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You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / What’s His Name? Bannon? Yeah, Fuck that Guy. Loser. Low Energy. Never Liked Him.

What’s His Name? Bannon? Yeah, Fuck that Guy. Loser. Low Energy. Never Liked Him.

by John Cole|  January 3, 20184:48 pm| 203 Comments

This post is in: Dolt 45, Assholes

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This is great:

Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican Party.

Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country. Yet Steve had everything to do with the loss of a Senate seat in Alabama held for more than thirty years by Republicans. Steve doesn’t represent my base — he’s only in it for himself.

Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.

We have many great Republican members of Congress and candidates who are very supportive of the Make America Great Again agenda. Like me, they love the United States of America and are helping to finally take our country back and build it up, rather than simply seeking to burn it all down.

Oh.

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Next Post: General Repub Malfeasance Open Thread: I’m *Not* Gonna Start Saying Nice Things About Mitt Romney »

Reader Interactions

203Comments

  1. 1.

    cintibud

    January 3, 2018 at 4:49 pm

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    I needed that

  2. 2.

    trollhattan

    January 3, 2018 at 4:49 pm

    Can’t quite put a finger on it but there’s something…off about this administration.

  3. 3.

    JPL

    January 3, 2018 at 4:52 pm

    What time is the fake news awards show?

  4. 4.

    MisterForkbeard

    January 3, 2018 at 4:52 pm

    Trump: Big Toddler, or Biggest Toddler?

    Seriously, who writes this stuff for him? If he wrote that directly it’s…. like watching a deranged 7-year-old on a sugar high talk about why he’s really the best and nyah!

  5. 5.

    Miss Bianca

    January 3, 2018 at 4:52 pm

    Oh, Kettle, you are so very, very black! SAD!

    Signed, Pot

  6. 6.

    geg6

    January 3, 2018 at 4:53 pm

    Fucking hilarious. No denials of Bannon’s claims, I see. Just a personal attack. I know I am but what are you kinda junior high shit. Mueller will eat him for lunch.

  7. 7.

    Porco Rosso

    January 3, 2018 at 4:55 pm

    Krokodil tears seem appropriate

  8. 8.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    January 3, 2018 at 4:55 pm

    That statement is too literate for Trump to have written it, at least without a lot of editing.

  9. 9.

    catclub

    January 3, 2018 at 4:56 pm

    I still don’t understand this:

    The Kushner shit is greasy. They’re going to go right through that. They’re going to roll those two guys up and say play me or trade me.”

    I guess high on his own supply is the best explanation.

  10. 10.

    trollhattan

    January 3, 2018 at 4:57 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
    True–I see punctuation and lack of random capitalization, for starters. SAD!

  11. 11.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 3, 2018 at 4:57 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): he bellowed a word salad at Kellyanne and then had Hope Hicks read aloud, slowly, so that the words he wanted were still in there among the syntax and punctuation.

  12. 12.

    Hungry Joe

    January 3, 2018 at 4:58 pm

    In rare moments of optimism I find myself believing that the momentum of American culture — social and political — is so great (p = mv: momentum equals mass times velocity) that it will plow its way right through this ungodly pile-up of ignorance, madness, and greed, and emerge with some dents here and there, and needing a paint job, but intact and fully functional.

    But most of the time I think we’re fucked.

  13. 13.

    catclub

    January 3, 2018 at 5:00 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): only major error is saying that seat was held for more than 30 years by GOP.
    Actually 20.

  14. 14.

    eemom

    January 3, 2018 at 5:01 pm

    Hilarity, it hath ensued.

  15. 15.

    jeffreyw

    January 3, 2018 at 5:02 pm

    Hope Hicks fled the room after Trump called her ‘the best piece of tail’ Lewandowski will ever…
    Bombshell reports from Michael Wolff’s new Fire and Fury book continued to roil President Donald Trump’s White House as even more revelations are reported. MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing, reading from…

    rawstory.com
    17 17 Replies 35 35 Retweets 53 53 likes

  16. 16.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 5:02 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    he bellowed a word salad at Kellyanne and then had Hope Hicks read aloud, slowly, so that the words he wanted were still in there among the syntax and punctuation.

    Yep. They took dictation and then did their best to translate it into English.

  17. 17.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 5:03 pm

    Looking forward to Glenn Greenwald denouncing Steve Bannon as a disappointed Clinton supporter trying to justify election loss by indulging in conspiracy theories.
    — Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) January 3, 2018

  18. 18.

    MuckJagger

    January 3, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    LOL.

    “…a staffer…”

    That’s gotta leave a mark.

  19. 19.

    Mike in NC

    January 3, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    Rooting for injuries. And indictments!

  20. 20.

    OGLiberal

    January 3, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    I think Jared had a hand in that statement. Hicks or somebody added the appropriate MAGA language but the stuff about Bannon having nothing to do with the primary victory and Bannon leaking stuff just to make himself look better…that’s coming from Jared or, more likely, Javanka.

  21. 21.

    Quinerly

    January 3, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    @jeffreyw:
    Damn, you beat me to it! I had heard a snippet on MSNBC and had been looking for a link: https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/hope-hicks-fled-the-room-after-trump-called-her-the-best-piece-of-tail-lewandowski-will-ever-have-report/

  22. 22.

    piratedan

    January 3, 2018 at 5:05 pm

    @catclub: perhaps the implication is that Jared is “soft” and as such, he should be open to selling his soul, lives, livelihood of anyone and everyone around him because he’s done some incredibly illegal and unethical shit in order to stay in “Robin Cook mode” all of these years, as such, his co-conspirators and fellow travelling ne’er-do-wells should take that under advisement because if Kushner flips, everyone is going down because he’s financially whored himself out to everyone…

    at least that’s how I read it….

  23. 23.

    Weaselone

    January 3, 2018 at 5:07 pm

    Everything thing Trump touches turns to shit. Things that were already shit turn into even worse shit. The assholes in my demographic elected shitmidas president and he’s busy running around groping whatever parts of the country he can lay his greasy little sausages on, while gleefully pointing out the piles of shit he’s leaving behind and his base is cooing and complementing him like proud grandparents observing a baby’s first real bowel movement.

  24. 24.

    Another Scott

    January 3, 2018 at 5:09 pm

    @catclub: Assuming it’s not a garbled quote, I assume it’s related to the sports analogy. Play me, or trade me, but don’t leave me on the bench. Maybe bench == prison here?

    IOW, play me (give me immunity), trade me (lesser charges), but don’t bench me (no prison, please).

    Just a guess.

