Hail to the Hairpiece

COVID-19 Update (Domestic Edition) – Sunday/Monday, March 8/9

by Anne Laurie| March 9, 20204:57 am| 14 Comments

This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Hail to the Hairpiece, Healthcare, Republican Stupidity, Repubs in Disarray!, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It)

Scapegoating isn’t a thing and has never been a destructive force in human history. https://t.co/HkPhR251aD
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) March 9, 2020

GOP: It’s all fun & games until some plague-ridden constituent slobbers on you…

BREAKING from me & @AlexNBCNews : Members of Congress are becoming increasingly anxious about coronavirus and there is growing pressure on leadership to take steps to protect lawmakers — even potentially recessing for a period of weeks, according to two Democratic sources
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) March 9, 2020

And Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., is also self-quarantining after close contact with the CPAC attendee, as are several members of his senior staff. Gosar is closing his Washington office for the week.
“Members are very nervous,” a senior Democratic leadership aide said.
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) March 9, 2020

siri show me "life comes at you fast" pic.twitter.com/waafXDmivx
— Mass for Shut-ins (is a podcast) (@edburmila) March 9, 2020

man if only you knew someone who could declare and emergency and fund sick leave https://t.co/ygyHnhk0En
— John Cole (@Johngcole) March 9, 2020

Hail Sekhmet, Goddess of Consequences…

We now know there was at least one person at CPAC with coronavirus ??pic.twitter.com/Q1HVuXsJUE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 8, 2020

CPAC, which today confirmed an attendee was infected with coronavirus, is where then-acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney accused the press of hyping coronavirus, which he described as a media ploy to try to bring down Trump.
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) March 8, 2020

(Former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney was fired, by tweet, after hours on Friday. And immediately dispatched to Northern Ireland.)

"The CPAC Virus" does have a ring to it. https://t.co/AGLnc4ZnyA
— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) March 9, 2020

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The reason I am tweeting this: I have been flu-sick unwell for the past week and now I am finding out there are people I was in direct contact with who were in direct contact with the infected.
And yes, I know who it was.
— Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) March 9, 2020

“Public-health officials worry that the consequences of living with a President and a general disinformation universe that undermine facts and science could have increasingly dire consequences.” https://t.co/CoWEWCvy08
— Millie Tran (@millie) March 9, 2020

Other Republicans might starve the CDC of resources or people. But they'd probably at least focus on trying to contain the virus. Trump's entire focus is containing stories on the virus. So he's explicitly making the pandemic worse. Hard to imagine almost anyone else doing this.
— Grudge of Whales (@grudging1) March 9, 2020

"The response of this whole issue of the coronavirus is it should have been paint by numbers, but really they're making it like they're trying to recreate the Sistine Chapel."
— Dr. Corey Hébert on how the Trump admin. has responded to COVID-19.https://t.co/U1GPhFKJn1
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 8, 2020

No one is capable of convincing the President to help Americans not die of a virus https://t.co/Ib5KcCi9QI
— Grudge of Whales (@grudging1) March 9, 2020

US top health officials warn that containment of the coronavirus is no longer possible, the country needs to pivot to aggressive efforts to mitigate its spread — “The next two weeks are really going to change the complexion in this country”https://t.co/3s9fa9FcdV
— Alfons López Tena (@alfonslopeztena) March 8, 2020

How testing failures allowed coronavirus to sweep the U.S. via @POLITICO for iOS https://t.co/CmrwbRWNkl pic.twitter.com/PXOsllAFby
— Tatum O'neal (@Tatum_Oneal) March 8, 2020

I can now update this number: We can verify at least 3,000 people in the US have now been tested, given data we’ve collected at @COVID19Tracking.
That’s in line with the estimate of “perhaps 2,500 people tested” as of Friday 6pm that @ScottGottliebMD tweeted yesterday. https://t.co/jqpkL2gcsb
— Robinson Meyer (@yayitsrob) March 8, 2020

Tony Fauci, who is beloved among journalists for his frank, quick callbacks, said “it’s still possible to stop the disease, but health authorities would have to know where it was to do that, and he said the lack of testing capacity was a huge obstacle.” https://t.co/ckTCL4GgLO
— Amy Maxmen (@amymaxmen) March 9, 2020

This is a brilliant thread from @JeremyKonyndyk — if you don't want to read all of it, here's a quick summary: every day that the administration continues to dawdle on getting our health care system ready for what's coming, it raises the risk of a major failure of that system. https://t.co/N9mPtXdWHm
— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) March 8, 2020

REMINDER: Trump fired the US pandemic response team in 2018, then eliminated their positions https://t.co/ftbQJ57PnL
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) March 9, 2020

They will own coronavirus just as mightily as they own libs and they will not necessarily do it in that order however
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) March 8, 2020

