Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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

The willow is too close to the house.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

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

People are complicated. Love is not.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

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

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

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

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Repub Venality Open Thread: Go Away, Smarmy Dubya Minion

Repub Venality Open Thread: Go Away, Smarmy Dubya Minion

by | 184 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,


KellyAnne Conway’s husband (a lawyer) rebuts…

Little toad refuses to quit, comes back for another round…

Reader Interactions

184Comments

  1. 1.

    Adam L Silverman

  2. 2.

    jayjaybear

    Why is Ari Fleischer still allowed to speak/tweet in public? You’d think with all of his credibility drained away by his association with the Bush Crime Family, his opinions on things concerning the Trump Crime Family would be worth zilch to anybody…oh, wait! I forgot when we’re living…

  3. 3.

    Corner Stone

    I wish we could start fresh with all the previous (and current) administration minions being banished from TV. I simply do not want to hear anything from a GHWB, WJC, GWB, Obama or certainly a Trump admin minion. Ever again. Thanks FSM for hearing my prayer.

  4. 4.

    Mike in NC

    Ari Fleischer was the prototype liar that led to Sean Spicer and Possum Queen. They were “advanced” models capable of 100% dishonesty.

  6. 6.

    Adam L Silverman

    This explains a lot. They basically just wind each other up.

  8. 8.

    MattF

    Ari seems ignorant about that ‘partisan’ thing. Can’t trust Democrats, I guess. Also, those ‘professionalism’ and ‘bias’ things. So complicated.

  9. 9.

    Corner Stone

    @Mike in NC: Ari Fleischer runs rings around Spicey and TPQ. That dude was not the prototype he was the pinnacle of soulless liars and lying, with a heavy application of malice thrown in.

  10. 10.

    Corner Stone

    @MattF:

    Can’t trust Democrats, I guess.

    It’s why we always must have a Republican head up the FBI and also the DoD. They are the only ones capable of keeping America safe.

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    Shot:

    Chaser:

  12. 12.

    arrieve

    Ah, Ari Fleischer. The first soulless human-shaped vermin that I wanted to reach through the television screen and throttle, back when that was a rare occurrence in my life. Now I can only avoid that urge by not watching television.

  13. 13.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Walter Shaub.
    Your time line is off. Giulianus hasn’t said one credible thing in a lot longer than he’s been saying insane crap about drumpf.

  14. 14.

    Corner Stone

    @Adam L Silverman: Indeed. Rudy has the perfect foil in Mueller because he knows RM will never comment publicly either way. So Rudy can spout anything he likes, knowing the media will broadcast it far and wide. And then when it comes out as not true Rudy will scream at the mics that Mueller lied to him! Outrage!

  15. 15.

    Roger Moore

    @Adam L Silverman:

    If Giuliani’s advice during these calls was to order an investigation, it would qualify as some of the worst legal advice I’ve ever seen a POTUS receive.

    Has he been watching Giuliani on TV? Giving the worst legal advice any POTUS has ever received would be perfectly in line with what Giuliani has been saying in public since Trump brought him on.

  18. 18.

    Corner Stone

    To quote a man who’s not sure what he’s having for dinner tonight:
    “Rudy says ‘Moon made of green cheese’, reports all media outlets uncritically.”

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    DOJ’s already moving to get the President back in line:

  20. 20.

    kdaug

    From 1984

    Replace Bangkok with Baghdad

    “Arrogance and stupidity, all in one package. How efficient of you.”

    ETA: fixed link

  21. 21.

    Corner Stone

    Looks like Rosenstein is either caving or throwing squid ink by the double handful.

  24. 24.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Corner Stone: @Timurid: By shuffling this off to the IG, given that Rosenstein knows that the informant was used properly and the FISA warrants were appropriately requested and approved by the FISC, it will buy him at least 6 months of being able to say: the IG is looking into it, we can’t comment. Remember, at the level that Rosenstein is playing he has to be as good a politician as he is a prosecutor.

    He’s purchasing time to head off an overt constitutional crisis that can’t be ignored like the dozens of smaller ones that the GOP majority Congress has let slide since the minute the President finished the oath and took his hand off the bible at his inauguration.

  25. 25.

    Doug R

    Those lovers of the second and fifth amendments really do hate the first don’t they?

  27. 27.

    jayjaybear

    Part of me wants the Constitutional crisis to finally come. Pop the damn pimple and get that over with. The sooner we get to that confrontation the sooner we can start piecing things back together and maybe a little more robustly than before. If nothing else, this whole Trump folferol is showing us which parts of our governing philosophy are actual law and which parts are only custom and need to be MADE law.

  28. 28.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: It is important to remember that Rosenstein gets regular updates from Mueller on what the Special Counsel has found and what he and his team are working on. Rosenstein knows exactly what the classified information from the counterintelligence investigation that Mueller inherited says. He is buying time and room to maneuver for Mueller. It may not be enough, but that is what he is doing.

  29. 29.

    clay

    I trust Mueller to pursue the truth, but his hirings create the appearance of bias

    “Appearance of bias” =/= “bias”. Dumbass.

