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You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Schadenfreude Open Thread: Don’t Go Away Mad…

Schadenfreude Open Thread: Don’t Go Away Mad…

by Anne Laurie|  November 14, 20181:57 pm| 219 Comments

This post is in: Dolt 45, Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!, All Too Normal, Clap Louder!

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Sources say president has "retreated into a cocoon of bitterness and resentment."–> https://t.co/F79ICbrGgC

— Mark Z. Barabak (@markzbarabak) November 13, 2018

“Trump, stung by midterms and nervous about Mueller, retreats from traditional presidential duties” —

For weeks this fall, an ebullient President Trump traveled relentlessly to hold raise-the-rafters campaign rallies — sometimes three a day — in states where his presence was likely to help Republicans on the ballot.

But his mood apparently has changed as he has taken measure of the electoral backlash that voters delivered Nov. 6. With the certainty that the incoming Democratic House majority will go after his tax returns and investigate his actions, and the likelihood of additional indictments by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, Trump has retreated into a cocoon of bitterness and resentment, according to multiple administration sources.

Behind the scenes, they say, the president has lashed out at several aides, from junior press assistants to senior officials. “He’s furious,” said one administration official. “Most staffers are trying to avoid him.”

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, painted a picture of a brooding president “trying to decide who to blame” for Republicans’ election losses, even as he publicly and implausibly continues to claim victory…

Funny how this guy is so often hailed as an innate PR genius.

"Trump told aides he thought he looked “terrible” and blamed his chief of staff’s office…for not counseling him that skipping the cemetery visit would be a public-relations nightmare."https://t.co/ipu4qmAqv0

— Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) November 14, 2018

As Peggy Noonan once said: Let us savor. From the Washington Post, “Five days of fury: Inside Trump’s Paris temper, election woes and staff upheaval”:

… During his 43-hour stay in Paris, Trump brooded over the Florida recounts and sulked over key races being called for Democrats in the midterm elections that he had claimed as a “big victory.” He erupted at his staff over media coverage of his decision to skip a ceremony honoring the military sacrifice of World War I.

The president also was angry and resentful over French President Emmanuel Macron’s public rebuke of rising nationalism, which Trump considered a personal attack. And that was after his difficult meeting with Macron, where officials said little progress was made as Trump again brought up his frustrations over trade and Iran…

First lady Melania Trump shared her husband’s irritation and impatience with some of the staff. On Tuesday, amid reports that the president had decided to oust deputy national security adviser Mira R. Ricardel over tensions between her and other administration officials, the first lady’s office issued an extraordinary statement to reporters calling for her firing…

Melania Trump said in an October interview with ABC News that the president had people working for him whom she did not trust and that she has let her husband know. “Some people, they don’t work there anymore,” the first lady said…

First Lady Hillary Clinton channeled Eleanor Roosevelt; First Lady Melania Trump channels Edith Wilson.

…“Trump needs adulation, so heading into the midterms, holding these rallies, he was cheered and it became narcissistic fuel to his engine,” Brinkley said. “After the midterm, it’s the sober dawn of the morning.”…

The weaker and more aggrieved he feels, the harder he attacks and the more lies he tells. Hard to overstate how enraged he is feeling.

— Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) November 14, 2018

It’s not just that the POTUS is historically awful at the easiest parts of his job, it’s that the people who are supposed to cover for him are awful at theirs too.

— Schooley (@Rschooley) November 13, 2018

Notice how Fox News stops tweeeting, and Trump stops Presidenting? https://t.co/23E2ZVl68A

— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) November 13, 2018

Does anyone else find it suspicious that @FoxNews hasn’t tweeted in over 4 days?

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) November 13, 2018

Accounts that have been dark… pic.twitter.com/rq6BXlPpf4

— Liz Malone #ProtectMueller (@Lizerenity) November 13, 2018

Let's be honest. Trump has spent most of his Administration in a cavern lit by Fox News programs, wailing about his misfortune. He did take a 2 month break from that to campaign, thinking that the election would prove people love him.

It turns out … they don't love him.

— emptywheel (@emptywheel) November 13, 2018

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Previous Post: « The only ones without help
Next Post: Speaking of “let us savor….” »

Reader Interactions

219Comments

  1. 1.

    germy

    November 14, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    Jill Stein has been tweeting again.

  2. 2.

    Old School

    November 14, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    There are reports that the Twitter silence is a boycott centering around video showing Tucker Carlson’s address, but there doesn’t seem to be anything official confirming a conservative boycott.

  3. 3.

    Daoud bin Daoud

    November 14, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    May The Malignant Mango Manbaby™ go every day of his miserable life spent in useless rage!

  4. 4.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2018 at 2:05 pm

    I think this was my favorite sentence from the WaPost story:

    “He’s just a bull carrying his own china shop with him when­ever he travels the world,” presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said.

    Pretty much.

  5. 5.

    The Pale Scot

    November 14, 2018 at 2:10 pm

    May is about to release the papers concerning her negotiations with the EU

    Stand by with the Home Alone MaCaulay face

    OMG, BBC reporter actually said “could they, would they? end limerick with your own ideas.

    The DUP members look like the Slitheens’ skin suits, from Dr Who.

  6. 6.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 14, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    @Elizabelle: The bull is a graceful symbol of virility, unlike D2H2 (Doll Hair Doll Hands)

  7. 7.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 14, 2018 at 2:14 pm

    Idiot in chief, lit the Diwali lamp 4 days after the festival was over. Left out Hindus in his tweet. And made some other graceless comments. The selectmen in my town of a couple of thousand have more poise and grace than the man in the WH.

  8. 8.

    Platonailedit

    November 14, 2018 at 2:14 pm

    Why? The totus thug should be happy and proud. He once again proved in Europe last week that he is the very epitome of ugly american.

  9. 9.

    Elizabelle

    November 14, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: I think your garden variety animal of any sort has more virtues than Trump.

  10. 10.

    Frankensteinbeck

    November 14, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    Funny how this guy is so often hailed as an innate PR genius.

    He happens to be what Republican voters and the media like. It’s not really a calculated strategy, because that implies he could do anything else. He can’t.

  11. 11.

    japa21

    November 14, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    Apparently Melania is the one that wears the pants in the WH. What a wuss Donald is, to allow himself to be ordered around by his wife.

    Donald the Wuss should be a new meme.

  12. 12.

    MattF

    November 14, 2018 at 2:16 pm

    I’m guessing indictments a-comin’ in. But, also, it could be that moment when the lickspittles all suddenly realize that Trump is not, after all, a genius.

    Camel’s backs do break, eventually.

  13. 13.

    donnah

    November 14, 2018 at 2:17 pm

    When one card falls, the rest of the deck follows. Trump was super pumped up from his Public Adoration Rally Tour, and now that is over until he starts campaigning for 2020. So no big venues of waves and cheers. Then the election that he believed would vindicate him and prove his popularity and leadership comes along and he sees the hard numbers of losing the House and not radically changing the Senate. Then he fusses with Teresa May and pouts like a child in France, alienating other world leaders when he can least afford to. Rumors of NKorea not listening to demands for disarmament, cold shoulder from Putin…and then Melania whining about East Wing nonsense. And with the grim reaper/Mueller standing in the shadows, Trump must be strung as tightly as a bow string.

    He’s pissy and he’s going to be dangerous because he’ll be unpredictable. This is not a diplomat, a sage, or a even decent human being. He’ll be lashing out right and left, making up lies and seeking vindication. It’s going to be a rough week, or more.

  14. 14.

    geg6

    November 14, 2018 at 2:19 pm

    How these WH staffers must hate themselves to have tethered themselves and their families’ fortunes to that piece of shit fouling the Oval Office. I’d feel sorry for them but, unfortunately, I really don’t care, do you?

  15. 15.

    germy

    November 14, 2018 at 2:22 pm

    So! Is Friday the day for Mueller indictments?

  16. 16.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 2:22 pm

    LA Times via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, painted a picture of a brooding president “trying to decide who to blame” for Republicans’ election losses …

    Show him a mirror.

    [Pause.]

    On the other, maybe not. Now that I give it further consideration, I suppose there’s at least a 50/50 chance that Benedict Bloodsucker has no reflection.

  17. 17.

    Cermet

    November 14, 2018 at 2:23 pm

    Maybe he will OD on his med’s or at least, step off a rather high chair next to a balcony railing. One can hope.

  18. 18.

    FlipYrWhig

    November 14, 2018 at 2:24 pm

    As far as I can tell Donald Trump *gestated* in a cocoon of bitterness and resentment and he’s been living in it ever since.

  19. 19.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    November 14, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    @donnah:

    and now that is over until he starts campaigning for 2020.

    He announced his campaign for 2020 within days of taking the oath of office, one more norm he has broken. Those rallies ARE campaign rallies.

    He’s pissy and he’s going to be dangerous because he’ll be unpredictable.

    As long as his outrages are confined to Twitter and he keeps his hands off our country, he can stew in his cocoon of bitterness and resentment all he wants.

    Until the indictments and perp walk.

    So idle speculation on the end game: When he goes full Hitler-in-the-bunker and actually nails shut the door to the living quarters, leaving only a Big-Mac-sized slot in the door, who will he take in there with him?

  20. 20.

    Kay

    November 14, 2018 at 2:25 pm

    George W Bush did this after the financial crash. Remember that? All of a sudden Hank Paulson was President- the free marketeers all ran away and hid as their belief system crashed around them. It was one of the most cowardly things I’ve ever seen. There was a petulant quality to it- like we had NOT appreciated him and now he was just going to call off of work every day.

    They’re baby-men. Not grownups.

  21. 21.

    MattF

    November 14, 2018 at 2:26 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Ivanka. Maybe Jared. Maybe.

