Trump, September 2017: Walmart Knockoff Hats and Other Indignities

http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/348707-walmart-selling-usa-trump-hats-at-one-fourth-of-trumps-price

Good mourning!

medicare for all, free public college tuition, kennedy-era tax rates

enjoy the next round of breathless speculation everyone

we lived through august! *group hug*

Time seemed to be flying by in the days BT (Before Trump), but scanning through a month's worth of activity, shit from 30 days ago feels like it happened sometime in 1975.

i just want one penis helicopter to interrupt a trump press conference. i don't ask for much

after the destruction of an entire city those nazi riots do seem like ages ago.

i just want one penis helicopter to interrupt a trump press conference. i don't ask for much

yeah, this is the type of russian hacking i can support 100%

covfefe was 40 years ago

people are STILL making covfefe jokes out there in the world
i was buying some groceries last week and out of the murmur of the shoppers and checkout aisles i heard "cov-fay-fay!!" out of nowhere and some laughing

so McCain did some editorializin'

Our entire system of government — with its checks and balances, its bicameral Congress, its protections of the rights of the minority — was designed for compromise. It seldom works smoothly or speedily. It was never expected to.

It requires pragmatic problem-solving from even the most passionate partisans. It relies on compromise between opposing sides to protect the interests we share. We can fight like hell for our ideas to prevail. But we have to respect each other or at least respect the fact that we need each other.

That has never been truer than today, when Congress must govern with a president who has no experience of public office, is often poorly informed and can be impulsive in his speech and conduct.

We must respect his authority and constitutional responsibilities. We must, where we can, cooperate with him. But we are not his subordinates. We don’t answer to him. We answer to the American people....

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/john-mccain-its-time-congress-returns-to-regular-order/2017/08/31/f62a3e0c-8cfb-11e7-8df5-c2e5cf46c1e2_story.html

barf

classic 'writes that, supports basically everything he does anyway' situation

I mean, McCain did vote against Trump's wishes on one occasion which actually did matter. I think that counts for something, you don't have to.

I won't lie, every time I click on this thread I hope he's just dropped dead or something

Meanwhile, a restaurant review

https://amp.ft.com/content/540354a4-8e4c-11e7-a352-e46f43c5825d

Over lunch, the 49-year-old hurtles his way to the end of each sentence without pause, using “f**k” the way millennials use “like”: constantly. He tells me he “almost certainly” has attention-deficit disorder. His choice of venue is as brazen as his avowals that he is blameless. We are plum in the centre of Mirabelle, just a block from the White House, a restaurant so luxurious they asked if it was a special occasion when I made the booking. The room of golden latticeworks and mirrors is packed with Washington power diners. It only opened in the spring, but Akhmetshin has already been “20 or 30 times”. Greeted warmly by staff, he embarks on a long meditation on the wonders of Islamic ornament and its deliberate imperfection, triggered by the interior design. “Only Allah is perfect,” he concludes. Then he orders us both pink champagne.

“Can I have mine maybe in a burgundy glass?” he asks the wine director, turning the exotic request into a friendly command. Then he turns to me conspiratorially and adds: “You know there are champagnes which you decant!”

Akhmetshin goes for Riesling with his rabbit pâté starter. Feeling chancey, I plump for Atlantic fluke marinated with pastis, with fennel purée, smoked trout roe and nasturtium to start; to follow I decide I’d better join Akhmetshin in the steak, which seems the most robust option to sustain what I gather will be a breakneck pace. White wine pairings duly arrive.

“It’s like someone steals your toothpaste from you because you couldn’t hide it well enough — I think there’s something honest about that.” He goes on to expound a curious theory of “personal responsibility” — the value he says he likes best about America.

It is 6.20pm. We’ve been at it for nearly five hours but now his longest lunch ever comes to an abrupt halt. Akhmetshin has to cook supper for his daughter. “I should have ordered more alcohol,” he reflects.

He pedals off astride his orange bicycle.

“It’s like someone steals your toothpaste from you because you couldn’t hide it well enough — I think there’s something honest about that.”

is it 'things a psychopath would say?'

real life is getting even weirder

Akhmetshin goes for Riesling with his rabbit pâté starter.

Nabokov story

Scans like Henry Higgins elocution lessons.

Him: Now repeat after me: "Akhmetshin goes for Riesling with his rabbit pâté starter."
Her: gurgle gamer gurgle gobble!
Him: No! Again!

"He wants the opportunity to personally tell people that we want to be helpful." https://t.co/t5HxFmMCXc

— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) September 1, 2017

White wine paired with steak, oh dear.

after the destruction of an entire city those nazi riots do seem like ages ago.

I haven't watched late-night shows in awhile, but I caught a couple Seth reruns this week--one of 'em was after the 'Fire & Fury', and last night's was from May, after the 'Two Scoops' incident. Both felt like transmissions from separate worlds.

The transparent dishonesty of his "praise" for certain people continues to be hilarious:

General John Kelly is doing a great job as Chief of Staff. I could not be happier or more impressed - and this Administration continues to..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2017

...get things done at a record clip. Many big decisions to be made over the coming days and weeks. AMERICA FIRST!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2017

Damn:

A House Republican said Thursday he will launch an effort to force a vote on his bipartisan legislation shielding young immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation.

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) announced he will file a discharge petition next week when the chamber returns to session. The move is all the more striking given that discharge petitions are usually a tool used by the House minority party.

Coffman’s announcement came amid multiple reports on Thursday that President Trump is expected to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program as soon as Friday. Nearly 800,000 people who came to the U.S. illegally as children have been granted work permits and deferred deportation under the program created under President Obama in 2012.

“#DACA participants grew up here, went to school here, and should be allowed to stay here. The time has come to take action,” Coffman wrote on Twitter.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/348771-gop-lawmaker-wants-to-force-vote-on-bill-protecting-daca-recipients

America Fist!
https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/t/fist-us-flag-8847194.jpg

You want a waste of time congress? Needing to repeatedly enact legislation that prevents the president from undoing legislation already in place.

well, DACA was an executive order.

and here comes the speaker:

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Friday he doesn't think President Trump should cancel the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

"I actually don't think he should do that, and I believe that this is something Congress has to fix," Ryan told WCLO Janesville.

Ryan added that he doesn't believe President Obama had the legal authority to institute DACA, but it's up to Congress to fix the situation.

"President Obama did not have the legislative authority to do what he did," said Ryan. "You can't, as an executive, write law out of thin air."

These numbers... devastating. And, in case I didn't mention it, ts a Fox News poll. pic.twitter.com/uFKDZimvjA

— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) September 1, 2017

That Charles Pierce piece yesterday about the Mueller investigation--the one that starts "It's on"--is that as encouraging as it sounds? He doesn't seem like someone to breathlessly project when there's nothing there.

I hope I hope I hope I hope he was watching when that came on. xp

"Congress must govern with a president who has no experience of public office, is often poorly informed and can be impulsive in his speech and conduct.

We must respect his authority and constitutional responsibilities. We must, where we can, cooperate with him. But we are not his subordinates. We don’t answer to him. We answer to the American people...."

impossible to "cooperate" with, utterly incapable of discharging the duties of the position he was elected to. the facts will wait for you to be willing to acknowledge them, sen. mccain.

How could anyone possibly apply gradations to "knowledgeable," "honest," "steady," "compassionate," and "moral"?

lies to my enemies but not to me e.g.

That Charles Pierce piece yesterday about the Mueller investigation--the one that starts "It's on"--is that as encouraging as it sounds? He doesn't seem like someone to breathlessly project when there's nothing there.

It's reasonable tea leaf reading at this point, yes.

WASHINGTON — The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, has obtained a letter that President Trump and a top political aide drafted in the days before Mr. Trump fired the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, which explains the president’s rationale for why he planned to dismiss the director.

The May letter had been met with opposition from Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, who believed that some of its contents were problematic, according to interviews with a dozen administration officials and others briefed on the matter.

can someone help me understand what is going on with this Antifa thing? is this a real group or just yet another dumb attempt by the right-wing to deflect attention away from the terrible people on their side?

https://www.vice.com/en_nz/article/qvvxyd/a-historian-of-antifa-explains-americas-punchiest-leftist-movement

Deflection. They're both bad! Both sides do it! If they are good people why do they wear black?! WHY!?!?!?!

I thought this was good, h/t kingfish for posting:

https://psmag.com/social-justice/understanding-antifa

Man, I can only imagine the damage that will come of a letter drafted by Miller and Trump with no oversight.

re: "Its On"

All the leaks indicate Mueller is hard charging at 2 things: the obstruction angle and trying to destroy Manafort

Perhaps money laundering, too. Or money/Manafort in an effort to get to Trump.

i know i've been spoiled by months of document leaks because i want to read the miller/trump letter NOW, and i'm disappointed that it'll have to wait until...whatever happens months/years from now with mueller

How could anyone possibly apply gradations to "knowledgeable," "honest," "steady," "compassionate," and "moral"?

I wasn't clear enough here--what I meant was, as applied to Trump. Who could sort them out? "I think he's a little more honest than he is steady, but a little more steady than compassionate." None of the terms apply.

Days/minutes/seconds.

I mean the way to think about all this is this -- the appointment of Mueller and the creation of his team was not, in and of itself, the key step, though it was necessary. The key step is the increasing coordination and, to a degree, centralization we're now seeing happen across a wide variety of investigations. The consequences of Trump's impulsive mid-May move keep playing out as a result; Mueller didn't have to start from scratch, he has a wide range of professional connections and resources to draw upon and, in a series of sublime gifts from the gods, Trump himself keeps telegraphing concerns or doing things that add to the impression that at the very least he really does have something to hide, no matter what the actual reasons are. That latter fact has to some degree now tamped down, likely due to a combination of Kelly's cleanup and Trump's current legal folks avoiding Kasowitz's clownishness and sticking to various 'no-comment' statements or pat phrases about working with Mueller's team well on a professional level, but the damage is done; combined with Trump's obvious unpopularity, and little wonder it's all chugging along like this.

Having his legal team not being run by a drunk idiot like Kasowitz is also helpful

Minor details.

It's occurring to me with increasing frequency that, in the course of a life filled to overflowing with acts of stupidity, running for president might wind up being the stupidest thing Trump ever did. Instead of (relatively speaking) continuing to fly under the radar as a crooked turd of a private citizen, he just painted a big ol' target on himself. Which he thankfully feels the need to touch up on a daily basis.

Yeah I was thinking the same last night.

THREAD: What does the news that Mueller has a draft of a Trump letter explaining why he wanted to fire Comey mean for the obstruction case?

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) September 1, 2017

61 percent disapproval on Gallup, new low

Time for Trump to repost his smug golf clap photo.

(Again, it must be said, one of his most profoundly pathetic moments was celebrating a 50% approval rating in a poll that's strongly skewed in his favor.)

Well he's -14% net on that one now lol

Trump caves on the wall...again.

The White House has signaled to congressional Republicans that it will not shut down the government in October if money isn’t appropriated to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, potentially clearing a path for lawmakers to reach a short-term budget deal.

Congress has only appropriated money to fund government operations through the end of September, and President Trump has threatened to shut down the government if lawmakers don’t include $1.6 billion in new funding so that 74 new miles of wall and secondary fencing can be added to the border.

