Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

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

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Cole is on a roll !

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

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

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

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Tuesday Night Open Thread: Running the Country Like One of His Companies

Tuesday Night Open Thread: Running the Country Like One of His Companies

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Sticking his name on the facade in gilt letters, letting his cronies loot whatever they can pry loose, and preparing to walk away from his creditors. John Cassidy, in the New Yorker:

Donald Trump has built his political career on his reputation as a successful businessman, so it seems fair to assess his recent performance as President as if he were a C.E.O. running U.S.A., Inc. The report card isn’t pretty. Indeed, if Trump were the chief executive of a public company, the firm’s non-executive directors probably would have been huddled in a crisis meeting on Tuesday morning, deciding whether to issue him a pink slip…

Perhaps the most worrying sign for Trump came from U.S.A., Inc.,’s corporate headquarters, in Washington, D.C., where Paul Ryan, the company’s head of product development, who is widely regarded as a key Trump ally, expressed concern about the latest turn of events. While not referring to Trump directly, Ryan said in a statement that “protecting our company’s secrets is paramount.”

To be sure, I am stretching the corporate analogy here—Ryan said “our country’s secrets,” not “our company’s secrets”—but it brings out an important point. Most major corporations wouldn’t put up with Trump-like behavior. They have well-established rules and procedures for dealing with a C.E.O. who has gone rogue. If a firm’s board of directors sees the boss acting erratically and seriously undermining the firm’s long-term interests, it can step in and find a replacement. (At the very least, it can issue a reprimand and launch an internal inquiry to find out what has gone wrong.)

Politics doesn’t work like that, of course. More than sixty million Americans voted for Trump, and removing him from office would be a monumental undertaking. In light of Trump’s disclosures of classified information to Russia, some legal experts argued on Monday night that Congress could impeach him for violating his oath of office, in which he pledged to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States”—but that seems a long way off. Despite the latest statements from Ryan, Corker, and others, the G.O.P.’s leaders have come nowhere close to publicly supporting such a move…

THANKS EVER SO MUCH, REPUBS!

Reader Interactions

147Comments

  2. 2.

    lamh36

    @HotlineJosh
    Dana Bash now reporting Congressional Rs debating between supporting independent prosecutor or independent commission. Major development.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    “ppppolls By 8 point margin, 49/41, voters wish Hillary Clinton was President instead of Trump. Including 10% of Trump voters”

    about fucking time

  4. 4.

    TenguPhule

    @lamh36: And as I said in a prior thread, that independent is gonna be a reliable (R) who will ensure nothing actually happens.

    They’re in too deep to get out now.

  5. 5.

    lamh36

    Seriously though…is the Trump overseas trip REALLY gonna happen?

    If so….doesn’t that just give GOP cover to drag out this entire thing until folks are over it?

  7. 7.

    Corner Stone

    Donald Trump has built his political career on his reputation as a successful businessman,

    Sorry, John Cassidy. Try this if you care about accuracy:
    “Donald Trump has built his political career on his reputation as a successful businessman racist birther,”

  8. 8.

    Frank Wilhoit

    Trump Nation don’t care. We are right up against it now: the question is whether we shall have institutions, not what kind of institutions we shall have; not really even whose thumb should be on the scale, but whether things ought to be weighed. Make no mistake: Trump’s people, each to the last, say no. And there is absolutely nothing on Earth or in Hell that will convince them otherwise.

  9. 9.

    TenguPhule

    @lamh36:

    If so….doesn’t that just give GOP cover to drag out this entire thing until folks are over it?

    The wonderful thing is that the GOP already killed the respecting politics at the water’s edge with the Iran letter.

    So no holds barred.

  10. 10.

    hovercraft

    @lamh36:
    It’s Getting hot in here, so hot in here! So hot in, hot, oh!
    With a little bit of, uh uh, and a little bit of, uh uh……..

  11. 11.

    lamh36

    @jpaceDC
    European official tells @AP their country might stop sharing intel with US if Trump gave classified info to Russian diplomats.