  22. 22.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    @germy:

    So! Is Friday the day for Mueller indictments?

    Could happen anytime between today and next Wednesday.

    Or, if Mueller’s confident he’ll be around that long, he might wait until right before Christmas, just to really piss off Putin’s Puppet – or even till January, if he wants to wait until Dems control the House.

  23. 23.

    Platonailedit

    November 14, 2018 at 2:27 pm

    May’s cabinet falls in line and backs her brexit ‘plan’. Now to await boris, the monkey’s tantrums.

  24. 24.

    SenyorDave

    November 14, 2018 at 2:28 pm

    @donnah: This is not a diplomat, a sage, or a even decent human being.

    THis point needs to be always emphasized. Trump is incapable of anything resembling empathy because he is an awful human being. The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting happened 10 days before the election. Trump’s first reaction was that it wouldn’t have happened if there had been armed guards. Not sympathy for victims. A tragedy like Pittsburgh offers a huge opportunity for a president to look presidential – emphasize healing, bringing people together. If Trump had done any of that the media would have started talking about the Trump pivot, how he showed the country how much he cares, etc. [Fortunately] Trump cannot do that, it is simply not possible.

  25. 25.

    FelonyGovt

    November 14, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    A wax museum in San Francisco has temporarily installed an insultable Trump figure. I particularly like this: “Every other wax figure at Madame Tussauds has human hair, but Trump’s orange mane could not be realistically duplicated with anything human. The sculptor settled on yak hair…”

  26. 26.

    Kay

    November 14, 2018 at 2:29 pm

    I bet Michigan really bothers them. They thought they had scored a permanent nutjob far Right majority there. They were sniffing around for national resources to exploit. Build some crappy scam-business.

  27. 27.

    MattF

    November 14, 2018 at 2:30 pm

    @Platonailedit: There’s quite a long path to go before Brexit is approved, but this is the very first step.

  28. 28.

    Chyron HR

    November 14, 2018 at 2:30 pm

    @MattF:

    Camel’s backs do break, eventually.

    That’s the one with the big flappy ears, right?

  29. 29.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 2:30 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    As far as I can tell Donald Trump *gestated* in a cocoon of bitterness and resentment …

    Probably as fair a description of Mary Anne Trump as any.

  30. 30.

    Roger Moore

    November 14, 2018 at 2:30 pm

    Trump, stung by midterms and nervous about Mueller, retreats from traditional presidential duties

    Not quite. He’s been avoiding most traditional presidential duties, like appointing people to all the offices that require a presidential appointment and actually making important decisions, for most of his term. What he was doing before the election was holding campaign rallies where he could bask in the adulation of his cultists. That is a role of the president as party leader, but it isn’t a duty of his office. Now that the campaign is over, he doesn’t have the same party leader duties, so his inaction in his official duties stands out more. He’s probably also in a funk because he obviously failed so badly at the party leader stuff, given how badly his party did in the election, so he’s even less inclined than usual to do his real job.

  31. 31.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    November 14, 2018 at 2:32 pm

    @SenyorDave: I’ve read articles on sociopathy and comments from actual sociopaths on how they navigate society. They often learn to be charming even though they actually feel no human connection. They learn what sort of emotional responses to mimic without actually feeling those emotions.

    Trump is so far outside the norms of human behavior that he doesn’t even appear to know what emotions to pretend to.

  32. 32.

    MattF

    November 14, 2018 at 2:35 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: However, it seems we have an answer to the question of whether he ‘realizes’ that he’s lying all the time. He does, for some value of ‘realize’.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    November 14, 2018 at 2:36 pm

    This is genuinely great news for us:

    DRUDGE REPORT
    ‏@DRUDGE_REPORT
    Follow Follow @DRUDGE_REPORT
    More
    GOP to Pick Another Cheney to Help Party Find Winning Message…

    The Cheney’s- their finger on the pulse of the nation. We’ll have to remind younger people how extremely horrible they are. They won’t know.

  34. 34.

    Caracal

    November 14, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    @germy: GS needs to crawl back under the black rock that is her home and STFU. Forever.

  35. 35.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 2:38 pm

    Sources say president has “retreated into a cocoon of bitterness and resentment.”

    Is Amazon stocking these cocoons of bitterness? I’d like to order a few as Christmas gifts for right wing nutcases.

    @Elizabelle:

    “He’s just a bull carrying his own china shop with him when­ever he travels the world,” presidential historian Douglas Brinkley said.

    What a wonderful description.

  36. 36.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 2:39 pm

    SF Chronicle via FelonyGovt:

    Every other wax figure at Madame Tussauds has human hair, but Trump’s orange mane could not be realistically duplicated with anything human. The sculptor settled on yak hair …

    Everyone should go take a look at the accompanying photos on that article. The sculptor really did a great job of capturing Trump’s uncanny lack of humanity.

  37. 37.

    eric

    November 14, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    @Kay: an excellent choice because she tested out that message in a purple state just like where the battles will be in 2020……oh, wait, nevermind

  38. 38.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 2:42 pm

    @Platonailedit:

    May’s cabinet falls in line and backs her brexit ‘plan’. Now to await boris, the monkey’s tantrums.

    Boris may want to order a cocoon of bitterness and resentment. And also maybe put one aside for Jacob Rees-Mogg.

  39. 39.

    MattF

    November 14, 2018 at 2:42 pm

    @JGabriel: It’s quite possible that the original isn’t human hair.

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    November 14, 2018 at 2:42 pm

    @JGabriel: You are right!

  41. 41.

    The Moar You Know

    November 14, 2018 at 2:43 pm

    The most powerful man in America is a sulky crybaby with less impulse control than my dog. Awesome.

  42. 42.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 2:43 pm

    @Kay:

    The Cheney’s – their finger on the pulse of the nation. We’ll have to remind younger people how extremely horrible they are.

    I’m sure Liz can do that all on her own. Besides, I’m not sure they’d believe us until they see it for themselves.
    __________________________
    Edited to Add:

    TPM:

    **Liz Cheney Ascent To Leadership Key Part Of GOP Strategy Against Dem Majority**

    … “We’ve got to change the way that we operate and really in some ways be more aggressive, have more of a rapid response,” Cheney told The Associated Press in an interview.

    So, Liz Cheney thinks the GOP’s strategy problem – the same GOP that’s gone full tilt on racism, xenophobia, transphobia, misogyny, Islamophobia, climate change denial, and so on, the same GOP that comes out in full support of the NRA and *More Guns for Wackjobs* every time there’s a mass murder – Cheney thinks the GOP’s problem is that it’s not *aggressive* enough?

    What’s their goal? To make *Nazis* look moderate?

  43. 43.

    eric

    November 14, 2018 at 2:44 pm

    @Brachiator: maitre d, cocoon for two.

  44. 44.

    FlipYrWhig

    November 14, 2018 at 2:44 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    he’s even less inclined than usual to do his real job.

    How much experience does he have doing a real job? I figure he’s always been like this. Shout, say random shit, count on other people to pick up the pieces, and wait for the accountants to dump money into his account.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    November 14, 2018 at 2:46 pm

    Matt Fuller
    ‏Verified account
    @MEPFuller
    5h5 hours ago
    More
    Last time I saw a House Democratic Caucus meeting with this many reporters staking it out we were about seven hours away from a government shutdown.
    The power has shifted, folks.

    Oh, bullshit. They’re only covering it because they’re hoping to see Pelosi humiliated. One of the Democrats should bring up a policy issue. That’ll clear the room.

  46. 46.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 2:49 pm

    Elsewhere, California is getting more and more blue.

    Democrat Katie Porter pulled ahead of incumbent GOP Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange County’s inland 45th District, while the battle for the 39th showed Democrat Gil Cisneros pulling close to even with Republican Young Kim.

    If those patterns continue, it’s possible Orange County – which Ronald Reagan famously described as “the place good Republicans go to die” – soon will have no GOP representatives in Washington D.C., after Republicans lost two other local House seats this cycle.

    Porter has a 261-vote lead over Walters, overcoming the 6,200-vote advantage that the congresswoman held on election night. Porter has won more than 56 percent of the ballots counted since election night.

    In the race for the 39th Congressional District – which crosses Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties – Cisneros pulled within 711 votes of Kim, erasing much of the nearly 3,900-vote lead she had a week prior. Cisneros has won nearly 55 percent of the votes tallied since the election.

    When Trump emerges from his cocoon of bitterness, like Dracula arising from his tomb, I expect him to get back to trying to punish California for defying him.

  47. 47.

    Martin

    November 14, 2018 at 2:49 pm

    I’ve said all along they will carry Trump out of the White House. I think that’s increasingly likely from here on out. Inside he knows he’s a loser (look at the insults he throws – they are all projection) and rather than accept that he demands external validation that he’s not a loser. Telling a lie and having the crowd accept it is sufficient, for a while. You’ll note that the rate and scope of the lying has only grown in an increasingly desperate effort to feel validated. Most people can’t sustain this over long periods of time, but extremely wealthy or famous people can. They have the resources to shape their environment enough to keep it going. Trump, however, has hit the end state. He’s lost the ability to shape his environment – the White House is a fishbowl more than a bunker. All eyes are on him, which feels good when it’s positive, but when it’s asserting that he’s a loser, he can’t cope. He can’t overpower the WaPo. He can’t overpower House Democrats. He can’t fully deny the election results. He can’t fire he way out of this, or hide for a few months and re-emerge with a new venture like he used to do. He’s trapped, and he’s going to be forced to come face to face with his own limitations, something he probably hasn’t had to do in half a century. He will continue to spiral outward until it breaks him.

