Probably not, but this article in The Times suggests he was thinking along similar lines last year:
WASHINGTON — The deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, suggested last year that he secretly record President Trump in the White House to expose the chaos consuming the administration, and he discussed recruiting cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office for being unfit.
Mr. Rosenstein made these suggestions in the spring of 2017 when Mr. Trump’s firing of James B. Comey as F.B.I. director plunged the White House into turmoil. Over the ensuing days, the president divulged classified intelligence to Russians in the Oval Office, and revelations emerged that Mr. Trump had asked Mr. Comey to pledge loyalty and end an investigation into a senior aide.
Mr. Rosenstein was just two weeks into his job. He had begun overseeing the Russia investigation and played a key role in the president’s dismissal of Mr. Comey by writing a memo critical of his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. But Mr. Rosenstein was caught off guard when Mr. Trump cited the memo in the firing, and he began telling people that he feared he had been used.
Concern about Trump’s chaotic style — check.
Musings about the 25th Amendment — check.
I find the “feared he had been used” thing hard to believe. How could he expect anything else from Trump? Also, this:
The president’s reliance on his memo caught Mr. Rosenstein by surprise, and he became angry at Mr. Trump, according to people who spoke to Mr. Rosenstein at the time. He grew concerned that his reputation had suffered harm and wondered whether Mr. Trump had motives beyond Mr. Comey’s treatment of Mrs. Clinton for ousting him, the people said.
Rosenstein can’t possibly be that naive. Recall that his memo excoriated Comey for sandbagging Clinton, even though that aspect is often overlooked in accounts of Comey’s firing. Rosenstein cannot possibly believe that the “lock her up” guy gave a flying shit about Clinton being treated unfairly.
Rosenstein issued a statement calling the story “inaccurate” and “factually incorrect.” Anyhoo, interesting, and it’ll probably drive Spanky even battier.
ETA: Someone on Twitter:
this rosenstein story is a) fucking stupid b) clearly planted by someone in the admin, either to give a pretext to fire him or because of brett kavanaugh, idk. it's from may 2017! why now? c) boring. change the channel marge
— libby watson (@libbycwatson) September 21, 2018
Maybe she’s right.
ETA 2: The fix is definitely in:
Shocked!!! Absolutely Shocked!!! Ohhh, who are we kidding at this point? No one is shocked that these guys would do anything in their power to undermine @realdonaldtrump.
Rosenstein Suggested He Secretly Record Trump and Discussed 25th Amendment https://t.co/ZTEwS8E1iJ
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 21, 2018
Dim Son dutifully chiming in after the story drops definitely confirms it’s a load of horse shit.
Quaker in a Basement
“It will drive Spanky even battier.”
And how! Put me down for $5 that Rosenstein will be fired before the end of next week.
Mike in DC
This looks pretextual AF.
Corner Stone
That’s not any level of naivete. That’s pure self-righteous, holier-than-thou ass-covering right there.
LAO
I have had the longest of weeks — food poisoning, Yom Kippur and a major sentencing hearing yesterday. I CAN’T TAKE A FRIDAY NEWS DUMP!
trollhattan
Not buying it. All those toadying remarks about all the Really Great Stuff the administration accomplished wouldn’t have come from him, based on what i’ve heard from him in public remarks..
eemom
fwiw, some members of the Yale Law School faculty are not monsters.
For the strong of stomach, the linked page also has an article by Mr. and Mrs. Tiger Shit about……wait for it……”tribalism”.
LAO
@Quaker in a Basement: End of the day. Fired by the end of the day.
Major Major Major Major
Completely agree with the appended tweet.
Cheryl Rofer
Yeah. My first thought was that this is a leak from the Trumpies to justify firing Rosenstein.
Betty Cracker
@Mike in DC: Just updated the post to include a tweet from someone who speculates the story is a plant. It might be. The idea that Rosenstein was surprised Trump “used” him and aghast that Trump had motives for firing Comey beyond his (Comey’s) mishandling of the Clinton email investigation just isn’t plausible, IMO. I don’t know what to think of Rosenstein, but he doesn’t strike me as stupid.
LAO
@Cheryl Rofer: What am I missing — if true, why does Rosenstein want out? Makes me think that something big is coming from Mueller. I can’t take today.
TenguPhule
@Mike in DC:
I assume we’ll discover that Rosenstein’s doppleganger did it.
schrodingers_cat
@eemom: Tiger pimps are despicable people. If I don’t see them or hear about them ever again it will be too soon.
TenguPhule
@LAO:
I see what you did there.
James E Powell
What’s the consensus speculation in the B-J horde on the Anonymous Op-Ed?
Does everyone in the WH know who it is but they aren’t going to tell? Is it possible Trump knows who it is but he won’t say so because the person is so highly situated that it will confer immediate credibility?
Cheryl Rofer
TenguPhule
@James E Powell:
Murder on the Orient Express.
jacy
I vote somebody is trying desperately to push Kavanaugh off the front pages and the newstalk panels. Who? Could be anybody, they’re all nuttier than fruitcakes. More importantly, who cares? The only upside to any of this shit is it will further drive Trump ’round the bend. Although I don’t think there’s much more bend left to go ’round.
My dream is dump everybody in this shitshow administration and all their enablers into a Mad-Max style Thunderdome and let them all fight to the death. The last one standing would be Eric, who had cleverly disguised himself as part of the wall.
JPL
@LAO: We are going to have a leak war aren’t we? This was obviously planted by a pro Trump person. McCabe has said that he left memos with Special Counsel and the FBI. He did not leak them. So does that mean they used McCabe’s memos?