“Build that wall,” Trump said at the Aug. 22 rally in Phoenix. “Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it. But believe me, if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall.”

But two days later, White House officials quietly notified Congress that the $1.6 billion would not need to be in a “continuing resolution” that was meant to fund government operations from October until sometime in early December, a senior GOP congressional aide said.

hmm, i figured he'd cave on it a little closer to the budget negotiations, but fine. that means that trump can direct his idiot legion's rage toward congressional republicans by blaming them for not allocating money for his precious wall

XP Now if only a wall would cave in on...

best case scenario for 9/11/17 = trump pulls a hillary but actually dies

KInd of dumbfounded that he'd still be talking about a wall after Houston. Almost as much as turning down the offer of Mexican help.
But there you go it's not like you can have any expectations of cognition from the guy.

Breaking the potential candidates into formal tiers at this point would be silly. But here are groupings that emerged with our conversations with veterans of past Democratic presidential campaigns, as well as younger operatives likely to be involved in the 2020 campaign:

Watched most closely: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The classics: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Al Gore, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Outsiders: New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper

Has begun seeking staff: Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.), Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio).

Many in Obamaworld like: former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Rep. Seth Moulton (Mass.), former Missouri SecState Jason Kander.

Many in Clintonworld like: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, former Ag Secretary and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro.

Possible if wins reelection: Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio).

Wants to be mentioned: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.).

Wild cards: Sen. Al Franken (Minn.), Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rep. John Delaney (Md.).

Non-politicians: Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Cuban, The Rock, Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Oprah, George Clooney.

Someone Trump would have no idea what to do with, and who'd win women with authenticity and Southern charm: Sally Yates, the acting attorney general fired by Trump.

https://www.axios.com/axios-am-2480203706.html

president-elect zuckerberg conspicuously absent

he's busy in tulsa, at a laundrette, learning about how people live now

sad no one's mentioning Pete Buttigieg

Draft Tammy Duckworth

When Poppy Bush said every single day during his campaign "Read my lips; no new taxes", he was excoriated mercilessly by his supporters when he later signed a bill that included new taxes. It should be said as often as possible that Trump promised multiple times a day that Mexico would pay for the wall, so if Congress doesn't pay for it, that is only because they know Mexico must do it, so why waste US taxpayer dollars on it?

because the concept of hypocrisy died in 2016

The difference is that Poppy never had a base of support -- he was perpetually mistrusted.

same reason Obama got slammed for "you can keep your doctor"? Trump's lies and scandals at this point are like this -

http://www.tgaw.com/images/SpeakEasy/ThreeStooges.JPG

Has Trump had one of these "wait and see ... " moments yet where in the end he made the better decision rather than the most disruptive and upsetting one?

Huh, TN's AG pulled out of its "DREAMERS" suit. Maybe others will follow and nullify this bullshit.

I am starting to see reports from the misinformed press and the fake news on how I am in violation of breaking campaign law.

#1 I have still not officially announced my candidacy.

#2 See #1 and go fuck yourselves.

Everyone else, Have a great Labor Day (I will be spending mine WORKING in one of the greatest cities in America - Grand Rapids, Michigan!!)

Rock on.
Kid Rock

@ frogbs - antifa is a real thing but probably comprise idk two hundred people in the united states, rounding up. the RW infosphere interpretation is that they are a massive armed front basically interchangeable with black-bloc anarchists and the dangerous terrorist cell known as black lives matter. from what I can tell on comments threads and batshit cartoons they are also communists. must be tough for them juggling all these ideologies but hey.

also, it seems, all liberals of whatever stripes spend a lot of time actively agreeing with all these groups and movements and supporting everything they do. which is prob the most absurd thing to me, as if more than .001% of the US population had ever heard the word "antifa" before last month. conservative media is just so hungry for a "oh yeah well why won't LIBERALS condemn ANTIFA, see trump was right to talk about BOTH SIDES" etc.

the RW infosphere interpretation is that they are a massive armed front basically interchangeable with black-bloc anarchists and the dangerous terrorist cell known as black lives matter.

don't forget they're also secretly funded by george soros.

yeah but Andrew Sullivan cares that they're throwing smoke bombs and shit

yeah it's been strange. I'm used to the right-wing deflecting and "oh why won't you talk about the REAL story" (Benghazi) every time a Trump controversy comes up but this is the first time I've seen the left go along with it, "ahh yeah these *squints* Anteefa are also very bad".

wait isn't Gavin Newsom trying to run?

Trump's main thug, Keith Schiller, is leaving the White House.

Newsom wants to be CA gov first

That Kid Rock thing points to the inevitability of someone using "Fuck all y'all" as a campaign slogan

Hell yeah

Rock 2018: [Radio Edit]

ehhh the broad Dem coalition has always been pretty cool with throwing more aggressive activists, protesters that cross over into property destruction of whatever kind, or really radicals of whatever sort, under the bus. people who share Maddow news constantly are probably the most eager to proclaim "but these violent black-clad thugs, i condemn them totally" which may be a defensible position but it's not new imho. shades really quickly into "and it's fine if the cops mistreat them and throw away the key" cause a lot of the same cats are eager to make clear that they don't live up to the caricature version drawn by the right. turn back the clock to seattle '99, or white liberals struggling to make sense of the black panthers, etc. etc.

Aaaaand the walkback begins. Sarah Huckabee Sanders could not confirm whether Trump's planned donation of $1 million to Harvey victims was going to come from his personal money or from the Trump foundation.

every day, multiple times a day, there is a new illustration of what a piece of shit he is

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/watch-as-trump-calls-on-a-bunch-of-religious-leaders-to-thank-him-for-his-harvey-efforts/

Serious question: How many (and which) senior Trump administration officials use the word "scrivener"? https://t.co/iyjw80yiVF pic.twitter.com/NoLKdUVjxn

— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) September 1, 2017

ILX's new bff had a good explainer for use of that term - its intentional

The person quoted in that passage is minimizing Miller's role--suggesting he was like a transcriber or a secretary, exercising no judgment. https://t.co/P80fCAEge1

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) September 2, 2017

Kelly and Trump not BFFs anymore! Sad!

President Trump was in an especially ornery mood after staff members gently suggested he refrain from injecting politics into day-to-day issues of governing after last month’s raucous rally in Arizona, and he responded by lashing out at the most senior aide in his presence.

It happened to be his new chief of staff, John F. Kelly.

Mr. Kelly, the former Marine general brought in five weeks ago as the successor to Reince Priebus, reacted calmly, but he later told other White House staff members that he had never been spoken to like that during 35 years of serving his country. In the future, he said, he would not abide such treatment, according to three people familiar with the exchange.

...

Like every other new sheriff in town Mr. Trump has hired to turn things around at the White House or in his presidential campaign, Mr. Kelly has gradually diminished in his appeal to his restless boss. What is different this time is that Mr. Trump, mired in self-destructive controversies and record-low approval ratings, needs Mr. Kelly more than Mr. Kelly needs him.

...

For the seven months of the Trump administration, the favorite parlor game in the West Wing has been guessing how long imperiled aides like Mr. Priebus would hang on before getting fired. But these days it is Mr. Kelly’s state of mind, not Mr. Trump’s, that concerns the beleaguered aides buoyed by the new chief’s imposition of structure and clear lines of authority.

The question now is how long Mr. Kelly will stay, with estimates ranging from a month to a year at the most. White House officials say that Mr. Kelly has given no indication he intends to leave anytime soon. He has thrown himself into long-term planning of the administration’s tax reform push, the president’s Asia trip in November and scheduling for the next several months, they said. Mr. Kelly declined through a White House spokeswoman to comment for this article.

...

Mr. Kelly cannot stop Mr. Trump from binge-watching Fox News, which aides describe as the president’s primary source of information gathering. But Mr. Trump does not have a web browser on his phone, and does not use a laptop, so he was dependent on aides like Stephen K. Bannon, his former chief strategist, to hand-deliver printouts of articles from conservative media outlets.

Now Mr. Kelly has thinned out his package of printouts so much that Mr. Trump plaintively asked a friend recently where The Daily Caller and Breitbart were.

"...and where the hell is my Daily Stormer!?!?"

lol "a friend"

God, that's all so, so pathetic

Mr. Kelly, the former Marine general brought in five weeks ago as the successor to Reince Priebus, reacted calmly, but he later told other White House staff members that he had never been spoken to like that during 35 years of serving his country. In the future, he said, he would not abide such treatment, according to three people familiar with the exchange.

First of all I would love to know how a Marine who enlisted in 1970 actually phrased the sentiments described above, but I can probably guess at some of the terminology.

Second, that he put those rhymes down in front of at least three people - and you know he knows some if not all of those press sources are press sources - is extremely telling.

'why i never!'

/Jimmy Stewart voice/

"Why by gosh in all my 35 years of service to this great country I can't recall a single time any man, or woman, or even a dog ever gave me so much guff. I don't think I could abide being spoken to like that again, not even by the President. No sir, I don't think I could abide it, not at all. Now I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me; I don't like to be emotional in front of people who aren't my wife."

I would love to know how a Marine who enlisted in 1970 actually phrased the sentiments described above

lololol

america is a comedy

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-smoke-chimney-russian-consulate-san-francisco/

Schiller going seems pretty damn notable.

it just further proves that Trump has nobody loyal to him besides the people who imagine they're in his will; Schiller was in it for the money and the power, he wasn't getting enough of either, so maybe he'll go die in a cornfield, nobody fucking cares. Omarosa will quit sometime in November, I figure.

Trump doesn't have a web browser on his phone? I thought that was where he used Twitter from.
Don't you need the web to do that?

There's an App for that!

america is a comedy

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-smoke-chimney-russian-consulate-san-francisco/

― nomar, Saturday, 2 September 2017 1:57 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

New pope?

I thought new phones pretty much automatically came with internet access for the last 5 or 10 years.
Does having a Twitter App but no Internet Browser reflect an absolute lack of curiosity about the world while maintaining a need to spout off about it?
I still have a non Smart phone so am not familiar with Apps. So am used to all that web related stuff being accessed through internet option. So Facebook, Twitter etc and tv or whatever would be through a browser. So surprised that what to me are sub categories bypass the umbrella category.

We can tell u don't zing, so there r things we can't share sorry

I could be wrong but is this the first time one of his key cronies has basically called him out on his fucking up?

https://apnews.com/09374b11b8494515b50de5a5538014f6

“He’s in a weak position,” said Christopher Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax and a longtime Trump friend. “A lot of the Republican establishment has not been supportive, his poll numbers are down and he has spent most of his early presidency appealing to his base while most presidents would be seeking more consensus.”

Obviously he could be harsher but he is pretty much pointing out the obvious.

A later quote by Ruddy is even more telling to my mind. I honestly wouldn't have expected the guy behind Newsmax to be this open about the limits of what he's helped push, though at the same time how conveeeenient that he can blame someone who is once again an open competitor:

“Steve Bannon got the president and a lot of people believing they had to fulfill a checklist number of promises I don’t believe his supporters require him to do that,” Ruddy said. He added that as long as Trump appeals only to that group of voters, he will be focused only on “a fraction of conservatives, a minority viewpoint.”

I thought new phones pretty much automatically came with internet access for the last 5 or 10 years.

They probably gave him one of those w/ giant buttons for grandparents who don't want the internets.

