Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The willow is too close to the house.

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

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

T R E 4 5 O N

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

This really is a full service blog.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

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

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Republicans in disarray!

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

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

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

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You are here: Home / Politics / An Unexamined Scandal / Late Night Open Thread: Collateral, DAMAGED!

Late Night Open Thread: Collateral, DAMAGED!

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All those toilsome years of HRClinton-bashing, followed by eighteen months of gently nurturing the hothouse flower of Lord Smallgloves’ self-esteem, and some celebrity raconteur blows the whole thing sky-high. OH THE SIMULACRA-OF-HUMANITY!

Reader Interactions

113Comments

  1. 1.

    TriassicSands

    …the publisher announces it will be released on Friday — four days earlier than expected

    Once again, Trump exhausts us with so much winning.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I made the case for Donald Trump’s mental fitness

    Oh, I’m sure you did your bestest, little fella

  5. 5.

    Quinerly

    I truly think Trump is done. It’s all crashing down fast now. This dementia/mental state stuff is something that has been whispered…everyone has known it….the press has known it for months…but Wolff’s book has given everyone permission to openly “speculate.” To say it out loud.

  6. 6.

    Mary G

    Gonna be a long night of tweeting:

    The Fake News Media barely mentions the fact that the Stock Market just hit another New Record and that business in the U.S. is booming…but the people know! Can you imagine if “O” was president and had these numbers – would be biggest story on earth! Dow now over 25,000.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2018

  7. 7.

    Mnemosyne

    I have to say, I did enjoy the Guardian’s gleeful collusion in getting massive publicity for Wolff’s book. They are Miracle Max to Wolff’s Inigo Montoya promising them “humiliations galore” for the New York Times.

  9. 9.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    @Quinerly:

    I’m getting that feeling, too. I don’t know how much longer Republicans can weasel out of answering questions about this. They aren’t going to want to answer them, but I don’t see how they can deal with what’s going to be an unending flood of these questions. The longer they try not to say anything about it, the weaker and more pathetic and laughable they’re going to look, and nobody going into an election year can afford to look weak, pathetic and laughable.

  13. 13.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): you realize this is going to play out over at least another year in a best case scenario? Mueller has no authority to remove the president. Only the Congress can do that, and they are the only ones who can decide what high crimes and misdemeanors are. And Republicans will never remove this president. The most realistic good case is Democrats take at least one house, get subpoena power, and run their own public investigation.

  16. 16.

    Aleta

    Does this mean that if indicted for anything, he’ll get away with repeating “I don’t recall anything about that.” Or, if a case made against him is serious enough, that his lawyers can dodge it by claiming he’s not competent to testify and then retire him (with benefits).

  17. 17.

    Wag

    @Mary G:

    if “O” was president and had these numbers – would be biggest story on earth!

    Yeah. Because there wouldn’t be anything else to drown it out.

    Edited for clarity

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    ‘It’s the dementia’

    It’s like Quentin Tarentino, Tim Burton and the ghost of Ed Wood joined up to direct their version of Harvey.

  20. 20.

    MisterForkbeard

    Am I the only one who doesn’t want to read the book?

    I’m happy to get excerpts, but I don’t know if my bile duct can handle reading about Trump and how awful his administration is for 300 pages. :(

  21. 21.

    Mike in NC

    I will order the Wolff book tonight, or maybe in the morning. The area is pretty much at a standstill due to a quarter inch dusting of snow last night. Today we had no mail service, no newspaper delivery, and no trash pickup. Not sure if I can take my car in to the dealership on Friday for an oil change.

    But I still feel reassured that Trump is usually in his pajamas (no feet?) by 6:30 almost every night after a cookie and warm glass of Metamucil.

  22. 22.

    TriassicSands

    @kd bart:

    I honestly can’t remember a time when Cillizza wasn’t making me sick. He is and always has been one of the worst — whatever he is.

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.):

    I understand your impatience, but, think about it, the longer this takes (up to a point), the more Trump suffers. If you think this is driving you up the wall, just think about what it’s doing to Trump. They “promised” him it would all be over by Thanksgiving, um Christmas, um…

  27. 27.

    mai naem mobile

    @Aleta: if he’s going to go for mentally unfit he needs to go to a state psych facility. No exceptions should be made for him.

  28. 28.

    Timurid

    @Quinerly:

    This is totally insane, but, to butcher an old saying:

    The GOP can keep at least 34 people in the Senate much longer than you can stay solvent.

  29. 29.

    Lyrebird

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Am I the only one who doesn’t want to read the book?

    You are NOT. No intention of cracking it open.

    ETA: I am glad it exists to shame the devils who’ve been playing “See No Evil” all this time, and glad it is distracting the Danger In Chief from bigger things.

