Recently, Trump has been exhorting (and maybe extorting too, who knows?) Republicans to stop focusing on opposing the impeachment process and defend him on the substance instead. He did it again this morning on Twitter:
Republicans are very unified and energized in our fight on the Impeachment Hoax with the Do Nothing Democrats, and now are starting to go after the Substance even more than the very infair Process because just a casual reading of the Transcript leads EVERYBODY to see that…..
…..the call with the Ukrainian President was a totally appropriate one. As he said, “No Pressure.” This Impeachment nonsense is just a continuation of the Witch Hunt Hoax, which has been going on since before I even got elected. Rupublicans, go with Substance and close it out!
Since Trump is incandescently stupid, it’s possible he really does believe it’s okay to ask foreign leaders to interfere in a domestic election. There’s evidence he believes that; he described releasing the “Transcript” (which is not a transcript) as if it were exonerating (which it’s not):
“They never thought I’d release the conversation. They never thought in a million years that I’d release the conversation,” Trump told reporters at the White House that day. “When ‘Liddle’ Adam Schiff saw the text, when he read it, he couldn’t believe it. When Nancy Pelosi, who worked a day early — Nancy Pelosi called for essentially impeachment — “Let’s impeach the President” — before she saw the transcript.”
He’s probably right that Schiff “couldn’t believe it” when he read the not-transcript — couldn’t believe Trump and/or his handlers were dumb enough to give up such an incriminating document voluntarily. But as Greg Sargent at The Post notes, by insisting that Republicans defend him on “substance,” Trump is asking them to go on TV and insist that it’s okay for a president to ask foreign leaders to smear political opponents.
It’s going to get worse as Giuliani’s crackpot theory gets more scrutiny, and I don’t see how the activities of Giuliani and his henchmen don’t become a key part of the discussion as the hearings unfold. That’s where this is heading, probably. So, Trump will eventually ask Republicans to swallow that Kool-Aid too. Like good little cultists.
Open thread.
Barbara
The reaction so far has been one of two deflections: e.g., Rob Portman saying that he doesn’t think it merits impeachment. Or Joni Ernst and Cory Gardner saying that they will review the evidence to see if that really happened, but unwilling to say that asking a foreign government to manufacture evidence against a political opponent is actually bad. Susan Collins just runs away and accuses people of being mean to her. Fucking spineless tools every last one of them.
MattF
Also, Vindman testified that various things were left out of the ‘transcript’. Coincidentally, things about Biden. So, resting a defense on the phone call memo isn’t actually a safe tactic.
dmsilev
It boggles the mind that Trump thinks releasing the Transcript [sic] actually helped him. And that was before we learned that even the version that was released was cleaned up compared to an actual transcript.
HumboldtBlue
I just learned that if a trick-or-treater shows up carrying a blue pumpkin they are most likely autistic and may not be able to engage in the same manner as other kids.
Also, if a trick-or-treater shows up wearing a minion costume keep them away from Trump and his titty-bar dancer of a wife.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@HumboldtBlue: I just learned that if a trick-or-treater shows up carrying a blue pumpkin they are most likely autistic and may not be able to engage in the same manner as other kids.
I hope Blue Pumpkin trends on twitter– though my neighborhood did TRTing last weekend, I suspect a lot of places did.
rikyrah
Never forget….
they only released that, because that was the best that they could do. Because, so much more criminality is being hidden.
Release the transcripts off the secret server.
As Kay often says..
You can’t be naive enough to think that Ukraine was the ONLY country involved in a shakedown…
Betty Cracker
@Barbara: Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard from the spineless shit-stains too — deflection and complaints that the Democrats are doing it all wrong. It sounds like that’s not good enough for Trump anymore. He wants them to insist that his call was “perfect” — that’s the new party line. It’ll be interesting (in a train wreck sense) to see how many of them will knuckle under and how Trump will react to those who continue the mealy-mouthed deflections. And it will be fascinating when Republicans are pressured to “normalize” crazier and crazier shit.
