.
The bank Wilbur Ross ran in Cyprus is same bank Manafort & Gates laundered money via 15 accounts#AMJoy #RossResignhttps://t.co/xKpgbVXwep
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) November 5, 2017
Wilbur Ross employed an aide at Commerce who was *simultaneously* a board member at Kremlin-linked company. https://t.co/JbtdKVthOU
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) November 7, 2017
Wilbur Ross' crony says his firm's Kremlin connections are all good, NBD, look over there at that shiny thing. https://t.co/792FisIoVm pic.twitter.com/jCcBmDVsp1
— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) November 7, 2017
Wilbur Ross seems to have been involved in many embarrassing, potentially criminal enterprises. Yet — continuing the trope that nobody who gets near Donald Trump comes away unwounded — the one revelation that he probably finds most embarrassing is the proprietors of the Forbes 400 list calling him a mere hundred-millionaire, with not even a single billion to his name!
Dan Alexander, Forbes, on “The Case Of Wilbur Ross’ Phantom $2 Billion”:
Fresh off a tour through Thailand, Laos and China, United States Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Jr. picked up the phone on a Sunday afternoon in October to discuss something deeply personal: how much money he has. A year earlier, Forbes had listed his net worth at $2.9 billion on The Forbes 400, a number Ross claimed was far too low: He maintained he was closer to $3.7 billion. Now, after examining the financial-disclosure forms he filed after his nomination to President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, which showed less than $700 million in assets, Forbes was intent on removing him entirely.
Ross protested, citing trusts for his family that he said he did not have to disclose in federal filings. “You’re apparently not counting those, which are more than $2 billion,” he said. When asked for documentation, the 79-year-old demurred, citing “privacy issues.” Told that Forbes nonetheless planned to remove him from the list for the first time in 13 years, he responded: “As long as you explain that the reason is that assets were put into trust, I’m fine with that.” And when did he make the transfer that allowed him to not disclose over $2 billion? “Between the election and the nomination.”
So began the mystery of Wilbur Ross’ missing $2 billion. And after one month of digging, Forbes is confident it has found the answer: That money never existed. It seems clear that Ross lied to us, the latest in an apparent sequence of fibs, exaggerations, omissions, fabrications and whoppers that have been going on with Forbes since 2004. In addition to just padding his ego, Ross’ machinations helped bolster his standing in a way that translated into business opportunities. And based on our interviews with ten former employees at Ross’ private equity firm, WL Ross & Co., who all confirmed parts of the same story line, his penchant for misleading extended to colleagues and investors, resulting in millions of dollars in fines, tens of millions refunded to backers and numerous lawsuits. Additionally, according to six U.S. senators, Ross failed to initially mention 19 suits in response to a questionnaire during his confirmation process….
… Ross’ questionable assertions to Forbes, combined with a recent controversy about a multimillion-dollar stake in a shipping company that does big business with close associates of Vladimir Putin, paint a clearer picture of the commerce secretary’s tactics. His slippery statements during his confirmation hearings–“I intend to be quite scrupulous about recusal and any topic where there is the slightest scintilla of doubt”–came as no surprise to those who have known Ross for decades…Twenty-six years before Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, Wilbur Ross disappeared. It was 1990, corporate America was sick on junk bonds, and Ross was a top bankruptcy negotiator. But one November day, he failed to show up at an important meeting to brief bondholders in a furniture company’s bankruptcy. They didn’t know where he had gone.
Until they went home and turned on the television. There was Ross, with Donald Trump, announcing a deal to recapitalize Trump’s Taj Mahal casino, which was then careening toward bankruptcy. They were technically adversaries, with Ross representing one group of bondholders–at one point Trump asked them to fire Ross after he dismissed a Trump proposal to keep 100% of his equity, saying, “It’s too early for Christmas.” But Ross eventually brokered a deal among Trump, debt holder Carl Icahn and Ross’ own clients that allowed Trump to keep a 50% stake. “I think [Ross] is very talented, a fantastic negotiator,” Trump said at the time…
Wilbur Ross told Forbes he has 480 characters.
— Anthony De Rosa ?? (@Anthony) November 7, 2017
Only 48 of the co-owned with members of Putin’s family. https://t.co/WKN6e8abvT
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) November 7, 2017
If you’re at all tempted to feel sorry for an old man with outsized ambitions, remember, this is Wilbur Ross…
Wilbur Ross touts the lack of protests in Saudi Arabia during Trump's visit (maybe it's because protesters are jailed & sometimes beheaded?) pic.twitter.com/DQIENgtopz
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) May 22, 2017
Repatriated
So, apparently the “anti-elitist” party is merely supporting fake elites.
