Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

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

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

T R E 4 5 O N

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Trump Crime Cartel / You Gotta Give Trump This- He’s An Achiever

Reader Interactions

159Comments

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    Anyway, for those who haven’t yet heard, Jack Smith is going to be issuing a statement at 3 PM Eastern, though won’t be taking questions. So, we’ll learn a bit more in a half an hour or so.

  5. 5.

    Jerzy Russian

    It can always get worse.  I guess I can thank Trump for making me realize this.  Also, as I have discussed before, I have Trump to thank for making me aware of the word “gormless”.

  10. 10.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Suzanne:   Trump has the hugest bathrooms, so I would assume the answer to the “why?” question would be “because of the space”.

  11. 11.

    Jackie

    @Suzanne: Silly question: Reading, wiping and flushing.

    It’s well documented TIFG flushed documents down the crapper.

  17. 17.

    lollipopguild

    Trump is the eight year old who does things that are wrong but he knows based on past experiences that he will never really be punished for what he has done. He does not understand that stuff he got away with while he was a private citizen is not the same as doing illegal stuff while being president.

  19. 19.

    JPL

    Yup I’d accommodate his secret service by placing them in a cell nearby.   They had to know this shit was going on.

    Walt Nauta took cell phone photographs of Secret/Five Eyes classified documents spilling on the floor, and texted them to someone else! (Yes, I’m reading the indictment.)

    How much money did these creeps make off of our secrets.

  22. 22.

    Sanjuro58

    I am so sick of him polluting the world with his presence. Nothing less than conviction and imprisonment in a facility where he had little access to outside world will satisfy me.

  23. 23.

    Eolirin

    We really need to get serious about counterintelligence and limiting the ability for hostile foreign powers to influence our government. This should never have been allowed to get this bad.

    And we still have national security risks in fucking congress and in our military who have access to classified materials.

    We need to clean house. If that means calling out the Republican party as compromised by hostile foreign powers, we need to do that.

    The only thing mitigating any of this is that our adversaries don’t have the means to fully take advantage.

  24. 24.

    jonas

    @JPL: The indictment states Nauta served in the Navy, so he def knew boxes of top secret, classified documents lying around like this was really, really bad.

  28. 28.

    Matt McIrvin

    Here’s hoping there will be more federal indictments that don’t go to Aileen Cannon. Preferably not to Florida at all.

  29. 29.

    Rick Taylor

    It’s been endlessly repeated, but it’s still ridiculously ironic that Trump arguably became President instead of Clinton due to attacks on her supposed carelessness with emails and classified information.

  31. 31.

    Alison Rose

    God, this indictment is just a treasure trove

    In one of the most problematic pieces of evidence for Trump, the indictment recounts how, according to his lawyer’s words, Trump made a “plucking motion” that implied, “why don’t you take them with you to your hotel room and if there’s anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out.”

  32. 32.

    Chief Oshkosh

    An additional, very sobering aspect of this is that numerous Republicans had prior knowledge of a lot of this and yet not only do they continue to support Trump, it appears that most, if not all, of the House and Senate Republicans continue to loudly condemn the FBI, DOJ, etc. They really have turned against their country.

  39. 39.

    James R Ehrler

    In my reading that second page description of the classified documents talks about documents that were kept in Trump Boxes(r) in the White House when he was president.

    Some Trump Boxes(r) were then moved to MAL but it is not clear from this page which documents and types left the White House.

    The later count sections list various classified docs but they are, obviously, redacted so not clear to a non-expert like me how many, if any, deal with war plans, nuclear weapons, etc.

  41. 41.

    Old School

    @Scout211: It’s the theory that a president can pardon themselves for federal charges.

    Obviously, the theory has never been practiced.  It would go to the courts.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JPL: If she was smart, she would have resigned in shame after the appeals court slapdown, but she’s not.

  47. 47.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Scout211: it’s assuming a lot, and IANAL, but I believe if he’s elected, even if he’s in a cell, he can pardon himself at 12:01 on Inauguration Day. It’s all up to voters

    I haven’t heard anyone on MSNBC mention that Robert Ray took over the Great Clenis Hunt from Ken Starr, just for context

  49. 49.

    Kent

    @Matt McIrvin:Here’s hoping there will be more federal indictments that don’t go to Aileen Cannon. Preferably not to Florida at all.

    It is a jury trial and every decision and ruling she makes will be subject to review and appeal by appellate courts.  She will be under a microscope and knows it.

