The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has just begun its hearing with Secretary of State Pompeo. He is expected to address concerns regarding the President’s recent summit with Putin, his own recent remarks and the President’s tweet about Iran, as well as US relations with NATO and the EU. Here’s the live feed.
Open thread!
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
Frist!
germy
Cheryl Rofer
Pompeo issued a statement on Ukraine equivalent to the Welles Declaration on the Baltic States after the Soviet Union incorporated them. Wonder what his boss thinks?
This business of having a Trump foreign policy and a government foreign policy isn’t going to end well.
Adam L Silverman
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: He was forced to retire, which is how we got McConnell.
dmsilev
@Cheryl Rofer: Never mind his boss, what about his boss’s boss?
Corner Stone
What could he possibly testify to? He wasn’t in the room and Trump is an unreliable narrator, to say the least.
Yarrow
@Cheryl Rofer:
It is not.
germy
@Cheryl Rofer: Greenwald et al will cite this as proof trump is “tough on Russia”
jl
Does Trump ever catch up on what his government is doing?
Half-serious question. Does he have time between watching Fox and Friends and Hannity, and throwing re-election rallies?
Adam L Silverman
@Cheryl Rofer:
Fixed it for you.
Cheryl Rofer
And now I’m gonna be offline for a couple of hours. See you later!
rikyrah
@Cheryl Rofer:
No lie told
germy
@jl: He is not a real detail guy.
Cheryl Rofer
@germy: TRUMP will cite this as his “being tough on Russia.”
trollhattan
Every day is a good day for Donny.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Adam L Silverman: I’m not sure I agree 100% with your police work there, Lou. Trent Lott was forced to retire after waxing poetic about segregation at Strom Thurmond’s birthday party. Frist succeeded Lott as speaker and left the Senate voluntarily. Bob Corker followed in his seat.
zhena gogolia
@Cheryl Rofer:
This is all so bewildering.
germy
WaPo headline:
Trump pushes 25 percent auto tariff as top advisers scramble to stop him
rikyrah
Dolt45 isn’t going to have his handler over for tea at the WH this Fall.
Betty Cracker
Curiouser and curiouser:
My guess is that even an idiot like Trump realizes hosting a state visit for Putin prior to the midterms will step on the newly rolled out “Russia wants to help the Democrats” nonsense.
Gin & Tonic
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: The Senate doesn’t have a “speaker.”
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Gin & Tonic: D’oh! I meant Leader. Thanks!
Mary G
@Cheryl Rofer: WaPo says he’s determined to put a 25% tariff on foreign cars, despite everyone telling him what a bad idea it is.
He probably thinks it’s going to distract from all the other bad news. Winning!
A Ghost To Most
Looks like Pompeo’s strategy will be to filibuster every question.
Gin & Tonic
@germy: The Congress has the Constituional power to impose tariffs. They could simply take it back, if they had any balls, and nobody could do anything about it.
rikyrah
I’m excited to share the cover of my book, Finding My Voice, which will publish next April. You can learn more here: https://t.co/dMAyOHM4AB
— Valerie Jarrett (@ValerieJarrett) July 25, 2018
rikyrah
@Mary G:
Where are the majority of the factories of those foreign made cars located in the USA?
In MAGA country.
TenguPhule
Corrected for accuracy.
germy
@Gin & Tonic: I don’t like living in these interesting times.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@rikyrah: Yeah, right. I’ll bet you Jarrett’s book was ghost-written by Bill Ayers.
TenguPhule
@Mary G:
Trump: You’re not the boss of me!
Duane
Better Pompeo than me. Of course, he signed up for it. He let ambition out weigh good sense. Today may be the day, as he faces his former colleagues, he truly feels the shitmidas touch.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@Mary G: Oh fucking hell, says the Honda driver….
TenguPhule
@Gin & Tonic:
Republicans in Congress.
Gotta avoid the bad habits of the fucking feckless media.
Ella in New Mexico
Boy Pompii gets really arrogant and pissy when he’s confronted with Trump’s bullshit behaviors.
rikyrah
@trollhattan:
don’t get no more original intent than the emoluments clause.
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
Didn’t start or go well either. Consistency!
TenguPhule
@Cheryl Rofer:
This word has lost all meaning in the last year and a half.
A Ghost To Most
I sure hope Sen. Risch has a bib on.
TenguPhule
@Ella in New Mexico:
How do we tell the difference from how he normally acts?
MattF
@Duane: Him and Bolton. Apparently Bolton had to promise not to start WWIII.
TenguPhule
@Betty Cracker:
My guess is that Trump wasn’t the one to realize this, Putin did.
Mary G
I am trying to watch this, but the tongue-baths about the wisdom and excellence of the president from every Republican senator are disgusting. Just like Kavanaugh with the “this is most thorough SC Justice search evah!”
burnspbesq
@rikyrah:
Spartanburg, Tuscaloosa, Chattanooga. BMW is the best thing that ever happened to the Port of Charleston. And bigotry will almost certainly continue to outweigh their economic interests as a determinant of how those people vote.
A Ghost To Most
@burnspbesq:
World’s smallest
violinfiddle.rikyrah
@burnspbesq:
I know all that. But, let’s strip that economic anxiety excuse away. Just lay waste to all of them.
chopper
@germy:
which means of course drumpf is going to say the opposite later today on twitter.
