Paul Ryan—who, as an elected federal official, is barred from soliciting donations over $2.7k—flew to Las Vegas, told GOP donor Sheldon Adelson 2018 midterms are "crucial" then left the room while a lobbyist secured a $30M super PAC donation from Adelson https://t.co/pGcStZxCqr pic.twitter.com/cJBbS8ivyu
— Anna Massoglia (@annalecta) May 10, 2018
If there’s any doubt as to why Trump figured his bagman could practically plaster “THIS SPACE FOR RENT” signs on the Oval Office, here’s a Politico story — “Sheldon Adelson kicks in $30M to stop Democratic House takeover”:
… The long-sought donation was sealed last week when, according to two senior Republicans, House Speaker Paul Ryan flew to Las Vegas to meet with the billionaire at his Venetian Hotel. Also at the meeting with Adelson was his wife, Miriam; Norm Coleman, the former Minnesota senator who chairs the Republican Jewish Coalition; Corry Bliss, who oversees the super PAC; and Jake Kastan, Ryan’s No. 2 political aide. They laid out a case to Adelson about how crucial it is to protect the House.
As a federally elected official, Ryan is not permitted to solicit seven-figure political donations. When Ryan (R-Wis.) left the room, Coleman made the ask and secured the $30 million contribution…
Adelson’s donation comes at a perilous moment for House Republicans, who are facing growing headwinds as they try to save their majority. With dozens of incumbents being outraised by emboldened Democratic challengers, desperate party officials have been hoping that Adelson — the party’s most prominent benefactor — would give more than he traditionally does, and earlier in the election cycle.
Adelson came through by giving now, as opposed to waiting until late summer or the fall.
The $30 million contribution is three times as much as Adelson gave to [the Congressional Leadership Fund] in 2016. And the cash comes much earlier in the cycle: In 2016, Adelson gave CLF $10 million in August, as the campaign headed into the homestretch…
Accepting a “love offering” is not illegal if you’re careful to be out of the room when the check gets passed.
Donald Trump is not some kind of malignant oddity that took over the formerly innocent Republican Party. Donald Trump is just the latest refinement on the GOP standard.
Yarrow
Paul Ryan is a traitor.
SFAW
I’m trying to understand how asking for, and receiving, welfare from wealthy donors squares with Ayn Rand’s “philosophy.”
As I’ve said before, I hope that motherfucker suffers enough personal financial catastrophe that he becomes one of those people he’s been trying to kill for at least eight years (so far).
ETA: What this plot needs is some Orcs to go after Ryan. Big fucking Yrch, with big fucking swords.
Major Major Major Major
Norm Coleman! Remember him?
@SFAW: doesn’t Ryan come from personal financial catastrophe, his family was propped up by SSDI and Pell grants?
Chet Murthy
It’s an OT, so I’ll go OT. I flew (first time in 2yr, thank goodness) to DFW for a personal thing. Lyft driver from the airport was perfectly friendly and nice and all. During the trip (I grew up here, so discussing lots of things that had changed), the (white, female) driver mentioned homeless people. And then, mentioned stopping at an intersection where a couple (male/female) of homeless people panhandled, and rolled down window to say “you’re young and healthy; you can donate plasma, get a hotel room, clean your clothes in the bathtub, interview for a temp job, get yourself off the street”. Donate. Plasma.
Just like that. Just like that. The bun comes off the hamburger, and you can -see- the worms. And the saddest part was, the driver was most definitely not “comfortable”. Last job mentioned had been gas station attendant. Their spouse had a decent job, but that’s it.
Lordy, the hatred in people I used to consider my fellow citizens.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I’m old enough to remember when John Kelly thought women should be “sacred”.
SFAW
@Major Major Major Major:
His father died. I don’t recall reading that ZEGS was ever poor, thanks to the Government and SSDI.
ETA: So he wasn’t even destitute at that point, yet he was happy to mooch off the Government. And, as far as I know, he’s never held a non-public job, except for
jerking offdriving his WienermobileNotMax
Open Thread?
Meant earlier to put up a link to the USGS page of volcano cams on the Big Island. The one erupting so spectacularly is Kilauea, in the east rift zone.
