As some folks in these parts are fond of pointing out, “collusion” isn’t the right word to apply to the multinational criminal conspiracy to rig the U.S. presidential election in 2016. If the clown currently driving a cart over greens at his tacky-ass Florida golf resort keeps this shit up, the word will cease to hold any meaning at all:
Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!
THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT MEDIA IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!
“Retribution” would be seriously chilling if uttered by a more competent, focused villain. In the Bizarro World we inhabit, it’s just another data point contributing to a pervasive low-grade anxiety, like the approach of a flock of diarrhetic pigeons at a post-apocalyptic outdoor food court.
Open thread!
germy
I wonder what retribution he means. A lawsuit? Protests at the next SNL taping?
WereBear
Betty, I so love you in a platonic way.
germy
Presidential
TRex
“flock of diarrhetic pigeons at a post-apocalyptic outdoor food court.”
There are many fine front pagers at this site. And then there is BC. Awesome ? ? ?
Kay
The lying raises questions, though, doesn’t it? Why would Manafort lie and lie and lie when he’s fully aware that he’s risking 20 years in prison? People say “he’s banking on a pardon” but that’s not an answer, it’s a solution to his prison problem. He wouldn’t have a prison problem if he had simply told the truth. Why can’t these people be truthful to investigators? Cannot. It’s no longer “they might be hiding something”. If you’re willing to accept the threat of 20 years for lying you are hiding something. The one and only question is “what”
Bess
It’s from Raw Story so it might be true.
NotMax
Yin and yang: Liberals can’t do talk radio, conservatives can’t do comedy shows.
;)
Awaiting the national guard being deployed to surround Rockefeller Center.
“Nobody gets in or out without a MAGA hat.”
tobie
The retribution stuff is so out of line that it’s getting all the attention. This could be because it seems to be a new word in Trump’s vocabulary and new idea planted in his head. I still find the all caps declaration that the media is the enemy of the people to be bone chilling. The problem is not just him…he’s making his rabid base even more rabid.
germy
“Today was the day Donald trump finally became president.”
tobie
@Kay:
Illegitimate President, rigged election, manipulated tallies would be my guess.
WereBear
Didn’t Hitler put comedians in concentration camps? Or was that just the plot of that never-released Jerry Lewis movie of legend?
The Midnight Lurker
I’m sitting here trying to think of something funny to write involving ‘putters’.
But the sheer avalanche of new lawsuits being filed has drawn all my attention.
Honestly… is there a law firm left that isn’t suing the President?
Luciamia
Yup, Fox News is terrible!
germy
NotMax
Just occurred to me that his ‘biggest hit on television ever*’ program was on (wait for it) … NBC. And he had no qualms cashing paychecks with a peacock on them.
*not meant to be a true description.
WereBear
@Kay: My guess is 20 years in prison sounds better than having accidents like plutonium in your tea or falling over high rise balconies.
Bess
@Kay:
Is a pardon actually a solution to Paul’s prison problem?
If he accepts a pardon then he apparently has to answer any question truthfully under oath. If he lies or fails to answer he’s going to suffer some sort of penalty. Someone claimed that his original sentence would be restored. Is that what he faces?
If it is then he’s going to have to give up whatever secret he might be holding if paroled. I can’t see why he would keep silent and sit in prison if he’s going to have to reveal down the road.
Assuming the above to be correct I can’t see any other explanation than he’s keeping quiet in order to stay alive or to keep his family alive.
SFAW
@germy:
“Will no one rid me of these meddlesome media?”
Frankensteinbeck
@germy:
He means jail or execution. He has more than once expressed how cool he thinks it is when dictators do that. If the leaks are true, he has had to have it explained to him several times that he can’t have anyone he wants arrested because the court system doesn’t work that way.
Kay
Good work by a local newspaper:
It should be easy to find out how many other states sent state employees to go kiss Trump’s ring and paid him tens of thousands in public funds for the privilege. Of course, then you have to get past the effort to block release of records. LePage blocked this for 2 years- until he was out of office.
MattF
We’re just lucky that Trump is so incompetent. Ross Douthat (yes, I know) agrees, in a column entitled ‘The Limp Caudillo’:
I can’t imagine the future President Harris or Ocasio-Cortez citing Trump as a precedent for executive actions.
