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

fascinating observation made elsewhere that Bannon went into the house intelligence interview knowing he had been subpoenaed but it is more than possible the currently sequestered house intelligence people didn't know he'd been subpoenaed and may in fact find out at some point during the interview.

Time to flip, Ham-head

I have this weird feeling scumbag has been cooperating all along. Or at least for a while. But who knows.

Fun fact to learn that a subpoena trumps an NDA.

that *is* good to know

I have this weird feeling scumbag has been cooperating all along. Or at least for a while. But who knows.

Yeah I keep seeing this brought up. So if the subpoena IS cover...

According to some reports, Trump is still stroking Bannon by calling him for advice. If true, this is exactly the right approach to keep Bannon from flipping, since Bannon hankers so badly for access and influence, in hopes of reshaping the world in his own image. (<- plz do not think about that in literal terms or it will threaten your sanity.)

I dunno, Bannon might be going for the ego two-fer of getting a president elected *and* taking him down. Imagine the book deal!

Do not want to live in a world sculpted from putrefying deviled ham, thank u.

"The Beginning and the End" by Steve Bannon.
"The Man Who Would Be King and the Man Who Would Not" by Steve Bannon.
"Turd on the Run" by Steve Bannon.

MSNBC contract to come

i won't be surprised if cambridge analytica is as dirty as every other trump campaign related entity and its former CEO, mr. bannon, is going down

bannon is not the former CEO of CA

CEO of CACA..

New frontiers in NeverTrumper capitulation: Now that Trump is making nuclear war a live issue again, @NRO is telling readers nuclear attack isn't so bad actually https://t.co/F2DAHBKb8b pic.twitter.com/dbe1Vs6VR5

— Roy Edroso (@edroso) January 16, 2018

re: who will be blamed for shutdown

who are we even talking about here? are there any right-leaning voters who will blame the republicans? are there any left-leaning voters who will blame the democrats? honestly i think the whole question "who will be blamed" is a pointless holdover from an era that has ended. the partisan divide was bad a few years ago. it's gotten demonstrably worse:

https://i.imgur.com/pzbyzD2.png https://i.imgur.com/341QegV.png

and hey i'm part of the problem too, i guess, because i think republicans are 100% wrong on the shutdown, and i think it's their fault. i think know they're wrong on climate change, and i don't want democrats to give a fucking INCH on it. so count me as a hyper-partisan.

so when the NYT asks about who the 'voters' will blame for x y or z, they're really talking about the tiny minority of voters who consider themselves "centrists" and might plausibly change their vote one way or another in the next election. and those people are the dumbest people in the entire fucking universe. let's go ask this earthworm (who is more informed than a centrist) who should be blamed for the shutdown! let's find that fucking groundhog while we're at it too and get its prediction

a centrist is someone who doesn't even understand what game they're playing

https://shareblue.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/CNN_01-16-2018_13.03.39_edit.mp4?_=1

is the rep voter souring on colleges/unis strictly a 2016 campaign after effect? it's hard for me to believe that given how skeptical of higher ed reps have been even before 2015 when this trend really picked up.

It's going to be remarkable if there's a government shutdown because Dems won't vote for a clean bill, and it gets blamed on Republicans, but the Trump negotiating has been so racist and inept that I could see it happening. And it would be an entirely apt response to the horror show he has concocted.

It's going to be remarkable if there's a government shutdown because Dems won't vote for a clean bill

But Dems are mad because it's *not* a clean bill. Unless there is ... breaking news?

Hmmm

Sources say Bannon told by WH not to answer questions before House Intel Cmte about the White House and the transition. Did not assert executive privilege. Committee subpoenas him during the meeting to comply while in the hearing.

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 16, 2018

Saw a tweet saying this is Nunes desperate to know what Bannon's going to spill on. I'd buy it.

Explain that to me, because I do not understand.

How I understand the Republican's position. They want a DACA bill with many exceptions and exclusions made for "security" reasons, and a big appropriation for Trump's wall attached. They want to bust the deal made with Obama for percentage-based, across-the-board budget limits in all departments of the government, including the military, so that they can cut social programs and increase the military budget.

How I understand the Dem position. They want a vote on a clean, DACA bill, unconnected to building Trump's wall, that has enough bipartisan support it could pass. Unless such a DACA bill comes to the floor, they will not vote for an extension of borrowing authority. They would rather keep the overall budget agreement as-is, or else negotiate increases in social spending to accompany military budget increases. They reject the Republican budget proposals.