Also too, FYI:
Pair of offbeat Japanese flicks, if that floats yer wasen, on TCM this weekend.
Saturday, 2:00 a.m. – Funeral Parade of Roses. The Japanese transvestite and gay underground of 1970.
Saturday, 4:00 a.m. – Crazed Fruit. Racy by any standard for its time (1956!) tale of hormone addled young sun worshippers. English title could just as well have been Beach Blanket Banging (although it predated the squeaky clean American beach movie crazelet).
dmsilev
@Major Major Major Major: Yep, and by his own description he’s dreamed ever since college of preventing other people from following in his footsteps.
B.B.A.
All the “this is not normal” takes are rubbish. As Ezra Klein explained in his most recent piece, this is totally normal. Obama was the unusual one.
America was never great.
SFAW
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
He probably meant “scared,” but his dyslexia kicked in.
Omnes Omnibus
@Major Major Major Major: No, his family is well off. His father died when Ryan was young so he got Social Security survivors benefits.
eric
Nothing says we can win based on the power of ideas and on the strength of our accomplishments more than this shameful whorebaggery!
Corner Stone
GTFO or STFU
dmsilev
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Christ, what an asshole.
(from FTNYT)
laura
Apologies if someone beat me to it, but Fuck Justice Anthony Kennedy and his crucial vote on Citizens United Not Terrified.
If this isn’t the very definition of quid pro quo, I’ll eat a bug.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The blatant venality of the Republicans sure remind me of the end of the Delay era, like with that South Cal Rep who went full Guided Age and handed out a menu for what services bribes purchased from him.
Still, how long before the Republicans are wearing corporate logos on their suites like race car drivers?
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
the best people
Chet Murthy
@SFAW: Ryan poor as a youth? Uh, not so much
dmsilev
So, I’m confused. I thought the GOP Tax Cut, glory be unto its name, was going to be the triumphant achievement through which the GOP would win elections.
Or did they just mean that the tax cut bill cut enough off of Adelson’s taxes that he comped them 1% of the difference?
Yarrow
@NotMax: I’ve been following the Hawaii volcano eruption. What a terrible situation for those people whose homes are being swallowed up by lava. Nothing they can do. Amazing videos day after day.
SFAW
@B.B.A.:
Well, fortunately for you, the barriers to emigrate FROM this country are a lot lower than the barriers for those trying to get in.
No need to send us a postcard from wherever you end up.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@SFAW:
The same Ayn Rand who was happy to take SS in her time.
Also, keep in mind these people also see themselves as the Rebel Alliance in Star Wars.
Omnes Omnibus
@B.B.A.: No link?
NotMax
Yup, yup and thrice yup.
Yarrow
Ohio people, does she have a chance in this district?
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
Here’s hoping/wishing Melania separates Trump from his kid and a metric buttload of “his” money one soon day.
How you like them apples, big boy?
SFAW
@Chet Murthy:
Thanks. I knew he wasn’t poor, but forgot about how well-off he was.
B.B.A.
@Omnes Omnibus: Here ya go.
trollhattan
The vaunted Sov…Russian defence.
SFAW
@NotMax:
A corollary to that is what Josh Marshall calls “Trump’s Razor,” which basically says something close to: the stupidest explanation is usually the correct one.
MattF
@trollhattan: The goalie’s unfortunate sudden demise was entirely unanticipated.
Corner Stone
@dmsilev: “Mr. Trump, with all due respect. Go fuck yourself, you stupid fucking moron.”
Anything short of that is cowardice or complicit in his regime. I think we know which she is.
Major Major Major Major
@laura:
The case was just about Citizens United. CU Not Timid is an unrelated group founded by Roger Stone.
Chet Murthy
@SFAW: Uh, I think you’re being a little harsh. I also think America has also never lived up to our high-flown rhetoric. We’ve done a shit-ton of shitty things, both at home and (esp) all over the world. But I (and, I suspect, @B.B.A., and you too) believe that America can be perfected, improved, made better. I think we all believe though, that that’s not by going back to some time when we were better, but going forward to a time when we will be better than we ever were. And part of doing that is by recognizing when and how we were pretty awful.
