A two year old quote from an anonymous Indian diplomat is making the rounds again for obvious reasons:
An unnamed Indian diplomat told Bobby Ghosh, the editor-in-chief of the Hindustan Times: “We regard Ivanka Trump the way we do half-wit Saudi princes. It’s in our national interest to flatter them.”
He later added: “Yes, it is a shame that the US should be compared to a kingdom. But that is America’s shame, not Modi’s, or India’s.”
The event that occasioned that remark was Princess Complicity’s participation in a the Hamburg G-20. This weekend’s embarrassing antics in Japan and the Korean peninsula are all of a piece.
Of course, we’ve only seen or heard snippets of world leaders’ reactions to having a father-funded knock-off bag-and-shoe peddler and her failed real estate scion husband thrust so pointlessly on the world stage. How much don’t we know?
It’s safe to assume the people at these events who know what they’re doing are running circles around the Trumps. Whatever the Trumps collect in the way of ego inflation and photo-ops is more than paid for in costs to this country’s foreign policy and trade objectives. Not to mention the reputational hit we’ll bear for generations for allowing the Bargain Basement Borgias to seize power in the first place.
Does it follow that the Democratic Party’s nominee needs to have strong foreign policy experience? Arguably, yes. On the other hand, literally anyone — you, me, either of my dogs, etc. — could walk into the Oval Office on day one and appoint educated, experienced and motivated people to represent America and start cleaning up the mess, and that would be huge.
Anyhoo. Open thread.
sukabi
Post debate polls are in.
BGinCHI
“Does it follow that the Democratic Party’s nominee needs to have strong foreign policy experience? Arguably, yes. On the other hand, literally anyone — you, me, either of my dogs, etc. — could walk into the Oval Office on day one and appoint educated, experienced and motivated people to represent America and start cleaning up the mess, and that would be huge.”
THIS is exactly the right take.
While fighting it out in the primary for a Dem candidate is important, we can’t lose sight of the fact that it’s the WHOLE administration that’s most important (plus SCOTUS picks, etc.).
low-tech cyclist
Obama won a Nobel peace prize basically for not being George W. Bush. And this country turned around and elected Trump to replace Obama.
How’s any other country going to trust us again until we have several sane Presidents in a row?
rikyrah
No.lie.told.
rikyrah
Don’t fall for the banana in the tailpipe ??
.@AishaMoodMills: I believe that Republicans are trying to move an anti-immigrant conversation and do it in a way that they think they’re slick, to try to bring black people now into that, which is completely wrong. I don’t think we should fall for it. #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/l3GpPc9ges
— AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) June 30, 2019
kindness
Any Democrat would be better than Trump on the world stage. Thankfully the worst Democrats won’t be there. You see our side pushes aside the flotsam. (Don’t be angry Bernie, just float away somewhere else)
Timurid
@rikyrah:
He should have stopped after the first two sentences.
“Well, our fascists are self made” is not much to brag about…
germy
@kindness: He (nor his followers) will go gently into that good night.
prostratedragon
@low-tech cyclist: Well, they won’t. Especially seeing that mountains are moved more easily than our Congress, even in this emergency.
donnah
While Trump is being his usual Braggart-in-Chief, the concentration camp children continue to suffer. The media will gladly hop, skip, and jump to whatever they believe will attract more eyeballs, but it’s vital that the focus remains on the camp cruelty.
I was encouraged to see a news item the group Save the Children is actively engaging some activity centers near camps where children of all age groups can be taken for games, books, and toys. Volunteers read books to them, play games, encourage physical play, and also check for signs of illness or injury.
Trump and the Republicans again ignore the results of their hateful actions while others step up to do what’s right.
germy
I read that sometimes the imprisoned children will wave to people like Warren and Harris who visit to observe. But the children only wave when there are certain (more permissive) guards around. If the tougher guards are present, they’re afraid to wave.
No One You Know
“Bargain basement Borgias.”
That’s got legs. Bravo!