    Corrections welcome.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  25. 25.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 5:10 pm

    I can’t wait to see the public ass-kissing that Bannon is going to be forced to do. Bending the knee ain’t so fun when it’s your knee that has to bend, is it, Stevie?

  26. 26.

    Ian G.

    January 3, 2018 at 5:10 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):

    Of course not. He was yelling and screaming, and someone cleaned it up and turned it into something that resembles coherent thoughts expressed in English.

  27. 27.

    West of the Cascades

    January 3, 2018 at 5:11 pm

    @OGLiberal: I wonder if Jared has made inquiries about whether Israel or Saudi Arabia have extradition treaties with the US? May be time for a jaunt to the Middle East.

  28. 28.

    catclub

    January 3, 2018 at 5:11 pm

    @Weaselone:

    Everything thing Trump touches turns to shit.

    USA! USA! USA!

  29. 29.

    cursorial

    January 3, 2018 at 5:11 pm

    Wasn’t the entire Republican field 17 candidates, including Trump? Doesn’t even reach the level of trivia compared to the other lies in the statement, but it’d be amusing if they can’t even get the easy facts right in the official statements.

  30. 30.

    catclub

    January 3, 2018 at 5:13 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t see the point. Losing the Alabama senate seat (twice!) pissed off Trump, and he blames Bannon for both losses.

  31. 31.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 3, 2018 at 5:14 pm

    @piratedan: @Another Scott: I think it’s a garbled metaphor on Bannon’s part, but I take it the same way, he’s predicting Kushner will flip. I agree. His family were happy to use their unexpected political connection to raise money, but they’re not gonna go down for trumps’ sake. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when Jared talks to his brother, who runs the family hedge fund and attended the Women’s March, or his father, a man who hired a hooker to screw his sister’s husband. I don’t think the words “Stay strong, Jared, we owe it to President trump” are ever spoken.

    Donnie Jr is likely to flip without knowing he flipped. You could imagine him texting “They didn’t lay a glove on me, Daddy!” as Meuller drives though White House gates with specially ordered extra small handcuffs.

  32. 32.

    Boatboy_srq

    January 3, 2018 at 5:14 pm

    And the battle between the Trumpverse and the Breitbartians – a/k/a The Eating Of Their Own – begins.

    More popcorn, please.

  33. 33.

    Raoul

    January 3, 2018 at 5:16 pm

    Trump is trying the ‘coffee boy’ ploy with Bannon?
    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha [9,000ft Rocky Mtn gasp] ha ha ha ha ha!

  34. 34.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 5:16 pm

    @catclub:

    That’s why Bannon is going to be forced to publicly grovel to Trump. If he doesn’t, then that would be very interesting indeed since Bannon is the Mercers’ sock puppet.

  35. 35.

    Boatboy_srq

    January 3, 2018 at 5:17 pm

    @catclub: Never, EVER, Lord Dampnut’s fault.

    Lord Dampnut, like conservatism, can only be failed.

  36. 36.

    Quinerly

    January 3, 2018 at 5:17 pm

    Buzzfeed has some Bannon and Milo emails…and it seems Bannon just wasn’t that much into Trump in the beginning: https://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/steve-bannon-privately-called-trump-a-narcissist-before?utm_term=.qw2e2oyzY#.th4Yay7j5

  37. 37.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    January 3, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    I hire the best people!

  38. 38.

    oatler.

    January 3, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    @Porco Rosso: Not since Napoleon chased Snowball off the farm.

  39. 39.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 3, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    some of this was in the published excerpt today, I don’t remember the stuff from Cohn, Mnuchin or Priebus, I assume it’s in the book

    But the broadside against Bannon obscured the existence of numerous other, similarly biting takes on Trump and his presidency. Wolff quotes News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch as calling Trump a “fucking idiot.” He quotes former Fox News chief Roger Ailes encouraging Bannon not to “give Donald too much to think about.” The book reports that former deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh thought the White House was incompetently run. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and former chief of staff Reince Priebus believe Trump to be an “idiot.” Gary Cohn, the president’s top economic adviser, regards Trump as “dumb as shit.” The president’s top national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, considers him a “dope.” Even Trump’s beloved daughter, Ivanka, seems to be in on the gag.

    It’s almost like there’s a pattern

  40. 40.

    catclub

    January 3, 2018 at 5:20 pm

    Always a self-refuting Trump tweet is available:

    “I want to thank Steve Bannon for his service. He came to the campaign during my run against Crooked Hillary Clinton – it was great! Thanks S,” Trump tweeted.

    Trump on Friday fired Bannon in the latest White House shake-up.

  41. 41.

    Boatboy_srq

    January 3, 2018 at 5:20 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Perhaps the next game should be a contest predicting who flips in what order.

  42. 42.

    mai naem mobile

    January 3, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    I wonder if Hope Hicks or Steve Bannon is the inside FBI source?

  43. 43.

    Raoul

    January 3, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I feel like you brought me right into the room, Jim. Which is frightening, but brilliant.

  44. 44.

    Served

    January 3, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    Well this could mean a lot of things, hopefully none of them good for traitors:

    Confirmed: Rosenstein is meeting with Ryan about Russia investigation, aide says https://t.co/v14pLcWQts— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) January 3, 2018

    FBI Director Wray was invited to this meeting too but reporters did not see him https://t.co/Nx0ehqv75T— Scott Wong (@scottwongDC) January 3, 2018

  45. 45.

    bill arnold

    January 3, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    @catclub:
    Still trying to parse that as well, but it is probably IMO related to an alt-meaning (first meaning is team-sports-related) of “pay me or play me” (urban dictionary):

    When you have been dating a woman for about six months, (or six weeks, in some cases), she may ask you where this relationship is going, ie either play me (marry me) or let me find someone else that will (trade me)

    In other words, cut a deal with Meuller/team, or else.

  46. 46.

    RandomMonster

    January 3, 2018 at 5:22 pm

    I’m a tech writer, so I periodically look up a word on online dictionaries. Today I’m looking something up on Merriam-Webster and I see the top “trending” lookup is “treasonous”. Made me happy.

  47. 47.

    Bess

    January 3, 2018 at 5:22 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Or not.

    Trump looks to be on his way to flaming out. Bannon, if he doesn’t get charged with a crime, might see a roll for himself as the leader of the far right wing and would quickly start claiming that the current failure to MAGA was because a non-Republican crook won the primary.

    He’ll attempt to be the king maker for 2020.

  48. 48.

    Calouste

    January 3, 2018 at 5:23 pm

    Now in theaters the major new blockbuster : “Speed 3: Bannon under the bus.”