'i don't wanna accidentally buy something'

well yes

http://fortune.com/2016/06/10/president-obamas-new-smartphone-is-more-like-a-toddler-phone/

So I guess he was a jackass feeding people at the shelter today?

everyone was having such a good time

I saw a photo of him kissing a little black girl, and it looked like he was a heartbeat away from swallowing her whole.

Small thing, but I really don't like how he and Melania keep product placing their hats. Astros/Texans/Rockets/Rap-A-Lot swag had to be available.

Seeing the President directly serve the people is welcomed and heartening. https://t.co/37akVLy8BH

— Evan McMullin (@Evan_McMullin) September 2, 2017

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/DIvcoqYWAAAXx9F.jpg

The look on his face conveys that there are human hearts in those to-go boxes.

re: how he uses Twitter:

I dictate my tweets to my executive assistant and she posts them. "Time is money"---The Art of the Deal.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 23, 2011

and here i thought bob marley came up with that one

So he has somebody else up with him in the middle of the night making non grammatical nonsense posts. Covfefe and long interval between posts were dictated? If that's true isn't it worse.
He's employing an assistant that's also heartless and hasn't been mentioned over the last 7 months? I don't think so, certainly not for all of his Tweets.

It's John Barron.

is she Siri or Cortana?

https://i.imgur.com/hYu8WUA.jpg

A lot about his daily life has chambers since 2011.

Changed, fu autocorrect

don't you think that executive assistant would have had a fawning nymag profile by now if she existed

in the admin context i mean

He's definitely not dictating the colorful late night tweets. The retweets of neo-nazis, likewise, are his doing. No employee who wants to preserve their job would do that stuff.

Her name is Rhona Graff, apparently

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/rhona-graff-trump-conduit-236484

re: how he uses Twitter:

Follow
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
I dictate my tweets to my executive assistant and she posts them. "Time is money"---The Art of the Deal.
10:01 AM - Nov 23, 2011
218 218 Replies 652 652 Retweets 193 193 likes

― louie mensch (milo z), Sunday, September 3, 2017 1:41 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mAuazb3yoRk/U2Bl6ls1wfI/AAAAAAAADFI/7JO63B_kUf0/s1600/best.jpg

sic otm, he hasn't "dictated" tweets to an assistant in years and he certainly doesn't do it now

No, it's absolutely true. I found a picture of his Twitter assistant.

http://rs718.pbsrc.com/albums/ww183/ckdout/Quato.jpg~c200

tbh there is a strong possibility the assistant was always John Barron, and Trump just thinks the idea of him dictating things to subordinates makes him sound important

The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017

Ha ha, yeah, this'll end well.

They are groping for a non-military way to 'get tough' on NK. Every administration has the same intractable set of NK problems and the same set of unworkable ideas to deal with them. Some day we'll have to give in, normalize relations, and try to reintegrate NK into the world's community of nations.

I'm just envisioning Trump saying this to China and having them respond with an invoice for every dime we owe them, due in 30 days.

https://medium.com/@Amy_Siskind/week-42-experts-in-authoritarianism-advise-to-keep-a-list-of-things-subtly-changing-around-you-so-a1fbe96c91ca

117 items on this week's list

he racked up 117 items in a slow week in late August!

knowing trump, he likely got in the 10 items or less lane too

Lyle Goldstein has some interesting insights into how to constructively engage with both China and the DPRK, of course I'll have to re-listen to the podcast below to remember what they were. That said they all involved give and take, talks, understanding an opposing point of view and all kinds of things 45 is not to good at.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sinica-podcast-weekly-discussion-current-affairs-in/id1121407665?mt=2&i=1000390124742

from maura's

In a radio interview, Eric Trump said the negative media coverage was impacting his father: “It important to keep in context. Otherwise, quite frankly, you’d probably end up killing yourself out of depression.”

where's that osama thumbs up gif

i don't know if it's reassuring or not that a 117-item list can almost uniformly strike me as old news. either the constant stream of stories is calling attention away from arguably worse things, or the normalization is not actually as creeping and insidious as it has been made out to be, since the stream of stories is graspable and seems to be cohering into a constant reminder of the nation's grievance against trump (much like he can never forget a slight)

So, his Tweet-assistant typed covfefe?

jamais un coup de dé n'abolira le hazard

Rhona Graff is not a real person, that's the editor of an electronic newspaper in a cyberpunk novel.

A Trumpster Darkly

Remarkable, this DACA suicide.

Setting aside its obvious cruel stupidity, it's remarkable how much of it seems to be driven by Trump's own two-minded cowardice and desperation. I read it this way: "I gotta act. But I can't be the bad guy, somehow. I can't do this immediately. Congress, they keep telling me not to do this. Okay, they gotta do this themselves. That's it." It's some convoluted attempt at a deal crossed with self-pity where the only one being hurt is him (according to him). Meantime, the whole caucus in the House and relevant figures in the Senate just took a look at the 6 month deadline, the upcoming primary calendar and more and are cursing his name. Of course, you shouldn't pity them either. And they are tied to that shipwreck leading their party all the more tightly now, and they too will think they're the only ones being hurt.

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/03/trump-dreamers-immigration-daca-immigrants-242301

DACA is dead in 6 months.

Ned's read is more potentially positive.

I wouldn't call it positive, merely noting the calculus here.

jeff sessions is also a piece of shit

^have been adding this tacit acknowledgement to all my renditions of The Lord's Prayer lately

genius, give your opposition something huge to unite around and only six months to plan a response

we do usually need some time to get our shit together

It looks like there's going to be huge corporate dissent on the DACA repeal.

https://dreamers.fwd.us/Business-Leaders

Let's hope he'll be disgraced/dead by then and someone else can begin rebuilding the country

What would disgrace look like in that scenario tbh

live boy/dead girl obvs

i guess i mean universally disgraced beyond a few lingering Nazi sympathisers

Scratch one up for the classics there ted

Nixon 74 disgraced

The uh goalposts for disgrace have either moved or shrunk since 74 is prob the takeaway here

Best simplify options to 'dead' tbh

KFC needs to reintroduce the Double Down then, imo

Well I mean separate to any political argument then obv

Really hoping that the idea of norms hasn't been stretched absolutely out of shape too far already & that things can be rebuilt.
& that this doesn't signpost future behaviour for Presidents.
Is there any possibility that anything can be put in place to stop any future total neophyte from destroying things they don't like.
Or from getting into such a position of power in the first place.

Well this is it

what does "fixing" american democracy even look like at this point? by what means would it occur? the american political system has always implicitly rested on the idea of virtue; when the illusion of that virtue is so thoroughly shattered, how is such a system reparable?

so is Twin Peaks finale the first disaster of the era we can't blame on him?

No. Spoilers.

I'm already not clicking the hundred Twin Peaks/Lynch threads you're reviving, but can we keep this about rotten to the core politics like it's supposed to? At least till us Europeans get a chance to see the final tonight? Much obliged.

Fixing American democracy, a checklist

1. Redistricting after 2020 census to correct, as much as possible, the ridiculous partisan gerrymandering that was committed after 2010
2. Abolish the electoral college
3. Put voting rights in the Constitution (and amend the status of the territories & DC while we're at it to stop completely disenfranchising 4 million of our own people - a higher than average proportion of which are veterans and their families)
3. Restore balance to the SCOTUS and federal judiciary to help protect & preserve all of the above reforms

Fixing American executive branch institutions, a checklist:

1. Keep a running list of fuckups committed by this administration
2. Win all the elections
3. Appoint a special commissioner to roll back all the fuckups in, say, 270 days or less after inauguration

4. ???
5. Profit!

First, you get the democracy. Then, you get the power. Then you get the women.

I was going to go on about how rebuilding the talent pool of good Feds we're losing from all over (not just State, HUD, EPA; it's everywhere, even Morbius' beloved intelligence community) is going to take a decade, and how some of the law enforcement agencies are going to need multiple lumpectomies, but all that bothers me more than the numbered bullets above, to be honest.

you'd also probably have to do systemic reform of the justice and incarceration system, with particular attention paid to police and prisons.

also make some corrections to a wholly market-based media infrastructure which gives falsehood memetic advantages over truth.

oh, and by the way the entire two-party system the constitution basically requires is rotten and unsustainable, as we have proof positive that should at least one of the parties (probably either) produce an unfit candidate, most people with allegiance to that party will choose party over principle.

also, while we're at it the economy, particularly with respect to jobs, is permanently unstable and will continue to displace workers left and right. preventing the collapse of democracy will probably require addressing the growing reality that employment is not a realistic expectation for many workers.

i'm not optimistic about the possibility of "fixing" things.

rebuilding the talent pool of good feds _is_ a problem, though one which is difficult to measure. to rebuild democracy requires faith in democracy. i'm not entirely sure that, even should the democrats pull another obama out of their ass in 2020 (or, god forbid, 2024) the civic-minded would jump on board to help out. for what? for eight years of a rear-guard action that will end in eight years with somebody even worse than trump undoing everything they've accomplished in 100 days? it's not enough to fix the damage. you have to make people believe the disaster won't recur.

Stepping back even further, we also have to cure the poison that's infected people's minds and beliefs via corporate propaganda over the past few decades. And to fix that we'd have to somehow maneuver around the media apparatuses and politicians that they have a near monopoly over... and somehow overcome the unprecedented levels of wealth and power they hold now... and the fact that they control both the Republican and Democratic parties... and it's all a self-reinforcing system.

And on and on and on. Fixing the US to work better for most people is a massive, generations-long project. My shit thrown on the wall guess is that we're going to experience a serious collapse or violent crisis before any of this starts.

I was mostly responding from my own context (DC, federal, executive) and since that's where Stevolende also appeared to be coming from, at least how I read his questions.

Systemic overhaul of the justice & prison system has to start at the local level to have any staying power. The federal justice system is not the most fucked up one at present, not even close.

The media infrastructure cannot be fixed by elected officials. That just has to eat itself, and it will.

I don't think Trump is unique to the two-party system. Blowing up the entire way we vote so that parties led by such luminaries as Dr. Jill Stein can have some seats in the federal legislature, on the off chance that disastrous coalitions don't form a la Cameron-Clegg, is frankly a waste of energy. I'd prefer we actually enfranchise the entire voting-age population first, then we can see if a new method of running elections is worth it.

Full employment is completely possible, just not under traditional capitalism.

