;)
The Conversation -- February 25, 2024
Presidential Race
Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump easily defeated Nikki Haley in South Carolina's Republican primary on Saturday, delivering a crushing blow in her home state and casting grave doubt on her continued viability. Mr. Trump's victory, called by The Associated Press right as polls closed at 7 p.m., was widely expected, and offers fresh fodder for his contention that the race is effectively over.... In her election-night speech in Charleston, S.C., Ms. Haley congratulated Mr. Trump on his victory. But she said the results -- he was beating her by 60 percent to 39 percent as of late Saturday -- demonstrated that 'huge numbers of voters' were 'saying they want an alternative.'" This is the pinned item in a liveblog. The AP's report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: With 5% of the vote counted, Trump is ahead 54.8% to 44.5% for Haley, but the projected split, according to the NYT, is 61% for Trump, 38% for Haley. Update: With more than 95% of the vote counted, the split is 59.8%-39.5% Trump-Haley. ~~~
~~~ See also Akhilleus' commentary below on the press's coverage of the outcome.
Adriana Licon & Jill Colvin of the AP: "... Donald Trump cast November's presidential election as 'judgment day' and declared himself a 'proud political dissident' during a speech before conservative activists outside of Washington Saturday as he again cloaked his campaign in religious imagery. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference ahead of his win in the South Carolina Republican primary, Trump painted an apocalyptic vision of the future if President Joe Biden wins a second term as the two prepare for an expected rematch election.... He cast himself as a savior standing between his supporters and near-anarchy as he spoke of 'hoards of illegal aliens stampeding across our borders,' warned the country's social safety net and education system would 'buckle and collapse,' and claimed that, 'the gangs will be invading your territory.... These are the stakes of this election: Our country is being destroyed and the only thing standing between you and its obliteration is me,' he declared, casting Biden's leadership as 'an express train barreling toward servitude and to ruin.'" ~~~
~~~ Gustaf Kilander & Katie Hawkinson of the Independent: "Donald Trump compared migrants to Hannibal Lecter as he claimed that they are coming from 'insane asylums' during his almost 90-minute meandering and ominous speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland." This is an item in a liveblog.
Heil Trump! Ben Goggin of NBC News: "Nazis appeared to find a friendly reception at the Conservative Political Action Conference this year. Throughout the conference, racist extremists, some of whom had secured official CPAC badges, openly mingled with conference attendees and espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories.... In previous years, conference organizers have ejected well-known Nazis and white supremacists such as Nick Fuentes. But this year, racist conspiracy theorists didn't meet any perceptible resistance at the conference where Donald Trump has been the keynote speaker since 2017. At the Young Republican mixer Friday evening, a group of Nazis who openly identified as national socialists mingled with mainstream conservative personalities, including some from Turning Point USA, and discussed so-called 'race science' and antisemitic conspiracy theories."
Cheyanne Daniels of the Hill: "Black leaders are condemning former President Trump's recent comments about Black voters as 'racist.' Speaking at the Black Conservative Federation (BCF) annual gala in South Carolina on Friday, Trump said his legal woes have earned him the support of Black voters around the country.... 'The NAACP is outraged, but not surprised by yet another racist remark from the former President,' Derrick Johnson, NAACP president, told The Hill in a statement.... The Democratic National Committee (DNC) also blasted Trump.... 'This might come as news to Trump, but pushing tired tropes, wannabe Jordans, and mugshot t-shirts isn't going to win over Black voters who suffered through record high unemployment and skyrocketing uninsured rates under his leadership,' Sarafina Chitika, the DNC's national press secretary, said in a statement.... The Biden-Harris campaign issued a scathing response Saturday, calling the former president 'an incompetent, anti-Black tyrant.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yesterday I noted that Trump was too ignorant to realize his comments were racist. Well, if he had a "very good brain," these reactions to his remarks would be very helpful in explaining to him why the remarks were racist. Unfortunately, he's stupid, so no attempts to educate him will help.
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "A veteran Republican National Committee member has initiated a long-shot effort to prevent Donald J. Trump from taking over the party committee before he has enough delegates to become the presumptive presidential nominee in an effort to prevent the R.N.C. from paying his legal bills. Henry Barbour, a committee member from Mississippi, has sponsored two resolutions, one that would require the committee to remain neutral in the primary and another that would assure it does not spend committee funds to assist Mr. Trump in his legal battles. The proposals, which would not be binding even if passed, come as Mr. Trump seeks to install new leadership in the organization, including Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, who has said she would be open to the committee paying his legal bills. The resolutions, which were first reported by The Dispatch, have come under fire from the Trump campaign." The NBC News story is here.
