Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

This blog will pay for itself.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

People are complicated. Love is not.

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

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

We still have time to mess this up!

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

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

In my day, never was longer.

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

“But what about the lurkers?”

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Bark louder, little dog.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Optimism opens the door to great things.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / The President’s Address from the Oval Office January 8, 2019

The President’s Address from the Oval Office January 8, 2019

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Despite what’s been leaked and teased all afternoon, I don’t think anyone really knows what the President will or will not say in just a few minutes despite what has been fed into the teleprompters. The President’s address will be followed by an official response from Speaker Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Schumer, the Democratic leaders in Congress.

Here’s the live stream:

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

240Comments

  3. 3.

    Corner Stone

    “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”

  7. 7.

    Corner Stone

    Well, you may not be able to end it but you could sure as fuck stop making it all worse.

  14. 14.

    Emerald

    Does anybody believe he’ll actually stick to eight minutes? I mean, he has verbal diarrhea and he won’t be able to resist stepping on Nancy’s time. (not watching myself)

  15. 15.

    Adam L Silverman

    The wall will not pay for itself, nor will it be paid for by the slightly revised NAFTA that hasn’t even been accepted by Mexico, Canada, or the US Congress.

  16. 16.

    DanH

    More die from pharmaceuticals than heroin. You know, legal corporations, killing Americans. Fuck you, Trump.

  17. 17.

    JWR

    @Keith P.:

    Does Immigration really encounter thousands of illegal immigrants every day?

    I noticed that. He couldn’t even make it through the first sentence without lying.

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    And there’s the blackmail demand. The government is shutdown and will stay shutdown because the Democrats will not finance border security. This is a lie.

  25. 25.

    Keith P.

    Amusing that Trump referred to methamphetamine as “meth”, particularly in light of that Apprentice producer claiming that Trump snorts speed.

  33. 33.

    Aleta

    He says it’s terrible that women are assaulted on the trip north; this tragedy concerns him so much that so he authorizes their mistreatment in custody?

  34. 34.

    debit

    The response to this litany of awfulness is “If it’s so bad, why didn’t you do something two years ago?” Lamesauce.

  35. 35.

    Carolina Dave

    So sad, so terrible. Yes that sums it up. BTW, he’s gone over his allotted time. Complete BS

  38. 38.

    JWR

    Gawd. He’s not even looking at the friggin’ camera. Probably too busy trying to follow Stephen Miller’s cue cards.

    And, it’s over.

  39. 39.

    MomSense

    @Corner Stone:

    Oh my god. I just realized that trump’s skin looks like that orange congealed fat at the top of a can of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup.

  45. 45.

    steppy

    It’s much easier just watching his pie-hole move with the sound off and keeping track of the sniffing.

  46. 46.

    donnah

    Yeah, he’s pulling out all the favorites…his scare tactics and threats on parade. What an ass head!

  48. 48.

    plato

    No way watching this shitshow either. Has Kasporov been proved right?

    A few things to listen for tonight.
    1) The words "crisis," "threat," "emergency," & "enemies" without evidence or on "secret" evidence.
    2) Framing Trump's base as victims of these threats.
    3) Blaming predecessors & opponents for not dealing with the threats, or for causing them.

    — Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) January 8, 2019

  50. 50.

    Steeplejack

    I clocked him at just under 9:30. I’ll be sending $93 to RAICES.

    And it was 9½ minutes of complete bullshit. No surprise there.

  51. 51.

    plato

    Oh, Sarah. If only…

    Advice for networks to minimize their utility as propaganda tools:

    1) Before the speech, get a panel of experts on autocracy to explain what rhetorical devices autocrats use, so the audience will recognize them

    2) Use a time delay. Check facts and correct lies during speech.

    — Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) January 8, 2019

  56. 56.

    Steeplejack

    Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes and Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC. Now throwing it to Nancy Smash! and Chuck “Good Cop” Schumer.

  62. 62.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Didn’t watch, gonna be hard enough to watch the clips

    @ TheRickWilson
    4m4 minutes ago
    Totally.
    Defeated.

