Oh ffs:
When President Donald Trump addressed NATO leaders during his debut overseas trip little more than a week ago, he surprised and disappointed European allies who hoped—and expected—he would use his speech to explicitly reaffirm America’s commitment to mutual defense of the alliance’s members, a one-for-all, all-for-one provision that looks increasingly urgent as Eastern European members worry about the threat from a resurgent Russia on their borders.
That part of the Trump visit is known.
What’s not is that the president also disappointed—and surprised—his own top national security officials by failing to include the language reaffirming the so-called Article 5 provision in his speech. National security adviser H.R. McMaster, Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson all supported Trump doing so and had worked in the weeks leading up to the trip to make sure it was included in the speech, according to five sources familiar with the episode. They thought it was, and a White House aide even told The New York Times the day before the line was definitely included.
It was not until the next day, Thursday, May 25, when Trump started talking at an opening ceremony for NATO’s new Brussels headquarters, that the president’s national security team realized their boss had made a decision with major consequences—without consulting or even informing them in advance of the change.
“They had the right speech and it was cleared through McMaster,” said a source briefed by National Security Council officials in the immediate aftermath of the NATO meeting. “As late as that same morning, it was the right one.”
Added a senior White House official, “There was a fully coordinated other speech everybody else had worked on”—and it wasn’t the one Trump gave. “They didn’t know it had been removed,” said a third source of the Trump national security officials on hand for the ceremony. “It was only upon delivery.”
The president appears to have deleted it himself, according to one version making the rounds inside the government, reflecting his personal skepticism about NATO and insistence on lecturing NATO allies about spending more on defense rather than offering reassurances of any sort; another version relayed to others by several White House aides is that Trump’s nationalist chief strategist Steve Bannon and policy aide Stephen Miller played a role in the deletion. (According to NSC spokesman Michael Anton, who did not dispute this account, “The president attended the summit to show his support for the NATO alliance, including Article 5. His continued effort to secure greater defense commitments from other nations is making our alliance stronger.”)
All the best people. So he can ignore them and listen to the nazis. At any rate, with the Middle East blowing up, sure is good to know we have a steady hand in the WH and a first rate team in charge.
* I may be dating myself with the younger crowd (do we have a younger crowd?), but this was the GOP refrain when Bush and Cheney were elected in 2000 after the horrible no good Clenis years.
Corner Stone
Why am I catching a hint of Pooty’s cologne in the air?
Major Major Major Major
As is well documented on this blog, when it comes to NATO, the idiocy and destruction is all his.
Corner Stone
“Good God! That’s! That’s…Vlad ‘The Impaler’ Putin’s music!!”
LAO
4 months into this joke of a presidency and I’m exhausted. Are you exhausted? The level of stupidity and craven self-interest has rendered me numb. Wake me up on Thursday in time for Comey’s testimony.
Quinerly
Interesting: http://www.salon.com/2017/06/04/trumps-russia-scandal-is-more-like-iran-contra-than-watergate-which-isnt-good-news/
the Conster, la Citoyenne
John McCain and Lindsey Graham are concerned.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Georgie Anne Geyer, a syndicated foreign affairs columnist whose name I have not seen in a long time (google suggests she now publishes in The American Conservative, so….) wrote a column about this. In ’04, my father sent her an email asking if she stood by it. IIRC, she replied and said she had misjudged them.
Yup.
rumpole
“No, really. We’re competent! No one could have predicted he would do this! Wasn’t our idea! The fact that it happened should in no way affect my reputation! Don’t you see?!”
Uh huh. Welcome to the event horizon.
dmsilev
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: Have they knitted their brows and scowled yet? That’s very important.
Corner Stone
Is there any way the D’s can stop this privatization of air traffic control? Everything Trump touches turns to shit. Anything he could propose is only guaranteed to make the situation worse for us and richer for the rich.
Corner Stone
I hate Trump so fucking much.
gene108
Republicans are serious adults, therefore whatever they do is serious adult-y stuff.
Democrats are whimsical idealists, therefore whatever they do is childish and immature.
I’m not sure, when this thinking got established, but it seems set in stone.
I remember the crap Bill Clinton got over Somalia. I believe his Sec. of Defense actually resigned over it.
But compared to Trump’s ongoing badness and the Iraq war, Democrats are proving to be the serious adults, when in charge.
But the above narrative of Republicans being the serious grown ups never changes.
rp
@Quinerly: Not sure I buy that. No question that this is going to be extremely messy and complicated, but “Trump colluded with Russia and Putin during the campaign” is a much simpler and more compelling elevator pitch than “Reagan secretly sold arms to Iran to fund Contras in Nicaragua in violation of statute.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: apparently Lindsey, recognizing that 2020 isn’t really that far away, is going to devote himself to pumping up the Susan Rice/unmasking story so they have something to whatabout Chuck Todd with. He started running TV ads in SC about Benghazi in IIRC 2012, to stave off a Tea Party challenge. It worked.
(I had MSNBC on in the background, and they were live covering the White House for an announcement about trump’s air traffic privatization scheme. I have no objectivity but is something like this really worthy of a big formal announcement? Strikes me as something Elaine Chao should be doing that is covered in the double digits of your dead tree paper
The Dangerman
Bullshit…
….and isn’t it funny how all these little “changes” always are in the favor of, say, Russia?
Quinerly
Trump speaking. I have no idea why Elizabeth Dole is at the podium with him. Mrs. McConnell grinning like a opossum. Trump’s hair seems weirder than “normal.” Big cheering section. Pence always makes me throw up a little in my mouth when he introduces Trump. Too much info?
Steve in the ATL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: it’s funny that South Carolina, birthplace of the Civil War and generally the most conservative/reactionary state in the union, is represented in the Senate by a gay dude and a black dude!
Camembert
@gene108:
FTFY
Another Scott
I’m confused by this. In the White House transcript it says:
(Emphasis added.)
Yeah, he didn’t say, “Article 5 yesterday, Article 5 today, Article 5 tomorrow” or something.
But is it really not close enough – especially for Donnie?
It’s not like he totally ignored Article 5.
With all the horrible things he is doing, this seems like small beer to me.
FWIW.
What am I missing?
Cheers,
Scott.
JCJ
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Oh No! Is John McCain’s Brow furrowed?
Major Major Major Major
@Corner Stone: well, there’s the filibuster. This would be a crazy expensive project.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The ads running in Massachusetts in support of AHCA and how awesome it will be means that the only thing on the ballot in 2020 is reality. I’ve come back to the sense I had in 2000 that a portal to opposite world/the Upside Down opened when SCOTUS stopped the recount. So many hateful low info idiots on the left and right clinging to their alternative facts make me think that we’re in the event horizon of some sort of mass undoing.
SFAW
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
You can tell because their brows have become more deeply furrowed.
If they pull the plug, and send a strongly-worded letter to Shitgibbon, then it’s “Game over” for the Fat Fascist.
mai naem mobile
@Quinerly: his hair looked weird the other day too. There was a pic during the campaign where a hairpin was visible in the hairpiece that was pinned to the rest of the hair with the bald spot also partly visible. I think it was before or after a debate . I can’t believe somebody let him out with that.
Chris
And the moral of the next eight years for me was “the ‘adults’ are just as crazy as the average joes and possibly more so.”
(Never forget Cheney the elder statesman was the one who wanted a third war war in the Middle East – Iran – and Bush the hillbilly moron was the one who said no).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Former Sec of Transportation and beloved Establishment figure in her own right, even if her (vice) presidential campaign was an absurdist comedy of self-own*. The Doles’ embrace of the Rough Beast would be a shock were it not for the unending firehose of crazy.
* Did I use that right? I’m old. Examples for the yoots: Her husband endorsed John McCain while she was campaigning, and during a town hall, she walked into the audience saying “let’s be spontaneous” while the cameras picked up shoe-shaped marks for her to hit like an Arthur Murray dance class (I think I’m using that one right, I’m not that old).
Quinerly
@mai naem mobile:
This looked like a hairpin. Gross.
Amir Khalid
@Another Scott:
Trump is easily led astray. His staff put it in, then someone whispered in his ear and persuaded him to take it out.
Quinerly
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yep. The light bulb went on. I’m so old (and originally from NC) that I remember when she took the state by storm and was going to be the first woman president. My brain may be on overload but I just couldn’t follow what he just said.
Corner Stone
@Major Major Major Major:
I personally am going to wait to find out how deeply Ivanka feels about this issue, one way or the other.
mai naem mobile
@Quinerly: I agree with the article. I think the story is too complicated to explain to the average voter. Keep in mind the Soviet Union broke up almost 30 years ago so you’ve got a ton of voters who didn’t live through ‘The Russians/Soviets are the most evil people ever.’I think healthcare and the petty Dolt 45 corruption may be the better way to get back the House and Senate.
rikyrah
@Corner Stone:
TELL THE TRUTH
Corner Stone
@Another Scott:
You’re missing everything! Now shut up! Your blathering is causing me to forget to focus on the only two things I am allowed to focus on at any one time. And those two things are…Russia…and…and…DAMMIT! Do you see what you did with your distractions?!
randy khan
@Quinerly:
Just reading the headline, I’d say (a) doesn’t look that way to me (the Comey firing, for instance) and (b) it’s really too early to tell.