  30. 30.

    RSA

    I trust Mueller to pursue the truth, but his hirings create the appearance of bias…

    Fleischer would never in a million years say, “I trust Trump, but his actions create the appearance of corruption….”

    And yet the parallel is undeniable.

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    @jayjaybear: You don’t want it until the Democrats have retaken one or more chambers of Congress.

    There is chatter that the next batch of indictments are being prepared. The sources for this are hit and miss. I have no way to know if they are on target this time or way off. But if that chatter is circling in DC, then it helps explain why the President is bouncing off the walls.

  32. 32.

    Corner Stone

    @Adam L Silverman: That’s what normal people think is going on. But it’s not. Trump wants the delay. What do you think he will be doing in the interim? Or if he takes the referral as cause to fire Rosenstein? This is a dangerous step down.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    As president, I will not treat as legimate any Supreme Court decision that is not joined by a Democratic appointee. #ShoeMeetOtherFoot

  34. 34.

    Amir Khalid

    @Corner Stone:
    Mind you, common sense will lead a lot of people — and in fact has led them — to the conclusion that Rudy G is just making shit up. There is clearly a great deal still to be investigated, and the investigation is done only when that is done. Why would Bobby Three Sticks promise anyone a wrap-up date?

  35. 35.

    Adam L Silverman

    And Costa confirms it. A Giuliani production!

  36. 36.

    Another Scott

    @clay: Ari isn’t stupid. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

    He’s an enabler, and more, of Trump and his minions. He’s an enemy and should be shunned, not given more visibility.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  37. 37.

    kdaug

    @jayjaybear: Either in the next few months, or inmediately following the election. There’s a window of opportunity before the midterms, but I think we’re still in the safe zone

  40. 40.

    Kraux Pas

    @Adam L Silverman:

    shouldn’t be pursuing political charges made by the president based on zero evidence.

    It’s like the lessons of Benghazi! and E-mailgate rolled into half a sentence.

  42. 42.

    Anne Laurie

    @Adam L Silverman:

  43. 43.

    TS (the original)

    @MattF:

    Can’t trust Democrats, I guess

    And yet, President Obama had no trouble trusting republicans. There aren’t any “Both sides” with this discussion.

  44. 44.

    Another Scott

    @kdaug: Yup. He has an infamous history.

    Similarly with Frum. I won’t read him, either.

    IMHO, life is too short to keep with what Republicans are saying every single day. They’re not going to help us win in November, and that has to be our number one priority.

    I’ve just sent another donation to VoteRiders.org and LWV.org Those are the people and groups we should be spending time, energy, and money on right now, IMHO.

    Eyes on the prize…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  47. 47.

    SiubhanDuinne

    FTFNYT headline:

    Mueller Plans to Wrap Up Obstruction Inquiry Into Trump by Sept. 1, Giuliani Says

    Okay, I’ll admit I was pretty scared by

    Mueller Plans to Wrap Up Obstruction Inquiry Into Trump by Sept. 1
    because that’s only three months from now, and that seems kind of arbitrary and pressuring, but then I noticed

    Giuliani Says

    and I felt better because absofuckinglutely everyfuckingthing Giuliani ever says is wrong.

    ET unfurl some fucked formatting.

  48. 48.

    Patricia Kayden

    If 100% of Mueller’s team was composed of Republicans who donated to Republicans, Ari and his ilk would still find something to discredit them. This is about protecting their President and their political brand.

    And Ari is trying to create an excuse for Trump’s eventual firing of Rosenstein and Mueller.

  49. 49.

    Roger Moore

    @TS (the original):

    And yet, President Obama had no trouble trusting republicans. There aren’t any “Both sides” with this discussion.

    Sure there’s a “both sides” take: both sides trust Republicans in law enforcement and national security, but only one side trusts Democrats. Therefore, we must have exclusively Republicans, since they’re the only ones everyone can trust.

  50. 50.

    patrick II

    @MattF:

    Projection. A dishonest partisan sees dishonest partisans wherever he looks. The only question for him is are they partisan for his tribe or against his tribe. There are no other questions he would think to ask, such as those regarding loyalty to the constitution, law, and integrity.

  52. 52.

    Kraux Pas

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Okay, I’ll admit I was pretty scared by

    Mueller Plans to Wrap Up Obstruction Inquiry Into Trump by Sept. 1

    because that’s only three months from now, and that seems kind of arbitrary and pressuring

    Even if this is true, this is only one facet of a much larger investigation that only arose because Trump plainly, publicly has made every effort to obstruct the broader investigation. So if Giuliani happens to be telling the truth (for once), this is still only the beginning.

  54. 54.

    oldgold

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Remember, at the level that Rosenstein is playing he has to be as good a politician as he is a prosecutor.

    In your view, does this apply to Mueller?

  55. 55.

