Tillerson gets asked about the moron comment, and goes into a line about how he's not from DC and doesn't get this kind of petty nonsense.
— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) October 4, 2017
at Exxon you could call your boss a moron and it was totally fine https://t.co/6LR5BE52Xo
— John Tabin (@johntabin) October 4, 2017
Party minion caught calling the head of state “a moron”; arrested & sentenced to long term for revealing Party secrets.
I’m so old, I can remember when that was a joke about the Soviet Union…
When your Secretary of State has to gather the press to call you smart, probably not so smart.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) October 4, 2017
When you are forced to deny that you called the President a moron in a news conf there is a 100% chance you called him a moron.
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) October 4, 2017
On MSNBC, @SRuhle cites a source who says Tillerson called the president a "fucking moron," not just a regular moron.
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) October 4, 2017
Trump was OK with it because Tillerson called him "The biggest moron you've ever seen, world-class, everyone knows that."
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) October 4, 2017
"This is a Washington, D.C. kind of lie. It's when the other person knows you're lying, and also knows you know he knows." -Advise & Consent
— Jack Pitney (@jpitney) October 5, 2017
Quite the kicker as well: pic.twitter.com/hi3M3KqF2W
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 4, 2017
The Mooch was wrong about Bannon. In reality every man who works for Trump can suck his own cock because not one of them has a spine.
— (((OhNoSheTwitnt))) (@OhNoSheTwitnt) October 4, 2017
"Trump believes Tillerson was more concerned with what the world thinks of the USA than with tending to the president’s personal image" https://t.co/3jTxHFBIuY
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 5, 2017
Jeez, how many cabinet-level pacts involve Jim Mattis? He's so gonna win "Survivor: Trump Island." https://t.co/fylhdbMW3K pic.twitter.com/YUvJInSEiE
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 4, 2017
ETA:
One thing Tillerson has going for him: he’s the only one who really knows what Trump and Putin actually said to each other for two hours.
— Jesse Lee (@JesseCharlesLee) October 5, 2017
HeleninEire
Anne Laurie are you here? Got your email but the email for KS kicked back. I would love to meet and help her friend. Can you send a right email? Or just tell KS my email direct. Thanks.
SiubhanDuinne
“Invertebro” is good. Will remember that one.
debbie
My FB feed is filled with rumors about Tillerson, Mattis, and Mnuchin having an agreement (thoughtfully called a suicide pact) that if one of them is fired, all three will leave. Has anyone heard about this? I can’t imagine Mnuchin would agreed, but who can tell anymore?
ETA: Probably should have added this: https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/suicide-pact-mattis-tillerson-and-mnuchin-have-a-deal-in-case-trump-votes-one-of-them-off-the-island/
Raoul
The Vox article yesterday on all the ways Rex is letting State fall apart/pulling it apart was ultra-depressing.
I expected total shit leadership from certifiable idiots like Ben Carson (he may have been a neurosurgeon at one time, but he is a useless blob now). I expected Rex to screw things up at State, even. But not like this. Not with active, aggressive neglect.
If we recover from tRump, it’ll take a lot of time and work. I really do think our global stature is down multiple notches and never to recover. The world might be better off. Weak sauce former-hegemony might be OK. But not if we nuke a bunch of shit on the way down. I mean nuke literally.
A Ghost to Most
That the “head of state” is a moron is hardly a state secret, but they are all Russian apparatchiks, so it fits.
Shygetz
According to that last tweet, the US Cabinet has just unionized.
Barry Rosenman
Sadly, the moron is taking steps to end the Iran nuclear deal. Hasn’t completely decertified it, but is punting it to Congress.
rikyrah
Once again..
Those who voted for Dolt45 and third party will NEVER be forgiven ??
A Ghost to Most
@Raoul:
Me too. I’m worried about an “after me, the deluge” event when the Great Orange Shitstain realizes the jig is up.
Mart
I still prefer dotard over fucking moron. Not that I am a commie lover or anything like that.
A Ghost to Most
@rikyrah: Yep. Voting for Rump was an unforgivable curse.