SFAW
@Bess:
Not a lawyer, but I think that’s if he’s granted immunity, which is a pre-conviction phase. If he’s pardoned, it’s a post-conviction thing, and I don’t think he has to answer any questions (at least not regarding the crime for which he was convicted).
The Dangerman
Does give new meaning to the old schoolyard taunt of “you and what army?”
schrodingers_cat
@tobie: The problem is the enabling Rs in the Senate.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Imagine the reaction by the Village if Hillary or Bill Clinton threw a fit over how they were ridiculed on SNL
SFAW
@MattF:
President-for-Life SFAW, on the other hand, would gleefully point to it as I tell Traitor Turtle and his co-conspirators to go fuck themselves.
SFAW
@schrodingers_cat:
And the enabling Rs on the Supreme Court
jimmiraybob
The SNL opening made T look better than he actually did during the rambling incoherent mess at the WH announcement. He should be pleased.
hilts
Trump is a constipated, delusional neanderthal who’s getting more bat shit crazy each day. The Dems need to get their hands on his tax returns asap to see what this ratfucker was trying to hide from the public.
germy
https://www.philly.com/news/pennsylvania/trump-comic-strip-non-sequitur-pennsylvania-newspaper-butler-eagle-20190211.html
sdhays
@SFAW: I understand that he loses 5th Amendment protection with a pardon, which could lead to new obstruction of justice charges.
NotMax
@SFAW
“Tonight, on The Rusty Pitchfork Show….”
;)
jimmiraybob
@germy:
Any day now he’ll be turning the corner. Any day. Any. [looks at calendar] Any day.
OzarkHillbilly
@Bess:
2 words: Witness Protection.
BretH
Seeing Pizzagate is back in the news it strikes me if folks are wacko enough to shoot up a pizza joint based on bizarre underground whisperings how long before someone decides to take Der Leader at his word and take “retribution” on the “rigged and corrupt enemy of the people”.
MattF
@germy: Yeah, it was deliberate and vulgar, no question. Not a problem for me, but I can see your typical comic strip editor turning an interesting shade of purple.
danielx
@WereBear:
An image to be reckoned with.
There are three things I have figured out about the Doucherocket-in-Chief – well, okay, four.
1. On any issue – taxes, foreign policy, used tire disposal, you name it – his first thought is: how does this affect the welfare and net worth of Donald J. Trump? How it affects other people never enters into the equation.
2. How will my public reaction look to the mouth breathers who love me? Like it matters, he could tell them it’s a matter of national importance that they all be buried head down in a large pile of horseshit and they’d still adore him, would in fact hand him the keys to the frontloader.
3. There are no rules that apply to him – none. There never have been, from the day he was able stand upright and enunciate words. Rules are abstract concepts and hence not even worthy of acknowledgement, because why should abstract concepts stand between him and what he wants? Laws, rules, regulations, norms, morality, simple human decency – all things for little people, not for him.
4. He does not give a rusty goddamn about the short or long term consequences of his actions as long as it appears to his base that he is winning. Anything that happened before he became president is irrelevant, because it didn’t happen during the Reign of Trump and if he’d been there things would have been different. Anything that happens after he is gone doesn’t matter, because – he’ll be gone, so who cares?
How is it a third of the populace hasn’t seen through the bluster and bullshit to the gaping emptiness and maw of need – no, no, it’s too early for this. Must let blood pressure subside.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Jesus, the SNL bit with Baldwin wasn’t even that sharp, or funny. Maybe he’s pissed about the Weekend Update bit where “Nancy and Chuck” were struggling not to gloat about Wall, which was all right, not quite razor sharp.
Kay
@MattF:
This is an excuse to cover the fact that conservatives in Congress won’t stop him and either will conservatives on courts.
It’s a bizarre argument. It starts with the assumption that the only thing that can stop the President is the President’s personal beliefs about separation of powers and ethics and restraint. That’s not true. It’s the whole reason we three branches. They want us to believe we are wholly vulnerable to the whims of this idiot they hired. We’re not. We have two other branches who are supposed to kick into gear in just this scenario.
He’s protecting Republicans. It’s a kind of triage they do. When the President acts badly they all take to the editorial page to explain why the President isn’t really dangerous. They do that because they protect the Party.