    Josie

    @Another Scott:
    This is exactly right. We should not be worrying about what Giuliani or the FTFNYT says or anyone else for that matter. We should be donating and canvassing for Democratic candidates in all locales. I suggest VoteRiders, Battleground Texas and Beto O’Rourke, for instance.
    Say to yourself every day just as Scott says, “Eyes on the Prize.”

  56. 56.

    Spc123

    @Patricia Kayden: Fleischer understands the flagrantly stupid “logic” in his tweets will work with the base and as a veteran flack, has no shame saying it.

  57. 57.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I made it worse. Much worse. And now the edit window is closed forever, not unlike the school doors in Dan Patrick’s wet dreams.

  58. 58.

    Mary G

    Most of the people I read are saying Rosenstein is just stalling for time, but it’s still a very dangerous precedent for him to appear to appease Twitler, and I worry that he will demand more now that he knows he can “hereby demand” anything he pleases.

  59. 59.

    zhena gogolia

    @oldgold:

    I don’t know about Adam, but I would say Mueller is probably a POLITICIAN EXTRAORDINAIRE

    ETA: Have you ever known anyone who’s even a GS-15? Political skills come with the territory. And Mueller is stratospherically beyond that.

  60. 60.

    debbie

    Wasn’t Ari part of the administration that required DOJ prosecutors belong to the Federalist Society?

  61. 61.

    Adam L Silverman

    @oldgold: Yes. No one rises to these positions without being master politicians. I would argue that AG Sessions is the former, has mastered being a politician, while not being very good at the latter, a Federal prosecutor. Sessions knew when to place the bet, support the President’s candidacy, that would get him the payout he wanted, being named attorney general. He may well have lost that bet had the President not been successful, but he was risking little as he’d have remained a senator.

    But the senior folks who are also career folks – Rosenstein, Mueller, etc – are masters of both domains.

  62. 62.

    Cheryl Rofer

    ETA: This is why the DOJ had to get out ahead of whatever Trump is going to say.

  66. 66.

    Roger Moore

    @schrodingers_cat:

    R-party wants this country to be a one party state. Like their patrons.

    They’ve wanted it for a while. That was the essence of the whole K Street Project and the permanent Republican majority stuff Karl Rove put together back in the 2000s. They have refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of any election that puts Democrats in charge, at least back to the Clinton era.

  68. 68.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Adam L Silverman: articles about Rumsfeld would always say that he was a “master bureaucratic in-fighter” or some such. It drove me crazy because they would never explain what that meant, or how he fought. Finally one article detailed how he outsmarted, or outplayed Condi Rice. He was a passive-aggressive, kiss-up-kick-down asshole. She would ask for information or cooperation, he stonewalled or ignored her, expressed surprise that his orders to get her what she wanted hadn’t been carried out, etc. And of course, it ultimately worked only as long as he (and Cheney) could drown out Rice with the little man then occupying the Big Chair. As I type, I wonder how much Rice’s resentment helped Bush finally decide to shitcan Rummy

    Not to say that’s what Meuller or Rosenstein are like, but it’s a different kind of politics from what people say when they talk about the retail political or rhetorical skills of an Obama or Bubba. Kind of like Nancy Pelosi is so damn good at her actual job, but gets judged by so many (amateur) political junkies based on how she performs on TV. And somehow, that chinless blackhole of charisma from Kentucky is also very effective at keeping people who are better on TV (McCain, Graham, even Collins) in line.

  69. 69.

    Dev Null

    @arrieve: Just starting to read comments, so perhaps others got there first, but srsly … Ron Ziegler? Or is he no longer operative?

  72. 72.

    Dev Null

    @eemom: Yeah, what reality-inducing drug has George Conway #3 been taking?

    He doesn’t have a reputation as a non-partisan, and that’s understating matters.

  73. 73.

    Gex

    From the guy associated with the administration that fired federal prosecutors for political reasons comes concern trolling about the politics of federal prosecutors. Sure why not? If this isn’t the worst possible timeline, the GOP is dedicated to making it become the worst possible timeline.

  75. 75.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: They had him scheduled to go to Camp David this weekend. Get him out of DC and where he could be managed. Instead, for whatever reason, that was cancelled on Friday and he remained at the White House. And given that Friday through sundown last night was shabbat and Shavuot has started, it means that Jared and Ivanka are offline and can’t be relied on to help moderating him either.

  76. 76.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Dev Null: I’d say he’s sleeping on the couch, but since I imagine Kellyanne sleeps, or takes her rest, in a coffin lined with dirt from the graves of Joe McCarthy and Phyllis Schlaffly in the basement, I guess ol’ George has the tempurpedic all to himself anyway

  78. 78.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It also didn’t help that Rice was a terrible national security advisor. She prioritized her personal relationship with President Bush (43), which was often described, at least for her, as a work marriage, over her professional responsibilities. This provided the opportunity for Rumsfeld and Cheney and their deputies to warp the Interagency process to achieve their objectives.

  79. 79.

    Dev Null

    @Adam L Silverman: Concur, but still it’s unnerving.

    We’re in a constitutional crisis. Ya do what ya gotta do to come out of the crisis with a functional Republic.

