Oy vey…
OMG. Joe Arpaio will keep the birther bullshit going until Obama leaves office pic.twitter.com/6Aj4ffBEWl
— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) December 14, 2016
by Adam L Silverman| 103 Comments
This post is in: America, An Unexamined Scandal, Because of wow., Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Election 2012, Events, Open Threads, Politics, Post-racial America, Silverman on Security, General Stupidity, OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUDS, Our Awesome Meritocracy, Our Failed Media Experiment, Our Failed Political Establishment, Outrage
Oy vey…
OMG. Joe Arpaio will keep the birther bullshit going until Obama leaves office pic.twitter.com/6Aj4ffBEWl
— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) December 14, 2016
Comments are closed.
Adam L Silverman
I’m going to the gym. You all have fun!
FoxinSocks
BTW-If anyone is in the DC area on Saturday, there will be a protest against Trump and his policies – https://www.facebook.com/events/208766682860195 Resist!
mai naem mobile
Joe Arpaios going to be too busy in court for his racial profiling/not following court orders court case. I just hope his lawyers drag it on long enough that Lumpy is impeached before he can pardon him.
Это курам на смех
To correct Stein, this will never end. Arpaio lost his re-election bid, so the wingnut welfare train is now leaving the station.
scuffletuffle
A drone strike would not be out of order here, IMO.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: knowing you, I expect you back just before Joe’s announcement then.
randy khan
If there were any justice, the only media representatives attending the press conference would be Andy Borowitz and somebody from The Onion.
ruckus
Alas, gone but not forgotten. He’s what 80 yrs old, an ignorant racist and just got himself unelected. Give him a break, it will take him a while to understand that means he can’t be a public bully any longer.
Kay
Trump Family weirdness continues:
I didn’t know the President could just swap out family members like that. What a bizarre thing this is, how she and her husband have just decided they have some “role” that they’re free to invent. I’d say they’ll use some discretion and restraint and understand they weren’t actually elected to anything, but I know that’s not true. It’s just the beginning of the overreach we’ll be subjected to by these horrible, graceless, classless people.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: I got to teach a kid’s aikido class after the workout, so about 7:30 PM EST.
Pogonip
@Kay: I must differ on this one. If Melania doesn’t want to use the office, why shouldn’t Ivanka use it?
bowtiejack
@Kay:
“. . . these horrible, graceless, classless people.”
Nailed it.
And it’s confirmed by how oblivious they are to it and sure of their very own special specialness.
dmsilev
@Kay: “Person that Donald listens to” is going to be a powerful position, regardless of whether there’s going to be a formal title attached to it. Sort of like the flapper in Jonathan Swift’s Laputa.
gvg
@Kay: uh, i don’t think the first Lady is an actual office in the constitution. People just sort of expect it. used to be there were strict social obligations and there was I seem to recall a widower whose eldest daughter acted as his hostess. The house is a family house. Obama’s mother in law moved in to help with the children. Hillary caused a huge fuss because she didn’t just act as a um party coordinator back when which seemed old fashioned and strange back at the time to me. So basically she can have the office space but seeing classified documents or having any of her own authority is where it stops. Now she can influence her father, all children can as well as friends and even random letter writers really.
I think there are stories that one President was actually incapacitated and his wife was acting as if all was well for the last few months…but that has to have been with the complicity of the cabinet and the Congressional leaders. Don’t recall who it was but it was a long time ago. Not satisfactory for the nuclear age though.
Kay
@Pogonip:
Sure! When I get a job my grown son and daughter get one too, right? But only if there’s an empty office.
I think adult children are adults, therefore not extensions of their parents or fill-ins for their parents. I’m old fashioned that way.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: you shouldn’t be too tired then, I imagine they’re pretty easy to throw around.
Kay
@gvg:
Yeah, I’ll get back to you when she’s running “policy” for women, which is what she’s announced she’s doing.
She should run for the House or Senate. Get elected. Earn a powerful position. Outrageous demand on my part, I know.
No one elected Ivanka Trump and her husband. To anything.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: They’re usually wound up like a cheap watch!
Corner Stone
@Major Major Major Major: One would be surprised.
gene108
@gvg:
Woodrow Wilson
Waldo
Can’t expect ol’ Sheriff Joe to claim his legal troubles are politically motivated without reminding people of the dumb sh1t he did to provoke the imagined retaliation.
SiubhanDuinne
@gvg:
Are you thinking of Edith Wilson? The President suffered a severe stroke in 1919 and his wife and doctors essentially conspired to keep it from the public. He served out the rest of his term (until March 1921) effectively incapacitated.
