Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I did not have this on my fuck 2024 bingo card.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

Consistently wrong since 2002

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Russiagate Open Thread: Cue the Theme from Jaws

Russiagate Open Thread: Cue the Theme from Jaws

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It looks to me like you’ve got a consummate professional demonstrating that he’s running a thoroughly professional operation, not a GOP-style dog & pony show for the rubes. Any Trump associates / excusers weren’t scared of this man before this, have been informed. Politico, Tuesday:

…Moving forward on the Mueller-protection bills is an “absolutely necessary” step after the guilty plea by Michael Flynn, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in an interview. “They need to be combined into one, and I think we have bipartisan agreement about it.”

Blumenthal is a co-sponsor of the stronger of the two Mueller-shielding bills, from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), which would require the attorney general to seek a federal court’s approval before removing a special counsel. Booker said Tuesday that he is “having great bipartisan conversations” with Graham as well as Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), whose version of the legislation would allow Mueller to seek judicial review of a firing after it occurs…

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have been more hostile toward Mueller’s investigation. Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) have become vocal Mueller critics, with Gaetz warning in recent days that Mueller’s activity could amount to a “coup d’etat” against the president.

Other House Judiciary Committee Republicans have raised questions about Mueller’s probe in light of the recent revelations. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), for example, said he thinks Mueller’s investigation should be limited to considering only evidence directly connected to Russia.

“I do think there ought to be limits,” he said. “I think the limits should be direct ties to Russia, and I don’t think it’s appropriate to look into the business dealings of the family.” …

Trent Franks just jumped ship, after news came out he’d pestered his legislative aids about serving as his Handmaiden Vessels reproductive surrogates. And it’s now obvious, even to Repubs, that the Trump/Kushner “business dealings” *are* “direct ties to Russia”…


(In my crueler fantasies, “Certified courier service, delivering [Subject x]’s testicles to bio-waste containment site”.)

But seriously…

Finally:

Reader Interactions

86Comments

  1. 1.

    Mnemosyne

    with Gaetz warning in recent days that Mueller’s activity could amount to a “coup d’etat” against the president

    You mean like the one Republicans attempted against Bill Clinton with their bogus investigation and impeachment?

  3. 3.

    TenguPhule

    By the time Mueller is ready to indict Trump he’ll be looking back at a complete R Congress because all the Democrats will have resigned after being accused of sexual harassment.

  5. 5.

    Aleta

    I’d like to buy Mueller a drink, or a coffee, spinach juice whatever. It would be fun if there were a fund. Probably not cool to bribe him like that within sight of the Friends of Anti-Christ though.

  6. 6.

    Yarrow

    My favorite Republican comment on Mueller:

    Robert Mueller is superb choice to be special counsel. His reputation is impeccable for honesty and integrity. Media should now calm down— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) May 18, 2017

  7. 7.

    different-church-lady

    3.2 million? The NFL gave Ted Wells more than that to investigate slightly under-inflated footballs.

  8. 8.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Drumpf and his boot licking supporters say he’s innocent yet they act guilty by panicking with desperate, flailing attacks on Mueller.

  9. 9.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    Clinton family, Official governmental (you know there was a lot more behind the scenes), investigation, over 20 Freaking years… OVER 100 MILLllllIIIonnnnn Dollars….. Any pundit that complains on the air about the cost of the Muller Investigation should be stripped, tarred and featherd on Live TV.

    “The Rebublican Party” Going into the gutter till we hit the magma… .

  10. 10.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Seth Abramson‏ @SethAbramson

    Rep. Castro says we’ll soon learn “disturbing things” in the Russia probe. New York Magazine says, “We should probably be giving far more weight to the possibility the darkest interpretation of Trump’s relations with Russia is true.”

    I imagine some time in January or February, after the Tax Sham passes, Drumpf fires Rosenstein and Mueller and disbands the special council’s office.

    New York AG will pick up the case, but he won’t have the same budget or manpower, plus Drumpf will delay and obstruct by challenging every subpoena.

  11. 11.

    Bess

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    he won’t have the same budget or manpower

    Mueller has spent $3.2 million. That sort of cost could easily be crowd sourced and there will probably be some recently let go people from the Mueller team looking for a gig. Perhaps willing to work for scale.

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    Bargain compared to what those on the wrong side of the investigation are being bilked for in legal fees.

  13. 13.

