FBI. That would open up an opportunity for the evil empire to appoint another federalist society hack to an important court- the DC Circuit, and trump has shown that he’ll fire an fbi director gratuitously.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: Political media==propaganda arm of the GOP
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
Remember he famously didn’t want black people handling his money, and whenever he visited his c*a*s*i*n*o’s they had to hustle away the blacks people who were doing anything to do with money.
He openly says that he only allows Jews to handle his money, nothing anti-Semitic there.
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: What about the religious right and white nationalist view? Putin has been pretty popular among those circles if Thinking Housewife is any indication.
Corner Stone
@Cheryl Rofer: Hasn’t anyone on his security detail seen The Kingdom?
Frankensteinbeck
@Seanly:
We are already doing these things. Describing the party leadership as ‘Republican Lite’ is ludicrous. Hillary had an extensive platform that was as or more liberal and progressive than Sanders’, with the biggest differences being that Sanders wanted to destroy rather than regulate the banks, and his regularly stated belief that minorities should shut up and stand in the back because class warfare was more important than their problems.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
I learned watching A Handmaid’s Tale that “mayday” comes from the French words for “help me”
For some reason I think about that a lot :)
They didn’t help us.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Hoocoodanode?
Chris
@hovercraft:
“Well, no! I’m saying nice things about them! How can that be antisemetic?”
Bruce K
I put on my lawyer hat to think about the ramifications of the cheeto declassifying stuff on a whim and then revealing it to foreign representatives whose agendas are wildly divergent from the best interests of the United States.
Now, my lawyer hat’s got a lot of dust and rust on it, but the conclusion I draw is this:
If, absent the on-the-spur-of-the-moment declassification, the cheeto’s actions fell within the scope of Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution, and within the scope of 18 USC 115 (Treason, Sedition, and Subversive Activities), then wouldn’t those actions be treasonous regardless of the declassification?
Douglas
@Kay:
What, and risk their access? Next you’ll be asking them to consider whether something is actually newsworthy instead of trying to get the most clicks.
hovercraft
@Cheryl Rofer:
See you’re a hater, where was your criticism of Obama when he went to Cairo and gave a speech about Islam? What you’re failing to grasp is that Obama could only manage to give one speech about Islam, (his own religion), but Twitler is a truly great leader who understand all three Abrahamic religions, and will bring them together as no one else in history has been able to do, just you wait and see. All this mishegas will be forgotten when he achieves everlasting peace for the entire world.
opiejeanne
@Adam L Silverman: What’s stopping the Russians releasing the transcript of that meeting, or a video?
Suffragette City
After watching McMasters last night and today, have we reached the level of All the President’s Men yet?
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman:
And not even tactics, really…just flailing, flailing away.
Corner Stone
Can’t wait for foreign press to have a few rounds with Trump while he’s on his trip.
Actually, I am still surprised he is actually going to go through with this foreign trip. i thought he would find some excuse to “reschedule”.
Corner Stone
Sen Heinrich (D-NM) is a cutie patootie.
schrodingers_cat
@hovercraft: All this Abrahamic religions this and Judeo-Christian that, is bullshit. There is no love lost between Sunni-Shia or Protestant and Catholic, forget this pantheistic love fest. It only exists in the imaginations of these religious fundie think tanks.
Seth Owen
@Adam L Silverman:
Watching McMasters try to cope with this makes me think he owes the various senior officers he castigated in Dereliction of Duty an apology. While I am loathe to second-guess him because we simply don’t know enough, I think we do know enough to re-evaluate his own second-guessing of the military during the Johnson era. If anything, McMasters faces a much less morally ambiguous situation than they did. Johnson was no Trump.
I think McMasters has a narrow window to save his reputation, probably measured in days.
hovercraft
@Chris:
Yes I know, it’s like when people tell me how articulate I am, and how I don’t sound black, it’s a real compliment.
I’m sure every Jewish person appreciates being told they are smart and good with money!
He just knows how to flatter people, I’m sure his shtick will go over really well on his travels.
Do you think he’s packed travel sized picture of his inaugural crowds and his electoral map to distribute to the people he meets on his travels?
Bruce K
@Suffragette City: I think we’re beyond All the President’s Men here. Cripes, it’s starting to sound like we’re at about a quarter past The Manchurian Candidate at this point.
Tenar Arha
@Cheryl Rofer: Yup. Her portrayal = TFW the satire is so on the nose it feels more truthful than the reality.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: Vichy Times is still out there soft pedaling the damage.