We have process protections. We don’t actually have to rely on Trump’s incompetence and stupidity to be protected from him. That’s false.
schrodingers_cat
T threatens the media everyday and they in turn continue to be his lackeys, carry his water and are repeating their stunts with D nominees. Watch Garbage Times coverage of Kamala Harris now and Beto during the run up to the midterms.
JPL
@Bess: If pardoned, Manafort can be brought up on state charges. He might be able to post bond, and then he could tie up the case in court. In other words, I have no idea what will happen to him. I do think that not only him, but his family would be in danger.
Walker
@MattF:
Actually, Douthat is trying to normalize the declaration of emergency by claiming it is the same as an executive order. Or the passing of the ACA.
Patricia Kayden
So Trump demands retribution against a tv network for mocking him and Republicans and the MSM shrug and carry on as if this is normal. And Republicans such as Lindsay Graham are demanding that the entire GOP stand with Trump to defend his “emergency” power grab.
Thank goodness for Mueller and the Democratically controller House.
danielx
“THE RIGGED AND CORRUPT MEDIA IS THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!”
…but only when saying unkind (that is, true) things about him. He needs media attention in much the same way as he needs oxygen.
schrodingers_cat
And NBC gave the failed casino owner his second chance.
Patricia Kayden
@Walker: The ACA was passed by Congress. It wasn’t a presidential declaration. Republicans successfully challenged some of President Obama’s Executive Orders as Douthat must know.
Betty Cracker
@BretH: There was that addled MAGA nutcase in FL who sent bombs to political and media figures demonized by Trump. Luckily, he was also an incompetent boob, so no one was hurt.
Patricia Kayden
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Trump doesn’t like any criticism no matter how mild.
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Weekend Update also said the president did a twenty minute impression of a coke addict. Personally I thought that segment was better than Baldwin’s.
MattF
@Kay: I agree that ‘It’s not as dire at it looks’ is not a helpful argument. But I think there’s a degree of truth to it. One should not suppose, though, that authoritarian right-wing judges and legislators will feel much embarassment about kowtowing to Der Trump.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@The Midnight Lurker:
And are the law schools doing their part to train our next generation in this new and growing area of US law?
Villago Delenda Est
As I have mentioned before, after we get out of this stuck ditch we’re in, a truth and retribution commission will be needed to deal with the Trump Crime family, the GOP, and the vermin of the VIllage who have enabled them.
schrodingers_cat
@MattF: @Kay: It is hard to feel sorry for the media when they act as handmaidens for the R agenda all the fucking time. And no I don’t speak of Fox News or Brietbart I speak of our prestige media like NYT, NPR, PBS, Atlantic etc.
ETA: I happened to see Jowls of Concern and Humble Brooks on Friday and guess what they were worried about overreaching liberals with their Green New Deal. On the day the fake emergency was proclaimed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ah yeah, that was pretty tough, I was a bit surprised they went there.
danielx
@Kay:
Don’t know why he’s bothering, from what I’ve read it’s easier to have someone hit in prison than it is on the outside.
schrodingers_cat
@Villago Delenda Est: He is their (NY media) creature, they built him and nurtured him and foisted him on us.
lamh36
Well played Don Cheadle…well played!!!
????????
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@BretH: Already happened in Annapolis. Took the life of Carl Hiassen’s brother. Also a woman who was memorialized in a real tear-jerker of a story by a colleague who used to cover some silly annual event with her. I can’t remember enough details to find that article, but the women who died were Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters.
Yarrow
@schrodingers_cat:
Mark Burnett handpicked Trump for the role. Mark Burnett is also friendly with Putin and wanted to do a reality show about him. The traitors are everywhere.
MomSense
@The Midnight Lurker:
While the president putters
His MAGA base nutters
Ok Subaru Diane – your turn.
matt
This has a real Act 3 vibe to it. God I hope we’re getting close to kicking Trump out and giving him court-ordered swirlies until he dies.
Kay
@danielx:
He’s bothering because whatever he’s lying about is worse than what will get him a 20 year sentence.
It isn’t always true that NOT lying to investigators settles the issue. For lower status people it often doesn’t, even if they’re innocent. But for these people? They get the Cadillac justice system. If he could tell the truth and get out of this, he would. His lawyers would tell him to do it. They would give Mueller anything he wants if what Mueller wants would exonerate Manafort. Their job is to get him out of this, and that’s the easiest way to do it. They haven’t. Instead they’ve lied and covered up at every turn. There isn’t any doubt that he’s hiding something. He’s been indicted for a year. Any benefit to withholding anything is long past. If they could, they would. They can’t.
