Donald Trump is indeed an ethnonationalist would-be dictator who, despite his defeat in November and the failure of his subsequent insurrection in January, is still preparing the ground for another run at power. But before, through and after his dreams of il Duce-hood, he’s a petty crook, a con-man. So, when he rouses the rubes to “stop the steal” or march into prison via that detour eastwards up Capitol Hill, he’s also, always, making sure he gets his cut. If he had to choose between power and cash, I’m at least 60-40 he’d grab the green.
Flash forward from today’s miserable vision of Republican senators proving themselves to be wholly subject to Trumpismo to a strangely puissant date (for some): March 4.
In case y’all missed this in the pity and the sorrow–and the disgust for Republican cowardice and complicity–of the impeachment trial, it seems that the Q folks have seized on a variety of disconnected facts and fact-like statements to conclude that March 4 is the date for the true and valid inauguration of Donald Trump’s second term:
For some QAnon conspiracy theorists, March 4, 2021 is a date circled in red Sharpie on the calendar. The truly devoted believe that, on this special date, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 19th president of the United States.
The theory borrows from the sovereign citizens movement, which espouses that a law enacted in 1871 secretly turned the U.S. into a corporation and ended the American government put in place by the founding fathers. Accordingly, the true inauguration date was not January 20, as the rest of the world believes. The conspiracy theorists contend that the real inauguration will happen on March 4, the date on which presidents were sworn in prior to the 1933 passage of the 20th amendment. Still following? QAnon followers believe that Trump will return to power on March 4 as the 19th president of the United States. The last true president, the theory goes, was Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president, who was in office in 1871 when the United States turned into a corporation. Got it?
OK. So that’s crazy, in the same vein as prior Q lunacy, with the cherry on top (as the article linked above notes) of growing interpenetration between Q and older and violent anti-government extremists. But you know what’s special?
This is special:
At the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC, the least expensive room option is the deluxe king, ranging in size from 350 to 475 square feet. At this time of year, it normally runs anywhere from $476 to $596 per night.
Interestingly, on March 3 and 4, the same room is selling for $1,331 per night. That’s 180% above the base rate and more than double what you’d pay any other night in February or March, according to the hotel’s website.
As the article notes, this price hike appears to be exclusive to Trump’s property. No other DC hotels are trying to cash in on crazed delusions in support of armed attempts to overthrow the United States government.
Trump wants power to hurt those he hates. But he never forgets the real prize. There are followers to be shorn. He must shear them.
I repeat myself, but…always be grifting.
Also: for all the grim comedy to be found in the notion of “economically distressed” Trump cultists forking over serious coin for the privilege of seeing him…hang out in Marred a Lago, anything to do with that festering hemorrhoid on the body politic leaves a bad taste. So, because I am not a gratuitously cruel human, here’s a little Champ and Tikka to chase the foulness away.
Here’s Tikka’s response to Trump’s lawyers today:
Tell me that gaze doesn’t have you remembering every sin you committed in third grade…
Here’s Champ, working on the left jab she picked up watching old Ali fights:
And here’s Tikka, letting the little one know that there are limits:
This thread. It is so open.
Image: Pieter Breughel the Elder, The Misanthrope, 1568
Baud
Going from Grant to Trump. How far we’ve fallen.
cain
Champ seems to have grown!Also for some reason I thought you were going to talk about the Lincoln Project when it comes to grifting! Ah well.
I hope everyone is enjoying snow across this fine nation.
ETA ohhhhh… yeaaaaaaahhhhhh… the coveted number TWO, baybeee!!! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! ? We are the champions, We are the champions! No time for losers, cuz we are the champions…. of the world ?
Just One More Canuck
Holy crap, that’s a terrifying look on Tikka
A Ghost to Most
Ethnonationalist? You sure talk purdy.
Selfish bigoted christian fascist ammosexual assholes describes them best, but then I don’t suffer from academic caution.
WaterGirl
I love that final photo. There should be a caption contest for that one.
Also, Champ appears to be quite the popular choice for the vaccination sticker thread.
cain
@A Ghost to Most:
Ain’t that fancy for “racist”?
