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Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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Bark louder, little dog.

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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Thursday Evening Open Thread: Brad Parscale, Death Star(red)

Thursday Evening Open Thread: Brad Parscale, Death Star(red)

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It’s all fun & profit till somebody starts the audit…

… Once lauded by the President and his allies as a digital guru who helped secure Trump’s first election effort, Parscale worked for the Trump family years before Trump launched a presidential bid and he ascended to a role leading the campaign’s data analytics team in June 2016.

He parlayed that goodwill into his role running the entire campaign.

Parscale officially took the job in February 2018, but — as the election grew closer and the demands of the campaign took hold, along with the curveball of the Covid-19 pandemic — there were increasing concerns that his lack of political experience was starting to show.

“It was only a matter of time” before Parscale was moved out of his role as campaign manager, a senior adviser to the campaign previously told CNN. “His inexperience hindered the campaign.”…

Such ingratitude, towards a loyal servant!

May Mr. Parscale get the help he obviously needs… and may he unburden himself in the process…


… Inside Trumpworld there’s a view that the past week is an inflection point in the campaign. It started on Sunday night with the bombshell New York Times report that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. “For Trump the Times story was worse than losing reelection,” said the second Republican. “If you had told Donald back in 2015 that his tax returns would be exposed and he’d have all these investigations, I guarantee you he wouldn’t have run.”

As the Times story lit up cable news and Twitter, news broke that Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale had been taken into custody outside his Ft. Lauderdale home and hospitalized after threatening to commit suicide and allegedly beating his wife days prior. Police body camera footage showing an officer brutally tackling a shirtless, 6’8” Parscale to the pavement instantly became a visual metaphor for the chaos engulfing the Trump campaign. One campaign adviser I spoke with was shocked by the amount of force the police used to subdue and cuff Parscale. “If Brad had been Black, there would be riots all over the country,” the source said. (In fact, police have killed unarmed Black men in far less hostile situations.)

Parscale’s public meltdown happened while he is reportedly* under investigation for stealing from the Trump campaign and the RNC. According to the source close to the campaign, the Trump family is worried that Parscale could turn on them and cooperate with law enforcement about possible campaign finance violations. “The family is worried Brad will start talking,” the source said.

In response the Trump campaign’s communications director, Tim Murtaugh, said: “It’s utterly false. There is no investigation, no audit, and there never was.”

* The infamous Daily Mail, for what it’s worth. If you don’t wanna soil your search history:


– Brad Parscale is under investigation for ‘stealing’ between $25-$40 million from Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, well-placed sources told DailyMail.com
– The 44-year-old is also being investigated for ‘pocketing’ another $10 million from the Republican National Committee, the insiders added…
– A Trump insider explained to DailyMail.com Parscale went into a tailspin after he was demoted in July and replaced by his former number two, Bill Stepien
– Trump later ordered an audit of the spending of the RNC…

Reader Interactions

120Comments

  1. 1.

    jl

    “His inexperience hindered the campaign.”

    Huh, what? I kept reading that he was a genius and grizzled, very experienced, veteran from his brilliant performance in 2016. Have I been misinformed?

  2. 2.

    jl

    And I’ve read that hundreds of millions disappeared from the Trump campaign coffers. Where did the rest go? I thought Parscale made a much bigger haul.

  3. 3.

    Immanentize

    No no no!

    Brad Parscale is a domestic abuse perpetrator. That is why they legally took all his weapons. The “get the help he needs” BS is a narrative pushed by men for men. So many police and prison guards with violent power over the less powerful and also guilty of abuse get this comforting treatment by prosecutors and courts.

    How about — don’t fucking hit women?

  4. 4.

    A Ghost to Most

    Grand Moff Parscale turning on Darth Traitor? This could be good, even on the small screen.

  6. 6.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    Atlantic’ writer Barton Gellman says the 2020 election could trigger a constitutional crisis, and if the election is close, it could take weeks to determine the results in key battleground states as mail-in ballots are scrutinized for technical flaws and counted. If President Trump cries fraud and his supporters take to the streets, state legislatures could resolve to set aside the popular vote in their states and choose their own partisan delegations to the Electoral College.

