Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

I was promised a recession.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Bark louder, little dog.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

I really should read my own blog.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Republicans do not pay their debts.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Late Night Schadenfreude Open Thread: Final Daze

Late Night Schadenfreude Open Thread: Final Daze

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After this week, we’ve all earned some easy targets…

In his final days in office, President Donald Trump has found the parts of the job he loved replaced by cold legal warnings, forced video addresses and a shrinking circle of downtrodden aides, all anxiously wondering what life will be like after noon on January 20.

Gone are the clicks of flashing cameras. Absent is the roar of a cheering crowd. Instead of a commanding final full week of winning, the President is playing the role of victim and not a gracious leader departing office.

Trump has been consumed by the unraveling of his presidency during his last days in office, according to people around him, which included a casual discussion among advisers recently about a possible resignation…

He told one adviser during an expletive-laden conversation recently never to bring up the ex-president ever again. During the passing mention of resigning this week, Trump told people he couldn’t count on Vice President Mike Pence to pardon him like Gerald Ford did Nixon, anyway…

Inside the building, Trump has been weathering a second impeachment and growing isolation from his onetime allies in sullen desolation. He has grown more and more worried about what legal or financial calamities may await him when he is no longer president, people who have spoken to him said, fueled by warnings from lawyers and advisers. He is weighing pardons, including for himself and his family, as he attempts to muster a legal team for another impeachment trial. And he is resentful of Republicans who he feels abandoned him in his hour of need, including the GOP leaders of the House and Senate…

As one of their final acts, Trump’s team is working to organize a crowd to see him off on the morning of Biden’s inauguration, when he plans to depart Washington while still president and is expecting a major send-off. Even though some of his allies had encouraged him to attend Biden’s inauguration, and Trump quizzed his circle on whether he should, few ever expected him to participate in the swearing-in of his successor.

Trump told people he did not like the idea of departing Washington for a final time as an ex-president, flying aboard an airplane no longer known as Air Force One. He also did not particularly like the thought of requesting the use of the plane from Biden, according to a person familiar with the matter…

Lots more at the link.

Reuters also puts the boot in — “Inside Trump’s final days: Aides struggle to contain an angry, isolated president“:

… Trump had wanted to join the thousands of hardcore followers who assembled at Capitol Hill on Jan. 6. He told aides in the days leading up to the rally that he planned to accompany them to demonstrate his ire at Congress as it moved to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s November election victory.

But the Secret Service kept warning him that agents could not guarantee his safety if he went ahead, according to two people familiar with the matter. Trump relented and instead hunkered down at the White House to watch television images of the mob rioting he is accused of triggering…

Trump has suffered a sudden rupture with his vice president, the departure of disgusted senior advisers, his abandonment by a small but growing number of Republican lawmakers, the loss of his cherished Twitter megaphone, and a rush by corporations and others to distance themselves from him and his businesses…

Trump’s focus on claims of voter fraud, egged on by personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, consumed most of his days. Two days after the election, said a source familiar with the meeting, daughter Ivanka Trump was in a meeting with senior White House staff and said words to the effect that, “We accomplished so much and we had a great run.” A representative for Ivanka Trump declined to comment.

But no one in Trump’s orbit could convince him to explicitly acknowledge defeat and use his remaining weeks in office to hold events to tout accomplishments that he and his aides are proud of…

Even before the riot, Trump’s mood had been darkening as dozens of court cases filed by his legal team and surrogates failed to overturn the voting results in key swing states, people familiar with the matter said.

Aides who would enjoy dropping by the Oval Office to check on Trump found themselves avoiding him lest he give them an assignment related to voter fraud that they knew was impossible, three sources said…

Pence and Trump did not speak for days after the Capitol riot. The vice president had to be spirited to safety in the Capitol basement after rioters, some chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” penetrated the building…

Reader Interactions

177Comments

  2. 2.

    different-church-lady

    …the parts of the job he loved…

    None of those were actually part of the job, Don.

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    As one of their final acts, Trump’s team is working to organize a crowd to see him off on the morning of Biden’s inauguration, when he plans to depart Washington while still president and is expecting a major send-off.

    Take heart. The average competence level of the Trump team is dropping by the minute and they …didn’t exactly start at a high level. It will very possibly be a clusterfuck at the level of that infamous Tulsa rally.

