Michelle Obama called the trashy-ass Trumps out in the classiest way, and I’m filled with admiration:
Michelle O is criticized sometimes for the “when they go low, we go high” motto. Some folks mistake the slogan for a call for comity, an entreaty to bring a knife to a gun fight. But I read Mrs. Obama’s words above as a master-class lesson in refined shade.
Her words are measured, reflective and patriotic. But she field dresses Trump and his vile birther wife. She describes a scenario where the tacky Trumps’ social superiors extend unearned benevolence, not because the Trumps are special but despite their monstrousness, for the good of the nation.
Well done, ma’am.
I had a grandma who was capable of reducing people who’d displeased her to a puddle of humiliated goo without raising her voice or using a swear. Always admired that.
Open thread.
JPL
I’m not much for if they go low, you go high. It’s not my nature.
Kay
I liked it too. It’s important to tell the truth. The Obama’s were generous and decent to the Trumps and of course the sleazy, poorly-raised Trumps didn’t reciprocate.
It won’t matter to the Republican Party or the Trump family, but telling the truth is important anyway. You gotta lay the marker down. Get it into the record.
Mike in NC
From Bloomberg News:
Let’s hope that Uday and Qusay Trump have that to look forward to.
Kay
It will be in the historical record too- when the chapter of this incredibly low point of US history is written.
That’s the Trump Family Legacy. Mean spirited, classless and corrupt.
artem1s
@JPL:
I had a therapist who told me it’s OK to want to get even. It’s not getting ahead, or being mean, it’s.just.even. I think about that a lot lately. what would even look like for minorities or anyone else who has been damaged by this administration.
Yarrow
I appreciate Michelle Obama. I think her post is meant for regular people who are kind of surprised by the Trumpers’ refusal to accept the election results.
It won’t have any effect on Trump and his crew, though. They’re not reachable in this way. If they could be shamed they would have been a lot easer to deal with. Their lack of shame about their actions is how they get away with what they’re doing. People expect them not to do certain things, not cross certain lines. They just don’t care and go right ahead and do what they want.
Kay
The Trumps really can’t climb down now. They get worse every day until they’re forcibly evicted. There’s no turning back now.
I just hope we get to watch them actually peeled off the pillars, refusing to leave. That’s where we’re headed.
Patricia Kayden
JPL
@Patricia Kayden: She’s in the chamber now. I hope she is careful because the whackos don’t have to wear masks.
Kay
@Yarrow:
I just think not everything has to have an objective or a goal. She’s telling the truth she witnessed. What people do with it is up to them.
Chetan Murthy
The Obamas are royalty in a way that the Kennedys never were: sure, they’re glamorous and all that. But the -class-, my lord, the -class- of the Obamas.
Almost Retired
I will never forgive Trump for inadvertently burnishing the reputation of George W. Bush.
WaterGirl
I don’t think Michelle is aiming this at the Trumps. This is aimed at all the collaborators in the Republican party who are propping up this ridiculous notion that the election isn’t settled. It’s also aimed at anyone who thinks it doesn’t matter if trump sticks it to Biden on the way out – I mean, why would you think it would matter when it’s obvious that they feel allegiance to their party rather than their country.
TaMara (HFG)
A class act. But I expect nothing less from the Obamas. History will compare and contrast the behavior of the two administrations and Trump’s will not look anything but as garbage
Kay
@Chetan Murthy:
Losing is really hard. It’s so completely consistent with the Trumps that they wouldn’t do the hard thing and instead have decided to dodge the loss and pretend it didn’t happen.
They’re just not grown ups. They were poorly raised.
cmorenc
Michelle Obama was too polite – had it been me speaking, the word “shitweasel” would have been used several times.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: I think the question is if he ever comes back from Mar-A-Loco after Thanksgiving. I’d bet a larger sum that he doesn’t come back after Xmas.
as for “when they go low, we go high”, it’s also a way of saying, “You’re beneath me”. It doesn’t work as a motto or strategy for everyone, but I think it works for MRO
OzarkHillbilly
@artem1s: Not me, fuck getting even. I’m going to prove right from the start, no matter how far one is willing to go, I’ll double it.
Yarrow
@Kay: I think there’s a good chance Trump goes to Mar-a=Lago at Thanksgiving or Christmas and just never goes back to the WH.
