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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Grifters Gonna Grift Open Thread: David Bossie Edition

Grifters Gonna Grift Open Thread: David Bossie Edition

by | 190 Comments

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It’s no longer Honest Abe’s party… of course, it hasn’t been for many years:

… Instead, federal records suggest the Presidential Coalition has spent nearly all its money — raised mostly from small-dollar donations — on more fundraising, as well as administrative costs, which include Bossie’s salary, according to a new report produced by the Campaign Legal Center (CLC) in collaboration with Axios…

A senior Trump administration official told Axios: “The problem the president is going to have with this is 1) he does not like when people are perceived to be profiting off of him, and 2) these are not max out donors. This is money that many likely think is going towards the president’s re-election effort when it is not. So effectively every dollar groups like Bossie’s and similar groups raise is a dollar the campaign does not.”…

TL;DR from Vanity Fair:

… According to I.R.S. filings reviewed by Axios and the Campaign Legal Center, Bossie’s 527 political organization raised $18.5 million between 2017 and 2018, promising donors that the group was “dedicated to identifying and supporting conservative candidates running for office at the state and local levels of government.” …

But, shockingly, those claims were somewhat misleading. Of the $15.4 million that the Presidential Coalition spent during that period, only $425,442 (or 3 percent) was spent on candidates, political committees, or state and local ads supporting said candidates. (In contrast, the Republican Governors Association, a similar 527 organization, spent about 80 percent of its expenditures on those direct political activities.) As for the remaining 97 percent, the C.L.C. traced it directly into the pockets of the swampy, political-consultant class—including Bossie himself. According to I.R.S. documents, the Presidential Coalition spent millions of dollars on contracts with 14 direct-marketing firms to fuel fund-raising efforts, several million dollars more on postage to send said mailers and books, at least $1.1 million to telemarketing firms associated with InfoCision (which was previously accused by former employees of preying on elderly donors), and $1.2 million on donor-cultivation lists. (InfoCision has denied the allegations, but agreed to pay a $250,000 settlement to the Federal Trade Commission in 2018 over misleading practices.) Bossie himself diverted $659,493 to two of his other political organizations, Citizens United and Citizens United Foundation, from which he drew a $105,541 salary. (Incidentally, Citizens United is the group behind the Supreme Court ruling that corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns and messaging.)

“Unfortunately, these practices are not unique to the Presidential Coalition: there is a cottage industry of groups targeting vulnerable communities with self-serving borderline scams,” the C.L.C. report states. “What sets the Presidential Coalition apart is that it is explicitly—and successfully—capitalizing on Bossie’s connection with the President of the United States.”

The targets of this apparent effort were die-hard middle-class Trump supporters, many of whom happened to be elderly…

This is the sort of Mafia bust-out that usually happens when the reigning familia is tottering towards collapse. That an established professional ratfvcker like Bossie has decided it’s okay to cut into Donny Dollhand’s action is, IMO, at least a semi-silver lining for us Democrats. (Assuming we can rally enough to save our beleaguered democracy, come 2020.)

Reader Interactions

190Comments

  1. 1.

    Martin

    That sand sculpture has a very Planet of the Apes ending vibe to it.

    I’m actually opening up to the idea of grift warfare. If we can’t remove money from politics, maybe the next best option is to target that money and set as much of it on fire as we can.

  2. 2.

    VeniceRiley

    Where do I send the thank you card?
    But it IS sad these elderly Fox News victims are so far out from reality that they’re vulnerable to grifts.

  4. 4.

    Ruckus

    @Martin:
    It would certainly be a better use of it.
    I mean if they are going to spend it anyway and on hate politics, why not give them political bullshit bonfires to spend it on.

  5. 5.

    jl

    @Martin: ” That sand sculpture has a very Planet of the Apes ending vibe to it. ”

    I guess they could have buried it in the sand more. But probably too much tilting would have produced intractable wet sand stability problems.

    Still, it’s very very good, along several dimensions of very very goodness.

  6. 6.

    jl

    @Dr Ronnie James DO: Hoping for a Planet of Abes, but the GOP can’t even manage a Planet of the Ronnies. Maybe a planet of shambling fake Ronnie zombies gnawing on each other would be as close as you could come.

    Edit: ‘Ronnie’ refers to Ronnie Reagan, not Dr. Ronnie James, BTW.

  7. 7.

    rk

    So effectively every dollar groups like Bossie’s and similar groups raise is a dollar the campaign does not

    I don’t care. Why do you? The duped and the grifters deserve each other.

  8. 8.

    germy

    This is money that many likely think is going towards the president’s re-election effort when it is not.

    Good, then.

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    But, shockingly, those claims were somewhat misleading.

    Funniest damn line in the whole damn piece.

  10. 10.

    Bill Arnold

    Would it be illegal to run a group that claims to be dedicated to identifying and supporting conservative candidates running for office at the state and local levels of government, and have it spend most of the money it raises supporting Democrats? With a token amount going to loser Ra if necessary to be legal?

  12. 12.

    YellowDog

    Who does Bossie think he is, Sarah Palin? More to the point, Individual-1 is the only grifter who is supposed to profit off his name.

  13. 13.

