Where to start? Every single day brings some fresh hell with the Trump administration. Every morning, I sit down at the computer and begin my day and I inevitably wonder, “Will Emperor Trump throw a Twitter hissy fit this morning?” Yesterday, he tweeted but was surprisingly… subdued. Almost as if someone possibly got to him and screamed “JESUS STOP LEAKING CLASSIFIED MATERIAL TO RUSSIANS.” Considering El Baby Fists is currently at war with the CIA, the FBI, most of the intelligence-gathering agencies in America and abroad and most career DOJ officials, of course you know that from here on out, tons of sh-t is going to be leaked. I imagine James Comey – being a little squirrel who stores away damaging information on everyone – has a cache of documentation about Trump. You know the CIA does as well. So here’s all the sh-t that went down in the past 22 hours or so.
Trump leaked intelligence from Israel. NBC News’ sources say that the information Trump blurted out in the Russian meeting was highly sensitive and highly classified material from an Israeli source. Now that Russia has the information, they’ll probably pass it on to their friends in Iran. Oh, and the Israeli source? He was an Israeli operative (Mossad, most likely) who infiltrated ISIS as a double agent. And Donald Trump basically outed him and endangered his life because Trump wanted to look bigly in front of his Russian friends.
Trump’s staffers are afraid to leave him alone with world leaders. The NYT did an excellent story about the dysfunction, insanity and treason that blows like a hurricane throughout the White House. WH staffers are exhausted and burned out and afraid that they could be fired at any moment. Senior staffers are apparently terrified that Trump will, you know, say some unhinged words if he’s left alone with a world leader or someone important. Politico also described the atmosphere within the WH – everyone is “on edge” and running scared.
Obstruction of Justice. You know how James Comey is a little squirrel, storing away all of his nuts for the nuclear winter? Well, Comey has the receipts. He was just biding his time, waiting to see how Bigly was going to play everything. I guess Comey was not impressed. The Washington Post and the NYT reported yesterday that Comey wrote a memo in which he describes being asked by Donald Trump to end the FBI investigation into Michael Flynn. That, right there, is obstruction of justice. But I would like to point out that Comey writing a memo is not the same as Trump writing a memo TO Comey. Like, Comey’s memo can still be used as evidence in the obstruction of justice trial, of course, but it’s not the ultimate smoking gun, you know? Also in Comey’s memos: Trump wants to throw reporters in jail for being nosy.
The FBI is coming for Trump. There’s the fact that Comey is more popular than Trump within the FBI. There’s the fact that most FBI agents are career civil servants who believe in the system. And then there’s the FBI just flat-out declaring war on Trump. Read this Daily Beast story – full of sourcing from unnamed FBI officials – and try to tell me the FBI is NOT coming for Trump. Just try.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
B*tch is going down!!
Please let that be true.
Let us see what the Republicans do first before getting excited. They have the power and only they have the power to take him out. If you have a Republican representative or Senator, call them, email, the write, let them know how you feel about their support for Trump. Vote them out in 2018 if they don’t impeach Trump.
It’s still early but I really think they’re going to impeach him at some point. How could they not?
I think those who think he’ll be impeached any time soon are incredibly naive. He’ll be allowed to carry on as long as he gives the Republicans what they want. I’m not American but it’s obvious that as long as they’re getting things done their way, they’re not going to stop him. All this calling Senators, voting the Rs out in 2018 – IMO it’s a drop in the ocean. He is basically trying to turn your country into a dictatorship and everyone is allowing it. You only have to look at the Ukraine a few years ago to see what it takes to have even a hope of ousting a dictator-like leader. A day here and there of protests isn’t enough – they were there for MONTHS, hundreds if not thousands of them died as a result, but they carried on. Stories like this sound like something from the third world, but I truly believe that massive, unprecedented action from the people is the only way this man will be removed. He will not leave the WH willingly, he will have to be dragged kicking and screaming. Impeach him? He’ll probably try to bring in a law preventing impeachment! I truly, truly hope I’m wrong and that he can be removed somehow but I just don’t see it. Narcissists don’t see reason or blame and they definitely don’t like losing, and that’s what he’ll see impeachment as – just a loss to be avoided at all costs to spare his vanity.
Laur
Sure, we have a 2 party system. But, they do not hold ultimate power.
There’s much to be said for the inner workings of our intelligence agencies. They hold the keys to everyone’s closet. And can expose anyone with ease. Then we see the fallout via the press and the 2 party system protecting itself by trimming the fat or cannibalizing itself.
So, it doesn’t matter much what the republicans are doing now. If those stealthy agents of secrets want Trump gone. Assume a plan is in motion.
laur, I don’t think my statement was “naive” but OK.
“Impeach him? He’ll probably try to bring in a law preventing impeachment!”