To Azkaban with them.
Suzanne
I am hearing secondhand rumors that Kelly and Tillerson are out tomorrow. Anyone else hearing this??
LurkerNoLonger
Rep. Tim Murphy aborts his career: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tim-murphy-resigns-after-pressure-mounts-following-texts-on-abortion/ar-AAsV0Le
lamh36
oatler.
“Wow…this won’t run a WEEK!” “Are you kidding? This play has got to close on page four…”
“Where did I go right??”
lamh36
OzarkHillbilly
The NRA surrenders? NRA Says Bump Stocks ‘Should Be Subject To Additional Regulations’
I guess 58 dead white country music fans makes more of a difference than 20 dead children.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@LurkerNoLonger: I see what you did there.
Elizabelle
What I love is that it is so patently obvious that Tillerson never denied calling Trump a moron.
Yet moron in chief tweets that the whole NBC story was “fake news!”
Whoever came up with SocioPOTUS did good.
PS: I think Trump does have a little bit of a heart. On how he says right out that Puerto Rico would never pay back all of its debt. He doesn’t seem to have a soft spot for Goldman-Sachs and whoever is carrying the loans. Even though he recruited so much of his cabinet from G-S.
Last: had someone said that Tillerson had to work a year for Trump in order to mitigate taxes on his $71 million from Exxon? No idea of that is sourced, but what enormous leverage for Trump, who definitely has a sadistic side.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Someone must have Wayne tied and gagged and stuffed in a closet.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Were we listening to the same guy? I heard him crack a tasteless joke about Puerto Rico screwing up his budget and then saying he wasn’t being serious.
Patricia Kayden
I don’t know why I’m laughing but I find this to be hilarious. Trump is such a pathetic manbaby that it’s amazing that he’s over 70 years of age. At my job, I receive criticism all the dang time without melting down and throwing a hissy fit. It’s called being an adult.
schrodingers_cat
Voting for T is like an own goal. Its like committing arson in your own house because you don’t get along with your siblings. When Hitler became the chancellor of Germany they were in a brutal recession following a war that had crushed the country. There is even less justification for T than Germans had for God damned Hitler. What is the excuse of T voters and JS voters. I have zero empathy for them.
Cheryl Rofer
@Suzanne: I saw the Kelly rumor earlier, then saw it debunked. Who knows? Even if there is no plan for that now, the Orange One might take a fit during tomorrow morning’s tweet session and fire them all.
Patricia Kayden
@Barry Rosenman: One good thing about Trump is that he’s so universally hated that there is no way he could gin up a war against Iran and get away with it. He would neither get support from the majority of the American people nor support from foreign allies (except possibly Israel and Russia, I guess). It would speed up the tanking of his approval ratings.
A Ghost to Most
@OzarkHillbilly: I don’t think so. NRA is the lobby for gun mfgs, not plastics companies. This is CYA for Vegas, I believe.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@schrodingers_cat:
They’re economically anxious.
A Ghost to Most
@schrodingers_cat:
They did it for spite. Fuckem.
schrodingers_cat
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That’s their cover story which does not hold up to any scrutiny.
I know you are being facetious but I have had it with the stupid Reality TV President and his central casting generals and assorted morons.
Elizabelle
@debbie: I got my information through the glibertarians at Marketplace.
A Ghost to Most
@Patricia Kayden: Could Rump do something so heinous that the whole world declared war on us?
Amaranthine RBG
@A Ghost to Most: @A Ghost to Most:
They have been pretty active in fighting restrictions on magazines, flash suppressors, rail-mounted fore-grips, AR pistol “arm braces”, suppressors, etc, all of which are usually manufactured by 3rd parties. I don’t see how you can carve out bump-stocks as the sort of thing that the NRA usually doesn’t yell and scream about.
feebog
The level of dysfunction in this administration is off the charts. Would not be surprised if Dolt45 simply declares bankruptcy and walks away from the whole mess.
Baud
@lamh36: Hillary’s server really is the most secure place on the internet.