  50. 50.

    jonas

    @Rick Taylor: I mentioned this in an earlier thread, but at one point in the indictment, there’s a transcript of a conversation Trump has with his lawyer about conspiring to lie to the grand jury about surrendering all the documents and he actually tells the lawyer it’s ok for him to just lie and say they’ve sent everything because that’s what Hillary and her lawyer did wrt to the 30,000 emails they deleted on her server — the lawyer claimed he did it and nobody did anything.

    Trump appears to be laboring under the delusion that Clinton *stole* top secret documents, deliberately *hid* them when they were requested by NARA and a grand jury subpoena and then illegally *conspired* with her lawyers to cover it all up. And got away with it.

  51. 51.

    MomSense

    This whole thing makes me feel sick to my stomach.  I’m sure sources were compromised and that makes me furious.

  53. 53.

    Scout211

    Costa has  sources that claim that this is all in retaliation against Milley.  I can see that is part of the plan but there are so many other possibilities with someone like Trump.

    (Thread) learning some new things this morning about WHY this all happened and the motivation, especially for the audio from 2021 discussing classified material. In short, it comes down to one person: *Milley.* Trump loathed his coverage in press, in books, per multiple sources…— Robert Costa (@costareports) June 9, 2023

  54. 54.

    Soprano2

    My mouth dropped open, literally, when I read that excerpt above. How are the cult members going to defend him now? And that picture of boxes in the bathroom…..holy shirt balls!

  55. 55.

    Old School

    Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) mystified many social media users with his response to Donald Trump’s indictment, but one militia expert interpreted his tweet as a call to arms.

  57. 57.

    Alison Rose

    Jiminy fucking crickets

    The indictment says that for nearly three months after he left office in January 2021, some of Trump’s boxes were stored in Mar-a-Lago’s “White and Gold Ballroom,” where events and gatherings were held. The boxes “were for a time stacked on the ballroom’s stage,” and the indictment includes a striking grainy photograph showing 10 rows of document cartons, each row two deep and stacked two high close to the edge of the stage.

  58. 58.

    Kent

    @Scout211: It isn’t true.  At least not automatically.

    Trump can keep firing people until he find DOJ lackeys who might dismiss some charges.  But this is a special prosecutor so not under the direct control of DOJ.  And some of the charges against him are state charges.

  60. 60.

    narya

    I just read the whole thing, and IT IS INSANE. As someone above noted, there are PICTURES of the docs being “stored” on a stage in a ballroom.

  61. 61.

    jimmiraybob

    I understand that TFG has jus shaken up his legal team – again – and I fully support the idea of a legal defense but yikes, what lawyer(s) of substance and integrity are left that would willingly jump into the shit show?

    What kind of retainer would it take? Are attorney’s allowed to accept golf courses?

  62. 62.

    sdhays

    @Scout211: If Trump wins in 2024, the rule of law will be dead. Or at least incapacitated. That was always going to be the case. He wants to be dictator, and the Republican Party will back him to the hilt if he has power.

  64. 64.

    Old School

    @Soprano2:

    How are the cult members going to defend him now?

    Same as before.

    “Witch Hunt!” “Fake news!” “Corrupt FBI!”

  66. 66.

    RaflW

    I know not a single one of the jagoffs who defended Trump yesterday (ie: Hawley, Qevin McC, Youngkin, etc) will take even a second to reflect on the reckless and dangerous leaks of our own military and nuclear safety these docs are.

    But it does, once again, point out that it’s a terrible idea to rush to someone’s side after the indictment is announced but the detailed counts not released.

    The idea that our top secret vulnerabilities may have been sitting in banker boxes on a stage at mar-a-nogo (or next to a freaking toilet!) is just enraging.

    Hawley was A.G. of a freaking state. A Yalie (for the millionth time, reminding me that the Ivys produce possibly more trash than quality. A reckoning outta be coming to these places that graduate such moral sewers). He clercked for the 10th Circuit and also CJ Roberts.

    But he’s just fine with attack plans on Iran (allegedly) being at arms reach in Trump’s private residence — or possibly findable on a ballroom stage in a golf club. Gaaaah, I’m livid.

  70. 70.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Scout211:

    Costa has  sources that claim that this is all in retaliation against Milley.

    What does “this” refer to? The indictment of Trump or something else?

