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Hot air and ill-informed banter

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You cannot shame the shameless.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

This blog will pay for itself.

A consequence of cucumbers

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

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

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

You are here: Home / Dowd out

Dowd out

by | 197 Comments

This post is in: 

John, not Maureen, don’t get excited:

The president’s lead lawyer for the special counsel investigation, John Dowd, resigned on Thursday, according to two people briefed on the matter, days after the president called for an end to the inquiry.

This could be a chance for Trump to pivot or maybe do a clean reset.

Soon, we are going to pivot to looking at some individual races, but not til we’ve reached our 50K goal for a fund split equally among all Democratic nominees in districts currently held by Republicans.

Goal Thermometer

Reader Interactions

197Comments

  4. 4.

    jonas

    What is this, the third or fourth lawyer(s) Trump has cycled through? I’m sure it’s because they realize exonerating Trump of everything Mueller’s going to throw down is going to be such a slam dunk, it’s not even worth their time.

  5. 5.

    waspuppet

    I’m so glad Trump smacked down all those Fake Media guys who said there was a huge amount of overturn and change in the White House. Especially the ones who totally lied and said he was going to hire Joe DiGenova.

  6. 6.

    germy

    I’m waiting for the day drumpf tweets “I don’t need no lawyers – I’ll represent myself!”

  8. 8.

    hellslittlestangel

    Isn’t Dowd the one who’s not a complete fool? Not good, since increases the likelihood of Mueller getting fired.

  9. 9.

    Joe Falco

    The only pivot I see Trump doing is if it’s out of an episode of “Quantum Leap”. Now what are the chances of that happening, Ziggy?

  13. 13.

    Raoul

    This could be a chance for Trump to pivot or maybe do a clean reset.

    Ahh, the droll humor of Doug! strikes again.

    BTW, apropos the thermometer, I got about seven small to medium size refunds from ActBlue in the past day or so. Are these perhaps nominee funds where the primary has now happened and the seat is open/uncontested?

  14. 14.

    jl

    I’ll look for a cheap correspondence law school and start studying. Sooner or later, I’ll be the perfect attorney. I don’t really know a damn thing about what Trump’s been up to, and not really interested in law enough to worry about the details. Maybe I can pull a ‘My Cousin Vinny’ stunt and fake my way through the license stuff. Except Trump is not my cousin, so I’ll demand cash up front. I’ll send the WH a note on it.

  18. 18.

    Kay

    Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton recorded a video used by the Russian gun rights group The Right to Bear Arms in 2013 to encourage the Russian government to loosen gun laws.
    The episode, which has not been previously reported, illustrates the common cause that Russian and American gun rights groups were forming in the years leading up to the 2016 election through former National Rifle Association president David Keene. Keene appointed Bolton to the NRA’s international affairs subcommittee in 2011.

    This is my new obsession. Not any of kind of vague “alliance” with the Russian government on the Right or an event-specific “collusion” (Trump alone) but what looks more and more like actual ties to shared governmental goals.

    I would bet 500 dollars the NRA is not the only one. I would bet we find out that the religious Right has concrete associational alliances too. That’s the Sessions connection. Not just “we like Putin because he shares our tribal views” but our orgs work with them, in a concrete capacity on a shared set of goals. Thru this whole thing I have been asking “what did Putin WANT?” and people tell me he wants this or that broad, abstract goal- “chaos” – but I don’t believe that. This is a set of defined policy goals. No one does all this without a defined, measurable pay-off.

  20. 20.

    piratedan

    just when you think that maybe someone over on the GOP side is possibly redeemable, then you get Senators Flake and Collins…

    yeah, NANY PELOSI is the one that prevented your language Senator Collins… need we remind you again who is writing the motherfucking bills? Don’t Tell Me that Nancy Pelosi is the cause of your fucking issue.

    Senator Flake, if you don’t like all of this debt, why the hell did you vote YES on the bill when you had a chance to shape it? Why not tell the damn truth, since you’re not even up for re-election?

    its shit like this that makes me think until every last one of these fuckers are voted out, they’ll continue to sing the same sad song…

  22. 22.

    Kay

    Which religious Right group will have shared some policy goal with either the Russian government or conservatives inside Russia? That’s where Jeff Sessions comes in. He’s their guy.

  24. 24.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    It is AMAZING how consistently he parrots whatever the Right wing theme is on Democrats.

    With friends like him we don’t need enemies. He hates Democrats. A lot of our older pundits do. They all think they’re a brave voice in the wilderness on hating Democrats, too. They have been doing the same song and dance for 40 years.

  26. 26.

    cosima

    I’d like to volunteer my daughter’s partner for the job. He’s a disabilities attorney. And I pinky-swear that he will do the BEST job representing the OFC’s best interests. Shall I encourage him to go on Fox news (local station) and talk about how the OFC is being framed?

  27. 27.

    ARoomWithAMoose

    @jonas: Trump lies to everyone, including his own legal council, at some point, legal council can no longer reasonably claim ignorance of being lied to by their own client, and that likely puts themselves in some sort of personal jeopardy (like disbarment, contempt of court) by making known false statements to investigators, judges, civil lawyers seeking discovery, or other legal system functionaries.

  28. 28.

    E

    IAAL. Lawyers don’t resign because their case is a loser, or because they have disagreements with their clients about strategy. Lawyers resign when they (a) don’t get paid, or (b) have clients who insist they violate rules of professional responsibility and ethics.

  29. 29.

    germy

    Apropos of nothing, here’s something I’ve been thinking about. It’s widely accepted now that lots of actors in the 2016 election acted the way they did because everybody — *everybody* — assumed Clinton would win. That is the lens through which the election makes sense.

    But the complementary point, which hasn’t been aired as much, is that *everyone planned to use Clinton as their punching bag*. GOP would use total opposition & endless BS investigations to please its base.

    Every liberal seeking to establish their lefty bona fides would use Clinton-bashing to show how anti-Establishment and brave they are. ) MSM would use Clinton-bashing to establish their independence & objectivity. RW media would bash her to keep the troops in a frenzy.

    It was all laid out, like a script. “You work your ass off to get elected so we can use you to send identity signals.” She was to be everyone’s patsy, everyone’s Big Bad, everyone’s convenient punching bag — across the spectrum!

