Perhaps Trump thought he would silence John Brennan, former head of the CIA, by revoking his clearance. Perhaps he just wanted to lash out and hurt him for this tweet.
It’s astounding how often you fail to live up to minimum standards of decency, civility, & probity. Seems like you will never understand what it means to be president, nor what it takes to be a good, decent, & honest person. So disheartening, so dangerous for our Nation. https://t.co/eI9HaCec1m
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) August 14, 2018
Or maybe it was this one.
You’re absolutely right. If you were “presidential,” you would focus on healing the rifts within our Nation, being truthful about the challenges we face, & showing the world that America is still that shining beacon of freedom, liberty, prosperity, & goodness that welcomes all. https://t.co/zRHRYAFEAo
— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) August 13, 2018
But whatever the provocation was, Brennan has struck back in a New York Times op-ed.
As a retired CIA employeed, Brennan would have had to submit the text for declassification. The CIA seems to have turned it around in record time.
A few notes from the op-ed. But read the whole thing. It’s short.
Before, during and after its now infamous meddling in our last presidential election, Russia practiced the art of shaping political events abroad through its well-honed active measures program, which employs an array of technical capabilities, information operations and old-fashioned human intelligence spycraft.
What Brennan couldn’t say is that the intelligence about these operations came from multiple countries’ spy agencies, including a number of European agencies that know the Russians very well.
Having worked closely with the F.B.I. over many years on counterintelligence investigations, I was well aware of Russia’s ability to work surreptitiously within the United States, cultivating relationships with individuals who wield actual or potential power. Like Mr. Bortnikov, these Russian operatives and agents are well trained in the art of deception. They troll political, business and cultural waters in search of gullible or unprincipled individuals who become pliant in the hands of their Russian puppet masters. Too often, those puppets are found.
I can’t help but think that this refers to Maria Butina’s infiltration of the NRA, under Alexander Torshin’s guidance. And there may be more. This tweet isn’t proof of anything beyond Torshin’s interest in a wide range of American institutions. Again, Brennan probably needed to leave out specifics.
Spox from Nashville-based private prison company CoreCivic tells me no executives met with Alexander Torshin, though it's possible Torshin took an "informational tour": pic.twitter.com/V7jJjnHHN1
— Casey Michel ?? (@cjcmichel) August 15, 2018
Back to the op-ed:
Director Comey and I, along with the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael Rogers, pledged that our agencies would share, as appropriate, whatever information was collected, especially considering the proven ability of Russian intelligence services to suborn United States citizens.
Having worked in a national security organization, I can’t emphasize enough how strongly the people in those organizations feel they are doing their best to protect the country. There has been a lot of criticism over the years of the less creditable motivations that some of them may carry. I recall the first time (during the Reagan administration) a DOE official told me that I was “just a contractor” and therefore less worthy of trust. That stung all the way down to the core of my being. I was working for the security of the United States. Whatever Comey’s and the others’ faults and limitations, I can absolutely see them coming together on this.
Brennan can read the papers as well as any of us can, and probably better, with the information he has and cannot divulge. That information doesn’t go away with the security clearance. He speculates here about the possible charges.
The only questions that remain are whether the collusion that took place constituted criminally liable conspiracy, whether obstruction of justice occurred to cover up any collusion or conspiracy, and how many members of “Trump Incorporated” attempted to defraud the government by laundering and concealing the movement of money into their pockets. A jury is about to deliberate bank and tax fraud charges against one of those people, Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman. And the campaign’s former deputy chairman, Rick Gates, has pleaded guilty to financial fraud and lying to investigators.
As they say, read the whole thing.
Cheryl Rofer
And the morning tweet tantrum has started. Nothing on Brennan yet. I’m gonna go get some breakfast, will be back in a bit.
Elizabelle
John Brennan is a patriot.
Traitor Trump, Treason McConnell and those wimps Paul Ryan and Rand Paul and their whole ridiculous conservative caucus are not.
