As the Ukraine scandal was blowing up a while back, Kay pointed out that given Trump’s well-documented greed and corruption, we can be certain he abused his power for personal gain in interactions with other countries besides Ukraine. She suggested the exposure of Trump’s malfeasance in Ukraine is lifting just “one corner of a very lumpy rug.”
The Times got its mitts on further excerpts of Bolton’s book, which lifts other corners and implicates AG William Barr:
WASHINGTON — John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser, privately told Attorney General William P. Barr last year that he had concerns that President Trump was effectively granting personal favors to the autocratic leaders of Turkey and China, according to an unpublished manuscript by Mr. Bolton.
Mr. Barr responded by pointing to a pair of Justice Department investigations of companies in those countries and said he was worried that Mr. Trump had created the appearance that he had undue influence over what would typically be independent inquiries, according to the manuscript. Backing up his point, Mr. Barr mentioned conversations Mr. Trump had with the leaders, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and President Xi Jinping of China.
Mr. Bolton’s account underscores the fact that the unease about Mr. Trump’s seeming embrace of authoritarian leaders, long expressed by experts and his opponents, also existed among some of the senior cabinet officers entrusted by the president to carry out his foreign policy and national security agendas.
Barr’s spokeswoman denied the conversation ever happened and accused Bolton of projecting his own views onto Barr. Why did Bolton go to Barr in the first place? Was it not obvious to him Barr is up to his neck in Trump’s fuckery? Maybe it’s harder for wingnuts to accept that Barr is a corrupt Trump flunky with his own agenda because he’s been a DC fixture for so long?
You’d think the cautionary tale Bolton sees in the mirror while trimming his iconic mustache would be a clue, but oh well. Or maybe this is Bolton’s opening salvo in a bid to discredit Barr with fellow Republicans should the entire Trump scam collapse? If so, I wish him godspeed, the warmongering shit-stain.
Anyhoo, The Times article cites Bolton’s earlier allegation (in a private speech) that Trump’s eagerness to curry favor with Turkish President Erdoğan by torpedoing an investigation into a Turkish bank is related to Trump’s business interests in the region. (The investigation was restarted when the corrupt move to quash it attracted unwanted attention — shades of the aid release in Ukraine!)
Bolton also alleges that Trump gushes over China’s President Xi and relaxed sanctions on a Chinese telecom over Republican and national security agency objections because Trump required Xi’s assistance after painting himself into a corner with the trade war.
Outside Bolton’s claim that he raised concerns with Barr, this isn’t new information — the bank investigation and telecom sanctions removal always looked fishy as hell. And Trump’s gonna Trump, so I’m confident any investigation into Trump’s behavior in any interaction with a foreign or domestic entity, including a Girl Scout cookie sale, would reveal a cesspool of self-dealing and fraud.
But it’s good that the topics have been reintroduced in the middle of the impeachment trial, if only to remind the Republican senators currently engaged in a massive cover-up of just how lumpy the rug they’re standing on is — and how quickly it could be snatched out from under them.
schrodingers_cat
What favors did he trade with PM Modi for that Howdy Modi thing in Texas?
MattF
And… Venezuela? One may ask what side Trump is on there. The answer, as ever, is his own side.
Yutsano
Barr CANNOT be that stupid. He has to know Bolton keeps receipts on EVERYTHING. That arrogant that he thinks he can bluff past it yes. But out and out denying it?
@schrodingers_cat: I’d bet a dollar it has something to do with keeping a lid on their human rights violations as they try to systemically purge Muslims from the country.
Ben Cisco
At the end of the day, regardless of their credentials, these people ARE. NOT. VERY. BRIGHT.
Barbara
This is what we can expect, the continuous drip of scandalous actions on the part of Trump and his personal protection fixer AG Barr. It’s nice to think that Senate Republicans have no good options. They can get Bolton on the record for these sorts of things, and then acquit, or they can refuse to hear from him and have no defense against his report at all. I am assuming that listening to him and actually changing their minds is totally off the table. So any way they turn they look like stooges. Which they totally are.
Barbara
@Ben Cisco: He went to Barr because that’s what he was supposed to do. Whether he expected Barr to do anything is another matter. But you don’t learn stuff and just sit on it or you are part of the conspiracy/cover up once it does come to light.
MattF
@Barbara: We should sort Republican Senators into Moe, Larry, and Curly factions.
Barbara
@MattF: Susan Collins is definitely in the Curly camp.
Sab
Betty,
Don’t you think many Senators are themselves among the lumps under the rug? For example, I can’t believe that Rob Portman, master fundraiser and leadimg recipient of NRA money, wasn’t aware of how tainted his campaign funds are. They covering up their own behavior as much as Trump’s.
Ben Cisco
@Barbara: Point taken.
Gin & Tonic
As a fellow mustache-American I sometimes cringe at the barbs tossed Bolton’s way, not that I am otherwise a fan – but I am thoroughly enjoying the sight of him knifing everyone around Trump, and sincerely hope there’s more.
