Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

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

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

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

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Infrastructure week. at last.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

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

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

T R E 4 5 O N

Second rate reporter says what?

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

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

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

After roe, women are no longer free.

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

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

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: The GOP Gang That Couldn’t Loot Straight

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: The GOP Gang That Couldn’t Loot Straight

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When I was growing up, saying that a bargain ‘fell off a truck’ still implied that it might be a cheap counterfeit, passed off on someone too eager for a good deal to examine closely. The Trump Crime Cartel seems to have mistaken The Godfather for an instruction manual, because they were eager to make some quick dollars without putting in any actual effort. And the whole godsdamned Republican party was more than willing to aid and abet, because hey, cheating falls under the IOKIYAR exemption, right?…

The Washington Post has a transcript, annotated for your convenience — and also a Philip Bump explainer on the finer points.


Reader Interactions

179Comments

  1. 1.

    Chyron HR

    It’s like when you go to an auto dealership to trade in your first or second car for a younger, sexier model that you’ve already been test-driving for a year.

  3. 3.

    Van Buren

    Only a few lawyers care about arcane violations of campaign finance law. And nobody expects politicians to keep it in their pants. Let’s focus on the real scandals here; a lawyer secretly taped his client, and the FBI’s failure to investigate Hillary’s collusion with the Russians.

  8. 8.

    MattF

    @Bobby Thomson: The audio clip is played in the Chris Cuomo segment at the top of the page.

    So, Trump was recorded by his bestie… Ya think this was standard practice for the staff? I would not be surrpised. Working for Trump means you have to protect yourself, and that means getting wired up.

  16. 16.

    Joey Maloney

    Nothing I like better than starting the day with a HD failure and partially corrupt backups.

    Grumble.

  17. 17.

    Amir Khalid

    So now Trump is aware that his closest associates are protecting themselves, if necessary by throwing him under the bus. This knowledge should help him sleep at night …

  24. 24.

    debbie

    Honestly, lawyers have no pride in the craft of screwing their clients any more.

    Or in the pretzels they turn themselves into to explain away this shit.

  27. 27.

    bemused

    @Baud:

    Ha, ha. It would be sort of amusing to hear Ivanka say in her practiced Jackie Kennedy voice, “Maybe he gets hit by a truck.”

  28. 28.

    Ken

    @debbie: Brain bleach, please.

    Unless that line follows “So if I start this trade war tariff thingy, we’ll make money?”

  29. 29.

    debbie

    Kay, when you get here, have you seen the RGA’s ad against Cordray? I saw it for the first time last night. I think it’s dirty enough (implying he got our credit card information) he should take action.

    (No link available that doesn’t have a paywall.)

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Speaking of Ivanka, Ivanka Trump to close fashion brand amid consumer backlash

    Ivanka Trump is out of fashion. The retail company run by Donald Trump’s eldest daughter will soon cease to exist.

    The New York Post first reported on Tuesday that the company will be closing “ASAP” and that staff have been informed that they are being laid off. “It’s just never recovered since she stepped away from the company,” an insider told the Post’s Page Six.

    Awwwwwwwwwwwwww…..

  32. 32.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I didn’t see it but I just read about it. He seems to be doing a good job with the campaign- I don’t know if he should respond.

    I don’t know about other people but my credit card information has been stolen twice in the last 12 months and the year prior to that my son’s health information was hacked from our (private) insurer. The idea that it’s a “big government” problem seems ridiculous. Seems like we need more financial/information security regulation, not less.

    Maybe he could roll it into a plan to crack down on white collar crime. They could crack down on just the white collar crime committed by Ohio Republicans in the state legislature and stay pretty busy.

    I’m tough on crime- financial, fraud, money laundering, government contracting. Zero tolerance.

  37. 37.

    Jeffro

    @Amir Khalid: I hope he is not sleeping at night, on any night . Since he has no conscience, the least we can do is hope he suffers for all his bullshit

  38. 38.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    My info’s been stolen three times (so far), Equifax being the latest. I’m “enjoying” the threatening robo-calls (three in one day!) and mailings for sure!

  40. 40.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    P.S. I think everything needs to be responded to. I think that’s why Obama started strong and stayed strong.

  41. 41.

    Kay

    We have some (very) young candidates running for the state legislature in very R districts. Last night they told us about this plan they have- they want to form a “rural caucus” within the state Party where they would join together and ask the state Party to support the whole group and then coordinate their campaigns to get more bang for the buck. They already have 5 candidates as the initial “class”.

