Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

A consequence of cucumbers

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

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

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

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

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

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

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

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Projection…it’s always projection

Projection…it’s always projection

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NPR broke a story today about how the White House — and possibly Trump himself — colluded with a Texas-based Trump donor and Fox News to push a fake news story about murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich. The fake news was broadcast on fake news outlet Fox News specifically to take the focus off the Trump-Russia collusion story:

Behind Fox News’ Baseless Seth Rich Story: The Untold Tale

The Fox News Channel and a wealthy supporter of President Trump worked in concert under the watchful eye of the White House to concoct a story about the murder of a young Democratic National Committee aide, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The explosive claim is part of the lawsuit filed against Fox News by Rod Wheeler, a longtime paid commentator for the news network. The suit was obtained exclusively by NPR.

Wheeler alleges Fox News and the Trump supporter intended to deflect public attention from growing concern about the administration’s ties to the Russian government. His suit charges that a Fox News reporter created quotations out of thin air and attributed them to him to propel her story…

The first page of the lawsuit quotes a voicemail and text from Butowsky boasting that President Trump himself had reviewed drafts of the Fox News story just before it went to air and was published.

Spicer now tells NPR that he took the meeting as a favor to Butowsky, a reliable Republican voice. Spicer says he was unaware of any contact involving the president. Butowsky now tells NPR he was kidding about Trump’s involvement.

“Just kidding” my ass — Trump was on this story like a duck on a June bug, as was Sean Hannity and the Trump sock puppet crew at Fox & Friends. And this on the heels of the news yesterday that Trump dictated the lies about the nature of the meeting at Trump Tower between Russian operatives and Trump’s idiot son, son-in-law, campaign chairman, etc.

Prediction: this story — added to the growing mountain of evidence that Trump lies all the time and orchestrates fake news to cover up his campaign’s involvement with Russia — will furrow many a Republican brow. But it will inspire no action whatsoever from that group.

Meanwhile, the fake president who uses fake news to protect his fake victory, is projecting again this morning:

That’s a bald-faced lie, of course. It’s Trump’s supporters and operatives who are begging the shitgibbon to quit tweeting. Those of us who want him to fail (for America’s sake!) fully support Trump’s right to continue to obstruct justice, issue threats and generally make a fool of himself on Twitter.

Reader Interactions

227Comments

  1. 1.

    maurinsky

    I asked “principled conservative” Senator Jeff Flake to take the lead on this. No response yet from the big talker.

  2. 2.

    cervantes

    Maybe if Republican brows furrow more deeply enough it will eventually compress their brains and cause coma. So there may be a way out of this.

  3. 3.

    gene108

    Trump is a micro-manager and control freak.

    He has a hand in every thing his White House does. He doesn’t trust people enough to delegate. He figures they are all back stabbing assholes like him.

    I give Bush, Jr. and Company credit, for all the questionable and probably illegal things they did, while in office, they made sure to not leave any fingerprints that could traced back to anybody important and especially not to the President.

  5. 5.

    Immanentize

    His DOW tweet is also a lie. DOW on inauguration day was 19,800 NOT 18,000 that Trump tweeted. SAD!

  8. 8.

    lollipopguild

    But Obama was a socialist Kenyan Mooselum secret terrorist who stole everybodys gun while his wife forced everybody to eat a good for them meal……..

  9. 9.

    JPL

    IMO, The lawsuit will be settled by the end of the day with the terms of the settlement sealed. My track record for guesses is close to zero though. I want to see Spicer under oath, and I want to see the visitor logs.

  14. 14.

    Yarrow

    @danielx: How’s your a/c working? Hope they finally got it figured out. Although I think you said it was cool the other day so maybe you don’t need it right now.

  16. 16.

    LAO

    @danielx:

    Is there such a thing as outrage fatigue?

    I’m certainly approaching it, so I’m gonna guess yes, yes there is such a thing as outrage fatigue.

  17. 17.

    danielx

    @raven:

    And to think there are Faux Nooz viewers who seem to require a daily dose of outrage, manufactured or not as the case may be. I’d think it would be bad for their health; daily news certainly isn’t doing much for mine.

  18. 18.

    The Dangerman

    @Yarrow:

    I feel so bad for Rich’s family.

    True, but their pain will be slightly offset when the Brinks Trucks start arriving at their place.

    ETA: And I still say the Clementine Cletus was at the known meeting with the Russians.

  23. 23.

    Jeffro

    Whew… back from a couple of days paddling my kayak down the Shenandoah (including mandatory stop at the Apple House for cider donuts) and it’s nap time! Could y’all please ask Orangemandias to not start a war or anything until at least later this afternoon?

    Thank you.
    ?

  25. 25.

    germy

    But is wheeler a crank?

    Follow the arrest of Awan closely. Connect the dots to "other" cases. (hint, hint) Just the beginning. Stay tuned.— rod wheeler (@rodwheeler) July 26, 2017

    Then there was the time that Wheeler, on Bill O’Reilly’s show, claimed a “national underground network” of “pistol-packing lesbians is terrorizing America,” reports the Southern Poverty Law Center.

    http://heavy.com/news/2017/05/rod-wheeler-seth-rich-fox-private-investigator-detective-wikileaks-washington-dc-bio/

  26. 26.

    The Moar You Know

    Only the Fake News Media and Trump enemies want me to stop using Social Media (110 million people). Only way for me to get the truth out!

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2017

    Again, when is Twitter going to be held to account for giving this lunatic a 24/7 platform? If I give a terrorist a shitty video camera to make death porn for YouTube that’s a fucking federal felony.

  32. 32.

    smintheus

    The NPR report is a devastating exposé of how the Republican noise machine works. Democrats should send it to any totebaggers or truth-curious Republicans they know. I think it might open a few eyes.

  33. 33.

    germy

    @JPL: I don’t doubt the story’s true. But looking at past statements and behavior of Wheeler makes me wonder what his motivation is.

  34. 34.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    @JPL:

    This is another log on the Obstruction of Justice fire that is producing all this smoke.

  35. 35.

    smintheus

    @germy: Fox doesn’t work with anybody who isn’t a crank.

    ETA: As to Wheeler’s motivation, it appears to be revenge. Fox threw him under the bus and his right-wing grifting career seems to be endangered.

  39. 39.

    Yarrow

    @The Dangerman:

    True, but their pain will be slightly offset when the Brinks Trucks start arriving at their place.

