US Politics, October 2019 — I guess statement you could say with thread. I made a thread. The thread was PERFECT.

Thank you very much.

I miss the covfefe days

I miss not having 12 Trump threads going at the same time on ILX.

Sad!

realDonaldTrump liked this tweet: https://t.co/CtLpea4KNS

— Trump Alert (@TrumpsAlert) October 1, 2019

remember there are still many many people out there who think Trump is a giant brain genius who has been playing 3-D chess for the last 4 years

I've been saying for 2 years that at the last minute he won't run for re-election. He'll throw up a garbled 100-tweet thread with a dissonant combination of "mission accomplished: swamp drained!" and "the game is rigged!", because the writing will be on the wall in terms of his historically poor approval rating and across-the-board polls showing him losing to the Dem. I've been clinging to this...

i wouldn't cling to that

I used to believe in the "Trump doesn't actually want to be president" theory, and indeed it seems he dislikes most of the day-to-day duties, or really anything that isn't one of his idiot chud rallies - BUT being President means everyone's talking about him all the time and that a bunch of people have to listen when he speaks, so yes he absolutely is going to run in 2020 and will throw a crazy fit if he loses (or if he wins)

https://player.fm/series/why-is-this-happening-with-chris-hayes/live-what-happened-to-conservatism-with-sen-ted-cruz
Ted Cruz was the guest on Chris Hayes as recorded live over the weekend

what happened to conservatism was dudes like ted cruz

We have to prepare for the possibility that he may win in November 2020 and fight like hell to beat him.

frogbs otm

guy walks into a room and a special song plays, they all have to stand, "they call me Sir!" It's everything he's ever wanted.

also being president might be what keeps him out of jail

Not to sound defeatist, but it almost doesn't matter whether he wins in 2020 or not. He's made such a goddamn shitshow out of everything that even if he is very clearly defeated, the media will still feed his twitter fueled rage and everything will still revolve around him anyway.

just a reminder that we're dealing with the dumbest man in the united states:

THANK YOU! pic.twitter.com/zqbTTlbGmp

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2019

to him, everything will be about him, until the moment he dies. he'll be joined by thousands of devotees that will bury themselves alive in their burial chambers to be with him. breitbart will have wall-to-wall coverage for the entire month, and the parts of the country where people hang confederate flags across their porches will believe that a great man has died. he'll have his team of dumbasses until the very end, whenever that is, we just have to deal with it

xp yeah, that sounds defeatist, sorry. I disagree.

lol Karl

well yeah it won't matter to the sales of his next book, or his daughter's handbag line or his son's political ambitions

but it'll definitely matter for the rest of the world

https://i.imgur.com/i7zsvBB.jpg

but it'll definitely matter for the rest of the world

Absolutely. I just hear folks talking like he'll disappear completely in January of 2021 or something. Won't happen, he'll still be dominating every single press cycle for years to come and that thought depresses me.

meanwhile...

A shadowy group that supports Syrian dictator Bashar-al Assad is giving thousands of dollars to far-right activists, conspiracy websites, YouTube personalities, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — all under the guise of an award for “uncompromised integrity in journalism.”

The Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees, an umbrella nonprofit based in the San Francisco Bay area, ostensibly exists to raise awareness of “social justice issues that are key to sustainable world peace.” In practice, that has meant bolstering public support for the Assad regime, which has rewarded the group and one of its main fronts, the Syria Solidarity Movement, with visas and access to top officials in Damascus.

Among those winners is Jimmy Dore, a comedian turned political commentator who was employed by The Young Turks, a progressive video outlet, until April 2019. According to an IRS filing, however, Dore actually began receiving money from the association behind the Serena Shim Award in 2017, receiving $2,500 for what the latter described as “human rights media.”

That same year, Dore would argue that a chemical weapons attack on the opposition-held town of Khan Sheikhun was likely a “false flag,” the bodies of dead children having been planted, perhaps, by extremists (the United Nations has confirmed that the Syrian government, the only party to the conflict known to possess the Sarin and an air force, was responsible).

“Reporter Actually In S-Y-R-I-A Exposes Media Lies About Everything” was the name of another 2017 conspiracy-theory segment, that one featuring Eva Bartlett, a founding member of the Syria Solidarity Movement and the first winner of the Serena Shim prize.

the stunning detail there is how little it costs

CNBC -- which uses the same Dem/GOP polling firms as our NBC/WSJ poll does -- just released their latest survey showing Trump's job rating falling to 37%, the lowest of his presidency in the poll https://t.co/FuMdEfYo68

Sept 24-28, MOE +/- 3.5% pic.twitter.com/iC9Jaw8ERy

— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) October 1, 2019

The Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees

Hilarious that they gave themselves the initials AIPAC.

The more I read about the Ukraine thing and Barr's global adventures in pursuit of the REAL hackers, the more it all seems like a case of high-on-their-own-supply. Right-wing media bullshit is only useful and effective if you remember that it is a means of obfuscation and confusion to bog down your enemies, not an actual source of real-world information. It appears that the White House has gone off on a fantasy adventure in pursuit of things that their own intelligence agencies have told them over and over just don't exist. But Trump and Giuliani and maybe Barr too all seem to think it's real, so they're off chasing that instead of whatever nefarious scheme they should actually be pursuing to further their ends, and now he's getting impeached because of it.

The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore." He continued "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

(the "aide" in this passage is Karl Rove)

xpost yeah, all they really needed was a few investigations opened in foreign countries so they could yell about Democrat corruption and biased Witch hunts, but they got caught because they are so so dumb

I used to believe in the "Trump doesn't actually want to be president" theory, and indeed it seems he dislikes most of the day-to-day duties, or really anything that isn't one of his idiot chud rallies - BUT being President means everyone's talking about him all the time and that a bunch of people have to listen when he speaks, so yes he absolutely is going to run in 2020 and will throw a crazy fit if he loses (or if he wins)

Me too. I thought he'd last six months because he had no interest in actually doing the job. I did not take into account he could just keep on campaigning and nobody would ever make him do the job.

I saw an article that described Trump as a "replacement level Fox News viewer" and that about covers it. Even if he wasn't the subject of their coverage, he'd be soaking in 8-10 hours of it a day.

It remains to be seen whether the entire Republican party and news media is ready to get in lockstep with the message that actually it's good to ask foreign countries to investigate totally made up scandals for political gain. I doubt they'll waste much time getting there though.

why accept that message when they can just go with "that's not what happened" as the strategy? no quid pro quo. totally legit conversation. every president does it, etc

The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. His heart sank as he thought of the enormous power arrayed against him, the ease with which any Party intellectual would overthrow him in debate, the subtle arguments which he would not be able to understand, much less answer. And yet he was in the right! They were wrong and he was right.

oops, forgot to delete the last two sentences, which are from a different era when conservatives were still capable of thinking and acting independently

I just hear folks talking like he'll disappear completely in January of 2021 or something. Won't happen, he'll still be dominating every single press cycle for years to come and that thought depresses me.

I disagree with this. If there's one thing the institutional GOP is good at (and Fox News is part of the institutional GOP) it's the memory hole. George W. Bush was fucking GONE the day he lost the election. I do actually believe that, if Trump blows the election, the entire RW apparatus will instantly pivot to "Nikki Haley is the one we liked all along, we need a stiff dose of civility to free us from crazy-eyes Marxist divisive President Warren" or whatever.

So no, no despair. Beating Trump in 2020 will make the United States instantly and substantially better. I truly believe that.

(But also, taking advantage of the current dirty, compromised state of the GOP, while Trump is still its figurehead, to win some Senate races and governorships ('sup, Laura Kelly) and STATE LEGISLATURES this year and next)

do you all really think the cult of TrUmP is importantly different than the cult of "W"?

I mean, I lived in stupid kansass for half of little Bush's reign and have spent only a week in the usa during the current idiot's time, but for those of you who were adults during the ~mission accomplished~ years, does the GOP solicit a deeper fealty now?

I disagree with this. If there's one thing the institutional GOP is good at (and Fox News is part of the institutional GOP) it's the memory hole. George W. Bush was fucking GONE the day he lost the election.

yes

GWB didn't (technically) lose any elections; I know you meant "slinked out of office"

There are some similarities. The buildup to the Iraq invasion was a similar inept sleight of hand where data critical of the existence of WMDs was shut down as essentially "fake news"

Main diff is he was nowhere near as ascerbic towards the press so they helped him with his spin.

