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The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

White supremacy is terrorism.

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This really is a full service blog.

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People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

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Not loving this new fraud based economy.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / (Literal) Housekeeping (At the White House) Open Thread

(Literal) Housekeeping (At the White House) Open Thread

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… By Wednesday at 12:01 p.m., hours after Mr. Trump himself plans to leave Washington, all the first family’s stuff will have followed him out the White House door, en route to his new home in Palm Beach, Fla. And by the end of the day Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his wife, Jill, will arrive to a deep-cleaned living quarters where their bags will be unpacked, their furniture arranged and their favorite foods stocked in the fridge.

It’s the awkward pas de deux performed every four or eight years when one family moves in and another moves out, an undertaking carried out by the 90-person White House residence staff in about five hours. A complicated, highly choreographed process is done on a tight schedule that often requires boxing up whatever has been left unpacked — some outgoing presidents are more prepared to leave the executive mansion than others.

This year, people involved in the process said, moving day also involves additional cleaning and safety precautions because of the coronavirus…

The Bidens were never invited to meet the residence staff, or canvass the second floor of the White House, which has 16 rooms and six bathrooms and will now be their home. Michelle Obama, by contrast, had been through the White House twice at the invitation of Mrs. Bush before her husband’s 2009 inauguration.

“Mrs. Trump should have invited Dr. Biden in for the traditional coffee,” said Capricia Marshall, who served as White House social secretary in the Clinton administration and oversaw that president’s departure in 2001, referring to Melania Trump, the first lady. “Typically, she would come prepared with questions, she’ll meet and talk to the chef, the full time residence staff and have an opportunity for them to break the ice. It’s a courtesy, but logistically it’s incredibly helpful. That didn’t happen.”…

“The good news is there’s a process, there’s a checklist,” Ms. McBride said. “The staff knows what they need to do. And the Bidens know the building, they know the people. They’ve been there plenty.”

Theme for the (first) Biden Administration: No panic, we’ve done this before.

Reader Interactions

103Comments

  1. 1.

    West of the Cascades

    This is glorious: https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/democracy-symbols-biden-inauguration/2021/01/20/3e80f784-5b59-11eb-a976-bad6431e03e2_story.html

    Somehow, when the old president reached one last time into his grab bag of grievance and rhetorical narcissism, there was nothing left of his power, not even the power of shock or disgust. “So, have a good life, we will see you soon,” he said, in closing, to a small crowd gathered on the tarmac, many still defiant in their refusal to defend themselves and others against the virus. “So, have a good life,” sounded like an absolute farewell, such as the dying give to the living; “we will see you soon,” sounded like a promise or a threat, or perhaps just one last jumble of logic before this cumbersome figure loaded himself into a giant plane, and jetted off to a life of golf, lawsuits and bitterness.

  2. 2.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Gonna be weird having a president who isn’t taunting mask wearers and literally trying to get more people killed.

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @RSA: Biden’s been calling it “generous”, so I’m guessing Miller didn’t write it. Who’s the least  culty aide who was left around him by the end?

  6. 6.

    lamh36

    @kaitlancollins
    ·
    11m
    Joe Biden, while swearing in political appointees, says, “If you’re ever working with me and I hear you treated another colleague with disrespect — talk down to someone — I promise I will fire you on the spot. On the spot…Everybody is entitled to be treated with decency.”

    @kaitlancollins
    ·
    11m
    Biden adds, “That’s been missing in a big way the last four years.”

  7. 7.

    Ken

    I’m taking the $50,000 golf simulator as meaning that, even on the four or five days a week when he wasn’t out on the course, he was still playing golf instead of working.

    BTW if I were the Mar-A-Lago neighbors, I’d keep an eye on where that stuff goes, and start the legal proceedings the second it showed up at MAL.  He’s not allowed to live there.

    EDIT: And to be catty, does anyone else wonder if Melania’s luggage is being shipped to a different address as the rest of the stuff?

  10. 10.

    randal m sexton

    What the whitehouse must smell like right now: Bleach, Mr. Clean, Pinesol, Windex, Clorox, Lysol, Vinegar, Ajax, Ammonia, Mr. Clean, Oxy-Clean, Hydrogen Peroxide, sage and garlic( for Stephen Millers office). Plus there is the sound of GIANT HEPA filters, powered by jet engines.

  14. 14.

    kindness

    I don’t mean to be mean or uncultured but Trump and his family are such tacky trash.  Really it would be more fitting to see them all in ripped/stained t shirts and sweats.

    Thank the FSM we are in a better place now.

