;)
The Conversation -- June 19, 2024
David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to Donald Trump, revealed a plan to have the former president re-take the White House with the help of judges who are prepared to act despite the election results. Liberal journalist Lauren Windsor caught Stone revealing the plan on an undercover video. 'At least this time when they do it, you have a lawyer and a judge -- his home phone number standing by -- so you can stop it,' Stone explained i the video. 'We made no preparations last time, none ... There are technical, legal steps that we have to take to try and have a more honest election. We're not there yet, but there's things that can be done.'... Stone suggested to Windsor's colleague, Ally Sammarco, that U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon would soon dismiss the charges against Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents."
Will Steakin of ABC News: "In recent weeks, House Ethics Committee investigators have conducted a string of interviews behind closed doors with numerous women who were witnesses in the yearslong Justice Department sex trafficking investigation into Rep. Matt Gaetz, multiple sources familiar with the committee's work tell ABC News.... One woman, who ABC News is not identifying, told the committee that a payment from Gaetz was for sex, while others have said they were paid to attend parties that Gaetz also attended and that featured drugs and sex, multiple sources told ABC News."
Blinken: Bibi Makes up Stuff. Miles Herszenhorn of Politico: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken said U.S. military assistance to Israel is 'moving as it normally would' aside from one delayed shipment of bombs, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Biden administration of withholding weapons. Netanyahu had earlier slammed the Biden administration in a video posted on X Tuesday morning directly addressing Blinken.... Blinken and the White House later denied that the administration is blocking any military assistance with the exception of a shipment containing 1,800 to 2,000-pound bombs that President Joe Biden had paused in early May over concerns that they would be used in urban areas and cause civilian casualties."~~~
~~~ Don't Piss off Big Joe. Barak Ravid in Axios: "The White House canceled a high-level U.S.-Israel meeting on Iran that was scheduled for Thursday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video on Tuesday claiming the U.S. was withholding military aid, two U.S. officials tell Axios.... President Biden's top advisers were enraged by the video -- a message U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein delivered personally to Netanyahu in a meeting hours after it was published, two U.S. and Israeli sources say. Then the White House decided to go a step farther by canceling Thursday's meeting."
~~~~~~~~~~
Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "President Biden on Tuesday announced an initiative that could be life-changing for hundreds of thousands of undocumented young adults, known as Dreamers, whose ability to live and work in the United States has long been tied to a temporary immigration program that has been on life support. The new directive will enable many beneficiaries of an Obama-era program known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, to swiftly receive employer-sponsored work visas for the first time. Eventually, the young immigrants could apply through their employers for green cards, or permanent lawful residency. The new policy is one of two new immigration measures the administration announced on Tuesday. It means that a generation of young people who entered the country illegally as children will no longer be dependent on whether the DACA program, implemented as a temporary fix in 2012 and ensnared ever since in complex litigation, survives or dies."
Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: President "Biden on Tuesday drew cheers and several standing ovations from a room of about 200 people, including congressional Democrats and immigrant-rights leaders from across the country, as he unveiled an order expanding legal protections for undocumented spouses of American citizens. He evoked [former President] Obama's powerful moment by announcing it at an event commemorating the anniversary of the former president's 2012 executive action for young immigrants, framing his proposal as a way to keep families together.... 'We can both secure the border and provide legal pathways for families,' [Mr. Biden said]."
The Party of Mass Murderers, Ctd. Sahil Kapur & Frank Thorp of NBC News: "Senate Democrats sought to pass legislation Tuesday banning bump stocks for firearms after the Supreme Court overruled a previous ban, but a single Republican objected on behalf of his party, effectively stalling the bill. Backed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., sought 'unanimous consent' to pass his BUMP Act that would prohibit the devices, which modify semi-automatic weapons to fire bullets more quickly.... The bill was met with an objection from Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., blocking it from moving forward. The objection was backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and many other Republican senators, marking a turnaround after many of them championed a bump stock ban imposed by the Trump administration after the Las Vegas massacre." (Also linked yesterday.)