    I doubt it. The pain of losing their son or brother and having to deal with this bullshit about his death will stay with them. Receiving monetary compensation for all of this will be cold comfort.

  40. 40.

    bemused

    It’s always projection with Trump supporters and majority of Republican voters too. Peas in a pod. Obama was constantly being accused of being a dictator by rightwingers. They really do want a dictator as long as the dictator is Republican/conservative.

  41. 41.

    Immanentize

    @Gin & Tonic: misread. Sorry. But I really like the tweet about DOW 50,000

    ETA I’m sitting in the hospital with Mrs. Imm. I only brought my phone so I am half-reading everything. Luckily, I have my eye appointment this afternoon for better glasses….

  42. 42.

    MattF

    We accuse them of projection, but I wonder… Projection is supposed to be unconscious– however I think RWers accusing their adversaries of doing the exact things they are doing is quite deliberate. The goal is, as ever, to piss off liberals. Karl Rove did it all the time.

  43. 43.

    Yarrow

    @smintheus:

    Fox doesn’t work with anybody who isn’t a crank.

    In Roger Ailes’ own words (from Joan Walsh’s meeting with him):

    “I created a TV network for people 55 to dead,” Ailes boasted to us. “Nobody believed it could be done, but I did it. It’s for guys who sit on their couch with the remote all day and night.” That seemed a condescending way to talk about his audience—not to mention, much of the Republican base—but it was fascinating anyway.

    “And they don’t want to see anyone like you,” he continued, looking directly at me. I wasn’t sure whether he meant a liberal, or a brunette newswoman in a dark pantsuit. “They don’t want to see you—they don’t even want to know that you exist!” And he was obliging them: he’d created a world where women were blonde and wore short tight skirts, men were in charge, and articulate, principled, complicated liberals—especially women—didn’t exist.

  44. 44.

    Chet Murthy

    @MattF:

    The goal is, as ever, to piss off liberals. Karl Rove did it all the time.

    Let’s not forget he did it to construct pre-emptive defenses for when his side got found out, too. Very well-thought-out strategy.

  45. 45.

    germy

    Saw this timeline at WaPo:

    At some point before or during February, Butowsky apparently speaks with veteran journalist Seymour Hersh, who Butowsky says indicated a link between Rich and the FBI. Hersh told Folkenflik it was “gossip” and that Butowsky “took two and two and made forty-five out of it.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/08/01/a-timeline-of-the-explosive-lawsuit-alleging-a-white-house-link-in-the-seth-rich-conspiracy/?utm_term=.12ab28fded6b

  47. 47.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mike J: They’re going to have to subpoena the White House visitor logs, Spicer’s schedule/calendar, the President’s calendar, the White House call logs, and the call logs for the President’s private/personal cell phone, which he continues to use to talk to friends/outside advisors despite it not being secure. Discovery on this is going to be the White House’s nightmare.

  48. 48.

    MomSense

    @germy:

    Pistol packing lesbians is going to be my band name and our first record is going to be called Terrorizing America.

  49. 49.

    Kay

    They’re never going to get past the fact that they’re just horrible people.

    They can bring in as many generals as they want. It doesn’t change the essential nature of this…group of people.

    They have bad ideas- malicious, mean-spirited impulses. They could have competent execution and it won’t matter. It’ll be worse :)

    The general should get out now. It may be too late but at least it will show agency on his part.

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    @germy: They’re all cranks. The amount of conspiracy theory thinking is staggering. The issue on this bizarre Awan/Wasserman-Schultz story is that it is being peddled by the same people, in the same places, with the same lack of actual evidence for what they’re claiming as what they’ve claimed regarding Seth Rich’s murder.

  52. 52.

    gene108

    @danielx:

    Is there such a thing as outrage fatigue?

    For whatever reason, conservatives do not seem to have it. They thrive on outrage. They need outrage, like normal people need to breath.

    I’m not sure how we can keep up.

  55. 55.

    Gin & Tonic

    @germy: What is it with these guys who get one good scoop early in their career and spend the rest of their life being useless assholes?

  56. 56.

    gene108

    @Lurking Canadian:

    Kenyan fella even had the temerity to tell America’s children to stay in school. There was truly no bottom to his tyranny

    How can we have a source of easily exploitable child labor if all the kids go to school?

    I mean, you can’t decimate the social safety net and not force families to put their kids to work to pay the bills.

    The tax cuts for the super rich don’t pay for themselves. Someone has to sacrifice.

  58. 58.

    rikyrah

    Obama advisers are urging Deval Patrick to run in 2020
    By Rob DeCola GLOBE STAFF
    AUGUST 01, 2017

    Will former Mass. governor Deval Patrick throw his hat into the ring as a candidate for president in 2020? Members of former president Barack Obama’s inner circle are trying to nudge Patrick toward a yes, according to a Politico interview.

    In a story published on Tuesday, the publication spoke to Obama strategist David Alexrod and advisor Valerie Jarrett about a possible Patrick run in 2020.

    Alexrod said he has spoken to Patrick, now at Bain Capital, about it, and rattled off to Politico the list of advantages the former Massachusetts governor would have on the national stage: “small-town campaign experience from his 2006 gubernatorial run that will jive perfectly with Iowa, neighbor-state advantage in New Hampshire, and the immediate bloc of votes he’d have as an African-American heading into South Carolina.”

  60. 60.

    Kay

    Did conservatives ever accuse Obama of murdering someone? Because they have been periodically accusing the Clintons of murder for 30 years.

    I’m just trying to figure out why they never accused Obama. It’s not like it’s based on anything. They COULD have.

  61. 61.

    germy

    @Gin & Tonic: Seymour being a useless asshole is one thing, but he crossed over into Crank territory.

    I hope he’s called to testify: “The stuff I told him was just harmless gossip! And I’m a veteran journamalist!”

  62. 62.

    Chet Murthy

    @Gin & Tonic: Oh c’mon. He had more than one good scoop. My Lai. Abu Ghraib. And from what I understand, he was right about Ghouta (though I could be misremembering).

  63. 63.

    germy

    @Kay:

    I’m just trying to figure out why they never accused Obama.

    They figured “He’s Black; it goes without saying.”

  64. 64.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: my BiL and I keep a running list of band names. I’m going to send him your comment for list inclusion approval….

  67. 67.

    gene108

    @smintheus:

    The NPR report is a devastating exposé of how the Republican noise machine works. Democrats should send it to any totebaggers or truth-curious Republicans they know. I think it might open a few eyes.