  13. 13.

    efgoldman

    @TenguPhule:

    The wonderful thing is that the GOP already killed the respecting politics at the water’s edge with the Iran letter.

    That won’t stop them from bleating about it.
    They are nothing if not hypocrites first

  16. 16.

    lamh36

    @TexasTribAbby 27m27 minutes ago
    I had several House members pull me aside tonight to privately ask me “Is this really as crazy as it all seems?”

  17. 17.

    Peale

    @Frank Wilhoit: the only reason a pound is a pound and a foot is a foot is some crass government jack booted thug who has taken away my liberty.

  18. 18.

    hovercraft

    @lamh36:
    If Twitler has his way he will go on the trip, remember his first instinct is to never, ever back down, ever. He will always try to just bluster his way through. Remember he thinks that he’s already made a bunch of friends among world leaders so he wants to go out and show how popular he is with them and in the world. It will be a miracle if anyone can convince him that being on an overseas trip while the shit is hitting all of the fans would make a great first impression on the world stage.

  20. 20.

    Peale

    She still can’t top 50%. And this looks a lot like pollsbefore the election. My guess is that despite it all, were we to hold the election today, we’d end right back here.

  23. 23.

    Aleta

    Just realized that Comey’s actions may end up being what blocked both HRC and Tr from serving as prez. He would be the guy responsible for Pence in power.

  24. 24.

    smintheus

    I live in a heavily Republican rural town. After finishing voting in my local primary today, I ejected the electronic card and said to the whole room and nobody in particular…

    I was really confused at first by the Cyrillic alphabet, but I guess eventually I figured it out.

    Everyone burst into laughter. Every single person. Trump is turning already into crispy toast.

  27. 27.

    Sebastian

    @amk:

    Absolutely, the Seth Rich story (which they completely fabricated btw according to CNN) is shameless.

    We will not heal as country as long as we allow this propaganda channel to spew lies and vitriol into the body politic.

  29. 29.

    Mnemosyne

    @TenguPhule:

    Oh, the Repubs are going to do everything in their power to try and keep a lid on this, because Ryan and McConnell are both in this shit up to their eyeballs.

    But as the old saying goes, the only way to keep a conspiracy quiet is if only two people know about it, and one of them is dead. This shit is going to come out whether the Republicans want it to or not. Remember, even though no one went to jail for Iran-Contra, we still have a metric shit-ton of details about what went down.

  31. 31.

    hovercraft

    @lamh36:
    Adam was saying that the Israelis are pissed at the Twitler regime, and that was before we knew that it was their operative(s) that were burned, if he goes, it will be one hell of a celebration of the Bibi/Adelson victory over that Jew hating Hillary !

  33. 33.

    Это курам на смех

    The enemy is the party, not the man, and the party will do diddly fucking squat about any and all of Dolt’s misdeeds to come. We can dream happy dreams about perp walks from the White House, but everything he says and does will be swept under the rug.

    My biggest fear is that outrage fatigue will take over before the next midterm finally gets here, blunting our resistance. The toxicity of our politics will become injurious to people’s souls. Although we junkies will still be here ranting on this blog, many of our fellow liberals will have tuned out, too disheartened to fight back.

  39. 39.

    SFAW

    Yeah, about that poll ..

    If you dig down into the various crosstabs, you find that 25 percent of originally-Hillary voters would not vote for her again, because of her Wall Street connections, and something about “her e-mails.” But those disgruntled voters thought some crusader from New York/Vermont — don’t recall the name — would have beaten President CEO handily. But if that guy were not available, they’d still vote against HRC to “heighten the contraindications.” And because they thought Dr. Jill Stein was “wicked smaht.”

  40. 40.

    Jeffro

    Every time I read about the latest Trumpov screw-up/revelation/unforced error/treason, my brain has trouble deciding between two WW II movie sound effects: a submarine dive klaxon, or that classic fighter-plane-spinning-into-the-sea whine.

    I’m leaning ‘fighter plane’.

  41. 41.

    TS

    @hovercraft: I’m remembering all the photo ops where every world leader wanted to stand near President Obama – this one could be left alone in the front row.