  18. 18.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    I was just walking my dog around the block thinking about Olympian athletes.  I will never be one but we have all had to suffer for 4 fucking years for another crack at winning.  I can’t imagine losing 4, 8, 12, years in a row and to continue training day in and day out for another crack at whoever the fucker is who keeps winning Gold.  Democratic voters need to be like Olympian athletes day in and day out!  Not anyone on this top 10,000 blog, of course.  I want 81,000,000+ people voting every year in every local election.  Cheers y’all!

  19. 19.

    MisterForkbeard

    Some Trump aides left notes behind for the new staffers.

    “This took us MONTHS, but it turns out the light switches aren’t that hard to operate!”

  24. 24.

    dmsilev

    @RSA: Dont worry, Alexandra Petri got an advance copy

    Dear Joe,
    I have been told by many people and made to state, on camera, that I acknowledge you are the president now! Congratulations, I guess.
    I have some advice for you if you’d like to be as good at being president as I’ve been.
    First, as president, you can really lean on people to stay at any golf courses or hotels you own, and you should definitely do that. It’s a good source of income!
    As president, every day you can access the best information in the world about what is going on, but you don’t have to. You can also just watch Fox in the residence!.
    They give you some pieces of paper every day that are very annoying, full of information and written in a small type, but if you don’t look at them and look bored, they eventually will stop giving them to you. Or, at a minimum, they will make sure the ones that they give you have pictures.

  25. 25.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Baud: I guess. Threatening to fire people on their first day doesn’t meet my threshold for good supervision but others mileage may vary.

  34. 34.

    danielx

    per some of the comments: the White House doesn’t need just a deep cleaning, it needs an exorcist.

    Extra attention for Dr. Goebbels’ off- er, Stephen Miller’s office.

  38. 38.

    LurkerNoLonger

    CNN reports that outgoing First Lady sent handwritten thank you notes to members of White House household staff but that the letters were actually scrawled out by one of her assistants.

    Yet they were still plagiarized from Michelle Obama.

  40. 40.

    Quinerly

    @Geminid: I have read about 1/2 dozen pieces about how QAnon now feels about him. (duped) The Proud Boys have dumped him. The National Review has called him Paris Hilton.

  41. 41.

    Ken

    @debbie: Love the tears, but why would you record them and share them on Twitter?

    Can the unTweeted life truly be said to have been lived?

  42. 42.

    zhena gogolia

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    You know, during the debates everyone was laughing at him when he said, “Turn off the record player.” I showed that clip to my husband, and he said, “He’s the president we need.”

  45. 45.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Stuart Stevens is telling you why your fantasies of bipartisanship are truly fantasies on MSNBC.

  46. 46.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    A star is born (photo)

     

    Twitter Is Obsessed With Ella Emhoff’s Inauguration Coat
    — ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) January 20, 2021

    yeah you know what maybe I am in love with ella emhoff https://t.co/nADSiBBo5T
    — rileigh (@rileighsmirl) January 20, 2021

    Ella Emhoff’s curls made me tear up. Never have Jewish curls like hers been represented in the White House. During a day of so many firsts, let us not forget the Jewish girls – and women – that can see themselves in our nation’s Second Family.
    — lisa hendricks (@MsLisaHendricks) January 20, 2021

    Ella Emhoff looked like a kickass time traveler! I loved it all!
    — Spinoza’s Godzilla (@Mr_Eurypterid) January 20, 2021

    Ella Emhoff did with one coat what Ivanka couldn’t get done in four years. Instant style icon. https://t.co/yfsOR0uFXG
    — Tom and Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo) January 20, 2021

    What a woman!

  48. 48.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @zhena gogolia: I don’t want to sound like I’m down on Biden. I voted for him in the primary and the general. But our gerontocracy in general is a real problem.

  51. 51.

    Cheryl Rofer

    This is interesting. The Q people aren’t going away, but they do seem to be erasing their public presence.

  52. 52.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: this nugget from the NYT was, for me, example number whatever-thousand, three-hundred and forty-two of how boring old Joe Biden lapped all the savvy twitter candidates who thought 2016 proved that Obama was tired and Bernie! was wired!, or whatever

    He relishes freewheeling discussion, interrupting aides and chiding them for what he deems overly academic or elitist language. “Pick up your phone, call your mother, read her what you just told me,” he likes to say, according to aides. “If she understands, we can keep talking.” Aides made a point of editing out all abbreviations other than U.N. and NATO.

  53. 53.

    Quinerly

    @debbie: we need an entire thread on just these QAnon pieces. They had their popcorn all popped and were expecting decapitations at noon on live television. Trump just didn’t produce the bloodshed.

  54. 54.

    Ken

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Looking at the images and videos in those tweets, it appears that masks are also back in style. I heard Biden is going to make them mandatory in all Federal facilities, which could be a clever back-door way of identifying the Trump loyalists.

  57. 57.

    Quinerly

    @Cheryl Rofer: there’s a HuffPost piece that’s good too…. If being down in the dumps and not knowing what to do with your life now since there were no decapitations can be called “good.”

