Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

We still have time to mess this up!

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

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

You can’t love your country only when you win.

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

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Second rate reporter says what?

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

In my day, never was longer.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Repub Venality Open Thread: Trump’s Newest Enforcer

Repub Venality Open Thread: Trump’s Newest Enforcer

by | 117 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)
.

IMO, the fact that Trump hasn’t ditched his new mook (or, to be precise, had someone ditch Whitaker for him) would seem to indicate that the Oval Office Occupant is running out of half-decent alternatives.


My interpretation: Lindsey Graham is desperate to be the next Attorney General, if just for a single day. Chris Christie, on the other hand, still believes he may have a politics-adjacent future… as long as he stays well away from Trump!


“Very interim” is not exactly a ringing pronouncement in Whitaker’s favor…

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  1. 1.

    tobie

    I’m beginning to appreciate the full power of Schiff’s cool contempt for Trump and his minions. The statement regarding Whitaker should scare the be-jeezus out of him (Whitaker).

  5. 5.

    khead

    Open thread?

    Chuck Jones: Cartoons :: Stan Lee: Comics. These folks are two of the faces on my childhood Mt. Rushmore. Gene Roddenberry is probably the third. I need a fourth person. Who ya got?

  8. 8.

    Platonailedit

    Chris Christie, on the other hand, still believes he may have a politics-adjacent future… as long as he stays well away from Trump!

    Nope, that’s not what the cowardly nj thug’s ‘statement’ is saying at all.

  10. 10.

    Mnemosyne

    Oh, FFS. We have massive fires all over Southern California and what did the asshat neighbor behind our office do? Build and light a massive fire pit in his backyard! ?

  16. 16.

    dmsilev

    @Yarrow: Why do I have a sneaking and nasty suspicion that the meeting will consist in large part of career Justice people giving the “Acting Attorney General” a long list of shady to illegal things which he’s involved in and then hinting very broadly that said things might possibly find themselves on the front page of the Post if he didn’t recuse?

  17. 17.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne:
    I hope someone turned him in. Even if it isn’t illegal he should have to be bothered by the fire dept coming out and having a discussion. Which I imagine they’d do.

  18. 18.

    trollhattan

    Two-hundred missing person inquiries remain from California’s Camp Fire. Because cell service is basically non-existent this count will hopefully resolve in a good way. I have a lot of dread, given who lived in Paradise and how very limited the routes out of the fire’s path were, the fatality count is going to climb further.

  22. 22.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ruckus:

    We can’t find a non-emergency number for the fire department, and I have to leave the office in 5 minutes. Christ, what an asshole.

  23. 23.

    Ruckus

    IMO, the fact that Trump hasn’t ditched his new mook (or, to be precise, had someone ditch Whitaker for him) would seem to indicate that the Oval Office Occupant is running out of half-decent alternatives.

    He ran out of half decent alternatives that he might accept on January 20, 2017.
    All the fully decent alternatives would fry his ass in a nano second and he would never want them in the first place, they would be competent.

  25. 25.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne:
    Call 911, it’s a fire. Let them decide if it’s an emergency. It’s not your job to decide if it is or isn’t. It’s not like he’s a black man barbecuing hot dogs is it?

  26. 26.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Yarrow: Actually, Whitaker has probably finally realized that the gig is up and if he tries to mess with Mueller, he may end up in jail. I hope he’s hired a good attorney. Working for Trump = legal exposture.

  28. 28.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ruckus:
    It is worth making the point that Sessions, while utterly evil, was basically competent. It’s hard to tell how competent, since he looked like a shining god next to the other cabinet members who would step on their own feet and then complain they can’t walk.

  30. 30.

    burnspbesq

    Of course, if you believe certain commenters here, Wittes is a doofus who doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.

    Ha. Hahaha. BWAHAHAHAHA.

  48. 48.

    gene108

    @trollhattan:

    Despite the medical profession getting things wrong, at times, such as advocating a low fat high carb diet throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, people generally have a lot of faith in doctors and other medical professionals as being people to trust.

    And at some point everyone sees a doctor or two. These aren’t professionals hidng in the shadows.

    Tough to make them the bad guys.