    I know this was discussed a week or two back, but I honestly forgot why this apparently isn’t a big deal? How could state legislatures simply set aside the popular vote and choose their own EC delegations? There are state laws in place against that type of thing.

    Also, in hilarious news, my county GOP has paid for digital billboard ads saying brilliant stuff like this:

    Say no to socialism!

    Portland or prosperity?

    Vote Republican

    This is a Democratic county (even if conservadem), so I really don’t know what they’re fucking doing. They’ve been this nutty for awhile. I remember their party tent at the county fair was full of “Obamaunism” merch 8 years ago

    I think they’ve let the state legislature wins they got in 2018 go to their heads

  7. 7.

    Falling Diphthong

    @jl:

    And I’ve read that hundreds of millions disappeared from the Trump campaign coffers. Where did the rest go? I thought Parscale made a much bigger haul.

    Maybe that explains the meltdown?

  9. 9.

    kindness

    Boy do I feel bad to see everything/one Trump touches turn to a raging dumpster fire.  (no I don’t)  King Midas in reverse on steroids.

  12. 12.

    Mary G

    Not going to Google in case I’m wrong, but I seem to remember that Parsnip and Jared were BFFs who worked closely together in 2016, and that he is the family so very very very very very very very concerned. He knows what incarceration is like from visiting his daddy every weekend.

  13. 13.

    evap

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):  I think the point is that changing the electors in this way would require the a GOP state legislature and a GOP governor to go along with it. The states with both are mostly going to go for Trump anyway.

  15. 15.

    Delk

    . “His inexperience hindered the campaign‘

    Unlike the experience that Ivanka and the coatrack she married have.

  20. 20.

    Morzer

    Death Star Brad can now go back to his manifest destiny as the one-goat village drunk on Vikings.

  21. 21.

    Steeplejack

    Nipped over to CNN to check out Shepard Smith’s new (news) show. Haven’t seen much of him except to do intros to reporters, but I was turned off by Ylan Mui reporting on the stimulus talks between Pelosi and Mnuchin. She seemed to both-sides it—gridlock in Washington (eye roll implied)—and she issued this clanger (paraphrased but close to verbatim): “Republican sources tell me that Speaker Pelosi won’t take yes for an answer. The Republican proposal covers a lot of the same things, but with less money.” Jee-sus.

  27. 27.

    Sab

    Why wouldn’t they have an audit with that much money moving around? That’s just basic basic lowest bar imaginable competent management.

    Seriously, these people couldn’t operate a two person lemonade stand competently.

  28. 28.

    jl

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I think big problem is MI, WI and PA where they don’t verify, don’t process and get ready to count, and don’t start counting, before election day. There is where the more competent Trump legal forces will focus the court challenges, I think.

    IIRC correctly all have D executive and D elected secretaries of state, and all R legislatures. So, if a crooked SCOTUS can’t fix it, I would guess a bigger chance of dueling electoral college delegations if there is a big problem. So, maybe replay of 1876?

    Other swing states either validate process and start counting before election day, or get the mail in votes ready to throw in the hopper morning of election day. So, if Dem GOTV is smart, can get in big locked in vote in those states.

  31. 31.

    H.E.Wolf

    @jl: IIRC correctly all [MI, WI, PA] have D executive and D elected secretaries of state, and all R legislatures.

    As it happens, Electoral Vote blog mentioned this topic today, focusing on secretaries of state or other main election official. The main link is in the BJ sidebar (thank you WaterGirl); here’s the specific item.

    https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2020/Pres/Maps/Oct01.html#item-10

    The answers to the rest of the question are certainly out there somewhere, but I have GOTV tasks to do. :)

  32. 32.

    jl

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    @H.E.Wolf:

    Thanks for info and link. Also, IIRC, most other swing states have early in-person voting. And some passages in Michelle Obama’s convention speech, and Biden at debate signal Dems will make a big effort there where safe and do-able.

    A smart well-funded Dem GOTV effort can do a lot of foil the Trumpster and GOP effort to fix the election. At least there is hope.

  34. 34.

    JCNZ

    “May Mr. Parscale get the help he obviously needs… and may he unburden himself in the process…“ Bay of Pigs Award-level snark.

  37. 37.