  49. 49.

    Quinerly

    January 3, 2018 at 5:24 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I don’t see Bannon groveling.

  50. 50.

    Quinerly

    January 3, 2018 at 5:26 pm

    @Bess: I think Bannon has his own political aspirations.

  51. 51.

    mai naem mobile

    January 3, 2018 at 5:27 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: his long time pal Tom Barrack(RE/PE investor) said he’s not only crazy but stupid as well. I think he was the chair of the Inauguration Committee.

  52. 52.

    Anya

    January 3, 2018 at 5:28 pm

    What does he mean by “historical win”? I hear this from the talking head supporters and some CNN folks and I’ve never understood what makes Trump’s win historical unless it’s referring to the first POTUS to win as a result of interference from a hostile foreign government.

  53. 53.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 5:29 pm

    @Bess:
    @Quinerly:

    It will be very interesting to see what Bannon does because he’s controlled by the Mercers. If they tell him to grovel, he will grovel. If they give him other orders …

  54. 54.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 5:30 pm

    Hannity on radio staying out of today's drama (at least for now): "I am honestly so not into palace intrigue"— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) January 3, 2018

  55. 55.

    Yarrow

    January 3, 2018 at 5:30 pm

    @jeffreyw: @Quinerly: Isn’t Corey Lewandowski married to someone other than Hope Hicks? The rumors of their sleeping together have been out for awhile, but I doubt Corey’s wife will be happy with this being made so public.

  56. 56.

    Bobby Thomson

    January 3, 2018 at 5:31 pm

    @catclub: he’s saying Kushner is so transparently dirty that it won’t take Mueller long to get to a point where he can negotiate from a ridiculously strong position. Play me or trade me doesn’t really convey that. But Bannon isn’t that smart.

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 5:31 pm

    @Anya:

    It’s also historical because he lost by 3 million popular votes but won on an electoral college technicality. Even W only lost to Al Gore by about 500k votes.

  58. 58.

    Gerald Parks

    January 3, 2018 at 5:32 pm

    How about the part …”he lost his mind!”
    Haaahhhaaa…it could be said that entire bunch has lost their gd minds!

  59. 59.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 5:33 pm

    From Fire and Fury, here's Trump on his friends' wives –> pic.twitter.com/9imNBaSqm1— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) January 3, 2018

  60. 60.

    mike in dc

    January 3, 2018 at 5:35 pm

    @Served: Maybe the investigation has implicated some members of the investigating committees in the House? Or just Rosenstein telling Ryan “rein in your boys, or I will”. Pretty sure some of their conduct borders on obstruction, if not actual obstruction.

    Rosenstein capitulating would be a bit of a shock, and I don’t expect it for various reasons.

  61. 61.

    dmsilev

    January 3, 2018 at 5:35 pm

    My God, Trump projects more strongly than an IMAX multiplex.

  62. 62.

    Anya

    January 3, 2018 at 5:35 pm

    @Mnemosyne: But why does he brag about that? I thought he was denying the popular vote loss. Unless he thinks historical is positive.

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 5:37 pm

    @Anya:

    And, yeah, I call winning the Electoral College while losing the popular vote by millions “winning on a technicality” because even this non-lawyer remembers learning in 8th grade government class that the Electoral College was supposed to prevent a demagogue from being elected, not ensure it.

  64. 64.

    Dave

    January 3, 2018 at 5:38 pm

    @Anya: You’re probably trying to make too much sense of it. He won therefore it’s the greatest election for the history books ever. Given fuel because he was considered the underdog.

  65. 65.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 5:39 pm

    Rod Rosenstein is meeting with Paul Ryan about the House Russia investigation, The Hill reports. The meeting came at the request of Rosenstein. https://t.co/ao2qN0wlbh— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 3, 2018

  66. 66.

    Yarrow

    January 3, 2018 at 5:39 pm

    @Served: Story says that Rosenstein requested this meeting with Ryan. We were just talking about Paul Ryan being a traitor in a thread earlier today.

  67. 67.

    different-church-lady

    January 3, 2018 at 5:39 pm

    Matt Viser‏Verified account @mviser 2h2 hours ago

    Steve Bannon is, among other things, calling the president’s son “treasonous.”

    President Trump says his former top adviser has “lost his mind.”

    Paul Manafort is suing Bob Mueller.

    Bill and Hillary Clinton’s home in Chappaqua is on fire.

    It’s only the third day of 2018.

    And he left out, “The president is having a dick swinging contest with a nuke-capable despot on a social media toy.”

    This is why I kept going quiet whenever someone said, “Thank God 2017 is over!”

  68. 68.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    @Anya:

    Because he’s a narcissist. Anything he does is the best ever, so anything that sets him apart from other people is automatically The Best. He has no way psychologically to conceptualize that he did something wrong or incorrect. Everything he does is perfect, he’s never made a mistake in his life, and any “failure” that seems to be his is solely the fault of someone else. QED.

  69. 69.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 3, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    @germy: Josh Barro @ jbarro
    Trump talks like a high school senior who’s a virgin but really wants his friends to think he’s a huge player.

    @mike in dc: Or just Rosenstein telling Ryan “rein in your boys, or I will”. Pretty sure some of their conduct borders on obstruction, if not actual obstruction.

    Damn, I hope that’s what’s going on.

  70. 70.

    different-church-lady

    January 3, 2018 at 5:41 pm

    @germy: Repeat from earlier thread: “Dude, those aren’t your friends.”

  71. 71.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 5:43 pm

    This report is wrong, & creating much hysteria. Yes, a small fire broke out in the @SecretService facility today on Clinton property, in a building not connected to their home. Fire was put out, local FD responded. The Clintons were not home. All is ok!https://t.co/fXnbqtLb2K— Nick Merrill (@NickMerrill) January 3, 2018

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 5:44 pm

    @catclub: Mueller and his team are going to either offer them a deal in exchange for someone more important (each other and the President and VP and AG) or they’re going to get charged and prosecuted. There will only be one deal, so whoever takes it and can actually deliver the goods will get it. The other one gets screwed.

  73. 73.

    different-church-lady

    January 3, 2018 at 5:44 pm

    @Anya: You’re making a very common mistake: trying to apply the kind of logic a sane person would use to explain how Trump’s mind works.

  74. 74.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 5:46 pm

    @mai naem mobile: Natasha Bertrand has reported that the reference in the Fusion GPS op-ed is to Papadapolous.

  75. 75.

    Yarrow

    January 3, 2018 at 5:47 pm

    @different-church-lady: It really is overwhelming. I can’t believe it’s only January 3rd.

