Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

How stupid are these people?

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

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

No one could have predicted…

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Tick tock motherfuckers!

You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Venality / The Kids Are More Than Alright

The Kids Are More Than Alright

by | 168 Comments

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Here’s a heartwarming tale to start your Sunday morning:

A group of middle school students from New Jersey caused quite a flap, after half of them refused to take a picture with Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan.

It happened Thursday during a field trip to Washington.

Reaction from the students’ parents are as politically divided as the country.

“It’s not just a picture,” said Matthew Malespina, a student.

Matthew says he couldn’t go through with it.

It didn’t matter that Paul Ryan is the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, or that he is third in-line to the presidency.

When he and his classmates from South Orange Middle School had the chance to take a picture with the speaker. Matthew watched from the parking lot with 100 of his fellow students.

“It’s being associated with a person who puts his party before his country,” Matthew said.

Attn: Senate and House Republicans

Read what that kid said about party before country.

Think on it.

Reader Interactions

168Comments

  3. 3.

    satby

    It is heartwarming! Thanks John. I hope this means you made it to Connecticut safely and are enjoying coffee and the Sunday paper with ABC.

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    An American eighth-grader is what, 13 or 14 years old? I’m impressed that these kids are so politically outspoken.

  6. 6.

    debbie

    @Amir Khalid:

    They’re sponges. I’d bet lots of them have overheard and absorbed their parents’ conversations. I know my niece projected her parents’ hatred of Obama. Imagine being told by a 6-year-old back in 2009 that she hated him! I told her to get back to me when she was old enough to have her own opinions.

  13. 13.

    Barbara

    @dr. bloor: Unlikely in South Orange, New Jersey. It’s one of the Oranges, basically, an inner ring suburb of Newark with a lot of commuters into New York City, pretty diverse. A friend lives in a neighboring municipality.

  14. 14.

    Spanky

    @Amir Khalid: Up here in the mid latitudes the days are 14 1/2 hours long and still growing. Makes for a rough fast, I would guess. Be happy yours is “only” about 12 hours.

  15. 15.

    Elizabelle

    The kids are having the same discussion all of us. How do you respect the honor of the office, when the person sitting in it clearly puts party before country? And may have been unfairly placed there? (Trump. And gerrymandering.)

    I am proud of the kids that did not have their photo taken. Maybe the kids who did will wake up some day — some percentage of them will.

    Students say the speaker left entirely unaware of the eighth grade dissidents watching from a distance.

    And I’m sure blue eyed wonk Paul Ryan will have something anodyne to say about this, once he hears. (Note to wonk Ryan: when young teenagers can see clearly what you have become … you won’t give a sh*t, because it’s all about favorable tax treatment and other benefits for the wealthy. Your actual constituents.)

    “I thought it would be very cool just seeing the man who is the third most powerful man in our country. It would be cool, even if you disagree with him,” Handelman said.

    Think of the pride German families feel, seeing their relatives photographed next to Hitler, Goebbels, Goering … that worked out so well for Charles Lindbergh.

  16. 16.

    debbie

    @Spanky:

    I’m basically not dealing with any of my family members who voted for Trump. I’m already debating whether to skip Thanksgiving again. If I were to go, I know they’d avoid politics, so that’s a little something.

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    @Amir Khalid: Thinking of you. Know you’re in your fasting days.

    Lots of activity last night in the streets of this partly Muslim neighborhood. (El Raval, in Barcelona.) Will be interesting to watch this, at close view.

  18. 18.

    Elizabelle

    @debbie: My great wish is that we have President Pelosi by Thanksgiving. Your relatives can bitch all they want about that. Some of us would pony up for a GoPro or livecam on your family meal.

  20. 20.

    oldster

    Good for those kids, and good for their parents.

    I hope that they are ready for the onslaught of hatred and attacks that they will soon face from the rabid right.

  22. 22.

    debbie

    @Elizabelle:

    I like that idea! I’d probably have to goad them a bit to say anything bad about Trump, but it’d sure be fun to get them to acknowledge their Obama-hate. Especially the Hassidic nephew who supports Milo and Spencer.

  23. 23.

    Ryan

    I’m having a hard time deciding whether I want a reporter to ask him about this or the latest Trump scandal.

  24. 24.

    Frankensteinbeck

    or that he is third in-line to the presidency.

    Nobody used to think this worth mentioning. The idea that Trump might be impeached is pervading the American population. Whether that has any practical effect, I don’t know.
    @Elizabelle:

    you won’t give a sh*t, because it’s all about favorable tax treatment and other benefits for the wealthy.