Ryan
Didn’t anyone tell Trump that this isn’t punishing Brennan, it’s punishing the intelligence community? Oh, that’s right, you can’t tell Trump anything, he has, like, a good brain. And the best words.
Kay
Must not criticize Dear Leader.
Oh, well. Look at the bright side. The low quality Trump hires won’t have time to do things like kidnap refugee children. They’re too busy punishing dissenters.
Just as an aside, Sanders-Huckabee lied more yesterday than Omarosa has been proven to have lied to date. Omarosa is as or more credible than any other member of the Trump Administration.
They’re all lowlifes. Bottom of the barrel.
EZSmirkzz
Maybe BJ will need a new tag #aftertheonehorseshay
…and thanks for all the fish.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Who plays John Brennan in the movie?
I’m seeing Jonathan Banks (ie from Better Call Saul)
O. Felix Culpa
This is both punitive action against Brennan and a warning shot to others who might dare to criticize Dear Leader. The slide towards autocracy continues…and we must continue to fight against it.
guachi
As a member of the IC community I find Trump’s actions appalling. They are obviously petty and vindictive. The current leaders of the IC community must speak out against this and resign in protest if necessary. They won’t, of course.
Elizabelle
@Kay: The Trump administration.
Making female reality show villains and porn queens look refreshingly honest, in comparison. Only the best for you, USA USA USA.
Elizabelle
@O. Felix Culpa: I would guess this is going to inspire the IC to go after Trump with both barrels, don’t you think?
Wondering if they’re saving their ammo for after the midterms, when there might be enough Democrats in Congress to actually threaten our Russian Asset in Chief.
FlipYrWhig
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I think Banks is Clapper. For Brennan, John Lithgow?
raven
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Mike is my doppleganger!
germy
Ivanka really did NOT like the SNL “complicit” parody.
germy
“The enemy of my enemy is Omarosa.”
Luthe
@Elizabelle: Some ammo for before, some for after. There will probably be carefully targeted leaks and suspiciously well-timed FOIA responses just prior to the midterms and a shitload of info handed over to the (hopefully) new Dem Congress in January.
pluky
@Kay: Say what one will about Omarosa, girlfriend ‘s got receipts!
MattF
@guachi: Petty, vindictive… and counter-productive in that it draws attention to Trump’s own perilous position. In case anyone hadn’t noticed, Trump is concerned with saving his own skin. Period.
gene108
Trump and Co. are making an enemies list in broad daylight and many are treating this like it is perfectly normal.
Kay
@pluky:
She’s objectively more credible then either Donald Trump or Huckabee-Sanders, if we’re measuring number of proven lies told.
What else would we measure? She wins easily.
Gin & Tonic
Man, if only our government were structured in such a way that there was a co-equal branch to the Executive that could do something about this.
Kay
@gene108:
In this country! Where we spent 2 years handwringing over the threat to free speech posed by the Oberlin student council.
Now the President is attempting to silence his critics and for some reason the free speech defense force has disbanded.
schrodingers_cat
Where is that paragon of virtue, honorable General Kelly on all this? I remember the negative press Rahm Emmanuel generated when he was the CoS and he did nothing as egregious as come up with a policy of separating infants from their mothers.
Kay
@Gin & Tonic:
I could not IMAGINE them doing their jobs at this point. I don’t think anyone expects them to do anything. It’s never even mentioned as a possibility. That’s a norm change right there- there’s not even a demand for oversight because people know it’s a joke.
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
He’s busy frisking Trump Administration members and seizing their recording devices. Omarosa isn’t the only one of the lowlifes who recorded the sleaze. There are others.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@gene108:
Paradoxically, If Trump were a more normal politician, I think more people would be concerned and take this seriously. But since he’s a clown, most just go, “Oh that Trump and his wacky shenanigans”.
schrodingers_cat
Thread about the group/s behind the draconian anti-immigrant policies of Herr Orange.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: That our so called “free press” gives him a free pass tells me a lot about them. That at heart they are as fucking racist as the T base they love to mock in their elebenty stories covering the T country.