** Chauncey DeVega of Salon: "The claim that President Biden is old and therefore so diminished mentally and physically that he is incapable of being an effective leader has taken on a life of its own. In many ways, this narrative is immune to the facts and evidence and may be a deciding factor in the outcome of the 2024 election and the future of the United States.... In this conversation, [Dr. John] Gartner [-- a psychologist and former professor at the Johns Hopkins University Medical School --] argues that it is actually Donald Trump and not President Biden who is showing diminished mental acuity and dangerous behavior related to aging.... Gartner warns that given Trump's dangerous personality and emotional state..., he is almost certainly plotting revenge and how to make his 'enemies' suffer as revenge for finally being held accountable by the courts and the rule of law. At the end of this conversation, Gartner explains how even on his worst day as an older person, President Biden is a far superior leader and decision-maker (and human being) than Donald Trump." Read on. MB: Gartner makes a compelling case, with many examples, that "Biden's brain is aging. Trump's brain is dementing." And is a dangerous "malignant narcissist." ~~~
~~~ Want More Evidence? We Oblige. Marie: Back in 2018, Donald Trump welcomed his wife back from a hospital stay. We all thought Mrs. Trump's given name was "Melania." But in the 2018 welcome-home tweet, Trump called her "Melanie." Then, in an October 2022 deposition, Trump identified the woman with him in an old photo as his ex-wife Marla Maples. The woman in the photo was E. Jean Carroll. Okay, an old photo; all blondes look alike, & so forth. Now, in 2024, Donald has forgotten his current wife's name altogether. Instead of calling her "Melanie" -- a one-letter misspelling that could be explained away as a typo -- at CPAC on Saturday, Donald Trump introduced his wife as "Mercedes." Thanks to contributor Gonzo for the lead:
But the Laptop! Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "The Justice Department's assertions this week that a longtime FBI informant was seeking to 'spread misinformation' designed to hurt President Joe Biden after speaking to Russian intelligence operatives has put a new spotlight on an old debate: To what extent, if any, has the Russian government manufactured or amplified unproven allegations of corrupt Ukraine dealings by Joe and Hunter Biden?... [During the 2020 campaign, Rudy Giuliani gave derogatory information to the New York Post,] purportedly from Hunter Biden's laptop.... Soon after [the Post reported on the laptop material,] 51 former intelligence officials signed and blasted to the media a letter warning that the laptop story 'has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.'... After mainstream news organizations verified portions of the laptop material, the letter became a focus of anger among Donald Trump and his supporters.... Now, many of those former officials say they feel vindicated by the allegations against the FBI informant....
"NBC News reported in October 2020 that the CIA and other spy agencies gathered intelligence on Giuliani's dealings with alleged Russian intelligence agents as he searched for dirt on Biden and passed his findings on to the Trump White House.... recent court filing by the lead prosecutor in the case, special counsel David Weiss, says investigators authenticated the laptop material...." MB: Recent (and earlier) commentators (linked earlier on Reality Chex) have opined that the laptop story never made sense. So Weiss's "authentication" seems pretty dicey to me. ~~~
~~~ David Corn of Mother Jones has much more on the Russia/Trump disinformation campaign: "... According to Trump administration officials, the Biden-Burisma allegations were in part (if not wholly) the work of Russian operatives. Yet Trump, the MAGA right, and their media allies have been beating this drum for years, and once the GOP won back the House in 2022, it became impeachment fodder. Then Comer, Jordan, and the rest of their crew embraced [Russian operative Alexander] Smirnov's charges, even though they were not substantiated and even though they were in sync with a known Russian disinformation plot that targeted Biden to aid Trump. Moreover, it was highly suspicious that Smirnov shared his allegations with his FBI handler in June 2020 -- after not mentioning them for years -- just when Giuliani and other Trumpers were striving to tar Joe Biden with this false tale [that Joe & Hunter Biden each extracted $5 million from Ukrainian energy firm Burisma to end a U.S. investigation of Burisma].... The Smirnov case ... shows not only that Trump and the GOP are Putin dupes; they are willing dupes."