The George W. Bush Mind Wipe Project began in 2007. I've never seen a president disappear so abruptly after goddamn ubiquity.

the great thing about the breitbart poll image is that it indicates trump himself voted in it

("return to poll")

yes, but you have to vote in the poll in order to see the very scientific results

It looks like the Department of Justice will intervene in a fight between President Trump and the Manhattan District Attorney over the president’s tax returns https://t.co/jzRNcMwEXq

— POLITICO (@politico) October 1, 2019

The Trump call suggested he has conflated three separate ideas (that Ukraine was acting against him, that Crowdstrike had an inherent pre-existing bias and that the DNC server was never analysed by the FBI) into one easily disproved conspiracy theory (that Crowdstrike has the DNC server hidden in Ukraine). Idk whether that says more about Trump’s inability to process information than it does about his broader team’s ability to come up with consistent attack lines.

I can’t imagine Trump disappearing in 2021, not with 90% approval from Republicans. Already more and more right-wing media is pushing the narrative that he’s a victim of a coup attempt by the deep state because he’s so devoted to battling corruption - QAnon but a little less goofy. If he loses it will be all due to the deep state, the Democrat will be an illegitimate president no matter the margin of victory.

that's going to happen no matter what

we've been through all this before, both on ILX and also in real life. even before the 2016 election, trump was pushing the line that he was cheated out of a victory. and afterward, when he was farting all over the chairs of the oval office with every breath, he couldn't stop talking about how millions of votes had been stolen from him. no matter what happens, whether the margins are razor-thin or a blowout, whether he "wins" or loses, trump will say he was cheated and take that to the grave, and he'll have uncountable people who believe him. they will probably have their own tv network for this (like NRAtv, but tackier)

xp

sleeve said it more concisely :)

Trump will be in the news long after he is gone - from the presidency, and from the earth.

Fascist Elvis

are you loathsome tonight

it's not even 2pm

it's crime o'clock somewhere

the Department of Justice will intervene in a fight between President Trump and the Manhattan District Attorney

Impeach Bill Barr.

seriously, he is quickly elevating himself to supervillain status

same with pompeo

here's one basic thing i'm struggling with right now. i do believe that the republican senate won't vote to convict trump. i've come to accept this. but now, it's becoming clear (to me at least) that barr and pompeo deserve to go down for this as well. will the republican senate prevent them from being impeached as well? the result of that would be devastating, i think, for this country. seeing not just trump wiggle his way out of it once again, but also an expanding group of fucking goons. but would the republicans ever split their impeachment vote between trump (not guilty) and barr/pompeo(guilty)? it's hard to imagine that, either. all of the outcomes seem either unlikely or unthinkable

GWB didn't (technically) lose any elections; I know you meant "slinked out of office"

oops yeah, sorry, my mind created a locus of satisfaction where none existed

when you're a Jet you're a Jet all the way, Karl

> locus of satisfaction

new board title

is. but now, it's becoming clear (to me at least) that barr and pompeo deserve to go down for this as well. will the republican senate prevent them from being impeached as well? the result of that would be devastating, i think, for this country. seeing not just trump wiggle his way out of it once again, but also an expanding group of fucking goons.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/24/bush-pardons-iran-contra-felons-dec-24-1992-1072042

powerful people getting away with shit is nothing new, but the scale of the current thing is something not seen since watergate, and perhaps surpassing it.

trying to imagine Trump declining to show up at conventions so he won't hurt the GOP candidate like GWB

He's defeating corruption by becoming corruption

Like Jesus

well played

I think Trump loves attention so much that he will demand to speak at GOP conventions after leaving office (and no one will dare stop him for fear of the red hatters).

And he will repeat his performance in the Roy Moore campaign - place one smarmy tentacle around the next R nominee. And when he or she loses, immediately claim that he or she was a weak candidate who wasn't Trumpy enough.

also after losing in 2020 he will spend the next three years teasing another run for President

Hopefully from a jail cell

It’s wild to me how people crawled over my 60 mins interview with a fine-toothed comb to find any word or reason to claim I’m unfit for the job, yet here Kevin McCarthy (the GOP Leader!) is a bumbling, sloppy, dishonest mess & his mediocrity is accepted as a matter of course. https://t.co/zx7qlhW9dh

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 30, 2019

YES

Damn!

hard bigotry of high expectations

the way mccarthy says 'the defense of what?' and thinks he's clever

the phrase "snake-filled moats" just popped up on my NYT alerts
welcome to 2019 i guess

even by 2019 standards, this is a tour de force

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/us/politics/trump-border-wars.html

The Oval Office meeting this past March began, as so many had, with President Trump fuming about migrants. But this time he had a solution. As White House advisers listened astonished, he ordered them to shut down the entire 2,000-mile border with Mexico — by noon the next day. The advisers feared the president’s edict would trap American tourists in Mexico, strand children at schools on both sides of the border and create an economic meltdown in two countries. Yet they also knew how much the president’s zeal to stop immigration had sent him lurching for solutions, one more extreme than the next.

Privately, the president had often talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators, prompting aides to seek a cost estimate. He wanted the wall electrified, with spikes on top that could pierce human flesh. After publicly suggesting that soldiers shoot migrants if they threw rocks, the president backed off when his staff told him that was illegal. But later in a meeting, aides recalled, he suggested that they shoot migrants in the legs to slow them down. That’s not allowed either, they told him.

“You are making me look like an idiot!” Mr. Trump shouted, adding in a profanity, as multiple officials in the room described it. “I ran on this. It’s my issue.’’

Ms. Nielsen, a former aide to George W. Bush brought into the department by John F. Kelly, the president’s former chief of staff, was in a perilous position. She had always been viewed with suspicion by the president, who told aides she was “a Bushie,” and part of the “deep state” who once contributed to a group that supported Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign.

Mr. Trump had routinely berated Ms. Nielsen as ineffective and, worse — at least in his mind — not tough-looking enough. “Lou Dobbs hates you, Ann Coulter hates you, you’re making me look bad,’’ Mr. Trump would tell her, referring to the Fox Business Network host and the conservative commentator.

The happiest he had been with Ms. Nielsen was a few months earlier, when American border agents had fired tear gas into Mexico to try to stop migrants from crossing into the United States. Human rights organizations condemned the move, but Mr. Trump loved it.

We can close the border, she told the president, but it’s not going to fix anything. People will still be permitted to claim asylum.

But Mr. Trump was unmoved. Even Mr. Kushner, who had developed relationships with Mexican officials and now sided with Ms. Nielsen, could not get through to him.

“All you care about is your friends in Mexico,” the president snapped, according to people in the room. “I’ve had it. I want it done at noon tomorrow.”

so what was the cost of a snake moat? asking for a friend.

the president is a racist eight year old

https://media.makeameme.org/created/strategy-you-gave.jpg

“Sir, I know you’re really frustrated,” she told him. The president invited her to meet with him on Sunday in the White House residence.

Ms. Nielsen knew that Miller wanted her out, so she spent the flight huddled with aides on a strategy for getting control of the border, a Hail Mary pass. She called it the “Six C’s” — Congress, Courts, Communications, Countries, Criminals, Cartels.

Unbeknown to her, Ms. Nielsen’s staff started work on her letter of resignation.

When Ms. Nielsen presented her plan to Mr. Trump at the White House, he dismissed it and told her what he really needed was a cement wall.

“Sir,” she said, “I literally don’t think that’s even possible.”

sorry: meant to say an insane racist eight year old

should've just added a seventh C

xp

Cell?

Calum?

IN THE NAVY!

https://howmuch.net/costs/wall-block-install
i'm sure it's the same cost no matter where you put it of course.
1,954 miles = 10,317,120 Feet divided by 350 = 29,478 multiplied by $20,061 = $591,358,158
let's assume the laws of physics clearly don't apply and you don't need to provide additional support so just multiply that times 6 and bingo bango you got a 36 foot tall, 2,000 mile long border wall for 3.4 billion
SO DON'T TELL ME I'M KIM POSSIBLE

the president of the united states demanded that his staffers look into the cost of digging a moat along the mexico/us border and filling it with snakes and not only are you not surprised, it doesn't make you feel any differently toward him than you did before you had that information
truly the stupidest universe

how many snakes would it take to fill a 2000 mile moat?

"Fill" needs better quantification there. Call in a consultant.

does the Rio Grande have many snakes and alligators in it? If so, jobs half done, someone could've taken a few photos and been promoted, missed opportunity there.

how about rubber snakes and alligators. from China.

I want to get off this boat.

how many snakes would it take to fill a 2000 mile moat?

