Here tis…
Updated at 2:53 PM EDT
The remarks, which have just started, were recorded. This is not being broadcast live. They were made at the start at the beginning of the President’s meeting with members of the Ways and Means committees. And he is reading from a prepared script, so you need to keep an eye out for if or when he goes off script.
Updated at 2:56 PM EDT
The President is going with the misspoke explanation that Hans Nichols reported on about a 1/2 hour or so ago. The explanation is he misspoke and said “would” when he intended to/meant to state “wouldn’t” in his answer to who was responsible for interfering with the election. So the intent, according to this, was for the President to have said “I see no reason why it wouldn’t be Russia”, but he misspoke and said “I see no reason why it would be Russia”. I don’t think that’s going to fly, but we’ll have to see how the news media covers it.
Open thread!
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
Damage control time?
The Midnight Lurker
TRAITOR!
Raoul
If you find yourself in a hole, bring Trump back on TV to detonate a new grenade inside the hole.
Immanentize
The Rosenburgs were just ahead of their time….
danielx
Jee-zus…I tend to forget how bad his hair is until I see a close-up, which doesn’t happen often – fortunately.
MattF
A truculent 4-year old. Except that a 4-year old grows up and stops being fascinated with poop.
Elizabelle
He really doesn’t look well. He is always an ugly man, but now he’s a really unhealthy looking one too.
Maybe fatigue, maybe panic, maybe mortality coming to collect him.
ETA: Say that only for the still Adam has put up. Not in the mood to watch Treason Trump. No thank you.
Adam L Silverman
Senator McConnell finally made a statement, which was that Russia is not our friend, that we understand our European partners’ concerns, and that Russia did meddle in the 2016 election. Nothing specifically about yesterday.
maya
Is it a standard thing to wear an ear piece while giving a press tonguing, or is he actually listening to… someone who is delegated to thinking fast on the fly? Like Bush Jr at the debates.
Adam L Silverman
@maya: It was for translation. It is quite common.
debit
My only question is how much worse is he going to make it? He can’t walk it back, we all heard it, so he’s going to have to double down.
But like @Elizabelle: I can’t watch. His voice, his inflections, his smug little smirk, his body movements; they all make me want to hurl.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman:
I just saw that. He has that “gun to the head” look on his face again. Not as much as in December, 2016 when he relented and allowed hearings on Russian interference, but he knows he’s likely screwed.
Duane
Heard clips of Obama’s speech in Kenya. Makes Trumpov look more ridiculous, if that’s possible. He’s fairly warning us. People need to listen to him. Greatness in human form. I know he doesn’t owe us any more, but we sure need him.
PaulWartenberg
I never watch him. just ten seconds of him gets me yelling at the screen.
Calouste
@debit: He’s not going to say anything negative about Putin, so he’s going to go on a rant about Obama and Clinton. Probably throw in some NATO and EU bashing for good measure. Yes, it’s going to be rather unhinged.
The Midnight Lurker
I want to apologize to all the juicers out there for my earlier posting. It was driven by a deep love of my country and all that it (used) to stand for. What I actually meant to post was: TRAITOR SCUM!
Major Major Major Major
I look forward to reading a summary of what he says.
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: The NRA thing. I’ve covered this several times here with McConnell, but his overriding goals and objective is getting rid of all campaign finance restrictions. The NRA is the biggest single funder, he’s tied at the hip with them, and the Butina complaint filed by DOJ also ropes in the Family/the Fellowship/C Street, which is the real heavy hitter on the conservative Christian side of the fundraising house. He’s not stupid, he’s just completely amoral. This is by his biographer:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/opinion/sunday/mitch-mcconnell-supreme-court-senate.html
debit
@Major Major Major Major: “Argle bargle, server, deep state, WITCH HUNT! very fine people on both sides, NO COLLUSION!” That’s my guess.
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
McConnell is the most perfectly cynical politician I’ve ever witnessed. He has no interest beyond winning, will do anything and everything he can envision to score the next win and I grudgingly admit, does this with cruel efficiency.
He’s not sitting on his hands as we approach the midterms and wants to keep his job. I wonder what tricks they have in store, the shadow Republican Party operating behind the Trumpian curtain.
trollhattan
@debit:
Where did you get the briefing doc?
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Yep. He’s as dirty as the rest of them.
Major Major Major Major
@trollhattan: agreed on all counts.
Raoul
@Adam L Silverman: Ohh, that’s gonna leave a mark.
Said no one. Ever.
Yarrow
Dana bash is trying to claim that McConnell spoke very strongly. Yeah, right.
Elizabelle
Listening to a beautiful Mahler symphony; no idea which one.
Anyway, appears el Trumpo is late? Looks like NBC is still waiting for the feed. What are you guys seeing? I might be good for 50-90 seconds, to gauge his health.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman:
Oh so for English to Russian then for Trump.
Elizabelle
@Yarrow: Dana Bash is a turd polisher. Used to be married to John King of CNN, who is a definite Republican burrowed into the media infotainment complex.
Makes me ill, how Big Media is so wired for Republicans. Everything through Republican framing. Invariably.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@PaulWartenberg: try watching Trump with the sound turned off. The body language says a lot.
Adam L Silverman
I went to make a smoothie. Did I miss anything?
Teddys Person
@Elizabelle: I’ve got MSNBC on and they have #UNBELIEVABLE on the screen. Katy Tur is talking to all kinds of people. I’m with you, I’m going to watch for a few minutes to see for myself. They just said his remarks are being taped then the show will play it back.
Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian
@Elizabelle: He seems to have gotten heavier and lumpier in the last six months. I doubt he’s following doctor’s orders.
Adam L Silverman
@debit: You missed the electoral college bit.
Yarrow
@Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian: In fairness, would you follow Dr. Ronny Jackson’s orders?
Adam L Silverman
@trollhattan: The title of the biography from the author I linked to is The Cynic.
debit
@Adam L Silverman: Crappity!
