;)
The Commentariat -- June 3, 2019
Afternoon Update:
Robert Mackey of the Intercept: “Before his trip [to the UK], Trump had warm words for [Boris] Johnson in an interview with The Sun, Rupert Murdoch's British tabloid. Asked if he would look forward to working with a Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Trump suggested that he would, in part because 'he has been very positive about me.' Those comments suggest that Trump has forgotten or just never heard that Johnson had, in fact, denounced him as 'clearly out of his mind' in late 2015, when the then-candidate for the American presidency first called for 'a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.'... Johnson went on to say that Trump was 'betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him frankly unfit to hold the office of president of the United States.' Hoping to draw Trump's attention to those comments, a group of anti-Brexit activists projected the video of Johnson mocking him onto the base of Big Ben on Sunday night and invited the American president to watch." ...
... MEANWHILE. Zamira Rahim of the (UK) Independent: "A teenager has mowed an anti-Trump message, complete with a giant penis, into the grass of his family home ahead of the US president's UK state visit. Ollie Nancarrow spent his weekend mowing the words 'Oi Trump' into his lawn, near Hatfield Heath, in Essex.... The A-level student hope[d] that the US president [would] spot his creation as Air Force One approache[d] Stansted Airport, which is near Hatfield Heath, on Monday morning."
Victoria Guida of Politico: "... Donald Trump announced Sunday night that Kevin Hassett, his chief economist and a prominent promoter of the president's tax cuts, will be stepping down from his position with a replacement to be named soon. 'Kevin Hassett, who has done such a great job for me and the Administration, will be leaving shortly,' Trump, who is visiting the U.K., said in a tweet. 'His very talented replacement will be named as soon as I get back to the U.S. I want to thank Kevin for all he has done - he is a true friend!'"
Monique Maden of the Miami Herald: "A 705-page court document filed by lawyers who spent substantial time inside Homestead's detention center for unaccompanied minors says the migrant children held there are subjected to 'prison-like' regimens, potentially sustaining permanent psychological damage due to isolation from loved ones. Based on interviews with detainees, the filing describes dumbfounded and despairing children, cut off from their relatives except for phone calls, enduring 'military-camp' style conditions and stays that often stretch into months. It is by far the most detailed description of life inside the secretive detention center, although the stories are relayed through the prism of adults advocates who want to see the children moved to smaller settings -- the number of children in the facility is 2,350 and growing -- or released to the care of family or other guardians."
The Big GOP Grift, Ctd. As I was saying earlier today ... Winger Jim Geraghty of the confederate National Review laments all the GOP super-PACs that are nothing but super-grifts, giving only fractions of their collected donations to their supposed intended beneficiaries. These grifters include, not surprisingly, people who bill themselves as Friends of Trump, like Roger Stone & David Bossie.
Kim Tong-Hyung of the AP: "A senior North Korean official who had been reported to be sentenced to hard labor over the failed nuclear summit with Washington was shown in state media on Monday enjoying a concert near leader Kim Jong Un. North Korean publications on Monday showed Kim Yong Chol sitting five seats away from a clapping Kim Jong Un in the same row along with other top officials during a musical performance by the wives of Korean People's Army officers.... Last week, South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo cited an unidentified source in reporting that Kim Yong Chol had been sentenced to hard labor and ideological re-education over the failed summit in Hanoi, Vietnam;s capital. The newspaper also reported that senior envoy Kim Hyok Chol, who was involved in pre-summit working-level talks with American officials, was executed with four other officials from the North' Foreign Ministry for betraying Kim Jong Un after being won over by the United States. None of the allegedly executed officials have appeared in state media since the report."
~~~~~~~~~~~
The New York Times' live updates of Trump's British visit are here. So far he has spilled hot tea on the Duchess of Cornwall & stepped on one of Queen Elizabeth's corgis, who may not survive the trampling. Okay, that might not be true. But -- no kidding here -- Melania Trump is dressed as Princess Diana, which Duchess Camilla probably finds more distressing than a tea-stained outfit would do. Also, this is true: "President Trump arrived at Stansted Airport, north of London, around 9 a.m., but even before setting foot in Britain, he had ignited controversy by sending a series of tweets attacking the mayor of London. Moments before his flight landed, Mr. Trump took aim at the mayor, Sadiq Khan, calling him a 'stone cold loser' in a series of posts and drew an unflattering comparison to Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York." ...
