;)
The Commentariat -- July 1, 2019
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
David Sanger of the New York Times: "Iran has exceeded a key limitation on how much nuclear fuel it can possess under the 2015 international pact curbing its nuclear program, effectively declaring that it would no longer respect an agreement that President Trump abandoned more than a year ago, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Monday. The breach of the limitation, which restricted Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium to about 660 pounds, does not by itself give the country the material to produce a nuclear weapon. But it is the strongest signal yet that Iran is moving to abandon the limits and restore the far larger stockpile that took the United States and five other nations years to persuade Tehran to send abroad."
Jack Crosbie of Splinter: "Per the Washington Post, Trump is again giving the National Parks Service a massive headache by requesting massive armored vehicles on the National Mall for his planned rebrand of the nation's Fourth of July celebration as a VIP 'Salute to America.' According to the paper this morning: '... The ongoing negotiations over whether to use massive military hardware, such as Abrams tanks or Bradley fighting vehicles, as a prop for Trump's "Salute to America" is just one of many unfinished details when it comes to the celebration planned for Thursday.... Traditionally, major gatherings on the Mall, including inauguration festivities and a jubilee commemorating the start of a new millennium, have featured a designated event producer. But in this case, the producer is the president himself....'... As HuffPost reported at the time [of Trump's inauguration, when he also requested tanks for his parade]: '... "I could absolutely see structural support being a reason [not to use tanks]," a Department of Defense official said. 'D.C. is built on a swamp to begin with.'" The WashPo story is here.
Jonah Shepp of New York on how Trump shifted the G-20 summit. "In his statements and meetings on the sidelines of the summit, he gave explicit cover and support to authoritarian leaders, made concessions to adversaries, and threatened to tear up decades-old agreements with longstanding allies.... When Trump wasn't posing for smiling snapshots with [an] all-star cast of brutal dictators, he was taking potshots at real U.S. allies like Europe and Japan."
The New York Times weighs in on Ivanka Trump, Junior Diplomat. Katie Rogers: "On Sunday, [Ivanka] Trump ... used an impromptu meeting between her father and Kim Jong-un ... to further slip into the role of unofficial spokeswoman and budding stateswoma for the Trump administration. With her husband ... Jared Kushner at her side, Ms. Trump delivered news interviews, posed for photos and attended a closed-door meeting between her father and Mr Kim.... 'We are on the precipice of ushering in potentially a golden era for the Korean Peninsula,' Ms. Trump told Bloomberg News in the hours before her father took the historic step of crossing into the North. But by the time she emerged from the closed-door meeting between the leaders hours later, she only had one word for journalists about her encounter with North Korea. She called it 'surreal.' Others following along called [her presence] inappropriate.... Ms. Trump's participation in the G20 trip illustrated just how unchecked her ascent in the White House has been in recent months, and how few people who might have raised doubts remain." Mrs. McC: Junior Diplomat. I thinks there's a merit badge for that. ...
Ivanka Trump at Yalta. I'm thing that if Ivanka hadn't been there to assert her own views (notice Churchill, Roosevelt & Stalin are mum while Ivanka shares her thoughts), there might never have been a cold war.
... Alison Rourke of the Guardian: "Ivanka Trump's prominent role at the G20 summit over the weekend, and her presence at the Korean demilitarised zone with her father, has inspired a slew of parodies under the hashtag #unwantedivanka.... Following an awkward encounter in Osaka, in which Trump appeared to muscle in on a conversation with world leaders, the president's daughter and senior White House advisor has been photoshopped into significant moments in history...."
Michael Tomasky in a New York Times op-ed: "The aggressive gerrymandering, which the Supreme Court just declared to be a matter beyond its purview; the voter suppression schemes; the dubious proposals that haven't gone anywhere -- yet -- like trying to award presidential electoral votes by congressional district rather than by state, a scheme that Republicans in five states considered after the 2012 election and that is still discussed: These are not ideas aimed at invigorating democracy. They are hatched and executed for the express purpose of essentially fixing elections." Tomasky borrows a term from Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way: "competitive authoritarianism," which describes the political structures of countries like Mozambique, Cambodia & Russia, where "formal democratic institutions exist..., but in which incumbents' abuse of the state places them at a significant advantage vis-à-vis their opponents."