    You greatly underestimate the man. Brutalizing the poor is as much or more of his goals as giving everything to the rich. He fantasized in college about ending Medicaid. Paul Ryan is a cartoon villain who puts even Trump and Bannon to shame. He might well be delightedly smug if he knew.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    after half of them refused to take a picture with Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan.

    So half of them did take a picture with Ryan? Maybe only half the kids are all right. :: Grumpy old man emoji::

  26. 26.

    Elizabelle

    @oldster:

    I hope that they are ready for the onslaught of hatred and attacks that they will soon face from the rabid right.

    That could be extremely helpful, actually. Attacking young people, for their freedom of speech and action?

    (1) The kids have the moral authority here.

    (2) Do you think their parents want to see them attacked by rightwingers, no matter what the parent thought about the photo with Ryan, going in? Could end up changing some parents’ minds too.

    (3) When deconstructed and exposed to sunshine, most rightwing rhetoric is stupid and immature.

  27. 27.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @debbie:

    Especially the Hassidic nephew who supports Milo and Spencer.

    On the one hand, I certainly heard ‘Obama Bin Laden’ from my ultra-orthodox relatives. On the other, Trump and his Neo-Nazi advisors scare the shit out of my former ultra-orthodox neighbors.

  29. 29.

    Splitting Image

    The only detention I ever got in high school happened when noted alumnus (and current Toronto mayor) John Tory came to speak at an assembly. I skipped the assembly and got a detention.

    Four years later, Tory ran Kim Campbell’s election campaign and signed off on the attack ad which showed Jean Chretien’s paralyzed face with a voiceover saying “Is this the face of a Prime Minister?” Since then, I’ve worn the detention as a badge of pride.

    On the other hand, most of my classmates were Randian bastards and I absorbed a lot more of that crap than I realized at the time. I had to go through a deassholification process, colloquially known as growing the fuck up.

  34. 34.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle:

    (3) When deconstructed and exposed to sunshine, most rightwing rhetoric is stupid and immature.

    Which is why it is so appealing.

  35. 35.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Amir Khalid: Amir, Mubarak Ramadan. I had the pleasure of experiencing it while 7 and staying with my dad in Riyadh. I of course could eat during daylight but not in public. Once darkness came, being out on the streets in the throngs of people was a thrill I’ll never forget. Should you ever want to share, I know many of us would love to see some pictures!

  38. 38.

    Spanky

    @Hal:

    @debbie: Who knows? By next thanksgiving all your Trump relatives might be pretending they never heard of him.

    By next Thanksgiving, he’ll be known as “Democrat President Donald Trump”.

    When I was in eighth grade, I was fairly timid and barely politically conscious – and that was 1968! I’ll give the kids who did have their pic with ZEGS another few years before judging.

  39. 39.

    FlyingToaster

    @Baud @debbie: You can pick your friends; you can’t pick your family. Alas.

    I don’t have Facebook specifically because of a) the majority of the other 601 assholes I graduated with; b) the whackjob crazies in my mom’s extended family; c) certain in-laws who are Xtianist, misogynist Trumpites.

    How the fuck a Hasid can be pro-Spencer is beyond me; my dad’s family (not orthodox and who taught me the phrase “Ashkenazic racist swine”) would be mocking that kid all up and down the street.

  40. 40.

    gene108

    These kids will be eligible voters by 2022. They will have to be contended with in Ryan’s lifetime.

  41. 41.

    Tokyokie

    When I was in junior high school, in history class, we’d vote for presidential candidates the day of every major primary in 1968. Or at least until the teacher got fed up with my having organized half the class to vote for Harold Stassen every time. But by high school, I was wearing an armband to protest the Vietnam War, although I probably did it as much to piss off the overwhelming majority of right-wingers in my school as I did to actually oppose the war.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    Remember the woman who took to the stage for a spittle-flecked, raving diatribe during the Republican convention?

    A federal judge threw out a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton by the parents of two Americans killed in the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, ruling the former secretary of state didn’t defame them when disputing allegations that she had lied.
    [snip]
    One of the parents, Patricia Smith, gave an emotional speech during the 2016 Republican National Convention against Clinton.… Source

  43. 43.

    NorthLeft12

    @gene108: I think it is unfair to assume all those that got their picture taken with Ryan support him. There are many who are politically unaware, compliant to authority, and just follow their friends.

    Uhhh, on second thought, maybe you are right. I described the resume of the people who helped elect Deadbeat Donald and most of the Republicans.

  44. 44.

    SFAW

    @Spanky:

    When I was in eighth grade, I was fairly timid and barely politically conscious – and that was 1968!

