I’d argue this alert I got today from the Guardian (thank gott im himmel I dumped the NY Times) sums today for the Trump admnistration quite nicely:
And no, that is not a photoshop job and an actual alert. Also:
This administration is like a bad acid trip.
Doinkman
A complete shitshow
p.a.
Bet Josh Marshall knew TPM would no longer be a 9-5 gig with the turnover from No Drama Obama to Hot Trumpin’ Mess.
Patricia Kayden
And it can get a lot worse. You ain’t seen nothing yet.
Omnes Omnibus
I disclaim any responsibility for this shit show.
Wag
Omnishambles–a perfect description of our country for now.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Omnes Omnibus: I thought perhaps you were marketing a new also-pop for summer
ETA: I love Joy Reid, but if someone could ask her to find a phrase other than “Russiagate”, one would be grateful
M. Bouffant
Ah feel like ahcid.
lamh36
Comey Damns Trump By Saying He Didn’t Write Memos On Obama Because Obama Was Truthful http://www.politicususa.com/2017/05/16/comey-damns-trump-write-memos-obama-obama-truthful.html
mai naem mobile
Okay,how long before FOX news starts referring to Dolt 45 as Democrat President Dolt 45?
p.a.
Well, no matter who heads it, it’ll be a Rethug administration until Jan 2021 at least. What will it take to renew foreign intelligence services faith in the US?
donnah
And Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan and their Republican toadies are all pretending that nothing is wrong, look at tax cuts! repeal health care! and wishing, no doubt, that Trump would keep his stupid mouth shut for once.
They can pretend that the White House is not in flames and burning down all around them, but their asses must be getting pretty warm about now. I hope they all burn.
Wag
I’m beginning to feel the same giddiness that I felt as a 12 year old boy as Watergate spun out of control and Nixon was forced to resign. I’m enjoying the past few days immensely
lamh36
eemom
eedad who has often proved prophetic thinks the Comey memo about Flynn will be the straw that breaks the trump. I’m not feeling it, but who knows.
dmsilev
@lamh36: One could argue that it would be every bit as truthful and informative as the White House Press Briefings which actually took place.
Mnemosyne
I don’t entirely agree with Truman Capote, but I still love this quote:
Republicans worked hard for at least a decade to get the permanent Republican majority they’d always dreamed of, and now they have exactly what they wanted: full and undisputed control of all three branches of government. Roll in it, assholes.
(Edited for moar invective.)
BBA
@Wag: Trump will not resign (because that’s a loser move – sad!) and he will not be impeached (St. Ron’s 11th Commandment). Hunker down, this’ll be a looooong haul.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
MATT TAIBBI IS CONCERNED
Princess
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Russ-ia-Lago
BBA
@Princess: Peter Sagal says the official name is “Trumpster Fire”
efgoldman
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
I thought Suzy Q Collins had filed a copyright on “concerned.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Princess: I like it!
is it just me, or is O’Donnell sounding a bit valedictory already?
pattonbt
All I will say to anyone who acts surprised in the slightest fashion about the insanity of the Trump administration and Trump himself is “Fuck You!”. Anyone who is honest could see the shit show that was coming. Maybe not so fast and deep, but the man is who the man is – and it was all on display. So any of you who voted for or give Trump any “benefit of the doubt” – Fuck You and rot in hell. Not one disclosure to date about Trump is a surprise to me in any way.
I still believe nothing will come of all of this because it hinges on R’s doing the right thing. They won’t. The party died in the 80’s with Reagan’s rise and has only gotten worse. They will not take down one of their own no mater what.
hovercraft
@Omnes Omnibus:
When I saw the post tittle, I asked myself wtf has OO done to get himself on John’s shitlist
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
I’m behind on my reading; did I miss a discussion of the injured protesters at the Turkish embassy? Some other video. My apologies if this is a rerun.
dmsilev
@BBA: If, and at this point it’s only an if, the GOP in Congress feel that they have more to lose by supporting Trump than by throwing him overboard, they’ll pull out the knives and go after him. Right now, though, the GOP primary voters still love them some Donald, so that’s still a hypothetical.
lamh36
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: yep…he had Rachel on and then Joy and Frum. After the segment with Joy, he his sign off to her seemed like a good bye
sanjeevs
Lou Dobbs with a call to Trump supporters to go to war.
https://twitter.com/LouDobbs/status/864629501774503936
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
#DeeeeeeeeepStaaaaaaaate!1!1
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: White supremacist sleaze has a sad…
Vhh
@p.a.: Trump forced out, Pence chooses Hillary as VP, and
then resigns , recognizing that 2016 election was illegitimate.
dmsilev
@sanjeevs: And what exactly are the Trump supporters supposed to do? Tweet angrily?
Omnes Omnibus
@hovercraft:
So, so much.
efgoldman
@sanjeevs:
It’s almost – ALMOST – worth getting a tweetler account to troll the delusional RWNJs.
Naah.
jl
@Omnes Omnibus:
” I disclaim any responsibility for this shit show. ”
I hereby nominate “Omnibusgate’ as the official name for this scandal. Since by the time it winds down, it will involve pretty much everything.
Johannes
We need Malcolm Tucker today. Everyday, really.
GregB
No press briefing.
Trump is taking his matroyshka dolls and going home.
lamh36
Adam L Silverman
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: It’s in my cue. Right behind yellow fever in Brazil, cholera and famine in Yemen, and ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
mai naem mobile
@dmsilev: Wear their MAGA hats a sekret gang…I mean cult membership sign.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@efgoldman: They’re homonyms but not synonymous, as Taibbi’s CONCERN is not that strongly worded.
Lyrebird
@lamh36: Thanks – well worth repeating!
ArchTeryx
@donnah: Good to see that someone still remembers that while Trump loudly sets fires, smears shit and throws toddler tantrums, the Visigoths in Congress still are trying to push out and out eugenic purges of the poor and sick for sake of shoveling more money to billionaires.