    TheRickWilson
    5m5 minutes ago
    This man is utterly defeated.

    ETA: there was a twitter rumor this afternoon that he wrote it himself– anybody who watched think he wrote any of it? and talk of how well he’s done defending the border and that’s why we need a wall?

  66. 66.

    Elie

    This was a total waste (what I saw and heard of it). This will do nothing to help him with his base or move any other needle. At least he didn’t call the state of national emergency — YET. And he better never.

    He is a stinking pile of shit but dangerous to us. We had better stay ready and sharp. His sheer ruthless atavism is hurting our democracy and its institutions. We cannot endure this forever and even as I dread it, I hope he pushes his limits to a point where we can no longer deny what needs to be done.

  77. 77.

    hilts

    Can’t bring myself to watch CNN. Did The Gergenator aka David Gergen say that Trump acted presidential tonight?

  78. 78.

    FelonyGovt

    So he had networks give up all this airtime for nothing. They must be pissed. But serves them right for going along with this nonsense.

  86. 86.

    oatler.

    After the speech and the “rebuttal” came the sordid ABC compromise called “The Connors”.

  90. 90.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Woman attacks parents for not taking her to Outback

    I mean, I can see attacking them if they don’t take you to Peter Luger, but Outback? Really?

  106. 106.

    hilts

    @Elie:

    For me, Norman Ornstein nailed it when he described Trump’s administration as a kakistocracy (A system of government run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous individuals)

    Hopefully, Trump will be led out of the Oval Office in handcuffs or a straitjacket in the near future.

  110. 110.

    lamh36

    Surprised, surprised…the nets got played…not really…

    @ThePlumLineGS
    22m22 minutes ago
    More
    Great job, networks. You are complicit in amplifying this absurd display of destructive disinformation & demagoguery. You knew this was coming, but acquiesced because Trump spent two years trying to destroy your profession’s institutional role, perversely rewarding him for this.

    https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1082822587783303171

  111. 111.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Anya: You understand that Pelosi and Schumer are the two most senior Democratic officials in the US?

  113. 113.

    lamh36

    @JuddLegum
    The networks were played.

    They aired 8 minutes of newsless rhetoric, filled with obvious lies.

    The Democrats got a response but obviously were not able to correct the record in a short amount of time.

    Curious if anyone would continue to defend the decision to air this.

    1,212
    8:26 PM – Jan 8, 2019

  116. 116.

    JWR

    @lamh36: Absolutely. I mean it’s not as if they could’ve recorded it for a later viewing should it prove consequential. (But then they’d have been accused of determining the “News”” ahead of time.)

  120. 120.

    Adam L Silverman

    From the very well resourced Gabriel Sherman:
    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/trump-aides-fear-the-wall-will-be-his-alamo

    The shutdown has pushed the Russia investigation out of the news cycle. But Trumpworld knows it hasn’t gone away. Rudy Giuliani recently told a friend that he expects Mueller’s report to be “horrific,” a person briefed on the conversation said (Giuliani did not respond to a request for comment). “You’re already hearing people speculate Trump could do a deal and resign.”

  122. 122.

    AThornton

    I was expecting dumbass to throw the country into a constitutional crisis. Instead we got a Nothing Burger with stale Cheetos

  125. 125.

    guachi

    If such a wall could be built, I’d pay for a wall to protect me from the avalanche of Trump’s lies.

  126. 126.

    Adam L Silverman

    @plato: The Trump Doctrine!
    From something I wrote up for someone based on my posts here going back to spring 2016:

    In April 2016, then candidate for president Donald Trump gave a speech to delineate his national security and foreign policy approach. The meandering remarks touched on a number of his long standing national security and foreign policy beliefs: America’s allies are taking advantage of our treaty and other obligations in the national security space; America’s allies and peer competitors are ripping the US off through our trade agreements; the US should go it alone if it can’t renegotiate better deals; and only a President Trump could guarantee that the US would be treated fairly – or else. That only a President Trump could guarantee that the US would be treated fairly, whether in national security arrangements or global trade, was simply an extension of one of the major, if not the major themes of his campaign: Donald Trump would be treated fairly or else and only Donald Trump could guarantee that Americans, especially the forgotten men and women, as he phrased it, would be treated fairly or else.