    You and I are about the same age. In 1968, I hated Nixon, desperately wanted Humphrey to beat him. I think a large part of that was because my father knew about Nixon from the Helen Gahagan days, and thought Nixon was bad news, so it spilled over. (My mother was liberal, too, but I didn’t get a Nixon-hate-vibe from her, at least not to the level of my father’s.)

    Of course, my father voted for Reagan in 1980, which surprised the hell out of me. But I’m reasonably sure that, were he still around, he would have thought of Shitgibbon the same way the rest of us do. (Well, where “rest of us” does not include certain trolls, that is.)

    Relative to ZEGS: I keep hoping he — and the rest of those traitorous motherfuckers — have his/their own “Col. Nicholson moment” (as I call it), but I figure that’s about as likely as Grand Kleagle Sessions no longer being a racist fuck.

  45. 45.

    SFAW

    @Tokyokie:

    Or at least until the teacher got fed up with my having organized half the class to vote for Harold Stassen every time.

    I love you. (In a purely platonic way, of course.)

  46. 46.

    GregB

    CEO Nazi Trump and his crime cartel of a family is planning on gaslighting the Russia story in perpetuity.

    Moral degenerates.

  47. 47.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The scum will not think on it. They’re all treasonous assholes.

  49. 49.

    debbie

    @Spanky:

    When I was in eighth grade, I drew a peace symbol on my notebook. By a year or two later, I was angry. I wrote “Fuck Nixon” on my notebook. I wasn’t sent to the headmaster’s office (girls’ day school) until I showed up wearing a read armband. Apparently, I’d crossed a line.

  50. 50.

    Thoughtful David

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    This is the entire reason that Jenghazi Rubin turned anti-Trump. Everybody has been giving her props for her anti-Trump columns the last year-and-a-half, but never fear, she continues to support every possible right-wing idea to hurt poor people and destroy our culture and she still thinks the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim. But at some point she realized that even attacking Iran wouldn’t have a good outcome for Israel, and she’s afraid of Trump’s Neo-Nazis.

    So, when people want to give her great credit for her anti-Trump stance, remember that it’s not really about Trump, it’s because of her Israel-Uber-Alles positions, and that the moment she no longer has to worry about that, she’ll go back to working on her infinite series of Benghazi columns and about Her Emails.

  51. 51.

    debbie

    @FlyingToaster:

    How the fuck a Hasid can be pro-Spencer is beyond me

    Me too. Since I’m not speaking to him or his father, I can’t get an explanation. Maybe because he’s hearing what he thinks he wants to hear when he hears Spencer say he wants to return this country to what it was intended to be — a nation of Northern Europeans. Having lived in Israel and lived in a Brooklyn yeshiva, he’s been very protected. He may be naive enough to think “Northern Europeans” includes him.

  53. 53.

    Mary G

    @Amir Khalid: One of my housemates is a 13-year-old 8th grader who is completely indifferent to academics, but watches the news every night and asks me questions about Twitler and government all the time. They get what’s going on almost better than their parents, who are busy working, etc.

  55. 55.

    SFAW

    @Another Scott:

    Spencer is winking an nodding like mad. He wants power and will say anything to any group try to get it. Haaretz has more.

    Apparently that motherfucker told Haaretz (or perhaps just “The Jews”) that his “Heil Hitler” salute was given in “fun and exuberance.”

    I hope that evil motherfucker meets up with persons who express their “fun and exuberance” by beating the shit out of him, on a daily basis.

  56. 56.

    FlyingToaster

    @debbie:

    Having lived in Israel and lived in a Brooklyn yeshiva, he’s been very protected. He may be naive enough to think “Northern Europeans” includes him.

    And by his definition wouldn’t include me (my ancestors came here from the Netherlands and Austria-Hungary several generations after they had to run from the Reconquista).

    I’m with you; there’s no point in getting entangled with just-plain-stupid.

  57. 57.

    Iowa Old Lady

    When I was in eighth grade, I wouldn’t have known who the Speaker of the House was. Good for these kids. Maybe this is a sign that an increased amount of political discussion is going on.

  58. 58.

    J R in WV

    @Amir Khalid:

    Hi Amir, glad to hear from you! Sorry the Lunar calendar had made its way around to summer time for Ramadan again, the longer days make it harder on folks here. I guess nearer the equator it won’t make that big a difference for your location?

    And of course, the rule specifically states that the very young, elderly, or ill can take a break if needed, so don’t feel bad if you need to drink for your health!

    Best wishes from the green hills of West Virginia!

  62. 62.

    hovercraft

    As a New Jersey resident, I’ve never been prouder to call myself a New Jerseyan!
    From the mouth of babes.
    Enjoy your mini vacy John.

