The five-minute clip is all over twitter, but of course some of you don’t read twitter…
Lawrence O'Donnell may have just delivered the most brutal and humiliating takedown of Donald Trump ever aired on national television pic.twitter.com/4nRnZRoo3k
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) April 12, 2024
Bonus goon content: Kevin McCarthy feels confident enough about his party’s current disarray to publicly threaten Matt Gaetz. Interesting to wonder what favors Kevin is looking for…
Kevin McCarthy refers to Matt Gaetz:
"I'll give you the truth why I'm not speaker. It's because one person, a member of Congress, wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17-year-old … Did he do it or not? I don't know."
– via @MoElleithee @GUPolitics pic.twitter.com/DFZxpdgxF9
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) April 10, 2024
… and what's stopping Mr. McCarthy from naming them now? https://t.co/LMqz9Jf7fw
— Andy (@trtx84) April 10, 2024
John Revolta
Trump actually looked better orange. This latest hue is…………. I don’t know what it’s supposed to be, but I’ve definitely never seen a suntan that color. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a face that color.
Tony Jay
No, Kevin.
It’s because you only became Speaker of the House by making unsustainable promises to a House majority made up of the kind of people who expect you to shield them from ethics complaints when they sleep with 17 year olds.
And they expect that because that’s who you are.
Martin
It’s hurtling toward blackface, whatever it is.
NotMax
@John Revolta
Piss poor attempt to emulate the Goldfinger look.
//
Shalimar
I think I see a flaw in Kevin’s logic. Gaetz started the process, but 8 voted against him. The rest of them didn’t care about the ethics complaint. If Gaetz was the only one with a grudge, McCarthy would still be Speaker.
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
I’ve seen that color among people who have jaundice
David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch
I’ve seen that color among people who have jaundice
kalakal
@John Revolta: I’ve seen that colour on badly restored furniture
The Thin Black Duke
What’s pathetic is Kevin actually believes that this makes him come across as heroic.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@The Thin Black Duke: Well, most people think it’s not their fault when they make a bargain with the Devil in exchange for their heart’s desire and then Old Scratch comes to collect.
satby
The people listening laughing in the background kind of make the whole clip too.
But it does make you wonder, is tfg so uncooperative with his handlers at this point that they can’t get him to sit still for a makeup professional to do it, or do they secretly hate the guy so much that they’re also laughing behind his back?
p.a.
Maybe the barrel of orange makeup has gone bad but he can’t afford to change out. ER visit pending?!?!?!
jonas
@Shalimar: “I gave these guys a gun, rope, and duct tape, and the next thing you know, they’ve tied me up and robbed me!”
raven
I can’t help but remember when Lawrence continuously said Trump would never run for President .
Anne Laurie
Back when TFG was still squatting in the Oval Office, I remember posting about a ‘lifestyle’ story that Trump insisted on doing his makeup personally — complete with the brand name of his preferred ‘bronzer’ & his OCD specifications concerning it (IIRC, two ‘fresh’ bottles every morning, both with a certain amount removed, to be left in his room but never never mentioned by housekeeping). Even then, 5 or 6? years ago, his complexion (& his hair color) varied, depending on his wavering attention span.
I assume he’s still doing his own makeup… but both his vision & his mind are failing him. A decent man would have family members & friends attempting to discourage him from showing up for media events like this, but… I suspect both his long-suffering minions & his abused offspring are laughing behind his back.
chrome agnomen
as much time as tifg spends on the golf course, you’d think he have some sort of a tan.
Ramalama
@NotMax: More like Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. Apologies if everyone has already referenced that movie. I now can’t stop thinking that that’s Trump.
Ramalama
Lawrence O’Donnell’s piece about how jurors will be forced to look at, will want to take peeks at, Trump during the trial and will see his off-putting appearance and think thoughts, without ever hearing him speak – is good.
But, given his past antics, will the Donald will be able to refrain from mumbling, speaking up, barking from his side of the lawyers’ tables?
Mousebumples
@David 🏀Caitlin Clark🏀 Koch: I had a similar thought.
Baud
I think he’s going for this color.
OzarkHillbilly
@John Revolta: That color is “mud”.