Emma from FL
@Kay: Agreed. Bearing witness to the truth is the most important action a person can take. Maybe it won’t make a difference now but it will keep the historical record straight. And that is very, very important for the long-term health of a nation.
burnspbesq
@Mike in NC:
Based on what I’m reading today, you may have to rely on NYS and New York County to give you what you want. I think Joe is making the wrong call here, and it will bite Dems in 2022.
Kay
@WaterGirl:
I think Michelle Obama has resisted being captured by political manuevering. I don’t think she does what she does expecting an outcome. It’s kind of amazing she kept herself apart from it, but IMO she did. I think she just tells the truth as she sees it and allows people to do with it what they will.
Her husband is a politician (among other things). She’s not.
Suzanne
@Chetan Murthy: Did you read this piece by one of Ivanka’s former friends? It confirms what we always suspected, which is that she has always thought of herself as royalty. Which is, of course, why she is not, just trash who happened to be born to money.
Gin & Tonic
@Mike in NC:
I’m sorry, the what, now?
burnspbesq
@Patricia Kayden:
PHEW!
Suzanne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “When they go low, we go high” is also about making sure it is clear and plainly visible who is low. Study in contrasts, etc.
Emma from FL
@Kay: Kay, sometimes you remind me of my mom so much my eyes water. She had a saying: a ese lo criaron en un chiquero; that one was raised in a pigsty. It was her firm belief that the worst parents were those that did not teach manners or morals.
Kay
@Emma from FL:
I watched Michelle Obama in an interview about her book and I think it’s a misunderstanding of who she is to believe she has “messages”. She approaches this as a person who is relating their experience. Now, obviously, she’s had some extraordinary experiences, but I don’t think she looks at is as outcome-based.
This is a story of Michelle Obama doing a hard thing because it’s right and the Trumps not reciprocating. That’s what happened to her. What that means to the reader is up to the reader.
Suzanne
@Chetan Murthy: The thing about the Obamas is that they are wonderful and lovely and better than royalty…. but they earned their status. And that just eats at the Trumps, who were born rich and still only manage to be trash, and are loved only by trash.
Elizabelle
C-Span: the vote on the egregious Judy Shelton. Vote her down!
c-span.org/event/?478076/senate
Delk
Four years ago there was some news about the Russians that mitch blackmailed Obama from mentioning. Doesn’t Joe have that info? Couldn’t it be leaked now? Or used against mitch if he tries his blocking obstructionist shit?
Parfigliano
@cmorenc: “shitweasel” I would have called Melania the Slovenian hooker that she is.
Elizabelle
@burnspbesq: I think there will be prosecutions, of Trump, of his family, of all the wretched grifters in his administration. Joe did not sign a written pledge, and best not to focus on that, with everything else going on (and not happening) these days.
Kent
You are misreading Biden’s comments.
Nowhere is he saying that Trump or any of his spawn should be given any kid glove treatment. He’s just [correctly] saying that the DOJ should be free from political interference one way or the other. Trump interfered with the DOJ, both to seek persecution of his enemies and to seek leniency for his cronies. Both of those should be off limits.
That is not to say that the DOJ shouldn’t aggressively pursue political and financial wrong-doing. It most certainly should. Just not at the direction of the president.
Martin
So, we’ve had limited in person classes – graduate courses and a handful of undergraduate courses that don’t translate well to online instruction, but starting today that’s over. We’re 100% remote again.
Good work everyone.
Kay
@Emma from FL:
Ugh. I thought the Trump Family belief that Hunter Biden being an addict would cause Joe Biden to abandon him was just so revealing about that family it made me cringe.
Not a family. A transaction.
Elizabelle
The marvelous Catherine Rampell, economic columnist in the WaPost:
Republicans are trying to jam through Judy Shelton. She has no business working at the Fed.
mrmoshpotato
@Kay:
The ol’ heave ho! “Open the front gates! Ok, on 3!”
gene108
A nice compare and contrast essay. This should be used as a teaching tool for middle and high schools.
WaterGirl
@Martin: Sorry to hear that. I assume you think the plan was solid, but there were enough students who didn’t follow the plan that it screwed things up for everyone?
gene108
@Delk:
The only thing that can hurt Mitch are the voters of Kentucky. They sent him back. He’s untouchable for another six years.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: I have every faith Biden will appoint a decent AG. That AG will go out and get some decent attorneys on staff. And I have every confidence they will pursue whatever inquiry they need to follow without any input for the incoming President. It’s a really dumb question although Unca Joe could be answering it better.
mrmoshpotato
@Almost Retired:
Hahaha!