Former Speakers: Get Off Your Ass, Mike Johnson! Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "Two early March deadlines on government funding are looming [before the House of Representatives], as is the ongoing dispute over funding Ukraine's defenses. On these and other issues, two veteran Republicans believe that ... [Mike Johnson] has been too timid.... 'I don't think you can be good at these jobs unless you're willing to lose [far-right members],' former House speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Wednesday.... In a podcast also released Wednesday, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.) delivered a more blunt assessment of Johnson's tenure by saying that his tendency to wait so long before making a decision cuts into his leverage with Senate Democrats and President Biden. In the process, those poorly negotiated deals further empower the far-right antagonists, who already ousted his predecessor, ex-speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).... The speaker has largely wasted three months haggling over these spending bills, which were all but certain to land in the exact spot they are now given Democratic control of the Senate and White House."
Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: "Justice Clarence Thomas has hired Crystal Clanton to be one of his law clerks, the most elite assignment a young law school graduate can secure.... In 2015, when Clanton was 20 and working for a conservative group allied with the justice's wife, Ginni Thomas, Clanton apparently sent racist texts to a fellow employee. 'I HATE BLACK PEOPLE,' one text read. 'Like f[uck] them all ... I hate blacks. End of story.'... [After being fired by the far-right organization Turning Point USA for the racist texts,] Clanton was hired by Ginni Thomas and lived with the Thomases in Virginia for almost a year before attending the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. Thomas then recommended Clanton to Chief Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Pryor is one of the most conservative members of the federal judiciary...." Marcus goes on to summarize how the courts, Turning Point & Clanton stonewalled & almost certainly lied to the Judicial Conference ethics committee to prevent it from sanctioning Clanton. ~~~
~~~ Marie: In fairness to Thomas, there aren't that many white people who hate Black people more than Clarence Thomas does. It's uncanny.
Shocking News! As Akhilleus pointed out yesterday morning, digby has dug up documentary evidence of the right's opposition to "recreational sex" (what one might call "normal sex"). Now Maureen Dowd of the New York Times has let on that President Joe Biden AND Jill Biden are regular practitioners. (Also linked yesterday.)
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Missouri. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "Abortion rights activists in the state are working to get an amendment to the state constitution on the ballot in November. But the GOP-controlled Missouri state Senate on Thursday approved a measure that could make such things significantly more difficult -- at least for the left. The proposal, which passed along party lines, would require amendments to receive not only a majority of the vote statewide -- as is currently required -- but also a majority in five of eight congressional districts. This would be a much bigger hurdle for those on the left, because Missouri has five very Republican congressional districts."
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Russia. Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: "The Russian authorities have transferred the body of the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny to his mother, his spokeswoman said on Saturday, ending a grim battle for custody of his remains, but it is unclear whether he will get a funeral that the public can attend." (Also linked yesterday.)
Ukraine, et al. Abbey Fenbert of Kyiv Independent: "Howard Buffett, the son of American billionaire Warren Buffett, has promised that his philanthropic foundation will donate $300 million in aid to Ukraine this year. The Howard G. Buffett Foundation has already donated over $500 million in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. The combined funds exceed the humanitarian aid contributions of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Canada. In an interview with Business Insider published Feb. 24, Buffett praised President Volodymyr Zelensky's wartime leadership and said it would be a mistake for the United States to withdraw support for Ukraine at this critical time.... Buffett's foundation has helped repair agricultural infrastructure in Ukraine, aid demining efforts, and provide essential supplies to healthcare facilities. Funding for the foundation comes primarily from ... Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway CEO and seventh-richest person in the world."
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Reader Comments (18)
Chauncy DeVega at Salon via digby
"Not enough people are sounding the alarm, that based on his behavior, and in my opinion, Donald Trump is dangerously demented. In fact, we are seeing the opposite among too many in the news media, the political leaders and among the public. There is also this focus on Biden’s gaffes or other things that are well within the normal limits of aging. By comparison, Trump appears to be showing gross signs of dementia. This is a tale of two brains. Biden’s brain is aging. Trump’s brain is dementing.
What evidence do you have for that conclusion?
“Phonemic paraphasias” —the substitution of non-words for words that sound similar—are not normally seen until a patient enters the moderate to severe stages of Alzheimer’s.
Some examples of Trump’s non-words: Beneficiaries becomes “benefishes.” Renovations become “renoversh.” Pivotal became “pivobal.” Obama became “obamna.” Missiles became “mishiz.” Christmas became “Crissus.” Bipartisan became “bipars.”
