Anonymous White House officials throwing Trump under the bus to the WSJ:
The White House had planned for Trump to “push Putin” at today’s presser, thinking any confrontational approach would come as a surprise and “make him look good,” one official said.
“Obviously, it didn’t happen,” the official said. @PeterWSJ https://t.co/YnWAMo4lNE
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) July 16, 2018
LOL!
PS: I adore Ted Lieu:
Dear @NRA: Now I know why you won't answer my letter asking about your interactions with Russian operatives. I think your "clenched fist of truth" is about to hit you in the face. https://t.co/k4KQGCWg5i
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) July 16, 2018
I have no idea what’s going to happen, fellow citizens. But this has been a remarkable news day. Maybe this motherfucker is finally going to get what he deserves.
ETA:
Well, now we know. https://t.co/olQlhzQiuO
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 16, 2018
She was right about everything. Everything.
zhena gogolia
What the hell makes you think that?
Teddys Person
I for one am going to spend the remainder of my day in tepid hope.
schrodingers_cat
While no one was looking USCIS has gone ahead and made renewing or changing your immigration status a minefield that could land you in deportation proceedings if you are not careful.
But we like legal immigrants, they said.
thread
Platonailedit
@zhena gogolia:
A live russian arrested in US soil? It’s a good start.
Baud
It’ll be impossible to predict when the end will come but it will come swiftly.
jl
If last few days of news, and Trump’s (IMHO very expected) weirdo performance at his performance review, give the GOP electoral state fair train wreck in November some more steam, that is all I care about right now.
lamh36
I see Rand Paul on CNN trying to talk over w/Wolf Blitzer so he can keep on defending what Trump has done that NO OTHER President, esp a Dem Prez would EVER get away with. What does Russia have on Senator Paul I wonder?
schrodingers_cat
Is anyone watching or going to watch Sacred Games on Netflix?
Elizabelle
@Baud: Do you think we are in the middle, or the beginning of the end? At very least, the end of the beginning, sprinting into the middle.
I am going to be happy. Too much not so coincidental behavior going on in past months. Ryan out, wave of GOP retirements …
schrodingers_cat
@lamh36: A photo without the animal on his head.
Mike in DC
@Baud:
IF and only if Trump is outed as an active Russian intelligence asset, I do agree that the worm will turn exceedingly swiftly. You can’t stage a successful d’etat with only 27 percent of the general public and at best a plurality of elites behind you.
J.
HAHAHAHAHA. Nope. But thanks for playing. (The Russian mob owns too many Republican Congresscritters at this point.)
schrodingers_cat
@Elizabelle: Beginning of the end.
dmsilev
I assume ‘push’ is some hot new slang for ‘suck up to’?
dmsilev
@lamh36: Never forget that Rand Paul is a deeply stupid person.
Yarrow
@lamh36: Both Rand and his dad have plenty of ties to Russia. Of course Rand is desperately trying to change the subject or blame anyone else for anything else. He’s in deep shit.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: Yes. I think so.
And we need to give a real good kick with the midterms. The polls are way behind Democratic voting enthusiasm.
danielx
@Baud:
Not swiftly enough, dammit. And I admit the thought of President Pence does not have me doing cartwheels, particularly as he is up to his lips in the same manure.
I know it’s a tired trope at this point, but chalk up today’s drama as one more example where if HRC had done it, forget impeachment – Republicans would be howling for her to burned at the stake on the White House lawn.
trollhattan
These Russian DNCC hack details from the indictment via Politico’s Eric Geller are pretty damn interesting, if not disturbing at how hackable we all probably are.
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: His father was tight with the KGB for years.
The Dangerman
@Baud:
Swiftly … and loudly; it’ll be like the 4th of July at the Rose Bowl there will be so many pyrotechnics going off.
lamh36
GTFO…JIM.
You are one of the MAIN reasons why we have this Orange Buffoon as President today!
trollhattan
@danielx:
Funny how Trump managed to pick the only guy whiter than himself as VP.
danielx
@The Dangerman:
Kind of looking forward to seeing Louie Gohmert’s head spinning around on his shoulders, a la Linda Blair..
lamh36
zhena gogolia
@lamh36:
He’s saying the right thing, I’ll take it.