He can try, but that would never actually go through. Our president is the face of our country, but the power is in the House of Representatives and without their support, nothing goes through. Trump can try to do any crazy, stupid thing that he likes, but that doesn’t mean the House will allow it.
Some of what you said would hold up more if the entire Republican party was behind Trump, but they aren’t. There are many who didn’t like him from the start and have been vocal opponents of him, and that number continues to increase. I believe as time goes on, that number will continue to grow and that eventually his impeachment is highly likely. There is a scandal every single day.
Unless the investigation forces their hand (fingers crossed – I have hope) the GOP will do nothing unless their base drops to 80% support. Until then, the amoral, spineless, greedy, soulless SOBs will blithely carry on in their quest for tax cuts for millionaires. And Trumps supporters will watch their loved ones die but still fail to see they’ve been conned. Eventually, they’ll realize it, but it at huge cost to themselves, the environment and the country. They would rather retreat to the safety of their bigotry than admit rich white men don’t have their best interests at heart.
I think he’ll get impeached but it may take 12-18 months and a shakeup in the midterms. The GOP doesn’t care about protests so long as they have their base. Or irrefutable evidence.
I don’t even know what to say anymore. It’s one big clusterfu*k.
I woke up this morning, and for ten or fifteen minutes, I was happy. I was thinking about my dream, coffee, my dog, and then I thought ‘Trump’. I had a physical reaction. Deflated sadness and fear. This is my life now. This is all of our lives now. You know?
I know many people like that … also people who can’t sleep anymore because of Trump and his people.
I know what you mean. Scary times. Anxiety attacks because of Trump. I want to turn the TV off,but I haven’t been able to stop watching the news for months
We all need a mental health break.
Let’s hope that this chapter will close, and soon will be a distant memory (like a certain Alaskan we thought might be a heartbeat away from this office just a few years ago).
I have moments like that every morning but usually only lasts 20 or 30 seconds before reality smacks me upside the head.
It is difficult. I now have more compassion for people trapped in dictatorships, and how that wrecks mental health.
I woke up reaching for my phone to check his twitter. Goddamnit! Would whoever confiscated his phone give it back and let the man incriminate himself further for my entertainment. That’s where I am now. Seeking entertainment from terrifying poltical situations.
Late yesterday afternoon, my husband went out for a walk. By the time he came back, the Comey story had broken. When I explained it, he could only shake his head.
Drumpf doesn’t need political enemies – he is his own worst enemy.
Standard operating procedure for law enforcement and lawyers: file a written report or memo after each meeting. Trump must be one really lousy businessman if he never followed that procedure himself and unbelievably stupid if he didn’t think a career FBI agent wouldn’t file reports of meetings with him. But Donnie has “TAPE!” Lets hear it , Donnie.
Princess Nagini exploited one of her kids yet again by posting his picture to distract from yesterday’s mess and most of Twitter pointed that out to her.
My girl crush on Sally Yates deepens after watching her interview with Anderson Cooper.
ETA: I do think that his speech on Islam in Saudi Arabia will bring open new doors to lower levels of Hell this weekend. Stock up on the wine.
I think he’s bluffing about those tapes and Comey knows this, hence why his memo’s are being ‘leaked’. Trumpton IS a lousy businessman and an even worse ‘deal maker’ – he’s been bankrupt 5 times.
He’s finding out that hard way that you don’t bluff and bully your law enforcement and intel communities. Seems the Emperor has no teflon!
Yes. And in a pre-Trump POTUS world, presidents knew how government worked going into the job. And what they didn’t know, they learned, they listened, they let themselves be advised by experts. Grr.
The lack of basic business acumen is astounding, even for someone who was handed their money and career decades ago. The biographer who spoke out last year was spot on regarding how little ability and interest he has.
As for keeping notes, I do that in my work. Notes help jog the memory as days and weeks pass, especially when something seems ‘off’ in the first place.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why anyone would think speaking about Islam in Saudi Arabia would be a good idea. Is everyone on his staff actively trying to sabotage him? I don’t want him to speak on Islam knowing his record-and I don’t understand why it has to be in Saudi Arabia. They happen to have Mecca and Medina within their borders and frankly that’s it-they’re not the Vatican. I want to look into this speech more but it’s only noon and I’m already done with his face for today
Saudi Arabia is a “appropriate” destination, Drumpf thinks Muslim women are not allowed to speak: remember the Golden Star Muslim family catastrophe during the campaign? And where is SA on the democratic scale? The problem is Drumpf might get some kind of “inspiration”. Eff it.
It’s more BS distraction for him. A nothing speech he didn’t write, won’t follow and will fill with fake sincerity and offside wink-winks to his bribers. Completely offensive, as his views about Muslims are well known. This trip is gold for him, as it will overtake the bad headlines.