@satby: But but but he has the BEST make-up, applied by the BEST guy, in just the BEST way!
JPL
Will trump be allowed to have makeup in prison? just askin
Frankensteinbeck
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
Basically this. McCarthy is a dishonest asshole. Of course he blames anyone but himself and has at least one scapegoat to seethe with resentment at.
@Ramalama:
I’d be surprised. Trump’s whole thing is his toddler lack of self-control. I’m expecting a goat rodeo shit show.
artem1s
hardly brutal or humiliating. thousands have pointed out the weirdness of his make up and hair. so what – he’s getting worse – all the MAGAt will hear is some media figure throwing stones at glass houses. plenty of weird make up and hair to see on TV. watch any episode of Real Housewives (or, speaking of Stormy, porn) if you want an example of what people think ‘normal’ hair, make up, lips, boobs and clothes should look like. the whole damn country is full of country clubs and mega churches that have people who look like this. It’s Panem in all it’s glory. given that you can stream bare fisted cage fights anytime you want we’re pretty much there already. problem is too many people think the brutality and bullying is as normal and desirable as the make up now.
Betty
@Anne Laurie: I am sure Lara has offered to do his make-up. She can’t do enough for her dear daddy-in-law. But as has been noted, he has to control his own “look”.
Ohio Mom
@JPL: Not unless the commissary stocks it and other people send enough money to his account to pay for it.
mrmoshpotato
They need to use Dump’s face in oil drilling. I think it’s the same color as that bit-lubricating mud.
Kay
@artem1s:
True. It’s a whole look. They all look like they just left Mar a Lago.
geg6
@mrmoshpotato:
I was thinking motor oil myself.
stinger
@Tony Jay: This.
(I was going to say, “Nailed it,” but that seemed wrong in the circumstances.)
mrmoshpotato
@geg6: I can see it.
bbleh
@artem1s: @Kay: so instead of Brownshirts we have Bronzefaces? Seems about right to me …
Kay
I think this is how the modern GOP operates – on threats. They all have dirt on one another and they all threaten to use it. I think that’s why they all cower before Trump – they let him in and now he’s got information on all of them. The people who buck him – Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney – had nothing he could hold over their heads.
Like organized crime, but less honorable.
MomSense
@Anne Laurie:
We are all well aware of how terrible it is, but what if what is underneath all that orange goop is so truly horrendous that this is the best he can look?
My personal hypothesis is that he had some unfortunate experiences with Russian mob enforcers and there was significant damage to his face as a result.
Also too a lot of sun and no sunscreen and other skin damage.
Geo Wilcox
@John Revolta: Magda in “There’s Something About Mary” is about as close as you’re going to get to matching whatever the fuck Trump slathered on his ugly mug.
Spanky
How do we know he’s referring to Gaetz? Could just as well be Boebert.
schrodingers_cat
@Anne Laurie: That has been my guess, that he is doing his own makeup and is too vain to wear corrective lenses. A makeup artist doing that ghastly a job would have been fired.
schrodingers_cat
@bbleh: But being white supremacists they hate anyone who is darker than Miracle Whip 🤒
Baud
@Geo Wilcox:
Oh, good call.
SFAW
Being a curmudgeonly asshole, whenever I see some quasi-politico say/tweet/xit something like “Politician Z is ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY DESTROYED!!!!!!!!! by this tweet/vid/whatever,” I know it’s probably so milquetoast-y that I should skip it. Should have listened to myself, but instead I listened to O’Donnell yammer on about fucking makeup, as if anyone cares.
Meidas Touch is usually pretty good, but JHC “most brutal and humiliating takedown EVAH!!!!!” it ain’t.
Baud
@SFAW: Yeah, I hate it too. Hyperbolic headlines are rampant.
SFAW
@Baud:
Your reply wins the Intertubez, not just for today, but for all time, until the end of the universe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, sorry.
PS: Forgot to say: but YOU are not a curmudgeonly asshole (nor a non-curmudgeonly one, either), so ….
Quinerly
@raven:
And if he ran, he would never be elected. Seems like LOD was saying it every night during the run up to 11/2016.
Baud
@Quinerly:
I’m not going to hold it against people for having more faith in voters than they deserve.
