Her Majesty’s Ambassador assessed Trump:
CNN — Cables sent from the United Kingdom’s Ambassador to the United States to the British Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) describe President Donald Trump as “inept,” “insecure” and “incompetent,” a UK government official confirms to CNN.
The cables were leaked to and first published by the Daily Mail.
“The British public would expect our Ambassadors to provide Ministers with an honest, unvarnished assessment of the politics in their country. Their views are not necessarily the views of Ministers or indeed the government. But we pay them to be candid…” [British FCO statement]
No lies detected!
Once upon a time, this would have been a huge deal, such (well-deserved!) contempt from an important ally. It may not even be a front page story tomorrow.
Open thread!
Chyron HR
FAKE NEWS from a FAKE COUNTRY! Your Favorite President will begin bombing immediately! Thank you Mister President!
Baud
Then why did they sugarcoat their analysis of Trump?
smintheus
link to Daily Mail article
Keith P.
They forgot “incestuous”.
trollhattan
That’s quite the scoop. I mean feeling it necessary to report back that he’s “inept,” “insecure” and “incompetent.”
One is not surprised.
smintheus
dexwood
Inept, insecure, incompetent – it’s a beginning. So many more words can be added.
debbie
@smintheus:
The Ambassador was prescient.
Baud
They’re just still bad that we kicked their ass when they tried to take over our airports.
Betty Cracker
@smintheus: Thank you! The mobile interface won’t allow me to do links sometimes. ?
FelonyGovt
And this is our ally. The not-so-friendly countries have also reached this conclusion and are using it to their advantage.
John Revolta
“I’m not like everyone says, like inept! I’m ept! I’m epter than anybody, I can tell you that! Some people say I’m the eptest President there ever was!”
Baud
@Baud:
Bad=mad
Emerald
I do Airbnb, and I get guests from all over the world. Just hosted a man from Switzerland, who said that we have become a complete laughingstock, and that our power over the rest of the world is gone.
I responded that Putin had truly won, and he agreed.
(usually isn’t a good idea to talk politics with your guests, but this guy brought it up)
Steve in the ATL
Wait a minute—did they get that from my performance review last year?!
chris
Some version of this cable will have been sent from almost every embassy in Washington. (I’d like to see the Canadian one!) Vlad will now leak the Russian ambassador’s take: Best President Ever!!!11!!
Ceci n est pas mon nym
On our recent overseas trip, we mostly avoided discussion of American politics, but when it came up we made no secret of our contempt for him either.
The ungodly apocalyptic heat was more on people’s minds than politics.
smintheus
@Betty Cracker: yw. Often I can barely get the mobile interface to show me the posts.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: They would have taken them over, but they got stuck in a TSA line.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
They should have signed up for TSA precheck.
smintheus
@Emerald: OTOH, Switzerland hasn’t been taken seriously since The Third Man.
Betty Cracker
@smintheus: Let’s hope the rebuild fixes that mess!
MattF
But… not necessarily!
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@?BillinGlendaleCA: At least one critical battle was lost because half the British troops were given only an hour and a half to change planes and terminals at Heathrow and missed their connection. British Airways booked them on another flight 48 hours later and all they found was empty fields when they got to their destination.
(No, this historic note is not influenced by anything BA “operated by American Airlines” ever did to me, why do you ask?)
Cacti
Between Brexit and trying to provoke a war with their former imperial colony of Iran, I’d say the limeys should clean their own house before worrying about ours.
Gin & Tonic
Haven’t read the earlier threads so I don’t know if it’s been mentioned, but João Gilberto has died. RIP.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Our national women’s cricket team also recently beat them in cricket, and will beat the Dutch in cricket tomorrow.
Raoul Paste
Not only will this not be on the front page of my Ohio newspaper, I’d be surprised if it appears at all.
Gotta keep the scam going.
mrmoshpotato
@dexwood:
What other words could be added? Certainly not ‘Fat, orange fascist, Soviet shitpile mobster conman who’s been sucking the Kremlin’s ass since at least 1987’. No, definitely not that.
