Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

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

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Republicans do not trust women.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Smashing Friday Afternoon Open Thread

Smashing Friday Afternoon Open Thread

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Well, that Rose Garden “defeat lap” was squirrelly as fuck. That’s what happens when a toxic, misogynist narcissist gets slapped down by a powerful woman.

Glad to see the news channels pivot from “Trump caved” right back to “Trump political adviser and friend arrested in pre-dawn raid.” Maybe Trump is losing control of the narrative, y’all.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

163Comments

  2. 2.

    Jeffro

    Per a comment in the last thread, I sure hope Nancy Smash is enjoying her two fingers of scotch right about now. She earned it. Schumer, 1 finger. ;)

  5. 5.

    trollhattan

    @Jeffro:
    Does this mean we have Donny two-scoops and Nancy two-fingers and Bobby three-sticks? Head is spinning at the moment.

  7. 7.

    Emerald

    That Ann Coulter tweet is right on time! The lady is no strategist. She’s gonna make sure that her führer dips below the crazification factor and keeps dropping.

    Wonder when she’ll switch her allegiance to Pence.

  9. 9.

    Frankensteinbeck

    That’s what happens when a toxic, misogynist narcissist gets slapped down by a powerful woman.

    Damn straight it is. He’s whining and claiming he didn’t lose, because that’s what they do, but he knows he surrendered and Nancy is stronger than him. How that affects him will be iiiiinteresting. As I recall, this is McConnell’s first taste as well. He took power at the same time as Boehner.

  11. 11.

    MattF

    Trump is pressing all the buttons as hard and as often as he can. But his behavioral repertoire is limited, and the target is morphing.

  12. 12.

    Raoul Paste

    I hope all of those roses that Kos delivered to Pelosi haven’t wilted.
    Now let’s get this country running again.

  15. 15.

    Kylroy

    My wife thinks he’s just going to go straight to “emergency declaration” on February 15th. I want to disagree with her, but I can’t come up with a good reason.

  16. 16.

    AThornton

    Donald lost. Big time and in public. And things are only going to get worse from here on out.

  17. 17.

    MattF

    @Cheryl Rofer: What Trump would have actually done if faced with a no-wall CR is a non-trivial question. Would he have vetoed it? We may find out, eventually– but the smart person in the room (Pelosi) figured ‘no’.

  24. 24.

    different-church-lady

    @Kylroy: Doing the emergency declaration three weeks from now is the equivalent of giving Bill Belichick three extra weeks to prepare for the Super Bowl.

  25. 25.

    MazeDancer

    If this keeps up, at the Dem debates, every candidate going to pledge to draft Speaker Pelosi as their running mate.

    Going to give Nancy one more triumph, then may tweet Abigail Spanberger “are you ashamed, yet? Apologize, and all is forgiven.”. (Yes, still begrudge her PostCards.)

  31. 31.

    Redshift

    A good part of both Trump and McConnell’s power is derived from the fact that they convince people they always win. It’ll been interesting to see how an undeniable loss affects that going forward.

  34. 34.

    Gelfling 545

    @Kylroy: The only reason I see against it is that if he thought it would fly he’d have done it by now. Or rather his “people” would have let him.

  38. 38.

    emmyelle

    New rule: any journalist that fixated on Hillary’s emails, complained about her talking about Russia, or called her overprepared is not allowed to complain that Trump is taking a giant dump on our democratic norms and threatening journalists, and they are not allowed to breathlessly report the latest indictments as if they are breaking some kind of major scoop.

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    @geg6: Stone will be on the Swanson’s Frozen TV Dinner Hour of Glower Power Hour with Tucker Carlson tonight.

  41. 41.

    Gravenstone

    @Frankensteinbeck: Wasn’t he already on Jones’ show this morning after he made bail? It’s still going to be a train wreck, but I guess he has to find receptive audiences where he can.

  43. 43.

    Martin

    This has been the most deliberately minimized presidential scandal of my lifetime.

    I’m convinced it’s because they all dismissed it as a “nothingburger” during the campaign and they can’t admit it’s big now without having egg on their faces. There was some kind of editorial decision made and to admit it now means they made the wrong call. And they will fucking DIE before they admit that.

    It’s being minimized because it’s sufficiently bad that we can’t really process it. It’s how we’re dealing with climate change as well. Acceptance is the last stage – and some people get there sooner than others. There are simply things that your brain says ‘we know these things to be true – the checks and balances provided by the media, Congress, intelligence agencies, foreign services, and the supposed wisdom of the public which is assumed in every democracy could not possibly conclude with a president controlled by Russia.’ By accepting that Trump is controlled by Russia throws so many things that not only we assume to be true, but almost by fiat have to accept as true, get thrown up in the air. It’s like learning your mom isn’t your mom or that Cole is actually a really social person.

