US Politics January 2018: "You All Just Got A Lot Richer"

xp to frogbs

when the Arpaio for Senate announcement came out, I had the uncomfortable experience of needing to recall that Trump had pardoned him, an incident that would have haunted previous administrations. I still vividly recall the Marc Rich pardon scandal and that was on Clinton's last day in office.

The Trump Administration: Putting the "anal" in "canal."

― mime kampf (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, January 12, 2018 1:57 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Trump putting the everything-besides-"ry" in (our) shithole country

OK that's it, no more puns today

I keep thinking of that FDR statue upthread and how there will one day be a trump statue with "all haitians have aids" or something inscribed on it

with KFC bucket replacing Fala

Trump's statue has to have him tossing a roll of paper towels

But of course

NBC: As a Korean woman was briefing trump on Pakistan, the president asked why the “pretty Korean lady” wasn’t negotiating peace w North Korea. pic.twitter.com/HgpMfFP277

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 12, 2018

with KFC pee bucket replacing Fala

fixed

I can't stop laughing at @jaxalemany's write up of a White House conference call gone wrong: https://t.co/pt1HSUboRb pic.twitter.com/LvzMpFMyCa

— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) January 12, 2018

Isn't Trump half-Scottish? Let him be U.S. Ambassador to Scotland.

brb, gonna tweet bizarro's digits to the Trumpmeister real quick

hahahahah "it's the illegitimate media" is 9000% stephen miller or some reporter horsing around

"This is Kim Jong Un calling for Donald Trump"

one might assume at this point that trump hates the job and is actively trying to get fired

brb, gonna tweet bizarro's digits to the Trumpmeister real quick

www.conferencecall.gov
xxxposts

i can confirm that many govt conference calls go just like that, at all levels

conference calls are the worst means of communication the human race has yet devised

xps to TLG, I don't think so. This isn't complicated. He's a narcissist so he loves adulation. And because he is a terrible person, the cheapest/easiest adulation he can get is the adulation of terrible people. Anything else would require effort, and he's lazy.

It's the same as wanting a Big Mac while living in an RV that is parked in a McDonald's drive-thru lane. Sure, you COULD go buy some broccoli, but why?

What incentive is there for Trump to seek the approval of anyone other than the people who already love him and gleefully cheer at every despicable thing he does? I mean, it's not as if he can suddenly become a person that Bill Kristol approves of - let alone Rachel Maddow - so why should he try?

yeah i was just kidding

it's just comically absurd how awful he is

and he's not even smart enough to be good at being awful, he's a terribly written villain who you keep waiting to pull a crafty scheme but no he's revealed everything there is to reveal already.

Wall Street Journal's getting a bit fiery lately

NEW: A lawyer for Donald Trump arranged a 30,000 payment to a former adult-film star a month before the 2016 election as part of an agreement that precluded her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, per people familiar.https://t.co/KZhdex7UKE

— erica orden (@eorden) January 12, 2018

And meanwhile...

“More than one-fifth of Donald Trump’s US condominiums have been purchased since the 1980s in secretive, all-cash transactions that enable buyers to avoid legal scrutiny by shielding their finances and identities:”

https://t.co/OYHdPscgew

— Steve Inskeep (@NPRinskeep) January 12, 2018

I am occasionally surprised by what really gets me, EG the tweet in Ned’s post. I am by no means identical to Tombot on my views on the US Intelligence Community, but something about the idea of telling someone whose parents came to the US, and who worked for her country and demonstrated her love for it to the point that she gets to give an intelligence briefing to the president - telling her that that she’s not really American, infuriates me immensely.

Er xp okay a few of Ned’s posts ago.

It seems at least possible that Trump is incapable of processing the fact that someone of Asian ethnicity might also be an American.

Remember when the Wall Street Journal reporting that a president had paid a porn star $130,000 in hush money would have been the biggest news of the year instead of fighting for sidebar status as story of the day?

American is the best race ever iirc xp

My depressing takeaway is that he probably could've saved his money and wound up exactly where he is today. Hell, if he'd bragged about it in a few debates he might've won the popular vote, as well, who knows.

Re: boinking a lady from a dirty movie.

Oh, well. Pioneer the 'IDGAF' school of political maneuvering sometimes means you aren't aware of the benefits you're able to reap until they've already passed you by. Now that he's blazed the trail, I look forward to future presidential hopefuls who openly make extramarital sex with porn stars part of their platform.