  50. 50.

    wasabi gasp

    Shame has been sucked into the same black hole that swallowed irony. Don’t let benefit of doubt be the next to follow. Let’s give this clown a chance.

  51. 51.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @burnspbesq: yeah, and checking out the OED decision records, D2017-14 (5-year suspension) D2017-18 (20-months suspension) D2018-21 (excluded from practice and resigned) D2018-35 (48-months suspension) so at least 4 patent attorneys/agents caught in this so far

  53. 53.

    Juju

    Is it just me or does Matthew Whitaker look like Baby Sid from “Toy Story 3” or the connector spider baby head toy from “Toy Story”?

  56. 56.

    Keith P.

    I’m starting to think that Trump has a latent desire to be dominated by big, bald “tactical” men, and I do mean sexually. Is Jeff Gannon still around?

  59. 59.

    Platonailedit

    Kyrsten Sinema is the first woman elected to represent Arizona in the Senate.

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 13, 2018

    More heartburn for the sexist rapist totus thug

  61. 61.

    khead

    @Eric S.:

    The inclusion of Ford is interesting. Hadn’t even thought about it. Several folks I know took Lucas as the 4th guy. I would go with Speilberg over Lucas. For me, Jaws + Close Encounters > Star Wars. But Harrison Ford? I might can roll with that. Dude covers two franchises from my childhood.

  62. 62.

    DCrefugee

    @Platonailedit: 50/50. But by then, Bobby Three Sticks will have dropped some shit and Agent Orange will have a whole ‘nuther set of problems.

    Paul Campos at LGM has up an interesting post on how hard it will be to pry him out of the WH when the time comes. It’s getting closer…

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    @khead:

    Pfft. I had already read “The Martian Chronicles” several times before the TV movie aired and was able to be disappointed in what they changed. And I’m a year younger than you.

    But, as I said, I was a very advanced reader (they put me in the 3rd grade group when I started 1st grade), so I was reading stuff I probably shouldn’t have been reading.

  67. 67.

    Jay

    From Chris Grey’s Brexit Blog;

    ”
    So we have a strange and, to the best of my knowledge, unprecedented situation. A group of people who are passionate and uncompromising advocates of a fundamental economic and geo-political shift for a nation don’t actually know much about what it means in practice, and have very little interest in delivering it. It is political irresponsibility on a wanton, scandalous scale.

    Ironically, though, it is just this ignorance and irresponsibility that is one of the things Theresa May will gamble on in what I suspect* we will see next week: an attempt to play on the fact that her MPs don’t really grasp or care enough about the detail to get her deal through. If that’s right – and, if so, I’ll write about it next week – that will be an even greater irresponsibility, as it will set the stage for years of political infighting, strategic drift and economic decline as the meaning and implications of her deal unfold and unwind.”

    http://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2018/11/ignorance-and-irresponsibility-continue.html?m=1

    Dunning-Kruger isn’t just an American phenom.

  69. 69.

    The Dangerman

    DOJ says Acting Attorney General Whitaker will consult with senior ethics officials at DOJ about possible recusal in Special Counsel investigation.

    We should start a contest of how many minutes elapse between recusal and Interim AG Ivanka.

  71. 71.

    debbie

    Oh, now he cares.

    I just approved an expedited request for a Major Disaster Declaration for the State of California. Wanted to respond quickly in order to alleviate some of the incredible suffering going on. I am with you all the way. God Bless all of the victims and families affected.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2018

  73. 73.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Juju:
    Depends on the artist, I guess. What is it about some of these conservatives and their doughy, baby face looks? Soft lives, I guess.

  77. 77.

    Wag

    @trollhattan:

    As a member of the American College of Physicians, I have to correct you on a small point. It was the ACP that published the articles and position paper that set off the NRA. We welcome the backup from our surgical and ER colleagues, but it was the interests that received first fire from the NRA.

    #thiisourlane.

  86. 86.

    different-church-lady

    @The Dangerman:

    We should start a contest of how many minutes elapse between recusal and Interim AG Ivanka.

    “DOJ says Acting Attorney General Ivanka Trump will consult with senior ethics officials at DOJ about possible recusal in Special Counsel investigation.”