    I get the point; I get that the alternatives are likely sub-optimal …

    … but I don’t like it.

  80. 80.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: You have to hope your relievers and closers will get their mojo back as the season progresses.

  82. 82.

    John Revolta

    There’s more than a few reasons to believe that Rudy, like anybody else who ever lived in NYC for more than a month, knows Trump for the asshole he is and hates his guts. Viewed from this angle Rudy’s motives might be rather more interesting.

  83. 83.

    Dev Null

    @jayjaybear: Well, unless the fascists win. You pick your battles and choose your timing, to the extent that circumstances allow.

    I’m a bit surprised that Трамп hasn’t fired Mueller already … and the closer we get to the midterms, the more downside Трамп incurs by firing Mueller.

    If we get to September without Трамп firing Mueller, then guessing that Трамп can’t fire Mueller without risking the Senate as well as the House.

  86. 86.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Dev Null: No arguments here. Rosenstein can only use the tools he has at hand right now. If the Democrats had a majority in even one chamber, he’d have more tools he could play because he’d know he would have top cover. By kicking this to the IG it is going to put any official response from DOJ off well into next year. Six months, as I indicated above, would be a fast response. The real worry, as Cheryl referenced above, is that no one knows what he’s actually going to put on paper tomorrow. This may have given Kelly and McGahn the ammo they need to prevent an order from even being issued. It may just piss him off more, especially if he spends tonight talking to Hannity and Giuliani on the phone, and then Giuliani is on a Blonde with Two Boobs on Fox in the morning. That could wind him up but good and then who knows what happens.

    And that’s the real crux of the issue. That the President appears to be completely out of control at all times. He left mercurial and erratic in the rear view mirror months ago. By tomorrow AM, despite what Mnuchin said on Fox this AM, if the right person is on a Blonde with Two Boobs or Lou Dobbs calls and talks to him late tonight, he could put the tariffs on the PRC back in play.

  89. 89.

    Adam L Silverman

    @John Revolta: Without the President, Rudy wouldn’t have had the money to become Mayor. Without Rudy covering for him as US Attorney in exchange for that funding and fundraising, the President would have been charged with money laundering on behalf of the mob.
    http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/wayne-barrett-donald-trump-rudy-giuliani-peas-pod-article-1.2776357

    Rudy and Donald first got together in the late 1980s shortly before Donald became a co-chair of Giuliani’s first fundraiser for his 1989 mayoral campaign, sitting on the Waldorf dais and steering $41,000 to the campaign. A year earlier, Tony Lombardi, the federal agent closest to then-U.S. Attorney Giuliani, opened a probe of Trump’s role in the suspect sale of two Trump Tower apartments to Robert Hopkins, the mob-connected head of the city’s largest gambling ring.

    Trump attended the closing himself and Hopkins arrived with a briefcase loaded with up to $200,000 in cash, a deposit the soon-to-felon counted at the table. Despite Hopkins’ wholesale lack of verifiable income or assets, he got a loan from a Jersey bank that did business with Trump’s casino. A Trump limo delivered the cash to the bank.

    The government subsequently nailed Hopkins’ mortgage broker, Frank LaMagra, on an unrelated charge and he offered to give up Donald, claiming Trump “participated” in the money-laundering — and volunteering to wear a wire on him.

    Instead, Lombardi, who discussed the case with Giuliani personally (and with me for a 1993 Village Voice piece called “The Case of the Missing Case”), went straight to Donald for two hour-long interviews with him. Within weeks of the interviews, Donald announced he’d raise $2 million in a half hour if Rudy ran for mayor. Lamagra got no deal and was convicted, as was his mob associate, Louis (Louie HaHa) Attanasio, who was later also nailed for seven underworld murders. Hopkins was convicted of running his gambling operation partly out of the Trump Tower apartment, where he was arrested.

    Lombardi — who expected a top appointment in a Giuliani mayoralty, conducted several other probes directly tied to Giuliani political opponents, and testified later that “every day I came to work I went to Mr. Giuliani to seek out what duties I needed to perform” — closed the Trump investigation without even giving it a case number. That meant that New Jersey gaming authorities would never know it existed.

    It’s hard to watch Giuliani invoke his 14-year history as a federal prosecutor when he calls for Clinton’s prosecution and square it with the seedy launch of his own relationship with Trump.

  90. 90.

    Dev Null

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Could be, but he was one of Paula Jones’ lawyers …

    According to wiki, he’s magna cum laude from Harvard in … of all things … biochem.

    I don’t know, but I could be persuaded that he’s not a cookie-cutter movement conservative, given sufficiently persuasive arguments.

    (I know, I know … I’m an idiot … what else is new?!?)

  92. 92.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et Al.)

    Ari Fleischer? Why won’t these shitstain just go away? I guess they think that they’re almost respectable now compared to Tяump and his asskissers, but they still need to shut up and go far, far away, preferably forever.

