Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

People are complicated. Love is not.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

White supremacy is terrorism.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

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

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

This fight is for everything.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

You are here: Home / Politics / It’s Like Infrastructure Week, Only Better

It’s Like Infrastructure Week, Only Better

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Worst Week Ever, on repeat, is way more fun than waiting for Infrastructure Week!

Seems like we are looking at either tomorrow or next week for the Alvin Bragg indictment.

If you’re on edge, waiting and wondering, think for a moment about how much less fun Trump is having as he waits and wonders.

Speaking of being on edge, is it too much to hope that these guys are all on edge, too?

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

107Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    I can’t believe people took Trump at his word on the date.

    Just shows how susceptible people are to propaganda that tells them what they want to hear.

  2. 2.

    Renie

    I believe the indictment goes down tomorrow but he will be surrendering next week.  Secret Service is making the arrangements.

  3. 3.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Prosecutors in the special counsel’s office have presented compelling preliminary evidence that former President Donald Trump knowingly and deliberately misled his own attorneys about his retention of classified materials after leaving office, a former top federal judge wrote Friday in a sealed filing, according to sources who described its contents to ABC News.

    U.S. Judge Beryl Howell, who on Friday stepped down as the D.C. district court’s chief judge, wrote last week that prosecutors in special counsel Jack Smith’s office had made a “prima facie showing that the former president had committed criminal violations,” according to the sources, and that attorney-client privileges invoked by two of his lawyers could therefore be pierced.

    …

    Sources added that Howell also ordered Corcoran to hand over a number of records tied to what Howell described as Trump’s alleged “criminal scheme,” echoing prosecutors. Those records include handwritten notes, invoices, and transcriptions of personal audio recordings.

  6. 6.

    sdhays

    @Baud: I know, right? I just hope he fooled himself along with the breathless media.

    “Trump’s being indicted on Tuesday”, says the least reliable source ever.

  8. 8.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @WaterGirl: I think Allison Gill is right that Trump probably spread that lie to try and gin up some huge protest, assuming more than just 20 losers would end up answering the call.

  9. 9.

    bbleh

    @sdhays: IIRC he said “arrested,” which makes even less sense.

    But that doesn’t matter to his cult.  They have a Jon McNaughton picture in their minds, in which their god-king, huge muscles visibly straining under his suit, is led away Jesus-like by Gazpacho police.  It’s fairy-tales for the childlike and gullible (some of whom unfortunately have AR-15s).

  10. 10.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    Judge Engoron DENIES trump’s motion to delay the NYAG civil trial. “This is a complex case, but it’s not complicated.” Trial begins as scheduled: October 2nd.

    Can we please draw a distinction for th3 non-lawyers in attendance?

  11. 11.

    cain

    More than trump now I want those house reps to get in deep shit. After that, shake down those fuckers and then have them give up people in the state legislators/judges. You know there is a whole bunch of those people involved. WEED THEM OUT.

  15. 15.

    gene108

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    NYC isn’t exactly where his supporters live.

    I think his PR stunt is twofold. First, if no indictment happened today, he can go on bloviating about how DA Bragg has no case, which is why no indictment happened.

    Second, it’s a test of how much fanatical support he still has. Could he recreate another J6? So far it doesn’t seem likely.

  16. 16.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Evidence that Trump intentionally misled his own lawyers in response to the subpoena for classified documents is MUCH more powerful than evidence he and his lawyers acted in concert. Excellent news.

  17. 17.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    I can’t believe people took Trump at his word on the date.

    I wouldn’t take Trump’s word on the color of grass if we were both outside standing on it.

    It would be cool to get a BREAKING… Trump indictment. But I am not anticipating or worrying about it.

    But I enjoy any hints of Trump anticipatory apprehension.

  18. 18.

    Ken

    @UncleEbeneezer: Yet you know those 20 losers are congratulating themselves today, thinking that their protest made the sinister anti-Trump forces delay the arrest.

  19. 19.

    The Moar You Know

    If you’re explaining you’re losing.  Trump is explaining a lot these days.

