Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Motown is Joe-Town!

It’s the corruption, stupid.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

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

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

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

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Let me file that under fuck it.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

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Shall I Step On My Own Post?

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Yes, why not.

Trump Team Knew Flynn Was Under Investigation Before He Came to White House

WASHINGTON — Michael T. Flynn told President Trump’s transition team weeks before the inauguration that he was under federal investigation for secretly working as a paid lobbyist for Turkey during the campaign, according to two people familiar with the case.

Despite this warning, which came about a month after the Justice Department notified Mr. Flynn of the inquiry, Mr. Trump made Mr. Flynn his national security adviser. The job gave Mr. Flynn access to the president and nearly every secret held by American intelligence agencies.

The cats are demanding that I go sit in the living room and read dead-tree magazines. I’ll be back later.

Reader Interactions

374Comments

  4. 4.

    efgoldman

    @Major Major Major Major:

    this is unraveling quickly.

    When Flynn offered to testify in exchange for immunity a month or two ago, it was clear that he’d be the first part of the rope to unravel.
    Lots, lots more to come.

  5. 5.

    LAO

    Christ. Flynn is like the gift that keeps giving, if you’re a federal prosecutor.

  6. 6.

    mai naem mobile

    Flynn mist have some real heavy heavy tapes on Dolt. He must have given him truth serI’m and recorded a bunch of confessions regarding all of Dolt’s life.

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    So, new theory: Trump’s overseas trip is so that he can do a runner and request asylum somewhere.

  8. 8.

    rikyrah

    Wajahat Ali‏Verified account @WajahatAli

    Stephen Miller, who co-wrote the Muslim Ban, started Islamofascism Awareness week at Duke, all-around bigot, to write Islam speech for Trump

  14. 14.

    hovercraft

    Balloon Juice tradition is to leave us with one dying thread for hours with no adult supervision and then to flood us with new threads so that keeping up becomes difficult. So stepping on your own brand new thread, creating the fifth new thread in three hours is within acceptable bounds.

    As to Twitler bringing in someone he knew was under investigation, of course he did, he knew he’d be able to squash it as soon as he was sworn in. What;s that he can’t just do that? What’s the point of the damn job if you can’t just do whatever the hell you want?

  17. 17.

    schrodingers_cat

    @rikyrah: He wants the Great religions to have a great war, a so called war of civilizations, that their base of fantasizes about? I have no clue. As an adherent of the Ceiling Cat and his prophet Tunch, I will sit by the sidelines and watch.

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    @David ?I hope U can let this go? Koch: They already tried that excuse re: Flynn’s hiring.

    (some nonsense along the lines of “yes, Obama explicitly warned Trump about Flynn, but we thought Obama was every bit as petty as Trump is so we ignored him. See, it’s Obama’s fault”)

  21. 21.

    TenguPhule

    Despite this warning, which came about a month after the Justice Department notified Mr. Flynn of the inquiry, Mr. Trump made Mr. Flynn his national security adviser.

    So not only are Trump and his speakers caught out lying again, Pence’s alibi gets a fork stuck in it and proclaimed well done.

  22. 22.

    cain

    Cripes, is this not completely unprecedented? I dont think I’ve ever seen a presidency unravel so quickly. I was reading some twitter thread by that asshat from Fox News, Lou Dobbs who called for support Trump. That was a gold mine of people stepping up to support Trump, some ready to actually take their guns and fight.. Goddam. Laying your life for that piece of shit? The guy who is going to fuck you in pretty much everything?

  23. 23.

    amk

    Congressional Republicans should be grateful to Rod Rosenstein for removing the burden of action from their trembling, narrow shoulders.— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 17, 2017

  24. 24.

    hovercraft

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Now members of Congress, musing about the tangle of legal difficulties Flynn faces, cite that exchange with Rice as perhaps the most serious: acting on behalf of a foreign nation – from which he had received considerable cash – when making a military decision.

    These people really are stupid, how the fuck did they think they were going to get away with this shit?

  25. 25.

    cain

    @schrodingers_cat: Yikes.. they’ve really going to shit the bed when it comes to SA. Never mind, what kind of reception Trump is going to get in Israel. His supporters are going to feel like it is coming from all sides. Maybe they’ll stay home and STFU during midterms.

  26. 26.

    Corner Stone

    @amk:

    Is cole awake? He can’t have this accusation go without a fight.

    He’s probably crying his eyes out while he half-heartedly masturbates and stares at a picture of McMaster in uniform.

  27. 27.

    TenguPhule

    @cain:

    Cripes, is this not completely unprecedented?

    Everything since 11/8/16 has been unprecedented.

  29. 29.

    TenguPhule

    @hovercraft:

    These people really are stupid, how the fuck did they think they were going to get away with this shit?

    Nobody ever lost power by betting on the stupidity of the American public.

  30. 30.

    hovercraft

    @mai naem mobile:
    No Susan Rice has been in their crosshairs since Benghazi, she went on TV and recited the talking points that the IC approved so she actually killed Chris Stevens and the others. Remember she’s blah and a friend of Obama’s.

  31. 31.

    lamh36

    Transition team…so VP PENCE, who was running transition team, is a FUQN’ LIAR!!!

  39. 39.

    different-church-lady

    @cain:

    I dont think I’ve ever seen a presidency unravel so quickly.

    It never raveled in the first place.

  42. 42.

    hovercraft

    @amk:
    No sweat, between the fact that he doesn’t read this blog, and his policy on banning I think I’m safe.

  48. 48.

    Marcopolo

    Yeah, and this destroys the whole “sure Yates warned us about Flynn but she wasn’t a loyalist so we ignored her & and her partisan allegations.” They already knew about him!

    Btw I think it is only fair to say that this IS the day Trump truly became President :).

  51. 51.

    MomSense

    Wow. Just wow. I can’t quite digest all of this. It’s like an all you can eat scandal buffet.

  55. 55.

    Raoul

    Hoooboy. Flynn nixed a military action in a way that favored Turkish interests, McClatchy reporting.

    Members of Congress now saying he may have acted in the interests of the Turks, who paid him $500,000, while on duty for US.

    And again, Trump has been insistent, all along, that Flynn is a ‘good guy.’ Also, there’s that little matter of the Erdogan visit yesterday. Wow.

    ETA: Oh, I see, Cheryl @2 above.

  58. 58.

    The Dangerman

    @dmsilev:

    Speaking of which, where are Ivanka, Jared, and the BoysTooMean? They’ve been damn quiet lately.

  59. 59.

    rikyrah

    Maddow says NYT has named that Special Prosecutor in Virginia against Flynn – this guy’s specialty?

    ESPIONAGE

  61. 61.

    Suzanne

    When I heard the prophecy that Trump would die in prison, I have to confess that I didn’t believe it. But holy cannoli. This is going even faster than I ever imagined.

    Now, the real question: how many other Republicans can this destroy? Ryan and McConnell? A girl can hope.

  63. 63.

    Raoul

    @efgoldman:

    When Flynn offered to testify in exchange for immunity a month or two ago, it was clear that he’d be the first part of the rope to unravel.

    We can also see why his offers were politely declined. Plenty to nail him with, why give him a pass?

  67. 67.

    Morzer

    @dmsilev:

    Knowing Trump’s stupidity, he’ll probably end up requesting asylum in Mecca, because “I am huge in Islam – a wonderful faith, by the way. Allah loves me. Not many people know this, but he named his corporate HQ after my first casino….”

  71. 71.

    efgoldman

    @Raoul:

    We can also see why his offers were politely declined.

    I guess his lawyers thought DOJ would jump at the opportunity to hear him put other people under the 18-wheeler.

  72. 72.

    Marcopolo

    Well, never thought this would happen–I just ran out of popcorn. And I am totally okay with that.