    I almost feel bad for him. His kids should have intervened ages ago. They should have spoken out against him running for office. But as he’s doing harm to so many other people, I don’t care what happens to him. The sooner we reach the endgame the better.

  48. 48.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 2:50 pm

    @MattF:

    It’s quite possible that the original isn’t human hair.

    It’s quite possible that the original isn’t human.

  49. 49.

    Karen S.

    November 14, 2018 at 2:51 pm

    @SenyorDave:

    The media has set the bar so low for Drumpf and he can’t still can’t clear it. But of course he can’t because things like the tragedy in Pittsburgh and the Remembrance Day/Veterans Day ceremonies in France and at Arlington National aren’t about him.

  50. 50.

    Martin

    November 14, 2018 at 2:51 pm

    @JGabriel:

    What’s their goal? To make *Nazis* look moderate?

    Extinction burst. We’re gonna run the white supremacy playbook right to the end. More voter suppression. More gerrymandering. More pain and suffering until whites become great again.

  51. 51.

    Mnemosyne

    November 14, 2018 at 2:53 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    The Giant Evil Corporation is only just doing their first Diwali party today, but I think they had scheduling issues because they waited too long to try and book things. Hopefully they’ll get it together and have it at the right time next year.

    Last week, I was pulling into the parking garage at our apartment and there was a group of people standing outside waving sparklers around. I was like, “WTF?” and then I saw the women were wearing saris and was like, “Oh, right, it’s Diwali.”

  52. 52.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 2:53 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    How much experience does he have doing a real job? I figure he’s always been like this. Shout, say random shit, count on other people to pick up the pieces, and wait for the accountants to dump money into his account.

    As a New Yorker who’s lived in the same city as that asshole for about three decades, and who knows people who know him, I can confirm that what you figure is indeed correct.

  53. 53.

    Kay

    November 14, 2018 at 2:54 pm

    @JGabriel:

    She ran a lobbying grift after Bush II that was a real flop. She was sending direct mail to Ohio from a PO Box in Virginia. I remember thinking “WTF does Liz Cheney know about RTW in Ohio?”

    They never go away. They’re always waiting for the next opening. It’s only interesting because they must feel threatened with Trump in charge, like this is going south fast. The Bushies ready and waiting to fill the void at the top.

  54. 54.

    Barbara

    November 14, 2018 at 2:54 pm

    @Martin: His adult kids long ago figured out that the only way to his heart or at least his consideration of their financial well-being is through flattery. They are the worst offenders of all. They are and will always be supporting figures in his universe, eating at his trough. Doing anything that would diminish his standing is simply unthinkable to them.

  55. 55.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    November 14, 2018 at 2:55 pm

    @Roger Moore: I don’t think he has the faintest idea what a normal president would do on a day-by-day, hour-by-hour basis. When I think about it, I don’t either. Is that abnormal?

  56. 56.

    Mandalay

    November 14, 2018 at 2:55 pm

    So Kasich is floating trial balloons on twitter for running against Trump in 2020:

    Looking forward to being back in New Hampshire to speak about America’s divisions and what each of us can do to make a difference where we live. And to see some old and new friends!

    @EmmanuelMacron is right: “Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism..By saying our interests first, who cares about the others, we erase what a nation holds dearest…its moral values.”

    America was founded as the shining city on the hill. United, we can keep it that way

    Anyone else? Haley has already said no, so Romney is the only other possibility I can think of. All the rest are Trump’s playthings, and terrified of him.

  57. 57.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    So idle speculation on the end game: When he goes full Hitler-in-the-bunker and actually nails shut the door to the living quarters, leaving only a Big-Mac-sized slot in the door, who will he take in there with him?

    Ivanka.

  58. 58.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    OC Register via Brachiator:

    … it’s possible Orange County – which Ronald Reagan famously described as “the place good Republicans go to die” – soon will have no GOP representatives in Washington D.C., after Republicans lost two other local House seats this cycle.

    Making Orange County the place the GOP went to die.

  59. 59.

    debit

    November 14, 2018 at 2:58 pm

    @Barbara: Evidence:

    trump is now walking down a line of executives telling him how great he is as his adult daughter walks behind him, clapping for each statement. this isn’t how things are usually done in america and we should keep saying so.

  60. 60.

    dmsilev

    November 14, 2018 at 2:58 pm

    Seen elsewhere on the Internet, Trump will emerge from his cocoon transformed into a bitterfly.

  61. 61.

    rikyrah

    November 14, 2018 at 2:58 pm

    @Kay:

    They’re baby-men. Not grownups.

    truth

  62. 62.

    Mike in NC

    November 14, 2018 at 2:58 pm

    Feeling down in the dumps, is he? Great. Time for Fat Bastard to schedule another hate rally in a shithole state that he carried. Our tax dollars at work.

  63. 63.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 14, 2018 at 3:00 pm

    @Martin:

    I almost feel bad for him

    Not me. Not even “almost.”

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    November 14, 2018 at 3:00 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    That’s what marks him as a narcissist, not a sociopath. There’s a certain amount of overlap because they’re both Cluster B personality disorders, but narcissists are too disconnected from the people around them to be able to read them successfully. They usually rely on doing whatever they want and daring other people to try and stop them.

  65. 65.

    MattF

    November 14, 2018 at 3:01 pm

    @debit: But, you know, there has to be a real test at some point. Who, among the applauding crowd, will actually scuttle over to a puddle of spittle and lap it up?

  66. 66.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 14, 2018 at 3:02 pm

    @germy: I’ve yet to hear Dr. Stein explain her dinner with Flynn, Putin and Company in Russia before the 2016 election. That’s one odd egg.

  67. 67.

    debit

    November 14, 2018 at 3:03 pm

    @MattF: Don Jr.

    It appears my earlier exclamation of dismay and disgust has disappeared. Probably for the best.

  68. 68.

    Martin

    November 14, 2018 at 3:04 pm

    @Brachiator:

    When Trump emerges from his cocoon of bitterness, like Dracula arising from his tomb, I expect him to get back to trying to punish California for defying him.

    Californian’s are literally dying in fires. We’ll come out on top in the end. To quote a great man, “We’ll launch our own damn satellite.”

    Orange County went from being a Republican stronghold. In many ways the Republican stronghold, in the sense that unlike Alabama, Orange County is what the party of Reagan always wanted the GOP to look like. In 2 years OC voted for a Democrat for president for the first time in decades, and I expect by tonight or tomorrow night Democrats will be leading in every OC district – CA 38, 39 (flip), 45 (flip), 46, 47, 48 (flip), 49 (flip). That’s remarkable.

    On the counts, it looks like these are almost entirely mail in ballots received on or after election day. Provisional ballots come next, which I expect will be more Dem friendly, but may not be. We’ll see.

  69. 69.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 3:04 pm

    @Mandalay:

    Anyone else? Haley has already said no, so Romney is the only other possibility I can think of. All the rest are Trump’s playthings, and terrified of him.

    Right now, I don’t expect Trump to have any significant opposition. Romney could provide comedy relief, much as Harold Stassen did in 1984, when he was the token opposition to Ronald Reagan. Stassen got 0.19 percent of the primary vote.

    The Republican Party wrecked itself in order to accommodate Trump. They can’t undo the self-inflicted damage and change direction.

  70. 70.

    The Moar You Know

    November 14, 2018 at 3:05 pm

    I don’t think he has the faintest idea what a normal president would do on a day-by-day, hour-by-hour basis. When I think about it, I don’t either. Is that abnormal?

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: No. It’s not abnormal. There’s a lot to it. All I know it’s a ballbuster of a job. Ever W, who was pretty fuckin’ lazy when you get down to it, came out looking twenty years older than when he went in. He took the duties far more seriously than the current president, another sentence I never thought I’d be typing.

    I am pretty sure it does NOT involve nothing but watching clips of yourself on TV while eating McDonalds naked in your unmade bed, which so far as I can tell is what Trump is doing. The president’s duties are being fulfilled by whoever John Kelly farms them out to. I’d like to know who those people are. It is not the Kushner maggot or his vile wife, or either one of Trump’s worthless boys.

    Funny, isn’t it, how Trump was so concerned about naming his kid after himself “in case he’s a failure” and that’s exactly what the little shitbag turned out to be?

  71. 71.

    germy

    November 14, 2018 at 3:05 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: She was laying the groundwork for world peace. At least that’s how she explains it.

  72. 72.

    BruceFromOhio

    November 14, 2018 at 3:09 pm

    Don’t Go Away Mad…

    Yes, please go away. Go far away. Don’t come back. And take your Twitter accounts and all your idiot followers with you.

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    November 14, 2018 at 3:10 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    When I think about it, I don’t either. Is that abnormal?

    I think it’s perfectly normal for an ordinary citizen not to know the details about what an ordinary president does hour by hour and day by day. I’m a big believer that the ideal government is one that’s well enough run we can afford to ignore it most of the time, and that includes ordinary people not needing to know the details of the president’s schedule. I do think it’s wrong for somebody running for an office not to understand what’s involved in the job they’re running for, and I sure as hell don’t think it’s OK for an office holder not to know or care about what they’re supposed to be doing with their time.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    November 14, 2018 at 3:11 pm

    @RepTimRyan, @sethmoulton, @RepPerlmutter, @RepSchrader and @RepBillFoster are leading a small group with tea party tactics to change the rules for how House Speaker is elected.
    They are fighting to take down @NancyPelosi.

    I don’t know about the rest of them but Tim Ryan is horrible, so just be wary :)

    P-H-O-N-Y, from the get-go.

  75. 75.

    Tim C.

