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.
cintibud
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I needed that
trollhattan
Can’t quite put a finger on it but there’s something…off about this administration.
JPL
What time is the fake news awards show?
MisterForkbeard
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!
Miss Bianca
Oh, Kettle, you are so very, very black! SAD!
Signed, Pot
geg6
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.
Porco Rosso
Krokodil tears seem appropriate
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
That statement is too literate for Trump to have written it, at least without a lot of editing.
catclub
I still don’t understand this:
I guess high on his own supply is the best explanation.
trollhattan
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
True–I see punctuation and lack of random capitalization, for starters. SAD!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@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.
Hungry Joe
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.
catclub
@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.
eemom
Hilarity, it hath ensued.
jeffreyw
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
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yep. They took dictation and then did their best to translate it into English.
germy
MuckJagger
LOL.
“…a staffer…”
That’s gotta leave a mark.
Mike in NC
Rooting for injuries. And indictments!
OGLiberal
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.
Quinerly
@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/
piratedan
@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….
Weaselone
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.
Another Scott
@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.
Mnemosyne
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?
Ian G.
@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.
West of the Cascades
@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.
catclub
@Weaselone:
USA! USA! USA!
cursorial
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.
catclub
@Mnemosyne: I don’t see the point. Losing the Alabama senate seat (twice!) pissed off Trump, and he blames Bannon for both losses.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@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.
Boatboy_srq
And the battle between the Trumpverse and the Breitbartians – a/k/a The Eating Of Their Own – begins.
More popcorn, please.
Raoul
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!
Mnemosyne
@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.
Boatboy_srq
@catclub: Never, EVER, Lord Dampnut’s fault.
Lord Dampnut, like conservatism, can only be failed.
Quinerly
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
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
oatler.
@Porco Rosso: Not since Napoleon chased Snowball off the farm.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
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
It’s almost like there’s a pattern
catclub
Always a self-refuting Trump tweet is available:
Boatboy_srq
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Perhaps the next game should be a contest predicting who flips in what order.
mai naem mobile
I wonder if Hope Hicks or Steve Bannon is the inside FBI source?
Raoul
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I feel like you brought me right into the room, Jim. Which is frightening, but brilliant.
Served
Well this could mean a lot of things, hopefully none of them good for traitors:
bill arnold
@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):
In other words, cut a deal with Meuller/team, or else.
RandomMonster
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.
Bess
@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.
Calouste
Now in theaters the major new blockbuster : “Speed 3: Bannon under the bus.”
Quinerly
@Mnemosyne: I don’t see Bannon groveling.
Quinerly
@Bess: I think Bannon has his own political aspirations.
mai naem mobile
@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.
Anya
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.
Mnemosyne
@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 …
germy
Yarrow
@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.
Bobby Thomson
@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.
Mnemosyne
@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.
Gerald Parks
How about the part …”he lost his mind!”
Haaahhhaaa…it could be said that entire bunch has lost their gd minds!
germy
mike in dc
@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.
dmsilev
My God, Trump projects more strongly than an IMAX multiplex.
Anya
@Mnemosyne: But why does he brag about that? I thought he was denying the popular vote loss. Unless he thinks historical is positive.
Mnemosyne
@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.
Dave
@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.
germy
Yarrow
@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.
different-church-lady
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!”
Mnemosyne
@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.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Damn, I hope that’s what’s going on.
different-church-lady
@germy: Repeat from earlier thread: “Dude, those aren’t your friends.”
germy
Adam L Silverman
@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.
different-church-lady
@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.
Adam L Silverman
@mai naem mobile: Natasha Bertrand has reported that the reference in the Fusion GPS op-ed is to Papadapolous.
Yarrow
@different-church-lady: It really is overwhelming. I can’t believe it’s only January 3rd.
randy khan
@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.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Yes he is.
Kay
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.
Bill Arnold
@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/
Quinerly
Interesting Daily Beast piece: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-enraged-personally-dictates-scathing-denouncement-of-one-time-top-strategist-steve-bannon
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
ooops.
Adam L Silverman
@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.
Cacti
No honor among thieves.
I’m rooting for…injuries.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
I can’t stop laughing at the Rose Crowd who don’t understand sarcasm or irony.
p.a.
I believe I’m about to experience a bombogenisis of shadenfreude. And I’m plum out of wetnaps…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
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!”
debbie
I cannot wipe the grin off my face!
Cheryl Rofer
@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.
Quinerly
@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
Tom
Is it very wrong of me to be enjoying this so much?
dayofthedaleks
@catclub:
‘Play me’ – let’s try our luck in court
‘Trade me’ – give me a bigger fish to indict
Yarrow
@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.
different-church-lady
@Quinerly: Rumors now leaking out to the press within hours instead of days. Popcorn futures are up.
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.
different-church-lady
@Tom: you freude with the Schaden you have, not the Schaden you wish you had.
Anonymous at Work
That’s 100percent of campaign personnel who knew nothing and did nothing.
danielx
@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…
Kay
@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.
dmsilev
@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.
Adam L Silverman
@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.
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
Translating sputtering isn’t as easy as it seems.
chopper
this is just fantastic.
Scotian
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*
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
I’ll guess Mrs. L (poor lass) will remain silent given his high likeliness as someone who punches first, converses second.
different-church-lady
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Bannon will be more expository than a Bond villain trying to impress James with his explanation of how the laser works.
debbie
@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.
Chip Daniels
@germy:
Did the email server overheat?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
instead of using that honor & privilege to boost sales at private hotels, supper clubs and golf courses like a true patriot and statesman!
chopper
@germy:
fixed. hannity is, as ever, a prick.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
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.
germy
@debbie:
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.
Another Scott
Relatedly, Fitz and the Tantrums – Moneygrabber (3:01)
Hehe.
