Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

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

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

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

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Donald Jessica Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

If marriage is the equivalent of selling yourself into slavery, women with self respect should reject the offer.

You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Trumpery / Trump Crime Cartel

Trump Crime Cartel

Thursday Morning Open Thread: #PutinOwnsTrump

by | 161 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

Philip Bump, at the Washington Post — “Eleven years later, Trump may finally have the best friend he wanted”: [gift link]

In 2013, Donald Trump was just New York Businessman Donald Trump, his presidential ambitions apparently obliterated by President Barack Obama’s scornful dismantling at the 2011 White House Correspondent’s Association dinner. Trump had been flirting with running in 2012, settling instead for a demure endorsement of the eventual nominee, Mitt Romney.

So instead of focusing heavily on politics, Trump was focused on promoting the Trump Organization. His private company still owned the Miss Universe Organization, for example, and he was looking forward to that year’s pageant, hosted at Crocus City Hall in Moscow. (In March of this year, terrorists aligned with the Islamic State attacked a concert at the venue, killing more than 140 people.)

There was one part of the upcoming pageant that seemed to hold particular appeal for Trump. While in town, he might finally get to meet someone who, we’ve since learned, he held in high esteem: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow,” he mused on Twitter, the social media platform now called X. And “if so, will he become my new best friend?”…

show full post on front page

Thursday Morning Open Thread: #PutinOwnsTrumpPost + Comments (161)

Late Night Creeping Authoritarianism Open Thread: Der KKKlassics!

by | 140 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

Living the dream, per NBC — “Trump plans rallies in solidly Democratic states in an unorthodox strategy for the election’s final weeks”:

… With less than four weeks until Election Day, Trump is scheduled to hold rallies in staunchly Democratic states he has virtually no chance of winning. It’s an unorthodox strategy campaign advisers say is designed to focus on areas where Democratic policies have failed, but it will also keep him away from the small handful of swing states almost certain to determine the election.

Over the next month, the former president has events scheduled in Colorado, California, Illinois and New York. President Joe Biden won those states by an average of 20 points in 2020, with his 13-point Colorado win the closest margin. Colorado is the only one of those states to vote for a Republican nominee for president this millennium, backing George W. Bush in 2004.

While each event will be held in slightly different venues, the most notable will be later this month in Madison Square Garden, a place where Trump has long said he wanted to hold [a] political rally…

The decision to deviate from a traditional campaign playbook comes at a time when the race is almost certain to be decided in places like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan, places that are within the margin of error in most public polling and considered winnable for both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“This does not seem like a campaign putting their candidate in critical vote rich or swing vote locations — it seems more like a candidate who wants his campaign to put on rallies for optics and vibes,” longtime Republican operative Matthew Bartlett said…

Sure, it’s a(nother) big waste of RNC money, but Donny will get to enact his long-held fantasy, snarling New York City traffic once again, with his grinning mug & throngs of adoring cultists plastered all over the Very Serious Media! (Every seat in the Garden will be filled if they have to bus in TP-USA interns and/or paid extras from the entire tri-state area.)

And meanwhile it will keep TFG from interfering with — or at least prematurely announcing — the machinations of swing-state Repubs as they implement their plans to steal key electoral votes. Win-win!

show full post on front page

Late Night Creeping Authoritarianism Open Thread: <em>Der KKKlassics!</em>Post + Comments (140)

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Repubs in Disarray! (Again)

by | 121 Comments

This post is in: , , , , , ,

Remember — sharing is caring!

Tim Walz's ability to engineer media cycles is unparalleled in the Democratic Party

[image or embed]

— Shiv Ramdas (@nameshiv.bsky.social) October 2, 2024 at 7:29 PM

Thursday Morning Open Thread 23

(Jeff Danziger via GoComics.com)

Thursday Morning Open Thread:<em> Repubs in Disarray!</em> (Again)Post + Comments (121)

Late Night Fever Dreams Open Thread: MAKE THEM RIOT

by | 102 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

This is not gonna come as a big surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention for the last four years, which leaves that considerable percentage of the voting public which hasn’t. As the overarching GOP quote goes, These are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Per the Associated Press, “Prosecutors lay out new evidence in Trump election case, accuse him of having ‘resorted to crimes’”:

Donald Trump laid the groundwork to try to overturn the 2020 election even before he lost, knowingly pushed false claims of voter fraud and “resorted to crimes” in his failed bid to cling to power, according to a court filing unsealed Wednesday that offers new evidence from the landmark criminal case against the former president.

The filing from special counsel Jack Smith’s team offers the most comprehensive view to date of what prosecutors intend to prove if the case charging Trump with conspiring to overturn the election reaches trial. Although a months-long congressional investigation and the indictment itself have chronicled in stark detail Trump’s efforts to undo the election, the filing cites previously unknown accounts offered by Trump’s closest aides to paint a portrait of an “increasingly desperate” president who, while losing his grip on the White House, “used deceit to target every stage of the electoral process.”…

The brief was made public over the Trump legal team’s objections in the final month of a closely contested presidential race in which Democrats have sought to make Trump’s refusal to accept the election results four years ago central to their claims that he is unfit for office. The issue flared as recently as Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate when Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, lamented the violence at the Capitol while a Republican opponent, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, refused to directly answer when asked whether Trump had lost the 2020 race…

The purpose of the brief is to persuade U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that the offenses charged in the indictment were undertaken in Trump’s private, rather than presidential, capacity and can therefore remain part of the case as it moves forward. Chutkan permitted a redacted version to be made public, even though Trump’s lawyers argued that it was unfair to unseal it so close to the election.