  42. 42.

    Lizzy L

    I am NOT a lawyer, and I genuinely do not know if Trump’s request to James Comey that he halt the investigation of Flynn and other associates (Page, Manafort,etc.) rises to the level of obstruction of justice. Possibly not. But I am sure that it was unwise and unethical of him to make that request, as was his earlier request that Comey consent to demonstrate some kind of personal loyalty. (Yes, I know the White House has said he didn’t ask that. I don’t believe it.) The issue of him sharing intelligence with the Russians seems to me to be a clear and unmistakable case of terrible misjudgment. Yes, the President has the legal right to unclassify any piece of classified information. The question is: should he have done so in this case? What else does he have a legal right to do that he should NOT do?

    Gonna say now, I don’t think T is going to be impeached; I think a 25th Amendment solution is more likely. If I’m wrong, great. since I’d be okay with either. I think Mike Pence is a venal and stupid man, and I despise his politics, but he’s not crazy. But though I think it’s more likely, the thought of what he might have to do to get the Republicans to adopt that solution is — terrifying.

  43. 43.

    Jeffro

    @lamh36: In other words, they (GOP members of Congress) want to step aside and let some other power take the heat for investigating and then removing Trump. Without catching any flak for enabling Trump every step of the way these past 18 months.

    Oh.
    Hell.
    No.

  44. 44.

    lamh36

    @kaitlancollins
    A senior admin. official tells me the White House wants to know if there are other memos from Comey’s time at FBI — on Obama, Clinton?

    Getting ready to invoke PBO and HRC…

    I believer someon at CNN mentioned this.

    There aren’t because Comey NEVER was apart of an “uncomfortable” conversation with PBO or admin, in fact was never called for any of the types of meeting/dinner w/the Obama White House

  45. 45.

    Peale

    @Это курам на смех: if our voters can’t stay outraged for 17 more months, we might as well call it quits. It’s not too much to ask.

    The great benefit about being out of power is that they can’t even play the Rove game of finding a Democrat to blame. Sure, the left can still do that, but it gets harder as Trump gets crazier.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    @Peale:

    Here’s the thing — Trump won by very small margins in the swing states. As many people have noted, if you combined his margin of victory in those 4 states that put him over the top (WI, PA, MI and OH), it’s about 80,000 people.

    His election was won on the margins, which is why Comey’s letter was able to be decisive. Swing the vote back another 1 percent and we’d have President Hillary.

  48. 48.

    lamh36

    @AlGiordano
    Oh snap. @JohnKasich and @SenSanders just fell all over each other to agree that it is not time for impeachment. All talk no action, both.

  49. 49.

    Jeffro

    @Aleta:

    Just realized that Comey’s actions may end up being what blocked both HRC and Tr from serving as prez. He would be the guy responsible for Pence in power.

    Let’s see how much comes out about what Pence knew of Trumpov’s collusion, and when, first.

    Not to defend Comey but I think he was okay with/talked into putting out his famous letter against HRC to try and keep her from winning in a rout. Remember, post-conventions, Trumpov was in full meltdown mode, and the pundits were talking about both the House and Senate possibly going Dem. Almost no one saw a scenario where such a loathsome, stupid person as Trump could possible win. And then…there is the electoral college…and the Mercers/Cambridge Analytica…and Wikileaks…and the Russians…and Fox News…and so many other factors.

    Once the floodgates burst, once it’s all out there, let’s see what sort of mood the GOP’s leaders are in. If they want to play ball, allow full investigations into EVERYthing, sign on to a ‘truth and reconciliation’ commission with some real teeth and subpoena power, then great…let’s do that. If not, let’s pursue every lead and prosecute every possible count that we can.

  50. 50.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Lizzy L:

    I think a 25th Amendment solution is more likely.

    The 25th Amendment is a steeper hill to climb than impeachment. First you need a majority of the cabinet and the VP to declare that he’s unfit, then you need 2/3’s of BOTH houses to make it stick. Impeachment(the House part) could be done in 15 minutes(just take a vote) and the Senate could schedule a trail pretty quick.

