Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

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

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

This blog will pay for itself.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

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

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

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

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

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

You are here: Home / Open Threads / He Wakes Up Lying, and He Lies All Day

He Wakes Up Lying, and He Lies All Day

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He wakes up lying and he lies all day.

This could be a game show question, I think.  “Who is being referenced in this statement?”

I don’t actually watch game shows, but I know there is one where you have to answer “Who is …”  Or maybe “What is …” depending on the wording of the question?

There’s also another game show – or maybe it’s the same one – where the goal is to guess what the most people answered when they were asked that question.

I see “He wakes up lying, and he lies all day” and I absolutely know it’s about Trump.  I would really like to know if Trump would be how most people would answer that.  I suspect there are (ill-informed and disconnected from the truth) people who might answer Joe Biden, and that might be the best and simplest poll of all to make clear the percentage of people who will never vote for Joe Biden.

Oh, and is this true?

I clearly picked a bad time to have a crazy work deadline.  I am missing everything!

My thinking is that Jack Smith waited to see what judge would be assigned to the J6 case before deciding whether to indict the others now or not.  If it was not a great judge, he would wait because that judge could decide to pull the others into the original case – which would slow things down considerably.  But we got lucky with the draw for judge, so he feels safe in indicting the others.  I am wondering whether the 6 will be indicted together.  We may already know, and I just haven’t been able to read about it yet.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

136Comments

  2. 2.

    Butch

    Kinda OT, maybe – we just watched the news while we were eating lunch.  The cable stations are giving Trump’s trip to DC the White Bronco treatment – every inch is being televised.  I guess I’m disappointed but not surprised.

  4. 4.

    Roger Moore

    The game show where you have to phrase your answers in the form of a question in Jeopardy.  The one where you have to guess how a poll of 100 Americans answered is Family Feud.

  5. 5.

    Gravenstone

    Hopefully if they are indicted shortly, their judges (assuming each case is randomly assigned) will be disinclined to the inevitable request to join their trials to Trump’s.

  8. 8.

    Falling Diphthong

    One thing that has always struck me about Trump is that his most ardent supporters are convinced that he is lying. If someone says “Obviously, Trump did not mean anything he just said” I assume that person is a die-hard supporter, convinced that Trump is communicating with them in secret code.

  10. 10.

    Falling Diphthong

    @Falling Diphthong:

    Weirdly the one exception was when the FBI searched his golf club, and people who knew anything about the law were like “If you want to know what’s in the warrant, Trump or his lawyer has a copy–ask them” and Trump was like “Who am I gonna believe, my lawyer or Fox News?” and his fans chirped “Yeah! If he says he doesn’t know, it must be because nefarious plot! Not because he just didn’t ask the employee with a copy!”

  13. 13.

    Roger Moore

    @Falling Diphthong:

    I don’t think his most ardent supporters really believe he’s lying.  They want to believe the stuff he’s saying.  They’ll just selectively disavow his statements as it’s convenient to them by claiming he was joking, misinformed, misspoke, etc. in that specific case.  They may well say that about stuff they genuinely believe but that they want you to ignore.

  14. 14.

    Caveatimperator

    The British improv comedy show Mock The Week has a section called “If This Is The Answer, What Is The Question?” Someone might answer your statement as “How does Donald Trump spend his days?”

  17. 17.

    bbleh

    Isn’t that something they sang on Monty Python?

    “He’s a criminal and that’s okay.
      He wakes up lying and he lies all day.”

  20. 20.

    Old School

    Oh, and is this true?

    Doesn’t appear to be.

    oops. out ahead of my skis on timing of the co-conspirators charges. (relied on another tweet that I won't identify. ) my bad–should have independently verified.🙁 but the punch line remains unchanged –> Smith has built the case for speed. https://t.co/uaBR1bDJ0U— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) August 2, 2023

  21. 21.