His staff are as rabidly bigoted as he is and they fail to see how their bigotry can be used as a recruitment tool. They think they’re going to “send a message” that will deter people from joining ISIS and they don’t care who they insult in getting that message across. People may not join ISIS but they certainly aren’t going to align with him.
The Israel segment of the trip will be interesting too, following so hard on his handing Israeli intel over to Putin and no doubt, he’ll manage to say something anti-Semitic too.
Then, he’ll find a way to insult Catholics. Rumors are that he plans to name known adulteress Calista Gingrich, third wife of Newt, as Ambassador to the Vatican.
Yep I heard about that appointment of Eye of Newt’s wife/slutty mistress. The irony is rich right there.
AND the Saudi Arabia speech is apparently being written by Stephen Miller, who is one of the biggest bigots on his team.
When things are going bad, Team Trump always doubles down to make it worse.
I think in any job that if you are conversing with a superior by yourself, it is pretty much common practice to write things down. I taught and any time I was with an administrator, you better believe I wrote things down.
I was trained to document document document. Especially for things that smell funny. This is not new and not just for law enforcement. He’s a real idiot if he thinks Comey didn’t document. After all this is the agency founded by J. Edger Hoover. He had a dossier on everyone!
When I was having a rotten time at work, I made an immediate note of the main points of every meeting I had with the individual concerned. Including quotes. They proved very useful. Hopefully Comey’s will too.
One of my favorite professors was a former corporate attorney who always told us, regardless of what you do for a living, to make CYA (Cover Your Ass) one of your foundational operating principles.
I kept thinking of her yesterday when I listened to how Comey wrote, distributed and copied the memos, in addition to keeping the investigating agents away from them. How he handled this is so textbook that law schools should be teaching it for years to come.
You had better believe that when I was practicing, a memo went to file post a meeting.
One thing that I’ve learned is that Republicans will defend each other No Matter What. They will do what’s necessary to look fair in the public eye while doing as little as possible to get to the truth. I suspect even after this a long battle ahead for the Dems to find the truth and for Trump to suffer any consequences.
I am literally surrounded by his base, at home and at work. They ONLY watch the same “news” sources that he watches. Namely Fox. Hence, all this baloney about Russians etc is just Rainbow Gay Abortion Conspiracy Satanic Lies. It’s truly insane. And NO they will not change their minds because they are also given the same instruction from the pulpit. They are saturated with The World According To Trump, and think WE are the ones who are stupid sinful crazy gay going to heck.
Oh and I can’t say anything or I’ll be fired for being part of the Great Liberal Conspiracy to make everyone gay and free abortions for all!!
I sorry to deliver the news, but a great many Americans are just plain dumb.
Fox news was even dragging Trump last night. A few said “wait to see the memos” but many were dragging him. Even saying he was obstructing justice. When Fox starts backpedaling and throwing him under the bus? Its bad for Trump.
@Isabelle
You watched Fox News? Bless your heart. I don’t have the stomach for it.
Are we neighbors???
That stinks, Jem! But it also sounds like you might have an opportunity. Your calls to representatives/Senators, etc. could have a big impact!
Jem, I think you should form RGACSL. I’d join.
Oh Trump.. he’s so dumb and knows nothing politics. He will go down as the worst president in US history.
Trump has passed a ridiculous and scary situation. He obviously careless, clueless, and has no idea that the president is a job for a responsible person. I will never understand how people can still or ever did support this mentally ill guy. How did we see this, but so many not notice how bad he is?
I think they noticed how awful he is, they just didn’t care. Or thought it would be “fun” to shake things up in Washington. Dumbasses, every one of them.
I listened to Here and Now on NPR yesterday. They spoke to two trump supporters. One was a woman in Ohio, IIRC, and the other was a Latino gay man. One would think they were educated as they spoke in complete sentences with correct subject/verb agreement. They both defended him and thought he was doing a good job. For the woman all of the sh1t flying around is nothing more than innuendo and fake news. The Latino supports the Wall.
And they weren’t even embarrassed to have their names revealed on air. If I were forced to choose between working in a strip club and saying I liked donald trump, this senior citizen would take the strip club.
I’d take the strip club, too!
I know normal, educated people who were defending him on FB this week. They kept prefacing their GOP policy-related comments with stuff like “He’s not my favorite guy either BUT” or “He tweets too much BUT…” or, the old standby “I’m just glad we dodged the Hillary bullet.” STILL with the false equivalence. They seem to think that if they express their distaste for the guy or remind us how “terrible” Hillary is (ha) it somehow absolves them of the fact they voted for him. As Trump would say, WRONG.
