Trump's America, March 2017: Using His Inside VOICE

at least Polk accomplished his agenda and kept his one-term promise

yeah by any historical standard Polk is a success!

(and like all good leaders was blessed with good luck, i.e. last president elected before slavery "issue" tore company asunder, thanks to new territory acquired in deals and wars that Polk started)

i said long game

this article makes a decent case that buchanan was the worst of the worst:

https://medium.com/everyvote/no-trump-isnt-the-worst-president-ever-c688ddddc8c5

it'd be kinda cool if presidents still made that "one term only!" promise

Buchanan, BushII, Pierce, and second term Cleveland on my list.

trump is crooked and his family are a bunch of chinless bilkers. they're getting richer by the day. as opposed as i am to gimmicky longshots i thought the 'emoluments' stuff could have had teeth, but that's been abandoned i guess.

trump's affinity for putin is, if u ask me, very simple and ideological: he likes strongmen. it's not that deep. what does putin want? hillary wanted a bigger NATO, right?

the worst that can be laid at russia's feet, if true, is hacking the DNC emails and pushing them out via wikileaks. of all the things that lost hillary the election even that is low on the list. scott walker did worse.

what is exposure of russia's great game even supposed to do? aligning the US with autocrats and abandoning europe doesn't need some hush hush shit, it's popular! the GOP chose trump to do that, openly.

some things i liked or am making my way thru re: our stupid russia fixation

― goole, Tuesday, March 28, 2017 2:17 PM (twelve minutes ago)

just read all four. piece on louise mensch was the only one that seemed worth the time.

the other three do little more than say "settle down" a few thousand times

as opposed as i am to gimmicky longshots i thought the 'emoluments' stuff could have had teeth, but that's been abandoned i guess.

lacking precedent as a guide, I'm sure anyone interested in this is still casting around for a plaintiff with rock-solid standing/grounds to sue - ie, a company directly hurt by Trump's acceptance of emoluments. tbf I dunno what company out there would be willing to take that challenge/see it as financially in their interest.

yeah, a few weeks ago i heard there were some restaurants in DC pursuing this, but I haven't heard anything about it since.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/03/28/the-house-just-voted-to-wipe-out-the-fccs-landmark-internet-privacy-protections/?utm_term=.07a16766b490

a significant bummer

he'd be ripe for impeaching right now on emoluments, if the Ds were in control

I'm not sure how this could look like any more of a cover-up

I have to say that this bunch is making Nixon look like Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction

yeah, i occasionally wonder what dick cheney thinks of these rank amateurs

well he called Russian hacking "an act of war" yesterday

Funnily enough:

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/dick-cheney-russian-election-interference-could-be-seen-act-war-n739391

"There was a very serious effort made by Mr. Putin and his government, his organization, to interfere in major ways with our basic, fundamental democratic processes," Cheney said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "In some quarters that would be considered an act of war."

xpost etc

I'm of the opinion that it is a good thing Michael Flynn had to resign given the fact that he's crazy and dangerous to have had directing national security. Trump's people keep getting caught lying about it. Pursuing it is good politics. We can't say "stupid fixation" in light of the tangible results we've seen, handful of conspiracist tweetstorms notwithstanding.

I'm not sure how we can gauge the overall effect of the hacking however...
https://twitter.com/jesseberney/status/817715635975294977

It's not like Trump and fam have done anything to distance themselves from the emoluments so no statute of limitations there. Wait until the time is right to pile on.

The idea that we need to focus on finding the one true way to fuck with this administration and stop doing this thing that clearly drives them crazy, that forces recusals and resignations, is stupid

"This Russia nonsense is causing the GOP to turn on itself. Democrats need to stop harping on it because it gives Putin too much credit."

this article makes a decent case that buchanan was the worst of the worst:

https://medium.com/everyvote/no-trump-isnt-the-worst-president-ever-c688ddddc8c5

it'd be kinda cool if presidents still made that "one term only!" promise

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, March 28, 2017 5:51 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's not like Trump and fam have done anything to distance themselves from the emoluments so no statute of limitations there. Wait until the time is right to pile on.

this is my thinking, too -- if anything, letting these penny-ante violations go is sorta like giving him an opportunity to try something more brazen. give em enough rope, imo

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/us/trump-international-hotel-lawsuit-cork-wine-bar.html?_r=0

The Cork Wine Bar in DC has sued Trump

Mr. Pitts and Ms. Gross claim that the Trump International Hotel, in the Old Post Office building in Washington, and the restaurants within enjoy an illegal advantage in the city’s restaurant market because of their association with Mr. Trump and that Cork has suffered as a result
Ms. Gross and Mr. Pitts are not seeking monetary damages. But the suit, filed in District of Columbia Superior Court, offers a few improbable ways to resolve the issue: The hotel can stop operating; Mr. Trump and his family can fully divest from the business; or Mr. Trump can resign from office.