    That the US will be treated fairly or else, and that only a President Trump could guarantee that happening as the central, unifying theme of his national security and foreign policy approach was actually a stroke of strategic communication genius. A significant amount of the President’s initial strategic communication approach was through tying his primary opponents, the Republican National Committee, and the broadcast and cable news networks in knots about treating him fairly. This included trying to get Megyn Kelly removed from debate moderation after he felt she treated him badly, as well as actually dropping out of a GOP primary debate on Fox News and holding a competing charity event for veterans because he did not like that Fox wouldn’t comply with his demand. And if others failed to treat him in the manner he felt he deserved, he’d deal with them harshly. Then candidate Trump threatened his fellow primary opponents and the RNC by making it clear that if he didn’t feel he was being treated fairly by them, then the “or else” would be his running as an independent candidate. This would then split the Republican vote for president, which would hand the election to the then presumed Democratic front runner, Hillary Clinton. By making this the dominant theme of his national security and foreign policy approach, he was able to make a singular through line for his campaign – I, Donald Trump, will be treated fairly or else by the GOP, the RNC, and the news media; only I, Donald Trump, can guarantee that you, the forgotten men and women of America, are treated fairly in regards to domestic politics and policy; and only I, Donald Trump, can guarantee that the US will be treated fairly, or else there will be serious and severe repercussions for the GOP, the RNC, the news media, elected and appointed officials, and America’s allies, partners, and peer competitors. Here was the simple through line to connect Make America Great Again both domestically and internationally by placing America first. It is also the essence of the real Trump Doctrine: President Trump and, by extension, the forgotten men and women of America, as well as America itself, will be treated fairly or else.

  127. 127.

    Baud

    Ted Lieu

    @tedlieu

    ·

    10m

    I smile every time I think of how Democrats crushed Republicans last November and obliterated the xenophobic dreams of Stephen Miller.

  131. 131.

    Mnemosyne

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    I’m guessing that enough people told him that it would be an empty gesture that he changed his mind. Narcissists hate looking weak in front of other people, so telling him that it would get immediately vacated and ignored would be enough for him to tell Miller to re-write the speech. He didn’t want his big emergency declaration to be a public fiasco like the visa fight has been.

  134. 134.

    Vince

    Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
    With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
    Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
    A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
    Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
    MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
    Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
    The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

    “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
    With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
    Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
    The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
    Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
    I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

  137. 137.

    Ken

    @FelonyGovt:

    So he had networks give up all this airtime for nothing. They must be pissed.

    Like the time they all showed up at a campaign event and he tried to sell them Trump steaks. Or the time they showed up for an announcement and he tried to take them on a publicity tour of one of his buildings. Or the time….

    You know, the news organizations should start making a list. Maybe when it gets tlong enough, they’ll remember the old saying “fool me ten twenty fifty a ridiculously large number of times, shame on you…”

  138. 138.

    Ohio Mom

    @Adam L Silverman: The looks on Schumer’s and Pelosi’s faces remind me of parents who waited up after you missed your curfew and are starting off with the old line, “We are very, very disappointed in you…”

  139. 139.

    lamh36

    I see folks like Tapper tweeting snarky pics of the Dem response.

    Not surprising…they’d rather focus on that rather than his net and the others being playing by Chump

  140. 140.

    The Dangerman

    Which happens first, Government fully reopens or Muellermas?

    I’m not hearing an out for Trump in the highlights (lowlights? lowlife?) and the Democrats seem firm on fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

    I thought Trump would man up and declare an emergency but … gutless.

  141. 141.

    Adam L Silverman

    @chopper: Been in one since his hand came off the bible at the inauguration. By taking the oath, he violated the oath.