    Problem is, none of those groups could restrain themselves. They all laid into caricaturing and demonizing her too early, too relentlessly. They overshot … and she lost! This prop that everyone was using to hold themselves up vanished.

    And it’s left behind this amusing vacuum, a Hillary-shaped hole that is baffling & vexing everyone. Who are righties supposed to hate on? Who’s the Great Satan now? They don’t have one! That’s why they are still, no kidding, obsessing over Hillary investigations on Fox.

    Who is the Great Establishment Satan for the Bernie-ites now? Who are they to define themselves against? They don’t really know! Who is the MSM supposed to beat up now to prove that they’re not liberal? They don’t really know!

    Hillary was to be the receptacle, carrying and embodying the anxieties of a whole range of groups and demographics involved in US politics. But everybody overdid it, and now she’s gone, and there’s a giant vacuum where all that anxiety used to be focused.

    Obviously I wouldn’t wish our current situation on anyone, but it’s hard not to find some grim amusement in the confusion and stumbling about that has ensued after Hillary disappeared. Without the Great Satan, the shared punching bag, everyone’s left to their own devices.

    It’s even causing some people in some of those groups to look in the mirror, and what fun is that? It’s hard not to think that America’s collective id wants, needs, Hillary back. She gave everyone someone to blame.

    https://twitter.com/drvox/status/976591222931271680

  30. 30.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    I’m trying to remember which idiot Dowd is. What stupid, unethical or likely-to-get-him-disbarred statements are attributed to this particular guy?

  32. 32.

    Jeffro

    Obvious conclusion: Trumpov is surrounding himself with folks who are…prepared to go on TV a lot and attack his enemies. BOOYA, libtards!! Game, set, and…wha? That’s not going to impact anyone outside the Fox viewership?? Hmm…

    The thought of Joe DiGenova going up against Bobby Three Sticks already has me in fits and giggles.

  33. 33.

    LAO

    @E: I generally agree — but I have (and I know other defense attorneys) who have fired clients on similar grounds. It’s not easy to represent a difficult client during an investigation.

  34. 34.

    cosima

    @germy: They are still beating up Hillary. Sadly, my oldest daughter lives in VT and from her FB feed I see plenty of folk still working that line. Not my daughter — she got a stern talking to long ago about the Bern worship.

  38. 38.

    pat

    @germy:
    I think this is absolutely right, and enough people could see it coming so that they did not want to vote for her.
    Also is the reason that she can’t appear anywhere or say anything without being attacked.

  39. 39.

    Jeffro

    @germy: “Using HILLARREEE! as a response to every Trumpov criticism is not an actual response. Bill and Hillary Clinton are not demons made flesh, even if it makes things simpler for your lil’ authoritarian brain.”
    – every progressive all day long since November 2016.

  40. 40.

    No Drought No More

    “Mr. Nader, 58, a United States citizen born in Lebanon, previously ran a Washington-based journal called Middle East Insight, acted as an informal emissary to Syria under the Clinton administration, and, according to a short biography in the emails, later worked for Vice President Dick Cheney”..

    Well, well. So Nader worked for the Prince of Fucking Darkness. He worked for Cheney, and recently conspired in the Seychelles with Eric Prince to plot treason, the man whose band of mercenaries (Blackwater) was hired by Cheney to suppress New Orleans as the city drowned.

    I don’t think it’s a coincidence..

  43. 43.

    LAO

    @Jeffro: This made me laugh:

    UPDATE: 4 defense attorneys at different large law firms have been approached to join Trump's legal defense team in recent weeks. All 4 turned him down.— Katelyn Polantz (@kpolantz) March 22, 2018

  44. 44.

    cosima

    @germy: I cannot edit my comment for some strange reason, but ‘God’s Own Monster’ on that thread proves my point. Still Hillary’s fault. And B is ‘the most popular politician in the US.’ In what reality that could/would be, I’d be interested to know — as far as I can tell there are plenty who see him for the fraud he is. Not enough, mind you, but many.

  45. 45.

    Joe Falco

    @germy: If it’s not Hillary, it’s Nancy Pelosi who the Right, the Center and the dingbat Left will use as their punching bag. It’s like a jigsaw piece that doesn’t quite fit but dammit, I don’t have the right one because it got chewed up by the family dog.

  46. 46.

    different-church-lady

    @Jeffro:

    – every progressive all day long since November 2016.

    Don’t you mean every progressive who wasn’t busy blaming her for blowing it?

  48. 48.

    cosima

    @different-church-lady: Yes, my relationship with FB has been short, and is in the process of coming to a close (I’m trying to get some real-life contact info for certain contacts/friends and sort out liked pages/vendors/etc). Her age + VT make her feed particularly prone to encroachment from the berners — I often ask what happened to Tad Devine when I see those posts.

  49. 49.

    NorthLeft12

    @E:

    Lawyers resign when they (a) don’t get paid, or (b) have clients who insist they violate rules of professional responsibility and ethics.

    All of the above Katie.

  50. 50.

    Luthe

    @germy: Instead we have a buffoon version of America’s id in charge, under investigation for actual crimes and providing a rallying point for the left (if not the progressives).

  51. 51.

    GregB

    If a lawyer resigns because his client is engaging in openly illegal activity, does that null and void attorney-client privilege?

  52. 52.

    trollhattan

    @MattF:
    The double-whammy of having your and your firm’s name associated with him and the enormous stacks of unpaid invoices for services rendered would seem to loom large. The fact that he would not do a single thing you advised him is just the cherry on top.

  53. 53.

    LAO

    @GregB:

    The crime fraud exception to the Attorney Client Privilege: (as explained by wikipedia because I am lazy)

    The crime-fraud exception can render the privilege moot when communications between an attorney and client are themselves used to further a crime, tort, or fraud. In Clark v. United States, the US Supreme Court stated that “A client who consults an attorney for advice that will serve him in the commission of a fraud will have no help from the law. He must let the truth be told.”[8] The crime-fraud exception also does require that the crime or fraud discussed between client and attorney be carried out to be triggered.[9] US Courts have not yet conclusively ruled how little knowledge an attorney can have of the underlying crime or fraud before the privilege detaches and the attorney’s communications or requisite testimony become admissible.[10]

    So, the answer is “it depends.”

  56. 56.