    Now if someone could re-post the Twitter link to the gal who read only the editor’s comments* on Milo White Supremacy-Face’s horrid bilge, that’s worth reading for a pick-me-up.

    *The ultra conservative editor who is thoroughly fed up with young Master White Supremacy-Face.

  31. 31.

    Jeffro

    It’s funny how all the stuff is coming out now that the tax cut bill has been signed.

    One would almost think the GOP hive mind had digested the recent results in VA and AL, realized the Russia shit is for real, and come to a conclusion…but that’s wrong, of course. They’re too cowed by the perception of Trumpov’s grip on their base, and half of them are in on various scams and schemes themselves.

    Just a coincidence after all…correlation, not causation.

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne

    @Jeffro:

    More like the Repugs knew this shit was in the pipeline so they frantically threw together that disastrous tax bill while Dolt 45 was still legally allowed to sign it.

  37. 37.

    A. J.

    Don’t assume that Republican leadership has an iota of capacity for shame.

    The only sources of leverage I see are criminal charges from Mueller and taking at least the House in the midterms.

    There is no bottom to Ryan and McConnell’s willingness to ignore any constraining norms. They’ve proven this at every crossroads.

  39. 39.

    randy khan

    @Yarrow:

    @kd bart:

    Cilizza’s level of hackdom has no bounds.

    Surprised a story on him sexually assaulting women hasn’t broken yet.

    In my mind, I’m picturing him trying and women laughing at him.

  40. 40.

    Mary G

    Entertaining short twitter thread for reporters at Kramer Books in DC.

    I am at Kramer Books where there aren’t any people lined up for Fire and Fury yet but there are a bunch of journalists posted up at the bar waiting for people to line up— Ben Terris (@bterris) January 5, 2018

  42. 42.

    eemom

    @Quinerly:

    So much for cease and desist letters!

    There is no fucking WAY that a court would stop that book from being published. The fact that any lawyer even took the case is appalling. Yea, even unto lawyers.

  46. 46.

    Quinerly

    @Yarrow: Thanks. A comment slipped in earlier this afternoon. Kidney disease. Ivan had been going downhill since June. I had him looked at in Oct. It was time. He was only about 10 but hard life before coming here. Always a tiny little guy…7lbs at his healthiest. 5lbs today. He had lost 1/2 pound since Oct. Little body was just giving out.

  48. 48.

    cmorenc

    @Mnemosyne:

    More like the Repugs knew this shit was in the pipeline so they frantically threw together that disastrous tax bill while Dolt 45 was still legally allowed to sign it.

    I don’t get this frequently cited line of reasoning at all.
    – if Trump was removed from office, VP Pence would be President.
    – President Pence would gladly sign the same tax bill.
    – if Pence went down with Trump and was removed from office before he could assume the Presidency, Paul Ryan is next in line. Think he would have hesitated a nanosecond to sign it? At most, that would put Ryan’s former congressional seat up for grabs.

    So why is there any necessity to the GOP that Trump be the one in office to sign the tax bill? There isn’t.

  49. 49.

    Suzanne

    @Mike in NC:

    every night after a cookie and warm glass of Metamucil

    I thought it was Two Scoops.

    I have two copies of the book on the way, as my mom doesn’t want to wait until I am done with it or to get it from the library. LMAO. Ol’ Donnie Two Scoops has pissed off the grammas now.

  50. 50.

    Mnemosyne

    @Quinerly:

    Ryan is neck-deep with Russia. Bet on it.

    @eemom:

    The Guardian timed their story perfectly — the books had already been shipped to stores and were embargoed until Monday. The only thing the publisher had to do was lift the embargo so the stores could open the boxes early.
    /Former Crown Books employee

  53. 53.

    Quinerly

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks re Ivan. John Lennon will be around for awhile but he doesn’t seem to want kitty companionship. He hangs with Poco. With that said, I’m moving in the direction of getting out of the kitty business. JL is safe….but no more feline companions.

  54. 54.

    Yarrow

    @Quinerly: Oh, gosh. I’m sorry. That’s tough. Not much you can do in that situation. You did the right thing for him and he was lucky to have you for the time he did.

  55. 55.

    Mnemosyne

    @cmorenc:

    See my reply to Quinerly. Ryan’s neck-deep with Russia, too, and they’re afraid that once Trump goes down, the rest of them will fall like dominoes.

    It’s an old-fashioned mafia bust-out. They’re grabbing everything they can as they burn the place down.

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Quinerly: It goes beyond that. Just look at today’s self inflicted wounds. The marijuana stupidity, which is going to cause major problems for Republicans in Colorado. The Florida off shore drilling thing, which is going to cause huge problems for Republicans in Florida.

