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The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Official Portrait: An Analysis

Official Portrait: An Analysis

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The topic of Trump’s official presidential portrait has come up in comments a couple of times recently. According to The Washington Post, the official portraits are scarce in federal buildings for mysterious reasons.

I’ve yet to be confronted with Trump’s hideous, glowering visage (nor experienced renewed horror at its replacement of President Obama’s smiling, handsome photo — worst downgrade ever!). I’ve not been in a government building all year.

But that streak will end soon when I visit the DMV to renew my driver license. To be honest, I can’t remember if the DMV has presidential photos up. Might be just Governor Scott, which would be nearly as heinous in its own way. Anyhoo, I digress.

As I mentioned when the topic of Trump’s photo came up in a thread, I used to have a job that required me to evaluate and sign off on graphics prior to publication. I wasn’t particularly skilled at that aspect of the job, but even I would have sent Trump’s official presidential photo back to the design team with a note reading, “Are you fucking kidding me?!?”

I can appreciate the Trump design team’s dilemma: the subject is repellent. Even world-class food photographers would struggle with making a turd look appetizing.

But it’s always amateur hour in Trumpland, and that fact is underscored by how often they screw up the little things that a halfway competent Dairy Queen manager would get right, like the typo-riddled press releases.

The current official photo is a testament to that incompetence — or perhaps can be explained by malice toward the subject. (I hope it’s the latter, but the general ineptitude in that communications shop makes me suspect the former.)

I laughed aloud when I first saw the official portrait, and I’ll explain why below the fold, where I’ve placed the grotesque image so as not to mar the front page of this blog with it…

So, here’s the current, awful official photo:

He’s wearing an expression that is meant to convey toughness but instead suggests constipation. Nothing anyone can really do about that: “constipated” or “Mussolini jaw-jut” seem to be the binary choices in Trump facial expressions. But the graphics team could have done something about the fucking hair:

Note how the gap in the north-south comb-over configuration (figure 2) reveals the east-west orientation of the comb-under layer beneath (figure 1). There’s just no excuse for that shit in the age of advanced cosmetology and image-editing technology. Plus, all the greasy, product-laden loops sticking out from his pumpkin-like noggin in figures 3 and 4.

It’s just gross. I’ve seen annual reports for small companies that feature more professional photo-editing than that — performed by art school interns. This is just basic stuff, and you’d think a TV personality / flaming narcissist would be on it. Who knows — maybe that’s the hold up to general photo distribution.

Anyhoo, not important, but revealing nonetheless as an example of rank incompetence in the single sphere minimally informed voters might have expected Trump to excel in: self-promotion. Open thread!

Reader Interactions

199Comments

  2. 2.

    Elizabelle

    I am hoping that offices will hold up putting up Trump’s photo for as long as possible. And that maybe he’ll be in the hot seat with Mueller before too long.

    The photo. It’s his “you’re fired” face.

    Almost like “you expect to come here for services?”

    Fucker.

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    Heh. Well, at least the ginormous tie is held captive inside the ill-fitting jacket and he has the Presidential Scowl, the one thing he shares with Pence, who’s practicing in front of the mirror and Mother for when his time comes. Any day now, Mikie.

  6. 6.

    Elizabelle

    I would be so tempted to draw in some creatures, living in that thatch atop ILPOTUS’s head. Lice and bugs, at least. Or crops.

    It shames us, to have him on our presidential portraits. I’d be so tempted to deface them, but that’s another reason for having cameras in govt building lobbies, no?

    ILPOTUS, for Illegitimate POTUS, works as IL duce reference too.

  10. 10.

    The Moar You Know

    His eyes are not looking in the same direction (that one is kinda freaking me out). He also appears to be hunched over in terror. And he MUST stop with the tanner, it looks fucking ridiculous.

    Not a good look.

  11. 11.

    guachi

    We have a photo up in the government building I work in.

    Constipated is absolutely correct. I’d like they took a picture of him while he was poop-tweeting.

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    Yes, that’s an ugly photo. Trump is ugly inside and out, so it’s the official photo he deserves. But I see the silver lining to the White House’s inefficiency in distributing it: for now at least, your poor beleaguered civil servants don’t have to look at his face every day.

  15. 15.

    gaucho

    As an IP lawyer, what I find fascinating is that the portrait’s copyright has not been unambiguously open sourced or dedicated to the public, as these types of official government photographs usually are. So, for example, it’s not completely clear that it satisfies Wikipedia’s guidelines to be able to post there. So, the photo used there for Trump is one that a DOD photographer took at the Pentagon, rather than the “official” portrait.

    A bit about the Wikipedia debate can be found here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/File:Donald_Trump_Official_Presidential_Portrait.jpg

    To me, it just speaks to the level of gross incompetence of the people around this man. I can’t see any ideological reason to do things this way.

  17. 17.

    JaneE

    Trump had to have approved that portrait.

    I can’t remember when I saw a portrait that looks as if the camera was slightly above the subject. Let’s hope the photographer was trying to help everyone look down on Trump.

  18. 18.

    maya

    Yeah,his ‘tough guy’ portrait has been up in the local VA clinic since earlier this year. Mandatory. But his flag lapel pin is much too small. Nancy Pelosi’s is much bigger. Someone should remind his base of that glaring lack of patriotism.

  19. 19.

    Dave

    His posture screams fear. It may just be that he’s that out of shape but it doesn’t present strength whatever the silly glower is meant to convey.