Happy Labor Day you guys!

oh yeah labor day that's what u guys use to delineate when white clothes can or cannot be worn right

kinda like groundhog day iirc?

point of fixing two party structural advantage is not to give jill stein a few seats imho. and it doesnt have to be at the exclusion of other things. no one's yet really found a way to articulate it that's not super wonkish and detached from other concerns but I do think that at least at the local and state levels, the devices that generate the two-party structure (winner-take-all voting especially) end up suppressing turnout by a ton, and shd be in the same breath with other moves to expand the electorate. but obv they are less immediately sinister and urgent than active projects to rob ppl of the franchise.

emily post institute says dgaf re: old money labor day fashion rules

http://emilypost.com/advice/wearing-white-after-labor-day/

groundhog day has roots in old european pagan traditions and comes from german-speaking rural pennsylvanians

labor day is what the US and Canada do instead of May Day

It's incredible to me (and by that I mean totally not surprising) that with so much going on - Harvey, North Korea, debt ceiling, tax reform, Russia - he just decides to fuck things up more at the exact same time in the ugliest, stupidest way possible.

tombot - sorry if i was vague, but that was what i was going for - many of the most serious problems are problems that are not within the power of the federal government, any federal government, to fix.

i would say that trump's power _is_ unique to the two-party system, myself. i've been reading wonkish stuff like this paper, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3028990 . the presence of demagogues within the system is obviously not unique to america, but america is supposedly a "stable" democracy which nonetheless elected an authoritarian white supremacist to office in 2016, aided and abetted at every step by the system which political hacks said was supposed to prevent such an outcome. i'm not arguing for a full push towards parliamentary democracy, at least not until more moderate measures such as the elimination of the electoral college have been tried and found wanting, but at some point it becomes reasonable and appropriate to at least have a discussion about the systemic flaws inherent in our constitutional system. for instance, it seems certainly possible that the pitifully low rate of participation in a two-party democracy is, in some sense, an artifact of the two-party system.

DC, the franchise issues can and must be addressed at the federal level, by all three branches of government; the endemic use of FPTP voting method to the exclusion of other systems is something that would (and should?) need to be tackled locally and through amendments to state constitutions.

I guess what this points to is that the Democratic party needs to ensure it has strategies and candidates for the legislative, executive and judicial offices at all levels of government, which is something the GOP has been far more disciplined about for a long while. There have to be platform planks specifically aimed at state and local problems, and lists of rosters of judicial nominees like the one the Federalist Society has for Republicans.

Wait ... you think the Democratic party is part of the solution here? They're working for the same people as the Republicans, thanks to legalized corruption.

Ask the Dem establishment about overturning right to work laws. They'll laugh so hard in your face they'll probably give you $100 for the fun you gave them that day.

cool, I could use $100

Didn't Dems in Wisconsin flee from the state to avoid voting for right to work law? Then tried to recall Scott Walker over the issue?

State Democrats are a little different than federal Democrats...

it wasn't fleeing, it was tactical relocation

So state Dems are good?

Isn't that kinda lucky since right-to-work laws are a state issue?

Happy Labor Day

Democratic socialism for all

only decent dems are in the midwest; new england state & local dems are all THE WORST(tm) just ask a morbius (or a kaiser), western state dems are all sellouts too, and southern state dems are all pro-abortion scum, see it's all part of a pattern, man.

The Democrats in the state I live in are corrupt as hell; I even helped put a bunch in prison. We need more options.

Nods

the two-party system, while nominally encouraging "compromise", defines that "compromise" as "across the aisle". so under this system democrats will _always_ go out of their way to work with republicans, even when this is a patently stupid notion, over working with left dissidents, because that's what the political norms established by the us constitution encourage.

it's baked in before you even get to political norms - - - winner-take-all means there are always huge electoral incentives to try and "peel off" the "moderates" from the other party, rather than going looking for people that neither party is speaking to, and win races 51 to 49. even if gradually the pool of people voting at all shrinks as various groups are (a) actively disenfranchised by evil racist parties and (b) gradually tuned out of the process because neither of these parties sees any percentage in speaking to their needs.

Any news on electoral reform in any states? Maine succeeded last fall, anybody else trying? Because, yeah, I imagine voting under first past the post must be horrible.

Florida opted to stop having elections

someone on this board is a true cynic as well as being an Inside Man

only decent dems are in the midwest

Our state folks have fucked things up, economically, but they've nonetheless totally stalled the GOP gov's stupid fiscal agenda, overriding his veto on the budget and then more recently forcing his hand re: public school funding, with a few small compromises to make him feel like he won something. Kansas folks did the same thing, and I think Texas and NC state legislatures have been busy thwarting GOP BS these days as well, at least to some extent.

no lie, the biggest thorn in the tx gop is...the sorta-moderate gop house speaker joe straus. held up the trans bathroom bill until it died, basically

http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-insane-gifts-saudi-arabia-gave-president-trump?source=twitter&via=mobile

no lie, the biggest thorn in the tx gop is...the sorta-moderate gop house speaker joe straus. held up the trans bathroom bill until it died, basically

― Rob Lowe fresco bar (m bison)

pro-business gopers are far more effective as opponents to anti-gay and anti-trans bills than any democrat in a gop-gerrymandered state. i can't blame the democrats for not being as effective, but i can blame them for clinging to the pretense that they have any political clout whatsoever; the "peel off the moderates" strategy might pay dividends on a national level, but it's worse than useless on the state and local levels.

Enjoyed this detailed read; anyone with relevant experience on the legal/media front, would love to hear more:

https://www.lawfareblog.com/how-read-news-story-about-investigation-eight-tips-who-saying-what

I liked this tidbit:

Dirty little secret: It’s a common tactic for defense lawyers to put material out there in a fashion favorable to their clients and to make sure the sourcing is suggestive of an improper prosecutorial leak—and then complain publicly about prosecutorial leaks. This happens a lot.

Just another day

https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/congress-faces-a-tense-agenda-with-little-margin-for-error-1504566653

Mr. McConnell, a fastidious, 30-year veteran of the Senate, often prepared note cards with points he wanted to make during phone calls with the president. Mr. Trump was more casual, starting conversations with several minutes of chatter about the day’s headlines or what he had seen on TV, the kind of banter he used as a businessman with VIPs, according to people familiar with their discussions.

As it became clear Mr. McConnell couldn’t summon enough Republican votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Senate majority leader stopped responding to the president’s chitchat, the people familiar said.

“Mitch?” the president said when Mr. McConnell fell silent in one call. “Are you there?”

Mr. McConnell waited a beat, then responded. “Yes, Mr. President. Back to the bill,” according to those familiar with the talks.

Big week coming up!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2017

Fuck you!

Yep, he's washing his hat.

Fuck washing a hat

Fuck hats

Is it infrastructure week again?

Big week coming up!

literally afraid for my family's safety when he says stuff like this

it is, always has been, and will forever be infrasructure week

This is already getting ridiculous.

As of today - no new applications for DACA. Those with current permits expiring by 3/5/18 can get 2-year extension. After that no extensions https://t.co/S9xFHeYvlD

— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) September 5, 2017

WH already whispering that Trump is bluffing on ending DACA https://t.co/mQ6IcNRKIT pic.twitter.com/ouUZbM2crg

— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) September 5, 2017

reaching robert has "urged Congress to schedule testimony of some key witnesses in public session — to avoid the possibility that the special counsel may be blocked from accessing information given to the committees privately" :(

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/05/politics/russia-mueller-hill/index.html

It's a small thing but LOL.

Sheriff Clarke, shut out by Kelly, going to Trump PAC, via sources.

— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) September 5, 2017

Congress, get ready to do your job - DACA!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2017

glad to see he's thought this through almost as much as the health care bill

Not that I should give a shit, but did the typical Obama tweet enjoy as many "likes" or as violent a reception as the typical Trump brain blurt?

MAGA DACA, MAGA DACA, sis boom bah!

The typical Obama tweet got responses you couldn't read to your kids

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan: "President Obama’s DACA program was a clear abuse of executive authority, an attempt to create law out of thin air."

https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1248x832/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2017/09/04/National-Politics/Images/317293430_0-7.jpg

charlatans. every last one of them.

luv2see christian cumfaces

Dare I ask what is happening in that picture

Immanentization of the eschaton, iirc.

These pastors are praying with the yellow turd. They are now, acc. to WaPo, expressing dismay at the DACA decision.

I'm very dismayed by the president's decision but I will continue to support him in every way that matters.

tbf they might be asking god to hit him with lightning asap

Remember when there were values beyond self-serving venality? What a golden era that was.

they were engaged in the direct transference of orgone energy into Trump's suit, judging by the look of it

bit mean leaving that guy on the right hanging

Kenny Rogers is looking well tho

Lol I thought orgone was just a nonsense word from hawkwind

beat guys were into it

Beat-off guys are even more into it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgone

frankfurt school rules

those guys in the photo above personify the beatitudes. blessed are the vain and lazy heirs of great fortunes, prone to insult and collusion, who scorn refugees and cheat on theirs wives, amen

bit mean leaving that guy on the right hanging

well he is the vice president after all

“Well, what would you do? Do you stay calm, keep smiling and carry on as if he weren’t repeatedly invading your space? Or do you turn, look him in the eye and say loudly and clearly: ‘Back up you creep, get away from me. I know you love to intimidate women, but you can’t intimate me, so back up.'”
H CLinton

haha

If only she had said that during the debate ...

BTW, Mike Pence is clearly so pious that he doesn't even have to lay hands, he can just lay his mind, man.

MAGA - Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh Trumpo

that may be the most horrifying photo of the trump presidency i've seen so far

so many good comebacks pop into your head long after the timely moment

1930s hot take: Why the Abraham Lincoln Brigade should stay home and write letters to their Congressmen

— jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) September 1, 2017

"Yeah, well the jerk store called and they're out of you" xp

coooool

the public has a right to hear this anonymous source explain what the hell they think mrs doubtfire was about https://t.co/ZWtMWFiRQ4

— Max Read (@max_read) September 5, 2017

where's the $1m donation for Harvey?

His biographer (and the majority of the rest of the world) is unconvinced that it will be forthcoming.

that would be insane though, right? I mean you can get away with the empty pledge for publicity when the spotlight isn't on you (as Trump has done many, many times), but can you really do it as President of the United States of America?

well, who am I kidding here

Meanwhile redhatters are all like "Where's Obama/Clinton/Soros and their $$$$?"

Everybody else wants Irma to take a huge dump on Mar-A-Lago.

Oh, is THAT what Trump was having those guys help him pray about in the picture upthread?

that would be insane though, right? I mean you can get away with the empty pledge for publicity when the spotlight isn't on you (as Trump has done many, many times), but can you really do it as President of the United States of America?

― frogbs, Tuesday, September 5, 2017 7:14 PM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think this also feeds the stupid GOP narrative that disaster relief shouldn't come from the government but from private individuals and churches and other organizations that conspicuously aren't sitting on a printing press for money

cher is the hero america needs pic.twitter.com/cmC7xp4IVe

— carmina burrata (@nately) September 5, 2017

Cher should be in a Marvel movie.

https://www.bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Dazzler_Vol_1_20.jpg

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/img/56645392/Master.jpg

Not in MY mouth.

Congress now has 6 months to legalize DACA (something the Obama Administration was unable to do). If they can't, I will revisit this issue!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 6, 2017

uhh...what?

hard to keep the swimming and rapidly inverting matrices of this 39th dimensional chess in my head all at once

what the hell

That's so hilariously, tragically backwards. Trump revisited the issue after Obama made it legal, something Congress was unable to do now becomes Congress must do it because Obama couldn't, or I will. Or something.

I think he may have realized that he fucked himself into a corner but lacks the language/cognition/humility to express that as a coherent thought.

Wait so he DOES want it, but "more legal than legal"? or... im confused.

" If they can't, I will revisit this issue!"

"what do we want? DACA! When do we want it? ... eventually!"

Trayce: Some people are making a claim that only congress holds the constitutional power to create and modify immigration law (others are pushing back—depends on how strictly you interpret the constitution), and DACA was an executive order (something Obama had to do a lot of because of congressional obstruction and fecklessness). The DREAM act should be a slam-dunk bi-partisan passage, but y'know...brown people and stuff.

i dont think the gop has the votes at all

They ain't got shit. One self-own after another with this guy.