Mr Stagger Lee
Not trying to defend Trump Don ILL but can the UK talk when Boris Johnson becomes PM? After the hard Brexit?
tobie
I saw that story earlier. Quite something. This may be old news but I gather from the Daily Beast that Jeffrey Epstein of multiple sexual assault fame was arrested on Saturday, though it’s just being reported this evening. The arrest is for sex trafficking. Hopefully there will be some justice for all the girls and young women he harmed. May Azar & Dershowitz go down with him.
Betty Cracker
Jeffrey Epstein busted for sex trafficking of minors. That pedophile dodged justice for well over a decade, but maybe it’s finally catching up with him. Scumbag. Hope the evidence includes the names and crimes of fellow degenerates.
Kent
Apparently some pranksters edited the War of 1812 Wikipedia page with a long detailed description of the battle of the airports and it stayed up for a while until it was caught and the page locked. Heh. Would love to read that.
Immanentize
@Emerald:
I think I would have reminded him that the Swiss were the real forever Nazis.
Immanentize
@smintheus:
Because, Cuckoo Clocks.
tobie
@Betty Cracker: You and I seem to have heard the Epstein news at the same time. May the entire pedophile ring here get exposed. They’re all so sick.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic:
If my son had been a girl, her name would have been Astrud.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker:
Maybe this is why Pence had to stay in Washington?
It would be wrong not to speculate.
Cacti
@Immanentize:
While they didn’t lift a finger to resist the Nazis in WWII, they sure fought like hell to hang onto all of that holocaust loot.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’ve been eager to hear frank talk from other countries. This is music to my ears.
chris
@Mr Stagger Lee: The UK foreign Office, ie. the ambassadors etc., were horrified by Boris when he was the foreign minister.
Aleta
@Gin & Tonic:
Joao Gilberto – Meditation (Live 1964)
Immanentize
@Cacti: They sure did. See, e.g. Society Internationale v. Rogers.linky
RandomMonster
The ambassador just can’t conceal the resentment of the British losing their new world airports to the rebels.
Aleta
@Aleta:
Though you’re far away
I have only to close my eyes
And you are back to stay
I just close my eyes
And the sadness that missing you brings
Soon is gone and this heart of mine sings
JPL
@tobie: I wouldn’t mind a few leaks about the incompetent one in office.
opiejeanne
@Baud: Oh Baud, I love you.
lamh36
THIS is why Chump has gone after NY AG Tish Jones…Tish Jones may just save us all if Chump loses in 2020
Ole Bob Mueller might be afraid of overtly going after Chump…but Tish Jones ain’t afraid of that orange blob!
The Dangerman
Trump : Inept :: Water : Wet
The Trump Administration couldn’t spell “CAT” if you spotted them the “C”, the “A”, and the “T”
JPL
Truthfully this is why they lost the war. We knew this years ago.
Karen
@Gin & Tonic: I’m sorry but can you please let me know who he is?
Dan B
In other horrible portents the State Department is readying the rollout of the Center on Unalienable Rights. It will be a group of 15 people whose goal is to put women and LGBT people back in their place. The premise is Natural Law which has roots in Opus Dei and 12th century Catholic doctrine.
Can we call them Inquisition 2.0?
lamh36
@lamh36: by afraid of Tish Jones, what I meanis afraid of what happens in NYC.
chris
That’s great news about Epstein. Dershowitz and Prince Andrew must be scrambling right now.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Gin & Tonic:
Bummer. Bossa nova tonight in Threadkill Lane!
Mandalay
@Cacti:
They certainly did….
The Role of Swiss Financial Institutions in the Plunder of European Jewry
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@smintheus: the cuckoo clock!
Anonymous At Work
When has Trump scheduled the bombing?
tobie
@JPL: That would be good…although having to think about things like golden showers in connection with the turd gives me nightmares for weeks.
JPL
@chris: Trump and Bill Clinton visited also. It’s a bipartisan affair.
chris
Huh, Boris has Russian friends too. Why am I not surprised?
chris
@JPL: Yeah, the list is going to be long, I’m sure. Also, BOTH SIDES!//
tobie
@JPL: Please no. I don’t care about Bill but I don’t want Hillary to have get dragged through this mess.
Ken
@dexwood: @mrmoshpotato: This was a Bug Bunny / Wile E. Coyote skit.. “Are you in, genius? In, capable? In, solent?”
Either that or the British ambassador thinks Trump is a Sith lord.
Immanentize
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Uh, see me at #34.