    People say that impeachment is a long process, that’s generally true; but it doesn’t have to be.

  54. 54.

    lamh36

    Joy Reid‏Verified account @JoyAnnReid

    GOP source to me tonight says donors are nearing revolt. That could be what’s finally pushing GOPers away from Trump.

  55. 55.

    Lizzy L

    Josh Marshall:

    …There’s no such thing as an ‘impeachable offense’. Impeachment is ultimately – and I would say properly – a political determination. What anyone says is an impeachable offense has no real meaning unless and until a majority of members in the House say it is. And after that, a two-thirds majority has to convict the President in the Senate to remove him from office. What this amounts to is that President Trump needs to suffer a catastrophic loss of support within his own party to be driven from office. I don’t think we’re anywhere close to that. You see anything like that? I don’t.

  56. 56.

    LAO

    @Lizzy L: IAAL, and if Trump attempted to halt the Flynn/Russian investigation, then he has indeed attempted to obstruct justice.

  57. 57.

    TS

    @lamh36:

    the White House wants to know if there are other memos from Comey’s time at FBI

    So it would seem they know the memo under discussion is accurate – no push back against it?

  59. 59.

    MomSense

    @hovercraft:

    I am getting so hot I’m gonna take my clothes off.

    That is the worst ear worm of all!

    Warning: do not picture Mitch McConnell singing this song or taking his clothes off.

  60. 60.

    efgoldman

    @Lizzy L:

    I don’t think we’re anywhere close to that. You see anything like that? I don’t.

    Not yet.
    Two grand juries, state and federal
    Subpoenas issued, even if reports of indictments are wishful thinking.
    For now.

  62. 62.

    jl

    But, this is just today’s scandal. There’s more to come. (Edit: I have no inside info or links. My argument by strict geometric logic is ‘Aw, I mean.. c’mon, you just know it, dude…)

    Assuming a future history of the world (let’s be optimistic for a moment), the Trump administration will birth a new academic discipline: political physics. Trump is like a mile long out of control freight train that can derail itself at 90 mph, over and over again. Really amazing. Like a perpetual motion scandal machine that can produce so much scandal that it blows itself up again every day, yet is still there to spin out of control some more and blow itself up again a day later (or, a few hours later).

    Political scientists and physicists will have to team up to understand it, If civilization as we know it lasts another couple of hundred years, they might make some progress on it too, by golly.

  67. 67.

    Jeffro

    Gloria Borger at CNN: hell, if she gets it, who couldn’t? The President Is Not All Right

    even if the White House staff is at a tipping point, there’s a larger — and more important — question: Is the President himself?

    In one way, maybe yes. He is reaching out to friends about potential staff changes, according to multiple sources. One source with direct knowledge says he is “upset” with his legal team. Most recently he was upset with White House Counsel Don McGahn, whom, this source says, the President faults with giving him “bad advice” about how to handle the Comey firing. “It was awful,” this source says. “Even for [Trump] it was not presidential.”
    But in another way, no, the President is not anywhere near a tipping point. In fact, he may be incapable of one. Because change does not come easily to Donald Trump. There is absolutely no sense among his friends, according to multiple sources, that he blames himself for any of his problems. It’s his legal team or his communications team or his senior staff. The President, says one source, “seems to have lost confidence in everybody.”
    Except himself.
    So he complains constantly, says one source, but he can never say that, yes, maybe he ought to take the presidential daily brief, um, daily. Or that he ought to require more substantive briefings before meeting with foreign officials. Or that freelancing is not a great idea in classified settings.

  70. 70.

    MisterForkbeard

    @magurakurin: To be fair, arguing that we should finish investigating (and perhaps ‘officially’ get the memo) before impeaching is not a bad idea. But I don’t know if that’s what Wilmer was arguing for.

  71. 71.

    amk

    @Jeffro: but, but, I remember the night when pundtwits like zakaria told us when the twitler manchild became the president.