But hey, tax reform oh wait.

I N F
R A S
T R U
C T U
R E !

Glad you enjoyed our infrastructure show. Tell your friends. We'll be here all week.

Be sure to stay up late and join us for our "Adults only" after midnight show--We have PEE TAPE!

Can we, on this board, stop calling it 'GOP obstruction/fecklessness' and call is rascism for christ

just got back from a Racism for Christ 5k run phew

even if there was 0 racism to GOP, they would still be moronic sand-in-the-gears obstructionists with horrible anti-govt ideas

Terminal illnesses can have many distinct symptoms.

As an illness he's pretty contagious, better put him in a quarantine ward.
Or live out the next 3 years as an international hospice.
Couldn't he just die for crissake.

i thought the CW around this is that now the Republicans will now pass a watered-down version of the DREAM act and take credit for it, shoring up the conservative Latino vote, while Trump gets to take credit for being mean to brown people = everybody "wins"

And risk getting primaried by rabid anti-immigrants? I think the fuck not

What defines a crime against humanity? & how close is the orange one trying to sail.
hope lack of republican voters isn't a central part of the differentiation.

bison I believe the thinking is that Republicans in danger of being primaried can vote against it and there will be enough Dem votes for it that it will pass

The conventional wisdom before Trump and Sessions came out with the stupid 6 month plan was that they would have to be stupid to do it, now the conventional wisdom is that they intend to do it less stupidly, ignoring the fact that they are beholden to the stupid caucus.

8 months in and political press still cannot stop itself from projecting "savvy" onto everything

Trump is so savvy he obstructs himself.

Assuming Congress even gets around to it, enough of the House is insane that there is no way any sort of revised DREAM act gets put forward without some extreme provision, whether linked to a stupid wall or contingent on Mexico being made illegal or some such shit. So yeah, Trump will be "revisiting" it.

As always, the hypocrisy of the GOP and especially shitheads like Jeff Sessions is shameless. They're all about rules and laws and fairness and history and the sanctity of the constitution, but literally only when it pushes their racist and/or rich person agenda.

it is curious isn't it how suddenly they all care about executive overreach

Except when they do it.

Plus, reversing executive overreach is the easiest way for them to be anti Obama without Obama.

my dry, smarmy chuckle at "racist and/or rich person agenda" never materialized; but we must continue to be slash-inclusive and non-gendered in our characterization of who these people really care about

ahaha oh look it materialized after all :D

president hamburger pimp. he's so bad he kicks his own ass twice a day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utgEumFK3p8

#BREAKING Trump profits from golf memberships bought by lobbyists, federal contractors https://t.co/F6OiiCvsxf

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) September 6, 2017

noooothing realllly mattters

every day this ratbag isn't kicked out of office the country sells a little more of its soul

it's just fucking deadening

Have fun over there.

https://www.axios.com/scoop-senate-leadership-ponders-combining-harvey-debt-ceiling-and-government-funding-2482154617.html

Senate Republican leadership is privately contemplating a bold maneuver: attaching the government funding bill (CR) to the debt ceiling and emergency funding aid for Hurricane Harvey.
Three sources with knowledge of the discussions confirmed them to Axios. They stressed nothing has been decided and the move would be highly risky, with a strong chance of a conservative revolt. It's especially unclear whether such a vehicle could move through the House — given the Freedom Caucus and other conservative members are already angry about the plans to use the Harvey funding to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts.
The advantage: If GOP leadership can get the CR done this week with Harvey funding and the debt ceiling that would be a big tactical victory, given Democrats may be poised to oppose the government funding extension if it doesn't include measures to support DACA.

Per a source close to GOP Senate leadership: "Leadership is testing the waters in the Senate for adding the CR...Senate leaders will only add it if House leaders believe they can pass it. Problem is the CR is the vehicle for the Dems to demand a DACA fix and the Freedom Caucus to fight that and push for spending reductions. It is a bold idea but putting together the votes seems tough."

it sounds monumentally stupid but i ain't no expert

every day this ratbag isn't kicked out of office the country sells a little more of its soul

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, September 6, 2017 9:28 AM

we went from shopping at banana republic to living in one

20 years from now, when we're living in bunkers, Paul Ryan et all will write the "How Were We to Know?" memoirs and I will finally stick my head in the oven.

this whole Presidency is like watching a baby standing outside on the ledge of a 20 foot building and half the people are saying "stop freaking out, it's cute!"

This presidency is like reading tweets about a baby on a ledge on your phone while otherwise glued to a rerun of American Ninja Warrior.

we're fucked

Y'all forgot to mention the explosive collars we're all wearing which will detonate the second the baby falls and triggers its dead switch.

But still: so adorable!

ts: nunes v sessions

http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/05/politics/house-intelligence-committee-subpoena-fbi-justice/index.html

Is Nunes a goodie now?

no

note Schiff's objections and the reasons Nunes wants those documents (ie to smear the FBI's Russia investigation, issuance of FISA warrants etc.)

Nunes will never be a goodie and his face should never be more than 5 inches away from balled-up fists

I figured as much, but I'm bewildered at this point (I have never knowingly predicted the conclusion of any Noir movie I've ever watched)

Bogart is alive

i thought nunes recused himself after he got caught slipping 2-scoop's white house stooges intel reports? rules don't apply to republicans though i guess. party of personal responsibility ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

He has claimed he never recused recently

fake news / failing NY Times at it again! no republican can be trusted, ever, except when it comes to cutting taxes on the rich :(

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/us/politics/devin-nunes-house-intelligence-committee-russia.html?mcubz=3&_r=0

Whomp whomp.

NEW: Ty Cobb says in leaked emails that he&Kelly are the "adults in the room"—and explains why he's repping Trump https://t.co/dFoOIrHwOU

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) September 6, 2017

"Dude U have no idea! I walked away from $4 million annually to do this, had to sell my entire retirement account for major capital losses and lost a s---load to try to protect the third pillar of democracy."

"You should check out my record, Chairman of the Grand Canyon Trust, largest donor to Mercy Corps, significant donor to Historically black colleges, Feed the Children and other needy and important groups to the tuber of over $4 million in last 10 years, among others."

"Three pillars of govt. All deserve a defense," he continued. "Particularly with phony allegations and fake news. I am on be here for long but will be I my piece against bullshit Russian bull---- that hurts us now and is totally political limiting Russian cooperation against NK. This s--- is real and real time. Got to go: Best, Ty."

"Kelly & _I_"

That's the adult?

vigorous defense

did adult ty cobb censor "shit" over and over or did adult businessinsider.com censor it?

Asked later by Jetton to "set the record straight" and explain how Cobb is "justifying" his role at the White House to himself and others, Cobb said he "can say assertively that more adults in the room will be better. Me and Kelly among others."

Going from this to "'Me and Kelly' are the 'adults in the room'" is some shameful shit.

A company aggregates and clickbaits to get eyeballs? Never!

Meantime, the standard bearer of his party

Source briefed on WH mtg: Trump is okay with 3 mo CR and 3 mo debt limit increase...agreeing w Dems

— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) September 6, 2017

Trump overruled wishes of all Rs in the room...Ryan, Cornyn, McConnell, McCarthy, Mnuchin...who wanted longer term extension.

— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) September 6, 2017

(Cornyn didn't attend, he clarifies later, but still, if true, roffle.)

why do sixty-somethings like Cobb and Bannon think they get to say "dude"?

Because saying "Jack" would be too on the nose?
https://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server900/b0811/products/1501/images/6971/jack_daniels__79730.1451544603.480.480.JPG?c=2

"you're out of your element, Donnie"

Just spoke to a top Republican close to leadership about Trump's decision. Here's what they said: pic.twitter.com/iV2y0bVfvk

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) September 6, 2017

Art of the Deal, updated:

When your counterparts make an opening bid, accept all their terms immediately and go to North Dakota.

The end.

— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) September 6, 2017

lol

it's almost as if he is completely ignorant of how legislative process/maneuvering works

Nunes will never be a goodie and his face should never be more than 5 inches away from balled-up fists

― Neanderthal

dude we don't all know the five point palm exploding heart technique

I actually do think this says a lot.

Aide briefed on WH mtg says @IvankaTrump entered Oval to say hello, and GOP leaders were visibly annoyed by her presence.

— Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) September 6, 2017

gop leaders... otm???

I read in one of those pity party pieces that she's been doing this very much on purpose since Kelly changed the locks.

so... i'm really confused about what just happened earlier; with the disaster relief / debt ceiling etc...

Trump had a stroke last night; he's a Democrat now

y'all help me get my head all the way around on this. I understand why the Dems were pushing for a 3 month hike -- so they could make their support in December contingent on things like DACA and I guess health care subsidies maybe? but why was the GOP pushing for 12? was that just to try and prevent that Dem manuever in December, or was it to make it easier for them to focus on tax reform, or is there another reason I'm missing?

Trump just wants some shit passed asap - Dems offered a deal that positions them well for future negotiations in December and he took it like a moron.

was that just to try and prevent that Dem manuever in December

yes

they don't want to have this same exact battle in 3 months, they want to split everything up

a debt ceiling hike just requires a majority, right? meaning the only reason Dem votes are even needed is because of deficit hardline loons like Rand Paul and Mike Lee and Ted Cruz?

It all gets better and better here

Pretty incredible. @RobertBryan4 reports the meeting was deadlocked until Trump spoke up, sided with Dems https://t.co/qwmijVLkHb pic.twitter.com/KJ1D4m1raZ

— Brett LoGiurato (@BrettLoGiurato) September 6, 2017

"Art of the deal, Paul, I told ya! And fuck you Mitch!"

a debt ceiling hike just requires a majority, right?

it requires a 2/3rds majority iirc, so they will need Dem votes no matter what

"We had a very good meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer," Trump said. "We agreed to a three-month extension on debt ceiling, which they consider to be sacred - very important - always we'll agree on debt ceiling automatically because of the importance of it."

lol waht

I'm told by the time Ivanka came into wh meeting GOP leaders were shellshocked by @POTUS cutting unexpected deal w Dems in front of them

— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) September 6, 2017

Ah, she just arrived too darn late. I'm guessing Jared was opposed to it too, according to an "anonymous source w/knowledge of his thinking" https://t.co/6ukooNYa6A

— Jeff B/DDHQ (@EsotericCD) September 6, 2017

i have to imagine the only reason the GOP isn't eager to impeach this guy is that they'd fear losing the Trump base forever, because he's fucking them over so much, either directly or inadvertently.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DJD4OVRXcAAs-Ke.jpg:small

STOP IT

can't

okay lol

that's the first one that i got a chuckle outta

Schumer, hair down

I came in late today, how did Yam switch parties?