  74. 74.

    Turgidson

    @hovercraft:

    They saw St. Ronald sell missiles to Iran and skate, then the entire Bush 2 cabal spend two terms turning everything to shit, lie about it, and partake in all manner of impeachable offenses and skate, and saw that Hair Furor made it into the WH despite being a corrupt, addled, bigoted moron who was caught on tape bragging about sexual assault, and figured once they had the levers of power they were home free.

    And if they were even as competent as Bush’s merry band of assholes, they might have been right. But they’re not even a tenth as competent yet twice as arrogant. So here we are.

  75. 75.

    Corner Stone

    How does Trump possibly go on this foreign trip now? How does he possibly not?

  78. 78.

    Gravenstone

    Someone really wanted Flynn in this administration. Wonder what the quid was for that particular pro quo?

  79. 79.

    Morzer

    Knowing Trump’s stupidity, he’ll probably end up requesting asylum in Mecca, because “I am huge in Islam – a wonderful faith, by the way. Allah loves me. We talk all the time. Not many people know this, but he named his corporate HQ – an amazing, classy operation, by the way, just like Mar-a-Lago – after my first ca.si.no….”

  88. 88.

    Smitty

    As Trump fails it is gratifying to watch his vision of an Ivanka presidency in 2020 sink along with him. Potus Pence will be a nightmare also but nothing nearly as horrible as Trump or a Ryan presidency. A Democratic majority in 2018 along with the lingering stink of Trump will largely neuter both Pence and his Evangelical policies. It is time to send notice to Pence and his team that we will keep the pressure on. He will be the last Republican president for the foreseeable future.

  89. 89.

    Morzer

    @Gin & Tonic:

    So we should expect a tweetstorm from White House Aide John Miller to the effect that Crooked Bob has been fired in roughly.. six hours time?

  93. 93.

    BBA

    As usual, I must give you the reality check that any GOP Congresscritters who vote against Trump face the risk that their constituents will kill them. There will be no impeachment, and only losers quit. This is the long haul.

  94. 94.

    debbie

    Pete Souza is going to town on Trump on Instagram. Photo of Obama after his Coast Guard Academy speech; Obama conferring with Mueller; Obamma covering his ears. Brilliant!

  100. 100.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Yarrow: It won’t collapse. Donald Trump will stay in office until 2020 at least. Nobody will go to jail.

    I’m so old I can remember when “grab them by the pussy” was absolutely, positively the end of his campaign. No way he could be elected.

    Again, he will not be impeached, he will not be indicted and he wiil not resign. You can take that to the bank.

  103. 103.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Yarrow: Stupid me, bad word.

    It won’t collapse. Donald Trump will stay in office until 2020 at least. Nobody will go to jail.

    I’m so old I can remember when “grab them by the pu**y” was absolutely, positively the end of his campaign. No way he could be elected.

    Again, he will not be impeached, he will not be indicted and he wiil not resign. You can take that to the bank.

  105. 105.

    Yarrow

    @Suzanne:

    Now, the real question: how many other Republicans can this destroy? Ryan and McConnell? A girl can hope.

    Yes. Ryan for sure. McConnell probably.

  106. 106.

    Gin & Tonic

    Wow, Adam is quick tonight. I’m so old I can remember when it took hours to get a post moderated.

  108. 108.

    efgoldman

    @Smitty:

    He will be the last Republican president for the foreseeable future.

    Mmm… yeah. That’s what we thought in ’74, too.

  109. 109.

    Jeffro

    @lamh36: @Adam L Silverman:

    That’s true, Pence is dirty and Adam has been saying so for months. Pence may well take the oath, but then it’ll just be his turn in the barrel.

    Ryan: who knows how quickly his complicity will come out and force him to resign or be charged?

    I’m laughing…we may well get to President Hatch before the end of the summer. Which is no problem at all – it’s not like the GOP’s agenda is going to go anywhere, and it’s not like they won’t still be stained limping into 2018 and 2020.

  111. 111.

    Raoul

    @Origuy: Interesting. One suspects he may have to change his bio, tho. “Nagel advised Secretary of Defense James Mattis as a member of the Defense Policy Board”

  112. 112.

    lamh36

    @Adam L Silverman: Oh…I know…considered him a lying liar way before January…but now maybe we can get the press folks to stop with “Flynn lied to Pence” bullshit…

    but I know it’s too much to ask of the MSM

  115. 115.

    BBA

    @Gin & Tonic: This. And Andrew Fucking Cuomo is running in 2020, so Trump actually has a shot at reelection if the Democrats can’t get our shit together.

  116. 116.

    hovercraft

    @Baud:
    I’m wondering if he thinks/thought that the non disclosure agreements he insists everyone around him to sign would protect him from all of his corruption.

  117. 117.

    Jeffro

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Again, he will not be impeached, he will not be indicted and he wiil not resign. You can take that to the bank.

    You’re on!

  121. 121.

    GregB

    Neutron Don is in the process of taking out the GOP leadership in DC and will only leave the buildings standing.

  124. 124.

    Smitty

    @Marcopolo: Pence is a stooge and will be seen as such and therefore given a pass. Ryan would be far more dangerous in the Whitehouse.

  125. 125.

    Yarrow

    @Gin & Tonic: Nope. He’ll be out of office by the end of the summer. One way or the other he’ll be gone. It’ll be President Hatch. Pence is guilty, as is Ryan.

  127. 127.

    Morzer

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I think his resignation is quite likely at this point. Trump’s default strategy is to cut and run while whining about his victimhood to anyone with a strong enough stomach to listen.

  130. 130.

    dm

    @TenguPhule:

    So not only are Trump and his speakers caught out lying again, Pence’s alibi gets a fork stuck in it and proclaimed well done.

    I suppose if one were to be pedantic, the alibi holds: the warning described in this article was about Flynn’s involvement with Turkey. Pence’s alibi involved the Russians, didn’t it?

  131. 131.

    Gin & Tonic

    @zhena gogolia: The process takes time. If it takes past November 2018, that’s a push (in card game terms.) Repubs continue to control every branch. The Pres cannot be indicted anyway. In the 18 months from now to then, everybody in DC can just say “Mueller’s working on it, we have to wait” and pass their legislative agenda. Maybe in early 2019 Manafort is convicted of some technical violation, Trump pardons him. Mueller says the rest were “political matters” and takes a pass. The end.

  135. 135.

    hovercraft

    @David ?I hope U can let this go? Koch:
    Twitler and his merry band of criminals don’t have a fucking clue about anything, FFS they didn’t even know that they had to staff up the WH, and they arrogantly thought they could just walk in a walk all over the entire federal government with impunity? Bureaucracy for the win, and they barely had to lift a finger to put them on the verge of collapsing.

  136. 136.

    Jeffro

    @Yarrow: I think you’re right about Trumpov being gone one way or the other by the end of the summer. I can also see it being a weird succession of Pence, then possibly Ryan, then possibly Hatch. Could also go to whomever Pence nominates as his VP, once Pence is forced to resign.

    We could be on POTUS #48 or #49 by December…hard to believe, but surely better than the alternative!

  137. 137.

    Adam L Silverman

    @patrick II: Yes, Special Prosecutors can be fired. Independent Prosecutors, which we can no longer have as the statute was allowed to lapse, cannot.

  138. 138.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Morzer: This was the ultimate prize on the ultimate game show. He will not give it up voluntarily as long as he has a breath in that bloated body.

  139. 139.

    efgoldman

    @Smitty:

    Ryan would be far more dangerous in the Whitehouse.

    Once again: The only way Ryan succeeds to the presidency is if Peach Pustule and Dense leave office the same day!
    If Coral Canker leaves first, Dense succeeds him as president and appoints a VP, to be confirmed by both houses, under the 25th amendment, clause 2.
    If Dense leaves first, and there’s no VP, Tangerine Tantrum does the same.