Still mostly hitting blue states
— Michael Low (@mlow29) March 7, 2020

By "blue" he means "places where a lot of people live"
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) March 7, 2020

I'm a doc trying to save your skin
if you were an actual person you'd understand that
— Greg Dworkin (@DemFromCT) March 7, 2020

Feels like just a few days ago he was telling people it was okay to go to his rallies. https://t.co/PPkqP3atxV
— Schooley (@Rschooley) March 9, 2020

Yeah, except he can’t change — any more than my elderly rescue dog can stop eating poop, regardless of her current nutritional status. He won’t give up his ego-stoking rallies, or even his glad-handing strangers at Marred-A-Largo, unless he’s forcibly prevented from doing so. And frankly, I don’t think there’s anyone in his immediate circle, including Princess Ivanka and Trophy Wife #3, who care enough about the old man to even try very hard…

The thing about Fox News sugarcoating this and discouraging measures to mitigate community transmission is Trump will still be president if cases explode. If they want to protect Trump as always, make people listen to common sense measures they can do. https://t.co/Cl02B5zup9
— Schooley (@Rschooley) March 9, 2020

COVID-19 Update (Domestic Edition) – Sunday/Monday, March 8/9Post + Comments (14)

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Running Down Our Resistance

by Anne Laurie| February 19, 20207:02 am| 142 Comments

This post is in: Election Year, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Warren for President 2020

(Tom Toles via GoComcis.com)
.

And there’s another damned debate tonight, because one of the cranky old men involved threw a tantrum about not getting enough TV time in 2016, so now we all get an introduction to a different cranky old man that nobody likes except the people he’s already bought (including a lot of ‘journalists’ who’ll drop their… objectivity for anyone who offers them free food & a novelty tour).

I’m only gonna watch second-hand, via twitter & your comments, because there’s only so much blood-pressure medication can do. Be sure to let me know if Cranky Old Man #1 shows signs of having another infarction, or if Cranky Old Man #2 tries to order his security personnel to remove one or more of the other debaters.

My only sure bet is that one or both of them will wag a finger at Elizabeth Warren, probably at the encouragement of the moderators. Fortunately, I have faith in my favorite Senator…

DRAG HIM, LIZ https://t.co/7FMWWeeUw8
— Elizabeth Spiers (@espiers) February 18, 2020

Hate to disagree with @DrJasonJohnson, but if Warren goes at Bloomberg tomorrow night, it’s not a “suicide mission.” It’s a return to her fundamental political identity and the most basic theme of her career. It’s not Christie v. Rubio at all.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) February 19, 2020

A lot going on here. https://t.co/MaCSxi0wLi pic.twitter.com/StfoPNEqqE
— Matt Pearce ?? (@mattdpearce) February 19, 2020

Something to watch for tomorrow night: Bloomberg’s mental sharpness. Like Sanders, he’s 78 years old (Biden is 77), so it’s a legit concern w all three
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) February 19, 2020

If Hillary Clinton had a heart attack 4 years ago and said this, CNN would have run non stop panels featuring Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Oz and a magic wall that only showed various searches of WebMD. https://t.co/kbg5Ps8HKl
— Lily Adams (@adamslily) February 19, 2020

Most unpopular qualities for a prez candidate in the new NBC/WSJ poll (combined reservations + very uncomfortable):
Socialist: 67%
Heart attack in past year: 57%
75+: 53%
Self-funder: 41%
Under 40: 40%
Gay/lesbian: 27%
Woman: 14%
Feb 14-17, RVs, MOE +/- 3.3%
— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) February 18, 2020

There are still so many candidates and SO MANY PRIMARIES LEFT. 2 of the whitest states in the union have voted and we’re ready to call it for either of the guys that won(?) or the guy buying all the ads?
If we claim we want to “save democracy” we have to let it actually happen🤷🏾‍♀️
— brittany packnett cunningham (@MsPackyetti) February 16, 2020

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Running Down Our ResistancePost + Comments (142)

Floriduh Man Open Thread: More Scenes from the Potemkin President’s Vrroom-Vrroom Sunday Afternoon

by Anne Laurie| February 16, 202011:41 pm| 63 Comments

This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, #notintendedtobeafactualstatement, All Too Normal

Like most NASCAR viewers, I'll just be watching in hopes of seeing a crash. https://t.co/OSjeInXiao
— Daily Trix (@DailyTrix) February 16, 2020

I like that the car is comically distorted as if Trump was a character in a Tim Burton movie. https://t.co/JYpn20U2nG
— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) February 16, 2020

Highly efficient president fits his workout into his campaign rally. https://t.co/RjtxuiO0hK
— Khashoggi’s Ghost (@UROCKlive1) February 16, 2020

You get a Big Mac and you get a Big Mac and YOU get a Big Mac… https://t.co/ohon2iz8bs
— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) February 16, 2020