Barbara
@germy: The problem for Ivanka is that it wasn’t a joke, rather, it deftly captured reality by cloaking it in a parody of a perfume commercial. She can no longer hide who she is and she hates them for it.
Gin & Tonic
AP is reporting that Aretha has died. RIP.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I hope this inspires the writers to new levels of viciousness
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: She was awesome. What a voice. RIP.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
I’ll keep saying it, the “Deep State” is fine with Trump. Everyone is telling us that he’s an existential threat to our country and the world. Not one of them has done ANYTHING to stop him. He has the tools to thwart the laws and escape the Mueller investigation, the only way to bring him down before 2020 is to have the “Deep State” release it all. They won’t do it, so they’re OK with things as they are.
guachi
News tells me Aretha Franklin is dead. :(
eric
@schrodingers_cat: with duane allman
Barbara
@Gin & Tonic: So sad.
The Moar You Know
I work for/as a contractor, and we take our security…well, to say we take it seriously is an understatement. Both because we’re required to and because we truly give a shit. Every last one.
If someone said to me what that DOE guy said to you I would pray I could maintain my professionalism enough to not pop the guy one in the face. I’m sure I would, but goddamn.
Haroldo
@Gin & Tonic: A sad, sad thing, indeed. Her voice was a beacon for me.
Platonailedit
@Kay:
Omarosa could have grifted off the 15K a month payoff from the traitorous thug to keep silent but she didn’t. She has more honesty and guts than any of the fired ‘high quality’ hires and the entire gopee.
raven
Aretha died.
The Moar You Know
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Totally on point. I think this is a real and ongoing problem, one that Trump exploits to the fullest.
Elizabelle
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: You can keep saying it. You can stick your head in an oven too, or tell us to do so, if you like. Your “saying it” doesn’t make it truth, the complete truth.
What is so wrong about having a little hope that the ship of state will be righted?
I think you’re a pill.
Frankensteinbeck
What did Trump think revoking Brennan’s security clearance will do? Brennan couldn’t tell secrets publicly already. And he can’t be fired for it, because he’s already retired. I am continually thankful that Trump is as incompetent as he is utterly evil.
@Kay:
An unbelievably low bar, but as @pluky said, girl’s got receipts.
@Kay:
I don’t think this is true. That congress should, and won’t, put a stop to Trump is a regular topic in criticisms of Trump both in everyday conversation and on the news. Who bothers to mention that it’s Republicans who specifically refuse to do it is a more complex issue, but even then there’s much less both-siderism than usual.
SiubhanDuinne
Aretha has died. R.I.P. What a loss.
Perhaps a front-pager could put up a dedicated thread?
raven
Never better than Natural Woman
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: Thank you. I’ll check that out.
evodevo
@Barbara: Yes. It hit too close to home, and that’s why she hates it
The Moar You Know
Aretha lived for almost six years with pancreatic cancer, and performed up until a few months ago. I find that incredible. It’s a brutal and painful disease. She did a great job with life. Rest easy, Queen of Soul. You earned it.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@Elizabelle: What I’m saying is that no one has dealt with the so-called threat to our very existence. There are people that have the means to do great damage to Mr. Trump. So far that is the complete truth. And no I don’t have much hope at all.
Barbara
@eric: Wow. I had no idea. Apparently, Duane Allman really hated having his namesake band tagged as “Southern Rock” because, as he said, he loved all kinds of music. He had been a studio musician in Memphis. I think of the mid-70s, after he died, as when when rock music really seemed to double down in resegregating popular culture and helping to normalize Confederate symbolism. At least that’s what happened where I lived.
raven
The Weight with Duane
The Moar You Know
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: There is no “Deep State”, and the intelligence folks are bound by laws just like the rest of us. So no, they can’t “release it all”, and even if they did, explain to me the legal mechanism that gets Trump out of office.
