Rule of thumb: Never underestimate the stupidity of this President and his unique ability to do the worst thing. Know what's a national emergency? Having a president so stupid he can be goaded into a series of constitutional crises by the voices he hears on his tv set. — Hunter (@HunterDK) February 14, 2019 Bloomberg: President Donald Trump will sign … Read More
Trump Faces The Ire Of The Mob He Created
It turns out that it isn’t so easy to make deals with people who fundamentally disagree with you. Politics has beaten Trump and he is forced to sign a deal that gives only $1.4 billion for his stupid border wall. So what does Trump do? He tries to gaslight his supporters. At the El Paso rally this week, he implored … Read More
Democrats and Republicans Agree To A Border Deal, Averting Shutdown
The Washington Post has the details: The framework would provide $1.375 billion for barriers along the border, including 55 miles of new fencing,with certain restrictions on the location, according to a congressional official familiar with the agreement….Democrats backed down from their demand on tight limits on detention beds that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement could use to detain undocumented immigrants, pulling away from a push … Read More
Trump Incites Violence
Trump’s rally in El Paso last night — to shill for his border wall — was notable for many reasons. For one thing, the counter-rally (with El Paso native Beto O’Rourke) had more attendees… Numbers don’t lie.El Paso Fire Department crowd estimates::Trump: 6,500 Beto O’Rourke: 10,000 – 15,000 — Farnaz Fassihi (@farnazfassihi) February 12, 2019 … although that number does … Read More
Pecker And The Dick Pic
Very strange but important story involving AMI, the owner of the National Enquirer, and Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of Amazon and, as an aside, the Washington Post. Last night, Bezos published the following on Medium: No thank you, Mr. Pecker Something unusual happened to me yesterday. Actually, for me it wasn’t just unusual — it was a first. I was made an … Read More
Snopes Quits Facebook
I have been a big fan. follower, and occasional contributor to Snopes. And this is a pretty big fail on the part of Facebook. Snopes believes it has been ignored, and simply is there as window-dressing so that Facebook can say it attacks fake news. CNBC: Snopes, a fact-checking organization, announced on Friday its decision to end its partnership with Facebook, … Read More
Document Dump: The Dems Opening Offer In The Border Wall Negotiations
Some interesting tidbits: Democrats have offered $500 million “to address humanitarian concerns at the border, including medical care, more efficient transportation, food and other consumables, and to support at least one prototype temporary holding facility (72 hours or less) with better conditions and services for migrants.” (Trump doesn’t want this, but it’ll give a lie to his supposed concern if … Read More
Stupid Is As Stupid Does
I was going to write a post about how Trump learned (although – let’s face it – he probably didn’t learn) about the importance of having good information. But this guy beat me to it: One takeaway from the federal government shutdown is the importance of good information. American presidents are privy to the highest quality data on the planet. … Read More
I’m Sick Of The Covington Catholic Teen Incident, But This One Thing I Believe
Adam Serwer: The incident became a national story in part because of the way the images seemed to confirm first one sweeping narrative, and then another, opposite one: the first, that the heart of Trumpism is prejudice; the second, that anti-prejudice, abetted by the liberal media, has become a malevolent force comparable to racial oppression. But only one of these … Read More
Movement, Ever So Slightly, On Ending The Government Shutdown
NY Times: WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday offered the first glimmers of a potential resolution to the five-week partial government shutdown, scheduling procedural votes Thursday on President Trump’s proposal to spend $5.7 billion on a border wall and a competing bill that would fund the government through Feb. 8. The plan for the Senate to consider the … Read More
“We Are Getting Crushed”
Maggie Halberman writes in the NY Times about the pressures inside the White House: President Trump has insisted that he is not going to compromise with Democrats to end the government shutdown, and that he is comfortable in his unbendable position. But privately, it’s sometimes a different story. “We are getting crushed!” Mr. Trump told his acting chief of staff, … Read More
Trump Doesn’t Like Plans
From Axios’ Jonathan Swan: When a frustrated adviser once tried to convince President Trump to consider a strategic plan, the president launched into a story about his friend Mike Tyson, the former world heavyweight boxing champion. What he’s saying: “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth,” Trump said, echoing a famous Tyson quote. I had asked the adviser whether … Read More
Country REALLY Divided on Day 26 of Shutdown
From Gallup today, the country is more divided on Trump than with any other president in polling history. The average 79-percentage-point difference between Republicans’ and Democrats’ job approval ratings of President Donald Trump during his second year in office is the largest Gallup has measured in any presidential year to date. But Trump still polls at historical lows. Overall, an … Read More
Exhausting Futility Continues
Shutdown Day Number 23 and there is no sign of movement. Trump apparently has little to do but tweet all day — childish attacks on Elizabeth Warren (racist attacks there) and on Jeff Bezo’s personal life. But that is kind of the point that Trump wants to make — he’s ready to work on a deal and Dems are off … Read More
The Buck Stops With Everybody
Impasse. Government is shut down. Nobody is budging. At a meeting yesterday with Pelosi and Schumer, Trump asked if they would fund his wall. He specifically said “wall” and NOT “border security” (he lied in a later tweet about this). Pelosi said no, and Trump said (verbatim) “Bye bye” and left. At present, he seems to have rallied the Republicans … Read More