    Mustang Bobby

    $3.2 million in expenditures is peanuts. Our school district has grants for professional development that are bigger than that. And based on the results Mueller and the team have gotten so far, I’d say they’re spending it wisely.

  15. 15.

    John Revolta

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Mueller’s got trump’s balls in a garlic press. He’s been doing this stuff for years and years, and to people a lot smarter than trump.
    If trump tries to fire him, things will go <em.even worse for him.

  18. 18.

    ZyklonBeaArthur

    I read the Daily Mail for cute celebrity pet photos (don’t judge!) and information about the people who’ve been bumped off Mueller’s team is everywhere—they’ve even outed one woman for having an affair.

    I can’t understand how the press is getting information about texts that were sent before the probe started; obviously someone is leaking, but who got access to their private texts? Are their friends selling them out? Were they using government phones that Devin Nunes subpoenaed?

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    @ThresherK

    Take yer pick. I’m easy.

    ;)

    Seem to remember reading somewhere that Manafort’s legal bills already tote up in the million mazuma range.

  23. 23.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Bess: that’s now how this works. That’s not how any of this works. You really think the government/public can/would/should accept partisan funding for a prosecution?

  26. 26.

    SFAW

    My main complaint with Mueller wasting taxpayer money like that is that NONE OF IT went to investigating HER E-MAILS!!!!!! I’m willing to spend 10 gazillion skillion dollars — which is a lot, believe me, but not as large as Your President’s personal wealth — to finally prove, once and for all, that Hitlary was worse than … um … the Rosenbergs! yeah, that’s the ticket! And Vidkun Quisling! And Benedict Arnold! And Michael Flynn! All rolled into one!

  27. 27.

    d58826

    And don’t forget the 10s of millions wasted on whitewater related ‘scandals’ by Ken Starr.

    On a different topic – I saw a poll on the twitter today that 57% of white women voters in AL are voting for Moore. I guess Al women are ok with being assaulted by their men. Or maybe it is so common they don’t know any better.

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    @TenguPhule:

    By the time Mueller is ready to indict Trump he’ll be looking back at a complete R Congress because all the Democrats will have resigned after being accused of sexual harassment.

    I love ya, man (figuratively speaking), and was appreciative of your pushback on certain commenters during the various Franken threads, but give it a fucking rest, OK?

  29. 29.

    debbie

    Five bucks says someone somewhere will shriek, “$26,000+ for supplies and materials??? Cronyism!!!”

  31. 31.

    SFAW

    @d58826:

    I saw a poll on the twitter today that 57% of white women voters in AL are voting for Moore.

    Almost as surprising as reading that Shitgibbon said something moronic again.

    Because, after all, in ‘Bama, Dems are considered to be far, far worse than pedophiles, murderers, and various other criminals who get “frowned on” in the sane part of the USA.

  33. 33.

    Sanjeevs

    This story hasn’t had much attention but I think it’s intresting
    https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/06/abc-data-trump-campaign-reprimand-284327

    The story is that ABC’s Chris Vlasto gave embargoed exit poll data on election night to Dave Bossie of the Trump campaign.
    The interesting thing is
    1. Bossie and Vlasto go way back. Friends since Whitewater .
    2. After the election Vlasto was considered as communications head for Trump WH. Instead he was promoted to head of investigative reporting at ABC . I.e. Journalists at ABC investigating Russiagate report to Vlasto
    3. ABC committed in writing to Congress not to release the exit poll data until polls closed. Bossie said he received a call at 5.01pm. Polls started closing 2 hours later..
    4. The really interesting thing is this quote from Bossie

    Vlasto had the early exit numbers that the consortium of news networks — the Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, and NBC News — had collected,” Lewandowski and Bossie wrote. “The consortium followed eleven battleground states, including Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania. Trump was down in eight of the eleven states by five to eight points. The news was devastating. A kill shot.

    How is that possible? How can an exit poll (3000 per state) show Clinton up by five to eight points in 8 battleground states and Clinton loses 8 of those states ( Ohio by over 9 points)
    in other countries exit polls are extremely accurate.

  34. 34.

    Kay

    @d58826:

    On a different topic – I saw a poll on the twitter today that 57% of white women voters in AL are voting for Moore. I guess Al women are ok with being assaulted by their men. Or maybe it is so common they don’t know any better.

    Moore molested children. We just had a high school teacher immediately removed and then indicted for soliciting two teenage students to meet him at a park. The meeting never occurred. He was indicted for trying to set up the meeting.