Betty Cracker
@Yutsano: Here’s the relevant excerpt:
Clever of Bolton to box Barr in like that.
Jeffro
“This rug is sooooo lumpy!”
”How lumpy is it?”
”It’s sooo lumpy, that _____________________________”
Jinchi
I really hope the next Democratic president takes this seriously. We’ve had too much of the “look forwards not backwards” attitude in our history. There need to be consequences for screwing with our democracy. Maybe AG Harris can be set loose on the project.
Steeplejack
“Why did Bolton go to Barr in the first place?”
Not that I am an expert in bureaucratic infighting—far from it—but I think one of the key tactics is to selectively “get on the record” to cover your own ass and/or undercut someone else.
If things blow up: “Hey, I went to Barr and told him all this stuff. Don’t look at me!” Or, if they don’t, no big deal.
Baud
I knew the Girl Scouts were shady.
schrodingers_cat
@Yutsano: There are over 100 million Muslims in India. BJP won’t survive if they seriously attempt that even if that is their fondest dream.
ETA: BTW thanks for taking on the BJP concern troll on Twitter of how comparing Bisht’s UP government to Nazis was an affront to the Jewish people.
Snarki, child of Loki
Clearly, BOTH Bolton AND Barr need to testify in the Senate impeachment trial.
Steeplejack
@Barbara:
I see her as a Larry. Semi-normal on the surface (“I’m concerned”) but just as idiotic as the others (“I voted the party line!”) when things blow up.
JGabriel
Waging war on the Trump Malministration may be the most patriotic thing Bolton has ever done.
Steeplejack
@Barbara:
This, too.
Jinchi
That’s an important point. And it needs to be remembered that we’re only watching an impeachment trial today because whistleblowers reported offenses up the official chain, even knowing that there were Trump lackeys (including Barr) at the top of it.
Fiona Hill was one of the most convincing witnesses against Trump, because she reported wrongdoing to her superiors at Bolton’s order.
WaterGirl
When I saw Schindler’s list all those years ago, I felt like the only thing that got me through it – the only thing that kept me from running out of the theater in horror – was the lovely music.
Betty, that’s kind of how I feel when reading your threads about the Dumpster, your way with words is the only thing that gets me through reading about him. Just wanted to thank you one more time for sharing your gift of words with us here on Balloon Juice.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: “You like those Thin Mints? It’d be a shame if anything bad happened to them.”
James E Powell
@Sab:
Somebody here, I think it was Cheryl Rofer (and sorry if I remember wrong) remarked that the Republicans are hiding something and whatever it is must be really bad.
I agree, but I think it’s more than one thing. It’s infuriating that the NYT doesn’t think any of it is as important as Whitewater or Hillary’s emails or Wen Ho Lee.
Yutsano
@schrodingers_cat: That is not a problem. Ahistorical comparisons like that get me, especially when you’re talking about the pain my great-grandmother felt when her letters from home just stopped coming.
p.a.
‘They’ still pushing the executive privilege line abt info that’s in a book? Any news on attempts to stop publication?
JGabriel
@Jeffro:
… when I stepped on it I heard someone yell, “OW! Don’t tread on me – I’m a Senator, goddamit!!!”
MattF
My Senator!
I’m so proud.
J R in WV
Some people may change their opinion on Bolton… Wife read me a tweet to the effect that only speaking out on Trump could make Bolton a hero to liberals !! Just NOPE!
It is so not the case that one Nazi — Bolton — squealing on another Nazi makes the first guy a hero, just less likely to be indicted in the inevitable grand jury hearings.
Now, if Bolton never knew of illegal actions by Trump and his gang, OK. He won’t be indicted. And maybe that’s the case. Perhaps he did his best to avoid being in the room for some of those criminal conversations… maybe.
@JGabriel:
See, this is what I mean. I don’t think fleeing the crime scene is patriotic!
ETA: on second thought, tho not very patriotic at all, it could well be the most patriotic thing Bolton has every done, actually.
JGabriel
Betty Cracker @ Top:
“Show me on the doll where the President made you touch him before he would pay for the Peanut Butter Do-si-dos®”
Immanentize
@Yutsano:
I don’t know if this was covered above, but Barr’s spokesperson din NOT deny the conversation ever occurred, they is disputing the characterization of the conversation that they seem to admit did occur:
mrmoshpotato
@MattF: Wow. Looks like some at FOX are even done with this shit.
Kay
I would need video proof that the Trumpsters weren’t crime-committing with China.
Of course they are. Ivanka alone is a special counsel.
Remember what they say about themselves, which we’re all supposed to admire- “the only color they see is green”.
They’re like some horrible 1980’s movie caricature of real estate/finance gangsters. Ugh. Not only do we get the worse people, they’re not even original or interesting.
JGabriel
Yes. THIS.
