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Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

This blog will pay for itself.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Let’s finish the job.

This really is a full service blog.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

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

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

You cannot shame the shameless.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Open Thread: Scary Granpa Got Away from His Handlers Again

Open Thread: Scary Granpa Got Away from His Handlers Again

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Adam gave us all a brief take on Trump’s latest interview overnight, but seriously: The NYTimes’ selected excerpts are legitimately scary. Remember, this was *not* an ambush, the old man was *not* under pressure — he’s been on (official) vacation, he’s relaxed, he invited a couple of his favorite knob-polishers to drop in for a schmooze… and even with every possible life preserver thrown out, here’s what they got:

The interview started with a discussion of an interview Mr. Schmidt conducted with Mr. Trump in July, when Mr. Trump said he would not have appointed Jeff Sessions as attorney general had he known that Mr. Sessions would recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

DONALD J. TRUMP: I thought it was a terrible thing he did. [Inaudible.] I thought it was certainly unnecessary, I thought it was a terrible thing. But I think it’s all worked out because frankly there is absolutely no collusion, that’s been proven by every Democrat is saying it.

MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT: You’re O.K. with me recording, right?

TRUMP: Yeah. Virtually every Democrat has said there is no collusion. There is no collusion. And even these committees that have been set up. If you look at what’s going on — and in fact, what it’s done is, it’s really angered the base and made the base stronger. My base is stronger than it’s ever been. Great congressmen, in particular, some of the congressmen have been unbelievable in pointing out what a witch hunt the whole thing is. So, I think it’s been proven that there is no collusion.

And by the way, I didn’t deal with Russia. I won because I was a better candidate by a lot. I won because I campaigned properly and she didn’t. She campaigned for the popular vote. I campaigned for the Electoral College. And you know, it is a totally different thing, Mike. You know the Electoral College, it’s like a track star. If you’re going to run the 100-yard dash, you work out differently than if you’re going to run the 1,000 meters or the mile…

SCHMIDT: You would have run completely differently.

TRUMP: It would have been a whole different thing. The genius is that the popular vote is a much different form of campaigning. Hillary never understood that.

SCHMIDT: What’s your expectation on Mueller? When do you —

TRUMP: I have no expectation. I can only tell you that there is absolutely no collusion. Everybody knows it. And you know who knows it better than anybody? The Democrats. They walk around blinking at each other.

SCHMIDT: But when do you think he’ll be done in regards to you —

TRUMP: I don’t know.

SCHMIDT: But does that bother you?

TRUMP: No, it doesn’t bother me because I hope that he’s going to be fair. I think that he’s going to be fair. And based on that [inaudible]. There’s been no collusion. But I think he’s going to be fair. And if he’s fair — because everybody knows the answer already, Michael. I want you to treat me fairly. O.K.?…

He has officially moved beyond “If this was your granpa, you’d be hiding his car keys” to “The FTNYTimes *wants* you to know that if this were your granpa, you’d hide his car keys “.

And the entire Republican Party is A-OK with that! As long as he’s capable of holding a pen, and using it to sign whatever they stick under his nose while the cameras are rolling.

Yeah, I’m old enough to remember the same GOP behavior during Reagan’s second term, too also.


.

HE JUST WANTS TO SEE HIMSELF ON THE TEEVEE, OKAY?!?

Reader Interactions

90Comments

  2. 2.

    germy

    SCHMIDT: But does that bother you?

    I get the impression that schmidt is so interested in getting a big scoop, he actually seems to be goading tRump:

    “That doesn’t bother you? What are you going to do about Mueller? Nothing? Are you sure?”

    Maybe I’m being paranoid here, but it seems like schmidt really wants tRump to blow up and admit he’ll obstruct justice. And who knows, after listening to schmidt’s “Are you sure you won’t do anything about Mueller? Why not?” … maybe tRump will.

    Here’s one thing I actually agreed with (at least when it comes to the NY Times):

    TRUMP: newspapers, television, all forms of media will tank if I’m not there because without me, their ratings are going down the tubes. Without me, The New York Times will indeed be not the failing New York Times, but the failed New York Times. So they basically have to let me win. And eventually, probably six months before the election, they’ll be loving me because they’re saying, “Please, please, don’t lose Donald Trump.” O.K.