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Michael Crowley & David Sanger of the New York Times: "... for weeks before the meeting [between Donald Trump & Kim Jong Un]..., a real idea has been taking shape inside the Trump administration that officials hope might create a foundation for a new round of negotiations. The concept would amount to a nuclear freeze, one that essentially enshrines the status quo, and tacitly accepts the North as a nuclear power, something administration officials have often said they would never stand for. It falls far short of Mr. Trump's initial vow 30 months ago to solve the North Korea nuclear problem, but it might provide him with a retort to campaign-season critics who say the North Korean dictator has been playing the American president brilliantly by giving him the visuals he craves while holding back on real concessions. While the approach could stop that arsenal from growing, it would not, at least in the near future, dismantle any existing weapons, variously estimated at 20 to 60. Nor would it limit the North's missile capability." ...
... Jim Acosta of CNN: "The new White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, got into a scuffle with North Korean officials on Sunday during a chaotic scene outside a meeting room where ... Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un talked privately. A source at the scene said Grisham got in 'an all out brawl' with North Korean officials as American and North Korean reporters were hustled in to view the summit. Grisham was bruised a bit in the scuffle, the source added." (Also linked late yesterday.) ...
... "Everything is going very smoothly":
(MEANWHILE. Mike Allen of Axios: "Sarah Sanders is likely to hit the speaking circuit and write a book after leaving the White House on Friday, and she'll move to Arkansas in August as the prelude to a possible 2022 run for governor, sources tell Axios." Mrs. McC: So now we'll have to pay to hear/read the lies we used to get for free.)
... This. Is. Not. Diplomacy. Mrs. McCrabbie: The Stephanie Scuffle, it turns out, was just one dance in the TrumpKim Shuffle. Confederate Jonathan Karl of ABC News starts out his report on the Shuffle with high praise: "For Donald Trump the showman, this may have been the greatest performance of his presidency. In one dramatic gesture, he became the first U.S. president to set foot in North Korea -- and the first to arrange an impromptu meeting with a North Korean dictator via tweet." But eventually Karl's recessive newsman gene kicks in, & he writes, "The scene at the DMZ was dramatic and chaotic because there was no agenda, no plan, no advance work. This was improv.... The first moves seemed well choreographed.... Then -- chaos. The two leaders walked around and talked, security guards for both sides were seemingly unclear about where they were going and where the press would be allowed to go.... There was lots of yelling as some of the Korean press followed the leaders into the building. There were shouts to the press to back away from the building ... called the House of Freedom, on the South Korean side of the border.... Then, moments later, shouts for the U.S. press to come inside.... At one point, incoming White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham appears. She elbows and shoves aside a Korean security guard who was among those trying to block the U.S. press from getting into the room where Kim and Trump were now meeting." ...
... Robin Wright of the New Yorker: "... analysts with long experience in dealing with North Korea were skeptical about the prospects. 'This is diplomacy as a reality show -- devoid of substance, purely driven by the pursuit of faux-historic photo ops,' Abraham Denmark, a former East Asia specialist at the Pentagon..., told me.... At the D.M.Z., Kim agreed to do only what he had already promised in Singapore last year: allow more talks between their teams." Mrs. McC: Kinda like going to Paris for the sole purpose of having your picture taken by the grave of Jim Morrison.
Dan Friedman of Mother Jones lists "seven lowlights from Trump's latest adventure abroad." Here's one we missed: "Trump brought his daughter Ivanka with him, a decision that resulted in cringe-worthy instances of the younger Trump, who had no political experience prior to her father giving her job as a White House advisor, appearing to insert herself into pictures and conversations with world leaders. A viral video released Saturday by the office of French President Emmanuel Macron shows [Ivanka] Trump joining a conversation between [Mrs. McC: among!] Macron, British Prime Minister Theresa May, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde. The effort drew widespread mockery. 'Being someone's daughter actually isn't a career qualification,' Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted." ...
... Balloon Juice has an extended excerpt from the Washington Post's story (by Anne Gearan) on Ivanka's odd & inappropriate role on the East Asia trip. ...
... Cristina Cabrera of TPM: “President Donald Trump brought Fox News host Tucker Carlson to North Korea on Sunday instead of his own national security adviser, John Bolton. Several journalists reported seeing Carlson on the sidelines of Trump's historic visit to the the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea, and the hosts of 'Fox & Friends' confirmed Carlson was there during a phone interview with him." --safari: Why take him all the way to the DMZ for a phone interview. WTF? ...
... No, No. Bolton was way too busy to dance on the graves of murdered North Koreans with Trump & Tucker ... because Trump sent Bolton on an important mission to ... Mongolia. And we are delighted to learn that Bolton is "Delighted to be in Ulaanbaatar & looking forward to meeting with officials to find ways to harness Mongolia's capabilities in support of our shared economic & security objectives." I wonder if sending your top national security aide to Outer Mongolia while you preen on the world stage is sort of a message to said aide. Still, Ulaanbaatar must be lovely in summer. ...