He needs it written down whenever he’s not talking about himself and his list of grievances. https://t.co/95bKFa8Zkg
— Schooley (@Rschooley) February 16, 2020

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He loves NASCAR so much that he left immediately after his appearance https://t.co/b3OEMqzSZm
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) February 16, 2020

if Biden's campaign were at peak efficiency he'd be lapping him in the Trans Am. https://t.co/r7ejDwydRE
— zeddy (@Zeddary) February 16, 2020

honestly what's the max speed that the Secret Service will even tolerate in that thing, 50? This is gotta be like cheering for the Zamboni
— zeddy (@Zeddary) February 16, 2020

All my lolllz 😭
Instead of Trump’s pace car lap at Daytona FOX viewers were instead “…treated to a commercial from Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg.” https://t.co/mGRTgmEEFr
— Dennis Herring (@dcherring) February 16, 2020

pic.twitter.com/WIkQcmi2Bh
— Matt "Barron not Baron" Wilkinson (@justcallmatt) February 16, 2020

Daytona official confirms to me the plan was for President Trump to stay for a few laps, but because of the rain delay, he didn't get to. Pool says his vehicle rolled out around 3:41 p.m. ET. #NASCAR #Daytona500
— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) February 16, 2020

Over-the-top flourish: He had to prep for Stephen Miller’s wedding. SRSLY:

"The President is at Trump International Hotel for the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Miller," confirms @JuddPDeere45.
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) February 17, 2020

(It would be in poor taste for an almost-top-10,000 blog to mock a private celebration, but if you’re curious, @Zeddy has a nicely curated collection of Stephen Miller wedding gifs… )

Trump's campaign manager tweeted a dramatic photo of Air Force One at Daytona, saying ".@realDonaldTrump won the #Daytona500 before the race even started."
The shot was of George W. Bush's plane leaving in 2004. Parscale deleted three hours later.https://t.co/q0B4FK6jEt
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 17, 2020

#ETTD – Everything Trump Touches Dies…

It is hurricane-esque raining right now at the #Daytona500. Hard to believe there is a race tonight. #NASCAR
— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) February 16, 2020

BREAKING: The #Daytona500 has been postponed. Red flag. Green flag tomorrow at 4:05 p.m. #NASCAR @MyNews13 @BN9
— Jon Alba (@JonAlba) February 16, 2020

You can tell Idiocracy was not a documentary, cuz it had better scripting and prettier actors.

https://t.co/icquDcQxAe pic.twitter.com/KWrMOM4OCm
— The Mall Krampus (@cakotz) February 15, 2020

Floriduh Man Open Thread: More Scenes from the Potemkin President’s Vrroom-Vrroom Sunday AfternoonPost + Comments (63)

Repub Venality Open Thread: The Night Caligula’s Horse Delivered the State of the Union Speech

by Anne Laurie| February 9, 20207:59 pm| 61 Comments

This post is in: Goddamned Traitors, Grifters Gonna Grift, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Venality, All Too Normal

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)

Of course it was a load of manure — that’s the best the beast is capable of producing. More shame on the gutless GOP sacks in suits who, to protect their own sinecures, not only voted the horse as their leader, but insisted it was the finest orator and firmest patriot since Tailgunner Joe McCarthy dined alone (with his DTs).

A lot of punditry has once again switched into 2016 mode, in which every transgressive act, and every freakish moment, is treated as revolutionary political theater, and not the shabby burlesque it truly is. https://t.co/ZRtwjlCdEF
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) February 5, 2020

Commentary, at this point, would be superfluous… El Caudillo del Mar-a-Lago delivered his State of the Union address, one of the few constitutional responsibilities of his office that he hasn’t ignored. Which is not to say he hasn’t degraded it, too. On Tuesday night, he turned it into a cheesy spectacle that belonged in, say, a casino sinking into bankruptcy in Atlantic City.
He bestowed the Presidential Medal Of Freedom on Rush Limbaugh, hanging it on that rancid bag of old sins, right there in the House chamber. He arranged a surprise family reunion for a soldier home from deployment, right there in the House chamber. He told an African-American schoolgirl that he, personally, was going to see to it that she can go to a good school. He congratulated another child on not having been aborted, and promised that he, personally, would see to it that nobody was. These Dear-Leader-Grants-a-Wish moments are straight out of a dog-eared playbook used by various members of the Kim family in North Korea. Weaponized sentimentality is a powerful tool in authoritarian hands.
The speech itself was the usual farrago of lies and bigotry…
This is a lying, criminal president*, aided and abetted by a political party that lost its mind long before it lost its way, and that now swallows poisonous pablumlike this:
If forcing American taxpayers to provide unlimited free health care to illegal aliens sounds fair to you, then stand with the radical left. But if you believe that we should defend American patients and American seniors, then stand with me and pass legislation to prohibit free government health care for illegal aliens.
It’s morning in American carnage.