ETA: How is Handmaid’s tale. T supporters are in a tizzy about it.
Jeffro
Two easily impeachable offenses in less than a week.
Hey GOP leaders: we are going to make you pay for enabling this dangerous clown. Just a heads-up!
Adam L Silverman
@Steeplejack: Tracking on your point. In this case I think it is a tell. The President has repeatedly made it clear that he despises multilateral negotiations and agreements and only likes bilateral ones. I think it has something to do with his understanding that all agreements must be zero sum and that he cannot be the one left holding the zero. It is like a tic with him and as a result he repeats it often.
Barbara
@opiejeanne: What’s stopping them? That they haven’t figured out the best way for extracting maximum advantage from the information. Keeping it quiet might be more valuable than releasing it. Otherwise, nothing.
ArchTeryx
@Jeffro: That remains to be seen. That takes us showing up to polls in a midterm, something Democrats are allergic to and Republicans do as a matter of course. And it will take us showing up to the polls in huge numbers, to overcome the gerrymandering and various vote suppression measures. Not to mention our current AG.
We did it before, in 2006. But that’s one midterm out of many. It remains to be seen if that was a fluke, or something we can repeat with Trump.
We’re hugely motivated. But so are they. If both bases show up and nobody else, we lose. It’s going to take more then us to finally break their grip.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: I talked about that last night. A concerted effort for penetration, and thereby influence, at all levels on the American right. Including the extreme right – political, religious, and social. Just as has been the case in Europe.
Corner Stone
@Seth Owen:
Measured in sound bytes. It only matters how it plays on TV. That’s all that counts anymore.
MattF
@hovercraft: Ugh. There was a bunch of people I hung around with, some years ago. I got very weary of the constant requests for financial advice. I finally settled on “Buy low! Sell high!”
Adam L Silverman
@Douglas: This was not a state secret and was often covered in reference to his John Barron and John Miller personas for dealing with the NY tabloid and non tabloid press in the 80s and 90s.
hovercraft
@Bruce K:
We’re beyond that too, it’s like we’re living an amalgam of Manchurian and Dr. Strangelove.
Adam L Silverman
@opiejeanne: Nothing.
jonas
@hovercraft:
They’ve considered these two options and gone with nr. 3: Turn Israel into a Jewish apartheid state.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: Pretty much.
Jeffro
Also had no idea that Russia – the country that hacked our election – is an “ally” now, per McMaster today. You ok with that, McCain? Graham? Bueller? Bueller?
Picture a world where China hacks the RNC and installs President Generic Democrat…PGD then goes on to profit from all her businesses (that are now able to charge double, and are always full of foreign diplomats looking to curry favor with PGD)…and then PGD brings Chinese agents into the Oval Office AND tells them classified info. A week after firing the FBI Director for continuing to look into what China did to help get PGD elected. What say ye, brave Republicans? “It’s legal for the President to leak classified info whenever she wants”, right?
Adam L Silverman
@Seth Owen: It is what it is.
hovercraft
@Jeffro:
The Turtle has said explicitly that all this shit doesn’t matter, all that matters is getting more right wing nut jobs onto the courts and tax cuts, deregulation and gutting the safety net, everything else is just noise, eyes on the prize.
jonas
@hovercraft:
Given that the Saudis will be the last group he talked to before making the speech, he’ll probably practically convert on the spot to Islam. Remember the Israelis are pissed now because the last person to talk to Trump was Mahmud Abbas and now Trump’s declaring that East Jerusalem is part of the West Bank and everything. Tomorrow he’ll order bombing the Kurds because of something Erdogan says.
Mike J
@rikyrah: Never heard any Dem say he should step down from his lifetime appointment and take a job where trump could fire him and replace him on the court. This was Republican ratfucking from the get-go.
MJS
@Corner Stone: We’ll see if the foreign press gets any access to Trump. Romney crapped the bed on his trip abroad during the 2012 campaign, and Mittens is significantly more intelligent than Trump. This has the potential to be highly entertaining, in a disaster movie kind of way.
JMG
@MJS: Press access in Saudi Arabia isn’t much of an issue. But Rome and Tel Aviv could be wild.
Chris
@schrodingers_cat:
The opposite, I’d say. You can find interfaith initiatives and attempts to build bridges and all that stuff between Christians, Jews, and Muslims, but it generally comes from the non-fundie parts of the religion that the fundies excoriate as traitors, in no small part because they do stuff like this.