Kent
@HumboldtBlue:
For real? Is this a thing now? I had no idea and I’ve been living in trick-or-treat central for a decade now. I gotta buy 3 giant Costco bags of candy and still run out.
EDIT: Sure enough. This is the first google link when searching for “Blue Pumpkin” washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/10/30/my-son-shouldnt-have-carry-blue-pumpkin/
rikyrah
@Barbara:
you ain’t never lied.
rikyrah
I swear, Maddow’s segments about Rudy’s arrested henchmen should be shown on every channel.
Steve in the ATL
@HumboldtBlue: that is libel, sir. She was a high-end escort, not a dancer!
CindyH
@Betty Cracker: you say “fascinating”; I say nauseating
laura
The fragility of his ego demands unquestioned fealty. There is no god but trump. It’s been the case since jump and his adult codependent children are the model for what he expects of everyone else.
I’m ordering all the popcorn for this show!
@HumboldtBlue: thanks for the heads up on the blue pumpkin, and would like to add that we are down for teenage costumeless trick or treaters and will gladly give them a kind word or two of welcome and extra treats bc it’s hard and crummy enough being a teen these days.
trollhattan
@CindyH:
“Let’s throw the whole thing up.”
rikyrah
He wants everyone to crawl into his criminal bucket. Like I’ve said before…
He is not noble. If he’s going down…HE’S TAKING EVERYBODY WITH HIM.
Steve in the ATL
@Kent:
Give out hard candy and you’ll solve that problem quickly
Professor Bigfoot
@Betty Cracker: “ This, and this only: cease to call [their corruption] wrong, and join them in calling it right.“ – with apologies to A. Lincoln, the Cooper Union Address, 1860
feebog
Essentially it comes down to Trump really is as dumb as all that. He really does believe the DNC server is hidden in a vault some where in Ukraine. He really does believe there are 30,000 missing Clinton emails out there somewhere. He really does believe every single presidential poll is rigged against him. He is a ignorant moron who doesn’t read, doesn’t comprehend the most basic facts put in front of him and is the very definition of living in a bubble.
Steve in the ATL
My flight includes a catholic tour group going to Israel and Jordan. Is it likely that god is going to smite this plane, or will he save that for their JFK-Tel Aviv leg?
Major Major Major Major
Cheryl Rofer
This may deserve a front page, but I don’t have time to do it right now.
Marcopolo
I thought the goto line for R Senators when asked about all of this was now, “I’ll be a juror when this comes to the Senate so I can’t comment on it.”
trollhattan
@feebog:
Joke’s on him–Hillary put the DNC server into orbit in 2016!
HumboldtBlue
@Kent: @laura:
My sister, 30 years in special education and current Superintendent for a large district (I love bragging on that, brought it up everytime I spoke with a local Superintendent) just told me it’s been around for about a year and it’s to let you know the child may not engage or say thank you.
Major Major Major Major
@Cheryl Rofer: Good lord.
Elizabelle
@Cheryl Rofer:
I’d be good with Betty drawing in the hero dog in over Trump’s face on tweets, if she ever tires of drawing the pig. With or without medal.
Anything to not have to look at the wanker in chief.
jonas
That’s pretty much it, I think. I mean, he did it before in 2016 (“Russia, if you’re listening…”) and Mueller said it didn’t amount to a crime, right? Plus Barr says he can do whatever the goddamn hell he wants.
Kay
That’s inaccurate. He didn’t just “ask”. He withheld aid to coerce them into doing it. The aid isn’t his. It doesn’t belong to him. If Congress passed it goes from Congress to the recipient. Trump can’t intercept it and use it to buy favors.
Don’t let Republicans get away with this. They’re not answering the question.
MattF
@trollhattan: Could be on Mars by now, under the protection of the Illuminati.
ETA: Or Ukraine.
LongHairedWeirdo
Here’s the thing: Trump thinks his letter is “perfect” because it doesn’t establish a conspiracy to extort.