Shalimar
@Jinchi: Say what you will about the George W. Bush administration (and I would argue they were guilty of more blatantly evil and destructive actions than anything Trump has done), at least they weren’t all so blatantly grifting and personally profiting from government service. You can’t really argue we shouldn’t investigate Trump corruption because it is supposedly better for the country not to question national security decisions.
MattF
@mrmoshpotato: Nope. Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingram… too many to name. This only shows that 99.44% is not pure enough.
The Dangerman
Has the Billion from Saudi Arabia for the military been found yet? He didn’t deposit it into the wrong account, did he?
Also, let’s see the tax returns. For the Spawn, too.
Fuck ’em.
Kay
It felt hopeless to me yesterday when all the GOP Senators started repeating the Trump smears against Biden, because that, of course, is the basis for the impeachment.
So he gets caught sliming around in Ukraine trying to get a bogus “announcement” of an investigation into a competitor and what happens is they do it anyway.
But then I was encouraged by how desperate they all are, realizing, as they probably do, being sentient human beings, that they could wake up tomorrow and some of the other sleaze could ooze out. They are people dreading the next shoe dropping. But it will drop. Because Trump and the people he hires are bad actors and they have been very, very busy and completely unsupervised.
Ben Cisco
@Jeffro: “Camels are looking at it like DAMMMMNNNNNN!”
JGabriel
I gotta say, I didn’t expect pointing out that self-evident irony – that Bolton turning on his own gov’t could be the most patriotic thing he’d ever done – could be interpreted as a compliment.
Steeplejack
@Kay:
As someone on Twitter said, they’re living in Imelda Marcos’s closet!
ziggy
Here’s my fantasy to get me through the day–Jeff Flake was correct in his assessment that “at least 35 senators” would vote to convict if the vote was anonymous. Surely now that the stain is starting to show through the top of the carpet, there is even more motivation than there was before. They can see it is only going to get worse from here on out. So the safest course of action is to pretend to be on the team until it comes time to vote, vote for an anonymous vote, then get some number to vote to convict, that will put him out of office but also keep them safe from the hordes of Magats. Then get him out of office immediately, before our government is completely ransacked. Everything they say before that time is just blather to keep Trump mollified.
Kay
So sometimes in low level law work, not fancy law work like the fucking clowns you all saw yesterday, but ordinary law work, prosecutors will tell defense attorneys that they are not going to pursue X because they KNOW the offender will re-offend and they will get Y. If they say that 99% of the time they are right and everyone in the room knows they are right. They recognize a frequent flier.
That’s also true of the Trump Administration. The crime-committing won’t stop. Why would it? No one has been held accountable for it and they’re career criminals.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@James E Powell:
Brian Beutler used to make the point almost daily– I guess he gave up but it’s still true, and the Bolton example/s really drive it home– Republicans don’t know what they’re covering up. Something about Turkey set Bolton off. The information about Chinese involvement in trump outfits is public– Ivanka’s patents, the resort/theme park in Indonesia funded by Chinese banks… Venezuela, there’s oil to be “taken”. And we know trump can be bought for the relatively low price of a few junior suites and catered dinners
Kattails
SIGH slightly off-topic, but over the last couple of days both Paul Bronks’ and the 41 Strange Twitter feeds have announced they’re taking a break. Drat drat drat. Anyone got something else that’s blood pressure reducing, or should I just get back to crocheting things while watching old PBS series?
Ella in New Mexico
@Jinchi:
She’s gonna be SO busy with overhauling Justice and overseeing all the new investigations that will need to be done to fully root out the evil done in this administration.
Hopefully Special Prosecutor Adam Schiff will be able to do some of the heavy lifting with her…
Kay
@Steeplejack:
Every day Susan Collins wakes up and reads her phone, hoping against hope that she can get thru the next 12 hours without another crime being revealed. Monday was bad for her.
He sucked them all in. Put them all on “team criminal”. If he goes down he’s taking them all with him.
Bunter4
@Kattails: Try Blair Braverman’s Twitter feed, assuming you don’t already follow her. She’s a musher and posts mostly non-political threads about her dogs, mushing, etc.
catclub
@Snarki, child of Loki: I am pretty pessimistic about how much effect testimony by ANY of Trump’s henchmen will
have on conviction. They will lie shamelessly. The headline on FOX will be “Mulvaney testifies there was no quid pro quo”, and fill in the blank for any others.
Betty Cracker
@Sab: I suspect you are right, at least some of them probably are implicated.
@Barbara: Great point — he was following procedure, I guess, whether in a proforma way or not.
@Immanentize: Also a great point; she didn’t say they never talked but rather denied that the conversation resembled Bolton’s account of it.
@WaterGirl: You’re too kind. Thanks!
Brachiator
So true, and wonderfully descriptive!
J R in WV
@Shalimar:
I would have to disagree. There were well sourced news stories about USAF C-130 cargo ships full of shrink-wrapped $100 bills on pallets to be handled by fork lifts. There was no accounting for those funds.