JMG
@gvg: That was Woodrow Wilson. And of course, Nancy Reagan did the same when Reagan began to slip into Alzheimer’s in his second term.
mai naem mobile
@Kay: don’t forget the Ivankas husband could be doing all kids of illegal stuff based on info she gives him and you couldn’t even ask her in court because they’re married. I can’t imagine what the GOP would be saying if a Democrat did this. Seriously for the millionth time with this family WTF?
rikyrah
Kay,
from the Daily News twitter feed:
Ivanka Trump is getting an office in the White House that is typically reserved for the FIRST LADY.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Sorry Kay, I hadn’t refreshed the post. should have know that you would be on it.
FlipYrWhig
@Kay: Trump clearly has a monarchical model of what he thinks rule looks like. So far we’ve seen courtiers, successors, patronage, prerogative, and entanglements between public and private aspects of the reign. It’s like a time machine back to 1639.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Do they have SECURITY CLEARANCES?
Tom Levenson
@gvg:
That would have been Woodrow Wilson and his wife
There is significant evidence and more speculation that Nancy Reagan took on at least something of the same role as her husband’s dementia became impossible to ignore.
ETA: I see others got there first, as they do.
trollhattan
December 15, 2016
For Immediate Release:
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office
Joe Arpaio, Shuriff is Neer
News Alert
Sheriff Joe Arpaio will brief the press on results of his exhaustive investigation of the Zapruder film, now with 70% more Zapruder. Refreshments will be flung at the press. Y’all come.
Also, too, damn I bet Trump! is jealous of Duterte. How is he going to top this?
rikyrah
@Kay:
As a Black person, I will say that it’s quite interesting, watching White people fall over themselves to try and normalize this, and try and make sense of this.
Because, they know damn well if Barack Obama had tried ANY of this shyt, they would be yelling from the rooftops.
Folks are keeping receipts on this.
The bending over backwards to excuse away this mediocre White man and his offenses….makes the lips purse.
Chip Daniels
As Andrew Sullivan might say, Ivanka’s relationship to Donald makes you go Hmmm.
gene108
@rikyrah:
Makes sense. Trump does want to date her (if she was not his daughter). Maybe he can act out some of his pent up romantic feelings by having her play the part usually reserved for the President’s spouse in his White House.
And yes it is gross. But these are gross people.
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Not to worry, she’ll be patted down every time she goes into the Oval Office.
lollipopguild
@Kay: Speaking of old fashioned, I could use one right about now.
Gelfling 545
@JMG: And since That Person is incapacitated by virtue of being dumb as a stump, he needs someone to act for him.
Corner Stone
@trollhattan: Is that why he keeps checking for junk in her trunk? Afraid of a little Patricidal Payback?
SiubhanDuinne
@gvg:
Patsy Jefferson served as her father’s official hostess, and Martin Van Buren’s daughter-in-law did the same for him. Both men were widowers. James Buchanan, a bachelor, asked his niece Harriet Lane to take on typical First Lady duties.
SiubhanDuinne
@trollhattan:
Snort!
Corner Stone
As we all know, the more Trump damages the R party and the nation the more they will fall all over themselves to jump higher and farther on board the Trump Bandwagon. Putin now has a net unfavorability rating of 10% with Republicans. Think about that. It’s almost 50/50 on how a self declared R party member feels about Putin.
Roger Moore
@gvg:
There are very few offices that are spelled out in the Constitution. Offices mentioned by the Constitution:
House: Speaker and “other Officers”
Senate: Vice President (President of the Senate), “other Officers”, and President pro tempore
Executive Branch: President, Vice President, “the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments”, Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and all other Officers of the United States
Judiciary: “Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts”
That’s a pretty sparse and vague list. The only ones mentioned with specificity are the President, VP, Speaker of the House, President pro tempore of the Senate, and Judges of the Supreme Court. All the other offices are defined either by statute, rules of the legislative bodies, or by custom. The first lady has at least some statutory standing, since she has a government funded staff.
beth
I know the First Lady has a staff so will Ivanka inherit that budget too? And what happens when Melanie moves in? Do we pay for two office staffs (cause you know neither of those ladies is making copies).
LeeM
@Tom Levenson: If Drunk History is a reliable enough source, Nancy was pretty much the brains behind most of Ronnie Ray-guns political career.
JPL
Melania is going to be too busy, along with dozens of staff taking care of Barron in NYC . I have no idea what is going on with that family, but unless all journalists are required to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement, we’ll find out.
waspuppet
@Kay: Overreach? Please. “Everyone” “knows” only Democrats overreach. Republicans are bold and unorthodox.
Schlemazel
@Kay:
But it is not a job as such, it is just the duties expected of a first lady. This is not the first time someone not married to the President has filled the role. Honestly Ivanka is probably a better fit than the gold-digging ex-hooker he is married to so this is the least of our concerns.
rikyrah
Heitkamp for Secretary of Agriculture?
Really?
Seriously?
Schlemazel
@Kay:
Nobody elected Hillary to anything in 1992, were you just as outraged when she led the healthcare effort? Please save the outrage for the really offensive shit he is doing.