    November 14, 2018 at 3:11 pm

    @geg6: There’s a moment in one of the last episodes of “Band of Brothers” that’s been in my mind. One of the American soldiers is on a truck going past a huge column of surrendered German soldiers. And he loses it. He just starts shouting at them. “WHAT DID YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN? INTERRUPTING OUR LIVES TO COME HERE AND…” I could probably find a clip of it somewhere. That’s how I feel when talking to Republicans who have sads about Trump.

  76. 76.

    MattF

    November 14, 2018 at 3:12 pm

    Dems have now gained 34 seats, according to the NYT.

  77. 77.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    November 14, 2018 at 3:13 pm

    @Roger Moore: The presidency is one of those jobs where you have to structure your own day. I suspect Trump isn’t good at that.

  78. 78.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 3:14 pm

    @Barbara:

    His adult kids long ago figured out that the only way to his heart or at least his consideration of their financial well-being is through flattery.

    Trump as a farcical King Lear…

    Tell me, my children,–
    Since now we will divest us both of rule,
    Interest of territory, cares of state,–
    Which of you shall we say doth love us most?
    That we our largest bounty may extend
    Where nature doth with merit challenge.

    Sadly, none of them are Cordelia. They are all monsters on the grift, looking for the most they can boost for themselves.

  79. 79.

    Mandalay

    November 14, 2018 at 3:14 pm

    @debit:

    trump is now walking down a line of executives telling him how great he is

    I think this exhibition of sycophancy is qualitatively different from the one early in Trump’s presidency when Priebus et al had to sing Trump’s praises to keep their jobs.

    All of these executives are many millions of dollars richer directly because of Trump. They really do think he is great. The incompetence, the racism, the misogyny, the national debt and the lies are irrelevant sideshows to them; tax cuts are how you win the hearts of the rich.

  80. 80.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 14, 2018 at 3:14 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Our dogs and cats have more grace than Trump. That’s a very low bar. I wonder if Republicans will inch away from him now that they no longer fully control Congress. He’s disgraceful and keeps getting worse.

  81. 81.

    A Ghost To Most

    November 14, 2018 at 3:14 pm

    Shit Hitler is a symptom. Malignant Cancervatism (TM) is the disease.

  82. 82.

    MattF

    November 14, 2018 at 3:16 pm

    @Brachiator: Cordelia was sweet, but a little cold.

  83. 83.

    jonas

    November 14, 2018 at 3:18 pm

    @geg6: I’m always bemused by these staffers who gripe to reporters about how the president is being, for the millionth time, a narcissistic, petulant man child. “The wtf are you doing working for him?” is my response. The man is manifestly unfit for office and here you are…

  84. 84.

    Mnemosyne

    November 14, 2018 at 3:18 pm

    @Kay:

    I’m convinced that what they’re going to try to do is install a younger woman as a figurehead “speaker” and then be the power behind the throne. It’s what Tom DeLay did, so of course they think it’s a great idea.

    I still think Nancy is smarter than they are and will manage to outmaneuver them, but I’m worried that the incoming freshman class of reps could be snowed by the propaganda and vote against her without realizing how they were manipulated.

  85. 85.

    Yarrow

    November 14, 2018 at 3:20 pm

    Speak of Republicans, this is interesting:

    the blue wave of 2018 in a nutshell:

    Republicans carried white evangelical Christians by 53 percentage points

    Democrats carried everyone else by 34 points

    white evangelical Christians are only one-fourth of the electoratehttps://t.co/9ExgC9WB7i
    — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) November 14, 2018

    And as we’ve discussed a bit before, cracks between evangelical women and the GOP already starting to form. It’ll be interesting to watch that demo going forward.

  86. 86.

    MCA1

    November 14, 2018 at 3:20 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: He’s too lazy to be one of those high-functioning sociopaths.

    I’d imagine learning and then mimicking actual human behavior the way many sociopaths do is hard work and requires a longterm expenditure of mental energy. It’s not so much that his narcissism is so raging it prevents him from recognizing the patterns or faking them, but that, true to form, his laziness made him settle on just being a gigantic asshole at all times and breaking every norm available, knowing that 99% of the time conflict avoidance in others will let him ride.

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    November 14, 2018 at 3:22 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    Funny, isn’t it, how Trump was so concerned about naming his kid after himself “in case he’s a failure” and that’s exactly what the little shitbag turned out to be?

    Like father, like son.

  88. 88.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 3:24 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    @JGabriel: You are right!

    Danke.

  89. 89.

    Jeffro

    November 14, 2018 at 3:24 pm

    @Martin: Here’s an endgame for Trumpov: resign, or we’ll RICO your ass(ets). Humiliation or humiliation + broke, which do you want, jackass?

  90. 90.

    Roger Moore

    November 14, 2018 at 3:26 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    The presidency is one of those jobs where you have to structure your own day.

    Some, but not completely. A big part of the job of the Chief of Staff is to structure the president’s day for him so he doesn’t have to spend time doing it himself. The president is still supposed to set the priorities, but the CoS takes care of the details.

  91. 91.

    JPL

    November 14, 2018 at 3:26 pm

    TRUMP: “If you buy a box of cereal — you have a voter ID”

    @samstein

  92. 92.

    JPL

    November 14, 2018 at 3:28 pm

    @jonas: Some of them might have to pay the bills, and can’t afford to leave. I hear you though.

  93. 93.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:29 pm

    Trump has “retreated into a cocoon of bitterness and resentment.”

    What emerges is a caterpillar with a very small proboscis.

  94. 94.

    Yarrow

    November 14, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    @Kay:

    @RepTimRyan, @sethmoulton, @RepPerlmutter, @RepSchrader and @RepBillFoster are leading a small group with tea party tactics to change the rules for how House Speaker is elected.
    They are fighting to take down @NancyPelosi.

    If anyone is in one of these #FiveWhiteGuys districts get on the phone and call their offices and let them know this isn’t acceptable.

  95. 95.

    Roger Moore

    November 14, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    @Jeffro:

    Here’s an endgame for Trumpov: resign, or we’ll RICO your ass(ets).

    I have a better idea. The endgame is a choice between running off to live in exile or spending the rest of his miserable life in maximum security prison. There’s no skipping out on punishment for his many crimes by offering to give up his ill gotten office.

  96. 96.

    WaterGirl

    November 14, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    @debit:

    his adult daughter walks behind him, clapping for each statement

    I clicked and now I can’t decide whether to go with Wow or Oh my god.

  97. 97.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:31 pm

    @germy:

    Is Friday the day for Mueller indictments?

    Speculation is he’s still waiting for the elections to finish.

    I sure hope not, because depending on the recounts and appeals, it could be a damn long wait.

  98. 98.

    Sloane Ranger

    November 14, 2018 at 3:31 pm

    Michel Barnier, the EU top negotiator, now speaking. It seems they’ve kicked the Irish border question down the line. Negotiations to continue until 2020 with a backstop of NI and UK remaining in some sort of customs union if no agreement reached. If I’ve understood correctly, the Gibraltar border and British military bases in Cyprus issues have been agreed.

    Agreement is over 500 pages long so will take time to digest but may not survive getting through Parliament, where almost everyone hates it despite not having read it.

  99. 99.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:32 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    As long as his outrages are confined to Twitter and he keeps his hands off our country.

    He could never keep his hands off country first. What makes you think he’ll start now?

  100. 100.

    ruemara

    November 14, 2018 at 3:32 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    The most powerful man in America the world is a sulky crybaby with less impulse control than my dog. Awesome.

    FTFY
    @jonas: They’re ticks on the bloated carcass.

    @Roger Moore: That’s where I am. Exile with confiscation of assets or the military punishment for treason and his name struck from the records except as a traitor. But I am a traditionalist in somethings. Like blood eagles.

  101. 101.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 3:33 pm

    @MattF:

    Cordelia was sweet, but a little cold.

    Shakespeare’s female heroes tend to be plain speakers. But they are not cold.

    CORDELIA
    [Aside] Then poor Cordelia!
    And yet not so; since, I am sure, my love’s
    More richer than my tongue.

  102. 102.

    MattF

    November 14, 2018 at 3:33 pm

    @Sloane Ranger: Is there a summary somewhere?

  103. 103.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    @donnah:

    Trump must be strung as tightly as a bow string.

    This is Donald Trump.

    He thinks he will get away with everything. Because he always has so far.

    I would pay good money to be there when he learns otherwise.

  104. 104.

    JPL

    November 14, 2018 at 3:34 pm

    @WaterGirl: I remembered when that happened. It’s similar to his cabinet meetings where they all kiss his feet, but more evil. Give me tax breaks..

  105. 105.

    Jeffro

    November 14, 2018 at 3:35 pm

    @Roger Moore: I would definitely prefer your choices be the only choices presented to him. I think many, many charges will await him the day he leaves office and I can see him thinking he will lawyer up…but I can also see him fleeing to Mother Russia, too. Who knows? But he sure isn’t going to get re-elected in 2020.

  106. 106.

    Manyakitty

    November 14, 2018 at 3:35 pm

    Does it seem to anyone else like this has been a relatively slow news day? Especially after all the indictment hype of earlier this week. I need to see some perp walks! Maybe Large Adult Son 1?

  107. 107.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:35 pm

    @Sloane Ranger:

    where almost everyone hates it despite not having read it.

    What do you mean, almost?

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    November 14, 2018 at 3:36 pm

    I really shouldn’t be laughing at this because it’s horrifying and terrifying that the person who could say this is the president of the united states:

    “The Republicans don’t win and that’s because of potentially illegal votes,” Trump complained. “When people get in line that have absolutely no right to vote and they go around in circles. Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again. Nobody takes anything. It’s really a disgrace what’s going on.

  109. 109.