  90. 90.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Major Major Major Major:

    A lot easier to fly to than from the east coast, anyway, I suspect. It took me 5-6 hrs to fly to LAX from PIT. It was so long and boring I wish looking back I had been into comic books back then to entertain myself.

    Which island are you and your husband staying on? Maybe you’ll run into TenguPhule lol.

  97. 97.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @khead:
    Have you ever checked out BTAS or STAS? I’d recommend them. Justice League is sort of like a sequel to both of those shows. If you liked JL you’ll like them.

  100. 100.

    Ken

    @DCrefugee:

    Paul Campos at LGM has up an interesting post on how hard it will be to pry him out of the WH when the time comes.

    So leave him there, and build his wall at the same time. “For the love of God, Montressor!”

  105. 105.

    Mandalay

    @Jay: From another link on the excellent page you linked to:

    Speaking at a news conference to officially launch the Global Refugee Sponsorship Initiative, which will train and advise other countries on how to establish programs that allow private individuals and groups to finance, facilitate and support refugees coming to the country, McCallum urged other countries to do more…

    According to the department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the private refugee sponsorship program has helped resettle more than 288,000 refugees since the late 1970s.

    More than 13,000 Syrian refugees have been resettled in Canada through private sponsorship since November 2015.

    Imagine that. Instead of immigrants being presented as a military problem for the government, the Canadian government offers an opportunity for citizens to help make their country better.

  106. 106.

    Jay

    @Mandalay:

    Yup, groups form, raise funds, “sponsor” refugee’s, find homes, jobs, education, meals, support, baby sitting, outings, even teach them to skate and play hockey. It’s a whole social/economic support system. Even “redneck” towns like mine have “imported” refugees.

  107. 107.

    G

    Born in 1948, as a kid, my influences were Heinlein, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Andre Norton, Clayton Moore (The Lone Ranger.) As a teen, add Pete Seeger, Tolstoy, John Ford.

  109. 109.

    MCA1

    @khead: That’s more like it. You did say of your childhood, not teen years and beyond. I was going to suggest Charles Schultz, who certainly would have been on my own childhood cultural Mt. Rushmore.

  110. 110.

    joel hanes

    @G:

    My wonderful great-aunt gave me an HG Wells omnibus, with
    The War of the Worlds
    The Time Machine
    The Invisible Man
    The First Men In The Moon
    The Island of Dr. Moreau
    The Food Of The Gods
    and a bunch of his shorter works.

    For a long time, he made everyone else look amateur.

  112. 112.

    khead

    @Badgetoon:
    @MCA1:

    These are good too! I had Kirby and Ditko wrt comics – just not enough room on the mountain. Someone else I know mentioned Henson too. I would probably say Schultz > Henson – but that’s probably because I really liked Snoopy. YMMV!

  114. 114.

    trnc

    Chris Christie, on the other hand, still believes he may have a politics-adjacent future… as long as he stays well away from Trump!

    ???

    Looks to me like Christie is campaigning to be the next AG exactly the same way Whitaker got the job.

  115. 115.

    Beautifulplumage

    @khead: Can we have a small shrine to Carl Stalling, mastermind behind the cartoon soundtrack of my early TV?

    There are a couple of compilations of his music for WB; it’s amazing to listen to without the visuals.

  116. 116.

    Ferdinand

    @khead: Heh. I love the idea of a personal childhood mythology Mt. Rushmore with Chuck Jones, Stan Lee, and Gene Roddenberry. Since that covers animation, comics, and television, my forth would either have to represent movies (I’d choose Spielberg) or represent literature (I’d choose Tolkien).

  117. 117.

    JGabriel

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    If Whitaker recuses himself, Trump will have a stroke.

    I’m okay with that, as long as it’s not severe enough to keep Trump from being sent to prison.

    Also, the only way Whitaker recuses himself is if, once he’s read into the investigation, he realizes that recusal is the only way to either avoid being charged himself, or to ameliorate the damage from an already inevitable charge against him.

    If Whitaker is, in fact, now seeking an opinion on recusal from the DoJ’s ethics lawyers – i.e., if he’s already looking for a good excuse, like an authoritative legal opinion, to recuse himself – that’s a good indication that the above has already occurred.

Comments are closed.