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer: I dunno, seems too much like an actual coherent plan from Trump.
Cheryl Rofer
@James E Powell: Consensus on B-J? ?????
My feeling is that it’s someone in the level just below the Cabinet and NSC, or perhaps another level lower.
Mandalay
This.
The NYT “story” was carefully transcribed by Michael “Toady” Schmidt who yields to nobody – Haberman included – when it comes to licking Trump’s dirt box.
Cheryl Rofer
@TenguPhule: With some help from his friends.
TenguPhule
@jacy:
FTFY.
trollhattan
@Cheryl Rofer:
So, one-dimensional checkers then?
“I will point my finger at their chest and ask ‘What’s that?” and when they look down I’ll slap their face. Hilarious!”
schrodingers_cat
I don’t buy this distraction hypothesis. They are horrible and stupid. They do despicable stupid shit because they can since they have the power to do so. Its not some cunning plan to distract from xyz.
schrodingers_cat
@TenguPhule: Agreed its more than one person. The writing style changes from one paragraph to next.
jacy
@James E Powell:
The most compelling forensic writing-style analysis I saw fingered John Huntsman (Ambassador to Russia). But it could be anybody. Again, I’m in the who cares camp. It’s all just theater at this point until something actually important happens. Like nuclear war or Trump sacrificing Pence on a Satanic altar live on TV.
Major Major Major Major
@Cheryl Rofer: this was my reaction when I saw the headline, and reading about it hasn’t changed my opinion. But like most such plans of theirs, they will fuck it up.
TenguPhule
Someone at Wapo has a sick sense of humor.
TenguPhule
@jacy:
You seem to be under the mistaken impression that these events would be separate.
TenguPhule
Trigger Warning for Omnes. And anyone else afraid of clowns.
Mary G
@LAO: I know, that story really threw me for a loop. I’m sorry your week was so horrible. The picture attached to this tweet made me feel better. That’s what I am fighting for, the kids to grow up in a better world:
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
With the candlestick, in the study
pat
Crooksandliars says McConnell probably knows he has the votes, promises to put Kav on the Supreme Court.
I feel sick.
Elizabelle
@TenguPhule:
Laughing out loud. That was good.
TenguPhule
Florida police framed three black men for burglaries. One was deported because of it, suit says.
Elizabelle
@TenguPhule: It was Baud-worthy.
I wish he was around more. Come back, Baud!
Gelfling 545
I am so over this living in interesting times shit.
TenguPhule
@Elizabelle: Thank you. Remember to tip your waiter.
debit
@pat: And when is the vote? Next week? A lot can change in a week.
Mary G
@Cheryl Rofer: I tweeted back to them that either someone in the NY FBI office had some dirt on them and was blackmailing them, or else Judith Miller much?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@trollhattan:
“Hey Butthead, your fly’s down! Hahhaah, stupid. Did you do my math homework?”
VeniceRiley
“Fake NEWS!” – Rod Rosenstein.
But yeah. Totally planted probably by people who want Trump to focus on firing him, someone he hates, instead of them.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
And people say that if you’ve gotten arrested, you must have done something wrong
pat
@debit:
The idea is that McConnell must KNOW he’s got the votes or he would never say such a thing.
I simply do not understand Murkowski and Collins. What does he have on them?
TenguPhule
@pat:
I dunno. I’m feeling strangely optimistic about this. When its pushing Hurricane Florence off the front page, you know its made an impression.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
That and all that “Thin Blue Line” and “Blue Lives Matter” bullshit. It’s all just an excuse to let police get away with anything in order to oppress POC. I especially hate those “thin blue line” American flags. It’s flag desecration and the wingnuts don’t want to admit it.
Elizabelle
It’s telling to me that the leakers went to the Fuck the Fucking Sulzbergers New York Times, instead of the WaPost, with this dump.
They know credulous jackass careerists when they see them. Stenographer! Take my story!
TenguPhule
@pat:
Recall he said this about ACA destruction too. Its a tell that his vote count is uncertain.
pat
Mandalay
@jacy:
I hardly ever warm to any Republican on a personal level but I like Jon Huntsman a lot. I’d like him even more if I find out he wrote the op-ed.
A classy guy, plus he loathes Romney and likes Captain Beefheart.
HeleninEire
I cannot believe I am saying this and maybe it is because I am +3 but I am beginning to feel a little bit sorry for dim son. (Its 7:39 on Friday here, STOP JUDGING ME). He so desperately wants his Daddy to love him And Daddy never will. But he keeps on striving for it. It’s just so unbelievably sad and pitiful.
But never fear. When I wake up tomorrow I’ll hate him all over again.
BARTENDER ONE MORE ROUND.
jacy
@pat:
He was talking to the fucking “Value Voters” conference or whatever. What was he going to say to them, that he didn’t have the votes? That they’re desperate? I wouldn’t read to much in what McConnell said to those people. If I had to bet, Kavanaugh is toast.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@pat:
Isn’t Murkowski at least worried that she’ll lose her seat? The indigenous groups in Alaska were a big reason she won in 2012, right?
TenguPhule
@HeleninEire:
Tell me its at least a decent whiskey or other suitably strong beverage and not beer.
pat
This is from O’Donnell’s twitter feed. Sorry I don’t know how to link….it’s the top story at C&L
Elizabelle
@pat: I doubt he does. I think Turtle is flapping his traitor lips to try to keep the sweet, sweet donor money coming for another week.
I doubt he’s got the votes at all. If any Senators were concerned about Kavanaugh privately before, they are likely even more so now.