  76. 76.

    randy khan

    January 3, 2018 at 5:48 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I assume the process more or less had to be something like that – convert incoherent rant into something resembling standard English, but the specific language seems to me to be closer to something that would come out of Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ shop.

    Regardless, it’s hilarious. The guy who was made chief strategist, and specifically described as being co-equal with your chief of staff, “was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence.” Seriously?

    I’ve been saying that this stuff reminds me of the fable of the scorpion and the frog, except that they’re both scorpions.

  77. 77.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 5:48 pm

    @Yarrow: Yes he is.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    January 3, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    Ben Smith
    ‏@BuzzFeedBen
    2h2 hours ago
    More Ben Smith Retweeted Rosie Gray
    Non-zero chance he winds up supporting Bernie I think

    These people are absolute morons. They actually buy Bannon’s ” I’m a populist” bullshit. Why on earth is this nasty Trumpist racism so confusing to them? These people don’t care about the “little guy”. They care about themselves. Always and only. They make category errors on culture and class all the time. Trumpism is a culture. It occurs apart from economic class and economic policy. Why they have so much trouble spotting bad people is a fucking mystery. You wonder how they manage to function without getting waylaid and robbed daily.

  79. 79.

    Bill Arnold

    January 3, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    @different-church-lady:
    Edit germy beat me, left post for the second link
    FWIW, it’s a building used by the secret service, not the main residence:
    https://twitter.com/NickMerrill/status/948666695962546176
    http://poundridge.dailyvoice.com/police-fire/fire-contained-at-bill-hillary-clintons-chappaqua-compound/730294/

  80. 80.

    Quinerly

    January 3, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    Interesting Daily Beast piece: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-enraged-personally-dictates-scathing-denouncement-of-one-time-top-strategist-steve-bannon

  81. 81.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    January 3, 2018 at 5:50 pm

    ‘He lost his mind’: Trump lashes out at Bannon — but doesn’t deny Don Jr committed ‘treason’

    ooops.

  82. 82.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    @germy: @Yarrow: It is most likely that DAG Rosenstein is going to ask the Speaker to ask his HPSCI chairman (Nunes) and several of his members to cool the attempt to politicize and politically undermine the DOJ and the FBI. This will be the polite first attempt. If it fails, expect something similar to the leaks that forced AG Sessions to have to recuse himself.

  83. 83.

    Cacti

    January 3, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    No honor among thieves.

    I’m rooting for…injuries.

  84. 84.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 5:51 pm

    @germy:

    I can’t stop laughing at the Rose Crowd who don’t understand sarcasm or irony.

  85. 85.

    p.a.

    January 3, 2018 at 5:52 pm

    I believe I’m about to experience a bombogenisis of shadenfreude. And I’m plum out of wetnaps…

  86. 86.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 3, 2018 at 5:53 pm

    on York @ ByronYork
    Listening to lawmakers, seems Steve Bannon has earned himself invitations to testify before congressional committees investigating Trump-Russia. Hopefully in public; certainly investigators want to hear him flesh out treason accusation.

    York has been as full-on a trump apologist as anyone on Fox. I wonder if he really wants marble-headed stupes like Jim Jordan and that gibbering idiot Louie Goehmert asking Bannon questions they don’t know the answers to, unless they think they’re going to score a bunch of points by pointing out the constitutional definition of treason.
    “So it wasn’t treason, Mr Bannon, was it? What you’re describing is only conspiracy!”
    “Asparagus!”

  87. 87.

    debbie

    January 3, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    I cannot wipe the grin off my face!

  88. 88.

    Cheryl Rofer

    January 3, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I agree there is only one deal to be made, but I wonder if Flynn has made it. It’s possible he doesn’t have all the goods, but it looks like he’s giving up what he knows. There may be another deal to be made by someone more on the inside, like Jared, though.

  89. 89.

    Quinerly

    January 3, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    @Yarrow: School teacher wife who he has known since they were in 8th and 9th grades. They have 4 children. Wife was married prior and lost that husband on 9/11. Quick Google search

  90. 90.

    Tom

    January 3, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    Is it very wrong of me to be enjoying this so much?

  91. 91.

    dayofthedaleks

    January 3, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    @catclub:

    ‘Play me’ – let’s try our luck in court
    ‘Trade me’ – give me a bigger fish to indict

  92. 92.

    Yarrow

    January 3, 2018 at 5:55 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I’d be surprised if they haven’t already had a conversation like that with Ryan. Maybe this is a second or third attempt. Ryan is plenty guilty, so this conversation with him does not preclude his being caught up in the investigation as well.

  93. 93.

    different-church-lady

    January 3, 2018 at 5:55 pm

    @Quinerly: Rumors now leaking out to the press within hours instead of days. Popcorn futures are up.

  94. 94.

    Kay

    January 3, 2018 at 5:56 pm

    Raw Story‏Verified account
    @RawStory
    Follow Follow @RawStory
    More
    Trump called ex-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates ‘such a c*nt,’ book alleges

    Such a class act, our President. Absolute garbage in the White House. This is how they talk! They think they’re at a table at that sleazy country club.

  95. 95.

    different-church-lady

    January 3, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    @Tom: you freude with the Schaden you have, not the Schaden you wish you had.

  96. 96.

    Anonymous at Work

    January 3, 2018 at 5:58 pm

    That’s 100percent of campaign personnel who knew nothing and did nothing.

  97. 97.

    danielx

    January 3, 2018 at 5:58 pm

    @germy:

    Every time I think I’ve seen how low Trump will go….he proves me wrong.

    Edit: Every time I think I’ve seen the lowest Trump will go…

  98. 98.

    Kay

    January 3, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    They’ve so fucked up the congressional hearing process no one listens to those hearings, because anything interesting or relevant has been deemed super duper secret. They ruin everything they get near. Put “congressional hearings” on the pile of shit they broke. 150 years of congressional hearings and Republicans managed to ruin the whole process. They’re useless now.

  99. 99.

    dmsilev

    January 3, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    @Kay: Remember, Republicans always will bring “dignity” back to the White House. We hear that every time a Democrat has the temerity to live there.

  100. 100.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: I think there are only a few for the upper level folks. Flynn has snagged one. There will only be one between Jr. and Jared. There may be one for Sessions or Giuliani or some of the others of that ilk.

  101. 101.

    debbie

    January 3, 2018 at 6:00 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Translating sputtering isn’t as easy as it seems.

  102. 102.

    chopper

    January 3, 2018 at 6:00 pm

    this is just fantastic.

  103. 103.