  59. 59.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne:
    I’m pretty sure you are right.
    It’s quite possible this was their one shot. Or at the very least they think it was. Considering that they fucked about 99.something% of us, I’d go with this is their one shot.

  61. 61.

    Quinerly

    @Yarrow: When found…stray, flea infested, collar grown into his neck…now here’s the really awful stuff in addition to this…boy cat but not neutered BUT front declawed…not done by a vet. He always had a funny little walk. Little Ivan was a survivor…I feel like he had a good home here. He was a special little soul. Orange tabby. Big green eyes.

  62. 62.

    Yarrow

    @cmorenc: You make it sound like it would be an orderly transition. Unless Trump dies in office, him leaving will be in no way orderly. It’s unlikely Congress will be able to pass much while Trump is busy creating chaos. Especially since a lot of them are involved as well.

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I almost wonder if they’re trying to lose Congress fair and square so the Republicans can shirk their legal and moral responsibility to impeach or forcibly resign Trump. They could then go back to whining about how mmmmeeeeaaannnnn the Democrats are and obstructing everything while the MSM pretends the last 18 months never happened.
    /pessimist

  64. 64.

    Quinerly

    @Adam L Silverman: Yep. But people weren’t talking about it 24/7. The cable news folks are unleashed now. I may be wrong…but it seems like something has really changed in the last 3 days.

  65. 65.

    cmorenc

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    @cmorenc: Oh well, let’s just leave him there? Right?

    No – the point wasn’t whether Trump should be left in office, but rather why the GOP had any stake in keeping Trump in office until the tax bill was signed. And even if Pence and Ryan’s entanglements will bring them down with Trump, that would be true whether Trump stayed in office or was forced out, with one or the other of Pence or Ryan being President for an interim until they too got taken down by their roles in the scandalous, treasonous mess.

  66. 66.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    It’s quite possible he did the entire 8 with Alzheimer’s. He was 70 when he took office, my father showed signs at 64-65, was getting obvious there was something by 70ish. You had to know what to look for and back then very few did. But considering how bad he was at the end in office I’d say it was possible.
    Early onset is before 65. My dad lived 20 yrs, RR lived to 93. But he probably had better health care, being a president and all.

  67. 67.

    SectionH

    @Quinerly: I was so sorry to read the sad news about Ivan. Saw your post in earlier thread, didn’t comment then because I broke down crying. I lost my sweet cat Ziri just 2 weeks ago. (Also kidneys.) She was older than Ivan, about 17, and I’d had her almost 5 years, but she so deserved a longer run after what she’d been through. Many of us know that feeling so much.

  68. 68.

    cmorenc

    @Adam L Silverman:

    @Quinerly: It goes beyond that. Just look at today’s self inflicted wounds. The marijuana stupidity, which is going to cause major problems for Republicans in Colorado. The Florida off shore drilling thing, which is going to cause huge problems for Republicans in Florida.

    …to say nothing of the wave of voter-eligible Puerto Ricans moving to Florida who already have strong grudges against Trump and the GOP.

  69. 69.

    chris

    @Adam L Silverman:

    early onset Alzheimers.

    No. Early onset affects people before age 65, Reagan was 70 in 1981. I’m a little touchy on this because I got to see it happen to someone in their early fifties. It’s frightening and fast.

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Quinerly: Some last night. I guarantee you they’re going to provide different versions of each document to Nunes and the others coming to the DOJ SCIF to review them. There will be a different phrasing in each version. That way when the material leaks they’ll know based on the phrasing who the leaker was. By getting the concession to hose Nunes and his investigators in the DOJ SCIF, the DOJ has set a trap.

  73. 73.

    Mnemosyne

    @cmorenc:

    No – the point wasn’t whether Trump should be left in office, but rather why the GOP had any stake in keeping Trump in office until the tax bill was signed.

    Because removing Trump from office will not be quick or easy. If an indictment comes down, it’s not clear that a president can be prosecuted in federal court, and Trump’s lawyers will fight the indictment. An impeachment takes months to process — don’t you remember the Clinton impeachment? Even removing him for being mentally unfit for office would take weeks, if not months.

    Every one of those things delays passing the tax deform bill that will save the Kochs and Mercers billions of dollars in 2018, and the Republicans don’t have a prayer at the polls if the Kochs and Mercers stop sending millions of dollars to Republican state legislature candidates.

    They needed to change the tax code for 2018, not 2019 or 2020, or their financing dries up. Why is this so puzzling to you?

  78. 78.

    MoxieM

    @Quinerly: So sad to hear your news. It never stops hurting, when we really care for them. But you did, and he had a good life with you, to your credit.

  79. 79.

    Quinerly

    @Adam L Silverman: All ok. Vet had been keeping an eye on him since June. My big thing always is no suffering and quality of life. We could have prolonged Ivan’s life a few weeks/months. He was tired. It was time. Thank you all for all your kind words. He was an odd and special little kitty (loved to ride in the car❤ )

  80. 80.

