The President, in the course of one day, stabbed an ally in the back, then warned another ally that defying his "great and unmatched wisdom" will lead to the economic destruction of his country's economy.
On Putin's birthday.— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 7, 2019
So we’re all agreed that Trump surprising the Pentagon with an enormous decision was just Putin grabbing what he can before the cops show up, right?
— Boo-risma Executive Board Member (@agraybee) October 7, 2019
In Trump’s heirarchy of values, Putin always beats the Senate GOP.
— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) October 7, 2019
Everything @realDonaldTrump does on the world stage benefits Putin.
Everything Donald trump does that benefits Putin is enabled by the Republican party.
Get your rulers out and draw the lines.
— Andrew Gatto (@AndrewGatto) October 7, 2019
Reporters need to ask every House & Senate Repub what they think of this, if it concerns them the CiC is not in touch w reality
AND DONT LET THEM ESCAPE!
“I haven’t read/heard that, I can’t comment”
“You have heard it, I just told you what he said. What do you think about it” https://t.co/4DiDHWwVhP
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) October 7, 2019
The entire Republican Party is out to set the Guinness World’s Record for hostage video.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) October 5, 2019
Waiting for the hot take that says Trump is distracting from impeachment by inviting a genocide against the Kurds. He's not. This is just what happens when your serial criminal president is also a traitor, serves Russian interests, doesn't understand foreign policy & is immoral.
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) October 7, 2019
“Nobody wants to be the zebra that strays from the pack and gets gobbled up by the lion,” a former senior administration official said in assessing the current consensus among Senate Republicans. @philiprucker @costareports https://t.co/R7YXo8vyu2
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) October 6, 2019
And they’re just cowards, not zebras.
— Truth Not Lies?????????? (@TruthSeeker801) October 6, 2019
None.
I think they come by it naturally. https://t.co/XPz7sqCU1h
— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) October 6, 2019
Frowny-face emoji employed!
JUST NOW From a Fla. member of the G.O.P and a veteran: "If there were any other viable Republican candidate for president I'd vote for him rather than Donald Trump after what he did to the Kurds." @realDonaldTrump
— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) October 7, 2019
The private conversations with elected Republicans have always been more hostile than what they say in public. They are decidedly more hostile after the last 72 hours.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) October 7, 2019
Republicans are not speaking out publicly against Trump — that has not changed.
But in the last 24 hours or so, many senior Republicans who are very friendly with Trump have completely shut down and stopped defending Trump off the record.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 4, 2019
Can’t wait to hear from all these “Republicans in private” who say they’re concerned about Trump’s actions. What a story they’ll have to tell when he’s out of office, there’s book money to be made and no political costs to them.
— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) October 5, 2019
This is what I don’t get. Where are the GOP senators not up til 2022 or 2024, when Trump is likely gone and disgraced? If one steps forward now, he or she would take some heat now but could be president in 2024 or 2028. https://t.co/UAMoahKT3O
— Jonathan Alter (@jonathanalter) October 6, 2019
We’re gonna see some anti-anti-Trump takes soon to the effect that he’s obviously not well and therefore it’d be best not to destabilize him further by impeaching him
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) October 7, 2019
Raoul
To the point of that Dana Houle tweet:
Keithly
Ah, but you forget, Donald is a dove, Hilary is a hawk.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ll believe it when I see it , but it’ interesting that at least one of Willard’s ‘advisers’ put this out :
Stuart Stevens is vocal never-trumper, as most the marquis-name “adviser” types seem to be
Ken
@Keithly: Coward, not dove.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Raoul: Trump’s just jokin’ around. You liberals don’t have a sense of humor. //
Adam L Silverman
You missed one!
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Waiting on Mitt Romney to lead with leadership because he’s a leader is a sucker’s bet. Expecting Ben Sasse or Susan Collins or Corey Gardner to put their necks on the block should he actually do something is even more of a sucker’s bet. Each and every one of these senators, as well as others that furrow their brows or tut tut and express concerns, could have put a stop to this any time they wanted. Each individual senator, especially when in the majority, has the power to do that.
