Trump, July 2017: Tweet more

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Jared, Paul, etc: Trump's promises to bail you out if you commit perjury may fail: courts could well toss out pardons by a co-conspirator!

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) July 23, 2017

we've been stuck here for some time, decades, as the laws of mathematics (and ethics) have been suspended to pursue the overriding priority of the GOP's main donors -- tax cuts (for the rich)

xpost

The GOP spinelessness is baffling when you ask what is really at stake for any of these guys. That they would have to take a "demotion" from electoral politics to private practice or lobbying that pays 20x as much? Those congressional lapel pins must make a man feel mighty special.

I get the feeling a lot of career politicians - and I'm including the usual suspects in the appointee talent pools for both sides - really need to feel like they make more than a paycheck, they like the attention and the trappings of power. They also aren't that good at "real jobs" where you have to bring in business for the firm.

.@brianstelter: Trump lies about voter fraud and wire tapping. @KellyannePolls: "He doesn’t think he’s lying about those issues."

— Rob Tornoe (@RobTornoe) July 23, 2017

I don't see how anyone can even humor the idea that the president can pardon himself. So he could be convicted of murder and just pardon himself? That's dictatorial.

Watching Matt Kuchar at the British Open makes me think that at some point, some staffer's going to whisper to Scaramucci that "They're not saying 'Moooooooooooch,' sir--they're booing."

the scaramucci quote that kills me is "A person that's going to be super, super tough on Russia is President Donald J. Trump."

i think it was mentioned upthread and it's become shockingly easy to just digest these bits of information and then move on without really thinking too much about it, but just ponder this one for a minute:

By midday Sunday, Scaramucci had outed Trump as an anonymous source who called him questioning whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election at all (“I won’t tell you who,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” and followed up moments later with, “How about it was the President”).

to be fair, Trump did call himself his most trusted advisor.

Haven't heard Scaramucci talk yet but due to his hair style and permanently sarcastic facial expression I am envisioning Joe Pesci.

Even before I heard him speak I had already bought three used cars from him.

cuban / bush 2020

https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/07/23/jeb-bush-and-cuban-rip-trump-central-park-rally/9I7BZoaz7wL5NWJajloJKM/story.html

nowhere to go but up!

Gaaahhhhh, Tapper's interview with Saul Goodman the Mooch is skin-crawling. All I can say is that I'm super glad Trump hired the dude because he isn't going to convince any among the unconvinced, and I can totally see why Spicer quit because he's likely to send the faithful off in droves.

they should just get David Miscavige after this guy runs his course

ha, otm. that's exactly who the guy reminds me of, that sort of hyper confident snake oil salesman.

will that is such a genius concept. please let's work together to make this happen, the thing this admin is missing to be perfect is the CoS

Trump's tweetarrheia yesterday must have really exhausted him - we've heard nothing from him for 18 hours now.

honestly surprised there isn't more explicit overlap with CoS & GOP/ Trump people. such a natural fit.

cuban / bush 2020

imo the shocking moderate turn of the GOP following a potential failure of Trump's presidency will manifest as the Cyberdemon/LePage 2020 ticket

The Trump dementia hypothesis is rapidly gaining credibility for me.

tbf the cyberdemon's military credentials and considerable height would actually make him a pretty solid GOP pick in a "typical" election cycle. though iirc he's been dogged by some noncommittal statements about abortion that hurt him with the base?

honestly surprised there isn't more explicit overlap with CoS & GOP/ Trump people. such a natural fit.

― constitutional crises they fly at u face (will), Sunday, July 23, 2017 1:53 PM (twenty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I dunno, committing to more than one cult at a time seems like an awful lot of work.

I've got to admit, I was taken out of the one episode of "Handmaid's Tale" I've seen so far by knowing that Elisabeth Moss was in the CoS.

Took a few posts to figure out you guys were referring to Church of Scientology and not Chief of Staff.

Just when I got finished not immediately thinking of the Bureau of Land Management when I see BLM.