There's only one snake, but the catch is you don't know where it is at any given moment

What about anacondas? it would take far fewer snakes. get Jon voight on it asap!

How is he the president?

It’s an important job!

Does he really want desperate refugees eaten by alligators?

https://seminoletribune.org/read-offline/16753/alligator-namesake-trumps-trump.print

"Though not the largest gator in the swamp, the beast was deemed dangerous, captured and forced into isolation. He has lived alone in his private pit ever since."
let us pray

Does he really want desperate refugees eaten by alligators?

Did he say "eaten" by the alligators? This is a falsification that amounts to treason!

There's only one snake, but the catch is you don't know where it is at any given moment

re the reptile moat, do you think it'd be worth it to encourage his name being replaced by "Blofeld" on Twitter?

the State Department IG wanting a meeting with congressional committees tomorrow seems interesting

https://i2.wp.com/www.inpapasbasement.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Hellraiser-I-am-in-hell-help-me.jpg

lol

The fainthearted lions of the Senate ought to bear in mind that a defiant citizenry inflamed by indignation and jealous of its rights can overwhelm a corrupt regime’s dirty electoral plans. An election with an impeached Donald Trump at the top of the Republican ticket is an invitation to an electoral uprising that should haunt Mitch McConnell’s dreams.

this is well done

https://nyti.ms/2p5iWDQ

So which Steve Linick will show up tomorrow?

The unprofessional, flighty, politically vindictive one...

State Department Inspector General Steve Linick during the financial crisis targeted a whistleblower friend of mine, a whistleblower who is one of the most honorable men I know. From what I understand Linick is unprofessional, blows with the wind, and is politically vindictive.

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) October 2, 2019

or the smart, honest, serious one:

I worked with Steve Linick, the State Department’s IG who has requested an urgent briefing with Congress, in the 1990s at the USAO. Smart, honest, and not a guy to mess with.

— MoatSnakeHat (@Popehat) October 1, 2019

let’s throw it back to 2011:

“Maybe they'll need a moat," Obama said mockingly to laughter from the crowd. "Maybe they'll want alligators in the moat."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-mocks-gop-jokes-they-want-border-moat/

There's only one snake, but the catch is you don't know where it is at any given moment

Schrodinger's Snake

Now the press is trying to sell the fact that I wanted a Moot stuffed with alligators and snakes, with an electrified fence and sharp spikes on top, at our Southern Border. I may be tough on Border Security, but not that tough. The press has gone Crazy. Fake News!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2019

just an amazing tweet

the story is moot

wow that's what I was going to have for lunch, a moot stuffed with alligators and snakes

its true, he never said he wanted a Moot

just around his Scottish hotel

At least the backtracking "I never said I wanted a wall with spikes, or a moat full of alligators!" tweets prove that Trump is still capable of embarrassment. On some level, he knows what a stupid worthless asshole he is.

I gotta hand it to Steyer for consistently putting his money where his mouth is

A pro-impeachment group is targeting GOP senators in battleground states with a round of ads as they try to build pressure on Republicans to break with President Trump in the growing battle.

Need to Impeach, which is mainly funded by Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer, announced that would run $3.1 million in TV and digital ads against Republicans in a number

The group will target Sens. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) over the next two weeks, while lawmakers are back in their home states for the recess.

Gonna need more upward movement in the polls than this

A CNBC All-America Economic Survey released on Monday found that 47 percent of Americans oppose impeachment, compared to 44 percent who approve.

But 88 percent of Republicans, according to the same poll, oppose impeaching Trump.

wonder if those will change at all as the corner of the rug starts lifting

It has always been a long shot, but it's necessary to do it anyway.

Pelosi news conference on now

that rug-lifting in full

https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse2.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.7GkWE2JY_mQoOUzdN2IOQwHaD4%26pid%3DApi&f=1

I'd be interested in knowing what percentage of those opposed simply fail to understand what impeachment entails and what percentage would happily self-immolate in the course of burning down the house of someone they mildly disagreed with because fuck that fuckin' motherfucker (flips double bird, melts).

Other polls say other things

BREAKING—CBS News poll finds majority of Americans approve of impeachment inquiry against Trump - ⁦@CBSNews⁩ https://t.co/8ZPBw8NOU0

— carole king (@carolekingnyc) September 29, 2019

this is how it should work for all citizens: unless a nationwide poll shows a majority of people think you should be prosecuted, you can criminize til your heart's content

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Do Nothing Democrats should be focused on building up our Country, not wasting everyone’s time and energy on BULLSHIT, which is what they have been doing ever since I got overwhelmingly elected in 2016, 223-306. Get a better candidate this time, you’ll need it!</p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="

The Do Nothing Democrats should be focused on building up our Country, not wasting everyone’s time and energy on BULLSHIT, which is what they have been doing ever since I got overwhelmingly elected in 2016, 223-306. Get a better candidate this time, you’ll need it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2019

Oops, that didn't work out like I meant. Sorry.

at least that last sentence is true

It's kind of astounding to consider how much more evil shit he could have successfully gotten done over the last few years if he wasn't such a stupid vindictive asshole.

The Cruelty Is The Point

putting the lower score first is a real beta move

Mark E Smith reads the electoral college results

thx Tombot I hadn't seen that one yet. 55% is pretty good, movin in the right direction

xps

nasty guy

the wrong lower score once again

LOL, president dummy just went on a press appearance rant, total gibberish greatest hits set, and when he was done he felt compelled to come back to the mic to ramble denials about, of all things, the alligator-filled moat ("whatever that is, their word").

Now the press is trying to sell the fact that I wanted a Moot stuffed with alligators and snakes, with an electrified fence and sharp spikes on top, at our Southern Border.

can I note that this tweet is even better if you grew up somewhere that “moot” was slang for vagina

would vote for president salvador dali

It's early but, "a Moot stuffed with alligators and snakes" for next month's title?

Australia: a moot stuffed with crocodiles, snakes, spiders, jellyfish, toads, octopuses and sharks.

It seems almost impossible but I'm sure Our President will say 432 things of equal or greater stupidity over the next four weeks.

Trump is the Hooded Fang

Please, media, don't misquote Mr. Trump by attempting to correct the spelling of his neologism 'Moot'. That would be very dishonest, very unfair, and SAD. And also enough to get you hung for treason.

Trump's demand that Adam Schiff be arrested for treason and executed is straight out of QAnon, a conspiracy theory obsessed with fictional indictments for treason that end with mass hangings of Democrats.

So that's nice. #WWG1WGA

— Mike Rothschild (@rothschildmd) October 2, 2019

guys what's going to happen when the inquiry actually starts

sharp spikes on top

These would be Moot points.

so tired of winning

Moot the Hopple

if the covfefe tweet happened now nobody would even bother commenting on it

Theory: Trump actually said maybe like a ditch filled with snakes because he never knowingly encountered the word 'moat' before this weekend and doesn't know what it means. Hence the ott grousing about false 'moot' reportage.

Oh, a GYME!

my trump wants to potty all the gyme, potty all the gyme, potty all the gyyyyme

Thread idea: words you would bet $100 actual cash that donald trump does not know

I think he meant to write Moot' with a hyphen

i would bet $150 donald trump could not accurately use the word "anti-luddite" in a sentence if given thirty (30) seconds and no help

i would bet $150 donald trump could not accurately use a computer of any type or vintage if given thirty (30) seconds and no help

what kind of supposedly rich person doesn't know what a moat is?

if a moot is big enough you can floot a boot in it

just saw a clip of Obama joking in 2011 that the republicans might want a border moat with alligators, it's probably where he got the idea

Seriously, one of the biggest missed journalistic opportunities is just a simple 'Mr. President, could you please define ____?' or 'Mr. President, could you please explain _____?'. Where the blank is something very rudimentary, something most fourth graders could at least kinda fumble their way through. I don't pretend at this point that it would make a whole helluva lot of difference electorally but it would be nice to know exactly where his baseline of ignorance lies.

there is no baseline

I'm willing to bet he doesn't know offhand what year the Declaration of Independence was signed, for example. Now, you might feel compelled to pooh-pooh that as preposterous, but I'd beg you to take a moment and consider the assertion based on everything we know about the 'man'.

Of course I would love that as theater but can't see it moving the needle much. Everyone knew who he was, and wasn't, years ago.

Gotcha tactics with Herman Cain - remember Bekkistan? - became meme fodder but didn't accomplish anything other than what normal electoral gravity did.

this "does DT know _______ or can DT do ___" is one of the rolling thought experiments on the deadspin podcast.