Elizabelle
@Teddys Person: Trump wouldn’t go live? How interesting.
cmorenc
@Elizabelle:
John King is a soft-R burrowed into the MSM for sure, but at least he made it plain that he thinks Trump laid a toxic, utterly disgraceful turd yesterday that King refuses to polish even a tiny bit with some bothsiderism or on the one hand vs the other-isms.
sukabi
@Adam L Silverman: he needs a Russian translator to clean up his treasonous mess?
Mike in NC
No interest in seeing or hearing what Shit Midas wants to lie about. His winning trip abroad included attacks on NATO and the EU, embarrassing the British PM, acting like an oaf in front of the queen, and fawning before the dictator who put him in the White House. So much winning that he plans to celebrate by spending a week at Mar-A-Lago.
debit
@Yarrow: What orders? He doesn’t need to do anything except continue being perfect in every way! He’s in excellent health, a veritable superman with superior genes and definitely a full head of hair. NO COLLUSION! Er, I mean, BALD SPOTS!
Elizabelle
@cmorenc: Will have to take your word for it. I would only watch John King if you paid me. Handsomely.
Teddys Person
MSNBC just characterized Trump’s statement: Trump is trying to clarify and double-down at the same time. Color me shocked, not.
Adam L Silverman
Hans Nichols has just reported that he was trying to say he had seen the intel and did not see any reason it wasn’t Russia but he forgot to say the “not”. I don’t think that’s going to fly if he leads off with that.
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
Well, dang. GMTA I suppose.
I well remember the gleeful, devastating flaying Alison Lundergan Grimes applied to McConnell at that weird picnic thing they do in Kentucky and thinking maybe she had a shot. He just sat there with his faux smirk and took it, then trounced her election day. It was a lesson.
His spousal mole is still in the cabinet, which has to be a tactical triumph of another sort entirely.
HeleninEire
So, to all y’all who keep saying how old and fat and pasty and unhealthy he looks NOW, and HOO BOY, he’s gonna kick the bucket cuzza alla those Big Macs.
I grew up in NY. Donald Trump has always looked old and fat and pasty and unhealthy. And he’s always eaten Big Macs. Good God, he ate so much mega unhealthy food that he didn’t even know how not to eat the sort of healthy, unhealthy food…..pizza….without a fucking fork.
He’s not gonna die because of his horrible habits. If that were true it would have happened already. I understand your need for wishful thinking. Really I do. But all it is is that. Wishful thinking
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
He has the best words, he just doesn’t think we deserve him using them all.
hueyplong
I keep waiting for the episode of Botched that is about Trump.
No interest in seeing him in any other context.
maya
So this is just a prerecorded PSSA – Putin Something Something America.?
I won’t listen to him either. That habit started long ago and far away, back when NBC was the only TV station I could receive -analog.- and they were doing promos for The Apprentice. Just one loud “You’re fired!” repetition on top of another. Totally stupid, BUT, obviously, it connected with a certain mindset out there that wished they had power over other human beings that they would never have in real life.
jl
No time to watch right now, so I’ll check on the damage later.
Is he just BSing his way through some damage control, or is he talking about this ‘agreement’ with Putin re Syria?
From what I know now, people like ALS and Josh Marshall were right. One reason for the miserable show in Finland was Israel, Saudi Arabia, and UAE pushing for a deal with Russia to try to reduce Iranian influence in the area.
If so, reminder that Trump is a top flunky, he can flunky for several foreign interests at once! We only elect the best flunkies to be president in the USA. That is some real MAGA right there.
Teddys Person
@Adam L Silverman: There’s some weapons-grade parsing going on in Trumpland.
trollhattan
@HeleninEire:
Mean people frequently live annoyingly long times and no, I’m not banking on a Whopper-triggered infarction bailing us out.
Frankensteinbeck
@trollhattan:
I tell you from personal experience: Kentucky lives and breathes hate. McConnell’s message was that Grimes was on the side of Obama, who was on the side of Mexicans. That was all they wanted to know.
Adam L Silverman
@Teddys Person: Yep. This is going to get worse. And it is all self inflicted.
Teddys Person
And now the “blame Obama” portion of the program is starting.
The Midnight Lurker
@Adam L Silverman: Death of the American dream, that’s all.
rikyrah
@Major Major Major Major:
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
This just made me laugh.
HeleninEire
@Teddys Person: Where are you seeing this? Link?
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@HeleninEire:
Drink your victory gin, Winston.
Adam L Silverman
They’ve just started airing it. It was not live. It was taped at the start of the GOP members of the Ways and Means committees. And he’s reading from prepared remarks. So we’ll have to see how much he decides to go off script.
Elizabelle
Oh FFS. Would they ever have given Obama a do-over like this? (Leaving aside that Obama would never have taken such a ridiculous position in the first place.)
Shame, shame, shame.
Jeffro
Keep getting in front of those cameras unscripted, Trumpov…keep talkin’…
Steeplejack (phone)
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Shut the fuck up, Winston.
Quinerly
Trump is saying it was the first time in 70 years the Queen had reviewed her honor guard.
What is he talking about?
jl
Someone leave a note here if Trump starts talking again about how it’s a damn shame what the feds did to Al Capone. I’ll be sure to watch that clip.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@trollhattan: That an opportunist like McConnell is bailing on Trump is a sign Trump really did damage to himself.
Old School
Trump on the NATO meeting:
“When I left, everyone was thrilled.”
That’s probably correct.
Elizabelle
Going back to
MuellerMahler — Freudian slip!!. I cannot listen to that jackass.Now: remember how NBC and the big networks would not give Obama airtime for primetime speeches when he was in the midst of setting our economy back on track and all the other cleanup he had to do. It was shameful.
They will air anything the reality show jackass will say or do. Your public broadcast airwaves.
And yeah, I had a feeling that “meeting with Congressional leaders” meant “Republicans.” Did the Democrats meet with Trump at all?
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack (phone):
Yeah, what is this about? I missed the origin of this meme.
Adam L Silverman
Yep, they’re going with the misspoke excuse.
Teddys Person
@HeleninEire: watching MSNBC on the TV
The Dangerman
@Elizabelle:
Nooooooo! Good grief, Melania in charge of a state funeral would result in something roughly out of a Kafka novel.