Seems like fakery top-to-bottom.
Big Ole Hound
Ross has always been just another slimy money man exactly like Trump without the urge to push women around.
Patricia Kayden
Proficient lying must be a required qualification for this regime.
Repatriated
@Patricia Kayden:
It’s a party prerequisite.
gratuitous
Why would someone lie about his net worth like that? Because being on the Forbes 400 opens doors for deals that would never be considered if people didn’t think you were worth 10 figures. That’s how this jolly little game is played, and it looks like Wilbur might hit some (relatively) tough sledding just when he should be enjoying his sunset years. Bummer, dude. Gonna take a lot of ribbing from the guys at the Club. If they let you stay in the Club, that is.
NotMax
@Patricia Kayden
Quoth the scorpion: “It’s my nature.”
germy
germy
projection, projection, projection.
If you want to know what they’re up to, just pay attention to what they accuse others of doing.
Yarrow
I think ultimately the oligarchs are going to wish Trump had never won. Mueller’s investigation, the Paradise Papers–it’s all shining light on activity they don’t want anyone to see. Wilbur Ross’s fake fortune is just one example. Maybe this stuff would have come out if Trump hadn’t been elected, but it certainly seems that his election has increased the speed.
NotMax
@germy
Pie in the exosphere.
There is no mechanism for anything close to that. Creating one would take longer than the term of office lasts.
schrodingers_cat
Who is investigating the Nation and the Intercept and their Putin stooges.
The Moar You Know
@gratuitous: It looks as though Forbes has just made sure he’s blackballed forever from the club. And as you note, if you ain’t in the club the doors to Real Money are closed and will stay that way.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: Bob Mueller.
ThresherK
As a member of the Chess cult, I always wondered how some of the far-fetched plot elements could ever resonate in a post-Cold War setting. The plot has been tweaked endlessly since it was a smash in London.
Wonder no more!
The Moar You Know
@NotMax: There should be a specific remedy for election fraud, but the ramifications of it (pulling people off the Supreme Court and other judicial appointments, invalidation of contracts, defense and otherwise, stop work orders, mass firings of federal workers, etc) would be devastating and negotiating that is going to take decades, as you note. And probably should, even though I’d like a solution RIGHT NOW.
Also, while I’m wishing for shit that won’t happen, I’d like ICE/CBE abolished and every employee declared ineligible for Federal or LE rehire, no exceptions.
germy
@Yarrow:
Interesting. I was thinking the same thing. Lots of people had perfectly wonderful lives. They had their money, they had their careers. But they couldn’t resist jumping on the 45Train. And now all this… unpleasantness.
Sessions was fine where he was. Now he’s being picked at and questioned by Al Franken, and the kkkeebler goes back and forth between “confused” and “very pissed off”. Devos had her billions, she could do whatever she wanted, but now she needs protection and gets heckled every time she shows her smirk in public. Tillerson could have retired and enjoyed his $$$ without all this heartburn.
Trump himself, he could have enjoyed his wealth, done some more schtick on NBC. Nobody cared about the corruption.
It’s like a bunch of cockroaches in a pitch-black apartment stood end on end to flick on a 75-watt kitchen light.
WTF were they thinking?
Cheryl Rofer
People who puff up their status and want to appear like they have more money than they actually do are good targets for Russian subversion.
Just sayin’.
germy
@schrodingers_cat:
If all these investigations result in a loss of their credibility, that could be enough of a kick in the nuts to knock the wind out of them. Because what happens to their business model if credibility is gone?
Major Major Major Major
@Cheryl Rofer: good point. Of course, “we have the real billionaires!” is not a good campaign strategy…
(Just an idle thought, not some “Dems are oligarchs” bullshit)
Major Major Major Major
@germy: media viability now takes place in a post-credibility market, alas. All the money is in credulity now.
germy
@Major Major Major Major: good point, unfortunately. (See News, Fox)
Yarrow
@germy: They all seem to want more, more, more money and power. I guess that’s what they were thinking.
Ian G.
@Patricia Kayden:
I disagree. None have shown any aptitude for lying, like timing it well, making sure it’s not obvious, etc. If they had any skill about it, it wouldn’t be air-raid-siren obvious that they lie constantly.