He better call Chucky with the good hair

Isn't this what Ryan, McConnell, et. al wanted in January -- a prez who can make deals with Schumer?

anyway, Sparklepants gets it:

Trump’s insults of Schumer were insipid and unworthy. But surely there must be a middle ground between that name-calling and “Chuck and Nancy,” as Trump was referring to Pelosi and Schumer after a meeting today where he threw the GOP leadership over board and agreed to the Democrats’ proposal for a 3-month deal on the debt limit and funding of the government. This will give the Democrats leverage to push for concessions at the end of the year (including DACA untethered to enforcement measures) and complicate the job of the GOP leadership when it’s trying to focus on the Herculean task of passing tax reform. This comment, via Axios, from “a Republican close to leadership” may be too dire, but you get the drift.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner

clearly schumer a man who can take an insult or two

I love that Alfred doesn't edit out the "Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner";

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DJEB8SBVoAQxKsf.jpg:small

"if yr a good boy I will let u watch Curious George movie later abooboo"

How can an American President be so cruel? #DACA

— Madeleine Albright (@madeleine) September 5, 2017

lol come on this is too easy https://t.co/GyGiIVWiCW

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) September 5, 2017

It's called compartmentalizing.

Out of all the "re-evaluations of past Republicans" going around, giving an inch of ground to Albright is the hardest for me. Even W has more of my sympathy.

Albright was a Dem?

the US forever warriors know no party

Yeah, I buy this, sure.

NEW: Trump's legislative director Marc Short says Trump agreed to shorter debt ceiling deal in order to "clear the decks" for tax reform.

— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) September 6, 2017

looking forward to a lot of hot takes about TRUMP THE UNITER and how he doesn't play by washington's rules from people who still can't believe he's this dumb/need clicks

"I MEANT to do that"

xp

https://files.catbox.moe/ebnor1.jpg

surely Trump would insist on playing white

appropriate that none of those chess pieces have moved anywhere i guess

game has to keep restarting cos he keeps trying to play w/ checkers rules and throwing the board in disgust when corrected

Trump should move one step back.

It would quickly become clear to someone playing chess with Trump that a) he's unaware that chess is a different game than checkers and b) he was never able to quite wrap his head around the intricacies of playing checkers.

"let them come to us - we are in a position of strength"
"sir we are required to make a move. we have to take turns."
"we are always 4 moves ahead"
"yes sir"

In the Trump cult universe he is always much more fit and handsome. Subtle but suggests how thoroughly the cultish mindset skews perceptions.

In the Trump cult universe he is always much more fit and handsome. Subtle but suggests how thoroughly the cultish mindset skews perceptions.

Present-day hair, 1980s body.

the dude is an athlete

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--JrV_uOaD--/c_scale,f_auto,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/av2unne3kzihcphkcab4.jpg

Ben Garrison's Trump looks like Fabio or something

https://media.wired.com/photos/59446c633cf71b16ba5b9e23/master/pass/BenGarrison-Art.jpg

Donnie just wants to make everyone happy! Why is that so hard to understand?

President Donald Trump on Wednesday denied that he was sending mixed signals on the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and said he simply wants Congress to come up with a solution "where everybody is happy."

...

Trump said Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and “even very conservative members of Congress” want to take care of so-called Dreamers.

“Chuck and Nancy would like to see something happen, and so do I,” the president said. “And I said if we can get something to happen, we’re going to sign it and we’re going to make a lot of happy people.”

...

“I’d like to see something where we have good border security, and we have a great DACA transaction where everybody is happy and now they don’t have to worry about it anymore,” Trump said. “I’d like to see a permanent deal, and I think it’s going to happen. I think we’re going to have great support from both sides of Congress, and I really believe that Congress is going to work very hard on the DACA agreement and come up with something.”

just checked in on resident cosmic brain dildo Scott Adams and wouldn't you know it, he's currently praising Trump for his "strategic ambiguity" regarding DACA.

Oh dear.

"[Ivanka] wanted to make the trip. She said, 'Dad, can I go with you?' She said actually, 'Daddy, can I go with you?' I like that, right?" pic.twitter.com/fN2I8VPodZ

— David Mack (@davidmackau) September 6, 2017

Trump: "I speak to leaders all the time. Lots of them. I spoke to a leader of a major, major country recently, a really big one." pic.twitter.com/09lb5tgUWE

— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) September 6, 2017

this fucking moron

Well, yes. Wait, what?

Trump: Drought-stricken Dakotans "better off" than Harvey flood victims https://t.co/PD2X7SEZYf pic.twitter.com/CELh2cmgFw

— The Hill (@thehill) September 6, 2017

'if only we could get some of that water up here'

i'm just guessing, tell me if i'm right

lol morbs

More sad trombones!

BREAKING: Trump unlikely to nominate Gary Cohn to become Fed Chair; chances dropped after Charlottesville - DJ https://t.co/jn8limUSe7

— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) September 6, 2017

Trump on taxes: “We’re going to get into great detail over the next two weeks.”
The "two weeks."

— Richard Rubin (@RichardRubinDC) September 6, 2017

Oh HERE we go.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/michael-cohen-interview-donald-trump

I mean, it's not surprising that Mr. Sez Who is a pathetic toady like all the other pathetic toadies but Jesus H. Christ, this guy.

Cohen’s actual family has suffered because of his support of the Trump family. He said some students at his daughter’s college and his son’s school in New York City say things about him that “decorum would say they probably shouldn’t have.” His mother checks in every day to see how he is doing. He says that he routinely receives death threats on social media for associating with Trump. Sometimes people on the street will say “really nasty, negative stuff,” which he sometimes responds to by asking them to step two or three feet closer and “see what happens. I tell them to come say it right to my face, not from across the street. Come shake my hand.”

The way his family has been treated weighs on him. “It was my decision to go and work for Trump,” he said. “Not my brother’s. Not his wife’s. Not my nephews’—13 and 11. They’re like me, casualties of war that nobody cares about as long as they can defame and damage president Trump and the Republican Party.”

Of course, Cohen can walk away at any point. “I’d never walk away,” he responded, over and over, when I raised the point. Even at the expense of his family? “I’d never walk away.” When I point out that it’s a tremendous amount of loyalty for the president, he tells me that the president deserves it.

casualties of war

what, did they get a venereal disease?

A friend posted this photo on Facebook - apparently Donnie just wanders around, unprotected, at times...

https://scontent.fewr1-3.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/21371014_10154945807923595_397190149510774436_n.jpg?oh=4ed433202538dbea327d61ae32dc26c0&oe=5A211C83

I weep for them so.

House GOP aide:"Members are super [angry] & many who backed Cruz & railed against Trump as not conservative R pulling 'I told U so' routine"

— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) September 6, 2017

how many people is that, 10? 12?

CruzTrumpphonebank.gif

Every time I hear DACA I think of Wire:

drill drill drill
DACA DACA DACA
drill drill drill
DACA DACA DACA

how many people is that, 10? 12?

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, September 6, 2017

they can't even include Cruz's wife and kids b/c they hate him too

lol

looking forward to a lot of hot takes about TRUMP THE UNITER and how he doesn't play by washington's rules from people who still can't believe he's this dumb/need clicks

― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses),

a FOX commentator from that toiler paper thing The Federalist said as much

GOP congressional caucus (with some exceptions in the Senate) are whipped dogs - they will endure any and all abuse and have boxed themselves into a corner with their voting base, they can't turn on Trump even if they wanted to (and most of them don't, tbh). All their private grousing amounts to is "thank you sir, may I have another".

More fun!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-just-undercut-his-own-party-on-the-debt-ceiling-it-was-deliberate

Multiple West Wing sources told The Daily Beast how the president was looking to strike a quick and easy deal—and that his speed reaching this specific arrangement was in part ensured by his resentment towards Republican leaders, who Trump views as hostile, insufficiently loyal, and impotent. It was well-known within the White House that President Trump, going into the meeting, was “not looking to do [Ryan and McConnell] any favors,” as one White House official put it.
Simply put, the president made a “deliberate decision not to care about Ryan’s feelings” and did what he wanted, another White House adviser said.
“I think it was calculated, in his unique way. Republicans can’t get anything done, so maybe the other side will,” a senior Trump administration official said of the deal, which will forestall a government shutdown until mid-December and allow the government to continue borrowing money until around the same time. “At the very least,” the administration official added, “it says, ‘don’t take me for granted.’”

"Maybe the other side, who are in the minority, can help the president pass items that are loathed by his party, the majority."

Fabulous strategy.

what could possibly go wrong

oh my god the pecs on that cartoon trump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjSCzC4R6gk

A friend posted this photo on Facebook - apparently Donnie just wanders around, unprotected, at times...

lol that's not trump, that's some guy with a shaggy haircut and a suit walking down the washington avenue bridge on the university of minnesota campus

The Bill Mitchells of the world are convinced it's all genius, thus

Mitch McConnell had refused to meet with Trump for weeks, now GOP cries because Trump retaliated on debt ceiling. Welcome to hard ball.

— Mike Cernovich 🇺🇸 (@Cernovich) September 6, 2017

“A three-month debt ceiling? Why not do a daily debt ceiling?” cracked Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho). “He’s the best deal-maker ever. Don’t you know? I mean, he’s got a book out!”

lol, I hope that one gets back to him.

If behaving like a petulant, spite-fueled baby makes you a genius, I believe the MacArthur Foundation owes me a grant.

If behaving like a petulant, spite-fueled baby makes you a genius, I believe the MacArthur Foundation owes me a grant.

The line forms right behind Morbius.

give us a kiss

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DJGJTkSV4AApzcQ..jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DJGJTkSV4AApzcQ.jpg:large

Ha! What are we even reading there?

MAGA= NO DACA??

It's a palindrome. MAGA NO DACA ON PANAMA.

More fun details from yesterday.

https://www.axios.com/inside-trumps-head-scratching-deal-with-chuck-and-nancy-2482488348.html

Meantime, great job there:

Steve Bannon tells CBS Catholic Bishops are opposed to what's happening on DACA because "they need illegal aliens to fill the churches." pic.twitter.com/WYSyXQYUhJ

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 7, 2017

hoo boy, now that's a hot fuckin' take there steve

Further crazyville

https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2017/09/07/curse-of-the-woke-conservatives-n2377758

Oh and Lou Dobbs going off the deep end last night was fun

So, uh, this happened pic.twitter.com/siVF5e2v7p

— Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) September 7, 2017

The connecting threads that are all here is the recalibration of the 'conservativism can't fail, it can only be failed' idea -- it's now 'Trump can't fail, he can only be failed.'

Pobrecitos.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trumps-deal-with-democrats-bewilders-his-biggest-fans--house-conservatives/2017/09/07/a651b7b6-9345-11e7-89fa-bb822a46da5b_story.html?utm_term=.033b7796f5b2

I know he'll never experience real suffering, but it is pretty delicious to think about Paul Ryan being in a position now where no matter how hard he tries to be the "conservative intellectual" his actions are going to be roundly judged by GOP media based solely on how well they align with the whims of the world's dumbest man.

Paul Ryan is clearly a secret pinko.

Can't wait to see how many Dems mistake a wholly spiteful act as conciliatory fence mending and decide that this is the moment that Trump truly became president (and will be shocked when he predictably behaves spitefully towards the very Dems he sided with yesterday).

I haven't seen any evidence yet! The looks on Schumer and Pelosi's faces suggested they knew they were dealing with a dumb asshole.

I was about to say, this isn't them going "Oh he's changed." Those were looks of glee.

Eventually, Ben Sasse is going to get a show on MSNBC called You Have All Disappointed Me So, So Very Much. Eventually, Paul Ryan is going to leave to do infomercials for his objectivist cross-fit workout DVD titled Atlas Pumped. Eventually, Lindsey Graham is going to retire and open an antique store in Alexandria and get into needless and endless price wars all over town. And eventually, we will win our struggle to restore the country and the Constitution we love.