Corner Stone
@Cheryl Rofer: “California has been declared an enemy of Trump. We start bombing in five minutes.”
trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Jacket blurb from Roseanne Barr will be the best, the best I tell ya!
Corner Stone
I wonder if the stock market will have anything to say about the 25% car tariffs?
trollhattan
@chopper:
“Duh, it’s ‘will never not recognize Russia’s Crimea annexation’ that my secretary of state said. I thought that would have been obvious.”
Duane
@MattF: Bolton didn’t have any integrity left to sell. Whatever smidgen Pompeo had left, wave goodbye, Secretary.
Jeffro
@rikyrah: I’m thinking this would make an excellent Christmas gift for my RWNJ dad. Nickel bet says he actually drops it out of his hands and to the floor, like a hot stone or something, once he sees what it is.
condorcet runner-up
@chopper: this is likely by design. now nobody can accuse them of taking one side over the other. sure, it is nuts, but it suffices for the base.
Jeffro
@Mary G: Maybe they could tell him Obama wanted to put tariffs on EVERYTHING, so that Trumpov never puts them on ANYTHING? Worth a shot.
Jeffro
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
Dad? Is that you?
LOL
Yarrow
@chopper: Or maybe in a few minutes during his unplanned statement in the rose garden.
Yarrow
@Jeffro: Make sure you add “Vice President” above her name on the cover.
Calouste
@Mary G: I read an article that Europe now has a 10% tariff on American cars, where the US only has only a 2.5% tariff on European cars. But the article also stated that the tariff is not why American cars don’t sell in Europe. It’s that with a few niche exceptions like muscle cars, American cars just aren’t attractive to Europeans. Too big for the local parking spaces, not fuel efficient enough for $10 gas, and the top end ones don’t have the image and reputation in Europe that Benz and BMW do.
chopper
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
I THOUGHT THE BOOK WAS WHITE!
Jeffro
@Cheryl Rofer: An unscheduled availability, eh? So very many things for him to rail about…Ivanka being “forced” out of business, the emoluments ruling, more of this “Russia loves the Democrats” nonsense, the Cohen tape, reports of Melania watching CNN and sending him into a rage…so very many things, all just within the past what, 36 hours?
ruemara
Amazing how every last one of them come out looking like scum. Unprecedented.
@burnspbesq: My concern are for the POC they’ll harm in retaliation. They can eat clay like their ancestors.
Duane
@Corner Stone: The stock market and “consumer confidence” polls are terrible ways to judge the economy. Both driven by grifters and fools.
Jeffro
@Yarrow: Such. win.
Thanks for the idea, Yarrow, I’m grinning ear to ear here!
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@chopper: That’s awesome!
dmsilev
@Jeffro:
Another successful Infrastructure Week, and it’s only Wednesday.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
Wall Street: “He’s just joking! Everything is fine! Nothing can go wrong go wrong.”
Mnemosyne
@Betty Cracker:
Remember that Trump is the kind of soopergenious who thinks that doubling down on a statement proves that he didn’t really mean it. You know, just like all of his followers who insist that they voted for the racist to prove that they’re not really racist.
trollhattan
@Calouste:
What is even an “American car” anymore? Ford decided to no longer be a car company and instead build trucks, ess you vees, vans and the like. And the Mustang. Will guess Honda and Toyota are the top American car builders. Donny understands none of this stuff and imagines we’ll be awash in Buick Wildcats again, before the midterms.
Corner Stone
@Duane: I mention it because Trump said he started the trade war due to the stock market being “up”. And was therefore expounding that he was playing with banker’s money during this self-owned crisis.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
Infrastructure Week, featuring the Duke lacrosse team!
Gin & Tonic
@TenguPhule: DJIA up 175 today, likely on reports of some sort of agreement with Juncker.
lgerard
I’m sure the idea of tariffs on stores which do not carry Ivanka’s products was an idea that was considered at some point
Corner Stone
@Jeffro:
Speaking of, I’m thinking about having fresh corn on the cob again tonight for dinner. You know, to support the “family farms” and all during this time of struggle.
Jeffro
@lgerard: I’m shocked he hasn’t rage-Tweeted at whichever stores used to carry her crappy stuff, to try and drive their stock down.
TenguPhule
@Gin & Tonic:
I saw, hence my predictions 2019 is the crash. Our stock traders and the associated companies are very stupid people.
Corner Stone
Alright, this Pompeo nonsense is cutting in to my Nicolle Wallace time, dammit. Shit’s getting real.
Yarrow
@Jeffro: Happy to help. Not sure your dad will appreciate it as much as you, though.
jl
@Corner Stone: ” I wonder if the stock market will have anything to say about the 25% car tariffs? ”
Stock market may already have said something. Look at indices dominated by large cap stocks, Dow Jones and S&P 500. They have been essentially flat since January.
Large cap companies saw nothing for them but a one time shift upward in after-tax revenue due to tax cuts, then trade war talk started.
Except for a steep and temporary run-up from Aug 2017 to Jan 2018, the increased growth in stock market indices started in first quarter 2016.
I’ve been updating my handy dandy macroeconomic dashboard for the upcoming Q2 GDP release. Very clear (edit: to me) that Trumpsters have had no impact at all on real economy through Q1 on US economy. ‘Trump boom’ doesn’t exist, not even in the stock market, apart from temporary response to tax cut. Everything is random variations around trend set in Obama early recovery, and some getting better or worse a teensy bit in response to moving from early to late stage of expansion.