McConnell lies. It is what he does. (And he might be laughing bleakly to himself, over his bourbon at day’s end. He told the White House Kavanaugh was gonna be hard to confirm.) Mitch’s prospects have not improved.
Major Major Major Major
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
I don’t even grok this concept. It’s idolatry.
TenguPhule
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
The only viable options in that race were a raging shithole or her.
TenguPhule
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m willing to make an exception for when Trump humps it.
Even flags don’t deserve that.
raven
@HeleninEire: I just ordered a roof rack from an outfit in Dublin. I had no idea how popular the Kia Niro is over there!
TenguPhule
@pat:
I see what’s wrong with this picture.
Fair Economist
@pat:
Yeah, McConnell is *so* famed for his honesty.
Elizabelle
@pat: Come on. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are throwing themselves onto the Kavanaugh pyre? And so are Red State Democrats, because Kavanaugh and attempted rape are so popular?
How does anyone know at this point? If McConnell had the votes, wouldn’t they be voting this very afternoon, and any pretense at a hearing be damned?
Who is O’Donnell?
pat
@Elizabelle:
I certainly hope you are right.
Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence are going to be interesting tonight……
Elizabelle
@Elizabelle: ETA: um, they aren’t voting this afternoon because they’re not in session, right? Think I heard that … off to check it …
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
Was that the primary or the general?
rp
@pat: I think it’s the opposite. He’s trying to pressure Collins, et al by making it fait accompli.
schrodingers_cat
@pat: Who is this tweet by? Link?
Eljai
I have no confidence in Michael Schmidt as a reporter. Somebody in the administration wants Trump to fire Rosenstein, or create the cover to fire Rosenstein. Anonymous sources twice removed leak to the press and, as usual, FTFNYT is only too willing to enable this bullshit.
debit
@pat: I am not a Pollyanna, but I can’t worry about this when the fallout hasn’t finished falling yet.
LuciaMia
For a moment I thought you said ‘dim sum’. Ummmmm, dumplings.
TenguPhule
@Elizabelle:
To be fair, his fairweather Republicans are insisting that a semblance of the process be followed or else they threaten to bolt. They may simply have better survival instincts then he does.
pat
@Elizabelle:
Lawrence O’Donnell. MSNBC. Comes on after Rachel in this neck of the woods.
TenguPhule
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Both. The Democratic candidate didn’t have a chance and threw his support behind her, because the other guy was worse.
pat
@schrodingers_cat:
Lawrence O’Donnell, as I mentioned the first time. Sorry my linking skills are non-existent.
Major Major Major Major
@TenguPhule: It’s not like I don’t try to avoid ‘disrespecting’ the flag, just to be polite—but it would be disingenuous for me (personally) to criticize somebody else for doing it.
Major Major Major Major
@Fair Economist: I seem to recall he ‘had the votes’ to repeal Obamacare.
pat
Thanks for the jackals who doubt this story. I certainly hope you are right, but so much is still up in the air about hearings next week with Kav and Ford. Anything could happen.
But at least the FBI is investigating the threats against her, if not going into the “matter” itself.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
germy
Mock, Turtle Soup, mock.
The Moar You Know
@pat: Trump voters. Get the fuck in line or get primaried out. Any elected Republican in office right now, that’s their reality. And a lot of them probably don’t like it, but that doesn’t matter one fucking bit. They are Trump’s bitches now, and they will do what they’re told or be unemployed.
And, well, they did this to themselves.
And Collins was always going to vote for this idiot no matter what. She’s no more “moderate” than Adolf Hitler was.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
For me, it’s not about the flag itself but rather what it represents and stands for; freedom, equality, representative democracy, etc. By putting the “thin blue line” on it, these assholes shit all over what it’s meant to represent by mindlessly supporting authority (law enforcement). That, and I hate their hypocrisy; they hate flag burning yet have no problem with this.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Cheryl Rofer: Could be considering the narrative is “Hey, here is an idea, let’s record Trump how he talks when Trump thinks the mike is off and everyone will see what a useless fool he is and impeach him” as a way for distracting the public from the effort to remove Trump for being a useless fool. Something that self destructive can only come from Trump himself.
debit
@pat: Lawrence has good sources, and actually said the night Ford’s allegations were made public that he’d known of them for a week. I trust him. But this situation is not done developing yet.
germy
schrodingers_cat
@pat: No worries, Pundits gotta predict. I don’t interpret spinning tales with doppelgangers, as a sign of confidence. We will see. Its not over till its over.
Major Major Major Major
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I mean, the flag also stands for the right to scribble lines on the flag.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
Well, this is the early 21st century GOP we’re talking about here. Odds are good that another asshole will come along
Spanky
Or McConnell is bluffing for the benefit of his funders. Occam’s Razor sez so.
Major Major Major Major
Mitch saying that also gets the undecided senators into a prisoner’s dilemma situation, it’s self-fulfilling somewhat.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
And I’m actually fine with that because I believe freedom of expression allows that. Well, I don’t like it, but you know what I mean. What I don’t like is the hypocrisy of the right and their fellow travelers
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Susan Collins will vote against Kavanaugh if her fear of Maine voters becomes greater than her apparently sincere indignation that people would challenge her phony “thoughtful moderate” schtick. She overplayed her hand by announcing too early that she was pretending to believe Kavanaugh, now she’s enraged, a la Lieberman, that people aren’t having her crap anymore.
I have no insight into public opinion in Maine, but she may well have sawed off the limb she’s been sitting on. I really hope so.
schrodingers_cat
@Spanky: Bullshit is what they swim in, these rapist enablers of the Reprehensible party.