  28. 28.

    eclare

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:   Did you see the article in the WaPo about Iowa’s turn to the extreme right?  Article referred to IA as the Florida of the north.

    It was on the website maybe two or three days agom

  30. 30.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    After being rejected Dump’s lawyer demanded “I want a second opinion,” to which the Judge replied, “okay, you’re ugly too.”

  31. 31.

    West of the Cascades

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: if I’m thinking of the correct suit (there are so many!):

    Not complicated: legal theory is that Trump and spawn committed fraud by manipulating the values of their real estate assets to get loans and get them on better terms (when the same assets were miraculously reported as less valuable for tax purposes).

    Complex: there’s a hell of a lot of evidence that needs to be gone through/presented to the jury and a likely a lot of technical testimony about how valuations are made, whether in fact it is NOT fraudulent to report two different amounts to two different entities (depends on what rules govern what amount you report, which could be different for a bank vs. for a tax authority).

  32. 32.

    Ken

    @UncleEbeneezer: I understand that “Trump lied to his lawyers” is excellent news because it allows the judge to set aside attorney-client privilege.

    But, I can’t help but chuckle at the thought that the real value is that it makes every member of the legal profession despise him, and that although he may be able to buy a halfway-competent defense, it won’t be an enthusiastic one.

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    @UncleEbeneezer: ​
     

    Evidence that Trump intentionally misled his own lawyers in response to the subpoena for classified documents is MUCH more powerful than evidence he and his lawyers acted in concert.

    This makes total sense to me. Trump loves using lawyers as intermediaries. He lies to them and then they relay the lie to the rest of the world. Since Trump himself doesn’t sign his name to the document, he’s technically not guilty of perjury.

  35. 35.

    Kathleen

    @dnfree: Same for me. I watched the marches and protests on TV with my mom. I was a freshman/sophomore in high school. Those images were seared into my soul. Thank you for the link. Great story.

  38. 38.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    I’m happy that today wasn’t TFG’s day because once again he is wrong about something…lol! “WOLF! WOLF!” he cries!

    I had to take our little orange guy into the vet because he was running a fever for over two days and not recovering. No other distress, just lethargic and hot. Everything came back OK except for a bladder inflammation with no infection (traces of blood in urine). Chuckie has been given an anti-inflammatory (Onsior) and a medication for the bladder (Cerenia) that is labeled for dogs…lol. Four days of treatment and I got them to do the Day 1 pills (get the most for our money at the vet!). He took the pills up with them smothered in tuna puree on a fingertip so no pill launcher needed!

    He relieved himself in his cage at the vet so it’s bath time after he unwinds for a few. The good news here is that he LOVES water and baths are a breeze with him.

  39. 39.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: I didn’t and neither did you. I think it is my scientific training that makes me a trained skeptic. When you are doing an experiment and you get the result you want, you repeat it several times to see that it was not a fluke.

    Anything coming out of the Orange One’s mouth is a lie unless it is corroborated by at least 2 other independent sources.

  40. 40.

    LesGS

    As it’s an open thread, has anyone seen JR in WV lately? I usually spot him at the end of long threads, but I haven’t seen (noticed?) him for a while.

  43. 43.

    karen marie

    @bbleh:   “Complex” in a NY court context.  It’s pretty standard across the board for all courts to differentiate cases between “standard” and “complex.”

  44. 44.

    LesGS

    @Josie: Thanks! He mentioned something worrisome about his health over at LGM a couple weeks ago, so I didn’t like that I wasn’t seeing him.

  45. 45.

    gene108

    @West of the Cascades:

    Not complicated: legal theory is that Trump and spawn committed fraud by manipulating the values of their real estate assets to get loans and get them on better terms (when the same assets were miraculously reported as less valuable for tax purposes).

    The market value for real estate is usually higher than the tax assessment value. The Trumps estimated the market value of their real estate for loans well above actual market value. It could be fraudulent.

  47. 47.

    hueyplong

     

    @gene108:  We’re talking absurd multiples between the alternately claimed values. Many think he wasn’t prosecuted before becoming president because the practice was widespread.