  9. 9.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    and Trump quizzed his circle on whether he should

    one of the things that interest me about him: almost every story you read has a line like this, calling people to ask what he should do, did they see him on TV and what did they think, etc

    “We accomplished so much and we had a great run.” A representative for Ivanka Trump declined to comment.

    I really, really hope she fades into obscurity after having had to pay some massive fines for tax fraud

  10. 10.

    Jeffro

    Two thoughts:

    1. Rothkopf forgot that the orange moron golfed for over an entire fucking year of his 4-year term
    2. I think trumpov’s send-off is going to be more pathetic that even we BJers can imagine (and that’s saying something)

    Please, various law enforcement agencies, DAs, and whomever else can bring charges against every last one of these malicious motherfuckers: DO IT

  11. 11.

    Another Scott

    “If it wasn’t my job I would do it for free. It was absolutely my pleasure to crush a white nationalist insurrection,” he said. “And we’ll do it as many times as it takes.”

    [ Daniel Hodges – DC Police ]

    pic.twitter.com/XxzwGkwL12— Liam Stack (@liamstack) January 16, 2021

    +1

    “… all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

    (via Popehat)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  12. 12.

    They Call Me Blue

    Be honest. As bad you expected things to be back in November 2016, did you really think he would #+&$ things up as much as he has in four years?

    *I’ve posted here in frequently for years under the nym Kilgore Trout but in deference to whoever uses that on Twitter I’ll align myself with my Twitter profile as well.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    Gotta rankle that as of noon on the 20th, Biden becomes (broadly speaking) the landlord of Dolt 45’s D.C. hotel.

    He wants a bang-up finale episode of what he views as a reality show. What he’s going to get in that time spot is the extended equivalent of this on the screen.

  14. 14.

    Jeffro

    Btw…weird that it took me this long to realize it…has anyone else noticed that the MyPillow guy is just about a dead ringer for Fred Trumpov?

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    “We accomplished so much and we had a great run.”

    Remind me, is that lifted from Himmler or from Goering?

  16. 16.

    Jeffro

    @They Call Me Blue:As bad you expected things to be back in November 2016, did you really think he would #+&$ things up as much as he has in four years?

    Did not expect 400K Americans dead from a global pandemic, no.

    Fully expected the economy would be fucked up in some way from ridiculous tax giveaways to the wealthy, yes.

    Did not expect a Capitol (and now, 50-state capitol) insurrection, no.

    Fully expected he would find ways to leave us more divided than ever, yes.

  17. 17.

    Wapiti

    My daydream for January 20th: after a late start, Donald “Worse than Nixon” Trump is somewhere over South Carolina at 12 noon. The plane makes an emergency landing in Atlanta Hartsfield, setting out the former President and his picked Secret Service Team, with well wishes in finding transportation for the remainder of their planned travel…

    They are joined at Mar-a-Lago by the disgraced Supervisor John “Mad Shitter” Smith who as been added to Trump’s detail.

  18. 18.

    Emma from FL

    Am I the only one that might have a nervous breakdown the moment that damn plane takes off? It’s like we’re safe, finally, Holy Mother, his damn mini-paws are off all the levers, buttons, and ropes. Buffy blew up the Hellmouth. Jack Harkness closed off the Rift. The Doctor crushed the Daleks inside the Void. Choose your favorite superhero ending.

  20. 20.

    retiredeng

    @Jeffro: This is the last straw with Republican’s disdain for America. No “coming back together”. They need to pay dearly for this fool and his enablers.

  21. 21.

    Steeplejack

    For the night owls: The Third Man (1949) coming up on TCM at 12:15 EST. Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli in postwar Vienna. Directed by Carol Reed and written by Graham Greene.

  25. 25.

    ruemara

    Well, someone noticed the Lincoln bust being spirited out the door of the White House, so I’d check ebay in a week for official White House souvenirs. I hate this man and everyone connected to him plus his base in a level of cold detachment that’s dangerous.

     

    @Steeplejack:

    Had to watch that for film crit class. I liked it but that bouzouki music…

  26. 26.

    DCA

    Note that since Monday is a federal holiday, and so is Wednesday (in DC) any agency that wants to stall anything last-minute has to only contend with eight hours of saying “no, Mr Trump Appointee, we can’t get that done today”. I wouldn’t be surprised by a lot of sick days on Tuesday.