Great minds and all….
JPL
@tobie: Epstein ruined so many lives and I hope that he rots in hell. Hillary can handle herself as she’s proven in the past.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Karen:
Brazilian musician. Start with this: Getz/Gilberto. “Girl from Ipanema,” etc.
JPL
@Immanentize: Are you doing better? When do the two imps go on vacation?
West of the Rockies
I take pleasure in the fact that this story will hurtTrump, land like a yellow jacket sting to an already-inflamed nostril. It will goad and enrage him, leading him incrementally closer to an inevitable stroke or heart attack.
SiubhanDuinne
I’m angry and deeply troubled by the fact of the leak itself. Maybe it wasn’t even a “leak” per se, but a calculated release done with at least tacit approval (but lots of deniability) from someone on high in FCO. If so, why? To embarrass Sir Kim Darroch? AFAIK, he has a long and distinguished diplomatic career. I suppose he’s made some enemies along the way, but that explanation just doesn’t ring true to me.
So, was it a genuine leaker from within FCO, or lax security even for their most sensitive communications systems? Either is an inexcusable breach, and if they identify the person/people responsible, I hope they’ll be brought up on every possible charge. I’m really outraged.
(Also, I wonder how long Sir Kim will last now in Trump’s Washington? I’m guessing he’ll be recalled and some sleazy Boris Johnson-approved toady appointed in his place.)
Will be interested in Adam’s take on the security implications of this episode.
Immanentize
@Karen:
Perhaps THE greatest Boss Nova guitarist of all time. Played with Stan Getz and his daughter, Astrud, sang. My favorite is Corcovado (oh how lovely)
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: I think your analysis is probably correct.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cacti:
Very fine people on both sides.
Immanentize
@JPL: I’m better. The Immp is better. The vacation is cancelled because of climate change. There is little or no water in the Elbe. Scrambling for a new adventure.
Aleta
@Steeplejack (phone): I like the way he sings this one. Esp the beginning.
Chetan Murthy
@lamh36:
FTFY.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Immanentize:
Wife, not daughter.
JPL
@Immanentize: Sorry about your plans, but adventures surely await the two of you. Thanks to you and Gin and Tonic for reminding me of Stand Getz by way of Gilberto
Jay
@SiubhanDuinne:
It’s the Daily Mail, so Murdoch’s/Johnson’s fingerprints are all over the ratfuckery.
Don’t expect much to happen however. May’s Dolt45’s Toy Poodle, ( or is that purse Yorkie?).
Steeplejack (phone)
@Aleta:
I’m in a noisy bar. I’ll listen when I get home.
Uncle Cosmo
@Karen: Brazilian jazz musician & vocalist, paired with Stan Getz on some of his classic bossa nova cuts from the early 1960s. Ex-wife Astrud sang as well, most notably the English-language vocals on “The Girl From Ipanema” (A garota de Ipanema). (FTR the reason the English lyrics on that cut are so utterly clumsy is that Tom Jobim wrote the song for a man & the effort to translate it [poorly] & simultaneously adapt it for a woman folded, spindled & mutilated the grammar.)
This version opens with the original Brazilian lyrics with Joao on vocals & guitar, followed by Astrud with the English version, followed by Stan Getz on sax. Classic.
I used to sing the Brazilian lyrics at a short-lived jazz jam session in Baltimore’s Little Italy. The quality (or lack thereof) of the singing had nothing to do with its untimely demise. :p
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack (phone):
I remember arguing fiercely with my ex-husband over which of us would get custody of the Getz/Gilberto LP.
JPL
@Immanentize: A legal eagle question. I mentioned to my son that trump would print the citizenship question because he wanted to. The son thought that who ever helped in that endeavor could be charged with a crime because of the Supreme Court ruling. He’s not a lawyer and has never slept in a Holiday Inn…
What’s your take.
Martin
Great, now Trump is going to give back all of the airports the colonial army seized, as they’re tainted with loser words.
Mandalay
@Betty Cracker:
Heh…that fucking photo of Epstein: brooding, enigmatic, remote, handsome….and absolutely nothing like him.
For a much better likeness, go to the New York state sex offender registry.
You’d think the Daily Beast would have learned something from the Hope Hicks debacle at the FYNT, but obviously not.
