The Trump White House is as leaky as a rowboat constructed of colanders, window screen and Scotch tape. That’s entirely on the recalcitrant man-baby at the top, who delights in pitting aides and advisers against one another. Trump is like a sadistic child who fills a glass jar with dung beetles, wingless flies and fire ants and giggles maniacally while shaking the jar to encourage mortal combat.
So it’s not surprising that when Trump does something particularly bone-headed, like calling the Kremlin to squee over Putin’s sham reelection and failing to mention the recent use of a deadly nerve agent on the soil of our closest ally or the attack on our own elections, the disgruntled palace guard goes straight to their reporter pals — via The Post:
President Trump did not follow specific warnings from his national security advisers Tuesday when he congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his reelection — including a section in his briefing materials in all-capital letters stating “DO NOT CONGRATULATE,” according to officials familiar with the call.
Trump also chose not to heed talking points from aides instructing him to condemn the recent poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain with a powerful nerve agent, a case that both the British and U.S. governments have blamed on Moscow.
The president’s conversation with Putin, which Trump described as a “very good call,” prompted fresh criticism of his muted tone toward one of the United States’ biggest geopolitical rivals amid the special counsel investigation into Russia’s election interference and the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian officials.
Leave it to Lil’ Marco to identify the true outrage, though:
I don’t agree with congratulating #Putin but bigger outrage is this leak that could only come from someone in @POTUS inner circle. If you don’t like President resign, but this ongoing pattern of duplicity holds potential for serious damage to the nation https://t.co/DHwXp63SYx
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 21, 2018
Other Republican tut-tutters fret that the “duplicity” Rubio decries will become the new normal, and how will you libturds like that, huh? Huh?!?
Of the many thousands of ways the Trump presidency is undermining American democracy and warping established norms, the prospect of future West Wing staff undermining future presidents through leaks on a Trumpian scale is close to the bottom of my list of worries, to be honest. Leaking to advance competing agendas has been an issue in every White House to some extent. But in this one unique instance, I expect norms to reassert themselves once the herd of possessed swine currently inhabiting the White House departs.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Can we place bets? I’d like to put fifty bucks on McMaster
Thoughtful David
What the leak means is that there are people working in the White House who don’t think Trump is fit to serve and is a Russian stooge.
That’s unlikely to ever be the case under a Democratic president, so no, it’s not setting a precedent to worry about.
Nikolita
Were there many leaks when Obama was in power? I seem to recall a couple but don’t really remember…? #Canadian
rikyrah
Against advice, Trump congratulates Putin on sham election win: WaPo
Carol Leonnig, National Reporter for The Washington Post, talks with Rachel Maddow about new reporting that Donald Trump’s advisers explicitly told him not to congratulate Vladimir Putin and to condemn the poisoning of two people in the UK. Trump did the opposite.
Villago Delenda Est
The asshole Tom Nichols was whining about this last night. He can go fuck off and die, and so can Lil’ Marco.
Donald Trump is the single greatest threat to the United States at this time.
Alain the site fixer
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: probably people vented to each other and journalists sitting on couches a-la-Wolff overheard them.
schrodingers_cat
I am sure MAGA Hackerman will be right along to tell us, how this means that T is growing in his role.
Ian G.
Pointing out to the press that the mentally ill con artist in the White House is a pawn of Russia is the problem, not the fact that we have a mentally ill con artist who is a pawn of Russia in the White House. Thanks for that pointer, Marco.
Jeffro
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: me too
Hey Marco, GO FUCK YOURSELF! You know what’s dangerous? Having this moronic man-baby in the WH, jackass.
Ari Fleischer (who I hope burns in hell one day soon) tried to make the same dumb argument. Ari, try to understand: the leaks both increase the public’s awareness of his dangerous unfitness for office while weakening him.
Since the Republican Party, then the Electoral College, and the the Republican Congress could not bring themselves to do the right and obvious thing in regards to this cretin, I’LL TAKE THE FUCKING LEAKS
trollhattan
@schrodingers_cat:
“Trump finally became president today…” x infinity.
cope
Remember the SNL skit last century in which Ronald Reagan is shown to secretly be a Machiavellian genius? Maybe Trump is actually just such a mindermast and is the source of all leaks from the WH…nah, what am I thinking?
rikyrah
Warner: ‘A lot more stories to be told’ from Cambridge Analytica
Senator Mark Warner, top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, talks with Rachel Maddow about the new revelations regarding Cambridge Analytica and its work for the Donald Trump campaign.
schrodingers_cat
@Villago Delenda Est: To the world actually, because of the arsenal at his disposal. He is like a drunk driver behind the wheel of an 18 wheeler. We are in the 18 wheeler, but the rest of the traffic on the road is in jeopardy too.
rikyrah
Senate intel moves to secure elections despite Trump indifference
Senator Mark Warner, top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, talks with Rachel Maddow about the bipartisan effort in the Senate to establish basic defenses against further Russian intrusion into U.S. elections.
Jeffro
@Nikolita: of course not. Obama hired competent, loyal people who shared the same vision. trump hires the most venal incompetent folks available
rikyrah
Carson, cabinet colleagues face awkward questions about use of public funds
03/21/18 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is already facing difficult questions about the exorbitant costs of his taxpayer-financed travel, and this week, the story grew a little more serious. We know that the cabinet secretary inquired about using a military plane for his European honeymoon, though Mnuchin said he found another option and withdrew his request.