  28. 28.

    danielx

    I’m also giving Trump a major send-off, I’m just not sure I can build the catapult fast enough. https://t.co/7jiTTcHs9a
    — Mig Greengard (@chessninja) January 15, 2021

    would he settle for me launching water balloons filled with cat piss at him as he’s wheeled out of town in a garbage can https://t.co/QtqNmum4ri
    — kilgore trout, brad r’s brother (@KT_So_It_Goes) January 15, 2021

    Hard to decide, but I like the trebuchet idea. Wonder if they could compromise – put him in a garbage can filled with cat piss, and then launch the garbage can?

    ETA: oops

  29. 29.

    Quinerly

    @ruemara: CNN has a piece up about the pics that have been posted of stuff leaving WH. All legit. Including Mark Meadows’ stuffed bird.

  31. 31.

    MomSense

    I don’t care anymore. Let him have his fucking send off.  It’s all so pathetic.  I just want the motherfucker to hang for what he’s done and all the lives he’s destroyed.

  32. 32.

    sab

    @Quinerly: That was odd. Trump people have such a short tenure. Who would take their stuffed pheasant to work in a job where you know you will be fired within months?

  36. 36.

    burnspbesq

    One imagines that Dominion’s defamation complaint against Trump has already been drafted and is sitting on an air-gapped server at Clare Locke.

  37. 37.

    JoyceH

    @MomSense: Oh, me too! In fact, I want him to have the biggest, glitziest, brassiest send off possible – just to rub it in. Last Marine Band, asshole! Last military flight, last salute, absolutely last moment anyone is forced to pretend you’re Somebody.

  38. 38.

    Feathers

    For the The Third Man fans, my grandfather was stationed in Vienna after WWII. Watched the movie with my mother, she was 8 or so when the movie was made. What is crazy is that she talks about “Oh my friend Susy lived in a house just like that. I’d go to her house after school, stay for dinner, and then go home on the trolly car by myself.” She was kind of amused at how dark and forbidding things were at night in the movie, when she remembered roaming everywhere on her own or with school chums.

    Different world. Or maybe people could just tell that she was the daughter of a Major in the American Army. (Unsure of capitalization there.)

  45. 45.

    Punchy

    5 days until the national debt explodes and becomes immediately untenable.  Also, 5 days before Dems cause nearly 400K innocent American deaths from a virus they’ve downplayed and ignored for months.

  46. 46.

    Feathers

    @dmsilev: They are closing all of the VA to DC bridges from Tuesday to Thursday. You will only be able to cross the Potomac via the Beltway. That is some serious shit. I’m sure others have already posted this, but as someone who grew up in Virginia and could see the Washington Monument from my bedroom window, this has me really freaked out. Was there something special to cause them to do this? Or was it just to really get locals to not go to DC and fuck with anyone else planning to drive.

    I did kind of laugh at someone on the Twitters saying that it was suspicious that we hadn’t seen any security camera footage. One response was that the FBI has a backlog of geo-tagged social media video posts to work through. I had to laugh. I’ve only been reading what people have been clipping, but the FBI seem to be having fun with the charging documents, which bodes well for the investigation. By having fun, I mean not hiding what kind of fools they are dealing with. The video above really shows that, too. Thanks for posting.

    ETA: Oops, the video I’m talking about was TaMara’s downstairs. Your stuff was also great, Anne!

  50. 50.

    kindness

    McConnell got his judges.  The wealthy got a whopping tax cut.  Other than that Trump only broke stuff.  He didn’t build anything but chaos.

  52. 52.

    Another Scott

    @DCA: The District and surrounding areas are serious about wanting people to stay away.

    Four major bridges between #Virginia and downtown Washington, #DC will be closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic from 6 am EST on [Tues] Jan. 19 to 6 am on [Thurs] Jan. 21, announces @GovernorVA.

    — Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 15, 2021

    (Emphasis added.)

    ( Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, Arlington Memorial Bridge, I-395 Bridge and the 14th Street Bridge are all major commuter routes. )

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  54. 54.

    dww44

    @kindness: I’ve never kenned to how so many Trump supporters, business types usually, even on CNBC, talked about all Trump’s accomplishments.  Other than the judges and the tax cuts, what pleased them?  Oh, I guess it was the gutting of so many regulations, probably lots we don’t even know about.  Surely they weren’t pleased with the cruel immigration policies.