... Trump is visiting the U.K. this week. His trip should go well:
... The Princess & the Peabrain. Allan Smith of NBC News: "... Donald Trump is insisting he did not call British royal Meghan Markle 'nasty' during an interview with a British publication. 'I never called Meghan Markle "nasty,'" Trump tweeted Sunday morning. 'Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold! Will @CNN, @nytimes and others apologize? Doubt it!' But an audio recording of Trump's interview with The Sun -- which was tweeted out by a Trump campaign account -- tells a different story." Trump's Official War Room Twitter account tweeted out an audio in which Trump says "... No, I didn't know that she was nasty." accompanying a tweet that reads, "Fake News CNN is at it again, falsely claiming President Trump called Meghan Markle 'nasty.' Here is what he actually said. Listen for yourself!" "Trump's use of "nasty" harkens back to a moment during a 2016 presidential debate when he called his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, a "nasty woman." Emphasis added. (Khan's op-ed was linked yesterday.) ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: What is wrong with these people? They post an audio of Trump saying Markle is nasty & ask you to listen to it to prove to yourself that he didn't say what he says on the audio. We are a long way through the looking glass. We know Trump is a crazed liar. Has he made all his staff crazy? Or did they start that way? ...
... Who is running that war room? George Orwell? -- Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post, in a tweet
... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Mrs. McCrabbie: I was wondering if Fox "News" covered this story. Why, yes, yes, it did. The headline is "Donald Trump says he never called Meghan Markle "nasty," calls comments about Duchess "fake news."' Then in Para. 10, the very last graf, we learn, "Despite his denial, there is an audio recording circulating of President Trump saying the exact quote about Duchess Meghan that had been reported." No mention that Team Trump first circulated the audio tape. (The Fox "News" link is to video of an ABC News report on the controversy, suggesting to me there wasn't a Fox "News" on-air report on the topic.) So for all the Foxbots who read to the last word of Fox "News" print stories about their Dear Leader AND follow the stories' links, then read or listen to them, all is clear. ...
... Mary Papenfuss of the Huffington Post: "Handlers of the baby blimp that ridicules Donald Trump and thousands of police officers are preparing for the arrival of the U.S. president in London on Monday for a three-day state visit.... London Mayor Sadiq Khan, an ardent Trump critic, has granted permission for the high-profile blimp to fly over London the second day of Trump's visit, according to the Times. The 20-foot-high blimp portrays Trump as a giant baby in a diaper, holding a cell phone and having a temper tantrum. In a scathing op-ed piece in The Observer that ran on Saturday, Khan lashed Trump for supporting white supremacists and called him 'the figurehead of a global far-right movement,' comparing him to 20th-century fascist leaders." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) (Khan's op-ed also was linked yesterday.)
Moving a Battleship to Spare Trump's "Feelings" Is "Not Unreasonable." Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast: "With the U.S. Navy confirming that a 'request was made' to 'minimize the visibility' of the USS John S. McCain ahead of President Trump's visit to Japan last month, Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney admitted on Sunday that it was a member of the White House advance team that asked for the ship to be moved.... 'That's not an unreasonable thing to ask...,' Mulvaney said on Meet the Press. The White House official added that it's 'silly' to think someone would be fired over this, noting the president's feelings towards [deceased Sen. John] McCain are 'well known.'" Mulvaney suggested the advance person was 23 or 24 years old.(Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Not Everyone Agrees, Mick. Lolita Baldor of the AP: "The Pentagon has told the White House to stop politicizing the military, amid a furor over a Trump administration order to have the Navy ship named for the late U.S. Sen. John McCain hidden from view during ... Donald Trump's recent visit to Japan.... A U.S. defense official said Patrick Shanahan, Trump's acting defense chief, is also considering sending out formal guidance to military units in order to avoid similar problems in the future.... Shanahan also said that he spoke with McCain's wife, Cindy, a few days ago. He declined to provide any details. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Jennifer Agiesta of CNN: "Democrats are increasingly in support of impeaching ... Donald Trump and removing him from office but the majority of Americans remain opposed to the prospect, a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS shows.... The shift on impeachment stems mostly from a rebound in support for it among Democrats -- 76% favor it currently, up from 69% in April. Whites who hold college degrees have also increased their support for impeachment. In surveys in April and March, fewer than 3 in 10 in that group favored proceedings, but that number has now climbed to 41%." ...