  63. 63.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    Love Jonathan Capeheart’s panel – one lone white male Republican against a panel of all black members who literally laugh at him.

  64. 64.

    Laura

    It takes a lot for a teenager to ignore the trappings of celebrity and power and take a stand. Good on all of them. They can weather the shit storm of criticism.
    The kids are Allright!

    Amir, I wish you joy filled breaking of fasts this Ramadan.

  65. 65.

    MattF

    @Barbara: Right. Also, close enough to New York City that the parents already knew a lot about Trump before the election and mostly hated his guts.

  68. 68.

    liberal

    Fareed Z is on CNN attacking liberal intolerance. What a dumbfuck. (I usually never watch cable.)

  69. 69.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    Joy Reid is just about to lay wood to the “Bernie would’ve won” nonsense talking about Montana. I love her and wish she had 10 hours of programming a day.

  70. 70.

    Humdog

    I too am a trump orphan. Haven’t spoken to my family since inauguration. Lost two sisters, a brother and both parents. The one Hillary voting sister is cut off because I did not give the shit stain a chance and because cutting off shit stain supporting family members makes them feel bad so that makes me the bad guy.
    I feel like I am in the wrong, holding these people accountable for the votes of 60 million others but I cannot get past the feeling that my family is responsible for the hurt my Obamacare dependent friends are going to experience and for the fact my friend with a severely disabled adult son cannot get his heart rate down since they announced the devastating cuts to disability support. I excused their R votes in the past because they aren’t politically active and simply bought the compassionate conservative bullshit. But they voted without the bullshit cover story this time, they voted for pain. My withdrawal is probably the only “consequence ” they will see until someone needs a nursing home. It is lonely feeling tho.

  71. 71.

    Elizabelle

    Eight dead in three separate sites in Mississippi, including a sheriff’s deputy. That’s pretty much from one incident. There may be other MS gun deaths today that we’re not picking up yet (and wouldn’t it be nice if we kept count?) …

    It’s a Sunday in May in the US of A.

  72. 72.

    LurkerNoLonger

    It’s going to be so satisfying seeing the look on Ryan’s face when he loses his speakership next year. It couldn’t happen to a nicer asshole.

  74. 74.

    Humdog

    @liberal: liberal intolerance is exactly what I felt yesterday when you said Hillary needs to go away because she isn’t perfect to you. You really should pick a new moniker if you cannot stand to see a womanwho has spent her life trying to make life better for children, the disabled and women speak in public because she does not tick some other box you find important. None of us are perfect.

  75. 75.

    Baud

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    When I was in eighth grade, I wouldn’t have known who the Speaker of the House was.

    When you were in eighth grade, the Speaker of the House wasn’t trying to kill you.

    @liberal:

    Fareed Z is on CNN attacking liberal intolerance.

    Wait until he experiences conservative intolerance. The harm is much more… tangible.

  76. 76.

    Elizabelle

    From the NYDaily News (I put their stuff up, cuz no paywall, and loads fast): in its entirety:

    A Mississippi madman apparently angered over a custody dispute admitted to murdering eight people Sunday, including a sheriff’s deputy, in a series of shootings.

    Cory Godbolt callously confessed to the killings across rural Lincoln County after he was taken into custody.

    “I was having a conversation … about me taking my children home, and somebody called the officer,” he told the Clarion-Ledger.

    One victim was a Lincoln County deputy, police said, but none has been named so far.

    Godbolt said he planned to kept wrecking havoc until the police killed him, but he “ran out of bullets.”

    He said he was ready to die for his crimes.

    “I ain’t fit to live, not after what I done,” he said.

    “Not in y’all eyes, not in nobody else’s eyes. But God, you know, he forgives you for everything.”

    Police have not commented about a motive for the murders.

    The NYDN has some ‘tude. “Madman” and “callously.” But the dulcet tones of the FTF NYTimes still has to report: eight dead.

    I’d like to see how many gun murders, and then add in all gun deaths, we have this weekend.

    And then compare that to the Manchester concert.

    I am not saying suicide bombing terrorism is not tragic, and to be prevented. But look at the toll guns take every single goddamned weekend and weekday in the US.

  77. 77.

    Jeffro

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Which is why it is so appealing.

    True…so soothing to not have to think, to just vent all the time and take a pass on any/all responsibility to others.

