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Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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Infrastructure week. at last.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Late Night Open Thread: Hard Time to Repubs

Late Night Open Thread: Hard Time to Repubs

by Anne Laurie|  January 20, 202112:38 am| 106 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republicans in Disarray!, Schadenfreude

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If you don’t convict you’ll lose fewer Republicans but alienate a whole lot more independents. If you’re screwed either way, why not take the opportunity to do the right thing for once? https://t.co/QNAW824Wvq

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) January 16, 2021

Not that I wanna make grandious projections, but despite their best efforts and those of our Very Serious Pundits, the GOP is hardly the worldcrushing juggernaut they like to claim. Their latest Great God-Emperor figurehead is about to go on trial for insurrection, they’ve lost (if narrowly) all three national legislative bodies, and a whole lot of still-fleshy skeletons are tumbling out of cupboards..

?? Republicans will emerge from the Trump era gutted:

• They lost their congressional power
• McConnell and McCarthy are hamstrung by corporate blacklisting of election-denying members
• The GOP brand is radioactive for a huge chunk of America https://t.co/n8pILoI7PB

— Axios (@axios) January 15, 2021

The Republicans failed three different times at repealing Obamacare! It was the FIRST thing they tried to do and they failed three different times! I feel like I'm going crazy here. https://t.co/6wfYagJXOI

— The face toucher (@JonIsAwesomest) January 16, 2021

Republicans also started 2017 with 2 more Senate seats than Dems, meaning they could lose 2 votes and still pass stuff but nope they failed three times and eventually just went with "Uh just cut some taxes I guess" and lost the House because the bill they passed was unpopular!

— The face toucher (@JonIsAwesomest) January 16, 2021

Realizing in advance that someone on this website will unironically say that Kevin McCarthy has a killer instinct as party leader that Nancy Pelosi lacks and I'm going to lose my fucking brain.

— The face toucher (@JonIsAwesomest) January 16, 2021

Biden: We will stop the coronavirus, keep people in their homes, ensure a living wage and protect the environment.

Republicans: pic.twitter.com/SBA354kux1

— Thoughtslime (@DoublePlusGoo) January 16, 2021

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Previous Post: « Open Thread: Did Someone Say Pardons?
Next Post: On The Road – ?BillinGlendaleCA – Inauguration Day On The Road -  ?BillinGlendaleCA - Inaurguration Day 7»

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    January 20, 2021 at 12:40 am

    Anne Laurie, if you’re fine with folks talking about pardons here, I can pull my thread that just went up.

  2. 2.

    Jerzy Russian

    January 20, 2021 at 12:48 am

    Bitch McConnell looks a bit sad in that picture.  I hope his shoulder still hurts.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    January 20, 2021 at 12:50 am

    Keep both threads up, please.

    Not to be snippy, but “grandious?” Inner schoolmarm has a more grandiose statement but have bribed her with a cookie to be circumspect.

    ;)

  4. 4.

    WaterGirl

    January 20, 2021 at 12:56 am

    I want to see the Republican party reduced to rubble.

  5. 5.

    Poe Larity

    January 20, 2021 at 12:56 am

    Obamacare is the new Roe v. Wade.

    Given that NBC poll where 50% of Republicans blame 1/6 on Antifa, I would not be optimistic about a new order. You cannot make a rock less stupid.

    That said, Cobra Kai is so over the top 1980s it is a very guilty pleasure. To imagine a world where every remake/sequel was so true to its legacy.

  6. 6.

    Delk

    January 20, 2021 at 12:57 am

    They made their bed. Good thing they know where to get pillows.

  7. 7.

    Emma

    January 20, 2021 at 12:58 am

    These are Republicans from a slightly less ridiculous era, but because my friends and I were laughing at those white ladies “refreshing” mahjong, I was reminded of the anime The Legend of Koizumi, specifically the first episode where George W, Rumsfeld, and Condi get their asses kicked by Koizumi in mahjong. The manga is honestly not as entertaining as the anime, but it looks like Bandai has done a great job scrubbing the latter from the internet, so I only have the manga to show everyone. Later on in the series, George W is on a Segway on an aircraft carrier talking to Big Daddy HW in a little kiddy voice. Imagine what they could do with an updated anime with Trump and Don Jr.

  8. 8.

    rjnerd

    January 20, 2021 at 12:59 am

    One thing that should enter Yertle’s calculation – donnie is threatening to start his own club, the “Patriot” party.  If he can get on the ballot that way, the republicans are facing somone that will cleave off  the conservative nutjob vote.

    If convicted, they get to then say “and you can’t run any more, not even graves inspector”

  9. 9.

    Nicole

    January 20, 2021 at 1:01 am

    All of the tweets you put in this post give me pleasure, Anne Laurie.  Thank you.