Mother Jones, citing documents from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), reported this week that the Treasury secretary’s version of events is in doubt.
It’s against this backdrop that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who’s also faced months of controversy over his taxpayer-financed travel, is facing another round of unflattering headlines. The Associated Press reported yesterday that the Oklahoma Republican “spent more than $120,000 in public funds last summer for a trip to Italy,” including more than $30,000 just to cover the cost of Pruitt’s enormous security detail.
The Washington Post reported last night, meanwhile, that the Environmental Protection Agency “turned over documents to Congress late Tuesday detailing nearly $68,000 in newly disclosed travel costs” Pruitt during the past seven months.
And then, of course, there’s HUD Secretary Ben Carson, who’s struggled to keep his story straight about his very expensive taxpayer-funded furniture, and who yesterday tried to clear things up during a congressional hearing. As the New York Times reported, it didn’t go well.
schrodingers_cat
On a completely shallow note why do many women politicians wear such ugly jewelry? It would be better to wear no jewelry, than those gigantic ugly beads that May is wearing.
rikyrah
One day, one president, and three women Trump would like to silence
03/21/18 10:00 AM
By Steve Benen
The confluence of developments yesterday involving women who claim to have had affairs with or been sexually harassed by Donald Trump was rather extraordinary.
First, of course, there’s Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who received $130,000 in hush money from Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Soon after the president’s lawyer insisted that the pre-election payoff had nothing to do with the election, NBC News reported that Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, passed a lie-detector test.
Second, there’s Summer Zervos, a former contestant on Trump’s reality show, who alleges he made unwanted sexual advances toward her back in 2007. She’s now suing the president, and despite Trump’s lawyers’ efforts, a New York judge ruled yesterday that the case can go forward. Though the decision will be appealed, the possible discovery process in this case offers untold possibilities.
And then there’s Karen McDougal. A few days before the 2016 election, the Wall Street Journal reported the company that owns the National Enquirer paid the former Playboy centerfold $150,000 for the exclusive rights to her story about her alleged affair with Trump. The tabloid then chose not to publish it.
And as the New York Times reported yesterday, she, too, is suing in the hopes of being able to tell the public about her experiences. Her lawsuit is targeting the National Enquirer’s parent company,
zhena gogolia
@Nikolita:
There’d be little ignorable stories about Kerry grumbling that he didn’t agree with Biden or something, no biggie.
rikyrah
THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O’DONNELL 3/20/18
Stormy attorney: Trump team ‘stepped into every trap we’ve laid’
Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti says Donald Trump’s lawyers “have stepped into every trap we have laid” and calls their strategy “tic-tac-toe” compared to their team’s game of chess. Joyce Vance and Matt Miller react to the latest Trump legal troubles.
rikyrah
“Democratic turnout in Illinois was up 300% versus 2014 and up 30% versus 2010, the last midterm cycle… Meanwhile, Republican turnout dropped by 30% from 2014, when there was also a well-contested GOP governor’s race.”https://t.co/PvGOO2mtjH
— Arapaho415 (@arapaho415) March 21, 2018
Stan
I cannot believe I’m going to write this but – the first part of what marco Rubio said was correct. If you aren’t on board with trump, resign. Don’t be a weenie who leaks, lies and still does trumps bidding.
The second part of what Rubio said has been debunked by everyone else.
Van Buren
“Of course I opposed the President’s decision to start global thermonuclear war, but the real outrage is the military’s refusal to follow orders.”
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: That’s a good analogy.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, there was never anything so egregious to be leaked. My recollection is that it was Syria that provoked the most stories about “tension among Obama advisers”
Baud
I hoped Putin talked about how he won the popular vote.
Anonymous At Work
And I read that Mike Pence is supposed to condemn Venezuela today for not holding free and fair elections. IOKIYAF?
El Caganer
@schrodingers_cat: True….but growing into what?
Barbara
Rubio and Nichols et al. need to signal that even though might be flirting with girls at the bar at night, no need to worry that would actually go home with any of them.
As for who leaked. I would bet that McMaster told someone that he either knew would leak or with tacit permission that the detail should be leaked.
schrodingers_cat
@El Caganer: You will have to ask MAGA H that question.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: Thanks. That means a lot, coming from the queen of metaphor!
mad citizen
I don’t know, I think you can make a case that the leakers are patriots in some way, as many have said here–pointing out the dangerous man-child leading the Executive Branch. Was walking yesterday and Michelle Obama’s quote about the Presidency doesn’t build character, but reveals it, popped in my head.
I think tick tock is happening and Trump will be gone this year (at least hoping), but the leaks are a help. After all, they add to the chaos. Trump creates chaos, thrives on chaos. It’s only right that some chaos gets thrown at him. But overall chaos means less actual bad policies will be impemented…
Radiumgirl
Two reactions: 1. This is entirely to be expected, when you treat your underlings with the kind of contempt and disregard that Trump is famous for, they will not keep silent out of any sense of loyalty to you. 2. There are still people in the White House who are concerned about national security and believe Trump is a threat to it.
Bonus reaction: Rubio is an idiot.