The temperature's rising, the plot is thickening. It's hard for me to imagine Congress certainly leaving for the August recess without some closure on this. The Hamlet act is, I think, wearing thin, and it's becoming untenable and intellectually strange. -- Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), on Nancy Pelosi's reluctance to bring an impeachment inquiry ...
... To Impeach or Not to Impeach; That Is the Question. Kyle Cheney & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "... June is shaping up to be the most critical month to make their case to a reluctant Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A month packed with subpoena fights, hearings on obstruction of justice and legal battles over Trump's financial records is certain to provide fresh ammunition to grow the pro-impeachment ranks." ...
... Zachary Basu of Axios: "Majority Whip Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C), the third-highest ranking Democrat in the House, told CNN's Jake Tapper Sunday that he believes President Trump will be impeached 'at some point,' but that Congress must first 'effectively educate the public' on his corruption in order to get their support." ...
... Julian Zelizer, a CNN political analyst: "... the resistance to impeachment proceedings has rested on a number of faulty assumptions about what happens if the Democrats go down this path.... If [House Democrats] refuse to undertake impeachment proceedings, the President will continue to claim the Mueller investigation was a two-year witch hunt -- and that ultimately House Democrats reached the same conclusion.... But ... the likely revelation of more possible abuses of power as a result of impeachment proceedings, along with the extensive findings in the Mueller report, could easily drag down his already low approval ratings.... [Public opinion polls are] roughly where the American public was (43%) with Nixon in March of 1974 -- several months after the House voted to start impeachment proceedings and almost a year since the Watergate select committee conducted its televised hearings.... Democrats should not rest their case on weak assumptions. More importantly, they need to make some decisions based on principle, especially when facing such overwhelming evidence of presidential misconduct." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Last night I watched a rerun of a two-hour special on "All the President's Men." One of the people interviewed for the special was Alexander Butterfield, the Nixon aide who revealed to the Senate Select Committee that Richard Nixon had recorded his Oval Office conversations. Three days after Butterfield told staff on the Select Committee about the tapes, Senators Sam Ervin (D-N.C.) & Howard Baker (R-Tenn.), respectively the chair & co-chair of the Committee, called on Butterfield to testify -- immediately. James Hamilton, an aide to Ervin, called Butterfield, who said he was too busy to testify, Hamilton told Ervin. "'Tell Mr. Butterfield that if he is not here this afternoon, I will send the sergeant-at-arms to fetch him,' Ervin responded." (The way Butterfield recalled the message was, "Tell him if he doesn't come in, federal marshalls will pick him up on the street.") Hamilton found Butterfield at his barber shop getting a haircut, and delivered the message. The rest is history. We need a Sam Ervin today. Get on it, Jerry Nadler.
Paul Rosensweig, a right-wing think-tanky guy, in the Atlantic, eviscerates the Trump administration's claims of executive privilege & other efforts to stonewall Congressional inquiries into Trump's obstructive behavior regarding the Russia investigation. Bill "Clinton's invocation was related to his own personal conduct with an intern. Those were events that, while significant, were of little systematic import to the nation, and thus, arguably, of less importance to Congress. By contrast, the investigation of Russian interference in our elections that is at the bottom of the special counsel's investigation is a crucial matter for the nation, and so Congress has greater justification for inquiring into the matter. In short, Clinton's efforts to resist a review of his actions -- efforts which were, in my judgment, properly rejected -- were on a stronger footing than Trump's efforts to evade congressional oversight today."