WaterGirl
@Just One More Canuck: Just stern, I think. I think it’s more approachable than Tikka’s “do not fuck with me look”. That one is scary.
edit: okay, break over. Two more hours of the Q&A to finish tonight. Please tell me someone gets to punch Van Der Vile in the face.
leeleeFL
Tikka looks like Scar! That face would keep me up nights!
cain
My two black velociraptors have been running around the home all day today. Lately they’ve been having problems with poop and I have some really aweful smells coming out of the bathrooms. I’ve been doing a catch and release and cleaning their behinds because they haven’t been cleaning it very well – probably because it’s goo not poo.
Mike in NC
@Baud: I’m still working on Chernow’s book on Grant, who comes across as an outstanding and very humble individual. The ex-Confederates did a number on him to sully his reputation, which the era’s media was happy to buy into. He’s probably in the Top 15 Presidents.
Baud
@Mike in NC:
I might read that if I ever finish the Truman book I’ve been reading for I don’t know how long.
trnc
What’s the over under that DT puts out word that he will see everyone in DC on March 4 for the real inauguration, and then plant himself firmly on his MAL golf course? Fleecing the rubes with the hotel scam is a given, but remember that he will never pass up an opportunity to kick them in the teeth while he’s collecting the cash.
dmsilev
New details about Trump-McCarthy shouting match show Trump refused to call off the rioters
“Republican lawmaker familiar with the call”. If he didn’t have all the spine of a particularly gelatinous jellyfish, I’d say that was McCarthy himself. But it’s probably not him.
Just One More Canuck
@WaterGirl: Doesn’t every look from Tikka say “Don’t fuck with me”?
CaseyL
I’d be real interested in seeing a photo taken right after the one of Tikka giving that no-nonsense look to Champ. As in, did Champ get the hint? Or, did she do what she was gonna do anyway?
The unbounded bad faith and sheer bloody bollocks T*’s attorneys are serving up isn’t as infuriating as it would normally be only because the GQP wasn’t going to convict no matter what. Some commenters say the real audience is us, that what’s important is making a strong case to the public. One can certainly hope so – the House Managers have been brilliant.
MomSense
Tonight we are having a dance party. Well mostly I’m dancing and kid is playing along. Watching The Rolling Stones Sweet Summer Sun concert (free on tubi). Greatest rock ‘n roll band ever.
Martin
@dmsilev: I think it’s pretty telling that there are Republicans gaming the politics of the vote to call witnesses in that direction. I think there are at least 54 votes for witnesses. Romney, Collins, Murkowski, and Cassidy are almost certainly yes votes there.
Delk
Yeah but the bedbugs are free.
Amir Khalid
@leeleeFL:
I call him Lee Van Cleef kitty.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@dmsilev: I didn’t see the CNN report, but looking at these tweets and screen caps, I thought we knew it was Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH)? one of the pro-impeachment 10. Maybe McCarthy was dumb enough to ask him to apologize.
(Chris Van Hollen on the Hayes program gets very skittish with Hayes asks about witnesses. Says its all up to the House managers. I thought it was up to the Senate? )
dmsilev
@Martin: It’s also interesting that this CNN story came out now, with Republican lawmakers as the explicit source. Why do that, unless you’re trying to push the Senate?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
What’s the name of that Truman book, btw? I’m off work next week on vacation and could use a good book to read
MagdaInBlack
@MomSense: Thank You! Now I’m watching it =-)
dmsilev
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The House Managers have to make a request to the Senate to hear witnesses first, and then the Senate would vote on whether to accede to the request.
John Revolta
But, in the painting, which one is the Misanthrope?
Elizabelle
Yeah, I thought this was going to be about the Lincoln Project too. But: Tikka! And growing up Champ! Even better.
Just opened some cava. We have our first snow that has lasted through sunset in my central VA location. That’s a suitable occasion.
Just Some Fuckhead
This is wild and seems completely out of character for Kevin McCarthy. But afterwards McCarthy railed about impeachment and voted against it when he KNEW firsthand that Trump had no intention of calling off his thugs and that seems more in character for McCarthy.
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I don’t have it near me, but I’m going to guess Truman.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Was watching on CNN and they said it’s theoretically possible that the Senate with 50+1 votes could call witnesses, but it’s exceedingly unlikely. They brought up McCarthy as an example and said he’d likely refuse to testify and a court battle would then develop and drag the proceedings out
Chauncy Baker
I’ve seen many people post about this using it as *another* (I can’t write his name!) Rump grift. We now know that Rumpy planned the insurrection. It’s “official” now because of the Impeachment trial, but all you had to do was to read his tweets at the time and understand the English language. This is a quid-pro-quo payment for insurrectionists: stay here, pay the extra and we won’t rat you out. It really is as simple as that.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: Yes! Which makes him Snoop Dog kitty too. They bear a resemblance.