Washburn
@rikyrah:
Avenatti is a skilled litigator and street fighter and he is playing his hand beautifully
There’s an expression for what trumps lawyers are : “mouse and cheese lawyers”. People who are so confident in their judgment and who lack self control. Just throw a little cheese out there and thu will scamper towards it.
Gravenstone
@rikyrah: The reporter said something odd during that interview, that people should be careful trying to impute too much about the sources for the story . Definitely caught my attention last night.
MattF
Doing the opposite of what his advisors tell him to do is a Trump thing. Just out of spite, one supposes. Rant would follow, but I have other things to do today.
Gelfling 545
@rikyrah: Well, how was he supposed to remember all that, huh?
Gravenstone
@Baud: I half expect that Putin actually steered the conversation towards congratulations. Something along the lines of, ‘aren’t you going to congratulate me on my reelection victory?’
Bonus points that Trumpnuts is apparently livid about the leak this morning.
Cermet
@mad citizen: I agree with the first part of your post; as for the second – how? The thugs, even if the orange fart cloud came out publicly and said he did how and encouraged help from putin-the-murderous swine, would any of them ever help, much less confirm, an impeachment. AS for the tick-tock, that is a bomb blowing up all the remaining credibility this country has – at this point, I’d even prefer pence since that dickless religious nut might resist russian intervention in our electoral process.
Gelfling 545
@trollhattan: Which for some reason makes me think of “Nothing in his life became him like the leaving of it. “ Perhaps because it was said of another traitor.
Anya
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: on Morning Joe when they were discussing the unprecedented leaks coming from Trump’s white house, Joe S. was arguing the other day about how Obama surrounded himself with “yes men,” until someone (probably) reminded him that one of Obama’s “yes men” was coming next. He immediately in the most awkward way said: “not so much as yes men, at the end Obama disregarded everyone’s advice”.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Wait, Trump actually praised the poisoning? Isn’t that the bigger story?
Humdog
I have never seen an explanation as to how Stormy signing a paper which says she will never talk about sex with David Dennison keeps her from talking about Shitstain. Doesn’t the NDA have to say exactly who she cannot disclose about? Help me understand how Cohen’s agreement with her pertains.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Rubio still doesn’t get Trump is running a reality TV show, not a presidency. Of coursed they leaked and Trump wanted it leaked for the drama of it all.
bystander
I like the way the leaks remind me of horror/suspense shows where the innocent person is trying to signal to anyone that she’s trapped with the killer in a dark house. Then it strikes me I’m trapped in the house with them, and the screaming I hear is my own.
I will now replay last night’s performance of My Fair Lady because the earworm of the overture keeps playing and I need to get to Norbert Butz’s Church scene.
Gravenstone
@Baud: I don’t think he commented on it at all, when he had been instructed to be critical of it.
Betty Cracker
@Stan: Good point that goes back to the discredited (in my view) notion that the generals will save us from Trump and we should therefore be grateful. That theory has been thoroughly exploded when it comes to Kelly, who has proved he is every bit the racist scumbag Trump is; I’m only grateful his vaunted organizational skills have been demonstrated as less than advertised as CoS.
I believe it is possible McMaster and Mattis see themselves as self-appointed regents who are containing the impulsive, malevolent idiot in the Oval Office as a patriotic duty. IMO, the real patriotic thing to do would be to resign and publicly tell the truth about Trump, as you implied, but it’s possible the generals see it differently. I don’t know.
japa21
This is where I disagree with Rubio. I want leakers in the WH as long as the leaks do not compromise our security. I don’t care who the President is or what party they represent. If what is being leaked is important for the people to know, then we should know it. If Obama was doing something crazy like this, then I would want to know. The biggest point is that most Presidents and there administrations are not this corrupt and evil. There is a lot more to leak.
The question Rubio needs to be asked is “Why wouldn’t you want the American people to know about what this President is doing?”
The argument in his favor is that this becomes a slippery slope where staffers would feel free to say anything they like and that the staffer (or whoever) is making the decision as to what is appropriate to leak. There is truth in that but I really don’t care about about what is leaked, as long as it doesn’t impact our national security.
@Anya: What is funny is that Obama was notorious for wanting people around him with views that were different than his. He was smart enough to realize he didn’t have all the answers and wanted contradictory opinions. In fact, a lot of Democrats criticized him for not having enough right thinking people in his administration. Actually the correct term would be “left thinking people”.
Bruuuuce
@Gravenstone: Livid is good. Apoplexy would be better.
Tinare
People who like and respect their boss don’t leak. I don’t expect this to be a broken norm unless we have another broken administration.
different-church-lady
Pssst…. Margaret… they’ve both sociopaths.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
You gotta admit though, it’s not every random piker off the street who can take on both Omarosa and Da Mooch and live to tell the tale.
Hear, hear and hear it again. If these two weren’t part of the group who leaked that they called themselves “the Committee to Save America”, they definitely select the mindset. I think I recall Dina Powell is thought to be the one who coined/leaked the term. She’s left the Whtie House, gone back to Goldman and has said nothing. Ditto Gary Cohn, who was oh-so-upset about Charlottesville he chuckled when trump called him a “globalist” and said “yes sir!” when the Beast speculated that Cohn might come back to the White House some day
japa21
@Betty Cracker:
I am somewhat torn on this issue. If nobody remains to provide some brakes to this administration or to provide us with a look at the inner workings (using that term advisedly) of this madhouse, wouldn’t that give even more free rein to Trump? As much as we might say we don’t see where they have been able to prevent him from going completely off the rails, we really don’t know what a world of hurt we would be in if, say, Bolton had been in McMaster’s place or some RW looney bin had been in Mathis’ place.