    RaflW

    Glad to see this glaring question finally being considered by the Gray Lady (really the Red Lady these days):

    “Prosecutors questioned whether Stanley Woodward Jr. could defend Walt Nauta while also representing Trump employees who might take the stand against Mr. Nauta.”

  28. 28.

    Eunicecycle

    In my neck of the woods, we used to say, ” He lies like a rug and a rug lies aaall day.” (Important to drag out the “all”).

  29. 29.

    Ken

    @Gravenstone: Hopefully if they are indicted shortly, their judges […] will be disinclined to the inevitable request to join their trials to Trump’s.

    “But your honors, we all have the same lawyer, and he’s being paid by Trump….”

  30. 30.

    patrick II

    I have read Merrick Garland MARK MEADOQS named as a member of Trump’s staff who said they would vote for Trump in 2024.  And, in seeming contrast, conjecture that he has flipped and will be testifying for the government.

    So, can both things be possible? Are the Democrats that dangerous in Garland’s mind?

    edited to correct the name

  34. 34.

    WaterGirl

    @LAO: No defaming of mob lawyers here, just suggesting that perhaps it’s not wise to defend ALL the mobsters in the same mob – who may be turning on one another.

    :-)

  35. 35.

    LAO

    @RaflW: I’m not sure what the NYT has to do with the potential conflict issue, the government filed a motion asking for a hearing on the issue. Which is standard practice when a lawyer represents multiple witnesses or defendants.

  36. 36.

    Ken

    @patrick II: I think you’ve confused Merrick Garland with someone else. Either that or you should really vet your sources of reading more carefully.

  39. 39.

    Sure Lurkalot

    OT. Amidst all the indictment excitement, the supposed “good” daily (WAPO) posted an op-ed by none other than Charles Murray on the efficacy of broken windows policing.

    Ends with this:

    These costs of ending broken-windows policing are not borne by people in affluent suburbs or rich urban neighborhoods. They are disproportionately borne by urbanites who are minorities or have modest incomes, or both. If improving their lives is the goal, then restoring broken-windows policing should be part of the solution.

    Yes, prosecuting and incarcerating bunches of minorities for petty offenses actually benefits them and their communities, just like slavery in Ron’s world!

    Here’s a gift link (if you can stomach) and may be my last proffer as even at $20/year, I’m thinking about canceling this last news subscription I have.

    https://wapo.st/3qa8tqG

     

     

    Yes, arresting bunches of minorities for petty offenses

  41. 41.

    LAO

    @WaterGirl: ok but I’ll admit that as an associate in a mob firm, I became quite the expert on actual/potential conflicts of interest arising from multiple representation of witnesses/defendants. I literally responded to government conflict motions on a weekly basis.

    So, fair point.

  46. 46.

    Old School

    Mexican officials said a body was found stuck in Texas’ floating buoy barrier in the Rio Grande on Wednesday. It was the first of two bodies found in the water boundary between the United States and Mexico.

    Ugh.

  51. 51.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Sure Lurkalot: what do you expect from Charles Murray? He is master of lying with statistics. “Figures don’t lie but liars figure” could have been coined for him.

  52. 52.

    trollhattan

    @WaterGirl: ​Afraid so. Think I caught it from the spouse, who seems to have had a bout of “rebound covid” while we were on vacation–many hours together in the car.

    Guessing the chain was kid covid -> spousal covid after going to take care of the kid -> successful spousal Paxlovid treatment, then a couple weeks later rebound covid, leading to my turn. Not that one can ever really know where they caught it but the doc told me Paxlovid has a 5-10% rebound frequency.

    it’s been like a bad flu with a kaleidoscope of symptoms. Last night I woke up in a lake of sweat and am hoping that indicates some kind of breaking the fever.

    Data point: have all five jabs through the bivalent booster. The doc congratulated me on being a holdout for so long. Putting that on my resume. He also said that the home tests are very accurate on the detection side–false negatives are their weak point.