If you ever start thinking well of George War-criminal Bush, just remember him ignoring intelligence reports (9/11) and Mission Accomplisheding all over Iraq.
Roger Moore
@burnspbesq:
For Trump’s immediate family, I think the decision will be taken out of Biden’s hands; I fully expect Trump to pardon them before leaving office. I don’t know about the rest of the people around him, but I would not be at all surprised to see his most loyal followers also receiving pardons. And himself, of course.
Gin & Tonic
@gene108: I have a feeling the grim reaper will disagree.
Felanius Kootea
@Kay: From Mary Trump’s account, they abandoned her father in his hour of greatest need. His brother went to watch a movie while he died alone. Of course they think everyone else is as cruel and unfeeling as they are.
gene108
@Kent:
@Elizabelle:
We don’t know what a Biden DOJ will do regarding Trump, other than Biden will not personally order any prosecutions.
Will there be a separate indictment for Individual 1 in the Michael Cohen indictment, if the statute of limitations has not run out? I don’t know.
I don’t have my hopes on this crew getting their just desserts.
I think a lot of us are reading our wishes into how things will play out, but this could just as easily be a look forward, not back moment.
Immanentize
@Emma from FL: “witnessing” as a part of being involved in justice advocacy is hard and tiring. Said the twelve year in Texas death row attorney.
Dan B
@Yarrow: Will Pam Bondi fight Trump’s extradition from Florida now that Ghouliani has made a laughingstock of Trump attorneys?
Roger Moore
@Suzanne:
I think a lot of actual royalty are also trash who just happened to be born into the right family. Look at what’s going on in Thailand, for example.
geg6
@JPL:
Me neither. I am told I am too blunt.
But I can totally admire someone who can slice someone up into pieces in a way that I temperamentally can’t. It’s a skill I’ve tried to cultivate, but after 61 years on this earth, I have finally accepted I cannot.
gene108
@Gin & Tonic:
Death is not a repudiation of his politics. It’s something that happens to everyone.
He’ll die knowing the voters in Kentucky love him, and love what he’s done for their state for the last 36 years, and this country over the last 10 years.
Brachiator
@Kay:
Trump is done. He will leave the White House peacefully or be quietly removed.
The noise and controversy he is causing is all a pointless tantrum.
He doesn’t have the brains or the guts to stage an actual coup, and the GOP leadership are looking like a bunch of stooges.
Kent
Well, and Katrina. I lived in Waco during that time. I had a flood of Katrina refugees into my classes. Some really amazing kids.
Elizabelle
@gene108: You cannot look forward — and thus look past — all the criming and breaking of norms and standards that have happened during the Trump maladministration. It is giving tacit approval, and allowing them to stand for the next autocrat that comes along.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall to hear what Obama is saying to Joe in private about this subject.
ETA: And isn’t it interesting to be calling our incoming president “Joe.” I was never comfortable with calling PBO “Barack.” But, Joe is Joe. Biden.
Roger Moore
@Kay:
I don’t know why Trump would think that; he hasn’t abandoned Don Jr.
Kent
Honestly, if Trump or any in his circle do face Federal prosecution, it will be hugely to Biden’s advantage if he is completely hands off and has nothing to do with it.
Martin
@WaterGirl: Oh, the students are doing great. As is the staff. We’ve been below our expected infection rates among them.
The problem is the rest of the public. As a public institution we can’t put the university fully in a bubble, so due to the rampant spread among the larger community, we need to shut down because that infection rate among the students and staff will go up if we don’t. So our message is ‘stay home’.
BR
@WaterGirl:
State of CA is shutting down all high-risk counties right now, which I assume affects Martin due to OC being high-risk. (Or am I misunderstanding?)
Immanentize
@Martin: Same with us, but here it is not so much the Uni., we did very well. But it is Boston which is spiking. Keeping or urban campus resident students safe required us to shut down all in-person classes as of this coming Friday.
Gin & Tonic
@gene108: Ah, but you just said “he’s untouchable for six years” and he is most definitely touchable.
Martin
@Kent: Yep. This is why I want Preet as AG. Preet doesn’t need to be told.
Steeplejack
@Delk:
It wasn’t blackmail. As I remember it, Obama and the Democrats wanted a bipartisan announcement of the irrefutable proof that the Russians were actively interfering in the 2016 election campaign. McConnell refused and said that if the Democrats released it he and the Republicans would portray it as a partisan smear.