    Dancing through life
    Skimming the surface
    Gliding where turf is smooth
    Life’s more painless
    For the brainless
    Why think too hard
    When it’s so soothing?
    Dancing through life
    No need to tough it
    When you can slough it off as I do
    Nothing matters
    But knowing nothing matters
    It’s just life
    So keep dancing through…
    Dancing through life
    Swaying and sweeping
    And always keeping cool
    Life is fraught less
    When you’re thoughtless
    Those who don’t try
    Never look foolish
    Dancing through life
    Mindless and careless
    Make sure you’re where less
    Trouble in life
    Woes are fleeting
    Blows are glancing
    When you’re dancing
    Through life…
    – “Dancing Through Life”, WICKED

    Keep on dancing, Paul Ryan…

  80. 80.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    Shorter Krystal Ball: Quist lost because of Nancy Pelosi.

    Sanders never delivers, and it’s never his fault. His supporters at this late date are lunatics just like Trump’s. They should join Scientology.

  81. 81.

    Raoul

    @Amir Khalid: My best friend in elementary school and I used to talk about the horrors of nuclear war and how to organize other sixth graders to oppose it. This was in Oklahoma!

    And on summer vacation, we’d visit friends in the Maryland suburbs of D.C., my counterpart, also about 12 or 13, would go out and shoot BBs at the mosquito control truck shouting “you’re killing our birds!”

    Maybe we were a tad precocious, but not really that uncommon for kids to know what’s what in the world. It’s one of the reasons I hate the infantilization of youth/young adults today. I don’t think kids should be engaged in child labor (I’m not some libertarian freak, after all), but kids grasp concepts and have deeper thoughts than adults remember about themselves (in some cases), it seems.

  86. 86.

    Corner Stone

    John Kelly is a massive failure at DHS. Another “General” surrendering to the Dignity Wraith.

  87. 87.

    rikyrah

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    I love this. Not just because she speaks for so many, but her gestures when she talks about Dolt45 are hilarious. She tries to be subtle about him, but then, she just has to tell her mother-I don’t want that man!??

  88. 88.

    debbie

    @Humdog:

    I feel like I am in the wrong, holding these people accountable for the votes of 60 million others

    That’s not my reasoning. I base my separation on things the family members have said, ie, Trump would be magnanimous, Trump would bring the country together, etc. Like all adults, they are responsible for their words.

  91. 91.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    Paul Ryan sees human beings as props there to advance his career. That image of him in a white apron smilingly washing an already-clean pot in a soup kitchen, this pose with children… he’s a soulless money pig.

  94. 94.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Humdog: For me its not family but a dear friend of 15 years. HRC hate lead to Brietbart conspiracy mongering and JS voting. After she defended the travel ban I couldn’t take it any longer. So no contact since.

  95. 95.

    TS

    @Elizabelle: Every mass shooting when Obama was President saw the right screaming for him to “do something”. He was the consoler in chief – it was ALWAYS demanded that he speak to the issues.

    Funny how the only time the GOP screams about mass murder is “terrorist”

  96. 96.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    my god, Joy Reid is showing a clip from MTP of Kimberly Strasssel defending the trump-Kushner-Kremlin story, it is the most extraordinary self-beclowning I have seen in a very long time. Of course, I haven’t seen General John Kelly (ret’d) on whichever show twitter tells me he soiled himself on

  97. 97.

    Gator90

    @Thoughtful David:

    when people want to give [Jennifer Rubin] great credit for her anti-Trump stance, remember that it’s not really about Trump, it’s because of her Israel-Uber-Alles positions

    There are, obviously, many reasons to dislike Trump. Why do you assume that Rubin’s anti-Trump stance has something/anything to do with Israel?

  101. 101.

    germy

    Judd Legum‏Verified account @JuddLegum 2h2 hours ago

    Trump’s tweets this AM, summarized:

    1. I’m really happy the guy who assaulted a reporter won his election

    2. The media is the enemy

  102. 102.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @SiubhanDuinne: Thanks for the link. I haven’t seen much online because we’ve been busy. I’m still at my friend’s. We’re taking a 3 hour river boat cruise on the Mississippi this afternoon. I am Professor IOL, but if I see anyone named Mary Ann or Ginger etc aboard,, I’m getting off the boat.

  103. 103.

    ruemara

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: I used to respect her. Now i mock her.

    @Humdog: you’re family here and, obviously, not alone in this experience. Good on you for taking a stand.and I’m sorry about the one other person who felt giving obvious evil a chance was mandatory.

  104. 104.

    Corner Stone

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: My favorite part was when Joy showed the only potential source for the Iran story was actually a Brietbart article, where the quote was “confirmed” by Michael Fucking LeDeen!!
    That’s how bad the WSJ is dragging in the Trump Era! LeDeen via Breitbart!

  108. 108.

    Corner Stone

    @schrodingers_cat:

    But I was assured that these generals were going to keep Twittler in line.

    History is going to look back and laud the people who refused to take a job in the Trump WH as the most intelligent and competent men and women of their time. The Ben Franklins of this Era.