  95. 95.

    maya

    And who thought djtrotski couldn’t possibly outdo that interracial hoopla thingy that happened yesterday, somewhere? He should be encouraged to play more golf instead of less. On Friday he played golf by himself. You’d think his SS detail could furnish a constant 4 some.

  98. 98.

    Dev Null

    @Adam L Silverman: I worry that Трамп might fire Mueller. We’re half a year away from the midterms; I don’t know that the Dems have a sufficiently big megaphone that they can keep a Mueller firing in the news for six months.

    My take (which I infer is yours, so please correct me if I’m wrong) is that Rosenstein is trying to delay Mueller’s firing until closer to the midterms, to make Mueller’s firing that much more risky.

    But in doing so Rosenstein is setting bad precedents.

    Perhaps that’s the best of a set of bad choices.

    “It’s difficult to remember that your job was to drain the swamp when you’re up to your ass in alligators.”

    Understood that Rosenstein is, however improbably, on the side of angels …

    … but that might not be sufficient for the survival of the Republic.

    But perhaps we’re damned whatever we do.

  99. 99.

    Waratah

    @Adam L Silverman: I thought that the agreement with China on the tariffs was Whitehouse and Trump backing down after they realized China did not need the U.S.

  105. 105.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I am sensing serious desperation with these Conservative Serious Concerns(r) about Mueller. They must get like the rest of us Trump has gone over the line in ways Nixon never dreamed of.

  106. 106.

    mainmata

    @zhena gogolia: My wife is a GS-15 and she coordinates inter-agency and international teams that require serious bureaucratic negotiating skills all the time. That’s a serious skill set in the federal bureaucracy that is utterly absent in this clown car administration.

  107. 107.

    gene108

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Why Giuliani matters here: he says he’s telling the president to avoid doing a Mueller interview until the DOJ reveals more about its activities. So the president is being advised on this source/FBI front not just by Kelly/McGahn + lawmakers but his own personal legal team.
    3:03 PM – May 20, 2018

    530

    375 people are talking about this

    Shorter Costa: Trump wants the dirt Mueller has before sitting down to an interview, so he can get his lies straight and not get in trouble.

    Anyone, who votes Republican after Trump is a traitor. Fuck ’em.

  108. 108.

    zhena gogolia

    @mainmata:

    This is what keeps me awake at night. I worked my way through college and grad school as a clerk-typist at the SBA and FAA (in KCMO), and I have the greatest respect for our federal civil servants. I feel for them so deeply.

  109. 109.

    Dev Null

    @mainmata: The saving grace of the Трамп Admin … they are all incredibly incompetent at Real-World skillz™.

  111. 111.

    Dev Null

    @gene108:

    Shorter Costa: Trump wants the dirt Mueller has before sitting down to an interview, so he can get his lies straight and not get in trouble.

    Good luck with that.

    Anyone, who votes Republican after Trump is a traitor. Fuck ’em.

    Thinking you haven’t been paying attention, but perhaps that’s just me.

  112. 112.

    Peale

    @Cheryl Rofer: Of course, one of the big things they COULD do is remove Nunes from his chairmanship for egregiously breaking the law. They COULD do that. But they won’t. They just all want to stay in charge but let everyone do illegal things and never be asked why they stood around and looked worried and never said anything in public. What a bunch of whimps.

  113. 113.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Dev Null: I don’t know, but I could be persuaded that he’s not a cookie-cutter movement conservative, given sufficiently persuasive arguments.

    lots of movement conservatives (far right assholes) in the NeverTrump camp. Rick Wilson made the ad that morphed Max Cleland into Saddam and pretends to not understand why people find it offensive. Tom Nichols speaks (tweets) fondly of Nixon and Pat Buchanan. And Bill Kristol is Bill Kristol. They’re co-belligerents, not allies.

  114. 114.

    Jay

    @jayjaybear:

    You assume you will “win” a Constitutional crisis, which given the current state of the Rethug Party, and the Supremes, is not an even bet.

    Worse case is it all get’s “enshrined”.

  117. 117.

    Corner Stone

    I am sorry but I just don’t care for Lester Holt. Those promos of him they keep showing just make me continue to believe he’s an asshole.

  118. 118.

    zhena gogolia

    @Dev Null:

    I’m glad you’re using the correct Cyrillic letter as the second letter in his name, rather than the “backwards R,” which is pronounced “ya.” I get cognitive dissonance at the name Tyaamp.

  119. 119.

    JPL

    OT Any thoughts on the time line of the latest school shooting in TX? It appears that the murderer was in a shootout with the police for 25 minutes, and at this time they don’t know if victims were shot by the murderer or the police.

  120. 120.

    debit

    @Corner Stone:

    I am sorry but I just don’t care for Lester Holt. Those promos of him they keep showing just make me continue to believe he’s an asshole.

    To me they scream, “Hey, look how great I am at faking empathy! Did you see me touch that guy’s shoulder like I actually care?”

  122. 122.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    That would have been a violation of DOJ rules, which forbid considering political affiliation in hiring for career positions.

    LOL owned!

    B-b-but BALANCE!