  50. 50.

    schrodingers_cat

    I have a question for people who are better versed in US history than I. Is Trump the worst person so far to have become the President of the United States.

  61. 61.

    bbleh

    @schrodingers_cat: @hueyplong: I’m pretty sure that every few years somebody asks “eminent historians” to rank presidents on a few scales, and that results typically include salient differences between self-identified Republicans and Democrats.  And I’m also pretty sure that in at least one of them, Trump was on the very bottom among Democrats and in the bottom 5 among Republicans.  I’m sure this is google-able

    ETA: okay, here is more than you want to know. And it includes mention of rankings by “scholars.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_presidents_of_the_United_States

    Mister Trump, eh, not look so good …

  65. 65.

    bbleh

    @schrodingers_cat: oh, sorry.  Then … yes.

    Others have been incompetent or corrupt.  But I can’t think of any who has been more deliberately incompetent and corrupt given his situation than Trump.

  69. 69.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @schrodingers_cat: How many of his slaves did he rape?

    Andrew Jackson wasn’t a nice guy either. Come to think of it, many US Presidents were pretty revolting people.

    TFG is worst in my lifetime, but I missed Nixon.

    ETA: And TFG’s certainly a rapist as well – didn’t mean to imply otherwise.

  71. 71.

    HumboldtBlue

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    I’ve been watching snowfall, and it’s very good, Franklin is a helluva character, and while it doesn’t have the width and breadth of the storylines of The Wire, it’s far more recognizable having lived in LA as the story unfolds.

    Good rec.

  72. 72.

    Almost Retired

    @schrodingers_cat: ​
      Hard to say, but I just finished a very funny biography of James Buchanan called Worst.President.Ever. Although he comes off as more incompetent than venal. Buchanan was the last President before Lincoln, so it was a tough slot for an opening act.

  74. 74.

    StringOnAStick

    I wonder how willing a witness Corcoran will be given he’s a true believer.  Maybe the potential of going to jail for perjury will loosen his lips a little.

  76. 76.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Until Covid I thought Dubya was the worst for starting another Vietnam, another Depression, drowning an entire city, doing nothing to stop 9/11, letting bin Laden escape, destabilizing the Mideast, killing 600,000 civilians in Iraq, torture, using DOJ to smear congressional political candidates, demonizing gays to win an election.

  78. 78.

    Ohio Mom

    @schrodingers_cat: I am not a historian, most of the presidents I know anything about are the ones elected during my lifetime.

    There are lots of ways to be a bad president. For instance, Reagan set off the second gilded age, making rich people richer. Bush 2 started two unnecessary wars that made people in the military industrial sector richer.

    But Trump may be singular in that he was completely self-absorbed. He was in it for himself, for the attention and the money. Especially the money. He made the Trumps richer.

  79. 79.

    Amir Khalid

    Agent Scully has been busy in the past week and a half. She investigates all my meals very very closely. (Those who have pets will know exactly what I mean.) She has been an enthusiastic knocker of things off table and amplifier and wardrobe tops. She knocked her carrier off a six-foot high shelf. She has even managed to discombobulate one of my wardrobe doors, which is currently hanging by one hinge instead of both.

    Meanwhile, I’ve been practising my photography skills. As soon as I get a good enough picture of Scully, I will be sure to share it with the class.

  81. 81.

    geg6

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Yes.  And that’s saying quite a bit when you consider genocidal maniacs like Andrew Jackson and GW Bush.  And don’t get me started on James Buchanan, whose family must be thanking the FSM that Trump came along.

  82. 82.

    PBK

    @Amir Khalid: Thanks for the update and looking forward to pictures.  Are you still considering trying to walk her?  Seems like she might take well to it and give her an outlet for all that energy!

  86. 86.

    Amir Khalid

    @Geminid:

    I seem to recall that long ago candidates for POTUS and VPOTUS ran on their own without a running mate. If so, when did this change?