At the same time, government “contractors” were hired to “support” the troops that actually built structures that were dangerous to be in, improperly wired electrocuting people in the showers.
After the invasion, the Bush appointees allowed Iraqi arsenals to be plundered for future use by insurgents. Museums with priceless and irreplacable Babylonian artifacts were plundered for greed and profit.
The list of actual crimes committed by the “W Bush crime cartel” goes on and on, the only thing that wasn’t really stolen was the oil, which is cumbersome and hard to handle in $billion dollar chunks. Trump’s little crooked clique is sheer amateur hour in theft compared to Cheney and Halliburton working a war!
I will admit that I don’t think Bush was in on all the theft, he was just such a hapless clown he never noticed what was going on right next door. Cheney, on the other hand, wanted enough money and power to start his own dynasty like the Bush or Kennedy families.
Kay
@Ella in New Mexico:
It’s up to Harris but IMO California senator is a much better job than AG.
California is a country.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
OT, if anything’s OT these days
If trump’s lost the authoritarian racist John Kelly… what does that say about Silent Jim?
Kay
@Steeplejack:
And Portman! He must be nervous. Ukrainian- Americans are very important in Ohio! Trump’s too dumb and provincial to know any of these American things, like where certain people are, but Portman knows.
The Dangerman
@ziggy:
Ain’t no being safe from the magats if they vote to convict, anonymous or not; they’ll just burn the whole fucking thing down to get to the apostates…
…which, come to think of it, works for me….
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
OMG, the steady hand! The person we were assured was the “grown up” who would babysit dumbo!
I think he got his wingnut sinecure with a contract so maybe it’s safe to return to his “principles” now.
Kent
This is a key point. Who here thinks that the Ukraine thing is even the worst crime the Trump clan has committed in office? I would not be surprised if it didn’t even rank in the top 5. This one wasn’t even for grift. Well, at least not Trump grift. There were plenty of grifters circling around Rudy.
The House needs to keep pulling on every fucking string. There is so much more to find.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@Baud: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=3YSX9BDy&id=795462E4A144DB74E6FD5338D78B3F54500B3F2B&thid=OIP.3YSX9BDyrZMMt64PgeeuFAHaFe&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fviralviralvideos.com%2fwp-content%2fuploads%2f2011%2f03%2fGirl-scouts-LOL-Pic.jpg&exph=360&expw=487&q=next+time+just+buy+the+damn+cookies&simid=607992181151763614&selectedIndex=1&ajaxhist=0
Kay
It doesn’t mean anything, but I’ve been optimistic lately. Not about the country, which I think slides further into nearly irredeemable corruption and general grossness every day, but about the election.
Just give Democrats even a barely acceptable nominee and they’ll all turn out. They want to win.
Fair Economist
This is looking like another allying-with-Stalin situation where Bolton’s desire to sell copies of our book dovetails nicely with our desire to bring honesty to the White House.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@ziggy:
I wonder how true that is these days. I’m sure most of them would vastly prefer President Pence, but more than anything they want another four years to build up their hold on the judiciary, and if RBG holds on another year (or two, or three), I think they know they need trump to have any chance of holding the White House. I don’t think Pence has that toxic charisma among the MAGAts. Kind of like on our side, the Bernie Cult is less about issues than the sacred person of Himself. They want anger and hatred and validation of their emotions, not policy.
MisterForkbeard
@mrmoshpotato: Nah. They had ONE democrat on to make a case that all the other guests and ‘opinion’ people will spend the day shitting on.
They’re still almost 100% behind Trump.
Kattails
There’s been speculation here about those Republican Senators and their little Russian jaunt one nice 4th of July, and that Vlad now holds something over them. To continue that thought, Putin might find it amusing and useful to tip some or all of that information to Trump, who could not possibly resist using the information as a club to keep the underlings in line.
takebakawashi
@catclub: this is why getting contemporaneous documents as well as witnesses is essential; the documents aren’t subject to exemption for executive privilege and they constrain the stories that witnesses hostile to the prosecution can try to spin
Baud
@Kay:
There’s always a catch.
The Dangerman
@Kent:
I’m behind in my reading, but why hasn’t more been made about the “take her out” comment involving the Ambassador? I don’t see how that is remotely innocent given the command was given to the Henchmen, not someone that could really do anything legitimately about it (which, I guess, would have been … fuck, who was the SoS at the time … Tillerson?)
Kay
I’m a Warren supporter and I was even thinking about just voting for the front runner in the primary as a show of good faith and “walking the walk” (lame as that is since obviously no one gives a shit) but then I realized there isn’t really a “front runner” so I can’t even do my pathetic team sacrifice.
Get your shit together. Pick one of these people, please. I don’t like surprises.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay:
Hey, you think just anybody could have gotten rid of Omarosa?
Kent
Senator is one vote in a dysfunctional institution. How many major seminal pieces of legislation are going to pass the Senate in the next 4 years? Senators don’t have a great deal to do with state government anyway. Other than pushing through pork barrel spending or serving on committees of particular relevance to the state.