    The average totebagger I know has concluded Fox News is the Republican propaganda station. MSNBC is the Democratic propaganda station. And CNN is sort of neutral.

    It’s hard for people to truly understand how coordinated with the Republican Party and deeply intertwined to the rest of the media the right-wing noise machine is.

  69. 69.

    germy

    @dmsilev:

    Headline of the day (so far): “In Leaked Remarks To Interns, Kushner Brags Of No Leaks On Middle East Talks”

    That reminds me of the recent Page Six headline:

    TJ Miller’s wife making a name for herself in New York

    Unintentional irony.

  70. 70.

    Amir Khalid

    @MomSense:
    Does your band have room for a newbie guitar player? I’m willing to shave my beard and put on a dress to fit in …

  71. 71.

    Anya

    @Adam L Silverman: I wish the Rich family sues these horrible people for inflicting so much pain on them. They used the tragic loss of their son for political purposes. They are sick.

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    THE EVERLOVING PHUCK?????

    DA HAIL???

    State Department considers scrubbing democracy promotion from its mission
    By Josh Rogin
    August 1 at 5:01 AM

    Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has ordered his department to redefine its mission and issue a new statement of purpose to the world. The draft statements under review right now are similar to the old mission statement, except for one thing — any mention of promoting democracy is being eliminated.

    According to an internal email that went out Friday, which I obtained, the State Department’s Executive Steering Committee convened a meeting of leaders to draft new statements on the department’s purpose, mission and ambition, as part of the overall reorganization of the State Department and USAID. (The draft statements were being circulated for comment Friday and could change before being finalized.)

  73. 73.

    gene108

    @Kay:

    Did conservatives ever accuse Obama of murdering someone? Because they have been periodically accusing the Clintons of murder for 30 years.

    They did.

    Google “obama murders passport office employee”. You’ll get hits about someone, who was a key witness to the fact Obama’s passport is a fake or something, who was murdered by Obama to cover-up the truth.

    I’m not linking to any article, because I don’t want to give those right-wing rags any clicks.

    It just hasn’t caught onto the popular imagination like the Clinton Murders.

  77. 77.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I’m just trying to figure out why they never accused Obama. It’s not like it’s based on anything. They COULD have.

    He was Black(obviously) and Muslim (according to them)…killing is implied, Kay.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    @germy:

    I want a section of 6th grade social studies textbooks on birtherism. People have to know that happened!

    I was hoping someone really good would write a book or make a documentary. It’s history! I want people to write their senior thesis on it. “Birtherism- President Obama and Donald Trump”

    You could have interviews with that poor records clerk in Hawaii – she isn’t gonna live forever. Needs to be taken down on paper. The photographs! Those snarling people with the signs. Those are real people. It’ll be like those iconic photos of school integration.

  79. 79.

    zhena gogolia

    I love to wallow in the WaPo comments every once in a while. Those people are convinced he’s going to resign by the end of the month. I don’t believe it, but it’s pretty to think so for a few minutes every day.

  82. 82.

    clay

    @dmsilev: From your link:

    “I’m sure everyone that’s tried this [Mid-east peace] has been unique in some ways,” Kushner said. “So, what do we offer that’s unique? I don’t know.”

    Wired was not the only news outlet to pick up Kushner’s leaked remarks. On Monday afternoon, hours after he finished speaking, Foreign Policy reported that Kushner told interns his father-in-law’s campaign was too disorganized to collude with itself, let alone Russia’s campaign to interfere in the 2016 election.

    I’m not sure which statement is more eye-rolling.

  83. 83.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: @gene108: @Yarrow: @Gin & Tonic:
    Thanks jackels. She is having a not unusual problem with blood clots today. She was having a CT for the cancer in chest lymph nodes and they spotted the clots. She has to get a head CT and will be staying one night while they start some blood thinners and teach her how to shoot up. This is a real education.

  84. 84.

    James Powell

    @germy:

    Wasn’t Trump directly implicated in covering up the Russia scandal when he fired Comey then bragged that he did it because Comey wouldn’t shut down the Russia investigation? Why do the press/media always set such a high bar for Republicans?

  86. 86.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: Here is my BiL’s response:

    I like it! Was just watching the Parks & Rec episode where the public broadcasting guy was introducing a Norwegian, afro, punk, lesbian band.
    Knope “They’re awful!”
    PBS guy “oh yes, they’re quite terrible, but they’re lesbians, so…”

    Made me smile….

  90. 90.

    MCA1

    @MattF: It’s not so much to piss off liberals as it is to pre-normalize and preemptively “both sides” behavior that they know is contemptible and will eventually come to light. When it does come to light, they and their supporters can bluster right on through with “yeah, but whatabout __________” despite there being no evidence that what they’d been accusing Democrats of doing actually happened. It’s in the memory bank and general political/news atmosphere.

    ETA: damn, I should read on before pointlessly responding when Chet’s already concisely made my point like three posts on.

  91. 91.

    gvg

    CT’s did accuse Obama of various murders. the drone hysteria made some of it easy and arguable. not one word about Trump. I am sure it continues and to be honest, there really is too much Trump news so I guess its understandable but still. the nuts also said he killed Scalia and Breitbart and his grandmother (not sure why but they did).

  97. 97.

    SiubhanDuinne

    “Just kidding” my ass — Trump was on this story like a duck on a June bug, as was Sean Hannity and the Trump sock puppet crew at Fox & Friends. And this on the heels of the news yesterday that Trump dictated the lies about the nature of the meeting at Trump Tower between Russian operatives and Trump’s idiot son, son-in-law, campaign chairman, etc.

    Lost in all the hoo-hah yesterday about the Mooch was this little exchange during SHS’s press conference:

    Q The other thing I wanted to ask was, when the President made his speech to police officers on Friday, almost within minutes, statements came from police chiefs across the country criticizing his remarks that seemed to endorse the use of force by police in certain arrests. Was the President joking when he said this, or did he check his remarks out with the International Association of Police Chiefs or maybe the Attorney General?

    MS. SANDERS: I believe he was making a joke at the time.