Thought the porn star stuff was old news? It's the payment that's new though.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/donald-trump-and-stormy-daniels-738920 (2016)

the part that surprises me is the WSJ running w/ it

Apparently the true secret to success is to commit more salacious acts throughout the course of your life than any one human brain is capable of retaining. Like, Britannica needs to put out a multi-volume reference set so we can keep this shit straight.

look i'm sorry it just won't work, I'm pretty certain any salacious acts you commit no matter how numerous will be canceled out by the fact you probably want decent healthcare for all and less racism, you damned lefty.

At a point, taking a blind stab at a depraved act he might've committed will likely yield positive results. Like, has he jerked off onto a random senior citizen? I don't have any way of proving it, but probably.

It's really scary that the CIA knows so much about us

https://pitchfork.com/news/moby-says-cia-agents-asked-him-to-spread-the-word-about-trump-and-russia/

"I look forward to future presidential hopefuls who openly make extramarital sex with porn stars part of their platform."

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Silvio_Berlusconi_1994.jpg/180px-Silvio_Berlusconi_1994.jpg

You rang?

To the first bar I walk by with a happy hour deal on "Dark and Stormy Daniels" pic.twitter.com/08TJ6XFkg9

— Drew Conway (@drewconway) January 12, 2018

The previous porn star accusation was from Jessica Drake. This is Stormy Daniels, who, of course, didn't say anything, because she was apparently paid off.

A lawyer for President Donald Trump arranged a $130,000 payment to a former adult-film star a month before the 2016 election as part of an agreement that precluded her from publicly discussing an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.
Michael Cohen, who spent nearly a decade as a top attorney at the Trump Organization, arranged payment to the woman, Stephanie Clifford, in October 2016 after her lawyer negotiated the nondisclosure agreement with Mr. Cohen, these people said.
Ms. Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels, has privately alleged the encounter with Mr. Trump took place after they met at a July 2006 celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, these people said. Mr. Trump married Melania Trump in 2005.
Mr. Trump faced other allegations during his campaign of inappropriate behavior with women, and vehemently denied them. In this matter, there is no allegation of a nonconsensual interaction.
“These are old, recycled reports, which were published and strongly denied prior to the election,” a White House official said, responding to the allegation of a sexual encounter involving Mr. Trump and Ms. Clifford. The official declined to respond to questions about an agreement with Ms. Clifford. It isn’t known whether Mr. Trump was aware of any agreement or payment involving her.
In a statement, Mr. Cohen didn’t address the $130,000 payment but said of the alleged sexual encounter that “President Trump once again vehemently denies any such occurrence as has Ms. Daniels.”
Mr. Cohen added in the statement, addressed to The Wall Street Journal: “This is now the second time that you are raising outlandish allegations against my client. You have attempted to perpetuate this false narrative for over a year; a narrative that has been consistently denied by all parties since at least 2011.”
The Journal previously reported that Ms. Clifford, 38 years old, had been in talks with ABC’s “Good Morning America” in the fall of 2016 about an appearance to discuss Mr. Trump, according to people familiar with the matter. In that article, the Journal reported the company that owns the National Enquirer agreed to pay $150,000 to a former Playboy centerfold model three months before the election for her story of an affair a decade earlier with the Republican presidential nominee, which the tabloid newspaper didn’t publish. The company said she was paid to write fitness columns and appear on magazine covers.
Mr. Cohen also sent a two-paragraph statement by email addressed “TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN” and signed by “Stormy Daniels” denying that she had a “sexual and/or romantic affair” with Mr. Trump.
“Rumors that I have received hush money from Donald Trump are completely false,” the statement said.
Ms. Clifford didn’t respond to multiple emails seeking comment.
After the agreement, Ms. Clifford’s camp complained the payment wasn’t being made quickly enough and threatened to cancel the deal, some of the people familiar with the matter said.
The payment was made to Ms. Clifford through her lawyer in the matter, Keith Davidson, with funds sent to Mr. Davidson’s client-trust account at City National Bank in Los Angeles, according to the people.
“I previously represented Ms. Daniels,” Mr. Davidson said, referring to Ms. Clifford’s stage name. “Attorney-client privilege prohibits me from commenting on my clients’ legal matters.”
A spokeswoman for City National Bank declined to comment.
The agreement with Ms. Clifford came as the Trump campaign confronted allegations from numerous women who described unwanted sexual advances and alleged assaults by Mr. Trump.
In October 2016, the Washington Post published a videotape made, but never aired, by NBC’s “Access Hollywood” in which Mr. Trump spoke of groping women.
Mr. Trump denied all allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct and apologized at the time for his remarks on the tape, calling them locker-room banter.
Mr. Cohen worked at the Trump Organization from 2007 until after the election. As Mr. Trump took office, Mr. Cohen said he would work in private practice and act as Mr. Trump’s personal attorney. “I am the fix-it guy,” he said in an interview in January 2017 before Mr. Trump’s inauguration.
Ms. Clifford has appeared in about 150 adult films, and was considered among the industry’s biggest stars when the then-27-year-old met Mr. Trump at the American Century Championship in 2006, held at Edgewood Tahoe golf course in Nevada.
Another adult-film star, Jessica Drake, later alleged in an October 2016 news conference that Mr. Trump kissed her and two other women without permission in a hotel suite after the same 2006 golf event.
“I did not sign [a nondisclosure agreement], nor have I received any money for coming forward,” Ms. Drake said this week in an emailed statement. “I spoke out because it was the right thing to do.”
A White House official responded to questions about Ms. Drake by referring to a previous statement by the Trump campaign, which called her account “totally false and ridiculous.”