    I think as a group here we’re predisposed to be skeptics, to question that those things that other people need to assume as true. It’s a big part of the split between how religious true believers process information and how non-believers do. So we’re a lot more open to the possibility that Congress is just a shitty idea or whatever, where others need to construct some kind of conspiracy – that the idea can’t be bad, rather some evil genius is pulling the strings to make it look bad. They’re screaming about crisis actors and we’re like ‘no dude, giving everyone a gun is just a bad idea’.

  46. 46.

    The Dangerman

    I missed it. Did he threaten the “I’ll declare a national emergency if I don’t get the wall in 3 weeks, I double pinky swear it” line? He’ll never do it is my guess still. He’d surely lose in the House and he might lose in the Senate (still unsure if he can override the overriders, but he might lose that veto, too).

  47. 47.

    Redshift

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    An aide to McConnell told The Daily Beast that, “The Leader has given numerous speeches on how a bill becomes law. One of those components is a presidential signature. That’s in the Constitution.”

    Hah! File that under “when you know your only excuse is the weakest shit ever, but you think saying nothing would be worse.”

  48. 48.

    Roger Moore

    @catclub:

    If Trump has not yet signed the bill, this is still a risk.

    I think a veto is a bigger risk than signing. A veto undermines the Republican Senators who voted for the CR. At best they bite their tongues, sustain the veto, and plot later revenge. At worst, they overturn the veto and Trump loses whatever aura of invincibility he has left.

  51. 51.

    Punchy

    that Rose Garden “defeat lap” was squirrelly as fuck

    Didn’t watch….can you gimmie the 2-line skinny? What made it squirrelly?

  54. 54.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Emerald: Why are you sure that her allegiance wasn’t always there? Pretty sure Pence was chosen to reassure the Religious Right that a militant would be there when Trump flamed out.

  55. 55.

    jimmiraybob

    @catclub:

    If Trump has not yet signed the bill, this is still a risk.
    Saying he agreed means nothing until there is a bill signed.

    Won’t be real until the checks are delivered. And don’t bounce.

  57. 57.

    Martin

    @Roger Moore: Given that the last CR that went to the WH for a signature was scuttled only by Coulter and Limbaugh, I wouldn’t rule anything out. Coulter calling Trump a püssy on Bill Maher’s show could put us right back where we were.

  58. 58.

    trollhattan

    America’s finest news source:

    WASHINGTON—Seeking to clear his name following reports that the Trump administration had overruled intelligence officials to grant him top secret security clearance, Jared Kushner held a press conference Friday to assure reporters he had never revealed government secrets to foreign powers without turning an enormous profit. “The implication that I would expose our nation’s most closely guarded intelligence without making serious bank is, frankly, insulting,” said Kushner, explaining that he had always been extremely cautious not to reveal any of the sensitive information he received to anyone but the highest bidder, as doing so could seriously devalue the intel.

  61. 61.

    Mike in NC

    In the novel “World War Z” by Max Brooks, it’s revealed that Ann Coulter and Bill Maher are lovers as the zombies close in on them.

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

    “Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally.” pic.twitter.com/erIyJfR6qP

    — Harry Stein (@HarrySteinDC) January 25, 2019

  67. 67.

    Raoul

    @trollhattan: Oh, speaking of Kush, I think his stock took a big loss this week. He was widely reported as being a key mover of the GOP bill that got the lower vote total yesterday.
    He was subsequently said to have remarked that he’d thought more Dems would have voted yes. Not the first time he’s convinced Daddy-in-law (and WH staff) to take his lead and then get lost in the knee high grass.

  69. 69.

    MazeDancer

    @Martin:

    Right there with you. Said last year that if we took the House, had to queue up President Pelosi. Did not want some newbie, trainee white boy 2nd in line.

    Though, GOP will finagle it. In exchange for full pardons, Trump resigns, Pence sworn in, chooses VP Haley, Pence resigns, Haley pardons them all.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @Martin:

    It’s being minimized because it’s sufficiently bad that we can’t really process it. It’s how we’re dealing with climate change as well. Acceptance is the last stage – and some people get there sooner than others. There are simply things that your brain says ‘we know these things to be true – the checks and balances provided by the media, Congress, intelligence agencies, foreign services, and the supposed wisdom of the public which is assumed in every democracy could not possibly conclude with a president controlled by Russia.’ By accepting that Trump is controlled by Russia throws so many things that not only we assume to be true, but almost by fiat have to accept as true, get thrown up in the air. It’s like learning your mom isn’t your mom or that Cole is actually a really social person.