    “It’s just a cold now” is a thing I will not be telling anybody, unless I truly do not like them.

  53. 53.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    I think it was Harry Litman I heard the same prediction from last night, that this trial will end before spring of 2024. And commentary from several people that the indictment is designed for speed, and Jack Smith avoided any number of elements that could have slowed things down. Hence having only one defendant, and focusing on crimes whose elements he has rock-solid evidence for that’s easy to convince a jury.

    So while Aileen Cannon may be pouring herself a cup of tea and congratulating herself on putting the document case off till after the election what with one thing or another, Tanya Chutkin might be pronouncing sentence.

  54. 54.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @RaflW: ​ I feel like this kind of conflict of interest has come up before in recent history.

    Maybe it was in connection with the Georgia electors. You know, the ones who were never informed by “their” lawyer that the prosecutor was offering immunity. I think they were similarly all “represented” by the same lawyer or lawyers and some of them realized that wasn’t actually going to work in their favor.

    And also it could end up with the same issue, “your” lawyer cross-examining you while representing one of your colleagues who was testifying against you.

  56. 56.

    Burnspbesq

    @WaterGirl:

    Can the same mob lawyers defend all of the mobsters?

    Almost certainly not. The conflicts of interest become insurmountable as soon as one defendant figures out that his/her only way out is to defenestrate the others.

  58. 58.

    Anoniminous

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: ​

    Numbers lie all the time.

    Example:

    A company has 10 wage earners and a total wage bill of $1 million – to keep it simple. 9 employers get $10,000/year. The owner gets $910,000/year.

    Total Wages Paid divided by the number of wage earners = Average Wage Paid …

    SO:

    $1,000,000 divided by 10 = average wage of $100,000/year.

    Economists pull this kind of shit on a daily basis.

  59. 59.

    raven

    Our neighbor has a really old pup who has been struggling for some time. He was great friends with Bohdi and Lil Bit and they were weekly fixtures at the hardware store on Saturday mornings. She doesn’t have a car so I’m going to take them to the vet in a a bit. I hate it but I afraid it’s time for Riley to go. ):

  62. 62.

    Old School

    CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked former Attorney General Bill Barr if he has spoken with Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Donald Trump in two cases.

    It did not go well.

    Trump’s ex-AG had no interest in answering. Instead, he authored one of the most awkward moments seen on cable news recently.

  64. 64.

    CaseyL

    @raven: ​
     

    What a sad day. You’re a good friend, to humans and to dogs. My sympathies and condolences to your neighbor.

  65. 65.

    smith

    @Anoniminous: That’s what the median was invented for. Of course, you need to understand something about the underlying distribution to figure out which measure of central tendency to use. In other words, it’s still the liars and not the figures that are misleading you.

  69. 69.

    patrick II

    @Alison Rose:

    Garland may be testifying against Trump and has said he will vote for him.  Barr has testified against Trump and said at one time that, if he was the nominee, he would vote for him. He has now modified that to I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

    Anyhow, how can you be either of those guys and still at least discuss voting for Trump in 2024?

    P.S.

    I have been informed that I need better sources for Garland, but it does apply to Barr.  Still leaves me wondering about Barr though.

  70. 70.

    HumboldtBlue

    @patrick II:

    Garland may be testifying against Trump and has said he will vote for him.

    Please cite a source, because this makes no sense.

  71. 71.

    Jinchi

    He wakes up lying and he lies all day

    Anyone who answers “Joe Biden” to that puzzle is simply giving a version of the grade school “I know you are but what am I” retort.

    Nobody thinks that Biden is a habitual liar. Not even people who think he is absolutely awful.

  72. 72.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @patrick II: ​Garland may be testifying against Trump and has said he will vote for him.
     

    First off, no one both of these, just no.

    2nd of all, WTF are you smoking? I need to get me some of that.