  144. 144.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    CNN Newsroom @ CNNnewsroom
    “Jared Kushner, I am told by a source familiar with the matter. is making the case that after the President’s speech tonight, and after he goes to the border on Thursday, public support will grow towards the Republican side,” reports @ mkraju

    best advice Jared has given Dad since “Fire Comey. The Dems will love it and you’ll have heard the last of this trump/Russher stuff”. You can see why The Beast keeps him around.

  145. 145.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ohio Mom:

    I saw someone on Twitter say they looked like parents who just caught their teenager breaking into the liquor cabinet. ?

  147. 147.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ohio Mom: Tomorrow they’re going to ground him and send him to the residence with no scoops of ice cream and no McDonald’s hot apple pies!

  148. 148.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Cheryl Rofer: I wonder if McConnell, or someone, told him, you do that and you’re on your own. He does have a survival instinct, and even he must see that McConnell is propping him up at this point

  149. 149.

    Mnemosyne

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    He would have had to stand up and take responsibility for his actions. That’s why he punked out.

    @gwangung:

    Yes, but in his tiny narcissist’s mind, he stood firm against his enemies, therefore WINNING!

  151. 151.

    Adam L Silverman

  152. 152.

    lamh36

    Nah my dude…it’s just easier for the nets to focus on that rather than the fact that they got played AGAIN by Chump co.

    @greenfield64
    It’s appropriate to call journalists to account for focusing on “optics” rather than substance. But considering how substance-free tonight was–from Trump and from Schumer and Pelosi–perhaps we can be forgiven for noting that the two Democratic leaders appeared to be embalmed.

    779
    8:24 PM – Jan 8, 2019
    https://twitter.com/greenfield64/status/1082825496054747137

  156. 156.

    Ohio Mom

    @Mnemosyne: Yes, it could be that too. Whatever the triggering event was, the siblings are watching from another room with their mouths wide open.

  157. 157.

    gwangung

    @Mnemosyne: True. But I think the growing volume of laughter at his antics is gonna deflate his core. They’ll never turn on him, but the mocking (and not anger, either) will deflate them.

  159. 159.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    if trump has lost WEST By God Virginia…

    atherine Miller @ katherinemiller
    “Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, who is chairwoman of the Appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, expressed frustration with the shutdown and ‘how useless it is’

  160. 160.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Jared Kushner, I am told by a source familiar with the matter. is making the case that after the President’s speech tonight, and after he goes to the border on Thursday, public support will grow towards the Republican side

    Yep. Kushner is exactly that stupid.

  163. 163.

    lamh36

    it’s much easier on their egos for the nets to focus on the optics rather than the fact that they got played by Chump Co AGAIN! Let’s not let them get away with it! Keep the focus on keeping their feet to the fire for allowing this bullshit free propraganda on the air

  164. 164.

    Adam L Silverman

    @CliosFanBoy: It grew out of a project he and Thomas Mann started early in their careers when they were university professors dealing with freshman members of Congress. AEI and Brookings sponsored it. Eventually he went to AEI and Mann went to Brookings full time.

  165. 165.

    Punchy

    @Baud: WTF does Lieu have against Steve Miller? The Joker was a classic, and everyone knows the words to Fly Like an Eagle. Abracadabra was a bit kitchy, but still pretty solid. Bad take by Theodore.

  167. 167.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    my god, the bats in his belfry have split into factions and are going to war!

    Michael Tackett @ tackettdc
    NEWS HERE. Trump privately “dismissed his own new strategy as pointless.” Told TV anchors before at an off-the-record lunch he wasn’t include [ed, inclined, cause I’m wrapped a little tight] to do the speech or go to Texas, but his advisers talked him into it

    and as Lawrence O’Donnell is pointing out right now, trump/pence 2020 sent out a fund-raising blast email, to the networks were now that much more complicit in a campaign stunt

  169. 169.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @sukabi: future Republican primary candidate Nikki Haley, among others. I think she called him “quietly brilliant”, or some such?

  170. 170.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    @Adam L Silverman:

    with no scoops of ice cream and no McDonald’s hot apple pies!

    Those things are pretty good. That’s cruel and unusual punishment, Adam. But it’s Trumpie getting punished in this joke, so yay!