If Trump knew what he was doing, he could have persuaded GOP to throw lesser people more money in their tax cut, and laid off the trade war nonsense. I think 50-50 chance Trump could have overseen the expansion last through 2020, and he could have bragged about presiding over the longest expansion in history (and take credit for something he would have had little to do with). But odds of that happening now are fading fast.
Edit: I’ve been joking that the Trumpster couldn’t have had any impact, since Trumpster macro policy is the Paulson/Geithner/Bernanke/Yellen plan on autopilot. They have done not one thing different except throw more tax money at rich interests. But looking at updated series, more true than I thought. (edit: though they have been throwing time bombs into the system, which won’t show up for a while)
Jeffro
@Corner Stone:
That’s bigly patriotic of you. Here, take my 60%-off coupon for a DJT/Kim Jong-Un “Peace Summit” commemorative coin…no, really…
Fish tacos tonight here, in support of, um, eating tacos. Mini-me is not going to be thrilled, but then again a kid who things “chicken nuggets” are “food” should not be allowed to weigh in on the dinner menu.
Corner Stone
@TenguPhule: Re: my original comment on the stock market – if he does in fact impose 25% tariff on “foreign” cars and the stock market does nothing or ambles higher then it’s further proof we’re in a yoooge bubble that’s going to burst badly in a nominal amount of time.
TenguPhule
Via Wapo.
9 out of 10 Republicans don’t trust the Media.
75% of them have accepted 1984 as their new guide to life.
They’re beyond salvation.
JustRuss
@rikyrah: Presumably the tariff will only apply to cars that are imported, not “foreign” cars that are built in the US…which many are. But it’s Trump, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Inventor
@Jeffro:
One of the worst things about Cheeto Benito’s “election” is there’s no taco truck at the end of my block.
That would have been awesome.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone: I got that when the markets saw the tariffs starting, didn’t crash, saw the counter tariffs starting and didn’t crash and the line of thinking that every single optimistic business person cited by the reporters about this was “He doesn’t really mean it, this will be a short term thing”.
They’ve lost track of gravity, but gravity hasn’t forgotten about them.
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
Hey now! A guilty pleasure shouldn’t be made fun of.
Brachiator
@jl:
Yep. Totally agree with you here.
Corner Stone
Buffoon is buffooning again, just making shit up about trade.
Corner Stone
You can’t possibly supply LNG from the US to the EU at a reasonable cost differential.
TenguPhule
@jl:
2019: Federal Tax Returns, first economic reports on the trade wars damage, official confirmation of the terrible 2018 Christmas season, possible lingering damage from the Hurricanes that FEMA fucked up again, increased interest rates combined with higher fuel, food and materials inflation.
Perfect storm.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
Sure you can! You simply redefine “reasonable” to mean something completely different from what it originally meant.
rikyrah
Another Putin critic- dead in Paris at the age of 31.
” suicide”.
Uh huh
Uh huh
Litlebritdifrnt
@Calouste: I drive a four door hatch back Hyundau Amica. Perfect for getting around town. I fill up once a month, despite going on lots of trips. American hulks just don”t do well here, there are cars parked on either side of tiny, barely two lane roads. You have to be able to weave through lines of parked cars to navigate your way from a to b to get from home to town. Every time I see one of these large Ford Pick Ups or SUVs trying to navigate around our town they spend half of their time sat by a parked car waiting for a much more navigable car whip around parked cars into small empty spaces while behemoth has to sit there and wait until the entire road is clear so they can drive down. It is silly and time wasting, not to mention the petrol they are eating while waiting. No one wants to buy them, and anyone who does is just an asshole with a small dick.
TenguPhule
Via Wapo.
Nothing good will come of this.
Mary G
The press conference is about the EU and how there will be ZERO tariffs. And Europe’s going to buy soybeans, so the farmers are saved. Though I imagine as a market for soybeans, Europe is a rounding error compared to China. Juncker says he came to make a deal today and they did.
This is the president backing down and describing it as a win.
VeniceRiley
Every solid Republican car dealer that has a foreign franchise is going to lose their sh*t. These are often the most prominent Republicans in town. They sponsor the kiddie leagues and all kinds of civic minded stuff. Are often bigshots at church, and if they get wicked po’d at Trump, the whole Party crashes.
Putin is afraid he’ll get arrested at the airport like all his crime syndicate friends (I wish!)
MisterForkbeard
@TenguPhule: On the other hand, “We might even discuss election security and Russian intereference!” is about as low a bar as you can get.
jl
@Mary G: I assume EU didn’t agree to dismantle its VAT sales tax. The mystery of why on earth the Tmpsters think EU has high tariffs on US exports, and whether they were confused about what the VAT is, or BSing, may be forever unresolved. It will evaporate in the blazing fire of another one of Trump’s great deals.
germy
@Mary G:
I can’t keep up. I’m seriously having trouble following his gish gallop.
efgoldman
@Gin & Tonic:
At today’s level, not even a rounding error.
Baud
@jl:
Here’s how CNN is reporting it.
SenyorDave
@TenguPhule: Our stock traders and the associated companies are very stupid people.
How so? They make money off the trades, many of them could care less how their “clients” do.
Mary G
Not impressed at all with Pompeo. He’s condescending and arrogant and being a complete partisan spinner.