Uncle Cosmo
@Aleta: I believe that’s the version that appears on the Verve album Stan Getz – Bossa Nova. Which is a magnificent disk – there is exactly one clinker on it, when Astrud’s accent, so charming in TGFA, sounds completely at sea in the old standard “Never Trust Your Heart.”
Jay
@SiubhanDuinne:
The Swiss were neutral, had an obsolete military, and were surrounded on all sides by Nazi’s.
They relied on the exchange with the Nazis to keep their country fed during WWII, and even at that, rations dropped to 1230 calories a day, ( lower than Occupied France). They also interned both Allied and Axis flyers and escaped POW’s with comfort and care.
Yeah, post war their Banks were shits about hanging on to Nazi loot, in part because of their banking practices,
But so were all the Western Corporations that did business with the Nazis. Many still havn’t apologized or paid reparations.
Mote, log.
NotMax
@Uncle Cosmo
One thing Dolt 45 hasn’t gotten around to yet is to Blame It on the Bossa Nova.
:)
Immanentize
@Steeplejack (phone): oopsie. I knew that but typed stupid. Hmmm. I was thinking of the daughter we never had…
Uncle Cosmo
@SiubhanDuinne: If you’re very very nice to me, I’ll will you my CD of it.
JPL
@Mandalay: the NYTimes has the same story.
B.B.A.
Dersh and Prince Andrew are toast, and good riddance. If this means the Clenis goes to prison…whatever. He’s been holding Hillary back since the day they met. Plus, “a former president can be imprisoned” might be a valuable precedent.
Steeplejack (phone)
@SiubhanDuinne:
Little knowing that you both would have to buy it later on cassette and CD.
smintheus
@Immanentize: My Swiss friends absolutely detest that movie. They will invariably point out that cuckoo clocks were invented in Germany, though they’re less forthcoming on the topic of Nazi loot.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Wasn’t there a recent leak about Boris Johnson, that he really wasn’t a supporter of Brexit?
Who can keep all of this straight?
cmorenc
@lamh36:
I bet post-Presidency Trump decides to indefinitely stay at Mar-a-Lago in Florida and avoid going back to New York – counting on a friendly GOP governor and state leg to drag feet and resist to the fullest extent possible any attempts by the NY AG to force Trump to return to NY to face criminal charges.
Steve in the ATL
@JPL: more like contempt, which is civil, than anything criminal
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne: Who won?
Immanentize
@JPL: no crime. But your son surely understands what Justice ought to look like! But if a court orders it not to be used in the census, doing so could bring a contempt of court finding which could, theoretically end with a fine.
Chetan Murthy
@B.B.A.:
With respect, reverence, and love for Hillary, I can only agree. Though b/c she obviously still care for him, I can’t wish that he gets caught up in it. But only b/c she still cares for him.
Uncle Cosmo
@Uncle Cosmo: Um, that was “ONLY Trust Your Heart” – tried to edit, permission denied, FYWP!
Steeplejack (phone)
@Mandalay:
Everybody uses that glamour shot of Epstein. I would love to see the other one get some traction.
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: FWIW, the article suggests Sir Kim would have been replaced when May leaves anyway. He sounds like a competent professional.
opiejeanne
@B.B.A.: I don’t for one second believe Bill Clinton messed with underage girls. He has a type, they’re not it.
Jay
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne:
I would gladly rip you a copy of my 4 cd Getz/Gilberto compilation. It has at least four versions each of Ipanema and Corcovado.
Betty Cracker
@Chetan Murthy: Yep.
Martin
@B.B.A.: A very close friend of mine learned a few weeks ago that one of his buddies was arrested for sex with a minor. He and this individual, along with 2 others, were tight all the way from middle school. They were best mans at each others weddings. The 4 of them would take an annual vacation, just the guys.
Anyway, he gets the news of the arrest, a few odd behaviors from a few months back suddenly take on new meaning, and so he puts a call into the tipline with the new information. These guys were closest of friends for 35 years, but justice for a minor takes precedence.
If Bill was involved, take him down. Take them all down.
B.B.A.
@cmorenc: My guess is he’ll “lose” his meds and be declared incompetent to stand trial.
Betty Cracker
@JPL: Miami Herald too.