... Anyhow, Tucker did a great job defending Trump. Morgan Gstalter of the Hill: "... Tucker Carlson on Sunday defended President Trump's praise of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, saying part of leading a country 'means killing people.'... The frequent Trump ally said there 'is no defending the North Korean regime, which is a monstrous regime. It is the last reall Stalinist regime in the whole world. It is a disgusting place, obviously. On the other hand, you've got to be honest about what it means to lead a country. It means killing people,' Carlson continued. 'Not on the scale the North Koreans do, but a lot of countries commit atrocities, including a number that we are closely allied with.'" Mrs. McC: Since Trump has an aversion to firing staff, next time he wants to rid himself of some meddlesome aide, he should just shoot the guy on Fifth Avenue. P.S. According to Bill Barr, that would be legal because l'état c'est Trump (see Donald Ayer essay, linked below).
Bryan Bender of Politico: "The U.S. is ill-equipped to counter the increasingly brazen political warfare Russia is waging to undermine democracies, the Pentagon and independent strategists warn in a detailed assessment that happens to echo much bipartisan criticism of ... Donald Trump's approach to Moscow. The more than 150-page white paper, prepared for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and shared with Politico, says the U.S. is still underestimating the scope of Russia's aggression, which includes the use of propaganda and disinformation to sway public opinion across Europe, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America. The study also points to the dangers of a growing alignment between Russia and China, which share a fear of the United States' international alliances and an affinity for 'authoritarian stability.'... The unclassified 'Strategic Multilayer Assessment' marks a clear warning from the military establishment to civilian leaders about a national security threat that strategists fear, if left unchecked, could ultimately lead to armed conflict."
Nahal Toosi of Politico: "President Donald Trump has so closely linked U.S. humanitarian assistance to his attempt to oust Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro -- even placing goods along the country's border as an incentive for Venezuelans to revolt -- that some groups are citing security concerns and asking U.S. officials if they can strip legally required U.S. branding from aid sent to Venezuela, three aid officials told Politico.... The situation reflects broader fears that Trump's unusually politicized approach to handing out U.S. aid worldwide is backfiring, tarnishing America's brand and possibly risking the lives of people from Latin America to the Palestinian territories." --s
Laurie Penny in the New Republic: "A rape allegation for Donald Trump, a domestic abuse allegation for Boris Johnson, and a filmed assault by [British MP] Mark Field -- all in the same week.... The way politicians treat women and children informs their attitude toward everything else. Men who bully, grope, and harass because they feel entitled to do so will treat the electorate with the same violent contempt. Institutions that cover up and tacitly condone abuse will operate similarly. Sexual violence and abuse are central to our political culture, not least because they create something that men like Trump and Johnson have always relied on: They create complicity, and complicity rallies the troops quicker than loyalty in fickle times like these." This essay is a week old but worth reading.
Eliott McLaughlin & Artemis Moshtaghian of CNN: "A federal judge has ordered US Customs and Border Protection to permit health experts into detention facilities holding migrant children to ensure they're 'safe and sanitary' and assess the children's medical needs. The order encompasses all facilities in the CBP's El Paso and Rio Grande Valley sectors, which are the subject of a lawsuit.... U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ... made the ruling Friday, despite Attorney General William Barr and other defendants' request that the court 'set a schedule for briefing these issues that provides defendants with a full and fair opportunity to respond to the allegations that plaintiffs have lodged against them.'"
** Donald Ayer in the Atlantic: "Having known [Bill] Barr for four decades, including preceding him as deputy attorney general in the Bush administration, I knew him to be a fierce advocate of unchecked presidential power.... It is not at all surprising that Bill Barr, with this vision of the law in mind, could reach his ultimate conclusion on obstruction in just a few days, or that in subsequent public appearances he has never offered to explain his conclusions by referencing what Trump actually did. The facts simply don't matter under Barr's understanding of the Constitution, in which 'the President alone is the Executive branch ... the sole repository of all Executive powers conferred by the Constitution,' and Congress may not restrict his exercise of discretion in using those powers. Why worry about facts if, as Trump has claimed repeatedly, the president has unlimited power to direct or terminate any investigation, including of himself?... [Given Trump's endless assertions of power], Barr may have found the ideal setting in which to pursue his life's work of creating an all-powerful president and frustrating the Founders' vision of a government of checks and balances." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Everybody in the Trump administration is insane.