Roger Moore
@pat:
McConnell claims he has the votes, but I don’t believe him. At the very least, I don’t think he has the votes solidly locked up. If he did, he’d be pushing for a vote ASAP rather than allowing a hearing that could expose his candidate as a rapist. I think there are at least a few Republican hold-outs, and this is an attempt by McConnell to push them to stop holding out.
Elizabelle
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah. I am done with Collins’ fan dancing. Maine elected Angus King. It can elect a Democrat outright or an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats. Susan Collins is too uncertain. Be gone, Lucy.
randy khan
@pat:
McConnell will say anything he thinks helps him get the votes. He might or might not have them. They might or might not be secure.
pat
WaPo has the story now. Says Grassley gives Ford a chance to appear on Wed, not Thursday, and she has to appear before Kav does, and be questioned by a woman lawyer. And who knows, it’s probably take it or leave it at this point.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Haroldo
@Tihe Moar You Know: As a former Mainer (and still a New Englander), I couldn’t agree with you more. What a reprehensible being. She does a sterling job of flattering Mainers’ sense of being ‘independent’ tho’.
MisterForkbeard
@Elizabelle: I think McConnell is playing here. He probably DOES have the votes, but he might not – he’s lied about this stuff before.
But I do think we should continue to show that they’re clearly not willing to give Ford an actual hearing. They’re not – they’re going to alternately yell at her and dismiss her patronizingly and then vote for Kavanaugh, because that’s what they do.
@pat: So… she still has to go after her accuser so he can rebut everything she says, give her testimony beforehand, and be interrogating by a hostile republican lawyer who just so happens to be a woman? Also, they’re still refusing to call anyone else that could support her testimony and refusing to investigate. Nice.
Somebody should fire these assholes. Out of a cannon.
Mike in DC
Some scuttlebutt that Andy McCabe or someone associated with him pushed the Rosenstein story. Possibly, but I think it’s more likely the WH pipeline.
Roger Moore
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
That’s one of the big things I despise about those flags. The same people who fly them would scream bloody murder about a rainbow version of the American flag disrespecting something or other, but they’re perfectly happy to do the same basic thing in support of what they care about.
schrodingers_cat
OT: I love this song from Laila Majnu, Imitiaz Ali’s take on the Persian story of star crossed lovers.
Hafiz Hafiz Majnu has become totally cray cray in love..
I don’t care, I am in love, he says.
Kashmir is so beautiful, I would love to visit sometime.
Quaker in a Basement
@LAO: That was my first guess too, but Trump’s staff is trying mightily to keep him from queering the Kavanaugh nom. I think they’ve got him locked in the cellar right now.
Haroldo
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Please see Comment 100. I think it’s really hard to overestimate Mainers’ vanity.
debit
Here is Grassley’s contact information. You all know what to do. If they ask where you’re from you can say that a lifetime appointment to the SC is a national issue, not a local one.
JPL
@pat: At this point, I’d rather she appear all over the Sunday shows.
ET
My first thought was why would the Times write this? Even I could tell that it would used as ammunition against Rosenstein and I can’t believe that the author and editors over there didn’t question the motivations of the source. I guess they wanted the scoop more. They likely got used by an admin supporter much like what happened with whats her name and WMD. That they keep falling for this shit just goes to show you they don’t have much in the way of editorial judgement regardless of who is in charge.
Major Major Major Major
@ET:
“Falling for”
Quaker in a Basement
@James E Powell:
Consensus? Is this your first time here?
Major Major Major Major
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: @Roger Moore: right, and you should call them out for hypocrisy, not ‘desecration.’ Newt Gingrich has a bunch of divorces, but I don’t criticize him for disrespecting catholic doctrine as a first-order issue, because I don’t care about catholic doctrine.
Quaker in a Basement
@TenguPhule: Nice. Has the extra benefit of making Trump ask who Pennywise is.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
I mean, I really just want to “own the fascists” at their own game, I guess. Hasn’t worked for me yet.
eemom
Y’all, it’s a no brainer that McConnell is talking out his big fat ass.
One way or another, the lady is gonna testify, and it’s gonna be beautifully ugly for Kav. Yet again, there is no fucking way he can credibly deny something he did when he was blackout drunk.
Call me crazy, but I don’t think every last one of the republican senators is gonna bring themselves to vote to put a would be rapist on the supreme court. Needless to say, not out of anything resembling a conscience, but having that vote on their record is gonna haunt them the rest of their political lives.
I could be wrong. But it makes no sense to despair at this point.
pat
Well I can’t link but I think I’m improving my copy/paste skills.
And then Dr. Ford says what a ridiculous idea. I knew both of them and would not have made that mistake.
schrodingers_cat
@TenguPhule: They have “lost” 1500 children again!
pat
@pat:
Ooh, and there is a link in the quote.
This is such a shit-show. I honestly don’t know what I would be willing to do in Dr. Ford’s place. They are certainly doing everything they can to intimidate her.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@pat:
Yeah, it’s kinda hard to make a false ID of your assailant when you knew them already…
bemused
@germy:
Wow, McTurtle sounds just like the dumbest wingnuts I know. Deliberate on his part, no doubt. He knows R voters live to piss off liberals.
schrodingers_cat
@ET: They don’t keep falling for this shit. They are complicit in this shit. Some intrepid reporter needs to figure out who NYT is beholden to financially.