Donica Phifer of Newsweek: "... Rudy Giuliani, jokes about serving special counsel Robert Mueller with a $17 million lawsuit following Mueller's failure to come to a conclusion on obstruction of justice charges against Trump." Mrs. McC: Oh, ha ha. Why not sue your own client, Rudy, inasmuch as it was his criminal & suspicious behavior that necessitated an expensive inquiry. Oh, and why not mention that "the Mueller investigation actually made a profit for the federal government after Manafort was forced to forfeit over $46 million to the feds"? Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor, tweeted that Rudy's "joke" "should be added to the long list of reasons he should be disbarred." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Edward Wong of the New York Times: "In a second major softening of American policy toward Iran in recent days, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the Trump administration was ready to negotiate with the country's clerical leaders with 'no preconditions.' The statement followed President Trump's comment last week that he was ready to talk to Iranian leaders and was not seeking regime change, overruling a longtime goal of his national security adviser [John Bolton]. Mr. Pompeo's statement also recalibrated his earlier position that the United States would not lift sanctions on Iran unless it complied with a dozen sweeping demands, suggesting that those demands could be part of negotiations instead of preconditions. Iran's leaders consider the demands unacceptable."
Maybe Jared's Middle-East Peace Plan Isn't a Slam-Dunk. John Hudson & Loveday Morris of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a sobering assessment of the prospects of the Trump administration's long-awaited Middle East peace plan in a closed-door meeting with Jewish leaders, saying 'one might argue' that the plan is 'unexecutable' and it might not 'gain traction.' He expressed his hope that the deal isn't simply dismissed out of hand. 'It may be rejected. Could be in the end, folks will say, "It's not particularly original, it doesn't particularly work for me," that is, "It's got two good things and nine bad things, I'm out,"' Pompeo said in an audio recording of the private meeting obtained by The Washington Post. ... 'This has taken us longer to roll out our plan than I had originally thought it might -- to put it lightly,' he said at a meeting on Tuesday of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations[.] ... Two attendees said they left with the impression that Pompeo was not optimistic the plan would succeed." Text lifted from New York's "Daily Intelligencer." The WashPo story is here.
The Trump Family's Shady Deals, Ctd.
Trump Uruguay Is Soooo Trumpy. Jesse Drucker & Manuela Andreoni of the New York Times: An ambitious Trump condo project in Punta del Este, a Uruguayan beach town, "is turning into the latest debacle in the Trump Organization's far-flung property portfolio -- featuring a little-known Argentine real estate firm in a gaudy, hard-partying town that has been a destination for money launderers and tax evaders.... People involved in the project said they are not sure if or when it will be finished. Construction is barely proceeding, in part because less than one-quarter of the necessary workers are currently on the job. The Miami-based broker handling the sales of condos has sued Trump's local developer. Some purchasers are now seeking to sell their units, potentially driving down the prices just as the project needs to drum up cash via the sale of new units. The tower is currently uninhabited.... As with its other international developments, the Trump Organization isn't actually building the Punta del Este tower. Instead, it licensed the 'Trump' name and takes a cut of the revenue from selling units.... The problems in Uruguay are a microcosm of the challenges facing the president's company as it stakes its future on projects outside the United States.... Other Trump international developments have also flatlined." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: One would think by now that shady real estate developers all over the world would know that slapping Trump's name on a building was guaranteeing failure.
The Grifters, Ctd. David Kocieniewski & Caleb Melby of Bloomberg News (May 23): "Kushner Cos., the real estate firm owned by the family of ... Jared Kushner, has received about $800 million in federally backed debt to buy apartments in Maryland and Virginia -- the company's biggest purchase in a decade. The loan was issued by Berkadia, a lender co-owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and Jefferies Financial Group Inc., in a deal that's backed by government-owned Freddie Mac, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing the private transaction. The arrangement increases the government's exposure to Kushner Cos. at the same time that its former chief executive officer is one of the most powerful people in the White House. Jared Kushner divested ownership in many of the company's assets to close family members when he joined the government. Kushner Cos. had more than $50 million in loans from Fannie and Freddie at that time." Thanks to Forrest M. for the link.