    It’s smart. It’ll be harder to ignore 5 candidates in difficult races than it is if they ask one by one. The person who came up with it is 18 years old. I’m not clear which one he works for- he sat in the back of the room and didn’t say anything even when they credited him with it.

  43. 43.

    Immanentize

    @rikyrah: he likes it! He is doing some cool stuff — creating a compiler for an Arduino snap on box…. You know what else he likes? A paycheck!

    Meanwhile the Immp crashed his bike Monday night on a gravel spot taking a turn. No bad injuries, lots of lacerations on his hands, wrist, knee, shoulder, etc. Happy Birthday, Dad!

  44. 44.

    MattF

    @OzarkHillbilly: ‘1,000,000 percent inflation rate’ is a good example of using the wrong units. At some point one needs to translate ‘annual inflation rate’ into practical units. A good candidate is ‘half-life’– i.e., how many days it takes for prices to double.

    However, the units are a detail. In any practical sense, Venezuelan currency is worthless.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Cordray is doing better than I thought he would- I think that’s the general consensus- that DeWine is weaker than he should be. Someone told me Kasich said he won’t endorse DeWine unless DeWine promises to protect Medicaid expansion. I feel like Kasich is twisting the knife on DeWine’s flip flop.

    I don’t know how anyone can “support” Mike DeWine. He stands for absolutely nothing. If it became popular in far Right circles to don a white hood and burn crosses he would do it in a heartbeat. Conversely, if they suddenly started backing Medicare for All he would do that too.

  48. 48.

    Steve in the ATL

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: @Aimai: damn, you got to get up early to be pedantic here. Shouldn’t have wasted that half hour on the elliptical!

    Steve in a steam sauna that purports to be Lake Mary, Florida

  49. 49.

    A Ghost To Most

    @satby:

    public knowledge of incest might be the only sin that finally gets the evangelical hypocrites of the train

    You are far too sanguine.

  50. 50.

    WereBear

    @satby: public knowledge of incest might be the only sin that finally gets the evangelical hypocrites of the train.

    I wish I believed that. tRump could appear with horns, a forked tail, and flames shooting from his ass, and they would say, “But he is making abortion illegal. God works in mysterious ways.”

  51. 51.

    MomSense

    My son was stung multiple times by wasps yesterday when he was in the woods. I wasn’t there but he was taken to the ER. He’s home and super puffed up but ok. From what his brother says, 20 minutes after being stung he broke out in massive hives and he started swelling up. He’s never had an allergic reaction before but apparently the high number of stings may mean he will now be reactive.

    Today he is going to be totally pampered.

  52. 52.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: My truck got a black eye for a belated birthday present to me. 3rd time in a year and half somebody has tried, and the 2nd time somebody has succeeded in running me off the road.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I like Cordray’s focus that they’re not getting a good “value” on health care, especially publicly-funded health care. Republicans are vulnerable on that with the prescription drug price scandal.

    Liberals don’t do enough “good government” focus. If we want government programs they can’t be corrupt and wasteful and dumb. I think he understands that – that if it’s a public entity then the public is the customer. That was his focus as AG- running an accessible, efficient office that ran right. The ideology is one thing. The execution is equally important.

    Strickland often seemed bumbling. He was a legislator, after all. He hadn’t been in an executive position. Cordray is stronger there. The more “local” you get the more important execution is- it has to run right.

  57. 57.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @satby:
    It won’t, for almost exactly the same reason they didn’t abandon Moore. The absolute right of a parent to sexually abuse their children is an issue Evangelicals feel passionately about.

  58. 58.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MomSense: I have developed a sensitivity to hornet stings over the years. Not to the level of anaphylactic yet tho.

  59. 59.

    Amir Khalid

    GAS attack update: my electric guitar collection is now complete — Tele, Les Paul, Strat. An ES-335 copy might be nice, but I doubt I will be that keen on playing jazz. I have begun pondering an amplifier upgrade for some months down the line, like early 2019. (Because, well, why the frack not?)
    I am interested in a digital combo amp. Boss Katana 100, 1×12 or 2×12; Fender Champion 40 or Champion 100; Fender Mustang GT100; Marshall Code 50 or Code 100. It’s not volume I’m looking for, honest; it’s features like built-in amp voicings and effects. (No tube amps, they’re expensive and fussy. No half-stacks with a head and 4×12 cabinet either; I probably won’t be gigging.) I don’t expect to bump into any buy-now-or-regret-forever bargains like Lady, so I should be safe from premature expenditure.