I keep telling people, forget Trump and keep your weather eye on Congress. I maintain that.
There’s constantly cries over at GOH for Schumer to withhold ALL unanimous consent and shut the Senate down cold until the Trump/Russia issue is dealt with. I add, “And until Mitch McConnell pulls the ACA and Medicaid repeal bill permanently from the floor.”
trollhattan
@eemom:
I’m with you but as a pessimist also acknowledge that leaves a chance I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
lamh36
HAHAHAHAHAH
Chet Murthy
@ArchTeryx: Called my senators, insisted they shut the Senate down (since that’s the only lever we have) until we get an independent investigation. I’m going to call tomorrow to ask them to name their own investigator and refuse to allow any other than their own. I guess I should call Schumer and ask him to get his buddy Bharara on the case. If Bharara could second Comey, it’d be schweet, so schweet. But not the other way around, just to be crystal-clear. Still don’t trust Comey alone in a room with my country.
ETA: Yep, you’re right, “And until Mitch McConnell pulls the ACA and Medicaid repeal bill permanently from the floor.”.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@eemom:
Trump giving intelligence to the Russians in the Oval Office the day after firing Comey was the inflection point – the torpedo below the water line. This Comey memo is the water flooding in – physics is taking over. There’s no unseeing or ignoring it.
jonas
@mai naem mobile: Oh yes. I expect the chiron anytime under footage of Trump from now on: “Registered Democrat in New York 1990-2002” and so on.
Peale
@lamh36: please, fire them all.
I really want him to wake up one day in the White House and have to make his own eggs because everyone is gone. he can be the first president since Cleveland to answer the door at the White House.
Adam L Silverman
Well I think that answers that question:
Marcopolo
@Adam L Silverman: Don’t forget the unrest in Venezuela–that’s a big headache in our hemisphere.
amk
turkish thug thumbing his nose at DC police?
amk
damn mod monster.
Adam L Silverman
This is a complete mess too!
Aleta
@Peale: How bout he wakes up on a sidewalk somewhere and the WH gates are locked.
??? Martin
Just a heads-up. Here’s a 70 year old man that has had enough money and celebrity his entire life to bail himself out of his mental illness. He’s now in a hole that his money and celebrity can’t get him out of. There’s no next act he can go to to recover his reputation. He’s never been in this position before. He’s never had to cope with this. This could end very tragically.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Adam L Silverman
@amk: I took care of it. The problem here is that these goons will all be covered under diplomatic immunity.
Adam L Silverman
@Marcopolo: It is in between ebola and something in Indonesia I think. I’m too tired to check the list.
amk
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks. Yeah, that’s my reading too, hence the thumbing his nose part.
jonas
@dmsilev: Yup. As long as he holds onto that ca 40% braindead will-vote-R-even-if-it’s-Lucifer-himself demo, they won’t budge.
lamh36
https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/864678230053269504
lamh36
Bill E Pilgrim
jonas
Look, Trump could be indicted, convicted of treason, and sent to a supermax lockup and the House won’t impeach. As long as he can still receive mail and sign tax cuts and voter laws that disadvantage minorities, he’s still good. I don’t think there’s anything in the Constitution preventing the CIC from being an incarcerated felon. IANAL, so check me if I’m wrong.
Omnes Omnibus
@jonas: So, what should we do?
Corner Stone
@amk: I don’t know why they weren’t ready to 2nd Amendment the fucking Muslim Turkish thugs when they tried it.
Adam L Silverman
@amk: @Corner Stone: The cops did a decent job with less than lethal force. Given that the Turks who were assaulting and battering the protestors would clearly have beaten them to death if given the chance, I would not have been opposed to them escalating to lethal force. Unfortunately that is really the only thing that the guys giving out the beatings respond to.
As to why they didn’t? They had most likely been prepped by the Department of State Diplomatic Security folks and given instructions about what the rules of engagement would and would not permit. This is a diplomatic incident. And people have been severely beaten and hurt. But it is containable. Ventilating the first goon to charge the protestors when he ignored the order to stop and back off would be a major, major problem.
Marcopolo
I realize at the rate current events in DC are unfolding the two special elections in MT & GA seem Trump-years away, but if one or both go to the Dem (and I think I read in an Eric son of Erick tweet as of the last few days the polling has turned ugly for the R’s) perhaps that will be enough to push some R’s in swing districts into more serious motion.
Corner Stone
@jonas: Well, since you ANAL I guess I’ll take your word about an incarcerated CIC.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
A billy club to the nuts?
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
Important point
Natasha Bertrand Retweeted Mahir Zeynalov:
Natasha Bertrand added:
Raoul
I still don’t think Ryan grasps just how bad this situation is for the House in the mid-terms. McConnell is more experienced, probably trying to game out his plan, but the Senate will be a tougher slog in ’18 for Dems.
Still, when peppered with questions this afternoon, NPR ran audio quotes of his answers. They were all ‘no’. I liked that they ran each no. Summed up the terse-lipped aura of panic below the surface of the Kentucky bastard.
Mary G
Twitter tells me that David Gergan is talking impeachment and Douthat 25th Amendment solution. I almost want Trump to skate through this one, because Dense Pence will use his smooth radio voice to talk some Republican voters into amnesia by Nov. 2018.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman:
McMaster is done. He’s got nothing left.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: That works too. But if you want to get the attention of 20 or so hitters with diplomatic cover dispersed over a 1/2 city block, the report of a service pistol and the thud of a body is going to get everyone’s attention a lot quicker and more thoroughly than one guy with his testicles suddenly impacted up around his tonsils.
Richard Shindledecker
News coverage in DC – what a non-starter.
TS
So inbetween investigating trump, Chaffetz still wants to get legislation passed and signed (by trump). GOP don’t want to impeach, they want to get their agenda through to the white house.