Jacqueline Alemany of the Washington Post: "The House Ethics Committee is still investigating allegations against Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), including that he may have engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, and accepted improper gifts. It has opened up new lines of inquiry into the Florida lawmaker, according to a statement released by the bipartisan panel on Tuesday. The 10-member committee, which rarely discloses information about ongoing investigations, clarified the status of its review of Gaetz in the lengthy statement.... The committee detailed the new avenues of investigation, including whether Gaetz 'dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
National Crime Blotter
Kevin Breuninger of CNBC: "New York's highest court on Tuesday dismissed ... Donald Trump's appeal of the gag order in his criminal hush money trial. The New York Court of Appeals in a brief decision declined to hear Trump's bid 'upon the ground that no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.' The decision means Trump's gag order, which bars him from speaking about jurors, witnesses and other parties involved in the Manhattan Supreme Court case, remains in effect. Trump's attorneys have also asked Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial, to terminate the gag order because the trial is over. The Manhattan District Attorney's office, however, urged Merchan to keep the restrictions in place, at least until after a sentencing hearing is held and certain post-trial motions are resolved." (Also linked yesterday.)
Danny Hakim & Jack Healy of the New York Times: "Boris Epshteyn, who oversees Donald J. Trump's sprawling legal team, pleaded not guilty to nine felony charges on Tuesday in Arizona's election interference case.... Mr. Epshteyn has held onto his baseless assertions that the election was stolen and has not wavered in his support for Mr. Trump. By contrast, he was arraigned on Tuesday along with Jenna Ellis, a lawyer and Trump adviser who was among the former president's staunchest defenders after the 2020 election, but who has since expressed regret.... An attorney for Ms. Ellis also pleaded not guilty on her behalf on Tuesday.... One of the fake Arizona electors, a businessman and former Senate candidate named James Lamon, was also arraigned on Tuesday.... [His attorney] entered a not guilty plea on Mr. Lamon's behalf on Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday.)
Keith Alexander of the Washington Post: "The District's law licensing committee for the D.C. Court of Appeals has recommended suspending the law license of Hunter Biden, roughly a week after he was convicted on felony gun charges in Delaware. Biden has been licensed to practice law in the nation's capital since 2007, registered under his full name, Robert H. Biden."
Presidential Race
Marie: Yesterday, I heard on the teevee that over this past weekend, Trump had again railed against mail-in voting. I thought that was weird, because it was widely reported in April that Trump had got over that. In fact, he posted on his social media site, "ABSENTEE VOTING, EARLY VOTING, AND ELECTION DAY VOTING ARE ALL GOOD OPTIONS. REPUBLICANS MUST MAKE A PLAN, REGISTER, AND VOTE!" Well, now I understand the flip-flop-flip: ~~~
~~~ Josephine Harvey of the Huffington Post: "An author who interviewed Donald Trump extensively after his departure from the White House said the former president demonstrated 'severe memory issues' during their meetings. Ramin Setoodeh, a co-editor-in-chief at Variety, appeared on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' Monday to discuss his new book, 'Apprentice in Wonderland.'... The author said he and Trump spoke for an hour in May 2021. A few months later, when he returned to Trump Tower in Manhattan for another interview, Trump 'had this vacant look on his face,' he added. 'He had no recollection of our lengthy interview that we had, and he wasn't doing a lot of interviews at that time,' he continued." ~~~
~~~ Ed Mazza of the Huffington Post: "Ramin Setoodeh, who interviewed Trump six times after he left office in 2021, told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that there were points during those sessions when Trump seemed to think he still had some presidential powers. 'There was one day where he told me he needed to go upstairs to deal with Afghanistan, even though he clearly didn't,' he said.... 'He confidently told me, and declared, that Joan Rivers voted for him when he ran for president [in 2016],' Setoodeh said. 'And Joan Rivers died in 2014.'... 'He goes from one story to the next. He struggles with the chronology of events. He seems very upset that he wasn't respected by certain celebrities in the White House. And then he'd go to a story about "The Apprentice,"' he said.... The Trump campaign has denied the allegations of cognitive issues, and said Trump didn't remember Setoodeh because he is 'a nobody and insignificant' and 'never made an impression.'"