  4. 4.

    Bobby Thomson

    This isn’t even in the top 100 most disturbing things Trump has ever said. I don’t get the reaction.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Yep. I appreciate all the “woke” people and the conservatives who have seen the light, but I can’t pretend I wasn’t firmly aware of what was at stake in 2016.

  10. 10.

    Bobby Thomson

    @MattF: they signed up for it. This seriously is nothing out of the ordinary for him. He’s been an incoherent liar for years.

  11. 11.

    oatler.

    Morning Joe reported this story, just as they aired a disgusting Thank You Trump “PSA” sponsored by AmericaFirst.

  12. 12.

    MattF

    @Baud: I didn’t intend to suggest that empathy is the correct response. More like fear. Do you think Ivanka does well under stress?

  14. 14.

    Anne Laurie

    @Bobby Thomson:

    I don’t get the reaction.

    As Adlai Stevenson did not quite say, “Madame, it’s not enough that all the intelligent people understand how truly bad Trump is; we need to convince a majority of voters.”

  15. 15.

    debbie

    And those who suggest the reporter should have been busy interrupting Trump can suck it. Simply standing back, shutting up, and letting Trump speak is the easiest way to show the world who he really is

  16. 16.

    debbie

    @Anne Laurie:

    Right. I think this, combined with the hit their wallets will be taking in the new year, just may get those approval ratings scraping the bottom of the barrel.

  17. 17.

    FlipYrWhig

    I watched the Brian Williams-less Brian Williams show last night, hoping the Williams-less-ness would be an improvement. But instead I was stunned to see the degree to which reporters were content to say, about this interview and any interview with that jackass, Oh, you see, he likes to be unfiltered, it’s his strategy, it’s effective with his fans, it’s pure Trump, it’s Trump being Trump, smirk smirk. Who the fuck cares? Why is THAT the reaction every single fucking time? Why are content and knowledge immaterial? How about, after the interview is done, you talk about whether the president knows what the fuck he’s talking about ABOUT ANYTHING? The _interview_ doesn’t have to be confrontational, fine. The _analysis_ can be. Do it, assface media, that’s your job.

  18. 18.

    Betty Cracker

    I can understand why people find this interview deeply disturbing. Not so much from the excerpt published above, but the transcript, which basically reads like a particularly squirrelly Breitbart comment section. Not that Trump hasn’t sounded that way before, but his thought processes (if you can dignify them with that description) seem markedly more disjointed, and he comes across as increasingly delusional. It is a scary thing.

  19. 19.

    FlipYrWhig

    [paraphrased] “Oh, it was interesting to see the way the president turned things around and accused Democrats of colluding with Russia. That’s a thing that he does. Why does he do that thing? What in his nature motivates him to do it? Have you seen him do this sort of thing before?”

    How about IS IT FUCKING TRUE and WHERE IS HE GETTING SUCH BULLSHIT?

  20. 20.

    debbie

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Jeez. It’s one thing to do it; it’s an entirely different thing to do it well. Trump really has never done anything well. It’s not that his supporters believe his every word; it’s just that they don’t care that he’s bullshitting.

  21. 21.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:
    Not quite. There was a time, decades ago, when he commanded his thoughts better — well, somewhat less badly — and could put tgether kind-of-coherent sentences. He wasn’t fit to be President then, either. Now it’s sad and frightening to see this addled old bigot, blind to everything but vanity and power, in a position where he has already damaged the world, and is poised to do more and worse.

  22. 22.

    JPL

    Follow up questions would have added to the conversation, but there were several times the only follow-up question would be wtf are you talking about.

    @FlipYrWhig: Hillary colluded with Russia to help Trump win.

  23. 23.

    Shalimar

    @FlipYrWhig: The reporters don’t know much of anything about anything either. They studied journalism in school, not important subjects. Most of them aren’t qualified to say Trump is speaking gibberish.

  24. 24.

    Racer X

    This doesn’t scare me half as much as knowing there are millions of American voters out there who think he’s just great – even AFTER reading this interview.

  25. 25.

    Arm The Homeless

    @Betty Cracker: Media decided that only people who argue in good faith should get probing, adversarial questions. Low-info fascist carnival barkers get the stenography treatment. Your Liberal MSM, folks

  26. 26.