AG has the ability to completely overhaul criminal justice in this country from top to bottom. DOJ is responsible for everything from voting rights enforcement to police misconduct. It is a very big deal.
MisterForkbeard
@The Dangerman: I saw an unsourced explanation that one of the people at the table WAS working for State at the time. Which would explain it a bit. The other bit was that the Ambassador didn’t have to leave ‘for security reasons’ until a year later, so maybe this was another case of people just shrugging off awful Trump orders.
It’s still sketchy as hell and I’m pretty sure he wanted her hurt.
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: I’ve been slowly reconciling myself to the possibility that Bernie might get the nomination. I doubt it, but the possibility is there (especially as the media is happy to carry anti-Biden water and is pushing Sanders at the moment).
It’s not my choice by far, but I’ll be happy with it. No need for any team sacrifice yet for anyone. :)
JGabriel
@Kay:
Yes, but CA still has the same number of Senators as WY.
It’s gotta rankle and be frustrating to have to treat Wyoming as if it’s on equal footing with California when you’re representing almost 70 times as many people.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
This maybe the moment that Barr joins the Trump admin death watch list. Barr is likely terrified that Trump now thinks Barr is buds with Bolton now.
Baud
@MisterForkbeard:
I still haven’t heard a theory of why he would want her hurt when he could always fire her.
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@Baud: Well, that didn’t work. If you Google “Next time just buy the damn cookies” you’ll have your proof.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ve been a Schumer critic, but he’s been really good the last few weeks
Kay
@MisterForkbeard:
I’m less anti-Bernie than a lot of people and I was reconciling myself to it, but lately I’m getting that he’s kind of an asshole and that bothers me.
I’m sick of assholes. I don’t admire them.
My husband planted this with me because he said “we could end up with a choice of one of three assholes- Bernie, Trump, or Bloomberg”
Ugh. Biden looks better and better in that scenario.
MisterForkbeard
@Baud: That’s the thing that’s weird to me. He clearly could have just ordered the state department to fire her or move her. He didn’t.
Instead, he’s working with two-bit punks in an effort to… discredit her with Trump, have her surveilled, and to get her threatened out of her job? Followed up by other threats like “bad stuff is going to happen to her”.
This is why I’m pretty sure he wanted to hurt her, and I think it was honestly because she was a competent woman standing in his way… and Lev Parnas and others said she was “badmouthing” him. That’s all it takes.
JGabriel
Trump’s a sadist. He doesn’t need a reason to want people hurt. Self-gratification is his reward.
MattF
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Barr is a fanatic. People continue, for some reason, to expect him to behave rationally— but that is not a plausible expectation.
Baud
@MisterForkbeard:
@JGabriel:
For everything we’ve learned about Trump, we have no other instance where he’s attempted to use extra-governmental people to physically harm someone he doesn’t like. I need more than mob cosplay talk before I jump down this particular rabbit hole.
Kay
@JGabriel:
I (actually) think California governor is the best job. I love California, though. I’m too set in my ways to move there but I vacation there, which people here think is weird- they all go to Florida. I specifically love Los Angeles. Not to live! But to visit. It’s a real vacation- it’s very different than my ordinary life.
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: Bernie is an ass. I think that’s always been true. He doesn’t think of people as real – they’re abstractions in his greater movement or goals. To his credit, those goals are often very good – but he’s a gigantic asshole to everyone who’s not 100% on board, and reflexively gives approval to bad actors who side with him. I don’t like it.
The thing I like about Biden is that he’s genuinely a good dude. Not my favorite policies, and not the most eloquent. But he’s fundamentally decent.
Bernie’s goals are decent. Biden is decent. Trump attacks decency, and you can see this in how he interacts with everything… but especially Biden (attacks his character) and Bernie (attacks his goals)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: thank you, I think trump benefits when we focus on the worst possible scenario for every case. See: Pee tape.
NotMax
These elebenty day long weeks sure are debilitating.
MisterForkbeard
@Baud: I think it’s likely. I also don’t usually promote the theory.
Trump has (in the past) used enforcers to threaten people, legally and extra-legally. I absolutely don’t put it past him to try and ‘punish’ people who’ve opposed him. I also think it’s likely that he has people around him who stop him from doing these things or just ignore him when he makes these outbursts.
But really, if there WAS a State Dept rep at that dinner table, the thing gets a lot less ominous and more sad.
ETA: I also think it’s likely that he’s not ordering her murder, but removal. “Hurting” her can mean a lot of things – like damaging her reputation, ruining her position, etc.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@MisterForkbeard: also, the latest hobby-horse in my stable: Who do you think Mark Kelly and Cal Cunningham want to campaign with? You know who really want Bernie to get the nomination? Mitch McConnell, Martha McSally, Thom Tillis and Susan Collins. “Whoever wins in November, you can count on me to be a voice for common sense in Washington…”
patrick II
@Shalimar:
Cheney’s no-bid Halliburton war contracts excepted.