Brachiator
@Quinerly:
Is that also Elaine Chao?
Former Secretaries of Transportation and “proof” that Trump supports the ladies.
randy khan
@Corner Stone:
Filibuster.
hueyplong
@Corner Stone: Well, I’m going to keep my powder dry until I learn what Jared “Swiss Army Knife” Kushner says about Trump’s announcement.
Immanentize
@Brachiator:
Dole = Reagan = Fuck the Union PATCO = Happy Days!
Gretchen
@rp: Yes, I think it’s even simpler than that. Kushner secretly colluded with a foreign enemy in order to get money for his failing real estate empire. Iran contra is nothing like this.
And if it turns out that he let the Russians play with his data analytics, it will be simpler still.
MazeDancer
Bannon has two goals: 1) destroy American Democracy and 2) destroy global order. He’s doing really well. He has 36% of nation believing that the Free Press and, soon, the Judiciary, are bad. That’s a platform for autocracy.
GOP has to have a plan to either prevent or hack elections. Otherwise, acting like only 36% of country matters is a recipe for election disaster. Ryan and McConnell seem unconcerned, so there must be a plan to prevent free elections.
Corner Stone
@hueyplong: J Kush was actually seated in the audience for this statement so one has to assume he is on board with privatizing this essential function and is already figuring out which crony is getting what contracts. Which pockets to be picked (ours) and which to be fattened (their’uns).
Corner Stone
I’m waiting to see the one page “plan” for privatizing the nation’s air traffic control. Bullet points, white space and all.
Kay
I’m sad that Team Trump figured out they have to appear to be working. I was hoping they would continue to forget they’re supposed to have actual duties.
Cheryl Rofer
@Another Scott: It’s kind of silly from one pov, but formulaic words matter in diplomacy. Trump is a new president. He needs to say, in effect, “Yes, I sign up to the Atlantic Charter, I am with America’s long-term and customary allies.” But not those words. Saying that Article 5 binds us together with our NATO allies is that assurance. It’s not enough to imply it.
On a personal level, we do stuff like this all the time, but mostly we don’t notice it. Even shaking hands with a business acquaintance is this sort of reassurance. And Donny can’t even do that right.
Jim Faith
@dmsilev: What about a sternly worded letter – that should work.
Walker
@Corner Stone:
Government controlled air traffic is a massive subsidy to general aviation, which is largely rich white male. I will believe this will happen when I see it.
Nelle
From a general aviation standpoint, the current air traffic control system is superb (husband is a private pilot and we’ve flown in other countries). So, since it is one of the best in the world, it must be destroyed.
(ed to add, in light of above comment, husband is being teased about whether or not he is a white man (given Bannon in the White House and that husband is Jewish by background). Not all who fly are rich – some have just had a passion to fly (for him since he was 3) and sacrifice to make it happen).
dmsilev
@Jim Faith: They’d probably print out the letter using Comic Sans and ruin everything.
Another Scott
@Amir Khalid: But I’m almost certain (unable to check at the moment) that there is video with him saying those words.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OT, but… looks like someone’s going back into Time Out
that “sad” is virtually taunting the Beast, I wonder if KAC wants an excuse to cash out while she can maximize this into a regular seat on the MTP round table, Not that she’ll ever lose Chuck.
Punchy
John, you’re dating yourself because nobody else will, apparently.
James Powell
It was not the GOP refrain; it was the Village, led by the odious Cokie Roberts.
Corner Stone
@Walker: There are a number of reasons I support the subsidizing of this industry, beyond national security.
What i envision happening, if it goes through, is a fantastic way to extort smaller/less busy facilities and routes and the people that need to travel to/from there. They will make flying the sole purview of the rich, to a degree well beyond where we are now.
When Trump says Infrastructure what we should all hear is Extortion.
D58826
And that worked out so well
But her emails!!!
@Corner Stone:
Given the history of privatization efforts of this kind, what you should think of is flaming balls of death falling from the sky.
Major Major Major Major
@Punchy: Be nice, he’s seeing abc!
Walker
@Corner Stone:
I agree. I am just point out that Democrats are not the only line of defense here. For example, I suspect Darrel Issa would not support this.
Chris
@Cheryl Rofer:
That plus the simple fact that whatever the hell went on at that conference (i.e. the public statements, but also all the interactions behind closed doors that we didn’t get to see) spooked the allies enough to come out in public and say that they couldn’t rely on the U.S. anymore, and now had to go about making arrangements in light of that. Europe’s defense has been tied to the U.S. for seventy years. This is not the kind of statement that people like Merkel would make lightly, and they’ve probably spent months since the November election praying that they wouldn’t have to make it at all. If they take it this seriously, we’d be well advised to as well.
Immanentize
@Another Scott: I think this is pretty easy to understand and is not a small thing. Trump spent a lot of time in the campaign trashing NATO and rasing the question of whether he would support joint action unless allies paid more. Our allies wanted to hear him explicitly say he was all in on Article V. He didn’t.
Why do you say “I’m sorry” to someone even if they already know you are? Because they want to hear you affirm what they hope/believe to be true. If you don’t apologise directly, the suspicion is you are not sorry.
This is what Trump did. He refused to say what our multiple decades closest military allies needed him to say to feel secure. He may have made noises in that general direction — but everyone knew he really had to say it. And he refused. So everyone is left assuming he doesn’t plan to abide by Article V if Estonia or Latvia are invaded.
JaneE
The idea (adults in charge) seemed to lie under the surface during the Reagan years, at least regarding economic policy. Supply side guys were very dismissive of Carter’s economy, which in retrospect, with the help of reliable statistics, wasn’t really that bad at all. We all know now how well that works for most of America. I don’t think it was put quite that way, but “we are the more adult and responsible party” has been a part of the GOP shtick for a long time.
piratedan
@Cheryl Rofer: just seems incredibly ironic after all of the histrionics about using “Radical Islamic Terrorism” in condemning terrorist attacks (no matter who actually is responsible for them) that somehow, “we support Article 5 and our Allies in NATO” is somehow now a bridge too far for this administration to verbalize. One is attempting to mold public opinion in regards to framing an issue and the other is a diplomatic reality and we can see which one has “the juice” in the minds of this administration (if not the GOP).
Mnemosyne
@Punchy:
If he starts dating someone else right now, ABC would get pretty pissed.
dmsilev
@Mnemosyne: We would undoubtedly have to call it the ‘XYZ Affair’.
hovercraft
@dmsilev:
Lindsey has already staked his position very clearly. If Comey just testifies about what Twitler said to him during their meetings and phone calls, then he will be participating in a witch hunt, and that will be very unfair to the Idiot in Chief. If he’s testifying it is important for him to somehow also absolve Twitler of all wrongdoing in order to show his impartiality. UNMASKING! NO SMOKING GUN!
No one tell Lindsey that refusing to discuss all the evidence they have is smart, and that it turns out that Nunes and his committee unmasked more people than the Obama administration.
Shantanu Saha
@gene108:
From Wikipedia:
amk
@Another Scott:
Really? twitler played his usual all for me and none for thee card and nato has to buy that load of bs?
Immanentize
@amk: I agree. The way Trump played it was: “NATO exists to support the US. THANK YOU SUCKERS!”
TenguPhule
Only the Finest Nazis in this Fuckup’s Cabinet.
He’s using 1984 as an instructions manual. But he’s using a cliff notes version. An abbreviated one at that.
Big Jim Slade
“Thank Goodness the Adults Are In Charge”
And they forgot to wear their diapers again.
Saw a bumper sticker this morning, looking like a campaign sticker:
Putin
Trump
Make Russia Great Again.
TenguPhule
@Another Scott:
1) You’re trusting a transcript from THIS WHITE HOUSE
2) We were only ones to ever invoke article 5. WTF did you think the takeaway is when shitstain doesn’t acknowledge we have a DUTY to honor our allies calls to Gondor?
TenguPhule
@LAO:
Putin and Trump are the only ones laughing.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
Not legally.
Minority in Congress, remember.
Kay
“Bring honor and dignity back to the White House” was also a popular conservative theme.
Guffaw. SUCH bullshitters.
clay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m having trouble following who said what in that quote. Which part did Conway say?
Gvg
I do see one similarity to Iran Contra, a president going senile who others can take advantage of. There are differences though. Reagan had a lot of people who were his loyal friends. Trump doesn’t have friends, just people who want something from. He doesn’t’t have long term relationships with Washington.
TenguPhule
@randy khan: McConnell is playing Calvinball with Senate Rules. That’s not gonna stop Trump.
Corner Stone
For the Fine Cinema Aficionados amongst us, AMC will be airing the original First Blood today shortly before 1:00PM CT.