  72. 72.

    cmorenc

    @Kent:

    It is a jury trial and every decision and ruling she makes will be subject to review and appeal by appellate courts.  She will be under a microscope and knows it.

    Not if Trump is acquitted by the jury, even if in significant part it’s because Cannon’s pretrial and in-trial rulings muzzled Smith’s ability to present key evidence.  And even if pretrial rulings having such effect were appealed and the trial stayed pending appellate rulings thereon, that would likely delay any trial until after the 2024 election – doing a key part of Trump’s tactical work for him.

  75. 75.

    jimmiraybob

    @Soprano2: ​

    How are the cult members going to defend him now?

    You mean the ones that want to see a new civil war in the name of Jesus so that woke and all the libtards can die? Hell, he’s truly living up to the anointing. I have no idea how Puddin’s gonna top this.​

  76. 76.

    jonas

    @narya: It’s pretty incredible to go through the list of the 30-odd natsec documents he had lying around and see what the contents were. Just …holy shit. Every person in the IC probably is sitting back in their chairs with a thousand-yard stare in their eyes after reading that.

    The mind still reels that information this sensitive was somehow left in his possession in the WH and not placed back into some sealed briefcase handcuffed to a briefer’s wrist to be taken back to a vault in Langley.

  77. 77.

    Jackie

    Anyone planning to fly their American Flag on Indictment Day?

    It just occurred to me that where I live – MAGA eastern WA – there might be several flags lowered to half staff.😁

  84. 84.

    WV Blondie

    I read the indictment, and I have one burning question: Why the fuck haven’t they searched Bedminster?

  86. 86.

    narya

    @jonas: Yeah, that was my reaction, too. And that’s just a SAMPLE list, basically–the ones they could detail in the indictment without causing more damage!

  87. 87.

    Gravenstone

    @jonas: Trump appears to be laboring under the delusion that Clinton *stole* top secret documents

    Delusional false equivalence as an excuse. Lovely.

  88. 88.

    jonas

    @Jerzy Russian: It doesn’t give the full context of the interview Trump was having with these writers, but for some reason, Trump was upset about something Milley had said, to the effect that at one point he had floated the idea of invading Iran or something, and the classified document he had in his hand disproved it. But he couldn’t show it to them because, you know, classified.

    So, 1. Trump knew perfectly well the stuff he had was still classified and that he couldn’t show it to people and 2. was almost certainly lying anyway about what the paper contained.

  89. 89.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @RaflW: A tiny bit of happiness here is that, given his “high” standards for keeping those documents secure, Trump probably didn’t make any money selling them. Why would the Chinese, Russians, Iranians, Saudis, etc. pay when all they had to do was have their on-site operative just waltz into the ballroom and photograph anything of interesting using their iPhone 14+. No need to be subtle and no need to pay – the US’s secrets were all there for the taking.

  90. 90.

    trollhattan

    Am imagining a window blind manufacturing company owner and an attache from Saudi Arabia sitting on the edge of the stage, going through file boxes during some Trump fundraiser.

  93. 93.

    Anonymous At Work

    Need to update the definitions page.  “PEAK WINGNUT” needs the corollary that “There is no floor for how bad wingnuts can make things, including taking steps to purposefully make things worse.”

  94. 94.

    Scout211

    @Jerzy Russian: What does “this” refer to? The indictment of Trump or something else?

    Apparently, it is referring to the plan of stealing military documents in order to smear Milley with them.  He’s already done that at least one time at a Mar A Largo gathering when he talked about Milley planning a war against Iran and that he had documents to prove it.

    But I am definitely not convinced that this has to do with retaliation against Milley.  Seems far too narrow a reason.  There has to be many reasons why he would retain kompromat military secrets.  So many reasons . . .

    ETA: edited for clarity

  96. 96.

    Alison Rose

    LOL good God

    Trump is already attempting to turn his supporters’ ire on Jack Smith, the special counsel. In a Truth Social post, Trump attacked Smith’s record in other cases and called him a “deranged “psycho” that shouldn’t be involved in any case having to do with “Justice.””

  99. 99.

    Soprano2

    I wish they wouldn’t break this news on a work day – how the hell am I supposed to work?

  100. 100.

    RaflW

    @Kent: I just have no sense of wether the 11th circuit slapping her down hard mattered to her at all. I mean, beyond probably feeling a bit of rash from the immediate spanking. Does Cannon adjust, or simply think she’s the victim here?