Baud
@opiejeanne:
People love to fantasize.
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
He did. I think he made a case that (a) he had discovered Gilberto first and introduced me to Bossa Nova, and (b) I was going to be working for a radio station which almost certainly had the album in its music library, so I didn’t really need my own record.
@Uncle Cosmo:
Oh, you’re very kind, but I’ve owned the CD for years.
JPL
@Immanentize: @Steve in the ATL: Thanks.
Uncle Cosmo
@Immanentize: I sang that one too, in Portuguese. My favorite Gilberto is “Desafinado” (here) – I had just started learning it when the sessions ended, damn it.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Immanentize:
But we’ll always have Ivanka!
Gelfling 545
@Chetan Murthy: And she’s been put through enough so I hope not. Still, if he participated, he must pay.
Cacti
@opiejeanne:
Agree.
With five decades in public life, and a long known tendency for marital infidelity, if Bill Clinton had a Lolita fetish, the GOP would have known about it and been shouting it from the housetops in 1992.
Baud
How about we stop speculating about Bill Clinton unless we see evidence that he is implicated?
Trump is more likely to be involved than Bill. Is this a liberal blog or RedState?
smintheus
@Immanentize: I can listen to Desafinado on an endless loop.
Immanentize
@Steeplejack (phone): Eeeekk!
Uncle Cosmo
@NotMax: Only a matter of time – he’s blamed all his problems on fucking near everything else…
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: I thought this was 8chan. Have I been listing at the wrong site? No wonder I’m always in moderation!
Baud
@Steve in the ATL:
I forget, are they the Nazis or the incels?
Immanentize
@smintheus: it is so beautiful. Yet still, Corcovado was one of those “our” songs my wife and I shared. Which is why we were going to name a daughter Astrud. Then again, so was the song “Queen Bitch” by Bowie. And “Let it Flow” by Spiritualized. Our music collection was, well, eclectic?
B.B.A.
@Baud: Trump is a serial rapist and should be in prison for the rest of his natural lifespan. Happy?
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker: Yes, he’s nearing the end of his turn in the normal rotation. I guess I’m just wondering whether this is going to be a kerfuffle on both sides of the Atlantic — ramifications for the principals, including Sir Kim — or whether it will be swept away and largely forgotten by this time tomorrow.
Baud
@B.B.A.:
It’s an improvement.
Cacti
@Baud:
Bill Clinton is a Democrat who actually won elections.
That makes him a natural enemy of internet lefties.
Mandalay
@Baud:
This. Well said.
And I don’t even like Bill Clinton.
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
Oooh, now that sounds tasty! Thank you!
(Email? SiubhanDuinne at gmail dot com)
So kind.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve in the ATL:
See, I always think contempt is pretty damned UNcivil. But, of course, IANAL.
Immanentize
@Uncle Cosmo:Desifinado seems like a really hard song to sing — especially that part where the words speed up and present a completely different internal rythm.
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’ll get on it!
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
I have to be thankful that you had a son rather than a daughter. Little Miss Queen Bitch Imma?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: There’s a difference?
Sloane Ranger
@Jay: I agree. The article says that the Ambassador is suspected of being a europhile This is the Hate Mail and possibly Johnson setting him up. Farago has already called for his dismissal.
It really depresses me everytime I remember that our likely next PM is a man who couldn’t be trusted with certain intelligence information when he was Foreign Secretary and that Tories are still going to vote for him knowing that.
SiubhanDuinne
@Immanentize:
Absolutely no hurry! Am up to my eyebrows these days anyhow. Thank you again.
Mandalay
@Betty Cracker:
I’m not entirely sure that she has the spine for it, but I love the idea that Theresa May was the leaker, now that she has nothing to lose.
Especially if Trump strongly suspects it was her, but he can never know for sure. That would be some sweet revenge for the way Trump has treated her.
Steve in the ATL
@Sloane Ranger:
Yeah, uh, we can relate….
Jay
Epstein threw parties, and then he also threw “parties”.
Don’t speculate over the overlap of the possible guest lists , ( except Brodie, Dolt 45, Dolt Jr.) with out evidence.
We are Jackals, not QAnoners.
Immanentize
@SiubhanDuinne:
I have no doubt, even named Astrud, she would have been a sweet little Queen Bitch in her bipity bopity hat.