    Scotian

    January 3, 2018 at 6:00 pm

    Steve Bannon was clearly no one of consequence…they had to shuffle him off into a special position they gave him with the NSC, and we all know that is a nothing burger position…

    *and yes, poisonously sarcastic in tone was my voice*

  104. 104.

    trollhattan

    January 3, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    @Yarrow:
    I’ll guess Mrs. L (poor lass) will remain silent given his high likeliness as someone who punches first, converses second.

  105. 105.

    different-church-lady

    January 3, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Bannon will be more expository than a Bond villain trying to impress James with his explanation of how the laser works.

  106. 106.

    debbie

    January 3, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    @OGLiberal:

    My favorite excerpt from the book is Ivanka’s making fun of her father’s hair. That’s got to be driving him wild.

  107. 107.

    Chip Daniels

    January 3, 2018 at 6:02 pm

    @germy:
    Did the email server overheat?

  108. 108.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 3, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    @ DonaldJTrumpJr
    Steve had the honor of working in the White House & serving the country. Unfortunately, he squandered that privilege & turned that opportunity into a nightmare of backstabbing, harassing, leaking, lying & undermining the President. Steve is not a strategist, he is an opportunist

    instead of using that honor & privilege to boost sales at private hotels, supper clubs and golf courses like a true patriot and statesman!

  109. 109.

    chopper

    January 3, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    @germy:

    “I am honestly so not into republican palace intrigue”

    fixed. hannity is, as ever, a prick.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    @Kay:

    Why on earth is this nasty Trumpist racism so confusing to them?

    Because they really think that racism doesn’t exist. They think it’s just a word used to attack political opponents, not an actual problem in our society.

  111. 111.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 6:05 pm

    @debbie:

    My favorite excerpt from the book is Ivanka’s making fun of her father’s hair. That’s got to be driving him wild.

    Will he ever know about that? He doesn’t read. He won’t be reading the book. Everything he knows, he gets either from Fox & Friends or his staff. Fox won’t repeat that anecdote and his staff won’t tell him.

    He only knows the Bannon story because his staff wanted him to know, and it’s all over TV.

  112. 112.

    Another Scott

    January 3, 2018 at 6:05 pm

    Relatedly, Fitz and the Tantrums – Moneygrabber (3:01)

    Hehe.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  113. 113.

    wuzzat

    January 3, 2018 at 6:05 pm

    @OGLiberal: Well, obviously. If Trump really wrote it, he would have thrown in a crack about how Bannon’s just jealous of his big, beautiful and fully functional button.

  114. 114.

    Raoul

    January 3, 2018 at 6:06 pm

    @Kay:

    You wonder how they manage to function without getting waylaid and robbed daily.

    How do know they don’t?
    Some of these twerps probably give up their lunch money daily on the way to the company cafeteria.

  115. 115.

    Chip Daniels

    January 3, 2018 at 6:06 pm

    @Tom:
    For maximum schadenfreude, try the comments at Gateway Pundit.
    They range from “Fake News!” to “This is a head fake false flag by Trump and Bannon to totally pwn libtards!” to “We hate Steve Bannon- we have always hated Steve Bannon!”

  116. 116.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 6:06 pm

    @chopper: He might hurt himself twisting into such pretzel shapes.

  117. 117.

    debbie

    January 3, 2018 at 6:07 pm

    @germy:

    What a bucket of smarm. Next, we’ll learn there’s a third button on his desk for locking the door.

  118. 118.

    debbie

    January 3, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @Dave:

    I think he means how he gamed the Electoral College.

  119. 119.

    Quinerly

    January 3, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @germy: And the Bannon story is all over Drudge and Breitbart.

  120. 120.

    different-church-lady

    January 3, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Unfortunately, he squandered that privilege & turned that opportunity into a nightmare of backstabbing, harassing, leaking, lying & undermining the President.

    Well what the hell else was he supposed to do with it?

  121. 121.

    TS

    January 3, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @Kay:

    Such a class act, our President. Absolute garbage in the White House. This is how they talk! They think they’re at a table at that sleazy country club.

    And it always comes back to “imagine if Obama had said this” – yet the trump apologists continue to laugh it off as “boys will be boys”

  122. 122.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    January 3, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @germy: Will he ever know about that? He doesn’t read. He won’t be reading the book. Everything he knows, he gets either from Fox & Friends or his staff.

    Or somebody who wants to bump Ivanka down in the pecking order will print it out in a big font and underline it in gold highlighter and slip it under the door.
    Possible candidates: Melania, Eric, Donnie, Eric’s wife, Hope Hicks…. No Tiffany cause I don’t think she could get into the White House. But Marla might have contacts with somebody back at trump tower.

  123. 123.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @Quinerly:

    And the Bannon story is all over Drudge and Breitbart.

    Trump doesn’t do internet. He can’t operate a web browser.

  124. 124.

    danielx

    January 3, 2018 at 6:11 pm

    Trump does inspire loyalty, doesn’t he? Until staffers figure out they can make a shit ton of money by letting dear old Felix out of the bag.

  125. 125.

    Miss Bianca

    January 3, 2018 at 6:11 pm

    @Kay:

    You wonder how they manage to function without getting waylaid and robbed daily.

    Well, Kay, if they’re not the marks, then maybe they’re the robbers.

  126. 126.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 6:12 pm

    @TS:

    I posted this link earlier, but it’s relevant here, too:

    The Myth of the Male Bumbler

  127. 127.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 3, 2018 at 6:13 pm

    @Anya:
    There is actually a kernel of fact here. It’s a lie, but still, the claim isn’t totally empty air, it’s merely pathetically, flat-out wrong. Someone told Trump that he got 306 electoral votes and this is the most anyone’s gotten in modern history. Neither of these facts are true, but he bragged about it several times in public, so now it is conservative gospel that his win was a record breaker. For the national press, it’s half stenography, half what Rikyah refers to as ‘the curve for mediocre white men.’ They didn’t expect Trump to win, and a black man was just president, so a white man winning the presidency feels historic, or at least close enough that they are happy to go along with conservatives describing it. Our long national nightmare of minority representation is over.

  128. 128.

    Gelfling 545

    January 3, 2018 at 6:13 pm

    @Anya: He appears to have convinced himself that there is something unique about his win that somehow does him credit. First he denied the popular vote loss, saing instead that he won bigly. Then it was THE BIGEST electoral college win ever. Now he seems to have moved on to his amazing strategy in finessing the electoral college vote. Tomorrow, who knows? It’s not at all fact based and the why isjust because he wants it to be that way.