  61. 61.

    MattF

    @OzarkHillbilly: An old friend of mine discovered (as an adult) that she is violently allergic to bee venom. Discovered it when she put her hand into a gardening glove that had a bee in it.

  62. 62.

    germy

    Some folks are saying I won for “demographic” reasons.

    1st of all, that’s false. We won w/voters of all kinds.

    2nd, here’s my 1st pair of campaign shoes. I knocked doors until rainwater came through my soles.

    Respect the hustle. We won bc we out-worked the competition. Period. pic.twitter.com/RbpQMYTiWY

    — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) June 29, 2018

  63. 63.

    bjacques

    Another gang of entitled dolts who think crime is easy–half-assed Heisenbergs who look like the guys in Office Space Googling how to launder money.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    @MomSense:

    My middle son is reactive and it does get worse with each episode. Apparently electricians get stung a lot – his co-workers were telling me this is just “known”- I don’t know if bees hang out by electrical boxes and things or what but they all have these bee attack stories. His doctor set him up to treat it in a hurry if it gets bad. It worries me. He and I were planting potatoes once when he was in high school and we both got stung and his whole head puffed up. That was the first time I saw it.

  71. 71.

    Steve in the ATL

    @OzarkHillbilly: my daughter was run off the road this past weekend. No idea if it was wasp related, but it’s likely as she was near a country club.

    I was planning to eat this month, but instead of food I’m buying three new tires and two new rims. Pro-tip: never buy your kid, or yourself, a BMW.

  74. 74.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MattF: I found out I was allergic to aspirin in a rather sudden manner also. All of a sudden I couldn’t get any air in my lungs.

    @Kay: Not just electricians. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been stung on a job site.

  75. 75.

    germy

    @Amir Khalid:

    GAS attack update: my electric guitar collection is now complete

    Now it’s time to start collecting ukuleles.

    You won’t want to stop. Believe me.

  76. 76.

    Amir Khalid

    @satby:
    I’m aware of how much Trumpish misconduct these Christianists already close one eye to. I’m a little doubtful that any sin, no matter how wicked, can drive them away from him.

  77. 77.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Steve in the ATL: I need a new left fender, light assembly, and front bumper. Had to cut a bunch of shit away so I could get back on the road. Don’t know how I managed to not blow the tire.

  78. 78.

    germy

    Just saw Larry Kudlow on CBS This Morning.

    Holy shit. Slurred his words, waving his hands around. Talking about trade and farmers and tariffs.

    Norah O’Donnell ended the segment by telling him “Good to see you. Take care.”

  79. 79.

    R-Jud

    @OzarkHillbilly: As someone living in the UK, I’m braced for that to become my own reality if we crash out of the EU with no deal.

    brb, stockpiling canned goods.

  80. 80.

    MomSense

    @Kay:

    I’ve had to get paper wasps removed from an attic space before. I think they build nests in walls and other little out of the way spaces so I bet electricians would be likely to find them. It is really scary. Does he carry an epi pen?

  82. 82.

    bemused

    @MattF:

    I came into the house after weeding flower bed yesterday and heard a buzzing on my head. I ran back outside vigorously shaking my head until bee got loose from my hair. Luckily it was a big ole bumble bee stuck in my hair. I don’t think a wasp would have been as charitable.

  87. 87.

    MattF

    @germy: Kudlow achieved his heart’s desire, caught that truck after chasing it all his life. He is now discovering the downside of that accomplishment.

  88. 88.

    MomSense

    @Steve in the ATL:

    He’s going to need a resonator and probably some extra guitars that he can keep in open tunings because he may need to play slide. And then there are amps and pedals and acoustics – oh my.

  91. 91.

    Amir Khalid

    @Steve in the ATL:
    Or a big hollowbody Gretsch like Brian Setzer’s for rockabilly, or a double-neck Epi G-1275 just to play StairwayTo Heaven, or that red SG and an Aussie school uniform … I’m pretty sure that The Girl, Sister, and Lady are enough for me. Now they deserve an amp to do them justice.

  92. 92.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Joey Maloney:

    HD failure and partially corrupt backups

    Old data center saying: “good backup is cheap; it’s lousy backup that’s expensive.”

    I’m sure that helps you in your hour of need.

  93. 93.

    germy

    @MattF:

    Kudlow achieved his heart’s desire, caught that truck after chasing it all his life.

    that bumper doesn’t taste as good as it looks.