It really is a tough issue.
MomSense
@japa21:
I want leakers in this White House because I think the president is our biggest threat to our national security.
zhena gogolia
@bystander:
So how was it?
Mike in NC
Trump feels obligated to constantly slobber oven the scum that funded his hate campaign, like the NRA ($30M+) and Putin’s gangster organization ($???M).
rikyrah
Does Trump understand what an ‘arms race’ is?
03/21/18 10:40 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump spoke briefly with the press yesterday from the Oval Office, sitting alongside Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, but managed to cover some interesting ground. The American president made headlines, for example, by announcing he’d called to congratulate Russia’s Vladimir Putin on his recent election.
But there was something else about Trump’s unscripted comments that stood out for me as, well, a little confusing. From the official White House transcript:
To know anything about Trump’s rhetorical style is to understand that the president often likes to use phrases he doesn’t fully understand. I’m convinced, for example, that he has no idea what a “witch hunt” is. The president also talks about “clean coal,” without knowing what that means. I don’t think he knows what a “blind trust” is, either.
bystander
@zhena gogolia: Really good. Lauren Ambrose was really a wonderful Eliza. She was a little underpowered at first, but hit her stride. Harry was really good too. A more youthful Professor than we often think. Freddy was really good, and got a big round at the end. But Ambrose got a roar and Standing O. Sher is the best. He was standing next to me but I decided to spare him my compliments since he looked harried. Beautiful production.
rikyrah
@MomSense:
AMEN
Mandalay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
My fifty is on Trump himself. He let’s the nation know that he does whatever he wants, and his limp-wristed wimpy national security advisers can’t do a damn thing about it.
And as an added bonus, as reported by Sputnik News (!), he can play the victim afterwards:
ETA: And as another bonus, it would surely warm Trump’s heart to see dumb lil’ Marco running to his defense and being outraged at the leaking done by Trump.
schrodingers_cat
@Mandalay: Certainly possible.
catclub
@cope:
He IS the source of many leaks. He talks with his so-called friends and brags about what he did. I would not be at all surprised if he leaked this when he told someone he defied the smart guys who gave him his talking points – which he did not need since he is a genius AND has the greatest memory.
Patricia Kayden
“herd of possessed swine currently occupying the White House”
Betty, you have the best words. Truly.
Patricia Kayden
@Mike in NC: The entire GOP is that way. And we know that Russia funded the NRA which in turns has funded Republican Congress Critters and their President.
rp
Greenwald and Tapper arguing that it’s no big deal because Obama congratulated Putin in 2012.
zhena gogolia
@bystander:
I was thinking that Hadden-Paton would be more like Leslie Howard, which is a good thing.
japa21
@Patricia Kayden: Yes, but I think they are all supposed to run into a lake and drown themselves. Hasn’t happened yet but we can hope.
bemused
@bystander:
I’ve been thinking of trump as being a bad seed, 6 foot, 280# toddler living in my house who never sleeps, breaks everything he gets his hands on and continually throws screaming tantrums.
schrodingers_cat
@bemused: He is the grown up Damien in the movie Omen.
Baud
@rp: Obama was a loyal American.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: And GG is a Putin asset.
Mnemosyne
G (my spouse) is getting twitchy about the midterms. He thinks that all of the Republican retirements mean that the new Republican candidates will be able to distance themselves from Trump and the Republicans during the election (“Tax bill? What tax bill? I wasn’t even in Congress!”) and then toe the party line after they get elected.
He is sometimes weirdly tuned in to the white dude zeitgeist for these things, so it’s making me nervous.
japa21
@Mnemosyne: I have wondered about that myself, but almost all the GOP candidates have a record and statements that will be picked over carefully. If they try to distance themselves from Trump or current GOP actions, they will be asked questions like, “Then why are you on record saying this?” etc. And the tax bill is just about all GOPers have to run on. Going to create a really confusing picture if half the GOP is running on it being a positive and half running as if it is a negative.
lgerard
@Mnemosyne:
I think the path to victory might be in taking a page from the wingnut playbook and ask every republican candidate to make a pledge “I will make no changes to Social Security or Medicare”. Any republican who quibbles or equivocates should be pounded on this issue relentlessly.
MattF
@japa21: Speaking of Bolton, Slate notes that Bolton was a client of Cambridge Analytica, to the tune of over $1M. One should bear in mind that potential Trump staff who aren’t generals are, as a rule, politically active rich people.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mnemosyne: I’m more worried about the news that “millennial” turn out in Illnois yesterday was said to be (on twitter, FWIW) ~3%
quotes because I never know how people are defining that word, but I’m assuming it means under 30?
Nikolita
@zhena gogolia: ok thanks. I remember some conservate cries of outrage over stupid shiat, and i didn’t think there’d been anything really major… but i also have the memory of a gnat so i thought i’d ask.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: All these special elections are not turning out that way. Once they start running the R candidates will have to either embrace T or disown T. T base is not going to like the latter, and any R candidate that repudiates T publicly will invoke T’s wrath on Twitter. So they won’t and Toxic T will doom their chances with the rest of the electorate.
bemused
@schrodingers_cat:
He’s all kinds of monsters rolled into one.