The Corrupt Enterprises of Mitch & Elaine
** Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "So this is how liberty dies -- with a hideous, utterly shameless smirk on the face of arguably the most cynical political leader in American history, as the warriors in his political tribe cackle with laughter.... The Senate leader's amoral political cynicism has been barely concealed (if at all) ever since the dawn of the Obama presidency, when he declared the goal of what was once known, years ago, as 'the world's greatest deliberative body' was no longer to pass laws but to deny Obama a second term.... For all the (justified) talk about efforts to cover up the extent of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, arguably no actor did more damage than [Mitch] McConnell, who in September of that fateful year explicitly blocked the Obama administration from warning the public about Vladimir Putin's ploy and from taking stricter measures to stop it.... In 2019, McConnell is blocking bills that might prevent Russian interference in 2020." One of the best concentrated, all-around takedowns of McConnell ever. ...
... AND it should come as no surprise to you that Mitch's wife Elaine Chou, who is the Transportation Secretary, has used her administration job to benefit herself, Mitch, and her extended family's interests in a big shipping & shipbuilding company. Michael Forsythe & others of the New York Times have written a long exposé. Mitch McConnell & Elaine Chou are fundamentally corrupt; they're just a lot better than Trump at keeping quiet about it.
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe all this is giving you the impression that the country's top Republicans are corrupt to the core. Well, yeah.
Presidential Race 2020
Scott Detrow of NPR: The first glimpse of what the Democratic presidential debates will look like came this weekend in San Francisco, when "candidate after candidate ... parad[ed] across the stage at the California Democratic Party's annual convention."
Sophia Bollag & Hannah Wiley of the Sacramento Bee: "Thousands of Democrats and 14 presidential candidates flocked to one of the nation's most liberal cities for a packed California Democratic Party convention Saturday, where they derided ... Donald Trump and advanced a long list of liberal plans on issues from health care to gun control. Highlighting the Golden State's relevance leading into an election year, one candidate after another took to the podium to make their case to California delegates. More than 5,000 delegates, volunteers, staff, and members of the media registered for the convention at the Moscone Center. The state's historically late primary has blunted its influence in past nominating contests, but next year's earlier primary has drawn a crowded field of Democratic hopefuls to the state. California will hold its 2020 primary March 3, up from its usual June primary date.... Here is a sampling of what the candidates had to say[.]" Includes some videos.
Hannah Gold of New York: "On Saturday, amid an interview with presidential candidate and California senator Kamala Harris at the MoveOn Big Ideas Forum in San Francisco, a dude had some big ideas [link fixed] of his own. Harris was being asked by moderator Stephanie Valencia about her plan to address the gender pay gap when animal rights and climate activist Aidan Cook strolled onto the stage and took Harris's mic from her. Cook managed to say 'I'm asking for your attention for a much bigger idea than...' before the mic was taken from him and guards hauled him off the stage. He was neither arrested nor charged." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Grabbing the mic of a black, female U.S. Senator talking about women's rights, in order to promote the "much bigger idea" of animal rights? Really, Aiden? How incel can you get?
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Reader Comments (23)
If the "branding" revenue dries up and the IRS starts poking around the accountants' books, the spawn of Dotard Donny are going to have to look to new horizons of the Grift. I have no doubt they'll succeed, now that they've sucked in the entire Confederate movement, populated with suckers walking around with giant targets on their back.
I'm imagining Javanka moving into full-time slum lord elite, drinking overpriced wine in her rooftop loft and on the side selling some overpriced shoes to the Chinese made by Vietnamese kids.
Eric looks like the perfect salesman, so he'll naturally go into event planning for the lowlifes and the scandalous with his giant-headed wife ordering him around. He'll continue the Drumpf tradition of greatest interior decorator EveR.