Patricia Kayden
@schrodingers_cat: Trump voters who are White Supremacists/Neo Nazis are perfectly fine with Trump. His hatred of minorities is their hatred of minorities writ large and backed up by the most prestigious political office in the world (although it can be argued that Macron or Merkel are the real leaders of the free world). Plus White Evangelicals still love Trump because he allows them to insert Christianist dogma into politics.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: Agreed.
Mart
@Patricia Kayden: Russia and Iran are pretty tight, aren’t they?
Baud
@feebog: Can you declare moral bankruptcy?
Patricia Kayden
@Elizabelle:
Trump also renewed his demand that the FBI investigate “Fake News” because he’s a fascist who doesn’t believe in a free press.
Amaranthine RBG
Despite what some of the stories have said about Tillerson, I didn’t really see any comments from him in the past day or so that were complete suck-ups to Trump.
He seems to pointedly not be denying that he called him a moron and just dismissing the topic.
Isn’t that a challenge to Trump, not a bended knee?
Baud
@Patricia Kayden: He would have to take an Iranian attack, and I don’t think he is capable of doing it (unlike, say, the Bush people).
Elizabelle
@Amaranthine RBG: Yeah. I love the fact there is no denial.
gene108
@Raoul:
From what I read, Tillerson’s problem is a lot of the Republican foreign policy hands, who could fill spots at State were critical of Trump, and therefore Trump refuses to nominate them.
Tillerson really doesn’t have anyone to tap who is both (1) qualified and (2) never critical of Trump.
Kay
He’s Standing In The Breach, like a tireless sentry protecting the homeland from…the President. Who is a moron.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I did years ago.
Patricia Kayden
@Mart: Yep.
Kay
Guffaw. No one cares anymore because that was all bullshit. Hasn’t anyone told this person?
JustRuss
@Patricia Kayden:
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you’re not a white, male, billionaire CEO who fires people for lulz.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It works!
Brachiator
From Politico
One thing that should be clear by now is that Trump is often inflexible. His position will often be his first utterance on the matter. He may pretend to go for bipartisan agreement, but this is just a feint.
The Democrats better get used to this.
Obviously, this doesn’t mean that Trump always gets what he wants. And he will blatantly lie about what he wants or what he is willing to do to get it. Or he will just be a stubborn asswipe.
The ridiculous thing is that his staff will lie for him, bob and weave wherever needed, and his dumbass supporters will convince themselves that his lies are not lies at all (they are still waiting on that repeal and replace Obamacare with something better).
It don’t matter. Trump’s policy, to the extent that there is any agenda at all, is always based on meanness and cruelty. He will pull the rug out from under Dream Act immigrants if he can get away with it, and blame the immigrants themselves and Democrats for whatever damage he himself wreaks.
Patricia Kayden
@Amaranthine RBG: Continuing to work for Trump after calling him a moron doesn’t put Tillerson in a great light. Why does he continue to work and vouch for a f’n moron? Why not quit and speak out against Trump if you feel that he is a moron? Doesn’t make a lick of sense.
SiubhanDuinne
This is O/T (and in my opinion deserves its own thread one of these times), but I’ve been reading the brand-new, and very interesting, book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President, and one of the things that strikes me afresh is that NONE of them addresses Donald Trump’s relationship with his mother. Nor, as far as I can determine, have his various biographers over the years talked about his Scottish-born mother at all except for the anecdote that she loved the Queen and was glued to the television during the Coronation in 1953. We know some things (not enough, in my opinion) about his father, Fred Trump — his insistence on being a “killer” in business, his obsessive penury; and we can easily infer some emotional abuse of his children; but there is literally nothing about Donald’s mother.
This seems weird to me. If she was (physically or emotionally) absent during DJT’s childhood, that’s important to know in terms of his own psychology. If she was present and impactful, that’s equally important to know in terms of DJT’s psychological development. It is just bizarre that the various psychiatrists, psychologists, MSWs, biographers, and other experts, not only fail to mention Mary Anne MacLeod Trump in anything but glancing terms, but don’t even bother to say why they are ignoring her presence (or lack thereof) in young Donald’s life.