Bill Arnold
@cope:
No, he really is the sadistic child Betty describes at top, except that he does this to make his “work” environment (AKA the White House) more closely resemble the
churningfinely-balanced chaos within. It’s narcissism[1], and the White House chaos is a substitute for a mirror that provides Trump with a true image of the self that he so loves. It’s sort of a faux expansion of his consciousness.Unfortunately, it has consequences. [2]
[1] I am not competent enough to photoshop POTUS D.J. Trump and a churning mirror pool into that painting. But one can imagine it. :-)
[2] Seriously, it does. Just in the short term, ignoring advisors/selecting advisors that mirror him, [increased probabilities of] trade war, real war, real nuclear war.
ah here’s one: https://imgur.com/gallery/UO1WQwR
Cacti
@schrodingers_cat:
I used to think he was a useful idiot.
The past 15-months have convinced me he’s an active collaborator.
Shakti
Wait why is Rubio acting like the “office of the Presidency” is something we need to worry about long term? Didn’t this thirsty lackwit vote for him as President and confirm all his Cabinet members? Why the fuck does the “office” deserve deference when its occupant has done absolutely nothing to separate his personal whims, animus or business concerns from it? And stick his corrupt braindead relatives in “advisor” positions?
Oh, that’s nothing according to Rubio, but my goodness the peons narc’ed on their boss to a media outlet! Saints preserve the nation!
I would leak like the fucking Titantic if I had dealings with this monster, just out of self protection. Fuck rich people and their fucking NDAs, noncompetes, and nondisparagement agreements. Piss off one coworker and it follows you around forever but everyone should shut up about what a foul, vile man in every way this sentient Olestra pile is? [To be clear everyone that works for Trump in a political appointment probably garbage.]
Another Scott
@Mnemosyne: One thing to remember, though, is that something like 95% of incumbents get re-elected. Someone with that much of an institutional advantage giving up means that there are huge countervailing factors. Just changing the personality on the GOP side isn’t likely to help that much.
We still have the winds at our backs and righteous anger driving us forward. We have to keep working and fighting every day. 230 days to go.
Eyes on the prize.
Cheers,
Scott.
Elmo
@Betty Cracker: Betty, I hesitate to disagree with someone as elegantly acid-penned as you, but I don’t think you’ve thought this through.
So they resign and tell everything to the Post, the Times, and Jake Tapper. Assume they get their message out cleanly, assume they have proof. They release emails and recorded conversations.
Then what? Seriously. Then what do you think will happen? How will that constrain the administration in any way?
The Repubs in the House will do nothing. So we flip the House. Great! Subpoena power! Impeach!
The Senate is still under Republican control. They will not convict. They will do nothing to rein in the Administration. They will confirm judges and appointees as usual.
The only possibility of taking the Senate isn’t until 2020, and if we can’t vote him out then, taking the Senate isn’t going to happen either.
sdhays
@Mnemosyne: No evidence (yet?) that any Republican is “distancing themselves” from Trump or have any desire to. There’s also no evidence that the base will allow them to.
Jeffro
@rikyrah: by arms race he means the rest of the world catching up to the US and Russia – he actually sees us as partners with Vlad
He has actually written about this in the past how he would like the United States and Russia to enforce a global nonproliferation treaty/ban, where only those two countries have the nukes and of course control over the rest of the world
MattF
@Mnemosyne: The new Republican candidates will be identified mostly as ‘Republicans’, so I’d guess that generic ‘D vs. R’ preferences would apply– and that’s bad news for the Rs. Currently, generic Ds poll 10 points higher than generic Rs. Now, whether a 10 point preference applies to the 12th District of Podunk, I couldn’t say. But it’s not a good starting point.
schrodingers_cat
I have a question for people that think WASF and nothing is going to matter, why bother commenting on a public forum? Shouldn’t you go underground? After all political dissent is going to be punishable by death, right?
Brachiator
I almost respect Trump’s rejection of empty ceremonial bullshit. Trump’s condemnation of Putin is not going to change anything.
The problem is that Trump is brainless, lacks a moral compass and is happy to be Putin’s stooge.
Rubio is an ass. But the sentiment that you are just supposed to shut up and support a boss, no matter what, is common.
I hope so. But an angry mob has been roused. They just want … something… and don’t care about norms or methods.
Fair Economist
@Elmo: The Senate is achievable this election, although odds are currently against us.
The main effect of further exposures of Trump is to tilt the political field even more in our favor. Even some of the media wingnuts are turning against Trump now and that indicates even some of the wingnut voters can be flipped if whatever information those media figures are getting becomes widely known.
Mandalay
So…..Pritzker’s a billionaire who has never held office, and spent more of his own money than Trump did to secure his nomination. Does anyone know what is actually good about him? Apart from being the Dem, why should people in Illinois vote for him?
Baud
@Mandalay:
Not in Illinois, but I read he wants a progressive income tax.
TenguPhule
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
As the next victim?
Gretchen
Ari Fleisher condemns leaks. He leaked that Valerie Plame was CIA to get back at her husband for saying Bush admin was lying.