    Jeffro

    @debbie: true…and I hope they keep showing us every way that this jackass is incompetent, because bit by slight bit, it chips away at his support and perhaps even more importantly, unifies and motivates Democrats.

    Speaking of…folks, you really have to read Khzir Khan’s book, An American Family. You will be blown away at where he came from, how hard he and his wife Ghazala worked in order to succeed, the values they imparted to their kids, and more. The DNC speech he gave is actually the least of it (but that part will leave you in tears, too). Republicans, you fucked up more deeply than you could ever understand when you supported the dementia patient’s attack’s on this man and his family.

  27. 27.

    HeleninEire

    @debbie: Yes, but every time he says something like ” I know more about taxes than the best CPA” he needs to be asked a very very simple fact question like “Now that the SALT deduction has been taken away, what is the new standard deduction?” We need questions that don’t let him bullshit.

  28. 28.

    bluefish

    Letting this man speak and show us his thought process without interruption is not a bad thing in my book. I’m grateful to the reporter.

  29. 29.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker:
    I guess what I find particularly scary about it is that so many people around him are trying to manage him rather than deal with the problem of having a demented maniac in charge. We have a system in place that’s supposed to let us deal with the President being incompetent, but instead of saying “we need to put grandpa in a home so he doesn’t hurt himself or others”, the people around him seem to be saying “nobody remind grandpa that grandma died 5 years ago or he’ll blow up”. Except this grandpa has nuclear weapons, so blowing up is potentially catastrophic.

  30. 30.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Betty Cracker:

    Watching Schmidt and Haberman get dragged over that interview was a beautiful thing, and made last night’s insomnia worth it.

    She is going a little nuts herself – a few more days like yesterday, and she’ll crack open like a really rotten tomato.

  31. 31.

    Betty Cracker

    @Roger Moore: Exactly! Fox News and certain congressmen (the ones Trump praises as “great” in his addled ramblings) are talking about the Democrats trying to engineer a coup. But one is already underway, with unelected people manipulating this clown to their own ends. They may even tell themselves they are acting from patriotism, but that is a lie.

  32. 32.

    Jeffro

    @Roger Moore: yup. The Electoral College, Congressional oversight, the 25th amendment…they only work if the folks in such positions have integrity and are willing to put their country above their party/personal interest.

  33. 33.

    Amir Khalid

    Here’s a statement of the obvious that an op-ed writer would need a lot of balls to put under their byline.
    “We are forced to conclude from this interview that the President does not have the mental capacity to do his job.”

  34. 34.

    lollipopguild

    @FlipYrWhig: It’s projection. He’s a liar and knows it so he has to accuse everybody else of lying or cheating or collusion or whatever to help cover his own crimes. Remember OJ promising to find the killer?

  35. 35.

    mike in dc

    Things we learned we need as a result of the Trump presidency:
    1. A mandatory release of tax returns for major presidential candidates
    2. Divestment of financial holdings into a proper blind trust–again, mandatory, for presidents entering office
    3. Mandatory physical exams annually with full disclosure by 3rd party physicians
    4. Mandatory psychological and neurological evaluations annually with full disclosure by 3rd party professionals(maybe a 3 person panel for the psych eval)
    5. A stronger deterrence policy and infrastructure for dealing with cyber-interference(hacking, social media, etc) by foreign and other adversaries
    6. Some form of policing and self-policing by social media giants in this regard
    7. Phasing out the Electoral College
    8. Establishing a news media space where journalism and media does its job of holding public figures to full account, not normalizing awful behavior or acting as stenographers to power, resisting access journalism
    9. Finding ways to effectively counter and rein in right-wing nationalist media, including Fox News, Breitbart/Daily Caller etc, talk radio and social media disinformation campaigns
    10. Greater protection for special counsel, the DOJ, FBI and intelligence community from improper interference

  36. 36.

    MaryL

    @Bobby Thomson: That’s how I felt after the pussy-grabbing tape surfaced. I couldn’t understand why everyone was suddenly up in arms. There was already ample evidence of his character. Why was the tape such a surprise?

  37. 37.

