Thank you for your service, now get the fuck out:
[Lt. Col. Alex] Vindman, a decorated veteran who was born in Ukraine, was escorted out of the White House by security and told his services were no longer needed, according to Vindman’s lawyer, David Pressman.His twin brother Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman, a National Security Council attorney, was also fired and walked off the White House grounds alongside him.
Gotta give it up for Trump and the mobster touch of canning Alex’s brother.
Oh, hey, this just in — here’s Collins’ statement:
John le Carré And The Passage Of Time
Baud
In November, win it for Vindman.
Jeffro
Not even 48 hours after “acquittal”…great work, GOP Senators!
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Yeah. I am so furious. I hate that orange shithead with the fire of a thousand suns. To use a BJ cliche but I can’t think of anything more expressive right now
ETA: Of course let’s add 52 GOP cowards to the direct object of the above sentence.
Elizabelle
Nominate LTC Vindman for the JFK Library Profile in Courage award. (Nomination form, electronic.)
And Adam Schiff.
And Marie Yovanovitch.
And … who are we forgetting? Lots of moral courage out there. Reward it.
There can be more than one winner, and several different categories. Previous year award recipients.
zhena gogolia
@Elizabelle:
I’ve nominated Schiff and Vindman.
mdblanche
“I’m disappointed” would make a great start for Collins’ concession speech in November.
Elizabelle
@zhena gogolia: Yea you!
lgerard
OT
The picture of Lev Parnas wiping Rudy’s mouth accompanying this CNN article is hilarious
It is my new desktop background
schrodingers_cat
How is this legal? Legal 🦅 of Balloon Juice.
MJS
Of all the truly astounding 180s made by the GOP, the most hypocritical to me is how quickly they went from pretending to worship “the troops” to shitting on them. Whoever the nominee ends up being must hammer this point home, again and again.
satby
Firing the brother too is some true Papa Doc style governing. And our very own Tonton Macoute militias have been terrorizing legislatures and citizens that dare try to rein in the out of control gun nuts.
Everything’s fine, really.
debbie
Oh, boy, I feel another angry email to Portman (founder of the Ukraine Caucus) coming on. 😡
West of the Rockies
Did Collins actually make a statement? The Twitter link above goes elsewhere.
Jeffro
@MJS: #FakePatriots
Dem nominees get to use that hashtag against the GOP from now through the end of the 2000s…not the 2020s, the entire millennium.
See also: purple heart band-aids, the Khan family, McCain/POW comments, psycho SEAL pardon, etc etc
tjlabs
Trump’s version of the “perp walk”. Designed to humiliate and poison the public’s mind.
Martin
Apollo Masters factory burned down last night – found out from a family friend who is on the FD just above Banning. I used to live a few blocks from that factory back when they first moved there. I think they’re just about the only supplier for vinyl masters for the music industry.
Martin
@West of the Rockies: No, it’s just a compilation of her expressing her disappointment in Trump, and then doing jack shit about it.
debbie
I probably should have been more introspective in my email to Portman, but fuckem.
SenyorDave
Obviously Trump has learned a lesson from the impeachment process. Take revenge! So Susan Collins was correct, in a way.
jl
Haven’t watched the clip yet, but I’ll bet a six-back of email beers that Collins is very disappointed and concerned. Which is why she didn’t stand up and make her concerns about witnesses known and argue for them until McConnell gave her permission to cast a meaningless vote to call them.
Jeffro
Awesome Petri: A Chastened President Addresses a Healing Nation
joel hanes
@Elizabelle:
who are we forgetting?
Fiona Hill
download my app in the app store mistermix
@West of the Rockies:
It’s a video clip of her saying she’s “disappointed” a bunch of times. I’m sure that’s the substance of whatever she said about this, if she’s been asked.
Haydnseek
@Martin: As an LP collector, this really hurts. I have a hard time believing that there aren’t other mastering houses in Europe, and possibly Asia. Thanks for the heads up! Time to do some research…..
Steeplejack (phone)
@West of the Rockies:
It’s a joke. It goes to a Collins “I’m disappointed” montage.
Mai naem mobile
Gawd I just feel like Trumpov will never pay. Just never pay. I know I am not supposed to give a shit about vengeance and care about just getting rid of him and moving forward but jeezus he just needs to pay for fucking with peoples lives like he does. He’s a fucking monster. My romanticized version of America has taken a massive hit with this asshole. I want a fucking Hollywood ending for this mofo.
debbie
@Mai naem mobile:
He’ll pay in some way. Karma always rules. Just be prepared for the possibility you may not see it.
zhena gogolia
@Mai naem mobile:
He’s paying. He’s in a hell of his own mind and body. The problem is that he’s making it hell for the rest of us at the same time.