  22. 22.

    The Moar You Know

    It’s possible being a human chameleon is one of his competitive advantages. Stay out of tongue range, just in case.

    @trollhattan: OH THANK YOU NOW I CAN HAVE NIGHTMARES ABOUT BEING EATEN ALIVE BY TRUMP’S LIZARD TONGUE

    Probably would have happened anyway, in all honesty.

    His posture screams fear.

    @Dave: Glad I’m not the only one seeing that. Hunched in, like he expects Fred to materialize from Hell in front of him and punch him in the face for being a disappointment.

  23. 23.

    Amir Khalid

    @Doug R:
    Churchill was Strong Leader. Constipated-looking imitation of Churchill’s scowl = Trump too is Strong Leader.

    Smiling is conciliatory. Conciliatory = weak.

  27. 27.

    aimai

    Its a horrible picture. The interesting thing about it, or what adds to the pathetic quality, is that his face (as everyone has said) is set in his glowering, master, look but his eyes are slightly unfocused and actually look slightly afraid and confused, to me, like they are trapped inside his meat sack body (like the witches eyes in the buffy episode where a woman is trapped inside her own cheerleader statuette, and they are all that can move).

  28. 28.

    Another Scott

    @Dave: His posture is bad, too. His right shoulder is substantially higher than his left. He’s got some mechanical issues going on there. And/or his suit is horrible and he has 6″ wide shoulder pads.

    Both/and?

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  30. 30.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    OT: If you’re wondering why not-quite-Trumpist Republicans like sniveling human gherkin Ari Fleischer, and apparently Paul Ryan are pouncing on the great revelation that Democrats did oppo research? The answer, as I think it’s going to be for years, is “Mercers”

    Trump Data Guru: I Tried to Team Up With Julian Assange
    The head of Cambridge Analytica said he asked the Wikileaks founder for help finding Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 deleted emails.
    Alexander Nix, who heads a controversial data analytics firm that worked for President Donald Trump’s campaign, wrote in an email last year that he reached out to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange about Hillary Clinton’s missing 33,000 emails.
    Nix, who heads Cambridge Analytica, told a third party that he reached out to Assange about his firm somehow helping the Wikileaks founder release Clinton’s missing emails, according to two sources familiar with a Congressional investigation into interactions between Trump associates and the Kremlin. Those sources also relayed that, according to Nix’s email, Assange told the Cambridge Analytica CEO that he didn’t want his help, and preferred to do the work on his own.

    but was the email that quoted trump’s bellowing almost word-for-word “sanctimonious”

  31. 31.

    danielx

    @Betty Cracker:

    Gee, does it count as treason if people get together and shred a bunch of pictures of Lord Shortfingers? I won’t say burn, since it reminds of those assholes burning their MAGA hats.

  32. 32.

    HeleninEire

    My American passport expires in March. I need to go to the embassy here to see what I need to do to renew it. Maybe I’ll go next week. Curious to know if the portrait is up there.

    I think I already reported here that as of the end of February, the last time I traveled back to America, it was not displayed at American customs and immigration at Dublin airport. Quite unusual.

  34. 34.

    Gin & Tonic

    Since graphic design is sort of mentioned, I am spending the day attending a presentation by the brilliant Edward Tufte. It is my treat to myself. Yes, I am proudly a geek. Tough shit.

  37. 37.

    Elizabelle

    Trump does not belong in office, and that portrait does not belong in our government buildings. Poor us.

  43. 43.

    rikyrah

    3 out of 281 Does Not a Turning Point Make
    It’s easy to speak out when you have nothing to lose.

    And yet, reports are out today that the same day that outgoing Senators Corker and Flake expressed their utter disdain for the tiny-handed twit, their beloved party that they profess to care so much about gave the numbskull Nazi not one, not two, but THREE separate rounds of applause during a luncheon with Senate Republicans. These same reports stated that the hairbrained Hitler took the luncheon to brag about his many, many great accomplishments and then encouraged his minions to go and get tax reform done. At the end of their meeting, there were likely many awkward handshakes before the dimwitted dufus returned to his domicile to get caught up on the day’s news, as presented by Fox.

    What Bob Corker and now Jeff Flake did today was easy. It’s easy to say how you really feel when you’ve already given your two weeks’ notice. What’s harder to do is to go to a luncheon with a boss that you despise and tell him how you really feel in front of everyone. That epic “I quit” scene only plays out in Hollywood movies because it isn’t easy to completely put yourself out there in a situation that would not only endanger your job but also your career. It’s why millions of Americans endure unsatisfying jobs because they know that the risk is simply not worth the reward. They would rather keep doing their job than cause any trouble that may jeopardize themselves and their career.

    This is not a Republican uprising. There are still 278 Republicans in the House and Senate who are willingly complicit in everything that the bumbling buffoon is trying to do. They support him and his agenda in taking away health care from 24 million Americans to taking away health care from 9 million children to deporting 800,000 children to ignoring climate change, gun violence, and mass incarceration to waging an open war against women, people of color, and voting rights. They are complicit not only in their votes on legislation and nominees but also in their votes to protect Putin’s puppet in allowing him to profit off the presidency while simultaneously allowing his administration to be the least transparent and most overtly corrupt in our nation’s history.

  44. 44.

    Amir Khalid

    @danielx:
    I seem to remember that Americans have a constitutional right to burn the national flag if they so wish. Gott sei dank, POTUS’ official photo is not a national symbol on that level, so you have my permission to shred away.