    Another Scott

    @germy: Yeah, except for Comey, and Vlad, and the EC…

    We can’t forget that she won the popular vote by a large margin, and Democrats picked up seats in the House (+6) and the Senate (+2). It was a fluke that she lost, not some grand rejection of Democrats.

    (sigh)

    Yeah, we know that Donnie was going to scream “rigged election” until the day he died, and the GOP was going to have investigations until they lost the majority. But they didn’t do their job “too well”.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  57. 57.

    lollipopguild

    @Kay: Putin likes owning people and all of these people are willing to sell themselves for pennies on the dollar.

  58. 58.

    Woodrow/Asim

    @germy: Damn, that’s isn’t a great summation of what happened in the ’16 election cycle.

    Only thing I’d add is how easy it was — and still is — to pin that kind of “weight of the world” on a woman.

  59. 59.

    Jeffro

    I’m telling y’all, this is looking more and more likely to end with Trumpov at that classic police interrogation table as his only way to avoid complete RICO forfeiture and (essentially) life in jail.

    “Tell us what you know about your decades of money laundering for the Russian and US mob, and what you know about all of your campaign’s efforts to conspire against America with Putin, Mr. Trump, and we’ll let you keep a million & remain under house arrest in Trump Tower for the remainder of your lifetime.”

    And that’s getting off LIGHT…

  60. 60.

    catclub

    This could be a chance for Trump to pivot or maybe do a clean reset.

    I laughed. Readership capture by Dougj!

  65. 65.

    rikyrah

    Police apparently storming Cambridge Analytica on Bloomsbury Street. Watching the scene unfolding from our office! pic.twitter.com/xerHzGXt7r

    — Elizabeth Townsend (@elizaflorenx) March 22, 2018

  66. 66.

    E

    @LAO: True. . . but. I have certainly resigned from representing clients, although very, very infrequently. But in every case it was because I was being berated and hounded and screamed at for not adopting a legal strategy I had determined to be unethical. When it’s just a matter of representing an asshole, you take the fee, provide the best service you can, and wait for it all to be over. Surely there are exceptions, but in my legal community, it’s pretty rare to resign over mere “disagreements” about legal strategy unless the “disagreement” involves whether or not you should lie to a judge.

  68. 68.

    catclub

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Against my better judgment I went and checked the Nazi (Apologist) Times

    then its on you. I waste mental energy thinking what I will do with my lottery winnings.

  69. 69.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @E:

    Sometimes, we resign when we hate our clients and find them impossible to work with. I have had Trumplike clients before, and the money isn’t worth the emotional cost.

  71. 71.

    rikyrah

    spread the word

    Want to hold a Voter ID Clinic to help citizens obtain the documents required to secure a state-mandated ID or documentary proof of citizenship? Contact VoteRidershttps://t.co/sUOBGjWUra

    — meta (@metaquest) March 22, 2018

  73. 73.

    TenguPhule

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    Firing Mueller is not a simple thing to carry out. He can only be fired for cause.

    But fucking up the investigation can be done without cause. They don’t have to fire Mueller if they can reduce the funding and/or force a bunch of Trump-toadies into the investigation team.

  74. 74.

    LAO

    @E: I agree with you as a general proposition, I was merely noting that it does occasionally happen in the field of criminal defense. And, I’ve only ever fired a client based solely on a strident disagreement once in 20 years. Every other instance involved ethical issues.

  75. 75.

    TenguPhule

    @Kay:

    Thru this whole thing I have been asking “what did Putin WANT?” and people tell me he wants this or that broad, abstract goal- “chaos” – but I don’t believe that. This is a set of defined policy goals. No one does all this without a defined, measurable pay-off.

    He wants a weakened USA. Because prior to 2016 we were getting in Russia’s way in a lot of things on the international stage. Some of what Putin wanted he has not yet gotten: more banking access for Russian money, high oil prices, the destruction of NATO*.

    Putin is essentially a Russian mob boss who rules a country armed with Nukes. Thus, all of his behavior is centered around ensuring his power base expands. Taking America down also offers him the bonus of sweet revenge against the country he blames for the USSR’s collapse.

  77. 77.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @GregB:

    Saul, Saul, bo Bawl
    Bananarama mo Maul
    Fee fi fo Fall–
    Saul!

    ‘
    ThTHthTHthTHthThat’s Saul, folks!

    (Saul Good, Man! :^D)

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    @rikyrah: Problem with the link.

    And thanks for putting that up. Springtime is for voter registration and ID. What a great morale booster.

  79. 79.

    Leto

    @LAO: I know Kay, some months ago, sort of lamented the fact that Trump couldn’t get quality council. Everyone deserves to have good legal representation, but Trump’s never going to have that because of Trump. He won’t pay what it costs, he won’t follow advice, and he believes that only HE can solve whatever issues is before him. Why take on a client like that? There’s difficult clients, and then there’s this. He’s let the world see that he won’t listen to anyone, for any length, even when they’re trying to save him. And who does that leave? The wingnut grifters who won’t have his best interests in mind because all they see is $$$ and 15 mins of fame. Yet again, the only person $hit midas has to blame is $hit midas.

  80. 80.

    ? Martin

    @germy:

    Who are righties supposed to hate on? Who’s the Great Satan now? They don’t have one!

    Nancy Pelosi.

    SATSQ

  81. 81.

    Jeffro

    Bloody Bill Kristol, just noting for the record that in recent Trumpov tweets:

    A little thing: Trump speaks of “President Putin,” and then of “Obama” and “Bush” and “Clinton.” Putin gets the honorific; the American presidents don’t.

    Yeah, how about that?

  82. 82.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @rikyrah:

    Apparently there was a report of a “suspicious package” delivered to CambAn HQ, subsequently determined to be a false alarm.

  85. 85.

    Librarian

    He could hire Clarence Darrow, F Lee Bailey and Sir Edward Coke and it still won’t make any difference.

  86. 86.

    E

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I was referring to the reasons Dowd gave for resigning. I believe he most likely resigned because he was being asked to conduct his defense unethically. My bet would be that Trump told Dowd of illegal activities, which makes it impossible for Dowd to proclaim his client is innocent. This is an entirely different matter from deciding to take Trump on as a client in the first place. The guy would be an absolute nightmare to work with for any fee. I can think of two cases I resigned from in my career, but there are many, many times when I declined to represent a client because I could tell they were going to be difficult.