    ETA: Ditto with the pretty fantasy of Nancy SMASH! succeeding to the presidency if the Dems flip the house.

  143. 143.

    Morzer

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I doubt that anyone wants or would allow the process to drag out for 18 months. The slow drip drip of information against Trump would grind the GOP down ahead of the mid-terms; Trump would be increasingly deranged; the Democrats would start to talk about a cover up/deliberate slow walk and Mueller’s reputation would be savaged by the media.

  145. 145.

    Steve in the ATL

    @LAO:

    Christ. Flynn is like the gift that keeps giving, if you’re a federal prosecutor.

    You know shit is fucked up when a criminal defense attorney is rooting for the federal prosecutor!

  146. 146.

    Raoul

    @lamh36: I am not familiar with this guy, but he seems stunningly prescient now.

    If the senior secured tranche is really going to have a credit event, it's hard to see mezz tranches (Pence/Sessions) remaining unscathed.— Conor Sen (@conorsen) May 11, 2017

    May 11, this high finance guy/Bloomberg View columnist is tweeting that the whole house of cards is gonna fall.

  148. 148.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @dmsilev:

    Trump’s overseas trip is so that he can do a runner and request asylum somewhere.

    That’s my guess… he’s going into exile… the question is where?

    Russia? Putin probably wants his money back by now…

    North Korea? Trump did say recently he admired Kim Un-Jong… was he sucking up?

    Turkey? He just met w/ Erdogan…

  149. 149.

    Marcopolo

    @Smitty: Pence is complicit. He headed the transition. If Trump goes, he goes. His capacity as stooge or whatever doesn’t matter.

  150. 150.

    lamh36

    I’m sure the NYT reached out to the WH bout the story before hand, if only to get a WH statement…for print.

    This could explain why the Cryptkeeper KellyAnne cancelled that Fox News interview

  152. 152.

    Yarrow

    @Jeffro: I think they’ll go for Pence first. Losing his VP will create some chaos. Ryan will be next.

    Let’s also remember that Trump will throw everyone under the bus first before he goes. We may learn lots of info because Trump himself leaks it in a misguided attempt to save himself. Other people may be forced out because Trump will release info on them.

  153. 153.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Emma: Wednesdays are physical therapy. I come home in a foul mood and try in vain to correct that with alcohol.

  154. 154.

    Morzer

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Faced with financial ruin and prison for the rest of his life, I think you’ll find that Trump will flee raging into the night. He doesn’t have the basic grit to tough this out if it’s made clear to him that he has no defenders left and his choices are resignation or ruin plus public humiliation.

  156. 156.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Yarrow:

    Yes. Ryan for sure. McConnell probably.

    McConnell did NOT look happy today when asked about the SP coming into the picture…

  158. 158.

    amk

    @Yarrow: That’s my read too. twitler’s revenge is a well known fact. Heck, his entire presidency is a revenge run.

  159. 159.

    hovercraft

    @Morzer:
    Someone was saying that given the tenor of the statement he put out tonight that it seemed that the lawyers finally got it through to him that this is serious shit and that he needs to stop his shit and start using his head and stay off of twitter. Of course the talking head pointed out that even when they manage to get him to listen for a bit they inevitably have to go home and leave him alone with his TV and his Tivo, and then all bets are off.

  160. 160.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Raoul: Nagl’s a dipshit. He is currently running a boarding school in PA because he was forced out of CNAS. He was forced out because he refused to give up pushing the COIN stuff even when told to do so by the CNAS board.

  161. 161.

    Smitty

    @efgoldman: As a McGovern voter I can state that we progressives are a hopeful lot.I do believe that with today’s independent media the scourge of TV news can be defeated and the Republicans along with it. Otherwise why bother? Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh!

  165. 165.

    Marcopolo

    So I just read Stephen Miller is writing the Islam speech Trump is giving in Saudi Arabia. What could possibly go wrong?

  166. 166.

    Morzer

    @Yarrow:

    “That’s OK. We still have two parachutes. The smartest president in American history jumped out of the plane with my book-bag…”

  168. 168.

    efgoldman

    @Yarrow:

    the Air Force One pilots and crew won’t take him just anywhere.

    Wunna’ dese days, Donnie, straight to da’ moon!

  171. 171.

    Ridnik Chrome

    @Gin & Tonic: I would believe that scenario if somebody like Chris Christie had been named to run the investigation. But from what I’ve read so far, Mueller doesn’t sound like a sweep-it-under-the-rug kind of guy. Preet Bharara seems to have a good opinion of him…

  172. 172.

    BBA

    @Morzer: I expect him to try to stage a self-coup if it comes down to that. Declare Congress and the civil service illegitimate and install himself as Supreme Leader for Life by the Grace of God. Shit, with the sheer number of deplorables out there, it could work.

  173. 173.

    Kelly

    I wonder what the record is for the number of Balloon Juice comments in a single day is? I usually can catch up after a nice day outside. Can’t nowdays.

  175. 175.

    efgoldman

    @BBA:

    with the sheer number of deplorables out there, it could work.

    Will. you. fucking. stop. it!

  176. 176.

    Morzer

    Katie Bo Williams‏Verified account @KatieBoWill 13h13 hours ago
    More
    Amash tells reporters that if Comey memo allegations are true, it’s grounds for impeachment. Says he trusts Comey more than Trump.

  179. 179.

    Yarrow

    @Gin & Tonic: Hey, how’s your arm coming along? Physical therapy is a bitch. I hope it’s helping and you’re seeing some improvement.

  181. 181.

    toine

    in the end, what is most amusing to me is that Flynn’s one over-arching qualification to be appointed and confirmed to his position was that he was fired by Obama. If this wasn’t the case, no one would have ever considered him… the crazy surrounding him was just that obvious. But he was fired by Obama so he must be good, right?

  182. 182.

    Morzer

    @BBA:

    I suspect that the military would have something to say about that. My money would not be on the Deplorables.

  183. 183.

    lamh36

    All this new breaking and talk of popcorn…I had to pop me some popcorn in the microwave…lol

  184. 184.

    Jeffro

    @Yarrow:

    Let’s also remember that Trump will throw everyone under the bus first before he goes. We may learn lots of info because Trump himself leaks it in a misguided attempt to save himself. Other people may be forced out because Trump will release info on them.

    Was talking with Mrs. Jeffro earlier tonight about that very thing – as the walls close in, Nuclear Orange is going to freak and start blaming absolutely everyone else around him. Since he can’t handle a simple Oval Office meeting without disclosing classified information (or fire an FBI director without admitting he committed an obstruction of justice) the next few weeks should be sweet! A little bitter with that sweet, but I’ll take it!

  185. 185.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Major Major Major Major: These idiots can’t keep their mouths shut. They can’t keep their stories straight. And they engender so little loyalty that someone always seems to be both recording them and then leaking the recordings at the least opportune times for them.

  186. 186.

    Morzer

    Conor Sen‏ @conorsen May 16
    More
    If the GOP Senate votes for impeachment, that means Rubio, Cruz, Sasse, and Lee can all run for president in 2020.

    Ambition should be made of sterner stuff, but weak, self-aggrandizing delusionality will get the job done too.

  187. 187.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    Dunno if you saw that racist, fascist, fill-in-the-ist scumbag Michael Anton will be accompanying Dolt 45 on board the plane going overseas and presumably for the entire time across the pond.

    (Anton another appointment – Nat’l Security Spokesman – suggested and pushed for by Pence, BTW.)

  189. 189.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: I hear you…it might not rise to the level of ‘complicity’, but it certainly gets the ball rolling.

    Whomever in the IC has laid out this master plan of slowing ramping up disclosures and public awareness, I’m truly in awe.