A classic film of the genre, with gritty realism and beautiful cinematography. Brian Dennehy gives one of his finest performances as a small town sheriff forced to balance the primal realities of complex and competing love interests.
Cheryl Rofer
@piratedan and others: Yes, ironic with the “radical Islamic terrorism” thing. Maggie Haberman just tweeted that Trump doesn’t like feeling controlled, would do things on the campaign trail just because everyone told him not to. So that could be a factor. And immature, yes indeedy.
LAO
@Cheryl Rofer:
Brian Beutler’s response to Haberman:
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@clay: original tweet:
@TenguPhule:
TenguPhule
@MazeDancer:
There could be. It would be a replay of how the South kept Racist whites in power until the Civil Rights era.
Restrict voters, fiddle with vote counts so that it always seems that crucial races in non-blue states look close but never win.
Only solid blue seats would remain, a minority with no power in Congress. Just enough to make the system look like its still working.
TenguPhule
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
They said the same thing about the AHCA.
Grain of salt.
Big grain.
nightranger
Oompa Loompa has not been test with a real crisis as of yet. Even under the best possible circumstances, where he goes on a 100% pre-arranged trip with everything planned down to the smallest detail, with speeches prepared and vetted weeks in advance, he can’t help shitting the bed.
Can you imagine the amount of incompetence that will be on display when there is a real crisis?
Just one example, it’s the start of hurricane season and there is still no director of FEMA.
Corner Stone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: IMO, DeBonis is reading a lot into that anodyne statement that is not there.
TenguPhule
@nightranger:
No, and let me tell you I can imagine quite a lot.
Stacy
@Corner Stone: Co-signed.
Cheryl Rofer
Quinerly
@Cheryl Rofer:
There may be no answer to this; we are in uncharted territory. Do you think Trump could do something so bizarre with an ally…say something so bizarre, corrosive, a bald face lie in a private conversation that that ally/actual head of state would go to the press? I’m not talking an unnamed source leaking to the press. I’m talking an actual head of state. Obviously, there would be no one else to actually “report” the behavior to. I guess I’m asking do we think an ally would say Trump is flat out crazy and the country needs to do something about him….get our house in order, so to speak. I feel like we could be getting close to something like that. Thoughts?
Cheryl Rofer
@LAO: sigh
Jeffro
Betty Cracker – Rick Wilson’s tweeting that “everything Trump touches dies”. I was going to reply back to him about “Trumpsubstantiation”, but someone else came up with a great way to put that, too.
LOL
I still like “Trumpsubstantiation”, though…=)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
they’re counting on a few norms in American politics to remain constant: The advantage of incumbency; the tendency of Republicans to “come home” and Democrats to stay home, especially in mid-terms and specials; an overwhelming financial advantage; trump won’t actually be on the ballot– just like Obama couldn’t win races he wasn’t actually in, it’s gonna take a bit of work to make, say, Dean Heller lose because of trump.
Quinerly
@Gvg:
That was my main take away.
bemused
I realized I wasn’t shocked to read FUBAR Donny threw his security team under the bus. It’s what he’s done his whole adult life. I gag even using the word adult. He lives to keep everyone around him teetering on the edge of a cliff. Even if he got all the adoration he craves, it wouldn’t be enough for him. Adulation and stomping on people every day.
A psychiatrist, Dr Garner, iirc, said some months back that Donny won’t get better, he will only get worse and we are watching him disintegrate right before our eyes. I think we already knew this.
Jeffro
@hueyplong:
Where Jared not only has the tools, but is the tool, for every occasion. Nice!
clay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: A big norm is that midterms tend to go against the party that controls the White House.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
I’ll raise you loathing and contempt.
Cheryl Rofer
@Quinerly: This is pretty strong from Spiegel, but yes, it’s not a world leader, as you suggest. The bottom line, though, is the Republican Congress, who are still fine with destroying the world and the country so the rich can have their tax cuts and everyone else’s suffering is increased.
To take a longer view, it took two years for Watergate to unfold. We’re only five months in. I know, that’s not good news either. ☹
TenguPhule
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
No they’re not. Norm would be to feed their base with pork and circuses to get through midterms.
Donnie Darko is alternating between financial rape and general mayhem on his supporters.
catclub
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Trump wins again. The media is always on him. It will be a long time (if ever) before the media attention goes away.
It reminds me of the Reagan admin. They thanked the media for covering something where Reagan looked good ( if you had the sound turned off),
but the coverage was not favorable.
bemused
@Cheryl Rofer:
Exactly! He’ll do the opposite just because he doesn’t like anyone telling him anything. Scary shit.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@clay: true, and the Archie Bunker/”Reagan Democrat” cohort gets a little deader every cycle
that, also, too: Like tax cuts, putting Susan Rice in front of a committee and saying that liberal and Mexican judges want to let all the Radical Moose Lambs in
Han
@Another Scott: Well, in the bolded part of your quote, Trump is saying our allies were the ones that invoked article 5 in response to 9/11. Which is of a piece with his assertion we do all the heavy lifting and Europe is a bunch of moochers. They know they’ll honor their treaty obligations if/when we invoke article 5, as has been demonstrated. They want to hear Trump say he’ll do the same if THEY invoke it. Without him also telling them “bring your checkbook”.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
It’s as if Trump is trying to compress the worst of Nixon, Reagan and both Bushes combined into one End of Day’s scenario.
hovercraft
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Some talking head this morning pointed this out, apparently this has been on the “true conservative” wish list for a while, and it’s been floated for years now, but it’s not going anywhere. So it’s something for him to propose because it sounds great to the base, but is never going to get anywhere. From what I’m hearing his entire infrastructure plan is pretty much DOA, his emphasis on privatization will turn off democrats, and the government spending will turn off “conservatives”. You have to remember that the only worthwhile spending is on the military and tax cuts for the rich.
rikyrah
The Kabuki presidency
Liberal Librarian
June 5, 2017
This morning Idiot-in-Chief Donald Trump signed a bill to privatize our air traffic control system.
Wait, no, he didn’t. He signed… something or other which set out principles to privatize our air traffic control system. Because actually privatizing it requires pushing through legislation, something at which he seems particularly unadept.
So his staff put something in front of him to which he could sign his scrawl of a signature, and he got to beat his chest about what a great job he’s doing.
All politics has some degree of theater to it. However, Donald Trump is nothing but a carnival barker, living solely on smoke and mirrors.
The sad truth is that neither he nor his inner circle know the first thing about governing. Much like Bernie Sanders and his “millions of people will march on Washington to enact my agenda,” Trump believes that by getting adulation from his mouth breathers he’s doing the job of president.
Cheryl Rofer
@TenguPhule: Nah. He’s just acting out his anger that the United States isn’t Trump Inc.
Quinerly
@bemused:
He is disintegrating before our eyes. Kinda goes to what I threw out at #88. Do we really think that the Republicans in the House and Senate can’t see this? It’s not like we are at the end of an administration;he’s just getting started. No, I’m not naive….but I’m not jaded enough to believe the Republicans want to continue at this pace/destroy the country.
Jeffro
This “proposal” to revamp the air traffic control system is all about doing anything and everything to avoid raising any taxes whatsoever (as well as giving themselves and their grifter friends a chance to skim some serious dough out of the system.
The air traffic control system needs updating…ok, so let’s update it…wait, it requires money and we’re busy trying to cut taxes for millionaires, not raise them…gee, I guess we’d better sell the fucking thing off to private interests, then, rather than commit heresy against our no-tax-increases-ever religion.
I’m kind of surprised they started with this nonsense. Public-private toll roads seem to be a much easier ‘sell’ these days. But does anyone really want Verizon or HP or frickin’ Office Max running even part of the nation’s air traffic control system? Maybe the controllers will have to read radio-style ads to pilots in between instructions? Truly, the mind boggles…
TenguPhule
@hovercraft:
AHCA. EPA fucked six ways to Sunday.
Jeffro
@bemused:
And in this, he’s exactly like 80-90% of GOP voters – this is exactly what their party has become.
Step up, Obama: give a speech extolling the virtues of breathing oxygen.
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
I’ve long ago come to the conclusion that Grover and every Republican who ever signed his pledge all need to be drowned in the same bathtub.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@hovercraft: I don’t know if this is even a base play, this is pretty deep in the weeds. I think this whole ceremony was just to sooth/boost the ego of the Napoleonic Yam
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
And Republicans promptly decide to kill us all by getting rid of the atmosphere.
Camembert
@TenguPhule:
I’ll raise you loathing and contempt for the Party that gave him power and the news media that enabled and enables him.
Though I’m pretty sure you can match easily.
Jeffro
@Quinerly:
He is indeed disintegrating, and the GOP leadership seems to think they can still ride this tiger long enough to deliver for their pay/puppetmasters. They’re putting the country in terrible danger, all to get rid of the estate tax and screw poor people out of their health care. It’s sick.