Clem
Trump’s business model needs to integrate with the White House and Ivancavitch will be the liaison with the mob boys. Makes more sense with an explanation of the Trump scheme, LLCs and limited partnerships. Via Twitter
waspuppet
@JPL: Melania, from all available evidence, is maybe one degree less pissed about Trump becoming president than we are. I can easily picture Trump the day before he announced telling her “Don’t worry! It’s not like I’ll win!”
germy
@LeeM:
She consulted an astrologer.
Schlemazel
@gvg:
Harriet Rebecca Lane Johnston acted as First Lady of the United States for her uncle James Buchanan, who was a lifelong bachelor. Martin Van Buren had his daughter do the job.
This is not without precedent & it is not going to give Ivanka any power or information Mango Mussolini would not have given her anyway
Corner Stone
White people are the fucking worst.
rikyrah
The sociopaths in North Carolina are at it again – calling in a special session.
? Martin
California to implement power requirements for computers and monitors sold by 2018.
Given that several of these companies are based in California, and given that California is responsible for about 1 in 5 computers purchased in this country, that should be enough leverage to move all computer sales in the US to this standard.
Sorry, WV coal miners, that’s less work for you.
Ridnik Chrome
If there was any justice in this world Arpaio would be doing a stretch in his own jail right now…
Corner Stone
@rikyrah: She can’t take that job. How fucking stupid and horrible.
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yes, it’s not that unusual for a daughter or other female relative to take on the official White House hostess duties (what we currently refer to as “First Lady”) if the President is widowed or single.
It’s pretty weird that she’s doing it when Trump has a current wife, but maybe the divorce papers are just waiting to be filed after the inauguration.
And, yes, I just can’t wait to hear the same people who lost their shit about Mrs. Robinson living in the White House fall all over themselves to praise this. Hypocritical motherfuckers. ?
Botsplainer
@Kay:
Gross.
She is totally banging him.
Adam L Silverman
@Corner Stone: We generally don’t throw the kids around. We get them warmed up, we do some basics work, then a fun activity, then more basic work, then another fun activity, and repeat for an hour. The fun activities are intended to reinforce the basics. Situational awareness and focus training or strike training made to seem like a game. We don’t do a regimented kids class like you’ll see in some dojos. I’ve seen too many of those, most in various forms of karate, and to be honest the kids just aren’t ready for it until they’re in their teens. Some of the ones I’ve seen remind me of indoctrination centers.
gogol's wife
I’m just steaming about the WaPo article on how Flynn shared classified information with foreign powers without permission. And he was up at the RNC shouting “Lock her up!” Can we please get him locked up? Please?
Starfish
@rikyrah: If Obama had been married THREE TIMES, the religious right would have never let him near the presidency.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: And some other things pucker!
dmsilev
@Mnemosyne: It’s pretty clear that Melania was doing the bare minimum possible on the campaign and she didn’t look like she had much interest in the social stuff traditionally associated with the First Lady role, so I guess Ivanka gets that by default.
JPL
@gogol’s wife: IOKIYR
JPL
@dmsilev: Believe me, it’s not by default.
Botsplainer
Hopefully, the folks at Vivid Video have a bunch of Trump based productions ready to go – the more mockery of these people, the better.
lollipopguild
@gogol’s wife: Not gonna happen.
SiubhanDuinne
@Botsplainer:
The mutual loathing between Ivanka and Melania must be thick enough to slice. There was one particular photo of the two of them seated next to each other — can’t remember now whether it was at the GOP Convention or one of the debates or some other event which forced them into proximity — and a fairly intelligent goldfish could have read their body language and known that they cordially detest each other.
SixStringFanatic
Of course he will. Delegitimizing the first black President doesn’t stop when the man leaves office. They’re still shitting on Jimmy Carter 40 years later and he wasn’t even guilty of Presidenting While Black.
trollhattan
Gov Jerry, kicking ass on all our behalfs.
Lurve me some Jerry. DiFi OTOH needs to retire, like yesterday.
SixStringFanatic
@Schlemazel: I have no love whatsoever for the entire Trump klan but we shouldn’t let this shit show make us abandon our own values. Calling Melania Trump an “ex-hooker” is misogynistic and should have no place in our discussions.
catclub
Lawmakers: GSA Found Trump Will Breach His Hotel Lease, Absent Divestment
Govexec.com
germy
I’m actually curious what sort of crowd Arpaio will draw. How many reporters will show up?
LongHairedWeirdo
Arpaio might be doing it to support Trump… part of the “see, he wasn’t wrong about EVERYTHING” normalization.
germy
Attendees included Apple CEO Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and The Washington Post, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt of Alphabet and Google, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, Oracle CEO Safra A. Catz, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins, and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty.
Trump told them his regime is “going to be here for you. You’ll call my people, you’ll call me. We have no formal chain of command around here.”