Jeffro
Tanden’s and Gatto’s tweets say it best: everything trumpov has ever done or said (minus Kanye tweets) has been pro-Putin.
Why is that?
Where are the tax returns? Who is propping up this epic business failure, this bankruptcy king?
I forget who first posed the question, but…ok, let’s say he’s innocent, sure sure sure. He’s not Putin’s puppet. But if he WERE Putin’s puppet…what exactly would be any different? Anything at all? No? Well…does THAT tell you anything???
Four years now we’ve been fighting this traitor and his utterly corrupt un-American enablers. Sure would be nice to get back to something resembling the rule of law in this country, much less a shared understanding of American values.
Failing that: fuck ‘em and bring me my bat.
NotMax
Connect the dotskis.
Anne Laurie
@Adam L Silverman: Actually, I *saw* (& saved) that tweet, but I figured you’d cover it better than I could. And if you didn’t have time, I’d have paired it with this in a tweet tomorrow:
jl
Alter’s tweet:
“This is what I don’t get. Where are the GOP senators not up til 2022 or 2024, when Trump is likely gone and disgraced? If one steps forward now, he or she would take some heat now but could be president in 2024 or 2028. ”
I’ve been wondering about this myself. You can see who they are below, look under ‘Terms of Service’, class I and III Senators
jl
@jl: Oops, forget the link
https://www.senate.gov/senators/qualifications_termsofservice.htm
TS (the original)
@Adam L Silverman:
Given there is close to zero left of the transatlantic alliance – trump is just removing the minor strings still holding it together. Looks like the next grand meeting will be of the G6
Gvg
Our democracy is designed to require collective action. It is not supposed to just be each man acting on his own behalf, or just his own constituents. If apparently doing nothing Senators are gathering the votes to do thing privately, they are doing their jobs. I kind of doubt it, but they should be. Publicly mouthing off and casting 1 vote, may feel good, but do nothing. Just like we complained Pelosi wasn’t doing anything but she had to gather the votes…..IF Republicans actually care, they should be talking together and it will work a lot better if about 10 are say they are willing to listen to impeachment. Frankly we are all feeling panicky and could use some reassurance though. Another move they could make is against McConnel, to unset him.Another option would be 4 Republicans defecting to pick a democratic majority leader. I don’t think that is likely but maybe if Trumps actions get scary enough.
I have been wondering about a Trump lame duck period if he isn’t impeached but does lose reelection. That seems to me to be dangerous.
Jay
It was made pretty clear today that Dolt 45 is either a Russian Agent, or Asset.
NotMax
@Jay
I believe the technical term is stooge.
Adam L Silverman
@Anne Laurie: Cheryl wrote a post on the Open Skies treaty back in August:
https://balloon-juice.com/2019/08/17/disinformation-watch-the-open-skies-treaty/
I wrote a post on Russian attempts, aided by Manafort, to coopt the Kurds back in September 2017:
https://balloon-juice.com/2017/09/25/todays-independence-referendum-in-iraqi-kurdistan/
HalfAssedHomesteader
It’s interesting that none of the Republicans want to be the lone zebra to cross Trump while the obvious solution is for them to stand together and cross him. This suggests to me that they all despise each other on a personal level.
Aleta
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Romney will save the day! We just have to trust him and wait. His silence means he knows what to do. When the time is right.
HumboldtBlue
This will be the third time in a week I have linked to a story about Allyson Felix and that’s because she is a pretty damn amazing woman.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Russia was less than successful (to them) in trying to co-opt Montenegro in order to disrupt both NATO and Europe, gambled on going for all the marbles (us), and hit the jackpot.
Anya
@Adam L Silverman: Holy crap. How does this not get a wall to wall coverage? Doesn’t this give us proof of Trump doing Putin’s bidding?