    C Stars

    I mean, it kind of speaks to the larger question of when GOP citizens who are not grifting billionaires are finally going to see/understand how massively they are being scammed by the grifting billionaires. I get that at the current moment the GOP electorate are both willfully ignorant and sometimes just plain ignorant, but the GOP “leadership” is so increasingly crass, and so inept at being subtle or covering up its grift these days… I mean, at SOME POINT even the dumbest/most loyal person will see when they’re getting fucked over. Right, Michael Cohen?

  16. 16.

    Amir Khalid

    Manchester City 0-0 Leicester City at halftime. Fingers crossed it stays this way …

  17. 17.

    geg6

    @VeniceRiley:

    Fuck them. No sympathy whatsoever here. Fuck them sideways. I hope he took them for every penny and they end up out on the streets begging for scraps. It’s more than they deserve.

  19. 19.

    Leto

    @SiubhanDuinne: In other breaking news, water is wet, the sun rises in the east, and jalapeño M&Ms are delicious. Back you, Bill!

    So effectively every dollar groups like Bossie’s and similar groups raise is a dollar the campaign does not.”…

    How can we encourage this? Maybe if we told the griftees how dumb it was to contribute, they’d keep doing it out of spite. Similar to how the Obamas encouraged everyone to eat veggies and the right worked themselves up into a lather about kale…

  22. 22.

    FlipYrWhig

    Remember when Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher started a PAC and then when people asked what had happened to the money threw a massive shitfit about how only mindless Obama worshipers would ask such a thing? Same general idea.

  23. 23.

    TenguPhule

    @Martin:

    maybe the next best option is to target that money and set as much of it on fire steal as much as we can for ourselves..

    FTFY.

  25. 25.

    chris

    Grifters? They’re all grifters. Amazing to me just how much money is out there.

    Laura Loomer has raised 67,142 dollars on being banned from the Instagram. Nice work if you can get it.— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) 6 May 2019

  29. 29.

    TenguPhule

    @Bill Arnold:

    Would it be illegal to run a group that claims to be dedicated to identifying and supporting conservative candidates running for office at the state and local levels of government, and have it spend most of the money it raises supporting Democrats?

    Not if you apply a little weasel wording to the mission statement.

    “identifying” : money must be spent to determine which candidate truly worthy

    “conservative “: Never said it was a Republican.

    “supporting”: Never said how much.

  30. 30.

    Redshift

    @C Stars:

    I mean, it kind of speaks to the larger question of when GOP citizens who are not grifting billionaires are finally going to see/understand how massively they are being scammed by the grifting billionaires.

    All evidence points to “never.” They’ve been at it for more than forty years at least, culling their marketing lists to the most gullible. No one inside the conservative bubble will tell them, and they’ll never believe anyone outside of it.

  32. 32.

    Bill Arnold

    @TenguPhule:
    WTA smile this is fun, you were first. :-)
    Could use the dictionary defense; many Democrats are more small-c-conservative than most Republicans.
    So an org could defensibly donate to them while gathering conservative money.

  33. 33.

    TenguPhule

    The next Democratic president could face a legitimacy crisis

    I only quibble about could doing the heavy lifting for will.

    Imagine it’s 2021. A Democrat has won the White House, but Republicans control the Senate. The Democrat doesn’t just get no Supreme Court judges, she gets no judges at all; those seats can just stay vacant. Cabinet confirmations? Sorry, we’re not going to let a bunch of socialists govern. As Eric Levitz recently wrote, “do you really think Senate Republicans are going to help President Elizabeth Warren install her preferred leaders atop the Treasury or SEC?”

  35. 35.

    laura

    So unless Bossie has cut trump in for a percentage of the take, trump’s going to lose his shnit and cut Bossie out of the campaign.
    Rooting for injuries!
    btw, when I get solicitations for donations, I always ask which portion of the giving dollar goes to services and what goes to overhead. Almost all report .15 cents or less to services and the rest to overhead. Needless to say, almost all are scams. My giving standard is 85% or more to services or no dice.

  36. 36.

    Amir Khalid

    A thundering shot from Man City defender Viktor Kompany puts the ball past Leicester keeper Kasper Schmeichel. 1-0. Feh.

  38. 38.

    trollhattan

    @VeniceRiley:
    Going through my granny’s cancelled checks showed dozens upon dozens of small donations sent higher and yon. Were they legit? No idea but as a little old lady living on Social Security while feeding herself, some number of cats and the neighborhood squirrels, that check blizzard represented very real sacrifices. I dislike anybody who preys upon the elderly like this.

    She watched lots of teevee and I’m relieved never succumbed to QVC or televangelists.

  40. 40.

    Max

    I may be naive, but isn’t there some sort of enforcement mechanism to check out 527 organizations and pull their credentials for gross stealing instead of doing what their charter calls for? There are generally all kinds of regulations on non-profits. I know the IRS is now run by some Trump appointees, and was already gun shy from being lynched by Republicans for reasonable scrutiny of right wing non profits.

  41. 41.

    germy

    It's a shame the new season of GoT is happening alongside Veep, because nobody's talking on here about how dark and cynical and yet completely grounded in real events this final season of Veep is

    — Mollie W. O'Reilly (@MollieOReilly) April 30, 2019

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    @germy:
    True, so true. Jonah Ryan’s transformation into Trump at the behest of his funder is but one of several too-close-to-reality aspects.

  46. 46.