    I do hope that the Biden Administration will be transparent about that as well.

  57. 57.

    danielx

    I was watching the Götterdämmerung scene from The Bunker last evening. The one all the Youtube Hitler parodies are based upon in which Hitler is informed all is lost and goes into a frothing rage and declares he has been betrayed by everyone, even the SS. This is starting to have a distinctly similar feel….

    Pence. Kushner. McEnany. Ingraham. Even Giuliani… Here Are All People Trump Now Reportedly Feels Have Betrayed Him https://t.co/gYVRKrAckH

    — Jacqueline (@jptrib1) January 14, 2021

  58. 58.

    mrmoshpotato

    Tonight | As he leaves office, Trump owes hundreds of millions to a bank that doesn’t want to do business with him. @davidenrich tells @caroloffcbc “He’s going to need to find money…and I frankly don’t know where he’s going to get it.”

    Did the Soviet shitpile mobster conman grift enough from this racist, fascist, shitpile supporters to cover these loans from the Russian mob?

  61. 61.

    ...now I try to be amused

    @burnspbesq:

    The President’s Own should play “The Liberty Bell” when Trump walks to Marine One the last time.

    With a giant foot squashing Trump as it ends.

  64. 64.

    Jean

    I don’t care how Trump is coping or not coping in his final days.  So sick of the inside the WH gossip/observations.  What about OUR dark days as Trump admin prepares to leave office?  I had taken heart that more of us could be included in Phase 1B, and then PSYCH!  No reserve vaccines.  Every time things look more hopeful, there’s another giant disappointment and then an insurrection thrown in for more anxiety as we look forward in 2021.  So far, it’s still 2020-level of sickness, literal and figurative.

  66. 66.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Jean:

    What about OUR dark days

    We’re stuck in a real-life version of Groundhog Day, except that someone else has to grow a heart, before we’re liberated.  And that someone is a sick fuck.  A sick, sick fuck.

  68. 68.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Gary K: The cheering around the world for Biden’s election being called finally on November 7th will look like child’s play.

  71. 71.

    danielx

    @sab:

    Well, I imagine it is easily portable…although I don’t imagine Meadows got around to putting up his “I love me” wall. Would not be salubrious in vicinity of Donald Trump, suggesting someone else might have people who want to have their picture taken with him or her, rather than with Trump.

    Or something. In any case be prepared to depart quickly if you work for Trump.

    ETA: sorry for amateur psychological thoughts. I have got give up speculating on how his diseased brain actually works.

  73. 73.

    Jay C

    @Quinerly:

    Some wag has already posted a picture of the Resolute Desk “for sale” on eBay.

    though I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out that it wasn’t a joke…

  74. 74.

    West of the Rockies

    Someone should redo that meme of the girl grinning in front of a burning house:  Trump’s ugly, bloated face (atop the girl’s body) with the Capitol being stormed behind him.

    I can’t imagine what his first inevitable rally will be like.  I hope it’s humiliatingly small and grubby and scented with a quadrillion chili farts.

    Also, he’s pissing about being abandoned at “his hour of need.”  He’s had 74+ years of need, mewling, braying, bawling need.

  75. 75.

    sab

    @danielx: Who has their wife clear out their office? Also very odd. I am starting to realize that I am not like those people. Kind of a relief.

  76. 76.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Same. I didn’t start with it because I’m tired and need to go to sleep. I knew I would get sucked in. Greatest zither ending in all of filmdom.

  77. 77.

    Another Scott

    @burnspbesq: Dunno.  Wikipedia indicates that the Key Bridge belongs to DC.  Maybe it’s Mayor Bowser’s call, or maybe there are other reasons.  I haven’t seen any news about it.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  79. 79.

    Aziz, light!

    My fantasy is that at the stroke of noon next Wednesday his lead Secret Service agent turns to him and says “good fucking riddance for you, you stupid fucking moron.”

  80. 80.

    patrick II

    @They Call Me Blue:

    I did expect that he wouldn’t leave the presidency peacefully.  From the beginning his numerous crimes made it evident his post-presidency would include civil and criminal trials and probably jail.  He was desperate to stay.

  82. 82.

    danielx

    @sab:

    Who has their wife clear out their office?