I’ll wait.
ETA: I’ll also add that asking a group of dedicated professionals to violate the laws in ways that could and should earn them decades in prison because a couple of million voters couldn’t be bothered to get off their asses and vote, or voted for a third party idiot when an existential threat to the nation was staring at them out of their TV screens is a little unreasonable, don’t you think?
Elizabelle
I always remember poor Ray Charles, kicking the same week in 2004 as Ronald Reagan. (June 10 and June 5, respectively.)
I remember all the local DC TV spots, featuring clips of Ray Charles WITH Ronald Reagan. Twofer. Too much!
I hope nothing remotely like that happens to Queen Aretha.
The Midnight Lurker
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, I just heard on BBC. Think, Chain of Fools, and Respect will be blaring from my speakers for the rest of the month. And if anyone is interested, her rendition of “America the Beautiful” at WrestleMania III (ugh!) will bring tears to your eyes.
Jeffro
I stand by my comments in my earlier post about Brennan’s op-ed…’cause I see via Twitler’s tweet storm AND INCREASING USE OF ALL CAPS that he is, indeed, losing his shit this morning.
LOLOL stroke out, you asshole
raven
@Barbara: Watch Muscle Shoals
Ruckus
@Ryan:
Somehow his words ring shallow. Can’t put my finger on it, maybe it’s me. No, I think I understand what the words actually mean, so that isn’t it. What could it be? Oh now I know, it’s opposite city with the shitgibbon. He says the exact opposite of what he knows to be true, because he’s so, is it wonderful, smart, intelligent, truthful…. No that’s not it, I’ve got it now he’s a major bullshitter, not the best bullshitter of course but still, a bullshitter. If he was good at even that it wouldn’t be so easy to see that he’s always bullshitting, that up is down, down is up, as in his head is up his ass. He’s so bad that he’s obviously bad, obviously an idiot, obviously only a reactionary. He doesn’t think he only reacts. And he has a limited amount of rusty, dull shitty tools to do that with.
raven
@The Midnight Lurker: Lookin out, on the mornin rain. . .
Elizabelle
I’ve got MSNBC online on; never do during the day.
They’ve got Aretha singing at Obama’s inauguration.
In good voice and that great hat.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@The Moar You Know:
Lol, I don’t see how you can say that with a straight face. The three letter guys have been breaking laws for forever. But, you know I think the SIGINT with Trump and his minions yapping with the Russians would probably help a LOT if it were to come out between now and November.
different-church-lady
We’ve found our Joseph Welch. Sadly there will be no modern-age Murrow arriving, as that breed is extinct.
The Midnight Lurker
@raven: That makes me want to sing, Ahh-oop in the background. Damn, another National Treasure lost.
Chyron HR
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
Which he hasn’t done yet, so I think everybody is hoping we can resolve this within the rule of law instead of heading straight into uncharted waters and just hoping that it works out for the best.
Not true, the US military and/or NATO peacekeeping forces could depose him and install a new president. This would also be a terrible idea and should only be considered as a last resort.
Leto
What are the chances that Trumpov could pull Mueller’s clearance in another attempt to thwart the investigation?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
It’s like Bowie to me. A big light has gone out in the world
Shell
Trump quick!y looking up the word, probity. “Ooh, sounds dirty.”
gene108
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
I disagree. Trump got a lot of people really pissed off. Not enough to stop what his Administrations is doing, but enough to flip Republican held seats at all levels and make each seat, at the least, contested.
I think the media espoused the attitude you describe in the Presidential primaries and general election.
tobie
@The Moar You Know: I didn’t know Aretha Franklin had pancreatic cancer. I’ve seen the ravages of that disease up close with two friends who fought it as long and as valiantly as they could. That Aretha performed while suffering from pancreatic cancer is beyond me. That is mind over matter, spirit over body, soul over flesh. May the Queen of Soul soar wherever she is now. RIP, Aretha.