NPR story here.
mrmoshpotato
@Kent: Yes, and Hurricane Katrina. Skipped my mind while writing.
Frank Wilhoit
@gene108: McConnell doesn’t have 6 years’ actuarial life expectancy. The necessary reform is very simple. If you want to run for office, or hold appointive office, you pass the new-citizen exam, and a security clearance, and life underwriting. Once in office, repeat the last two at intervals not exceeding 12 months. If you fail, you are out, right then, no appeal.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
Did we ever find out about that moving van outside the White House a week or two ago?
Emma from FL
@Immanentize: Twelve years. Well, the best thing I can say is that you earned Heaven.
Dan B
@mrmoshpotato: Step 1: Taser
Step 2: Straight jacket
Step 3: Strap to Gurney
Step 4: Deliver to Bellevue Hospital Mental Unit
Step 5: Letitia James hammer party
Step 6: Happy Dance!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ve always thought criminal prosecutions were unlikely, both because trump will almost certainly pardon himself, his spawn and anyone who has the goods on him, and also because I doubt much of what he’s done actually violates written statutes. My understanding is the only body that can prosecute a president on emoluments is Congress, through impeachment. One of the few things I question Pelosi about is not including that in the charges, but that milk is spilled.
I was hoping for a joint House-Senate Committee investigating, for starters, the DoJ, but that’s bloody unlikely now.
Martin
@BR: Everything south of about Yosmite is now high-risk (CAs tier is labelled ‘widespread’). That’s what, 30+ million people?
Immanentize
@gene108: Personally, I would love to see lots of prosecutions. But what I want more is for the full story to be told. Open it all up. Explain and demonstrate all the corruption. If Democrats are also involved, fuck them.
Prosecutions are long dragged out secret affairs. I want sunshine. Every detail from every corner of the administration.
I seem to be particularly interested in Seema Verma’s story because she has such a perfect villain’s name. So too, Seb Gorka.
Immanentize
@Dan B: She’s not the AG in Florida anymore….
gvg
@Martin: Consider yourself lucky that your University is allowed to go remote again. Mine is still assuming Spring will be normal and I suspect the Governor would deny funds or try to get the President fired if he talked about changing the plan.
Brachiator
@Frank Wilhoit:
The life expectancy of a male age 78 is 9.43 years.
And who knows about his own personal and family history.
geg6
@Immanentize:
Our plan has always been to send the students home at Thanksgiving break and keep them online until the end of the semester. We also have pushed back the start of spring semester and cancelled spring break so they can leave in May on time. Amazingly, all of our campuses have done pretty well. There have been some outbreaks due to stupid off campus parties at the main campus, but not to the extent we all expected. Only two cases at my campus, way back in September, and nothing since. Pretty proud of our students.
SiubhanDuinne
@Kay:
He’s a terrific writer, not that anyone here needs reminding.
I stayed up late last night for the midnight delivery of A Promised Land to my Kindle app, and have been savouring the beautiful writing.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Unless Death has been laid off (see, Reaper Man).
Immanentize
@Emma from FL: As I like to say, I was thankfully not sentenced to Texas for life without parole.
mrmoshpotato
@Martin:
@Dan B: Stay The Fuck At Home
(I’d forgotten how great Samuel L. Jackson’s reading of this is.)
Immanentize
@gvg: That is just insane. So sorry.
Kent
We are getting down to the Fuhrer-Bunker phase of the Trump Presidency: Apparently Giuliani and the evangelical Trumpbot are now running the show.
abcnews.go.com/Politics/infighting-attempted-coup-trump-team-erupts-chaos-giuliani/story?id=74257079
cintibud
One thing I was wondering about – We heard during the Muller investigations that there were sealed indictments. Were they ever “unsealed” and acted upon? Is there something that the next justice department could act on?
Brachiator
@Martin:
Makes sense. Something else to learn from and put into the pandemic toolbox for future use.
Community spread has been the wild card that seems to have undermined the best efforts to get the virus contained.
mrmoshpotato
@Steeplejack: That’s it. McFascist threatened to scream Obama was putting a finger on the scale if Obama warned the nation about Russkie election interference.
Immanentize
@geg6: We did the same at my school — extra week of winter break, no spring break (except for Bunker Hill Day! which just happens to be on March 17. Luck of the Irish, I guess.) But I do wonder whether we will have any in person classes this spring. It seems like a bad idea given the upward trends plus holiday idiocy.
mrmoshpotato
@Immanentize:
Who? Seriously, who is that?