  58. 58.

    RSA

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    All of the threads /qresearch/ board are deleted. This was allegedly done by an 8kun “rouge moderator.”

    Don’t trust conservative men wearing make-up, I guess?

    More seriously, that’s interesting news. I wonder if it’s a new facet of a cult response when predictions fail, or something that could have been expected?

  59. 59.

    Frank Wilhoit

    “…his collection of Brioni suits…”

    People who actually have money, as opposed to pretending to have money, know how not to waste it.  Trump always looks like his suits were bought off the rack (or off the back of a truck) by someone who was guessing what size he is.  This was how we could tell his stunt double: Trump has a very pronounced curvature of the upper spine and the double doesn’t.  So the double’s off-the-rack clothes almost fit.  But the facial resemblance is astonishing.  That guy, whoever he is, really has some stories to tell.

    But when you don’t pay your bills, I suppose it matters the less what the price tag says.

  60. 60.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @zhena gogolia: Lauren Underwood, Colin Alred, Conor Lamb, Jon Ossoff, Kristen Clarke are all under forty. What’s the cut-off for “young” with politicians?

  61. 61.

    Quinerly

    @Cheryl Rofer: there’s a thread where a little after noon when there weren’t mass arrests/executions, some of the QAnon folks were trying to reconcile that Biden was in on everything and helping Trump….

  62. 62.

    debbie

    @Quinerly:

    Yeah, they are totally beyond my understanding. The q-drops I’ve heard about are ridiculously nonsensical. But I’d bet Trump egged them on behind the scenes. Through Miller or maybe even Bannon.

  66. 66.

    Ken

    @Matt McIrvin: Every job I’ve had, one of the first things you learn is a plethora of things that will get you fired.

    At my (big US) corporation we have mandatory training on that every year.  Anti-bullying, anti-harassment, inclusivity, it’s all there; and the protected categories have grown over the last eight years, including the addition of gender identity about three years ago. It’s made clear that violations can lead to termination of employment.

    (Plus of course a big section on recording your time and expenses accurately, and not taking or giving bribes, or steering contracts to your relatives.)

    @Just Some Fuckhead: At least at my job interviews, they don’t come out and ask “So are you a flaming asshole who can only interact with others by denigrating them”. In fact I think legally they can’t ask that question, any more than they can ask “So are you a flaming homosexual”.

    I know some companies search your social media nowadays, so could determine from that if someone’s “not a good fit” for the corporate culture.

  67. 67.

    RSA

    @Ken:

    I heard Biden is going to make them mandatory in all Federal facilities, which could be a clever back-door way of identifying the Trump loyalists.

    What a good idea. I didn’t know it wasn’t the case already. I work on an Army base with strict rules about face coverings (not that I’ve actually been back in my office for months). I’d had the impression since mid-summer that masks were required on all military bases, though I didn’t actually check. Extending the rule to all federal government workplaces would be good policy for a few different reasons.

  69. 69.

    Quinerly

    @debbie: I dipped into my old local paper in NC. There’s a real guy posting “Fake News” on every inauguration article. Someone is arguing with him. I don’t think it’s performance art. He is convinced that there was no inauguration. All staged, “false flag,” actors. He really needs a psychiatric hold. I know the last name. I have to know his family. Trump has unleashed something that will take years to fix.

  70. 70.

    lgerard

    his collection of Brioni suits

    Seth Meyers once claimed that trumps suits looked like they were made out of trash bags

    It was funny because it’s true

  71. 71.

    Geoboy

    @Cheryl Rofer: When I was in college (admittedly a long time ago), for one of our courses we had to read a book titled “When Prophecy Fails”.  Some reporter had followed a cult for months where the leader had proclaimed that the world would end on a particular date.  The behavior of the leader and members of the cult when that didn’t happend are very reminiscent of Qanon today.

  74. 74.

    Tony Jay

    @debbie:

    Good God but that was gorgeous. Tasty, tasty tears, salted with utter madness. Enough to fuel my joy-engines for, oh, hours and hours.

    I almost don’t want to know what she was going on about with the flag, but I really do. How crazy is too crazy?

  75. 75.

    topclimber

    @debbie: For our side, yeah. But I wonder what he accidentally learned about US targets in one of the presidential show and tell sessions, and who might pay a price for it.

    No longer has he his fingers on the button. But he remains ever ready to facilitate harm. “What am I bid, Kim?”

    Sorry, one and all for stomping on the no-nuke respite. Blame it on my Trumpian PTSD

    I need lots more JoeMo to break the spell.

  77. 77.

    FlyingToaster

    @Just Some Fuckhead: 

    Threatening to fire people on their first day doesn’t meet my threshold for good supervision but others mileage may vary.