Totally down with three out of four of these.

The down side of all of this is that we have to believe in the image of Schumer & Pelosi facing down their new buddy in three months, right?

xposts No, I'm sure Chuck n' Nancy knew the score, at least. This just seems like the kind of thing that might cause less savvy observers on the periphery to lose their perspective.

'That rabid dog has briefly stopped eating my leg. Maybe he's friendly now!'

Well this makes...wait

For all of those (DACA) that are concerned about your status during the 6 month period, you have nothing to worry about - No action!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 7, 2017

lol he validated NRO's worst fears.

Wait hold on

NEWS: Source tells me @NancyPelosi called Trump this morning, asked him to tweet this https://t.co/A1z86V582Z

— Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) September 7, 2017

Caygle is a Politico reporter. That actually MIGHT be real.

That's totally fair, he is getting everyone 6 months to find a new country to live in.

Oh, okay, it all makes sense now. Someone has finally gotten their hands on the pee tape.

Two consecutive days of fucking over the conservative racists who voted for him. What a genius.

Trump is so smart, he is going to pass an entire Democratic agenda just so that he can run on repealing it again in 3 years.

Yeah I was just going to Tweet this

Per a top house aide, Pelosi shared with Reps at whip meeting this AM that she spoke to trump this morning and asked him to tweet this. https://t.co/QCbzSp3JdZ

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) September 7, 2017

Meantime...

JUST IN: Twitter to give congressional committees an analysis of Russian activity similar to the one Facebook provided: Senator Warner

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) September 7, 2017

lmao no way do Chuck n' Nancy trust Trump, the Dems know exactly who this guy is

My head hurts

BREAKING: DOJ asking for 30 day delay in deadline to indicate if they're still refusing to confirm/deny if POTUS is/was under investigation.

— Bradley P. Moss, Esq (@BradMossEsq) September 7, 2017

Sad, some might say

Freedom Caucus chair Meadows: "No way the president will be negotiating from a position of strength in December."https://t.co/uferFeXaxn

— Kevin Whitelaw (@KevinWhitelaw1) September 7, 2017

*record scratch*

Correction, TRUMP called PELOSI, not other way around https://t.co/pMpjDc3voj

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 7, 2017

let me see if i've got this right:

first Dobbs calls Ryan a RINO

then he insinuates that tying Harvey funding to debt ceiling extension is reprehensible

then he shows a clip of Ryan saying the same thing

Then Dobbs says that Trump's the only one who knows how to get things done, and that extending the debt ceiling and securing funding for Harvey is manful leadership that Ryan can only dream of

Then he says Democrats have actually been the wise heads in recent days

and uh, Ryan's the RINO, Lou?

Funny how it all works.

Can't anybody here play this game?

Oh man, imagine if.

Trump suggested scrapping debt ceiling in meeting with congressional leaders https://t.co/5PlCtyCeEi pic.twitter.com/CzFZiXER6h

— The Hill (@thehill) September 7, 2017

We're reaching a point where we just free associate labels for people they think are bad and wrong. You buncha commie Nazi liberal republicans.

Totally confused about that DOJ thing. So ... DOJ is asking (of whom?) for 30 more days before saying whether the president is/was or is/was not personally under investigation? If he is not, why even delay? If he is, what does a delay achieve?

30 more days before saying whether they are willing to answer the question.

Who are they answering? A FOI request?

OK, here's my guy:

15/ Regardless of what DOJ says, the President should act as if he's under investigation and mount a defense. He's doing so. /end

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) September 7, 2017

Starts here, actually:

THREAD: Does the Justice Department know whether the President is under investigation? https://t.co/VvLRP6X1up

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) September 7, 2017

So it sounds a bit like Comey's excuse for not saying publicly whether Trump was or was not under investigation. That status can change very quickly, so he didn't want to have to backtrack.

Donald Trump Jr. told Senate investigators on Thursday that he set up a June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer because he was intrigued that she might have damaging information about Hillary Clinton, saying it was important to learn about Mrs. Clinton’s “fitness” to be president.

But nothing came of the Trump Tower meeting, he said, and he was adamant that he never colluded with the Russian government’s campaign to disrupt last year’s presidential election.

In a prepared statement during an interview with Senate Judiciary Committee investigators, the younger Mr. Trump said he was initially conflicted when he heard that the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, might have damaging information about Mrs. Clinton. Despite his interest, he said, he always intended to consult with his own lawyers about the propriety of using any information that Ms. Veselnitskaya, who has ties to the Kremlin, gave him at the meeting.

A copy of Mr. Trump’s statement was obtained by The New York Times.

The acknowledgment by the president’s eldest son that he intended to seek legal counsel after the meeting suggests that he knew, or at least suspected, that accepting potentially damaging information about a rival campaign from a foreign country raised thorny legal issues.

Etc.

the younger Mr. Trump said he was initially conflicted when he heard that the lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, might have damaging information about Mrs. Clinton

sure, who among us doesn't immediately leap to respond 'i love it!' when suffering an internal conflict

RE: Trump's pledged donation of $1 million for Harvey relief. Has anyone actually checked with these charities to confirm receipt of these funds? If not then shit like this is just totally irresponsible:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/here-s-where-trump-donated-his-1-million-harvey-relief-n799316

I mean, the article itself simultaneously says "President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania personally donated $1 million to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts" and "Here's the full list of where the White House says that money will be donated" Those two statements don't mean the same thing!

I'm sure people are on it.

Jeeeeez, isn't the fact that he said he would do it enough to appease you animals?

Explains everything.

Trump seemed happy talking to Pelosi and Schumer and said they'd all gotten good news coverage, particularly on TV. https://t.co/jaNF5L7NW9

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) September 7, 2017

Trump making a heel turn on the GOP would be too perfect

A quick one-two from ol' Graydon there

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/national-lampoons-presidential-vacation-ed-letter

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/business/media/graydon-carter-vanity-fair.html

BTW, love this screenshot from Lou last night.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DJIYuUdUMAAl9Ax.jpg

Imagine the sound he's making. "HEEEEEEEHHHHHNNNN."

A new kind of furrowed brow and grave concern!

JUST IN: @TedCruz announces that he will SUPPORT Harvey relief aid pkg-- but is disappointed that it is tied to debt ceiling/ budget.

— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) September 7, 2017

"i would protest but i left my balls in my other pantsuit"

And now...

Trump and Schumer agree to a tentative plan to get rid of debt ceiling votes. My story w @damianpaletta. https://t.co/WtCnwxHHtu

— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) September 7, 2017

that would be a fantastic development

what is happening

For a start, it would produce a raft of new elections as Republicans expired on the spot.

trump is the only true republican, that's why he's doing the democrats' work for them, or something

with so many GOP folks railing against him maybe Nancy and Chuck saw an opening for some mind games and started to flatter Trump in private, i truly believe in the power of that kind of trickery swaying Trump.

hilarious that it's being suggested cuz it will never pass Ryan and McConnell - great idea though. Schumer and Pelosi playing Chump like a fucking violin.

they aren't stupid and see the political leverage in further driving a wedge between Chump and his congressional majority. Damages the party's legislative prospects v v badly.

In fact, probably doing this right now

Schumer at WH today talking infra...If Dems are smart they'll lean in now & pitch their own tax-infrastructure package directly to POTUS.

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) September 7, 2017

have we been turned into The United States of Mar-a-Lago yet

and do we get our own Donnie-ville allotments

divide and conquer is literally the oldest political strategy in the world, makes sense that Trump is totally ignorant of it.

is anyone willing to brave breitbart to see the reaction? after bannon left, he characterized those that were still surrounding trump as a bunch of secret liberals, and i guess the rumors were that breitbart would take aim at them. but now that trump is doing this, maybe they'll change their view of the guy in charge?

breitbart isn't anti-infrastructure

it's infrastructure week at breitbart

Situations like these are precisely why I want the flawed Pelosi as speaker and not Tim Ryan. At least she can recognize a sucker and play him, among her other political skills.

the Oval Office is morphing this week into the study of the Stupid Godfather

'this week'

Meantime from the new FBI guy

Wray says of Mueller's Russia investigation: "I have not detected any whiff of interference with that investigation."

— Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) September 7, 2017

Leave to Ben Domenech to think there's a plan in all this, no, really!

http://thefederalist.com/2017/09/07/trumps-potential-triangulation/

(As someone noted yesterday, shouldn't the fact that his dad works in the Interior Department be mentioned more often?)

Also lol at this guy, who I know Alfred has cast a gimlet eye on for some time, thinking this is a revelation TODAY.

One of the lessons of 2016 that troubles me is that Trump seemed to succeed partly because voters could create their own version of him.

— Michael B Dougherty🍃 (@michaelbd) September 7, 2017

that is true of every president in my lifetime? like that's kind of what a successful politician is

or Madonna

i don't see it applying to Trump w/out a ludicrous amount of tunnelvision, tho

different movie analogy:

Trump meeting yesterday w/McConnell, Ryan, Pelosi, and Schumer on the debt ceiling. https://t.co/DTh57FW0bb

— corey robin (@CoreyRobin) September 7, 2017

Trump getting religion on the debt ceiling is interesting given his past proclivities for bankruptcy.. I guess "he alone" knows how that sort of thing can fuck up yr credit rating and ability to borrow in the future.

Am I taking crazy pills, or not enough of them?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gingrich-or-santorum-as-speaker-house-conservatives-plot-mischief-for-the-fall/2017/09/07/8df6ab60-9316-11e7-aace-04b862b2b3f3_story.html?utm_term=.461496a016d6

Several influential House conservatives are privately plotting ways to use the legislative calendar this fall to push their hard-line agenda — including quiet discussions about possibly mounting a leadership challenge to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan.

The group has gone so far as to float the idea of recruiting former House speaker Newt Gingrich or former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum as potential replacements for Ryan (R-Wis.) should there be a rebellion. The Constitution does not require that an elected member of the House serve as speaker.

And here comes the money

http://www.thedailybeast.com/koch-brothers-will-push-congress-to-protect-dreamers

former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum

aww yiss

time for a surge of long-repressed santorum imo

just changed the sheets

has this made the rounds yet?

https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/537909/
^TNC's take on the unbearable whiteness of trump

👀 After Don Jr. testimony to Senate Judiciary Cmte, Sen. Chris Coons' office sends out statute on giving false statements to Congress pic.twitter.com/OUdKXMBfqm

— Andrew Desiderio (@desiderioDC) September 7, 2017

xp, one of the takeaway passages

And so the most powerful country in the world has handed over all its affairs—the prosperity of its entire economy; the security of its 300 million citizens; the purity of its water, the viability of its air, the safety of its food; the future of its vast system of education; the soundness of its national highways, airways, and railways; the apocalyptic potential of its nuclear arsenal—to a carnival barker who introduced the phrase grab ’em by the pussy into the national lexicon. It is as if the white tribe united in demonstration to say, “If a black man can be president, then any white man—no matter how fallen—can be president.” And in that perverse way, the democratic dreams of Jefferson and Jackson were fulfilled...

The first white president in American history is also the most dangerous president—and he is made more dangerous still by the fact that those charged with analyzing him cannot name his essential nature, because they too are implicated in it.