JPL
He just used the wrong word. He meant wouldn’t, not would.
debit
@jl: Somewhere, Geraldo Rivera’s ears perk up.
rikyrah
@Frankensteinbeck:
After all, they voted for the muthaphucka who TOLD THEM he’d take away their healthcare. Didn’t lie one damn bit.
Carolina Dave
I wil repeal Russia
Omnes Omnibus
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Stop trying to make that a “thing.” It’s not working.
Teddys Person
Trump’s statement is basically stringing together his tweets.
edit: Except you have to see his horrid visage
Adam L Silverman
@Quinerly: Something other than reality.
dmsilev
@Quinerly:
He’s a dribbling idiot as well as a traitor. Next question?
Damned at Random
A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS!! It should have been obvious he MEANT to say “I don’t see any reason why it wouldN’T be Russia.” Even a great communicator sometimes misspeaks in the awesome -and very strong – presence of President Putin. And if Obama had been firmer – turgid even – none of this would have happened.
Now we need a parade – with missiles and ticker tape and one of those laurel crowns and the defeated enemies in shackles. And a banner proclaiming “No Collusion”
Steeplejack (phone)
@zhena gogolia:
it is an ongoing promo effort by Goku based on an obscure 1984 reference.
Pro tip: if you have to make it a thing, it’s not a thing.
eemom
@HeleninEire:
He won’t die for the same reason Cheney doesn’t die. There’s something about pure evil that repels even death.
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: “Victory Gin” – with a capital V, as a brand name, was what Winston Smith drank in 1984 to try to forget what was happening. No idea why Goku has picked up on it, and not interested in engaging him to find out.
trollhattan
@The Dangerman:
Hey now, wouldn’t a Eurovision-inspired wake be a thing of wonder and awesomeness? I fondly recall her turning the White House into a Bergman film set for Christmas.
debit
@Steeplejack (phone): Stop trying to make fetch happen, Goku.
dmsilev
I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of English grammar teachers cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
Paul W.
This is all they have? Why should we believe this rebuttal, he had every chance to correct himself during the moment and did not, claiming he believed Putin and never confirming the intelligence assessment.
Adam L Silverman
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: McConnell isn’t bailing on him. Hasn’t even mentioned him or yesterday’s performance. He made an anodyne statement about Russia not being a friend of the US.
Damned at Random
@The Dangerman: Hell YES!! A funeral out of Kafka would be awesome.
Spanky
@Teddys Person:
No, I. do. not.
Gin & Tonic
@Teddys Person: I’m not familiar with that usage of “you have to.”
Adam L Silverman
And now he’s ad libbing.
Teddys Person
Trump: I have the strongest respect for the intellegence agencies, my people.
I’m paraphrasing, but this fucking guy.
Quinerly
@Adam L Silverman: yes, I know.? I’m just checking to make sure we are all hearing the same thing.? Do we know if the Queen’s honor guard BS was in the prepared remarks or an ad lib. My head hurts from all this craziness.
jl
‘ Now we need a parade – with missile and ticker tape and one of those laurel crowns and the defeated enemies in shackles. And a banner proclaiming “No Collusion” ‘
Thanks. Those Trump military parades might be a lot better than I ever imagined. Who will be the defeated enemies in shackles. Trump is top, so he wants a lot of them. Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Hillary Clinton and Trudeau would be a good start, I guess.
Bill K
@The Dangerman: I’m picturing her sitting on the coffin wearing high heels and something slinky, sipping some celebratory champagne while entertaining boy toys.
debit
@Damned at Random: I love the part where everyone turns into a dung beetle. Very moving.
Miss Bianca
@maya:
That’s the thing that pisses me off so much. That “you’re fired!” becomes the metric by which an alarmingly large proportion of the American population apparently judged the Shitgibbon’s pretensions to being an effective boss, or even a simulacrum of a human being.
Steeplejack (phone)
Kevin Brady the designated ass-kissing quisling today. Jesus. I guess he drew the short straw.
oatler.
Reminds me when in high school I gave an oral report on a book I hadn’t read.
Teddys Person
@Teddys Person: Okay, this is truly embarassing based on what the orange menace is saying on TV. But I meant to say I don’t have to see his horrid visage.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Omnes Omnibus:
@debit:
@Steeplejack (phone):
I’ll run this thing into the ground if I have to in order to make it into the history books. Full throttle, babee muhhahaha!//
Gin & Tonic
@Bill K: Sounds like a great PPV opportunity.
Quinerly
@Adam L Silverman: well, you would have thought he would have also gone with the misspoke excuse in the Hannity and Tucker Carlson interviews.
My head hurts.
Miss Bianca
@eemom:
OK, now *that’s* a line I have to steal.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@jl:
Don’t forget Merkel and maybe Kim jung Un.
J R in WV
Kentucky people voted in a governor who promised to take away their health care, and has tried to do so ever since he took office. In my book, that’s fatally stupid.
We get a lot of news from eastern KY on the local TV news. The other day a Boyd county jailer put a murderer in the front seat of his car, and was shocked when the killer took his sidearm, threw him out of the car, and made his escape in the jailer’s car. The office of county jailer in KY is very sought after, because it is so easy to rake off most of the funds allocated to feeding and care of the prisoners into your own pocket.
In Boyd county the incumbent county jailer (not the minion who’s car was stolen by the murderer) was not reelected because it was so easy for convicted violent felons to escape from his jail, often with the help of jail minions.
We here in WV are so glad to have Kentucky right next door, as Kentucky is one of the few states that make WV look good.
Back when Coal was King in KY, the rules allowed strip mining on sites less than three acres without any permit or mining plan. Predictably this led to a vast network of linked 3-acre pieces of devastation called a “String of Pearls” by WV mining regulators, who always showed visiting coal regulators Kentucky’s Strings of Pearls from the agency helicopter before showing them mountain-top removal jobs.
Nettoyeur
So Trump didn’t have the cojones to say to Putin’s face that Russia interfered in the US election ? So in addition to being an ignorant narcissist, Donald is also a coward….