The Dangerman
We’ll learn more after the Trump administration, or Trump himself, eventually buys the farm (note to Donald: no, that isn’t in reference to you buying land and building another golf course). The books (i.e., history) will not be kind.
Speaking of not kind, I think I got poured decaf this morning. There should be a law.
Betty Cracker
Seriously, y’all — this could work:
CCL
“Bargain Basement Borgias” Too kind of a name for them.
Immanentize
My operating assumption is that Trump is degenerating so quickly and obviously that Ivanka must be brought along everywhere he goes to tend him. He can no longer make the scene without her comforting and cajoling him.
TenguPhule
SMH.
TenguPhule
@Immanentize:
How could we tell the difference from his normal daily stupid insanity?
Immanentize
Meanwhile, during this whole visit, were Pompeo and Bolton measuring drapes in Tehran? Or planning their own funerals?
O. Felix Culpa
@Immanentize: Sounds plausible to me.
TenguPhule
@donnah:
Chances of any children actually from the camps being allowed there are zero. Better to fund the lawyers suing the administration. At least that money might actually work towards ending the atrocities.
TenguPhule
@Immanentize:
Yes.
Immanentize
@TenguPhule: I’m just thinking not about Trump’s behavior but why Ivanka is now at his side always.
smintheus
@Immanentize: Nah, she’s just desperate for a chance to sit at the adults’ table.
mrmoshpotato
@Betty Cracker: “I’m luxurious and classy at hypoxia, you hater and loser! Sad!”
Mike in DC
@TenguPhule: Where is he going to find enough working Panzer tanks in this day and age?
rikyrah
.@MalcolmNance shares his perspective on the horrible, new form of birtherism being directed at Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Sen. #KamalaHarris. #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/f0DByeFxAB
— AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) June 30, 2019
Yutsano
@Immanentize: I’m sure he thinks he’s grooming her to take over. He has no awareness of his declines (because narcissist) but he’s more than willing to show his incest lust toy the “ropes” of presidentin’, as he sees them.
rikyrah
Awe????
After 40 years of medical practice and welcoming 8,000 babies he delivered to the world with a song, this doctor was honored with a special day named after him. https://t.co/OZalZclYlx
— ABC News (@ABC) July 1, 2019
Bex
Given all the great photoshops of #unwanted Ivanka, someone suggested we call her Ivanka Gump.
TenguPhule
@Immanentize:
it looks to me like they’re getting bolder about showing off the nepotism. Because honestly, the pushback against it has been weak as fuck. I don’t buy the “Trump is falling apart”, his minions are consolidating power across the board. Today’s news about the USDA offices being shuffled to Kansas City and Trump’s efforts to literally destroy the OPM and wreck the federal workforce are being buried.
tokyokie
The Borgia family, as patrons of the arts, sponsored this, among others.
Whereas as Trump tends to support crap like this.
Give me le Borgie any day.
TenguPhule
@Mike in DC:
Maybe he’s going to borrow some T-80s from the Russians.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Mike in DC: From North Korea. Where else.
O. Felix Culpa
@TenguPhule: I don’t think Trump is capable of being the mastermind behind those actions, although I’m sure he applauds any and all evil done in his name. Don’t believe he even knows what those departments are, much less do. Someone(s) else is doing the thinking for him.
zhena gogolia
Just had lunch with a Never Trumper. “Harris just lost the election for us the way she attacked Biden! She’s a socialist!”
Sigh.
The Dangerman
@TenguPhule:
Why do I get this feeling this will be a gigantic CF (see the “summit” in NK where there was enough pushing and shoving to injure the Press Secretary)?
rikyrah
Kamala, Beto, Cory, Pete and Elizabeth
TenguPhule
@The Dangerman:
Well for starters, the DC roads aren’t built with tank treads in mind.
Then there’s the question of which unlucky army unit gets to roast in their vehicles to please El Fuckup.