  45. 45.

    SFAW

    @ThresherK:

    So, Ben Garrison was not available?

    A heads-up, something like “full-blown Shitgibbonista moron Ben Garrison,” would have been helpful, by the way. His cartoons are apparently what passes for “humor” in wingnut circles — e.g., “anyone one not a Trumpista is BADBADBAD” and “Lie-berals all SUCK!!” — I guess.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    I wish Hillary Clinton had hired more opposition researchers. An army. Someone had to look into this complete fucking stranger who is now the president. I also wish she had her had her own Wikileaks lackey to steal the Trump campaign emails.

  47. 47.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Doug R:

    What’s wrong with a genial smile, FFS?

    He’s a fascist. Fascists don’t smile in their official portraits. The message is “I’m gonna kill the people you hate, and I’m gonna kill you if you step out of line.”

  49. 49.

    dmsilev

    @Elizabelle:

    I would be so tempted to draw in some creatures, living in that thatch atop ILPOTUS’s head. Lice and bugs, at least. Or crops.

    Crop circles from tiny and somewhat confused aliens is the most plausible explanation for that …style that I can think of.

  52. 52.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I saw it. I can’t read them anymore. I’ve been mad since the “FBI Clears Donald Trump of Wrongdoing” piece the week prior to the election.

    Maybe it’s simple. Comey said in his testimony Putin “hates” Clinton, which is weirdly personal, but that’s what he said. Maybe they just hate her. As you know, the snobby NYTimes was never very fond of the Clintons- they’ve always treated them like uppity hillbillies.

  54. 54.

    Boussinesque

    @Gin & Tonic: Obligatory.

    That picture was actually the first time I had ever heard of the man, and one of my friends had to explain to me who he was. Jealous that you get to see a talk by him—let us know how it goes!

  56. 56.

    Ian G.

    How can anyone look at that photo and not conclude that its subject is mentally ill?

    @dr. bloor:

    I think it’s supposed to be “I’m tougher than you”, but it looks like the facial expression 8-year-old me would make when my parents sent me to my room for teasing my sister.

  59. 59.

    Immanentize

    On Trump picture. Something funky is also going on with that lapel pin. Is it photoshopped in?

  60. 60.

    d58826

    I’m way old enough to remember my fair share of presidential scandals. The GOOPerrs rally round the GOP president and the D’s rally round the democratic one. Fine that’s politics.

    This is different. The GOP is doing it’s level best to torpedo the investigations into the Russian interference in our elections. Whither the Trump campaign was an active or passive participant in this interference is what the investigations are all about.
    But for the GOP to protect the Russians – this isn’t politics this is treason. I’m also old enough to remember when the Russians/USSR/Communists were our mortal enemies and even having a US Official, in the normal course of doing business, having an official meeting with the Russians was subject to attack by the GOP/right wing. They even when ballistic over Saint Ronulus the Unready met with Gorbachev.
    And now the GOP and Putin are BFF’s. I hope the GOP held out for a very very BIG payday when they sold their souls and the country out to Putin

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @HAL:

    Photoshopped Marie Antrumpette looks exactly like a real photo of Trump’s mother. It’s actually pretty freaky.

  62. 62.

    Lurker From Beyond the Canadian Border

    @rp: Eh, the camera doesn’t really matter here. A quick google search indicates that they used a Canon 1Ds Mark III, which is a high end professional camera. According to B&H you can buy a used one for $1500, and the replacement model for $5700. I have an older, much less expensive Canon DSLR I still use (converted for infrared, though).

    Unless the camera styled his hair…

  63. 63.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I went to one of Tufte’s two-day seminars many years ago — probably back in 2002 or 2003 or so. Every minute was fascinating. Hope you enjoy the day; I’m sure you will!

  65. 65.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The short version is “Clinton did something we can pretend is nefarious if we frame it badly and ignore a bunch of other evidence… and the fact that all politicians do the same thing.”

    Because it’s the New York Fucking Times. Christ.

  66. 66.

    Suzanne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I am spending the day attending a presentation by the brilliant Edward Tufte.

    OHMIGOD JEALOUS.
    Please report back.
    Share slides, if there are slides.

  67. 67.

    Sask_Ex_Pat

    The background is horrible-it looks worse than the fake ones they add in for school pictures. It looks like he got the “Presidential” package at a discount big-box store studio.

  69. 69.

    Eural Joiner

    It looks like he got the “Presidential” package at a discount big-box store studio.

    For the win!

  70. 70.

    RobertDSC-iPhone 6

    I saw the portrait when I was working on an Air Force base just recently. Made me mad. Shitbag.

  71. 71.

    sukabi

    @JaneE: hiding his chins…he’s apparently aware his chins have overtaken his jawline…thus you get the jutting forward and the slightly elevated camera angle…

    As for the hair….he likes to do that himself, so I can see him pitching a yuuuuge fit if someone tried to “fix” it even in a photo.

  72. 72.

    trollhattan

    @Amir Khalid:
    Arguably the most famous Churchill portrait, by Yousuf Karsh in 1941, the scowl wasn’t from enduring the worst depths of WWII but rather, because the photographer snatched away his cigar just before tripping the shutter.

    Can you imagine Trump letting anybody with the name Yousuf within a mile of him?