    Cckids

    @Quinerly: I’m so sorry about Ivan. I lost my two ginger boys last fall; still not remotely over it. Kidneys as well. 2017 sucked in many ways.

  84. 84.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Quinerly: No Republican in Florida wants this. They know if there’s a spill it’ll negatively impact the tourism industry and they’ll get the blame as the pro-drilling party. The Dems in Florida don’t want it because they know there will eventually be a spill that will negatively impact the tourism industry.

  90. 90.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Mnemosyne:

    An impeachment takes months to process

    This is not true, impeachment(in the House) can be done in 15 minutes; a more accurate statement would be “An impeachment generally takes months to process…”.

  91. 91.

    clay

    @Mike in NC: Why would she be fired? She consistently defends and flatters Trump to the hilt and is able to lie with a soulless, dead-eyed scorn that Sean Spicer could never manage. She’ll be the last non-family to go.

  92. 92.

    Bill Arnold

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I guarantee you they’re going to provide different versions of each document to Nunes and the others coming to the DOJ SCIF to review them.

    Was trying to recall the name for that, gave up and searched:
    Canary Trap or “barium meal test”(wikipedia)
    Perhaps there is another phrase in US intelligence circles?

    A canary trap is a method for exposing an information leak by giving different versions of a sensitive document to each of several suspects and seeing which version gets leaked. Special attention is paid to the quality of the prose of the unique language, in the hopes that the suspect will repeat it verbatim in the leak, thereby identifying the version of the document.

    Perhaps interesting (albeit a bit weak and silly) tool here:
    http://blog.fastforwardlabs.com/2017/06/23/fingerprinting-documents-with-steganography.html
    https://github.com/fastforwardlabs/steganos

  94. 94.

    Anne Laurie

    @Yarrow:

    Surprised a story on him sexually assaulting women hasn’t broken yet.

    Cilizza’s more likely to be busted for humping some “powerful” (rich) white guy’s leg.

  95. 95.

    SgrAstar

    @Quinerly: so sorry about your adorable little Ivan! It sounds like he was quite the brilliant kitty. You gave him a loving, safe home…well done.

  99. 99.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    I suspect many of the supposed “inaccuracies” in Michael Wolff’s book will turn out to be things pundits refuse to believe are true.

    They had no problem accepting every lie in the “Clinton Cash” book. They had no problem with republicans, and especially Drumpf, questioning Obama’s birth.

    But now that someone has hit the literary mother load they’re green with jealousy and envy and they’re freaking out.

    I love it.

  104. 104.

    Seanly

    @cmorenc:

    My thought is they want a 10 year president. Limp along with Trump until February ’19. Pence serves the remaining two years but it doesn’t count. If Trump goes before then, it counts as a term. Nevermind that Pence is a horrible man and could never get elected. The Republicans don’t see that.

  106. 106.

    Citizen Alan

    @Yarrow:

    Surprised a story on him sexually assaulting women hasn’t broken yet.

    I think it’s more likely to be a teenage boy for some reason.

  107. 107.

    Citizen Alan

    @cmorenc:

    I suppose the fear was that if they turned on Shitgibbon and replaced him with Pence or even Ryan, the Trump trash would go berserk and put just enough pressure on vulnerable GOP Senators to tank the tax bill. They couldn’t lose more than 2. In fact, if they lost just two but there was any sort of delay in getting a VP into office to break ties, that might have killed it.

  111. 111.

    J R in WV

    @Quinerly:

    Wow, that’s terrible. My Harvey (named about the invisible rabbit in the Jimmy Stewart movie – when I opened the cardboard box I brought him home in he vanished into the basement for a couple of weeks) was a little girls kitten, abandoned on the west side downtown.

    Had the pink sparkle collar embedded deep into his skinny neck, a wonder he could eat, I cut it off with an exacto blade so carefully.

    But he was fixed, and had all his claws. Orange guy, became a really affectionate kitty once he was convinced we weren’t going to be mean to him. Which was about 2 weeks and a day, once he came out of the basement. We knew he was down there, the food was going away, the water was being drunk.

    He was small, though. Tough little alley cat for sure. Lasted from mid 1990s until 20211, can’t tell how old he was when I brought him home, full grown. Would sneak into bed when I fell asleep and lay across the top of my head, kept us both warmer. Sneak in some love… and some body heat.

    Sounds like Ivan got the forever home he deserved. Thanks for caring for him! Take care.

  112. 112.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Quinerly: It certainly feels like this book did real damage to him. This is all the mean girls stuff they were pulling on Hillary Clinton so it’s a narrative the MSM loves.

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