  73. 73.

    jl

    Impeachment is more likely than 25th amendment, unless Trump goes all out starkers and totally obviously and completely nonfunctional. Not no way impeachment will happen unless the GOP Housers see that as the only possible way out (and probably too late for it to work). A big money donor strike, and a midterm catastrophe that they cannot vote suppress their way out of will do it. Then they’ll do it and do it quickly. Otherwise, no way.

    It’s kind of an unstable catastrophe type of situation, I think.

    From a comment above, looks like Trump has a lot of function in him left. Going to try to find something similar the FBI filed away an some demon Democrat. Wouldn’t surprise me if we heard some scandalous revelation about some Dem president getting a blow job in WH by someone not his wife. The horrors!

  77. 77.

    Jeffro

    @amk: That was then, this is now. Mistakes were made.

    Full truth and reconciliation commission, people! Every last dumbass bit of enabling called to account and on the record. It’s that or nuke ourselves from orbit – only way to be sure.

  78. 78.

    Lizzy L

    @efgoldman: No, he wasn’t. The House Judiciary Committee passed three articles of impeachment, but he resigned two weeks later, before the full House could vote.

    And BillinGlendaleCA got in before me.

  82. 82.

    Jeffro

    And just a reminder to all the happy warriors out there: today is only day 117 of Trumpov’s presidency, can you believe it? We have roused ourselves with marches and calls…the IC has done its part with some awesomely well-timed and well-selected disclosures…and along the way we’ve had P-hats, “RESIST!” banners hanging behind the White House, SNL x eleventy, and marches just about every two weeks.

    The IC has responded. The FBI has responded. Senate and House Dems have been playing this quite smart and pushing the limits. We’re doing great here!!

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    Now expecting Dolt 45 to nominate Alex Jones as F.B.I. director in an attempt to control where the above the fold media spotlight is shining.

    Draining Flooding the swamp.

  84. 84.

    Kelly

    Sticking his name on the facade in gilt letters

    I have never understood why the Trump brand is worth anything.

    Also I’m completely incapable of keeping up with the avalanche of information and snark on Trump’s endless fail parade. We’re going camping next week returning home just as the Memorial Day hordes head out. It’ll be good to be away from the mess. I expect the Republic will still be standing when we return.

  86. 86.

    Jeffro

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: He has. I think many sources have been on to this.

    Didn’t Hillz herself say in an pre-election interview that Trumpov seemed to have changed over the past few years? Had turned really nasty and unreachable and everything? Have to look that up…

  87. 87.

    efgoldman

    @Kelly:

    I have never understood why the Trump brand is worth anything.

    Any brand is worth what people will pay for it. Mostly based on advertising.

  90. 90.

    jonas

    @Lizzy L:

    I am NOT a lawyer, and I genuinely do not know if Trump’s request to James Comey that he halt the investigation of Flynn and other associates (Page, Manafort,etc.) rises to the level of obstruction of justice.

    When you have the power to fire Comey and you tell Comey he’d better back off an investigation into one of your aides (or, ahem, else) and then shortly thereafter you fire Comey and then admit on national television, Twitter, etc. it was because he wouldn’t back off the Russia investigation, yeah, that’s pretty much the equivalent of walking around with a day-glo signboard saying “Please, indict me for obstruction of justice.” Whether the House of Representatives decides that’s an impeachable offense is another question. Trump could shoot someone on 5th Ave., be convicted of capital murder, and I still have doubts as to whether the House would impeach. He can still sign tax cut bills on death row.

  91. 91.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: @hovercraft: And it was for this and several related items:
    1) Referring to the Palestinian Authority (PA) as Palestine.
    2) Referring to the Western Wall as part of occupied Palestinian territories.
    3) Telling the Israelis that the President, when in Israel, will present the Israelis with the outline of a peace deal and they need to be prepared to accept it.
    4) Stating that when the President meets with Mahmoud Abbas he will give a speech on the rights of Palestinians to self determination.
    5) Renewing the waiver to prevent the US from relocating the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

    This is going to be very, very, very, very ugly.

  92. 92.

    jl

    @NotMax: The balls to wall nationwide investigation into our Satanically possessed robot reptiloid space alien overlords will have a lot of entertainment value. Cable news will love it.