Yarrow
@Elizabelle: Whether it’s the beginning, middle or end, i’s going to accelerate from here.
piratedan
… waiting patiently for the next wave of NYT features on Trump voters and how they feel that Trump’s direction on making the USA subservient to Russia’s needs will bring more jobs to the heartland and will salve their need for constant bashing of people with different quantities of melanin content in their skin.
can only hope that we’ve finally whetted the appetite of the media to actually be interested in the treason story and start digging deeper into not only Trump, but their beloved GOP and even some of their fellow journos and their publications…
Patricia Kayden
The NRA is trying to backtrack on just how close it is to Russia. The heat in the kitchen is making the rats very uncomfortable.
The Dangerman
@danielx:
Hannity for me. The rot goes way deep … and lot of people are going to be doing the hokey POKEY (that’s what it’s all about) if not outright going Jim Jones on us.
lamh36
Platonailedit
Patricia Kayden
@lamh36: How is that not the question when the Intelligence community just came out on Friday (and even before then) and clearly stated that Russians interfered in our elections? Rand Paul should just come out and say that he could care less about the integrity of our election process and our democracy in general. With him and other Republicans, it’s party over country.
trollhattan
@danielx:
Until proven otherwise I’m assuming Gomert is too stupid to grasp the implication of any of this mess. He’s off making another “blame Hillary” unflowchart poster for the house floor.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Elizabelle:
@Mike in DC:
@Baud:
As a comment from the dead Things Done Changed thread explained, I’m worried that the Russians will attempt to delegitimize anyone who appears to be a uniting figure so that no national consensus will form, like it has in scandals like Watergate in the past. The commenter suggested that that is what is happening to Sanders (not immediately calling for ICE to be abolished for example).
Midnight Lurker also made an interesting observation: that whatever plan has been cooked up by the Russian government, has possibly gone south due to something Trump has done, and right now they’re trying salvage what is left of it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
the whole thing– Putin saying of course he wanted trump to win, the fucking soccer ball– was Putin mocking trump and the United States, but trump is os fucking dumb and needy he doesn’t know he’s being taunted, and used to taunt the rest of us
Yarrow
@danielx: Pence will not be President for long if he does assume the office. Remember that he headed the transition team. He knows a lot more than he wants people to think he does. And that doesn’t even address what he is hiding in those emails when he was Gov. of Indiana.
Jeffro
@Baud: hundreds of charges against dozens of defendants
Brachiator
Again, Trump resists being handled or taking any advice that would make him look “cautious” or “statesmanlike.” He just is not going to do it. This has been consistent since early on, and compounded when he won his big victory with tax reform, aka, “mo’ money for the rich.”
However, the official propaganda arm of the Trump administration, Fox News, still has to help him recover from his dreadful summit performance, and craft a message to give assurances to the dopes who continue to support him. From the Hill:
I fully expect both hosts to tell Trump how masterful he was in dealing with Putin.
Teddys Person
@Yarrow: Didn’t Manafort bring Pence on board?
Jeffro
@schrodingers_cat: seconded
lamh36
@zhena gogolia: A broken clock is right at least 2x a day…but it’s still a broken clock…FUQ Comey and that broken clock.
Mary G
Wow, the affidavit of Kevin Helson, the FBI agent supporting Butina’s arrest, contains all the receipts. Particularly, about the use of the National Prayer Breakfast (which needs to stop) to meet and influence Americans.
chris
A rusty chainsaw STAT!
jl
@trollhattan: I saw of clip of Gohmert’s demented and vile performance at last weeks Strzok hearings.
Who is the Congresswomen who yelled ‘You need your medications!” at the prefect moment? That clip should be featured in oppo ads against Gohmert during the campaign. Can we get her some kind of medal, distinguished service award, or something?
hueyplong
Even if they eventually get away with it, I am enjoying the perceived discomfort of GOPers who know a Russian has not just been indicted, but is in actual custody.
Some guys are dying to have some conversations with one another.
Mick McDick
i hope the judge denied bail – she is a flight risk, to say the least.