Quaker in a Basement
@HeleninEire: Sláinte mhaith!
debit
@pat: So, does everyone agree that once Kavanaugh is put on the stand he’s going to be grilled about his connection to this “mistaken identity” clusterfuck? Does anyone think he really wants to do that?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Haroldo: I don’t doubt it for a moment, the power of romantic, self-aggrandizing myths (from ‘independent voters’ to “the Heartland”) in politics should never be underestimated
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@germy:
That will work until it no longer doesn’t and your ruling party collapses due to massive incompetence and unpopularity. Minority governments tend to do that when they’re so outside the mainstream of the people they’re supposed to represent, you idiot (McConnell). What was that you said back in 2010 about “overreaching”?
pat
@debit:
I think a lot depends on whether Grassley allows the Dems to question him, or if it’s all going to be from this woman lawyer chosen by the repubs. How will this work? I have no idea, but if I’m feeling sick to my stomach over this, imagine how Dr. Ford and her family are feeling right now.
Roger Moore
@Major Major Major Major:
The way I see it, calling them out for flag desecration is a way of highlighting their hypocrisy, because it’s the same terminology they’d use for somebody else doing something similar. If they want to call making a rainbow flag desecration, I think turn about is fair play when they make a blue stripe flag. Make them argue that altering the flag isn’t desecration.
JPL
@pat: I’m decided whether to have a bottle of tums, a glass of wine, or dark chocolate. Maybe all three!
I just watched Mr. Rogers the google doodle again.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mike in DC: Seems to be the growing consensus
I hadn’t heard McCabe and Rosenstein were enemies, but it makes sense. McCabe was a career guy and Rosenstein IIRC was brought in by trump/sessions
TenguPhule
The racism simply never stops. Warning FTFNYT link.
TenguPhule
@JPL:
Skip the wine. it won’t do happy things to the tums and chocolate inside you.
JPL
@TenguPhule: I remember when that happened. Network news did cover it.
debit
@pat: I am still at a tossup as to whether the hearing happens at all. Sources say Grassley and co don’t want it, and with every news story that comes out about Kavanaugh’s prep school and fraternity being awful I can see why. Sen Harris: Mr Kavanaugh, how many times did you join your fraternity brothers in the chant? K: Chant? SH: No means yes and yes means anal.
Raven
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Here’s a bad shot of me in my American Flag Shirt in about 72!
TenguPhule
@eemom:
Clarence Thomas.
Although it will make it easier to separate the sheeps from the goats when the revolution comes.
Mike in DC
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Nunes is the leading candidate otherwise.
Elizabelle
@eemom: I’m with you, eemom. A vote to seat Kavanaugh will be long remembered, and will hurt some of the Republican and Red State Senators. It might be easier for them not to confirm. It’s not like Kavanaugh is the best jurist out there for the job. He was chosen to protect Trump’s ass.
I don’t agree that the GOP is this huge monolith that always acts in concert. Have some courage, folks.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
1580. And not again. These are the ones still locked up despite the judge’s orders because “how many divisions does the circuit court command?”
The Dangerman
That is top (bottom?) 3 of stupidest things I’ve ever heard (Top 2 being, of course, “never get involved in a land war in Asia” and “never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line”).
MomSense
@JPL:
Red wine with dark chocolate is always the answer. If the dark chocolate has some hot chili, even better.
geg6
@TenguPhule:
Wine and chocolate go together like salt and pepper. There is probably no better pairing on earth.
TenguPhule
Ice arrests more than 40 people trying to sponsor migrant children
We are being ruled by fucking Cobra Commander.
TenguPhule
@geg6: Not with tums added. Tums & chocolate or wine and chocolate. Not all three at once.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Maggie Haberman takes on David Simon
I won’t say There will be (metaphorical) blood, but I predict there will be a Margaret Dumont-esque “I shall never tweet again!” that will last eight or ten hours.
TenguPhule
Revealed: Russia’s secret plan to help Julian Assange escape from UK
Ella in New Mexico
@HeleninEire:
Hey, at least you’re not a mean drunk. I “fall”into that category, too. Have one for me cuz it’s only 2pm here and that’s way too early to start ;-)
No, your absolutely right. The Trump family story is every bit the Shakespearean tragedy–with Extra Greek for even more mind-blowing betrayals and sexual assaults!
TenguPhule
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Whatever Trump is infected with, she Maggie caught it.
Haroldo
@schrodingers_cat:
Indeed. But I don’t know if it’s strictly money at work. It’s a class thing, too. (But, of course, they are so closely intertwined.)
Omnes Omnibus
@geg6: Hookers and blow?
LongHairedWeirdo
I remember right after the election, there was a great fear of “normalizing” things. Some of it was bound to happen, of course. People would have to stop treating Trump as a nitwit, because if the President says something, it’s News. Even if it’s a baseless lie. (Thankfully some (FAR TOO FEW!) outlets are pointing out the baseless lies.
But the biggest bit of normalizing things is *this*. In the run up to the election, everyone with any sense knew Trump was unfit for office, an outlandish braggart, misarrogant in the extreme, and completely incompetent.
We knew that then, we know that now, but the Republicans are playing the game of “clearly, Trump was always just a an normal candidate, and we should treat him like a normal candidate and a normal person.” But he isn’t, and that’s always been obvious, and the claims otherwise are just gaslighting, and sucking up to trumpies.
Frankly, if anyone heard Trump go on a word salad rant, and didn’t think “25th Amendment,” that should be a reason to fire them as an incompetent.
FlipYrWhig
@germy:
Uh, has he seen how angry the right is?
Mai Naem mobile
My guess is a Javanka leak because of Cohen and Manafort flipping and singing. Jared is for sure in trouble for the Trump Tower meeting.
JPL
@TenguPhule: Well I decided to start with a cookie and water. That helps.