Corner Stone
@germy:
I’m thinking a couple things. One, no one with integrity would or could work for the Trump admin. So naturally he hires all the very best people. Two, all of them are compromised by Russia in some way or other. And they were told to go work in this admin.
Lyrebird
@The Moar You Know:
Ooh ooh me too, me too!
And can we bring in Desmond Tutu and have Truth and Reconciliation process for the deportees & families please? I don’t need a pony, and I would really like one of those to happen.
Sigh.
Can we start with somehow reversing what happened with that police officer who shot Terence Crutcher in the back, and applying your prescription?
Corner Stone
@Patricia Kayden:
I think the word you’re looking for is “Constant” and not “Proficient”.
Fair Economist
So Wilbur has a Russian spy as an aide, with his knowledge. Unbelievable.
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: What I would like to know is how much of the intelligence that P and his gang in Kremlin have about the United States, was provided by Snowden, who was hand delivered by G^2 to Comrade P?
schrodingers_cat
How many Russian spies are in the WH? I mean except for the man on the top.
geg6
This might be my favorite sentence of the entire year. Thanks, germy!
SatanicPanic
@germy: I assume they were thinking “I’ve got all the money, now I want a place in the history books”. Be careful what you wish for fuckers!
SatanicPanic
@geg6: yeah that’s a winner. nice work germy!
geg6
@schrodingers_cat:
A question I’ve been asking myself for over a year now.
GregB
The official Trump campaign song should be Wrecking Ball.
The destruction is just beginning and all of his confederates will lose in the end.
catclub
I was impressed by the Forbes writers clearly owning up to being lied to and believing it – and saying it had been going on since 2003 or so.
Amir Khalid
Can any classical scholars among the jackals tell the rest of us if there’s an ancient Greek word for “rule by rich phonies”? This administration of Trump’s is full of them, from the President on down.
lurker
@CornerStone, @PatriciaKayden
Constant lying fits the concept, but I think the word we are all looking for is Prolific lying.
Major Major Major Major
Just heard on the radio a clip of trump promoting his fucking golf course in jersey during prepared remarks about how great Korea is.
ThresherK
@geg6: Applause added to the nth degree.
Gin & Tonic
@germy: I’m sorry, what credibility does Stephen Cohen possess?
TenguPhule
@Patricia Kayden: Proficiency not even required. These fuckers keep telling easily disprovable lies, but the fucking media won’t invest the time and effort to even do that!
TenguPhule
@germy:
I look forward to finding out exactly how many children Papa John’s has recruited for their underground sex ring.
Bex
@Yarrow: They’re addicts. What else could they want?
TenguPhule
@germy:
The lead roach gave a speech about how it was time to rise up and overthrow their human overlords.
germy
@Gin & Tonic: None, but his “readership” thinks he does. If enough of them see the light…
Just trying to be optimistic here.
schrodingers_cat
@Amir Khalid: Oligarchy?
Josie
@Yarrow: You are so right. I’m hoping that, even if Mueller can’t indict people for everything he turns up, he is able to pass along the information to prosecutors and grand juries who can. I would appreciate all these cockroaches getting their due, no matter how long it takes.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@TenguPhule:
To be fair, Papa John would need to be sober enough to have sex in order to captain a pedophile sex ring. That is a fact not in evidence.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@schrodingers_cat:
How many laptops was it? Three?
I always assumed that the keys to the butcher shop were in those laptops.
MomSense
@schrodingers_cat:
The attorney that handled that deal with Russia to keep Snowden is Wikileaks’ attorney and also a close ally of Putin.
My inner fury about all of this is at heads on pikes stage.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Not quite spot on, but willing to immediately coin coulrocracy – rule by clowns.
BC in Illinois
@Amir Khalid:
I’d have to run that question by Pseudobus the Oligarch.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
That analogy is a thing of pure beauty.
JanieM
@Corner Stone: “Prolific” also fits.
MomSense
@Amir Khalid:
Kakistocracy. It’s not that ancient but it’s Greek.
jl
@TenguPhule: I agree. ‘Proficient’ should be replaced by ‘Constant, incompetent, obvious’ and in many cases ‘needless’ and ‘stupid’.
Edit: one of the few upsides of the Trumpster gang that I can think of is that, if we had to draw an authoritarian anti-democratic executive leadership, it is at least a small blessing they are such a collection of ignorant, incompetent, and infantile stoops.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Upon slightly more mulling, how about pseudocracy?
germy
@geg6: @SatanicPanic: @ThresherK: thanks!