The State of the Union is hurting because of the occupant of the White House, who consistently demonstrates contempt for the American people, contempt for Congress & contempt for our constitution. I cannot in good conscience attend tonight's sham #SOTU ? https://t.co/DTwG3Y7dK3 pic.twitter.com/Hres8eAFkK
— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) February 4, 2020

"Bullying people on Twitter doesn't fix bridges. It burns them. Our energy should be used to solve problems," Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says in Democratic response to President Trump's #SOTU speech. https://t.co/bulmjJOCUb pic.twitter.com/vFN3q17evK
— ABC News (@ABC) February 5, 2020

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Repub Venality Open Thread: The Night Caligula’s Horse Delivered the State of the Union SpeechPost + Comments (61)

Repub Venality Open Thread: Money Changes Everything Memories

by Anne Laurie| January 17, 202011:26 am| 51 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Foreign Affairs, Free Markets Solve Everything, Hail to the Hairpiece, Impeachment Inquiry, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Repubs in Disarray!, All Too Normal, Assholes

People deny knowing Parnas. Then a they show up in a photo with him.https://t.co/N1kNAiXeSa pic.twitter.com/3zUwQO4I1O
— The Fix (@thefix) January 16, 2020

Maybe the way to get McCarthy to stop saying Putin pays Trump was for Putin pay McCarthy https://t.co/RrPhvpnhrn
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) January 15, 2020

The article itself looks at the entire picture of the donations into greater depth.
It's a #longread, mapping out how — through joint fundraising committees and PACs — Parnas and Fruman's donations reached so many politicians and entities. https://t.co/0SHsaWDp3i
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) January 15, 2020

Two weeks out from the 2016 elections, a first-time donor born in Ukraine lit up the map of the Republican Party with a $50,000 cash donation to Donald Trump’s joint fundraising committee.
By cutting just one check to Trump Victory Committee — well before he became a central figure in the impeachment of the president he helped elect — Lev Parnas left an indelible mark on two national and 20 state Republican entities.
Trump Victory subdivided his contribution into $33,400 for the Republican National Committee and $2,700 to Trump, the then-maximum allowable donations. The remainder went to GOP entities crisscrossing the country from New York to California, each receiving a modest sum of $661.90.
Official paperwork from the donation lists Parnas an employee of the Fraud Guarantee, the same company Parnas used to hire Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani in a relationship that has drawn scrutiny from federal prosecutors.
Three years later, down to the same month, the Justice Department on Oct. 10 unsealed an indictment of Parnas for using a straw donor and laundering foreign money into U.S. elections. Federal prosecutors claim he and his Fraud Guarantee co-owner, Igor Fruman, used the shell company Global Energy Producers to funnel $325,000 in foreign cash into America First Action, a Trump super-PAC.

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Federal records show that the total donations from Parnas, Fruman, Global Energy Producers and an alter ego identified by prosecutors exceeded $620,000.
Representative Kevin McCarthy, the Republican minority leader of the Democrat-controlled House, would later redirect to charity the $2,700 campaign contribution he received from Parnas, as well as a $2,173 contribution from Fruman to Majority Committee PAC, McCarthy’s leadership political action committee…
Through Protect the House, Fruman under his alias “Furman” funneled $2,445.34 to McCarthy’s Majority Committee PAC. McCarthy won his race, but his party lost enough members to transform him into the minority leader.
Parnas separately donated $2,700 to McCarthy, who claims to have returned the money to charity.
McCarthy did not respond to a detailed inquiry about Parnas and Fruman’s donations to him and the GOP.
For months, Parnas’ attorney Bondy has been clamoring for his client to testify before Congress, and Parnas already has begun sharing the contents of his iPhone and other evidence with the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Bondy has goaded Congressman McCarthy and Vice President Pence with tweets showing photos of them with his client, bearing the hashtag #LetLevSpeak and #LevRemembers.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment to detailed questions about Trump and Pence’s relationship to Parnas — including a $5,000 in 2018 to the vice president’s Great America Committee PAC…
McCarthy and Parnas also attended fundraisers in summer 2018 for McCarthy and Pence’s joint fundraising committee Protect the House and America First Action Leadership Summit, benefiting Trump’s super-PAC. Attendance didn’t come cheap, with donors forking out up to $250,000 to walk through the door. These events, large-scale affairs for big-dollar donors, were hosted at the Trump International Hotel in Washington…

These boys really get around. Is @GOPLeader Kevin envious of the time they spent with @SteveScalise . Or do they not mind sharing? pic.twitter.com/GnoOklvgWm
— Jackie P-R (@JackiePR3) January 15, 2020

I'm shocked! Not. pic.twitter.com/L3u4zLTki8
— Laura Apollo (@lauraapollo) January 15, 2020