    I chatted with a friend today who said her (formerly) Trump-supporting 92-year-old great aunt recently said she didn’t know whether to call herself a Republican or a Democrat anymore. Lifelong Republican, but Trump broke her this year.

    I remember how sick to my stomach I was in November 2016, thinking, well, that’s the end of the ACA.  And they couldn’t do it.  Because, as Pelosi was ridiculed for saying, way back when, once people found out what was in it, they really liked it.

    Man, sometimes it seems like the Democratic Party is filled with Cassandras, all of them telling the truth and no one believes them. But they turn out to be right.

  10. 10.

    WaterGirl

    January 20, 2021 at 1:02 am

    @rjnerd: With the republicans, it’s always about power and what is right or just never plays into it.

    Personally, I think they are screwed either way, but it seems like they would be less screwed if he couldn’t run for office.

  11. 11.

    Nicole

    January 20, 2021 at 1:02 am

    @WaterGirl:

    I want to see the Republican party reduced to rubble.

    Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    January 20, 2021 at 1:04 am

    MSNBC airing Joy Reid interview with Nancy Pelosi.

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    January 20, 2021 at 1:09 am

    @Nicole: That was a hard comment to make.

    I started typing “I want to see the Republican party go down.  Hard.”  oops, can’t word it like that.  backspace-backspace…

    “I want to see the Republican party burned to the ground.”.  nope, doesn’t seem like that’s a good way to put it because I don’t want to sound like I am promoting violence.

    Had to go with version #3.  :-)

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    January 20, 2021 at 1:11 am

    @WaterGirl

    Betty, Barney and Bam-bam were not amused.

    :)

  15. 15.

    Nicole

    January 20, 2021 at 1:12 am

    @WaterGirl: 
    As the saying goes, third time was the charm. :)

  16. 16.

    prostratedragon

    January 20, 2021 at 1:13 am

    Reference to bushels of sad trombones below sent me in search of my favorite (not-so-sad) trombone feature. Bonus: it’s by a Nuyorican from the Bronx:

    “Pena de Amor,” Willie Colon, with Mon Rivera, vocal

    Feel the joyful sadness!

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    January 20, 2021 at 1:14 am

    @NotMax: I wasn’t making that up.  That’s literally the process I went through in writing that simple comment.

  18. 18.

    jl

    January 20, 2021 at 1:15 am

    I guess McCarthy has a killer instinct if repeatedly almost choking to death on your own foot counts.

  19. 19.

    Another Scott

    January 20, 2021 at 1:17 am

    @Elizabelle: It’s very good.  Nancy is sincere and inspiring. She talks about people potentially facing accessory to murder charges.  She’s (rightfully) not messing around.

    Well worth watching.  (I saw it at 10pm EST.)

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  20. 20.

    jl

    January 20, 2021 at 1:17 am

    BTW, I taped some change to a nice letter and sent  it to the WH, but looks like no dice tonight. What’s the hold up? I’m being unjustly persecuted by an old fixit ticket. I told Trump it wasn’t fair to me, and even not nice at all, kind of nasty. He should understand that.

    Edit: I forgot to say ‘I am not being treated fairly, no one has ever been treated as unfairly as me.’ That must be the secret phrase. I’ll go dig up a few more quarters.

  21. 21.

    HumboldtBlue

    January 20, 2021 at 1:19 am

    @WaterGirl:

    I blame Mary G. I had nuffin to do wit’ it.

    All these threads ‘n stuff.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    January 20, 2021 at 1:20 am

    @HumboldtBlue: Not to worry!

  23. 23.

    Nobody in particular

    January 20, 2021 at 1:21 am

    Important to note that when polls break down by party, GOP is under 30 % of the electorate. 24% I think. Saw this on O’Donnell last nite. 41 0r 42% are Indies, the rest is Dems. So, “juggernaut” is not the term of art anymore. Try Rump Party. It Rhymes with Trump. Apparently, Trump wants to start his own political party. The Patriot Party. Or Patriot Pity Party.

     

    A rump party is a political party that is formed by the remaining body of supporters and leaders who do not support a breakaway group who merge with or form another new party. The rump party can have the name of the original party, or a new name.

  24. 24.

    jl

    January 20, 2021 at 1:23 am

    Disco the Parakeet’s Theme Song

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fe1rLRgX3s

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    January 20, 2021 at 1:23 am

    @WaterGirl

    Where’s Kevin Uxbridge when you need him?

    //

  26. 26.

    Elizabelle

    January 20, 2021 at 1:25 am

    @Another Scott:   It’s appalling that the morons in this country threw Trump into the White House, and a woman of Pelosi’s (or Hillary’s!) talents are not allowed anywhere near.

    Although:  I think Trump has done more damage to the Republican party — which is an existential threat — than President Hillary could have.

    Would be funny if the GOP eventually rues the day she was denied the presidency, despite millions more votes.  They’re the GQP now.