SFAW
@Baud:
OK, but LOD is not “people” in the generalized sense; he’s (allegedly) an astute political observer, who should have known better.
MomSense
I’m trying not to panic but holy shit I have to pack up my whole house in 15 days and load everything in a truck and move only to unload everything into a storage room. That means I will have to load it up again at some point and move it to a house. Hopefully I will find a house. Wasn’t there a movie about a pregnant woman who lived in a walmart? I remember it being sort of a cute flick. Nobody wants to see a movie about a menopausal woman living in a storage unit.
Even though I feel like I’m 25 on the inside, my back and knees are significantly older.
Quinerly
@Baud:
I get it.
I listened to LOD most nights. He is brutal where Trump is concerned. I just roll my eyes sometimes when he speaks with such authority. I remember the lead up to 2016. Gives me chills since I, too, thought Trump would never be elected.
mrmoshpotato
@MomSense: Damage is being nice to Dump’s disgusting, fascist face.
Baud
@MomSense:
I don’t know. I think that has the makings of an interesting superhero origin story.
@Quinerly:
I can see that. 2016 removed the last remaining scales from my eyes.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: superheroine origin story, dude.
sdhays
@Tony Jay: Mic drop.
mrmoshpotato
@Quinerly: Oh, the fun of watching the election results roll in that night…
…and then going to bed horrified.
Baud
@mrmoshpotato: I thought Hollywood had gone woke by calling everyone actors now instead of actors and actresses. Same with superheroes, no?
Baud
@mrmoshpotato: At least if it happens this year, I’ll be prepared for the possibility.
Kay
@bbleh:
Like all bad things, including DonaldTrump, it came out of reality tv. They all look like one of the “Housewives of.,” cast members so in addition to freakish they all look…the same. I genuinely wonder where they get the dresses. These are not normal dresses. You don’t see racks of backless dresses with cutaway middles in horrible, muddy “jewel tones” anywhere- there’s an outlet just for these people somewhere.
It’s like looking at prom photos except everyone is over 50 and not at all cute and innocent.
Quinerly
@Baud: I have told this story before. I will always remember where I was and what I was doing around 1pm on election day when I had a strong feeling (a wave of nausea) that Trump was going to win.
I was very early to the polls. So happy…on a high…to vote for HRC…. believing it was going to be a blow out. Voted, chatted with neighbors outside, dropped Poco off at a new groomer in the neighborhood. Drove out to Brentwood to the Trader Joe’s. Shopped and was loading the car when something weird hit me. I kid you not. A premonition from nowhere particular that he was going to win.
Couldn’t shake the feeling. Up until that point I was LOD.
Denali5
@MomSense,
Sorry for your situation and hope you find some help in your move. It is a tough time to find a house.
SFAW
@Baud:
I’m guessing that’s the case. But it’s OK: this is a safe space for you, where you can be un-woke. Well, “safe” except for killjoys like mrmoshpotato.
Ramalama
@MomSense: You’ve sold your house and haven’t found a place to live yet, is that it? If you’ve got any kind of budget at all I can hook you up with one of my uncles who does that kind of thing with dispatch, kindness, humor, skill, and mad mad energy.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: I have no idea. I just call everyone Joe.
ETA – forgot the word “no”
Baud
@Quinerly: Definitely one of the worst nights in political history. I realized then that our side was not as strong as I thought we were. I won’t overestimate us again.
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
We should plumb the depths of that idea more fully.
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: Hahaha!
Kay
Biden’s polling is improving. I hoped (and believed) it would – I think some of our voters will come home.
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: See my edit at 59.
Baud
@Kay:
How many stories in the poll do you think the NYT will run this time?
Kay
It’s going to be so important for Democrats to say over and over that Republicans ban abortion while Democrats allow access. I read just about every survey on abortion and a lot of voters do not know which party supports bans. I know that’s hard for us to believe, but it shouldn’t be – we have a billion dollar media that offers little or no information to voters.
Democrats have to do this without media. KISS – just tell them over and over that GOP is anti choice and Dems are choice.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Avoiding overconfidence is a good idea. I suspect, though, that many people on our side have chosen to do this by going to the opposite extreme. That is equally unhelpful.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: The year my huge maple tree crashed on my house, I ended up having to move all my stuff 4 times.