    Somebody who really, REALLY doesn’t want to go into the office himself, is who. (nyuck nyuck) And he’s a complete wanker, is what he is.

  83. 83.

    Soprano2

    One of my former bartenders came in tonight. We got to talking about politics,  and she told me she knew all about Billy Long (R-Pig) because she used to work at the restaurant where he hung out (he has his own designated table there). She said he used to bring in strippers all the time, and he tried to buy her bra right off her body! I swear, these “family values Republicans” are all the same.

  85. 85.

    Feathers

    @burnspbesq: I had thought Key Bridge was included, but it looks like they are counting I-395 (George Mason) and the 14th Street Bridge as two separate bridges. I suppose they are, but I’ve never thought of them that way.

    I’m guessing that it’s difficult enough to get from Georgetown to the Capitol and White House, with enough traffic lights and such, that they aren’t worried about people coming in that way.

    Really wondering what intel they have.

  86. 86.

    sdhays

    I’m looking forward to not having every fucking story about the President start with how he’s screaming and yelling at everyone around and pouting about how everyone his mean to him. Since it’s his default setting, I don’t understand how it’s news anymore.

    And in just a few days, hopefully it won’t be news anymore – at least not front page news.

  87. 87.

    sdhays

    @Feathers: That’s a good point. With the bridges they’ve shut down, once you’ve crossed the bridge, you’re right at the Mall. And they’re shutting down the Mall too, so it’s probably related to that.

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    One thing have found since signing on in December with Sling (and shelling out the extra five clams per month for the add-on films package that includes TCM) is that there is a quite decent sized rotating selection of features which have recently* been shown on TCM available to stream at any time of my choosing. Fully expect The Third Man will show up among those.

    *Recently as measured in weeks, not days. Still some Xmas movies in the mix as of today.

  89. 89.

    Steeplejack

    @Feathers:

    On Wednesday morning I drove my brother through downtown D.C. from Arlington to Largo, MD, for minor surgery. There hasn’t been a real rush hour during the pandemic, but once we crossed the Potomac on the I-395 bridge there was a huge tie-up, because all the exits to the Capitol and adjacent areas were blocked with huge dump trucks—impassable (and no police presence needed)—and drivers were trying to figure out their alternate routes. It’s going to be like that through the inauguration.

    My brother’s clinic is about a mile from the Capitol, and when he went in Monday for his pre-op COVID test the security measures had been amped up a lot through the whole area. Because of his (minor) surgery, he doesn’t have to go back to work until after the inauguration, and he’s loving that.

  91. 91.

    Yutsano

    @danielx:

    Hard to decide, but I like the trebuchet idea.

    FYI: the trebuchet was my idea. :) And I have zero issue with the cat piss filled garbage can being launched over the Potomac.

  93. 93.

    Quinerly

    I see a pattern emerging. Real estate agent, life coach, domestic terrorist who doesn’t fly coach:

    “I just want people to know I’m a normal person. That I listen to my president who told me to go to the Capitol. That I was displaying my patriotism while I was there and I was just protesting and I wasn’t trying to do anything violent and I didn’t realize there was actually violence,” Ryan said. “I’d just like to apologize for all of the families that are affected by any of the negative environment and I’d just like to say I really love people and I am not a villain that a lot of people would make me out to be, or people think I am, because I was a Trump supporter at the Capitol.  I think we all deserve a pardon. I’m facing a prison sentence. I think I do not deserve that and from what I understand, every person is going to be arrested that was there, so I think everyone deserves a pardon, so I would ask the President of the United States to give me a pardon.”

    https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/01/15/texan-jenna-ryan-cbs-11-hoping-pardon-arrest-riot-capitol/

  96. 96.

    Martin

    @They Call Me Blue: I’ll be honest – we’re in better shape than I expected.

    There’s less militia violence than I expected, and I was expecting  a completely inexcusable war. Well, I guess there’s 4 days yet.

  97. 97.

    Kent

    At the current rate of COVID deaths, Trump is on target to reach the 4-year world War 2 total death toll of 416,800 deaths in the final hours of his presidency.  The only single event in American history that took more lives was the 1918 pandemic which had an estimated death toll of 675,000.