Repub Venality Open Thread: Money Changes <del>Everything</del> MemoriesPost + Comments (51)

Late Night Open Thread: Predictable As Herpes

by Anne Laurie| January 11, 20204:20 am| 61 Comments

This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Post-racial America, Republican Stupidity, Our Failed Media Experiment

Steve King is on the floor of the House talking about how white nationalism isn’t real and the Democrats are funded by George Soros pic.twitter.com/b7P3zGCHUD
— Alex Thomas (@AlexThomasDC) January 10, 2020

You don’t know when it will reoccur, but you can be sure it will…

This Jim Jones remix of the Reagan years, as someone had it…
— William Gibson (@GreatDismal) January 9, 2020

Professor @toddgitlin on what has been called the "diner safari" turn in political coverage. https://t.co/LW2dnzdscg pic.twitter.com/p7MMtsLCcF
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) January 9, 2020

People have noticed. https://t.co/O7VI4KZOAr
— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 9, 2020

Late Night Open Thread: Predictable As HerpesPost + Comments (61)

Wag the Dog Open Thread: First, Do No (More) Harm…

by Anne Laurie| January 9, 20208:54 pm| 131 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Republican Venality

BREAKING: House approves war powers resolution to restrict Trump on Iran https://t.co/s09Xj37hte
— Grace Segers (@Grace_Segers) January 9, 2020

“Only 15 of the 97 senators attending were able to ask questions before it ended abruptly.” https://t.co/2Rn4Dy8z2N
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) January 9, 2020

The GOP prefers to be kept in the dark, and fed copious doses of BS. Call them the Mushroom Caucus!

I left literal parts of my body in Iraq, where I was fighting terrorists.
Donald Trump spent months attacking an ACTUAL Gold Star Family.@RepDougCollins should be ashamed of himself for perpetuating this offensive lie. https://t.co/cboW42lPSu
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) January 9, 2020

Poor Ukraine. So far from God, so close to Putin (and Putin’s puppets)…

NEW: “We have intelligence from multiple sources including our allies and our own intelligence. The evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by an Iranian surface to air missile. This may well have been unintentional”
—Canadian PM Trudeau in press conference just now
— Robbie Gramer (@RobbieGramer) January 9, 2020

American officials say intelligence community has a “high level of confidence” that an Iranian missile accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane over Tehran this week. @antontroian @Nataliekitro https://t.co/6d9pMuAmD8
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) January 9, 2020

I’m sure that will be of great comfort to the families of the victims. https://t.co/EeYbg5tscm
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) January 9, 2020

When people warn of the risks of escalation, civilians being killed in accidents are part of that risk. Period. It is *explicitly* included in national security risk analysis.
??This type of nonsense represents such a lazy, dishonest, and fundamentally cowardly position. pic.twitter.com/UDUbRhY0Vg
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) January 9, 2020

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Wag the Dog Open Thread: First, Do No (More) Harm…Post + Comments (131)

Late Night NATO Open Thread: They’re Not Laughing With Him, They’re Laughing At Him

by Anne Laurie| December 4, 201912:45 am| 54 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Trumpery, All Too Normal, Bitter Despair is the New Black

.@JustinTrudeau, @EmmanuelMacron, @BorisJohnson and other VIPs shared a few words at a Buckingham Palace reception Tuesday. No one mentions @realDonaldTrump by name, but they seem to be discussing his lengthy impromptu press conferences from earlier in the day. (Video: Host Pool) pic.twitter.com/dVgj48rpOP
— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) December 3, 2019

Imagine the trash Putin and Erdoğan talk behind his back. https://t.co/moiBBYUss0
— Schooley (@Rschooley) December 4, 2019

Macron tricks Trump into supporting NATO using toddler reverse-psychology https://t.co/hMjba7NlJm pic.twitter.com/fNvy16H37s
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) December 3, 2019

I think we need to consider the possibility that Emmanuel Macron has finally figured out how to play Trump. https://t.co/KYKYfHhlDt pic.twitter.com/AUE0hArGTM
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) December 3, 2019

It’d be funnier, if not for the war crimes part…

Trump in London is babbling like the village idiot- body jerking, word finding, repetition, slurring.
"past presidents allowed China to steal the cookie cutter"
"France is having a bad season"
"Since I joined NATO"
"most 'pawarul' military"
"killed Al Baghdadi 3 wks ago" It was 5
— Tom Joseph (@TomJChicago) December 3, 2019

Trump on the Kurds: "We have taken the oil. I've taken the oil. We should have done it in other locations, frankly, where we were. I can name four of them right now, but we've taken the oil … our great soldiers are right around the oil where we've got the oil." pic.twitter.com/GS6uNGUkQV
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 3, 2019

Late Night NATO Open Thread: They’re Not Laughing *With* Him, They’re Laughing *At* HimPost + Comments (54)