I wonder how many presidents he could name...presumably Washington, Lincoln, Reagan, the Bushes, Obama, Nixon, Clinton, probably Kennedy, maybe Carter, Ford, FDR, Eisenhower, Truman but I'm not 100%...oh i guess Andrew Jackson. I think the over/under is 10.

he would 100% say ben franklin was a president

I'm certain he couldn't name just the presidents who served while he's been alive. Not all of them.

These are not assumptions I'd feel safe making about any other living person, no matter how maddeningly ignorant and incurious they were.

there have been times where I've been like, "okay, he doesn't LITERALLY think the F-35 is invisible" or "he doesn't ACTUALLY think Hillary destroyed her emails with bleach" but it would appear that he indeed appears to believe both of those things

Yeah, he just made reference to the 'acid washed' jeans emails within the past week. It's not an arrangement of words employed by someone who understands words.

i don't think he really understands what that scandal is about, just that it worked for him to keep mentioning "emails."

likewise, i don't think he knows what he wanted ukraine to uncover about biden. he just wanted to create the appearance of impropriety but subjecting biden to an investigation.

Talked about this in the August thread too

his supporters don't care that he lies all the time and they love the fact that he's an unrepentant racist, but they do seem to have trouble defending how lazy/obviously dumb the guy is, choosing to always deflect to the time Obama said "57 states" or whatever. I keep hoping some interviewer or debate moderator is gonna nail him by just asking him to explain something any middle schooler would know but they haven't really done that yet. Actually they kinda did a bit in 2015 but the other GOP candidates would step in to take a bullet for him

― frogbs, Monday, August 19, 2019 2:23 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I fantasized about that happening in the last election. However, if this happened he would just trail off into some rant that has nothing to do with the question.

Hypothetically, the only way to get him on it is to give him misleading "clues" that will cause him to BS around what information he thinks you're giving him rather than what he's actually supposed to know. Helps if you appeal to his lingo and the way he compartmentalizes things.

"Can you name all of the branches of government that you believe are doing the best jobs, and all of the ones that could be working even harder? What does each one do and what could they be doing? What could their top leaders be doing better? Many people are saying there are too many. How many are there?"

Something like that.

what a shit show of a presser with the Finnish President right now

A Finnish reporter just asked President Sauli Niinistö of Finland what favors President Trump has asked of him.

There were audible gasps in the room.

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) October 2, 2019

I think a real approach they could take is when he says "lots of people are saying x", asking who specifically and can he provide examples.

Or for claims about Schiff or whoever committing treason, asking what law is being broken by them.

xp

almost as awkward as when selina meyer presented the prime minister of finland with an angry birds clock!

xp

Just put him on the spot any time he makes a wild claim

xp

the last reporter Reuters reporter was killing it

the last reporter Reuters reporter was killing it

lol ugh

Question: "Finland is the happiest country in the world--"

President Trump: "Finland is a happy country."

Question: "--what can you learn from Finland?"

Trump: "Well, you got rid of Pelosi and you got rid of shifty Schiff. Finland is a happy country, he's a happy leader too." pic.twitter.com/malb47H2MW

— The Hill (@thehill) October 2, 2019

love how he recoils when trump touches him

I mean...what the absolute and total motherfuck?

Trump berates @jeffmason1 after Mason presses him to actually answer the question he asked (he never does). The Finnish president can't help but chuckle at the shit show. pic.twitter.com/Uc6G4HvE7r

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 2, 2019

the whole thing was insane even by his shitty standards

When Trump smiles or laughs it's like catching a glimpse into Satan encased in ice.

DON'T BE RUDE

my theory is that trump actually knows nothing, his enormous brain merely absorbs and immediately regurgitates whatever's in front of him at any moment

that's not fair to satan xxp

love asking Trump about happiness when he's barely containing his rage

the correct gotcha question is to ask him to explain the difference between medicare and medicaid.

it won't make any difference, but that's the best one imo.

I think I linked to this before, but it's good:

https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/this-guy-truly-has-no-idea-what-hes-talking-about-1838500602

This sounds promising, he's independent of Pompeo and is volunteering info to Congress. Of course who knows what he has (possibly nothing)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/02/ig-giving-an-urgent-briefing-hill-called-out-politicization-harassment-state-this-summer/

yes, i'm trying to be cautiously optimistic about it. how long have they been meeting, now? keep waiting for the news to break

@Shakey/Karl:

I posted this last night (an eternity on this thread... but yet):
__________________________________________________________________

So which Steve Linick will show up tomorrow?

The unprofessional, flighty, politically vindictive one...

State Department Inspector General Steve Linick during the financial crisis targeted a whistleblower friend of mine, a whistleblower who is one of the most honorable men I know. From what I understand Linick is unprofessional, blows with the wind, and is politically vindictive.
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) October 2, 2019

or the smart, honest, serious one:

I worked with Steve Linick, the State Department’s IG who has requested an urgent briefing with Congress, in the 1990s at the USAO. Smart, honest, and not a guy to mess with.
— MoatSnakeHat (@Popehat) October 1, 2019

I think I linked to this before, but it's good:

every Big Wet President piece by Roth is good, but this one is top three to date.

https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/464072-trumps-approval-ticks-to-up-to-highest-level-since-december

Manu Raju
@mkraju

"Lotta head scratching out of the IG briefing on the Hill, which the State IG conveyed was “urgent.” Raskin showed us a 40-page packet of what he describes as conspiracy theories and propaganda about Ukraine/Biden/ targeting former ambassador Yovanavitch."

Single polls are almost meaningless

rmde

xp

yeah lol his aggregate polling is garbage - 538's tracker (possibly the only semi-useful thing left on the site) has him at 41.5% approval, 53.7% disapproval

speaking of Roth: new piece on Trump's last TV show, Donald J. Trump's Fabulous World Of Golf. There's a video piece at the top and a short essay below - do watch the video, ignoring some pointless recreations, for the actual clips of what Donald J. Trump included about himself in the tv show about himself that he produced.

https://deadspin.com/down-a-hole-the-missing-scenes-of-donald-j-trumps-fab-1838707638

interesting article about Trump and Pence

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-involved-pence-in-efforts-to-pressure-ukraines-leader-though-aides-say-vice-president-was-unaware-of-pursuit-of-dirt-on-bidens/2019/10/02/263aa9e2-e4a7-11e9-b403-f738899982d2_story.html

Sweet. President pelosi by november 1st.

lol

I’m into it

All these fantasies of a world with no Democrats, you'd think Rs woulda realized their longevity has always required a foil to spar with

they’ll always have brown people

Not if they can help it

seems like Jeff Mason from Reuters is the only member of the WH press corps besides Jim Acosta to effectively challenge Trump in 3 years, there should be more of that

This is so freaking bananas I don't even know where to start pic.twitter.com/iaqTcTaF7q

— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) October 3, 2019

I can't even keep up with all of this, but basically Rudy fabricated a bunch of evidence and Pompeo made the IG deliver it to Congress?

seems like it

xp yes sounds like it, it's all insane

By the way, Rudy is admitting to manufacturing White House logos and sticking them on non-White House documents and pushing the real government to act on them. https://t.co/8NEfRmvTXy

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) October 3, 2019

theyre like little boys playing wargames

what a bunch of dim-witted criminals

It's like playing chess with a dude who says his moves to himself out loud in advance and accuses you of cheating

I mean the IG included memos critical of the narratives in the materials, calling them fake narratives. I would put more money that this was the IG trying to remove himself from the situation early by dumping literally everything he had without comment.

xpost

Dim witted indeed but could Giuliani be prosecuted for that?

It's more like a chess game where all the pawns have to announce whether they actually respect the rules of the game or not, before the game itself can begin.

HAs Giulianin just been trying to work up his insanity defence over zealously?

Also I was hearing yesterday that the pretty much direct effect of the Trump shakedown being timed as it was is that Ukraine has gone to a meeting with Putin in a weakened position so it looks like the Western Ukraine area that Russia invaded is going tro be forced into a Russia influenced election to determine its future. & that the reason Zelenskyy was looking for a further arms deal at that time was to strengthen his position as regards this meeting which was going to happen at some point inevitably but under what he would have expected to be different circumstances.

Have you been railroaded by the criminal justice system for a crime you (winks knowingly) didn't commit? Then call me, Rudy Giuliani, right now. I will fight for you by going on national television, every single day, and explaining in great detail how I and your collaborators helped you to commit this so-called 'crime'. It's a defense strategy so batshit crazy that it just might work! Give me a call...right now.