  109. 109.

    TriassicSands

    @dr. bloor:

    Or J. Beauregard Sessions launches investigations of all of the families of the little traitors and the IRS begins audits at the behest of a certain high government official.

    Maybe Betsy DeVos will move to shut down the school. Either that or “nationalize” it and install Rudy Giuliani as principal.

    Personally, if I’d reported the story, I don’t know that I would have included any student last names. With “Paul Lazzaro” Trump in the White House…

    Why do farfetched revenge schemes no longer sound all that farfetched?

  111. 111.

    SFAW

    @Corner Stone:

    History is going to look back and laud the people who refused to take a job in the Trump WH as the most intelligent and competent men and women of their time. The Ben Franklins of this Era.

    *I* refused to take a job in his Maladministration, so thanks very much!

    Well, I would have refused, had I been offered one.

  112. 112.

    nightranger

    @Thoughtful David: Why in the hell would anyone support anything J Rubin says…ever? It’s as if all that right wing nonsense and Obama hate she spewed for 8 years never happened.

    I personally think it’s all an act with her. She just carved out this little niche where she hates on the current prez. Either way, she is a despicable human being for choosing the spreading hate as a career.

  113. 113.

    Gator90

    @BBA: There are, to be sure, many reasons to dislike Ms. Rubin as well. But I strongly suspect that if her name were Jennifer O’Hara we wouldn’t be having this interaction.

  114. 114.

    hitchhiker

    “I thought it would be very cool just seeing the man who is the third most powerful man in our country. It would be cool, even if you disagree with him,” Handelman said.

    Emphasis added.

    Sigh. I’m tetchy af about this stuff; yesterday someone showed me an article by a prominent evangelical preacher about the biblical support for refusing to let a woman give a sermon in a worship service.

    A whole lot of people do not believe that women should have agency, much less take leadership positions. Like, they think it goes against god. That’s what Handmaid’s Tale is really about — the idea that us ladies have one divinely ordained purpose, which is to propagate the species.

    That’s a big reason why the not-paying-that-much-attention olds & the dutiful churchies were ready to find fault w/HRC … this shit goes way deep.

  117. 117.

    Patricia Kayden

    @dr. bloor: Suspends him and the other 99 students? I doubt it. The students were under no obligation to be photographed with the Granny Starver in the first place.

  118. 118.

    SFAW

    @TriassicSands:

    With “Paul Lazzaro” Trump in the White House

    Although Shitgibbon is vile enough to tell the kids to “take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut,” I doubt he ever read Vonnegut

  119. 119.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Corner Stone:

    Thank all the gods for Joy. She’s the only one with all the facts at her fingerprints. She’s a remarkable force for good.

  122. 122.

    SFAW

    @nightranger:

    I personally think it’s all an act with her and she just says whatever it is that gets the most clicks.

    I think her revulsion toward Shitgibbon is genuine, at least it seems so. But I don’t think she’ll have the same type of epiphany that Cole and Charles Johnson (of LGF fame, not that fucking weasel who doxxes all sorts of non-RWNJs) had.

  124. 124.

    MomSense

    @Humdog:

    So sorry, humdog. Over the holidays I had some adopted trump orphans at my house and we continue to be in close contact. It’s so tough to figure out how to handle this, it feels a bit like the way the Civil War divided families.

    Sometimes we have to create our own families. I think many of us here want you to know our doors are always wide open to you.

  125. 125.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I can’t believe this is the world we’re living in, but Macron has a point. Kind of surprised he said it on the record

    Jim Roberts‏Verified account @ nycjim
    Macron say Trump handshake was no accident: “One must show you won’t make small concessions, even symbolic ones.”

    ETA: I thought this was a joke, but apparently it’s real? anybody see it? was there some context that makes it look less bad?

    Mark Knoller‏Verified account @ markknoller
    Also on @ FaceTheNation:
    JOHN DICKERSON: What keeps you awake at night?
    SECRETARY JAMES MATTIS: Nothing. I keep other people awake at night.

  126. 126.

    MomSense

    @Raoul:

    When my dad was in ICU I would often go out into the hallway to commune to one of my “deities” Samantha Smith who as an elementary school student took it upon herself to reach out to Andropov to try to prevent nuclear war.

    I remember marching at many Hiroshima/Nagasaki remembrances against nuclear weapons. I still think it was madness.

  128. 128.

    locagirl

    @WereBear:I was in first grade in 1968. We had an art project making hat bands for straw boaters. Either Nixon or Humphrey. In my 6 year old ignorance I chose Nixon. When I got home my mom blew up and called the school. This is when I first became politically aware and learned that my parents always negated each others votes. I’ve been woke ever since and a bone deep progressive. p.s. My dad (former republican and air traffic controller) voted for Reagan in 1980. One year later he was fired and hasn’t voted rethug since.