  87. 87.

    Jeffro

    @different-church-lady: Do they know that if they spend all their time blaming Hillary for “blowing it”, they’re not true progressives? Um, probably not. They probably don’t know a whole lot in general. But at least blaming Hillary 24/7 keeps them busy.

  89. 89.

    different-church-lady

    @Jeffro:

    But at least blaming Hillary 24/7 keeps them busy.

    Maybe we should give them picks and shovels. Or throw a tennis ball.

  90. 90.

    ? Martin

    @Kay: Putin grew up within the machinery used to counterbalance the US. Russia is not really a powerful state any longer. Their economy is half that of California. They can’t afford to compete against the US or China or the EU or even fucking Italy on the usual terms. So he’s using cheap tactics that serve to derail the usual terms. Basically he’s taking Al Qaeda objectives and implementing them with KGB methods.

    But the Onion needs to rewrite this classic for why Republicans keep working for Russians.

  92. 92.

    ET

    I admit I don’t read every comment on every thread, but did anyone read that Dear John that Lt. Colonel Ralph Peters wrote to Fox News? Blistering. It seems like it hit hard over there at least according to CNN which is likely snickering behind the scenes. I don’t watch Fox but it if he is as conservative and respected as CNN seems to think then I can see why it was a shock.

    Four decades ago, I took an oath as a newly commissioned officer. I swore to “support and defend the Constitution,” and that oath did not expire when I took off my uniform. Today, I feel that Fox News is assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers. Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed.

    In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts–who have never served our country in any capacity–dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller–all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of “deep-state” machinations– I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.

    As a Russia analyst for many years, it also has appalled me that hosts who made their reputations as super-patriots and who, justifiably, savaged President Obama for his duplicitous folly with Putin, now advance Putin’s agenda by making light of Russian penetration of our elections and the Trump campaign. Despite increasingly pathetic denials, it turns out that the “nothing-burger” has been covered with Russian dressing all along. And by the way: As an intelligence professional, I can tell you that the Steele dossier rings true–that’s how the Russians do things.. The result is that we have an American president who is terrified of his counterpart in Moscow.

    Ouch.

  94. 94.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @trollhattan: Um, no, it’s red smoke – announcing that Vlad the Paler is now Pope.

    Woe’s me! woe’s me! In Folly’s mailbox
    Still laughs the postcard, Hope:
    Your uncle in Australia
    Has died, and you are Pope.
    For many a soul has entertained
    A Mailman unawares –
    And as you cry, Impossible,
    A step is on the stairs…

    (Randall Jarrell, “Hope”, from Selected Poems [1955])

  95. 95.

    TenguPhule

    @ET:

    and who, justifiably, savaged President Obama for his duplicitous folly with Putin,

    Gonna go with, fuck this guy. The only use Peters is gonna serve is as an expendable human shield.

  98. 98.

    Matt McIrvin

    @TenguPhule: If any number of Republicans actually turn against Trump we’re going to have more of these uncomfortable temporary alliances with silly people.

  99. 99.

    different-church-lady

    @ET:

    In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration.

    No, it didn’t degenerate into that: you just finally noticed what it was all along.

  100. 100.

    KithKanan

    @Matt McIrvin: Pretty sure it is. I remember finding it amusingly ironic 15 years ago when my parents bought a car from a dealership called Nader Chrysler.

  101. 101.

    James E. Powell

    @germy:

    It’s even causing some people in some of those groups to look in the mirror,

    I was totally with the writer until this line. I don’t see anyone doing self-examination.

  102. 102.

    Gravenstone

    @ET: Fuck Peters and fuck his blatant attempts at false equivalence. He had zero issues being part of the propaganda outlet that is Fox “News” when it could attack a sitting Democratic president. Even if he felt Fox had transitioned into blind sycophancy, his ass backward justifications for past behavior as a contributor.are pure bullshit.

  103. 103.

    ET

    @different-church-lady: True but I guess even Fox can go to far for even some of the people they have inculcated…..

    @TenguPhule: My thought as well but still I think it is an interesting omen. I mean this guy is really conservative – in a way I don’t totally understand or agree with, and he is turned off but the opinion side of Fox. The CNN article was in a way a more interesting read because it got into the reaction and was looking at the tension between the news side of things and the yelling-head side of things.

  104. 104.

    MattF

    @ET: Peters was just fine with FOX until it violated his own special sensitivity– so he’s got some ways to go. That said, there’s a good sentence or two in his statement.

  105. 105.

    vickie feminist

    When Trump first tried to hire a lawyer, the big firms all said no. Ty Cobb was in a large firm and getting ready to retire. More importantly, he is the lawyer for the Office of President, not the man who holds the office. So technically, he is not on the Trump team. This may be why one hears that he supports Trump in talking to Mueller. Ty Cobb does look like the Pringles can man, I’ve been told.

  106. 106.

    TenguPhule

    @Matt McIrvin: They’re not allies, just temporarily useful pawns who can and should be exploited for whatever we can get out of them and then turned on at the first opportunity before they can do it to us.

  107. 107.

    patrick II

    Considering Dowd is the lawyer who recommended Mueller be fired last week, I am not so sanguine about blaming this departure entirely on Trump’s inability to take good legal advice.

  108. 108.

    TenguPhule

    @ET: He’s just afraid because he realized that once the crazies finish killing all us sane people off, he and his are next row down on the list.

  109. 109.

    Mandalay

    @ET: In measuring Peters’s true level of outrage with FoxNews, bear in mind that he only said all that stuff after he chose not to renew his contract. He held his tongue all the while the $$$ were rolling in, and he carefully avoided getting fired or breaking his contract.

    And he’s the one who called President Obama a pu**y? Dude needs to look in the mirror.

  110. 110.

    bemused

    @germy:

    Echoing a tweet I was just laughing about, “Trump should just represent himself, show everyone how really smart he is”

  112. 112.

    Chyron HR

    @Matt McIrvin:

    If any number of Republicans actually turn against Trump we’re going to have more of these uncomfortable temporary alliances with silly people.

    Well, the enemy of my enemy is better than the alleged allies who keep screaming “Death to the great neoliberal satan!”

  113. 113.