Quinerly
@Cheryl Rofer:
See my #107. You are more jaded than I? Or maybe I’m still in denial. Was a Political Science major in college several lifetimes ago. Lifelong Dem. I still can’t wrap my mind around what the Repugs are doing. It seems to me for them, they are better off with a Pres Pence. There’s a side to me that thinks as Dems, we are better off with a Pres Trump…if he doesn’t get us all killed. He’s doing damage but Pence could do more. And, yes, my daddy called them all “Repugs”…since Nixon.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jeffro: don’t forget the Court(s), another issue the right groks and the left just can’t seem to. They really want to swap RBG and Kennedy out for newer models. I’ve read that Kennedy has an ego that fits in with any Senator, we just have to hope he’s a neverTrumper.
Chris
@TenguPhule:
You’ll get it!
Walker
@TenguPhule:
Because rich people do not need AHCA. My wife is a general aviation pilot and we are pretty plugged into this community. This is going nowhere.
Quinerly
@Jeffro:
Perhaps I’m in denial. See my #116.
Quinerly
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I just think they get the entire package with a President Pence. Bonus! No chaos.
bemused
@Quinerly:
Malcolm Nance said on a radio show that Republicans tell him that GOP won’t pivot/panic until Trump’s approval rating among his voters drops to 31%. I read that it’s dropped several points in the last week but I don’t know what the numbers are now.
Kay
Oh, God. I knew it.
Quinerly
@bemused:
I think he’s at 35%.
bemused
@Jeffro:
Yup. The “you’re not the boss of me” babies. They will attack a policy they actually do want if liberals are for it. Spite.
hovercraft
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s supposed to be a turning of the page, an opportunity to take back the narrative, and leave the TRussia story behind. By not referring all questions to outside counsel and launching “infrastructure week”, today’s “ceremony” and travelling around the country to bring attention to our infrustructure, they are hoping for a twofer, he gets to see adoring crowds, and they distract the media from Comey. I think they fail on both score because the media is still leading with TRussia, and he will watch the coverage, and become more enraged. His tweets over the last 72 hours are proof that he’s close to snapping, the relentless negative media coverage has gotten to him and so now he’s throwing a tantrum. The rallies he holds will degenerate into to whinefests, so even the coverage of them will be negative.
bemused
@Quinerly:
Oh, lower than I thought.
Quinerly
@Kay:
I’ve kinda blanked out so don’t laugh at me. Has Congress passed anything since he’s been in office? He was having those fake signing ceremonies back to back those first few weeks…just poorly worded EOs. My God, seems like he has been in fucking office for fucking forever.
Quinerly
@bemused: Who are these people?
LAO
@Quinerly: People I hope to never meet.
ETA: Or people who have never been in my kitchen.
Either answer will do.
bemused
@Quinerly:
Idiots with yuge chips on their shoulders. No wonder they fell for Donny.
rikyrah
Trump stumbles while looking for a new FBI director
06/05/17 10:00 AM—UPDATED 06/05/17 10:41 AM
By Steve Benen
As part of his deeply unfortunate response to the latest terror attack in London, Donald Trump declared his intention to “get down to the business of security for our people.” He then went golfing for a few hours.
Before hitting the links, the president didn’t specify what getting down to business would entail, exactly, but if Trump had a director of the FBI, it’d be a helpful step in the right direction.
It’s been nearly a month since the president fired then-FBI Director James Comey because of Trump’s concerns about the counter-espionage investigation Comey was leading, and as is too often the case, the White House hadn’t lined up a successor before making the move.
Four days after the firing, Trump pledged to move quickly to nominate a new director. A few days after that, the president said he was “very close” to announcing Comey’s replacement.
And yet, here were are, more than two weeks later, waiting for an announcement. Reuters reported the other day that the process of finding a new director isn’t going especially well in part because of the president’s role.
Thad Phetteplace
God help me, I actually miss the Bush years when our GOP lead government was corrupt and venal but at least semi-competent.
bemused
@LAO:
I know some of these people who have Donny derangement in varying degrees. I stay away from even the more rational. For all I know, some of them may now have regrets and fed up with Donny but I don’t ask. I was heartbroken enough when people I thought knew better were still for Trump last Nov.
rikyrah
Former Trump surrogate makes his debut as a pundit
06/05/17 10:40 AM—UPDATED 06/05/17 01:31 PM
By Steve Benen
We learned last week that Boris Epshteyn, a former special assistant to Donald Trump, received a request for information from the House Intelligence Committee, as part of the panel’s investigation into the Russia scandal. The news came just two months after Epshteyn, who helped oversee Team Trump’s TV surrogate operation, left the White House for reasons that were never fully explained.
Over the weekend, however, many Americans watched their local news and saw a new on-air segment called “Bottom Line with Boris,” featuring the former Trump aide with a combative reputation. The two-minute segment featured Epshteyn criticizing the White House press corps.
And why, pray tell, was this former White House official making his debut as a pundit? After his departure from Trump World, Epshteyn was apparently hired by Sinclair Broadcasting as a commentator.
The segment was a reminder that reports like this one from the Washington Post a month ago was probably more important than widely recognized.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
And keep on waiting. The post will remain unfilled unless Trump finds a minion dumb enough and corrupt enough to do what Trump wants him to do.
And its not going to be legal.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Quinerly: very true, especially for the courts, but it makes elections trickier I think because Pence doesn’t speak to the lizard-brained desire for vicarious machismo (as they see it) of a lot of white knuckle-heads, male and female.
@bemused: MSNBC had a crawl saying that trump had dropped in “military counties” (however they measure that) from 51% in January to 43% last week
rikyrah
Trump struggles with the meaning of ‘obstructionism’
06/05/17 12:30 PM—UPDATED 06/05/17 12:35 PM
By Steve Benen
For a while, Donald Trump argued that many of the vacancies in key posts throughout his administration were part of a deliberate strategy. “[I]n many cases, we don’t want to fill those jobs,” the president said in February. “A lot of those jobs, I don’t want to appoint, because they’re unnecessary to have…. Many of those jobs, I don’t want to fill.”
By April, Trump decided to take the opposite position, saying the problem has “nothing to do with” him and everything to do with Democratic “obstructionists” in the Senate.
The Republican president, apparently referencing something he saw on Fox News, continued to push this line earlier today:
We may need to consider the possibility that Trump doesn’t know what “obstructionist” means.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
And what’s the difference in practical terms?
Kay
@Quinerly:
I haven’t seen anything. They will probably pass the career and technical education reauthorization soon, but that’s just reauthorizing a current law with tweaks. It won’t even make the news. Too boring.
Career education is cool in GOP circles right now because they have to pretend they like working people :)
“Welders!” They love them some welders.
TenguPhule
@Camembert:
The tumbrels are my tell, right?
p.a.
@Jeffro:
Let’s hope this includes the Rethuglican Party before it includes the US!
TenguPhule
@Chris:
You’re just saying that because I don’t have an angry Wookie ready to tear your arms off.
Another Scott
@Han: One could read it that way, I suppose.
It seems that the record indicates that NATO’s Atlantic Council declared Article 5, not W:
Just to be clear, I get that Donnie was saying that NATO came to the USA’s collective defense after 9/11. He did not explicitly say that the USA would do so in the future. I get that. I get that it’s a needless mis-step at best, and more likely a reflection of his brain-damaged transactional nature – “You want me to protect you? Pay up!” He thinks that he can “renegotiate” everything that’s been part of US policy for the last 240+ years without consequences.
But he did mention Article 5. He could have just as easily left out those two words all together.
My gut tells me that he thinks he can force NATO to “pay more” and claim some “great victory” and “millions of jobs” by making NATO members sweat. He thinks there are no consequences in doing so. He doesn’t think that Vlad will be emboldened by such talk because, hey, Vlad is a great guy and said Donnie is a great guy so of course he will do great things.
It’s all nonsense, of course. He’s wrong about that, but any NATO country that takes anything Donnie says (or doesn’t say) at face value is taking a silly risk. I don’t think they’re doing that.
NATO has a momentum all its own. US troops in NATO countries have a momentum all their own. If Vlad invades somewhere, regional commanders will have (at least some, likely more than in the past) autonomy to make decisions (if Donnie’s hands-off approach to troop levels and the like are any indication). I don’t think Donnie will easily be able to say – “Stand down” – if a NATO country is invaded and the rest of the alliance fights back. He’ll bellyache, but is too weak and stupid to stand in the way. Vlad doesn’t want a direct confrontation with NATO – he knows he would lose.
But, of course, ambiguity is dangerous in foreign affairs….
tl;dr – Donnie could have said nothing at all about Article 5 and that would have been worse, IMO.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
p.a.
@bemused: I believe the latest is 27%+9. Trend is down but with blips up.
Jeffro
@Quinerly: @Quinerly:
I think there are three reasons the GOP is still all-in behind Trumpov, and they’re really all variations of the same insanity: their voters, their Members of Congress, and their donor base have been conditioned for a couple decades now to be principle-less, mindless, anti-Demon-rat, Cleek’s Law conservatives. The voters have had it beaten into their heads by Limbaugh, Beck, O’Reilly, Fox News, Breitbart and InfoWars. Their MoCs: same thing, with the added touch of gerrymandering & Reps only having to worry about being primaried from the right. And the donor base, paying for all of the above, in exponentially increasing amounts due to Citizens United.