Concretely, look at JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Reagan, Bush41, Bush43. That’s a long, long string of guys doing some pretty evil things overseas. And if we go back to WWI, Wilson was one seriously evil motherfucker. I’ve been reading his words in Tooze’s _The Deluge_, and lordy was he a godforsaken white supremacist. It’s been discussed extensively on LG&M how we did nothing except aid in the immiseration and rapine of the former USSR, after Communism collapsed. Our bankers just signed up with the mobsters to take the place apart, when we could have (as a country) tried to help them create the rule of law. But we didn’t, did we? And some of that blame has to lie with Clinton.
trollhattan
The kids are alright, Utah[?!?] edition.
My fervent hope is these kids dog Willard on his senate campaign/coronation.
TenguPhule
@Yarrow:
Paul Ryan is a very bad traitor.
trollhattan
@MattF:
He should have never gone for the complementary sushi.
NotMax
Infrastructure Week, we hardly knew ye.
Chet Murthy
@NotMax: Damn! Even Hitler got the autobahns built, and massive synthetic oil (or was it gas? I forget) plants and things going. All -before- the war. Shitmidas really is for shit *grin*
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
Yes. yes he did.
Sucked the government’s Teat his whole life, little Ryan has.
NotMax
All lies, great and small, all the time.
What Trump doesn’t seem to understand about military [pay] raises
Yarrow
This is the craziest headline.
It’s the Daily Mail so proceed with caution.
JPL
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I read that the WH said it was true and the joke fell flat. wtf
A WH official confirms WH aide Kelly Sadler mocked John McCain’s cancer diagnosis saying “he’s dying anyway” in response to his opposition to Haspel nomination. The “joke… fell flat” the official said.
Lapassionara
@trollhattan: what a great and hopeful story. Go youth!
TenguPhule
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
More like the Resistance. And just as competent.
Yarrow
@NotMax: Noooooo! Not Infrastructure Week. Long live Infrastructure Week!
SFAW
@Chet Murthy:
I know you mean well, and I generally like/appreciate your comments, but please spare me the attempt at a history lesson. I’m reasonably aware of the sins of the various Presidents around since I was old enough to understand that shit. The imperialism is problematic, to put it very tactfully, but it’s not as if America is all evil all the time.
TenguPhule
@NotMax:
Aside from everything?
maya
Ah yes. Shelly Adelson. The Saul Alinsky of the Gaming Community: The Anti-Soros: Successful casino operator….as opposed to…..
And, like Trump, absolutely, positively, NOT mobbed up.
SFAW
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
SS? Or was it Medicare? (I know, I know, por que no los dos?
TenguPhule
@NotMax:
Somebody check the pigs. SHS may have actually spoken a truth.
TenguPhule
@MattF:
Worst case of suicide the coroner had ever seen.
Baud
@SFAW:
I believe May 23, 1878 was a particularly good day.
oatler.
In related news, Tony Scalia continues to roast in hell.
Major Major Major Major
@maya:
What exactly do these people have in common besides the obvious?
Brachiator
Democratic Party midterm campaign ads are practically writing themselves.
“Republicans sell themselves to rich plutocrats. They don’t even try to hide it.”
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@NotMax: Yes and we can bitch all we want, and the people that screamed about Clinton corruption for years won’t care. They don’t have principles, they have a side and as long as their side is doing it that’s A-OK. They will work themselves into high dudgeon again when a Democrat is in office but until then there is literally nothing these guys can do that will piss off the base. And, lest we say the base in uninformed, no they are not. They know what’s going on and are perfectly fine with corruption, election stealing, etc. and having a double standard where the Democrats have to be clean but the Republicans can get as dirty as they want. These are the new rules they play by. We need to figure out how to beat them anyway.
Baud
@Brachiator:
LGM has a post up showing how the NYT will respond to that.
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2018/05/quid-pro-cohen
Baud
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Agree.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
I got Social Security survivors’ benefits after my mother died, and I managed not to turn into a ginormous asshole. Or at least not a Randian one.