Where are all the people that were so concerned about Hillary’s emails? I saw a compilations of their tweets and they were so concerned with security and protecting national security? Any words? Bleeding hypocrits, the lot of them
They’re on Princess Nagini’s twitter feed defending her exploitation of her kids by screaming about Hillary’s emails and Benghazi and Chelsea screwed Haiti and leave Ivanka and her precious, beautiful babies alone
KJA- those Hillary haters are still hating Hillary. They’re convinced this is a cover up for the latest Clinton “murder” of that Seth Rich guy who was, according to them, behind WikiLeaks instead of Russia. They’re all still shouting lock her up, while they say pray for Trump cause he’s under attack from “the enemy”- enemy being WaPo and all free press not kissing Trump’s behind.
Seriously, Fox News is still hiding behind the “murder” of Vince Foster.
The Seth Rich story is pure propaganda designed to deflect and distract. I just read that his family strongly disagrees with and is upset by the narrative being spun.
Seth Rich’s family is pleading that this nonsense stop. They’re still reeling from his murder and to have those deplorables exploit his death like that is truly despicable behavior.
Honestly Light Purple-the nicknames on this site are one of the few things that get me through each news cycle.
There’s a big difference between potential risk of disclosure (although honestly, Hillary’s private server was probably less likely to be hacked than the State Department server at that time) and actual disclosure as Trump did with the Russians. The distinction seems lost on the Trumpians.
Plus Comey, who habitually leaves no “t” uncrossed or “i” undotted, said they found no indication that Hillary had been hacked. He only found a few messages that he thought should have been classified, but they were not marked classified when received so that’s not Hillary’s problem. She clearly used the State Department server for classified material.
Trump, who doesn’t use e-mail, ranted on and on about the deleted 30,000 e-mails. “Who does that?!?” he cried at his rallies. Um, anybody who actually uses e-mail routinely does that. I easily have to trash 30,000 e-mails every two or three months. I don’t even open up most of them. Hillary actually had lawyers check them over before deletion. They didn’t take special precautions to make the data unrecoverable, so they weren’t trying to hide anything.
In other words- the whole e-mail scandal was stupid from the get-go. The rules changed during her term and yes, it would have been wise and proper to go along with the new rules. I would blame their IT people for not persuasively making clear the reasons for new rules one-on-one, despite the inconvenience. Many people don’t understand why they need to change procedures that are working well for them and general meetings or memos are not that effective, especially when written by techies to non-techies. It was a transitional period in thinking about cyber security also. But her actions weren’t criminal, she was much better at archiving work-related material than her predecessors and the whole Bush Administration, and she didn’t mishandle classified material.
And Trump’s staff is using a private email server, not the White House servers AND Trump himself is still using a phone that can be hacked.
Someone took screenshots of all three news networks at the same time last night. CNN and MSNBC? Comey Memo. Fox? A piece on the Clinton Foundation.
Patton Oswalt was one of the many to retweet for those who want to see it.
So the classified info was Israeli? What a shit mess.
Yup. Now he’s got Mossad to worry about and he’s going to be in their neighbourhood later this week. I wonder how many Secret Service guys are going on this trip. Hmmm.
Mossad won’t do anything while he’s on Israeli soil. Of course, no telling what they might do to him while he’s in Saudia Arabia or the Vatican. And, of course, they probably have a copy of the pee video.
I think Israel will sacrifice their Mossad agent in return for Jared’s promises of letting Israel get what they want from the Middle East peace process. They will stand by Trump until he screws them over.
Trump has property in Saudia Arabi, he has had visits from them so he is going to say whatever they tell him to say which will be in defense of good Muslims (Saudi) vs bad (Iran). It’s the Vatican visit that will bring trouble. He won’t be able to bribe this Pope.
Guess he never watched Covert Affairs. I like to fantasize that Eyal (Mossad agent) and Annie (CIA) are working behind the scenes to take him down. I do know Piper Perabo (who played Annie) has come out on Twitter and in interviews against Tr*mp. Seems fitting.
I love that show. Also, anyone who watched NCIS knows that you never bet against Ziva.
@ArchieGoodwin- was just thinking about NCIS and how Mossad did not lie down to what the US was doing! Ziva was a total badass!
Isn’t he going to be meeting the Israeli PM when he comes to Europe next week?!?! Ken Doll and Princess Plastic are also joining him on it – guess there are deals to be made. I’m looking forward to the shots of Ivanka drooling over Macron.
Apparently NATO is ‘scrambling’ to Trump proof their talks: http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/15/nato-frantically-tries-to-trump-proof-presidents-first-visit-alliance-europe-brussels/ AND http://www.mediaite.com/online/nato-reportedly-freaking-out-over-upcoming-trump-visit-preparing-to-deal-with-a-child/
They should just give him a coloring book and a box of crayons to keep him busy while the grownups talk.
^^ This. 🙌🏾
Forget the FBI. If Trump got a Mosad agent killed, his biggest worry should be the Israelis.