With all the shady stuff in their backgrounds, all their lies and bad deals… they decide to jump into the spotlight?
Wilbur should have kept a low profile. Instead he’s got pesky journalists poking around in his $$$? No wonder they all look so pissed all the time.
opiejeanne
@Major Major Major Major: The comment at the top of the page on Huffpo’s article about Manka Dhingra’s win turning the WA state senate over to a Democratic majority, that comment was something about, “If only they’re true progressives They’ll get some stuff done.” I wanted to reach through the screen and smack that idiot. He totally ignored the agenda that Democrats in WA have ready to go in January, and it was discussed in the article.
And something odd: the WA Sec of State hasn’t; called this race for Manka Dhingra yet. Governor Inslee seems to think she has won it and called to congratulate her last night. It appears all of the votes have been counted except for write-ins and she’s got a 10 point lead on herTrump surrogate carpet-bagger opponent. (“He’s magnificent!” Barf.)
Cheryl Rofer
The best summary I have seen of Carter Page’s testimony to the House Intelligence Committee is by David Graham in The Atlantic.
germy
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m seeing reports that more congress people will be calling for Mueller to step down.
TenguPhule
@MomSense:
Come sit by me.
jl
@germy:
” It’s like a bunch of cockroaches in a pitch-black apartment stood end on end to flick on a 75-watt kitchen light. ”
I want that sentence added to the rotating headers. And germy should get some kind of BJ commenter service ribbon.
Kay
I must say rich people turning out to be gross. They were really better off before people got to know them.
The legacy admits to colleges, the incredible greed and corruption, the sexual harassment and elaborate cover-ups.
You really don’t have to be a raving populist to loathe them. They’re just sort of low quality across the board.
Maybe they were always like this and we didn’t know because they weren’t hogging all of the attention. They might want to go back to the exclusive enclaves. Really. Get going.
TenguPhule
@germy: At least we’ll know who all the obvious traitors are by seeing who calls for him to step down from the investigation.
rikyrah
Doing business with Putin’s family and has the nerve to say that it is an exaggeration of the Media ?
NotMax
@TenguPhule
Pike’s pique?
;)
Robert Sneddon
@germy:
Money can buy power but the real power is in government and those positions can’t be bought simply with cash. Some folks want power, to be looked up to because they’re in charge of something big and important. Running a government agency is a big step up from running a multinational corporation, having a Cabinet seat is much more important than slumming with mere billionaires in a private club.
catclub
@jl: I am pretty sure that if the lights are on but nobody is home, the roaches are happy to be in the light.
OT: I liked the Latino Decisions ad. It was powerful. maybe edgy – but I did not think loathsome or disgusting – which seems to be the pearl clutchers choice of the day.
rikyrah
@TenguPhule:
Make room on the couch for me.
TenguPhule
@jl:
It would, if it didn’t contribute to how well they wreck regulations, rules and otherwise make the Civil Service a toxic environment unsuitable for recruiting good and skilled federal workers. All those non-partisan government workers are departing if they can and trying to hire replacements for them is going poorly by all accounts.
I think we’re going to all be shocked and horrified by just how much damage these assholes did and how much time and effort and money its going to take just to get back to where Obama left us.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah: Looks like I’m gonna need a bigger couch.
And more pikes.
jl
@TenguPhule: Well, that is why I used the words ‘small blessing’. Think what they could get away with if they were actually proficient liars. So, OK, change that to ‘very small blessing’.
germy
@jl:
I want a special jacket, like Gorka.
The Moar You Know
@Kay: They were always like this. But they kept to themselves and paid for their own histories to be written, and we believed those histories.
Now they’ve decided to take their disgusting, filthy lifestyles, mores and tastes into the public sphere – but the world has changed, other people are writing their histories now, and we see them for the amoral filth that they are. Their lapdogs are aware of this change in perception and are panicking, doing their best to keep a lid on the public, but they won’t be able to.
My concern is that a lot of things that are tied in the public’s mind to being rich, things like, let’s say, education, get caught in the backlash. I don’t know if the rich and their lapdogs know it, but the same public that voted enthusiastically for Trump could, with minimal manipulation, also get behind a real Mao-style purge of “elites”. I would prefer that not happen (it would be right-wing in nature, because the American Left cannot do violence even to save their own lives) but it might.
germy
@TenguPhule:
I think Paul Ryan’s comments about “this doesn’t leave this room – we’re all family!” should have resulted in hearings. It was an amusing meme for a few days, but as far as I know he’s never been aggressively questioned about it.