A White House spokeswoman referred questions to the Trump Organization, which described the lawsuit in a statement as “a wild publicity stunt completely lacking in legal merit.”

tom there was an article awhile back about fascist leaders and its was pretty persuasive in arguing that sleaze and corruption scandals are some of the only effective avenues to topple them from the outside. so yeah full steam ahead imo. the battle of ideas can be fought elsewhere.

It's not like Trump and fam have done anything to distance themselves from the emoluments so no statute of limitations there. Wait until the time is right to pile on.

The idea that we need to focus on finding the one true way to fuck with this administration and stop doing this thing that clearly drives them crazy, that forces recusals and resignations, is stupid

― Not the real Tombot (El Tomboto), Tuesday, March 28, 2017 3:25 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM

guys we gotta stop pursuing this Russia thing, we're annoying the GOP

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/03/the-search-for-standing/520467/

perhaps most importantly, the outcome may prove a referendum about the Emoluments Clause itself: If the first-ever attempts to enforce it can’t even reach the courtroom, the 200-year-old law may prove little more than another toothless norm to be shredded by an administration that has already rewritten so many rules of American governance.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/03/28/trump-business-past-ties-russian-mobsters-organized-crime/98321252/

Linked that earlier.

Can't spell "what Ned Raggett said" without Neanderthal

boom

Back tomorrow folks - gonna take the rest of the day, comp time

sorry i'm a few hours behind, missed that one

Back tomorrow folks - gonna take the rest of the day, comp time

― Not the real Tombot (El Tomboto), Tuesday, March 28, 2017 3:53 PM (forty-eight seconds ago)

^^^ what Devin Nunes said the other night when he suddenly jumped out of an Uber.

rip tombot

yeah, i occasionally wonder what dick cheney thinks of these rank amateurs

well he called Russian hacking "an act of war" yesterday

wow, btwn this, s-s marriage and his praise of Obama's evolution into a drone warrior he's basically a Wasserman-Schultz Democrat now

Cheney's position about bombing perceived enemies has never wavered.

Whoops!

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/manafort-linked-accounts-cyprus-raised-red-flag-n739156

A bank in Cyprus investigated accounts associated with President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, for possible money-laundering, two banking sources with direct knowledge of his businesses here told NBC News.

Manafort — whose ties to a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin are under scrutiny — was associated with at least 15 bank accounts and 10 companies on Cyprus, dating back to 2007, the sources said. At least one of those companies was used to receive millions of dollars from a billionaire Putin ally, according to court documents.

Banking sources said some transactions on Manafort-associated accounts raised sufficient concern to trigger an internal investigation at a Cypriot bank into potential money laundering activities. After questions were raised, Manafort closed the accounts, the banking sources said.

I just watched that!

It was you, you money-launderer, you Russian tycoon.

Doesn't that Wilbur Ross have some banking ties into Cyprus? There have been so many articles, I thought I read that somewhere.

Nunes's hometown paper goes ham:

http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/editorials/article140687833.html

As subservient as Nunes was to Trump on Wednesday, he did not give the president exactly what he wanted. As FBI Director James Comey had done Monday during the Intelligence committee’s public hearing, Nunes said hat Trump’s claim about Obama wiretapping him was false. Perhaps Nunes thought he could have it both ways by letting Trump use him, but then telling the press that the new reports offered no such evidence.

Nunes’ defenders say that he did nothing wrong and that President Trump deserved to have the information. But Nunes himself exposed the emptiness of that argument by privately apologizing to his Democratic colleagues on the committee.

Americans can distinguish between a hard-nosed fact-finder and a surrogate who shares information with a White House under FBI investigation.

such an unfortunate use of words in this washington post headline:

"Karen Pence is the vice president’s ‘prayer warrior,’ gut check and shield."

jesus sucks

nunes' company website wipes russian business ties

https://www.palmerreport.com/news/coverup-devin-nunes-company-russia/2086/

Don't wanna even think about what being Pence's gut shield entails (Oxford commas, WP).

A fair amount of joy in this new Thrush/Haberman piece:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/28/us/politics/vice-president-mike-pence.html

The president’s son-in-law and free-floating aide, Jared Kushner, who has described himself as a first among equals in the West Wing...

And

When Mr. Flynn was fired in mid-February, Mr. Trump and White House officials said he had misled the vice president about his conversations with Mr. Kislyak, which led to an embarrassing television appearance in which an oblivious Mr. Pence defended Mr. Flynn’s conduct.

In reality, Mr. Trump — convinced by Mr. Bannon, Mr. Priebus and Mr. Kushner — had already decided that Mr. Flynn was a liability, and was eager to find an excuse to get rid of him, according to three administration officials familiar with the episode.

Mr. Pence was a lot less upset about how the episode was publicly portrayed — and happily provided the president and his staff with a plausible explanation for getting rid of Mr. Flynn, the officials said, even though it made the vice president appear out of touch.

In fact, the president repeatedly asked Mr. Pence to weigh in — and he flatly refused, according to two aides with direct knowledge of the interaction.

I thought as much.

yeah Pence has seemed to be happy to play Mr. Alibi from the go.