Change of Venue to "Horrible" City. Michael Gold of the New York Times: "When Republicans gather in Milwaukee next month to nominate him for president, Donald J. Trump planned to stay not in the convention's host city but at a Trump hotel in Chicago, some 90 miles away, according to three people briefed on the former president's logistics. That changed midafternoon on Tuesday, after reporters for The Times and an ABC affiliate in Chicago contacted his campaign for comment. Mr. Trump now intends to stay in Milwaukee, two of the people briefed on his logistics said. The change avoids a perceived slight to the largest city in Wisconsin, a vital battleground state. Mr. Trump has been on the defensive about his views on Milwaukee since news outlets reported last week that he called it a 'horrible' city in a private meeting with House Republicans in Washington." (Also linked yesterday.)
Zoe Richards of NBC News: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday said that business executives and shareholder representatives should 'be 100% behind' him or face termination. The former president referred to an excerpt from an article in The Wall Street Journal which claimed that corporations would benefit again if he is re-elected in November. 'Business Executives and Shareholder Representatives should be 100% behind Donald Trump! Anybody that's not should be FIRED for incompetence!,' the former president wrote in a post on his social media website...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: For business executives who haven't figured it out already, this is a warning that supporting Trump because he may lower their personal and corporate taxes is shortsighted & possibly self-defeating. He is just as likely to pressure their companies to fire them if they don't continue to kiss ass to Trump's satisfaction.
Are You Better Off Now Than You Were Four Years Ago? Let's Check: New York Times, June 18, 2020: "The Congressional Budget Office projected on Monday that the pandemic would inflict a devastating long-term blow on the United States economy, costing $7.9 trillion over the next decade. Without adjusting for inflation, the agency said, the pandemic would cost $16 trillion over the next 10 years. The estimates were an official tally of the damage from the crisis, reflecting expectations of dampened consumer spending and business investment in the years to come." MB: Turns out that -- so far, at least -- the projection is far too pessimistic, but only because President Biden and Congressional Democrats poured money on the problem. (Also linked yesterday.)
Orlando Mayorquin of the New York Times: "Robert Morris, the founder of a Texas megachurch and a faith adviser to the Trump White House, has resigned from his job as its senior pastor, the church said on Tuesday, days after he was accused of sexually abusing a child in the 1980s." MB: As we know, Trump has always surrounded himself with all the best people. ~~~
~~~ Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "Morris is ... the leader of one of the largest and most influential megachurches in the country.... Evangelicals have declared themselves the avatars of sexual morality..., [but] sex has never really been the issue with evangelicals. It's more about 'the performance of gender' and maintaining a rigid gender hierarchy. While right-wing Christians talk a lot about 'purity,' that expectation only applies to women.... The problem with expecting women -- or in so many cases, underage girls -- to bear the responsibility for maintaining 'purity' is that it directly conflicts with another mandate placed on women in evangelical circles: total submission.... It seems that the evangelical world pretty much agrees with Trump, who once told CNN that, 'fortunately,' men have long been allowed to get away with sexual assault."
Turns out there's a worse teevee stock-market tipster than Jim Cramer: ~~~
~~~ When Selling Short Is a Double Entendre. Kerry Breen of CBS News: "A former CNBC analyst who ended up on the FBI's Most Wanted list for white-collar crimes was arrested over the weekend after being charged with defrauding investors, federal prosecutors announced Monday. James Arthur McDonald, 52, of California, was a frequent guest on CNBC and the CEO and chief investment officer of the companies Hercules Investments LLC and Index Strategy Advisors Inc. According to an indictment from a federal grand jury, McDonald allegedly lost tens of millions of dollars of Hercules client money after adopting a risky short position that 'effectively bet against the health of the United States economy in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election' in late 2020, Justice Department officials said in a news release. The predicted market decline did not happen, causing clients to lose between $30 and $40 million.... In early 2021, McDonald allegedly solicited millions of dollars in funds from investors.... He allegedly misrepresented how the funds would be used ... and failed to disclose the investment company's losses the previous year.... McDonald also allegedly ... sent clients ... false account statements that misrepresented how much money was in their accounts. McDonald became a fugitive in late 2021 when he failed to appear before the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, prosecutors said." (Also linked yesterday.)
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: "Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos sought to reassure its journalists Tuesday with his first direct outreach to The Post newsroom since the abrupt exit of its executive editor and a swirl of questions about the journalism standards of some newly appointed executives. 'You have my full commitment on maintaining the quality, ethics, and standards we all believe in,' he wrote to about a dozen senior editors in an email, which quickly leaked to reporters who shared it on social media. The message represents the owner's most public comment since William Lewis, the company's publisher and CEO of five months, announced top editor Sally Buzbee departure and a dramatic newsroom reorganization two weeks ago."