    No Drought No More

    Recall that Trump was recently quoted as having asked aloud, “Where’s my Roy Cohn”? My guess is he bought a ouiji board, or maybe he snapped even more suddenly. Because it’s entirely plausible that Trump now believes he’s in contact with the great beyond, and with man that taught him all he knows about politics in America.

    If so and while he’s at it, Trump may as well inquire of Cohn about which level of deepest hell has the best golf courses..

  114. 114.

    moops

    @LAO: I think a smart-ish lawyer does not want to get close enough to the crime-fraud exemption that it seriously has a chance of coming up.

    …but Dowd might have been present during some recent activity that Mueller now has information about.

    still, I don’t see Dowd being served with a summons.

  116. 116.

    James E. Powell

    @Woodrow/Asim:

    Misogyny – ranging from flaming hatred to discomfort at the thought of a woman in a leadership position – was pervasive. But I have the feeling that if the candidate were a Republican woman who was a former senator and Secretary of State, who had the exact same policy positions as Romney, for a mainstream example, she would not be subjected to the same treatment. She’d be praised as America’s own Maggie Thatcher, especially if she talked about the debt and reining in entitlements.

  117. 117.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    We already know that American religious rights groups have been shoving their noses into other countries’ business to get them to make being GLBT a crime — they succeeded in at least one country in Africa. Being gay is a crime in Russia, so I’m guessing that’s the ultimate policy goal that they agree on — re-criminalizing GLBT behavior

  118. 118.

    TenguPhule

    @No Drought No More:

    If so and while he’s at it, Trump may as well inquire of Cohn about which level of deepest hell has the best golf courses..

    In Hell, Trump’s testicles are the golf balls. And the demons use barbed irons the size of hockey sticks.

  119. 119.

    scav

    @different-church-lady: To be charitable, he’s just describing what he saw out of his train window — people standing on the ground or in a different train saw the bouncing ball behave differently. That’s about all of Einstein I can understand although I think the clocks are probably behaving oddly as well.

  120. 120.

    ? Martin

    @ET: ‘Respected’? The guy who called Obama a püssy? No, I don’t think respected is the word you’re looking for.

  123. 123.

    ? Martin

    @patrick II: Yeah, Dowd just realized he put himself in a position to need his own team of lawyers and is getting out before he does it again.

  126. 126.

    Spanky

    OT (for what that’s worth around here), but WaPo’s home page now has a picture of Marjory Stoneman Douglas with her cat Willie.

    Just thought y’all might like it.

  128. 128.

    ? Martin

    @James E. Powell: No, if we survive this it’ll only be because Republicans recognize they’re in an electoral suicide pact and want to get out of it. We can count on them to save their own asses but nothing more. No doubt important voices will call this ‘courageous’.

  129. 129.

    LAO

    @moops:

    I think a smart-ish lawyer does not want to get close enough to the crime-fraud exemption that it seriously has a chance of coming up.

    Sure, in a perfect world, but in reality, clients often ask questions about engaging in future conduct that could be construed as criminal.

  130. 130.

    TenguPhule

    @? Martin:

    if we survive this it’ll only be because Republicans recognize they’re in an electoral suicide pact and want to get out of it.

    Hope you have a Plan B.

    Because this doesn’t seem likely to happen at all.

  131. 131.

    Immanentize

    @LAO: @E: @NorthLeft12: @MattF: @Spanky:
    I think those are the biggest reasons, but when you are at a certain level, if the firm you are in isn’t relying on your particular client for the profits, ego comes into it as well. I suspect that Dowd was done when Trump told him to organize/participate in last weekend’s Mueller must go! tirade and propaganda push. Which he did and said Trump told him to. But then Trump said he didn’t and Dowd had to crawl around on TV saying he misspoke and it was just him and his ideas that he was spouting all over TV.

    That may not be strictly either a or b, but it certainly was a huge hit to his future ability to represent non-crazy rich clients. One can only take so many bullets from a bad client at the cost of your own representation and future pay days.

  133. 133.

    ? Martin

    @LAO: I would note that what you can get away with as a stupid, classless NYC real estate developer is very far removed from what you can get away with as POTUS what with the entire investigative journalist community and two branches of congress watching you, much to the surprise and annoyance of one individual.

  134. 134.

    Immanentize

    @LAO: Hi LAO!
    I also remember from the Clinton saga that at some point, McGahn will be made to tell all to Mueller. There is no privelege between the President and the White House Counsel regarding matters not strictly to do with governing. Trump is not a disciplined actor (like Clinton was) and has certainly said plenty to McGahn relevant to the inquiry. When we hear McGahn has been before the Grand Jury, we will be in investigation end-game.

  135. 135.

    Rob Lll

    @Kay:

    Joe Jervis over at Joe My God has been keeping tabs on the connections between Russia and the American religious right for quite some time now. For example, here (links through to a Washington Post article)

  136. 136.

    TenguPhule

    @? Martin:

    what with the entire investigative journalist community and two branches of congress watching you

    Sorry, but these are the enablers.

  137. 137.

    catclub

    @ET: Roy Edroso – Alicublog – has chapter and verse on a) how crazy peters (still) is
    and 2) all the things that were not any problem for him that Fox has done. Funny what set him off.

  138. 138.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: I’m getting tired of these people who keep coming up with the counterintuitive left or liberal take that coincidentally reproduces right-wing positions. If it happens once, it’s an interesting thing to think about. If it keeps happening over and over, if there’s a pattern… you start to suspect that something else is going on.

    It used to be they were mostly “even the liberal” types like Mickey Kaus or Richard Cohen, who got there by moving rightward through the center. What annoys me lately are the people who make a great show of being more left than the Democrats, but still keep doing this. Somehow.

  139. 139.

    catclub

    @? Martin: This is what Manafort learned by putting himself back into the spotlight after not registering as a foreign agent and getting away with it for many years.

  141. 141.

    LAO

    @Immanentize: HI! How are you and the Immp doing?

    And, I had forgotten that there is no privilege between White House Counsel and Trump. The White House keeps have its people invoke a non-existent privilege during congressional testimony, It’ll be interesting to see what a federal judge makes of it. I would expect a rather vicious bench slap, but who knows, I’ve been wrong before.

  143. 143.

    ? Martin

    @TenguPhule: There’s nothing past self-preservation. That’s what everything sums to. There is no patriotism or concern for the citizens. There is only survival. The NRA figured that out ages ago. The GOP will only turn if the GOP believes Trump will destroy them. Some seem to openly recognize this, some seems to suspect it in private, many seem to deny it.