And Dotard Jr., naturally, will pair up with unemployable Sarah Sanders and her dipshit dad to go on African tours, buying out the market selling chlorine-based "miracle cures" to the uneducated, while shooting an occasional caged lion to put on Instagram for his deplorable followers. Once the scam runs dry, they'll all come back through the Rust Belt selling Jeezus cinnamon salts to gullible morons, until that scam runs aground. Then, naturally, he'll for Presidunce* of the USA, buoyed by his book sales of his masterpiece, "The Art of Gri(f)t".
Grifters gotta grift. Kushner Cos., owned by the chief grifter's
son-in-law Jared, has received about $800 million in federally
backed debt to buy apartments in Md. and Va. The deal is backed
by Freddie Mac.
I know if all of us here on RealityChex would get together and chip
in another $200 million, Jared could go for a billion $ of those
apartments, at which time everyone will be evicted and the rents
will be doubled or tripled.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-23/kushner-cos-
gets-800-million-federally-backed-apartment-loan
How is it that we continue to condone McConnell's duplicity? When a man like that comes forth blatantly admitting his abhorrent schemes and then nothing is done about it––why? Is that we are too busy with the Baby's thumb sucking antics? Good for Will Bunch (see article above) to rat him out but holy cow, it's like advertising outright how you are going to break into a museum in the dead of night and steal a Picasso. "Alrighty then, but make sure you do it with a smile."
And the Queen greeted the man who would be King if he could and with her purse gave him a whack on his fanny––for good measure, she said. The Queen, always one to recognize cow tailing from way back, delighted in pricking the pomposity of petulant people.
And London Bridge was sagging from the hundreds there watching the great blimp glide through the air with the greatest of ease––fists raised and loud voices heard by all.
Laughed at the remark of Mrs. McC: Aiden was maybe once a nice-looking lad, popular with the little ladies, until he became an adult and forgot how to take care of basic hygiene. No wonder the piggies and doggies are his only friends... I had to look up "incel" as I had heard it, but forgot that it is a "movement" populated by men who can't get a date. Does he have a mirror? Not that that precludes his becoming popular again, but it might help--
Super enjoying Melanie's flight attendant get-up, as is everyone else. (Gorgeous shoes, though-- ) Last night the tubes were showing Monster Inc. walking in front of the Queen the last time he was there-- such a brazen lunkhead. My husband reported that Camilla tried to remove her hand from his, with no luck-- I haven't seen the clips.
Dear Aiden Cook,
Are you a moron? I'm a supporter of animal rights (I'm a dog, after all) but not of morons. This is why many people don't take things like animal rights seriously, because idiots like you become the face of the movement. Grow up. You embarrassed the shit out of all of us and set the whole megillah back about 20 years. And keep your paws off people. Have you been wormed lately?
Yours,
Rin Tin Tin
On another note, Marie, the link to Hannah Gold's New York piece about Beard Boy Mic Grabber takes us to an Axios article about more Trump stupidity, or in this case Democratic stupidity about Trump criminality.
Lemme get this straight. The Democrats are holding a meeting. They want to do their job. Great. Love it. But here's the thing. The room they're in is on fire. And Nancy and Chuck (and now, apparently Adam Schiff as well) are going around the table asking for opinions on upcoming legislation.
Kids, are you daft? The fucking place is on fire. It looks like a scene from "Backdraft". You can't pretend that business as usual is the order of the day. You have to put out the damn fire first! THEN you can do legislative thingies.
And to those suggesting that we wait until we can educate the public about Trump I say "Educate, my ass", the place is on fire. What do they need to know?
This gets more frustrating by the hour. I sure hope Nancy has a master plan up her sleeve because this is sliding into toxic stupidity.
@Akhilleus: Thanks for the heads-up on the Hannah Gold link. I fixed it.
Insolence Abroad
I'm sure Mark Twain would have had some choice bon mots about the Trump schmoes, but even he might have balked at attempting to parody this family which is parody incarnate, the personification of parodic and insolent behavior.
Melanie dressing up like a flight attendant (thanks, Jeanne--hahaha) and Princess Diana? Princess I at the V&A, checking out the Dior exhibit, no doubt to steal some ideas for when she can reboot her cheesy, made-by-slaves-in-China fashion line? And Trump stepping on one of the queen's Corgis is not at all out of the realm of the possible.