I’m literally unable to sleep. And have an important job interview I cannot yawn through. This f-cker is ruining my life.
THIS. The info was about someone placed in ISIS. If that person dies forget it…everyone in the Middle East would be in danger without these allies. Also foreign intelligence agencies are already saying that if the stories are true they will start to withhold info from the US.
@ Rapunzel, good luck with the interview!
Mossad have a rep and for good reason – if anything happens to their agent they will work with the US intel to bring Trump and all his cohorts down and as for the Russians, they should watch their backs.
Good luck with job interview.
Mossad scares the ever loving crap out of me. I lived in Israel for a time and the stories about the Israeli intelligence are nightmare level. They get sh*t done. Donnie should be worried about them. Remember they how they got former Nazi Echmann out of Argentina? Blew the head off a terrorist with his OWN cell phone? The CIA is a joke compared to Mossad.
I honestly haven’t slept in days. Can’t believe all of this is happening.
Good luck with your job interview. Stay awake
Good luck on the interview, Rapunzel.
Good luck with the interview. Just think about how your own future is undoubtedly brighter than his.
I hope you nail your interview! Don’t let him take your future from you.
+1
Fortunately for Trump, he’s too stupid to be worried about his life, so he has no trouble sleeping.
I, on the other hand, would have built a panic room and be locked in it, slowly rocking back and forth, if I had crossed Mossad the way he did.
As soon as Comey was fired as FBI Director, the FBI and other Intelligence Services declared war on the Orange Menace. The way Comey was fired was disgraceful and then threatening him with “tapes” was stupid to the nth degree. Oh, to be fly on the wall at the WH. I’d love to see the Traitor-in-Chief running scared and I expect that a lot of people will be resigning shortly to avoid the fallout. The Kushners already seem to be MIA. All of Ivanka’s using her kids as a distraction is now moot. How delicious to watch the sh*t hit the fan.
Doubt that he is smart enough to be scared. He’s probably furious that people are questioning him and that staff is trying to tell him what to say or not say. The few staff members who have any experience are probably very scared and they don’t know who they can trust among the career bureaucrats.
Someone reported on Twitter that their WH sources said that Trump was ranting and cursing at staff members last night.
Of course, he was. But probably because the narrative they released is not the one he wants released.
It was disgraceful. For a career public servant to find out he was fired, without just cause, from reporters is terrible.
I’m so-so about Comey. I just have to have faith he knew what he was doing about those new emails, so close to the election (though I might be kidding myself). But to fire him like that, shows trump is just playing out CA in the white house.
The letter in October seemed to be designed to minimize the impact of the new emails (which Comey probably thought were nothing new but had to check), because Giuliani and Trump were already dancing around gleefully bursting to announce it. Giuliani had found out about them from the rogue FBI agents in the New York office. So it was going to come out soon. I think Comey was trying to undercut that leak. Otherwise, I think he would have stalled informing the blabbermouth committee until after the election (and after he had checked them out). Cynic that I am, I even wondered if those emails had been planted on Weiner’s machine.
He needs to go.
US allies taken aback by intel sharing revelation
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/16/politics/trump-revelations-russia-allies-impact/index.html
“It’s a big deal, and we want to make sure sensitive information is handled properly,” a European diplomat told CNN, adding that the country represented by the diplomat would not cut communications with the US entirely but could potentially reassess what information is transmitted at the political level.
The diplomat — who spoke to CNN on the condition that neither their name nor country were identified — said allied agencies could explore ways to share specific information through channels used only by military and intelligence officials.
If these memos are released, it’s going to be like Harry Potter #8. Can’t wait.
The Order of the Phoenix. Comey as Lupin. Sally Yates as Tonks.
Eesh. They both ended up dead! No thank you!
Hey, Trump now would be the time to bring out those tapes and prove Comey wrong. What? Don’t have any tapes? That’s what I thought.
Trump is going to be longing for the good old days when Comey was head of the FBI….
Comey wrote detailed memos after conversations, which is an excellent practice. I try to do the same since my steel trap of a mind rusted quite a while ago. Hope he has backup copies in safe places. But although he showed them to others in the FBI and had discussions about problematic conversations (such as Trumpian ones) – he was careful not to distract or influence people actually investigating the Trumpians with such things as the infamous “please don’t be mean to my buddy Flynn” one. Sounds like Comey was doing a good job in general and was trying to be fair.
I wonder if he had someone else sign and date the memos, as we do with lab notebooks when verification of when data was collected can be legally significant (for example, for patents)?
From what was being discussed last night, the FBI has a reporting system and he used that so his reports would be numbered and stored in the system.
I also heard there are now calls to hire a non-partisan FBI director. I remember Cronyn and some other Repub schmuck were considered for the job. They both withdrew after this fiasco and are calling for the hiring of an independent director.