    The better example of white women not caring about sexual assault/harassment is Donald Trump- that wasn’t just Alabama women- it was women all over the country. But is is true they don’t care- no one has ever shown me where it makes a bit of difference in how they vote. We like to think it matters but these threats that harassing men will pay a political price never materialize. Trump is correct to dismiss it as politically unimportant. Politically important issues involve actual voters supporting or rejecting candidates on those issues.

  37. 37.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I agree. Too many people, men and women both, are willing to ignore or look the other way because it conflicts with something they want more: Power.

  40. 40.

    Kay

    Democrats will get a lot more bang for their buck running against Republicans on the tax bill (broadly) and gutting Medicare (specifically) than they will running against Republicans on sexual harassment.

    I hope they’re not operating under the mistaken idea that white women object to sexual harassment as a factor in how they vote because that’s obviously not true.

    Stick to Medicare. People actually vote on that.

  41. 41.

    Sanjeevs

    @MJS: No that’s not how exit polls work

    From the pollster Edison Research:
    A hallmark of a legitimate exit poll is a guarantee of the respondents’ privacy, confidentiality and anonymity–an exit poll should be every bit as secret a ballot as the actual vote, and the pollster should not know the voters’ responses. No exit poll should require the respondent to publicly state their choices.

  42. 42.

    SFAW

    @MJS:

    I attribute it to a large portion of Trump voters being embarrassed to admit they voted for him.

    That must be it. Because electronic voting systems in every county in the nation are the most secure systems since, I don’t know, Equifax maybe?

  46. 46.

    OzarkHillbilly

    A stat cited by Rod Dreher over at the AC in an anti-Moore post:

    • Among those who disapprove of Trump’s job performance, approximately six in ten (61%) say there is almost nothing the president could do to win their approval.

    I have to say there are in fact a number of things trump could do that would in fact win my approval.

    1. He could resign. I would approve of that.
    2. He could commit ritual seppuku. I would approve of that.
    3. He could schedule a cruise missile strike on Mar-a-Lago for Xmas morning. I would approve of that. (in my fantasy, Barron and all the other little trumpkins/kushkins would be struck down with a mysterious illness and rushed to the hospital just before the missile struck. The rest of the narcissistic adult trumps would remain at M-a-L because why let a little food poisoning ruin everybody else’s Xmas?)
    4, 5, 6, 7, ad infinitum are variations of the above.

  48. 48.

    Kay

    This is harsh but I am a white woman who considers herself a feminist so I feel like I can say it. Women have some responsibility here. I have been hearing this bullshit about the political clout of outraged women for 25 years. They never follow thru. The threatened uprising never occurs.

    This isn’t a political small d-democratic movement because it has no identifiable, cohesive voting base that acts in concert to impact elections.

  49. 49.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    Wilmer and his allies attacking rules of NYS.

    Just to make a point, I would hope that NY changes their rules to prevent anyone from being ont he Dem primary ballot who has not been a registered Dem for at least five years.

    Fuck you, Berners

  50. 50.

    rikyrah

    I wasn’t on too much yesterday, cause I was pissed about Franken and the Dems falling for the bullshyt ? EVERY DAMN TIME!

    Did you all post about the real Handmaid’s Tale from that resigning azzhole from Arizona?
    That’s some Crazy azz shyt.

  52. 52.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    Oh, sure. And an assistant DA so a public employee with an extensive set of ethical rules that go beyond criminal culpability.

    People are prosecuted every day for what Moore did. Any given month in this county 1 indictment out of 20 will involve some kind of adult sexual contact with a minor charge, or even attempted sexual contact with a minor. The teacher who was just indicted texted the two girls to meet him alone off school property. That’s all he did. That was enough.

  53. 53.

    MJS

    @Sanjeevs: Thanks. I wasn’t aware of that. But how do they work? I’ve never participated in one, nor have I seen or heard of anyone else participating.

  54. 54.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    1. He was banned from the MALL
    2. They assigned POLICE to WATCH HIM at the local High School football games.

    He.is.a.pedophile?

    Yes. But not everyone cares, or cares enough. White women voted something like 53 percent for Shitgibbon, right? It’s not as if they had no idea that he was a molester/harasser.

  56. 56.