  190. 190.

    hovercraft

    @Adam L Silverman:
    The fact that first they issued an emphatic “it never happened”, and then after they were told there was a tape, then I guess it was a poor attempt at a joke should finally obliterate his reputation, but it won’t because the villagers need a “young gun” to tout as the GOP and the nations savior.

  191. 191.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gin & Tonic: Valdivia had her first PT appointment for her ankle yesterday. Was in pain into today – the first day is, as you know, when they check things like initial range of motion.

  194. 194.

    Adria McDowell (formerly LurkerExtraordinaire)

    @efgoldman: Does any immunity granted to Flynn mean the Army has to end its investigation into Flynn for violating UCMJ? It’s like that investigation dropped off the radar, for good reason, but still…..I’m curious.

  195. 195.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Yarrow: Coming along slowly. Very slowly. The therapist is all chipper as she tortures me, but that doesn’t cheer me up. Today I learned what the extensor carpi ulnaris is. Kind of like Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman, the two of us were.

  198. 198.

    lamh36

    @Acosta 7m7 minutes ago
    More
    WH feeling is that Mueller news makes life easier w press. Questions on probe can be referred to Mueller. “Takes away a lot of the politics”

  199. 199.

    dogwood

    @Smitty:
    McGovern was my first vote. And as the Watergate story was told in its entirety, it’s wise to remember how the Nixon campaign destroyed Muskie with false stories and all sorts of ratfucking. McGovern was never electable. I am pretty sure that there was no direct collusion between the Sanders campaign and the Ruskies, but I have no doubt there were many Russian bots working the Sanders supporters 24-7 and they probably still are.

  200. 200.

    piratedan

    this will be brand new territory that the country will be trailblazing thru… sure some parallels to Watergate are inevitable, but there are so many other variables in play here as well…

    Like Watergate…

    Entire upper echelon of the Administration is involved… figure Pence, Flynn, Bannon, Sessions and Preibus are all involved
    Money is involved and rigging an election
    President insulated by layers of staff

    Unlike WG – also the folks that got him elected are also dirty, Lewandowski, Conway, Guiliani,and Manafort
    Foreign agent complicit with assistance to rig that election
    Entire upper echelon of the political party complicit in allowing compromised candidate to run (and did they also dip their hands into the till?)

    That’s just the overview, when we dig into the details… despite the Constitutional crisis how far will Mueller really go? Will the political body politic allow this to be run to its bitter end?

    For some reason, I expect a lot of dead careers to come from this and the GOP to almost cease to exist as a political entity in 5-10 years if this plays out and the truth wills out.

  201. 201.

    hovercraft

    @Morzer:
    I’m with Obama, carry on Twitler, please tell us how you really feel about all these big bad people who are being mean to you. The poor buffoon has had such a raw deal in life, he’s never gotten any breaks, life is just so unfair.

  203. 203.

    efgoldman

    @hovercraft:

    but it won’t because the villagers need a “young gun” to tout as the GOP and the nations savior.

    Granny Starver is by far the worst, least competent, least effective, least prepared speaker probably in this century or maybe in our history.
    Think about this: If the prosecution catches up with him, the next guy (and inevitably, it will be a guy) will be even worse.
    If Yertle McTurtle gets caught up, there will be blood on the RWNJ side of the floor to succeed him. Whoever it is will probably be as competent as Granny Starver.

  204. 204.

    divF

    I’m now flying over the English Channel, on the second leg (ORD-FRA) of my trip to Saudi Arabia. I was sleeping and watching movies in the overnight (for me) hours. Wow, so much stuff happened today – I was reading this thread before I realized Mueller had been appointed a special prosecutor.

  206. 206.

    Steve in the ATL

    @piratedan:

    I expect a lot of dead careers to come from this and the GOP to almost cease to exist as a political entity in 5-10 years if this plays out and the truth wills out.

    Don’t tease us like that! Would be the best possible outcome for both the USA and the human race.

  207. 207.

    Smitty

    @efgoldman: Correct. Trump resigns. Pence assumes the presidency. Dems take house in 2018. Pence serves ineffectually until 2020. Dems take WH.
    Never posted anything re. Pelosi.
    Trump’s resignation will be the result of RICO investigations requiring property forfeiture. He will not be impeached for obstruction of justice or treason.

  208. 208.

    efgoldman

    @dogwood:

    I have no doubt there were many Russian bots working the Sanders supporters 24-7 and they probably still are.

    They’re wasting their time, money and effort. He’s a dead politician walking, he just doesn’t know yet.

  209. 209.

    Raoul

    @Adam L Silverman: As Jeet Heer says, “The single biggest factor preserving American democracy in 2017? Donald Trump is a fucking moron.”

    I’d add that his gum-flapping, back-stabbing fleet of flying idiot-monkeys are helping a fair bit on that.

  210. 210.

    hovercraft

    @lamh36:
    Yeah I’m sure that’s how they feel. As I said earlier, the lawyers have told them all to cut the shit and not to issue any of their normal stupid combative statements, pretend you’re happy about it and keep him off of twitter.

  212. 212.

    efgoldman

    @piratedan:

    I expect a lot of dead careers to come from this and the GOP to almost cease to exist as a political entity in 5-10 years

    Quoting myself from upstairs: that’s what we thought in ’74, too.

  213. 213.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Marcopolo: Well the Saudi Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice and their enforcement arm, the mutaween/religious police, are noted for their senses of humor, patience, empathy, and understanding. So…

  214. 214.

    frosty

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Wednesdays are physical therapy. I come home in a foul mood and try in vain to correct that with alcohol.

    Ouch. That does help explain it. Hope the PT is going well and everything is healing.

  215. 215.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    If he’s granted immunity (which he won’t be) why would anyone give credence to any words coming out of his mouth, including “and” and “the.”

    (hat tip: author Mary McCarthy)

  216. 216.

    lamh36

    @johnastoehr
    This is the link of complicity between Trump and the GOP. If Trump is impeached for treason, the GOP is indicted as well. pic.twitter.com/XtDeSPhXCn

    @johnastoehr
    Why was @Evan_McMullin silent? pic.twitter.com/GrGKR8RtBq

  218. 218.

    GregB

    @lamh36:

    They are truly the dumbest fucking people on the planet.

    Check that, they are at the top of the pile of the dumbest fucking people on the planet who were duped into voting for Trump and his vile team.

    There will be a coming Katrina moment There will be GOP politicians quitting and quitting. Some will turn. Expect a Bud Dwyer or a Bud McFarlane in the mix.

    People are scared and running for the doors.

  220. 220.

    dm

    @Adam L Silverman: My money is on Evan McMullin:

    Evan McMullin, who in his role as policy director to the House Republican Conference participated in the June 15 conversation, said: “It’s true that Majority Leader McCarthy said that he thought candidate Trump was on the Kremlin’s payroll. Speaker Ryan was concerned about that leaking.”

    (Washington Post)

    He doesn’t sound very amused, does he?

    Wikipedia tells me McMullin served in Israel and Jordan while in the CIA. I wonder if he doesn’t know some people who know some people who were endangered by Trump’s loose lips the other day.

  225. 225.

    Morzer

    @piratedan:

    There’s too much entrenched hatred for liberals and minorities for the GOP to lose its base that way. Plus, they have a huge propaganda network to keep the grift alive. The GOP isn’t going to fall apart – we need to fight them and beat them and make it impossible for them to rig the system.

  226. 226.

    Jeffro

    @dogwood:

    I have no doubt there were many Russian bots working the Sanders supporters 24-7 and they probably still are.

    Yup. Just a variation on a theme, working towards the same goal.

  229. 229.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: No. It happened in October if I’m remembering correctly. So he was then candidate Trump’s senior national security advisor for the campaign.

  230. 230.