    If Trump had just done a median replacement-level job like Canada or Germany our death toll right now would be in the 150,000 range.   We were never going to match the Asians, even under Hillary or any other Dem president because this country is full of too many white assholes.  But we could have kept pace with Canada or Germany.  Which means Trump isn’t responsible for every Covid death, but he is directly responsible for the deaths of over 250,000 Americans.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    @Quinerly

    Hm. My empathy seems to have skedaddled for the nonce.

    life coach

    Ah, psychic snake oil purveyor.

    “Do yoga pants come in international orange?”

  103. 103.

    patrick II

    @They Call Me Blue:

    I didn’t answer your question the first time.  What I did not expect was how terribly insane Trump is. I knew he was criminal, but didn’t understand he would let 400,000 people die and pretend it’s not happening because it would make him look bad.

  104. 104.

    DMcK

    @dmsilev: But how will they organize a crowd now that Parler is down?

    Also, a dear friend of mine who is a Federal employee sent an email today describing the closing-off and fortification of DC right now. His summing up:  “Any Invaders will need resort to catapults and battering rams.”

  106. 106.

    danielx

    @Quinerly:

    Shorter: I never thought i – a well to do Republican white woman – would end up looking at serious time, so President Trump please save my ass now, please. Now would be good.

    And she’s got a 50/50 chance! He might could give a blanket pardon to anyone charged in the late unpleasantness as one of several last fuck-yous on the way out the door. Conversely she might ending like everybody else who sets themselves on fire for Trump, with third degree legal, financial and reputation burns and no damn insurance. For being insufficiently supportive, or simply because he doesn’t give two toots on a flute for anyone after they’ve served his purposes. I wouldn’t make book either way.

  110. 110.

    Quinerly

    @danielx: LOD had the head pardon atty on from Bush-Clinton years. Eye opening. Trump doesn’t have to make his pardons public. Technically, they don’t have to be in writing. I would prefer to read up on it more.

  113. 113.

    Aziz, light!

    The only consolation at the end of the Trump regime is that it could have been much worse.

  115. 115.

    Quinerly

    Tampa Bay Times reporting that 2000 Republicans in the area switched parties within days after the Trump insurrection. ?

  119. 119.

    Ruckus

    @ruemara:

    He was basically carrying it in one arm. If that was a real bronze bust, he wouldn’t be doin that. I suspect it was a replica.

  123. 123.

    Kent

    @danielx: Why would he pardon their asses?  As I understand from Tucker Carlson, they are all ANTIFA who sabotaged Trump’s presidency on purpose.   Throw the book at them!

  124. 124.

    Ruckus

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I doubt seriously that he did. I read today that his plane is on the ground with one engine removed, that has to be replaced. Just to use the plane that’s going to be a few bucks. Then there is the pilot to be paid. Who would likely take a chute with him and bail out as the plane heads east over the Atlantic under autopilot, with 30 minutes fuel left. His hotels are losing money according to some reports, so selling everything will get him, not that much, and his lawyer bills are going to go up rather steeply, rather suddenly. If he can find lawyers to work for him. How much do you think he actually owes in taxes? Maybe he should hope the pilot has a chute and some balls. His life is going to get, shall we say, interesting in short order.

  127. 127.

    Ruckus

    @Captain C:

    You don’t tell him that till he’s walking down the stairs. Actually you don’t tell him at all. You open the door, the stairs are rolled up, he stumbles down them and walks to the waiting limo. The stairs are pulled away about 10 ft and the door is closed and latched. He gets in the limo to find himself handcuffed by a couple of guys in suits, from the NYAGs office.

  130. 130.

    danielx

    @Kent:

    That’s a prospect I hadn’t considered, although I’m not altogether sure that he’s capable of thought processes that complex at this point. I was thinking more along the lines of door #2: “They didn’t win by keeping my job for me, so they’re losers. Fuck them.”

  131. 131.

    Ruckus

    @danielx:

    They didn’t serve his purpose, they failed. I don’t believe that he’s pardoned anyone who’s even said one word against him. And I’d bet he’s not starting now. Prior pardons were a lark, that pissed off liberals. Pardons for failures in helping him? Yeah, I could be wrong, but I don’t see that happening.

  132. 132.

    Amir Khalid

    @Ruckus:

    I read today that his plane is on the ground with one engine removed, that has to be replaced. Just to use the plane that’s going to be a few bucks.