See the last answer on Katy Tur tweet
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: Unfortunately.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: Not the cops. The protestors.
opiejeanne
@Adam L Silverman: I think you mean queue, not cue. /pedant off.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
rats reluctant to board listing ship
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Let’s see how it plays out.
efgoldman
@TS:
I thought his smarminess was taking his ball and bat and going home, because this country doesn’t deserve his services.
Bobby Thomson
@jonas: Trump is absolutely 100% immune from prosecution unless and until he is impeached, so . . . .
Peale
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I change my mind. Trump should hire them all! Even if they don’t really want to join and haven’t applied! (Then he can fire them all).
dm
So, John teased us, but didn’t provide the Guardian link. It’s a page of links to stories with titles like “Downward spiral”, “Fear”, “Haunted House”, and links like “How Trump undercuts his own staff”.
It’s like music, really. Or would be, if it weren’t so fraught.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@TS: Charlie Sykes said tonight that he thinks it will be very hard for them to pass legislation in this environment. I hope he’s right and I think he might be
@efgoldman: rumor was he was on the point of giving two weeks notice to jump to Fox
lamh36
Damn…
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: Despite the Heller and McDonald rulings, it is almost impossible to get a carry permit in DC. So almost no one who is not law enforcement carries a firearm in the District as they don’t want to be arrested and charged. Also, the District’s government is almost perpetually in court trying to defend why it keeps coming up with new ways trying to get around the Heller and McDonald rulings. That’s why.
Corner Stone
Manchin is one ratfaced son of a bitch.
efgoldman
@Bobby Thomson:
He can’t be removed except by congress under the constitution.
Agnew was indicted while a sitting VP. He agreed to resign as part of his plea deal.
Yarrow
@lamh36: This is exactly right. Trump will throw everyone under the bus, with the possible exception of Ivanka, before he’s forced out. Pence is guilty and Trump will probably do what he can to blame all this on Pence. I’d expect a few choice leaks that show Pence’s illegal activities. Trump is dumb enough to think it’ll throw the press off the Trump story.
Adam L Silverman
@opiejeanne: kew
lamh36
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: with Fox imploding since Cheeto became prez…that ain’t much job security for Chaffettz
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Of course.
Bill E Pilgrim
Omnishamble sounds like sleepwalking while a zombie
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: So far, he has been a good D since the thing. Has he fucked up? If so, how?
lamh36
Help them how? Easy…there are already reports about Trump putting out fundraising emails from the Comey firing scandal
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: McMaster is fucked.
Aleta
Our nation waits for the Trusted Ear Haver of the President to make this right before tomorrow, so the women who work won’t lose their balance.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bill E Pilgrim: Watch it, bub.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Adam L Silverman:
@nycsouthpaw
Duckling break – we need more of these.
Adam L Silverman
@Bobby Thomson: Not necessarily. There is an ongoing legal debate about this as it has never been tried. Moreover, the closest thing that exists to a precedent Nixon v something or other, is believed to be challengeable by a number of legal scholars that specialize in this stuff.
The Constitution doesn’t explicitly prohibit it. So no one is really sure if it is simply a tradition/custom/norm conferring a generalizable immunity so as to prevent the opposition from hamstringing a president by constantly dragging him or her into court that under specific circumstances would not apply or if it is, indeed, a specific and blanket immunity while the president is in office.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: What did he do now?
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: Possibly.
Yarrow
@Corner Stone: That’s just a sad way for his career to end. He should have known better than to take the job, assuming he actually had a choice. Not clear whether he did given his military status. But he should have known better. Trump destroys everything and everyone he gets near.
TS
@efgoldman: He appears to have changed his mind – but appearances can be misleading inside the mind of GOPers.
lamh36
Aleta
@Bill E Pilgrim: Thx for that!
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Because his supporters believe they are oppressed by everyone in DC, and in politics, that is not the President. They actually hate the institutional GOP, the funders, the power brokers, the people at the conservative think tanks and institutions, even most of the conservative media folks. All of them are part of the scam. Part of ripping the base of the GOP/the President’s supporters off and keeping them down.
Corner Stone
@Omnes Omnibus: What do you mean “good D”? There hasn’t been a good D vote in the Senate that I am aware of. All of his comments otherwise are variations of “tell me how we can sell this to the rubes”.
Which I guess is the business of rural D Senators. I didn’t call him a rat, I said he a had a rat fucking face.
Suzanne
Oh God, I am having so much fun being a smug dick to all the sTrumpets I know. I gave a whole rash of shit to one dude, reminding him of how much of a MAGA douche he was, how his dude is suuuuuuuuch a fuckup, how only a fool didn’t see this coming.
Everyone who voted for this fucker deserves to feel like an idiot. I’m imagining something similar to Cersei on GoT: walking through the street naked, getting shit thrown at them, yelling SHAME!
lamh36
So granpa McCain did said this was getting to “watergate” style territory, but FYI is also said, he’s against a special prosecutor…
https://twitter.com/RobinWigg/status/864642691136720896
Once again…profile in courage from gramps…smh
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: If you look at him, he looks like a ratface son of a bitch.
You can’t argue that.
lamh36
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: What I have seen was Manchin toeing the D line. In public comments. Be an asshole if you what.
daverave
Paul Ryan a few days before the 2016 election:
“This is what life is like with the Clintons. It is one scandal after another, and you never know what’s coming next. They use the system to enrich themselves. Can we handle four years of this?”
Bill E Pilgrim
@Omnes Omnibus: Somnambushamble? Better?
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: He took the job, rather than retiring, to try to fix as much as he could and insulate the Interagency, the National Security Staff, the National Security Council, etc from as much damage as possible. Basically he sacrificed himself. The question is are you going to kick him as he goes down or recognize what he’s done and why despite the cost?
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Yarrow: Rick Wilson says
BTW, nice to see you.