  129. 129.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Lindsey Graham snarkily and sarcastically dismissing Kushner story (“Oh, I guess Jared was gonna move into the Russian embassy… I don’t trust this story as far as I can throw it…”)
    Is it irresponsible to speculate that somebody finally has the goods on Lindsey ?

    Kelly saying the leaks of info about the Manchester bombing were “darn close” to treason. What ever-loving dancing bug-eyed fuck?

  131. 131.

    Yoda Dog

    @Humdog: I, as well, am a trump orphan. Both parents and my only sister are huge trump supporters. I’m trying to let it go and get past it but I just can’t/won’t. It is a lonely feeling, I know exactly what you mean.

  132. 132.

    frosty

    Middle school was the first mock presidential election I can remember. Faced with the choice between LBJ (fuck LBJ!) and Goldwater, I voted for Clifton deBerry of the Militant Worker’s Party.

    First political memory is seeing Nixon at a whistle stop tour in 1960.

  134. 134.

    Feebog

    @SFAW:

    Hah, my dear departed democrat to the death Dad was born the same day as Nixon. He changed the day we celebrated his birthday to March 15.

  137. 137.

    Another Scott

    @Corner Stone: Thomas Ricks has a thought <== Warning – Politico:

    During the presidential transition, when a friend called me to discuss whether he should accept a national security post in the Trump administration, I advised him to do so. My thinking was that the more mature, thoughtful people we had in the administration, the better.

    But over the last two weeks, I have come to think I was wrong. I no longer believe in the “adults in the room” theory of containing President Trump and the similarly erratic and ignorant people around him.

    […]

    Really? According to the Post’s story, which the White House did not dispute, “Kislyak reportedly was taken aback by the suggestion of allowing an American to use Russian communications gear at its embassy or consulate — a proposal that would have carried security risks for Moscow as well as the Trump team.” There’s no way that would be kosher. And so I fear that McMaster has confused protecting the president with protecting the country.

    It saddens me to watch him do this. I’ve known McMaster since he was a major. He is an unusual officer. He has led troops in combat in two very different wars. He is one of our most thoughtful generals. And he wrote one of the best books about the Vietnam War, “Dereliction of Duty,” about the failures of senior American leaders during that war. Consider the two concluding sentences of that book: “The disaster in Vietnam was not the result of impersonal forces but a uniquely human failure, the responsibility for which was shared by President Johnson and his principal military and civilian advisers. The failings were many and reinforcing: arrogance, weakness, lying in the pursuit of self-interest, and, above all, the abdication of responsibility to the American people.”

    McMaster also remains on active duty, which makes him subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This holds him to a far higher standard of behavior than we have seen on videotape from Donald Trump. A military officer is required to tell the truth and shun conduct unbecoming of his or her position.

    McMaster probably thinks that by staying at his post, rather than resigning in disgust, he is doing his duty. Specifically, he may think that if stepped down, he might well be succeeded by an alt-right ally of White House adviser Steve Bannon. As I said, I used to believe that too.

    […]

    “Probably” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.

    Look, Tom, anyone who was surprised by Trump, or by the people who were willing to ignore their own lying eyes and take a political appointment with his administration, were willfully blind. You could have figured this out nearly 2 years ago simply by reading the transcript of his announcement speech (Warning – autoplay video).

    McMaster and all of the other generals service as political appointees are not our friends, no matter how much you liked them in the past. They are not protecting us – they are helping enemies of the Constitution.

    Wake up.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  139. 139.

    zhena gogolia

    Every year I get a pretty new dress and go to the festivities for Reunion/Commencement. And someone spills a whole glass of red wine on me. Every year. Next year I’m going to wear Cole’s overalls.

  145. 145.

    tobie

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m convinced someone has the goods and it must be some kind of crime. Underage escort perhaps?
    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:

    Shorter Krystal Ball: Quist lost because of Nancy Pelosi.

    Krystal Ball has had it in for Pelolsi since November 8. Remember, she was a big supporter of Tim Ryan for minority whip. If Montana was a referendum on anything, it was on the cross-over appeal of leftwing populism. Surprise, surprise: it didn’t win cross-overs in a state where blue dogs Tester and Bullock have won election several times. That Krystal Ball cannot see this tells me she’s become the equivalent of a Moonie. I put her in the same camp as Nina Turner.

  146. 146.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Another Scott: Look, Tom, anyone who was surprised by Trump, or by the people who were willing to ignore their own lying eyes and take a political appointment with his administration, were willfully blind.