Tikka would terrify me if our relative sizes were reversed.
Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s him turning to the neutral juror. If the House managers want to call witnesses, they’ll make the case for it. Maybe they don’t – maybe they don’t think witnesses would help (can’t imagine them taking this tack) but Van Hollen is right to say it’s up to them to make the argument.
West of the Cascades
If the deluxe king room is going for $1331, just imagine what the deluxe double queen room (the “QQ” room) is going for??
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
The one by David McCullough? Thanks! I’ll have to see if my library has it. I’d be really interested to read about Truman’s perspective on the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the early Cold War
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
That might be the one.
MomSense
@MagdaInBlack:
YES!! ??
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: you’re not reading Scarborough’s book?
Just Some Fuckhead
@Martin: I don’t really see the need for witnesses. What are they going to say that changes anything? In fact, they’d probably just piss off Republicans since Republicans naturally have contempt for anyone who needs their help.
cmorenc
IMHO he would choose power on the justified-by-his-4-years-as-POTUS experience that with power, goes the ability to direct green to the powerful, particularly himself.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Wait, what? They’re adjourned until 10:00 tomorrow morning.Sorry, never mind. I just figured out that you DVR’d it or something and are a few hours behind those of us who watched live.
Martin
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): There are a lot of witnesses they could call. Congressional police, certainly. The secret service to tell us if the WH secret service knew Pence was in danger and if they relayed that to Trump or his CoS. Relevant people in the DC NG chain of command to clarify when the request for deployment was made, and by whom. There was reporting that Trump refused to approve it, that Pence did it in his place. Questions about whether that Jan 4 memo was normal, if it undermined their ability to respond.
I don’t expect them to get Miller or Trump or McCarthy to testify, but they can also vote on issuing subpoenas to compel them to testify.
I mean, so much of the focus has now shifted to Trumps response that I think there’s a real sense of need to get answers there.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@dmsilev: People who run for public offices tend to have large egos, the higher the office, the bigger the ego. I’d be a large amount of money McCarthy has had at least one very serious (in his cottage-cheese brain) meeting with fund-raiser/advisor types about an eventual presidential run. Yet he’s willing to just keep eating shit served up to him by grifting, third-rate, racist gameshow host
Elizabelle
@Martin: Yeah. It seems to me it’s the Republicans who want to get this over fast.
Pressure is building. New information is out. Call the witnesses.
Benw
@WaterGirl: The caption is “fuck around and find out!”
Champs gotten beeg!
Haydnseek
As always, Tikka’s expression says it all: “I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.”
Martin
@Just Some Fuckhead: It may not change anything. But even in an impeachment case, this is less of a criminal case and more of an oversight one. Even if the resulting votes don’t change, I think people need to understand whether the WH knew the danger Pence was in, how the chain of command and order to deploy the national guard worked (which to me plays into the question of DC statehood – if they were a state, the governor of DC could have deployed without needing the President’s approval)
I’m assuming there won’t be enough votes to convict regardless, but the public deserves a full accounting of what happened, and this is a good way of getting that without the usual posturing and bloviating from elected officials who are under pain of imprisonment to keep their mouths shut (for a change).
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: I have the Met on right now. It’s yesterday’s offering; figured as long as I started it before 7:30 I’d be golden.
Don’t understand a word, but Pavarotti and a lot of costumes. A gallows in the background.
James Levine conducting, which is very slightly jarring
ETA: Tomorrow, I will see if there is a way to have the Met screen give me subtitles. Do you know??
Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Or, if you think like a Republican, was McCarthy holding the details of that call over Trump in exchange for the list. No list, and now the details are out.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Martin: I’m curious if there’s evidence that impeachment is being absorbed by more than just the politics junkies.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: I have Tivo, so I recorded it. And I’m halfway through the recording.
debbie
@Martin:
Or, McCarthy was scared shitless in the moment, and later returned to his former horrible self.
WaterGirl
@Benw: I know! What have they been feeding him?