But other then that, what could possibly go wrong? //s
Ohio Mom
@Immanentize: I’ve seen that theory elsewhere and think it’s very plausible, especially when you consider the dynamics of dysfunctional families. They usually include much secret-keeping and cover-ups. Ivanka is a bit of a decoy, attracting attention away from Trump …nothing to see here, just move along.
On a related note, I thrilled to see there is an anti-concentration camp rally in downtown Cincinnati tomorrow night. All the other ones in my region were two or more hours away and not doable for me.
Now I have a reason to break out the poster board and markers, and gather the small flags from their storage spot in the basement.
I decided several rallies ago that our side must have flags, else we are feeding into the Right’s delusion that they are the only true patriots. I like to give extras to any kids who were dragged along, there are usually a few.
rikyrah
@zhena gogolia:
Phuck outta here.
There are no coronations.
TenguPhule
@O. Felix Culpa:
That’s been obvious since 2015 at the very least.
Chyron HR
“If it wasn’t for the Democratic Establishment Rigging, those world leaders would be pampering MY halfwit brats!” – Bernie Sanders, probably
ThresherK
@zhena gogolia: Harris “lost the election for us” is an odd thing for a Respectable Principled Conservative to say, unless your lunch buddy has been mainlining way too much Bobo and Bret Stephens.
Yutsano
I r modereated. Please to help?
Betty
@Immanentize: Bolton was in Mongolia. Not sure what he was measuring.
Betty
In fact, Warren has put out a plan on foreign policy that is getting lots of positive response from the experts. She seems to have good people around her which is so critical to managing that job.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Scattered thunderstorms — all day — forecast for DC on the 4th
Immanentize
@Betty: Perhaps checking out the successful Uighur reeducation (concentration) camps the Chinese have set up? “How can they do large scale concentration camps and we can’t!”, Mustache flutters.
zhena gogolia
@ThresherK:
I said, “whaddya mean ‘we,’ kemo sabe?”
Immanentize
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Like someone else said — what is less July 4th, “All are created equal,” than a VIP section?
TenguPhule
We have a serious fucking problem.
Immanentize
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Those tanks will bog down in the mud, Sir!
TenguPhule
Don’t tell me they did Nazi this coming.
TenguPhule
The asshole responsible for Flint’s water poisoning, ladies and gentlemen.
Falling ever upwards.
Ohio Mom
@zhena gogolia:
Many years ago my uncle (a staunch Democrat) announced, “Bob Dole is going to be the next president.” At that moment, it seemed very possible and likely, if a little sad.
I probably wouldn’t remember that Dole was ever in the running — I certainly don’t remember what year — without this cautionary memory about making early predictions.
As Yogi Berra said, predictions are tough to make, especially about the future. Your pal needs to chill out.
waspuppet
So prestige around the world will henceforth be like the budget surplus/balance/deficit: an asset for Democrats to do the hard work of building up and for Republicans to have a party with.
TenguPhule
Make them stop. Just make them stop already.
raven
@Immanentize: The Mattel thing was baloney. You can see here where some VVAW guys used the toy that they manufactured for some “street theater”
Ohio Mom
@TenguPhule: The Kennedy School is a good place for Snyder, it’s a hotbed of neoliberalism. Best to have them all in the same spot, talking among themselves and leaving tne rest of us alone.
Mandalay
While there is plenty of general (and justified) ranting about a handbag designer doing diplomacy, a comment to this NYT article provided a specific example of why Nazi Barbie should stay in her lane:
Nepotism has real consequences.
Gin & Tonic
@Ohio Mom: Yogi Berra did not say that.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
You know, I can see why the Republicans might want to lean on that old standby, but I can’t picture any situation where even a significant minority of African Americans would be A-OK with putting kids in cages.
Immanentize
@raven:
Thanks, I always wondered about that. PS I love the three guys in whiteface.
ETA thanks for the book rec. Ordered.
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
He didn’t say most of the things he said.
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne: Perfect.