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

    House GOP tax leader threatens to break Trump’s promise not to change 401(k) rules
    October 25 at 9:57 AM

    House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady on Wednesday suggested a tax bill he is preparing to introduce could force changes to 401(k) plans and other retirement accounts, potentially bucking a promise from President Trump that those accounts would be left alone.

    Brady, speaking at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, said “we think in tax reform we can create incentives for people to save more and save sooner.”

    He said he was “working very closely with the president,” but he also said many people who have tax-incentivized retirement accounts contribute $200 per month or less, a level he thought was too low.

  75. 75.

    rikyrah

    @d58826:

    This is different. The GOP is doing it’s level best to torpedo the investigations into the Russian interference in our elections. Whither the Trump campaign was an active or passive participant in this interference is what the investigations are all about.
    But for the GOP to protect the Russians – this isn’t politics this is treason.

    This really IS the difference.

  77. 77.

    trollhattan

    @sukabi:
    During the campaign Trump’s prep guidelines for shooting himself leaked out and as I recall they covered every tiny detail, especially the lighting. He’s not a rube when it comes to this stuff because of the TV series and I’m surprised the portrait seems to have tossed everything out the window.

  78. 78.

    Major Major Major Major

    @trollhattan:

    Arguably the most famous Churchill portrait, by Yousuf Karsh in 1941, the scowl wasn’t from enduring the worst depths of WWII but rather, because the photographer snatched away his cigar just before tripping the shutter.

    That’s actually my favorite Fun Fact to tell people about Churchill at parties and whatever.

    My favorite one about San Francisco, what’s under those brick circles on the streets, was recently blabbed by KQED.

  80. 80.

    WaterGirl

    Can you front pagers please post another couple of threads ASAP? I would like to get trump’s ugly face off of my computer screen – he is currently in Cole’s twitter feed that lists new threads & their graphics.

  82. 82.

    SFBayAreaGal

    His portrait has been up in San Francisco VA hospital since earlier this year. When I saw it I wanted to cry. I remember Obama’s picture and was hoping to see Hillary’s. I then became angry and started looking at my fellow vets, wondering how many of them voted for him.

  83. 83.

    sukabi

    @trollhattan: we’ve all had a first hand look at his “competence” the last 11 months, and I gotta say, the results of this “photo shoot” are exactly what I would expect from Drumpf, especially given all his exposure to professional lighting techniques / procedures.

    Drumpf knows better than ANYONE else how to do _________. Just ask him, he’ll tell you.

  86. 86.

    Betty Cracker

    @WaterGirl: Would be easier if Cole would just TWEET some more. I tried to spare y’all by placing the image below the fold. Forgot about the damned Twitter feed…

    @SFBayAreaGal: Another anecdote to file under “Trump Ruins Everything.”

  88. 88.

    Big Picture Pathologist

    @d58826:

    Russia, like this country, is being controlled by oligarchs. It is not an existential threat to the wealthy elite and therefore there are few downsides to treason if you’re the GOP.

  90. 90.

    sukabi

    @NotMax: when you’ve spent your entire life dicking people over maybe your face starts taking on the characteristics of your actions… In his case Old Empty Ballsack.

  91. 91.

    ruemara

    Fuck that guy. What an atrocious face. I cannot believe this twat was elected. And if I was the graphics team, fucking horns would be growing from his balding skull. Disgusting. Put the picture up and we’ll throw things at it.

  92. 92.

    Betty Cracker

    Maybe it’s just the eternal optimist in me that even the age of Trump can’t stifle, but I think we’re about due for a bombshell from the Trump-Russia investigation.

  93. 93.

    Betty Cracker

    @ruemara: We have a tradition in my family of carving Jack-O-Lanterns for Halloween, then blowing the pumpkins up with M-80s. (What can I say? We’re half redneck.) I plan to carve a Trumpkin this year — it was the scariest thing I could think of. I will take great satisfaction in the subsequent explosion.

  95. 95.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker: I’ve been wondering if this Clinton/Elias stuff wasn’t leaked by Nunes or such to blunt something coming, to say nothing of the the uranium thing, bringing up the emails again. As I said yesterday, hard to imagine Meuller hasn’t already subpoena’d those three US atty nominees that trump was stupid enough to interview

  96. 96.

    Bill Arnold

    @bystander:
    The portrait tells me the prunes aren’t working.
    I’m fairly sure that he suffers from acting-out[1] of the intrinsic nervous system (AKA ENS[2]). Constipated one day, IBS a few days later.
    [1] “Help!!!! I’m trapped in the body of Donald J. Trump!”
    [2]wikipedia: “The ENS is also called the second brain.”

  97. 97.

    Elizabelle

    @ruemara: Hmmmm. They put up those portraits, it gives us all a chance to aim shoes. Although: cameras in govt buildings. But over half the country that is of shoe-throwing age is ready to pitch one.

    @Betty Cracker: I think so too. Although I appreciate how quiet Mueller and his investigators have been. They might be finding even more threads than they expected, at the outset.

    It feels a lot like dangerous, pre-storm times, and we need a release for the pressure.

  99. 99.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Amir Khalid: Uh, yeah, a lot of them do. His Hideousness is on display in every federal building I’ve been to in the last couple of months. My own theory is that this “special” look was done ESPECIALLY for civil servants, whom he despises.

    Can’t wait ’til one of them paints a mustache on it. Would be a def improvement.

  100. 100.

    schrodingers_cat

    No official portrait when I went to get biometric data scanned or when I went for my citizenship interview. The USCIS offices were in Conn and MA respectively. Thank Ceiling Cat for small mercies.