Yutsano
@Immanentize: Apparently reading comprehension is not my strong suit today. I probably need more coffee. Well okay I ALWAYS need more coffee but still…
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m shocked that Kelly would believe Bolton over trump. Just shocked
Silent Jim is afraid of the Hunter Biden treatment, except his involvement in Theranos is far worse, imo.
PAM Dirac
@Bunter4:
I second. She is quite a gifted story teller in the Twitter medium and almost all her stories are smile inducing. She really gives her dogs their own personalities. You might also check the #uglydogs hash tag, especially as the Iditarod is coming up.
zhena gogolia
@Kattails:
If you’re a movie fan, I like PreCode.com
https://twitter.com/PreCodeDotCom
And Edgar Wright’s tweets can be fun and informative, as can Patton Oswalt’s, although he strays into politics sometimes.
Jeffro
@JGabriel:
@Ben Cisco:
Awesome!
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
My theory (unverified) is that he wants to be just like Putin in every way. Putin has people assassinated without ever giving the order. People just know he wants it, so they do it for him (in the case of Anna Politkovskaya, on Putin’s birthday). He would just love to have that kind of power.
snoey
@Kay:
The nightmare scenario is that we go all the way to the end without a winner. A “brokered” convention without brokers will be a disaster. Bloomberg or Patrick on the 15th ballot and the Bernistas walk out.
Immanentize
@Yutsano: It is not you at all. They want you to read it the way that headline writers , etc. have stated it — that they deny the conversation took place. They are crafty. I always read their explanations and denials a few times. It takes me that long to discern what they are really saying and it is usually a very loud denial of a very narrow thing.
zhena gogolia
@Kay:
In that trio, I’d take Bloomberg.
I am also starting to resign myself to the fact that we’ll be ruled by assholes for the rest of my natural life. If Sanders is the nominee, Trump will win in a landslide.
Brachiator
@MisterForkbeard:
It’s like he forgets he is president. Trump is a strange, fucked up little man. He can get expert advice from the most talented people in and out of the government, but he prefers to use the same low-lifes and scum that he employed in his private life.
Trump has never risen to the challenge of being president. He sinks lower and is comfortable being a third rate mobster.
In the audio clip, Trump seems to flip out when told the ambassador is predicting that he will be impeached. It’s not just about “competent women.” But it is definitely about a woman, any woman, standing in his way, opposing his bullshit.
And, as another poster noted, Trump enjoys hurting and humiliating people. Women, he wants to hurt and get rid of. With some men, Romney, Rubio, Christie, Giuliani, he humiliates, but still keeps around.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@zhena gogolia:
absolutely, a transnational, global powerbroker– supra-political. I think that was the goal in ’16 campaign, starting a media company to replace Fox, and himself replacing Rupert Murdoch, though . without any clear idea of geography. Putin (my theory goes) wanted it too, as a means of fucking with US politics, and a money laundry in the various, never-finished trump towers all over the world
I had that thought the other day, followed by: What the fuck? Then last night I was watching one of his ads on climate, and I thought, if I didn’t know this guy was a stop-and-frisk, Bush-endorsing, war-supporting, would-be New Deal-undoing plutocrat, I’d probably pick him.
James E Powell
@Kay:
My evaluation of political jobs always reflects my personal problems & preferences. I wouldn’t want any of the jobs where one is responsible for outcomes. So no president, governor, mayor lose the election because it snowed much more than expected type of jobs.
Senator is cool because it’s prestigious without any real job responsibilities. The ultimate job is associate justice of the supreme court justice. Lifetime appointment. not responsible for running the place. No need to deal with the public or the press/media. I would especially enjoy writing dissenting opinions.
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
Love this site, especially when I am looking for pre-Code movies at TCM (Turner Classic Movies).
trollhattan
@MattF:
Correction, Donny, he was only “no-name” before you just named him. Now, he’s invincible!”
Hoax? What happened to Witch Hunt? Where did the witches go?
Kattails
@zhena gogolia: Thanks, I’ll check it out, though I’m not on regular TV right now, gotta figure out the box thingy and pay up for more options.
@Kay: I’m checking the box for Warren. I believe she’s the best candidate we have right now. I don’t just want to win, we need to hold onto things long enough to do the Augean stables cleanup that’s going to be required, and I think she’s up to it. Vote for your favorite.
MisterForkbeard
@trollhattan: I think the witches are all in court and/or jail now.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Kattails:
Oh, God, they’ve used up all of the cute kitten videos!
Kay
@Kattails:
I love her and it’s pure speculation but I don’t think she can win. I don’t think the United States is ready to elect a woman. I know that’s sad to say but I think it’s true. It’s been hard for me watching Trump on that issue because I think I was deluding myself. It isn’t Warren per se. I realized it during Kavanaugh, when he was red faced yelling at us and it was considered acceptable. I see it in a way I didn’t before. It’s the exact same dynamic we just saw with Pompeo. It’s men yelling at women to intimidate them. It’s them “taking out” that ambassador. I wish I didn’t believe it was true but I do, now.