But he did say, “No one goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne: Well played.
raven
@Immanentize: I remember them. It’s too bad one of the main guys, Al Hubbard, was a phony. It didn’t help with the winger counterattack.
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
@Gin & Tonic:
From Yogi’s lips….
Major Major Major Major
A couple of my (good liberal) friends who visited this weekend were super upset after the debates. They’d concluded that we don’t have anybody who can beat trump. I sort of ignored the comment and resumed brunch, but their political instincts are garbage, so there’s that.
How can you think you know anything about an election based on a primary debate a year and a half out?
pinacacci
My recent nightmare suspicion is that Il Douche plans to run with Ivanka as the VP candidate (hence why Pence is left off of the new campaign signs). He thinks they’ll win, he can retire and let her step into the presidency to continue to block investigations and lawsuits. I think they’re just stupid enough to think that’s going to work.
Pushing her forward to be a face of the administration is just to make her look like a legitimate enough politician to put on the ticket.
Anyway, that’s my hypothesis. I really think they’re dumb enough to try it.
satby
@pinacacci: they could try that but the Republicans wouldn’t let them. I think that might be a line the Turtle wouldn’t cross.
Brachiator
@pinacacci:
Trump is probably dumb enough to entertain fantasies like this, but the GOP leadership would never let it happen.
It might also be the one thing that would shake Trump’s supporters. This would be the equivalent of McCain naming Palin to be his VP, which helped doom his candidacy.
prostratedragon
@pinacacci: Keep that hashtag alive. The possibilities are endless as her scope as the muse of all art. From Botticelli to Basquiat, in all ages and media, there her presence wafts. She is the contemplated of all those contemplative Chinese and Japanese drawings, the spirit of incipience of Bernini’s Ecstasy. I could go on, but the soup is getting cold. Ido hope the tag breaks all records.
TenguPhule
@SiubhanDuinne:
Feels like Deja vu all over again.
germy
Here’s a view of the Ivanka Macron encounter I haven’t seen before:
Matt McIrvin
@Ohio Mom: I remember a morose conversation I had in 2008, right after the Republican convention, during the week when the media were touting the awesomeness of Sarah Palin. McCain was up above Obama for the one fleeting moment of the campaign and everyone at the table was convinced it was all over, Obama was toast. Some talking about how suicidal it was to nominate a black man in the US. The market crash was right after that.
Ohio Mom
@Gin & Tonic: Mea culpa — I should know better than to trust what I google. But out of curiousity, what is your source — so I don’t make this mistake again?
Bill Arnold
Sort of related, though it presumes some non-zero level of competence: another D.J. Trump administration authoritarian takeover move, using tools constitutionally available to the executive branch. TBH I did not originally see this as motivating the Huawei row, but it could have been if anyone in the administration has a long game. Basically, manufacturer a crisis and use the “exemption” process to put a bunch of US tech companies on a leash, unable to criticize or otherwise antagonize the Trump administration for fear of losing their businesses. And we’ve been seeing this happening in other sectors too, notably tariffs where exceptions are granted (or not) as political favors. It’s basically “soft socialism”; probably the history discipline has a better word for it.
Trump’s decision to let Huawei buy US products is ‘not a general amnesty,’ Kudlow says (Jun 30 2019, Spencer Kimball, bold mine)
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
Well, there are people who keep pointing to the magic of polls.
I talked to a couple of women friends who surprisingly were upset that Warren and Harris did well in the debates. They are convinced that it will take a white man like Biden to defeat Trump.
There has also been some backlash against Harris for making Trump look bad.
I watched the second debate. I don’t have a preferred candidate, and am not sure that anyone really stands out yet. But I liked that almost all the candidates are focused and can clearly lay out their vision for the country. And I like that none of them are afraid of Trump.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Is it gloom and doom day out there? I’m thinking of Andrew Sullivan’s histrionics after the first Obama-Romney debate, running down the street screaming, naked and smeared with beagle poop, as some blogger said
FelonyGovt
Trump is tweeting up a storm today about New York State and his crooked foundation. I wonder if something new is about to drop.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
” either of my dogs, etc. — could walk into the Oval Office on day one and appoint educated, experienced and motivated people to represent America and start cleaning up the mess, and that would be huge.”