    I’ve been in these situations (as a contractor, thank goodness, not an employee), and it was very much a “we’ve had a major ass problem with this and I’m here to remind you that we are NEVER paying out an a lawsuit about this again” speech.

    It’s not subtle, but it is unfortuately really damn necessary*.

    *(One guy at one company actually went back to his desk and typed up his resignation. Because he was a “player” and would have been fired for cause within days.)
    (At another company the new CEO didn’t actually enforce the policy espoused in his speech, and within a year had to make a multimillion dollar settlement re: the marketing director.)

  78. 78.

    Cameron

    @Raven: It’s a damn shame.  I used to go over there regularly for interesting insights.  I can’t bring myself to do that any more.  It’s been taking on water for a while, and bringing Special Agent Whitey Tape on board hasn’t helped.

  79. 79.

    Splitting Image

    @debbie: 

    Trump no longer controls the nuclear weapons.

    Whatever you do today, stop every few minutes and remember that.
    — Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) January 20, 2021

    I just realized that I forgot to remember that. There are so many things I’m glad Trump is no longer in charge of that I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to keep track of them all.

  84. 84.

    Starboard Tack

    Joyful about T**** having to suck his thumb to get to sleep tonight after Melania calls him a loser and slams her bedroom door shut.

  86. 86.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Ken: Maybe as a director, I’m above those threats. But I don’t do that with my team and I’ve kept them together going on seven years now.

  87. 87.

    Geminid

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: And Sharice Davids (KS) is 40 years old, Jason Crow (CO) and Abigail Spanburger (VA) are 41, Anthony Delgado (NY) is 43, and Elaine Luria (VA) is 44. All capable Representatives and politicians.

  88. 88.

    The Moar You Know

    Threatening to fire people on their first day doesn’t meet my threshold for good supervision but others mileage may vary.

    @Just Some Fuckhead: I don’t know if you’re still working or retired or what, but sadly, this is now the norm; we have to tell people to act like decent human beings, define that, and threaten to fire them if they don’t, and we have to do all that before we can allow them to actually start work.

    You would think that you wouldn’t have to do this, that the vast majority of people by the time they get out into the working world would know this, but no.  I’ve had my current job for 18 years.  We didn’t have to fire anyone for acting like an asshole until 2008, then it was just a deluge.  And nowadays you have to make the threat to fire up front as the legal liability for not doing so is staggering. “Well, you never told me I couldn’t call people n*****s” is something I have actually heard from an employee who was being terminated for doing just that, but hey, we actually DID tell him he could not do that and so he couldn’t sue.  He tried anyway.  But your insurer will cover that, so long as you can prove said employee was actually warned about the consequences of calling another employee one of the most vile names possible.

    Again, you would just think people would “get this”, but they’re not getting it.   Something’s broken bad in a lot of people out there, and it’s not younger folks.  

    Biden is being a good, smart and tough boss by doing this, which is exactly pretty much what I expected of him.

  89. 89.

    Obdurodon

    If I were Biden, I’d be tempted to give as many of the staff as possible a 14-day paid vacation, explicitly citing possible COVID exposure as the reason, and of course tests for everyone. After all, outbreaks in that community were not just a theoretical possibility. Some of the deep-cleaning theatre seems as likely to cause exposure as to prevent it, due to all the extra people occupying a shared indoor space for long periods of time.

  92. 92.

    There are those who call me...tim... (Still posh)

    Deep cleaned quarters or not, I’d still burn some sage if I were them.

  93. 93.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Geminid: don’t know their exact ages, but Mike Sherrill, Hakeem Jeffries, Gretchen Whitmer, a whole passel of state AGs I saw on my TeeVee during the last year…

    It’s not Biden’s fault if he’s the rare politician with a national profile who didn’t wildly misread the 2016 (and 2018) election results.

  95. 95.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    OK, I’m sorry about the bad things I said about Springsteen. Bring him back please.

  98. 98.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    his collection of Brioni suits

    I ready this as “Brony suits” as in Trump is a My Little Poney fan boi.

  100. 100.

    jonas

    his collection of Brioni suits and the first lady’s matching Louis Vuitton luggage

    Can you imagine if Jill Biden were schlepping around 50 grand worth of Louis Vuitton luggage? Everyone would be losing their shit. Also, Trump has long touted his devotion to ultra-lux Brioni suits, but doesn’t seem to have had any of them actually made-to-measure. When you shell out $5-10k for a suit, it seems like the least you could do.

    On the other hand, President Biden (*I get little chills just typing that*) and Doug Emhoff were just poured into those Ralph Lauren pieces today…

  101. 101.

    Benw

    Between evening chores and kids’ bedtimes I seem to have missed all the fun!

    Ah well, party on dudes!

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