MJS
@Mike J: I believe Heitkamp tweeted that it was a great idea when first floated. Not sure if she walked that back yet.
Tenar Arha
@Adam L Silverman: Netanyahu deserves every piece of shit diss from President Dolt that he gets, but I wish I could think of something else besides “we told you so!”
oldgold
McMaster said:
“He made the decision in the context of the conversation.”
That is a euphemism for he BLURTED IT OUT!
schrodingers_cat
@Chris: Actually I was thinking about the Jews for Jeebus and the evangelicals being buddy buddy with RW Jewish pols in Israel.
jonas
@MJS: Oh, Trump will be positively jazzed on this trip. Ever seen a Saudi royal palace? Now *that’s* some fucking gilt. The wealth. The autocracy. The splendor. The graceful sweep of those huge white robes they wear. All the construction projects staffed by dark half-slaves working in the sun with no OSHA inspectors hanging around. Trump’s going to be in a state of constant near-orgasm.
amk
Shalimar
Erdogan just congratulated Trump on his yooge electoral win. It’s May. Will Trump ever have a meeting with anyone where he doesn’t tell them about his yooge electoral victory?
amk
just about right.
Gelfling 545
@Corner Stone: It would be nice if McConnell went to Jesus rather soon; or at least decided to focus on preparing for that likely not too distant event and got out of government.
Jeffro
@ArchTeryx:
ah…while they are not turning on Trumpov in huge numbers, yet, there’s some evidence to suggest that here on Day 117 of his presidency, he’s already losing some supporters...
And – I’ll have to look up the source – but I believe he was down to the mid or low 80s (instead of the mid to low 90s) in support from Republicans generally. I know he was at about 44% disapproval with white voters as well. If that becomes 50/50 support…
But you’re right, Dems will have to make a positive case for change and for what they truly stand for.
different-church-lady
KNEE-SLAPPER!
amk
CMAC
People on here are seriously stupid. Most of you are trying to make a crime out of a normal run of the mill meeting with foreign government reps because your master CNN and Liberal news papers told you there was a crime committed. They can say anything about POTUS at this point, and everybody jumps on the false info like rabid dogs. The Gen. just told you this is a non story but you guys want soooo bad for the POTUS to fail, you are disappointed, and calling the Gen. a liar. I wish everybody on here cared that much about the REAL crimes Hillary, and Obama commited emailing, or mishandling classified info, and cutting back room deals with Iran. For sane people it is easy to see this is all about witch hunting. All of these attempts will never work, or amount to anything. DONALD TRUMP IS POTUS and will be POTUS for the next 8 years, DEAL WITH IT! Or don’t, who cares..
Steeplejack
@Adam L Silverman:
Probably true. Everything’s a deal, and there are only two seats at the table.
MCA1
@hovercraft: The fact that after the rushing waterfall of firsthand evidence that’s been on display over the last 4 months, 4 in 10 Americans polled still “disagree with [that] characterization” of Trump as being a liar is so saddening. I mean, how can that be? Two minutes of exposure to this cretin makes it alarmingly clear that he is the Terminator of lying. We’re broken as a country.
Adam L Silverman
@amk: Is this a trick question?
Tenar Arha
@Cheryl Rofer: Guessing that there’s betting out there that has high odds of him doing something offensive towards each religion in each country he visits.
Jeffro
@oldgold:
Someone should ask Spicey…or better yet, Trumpov himself…”what’s the process that the president goes through, mid-sentence, to make the determination whether or not to share classified intelligence with representatives of a hostile foreign power?” And then when the laughter dies down in the WH press room…if it ever does…go, “No, seriously Sean, what the fuck?”
Adam L Silverman
Erdogan just did a reverse Trump handshake on the President. Well played, well played indeed.
Wapiti
@Seth Owen:
I frankly don’t think that the moving catastrophe that is the Trump regime has hit the point of “engaging in a land war in Asia that costs 50,000 American lives.” In McMaster’s defense, the military allows lots of training on the difference between “this is a stupid order” and “this is an illegal order”. I think McMaster is dealing with stupidity so far – he hasn’t really faced a “this may be legal but is gravely immoral – it’s time to visibly dissent” crisis.