    Great answer. To be clear I like predictability and process too, so I’m not really slamming them for clinging to it, I just wish they would transition. Because you have to. What worked before won’t work. It failed.

  72. 72.

    guachi

    I called Nancy Pelosi’s office in SF and left a short message telling that my father is a constituent and he and I were talking about how impressed we were. I also made sure to say, regarding the shutdown, “I love how she crushed Trump’s testicles and made him surrender.”

  77. 77.

    jimmiraybob

    @trollhattan:

    You laugh today, but what if she [Coulter] becomes President Pence’s AG next month?

    Wouldn’t pass Mother’s review. Potential candidates must have penis, be at least Faux Christian, pledge to have only missionary sex with properly sanctioned female partner in traditional amrriage, and be really, really – and I mean really – dumb.

  78. 78.

    JanieM

    From @Cheryl Rofer‘s link:

    An aide to McConnell told The Daily Beast that, “The Leader has given numerous speeches on how a bill becomes law. One of those components is a presidential signature. That’s in the Constitution.”

    @Redshift responding:

    Hah! File that under “when you know your only excuse is the weakest shit ever, but you think saying nothing would be worse.”

    I don’t think it’s intended as an excuse, I think it’s intended as the usual lying/gaslighting. Only (fingers crossed) it isn’t working so well anymore, so it just seems lame.

  79. 79.

    chopper

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    thing is, trump and mcconnell walked right into this door. i’d assume trump would cause he’s an idiot, but mitch, i mean that’s some bush league shit right there.

  80. 80.

    Miss Bianca

    @different-church-lady: I literally cannot keep up with even just Balloon Juice today. Between the Stone arrest, the airline situation, the Trump…what the hell was that thing…announcement…

    Yay-ish?

    So much winning, I’m exhausted and bewildered.

    It’s all a bit much.

  81. 81.

    Jeffro

    Has anyone asked Lara Trumpov for comment yet? Looks like her father-in-law wasn’t quite up for the sacrifice of not being able to give the SOTU. (He did, however, apparently sacrifice his tiny nuts to NP.)

  82. 82.

    Raven

    Ann Coulter
    ‏
    Verified account

    @AnnCoulter
    Follow Follow @AnnCoulter
    More
    Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States.

  84. 84.

    LuciaMia

    Myths & Legends
    1: Loch Ness Monster
    2: Big Foot
    3: Unpaid Federal workers who’ve been rooting to keep the Government closed.

  85. 85.

    mad citizen

    Saw some really bad news on my work elevator screen: Ron Howard is directing a Hillbilly Elegy movie. IMHO he’s made some really hack films. Netflix throwing $45 million at it.

  86. 86.

    artem1s

    An aide to McConnell told The Daily Beast that, “The Leader has given numerous speeches on how a bill becomes law. One of those components is a presidential signature. That’s in the Constitution.”

    So McConnell is confessing that the only thing Dolt45 knows about how to run a government is what he saw on School House Rock.

  90. 90.

    Ian G.

    I’d rather the media keep “Trump gave in, no wall” on top of the Stone arrest, because his humiliating capitulation to Pelosi will make him look like a fucking loser, and his base isn’t going to stick with someone who loses to the libs, rather than “owning them”.

    Let them sit at home drinking Budweiser and praying for the rapture next election and we’ll win 40 states.

    Stone is small potatoes compared to that.

  91. 91.

    Kay

    @Martin:

    And Democrats are transitioning. They’re adjusting. You and I both know there were like 40 Democrats in the House who were willing to make a deal and Pelosi had to tell them no, that the approach has to change in response to the new reality of an unhinged President who can’t be trusted or relied upon to act rationally. And they adapted. Trump no longer has the element of shock and surprise. They’ll get better and better at handling him. They won’t waste time on “maybe he’ll behave like a normal President so we can behave like we always have”. But first you have to accept it.

  93. 93.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    Fuck the NY Post:

    Nathan Phillips is a liar, not a victim

    Days after Nathan Phillips’ story of his confrontation with a group of students in Washington was thoroughly discredited, many on the left are still rallying behind him, pretending he was somehow a victim.