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: sigh
The Lodger
@Chet Murthy: Short of another Marshall Plan, I don’t see how we could have implemented the rule of law in the former Soviet Union. Our capitalist overlords weren’t interested in anything other than what they got: oligarchy without oversight.
Mnemosyne
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I’m pretty sure they see themselves as the Empire/First Order. Especially after Last Jedi got girl cooties all over their mythology.
NotMax
@Baud
March 16, 1830 was pretty easygoing. Pokiest day on NY stock exchange ever. A grand total of 31 shares were traded.
;)
JustRuss
Meanwhile in Oregon, the Republican gubernatorial candidate is running wall-to-wall TV ads attacking the incumbent. In May. Wonder where he’s finding the money to do that?
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: man how much would you have now if you’d bought apples back then
Fleeting Expletive
A bit of outstanding news: The FEC has ruled that a candidate may use campaign funds for childcare. This may be very, very important for our futures, literally, so that parents can seek elected office.
Brachiator
@Baud:
The comments nicely shut that shit down.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Heh, efgoldman is the one to ask, for first person perspective.
:)
Elizabelle
Enjoying the first gin and tonic of the season. Refreshing. A wonderful T storm blew through here, compleat with hailstones (not big ones). Now birds are back out and sunset approaching.
WRT the Homeland Security secretary threatening to resign: figured these are the first steps of a pas de deux. Maybe John Kelly is out soon too.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: but he was too busy that day buying onions, for his belt.
Just One More Canuck
@MattF: how many times did he fall out of a window?
Mandalay
@Major Major Major Major:
For me he’s only notable for having been on the receiving end of the most brutal evisceration of a politician I have ever seen, delivered over 45 minutes by George Galloway:
Mike in NC
Infrastructure Week only happens at Mar-A-Lago, you silly people! It’s getting a complete taxpayer funded makeover.
Brachiator
@SFAW:
Atlas shrugged, and asked for a handout.
TenguPhule
@Fleeting Expletive:
Have they specified the maximum age of the child?
MomSense
@B.B.A.:
Obama is great.
Frankensteinbeck
@SFAW:
Perfectly. The philosophy advocates absolute selfishness. Reaping the charity of others and then trying to shut it down so no one else can receive it is totally in line. Having done so, you should laugh about it, because letting society shame you in any fashion is weak. The only thing I can see from Ryan that is non-Randian is that he doesn’t loudly shun religion. Not that I think he’s actually Catholic in any way, but again, shame is weakness.
@The Lodger: and @Chet Murthy:
I’m damned if I can think of anything the US could have done. The West gave Russia a ton of suggestions as to what would help fix their economy and politics. The Russian people gave the rest of the world a big ‘Fuck you’ and hunted for the slimiest assholes to elect, who then ignored all of it. It’s not like we had the ability to stop that or force them to make laws we wanted.
Brachiator
@Elizabelle:
She is a vile piece of work who would be replaced by someone equally noxious. Here’s how she defends the indefensible.
efgoldman
@TenguPhule:
What is a good traitor, and who is one?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Am I wrong if I say I wouldn’t be upset if, once Ryan leaves office, somebody chooses to beat him to death with a baseball bat? On video? And I could recue it and watch it so many times that the laser would burn a hole in the DVD?
Elizabelle
Rudy G just resigned from his big law firm, Greenberg Traurig.They were not amused by his Fox News-chatting that Cohen handles things without his clients’ knowledge, just like most lawyers do.
You may recall that Greenberg Traurig was also Jack Abramoff’s law firm. Hmmmmmmm….
FTF NY Vichy Times: Giuliani’s Law Firm Undercuts His Statements as They Part Ways
Rudy gonna be out of work soon. Cannot imagine Trump the cruel won’t cut him off at the knees soon.
Mandalay
@Brachiator:
She is indeed. Her predicament is made all the sweeter by Trump humiliating her in front of his entire Cabinet despite her having lied for him over his “shithole” comments.
Frankensteinbeck
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Yes. Don’t say that. Think it if you must, but it is definitely not appropriate public discourse, no matter how vile the man is. We really don’t want to turn into Republicans.