Any thoughts from the BJ hive mind? Especially from those who are professionally educated in counseling/therapy/psychology/psychiatry?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dangerous_Case_of_Donald_Trump
lamh36
#FamInDC #Day2MuseumsMonuments #SmithsonianAirSpace #TuskegeAirmen
More to come this weekend on my blog…
https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/916074147431755777
Cheryl Rofer
Some small good news, but they’ll come up with something else.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Never.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Suzanne: I’ve been reading Kelly is out. That Drumpf kicked him off air force one the other day.
Haven’t heard anything about Rexit.
MomSense
Breaking now- ReXxon is being summoned to the White House.
Corner Stone
WOOP WOOP WOOP it’s getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes WOOP WOOP WOOP
Looks like the Friday news dump is aborting itself and going a day early. See you next go round, Tilly and CoS Kelly. Because, YOU’RE FIRED!!
debbie
@MomSense: a
JFinC. Kelly, Tillerson, etc. Who will be left to defend us from Stephen Miller?
Amaranthine RBG
@Patricia Kayden:
My speculations: 1) he is trying to get fired, instead or resigning. Or Trump has previously refused his resignation.
2) I don’t admire Tillerson, but I suspect it is possible that he sincerely believes that Trump is a danger to the country and its better for him to be SoS than some random graduate of Liberty University. Understand, I think is quite possible that Tillerson took the job out of vanity and so forth – but I think it is possible to have a legitimate reason to stay.
Just speculation.
A Ghost to Most
@Amaranthine RBG:
It doesn’t hurt them. Sacrifices have to be made! It allows them a veneer of empathy at someone else’s expense.
I don’t think it is possible to be too cynical when it comes to the NRA and the ammosexual tribe. YMMV.
Elizabelle
Gonna be a beautiful Harvest moon tonight. Treat yourself, if you’re able to view it.
Something orange that we like.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: Immigrants have played a key part in making the United States a power house of cutting edge science. Steven Miller is doing Putin’s work here in his jihad against immigration. Go check the lists of Nobel Prize winners and see how many foreign born people you will find. This plan is like cutting your nose to spite your face. Fucking traitors.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m not all that interested in the Trump family, but he has a sister who’s a retired NYS judge, and a brother who does not seem to interact with him much at all. I’ve not noticed them saying much at all about their brother.
The sister becoming a judge — that speaks to ambition and professional goals achieved, and relatively early when you track women’s progress.
Corner Stone
@Elizabelle: It was gorgeous here last night. Great view for some time.
japa21
@MomSense: I hope Trump challenges him on the moron statement and Tillerson says, “Yes I said it because you are fucking moron. And its about time someone told you that to your face.”
schrodingers_cat
@Patricia Kayden: Taking an axe to destroy what makes this country tick is not going to be in their best interests either.
A Ghost to Most
@Amaranthine RBG:
I think his cut of a possible Russian-EXXON oil deal drove him from the start. That is a fantasy now. Now what? GTFO.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: Trump’s sister is a retired FEDERAL judge.
joel hanes
@Raoul:
Not with active, aggressive neglect.
Pruitt is more damaging, through active malevolence and deliberate vandalism.
IMHO the worst in Trump’s cabinet of horrors.
Even when sane people regain control of the government,
losses on the environmental front tend to be irreversible.
Extinction is forever.
Amaranthine RBG
@A Ghost to Most:
Oh, i don’t doubt that it is a calculation. But they are legitimately giving up the sort of thing that they have rabidly fought for in the past.
The past couple of days would have been a good time to call for a nationwide “assault weapons” registry and limiting ownership to 3 such weapons. In the future as the political climate changes, that number could be changed to 1 or zero. Seems like an opportunity missed. There was so much energy wasted on fighting the non-existant suppressor problem.
A Ghost to Most
@Patricia Kayden: I’ve read that 80% of white evangelicals voted for Rump.