    This, even after both the New York Times and the Washington Post had to publish not just “clarifications” about the incident itself, but even corrections of his claim to be a Vietnam, or “Vietnam times,” veteran. (Turns out he was a stateside refrigerator technician, and frequently AWOL.)

    It also turns out Phillips made nearly identical allegations against a few college students four years ago.

    But full videos of the incident soon showed he was lying: He was the one who confronted the students, unprovoked, beating a drum just inches from their faces.

    In fact, video shows the Covington school students were themselves being taunted with racist and homophobic slurs by a group of Black Hebrew Israelites.

    Yet Phillips claims the kids “were in the process of attacking these four black individuals” and “looked like they were going to lynch them,” hence his move to “do something.” Why not beat his drum at the “Israelite” aggressors?

    The video also shows, contra Phillips, no sign the kids were defiantly chanting “Build that wall.” Nor does it feature Phillips saying anything that sounds remotely like an effort to pacify the situation.

    Yet he still has supporters because he keeps crafting new narratives that appeal to left-liberal prejudice. He certainly has the right bottom line, though: “Time for lies to be not accepted anymore,” he told CNN.

    Yes: Starting with his.

    Is there even any validity to the claim he was a refrigerator technician, not that it really matters. He’s was trying to defuse a situation and they make it look like he was the aggressor! Fuck the NY Post editorial board.

  97. 97.

    Cermet

    The orange fart cloud would lose face in front of his base if he refuses to sign this CR. It would be admitting he caved rather than helped those poor suffering border guards and TEA agents. What happens after Feb 15, don’t care at this point. Smash won big time, the asswipe stone is on bail and facing trials, the weather in DC is nice and all is currently well.

  99. 99.

    Elizabelle

    We have lost a jackal.

    Laura Too, at 3:10 p today:

    I only have a few moments for an update to all of you most wonderful people. I am sorry to break the news that his all to brief life is over. I thank each and everyone of you for the kind, funny, snarky beautiful comments. I have to believe that he heard Roger Stone was arrested but ducked out before he heard his orangeness for a final time. And OzarkHillbilly – do you have any idea how long that amount of fucks takes to read??? I think the poem I will save for his memorial. I will update more later, but know he is at peace and he went out knowing you all loved him dearly.

  102. 102.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @chopper:

    but mitch, i mean that’s some bush league shit right there.

    I really must find out who said it: “Pelosi is as good as McConnell thinks he is.” Mitch made his reputation doing things that are easy but nobody else was a big enough asshole to consider.

  103. 103.

    Quaker in a Basement

    Trump has had some crappy weeks since inauguration. None were even close to this disaster.

  105. 105.

    JanieM

    An aide to McConnell told The Daily Beast that, “The Leader has given numerous speeches on how a bill becomes law. One of those components is a presidential signature. That’s in the Constitution.”

    @artem1s:

    So McConnell is confessing that the only thing Dolt45 knows about how to run a government is what he saw on School House Rock.

    I don’t think so. “Leader” means that McConnell himself is asserting the lie, it’s got nothing to do with what Clickbait believes or knows. McConnell is so far beyond vile, they don’t have a measurement for it yet.

  108. 108.

    trollhattan

    @Gravenstone:
    Sigh.

    Unfair that any good person must die when this president* is president.

    My condolences to his family.

    p.s. An efgoldman special salute to cancer.

  112. 112.

    Kay

    Daniel Dale
    ‏Verified account
    @ddale8
    1m1 minute ago
    More
    Pelosi says the State of the Union has not been settled. She said she told Trump they could talk about it when the government was open, and they’ll do that.

    This is literally how I deal with my 16 year old. He’s smart so he tries to push it- “and then, and then” like out to MARCH. No way. One thing at a time.

    He has to meet the predicate condition(s), which also gives me to time to formulate MY PLAN :)

  115. 115.

    Chetan Murthy

    @MattF:

    I doubt that Pelosi wants to be VP.

    And why would she? “Bucket of warm spit”? [the VP job, that is] Really? She’s Speaker of the House!

  116. 116.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @raven:
    Like I said, it ultimately doesn’t matter. He was still mistreated by those MAGA brats. The NY Post “editorial board” (do hack broadsheets even have those?) can twist the facts all they like because the kids were white conservatives. It doesn’t change reality. ALL of the videos, including the ones showing teens in red caps harassing girls who were minding their own business the same day in DC, show the CovCath dumbfucks for what they are. The NY Post is just pissed that liberals won’t roll over like they have in the past and accept their framing. Phillips was only trying to protect them and defuse a bad situation by getting in between them. Why would he harass kids who were harassing people who had harassed him previously? It makes no sense.