Tikka is asking, not me. :-)
Just Some Fuckhead
Ever open up a little and someone else opens up too much?
WaterGirl
@Martin: Like the GA Secretary of State who recorded the call but said not to release it unless Trump started to misrepresent the call.
Mike in NC
@Amir Khalid: Outstanding!
zhena gogolia
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Tell us some more about your sore arm
ETA: Says a person who sees the next available vaccine appointment in her area as April 30.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@debbie: this gets my vote, if McCarthy were ready to take on trump, even anonymously, he would’ve one it before now. I’d like to think this will complicate life for Republicans, but I’m thinking about the make up of the Senate, and I just don’t see it.
Just Some Fuckhead
@WaterGirl: Or like Comey who was asked by the president to obstruct justice and merely wrote himself a note about it.
Geminid
@Mike in NC: Ullysses Grant’s autobiography is well worth reading. He had a dry sense of humor, and did not hesitate to make fun of himself. And he was a good writer. Grant was highly respected at the time of his death, in the South as well as the North, and now modern historians are giving him his due.
Sure Lurkalot
This trial has made me angrier than ever about the events of 1/6 specifically and the entire Trump presidency in general but I am becoming increasingly upset about those Dem senators who refuse to eliminate the filibuster. Why do you feel any of these craven, cowardly, complicit assholes deserve a voice about anything? How can you have any respect for them? Have they not been quite clear that they don’t care about your lives or the country?
JanieM
edited because i just saw the 2nd I got the shot thread…
duh, maybe it affected my attention span
Just Some Fuckhead
@zhena gogolia: Wow, that’s a long way out.
Martin
@Just Some Fuckhead: I don’t think you can diminish the benefit of having this on the record in this way. You can see the public dialogue shifting to these being accepted facts and not ‘allegations’. They’re firming up their language around this. Congress is validating what actually happening.
It may not be reaching the broader public just yet, and it may not reach the GOP for years, but nobody defends Nixon now, and it’s the impeachment testimony that is always returned to when discussing that era. Nobody cares what John Dean said outside of that room.
WaterGirl
@Just Some Fuckhead: Or Woodward!
Just Some Fuckhead
That sounds remarkably clever for someone as dumb as McCarthy. And I think the news is being reported as coming from “Republican lawmakers familiar with the shouting match.”
raven
@zhena gogolia: Mine isn’t bad, I felt lousy all day yesterday but I’m fine now.
jl
US Grant was the last ‘real’ US president? hoowuddathunk?
He sure didn’t act anywhere like the QAnoners and Trumpsters think a president should act.
Also, too. He was a lousy business man, like Trump, but honest enough to admit it, work like hell to pay off his debts (like Truman), and a few of his projects panned out. So, not much similarity there, either.
They’re a puzzle, those wild and crazy QAnoners.
Benw
@WaterGirl: lol asking for a Tikka friend!
Other MJS
That painting reminded me of the old “wondering if nuns have wheels” gag.
Just Some Fuckhead
I was a little disappointed they didn’t explicitly thank Goodman for “saving them from Trump.”
Martin
@WaterGirl: That’s a bit different. The GA SOS could have found himself on the wrong side of a criminal act. I don’t think that’s possible with McCarthy based on whats on the call. Though using it to blackmail Trump (if that’s what happened – who knows) would have turned it into one.
IOW, the GA SOS got nothing out of it. But McCarthy may have tried to get something out of it. Don’t know. The whole episode is weird.
Just Some Fuckhead
I don’t know what it means but DEBUNK QANON is a perfect cryptogram of CHRIST JESUS.
Martin
@Just Some Fuckhead: Yeah, I agree it’s a bit too clever for him. But I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt that they are genius at unethical and illegal acts, if they are idiots at everything else.
Geminid
I expect there will be good reporting on the fund trump raised after the election, ostensibly to pay for his election challenges. I don’t know when the next reporting date is, but I think the sum was over $150 million by the end of December. trump could make a lot of mischief with that much money, although he’ll probably just try hard to pocket it.
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: ” Despite this, McCarthy recently went to Mar-a-Lago and asked Trump for access to his donor list. ”
Hilarious, if true.
I can’t stomach video of the sickening spectacle, except for some clips of the prosecution’s case. So I am monitoring blogs and headlines, which have given me some ROFLMAOs today. Keeping my distance from the sound and sight of the vile circus the GOP and Trumpsters are running today allows that, I suppose.