MisterForkbeard
@Kent: I mean, Trump hires people who agree with him and lie to him, and will commit crimes to make those lies as true as possible.
This has ALWAYS been the case. No one (especially the moral sinkholes on his campaign) should be surprised by this.
gene108
@Elizabelle:
I do not know what shape or form or if any prosecutions of Trump officials will occur.
I. Just. Do. Not. Know.
And I think no one really knows what is being discussed on this, outside of the people on the Biden transition team vetting potential AG’s.
My crazy wild guess is that maybe prosecutions for obstructing the Mueller report start happening, or maybe Individual 1 from the Cohen indictment gets prosecuted, or some cases Barr scuttled get looked at again, but I’m not holding out for a complete untangling of Trump’s financial dealings to nail him and his oldest three kids for money laundering, like a lot of liberals on the internet seem to be hoping for.
ETA:
I agree that for the good of the republic we need prosecutions. I just don’t think they will be as dramatic or as impactful as we hope for.
Most of Trump’s 2016 senior campaign staff, plus two RNC Finance Vice Chairs from 2016, have all been guilty of a felony or two and that hasn’t moved the needle on accountability or respect for the law.
@Gin & Tonic:
Fine you want to get technical, I’ll be more specific “politically untouchable”.
mrmoshpotato
@Kent: Woo! Injuries #1! Woo! ☝️
Elizabelle
@mrmoshpotato: Lucky you to not know who Seema Verma is.
Medicare/Medicaid administrator. Put her in a black and white fur coat, and you have you Cruella DeVille.
BR
@Martin:
I’m curious what would happen if they do what Issa is proposing and appoint a special prosecutor with a extremely broad mandate just to be a persistent thorn in Biden’s side. Biden would never fire such a person, and they’d for sure find someone like they did during the Clinton years to just continually expand the mandate to stir up trouble.
Immanentize
@mrmoshpotato: Big hootie hoo in the healthcare evil that’s been going down. She is currently the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Plus a thief of government property probably for a false insurance claim of thousands of dollars in stolen jewelry?
MisterForkbeard
@mrmoshpotato: I think she’s the HHS director? In charge of medicare at least, I think.
IIRC, she’s been pretty awful and has helped steer contracts in some potentially bad ways.
Kent
@mrmoshpotato:Who? Seriously, who is that?
gene108
@Immanentize:
Sounds good to me. Maybe Biden finally gets the IRS to release Trump’s tax returns to Rep. Nadler, within the first few hours of being sworn in, for starters.
mrmoshpotato
@Elizabelle:
Then who is Potential Grizzlies DeVos?
scav
Somehow this is so classically “Mercan (US man fails Bond-esque underwater escape from FBI using ‘sea scooter’) — and I especially love the detail that “After emerging, police medics examined him for hypothermia and gave him dry clothes they had collected from his wife. . .”
I bet Melania wouldn’t even provide the clothes.
Immanentize
@BR: There is no “special prosecution statute” like there was in the Clinton days. The DOJ would have to appoint an acting US attorney whose remit would probably end with the administration. Even if Biden wouldn’t fire such a person, the new AG could certainly replace them with someone else (honest) as they report to the AG under current law.
mrmoshpotato
@Immanentize:
I vaguely remember that. (Been a long century, it has.)
Kent
@gene108: Honestly, I’d rather see the IRS take every last dime of money connected to that family and put it to actual good use. Let Trump try to live on his $400,000/year presidential pension and the rest of his spawn actually have to work for a living.
It would be better than Schitts Creek to see them actually have to earn a living.
BR
@Immanentize:
Ah, that’s good to hear.
NotMax
@Elizabelle
I know it’s a cheap shot but Seema Verma sounds like it could be the name of a Hungarian wine.
Kent
Let me guess. He was white?
Patricia Kayden
Immanentize
@Kent: Seema Verma is also the Trump official that Susan Page had a little party for in her home.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Or wine and liquor.
Immanentize
@Patricia Kayden: I want 80 million. Can we please have 80 million?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I will say this again this is just a carrot/stick to remind Trump there is the ex-President’s club that is about an elite of a club as it gets and he is rapidly shutting himself out of it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
also, looks like with Grassley (and Scott-FL?) quarantining, they didn’t have the votes to confirm goldbug Judy Shelton to the Fed
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
It was there on November 4. I believe it was taking away stuff from the big Election Night party the previous evening.
scav
@Kent: Presumably.