  27. 27.

    Mary G

    January 20, 2021 at 1:26 am

    @HumboldtBlue: Whut! I’m innocent! Of whatever it was!

    Here, have a happy:

    Today is the last day in US history where we haven’t had a female VP.
    — ???? (@SunshineDaidrmr) January 20, 2021

  28. 28.

    jl

    January 20, 2021 at 1:27 am

    @Nobody in particular: I hope Trump tries to start his own little fan club party. Then the US will have two rump parties. Actually, two runt rump parties.

    Good news for Republicans! Less dissension in each rump. Democrats in disarray! Attacked on two fronts!

    Can I copyright that so I can sue some corporate news pundits when the steal it?

  29. 29.

    Kent

    January 20, 2021 at 1:31 am

    @WaterGirl:I want to see the Republican party reduced to rubble.

    And then their fields ploughed with salt.*  The Romans knew how to make a victory last.  Of course they captured entire populations and sold them into slavery, which helped.

    *Yes I know the story is apocryphal.

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    January 20, 2021 at 1:33 am

    Wolvesvalley informs (previous thread) that Trump pardoned Paul Erickson.  He was Maria Butina’s “boyfriend”, too.  Language about witch hunt in the pardon.

  31. 31.

    Kent

    January 20, 2021 at 1:33 am

    @Nobody in particular: If Trump runs as his own party, he will be lucky to exceed Ross Perot’s 19% I think.

  32. 32.

    Mary G

    January 20, 2021 at 1:34 am

    Joe Exotic didn’t get pardoned, probably because even Twitler thinks the gullwing/limo/pickup truck abomination waiting outside the prison was too tacky.

    No joke — the limo is waiting for Joe Exotic if he gets a pardon from Trump. We’re a laughingstock the world over…pic.twitter.com/CNKwqFQk7M— Rex Chapman?? (@RexChapman) January 19, 2021

  33. 33.

    Nobody in particular

    January 20, 2021 at 1:41 am

    @WaterGirl:

     

    I prefer “DeGOPING” the country altogether.

    Capitalize the “R” and it refers to a proper name of a political party. And none of them wanted anything to do with parties, factions.

    https://www.etymonline.com/word/GOP?ref=etymonline_crossreference

    also G.O.P., “U.S. Republican Party,” 1884, an abbreviation of Grand Old Party. The Republicans were so called from 1876; the Democratic Party also was referred to occasionally as grand old party, with lower-case letters, in 1870s-80s when the Republicans (formed in 1854) still were considered new and radical. The designation grand old ______ is from about 1850; in Great Britain, Lord Palmerston was known as the Grand Old Man by 1880, and it was abbreviated to G.O.M. by 1882.

     

    There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.
    – John Adams, Letter to Jonathan Jackson, October 1780. [Adams was a US “founding father,” wrote two books on democracy theory/practice, and served as the second US president 1797-1801.]

    Jefferson’s Inaugural address:

     

    We are all republicans: we are all federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it.”

    AOC is a fine example of a true republican. Like the Good Dr. Res Publica. From the Latin. It means public thing or affair. Not private.

    Benjamin Franklin to Robert Morris

    25 Dec. 1783Writings 9:138

    The Remissness of our People in Paying Taxes is highly blameable; the Unwillingness to pay them is still more so. I see, in some Resolutions of Town Meetings, a Remonstrance against giving Congress a Power to take, as they call it, the People’s Money out of their Pockets, tho’ only to pay the Interest and Principal of Debts duly contracted. They seem to mistake the Point. Money, justly due from the People, is their Creditors’ Money, and no longer the Money of the People, who, if they withold it, should be compell’d to pay by some Law.

    All Property, indeed, except the Savage’s temporary Cabin, his Bow, his Matchcoat, and other little Acquisitions, absolutely necessary for his Subsistence, seems to me to be the Creature of public Convention. Hence the Public has the Right of Regulating Descents, and all other Conveyances of Property, and even of limiting the Quantity and the Uses of it. All the Property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other Laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick shall demand such Disposition. He that does not like civil Society on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it.

  34. 34.

    Jay

    January 20, 2021 at 1:42 am

    Imagine if EVERY time @RepBoebert tweets, people responded by tweeting her rapsheet in the replies. pic.twitter.com/mV7P3qDCTS— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) January 18, 2021

    Rap sheet follows.

  35. 35.

    Felanius Kootea

    January 20, 2021 at 1:46 am

    Tiffany Trump is marrying a Nigerian billionaire heir of Lebanese descent.  He’s four years younger than she is. His family ran SCOA Nigeria when I was growing up there – some of them speak Yoruba more fluently than I do.

    I guess they’ll help out their in-law with his $421 million debt. And maybe she’ll move to Lagos and change her last name.