Another Scott
@Tom: Trouble is, it has been clear for years that Trump has no respect for our systems in government. Even moreso during the transition. Anyone joining his administration would merely be lending his personal honor and accomplishments to someone who would (and has) trash it all in a heart-beat.
McMaster had to see all of this long ago…
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who hasn’t read the whole thread, or seen the press conference, yet.)
MattF
@Tenar Arha: It’s the trifecta!
Chris
@schrodingers_cat:
Ah, that.
I always figured that as basically just an “enemy of my enemy” thing. Kind of like how thirty years ago, they were cheering on the jihadists in their war against the godless, but that fell apart pretty quickly because, well, Muslims are still infidels and that’s no better than being godless.
ArchTeryx
@Jeffro: No, they really don’t. This isn’t the time for a “positive case”. Voting against Trump is all the case they need to make. But we have to show up – and bloody independents need to show up too, and/or the Republicans need to stay home. All those stars align, we sweep the midterms. If they don’t, we may gain, but the gains will be minor and the Rs keep Congress, and the wrecking train will roll unmerrily along.
Corner Stone
“Legendary triumph”
Ok. We’ll be doing joint airstrikes with Turkey against the Kurds by the end of May.
hugely
@Bernie: I agree with Bernie, but im not a Bernista. He is taking on a tough assignment on behalf of our country is how I see it
TenguPhule
@Bernie:
That presumes you might be able to mitigate.
Trump won’t let you. Because he’s Trump.
Steeplejack
@Adam L Silverman:
His grip fu is good.
different-church-lady
@CMAC: Knock it off, Doug J.
Peale
@Tenar Arha: Israel “Someone told me that Jews in this country are farmers. I never thought I’d see the day when a Jew would get his hands dirty since it makes it too difficult to count his money.”
Saudi Arabia: “As long as you continue to use these weapons on each other, we’ll be glad to sell you more. The few of you guyz the better.”
Vatican: “How holy can that water be?”
hovercraft
Conway: I Didn’t Defend Trump For ‘The Money’ Because I Didn’t Earn That Much
“The notion that I am serving for ‘the money’ or a ‘paycheck’ is absurd,” she wrote. “As campaign manager, I made a fraction of what other consultants have made on unsuccessful presidential campaigns.”
Conway claimed she “walked away from dozens of opportunities for millions of dollars” to work in Trump’s administration and “would do it again.”
I guess that makes her a true believer? She what fell out of love with Rafael and fell for Twitler? Talk about fickle!
Lyrebird
@hugely: I’m voting with hugely for now. Would not describe his demeanor as glib, either…. McM looks like a man who’s been pacing back and forth muttering expletives over and over.
Whether he’ll help or has helped, I don’t know. I’m grateful he is trying to do some sort of job protecting national security, unlike the head of the Republican administration. (Compare body language in the TASS photo where leaker and foreign agents are yakking it up.)
different-church-lady
@oldgold: I’m so old I can remember when republican voters thought an imprudent decision on how to handle classified information qualified you for prison.
Frankensteinbeck
@jonas:
Hell, Bibi is pushing for 4. genocide.
@MCA1:
‘Fuck you, liberals. I will never admit you are right about anything. Besides, Trump said what everyone knows is true, that hordes of Mexican rapists, drug dealers, and murderers are pouring over our border, that black lives do not matter, that the Chinese are stealing our jobs, and that Muslims are terrorists coming to America to kill us all. That makes him the most honest man in Washington.’
wuzzat
@Jeffro:
Unfortunately, most of the support that he’s losing is from people like Ann Coulter, who is mostly concerned that he hired his “democrat” daughter and son-in-law and hasn’t set all the Mexicans on fire and built a wall from their smoking corpses yet. That kind of disappointment doesn’t translate into D votes.
TenguPhule
@Tom:
If things really go into the shitpit, making sure all of Trump’s serving officers are military imbeciles could mean the difference between democracy and dictatorship. We don’t want any competent people on his side if the balloon has to go up.
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady: What, last year?
Bill Arnold
Couple of things:
(1) Re stuff like Kevin Drum’s piece on Trump’s (actual) Brain A Public Service Announcement, I am strangely reminded of Sakyo Komatsu’s odd/unsettling story “The Savage Mouth”, where a guy eats himself, saving for last the parts of the brain that are needed to perform eating. An probably-illegal pdf can by found by searching on the quoted title plus “type:pdf”, or it is anthologized in the collection “Best Japanese Science Fiction Stories” available used.