  95. 95.

    debit

    @Amir Khalid: I am willing to bet that guitars are like bikes. I started with one, then two, then had to have tools. Oh, and a workstand, that would be awesome. More tools. Extra parts, because I might need them. Hmmm, I want to build my own wheels, so truing stand. Next thing I knew, I had 14 bikes. And that doesn’t include my daughter’s.

  96. 96.

    hueyplong

    @rikyrah: Hannity keeps saying Cohen wasn’t his lawyer, so there is no privilege he can invoke.

    Cohen probably have Hannity his marching orders, so Hannity is sweating over whether Cohen recorded some of their more awkward conversations. And Hannity knows Cohen, so he knows Cohen wouldn’t feel shackled by the bonds of middle class morality when deciding what to do under pressure.

    I like to think Hannity is suffering right now. He is the only snake in the bag who is venomless. He is screwed and our best hope is that his end plays out in slow motion.

    These short periods of optimism feel good.

  97. 97.

    debit

    @danielx: Hah!! Someone brought up some bit of Cramer advice the other day and my response was to bray, “DON’T WORRY ABOUT BEAR STEARNS! BEAR STEARNS IS FINE!”

  98. 98.

    Amir Khalid

    @R-Jud:
    I hear that if there were a do-over of the Brexit referendum now, the Remainers would win. Is that true, and does it matter now?

  99. 99.

    Kay

    @MomSense:

    I’m not 100% sure what he carries, but his doctor gave him something, some kit. He doesn’t like to be fussed over. It’s like pulling teeth getting personal information from him. His co-workers are all aware of it too so hopefully they’ll look out for him. He was the only one of mine who had allergies, respiratory problems, he was always wheezing as a little kid and he always had a runny nose. He’s the tallest and biggest of the boys and he always seemed the most physically vulnerable to me, oddly enough.

    I had bees that whole season by the compost and they never attacked until he went out to plant his potatoes. It’s like they know :)

  100. 100.

    father pusbucket

    This presidency fell off the truck.

    This should be added to the rotating taglines.
    (Which, IMO, could use some weeding; some have not aged well.)

  101. 101.

    danielx

    @Amir Khalid:

    I follow Joe Bonamassa on the book of faces. He has a guitar collection to make a guitarist turn lime green with envy, including a semi-legendary Gibson Flying V. Fun fact: Arthur’s Music is still very much alive and well and has been serving generations of guitarists since 1952.

  102. 102.

    Amir Khalid

    @MomSense:
    I did consider getting a Tele just for Keef tuning (open G without a low E string) but I didn’t want The Girl to get jealous.

  103. 103.

    John S.

    @MattF:

    So worthless that they literally changed their official currency from VEF to VES. Which they had only just changed to VEF 10 years prior.

  106. 106.

    Manyakitty

    @Immanentize: Morning! How was the birthday fun? Many sushi? Such beer? Fun with Immp?

    And I just read about the bike wreck. Glad he’s OK! No need to give his dad a birthday heart attack!

  107. 107.

    Steve in the ATL

    @satby: “public knowledge of incest might be the only sin that finally gets the evangelical hypocrites of the train.”

    Do you know how many evangelicals there are in Alabama?

  108. 108.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    I’m not 100% sure what he carries, but his doctor gave him something, some kit.

    Pretty sure it’s an Epi pen.

    All: if you find yourself in such a situation, in a pinch benadryl will do till you get to the hospital. I always keep some in my first aid kits.

  110. 110.

    rikyrah

    Bish, please!!

    07/24/2018, 09:28pm
    Patti Blagojevich plays her Trump card: It’s all Barack Obama’s fault
    By Mitchell Armentrout

    Former Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich stuck to her guns Tuesday in blaming the administration of former President Barack Obama for denying her husband a fair trial in her latest attempt to persuade President Donald Trump to release the disgraced governor from prison.

    “It was the Obama Administration and their Justice Department that made absolutely sure that my husband didn’t get anywhere close to a fair trial,” Patti Blagojevich said in a live interview on the Fox News Channel. “They suppressed evidence. They lied to the jury.”

    She was booked for the spot on Trump’s favorite television channel hours after the conservative Washington Examiner published her op-ed titled “How our American dream turned into an American nightmare.”

    Blaming Obama — one of Trump’s favorite targets — was the theme of the day.

    “Little did we know how truly corrupt the Obama-era Justice Department and FBI really were,” she wrote.