This is a fundamental breakdown in the ability to use language. If you were talking to your father on the phone and he did this you would think he is having a stroke. There is no healthy older person who speaks that way."
Aw, cmon, anyone might talk like that.. drunk. What concerns me is that msnbc reports djt got his wife’s name wrong yesterday? And had to read cue cards for immediate family names today. Something’s happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear..
Crushing blow! Destroyed! Beaten soundly! OMG!
This is how Nikki Haley’s results are being described. You know what? This is bullshit. Lazy, lazy, lazy reporting.
This is nothing of the kind. Did she lose? Absolutely. But getting almost 40% of the vote isn’t being “crushed”. You know who crushed his opponent in South Carolina? Joe Biden. What did he get? 96% ? 98%?
That’s “destroyed”. Trump, who is being described as an unstoppable juggernaut should have done the same, or something close, 85-90% at least, instead of 59%. He beat her by 20%. It should have been 70%.
I realize it’s Haley’s home state, but if Trump truly is the MAGA Godzilla everyone says he is, he should have done better than barely 6 out 10 votes. And this is with his advance people practically rigging the primaries for him.
He gets every benefit of the doubt. He slurs his way through speeches and reporters correct his language in quotes and don’t even mention that he sounds like a stroke victim after six shots of tequila. A good showing at the polls is described as earth shattering destruction. If this were a boxing match, it would have been a TKO in the 12th round instead of a clean knockout in the first. But it’s described as Ali versus one of the Chumps of the Month, fights that never got out of the first round.
Haley should stay in as long as her money holds out, if for no other reason than to piss off that fat fuck. Also, since she’s realized she’s got nothing to lose, her rhetoric has gotten more biting (aka more accurate) by the day regarding Trump’s unfitness for office. The fact that she paints Trump as the existential threat he truly is, but then says Biden is worse is typical R demagoguery, but what do you expect? She’s no moderate (she jumped right on the no more IVF bandwagon) but as long as she stays in the race and gives the Orange Monster agita by the hour is okay with me.
Still, it’s waaay past time for the press to quit the easy headlines and do some work. We deserve it. The country deserves it.
Quick take. A tad too quick, but…
A groggy quick scan of today’s offerings had me reading the word “migrants” as “migraines”, as in “Trump compares migraines to Hannibal Lecter”. I thought “ Wow. He’s getting migraines now, and it feels like someone’s eating his brain…” well that explains a lot. It actually makes more sense than cannibalistic immigrants. That’s just weird, even for Mr. Malaprop, the hyperbolic monkey man.
How much overt awfulness can the Right discount in their chosen leader. How much can they ignore, excuse or explain away?
They have an angry, deluded, criminal and increasingly demented authoritarian idiot whose every other word is a lie who hopes to return to to the most powerful position in the world and half the country (including the MSM) still treats him as a serious candidate.
All that being true, I guess I understand. The situation we're in is very serious.
New book, just out: The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump, created
by Rob Sears (strictly unauthorised). I take it, he's British by the
spelling of unauthorized.
Here's a sample for all you poetry afficionados.
I never understood wind
you know, I know
windmills very much.
I have studied it
better than anybody
else. It's very expensive.
They are made in China
and Germany mostly,.
--Very few made here, almost none,
but they are manufactured, tremendous
--if you are into this--
tremendous fumes, gases are
spewing into the atmosphere. You know
we have a world
right?
So the world
is tiny
compared to the universe.
So tremendous, tremendous
amount of fumes and everything.
You talk about
the carbon footprint
--fumes are spewing into the air.
Right? Spewing,
Whether it's in China,
Germany, it's going into the air.
It's our air
their air
everything--right?
A windmill will kill many bald eagles.
After a certain number
they make you turn the windmill off.
That is true
--By the way
they make you turn it off.
And yet, if you killed one
they put in jail.
that is OK.
You want to see a bird graveyard:
You just go.
Take a look.
A bird graveyard.
Go under a windmill someday,
you'll see
more birds
than you've ever seen
in your life.
--D. Trump
12/21/2019
Maybe this is why Trump thinks he's doing better with African Americans. So many showed up for the Conservative Black Gala.