  175. 175.

    lamh36

    Wait..is this more than just the redacted stuff from earlier?

    @RVAwonk
    Following Following @RVAwonk
    More
    NEW: Both Paul Manafort & Rick Gates sent polling data to Russian operative Konstantin Kilimnik in the Spring of 2016, as Trump clinched the nomination. Manafort then asked Gates to tell Kilimnik to pass the data to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
    https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1082833542105780230

  177. 177.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @lamh36: as I understand it, the evidence is now there not just from Manafort to Kilimik, but now on to Deripaska. Which was always obvious, but the trick now as it always has been, is to get enough evidence that Lindsey and Susan et al have to stop pretending they don’t see it.

  178. 178.

    Jeffro

    Steve Schmidt brought the bats just now on MSNBC…the bats and the cliches and the hyperbole and damn…

    He thinks GOP officials will be breaking any day/hour/minute now. I guess we’ll see…

  181. 181.

    Mnemosyne

    @sukabi:

    I’m going to terrify you for a moment: Jared probably IS the smartest of his advisors.

    The horror … the horror …

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    That’s the narcissist talking again. Any plan of the narcissist’s that doesn’t go well was someone else’s fault the whole time. Everything is ALWAYS someone else’s fault and the narcissist is blameless.

    One of the insane narcissist stories that sticks out from my time lurking on the Raised By Narcissists message board on Reddit was the woman whose narcissist father got drunk at her wedding, drove his car into a stone fence at the venue, and refused to pay for the damage because he absolutely insisted that the bride had done it herself and he would. not. back. down. She was seriously contemplating paying the bill herself just to get him to shut the fuck up and stop calling her and screaming at her. Because that’s what narcissists do: they push their version of reality on other people until the other people finally give in because they can’t take the abuse anymore.

    IMO, the problem in this situation is that Stephen Miller digs the abuse. He enjoys being reviled. So he’s going to keep pushing his racist positions because he enjoys it when Trump abuses him AND he enjoys that liberals hate him. It’s win/win all around as far as he’s concerned.

  184. 184.

    randy khan

    @The Dangerman:

    McConnell will fold if the votes aren’t there for him. He will throw some fig leaf into the bills to create cover, they’ll pass with 90+ votes and someone will explain to Trump that a veto is a bad idea. It’s not like this is a matter of principle for him or anything.

  186. 186.

    Steeplejack

    @debit:

    He was doing the (relative) “good cop” thing of “You don’t want me to go get a cup of coffee and leave you alone in here with her, do you?”

  187. 187.

    CliosFanBoy

    @Mnemosyne: IMO, the problem in this situation is that Stephen Miller digs the abuse. He enjoys being reviled. So he’s going to keep pushing his racist positions because he enjoys it when Trump abuses him AND he enjoys that liberals hate him. It’s win/win all around as far as he’s concerned.

    Can we start a Go Fund Me to hire a full time Dominatrix? I’d chip in if it’d get him away from policy-making.

  188. 188.

    debbie

    Based on what I’m reading on Twitter, if this doesn’t get his ratings below 40, nothing will.

  190. 190.

    hilts

    @lamh36:

    FUCK Jeff Greenfield and FUCK Jake Tapper. Trump’s administration is a crime against reason, truth, and rationality and these assholes are obsessed with optics and other trivial bullshit.

    Jared Kushner is dumber than a horse’s ass and I look forward to his indictment.

  191. 191.

    joel hanes

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    enough evidence that Lindsey and Susan et al have to stop pretending they don’t see it

    Gonna be ugly.
    Loss-aversion has led them to hold the line for far too long,
    so the walkback will be painful.
    “For over two years, I supported and resolutely defended a vulgar, lying, disloyal, bigoted, criminal, unbalanced demagogue, and protected him while he attempted to loot the US, evade the law, and trade US policy for favor from Vladimir Putin”

  192. 192.

    hilts

    @sukabi:

    Jared Kushner is so fucking dumb he wouldn’t know how to pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel.