    Amir Khalid

    @Amir Khalid:
    Correction didn’t take: Vincent Kompany. Kompany’s goal made the difference and City scrape through 1-0. Feh. Feh.

  47. 47.

    TenguPhule

    @Max:

    I may be naive, but isn’t there some sort of enforcement mechanism to check out 527 organizations and pull their credentials for gross stealing instead of doing what their charter calls for?

    There was. It was called the IRS.

    Now they have neither the funding nor the manpower to do a lot of things these days.

  50. 50.

    VeniceRiley

    @Bill Arnold:

    Would it be illegal to run a group that claims to be dedicated to identifying and supporting conservative candidates running for office at the state and local levels of government, and have it spend most of the money it raises supporting Democrats? With a token amount going to loser Ra if necessary to be legal?

    How about we don’t do the illegal part? let’s just grift the money then spend the small percent doing gotv in the reddest states with uncontested races and no chance. Then we can donate part of our huge salaries to hard money for Dems.

  51. 51.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Ruviana: “Accountability Now” was Hamsher, Greenwald, and others… maybe Markos Moulitsas, maybe one of those clowns like Sirota or Stoller. Circa 2010 IIRC. Greenwald refused to hear any criticism of it. He would come around comments here and pick fights, because, of course, he is an enormous douchebag who can never admit anything he’s ever done might conceivably be less than perfect, even when it looks for all the world like he’s stuffing money in his own pockets while pretending that just being his loathsome self is a vehicle for transforming the world.

  54. 54.

    Redshift

    @Sab: I’m still in touch with Christy on Facebook. She seems to be doing okay. I think she stepped back from politics for health and family reasons, and perhaps (I’m just guessing) that when Jane went off the rails she didn’t want to either follow or criticize.

  55. 55.

    Ruviana

    @raven: @Cacti: I believe that Hamsher more or less retired and turned Firedoglake over to 2 guys who now run it as “Shadowproof.” It looks sort of like Crooked Media and is apparently still active. I know that Christy Harden Smith kept her own blog for awhile and survived breast cancer. I used to like her posts and stopped reading FDL very much after she left.

    ETA: Thanks for the clarification about “Accountability Now.” I’m also glad to read that Christy seems to be okay as well.

  57. 57.

    FlipYrWhig

    BTW my most diehard BernieBro friend is starting to despair that Sanders has fallen 30 percent behind Biden in polling. I am enjoying his incoherent attempts to grapple with the collapse of the theory that Sanders is the Working Class Hero mustache-Americans have been pining for for 50 years.

  58. 58.

    cckids

    @Bill Arnold:

    Could use the dictionary defense; many Democrats are more small-c-conservative than most Republicans.
    So an org could defensibly donate to them while gathering conservative money.

    You could also donate all of it to an organization promoting and working for voting rights; following the law and Constitution is conservative, no?

  59. 59.

    MomSense

    @FlipYrWhig:

    I am cautiously gleeful about Sanders polling and fundraising dropping so precipitously. The caution is that I don’t trust that fucker not to go scorched earth and run as an independent.

    OT question. How concerned should I be that 80 something mom has started to forget things on the stove? She’s also been crankier than usual and I’m worried we may be at the early stages of something bad. Ugh.

  61. 61.

    Chyron HR

    @MomSense:

    The caution is that I don’t trust that fucker not to go scorched earth and run as an independent.

    If it helps, 2016 proved that his worshipers wouldn’t vote for a Democrat regardless.

  64. 64.

    FlipYrWhig

    @germy: I’m not particularly a Biden fan but it’s hella amusing to see “it works in practice, but does it work in theory?” unfolding in the wannabe-left hivemind in real time. If people like Joe Biden, then they like Joe Biden, deal the fuck with it, bro. MOST BELOVED POLITICIAN IN AMERICA Bernie Sanders shouldn’t be getting 15% after all this effort and hype for 4 goddamn years.

  67. 67.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @germy: That took me a while to figure out what that idiot was trying to say. I think the wingnut singularity is starting to form were their shit is so stupid it makes no sense unless you are a wingnut.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    Alec MacGillis
    ‏Verified account
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    Follow Follow @AlecMacGillis
    More
    This v good article lays bare just how damaging it was for Hillary Clinton’s loss to be chalked up heavily to sexism and misogyny, rather than her unique flaws: voters doubting that strong women candidates for 2020 who’ve never lost a race are “electable.”

    What I love about this is the willfull blindness of political media themselves, on the sexism in their own industry.

    Fox News is a fucking cesspool of sexism. Halperin and Lauer, two of the media celebrities who were harshest on Clinton, lost their jobs due to sexual harrassment right after the 2016 election. THEIR industry has a huge problem with sexism, but they see no connection between that and how they cover female candidates.

    We think you will treat a female candidate like shit! We think that because your industry is horribly sexist! That’s a completely rational connection to make. They know their industry is sexist! The women in it complain about it and file lawsuits and get paid big bucks from Fox to keep their mouths shut. We all saw this- in the NEWS.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Her “unique flaw” was that she was a trailblazer who all the evil people in the world hated.

  74. 74.

    FlipYrWhig

    My BernieBro friend’s BernieBro friends are chalking it up to skulduggery by The Establishment, of course. Couldn’t possibly be the case that their messiah is yesterday’s news.

  75. 75.