Joe Falco
@VeniceRiley: Couldn’t happen to a nicer set of shypokes.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: It sounds as meaningless as the deal he got from Kim the Young.
Yarrow
@germy: @Mary G: How can anyone trust anything out of Trump’s mouth? Tariffs, no tariffs, who knows what’s happening there? Even if the agreements are in writing and signed, if Trump decides he wants to rip them up he will.
noncarborundum
@germy: I’m tired of all this winning. Can we please make it stop?
Gin & Tonic
@rikyrah: Tragically, it seems possible, based on a bit of the commentary I’ve seen, that Oksana Shachko’s death may in fact be due to suicide and not “suicide.”
jl
@Baud: It’s a mystery what the Trumpsters think.
OTOH, I hope Baud 2020! is taking notes. Someone has to step in after Trump is gone.
Except you will need to be more careful, since living off soda pop coupon fraud, and begging outside convenience stores are the kind of crime and emolument violations that they will come down on like a hammer. It’s in a different league than billion dollar white collar crime.
The BaudPrez getting tazed outside a quickstop won’t get you this kind of sympathetic coverage in the media.
Lapassionara
Just saw a headline that Administration has entered into trade agreement with EU, forestalling tariff dispute. Or something along those lines. So after scaring the auto companies, he does nada?
Baud
@jl: I just hope Juicers will continue to support me as blindly and as rapidly as Republicans support Trump.
germy
Washington Post:
Oh shit….
rikyrah
@TenguPhule:
Which is why we need to say – PHUCK THEM.
Lapassionara
@Mary G: well done. That is my take too.
TenguPhule
@SenyorDave:
You can’t eat electronic profits when it all goes to shit.
retr2327
@trollhattan: According to a recent story in the NYT, the leading exporter of cars from America is . . . BMW.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
I say his talk will not be followed by action if past performance predicts future results.
Trump thinks agreements are the start of negotiations.
TenguPhule
@Mary G:
What distinguishes him from the rest of them?
TenguPhule
@Baud:
I expect to be made Secretary of War. //
trollhattan
@retr2327:
Bog bless our right-to-work states and their German occup…resident manufacturers.
Duane
@Brachiator: It’s almost like Trumpov wants to sabotage the economy.
lgerard
@Mary G:
Pompeo is trump-like in his belief that he is always right and that his opinion, however ill informed, always supersedes any facts that may contradict it.
jl
@TenguPhule: My best guess is that EU BSed in response to Trump BS, and Trump announced a great deal and a win. Similar to NK nuke talks, except this time, if Trump takes the BS exchange as a big win, it is, in a sense, a real win for the country.
Yarrow
@Baud: Have you addressed the rumors that you are replacing Poco as your running mate on the ticket with Corner Stone?
efgoldman
@TenguPhule: @TenguPhule: @TenguPhule: Maybe we just ought to call the late afternoon threads the “TenguPhule threads”.
Take a deep breath, Have a cup of tea,.
Aleta
@germy: Would that be the business acumen he displayed when he agreed that almost $300,000 of someone else’s money should be given to two people he had sex with?
Aleta
@Baud: That will depend on which musicians you come out for.
germy
@Aleta: Or the acumen he displayed bankrupting casinos?
Which are basically businesses where customers walk in and allow themselves to be held upside down by their ankles until the money falls out of their pockets?
Miss Bianca
@VeniceRiley: Except even if that happens, the press is going to go out and find *that one guy* – the Trump voter who insists that the tariffs are necessary, because Dear Leader says so, and hey, if he loses his job or his business over it, that’s just like WWII victory gardens. Or something.
Baud
@Yarrow: Speaking of running mates, has any Veep been out of the news for as long as Pence has?
Baud
@Aleta: All of them, Katie?
Duane
@jl: Hell, don’t park in a handicap spot at a c-store in Florida, you could get murdered.
zhena gogolia
The creators of Hamilton are getting a Kennedy Center Honor. Someone in the comments at WaPo says Pence should award it to them. Twitler and the Third Lady say it’s “too soon” to say if they’ll attend. The other honorees are Cher, Reba McIntire, Philip Glass, and Wayne Shorter.
Brachiator
@germy:
The con is starting to unravel. Trump keeps trying to sell the idea that he is a stable genius.
But the GOP leadership is getting exactly what they asked for when they kept pushing the myth that the US needed to be run like a business. By a businessman. With businessman smarts.
Yarrow
@Baud: Oh, he’s been in the news. He’s made speeches here and there. Trump and his treason tour sucked all the air out of the room and if it isn’t him it’s people like Cohen doing the same. Pence thinks he can hide. He cannot.
Capri
Completely don’t get the media’s obsession with Trump voters who are sticking by him.Of course they will. Lyndon Fucking Larouche still has committed followers.
schrodingers_cat
@Capri: They want to create a narrative that he is more popular than he actually is.
Mary G
I do love Senator Chris Murphy, he really got under Pompeo’s skin.
Yarrow
@Capri: Speaking of Trump voters who are sticking with him, this whole thread by Tom Nichols is interesting. I know people are skeptical of him, but his tale of talking to two women who are Trumpers is interesting. Some of his tweets sound like they could be from Balloon Juice.
Fist tweet and you can click through for the thread.
This though:
and this:
Yeah, pretty much.
Bill Arnold
@Betty Cracker:
Any guesses on how they’ll (attempt to) get traction on this meme outside the right-wing propaganda media outlets?