I’m going to hold off on the wine for awhile.
zhena gogolia
@debit:
I think that chant dates from 2011. Much as I detest Kavanaugh, this is not fair.
debit
@zhena gogolia: But is that when it started?
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I think that’s when the frat was disbanded (or had some disciplinary action because of it) but i don’t think the chant was new then. Just too public.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: I have seen something very similar out of Princeton in the 80s
catclub
@TenguPhule: don’t the opioids cause constipation? He forgot to mention those.
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: Also, he was a member of the — what was it — tits and clits club. He’s a fucking pig and deserves everything he gets, with the exception of anything good.
catclub
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: yeah, this, on Rosenstein shocked ( or reported as shocked) that Trump misused his memo.
I learned another bit about those reports, First thing in all accident reports is “I unbuckled my seat belt to exit the vehicle…”
debit
@WaterGirl: Agreed! And we just need one decent person who witnessed any of this to come forward.
zhena gogolia
@debit:
I don’t know, but I haven’t seen any evidence that it dates to the time Kavanaugh was a student. I think there’s enough bad things about him that are documented, and it undercuts our credibility when we attribute that chant to him.
catclub
@LongHairedWeirdo:
but there is also the little secret that a LOT of government goes on pretty well no matter who or what is president, so you cannot point after six weeks at smoking rubble in all the government buildings and say ‘he’s a bad one, incompetent’
The present government has had this ‘obviously unfit’ president for 18 months and yet the economy is still above water, most places, outside of Puerto Rico, Houston, and Coastal NC, are going along fine ( ICE and Border Patrol outrages excepted), most government employees are still going to work and being paid.
Frankensteinbeck
This story is the same as the op-ed, a palace intrigue game of one faction trying to get Trump mad at another.
I’m not sure what Trump will do. The penis shape jokes must be thundering constantly in his head right now. A misogynist narcissist in this situation usually either hides, physically abuses a woman, or both. He may not have the attention free to notice these attacks. His toadies will know what condition he’s in, but they’re not exactly competent people who can be relied on to manipulate him successfully.
Frankensteinbeck
Reposting because moderation.
This story is the same as the op-ed, a palace intrigue game of one faction trying to get Trump mad at another.
I’m not sure what Trump will do. The penis shape jokes must be thundering constantly in his head right now. A misogynist narcissist in this situation usually either hides, physically abuses a woman, or both. He may not have the attention free to notice these attacks. His toadies will know what condition he’s in, but they’re not exactly competent people who can be relied on to manipulate him successfully.
geg6
In good news, the NRCC just cancelled all its ad buys for Keith Rothfus (Fuckhead R-PA) and my congresscritter ever since the Teabaggers reared their ugly heads. That means Conor Lamb and all the blue groups (I’m in Beaver County Voice for Change) here have done a fantastic job and we’re likely to keep Conor in the House representing our new district.
I’m doing a happy dance here. I have always despised Rothfus.
chris
OFFS!
louc
Marcy Wheeler eviscerates the Times, noting this story was planted by third-hand sources.
JPL
@chris: Well if he was running for a federal position, Trump would say he’s a nice guy I hope the fellow is locked up.
Fair Economist
@schrodingers_cat:
Absolutely. The NYT doesn’t print obvious garbage like this accidentally. There’s a whole clique at least actively trying to support the Trump administration, and it probably goes to the top.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ve had a FBI agent tell me “The FBI has no sense of humor as far was we are aware of” during a security clearance I need to get for one job, so, unprofessional joke on Rosenstein’s part?
debit
@zhena gogolia: He belonged to this shitty frat boy rape club in 1985 when they marched with a flag made from women’s underwear. You think they were any better back then?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@catclub:
Just wait until the those new tariffs hit at the start of the new year.
catclub
@debit: IF I were to joke about it, I would ask you to lighten up, because that flag made of women’s underwear was not the stars and bars – which would be bad.
Wapiti
@Roger Moore: (and other flag comments)
In my view, the blue Police State Flag is simply that. It isn’t the US flag. It’s a different flag that stands for altogether different “ideals”.
zhena gogolia
@debit:
He didn’t participate in the 2011 chant as far as we know, so attributing it to him is an error.
catclub
from Slate:
So is the long time GOP operative and bad faith character assassin Whelan or Kavanaugh?
Another Scott
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: In the Twitter thread where Maggie is absolutely roasted, there’s this:
Maybe a FPer can post the image.
Read the whole thread.
I wouldn’t want to get on the bad side of Spicy!!
Cheers,
Scott.
debit
@zhena gogolia: And asking him whether or not he ever chanted it, or something like it is out of bounds? Is this really the hill you choose to die on?
Aleta
Environmental action groups may be needing some donations.
zhena gogolia
@debit:
They’re not going to ask him that, so I don’t expect to die on any hill. I just prefer if my side sticks to things that are documented.
Brachiator
@James E Powell:
The butler, in the drawing room, with a hammer.
zhena gogolia
@debit:
26 years is like a century on a college campus.
JPL
@catclub: Why not both? Whelan knew all the details including a map which showed where another female lived. He knew more about a party that didn’t happen than anyone else. How can that be?
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
I hold no brief for the Dekes, believe me.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: The phrase existed on Ivy League campuses in Kavanaugh’s general time frame. Make him deny it.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus:
Well, when he comes over next week I’ll be sure to ask him. I don’t expect to hear it from the Judiciary Committee.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@zhena gogolia: Kamala Harris will ask him, and if she doesn’t Maizie Hirono will
Brachiator
@chris:
Is this guy married?
I feel terrible for the daughter.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Then you’d love the lapel pin that more Republican wore in 2012. The American flag with an GOP elephant in the lower right corner.