    MJS

    @SFAW: That’s certainly a possibility, apparently more likely than my ill-informed comment on how exit polls worked.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    I went to the school Christmas program last night. We have a new music director. She’s young, from the east, has traveled a lot and my sense talking to her is she’s politically liberal. I don’t know why I think this but I feel like I’m good at pegging people’s views based on non-political conversations.

    So she intro’ed the program last night with a story about how she had gone to Jerusalem with US musicians last year for “peace concerts” and although she didn’t mention Trump by name she is clearly concerned that he will incite war or additional conflict. So this county went 70% for Trump and I hear this and I swear I can FEEL my conservative neighbors bristle. It’s like a mob thing- you can feel the crowd turn on her. So now I’m worried about her job because she happens to be a very good and hard working school music director and the kids like her and it’s hard to get music or foreign language teachers out here in the boonies.

  58. 58.

    Sanjeevs

    @MJS: it’s centralized and carried out by one organization with the results embargoed but state until the polls close. There are about 3000 respondents per state. The respondent fills in a form which gives gender, age range etc
    It should be extremely accurate. An exit poll being off by five to eight points or more across eight states is quite extraordinary.

  59. 59.

    SFAW

    @MJS:

    That’s certainly a possibility, apparently more likely than my ill-informed comment on how exit polls worked

    I have no idea whether it happened that way, either. But, given the “penetration at all levels” that Adam discusses from time to time — yes, I realize he’s talking about something a little different — it would no longer surprise me to learn it was true.

  63. 63.

    clay

    Mika finally mentioned that the Franken allegations just may have been politically motivated. Says perhaps justice was not served.

    Hindsight, Mika. Hindsight.

  65. 65.

    MomSense

    @clay:

    Yup, maybe we shouldn’t rush to judgment when the people involved are known smear spreaders. Sean Hannity, Leann “Shirley Sherrod is a racist” Tweeden, and Roger Stone are totally reliable.

    Dems fall for this shit all the time.

  66. 66.

    Jeffro

    @msdc: Great point (about Moore being in deep doo-doo if his numbers are that bad with white women). If Jones can keep it even somewhat close with white voters, and then really turn out non-white groups’ vote, he will win.

    Hey on a similar note (Republicans laying the groundwork to get crushed) this counts as a bonus Jeffro birthday present: Rs Are Frantically Trying to Find an Alternative to Corey Stewart vs Tim Kaine

    …Stewart, who narrowly lost the GOP nomination for governor in June on a platform of Trumpism and what he called “Confederate heritage,” has promised a “vicious” campaign in 2018 against Sen. Tim Kaine (D), a popular former governor who is seeking a second term in a state that he helped Hillary Clinton carry by five points as her running mate in the 2016 presidential election.

    …Stewart dismissed national Republicans working against him as “Mitch McConnell’s bozos,” referring to the Senate majority leader…

    Republicans retain power in the lower chamber by a hair. They hold a two-seat majority, with recounts scheduled in three races and expected in a fourth.

    For many party leaders, the message from voters was clear: A Republican who can’t appeal to all wings of the party as well as independents has no chance in a state where polls show Democrats are so unhappy with President Trump that they’ll punish anyone with an “R” next to their name.

    You’re abso-fucking-lutely right we’re going to punish anyone with an R next to their name. The party of Putin, pedophiles, and plutocrats deserves nothing less.

    Bring it, Corey! Go with that angry shit that gets your base all riled up! I have a feeling Tim Kaine might just have something better to offer Virginians. They sure don’t want a Trumpov clone representing them in the U.S. Senate.

  68. 68.

    msdc

    @msdc: I see that the poll in question is the WaPo poll from last week that had Doug Jones up by 3.

    That poll may not be accurate – I’m worried about a “shy Tory” response bias from Moore supporters (shy pedophiles?) – but it suggests that 57% support for Moore among the deeply conservative white women of Alabama is a terrible result. That’s barely more than Ed Gillespie got (51%) in his blowout loss in Virginia.

  69. 69.

    clay

    @MomSense: Mika said she had kept quiet about it until now, because she thought the women needed to be heard. But now says that this doesn’t mean all women should be believed.

    I mean, I get it… this is a tricky line to toe. But Mika had a platform, she kept quiet, and now a good man is leaving the Senate.

  70. 70.