    Going back to the campaign, and certainly through the transition and (mal)administration, whenever one of Trump’s comments or tweets is questioned, the response from his various spox and surrogates has always been some variant of “It was a joke,” “Just kidding,” “You should take him literally but not seriously,” “I think the President was joking when he said that,” “You should take him seriously but not literally,” “IT WAS JUST A JOKE!!” As with everything else in this doublespeaking up-is-down black-is-White House, whatever they say, just assume the opposite is true. Any time they say “He was just joking around,” you can be sure he was dead serious.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    I know I’m slow on the ‘ol processing front but the healthcare win was sort of big for me. I’ve only ever won on personal action 3 times- SCHIP, the Ohio anti-labor initiative and now Obamacare. I have lost A LOT :)

    We won’t even list the losses. Bankruptcy bill. that was tragic. Luckily I’m shallow so I bounced back in 20 minutes but still- those were a bad 20 minutes.

    Good job, jackals!

  99. 99.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    You could have interviews with that poor records clerk in Hawaii – she isn’t gonna live forever. Needs to be taken down on paper. The photographs! Those snarling people with the signs. Those are real people. It’ll be like those iconic photos of school integration

    you are right.

  100. 100.

    maurinsky

    @germy:

    Everyone though her parents were crazy when they announced their new daughter’s name would be TJ Miller’s Wife, but look at her now!

  101. 101.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I know I’m slow on the ‘ol processing front but the healthcare win was sort of big for me. I’ve only ever won on personal action 3 times- SCHIP, the Ohio anti-labor initiative and now Obamacare. I have lost A LOT :)

    I missed you on those threads, Kay.

    I hope you remind those around you that every Republican, including their precious Portman, save THREE, were willing to take away their healthcare. Never let them live it down.

  102. 102.

    pamelabrown53

    @Chet Murthy: @62.
    C’mon has nothing to do with it. Yes there was a time when Seymour H. was a brilliant, investigative journalist. However, he has crossed the line into crank. My rule of thumb is when The New Yorker boots you it’s because they no longer can vouch and unequivocally support a journalist’s reporting. They are, IMO, the gold standard.
    Jeremy Scahill, is another example of a reporter dumped by the New Yorker. However, it may be that Scahill , while not a crank (?) has crossed the line from investigative journalism to polemics.

  104. 104.

    Mnemosyne

    @smintheus:

    The NPR report is a devastating exposé of how the Republican noise machine works. Democrats should send it to any totebaggers or truth-curious Republicans they know. I think it might open a few eyes.

    Not to mention the various purported lefties I’ve heard pushing the Rich story.

    It really pisses me off when supposed Democrats and lefties push stories directly from Fox News that they didn’t bother to check the source on, and then they get all huffy when you point out that maybe Fox News isn’t a reliable source.

  105. 105.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize:

    Ugh. I wish you didn’t have to learn about these things. I hope she is at least relatively comfortable. Hopefully you can both get some good rest.

  111. 111.

    bemused

    @gene108:

    This! Even if conservative voters got what they claim they want, they wouldn’t be happy for long. It would soon be bitch, bitch, bitch about something, anything. They have an outrage addiction which is why they were so quickly drawn to Fox and wingnut media in the first place. They found their home where they can feel good glued to the tv or scratchy AM radio every waking hour and believe or pretend to believe every phony, crackpot story/conspiracy theory.

  112. 112.

    sharl

    Hahaha, DougJ’s fame as a troll continues to grow, though too damn slowly if ya ask me (eh, it’s an unjust world). Weigel just retweeted this. Thank goodness at least some of the responding tweets properly acknowledge the skill of “CentristDisruptor” in this area.

  113. 113.

    TenguPhule

    @cervantes:

    Maybe if Republican brows furrow more deeply enough it will eventually compress their brains and cause coma. So there may be a way out of this.

    Relies on brains not in evidence.

  114. 114.

    rikyrah

    Obama’s Legacy Is Finally Coming Into Focus, Thanks to Trump
    By Jonathan Chait
    August 1, 2017
    8:00 am

    Even though it yielded a broad array of historic policy reforms, during the eight years Barack Obama occupied the White House, his administration looked and felt to most of his supporters like a bitter slog of gridlock punctuated by half-measures. And it looked to his enemies like a period of untrammeled radicalism that would soon be reversed. Six months later, his record appears very different, viewed from both the left and the right. Any president would benefit from the contrast with Donald Trump, of course. But for many reasons, not merely the flamboyant shortcomings of the current administration, the Trump era provides a vantage point from which to understand the scale and durability of the 44th president’s accomplishments. Trump, quite by mistake, is revealing the true scale of his predecessor’s achievements.

    One obvious source of newfound clarity is the renewed realization that governing is hard, especially in a polarized era with a form of government laden with legislative choke points. Obama’s critics complained endlessly about the slow pace of legislation and the endless compromises wrung by interest groups and recalcitrant moderates. Liberals spent his presidency pining for imagined alternatives who could overpower the opposition. High-minded centrists endlessly blamed the president for his failure to dissuade Republicans from their strategy of total opposition, and in so doing helped reinforce the success of that opposition. Throughout his time in office, Obama labored against the contrast of hazy memories of presidents of yore who could supposedly reason with or overpower their foes and impose their legislative will.

    ………………………………………..

    The most important reason so many people overestimated the ease with which Trump would overrun the Obama legacy is that they failed to grasp its breadth and depth, the degree to which its roots spread and its reforms took hold. Trump’s struggles to knock down Obama’s work have served to reveal how solidly it was constructed.

    For eight years, Republicans drove themselves into a fever-pitch hysteria against the Affordable Care Act without bothering to learn how the law worked. Working from the premise that Obamacare was a uniquely ill-designed law — death panels! train wrecks! — they easily persuaded themselves and much of the country that Republicans could write something vastly better.

    Half a year of Republican-run government has systematically exposed the right-wing arguments against Obamacare as bad-faith rhetoric or outright fantasy. One small-business owner, who told the New York Times in 2012 that he opposed the law as something jammed down the public’s throat, was re-interviewed this year. “I can’t even remember why I opposed it,” he now says.

    It is not surprising that only this year did the Affordable Care Act become popular. The law’s unpopularity depended entirely on the existence of an imaginary alternative that was free of trade-offs. The populist fallacy that everybody can get better insurance for less money if only the government wasn’t run by morons is seductive. Obama’s wonkish explanations could not expose the fallacy’s hollowness. But the Republicans in power have proven excellent (if inadvertent) tutors.

  116. 116.

    Gelfling 545

    @MattF: No, I think that it’s that they truly believe that everyone is as corrupt as they, themselves. They cannot fathom another way of being so the judge by what they would do if similarly placed, which is to say: the most currupt, dishonorable and selfserving act.