  194. 194.

    hilts

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: @lamh36:

    Trump is a criminal waste of protoplasm and hopefully Mueller’s investigation will yield enough evidence for his administration to be swept into the trash bin of history or flushed down the toilet of history.

  195. 195.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Josh Marshall @ joshtpm
    I think the full meaning and impact of the Times revelation about that polling data hasn’t sunk in yet. Trump’s campaign manager was secretly sharing confidential campaign polling data with oligarch closely tied to Vladimir Putin. Probably bigger than Trump Tower meeting.
    Another point in the Times article. “Both Mr. Manafort and Rick Gates, the deputy campaign manager, transferred the data to Mr. Kilimnik in the spring of 2016…” This suggests **multiple and on-going** transfers of data.

  197. 197.

    sukabi

    @hilts: I wonder if those 2 were on that email chain with Glenn Greenwald that was coordinating an effort to kill Eichenwald’s trump/russia story prior to the 2016 election.

  200. 200.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Golden Corral

    I had finally gotten that shithole of a restaurant out of my memory. And you had to bring it up. For those of you without the displeasure of ever eating at one, Sizzler is better. And yes I understand that is at best, faint praise.

  203. 203.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Anya: the tandem response wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I can’t really think of anyone else who would have been an obvious choice, especially with fifty-seven potential presidential candidates on the lookout for someone being “anointed”

  204. 204.

    Mary G

    I didn’t watch any of it, but this is a great response:

    What the President didn't talk about tonight. pic.twitter.com/dskGnfd8tl— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) January 9, 2019

    I like her, the little I’ve seen – she looked at Kavanaugh like he was gum under her shoe when he was trying to intimidate her, and this is wonderful. Just “cut the bullshit” in nicer words.

  205. 205.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    They had Holiday decorations that hadn’t sold on sale at Home Depot for 75% off, I picked up a Bluetooth enabled laser light show projector. You control it with an app on your phone. It has light shows for all the holidays.

  208. 208.

    Ohio Mom

    @Anya: Pelosi and Schumer did respond. Their remarks didn’t quite sync with Trump’s since they didn’t know what he would say, but they were pretty close.

    I got the feeling they were prepared for the version of Trump that shouts at rallies and that they wanted to be solemn and dignified in contrast. Trump did his best impression of a reasonable person, so maybe Pelosi and Schumer came off a little stiff. But Schumer laid on the inspirational rhetoric at the end, if anyone watched that far into it.

    I can’t be objective about these things. I can’t imagine what it’s like to believe Trump or not go gaga over Pelosi.

  209. 209.

    Ruckus

    @CliosFanBoy:
    I’m sure we’d be willing to provide one for him at this place in CO that is easy to check into but difficult to check out of. It’s part of a chain, this one is called SuperMax.

  210. 210.

    Yarrow

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Just wait until the story begins to involve the Mercers and Erik Prince. That’ll be fun.

    I didn’t watch Trump because I avoid him. I did watch Chuck and Nancy’s response. I thought they did a good job. They did look like parents who are Very Disappointed In You, but that’s actually not a bad look for this situation. I liked what they said.

  212. 212.

    Ohio Mom

    This is off-topic, irrelevant and catty, but I couldn’t help but notice Trump had his hair extra fluffed up tonight.

  213. 213.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    good lord, MSNBC is dragging Carville out of whatever box Matalin keeps him in again? last seen sneering that there was no blue wave? the man’s last achievement was in 1992, fercrissake.

  215. 215.

    Anya

    @Ohio Mom: I love Nancy Smash. I was not insulting her in any way. I just thought maybe give it to Rep Ayana Pressley or maybe Ilhan Omar who was a refugee.

  217. 217.

    Yarrow

    @Anya: This wasn’t a standard SOTU response. I think they wanted to have the senior most Democrats in Congress give the response jointly to emphasize that Congress is a co-equal branch of government.

  218. 218.

    Quinerly

    Watching John Brennan on MSNBC.
    Never thought I would be in love with an old spook.? Plus, gorgeous tie, great knot.
    Seriously, he truly hates Trump, knows shit, he can’t share that shit at this point.
    This is the stuff that gives me comfort.