  101. 101.

    smith

    @Chief Oshkosh: A couple of commenters in the thread before this one posted this twitter thread from Joyce Vance explaining that it’s not a done deal that the case will be finally assigned to Cannon, but if it is, it’s unlikely she will keep it.

    I found this thread reassuring. When I first saw that Cannon seemed to have been assigned, I thought that Murphy the trickster god had pulled a fast one on us, giving us jubilation on Thursday night only to gleefully crash it on Friday morning. I was all set to discontinue my sacrifices to him…

  103. 103.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Scout211:   You can rest assured that many of those reasons are objectively stupid. This is still Trump, after all.

  104. 104.

    James R Ehrler

    @James R Ehrler: Replying to myself.  I now read through the list of found classified documents and, damn, it does list documents relating to these items.  Wow.

  105. 105.

    Alison Rose

    Some dude giving two minute warning and says they won’t be taking questions, but I’m sure they’ll all yell at him anyway when he’s done talking.

  107. 107.

    Kent

    @Scout211:

    Apparently, it is referring to the plan to steal military documents was done in order to smear Milley.  He’s already done at least one time at a Mar A Largo gathering when he talked about Milley planning a war against Iran and that he had documents to prove it.

    But I am definitely not convinced that this has to do with retaliation against Milley.  Seems far too narrow a reason.  There has to be many reasons why he would retain kompromat military secrets.  So many reasons . . .

    My theory based on nothing but intuition?

    Trump kept all those documents thinking he could use them as ammunition against the incoming Biden administration to undermine policy changes by the new administration and to continue influencing foreign policy from his post as ex-president.

    Trump is profoundly ignorant of how government works and he seems to think he was going to be some sort of government in exile or opposition government there in Mar a Lago.

  108. 108.

    Ishiyama

    @WV Blondie: You need something more than inference or deduction to get a search warrant. You need some evidence to present to the magistrate that supports your claim that the documents are there. (For the grave question, you might be able to use ground-penetrating radar. Not sure if that qualifies as a “search” for which a warrant would be required.)

  114. 114.

    Alison Rose

    Short but very sweet. Only one numbnuts tried to ask a question, so I am impressed with the decorum of the rest of them.

    “we have one set of laws and they apply to everyone”

    and in my head, I added “…bitch”

  117. 117.

    jimmiraybob

    Has his passport been seized by anyone yet? Has Trump Force One been seized?

  119. 119.

    narya

    Gotta love how he noted that the grand jury was in the southern district of Florida.

  125. 125.

    Fleeting Expletive

    Judge Cannon is sort of the Shiv Roy of Florida judges: funny how she’s the one in on the hot seat when the shit hits it.

    Hey, looking for humor in this mess.

  127. 127.

    Alison Rose

    Oh FFS. Glenn Thrush noted that Smith was “solemn and unsmiling”. Dude, what the fuck did you expect? That he’d get up there and dance a jig? Really putting that NYT cash to good use…

  131. 131.

    scav

    @Omnes Omnibus: I know!  After hearing he was going to get dinged for partygate!  Whinging in stereo about being persecuted by fiends of injustice!

  133. 133.

    Burnspbesq

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Is it known how this ended up with her? Who made that decision? Based on what? Or is there a mindless “protocol” to be followed, that doesn’t take into account specifics?

    Judge Cannon is the only regular service (not senior) District Judge assigned to the West Palm Beach division, which consists of Palm Beach County, and the crimes are alleged to have taken place in Palm Beach County. The internal operating procedures for the Southern District (which are part of the local rules) provide generally for random assignment, but also include something called the “one division rule,” which says that cases originating in a division will normally stay in that division.

    https://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/sites/flsd/files/17-10-17-Internal-Operating-Procedures.pdf

  135. 135.

    Soprano2

    @Jackie: When I was doing physical therapy one of my therapists said that his neighbor’s TFG flag was flying at half staff after the NY indictments!

  136. 136.

    Matt McIrvin

    So it sounds like Cannon has not actually been named as the trial judge. I don’t really understand how likely it is that she will be.

    If she were the trial judge, my impression is that during the trial, she could just preempt a jury verdict and issue a judgment to acquit, on grounds of blatantly insufficient evidence (and she gets to decide what constitutes that).

  139. 139.

    Barney

    @Suzanne: At last, we have a centerpiece for the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library. Just a shame that Bed, Bath and Beyond can’t bid to host it.