Yarrow
@Teddys Person: He certainly did. Isn’t that…interesting. Heh.
lamh36
If nothing else…the continuous smirk on Putin’s face during this entire Helsinki fiasco…ANY sane person should be PISSED…
Shell
God, I wish I could the sound of hounds in the distance…. If only!
Adam L Silverman
@chris: All the yearly evals happening in July!
Elizabelle
James Fallows in The Atlantic: This Is the Moment of Truth for Republicans
The GOP can either defend the United States or serve the damaged and defective man who is now its president.
Strong words.
ETA: Fallows left out the possibility that Trump is owned by Russia, that he’s indebted to them keeping his empire afloat, quite aside from any electoral help. Wonder why?
Yarrow
@Mary G: The National Prayer Breakfast you say? Hello, Chuck Grassley. Tell us more about your table mate Mr. Makarov, longtime member of the Russian Parliament.
Adam L Silverman
@Mick McDick: She’ll likely be held where Manafort was originally being held.
Teddys Person
@Adam L Silverman: Will she get the same VIP treatment?
Platonailedit
‘cuz this ignoramus turd knows everything cyber?
MisterForkbeard
@lamh36: Granted, fuck Comey. On the other hand: I’m happy to have everyone we can openly calling Trump a traitor, and that’s pretty much what Comey is doing.
Tokyokie
I’d like to think the political end for these treasonous fucks is rapidly approaching, but then I think of the end of the Costa-Gavras political thriller Z (based on the 1960s military coup in Greece). The movie’s omnipresent journalist is on TV, showing mugs of the coup planners and announcing their sentences, when suddenly his mug is shown, and a different news reader is telling of his sentence (longer than that of any of the coup participants), then revealing the untimely deaths of all the opposition party officials, who are the movie’s main characters. In other words, as Yogi Berra would say, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
(I found the sequence from Z on YouTube, but only in French and without English subtitles, so I didn’t link to it.)
Roger Moore
@chris:
Here’s hoping they announce his indictment while he’s there.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Covered all of it here:
https://balloon-juice.com/2017/12/03/what-does-penetration-at-all-levels-actually-mean/
Elizabelle
@jl: Bonnie Watson Coleman, 12th district of New Jersey, in Congress since 2015.
Only woman in NJ’s congressional delegation, and definitely a woman to watch. She is the one who suggested Gohmert was off his meds, out loud, at that vitriolic hearing on Peter Strzok.
Yarrow
@chris: it’s almost comical how the traitors just out themselves.
Adam L Silverman
@Teddys Person: I have no idea. I’m just some guy on the Internet who claims I know what I’m talking about…//
Eural Joiner
Saw this one and thought it was catchy:
TRE45ON
:)
MisterForkbeard
@Brachiator: I’m kind of looking forward to this. Hannity and Carlson are going to do their damndest to make Trump look like a brave hero taking on the traitors back home, and I really want to be able to throw this in their faces when it inevitably blows up.
Honestly, given that Hannity apparently speaks to Trump every other night on an unsecured phone and Hannity’s own russian/wikileaks connections, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if various intelligence services don’t have evidence of Hannity knowing about Russian interference and lying about it daily to his viewers.
@chris: Oh look, another traitor. Huh, it’s weird that there’s just so many of these in the GOP? Must be a coincidence.
Jay
Funny, I’m old enough to remember back in the day when July/August were dead zones for political news.
hueyplong
The thought of Rand Paul fleeing prosecution to defect fills me with joy.
Check out some of those 97-2 and 96-3 votes.
lamh36
@MisterForkbeard: Comey is trying to assuage his own culpabiity…right or wrong..FUQ him.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
Thanks for noting this. I read a story on this earlier, but never posted anything about it.
None of this has anything to do with security, or keeping the country safe, or any of the other lies Trump offers. It is nothing but petty cruelty. Trump seems to believe that some people simply do not deserve to be citizens or residents, or that they somehow have taken advantage of the system. And, as we all know, Trump has this weird thing about being treated unfairly or being taken advantage of. And he must root out those he deems to be unworthy, no matter what.