    Marcopolo

    @piratedan: The results from past scandals, alas, do not support this. All I can say right now is I think we’ll get an honest investigation and answers (some, most, all??). There’s a decent chance some folks wind up behind bars somewhere down the road. I hope this effectively cripples the Trump admin. We may see collusion (direct or indirect) btwn Trump campaign & Russia. Trump may or may not be directly implicated. R’s will generally come off looking & smelling bad & the House will probably flip in 2018. If we are lucky, the investigation will move to the realm of Trump/Russia business involvement; really lucky general R/Russian funding. But to say the arc will be demonstrably different from 2006 to 2016. Cause there’s always gerrymandering & citizens united and other stuff acting as head winds.

    That all being said, I do hope most of what you’re predicting comes to pass.

  234. 234.

    efgoldman

    @Marcopolo:

    I hope this effectively cripples the Trump admin.

    Mango Malignancy crippled his own administration on day one. Now the wheelchair will get two flat tires.

  236. 236.

    Yarrow

    @Gin & Tonic: They’re all super chipper as they torture you, those physical therapists. Must be something they teach them. Hang in there. Hopefully you’ll see bigger improvements shortly and at some point you’ll look back and think it was all worth it.

  240. 240.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Omnes Omnibus: Is that chin-stroking uncomfortable or brow-furrowing uncomfortable? Is it better or worse than “concerned”? It’s so hard to keep up these days.

  241. 241.

    Corner Stone

    There seems to be way too much over the top acclamation re: Bob Mueller. This is starting to freak me out.

  242. 242.

    piratedan

    @efgoldman: true, that was Nixon’s circle that suffered, the rest of the Party, not so much. If this does play out that our collective suspicions of the leadership of the GOP itself colluding with the Russians, I’m not sure that we’ll see the same limited fallout,

  244. 244.

    Marcopolo

    @BBA: Cuomo can run but he ain’t gonna go anywhere. I’d actually wager his brother (CNNer) would have a better chance.

  245. 245.

    Gin & Tonic

    @SatanicPanic:

    Cuomo Trump is not going to be nominated. That’s ridiculous.

    Wake up, sheeple. Donald Trump was elected President of the USA. Donald Trump. Everything you thought you knew is wrong. The old rules have been shat on and laughed at.

    I’d better sign off.

  246. 246.

    jl

    @hovercraft:

    ” Someone should ask him how he’s enjoying all this winning. ”

    Trump has expressed displeasure that people are already tired of all the winning. It’s puzzling. He said it would be great.

  247. 247.

    dm

    @efgoldman: They’re wasting their time, money and effort. He’s a dead politician walking, he just doesn’t know yet.

    It’s not a waste of time — they’re sowing the seeds of purity-ponyism and “Democrats are in thrall to Wall Street/Big Pharma” to serve them well in 2018 and 2020. Besides, it’s probably not much money or effort, and it keeps potential dissidents-if-left-idle employed and off the streets of Moscow. They’re probably trolling Bernie boards with stories that enrage them, too. Sowing division.

  249. 249.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: Not in this case, though his dissertation/the book based on his dissertation is meh. I actually know him. I find him to be a none to strategic thinker or even clear thinker. He refuses to listen to anyone and ignores all the evidence that contradicts his beloved COIN. I was on a panel with him in 2009. He went last after all the rest of us (the others, like him, were all involved with drafting the COIN manual). I was asked to be on this particular panel as a practitioner who’d recently gotten back from actually doing this stuff. My presentation was about understanding the doctrine from practical application. So I had both theoretical and practical components to my comments and critique. Nagl gave the final presentation, right after mine. He absolutely ignored what every other presenter said, both good and bad things about COIN and gave a tearful defense of COIN. At one point he wasn’t just teared up, but full on crying while explaining that the SOFA agreement was going to be signed, that the 2009 elections were going to go fine, and that the US would have at least 100,000 troops in Iraq for no less than 10 more years. I’d just explained, based on my actual work on this issue for the Army (much of which had been sent back to the Department of State by our embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team lead and which I’d just been asked to brief the incoming State Department lead for reconstruction and the Deputy Assistant Sec Army for Civil Works on) not six months before why none of this was going to happen. I do not say this lightly, but I think there is something seriously emotionally wrong with him. When we went on break, someone asked him what he thought of my presentation that gave significant numbers of concrete examples of how the doctrine does not actually work in application. His response, while I was standing right there was that he found me amusing. The person then asked me for my comment and I just shook my head and said I had nothing to add that I hadn’t said in my prepared remarks.

  250. 250.

    GregB

    Stupid people need to hang out with Kevin McCarthy so that they feel like geniuses.

  253. 253.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Gin & Tonic: How about this. I am sick and tired of people saying nothing will happen, that our republic is done, that we are all fucked. If, as it seems, I must go Animal House, I will do it.

  254. 254.

    mai naem mobile

    I was one of those idiots who believed Bill Clinton until his apology regarding Monica,only because I didn’t think he would be so stupid as to screw around in the WH. But that was a little different. It was a freaking affair. These Dolt 45 cultists are crazy. I don’t know how you deal with them.

  255. 255.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: I’m aware of who is going. This is because none of these people trust their colleagues not to knife them in the back with the boss when they’re not around. What is more important who is not going: none of the actual National Security Staff senior directors or directors – the people with the real, deep subject matter expertise on the states and societies the President will be visiting or the issues that he will need to be kept up to speed on for every engagement.

  256. 256.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Adam L Silverman: Then it smacks of payback, that… what’s that saying… revenge is a dish best served cold?

    And Rosenstein was just saying the other day that he saw no need for a Special Counsel…

  258. 258.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hovercraft: Also, it was McCarthy who said it and no one ever accused him of being like a smart guy or having a good brain.

  261. 261.

    Jeffro

    @jl:

    Trump has expressed displeasure that people are already tired of all the winning. It’s puzzling. He said it would be great.

    His “so much winning…you’re going to get tired of winning…” remarks made even my 11-year-old laugh at the stupidity. Who talks like that? And who buys into that kind of nonsense? (short answer: I guess a majority of the Republican party and somewhere around 35-40% of the country, that’s who)

    it’s like when Trumpov said he “had the best words”…or that he often consulted himself…in any sane society, that would have been game over.

  267. 267.

    efgoldman

    @dm:

    It’s not a waste of time — they’re sowing the seeds of purity-ponyism and “Democrats are in thrall to Wall Street/Big Pharma” to serve them well in 2018 and 2020.

    It’s not like Wilmer will ever be a credible national candidate. He’s a one-shout pony, his act is tired and worn out, every candidate he’s supported/endorsed lost badly.
    The actual Democrats who voted for him this primary cycle won’t do it again; he has no more credibility with the Democratic base than he had before; Mrs wilmer is under investigation for financial improprieties; Weaver’s connections to the Russians still have to work themselves out; and most of all, his primary opponents won’t handle him with kid gloves like HRC did.
    So, who’s the purity ponies’ new savior and avatar?
    Right. Nobody credible.

  271. 271.

    Corner Stone

    Name one person in this WH admin or Cabinet that commands respect. That has the benefit of speaking truth at any moment when they appear before cameras.

  274. 274.

    Gravenstone

    @p.a.: 20-30% lighter would still check in around 60 pounds. Plus ammo. And less mass means more transferred recoil. Afraid your Rascal would be toppled first burst.

  278. 278.

    El Caganer

    @Adam L Silverman: Yeah, I’m thinking of the scene in Apocalypse Now where they finally arrive upriver and are greeted by Dennis Hopper: “Oh, You’re looking at the heads. Well, sometimes he goes too far – but he’s the first to admit it!”

  279. 279.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @p.a.: I haven’t said we have a healthy polity. I have been saying we shouldn’t give up without a fight. Everyone who says it is hopeless undercuts that. I get that people have bad days; this seems to be one for G&T. I was pushing back.