    I guess Trump was counting on having eight years use of Air Force One, which would leave him plenty of time to grift the money to get his own plane fixed.

  133. 133.

    Ruckus

    @FelonyGovt:

    And I hope every one of those things burns with the heat of a 1000 suns. The toll he’s inflicted upon this country will take decades to find and fix. 44 presidents, one civil war and now this crap? At least you can tell your kids that history has been made here, and not in a good way.

  134. 134.

    Ruckus

    @Amir Khalid:

    Yep. I just wonder if the engine was removed and sold for money or removed for repair? My very short search today said the plane had been moved to another airport and the engine removed. He’s had his helicopter up for sale, with his name removed off the side. I’d bet he understands just a little of how bad off he is monetarily, likely far worse off than I think, and I think he’s broke.

  135. 135.

    Kent

    @danielx:

    That’s a prospect I hadn’t considered, although I’m not altogether sure that he’s capable of thought processes that complex at this point. I was thinking more along the lines of door #2: “They didn’t win by keeping my job for me, so they’re losers. Fuck them.”

    Either way, they betrayed him and made him look bad by botching the whole thing.  Why would he pardon them?  His whole world is crashing down and he’s getting impeached again because of those rioters.  Why would he pardon them?  He only pardons those who can help him, or who did help him by staying silent with the corrupt promise of a pardon like Manafort and Flynn.  He is very predictable that way.

    Hell, he’s probably right now making his spawn compete for the ONE pardon he is dangling.  Which one earns it?  Don Jr?  Jared?  Ivanka?

  136. 136.

    burnspbesq

    @Captain C:

    Or, “Sorry, we’re diverting to La Guardia.  There’s a special van waiting for you.”

    In a perfect world, It would be diverting to Schipol.

  138. 138.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    He told aides in the days leading up to the rally that he planned to accompany them to demonstrate his ire at Congress as it moved to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s November election victory.

    But the Secret Service kept warning him that agents could not guarantee his safety if he went ahead, according to two people familiar with the matter. Trump relented and instead hunkered down

    What a lie. Dump would never do that, it would involve walking a mile.

  139. 139.

    burnspbesq

    @Martin:

    You expecting a $1.3B suit as well here?

    Yes; $650 mil in compensatory damages (present value of lost future profits plus loss of enterprise resale value) and another $650 mil in punitive.

  140. 140.

    Amir Khalid

    @Ruckus:

    Throughout 2016, Trump flew around the US in that plane even though its registration was expired. Things must have been starting to get tight for him then.

  141. 141.

    Ian

    @They Call Me Blue:

    Democracy survived, no nukes went off, Obama and Clinton are alive and out of jail.

    Yeah, my Trump guessing card game was 0/3.  I thought he was going to F* it up way worse.

  142. 142.

    prostratedragon

    I’d half-expected a new shooting war, though as it quickly became clear that he was not really the establishment’s boy it wasn’t sure who or how. Without them I’m not sure we get near a shooting war that someone else didn’t start. And of course no one expected a pandemic to come now rather than later. But like many, I was sure that he’d be no use whatsoever in any national crisis that did come along. And I’m not in the least surprised by this insurrectional ending we got here; I mean, how dare we send him off!

  145. 145.

    Ruckus

    @Kent: 
    Just checked and Gitmo has changed a bit since I was there, nearly 50 yrs ago, there is an airstrip there, I do not know how big it is, but does not look big enough to land a 767.

  146. 146.

    Martin

    @danielx: That’s how narcissists work. They’re loyal to nobody that doesn’t given them something greater in return. When they’re boxed in like this, they simply want to burn the world and everyone in it.

  147. 147.

    Ruckus

    @Amir Khalid:

    Things have been tight for him for a long, long time. His bluster and bullshit have been noticed for decades but his claim of having a lot of money wasn’t usually questioned until Forbes did actual checking and changed his entry into the Forbes 400 from 11B to 3 1/2B. He’s now at 2.5B. And that does not take into account, as best as I can tell, what he actually owes on his “investments.” I’d bet that’s right about 2 1/2B. Or more. If I’m close to right, many of us on this blog may actually be worth more than he is. Wouldn’t that be rich?

  153. 153.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @Ruckus:

    Wanna bet he’s not thinking of the same kind of military send off that you, and I are, the kind he deserves?