  101. 101.

    Wapiti

    If I worked in a government office, I might be sorely tempted to give the man a Russian lapel pin, just to see how long before people noticed…

  103. 103.

    Bill Arnold

    @Betty Cracker:

    Maybe it’s just the eternal optimist in me that even the age of Trump can’t stifle, but I think we’re about due for a bombshell from the Trump-Russia investigation.

    Been noticing a rampup over the last week or two in what is hard not to interpret as [mostly transparent] preemptive-defensive moves.

  104. 104.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Trump’s body language – he’s cringing . Bad bluffer, but then he’s a horribly inept liar.

  105. 105.

    sukabi

    @Betty Cracker: it would seem to be building up to that. Headlines this morning Have put Cambridge Analytica seeking Assange’s assistance in obtaining Clinton’s emails. And over the last couple of days Manaforts balls are being squeezed in NY state with a coordinated effort by state ag and Mueller. The effort to distract folks with Clinton financed Steele dossier is undercut by Bret Stephen’s piece on it doesn’t matter who funded the research what matters is ‘is it TRUE.’

  106. 106.

    JoeyJoeJoe Junior Shabadoo

    @Amir Khalid:

    Im reminded of this from the Office:

    Dwight Schrute: I never smile if I can help it. Showing one’s teeth is a submission signal in primates. When someone smiles at me, all I see is a chimpanzee begging for its life. Jim Halpert: This came out really well.

  107. 107.

    germy

    If you don’t think DOJ ever brings charges from investigations that started from opposition research, you should talk to Sen. Bob Menendez.— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) October 24, 2017

  108. 108.

    Amaranthine RBG

    106 comment up about this comparatively trivial topic in much less than time that 110 comments up about the substantive fact that hundreds of millions of Americans will be unable to sue their banks in Court.

    Maybe folks should aim the outrage machine a bit more selectively.

  109. 109.

    eemom

    My daughter drew a brilliant caricature of Dump for the UVA Declaration two years ago. Jussayinzall.

  110. 110.

    germy

    @sukabi: And the deplorables think it’s a distraction from the real scandal, which is of course Hillary. This tweet:

    Oh my gosh, Clinton was caught w her hand in the cookie jar so change the focus! Look over here !— Susan Rose (@suzala14) October 25, 2017

  113. 113.

    feebog

    I don’t know jack about portraits, lighting, and all, but like Betty I have been fascinated and repelled by the hairpiece. It looks exactly like it was taken from the back of my golden retriever/chow mix. It also seems to me that it is more obviously a rug than it was during the campaign. The rug is much darker and yellower (or orange depending on the lighting) than the rest of his hair. The cheap bastard is supposedly worth a couple billion, you would think he could afford a rug that was not so blatantly bottom shelf.

  114. 114.

    Miss Bianca

    @aimai: oh, great, thanks for reminding me of the Buffy episode that actually gave me nightmares! LOL! (before screaming quietly).

  116. 116.

    Betty Cracker

    @debit: Sound policy. Some folks access the free buffet only to complain about the quality of the food or critique fellow diners’ diets. I think the technical term is “sanctimonious asshole.”

  117. 117.

    schrodingers_cat

    News Update: Undocumented teen at the center of the legal battle for abortion (as T minions were keeping her from having one) had the procedure this morning.
    *sigh of relief*

  120. 120.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    And number of posts in the past week regarding the upcoming Senate vote that stripped hundreds of millions of Americans of their right to sue … Zero that I recall.

  123. 123.

    Leto

    @schrodingers_cat: Don’t worry, there’s a new teen they’re attempting to deport:

    Immigration detention in sight for girl with cerebral palsy in Texas

    A 10-year-old girl who has lived in the U.S. since she was an infant could be bound for a detention center now that has she recovered from emergency surgery in South Texas.

    Rosamaria Hernandez, who has cerebral palsy, underwent gallbladder surgery this week at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi.

    Her mother, Felipa Delacruz, said her daughter was medically released about 8 a.m. Wednesday but because of her lack of legal immigration status is likely bound for an immigration detention center somewhere else in Texas.

    Attorney Leticia Gonzalez told the Caller-Times she is working with the hospital and federal immigration agency to allow the girl to instead be released to the family’s custody.

    “She is not the typical 10-year-old,” Gonzalez said. “We are hopeful Border Patrol sees the bigger picture here.”

  124. 124.

    Chyron HR

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    On a scale from one to ten, where one is “mug of hot cocoa on a winter morning” and ten is “masturbating furiously” how good does it feel to see America punished for failing to accept the Berning Man as their lord and savior?

    ETA: Same question to Lance.

  126. 126.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker: I have a Halloween card from 19-whatever.

    Front of card: depicts Ronald Reagan at his desk in the oval office, with a sign showing that he’s president. Inside of card: “This was the scariest card I could find.”

    Little did we know how much worse it could get.

  127. 127.

    cleek

    notice that the background is skewed. either Trump was leaning too much and they had to rotate the whole thing to get him straight, or they couldn’t be bothered to hang the background straight to begin with.

  128. 128.

    Leto

    Also I know the TV media has the attention span of a gnat, but does no one remember this article from the WaPo back on 28 Feb 2017?