Cheers,
Scott.
wuzzat
@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.
Raoul
@Kay:
How do know they don’t?
Some of these twerps probably give up their lunch money daily on the way to the company cafeteria.
Chip Daniels
@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!”
germy
@chopper: He might hurt himself twisting into such pretzel shapes.
debbie
@germy:
What a bucket of smarm. Next, we’ll learn there’s a third button on his desk for locking the door.
debbie
@Dave:
I think he means how he gamed the Electoral College.
Quinerly
@germy: And the Bannon story is all over Drudge and Breitbart.
different-church-lady
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well what the hell else was he supposed to do with it?
TS
@Kay:
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”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
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.
germy
@Quinerly:
Trump doesn’t do internet. He can’t operate a web browser.
danielx
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.
Miss Bianca
@Kay:
Well, Kay, if they’re not the marks, then maybe they’re the robbers.
Mnemosyne
@TS:
I posted this link earlier, but it’s relevant here, too:
The Myth of the Male Bumbler
Frankensteinbeck
@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.
Gelfling 545
@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.
Mr Stagger Lee
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?
germy
@danielx:
“You’ll laugh so much your sides will ache; Your heart will go pit-a-pat”
trnc
Clearly, Bannon was just another coffee boy.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/29/512295108/with-national-security-council-shakeup-steve-bannon-gets-a-seat-at-the-table
Quinerly
@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.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@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?
mike in dc
@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.
germy
Does he have any chance of winning this?
debbie
@germy:
Oh, I disagree. This, he will take the time to read and fume over. There’s an enemies list to write up!
debbie
@germy:
Most sites also Tweet so he’d see info in their Tweets.
Frankensteinbeck
@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.
Roger Moore
@Anonymous at Work:
Exactly. In Trump’s mind, he did it all himself.
germy
@debbie:
I hope you’re right.
Mnemosyne
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
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.
Adam L Silverman
@trnc: Trust me, a lot of coffee is consumed at Interagency meetings.
Frankensteinbeck
@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.
trollhattan
Perhaps the reason behind the return of Mooch rumor is to man the Insult Bannon Desk. He’s actually rather good at it.
Adam L Silverman
@mike in dc:
Then she can go back to eating lobster.
Mnemosyne
@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.
Adam L Silverman
@germy: No.
MCA1
@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.
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
Heh. Friday night arrives at her bachelorette HQ: “I’m taking all the damn elevators!”
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.
germy
@Adam L Silverman:
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?
Adam L Silverman
@Frankensteinbeck: There is RUMINT to that effect on some of the nat-sec professionals twitter accounts. For instance:
germy
@Calouste:
I think he shot his wad.
Mary G
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!
Adam L Silverman
@trollhattan: Yep.
trollhattan
@germy: Ewwwwww!
dm
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Or Kim Jong-Un could tweet about it.
Adam L Silverman
@Calouste: Bannon’s response was to basically issue a no comment.
WaterGirl
@catclub: @Another Scott: I asked the same question earlier today. Finally an explanation that makes sense to me. thank you!
Mike in NC
Wolff’s book leads the evening network news. Bwahahahaha!
WaterGirl
@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!
Adam L Silverman
@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.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Mary G: Only “now” he’s a parody? But yeah, you’re right – this one’s gotta win an award of some sort…
germy
@trollhattan:
“To expend all of one’s resources or efforts; to express all the arguments or ideas which one has.”
TS
@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.
Roger Moore
@germy:
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.
Barbara
@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.
Adam L Silverman
Well this seems perfectly normal:
Quinerly
@Adam L Silverman:What will the Evangelicals say??
MCA1
@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…”
Adam L Silverman
@Quinerly: Who cares? To quote their favorite book: they’ve become “a white washed wall”.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: I read this as proof positive that Paulie doesn’t have a deal with Mueller.
Sucks to be him.
nycmt
@germy: I have something to about APA litigation andf prosecutorial discretion
MCA1
@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.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Nope. Nor does it appear that he wants one. Or that Mueller wants to give him one.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: wait..is that just another way of saying “whited sepulchre”? Or is that another reference entirely?
B
@Quinerly: I work with a bunch. Their answer to all of this kind of stuff is almost always fake news.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Like I said, sucks to be him. I’d love to see Mueller’s team’s travel manifests.
Humdog
@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.
Frankensteinbeck
@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.
Jeffro
@Quinerly: omg no fucking way!
They BOTH have no standards!
WaterGirl
@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.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
Mnemosyne
@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.
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: Same thing, different translation.
WaterGirl
@Humdog: Thanks for writing that. Describes my sister perfectly. Abortion over all.
Roger Moore
@Frankensteinbeck:
And Pence. Gotta collect the whole set.
Adam L Silverman
@Frankensteinbeck: Try this one weird trick. Special counsels hate it!
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: All of them Katie. Especially the ones who went upstairs to see the women he had coming in from LA around 3.
Frankensteinbeck
@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.
Villago Delenda Est
@dmsilev: Showing The Last Jedi
Russ
@MuckJagger: I always thought he just got the coffee.
mike in dc
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.
Frankensteinbeck
@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.
Matt
@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:
(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 )
efgoldman
Hahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahaha
Hohohohohohohohohohohohhohohohoho
Oh stop/ Yer killin’ me.
charon
@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.
BellyCat
@Humdog: See, your insight ain’t flawed at all!
glory b
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Well, Omarosa isn’t there to tell him stuff anymore.
fuckwit
@Another Scott: Tread me = give me someone to rat out.
Bill Arnold
Ah, McDonald’s addiction explained. Fear of poisoning.
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 )
J R in WV
@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!
LanceThruster
But Dolt 45 always said he got the ‘best people.’ Shouldn’t this reflect poorly on Il Douche and his bank of talent?