~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday's Primary Results
New York Times reporters liveblogged Tuesday's primary election results. Here are some of their entries:
Catie Edmondson: "Representative Tom Cole, the veteran Oklahoma Republican and chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, fended off a primary challenge on Tuesday from a well-funded right-wing businessman, putting him on track to win a 12th term."
Jonathan Weisman: "Suhas Subramanyam, a state senator in suburban Loudoun County, Va., narrowly won the Democratic primary in a House district in Northern Virginia on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, after perhaps the ugliest primary of the 2024 election season so far. Mr. Subramanyam's victory over 11 other Democratic candidates in the contest to succeed a retiring Democratic representative, Jennifer Wexton, is likely to be a relief for national Democrats who had watched anxiously as another front-runner in the race, State Representative Dan Helmer, faced calls to drop out over an accusation of sexual harassment."
Jonathan Weisman: "Yevgeny Vindman, who along with his twin brother helped expose ... Donald J. Trump's attempts to strong-arm Ukraine into digging up dirt on Joseph R. Biden Jr., won his Democratic primary on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. He will run in the fall to represent the Virginia district of Representative Abigail Spanberger, who is retiring. Mr. Vindman, who goes by Eugene, had no governing experience, a point his Democratic competitors made in the primary for Virginia's Seventh Congressional District. But his name recognition, along with that of his identical twin, Alexander Vindman, helped him raise over $5 million, more than the rest of the field combined." ~~~
~~~ Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A convicted Jan. 6 defendant from Georgia who served 20 days in prison for his actions during the attack on the U.S. Capitol lost a Republican primary runoff for a House seat in Georgia, The Associated Press projects. Charles Hand III, or Chuck Hand, was defeated by former Trump administration official Wayne Johnson as they vied to face Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop in the general election in the solidly blue district. The two candidates advanced to a runoff after neither won a majority of the vote in the initial May primary."
~~~ Laura Vozella & Chris Suarez of the Washington Post: "House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good was locked in a tight Republican primary in deep-red central Virginia late Tuesday with John J. McGuire III, a state senator whose bid to oust his fellow hard-liner drew support from ... Donald Trump and establishment forces."
California. Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: "A California labor regulator said on Tuesday that it had fined Amazon nearly $6 million for thousands of violations of a safety law that took effect in 2022. The measure, known as the Warehouse Quotas Law, lets employees request written explanations of any productivity quotas that apply to them, as well as explanations of any discipline they may face in failing to meet the quotas. The state labor commissioner's office said Amazon violated the law more than 59,000 times at two Southern California warehouses between October and March. The system that Amazon used in the two warehouses 'is exactly the kind of system that the Warehouse Quotas Law was put in place to prevent,' the labor commissioner, Lilia García-Brower, said in a statement."
Vermont. Serious Waste of Delicious Green Mountain Spring Water. Gloria Oladipo of the Guardian: "A Vermont lawmaker was compelled to apologize publicly after being caught on video pouring water into her colleague's work bag multiple times across several months. The bizarre behavior is allegedly a part of a campaign of harassment that one legislator aimed at another who represents the same district [Bennington] in the Green Mountain state, independent outlet Seven Days first reported. The Republican representative, Mary Morrissey, 67, confessed to dumping water in the bag of the Democratic legislator Jim Carroll, 62. She later apologized during a Vermont state house session on Monday, Boston.com reported.... For weeks, Carroll secretly recorded footage of his backpack to catch the person in the act." (Also linked yesterday.)
Virginia House Race. Annie Karni of the New York Times: A Congressional primary race between Rep. Bob Good, leader of the House Freedom Caucus, & state senator John McGuire for "has splintered the MAGA movement and the G.O.P. itself and highlighted the shifting alliances, personal feuds and chaotic maneuvering that have come to define the party as much as any ideological or policy position.... There is scant difference between the two hard-right candidates on the issues.... Mr. Trump turned against Mr. Good after he backed Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida over him in the Republican presidential primary.... In a recent video for Mr. McGuire's campaign, Mr. Trump told Virginia voters that Mr. Good 'will stab you in the back like he did me.'" MB: All very sad, I'm sure. (Also linked yesterday.)