    My suspicion is that people like McMaster and Mattis fell into the trap of “the last person he talks to wins”, thinking that because trump seemed to agree with them when they spoke one-on-one, because he (probably) flattered them in that weird, impoverished language of his– “General*, you’re great, you’re terrific, I’m gonna need strong tough guys like you to help me succeed bigly great”– and left them thinking that they could influence him, subtly dominate him through persuasion, unaware that if he gave flattery, he was expecting it in return, and there would always be someone he liked or trusted more– Jared, Flynn, Banon– coming into the room after they left to undo whatever they thought they had accomplished. I don’t know much about the military, but from what I understand these guys don’t lack for ego or (in this case very mistaken) political instincts. Add to that that they’re all probably (that word again!) pretty right wing to begin with, and agreed with the “bomb the shit out of them” doctrine, albeit in the language of Clausewitz and the war colleges.

    Tillerson, also too, had probably heard from business contacts and his own reflection in the mirror that he could spin trump around and do what he wanted– assuming he wanted anything. I have to say one of the minor surprises of the last six months is how empty Tilllerson’s no doubt bespoke suits are.

    * I wonder if trump calls Mattis “Mad Dog” to his face?

  147. 147.

    Roger Moore

    @BBA:
    I think you should read what she’s writing these days. It doesn’t sound to me like somebody whose worries about the Republican party are entirely, or even primarily, about Israel. Here’s a recent example (from a column titled “A week that reveals how rotten today’s Republican Party is”):

    President Trump has had more-scandalous weeks. He has had weeks with more bombshell bad-news stories. But no week has matched this one in revealing the moral and intellectual rot at the center of the GOP. Pandemic intellectual dishonesty and celebration of uncivilized conduct now permeate the party and its support in the conservative ecosystem. …

    This is the state of the GOP — a refuge for intellectual frauds and bullies, for mean-spirited hypocrites who preach personal responsibility yet excuse the inexcusable. …

    Conventional wisdom says that Trump executed a hostile takeover of the GOP. What we have seen this week suggests a friendly merger has taken place. Talk radio hosts have been spouting misogyny and anti-immigrant hysteria for years; Trump is their ideal leader, not merely a flawed vehicle for their views. Fox News has been dabbling in conspiracy theories (e.g. birtherism, climate-change denial) for decades; now Republicans practice intellectual nihilism. Nearly every point of criticism raised against the left — softness on foreign aggressors, irresponsible budgeting, identity politics, executive overreach, contempt for the rule of law, infantilizing voters — has become a defining feature of the right. …

    The country needs two parties and benefits from the ideas associated with classical liberalism (small “l”) — the rule of law (over the law of the jungle), respect for the dignity of every individual, prosperity-creating free markets (including trade), values-based foreign policy. The Republican Party no longer embodies those ideals; it undermines them in words and in deeds. It now advances ideas and celebrates behavior antithetical to democracy and simple human decency. Center-right Americans, we have become convinced, must look elsewhere for a political home.

    This strikes me as the work of somebody who has been shaken by trump and is waking up to the realization of what the modern Republican party actually is.

  153. 153.

    Corner Stone

    @Another Scott: Tom Ricks isn’t the sharpest stenographer in the drawer. He got rolled repeatedly during his time covering the Iraq War and it was only when the whole nation soured on it that he “woke up” to the fact he had been a dupe who got duped. And then he got angry over it due to manifest ego and started writing hit jobs. Which were fun. So I never take much of what he says too seriously.
    And I agree, anyone who thought they were going to modify Trump or some decision or position or whatever were too self-delusional to have any position of authority.

  154. 154.

    Corner Stone

    My Fucking God. When the fuck did Danielle Pletka become a “MSNBC Contributor”?!

    I have seen her on MtP sometimes, but W.T.F.?!

  157. 157.

    burnspbesq

    @Elizabelle:

    My great wish is that we have President Pelosi by Thanksgiving.

    I’m eager to hear you explain how Pelosi becomes Speaker, and how both Trump and Pence get removed from office. Do the nmbers 218 and 67 somehow become irrelevant? Which 19 Republican Senators inexplicably do the right thing? Etc., etc.

  161. 161.

    nightranger

    @Seth Owen: Best of luck with that. JRubin is an Obama hater. An Obama hater can NEVER be your ally. That should overrule any misguided ideas you may have about the enemy of your enemy.

  166. 166.

    Corner Stone

    @LurkerNoLonger: I never tire of this question. Never.
    But, and that’s a large but, I think the more relevant question we need to answer is why is my fist up your ass all the way to the elbow?

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