    Steeplejack

    My spidey sense wonders if Parscale is being set up as the scapegoat with all the hints of “stealing from the campaign.” He has banked a lot of coin in the last few years, but one thing to remember is that media ad placements customarily carry a fee (10-15% decades ago when I was involved). That’s how ad agencies make a lot of their income.

    But if your entity gets big enough to do the placements itself you can recoup that money. (One software company I worked at got big enough to do that.) If Parscale was routing the ad placements through an agency set up by him—or by the campaign—that’s an ideal junction at which to do a little skimming, if one has a mind to do such a thing.

    I just saw a news item saying that Trump spent over $50 million on ads in September—and that’s down significantly from previous months—so that’s $5-7 million or so sloshing through in just one month. Not big on the Trump scale, but more than enough to fund Parscale’s lavish lifestyle. I wonder if the Trumps’ fear is not that Parscale was stealing all the money but that he was in a position to observe (and possibly testify to) the money being stolen by persons unknown.

  42. 42.

    jl

    @Steeplejack: From my experience, the Trump and GOP algorithms to place their fourth rate, cheap-jack,  and laughable internet come-ons are horrible. What do others think?

    Can’t target at all. I get absurd come-ons more just as much after looking at lefty content as I do after reactionary junk.

  43. 43.

    Morzer

    @jl:

    I get absurd come-ons more just as much after looking at lefty content as I do after reactionary junk.

     

    They just want you to Be Best.

  45. 45.

    Gvg

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka): you gave the answer in your question. Most, if not all states have laws or even constitutions, that specify how the electors are picked. The writers of the what if, were lazy or deliberately doing clickbait. It is mostly not even possible to just have republican legislations select alternative electors. At a minimum, they have to actually change laws with both state houses and the governor signing a law, and they have to do it right out where the public can see it, before the certification deadline. If they do it after the election, there is also a good chance their own state courts would throw it out.

    on examination, this is not going to work, and if Trump needs this kind of help in more than one state, it would be absolutely impossible odds.

    The writers of the article that started this speculation, acted as if there were lots of states with no really specific laws about this, just customs. I doubt there is a single state where that is true.

  46. 46.

    geg6

    @Morzer:

    Oooo, I love my AG Josh Shapiro, who is running for re-election here in PA.  He’s like a dog with a piece of rope.  He’ll tug and tug and won’t let go.  Just ask the Catholic Church about him.

  48. 48.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    My subtext is that I don’t see Parscale as an evil genius intent on robbing the Trump campaign blind. That would be killing the golden goose. He strikes me more as a shlub who fell into the money pit when he hooked up with the Trumps, and I can see him as being quite happy to take oversized fees and the ad vig and just go along with whatever bigger schemes the Trumps are perpetrating.

  49. 49.

    Morzer

    @Steeplejack:

    I think it’s perfectly possible that Parscale wet his own beak, but also has absolutely no idea where a big chunk of the money went. That’s what happens when you take the Trump University degree in money management.

  51. 51.

    germy

    And now Kimberly Guilfoyle is back in the hot seat.

    Over her behavior during her tenure at Fox News.

  52. 52.

    Morzer

    @germy:

    https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-secret-history-of-kimberly-guilfoyles-departure-from-fox

    In November, 2018, a young woman who had been one of Guilfoyle’s assistants at Fox News sent company executives a confidential, forty-two-page draft complaint that accused Guilfoyle of repeated sexual harassment, and demanded monetary relief. The document, which resulted in a multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement, raises serious questions about Guilfoyle’s fitness as a character witness for Trump, let alone as a top campaign official.

  53. 53.

    JPL

    @germy:  I just posted the link on Doug’s post.  I am so old, that I had no idea that you just sat around half dressed and shared pics of male genitalia.    I lost some respect for Newsom for marrying her.

  54. 54.

    Mike in NC

    Somebody once wrote a book called “The Commissar Vanishes” (I think), about how when Stalin soured on an associate and had him jailed or killed, photos would be touched up to remove the image of the offender. That’s gonna happen with gold old Brad, too.

  55. 55.

    FelonyGovt

    @jl: I get those too and I’ve wondered why. Nothing I do online would ever cause anyone to mistake me for a Trump supporter.