    FlipYrWhig

    @debbie: A major-media news reporter should be able to do the basic skill of contextualizing the things someone in the news has just said, judging whether they’re accurate, and telling us about it. There are multiple organizations trying to fill 24 hours with new material, and yet still they don’t do it. Then they whine about how people are mean to them when they fail. It’s very frustrating.

  38. 38.

    clay

    But I think it’s all worked out because frankly there is absolutely no collusion, that’s been proven by every Democrat is saying it.

    citation needed

  39. 39.

    rikyrah

    Rose Marie, Decades-Spanning Showbiz Veteran, Is Dead at 94

    Source: New York Times

    Rose Marie, who became a radio star as a toddler in the 1920s and a television star on the hit sitcom “The Dick Van Dyke Show” in the 1960s — and who continued performing into the 21st century — died on Thursday in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles. She was 94.

    Her death was announced on her website and confirmed by her longtime publicist, B. Harlan Boll.

    Originally known as Baby Rose Marie, she is probably best remembered for her “Dick Van Dyke Show” role as Sally Rogers, one of three comedy writers — the others were Rob Petrie (Mr. Van Dyke) and Buddy Sorrell (Morey Amsterdam) — who worked for the fictional series-within-a-series, “The Alan Brady Show.”

    She was also seen frequently — from the first episode, in 1966, to the last, in 1980 — on the original version of “Hollywood Squares,” the game show on which celebrities answered questions (and made jokes) to help contestants score X’s or O’s on a giant tick-tack-toe board. There, with her trademark bow in her hair, she flaunted the persona she had perfected: a feisty, witty, outspoken spinster (although she was actually a widow) who refused to grow old without a fight.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/obituaries/rose-marie-dead.html

  40. 40.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    @FlipYrWhig: I was thinking he was confusing Republican with Democrat but that doesn’t make sense either.
    BTW is this the cleaned up version of the interview or is it the verbatim?
    I’ve known a few people who’ve had mild to moderate strokes where they’ve recovered a good part of their abilities but not all. Anyhow,they’ve all had the strokes du ring a period a high stress. Dolt45 has to be under a lot of stress with the job of the presidency ,the magnified attention paid to his actions and the Russian probe. The extra little scandals are just cherries on top. Obama would have stroked out and he had a normal family and competent staff.
    One last thing – how the hell did a reporter get in to talk to him all alone for a long one on one interview? Wtf? This means Hope Hicks,Pence,Sarah Huckster,John Kelly,Vanki or her hubby or Melania weren’t around to babysit him?

  41. 41.

    FlipYrWhig

    @lollipopguild: To be honest I don’t even especially care whether the reporter says he’s a liar. I sort of care whether the reporter explains what the hell he’s talking about, like something something Pakistan and something something John Podesta’s brother and something something association health plans.

  42. 42.

    rikyrah

    EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE!!!

    Report: Trump DC Hotel employee wrote in email that Trump is definitely still involved

    Source: The Hill

    An email sent by the director of revenue management at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. suggests that President Trump is still involved in the management of the Trump Organization despite claims he has divested himself of his business interests, according to a new report by The Daily Beast.

    The Daily Beast reports it obtained the email from director of revenue management Jeng Chi Hung to an acquaintance. In the email, Hung writes that Trump is “supposed to be out of the business and passed on to his sons, but he’s definitely involved.”

    “I had a brief meeting with him a few weeks ago, and he was asking about banquet revenues and demographics. And, he asked if his presidency hurt the businesses. So, he seems self aware about things, at least more than he lets on,” Hung wrote in the email.

    It is unclear when the email was sent or when Hung met with president Trump. Hotel officials immediately refuted the contents of the email in statements to The Daily Beast.

  46. 46.

    kindness

    When Reagan was in office and showing his Alzenheimers (84 it started being public) the MSM was too ‘polite’ to say what we all saw. Then they wanted to burn Clinton at the stake for adultery. They let Dubya slide on everything (the reasons for invading Iraq, tax cuts that guarantee huge deficits) only beginning to suggest difficulty when the markets melted down in 08/09. Obama was treated like dirt. The birth certificate thing was treated like an actual thing. The ACA was painted as taking away all our health care choices. Saving the American auto industry was a questionable thing to do! Hillary, poor Hillary. The MSM took the 90’s Clinton stance and picked it up and ran with it holding it above their heads and shouting. Trump, well we’ve seen what they’ve let Trump do without a whimper.