He doesn’t realize that we don’t *need* to prove conspiracy, because we have documentary evidence of the extortion.
See – a mobster says “nice place you have here; be a shame if something happened to it,” for a reason. It’s *NOT* because the shop/bar/restaurant owner might report an explicit threat to the police; they know better! (No, Donnie boy, it’s not because they respect a strong man, it’s because if they don’t, they’ll be murdered.)
A mobster uses circumlocutions because, if the mobster said “you are going to pay us protection money, or bad things will happen to your place of business, and possibly, to you, too,” then, with a recording of that conversation, the police can make an arrest for conspiracy to commit extortion… with, or without, the cooperation of the business owner.
Trump thinks he gets to skate because they can’t bust him on *just the phone call*. You see? And, of course, he quite reasonably expects the Republicans will cover for him for *anything*.
And why wouldn’t he? Think about Pelosi’s “all roads lead to Putin”. Let’s assume everything she said was deliberate on Trump’s part, in order to please Putin; and, let’s assume there’s a lot more, and a lot worse. Well, before inauguration day, we all knew that Kushner wanted a back channel, with no oversight by State, or US intelligence, to the Russians – possibly in their own embassy. There is no conceivable lawful or ethical reason to want this. And, in fact, it’s stone-cold *stupid* to think you can go up against Russian intel all by your lonesome.
Right there, that was the warning sign. Right there, it should have been 100% obvious that you can’t trust these people. Sure, the GOP could think, it was *probably* just personal enrichment, but how can we be 100% sure? Can we bet the future of the US on that?” So when the GOP defended that, claiming that *of course* we can trust someone who’s that stupidly dishonest, they were inviting in all kinds of pain, knowingly and willingly.
So, why wouldn’t he think they’d cover for anything and everything? They voluntarily agreed to cover up something that *could* be a sell-out of US national security. Why would they quibble over a little light extortion?
Calouste
@Kay: Also, he didn’t “ask” them to investigate, he “asked” them to start an investigation and make shit up.
rikyrah
Anyone still watch The Flash?
Barry and Joe completely gutted me last night. I was bawling like a baby. When Joe told Barry, ” I’m not ready”, I felt that to the bottom of my soul. What a superb scene between the actors. Just broke my heart. No parent wants to think of their child dying before them. And, when he asked Barry – ‘ What do you get?’ for being The Flash….man….just tears…
rikyrah
@Kay:
That’s exactly what Taylor was pointing out in that text between him and Sundland.
Kay
What if Congress allocated funding to a state- say Title I money to Arkansas. Then Trump calls the governor of Arkansas and says no Title I money for your low income students unless you announce your AG is investigating my political opponent?
This is okay with Republicans? The President can do this? So any money appropriated by Congress is actually Donald Trump’s personal blackmail fund? What about other things he wants? He can use it for…whatever?
Ken
@trollhattan: The server went into orbit in 2018. It’s in the trunk of Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster. See how all the pieces fit together?
Redshift
@dmsilev: I suspect he thought it would work like Barr’s “summary” of the Mueller Report – release a document that other people thought was incriminating, but he didn’t because he has no sense of right and wrong, make his own reality by endlessly repeating what he wants to be true, and wait for it to fade away.
MattF
@Kay: Not only can he use the money in any fashion he wants to— to suggest otherwise is treason.
MisterForkbeard
@Major Major Major Major: Republicans immediately doing ridiculous things to protect Trump? SURPRISE!
“We believe the Intelligence Committee has no jurisdiction over this event that was started by whistleblowing from the Intelligence Community.” is pretty bold. Let’s see if it works out for them :)
Kay
@rikyrah:
If he can intercept congressional funds then why have congress at all? They can just approve a huge lump sum and Donald Trump will use it as he sees fit. Blackmail, Ivanka’s trademark bribes, another huge cash gift to patriot farmers, whatever.
It isn’t his money. It was never his money. It isn’t routed through him.
