Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

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

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

In my day, never was longer.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

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

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

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

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

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Repub Stupidity Open Thread: “These aren’t very bright guys, and things got out of hand.”

Repub Stupidity Open Thread: “These aren’t very bright guys, and things got out of hand.”

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Manny is not only a more plausible liar than Michael Cohen, he’s probably smarter.

Michael Cohen, c’mon down!

Reader Interactions

116Comments

  3. 3.

    Corner Stone

    It’s been said before, but I love the fact that Trump has always surrounded himself with the stupidest, greediest, most undisciplined and dirty fuckers he could find. All these spotlights can only be a good thing, one hopes.

  5. 5.

    Kelly

    The Hoarse Whisperer tweet really got my attention. Where is all that money that went into Michael Cohen’s LLC?

  6. 6.

    Cermet

    Yet as president orange fart cloud, he is essentially, untouchable thanks to traitors called repug-a-thugs in congress and the inferior court.

  8. 8.

    Corner Stone

    I also hope, in a perverse way, that Cohen never did kick any amount of these illicit payouts back to Trump. That will lead to Trump setting him all the way out on the icefloe and then Cohen is gonna sing like the front man for an 80’s heavy metal rock band. Loud and ugly.

  9. 9.

    Wag

    Jared Kushner’s terrible advice opened this Pandora’s box..

    I haven’t heard anything about Jared lately. Is this some new revelation that I missed?

  15. 15.

    dr. bloor

    @Wag: Unlike Trump, Jared’s bloodlines have left him with a deep appreciation for the concept of “lawyering up.”

  16. 16.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    I have a super seekrit plan to save the world. Can you guys keep a seekrit?

  17. 17.

    Platonailedit

    @Cermet: Yup, rethug corruption has penetrated all levels of checks and balances including the non-state players like msm.

  20. 20.

    mai naem mobile

    @Wag: Jareds the idiot who pushed Trumpov to fire Comey and that set this whole thing off. I am betting Chuckles Kushner never pushed Jared to learn how to play chess.

  21. 21.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Cermet:
    How bad would things have to get before an angry mob drags Trump out of White House and strings him up?

  22. 22.

    Mary G

    I notice that all of the Republican pearl clutchers that were so indignant about the way the warrants were served without any prior notice or polite request has much to say today. I would like to think they are all on the phone to their lawyers.

  24. 24.

    Cheryl Rofer

    I’ve seen a fair bit of complaining on Twitter today that the same characters now seem to be reappearing in different parts of the plot. I see that as a positive – the narrative is beginning to limit itself, which means that we may have a finite and coherent story one of these days.

  27. 27.

    dmsilev

    @Corner Stone:

    Trump has always surrounded himself with the stupidest, greediest, most undisciplined and dirty fuckers he could find

    He cloned himself?

  28. 28.

    mai naem mobile

    I want to be Victoria Principal on that season of Dallas in the first episode where I’m in the shower and find out the whole last season was just a nightmarish dream. Or Bob Newhart in the Newhart finale where he finds out the whole Vermont thing was a strange dream and he’s back in his nice comfy apartment in Chicago with Barack Obama.

  30. 30.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Major Major Major Major:
    Nope. My plan is to become the first (and only) immortal dictator of Earth. I will make the world a better place whether it wants to be or not. I will create the first authoritarian liberal democracy that doesn’t tolerate trash like Trump supporters.

    First things first, I’ll need to establish a cult of personality. I need to develop my charisma and public speaking skills. I’ll need good marks as well. Perhaps I should ingratiate myself with Wilmer supporters? Sorry guys but I need zombies who don’t think for themselves for foot soldiers.

    First order of business is to smash the GOP to pieces as well as their enablers. No more Mr Nice Liberal. After my domestic enemies are taken care of I will turn my attention to Putin’s Russia.

  32. 32.

    Corner Stone

    @dmsilev: It’s my understanding that Pizza Rat is the king of the rodent food chain in NYC. So Trump picked from all the scurrying little greedy fuckers below that level to staff his life and take orders from the stupidest man in New York.

  33. 33.