Miss Bianca
@germy:
Oh, my…that image. But yeah. Now the electorate is standing there going “Aaaah, who knew this apartment had COCKROACHES like that?! Where’s the Raid?? “
eclare
@rikyrah: I usually say heads on sticks, but I’ll start saying pikes if that will save a seat for me.
NotMax
@germy
Well, there’s this (note the name).
;)
germy
@NotMax: We should all get jackal jackets.
pamelabrown53
@lurker: @ #7.
Maybe instead of “Prolific”, you’re looking for the word “pathological”?
Yarrow
@The Moar You Know:
They were always like this. Dig back into the stories of some of the esteemed names in our country, the ones on buildings, who funded arts centers and so forth, and they were not good people. Illegal activity, conspiring with enemies, probably all sorts of mistreatment of women, children, minorities, those without power.
TenguPhule
@eclare: Pikes are essentially very long sticks with pointy metal bits on one end, if that helps.
jl
@germy: Oh, gee, OK. Put up a paypal account and we could work up a whole uniform for you.
And, another good thing I heard on the news about the election, is that exit polling indicated that a significant proportion of votes for Democratic candidates were in reaction to GOP policies, not just a protest against Trump. Exist polls can be misleading, but in VA and NJ, these results were from more than half polled, so even if some of past problems with exit polls exist with these results, seems like something there. Indicate to me that the Democrats should be bold on policy proposals that counter the disastrous ideas that the GOP is peddling. And since anything better than going back to neolithic religious urges on science and beating up people found in the community who are not ultra rich provides a good contrast to GOP policies, that allows the Democrats to have a nice big wide policy tent. Would be a mistake to just stick with Trump-bashing (though of course, that must be done for the sake of good civic hygiene and public decency.).
TenguPhule
@germy:
So far.
Mueller might change that.
/I will get so drunk if this actually happens.
eclare
@Cheryl Rofer: That was really good, thank you for the heads up.
Corner Stone
I don’t think The Mustache of Understanding likes Trump very much.
dmsilev
@jl:
I’d just like to admire this typo.
“Are you real? Yes/no/other”
Yarrow
@germy:
Bob Mueller’s team is very, very good at keeping their work quiet. It’s not a surprise we don’t know about him being questioned. Ryan is a traitor who is complicit in the laundering of Russian money through the GOP. He will have his interview with Mueller’s team and eventually it will all come out. That comment is just a bit of insight into why Paul Ryan has refused to discuss the Russian involvement in the election or anything else. He’s guilty and he does not want to open that can of worms. Too bad for him.
MomSense
@TenguPhule: @rikyrah:
Wouldn’t you love to hear Obama say “don’t impale. vote.”
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax:
BOOOOOOO!
Yarrow
I appreciate that Bob Mueller didn’t bring down indictments on Monday or Tuesday to distract from election day. I’m okay with enjoying the wins today. Tomorrow would be a nice day for indictments. Or we can do another round of leaks on Friday, watching panicked individuals freak out all weekend, and indictments on Monday. That works for me too.
TenguPhule
@MomSense:
“Remember, its loot then burn.”
Xenos
A headhunter sent me to the local Wilber Ross holding company for a job interview a couple years ago. When they explained he was the UBO and I had no idea who he was that did not help the interview much. I am so happy I never got a callback.
Ruckus
@gratuitous:
They will probably let him stay, but he’ll probably end up on the janitorial staff. If the janitorial staff will have him. And they might not. I wouldn’t.
Corner Stone
@dmsilev: “Is all reality a lie? Yes/No/Peanut Butter”
hueyplong
You really can’t go wrong with the tried-and-true Friday buzzing followed by Monday indictments followed by Trump tweets followed by unsealed guilty plea.
TenguPhule
Well that didn’t take long.
Trump is back to pissing in the punch bowl.
White House implements new Cuba policy restricting travel and trade
Trump promotes his New Jersey golf course during speech to South Korea parliament
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone: Peanut Butter.