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
But I take your point in all seriousness.
HeleninEire
@Teddys Person: Thanks. Did the best I could
Stopped when he started talking about tax cuts.
Elizabelle
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: It is too obscure. I always thought you were talking about Churchill.
sapient
@Nettoyeur: Bone spurs.
dlwchico
https://i.imgur.com/frbBU1J.jpg
Steeplejack (phone)
@Teddys Person:
Well played.
The Dangerman
@Bill K:
She will have a shit eating grin like you wouldn’t believe … until she finds out what Trump is really worth. The it will be The Scream. Couldn’t happen to a nicer coal digger.
/Modern Family
Teddys Person
via Raw Story
The actual talking points are at the link.
HeleninEire
@JPL: LOL then he talked about a “double negative” A million dollars to his favorite charity if he can describe “double negative”
TF79
My five year old would be proud. “When I said my sister was a poopyhead I meant that she WASN’T a poopyhead, so really, I should get some ice cream, Dad”
Barbara
@Nettoyeur: Yes, he’s a coward. Remember when Trump fired James Comey? Or Reince Priebus? He couldn’t even bring himself to tell them face to face. Honestly, he wants admiration and adulation, especially from a powerful person like Putin, and you don’t get it by standing up to people. That’s why Putin hated Clinton. She told him what’s what.
dmsilev
@HeleninEire:
“Like MY ice cream serving, but with negatives.”
debit
So, did anyone point out that this changes nothing? Even if he said that he does believe his people, he turned around and said “Putin strongly denied it, so what are you gonna do, eh?”
Teddys Person
@HeleninEire: I didn’t watch much of his prepared remarks once it was just the same old same old. I watch more of the run up on MSNBC.
Calouste
@The Dangerman: Which is why Jr’s wife went for half of what he claims he is worth in the divorce proceedings, with the implied threat of “or do you want everyone to find out how little you are really worth?”
The Dangerman
@HeleninEire:
Two glamour photos of a teenage Ivanka he never had developed?
Adam L Silverman
@Quinerly: It was hard to tell from the video as it came hard on him looking at the notes and saying the Queen was great.
ewrunning
Here’s my summary: I meant to say “wouldn’t.” Also, the dog ate my homework. Also, if I hug myself really hard, all the bad thoughts that I might really be a loser will go away. At least Barron got a soccer ball out of the deal. Saves me from having to buy him a birthday present.
trollhattan
@HeleninEire:
I’ll go with “stable genius” for two-hundred.
smintheus
That’s right up there with:
And the traditional college student defense:
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Gin & Tonic:
I picked up on it for pretty much the reasons you laid out. I realize now it was a mistake and won’t be using it from now on.
Ruviana
@trollhattan: God, that was really only about 7 months ago! It feels like years, decades even.
Adam L Silverman
@Quinerly: It’ll be interesting what Tucker does tonight given that his interview was taped yesterday, but is airing tonight.
Roger Moore
@HeleninEire:
I think the Trump Foundation is currently forbidden from receiving donations.
smintheus
@Barbara:
That is to say, he’s a bully.
Quinerly
@Adam L Silverman: I wasn’t aware it hadn’t aired. That makes this even more interesting.
I sure do dig the spooky light dimming that Deep State did in the Cabinet Room. A signal to Trump? ?
trollhattan
@Ruviana:
I feel like suing him for lopping ten years off my lifespan and simultaneously stealing my child’s remaining innocence. Cynical doesn’t begin to describe, and how can I correct her when she’s right?
HeleninEire
@dmsilev: Good.@The Dangerman: Oh my. Even better.
Adam L Silverman
Elizabelle
Fresh thread? Something without that orange blowhard’s face front and center?
I really liked Baby Trump Hindenburg. Could look at that every day.
rikyrah
@Miss Bianca:
That is a damn good line. Consider it stolen.
waratah
nbc showed the clip of what he said in Helsinki to compare and it was obvious he he meant exactly what he said. I hope the rest of the media does the same. They also had Richard Engle on reporting from Moscow and he was was upset and said he was asking everyone over ther to forget what they saw on the whole trip. I was glad I stayed to watch for the first time in years.
SiubhanDuinne
@Quinerly:
What the everloving blue-eyed fuck? I had missed the first few minutes, so went back and watched from the beginning. And yup, that’s what he said, which is patently untrue. But I noticed his little coda — “That’s what they tell me — without ever identifying “they.” Gives him a nice Get Out of Jail card if anyone calls him on it.
And it wasn’t even an important lie. Had nothing to do with policy or anything of significance in either country except to imply that somehow The Queen had broken 70 years* of royal precedent solely in honour of his visit. Bullshit on steroids.
*She wasn’t even Queen 70 years ago.
Adam L Silverman
@Quinerly: No, the signal to the President was the impromptu, as in it wasn’t previously scheduled, meeting of all the national security principles late this morning at the White House. My guess is that DNI Coats, at least, if not FBI Director Wray and, perhaps, DCI Haspel, didn’t make it very clear that either the President came out and backed the intel community and walked some stuff back or they were gone. And they were going publicly and as a group.
HeleninEire
@Roger Moore: After I posted I thought of that. Was gonna change the offer to the NRA, but it is after 8 here, which is early and I’m exhausted. Cuzza Trump and cuz my 83 year old dad is freaking about him.
Also, too, my boss had a MAJOR fit in front of everyone today (usually her fits are one-to-one) and I stabilized everything; calmed her down, but I’m not sure I’m not gonna pay one-to-one tomorrow.
Adam L Silverman
Wait for the walk back of the walk back.
jl
@debit:
“Putin strongly denied it, so what are you gonna do, eh?”
It’s like a manager at a local copy joint saying can’t help you, not corporate policy. The bass says no, so what can I do?
JPL
@HeleninEire: Petri is having a fun today at his expense.
https://twitter.com/petridishes
Elizabelle
@Adam L Silverman: Can you prove that?
I hope that leaks out, and gives Trump no wiggle room.