They’re that far gone, that their fellow Americans are worse than Putin. They’re that far gone, that they’re still behind the Orange Psycho-Baby. Someone’s going to have to snap them back to reality. I don’t think it’s going to be a ‘mainstream’ Republican either – they don’t have the courage. It will take a Dem leader to stand up and tell the whole of the GOP: you. have. no principles. whatsoever. You’re putting the country in grave danger because of it.. And as long as I’m wishing, why sure, I would like a pony too, thanks! =)
Anyway, I agree with you (as a former poli sci major myself!) that they could do a lot more damage under Pence…but under Pence, at least we would have ambassadors, US Attorneys, and a significant number of positions filled. We progressives and our favorite programs would be under attack from all directions, but at least it would be within normal bounds. We would affirm our strong commitment to NATO, and not kiss dictators’ asses, and any host of other things that we’re supposed to be doing. The president’s spokesperson could actually, you know, speak for the president once again.
We have been coasting for several months now, and we’ve been very lucky. But having a complete lunatic in the White House – someone nuts enough to be re-tweeting an unconfirmed Drudge Report and blasting the mayor of a city under terrorist assault, while it’s going on – is going to cost us dearly.
clay
@Quinerly:
Looks like they’ve passed 35 bills so far.
A brief scan indicates that a lot of these seem trivial. And a lot of them are ones that strike down last minute Obama regulations.
Oddly enough, they’ve ratified one treaty this year, which (ironically) expands NATO by (even more ironically) allowing in Montenegro.
LAO
@bemused: Trump supporters in NYC — at least where I live and work — are fairly silent. To me, finding out someone is a Trump supporter, fundamentally changes the way that I view them.
LAO
Hmmm — I find this surprising.
Kay
@Quinerly:
My mother in law cracks me up with Trump. She misses the Obamas. Such a nice family. Her highest praise! :)
“Where’s that nice family?”
She had my husband put a picture of them up on “her” Facebook page- the page they all pretend is hers. I thought “oh, THAT will go over well among her peer group!” Luckily she can’t find it so she can’t see the horrible comments they’re all probably making.
clay
@LAO: What will be surprising is if Trump doesn’t immediately undercut his spokesperson and tweet out that he’s invoking executive privilege.
We’ve seen that there’s little correlation between what his people say and what Trump actually does.
hovercraft
@bemused: @Quinerly:
The scary thing is that his trip actually helped him with republicans, which is why he went back “up” to 41, spitting in the faces of those effete, elitist , Europeans! He’s back down to where he was pre-trip now.
LAO
And this one made me laugh. Bullshit.
catclub
@Jeffro:
general aviation wants to keep the old system. If so, I know that GA is a huge moocher on the system, so actually the Airlines want the more efficient privatized system. OTOH GA is made up of zillions of small businessmen, and is likely to get what they want. Kind of like when the Government shutdown came and the commerce dept made things harder for business travellers. That lasted about one day before all the flying Congressmen fixed it.
Chris
@Thad Phetteplace:
We used to be run by Lex Luthor. Now we’re run by the Joker.
LAO
@clay:
Of course!
Aleta
Not even sure he even wants that ‘travel ban’ as much as he wants to blame the courts for future terror. Use it as pressure to pass nominations of the extreme right’s candidates for federal judges who will rule against free speech, assembly and civil rights.
TenguPhule
@LAO: Why? Trump will counteract it before the ink is metaphorically dry.
schrodingers_cat
@LAO: Is BS auditioning for Spicer’s job?
ETA: Its SS, Spicer’s understudy not the sainted figure from Vt. I stand corrected.
SatanicPanic
@MazeDancer:
I don’t know about the former- they may just be hiding their worries. Or they’re wrong. But either way they’re going with vote suppression, they’re not even trying to hide that part.
TenguPhule
@LAO:
But its true. It’s not like Trump needs an excuse to attack ANYONE.
TenguPhule
@Chris:
Objection!
The Joker is not stupid.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@LAO: you threw me for a minute, that’s Huckabee-Sanders? I
ETA:
I doubt he’s thinking that long-term, but Priebus, Bannon et al are
Chyron HR
@LAO:
Uh, hello, racism doesn’t exist. Trump is just expressing his economic anxiety!
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
And the GOP will promptly open fire on that Democrat. Literally.
Yes, they’re that far gone. They can’t be saved. Nor should they.
Cheryl Rofer
@Quinerly: I can’t wrap my head around what the Republicans are doing, either. I’m old enough to have said the Pledge of Allegiance every day in grade school, hand over my heart. I thought that adding “under God” wasn’t the greatest thing, particularly liked the upward swoop of “with liberty and justice for all” at the end. The Republicans play at patriotism, but what they are doing now is light-years from that. I keep hoping they’re going to come around, but the latest from ZEGS is not encouraging.
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
Given how deep Pence himself seems to be with Putin, why do you still believe this?
Corner Stone
@hovercraft: Josh Marshall has a pretty compelling graph that indicates his numbers fell after he got pussified by the Macron handshake beatdown.
Camembert
@Jeffro: The President was black. To the vast majority of white culture, that’s a social-contract-cancelling event. This is an area about which both President Obama and most Democrats are in total denial.
nightranger
A@TenguPhule:
He is distilling their essence. Like in that movie “Perfume”
Jeffro
@schrodingers_cat: Actually, having Wilmer be Trumpov’s press secretary could have its entertaining moments.
pat
@Another Scott:
I thought that was the case, that he did NOT even mention Article 5, even tho it was in the speech. Am I wrong?
LAO
@TenguPhule: Although, legally speaking Trump voided whatever executive privilege may have existed by tweeting about the contents of the meeting. So I don’t think its a legal challenge that would win, but I also recognize that that would not stop Trump from invoking the privilege.
@TenguPhule: he may not need an excuse, but his anger always seems directed at either (1) brown people or (2) women.
Brachiator
@Camembert:
You truly are a fool if you believe that people do not understand this and the roots of Trump’s racist rage.
Chris
@TenguPhule:
Ah.
Uh.
Um.
Killer Croc?
Solomon Grundy?
Otis?
Matt McIrvin
@nightranger:
That may be good: my understanding is that the acting administrator in control is competent. No director may be better than another Brownie driving the bus.
Mnemosyne
@Camembert:
The only Democrats who are in denial about that are the ones who think racism doesn’t exist and we should only talk about economic insecurity and how awful the banks are.
Donald Trump won the Electoral College because of white supremacy and misogyny. Period. None of the other special pleadings mean a goddamned thing.
pat
@LAO:
And he is supposed to be the person Dems should be listening to? Jeez.
ETA: Which Sanders?
OK, seems to be huckabee sanders. Must keep both names….
one more eta: Interesting how many of us were confused..
Jim, Foolish Literalist
grown ups, etc
Congressman Clay Higgins of Louisiana, “Captain Clay Higgins” on Facebook, because he was a state trooper
“Christendom”. Kill them all, God will know his own.
I’m not on Facebook, will they be able to track how many of his likes are from Raqqa?
Matt McIrvin
@Corner Stone: Eh, on that level these fluctuations are largely sampling noise. You don’t see anything like that hump in HuffPo’s averages, for instance, and a significant amount of their variation seems to be driven by Rasmussen’s nonsense and goes away if you exclude that one poll.
Jeffro
@Camembert: Apparently, it matters less the further down the income ladder you go: Most Trump voters were not working class. It is primarily middle-class and rich whites who lean the hardest for Trump and what he represents.
I continue to see this as the 1% using racism to try and combat demographics and democracy, so that they can stay on top and make another trillion bucks. Not that there aren’t plenty of racists in the GOP voter base to begin with, of course.
Ruckus
@nightranger:
Might this actually be a better arrangement? Sure it throws a loop into a lot of things, but there is an acting head and that person has to know and be a better dept head than any asswipe that dumpf is going to dig up. (Brownie) My question is, can the acting head actual do all that is required in the job? If no, then I’m totally wrong, if yes then other than semantics I don’t see an issue. Not the ideal but at this point I’ll take whatever is at the least workable.
LAO
@pat: Not Bernie, Huckabee-Sanders.
Quinerly
@hovercraft:
Well, that liberal press kept saying the trip was a success.
Chris
@nightranger:
It’s even worse than Nixon/Reagan. The modern GOP is like everything wrong with all of American history and some pre-U.S. history too, all concentrated together. The puritans of the Salem Witch Trials era, the Jacksonians, the Confederates, the robber-barons, and modern day movement conservatives, all have their descendants in the modern party. Heck, even the British Loyalists, given the increasing love for the British Empire that their “intellectuals” indulge in.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Congratulations! you may be the dumbest troll we have. And that’s saying something. I saw Dwight poke his head back in the other day.