    Rod Blagojevich’s December 2008 arrest actually came under the George W. Bush Justice Department a month before Obama’s presidential inauguration — a misstatement not likely to bother a president who touted his own accomplishments by telling supporters at a Tuesday VFW convention that “what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”

  112. 112.

    Jeffro

    @satby:

    Unfortunately, Allah doesn’t seen to love us enough to have the Tangerine Traitor stroke out no matter how much bad news he gets.

    Looks like Melania is doing her part to make it happen, even if Allah won’t: she was tuned to CNN on Air Force One, which caused Twitler to go into a rage.

    You Go, Girl! (But Only After You Give Him That Stroke. Then, Definitely Just Go)

    On the first couple’s recent trip overseas, Melania Trump’s television aboard Air Force One was tuned to CNN. President Trump was not pleased.

    He raged at his staff for violating a rule that the White House entourage should begin each trip tuned to Fox — his preferred network over what he considers the “fake news” CNN — and caused “a bit of a stir” aboard Air Force One, according to an email obtained by The New York Times. The email, an internal exchange between officials in the White House Military Office and the White House Communications Agency last Thursday, also called for the ordering of two additional televisions to support Beam, a TiVo-like streaming device, to make sure the president and first lady could both watch TV in their separate hotel rooms when they travel.

    At the end of the email chain, officials confirmed that tuning the TVs to Fox would be standard operating procedure going forward.

    The channel-flipping flap was the latest example of how Mr. Trump, at a pivotal moment in his presidency, is increasingly living in a world of selected information and bending the truth to his own narrative. As his aides work to keep him insulated from the outside world, Mr. Trump is doubling down in his efforts to tell supporters to trust him over the words of critics and news reports.

    Hmm…just wondering what would happen if Barack and Michelle slept in separate bedrooms all the time? Or if PBO insisted on watching only ‘his’ news channel? Lemme ponder that for a nanosecond…

  114. 114.

    Amir Khalid

    @Jeffro:
    I’m a little surprised to hear anyone say that Melania is doing God’s work simply by tuning in to CNN, But if it’s true, then bully for her.

  116. 116.

    rikyrah

    All Democrats need the attitude of Ted Lieu, Maxine Waters and Senator Mazie from Hawaii.

    …………………….

    This tape is more evidence that @realDonaldTrump himself was directly involved in a campaign finance law violation. And because the amount exceeded $25,000, it would be punishable as a felony. #TrumpTapes also show Rudy Giuliani lied. But that’s not news. https://t.co/0vvq2tBQax

    — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) July 25, 2018

  117. 117.

    SFAW

    @Jeffro:

    Lemme ponder that for a nanosecond…

    Are you feeling OK? Normally it takes you a lot less time for that type of pondering

  118. 118.

    rikyrah

    Experts who examined the Kremlin campaign—which included stealing Democratic emails, spreading propaganda online and hacking voter rolls—concluded that it did affect an extremely close election decided by fewer than 80,000 votes in three states. Me: https://t.co/S6gkKv0Ksn

    — Max Boot (@MaxBoot) July 25, 2018

  119. 119.

    rikyrah

    White House transcript of Trump/Putin presser has edited out the question asking Vladimir Putin if he wanted Donald Trump to win the election. pic.twitter.com/asI1JUnTG1

    — Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) July 25, 2018

  126. 126.

    Amir Khalid

    @debit:
    I follow the example of Bruce Springsteen, who had one main guitar for 42 years. He recorded almost everything with that used Tele, posed for album covers with it, played it in sweaty three-hour gigs for four decades, until it was almost falling apart and had to be retired. I understand he expects it to be buried with him.

  127. 127.

    rikyrah

    Peanut asked me for show recommendations last night.
    So, I made her promise that she’d watch three shows before making a decision to continue with…
    BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER!!!

    Here’s to hoping :)

  128. 128.

    frosty

    @Steve in the ATL: ‘xactly. Also missing a Martin and a National (or equivalent). Because sometimes the neighbors call the cops when you get wailing with the amp!

  130. 130.

    rikyrah

    If you’re trying to make sense of just what Vladimir Putin has on Donald Trump, do not miss this interview with retired CIA Clandestine Service Officer @john_sipher . https://t.co/KCpBsrgIe5

    — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 24, 2018

  131. 131.

    rikyrah

    A 17-year-old Alabama boy who joined the youth-led gun reform movement after the Parkland massacre is in the ICU after a bullet came through his home and struck him while he slept early Friday. https://t.co/BsocZ1T69L pic.twitter.com/xPDMiLPiSw

    — The Trace (@teamtrace) July 24, 2018

  132. 132.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    You told me of a scandal that DeWine ignored and ballooned up to costing Ohio $70 million. I think that deserves a series of ads.