The Pompeo “Crimea Declaration” is a start (or an attempt at one), I presume. But the past 1.5 years have been pure DJT administration obsequiousness towards Putin; that backdrop will take some effort to gaslight away.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: Did you see this:
FlipYrWhig
@germy: He still has no fucking idea what a trade deficit is. And he still doesn’t understand that the stock market and the economy are different, or what either one has to do with the federal budget. It’s really astonishing how impervious he is to learning.
Schlemazel
@Baud:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUnHZAUR6hE
Steeplejack (phone)
@Baud:
You’ve got the no-pants vote.
Elizabelle
@schrodingers_cat: Exactly. And, as we bitch constantly, the Vichy Times does that so much we rib them. Why?? Bad journalism and bad hires only go so far to explain.
I wish someone would flip to Mueller or NYS AG Barbara Underwood with what’s going on in the executive offices at that paper. Or the staff’s suspicions.
Especially now that Tronc, journalism serial killer, is eviscerating the NY Daily News, which has been on Trump’s tail with outrageous covers for years.
TenguPhule
Assholes got to be assholes.
Via the FTFNYT.
schrodingers_cat
@Yarrow: I call BS on this story. First of all how does he know that they are Indian and that they are immigrants. Did he ask to see their papers? Did they identify themselves as such. Indian Americans are less than 2% of the population and that is the example of a typical T voter he comes up with.
Isn’t he also rabidly anti-HRC and a climate science denier? So he is not that different from the two nutjobs that he describes.
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
No, Race Bannon…we see you.??
He is up to his eyeballs in this mess.?
rikyrah
@Yarrow:
Which is why we need to say
Phuck ’em.?
Gravenstone
@Jeffro: Pretty sure he did rather early in his term when it was reported that her shit wasn’t selling and some retailer ostentatiously dropped her.
schrodingers_cat
@Yarrow: Not surprising dehumanizing immigrants is his one point agenda.
Dan B
@Baud: See no evil is all you ask? Leaves us with the other two monkeys: hear and speak. Yea! We’ll be keeping you on your toes alright. I want Ministry of Kittehs, get on it!
Chyron HR
@Yarrow:
Uh, sorry, Tom, but Trump supporters are actually would-be Bernie voters who were forced to vote for Trump because Bernie wasn’t on the ballot. It’s all in Their Revolution’s little blue book.
TenguPhule
So its a nothing burger designed to try and calm the markets. The trade war will merely maintain the current rate of bombardment on this front and probably not escalate until the next news cycle.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat: He did not say. It’s possible they identified themselves as such since they talked to him.
Mary G
Somebody’s chickens may be coming home to roost:
tobie
@Mary G: I like Chris Murphy, too. Haven’t watched the hearing but I’m glad he’s gotten under Pompeo’s skin.
Yarrow
@Mary G: Traitors gonna pay.
debbie
@Cheryl Rofer:
Someone must have really browbeat Trump in order to release that statement. Whoever it is, i probably hate you, but thank you for this.
debbie
@efgoldman:
Agreed, especially if you saw all the ups and downs today.
Raven
@Yarrow: well I got tired of the conference so I took the free green link all the way around downtown. I’m now at Guadalajara Centro, I know it’s a chain but it looks interesting.
Raven
Del Centro
Brachiator
@Capri:
Yep. Americans used to be more pragmatic. Maybe they still are. This needs to be shown more. And if some reporters still want to follow Trump true believers around, they should get them to respond to Trump’s failures and lies. And not let them get away with claims of fake news.
Elizabelle
In fun news, the WaPost has been checking out Maria Butina’s past at American U, which awarded her a Master’s degree in May. Maria raised a few eyebrows around the place. The Post’s question: “Wouldn’t a Russian agent have been more covert, many at the school now wonder, and have worked to keep her Kremlin advocacy under wraps?”
Maybe not.
Yarrow
@Raven: Glad you’re having fun.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: Its the media narrative portraying Rs and their president as more popular than they actually are.
H.E.Wolf
@rikyrah:
Thank you for the news of Valerie Jarrett’s 2019 memoir! I look forward to reading it as soon as it’s published.
Raven
@Yarrow: I thought about the soccer game tonight.
Mary G
Cory Booker is batting cleanup and doing a great job. He’s been talking for seven minutes without even asking a question, because Pompeo just spews crap. He finally asked a question and Pompeo is pissed. He started filibustering and Cory just talked over him and started quoting Trump on why Russian sanctions passed by Congress are bad.
All the Republicans keep complimenting Pompeo for his patience and stamina. It’s been three hours. Pussy. Hillary did eight more hours.
Yarrow
@Raven: You’re close to the stadium over there. It’ll be warm.
Bill Arnold
@TenguPhule:
Are you suggesting that Putin (or one of his people) is proving twitter assistance to the POTUS? (either language, or generated facts (e.g. a sting that records Democrats accepting Russian help) or both?) Possible, or also possibly some other propaganda talent.
I was wondering who wrote that “They definitely don’t want Trump!” tweet. (And there have been a few others in July that got people curious.)
We really need to know what DJT and VP talked about.
Raven
@Yarrow: yea that’s holding me back, that and I always stay on my feet too much at these things and I’m shot. The google map had me walking in circles finding this place.
burnspbesq
@zhena gogolia:
Glass and Shorter are great choices.
The others? Are you f’in kidding me?