Omnes Omnibus
@Corner Stone: W’evs.
Chet Murthy
@Omnes Omnibus: @Corner Stone: I saw a report of Rs like Collins having a “bipartisan meeting” about healthcare. And Manchin was quoted, coming out of the meeting, saying “if they’re gonna try to rip down the ACA, we’re not interested, period.”
Maybe he’s done other rat-bastard things? But he seems to be doing the best he can, given his constituency.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: Kick him. It was for nothing.
lamh36
Alright, I am off to bed. I look forward to a recap of the 3am tweets from Cheeto…unless the WH Consul has finally convinced Cheeto to put the phone down!
See ya’ll on the flip side BJ.
From earlier today in the midst of the Comey memo news…
Good night
opiejeanne
@Adam L Silverman: *BLOWS RASPBERRIES*
Timurid
@Adam L Silverman: It’s a given that soldiers will sacrifice their lives if necessary, but this feels even worse. McMaster has sacrificed himself to a living death because he knows that the lights must stay on in the defense and intelligence communities no matter who or what is President. And if he quits, he and his allies in the NSC will be replaced by random grifters and Klansmen. That poor bastard…
Omnes Omnibus
@Chet Murthy: How am I wrong??
Adam L Silverman
I think I may have mentioned something about this earlier:
Suzanne
@Yarrow:
Oh God, the fallout from this is going to be SO EPIC. I want all these craven fuckers to pay for hitching their wagon to this star. I am hoping to see Paul Ryan divorced, homeless, and with his teeth falling out within five years. Don’t ask me what I’m dreaming up for Mitch McConnell.
Chet Murthy
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, doesn’t it somewhat depend on whether he testifies and takes down every single rat he saw doing anything even remotely rat-like? If all he did was try to “do a good job and keep the worst from happening” then he’s like that German lawyer who ended up writing the Nuremberg laws b/c yaknow, he was able to make ’em less bad than they’d have been.
It seems to me, if we come thru this proximate crisis, we have another longer crisis ahead of us: how to find and root out all (or as many as possible) of the Russian agents of influence that the Rs and RWNJs inserted into our government. McMaster could help with that, and that might go to redeeming his reputation.
I can’t see how our allies/partners can trust us, if we don’t perform this thorough disinfection.
opiejeanne
@Bill E Pilgrim: IIRC, a shambles is a slaughterhouse.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Do you know for sure that’s why he took the job? If so, then good for him. I’m rather neutral on him, since I don’t know anything about him. I just think Trump’s track record is so clear that anyone who took a job with him is stupid. Perhaps after all this is over the real stories will come out and we’ll see what a hero he is/was.
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho: Thanks! And yes, I agree with Rick Wilson on this. It’s such an obvious thing. I can’t understand why anyone would agree to get anywhere near him. His whole life is like a flashing neon light saying, “Warning! Danger! Stay away!”
Another Scott
@Adam L Silverman: Is the secret to not getting arrested to wear a suit while you’re kicking the crap out of someone??
:-(
(sigh)
That better not be a preview of our future….
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Marcopolo
@Timurid: When I actually think about it it makes me wonder (and slightly ill) as to why KT McFarland is still hanging around instead of on her way to Singapore.
Captain C
@daverave: Always projection with them. Makes one wonder about ‘Pizzagate.’
daverave
@sanjeevs:
Reading the comments on that Dobbs story, wow, just wow… it is a cult, amirite?
amk
@Adam L Silverman: Normalizing twitler’s treason & gopee’s despicable cowardice ain’t no noble cause.
Adam L Silverman
@Timurid: He is a smart guy. He knew what the deal was going in. He was informed to prepare for retirement from his billet as Deputy Commanding General, Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC)/Director, Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC). He could have finished out his assignment at FT Eustis, offramped into a comfortable retirement and either a position at a think tank or in the defense sector or an administrative position in academia.
Bill E Pilgrim
Well I’m going to bed but since time has clearly become accelerated or compressed at such an insane rate I half expect that by the time I wake up everyone else will have evolved into new form of life consisting only of glowing blobs of light. I guess I’ll know who won the current epic struggle by seeing whether the blobs are orange and have comb overs. Or not.
Calouste
@opiejeanne: It’s a shambles means it’s a mess.
Yarrow
@Suzanne: Heh! Me too. Ryan is guilty as hell and will end up out of office and possibly in prison. McConnell knows they have something on him that put the fear of God in him. I’ll never forget seeing him on TV in December when whatever the thing is convinced him to change his tune from “no investigation” to “okay, I’ll allow investigations” into the Russian involvement in the campaign. He gave his statement like a hostage in a video reading a prepared statement. He looked trapped. Whatever it is, it needs to come out and McConnell needs to be removed from office.
Captain C
@Suzanne: To be the tortoise flipped over by Leon the Nexus 6 Replicant?
BlueDWarrior
@daverave: Exactly. And that’s why I highly doubt the Republican Congressmen would actually try to impeach him. The Republican base has been radicalized past rationality and has become a functional cult. The Scarboroughs and the Douthats of the world can scream and cry all they want to, but they are firmly saddled to the hungry tiger that is their base. They can either get dragged wherever they want to go, or try and get off and risk being dismembered.
And I can’t say I have much sympathy for them either way.
Yarrow
@Chet Murthy:
Completely agree. It’s essential that we do this. Not sure it’ll happen.
Bill E Pilgrim
@opiejeanne:
I was thinking more of the verb.
Though given my name, Slaughterhouse is fitting also I suppose
Adam L Silverman
@Chet Murthy: I do not know, because I have no idea what he’s actually been privy too – minus last week’s dissemination.