It would be shameful, if they had any.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
I actually am interested, to the degree that I’m always curious about what early formative experiences contributed (for good or for ill) to any prominent person’s development. Not from a gossipy People magazine perspective, but from something resembling professional insight. And I am stunned that nobody has seen fit to look at Trump’s relationship with his mother. Not to be all Freudian about it, but that is perhaps the single most important relationship in anyone’s young developmental life.
TL;DR — it’s interesting to know why people do what they do and why they are what they are.
MomSense
@debbie:
I know. I’m sick of these motherfucking Nazis in the motherficking White House.
jl
@Baud: ” Can you declare moral bankruptcy? ”
In US politics, it’s the road to riches! On Other People’s Money, if you file under the right chapter.
Steeplejack (phone)
Oh, Chris Matthews. It’s not often the grammar refs call an audible, but . . .
To Andrea Mitchell at the top of his show: “It seems like to me there is high dungeon at the White House.”
This after a couple of weeks ago a panelist described somebody—Trump, maybe—as “feral,” and Matthews asked, “What kind of animal is that?”
A Ghost to Most
@Amaranthine RBG:
I have come to the conclusion that it is best to not give another fucking inch to “those people”, or to give them the benefit of doubt on anything.
Maybe I’ve been overexposed, and am now allergic.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack (phone):
Mitchell, aka Mrs. Greenspan, is among those who frequently talk about political “pundints.”
Elizabelle
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Thank you. Was too lazy to teh google.
Federal judge.
Patricia Kayden
@A Ghost to Most: That’s true. Voted for a thrice married, twice divorced, cussing, lying philanderer because reasons. And they’re sticking with him.
A Ghost to Most
@jl:
Ask old “hiking the Appalachian Trail”. He’s back in bidness.
RoonieRoo
Does anyone here know Wilmington, NC? We might ( 50/50 chance) be moving there from Austin. Grumpy’s company got bought (sort of) by a Wilmington company and at some point in the next couple of years they might require a move. Since both of us have only lived in Texas our entire lives, we are both excited and terrified at the thought.
Duane
@debbie: The NRA is willing to cede ground on bump stocks because they’re immaterial to their goal of selling more guns. Then they can claim they’re being reasonable about gun control.It’s a smoke screen, anyone with a lick of sense can see through it,but the NRA is going on the offensive.
Meanwhile, sales of bump stocks are soaring.Sick bastards want to immulate a murderer, a terrorist,apparently.
Lapassionara
@Steeplejack (phone): how does he keep his job? Arrrrrgh.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack (phone): I actually think Tweety is in the beginning to mid stages of dementia. Not that a verbal gaffe means that but he has been forgetting a lot of names and terms and examples that he used to have down cold. If you subject yourself to his show a couple times a week watch for the seconds he blanks and a guest news person will have to prompt him. It’s been happening more frequently this year, IMO.
germy
So the Las Vegas shooter contemplated attacking the Lollapalooza concert? TV news just reminded me that’s where Obama’s daughter partied.
hueyplong
Might we be just hours away from Louie Gohmert* as Secretary of State?
These guys are underperforming Freedonia in Duck Soup.
* I googled “stupid Congressman” and his name came up first. So of course he’s the logical choice.
A Ghost to Most
@Patricia Kayden: when I was a kid, until the 90s, I wondered how the German people could give themselves over to a big Daddy like they did.
I wonder no longer; I should be filming it.
debbie
@Duane:
I heard maybe an hour ago that sales hadn’t jumped. But one baby step is better than nothing.
debbie
@germy:
Yeah, it’ll be interesting to see the level of security at the ACL show.
Corner Stone
@hueyplong:
Don’t worry. You got it right.
Elizabelle
@debbie: ACL?
debbie
@Elizabelle: @Elizabelle:
Austin City Limits. They’re having a musical festival this weekend.
ETA: https://www.aclfestival.com/
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
Boy, did I ever use the wrong word!! I meant “parsimony.”
Embarrassed.
Duane
@debbie: CNN and NYT are reporting brisk sales of the device.Their evidence is antedotical, but certainly support their conclusion.
Elizabelle
@debbie: Thank you.