  125. 125.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Dev Null:

    Thinking you haven’t been paying attention, but perhaps that’s just me.

    What haven’t they been paying attention to? By now, it’s clear that the GOP is a party that stands for murdering brown people, here and abroad, along with a lot of other fucked up shit, treason among them. That makes Republican voters murderers by proxy.

  127. 127.

    Dev Null

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: This is the line I was responding to:

    Anyone, who votes Republican after Trump is a traitor. Fuck ’em.

    My intended point: if you’re only now thinking that the GOP is a radical faction then you haven’t been paying attention.

    What exactly are you objecting to?

    Other than that … yeah, thinking we’re on the same page.

  128. 128.

    thalarctosMaritimus

    @eemom: I was speculating on whether Kellyanne might be deliberately overlooking or secretly approving of those tweets as part of maintaining some plausibility for her exit strategy from the dumpster fire, when mr. thalarctos offered another possibility: maybe it’s George’s exit strategy from Kellyanne.

  130. 130.

    Dev Null

    @zhena gogolia: I take no credit for correctness (or otherwise) here. I took this from a forward by a colleague who AFAIK doesn’t speak Russian. I use the glyphs because referring to (ahem) Trump in the original Russian seems appropriate.

    Happy to be corrected if the sequence of glyphs is incorrect.

  132. 132.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Dev Null:
    I suppose I can’t disagree with that however prior to 2016 I thought they might be able to come back down to Earth. Since then and afterwards they have shocked me with how craven they are by protecting Trump and how anti-democratic they truly are. Repukes hate being held accountable for their actions by ordinary people. They could jettison Trump and still have Pence but that’s not enough for them because they can’t face Trump’s shrinking personality cult (in the sense that its becoming more concentrated; less people are identifying as Republican).

  133. 133.

    JPL

    @Jeffro: I loathed the man and never imagined that someone worse would appear. Trump and Pruitt want to undo Nixon’s greatest accomplishments which was the EPA. We live in strange times.

  135. 135.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @JPL:
    Nixon really didn’t have much choice, IIRC. Congress had an overwhelming Democratic majority that wanted it passed, and he knew he would only look worse if he tried to veto it.

  136. 136.

    Dev Null

    @Peale: You seem to be assuming that the GOP isn’t tainted by Russia money.

    Remains to be shown, but it’s possible that the reason that the upper echelons of the GOP are defending Трамп is …

    … that the the upper echelons of the GOP have liability.

  137. 137.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Adam L Silverman:

    if the right person is on a Blonde with Two Boobs or Lou Dobbs calls and talks to him late tonight, he could put the tariffs on the PRC back in play.

    Are those tariffs the same ones for the soybeans?

  138. 138.

    Dev Null

    @Dev Null: urk. Too much wine at dinner.

    I should have said, “I seem to be thinking along similar lines, given your comment.”

  140. 140.

    zhena gogolia

    @Dev Null:

    No, what you have in the comment I replied to is correct as a transliteration of Trump into Cyrillic. (I can’t use Cyrillic or I go into moderation.)

  144. 144.

    tobie

    @gene108: I wish Costa could have given as succinct an explanation as you did about what Giuliani’s request really means:

    Shorter Costa: Trump wants the dirt Mueller has before sitting down to an interview, so he can get his lies straight and not get in trouble.

    I find Costa insufferable. He bends over backwards not to say anything that might alienate his Republican sources. I guess that’s fine if he gets scoops. But it would be nice if someone a little less obsequious would package the info.

  145. 145.

    Dev Null

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

    I suppose I can’t disagree with that

    Win! ~snark~

    however prior to 2016 I thought they might be able to come back down to Earth.

    Obama famously expected “the fever to break”, so you’re in good company.

    Since then and afterwards they have shocked me with how craven they are by protecting Trump and how anti-democratic they truly are.

    Wait, wut?!?

    You are shocked. SHOCKED!! (obligatory reference to Casablanca), yet you object to my saying that “you haven’t been paying attention”?!? ~snark~

    I’ve been describing the GOP as a “criminal conspiracy” for more than a decade.

    Sorry, too much wine, but … you’re getting this only now?!?

    Srsly, what am I missing?!? This has been true for 20-odd years. Let’s talk about the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment:

    https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/10/the-much-needed-and-sane-congressional-office-that-gingrich-killed-off-and-we-need-back/264160

    Newt the Gingrinch killed it, circa 1995.

    The GOP hasn’t been about reality, not even remotely, for circa 20 years.

    Repukes hate being held accountable for their actions by ordinary people. They could jettison Trump and still have Pence but that’s not enough for them because they can’t face Trump’s shrinking personality cult (in the sense that its becoming more concentrated; less people are identifying as Republican).

    I don’t think this is an adequate description of the GOP. The GOP is about power. Trump is a vehicle. Should Trump falter, they’ll discard Trump and move on to the next Great White Father (and I do mean “white”). “Conservatism cannot fail, conservatism can only be failed.”