As for a full accounting and reckoning, I’m all for it. Unfortunately I don’t think we, as a society, have the guts to do it. I have been thinking about this and my conclusion is that we should have the Canadians, as an outside party, come in and do it. Including issuing binding recommendations for how to fix things, such as switching to a parliamentary system or doing away with the electoral college. It is completely extra-constitutional, but we’re well passed questions of whether the Constitution has any meanings beyond words on paper that mean nothing to those who scream the term the most often and the loudest and a set of ideals the rest of us embrace, but recognize are now functionally dead letter.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: I cannot prove it. He most certainly didn’t discuss it with me. But everything I know about him (and full disclosure: he endorsed a proposal I made to TRADOC, has written a letter of reference for me, and I have provided him with informal support) leads me to believe that this was the case.
Adam L Silverman
@Another Scott: I cannot honestly say I have never been arrested while wearing a suit and tie.
I have also never been arrested when not wearing a suit and tie.
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman:
Well he was right up until the president pushed him out to obfuscate for him. Oh well, I’m sure there are still a few credible people left in his sphere of influence, Barron is not a know liar, Melania not so much, and Tiffany is a whiner but so far she hasn’t lied to us as far as I know.
Adam L Silverman
@Another Scott: I doubt it will be. Too many different types of weapons/small arms (projectile, bladed, less than lethal) in the hands of too many Americans in too many places.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Calouste: Right but that comes from the word for slaughterhouse, i.e places that were a mess. So opj is right. Then there’s the verb though which is a different story and what I meant.
BlueDWarrior
@Adam L Silverman: The Bill that was incurred from the Radicalization of the Right during the 1960s is coming due for our society. Our unwillingness to call out the Revanchists and Neo-Confederates for what they were (and we all have a little bit of a problem with this, if nothing more than the commutative property) has allowed the right to get worse and worse. And you’re right, I think our political culture is now too compromised to be able to reconcile all the problems we have.
Either the right-wing finally implodes upon itself, or we start repeating the 1840s-1860 – and both of those are thoughts that make me quail in fear.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: The Congressional GOP leadership is rumored to have used Super PACs and campaigns to launder money for, among others, the Russians.
McConnell’s goal for decades is to remove every last bit of campaign finance regulation. That’s his goal. That’s why he is doing what he is doing. And why he needed to prevent President Obama from filling a third Supreme Court vacancy – so whatever he does will survive legal challenge.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Well, time will tell. Maybe he’ll be able to write one of the tell-all books and come out looking like a hero.
I saw a clip of his press conference today and thought he looked very uncomfortable. Not sure if that’s because he doesn’t usually do press conference type things or the reason he was sent out to do it.
opiejeanne
@daverave: I know. Those comments are from trolls and idiots.
Morzer
@Corner Stone:
He’s probably changing the title of his memoirs to:
The McMaster and the Margaritas.
opiejeanne
@Calouste: I know that, but the original meaning had to do with a slaughterhouse.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: I’m fully aware. I think there could be more. Something more personal, perhaps, for McConnell. Maybe the thing people always hint about, or possibly something about his wife’s family’s dealings? Whatever it was, McConnell was shaken and scared.
Morzer
@Yarrow:
Elaine Chao has been described as the most corrupt member of the Bush administration. I would not be at all surprised to discover that McConnell has an abundance of dirty laundry that he shares with her. Follow the money.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman:
When all this shit finally comes out, I wonder if Gorsuch will keep his seat on the Supreme Court. If the administration and top GOP leadership are shown to be a bunch of traitors owned by Russia, I think there would be an argument for a do-over.
hovercraft
@Mary G:
Dense seems calm and relative compared to his manic boss, but remember his name is dense for a reason, and also too a big reason he was willing to jump on the flaming bandwagon that everyone thought was doomed was that he was about to get thrown out of office in Indiana. If he becomes president he will go full speed ahead with the aide of the rest of the christianists fully implement their anti LGBT and woman agenda, these morans do not learn. As we’ve seen even fucking Indiana wasn’t having it, so he’d have plenty of time to bring the whole party down and give us a real good shot at the senate.
jl
@Adam L Silverman:
” As for a full accounting and reckoning, I’m all for it. Unfortunately I don’t think we, as a society, have the guts to do it. ”
I think in our Constitutional set up, the peaceful solution to crises like this an election that throws a lot of bums out. So, I am gong broken record on GOTV and massive resistance to the coming GOP voter suppression efforts. A mass Voting Rights march on DC would be a good idea. The GOP has gone after so many demographics already that everyone could fit in and feel welcome.
And I think the only thing, the only thing, what would ensure even a half-ass honest independent investigation is fear of a catastrophic election. And only if the looming catastrophe seemed so large, the GOP lost hope of suppressing their way out of it.
So, get ready for the midterms and bring them up repeatedly when contacting the Congresscritters. I do, even though its pointless. DiFi (or, her staffers) surely gets a chuckle out of it , but I figure I need to practice threats of electoral justice looming over their heads.
Ruckus
@Vhh:
That’s some wicked shit you got there. Please don’t share.
Chet Murthy
@Yarrow: All it takes is an Act of Congress — majority of both houses — to pass a law increasing # of seats by 2. And then Pres Dem-to-be-Named fills those two vacancies, with 51 votes in the Senate. No need to impeach him.
Another Scott
@Adam L Silverman: Being a “smart guy” isn’t a defense or an excuse. He knew what kind of person Trump and his minions is/was/were before he signed on. He knew he was lending his good name and his accomplishments to Trump, increasing Trump’s power.
Trump cares nothing about the US government or the IC or anything but himself.
McMaster should have known that he would have no power to actually control Trump or his minions. He couldn’t protect the IC any more than Barron could. Trump breaks every rule and convention that he finds inconvenient – and that includes ignoring the traditional role of the National Security Adviser.
We know what honorable men do when confronted with over-reach and outrageous actions by the President – they resign. They don’t throw up squid-ink answers to questions that weren’t asked, they don’t deny things that were never alleged, and they don’t support a President who is endangering the rule of law and the national government.