    Plato

    House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal: "Today, Secretary Mnuchin notified me that the IRS will not provide the documents I requested under Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code. I will consult with counsel and determine the appropriate response."— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 6, 2019

    Now, what?

  76. 76.

    Kay

    In the last year, Fox has been rocked by damaging reports of misconduct by executives and on-air talent toward female workers, which have led to the removal of Fox News chairman Roger Ailes last summer, the firing of Fox News host Bill O’Reilly this spring and more than $40 million in payments to former employees to settle harassment claims.

    Is there any possible connection between the fact that political media is itself a horribly sexist business with Mad Men levels of harassment and bias against women and the fact that they do a terrible job covering female candidates?

    Any POSSIBLE connection there?

    My son’s an electrician. His girlfriend is also an electrician. She says there is horrible sexual harrassment and bias against women in the trades. However- male electricians who work in that environment do not COVER female political candidates, so we’re spared their bias in our political coverage. Not so with political media! They bring their shitty workplace norms right to the coverage and place it on female candidates!

  79. 79.

    ruemara

    @rikyrah: I miss the grace of Obama.

    @FlipYrWhig: Yep. And as I love to point out to them, explain how The Establishment is rigging the votes of the POC who think he’s nothing, then explain to me why I shouldn’t call you out for the patriarchal, possessive attitudes you’re showing to us.

  80. 80.

    Raoul

    @Kay: There is no possible connection there. Oh, and it is just so totally irrelevant that Mark Halperin wants his job back, just in time for the 2020 election.

  81. 81.

    MomSense

    I saw a snippet of Sen. Harris discussing how the media’s electability formula excludes the people of color in the Midwest. She is a breath of fresh air and has the ability to take an existing narrative and flip the script. I’m so impressed by the way she communicates.

  82. 82.

    lurker dean

    speaking of grifters, mnuchin won’t turn over the idiot’s tax returns. i sure hope nancy and company have an appropriate response to this. i think mnuchin locked in a cell until it’s released would be good.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Ron Paul endorsed Gabbard. She should put Ron Paul’s positions on her campaign website. Good Lord. They’ve really gobe full circle. They’re now far Right Republicans.

    Why is she a Democrat? Why doesn’t she run in the Ron and Rand Paul primary? I’ll tell you why- because Republicans wouldn’t take her. Democrats are the only people who will take these candidates. If she had an R after her name she would have been primaried long ago.

  87. 87.

    Dan B

    @MomSense: My mom started yo shiw the same symptoms. She was living with me so it was subtle but unnerving for me. She seemed fine to friends so it was twice as unnerving because they blamed me for exaggerating. Her doctorvsaid she was fine so, because I had medical power of attorney and an agreeable sibling we got a second opinion from a physician who actually did the cognitive function tests.

    Take care of yourself, especially your mental health. I learned from a friend whise father had early onset alzheimers. His mother died a few months after his dad. Stress can be deadly. And, you want a baseline cognitive function in order to find out if it’s just aging. The care of dementia patients has improved dramatically. It’s nearly miraculous at least in preventing the mental distress that was too common.

  88. 88.

    Roger Moore

    @Plato:

    Now, what?

    I think the correct response is to throw Mnuchin in jail for contempt and ask the undersecretary to turn over the documents. If he doesn’t, lock him up, too, and ask the next guy in the chain of command. Once it’s clear that stonewalling will result in jail time, somebody will decide that it’s OK to follow the law rather than Trump’s wishes.

  92. 92.

    Kay

    @Raoul:

    Matt Lauer was way worse than Halperin, and a hell of a lot more people saw it. So, from 1997 until 2016 we had this sexist douchebag covering female candidates but political media want to know “why, why in God’s name” anyone would ever think their COVERAGE was sexist. Oh, I dunno. Because your biggest celebrities are sexual harrassers who operated for years without any of you making a peep? Could that be it? Because they were running the coverage? Perchance?

  93. 93.

    Kathleen

    @FlipYrWhig: Reason number 1000 why I wish there were “Like” buttons. MAYBE IF I EMAIL JG COLE IN ALL CAPS TO REQUEST THAT WE MIGHT GET THEM!!!! (I’m channeling my inner David Shrillrota).

  94. 94.

    FlipYrWhig

    @ruemara: I think there’s a scintilla of a point, actually, in that I feel like a decent chunk of support for Biden is coming less from personal ardor for Biden qua Biden but through a perhaps too-clever-by-half thought process by which Biden is the guy to support because other unspecified people do or would support him, a/k/a “electability.” But the irony of all this is that Bernie Sanders supporters THINK THAT ABOUT BERNIE SANDERS. They have thought *for years now* that nominating Sanders will pull people out of the woodwork and/or will flip votes in the white working-class Midwest. If the people who Sanders is supposed to have a special connection to *like Biden better*, what’s the theory gonna be now?

    It’s not so much that I begrudge Sanders supporters for supporting Sanders — rather, it’s that they have a whole cockamamie theory of why supporting Sanders solves everything wrong with American politics through the nimbus of Bernie Sanders’s radiant specialness. Back to the drawing board, d00dz.

  95. 95.

    Plato

    In a historic first, the 2019 winners of America’s three biggest beauty pageants are all black women.

    Nia Franklin, 25, became Miss America in September, followed last week by Kaliegh Garris, 18, as Miss Teen USA and Cheslie Kryst, 28, as Miss USA.