Shell
Its almost impossible to conceive that he really believes that he’s done something wonderful. But,,,there you are. He also believes that his poll numbers are better than Abraham Lincoln’s, so….
opiejeanne
@schrodingers_cat:
I looked up the description and it sounds interesting. We are flailing around, looking for the next series to watch. Just finished Season 1 of No Offence and are trying to watch a somewhat confusing Australian series called Secret City. Two episodes in and the jury’s still out. Someone died (was murdered) and we didn’t remember the character until a photo of him was shown later. We’ve already figured out a plot twist, pretty damned sure of what’s coming on that one line, but damn the bodies are starting to pile up in a manner that makes me wonder why everyone involved doesn’t make a run for it.
MisterForkbeard
@lamh36: Don’t care. Comey fucked up horribly and is responsible for this. But he also has some level of influence, so him calling Trump a traitor is a good thing.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: I know! I even commented in that thread. I just like to remember some of the details. I commented about Grassley’s post at the time. It’s all been out there in plain sight if anyone was looking.
Elizabelle
One-two punch from The Atlantic. Here is David Frum weighing in, too.
The Crisis Facing America
The country can no longer afford to wait to ascertain why President Trump has subordinated himself to Putin—it must deal with the fact that he has.
The Atlantic is soliciting reader opinions. Via Letter to the Editor via email link. (You’ll recall they had to do away with their comments section, because it was Troll Central, but they do seem interesting in taking the pulse of their readers and anyone else who cares to check in with them.)
Patricia Kayden
And just now McConnell is saying out loud that Russia is our enemy. Why couldn’t he have spoken out during the election cycle when President Obama wanted to put out a joint statement?
MagdaInBlack
@Adam L Silverman:
It scared me then and it scares me now.
But Id rather be aware, than not. Thank You
Cheryl Rofer
@lamh36:
With the NRA revelations today, the default answer to questions like this has to be “They funded his campaign and provided data for his strategies.”
MisterForkbeard
@Patricia Kayden: To shield himself from charges of collusion and conspiracy now? As in “I couldn’t have been part of the conspiracy! Look at how anti-Russia I am!”
A Ghost To Most
@Platonailedit:”Putin is grabbing Trump by the pussy.”
Courtesy reach around.
schrodingers_cat
@opiejeanne: I don’t love the gangster genre but I do like the team (the directors, the writing team and the onscreen talent) associated with it. I checked it out for 5 minutes, the English dubbed version seems clunky, I may watch the Hindi original.
ruemara
@Mary G: Seconded. Any of these state religion hybrids need to stop. If it’s not as innocuous as the Passover Seder & Iftar dinner, then it needs to go.
@Patricia Kayden: He’s an evil man hoping that age and gaslighting will allow him to die in his own bed.
jl
@Patricia Kayden: McConnell is the most cynical operator imaginable. He’ll say whatever it takes.
Does he give interviews or go on the news talkies anymore? If so, maybe some corporate celeb news diva will ask him why he blew a bipartisan effort to block Russia govt’s attempts at election tampering in 2016?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@lamh36:
Paul is a libertarian, greed is the only virtue so it goes without saying Paul been bought and paid for.
And let us for a moment savior the irony of a Rayndain like Paul selling out the to Commies.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: I know so many people stuck in the interminably long GC queues. The ones that left for greener pastures seem smarter now.
ETA: Like my two friends who are a couple both in long term visas with no clear path to a green card. One a researcher in genetics and another a pediatric oncologist. They have a daughter who is a US citizen.
efgoldman
@J.:
They don’t own the prosecutors and the courts.
SenyorDave
Maybe this motherfucker is finally going to get what he deserves.
Die in prison, with a long stint as bitch to an inmate named Madcow. maybe madcow has a gambling problem, and uses the orange POS to pay off his debts.
Hey, a guy can hope, can’t he?
Kathleen
I have theories based on extensive reading and paying close attention the last 55 years.
1. One of the powerful factions is done with Trump and Sanders. They’ve served their purpose and outlived usefulness. The primary shift due to Trump’s tariff policies which will create
havoc for too many large global businesses.
2. Ocasio-Cortez is Bernie v.2 and will play the role of “Gadfly From The Left” and continue Sanders’ role as Rodent Purity Procreator.