BDS is going to take a while longer.

tbf the cyberdemon's military credentials and considerable height would actually make him a pretty solid GOP pick in a "typical" election cycle. though iirc he's been dogged by some noncommittal statements about abortion that hurt him with the base?

― ﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Sunday, July 23, 2017 3:13 PM (twenty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There's some dark murmurings re: the Cyberdemon's supposedly "eldritch" religious beliefs afaik but I don't think those will get in the way, ultimately

And under the bus they all go.

It's very sad that Republicans, even some that were carried over the line on my back, do very little to protect their President.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2017

He really is phenomenal

I guess he slept in.

He is clearly aware that he needs protection. What's awesome is that he signals it so unmistakably. He could just as well have said, "I'm guilty of crimes that must not be discovered."

He's doing such a fantastic job of pissing all over everyone that it's going to be a real stumper of a whodunnit when SS one day finds him curled in the fetal position on the WH lawn with all of his teeth kicked out.

https://meblogwritegood.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/screen-shot-2011-11-29-at-12-16-51-pm.png

Perhaps the only thing about this president that gives me any joy is knowing that whenever he tweets out something, there's got to be at least one or two people on staff whose job it is to read every single insult that follows.

countdown to whenever trump blurts out a variation of "i am not a crook".

Didn't I read that the Republican party, no doubt under pressure by the White House, is considering or perhaps putting forth primary challenges to at least a couple current senators? Yeah, that will really engender goodwill among everyone else.

Trump loyalists control a few state Republican parties, so I expect they would be happy to screw over any incumbent who wasn't enthusiastic enough. The RNC would be pretty reluctant unless there's been a Trumpist purge there.

As other people have pointed out iirc, most GOP Senators up for reelection in 2018 outperformed Trump, they really don't need his help.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DFc5BQuXsAEkv9Q.jpg:large

there might be more than 23 over the line, if the 100% outliers (presumably those who ran against no opponent) were taken out of the sample

or actually, removing those outliers would pull the trendline up, not down, so there'd be less than 23

I agree with the jay rosen tweetstorm upthread. Trump is severely mentally incompetent at this point, judging by the Times interview. I think he has degenerated a lot since being inaugurated and it is only going to get worse. I don't know how journalists are supposed to cover a president whose statements are based entirely on delusions and misunderstandings.

if anyone's looking for a place to do the fandango

http://nypost.com/2015/01/28/inside-hunt-fish-where-beauties-trawl-for-sugar-daddies/

that's not a trendline. that's the line where trump and the gop candidate got the same share of the vote. it doesn't move if you change the sample.

countdown to whenever trump blurts out a variation of "i am not a crook".

"I welcome this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their president likes to grab pussy. Well, I like to grab pussy!"

treeship if that's the case then they cover him like that, they say so, right in the piece, they examine what the consequences are, they judge him and his party against historical precedent to put it in context, and they relentlessly document who wins from this arrangement and who loses. that is the job and it doesn't change because donald trump is president

"oh goodness his answers are so kooky i have lost my moorings as a journalist" really dog? you don't know how to write unless you get to impute good faith and/or expertise to your subjects?

"how can i operate in this fallen milieu!" wellll i hate to break it to you but it was fallen a long time ago. i guess now it's so fallen even a political journalist can notice

http://nypost.com/2015/01/28/inside-hunt-fish-where-beauties-trawl-for-sugar-daddies/

― reggie (qualmsley), Sunday, July 23, 2017 11:27 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hunt & Fish has only been open for three weeks, and it already has an all-star lineup. Patrons include (clockwise from top left) Darryl Strawberry, Brittny Gastineau, Carl Icahn, Star Jones, Steve Schirripa and Alexandra Lebenthal.

https://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2009/09/the-a-list-att.png

Worth a read:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/republicans-are-in-full-control-of-government--but-losing-control-of-their-party/2017/07/23/b1ab6bbc-6d92-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html

My favorite bit is the Idaho multimillionaire complaining about how all his money somehow didn't equate to votes. Po-bre-cito.