Indiana Gubernatorial Race. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: The MAGA party is eating its own in Indiana where U.S. Sen. Mike Braun (R) is running for governor But the state convention refused to select Braun's preference for a running mate. Instead, they picked a Christian nationalist pastor Micah Beckwith who "said that God had told him: 'Micah, I sent those riots to Washington. What you saw yesterday was my hand at work.' He's said that the 'progressive left has taken over the Republican Party in Indiana,' and promised that if he wins, he'll be a thorn in the side to the governor.... The divide within the Republican Party, in Indiana as elsewhere, isn't really between moderates and conservatives, because almost everyone involved is very right-wing. It is, rather, between people who know how to work within the existing system, and outsiders who want to overturn it." MB: Again, we're very sad about this. (Also linked yesterday.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine, et al.
The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in the Israel/Hamas war are here.
Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The $230 million temporary pier that the U.S. military built on short notice to rush humanitarian aid to Gaza has largely failed in its mission, aid organizations say, and will probably end operations weeks earlier than originally expected. In the month since it was attached to the shoreline, the pier has been in service only about 10 days. The rest of the time, it was being repaired after rough seas broke it apart, detached to avoid further damage or paused because of security concerns. The pier was never meant to be more than a stopgap measure while the Biden administration pushed Israel to allow more food and other supplies into Gaza through land routes, a far more efficient way to deliver relief. But even the modest goals for the pier are likely to fall short, some American military officials say."
Russia/North Korea
Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "North Korean leader Kim Jong Un assured Russian President Vladimir Putin of his 'full support and solidarity for the Russian government, army and people' in the war in Ukraine, as the two leaders began talks in Pyongyang filled with exhortations about their 'fiery friendship.' Kim did not elaborate on what that support might look like but the remarks, reported by Russian media in Pyongyang, will fuel concerns the outcast leaders of two heavily-sanctioned states will use this visit to deepen their military partnership."
Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia met with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, in his first visit to the country in nearly a quarter-century on Wednesday, as the two autocrats vowed to build a joint front against the United States and deepen bilateral ties that Washington fears will include more arms trade. Mr. Putin is the first major head of state to visit North Korea since the pandemic, highlighting its importance to Russia: It is one of the few like-minded countries able and willing to supply Moscow with badly needed conventional weapons for its war in Ukraine."
Paul Sonne of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has arrived in North Korea according to Russian state media, visiting for the first time in 24 years after vowing to bring ties with Pyongyang to new heights and jointly rebuff what he called the 'global neocolonial dictatorship' of the United States. The North's leader, Kim Jong-un, met the Russian president on the airport tarmac early Wednesday local time, Russian state news agencies reported. Mr. Putin arrived in the dead of night, descending from his airplane to a red carpet lined by uniformed guards to embrace the waiting North Korean leader, video later released by the Kremlin showed. Mr. Kim ushered Mr. Putin into a Russian-made Aurus limousine that he had received from him last year." (Also linked yesterday.)
Adela Suliman & Natalia Abbakumova of the Washington Post: "A Russian court on Wednesday sentenced an American soldier to three years and nine months in a penal colony after finding him guilty of theft and threatening to kill a local resident, Russian state media reported. Prosecutors said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, was accused of stealing 10,000 rubles ($120) from his Russian girlfriend and grabbing her by the neck, Interfax reported. The sentencing took place in a court in the city of Vladivostok, in Russia's far east. Black met Alexandra Vashchuk in South Korea, where he was stationed until April, and began a romantic relationship with her. After she returned to Russia without him, he followed her there without notifying his commanders or getting permission. He was arrested and detained in the country in May on criminal misconduct charges."
News Ledes
** New York Times: "Willie Mays, the spirited center fielder whose brilliance at the plate, in the field and on the basepaths for the Giants led many to call him the greatest all-around player in baseball history, died on Tuesday in Palo Alto, Calif. He was 93. Larry Baer, the president and chief executive of the Giants, said Mays, the oldest living member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, died in an assisted living facility. Mays compiled extraordinary statistics in 22 National League seasons with the Giants in New York and San Francisco and a brief return to New York with the Mets, preceded by a 1948 stint in the Negro leagues. He hit 660 career home runs and had 3,293 hits and a .301 career batting average. But he did more than personify the complete ballplayer. An exuberant style of play and an effervescent personality made Mays one of the game's, and America's, most charismatic figures...."