  129. 129.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    January 3, 2018 at 6:14 pm

    CNN headline, White House worried about Kim Jong UN’S mental state. I wondered how many takes it took for the newscasters to report that with a straight face. What percentage of the CNN viewing audience groaned and facepalmed?

  130. 130.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 6:14 pm

    @danielx:

    letting dear old Felix out of the bag

    “You’ll laugh so much your sides will ache; Your heart will go pit-a-pat”

  131. 131.

    trnc

    January 3, 2018 at 6:14 pm

    Clearly, Bannon was just another coffee boy.

    President Trump has reorganized the National Security Council by elevating his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, and demoting the director of National Intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

    https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/29/512295108/with-national-security-council-shakeup-steve-bannon-gets-a-seat-at-the-table

  132. 132.

    Quinerly

    January 3, 2018 at 6:18 pm

    @danielx: What I find fascinating is the access Wolff had…200 interviews…book to be released officially in a few days. All these quotes, including Bannon’s, go back months. Bannon was backstabbing while still in the WH. Wolff was waived in 14 times and 12 of those times, Bannon signed him in. Somewhere I read/heard today that Bannon and Trump last had a friendly chat in December.

  133. 133.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    January 3, 2018 at 6:18 pm

    @Anya: I have the same reaction to the constant repetition of the Russians having “dirt” on HRC. Announcers say it as if there really was something shameful. What are they talking about?

  134. 134.

    mike in dc

    January 3, 2018 at 6:19 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I think Mueller probably needs, at most, 2-3 key witnesses plus a number of corroborating witnesses. Ditto for documents–2-3 key document (sets) plus a mountain of corroborating documents. Maybe throw in a few declassified IC docs and you’ve got a very strong case. Flynn is one, Manafort may yet be another, so that leaves only room for 1-2 more–like you said, Sessions or Giuliani or someone like that might get one(Pence?), and Kushner or Don Jr might get another. I don’t see Don Jr. flipping on his dad, no matter how much he secretly hates him. But Jared might do it. Ivanka might leave him, but at least he won’t be sharing a cell with Dad.

  135. 135.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 6:20 pm

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman sued special counsel Robert Mueller and the Justice Department on Wednesday, saying prosecutors had overstepped their bounds by charging him for conduct that he says is unrelated to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

    In his complaint, Paul Manafort alleges that the investigation into “decade-old business dealings” is “completely unmoored” from the mandate Mueller was given when he was named in May to probe possible ties between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign. He argues that a paragraph in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s order appointing Mueller, which allows him to pursue new matters he comes across during his investigation, is too broad to be permitted under the regulation that governs special counsels.

    Does he have any chance of winning this?

  136. 136.

    debbie

    January 3, 2018 at 6:20 pm

    @germy:

    Oh, I disagree. This, he will take the time to read and fume over. There’s an enemies list to write up!

  137. 137.

    debbie

    January 3, 2018 at 6:21 pm

    @germy:

    Most sites also Tweet so he’d see info in their Tweets.

  138. 138.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 3, 2018 at 6:21 pm

    @Mnemosyne:
    This. If racism existed, all sorts of things would be called into question that they are deeply invested in – like their own motivations, personal and political. Or whether their good buddies at the DC barbecue might actually be disgusting people. Or whether the Republican Party is even legitimate.

  139. 139.

    Roger Moore

    January 3, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    @Anonymous at Work:

    That’s 100percent of campaign personnel who knew nothing and did nothing.

    Exactly. In Trump’s mind, he did it all himself.

  140. 140.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    @debbie:

    Oh, I disagree. This, he will take the time to read and fume over.

    I hope you’re right.

  141. 141.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 6:23 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):

    What are they talking about?

    There is still a large contingent of Americans who actually think that Hillary Clinton is a criminal who has somehow managed to escape prosecution despite the fact that her finances are fully open to the public and she’s never been arrested for so much as public littering.

    Many of those people work in the MSM, so they’re desperately trying to figure out what dirt the Russians have, never realizing that there is no dirt. The Russians made it up, knowing that the Republicans and MSM would lunge for the false bait like the idiots they are.

  142. 142.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 6:23 pm

    @trnc: Trust me, a lot of coffee is consumed at Interagency meetings.

  143. 143.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 3, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    @mike in dc:
    I’m still convinced that Sessions flipped first. It’s why he’s protecting the investigation. As long as Mueller’s the one manning the guillotine, Sessions can keep his head.

  144. 144.

    trollhattan

    January 3, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    Perhaps the reason behind the return of Mooch rumor is to man the Insult Bannon Desk. He’s actually rather good at it.

  145. 145.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    @mike in dc:

    Ivanka might leave him

    Then she can go back to eating lobster.

  146. 146.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Or whether their nice, cozy, upper-class professional lives are primarily due to the unearned social privilege of their skin color, not their unprecedented hard work.

  147. 147.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    @germy: No.

  148. 148.

    MCA1

    January 3, 2018 at 6:26 pm

    @catclub: Loose translation is “Kushner’s obviously guilty of a lot of shitty financial shenanigans covered by state law as well as federal, so Mueller’s got him by the short hairs. Ergo, he (along with Donnie Jr., I think, as the other of “those two guys”) will be easy to flip.”

    Now, how “play me or trade me” – which I think of as a sports world phrase used by athletes frustrated by sitting on the bench when they could be starting on some other team (or so they’ve convinced themselves) – translates as something Mueller and co. would say to those they’re attempting to flip, I’m not sure.

    I guess it could be a coincidence, and Bannon means the choice is take your chances in court (“play me” as in “fight me”) or give me someone bigger (“trade me” as in “you give me the boss and I give you your freedom”). But when I first read it, I was definitely confused.

  149. 149.

    trollhattan

    January 3, 2018 at 6:27 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Heh. Friday night arrives at her bachelorette HQ: “I’m taking all the damn elevators!”

  150. 150.

    Calouste

    January 3, 2018 at 6:27 pm

    So, is there any reaction from Bannon yet? So far we have the madman reacting to what Bannon says in the book, but nothing from Bannon yet it seems.

  151. 151.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 6:28 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    No.

    Is he getting bad advice from his lawyers on this, or is it just like a reflexive muscle twitch with these sort of characters, to sue anyone who looks at them?

  152. 152.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 6:28 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: There is RUMINT to that effect on some of the nat-sec professionals twitter accounts. For instance:

    "He [@Comey] provided some specific information that I think would resolve Senator @alfranken's concerns about the Atty General." Grassley and Feinstein know that Sessions has been cooperating at least since March.