    Montysano

    I’m often uncomfortable with Michael Avenatti. He’s a bit show-y for this dour Midwesterner. That said…he’s played this whole thing masterfully. He and Ms. Daniels may wind up with a significant place in history books.

  34. 34.

    Yarrow

    It’s all connected and they’re all involved. All of them. Trump, his family, his associates, top GOP officials, the RNC, the NRA, evangelical organizations. ALL OF THEM. They’re all guilty.

  35. 35.

    West of the Rockies

    Isn’t Mueller’s team supposed to put out some sort of preliminary report soon? Anyone heard anything further on that front?

  38. 38.

    ? Martin

    We know Cohen owns at least 32 taxi medallions. At their peak in 2013 (pre-Uber) they were worth roughly $1M each. They’re now selling for less than $200K. Not sure Cohen is the kind of guy that can take a potential $25M bath on that part of his business. If not, what was he willing to do to cover that loss?

    Same for Manafort. I’d be willing to bet there are Russians who kill people on the other side of those of those investments.

  40. 40.

    jl

    why is poor Manny, who seems to be a perfectly ordinary, fine, and upstanding honest crook of a pet dog, being dragged into the GOP sewer? For shame.

    Edit: if the GOP House opens an investigation into how the obviously DemocRAT dog Manny got the bagel (or croissant, whatever… ) and why the crooked Deep State FBI didn’t look into it and Manny’s connections to HRC, and the poor dog is hounded by Fox and Friends, it’s all on AL.

  43. 43.

    MattF

    Somewhat OT. Strange times we’re in when I agree with every word of a George Fucking Will column on Mike Pence. Is that a good thing? God help us.

    No link, but it’s his current column.

  44. 44.

    ? Martin

    @Yarrow: The common thread through all of them is the desperate need to protect the white christian power structure. Everything collapses once white christians lose voting power. They know that, and Obama proved just how shaky their position is.

    How many black men have been shot for having their cell phone mistaken for a gun. So what shows up at the NRA convention? Nobody even needs to buy that thing, it signals to the police that they can reasonably assume a cell phone is actually a gun.

  45. 45.

    jl

    ” is stupid in a way it would take a poet to capture. ”
    So, Bukowski or Burroughs? No one else comes to mind, and both are gone now. Sad.

    Edit: or Thompson. A few others come to mind, but they are French, and something about that just doesn’t seem right.

  47. 47.

    ? Martin

    @MattF: That’s how it happens. You’re young, smoking dope, having sex in elevators, burning your draft card, and then you get older, get a regular job, and the next thing you know you’re agreeing with George Will columns. I’d love to tell you that people come back from that point, but they don’t. It’s all dementia, Fox News, and catheters from here on out.

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    Posted in seemingly dead thread downstairs.

    Long read, but contains lots of info regarding Haspel’s time spent with interrogations and her connection to the destruction of those 92 torture videotapes at Pro Publica.

  55. 55.

    jl

    I mentioned in thread below that Josh Marshall made the (IMHO) embarrassing admission that it only now occurred to him that Trump’s weird out of the blue policy announcements, particularly the one on drug prices, are just public announcements that his staff is ready to accept bribes on that topic.
    Shit, seriously and for reals, that thought has occurred to me every time he makes one of them, and I remember his announcement on drug prices in particular.

    It would explain the incoherent jigs and jogs on what actually happens later, they are waiting to see how much who is willing to pony up for some good policy.

  60. 60.

    Ohio Mom

    @? Martin: I didn’t know he owned that many taxi medallions, I just know that Uber and lyft have decimated the taxi business in NYC.

    The drop in value has been brutal for drivers who own their own cabs. Them, I feel sorry for — but Cohen? It’s proof he isn’t that smart, he could have unloaded those medallions before they lost as much value as they have.

  61. 61.

    jl

    @lollipopguild:
    ” This is not the croissant that you are looking for. ”
    The meaning of Manny’s little eyes. It was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t get a fix on it precisely. Thank you.

  62. 62.

    jonas

    @Montysano: He’s got the publicity schtick down, for sure — he was hired to be a media attack dog as well as legal counsel — but he has also shown himself to be incredibly disciplined and focused in terms of pursuing his client’s case. He doesn’t just go around spouting off bullshit, but waits until Cohen or Giulliani or someone slips up, and then pounces.