  73. 73.

    eversor

    @patrick II:

    Barr already said why, it’s all about Christianity.  If we don’t undo the sexual revolution, return to heirarchy, patriarchy, and Christianity everything Christians can’t live out and pass down the faith.  So to that, anything, and everything, is OK if done in service of this.

    Alito has said the same stuff in similar words.  It’s all Christianity, it always was, and until Christianity is gone, they are going to keep doing it until they get their way.  So nothing else matters but this issue.

    They aren’t hiding this.   But too many “liberals” keep pretending this issue isn’t there and refusing to deal with it.  At which point, you’re batting for the other team.

  77. 77.

    Jinchi

    @patrick II: He has now modified that to I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

    By which he means, he’ll cross the bridge and vote for Trump.

  82. 82.

    jimmiraybob

    @Jinchi: ​
     

    “Anyone who answers “Joe Biden” to that puzzle is simply giving a version of the grade school “I know you are but what am I” retort.”

    “Not the puppet! Not the puppet! You’re the puppet!!”

    This has been a presentation of Classic Trump Theater.

  83. 83.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Jinchi: Reminds me of an interview I saw with George Conway, where he’s going on and on about how he always knew Trump is a liar and a crook and an all round terrible person, how he has no business being President etc.

    Then the interviewer asks who he voted for in 2016. “Trump of course. It’s not like I was about to vote for Hillary.”

  85. 85.

    Jinchi

    @eversor: But too many “liberals” keep pretending this issue isn’t there and refusing to deal with it.

    “Some Christians are doing this” is not the same thing as “All Christians are doing this”. Barr and Alito are outliers, even among people who consider themselves Christians.

    Every large group and every major ideology has bad actors.

  86. 86.

    patrick II

    Well, that is really embarrassing.  I had a serious senior moment and mixed the names of Merrick Garland and Mark Meadows.  My apologies to everyone who might have read that.

  87. 87.

    Old School

    @eversor:

    Barr already said why, it’s all about Christianity.

    I know that’s what you thought you heard, but here’s the clip:

    Even if [Donald Trump] “lied about the election” and “threatened democracy,” as you write in your book, it’s better than a Democrat? –@SavannahGuthrieAs of now, it’s hard for me to conceive that I wouldn’t vote for the Republican nominee. -Former Attorney General William Barr pic.twitter.com/nguVCpt2gh— TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 7, 2022

  88. 88.

    Elizabelle

    @raven:  That’s a really kind thing for you to do.  My condolences on Riley.  Know everyone will miss that pup.

  89. 89.

    marklar

    @eversor: In the last few days, you’ve made some wonderfully nuanced defenses of John McCain, Tim Miller, and other flawed individuals.

    Would it be possible to apply that same sense of nuance to Christians? Many of them DO fit the description that you frequently promote, but many others do not. Which factors or characteristics do you think distinguish between these two groups?

  90. 90.

    Alison Rose

    @eversor: Oh shut the absolute fuck up, you whining sack of shit. No liberal has ever said that there are NO issues with CERTAIN sects of Christianity trying to push theocracy on the rest of us. What we say, and what you are incapable of understanding because you have the brain of a gerbil, is that it is NOT EVERY SINGLE CHRISTIAN IN THE COUNTRY who is doing so. Did Obama try to turn us into a Christian theocracy? Is Biden doing so? Did Clinton?

    I swear to God, I hope you suffer a freak accident that requires amputation of all of your fingers as well as permanent laryngitis so we never have to hear this fucking pathetic juvenile garbage from you again.

  91. 91.

    Dangerman

    I thought the show started at Noon? My AP Livestream has him just now landing. WTF?

  92. 92.

    Jinchi

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: True of nearly the entire Republican party, including famously, Lindsay Graham: “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed … and we will deserve it”.

    Conway at least, is one of the 10% or so who now say they would never again vote for Trump.

    I’m not sure if he’s been officially expelled from the party, though.

  94. 94.

    JWR

    As we wait for the long delayed arraignment, yesterday afternoon’s Background Briefing was pretty good, especially the second interview, the one with Justin Levitt. That alone is worth the price of admission.