This wasn’t a tough decision, IMO. He made the wrong choice from the beginning.
Cheers,
Scott.
Yarrow
@hovercraft: Pence was brought in by Manafort and he knows all about Trump’s dealings with the Russians. If it looks like he’s headed for the presidency, I expect many things to leak. As I said above, Trump may throw Pence under the bus by leaking stuff himself in a misguided attempt to blame Pence for all the Russian involvement. If that happens then Pence may get removed first. Wouldn’t that be fun! If Pence does step into the office as 46 then I expect his tenure will be short.
Chet Murthy
@jl:
All true. But if Yertle is a Putin-fluffer, we need to know. And so after that election, we need a truth-and-reconciliation commission. I don’t care about the punishments — being publicly exposed as a Putin-fluffer is enough for me, assume we get out democracy back first — but it needs to be public and it needs to be searingly complete. So no possibility of blackmail down the road.
hovercraft
@efgoldman:
Yes but before he jumps over to FOX to make some money before his run for governor, he wanted to have something solid to run on, saying he helped usher in the biggest tax cut in the history of the universe was supposed to be it, Hillary may not be president but she’s a free woman so he failed : (
Timurid
The Republicans are coming up on their failsafe point: Impeach Trump or crown him King.
There will be no Option C.
The excitement I feel when each bombshell drops is tempered just a bit by the fear that one day soon we’ll see McConnell, Ryan and Sessions on the stage with Trump at a press conference, saying “We are moving on from the investigations. Trump is our President, period.”
jl
@hovercraft: Pence will grease the way for a lot of unpopular legislation too. Things like AHCA, huge tax cuts for a fraction of the 1%, will start rolling again. Pence will know enough not to sabotage it.
And if the staff and cronies can get Trump to shut himself up, this delicate situation will drag on longer than we might think. I think Josh Marshall was correct in his diagnosis of the GOP. Only a very few Congress GOPers are ready, for whatever reason, to even consider real action to find out the truth. Most are in hunker down mode to see what happens, see if this one dies down. That is why I called them zombies shuffling to their doom.But what else can they do, or know how to do?
Edit: but haven’t they learned that Trump is perpetual scandal machine? New shit hits the fan before the last batch has a chance to clear the room.
Morzer
@Timurid:
“Donald has decided to leverage creative synergies by moving up to the Permanent Senior Presidential level, while Mike Pence is promoted to the Executive Presidential level.”
ruemara
@??? Martin: I am delighted if he determines his one way out is a tragic self-end. My only concern is for others.
Morzer
@jl:
Nevertheless, he pershitted.
Chet Murthy
@ruemara:
Won’t be anything tragic about it. I’ll be dancin’ in the streets, myself. Fuckem ((c) efg, all rights reserved)
ETA: I take that back. The -tragedy- will be if he doesn’t first dish enough dirt on his co-conspirators to take ’em all down. Now -that- would be tragic. What happens to him? Like I give a damn.
Viva BrisVegas
@Suzanne:
Careful what you wish for.
Cersei blew up all her enemies and was crowned Queen.
Gian
To be cynical, the best political result involves this simmering until the mid term elections and talking all the oxygen out of Washington DC thereby preventing the GOP agenda from advancing.
Of course as a practical national interest sort of thing that would require putting adults not working for Russia in charge of security items.
and someone mentioned the comet ping pong thing as projection. Way back when there was a washington times (the moonie wingnut paper) story about Bush the elder, some of it can be found here. (not endorsing it, just saying it was out there way back when) http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/Franklin/FranklinCoverup/franklin.htm
Timurid
@ruemara:
I can’t imagine such a colossal narcissist committing suicide.
Morzer
@Timurid:
Qualis artifex pereo.
jl
@Chet Murthy: I agree. But I also agree with Adam that our Constitutional system is not well configured to handle situations like this even in normal times. And now is not a normal time since executive and majority in Congress are corrupt and lawless.
The truth will probably have to come out after the corrupt lose power, if we can keep our democracy. Public shame, and long delayed and slow grinding criminal process, that may well be frustrated in the sense that formal justice will never occur, but informal justice in the court of public opinion will have to meet out the sentence based on what truth emerges in that process. Seems like the best we can hope for right now.
I don’t think the GOP will impeach Trump unless something like general strikes and mass civil action occurs that predicts undeniable catastrophe in the upcoming elections. And then they’ll get rid of Trump in record time.
But,then, who knows how much Trump will do to get thrown out of office? We see amazing new innovations along that line very day, don’t we?
The situation is unpredictable and frightening, and I can only be optimistic by thinking about popular outrage scaring the crap out of the GOP Congress.
Mnemosyne
@??? Martin:
When I was being morbid last night, I was saying that there were two ways for Ivanka, the Golden Child of this narcissist, to end up. The good way was to be thrown to the wolves as he desperately thrashes around trying to escape the situation he’s gotten himself into. The bad way is if the narcissist decides there’s no way the Golden Child will be able to survive without him.
amk
@Another Scott: He need not even have quit. He could have just owned up that the twitler had fucked up (I mean why the fuck even the russians were there in the WH the day after comey was fired?) and that he will make sure such horrors won’t be repeated. That would have pissed off the treasonous scum for sure but still would have sent a warning to him. If the twitler fired him for telling the truth, so be it. Instead, mcmaster did a pathetic cya.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: I am always arguing for get out the vote. That is separate from a truth and reconciliation commission with binding recommendation powers.
efgoldman
@jl:
The thing that will scare the living shit out of the RWNJs is if either, or if we’re fortunate, both of the special elections next month go the Dems’ way.
hovercraft
@jl:
The problem is they learned the wrong lesson, they all knew he was crazier than a rabid raccoon, but then he won the nomination and the the presidency, so they learned to never bet against him, so now they will stick with him till his goose is actually cooked. This man is the American version of Rasputin, nothing will kill him, someone needs to check on Darth Vader, is he still alive or did Twitler eat him?
jl
@Adam L Silverman: I grant your point. But, the evidence of crime and corruption will have to be absolutely overwhelming for the diehard reactionary bigot and racist 27% to accept anything like a truth and reconciliation commission or pretend to accept it.