Monday Morning Open Thread: Hail to the Occupant

by Anne Laurie| November 25, 20194:30 am| 212 Comments

This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Impeachment Inquiry, Open Threads, Repubs in Disarray!, All Too Normal, Decline and Fall

(Garry Trudeau via GoComics.com – click to enlarge)

Donald Trump has taken to “working” from his private quarters in the White House rather than the Oval Office because he distrusts the staff around him. https://t.co/TbogjsPREs pic.twitter.com/CyFvdjLSem
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) November 24, 2019

This maaay sound familiar to those of us old enough to remember Nixon during the Watergate investigation. Per Politico:

… President Donald Trump is increasingly morphing the White House residence into a second Oval. It’s become the place where Trump feels most productive, where he avoids meddling by his staff and where he speed-dials his network of confidantes, GOP lawmakers and TV pundits.
The residence was where Trump made the infamous July 25 phone call to the Ukrainian president that’s now at the center of impeachment proceedings. It’s where Trump often meets his personal attorneys to plot legal strategy or campaign advisers to shape 2020 campaign moves. And last week it became the location for a Trump meeting that’s as official as any, hosting Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell — the target of countless Trump twitter attacks — along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for a Monday morning discussion of monetary policy.
Maintaining a sanctuary to work and think has taken on greater importance for the president as he increasingly feels under siege by the Democratic impeachment inquiry. Frustrated by the whistleblower complaint and a parade of administration officials testifying on Capitol Hill, Trump is as wary as ever of the staffers around him and distrustful of the traditional White House infrastructure. Working from his private quarters gives him space away from what he perceives as prying eyes and guards against his omnipresent fear of leaks to the media.
It also gives Trump a greater sense of control as he faces the dual challenges of impeachment and his reelection, according to interviews with a half dozen current and former senior administration officials…
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Monday Morning Open Thread: Hail to the OccupantPost + Comments (212)

Repubs in Disarray Open Thread: Crowdstruck

by Anne Laurie| November 24, 201910:35 pm| 47 Comments

This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Impeachment Inquiry, Open Threads, Repubs in Disarray!, Clap Louder!, Decline and Fall

MORNING: Trump calls into Fox & Friends, pushes bogus Crowdstrike theory
AFTERNOON: https://t.co/vztlM7VKOY
— James Poniewozik (@poniewozik) November 22, 2019

It could be worse, you could be a Republican (assuming you could drop 40 IQ points and every moral qualm)…

With Thanksgiving coming up, Doocy and Kilmeade give a masterclass here on uncomfortable inquisitive faces when a relative is saying something widely inappropriate or awkward. https://t.co/webrJpXHg5
— andrew kaczynski? (@KFILE) November 22, 2019

I insist that you take 5 minutes and listen to every mini-clip in this thread from this morning. No, don’t read the summaries: LISTEN. 5 minutes. This is the President of the United States. https://t.co/z6jz72TLkj
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) November 23, 2019

Dunno why people are assuming he misspoke ;) https://t.co/yEGntYMlIT
— T. Fisher King (@T_FisherKing) November 22, 2019

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Repubs in Disarray Open Thread: CrowdstruckPost + Comments (47)

Sunday Afternoon Open Thread: The Way ‘Trump Nation’ Lives Now

by Anne Laurie| November 24, 20193:00 pm| 71 Comments

This post is in: Election Year, Hail to the Hairpiece, Open Threads, Repubs in Disarray!, Assholes, Riveted By The Sociological Significance Of It All

A MAGA gathering at Denny's tears itself apart when a rival alt-right group tries to spoil the meetup, this is a lil doc about a Sunday afternoon at Denny's
Full video here: https://t.co/xGhJJnb7VB pic.twitter.com/urYhDnl32P
— Xavier Rotnofsky (@xrotnofsky) November 21, 2019

It would be funnier, if they weren’t so damned sad…

This is just a third of the video, gotta go here for the full thing: https://t.co/xGhJJnb7VB
— Xavier Rotnofsky (@xrotnofsky) November 22, 2019

The SPLC’s take on organizer Harim Uzziel, “Hardcore American Patriot”.

Lol pic.twitter.com/oboXxAQyw5
— Xavier Rotnofsky (@xrotnofsky) November 22, 2019

Errol Webber, U.S. House candidate caught between the warring armies.