  56. 56.

    raven

    I want to let folks know that Lil Bit died peacefully this morning with the help of the staff at our vet. It was liver and bile cancer and I am thankful that she only had one night like last night. Although covid protocol says you can’t be with them when they go the folks made an exception for us, partly because we adopted her from them.  She was a sweet pup and a real fighter and we’re glad she’s out of pain now. We so appreciate the support we’ve received here and I don’t want to derail another thread so maybe we just let it be. I’ll leave it with this video from the bakery where she was defending us from a plastic bag, this is the doggie we want to remember. thanks

  58. 58.

    Anotherlurker

    @raven: Raven, I am so sorry to hear of the passing of Lil Bit.  Cry because she is gone but smile because you knew her and loved her.

  60. 60.

    geg6

    @raven:

    She was a brave, loyal, sweet and wonderful girl.  And you guys loved her and cared for her as she deserved.  My heart is with you both.  RIP Lil Bit. ❤️??

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    @Morzer:

    They just want you to Be Best.

    Speaking of creepy, how creepy was that video of the Third Lady?

    Also, what point was the Lincoln Project video of the Third Lady today supposed to be making?

  62. 62.

    LuciaMia

    I’m so sorry, Raven.

    ( “Damn, those plastic bags.You gotta watch them every minute!”

    I  didnt say that to be flippant. Like you said, thats how you want to remember her. She sounds like one well-loved dog.)

  63. 63.

    raven

    @LuciaMia: Oh it’s funny as hell! She was a kook. She’s sit next to me in the truck and bounce her ass into the seat and bark at me!

  64. 64.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    What wonderful memories you have of her. I’m so sorry. Lil Bit has been a part of this blog for a long time, and I know I’m far from the only jackal grieving with you and your bride and The Bohdi.

  70. 70.

    Morzer

    @WaterGirl: Beats me. Sometimes I think the Lincoln project crew are a little too respectful of their own creative genius.  I thought the Lindsey Graham ad “Parasite” was just an incoherent, vaguely repellent mess that made me wonder whether they’d acquired part of Don Junior’s stash.

  71. 71.

    CarolPW

    @raven: I had been wondering all day, so thank you for letting us know. As far as I am concerned Lil Bit can derail as many threads as she wants to. We will miss tales of her antics and trials. Good job raven, rest easy Lil Bit.

  73. 73.

    sdhays

    @Steeplejack: I’m thinking along the same lines. I think Parscale got his job to facilitate the looting of the campaign by the Dump family. The problem is he didn’t balance the looting with legitimate campaign needs. He needed to budget. So now they’re all afraid of any investigation.

  75. 75.

    Jeffro

    @PPCLI: Yes.  He knows how much the trumpov family itself has been skimming and hiding offshore since the Inauguration.

  76. 76.

    Jeffro

    @Morzer: Yup.  “They’ll do anything to help Sleepy Joe win, so why should I take a day off of golfing campaigning?”

    He doesn’t want to do that town hall, that’s for sure.

  78. 78.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @raven: oh I’m so sorry  Thank you for letting us know

    Cocker spaniels are the best.  So very loyal.

  80. 80.

    laura

    @raven: thought about your family all day. Lilbit was a very good dog and she’ll leave a spaniel shaped place in your hearts that will hurt more and less.

    That plastic bag never stood a chance and shouldn’t have done what it did.

  82. 82.

    WaterGirl

    @Morzer:

    Sometimes I think the Lincoln project crew are a little too respectful of their own creative genius.

    I laughed at that!

    People warned me off of Parasite, so I never watched that one.

  83. 83.

    jl

    @FelonyGovt: “I get those too and I’ve wondered why. Nothing I do online would ever cause anyone to mistake me for a Trump supporter.”

    I do hope that all the campaign money what wasn’t stolen is going to that useless garbage. It is all weird and seems very very cheap, like they banged out a rudimentary template and plug cheap to grab and very repetitive content into it.  Must be a lot of people making serious bank on the Trump train wreck.

  84. 84.

    AWJ

    What the Christ is wrong with the NYT? This is at least as bad as that Tom Cotton op-ed.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/01/opinion/hong-kong-china-security-law.html

    To some, the new national security law is especially chilling because it seems simultaneously vague and very severe. But many laws are vague, constructively so. And this one only seems severe precisely because it fills longstanding loopholes — about subversion, secession, local terrorism, collusion with external forces. One person’s “severe” is someone else’s intended effect.