  119. 119.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mnemosyne:

    “Don’t you bitches liberals have a sense of humor?”

    Yup. It used to come up all the time during the feminist CR sessions we used to have back in the ’70s. There was even a MS Magazine cover story/issue devoted to it. Been around forever as a deflection tool; I didn’t mean to suggest that it’s unique to the Trumpies, just that they’ve managed to turn it into something of an art form.

  121. 121.

    Barbara

    @danielx: “There will be so many leaks you will be tired of leaking . . .” You can get outrage fatigue if you don’t pace yourself, but this really is outrageous.

  122. 122.

    LAO

    @bemused:

    Even if conservative voters got what they claim they want, they wouldn’t be happy for long. It would soon be bitch, bitch, bitch about something, anything. They have an outrage addiction

    Not to oversimplify — but I think the same applies to Christians and Christianity. When Christianity was founded — Christians were, in fact, persecuted. So much of its religious dogma appears to be built around the concept of persecution. Not to be flippant but the need to be “under siege” and facing persecution (appears to this non-Christian) to be built into the DNA of Christianity. It quite literally drives me insane.

  123. 123.

    Mom Says I'm Handsome

    Hey, baby, did you go to film school? Cuz you’re super-good at projection.

  124. 124.

    Immanentize

    @Beeb: Thanks Beeb. I wish I were out riding with you right now…. I’m teaching Crim this Fall. Maybe I will Chuck the text and just follow and explain the headlines?

  128. 128.

    lollipopguild

    @LAO: You are correct about some groups of Christians needing to “feel persecuted” but there are millions of Christians around the world who do not feel or act this way. Most of these idiots are Americans with a loud megaphone and an overwhelming need for constant attention.

  130. 130.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    BTW, you’ve probably noticed that your gal Luvvie and her commenters are KILLING IT right now. A tidbit from today:

    Aeisha: I KNOW that Janice from HR is on Xanax by this point….these fools getting fired during orientation…

    ??????

  131. 131.

    bemused

    @LAO:

    The far right political evangelicals did come to mind. A lot of outraged rightwingers are not very churchy but they share feeling persecuted, looked down on and lectured to by snooty, know-it-all liberals. Sigh, no one will think of their hurt feelings but they will always have Fox and company.

  132. 132.

    Mnemosyne

    Aw, man. I forgot my comment had a forbidden word. Imma try again:

    @rikyrah:

    BTW, you’ve probably noticed that your gal Luvvie and her commenters are KILLING IT right now. A tidbit from today:

    Aeisha: I KNOW that Janice from HR is on Xanax by this point….these fools getting fired during orientation…

  138. 138.

    TenguPhule

    @rikyrah:

    The populist fallacy that everybody can get better insurance for less money if only the government wasn’t run by morons is seductive.

    And has a kernel of truth to it.

    Only the morons were Republicans and instead of getting rid of them, the idiots actually put them in charge of everything.

  141. 141.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    I’m also hooked up with VSB on Facebook. One of their new full-time writers had great advice about how maintain a pseudonym with a full time job.

    @ruckus:

    I can’t find your email address that I thought I had, but send me a Gmail at Mnemosyne dot Muse and we’ll figure out the tall ships thing. The only day I can do is the Saturday, if that works for you.

  142. 142.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    They’re going to have to subpoena the White House visitor logs, Spicer’s schedule/calendar, the President’s calendar, the White House call logs, and the call logs for the President’s private/personal cell phone, which he continues to use to talk to friends/outside advisors despite it not being secure. Discovery on this is going to be the White House’s nightmare.

    And if anyone thinks the White House is actually going to submit to discovery and not destroy and hide evidence, I have a time share on a bridge to sell them.

  143. 143.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Kay:

    I want a section of 6th grade social studies textbooks on birtherism. People have to know that happened!

    I was hoping someone really good would write a book or make a documentary. It’s history! I want people to write their senior thesis on it. “Birtherism- President Obama and Donald Trump”

    When they do the birtherism unit, they have to show this clip of Obama showing the video of his actual birth at the WHCD. Trump was present.

    What makes it extra fun in the context of this thread is that Obama makes a big point of telling Fox News: “That was a joke!”

  146. 146.

    M31

    @rikyrah:

    For eight years, Republicans drove themselves into a fever-pitch hysteria against the Affordable Care Act without bothering to learn how the law worked.

    I wish news stories wouldn’t say stuff like that — they knew how it worked and their biggest fear was of course that it would be successful. A win for good government, for Obama, and democrats? That can’t stand.

  148. 148.

    TenguPhule

    @M31:

    they knew how it worked and their biggest fear was of course that it would be successful.

    I believe its safe to say that none of the GOP teabaggers in the House know how health insurance works.

  149. 149.

    J R in WV

    @Amir Khalid:

    I think if you wear a dress, the beard is OK? From my rural viewpoint, anyhoo.

    No one would want you to shave, that’s cruel and inhumane!!

  150. 150.

    tobie

    @SiubhanDuinne: I suppose it was a joke too when he said during the campaign that the election would be rigged. More and more that statement seems like a classic case of projection. I sincerely hope Mueller has been able to perform an audit on voting machines in several states.

  151. 151.

    Mike in NC

    @rikyrah: Promoting democracy is obviously far less important than promoting Trump’s golf courses and Ivanka’s pirated shoe designs.

  153. 153.

    Betty Cracker

    @Wjs: No doubt, but we don’t have to take Wheeler’s word for anything. There are emails and text messages that corroborate his claim that Butowsky said Trump had read, approved and eagerly awaited publication of the story — Butowsky confirmed this by saying he was “kidding” about Trump’s involvement. And Spicer admits he took the meeting. The question isn’t whether Wheeler is a crackpot and/or scumbag; he is. It’s whether the WH was involved in yet another attempt to quash the Trump-Russia story. Sure looks like they were.

  155. 155.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @TenguPhule:

    It’s the short term, lazy thought process of conservatism. They never could connect the dots between current policy and future outcomes.

  156. 156.

    J R in WV

    @rikyrah:

    Actually I disagree completely with them. Having been President Obama for 8 years, his legacy and the progress of the nation are one and the same, no matter how much racists might hate that fact. I assume you agree that Obama’s legacy and the nation’s legacy are at least parallel, if not identical.

    Except for the damage subsequent presidents cause, of course. Trump can ruin the nation’s legacy, but can never damage Obama’s legacy is what I’m trying to say there.