  133. 133.

    SFAW

    @Amir Khalid:

    I understand he expects it to be buried with him.

    Liar. Bruuuuuuuce will never die.

    I FINALLY got to see him live a couple of years ago (“The River” tour). We had tickets in the nosebleed section of Schaefer Stadium. He played for a little over four hours. The only (mild) disappointment (for me) was that he didn’t actually play “The River,” although he played a lot of requests. Outside of that, it was outstanding.

    [NB: Long-term Massholes will get my little joke, I hope.]

  134. 134.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Bingo!

    From my childhood (so many years back the Statute of Limitations hadn’t even reached its plinth in New York harbor) I recall how one of my Sicilian uncles had waaaay too many electronic gizmos a casa for a butcher in a mom&pop grocery. “Fell off a truck.” Since one of my other uncles drove a long-haul 18-wheeler at the time, I put 2 & 2 together & figured out whose truck they’d fallen off. Ha! Coniglia sciocca! (silly wabbit)…

  136. 136.

    MattF

    @rikyrah: Uh, what? Cillizza is still there?

    Now, there have been lots of takedowns of Cillizza, and perhaps we should have a designated ‘keeper of Cillizza takedowns’– but first, there’s a need for some data collection. I’ll start, this one is pretty much my fave.

  137. 137.

    rikyrah

    Trump tells supporters, ‘What you’re seeing … is not what’s happening’
    07/25/18 08:40 AM
    By Steve Benen

    About a month ago, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) complained that too much of today’s Republican Party has found itself in “a cult-like situation as it relates to a president.” Soon after, Donald Trump Jr. appeared on Fox News and was surprisingly reluctant to reject the criticism.
    “You know what,” the president’s adult son said, “if it’s a cult, it’s because they like what my father is doing.”

    One of the problems with cults, however, is that its leaders tell its followers to ignore external sources of information – because in order for the scheme to work, the leaders must be seen as the sole authority for truth.

    All of this came to mind watching Donald Trump Sr. in Kansas City yesterday, where the president addressed this year’s national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). Officially, this was an official White House event, but practically, it wasn’t long before Trump turned the gathering into another partisan campaign rally, which included this unscripted declaration:

    “Just remember: What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”

  138. 138.

    Amir Khalid

    @SFAW:
    The River is an interesting song. It’s about his sister Virginia’s early married life — she is the girl named Mary in the song, and the narrator is her husband.

  140. 140.

    rikyrah

    New Q-poll:

    Trump’s approval slides to 38-58.

    51% say Trump has “weakened” America’s position in the world.

    By 53-42, voters say Trump wants to do what’s best for himself, not USA.

    Voters trust intel agencies over Trump to tell them the truth, 63-25.https://t.co/O4PFlFUajI

    — Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 24, 2018

  141. 141.

    rikyrah

    Also from new Q-poll:

    75% say Russian sabotage of election is a very (53) or somewhat (22) important issue.

    59% disapprove of Trump’s handling of Putin.

    55% say Mueller probe is “fair.”

    54% say probe of Trump/Russia collusion is “legitimate.”

    Trump is losing every argument.

    — Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 24, 2018

  142. 142.

    rikyrah

    #TheResistance needs to take a bow. The American people are finally coming around to what we have known (and what has been painfully obvious) for a long time: This president is compromised by Russia.

    Tell the @GOP to #ImpeachTrump here – https://t.co/MqMFGyXc5t pic.twitter.com/fNE8K2p225

    — Democratic Coalition (@TheDemCoalition) July 24, 2018

  144. 144.

    eric

    @Amir Khalid: FYI i have a 5 watt Blackstar tube head and it is never fussy. I would look into their combos. they are low wattage with great sound. I drive mine hard with a series of Xotic gain pedals. (EC, RC, BB, and AC) always check out Mike Hermans for the product. He plays every pedal and amp in multiple settings so you get a real sense of what it can do.

  145. 145.

    Tokyokie

    @MomSense: Get the generic epi pen. Not only is it substantially less money, it doesn’t have a short-term expiration date (less then 2 years) and you don’t have to buy it in packages of 2 (although having an extra isn’t a bad idea).

  146. 146.