    Peale

    @clay: honestly, if Franken and Garrison Keillor open a health club on lake street that specializes in 24 hour orgies with girls they personally recruit from white bear lake high school, just because they have time now, I might even forgive them. I mean their reputations have been already been shot through for apparently minor and meanlingless infractions. They might as well go all in and see where that gets them.

  71. 71.

    MomSense

    @Peale:

    I’m a slut shamer because I think that known right wing operatives take advantage of social justice rights movements to get rid of opponents and to discredit those movements. Also known as having been involved in social justice movements more than a minute.

    @clay:

    Mika has uncanny timing for keeping quiet when it might do some good and then finding her voice when it is good for her career. The way Joe and Mika pretend they were always acting in good faith concerning trump is just vomitocious.

  73. 73.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: Yup.

    I think we all know it’s no accident that the accusations against Franken and Conyers appeared when they did and were pushed so hard by the Teabagger news outlets Now Now Now. There’s a tax bill that will have huge ramifications for years if it passes. The Teabaggers need to distract the voters about what they’re doing about taxes, about the budget, about the Senate election in Alabama, and all the rest.

    Similarly with the Jerusalem stuff.

    They always push these visceral lizard-brain issues when they need to get votes for their real agendas.

    Yes, these are important issues. But eyes on the prize, everyone.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  74. 74.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Our reckoning with the piggish behavior of powerful men is very much not a bipartisan affair. In Hollywood, it’s full speed ahead. Why? Because once the dam finally broke, Hollywood is full of liberals who are willing to call out this behavior once they finally get up their nerve. But how about, say, Wall Street? Does anyone think it’s any less full of powerful men with digusting habits than Hollywood? Of course not. And yet, the silence from the conservative world of high finance is almost deafening. Nine weeks after the Harvey Weinstein story broke, there’s been a grand total of one (1) casualty on Wall Street: Harold Ford, a black former Democratic congressman.

    The conservative take on all this has come into sharper focus over the past few weeks:

    There sure are a lot creepy liberals, aren’t there?
    We are all at risk of having our lives ruined by radical lefty feminists who will get us fired over the slightest non-PC remark.

    In a just world, this strategy would be laughable. But in this world? I’m not so sure it won’t work.

    -Kevin Drum

  76. 76.

    Kay

    @rikyrah:

    She seems to know my one neighbors quite well so maybe she’s related to them, has family here. They were talking about visiting her as a child to me once- I was confused about how they knew her but got distracted and didn’t ask. Knew her parents probably- these people are in their 70’s. She was (apparently) a stand-out cello player as a kid. Also, she seems to be a person who experiments a lot- she’s taught all over, including overseas. While the school was interviewing her the school council met with her and she mentioned that she did a stint in an American school in Bahrain. It’s nice what she’s done with the music programs- she’s made them more formal. I could tell the older kids liked that, that they had to dress up and behave seriously. It’s respectful, I think, to take their efforts seriously like that. It’s hard work to play well and it should be treated like real work, even if they are kids and not paid for it.

  77. 77.

    Jeffro

    Hey look: Bobo goes full-on Balloon Juice, mostly, and still manages to fuck it up: The GOP Is Rotting

    The Balloon-Juice part:

    A lot of good, honorable Republicans used to believe there was a safe middle ground. You didn’t have to tie yourself hip to hip with Donald Trump, but you didn’t have to go all the way to the other extreme and commit political suicide like the dissident Jeff Flake, either. You could sort of float along in the middle, and keep your head down until this whole Trump thing passed.

    Now it’s clear that middle ground doesn’t exist. That’s because Donald Trump never stops asking. First, he asked the party to swallow the idea of a narcissistic sexual harasser and a routine liar as its party leader. Then he asked the party to accept his comprehensive ignorance and his politics of racial division. Now he asks the party to give up its reputation for fiscal conservatism. At the same time he asks the party to become the party of Roy Moore, the party of bigotry, alleged sexual harassment and child assault.

    There is no end to what Trump will ask of his party. He is defined by shamelessness, and so there is no bottom. And apparently there is no end to what regular Republicans are willing to give him. Trump may soon ask them to accept his firing of Robert Mueller, and yes, after some sighing, they will accept that, too.

    That’s the way these corrupt bargains always work. You think you’re only giving your tormentor a little piece of yourself, but he keeps asking and asking, and before long he owns your entire soul.