    That’s why the GOP always gets in line – because their survival depends on it. That’s also why they turned on Nixon – not out of some patriotic sentiment, but because Nixon’s approval was going to massacre the GOP in the next election and enough of the party recognized they needed to cut him loose for the greater good. Same will have to happen here. There is no plan B. There is no alternative to that result. It’s the only way this can happen without violence of some sort.

  144. 144.

    catclub

    @piratedan:

    Senator Flake, if you don’t like all of this debt, why the hell did you vote YES on the bill when you had a chance to shape it? Why not tell the damn truth, since you’re not even up for re-election?

    I think Kay pointed this out on Ben Sasse.

  145. 145.

    Mandalay

    @James E. Powell:

    She’d be praised as America’s own Maggie Thatcher, especially if she talked about the debt…

    That might have been true last year. Republicans are very, very careful to avoid mentioning the d-word now.

  146. 146.

    rikyrah

    @ARoomWithAMoose:

    Trump lies to everyone, including his own legal council, at some point, legal council can no longer reasonably claim ignorance of being lied to by their own client, and that likely puts themselves in some sort of personal jeopardy (like disbarment, contempt of court) by making known false statements to investigators, judges, civil lawyers seeking discovery, or other legal system functionaries.

    in the end, I think Cohen’s gonna be disbarred.

  147. 147.

    TenguPhule

    @? Martin:

    There’s nothing past self-preservation. That’s what everything sums to. There is no patriotism or concern for the citizens. There is only survival. The NRA figured that out ages ago. The GOP will only turn if the GOP believes Trump will destroy them. Some seem to openly recognize this, some seems to suspect it in private, many seem to deny it.

    The problem with this theory is that it neglects the other side of the argument.

    If the GOP believe that their choices are Trump or Electoral Oblivion, then they’re not going to turn, but instead go for broke because the only way out is to win, consequences be damned.

    Whether this can still be settled within the rule of law rests solely on whether or not the Republicans as a party are willing to accept painful short term losses for long term survival or simply gamble all of it on one desperate throw of the dice for winner take all.

  148. 148.

    Immanentize

    @James E. Powell: Elizabeth Dole did not exactly get that type of accepting reception from the GOP when she ran. She was pretty much treated as the also-ran skirt. And that was before the whole party was batshit crazy.

  150. 150.

    TenguPhule

    @Mandalay:

    Republicans are very, very careful to avoid mentioning the d-word now.

    Sadly no. Paul Ryan is already making noises about debt being so important that we need to cut SS & Medicare.

  151. 151.

    Matt McIrvin

    @ET: It’s fascinating to me that there even is tension there–I mean, I always thought of Fox News’s news department as basically a Potemkin journalism organization, but evidently they don’t see themselves that way.

  152. 152.

    lgerard

    Evidently trump spends considerable time venting on the phone with Rupert Murdock, Tom Barrack and his other billionaire buds. I wonder if any of them will be interviewed by Mueller. Could be very interesting.

  153. 153.

    Mnemosyne

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I’m getting tired of these people who keep coming up with the counterintuitive left or liberal take that coincidentally reproduces right-wing positions.

    The Sanders dead-enders use the exact same technique — we’re not saying that Hillary is corrupt because the Republicans told us so — we figured it out all on our own! ?

    And of course it just happens to amplify and validate right-wing talking points when people on the “left” echo them.

  154. 154.

    schrodingers_cat

    @rikyrah:

    At a moment when Trump has exacerbated polarization, persuading leaders and voters on the left flank of the Democratic Party to think tactically about the 2020 presidential primaries is crucial but problematic. Insofar as Democrats place a higher priority on purity than viability, they may be risking an indeterminate extension of the Trump era.

    I think he is confusing the voluble internet D voices for the rank and file. Also too, in TE’s world Ds are always losing or on the verge of losing.

  155. 155.

    Matt McIrvin

    @TenguPhule: There’s the primary trap, which has taken them down before. In the current Republican Party you have to act pretty much deranged or you’ll get primaried and lose to someone who acts more deranged than you. Right now, that manifests as rock-solid loyalty to Donald Trump. But if the winds aren’t right, that hurts you in the general election.

  156. 156.

    ? Martin

    @TenguPhule: Oh, they serve that role as well, don’t get me wrong. But this is also a capitalistic enterprise. Mother Jones makes their money by exposing this stuff just as much as Fox News makes their money by covering it up, but the point is that someone has an incentive to expose it, which they didn’t have before. Nobody fucking cared that a NYC real estate developer was corrupt and breaking the law. That’s basically a tautology. You couldn’t move papers with that info. But you can if it’s the president. And Congress is more than happy to investigate the WH Christmas card list if it means scoring political points. The point is that there are people, for motives good or bad, that will dig into this shit in a way that nobody would have bothered doing before.

    One of the better arguments for Hillary over Bernie was that there was nothing new to reveal. Everything was already known. That’s why ‘but her emails’ became such a scandal, because there was literally nothing else to report on, but they felt compelled to report on something. Trump is what happens when the desperate need to report on anything encounters a target-rich environment. The lead-up to the election was both siderism dialed up to 11.

    I remember an interview with a doctor for celebrities that said that one of the biggest problems they have is the degree to which the paparazzi cover up for celebrities. They’re happy to put the unflattering picture out, but they don’t want something truly damaging like drug use or whatnot to come out because then they lose their money stream. Behavior that would cause an intervention in normal people get covered up by the tabloids until it reaches a point that they recognize that covering it up is no longer viable and then they publish that information. Trump works off the same dynamic. He produces so much consistent publishable content that the publishers don’t want to totally burn him – and they didn’t. But they also didn’t expect he’d win.

  158. 158.

    Immanentize

    @LAO: The fake Presidential privilege which Sessions used — and then others followed — only exists as an executive privilege that is owned by the executive. In other words, the President must exercise the privilege (kinda like the old fashioned version of the spousal privilege). Then it can be litigated. The witness has no privilege in that instance. At all. Unless the President invokes it. But to challenge it, we would need a Democratic Congress — and maybe a non-partisan DOJ as well to prosecute a contempt of Congress order..

  159. 159.