    The wins are particularly meaningful given the competitions’ decades-long history of racism and bias.

    Vanessa Williams was the first black woman to win a top pageant in 1983

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48178007

  97. 97.

    MomSense

    @Dan B:

    Thank you!! My sister doesn’t get involved at all with the caregiving aspect of our parents so it will be a challenge to get her to help me.

    My mom can sort of rally for certain occasions but I see the full picture because she lives with me. Like you described, her friends don’t see a problem.

    Ugh this sandwich generation thing feels more like a panini.

  98. 98.

    lurker dean

    @Roger Moore: agree. enough of this lawlessness. the longer the dems are shown as weak on trump and his lackeys, the more the the idiot’s cult believes he has done nothing wrong and the whole mueller report exonerates him.

  99. 99.

    debbie

    First, awesome sand sculpture. Second, I don’t believe for one second that Bossie is only paying himself $105,000 for running those three organizations.

  100. 100.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Plato:
    Yup. And the model on the cover of Sports Illustrated is a Muslim woman from Africa, photographed wearing a hijab and a burkini.

    Saw the story about the three AA pageant queens earlier today. It reminded me of the time, several years ago now, when there was a commercial airline flight in which all the senior officers — pilot, assistant pilot, chief flight attendant, etc. — were all AA women. I like the symbolism of “firsts.”

  101. 101.

    debbie

    @MomSense:

    If it keeps happening, I would be. Crankiness is to be blamed on Trump, but forgetting stuff on the stove can turn into something worse.

  102. 102.

    Roger Moore

    @FlipYrWhig:

    If the people who Sanders is supposed to have a special connection to *like Biden better*, what’s the theory gonna be now?

    They’ll go back to their real argument: Bernie will throw the election to Trump if you don’t back him. He’s already proven his ability to do so, so it’s a plausible threat.

  103. 103.

    trollhattan

    “Quit your job and leave, and then we’ll stop, you hag.” being the obvious and only answer to this plea from one put-upon Ms DeVos.

    Some schoolyard rules still apply to political life: Bullies often win, and if you ask a group of people to stop making fun of you, most likely they’re going to continue to do so. Thus, when Education Secretary Betsy DeVos expressed frustration regarding the use of her “name as clickbait,” naturally, it made for a promising piece of short, click-inspiring journalism.

    Speaking on Monday at the Education Writers Association conference in Baltimore, DeVos told the crowd that “as much as many in the media use my name as clickbait or try to make it all about me, it’s not.” Speaking voluntarily in front of a room full of people, DeVos said, “I don’t enjoy the publicity that comes with my position. I don’t love being up onstage or on any kind of platform. I’m an introvert.”

  104. 104.

    MomSense

    @debbie:

    It’s weird crankiness though. We had an incident over the weekend about a blue handled paring knife that she didn’t recognize – somehow thought I had lost hers and bought one that was slightly different so she wouldn’t know I had lost the original one. It was really scary.

  109. 109.

    JanieM

    @MomSense: Forgetting things on the stove was one of the things my dad started doing as part of a long, slow decline that began in his mid-fifties; he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in his early sixties. This is a long story with several phases along the way, but after he died (in a nursing home, with a feeding tube, strapped to a bed, his mind gone), the autopsy showed that he had no sign of Alzheimers, but rather late-onset MS with dementia, and several TIAs. It was a very weird reframing we all had to do, even though there wouldn’t have been any effective treatment either way. If you’d like to chat via email at any point, I’d be glad to. I have the impression that if one of us were to write to a front-pager, we could get put in touch…..

  112. 112.

    plato

    Many Midwestern states are subject to new repressive voter ID laws made possible by the partial VRA repeal and intended to disenfranchise black voters. WI is a key example. If you want to win the Midwest — and more importantly have a fair election — fight voter suppression.— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) May 6, 2019

  113. 113.

    plato

    its weird that people want to wait for someone to find something that trump has been hiding to impeach him instead of just impeaching him for the shit he does in plain sight— m i t h (@ManInTheHoody) May 6, 2019

  114. 114.

    MomSense

    @JanieM:

    Thank you! Yes, that would be great to chat. I can email Adam later and ask him to put us in touch.

  115. 115.

    J R in WV

    @Sab:

    …that had lupus.

    Lupus is horrible. A beloved cousin has it; it not only affects your body and immune system, but can make you lose the ability to understand complexity… which in today’s world can be a major issue.

    So taking a step back is probably best choice of all.

  116. 116.

    JWR

    @raven:

    @FlipYrWhig: Bout the time I got banned.

    Hey, I remember you getting Banhammered by Jane! (I was a rare commenter over there, as well as here.) And to all, it was Jane Hamsher who had breast cancer, (multiple times, IIRC). and wherever she is, I wish her well.

  117. 117.

    Kay

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Remember when Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher started a PAC and then when people asked what had happened to the money threw a massive shitfit about how only mindless Obama worshipers would ask such a thing? Same general idea.

    I had a huge, detailed fight with the woman Greenwald employed at that time to do his online defense, or whatever her job was.
    She was some kind of assistant, remember that? I wonder what happened to her.

  118. 118.

    J R in WV

    @Plato:

    Vanessa Williams was the first black woman to win a top pageant in 1983

    And they fired her for having shot for Playboy in her past. Then she became a huge star on Broadway — a great comeback there.