    The Republican Party is doing harm to every cause it purports to serve. If Republicans accept Roy Moore as a United States senator, they may, for a couple years, have one more vote for a justice or a tax cut, but they will have made their party loathsome for an entire generation. The pro-life cause will be forever associated with moral hypocrisy on an epic scale. The word “evangelical” is already being discredited for an entire generation. Young people and people of color look at the Trump-Moore G.O.P. and they are repulsed, maybe forever.

    The still-manages-to-fuck-it-up part:

    The Republican Party I grew up with admired excellence. It admired intellectual excellence (Milton Friedman, William F. Buckley), moral excellence (John Paul II, Natan Sharansky) and excellent leaders (James Baker, Jeane Kirkpatrick). Populism abandoned all that — and had to by its very nature. Excellence is hierarchical. Excellence requires work, time, experience and talent. Populism doesn’t believe in hierarchy. Populism doesn’t demand the effort required to understand the best that has been thought and said. Populism celebrates the quick slogan, the impulsive slash, the easy ignorant assertion. Populism is blind to mastery and embraces mediocrity.

    Compare the tax cuts of the supply-side era with the tax cuts of today. There were three big cuts in the earlier era: the 1978 capital gains tax cut, the Kemp-Roth tax cut of 1981, and the 1986 tax reform. They were passed with bipartisan support, after a lengthy legislative process. All of them responded to the dominant problem of the moment, which was the stagflation and economic sclerosis. All rested on a body of serious intellectual work.

    Liberals now associate supply-side economics with the Laffer Curve, but that was peripheral. Supply-side was based on Say’s Law, that supply creates its own demand. It was based on the idea that if you rearrange incentives for small entrepreneurs you are more likely to get start-ups and more innovation. Those cuts were embraced by Nobel Prize winners and represented an entire social vision, favoring the dispersed entrepreneurs over the concentrated corporate fat cats.

    Let’s end on a high note…here’s one more BJ-worthy graf:

    You don’t help your cause by wrapping your arms around an alleged sexual predator and a patriarchic bigot. You don’t help your cause by putting the pursuit of power above character, by worshiping at the feet of some loutish man or another, by claiming the ends justify any means. You don’t successfully rationalize your own tawdriness by claiming your opponents are satanic. You don’t save Christianity by betraying its message.

    “What shall it profit a man,” Jesus asked, “if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?” The current Republican Party seems to not understand that question. Donald Trump seems to have made gaining the world at the cost of his soul his entire life’s motto.

    It’s amazing that there haven’t been more Republicans like Mitt Romney who have said: “Enough is enough! I can go no further!”

    The reason, I guess, is that the rot that has brought us to the brink of Senator Roy Moore began long ago. Starting with Sarah Palin and the spread of Fox News, the G.O.P. traded an ethos of excellence for an ethos of hucksterism.

    So close, Brooksie…you were soooo close…

  78. 78.

    James E. Powell

    @Kay:

    The narrative of White People Under Siege is very powerful. It can override any other issue or personal factor. What’s really bad news is that it appears to be no cure or remedy.

  79. 79.

    Sanjeevs

    Bigger. The exit polls were off a few points in previous elections.

    Strange thing is , the published exit poll for the 11 battleground states are quite close to the actual results. So why does Bossie ,in his book say thar Clinton was leading by five to eight points in eight states?

    One other interesting thing Bossie mentions. They seemed to be worried in particular about Colorado when they saw the exit pollls. Colorado, which is their only one of the 11 battleground which has paper or post only.

  80. 80.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Sanjeevs:

    Strange thing is , the published exit poll for the 11 battleground states are quite close to the actual results. So why does Bossie ,in his book say thar Clinton was leading by five to eight points in eight states?

    Maybe alot of Trump voters voted at the last minute?

  82. 82.

    different-church-lady

    @Sanjeevs:

    No that’s not how exit polls work

    A hallmark of a legitimate exit poll is a guarantee of the respondents’ privacy

    That’s not how human nature works either.

  84. 84.

    BellyCat

    @Jeffro:

    That’s the way these corrupt bargains always work. You think you’re only giving your tormentor a little piece of yourself, but he keeps asking and asking, and before long he owns your entire soul.

    Bobo got this part right. And there is no getting out of the tar once one’s waded in.

  85. 85.

    Miss Bianca

    @Kay: Yeah, so obviously Democrats are going to pick up *bigly* at the voting booth for throwing their own under the bus on this issue. Democratic leaders have their fingers on the pulse of America, ya, you betcha!

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