Aimai
@schrodingers_cat: Why do you call BS on this story? South Asians can be as stupid and racist as anyone else. Look at Dinesh D’souza. He’s not arguing that these women are representative of Indian or former Soviet thinkers altogether. But I can readily believe that (for example) a christian south asian woman of limited intellect might be a trump supporter on religious grounds.
Gravenstone
@Elizabelle: Not sure why, but that level of brazenness reminds of the guy at the flight school keen to learn how to fly but not so interested in the landing part of the program.
otmar
@Calouste: and then there is still the 25% tax on light trucks entering the US: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax
H.E.Wolf
@noncarborundum:
Certainly! GOTV in your local area. Bring a friend or two (or six). Come on in, the water’s fine. :)
Elizabelle
@Gravenstone: Good point. People sent up warning complaints on that too; ignored. Until …
debbie
@Aimai:
I thought he was showing they weren’t the typical , aka WWC, Trump supporter.
Cheryl Rofer
@debbie: Sometimes I wonder if Trump even knows what the agencies are doing until someone on Fox complains about it.
Corner Stone
@debbie: Tom Nichols can not be trusted, period.
SiubhanDuinne
@burnspbesq:
Huge KIA plant in West Point, GA. And yes, I expect I know how most of those workers voted in 2016, and plan to vote in 2020. Sigh.
Mary G
CNN’s WH correspondent Kaitlan Collins has been banned by Bill Shine for asking inappropriate questions of the president. CNN statement in this tweet:
Are you worried about Michael Cohen and the tapes is not an inappropriate questions.
burnspbesq
@schrodingers_cat:
Congratulations on missing the point.
Yarrow
@Raven: I hate it when Google maps steers you wrong! I had that happen trying to find a doctor’s office recently. It said, “You’re at your destination” and it was still several buildings away. None of them had good numbers on them and it was a big pain trying to find them.
@Aimai: There was that bizarre Hindus for Trump rally during the 2016 election too. Even some African American women are/were Trump supporters. There are some in every group.
Baud
@Yarrow: I’ve had luck submitting corrections to Google maps. They were very responsive.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
Can’t spell “Crimea” without “crime.”
burnspbesq
@TenguPhule:
The EU is still going to file a complaint against the United States with the WTO, with respect to GILTI and FDII, and they will win because they’re right. The rage-tweets when that happens are going to be the best Evan.
Yarrow
@Baud: I did not know that was even an available option.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jeffro:
Is it your dad who thinks Valerie Jarrett was Obama’s Vice President? Apologies if I’m thinking of someone else, but if it’s you, I would chip in money for that book as a gift.
Bill Arnold
@Gin & Tonic:
Links? (Suicide can be induced.)
Mary G
Looks like Ted Cruz is sweating a bit:
Baud
@Yarrow: In the Android app, there is a menu option called “Send Feedback.”
Yarrow
@Mary G: Ha! Usually the challenger is the one challenging the incumbent to debates. Something must be up indeed.
@Baud: Thanks!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mary G: Damn, from my view in the cheap seats of the political arena, this is not something a confident incumbent does
ETA: I imagine O’Rourke and his people workshopping the moment when O’R turns to Cruz and says something like “I don’t know how it is in Calgary, but in the part of Texas I grew up in, maybe we’re old fashioned, but a man doesn’t suck up to a man who insulted his wife’s looks. He handles that a different way.”
lgerard
One hero helps another hero
J R in WV
@TenguPhule:
This is more wisdom than I expected from you, Tengu Fool. No offense meant, this is the most wisdom seen here in many a moon! As a retired person with 2x40years of IRA, 401K etc, we have investments for our old age, which we have arrived at already.
Yet, if it will harm the President and his coterie of Russian tools, I am willing to take the hit to our ability to travel and eat well that a real economic tragedy will cause. We lost nearly 40% of our investments in 2007-08 thanks to President Bush and his lack of economic foresight. It would be a personal tragedy to lose that much again.
But I’m willing to suffer that, if it puts the current President where he belongs, away.
zhena gogolia
@Bill Arnold:
I think she left a note and her friends don’t seem to be questioning that it was suicide. That’s just based on a quick glance at the Guardian article.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
Haven’t seen any of the testimony, but heard a few minutes on MSNBC in the car. He comes across as horribly arrogant and patronising. I seem to recall that he was first in his class at West Point, so he’s obviously not stupid, but listening to him on the radio I just wanted to plunge my hand through the speaker and grab him by his fucking throat. Pompous fucking twit.
dr. bloor
@Mary G: Or, perhaps, Ted thinks he’s got something on Beto and wants to hammer him over the head with it five times. Whether or not he actually does remains to be seen.
schrodingers_cat
@Aimai: Oh people of Indian origin can be awful and idiotic or both. What I was wondering was how did he know that they were Indian and that they were immigrants. Not all south Asians are Indian and not at all Indians are immigrants.
Yarrow
@dr. bloor: In a side by side debate the odious Ted Cruz is going to look even worse next to smart, good looking, charismatic Beto.
schrodingers_cat
@burnspbesq: And what was the point? That T voters are clueless and immune to reason? We already knew that without his atypical example. The average T voter is an older white male. Nearly 80% of people of Indian origin voted for HRC who Tom Nichols still finds unacceptable.
TenguPhule
Hah!
TenguPhule
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’m wondering if West Point’s standards have fallen to unacceptable levels.