    Mandalay

    @piratedan: Your righteous rant against Flake reminds me of Marco Rubio’s antics. He’s trying to befriend of the students of Parkland (which ain’t happening – they despise him), and forever supporting “sensible gun legislation” in tweets and interviews.

    But when you look at his voting record in the Senate, he ALWAYS supports loosening gun restrictions, and ALWAYS opposes adding gun restrictions.

    Ignore what they say. Look at how they vote.

  160. 160.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mnemosyne: It’s seductive for readers who like to think of themselves as sophisticated, intelligent people who don’t just blindly parrot party positions. Thinking critically about the positions your side has committed to is a valuable thing. But the appeal of it can be gamed.

  161. 161.

    TenguPhule

    @Matt McIrvin:

    There’s the primary trap, which has taken them down before. In the current Republican Party you have to act pretty much deranged or you’ll get primaried and lose to someone who acts more deranged than you. Right now, that manifests as rock-solid loyalty to Donald Trump. But if the winds aren’t right, that hurts you in the general election.

    Yes.

    But its a corrosive path downwards. Eventually you wind up with fascists who geniunely believe that “Kill the liberal communists!” is not metaphoric rhetoric.

  162. 162.

    Mnemosyne

    @germy:

    And if you read the responses to that thread, you can see that the brogressives he’s talking to haven’t learned a goddamned thing.

  163. 163.

    LAO

    @Immanentize: I agree. I expect though, at some point during the Mueller investigation, a witness will attempt to invoke “executive privilege” and then perhaps this issue will appear before a federal judge. A girl can dream.

  164. 164.

    ? Martin

    @TenguPhule:

    If the GOP believe that their choices are Trump or Electoral Oblivion, then they’re not going to turn, but instead go for broke because the only way out is to win, consequences be damned.

    I don’t disagree. But there’s always a moment when you look at the odds and conclude that you’ve lost. They’ve been doubling down for a long time now. But they’re starting to lose on the gerrymander and voter suppression fronts. Thanks to Stoneman they may have an energized youth vote against them. They’re losing women at a rapid pace. PA-18 was an illustration that even billionaire money can only go so far to win a district ($100/vote and they still lost.) At some point the pollsters are going to deliver the reality. Most won’t accept it, but you don’t need most. You only need ⅓ of elected Republicans to make impeachment a possibility.

  165. 165.

    cmorenc

    @? Martin:

    The GOP will only turn if the GOP believes Trump will destroy them. Some seem to openly recognize this, some seems to suspect it in private, many seem to deny it.

    That’s why the GOP always gets in line – because their survival depends on it. That’s also why they turned on Nixon – not out of some patriotic sentiment, but because Nixon’s approval was going to massacre the GOP in the next election and enough of the party recognized they needed to cut him loose for the greater good. Same will have to happen here.

    While the rot that’s currently consumed the entire GOP congressional delegation did take root with Nixon, there were still considerably more honorable, if conservative, US Senators back in 1974 willing to do the right thing for the right civic reasons in the crunch. For example, Jacob Javits (NY), Clifford Case (NJ), Charles Percy (Ill), Charles Mathias (Md), Edward Brooke (Mass), John Towar (Tx), Mark Hatfield and Bob Packwood (Or) and Hugh Scott and Richard Schweiker (Pa). OTOH, the ascent of Jesse Helms (NC) turned out to be a harbinger of the hard-right ideological, ruthlessly uncompromising GOP Senators to come in the future.

  167. 167.

    Spanky

    I see the DJIA is bumping along about 500 points lower than yesterday – somewhere around 24,100+. As bad as it might look I have to keep reminding myself that it never got above 20,000 before Trump’s win cause all the exuberance of the past 16 months.

    I suspect it has more to do with the Fed than the Executive Branch. I wonder if the market has already baked in Trump’s empty promises?

  168. 168.

    pat

    @James E. Powell: @James E.
    Powell    :

    But I have the feeling that if the candidate were a Republican woman who was a former senator and Secretary of State, who had the exact same policy positions as Romney, for a mainstream example, she would not be subjected to the same treatment.

    Bingo.

  169. 169.

    TenguPhule

    @? Martin:

    He produces so much consistent publishable content that the publishers don’t want to totally burn him – and they didn’t. But they also didn’t expect he’d win.

    But they don’t want to burn him now. He’s ratings gold for them.

    He’s got fucking criminal scandals galore in his background. As Kay has pointed out, we’ve gotten jackshit about his background beyond the official fluff. None of the reporting does any real digging and research and it shows.

    The Departments have gone opaque since the criminal nominees took over.

    Rick Perry? What has he been fucking up at DOE? We don’t know, because nobody is looking.

    Pruitt? He’s burning money like crazy to keep everything secret, but we don’t know what he wants to keep secret.

    Devos? If it weren’t for all the leaking we’d be in the dark for half of her shit.

    Sessions? Only the big waves get headlines, not the little currents.

    Federal Judges? 1 day articles, if we’re lucky. Then quickly forgotten for the next batch.

    FEMA? We know there’s failings, but fuck if we can find out why its suddenly all going to shit.

  170. 170.

    Immanentize

    @LAO: I think you are right. But most of the witnesses, even Sessions, are smart enough not to pull that shit in a court setting under oath. Jared and Invanka, well….

    As for how I am? Up and down. Yesterday would have been my 20th wedding anniversary (thankfully on the first day of spring — easy to remember)! But instead, I had to go to a year-after surgery check up including anal probe. So, today, things look pretty good!

  171. 171.

    James E. Powell

    @Immanentize:

    Dole didn’t get the presidential nomination in 2000, but that was unlikely given her husband’s loss four years earlier and the party pretty much committing to Bush Jr. very early on.

    But she was never vilified across the whole of the press/media. Nobody told the elevator & two bullets “joke” about her. The NYT did not devote several reporters to give her the shadows & clouds treatment. And considering that her husband was one of the most corrupt and openly bought & sold people in the senate, there was certainly some issues to ask questions about.

    This is the kind of coverage Elizabeth Dole got – “a scrappy, disciplined, take charge woman” – not an overly ambitious witch, no mad bitch beer, no remarks about her being a lesbian man hater, and no totally made up scandals fed by RW conspiracy freaks.