Aleta
@Gvg: very well said
Ceci n est pas mon nym
That actually sounds like something a General might have told him to avoid some order to shoot somebody. “Sorry sir, our bullets are back-ordered. We’ll be sure to tell you when the UPS guy gets here so we can carry out that order.”
The problem is that he believed it. He’ll be so mad if he finds out it wasn’t true.
Jay
Steeplejack
“But vote for a Democrat—ever?! That’s crazy talk!”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
tens of millions
Uncle Omar
Has anyone suggested that it might just be tertiary syphilis? That perhaps the nasty little germs might have finally reached the paydirt that is the Trumpian brain? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: This is true.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Uncle Omar: you’re saying trump and Giuliani were clients of the same escort service in the 90s?
I’ll allow it
Jay
@NotMax:
A stooge does not have agency.
Dolt 45 is not a Russian “stooge”, he’s either a Russian Asset or an actual Russian Agent.
zhena gogolia
@Jay:
I forgot that that also happened on Putin’s birthday.
Adam L Silverman
@Anya: The whole point of the President turning his administration into a bizarre, 24/7365 outwardly directed panopticon is to overwhelm everyone with information. To make it impossible to track, let alone process, all of it. And to make it impossible to discern what is true and factual from what are lies and disinformation. The point is to confuse everyone to the point where they just give up in frustration because if nothing is true, anything is possible. From the penultimate paragraph of my last paid column for the digital news start up that can in Colorado:
https://arkvalleyvoice.com/thinking-security-russian-disinformation-counterintelligence-implications-and-the-whistleblower-complaint/
Fair Economist
@Gvg: Well, let’s imagine some Republican Senators care about morality, the country, or their oaths of office.
Stop snickering! It’s a thought experiment; we can imagine wildly implausible things.
If that were the case, sure some should hide their cards like Pelosi did, but others in safe seats should be pushing public opinion like AOC did. This kind of thing needs a team effort. We aren’t seeing that.
Jay
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
My pet theory is that what took place in Montenegro was a dry run, kicking the tires and running the shiny new Agitprop Turbo around the block a few times to check on how it performed.
Gvg
I feel stressed and helpless. I found this collection of funny animals licking glass to help cheer me up today if anyone else needs it
I hope this link works. I am not sure it looks right.
Try again https://cheezburger.com/9396741/glass-windows-are-delicious-just-ask-these-animals
Adam L Silverman
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: No, it is a deliberate misquoting of Mattis from when he was the CENTCOM Commanding General. When he testified before the Senate that if they continued to defund the State Department, then he would need to buy more bullets.
Jay
McClatchy was one of the few media sources in 2002-2003 not selling the bullshit.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: There were several before Montenegro.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jay: I had a thousand dollar bet with myself that it was Mother McCain
in other RCP news: h
Mike in NC
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Shocking.
Matt McIrvin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t quite understand the whole “non-partisan” business–if you read their news links it was pretty clear it was a right-wing site. They tried not to be egregiously gross there, though.
The Lodger
@Anne Laurie: Wait a minute. When did Kurdistan become an actual country with a prime minister?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
From Jonathan Chait’s review of James B Stewart’s new book
On the Lawrence O’Donnell program, Stewart says Rosenstein brought up the 25th Amendment more than once, and led people to believe he had the support of Kelly and Sessions. I believe Stewart has a good reputation. It would be great if, at the very least, the revelations make Rosenstein and Kelly’s lives miserable.
eta; @Matt McIrvin: yeah, people on twitter pushed back pretty hard on that, I was happy to see.
Jay
Bobby Thomson
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “non-partisan”
Yeah, right, they’re as non-partisan as Instacracker.
VOR
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I suspect we were low on inventory for something unique, like the MOAB or a bunker buster bomb. And Trump didn’t listen to details and expanded it to not having any ammunition at all.