    FBI once planned to pay former British spy who authored controversial Trump dossier

    “At the time of the October agreement, FBI officials probing Russian activities, including possible contacts between Trump associates and Russian entities, were aware of the information that Steele had been gathering while working for a Washington research firm hired by supporters of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, according to the people familiar with the agreement. The firm was due to stop paying Steele as Election Day approached, but Steele felt his work was not done, these people said.

    ……

    Steele, 53, began his Trump investigation in June 2016 after working for another client preparing a report on Russian efforts to interfere with politics in Europe.

    U.S. intelligence had been independently tracking Russian efforts to influence electoral outcomes in Europe.

    Steele was hired to work for a Washington research firm, Fusion GPS, that was providing information to a Democratic client. Fusion GPS began doing Trump research in early 2016, before it hired Steele, on behalf of a Republican opposed to the businessman’s candidacy. The firm declined to identify its clients.””

    This shit has been out there for MONTHS! Ignore the distraction; focus on wtf they’re doing!

  130. 130.

    Leto

    @guachi: Same; we had the picture up in my last gov building since February. In my new assignment, I/we have been spared. It’s also not up in Wing HQ. Hope it stays that way for a LONG time.

  131. 131.

    germy

    FRONTLINE
    Putin’s Revenge, Part 1
    Part 1 of 2. Amid claims he hacked the 2016 election, the inside story of Vladimir Putin’s conflict with the U.S. An investigation of Putin’s mounting grievances with the U.S. and his efforts to exact revenge leading up to the presidential election.

    (check your local listings)

  132. 132.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl: Yeah. That doesn’t sound so good, hmmm? True, calm is not the right word.

    But it’s felt like fuel and fuel and fuel added to a fire …

  133. 133.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Just turned on MSNBC to see Craig Melvin dutifully both-sidesing the dossier. “Doesn’t the president have a point?”

  134. 134.

    Corner Stone

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I just hate it that they gave Trump any semblance of a talking point. Fat bastard.
    The reason you pay for oppo research is because you’re looking for dirt that is fact based. If you just wanted to make shit up you’d stick a bunch of horny college interns in a room and have them write stories. It’s called research for a reason.

  138. 138.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    Don’t most presidents smile for their portraits? They know they don’t have to put on bs masculinity theatre because they know they’re tough when they need to be.

  139. 139.

    rikyrah

    @sukabi:

    Headlines this morning Have put Cambridge Analytica seeking Assange’s assistance in obtaining Clinton’s emails.

    The data ALWAYS leads to Kushner and The Mercers.

  143. 143.

    Kay

    @Corner Stone:

    Does it matter though? WHATEVER the investigation reveals Trump is gonna lie about it. They lied about what that representative said and there was videotape. It doesn’t matter what Trump does or says. The only thing that matters is the substance of whatever the investigators find and whether they pursue it. Documents. Witnesses. Evidence. He will lie about anything, so what he says is meaningless.

    It’s not about what Trump does or thinks. That’s the one thing we know. He will lie. It’s 100% up to other people.

  144. 144.

    FlipYrWhig

    @feebog:

    It also seems to me that it is more obviously a rug than it was during the campaign.

    It’s hair extensions, not a toupee. He grows his hair long and then has the darker stuff woven into it at the ends. That’s why the result is this gradient effect where it’s white near the head and yellowish starting many inches down. He appears to comb it down over one ear, then over the top of the neck and up again across the top, and then over to one side, because the big gap is in a funny off-center place. And this way he can tell himself that it’s pretty much his real hair, just with stuff attached to it.

  148. 148.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @Chyron HR:

    Let me mention this again, though I have mentioned it several times before: I donated the personal max to the HRC campaign. I donated to two other PACs that, in effect, supported her. I did phone banks for Clinton for a couple of months. Then, I drove over the Sierras and lived in crappy La Quinta Inn in Reno for two weeks while I went door to door canvassing for Clinton and Cortez Masto.

    So why don’t you tell me again why you keep bringing up Bernie. I didn’t say anything about him but you still have some childish grievance apparently. Get over it.

  150. 150.

    d58826

    @rikyrah:

    bucking a promise from President Trump that those accounts would be left alone.

    I think it is safe to assume that whatever Der Fuhrer promises will be in the bill, the actual legislation will be just the opposite. And he will sign it. Heck he would sign a piece of paper mandating that water run up hill. At least Henry Blake asked Radar on occasion what it was that he was signing.

  154. 154.

    Kay

    Kyle Griffin‏Verified account
    @kylegriffin1
    Follow Follow @kylegriffin1
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    Trump, contradicting his tweet, says 401(k)s could be up for negotiation.

    Reasonable people just safely assume it’s all lies so there’s really no point in his talking at all. He doesn’t matter at all to the Russia investigation, under oath, not under oath, whatever. He adds nothing and subtracts nothing.

  155. 155.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Amaranthine RBG: I have a PhD in Symbology from the University of the Sorbonne College, Oxford; people frequently stop me on the street to ask if I am Brad Pitt’s handsomer younger brother; I am Czar of All the Russias.

    Last week I rescued four babies and a basket of adorable puppies from a burning orphanage.

  158. 158.

    Jeffro

    If I may interrupt: the GOP’s still after your 401K

    Now, here’s some horseshit for you:

    House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R) on Wednesday suggested that a tax bill he is preparing to introduce could force changes to 401(k) plans and other retirement accounts, potentially bucking a promise from President Trump that those accounts would be left alone.

    The Texas congressman, speaking at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, said, “We think in tax reform we can create incentives for people to save more and save sooner.”