    I used to think that the companies that owned the MSM were nakedly Republicans. The CEOs & leaders are so that filters down. Now though, I think the individual reporters are in on it too. Look at the Clinton/Trump debates and what they asked of each and how they took each of their answers. I am really sorry to say that the press is a big part of our problem. I don’t know how to answer that. Social media isn’t the answer. I haven’t felt this insecure as an American since Dubya and Reagan and I didn’t feel this insecure then.

  47. 47.

    debbie

    @HeleninEire:

    I understand what you’re saying. Except that Trump usually blames the reporter for lying about what he said (which he does at least 99.99% of the time). If the reporter remains silent, doesn’t Trump lose that cover?

    What a history Trump has with the media! I still have memories (nightmares) of watching Liz Smith on Channel 4, breathlessly regaling the audience with the doings of The Donald. He’d never have called the media Fake! back then.

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    Don’t tell me that folks won’t know come November 2018.
    They are gonna have almost an ENTIRE YEAR to stew about how their finances have been phucked up and compromised by this bill

    …………………………………

    Tax law creates confusion and uproar in city halls across America

    Just a week after it was signed, the tax overhaul is already triggering a swift backlash from puzzled taxpayers and officials.

    By AARON LORENZO 12/29/2017 05:13 AM EST

    Mass confusion is erupting in town halls across the country thanks to the new tax law, as tens of thousands of property owners scramble to pay next year’s taxes ahead of schedule — while the governors of their states and the IRS give conflicting signals about whether that’s even allowed.

    In the Albany suburb of Bethlehem, N.Y., more than 100 people waited in a gym to pay their property tax bills — some of them for over an hour — on Thursday before a new federal $10,000 cap on state and local deductions goes into effect Jan. 1. Municipalities on Long Island were preparing to open over the weekend to give taxpayers more time to pay. But the IRS issued an edict Wednesday night saying the early payments could only be deducted on 2017 taxes if they had already been assessed. That threw residents and local government officials into a new round of confusion as everyone scrambled to determine which payments would qualify.

    The uncertainty this week could be the first of many misunderstandings to come as new tax rules take effect starting New Year’s Day. The tax law that President Donald Trump signed Dec. 22, which Congress rushed to pass before the end of the year, is explicit in some of its language, but vague in other areas. It explicitly forbade prepayments of state and local income taxes but was silent on prepayments for state and local property taxes.

    “What the federal government did and the timing of their actions was, in our view, cruel and unusual,” said Steve Acquario, executive director of the New York State Association of Counties. “They passed this tax bill at a time of year when government is very much in transition to the next fiscal year. There was great confusion this week.”

  49. 49.

    SteveinSC

    This “interview” was a set up. No President, even the so-genannt president trump, is never without staff, hovering around. The key to the interview was his attempt to remove one of the counts of obstruction when he said he thought (sic) Mueller would be fair. The Watergate prosecutors who have been on MSNBC have noted that trump’s running down of Mueller supports the crime of obstruction. The dumbass MSNBC crowd (Willy geist among the more simple-minded) and the normally skeptical CNN people have been had again (See Rachel Maddow and her Tax Returns “scoop”.). They are missing the forest for the trees. trump was just using the NYT dodo’s to “Get Right with Jesus (i.e. Mueller),” nothing more.

  51. 51.

    debbie

    @SteveinSC:

    I’m sure he thought he was being clever, but I think Trump comes off as even more insane than many thought possible (not here, of course).

  52. 52.

    rikyrah

    I’ll say it again..

    They are trying to kill these American Citizens.

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/28/17
    Puerto Rico crisis lingers as Trump administration moves on
    Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz of San Juan, Puerto Rico, talks with Joy Reid about the challenges the island is still dealing with months after catastrophic hurricanes, problems made worse by the Trump administration’s bungling of the response and the new Republican tax law.

  53. 53.

    rikyrah

    A brilliant @dancluchey piece on @SenatorCollins.