  36. 36.

    Aussie sheila

    January 20, 2021 at 1:48 am

    Hi there BJ’ers,

     

    I wanted to wait until inauguration to write this, but I will be sound asleep when it happens (4am aest). I have followed in excruciating detail every disastrous cataclysmic twist and turn of the last four years. First, I want to congratulate every person who worked so hard to organise effective resistance , electoral, street level and every other kind to the world historical threat that trump and his politics represents.

     

    I have been blown away by the courage and tenacity of ordinary American people who came out in droves to organise and vote, in the midst of the worst handled pandemic response in the world (maybe with the exception of the mini me trumpist uk).

    I am politically active in oz, and mix with same. In 2016 I was one of only two people among my friends and comrades who predicted trump would win. It gutted me that we were right. He represented, and still does to a certain extent, a world historical challenge to democratic forces across the world. The fact that you all beat him back, including taking the senate given the difficulties facing working people in Georgia is simply unbelievable. It will give everyone who understands the fundamental importance of democracy to broader emancipatory goals much needed breathing space and political momentum.

    Finally, I am truly sorry for the heartache, sickness, and economic hardship that the last year has brought to everyone in the US. It has been heartbreaking to watch/read the truly awful situation facing people in the face of the truly criminal neglect and malfeasance of the trump regime.

    I am hopeful that voting rights, police reform and big economic relief packages are coming your way this year.

    Once again, congratulations. Thank you from the rest of the world (well at least the bit tucked down under). The alternative would have been not just a disaster for you, but the beginning of something similar everywhere.

    Stay safe, healthy and happy and enjoy the inauguration.

  37. 37.

    Nobody in particular

    January 20, 2021 at 1:48 am

    @Kent:

    He’s just treading water, grasping at anything that might keep him from going under. He could run for office from prison, like Socialist Eugene V. Debs did for president, but I think it will look more like a Lyndon LaRouche snog.

  38. 38.

    Mary G

    January 20, 2021 at 1:49 am

    Shortly after pardoning congressmen and lobbyists convicted of corruption, Trump releases an order at 1:07 a.m. revoking his own ethics executive order from 2017, freeing his own former aides from the limits he had imposed on their ability to lobby the government.— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) January 20, 2021

  39. 39.

    Nobody in particular

    January 20, 2021 at 1:50 am

    Mary Trump tweeted that these pardons are intended to enrage us. She warned: Don’t take the bait.

    Karma will get them. They create their own hells and prisons. The moral arc of the universe…

  40. 40.

    Kent

    January 20, 2021 at 1:52 am

    @Felanius Kootea:

    Tiffany Trump is marrying a Nigerian billionaire heir of Lebanese descent.  He’s four years younger than she is. His family ran SCOA Nigeria when I was growing up there – some of them speak Yoruba more fluently than I do.

    I guess they’ll help out their in-law with his $421 million debt. And maybe she’ll move to Lagos and change her last name.

    Why would she help out papa Trump?  That isn’t in the family nature.   More likely they will seize the Trump family assets from Javanka, Don, Jr. and Eric.   And this 23 year old is HEIR to a billion dollar fortune.  He doesn’t control it….yet.  Any more than Tiffany Trump controls the Trump Empire.

  41. 41.

    Kent

    January 20, 2021 at 1:54 am

    @Nobody in particular: Love to see him run as a 3rd party and split the red state electoral college map in half.

  42. 42.

    prostratedragon

    January 20, 2021 at 1:54 am

    @Aussie sheila:  If I may be so bold as to speak for others, thank you for your encouraging statement, and best wishes.

  43. 43.

    Nobody in particular

    January 20, 2021 at 1:54 am

    Double post, mea culpa

  44. 44.

    Mary G

    January 20, 2021 at 1:56 am

    SAG-AFTRA to Hold Hearing on Expelling Trump Over Capitol Attack https://t.co/WU6NEftKRY— Variety (@Variety) January 19, 2021

  45. 45.

    Jay

    January 20, 2021 at 2:00 am

    Trump pardoning Bannon who works for Putin's interests in Europe and US with Dugin to prop up the far right and destroy democracy was so expected. I hope there remains a way Bannon faces justice for his crimes against America https://t.co/cO6VsGDH8Q— Olga Lautman (@OlgaNYC1211) January 20, 2021

  46. 46.

    Elizabelle

    January 20, 2021 at 2:00 am

    @Nobody in particular:   Mary Trump is right about the intent to enrage.  You can see it in the language.

    I hope karma (and Letitia James) go medieval on Trump’s (and his associates’) asses.

  47. 47.

    Nobody in particular

    January 20, 2021 at 2:00 am

    @Kent: Third parties? If he tries it, he’ll come up against Duverger’s Law. I hope does. Even TR couldn’t buck it in 1912. But then, Duverger, a French Sociologist, only recognized it in the 1950s.