“Agents watched his bubbles on the surface for around 25 minutes before he emerged and was handcuffed.”
WV Blondie
@Delk: It wasn’t blackmail, per se, it was coercion – President Obama wanted the congressional leadership to join him in outing the Russians’ interference, but McTurtle refused, and said that if the president went ahead and told the public, the GOPee would accuse him of politicizing intelligence to benefit Hillary.
At least, that’s how I recall it.
Dan B
@Immanentize: I read somewhere (yeah, grrrreat documentation…) that Bondi was going to lawyer for Trump but it may be the person who wrote that thought she was still AG.
Yarrow
@Roger Moore:
Trump will only pardon people where doing so benefits him. Those who receive a pardon will have to testify if called to do so. I don’t see see a lot of upside in that for him. He likely will pardon himself, though. I think that could go to the Supreme Court.
Immanentize
@Steeplejack:
Bodies?
Frank Wilhoit
@Brachiator: I stand corrected, if surprised. Thank you.
Immanentize
@Dan B: She did join his team in PA at a rally in Philly against the vote, but I am not sure she is lawyering for the campaign or for Trump.
Kay
@Kent:
Thanks. I absolutely love that. I so want them all to start shitting on one another.
They have many more days in the Trump bunker! They could save themselves! But they won’t. Cult members.
Immanentize
@Yarrow: This is precisely why Roger Stone’s attorney begged Trump NOT to pardon him (just commute the sentence).
Stone likes guns. He is a felon. Can’t wait for the felon in possession charge to come.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack:
That makes way too much sense to be any fun at all.
Dan B
@mrmoshpotato: People here are angry with the County Executive over the new lockdown. It gave me a good cursing streak that people fucked up and were not cautious – be fucking furious with them!
One person asked if local hospitals were going to take people from states with no mask mandates. Good question but I believe it’s the hospital admins and the Health Commissioner and they don’t want to set a terrible precedent. At some point we may be over capacity. Hope not!
Ruckus
@artem1s:
An even playing field is all I’ve ever heard any minority ask for. And I think that is the basis of democratic ideals, basic equality. And I don’t think that is ever out of line for anyone. Our ideal is that everyone is equal. To me that means that everyone has healthcare, everyone gets the the same right to vote, everyone gets the same access to an education, everyone has access to equal rights and equal treatment by the law.
I bet I’ve left things out, but just having those would make this a much better country.
mrmoshpotato
A moment of silence please! (after you stop laughing your ass off)
Weak. Sad. Poop. (h/t Wonkette)
Ksmiami
@JPL: I understand why Mrs. Obama has to be classy, but me- I want to kick the fuckers in the junk
Betty Cracker
@Patricia Kayden: Thank dog the Shelton nomination failed. McConnell lobbing a goldbug bomb at the Fed in the middle of a pandemic recession tells us everything we need to know about his plans for the incoming Biden admin.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Brachiator:
What about age 78 with purple hands?
jc
Yes, Michelle is classy. But she and Barak are required to not act on their anger, while somehow Trump gets away with raging like a fool day after day. Obama levels some critical remarks re: Trump on 60 Minutes and the Fox “News” crew has a meltdown. Somehow the rabid right has no problem with Trump dishonestly scorching his predecessor year after year.
They can dish it out, but they can’t take it. And man, have they earned their disgrace.
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore: Don Jr doesn’t have a problem! How dare you think that! (says Trump, in my imagination)
Ruckus
@Chetan Murthy:
That class is what pisses off so many people about not just the Obamas. Most people don’t have that level of class, I don’t think I’ve ever met a conservative who comes close.
Mallard Filmore
@Steeplejack (phone):
More recent photos do not show any purple hands.
Steve in the ATL
@Almost Retired:
I call it the Impossible Trifecta: stupider, lazier, and more ignorant than W Bush. Less expected than the Spanish Inquisition!
WaterGirl
@Martin: That’s interesting.
Here at the University of Illinois (spit testing 2x pr week for all students, faculty and staff) has their rate at .5% So they are doing really well for all in-person classes.