Teddys Person
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman: So, Tweetstorm coming Thursday/Friday?
eric
Shade from a MSM participant…
Karen Tumulty
Verified account
@ktumulty
44m44 minutes ago
Trump on NATO summit: “When I left, everybody was thrilled.”
FACT CHECK: True
The Dangerman
Trump: “I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion…”
Trump (24 hours later): “”I mispoke; I meant to say I don’t accept our intelligence community’s conclusion”
After several more iterations, he might be declaring war … or maybe not declaring war … who knows?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman:
Trump is in big trouble then, Trump admitted weakness. Like that twit I was talking to last night his base is convinced the Orange Ass Clown is just an act and Trump is really a cunning mastermind.
Barbara
@Adam L Silverman: Yeah, that describes Charlottesville almost exactly, where the walk back of the walk back was much worse than the original statement.
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: Peter Alexander reported about fifteen minutes ago that the meeting took place. He did not report on the specifics of what went on in that meeting. I think my guesstimate is plausible given the events of the past several days.
sukabi
@Barbara: the best one was when he tried to go full campaign mode in church and the nice lady minister walked up to him and told him that it wasn’t the time or place for that nonsense and he was all “yes mam” and shut his trap.
MisterForkbeard
@Paul W.: Not to mention, even if we believed the correction he had every opportunity to fix in the moment, the ‘corrected’ statement contradicts the entire rest of the conference, summit, and Russia’s statements afterwards.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Adam L Silverman: Think Trump World Rules – if your not echoing the Dear Leader then you are a Deep State Hillaryit. That McConnell feels he can’t afford to be one of the Trump crowd shows things are going bad there.
Adam L Silverman
Congressman Massie is dumb as a stump.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack (phone): @Gin & Tonic:
So it’s like me trying to make a thing out of the NYT’s jump-the-shark article on V-selfies. But I tried twice and nobody responded, so I gave up. I know when I’m being ignored.
Yarrow
Hey, hey, hey!
Tick tock, Paulie!
Teddys Person
So, I’ve seen people tweeting a photo of Trump’s prepared remarks where he’s written in black sharpie:
THERE WAS NO COLUSION [sic]
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: At the latest.
raven
I have to go to Houston for 3 days next week. It’s a downtown hotel so I assume it will suck?
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: ’twas eemom’s. To give credit where credit is due.
ETA: I only *wish* it had been my line! Kind of like Oscar Wilde. ; )
zhena gogolia
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
No harm done!
Kay
I can’t believe it took the Trump Administration a whole day to come up this lame lie.
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman: Yet another successful Infrastructure Week.
sukabi
@Elizabelle: we’ll find out by Friday …if we have a mass walkout of security and other officials when trump doubles down.
smintheus
Trump 1/20/2017:
Trump 7/17/2018:
HeleninEire
@eric: NO NO NO. The mainstream press does not get to make jokes. Those fuckers are the problem.
Picked up a generally good Irish newspaper today, The Irish Independent. The opinion headline was “US presidential soap opera is now becoming a threat to world stability.”
FUCK YOU IRISH INDEPENDENT. “Soap Opera?” What Soap Opera? People like me have been screaming for more than 3 years that he would be a threat. It was a soap opera until yesterday?
I tried to write a letter to the editor (as an American expat who has a clue) but apparently you can’t do that until the day after the editorial appears. They want people to buy the hard copy.
I got it in the pub. JOKES ON YOU IRISH INDEPENDENT!
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman: It won’t even take a few days…he’ll be letting fly on Twitter tonight about this, 110% certain.
ETA: just saw your & dmsilev’s comments above (dang this thread is moving quickly). Great minds and all that…
Teddys Person
@Kay: The lie was easy. Corraling the rodeo clown was time consuming.
Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian
@sukabi: I saw that! He was all bluster until challenged, then crumpled like a cheap lawn chair. Classic bully.
Adam L Silverman
@Barbara: He can’t take the ego injury of having what he did this morning forced on him. He’ll have no ability to not act out over this within 24 to 72 hours.
Steve in the STL
@raven:
It will suck because it’s Houston. Especially in the summer.
SiubhanDuinne
@The Dangerman:
Whoa!!
raven
@Steve in the STL: I was looking at some joints in the warehouse district.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@zhena gogolia:
Looking back, it was kind of stupid of me trying to make it into a meme.
Kay
I’m pleased it was a disaster for them because it was complete bullshit anyway. He only did it because he thinks he looks better when he’s playing “dealmaker”, even though he makes horrible “deals” that can’t even be called deals because he gets nothing other than television coverage.
So it was a loss for them. Under their own terms it was a loss. He can’t even play dealmaker on tv.
Adam L Silverman
So much winning!
Amir Khalid
@Adam L Silverman:
He said something stupid, and now he’s caught between the urgent need to walk it back and
a prideful refusal ever to admit errorhis fear of saying something that Putin might find disturbing.jl
@MisterForkbeard: Trump had to go with the grammatical slip for the rest of the whole day, otherwise he wouldn’t look strong. Why is everyone so unfair to Trump.
Teddys Person
@Jeffro: He’ll be live tweeting his Fox interview.
edit: he’ll be using his John Barron account.
Yarrow
@raven: Some downtown Houston hotels are nice. The Hilton Americas is very nice. Houston in July is miserable but there is plenty of a/c.
HeleninEire
@Steve in the STL: LOL. Steve in the wherever for the win.
Elizabelle
The truth about Trump and Russia that Republicans cannot say out loud — Greg Sargent, WaPost opinion column; the link has other links embedded within.
Obviously, number one: because the GOP base is a bunch of Fox News/rightwing media-addled imbeciles, and Republicans don’t want to get on the wrong side of the base. But there’s more:
They made their own fucking bed. They can burn in it.
Also, Fox News is separating politicians from their base. Because the base has a bottomless appetite for shit that does not live in the real world. It is fantasy. It is propaganda.
I don’t see how democracy co-exists with Fox News, etc. It is brainwashing. It is not just “media.” The First Amendment was not meant to protect brainwashing, there is no remedy. You cannot convince someone with logic or actual facts when they’ve been brainwashed.