Though the prospects of a trial are uncertain, particularly if Trump wins the presidency and a new attorney general seeks the dismissal of the case, the brief nonetheless functions as a roadmap for the testimony and evidence prosecutors would elicit before a jury. It is now up to Chutkan to decide which of Trump’s acts are official conduct for which Trump is immune from prosecution and which are, in the words of Smith’s team, “private crimes” on which the case can proceed.

show full post on front page

Late Night Fever Dreams Open Thread: MAKE THEM RIOTPost + Comments (102)

Cold Grey Dawn Open Thread: Everything Must Go!

by | 99 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

This, given the tenor of our times, is a hopeful sign. The autocrat’s family doesn’t start tearing the copper plumbing out of the palace walls, or stripping the gilding off the furniture, until they’re actually worried about being overthrown. Or, then again, maybe the Trump team has access to medical news which hasn’t been shared with us hoi polloi…

But we have perhaps solved the minor mystery of why Melania has been willing to attend Log Cabin Republican events even when she conspicuously avoided her husband’s performances. Per CNN, “Melania Trump was paid for a rare appearance at a political event. It’s not clear who cut the unusual six-figure check”:

Melania Trump has barely been seen on the campaign trail this year. One of the few times she has appeared at a political event, she’s received a six-figure paycheck – a highly unusual move for the spouse of a candidate.

The former first lady spoke at two political fundraisers for the Log Cabin Republicans this year, and she was paid $237,500 for an April event, according to former President Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosure form. The payment was listed as a “speaking engagement.”

Trump’s latest disclosure form said Melania Trump was paid by the Log Cabin Republicans for the April fundraiser. But it’s a mystery who actually cut the check: Charles Moran, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, told CNN earlier this month the group did not put up the money for her to speak, and the disclosure form did not give any more information about the source of the payment.

Ahead of the other fundraiser in July for the conservative LGBTQ group, a person familiar said at least one request was made to a donor about a similar payment. It’s unclear whether Melania Trump was ultimately paid. The campaign has not put out the financial disclosure for that period. The source told CNN that Ric Grenell, former ambassador to Germany and a Trump ally, was the one who made the request on behalf of Melania Trump. Sources said Grenell has also helped the former first lady with other business ventures.

Campaign finance and government ethics experts say a payment to a presidential candidate’s spouse to appear at political fundraisers in an election is unusual, ethically questionable and should, at the very least, be properly noted in the disclosure forms…

show full post on front page

Cold Grey Dawn Open Thread: <em>Everything Must Go!</em>Post + Comments (99)

Monday Morning Open Thread: Compare & Contrast

by | 127 Comments

This post is in: , , , , ,


 
Meanwhile:

Per the Associated Press, in Michigan — “Republicans in swing states say they see scant signs of groups door-knocking for Trump”:

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Republican activists in swing states say they have seen little sign of the teams tasked with knocking on doors and turning out infrequent voters on behalf of Donald Trump, raising concerns about the party’s presidential nominee relying on outside groups for an important part of his campaign operations.

Trump and the Republican National Committee he controls opted to share get-out-the-vote duties in key parts of the most competitive states this year with groups such as America PAC, the organization supported by billionaire Elon Musk.

It is difficult to demonstrate that something is not happening. But with fewer than 50 days until the Nov. 5 election, dozens of Republican officials, activists and operatives in Michigan, North Carolina and other battleground states say they have rarely or never witnessed the group’s canvassers. In Arizona and Nevada, the Musk-backed political action committee replaced its door-knocking company just this past week.

show full post on front page

Monday Morning Open Thread: Compare & ContrastPost + Comments (127)

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: JD Vance Is Not A Good Person

by | 164 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

And he doesn’t seem to be a very good politician, either. Doubling down on a publicly discredited lie because… truthiness?… obviously pleases The Base, but Vance is giving ’embarrassed’ GOP voters every reason to, at the very least, stay home on election day:


Per the Guardian:

… The rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, came two days after the Ohio senator told CNN host Dana Bash it was OK “to create stories” to draw attention to issues his constituents care about, regarding inflammatory and unfounded claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, had eaten residents’ pets.

The comments, in which he appeared to say that politicians can brazenly lie, drew immediate rebuke. But during his rally, Vance defended them and claimed that numerous constituents had told him “they’d seen something in Springfield”.

“On top of it, if there are certain people who refuse to listen to them, who refuse to take their concerns seriously,” he said, “that’s when it’s my job as United States senator to listen to my constituents.”

Vance took questions from reporters but knocked the press repeatedly, a line of attack that brought the crowd to their feet.

“When I said – and the media always does this, they’re very dishonest – when I say that I created a story, I’m talking about the media story, by focusing the press’s intention on what’s going on in Springfield,” said Vance…

show full post on front page

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: JD Vance Is Not A Good PersonPost + Comments (164)