But now for some really interesting stuff. Okay class, synchronize watches. Ready? Go.
Now, show of hands as to how long before the little king makes an ass out of himself, talks about treason, rips Mueller, yells about how great he is, talks smack about the EU, insults half the population of the UK, and talks up his golf clubs?
We used to make jokes about Terrible Houseguests, calling someone in that category "The Thing That Wouldn't Leave": "Hey, what's on TV? This show sucks. Here let me find something good to watch." "What kind of beer is this? Don't you have any Pabst Blue Ribbon?" "Which bedroom is mine? Oh man, look at this wallpaper. Who picked this shit out?" "Hey, what's in this drawer? Ooooh looky what we found here...Heh-heh..." "Got any good porn?" "Wow, who's the old broad in this picture? She looks dead." "That's my mother" "Yeah, she's a 'mother' alright...Hohohahahaha..."
This is Trump. Except, luckily for Britain, his stay is temporary. But what he can do from the confines of his hidey hole in the White House, where he goes for Egg-Zecutive Time, can reach every corner of the globe.
Insolence for everyone.
Trump Plan for Peace in the Middle East:
Everyone be nice.
The end.
Yours Truly,
Jared, Age 6
Akhilleus:
The terrible houseguest sounds a lot nicer that diaper don.
Here's a thought. So the little king now wants to stick it to brown people trying to come here from that brown-people country Mexico. Because they have brown people and other brown people who walk thousands of miles across it to try to find safety in the US. Only brown people can't find safety here. Only a cell. And maybe, if they're unlucky enough to get sick, death. Courtesy of Uncle Donnnie white supremacist.
So, more tariffs (because the trade war with China is going so well), this time to punish Mexico. For....having brown people. And letting other brown people exercise their legal right to ask for asylum in the US. The idea, hatched in the tiny, airless, feverish brain bouncing around inside the orange dome, is that economic hardship will force Mexico's brown people to stop those other brown people from different countries from knocking on White Supremacy's door.
Hmmm...let's play that out, shall we?
So Mexico's economy suffers (as does ours). Businesses start to fail. Owners let their employees go. With unemployment up and the likelihood of finding another job disappearing, what will those people do?
Try their luck in the US?
After all, migrants are not leaving their homelands because they were living in mansions in Shangri-La and had well paying jobs with no gangsters threatening to rape their daughters and murder their sons.
And economic hardship often creates a ripple effect that too often triggers violence once people have no jobs and no money. The two single biggest reasons for people leaving their countries and coming to America?
Violence, or the threat thereof, and lack of employment opportunities.
And what do the Trumpy tariff's promise?
Get it?
Good going, Donnie! So tired of winning....all this winning...must stop...
Victoria,
Sadly, you are correct.
The little king will be something, something, something D-Day while in Europe. I hope his aides have told him something about what that was. Otherwise, he may think it stands for Donny Day. "Look, they named a special day after me. In'that nice? Not bad for losers."
Or will he take a page out of the Reagan playbook and "remember" that he was there, storming the beaches at Normandy, breaking the backs of the Nazis his own self?
These state visits are such incredible crap shoots. For almost all normal presidents, these things are a walk in the park. For Trump, it's a walk across a minefield. He's already pissed that the Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has balked at meeting the little king at his golf course in Ireland (feeling--correctly--that it was rather inappropriate). Baby Donnie had a tantrum and threatened to go golfing at his club in Scotland, so the meeting will be held at the airport instead. I'm sure it will be an insult-drive-through for Baby Donnie.
I'm also sure that his knuckledragging bots just love seeing him insult foreign heads of state, mistaking insolence and babified nonsense for toughness. "That Trump, he kicked those Euro-trash douchebags in the ass! He's so tough!" No. He's an ignorant, insulting prick. One who, were this the middle ages and he lost a battle because of his usual incompetence, would be dragged before the victorious monarch, tortured, disemboweled, and beheaded for being such an unconscionable, disrespectful, repulsive asshole.