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
TenguPhule
@Aleta:
Never has a river’s name been so appropriate.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@?BillinGlendaleCA: “most Republicans” not more Republican. Edit function please.
trollhattan
@trollhattan:
Dagnabit, anyway, Maggs is aping Trump’s speaking and tweeting patterns to a T. She’s only missing some caps: “Slander a TREMENDOUS current NYT REPORTER in the process….
….The Weak, Failing David Simon is lying his Lying Simon Butt off today. What’s next?
catclub
@debit: I would just start asking him how much time he spent with Mark Judge in high school, then how much underage drinking he did with Mark Judge in high school, then how many blackout drunks Mark Judge had when he was present. and leave it at that.
TenguPhule
@catclub:
I’m sorry, did you miss the parts were Trump is single handedly trying to wreck the entire national economy with tariffs and basically showing by example that every treaty and signed agreement our government has ever made can no longer be considered valid?
Or that we have no State Dept, HUD is fucked, Treasury is now corrupted and fucked, Justice is fucking national joke, Gods only know what’s happened to the Energy dept, Education is two steps short of open revolt. And EPA and Interior are shit up a river.
JGabriel
Betty Cracker @ Top:
John Light at TPM says WaPo and other outlets have already confirmed the story, and that the source appears to have access to contemporaneous notes from Andrew McCabe.
Could be McCabe or someone else from his team, could be someone within DOJ with access to his notes. I don’t know, but the story appears to be at least somewhat true.
TenguPhule
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Grammar will cease until morale improves.
TenguPhule
@trollhattan:
Have we ever actually seen Maggs and Trump in the same room at the same time live and not taped?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
TenguPhule
@chris: Every Republican is a prick.
catclub
@TenguPhule: I do know all those things, and yet unemployment is record low ( no thanks to Trump)
because a whole lot of things just keep running for a long time whether Trump is president, or Obama is,
before you see smoking rubble and dead bodies stacked like cordwood.
JGabriel
JGabriel:
… By which I mean, true to whatever extent the notes are accurate.
Another source told WaPo the remarks about taping Trump were sarcastic:
TenguPhule
@Frankensteinbeck:
I suspect the disparagment of his sexual prowess hurts worse. “Hurry up and finish already”
Gin & Tonic
@Mai Naem mobile:
Buzzfeed is reporting that Mueller is looking into a bunch of wire transfers among some of the principals of that meeting starting about a week before.
fl
My impression from the story, that the NYT is publishing something from an anonymous source, and this anonymous source admits some of it (or most of it or all of it? Who knows, the NYT don’t tell) i second or third hand info that seems just barely above gossip.
Why is our precious Gray Lady, august NYT national paper of record printing this crap?
TenguPhule
@catclub:
That ends this year. They’ve broken and stolen and otherwise sabotaged so much shit in the last 18 months that when it hits, its going to hit like a fucking freight train.
WaterGirl
So is Jack Goldsmith at Lawfare a Republican with an agenda, or would he be considered neutral?
He has an article up at Lawfare that seems to take the NYT at face value, assuming everything they said it true, and not questioning the sourcing or anything. He seems to be saying that Trump would now be justified in firing Rosenstein.
Fuck.
catclub
If Trump wants to fire Rosenstein, and this actually happened, he would just fire him and does not need it reported. So I guess this is the various factions in the administration sniping at each other, and using the NYT for transmission.
Ohio Mom
@JPL: That *was* a sweet doodle. I wouldn’t have seen it if you hadn’t mentioned it, thanks!
Steeplejack (phone)
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Murkowski is not up for reëlection until 2022. She’s hoping everybody will have forgotten everything by then.
ruemara
@zhena gogolia: The chant is as old as my college start date, which would be the 80’s. It’s not that new.
@WaterGirl: agreed
trollhattan
@Gin & Tonic:
Lock him up! Lock him up!
Rinse and repeat
jl
@JGabriel: My first comment disappeared into FYWP, but basically much of the story seems to be second and third hand gossip peddled by this anonymous source., Trump may be stupid enough to swallow it whole. But who else?
And at this point, seems like NYT and WaPo grant anonymity just so they can keep the channel open for more BS like this.
I agree with some commenters above, most likely the story was planted Trumpsters, in WH to start creating a pretext to dump Rosenstein to stop Mueller, and by now, several other investigations threatening Trump. But it could be anything. Makes politics in the Byzantine Empire look pretty simple and transparent.
zhena gogolia
@ruemara:
You heard the Dekes at Yale chanting it in the 1980s?
Steeplejack (phone)
@pat:
Just copy the link and paste it in as raw text. FYWP will do the rest. Just make sure it’s not the last thing in your comment, else it will eat the Reply button.
SFAW
@germy:
Well, in a way, he did. He joined with Russia and Shitgibbon to fuck with the 2016 election, which got us Shitgibbon, etc. It’s a circuitous path, but he still got there (almost, more or less).
MisterForkbeard
@debit: I think instead you just ask him “What misogynistic rituals or activities did you take part in or plan as part of your fraternities/clubs?” is actually a decent question. Especially if you can follow it up with examples of stuff that happened during his membership. It shouldn’t be hard to find stories and/or pictures.
Either he talks about the dumb, awful shit he was part of (since we know he did it) or he lies in a reasonably easily verifiable manner. Thin chance he pretends contrition and says his clubs did things he’s not proud of, and lists some of the more minor ones.
jl
@catclub: The reason that the economy has run along so well by some macroeconomic indicators, is that Trump and the GOP Congress did not do one damn thin in the first year to interfere with the recovery that was designed by Obama and his economic team. The first year they just rode on the back of the work of the Obama administration. And Powell at the Fed is actually a normal person, moderate, with great technical expertise, a Janet Yellen mimi-me that somehow Trump was persuaded somehow to appoint instead of his first list of incompetent nutjobs. So, we’ve had an Obama administration Fed policy, just run by Powell instead of Yellen. Different names, same approach.