    Background Briefing with Ian Masters
    August 2, 2023

    Trump’s Latest Indictment is not a First Amendment Issue About His Words. It’s About His Deeds
    With Victoria Nourse, a Professor of Law at the Georgetown University

    Examining the Indictments With an Expert on Elections and Election Law
    With Justin Levitt, Professor of Law at Loyola Marymount University

    Jack Smith’s 45 Page Indictment as a Prosecutorial Masterstroke
    With Dennis Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor and Chief Assistant City Attorney in San Francisco

    And last night’s Amanpour & Co was really good, too. Can’t find any video yet, but here’s a link to an audio only version from CNN. Guests were former prosecutor Jessica Roth; US House Democrat Joe Neguse; Former US House Republican Joe “You Lie!” Walsh; Maternal-fetal physician Dr. Chavi Eve Karkowsky.

  96. 96.

    bbleh

    @eversor: keeping in mind that the “Christianity” he professes is kinda like John Birch Republicanism used to be.  He’s a member of Opus Dei.

  99. 99.

    NotMax

    @Jinchi

    Wasn’t being hitched to that mewling harridan Kellyanne punishment enough?

    “You have chosen … poorly.”
    //

  102. 102.

    JWR

    11m ago / 11:48 AM PDT
    Trump’s plane lands at DCA
    Megan Lebowitz

    Trump’s plane landed at Reagan National Airport (DCA) moments ago.

    His flight took less than an hour.

    Just thought you’d all wanna be kept in the know… ;)

  107. 107.

    smith

    According the The Hill, there are fewer than 20 ardent supporters outside the courthouse to protest such a travesty against this American hero. Every time someone on our side starts hand-wringing over the prospect of more violence a la J6 if TFG is prosecuted/convicted/jailed, I remind myself that these demos get smaller and more pathetic with every arraignment. Can we hope the Goobers have finally reached the acceptance phase of their grief?

  111. 111.

    Montanareddog

    @Anoniminous: my preferred variant: 9 people in a bar have an aggregate net wealth of $450000 giving a mean net worth of 50K. Then, Jeff Bezos pops in for a beer.

  113. 113.

    smith

    @raven: True, and any would-be imitators are now wary of consequences. We should at least give credit to Garland for going after the J6 insurrectionists as thoroughly and energetically as he did. So many of the Goobers live in a reality show in their heads, and it’s a wonderful corrective when they’re forced to touch base with reality. Here’s hoping TFG’s trials will have some of the same effect.

  115. 115.

    raven

    @WaterGirl: We’re not really sure what she will decide (with the help of ur wonderful vet). We’ve felt that it has been time for quite a while but it’s not our call. I’m re-processing my mini-dv tapes and uncovering all kinds of footage of Raven, Bohdi, Lil Bit and numerous neighborhood and family woofers.

  117. 117.

    smith

    @Baud: Funny, they seem to be sitting this one out. Wasn’t it Empty Greene who showed up for his NY arraignment, then got terrified and ran when confronted by all the anti-TFG protesters?

  119. 119.

    mrmoshpotato

    I clearly picked a bad time to have a crazy work deadline. I am missing everything!

    It’s not like the indictments are going to disappear (or turn into a pumpkin). 😁

  121. 121.

    ETtheLibrarian

    Smith & Co. have clearly decided to not let tRump and the Z team lawyers fritter time away.

  122. 122.

    Scout211

    @patrick II: My apologies to everyone who might have read that.

    I thought you were just testing us to see if anyone reads your comments. And apparently, everyone reads your comments.  LOL

    Thanks for the correction. It happens to all of us from time to time.

  123. 123.