Gin & Tonic
I’d bet the Vindmans aren’t all that surprised, and I am certain their father would, in fact, be proud.
If we do not vote this asshole out in November, then I really think the USA is finished.
JoeyJoeJoe
@Mai naem mobile: I’m not going to use any names or positions, but being around DC, I can say that I know at least one person in the DoJ who, provided that we have a real AG and other appointed leadership in the right offices, will most definitely be willing to do the work to hold the Oval Office shithead, Barr, etc. accountable for their crimes. People are there even in doj, even if you don’t hear about them . Aside from that, people just have to make sure that a Democratic administration prosecutes them and be really loud in insisting on it
Brachiator
Seeing the Trump administration in action is like watching some low grade mobster movie 24/7.
Hungry Joe
@debbie: I wish I could agree, but karma most certainly does not rule; it does not exist. For example, Dick Cheney will die in bed, a rich old man. We can try to make ourselves feel better by saying that he lived in the hellscape of his twisted mind, but there’s no real reason to believe that.
I doubt that Trump will pay. For anything. Ever.
But a boy can dream …
Mai naem mobile
@Hungry Joe: Dick Cheney is the only other political person I’ve felt this visceral desire for karma. Now ive got Trumpov and McConnell on the list. I hope if the Dems take back the WH and either branch if Congress all of these illegal unethical actions of these Trumpers are followed up on. I don’t want them forgotten. I don’t want to just look forward and pretend nothing happened. If you can go after a goddamned shoplifter you can go after these fuckers. People in the future need to know there will be consequences.
Mike in NC
Trump is one truly sick, petty, and vindictive motherfucker.
SiubhanDuinne
Susan Collins is the worst of the worst. Just fuck her. In some ways I actually hate her more than I do Trump. She can gather up every single one of AsianGrrrlMN’s rusty agricultural implements and fuck herself, repeatedly and sideways, on every single plough and pitchfork. She is vile. Fuck her goddamn fucking disappointment. Fuck her goddamn fucking concern. She is as responsible as anyone for the deplorable state of this country.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I don’t know if Susan and Lisa are sad, but I am. This makes me want to weep.
J R in WV
@SiubhanDuinne:
I feel the same way about most Republican politicians, but none of them are as bad as Trump and his immediate minions and family.
How can they attack the Bidens when their own Trumpian family is so financially involved while in the West Wing of the White House all the time?
ETA add “Trumpian” …
SiubhanDuinne
NYT just reporting that Trump has also fired Gordon Sondland.
surprise surprise surprise
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/us/politics/alexander-vindman-gordon-sondland-fired.html?action=click&module=Alert&pgtype=Homepage
Dmbeaster
@schrodingers_cat: He is not losing employment – he is just no longer assigned to the White House National Security Council. I dont think he has any right to stay in that post. I am sure he will get some crap posting though somewhere in the military, though the Pentagon has said they will protect him from retaliation. The routine of escorting him out like he was fired was theater for Trump’s benefit.
Just Chuck
@J R in WV:
If fish could speak, they wouldn’t have a word for water. Same goes for Republicans and hypocrisy.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
How many times can one express disappointment in another person, but never toss them overboard?
West of the Rockies
@Mai naem mobile:
I feel exactly the same. He WILL, however, lose. He is hated by millions–billions?–more than those who admire him. He is aging badly, physically, cognitively, and psychologically. He is Ozymandias, but his empire will fall to ruin within days after he is out of office.
Take heart.
Felanius Kootea
He also fired Sondland
ETA: Like SD already said upthread with NYT link.
bemused
@lgerard:
Why? Does Rudy have a drooling problem?
Gin & Tonic, Duke of Tanqueray
@Dmbeaster: Sure, he doesn’t have a right to that posting, but marching him out when all he did was comply with a subpoena, then marching out his brother, who has done nothing wrong, is the sort of thing you’d expect in Turkmenistan.
bemused
@Mai naem mobile:
I want him and his entire corrupt, smug partners in crime in prison.
danielx
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yup. If she hasn’t noticed, Trump has indeed learned his lesson. He has learned that he can do any goddamned thing he wants and get away with it, because the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body won’t do a goddamned thing about it.
Miss Bianca
@mdblanche:
LOL – From your mouth (or fingers) to God’s ear.
sgrAstar
@debbie: Bravo , Debbie. Portman needs to hear your unvarnished thoughts.
barbequebob
@Brachiator: Time to revive the moniker “Teflon Don”, once applied to John Gotti, to the mob boss in the white house.
Tehanu
Ever read Hitler’s Willing Executioners? This is exactly what she and the rest of the Senate GOP are (with the possible exception of Romney, who actually showed some spine).