SFAW
@NotMax:
Tempting though that might be, I don’t do “reality” shows.
rikyrah
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Don’t forget Don Cheadle closing the show in an old school red Russia
CCCP hockey jersey
With TRUMP 45
On the back
?????
MomSense
@Kay:
I’ve heard some other horrible stories about misappropriation of federal Medicaid funds and other corrupt things. It’s all going to come out because our new governor is wicked smart and was a tough AG. One of my friends is one of the top criminal defense lawyers in the state and he says that his colleagues all respect her. LePage was so egotistical I think he actually believed he was in the running for a cabinet position in the trump administration.
plato
@Kay: He is betting on totus thug’s pardon. The ultimate get out of the jail card. Nothing else.
Baud
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Not much imagination required. The Village hounded her for accurately calling out the vast right wing conspiracy. She was always Cassandra.
Baud
@MomSense:
I was going to ask how you are enjoying the fresh Maine political air. Must be liberating.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@schrodingers_cat: Much of the MSM seems to relish their role as Trump’s heel in Trump’s big MAGA show. It’s very easy and profitable for those in the boardroom – and who cares if a few worker bees get hurt or killed along the way, when the living is this good? (Yes, they’re that immoral and short-sighted.)
If they’d had their way, we wouldn’t have elected and re-elected Obama, and wouldn’t have given Hillary a majority of the vote. They can be beaten – we’ve done it before and we’ll do it again!
Baud
@rikyrah:
And we’re going to go all Miracle on Ice on Trump’s corrupt ass.
randal m sexton
@SFAW: The version I recall of this is that if he accepts a pardon for crime X then he cannot be prosecuted for testifying about crime X. So if he is put under oath, and then LIES about crime X then that is a new crime, or if he lies about crime Y that is also a new crime. So the pardon can defintely be problematic.
Kay
@MomSense:
This whole thing about Harris being a prosecutor ignores white collar crime. Prosecutors can be really useful. The Massachusetts AG went after the Sackler family. That’s law ‘n order too. It’s just the law ‘n order argument conservatives never make. Elizabeth Warren with her “cop on the beat”? She wasn’t talking about drug raids. She was talking about financial crimes.
sheila in nc
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: The Capital Gazette shooting in Annapolis was a personal grudge, not related to politics:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/02/us/annapolis-shooting-woman-harassed.html
Kay
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
They’re not all benefiting from Donald Trump. Only the extreme upper tier are benefiting. Media is like every other sector- there’s the haves and the have nots. About 1500 people in media are benefiting from Donald Trump. The rest are not, and they’re at some additional risk from his fans.
MomSense
@Kay:
It’s infuriating. I saw a tweet recently that said something like Hillary defended criminals. We were told she was cruel to victims. Harris prosecutes criminals accused of terrible crimes. We were told she was cruel to perpetrators. Now they’re going after Harris for pandering by using hot sauce just like Hillary did.
The fact is that black communities became livable because of the way Harris handled her Office of District Attorney. Law enforcement was furious at her. How do we know she was successful? White people wanted to move in to those communities.
It’s just misogyny. People are comfortable with men seeking and holding power but when women seek power they automatically become suspect. They are conniving or power hungry or shills for corporate power – whatever. It can never just be that they are experienced, ambitious and capable people who believe they can do some good and govern well.
debbie
Good to see that Alec Baldwin’s interpretation of Friday’s Rose Garden remarks has sent Trump ravening for “attribution”!
MomSense
@Baud:
It has been amazing. Get this- she actually has chosen cabinet members who are experts in their fields!
Kay
@MomSense:
I wonder about, quite frankly. I saw a photo of a protest outside a Harris event and it was composed exclusively of 7 white people. 5,000 black people inside and 7 white people outside is an odd thing, don’t you think, when it’s supposedly rank and file black voters who are upset with her.
debbie
@tobie:
I believe he meant to use “attribution,” as in not citing sources or leaks. But, his nature is clearly one favoring “retribution.”
MomSense
@Kay:
It’s berniestans and Russian bots who are pushing this bullshit online. You should see the fuss they are making about Harris using hot sauce at a BBQ joint. When you point out that there is a bottle of hot sauce on every table in the restaurant you get so much stupid and hate.