    Yarrow

    @trollhattan:  I feel you. Sounds like my experience. Five jabs. Got Covid. Was not fun. Days of fever. Took me exactly a month before my energy felt like it was something approaching normal and my brain fog was better. And even then my stamina wasn’t where it had been. I think I’m finally mostly back to normal but my brain isn’t fully working right. Just takes me longer to think through things and do tasks

    I hope your healing trajectory is faster and you feel better soon.

  126. 126.

    mrmoshpotato

    @jimmiraybob:

    “Not the puppet! Not the puppet! You’re the puppet!!” 

    Sorry.  Gotta correct ya there.

    It’s “No puppet! No puppet! You’re the puppet!! You’re the puppet!!”

  127. 127.

    jimmiraybob

    @mrmoshpotato: ​
     

    Sorry. Gotta correct ya there.

    Why are you denying me freedom of speech? Fake News!! Constitutional crisis!!!

    OK, ok. At least I tried.

  128. 128.

    trollhattan

    @Yarrow: ​
    Thank you, and I appreciate the details of your experience. It’s helpful to compare notes with those who’ve endured it and I’m boggled at the vast range of symptoms and time needed for healing.

    I’m of the opinion covid is now endemic and will in no meaningful sense “just die out.” An annual covid booster or perhaps a flu+covid shot seems to be in our future.

  130. 130.

    pluky

    @smith: Mean, median, mode (actuarial exam drill for ‘define average’). For a bit of my practice (high deductible executive medical plan pricing) the last two were $0, and the mean was minuscule relative to the expected loss given that one had occurred. The trick was determining the appropriate reinsurance level so that the retained portfolio risk was manageable.

  131. 131.

    Yarrow

    @trollhattan:  I’m totally fine with an annual Covid booster. Heck, I’d be happy to get one twice a year or more if that will keep me from being sick like I was.

    Did you take Paxlovid. I didn’t for reasons (too complicated to go into). Maybe I should have but I’ve heard about the rebound and you can’t take Paxlovid twice but you’re sick twice.

    Edit: Forgot to add that EVERYONE said don’t do too much too soon. Just rest. I pretty much followed that advice because I couldn’t do much of anything – walking to the kitchen was a chore – and I was so dizzy at some points that I thought I was going to fall and hit my head. I tested positive for 2.5 weeks, so it was a bad case.  But I strongly recommend just resting. Let other people do stuff for you if you have that option. Do as little as possible.

  132. 132.

    trollhattan

    @Yarrow: ​
    Yes, I opted for Paxlovid–the doctor was neither pro nor anti, just gave me pros and cons and noted I was within the demographic–and am exactly 50% of the way through the course. I can’t vouch for its effectiveness, just that if it slows virus reproduction as claimed then perhaps the body fights it off more quickly and I cannot be done with this soon enough.

    It does seem to make some foods taste weird/awful and others, no effect. I wouldn’t note that except I’m not eating enough and have dropped ten pounds since Sunday. The heck?

  133. 133.

    Yarrow

    @trollhattan:  I lost weight too. Probably because I was exhausted and eating seemed like work. Initially I had a sort throat and it hurt to swallow, so that made it hard to eat. My neighbors brought me food otherwise I would have just not eaten anything. I was too brain foggy to figure out how to order anything and I wasn’t safe to drive.

    Part of it may have been because I lost my sense of taste and smell, and it wasn’t just because I was congested. It was some other neurological thing I’m pretty sure. When it came back it sort of bounced around. I could taste and then I couldn’t. Then I could. That kind of thing. Seems to be pretty much back to normal now.

  134. 134.

    Matt McIrvin

    @trollhattan: Annual covid boosters seem to be the CDC’s plan now. Personally I think it should be every 6 months but I guess they are trying to be realistic.

  136. 136.

    Ruckus

    @Yarrow:

    My sense of smell has been gone for 5-6 yrs now. Food really tastes different when you lose that because your sense of taste is actually rather limited and it’s your sense of smell that makes you think most foods taste like they do and I believe is one reason some really like certain foods and others completely hate them. Though there are some foods that taste very much the same. Peanut butter is one.

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