  281. 281.

    Marcopolo

    @Adam L Silverman: From what I have read (obviously limited), who Trump’s going with, where he’s going, his commitment to woeful prep, and all the current event stuff (like the Intel leak), I don’t see how this trip doesn’t have a number (possibly infinite) of shitstorm moments.

  282. 282.

    dm

    @efgoldman: It sounds to me as though you’re fighting the last war. It doesn’t have to be the junior Senator from Vermont in the saddle of the purity ponies. For that matter, in 2012, the junior Senator from Vermont wouldn’t have been someone credible either.

    To sow discord, the bots and trolls don’t actually need a candidate, all they need do is cultivate cynicism, tear down anyone who runs, and keep people from getting into the habit of not reading the articles behind the click-bait headlines. Getting people to stay home on election day is almost as good as getting them to pull the lever for Trump-mark-2.

    Negative campaigning is pretty good at getting people to stay home.

  284. 284.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @hovercraft:

    Oh with all this shit we didn’t even talk about this story, the hotel was financed by a Russian bank on the sanctions list, when it rains it pours.

    The hits just keep coming, don’t they?

    It’s amazing, innit, that Trump and anyone close to him could have possibly imagined they could keep so much BS secret… that none of this would ever leak out and he could just waltz into the WH and do as he pleased…

    An amazing level of self-delusion…

  286. 286.

    Raoul

    @amk: I think she’s a nightly backchannel between Trump staff and Yurtle. They’re all in on this bullshit. All of them.

  288. 288.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: No it was not. We attempted to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) throughout 2008. By we I mean Ambassador Crocker and his team. The Iraqis ran the clock down on us so that we were caught hard up against the end of the UN’s authorization for the US to occupy Iraq. As a result we negotiated something called a Security Agreement, or rather the Obama Administration basically took the the bad situation that the Bush 43 Administration had created and left them, did the best they could, and signed it. The Security Agreement is not a SOFA and has almost none of the protection for US forces that a SOFA does. This is why US operations in Iraq almost immediately ceased and US personnel all basically became FOBits with the exception of some of the training teams. In the case of the latter side agreements were struck with the Government of Iraq to allow US personnel to operate outside the wire without worrying they could get scarfed up and prosecuted by the Iraqis if they had to defend themselves.

  289. 289.

    J R in WV

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I’m sorry your PT is painful… mine was too, total shoulder replacement, right first, left 4 or 5 months later. You don’t get to move it at all the first month. I know you were in a cast, with strange looking pins in it.

    Try to keep your anger at the pain under control. Keep up stretching as the therapist recommends as best you can. The recovery is really in your hands, if you work hard you will get better faster. I know you’ve heard all this before. It worked for me is all I can say.

    Not that the shoulders don’t hurt, there’s still tendonitis in there. But it isn’t much compared to the bone on bone grind I had before. Being motionless was the only way to keep it from hurting, and that’s no way to live.

    Keep us posted on how it goes.

    Best wishes.

  291. 291.

    sdhays

    Question for Cheryl and/or Adam: How should we interpret the fact that McMaster reportedly didn’t grasp the seriousness of what the Preznit revealed to the Russians?

    The reaction seems to be that he’s not nearly as competent as his reputation suggested. My, perhaps naive, read is that he can’t know everything about everything and since he had no idea what Trump was going to tell the Russians, he couldn’t brush up on the background of what was going to be “declassified”. So, basically Trump can catch even highly competent people off guard and make anyone who works for him look stupid, no matter how intelligent or competent they typically are. Essentially what Josh Marshall calls “dignity wraithing”, although in this case McMaster is a bit more of an innocent victim than others. Of course, he then publicly denied that anything serious had been divulged.

    Or is McMaster objectively not adjusting to his new role very well? This last part of the NBC report raises this question for me:

    McMaster told reporters that Trump had not been aware of the source of the information he conveyed to the Russians, a statement that raised questions about whether the president has been properly briefed on how he should treated classified intelligence.

  293. 293.

    Adam L Silverman

    @amk: The good news is they’ll be in places they don’t want to go, among people that will not show them any respect, all away from home. I fully expect that the Israelis will honey trap Miller. I predict hilarity will ensue.

  295. 295.

    NotMax

    @hovercraft

    That’s at least the 3rd time since the election the Toronto property and shady Russian money has come up in the news. Maybe this time it will stick.

  298. 298.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Marcopolo: It is going to be ugly. He already tried to get them to shorten it to 5 days from 9. Didn’t happen. And remember he’s going to be jet lagged. He’s going to be in meetings and engagements and working lunches and dinners that are going to last longer than 5 minutes and a photo op, and he gets fidgety when that happens. And these will go on all day long. Hell, he’s already tried to get the Israelis to cut his Yad Vashem visit to no more than 15 minutes. Just long enough to sign the guest book, make some brief remarks, take some pictures, and leave. This news broke today. The Israelis are not amused (I’m pretty sure they’re all out of amused in Israel at the this point).

    He’s going to have to eat food prepared by his hosts as opposed to both the types of food and the preparations of it that he prefers. He won’t be able to sleep in his own bed. Or at one of the suites set up for him at his properties/branded properties. He’s going to be out of synch with his beloved cable news cycle in the US because of the time differences. He’s going to be asked to do things he’s never done before, with people he doesn’t know/barely knows, and who he has nothing in common with. And he’s going to be doing this in states where he is not popular at all. And while all of this is happening Comey will be testifying, as will a number of others, before various congressional committees.

    What could possibly go wrong?

  299. 299.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @sdhays: So many ways to answer your question, which all boil down to “I don’t know.”

    There are so many bizarre things going on at the top of government right now, it’s hard to make a guess. I think that some of today’s revelations make it possible to put together more of a scenario than we’ve had before. Or maybe not. I need time to assimilate. Here’s a wild guess.

    McMaster, Mattis, and Rosenstein were all felt to be exceptions in this administration, had serious integrity. My theory about Mattis early on was that he thought that a sane person was needed somewhere in the chain of command for firing nuclear weapons, and he would throw his body on the football (nuclear suitcase) if that became necessary.

    Let’s generalize that: all three knew some of the things that are coming out now and perhaps more when they took their jobs. They decided to put country above other ambitions to take those jobs so they could act as circuit-breakers to stop the worst from happening.

    That’s just a wild theory, but at least now I have enough information to build a wild theory.

  301. 301.

    Emma

    @Gin & Tonic: Late to the apology line but I apologize. I am in truly agonizing pain today due to the Tamoxifen hitting my severely arthritic knees and shoulders with a chemical pneumatic hammer, so I should have been more understanding.

  302. 302.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    @Adam L Silverman:

    He’s going to have to eat food prepared by his hosts as opposed to both the types of food and the preparations of it that he prefers.

    What? NO taco bowls?

  305. 305.

    hovercraft

    Ha, I didn’t know that the word was put out at NATO that anyone speaking to him must keeps their comments brief because he has a short attention span. Between that and his PBA’s needing to make as many references to him personally to keep his attention the man should be ashamed of himself. It;s like he’s the make a wish president.

  307. 307.