    — Steve Smith (@SteveSmithSQL) January 3, 2018

  153. 153.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 6:28 pm

    @Calouste:

    So, is there any reaction from Bannon yet? So far we have the madman reacting to what Bannon says in the book, but nothing from Bannon yet it seems.

    I think he shot his wad.

  154. 154.

    Mary G

    January 3, 2018 at 6:28 pm

    I’m still having trouble acknowledging that statement about Bannon is real; it seems so much like something the Onion or SNL could have come up with. Trump is now a parody of himself!

  155. 155.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    @trollhattan: Yep.

  156. 156.

    trollhattan

    January 3, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    @germy: Ewwwwww!

  157. 157.

    dm

    January 3, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Or Kim Jong-Un could tweet about it.

  158. 158.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    @Calouste: Bannon’s response was to basically issue a no comment.

  159. 159.

    WaterGirl

    January 3, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    @catclub: @Another Scott: I asked the same question earlier today. Finally an explanation that makes sense to me. thank you!

  160. 160.

    Mike in NC

    January 3, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    Wolff’s book leads the evening network news. Bwahahahaha!

  161. 161.

    WaterGirl

    January 3, 2018 at 6:32 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Interesting comment! I was thinking the opposite – that Trump will have to come crawling back to Bannon because Trump’s base will be more loyal to Bannon than Trump.

    We shall see!

  162. 162.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 6:33 pm

    @germy: From what I’ve seen with the reporting on this it is not unusual for this type of suit to be brought during special counsel investigations. The consensus seems to be that the courts will defer to the DOJ having the right to interpret their own instructions in an appropriate manner.

  163. 163.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    January 3, 2018 at 6:33 pm

    @Mary G: Only “now” he’s a parody? But yeah, you’re right – this one’s gotta win an award of some sort…

  164. 164.

    germy

    January 3, 2018 at 6:34 pm

    @trollhattan:
    “To expend all of one’s resources or efforts; to express all the arguments or ideas which one has.”

  165. 165.

    TS

    January 3, 2018 at 6:34 pm

    @Mnemosyne: From your link

    “The bumbler’s perpetual amazement exonerates him. Incompetence is less damaging than malice. And men — particularly powerful men — use that loophole like corporations use off-shore accounts. The bumbler takes one of our culture’s most muscular myths — that men are clueless — and weaponizes it into an alibi.”

    Obama was never allowed by the press to explain an issue (like why he wore a brown suit, or why he imagined Trayvon would be the son he might have had) – yet they instantly accept the b.s. that comes from trump and his partners in crime. I can find no words to describe how I feel about this – although Betty says it rather well.

  166. 166.

    Roger Moore

    January 3, 2018 at 6:35 pm

    @germy:

    Does he have any chance of winning this?

    If it were a serious legal argument, he’d be bringing it up in his criminal trial, not as a separate civil matter. As I understand it, by doing it this way he has a chance of getting it in front of a different judge, and he’s probably hoping it will be a Trump-appointed hack who will give it some credence.

  167. 167.

    Barbara

    January 3, 2018 at 6:38 pm

    @Roger Moore: It is almost certainly a “related case” and will go straight to the judge overseeing the indictment, which I believe is Amy Berman Jackson. That’s how case assignment works in the DDC.

  168. 168.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 6:41 pm

    Well this seems perfectly normal:

    From Fire and Fury, here's Trump on his friends' wives –> pic.twitter.com/9imNBaSqm1

    — Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) January 3, 2018

  169. 169.

    Quinerly

    January 3, 2018 at 6:44 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:What will the Evangelicals say??

  170. 170.

    MCA1

    January 3, 2018 at 6:45 pm

    @Roger Moore: That’s right – any substantive issue of impropriety would be better used as a defense in his criminal case, but they know it will go nowhere in that venue right now.

    This will likely get tossed within days on a 12(b)(6) motion (failure to state a claim). He has no basis for his case in the law. “Prosecutor did his job by bringing claims before the statute of limitations ran, and/or used my criminal activity to get me to turn state’s against others for their criminal activity” is not the basis for a claim.

    One other potential thought here is that he’s trying to use this as a way to force Mueller to give insights into his theory of the case on criminal charges (by compelling the feds to justify bringing claims as part of a larger probe that ostensibly was supposed to be dealing with Russian interference in the election) so as to better prepare to defend at trial. That’s likely to blow up in everyone on Team Trump’s side, however – “well, your honor, Mr. Manafort’s tens of millions of dollars in hock to Russian oligarchs, and they used that financial leverage over him to get him to commit treason during the campaign. They did the same thing to numerous others…”

  171. 171.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 6:46 pm

    @Quinerly: Who cares? To quote their favorite book: they’ve become “a white washed wall”.

  172. 172.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 3, 2018 at 6:48 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I read this as proof positive that Paulie doesn’t have a deal with Mueller.

    Sucks to be him.

  173. 173.

    nycmt

    January 3, 2018 at 6:49 pm

    @germy: I have something to about APA litigation andf prosecutorial discretion

  174. 174.

    MCA1

    January 3, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: No way the flying spaghetti monster loves us that much. The explosion if it became public that the Attorney General of the United States had spent a year+ cooperating with an investigation into all the president’s men and possibly POTUS himself…hooboy.

  175. 175.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 6:51 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Nope. Nor does it appear that he wants one. Or that Mueller wants to give him one.

  176. 176.

    Miss Bianca

    January 3, 2018 at 6:52 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: wait..is that just another way of saying “whited sepulchre”? Or is that another reference entirely?

  177. 177.

    B

    January 3, 2018 at 6:53 pm

    @Quinerly: I work with a bunch. Their answer to all of this kind of stuff is almost always fake news.

  178. 178.

    Gin & Tonic

    January 3, 2018 at 6:55 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Like I said, sucks to be him. I’d love to see Mueller’s team’s travel manifests.

  179. 179.

    Humdog

    January 3, 2018 at 6:56 pm

    @Quinerly: The evangelicals will say this section proves shitstain is just like King David, hateful fuckwads that they are.
    I thought my final words to my evangelical dad and sister when I told them after the election that they define their faith by abortion. It is not a Christ centered life but abortion centered and they should call themselves Abortions instead of Christians. About a year later they both called for the first time as if I never said it nor that I did not want to speak to them ever again. I come from fuckwads and hate them all for it. I know they know better fuckin fuckwads.

  180. 180.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 3, 2018 at 6:56 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    The way I see it, the top targets Mueller could possibly want are Trump himself, McConnell, and Ryan. I don’t claim to know how much, if any, evidence he has on them – but he would never give them plea deals because they’re Russia’s biggest assets, no matter where they are in the organizing chain. Pence is probably next, then Jr and Kushner. None of these is likely to get a plea deal unless he can give Mueller conclusive evidence Mueller doesn’t already have to nail the others.