The GOP did the tax cut, but the effects of that (mostly from blowing up the deficit for no productive reason) won’t show up for a while. And the tariff war is just getting started.
And, the economy is not really doing well at all if you look at the lower half of the population, in terms of real wages, in terms of long run growth of the economy, in terms of household savings rates. I agreed with a lot of good macroeconomists that with good economic management, current recovery could get past 2020 before a downturn, maybe make the record for the longest, even it is an infuriatingly weak recovery for the lower half to two thirds of the population. Now people like Krugman, Roubini, DeLong are talking like next recession will come due before 2020. Which barring something unexpected, would be milder than usual, except that Trumpsters will be managing the recession and they will turn a mild recession into a disaster or miserable recovery. Sort of like the 2001 recession, except management far worse and incompetent than even GW ever dreamed of.
Calouste
@WaterGirl:
In either case, that shows he’s too stupid to ties his shoes in the morning.
MisterForkbeard
@jl:
This. The Tax Cut is going to explode the deficit, but it’s probably had a very mild beneficial effect on the economy at large so far. Likewise, the tariffs haven’t been in place long enough to fuck things up, and Trump mostly left Obama economic policy in place until very recently. He’s coasting on Obama’s accomplishments and policies but undermining the foundations for it. Eventually, when those go the entire edifice will tumble. But until then it’ll chug along.
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
There will be a damp spot where MAGA Habs used to stand. David Simon is NOT the person to try and take on in a battle of words.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Why are they leaving out the co-writer, Michael Schmidt? He couldn’t have come across any more weasily than he did in his NPR interview this afternoon.
Aleta
Eliana Johnson at Politico
SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal
@debit:
I’ve been calling my own bright-red RWNJ senators (Isakson and Perdue) regularly, on a variety of issues, for quite a while now. But recently I’ve also taken to calling key Senators from elsewhere on important issues. Mostly the intern or staffer doesn’t even bother to ask me for a ZIP Code/address, but when they do I simply say that while I may not a constituent, I am a U. S. citizen, and Senator Whatsis is about to vote on something that affects the nation as a whole. That gives me standing to call and express my opinion. So far, nobody has challenged me.
Have no idea whether my comments ever get passed along or counted in the statistics, but it makes this badass feel slightly more empowered.
JGabriel
TenguPhule:
I suspect Trump usually arrives before any of his partners have time to think “Hurry up.”
SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal
@TenguPhule:
I don’t do Tums, but I promise you that a bite of dark chocolate followed by a swallow of red wine is among the most sublime taste combinations this side of Paradise.
JGabriel
TenguPhule:
And if we win back the House and/or Senate, then – when the shit hits the freight train – Republicans will blame it on the Democratic congress. It won’t work, most people instinctively blame the executive branch when major crises hit the country. But we will need to be prepared for GOP’ers trying to shift the blame leftward.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal: Just look up a zip code. If they ask, you could always say “zip code?” And then give them the one you looked up.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Aleta: from the same story
JGabriel
@catclub:
Trump would want it reported. When everyone makes the obvious point that Trump fired Rosenstein to undermine or end Mueller’s investigation, Trump wants pretext to say firing Rosenstein was justified.
SiubhanDuinne, Badass Jackal
@Raven:
I think that was right about when my youngest brother got arrested by the Chicago cops for driving around in a VW Beetle painted to look like the American flag. The ACLU got him off by presenting at trial literally scores of exhibits of everything from ashtrays to blankets to shirts and pyjamas to school notebooks to shot glasses, all decorated with the Stars and Stripes, all technically in violation of the Flag Code, and all available for a few dollars from any Woolworth’s.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: These guys are lying, cheating, stealing, raping and abusing — all in plain sight! And they get away with it. No wonder they are so brazen, their whole lives have taught them that if you’re rich or famous or well-connected, you just get away with it.
My mind boggles.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl:
You would be amazed at what you can get away with if you can even present as a possible well-off white guy.
MisterForkbeard
@JGabriel: That was Trump’s exact move with Comey, so… Yeah. Seems reasonable.
The Lodger
@Frankensteinbeck: Toadies. Heh.
J R in WV
@TenguPhule:
Tengu, beer in Ireland is not like beer in the US, mostly… +3 is pretty good drinking Guiness and such like stuff.
j fine
how many times must the new york times play charlie brown before they are now longer considered the news paper of record
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Sigh.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Hey, my ex got out of a lot of speeding tickets because she had curly blond hair, a foreign accent, and boobs.
The unfairness of the world is infinite.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: You’ve got that right!
TenguPhule
@Omnes Omnibus:
So besides you, who was the other guy in the car? //
Omnes Omnibus
@TenguPhule: Go blow a goat.
JGabriel
@jl:
Yep, I agree. It looks like some things that people said sarcastically are being misrepresented as their actual views, as pretext to fire Rosenstein.
TenguPhule
@Omnes Omnibus: Neigh.
Hob
@WaterGirl: Don’t know if you’re still reading this thread, but Goldsmith, like Lawfare itself, is a mixed bag. His Wikipedia article covers his work for the GWB administration in some detail. He is pretty anti-Trump, but has a basically conservative outlook. IMO this piece of his on Rosenstein is awfully credulous of the Times’s spin.