     

    https://rangevoting.org/Duverger.html

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    January 20, 2021 at 2:03 am

    Repeating from downstairs.

    The full list. Quite a few “supported by Governor Kristi Noem ”

    Caveat: Take the location the link brings you to into account when it comes to ascertaining objectivity of the descriptions therein.

  49. 49.

    Nobody in particular

    January 20, 2021 at 2:06 am

    @Jay:

     

    I wouldn’t be surprised if some were not “silenced,” as in liquidated. Extra-judicially. Trump and others know too much and cannot be trusted to not use it against America. It will look like an accident, a natural death. There will be more conspiracy theories but I wouldn’t want to be in any of their shoes. Ever.

    Oddly, in some ways, Trump did speak candidly about it. “We kill people too.” Yes we do, Donald. Yes we do.

  50. 50.

    CaseyL

    January 20, 2021 at 2:08 am

    I love the idea of Shitweasel forming his own Party.  He’ll grift his followers down to their last thin dime and split the GOP.  Perfect!

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    January 20, 2021 at 2:12 am

    @Mary G: 

    Shortly after pardoning congressmen and lobbyists convicted of corruption, Trump releases an order at 1:07 a.m. revoking his own ethics executive order from 2017, freeing his own former aides from the limits he had imposed on their ability to lobby the government.

    Is this draining the swamp, or topping it off and making sure it is fully stocked?

  52. 52.

    Kent

    January 20, 2021 at 2:16 am

    @Brachiator: One assumes that Biden could put the prohibition right back into place couldn’t he?  Or would that take Congress?

  53. 53.

    Nobody in particular

    January 20, 2021 at 2:21 am

     

    @Kent:

     

    Exec Orders work both ways.

  54. 54.

    Ruckus

    January 20, 2021 at 2:22 am

    @Kent:

    He probably doesn’t want for much….

  55. 55.

    No name

    January 20, 2021 at 2:23 am

    @Aussie sheila: Thank you!  Thoughts that I have had but more beautifully expressed than I could.

  56. 56.

    Elizabelle

    January 20, 2021 at 2:28 am

    Watching CNN.  All those barricades up in DC.

    Who says Trump is not a job creator?  Sheesh.

  57. 57.

    JWR

    January 20, 2021 at 2:29 am

    @Mary G:

    SAG-AFTRA to Hold Hearing on Expelling Trump Over Capitol Attack

    TV news tells me that expulsion from the union would make it impossible for him to do any reboots of The Apprentice.

  58. 58.

    sanjeevs

    January 20, 2021 at 2:32 am

    Biden following the lead of another anti-Confederate President and immediately rescinding Trump’s last minute pardons would be the ultimate kick-off to his Presidency.

  59. 59.

    Nobody in particular

    January 20, 2021 at 2:41 am

    @WaterGirl:

     

    TY Watergirl. 7 links. Got it. Still wet behind the ears, here. I’ll de-link. while we all De-GOP.

  60. 60.

    NotMax

    January 20, 2021 at 2:42 am

    @JWR

    Offered for syndication by VGTRK?

  61. 61.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    January 20, 2021 at 2:42 am

    Is it possible Bannon’s pardon has come too late? That it won’t be processed in time and Biden can rescind it?

  62. 62.

    Elizabelle

    January 20, 2021 at 2:45 am

    @Aussie sheila:   Thanks Aussie Sheila, for your kind words.  May we have sanity and better government in a lot of nations.

    And Rupert Murdoch and all the horrible people who paved the way for the demagogues:  may karma hit them hard, too.  Karma sometimes has a very dark sense of humor.

  63. 63.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 20, 2021 at 2:46 am

    @Aussie sheila:

    Thank you for your positive message. ?

  64. 64.

    MisterForkbeard

    January 20, 2021 at 2:56 am

    The pardons are bad but… I mean, it’s all the same stupid and evil stuff we expected. Letting people go for fraud against Trump supporters, financial fraud, because they got caught in the Mueller investigation doing illegal stuff, etc.

    None of it surprising or really that interesting, honestly. Corrupt dirtbag gonna dirtbag corruptly. And he’ll be gone tomorrow.

  65. 65.

    JWR

    January 20, 2021 at 3:00 am

    @NotMax: The Apprenticenik?

  66. 66.

    Elizabelle

    January 20, 2021 at 3:06 am

    Turning in, but I leave you this schadenfreudelicious article from the NY Times. Authors are Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig, real reporters (not the usual FTF NYT access bootlickers), who covered what Trump family tax information they’ve been able to glean. (From Mary Trump and elsewhere.)

    The Financial Minefield Awaiting an Ex-President Trump
    Baseless election fraud claims and the Capitol riot have compounded already-looming threats to his bottom line. And the cash lifelines he once relied on are gone.