Here’s something, why not give Comey his job back?
I wouldn’t mind just rehiring Comey. But they would have to remove Trump’s ability to fire him without the approval of Congress. Actually, anybody would be stupid to take the job as long as the President can fire them at will. Or at least this President.
But maybe for posts that require Senate confirmation, they really should require approval of the Senate before they can be fired. Twice we’ve had a problem with Presidents under investigation messing around with the DoJ or FBI.
Oh man I’m not even American, but I hope they come at him guns blazing. Bring that f&*ker down.
Christmas in May? I think it’s gonna happen. Jason Chaffetz is all over it apparently.
Do not trust Jason Chaffetz to do the right thing. Ever.
Amen. Don’t trust the Weasel Pack (the unattractive, untrustworthy DC version of the Rat Pack).
Agreed. Chaffetz comes from the McCain school of “How to Be a Boot Licking Toady Coward” and got an A++ on his “Appear Tough and Confident Until You Are Challenged And Then Fold in Seconds” paper.
I’ll see it before I believe it with Jason “I am still investigating Hilary” Chaffetz.
Here’s the one thing I’m wondering about Chaffetz: Dude’s a total weasel, and I think there’s a good chance he saw the writing on the wall a few weeks ago for how bad things were about to get (and this was before the past eight days) and decided to cut his losses and run. No way he’s going down with the SS Trump. In some ways, he might be savvier than Ryan or McConnell (although I still think their central problem is their hands are not clean).
Any smart Republican right now would lead the way on impeaching Trump and “cleaning up” the Republican Party, thus establishing the credentials to be a 2020 candidate and run on a platform of country over party, patriotism, etc. and so on.
And with all this new news, nothing is going to happen to him. The GOP is going to drag this out to the bitter end because they really want to rip up everything Obama did and want tax cuts for the already rich.
The only comfort I get from this is that the GOP has gotten nothing done really. All those people who disrespected Obama during his presidency (the GOP and outside foreign leaders) are all ending up with egg and sh-t on their faces for trusting that pile of garbage. They thought Trump was going to be their right-wing racist savior, but really he is going to be their downfall because he is grossly incompetent, insecure, and impulsive windbag.
*but not real guns* lol
I’m having a baby in two days and keep thinking, “I hope the hospital has MSNBC!”.
Congrats and good luck!
Thank you!
Good luck and congrats, JEM.
Congrats on the new baby! You should check to see if the hospital has free wifi in your room if you doesn’t get MSNBC.
Congrats and best wishes…and maybe a break from the relentless news cycle would be a good thing. Enjoy every moment with your precious bundle. Reality will intrude soon enough!
Congratulations! That’s awesome. Good luck
Thanks everybody! Maybe by the time we get home, the articles of impeachment will be ready.
Congratulations! 🎉
If Melania does move to Washington, she should not pack for a long stay. At the rate things are going for her husband, he may be removed from office or step down in the near future.
Melania really should keep herself and her son far, far away from D.C., despite people being all in a lather about that. Trump must be in a constant rage with all this. I don’t think she is able to have a calming effect on him and it is very bad for the child. Even Ivanka and Jared are objects of his fury now.
They really should find an excuse for him to send Pence in his place for the upcoming trip. Imagine if he has a meltdown overseas. Is he really supposed to talk about Islam in Saudi Arabia?!?!? Please say it’s not so. We are going to be so toasted extra crispy if he makes a single misstep, which you know he will multiple times.
i don’t think any of this was part of their deal she signed up to
And yet, the most that rubber faced f**kwit McConnell can bring himself to say is that he’d like to see “less drama” from the White House. And McMasters doing a press conference telling everyone this is false when his own fascist overlord is basically admitting to it, and I’m like really??? THIS is the hill you want to die on? He has proven over and over again that he has no loyalty, that he is ALWAYS going to choose himself and that if the dominoes start to fall, he will throw everyone in front of him to save himself. Like, what is the payoff for this?
The pressure has got to be awfully heavy on Republicans by now so what is depressing me is the concern that Ryan, McConnell and all their other little cronies are probably tying up immunity for themselves before finally dropping the hammer on 45. So not only is Bigly going to be able to do a lot more damage before he’s forced out, they’ll probably all walk away unscathed to continue to more damage. And that makes me crazy.
In my script of this horror show, the Balrog gets McConnell.
Ooh! As Ian McKellan narrates!
I always thought it was funny how when Trump was elected, so many people were speculating that he was some kind of evil genius. But as most of us know, and what has been proven over the last week and a half, is that he is a total f**king moron who has no idea what it means to be president.
He is unfit for this position. He is the biggest threat to America, and to the world’s security. He should be removed immediately.
My theory is that the subdued Drumpf tweets are written by someone who’s …….. complicit.