New Breed Leader
Which is basically what they’ve been doing on the Sunday shows. They’re following their marching orders.
Redshift
@Kent: They make blue pumpkins you can put it on your doorstep to let families know your house is okay for those kids. I’ve been seeing them in stores for several years.
trollhattan
@Ken:
Damnit…Eeeelonnnn! [shakes fist at sky, not knowing which direction to aim]
New Breed Leader
@HumboldtBlue: lol
HeleninEire
So I am in a Queens pub. The song playing is the Bee Gees. More Than a Woman.
What? I can’t stop laughing.
JaySinWA
@trollhattan:
Why to you think he wants a space farce
Kay
@rikyrah:
This isn’t new for the Trump Administration either, their insane and unconstitutional belief that congressional funds belong to Donald Trump, personally. They did a similar flim flam with the wall. The thinking behind this is huge. Do they think he can dole out or refuse to dole out all the money, or just this chunk? Why this chunk, then? It isn’t just contrary to specific laws, it’s contrary to our whole system of government.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Kay: Pft. I don’t know why anyone accepts the framing of “he was asking for an investigation”.
He was *LYING TO A FOREIGN HEAD OF STATE TO PUT A US CITIZEN IN LEGAL JEOPARDY*.
It’s true, what he *wanted* was the announcement of an investigation. What he *demanded* was something far, far worse. With his wording, Ukraine could conceivably guess that he wants the Bidens arrested eventually.
Now, some people say he was pushing “debunked conspiracy theories”, and maybe he believed them.
If the President asks the FBI to investigate the Bidens and the DNC server, and is told “we can’t do that, there’s no evidence of wrongdoing” (and, please: we know he did!), so he goes around and asks Ukraine to do it instead, I don’t care if he *believes* the conspiracy theory (right after having the FBI say “it’s totally bogus”), or not. Either points to someone who is indescribably dangerous, because he’ll take action without any regard for actual *facts*.
So: let’s please at least *pretend* he was deliberately lying, because “What is ‘doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground'” should not a Jeopardy answer concerning the mental state of the US President.
It’s amazing to me that the facts are so bad, and yet the framing is so normalizing. “Okay, yeah, he’s totally lying to get Americans in trouble, yeah, he tried to sic the FBI on them, but that’s not an abuse of power, because no one obeyed his instructions; and, okay, yeah, we’re saying that it’s horrible that people are even wanting to *ASK QUESTIONS* about this, but… come on, Obama was worse!”
(Note the lack of any need to explain how, or why, Obama was worse.)
senyordave
This is what Rob Portman said about Bill Clinton:
After careful consideration, I have concluded that President Clinton has committed serious offenses that merit impeachment by the United States House of Representatives. Committing perjury, obstructing justice and abusing the power of the presidency violate the rule of law that all citizens — even the President — must obey. And, of course, these acts are fundamentally inconsistent with the oath the President — as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer — took to “faithfully execute” the laws of the United States. I am particularly troubled by the clear evidence of lying under oath, in that truth is the bedrock of our judicial system.
I am also concerned because the President — by the very nature of his office — has a special responsibility to set an example. At a minimum, there cannot be one standard for the President and another for the citizens he serves. This past summer, I called on President Clinton to resign. I did so because I believed it was the right thing to do for the country in order to maintain the honor and dignity of the Office of the Presidency and to spare the country from going through a long, divisive and distracting impeachment process.
Let’s call Rob Portman for what he is: a spineless shitstain coward who is so scared of Trump that he will do anything to please him. To use the word integrity in the same sentence as Portman is absurd.
trollhattan
@HeleninEire:
True dread. If Travolta show up, do not accept a $cientology brochure from him under any circumstance.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Trump’s razor; Trump thinks this is some movie and by movie logic he’s that “plays by his own rules, edgy, oh so edgy hero (did we mention he’s edgy?)” so it’s ok for him to the break the law, because the script says he’s the good guy.