New York Times: "Two wildfires in Southern New Mexico that destroyed 1,400 structures, consumed over 20,000 acres and forced the evacuations of thousands of people were still burning out of control on Tuesday night as firefighters struggled to contain them, the authorities said."
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Reader Comments (15)
So, another slow walk...the House's Gaetz investigation... Been going on in some form or by one body or another for years...
Reminds me of a faculty wit who awarded students habitually late to class with certificates for membership in the Slow Walkers' Club...
Wonder if he has a few left over for the Supremes, too. And, oh, Cannon should get one, too.
Don't bother going to the Post Office today. Closed for Juneteenth.
I did run into an old friend there though. Judy. She said she has an
urgent gardening question. I waited for it.
Sorry she said, my mind just blanked out, can't remember what the
urgent question was.
(Judy was Ted Turner's first wife, the mother of his children).
Media Matters
"News outlets gorged on Hunter Biden trial coverage while ignoring Trump’s calls to prosecute foes
The Big Three broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) collectively produced 18 times more coverage of the trial than of Trump’s calls for politicized prosecutions, while the A-sections of five major newspapers featured six times more articles about the trial, according to a Media Matters review."
RAS,
The upside?
The Pretender's violent, nasty rhetoric is now old news?
And, yes, there's a downside to that...
"Clarence Thomas, the Gordon Gekko of the Supreme Court"
"You have my full commitment on maintaining the quality, ethics, and standards we all believe in" -Bezos
When he says "we" he naturally means himself. And we have all seen the numerous headlines including today of what his Amazon standards are over the years. So based on the people he is putting in charge of the Washington Post that is an accurate statement. Amazon ethics.
Not only cognitively decrepit…
The just released book recounting Trump’s days as the loser “star” of a shitty “reality”show offers a look at some of Fatty’s other trademark issues, besides his more recent descent into the maelstrom of cognitive impairment.
One storyline deals with how he should have won multiple Emmy awards, but was treated so unfaaaiiirrly by “Hollywood establishment”, who resented his rogue, outsider masculinity and genius. Because of course they did. He does take extreme pride, however, in deciding that his turn on the Emmy stage one year had him dressed in overalls singing (sort of) the theme from the old TV show, “Green Acres” (don’t bother googling it, he’s not horrible, but he’s also not the Musical Genius he claims to be later in the book). Trump claims that there was a vote that night for best musical segment, and he got almost all the votes.
If you’ve ever wondered how this idiot could regularly deem himself an expert at so many things he knows nothing about, that bullshit started early on.
“‘You know, when I was young, my parents took me to a place, and they said, ‘What’s up with this guy? We think he’s really smart!’ He’s referring to himself. ‘They gave me all these tests. And I’ll never forget, they told my father, ‘Your son has an unbelievable aptitude in music.’ Like they play a note . . .’ To make this story come to life, Trump offers his own sound effects. ‘. . . Ding, ding!’ He continues: ‘And then they play it again. And then twenty minutes later, they asked, ‘Which is the note we first played?’ The sound effects return from Trump’s own lips: ‘Ding. Ding. Ding.’ It was, in Trump’s telling, an early marker of his genius. ‘They said, ‘He has an aptitude in music.’”
Right. I’m sure Pavarotti was ready to quit when he heard Fatty was on the way.
But a much ickier fable is one with the infamous “Sir” tell, followed by fantasy groveling of an actual TV star, Debra Messing. In Trump’s fantasy world, Messing ran up to him, thrilled to be in his exalted presence, telling him she loved him and thanking him profusely for saving the network.
“‘She came up to me with her beautiful red hair,’ Trump says about Messing, pausing on this detail a beat too long. ‘And she said, ‘Sir — I love you! Thank God for you! You’re saving the network, and you’re saving my show.’ Because in that world, which I know a lot about now, when you have a hit, a lead-in, it’s a massive difference.’”
Except that Trump’s crap show benefited from a lead in from Messing’s show, “Will&Grace”, a genuine hit still recalled by viewers with great fondness (it was a very funny show), unlike “The Apprentice”, which no one remembers now.