Steeplejack
Nice long block on Aretha on MSNBC—most of the last half hour.
kindness
I think the inside crowd, especially wrt the defense & intel communities knew the dirt on Trump. I think they all had read the reports of Trump’s laundering money for the Russian mob (oligarchs if you are being polite). I have to think they all thought it was superficial and that they could mitigate any serious damage to our system when Trump took office. I hope they realize how wrong they were but I don’t see that from my humble perch.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@Chyron HR:
I like how we went from Deep State release recordings of Trump coordinating with Russia to giant Military coup.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@The Moar You Know: yeah, the “Deep State” hasn’t created the indifference of the great Lumpenmittel to the Russian interference. I think even the Republicans can’t quite believe their luck
Elizabelle
@Steeplejack: I love all the wigs and enthusiasm on Aretha in recent years. Sui generis.
Aretha had a good long life, and used it well. Thinking on the morning we learned we’d lost Prince. That hurt so badly, because it seemed it wasn’t his time, and he hadn’t lived his full life.
And David Bowie too. Because most of us had not known he was terminally ill. Terrible shock.
Elizabelle
@gene108: Agree. And “the media” is the last to pick up on the incredible turnout in elections this year. They’re always telling us we’re doomed.
Fuck the mainstream media. They gave us Trump. They failed and paved the way for him, and the FTF NY Times and CNN and even MSNBC will never ever be honest about that.
They gave the monster air. They were too fucking lazy to actually report. They’re just show ponies with exorbitant salaries and more professional grooming.
Steeplejack
@Frankensteinbeck:
“He can’t go on TV now, right? Or Twitter?”
Quinerly
@Leto: I think that’s where this is heading. Brennan was Trump’s attempt at a warning shot.
The Midnight Lurker
Where can I join the ‘Deep State’? Is there like a secret club meeting somewhere? Do you have to know the secret knock to enter? Oh shit… please don’t tell me you need references to get in. I’ll never make it!
Quinerly
@Elizabelle: loved that hat!
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@gene108:
Perhaps I shouldn’t have used “most” and instead used “a lot” or “many”. He’s certainly energized a lot of people against him and that’s showing so far in elections and polling. I think that’s what a lot of non-political think though and that’s definitely the attitude the MSM espoused.
Mike in NC
Will Trump denounce Aretha Franklin for her low IQ or lack of energy? Maybe both? The day is still young.
Leto
@The Midnight Lurker: The first rule of “Deep State” is you can’t talk about “Deep State”. Also if you like the Devil’s Semen (aka Miracle Whip), you can’t be part of the club. Otherwise, we’ll see you next Tuesday at 1900. Don’t forget to bring a snack.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Elizabelle:
They apply different standards to Democrats partly because deep down they know we’re supposed to be the Party that’s serious about governing. Also they have to have that horse race coverage. That’s a real problem in modern journalism. I remember learning about that in AP Gov so it’s not a flaw that only “partisans” notice
different-church-lady
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Naw, I think a lot of them do it just for kicks.
Elizabelle
@Quinerly: She was stylish! To the last. I love her unapologetic furs and finery.
different-church-lady
@Leto: When a nation says says stop, or goes limp, the fight is over.
schrodingers_cat
@different-church-lady: They are Rs or R-sympathetic, or their bosses and are and the scribes do it for career reasons. Whatever the reason, they act like R party sympathizers, well most of them. There are a few actual reporters, exceptions to the rule.