Immanentize
@LAO: Do you think it would be enough to keep him from testifying even if he did exert the privilege? I don’t think he could exert the privilege regarding communications not about executive matters. And trying to 86 an investigation is not in the purview of the exec. Is it?
Frankensteinbeck
@gene108:
The ‘Republicans are adults’ was the narrative Reagan sold. It was specifically a way of mainstreaming racism again. It said you weren’t trying to deprive blacks of welfare because you hate them and think they’re inherently irresponsible, you were reforming a wasteful system that rewarded laziness. You weren’t encouraging the police to throw as many blacks as possible in jail, you understood inner-city crime was a problem. A conservative was a liberal who has been mugged, after all, and you didn’t have to say ‘and now understands that blacks are violent criminals’ out loud. You were just being a mature, responsible realist. This is how Reagan made whites comfortable with their racism again, and it worked beautifully.
japa21
@Another Scott: This more important issue is what the other NATO countries think. Donnie has not been trustworthy so far and the lack of an explicit support of Article 5, which every President has provided, makes them nervous, understandably, specially in light of his apparent closeness to Putin.
Quinerly
@clay:
Thanks!
Archon
@Mnemosyne: I think even the socialists recognize that racism exists. They are just orders of magnitude wrong on the number of white people that can be reoriented towards focusing on class consciousness over racial and tribal identity.
hovercraft
@LAO:
As several pundits pointed out yesterday, it is the smart move, since all his tweets and comments about the conversations already probably waived his privilege, BUT, it’s his staff saying this, not Twitler himself, and he could change his mind at any moment. Especially since the media is salivating about the testimony on Thursday, billing it as the biggest audience since election night, it would be just like him to wake up Thursday morning and try to block the testimony out of spite.
So it’s not a done deal till the fat orange shitstain sings.
Corner Stone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: This is the same thing Rick Wilson said, “Hunt. Find. Kill.”
Aleta
@Quinerly: Have you seen the WaPo article that says that the media has not been accurate about Trump’s supporters? In both the primaries and the electoral vote, among his non-college-educated supporters, his support numbers were lower for the working class than for middle class and affluent voters. The media conflated lack of college with working class, and places like the NYT are continuing to print stories that assume that.
SatanicPanic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: at some point you’d think the “Democrats always suck now and forever” leftists would just open their eyes and see that, in fact, plenty do not suck and have done an admirable job since Nov. 2016. But they seem to have a Republican-style immunity to new information.
Ruckus
@Quinerly:
It’s not that they can’t see it. But it is what it is and they are trying to do like they always do, lie and take advantage before they think anyone will notice. And besides, they want it to be true. I didn’t say they don’t lie to themselves as well.
TenguPhule
@Ruckus:
No, because Trump is refusing to declare emergencies or Disaster zones required to legally allow more help to affected areas. I do not expect his behavior to change on this.
LAO
@Immanentize: I think Trump (and the Administration) could throw a monkey-wrench into the senate proceeding and delay its investigation. But it would just delay the proceedings because the privilege (to the extent it applies) was absolutely waived. And, because it would have no effect on the Mueller Investigation — It would make little or no sense for the administration to invoke executive privilege. It would look terrible.
As I write this I am reminded of a couple of things (1) all my guesses have been wrong to date and (2) the Administration doesn’t seem to care for optics.
PS — hope all is going well with treatment.
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well, come on, who do you think understands American racism better, the first Black man to be elected president or a Russian troll whose grasp of American English is a little tentative?
? Martin
@Mnemosyne: I would note that it’s not just white patriarchal culture they are defending, but white patriarchal Christian culture. It doesn’t matter if Trump is a good role model for that culture so long as he is a good defender of it – and that mostly comes down now to rejecting all of the non-white, patriarchal, Christian influences on the US, and partnering only with those agents who are promoting the same culture, such as Russia.
Uncle Cosmo
@Jeffro:
/math nerd
schrodingers_cat
Cheesy troll is not new, he has just changed his nym.
Another Scott
@pat: See my #19 and followups.
Here’s the video. Google’s CC has some problems – Clarence attacked us – but he clearly said Article 5.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
Corner Stone
@Matt McIrvin: I said it was compelling, not facts in evidence. It compelled me because I want to believe the monster will eat Trump when they realize he is weak in the face of others.
TenguPhule
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And we’re supposed to co-exist somehow with these people determined to kill us all.
/Irony
Quinerly
@Aleta:
Yes, I saw it. In fact, I’m pretty sure I posted it in a thread this AM.?
TenguPhule
@LAO:
And this has stopped Trump since when?
rikyrah
@Cheryl Rofer:
They are traitors to this country and should be treated as such. They should never be allowed to utter the word patriotism for a generation.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
@LAO:
Wilmer always has Trumpov’s back. His cult is still screaming that there’s nothing to see re Russia.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
he sells “Captain Clay Higgins gear”, otherwise known as “merch”
LAO
@TenguPhule: Hey now — I acknowledged that.
schrodingers_cat
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Did anyone ask him his opinion about the Portland killer?
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
It’s a different troll than Unlimited Corporate Cash, who got banhammered again this weekend.
I admit to being fascinated by this troll’s slightly shaky grasp of American English. Do we finally rate our very own Russian pet rather than all of the American dupes we kept getting?
Frankensteinbeck
@clay:
I looked through the list, and good grief. I thought McConnell had at least passed a couple of stinkers, but no. He really has sat on his ass and done nothing but force through Gorsuch. These bills are all piddly shit. WHAT is the man playing at? He’s evil as Hell. There has to be a reason.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@LAO: I was trying to think who could get through to him and convince him that asserting privilege would look like an admission of guilt, and that it would be too much even for Republican loyalists like Nunes in the House and Cornyn in the Senate. I think it must be Sessions, since word is that Jared is egging him on, and I think what they both fear is exposure of their business practices.
Quinerly
Well, well, well…what do we have here? From the Daily Caller, no less. I can honestly say that I have never clicked on them before. I figured if I did I would have to de louse. I clicked. You should too: http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/04/saudis-spent-270k-at-trump-hotel-in-lobbying-campaign-against-911-bill/
clay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Eh, I still think Trump’s was worse. The relative positions of power mean that Trump’s mistakes get magnified exponentially. But even if that weren’t the case, Trump is picking a pointless fight with the one guy who actually handling terrorism shit right now.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
this cracked me up
TenguPhule
@Chris: The level of evil and stupidity required are too fantastic for any comic book to accept.
Gravenstone
@LAO: I suspect enough people have informed Twitler that his unbridled diarrhea of the keyboard has pretty much sunk any and all claims to “privilege” where Comey is concerned that it finally sunk in.
Jeffro
@Aleta: I linked to it in #181, above.
TenguPhule
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Hahahahahahahaha.
Oh wait, you’re serious.
Matt McIrvin
@Cheryl Rofer:
Incidentally, they still do this every morning at my daughter’s elementary school.
TenguPhule
@LAO: Sorry, you keep feeding me those open lines.
Corner Stone
I like a good spreadable soft cheese.
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: that’s DC’s idea of a ‘fun’ time…ok, mine too…
hovercraft
@Chyron HR:
Exactly, Twitler doesn’t even see color!
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone: It goes well with the whine?
TenguPhule
@hovercraft: Zombies detect you through sound.
Aleta
Alarming information will probably be strategically dropped every day this week; may be exaggerated for effect.
clay
@Frankensteinbeck: I think spending bills are constitutionally required to start in the House, so a lot of the big issues are things McTurtle can’t do anything about until Ryan gets his shit together.
I guess the Senate could take up some social legislation, but I don’t think the Republican Senators want to start a fight over gay marriage or abortion or any other hot button issues. (After all, that’s what Gorsuck is for — to overturn social gains in the courts so they don’t have to do it legislatively.)
Mnemosyne
@Gravenstone:
Sure, everyone has told Twitter that, but it doesn’t mean he understands or accepts it. He’s used to creating his own reality and really thinks he’s going to be able to do it this time, too, regardless of the law.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I know I say this a lot, but I’m fucking sick of this movie. I don’t want to see the second reel.
clay
@Matt McIrvin: We still do it every day at the high school where I teach. Followed by a ‘moment of silence.’
Quinerly
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I plan on celebrating an anniversary of sorts on Thursday. Had lurked here since the GWB Adm. Rarely commented and if I did it was on a garden or music thread. I started semi regularly commenting this cycle when Comey had that news conference clearing HRC…I remember when he started out, I felt like he was going for an indictment. I was alone at home and freaked… and turned to you guys with a comment that promptly went in moderation. Then someone accused me of being a troll. Ah, memories!
TenguPhule
@clay:
They need the House to get bills up. Their counterparts are already in queue in the Senate.
And yes, they want those hot button issues to distract from Russia.