Award-winning closer on the full video!

pic.twitter.com/ZKwqKqmM8q
— Xavier Rotnofsky (@xrotnofsky) November 22, 2019

Sunday Afternoon Open Thread: The Way ‘Trump Nation’ Lives NowPost + Comments (71)

ICYMI Snark Break Open Thread: WH Press Secretary: Look, A Jackalope!

by Anne Laurie| November 21, 20191:41 am| 26 Comments

This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Humorous, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Stupidity, All Too Normal, Assholes, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell

Sounds like they were psychic. https://t.co/8095Fjx2H4
— Dennis DiClaudio (@dennisdiclaudio) November 19, 2019

Stephanie Grisham may be a worse person than Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) November 20, 2019

“Lord, make my enemies ridiculous”…

but really it was totally uncalled for for Obama's outgoing chief of staff to put saran wrap on all the toilets. Steve Bannon nearly suffocated.
— Gator MaClunkey (@Zeddary) November 19, 2019

Jon Chait at NYMag: Suuure, Jan…

… Then there are the notes. Trump loves promoting the narrative that President Obama left “a mess” for him to clean up, and engineered deep state conspiracies to undermine him starting in 2016. Trump has floated the most bizarre conspiracy theories about Obama sabotage, including the claim that Obama tapped his phones. Trump would be extremely happy to circulate photos of any such “you will fail” notes, and any aid who produced such a note would have instantly become Trump’s momentary favorite. Yet nobody has produced any evidence of these notes, even though they were supposedly left throughout the building…

Backlash, per the Washington Post:

… Grisham made the initial allegation during an interview with the John Fredericks radio show after the host asked her why the Trump White House had failed to fully staff the administration with loyalists from its earliest days.
Grisham responded by alleging that the administration faced an uphill battle from the very beginning, including open disdain from Obama aides who left behind hostile messages as they departed their offices…
In response to Obama aides pushing back on her allegations, Grisham issued a statement softening her initial claims and calling the controversy “silly.”
“I’m not sure where their offices were, and certainly wasn’t implying every office had that issue,” Grisham said. “I was talking specifically (and honestly) about our experience in the lower press office — nowhere else. I don’t know why everyone is so sensitive!”…

Can’t You People take a joke?

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ICYMI Snark Break Open Thread: WH Press Secretary: <em>Look, A Jackalope! </em>Post + Comments (26)

Repub Venality Open Thread: Little Prince Rand Hates Nepotism, So He Outs A Whistleblower

by Anne Laurie| November 15, 20195:09 pm| 63 Comments

This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Impeachment Inquiry, Open Threads, Republican Venality, The Whistleblower Saga, All Too Normal

If a defendant goes to trial on charges of attempted murder — caught in the act with multiple witnesses and a confession — he doesn’t get a pass on the crime by making the case that the victim *really* deserved to die.
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) November 14, 2019

Paul’s hometown paper, the Courier-Journal:

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said Thursday he may try to force a Senate vote on motions that would allow President Donald Trump to call on Hunter Biden and other witnesses to testify in an impeachment trial…
“I believe very strongly the president should be able to call his own witnesses,” Paul told reporters on Thursday, according to Politico. “The rules that are put forward will be amendable, so yes I will consider strongly that the president should get his full due process, which to me means bringing in his own witnesses.”
Last week, Paul blocked a Democrat-led resolution that reasserted the Senate’s support for protecting whistleblowers.
And after calling for the media to release the alleged whistleblower’s name, Paul went ahead and said the name of the suspected anonymous whistleblower during a radio interview Wednesday…
When asked Thursday for a comment on Paul’s decision to name the alleged whistleblower, Paul’s communications team referred The Courier Journal to another interview the senator did Wednesday with One America News Network.
In that interview, Paul said the alleged whistleblower’s name once again but claimed that he hasn’t specifically said that the person is, in fact, the whistleblower.
Regardless, he said he thinks this individual should be brought in as a “material witness.”

Gonna need Rand Paul's other neighbor to weigh in on whether he deserved that a** kicking
— Cowboys4Angels Employee of the Month (@Fakefancylawyer) November 14, 2019

Repub Venality Open Thread: Little Prince Rand Hates Nepotism, So He Outs A WhistleblowerPost + Comments (63)

Impeachment Inquiry Open Thread: “But No PIZZAZ!”

by Anne Laurie| November 14, 201910:34 pm| 92 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Hail to the Hairpiece, Impeachment Inquiry, Information Warfare, Our Failed Media Experiment

Susan Hennessey, “Lawfare Executive Editor, Brookings Senior Fellow, CNN National Security and Legal Analyst, Former IC attorney”, yesterday:

As a general matter there is too much focus on optics and too little on substance. But to the extent the Democrats needed to make the case to the public in this hearing, today was an extremely strong showing. And the Republicans offer zero substantive defense of Trump.

“Jonathan Allen, the poor man’s Chris Cillizza“, for NBCNews:

Analysis: The first two witnesses called Wednesday testified to President Trump’s scheme, but lacked the pizzazz necessary to capture public attention.

The Volatile Mermaid:

I AM AN AMERICAN! I LIKE PIZZAZZ! IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS SHOULD HAVE SWORD FIGHTS, TALKING ANIMALS, NINJA STRIPPERS, AND A POST CREDITS SCENE THAT FORESHADOWS THE PLOT OF THE NEXT HEARING!