  149. 149.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Dev Null:
    I know all of that about Gingrich. It’s just gotten so much worse since then. I guess they had the pretense for so many years to not be so blatant and to not brazen authoritarian shit out to this bizzare/pathetic degree.

  152. 152.

    Dev Null

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: I could be wrong, but I don’t think that’s correct.

    I prefer “incremental prion disease” (per Pierce) as a description. There’s no upside of prions eating one’s mind. You just get more stoooopid.

    Which in my opinion describes the trajectory of the GOP over the past two decades.

  154. 154.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Dev Null:
    So be it. They have to stop being coddled and learn that the world doesn’t revolve around them; that they aren’t special just because they’re Americans and are no different deep down from any other nationality.

    Our superpower status is partially to blame for our situation, I believe. Too many don’t understand that the status we currently enjoy isn’t forever and have been spoiled rotten by it.

  155. 155.

    Dev Null

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

    They have to stop being coddled and learn that the world doesn’t revolve around them; that they aren’t special just because they’re Americans and are no different deep down from any other nationality.

    Willing to be corrected, but I think this is the concept of “American exceptionalism”.

    Both parties subscribe to the concept, albeit in different ways.

    Our superpower status is partially to blame for our situation, I believe. Too many don’t understand that the status we currently enjoy isn’t forever and have been spoiled rotten by it.

    Couldn’t agree more. I’ve made this point on private listservs. (Trust me! I have! ~snark~)

  157. 157.

    J R in WV

    @Roger Moore:

    …
    Sure there’s a “both sides” take: both sides trust Republicans in law enforcement and national security, but only one side trusts Democrats. Therefore, we must have exclusively Republicans, since they’re the only ones everyone can trust.

    We agree most of the time, Roger, but not on this.

    No Democrat — No one! Should trust Republicans in law enforcement or in national security!!! They’re eaten up with international corruption, not to mention their goal of ending representative democracy in this nation!

  158. 158.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Dev Null:

    Both parties subscribe to the concept, albeit in different ways.

    The Democrats at least go about it in a sane and usually constructive way. I believe the US has the potential to make this world a better place and truly be a shining beacon on a hill. I’m not sure if that’s American exceptionalism if I also think we’re not special.

    I hope this doesn’t sound argumentative because I think we’re pretty much in agreement

  161. 161.

    Dev Null

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

    The Democrats at least go about it in a sane and usually constructive way.

    I am a DemonCrap. I have voted almost exclusively for DemonCraps since Anderson ran against Carter and Reagan. (I voted for Anderson.)

    But I don’t agree that DemonCraps are “sane and usually constructive”. Examples available on request.

    More sane than Goopers, sure … but that’s a low bar.

    That said, there are effectively only two choices, so if you think Трамп was the wrong choice, then HRC was the right choice.

    (And I think she was!)

    I believe the US has the potential to make this world a better place and truly be a shining beacon on a hill. I’m not sure if that’s American exceptionalism if I also think we’re not special.

    I’ll defer to others on this point.

    Yeah, I do think that’s “American exceptionalism”, and I think Трамп is playing off “American exceptionalism”, at least in the minds of Trumpkins (bless their teensy souls!), but “American exceptionalism” is an excuse for interfering everywhere, so’s to enlighten benighted natives about Modern Ways, Democracy, and Everything. ~sarcasm~

  162. 162.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Dev Null:
    So you think it’s wrong to encourage stability in other places and to help people? Notice, I don’t mean CIA shenanigans.

    Are the Democrats perfect? No, but they’re miles above the Repukes and like you acknowledged are the only choice for a small “d” democracy to survive in America.

  165. 165.

    Dev Null

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: How can you disentangle “CIA shenanigans” from, er, “American exceptionalism”?

    I doubt that anyone here is interested in my opinions (“free, and worth every penny you pay for them”), but still …

    … I think that we Americans are just as susceptible to self-righteousness and confirmation bias as any other country or tribe.

    … encourage stability in other places and to help people

    As Bill Clinton said, “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is.”

    One person’s “stability” is another person’s “repression”.

    One person’s “help people” is another person’s “prop up autocrats and oligarchs”. Or create them.

    I am not an economist, but (going out on a limb here) what I’ve read suggests to me that by prioritizing privatization over responsible gummint, American economists facilitated the creation of the Russian oligarchy.

    I don’t think Americans have a lock on “the right way to do things”. To think otherwise is, well, American exceptionalism, duh.

    Sure, help peeps … the DRC is undergoing another Ebola outbreak. Provide resources to help the DRC bring that outbreak under control.

    Oh, wait … we’re not doing that … uh, never mind.

  167. 167.

    Dev Null

    @J R in WV: Happens to all of us. Me more often than most, I suspect. (And that’s assuming that I’m correct about “sarcasm”.)

  169. 169.

    Dev Null

    @Omnes Omnibus: OK, so the first example that occurs to me, every time: Obama and HRC were in a debate circa Feb 2008. The moderator (or some other questioner) asked the incredibly stoopid question, “would you use nukes in Afghan”.

    Obama said “nope”.

    HRC said “hey, why not?”