You're not the only one to have that idea!

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-rudy-giuliani-fake-subway-ad-20191001-w2ii4l5egzaildggt2qrtk6enm-story.html

https://www.nydailynews.com/resizer/gKNs8Azhf9ARgTaesSNWuFSbuNU=/800x600/top/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/U5ITHUNMQRHINDHMKN3SMUR5HE.jpg

I thought insanity defense just reduced the amount of sentence or the way it was served by showing diminished responsibility for one's actions. Might just mean he wound up in Bellevue instead of actual prison.
& the hinge-point would be knowing that he was already sunk so trying to control the way he was dealt with.

why is so rudy so desperate for trump's approval? he's put himself in legal jeopardy and tanked what was left of his reputation. he seems pathetic.

good morning!

as has been pointed out, Trump treated him like shit for years before their alliance xp

there is definitely some kind of obsessive psychology at work here. or he is being blackmailed.

Always assume projection with this crew. Their obsession with corruption and digging up dirt is just another sign that they're all hopelessly compromised by some entity or another.

In a world where a less successful Rudy wasn't engaged in high-level acts of senility like incuriously accepting 'Ukrainian' dirt he was handed without even asking for it and proudly blabbing about it to the world, he would be sitting by the phone in his rest home eagerly waiting to fork over his bank account information to anyone willing to half-ass their way through an IRS agent impersonation.

I think w/ Rudy it has everything to do with what happened to him in NYC.

Between his exploiting'leveraging of 9/11 and gestapo "quality of life" dictates he endeared himself to an increasingly gentrifed NYC. No doubt he planned on having airports and parks named after him. It's been an ugly, precipitous fall. He's roundly reviled in his hometown, and this is his last desperate grasp at getting some of that back.

iow He saw *another* outer borough septugenarian detested by New Yorkers figure out how to make a bunch of idiots outside the city love him, why not latch onto that guy

liking that take

It makes sense

LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH! pic.twitter.com/QQYTqG4KTt

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2019

And they say that a hero could save us

Another question about US President Ronald Reagan. Who has told him it would be treason even if Schiff lied to Congress about the transcript? Or even if they were falsifying evidence, doesn’t treason mean collaborating with an enemy?

President Ronald Reagan parrots strings of phonemes he's heard other people use. A spoonful of alphabet soup which miraculously forms a word isn't a sign of sentience or intention.

words have long sinced stopped meaning anything iirc

The new 25% EU tariffs are nutty. good luck USA. Product list:
https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/enforcement/301Investigations/EU_Large_Civil_Aircraft_Final_Product_List.pdf

a friend who sells in 50 states worked out a representation of cost to wine and whiskey:

I.E. A $50 bottle (landed, US after freight and taxes- but not tariffs) X 1.45 ( average wholesale distributor markup = $72.50 wholesale price X 1.5 (usual retail markup) = $108.75 sell price in a retailer.

WITH THE 25% TARIFF
$50 (landed) x 1.33 markup (25% tariff) =$66.50 X 1.45 distributor markup = $96.45 X 1.5 retail markup = $144.64 retail price that YOU WILL PAY after trumps added tariff... so that 25% tariff on a $50 (laid in) bottle translates to an EXTRA $35.89 on the final price you pay ...

Dumb question, but why does a 25% tarrif equate to a 1.33x markup?

Ugh, didn't realize previously this hit scotch. Not cool, man.

Mike, it's because the distributor and the retailer do the mark-up on the price they pay for the goods including the tariff, so the percentage gets higher with each step of the distribution process.

hmmm, I don't know. let me ask. It may be an error because I can't work it out either.

oh xpost. That makes sense.

but wait let me ask because it still looks slightly wrong.

But it makes no difference - it was x*Dist*Whole before and now it's x*Tariff*Dist*Whole. The price is the old price * Tariff.

The issue I was having was the very first term in the maths: "25% = 1.33".

xp

Oh I see, yeah I dunno.

yeah, i will revert in a bit. I shot them a message.

The real issue is the “price you pay” part. The price after the tariff plus the usual markup is what I don’t pay, tyvm. I foresee many people switching from scotch to bourbon.

maga! (markup all grain alcohol)

Isn't it because the tariff is 25% of the price, so in order to still have the original price you need to add 33%, since 25%*1,33=1,00.

frig. I've already turned our chest freezer into a beer fermenting chamber. Now there goes the bathtub.

Cheese is already crazy expensive in the US. Blah.

these are worthwhile because they will help boeing make better self-crashing planes

xps it's because you DIVIDE by markup, i.e. 50/0.75 (25%) = 66.6 which is the same as 50 * 1.333

I think.

President teetotal raises taxes on booze, checks out

Ok - sorry for the maths derail :) It's a lot, either way.

it's a fun thread for a maths derail because half the people on this thread probably had math and science funding cut for their schools so they could spend extra time considering the theory of creationism

i love how the photo in that rudy subway ad is the heaven's gate guy

I was shockingly old when I learned that Rudy is not, in fact, the Heaven's Gate guy. Coulda sworn.

the crazyrudylaw website works now. That phone number was on the Michael Cohen Fixer ads too.

President teetotal raises taxes on booze, checks out

But he loves Scotland!

President teetotal raises taxes on booze, checks out

Richard Butler's best lyric imo

https://i.imgur.com/8DzrDTO.jpg

just do it (repeatedly incriminate yourself on live television)

“I would say President Zelenskiy, if it was me, I would start an investigation into the Bidens.” — Donald Trump. THIS MORNING

— Sam Stein (@samstein) October 3, 2019

He can admit it all he wants, seeking foreign dirt on a political rival is fine when a Republican does it.

I wouldn't trust anyone this stupid with a pair of scissors.

Someone please hand him a pair of scissors. And then, I dunno, tell him he has a fly on his forehead.

Well then:

Trump admits he asked Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden, and asks China to do the same. Like Nixon telling America "I ordered the break in." pic.twitter.com/Zw3aZby4uc

— Oliver Willis (@owillis) October 3, 2019

"now they're trying to do it the opposite way but they got rid."

cue the evergreen jesse farrar tweet

The guy has not had to withstand any single consequence for his actions in 73 years, why do people expect him to start fearing them now?

crooked and much more than that if was me then everybody was fifty thousand and investigate China and other words I am saying

I'm going to be like those people that go to South America for dental and plastic surgeries, except to Europe for cheese and Scotch

Like if his face opened and nothing came out but fax noises people would still stroke their chins and nod and write think pieces about what exactly he meant by AFPO8DSHLAVBKJAB13948HBKFJBABADFKJHALDJFVK

The Voynich manuscript made flesh.

xpost ok, what sleeve said above "DIVIDE by markup, i.e. 50/0.75 (25%) = 66.6 which is the same as 50 * 1.333" is correct. and this is a “general” formula for wine and spirits pricing in the US. There are variables, distributors sometimes and retailers use different margins.

They say Crowdstrike... I guess you have one of your wealthy people... The server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation...I think you're surrounding yourself with I don't know, I don't know, I just know I'm a patriot and that's my life. HBO...the people, the country...but when you have a foreign nation that has your information and does not tell you whether it's legitimate or not...that's something that's gonna blow your mind in a different way than watching, or listening to, an American who believes that he's just like me....you do a lot in the public sphere that are not well-served, well-understood, well-considered. And so, I don't know how this ends, at the end of the day. It will just be...people will say well how many more people?

the AI has found its perfect use case

all it's missing is "we'll see what happens" at the end

"Better Alec Baldwin"

Is this a rare instance where a Beto-style "enough of this bullshit!" response might get some traction?

So apparently at Fox News you can parrot a wide range of conspiracy theories & falsely claim white supremacy is a “hoax,” but saying this gets you fired?

I’m just trying to figure out where the line is 🤷🏽‍♀️

After all, how was he supposed to know this was below their standards? https://t.co/qELhdI9MT8

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 3, 2019

Sorry, that string of random AI-generated text is just way too coherent to pass as a Trumpian utterance.

xp
"We worship the pagan god Moloch, and don't you forget it!"

todd starnes is out of his mind

everyone knows we worship Baal

Ok doubling down on asking foreign countries to do sham investigations on the Bidens is pretty funny.

Why didn’t he just have Barr open an investigation himself?

He’s not above that. He re-opened the hillary investigation

I haven't heard anyone invoke Moloch since Allen Ginsberg, but i'm never at the cool parties

what sleeve said above [...] is correct.