First, everything to the front of the house because they were going to work in the back first. Then – change of plans – they decided o work in the front first. So everything back to the back. Then after a couple of months everything had to move out into a pod. Then in month #6, I got to move everything back into the house.
One of the contractors (in the woman-owned company that was my general contractor) said “you really have to love your stuff to move it 4 times.”
As it turned out, there was a whole truckload of stuff that I looked at and said, “not worth it”. Thankfully friends brought their red pickup truck over and took it away so I didn’t have to deal with getting rid of it.
That was a good year for the Habitat Re-Sale Store.
shorter: I feel for you!
Kay
@Baud:
Their political team is bad but it’s spreading. They can’t really cover abortion anymore- they cover it as if Republicans and Democrats have the same approach.
It’s no longer just the political team. The whole paper is now Politico.
Someone should start a fancy newspaper with just recipes, wedding announcements, real estate photos and puzzle games. The NYTimes would lose half their subscribers.
Quinerly
Changing the subject…I still get chills thinking about that premonition in that parking lot.
I am trading JoJo’s 2019 Toyota Sienna that I did a modest camping build in for that 4 month “escape” I did starting 9/2021…camping for 2 months thru Southern Colorado, AZ, Utah, and New Mexico. I really need a truck out here with this move. Plus, the van is just way too low to the ground, and I don’t want to invest in a lift kit to just get 3 more inches. Has anyone bought the 6ft bed 2024 Tacoma? My nature is to buy used but I really like these new Tacomas. I will still keep Poco’s beat up AWD Ford Escape for daily use. Would get some sort of topper/cap for the truck for travel/camping. So I guess my next question is….any experiences with the pop up campers on these smaller trucks? Not the wedge ones but the hard sided ones like the Hiatus? Shopping brands cheaper than those really cool Hiatus ones.
Thought I would poke around in Flagstaff at the Overland Expo in about a month.
If any BJers are in around Flag, let’s grab a beer!
Kay
@Baud:
The more they hear from Trump the worse his polling gets. We don’t need any clever commentary – just make sure normal people hear him in his own voice a lot. The thing speaks for itself :)
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes, I agree. Not a fan of negativity. We’re strong, they’re strong, but only one side can prevail over any time horizon.
sdhays
@mrmoshpotato: It broke me for a little while. I just dropped off from news in general until January, and just didn’t want to talk about it to anyone. I already had stress in my life from work, and I just couldn’t process it.
I remember having breakfast with my parents and my best friend and his husband at the end of 2016 and saying that with Trump, unlike any other generic, yet awful, Republican, the odds of a fascist attempt to take over of the government went measurably up. I didn’t say it was going to happen, just that Trump was that kind of guy. My friend’s husband looked at me like I had said I believe in Sasquatch – and that they secretly rule the world.
Well, I was, unfortunately vindicated. I never called him on it because we really only saw each other once a year, and now I probably won’t see him again since they’re divorced and my friend’s new partner is considerably more liberal.
Quinerly
@Baud:
I still put a lot of blame on Bernie supporters. Don’t get me started. It gets ugly really fast.
Kay
I was contacted by organizers for a Pride parade where I live. They want the Democrats to back them (show up and add to their numbers) – of course we will do that. It’s June 1st. They already got their permits – it will be on the courthouse square- a first for this town (75% Trump voters).
I admire the feistyness. Don’t cower.
Baud
@Quinerly:
I won’t get you started. Look forward, not back.
Baud
@Kay:
👍
MomSense
@mrmoshpotato:
Although I’m pretty sure menopause has elevated my testosterone and decimated my estrogen so hero might be a better fit.
Part of the reason I’m looking at 15 days of terror is that the undiagnosed ADHD I learned to manage as a girl and woman is totally fucking different now that my hornones have changed. I have boy ADHD now! Why doesn’t anyone talk about this? I don’t know how to deal with boy ADHD.
Quinerly
@Kay:
This upcoming trial will be telling. And I am not even talking about the verdict.
People have started paying attention. We are going to be treated to Trump 24/7 for the duration of this trial. His ranting and raving every day after a day in court.