  65. 65.

    MattF

    @jl: Ah. Parsing the meaning of concatenating the otherwise meaningless lexical combination of ‘Trump’ and ‘Policy’.

  66. 66.

    Ruckus

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    Of course it will be finite at some point, even drumpf can only do so much wrong. Of course the word everything would also have been appropriate. However, coherent? As in it will make sense? As in we will understand it? Or as in it will all be in one package, with a neat little bow on top?

  68. 68.

    jl

    @jonas: I read someplace that Avenatti has won at least one big settlement against Trump before. So, maybe he also had some inside knowledge and experience on how to win a case like this.

    And if he has been sitting on explosive info like the money trail to Cohen, with more and bigger to come according to him, another reason for his media strategy is that he wants a lot of friends in the media. He wants a high profile if he will be releasing explosive stuff. Make it harder for people to come after him successfully. At least that is my thinking.

    He’s handled many big cases with celebrities and for and against large corporations for over ten years, but has he ever been a celeb TV lawyer before? I never heard of him. He seems like measure twice cut once type of guy, and can use whatever strategy is best for a particular case.

  69. 69.

    jonas

    Wasn’t the NYT reporting the other day that Cohen cleared a cool 8-figure profit on some NY real estate deals over the past couple of years? And yet he seems to be scrounging for cash at every turn. So he’s making all these incredible investments, yet not personally profiting from them, apparently. Is there a cute emoji of a washing machine with a bunch of cash sloshing around in it? Insert that here.

  70. 70.

    Ruckus

    @MattF:
    My annual eye exam to see which year they operate so that I can continue to not run into walls, etc is on Monday.
    #oldgeezershit

  71. 71.

    SectionH

    @Major Major Major Major: Wow! That’s news to me – maybe I’m carrying some bits of my MSM news avoidance a little too far. Yes, I’m in SD. I was tempted to head over to the coast tonight to check it out, until I got to the bit about it drawing “massive crowds.” Uh, never mind.

    I remember reading a short story by Larry Niven which involved a red tide in LA and a flash crowd. That was manymany years ago, and in his ‘verse it took teleportation to bring on flash crowds. RL ppl seem to create them anyway (though obv’sly on a smaller scale).

  73. 73.

    jonas

    @jl: He obviously now has access to some very well-placed sources if he getting leaked Cohen’s banking records. Ooooh! Stormy’s now part of the Deep State!

    So we’ve gone from “Deep Throat” to “Deep State” in the sordid tale of a president’s downfall. Seems about right.

  74. 74.

    jl

    @MattF: No, I just figure Trump doesn’t give a shit, so why would he say anything about it unless he has to (during a crisis) or there is something very personally in it for him.

    Look for Trump, at his next rally, to condemn the over regulation of lobbying, and of being an agent of foreign power. To much regulation, honest guys can’t make a living. So many good projects can’t get off the ground. The Trumpsters will cheer and applaud. (not sure whether that is snark or not).

  75. 75.

    PJ

    @Ohio Mom: Who knows where he got the money to buy the medallions. He may legally own them, but they may belong to another, ahem, organization. In any event, finding a buyer at this stage would be difficult, I’d think.

  76. 76.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @efgoldman:
    Nope, Omnes is right. I live around there abouts. That’s TenguPhule. I wished I lived in Hawaii. And that I had a red Ferrari that I could zoom around in and solve mysteries with.

  77. 77.

    Ruckus

    @jonas:
    Well he is running in rather small circles, and they all revolve around shitty deals, with very little of the money seemingly able to stay in the circle – mostly due to gross stupidity or lack of understanding of well everything, money is their god – but they use their gods name in such vain that it runs away every chance it gets and/or stomps on their dicks as often as possible, the participants in the circle seem to also like to stomp on their own dicks in a startlingly regular fashion…….. It just goes on like this for a really long boring time, right up until they do this with our money and lives. Then it’s not funny. Like now.