PaulWartenberg
It’s not the “asking” part that’s hard for the Republicans to defend: it’s the obvious extortion trump is pulling by delaying/denying funding and military weapons those foreign leaders need to survive.
As more and more evidence comes to light that trump’s handling of Ukrainian aid was exactly a shakedown/extortion gig, not a lot of GOP leaders are going to want to publicly support that. Lindsey, maybe, but even Moscow Mitch is flinching at that stance…
HeleninEire
@trollhattan: It just went to Staying Alive.
Betty Cracker
Then there’s this:
When the public hearings start, House Republicans will say this is A-OK, I assume.
trollhattan
@senyordave:
Yeesh.
Portman: “I stand by my convictions. Literally, they’re in this small metal box next to me.”
gene108
@Betty Cracker:
Depends on if Republican voters have an actual breaking point, regarding Trump’s criminality.
So far they seem mostly onboard.
Once that changes, the Republican politicians will change. But in my lifetime, their voters* get more and more rabidly conservative anytime they lose power, so I am not confident the politicians will do the right thing.
* From high school civics, in theory, voters were supposed to keep politicians in-line by rejecting any politician, who is corrupt or extreme.
Redshift
@Calouste: Even more specifically, he asked them to make a public announcement saying they were investigating. That shows he obviously didn’t care about corruption, but he also didn’t care about evidence, even manufactured evidence, just about having a smear he could use to turn his astonishing corruption into “both sides do it.”
trollhattan
@HeleninEire:
If I were you I’d be ordering a whiskey back for my Fuller’s ESB. Gonna be a long afternoon.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
“Crowd Strike”? Isn’t that what they do to Hong Kong protesters?
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
I’m sorry, but I don’t believe this at all. The Trump administration has had no difficulty lying with a straight face about things there’s plenty of evidence for. Trump lied about the weather to people who’d been there on his first day. They released that transcript because Trump thought it not only cleared him, but painted him as a hero, bringing criminals to justice.
That’s why all of this Substance stuff. That’s why he kept admitting it over and over and talking about the server in public. This is like his “very fine people” episode. We’ve hit one of the few areas where Trump has actual beliefs and cares about what’s coming out of his mouth, so his message discipline is nonexistent. He’s fucking pissed that Hillary is the real criminal and he’s being roasted for trying to prove it.
Ken
@PaulWartenberg: Lindsey was also against the Ukraine shakedown, until he had one of his special “golf outings” with the President.
Or was it the betrayal of the Kurds where he flip-flopped? Maybe both, it’s hard to keep track of the man’s lack of position.
SiubhanDuinne
@Major Major Major Major:
I live in Rob Woodall’s district. Guess the phone call I made to his office the other day was ineffective.
Steve in the ATL
@HeleninEire: GET OUT NOW
Redshift
The thing is, while it’s true he extorted rather than “asked,” it’s also an abuse of power just to ask. It’s like the quid pro quo nonsense – they make up something they about would be criminal and insist he only did a lesser thing, but not only did he do the criminal thing they’re denying, the thing they admit he did is a crime, too!
SiubhanDuinne
@Cheryl Rofer:
“I photoshopped him like a dog!”
SFAW
@Betty Cracker:
Are you implying it’s not?
Frankensteinbeck
@PaulWartenberg:
Yes, it is. The transcript confesses to asking another government to interfere in an American election. It’s a crime, right there in print, released by Trump himself, and it’s why this is the scandal that took off. Quid Pro Quo, coverups, everything else is gravy.
@Redshift:
Naah, the announcement is important. Once you get someone to make a public announcement, you’ve got them roped in. It’s a standard tactic of abusers and conmen. Maybe Trump backs out of every deal, but he knows other people don’t.
MattF
Alexandra Petri on substance vs. process.
Redshift
@Ken: it was the betrayal of the Kurds where he briefly pretended to have principles. Lindsay was always on board with the Ukraine Shakedown.