The Lodger
@Duane: Do you mean anecdotal? Or are you referring to a type of evidence taken in small doses to counteract the effects of real evidence?
eclare
@SiubhanDuinne: I wondered about that….
Corner Stone
@The Lodger: I think there is a conspiracy in place here to give Steeplejack a heart attack.
eclare
@Corner Stone: Hahaha…..
Mike in NC
@RoonieRoo: I used to work in Wilmington. It’s a decent smallish city with pretty much all of the amenities, shopping, good restaurants, etc. Biggest employers are the university of NC and several hospitals and medical centers.
Jay S
@Cheryl Rofer: They may have come up with something as bad or worse than the Johnson amendment:
https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/916069859066286081
mainmata
@Raoul: The biggest issue at State is the lack of senior appointments and ambassadors. The actual reorganization so far has been mainly about IT and some management positions. Pretty marginal. Tillerson has been a totally ineffective SoS. The job is radically different from being the CEO of the largest petro company in the world. Who knew? Most of the staff who actually get things done have not (yet) been much affected and USAID not much at all (aside from stupid things like requiring “climate change” to be called “weather variability”). Why? Because we’re still on Obama’s last budget and programmatic structure. The GOP Congress has, thankfully, not been able to do anything. Yet.
mainmata
@Mike in NC: And currently renovating its beautiful 19th century downtown near the wonderfully-named Cape Fear River.
mainmata
@Steeplejack (phone): I don’t watch Tweety anymore since he’s gotten stupider and louder the longer he’s been on. But confusing dungeon with dudgeon and apparently confusing feral with, what, a ferret?
Shana
@Corner Stone: He was talking about Tommy guns tonight. Must have blanked on the name of gatling guns.
SiubhanDuinne
@eclare:
Yeah. Massive (albeit, I hope, momentary) brain fart on my part. Apologies. My excuse is that I’m 75 years old and it’s only to be expected that I’ll get things wrong occasionally :-)
Duane
@The Lodger: Antecdotal. Spelling in a hurry.Looked good at first. ; )
Corner Stone
@Duane: Why do you hate Jackie Steeples?
Duane
@Corner Stone: I wasn’t aware of it, but if you can give me some reasons, I’ll try harder.
Ohio Mom
@Jay S: I hope Andy Slavitt isn’t giving them any ideas. That is a pretty diabolical plot, maybe almost too clever for Republicans to come up with.
Sigh, I am so tired of all this. But persist we must.
Kay Eye
@OzarkHillbilly: The NRA does not care about the “bump Stock” issue. Those things are accessories, not guns. This is not a gesture of sudden concern. The NRA wants guns to keep selling. Don’t get in the way of that.
Steeplejack
@mainmata:
I think the feral thing was that Matthews was thinking it was an adjective like bovine, vulpine, lupine—referring to a specific species.
Steeplejack
@Lapassionara:
I think Matthews is actually okay as the analysis-and-pundit-feedback shows go. He is very skeptical of the administration, and Republicans in general, and he often asks good questions. The problem is that he often doesn’t let his panelists answer as he talks over them. And he is blind to the fact that his framing of the world is increasingly inaccurate: the face of the working class is no longer union guys from Pittsburgh with names that end in ski; it’s POC women working two (non-union) jobs in a struggle to make ends meet.
@Corner Stone:
I think he’s definitely lost a step this year. Trump’s election seemed to galvanize him for a while, but the last few months he has fallen back into his old, unfocused ways. And he seems to “sputter” a lot—not just verbally but apparently trying to marshal his thoughts and tame the firehose down to a coherent stream.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
RE: Immigrants have played a key part in making the United States a power house of cutting edge science. Steven Miller is doing Putin’s work here in his jihad against immigration.
Trump doesn’t care. He doesn’t believe in science. Or rather he believes that a hard nosed businessman can make the universe tremble and do his bidding.
And the average American is like the talk radio host I was listening to on the way home. Her co-host was listing the various new Nobel prize winners. Her response was, “this stuff is boring. I’d rather be talking about football.”
And then there are those who don’t care about science because Jesus didn’t need chemistry or physics.