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: You don’t teach them how to fall?
And I was more commenting on the fact that my kid is now a beast and while I can (still) physically overpower him when we roughhouse it’s fracking exhausting.
Jinchi
Has Trump released his long-form birth certificate yet? Has anyone thought to ask? Apparently it was a job requirement a few years back.
Schlemazel
@SixStringFanatic:
Sorry but truth is a defense, she was a call girl. I made no value judgement on her former career
Now, if you wanted to complain about my calling her a gold-digger I might consider pleading no contest to that. That IS a value judgment.
Schlemazel
@Jinchi:
He did promise his tax returns after he was elected. I think we need to start fund raising some billboards demanding to see them as promised.
germy
nymag
Kay
@Botsplainer:
I wouldn’t be able to pick Michelle Obama’s mother out of a line up. I knew she lived there because I read it but she (admirably, wisely) knew she wasn’t elected so stayed out of the picture.
I hate this phony role she plays, where she’s the “nice” Trump, she “softens his edges” You can’t outsource “decent person” to a stand-in. They only do this with “womens’ issues” I’ve noticed, where we get the pretend President.
“Family leave” isn’t a “womans’ issue” anyway, unless I went to sleep and woke up in 1956. It’s like these girly, inconsequential issues get the B Team. It’s insulting. She’s no more qualified on “womens issues” than she is on anything else. We have lots of talented women who earned that area of expertise- she’s not one of them.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
I’m not going to get too bent out of shape over people meeting with Trump. Best to know the enemy if you’re going to have to work with him.
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
@Corner Stone:
i really hope this is just a rumour, soon to be disproved. Heitkamp is very far from being my favorite Senator, but she’s a Democrat from a state with a Republican governor. This would be wrong on so many levels.
(Anyhow, I still say it’s even money that Trump will pick the CEO of Monsanto or ADM for Ag. Would be much more in keeping with his other cabinet choices.)
Corner Stone
@Kay: I don’t have a vagina, what the hell do I care about “Family Leave”?
Kay
@Botsplainer:
It’s all bullshit. It’s “tone and tenor”. She has no real power as evidenced by her father’s Cabinet picks.
I get that the country was bamboozled by these frauds but I’m a grown up and I’m not fooled. Trump is setting up a far Right government. Ivanka’s role is to cover that with “tone and tenor”. They can sell that crap somewhere else. Politico bought it- I’m sure the NYTimes will too.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Botsplainer: This will put the porn back in “Porn Valley”.
MuckJagger
I’ma take a wild stab here and guess that Soulless Joe is going to say Obama’s from Kenya.
debbie
How much have these “investigations” cost AZ taxpayers?
Kay
@Botsplainer:
It makes me sad. I was reading Twitter when Ivanka’s publicist contacted Politico on December 1st to plant that BS about climate change and liberals were falling for it. Three days later douchebag appointed the anti-environmental EPA head. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree on manipulating and lying. She’s her father’s daughter. They planned the whole fucking charade. We’re not all morons, Ivanka. Not everyone is fooled.
Steeplejack (phone)
@FlipYrWhig:
I want to see the nominees for court jester.
mai naem mobile
@FlipYrWhig: who is going to play the jester? Chris Christie?
Mnemosyne
@MuckJagger:
If, like Jerome Corsi, Arpaio conveniently “forgets” that President Obama was named after his father (he’s a “Jr” with the exact same name), I will laugh mordantly.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack (phone):
All of them, Katie.
Botsplainer
@Kay:
One more MSM failure for the books…
Kay
@Botsplainer:
Hillary Clinton wasn’t providing cover for Bill Clinton’s Right wing views and administration when she was First Lady. She wasn’t talking about health care to cover the fact that her husband had no intention of reforming it.
I guess George W Bush could have had Laura Bush contact Politico to say she supported children’s health care when Bush was vetoing S-CHIP to help him politically with “moderates” but they weren’t big enough douchebags to be that manipulative and dishonest.
TS
@Kay:
Shows that Trump is capable of insulting anyone – including his current wife.
TS
@germy:
And they believed him?
rikyrah
@Kay:
Tell it Kay.
Tell it!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
<a href="#comment-6157164">Mnemosyne:
Plus Trump just goes with what the last person who talk to him said. As they say – conmen are the easist to con.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
Well, there was always the thing with Barbara Bush where the press insisted that she was secretly pro-choice, so it was okay for Bush Sr to be publicly “pro-life.”
There’s a reason IOKIYAR became a handy meme.
Steeplejack (phone)
@SiubhanDuinne:
Touché. And don’t call me
ShirleyKatie!frosty
@mai naem mobile: Chris Christie’s got too much of a sense of humor for court jester. Gotta be Joe Piscopo or Dennis Miller … ooh, ooh, Victoria Jackson!