It’s definitely somebody willing to let his delusions shine through but in a more coherent way. It’s so easy to tell the difference between an original Trump tweet and one written by someone else. The style is so different.
We’re actually lucky that President Tweeter is so arrogant and proud of himself that he routinely confirms his latest stupidity himself, after letting his staff try out various lies for a few days.
Yes. Instead of grade school level grammar, I’d say these tweets are junior high level. That sounds like Ivanka.
Agree, there is no way he wrote those tweets about justifying telling classified intelligence. Though the time in between, maybe it was. he certainly is a slow thinker.
I vote Ivanka
They need to send Pence on this trip. I don’t know how they can, if it has to be the actual president, but they need to find a way to keep trump away from this entire trip. It has unmitigated disaster written all over it.
I am certainly no fan of “look them in the eye” Pence, but any port in a storm.
I hope the tidal wave of bad news doesn’t kill Trump. He looked like he was cooking from the inside in those Oval Office pics with the Russians.
I don’t want him to die until he gets at least a little bit of a comeuppance.
The people defending Trump keep asking why Comey didn’t tell anyone about the memos. Because everyone is compromised. Sessions(had meetings with the Russian), Jared(meeting with the Russians), Lindsey Graham(talks to Trump every day and all day), Nunes(asked by Trump to deny Russian stories and then was used by Trump to halt the HIC investigation), Rosenstein(refusing to hire independent prosecutor after Trump flat out admitted to firing Comey to stop the investigation), mcCabe(leaked information to Reince about the investigation and somehow this story has been completely scrubbed from the press and he is being presented as something that he isn’t), Burr(was asked by Trump to deny Russian stories) , the GOP(RNC was hacked by the Russians, so they won’t do anything about Trump because they are afraid of what Putin has one them). They have all shown that their loyalty is to Trump and the Russians.
What I find crazy is how everyone defending Trump refuse to say that he is obstructing Justice, even after he went on tv and flat out said that he fired Comey to stop the Russian investigation. Some of them are saying that it’s too early to start talks about impeaching Trump. Trump went on tv and flat out admitted to firing Comey because of the Russian investigation and then took to twitter to threaten Comey. Sarah Hucakbee even went on tv and repeated that now that Comey was gone, that the Russian investigations would come to a halt. When do we start the talks to impeach and obstruction of justice? When Putin replaces our flag with his?
When is enough going to be enough? The press are also giving the GOP too much credit. Jason Chaffetz did a disappearing act when it came time to subpoena the WH for their records about Flynn, so now we are supposed to believe that he really is sincere when he asked for Comey’s memo? Lindsey Graham admitted to talking to Trump every day and backed off of requests for Trump’s finances after Trump sent his lawyers after him, so do we really want Comey’s memo in his hands? What we really need to be asking is what do the Russians have on the GOP, if Trump was too afraid to tell Putin no about meeting with the 2 Russian government officials last week, then what does he have on the GOP to make them afraid?
And the standard answer from all intelligence experts, as it should also be for all legal and business experts, is that the memos were part of an ongoing investigation and you don’t discuss an ongoing investigation – if you do, you risk jeopardizing the investigation AND you put yourself in line for disciplinary action.
I trust Chaffetz as far as I can throw Bears Ears National Monument
I hate to throw a spanner into the works because I quite enjoy the idea of impeachment proceedings for the Strumpet, but, yeah, not everybody is convinced this is flat out obstruction.
Here’s a link to Jonathan Turley, no slouch in the legal department. He says not…so…fast…
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/333764-opinion-the-comey-memo-offers-zero-proof-to-impeach
But fibbing about a blow job is enough to impeach? Oookay.
I’m not optimistic that the GOP-majority Congress will do anything about this, unfortunately.
Putin has now come out and said that he will ‘provide’ transcripts of the meeting, like we can trust what you say. Russia needs to protect their own interests and the intel leak makes them look bad to their allies so they will ill be asking if any I tell that they have passed to the US in under bigly will be suddenly declassified and passed to NATO.
Trump is becoming a problem for Putin and it’s only a matter of time before Putin throws him under the bus to protect his interests.
Agreed. I read the dossier and Putin never wanted Trump. I will also remind everyone that World Cup 2018 starts a June 14 (funny enough Donnie’s birthday ). Putin needs those sanctions lifted so he can resume drilling for oil. With this money, he can replace the money (well on paper) that he and his cronies have been stealing for years and prep for the games. Without Russia will be exposed for the mess of a county it is- on a world stage at that.
Also, although even though I am not sure of the rules or precedent, I can see countries not sending their players and fans if they felt they were putting them in harm’s way. All of which is bad for Putin’s pride and bottom line.