  119. 119.

    debbie

    @MomSense:

    Did you watch 60 Minutes last night? If not, take a look at this segment. She’s a friend of mine and has become really active on public education. I had never heard of FTD until she was diagnosed with it.

  120. 120.

    MomSense

    @debbie:

    I didn’t see it. We had a Captain America binge session last night. It wasn’t all bad- he’s one of the pretty Chris’s.

  121. 121.

    Peale

    @Bill Arnold: no. The defense will be 100 or so conservative statements. Conservative dudbros who claim that the LIEbrals are the real Nazis. That the real reactionaries standing in the way of progress are the DemoRATS.

  122. 122.

    daize

    @MomSense: I’m so sorry to hear about your mom. We had a similar situation with my dad. Pretty scary, as you know. Turned out to be not dementia, but mental illness. Just wanted to suggest perhaps a senior psychiatric eval along with any cognitive tests you may be considering. Dad responded very well to Abilify, if that is helpful. Best wishes to you and your family.

  125. 125.

    daize

    @rikyrah: That is fabulous! My jaw actually dropped when I saw that! So looking forward to read Tom & Lorenzo’s reaction.

  126. 126.

    JGabriel

    Jonathan Swan via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    New: A political organization run by David Bossie, a top outside adviser to POTUS, has raised millions of dollars by saying it’s supporting Trump-aligned conservative candidates — but has spent only a tiny fraction of that money supporting candidates.

    I assume Bossie is calling his grifting organization: Act Screw?

  127. 127.

    daize

    @MomSense: I was both financial and medical POA for both of my parents. It really helped with being able to consult with doctors, pay bills, etc. You may already have these docs in place, but just in case…

  128. 128.

    plato

    Neal Katyal on letter from 400+ prosecutors: "I've never seen anything quite like it … if this were anyone else but a sitting president, this person would be labeled a felon and staring down the barrel of a federal indictment. That is really a remarkable thing." @TheBeatWithAri— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 6, 2019

    The new lows are yet to be plumbed.

  129. 129.

    JGabriel

    via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    A senior Trump administration official told Axios: “The problem the president is going to have with this is 1) he does not like when people are perceived to be profiting off of him …

    … without giving him a cut of the take.

  130. 130.

    plato

    House Ways & Means member Lloyd Doggett: "We need immediate legal action. We cannot allow this bad president to set bad precedent. If Trump once again faces only Republican silence and Democratic timidity, he will continue to erode our democracy by assuming more and more power."— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 6, 2019

  131. 131.

    TenguPhule

    @lurker dean:

    i sure hope nancy and company have an appropriate response to this.

    If the House continues to extend good faith to Trump appointees, I’m gonna have to call that as a strike against all of the Democratic leadership. Including Pelosi.

    Even the best make mistakes.

  133. 133.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    Lawsuit.

    Throw it on the pile with the rest of them.

    We’ve seen exactly how much of a shit Trump and his followers give about that,

  134. 134.

    H.E.Wolf

    @MomSense:
    You could ask the medical folks to check for a UTI, just in case that’s causing any of the problems. In older folks, UTIs will occasionally present as cognitive difficulties.
    [ETA to avoid sounding dictatorial.]

    It’s less likely than the more standard causes of cognitive issues; but a UTI is easily treatable, in contrast to some of the others.

    Sending good wishes for you and your mom….

  136. 136.

    TenguPhule

    @Roger Moore:

    I think the correct response is to throw Mnuchin in jail for contempt and ask the undersecretary to turn over the documents.

    That would require imagination and initiative.

  137. 137.

    janesays

    Mnuchin isn’t going to jail, because the only mechanism to make that happen is to invoke “inherent contempt”, a procedural tool that hasn’t been used by Congress in more than 100 years that would almost certainly set off a monumental legal firestorm. No chance in hell Pelosi is going to do that, especially in light of her rhetoric in recent days about appealing to the center. They can hold Mnuchin in contempt, but as a practical matter it doesn’t really mean anything unless DOJ decides to pursue an indictment, which obviously is never gonna happen.

    Most likely, they’ll push a lawsuit to try to get the tax documents, that very well might wind up ultimately being decided by SCOTUS. And it may not even reach SCOTUS for years. Which is less than ideal.

    The sad truth is that the Trump crime syndicate is probably going to continue stonewalling the Democrats on every front until the election, and there’s a reasonably strong chance they’ll get away with it (with great assistance from Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh).

  138. 138.

    Baud

    @TenguPhule:

    I have no idea what you’re talking about. The problem with the lawsuit is the delay, but Mnuchin isn’t going to risk contempt of court.

  141. 141.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    I have no idea what you’re talking about.

    They’re stonewalling across the board. And when the judges order them not to do shit, they keep on doing it anyway.

  143. 143.

    janesays

    @Baud: It’s contempt of Congress, and it’s utterly meaningless.

    Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress. Nothing punitive actually happens to the official who is held in contempt of Congress.

  144. 144.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    A history of wingnuts being cowards.

    Guess we’ll have to wait and see which of us is right.

  145. 145.

    Baud

    @janesays:

    I’m not talking about contempt of Congress. I’m talking about suing to enforce the subpoena. Happens all the time.

  146. 146.