3. The script has changed. The media do not react like this unless they’ve received “the new script”.
4. The goal is to maintain fascist rethuglican agenda and Trump is collateral damage.. Media will be focused on celebrating Trump’s departure and maintaining Fascist rethuglican
agenda. Expect the media to return to its primal state of intoning “both sides” (in best concerned NPR voice) and bashing Democrats.
5. As everyone here has said, we have to do all we can to elect Dems this year and prove to ourselves we really do have power even in the face of Rethuglican treachery and evil.
On another note, did anyone else see anything on Twitter this morning about a very strange tweet supposedly from Trumps account? It seemed to freak a lot of people out. I’m going o try to retrieve it and provide link in comments if successful.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@lamh36:
I just can’t help thinking – PBS was saying this is Putin’s revenge of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and I can’t help but note that how many of the Republicans getting caught up in this are Chickenhawks from the Cold War. WTF, did Putin spend the last thirty years luring these A-holes in with own greed for something like this?
While it’s infuriating as an American you got to be impressed how Putin is getting a twofer off of this.
kindness
Meh! I’m confident Republicans in Congress will do absolutely nothing. I’m also confident that the Fox News contingent likes Putin more than Hillary or Barack. Those people won’t demand anything (except another hippie punching specticle).
schrodingers_cat
Continuation of my earlier comment 84.
When I talked to them the last (3 years ago) they were hoping to apply for a greencard through their respective employers. Since they are from India, if that petition/s is successful it would take anywhere from a few years to decades to get the actual GC (depending on which category of the employment based permanent residency they qualify for, there are at least 5 sub types that I know of, IANAL)
les
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Ah, but Putin’s Russia is as close to libertarian as you can get, no? Love to see Rand try to survive there.
Adam L Silverman
@Patricia Kayden: Because that wouldn’t have allowed him to fill the empty Supreme Court seat with a Federalist Society judge.
M. Bouffant
Nope.
The American people are going to get what they deserve, good & hard, for letting Trump into the Executive Mansion. Sucker-ass chumps.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: If I understand correctly, the detective fiction genre was invented in Mumbai.//
Adam L Silverman
@jl: Here you go:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/opinion/sunday/mitch-mcconnell-supreme-court-senate.html
Sherparick
@lamh36: His dream to abolish the income tax, social security, & Medicare. Senator Paul will gladly accept Russian help to turn the U.S.A. into a Christianist Galt Gulch. That end justify the means (Trump & Putin).
Sherparick
@Adam L Silverman: Exactly!
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: Ancient India, five thousand years ago. Mumbai is a young city compared to the rest of India.//
Sherparick
@M. Bouffant: One should remember that the majority of the people who voted did not vote for him. He did not win a plurality. A minority, a malignant minority rules this country & they no longer have legitimacy. Certainly not after today.
Aleta
Good to remember that before the election, Aleksander Torshin (close to Putin, Deputy Governor of the B. of Russia, m*b connections, suspected to be the person who directed Maria Butina*)
*Esquire: “From as early as 2015 and continuing through at least February 2017, Butina worked at the direction of a high-level official in the Russian government who was previously a member of the legislature of the Russian Federation and later became a top official at the Russian Central Bank. This Russian official was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control in April 2018. The court filings detail the Russian official’s and Butina’s efforts for Butina to act as an agent of Russia inside the United States by developing relationships with U.S. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in American politics, for the purpose of advancing the interests of the Russian Federation.”
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: The ancient ruins upon which Mumbai is built. Mumbaiopolis.//
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman:Of course, it is known that your people or mine discovered everything there was to discover 5000 years ago. Everything else is derivative.//
TriassicSands
@dmsilev:
I was thinking “push” was a euphemism for a sex act that Vlad likes.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat:
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: Gunpowder?
efgoldman
@Patricia Kayden:
the senator with the racoon on his head needs to worry about a primary from the right, rather than as Dem from the left.
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: It was tongue-in-cheek, with sarcasm tags added!
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: I know.
sukabi
@chris: another agent being called home for instructions.
sukabi
@Roger Moore: It would be better if he was met at the airport on his return with handcuffs.
schrodingers_cat
@Adam L Silverman: Jokes aside, I don’t think that India is the bestest or anything like that. Its just another frame of reference that I have, besides the United States.