Julian Borger of the Guardian: "A state department office tasked with negotiating and implementing nuclear disarmament treaties has lost more than 70% of its staff over the past two years, as the Trump administration moves towards a world without arms control for the first time in nearly half a century. The Office of Strategic Stability and Deterrence Affairs, normally a repository of expertise and institutional knowledge that does the heavy lifting of arms control, has been whittled down from 14 staffers at the start of the Trump administration to four, according to the former staffers." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: According to the report, "the downgrading of the state department's capacity to negotiate disarmament agreements is ... widely seen as a deliberate strategy directed by John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, and a lifelong opponent of arms control agreements which he sees as unnecessary constraints on US sovereignty." Because everybody in the Trump administration is insane.
Emma Vickers of Bloomberg: "Born out of World War II, it's the world's deepest and most comprehensive collaboration among spy services. But now the U.S. has threatened to limit the intelligence it supplies to the so-called Five Eyes network unless its members join it in excluding equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co. from their new 5G mobile networks." --s ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Vickers' report is confusing. This weekend several news media reported that Trump, during his G-20 tour de farce "suspended a ban on U.S. companies' selling products to Huawei." (NYT) According to this Bloomberg report by Margaret Talev & others, "The U.S. has been engaged in a global campaign to block Huawei from so-called 5G communications networks, calling the company a security threat.... Trump didn't suggest he was relenting on plans to ban imports of Huawei equipment for new 5G telecommunications networks." So I gues U.S. companies can sell to Huawei but Americans (and American companies) -- and if the U.S. gets its way, the other Five Eyes countries -- can't purchase their products, because they products could contain software that allows China to spy on users.
Notes from the Trump Sump. Ken Vogel of the New York Times: "More than two years ago, Pavel Fuks, a wealthy Ukrainian-Russian developer looking for ways to attract more investment from the United States to his hometown, Kharkiv, Ukraine, enlisted an especially well-connected American to help him: Rudolph W. Giuliani. Mr. Fuks, who years earlier had discussed a Moscow tower project with Donald J. Trump, hired Mr. Giuliani ... under a one-year deal to help improve Kharkiv's emergency services and bolster its image as a destination for investment. 'I would call him the lobbyist for Kharkiv and Ukraine -- this is stated in the contract,' Mr. Fuks said in an interview in March.... Mr. Giuliani's overseas work in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South America has drawn criticism from Democrats, who contend it is difficult to separate that work from his close relationship with the president."
Asawin Suebsaeng, et al. of The Daily Beast: "This month, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller is set to finally appear for his public testimony on Capitol Hill to answer questions about his famous report on Russian election meddling and potential obstruction of justice.... Republican lawmakers, as well as prominent allies and legal advisers to this president, want to turn it into a hostile referendum on the nexus of the 'deep state' and sexual dalliance and infidelity -- which is to say that they want to use Mueller's testimony to zero in on the duo that President Trump has repeatedly slammed as 'the FBI lovers.'" --s ...
... Kyle Cheney, et al., of Politico: "... Trump defenders are signaling that they'll use the historic moment to try to undercut [Mueller's] credibility and paint him as a political pawn in Democrats' efforts to undermine the president.... Mueller will also face a grilling from Trump's top Republican allies in Congress, including Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Devin Nunes (Calif.) and Andy Biggs (Ariz.). They intend to press him on long-held articles of Trumpian faith: that Mueller's team was biased against the president from the start and that the Russia investigation was tainted by inappropriate surveillance.... They've already signaled that they want to press the former special counsel on how the so-called Steele Dossier factored into his work."
Presidential Race 2020
Christopher Cadelago of Politico: "The number of Democratic primary voters who pick Kamala Harris as their first choice for president doubled after the first Democratic debates, vaulting the California senator into a third-place tie in a new poll. The latest Morning Consult survey found Harris increased her standing to 12 percent in the poll, which was taken after the debate ended through Friday, up 6 percentage points over the previous week." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Lauren Evans of Splinter: "Joe Biden, a walking anachronism perpetually trapped in a bygone era, stuck his foot in his mouth yet again during a fundraiser in Seattle when he suggested that it was perfectly cool and chill to make homophobic remarks in...2014? According to CNN, 'The presidential hopeful suggested public sentiment toward gay rights issues has come far in a short period of time, saying five years ago if someone at a business meeting in Seattle 'made fun of a gay waiter' people would just let it go....' ... Members of the crowd pointed out to Biden that such comments would actually not have been acceptable at all, shouting 'Not in Seattle!'... Biden's intended point was that LGBTQ people still lack legal protections from job discrimination in 22 states, and that point is completely valid. But unfortunately, a large part of being president (a good one, anyway) is clearly conveying your message without mucking it up.... Politico's Dan Diamond points out [in a tweet] that Biden has been getting mileage out of this joke for years now, which is strange because it barely made sense when he debuted it: 'Back in 2014, Biden told a similar story about gay waiters, although he set the scene 15 years earlier - back in 1999.'"