Yes, but will you dogs be sufficiently differential to REAL 100% Pure America while they do it to make these poor oppressed affluent Americans feel conformable?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
MyDD dot com was a hotbed of PUMAism and cries about “the Bradley effect” right up until the polls closed in ’08
Betty Cracker
@Matt McIrvin: I remember that feeling too. I’d never heard of Sarah Palin when McCain chose her, so I Googled her, and there was an old YouTube clip of her debating some fisheries issue during a mayoral or city council campaign. She didn’t sound like a dingbat in that clip, possibly because these were issues she really had a grasp of, so she wasn’t just spouting wingnut taglines like a wind-up toy. Anyhoo, I worried about what effect she’d have on the race until she opened her gob at a subsequent national event and revealed herself as a blithering idiot. Whew!
Gravenstone
@zhena gogolia: The correct response to that line of bullshit is, “Have you always been a fucking moron, or is today just a bad time for you?”
Dan B
The Chinese are not buying chips and other American tech. They are finding other sources or are making them in their factories.
The first small stones fall then the mountainside comes down.
Mandalay
@Major Major Major Major:
Well said. It’s worth noting that at this stage four years ago Trump’s candidacy was viewed as a complete joke, and he was at 1%.
Nelle
@TenguPhule: July 4, 1970, in front of the Lincoln Memorial…Billy Graham and various dignitaries with a VIP section nearest the podium. Two of my friends and I went to wave at a friend who was interning for a Kansas congressman who wasn’t there. Our friend had bragged that he would be sitting up there. An usher rushed up to us and said, “You can’t be here. Where are you supposed to be? Annie, bold girl from Ohio that she was, pointed to some empty seats further up. We were rushed up the aisle, past our friend in the Congressional section and seated behind Dean Rusk, who had a hanky on his head to protect his scalp from the sun. We didn’t stand for the anthem (my other friend said, “I’m Canadian.” Annie and I just wouldn’t. That led to some muttering around us, but nothing big. We did get tear-gassed later that day but not then.
Plato
Forget foreign policy, the totus thug, his corrupt cabinet and the traitors party have shown how the govt oversight nonpartisan agencies and the congress have become totally weak and meaningless.
Gin & Tonic
@Ohio Mom: I have read multiple exegeses of that line, in multiple sources both print and electronic, so I’d have to look it up (leading me to another philosopher of baseball, but that’s another story.) I’ve been interested in these kinds of things probably since reading Geoffrey Pullum’s “The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax.” Relevant excerpt here, book here.
rikyrah
@Brachiator:
you mean Biden?
Bill Arnold
@Dan B:
That’s another way that the deliberate unpredictability of DJT Trump administration is (deliberately?) damaging America.
Sigh.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Yes. Thanks for catching that.
Immanentize
@Brachiator:
Huh? I think your slip is showing….
NY Robbin
@TenguPhule:
Not just CBP & ICE, but just about all law enforcement in this country is past due for a serious reckoning.
Immanentize
@Brachiator: Ah, rikyrah caught it for ya.
rikyrah
@FelonyGovt:
Lapassionara
@Brachiator: If I am not mistaken, the VP cannot be from the same state as the president.
Lapassionara
@Bill Arnold: I think it is deliberate. I think Putin is calling the shots here, not Trump.
Mandalay
@Brachiator:
Big deal. Biden is supposedly not afraid of Trump, but he crumpled like a cheap suit when Harris went after him. Sure he blustered, but it was ineffective.
Not being afraid of Trump is a prerequisite for all candidates, but being able to take the vicious attacks that Trump and his team will surely throw, and then successfully fight back, is the real test.