(2) The Atlantic piece from yesterday is a bit out of date already, but worth it for the vivisection-style invective:
The Terrible Cost of Trump’s Disclosures
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
Someone pointed out last year that Twitler is such an easy mark, and he’s dealing with career politicians. Putin has been running Russia for 15 years and before that he was in the bureaucracy for years and he’s been in intelligence for decades. Xi has been working his way up through the party for decades. Putin has been pulling his strings flattering him for months, Xi slapped down his overtures towards Taiwan and when he backed down, he rewarded him with patents he’s been trying to get for decades in China, these people are playing him like the dolt he is, and he thinks that foreign policy is the one area where he’s excelling. This idiot doesn’t know that it’s not just the haters who have no respect for him, but world leaders all know that all you have to do is flatter him and he’ll give you what you want and proclaim that he’s achieved something great.
Obama’s riff about his challenging life deciding whether Meat Loaf or the women had won was prescient, this moron has no idea how in over his head he is.
different-church-lady
@TenguPhule: As of the next Trump rally too.
scav
Have we heard from any famous CEOs explaining how giving away trade secrets and ratting out suppliers is top-notch innovative SOP (done on the fly! without notifying the board or legal!) in all the most profitable All-American bigly businesses? Are such sound bites being lined up?
MCA1
@ArchTeryx: Yes and no. I don’t think it’s necessary at the moment to do anything other than show clips of Trump leading “lock her up” chants and then show last week’s meeting with his handlers with yesterday’s WaPo headlines superimposed to flip a ton of seats.
I would, however, prefer that Democrats use the opportunity presented right now to start re-appropriating some things Republicans have been getting away with claiming themselves the sole proprietors of for a quarter century now. Like “statesmanship” and “serious foreign policy expertise” and “patriotism” and “respect for the Constitution.”
There’s nothing stopping Tom Perez and co. from rolling out a new Democratic Contract for America that (i) re-establishes that the Democratic Party is the only one that gives a rat’s ass about the economic well-being of anyone outside the top .1%, or their health security, or rebuilding American infrastructure, (ii) lays out a vision for some achievable goals in those areas, and (iii) brands Republicans as traitors who will put party over country at all costs, claiming for Dems the mantle of serious stewards of the republic. Republicans have forfeited a ton of previously claimed (albeit never earned or backed up) moral high ground positions here, and if Democrats just use anti-Trump fervor to win a single midterm instead of insisting that those positions are theirs and theirs alone, it may be enough to win that midterm, but it’s not taking full advantage of the openings presented here.
Chet Murthy
@Bernie: Not just no, but HELL no … Luban quotes Arendt:
aaanad here we are at your stop, Gen. McMaster!
ETA: Sadly, b/c the nym might indicative, I must note that this is about -serving-, not -voting-.
Barbara
@hovercraft: There is no real mystery to KAC. She transferred from Cruz to Trump when Rebekah Mercer directed her to. And even if Trump pays a pittance, the Mercers pay a lot. She will be gone either when/if Trump tells her to go or Mercer does.
LAO
well, this is going to be interesting.
jonas
@Shalimar: I’m sure his staff told him to constantly bring that up. He’ll have Trump eating out of the palm of his hand.
The Moar You Know
@CMAC: I’m supposed to believe you’re a conservative and you didn’t misspell one single word?
TRY HARDER
germy
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: I keep seeing references to Israeli intel twitter that is supposedly full of juicy tidbits regarding the President and his activities. I have yet to actually see a link or find it.
Jeffro
@Bill Arnold: Or as we refer to #2 here at BJ (h/t Betty): “Trumpsubstantiation”
Thru the Looking Glass...
Apologies if it’s been covered already, but according to Talking Points Memo, Cornyn has dropped out of the FBI job search… yet another one not interested in taking a big bite outta that steaming shit sandwich…
First Gowdy… now Cornyn…
Good lord… Trump’s rapidly becoming radioactive to his own party…
Jeffro
@ArchTeryx: Sorry, but I guess we disagree. Dems can (and should) rile up the base with anti-Trump messages. But smart Dems will cover that base AND talk about the positive things they, and the party, stand for. Everyone already knows Trump’s a shitbag.
@wuzzat: I don’t think that’s correct, but I’ll do more digging. The hard core Coulterite base still loves him. It seems to be the folks who didn’t like Trumpov, but couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Hillary, who are peeling off ever so slightly.