As an aside, I don’t WATCH a lot of network news but I do have a tendency to go for days mainlining MSNBC on the Tune In app on the Echos. Listening while doing yard work other stuff. With that said, I probably went 6 months without actually SEEING Trump.
We aren’t exaggerating when we discuss how shitty he looks. The old adage….”when you don’t see someone everyday.” The “normies” are about to get hit broadside with Trump’s incoherent ramblings and ravings…..and the deterioration in his appearance.
Chris T.
@MomSense: This is why only women should be president: boy hormones are messed up!
MomSense
@Ramalama:
Once my house closes I’ll have plenty to buy a house in Central Maine. I won’t find one in time to move directly there when this house closes. I also can’t afford movers and earnest money simultaneously so I have to decide if there is a house worth moving myself.
MomSense
@Chris T.:
Sooooo messed up.
frosty
@Kay: Good for you all. I feel for you; we’re 65% TFG voters. Now I see we’re not the worst!
WaterGirl
@MomSense: I had no idea. It had never occurred to me to think that boy ADHD would be different from what you have dealt with forever.
You may not have either the time or the inclination to answer this, but I’ll throw it out anyway in case you do. How is it different?
frosty
@Quinerly: I copied this from another commenter (SFAW?) the other day and sent it to my political junkie friends. Here’s hoping!
“It’s sleazy. It’s got a major porn actress, marital infidelity, a fixer/lawyer who’s been in prison, sneaky conspiracy, LOTS of money, and of course a former President. It’s like The Best Jerry Springer Episode Ever.”
Kay
@frosty:
I’m looking forward to it! You have to really embrace being a political minority, IMO. You’ll be unhappy if you don’t. We have Democrats here who do the secret handshake thing and I get it – some of them have employers who would punish them for not supporting Trump – I’m self employed and I’ve been at it long enough I don’t care if Trump supporters don’t hire me – I don’t need them.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@MomSense: Oh god. I hope you have help.
MomSense
@Kay:
Prom photos in hell. They all have hair extensions, giant phony white teeth, shiny stretched foreheads, Groucho Marx eyebrows, always surprised hawk eyes, over filled coyote cheeks, platypus mouths, Gaston chins, and ridiculously stuffed to bursting fake breasts.
They look like freaks and not in a good way.
Quinerly
@frosty:
Nailed it!
I actually don’t mind this case going first. It’s like cable reality TV on steroids. Plus, the issues/details are easy to understand and titillating. The Jack Smith cases are more impt….but they are complicated, dry….eyes glaze over kinda stuff for the average person. I guess I am not giving the average person a lot of credit.
Kay
@MomSense:
I agree. It’s not just country clubs and mega churches, either. It’s spilled out into the middle class. A lot of women where I live dress like this, along with all the cosmetic surgery, etc. I couldn’t figure out the long hair for the longest time – I know these women, they never had such long thick hair even as young women- until my assistant told me about hair extensions. Oooohhh. NOW I get it.
They’re all going to be getting thinner too- they’re all taking Ozempic. Literally half my book club are injecting Ozempic. I wish I had bought the stock.
frosty
@Quinerly: Is the average person going to care about the difference between the Presidential Records Act and the Espionage Act? No. But sleaze?? Don’t change the channel!!
Miss Bianca
@SFAW: agreed. I was like, “whut?”
Maybe they mean that Trump is so vain and thin-skinned that attacking him over his looks like he’s some girly-man will have a more devastating effect than oh, listing his actual crimes. Who knows.
Another Scott
@Quinerly: To be fair to Larry, TIFG didn’t think he was going to win, either. He ran to be the head of the opposition to Hillary and to have his own network to do so.
Hillary got more votes, and would have won the EC except for Comey. I don’t think anyone expected him to have such an impact and for that to happen.
Grr…,
Scott.
—
* – who thought HRC was going to win easily as well… [ sigh ]
SFAW
@frosty:
Not one of mine.
Although maybe I should take credit for it. [Dang, did I “say” that out loud?]
Miss Bianca
@MomSense: err…what is the difference, exactly, between “girl ADHD” and “boy ADHD”? In your opinion, that is.
oldgold
Although I would never be a member of it, this nation desperately needs a rational and functioning conservative political party.