Jay
@Sloane Ranger:
He’s also crawling with a Russian infestation.
NotMax
@Immanentize
Always smile a bit, as every song contains that potential, imagining a couple hearing Push Push in the Bush and saying, “Listen, they’re playing our song.”
:)
divF
@Sloane Ranger:
I assume you mean Farage, but I like Farage -> Farago -> farrago.
Jay
@Mandalay:
It’s not May, it’s a Johnson/Murdoch/Russian asset in the Foreign Office.
It gives Johnson perfect cover to appoint an Upper Crass “Celebrity” Dolt45 toady instead of a experienced Foreign Office officer and Diplomat, ( non-partisan Civil Service) to what is Britains most important Diplomatic Post,
Instead, somebody like Piers Morgan or Aaron Banks.
Immanentize
@NotMax: I was a bartender in a restaurant that had a dance bar section during the last days of disco…. Sad.
In the Bush by Musique
Immanentize
@Jay:
Well you just tell that to JFK Jr. When he drops by later tonight!
chris
@Sloane Ranger: See comment #60. For extra horror read the attached article. Oh, those Russians!
opiejeanne
@Baud: Truth.
Raven
Astrud Gilberto – Água de Beber
Jay
@Immanentize:
Statistacally, I should live until around 82, 83, that’s a long to wait to chat with JFK Jr.
NotMax
@Immanentize
Know of someone who was arrested – arrested! – for wandering onto the dance floor while carrying a glass from the bar. Liquor Control Board mandated only plastic cups allowed on dance floor, and they cited and fined the establishment as well.
Jay
@chris:
#61 not #60.
Boris and Natasha jokes have been going round Britain since before Boris was FM. He’s been as out as Devin, ( not Devin’s cow), but for much longer.
Immanentize
@Raven: Yes that one is so great too!
Last one for it is my bedtime:
One Note Samba
Immanentize
@NotMax: Not in upstate NY during our disco evolution! All sorts of glasses, drinks and otherwise were all out there on the dance floor.
chris
@Jay: Oopsie!
Immanentize
@Jay:
I guess you are not up on the most recent Q-anon expectations. JFK Jr. returned on July 4th (but somehow forgot to go to Trump’s rally…)
smintheus
@Immanentize: I find it hilarious that they’d invest so much in JFK Jr. In college he didn’t exactly come across as serious or committed. My main impression was of a guy who kept locking himself out of his dorm room and following around relentlessly after women who were his type. Saving the student body from nefarious secret conspiracies? Nope, don’t recall any of that being on his plate.
Jay
@Immanentize:
I know they think JFK Jr.’s been working on bringing down the Deep State and Pedafile rings since his death,……….
Are there actually QAnon’s claiming proof he’s back from the dead since July 4th?
Not how I thought the Zombie Apocolypse would start.
#1 Cardio,
#2 double tap,
#3 check the back seat,
#4 seatbelts,………………
Jay
https://mockpaperscissors.com
Aleta
*
Citizen Alan
@Chetan Murthy:
It is one of the great ironic tragedies of our time that the greatest living feminist icon of our time was deprived of the presidency in large part because neither her husband nor her best friend’s husband (fucking Anthony Weiner) could keep their pants zipped.
randy khan
@Immanentize:
The targets for contempt citations would be the head of the Census Bureau and Wilbur Ross. They’d be subject to fines and jail time (that’s for civil contempt). Unless Trump ordered them to violate the court order, he wouldn’t be liable, and even then I’d guess the court would go after the underlings.
chopper
@Baud:
baud=maud
Racer X
“We pay them to be candid.”
candid – ‘kandid’ – adjective: truthful and straightforward; frank
Isn’t “truthful and straightforward” exactly what the media owes us in return for the protection of the 1st amendment?
Pay up!
Kay
I love these stories because of course the Trump Administration are terrible “over there”. They’re terrible here! We see this daily with our own eyes!
They don’t suddenly become competent only in other countries.
They are as bad, or worse, over there as they are here. Bet on it. I would guess “worse”.
Brachiator
@Jay:
Sorry I missed all this. A CNN story speculated that someone indeed wants to dump and people who don’t like Trump, so that friendlier people can be installed after Johnson becomes Prime Minister.