Yutsano
@Kay:
As President? Maybe. But you put up Kamala Harris or Stacy Abrams as Vice-President and that will charge people up big time.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
the event I believe is the unveiling– or the pre-unveiling– of Jared’s peace plan. He’s a liar, a bully and a buffoon, an embarrassment to literate adults everywhere, but he sure gave that mouthy liberal media broad what-for. Hurr hurr
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: I’ve felt that women are going to have a MUCH harder time ever since Harris dropped out. She basically got Hillary’d again and it was seen as totally acceptable. Even NOW every time she posts anything on facebook she gets at least 5% of replies as sexual or abusive, usually both.
I still think a woman can win, but it’s (like so many other things) so much harder for them because we have too many stupid, awful cultural biases. The Pompeo/Trump stuff is just the shit icing on a larger shit cake.
I will also admit that my willingness to see Biden in office is partially because I think he’s heavily considering Harris/Abrams/another woman as a running mate, and that’s a backdoor into getting a woman into power. God knows having Harris face off against Pence in debates would be kind of amazing, but we have the same sort of problem – there’s lots of people who’d be activated by watching a black lady lay into a christian white guy.
L85NJGT
@Kay:
I was reading Corbyn post-election think pieces and comments and a few things stood out in terms of Wilmerism. The real world working class doesn’t like middle class puds dictating to them ( think bad life experiences with low level autocratic bureaucrats, teachers, line managers and the like). Another was that Corbyn’s character issues were informed by his intra-party knife fights – “That boy looks like a sheep killing dog”.
Add a profound denial that socio-economic factors have moved Left leaning voters away from militant Marxism and industrial trade unionism. He and his cadre didn’t present a clear vision for the UK, just an endless list of aggrievments to be redressed.
But hey, Wilmer will prevail because…. he’s more pure.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Kay:
And Romney. He has ties to Cofer Black, an Erik Prince henchman who also happened to sit on the Burisma board. But, hey, no corruption investigation needed there!
Ben Cisco
@J R in WV:
This is how I choose to see it.
Brachiator
@Kay:
People said something similar about Obama. The American people can be surprising. Sometimes they can surprise themselves and do the right thing.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Baud:
Yeah, and “Get rid of her” probably is how Trump fires people. He yells that at John Kelly or Mick Mulvaney or whomever and expects them to do the dirty work (and the paperwork). This time he probably forgot a sufficiently high minion was not in the room.
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
Absent the meddling we more or less did elect a woman. “That woman” even. Can lightning strike twice, only more accurately? Some folks are super-nervous about a woman beating Trump and don’t want to give it a second go. I’ve heard it first-hand many times over the last year.
Mnemosyne
@Jinchi:
The next president is going to get HUGE pushback from the MSM if he or she pursues that. The press is desperate to conceal their own complicity in the Trump mess and will refuse to do any self-examination whatsoever.
That doesn’t mean that the investigation shouldn’t be done, but we need to be realistic about the fact that it’s going to go over like a lead balloon with the MSM and the president is going to be viciously attacked.
James E Powell
@Kay:
I worry that you are right. I hear this more from women than from men and I think it may be unhealed wounds from 2016.
@Brachiator:
I’ve always believed that one of things that made Obama acceptable to some Americans was that he defeated Hillary Clinton.
James E Powell
@Mnemosyne:
I agree. If there are to be investigations, it will have to be done by committees in the house.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@James E Powell:
Something to that, I think, but sometimes people forget how badly Rs had to fuck up the country and the world, from Iraq to New Orleans to Wall Street to Wassilla, to make the remarkably charismatic and intelligent and appealing Obama viable. All counterfactuals is bunk, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened if McCain had made, say, Kay Bailey Hutchison or Jodi Rell (I think that was her name, R gov of CT) his running mate. Lieberman I think was too much associated with Iraq, but some other non-threatening D? who knows.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Video at the link:
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay:
California Republic, says so on our flag.
Yeah, I’m unsure why folk want to end my Senator(and now Congresscritter)’s political careers.
Brachiator
@James E Powell:
I thought that Obama was the better candidate. And Americans sometimes want someone new and fresh, or apparently so. Trump and Sanders play into this kind of thing.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I think Harris is arguably Biden’s best pick for VP. And she’d be taking one for the team if she agreed to do it.
rivers
@Kent: Also, I don’t want to sound delusional (or be delusional!) but what about the public impact of all these revelations about Trump’s non-stop self-dealing and negotiating for the best possible business deal when he’s supposed to be conducting foreign policy? Yes, we’ve all known this was going on, but have his fans fully digested how completely he disregards the national interests and security of the US as a matter of course (when I say fans, I don’t mean the hardcore base but the Republicans who always vote for Republicans.) It feels as if this out and out sleaze is something Democrats should be hammering away at – and also Bloomberg could cut a couple of ads on the topic if he hasn’t yet.