Steven Overly of Politico: "Facebook on Sunday announced it's developing a plan to stop misinformation aimed at keeping people from participating in the 2020 census, the results of which will shape American political districting for a decade. The company said it will release a policy this fall that prohibits users from misrepresenting 'census requirements, methods or logistics,' and will deploy algorithms to detect and delete census-related misinformation. It will also appoint a manager to oversee its 'census interference policy' and train staff to specifically handle census-related ads and content. Facebook detailed its plans in a 26-page update to an ongoing civil rights audit published Sunday, part of a broader effort to tackle civil rights concerns that advocates have raised about the social network.... With both the census and presidential election taking place next year, 2020 will present a major test of Facebook's ability to halt the kind of misinformation and foreign meddling that was rampant during the 2016 election cycle."
Capitalism is Awesome, Ctd. Peter Robinson of Bloomberg: "It remains the mystery at the heart of Boeing Co.'s 737 Max crisis: how a company renowned for meticulous design made seemingly basic software mistakes leading to a pair of deadly crashes.... The Max software -- plagued by issues that could keep the planes grounded months longer after U.S. regulators this week revealed a new flaw -- was developed at a time Boeing was laying off experienced engineers and pressing suppliers to cut costs. Increasingly, the iconic American planemaker and its subcontractors have relied on temporary workers making as little as $9 an hour to develop and test software, often from countries lacking a deep background in aerospace -- notably India." --s
Harvard Promotes Lead Poisoning. Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R), who is currently being sued for his role in the Flint water scandal, has been named a Harvard fellow." --s
Beyond the Beltway
New York. James Barron of the New York Times: "... the Pride March, a buoyant global celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identity..., swept down Fifth Avenue and into Greenwich Village at a moment in history that many said was a crucial one, a half-century after the landmark Stonewall uprising: More gay rights have been affirmed than ever before, but L.G.B.T.Q. issues remain a flash point in the nation's culture wars. On Sunday, amid the bright palette of rainbow colors on flags and floats, there was awareness -- the sober awareness of 50 years of laws and changing attitudes that moved gay men, lesbians and transgender people into the mainstream.... The march brought together activists from across generations and around the world as one of the main events of WorldPride, the international L.G.B.T.Q. gathering held every couple of years."
Way Beyond
Hong Kong, China. New York Times: "Hundreds of riot police officers with helmets and shields used batons and pepper spray to push back protesters who tried to march to the site of an annual ceremony on Monday morning marking the 22nd anniversary of the territory's return to China from Britain. Thousands of protesters, dressed in black, with some wearing helmets and face masks, had occupied roads around Hong Kong's legislature early Monday. They barricaded streets and marched as they sought to disrupt a morning ceremony at the city's convention center that was attended by the Hong Kong's embattled leader, Carrie Lam, and other top officials." This is a liveblog.
U.K. Gabriel Pogrund & Tom Harper of The Times: "MI5 has launched an investigation into a Russian lobbying campaign to infiltrate British politics that received advice and support from a senior Conservative MP. Ben Wallace, the security minister, has passed evidence to the intelligence services of an influence operation involving Sir Henry Bellingham, one of the prime minister's official trade envoys. The lobbyists, whose ultimate source of funding is unclear, have been urging British authorities to take action against Alexander Shchukin, a Russian oligarch." --safari: The article is firewalled.
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Reader Comments (9)
I find it particularly galling when our news organizations appear to view meeting Chairman Kim as a diplomatic advance (for instance see the WSJ) and give credence to the notion that Trump has been involved with halting North Korea's nuclear program (without: an agreement to halt their program by the NK, reduce fissile material or install an invasive inspection regimen).
NK has successfully tested two reported hydrogen bombs in the first years of Trump's Presidency, the second bomb had an order of magnitude greater yield (est 150 kilotons) of their best previous attempts. The two bombs dropped on Japan had yields of 15 and 20 kilotons.