  117. 117.

    Elizabelle

    @zhena gogolia: Never apologize for that. It is hard to read every thread, every comment.

    Gravenstone commented on Schlemazel’s passing at 3:44, but I didn’t see that one either. Just Dexwood saying there was some sad news.

    Some people read from the top down, others from the recent up, and some just skim. No one way to do it.

  118. 118.

    catclub

    @Kay:

    It’s being minimized because it’s sufficiently bad that we can’t really process it.

    1. How do you process: The president is an agent of Russia and Russia interfered in the election, when there are no laws to cancel the election?
    At best , Pence becomes VP – and that is not very best.

    This is a huge indictment of the entire system of going along thinking nothing bad can happen, so don’t bother making plans for those possible bad things.

  119. 119.

    Roger Moore

    @MazeDancer:

    Though, GOP will finagle it. In exchange for full pardons, Trump resigns, Pence sworn in, chooses VP Haley, Pence resigns, Haley pardons them all.

    An important point to remember: a replacement VP must get a majority vote in both Houses of Congress to be approved. Nixon might have been able to get his choice approved when Agnew resigned, but I sincerely doubt Pence (or Trump, if Pence resigns first) would get the same today.

  120. 120.

    Gravenstone

    @Elizabelle: Fast moving days like this are always a challenge to stay on top of things. Having things repeated a few times is no harm to any of us.

  121. 121.

    terry chay

    @Kylroy: Reason. He’s a total coward. He’s never personally fired anyone. He backed down about the SOTU. He’s never vetoed anything. The dude can’t do anything himself. He needed his staff to fire people (and needed his Chiefs of Staffs to resign on their own accord). He needed McConnell to do the shutdown because if that bill passed the Senate you can bet your bottom dollar he’d have signed it just like he’s signed everything.

    He’s never going to declare a state of emergency.

  123. 123.

    Martin

    @Kay: Yeah. There’s a certain amount of leadership involved in that as well. It’s important to have recognized leaders stand up and affirm that information so that you can get to acceptance. I think the response to Trump here in CA is a bit different than a lot of other states. We’re absolutely incensed by the guy, and we heard that from Jerry Brown on down. There was no ‘I guess this is fine, the public has spoken’. Instead there was the immediate recognition that ‘oh fuck, something has gone terribly wrong, we better get on that’. Pelosi is certainly part of that culture but so is Adam Schiff and Auntie Maxine.

    Hillary did more than she gets credit for. Unfortunately, she didn’t have as much support as she deserved. I think that’s part of AOCs appeal as well – she’s saying it out loud.

  126. 126.

    Gravenstone

    @Roger Moore: Likely true, especially of the House. But damn, think of the howls of outrage from the Right when it becomes apparent that they either need an actual human (as opposed to servile apparatchik) as replacement, or the alternative becomes President Pelosi!

  127. 127.

    Elizabelle

    @Martin:

    It’s being minimized because it’s sufficiently bad that we can’t really process it. It’s how we’re dealing with climate change as well.

    I don’t agree. Look at who benefits from having Trump take office rather than Hillary, who got the insane tax cut. They don’t want to upset their advertisers and sponsors.

    WRT the NY Times: they knew what a douche Trump was, and did not cover him adequately. Their constant body blows helped take Hillary out. You don’t take out the only sane option when you have a Trump as a nominee. Fuck the NY Times and Andrew Lack and Leslie Moonves and all the other horrible, horrible people out there who helped bring this about.

    It’s not WE who can’t process it.

  129. 129.

    Hungry Joe

    Trump hasn’t tried out any middle-grade nicknames on Pelosi because he’s afraid she’d come over to his house and beat him up. (And she would.)

  130. 130.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Gravenstone: sad news; sorry that he didn’t make it long enough to see President Pelosi. I don’t have a 40, but I’m pouring out this cup of mint tea in his memory.

    ETA: only poured out a little bit before the flight attendant yelled at me.

  131. 131.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @Gravenstone:
    That’s horrible! I was hoping he’d at least have a few months longer! Did he even have a chance to say goodbye to us? I wish I could have commented on that thread but I was in clinical until 2. I’ll truly miss him

  133. 133.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Hungry Joe:

    Trump hasn’t tried out any middle-grade nicknames on Pelosi

    He pulled ‘I call her Nancy.’ It’s a different kind of insult. It’s saying he can’t take a girl seriously. One of many reasons I’m glad she beat him down while the country watched.