    Adam L Silverman

    @sdhays: This is what I wrote about this earlier today:
    https://balloon-juice.com/2017/05/17/it-is-important-to-bear-witness-protestors-beaten-by-erdogans-bodyguards/#comment-6383087

    1) LTG McMaster’s job is to be the National Security Advisor. This means he manages the National Security Staff and National Security Council, establishes a functioning Interagency process, and serves as the (hopefully) impartial gatekeeper to the President for national security strategy and policy issues.
    2) While he has clearance to see almost everything, he himself may not have access. As in he may not have needed to know the full details of the Israeli originated intel and information.
    3) This seems to be what the NBC reporting that TPM’s reporting referenced is indicating. If he did need to know and did have access and simply wasn’t tracking or failed to catch what had happened because of what the President said and how he said it, these are problems in themselves. Based on the NBC reporting it is impossible to know which of these it was.
    4) This is why the senior staffer for these issues, Tom Bossert, lit his head on fire when he saw the meeting notes. He was fully read in, realized what had just happened, and immediately moved to implement as much damage control as would be possible given the situation. This is what he should have done.
    5) Bossert should have fully backbriefed McMaster as soon as he did the initial steps of damage control. At that point McMaster did need to know. If this didn’t happen, which is unclear from the NBC reporting, then there is a problem in the lines of communication between Bossert and McMaster.

    I have been in those types of situations, though obviously at much, much lower levels and with much, much less at stake. Where I was fully read on to something, but not in the room when something went sideways on the specific issue. As soon as I found out I started doing the damage control as quickly and effectively as possible. Without further details, this is all I’ve got in terms of analysis.

  308. 308.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    Thank you for the recap.

    Wikikpedia (although not the most meticulous source) disagrees, however.

    The U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (official name: Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of Iraq On the Withdrawal of United States Forces from Iraq and the Organization of Their Activities during Their Temporary Presence in Iraq) was a status of forces agreement (SOFA) between Iraq and the United States, signed by President George W. Bush in 2008.
    […]
    On November 17, 2008, the Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker signed the agreement in an official ceremony.
    […]
    On December 14, 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush signed the security pact with Iraq. Source

    It may be confusion rooted in semantics.

  310. 310.

    SatanicPanic

    @Gin & Tonic: I said loudly and often as far back as summer 2015 that Trump could get the nomination. Just because something weird happens once doesn’t mean we have to accept every last dumb idea that comes along. Cuomo is not getting the Democratic nom

  313. 313.

    Marcopolo

    @Adam L Silverman: My favorite part of her tenure as Sec of Labor were the tschotskies (sp?) she had made with her personal (not the Labor Dept’s) imprimatur.

  316. 316.

    Yarrow

    @Adam L Silverman: It is going to be a disaster. Why in the world did they decide he should do a long overseas trip? Why not just show up for the NATO thing and go home.

  318. 318.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Cheryl Rofer: I have mentioned before that I knew McMaster as a company grade officer – I had drinks with him before he became a hero in 1991. I knew him then. I have followed his career and read his books. I hope you are right. In a few years, it would make me happy to find out that HR had leaked things and then half-assed the press conference on purpose.

  319. 319.

    catclub

    @Suzanne:

    When I heard the prophecy that Trump would die in prison, I have to confess that I didn’t believe it. But holy cannoli. This is going even faster than I ever imagined.

    Around this time in 2009, conservatives were convinced that the fast and Furious scandal, plus solyndra, would put Eric Holder in prison.

  320. 320.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hovercraft: Sort of. This summit is basically each head of government sitting around a big table and droning on in turn. They can all be told to try to rein it in, but it may not happen.

  324. 324.

    Bupalos

    Since it seems to be a day to dream, I’ll share how I hope this ends. Its the same thing ive hoped all along, and im not sure we’re that much further towards it than we were 3 months ago. I hope that the Republican ethos and raison d’etre gets tied to Trump, that whenever and however trump ends, a clear link is made between the greed, stupidity, and selfish immaturity of the party and that of the leadership it chose.

    We do too much “this is not normal.” The only way trump is not a normal republican politician is that he is an apotheosis. Instead of hailing from one of the several diverse camps of botched humanity that form the retrograde army of the GOP, he seems to hail from all of them at once.

    Trump is going to flunk out, bigly. If it is not now, it is to come. Fun to watch, fun to cheer on. But there never will be any complete and final endpoint here. Far from hoping that trump goes away and is forgotten, we need to get to work NOW making the connection and keeping the memory of what they did here alive. What they did, why they did it, how they did it. How the party of grift naturally came to be lead by a grifter. How the party of false values naturally came to be lead by a man more familiar with the language of rape than “two corinthians.” How the party of the slave states naturally came to be lead by a xenophobic race-baiting populist steeped in brutality and the tactics of the bullying mob. A born rentier… and yet also a self-made man, by the art of the con. A loudmouth. An ignorant know-it-all of common sense. A vain playboy that buys friends and women, though clearly his women and friends end up paying more.

    At the end much will be made of trump not having been or not being a “real Republican. That they may get away with that is the real danger.

  325. 325.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: No, the Wikipedia entry is factually incorrect. A SOFA does certain things. The Security Agreement that the Bush 43 Administration negotiated and the Obama Administration chose to accept and abide by is not a SOFA. It is not a type of SOFA. It is not even close to a SOFA. I was there, in Iraq when this happened. I wrote a number of reports on why we were getting rolled on this – largely because we weren’t paying attention to what the Iraqis were actually communicating to us (that they wanted us gone so they could settle scores among themselves/reignite the sectarian war).

  326. 326.

    Marcopolo

    @Adam L Silverman: I’ve read the reports about the organizers trying to Trumpdumbdown the proceedings but, honestly, if I were Merkel or Macron I’d just be trolling the shit out of him now.

  327. 327.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: More likely the criminal prosecution he is facing will. At least temporarily. If they actually convict him than permanently. Unfortunately, anyone/everyone in his coalition who might replace him is actually worse than he is.

  330. 330.

    sdhays

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks for re-posting; I hadn’t seen that. That’s a much more detailed and informed version of what I suspected.

    McMaster’s statement last night was well written to strongly deny things that no one had suggested had happened and avoid addressing what had. Hopefully that level of surgical obfuscation suggests that the Bossert-McMaster communication isn’t as problematic as communication with their boss.

  331. 331.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    Also (again, IIRC) the Iraqi Parliament had essentially dug in their heels and there was no ‘give’ nor any sign of any forthcoming down the line.

  332. 332.

    sdhays

    @catclub: I haven’t been following it closely, but I’ve been pretty surprised by how much the Trump Administration has been willing to brush off Israel. If it were any other administration, I might let myself be slightly hopeful that a window of opportunity might open for jump starting a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

    As it is, I can only hope that it enrages Bibi.

  333. 333.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: Correct. We had a tremendous ongoing problem throughout 2008 and all the way into 2010 in Iraq. This was at the strategic level. No one was actually receiving and/or processing the messages the Iraqis were transmitting to us and to each other. Between this and the 2008 provincial (moved to 2009) and 2009 national (pushed to 2010) elections and transitioning the Awakenings and Sons of Iraq, I must have written ten reports that had this as a through line. Followed by far more detailed ones after I got back. All told I’ve probably written about 500 pages about Iraq since 2008.

    The Awakenings/Sons of Iraq (largely Sunni and Shi’a tribal guys) were making it very, very clear they wanted to settle scores with the Maliki government and the returned exile Shi’a. The Maliki government and the returned exile Shi’a were making it very, very clear that they wanted to do the same against the Awakenings/Sons of Iraq. And both of them were making it very, very clear they wanted us out of the way so they could do so. When I’d explain this to senior US civilian personnel, as well as scholars, analysts, and reporters, they’d tell me I was nuts. The Awakenings/SOI know they can’t win, they’re defeated, they know it, they’re not even going to try. And Maliki and the exile Shi’a control the government, they’re not going to jeopardize that.

    Morons!

  335. 335.

    Corner Stone

    @NotMax: IIRC, they wanted the ability to try US military people in their courts.
    A complete non-starter.

  336. 336.

    hovercraft

    @Adam L Silverman:
    No, this is above and beyond the normal.
    NATO Frantically Tries to Trump-Proof President’s First Visit
    A ‘freaked-out’ NATO braces for Donald Trump’s first meeting of the transatlantic alliance.