Can Trump be considered a Conservative? He doesn't seem it - more like Dictator

I had a an appointment at the dentist today, and playing on the TV above the dental chair was CNN's coverage of the Trump press conferences. Very bleak dentist's visit.

he's not a dictator but he is a fascist

i signed up for yelp to complain about that in a doctor's office xp

Headline's wrong -- it's just the Appropriations Committee -- but still, huh.

In a surprise move, Senate votes to overturn Trump administration's global gag rule. https://t.co/XalfwPBcC8

— Ruby (@RubyMellen) September 7, 2017

they are sick of his shit

Oh...my.

Peter King tells me Trump & Schumer chemistry at a WH meeting today was off the charts: “It was almost like a love-in at times.”

— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) September 7, 2017

Meantime.

Mueller reportedly wants to interview W.H. staffers about the initial misleading statement re: Trump Jr.'s meeting. https://t.co/AbRPxcFuOy

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 7, 2017

Hmmm

DENT, a leader of what he calls "governing wing" of GOP, confirms to me he's retiring

Ileana, Reichert now Dent: 3d tough seat for Rs...

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) September 7, 2017

Axelrod last night, when asked, was very hopeful about 2020 pres, but for 2018 predicted maybe slight gains in the house but potentially Dem loses in the senate. We here also have yet to talk about the Menendez trial, afaict. If he loses his seat, not good for senate.

This Ty Cobb guy is not the smartest of souls

http://www.businessinsider.com/ty-cobb-emails-prankster-drone-reporter-2017-9

This, buried in the story, is even better:

"He was supposed to be the DC insider who was going to help Trump get away from the Kasowitz mistake,"said the former partner, who requested anonymity to discuss the subject freely. Trump's former personal attorney on the Russia matter, Marc Kasowitz, found himself in hot water earlier this summer after sending threatening emails to a stranger.

"Ty isn't a DC insider. He's the D team," the former partner said. He added that many at the firm were furious when Cobb took the position in the White House without first quitting his job at Hogan Lovells. He quit his job roughly two weeks after the White House announced he'd be joining Trump's legal team.

"Most people were really glad to see him go," the partner said.

Fox News refuses to hire Spicer after exit from White House: report https://t.co/KCJ6shsVEs pic.twitter.com/ifhjxhgSfh

— The Hill (@thehill) September 8, 2017

Maybe he can fill in for Melissa McCarthy on SNL when she's busy.

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) September 8, 2017

maybe he can run really fast into Steve Bannon and turn into a gelatinous cube

they are all rich

none of them care because as long as they don't go to prison they are rich

can someone take Trump to Disney World on Sunday night and not let him look at the weather forecast first

Really hoping Mar a lago is somewhere in the path of one of these hurricanes. But I bet funding for rebuilding comes from the public not the supposed multimillionaire.

Would be so ironic if trump holdings were leveled by Hurricane Jose innit?

i understand the impulse and have seen it from several of my friends, but can we not do the "hope a hurricane makes landfall, causing still more suffering to thousands of people" bit?

also mar-a-lago is a perfectly decent old property that long predates trump buying it. he didn't build it and doesn't deserve it.

I am certainly not hoping a hurricane makes landfall because I am in its path. but it's almost a certainty at this point.

Is it okay if we hope that it only hits Mar-A-Lago?

Ideally while he is playing a perfect game of golf, ala Caddyshack?

Only if he has actually replaced the staff with robots, which he would not do because he enjoys the discomfort of real humans - a tendency he apparently shares with yourself?

Ok. We've lightly made jokes from all sorts of bad things that have happened, I guess we now know that hurricanes are the third rail.

I guess we should just ban all posts about hurricanes. Because what is there to say? Be safe, everyone.

How about we just chain Trump to a giant rock in the middle of the ocean and summon the Kraken?

sorry i guess i am just too sensitive about imminent mass death, people being rendered homeless, families and communities torn apart etc.

Fair enough. Be safe, Mexico, in the wake of the huge earthquake that has already claimed several lives and will likely prove have claimed more.

I don't know. I have a lot of faith in the people on this thread that the default assumption should be sympathy, and empathy, and high hopes for the safety of everyone. Doesn't preclude jokes about Trump's palace being destroyed.

as cynical and self serving as this kleptocratic regime is the reason to hope it hits Trump properties is that if he knows he himself can benefit from relief efforts and money, that money will be there and hopefully other Floridians benefit as a result

there are only every three reasons things happen w Trump stupidity, greed, or a need for attention

Full morning already:

Two GOP pros msg me to say re: House retirements - this only the start...

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) September 8, 2017

A third GOP pro texts to say he knows of more

"not all are moderates. Conservatives are tired of this shit too"https://t.co/bCB3hQumT3

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) September 8, 2017

Republicans, sorry, but I've been hearing about Repeal & Replace for 7 years, didn't happen! Even worse, the Senate Filibuster Rule will....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 8, 2017

Aides tell me he's thoroughly enjoying this https://t.co/HqHwznGeZ1

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) September 8, 2017

And meanwhile

https://www.axios.com/no-regrets-trump-exuberant-in-oval-office-after-deal-with-dems-2482870459.html

Sources familiar with Trump's thinking tell Swan the president saw an opening in the Oval Office meeting to do three impulsive/instinctive things:

Do something popular: Play the part of the magnanimous populist president rising above partisanship to cut a deal.
Get funding for Hurricane Harvey quickly and avoid a prolonged fight on Capitol Hill.
Stick the middle finger to McConnell and Ryan — especially McConnell, with whom Trump is fed up. (He believes McConnell is a failed leader with low energy.) Trump has enjoyed thinking about Ryan and McConnell squirming while he parades his surprise deal with "Chuck and Nancy."

Regrets? Trump has none. He revels in these moments when he can be unpredictable to the point where he confounds his own top aides and, especially, the press corps.

A separate roffle

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/us/politics/ted-cruz-hurricane-harvey.html

Asked last month whether Mr. Cruz had returned to the Senate a changed man after his presidential campaign, Senator Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, allowed that “some people might say that.”

Asked if he counted himself among those “some people,” Mr. Wicker repeated himself.

"...but I couldn't possibly comment."

I volunteer in the elementary school library, and this morning was the first time I came across a new book of presidents that includes Trump. Gut churning.

Newsweek compiled the evolving, contradicting excuses Don Jr gave for taking the June 2016 meeting. There are a lot. https://t.co/emrxEjlcFn

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 8, 2017

xpost -- when I was young I remember reading a book about presidents that stopped with Nixon, still in office at the time of publication (by the time I read it it would have been Carter in office). It was a little bemusing, but it happens.

I...what?

“[New Jersey Gov.] Christie, because of Billy Bush weekend, was not looked at for a Cabinet position,” Steve Bannon tells @CharlieRose pic.twitter.com/zgKbpOfAiJ

— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 8, 2017

Josh, if you can bear it, can you look at the book and summarize what it says?

no matter what happens in the next four/eight years (or his president-for-life bid), his death will necessitate a state funeral. I suppose Reagan and Nixon's ceremonies involved hideous revisionism, but to be compelled to act as if he was not a case of burning hot diarrhea upon the life of this country and unto the world will be galling, as cases of diarrhea inevitably are.

If the people of earth can agree to retroactively refer to him only as President Diarrhea, I might be able to stomach the boilerplate post-presidential pomp.

The permanent record:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/disney-trump-feud-causes-delay-at-hall-of-presidents/article/2627218

I'll look when I go back later today for my second shift. It was one of those generic Scholastic books (with Lincoln on the cover), I assume it will be pretty boilerplate, but you never know!

"President Diarrhea" is how I have been referring to him since like March…

The strength of conservatism!

TRUMP/PELOSI/SCHUMER BILL PASSES HOUSE -- 319-90

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) September 8, 2017

IT'S OFFICIAL: @SpeakerRyan did NOT break Hastert Rule on this. Now have 128 Rs. Thats more than a majority of the majority.

— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) September 8, 2017

GOP @RepRyanCostello says members in "disbelief" being lectured to by "Democratic donor treasury secretary" to support lifting debt ceiling

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 8, 2017

i have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising than anything i can imagine

now my own suspicion is that theuUniverse is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose

i was hoping Dumbass here would have the courage of his 'convictions'

https://thinkprogress.org/limbaugh-to-evacuate-south-florida-after-claiming-irma-was-a-hoax-cb3fb5fb35b8/

“The views expressed by the host of this program [are] documented to be almost always right 99.8 percent of the time,” Limbaugh said right before announcing he would be leaving South Florida for parts unknown.

yo dawg we heard you like equivocations so we put equivocations in your equivocations so you can equivocate while you equivocate

almost always right 99.8 percent of the time

new board description plz

i've heard a few minutes of RL while getting an i.v. drip monthly -- truly a double treat -- and he remains a very savvy broadcaster despite the ludicrous content.

Last time I listened to him he spent 3 straight segments on how trump was the most famous person in the world, without explaining why that was new or important.

he knows his audience, ya gotta give him that

it's not hard to figure out morons

Well well

Sater letter to Cohen on Trump Tower Moscow: "Help world peace and make a lot of money" pic.twitter.com/2DYyqxFRO5

— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) September 8, 2017

read that as "Attached is the signed LOL, by Andrey Rozov" and was v confused

no matter what happens in the next four/eight years (or his president-for-life bid), his death will necessitate a state funeral. I suppose Reagan and Nixon's ceremonies involved hideous revisionism, but to be compelled to act as if he was not a case of burning hot diarrhea upon the life of this country and unto the world will be galling, as cases of diarrhea inevitably are.

― veronica moser, Friday, September 8, 2017 2:05 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

his presidential library is just going to be a storefront for his garbage products and books

as we'll be in full-blown climate crisis when it's time to build, thinking everyone will just say naaaah

https://i.imgur.com/gSfq6wJ.jpg

The president has told those close to him that he regrets choosing to tackle the repeal and replace of Barack Obama’s health care law as his first legislative push. He has singled out Ryan for blame, saying the speaker assured him it would pass and instead handed him an early, humiliating failure, before ultimate House passage of a revived bill, according to three White House and outside advisers familiar with the conversations but not authorized to speak about them publicly.

https://apnews.com/5020609d1ddb4eab9f8ff42fd9e03bd0

Well, he is right about that, but he was stupid to believe it to begin with.

Tbf he is still stupid

There's plenty of stupidity to go around.

a buyer's market

The president has told those close to him that he regrets choosing to tackle the repeal and replace of Barack Obama’s health care law as his first legislative push. He has singled out Ryan for blame, saying the speaker assured him it would pass and instead handed him an early, humiliating failure, before ultimate House passage of a revived bill, according to three White House and outside advisers familiar with the conversations but not authorized to speak about them publicly.

https://apnews.com/5020609d1ddb4eab9f8ff42fd9e03bd0

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, September 8, 2017 4:41 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well wasn't the whole point to 'save' money in ocare repeal to get even more billions of dollars to give away to rich people in the form of tax relief?

I believe that was the point for those who are capable of thinking two or three steps ahead of 'me want good thing happen now, make me look hero, make America something something'.

Yup

W out Ocare repeal any tax cuts are gonna run up huge deficits

The point of everything for Trump is to make him feel good about himself, full stop.