    Rhymes with ‘Hiring prod”.

  158. 158.

    JoyceH

    @Kent:

    Either way, they betrayed him and made him look bad by botching the whole thing. Why would he pardon them? His whole world is crashing down and he’s getting impeached again because of those rioters. Why would he pardon them?

    Word is that as he was watching the sacking of the Capitol, his complaint was how ‘low class’ his storm troopers looked. Damn them! They couldn’t overthrow the government for him and look classy while doing it! Of course they don’t deserve a pardon!

  159. 159.

    yellowdog

    @burnspbesq: Perhaps because it doesn’t connect to a highway. The VA side leaves you in downtown Rosslyn. Also, it’s DC end is Georgetown, not near any Inauguration activities.

  160. 160.

    Brachiator

    Democracy survived, no nukes went off

    Democracy barely survived. A good chunk of mainly white people have thrown down for a populist autocracy. Trump, who neither understands nor cares about the Constitution, is responsible for this.

    He is a coward, so I never expected Trump to start a major war.

    But he has this sickness. He got more bold and willful as he escaped censure and conviction after the first impeachment. I figured he would do stupid, hateful things, for example his shameful treatment of undocumented children. But I never would have guessed that he would so openly display equal disregard for victims of the pandemic.

    And his role in the assault on the Capitol was an assault on democracy itself.

    Anyway, I will be so happy to see him gone. So happy. He really needs to be prohibited from holding any office in the future.

  162. 162.

    JWR

    @JaySinWA:

    I hear he wants a 21 gun salute.

    I heard that, too. On either KPFK (Pacifica), or NPR. Surprised we’ve not heard more about that one.

    Also, PBS had a fairly good program last night on the world exposed by Trump. Moderated by Judy [….] Woodruf, but she pretty much stayed out of the discussion. And no Gary [….] Abernathy!

  168. 168.

    JWR

    @Ken: LoL! I hadn’t thought of that.

    ETA, apparently not. From Wikipedia:

    In 1842, the United States declared the 21-gun salute as its “Presidential Salute”. … Today, a 21-gun salute is rendered on the arrival and departure of the POTU:S

  170. 170.

    matt the somewhat reasonable

    I’d favor giving Trump the same kind of military sendoff Kim Jong Un gave 5 senior military leaders.

  171. 171.

    matt the somewhat reasonable

    I think we ought to consider expense and give Trump a fast food banquet sendoff.

  172. 172.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @burnspbesq: Make it so! And at the stroke of noon, all the music stops as the bell rings 12 somber times. Then the musicians take up their instruments and … march away in silence.

  174. 174.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @danielx: I was watching the Götterdämmerung scene from The Bunker last evening.

    FTR, the film in question is Der Untergang (Downfall). The Bunker is a 1981 made-for-TV movie starring Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lec…um, Adolf Hitler. Same subject, different flick.

  175. 175.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Wapiti:

    They are joined at Mar-a-Lago by the disgraced Supervisor John “Mad Shitter” Smith who as been added to Trump’s detail.

    No, I want the Mad Shitter to be investigated and prosecuted to the full extent. I want Trump’s SS detail to be minders, not protectors. I want them to make sure that Trump never communicates to anyone who has not been thoroughly vetted by FBI, CIA, and any other alphabet group in any way associated with national security.

    He is too much of a security risk to be allowed any true freedom.

  176. 176.

    Another Scott

    @Martin: The idiots organizing this insurrection were hoping for a million people in DC on the 6th.  They were whining before the invasion of the Capitol because there were only about 20,000 – and only a small fraction of that went inside.  I’m willing to bet there will be much, much less than that in DC on the 20th.  I suspect that there will only be small demonstrations/clashes at state capitals as well.

    Why?  Because the seditionists among them see that there will be real consequences and governments aren’t playing around any more, and because they know that their comms channels are (finally) being rolled up and monitored.

    Of course, hope (and feelings) is not a strategy.  A big, overt, can’t miss it, historic, disruptive-to-normal-people presence is required and governments are doing that.  They’ll be ready if the Beargut Putsch guys and gals actually try something again.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  177. 177.

    H-Bob

    @danielx: The band should be playing ?Happy Days are Here Again?

    Trump’s self pardon won’t cover the subsequent sale of the stuff he steals from the White House!

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