I'm glad we got this sorted out, Yerac!

I thought we were worshiping Mammon. I've been getting this wrong.

I mean, I ride hard for Prince Stolas, too

these are worthwhile because they will help boeing make better self-crashing planes

― L'assie (Euler), Thursday, October 3, 2019 4:00 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

^^ underrated posts I have loved

many chuds and ghouls will know what it is to be roasted in the depths of the moloch this day i can tell you

starting with

hard to read this and not then wish that they gave Sanders the full RoboCop surgery in the hospital today https://t.co/AYDBaSmwAK

— 'Weird Alex' Pareene (@pareene) October 3, 2019

I guess my vague awareness of Moloch's existence might look like devout worship from the perspective of god-fearing republicans who make a game of pissing daily into the face of their own deity of choice.

I don't know why Republicans always want to paint our child sacrificing as some kind of religious thing

It's gotta be the embroidered robes.

well, you know what they say - conservatives only care human lives up until the moment they come out of the womb, while liberals only care about a baby's suitability for sacrifice to Baal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xiyljA9qz0

Would love to see DJT in his current mental state debate Kamala Harris.

Dude's brain is like a laptop with a tangerine in the battery slot

He couldn't even debate Jeff Dunham

"You're the puppet!"

https://youtu.be/CPNaaogT8fs?t=114

Assuming he's still in office in a year, I'm having a hard time believing he'll agree to any debates.

he'll tweet the answers per agreement with the networks

Welp Federalist and FoxNews both say they have a source saying Volker's testimony is a setback for Schiff so impeachment is over guys, sry to be bearer of bad news

WEll it was a nice try but you just can't win against this epic goodness can you?

Have just been hoping that there's no way that the requested quid pro quo being a thing of conspiratorial fiction wasn't something they could spin. Given the right judge or whatever, can't6 indict such a saint over a fictional server can you?

Did t go to Ukraine to ask them to out that Ukraine had helped concoct the russian hoax. Really don't see what was supposed to be in ukraine's interests to do that. Or was it just that the current Ukraine President would be throwing the previous one under the bus and everybody knows that any real winner would be all about that wouldn't they? Can't quite get into the mentality

Quid pro quo is irrelevant (though of course it is obviously there). The truth of the Biden stuff is also irrelevant (though of course it is not true).

Soliciting foreign help in elections is plainly illegal on its face.

...doesn't need to have been paid for, doesn't need to have worked, doesn't need to have been decisive.

And, get this, it is still illegal *even if someone else has also done it*.

Just as if I am speeding and someone else is also speeding and I get caught, I still get a ticket. Amazing how laws work.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/trump-has-been-obsessed-with-moats-for-at-least-35-years.html

In 1984, Trump was just coming off the buzz of opening Trump Tower. His Trump Plaza on Third Avenue was about to open, and he had wildly ambitious plans to build more. And what better architect to design it than Philip Johnson, whose AT&T Building, with its pseudo-Chippendale roof, had landed Johnson on the cover of Time? Trump was no aesthete, but great press was something he understood. In fact, Trump Tower had been — as it’s described in Mark Lamster’s 2018 Johnson biography The Man in the Glass House — “a glitzified imitation of Johnson’s IDS Tower in Minneapolis, right down to its zigzag corner and retail atrium.” It wasn’t long before Trump was visiting Johnson’s offices, the Times reporter William E. Geist in tow. “Trump is mad and wonderful,” Johnson told Geist, as his staff brought out a model of a project called Trump Castle. It was bizarre, even for the ’80s: six cylindrical towers, like the round turrets at the corners of a medieval English castle, their floor plans overlapping slightly. And (you knew this was coming) surrounding the whole thing was a moat. With, yes, alligators. At Madison and 60th Street! (In the warm months, at least; no record seems to exist of whether the moat would be heated, or whether the gators would accompany the building’s older residents to Florida each winter.)

I can’t imagine the pee tape being more than a day’s news at this point, unless they’re boys and/or underage.

ELECTION INTERFERENCE!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2019

he just....tweeted it out

HIGH CRIMES! HANG ME BY THE NECK UNTIL I AM DEAD! SAD!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 3, 2019

"BOXCAR!"

deep (state) cuts

btw I know this week has been nuts but Trump basically confessed his crimes on TV today and then committed a few more

It's quite literally nuts that they are simultaneously pushing the SECOND-HAND FAKE line and totally confirming everything in the complaint and doing it even more. It feels like a Monty Python skit.

“Trump is mad and wonderful,” Johnson told Geist, as his staff brought out a model of a project called Trump Castle. It was bizarre, even for the ’80s: six cylindrical towers, like the round turrets at the corners of a medieval English castle, their floor plans overlapping slightly. And (you knew this was coming) surrounding the whole thing was a moat.

the man did love his fascists

it's time for some more vic berger videos.

I'll confess I thought moats were cool when I was young.

I apologize for suggesting yesterday that Trump didn't know what a moat Moot was. It appears that I am nothing more than deep state fake news, so dishonest and so corrupt in my hunt for the Witch of Perfect Calls.

again: entirely possible he thought they were "alligator ditches" or that he ha since forgot

Moats ARE cool. He can't take that away.

Mutherfucker better not start proposing trebuchets

Why not quicksand?

Because alligators can wear gopros capturing footage for tv

it's a perfect gator, perfect

So do you need to feed the moat dwellers or is that supposed to all be taken care of by the moat intruders? Wouldn't you get the ASPCA on your back for animal mistreatment?

I mean quite apart from all other levels of simple incredible barbarism that might be recognised along the way.

Trump doesn't really <get> animals anyway.

Don't talk about his kids that way, c'mon

Doesn't get em, definitely fucks em

It seems ironic that the US Embassy in London was designed with a moat, before Trump and his stooge Woody Johnson even got around to infesting the place.

Counterpoint: "Woody Johnson" would be a great porn name.

WOODY JOHNSON

"Welp Federalist and FoxNews both say they have a source saying Volker's testimony is a setback for Schiff"

sounds like it was just the opposite, surprise

Lol yup

Are we going to get a "foreign interference in elections is actually fine" pivot at some point?

i think we already have?

Yeah they’ve already said it’s welcome and expected, everybody does it

Good news:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/10/03/stunning-rebuke-predatory-wall-street-megabanks-california-gov-signs-law-allowing

At least the "digging up dirt on rivals is fine! WHo cares who you ask!?" angle on it anyway.

BTW dont they teach civics even in the crappiest schools in the US? How come many people dont seem to get how all this stuff works?

"He doesn’t see it as a violation of the law,” the source added, noting Trump has theorized his opponents have been doing the same thing to him"

It's adorable how his widdle mind works

xp well there's a funny thing about how they teach in crappy schools

Great news, kingfish!

https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/464317-gop-senator-defends-trump-asking-for-biden-probe-wouldnt-democrats

God these fuckstains need to all have their arteries harden.

Schools in the US stopped teaching “civics” decades ago - they changed the name of the classes to “social studies” and “government” and IIRC they become electives, not mandatory, sometime around the age of 14. Happy to be corrected on this point.

Rick Perry resigning https://t.co/6iKeMgatGu

— Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) October 3, 2019

Wow

When you lose PERRY...

you lose his glasses too

Trump just needed him to tackle another swamp

XP ...and his hair.

Rick Perry has three reasons for resigning, which means we'll find out the two he can remember.

— Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) October 3, 2019

i had 'civics' in the 80s

but it was taught by the asshole assistant baseball coach who was later fired for perving (idk the details) on students

anyway no civics course is as persuasive as fox news, if that's your thing. i blame a certain AUSTRALIAN

All this shit is makin me not looking forward to come back to the States in a week

multi-xps - Schools in the US are probably the most balkanized school system of any nation on earth, so any blanket statements about what and how they teach will be in part wrong. As for calling the courses "civics", "social studies" or "government", that seems about as indicative of their substance as calling US prisons "penitentiaries", "correctional facilities", or "carceral housing".

Seems like I see this meme posted by a different burnout friend on FB every couple weeks.

https://i.redd.it/okt8azrh6ht01.jpg

That is wrongly attributed to Zappa. It was actually said by Einstein during a long, thoughtful conversation with Bob Marley.

I live in Texas, went to high school during the W governorship and presidency, and had mandatory US History, World History, Texas History, Geography, and US Government. Global Issues (ultimately the most important of all), was an elective.