    “Herein lies the modus operandi of Susan Collins: partisan when it matters, and principled when it couldn’t matter less.”

    I wanna mail this essay to every reg’d voter in Maine. Seriously. Wanna help?https://t.co/1cgl2laMO8

    — Ady Barkan (@AdyBarkan) December 28, 2017

  55. 55.

    rikyrah

    Now that I’ve read the entire transcript of @nytmike’s Trump interview, a few observations:
    1. Trump speaks a lot like a child does. Lots of focus on who likes him, who loves him, who is his friend… his biographers all emphasize his deep desire to be loved & it comes through.

    — Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 29, 2017

  57. 57.

    m.j.

    Did Trump really say (I’m paraphrasing) the only thing he considers more important than trade is nuclear war?

  58. 58.

    Hildebrand

    @bluefish:

    Letting this man speak and show us his thought process without interruption is not a bad thing in my book.

    But we know this is how he thinks. Nothing he has done over the last two years would lead us to believe anything else. He is a gibbering idiot. His brain went on vacation decades ago. He is a malignant narcissist. He has no object permanence. We know he is an idiot. We know that his most ardent ‘supporters’ will follow him to the gates of the Underworld.

    What needs to happen is for a few reporters to start taking one for the team, and asking specific, hard questions. We need some of them to start going after him hammer and tongs, digging into exactly how he is screwing the vast multitude of WWC types. Just letting him bullshit isn’t doing us any favors. The only way to deal with a bullshitter is to constantly and specifically call them out, to make them answer specific questions. Even that won’t do the trick for many of his cultists, but it may start to take a whack at his credibility and usefulness with the Republicans who are propping him up for their own ends.

  63. 63.

    bystander

    Schmidt is on MSNBC now. He says he was with Chris Ruddy, the head of Newsmax, when he conducted this interview. Why pretend he was all alone? Twitler had a hedge against anything Schmidt reported.

  65. 65.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @kindness:

    Thank you for saying exactly what I think too. The media is broken, and I don’t understand why anyone would have any expectations that they’ll try and fix it, because they think they’re doing their jobs. David Gregory, Chuck Todd, etc. – all gave away the game when they said it isn’t their job to fact check anything. When I saw how Hillary’s “deplorables” speech was covered as “both sides accuse the other of racism” I knew that the media – mostly whites/males – would cape for white supremacy as a prime directive. They’re determined to interview every last Trump voter in America but won’t write one story about those of us whites who didn’t vote for the racist, sexist ignorant turd.

  66. 66.

    bystander

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: I just read Rose Marie was unhappy that the Laura Petrie character got more attention than Sally. Now, that’s the ego of a former child star who never realized there was a life beyond vaudeville.

    That said, she was hilarious and never failed to make me laugh.

  68. 68.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Apple and Amazon are in licensing discussions with Riyadh on investing in Saudi Arabia, two sources told Reuters, part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s push to give the conservative kingdom a high-tech look.

    A third source confirmed that Apple was in talks with SAGIA, Saudi Arabia’s foreign investment authority.

    Both companies already sell products in Saudi Arabia via third parties but they and other global tech giants have yet to establish a direct presence. Source

  69. 69.

    Jager

    After reading the trump interview. I really wish I could have a talk with my Republican grandfather about trump and what’s become of his party. Grandpa was an elected judge, he was also fair, compassionate and honest. He worked his ass off to develop a work release program in the county jails, to get AA meetings organized for inmates, he worked to get rid of public intoxication laws. (He thought “30 days for Public intoxication” was counter productive for the offender, the family, the employer and the county) He also got a county sheriff fired for sexual misconduct with a teenage inmate. He was doing this in the 50’s and early 60’s. And he didn’t trust Nixon.

    I’ve come to the conclusion my Republican grandfather was a Democrat.

  70. 70.

    rp

    Too many people, including Haberman, have promoted a false dichotomy of letting him ramble vs. cross-examining him with tough questions. It’s not that hard to ask polite, non-confrontational questions that elicit useful information. That’s what good interviewers do.

    In Trump’s case, I’ve thought since early 2016 that reporters need to ask him a lot more basic questions about the mechanics of government. Those questions don’t have to be hostile, but you do need a reporter who knows what he or she is talking about. e.g., “What makes an Attorney General effective? Are there any AGs from prior administrations who you admire?” “How do you absorb and filter nat sec information from the NSC, the NSA, Secretary of State, Sec of Def, Homeland Security, etc.?”