Yesterday, I watched two Republicans, one who stands a good chance of being our next President, Trump, and one who is the current Speaker of the House, Johnson, meet for a shit show at Mar- a -Largo.
The idea they are the leaders of this nation’s conservative party is insane. They are unprincipled and cynical merchants of chaos. And, unfortunately, they are not outliers of the 21st century Republican Party, but represent what it has devolved into. Burkean conservative principles have no home in this political party infused with a poisonous stew of resentment, greed and ignorance.
Probably the only way the Republican Party can reform itself, is after an election where they are demolished at the polls. Is this the year? Doesn’t seem so. Although, you never know, as the Trump trials loom.
brantl
@kalakal: WE HAVE A WINNER!
MomSense
@Miss Bianca:
Now I have “squirrel!!” ADHD.
I shouldn’t generalize but there are differences which is why so many girls are not diagnosed.
Soprano2
@Kay: Even fucking Bill Maher the comedian does it! They can never discuss anything without him insisting that Dems do it too. Even when they talk about TFG’s crimes, he’ll point to Bob Menendez without saying how differently the parties react to the person doing it! It’s ingrained in our society that you can’t point at just one side no matter what.
Soprano2
@Kay: I don’t get all that at all, but I’ve still got good hair at 63. I wear normal makeup and get pedicures and dress nicer than most of my co-workers, but that’s it. I don’t feel the need for all that stuff, although I am thinking about fillers for the lines from my mouth, they make me look like I’m frowning.
Another Scott
@oldgold:
Obligatory, …
(via Fritschner)
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Kay: @Soprano2:
There were many great things about Arrested Development, but IMO, one of the best was that Jessica Walter was allowed to look like an older American human female when playing Lucille Bluth.
Cheers,
Scott.
Tony Jay
@stinger:
@sdhays:
You know, now that I think of it, any decent interviewer would have paused after Kevin made that statement, flicked a piece of non-existant lint from the sleeve of their jacket, and enquired in a very reasonable tone.
“That’s interesting. Why do you think they might have made that request? Is covering up for Representatives who have sex with minors a normal part of a Speaker’s duties? Have you ever had a request like that before?”
I imagine having a former Speaker of the House actually stroke out live on camera would be a ratings boost, no?
brantl
@Quinerly:
I guess I am not giving the average person a lot of credit.
Don’t. You can’t underestimate the gullibility of the american (US) public. And I mean can’t literally, I don’t mean shouldn’t.
brantl
Everybody says this looks like jaundice, I’ve seen jaundice, it looks better than that, that’s sugar cookies that have been in the oven for an hour, that color.
brantl
@Tony Jay: Or it would result in a dead Qevin McQarthy, all good results.
MomSense
Update: I have a lakeside cabin free for the Month of May! Hallelujah
Geminid
@MomSense: That’s good news indeed.
Moving is tough. I wish I could help but I’m quite a ways off. All I can do is suggest steadily packing everything you can in boxes and labeling them, wrap dishes in newspaper before boxing etc. And keep up with sleep and hydration.
opiejeanne
@Geminid: We wrap dishes and other breakables in clean towels and linens, something I started doing many years ago.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: I thought “squirrel!” kind of was the definition of ADHD. Is there another kind
So glad you have the free cabin! That must be a huge relief.
Kayla Rudbek
@Kay: I am irritated about the use of Ozempic and Wegovy off-label; it’s making it much more difficult for me to actually get my prescription filled and I am diabetic so it’s on-label use for me.
wjca
@SFAW:
For openers, we spell it Chao.
suzcamoo
@kalakal: hahaha!
Geminid
@opiejeanne: That’s certainly efficient.
prostratedragon
@Anne Laurie: A lifetime of dutifully avoiding hasty evaluations based on surface appearances, then aling comes this fucking guy.
VFX Lurker
Yikes. The LA Times ran an article about off-label Ozempic use here in SoCal. Folks use it to lose 10-100 lbs, at the price of gaining 10-20 years in their appearance. So, they follow up their weight loss with plastic surgeries to restore their appearance.
It’s like something out of an O. Henry tale.