As for Fatty’s assumption that Messing was overcome with desire and crawling gratitude for his manly presence, here’s what she actually thinks of him.
“On Twitter, throughout his campaign and first term as president, Messing had been one of the most vocal actors bashing Trump. She once called him ‘a weak, scared, stupid, inept, negligent, vindictive, narcissistic criminal.’” What, no “Sir”?
Needless to say, he hates her now. Can’t believe she’d reject his obvious wonderfulness.
Dementia may be a relatively new thing for this damaged creep, but fantasy imaginings of his own stupendous importance and obvious genius has held sway probably since he was a little punk in Queens lording it over the neighborhood kids for not having a rich, racist daddy.
Yes, they are racists.
Racists, er, Republicans in Congress (same thing) came out in support of restoring incredibly racist statuary.
“The House voted Thursday on a Republican amendment to restore Arlington National Cemetery’s Confederate Memorial. The century-old monument, which was removed in December, features an enslaved Black ‘mammy’ holding the infant child of a White officer, as an enslaved Black man follows the officer off to war. The monument references the ‘Lost Cause,’ a mythology about the Civil War era favored by apologists for the Confederacy.
The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), did not pass, but it got very strong support in the House GOP conference. While 24 Republicans voted against restoring the monument, 192 voted in favor — nearly 89 percent of voting Republicans.”
Eighty nine percent! The other 11% will be primaried by hand picked Trump lynch mob leaders.
Racist dog whistles are for RINOs. These people are cross burning KKK maggots, or rather MAGAts.
"The hundred year old movie that predicted our current reactionary moment
How did D.W. Griffith respond to criticism of Birth of a Nation? By bankrupting himself making one of the most expensive, ambitious movies ever [Intolerance] in order to prove that he wasn’t the bigot, it was his critics who were the bigots.
And they still keep whining about their haters. Why?
The easy answer is to just chalk it up to a moral failing on their part. That feels extremely satisfying, for sure. But I think there’s another lesson there as well. When a human being can’t shut up about how others are criticizing them, it does, in fact, show an unease about their beliefs and worldview. When we don’t experience cognitive dissonance, criticism doesn’t impact us.
we lived this movie for the last four years. Every single “DEI/Critical Race Theory” debate has essentially been an Intolerance redux. It’s all there: the “I’m not the racist, you’re the racist for talking about racism” discourse, the easy slide into misogyny(see also: how quickly “Karen” was fully adopted by the right as a slur for any left-leaning woman they don’t like) and most of all, the way that good faith, necessary critiques of corporatized equity work end up getting lost in a see of bad faith arguments about how Bud Light has gone woke now[·]"
What did Trump get wrong during his rally, let us count the ways.
Louisiana makes evangelical Christianity the official state religion.
They’ll all follow suit now. Or worse. It’s gonna be “Hold my beer!”
Jeff Landry is assuming that the Louisiana schools have taught those
kiddos how to read.
Methinks he has to put those ten commandments in picture form,
(except the adultery one of course).
Forrest,
The picture Ten Commandments are the ones Donald Trump follows. The problem is, he thinks the stuff depicted, lying, stealing, coveting, blasphemy, adultery, idol worship, etc., are things you’re supposed to do, not avoid. He pats himself on the back for having done all of them. A genius, no doubt.
Now, if only the R's who pretend to honor those ten commandments were to do so....
I'd go with only one, sometimes referred to as the eleventh: Love thy neighbor as thyself...
I suspect that would explode their holier than thou self-regard...
Ken: I bet Martha-Ann Squirlito is a huge devotee of your eleventh commandment--
Louisiana apparently doesn't care if anyone can read. They think by displaying the commandments (they have to scrounge one up somehow-- the LA dingbats say the government can't buy it for them) they are good with no blatant religious bias in the public schools, as long as someone else gives it to them to display. That doesn't even make any sense-- reading is no longer being taught or used in LA.
I agree: the "leader" (liar) has been a smarmy proud-of-himself jackal his whole life. The dementia is newly added-- more than a soupcon...And it goes on causing him difficulties, but it isn't going away. Dementia is forever. Better than diamonds. Too bad his adoring silly ignoramuses don't have the smarts to see any of this.
PA just got a new lawsuit about the phantom "voting irregularities" in 2020. Same as it ever was.