  134. 134.

    Fair Economist

    @Mike in NC:

    it’s revealed that Ann Coulter and Bill Maher are lovers as the zombies close in on them.

    That’s – pretty plausible, actually. I think both her conservatism and his liberalism are acts for the money.

  135. 135.

    Elizabelle

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: His niece Laura read a lot of our comments to him, and he laughed at some.

    She says she thinks he was aware Roger Stone was arrested, and that he was gone before “his orangeness” did his TV spot.

    It was fast.

  138. 138.

    Adam L Silverman

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: They’re basing that on a DD 214 someone supposedly got over the weekend. DD 214s are not subject to FOIA, FOIA takes longer than 36 hours, and doesn’t function over a Federal holiday weekend when a chunk of the government is in shutdown.

  140. 140.

    Mary G

    @Martin: This. There still quite a contingent of my mom’s friends who are in their 80s, staunchly Republican, went to Tea Party rallies 10 years ago, worship Reagan and feel GWB was
    a wonderful person who kept us safe from terrorism. But they all hate Trump and did not vote for him. I have never seen a person in a MAGA hat in public. Californians know reality shows aren’t real, maybe?

  142. 142.

    Ksmiami

    @MazeDancer: why not show trials and scaffolding? We need to make examples of the entire apparatus so this never happens again- additionally, we need to either re-empower electors in the electoral college to prevent unfit leaders or abolish it altogether. Imagine if Trump was a more disciplined fascist? No “moving forward” as the GOP is a bunch of vandals and the only way to end the hostage taking is severe punishment.

  144. 144.

    Miss Bianca

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Dear Progressive Betters,

    please remind me why we needed to get rid of Nancy Pelosi and get some “new young fresh leadership”. Somehow, I’m having trouble remembering your reasoning on this issue. kthxbai, MB

  146. 146.

    Gravenstone

    @Mary G:

    feel GWB was a wonderful person who kept us safe from terrorism

    I will never understand that formulation. I know cognitive dissonance is real, but … Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!1! /tears at what little hair remains

  147. 147.

    Yarrow

    @MazeDancer: Pence is a target. He’ll go first and the VP spot will be open. Trump won’t be able to get anyone confirmed and then Trump will go. Then President Pelosi.

  152. 152.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Yarrow:

    Trump won’t be able to get anyone confirmed and then Trump will go.

    I cannot think of anything, ANYTHING, that would make Republicans impeach both Trump and Pence. Giving up the presidency to a Democrat is unthinkable.

  153. 153.

    captnkurt

    I wouldn’t recommend going there, ever, but I took a peek at good old Web 1.0 0.5 Free Republic forums, where there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

  154. 154.

    Kent

    @Frankensteinbeck: McConnell is the biggest asshole and obstructionist we have seen in the Senate since maybe John Calhoun. But he is not a master legislator. Not even in the same universe as Pelosi. In fact, is there any major piece of legislation that the GOP has produced in our lifetimes that was not a complete clusterfuck? Obstruction and legislating are two entirely different skills. I don’t think we’ve had any good GOP legislators since the Nixon or Eisenhower days.

  155. 155.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Roger Moore:

    Nixon might have been able to get his choice approved when Agnew resigned, but I sincerely doubt Pence (or Trump, if Pence resigns first) would get the same today.

    IIRC Nixon nominated Gerry Ford on the insistence of both parties in Congress – he was the one candidate (most) everyone could agree on. (Didn’t much hurt that Tricky Dick thought of Ford as the closest he could manage to an Agnew equivalent, i.e., a Veep who no one in their right mind would be willing to make POTUS, He was, of course, wrong.)

    Whoever is POTUS at the point where VPOTUS becomes vacant will insist on a Republican – & I don’t see any member of the GOP who could get the votes of enough Democratic Congressmen to make it through the House. It is quite possible that the office would remain unfilled for months – while our favorite diminutive nonna from Baltimore remained “a heartbeat away” from the White House.

  156. 156.

    Kent

    So Pelosi needs to schedule the SOTU address for the day after this new CR expires so that she can pull the plug on Trump again if he renegs and tries for a 2nd shutdown.

  161. 161.

    Yarrow

    @Frankensteinbeck: I don’t think Pence will be impeached. I think he’ll resign. He’ll do it in hopes of keeping some of his secrets from becoming public or because he does a deal with Mueller.

    I can see scenarios where Congress will impeach and convict Trump but we have a way to go before we’re there. There are so many traitors in Congress and Mueller has a lot of leverage.

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