    Martin

    November 14, 2018 at 3:37 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I can’t help but see him as someone with a disorder. With a lot of disorders, the person suffering from it can’t often see the harm being done, or can’t figure out how to correct it. Depression works this was as well. You need to rely on people around you to help, at least when things get really bad. His kids should have been those people, and they weren’t. Instead they enabled him and put him in a situation that is bad for him, knowing full well that his disorder causes him to seek out such situations. This is akin to helping a drug addict find the nearest dealer. They need help.

    My wife mentioned last night why elected Republicans seem to be such horrible people. I said it’s because Republican voters demand or at least tolerate horrible people. All of those people at rallies cheering on his racist lies are going to kill him. They’re the ones destroying the GOP, not the reps themselves.

  110. 110.

    MCA1

    November 14, 2018 at 3:37 pm

    @Martin: I think it’s time for a fuller accounting again, since I’ve sort of lost track with all the late counts a week+ after election night. If those two additional seats in Orange County flip, how many is that in total for Democrats in the House this cycle? 36?

    Sinema puts the Democrats back at 47 Senators (asterisk for the two Independents), right? So if by some miracle either Espy or Nelson were to win, then it’s only a net loss of 1? That’s pretty good for the worst map imaginable.

    Anyone have a good source with an updated count on all the state leg flips? Getting close to 400?

  111. 111.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 3:38 pm

    @Sloane Ranger:

    Michel Barnier, the EU top negotiator, now speaking. It seems they’ve kicked the Irish border question down the line. Negotiations to continue until 2020 with a backstop of NI and UK remaining in some sort of customs union if no agreement reached. If I’ve understood correctly, the Gibraltar border and British military bases in Cyprus issues have been agreed.

    Very interesting. The EU appears to be doing its best to help the UK over what might have been a very difficult issue, the Irish border question. I imagine that even an agreement to postpone a resolution must upset the crap out of the DUP.

  112. 112.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:38 pm

    @MattF:

    There’s quite a long path to go before Brexit is approved, but this is the very first step.

    The deadline is next March.

  113. 113.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:40 pm

    @Caracal:

    GS needs to crawl back under the black rock that is her home and STFU. Forever.

    if that rock should happen to crush her underneath it, I won’t complain either.

  114. 114.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 3:40 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    I clicked and now I can’t decide whether to go with Wow or Oh my god.

    I think Oh, FFS is probably the de rigueur reaction.

  115. 115.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    November 14, 2018 at 3:40 pm

    @JPL: What? Has the man never bought groceries?

  116. 116.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:40 pm

    @JGabriel:

    What’s their goal? To make *Nazis* look moderate?

    Is this a trick question?

  117. 117.

    GregB

    November 14, 2018 at 3:41 pm

    Trumpy is locked away in his fortress of derpitude.

  118. 118.

    MattF

    November 14, 2018 at 3:42 pm

    @WaterGirl: Just imagine the howls of outrage if there was -any- evidence whatsoever that this was happening.

  119. 119.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:43 pm

    @Martin:

    He’s lost the ability to shape his environment

    Uh no, this is a dangerous mistaken belief. He still has that ability. But it would have to be really crazyball shaping. And that’s not really comforting.

  120. 120.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 3:44 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    Speculation is he’s still waiting for the elections to finish.

    Could be, though I’m not sure why. The point is for the prosecutor to not affect the election. Whether or not the count is complete, there are no more votes to be cast, so it should be fine for Mueller to file indictments at this point.

  121. 121.

    debit

    November 14, 2018 at 3:44 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s really a disgrace what’s going on.

    That’s his favorite line. It’s a DISGRACE I think it’s disgraceful! And you no one ever asks him, exactly what is the disgrace? What IS going on? Can you prove it? What’s your source?

    I wish our media would take a lesson from this guy.

  122. 122.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    @Manyakitty:

    Does it seem to anyone else like this has been a relatively slow news day?

    Calm before the storm.

  123. 123.

    Mandalay

    November 14, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    @Kay:

    tea party tactics

    Speaking of tea party tactics, the odious tea party animal Dave Brat, who just got slung out of office, had this in his written concession statement:

    I stayed true to my principles and did what I told the voters I would do…We are also rebuilding our military, giving them a much needed raise…

    Except Brat voted against giving the military a raise less than two months ago. He wisely avoided mentioning that he also voted for all of Trump’s tax cuts despite having a balanced budget as the cornerstone of everything he stood for since he ran for election in 2014.

    Beyond shameless.

  124. 124.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 3:45 pm

    @Manyakitty:

    Does it seem to anyone else like this has been a relatively slow news day?

    I don’t know. If Trump really is having a melt-down, who knows what the ramifications of this might be.

  125. 125.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:47 pm

    @JGabriel:

    Could be, though I’m not sure why.

    Could be he’s trying to make it clear he’s no Comey so the FBI has a clear example of how things are supposed to be done.

    Or he could be waiting until Pelosi is speaker to cut out the Republicans from the line of command when Pence and Trump are indicted simultaniously.

  126. 126.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    November 14, 2018 at 3:47 pm

    @JGabriel: Yes, this, short of Trump doing a full born Hitler Downfall style rant followed by a mass suicide of the GOP leadership while screaming “you liberals won’t have us conservatives to kick around anymore” streamed live on You Tube, were is the GOP left go with the emotional outbursts?

  127. 127.

    Martin

    November 14, 2018 at 3:47 pm

    @Jeffro: Doesn’t work that way. He did nothing wrong, because reasons. Only people he trusts can talk him down. That’s his kids and Melania, and pretty much nobody else as far as I can tell. If he did something wrong and the people he trusts didn’t call him out on it, then it must have actually been okay.

    You put that kind of threat in front of him and he’ll escalate. He’ll keep going until he’s handcuffed or he’s dead. He can’t back down because he can’t face himself as a loser. I’m not saying to not do those things, but don’t expect him to resign. He can’t. Hitler was also a narcissist and that ended with a gunshot in a bunker.

  128. 128.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 3:48 pm

    @MattF: From BBC News:

    What’s in it?

    The draft agreement covers so-called “divorce” issues. It includes a commitment to protect the rights of EU nationals in the UK and Britons living in the EU to continue living, working and studying.

    There is also a planned 21-month transition period after the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, and a “financial settlement” from the UK, thought to be about £39bn.

    And the most contentious part of the negotiations is a “backstop”, which aims to guarantee that physical checks will not be reintroduced at the border with the Irish Republic, in the event this is not settled by a UK-EU trade deal.

    Both sides have resolved to ensure the backstop is not necessary by coming up with alternative arrangements.

    Speaking at a press conference, EU negotiator Michel Barnier said if this is not possible by July 2020, the transition period could be extended – and if it is still not settled by the end of the transition, the backstop would “kick in”.

    This would involve a joint UK-EU “single customs territory”, so customs checks are not needed on the border.

    Northern Ireland would stay aligned to the EU single market rules that are “essential for the avoidance of a hard border”, Mr Barnier added.

    He said the backstop plan had “evolved considerably” and had been based on the UK’s proposal.

    The story includes a link to a document summarizing the 585 page agreement in more detail.

    ETA: One of the links is to the full 585 page draft agreement.

  129. 129.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:48 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Has the man never bought groceries?

    Donald Trump has never paid for anything using his own money in his life.

  130. 130.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 14, 2018 at 3:48 pm

    @Mnemosyne: Whatever they do they better not screw around. I don’t care so much if they elect Pelosi or some other Democrat, but if they split the actual vote and elect a Republican Speaker that would pretty much be the ultimate self-own.

  131. 131.

    Manyakitty

    November 14, 2018 at 3:49 pm

    @TenguPhule: I know…but still! Come ON.

    @Brachiator: Reasonable. Maybe they’re keeping him medicated and stuck in front of a tv playing back one of his old rallies or something.

  132. 132.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 3:49 pm

    @TenguPhule: Heh. I suppose the answer is already self-evident.

  133. 133.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:50 pm

    @MattF:

    Who, among the applauding crowd, will actually scuttle over to a puddle of spittle and lap it up?

    All of em, Katie.

    They signed away their dignity as part of the NDA.

  134. 134.

    Manyakitty

    November 14, 2018 at 3:50 pm

    @TenguPhule: This is a good rationale.

  135. 135.

    Martin

    November 14, 2018 at 3:51 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    Uh no, this is a dangerous mistaken belief. He still has that ability. But it would have to be really crazyball shaping. And that’s not really comforting.

    I think we’re saying the same thing. Yes, there are many more rungs to this ladder, but then we’re in the territory that even Hannity and Pirro start to waver and either the folks at the rallies stop cheering, or the Secret Service decide that anyone who would cheer is too much of a threat. We do have enough checks and balances in this system still working that I don’t think there’s much further he can go and still keep the appearance of support. It is possible to out-crazy Fox News. It’s not a state I want to see either, but their depravity isn’t entirely bottomless.

  136. 136.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 3:52 pm

    @debit:

    That’s [Trump’s] favorite line. It’s a DISGRACE I think it’s disgraceful! And you no one ever asks him, exactly what is the disgrace?

    I always assume the disgrace Trump’s referencing is his own presidency.

  137. 137.

    Mnemosyne

    November 14, 2018 at 3:52 pm

    @Martin:

    The people he trusts never, ever call him out on anything. They reassure him that HE did the right thing but someone else screwed up, so now they’re going to fix what someone else — not Trump — broke.

    They enable him, because that’s the only way to live with a toxic narcissist. If they can’t find a scapegoat for his mistakes, they just lay low and hope the storm blows over soon.

  138. 138.

    JGabriel

    November 14, 2018 at 3:53 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    Calm before the storm.

    In more ways than one. Wintry mix forecast for most of the Northeast over the next couple days.

  139. 139.