  157. 157.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @rikyrah:

    It’s not a new thing, though. Tillerson’s been talking about removing, or at least de-emphasizing, human rights and democracy as a DoS priority for at least three months (this article is from May 5).

    ETA: Edited for clarity.
    ETA2: Edited again to clarify the clarity. I trust I make myself clear.

  159. 159.

    Jim Parish

    I think Trump’s tweet is being misinterpreted. I think he means “get the truth out” in the same sense that ads for laundry detergent say “gets the dirt out”.

  160. 160.

    bemused

    @Mnemosyne:

    Oh, it was bookmarked soon after I started reading it. I didn’t read all the way through yet, saving more reading when I need some cheering up.

  162. 162.

    TenguPhule

    Buckle up. Financial Chaos here we come!

    Talks between the White House and the Senate’s top Republican and Democrat broke up Tuesday with no progress on raising the country’s debt ceiling, an impasse that threatens a financial crisis if left unresolved.

    The Senate and House have 12 joint working days before Sept. 29, when the Treasury Department says it would no longer be able to pay all of the government’s bills unless Congress acts.

    I can’t even begin to predict what’s going to happen when the full faith and credit of the USA becomes a matter of doubt. Every single assumption in every single market and economy on EARTH rests on the American Dollar being the “gold standard” of credit. Literally every single transaction in one form or another relies on it as the base value by which risk is judged.

    Blowing that up is the equivalent of denying the numbers 0 & 1 from math equations or trying to explain elementary physics without using the concepts of mass or inertia.

  163. 163.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @gene108:

    It just hasn’t caught onto the popular imagination like the Clinton Murders.

    The popular imagination was too busy accusing Obama of murders that fit their racist tropes better, mostly revolving around allowing and encouraging Muslim terrorists to murder Real Americans. Benghazi is the most publicly repeated example.

  164. 164.

    Smiling Mortician

    @bemused: Liberals are genuinely outraged. It’s exhausting. Republicans have nothing but poutrage and fauxtrage. It’s entertaining for them.

  166. 166.

    HeleninEire

    @SiubhanDuinne: Hey Girlfriend. Happy to run into you. Of course I’m usually behind on all the evening threads. I can usually catch up on everything by 11am my time. Then I’m even with the BJ morning crew. But today I was WAY behind.

    So anyway, I just wanted to tell you that “Einstein in a Doobie” is my new catchphrase. THANKS!

  167. 167.

    Kay

    @gene108:

    Google “obama murders passport office employee”. You’ll get hits about someone, who was a key witness to the fact Obama’s passport is a fake or something, who was murdered by Obama to cover-up the truth.

    I’m NOT googling that Gene but I believe you. I know the examined the kerning on the post office stamp of his selective service registration. I weighed in on that here because I just HAPPEN to be an expert on the “round date” stamp at the post office, because I was a postal worker.

    The round date is the gold standard so Obama’s story checks out :)

    They were weighing in on postal date stamps like they know! They don’t know!

  170. 170.

    Brachiator

    Prediction: this story — added to the growing mountain of evidence that Trump lies all the time and orchestrates fake news to cover up his campaign’s involvement with Russia — will furrow many a Republican brow. But it will inspire no action whatsoever from that group.

    Well, not quite true. The Republicans are making another attempt to get rid of Mueller.

    A senior Arizona congressman is calling on Robert Mueller, special counsel for the Justice Department’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling, to resign.

    Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that Mueller is in violation of the law that prohibits Mueller from serving as a special counsel if he has a conflict of interest.

    Mueller and former FBI Director James Comey have been longtime allies dating back to 2003 when the men both worked in Washington, Mueller as the FBI Director and Comey as Deputy Attorney General. Franks cited the pair’s relationship as a reason for Mueller to be disqualified from the probe.

    “Bob Mueller is in clear violation of federal code and must resign to maintain the integrity of the investigation into alleged Russian ties,” Franks said. “Those who worked under them have attested he and Jim Comey possess a close friendship, and they have delivered on-the-record statements effusing praise of one another.

    These dopes are nothing if not predictable.

  171. 171.

    cokane

    ugh, please don’t take Wheeler’s claims about Trump, etc. at face value. The man is a well documented crank, with several absurd claims in his past. So far Wheeler’s word is the only evidence claiming Trump or admin involvement. Don’t believe it.

  172. 172.

    NorthLeft12

    @Kay: You seem to be indicating by your comment about generals, that somehow they are “better” and more virtuous than the “civilians” that form Deadbeat Donald’s staff.
    I would strongly disagree with that inference. Anyone that would agree to work in this administration is; desperate for a job; morally bankrupt, stupid/ignorant, has an equally evil agenda, or is a spy/saboteur.
    Possibly more than one of the first four reasons.

  173. 173.

    Betty Cracker

    @cokane: You’re right to call him a crank, but you’re wrong to claim that his word is the only evidence. Please see #151. Or, you know, read the NPR article linked in the original post.

  175. 175.

    Mnemosyne

    @LAO:

    What? Don Sr was just helping Don Jr with his homework, like every parent does. Why do you hate parents?
    /wingnut

    I mean, Jesus, even my overprotective dad eventually admitted that his little princess was a grown-up.

  176. 176.

    bemused

    @Smiling Mortician:

    It is exhausting. Not a day goes by that I don’t worry what kind of future is in store our kids and grandkids and our country. It’s why I sleep like shit. Why aren’t they doing their due diligence as adults, parents, grandparents, citizens to know “what the hell is going on”?. Instead they hate liberals and just about everybody more and fall for a fucking flimflam man and party and every bogus bullshit they spew. They’re cultists and they chose to make themselves easy pickings.

  178. 178.

    Mnemosyne

    @LAO:

    I think part of the problem is that they’re giving you flashbacks to your very worst clients, but all joined together into a single Defense Lawyer’s Worst Nightmare. ?

  180. 180.

    TenguPhule

    Oh come on! Why do Republicans keep making things worse on Healthcare?!

    FFS, they have yet ANOTHER backup to the backup waiting in the wings with little media attention.

    For two years, lobbyists for doctors and their insurers met regularly around a conference table a few blocks from the Capitol to draft an overhaul of the nation’s medical malpractice laws. The resulting legislation proposed strict limits on damages for some plaintiffs and sharply lower fees for their attorneys.

    Last month, with no public hearings and few modifications, the House voted to approve the measure — outraging victims’ rights advocates, who accused lawmakers of acting in secret to slam the courtroom door on people who have been grievously injured by doctors.