But I was also thinking about the possibility of Constitutional reforms. My wish list: Get rid of the Electoral College. Possibility of a run-off in presidential election to ensure victor has a majority of popular vote. That second will require some limits on time and money spent on elections. So amendment to clarify and limit the money equals speech doctrine. I’d go with those.
Right now it’s like the end of the Roman Republic. They had a saying about needing three fortunes to be a successful politician in Rome, but I forget how it goes.
efgoldman
@jl:
You’re more likely to find ET landing on your lawn. No way the small population states give up their power.
Peale
@Chet Murthy: I’m in no mood for reconciliation. The same people can’t be in charge after this period that were in charge during this period.
jl
@efgoldman: OK OK, New England can get a few extra votes. For being really really old states, I guess. and for maple syrup and stuff. You satisfied now?
I’m trying to think of a version of Debbie Downer that I can work in with ‘efgoldman’ that sounds snappy.
Anyway, I think the quote goes ‘You need three fortunes to be a successful politician in Rome: one to win power, one to win the lawsuits and keep power, and one to retire on.’ Anyone know if that is about right?
Jacel
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I caught the end of the opening of his show when he continued to talk with Rachel for several minutes and called her their “team leader”.
What I wonder is whether MSNBC has chosen to cut him loose after his current contract ends, or if Lawrence is making the choice to do something else with his life. I remember before he started “The Last Word”, he had been on MSNBC filling in for Keith Olbermann (and doing a great job there) when Keith was assisting his father during his final illnesses. That took more and more of Keith’s time, and Lawrence was on nearly every night for some stretches. But I recall at that time Lawrence was saying in interviews that he wasn’t sure that he wanted to be the host of a news show indefinitely. If he’s gone from the MSNBC lineup soon, I hope it’s by his choice. But if it isn’t, there’s hell to raise about the network — especially if that hour doesn’t go to one of the several darned good hosts like Joy and Ari that don’t have a steady weeknight slot.
efgoldman
@Peale:
Prosecutions worked in ’72-’74. They can work fine now.
Orange jump suits and perp walks all around, barrister.
NotMax
A bad acid trip is nirvana compared to this administration. A combination of ebola, rabies and flesh-eating bacteria mixed with gangrene is more like it.
Morzer
@efgoldman:
We just need to invade them, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.
They’ll be greeting us with flowers and pulling down statues of Jefferson Davis before you know it.
Timurid
@Morzer:
Nero only checked out when he knew he was about to be assassinated.
opiejeanne
@Jacel: Comcast, which owns MSNBC, says that Lawrence O’Donnell criticizes Trump too much. They said this today, as Lawrence was proven right about so many things.
Morzer
@Timurid:
Actually he scurried off to hide when he thought he was about to be captured by the Senate and put on trial. He committed suicide in a panic.
Another Scott
@jl: There seem to be several variations. Here’s one:
Sounds right up Donnie’s alley!
:-/
‘night all.
Cheers,
Scott.
efgoldman
@jl:
I only know what I read in the papers
You think there’s any hint of a prayer of that in this or any alternate universe?
Spoiler: Nope
NotMax
@egoldman
Ivanka working on a line of (supposedly) flattering designer jumpsuits as we speak?
hovercraft
@jl:
Grumpy oldman (rhymes with goldman), not so snappy, but apropos.
efgoldman
@Morzer:
A good number of them weren’t even states during the War of Southern Treason Over Slavery.
Morzer
@hovercraft:
Hope got a ban
From efgoldman
He was an old man
His face was wan
And he never ran
But used a LAN.
efgoldman
@NotMax:
“One size fits none”
jl
@hovercraft: @efgoldman: If Trump get really pissed, he will decree that all those tiny little liberal states be turned into counties, or townships or Consolidated Townes, whatever they use up there. Then New England will come to its senses and put it over the top.
OK, we have an alternative universe (at least is is right now, in the beginning of the Trump Era).
Next Question?
Mike J
@jl:
Nixon bottomed out at 24%. 27% should be close enough.
jl
@hovercraft:
Grumpy oldman (rhymes with goldman), not so snappy, but apropos.
Will that come with cute GIFs?
efgoldman
@jl: @Morzer: @hovercraft: Youse guys are just jealous because, no matter how hard you try, you can’t get as cynical as I am.
Patricia Kayden
@Adam L Silverman: What the hell?!!
amk
NotMax
@Morzer
There is here a poster named goldman
Oft brusque but rarely a scold, man
His wisdom and wit
Cut straight through the sh*t
No milquetoast but rather a bold man
BBA
@efgoldman: Basically the only Constitutional amendments that stand a chance of passing these days are “Christianity is the state religion” and “Abortion is banned everywhere”.
efgoldman
@NotMax: Hawaii for the win
Adam L Silverman
@Patricia Kayden: Erdogan’s goon squad/security.
Morzer
@efgoldman:
efgoldman was a cynic
All his life he taught a clinic
Specializing in our doom
Wallowing amid our gloom
Averring life was not a picnic.
efgoldman
@BBA:
That’s why the threshold for amending is so high. 2/3 of each house plus 3/4 of the states.
ETA: ERA was passed in the early 70s, has yet to be ratified, likely won’t ever be.
Millard Filmore
@Adam L Silverman:
Are the GOP mega-doners insulated from this?
Patricia Kayden
@Adam L Silverman: Whoa! It’s getting real.
Adam L Silverman
@Millard Filmore: I have no idea.
And I’m pooped and going to bed. Someone put up a flare when the tweets start at O Dark Whenever…
efgoldman
@Morzer:
Not always true. Nobody remembers election nite 2008 any more.