    Gin & Tonic

    Interesting comment seen on Twitter. If you listen to the Cohen-Trump recordings, they sound like two people who know their conversation is being recorded.

    Related question: how far does one trust Cohen?

  148. 148.

    MomSense

    @Tokyokie:

    Thanks. I just saw that adrenaclick is much cheaper. He helps out neigbor with his bee hives so I think he’s going to need to carry this.

  149. 149.

    Bill Arnold

    @rikyrah:

    CNN’s Chris Cillizza breaks down President Donald Trump’s pattern of distraction techniques when he is under pressure

    This is really good to see on CNN. They need to be be on the lookout for V2, V3 etc of these techniques but just recognizing deliberate distraction is a very good start. (I understand the hate for Chris Cillizza. Doesn’t matter.)

  150. 150.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Gin & Tonic: on the second point, what manyakitty said, on the first, I would say they sound like people who know that there are people around. “Get me a coke, please!” “I’m proud of you, honey” to the woman who has some concerns about Charleston, the voice of a woman who interrupts with…. I forget what. IIRC, trump likes/d his office doors open and people coming in and out to occupy his goldfish-like attention span

  153. 153.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’m aware of how much Trumpish misconduct these Christianists already close one eye to.

    Understand that I have lived up close, surrounded by these people and sometimes treated as one of them, for all my growing up years and half my adult life. I’ve said it before, and it sounds like hyperbolic insults, but it is the testimony of a witness:

    The only thing Trump does that they disapprove of is not keeping his mouth shut. Cheating on your wife, child abuse, sex with teenage girls, child abuse of every kind, these are things Evangelicals consider to be basic rights. In particular, they zealously believe children are the property of the parent and have waged a decades long war – with considerable success – to make this socially and legally acceptable. It’s one of the foundations of their wanting to destroy public education. There is a whole class of things that We Don’t Talk About, like who’s an angry drunk and beats his wife so badly you can see the bruises. We Don’t Talk About That is an overwhelming power in small town American life, and even the people who do disapprove are afraid to defy it. One thing that’s going on today is they are absolutely fucking furious that it’s so hard to keep the federal government from, say, finding out the star of the high school football team rapes whatever girl he feels like, when everyone knows but nobody wants to say that it’s a champion’s right and really it’s the girl’s fault.

    Similarly, if you are a Good Person, which is defined not by morality but by a social status system whose biggest factor is whether you’re part of their in-group, corruption is entirely acceptable. Fucking over the other guy is just smart. The victim probably deserves it, and the Good Person deserves the advantages they get. Their religion’s primary, damn near exclusive focus is the question of who is going to Hell. With that center, you can understand it seethes with hate, reinforces hate, even rewards hate. Racism and misogyny most visibly, but their whole world view is based on everyone but themselves deserving to suffer.

    Once you understand all that, Evangelical politics and how small towns vote makes total sense.

  154. 154.

    hedgehog the occasional commenter

    Sign seen outside of a local Mexican restaurant this morning:

    Margaritas Trump White Russians

    Gave me a smile, it did.

  155. 155.

    eric

    @Frankensteinbeck: I would addend the following: they believe that if they are successful, then they have been sanctified by good. Prosperity, or even success on the football field, means god’s favor. Criticizing the successful is criticizing god. (this is not quite the same thing as the prosperity gospel. Think King David as the archetype evangelical hero.)

  156. 156.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @eric:
    I have never seen the prosperity gospel in action. I believe it holds up in some congregations, but what I’ve experienced has always been that the logic you describe only holds true for the in-group. If someone they approve of (again, mostly defined by in-group) succeeds, yes it’s God blessing them with what they deserve. If someone they don’t approve of succeeds, that person must have cheated.

  157. 157.

    Another lurker

    @Steve in the ATL: Amir could start on an acoustic collection….. I’m in love with my Washburn WSJ124E. A big bodied, Southern Jumbo with a wonderful voice. She has a shallow “V” shaped neck that I find to be very comfortable to play.
    just sayin’.

  161. 161.

    Tokyokie

    @Frankensteinbeck: I agree with what you say, but I go a bit further. The theological starting point for all these assholes is the absolute certainty of their own salvation. It’s not so much pre-determination as it is simply “me good, others bad.” Any pastor whose sermons reinforce that dichotomy is speaking the True Word of the Lord, and those who suggest otherwise are heretical blasphemers. (In other words, Roman Catholics.) So subjecting others to unspeakable horrors, whether it’s kidnapping Latino children, interning niseis and sanseis in concentration camps, or lynching blacks all become part of Jesus’ plan, because, after all, because they’re good people, they are incapable of committing acts of evil.