  81. 81.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Ohio Mom: a drop in value from $1M to $200k is a lot more than decimated!

    On second thought, let’s not start that debate again….

  83. 83.

    divF

    @MattF: I looked up the column. I detest Will, but he unloaded on Pence with both barrels of the William F. Buckley thesaurus.

  84. 84.

    Ohio Mom

    @PJ: Yes, now he can’t sell them. But there was a little window where an alert, savvy businessperson could have moved.

    My cousin’s father-in-law had a medallion (he died a few years ago, I don’t know what happened to it and I don’t think asking about it would be received well). For as long as I can remember, when this in-law’s family came up in conversation, someone would always feel the need to point out, in hushed awe, “her father owns a medallion!”

  85. 85.

    Ruckus

    @Steve in the ATL:
    Leave it to one of drumpf’s associates to buy high and hold till the bottom drops out.
    Do you think he could even figure out that living under the bridge keeps the rain off and allows him to cook the sparrow that he’d have no idea how to catch and even if he did finally catch one, he’d have left the curtain on the rod and the feathers on the bird when he held it over the fire, that someone else had to start for him because he doesn’t know how to start fire?

  89. 89.

    sfinny

    @Major Major Major Major: When I was in the hospital for surgery last year, my sister bought a crack pie for when I got home. I’d never heard of it but apparently it was near the hospital. I couldn’t eat much then, but we put in the freezer. And later…OMG what a pie it was.

  90. 90.

    Ohio Mom

    @Steve in the ATL: There have been a number of NYC taxi cab drivers who have committed suicide because Uber and Lyft are taking all the rides and they are stuck with their medallions. Uber and Lyft are also really increasing Manhattan’s traffic congestion, which of course was awful to begin with.

  92. 92.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Ohio Mom:

    he could have unloaded those medallions before they lost as much value as they have.

    Does Cohen actually own them, or is he holding them for someone else?

    If he is, would it have been too embarrassing/dangerous for him to have offloaded them and then present the actual owner with the loss?

  98. 98.

    dogwood

    @jl:
    Avenatti has stellar credentials and an amazing track record. He was first in his class at GWU law school in 1999. By 2003 the school had established the Avenatti Award for Excellence in Pre-Trial and Trial Advocacy. He beat the NFL in court taking apart Jerry Jones on the stand. He’s done oppo research for over 150 campaigns. He’s definitely not a tv lawyer looking for his 15 minutes of fame.

  100. 100.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Ohio Mom: I know that kind of thing goes on, so I try to take taxis when I can. Unfortunately, the experience is horrible compared to Luber. Cost is around twice as much, though you won’t have any idea until you arrive. If you’re not at the airport or a busy downtown, good luck finding one, and most of the ones I’ve called have never showed up.

    Luber may not be the right answer but it beats the hell out of the current taxi industry. They need to figure it out ASAP.

  101. 101.

    Corner Stone

    @Steve in the ATL: Taxis don’t make any money intra-downtown trips. But neither do Uber or Lyft. They are burning money to subsidize those routes so they can kill taxi drivers.
    And why anyone thinks taxis should cover suburban routes is a mystery to me.

  104. 104.

    efgoldman

    @Corner Stone:

    And why anyone thinks taxis should cover suburban routes is a mystery to me.

    Which means, if you live in a former farm town 20 minutes ir si outside a small city, and your car is in the shop, you got shit. We have no cabs or pretty much no Luber. You can reserb3e one (if you’re lucky) for a downtown or airport trip – stupid expensive.

  105. 105.

    Shalimar

    @Major Major Major Major: Everything. Everything could possibly go wrong. To begin with, democracy is accepting the fact that stupid, immoral people can vote his immortal ass out of office because they don’t understand the brilliance of his leadership.

  106. 106.

    The Pale Scot

    I have a dream;

    That Hilary announces she’s running for AG at the exact moment that the Tardis materializes at the royals wedding. Barack and Michelle step out, followed by Mat Smith wearing a fez..

    I’d settle for the Obamas going to the wedding, that should kill him.