At the same time as the latest NK nuclear tests, NK assured us that they are able to put their warhead on their rockets, which they have demonstrated as being capable of hitting New York, Chicago, San Francisco, etc.
They have met their objectives in being able to attack the US and our Pacific allies. Why would they continue to test? Why not wait till the US accepts the status quo and provides relief to sanctions, something I understand is being discussed by the Trump administration to provide fodder for reelection.
We are being conned folks.
"Trump supporters like to claim that the president is fighting the establishment, citing the open revulsion that so many noxious establishment figures have for him. But the establishment doesn’t hate Trump because he opposes them; he doesn’t oppose existing power structures in any meaningful way at all. The reason the heads of those power structures despise Trump is solely because he sucks at narrative management and puts an ugly face on the ugly things that America’s permanent government is constantly doing. He’s bad at managing their assets...
Kamala Harris is the exact opposite of this. She’d be able to obliterate noncompliant nations and dead-end the left for eight years, and look good while doing it. She’s got the skills to become president, and she’ll have the establishment backing as well. Keep an eye on this one." Caitlin Johnson–-Medium
But, but, but Jr. says Kamala Harris isn't a U.S. citizen and she
isn't really black. I guess Oakland is not in the U.S. and there are
no blacks in Jamaica. Who knew?
Like I've said before, watch who the right, the Russian bots, Wall
Street, etc. starts jumping on with negativity and lies and that will
be the person or persons they fear the most.
I hope Mayor Pete has a thick skin and can keep up his composure.
There's gonna be a lot of that for any woman or gay man or any
minority you can think of.
I think that our delightful "Chief executive," while repugnant to the Nth degree, is so insecure he can't do anything without his daughter. I think he expects her to pull him out of any jam, regardless, and thinks that if she is along, he is invincible. The fact that she is utterly unqualified to even participate doesn't enter in, since he is deluded about her to begin with. The crime here is that NO ONE in any position of power pushes back on this idea of dimwit's, or any other, and the media, almost one and all, is completely complicit. (They covered the NK stunt as if it were legitimate diplomacy. Diplomacy in the Age of Idiocy is dead.) And we are being totally ruled by Putin. "Scary" doesn't cover any of this.
Couple that with the idiot's interpretation of "bussing" and "western liberalism" and you have Reagan in his last year... I know that Marvin would weigh in this week-- we will miss his diagnosis.
@Forest: you are right about the vitriol that will erupt on any woman or gay man that dares to run for president. But I betcha them elephants with the large trunks will go after whomever it is that catches that brass ring––but women and gays are extra fodder for these fuckers. Watch Hillary endure 40 yrs. of sexism in 3 min. and perpetuated by women themselves:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/watch-hillary-clinton-endure-40-years-of-sexism-in-under-3-minutes_n_57a49620e4b021fd987842bf?section=
@forrest.morris: Yeah, we're going to discover that Trumpbots are remarkable historical researchers, after all.
They will reveal that Julian Castro was born in Mexico & has a secret pact with his twin brother to play president when Julian doesn't feel like doing the president job. Joe Biden has a lovechild with Strom Thurmond's maid. Amy Klobuchar was born in Canada & only sneaked across the U.S.-Minnesota border with her parents, who were sleeper agents and inspirations for the TV series "The Americans." Elizabeth Warren is a Cherokee after all & not eligible to run for president under the terms of the U.S.-Cherokee Nation Treaty of 1876 or something. Pete Buttigieg is a secret Pastafarian who plans to put the Flying Spaghetti Monster on the $20 bill. Also, he is only 32 years old, so not eligible to run for president. Kirsten Gillibrand had a love child with Strom Thurmond's chauffeur. Cory Booker is Barack Obama in disguise, so not eligible to run for president after serving 8 years. Beto O'Rourke will name Joe Biden's lovechild as his running mate.
All to be retweeted & deleted by Donnie Junior in the coming weeks.
@Mrs. Bea: Love it. You should write fiction. But with everything
that's going on now, who needs fiction?
Free speech is only for Trump and the rich.
A political cartoonist in Canada was fired for daring to draw a cartoon depicting the cruelty of Trump's immigration "policies".
Fearing retribution from the Glorious Leader, the paper's owner decided it's better to get rid of the offending artist/journalist than to risk blowback from his Royal Orangeness.
Nice to see that in the picture of Princess Ivanka at Yalta, none of the three world leaders, Churchill, FDR, or even Uncle Joe are trying to grope her. Something you couldn't say about president pussygrabber.