    “It’s kind of ridiculous how they are preparing to deal with Trump,” said one source briefed extensively on the meeting’s preparations. “It’s like they’re preparing to deal with a child — someone with a short attention span and mood who has no knowledge of NATO, no interest in in-depth policy issues, nothing,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They’re freaking out.”

    They go on to agree that yes they always try to get people to be brief but this is specifically to keep Twitler engaged.

  338. 338.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: I’m not sure. I know that part of what we’ve tried to do is sanction anyone who has provided technology to the Iranians that could be used in a nuclear weapon. So this is normal, though I don’t know anything about this specific company.

  340. 340.

    Adam L Silverman

    @hovercraft: They can try all they want. Some of these folks couldn’t be brief if their lives depending on it. Some are not going to be brief just to see if they can set the President off.

  341. 341.

    dm

    @Yarrow:

    Why in the world did they decide he should do a long overseas trip? Why not just show up for the NATO thing and go home.

    It gives the Republicans a chance to tell Democrats that “Politics stops at the water-line (when a Republican is President)”.

    It gives the Dunning-Kruger President (when you type “dunning” at Google, its third suggestion is “dunning kruger trump”) the chance to stand and look self-satisfied in front of colorful flags and scenic locations.

    It fits into the movie 45 has in his head of what Presidents do.

  342. 342.

    moops

    @BBA: yup. The GOP got slaughtered after Nixon. An administration in disgrace is preferable at the midterm to an impeachment. No impeachment, no charges stick to Trump. Can’t charge the president unless you impeach him. Trump will watch everyone around him go to prison or at least be forced to resign. Doesn’t matter to Ryan or Mitch. They could care less if anyone is in the WH. As long as there is courier from the Senate to the WH and someone holding a fresh sharpie for Trump to use to sign Bills into Law the GOP will be just fine.

    Special Counsel is going to make it clear as heck that the President is unfit and corrupt, and it will not make any difference.

  346. 346.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    NATO partners: “Send this speech back for rewrite. Needs a lot more esoteric 5- and 6-syllable words. And sprinkle in more acronyms while you’re at it.”

    (Well, one can dream, anyway.)

  347. 347.

    Chris T.

    @J R in WV: Remember, PT stands not for Physical Therapy, but rather for Pain and Torture.

    (But it really does help in the end…)

  348. 348.

    Raoul

    @Adam L Silverman: I am also wondering what sort of greeting Macron will extend to Trump. I mean, Macron basically defeated the trumpian candidate in France. He’s not likely to feel very warm towards him.
    He probably has at least a passing awareness of the bullshit Trump tried to pull on Merkel over here. And, per Foreign Policy, pretty much all of European NATO is planning on meeting with a tantruming child (which seems like the right strategy). Trump appears to have been pre-butting the NATO event with background threats to pull out.
    It’s gonna be a freakin’ mess.

  354. 354.

    Aleta

    @amk: I believe it’s a quote from a character in a theater production, written by Jane Wagner for L Tomlin to perform (around 1984). My memory of hearing it in that production (Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe; Tomlin played a lot of different characters) could be wrong. But it’s not words that Tomlin or some hipster cynical type said in real life to be cynically cool.

  357. 357.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    @dogwood: They absolutely still are. They’ve managed to create some large networks on Facebook and the like. I’m still seeing lots of insanity and bullshit coming along.

    I suppose it’s possible that the networks managed to become self awaresustaining after the initial startup.

  358. 358.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    @efgoldman: You’re being naive. It’s got nothing to do with Sanders and everything to do with being able to activate a lot of folks to share things by couching them a certain way. It’s a way of getting certain ideas into the discourse.

  359. 359.

    efgoldman

    @polyorchnid octopunch:

    and everything to do with being able to activate a lot of folks to share things by couching them a certain way.

    By “a lot” you mean whiners who aren’t voting for Democrats, or maybe at all, anyway? Folks with a loud intartoobz presence, but no real political influence? Those “lot of” folks?

    If they’re that easily gulled, Fuckem

  361. 361.

    Elie

    @Gin & Tonic:
    I wish you well. I had a partial shoulder replacement few years ago. Slow but steady rehab. I made the best progress swimming That is holding on to s flotation device on my good side while paddling w the rehab arm. Made more progress in three weeks than in previous six. Just a thought

  362. 362.

    hovercraft

    @Aleta:
    Absolutely, between this story and the story about his house in St. Thomas that’s up for sale for 28 million which local realtors say is ridiculously inflated, the house next door which has 10 bedrooms is on sale for 4.5 million. Everything is a scam with these people.

  363. 363.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    @efgoldman: It’s about taking a certain part of the polity out of active political consideration. It’s about sidelining a group of people that if they voted Rep or Dem would vote Dem.

    A sizable group of people I might add. It’s a PsyOps aimed at the middle to outer left electorate (i.e. pretty much anyone left of Clinton). The people who understand that single payer is the superior solution for quality of life for everyone, because it’s not like there’s not tons of examples that part of life being way better for everyone in pretty all much all of the (oecd) countries. Those are the people this is aimed at, to discourage participation. There are literally millions of ’em living in your country that see it blow by on their feeds every day and get discouraged because “they’re all the same”.

  364. 364.

    efgoldman

    @polyorchnid octopunch:

    There are literally millions of ’em living in your country

    Ah. “My country.” We call that a tell. Where are you, comrade? Russia? Ukraine? Moldova? Athens?
    You have less than no credibility.

  365. 365.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    @efgoldman: Yeah. But look at the Stein vote in the upper Midwest, and look at the Trump margins.

    It matters.

    I live in a parliamentary democracy. This stuff is well understood here. This is about keeping people away from the ballot box, and hopefully making them dumber in the process.

  366. 366.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Baud: He does that, and the 82nd Airborne will be paying him a visit. Not a friendly one.

  367. 367.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    It’s almost like the counter intelligence community took Comey’s firing as an admission of guilt by Trump and are out to destroy Trump now.

  368. 368.

    TenguPhule

    @BBA:

    As usual, I must give you the reality check that any GOP Congresscritters who vote against Trump face the risk that their constituents will kill them.

    And if they keep enabling him, the rest of America will kill them.

    So either way, we win

    And FYWP

  370. 370.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    What could possibly go wrong?

    Trump blows a gasket and the Secret Service find themselves in the unenviable position of fighting against other security forces defending their own VIPs from Trump.

  371. 371.

    TenguPhule

    @mai naem mobile:

    I don’t know how you deal with them.

    Ideally with drone strikes in an isolated environment.

    /Fuck it, they’re fucking traitors after all.

  372. 372.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @Adam L Silverman: It’s almost like the people who are terminally fed up with him decided this was a point of maximum distraction to get their hits in… shocking….

  373. 373.

    Central Planning

    @Raoul:

    As Jeet Heer says, “The single biggest factor preserving American democracy in 2017? Donald Trump is a fucking moron.”

    The single biggest factor destroying American democracy in 2017? Donald Trump is a fucking moron.

  374. 374.

    Lurking Canadian

    @efgoldman: I don’t understand. If Pence goes first (resignation or impeachment), Trump gets to nominate a replacement VP. But Obama got to nominate a replacement Scalia, too. Mr Replacement doesn’t become VP Replacement unless a majority of both houses agree, right? Why would Ryan even let the matter come to a vote? Why would Pelosi let the matter come to a vote?

    Obviously, it’s a very unlikely scenario. As I understand it, it is mathematically impossible, even if the Republicans lose every Senate seat up for re-election in 2018, for the Dems to have even a filibuster-proof Senate in 2018, never mind 2/3.

    However, if we’re already in the hypothetical realm where impeachments are happening, a Pelosi presidency doesn’t seem to add any additional improbability.

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