Barney
Cesar Sayoc: Trump slams the media as ‘the true Enemy of the People’ days after CNN was targeted with mail bombs
Greg Gianforte: ‘He’s my guy’: Donald Trump praises Gianforte for assault on Guardian reporter
Unknown, uncharged MAGA fanatic: Trump supporter attacks BBC cameraman at El Paso rally
This is who Trump (or a flunky tweeting for him, since he’s a lazy SoB) is aiming the tweet at. He wants the base good and rabid, like Gianforte. He wants them to ignore anything the media says about Trump that’s uncomplimentary, and for the media to have to literally look over their shoulders for attacks, rather than reporting on what Trump does.
debbie
@lamh36:
Wish I could have stayed up late enough to see that!
Baud
@MomSense: OMFG!
@MomSense:
I missed HotSauceGate.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@MomSense: My friend Roseann DeMoro went on a pre-emptive strike against the DNC yesterday, claiming that Bernie’s been robbed before he’s even declared. It included the rather singular notion that the MSM was in the tank for Hillary Clinton. As I recall it was no less than Russert Wannabe Chuck Todd, whose wife worked for Bernie, who put the WALL STREET SPEECHES! bat into Bernie’s belfry
StringOnAStick
@Betty Cracker: But didn’t that guy’s bombs close some Florida mail distribution facilities and that resulted in thousands of ballots not being counted since they were in those places and not postmarked or delivered in time? I find that super suspicious, though even if he was a lone nut job this pointed out something some coordinated nutjobs could do to make sure a bunch of mail-in ballots don’t get counted in 2020.
Sherparick
@tobie: Another impeachment charge for violating his oath office.
MomSense
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s insane in the membrane. My mom used to talk about how the DNC rigged the primaries but when I asked for exactly how – it was vague debates closed primaries nonsense. The states run the elections and the DNC held the same number of debates as before. It was all just Russian promoted bullshit.
Baud
@MomSense:
Yeah, and I got in trouble with a bunch of folks here for dinging EW for endorsing that lie that one time (in 2017).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: there seems to be a lot of people ready to push back on Dems sniping at other Dems. I hope that holds true through the primary. I’m open to Amy Klobuchar, but why she felt the need to take that gratuitous swipe at HRC about Wisconsin is a mystery to me. Who’s the audience for that?
Yarrow
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Flyover country residents who feel they’re overlooked in favor of people on the coasts?
Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Stupid people who listen to NPR.
MomSense
@Baud:
No trouble from me. I’ve been vocal about not supporting Warren or Brown.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s one of the things I’m watching for. Candidates who think they can be successful by allying with Dem haters.
schrodingers_cat
@MomSense: Her mother is Tamil, like husband kitteh. They serve dosa (lentil-rice pancakes) with a mix of hot spices affectionately referred to as gunpowder. Kamala could probably drink that hot sauce without breaking a sweat.
ETA: One usually mixes gunpowder with a flavored oil of one’s choice like for example coconut oil or mustard oil or sesame oil to further enhance its flavor.
MomSense
@schrodingers_cat:
Oh yeah. There were also people pointing that out. I also said that I remembered there were articles about Hillary as First Lady having hundreds of bottles of hot sauce in the White House. These are bots and/or stupid people who have their own reasons for promoting something so stupid.
It reminds me of Obama’s tan suit/orange juice/arugula/feet on the desk/jeans in the Oval Office.
Uncle Cosmo
@lamh36: Complete with the backwards “R”. Ochin horosho!
Uncle Cosmo
@Baud: “Manacles on Ice”…?
Skepticat
@Kay:
And I was so hoping I could forget and stop hating on LeRage once we left for Florida. Now he says he may come run again if he doesn’t like what Janet does. And MomSense is spot on when she says he thought he’d get a cabinet post.
@germy:
Have I mentioned lately how much I love Wiley Miller?
oatler.
I wonder if said publisher dropped “Dilbert” because of Scott Adams’ stupid- proud Trumpiness. I’m assuming not.
Martin
Yeah, like how they convinced the country a narcissistic asshole was really a great business man?
leeleeFL
@TRex: Ms. Cracker is the absolute BOMB DIGGETY!
Tehanu
@germy:
The L.A. Times did the same thing. Upsets me because — though I didn’t see the jibe in question — Non Sequitur is one of my favorite strips.