Frankensteinbeck
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Also they’re Republicans, as is evident because they agree with almost all Republican positions. I am comforted by the fact that for a year and a half, even in races where the Republican Party threw everything, including the kitchen sink, in to save their seat, we have consistently kicked ass to an extent unprecedented in modern times. That, and Silver said that polling history suggests polling can be wrong, but when it is it’s always in the opposite direction of Coventional Wisdom.
feebog
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
This. If the press were interested in really informing the public they would have been all over the Trump/Russian connection before the election. There was enough information out there to write a thousand stories. But all we heard 24/7 were “but her emails”.
Quinerly
@Elizabelle: ??
zhena gogolia
@germy:
So true.
J R in WV
So I saw a headline on Google News, wouldn’t click on it because it was a Faux News link, with a quote from a General Anthony Tata saying “Communist John Brennan” should never have had a security clearance. So an actual US Army General is not aware that communists haven’t run the Soviet Union since, what. 1987 or so. Something like 30 years now, no communists in Russia.
And dumb enough to have committed adultery while in the Army, and provided a forged court document in a court proceeding involving his former wife and mother of his daughter. Fired by the school board as manager of the Wake school system after a two year stint working there. A fine general officer, there, working for Faux libeling a man who spent a career as a spook.
Good Job Tata. Goody Job Faux News. Morons.
SFAW
Because I’m a cynical SOB, I’m half-expecting Shitgibbon or one of his lackeys to announce that Brennan is being investigated for treason, and they expect to indict him within XX weeks.
Which, given the Rethug/Shitgibbon overarching ability for projection, would be kind of a “tell.”
ETA: And, as if by magic, J R in WV tells us that “General” Tata is already doing some prep work. Or, in Shitgibbon’s case vis-a-vis projection, some perp work.
Another Scott
@Frankensteinbeck: Speaking of which, Wyoming Senate may be closer than people think:
Gary Trauner, the Democrat, IIRC, is an at least former reader of this blog. Donate to his campaign if you can. Our candidates can’t win without resources…
Cheers,
Scott.
MattF
@J R in WV: That’s quite a resume.
Brachiator
@J R in WV:
This is doubly insane since idiots who talk like this are saying that any Trump opponent who can be associated with Russia is an enemy, but Trump and his ilk who openly consort with Putin and the very same Russians are angels.
What is sick and evil is that Trump supporters clearly have placed loyalty to Trump above loyalty to the United States. And Fox News and other right wing media are the real enemy of the people. I wonder if this bunch will simply pretend that none of this ever happened if Trump loses the election in 2020 (or better yet, somehow decides not to run). Or will they look for another traitor to support?
trollhattan
@germy:
I’ll bet. And having a genuine star, vastly more talented and beautiful, skewer her must have really burned.
Waynski
@FlipYrWhig: John Lithgow for Brennan? Maybe. I’d go with Ed Harris or James Spader.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott:
Former reader of this blog? Fuckem! //
The Moar You Know
@Brachiator: Refer to UNPERSON George W. Bush, who may or may not have been President of the United States at some point, if he existed at all.
Elizabelle
@The Moar You Know: George W. Bush? The painter?
jc
Here’s what Brennan said to Lawrence O’Donnell two days ago – “What [Trump] is doing here in the U.S. is very polarizing, and he’s I think the most divisive president we’ve ever had in the Oval Office.”
“[Trump] is feeding and fueling hatred and animosity and misunderstandings among Americans. […] He continues to play to his base of support and feeds them basically with raw meat a lot of this language that tends to get them riled up.”
tobie
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve got no hard feelings. It sounds like he’s moved on to bigger things. I won’t say better, because what could be more important than being a member of the BJ commentariat?
NotMax
@Waynski
Peter Fonda.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@The Midnight Lurker: And while we’re at it, how does one sign up for the Soros-sponsored protest jobs? I’d love to be able to collect a check for hanging out with like-minded folks while protesting the moron in chief.
different-church-lady
@Brachiator:
I’m telling you: 2024 Republican Presidential Nominee David Duke
NotMax
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
There’s a speed dial button on your Obamaphone.
:)
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@NotMax:
Brilliant!