    TenguPhule

    U.S. accuses Chinese of ‘reneging’ on trade commitments

    The Trump administration reaffirmed its plan to raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods on Friday.

    Anyone who didn’t see this coming who works on Wall Street is incompetent.

    Trump was never going to deal honestly with anyone.

  147. 147.

    janesays

    @Baud: True… but I have a feeling that any lawsuit on that front is ultimately going to be decided by SCOTUS. Any contempt charge by a lower federal court will be stayed until it is reviewed by the next court up the food chain. Not feeling great about that.

  149. 149.

    Pete Downunder

    Reminds me of heated exchange between crusty old judge and equally crusty lawyer:

    Judge: Are you showing contempt for this court?

    Lawyer: No, your honor, I’m doing my very best to conceal it.

  150. 150.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    I don’t think they’re bluffing. I think they’ve gone all in.

    A number of legal experts have said it would be unprecedented for Mnuchin to refuse to turn over the tax returns, as the power for lawmakers to seek the returns is written explicitly in a 1924 law.

    But Mnuchin, Trump’s former campaign finance chairman, has fought to protect the returns from public disclosure and said it would create a dangerous precedent if the returns are released. Mnuchin’s announcement on Monday appears to be his final decision in the matter, though he has hinted for weeks that he would not allow the release.

  152. 152.

    janesays

    The lawsuit’s almost certainly gonna be decided by the Supreme Court. I don’t see how to put a positive spin on that.

  153. 153.

    Spanky

    @MomSense: It’s certainly something to watch. Is she on any medications? Any new ones? Is she taking them (all) correctly? The answer to that last question gets dicey once you suspect her memory is faulty.

  154. 154.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @TenguPhule:
    Not particularly. Why can’t it be done? Mnuchin and the IRS are clearly breaking the law. Let’s actually do something real instead of fucking around

  155. 155.

    Kraux Pas

    @janesays:

    I don’t see how to put a positive spin on that.

    Well, I have a hopefully-not-misplaced faith in Roberts as respecting norms, precedents, and the law as written.

  156. 156.

    Kay

    The new head of the incredibly corrupt grift business, the NRA:

    “We’re going to work to get Donald Trump reelected, unity, and that’s primarily it, to be politically active, to bring gun-toters into the fold, to get more gun-toters to join NRA,” she told the Journal.

    “This is not [an] NRA position,” she added. “But as far as I’m concerned, I’d love to have a sign out front: ‘We have gun-toting teachers and security.’”

    WTH with this “gun toters” thing? Did they do some kind of focus group and come up with a better phrase?

    I think the nut jobs will hate it. They don’t “tote”. They CARRY. Like manly men.

  157. 157.

    Kraux Pas

    @Kay:

    WTH with this “gun toters” thing?

    They need to expand their membership beyond people who wish to fornicate with their weapons, especially given their recent financial troubles.

  158. 158.

    Ruckus

    @MomSense:
    It’s a concern. And it could be any number of things, some of which can be helped more than others. Get her checked out if she’ll go because it most often doesn’t get better but there are some treatments to slow the decline. Sorry about that but I’ve been through this twice and early help can often offer something, once you get to a certain point….

  160. 160.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??

    @janesays:
    The sad truth is that Pelosi is going to have to be pushed to take more aggressive action, like pursue an “Inherant contempt” charge, to bring these scum to heal. If that sets off a legal firestorm, so be it. It’s what’s necessary to do what is right to ensure the president is not above the law

  162. 162.

    Dan B

    @MomSense: The weird crankiness is a classic symptom. Some of it is due to personality changes that dementia can cause. It can also result from the stress of realizing on some level that you are not as capable, mourning the loss of ability, and fear for the future. Much of the therapy I experienced was getting my mother busy with things she could be successful with.

    My “thrill” was as the gay son I had lots of free time because I didn’t have kids, just a business to run, a house to maintain, and a fairly recent partner. Sorry about your sister but know that life isn’t fair and people have made it through. The medical and psychological care is much easier to locate. Hope you have hood resources in your community.

  163. 163.

    joel hanes

    @rikyrah:

    anti-big dairy ? protesters that shut down an Elizabeth Warren event for five minutes yesterday in Mason City, Iowa

    … and we’re so by-God stubborn
    we can stand touching noses
    for a week at a time, and never see eye-to-eye

  165. 165.

    Emma

    So this is what, the fourth or fifth round of Nancy is betraying us all? Anybody alive at the time of Watergate?

  166. 166.

    TenguPhule

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:

    Why can’t it be done? Mnuchin and the IRS are clearly breaking the law.

    Because its secure federal facility, Capital Police are not even going to get past the front door if Mnuchin doesn’t want them to.

  167. 167.

    TenguPhule

    @Kraux Pas:

    I have a hopefully-not-misplaced faith in Roberts as respecting norms, precedents, and the law as written.

    Forget it Jake, Its John Roberts.

  171. 171.

    Procopius

    @VeniceRiley: Let me see, what was that name again? Sounds like “vigorish.” Oh, yeah, Richard Viguerie. He’s been grifting from mostly elderly wingnuts since at least 1965. There are many people, especially on the right for some reason, who make lots of money because they own mailing lists. Right wingers, especially the elderly, seem to have an affinity for scams.

  172. 172.

    janesays

    @Kraux Pas: I’d love for you to be right about that, but his overall track record doesn’t give me much hope. His ruling in the ACA case was the exception, not the rule, as far as his jurisprudence is concerned.