    He said he was “working very closely with the president” on the issue and added that many people who have tax-incentivized retirement accounts contribute $200 per month or less, a level he thought was too low. “We think we can do better,” Brady said. “We are continuing discussions with the president, all focused on saving more and saving sooner.”

    How will they help people save more, you ask? Why, by lowering how much can be saved…so that you are taxed on the rest(!)

    Economists and financial advisers often urge people to begin saving for retirement as soon as possible because investment savings compound and grow much faster when people start contributing to it at a younger age. But Brady wouldn’t go into any details about how he planned to change incentives to encourage more savings. Rather, he suggested that the current construct of 401(k) accounts and Individual Retirement Accounts was not working well.

    Democrats quickly pounced. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Wednesday that 401(k) proposal was an example of GOP lawmakers working to eliminate middle-class tax benefits so they can cut tax rates for the wealthy.

    “They cannot keep their hands off your 401(K),” Wyden said. “They can’t help themselves, and you bet we are going to take this to the mat. And they have clearly reopened once again this question of rolling back fundamental retirement protections for working-class people.”

    See, if you can only contribute, say, $12K to your 401(K), then that $6K that used to go into it tax-free now gets taxed in order for millionaires to pay lower rates. This is what’s known in the GOP as a “win-win”.

    the new flareup over 401(k)s reveals how many landmines remain.

    These types of accounts allow people to contribute up to $18,000 a year pretax as a way to incentivize saving for retirement. Lowering the tax-free threshold could raise more revenue, but it could also rankle voters. In 2015, more than 50 million Americans had active 401(k) accounts.

    Again: they’re willing to raise taxes on 50 million Americans so that the 1% can loot even more of this country’s wealth.

    Hey, just imagine what they’d do if they could privatize Social Security, amirite? Hmm? Hmmmm?

  159. 159.

    Corner Stone

    @Kay: It does matter what he says because that is boosted among the idiots who then go out and multiply his lies. It doesn’t matter to the truth, but just that when the truth comes 35% to 40% of the population will not believe it.
    The amusing thing is that paying for oppo research is the worst thing imaginable in politics but taking meetings with foreign powers (Russia) to get dirt on your opponent is just politics and anyone would have taken that meeting. It’s 100% natural.

  160. 160.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Hey Kay, I missed your post at #154 while I was working on #158…great minds and all that.

    Nickel bet says they try to sell this as a huge win for American workers, as they will force workers to contribute to a 401(K)…”you’ll thank us down the road when you retire rich!”…but only allow the first 12K of contributions to go in tax-free. Everyone else, every & anything above that, that’ll get taxed in order to offset the tax breaks for the 1%

  161. 161.

    Corner Stone

    As I explained last night, almost everything we learned last night had been known for roughly a year: specifically, that after Republican funders lost interest in probing President Trump’s ties to Russia,

    From the TPM article linked earlier.
    The question is, why did they “lose” interest in probing the ties?

  163. 163.

    Leto

    @Jeffro: Let me reiterate how glad I am that all new military members are switching over to a 401k style retirement starting 1 Jan 2018. Also I’m glad that higher level leadership (05/E8 and up) continue to push hard for this shit burger. So happy.

  164. 164.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
    Super, With all of that imaginary book learnin’ you should probably be able to scroll back to the weeks before the election where I was posting about it then.

    Also, too, instead of following me from thread to thread making your stalkerish comments, maybe you should focus on protecting Americans’ right to sue financial institutions … oops, too late for that one.

  169. 169.

    Roger Moore

    @rp:
    The thing I notice immediately is that the composition is bad. He’s leaning sideways, which is why his right shoulder is higher than the left. It also means that to center his face horizontally, they had to leave his body off-center, which is why you can see a strip of background on the right side but his arm is cut off by the frame on the left side. I have a hard time believing it was taken by a serious portrait photographer.

  170. 170.

    normal liberal

    @Gin & Tonic:
    I am so, so envious. I have been trying to get to one of these for years, and the stars have just not aligned. I hope it’s wonderful.

  172. 172.

    rikyrah

    @Jeffro:

    these are the IGMFY voters, and they WILL know what’s going on.

    Same thing, as the proposed repeal of the local tax deductions. This hits HIS voters square in the face and puts a direct target on the GOP Reps in those districts.

  173. 173.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    They won’t do it – it’s too popular- but it’s good they’re trying, for the same reason.

    They have to find the money for the huge tax cuts somewhere, so it will come out of the hides of poor people- mostly children and poor elderly people. You heard Trump bragging about cutting welfare, right? He’s a moron- there is hardly any “welfare” left- but they’ll tell him they’re cutting welfare.

    I think it could still fail. I hope so- if it doesn’t they’ll cement in skyrocketing income inequality for (another) generation. You won’t recognize this country in 20 years. It’ll be poor people and fabulously wealthy people.

  174. 174.

    Ryan

    The hair reminds me of some of those Cassini shots of Saturn’s atmosphere, when you could see an upper and lower cloud layer.

  175. 175.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    Trump’s base here don’t have any retirement savings. They’re 60 years old and they have mountains of debt. I have no idea what is going to happen to them- Social Security and a combination of housing, heating and food assistance is their only real chance of survival. I’m sure as shit not taking any in. They made their bed.

  178. 178.

    JimV

    I rarely laugh out loud, especially these days. But I did when I saw the upper part of Trump’s head in that photo.