The Moar You Know
@different-church-lady: He’d be an idiot not to run, it’s obvious the GOP base will be very receptive to his message.
NotMax
@different-church-lady
Duke will be 74 by then.
Alex Jones? He’d only be 50.
;)
The Moar You Know
@Elizabelle: Some people have this ridiculous belief he was president once. I don’t believe them, myself. He’s a painter, as you note.
different-church-lady
@NotMax: Right: so Duke/Jones 2024.
eric
allow me to leave the latest Fox & Friends inanity here…
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax:
Life will be wonderful once those nasty Boomers are gone, eh?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Oh to answer your question from the overnight thread, Meteors!
Omnes Omnibus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: @NotMax: Alex Jones is younger than me? Jebus.
rikyrah
@raven:
Absolutely watch it ??
schrodingers_cat
@different-church-lady: Kris Kobach or Tom Cotton
The Moar You Know
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I have long maintained that my generation (X) will leave a legacy so horrendous compared to that of the Boomers that they all ought to thank us in advance for washing their many sins from the mind of the public.
I’m being proven right every day. Xers are just awful. Awful voters, awful parents, awful people.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I just turned on MSNBC to see the Secretary of State of these United States reading a prayer from what I suppose was his bible whilst the only President we’ve got pretended to pray. Caught Pompeo asking for mercy or guidance of whatever the fuck from, I think I got this right, “the master of men”.
20 fuckin’ 18.
Jeffro
@schrodingers_cat: I think cotton is a likely candidate but he is almost Cruz-level unlikable. ernst scares me as a potential 2020 or 2024 candidate … you notice she has been laying super low these past two years
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jeffro: She’s probably out castrating pigs.
Waynski
@NotMax: I can see Peter Fonda as Brennan. Lithgow just seems like a stretch to me. He’s brilliant, but I just can’t picture him in that role. Although, he is an amazing character actor, so he could easily surprise.
sukabi
@feebog: they didn’t even have to go Russian connections. They could have enumerated his business failings and laid waste to his “great businessman” brand with minor coverage on his many failed business scams and his habitual cheating of partners / contractors ECT.
TenguPhule
@Ryan:
What makes you think Trump doesn’t want to punish the intelligence community aka ‘Deep State’?
reid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I thought that was disturbing, too.
TenguPhule
@Frankensteinbeck:
Generate lots of news coverage which will fade into the background by next week as the media chases after the next shiny new object he throws at them.
It hasn’t even been a month yet and the “locking children in cages” crime against humanity has slid off the front page into obscurity.
Jay
@TenguPhule:
“We’ve talked before about why the retired leaders of the assorted security apparatus keep their clearances, so you already know why this is a stupid move. Current CIA Director Mike Pompeo cannot talk to Brennan now for advice, it would be a security breach. So whatever intelligence and experience Brennan has just became inaccessible to the CIA and the rest of the various agencies.
It really is a win for Putin for the US to lose that kind of institutional knowledge.”
https://mockpaperscissors.com
Jeffro
@?BillinGlendaleCA: it will play extremely well with Trumpistas (probably already does/is)
Uncle Cosmo
@different-church-lady: Duke/Hellmann 2020. Don’t get no whiter than that.
Procopius
Yes. Well, many people believe they are doing their best to protect the country. The Koch Brothers believe they are doing their best to protect the country. Stephen Miller believes he is doing his best to protect the country. The bankers who kicked ten million people out of their homes believed that was necessary to protect the country. Richard B. Spencer, white supremacist, believes he is doing his best to protect the country. The Exxon executives who suppressed the research revealing climate change believed they were doing their best to protect the country. I could go on and on. Nobody believes that what they are doing is harming the country.
Quite a few people believe that we need a dictator to protect the country. Quite a few people sincerely believe we must destroy one group or another to protect the country. Just because they believe it and work hard to achieve it does not mean they actually are protecting the country rather than harming it.