XP I thought it was Audrey Hepburn.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/03/politics/trump-biden-call-xi-secure-server/index.html

with bonus outrage:

Trump also told Xi he would remain quiet on Hong Kong protests as trade talks progressed.

anyway no civics course is as persuasive as fox news, if that's your thing. i blame a certain AUSTRALIAN

no Australians were involved in the founding of Fox News tbf

i will not bf

founders are less important than owners, iirc

no Australian has ever owned Fox News

I thought Telmarines under Miraz took over Australia iirc

I learned/retained virtually nothing from K-12 social studies. And much of what little I do remember is a gloss on the truth if not outright incorrect.

if we are going to be fair, the most likely next owner of Fox will be someone who moved to Australia at age 18 and lived there during the 1990s

we are not going to be fair

perhaps you would like to clarify rupert murdoch's role in the world?

i do not care that he is now a naturalized american citizen

rupert murdoch's role in the world is to poison and degrade democracy

yeah. it's a curious ambition

I learned/retained virtually nothing from K-12 social studies. And much of what little I do remember is a gloss on the truth if not outright incorrect.

― Furter-Bursting Tater Squirter (Old Lunch), Thursday, October 3, 2019 8:37 PM bookmarkflaglink

Man Robert Fulghum got dark

Highly recommend this for anyone looking for a civics primer, intended in part as just that:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/books/review-these-truths-history-united-states-jill-lepore.html

It omits indigenous history, but, yes, it's a solid book to press on your conservative dad during the holidays.

That assumes one's conservative dad reads books which are not one of Bill O'Reilly's "Killing Time" series or Tom Clancy's many paeans to unchecked militarism.

see also https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/greg-grandin/the-end-of-the-myth

Are we going to get a "foreign interference in elections is actually fine" pivot at some point?

― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 3 October 2019 23:40 (yesterday)

Yeah, 12 hours ago

As the President of the United States, I have an absolute right, perhaps even a duty, to investigate, or have investigated, CORRUPTION, and that would include asking, or suggesting, other Countries to help us out!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 4, 2019

oh, so the Steele Dossier is cool now? Thanks

The argument that one is fine and the other is not arguably cuts both ways but the Steele dossier had the advantage of being anonymised - Giuliani's binder seems to be made up of statements from people who, in the last 24 hours, were investigated over their ties to an illegal gambling ring (Lutsenko) and didn't bother to turn up to their own appeal against getting fired (Shokin). Neither is going to stand by anything they allegedly said to him or would have any credibility if they did.

That assumes one's conservative dad reads books which are not one of Bill O'Reilly's "Killing Time" series or Tom Clancy's many paeans to unchecked militarism.

― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, October 3, 2019

Mine!

It would be ridiculous to say that it cuts both ways; the president is using the power of his office to force a state to comply with his personal wishes. There is no such parallel in the Steele Dossier.

Re: the pivot. I meant from the rest of the gop and their media, so far it seems they would rather deflect and move on than do this, of course trump has already tried this, but he says all sorts of wacky shit.

If the investigation had actually been started by the Steele dossier, it would have been kinda similar, though.

I continue to be perplexed by the dismassal of the Steele dossier as some kind of hack job. To my understanding It's deeply sourced and has been largely corroborated, w/ exception of pee tape stuff (which, there's totally a pee tape)

One of the claims of Trump world is that the Dossier was illegal because Hillary's campaign was relying on a foreign operative to dig up dirt. If what Trump is doing is kosher then that argument is moat.

But Trump is in the right because the dirt he is trying to dig up is totally true, but the dirt Hillary's campaign was trying to dig up was totally fake. Ipso facto.

pointing out GOP/Trump hypocrisy is about the most toothless argument we have

that's why i made it on a politics thread not a tv ad

Yeah I just read the execrable Marc Thiessen arguing that "Democrats told us opposition research is okay and everybody does it."

So the argument is not just "whatever the president does is fine," but "because a Democrat kinda did a thing once, Democrats can't complain now." Because Both Sides.

Weirdly, I have been unable to use this tactic successfully in my dealings with the law: "But officer, there was this one time that a Republican killed someone. Both Sides!"

Except that Fusion GPS is not another country

pointing out GOP/Trump hypocrisy is about the most toothless argument we have

This is true but may become even more incredibly depressing if there should happen to be a Supreme Court vacancy next year.

Except that Fusion GPS is not another country

And DNC / Clinton campaign were not the President, exercising national policy for the entire government in pursuit of political advantage.

But otherwise, yeah totally the same thing. Both Sides!

Perry also just said yesterday or the day before that he would cooperate with any investigations so he must be trying to save his ass.

The correct response to anyone attempting the 'BOTH SIDES!' argument is 'shut your fucking whataboutist piehole you propagandizing fuck'. IIRC.

one other response to try is to let them know about all the other sides that are involved or could be involved. it's not just both sides, it's these other two sides! and these two! and those two! UP IN THE CORNER AS WELL! and beneath you. you're surrounded!

...AND ALL OF THEM DO IT EQUALLY!

the latest in the best-selling series of limited edition VHS politically-oriented porn: Both Sides Do It

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-1LzgxMsswUs%2FWobsaaNjQZI%2FAAAAAAAAQL0%2FOnvKcvtqGcMOXJ0Ah531YBftUOI_5PzmQCEwYBhgL%2Fs640%2FBothSidesDont.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdriftglass.blogspot.com%2F2018%2F02%2Fboth-sides-dont-versus-both-sides-dent.html&docid=-5foU14qfY4xYM&tbnid=qEcTnAxoxAFysM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwiOyMfy7YLlAhVxkeAKHTJCAvsQMwhGKAAwAA..i&w=335&h=201&client=firefox-b-1-d&bih=1036&biw=1600&q=both%20sides%20don%27t&ved=0ahUKEwiOyMfy7YLlAhVxkeAKHTJCAvsQMwhGKAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1LzgxMsswUs/WobsaaNjQZI/AAAAAAAAQL0/OnvKcvtqGcMOXJ0Ah531YBftUOI_5PzmQCEwYBhgL/s640/BothSidesDont.jpg

damn

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1LzgxMsswUs/WobsaaNjQZI/AAAAAAAAQL0/OnvKcvtqGcMOXJ0Ah531YBftUOI_5PzmQCEwYBhgL/s640/BothSidesDont.jpg

^the action shot of chuck grassley that is so sexy it broke the image

I've looked at solicitation of foreign assistance in election-related matters from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's just 'covfefe' I recall
I really don't know solicitation of foreign assistance in election-related matters at all

I remember when we had scandals over whether Al Gore made fundraising phone calls from one side of the street or the other

so he must be trying to save his ass.

with sharks like cruz and romney still hovering around the edges of the scene one forgets that this perry fellow was interested in being president himself

new polling from Morning Consult showing Trump is underwater in battleground states of Arizona (his net approval is down 23 points since his presidency began), Colorado (down 16), Florida (down 23), Iowa (down 22), Michigan (down 18), New Hampshire (down 23), North Carolina (down 21), Pennsylvania (down 17) and Wisconsin (down 17), and you see what could amount to an electoral disaster in the making.

wish we could hold the election in nov 2019.

that is very good news though

i know i just posted this on the impeachment thread, but just in case there's someone who reads this thread and not the other dozen trump threads,

Trump goes on rant about the UK, Australia and Italy plotting against him during the 2016 campaign. pic.twitter.com/8pDZxd6IKT

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 4, 2019

he is truly becoming....unhinged. and he sources say he is making claims...without evidence

In other news, the unemployment rate just hit 3.5%, the lowest it's been in 50 years. So all continues to be well in the best of all possible worlds.

the most ppl w/ shitty jobs

(and i'm one)

Be thankful you don't live in Sweden, where the unemployment rate is 7.4%.

"unhinged" is a good description of that twitter video. it's like watching the world's worst magician wave his left hand about to distract you from the explicit treason he's doing in front of a camera with the right hand.

corruption is an emotion, something you can just "feel"

It's the countries he DOESN'T blame, maaan.

President Stillson

i saw that his net approval rating (approval balanced with disapproval) was basically zero in pretty surprising places like North and South Dakota. So yes, holding out hope we have the biggest electoral college blowout in history.

Yeah, I wanna see Nixon - McGovern numbers.

do we really need a primary thread, a politics thread, and an impeach trump thread?? fuck

It's kind of a mess right now, and let's not forget the Bernie and Biden threads!

or the AOC thread or the is Trump a psychopath thread

do we really need any threads at all

do we really need a primary thread, a politics thread, and an impeach trump thread??

a game, a grind, and a prayer

Anyway would be much easier to wrangle if we could get that ILP board!

also would facilitate bulk ignoring

do we really need a primary thread, a politics thread, and an impeach trump thread?? fuck

― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, October 4, 2019 1:35 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

It's kind of a mess right now, and let's not forget the Bernie and Biden threads!