  107. 107.

    afanasia

    @jl: I’m reminded of how T assumed Comey was trying to blackmail him by informimg him of the existence of the dossier. He sees crimes as standard operating procedure, for everyone, always

  108. 108.

    prostratedragon

    @Wag: He seemed to disappear just after his family company made the counterintuitive move of buying out Vornado’s share of 666 for cash.

    That also was just a few days before the Cohen plot thickened, iirc.

  110. 110.

    Corner Stone

    Suburbs and “sleeper communities” need to push for some of their exorbitant tax monies to go towards mass transpo. Just a thought.
    Before arbitration I am scheduled to pay more than +20% in property taxes YOY. Guess how much of that is going to schools or transportation budgets.

  111. 111.

    SectionH

    @Steve in the ATL: Taxi situation varies over the country, as I know you know. Major East Coast cities, at least from the airport, used to be mostly ok. I think a lot of cities all over the country have laws/ordinances(?) about cabs at airport ranks having to take ppl anywhere they want to go. Even if it’s 10 minutes from the airport. And thank FSM for that constraint. I’ve lived, or wanted to go to where my kids lived, that close to airports for years. Trying to get a taxi to take you To the airport from a location like that is infuriating – 24 hr advance ordering is usually cited, and then sometimes they are all Oops… sorry, fuck you.

    I really, really hate taxis, at least in LEX and SAN. Esp. in SAN, where when I was still commuting 2x/month, I used to pick up my rental car at a nearby HLE. (Self employed: family or business, my own $.) It was just me, lone woman. I don’t think I ever had a taxi driver not try to take me a longer route (and no, not remotely faster). Taxis in SAN can just curl up and die, in my not precisely rational opinion. In LEX I did used to tip $10 or more (the ride usually clocked in at $3.50 or so), pour encourager les autres, in a positive sense. I recall at least one ride in SD where I had to threaten the driver that I’d call the police now if he didn’t take me there NOW. This asshole was in the taxi rank at SAN. I’m pretty sure all he wanted to do was get a bigger fare, but it wasn’t funny.

    oh my – that was a long personal rant. Sorry.

    After Mr S moved here full time too, we’d pay off-site airport parking if we were hauling lotsa mdse. These days, the 3 bus goes to Broadway where the 992 stop is, and it lets us off in front of T2 at SAN. My bus pass costs $18/month, but even if I were younger and paid cash, it would cost a whole $5. Whole trip takes ~30 minutes, or would if I could walk faster. On weekdays, where the buses run every 15 minutes. It’s a little trickier on the weekends.

  112. 112.

    Bruce K

    @mai naem mobile: I suspect the problem is that most of those ratfkers depend on the Chewbacca Gambit when they sit down to the chessboard. It’s just that now they’re playing at a level where their opponent can say “go ahead and tear my arms off if you want, but you’re still facing mate in three. Plus my staff will shoot you.”

  113. 113.

    Bruce K

    @SectionH: NYC airport cabs seem to have improved, at least from what I’ve seen at JFK: fixed-fare from the airport into Manhattan, and pretty well organized at the cab stand. The hustlers trying to grab riders have gotten more and more desperate in recent years; I’ve had one or two try to divert me from the cab-stand line, even when I told them I wasn’t getting into a cab that didn’t have a medallion on it.

  115. 115.

    Woodrow/Asim

    @rikyrah: As a Black man, my experiences with hailing a taxi have been miserable.

    Uber and Lyft get me out of that risk, so long as I have a smartphone (and, obviously, are in areas they service).

    Maybe the taxi services out there should consider that, before it’s too late.

  116. 116.

    Bookeater (formerly JosieJ)

    @rikyrah:

    Exactly. The taxi industry in NYC has been fucked up for decades. Medallions were strictly controlled and limited, artifically driving up the prices. When medallions did become available, they went to the politically connected or the prepared-to-bribe (what a surprise). Street hails were illegal in the farther—mostly minority—areas of the city and yellow cabs didn’t service them, leaving a mish-mash of legal and illegal (and unregulated) car services to cover those areas. The industry—and the city—was slow to respond from complaints from air travelers, prospective medallion owners and outer-borough residents, and then Lyft and Uber came along and they were caught flat-footed again.

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