    Rip-roaring first paragraphs:

    Not long after he strides across the White House grounds Wednesday morning for the last time as president, Donald J. Trump will step into a financial minefield that appears to be unlike anything he has faced since his earlier brushes with collapse.

    The tax records that he has long fought to keep hidden, revealed in a New York Times investigation last September, detailed his financial challenges:

    Many of his resorts were losing millions of dollars a year even before the pandemic struck. Hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, which he personally guaranteed, must be repaid within a few years. He has burned through much of his cash and easy-to-sell assets. And a decade-old I.R.S. audit threatens to cost him more than $100 million to resolve.

    In his earlier dark moments, Mr. Trump was able to rescue businesses he runs with multimillion-dollar infusions from his father or licensing deals borne of his television celebrity. Those lifelines are gone. And his divisive presidency has steadily eroded the mainstream marketability of the brand that is at the heart of his business.

    That trend has only accelerated with his evidence-free campaign to subvert the outcome of the presidential election, which culminated in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. In its wake, his last-ditch lender vowed to cut him off. The P.G.A. canceled an upcoming championship at a Trump golf course, and New York City moved to strip him of contracts to run several venues.

    I hope he rues the day he was ever (Electoral College) elected.

    … now he faces loans coming due: $100 million on Trump Tower next year; $125 million on his Doral golf resort in Florida in 2023; and $170 million on the Washington hotel in 2024. Mr. Trump personally guaranteed most of that debt, which means the lenders could pursue his other assets if he cannot pay or refinance.

    I love the dig at Trump’s business “acumen” here: his most reliably producing asset he “practically stumbled into.”

    And though Mr. Trump still has assets he could sell to generate cash, he does not have the authority to unilaterally sell what is perhaps the most valuable: a 30 percent stake in two office buildings controlled by Vornado Realty Trust. The investment, which Mr. Trump practically stumbled into and does not manage, has proved to be one of his greatest and most reliable sources of income, but Mr. Trump cannot sell it without Vornado’s consent.

  67. 67.

    prostratedragon

    January 20, 2021 at 3:06 am

    “Aquarius,” Mary Lou Williams

  68. 68.

    Aussie sheila

    January 20, 2021 at 3:07 am

    May Rupert Murdoch rot in hell. I am truly sorry he was originally Ozian.

    Everywhere he has media properties democracy is being rotted to the ground. His father was a bastard (read about his dispatches from the trenches of WW1). But Rupert and his son are finishing the job. I don’t know what to say about him except that he and his spawn need to be pounded into the ground. He has been terrible for the US, and in Australia he has been disastrous, as well as in the UK.

    I think that reformed social media laws plus more scrutiny of his moves across the world might reign him in slightly. One thing the Biden administration could do is support EU resistance to his desire for unfettered media power coupled with a better more regulated social media environment. But IANAL, so who knows.

  69. 69.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 20, 2021 at 3:10 am

    The things one sees on the Internet in the small hours of the night. Beware!

    I’m outraged that retailers are blocking @realMikeLindell and My Pillow products. Let’s teach these people a lesson. Mike has pillows, sheets, pajamas, other great stuff. Here I am modeling the pajama set. Go to https://t.co/83houproSq and use promo code DINESH.
    pic.twitter.com/AcAO0VbTcb

    — Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) January 20, 2021

  70. 70.

    the pollyanna from hell

    January 20, 2021 at 3:22 am

    @Steeplejack (phone): I saw dinesh’s bigoted review of Queen’s Gambit on youtube. He complained about the rough low voice of an unspecified woman in the opening scenes, calling it gender-inappropriate, and culture-war motivated. Yuk, DD, have a little compassion for our natural variability.

  71. 71.

    Splitting Image

    January 20, 2021 at 3:26 am

    Happy Inauguration Day, everyone!

  72. 72.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 20, 2021 at 3:28 am

    @the pollyanna from hell:

    He fancies himself a lib-owning gadfly, but he’s just a creep.

  73. 73.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 20, 2021 at 3:28 am

    @Splitting Image:

    Eight and a half hours!

  74. 74.

    burnspbesq

    January 20, 2021 at 3:29 am

    Trump looked long and hard to find the sleaziest sleazeballs to pardon. Bannon, Broidy, Kwame Kilpatrick!

    Folks on Twitter are losing their shit because he didn’t pardon Assange or Snowden. Smh.

    Fucker didn’t pardon Reality Winner. Fuck him one last time for old times’ sake.

  75. 75.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    January 20, 2021 at 3:33 am

    Interesting: most of the (not very many) Twitter accounts I follow closely are awake and posting. It’s like everybody can’t wait for Christmas morning and Mom and Dad aren’t around to make them go to sleep.

    That said, I am going to try to get a few hours’ sleep myself.