  71. 71.

    gene108

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: @kindness:

    I think to rise to the position of Chuck Todd or Matt Lauer, a media person has to be a ruthless, with regards to office politics. To get where they are they have a win at all costs mindset as being the right thing to do.

    I think this reflects in they way the political news gets reported. There is a “WTF was the Democrat thinking in trying to be fair and not just win, and crush the bones of his/her enemies into dust” I get from a lot of political reporting.

    They deeply respect the Republican win at all costs mindset, even if it is overall bad for the country.

  72. 72.

    Bobby Thomson

    @debbie: because Trump ordinarily is such a closed book on Twitter.

    Also, too, this:

    “Too many people, including Haberman, have promoted a false dichotomy of letting him ramble vs. cross-examining him with tough questions. It’s not that hard to ask polite, non-confrontational questions that elicit useful information. That’s what good interviewers do.”

  73. 73.

    gene108

    @rp:

    Even more basic, like the CNN interview with the Roy Moore flunky, who was not aware you do not have to swear on a Christian Bible to take an oath of office.

  76. 76.

    Kathleen

    @gene108: That is an excellent point. Todd, Gregory, Williams et al do not strike me as very intelligent or well versed in government, history, or current events. They are lazy, toadying hacks focused on “winning”. While Maddow is more intelligent and actually reports on real stuff, I also think she’s hood at the coporate games. I get a “capable of throwing coworker under a bus” vibe from her.

  78. 78.

    Rasputin's Evil Twin

    @debbie: Napoleon advised, “Never interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake.” Now, it’s “Don’t interrupt Trump when he’s proving he’s a senile, demented asshole.”

  79. 79.

    Kay

    The NYTimes has always kowtowed to powerful men on the Right. They absolutely adored Bush.

    They defer to power- not “power” to any particular end, but just raw power.

    I sometimes comfort myself with the thought of how they would have covered the (Hillary) Clinton Administration- it would have been awful if she had won. There would have been a Whitewater-type scandal promoted by the NYTimes by now. Compare to the Trump Administration where there hasn’t been a single scandal question or investigation.

  82. 82.

    cain

    @kindness:
    I think you’re right, I think a lot of these reporters who come from the 80s and 90s are conservative in nature. Washington is wired for Republicans. The only thing we can hope for is that new journalists coming in are much more liberal. But more than that, we stop creating people who are incentivized towards propaganda.

  83. 83.

    cain

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I thought Republicans were the party of business so why are they so silent when Trump attacks Jeff Bezos who the last time I checked was a private business owner? Funny that. And is it normal for POTUS to attack private businessmen because they don’t kiss his orange butt?

    Their loyalty is towards old money, not towards high tech money. They don’t understand these high tech executive types at all. (they are also way younger as well) So they prefer people like Adelson and others. Not even wall st. people. Everything is about 1950s for them.

  84. 84.

    debbie

    @Bobby Thomson:

    because Trump ordinarily is such a closed book on Twitter.

    All those tiny little separate bits can be forgotten. A long-form interview where he’s given time and space to veer off into wherever it is he goes to does a whole lot more damage.

  85. 85.

    Brachiator

    Maggie Haberman’s defense of the “empty headed stenographer” model of conducting the interview is as sad as Trump’s empty headed responses.

    ETA I wonder whether Trump gave this interview because he was jealous of Obama’s interview with Prince Harry.

  86. 86.

    Brachiator

    @rikyrah:

    She was also seen frequently — from the first episode, in 1966, to the last, in 1980 — on the original version of “Hollywood Squares,”

    Wow. Totally forgot that Rose Marie had been on Hollywood Squares.

    All in all, she had a long, interesting life and continued in show business doing her thing as long as she could.

  88. 88.

    JustRuss

    @FlipYrWhig:

    The _interview_ doesn’t have to be confrontational, fine. The _analysis_ can be. Do it, assface media, that’s your job.

    So much this. But they can’t risk losing their precious access, or pissing off his supporters, so whaddayagonnado?

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