    And the FBI director giving boozy pressers with his shirt off bragging about how much flab he has lost will be fun too.

  93. 93.

    hellslittlestangel

    By 8 point margin, 49/41, voters wish Hillary Clinton was President instead of Trump. Including 10% of Trump voters”

    Yeah, well, wish in one hand and shit in the other … Or in the case of Trump voters, shit in both.

  94. 94.

    jl

    @Kelly:

    ” I have never understood why the Trump brand is worth anything. ”

    You need to read up on PT Barnum and his wisdom.

  95. 95.

    hovercraft

    @lamh36:
    Yeah that’s really going to help, the media will just spend the entire day interviewing retired IC and Justice Dept. officials and democrats all day because the talkers all said that getting a republican on air was virtually impossible, that will definitely get them better press.

  96. 96.

    lamh36

    Is this true?

    @djolder
    Just before getting impeached, Nixon went on 2 almost back to back diplomatic trips, one to the Middle East and one to Russia.

  97. 97.

    Cookie monster

    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.

    27% Strikes Again!

  100. 100.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Lizzy L: He doesn’t have rights to do anything that any other citizens don’t have. Citizens have rights. Elected and appointed officials, including the President, and the Federal and state government have powers. They are delineated in the Federal and for the states state constitutions. The issue here is not the declassification. The President, regardless of who that is and from which party, has the power to declassify anything at any time. The issue here is disclosure of TS/SCI/NOFORN/SAP and whatever the specific codeword for this information was to individuals that should not have access to it.

    ACRONYM Glossary:
    TS: Top Secret
    SCI: Sensitive Compartmented Information
    NOFORN: No Foreign Distribution
    SAP: Special Access Program

  101. 101.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @lamh36: No, it is not true. Nixon was not impeached. He resigned in advance of an inevitable impeachment. He had some dignity.

  102. 102.

    Lizzy L

    @Adam L Silverman: Adam, could you unpack #5 for us please? I thought the administration had already announced that it wanted to move the embassy. What is “the waiver”?

  106. 106.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman:

    4) Stating that when the President meets with Mahmoud Abbas he will give a speech on the rights of Palestinians to self determination.

    The President cannot meet with someone accused of genocide.

  107. 107.

    kindness

    McConnell & Ryan just want to get the Bazillionaire tax cut done. They can’t off Trump and get the cuts they think. I think they are right there, but I’m not sure Mother Time is on their side.

  108. 108.

    jonas

    Republicans’ choice now: get out ahead of the shittornado and call for an independent prosecutor and start distancing yourself from the Trump WH like it was crotch lice and tell your media team to start printing up “Jones for Congress 2018 — an *Independent* voice for central Pennsylvania”? Or double down and figure that hey, his shithead deplorables will stick it out with him to the bitter end and those are my base voters, so just shut up and hide in the bushes till this all blows over?

    Note: it’s not blowing over.

  109. 109.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: There is a difference between the wealthy donors and the people that actually turn out to vote. The donors, as well as the institutional party portion of the GOP, through a variety of institutions have radicalized their voters and turned them lose on the US. Those voters overwhelmingly support the President and hate the people that radicalized them. The brainwashing was too effective. Good job wealthy GOP donors, you actually managed to create real zombies!

  111. 111.

    jonas

    @kindness: Right. They’d be happy to have him sign the bill as an unimpeached CiC in the Florence Supermax. Nowhere does it say that the president can’t *not* be currently incarcerated for treason and obstruction of justice.

  112. 112.

    efgoldman

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    He had some dignity.

    He also was a genuinely competent politician who had a grasp on reality.
    At least he knew when he was lying, and when others were lying on his behalf.

  114. 114.

    efgoldman

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The President cannot meet with someone accused of genocide.

    The “president” supposedly cannot do a lot of things. This “president” doesn’t seem constrained by any limits.
    Yet.

  115. 115.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    The Trump brand = the Ronco of the 21st century.