Chet Murthy
@JPL:
To cover his reputation in shit he can never wash off, for all posterity?
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman: Ideally, Trump’s last. He should be denied re-entry at the border for being a known enemy of the United States.
TenguPhule
@LAO: Six dicks, one very big cleat golf shoe.
Jeffro
@MCA1:
Amen and amen. The “American Values” or “American Prosperity” platform. We’re the ones looking out for the Constitution and a strong economy for all Americans, after all.
different-church-lady
@MCA1: I see you’re still operating on the theory that just under half the electorate is something other than bat-shit insane.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
Cheryl, its the Doomsday Clock.
Lizzy L
Breaking News NYT:
I bet they were really pissed off and embarrassed when the WaPo got ahead of them yesterday.
Corner Stone
@LAO: It’s going to get a lot more interesting now that the IC has determined the bullshit McMaster was spewing today is not accurate.
Wjs
So McMaster writes Dereliction of Duty and goes into great detail writing about how the president and his advisors blundered into a long and costly war made worse by their incompetence and their lies to the American people.
Karma’s a bitch, ain’t she?
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: Keep looking!
@TenguPhule: I’m crying from laughter…or maybe real tears?
LAO
@Corner Stone: This was never going to end well for the US. Would you trust Trump. Fuck no.
LAO
Well, this can’t be good. Can anyone here read Russian?
jl
So, looks like when Trump launches a nuke to see if the system works (in the vital interests of national security, of course), or because he gets pissed in the middle of negotiation with NK, it will be OK since WWII killed more people. And it’s black letter legal since no specific US or state or local code forbidding it (‘no controlling legal statute’). And McConnell will come out and assure his donors that the tax cuts for the super rich and big crony corporate pals won’t be delayed.
Midterms are the only solution. Priority number one has to be to fight the coming voter suppression effort tooth and nail. And second to GOTV so much that no voter suppression effort will be big enough to work.
Edit: Hey, he hasn’t committed a formal crime, so stop the partisan attacks, OK? That is the standard now. Very dangerous.
Frankensteinbeck
@Jeffro: and @MCA1:
We already did. Repeatedly. The Democrats talk constantly about helping everyone but the 1%, and the need for the rich to pay taxes. Obama and Clinton certainly did. There are no more gains to be made in this area. Either the media is not reporting it, people don’t listen, or people have other priorities (like preserving systemic racism). Your choice.
Bill Arnold
Interesting edginess from Susan Rice: Susan Rice: We can’t allow Trump ‘Twitter wars to become shooting wars’:
rikyrah
@Kay:
I know, Kay. You tell the truth.
TenguPhule
@hovercraft:
No matter how this ends, Turtle Soup is definitely going to be on the menu.
Thru the Looking Glass...
Now Raw Story is reporting that Merrick Garland, after McConnell suggested him for the FBI job, has said NO… whoa… people are RUNNING AWAY from that one…
TenguPhule
@LAO: Israel has a really good wetwork reputation. Just saying.
dogwood
@MJS:
It wasn’t Heitkamp that tweeted approval for a Garland at the FBI. It was Klobuchar, and I called her office.
Adam L Silverman
@LAO:
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: Actually Israel’s wetwork has been consistently bad for years. The reputation they have is rightly deserved by the French DGSE.
Stan
@Kay:
yeah, “M’aidez” is the imperative ‘help me’
Steeplejack
@Chet Murthy:
Thanks for that link! I read that piece last year and then cursed myself often because I didn’t bookmark it and couldn’t find it again.
ruckus
@rikyrah:
Motherfuckers have never heard of fucking CANCER??? Or any other numerous conditions/diseases that strike even extremely healthy people when they least expect it? I’ve just decided this moment that I’d like each and every republican to develop cancer, starting today and tomorrow lose any healthcare insurance they have. And whichever cancer is the worst for that person is the one they develop.
Fuckem each and every one of them.
hugely
@TenguPhule: see now, that was amusing without having to resort to eliminationist rhetoric…
J R in WV
@hovercraft:
Patents are reserved for a new inventions of some sort, that no one has ever been able to devise before, like a process to make a vaccine, or a device that can play chess, successfully. This is not something Trump can do.
On the other hand, a trademark, like “Trump!” can be registered by anyone who wants the trademark.
ruckus
@Kay:
How many of them would benefit from the tax cuts they are voting on?
The answer is most if not all of them.