    It’s not that he has a hair-disability – most people do at that age. It’s the inept way he tries to hide it. I rest my case: the rich don’t succeed in this country due to merit but because the scales are weighted in their favor. Really,who votes for this idiot? (I think that’s the best way to handle it – laughs versus logic. Just as persuasive and less emotionally taxing.)

  179. 179.

    tommo

    You know he spends and absolute fortune to have his hair look that bad. I knew we were in trouble during the primaries when nobody in his entire sphere had the ability to tell him how awful he looks.

    And he needed more than usual the usual amount of cocaine to try and hide the bags under his eyes.

  181. 181.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Alas, I’ve seen the official portrait. I recently retired from a DoD job, and during the exit process unfortunately passed through the senior management corridor where the official portraits hang. And there it was, like a giant turd in my path.

    So there is at least one agency within DoD that got their portrait delivered, and went through the mounting process.

    This is the constipated-looking frowny face he thinks makes him look serious. I remember it from the debates. He would wear it for the opening intros, before Hillary’s existence reduced him to incoherent rage.

    However, in a happier contrast: About a week after retiring, I was in DC at the Harrington Hotel (just round the corner from the Grift International Hotel). They have a wall of presidential portraits along with historic info about the presidencies and any connection with the Harrington. The wall ends with Obama, or at least it did in June, and as far as I could see there’s nowhere to squeeze in constipation-face, even if they felt they wanted to.

  182. 182.

    The Moar You Know

    It’ll be poor people and fabulously wealthy people.

    @Kay: My father told me 15 years ago that this was coming. A two-class society, the rich and everyone else. I believed him; it was kind of obvious that was the goal being worked towards – but didn’t see it coming quite this fast. Don’t think he did either.

  185. 185.

    Bill Arnold

    @germy:

    674 people who switched parties between the primary and runoff.

    They will be investigating. If there is a single Republican (erm, “Righteous voter”; don’t need ten though, just one) who did this, then the actual list will be buried, though the talking point will live forever.

  186. 186.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    I touch myself at night.

    Eww, no wonder everyone has pied you by now. That’s disgusting.

  187. 187.

    feebog

    @FlipYrWhig: I read the Ivari article last year at some point. A court of law has ruled the Ivari hairweave is really just a very expensive wig, so I rest my case, so to speak.

  188. 188.

    Bill Arnold

    @Jeffro:

    See, if you can only contribute, say, $12K to your 401(K), then that $6K that used to go into it tax-free now gets taxed in order for millionaires to pay lower rates. This is what’s known in the GOP as a “win-win”.

    Canny 401K plan managers will bet long on companies that sell a lot of cat food.
    This is quite directly a tax increase on the middle class. Even the Wall Street Journal op-ed page would have to engage in serious intellectual contortions to argue otherwise. (I know, they’re quite talented in this regard.)
    Seriously? They think they can spin away the wrath that this will generate?

  189. 189.

    Shana

    My sense is that the camera is high to camouflage his double chin and he’s slumping forward to hide his stomach.

  190. 190.

    TriassicSands

    The look on Trump’s face in the portrait conveys one message to me — Trump is saying “You’re fired!”

    Apart from the normal nausea that looking at Trump causes, this portrait is laughable. It’s a wuss trying to look tough.

  191. 191.

    karen marie

    @guachi: Is it nailed to the wall so you can’t turn it around so it’s back side out?

    Trump’s photographer is Shealah Craighead, a shitty wedding/event photographer who’s been working for him for a while, although it appears that most of the photos are taken by whoever is standing (or sitting) around with their phone at any particular moment.

  192. 192.

    debbie

    @Immanentize:

    This is clearly Photoshopped. The body is an oldish photograph which I’ve seen before. (That horrid expression is burned into whatever controls my fight or flight response.) The lapel pin as well as the flag should be as sharp and in focus as Dotard’s tie because logically they’re all at about the same distance from the focal plane.

  193. 193.

    Mike G

    Imagine being a tourist or immigrant and seeing this poster boy for Irritable Bowel Syndrome glaring at you as you arrive at LAX.

  194. 194.

    Tehanu

    @FlipYrWhig:

    He has a terrible smile. He pulls both lips up and sticks out his chin. As bad as this is, his smiling face would be much worse.

    You’re so right. And you can’t call it a smile; it’s a self-satisfied smirk that says, louder than words, that he thinks he’s the greatest-looking man in creation and God’s gift to women as well. I keep a black marker on the kitchen table so I can block out his nasty face in the paper every morning; why should I have to look at that fat old bigot, cheat, and liar? I feel really sorry for any Federal employee stuck with his “hideous, glowering image” all day.

  196. 196.

    psychobroad

    @NotMax: Thank you! I’ve been saying that for ages! Looks just like an old man’s scrotum, and I’m married to an old man so I should know.

  197. 197.

    No One You Know

    @rikyrah: But that’s all some people have. Hadn’t this bastard learned anything about wage gaps on the country? And the realities of running a household budget on them?

  199. 199.

    MShepNJ

    I think he looks small and squinty, like he’s cowering or uncomfortable with the whole thing… although I suppose constipated is another possibility.

    I came back from a European trip this Monday and saw Trump’s photo on the wall as we were passing through Customs at the airport. it was small and looked to be in a standard-issue dollar store quality frame slapped up in a corner on the wall. It was almost like they were saying “We have to put this up. Please try to ignore it.”

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