Quinerly
@Quinerly:
OK, I made the mistake of reading some of the comments. Need a shower.
raven
@Cheryl Rofer: And here is what it looked like before WW2
LAO
Alright, this is slightly off topic (although Republican incompetence is never really off topic here):
Immanentize
@Aleta: I keep saying that Trump is going to be the worst thing ever for Israel. Their lack of subtlety makes them very dangerous partners for Israel (as opposed to Likud).
Frankensteinbeck
@clay: and @TenguPhule:
Ryan has passed a number of conservative horror shows. McConnell is ignoring them. The AHCA seems to have been added to that pile of thumb twiddling. Isn’t there some kind of recess on the 15th that’s a hard deadline for budget stuff? I swear I heard that here, but I don’t see it on a schedule.
pat
@Another Scott:
That’s interesting. I thought all the outrage was because he did not say it, and then there was some report today (wapo?) that it had been in the speech and he left it out.
Will watch the video when I have more time.
Gravenstone
@Aleta: Right. They need to start lining up the US for criticism as well.
Wait, what – not the intended message?
TenguPhule
@Frankensteinbeck:
Reconciliation, supposedly. Senate rules are still subject to change at any time.
Not ignoring, their Senate counterparts are in committee. Generally they can be considered “DOA” during normal times.
These are not normal times.
Paul Ryan actually hasn’t tried to force anything through other then the PP ban of funding in coordination with the Trump proposed budget. Most of the legislative bills are stuck at the House level due to Trump not setting an agenda and sticking to just one.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
headline of the article: GOP’s Burr Says Senate Health Care Passage ‘Unlikely’ This Year
MJS
@rikyrah: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Am I the only one paranoid enough to think that Comey’s testimony may in fact be not only anti-climactic but actually damaging to the cause of getting Trump out of office? A not insignificant part of me is nervous that his testimony is going to be so much “tut-tut, don’t listen to anyone who tells you the President was attempting to obstruct justice. All is well.” I guess it’s just that 1) Republicans very, very, very rarely tell the truth if a lie will do to protect a fellow Republican and 2) Comey’s a Republican.
HeleninEire
@Corner Stone: The cheese plate at McGettigans has three, count em, THREE types of spreadable cheeses. There’s a spicy mango salsa with it. I never know wtf to do with the mango salsa so I ask for some bread. They give it to me cuz I’m a regular.
Chris
@MJS:
No, that’s occurred to me too. The man’s status as a Liebermanesque “both sides do it but liberals are worse” darling of the Village is plenty of cause for concern, even if he is sitting on something solid. On the other hand, it might not be, so…
hueyplong
@MJS: But I hear Comey is a pretty big Comey Fan, and Trump canned him. I expect Comey to testify in a way that makes Comey look good, and that’s getting harder and harder to square with Trump’s interests.
Corner Stone
@MJS:
Hate to disagree with you but Comey was appointed FBI Director by Obama, a Democratic President.
pat
@pat:
On second thought, I don’t think I can watch 10 minutes of that… barf.
Frankensteinbeck
@TenguPhule:
That is ignoring. If McConnell cared, they’d be out and voted on. It doesn’t take this long. Hell, if he cared, they’d be out and voted on and he’d have blown up the filibuster if that’s what it took. He hasn’t declared that he won’t vote on them, but he’s certainly twiddling his thumbs and letting things coast, which is not normal. This is usually a super-productive period, especially with control of both houses and the presidency. There is something going on there, but damned if I know what, or if it actually means he doesn’t intend to pass any of this.
EDIT – Hell, remember McConnell declaring he was going to use Trump as cover to ram through a conservative wish list? The same thing everyone here expected? He’s taking his sweet time doing it.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
October 1st? I clearly misheard. Okay.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Frankensteinbeck: but a six week recess before that would make the de facto deadline mid-August
ETA: and the Senate bill would have to go back to the House first, and all those House members who didn’t understand it but voted for it because they thought the Senate would kill it, or Ryan put whatever squeeze on them, and trump is that much less popular, and….
hovercraft
@Aleta:
So by the time he’s done we’ll no longer belong to any international organization except the NRA Global.
The Moar You Know
@Corner Stone: Hate to crush every atom of hope from your body but that very unpleasant fact you cite does not counter the truth of MJS’s assertion: Comey is indeed a Republican. One who spent years trying to put the Clintons in jail IIRC.
zhena gogolia
@The Moar You Know:
CS is trolling.
MJS
@Corner Stone: I know he was appointed as FBI Director by Obama. According to Wikipedia, he was a registered Republican, but is now an Independent.
Edited to Add – I missed the snark, if that’s what it was.
Ruckus
@catclub:
That’s what I said about mandatory seat belt interlocks. No one in congress said a word until about Jan 4, the year it became mandatory for all new cars. But the first senator who picked up a new car and tried to drive it away? That’s when the regulation was stricken.
trollhattan
@Chris:
Comey has all the personality of Jack Webb and will lull the gallery to sleep. I miss the days of Valerie Plame’s testimony when every male within the DC metroplex flocked to be in the hearing.
Corner Stone
@MJS:
Never trust Wikipedia. Fake News! Why would President Obama nominate and appoint a Republican to head the FBI during his Presidency? There is something that’s not adding up here.
Ruckus
@Cheryl Rofer:
They still have the fake patriotism, wave the flag, plant a hundred flags in your lawn on July 4th, mouth platitudes about the military (all the while cutting benefits – those don’t go into the coffers of the MIC), demand that everyone back the orange shit weasel…….because. I’ll stop here I’m making myself sick.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@trollhattan: there was a story on NPR, I think, this weekend, pointing out that Comey is, in fact, a showboat, and will likely want to bring a little drama to his testimony
The Moar You Know
@Corner Stone: Tried to add this to my idiotic reply but couldn’t: why the fuck did Obama appoint any Republicans to anything? ESPECIALLY Comey. In 2013? When he knew Hillary was going to be running? I will never understand that. Ever.
There’s two non-negotiables I want from the next Dem president: no GOP appointees whatsoever, and Fox 100% banned from the WH press corps.
MJS
@Corner Stone: As you’re undoubtedly aware, if you pay any attention to the National Enquirer, President Obama hated Hillary Clinton, which is why he nominated her to be Secretary of State, in advance of Benghazi. In his hatred, he also wanted to ensure that her humiliation from what he was sure would be a losing 2016 presidential campaign was complete, so he manipulated Trump into running for president by ridiculing him at the WHCD. The appointment of Comey as FBI Director was simply one more piece of his nefarious scheme.
Ruckus
@TenguPhule:
Then it wouldn’t matter if he named a director. He’d still have to declare an emergency. If he’s not going to do that without a director, why would he do it with one? And if he doesn’t then it really doesn’t matter who’s in charge, nothing is going to get done.
piratedan
@The Moar You Know: it was an Obama hallmark that he attempted to fill positions with qualified people, regardless of their political affiliation. Maybe he felt that Comey was actually an honorable man (and within Comey’s own political blinders, Comey himself may have felt that way) and as such, working with Ms. Clinton could have alleviated those fears.
Obviously, people being people, it appears that Mr. Comey is not the supposed quality of man that his predecessor Mr. Mueller was (or that we hope him to be).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
more that the bar for Senate confirmation got raised to 60 votes in January of 2011
Another Scott
@pat: I haven’t read the links in the OP, but I gather there was a (quasi) explicit restatement of the US’s Article 5 commitment in the “approved” speech, but Donnie (or his minions) took it out.
Cheers,
Scott.
KithKanan
@Corner Stone: Somehow, despite First Blood’s only credited female role being “woman on street”, it still comes across as less sexist than the sequels.
Camembert
@Mnemosyne: Turns out white women are white first and women second. Trump won the same percentage of them Romney did. Patriarchy exists and is terrible and is not apparently worth exiting the social contract over. White supremacy 100% is.
I don’t understand Democrats who aren’t utterly exhausted by Obama. Obama trashed the Dem Party apparatus, then kept hiring Republicans like his Administration was a Greek tragedy that absolutely had to end with Tr45’s election. It had that same freight-train compulsion sense to it.
Same as Obama’s utter commitment to making sure the banksters got to keep every penny they stole.
But sure, be mad at the folks who’d like to have jobs that cover their rent. Blaming the victims always works.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Camembert: damn, I knew you’d get to “banksters” eventually. Why did it take so long? When are you gonna keep it real about “Timmeh”?
Corner Stone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Not this bullshit again.
zhena gogolia
@trollhattan:
Hey, no dissing Jack Webb!
les
@Corner Stone:
Continuing a too-long line of Repugs appointed to security-type posts by Dem presidents. Maybe we’ll learn some day. He was a Hillary persecuter in Ken Starr Days and a Repug apparatchik in the George the Lesser DOJ.
randy khan
@TenguPhule:
I think at some point McConnell may try to kill the filibuster for legislation, but I doubt that air traffic control is the issue of choice. He might do it for tax cuts (cough, cough, “reform”), though. The real question is whether there actually are 50 votes in his caucus to kill the legislative filibuster for any reason, and frankly I don’t know. He could lose people on the far right and the middle right (there is no middle in his caucus) on it, for different reasons.