    The Moar You Know

    November 14, 2018 at 3:53 pm

    @ruemara: Nope. Just isn’t true anymore.

    Most powerful person in the world, well, a few months back before the elections I would have said “Angela Merkel” but she’s lost most of her clout in Germany these days and is lame ducking until their next elections. And Europe has no equivalent as of yet. So I’m gonna go with Xi Jinping.

    We have lots of money and a lot of the nukes, but we’re broken. We can’t even do the Easter Egg roll on the White House lawn anymore without fucking it up to the point of worthlessness. And the entire world knows it. It’s not going to be an American in my lifetime again. I’m OK with that, but there will be repercussions to it that the citizens of this nation will feel.

  140. 140.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 3:55 pm

    @Martin:

    He’ll keep going until he’s handcuffed or he’s dead.

    Yes please.

  141. 141.

    Mandalay

    November 14, 2018 at 3:55 pm

    @MattF: This link give a good summary of the objections from Jacob Rees-Mogg.

    Of course Rees-Mogg is after May’s job, so he’s not exactly an impartial observer.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    November 14, 2018 at 3:56 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    It doesn’t work like it used to, though, the ridiculous voter fraud claims. They beat that to death. Only their base believe it now.

    Updated voting administration laws won all over the country. People just want to vote in an orderly and convenient and fair process. The golden era of voter fraud fraudsters is over. It’s as dead as terrorism fear-mongering. The bullshit they exploit has about a 15 year shelf life.

  143. 143.

    Mnemosyne

    November 14, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I don’t think there’s much danger of a Republican being elected Speaker, but we could well end up with a conservative Democrat like Hoyer or Tim Ryan who sells themselves as the alternative to Pelosi.

    Or, as I said, a figurehead speaker run from behind the scenes by the conservative Democrats. And the “left” would be thrilled with that because it would “prove” that the Democrats are all secret conservatives who can’t be trusted and you fools never should have voted for them in the first place rather than staying home in protest like we told you to.

  144. 144.

    sdhays

    November 14, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    @Kay:

    George W Bush did this after the financial crash. Remember that? All of a sudden Hank Paulson was President…

    To be fair to W, I think this was less cowardice than being completely out of his depth. He was (is!) an extremely mediocre intellect. I’m reminded reports after the election which described him reading the speech he was supposed to deliver from the Oval Office just before going live on TV and asking why we were giving billions to the banks who destroyed the economy – and President Paulson basically told him to shut up and read it. He literally wasn’t in control, pretty much ever. The difference was that he was able to play along other times because he at least understood “war good, Democrats bad”. But dealing with a crisis of Republicans’ making? He didn’t even know what he was supposed to pretend.

    He was a much shittier and incompetent President than the media likes to pretend he was.

  145. 145.

    ruemara

    November 14, 2018 at 3:59 pm

    @The Moar You Know: Yes & no. We are greatly diminished, but there’s also the fact that our military might & our economic might is nigh unparalleled. That has not changed & is why electing Trump was so dangerous.

  146. 146.

    Haroldo

    November 14, 2018 at 3:59 pm

    @Yarrow:

    I just got off the phone with a staffer of Mouton’s local office here in MA. Moulton is tallying constituent calls on this matter, and I let the staffer know of my disappointment with ol’ Seth.

  147. 147.

    JPL

    November 14, 2018 at 4:00 pm

    @TenguPhule: He had an interview with Daily Caller and twitter tells me that he thinks you need a voter ID to buy cereal. Broward County has people voting twice. They go back to their car and changes shirts and hats.

  148. 148.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 14, 2018 at 4:00 pm

    @Kay: The exception is voter ID. Most people are for it and will not be convinced otherwise. We might have to push for forms of ID that do the least damage.

  149. 149.

    Sloane Ranger

    November 14, 2018 at 4:02 pm

    @TenguPhule: Well, Teresa May doesn’t hate it and they’ve just interviewed a Tory MP who talked it up so that’s at least two MP’s!

  150. 150.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 4:04 pm

    @Martin:

    I think we’re saying the same thing. Yes, there are many more rungs to this ladder, but then we’re in the territory that even Hannity and Pirro start to waver and either the folks at the rallies stop cheering, or the Secret Service decide that anyone who would cheer is too much of a threat. We do have enough checks and balances in this system still working that I don’t think there’s much further he can go and still keep the appearance of support. It is possible to out-crazy Fox News. It’s not a state I want to see either, but their depravity isn’t entirely bottomless.

    I think we’re in disagreement over how much further the Republican party is still willing to go. The Hannity’s may be hedging their bets by trying to appear less cultish, but its far too late for that. They’re all in at this point. All of the people who supported him have no choice but to keep going where he’s leading them, because all exits off this road to hell lead to personal indictments at best. Their capacity for depravity is limitless if it promises them being able to avoid any punishment or retribution for their treason.

    Trump still can order a military strike against any other country and the officers have no choice but to obey or resign. And the current crop of generals didn’t get to be generals by being moral creatures willing to do what was right. These folks date back to the Bush regime of GOP butt kissing.

  151. 151.

    Gravenstone

    November 14, 2018 at 4:05 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    because he obviously failed so badly at the party leader stuff, given how badly his party did in the election

    You know full well that Trump is fundamentally unable to accept blame, for anything. He’s casting about for scapegoats anywhere and everywhere. It started election night with his bizarre rant about how all the Republicans who fell refused his “embrace”. In his mind, he’s still golden, it’s everyone else who’s failed.

  152. 152.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 4:05 pm

    @JPL:

    He had an interview with Daily Caller and twitter tells me that he thinks you need a voter ID to buy cereal. Broward County has people voting twice. They go back to their car and changes shirts and hats.

    The GOP puke funnel is already insisting this is a practice run by Democrats to steal the 2020 election.

    All accusations are confessions.

  153. 153.

    jonas

    November 14, 2018 at 4:06 pm

    @Yarrow: And between older and younger evangelicals. Self-identified evangelicals tend to be white (of course) and older. You have younger evangelicals, to be sure, but they’re 1. not as numerous, 2. more diverse and 3. not the hyper-partisan, single-issue voters their parents and grandparents were. They are most certainly not at home in the current Trumpist GOP.

  154. 154.

    Kay

    November 14, 2018 at 4:06 pm

    ABC News Politics
    ‏Verified account
    @ABCPolitics
    4h4 hours ago
    More
    Defense Sec. James Mattis on why name of Pentagon mission on southern border changed from “Operation Faithful Patriot” to a border support mission after midterms: “I had given instructions I do not want to put this mission in some arcane military terms”

    Be ashamed, buddy. You used those people in a political stunt. Commandeered them to work on behalf of the Republican Party. An honorable person would have resigned rather than do it, but you’re not that.

  155. 155.

    LuciaMia

    November 14, 2018 at 4:06 pm

    Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again

    Dont forget the Groucho glasses!

  156. 156.

    boatboy_srq

    November 14, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    Melania may be channeling Edith Wilson in more ways than you suggest:

    Following his attendance at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Wilson returned to campaign for Senate approval of the peace treaty and the League of Nations Covenant. However, at the age of 62, he suffered a stroke in October, which left him partly paralyzed. The United States never did ratify the Treaty of Versailles nor join the League of Nations, which had initially been Wilson’s concept. At the time, isolationist sentiment was strong.

    Edith Wilson took over a number of routine duties and details of the Executive branch of the government from the onset of Wilson’s illness until he left office almost a year and a half later. From October 1919 to the end of Wilson’s term on March 4, 1921, Edith, acting in the role of First Lady and shadow steward, decided who and which matters of state were important enough to bring to the bedridden president.

  157. 157.

    Sloane Ranger

    November 14, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    @Brachiator: They’re outraged – of course, that’s their default condition.

  158. 158.

    Gravenstone

    November 14, 2018 at 4:08 pm

    @eric:

    cocoon for two

    Tahnee Welch not included.

  159. 159.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 4:09 pm

    @Kay:

    Only their base believe it now.

    This would be the same base Trump is trying to radicalize into going full Nazi.

    They’re already accusing Democrats of using this as practice to steal the 2020 elections.

    Violence is already sporadically erupting from Trump’s green light to hate non-whites. I think its about to get worse.

  160. 160.

    danjos

    November 14, 2018 at 4:10 pm

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: Has anyone else noticed that his eyes seem completely void of life? Freakishly zombie like.

  161. 161.

    JPL

    November 14, 2018 at 4:10 pm

    @Kay: TRUE. The idea that Kelly and Mattis were the good guys was bullshit. He also said that his mother told him stories about how difficult it was to come into the country but she did it legally. BTW She came to this country as a baby from Canada.

  162. 162.

    Ruckus

    November 14, 2018 at 4:10 pm

    @JGabriel:
    Well, going over the top has been their only working plan so far. Culminating in drumpf. Although he may be the exact opposite of what most people would consider over, and he is more like a crappy journey to the bottom.

  163. 163.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 4:10 pm

    @Kay:

    Be ashamed, buddy.

    Sadly Mattis has no shame.

    He is Starscream and determined to have his crown or die trying.

  164. 164.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    November 14, 2018 at 4:11 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: And for automatic access to the ID. Iowa Rs enacted a voter ID law last year. It was totally unnecessary, but it had a provision whereby the registered voter list was cross referenced with the driver’s license records, and any registered voter who did not have a driver’s license was automatically sent an ID. At least, that was the theory. I’ve moved, so I don’t know how that worked out.

  165. 165.

    Gravenstone

    November 14, 2018 at 4:12 pm

    @Mandalay: Oh goody a Reagan callback just to seal the deal with, who exactly?