SFAW
@Elizabelle:
I understand your point, but do you really want to put the image of a beautiful dog like that on top of The Festering Pustule of America? Yeah, it’ll cover up the Traitor-in-Chief’s face, but still …
hells littlest angel
@rikyrah: Maddow’s story was at once eye-popping and unsurprising. If it gets picked up, I imagine the right-wing talking point will be, of course the president is mobbed-up!
SFAW
@Frankensteinbeck:
But he NEVER uttered those words!!! Game, set, and touchdown, libtard!!!
Jeffro
@HumboldtBlue:
She wishes she was that respectable, and he wishes he was 1/10th as respectable as she is.
Jeffro
@Betty Cracker:
I’m picturing goal posts being moved around the field so often, so quickly, and so stupidly that I can’t even come up with a metaphor.
But I can come up with a note/warning of sorts to Dems (not that Nancy Smash or Adam Schiff need my help): don’t play that game. Just keep playing yours. Call them on everything, keep moving forward, and put it allllll out in front of the American people. This clown is wildly unpopular and everyone knows he’s a crook.
Elizabelle
@SFAW: I was actually more concerned that some of the dog’s bravery and excellent training would be attributed to Trump.
But yeah. I would look at that lovely dog any day of the week.
HeleninEire
@Steve in the ATL: I did. Just guess where I landed? In the MCDONALD’S. Rut Roh
Ken
@SFAW: I’m waiting for the day when Trump paints himself gold and dances through the halls of Congress, demanding that the Republican senators and representatives bow down and kiss his feet.
I mean when he literally does this, obviously we’ve metaphorically been there for close to three years now.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
While out shopping yesterday, I saw a Donald Trump Countdown Calendar that included stickers to paste over the Tangster’s face. I immediately thought of Betty.
Jeffro
@Cheryl Rofer: He’s retweeting pictures of himself at an event that he knows he wasn’t even at/didn’t even happen?
It’s fine. This is all perfectly fine.
rikyrah
@Redshift:
On CNN…don’t forget that.
Not FOX…but, CNN.
So, as Silverman so aptly put it – they can put it in their ads.
MattF
Via Rick Wilson, Bolton is scheduled to testify on 11/7.
ET
tRump is deluded by everything. All the time. This is most true about his “understanding” of himself.
He thinks he knows more on (fill in the blank) than the experts. He knows better. Therefore his decision making process is right and arrives that the correct/best/perfect place. So of course he wants members to defend him on the substance because he doesn’t see that anything was wrong.
Jeffro
@Kay:
GOP defenses to the above:
1) “Well…he was just trying to ‘leverage’ the aid to get them to fight corruption.”
2) “He’s a political novice and doesn’t always speak well.”
Except:
1A) The only ‘corruption’ trumpov has ever seemed to want to look into would be that of the Bidens. Like not even ‘corruption in Ukraine in general’. Like, ‘across multiple countries, it’s always the Bidens’.
1B) And we’re not really talking about ‘looking into corruption’ here, we’re talking about ‘make stuff up out of whole cloth if you have to, if you want the aid’
2A) Yeah, well the law doesn’t seem to include an exception for using ‘folksy’ and/or ‘tough’ language…
2B) …and we’re not talking about matters of tone here.
So much chaff being thrown up by these guys. Push hard, Dems!
Sab
@HumboldtBlue: I did not know that and my granddaughter is almost six and autistic.
Of course we can’t do trick or treat because our rottmix broke the latch on the screen/storm door so we cannot leave the main front door open because the stupid dog will get out and be obnoxious.
It’s too bad, because we live in a safe lower middle class very mixed race neighborhood, and parents come from all over to our neighborhood because it’s safe. Also a resident cop used to turn his garage into a haunted house on the street entering our neighborhood.
I used to love Halloween here. It was my late lamented german shepherd’s favorite day of the year.
Halloween here is huge and friendly and the kids are adorable. And we can’t participate because rottmix is a jerk. Maybe time to buy her a crate for next year. Let her bark in the basement.