Matt McIrvin
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: “Since I became President the Air Force has got skyhooks. Skyhooks! They come to me and they say, Sir, we tell all of our new recruits to go get some, they’re so amazing.”
jl
@The Lodger: ” Wait a minute. When did Kurdistan become an actual country with a prime minister? ”
Part of Kurdistan is an autonomous region inside Iraq, and it has a political leadership. I didn’t know Barzani is the Prime Minister, or even if they have a Prime Minister. So, I am confused by the tweet. But I think it is talking about the autonomous Kurdistan region inside Iraq.
Edit: Wiki article on Barzani says he was president of Kurdistan. Not sure what he is now.
hotshoe
I’m so angry about this I can’t think.
All of us have/had someone in our circle, family or friends, who risked injury — or died — defending what we thought were the ideals of this nation.
How dare those ReThugs sell out our allies and sell our nation?
Every single R politician, and every single R voter as well, deserves a long and painful life in prison to regret their treachery.
I don’t even hate the Russians. They’re just doing what comes naturally, on their own side.
I hate the Americans.
God it makes me so angry to have come to the point where I hate so many of my fellow citizens. Goddamn their eyes.
Jay
@The Lodger:
Kurdistan has semi autonomy with a President and Prime Minister.
However, there were supposed to be elections in 2015 which have not happened yet.
Jay
Adam L Silverman
@The Lodger: It isn’t. What it is, since we reestablished the Iraqi government, is a semi-autonomous region within Iraq that basically has home rule and has the constitutional prerogative, guaranteed in the Iraqi constitution, to secede and form an independent state. They have not yet exercised this option, but one day they will.
Adam L Silverman
@Bobby Thomson: I believe that’s Instaputz. I do not believe he is a relation of BettyC’s.
Jay
NotMax
@jl
Government and both major parties of Iraqi Kuristan have more Barzanis than Heinz has varieties.
Adam L Silverman
@jl: He’s the president. The tweet got his title wrong. Basically, back in early 2004 the two largest clans/families with the two largest Peshmerga, divvied up responsibilities. The Barzanis would remain localized in what is now Iraqi Kurdistan. They would run it and their Pesh would serve as the home guard. The Talabanis would represent Iraqi Kurdistan’s interests in Baghdad. Jalal Talabani became one of the Deputy Prime Ministers, specifically the most active and powerful one. And the Talabani Pesh would make up about 1/2 the Iraqi Army.
Jay
Yarrow
@jl: I had a look at the list. At least half of the Republicans on the lists I can identify as likely beholden to Putin, so they’re not going to say anything. Who knows how many more are. I wouldn’t necessarily have thought Ron Johnson was until the July 4th trip to Moscow so there could be some who are keeping a lower profile.
It’s also worth considering who their donors are and who those people and organizations are beholden to. Not a lot of daylight between the NRA and Russia, for instance.
stinger
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: If the tippy-top general says it, it must be true. TTGs outrank GENs.
KSinMA
@Yarrow: Wouldn’t it be timely if somebody could make all that information public??
(Oh and a pony too, please)
Jay
mrmoshpotato
@Steeplejack: I was just about to say, “SPOILER ALERT: But he’ll vote for Dump in 2020 because ‘Eeeww, a female President.'”
(Yes, I am assuming nominee Warren or Harris.)
Mary G
@Jay: The people Castro was escorting were supposed to be excepted from the “wait in Mexico” program, but the stormtroopers on the ground ignored their paperwork and threw them out anyway.
@hotshoe: Me too.
Keith P.
@VOR: IIRC we were running out of depleted uranium shells during W’s time. Maybe Trump is digging that one up?
mrmoshpotato
That’s nice, Erick son of Erick. What’s your fucking point? Prehaps you’d like to call all Rethuglicans a bunch of chickenshit cowards? No?
It was obvious at the convention 3 years ago that Colorado’s delegates did the right thing when they walked out.
ETA – I’m sure they all did the wrong thing in the anonymous voting booth come November however.
Jay
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
The 800 pound gorilla in the room being a mutually agreed resolution to the status of Kirkuk.
mrmoshpotato
@Ken: Fat, orange, Fascist, Soviet shitpile, mobster conman, not coward.