Quiltingfool
@Kay: I love Warren too and would be so relieved to have her as President. I agree with you that our country is too much against women in authority positions and I’m afraid she wouldn’t win – and we would have Trump and all the awfulness that follows him. I got to thinking about Biden – what if his role was the PR President? He mends fences with allies, puts out upbeat tweets, calms everyone down…but sends out his war dogs (Cabinet, AG, etc) to clean shit up. Not nicely, but all very legal. I’d be good with that.
Just Chuck
@J R in WV: Nazi or not, we all rooted for Stauffenberg nonetheless.
catclub
With the exception of calling for second amendment solutions to stop gun control if Hillary got elected
catclub
yep. this. A half competent McCain, instead of deer in the headlights MCCain, when the stock market tanked in Sep08 and there was an ‘economic summit’, and he gets elected, rather than scary black guy.
Brachiator
@trollhattan:
This is why I say that sometimes Americans surprise themselves. After a certain point, many Americans backed Obama and trusted him. The media tossed out a few “can he win” and “can a black man possibly win” but this kind of crap was countered with stories about “rock star popular Obama.”
I have noted before that before Obama won the nomination, a number of “wise” pundits insisted that the natural order of things was that first a white woman would be elected president, then a Jewish man, and later on down the road, sometime later, a black man. Curiously, these wise heads never considered that a black woman might ever be elected.
In a way that pundits don’t yet understand, Obama’s election shattered all this bullshit. The Democrats have shown that anyone can become president. They have upended the idea of some rigid right of presidential succession.
But Trump has rattled a lot of nerves. There is no reason that anyone should fear this incompetent bum who has to be propped up by dirty tricks and Republicans desperately trying to hold onto the past.
Trump is a pitiful example of The Great White Hope, the White Man Avatar. So, it surprises me a bit that some people want to retreat into the nonsense that the Democrats must fall back and look to their own white man to topple Trump.
I don’t know how it will happen, but people need to find enough faith within to surprise themselves once again.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I agree. While the official job of the VP is to check on the President’s health on a daily basis and be President of the Senate, the President can assign a great deal of work for the VP.
Another Scott
@Brachiator: +1
Hillary got more votes last time. Of course a woman can (and will soon) win.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kay
@Quiltingfool:
Trump and his sleazy low quality hires stalked a female government lawyer and the President regularly humiliates her publicly to make his repulsive fans laugh. They won’t leave her alone.
This is a backwards country as far as equality for women. We should stop denying it and fix it. We’re behind other countries.
Brachiator
@MisterForkbeard:
I will also admit that my willingness to see Biden in office is partially because I think he’s heavily considering Harris/Abrams/another woman as a running mate, and that’s a backdoor into getting a woman into power.
I think this would be a very good ticket. However, I think that there are a considerable number of white people who would not vote for a black woman, and this includes a large subset of white women who specifically would not support a black woman.
In the Georgia governor election, 74 percent of white people voted for the Republican candidate, and 83 percent of white women without college degrees voted for the Republican candidate. And only 43 percent of white women with college degrees voted for Abrams.
Now I want to be clear here, and say that we should never give in to racists and sexists, and those who are just fearful of change. But you have to find ways to win some of them over and to neutralize the rest.
Just One More Canuck
@Barbara:
i tried to think but nothing happened
Quiltingfool
@Kay: Amen, sister. I’ve personally seen intelligent, capable women pushed out in favor of mediocre men (in public education). I have experienced shitty treatment, been made to feel “less than” not because I lacked knowledge or skills, but because I had lady parts. I’m done. I know Senator Warren would do a great job as President, and I thought SOS Clinton would have done, too. Yet we have to tolerate that ferret-headed shitgibbon because we are so backwards.
nyrobbin
@trollhattan:Hoax? What happened to Witch Hunt? Where did the witches go?
Don’t bother, they’re here.
Mnemosyne
@Kattails:
The Oregon Zoo and the Monterey Bay Aquarium both have top-notch social media games.
Ruckus
@Kay:
Taking them all with him.
What a sweet sound that makes when you say it out loud
Ruckus
@Baud:
Because he’s a vindictive asshole who can not stand to have any voice not support him 100%.
Chris Johnson
@Another Scott: This. Hillary got more votes, and got my vote, and she WAS HILLARY and also wasn’t pursuing the best electoral strategy she could and also people had little idea how hard the Russians were cheating (except Hillary, of course: she knew the whole time)
I wanted Warren LAST time. Any of the women running or who WERE running, could win. If fucking Trump can win, anyone can.
There is no magic white man thing that will make Trump magically be running in an America that is in great shape and doing super well. We’re not. It’s not a great situation to be a deeply criminal and guilty incumbent who is only in it for himself.
Trump, and Russia, are way overextended. Don’t mistake that for power.
I’m voting Warren in the primary, because I think she’ll have a plan… and will persist.