AK: you had me until the "disemboweled" part of your scenario and now, brain bleach has been ordered from Amazon...YUCK!! Just imagine what THAT entails with this particular full-of-crap Individual-1...gaaccchhh.
Debating reading the Mueller report, minus a Dershowitz forward, as recommended by our daily paper. Talk me down off that ledge?
@Jeanne: There are a number of publications of the Mueller report. You can easily find one on Amazon that doesn't offer a Dershowitz preface.
Have you guys read the transcript of that jaw-dropping interview Young Jared had with Jonathan Swan of Axios?
Do they let this guy out alone? I mean, how does he navigate the streets in Manhattan without a keeper? I'm guessing he doesn't take buses or the train. Oh yeah, he has a limo driver. He just gets in and sez "Take me to my money" and off they go (the driver used to take him to 666 5th where he could wave goodbye to his money until those nice Qataris sent him a cargo ship packed with simoleons). I can just see him on the subway trying to go from Penn Station downtown, ending up in Harlem and wondering what the hell happened. And why are there black people on this train?
Here's Genius Jared answering a question about whether or not Ivanka's daddy is a racist scumbag:
"Swan: Was birtherism racist?
Kushner: Um, look, I wasn’t really involved in that.
Swan: I know you weren’t! Was it racist?
Kushner: Like I said, I wasn’t involved in that.
Swan: I know you weren’t! Was it racist?
Kushner: Um, look, I know who the president is, and I have not seen anything in him that is racist. So, again, I was not involved in that.
Swan: Did you wish he didn’t do that?
Kushner: Like I said, I was not involved in that. That was a long time ago."
This guy got into Harvard, right? Riiiiiggghhhtt.
"Now Jared, Is 'run' a verb or a noun?"
"I wasn't involved in that."
"Great! You're in."
At another point, responding to a question about self-governance for the Palestinians, he talked about them as if they were retarded and couldn't feed themselves. But then, true to form, he equated their right to be treated as human beings with whether or not you could make money off them. I am not even kidding. They have to be "investable" first.
It's one thing to be an uniformed idiot and congenital asshole, it's quite another to be an uniformed idiot and congenital asshole who has been trusted to do anything more than not pee on his own shoes in the rest room.
What an asshole.
Ak - he doesn't pee on his shoes because he sits ....
Here's a PDF version of the Mueller report. I didn't want to spend a ream of paper and an unknown quantity of black inkjet cartridges to print it out. Just kept a notepad of the page numbers where I left off.
I should have added: right-click, save as onto your own machine.
Unwashed-- thanks! I will try to get it to work for me when I get home. Right now I am proofreading carpet-cleaning and Mexican restaurant ads, which is, of course, a far, far more important work...Haha!
NEWSPAPER ANALYSIS (this arrived in my Inbox by way of Philadelphia and Paris), pretty good analysis I'd say!
Experts have found the following analysis to be humorously accurate
1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.
3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country, and who are very good at crossword puzzles.
4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand The New York Times.
5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country, if they could find the time and if they didn't have to leave Southern California to do it.
6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country.
7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.
8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.
9. The Chicago Tribune is read by people that are in prison that used to run the state, & would like to do so again, as would their constituents that are currently free on bail.
10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country, but need the baseball scores.
11. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are gay, handicapped, minority, feminist, atheists, and those who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.
12. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.
13. The Seattle Times is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something to wrap it in.
@Ak: Re the genius of Jared, Charles Pierce sums up his interview (see Esquire) in his last paragraph, the last sentence kills.
"The sad point behind this debacle is this: Jared Kushner doesn't care if he sounds like three geese trying to honk the Messiah. He doesn't care that he's supposed to be doing all these important jobs and clearly doesn't know any more about the Middle East than he knows about the sacrificial rituals of the Aztecs. This is not a drawback in anyone's effort to rise in this administration*. Marry the boss's daughter is an extra, for sure. But this guy was born to be a Trump."
I'm so relieved Dear Leader did not engage in any presidential flag humping during his royal visit. I am sorry to hear some of the administration staff were caught sneaking out the royal silverware from the state dinner.
@MAG: That was so good! Thanks!