Patricia Kayden
All I heard from Pompeo was “Obama did it” or “Obama didn’t do it” and nonsensical lies about Trump being tougher on Russia than President Obama. Lies. Lies and more lies.
Mary G
Happy!
NeenerNeener
@TenguPhule: Boy, I’m glad I bought my Korean hybrid back in January.
Another lurker
@TenguPhule: Who says the military doesn’t produce lying assholes?
Corner Stone
@Mary G: I can’t think of anything better than having Ted Cruz’s ultimately punchable face sweatily smeared on a TV for people who aren’t sure about voting for Beto.
Beto gains votes even if he says nothing the whole time.
MomSense
@SiubhanDuinne:
The thing I’ve noticed about these not stupid/smart Republicans is that their thinking is cramped by their ideology. Maybe they aren’t stupid but they are limited and seem incapable of taking a broader view.
Mary G
Pompeo’s all in on the Twitler stratergery:
Patricia Kayden
@Yarrow: No point in even talking with Trumpers at this point. They’re not going to change. It’s better to concentrate on GOTV efforts which target under voters (folks who sat out the 2016 election or don’t usually vote at all).
Baud
@Corner Stone: You think he has a real chance?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@TenguPhule: Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton have impeccable academic credentials, and I would bet, in Cotton’s case, a crawl space full of doll-heads and the skeletons of small animals in his parents’ house.
Pompey is just the latest, and maybe the most arrogant, of the people who thought they could be trump’s éminence grise, or grasse, and go down in history as the one who made it work.
trnc
@Betty Cracker:
My guess is that Putin said, “What are you, a moron? I’m going to be way too busy preparing for your elections. I’ll give you your orders over the hotline.”
Corner Stone
@SiubhanDuinne: Credenzas are not what they used to be.
SiubhanDuinne
@TenguPhule:
Fuck Betsy DeVos.
Fuck’er, fuck’er, fuck’er.
That fucking fuck.
Another lurker
@TenguPhule: Ha!
I just spit wine all over my keyboard!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@trnc: trump did a big prom-posal on the international stage, and Putin said, “Oh, Donald, I think of you as such a good friend, but…” He’s probably giggling about it on the phone with Xi as type
J R in WV
@TenguPhule:
Pompeo is the fattest member of Trump’s administration, which is saying something profound! And that distinguishes him from all the others.
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
He tried to spin shit into gold.
Mary G
@Corner Stone: I know! And you know Cruz is going to go with the snotty “I know better than you” attitude. He’ll try to rattle Beto, which won’t work that well because Beto was in a punk band. They are going to be on Friday nights in the fall, which means he’s hoping for not many viewers, because it will conflict with the high school football services, or has Texas changed in that regard? I haven’t had to deal with my family there since my grandmother died in 1988, but I vividly remember the Mr. Toad’s wild rides in my uncle’s Caddy with his two sixpacks of beer beside him in the 1960s as we went 110 mph to some dinky little town to see their team.
SiubhanDuinne
@Corner Stone:
Just the fax,
Ma’amSir.Corner Stone
@Baud: Beto has a puncher’s shot. He won’t win by defeating Cruz in debates. He’s going to need heavy GOTV in the South and West TX counties. They have previously failed to show up in numbers that are useful. For a number of reasons. The babies in cages and deportation force may be enough. Beto is reportedly within single digits so got to keep fingers crossed.
Beto gives good speech, and good retail interaction. But TX is still a ways away from being purple.
SiubhanDuinne
@MomSense:
A mind is a TERRIBLE thing to waste.
Baud
@Corner Stone: Fingers crossed. Taking out Cruz would be amazing.
Doug R
@Corner Stone:
Ahem! He is the head of the CIA, after all.
Citizen Alan
@Capri:
Jim Jones had a lot of committed followers too.
Corner Stone
@Doug R: He is? Did anyone inform Gina Haspel of this development?
Gin & Tonic
@Bill Arnold: Sorry, I have none in English. Here’s one in Russian, from Ukrainian TV. Reportedly she was suffering from depression, was having great difficulty making ends meet in Paris, and had argued with her boyfriend. This was all according to her friends.
efgoldman
@Yarrow:
Punchable Ted won a debating champeenship, I think in college. Prolly thinks those skills, as well as a lot of name calling, can give him overwhelming wins.
Of course his scorpion smarm will leap out of the TV screen.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne:
You can if you transliterate correctly.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
First, he says that one was Indian and one was Soviet in origin. I’m sure he didn’t ask for papers, that’s not an American social convention, while telling someone where you are from is. He didn’t select these women, they came up to him after a formal discussion, so he didn’t “come up with” anything. They were, to him, pretty typical Trump supporters, because they came up to him to support Trump.
They sounded like typical Trump supporters to me, not that I chat up Trump supporters at all. Ever. The fact that one person from India (and another from the former Soviet block) supports Trump is not surprising, there are conservatives in every ethnic group, and some of them are unwilling to perceive that their “dear leader” despises them for their ethnicity and would put them onto a cargo ship back to India in a flash.
He didn’t attack Obama nor Clinton, he just made the point that they are not relevant at all to Trump and current US government positions and policies. I’ve never heard of this guy that I recall, so I don’t know about his climate change position, which he didn’t bring up in this thread at all. But his discussion seemed very accurate to me.
Mary G
Oh, for fuck’s sake:
I didn’t think they’d really do it. This is insane.
debbie
@MomSense:
Just read the morning thread. Yikes! Is your son recovering?