He really is the worst person in the world.

Dammit, now I'm humming "Stormy Weather."

Ripe for Phrases that, when you see them, you inexplicably start singing them to the melody of something else (and then will forever be associated with that)

whenever i see the words "stormy weather" i always immediately think of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0OY_P7T9wY&feature=youtu.be&t=44

sorry, skip 44 seconds into
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0OY_P7T9wY

why don't more people egg Trump on legally? his own lawyers are all threats and bluster because they don't really want any of these things to come to court. Somebody should just say, you stupid asshole, I dare you to take me to court! like, totally troll him publicly and loudly. I am actually shocked there is any degree of decorum left. I am shocked more people are not going on TV and the radio and just saying 'This guy is the biggest asshole of all time. Fuck him.'

Where did stormy Daniels get 130 grand from to give to trump's lawyer

Meanwhile, in Arizona:

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-legislators-new-bill-attacks-socialists-people-under-40-10035217

SPLC comprehensively refutes the White House response to the "shithole" statement with annotated comebacks, perhaps worth quoting in entirety.

Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people. [1]

[1] The hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have been sheltered from deportation by Temporary Protect Status have built lives and paid taxes in the U.S. — some for decades — because of dangerous situations in their countries of origin. Many of those immigrants have children who are U.S. citizens.

The President will only accept an immigration deal that adequately addresses the visa lottery system [2] and chain migration [3] — two programs that hurt our economy [4] and allow terrorists [5] into our country.

[2] President Trump continues to erroneously disparage the visa lottery system, which allocates 50,000 visas to people from countries with low immigration rates. As CBS News has reported, "Interested and eligible applicants can only apply electronically – which often means long lines at Internet cafes in developing countries during the weeks-long entry period – and they are not, as Trump argues, 'the worst of the worst,' handpicked by their country's government."

[3] Using the term "chain migration" is a scare tactic borrowed from anti-immigrant hate groups such as the Center for Immigration Studies. These groups back the concept through false data.

[4] Immigrants help the economy.

[5] Security experts say Trump's immigration policies are making the country more — not less — susceptible to terrorism.

Like other nations that have merit-based [6] immigration, President Trump is fighting for permanent solutions that make our country stronger [7] by welcoming those who can contribute to our society [8], grow our economy [9] and assimilate into our great nation. [10]

[6] The "merit-based" system Trump has repeatedly endorsed represents a stealth attack on our immigration system that would begin to unravel the reforms of 52 years ago, when Congress discarded a racist quota system that discriminated against people who weren't white and northern European.

[7] Study after study has shown that immigrant communities make our country stronger and safer.

[8] The White House's bar for immigrants who "contribute" to U.S. society is absurdly high.

[9] Immigrants of all education backgrounds and skill levels have historically contributed to this nation's economy.

[10] Anti-immigrant figures have used fears about the ability to assimilate to stoke opposition to certain immigrant groups over others (for instance, Haiti over Norway) since the nation began.

He will always reject temporary, weak and dangerous stopgap measures [11] that threaten the lives [12] of hardworking Americans, and undercut immigrants who seek a better life in the United States through a legal pathway. [13]

[11] Temporary Protected Status was created to protect people unable to return home safely due to conditions in their home country. Conditions in El Salvador, Haiti and Nicaragua — three countries that have lost TPS under the Trump administration so far — remain dangerous for many to return.

[12] This comment repeats one of the Trump administration's false assertions for stricter immigration — that immigrants commit more crimes than people born in the United States. Several studies have concluded that this is not true.

[13] There are legal pathways to come to the United States and to stay in the United States. Temporary Protected Status was, like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a legal way for immigrants to stay in the United States — and away from dangers that may be awaiting them in their country of origin. The future is uncertain even for those who have followed the strict guidelines of the U.S. government for staying in the U.S. DACA recipients, for example, do not currently have a path to obtain legal permanent resident status.