    It isn’t unusual for industry stakeholders to draft legislation. But in this case, lobbyists were able to rapidly shepherd their bill to House passage with minimal input from the public or even members of Congress. Lobbyists then crowed about the achievement, boasting that the House-passed measure was nearly identical to one they provided to the House Judiciary Committee and that Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) introduced on Feb. 24.

    The alternative to the ACA: TORT REFORM.

    Fuck the doctors who signed up for this shit sandwich.

  183. 183.

    Millard Filmore

    @TenguPhule:

    And if anyone thinks the White House is actually going to submit to discovery and not destroy and hide evidence, I have a time share on a bridge to sell them.

    Some of that evidence is not under White House control. The phone company will have the call logs.

  185. 185.

    Sloane Ranger

    I know you guys have your own problems but here in the UK a recent YouGov poll has found that 51% of people aged 65 plus who voted for Brexit would still want to leave the EU even if they knew their family members would lose their jobs and the country would be worse off as a result.

    These people are insane! Or very very selfish and willing to sell their children’s future so they don’t have to live next door to someone from Eastern Europe.

  186. 186.

    NorthLeft12

    @bemused: You are not alone:

    Not a day goes by that I don’t worry what kind of future is in store for our kids and grandkids and our country.

    As a Canadian, I have many of the same concerns as you, not only for your country and my country, but for the world. Like it or not, the US can [and has been] be a force for good in this world. And as your close neighbours, we much prefer a good and decent country next door than a bunch of raving lunatics.
    Trust me, I have experience in this!

  187. 187.

    Mnemosyne

    @TenguPhule:

    Ironically, you know what would greatly reduce the cost of malpractice insurance? Universal health care. Because juries would no longer have to award enough money for the injured person to be able to afford insurance and healthcare for the rest of his/her life.

  188. 188.

    TenguPhule

    @Millard Filmore:

    Some of that evidence is not under White House control. The phone company will have the call logs.

    Which means we’ll probably catch them in the act.

  189. 189.

    Mnemosyne

    @LAO:

    As I’ve said multiple times, my law education mostly comes from episodes of “Law & Order,” and EVEN I can see what a nightmare the Trumps must be for any lawyer who has to deal with them.

    I wonder if their new lawyers have figured out yet that they need to work in pairs so the Trumps can’t lie about what was said in a meeting.

  190. 190.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    Universal health care. Because juries would no longer have to award enough money for the injured person to be able to afford insurance and healthcare for the rest of his/her life.

    One of the proposed caps is for “non-economic injuries”. So if for example, they botch your facial reconstruction so you now look like Donald Trump for the rest of your life, the claim would be that it doesn’t stop you from working, therefore you don’t need to get a lot of money for it.

  192. 192.

    TenguPhule

    @NorthLeft12:

    As a Canadian, I have many of the same concerns as you, not only for your country and my country, but for the world.

    We would welcome you as liberators.

    Just saying.

  193. 193.

    GregB

    @LAO:

    Hucksterbee also directly contravenes the outright denials from religious legal scam artist Sekulow.

  195. 195.

    rikyrah

    @Sloane Ranger:

    here in the UK a recent YouGov poll has found that 51% of people aged 65 plus who voted for Brexit would still want to leave the EU even if they knew their family members would lose their jobs and the country would be worse off as a result.

    65+ is the key.

    But, yeah, selfish muthaphuckas.

  196. 196.

    TenguPhule

    @rikyrah:

    12 DAMN DAYS

    Yeah, not gonna happen with this House and Senate.

    And we already missed the actual unofficial deadline.

    Treasury is going to be doing crazy balls options to keep making payments on time from now till September.

    This is the financial equivalent of a Dino-killer asteroid. You can’t even plan for it because all plans would rest on the assumption that this doesn’t happen.

  200. 200.

    LAO

    @Mnemosyne: @GregB: I really hate to say it, but I’m coming around to the position that these folks are simply to incompetent to have knowingly colluded with Russian. Not that I am in any way excusing them from allowing the campaign to be used as “useful idiots.” My Dog, the level of rank stupidity is mind blowing.

  202. 202.

    TenguPhule

    @LAO:

    I really hate to say it, but I’m coming around to the position that these folks are simply to incompetent to have knowingly colluded with Russian.

    Not an either/or scenario. Its both.

    They were stupid enough to try, stupid enough to fail at it and stupid enough to think they could keep it a secret.

  204. 204.

    Rasputin's Evil Twin

    @MomSense: My brother and I want tickets to your first concert!
    Are you linked in any way to the “Obama-funded lesbian farmers” that had Limbaugh in a tizzy last year?

  206. 206.

    cokane

    @Betty Cracker: The Butowsky quote doesnt corroborate any collusion or anything. Without context and without knowing the full details of the correspondence, you’re just relying on Wheeler’s lawyer’s interpretation. Which is as good as relying on Wheeler.

    Trump’s “collusion” on the Rich story could be nothing more than being notified about it in a vague manner, and replying with some vague positivity. And frankly this whole thing stinks of Rod “lesbian rape gangs” Wheeler desperately trying to clear his name and rake a buck.

  209. 209.

    rikyrah

    @Millard Filmore:

    Not everyone has a slush fund. …

    Sorry, I do not understand

    Pence has a slush fund…oops, PAC.

    Dolt45 is hustling the RNC to pay for his FAMILY’S legal bills…hence Jr’s lawyer getting $50,000, just weeks before he QUIT.

    The rest of them working at the White House, who would be involved in ‘erasing’ the information…

    They don’t have PAC’s, and the RNC certainly isn’t paying their lawyer’s fees. They don’t make enough to hire the type of DC Lawyer that can get them out of this unscathed.

  210. 210.

    Mnemosyne

    @LAO:

    As I understand it, half the process of compromising someone into working for a foreign government is convincing them that they’re doing nothing wrong.

    I suspect the Trumps were very, very easy to convince, because they’re morons.

  211. 211.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    I suspect the Trumps were very, very easy to convince, because they’re morons.

    Stupid people who owe Russian crime bosses a lot of money are very easy to convince once the alternatives are explained to them.

  212. 212.

    Another Scott

    @rikyrah: Budget? ‘Regular Order’? What’s that?:

    The Senate Budget Committee may not pass a budget resolution for fiscal 2018, panel member Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Tuesday.

    “I’m not even sure there’s going to be a budget that comes through committee,” Corker said, noting that there is no current movement on advancing a resolution.