  166. 166.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 14, 2018 at 4:15 pm

    @Kay: If the generals, who many had pinned their dwindling hopes about this administration on were really honorable they would never have agreed to become a part of this shit show. Or stood behind the President as props when he signed the Muslim ban executive order.
    They would have stood up to T like Sally Yates did.

  167. 167.

    tobie

    November 14, 2018 at 4:17 pm

    @Mnemosyne: The left has wanted Pelosi’s head for some time and the media has rewarded them mightily for the hostility. I first saw Rashida Tlaib on TV in Feb 2018. Why was she spotlighted? Because she loudly and proudly opposed Pelosi. The hate was literally her ticket onto national TV. I don’t see her changing her tune any time soon.

  168. 168.

    Barbara

    November 14, 2018 at 4:18 pm

    I clicked on the link to LA Times above and in the middle of that article read the following:

    Jordan’s King Abdullah II was in Washington on Tuesday and met with Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, but not the president.

    He won’t even meet with a head of state who comes to him. How could that be normal?

  169. 169.

    BC in Illinois

    November 14, 2018 at 4:19 pm

    I am waiting to hear from Nicola Sturgeon on the Brexit details. If, as it seems, the proposal gives a different status to Northern Ireland in regards to the EU market, than the rest of the UK, it will face solid opposition in Scotland. If Northern Ireland has access to the single market and Scotland does not, a new vote on Scottish independence would not be out of the question.

    Whether that’s economically feasible remains to be seen. The Scottish National Party is firmly committed to Scotland’s future in the EU — trade, travel, immigration, the whole package. More commitment to the EU than to the UK.

  170. 170.

    Mnemosyne

    November 14, 2018 at 4:20 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The biggest problem is that a lot of states have been requiring a birth certificate to get a voting ID, and there is a cohort of older African-Americans born at home in the South who either have no birth certificate or don’t have one that the state will accept. They were born at home because the segregated hospitals at the time refused to admit Black patients.

    The documentation requirements need to be a LOT more forgiving, especially for older people who were born before documenting everything was as necessary as it is now.

    Also, states should be required to provide a FREE copy of someone’s birth certificate for purposes of voting. They already do that for veterans who are trying to claim benefits, so let’s do that for voters, too. Remove that $40 poll tax.

  171. 171.

    gvg

    November 14, 2018 at 4:20 pm

    I think Mueller may have to wait till a new House is sworn in to drop indictments. I think the current GOP would try and cover everything up and get charges in from to judges who dismiss them, etc. If some things get ruled on, we don’t necessarily get to redo them later. I have been worried about the lame duck period for a while as I don’t trust them. It shouldn’t be necessary, but I am afraid it is. Of course some of the most likely treasonous people lost their elections, but not all of them. they don’t get the attention he does but some of them I suspect of just as bad.

  172. 172.

    Mnemosyne

    November 14, 2018 at 4:24 pm

    @tobie:

    I actually suspect that Tlaib and other anti-Pelosi Democrats may change their tune once they actually meet her face-to-face and realize they were misled. That was apparently a very common thing that happens with Hillary Clinton as well — people meet her and realize that she’s not actually the caricature that they had been told she is.

    Nancy is an old campaigner. Look how deftly she handled AOC yesterday and got her to send out a message of unity. I suspect she’s going to be able to win over people like Tlaib, too, once they actually meet her.

  173. 173.

    Aleta

    November 14, 2018 at 4:25 pm

    Re WH use of Acosta, and the hearing
    From Jason Schwartz @JasonSchwartz

    In response to CNN lawsuit, the White House is claiming broad power to choose which reporters are allowed on White House grounds — a stark break from established case law.
    “No journalist has a First Amendment right to enter the White House,” the response says.

    Significant point from WH response to CNN: Makes ZERO mention of @Acosta improperly “placing his hands” on the intern, as @PressSec initially cited as reason for revoking press pass.
    Focuses instead on more recent, shifted explanation that Acosta “disrupts” press events.

    . The Trump campaign is fundraising off of revoking @Acosta’s press pass. Email just sent out, “surveying” recipients over whether they think it was right decision. H/t @Woellert

    Acosta is at the CNN lawsuit hearing here at Washington District Court. Just walked into the courtroom. A guy in a blue jacket said to him, “Acosta, you should be lawfully hung.”

  174. 174.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 4:26 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    They would have stood up to T like Sally Yates did.

    Actually they had only two options. Follow orders or resign.

    They decided to follow orders. And once again, they will have to be taught that its not an acceptable excuse for Crimes against Humanity.

  175. 175.

    Yarrow

    November 14, 2018 at 4:26 pm

    @Haroldo: Thanks for calling! Other people need to call too. Call your reps, everyone! Let them know you back Nancy SMASH!

  176. 176.

    Ruckus

    November 14, 2018 at 4:27 pm

    @Martin:
    The reps are giving them the opportunity to be shitty people they want to be. The reps don’t get a pass.

  177. 177.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 4:28 pm

    @tobie:

    The left has wanted Pelosi’s head for some time and the media has rewarded them mightily for the hostility. I first saw Rashida Tlaib on TV in Feb 2018. Why was she spotlighted? Because she loudly and proudly opposed Pelosi.

    The purity pony left has long been co-opted by right wing conservative media and duped into opposing anyone who is a leader of the Democratic Party. The left reflexive see any Democratic Party leader (and of course, the party itself) as part of the Establishment. The GOP hits Pelosi and the Democrats from the other side, painting her and the party as wild eyed radicals. Lefty purity ponies should know better by now, but they just can’t help themselves,

  178. 178.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 4:29 pm

    @Aleta:

    A guy in a blue jacket said to him, “Acosta, you should be lawfully hung.”

    I suspect Acosta is hung better then Trump.

    When Trump is hanged, I will point and laugh.

  179. 179.

    JPL

    November 14, 2018 at 4:29 pm

    @Aleta: Trump needs to held responsible for causing civil unrest, and that is putting it politely. He is fucking monster, who will be personally responsible when reporters are killed.
    Since efg is around let me just say fuckem

  180. 180.

    Mandalay

    November 14, 2018 at 4:30 pm

    @JPL:

    The idea that Kelly and Mattis were the good guys was bullshit.

    Right, and the adulation and veneration that all “the generals” received from the media when they were appointed was completely absurd. Flynn turned out to be a crook. Kelly turned out to be a racist and a massive liar. Mattis has turned out to be Trump’s lackey. McMaster seems to be the only one to remain unscathed.

  181. 181.

    Barbara

    November 14, 2018 at 4:33 pm

    @Aleta: It would be hard to argue that they could not remove people who are shouting out of turn or disrupting an event. Likewise, they can make decisions based on trying to cover a wide range of media in a limited space. What they can’t do is allocate spots based on what someone has written. The rules have to be viewpoint neutral. Thus, the fact that they are stating that they can remove people who are disruptive is significant because it shows that they know they would lose on the broader point of removing anybody for any reason, even if they are making that argument. In a normal situation, the court would make them state why Acosta was removed and if it was for being disruptive it would refuse to even get to the constitutional issue, because it would not be necessary. CNN, of course, would dispute the disruption argument as pretextual, which could lead to a hearing on the facts.

  182. 182.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 4:33 pm

    Speaking of Kabuki

    Chad Pergram
    ✔
    @ChadPergram
    Flake asks “unanimous consent” for Senate to start debate on bill to protect Mueller. McConnell objects, blocking consideration of the bill. Flake now on flr, defending Mueller investigation. Flake effort tied to Sessions firing last week.

    62
    11:15 AM – Nov 14, 2018

    Theatre at its worst.

  183. 183.

    Yarrow

    November 14, 2018 at 4:34 pm

    Ha! I just called my Rep’s office and a young woman answered the phone. I said I expected my Rep to support Nancy Pelosi for Speaker and I couldn’t believe that after this election and the number of women and people of color that were elected to the House that these five white guys were trying to overthrow Nancy Pelosi, a woman, for Speaker. Are you kidding me?! The woman on the phone sounded so grateful for my call and said they were tallying constituents’ calls on this issue.

    Juicers, call your Reps and express your support for Nancy Pelosi! Let them know we’re out here. Especially if your rep is one of the guys listed above, but even if not it’s good to help stiffen the spines of the rest of them.

  184. 184.

    tobie

    November 14, 2018 at 4:35 pm

    @Mnemosyne: @Brachiator: Here’s hoping Mnem’s right. I’d much rather be talking about the Democrats’ legislative agenda than caucus politics.

  185. 185.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 4:35 pm

    @Mandalay:

    McMaster seems to be the only one to remain unscathed.

    He was also the only one that left without being arrested.

  186. 186.

    Fair Economist

    November 14, 2018 at 4:35 pm

    @Mnemosyne: I like the idea of twisting the right’s voter ID nonsense back on them with a national ID system. There are a lot of crazy conservative conspiracy theories about national ID (mark of the beast, FEMA camps, etc.) and a lot will refuse to get them. I like the idea of their own nutty obsession blocking their own voters from the polls.

  187. 187.

    TenguPhule

    November 14, 2018 at 4:37 pm

    Utah Republican Mia Love is suing to stop votes from being counted.

    Love, who narrowly trails Democrat Ben McAdams in a Utah congressional race that has yet to be called, is saying county election officials are not appropriately allowing poll watchers to challenge ballots cast by mail.

    https://apnews.com/7733065a8e0a4a448d46046ca50817b8

    Utah Republican behind in tight race sues to halt vote count

    I did not even know this race was yet to be called.

  188. 188.

    schrodingers_cat

    November 14, 2018 at 4:37 pm

    @TenguPhule: Kelly and Mattis were retired only McMaster was active duty.

  189. 189.

    chopper

    November 14, 2018 at 4:39 pm

    @Kay:

    when pelosi keeps her leadership after the vote she should toast to tim ryan with a bottle of “dago red wine”, just cause fuck him.