    Fuck THAT shit. At least Ron Popeil and his father did something productive with their lives, and actually invented stuff. Yeah, I used to laugh at the commercials, too, but however bizarre the products were, their net-positive effect was about a gazillion times that of Shitgibbon’s.

  116. 116.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Lizzy L: Congress passed a law, in an attempt of a bunch of white, Christian folks to prove they are more supportive of Israel than anyone else, ever, including Jews, that states the US has to relocate the embassy to Jerusalem. The law, fortunately, came with a waiver provision. If the President signs the waiver every six months indicating it is not currently in the best interests of the US to move the embassy it stays in Tel Aviv. Every president, since the law was passed and signed into law, has signed the waiver every six months. The current President signed it about two or three weeks ago.

  119. 119.

    SFAW

    @efgoldman:

    He also was a genuinely competent politician who had a grasp on reality.

    And a metric fuck-tonne smarter than Shitgibbon

  122. 122.

    Felonius Monk

    @Lizzy L:

    Anything you feel like sharing with us?

    Only watched about 10 seconds. Wilmer being Wilmer and Kasich grimacing. I couldn’t take anymore.

  123. 123.

    Mnemosyne

    @jonas:

    You forgot Option #3: Gamble that Jeff Sessions and his merry band of racist assholes will successfully suppress just enough Democratic voters between now and 2018 to protect vulnerable seats.

  128. 128.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Adam L Silverman: We all have them. Me, i think the rules are clear. He can’t do it. I know that he will. I also see the US being diminished by everything like this.

  129. 129.

    efgoldman

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    i think the rules are clear. He can’t do it. I know that he will. I also see the US being diminished by everything like this.

    Doesn’t matter what you, i or the lamppost thinks.
    And the US was badly, badly diminished on Nov 9 of last year, Now it’s just a matter of degree and how low the asshole takes the rest of us down.

  133. 133.

    BC in Illinois

    @lamh36:

    @JackPosobiec
    Breaking – There will be no White House Press Briefing Tomorrow

    “Run away ! ! Run away ! !”

  134. 134.

    Captain C

    @Kelly:

    I have never understood why the Trump brand is worth anything.

    I think to a certain group of wanna-be nouveau riche it’s a symbol of luxury and class, kind of how Newt Gingrich is a dumb person’s idea of a smart person. With the Trump brand, they can have that luxury and class, themselves, in plastic.

  137. 137.

    Lizzy L

    @Adam L Silverman: Thank you. I do now remember having read about that law and the waiver. So Trump signed it even though it’s been announced that he wants to move the embassy. Hokay. @Mnemosyne: This will be absolutely be an issue. The Republican governors and the Republican Secretaries of State and the Republican state legislators will do everything they can to suppress the vote of people who might vote Democratic, and the Sessions’ Justice Dept will do nothing.

  138. 138.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Lizzy L: You sign it because if you don’t and it is even announced that the embassy is going to actually be moved, then Israel will go kaboom.

  139. 139.

    Lizzy L

    @Adam L Silverman: I got that — but having signed it, what does it even mean to then say you are moving the embassy, when signing the waiver means that you aren’t going to move the embassy? I mean, why — Never mind. I am asking you to get inside Trump’s head, clearly an impossible thing.

  140. 140.

    hovercraft

    @Adam L Silverman:

    WH official says Trump deployed McMaster to address Russia reports because he thought he’d be a more credible source

    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.

  142. 142.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    if you don’t and it is even announced that the embassy is going to actually be moved, then Israel will go kaboom.

    I wonder if he even knows he signed it, or what he signed.

  143. 143.

    different-church-lady

    @Lizzy L:

    I don’t think we’re anywhere close to that. You see anything like that?

    Hey, it’s only Tuesday.

  145. 145.

    EriktheRed

    By 8 point margin, 49/41, voters wish Hillary Clinton was President instead of Trump. Including 10% of Trump voters”

    I suppose I should find that heartening but I don’t. 41% is still way too big of a number.

  147. 147.

    No One You Know

    @jl: This is brilliant. I think there might be just barely enough time to get the science fiction title out before the topic shows up in a research colloquium.

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