I'll be Frank
Say, isn’t this Adelson fellow a money launder for Chinese Oligarchs?
maya
@Major Major Major Major: The conservative right is always looking for an opposite/better of what the liberal left has to offer, which Shelley certainly fulfills (is it just the money?) You left out the last connection; successful casino operator vs an unsuccessful casino operator under the same political roof. Though, in this case, it’s the republican party at large who gets the big cash needed perhaps because of the ongoing actions of a still unsuccessful casino operator?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Yes, indeed; I remember it well.
Omnes Omnibus
@Elizabelle: A G&T before Memorial Day? Please assist me to my fainting couch.
Major Major Major Major
@maya: I was mostly confused because of the Alinsky part.
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
Whoever leaked little Cohen’s bank transactions with the Russians.
maya
@Major Major Major Major: Actually, was going for the alliteration in names there – SA.
kindness
I understand Nancy Pelosi is very good at raising funds for the party. I wonder how much she raises at a pop? No doubt over time she might run into a smaller similar dilema. I would think that there are certain clues as to when a Congressperson has to leave the room rather than break the rules. I wonder what those clues/lines/words are.
The uber-rich are different from the rest of us. It’s the need to control everything they seem to all have I don’t understand. We are fighting spoiled egos in this day and age for our very ability to retire at some point in our lives. Those egos, they act like children.
Elizabelle
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh no. Is that like wearing white shoes?
Central VA expecting 90 degree weather with humidity this weekend. Got to get acclimated.
ETA: I went to see The Thin Man last night on a big screen. Good thing I am not lying around, blotto. Mr. and Mrs. Charles were fun.
Major Major Major Major
@maya: ahha, I just saw a list of three oft-vilified men whose only shared trait seemed to be religion.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
No lie told
Omnes Omnibus
@Elizabelle: I am expecting a high of 45 and rain here tomorrow.
Chet Murthy
@kindness:
Procedurally I’m sure she’s run into it already. But (heh) since those donations are to improve the lot of Americans, and at this point to Save The Republic, it’s not spiritually similar at all *grin*.
Elizabelle
@Omnes Omnibus: Brandy weather.
Omnes Omnibus
@Elizabelle: Indeed.
maya
@Major Major Major Major: You are not entirely wrong. Ethnicity more than religion. Not sure how religious any of them are. Adelson and Soros are polar opposites. Soros has been the go-to villain of rwnjs for years. At 84 he still drives them nuts. I find that more than mildly amusing. But, as to the vilification of Adelson…. not sure if he has suffered as much. One commentor above mentioned his possible “money laundering” for the Chinese oligarchs – more correctly, his Mindanao casinos and the Chinese mob – you don’t run a casino anywhere without local mob backing including Trump in Atlantic City , for all the good it did him. “Mob” could also include Chambers of Commerce in my way of odd thinking
OTOH I understand that Kenye West will be delivering that elusive black voting block to the trump camp in 2020 where Omarosa and Ben Carson have, some how, come up short of expectations.
Shana
@Elizabelle: Man that sounds fun. I took my older daughter to see Citizen Kane at AFI Silver (big screen) for her first viewing of it. Wonderful experience.
Love the Thin Man movies.
BTW, she took me out for dinner tonight, since I’ll be away this weekend, as a Mother’s Day gift. We talked a lot about movies (and local Dem politics since she’s a member of our local Congressional committee and the local Dem committee) and, despite having spent 4 years at UChicago and availing herself of DocFilms, there’s a ton of my favorite movies she’s never seen. I see lots of Movie Nights With Mom in the near future. How has my daughter never seen The Women? I’ve failed as a mother, clearly.
Elizabelle
@Shana: I love seeing older movies on a big screen. They hold up well!
Lots of movies and happiness in your future.
Jager
@trollhattan: This old defense man would have slammed Vlad into the boards every time the SOB came up the ice with a little cross checking thrown in for good measure. Not only could I skate but I knew how to take the “body”.
sigyn
@oatler.: When I heard he died, I texted my mother “Now he really IS the devil’s advocate”.
And, I get depressed every winter, but seeing the flags at half-staff every morning that February cheered me right up.