Our community rate has gotten sky-high, but they are not changing class structures at the University. But I believe they built into the plan that instruction would be all-remote after the break for Thanksgiving, because the big spread at Thanksgiving was so predictable.
pamelabrown53
@Kay:
Here’s what I don’t understand: isn’t it illegal for WH staff to even work with campaign staff? I thought it was the law that WH staffers and other government employees had to resign, then join the campaign? So, how can this even be an issue?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Nicholle Wallace and Mark Salter casting some major shade on Lindsey Graham
NW (roughly) having spent a lot of time in the back of a Suburban with Lindsey and John McCain, I can say Lindsey view himself, rather delusionally, a fixer
MS: Out of deference for old times, I’ll just say that Lindsey does have a tendency to insert himself into controversies he’s best left out of
(reading that over, I guess you had to hear the contempt in their voices to get to “major shade”)
Steeplejack (phone)
@Immanentize:
Probably. And Melania might have smuggled herself out in a Persian rug. Haven’t heard from her lately either.
Yarrow
@Immanentize: Yep. A pardon doesn’t always help in the way people think.
Trump’s toxic narcissism will drive his decisions on pardons. He will only do something if it’s good for Trump (or he thinks it is). In the case of pardons he’ll do it if he thinks it’s good for him and not if he thinks it’s bad for him. Anyone who has disrespected him or “made him lose the election” or anything like that are likely out of the running. Anyone who he thinks can help him once he’s out of office stands a better chance. He doesn’t care about his kids except in a transactional way so he’ll only pardon them if it benefits him.
pamelabrown53
@Ruckus:
It’s not just about the Obama’s having an inordinate amount of class (which they do). It’s about having the status to bear witness when our history is written. A much longer arc.
Kent
God forbid but there will be some new GOPer coming along who inadvertently polishes up Trump’s legacy. That’s a sobering thought.
Martin
@gvg: We’re already committed to being limited in-person through summer. The soonest we’re considering full reopening is fall.
The timing of when we return to full reopening is now fully a function of the vaccine deployment plan, on whether or not its reasonable to require vaccination before returning to campus, or whether we could handle the vaccination ourselves.
Mind you, we’ll have to make the decision on fall no later than February, so Trumps transition tantrum is actively threatening our ability to make that determination. Lots of institutions need a national strategy and timeline ASAP, as well as what role they can play in it. Most universities could handle administration of the vaccine, probably better than most care providers because we have a captive market. We can get 100% compliance immediately, and low-temp storage and the need to administer 1000 doses at a time are pretty trivial for us to do.
But I’m expecting radio silence until late Jan.
Kent
I think technically they can’t do it while on the clock, from government buildings, and using government resources (cell phones, etc.) Which makes it pretty unfeasible for any high level staffers to work on campaigns, since they are pretty much always on the clock 24/7.
NeenerNeener
Wasn’t Jenna Ellis the tRump lawyer that did the Gish Gallop on Bill Maher’s show last Friday? He tried to counter the bullshit she was spewing, but by the time he debunked one lie she’d yelled out 4 more.
TriassicSands
Ms. Obama — classy, but I have to disagree with this:
In truth, after years of assault by Republicans and four years of all-out war by Trump, our democracy is about one millionth the size of Trump’s ego, which barely fits in the known universe.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
Has dumbass jr ever actually been caught with illegal substances in his system? I mean it’s pretty damn obvious, but has the obvious ever been proven?
zhena gogolia
@Almost Retired:
lol, me too
Martin
@WaterGirl: Yeah, our rate among the campus population is comparable.
But this decision is some degree of public signaling. If the university is doing in-person, the general public is both aware of that and pretty ignorant of the reasons why we can make it work. So they take it as a signal that everything’s fine and they can just go about their business.
So if the governor is trying to send the message that everyone needs to stay the fuck home, our change of stance helps with that message. It’s also good signaling for members of our community as well.
Plus, as I said last night, all of the things we’re doing are clearly insufficient. If we can’t change the assholes that won’t stay home, them we need to compensate for them and that means the 0.5% rate needs to come down for our community.
Martin
@Ruckus: Rich white people reveal their drug addictions when they go to rehab. Law enforcement never touches them.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
Considering mitch’s current apparent health, he doesn’t look like 9+ more years.
Brachiator
@Steeplejack (phone):
Probably in the same neighborhood as age 74 and orange hair and the face paint of a 17th century French courtesan.
Yarrow
@Martin: If Don Jr. tries to go to Scotland after inauguration and has his stash on him things might go a little differently.
Ruckus
@Martin:
I understand this perfectly. So what vacation has he taken that he had absolutely no fun doing? Is that better?
Brachiator
@Martin:
This is as it should be for everyone.
Roger Moore
@Yarrow:
I’m not sure of that. He has used his pardon power to reward people who helped him, without any apparent worry about whether doing so might allow them to testify against him. I expect him to do the same thing going forward. That’s especially true if he pardons himself, since he will believe that provides him all the protection he needs.