Jay
@Mary G:
Yup, y’all got some SS in the house.
Abolish ICE and reeducate the CBP.
mrmoshpotato
@Gvg:
Yes. Those 2.5 months will be the most dangerous in modern American history. Truly, TICK TOCK MOTHERFUCKER!
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
I do wish people would quit inserting “fat” as some kind of essential, obvious failing. Downhill Donald has enough negatives inseparably attached to him without assigning opprobrium to avoirdupois.
Quite a few on ‘our side’ are not exactly runway models (short of shoring up the runway supports).
Jay
Just Chuck
@Keith P.: Aren’t we phasing DPU out in favor of tungsten? Not like details like that would matter to the gibbering shithead-in-chief…
Yarrow
@KSinMA: Some of it’s public already and some isn’t very hard to figure out. The PAC money is harder to track.
gene108
@Gvg:
If they focused more on their constituents, we’d be better off and less partisan. I mean. theoretically, their first job duty is to their constituents, and not trying to defend Trump or undermine Democrats.
Plus there’s probably some state issues, which are similar across multiple states in the region. Southern Michigan and Northern Ohio are very interconnected. MI Dem Senators would have reason to work with OH’s Republican Senators, for example.
Jay
SFAW
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Was the general a big, strong guy? Did he have tears streaming down his face?
gene108
@stinger:
As he has the TTG’s on beck-and-call, I bet someone could provide a name, if it really happened.
mrmoshpotato
@Gvg: Deeeelicious!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I am getting feeling that Pelosi is also dragging this out to force the Right to disown Trump so there is no stabbed in the back myth afterwards like with Nixon.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Fair enough. I was going for the alliteration and reference to Dump being the healthiest person ever to be in the Oval office, and he’ll live to be 200, blah blah blah.
I’ll start with “Fucking orange, fascist” going forward.
Ruckus
@HalfAssedHomesteader:
Wouldn’t you?
@Adam L Silverman:
I’d bet a lot of the senators are compromised, even it happened without their knowledge. Say a million was put in a PAC for them, under some innocuous sounding name but was Russian money. They start to make too much noise and that little fact comes jumping out at them. Publicly. Probably wouldn’t happen until the fan is getting browner but still, would they jump in line or not?
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Did that whackjob check with Newt first? Newt might still want to call her ugly, ala 1993.
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: He was also blubbering to the point where it was hard to understand the praise coming from this big, burly, strong man.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@HalfAssedHomesteader: the gossip is that a lot of them hate McConnell, McCain certainly did. And didn’t Lindsey Graham make some joke about if Ted Cruz were stabbed to death on the Senate floor there would be 99 knives and no witnesses?
Jay
Ruckus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes but that was before the light of the pay window shined upon him and made everything clear.
Jay
Jay
@Ruckus:
RNC server was hacked. The are all Russians now, because of what exactly was on the servers.
Repatriated
@Ruckus: Or laundered through the NRA.
Gary K
@Jay: He must have confused HRC with Ann Coulter.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Right. RNC data wasn’t released. DNC data was released and screamed about by so-called liberal media.
Mary G
If my lawyer used Comic Sans, they would stop being my lawyer.
Jay
That’s the British anti-brexit folks buying billboards, stepping up.
Jay
Jay
Stuck in moderation,
HumboldtBlue
Chiles Rellenos y Gracias por Su Apoyo De Mi Rancho A Tu Cocina.
Amir Khalid
@Jay:
How very Christian of him to say that.
Jay
@Amir Khalid:
27% cray cray in the USA.
chopper
@Matt McIrvin:
“kareem abdul-jabbar came to me, with tears streaming down his face, telling me ‘sir, sir…because of you i can shoot a skyhook again'”
chopper
@Mary G:
to the watching alien mothership high above, let me say i was wrong. there are no redeemable qualities in humanity. you can go ahead and destroy us now.