I can’t make my mind up on how Buttigieg would react to Trump’s attacks. Perhaps he would crumple as well, but I suspect that he might be cooler than ice and harder than granite.
rikyrah
?Despite William Barr’s plea for a delay, a Federal judge decides to “let doctors into child migrant detention centers, quickly.” The Judge called the conditions DEPLORABLE‼️ https://t.co/6Ge1b6WHGQ
— Venture Capital (@kelly2277) June 30, 2019
James E Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I forgot all about that. Strange how that guy lost his mind. He was one of the originals, back when this blogging thing looked like it might be how Democrats could get around the fact that the Republicans own the press/media. Good times.
rikyrah
U.S. Border Patrol migrant camp from above https://t.co/QgN0yDIO62 via @Reuters
— Patrick Gilmore (@PatrickGilmore) July 1, 2019
Jeffro
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
If ever there was an appropriate B-movie end to this C-list farce of a presidency, a lightning strike at the climax of his speech would be it.
Please FSM…I’ve been really, really good…just this once?
Kay
I’m glad there’s a clear rule. It will help when the Trump hires fan out to friendly media to defend their public employee supporters. I would prefer an independent investigation, though. I don’t think the public has competent or ethical representation.
rikyrah
“The cell was so crowded the men could not lie down to sleep.”
“While this particular El Paso facility … did have formula and baby food for children, it did not have soft mats for them to sleep on or clean clothing.”
These are atrocities! https://t.co/Bm05K2Uf1r
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) July 1, 2019
rikyrah
After I forced myself into a cell w/ women&began speaking to them, one of them described their treatment at the hands of officers as “psychological warfare” – waking them at odd hours for no reason, calling them wh*res, etc.
Tell me what about that is due to a “lack of funding?”
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 1, 2019
SiubhanDuinne
@Lapassionara:
I believe Jarvanka are residents of New Jersey. Could be wrong, though.
Jim Parish
@Lapassionara: Not quite. “The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; ” (12th amendment) – in this case, the New York electors would not be allowed to vote for both Donald and Ivanka, but they aren’t going to anyway, barring some catastrophic ballot-meddling.
Steve in the ATL
@Nelle:
If I had a nickel for every time….
Jeffro
@Brachiator:
Assumes facts not in evidence, not in evidence at all…I’m serious. His supporters most definitely would go for it. They’ll embrace anything. Ivanka for VP and then president after that? That’s not even a big ‘ask’ for them.
The thing is, what would Pence do if he were booted off the ticket? I mean, for some of that sweet, sweet Russian oligarch money I’m almost sure he’d skedaddle and say not a word. ‘Almost’ being the key word here…
Plato
rikyrah
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) Tweeted:
Now I’ve seen the inside of these facilities.
It’s not just the kids. It’s everyone. People drinking out of toilets, officers laughing in front of members Congress.
I brought it up to their superiors. They said “officers are under stress & act out sometimes.” No accountability. https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1145764653835964419?s=17
satby
@Mandalay:
He’s done pretty well so far.
Uncle Cosmo
@Immanentize: Another thing he said:
(This according to their son Dale, an infielder in the Pirates spring training camp sometime in the early 1970s. Remembered from a newspaper article at the time.)
Uncle Cosmo
@Uncle Cosmo: Another story from that same article (which Dale prefaced by saying, You know, he really didn’t say all that crazy stuff – but…):
Even after 45 years, some things you Just. Don’t. Forget…
Brachiator
@Mandalay:
Actually, I liked how Biden attacked Trump as well, and see this as separate from what happened between him and Harris.
Okay, let me expand on this. During the second debate a number of candidates demonstrated that they knew where to hit at Trump. They showed that they will not just follow his lead or wait to react to him.
Trump always likes to set the terms of the debate, to try to define his opponents and make them waste time defending themselves. I see signs that these candidates won’t fall for this bullshit.