This is probably a wrong understanding to some degree, but in the general neighborhood of the truth.

xpost: Presumably:

* Nunes is now well known as a WH lapdog

* Bannon is not so coincidentally in the doghouse

* He has information! (Maybe.)

* Mueller has made it clear he'd like to know that information.

* Nunes would love to know what Mueller will learn (even though Nunes doesn't know all of what Mueller now knows).

* Bannon tells two different stories to Congress and to the grand jury = he gets hosed.

If nothing else, the prospect of Bannon getting hosed is a win for public health.

depends on how you manage the run-off

Heh.

Anyway, isn't it convenient that the WH just had a very noisy, messy public breakup with him? Surely anything he knows or tells will now be cordoned off as "a disgruntled former low-level employee."

steve bannon was a very low level advisor

Hello.

New tidbit: Corey Lewandowski has lawyered up https://t.co/domUQGzSPj

— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) January 16, 2018

xpost Based on my understanding, his interaction with the president was limited to fetching him a Diet Coke once or twice. Trump didn't even know who people were referring to until they described Bannon physically.

'Oh, the guy whose face looks like my torso, right, right.'

THREAD: Why did Mueller subpoena Bannon to testify before the grand jury? How is that different from an informal interview with investigators? (Short answer: He likely wants to question Bannon without Bannon's attorney present.) https://t.co/b0hS0YmzPZ

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) January 16, 2018

I can’t help but hear this in the opening narration style of an episode of “Soap”

“confused? you won’t be after this episode”

bannon is not the former CEO of CA

sorry -- former VP of CA

trump is a medically certified brain genious folks

President Donald Trump asked that a cognitive test be included as part of his first physical exam.

Trump’s physician — Navy doctor Ronny Jackson — says the president achieved a perfect score on the test, which was included in last Friday’s medical checkup.

Jackson says Trump’s 30 out of 30 score means there’s no indication that Trump has any cognitive issues.

The doctor speculates that Trump requested the exam in an attempt to beat back the narrative of the past few weeks that he is mentally unfit for office.

Jackson describes Trump as “very sharp” and “very articulate when he speaks to me.”

The doctor says he’s found “no reason whatsoever” to think the president has any issues with his thought process.

well, that's, uh, good news, I guess

"and tell em i never had that guy whacked on the south shore"

"sir, no one has-"

"TELL EM!!"

Trump is just an all-natural, full-firing, medically certified asshole.

there's a big difference between being a board member, helping with funding and introductions, and being the actual CEO.

but anyway, lol

Bannon refused to answer questions in House Intel committee, prompting an on-the-spot subpoena, per @kyledcheney. https://t.co/Ej1EvW1Lb3

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 16, 2018

xpost https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z834x4Qk_pM

If that’s the test I administer (it has a 30/30 score) it means he can tell you the date and his location, can recall three objects that were stated a minute earlier, can follow simple 3-part directions, write a sentence, copy a design, and do some subtraction exercises.

^I've little doubt that is the level of testing he received.

it's the 15th right

If that’s the test I administer (it has a 30/30 score) it means he can tell you the date and his location, can recall three objects that were stated a minute earlier, can follow simple 3-part directions, write a sentence, copy a design, and do some subtraction exercises.

If that’s the test I administer (it has a 30/30 score) it means he can tell you the date and his location, can recall three objects that were stated a minute earlier, can follow simple 3-part directions, write a sentence, copy a design, and do some subtraction exercises.

― JoeStork, Tuesday, January 16, 2018 4:16 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, he almost certainly did a MOCA or a SLUMS -- my guess is the latter, as it's the preferred cognitive screen of the VA

neither are that difficult, but they are pretty sensitive

maybe we can now fight the power instead of being delivered by Pence

“very articulate when he speaks to me.”

He should maybe try it when he's speaking to other people as well.

Trump achieving a perfect score on a test which isn't measuring for some undesirable trait means that the test is a meaningless, garbage test. Seriously. How can you give someone a 29/30 on that test unless their brain has been physically removed from their skull?

Like, assuming the test is legit, I think this gives me stronger 'absolutely nothing means anything' vibes than anything else that's happened over the past year.