  87. 87.

    J R in WV

    @Morzer:

    “Why would I allow the debate commission to change the rules for the second and third debates when I easily won last time?” Trump asked in a tweet on Thursday.

    How about because you cheated for 90 minutes by not following the rules YOUR campaign agreed to long before the debat (sic)~!!~

    What a bully boy this guy wants to be~!!~

  88. 88.

    jl

    @Jeffro:

    ” He doesn’t want to do that town hall, that’s for sure. ”

    Trump could drop by the townhall in his golf clothes and with his clubs on the way to one of his resorts. He could find time.

    If Trump cancels, Biden should absolutely insist on getting some time, and make a huge public fuss if a whole event is canceled.

    Edit: Biden should remind everyone of all the free media Trump got with coverage of his empty lectern in 2016. Nothing was canceled because Trump canceled. Commission should tell Trump to send a surrogate, or Biden will appear alone and get his scheduled allotment of time at the remaining two events.

  96. 96.

    jl

    @Jeffro: Well, my first rule is no BS total cancellations if Trump chickenshits out of an event. Joe gets his time, doesn’t have to pay for it.

  98. 98.

    Steeplejack

    @raven:

    So sorry to hear the news, bro’. ??

    And what you have shared with others so often:

    We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan.
    – Irving Townsend, Separate Lifetimes

  101. 101.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl:

    Speaking of creepy, how creepy was that video of the Third Lady?

    Also, what point was the Lincoln Project video of the Third Lady today supposed to be making?

    I think you’ve almost answered your own question. The first video was creepy as fuck. The LP version, I think, had no purpose at all except to point up how creepy the original was. The music was perfect, and Melania does have terrifying eyes.

  103. 103.

    raven

    Thanks again ya’ll. I was thinking about my old man. I tried for years to get him to get a dog. Finally he did and Molly became as much of his focus as Lil Bit did for me. We chart his demise with his. He just couldn’t handle it and, in many ways, gave up. We mixed her ashes with his and they are in the Phoenix National Veterans Cemetery. I think the difference between us is that I’ve had dogs for 50 years.  And it is true that “The time will come when their memory will bring a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eyes.” It’s certainly not yet but when I think of Ralph, Henry, Mr Big, Raven and someday Lil Bit and the Bohdi,  I cherish what all of them have given me. . .a reason to live.

  105. 105.

    raven

    I gotta hit the rack, I got zero sleep and we are driving to the beach in the morning. Peace ya’ll.

  107. 107.

    Miss Bianca

    @raven:

    Oh, raven, I am so sorry to hear it. Death always comes for all our beloved fur persons all too soon. Virtual hugs to you and yours from afar.

  109. 109.

    Miss Bianca

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Oh, I hate them AND I rejoice in their downfall.

    Also…this?

    “If you had told Donald back in 2015 that his tax returns would be exposed and he’d have all these investigations, I guarantee you he wouldn’t have run.”

    The mofo figured he could just skate into the WH with no scrutiny. It’s sickening. But the truly sickening thing is, he managed to do it.

  111. 111.

    J R in WV

    @raven:

    Aw, Raven. It’s never easy, but you know when they’re miserable you did the right thing, as hard as it is to do. We all knew it was getting close, I guess I’m glad it’s behind you now.

    A wonderful puppy, you won’t ever forget the good times with her~!!~

  112. 112.

    SFAW

    @raven: Raven, I’m so sorry to see this. The love you and your bride had for her was so obvious in everything you wrote about her.

  116. 116.

    Mary G

    @raven: I’m so sorry, but glad you were able to be with her. She was 50 pounds of personality in a 10-pound bag, and I appreciate all the times you shared her with us.

  118. 118.

    Aleta

    @raven:

    To sense this world of waters known to the creatures of the sea we must shed our human perceptions of length and breadth and time and place, and enter vicariously into a universe of all-pervading water.”

    Rachel Carson

  119. 119.

    trnc

    @jl: No surrogate, candidates only. IF DT doesn’t show up, Joe gets the whole night. Almost makes up for the time DT stole from him in the first one.

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