  173. 173.

    rikyrah

    @? Martin:

    @TenguPhule: There’s nothing past self-preservation. That’s what everything sums to. There is no patriotism or concern for the citizens. There is only survival. The NRA figured that out ages ago. The GOP will only turn if the GOP believes Trump will destroy them. Some seem to openly recognize this, some seems to suspect it in private, many seem to deny it.

    they have no problem with TREASON and must be dealt with accordingly.

  176. 176.

    drdavechemist

    @cmorenc:

    …there were still considerably more honorable, if conservative, US Senators back in 1974 willing to do the right thing for the right civic reasons in the crunch. For example, Jacob Javits (NY), Clifford Case (NJ), Charles Percy (Ill), Charles Mathias (Md), Edward Brooke (Mass), John Towar (Tx), Mark Hatfield and Bob Packwood (Or) and Hugh Scott and Richard Schweiker (Pa).

    Notice which states are represented here. Except for Texas, in the 21st century these are all pretty reliably blue states, and all of them both then and now have had large populations of well-educated urban and suburban professionals. It’s almost as if it has always been the case that those voters were capable of identifying representatives who had a sense of honor and who made an effort to serve the best interests of their constituents, regardless of ideology.

    I hate to make these kinds of generalizations, but I do wonder when some of these red state voters are going to figure out that they keep voting to screw themselves over.

  177. 177.

    TenguPhule

    @Spanky:

    I suspect it has more to do with the Fed than the Executive Branch. I wonder if the market has already baked in Trump’s empty promises?

    $50 billion in tariffs against China and a trade war kick off tomorrow.

  178. 178.

    catclub

    @Spanky:

    As bad as it might look I have to keep reminding myself that it never got above 20,000 before Trump’s win cause all the exuberance of the past 16 months.

    Yep. Never get too attached to the last 20% – until you sell at that level.

  179. 179.

    Immanentize

    @James E. Powell: I never meant to imply Dole was given the Hitlery treatment. I just mean she was never really taken seriously, even though she was a smart, able, experienced, accomplished public servant — unlike Shrub. And remember, she dropped out before the primary because the money backed Bush. So who knows what would have happened? My point is that — because she was a woman — she was simply not taken seriously.
    At least Hillary was taken seriously.

  180. 180.

    catclub

    @drdavechemist:

    but I do wonder when some of these red state voters are going to figure out that they keep voting to screw themselves over.

    The fifth of never still seems like the best guess, but Kansas may be giving some hints that it could be sooner.

  183. 183.

    Immanentize

    @TenguPhule:

    $50 billion in tariffs against China and a trade war kick off tomorrow.

    Which will allow us all to see who is more efficient at applying tariffs? This bumbling administration and its integrated economy? Or President for Life Xi and his command economy?”

  184. 184.

    manyakitty

    @Immanentize: Do you think there’s any chance McGahn is under investigation, too? I thought he was one of the many operating with a temporary clearance.

  185. 185.

    TenguPhule

    @Immanentize:

    Which will allow us all to see who is more efficient at applying tariffs? This bumbling administration and its integrated economy? Or President for Life Xi and his command economy?”

    Xi has committed to opening their markets to the rest of the world.

    Essentially its shaping up to be the USA vs EU & China & Japan & South Korea.

    Fun times ahead. //

  186. 186.

    Jay C

    @rikyrah:

    Thomas Concern Troll Edsall. He is concerned because Conor Lamb won.

    Ok, I’ll bite…why is he concerned?

    Short version: “Concern Troll” is it: his main point (in a very lengthy piece) seems to be that Democrats – for whom he puts on a Very Serious Air Of Sympathy – are going to fuck themselves over in upcoming elections by insisting on [left-wing] “purity” tests, and driving more moderate-to-conservative Dems (and voters) away to either the GOP or apathy. Mainly, in Edsall’s (generally subtexted) estimation over “culturally liberal” issues: which he (again, as unspoken subtext) seemingly assumes is a political kiss-of-death for most of the country.

    His “beef” with Conor Lamb’s victory reads mainly as Edsall seems to think it was a fluke, and apparently, no harbinger for the midterms.

  187. 187.

    Immanentize

    @manyakitty: Not McGahn — I think he is clear security-wise…. He is the White House Counsel. He was involved in politics previously and probably had a security clearance from before which makes things easier. I think, in fact, that it was ultimately his job to grant or deny security clearances after advice from the FBI and the WH security office. Now, whether he is under investigation is an entirely different matter….

  190. 190.

    Mike in DC

    Trump hiring Victoria Toensing to firm up his “I was framed by the Deep State” defense.

  191. 191.

    Mandalay

    @TenguPhule:

    His twitter account. I won’t link. Just look for entitlement reform.

    I did, and I fully understand why you couldn’t provide a link.

    I don’t have a high opinion of Ryan but there is no way he is stupid enough to be tweeting about reducing the debt and entitlement reform just weeks after giving a massive tax cut to billionaires. On the contrary, he is tweeting about spending money on defense, the wall, infrastructure, the border and the opioid crisis.

    You really need to raise the quality of your bullshit.

  192. 192.

    catclub

    @Mandalay: Bullshit like this?

    Ryan has long pushed for reforming Medicare to keep that system solvent, but he also argues strongly changing the big ticket entitlement is the only way to really rein in deficit spending.
    “I’ve been a big time entitlement reformer for a long time because if you don’t start bending the curve in the out years, we are hosed,” Ryan said bluntly
    Tuesday morning. Updated 9:02 AM ET, Thu January 11, 2018

  196. 196.

    rikyrah

    @schrodingers_cat:

    At a moment when Trump has exacerbated polarization, persuading leaders and voters on the left flank of the Democratic Party to think tactically about the 2020 presidential primaries is crucial but problematic. Insofar as Democrats place a higher priority on purity than viability, they may be risking an indeterminate extension of the Trump era.

    What was so pure about Lamb? He fit the district and put a D by his name and took a lot of our positions. He won, and that’s the most important part of the equation for me.

  197. 197.

    catclub

    @rikyrah:

    Democrats place a higher priority on purity than viability,

    some might say it is all about projection. Imagine a prochoice Republican? How about a gun control Republican? How about a slightly moderate Republican?

    Kinda unlikely, but the Democratic version of those still exists – and Doug Jones is in the Senate because that kind of Republican cannot get through a GOP primary. Now tell me who demands purity rather than electability.

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