  76. 76.

    smike

    January 20, 2021 at 3:40 am

    @the pollyanna from hell: 

    Yuk, DD, have a little compassion for our natural variability.

    I think I spotted the problem there.

  77. 77.

    Amir Khalid

    January 20, 2021 at 3:44 am

    @the pollyanna from hell:

    Dinesh D’Souza is deep and richly varied in his stupidity and wrongness. He never ceases to amaze.

  78. 78.

    Amir Khalid

    January 20, 2021 at 3:58 am

    YouTube has taken to using the first slot on my rec page to post an ad for a bizarre series of things I don’t want or need: a dating site with women from China, software-development project management solutions, gold jewellery, “buy one get two free” offers from Domino’s Pizza, factory-scale coffee-bean roasters (I don’t drink any coffee), military-grade flashlights, Bose speakers, etc. AdBlock sees them as site content and doesn’t block them. Feh.

  79. 79.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    January 20, 2021 at 3:59 am

    Deplorables are upset Dump didn’t pardon Assange.

    Yup suddenly I dont care if the impeach and convicted him now.

    — [email protected]€rI (@niNjAadUsT) January 20, 2021

    You and me both. Let them do their worst. I don’t care. What a pathetic exit.

    — Cassandra Fairbanks (@CassandraRules) January 20, 2021

    The pardon list is a slap in the face to every loyal Trump supporter.

    — Gavin Mario Wax ?? (@GavinWax) January 20, 2021

  80. 80.

    PetevDownunder

    January 20, 2021 at 4:05 am

    I second the insightful remarks of Aussie Sheila. As an ex pat American now living in Oz I feel vaguely guilty that our lives are pretty close to normal barring being unable to travel overseas while the US still has around 4000 new infections a day. Hopefully the Biden administration will get the vaccine rollout sorted and start getting control of the virus. I’ll be up early – noon EST is 3 am AEST – to watch the proceedings.

  81. 81.

    Mary G

    January 20, 2021 at 4:09 am

    Times, they are a'changing. State officials received an email tonight from HHS that said: "effective tomorrow we will discontinue use of the organizational name Operation Warp Speed…”— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 20, 2021

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU2pbl63cnc

  82. 82.

    NotMax

    January 20, 2021 at 4:11 am

    @Amir Khalid

    I thought you had installed NoScript and configured it to not let the dross on YouTube through. Or was that on the previous computer?

  83. 83.

    Martin

    January 20, 2021 at 4:17 am

    Not sure I can sleep tonight. Just looked up the full schedule for tomorrow and started to cry. Not only is this actually going to take a turn for the better, I’m trying to imagine how this feels to Kamala and Doug. I remember reading Kamala’s profile in our voting guide when she ran for CA AG, and starting to do some reading about her. The stories buried at the back of the paper about what her office was doing really didn’t match the headlines she was generating, so FTNYT, and FTLAT for always trying to tear her down.

  84. 84.

    Subsole

    January 20, 2021 at 4:20 am

    @Amir Khalid: 
    Y’know if you purchase more guitars the algorithm will feed you more guitar-related ads… :)

  85. 85.

    Amir Khalid

    January 20, 2021 at 4:20 am

    @NotMax:

    Yes, that was the old laptop. I’ll go look up NoScript again.

  86. 86.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 20, 2021 at 4:36 am

    still-fleshy skeletons

    Hehe

  87. 87.

    Jay C

    January 20, 2021 at 4:38 am

    @Steeplejack (phone): 

    Dinesh D’Souza modeling pajamas from MyPillow?

    For once I am grateful that Balloon Juice doesn’t allow pictures in the comments…

  88. 88.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 20, 2021 at 4:38 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Deplorables are upset Dump didn’t pardon Assange.

    Of course – they’re deplorable. :)

  89. 89.

    Baud

    January 20, 2021 at 4:39 am

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: 

    The pardon list is a slap in the face to every loyal Trump supporter.

    LOL. He’s been slapping their faces since Day 1. They only care know because he can no longer hurt the people they want him to hurt.

  90. 90.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 20, 2021 at 4:39 am

    @Jay C: Bwhahahaha!!  Yes.  Very grateful.

  91. 91.

    mrmoshpotato

    January 20, 2021 at 4:47 am

    A three-tweet poem.

    Good night hate, good night “fake news”Good night ‘immigrants are only here to abuse’Good night ‘Corona virus is only a hoax’Good night not caring about ordinary folksGood night to children who live in cagesGood night to late night Twitter rampages— Dr. Alexandra Owensby, DNP (@AMOwensby) January 20, 2021

  92. 92.

    JWR

    January 20, 2021 at 4:51 am

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    The things one sees on the Internet in the small hours of the night. Beware!

    Yeah, I wasn’t quite ready for Dinesh D’Souza – Male Pajama Model!