Immanentize
@Jeffro:
Although France, England and China were signatories to the NNPT as “nuclear states,” the whole original structure of that treaty was a bi-polar world where the US and the then USSR controlled their client States and prevented them from going nuclear. That is what our countries, “Atoms for Peace” was all about — sponsoring nuclear power for our client States while controlling the fuel cycle to prevent proliferation. Same with the Soviet Union. It was amazingly successful in that world, but times (and the number of nuclear countries) have certainly changed.
Gretchen
@Mandalay: because he’s a dem and Rauner is evil.
TenguPhule
@Mandalay:
Why should they need another reason?
We’re in “vote for the Dem or prepare to die a horrible death by GOP” territory here.
chris
@Mnemosyne: Maybe, but remember the Nazi in Illinois and imagine the loons that will be chosen to replace the retirees.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: and a public option, and he’s pro-choice, and a census and subsequent redistricting is coming up
But what do we know about the important stuff, like will he fight for Single Payer? What’s his stance on Wall Street Speeches? Has he ever given a Wall Street Speech? Has he even tried to get Bernie’s endorsement?
Immanentize
@Mandalay:
Seriously, at this point, isn’t the fact that he is a Democrat far and away enough? The correct question is, “He is a Dem., what in the world could possibly be a reason NOT to vote for him?” A Dem. governor during redistricting in 2020? Absofuckinlutely. Or is there some purity standard I am missing?
japa21
@Mandalay: There are a lot of reasons. Although not necessarily the most important, kicking Rauner out is one of them.
He is, on almost every issue, very progressive. Although I would prefer not having to rely on big bucks to win a race, Rauner is going to pull out all the stops. Your question would be akin to asking if there was any reason to vote for Clinton in 2016.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I chose to interpret it as a request for information. I’m feeling generous today.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
Its not that nothing is going to matter. Its that we hang together or we hang separately.
WASF if we get divided into uncooperative little groups that can’t work together. Because even in the worst case scenario, the side with better organization and coordination is going to come out on top.
And should things get really ugly, you may get your wish of people disappearing and going silent.
schrodingers_cat
Is the Channel 4 Cambridge Analytica expose’ being covered on cable news, at all?
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Who are you and what have you done with the real Baud?
Betty Cracker
@Shakti:
[golf clap]
schrodingers_cat
@TenguPhule
Agreed, unity is strength.
I am not wishing for this to happen. I was being sarcastic, in case it was not clear.
TenguPhule
@Villago Delenda Est:
And every Republican Senator, House Member, Supreme & Appeals Court Justice.
Threats slightly below greatest include every single appointee to the executive branch he’s made and all of the cronies those appointees have hired.
If our nation was a house, the fumigator would be telling us it would be simpler just to contain the whole thing and set it all on fire.
Betty Cracker
@Elmo: You could be right. I really don’t know. I’m not 100% convinced the generals-as-guardrails theory holds water.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
Without the // or /s, it’s often impossible to make that determination.
Matt McIrvin
@Nikolita: One of the most persistent left criticisms of Obama was that he brutally repressed whistleblowers. I think it was mostly over Snowden and Chelsea Manning.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: Maybe it will be covered more closely, now that the bomber has blown himself up. Unless they remain monofocal on “did he act alone”?
That’s our cable news. Shiny object rules over what’s more important and of longterm interest. Further, we may have a wholly illegitimate president, sitting in the Oval Office.
But he’s a Republican. And it’s Republicans who own and control and present our news.
Yutsano
@schrodingers_cat: Which is why I will have no truck with purity ponies and St Bernard of Vermont this cycle. It will be tough but the Democrats will need to work around two opponents. But oh man are suburban moms angry. We need to tap into that, get some good candidates (Lamb clones are good but I want who will be good for the district more than anything) and break Republican rule come November.
TenguPhule
@Elmo:
Ideally it would have constrained the Republicans in the House and Senate, but as we’ve all seen, they’ve gone full in on treason.
So we now look at the FBI as the last safety net.
Cacti
@Mandalay:
I can’t believe this is still a serious question in March 2018.
TenguPhule
@Matt McIrvin:
The only people who leaked in the Obama administration turned out to be traitors beholden to Russia in one form or another.
Funny, that.
TenguPhule
@Betty Cracker:
It doesn’t. They’re not helping and unless one of them plans on murder-suicide to stop Trump & Pence, they’re never going to more then part of the problem.
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: I’m not sure… the leaks I’ve heard so far suggest that Mattis is the only thing standing between Trump and a war with North Korea that could kill millions of people. Of course, it could be that that leak is just Mattis being self-serving.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
He blamed his wife for the $31,000 dining set.
No, I’m not joking.
Litlebritdifrnt
A woman came to the front door yesterday raising funds for some charity or other and wanting me to sign up for a weekly lottery. I did, because it was a cause I care about and during our chat I told her that I used to live in the US and she looked at me with wide eyes and said “did you live there when the moron was elected?” I chuckled and told her that it was one of the reasons that I left. She rolled her eyes and said “I just don’t understand it, the man is such an idiot, it would be like us actually electing one of the Monster Raving Looney Party”. We left it at that.
In other news I went to the doctor today for a check up (yay being able to do that) and the doctor said he felt I should not go back to work and gave me documentation to enable me to claim my Royal Navy pension two years early. So I am set up now. Just have to submit the paperwork. If I can live long enough I will end up with three pensions, 1) my RN pension, b) my Social Security, and c) my UK state pension. I suppose working for all those years for a complete arsehole was worth it after all.