    Instead, Senate leadership could move a bill as they see fit, complete with reconciliation instructions for tax reform and possible mandatory cuts.

    “Because we’ve gone beyond the effective date of April whatever, [leaders] have the ability to just deem something to the floor, and I don’t know that the committee itself is even going to take action,” Corker continued.

    But a spokesman for the Budget Committee said that Chairman Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) is intent on moving forward.

    “Chairman Enzi has consistently said we are going to do a budget this year, and continues to have discussions with members of his committee on the best path forward,” the spokesman said.

    The specter of the Senate Budget Committee removing itself from the budgeting process further highlights the chamber’s departure from normal order this year. Without a budget from the committee, Senate appropriators have already begun passing bills on the assumption that spending levels will remain the same as in 2017.

    In the House, the budget committee passed a resolution that dramatically boosted military spending, while cutting non-defense discretionary and some mandatory spending. That resolution passed hours after the House Appropriations Committee marked up the last of the 12 appropriations bills.

    The House Budget resolution still lacks the support of enough Republicans to pass on the floor.

    With government funding set to run out at the end of September, the distance between the House and Senate on their spending plans is adding to uncertainty about the possibility of a government shutdown come October.

    tick, tick, tick…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  213. 213.

    TenguPhule

    @Another Scott:

    A thought process: The US is about to default on its debts, what do I do to protect my money? Put it in the safest possible investment, US Treasury bonds….oh wait.

  214. 214.

    Betty Cracker

    @cokane: Again, I urge you to read the NPR article. Wheeler is definitely a scumbag who is looking to clear his name and make money. But Butowsky admits he told Wheeler that Trump had read and approved the fake news article. Could Butowsky have been lying about that? Sure, but the point is, it’s not just Wheeler’s word against Butowsky’s — the latter admitted he made the claim too, and there is a contemporaneous record of it.

    Ditto the meeting with Spicer — Spicer admits he met with Wheeler and Butkowsky, though he downplayed the significance of it today. But we now know Spicer lied to reporters when asked for a comment about the Rich case in a press briefing before the Fox News story fell apart.

    Is any of this a smoking gun all by itself? No. But it is yet more evidence that the Trump White House was trying to distract us from the Trump-Russia story and worked with a crooked media outfit to do so. That’s a pretty big deal.

  215. 215.

    rikyrah

    EXCLUSIVE: Omarosa Manigault keeping dossiers on journalists April Ryan and Roland Martin and Pastor Jamal Bryant calling them ‘biggest threats to sow discord in the African American community’ and ‘enemies of the Trump administration’
    By Karen Ruiz For Dailymail.com
    PUBLISHED: 13:12 EDT, 1 August 2017 | UPDATED: 14:43 EDT, 1 August 2017

    Omarosa has told President Trump three high-profile personalities are the ‘biggest threats to sow discord in the African American community,’ sources tell DailyMail.com

    The former reality star was once pals with CNN’s April Ryan, Roland Martin, and Pastor Jamal Bryant, but their political differences have come between them

    The 43-year-old has reportedly told former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to stop calling on Ryan during press briefings because she is a ‘media w***e’

    Manigualt is allegedly ‘always bashing’ her former friends in meetings with senior White House staff and has team keeping a dossier on each of them

    However, the Trump aide ‘doesn’t want to publicly fall out with Roland because out of her three former allies, he is the one she really fears’

    Manigault denies that she is carefully monitoring the three personalities

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4641430/Omarosa-keeping-dossiers-Trump-enemies.html#ixzz4oXHYoqL9

  216. 216.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @TenguPhule:

    And if anyone thinks the White House is actually going to submit to discovery and not destroy and hide evidence, I have a time share on a bridge to sell them.

    And when they’re called on this bullshit the Badministration & yoooge unwashed mass of RWNJs will shriek in one voice, BUT BUT BUT HITLERY DESTROYED 30,000 EMAILS!!

    Fuckers. Ain’t enough lampposts or rope for the lot of ’em. (Grow hemp!)

  218. 218.

    Citizen Alan

    @SiubhanDuinne

    I’ve just signed the order outlawing the Soviet Union. We start bombing in 10 minutes.

    was also meant as a joke. It almost caused World War 3. Presidents who are not also morons understand that every word they say is dissected by every government on the face of the planet.

  221. 221.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @rikyrah:

    When a Balloon Juice thread is quite long, I often read it from the bottom up, just so I don’t have to scroll through a couple of hundred comments I’ve already seen.

    Thus it was that the first thing I saw from your #215 was…

    Manigault denies that she is carefully monitoring the three personalities

    …and I thought it must be some Omarosa version of Sybil, or The Three Faces of Eve.

  222. 222.

    TenguPhule

    ForeignPolicy.com first reported Kushner’s remarks, which were intended to be off the record. “They thought we colluded, but we couldn’t even collude with our local offices,” Kushner said, according to the website.

    “We were too stupid to be crooks” is now the official alibi.

  225. 225.

    Marguerite Hill

    @Kay: I’m old enough to remember when Hillary Rodham Clinton was viewed suspiciously because she wore a HEADBAND in her hair! Of course, that was the tipoff that she has murderous inclinations.

    Nevertheless, Paula Jones – still alive. Kathleen Wiley – still on this side of chilly Jordan. Connie Hamzy – groupie desperately seeking attention, yet alive. Juanita Broadrick – currently in this Earthly abode. Eileen Wellstone – across “the pond” continues to breathe. Sandra Allen James – hasn’t yet approached the Pearly Gates. Gennifer Flowers – flourishing in the Garden of Political Paradise. Monica Lewinsky – must be made of Teflon because she’s still in the house!

    Somehow, puzzlingly, Hillary didn’t kill these women. It’s almost as if she is innocent of these charges. Strange, huh???

  226. 226.

    Marguerite Hill

    @rikyrah: Those aging nitwits MUST be related to the idiots here in Georgia who in lockstep vote GOP, then whine that the schools must fund-raise nonstop year round, that the local small rural hospital teeters on the verge of closure, that the area bridge scored D-, and that after every storm, schools must close because buses can’t travel on the many unpaved roads! Then at the next election, they vote GOP again. Selfish, spiteful, and STUPID!!!

  227. 227.

    ruckus

    @Marguerite Hill:
    They are just waiting for dems to get out of the way so that the rethugs can fix everything. Of course they also didn’t listen to the rethug politicians who said all they planned to do was destroy everything.

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