    Having the certainty of one’s goodness makes one capable of all sorts of horrible behavior, whether it’s rationalizing der Trumpenführer’s perfidy or herding Jews into the shower room. But as I am fond of saying, someone who believes that everything right and true and just in the universe, by happy coincidence, reinforces his or her social, political, or economic position, believes in nothing at all.

  162. 162.

    hedgehog the occasional commenter

    @Mnemosyne: That’s the one! We’ve gone there for happy hours. Great margs and good tapas. And now yet another reason to visit them :)

  163. 163.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’m a little surprised to hear anyone say that Melania is doing God’s work simply by tuning in to CNN, But if it’s true, then bully for her.

    I would have thought her favourite channel was CBBest.

  164. 164.

    Doug R

    @Joey Maloney:

    Nothing I like better than starting the day with a HD failure and partially corrupt backups.

    Grumble.

    Since the latest iTunz update, itunz won’t recognize my wife’s 5th gen ipod.
    Computer sees it fine.
    Fuck Apple.

  166. 166.

    Mnemosyne

    @hedgehog the occasional commenter:

    I only spotted that AFTER I had dinner at Osteria Marco, or I would have patronized them just on the basis of that sign.

    I had a great time in Denver — I’m adding it to our vacation list for when G is done with school and we can actually take vacations for fun again.

  167. 167.

    sukabi

    @OzarkHillbilly: those will be played, by Ivanka, when it’s clear to her that Drumpf will happily sell her out to save his own sorry ads and she’s looking to cut a deal that will keep her out of jail.

  171. 171.

    brantl

    saying that a bargain ‘fell off a truck’ still implied that it might be a cheap counterfeit, passed off on someone too eager for a good deal to examine closely

    Yeah, no: fell off a trunk means it’s stolen. Period.

  172. 172.

    Bostonian

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Yeah. It’s not about shoddy. That’s a misinterpretation. “Fell off a truck” means it was stolen. Truck jacking was a big thing a few decades ago. I don’t know if they still do that as much.

    “Between 1978 and 1982, 586 trucks were reported hijacked in the city, though perhaps a third of the incidents were feigned by dishonest drivers. ”

    https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/16/nyregion/truck-hijacking-a-highly-organized-and-specialized-crime-in-new-york.html

    All that merch ended up somewhere.

  173. 173.

    J R in WV

    So this morning I got an early phone call – It was a pollster call just before I usually get up. We worked nights in the early days of the marriage, so now that we’re retired we do stay up a little late. The polling call wound up about 10 am EDT.

    It was mostly about the Senate race here in WV, but included questions about who do I trust more, President or Intelligence Services? How do I feel about [murdering shitheel] Don Blankenship? If I knew Joe Manchin was a wildly liberal who wants open borders and free medical care for illegals, who would I vote for?

    If I know Patrick Morrisey [current WV AG, lawyer, former schill for opioid manufacturers] allowed lawsuits against opoiod manufacturers to settle for pennies on the dollar, would I still vote for him?

    I confessed to being a strong Democrat, to always voting, that I intended to vote for Unca Joe, even after being told the outrageous lie that he’s a wild liberal who wants open borders. She was calling from central Florida, Melborne, and has been working at the call center for 5 years now. She said it was a pretty good job, she’s learned a lot from it.

    She learned that there are people in WV who believe Don Blankenship is a murderer this morning, and that believe that Donald Trump wouldn’t know the facts if they smacked him in the face. It wasn’t a push poll, they ran the current commercials about each candidate past me, asked if that changed my opinion, pretty professional.

    I enjoy polling, we get a couple call like that every election, comes with the land line I guess.

  176. 176.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @satby: Yeah, no. Not even incest would get these people off the Trump train. They are super-glued to their seats.

  177. 177.

    L85NJGT

    @Bostonian:

    Unloading the merchandise is secondary, the primary crime has always been insurance fraud. Modern shipping practices (fewer hands on the load, containers, GPS) and digital audit trails make it a much more difficult number to run.

  179. 179.

    laura

    @Amir Khalid: I have a deep and abiding love of Gretch guitars: Biily Zoom of X, and Carol Kings late guitarist Rudy Valentine and JD Andrews of the Boxmasters play them. What a sound.
    Can’t wait to hear about Bandcamp Indonesia!

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