  219. 219.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ohio Mom: Self defense mechanism like a puffer fish. Poofs up to make him look larger and intimidating to dissuade predators. This is also the reason for the bright orange colors.

  221. 221.

    chopper

    @Yarrow:

    exactly. this isn’t a SOTU here, the government is shut down. shit is too real to hand it over to some up-and-comer.

  222. 222.

    elm

    How does McConnell walk this one back? His only political skill this far has been to br huge, obstructive asshole.

    Up until a couple of weeks ago, he could count on the House Freedom Caucus to be bigger jackasses and dodge blame, but now the Senate has been in session for 2 days and I don’t think he has much room to maneuver left.

  225. 225.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @elm: How does McConnell walk this one back? His only political skill this far has been to br huge, obstructive asshole.

    McConnell doesn’t want or give a shit about Wall. He wants to hold the Senate for the sake of the courts, whatever happens in 2020, and toadying to trump on this isn’t going to help with that goal, and might hurt. I think we’re at half a dozen R Senators who have tip-toed out of line (Gardner, Collins, Alexander, Murkowski, Capito and Tillis). Poltico reported last night at least 25 R-MoCs are ready to jump ship. If Romney’s not a moron, he’ll play Senator Big Boy in the next two days, the never trumpers and ‘radical centrists’ can say this is the man who might have been President! and Mitch can pretend it’s out of his control.

  227. 227.

    Ohio Mom

    @Anya: Oh, I get what you mean. I think our side will (and should) give the new Congreswomen platforms. It’s a point of pride that our party’s elected officials reflect the country’s diversity. And we want to help them develop as stateswomen.

    But for the demographics of the group most likely to have watched tonight’s speeches, I think it was wise to have the two senior members, with all the gravitas they bring. The subtext of them standing there like parents, ready to bring order, will work on a lot of people, even as I found it sort of silly.

  231. 231.

    Emma

    @Anya: It would have set off all kinds of flares in several groups, not all Republicans. And the discussion in the corporate press would have been about their “presidentiality.” This needed a clear visual shout of equality between the branches of government.

  232. 232.

    Homer

    @Adam L Silverman:

    “Also, which Democrats asked for a steel wall instead of concrete?”

    My feeling is that one of his advisors said something like “in order to get the Democrats to agree to fund the wall, you are going to have to give up something concrete” and this is how his brain processed it.

  233. 233.

    VOR

    @Ohio Mom: the vibe I got was that Chuck and Nancy are so tired of Trump’s bs. They seem to be having trouble holding in their contempt.

  237. 237.

    jl

    Guess I didn’t miss much. Glad Trump didn’t try to pull the national emergency stunt. That might have brought this Trump presidency farce to a crisis and if we lucked out, might get him out of there sooner rather than later. But maybe it might not, so better that, so far, he is not going to take the country there.

    Media needs to start treating Wall like he complete fraud that it is. Has there been mention in the media that one of the negotiating sessions broke down because the WH didn’t even have a plan written down on paper for what they would do with the $5 billion plus change? So the Trump Wall ‘plan’ is worse than the underpants gnome game. It is
    Trump wants Wall
    Trump gets $5.7 billion
    ????
    That that’s it, folks!

  238. 238.

    Ruckus

    @jl:
    Trump wants Wall
    Trump gets $5.7 billion
    ????
    That that’s it, folks!

    By George I think he’s got it!
    Yes, that really is all there is to it. It’s his same bullshit but on the largest scale he’s ever tried. He thinks he’s king, and not in the way of any current kings, the old ones who could screw any one they wanted, physically – politically – financially, who owned everything they wanted – including the people, and who everyone obeyed or was beheaded.

  239. 239.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ruckus:
    And as it always comes down to: All narcissists think they’re kings, and their lives are a never ending cascade of acting out because they’re miserable they don’t always get their way 100%. Note similarity to the conservative base. They deliberately elected a giant version of themselves to show everyone who is boss.

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