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, October 4, 2019

F: Impeach Trump Y/N
M: US Politics, October 2019 — I guess statement you could say with thread. I made a thread. The thread was PERFECT.
K: 2020 Democratic presidential primary

tbf, this is such a shitshow I'm surprised there aren't more threads. I mean, there are probably over 100 Led Zeppelin threads, and this is the Led Zeppelin of shitshows.

Ignoring something you're not interested in is actually pretty easy. Like, you see a thread about it and... don't read it. Doesn't seem that tough; maybe I am missing something.

i'm interested in all of it, that's the whole thing

Trump: "African Americans built this nation. You built this nation. You know, you're just starting to get real credit for that. I don't know if you know that. You're just starting to get - you built the nation. We all built it. But you were such a massive part of it."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 4, 2019

the least racist man you've ever met shares his wisdom

i

can i

by all means

All Lives Built It.

So glad the stillborn baby at the end of Threads grew up to be President

I totally read that quote in Leslie Neilsons voice.

So the President just signed an executive order, “Protecting Medicare from Socialist Destruction.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/03/watch-trump-announces-executive-order-aimed-at-improving-medicare.html

The President just signed another executive order, “Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs To.”

Jacob Wohl strikes again
https://www.thedailybeast.com/jacob-wohls-bogus-warren-accuser-exaggerated-his-military-service-record
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/elizabeth-warren-accuser-not-up-to-caliber-to-work-for-gigolo-agency-894637/
https://heavy.com/news/2019/10/kelvin-whelly/

I don't get why anyone pays attention to this chump. Does he have any accomplishments whatsoever other than being a ridiculous troll?

I’m just in awe that this dude was actually in the military

Submitted Wohling to Urban dictionary

good morning!

So it looks like...October 24th is when the wheels of justice finally start rolling over this clown? Cool, 'bout time.

President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani told Fox News on Friday that his mission is to “disrupt the world” while defending his interactions with Ukrainian officials. “My mission is to disrupt the world,” Giuliani said when asked by Fox News host Martha MacCallum what his personal goal is as the president’s personal lawyer.

I AM AN ANARCHIIIIIIST

President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani

sorry i just died a little reading this phrase

Why so delerious

jacob wohl + co are the greatest comedy act going right now

I’m just in awe that this dude was actually in the military

Everybody that works at the CBP is disgusting

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/customs-and-border-protection-investigating-allegation-journalist-harassed-at-airport/

I had an irrational fear when I left the country for my month long business trip that I wouldn't be able to get back in for some bullshit Orwellian reason. Realizing while that's a stupid pie in the sky thing to happen to me, other people are legit dealing with that reality

lol have you ever met a marine

I think the awe was that Wohl actually bothered to find a marine, even if it’s one who was in high school at the time he claimed to have been deployed in Afghanistan.

Considering that their security guard is a short man with a single Apple earbud in place of an earpiece, and that the sex marine press conference came 24 hours after Wohl & Burkman’s press conference outing the treacherous whistleblower

The sex marine reportedly also came

Whomp whomp

SCOOP: Trump told House Republicans he made his now infamous phone call to Ukrainian president at the urging of Energy Secretary Rick Perry — a call Trump claimed he didn’t even want to make.https://t.co/sEgKDFzmb1

— Axios (@axios) October 5, 2019

*tentatively reaches for popcorn*

The great (in a "it sure feels great to bash my head against this cinder block wall, I think I'll keep doing it till next November" sort of way) thing about each successive lie is that he doesn't even try to establish the slightest bit of linearity or logic. He's almost literally just flinging shit around his cage.

the phone call is fake news it was the most perfect phone call ever no quid pro quo the whistleblower is a deep state plant it was hearsay they changed the form it’s my obligation to go after corruption rick perry made me do it

— kilgore trout will be the hero (@KT_So_It_Goes) October 5, 2019

Rick perry leaving was independent of this at least supposedly wasn't it?
Was he attempting to escape cos he realised his cushy role was sinking?
& now he's been dragged back in, are we expecting a greater swathe of resignations from the more minor players over the next few weeks?

He got a call moments before the announcement that said "Resign, now" that was supposed to be an intimidating call from an anonymous source but Giuliani forgot to hit the button on the voice modulator

Rick perry leaving was independent of this at least supposedly wasn't it?

Totally sensible role for someone tasked with administering U.S. nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, and next-generation energy research.

natural gas tho

wondering if it's where all of this is going

Shorter Ron Johnson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ybDgIOHyq4

It's tight, but Fox News says Trump is underwater in Wisconsin - all three major Democratic candidates beat him. He won 46% of the vote in 2016 but is currently at 41%.

Here's a non-Fox poll of white folks in Wisconsin from late August.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EGNfO_3WsAEdPvF.jpg

It's interesting watching and hearing all the bad news for Trump develop even with Congress on recess. When do they come back?

https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-sen-ron-johnson-loses-it-on-meet-the-press-i-do-not-trust-the-fbi-or-cia?ref=home

this is just so fucking dispiriting

I watched a few minutes of it; I've seen cockroaches with greater command of English than Ron Johnson. How awful must you be for Chuck Fucking Todd to lose patience.

srsly

Sen. Johnson: 'NO! I WANNA HOLLER THE LOUD FUNNY WORDS! I LIKE DARREN, HE IS MY FRIEND! I LIKE YOU AND HIM! HE LIKES ME AND I LIKE HIM! HE LIKES YOU, I HOPE! I LIKE HIS AUTOGRAPH! IT IS A NICE PICTURE! HE IS NICE!'

Not dispiriting to me. The more GOP Senators that want to lose their mind on camera and show their asses for what they really are, so be it.

Better than then one of them stumbling into the bullshit "maverick", "moderate" role that McCain vacated and winning over influencing low info indie voters as some voice of reason.

Now he can be an Infowars bitch.

If this were house member I'd feel differently, I don't see a silver lining in a sitting US Senator legitimizing this bullshit and fomenting paranoia that every single aspect of the government is illegitimate except for the WH

I can't bleeve two spies have impugned the integrity of our perfect prez

Xpost Tom Cotton, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz have arguably done this to varying degrees,

Of course it's bad, but hardly shocking.

"Ron’s a good friend, but I’m deeply scared by the positioning that Republicans have chosen to take. That interview was just a giant green light to the president of the United States to continue to solicit foreign interference in U.S. elections,” he said.

“This is wild, the lengths to which Republicans are going to try to avoid being criticized by this president.”

Gtfo with "good friend". Say he's dead to you.

very bizarre clip. i've never heard johnson speak at length like that before. i'm assuming that is his nadir as a human being, because holy shit

here's hoping his entire family stops talking to him and he dies alone and soon

Comforting stuff:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/07/will-swing-voters-who-went-from-obama-to-trump-stay-loyal-in-2020

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-judge-rules-trump-must-turn-over-his-tax-returns-to-manhattan-da-but-trump-has-indicated-he-will-appeal/2019/10/07/29e1fda6-e8a4-11e9-85c0-85a098e47b37_story.html

a good result would be if this gets appealed to the SC and Kav votes against Trump, prompting Trump to try to fire him and then call him a rapist on twitter

this is utterly plausible

it is actually

every lol scenario now flowcharts into "yeah that could happen"

I can't conceive of any venal act Trump wouldn't undertake when backed into a corner. I'm sure I've said it before but only a Trumpian act of genuine kindness/care/contrition/etc. would rattle me.

I'm sure Barron would be terrified if his father ever hugged him, fearing he was about to get the Cronus special.

sycophancy is Baron's only hope, big bros showing how it's done

THREAD
In 2016, Trump posted a photo of himself that gave away more than he intended. An open desk drawer revealed box after box of Sudafed, piled on top of one another. pic.twitter.com/wHFgRvY2YU

— JRehling (@JRehling) October 5, 2019

hahaha this man's brain has been fried by British Sudafed

Pill poppin' would be about the most traditionally presidential thing about him.

sudafederalreserve more like

just read PK's kav scenario, and before reading another word, i was "oh yeah, that's totally possible."

I don't know how anyone voluntarily enters Trump's orbit without being acutely aware that they'll eventually become well-acquainted with the undercarriage of a bus as a direct result.

Lol nashwan