Corner Stone
@schrodingers_cat: Tom Nichols also wants white Democrats to remove themselves from voters/people of color. That’s how he says D’s can win. And greatly laments any effort or attempt to reach out and build coalitions with PoC for the health of our democracy.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I think this could be the year where the candidate being a decent person might hold more sway than usual. The forever Trumpers are out, of course, but I think this administration so far over the line of decency that they can’t even see the line anymore.
I would be willing to bet $100 that Beto will win.
MomSense
@debbie:
He’s been really tired all day. He’s on a combo of antihistamines and steroids. He’s much better though. The swelling is way down so just another 24 hours of rest and observation and he should be back to his normal self.
The doctor called us today which was really nice. The hospital sent her the ER notes and she said it’s a good thing he went to the hospital. I guess his BP was not good when he got there. The pup has been stationed next to him all day. Dogs know.
J R in WV
@Elizabelle:
Poor Mariia, under attack by a left wing, er, uh, right wing? Anyway, an FBI task force, for getting help from a Republican on her school work. I’m not sure how much help he would be on Cyber Warfare, Espionage, etc…
Went to all her classes… amazing, the hardness with which she worked. Weekends in the library? Wow!!! Amazing, a topless picture of Putin on her cell phone, vodka from a glass AK, amazing! So tough for the FBI to have picked her out of the crowd in DC!!!
efgoldman
@Mary G:
All for show by the kkkrazy kkkaukkkus. Will never get out of committee
WaterGirl
@Mary G: I didn’t think they would really do it, either. Earlier today I read something on LGM or Lawfare where they talked about this effort on the articles of impeachment shows a division int the Republican caucus. For what it’s worth, the author didn’t think there would be enough votes for it to actually pass.
If you’re interested, maybe skim the titles of today’s and yesterday’s threads at those two places – pretty sure Rosenstein was in the title.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Oh, no! Off to try to find the morning thread.
WaterGirl
@debbie: For anyone else who might have missed it in the morning thread, here is a copy & paste. I copied the comment right after the one from MomSense since there was also a concerning comment from OzarkHillilly. Scary morning thread – I’m almost afraid to read the rest of it.
TenguPhule
@Mary G:
That’s why they do it.
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: And a bike accident for the Immp. Geez, you guys, could everybody maybe stay in a bubble so at least we don’t have to worry about Juicers???
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
But Republicans control the committee.
trollhattan
@Mary G:
Oh please, oh please to the infinity.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
Immp fell on his bike but thankfully no broken bones or serious injury. And Steve in the ATLs daughter was also run off the road.
Ok Jackals be careful!!! Maybe we should all stay inside with our cats and dogs tonight.
TenguPhule
So not quite as insane as first feared.
They’re creating an election slogan and possibly a paper trail.
efgoldman
@TenguPhule:
Granny Starver and the leadership control (sort of) the floor and the RWNJs
Gin & Tonic
@MomSense: I just got back from a bike ride. Thought I’d get it in before the rain. I was mistaken. But I can report that I did not injure myself, just got wet, thus helping to offset all the others from yesterday/today
TenguPhule
Well this is certainly not ominous at all. //
Via FTFNYT.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: Yikes. I suggested a bubble for Juicers and families before I had read your comment.
MomSense
@Gin & Tonic:
Glad you’re back home safe and sound. Now you’re grounded! So is everyone else!
Gin & Tonic
@MomSense: It’s a little awkward when your planned ride is a long loop (that you know intimately) and when you’re at pretty much the opposite side of the loop from “home” you feel the first raindrops. Then it’s OK, my timing was off. Followed by OK, there’s no short way of doing this.
MomSense
@Gin & Tonic:
That stinks.
J R in WV
@Corner Stone:
OK, now. THAT’s crazy enough to be coming from a right-wing nut job!! White superiority isn’t a Democratic policy, fuck this guy!
Sorry, Schrodinger for doubting your acuity on crazed nut jobs!!!
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: Yeah I am not sold on the wonderfulness of this Nichols guys or other never T Republicans. I will make an exception for J-Rubin.
ETA: I had no idea that he was racist bigot as well. He has always seemed a bit supercilious to me.
Bill Arnold
@zhena gogolia:
OK. Pictures of her spooked me a bit, and her artwork seems perhaps intended to provoke the Orthodox faithful. Am not in those circles (so not sure).
Hopefully the Paris police won’t be lazy. (Google translate in Chrome does a readable translation to English.)
Uncle Cosmo
@TenguPhule: Do or do-nut – there is no (pas)try…
Gin & Tonic
@Bill Arnold: That’s exactly what “iconoclast” means.
Bill Arnold
@Gin & Tonic:
OK, Google translate was pretty poor but it says the same. Again, I’ll assume that the Paris police are duly suspicious (what with the certainty that she offended some powerful people.)
Bill Arnold
@Gin & Tonic:
Doh. I did not know the literal meaning, thanks!
noncarborundum
@H.E.Wolf: Been there, done that. Canvassed for E. Warren a couple of weekends ago. But I want it to stop *now*.
Amir Khalid
@burnspbesq:
I think Cher and Reba are basically getting long-service awards, the arts’ equivalent of a 25-year gold wristwatch.
debbie
@MomSense:
So glad he’s better. I’ve got a nephew who carries an epi-pen everywhere, and his mother never stops worrying.