Millard Filmore
@Chet Murthy:
I almost agree with you, but the perps must be treated as felons. No gun possession, no voting, no elected office, no speaking on political subjects … stuff like that. Restrictions imposed as part of their plea deal.
Chet Murthy
Somewhere (I think it was a previous thread) somebody noted that Wilmer had said “not there on impeachment”. I found a dK post about it, and unlike in previous cases, I see nothing to object to in his (in-context) remarks:
link
I got my problem with him. But this time (at least) and in these remarks (at least) I see nothing harmful. Indeed, as others have pointed out, it’s good to let impeachment take its time — get closer to the election — as long as we bottle up Congress and make sure the investigators are honest.
I think the Dems should be picking the investigators. Rs got to pick Ken Starr; we should pick … Preet Bharara!
Morzer
@efgoldman:
efgoldman was a cynic
Most his life he taught that clinic
Excepting just the year ’08
When for once he stayed up late
Hosting an Obama picnic!
Chet Murthy
@Millard Filmore: That’s a guarantee that we’ll never get to the bottom of it. Even as it is, anybody who confesses will be out of politics for life. At least, if we have a democracy composed of citizens who give a damn. But if we instead prosecute, the Rs will stonewall and we’ll never get anywhere.
Look: I want ’em all hung upside-down by their ballsacks too. But I want -more- that we can trust our government to not be riven thru with Russian stooges. So I’m willing to let ’em walk on the crime, as long as they don’t come back into government. And that’s up to the voters, isn’t it? If the voters are -that- dumb, that -uncaring- about our republic, then …. well, we deserve that, don’t we? At least, we’ll know that they elected traitors. We’ll *know* it. That’s already worth something.
ETA: What was it Sun Tzu said? “Always give your enemy a way out”. Or something like that. The implication being: “or he’ll fight to the death, and you don’t want that — you might increase your chances of losing.”
Lizzy L
I’d vote for Bharara.
Going to bed, gang. Sweet dreams, until we meet again.
Morzer
@Chet Murthy:
Moral victories are the opium of the defeated.
Citizen Alan
@Adam L Silverman:
I wonder if God loves me enough for Mossad to have a copy of Trumps pee tape that can be leaked to the public.
efgoldman
@Chet Murthy:
Yeah, that’s what Tricksie Dicksie Nixie and his merry band of criminals thought, too.
Those who would forget history… yadda, yadda
Millard Filmore
@Chet Murthy: I think I agree with you. By “treat them as felons” I mean without the jail time.
David Spikes
@Adam L Silverman: So that supposed sacrifice insulates him from criticism for being a beard for Trump.
I suppose we also are required to feel the pain of poor, poor sacrificial victims Wall and Rosenstein.
sheeesh
Doug R
@lamh36: All this “Trump voters will never change” is bullsh*t.
They’re all lying liars, at least to themselves and most of them outright.
When they change their minds as Trump runs his way through all the different ways to screw up, it will turn out that his support was never actually there as most of his supporters slowly and quietly scuttle away.
Remember the only fans of proven liars are lying liars themselves.
Uncle Cosmo
@efgoldman: “Small states” might not have a veto on this. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is already law in 10 states & DC with 165 EVs & is pending in the legislatures of 15 other states with a total of 191 EVs. If&when it becomes law in states comprising >269 EVs (& survives the inevitable court challenges) it won’t matter how the remaining states allocate their EVs.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho:
It got significant coverage at 11:00 on the CBS affiliate in D.C. (WUSA).
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
One of the large problems with a T&R committee is that is there would be some fraction of the Republican party that would deal in good faith, even as a minority or before the commission. There is no evidence for those facts right now.
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
Oh, NotMax. we still on for tomorrow?
AxelFoley
@pattonbt:
This right here.
NotMax
@
Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]
Affirmative.
Applejinx
@Chet Murthy: Nope. This is not about letting Russian stooges walk quietly away and promise not to bother us anymore.
And I don’t THINK my Senator (Birdie Senator: how’s that?) is coming from that place. If he is, I’m damn disappointed, but what I think is happening is this: you have to ‘trade up’. There’s a process. What’s left of our institutions can be rebuilt through following that process. You’ve got to be tenacious, and not jump into dramatic crowd-pleasing gestures. There has to be a path.
Now, all the ‘maybe it will, maybe it won’t’, that’s pretty naked pandering. But it’s pandering to Trumpkins by a raving lefty who is ALSO one of the few people in government they trust: approval ratings for Birdie are still very high, hell of a lot higher than Trump’s or most other politicians. Hedging at this point means holding out until that can be used, not squandered. It’s a political calculation by someone who’s been a politician literally all his life, with pet issues but still a lifelong politician. Of course Birdie Senator intends to wait for his denunciation until there’s a path and until most of the Trumpkins are already wavering. If he’s saying what they already think, then saying it gets him more popularity while also delivering the message. Leading on that message doesn’t help him.
So, easy to manage Birdie: show the path, walk it. It’s that simple. Then, he backs your move, and that helps with the cross-section of the electorate who are watching to see which way he’ll jump. He is making a political calculation. It’s not his job to be the prosecutor, there are people whose job it is to do that. It’s not wrong to emphasize the role of our institutions in this situation and demand we follow them.
I’ve seen apparent republicans on Twitter clashing with MAGA types on those grounds: saying ‘no, this is what courts and prosecutions are for. Let them do their jobs, or you’re unamerican’. That’s a positive sign, and not unpredictable: there’s a lot of wingnuts who think the Democrats have no respect for our institutions, and they’re not taking Trump’s (predictable) behavior well. They were sure he wasn’t going to do that, but now he is, and they’re real disappointed and let down.
TenguPhule
@Chet Murthy:
No, always make it LOOK like there is a way out. Then butcher the bastards when they rout.