  175. 175.

    Mary G

    They need to hold every uncooperative Cabinet member in contempt NOW, and prceed to impeachment of Barr and Mnuchin shortly thereafter. It’s irrelevant that the Senate won’t convict. Getting Ben Sasse and Lindsay Graham to go on record as against the rule of law will tie them to Twitler.

  176. 176.

    MomSense

    @Ruckus: @Dan B:

    Thank you. I have friends who have gone through this – I think I need to set up some support for myself in addition to getting a diagnosis for my mom.

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @JanieM:
    That is different from a disease standpoint. But it happens with neuro diseases more than people want to think because their is very little that is measurable until the diseases have progressed. Dad had signs of Alzheimers for 20 yrs before he passed and we donated his brain to UCLA because they were/are doing Alzheimers research and if it helps in any way to help find a treatment or preventative to keep others from having to go through that it is extremely worth it.

  179. 179.

    Argiope

    @MomSense: Late to the thread as usual, but urinary tract infections in the elderly can present as dementia-like symptoms.

  181. 181.

    janesays

    @Mary G: And it won’t hurt either of them in their re-election efforts in states like South Carolina and Nebraska.

  182. 182.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Argiope: Anecdata: The father of a person I know well started behaving oddly and his family and medical team suspected a stroke and then a bad reaction to drugs (he has a number of health issues and is in quite a few prescriptions). In the end, it was a UTI and, as soon as they started treating it, he showed almost immediate signs of improvement.

  183. 183.

    Ruckus

    @MomSense:
    A very good idea. Everyone who’s gone through this, whatever it is, has a different story. With dad I had a sister who agreed with me 99% of the time and we could easily work out the other 1%. Have another sister who was a huge idiot about this, denying that there was anything wrong with a man who couldn’t remember his name, where he lived or our names. I worked for and with him and he for me towards the end and that was every day for over 25 yrs. He’d light up when he saw me, he knew he was supposed to know me, he just didn’t know why.
    Like JanieM, if you want to talk/email ask a FP for my email and we’ll connect up. I’ve met a number of people with relatives in dementia and everyone and every situation is a bit different. But the more help I got the easier it was to make decisions – I held the PoAs and decisions are what you have to do. They are not all easy. Also remember that age makes a difference in how things go. A 50-60 yr old with major neuro issues is different that someone in their 80s.

  184. 184.

    Argiope

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’ll bet everyone involved experienced a huge sigh of relief. Those are the only UTIs that are ever welcomed.
    ETA: in retrospect

  185. 185.

    Suzanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: More anecdata: same thing happened to SuzMom last year. She had encephalitis eleven years ago, and she started acting just the same….confused, loss of short-term memory, etc. turned out to be a UTI. They kept her in the inpatient unit for two days and started her on Cipro. It was like night-and-day difference.

  187. 187.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    I love all of the dudes in the replies assuring each other that it TOTALLY wasn’t sexism and misogyny. Not one bit. Because only dudes can decide if someone is acting from misogyny, apparently.

  188. 188.

    Ruckus

    @Mnemosyne:

    Because only dudes can decide if someone is acting from misogyny, apparently.

    Well if one is a misogynist isn’t that rather predictable?
    Bet that’s your point.

  189. 189.

    lower podunk

    @trollhattan:

    We had the same problem with my dad. He is 87 and has mild dementia, but even before the dementia manifested was also very susceptible to any and all mail solicitations, which were many. It was endless — during one end-of-quarter mail blitz several years ago, he wrote approx. $4000 in political donations, to say nothing of the regular donations to all and sundry non-profits. My sister and I were horrified going through his check register and finally had to shame him into stopping. He was a life-long non-insane Republican, but fortunately I was able to convince him back during the Kerry campaign that Republicans were shoveling bullshit, turned him Dem and he hasn’t looked back, so the $4K above was all to Dem candidates.

    My dad had major surgery back in December, which exacerbated his dementia symptoms for a while. I have power of attorney for him, and at one point it was so bad that I called his lawyer just to check on what I would need to do to invoke that power if necessary. After clarifying that, he said it was really important to take possession of my dad’s checks and credit card (I have privileges already on both — my sister an I jointly handle all my dad’s finances). The lawyer’s point was that old people — particularly when they may not have all their faculties — are financially vulnerable people. I think in light of some comments to the effect of “serves ’em right”, it is important to realize that although some might just be fully-baked assholes, some may be vulnerable, whether from cognitive decline or maybe isolation and loneliness, and are being taken advantage of. Vulnerable people don’t deserve that imo.

  190. 190.

    lower podunk

    @MomSense:
    My dad is 87 and has mild dementia. At times he’s told me things that I know are flat-out wrong and I’ve basically told him to stop making up stories. I have come to suspect that he knows at some level, not necessarily consciously, that he doesn’t remember {whatever} and he’s trying to fill in the blanks. We’re fortunate that my dad is in assisted living and doesn’t have access to stoves. It’s hard to witness and hard to deal with and adjust. Infections of pretty much any kind will exacerbate dementia symptoms until the infection is dealt with, so that’s something to watch out for.

    It’s hard enough even with my dad in a good care facility. I would be a wreck if he lived with me. Keeping you in my thoughts.

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