Cacti
As the hearings progress, and Dotard’s criminality becomes increasingly impossible to justify, I wouldn’t be surprised if members of the Freedumb Caucus started crapping in their hands and throwing it at witnesses.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: The sooner the better….
Zing!
dmsilev
@MattF: Return of the Mustache.
Ken
@dmsilev:
I can hope…
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: that’s just mean, and I’ve *never* said anything like that to you!
Gelfling 545
@Kay: Not only ok from their point of view but quite desirable.
senyordave
@trollhattan: Remember that Portman bravely came out in favor of gay marriage after his son came out as gay. Portman will soon come out in favor of interracial marriage if one of his children marries an African American.
MattF
@dmsilev: Maybe. NYT and WaPo articles are both registering doubts.
Steve in the ATL
@HeleninEire: go home Helen you’re drunk!
SFAW
@dmsilev:
I assume you mean the Mustache of War/Doom (as opposed to the Mustache of Understanding)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@MattF: @dmsilev: it’s currently an “invitation”, not a subpoena. The reporting (gossip) is that Bolton is behind the suit his colleague filed asking a judge to “clarify” the limits of executive privilege, because whatever he encouraged other people to do, he doesn’t want to testify. We’ve known for a while he’s squirrelly, I wouldn’t put too much hope in him until he shows up and spills the beans.
rikyrah
@MattF:
GET THAT POPCORN READY
MattF
@Steve in the ATL: And, one assumes, disorderly.
SFAW
@Steve in the ATL:
Do we need to do an Inigo Montoya for you and “never”?
Aleta
@senyordave: Maybe you saw this (opinion piece) in the Post yesterday, from an interview elsewhere with Ken Starr:
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: It killed his father and should prepare to die?
Sister Golden Bear
@Cheryl Rofer: And an obvious and badly done Photoshop. But then you’d expect that with low-quality hiries.
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
Trump watches FOX to get his news, but it’s obvious from his rants that he thinks CNN and the New York Times are ‘the news’ for America, what everyone else watches and believes.
David ??Booooooo?? Koch
Dump is surrounded by “yes” people who only tell him what he wants to hear. Which is why he really thought he’d get a standing ovation at the World Series.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Or maybe it doesn’t mean what Steve thinks it means?
Yeah, I realize you probably knew what I meant.
SFAW
@Aleta:
That fucking guy.
That he still is walking free on this earth is yet another item of proof that there is no Just God.
LongHairedWeirdo
@Jeffro: If you like Terry Pratchett (and I’m sure there *must* be people who don’t, but I haven’t met any), check out Unseen Academicals. You’ll find the GOP’s entire electoral strategy in what’s called “the push”.
HeleninEire
@Steve in the ATL: NEVER.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Aleta: You really got to wonder how guys like Starr can shave themselves on the morning and not cut their throat in disgust at what they see.
brantl
@feebog: WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jonas
@Kay:
I would say that yes, yes it is. They’re just all for burning the country to the ground now to own the libs. Nothing matters.
jonas
@Aleta:
This is horseshit on its face because Starr knows perfectly well that if president Hillary had done 1/100th of this, the country would have collapsed into chaos and civil war months ago. She would have been impeached a 100 times over just on the emoluments stuff.
J R in WV
Starr got fired from his job as president at Baylor because their football team was majoring in rape. He’s a large, stinking piece of filth, and has been all his despicable life.
I’m feeling better now. Thanks for listening.
TriassicSands
This is less dependent on Trump’s virtually infinite stupidity than it is upon his belief that he has license to do whatever he wants to do. That is based on his extraordinarily stupid belief that the Constitution allows him to do anything that suits his fancy. In the end, so much of Trump is inevitably defined by his stupidity. Trump’s ignorance is now legendary, but the reason he is ignorant is because he lacks curiosity and is too stupid to learn even what is right in front of him. It is likely that he knows no more about how to be president today than he did the day he took office, which was virtually nothing.
He’s an idiot.
WaterGirl
Typing is super slow.
Can I edit?