Also, I am not that concerned about the “vicious attacks” that Trump and his team will throw at the Democrats. Trump is a one trick pony. He tries to come up with derisive nicknames. And he lies like a motherfucker. His bag of tricks ain’t that impressive.
The Democrats should know that they have to go at Trump with everything they’ve got. Rattle him, tear him down and openly call him out for the fraud that he is, and tear down the fantasy that he cares about America. They can nail him with his own record.
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator: general election polls being, of course, kind of useless at this juncture.
zhena gogolia
@Ohio Mom:
He told me I needed to “calm down” because I was so upset about the Putin-Trump lovefest.
Immanentize
@Uncle Cosmo: ok that streaker one was excellent!
Kay
@Plato:
That shocks me. “Some” doesn’t shock me, but half? And they’re all violating a specific rule so they’ve been warned.
They have to fire some managers or it will continue. It’s systemic. They see nothing wrong with going after members of congress- not that members of congress are more important than the ordinary people they threaten and insult, but that they need members of Congress to continue to pour more and more money in. They’re out of control.
Ella in New Mexico
@Immanentize
THIS.
Javanka is there to keep everyone from knowing just how bad his mental decline is. I’m guessing she makes sure he takes his pills and whispers sweet, soothing nothings in his ear when he’s sundowning–which happes round-the-clock on these trips because his Circadian rhythm is completely fucked up from moving through all the time zones.
Now if someone could tell me just what the everloving FUCK Tucker Carlson’s purpose was on this trip
Brachiator
@Jeffro:
We are both speculating here. There are no facts involved.
I think that his base love Trump. I don’t think that they love his family to the same degree.
Fortunately, I don’t think that we will ever see this attempted.
What could Pence say or do?
BTW. The GOP leadership know Pence. They don’t know Ivanka and probably think she is too liberal.
Bill Arnold
@Lapassionara:
Not sure. Kudlow seems all-in on the trade war BS. There could be people playing derivatives, though DJT’s trade-related tweets are (can be) unpredictable.
danielx
Today’s win on the intertubes.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mandalay: Biden would have no problem standing up to Trump. His problem at the debate was that he was hit on something where he knows he was in the wrong and he was hit by the exact kind of person to whom he couldn’t offer a half-assed answer. He should have said that his intentions were good during the busing controversy, but that he was wrong back then and has learn from his mistakes. He has a lot of good will built up among Dems, and he could have rolled with the punch.
Trump has worse record on every issue where Biden has soft spots. Trump couldn’t do what Harris did. There is no issue that decent people care about where Trump can claim the high ground; he is in the gutter on everything.
West of the Rockies
This will be a bit crude, but here goes…
We see (with recorded video proof and expert analysis) the Trump clan stumbling out of the bathroom, trailing soiled toilet paper. A stench wafts out after them. They’re picking their noses and spewing racist rhetoric. That is what we see,
Republicans, however, see a grand processional of stately royals who speak and gesture with eloquence.
It is baffling.
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
That has never stopped anyone from using them or quoting them.
danielx
@zhena gogolia:
It is tempting to respond “Right. You may not have noticed, but this whole capitalism deal hasn’t been working as advertised for quite some time now.”
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
Decimation is the only solution. And I am indeed referring to the original Roman version of it.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Just saw that ProPublica piece and posted about it. Jesus Christ.
Jeffro
@Brachiator:
They just need a figurehead who ‘knows how to use a pen’, at least I think that was the quote? She can sign tax cut legislation and make whatever judicial nominations that the Federalist Society puts in front of her, and that’s all they need. Why not? The supposedly ‘liberal’ trumpov has done just fine holding up his end of their bargain and the GOP leadership has been just fine with everything he does. Ivanka’s actually more stable than the ‘stable genius’.
Plus, from both trumpov’s and party leaders’ perspectives (but especially trumpov’s)…you KNOW she’ll be fine pardoning her own dad.
rikyrah
@Omnes Omnibus:
YEP
japa21
@rikyrah: I’ve seen photos of refugee camps in the Middle East that look better.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
Nazi see, Nazi do. The cancer has gone terminal.
pluky
@Mnemosyne: basically none because we know who’s next.