    I don’t see Kushner getting a plea deal in particular, because he’s too fucking stupid. Kushner will believe he has some brilliant scheme to fight the charges in court. It will be something wildly asinine based on a legal buzzword he heard.

  181. 181.

    Jeffro

    January 3, 2018 at 6:57 pm

    @Quinerly: omg no fucking way!

    They BOTH have no standards!

  182. 182.

    WaterGirl

    January 3, 2018 at 6:59 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: As I was reading that, I felt my nostrils flair in disgust, as if I had stepped barefoot in a pile os puppy poop and it was squishing between my toes. Wow

    I do find myself wondering how many “friends” of Trump will now be wondering if he bedded their wives.

  183. 183.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 6:59 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Montgomery Burns: “Mmm, perhaps. Tell you what, we come back and everyone’s slaughtered, I owe you a Coke.”

  184. 184.

    Mnemosyne

    January 3, 2018 at 7:01 pm

    @Barbara:

    Just from the few things I’ve seen, Amy Bergman Jackson does not seem like a judge who takes kindly to defendants trying to jerk her around.

  185. 185.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 7:03 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Same thing, different translation.

  186. 186.

    WaterGirl

    January 3, 2018 at 7:03 pm

    @Humdog: Thanks for writing that. Describes my sister perfectly. Abortion over all.

  187. 187.

    Roger Moore

    January 3, 2018 at 7:04 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    The way I see it, the top targets Mueller could possibly want are Trump himself, McConnell, and Ryan.

    And Pence. Gotta collect the whole set.

  188. 188.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 7:04 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: Try this one weird trick. Special counsels hate it!

  189. 189.

    Adam L Silverman

    January 3, 2018 at 7:06 pm

    @WaterGirl: All of them Katie. Especially the ones who went upstairs to see the women he had coming in from LA around 3.

  190. 190.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 3, 2018 at 7:10 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    It sounds like a joke, but having heard him speak and read about how he runs his businesses, I would not be surprised if he asked his lawyer- no, I’m sorry, told his lawyer to employ synergy in his defense. Kushner is ‘Holy shit, did I just hear him say that?’ stupid.

  191. 191.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 3, 2018 at 7:14 pm

    @dmsilev: Showing The Last Jedi

  192. 192.

    Russ

    January 3, 2018 at 7:20 pm

    @MuckJagger: I always thought he just got the coffee.

  193. 193.

    mike in dc

    January 3, 2018 at 7:22 pm

    Apparently Rosenstein met with Ryan specifically to discuss a subpoena to DOJ issued by Devin Nunes. Chris Wray was also present. Pretty sure the message sent was some variation of “this is an improper request and constitutes interference with an ongoing investigation. Tell him to knock it off.” Worst case for Nunes, Rosenstein discloses to Ryan that Nunes is a subject of the investigation and should be nowhere near chairing an investigation.
    If RR was just going to comply with the subpoena, absolutely no need to meet with Speaker Ryan about it.

  194. 194.

    Frankensteinbeck

    January 3, 2018 at 7:26 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I swear every time I talk about the guy I have to explain how stupid he is, even though I know you know. It just rocks me, and I can’t believe in my heart I could have a conversation about it without having to convince the other person first.

  195. 195.

    Matt

    January 3, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    The same people who came up with the Electoral College also came up with the 3/5ths Compromise – they were mostly worried about an anti-slavery “demagogue”, since the south had fewer voters. Quote from Madison:

    There was one difficulty however of a serious nature attending an immediate choice by the people. The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of Negroes. The substitution of electors obviated this difficulty and seemed on the whole to be liable to the fewest objections

    (source: Records of the Federal Convention, p. 57 Farrand’s Records, Volume 2, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875, Library of Congress )

  196. 196.

    efgoldman

    January 3, 2018 at 7:32 pm

    Hahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahaha
    Hohohohohohohohohohohohhohohohoho
    Oh stop/ Yer killin’ me.

  197. 197.

    charon

    January 3, 2018 at 7:51 pm

    @Chip Daniels:

    So I traipsed over to Gateway Pundit to peruse the comments. I thought the screen handles and gravatars looked like a really weirdo alternate culture.

  198. 198.

    BellyCat

    January 3, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    @Humdog: See, your insight ain’t flawed at all!

  199. 199.

    glory b

    January 3, 2018 at 8:06 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Well, Omarosa isn’t there to tell him stuff anymore.

  200. 200.

    fuckwit

    January 3, 2018 at 8:27 pm

    @Another Scott: Tread me = give me someone to rat out.

  201. 201.

    Bill Arnold

    January 3, 2018 at 10:04 pm

    Ah, McDonald’s addiction explained. Fear of poisoning.

    (He had a longtime fear of being poisoned, one reason why he liked to eat at McDonald’s — nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely premade.)

    I’m convinced (by a friend) that the reason that Pope Francis eats in a communal dining hall is in part to discourage assassination by poisoning; not so much that he cares about his life as he cares about his mission of church reform.
    Perhaps one could be generous and think the same of Trump.
    (/snark)
    (via the nymag variant of the Wolff piece: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-book-donald-trump.html )

  202. 202.

    J R in WV

    January 3, 2018 at 11:49 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I don’t care about Kushner nor Eric nor Donald Jr. None of those idiots hold a political office, nor ever will. Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Pence and Trump all have to go down.

    Sessions should also, although being appointed rather than elected he’s less important than Ryan, McConnell Pence and Trump.

    I think Manafort has realized how deep the trouble is that he is sinking into, for the first time. The bracelet and home confinement has brought it home to him. I love my home – I can point to all the boards I cut and nailed into the floor, the designs I created, the moss-covered rocks around us.

    But after a few days, I want to go to town, to see the folks I buy our food from, to chat with them, see what’s good today. Paul Manafort’s home is just a place he bought. Even with the fine food and wine and linens, now that he can’t go out to eat, not even to MickyDs it’s already like a prison. And he’s thinking of the real prison, and the rest of his life in the hole.

    But really, I want all these guys to spend the rest of their lives in Florissant, Colorado. The Federal Super Max on the high desert, Hot as Hell all summer and Cold as Hell all winter!

  203. 203.

    LanceThruster

    January 4, 2018 at 4:22 am

    But Dolt 45 always said he got the ‘best people.’ Shouldn’t this reflect poorly on Il Douche and his bank of talent?

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