Jeffro
Kamala Harris on Twitter right now: “There’s only one word for yesterday’s press conference: weakness. 45 got played.”
It’s a bit middle school but I’ll take it…psst…Trumpov’s weak, pass it on!
D58826
@Adam L Silverman:
I’ve seen stumps that are more aware of the world than Massie
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: Here’s the thing, there’s been no reporting that Mueller has given grants of immunity to anyone. He’s got cooperation plea deals from Gates, Flynn, and Papadapolous, and that IT guy from California, but that’s it. So who are these five people? If I was anybody even remotely tied to this investigation, I’d be very, very worried.
scav
@Adam L Silverman:
Now That makes me smile.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: Dunno. But apparently they informed the judge they have five people. Unless it’s bad reporting, which could also happen.
MisterForkbeard
@debit: Right? Oh, I totally meant to say that I believed my intelligence people, despite spending the whole conference saying I didn’t and talking about how horrible they were. Also, Putin and I agreed how awful it was that the probe existed and how we really needed to move forward.
How does that make ANY of it better? Not to mention, if it was just a single “whoops, used the wrong word” explanation they would have corrected it fucking yesterday.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
At some point in the near future Andy Kaufman is going to take off his Trump makeup and we’re going to laugh and laugh and laugh.
Elizabelle
@zhena gogolia: I saw your post on vagina selfies. Incredible the NY Times published anything on that.
NPR: In a rhetorical about face …. clarify, damage control, misspoke, double negative … warning lights are blinking red (on possible interference in the midterms).
Jeffro
@Elizabelle: I dunno…GOP politicians (the House Freedumb Caucus especially) seem to have a pretty big appetite for fantasy themselves.
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman: OK, so it wasn’t just me. I was reading that story and wondering whether I had missed the news report of witnesses being granted immunity. So, this is new (as far as public knowledge goes). Also interesting that part of the reasoning for keeping the names sealed is concern over the Right Wing Howler Monkey Squad.
MisterForkbeard
@Quinerly: It’ll be edited to conform to the newest version of Trump Reality – I think we all know that.
And then conservatives will say it proves Trump didn’t really mean everything he did on the world stage.
@Adam L Silverman: So we’ve moved from “I didn’t mean to say what I did and waaah” to “I didn’t mean it and I believe our IC that Russia attacked us, except they’re wrong because other people probably did it.”
I didn’t think it was possible to get more horrified, but there you go.
Gin & Tonic
@Yarrow: Oh, please, oh please, oh please! Can’t wait for that motherfucker to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Elizabelle
@Jeffro: Yeah. But a lot of the “pros” (as in, world’s oldest profession) think it’s chum for the rubes, and usually helpful.
It’s pouring outside. Have been hearing thunder off and on.
Yarrow
@raven: Are you picking your own hotel?
raven
@Yarrow: @Yarrow: Nope, Hitlon Americas
Baud
@Yarrow: You saw the first tweet after one Adam linked to, right?
raven
@Yarrow: I answered before I saw that!
Baud
@Yarrow:
@Baud:
Sorry, that was your comment that linked to the tweet.
Jeffro
Great find: JEB Stuart Elementary in Richmond is being renamed Barack Obama Elementary and if you wanna support ’em, you can buy some of their new spirit wear right here.
Be happy warriors, people! There will never, ever be a school named after any of the current assclowns ;)
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: Saw some speculation on Twitter that the Queen was throwing some shade at the Trumps with her choice of brooches. Apparently there are squads of people who track this kind of thing!
YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)
They are going with the “one small step for [a] man” comms glitch caused by degraded neural-network wetware? Well okay then.
Quinerly
@Betty Cracker: do tell….
maya
I first heard about the “misspoke excuse’ at 6:30 AM PDT. It’s source was Scaramoochi. He was quoted as saying that’s what trumpski should do, claim he “misspoke”. By golly, that’s what he tried to do! doubtful Mooch came up with that, but then, who did?
I find the whole idea of “talking points” – how and, especially, WHO, comes up with them kinda fascinating. Like there’s a room full of talking point specialists who meet every AM (precisely at 00:01) to come up with stuff that needs to be, uh, clarified , corrected or better concealed through not just verbiage, but precise verbiage. Do these TPSs have rank, like; talking point specialist 1st class, Master Gunnery talking point Sergeant, ect, or are they more like the ranks of the custodian class with a crossed mops ensignia? .
MisterForkbeard
@Jeffro: I would have preferred it if she followed that with “Oh – there’s another couple words that fit, too: Collusion. Treason.”
Teddys Person
Great headline over at LGM commenting on a Politico article:
Quinerly
@Jeffro: This is great! Ordering the steel gray one!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Yarrow
@Baud: Yep!
Rileys Enabler
@raven: Not if it’s the Marriott Marquee. That’s a newer hotel with a kinda cool lazy river. We’ve got it down to a science here – you move from air conditioned car to air conditioned building, and you’ll be ok.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker: I posted a link to that in one of last night’s threads. It was pretty amusing – in an old lady throws shade in a way that only jewelry nerds can grok sort of way.
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: Manafort’s already tried to tamper with witnesses, you keep everything locked down now because of that.
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
I saw your comments and read the NYT article, but (a) it was hours after you posted and the threads were dead, and [2] I had nothing to say except that V-selfies kind of weird me out.
HeleninEire
@raven: I actually love Hilton. You know what you’re getting. I understand that a lot of people want to experience the real city/country, etc. I’ve been all around the world and slept on train floors and in bus stations when I was young.
You can experience the country during the day and then sleep well.
But damn, when you get old(er) and can afford a few quid a private shower is grand.
Ohio Mom
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: This is why young men pay such high auto insurance rates — that giddy recklessness with which they forge ahead, no matter what.
Ah, youth!
(note to those of you who are not aware, by my calculations Gorku is all of 23).