TenguPhule
@lgerard:
This doesn’t work because the fuckers LIE bald faced up front and repeatedly.
Remember, DONALD FUCKING TRUMP MADE THAT EXACT PROMISE DURING HIS CAMPAIGN.
opiejeanne
@schrodingers_cat: Rachel Maddow on MSNBC has played the tapes.
sdhays
@TenguPhule: As a counter-argument, there’s the supposedly true report that the tRump White House asked for plans for invading Iran and Mattis just kept ignoring them until they stopped. If Mattis is going to do things like that, then I want him to stay and dare Preznit Asswipe to fire him over it. As for McMaster…. his presence blocks worse people like John F*cking Bolton, so….
opiejeanne
@Yutsano: Hey you! Do we have a meetup with you soon? We’re back in the Seattle area.
rikyrah
@Mandalay:
He’s not Rauner.
That is all he needs.
We’ve suffered enough under Rauner.
Having to depend anymore on Madigan to hold the line….no.
sdhays
@Litlebritdifrnt: The British shouldn’t get too cocky. They had their version of “electing the moron” first (“LEAVE”), and that won the popular vote.
Ruviana
@TenguPhule: Just because.
different-church-lady
@Litlebritdifrnt:
It would be nothing like that: The Monster Raving Looney Party is self-aware.
Betty Cracker
@Litlebritdifrnt: Congrats! Must be a relief to be done with working for arseholes.
I’m not so fortunate; I am unable to escape the arsehole I work for as I am self-employed. :-)
rikyrah
Paul Ryan bolsters Democratic concerns with focus on entitlements
03/21/18 12:52 PM
By Steve Benen
It’s only been a few months since Republicans approved a massive package of regressive tax breaks, but so far, Democratic predictions about the GOP policy are holding up pretty well.
Democrats said, for example, that the corporate beneficiaries of the tax breaks would use their windfalls on priorities such as stock buybacks, which is what’s happening. Dems said the Republican plan included all kinds of sloppy and consequential errors that would need fixes, which is also happening.
And Democrats said that once the tax cuts blow a massive hole in the budget, Republicans will use the mess they created to justify cuts to social-insurance programs that millions of families rely on. And wouldn’t you know it, a Bloomberg Politics reporter highlighted this quote yesterday from House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.):
Now, we’re not.
The idea that the Wisconsin congressman actually cares about “debt and deficits” is obviously hard to take seriously. In the Bush/Cheney era, Ryan voted with his party in support of both of George W. Bush’s tax cuts, both of George W. Bush’s wars in the Middle East, Medicare Part D, and the Wall Street bailout – none of which Republicans even tried to pay for.
More recently – which is to say, a few months ago – Ryan helped champion a GOP tax plan that adds $1 trillion to the deficit over the next decade.
sdhays
@rikyrah: Adding to what you said – Rauner further radicalized the Illinois Republican Party too. Before Rauner, there were still some actual moderate Republicans in state politics (one was from my hometown and had held that seat for forever). Rauner, with his billions, drove them to retire by promising to personally fund loyal primary challengers. He’s an awful, awful person – the very last type of person who should ever be given any kind of power. Only Trump is worse.
TenguPhule
@sdhays:
They had a chance to evict their moron and instead gave May and her party another term.
Granted, more sane people voted for sanity that round and she actually would have lost if not for the pact with the DUP devil.
different-church-lady
@Betty Cracker: Are we sure about the sentient part?
TenguPhule
@different-church-lady: Yep. The UK equivalent would be giving UKIP majorities.
d58826
@rikyrah:
As you watch his public performance you wonder how he could tell the difference between the brain and the but in surgery.:-)
The Moar You Know
@TenguPhule: I’ve worked with some of their people before. You will pardon me if I don’t find this statement in any way reassuring, kind of the opposite to be truthful.
patroclus
@Mandalay: JB gave a barn burner liberal progressive leftist speech last night that brought the house down. Being challenged by Biss and others clearly moved him to the left. He embraced progressive taxes, marijuana legalization, unions, teachers, Dreamers, immigrants, climate change, education spending, children and family services and everything you could possibly think of – it was really amazing. He’s got a very progressive African American female running mate for LG and we’re all going to vote for him; despite the fact that he’s rich as hell. I wanted Biss, but JB’s okay. Can you please let us choose a Democratic Governor without carping about him like a Berniebro?
Yarrow
@Elmo:
I’m not too concerned about this issue at this point. There are a lot of dominoes left to fall. The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica story isn’t just about Trump and it’s going to involve a lot of Republicans who are currently hoping their involvement won’t be made public. The 2015 Guardian article about what Cambridge Analytica was doing with Facebook data that I’ve linked a few times is about Ted Cruz’s campaign. He wasn’t the only politician involved other than Trump. The Mercers are in it up to their eyeballs and are tied to many Republicans.
The Senate Republicans will cover for Trump until either it’s their ass on the line (hello, treason has consequences) or public support for Trump collapses. Both are coming, now it’s just a matter of what happens first.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
What’s her spouse is referring to is the 2008-2010 cycle. Republicans got clobbered in 2008 and many in the House saw the writing on the wall and got out early.