MomSense
@JanieM:
My dad got his first shot today, too.
dww44
@Baud: what Truman book are you reading ? I’s it it any good?
Just Some Fuckhead
@Sure Lurkalot: I think the filibuster should be attacked on constitutional grounds, however that is manifested (lawsuit, by whom?) The Constitution clearly specifies a simple majority to pass legislation. Making a rule to effectively require a supermajority for all legislation is unconstitutional.
Amir Khalid
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I disagree. Getting witness testimony on the impeachment trial record is per se proper and necessary: you want to put in as many pertinent facts as you can for the sake of completeness. Second, Witness testimony about the enormity of what Tump caused on 6th January can only help win this case in its real venue, the court of public opinion. And, while I wouldn’t bank on it to win the case in the Senate, it might yet shake the resolve of a few Republican Senators.
MagdaInBlack
It occurs to me that all the Trumplings and Q-folk and their fellow travelers might not be so welcome in D.C. this time….except at Trump properties.
Miss Bianca
@Baud: I might read *both* of those if I can finish up this book by this Levenson guy…
cliosfanboy
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
also check the Truman biography by Alonzo Hamby.
John Cole
that cat’s nose kills me every time
Sister Golden Bear
Forgive me Tikka, for I have sinned. Copiously and enthusiastically.
Just Some Fuckhead
@John Cole: .. he thundered in a blue aura before disappearing magically again.
Amir Khalid
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Mysterious and powerful are the ways of the Blog Lord.
Mallard Filmore
@MomSense:
Dancing! Like this? Go into Youtube and search for:
Project 21 – Mambo No. 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo3bU_1V9ec
Honey Nut Cheerios Commercial 2016 feat Chi-Chi Reel Edition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02XQw-LjrXo
Mommy and Daughter duo in Cheerios Commercial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaXeeeq5QLA
There also is a Chase Bank commercial that I can’t find now. :(
Just One More Canuck
@Sister Golden Bear: that’s the only way sinning is worthwhile
Just Some Fuckhead
@Amir Khalid: He probably has an Outlook calendar reminder to comment about something once a quarter.
MomSense
@Mallard Filmore:
Ha!
In my head I’m dancing like this
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vBKF_0jB_TM
Gravenstone
@John Cole: imagine the claws are the actual killing implements…
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@Just Some Fuckhead:
@Amir Khalid:
And you guys had to go and make it awkward…
Just Some Fuckhead
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon: I tried to pet him but he’s skittish.
geg6
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
If it’s the McCullough bio, it’s just titled “Truman.”
tokyokie
@Amir Khalid:
Except Lee Van Cleef had brown eyes (says the guy who has a seal-point Siamese kitten named for Franco Nero and a 10-year-old lilac-point Siamese named for Lee Marvin).
prostratedragon
In that last Tikka & Champ picture, shades of the (deeply incorrect) Nairobi Trio.
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon: Appropriate mood music: “Solfeggio,” Robert Maxwell
Martin
Jaime Herrera Beutler has a written statement out confirming the conversation between McCarthy and Trump.
Tomorrow gonna be lit.
Doc Sardonic
@MomSense: Saw Tina Turner’s last tour. Hands down one of the best shows I have ever seen. She was still bringing it, and her dancers were working to keep up.
J R in WV
We saw Tina Turner at the Civic Center in Charleston WV in the long ago, it was a great show. The African-American community showed up in force and dressed to the nines! and that helped make it a special occasion, all those nice dresses and suits.
She was killer all night long, a great performance, and the crowd loved her, which helped her go all in. We’ve seen so many great shows in a long life of going to concerts of all sorts.
Even as a small town kid, dad was part of the Community Concerts association, brought touring acts, mostly classical or nearly so to our small town high school auditorium. Will never forget the touring Russian Red Army Band, dances with sabers and knives, men’s choir, so different from western classical shows.
MomSense
@J R in WV:
I think those dancers became the Moiseyev Dance Company. I’ve seen them several times and they are phenomenal. They perform an incredible range of character dances. I only know a few of the dances, but much simplified.
I love it when they dance in circles -10-12 dancers or so and they get going so fast that the women are flying with their legs outstretched behind them.