Jeffro
@Jeffro: PS if you want, buy a couple of shirts and send them to the school, to give to kids who don’t have one/can’t afford one. The address is:
Barack Obama Elementary
3101 Fendall Ave
Richmond, VA 23222
Rileys Enabler
@raven: Cool – walk down to Discovery Green (big park right there) and have dinner/drinks at the Grove. There’s generally cool stuff going on there depending on the dates. https://www.discoverygreen.com/
Elizabelle
@Omnes Omnibus: I loved it!
Queen Elizabeth wore, in order: a relatively inexpensive broach given to her by the Obamas personally, out of their own personal funds; a sapphire broach from Canada that celebrates Canada; and the broach her own mother wore at her husband the King’s funeral.
Plus appearing in the outfit she wore before to, silently, support the European Union. In its colors.
Bravo, QE2.
Omnes’ link re the broach warfare.
Yarrow
@raven: @raven: LOL. Hilton Americas is a nice hotel. It’s right next to Discovery Green, which is a downtown park with a small pond, a water play area for kids, a restaurant, a sort of performance area, walking trails and green space. It’s fairly nice for Houston. I guess you’ll be at the convention center, which is also right there.
Gelfling 545
@Elizabelle: Last week my cd of Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s work arrived after long back order. I’ve played it repeatedly to remarkably calmnig effect. There is something innately calming about the cello anyway and this sounds like an angel dropped in to play it. Going to go play it again now because too much Trump (well, any, really) is bad for my blood pressure.
MisterForkbeard
So, this is fun: https://twitter.com/TAPAlerts/status/1019301353724792832
@TAPAlerts
BREAKING REPORT: Multiple sources are now saying USIC leaders are withholding information from Trump for fear of “compromising sources and methods.”
raven
@Rileys Enabler: That’s the official conference hotel but these dopes didn’t “assign” me to go until last week and it was sold out. I haven’t been to one of these “learning management system” conferences in year since I don’t have much to do with them anymore but someone thought someone from my unit should go so it’s me.
Teddys Person
@MisterForkbeard: damn, shit just got more real
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: So some clarification in the follow on reporting:
Brachiator
I stepped away from most of Trumpermania since yesterday evening, and just jumped back in to see a BBC news story covering how Trump “misspoke.” Trump looks strangely deflated and muted, like his Trump baby doppelganger. This may be the first time that he has realized that the mask has slipped, and his plain capitulation to Putin is not going as well as he thought.
Still, I don’t trust either Trump or the GOP leadership. Trump’s perfidy goes deeper than just a few words. And I suppose that there are or will be popularity polls taken after this train wreck of a summit. I will bet that Trump’s dopes will cling to him even more tightly, and even volunteer to change his nappy.
There will be stories wondering whether the GOP leadership has finally reined Trump in. I bet that he will be back to his wild and crazy antics by the time of his next political rally.
ETA: The BBC notes how the EU has delivered a significant butt kicking to both Trump and Theresa May by signing a huge trade agreement with Japan. All of this will be minimized on Fox News and other conservative propaganda outlets, but it clearly undermines Trump’s simplistic and simpleminded approach to global markets.
Obama’s appearance has been the one, clear bright spot in the middle of all this political nonsense.
Omnes Omnibus
@Elizabelle: Thanks. I am on my phone so linking would have been a pain.
raven
@Rileys Enabler: Thanks! I’m not paying so I’m just going to try to enjoy it when I can. Irma’s Original looks interesting.
Elizabelle
@Omnes Omnibus: It was a great catch. Someone referred to it the day after you posted it; I’d missed the original thread.
raven
@Yarrow: Yea, too bad the Stro’s are on the road.
Jeffro
Rick Wilson called the Helsinki summit “Dumbass Yalta” yesterday…I missed that then, but it is surely making my day now.
Adam L Silverman
@Gelfling 545: There’s always room for cello!
Adam L Silverman
@MisterForkbeard: I’d like to see some actual sourcing for that.
Elizabelle
@Gelfling 545: Is that the prodigy who played at the Meghan-Harry wedding?
Agree. Cello is gorgeous. Yo Yo Ma is, too.
ETA: I’d typed funeral. Still thinking of QE2 and the broach she wore to tea with the Trumps. LOL, ma’am.
Yarrow
@raven: Yeah, it’s easy to get over to Minute Maid park, so that’s too bad.
If you want some culture, it’s a few blocks walk–remember, HOT AND HUMID! — to the light rail station, which you can take to the Museum Area and further to Hermann Park where the zoo is.
If you like interesting supermarket experiences, Phoenicia Specialty Foods is right next to Discovery Green. It’s a very international shopping experience. Kind of cool to wander around. There’s a gastropub there as well.
Yarrow
@raven: Are you going to rent a car? Houston is very much a car city, but there’s plenty to do downtown and in the general vicinity. Also, Uber is a good option.
Brachiator
@Gelfling 545:
There was a very good BBC news segment about him recently, as part of a story about the traditional Proms concerts. The ‘I saw Sheku’ Prom
Amazing talent.
raven
@Yarrow: No car. I know it’s hot and humid but it’s not all that much worse than here. Also, I don’t drink so I might seek out some tunes but the booze part don’t matter to me.
opiejeanne
@Bill K: Something like this?
Taiwan Funeral Parade
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
Oh yes! Omnes linked a whole lovely thread about it, broken down day-by-day and brooch-by-brooch</strong>! Great fun, and makes me love the Queen even more lavishly.
Dan B
@maya: Conservative Think Tanks, as envisioned by Justice Lewis Powell decades ago and funded by Koch and Mercer millions, develop talking points and media strategies. They focus group test and rehearse in their studios to determine which messages will be successful. The left has a very weak set of these “Think” communications tanks. We don’t have the heft to get on the MSM who want talking heads who are reliable – in other words “dependable” on csmera.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
(Let’s try that formatting again):
Oh yes! Omnes linked a whole lovely thread about it, broken down day-by-day and brooch-by-brooch! Great fun, and makes me love the Queen even more lavishly.
Yarrow
@raven: There will be music all over. The Houston Press calendar probably has a good round up of that kind of thing.