  140. 140.

    JPL

    @Burnspbesq: The special counsel must have been aware of that, so are prepared to do what is necessary to move the case along.

    just guessing

  141. 141.

    Ruckus

    @lollipopguild:

    You could have stopped with, He does not understand.

    You could have added an descriptive word or two but then you might not be one to swear as much as me…..

  142. 142.

    moops

    I’m thinking Trump stole all the documents because Cohn told him the story of the US government paying Nixon to get back the records Nixon stole.   Leaving out the bit of legislation they put in place after that incident.

  143. 143.

    Burnspbesq

    @Burnspbesq:

    ETA: if the case does get reassigned, it will most likely go to a judge who sits in Ft. Lauderdale. Sorry, news media, no month in Key West on the company.

  146. 146.

    Tony Jay

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    So! Much! Popcorn!

    The sheer volume of whine gushing out of his faceflap is a thing to behold, and he’s basically saying that if he’s guilty, so is Sunak.

    Hilarious. Fuck off and melt you ignoble spunksplat.

  148. 148.

    Citizen Alan

    @JPL: I assume you meant refuse, but I would also be happy if cannon actually left the court to become a recluse.

  149. 149.

    Brachiator

    Boris Johnson resigns as a member of Parliament. Trump indicted, 38 counts. What a Friday.

    I think CBS News reported that Republicans wanted the indictment unsealed as soon as possible. Will GOP presidential candidates be expected to rush to Trump’s defense?

    I expect to see House leader McCarthy attack Hunter Biden’s laptop any second now.

  150. 150.

    bbleh

    @Omnes Omnibus: not at all clear she’ll even be assigned the trial, but if she is, then I agree, from a rational point of view, the last point being the sticking one

    @smith: I hope she’s right about him being able to get the case reassigned if he needs to.  I’ve seen other comments suggesting it ain’t so straightforward.

  151. 151.

    Brachiator

    @Soprano2:

    How are the cult members going to defend him now?

    Earlier in a YouTube comment thread, a MAGA type insisted that Obama had kept millions of classified documents, and then launched into a ramble about all the great things that Trump had done for America. Trump is apparently the bestest president ever.

  152. 152.

    bbleh

    @cmorenc: or if she were to dismiss the case after evidence is presented but before a verdict.

    @Matt McIrvin: I think it has to be after all evidence is presented.  (And with the most generous reading of prosecution evidence and a reasonable jury, all of which is up to her from what I can tell.  Better-informed opinion most welcome!)

  153. 153.

    Bill Arnold

    @Brachiator:

    I expect to see House leader McCarthy attack Hunter Biden’s laptop any second now.

    Is there a real visual image of “Hunter Biden’s laptop” available?
    (“visual image” because it’s possible-to-likely that the storage of one or more of his laptops was imaged/cloned at some point (e.g. in a hotel room) by either criminals or a Russian intelligence service (or uhm maybe some overlap), and that this image, after edits/insertions, is what has been circulating, including maybe restored to some random Mac.)

  154. 154.

    cain

    @Brachiator:

    Boris Johnson resigns as a member of Parliament. Trump indicted, 38 counts. What a Friday.

    The wikipedia entry for June 9th is going to be lit.

  155. 155.

    TriassicSands

    @cmorenc:  Not if Trump is acquitted by the jury…

    I think an acquittal is extremely unlikely. What is more plausible is a hung jury, which will require at least one cultist managing to get seated on the jury.

    A couple of hung juries and Trump will likely walk on this. I doubt they would prosecute him a third time.

  157. 157.

    Jackie

    @moops: The moment TIFG told Hannity Nixon got $17 million for his tapes/documents etc, I thought BINGO! He’s holding those documents for ransom.

  159. 159.

    Ohio Mom

    I think Trump took home so many boxes because he isn’t smart enough to zero in on the most critical documents, and just take those. “Critical” as in, worth a lot of money to our adversaries. Or as in, information already promised.

    Look, we all already knew he took files he shouldn’t have, has already sold /exchanged/delivered at least some of them, and some human assets have already been killed. We just didn’t know all the details, and as everyday people, might never.

    Someone upthread said something g along the lines of, members of the Intelligence community must be staring blankly straight ahead as they digest all this. Sorry, this is the sort of thing the Intelligence community should have already known. If a SAHM from Ohio could figure out the broad outlines…

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