Yutsano
Survivors of the Borgia family lineage on line 2 for you Ms. Cracker.
Brachiator
@Jeffro:
You assume that Ivanka would be as compliant as her Dear Daddy. But apart from her being Daddy’s Little Love Doll, nobody really knows anything about her.
ETA Any Republican who succeeded Trump would pardon him. And Putin will give him a Hero of Russia medal.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: And they are pissed.
Yutsano
@Brachiator: Even if it takes 8 or even 12 years, that pardon will be part of the Republican platform. Which is why the state charges/convictions will be even more crucial.
Brachiator
@Yutsano:
During the second debate, candidates were asked what is the very first thing that they would do after being inaugurated.
I would love it if one of them said that the first thing that they would do would be to have Trump arrested and taken into custody.
Mnemosyne
@pluky:
I mean, you’ll always find, like, 3 people willing to toe the line, or Diamond & Pearl (or whatever they’re called) wouldn’t exist.
But voting-wise it would be like the 3 percent of Black women who voted for Trump. Negligible.
Jeffro
@Brachiator:
Somehow I am not sensing a “closet liberal waiting to be born” vibe from Princess Complicity. More like “whatever it takes to keep the grift going”. She’s the one whose first outburst to Ivana, upon hearing that she and the donald were getting a divorce, were something along the lines of “I won’t be able to be a trump/be rich anymore?!?!”
She DGAF about anything but her lifestyle/money. Sure as shit she’d sign whatever the Evil Party hands her to sign, if it meant keeping the big bucks rolling in and investigators out.
Brachiator
@Jeffro:
I get your distaste for Ivanka, or Daddy’s Sidepiece Fantasy. I agree.
But there ain’t a chance in hell that she is going to be the VP pick, so I don’t think that there is much point in long speculation about what she might do as president.
She would also have to get elected.
How old will Chelsea Clinton be in 2024?
japa21
@Brachiator: Which would, in my eyes, automatically disqualify that person.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: Diamond and Pearl are white Prince groupies from videos like Cream and Get Off.
Diamond and Silk are the fuckwits
Omnes Omnibus
@Brachiator: 44. Born in February of 1980.
Miss Bianca
“Lucretia Bourgeois”
LOL, Eric Idle for the win!
KSinMA
@raven: Oh Lord, those pictures. Thanks for posting them.
pinacacci
@prostratedragon: I have no idea what you’re talking about. But you sure are erudite.
Chris Johnson
@Ella in New Mexico:
You’re shittin’ me. Really?
I’ll take your word for it. And I could tell you but I don’t know, I’m just trying to read the tea leaves.
Trump obsessively watches Tucker Carlson because Tucker Carlson is a Russian mole who gives Trump instructions by ranting about whichever things Putin wants Trump to be ranting about. He is the giver of instructions (Melania is the minder) and fully aware of the role he plays. If he is accompanying Trump on trips it’s because he has an easier time getting away and being briefed by Putin’s people, whereas Trump has limited abilities to go and meet in private with Russians (as in, secretly, not ‘in the open with only Russian media present’). Also, Tucker Carlson is a more trustworthy agent, Trump is demented and was always a brat. Much like Pence, Tucker Carlson is capable of playing a role and following instructions.
They’re all playing a dangerous game, but then this was always a dangerous game and it doesn’t worry them. It must be pretty exciting. For them. (for us, it’s more ‘appalling’)
So that would be a very solid reason for Tucker Carlson to go along, even when it makes no rational sense to his cover story. His role is more important than some job at Fox (which is itself pretty solidly owned, but there will be those—Carlson, Pence, McConnell—who are capable of more significant roles.
HuCat
Bargain Basement Borgias? I just read a JOHN le CARRÉ about The Three Bees (who would be wholly interchangeable with your 3Bs), “The Constant Gardener.”