    OTOH, pretty sexy, eh, ladies?
    ;)

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    January 20, 2021 at 5:10 am

    @JWR

    He’ll have to beat them off with a toothpick.

  94. 94.

    Keith P.

    January 20, 2021 at 5:29 am

    @rjnerd: The “Patriot Party” is going to end up just being “The Patriot Caucus” and will be comprised of all the Freedom Caucus members.   A full political party is too much work for Trump (ditto for a TV network)

  95. 95.

    JWR

    January 20, 2021 at 5:30 am

    @NotMax: ;)

  96. 96.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    January 20, 2021 at 5:56 am

    So a propos of nothing, my wall clock stopped at about ten to 1 in the afternoon (Athens time). I went to take it down and replace its battery, and all of a sudden the second hand started running backwards. Changing the battery solved the problem, but left me wondering if I’d just witnessed a bad omen, given the times we live in.

    The family’s going to be watching the ceremony on live TV; Greek TV channels are covering it live, starting at 5pm Athens time (10am Washington time). Sadly, I won’t be able to make today’s Zoom chat, on account of 5:30pm EST being half past midnight my time, with work tomorrow morning.

  97. 97.

    Anne Laurie

    January 20, 2021 at 5:57 am

    @JWR: The Apprenticenik?

    The Apparatchik.  Because he’s not important enough to qualify as nomenklatura.  Remind him — and the world — who’s the subordinate.

    And the intro shot would be the infamous picture of Trump Lurching sullenly after Putin at the Helsinki summit.

  98. 98.

    Geminid

    January 20, 2021 at 5:57 am

    @Jay: No imagination needed. Every time Boebert tweets, people respond with “Traitor,” “Resign!”, rapsheets, and mugshots from her failure-to-appear arrest.                                      On the positive side, some capable challengers are announcing the interest in 2022, including a woman state senator from Vail. It is thought she and others passed on the race last year when veteran congressman Scott Tipton was assumed to be the nominee. The Democrats ran a decent candidate who lost by slightly under 6 points.                  Everyone is now waiting for redistricting this year. Colorado will gain an eighth congressional seat. The non-partisan commission is supposed to be neutral, but I think they will not do Boebert any favors.

  99. 99.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 20, 2021 at 6:00 am

    SIX HOURS !!!  SIX HOURS !!!  SIX HOURS !!!

    JOY IN THE MORNING !!!

  100. 100.

    Anne Laurie

    January 20, 2021 at 6:07 am

    @Keith P.: The “Patriot Party” is going to end up just being “The Patriot Caucus” and will be comprised of all the Freedom Caucus members.

    The hell you say — Donald Trump does not share his grifts, especially with ‘traitors’ who failed to keep him from being impeached (twice).

    The ‘Patriot Party’ will consist of Trump’s travelling rally-circus (while he’s sufficiently sound of wind & mind to keep it rolling), plus as many family members and cronies are required to keep the contracts signed and the mailing list updated.  Or it may just be the new branding for Trump’s never-ending fundraising emails to his deluded Base.  Donny Dollhands will show small-time grifters like Lyndon LaRouche and Ron Paul how a real showman keeps the funds flowing while never actually going to the trouble of campaigning!

  101. 101.

    Geminid

    January 20, 2021 at 6:38 am

    The winds are really blowing here, 100 miles southwest of D.C…Winds of Change.

  102. 102.

    JWR

    January 20, 2021 at 6:48 am

    @Anne Laurie: The Apparatchik.

    You’re right. Far more descriptive than my linguistic kludge.

    And “the infamous picture of Trump Lurching sullenly after Putin”.

    The one where Pooty-poop’s sly grin barely conceals the joy he’s experiencing in that moment. I smell a ‘rooskie’ hit!

  103. 103.

    Humanities Prof

    January 20, 2021 at 7:59 am

    @Steeplejack (phone): Nope.  Nuh-uh.

    There is no fucking way I am clicking on that link to D’Souza’s Twitter feed, and you can’t make me.  Haven’t we all suffered enough over the last four years?

  104. 104.

    Miss Bianca

    January 20, 2021 at 9:26 am

    @Steeplejack (phone): Wait, you mean the right wing gets its own Pajama Boy?

    (no, I am *not* clicking on the link. There are some things that even the first cup of coffee can’t make palatable).

  105. 105.

    WaterGirl

    January 20, 2021 at 10:46 am

    @Nobody in particular: It’s like playing a game with a kid.  You only learn the rules when they “you landed on the green square” so you have to go back to the beginning.  :-)

    There aren’t too many more double-secret gotchas, I don’t think.

  106. 106.

    WaterGirl

    January 20, 2021 at 10:52 am

    @Baud:  I’m hoping that we see this feeling expressed enough that this can be a rotating tag.

    This  [  ]  is a slap in the face to every loyal Trump supporter.

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