MisterForkbeard
@Adam L Silverman: True. Though I think you’ve been saying this was a possible (and in some cases likely) turn of events ever since his election, and specifically after he outed that Israeli agent to the Russians shortly after his election.
Though I think in that case, it wasn’t so much “refuse to share info” as “Just don’t tell Trump about all the things we know”
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: I did love that. Weapons grade snark, delivered royally.
To say nothing of the “just the minimum, bum’s rush. Out you go, there. Watch your step.”
raven
@Yarrow: Thanks! I saw a listing for a tobacco barn joint but it looks too far.
Yarrow
@raven: Tobacco barn? What sort of music do you like?
Houston is a very international city. If there’s something from another country or culture you’re interested in, it’s a good place to find it.
Gelfling 545
@Betty Cracker: Appareltly the brooch she wore to tea was the one her mother wore to her father’s funeral. Mourning attire appropriate to having to meet Trump I guess.
zhena gogolia
@Elizabelle: @SiubhanDuinne:
It’s not so much that they published an article on it with a ridiculous amount of space in the Styles section, but that the author talked about “a married man” receiving one, then ridiculed the woman who sent it, without disclosing that it was her own husband who received it. Fonzie is strapping on his water skis.
Elizabelle
@zhena gogolia: Yes, the correction. And that was unforgiveable. Although it was a bizarre topic, to begin with.
Someone at The Guardian is fascinated with body hair. They run more than a few articles on it. Fetish-like, almost.
NPR: Prez Trump was in full damage mode. Disastrous summit in Helsinki. … They’re getting there.
Elizabelle
NPR: Paul Ryan is breaking with the president “apparently.”
Stay tuned. He’ll walk it back somehow. Woodchucks eating his car made him do it.
raven
@Yarrow: Everything but classical. Boney James is there while I’m there. I’m reading a book about the Austin Scene in the 70’s and I am a big Jerry Jeff, Murphy, Frieda and the Firedogs dude too.
Gelfling 545
@Elizabelle: Yes, that is he. I’ve been trying to put words to describing his work and “ strong delicacy” is the closest I can get.
The Other Chuck
@Gelfling 545: More that her father was all about defending Europe and fighting Nazis.
Robert Sneddon
@Adam L Silverman: Japan and the EU have been working on the detail of this free-trade agreement for years. A senior American politician (no names, no pack drill but he was playing golf in Scotland a few days back) has been promising Britain an instant free-trade agreement with the US pretty much the day after we leave the EU.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
Saw one item in passing that said tea lasted all of 17 minutes. SEVENFUCKINGTEEN MINUTES! LOL.
The Other Chuck
@SiubhanDuinne: The queen made a point of looking at her watch as she was waiting for Trump. Then she basically had to point and command him to heel like one of her corgis. I don’t think it’s a secret that she utterly loathes Trump, but hiding public displays of contempt is Royal Behavior 101.
Omnes Omnibus
@Elizabelle: There is a terrible Wisconsin only joke in there, but I am too lazy to try for it.
Yarrow
@raven: That’s House of Blues, right? That should be close to you in downtown. The Continental Club is right on the light rail line so that would be an easy trip. Also, check out what the Mucky Duck has coming up. You’d have to take a taxi or Uber there, though.
Should probably add that Houston’s music scene doesn’t begin to compare to Austin’s.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, they were in and out the door within an hour, right? With no other royal spotted. Including inspecting the guard and parading in front the Queen. (Trump, we are speaking of, there.)
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne: No second cuppa for you, Donald.
Steve in the STL
@raven: last time I saw Jerry Jeff live was around 1990, and he looked pretty damn old then. Is he still gigging?
raven
@Yarrow: Oh I know but I was trying to give a frame of reference for my vast musical tastes (except classical)!
Adam L Silverman
@MisterForkbeard: I wrote a couple of posts about it back in early 2017.
raven
@Steve in the STL: I think he’s got a very limited schedule.
raven
@Yarrow: Ha, $175!!!
Yarrow
@Steve in the STL: Just looked at his website. It appears he is still performing, although it looks like it’s not all that much.
Steeplejack (phone)
@zhena gogolia:
No, I read it, but it was so stunningly weird that I couldn’t begin to formulate a comment about it.
And did you really want to foment a long conversation about V-selfies? Knowing this crowd?
Yarrow
@raven: For what?
raven
@Yarrow: Boney. . . down front but still!
Steeplejack (phone)
@raven:
Should be able to get some great Mexican food. No recommendations for me; I haven’t been there in almost 20 years.
raven
@Steeplejack (phone): I’ve been on that! Maybe Acadian/Creole too.
rikyrah
@Brachiator:
You know that his entire family is full of talent. Bravo to the parents.??
Yarrow
@raven: It is House of Blues. You’ll be paying for the venue.
raven
@Yarrow: My brother’s Floyd cover band played the one on Hollywood Blvd a few times but I’ve never been. Athens ain’t like that.
Yarrow
@raven: You could always try for last minute tickets.
Gelfling 545
@rikyrah: He has a young s middle school age also studying cello. He has said he believes she will be better than he. A reporter asked her what she thought & she said yes, she will. I loved her confidence and the building up of each other in the family.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Yep. In the interview, he spoke about his siblings, and mentioned that he started out learning to play the piano. Interesting that he cites Bob Marley as an influence.
It was also cool to learn that Harry and Meghan sent him a nice letter after he had performed at their wedding. Very thoughtful.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack (phone):
Sorry, missed this. Yeah, you’re right. Sometimes I just need a friend so bad, you know?
J R in WV
We did eat some great food in Houston. Both Acadian and Border and Seafood. All both three. Many raw oysters, back before the BP spill. Dad loved taking his folks out to dinner. I managed to set up a visit by two of my favorite cousins, two of Dad’s favorite nieces, and we went out to eat together, the four of us, for a week. So pretty swell. And one of them has a daughter nearby, and she and her beau came to town, so more good…
My last visit to Houston was for a month to be with my dad while he died, 14 years ago. Time flies, do it not? Good times, mostly.