Very discouraging this morning-- every single story is about the lunatic, or the GQP, or how the press is giving the election TO the first two points by their simpering writing and simpletons talking and the deceptive headlines. I am not complaining about the morning RC-- I am so disturbed that everything is so awful that it is even ruining keeping up with RC this morning. The cold open was dead to rights, the fact that the lunatic/fascist is married to someone named Mercedes...yikes. I might as well work in the basement this morning, as it is currently a mess, and even that is better than watching the crap on teevee. Thanks, RC, you deserve better...Everyone: love you and try to have a nice Sunday!
@Forrest Morris: Thanks. It turns out Sears published this in book form under the title The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump, with a hilarious cover, first in 2017 & then in 2019.
I'm not sure if there are later editions, but there could be. And they might be less "beautiful" and more sinister.
Normally, I would remove your post for copyright reasons, but inasmuch as the original words in these "beautiful poems" are in the public domain, I'm leaving up your comment. Sears' contribution to the "poetry," however, in the form of line breaks & Trumptameter, very well may make this an "original" form of poetry, so I know I'm on shaky grounds here.
Sorry about that, copyright and all.
Anyway, the book originally sold for 12.99 pound sterling.
That's $16.47 American.
What a bargain!
I wonder if Mercedes has read it, but I really don't care.
In fairness to Rob Sears, he had kind of an easy job, poetry-wise. I just copied & pasted a random graf from the most recent Trump rally speech transcript I could find, and turned it into, uh, poetry,
We’re going to go on to defeat
Crooked Joe Biden,
And we’re going to, very simply,
Make America great again.
Make America great again.
You have a big thing coming up.
Don’t waste your time on primary.
Waste all of your time on caucus
Because the primary doesn’t mean anything.
It’s maybe a little bit, about 2%,
But it doesn’t mean anything.
(I omitted a few words, for the sake of meter & poetic sensibilities, but the omissions don't change the gist and, er, clarity of Trump's original.)
Notice that, as poetry will do, verse has turned Donald to thoughts of existential questions & drives him to nihilistic conclusions, like the futility of primary. "It doesn't mean anything."
CNN
"One of the world’s biggest cities may be just months away from running out of water
Mexico City, a sprawling metropolis of nearly 22 million people and one of the world’s biggest cities, is facing a severe water crisis as a tangle of problems — including geography, chaotic urban development and leaky infrastructure — are compounded by the impacts of climate change.
Politicians are downplaying any sense of crisis, but some experts say the situation has now reached such critical levels that Mexico City could be barreling towards “day zero” in a matter of months — where the taps run dry for huge swaths of the city."
@Forrest Morris: Once I saw Mercedes Ruehl when we were shopping in a thrift shop on the Upper East Side. (She might have been shopping for costumes; I didn't ask.) But I have never seen Mercedes Trump. I don't suppose she shops in thrift shops.
I just checked Wikipedia for a list of books by and about Donald T.
Wikipedia lists 126 titles.
Just imagine how many trees died needlessly for writers to be able to
tell us things we mostly already knew.
So the greatest contributor to climate change isn't petroleum. It's
Donald Trump books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliography_of_Donald_Trump
Marie,
Hysterically funny cover picture of the Orange Monster in his British poet pose looking very Dylan Thomas-ish.
“Rage, rage against the dying of the brain,
But get elected first.
Miles to go and many bills to pay…”
I want my copy autographed by Mercedes.
Btw, where did he come up with that name? Maybe thinking of his first limo, the one his daddy paid for, the one he used to impress idiot journalists into thinking he was a wealthy real estate magnate?
My first thought was the character in “The Count of Monte Cristo”, Edmond Dantes’ fiancée who ended up marrying one of the crooks who sent him to prison. It’s probably the greatest revenge story ever written (and there’s been some good ones…check out William Trevor), and might be favored by Fatty for whom vengeance is a primary driving force, after stealing money, fraud, lying, rape…
That is, if he ever read anything.
Love the ascot.
I have a solution for that looming water shortage in Mexico City.
Each of those 22 million inhabitants get billed 100 pesos, or about
$5.84 in US dollars.
That would add up to about 132 million dollars that could be used to
build a desalination plant on the Gulf coast, labor being cheap in
Mexico.
Last time I was in San Miguel visiting friends, the grounds keeper
earned about 35 cents per hour. The household staff earned a little
more. That was about 20 years ago, so wages are probably up a little.
@Akhilleus: You nailed it.
This may have contributed to the water shortages.