Come 2009, a fresh batch of bugshit insane Republicans with lots of money behind them started running and the media was all “clean slate, learned their lessons!”
And then we lost our House majority in 2010.
So this is a legitimate concern.
trollhattan
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Sad that Lord Buckethead is ineligible to run for president. There’s time to gain citizenship, move to Kentucky and challenge Rand Paul, though.
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know:
I know its clutching at straws, but they are the last legal backstop to this disaster.
sdhays
@TenguPhule: I’ve held off criticism of Corbyn because his detractors all tended to Blairites with their head’s up their asses. Milquetoast Milleband let the coalition government get away with a double-dip recession by basically saying “we would have done the same disastrous austerity, but better” and handed the Conservatives a majority that they didn’t deserve, and then people got all shocked when the rank-and-file Labour members got super-pissed about it. And he definitely had an impressive run in the last election (although, that’s grading on a curve since the expectation was that he’d piss his pants and drool), but with his reported skepticism of the Russian poisoning, I have to wonder if he can ever actually form a government.
And if the answer is “no”, Labour needs to find someone with Corbyn’s overall message but more cautious about giving fuel to Britains enemies.
japa21
@TenguPhule: However, that also tied into the general mid-term party that is in the WH losing seats. Plus, Dems, for the most part ran stupid races. They separated themselves from Obama and the ACA. That drove down the Dem vote. Additionally, Green candidates also cost Dems a lot of votes.
So while I understand the concern, I don’t think the two are analogous.
danielx
@Jeffro:
Generally speaking they didn’t need legal counsel either.
TenguPhule
@sdhays:
He cautioned against rushing into action that would have serious consequences without setting up a solid foundation beforehand.
Ironically, after all their bluster and ridicule, The conservative government is now backtracking behind the scenes and doing exactly what Corbyn said they should have done in the first place. And this isn’t the first time they’ve had to do so, either.
He tends to make unpopular decisions, but more often then not they turn out to be the right ones when you look at them in hindsight.
Brachiator
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Royal Navy. That sounds cool.
In any event, congrats!
TenguPhule
@japa21:
True. We’re hoping for a 2006 followed by a 2008.
But fear is hope, turned inside out.
It shouldn’t go wrong, but it might.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Yarrow: You forgot something to end of that excellent comment, Yarrow.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TenguPhule: Yes, but we had President Obama in 2010, so they could run against him; they don’t have that now.
satby
@Mandalay: his family have been huge Dem boosters and philanthropists. If we had better options against Rainer and Clinton had been elected, I doubt Pritzker would have been run. We wanted wealthy people who could counter the right-wing billionaires, but then when we get them we’re suspicious. That’s not unreasonable normally, but these aren’t normal times.
Full disclosure, used to work on the Hyatt account, though I never met him.
ruemara
@Mandalay: That’s actually 90% of the test. An actual Dem who doesn’t want to work with Trump on anything.
Mnemosyne
@Matt McIrvin:
One of whom was a Russian spy, and the other was a white supremacist. So, yeah, the dudebros got taken in. Again.
yastreblyansky
@Nikolita: Very Serious Journalists constantly complained that the Obama White House was the “most closed, control freak White House” they’d ever covered, mostly because they didn’t allow a lot of photographers into a lot of occasions with the dogs and kids (Pete Souza covered everything) and because they’d gotten used to the enthusiastic leaking, mostly of self-serving misdirection and lies, of the Bush administration. So there was leaking, but pretty restrained.
ruemara
@japa21: Why do people not recall that voting suppression was ramped up after 2008?
Mnemosyne
@Mandalay:
Because the alternative is to let Rauner continue to drive the state into a ditch.
Pritzker is a well-known quantity in Illinois, from what I can tell. It seems pretty unlikely that he’s a Republican in disguise.
Yutsano
@opiejeanne: Trying to put one together March 31st. I’ll bug AL to put up a follow-up thread to the original one from a week back. But that Saturday seemed to be best for everyone who weighed in.
Mike G
Shorter Micro: The real outrage is someone reported the outrage.
It’s another variation of the “tone” excuse, where they can’t refute what you’re saying so they’ll nitpick the way you said it.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
Because (mostly) white people don’t want to think that their fellow citizens were deliberately and systematically denied their right to vote no matter how much evidence you put in front of them.
bemused
@Yarrow:
Has our intrepid US media gotten on the trail of how many Republican legislators and organizations have used CA yet? Someone tweeted me yesterday that there were 44 but didn’t include a link.
Yarrow
@bemused: Not that I’ve seen. What a surprise.
Fair Economist
@patroclus: Don’t forget FDR was a patrician. Rich folks *can* be good people, it’s just harder for them.
rikyrah
@Mnemosyne:
Rauner’s GOTTA GO!!
PERIOD!
IF he could get away with it, he would have turned Illinois into Wisconsin.
Madigan has held the line for 4 years- and I NEVER thought that he’d come through the way that he has. It’s time that he be given some help.
Fair Economist
@sdhays: Owen Smith ran against Corbyn for the Labour Party leadership after the Brexit vote and seems to have pretty reasonable policies.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
I mean, the primary is over. Pritzker won. Now is when Democrats need to rally around the guy who can defeat Rauner rather than whining about who couldashoulda won the primary instead.
Aardvark Cheeselog
Li’l Marco really is up to his nuts in that chicken.