But, given that Thune says it ain’t happening, this discussion probably is moot. It’s got to get through his committee to get a vote on the floor.
randy khan
@hovercraft:
Air traffic control privatization is not a base issue at all. The base essentially doesn’t care about it. It’s really something that only a tiny fraction of the party thinks is a good idea. And this reinforces, in my mind, your suggestion that it’s not going anywhere.
Gvg
@Corner Stone: Comey is a Republican. Obama picked him because he had a Republican Congress. Comey was involved in preventing Cheney and company from getting Ashcroft from reauthorizing something in the Patriot act that had been ruled illegal while Ashcroft was recovering from surgery and presumably susceptible to unethical manipulation. Think he was supposed to be medicated. So Comey had a reputation as ethical and was an acceptable compromise for both parties. However he was alway republican and had some connection to the Clinton impeachment, was known to really hate the Clintons.
TenguPhule
@Camembert:
I’m sure the high bar our justice system has for convicting white people of complex white collar crimes had absolutely nothing to do with it.
TenguPhule
@randy khan:
There are. When McConnel McTraitor says jump, the GOP Senators will jump.
TenguPhule
@Frankensteinbeck: @Frankensteinbeck:
I think they’ve got a bigger problem that nobody wants to deal with which is making everything else, even the GOP wish list, a secondary concern.
The House and Senate have until July 31 to get their shit together and raise the debt ceiling & pass something approaching continued budgeted funding for the federal government.
So far, they’ve done nothing to even begin to plan for how to do it.
The full faith and credit of the United States may actually fall in 60 days.
And all hell will break loose if it does.
Camembert
@TenguPhule: Somehow HW managed.
Bill Black, who was central during S&L is absolutely livid about this and wrote and writes about it regularly.
I have long understood that this is the fundamental divide between the pro-O Dems and the anti-O Dems, and it’s a basic incomprehension of reality by the pro-O Dems. Yes, it’s been done before. Yes, recently. Yes, by a center-right officeholder. Obama didn’t want to.
penobscottdorkins
@LAO:
This. The election was a moral watershed. Very few people were so mentally challenged or incapacitated as to not be cognizant of what Trump was about, of what he meant, of what he was FOR. They proved themselves to be moral cretins.
I will never look at these people or deal with them the same way again. And that includes some family members.
They of course believe themselves to be decent persons. And up until now they had the benefit of the doubt as to whether they really were.
The election was a test: Are you a decent person? Too many failed.
Every week they are tested again: Are you a decent person? They still fail.
These people aren’t criminally sociopathic, but they are more than happy to do terrible things if someone tells them it’s ok, norms are suspended. What kind of people join a lynch mob? I bet it’s these same kind of people.
TenguPhule
@Ruckus: Not having a director in place compounds the original problem. The staffing and resources are not going to be enough, but not having an actual director in place and relying on a placeholder risks those people and supplies also not going out where they need to and when they are most likely to make a difference.
Remember how bad Katrina was? This promises to be a lot worse by several orders of magnitude.
TenguPhule
@Camembert:
And that tells me all I need to know about your knowledge level of both our justice system and white collar crime.
MCA1
@bemused: Among his voters, or voters in general? ‘Cause it’s become pretty clear even a nuclear holocaust of his own making won’t get us to the former, as long as it kills more liberals than real ‘Muricans out in the sticks. 31% of the overall population makes sense, though – that’s your standard 27% plus a few more Steiniacs and St. Bernard purity ponies and general cranks who are convinced burning it all down is the only way to save us from something or other who still haven’t figured out what’s what here. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if those categories at some point were reduced to about 4% of registered voters.
In any event, Republicans will turn on twitler as soon as they feel they’re safe from being primaried in response. Their current complete lack of public spine is mostly, imho, just a bet that the Trumpenproletariat will tire itself out and start to get apathetic and feel let down by their savior, at which point they become a non-threat from the right. For the time being. Even if they despise him and recognize the existential crisis he is to democracy, they’re giving him more rope, and betting he hangs himself with his constant failures and incompetence and inability to regulate his everflapping mouth. [Not saying that either (a) that’s a good gamble, or (b) that’s a gamble which isn’t worthy of calling them all traitors – just sketching out what I think their calculus might be here] So maybe what Nance is being told is that the inflection point in some GOP elected officials’ minds, at which point the mainstream R voter opposition outweighs the true believers enough to protect them in a primary, is 31% overall. Which we’ve been back on track to approaching, rapidly, since AF1 got back into American airspace last week.
Chyron HR
@Camembert:
It just comes down to the fundamental divide between “pro-O dems” and “Make the white race great again” Berniecrats.
sukabi
@LAO: not just Comey’s testimony…Mike Rogers is testifying as well…. Rumors of bombshells…
TenguPhule
@MCA1:
So first of never, then.
chopper
@Camembert:
the laws were relaxed a hell of a lot between HW and the 2000s, buckaroo.
penobscottdorkins
@Mnemosyne:
The wilmerites I’ve talked politics and race do acknowledge racism exists. However, they believe if we make economic insecurity go away, racism will go away.
I think ending economic insecurity means everyone else pays off their college loans.
Not sure if they believe misogyny would go away too. Me, knowing them, I know it wouldn’t.
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@nightranger: Honestly, I’d be happier with a career civil servant as acting head in a crisis, if the alternative is Trumpolini’s equivalent of Heckuvajob Brownie.
Camembert
@chopper: Bill Black doesn’t think so — or, rather, he thinks that there’s plenty left (one link of dozens). He seems like the kind of human who would know.
It wasn’t just the financial crisis, as noted above. It was also HSBC laundering for the Sinaloas and a hundred other things. If Dems are going to reestablish themsleves as the party of the rule of law, they’re gonna have to expunge the meme that if a rich person does it, that means it’s not a crime.
Camembert
@Chyron HR: I used to get super mad about this meme, because it’s so completely insane and out of left field. Now I understand that my opposition to the Iraq War and desire for a functioning capital allocation system are both based out of my membership in the sans culottes, so I do a lot better.
catclub
@Gvg:
This may qualify as an understatement.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I like the way you cross the street, cause you’re….
randy khan
@TenguPhule:
I’m okay with your pessimism on a lot of things (and in many cases my relative optimism is tempered by my knowledge I could be wrong), but in this case I think you’re off base. The best case scenario almost certainly is having a career FEMA employee who understands the system in place as the acting director. 99% of what FEMA does in disasters is to implement existing plans, and a career person is best for that, probably better than the best political appointee is likely to be. The real problem is not going to be FEMA itself, but that the President doesn’t seem to be interested in disaster declarations, which are what you need to activate FEMA.
MCA1
@TenguPhule: Certainly for some, yes. I guess the theory I’m proposing has to allow for district-based fluctuation. For reps. in Mississippi or Idaho, they’re either a reflection of the base in terms of their own beliefs, or even if they aren’t they’ll never feel safe enough from the mouth breathers. But for some GOP rep. from a R+5 or less district? At some point the calculus has to be that the greater of two electoral threats is a Dem who makes the entire race a referendum on Drumpf and having no ability to defend oneself as his enabler. They could still take the perspective of “I have to win/avoid a primary to run in the general,” but there is a point at which being on the ballot but only at the cost of putting yourself right in the way of a tidal wave is pretty pyrrhic.
Whether or not Ossoff wins could probably have an impact on that decisionmaking, of course.
Camembert
@MCA1: The problem is that they got where they are through 30 years of doubling down. At some point, you just keep going because it’s what you know.
randy khan
@TenguPhule:
I think it’s more complicated than when they think they won’t get primaried. They worry about primaries first, but they also worry about the general, and if they see a wave election coming they will do whatever they can to avoid getting drowned. Also, the overlap between Trump voters and Tea Party voters is not nearly 100%, maybe even less than 50%, so turning on Trump may not be that risky, particularly if his popularity drops to, oh, 30% or less.
It may be getting boring to see this from me by now, but I keep thinking back to 1974, when the Republicans actually were pretty solid for Nixon until the smoking gun tape came out, and then they all changed their minds at once. I think that’s what will happen if the Republicans abandon him – it mostly won’t be in ones and twos (although a few semi-centerish Republicans might go first), but instead will be an avalanche.
bemused
@MCA1:
I think that is probably what Nance was saying. Randi Rhodes put up that May segment on her youtube channel. Nance is always interesting and the 31% comment came up near the end of the segment.
J R in WV
@ Quinerly:
But you’re OUR troll, Quinerly, and that’s OK!
@Matt McIrvin:
We did it every day in grade school, also. I was always skeptical about that under God part, though. First Amendment for one thing.
Camembert
@randy khan:
So . . . here’s the thing. Congressfolk don’t just do what it takes to get reelected. By and large, they do what it takes to get reelected after they’ve done what it takes not to foul up their lobbying career afterwards.
There are some folks who are rich enough to be in it for their ideology or their ego. But a major and relentless institutional constraint is cashing out once you leave. And that means keeping the right people happy.