  190. 190.

    Lapassionara

    November 14, 2018 at 4:40 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: Some form of ID has usually been required, but not a picture ID. These are new and in many places onerous to get. When I first started voting, I could show a utility bill or bank statement with my current address on it. Now many states require something with a photo. For people who drive, their DL works, but many people do not drive. This is where disenfranchisement comes in.

  191. 191.

    Barbara

    November 14, 2018 at 4:40 pm

    @TenguPhule: So wait a minute, stop counting when she is behind in the count? I guess she didn’t get the right play book on how to take advantage of phony voter fraud allegations.

  192. 192.

    Jeffro

    November 14, 2018 at 4:42 pm

    @Mandalay: Beyond shameless, agreed. Hey, the Abby Spanberger store is still up and running – go grab some of that historic swag while you can, it makes great stocking stuffers!

    Also F U Dave Brat

  193. 193.

    Barbara

    November 14, 2018 at 4:42 pm

    @chopper: I am guessing that Nancy Patricia D’Alesandro Pelosi would not use the term Dago even among friends and family.

  194. 194.

    Lapassionara

    November 14, 2018 at 4:46 pm

    @gvg: I thought Mueller had to send proposed indictments to Rosenstein before filing. Is that accurate? If so, then the person to send indictments to is now Whitaker, technically. So there may be indictments ready, but not yet sent to the AG, because there is a question about his capacity to hold office and also his need to recuse.

  195. 195.

    Mnemosyne

    November 14, 2018 at 4:46 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Lefty purity ponies should know better by now, but they just can’t help themselves.

    I’m trying to remember the old cliché about a battle plan never surviving contact with the enemy. Or another one similar to that, but less martial.

    Either way, I suspect that the new elected representatives’ existing preconceptions about Nancy Pelosi are not going to survive actually meeting and interacting with her. Some of them may continue to cling to their ideology above actual reality on the ground, but if they do, they’re going to be pretty lousy reps for their districts and will end up being one-termers.

  196. 196.

    chopper

    November 14, 2018 at 4:53 pm

    @JPL:

    so…i can bring box tops to the polls?

  197. 197.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 4:53 pm

    @jonas:

    Self-identified evangelicals tend to be white (of course) and older.

    This is not entirely true. From 538:

    Growth in the evangelical community is mostly being fueled by Latinos, one of the nation’s fastest-growing ethnic groups. PRRI’s data shows that while white evangelicals tend to be older, fully half of evangelicals under the age of 30 are nonwhite, and 18 percent are Latino. In other words, change in the composition of evangelicals is only likely to accelerate — and the religious group’s future looks much more nonwhite.

    White evangelicals are wholly in on Trump, but this only alienates other groups, who refuse to buy in to Trump’s cruelty and bigotry.

    And these nonwhite evangelicals see politics differently than white evangelicals. While the largest plurality of white evangelicals identify as Republicans, most black evangelicals are Democrats. A plurality of evangelical Latinos, in contrast, identify as political independents — and they’re less supportive of the Democratic Party than Latinos overall — but they are still more likely to consider themselves Democrats than Republicans.

    Elements of the media contribute to this alienation by assuming that all evangelicals are white, and by treating devout nonwhites as though they are invisible.

  198. 198.

    chopper

    November 14, 2018 at 5:07 pm

    @Aleta:

    A guy in a blue jacket said to him, “Acosta, you should be lawfully hung.”

    to which he turned and said “according to your mom i already am”

  199. 199.

    Hob

    November 14, 2018 at 5:21 pm

    @Mnemosyne: There’s a nicely executed portrayal of a sociopath on, of all places, season 3 of Daredevil. You see the guy as a kid being coached by his therapist to at least simulate empathy, by saying things like “that sounds tough, I’m sorry.” Then when he’s an adult, you can’t help noticing that he uses the same phrase every time, because he’s still just doing it by rote.

    I think it’s safe to say that Trump wouldn’t be able to keep that up.

  200. 200.

    Annie

    November 14, 2018 at 5:27 pm

    Now that’s a little harsh on Edith Wilson. She genuinely loved Woodrow, and she either ran a successful business (a jeweler in Washington), or had the smarts to stay out of the way of the people who did run it.

  201. 201.

    Martin

    November 14, 2018 at 5:30 pm

    @Ruckus:

    The reps are giving them the opportunity to be shitty people they want to be. The reps don’t get a pass.

    I don’t mean to give the reps a pass, but if the reps stand up, then the voters will just find a different shitty rep. That is, the elected GOP can’t really fix this because they’re the symptom, not the cause. You can’t win at deplorable whack-a-mole. The only way to fix this is to take them out of power entirely.

  202. 202.

    Brachiator

    November 14, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Either way, I suspect that the new elected representatives’ existing preconceptions about Nancy Pelosi are not going to survive actually meeting and interacting with her. Some of them may continue to cling to their ideology above actual reality on the ground, but if they do, they’re going to be pretty lousy reps for their districts and will end up being one-termers.

    I agree. Right now, this is not a major issue. We shall see.

  203. 203.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    November 14, 2018 at 5:40 pm

    @Yarrow: I just called Kurt Schreader’s office and expressed my concern with his opposition to Pelosi, and my support for her returning as Speaker after this historic win.

    I’m not technically in his district, but am close enough that my address used to be in his district in the 1990s, and could very well be so again in the 2020s. Nevertheless, his staffer was polite and took down my info.

  204. 204.

    barbequebob

    November 14, 2018 at 6:01 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    good thought but caterpillar stage comes before cocoon, not after

    sorry, I’m a naturalist

  205. 205.

    debbie

    November 14, 2018 at 6:02 pm

    Nothing has made me happier today than hearing of Trump’s unhappiness. I hope it eats him alive.

  206. 206.

    debbie

    November 14, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    @debbie:

    Well, there is one thing. Fox filing an amicus brief for CNN. That had to kill Trump. Et tu, Fox?

  207. 207.

    John Fremont

    November 14, 2018 at 6:09 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Me neither, Trump spent years insinuating Obama was a fraud with the birth certificate issue. Now that Trump is being shown to be the fraud , you reap what you sow!

  208. 208.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    November 14, 2018 at 6:10 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Sadly, none of them are Cordelia. They are all monsters on the grift, looking for the most they can boost for themselves.

    And how did things work out for Cordelia?

  209. 209.

    debbie

    November 14, 2018 at 6:12 pm

    @John Fremont:

    The Law of the Universe triumphs again! You get back what you put out. Period.

  210. 210.

    Uncle Cosmo

    November 14, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    @Roger Moore: Road apples don’t fall far from the horse’s ass.

  211. 211.

    notoriousJRT

    November 14, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    @JGabriel:
    Rim Shot.

  212. 212.

    evodevo

    November 14, 2018 at 6:58 pm

    @Martin: His kids would never have intervened … Jared saw this as a unique grifting opportunity to solicit funds to get him out from under his billion dollar debt problem. Probably Uday and Qusay saw other opportunities. No, they’ll all go down – sooner rather than later, I hope.

  213. 213.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    November 14, 2018 at 8:07 pm

    @TenguPhule: Cut it out Teng, the Nazis only worked in Germany because the “Moderates” solution to the Great Depression was massive spending cuts. At the point any for sane German it was a choice between the Nazis or the Communists and even then the Nazis needed an assist from Hindenburg’s people to get in power.

  214. 214.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 14, 2018 at 8:16 pm

    @TenguPhule: The news is weird. She’s behind, but based on the sources of outstanding votes, she actually has a pretty good chance of winning if she just lets it run.

  215. 215.

    Bobby Thomson

    November 14, 2018 at 9:08 pm

    @Kay:

    George W Bush did this after the financial crash. Remember that? All of a sudden Hank Paulson was President- the free marketeers all ran away and hid as their belief system crashed around them. It was one of the most cowardly things I’ve ever seen. There was a petulant quality to it- like we had NOT appreciated him and now he was just going to call off of work every day.

    I had a completely different reaction to that and his conspicuous absence after 9/11. Dude goes on benders.

  216. 216.

    Bonnie

    November 14, 2018 at 9:48 pm

    Does any one know how much trump’s campaign rallies cost the taxpayers???????

  217. 217.

    BruceFromOhio

    November 14, 2018 at 9:53 pm

    @Jeffro:

    Here’s an endgame for Trumpov: resign, or we’ll RICO your ass(ets). Humiliation or humiliation + broke, which do you want, jackass?

    Who can spell it for him in a way he might understand it? Because this sounds like a great way to end this fucking nightmare pronto.

    @WaterGirl:

    I clicked and now I can’t decide whether to go with Wow or Oh my god.

    *shivers* thanks for the advance notice, I’ll take your word for it!

  218. 218.

    artem1s

    November 15, 2018 at 8:48 am

    @Martin:

    Extinction burst.

    the GOP has become a the Broad-Breasted White Turkey of political parties. It can’t reproduce without human intervention, it’s so over-bred for market purposes. It would have died off ages ago without constant interference. The GOP are running out of people and things for their base to hate vote against. I think we are coming to a time when the GOP can’t hold seats in moderate red states without significant voter suppression and ratfuckery.

  219. 219.

    artem1s

    November 15, 2018 at 8:59 am

    @Yarrow:

    And as we’ve discussed a bit before, cracks between evangelical women and the GOP already starting to form. It’ll be interesting to watch that demo going forward.

    Not happening anytime soon. they need to take back their own homes and churches first. they are never going to support a minority or female candidate if their own church/god/religion rejects women’s humanity and agency. they are as bad as the papists ghouls who tolerated pedophile priests but jeebus weeps if a woman gets ordained.

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