WaterGirl
@Martin: That makes sense.
Related to the discussion from yesterday…
I have been really cautious with COVID, but I did have 3 things on my list for today: additional groceries that will get me through most of the next month, picking up 4 christmas cactus in the early hour when no one is shopping, and getting turkey and other meat at the place where I buy all my meat/poultry.
After yesterday’s conversation about trying to have the smallest public footprint possible – my wording, not yours – I did shop for groceries at 6am, but I decided chicken from my freezer will work just as well as turkey for thanksgiving so I didn’t go to the old time meat place, and I called and asked for curbside pickup for my Christmas cactus. I had already cancelled my hair appointment.
So I should be able to hunker down for 3-4 weeks without having to go anywhere.
Captain C
@Betty Cracker: I think at this point it’s safe to say that McConnell only cares about power, sadism, and wrecking everything that doesn’t enrich his in-laws. I really wonder just what made him such a spiteful, broken person.
leeleeFL
@Chetan Murthy: The Obamas are 2 of the 4 best people to occupy the White House in my lifetime. Roslyn and Jimmy Carter are the other two. I loved Jack and Jackie Kennedy, but not like the Obamas. I liked Lady Bird and will always be grateful to Lyndon Johnson for the great things he got done….Vietnam will always drag him down though. Bill Clinton did a good job in spite of his weaknesses and Hillary grew into a Person I admire. Cannot talk about Harry Truman without wishing I knew him while he was alive. I was around, but just a toddler.
leeleeFL
@Elizabelle: That’s interesting! I have always called him Barack. I felt like I knew him from the first time he spoke at the 2004 Convention. Joe has always been Joe! Even when he’d doo something gaffe-y, I loved him!
Miss Bianca
@mrmoshpotato:
I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Obama had immediately called a press conference and announced the news in the context of what McConnell had said to him. Make the bastard deny it.
bluefoot
@jc: Barack Obama is a scary black man! By definition he’s angry!!ELEVENTY!!
I swear, the last four years is going to make me biased against white people.
leeleeFL
@Kent: Prepare, GWB made Nixon look better by comparison! They become worse as they realize their time is short, sorry.
leeleeFL
@bluefoot: I am one of the Sheer people, White Anglo Saxon Catholic, and I am prejudiced against white people!
Suzanne
AHHHHH the book came!
And I’m not done with work and so I can’t read it yet!
AHHHHH!
Kathleen
@cmorenc: She could hire Betty C as her Anger Translator.
Amir Khalid
@pamelabrown53:
It is indeed illegal, but Trump doesn’t care.
Ruckus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I think that ship has sailed. You have Carter, Clinton, GWB, Obama, and shitforbrains. None of those 4 like shitforbrains in any way.
Ruckus
@pamelabrown53:
Well that is true, but I was thinking more that they would remain ultra classy even as they were turning the screws, not that they wouldn’t turn them because they were too classy.
J R in WV
@burnspbesq:
Joe isn’t president yet, he’s not making decisions about anything at all. He’s trying to remain above the fray, and has already said those decisions will be up to the prosecutors, as should be.
So ease up, Burnsy! Not time yet to criticize the Biden Administration, it hasn’t even been started up!
J R in WV
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I don’t think it has ever been decided whether a president can pardon himself. Also, he was successfully impeached, which specifically eliminates the pardon power. I expect Trump may be surprised when the Supremes get to hear that case.
But in any case, he has violated a lot of state laws, which his powers do not affect at all. Sorry, Donald! not really…
J R in WV
@Immanentize:
And Betsy DeVos… what a perfect bad girl name ~!!!~
The Pale Scot
@artem1s:
I guarantee he had to a Celt. Grudges are the staff of life
J R in WV
@Ruckus:
My next door neighbor, a life-long R, told another next door neighbor he had “resigned” from the republican party, because of their un-Christian attitude towards poverty and aid to the poor. I’ll give him and his wife class. She was a school teacher with a degree in before times and home schools their kids now. Organic farming, too.
They also offered to help P pour a concrete floor in his garage the other day, although other friends already arranged to help showed up in time to keep that from being needed. Class in my book.
J R in WV
@WaterGirl:
We have joint eye-doctor appointments tomorrow, and will do some shopping on the way home after that. Then up the hollow for at least 3 weeks… that’s our plan.
J R in WV
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