Margaret Sullivan, at the Washington Post — “Media Beware: Impeachment Hearings Will Be the Trickiest Test of Covering Trump”:

The national media’s shortcomings have been all too obvious in recent years as Donald Trump has gleefully thrown the norms of traditional journalism into a tizzy…
But on Wednesday — as televised impeachment hearings begin in the House of Representatives — journalists need to be on their game. The stakes don’t get much higher when it comes to fulfilling their core mission: informing citizens of what they really need to know.
Here’s a refresher course in what needs to go right.
Stress substance, not speculation. Journalists and pundits love to ponder about how the public is reacting to news, though they aren’t much good at it.
Avoiding that would be a public service…
Don’t let stunts hijack the coverage. If we know anything about Trump’s reaction when things get tough, it’s that he and his allies will haul out some attention-grabbing performance art and its distractions…
Avoid Barr-Letter Syndrome. It was a little over six months ago that Attorney General William P. Barr took it upon himself to summarize the Mueller report in a misleading letter that the news media — pretty much en masse — represented as an accurate summation of the 448-page report about Russian interference in the 2016 election and its aftermath.
You might remember some headlines and news reports that said, essentially, “no collusion, no obstruction.”
Of course, that’s not what the report said, as Mueller himself later tried to set straight…
Beware mealy-mouthed and misleading language. Punditry will be running even more amok than usual once the hearings begin. And we’ll be hearing a lot about what a divided nation we have and how ugly politics has become. We’ll be hearing the term “quid pro quo” endlessly.
As for “polarization,” it’s a kind of false equivalence expressed in a single term, suggested Rosen: “We hear, ‘Oh things are so polarized now,’ when this is really about what’s happened to the Republican Party.”
In a potent Twitter thread last week, Ezra Klein of Vox pointed out that Trump’s abuses are so blatant that he “is the easiest possible test case for ‘Can our system hold a president accountable?’ And we are failing, because Republicans are failing.”

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Impeachment Inquiry Open Thread: <em>“But No PIZZAZ!” </em>Post + Comments (92)

Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: Little Prince Rand Speaks Up, Again

by Anne Laurie| November 5, 20192:40 am| 20 Comments

This post is in: Hail to the Hairpiece, Impeachment Inquiry, Open Threads, Repubs in Disarray!, All Too Normal, Assholes, Decline and Fall

Senator Aqua Buddha has arrived to debase himself. Debase, Rand, Debase.
Oooooo, Hunter Biden! Drink.
Rand is now doing everything except outing the whistleblower. Asks The Fake Media to print his name. Go eat a big bowl of dicks, Aqua Buddha.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) November 5, 2019

… As per usual, the Little Prince feels like he’s a BSD when surrounded by fellow grifters:

Lawlessness is contagious. https://t.co/appar7OR6U
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 5, 2019

The self-avowed libertarian: https://t.co/zv8TOIjI5R
— David Gura (@davidgura) November 5, 2019

.@RandPaul if any harm befalls the whistleblower, or someone erroneously identified as the whistleblower, we will not soon forget your call to out them and place them in harm’s way. https://t.co/H9WGGT5grH
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) November 5, 2019

Imagine living in a state where Mitch McConnell isn’t your creepiest Senator.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) November 5, 2019

Trump on Rand: "He’s a little bit different. It’s ok."
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) November 5, 2019

Yep, the Oval Office Occupant went down to Kentucky, for an ego-boost. There were plenty of protestors outside the (not full) arena, but the Secret Service screens the folks Trump might hear.

Somebody do a emergency wellness check on Daniel Dale:

"We will always protect patients with pre-existing conditions and we will protect you with pre-existing positions. First time I ever said that. I just thought that up."#TrumpRallyLexington
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) November 5, 2019

What’s the excuse for the trip?

Trump is spending basically as much time attacking Amy McGrath, who is running against McConnell next November, as he is Andy Beshear, who is on the ballot tomorrow
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) November 5, 2019

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Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: Little Prince Rand Speaks Up, AgainPost + Comments (20)

‘Forty-two’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

A snarling mass of vitriolic vicious jackals

Saul Alinsky is my co-pilot

This blog will pay for itself.

This is a big f—–g deal.

Where tasty lettuce and good mustard aren’t elitist.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

We still have time to mess this up!

Consistently wrong since 2002

Almost as fun as hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack!

All your base are belong to Tunch.

Screw the Judean People’s Front. Splitters.

Han shot first.

How has Obama failed you today?

No one could have predicted…

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

This Blog Goes to 11…

Just a few bad apples.

This is how realignments happen…

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity.

Shocking, but not surprising.

Wetsuit optional.

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Impeachment Inquiry Open Thread: “But No PIZZAZ!”

Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: Little Prince Rand Speaks Up, Again