    At which point I decided that I was voting for Obama, because almost nothing could be stoopider than using nukes in Afghan.

    Other examples, should you wish, tomorrow. That was by far the most persuasive to me.

  170. 170.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Dev Null:
    Sure, but I’m talking about encouraging democracy. Not forcing, mind you.

    One person’s “help people” is another person’s “prop up autocrats and oligarchs”. Or create them

    I don’t believe in that. It doesn’t have to be that way. That’s my point.

    I am not an economist, but (going out on a limb here) what I’ve read suggests to me that by prioritizing privatization over responsible gummint, American economists facilitated the creation of the Russian oligarchy.

    Probably true. I think we need to change this thinking.

    Sure, help peeps … the DRC is undergoing another Ebola outbreak. Provide resources to help the DRC bring that outbreak under control.

    Oh, wait … we’re not doing that … uh, never mind.

    That’s because Trump and the Republicans are in power. The rightward political trend in this country has to be reversed, beginning this Novemeber. It already is. That’s partly why the RW is fighting so hard.

  175. 175.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Dev Null:
    Sure. My point is that I would prefer official US foreign policy to be nation building; to build much needed infrastructure, educate women and empower them, and build economies from the ground up. That’s what I meant about promoting stability.

    Privatization is wrong-headed and always has been. Americans can be pretty stupid and it’s not like we have a monopoly on good ideas, but I think we can be better than we have been in the past.

    Also, about the Ebola thing, Republicans and Trump are in power which is why we’re not helping the DRC like we should be.

  180. 180.

    Dev Null

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

    Sure. My point is that I would prefer official US foreign policy to be nation building; to build much needed infrastructure, educate women and empower them, and build economies from the ground up. That’s what I meant about promoting stability.

    Call me cynical, but it’s my impression that America as a nation is really good at stability and leading … in ways that preserve and extend American interests. Unsurprisingly, because America is a status quo power.

    Yeah, sure; should nation-building and empowering women etc be clearly beneficial to American goals, then American Administrations would be likely to support policies that further those goals.

    But unless&until “clearly”, to the extent that “benevolence” (however defined) happens, benevolence will be secondary.

    Look at American indifference to Nazi death camps. Go back further and look at American suppression of the Philippine independence movement circa 1900… some remarkably gruesome stories from that time. Or American intervention in Central America. Or … there are dozens of instances.

    I’m not saying that American intervention in the Philippines was especially awful … it might have been better than the alternatives. But it wasn’t beneficial to the Philippines or nation-building or women-empowering. It was about national power.

    History does not support what I (perhaps wrongly) take to be your assertion of American benevolence… which I (rightly or wrongly) associate with the concept of “American exceptionalism”.

    “American exceptionalism” is a claim that we as a nation are different from all other nations” … at least that’s how I’ve always understood the phrase. It is not true, as a matter of fact. I don’t think it’s even true as a matter of aspiration.

    We’re the same, more or less, as every other nation. We’re just a lot more powerful, and before Trump, we respected perhaps more norms than most other nations.

    Or maybe not.

  181. 181.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Dev Null:

    I don’t disagree with a lot of that. I just think we should aspire to be better than we have been in the past. Benevolence in my view is in America’s best interests. A safe, stable world that elevates everyone is one in which many threats to national security would be eliminated. Eliminating global poverty and hunger should be (if they already aren’t) national priorities, working alongside our partners and allies. It would be a good idea to fix ourselves first however.

    My point Is, life doesn’t have to be so hard. We can make easier for many if we want and only those who care can change the situation we’re currently in. I’m not saying it will be easy, but few things in life worth achieving are.

  183. 183.

    Matt

    Shorter Ari Fleischer: “In the interest of fairness, half of the investigating team should be our co-conspirators”

  184. 184.

    Chris Johnson

    It’s really simple.

    Trump’s guilty. Mueller knows he’s guilty. The best that can be said for Trump is that he’s so stupid and insane that he doesn’t understand hooking up with a hostile foreign country to doctor the election (which was not a foregone conclusion, but WAS totally brazenly doctored) is treason.

    So, in the context of ‘this could be wrapped up by September with the right interviews’, Mueller means “if Trump confesses everything, on the record” in these interviews. It’s a hypothetical. We don’t expect Trump to surrender like that, but he’s guilty and it’s just a matter of how to wrap it up.

    What is taking such a long time is this: Trump is guilty, and a bunch of the Republicans are just as guilty. And they know it’s treason, but didn’t care because they figured why not, it was a hail mary pass as they figured he’d lose. But he didn’t. He won, thanks to the treason and the Russian aid, and now THEY OWN IT.

    They didn’t bargain on that, so that’s why Mueller’s job is difficult.

    And that’s why having Trump confess and give legal testimony against other top Republicans would make it possible to wrap up the investigation by September. If everybody pleads guilty and goes to prison, it’s wrapped up. Because innocence isn’t remotely an option, Mueller is stuck grinding away at the problem until enough criminals flip that it’s impossible to stall any longer.

Comments are closed.