Corner Stone
@Yarrow: Like a junkie, I am needing to get well with another dose of indictments.
eclare
@hueyplong: Isn’t it good strategy to let people squirm over a weekend? I would think it would be.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone: And like a junkie, the amount of indictments needs to be higher then before in order to achieve the same feeling.
jayjaybear
@Yarrow: This. All those industrial barons of the 19th Century, like Rockefeller and Morgan and Carnegie were smart enough to use some of their fortune to fund things that make you think they were good guys this far into their future, but they got all that money mostly from treating workers like slaves (or worse, MAKING workers into de facto if not de jure slaves) and fighting (with literal violence) attempts to make their lot better, at the very least.
Redshift
Hey, @MomSense, I wanted to reply to your comment about paper ballots in Virginia from this morning (when I was still asleep after a long Election Day.) Virginia actually has had paper ballots in many (most?) areas, especially the most populous ones, since 2008, if I remember correctly. What happened this year was decertifying the last of the electronic voting machines, basically in localities that didn’t want to spend money on new equipment/training for as long as they could get away with it. So while it is definitely a good thing, I don’t think it was a significant factor in this election.
Uncle Cosmo
@Amir Khalid: Kalpikoplousiocracy?
Redshift
@TenguPhule:
A more powerful one could do as an alternative to a bigger quantity. Like someone with “Trump” in their name, for example.
Ruckus
@germy:
It’s pretty obvious that they have all been lying for a very long time, about most everything. That searchlight they switched on really doesn’t suit their game, which has to be played in the dark to work.
Redshift
@TenguPhule:
And unsurprisingly, the new policy has exemptions for some big companies that want to do business in Cuba, while smaller businesses and ones that don’t grease their palms with campaign contributions get screwed.
Gravenstone
@Major Major Major Major: Word was that they delayed the start of the speech to allow for last minute edits. Any wonder if those edits were due to insufficient self-aggrandizement?
Redshift
@jl:
Health care was the most-cited issue, and while that’s obviously a reaction to shenanigans in Congress, Northam also campaigned a lot on continuing McAuliffe’s efforts to do Medicaid expansion. (Which he has been doing from Day 1; contra the “Democrats did a terrible job of promoting Obamacare” pundit wailing.)
schrodingers_cat
@Major Major Major Major: What an embarrassment, this man is.
GregB
@catclub:
The always wrong, always font of beltway centrist mealy-mouthed obedience to wrongwong talking points, Harold Ford said on Mourning Joke that MS-13 would be the reason Northam lost.
Great analysis.
ruemara
@Amir Khalid: I’ve been calling it kleptokakistocracy for a while. Government by thieving fools
gvg
@Yarrow: Friday is Veteran’s day is being observed Friday so I think the “leaks” need to happen thursday. 3 day weekend to watch the guilty squirm.
MomSense
@Redshift:
Thanks for the info. Big, no YUUGE thank you for all the campaigning you did.
Aleta
Since Russia thread, reposting here:
TenguPhule
@gvg: I’d rather the indictments and arrests come as a total surprise. We don’t get many good ones these days.
Mnemosyne
@Repatriated:
I see you missed the dogwhistle that I heard loud and clear in 2008. “Elitist” is the new code word for “uppity.” So the Trumpistas know they’re not “elitists” no matter how much money they have because they’re white.
catclub
@eclare:
Depends where their passport is.
bemused
@Bex:
I always think of them as crazy cat hoarders with a few hundred cats in the house and multiplying, hoarders who can’t throw anything away and their homes are fire hazards, etc. Similar kind of mental illness, imo.
I heard on NPR a few years ago there is a higher number of sociopaths among filthy rich CEO’s than in the general population. Make perfect sense to me considering no amount of money is enough for them or nothing too amoral for them to get it.
Tim C.
@NotMax: This is why we can’t have nice things!
MCA1
@Uncle Cosmo: Papadopoulocracy?
J R in WV
@Amir Khalid:
Kleptocracy? I bet 15 other people suggested this already….. : (
J R in WV
@germy:
Great! Now we know who will be calling Kleptocrat Trump for a pardon! Plus Mueller can pay special attention to their financial records and their declarations on officially filed reports for discrepancies. Whee!
Uncle Cosmo
@MCA1: Okhi – too small, throw him back. Pseudoplutocracy?
J R in WV
Regarding the UA jackets, I went there and this is what I found:
father pusbucket
Where is Ivanka? Sexism!
MisterForkbeard
@germy: More than the current 3 crazy people?
It would be nice if the media was actually bothering to refute their bullshit, but…
PST
Pseudoligarchy?
Bonnie
@germy: I’m all for a new election. At a minimum, the United States needs to revamp the rules for running for President; and, make room for specific guidance for when election results are in question.