  87. 87.

    smith

    We’ve had crooks and sleazeballs and incompetents in the White House before, but we’ve never before had a president foment a violent insurrection to overturn his electoral defeat. That puts him in a class by himself. Our long tradition of peaceful transitions of power was something to be proud of, and now it’s gone.

  89. 89.

    geg6

    @smith:

    Yes.  I agree completely. No matter how bad they were, none of them tried to overthrow the Constitution completely and left office as leaders in a democracy do.

  91. 91.

    Geminid

    @Amir Khalid: I think that changed pretty early, in response to Aaron Burr trying to displace Thomas Jefferson after the 1800 election. They tied in electoral votes, and the House of Representatives had to decide between the two. Alexander Hamilton helped Jefferson out by telling his Federalist allies that while Jefferson was bad, Burr was far worse. The Constitution was amended after that so candidates for President and Vice President ran on a unitary ticket.

  92. 92.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Geminid: In the original election procedure, every elector just got two votes and the runner-up in electoral votes became Vice-President, because they were imagining there wouldn’t be parties or tickets. I think the way it shook out almost immediately was that there really were parties and tickets, but the scheme they came up with was that one elector for the majority ticket would deliberately vote for someone else to elect the designated running mate as VP.

    Only in 1800 they screwed up and voted a tie, and then Burr, who was Jefferson’s de facto running mate, decided he actually might want to be President instead of Jefferson, and everything got crazy.

    It was so broken that they very rapidly amended the Constitution to adopt essentially today’s electoral procedure, where everyone explicitly votes for a President and a Vice-President.

  93. 93.

    sdhays

    @West of the Rockies: Well, Andrew Jackson told the Supreme Court to go fuck themselves when they upheld a treaty with the Native Americans. The Cherokee, I think. Which resulted in the Trail of Tears.

    I personally think it’s less useful to compare modern Presidents to 19th century Presidents because the country was so different. By modern standards, most 19th century Presidents were awful.

  97. 97.

    bbleh

    @Matt McIrvin: Yes.  As I recall they were kinda hoping there wouldn’t be parties, or what they called “factions,” because based on recent experience those were Bad, just as religious affiliation of governments was Bad.  All very Enlightenment.  But the parties thing got swamped pretty quickly.

  98. 98.

    tobie

    @raven: i haven’t watched basketball in ages but did a lot in my youth, and have very fond memories of the Knicks 1970s line up with Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, and Earl Monroe. I’d sit with my father as he watched the games. I feel like the twentieth century is slipping into the deep past. RIP Willis Reed.

  100. 100.

    Shalimar

    @The Kropenhagen Interpretation: The financial information that has to be presented to the jury to prove the case will be voluminous and complex, and require expert financial witnesses to explain so that they can understand what happened and why it was illegal.  The actual legal argument itself is very straightforward and shouldn’t require that much time to prepare, especially for the defense.

  102. 102.

    WaterGirl

    @Amir Khalid: You haven’t sent me photos yet. :-(  I would love to do an Agent Scully post.  I mentioned in another comment last week that if you want to preserve your anonymity, you could submit them through the on the road form.

    edit: Okay, I went back and read your whole comment, and I see that you are perfecting you’re photography.  We would gladly accept imperfect photography, but of course that’s up to you.

    Agent Scully appears to be a high achiever in her chosen field – knocking things off.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    @schrodingers_cat:

    From history we can see that some have been less than spectacular at the job, and some of them might have fit into the crap category easily enough but the only real way to tell would have to be living under their rein. I’d say that as humans go, he’s likely in the bottom with 2 or 3 others, but in my opinion, SFB is way below anyone else on any possible list.

  107. 107.

    VOR

    I remember a story from years ago that TFG’s lawyers started sending at least two people for every meeting. They kept running into a problem where the single lawyer remembered TFG saying X and TFG insisted he said Y. He lies to everyone, about everything, so why not lie to his lawyers too? He has to be a nightmare of a client: doesn’t listen, doesn’t tell his lawyers the truth, doesn’t shut up, and worst of all, doesn’t pay.

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