Yep. And Putin has been trying to repair relations with the rest of the world for a while, he wants and needs trade agreements to boost the failing Russian economy. his ego demands that Russia be taken seriously on the world stage and not continue to be treated as the worlds pariah, after North Korea. China are treated better than the Russians. Bigly boy is pissing all over his long terms goals.
The World Cup is going to be a car crash, countries will pull out and fans won’t travel there. The Russian football hooligans will also ruin it and Russia’s rep. There has long been rumours that they blackmailed Blatter to get the games in the first place.
Love the autocorrect typo “I tell” for “intel”! Sometimes there is deep truth in autocorrect’s craziness.
That’s Trump’s excuse right there. “It was intel? I heard ‘I tell’, so I did.”
I won’t dare watch Fox News but I wonder how they are spinning this?
Probably trying a way to blame Hillary and obama
What Sarah said or ignoring it (see my comment above about Tuesday night’s coverage)
Excellent reporting, Kaiser!
Kaiser’s reporting keeps me sane. Many thanks!
I wouldn’t survive through the Trump sh*t if I couldn’t be here among people who see things like I do. I hope Kaiser doesn’t stop these reports.
The “latest” on CNN is that trump hasn’t tweeted since yesterday afternoon. He got scolded bad. This is not a person who can control himself. Someone took his phone away.
He’ll be lie tweeting by the end of the week, he can’t help himself. I did not agree with what Comey did to Hillary, but I believe he’s more honest than 45. I’m so happy Comey will be the main one to bring him down. Btw, he says he has “tapes” let’s hear them, lyer!!. LOCK HIM UP, LOCK HIM UP, LOCK HIM UP. I now it’s going to take time because the Reps are dragging their feet, but it will happen, by next year I’m thinking.
Remember, Comey sent a letter under classification to the relevant members of congress. Chaffetz is alleged to have removed the header and footer and released the letter: that one’s all on Chaffetz, not Comey.
He was traveling to Connecticut so probably no time to himself to twitter spew
Your summaries of the current political situation are really good. And I was just waiting to read the words “Comey has the receipts” – Ha!
Today is my 35th wedding anniversary. The best “present” would be for a few more Republicans to admit the need for an independent investigation.
Congratulations! Take a media free day and enjoy!
Congrats! Hope you have some great things planned for today!
Happy anniversary! That would be the best “present ” for the entire universe, so do something special for just the 2 of you also
Congrats!
How about a Republican sending a correction to Mother Jones that they and not one of their colleagues was the first to recommend impeachment? Hearing Republicans argue over who suggested first impeaching a Republican president publicly feels like a possible turning of the tides …
Of course he did. Trump is trying to rot the democratic process from the inside of government now. He thinks he was elected to be King.
Although it gives me great pleasure to see DT reaping what he has sown in the past 2 years, we will be in no better place when Pence becomes president; he is awful too.
Ugh! Donnie is giving a speech at the Coast Guard Academy. babbling on and on about how no other politician has ever been treated worse by the media. Claiming the Wall is being worked on, he’s here to keep us safe etc. A couple people clapped and he goes on and on again about winning the election . Get lost, Chump!!
I’m sure if he were speaking at the funeral of a major head of state he’d bring up the election and the biggest ever inauguration crowd and the most stupendous electoral margin and the nasty, mean old media. There’s no thought for anyone outside himself except daughterwife.
His comments about being the most persecuted politician in history is perfectly summed up in this tweet by British historical presenter Dan Snow. The thread is gold.
https://twitter.com/thehistoryguy/status/864894581002780673
That is a GREAT thread. Hilarious. And some great ideas.
Thank you, that was great!
This feels like it could be the tipping point, but who knows? We live in Upside-Down World now.
My larger fear is that once Trump and his Deplorables are gone, and facing corruption and/or treason charges, we’ll all be so emotionally exhausted by the past few months of insanity that Pence and HIS Deplorables will be able to get away with anything.
Very good point.
This is too much. Huffington Post (with tweets included) is reporting that several believe that he was just joking.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-comey-memo-pushback_us_591c5521e4b0a7458fa48e8f?c39&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
I just can’t anymore.
It is their only defense. That and “fake news” The wall is slowly crumbling. I know it is not easy to wait, but there is more and more bi-partisan doubt and demand for facts. I have some hope. Best to all.
Jason Chaffetz is already trying to stand in the way of Comey testifying. He claims that he can’t invite Comey to the hearings next week because he doesn’t have Comey’s new number. Then they wonder why Comey didn’t tell anyone about his memos. The GOP is wasting too much time protecting Trump.
Spicer is still spinning lies for Trump.
When is enough going to be enough? Putin is already trolling us and bragging about how has tapes/transcripts of the meeting. You would think that this would be enough for the GOP to do something about Trump.
I don’t understand why the GOP keep insisting that Trump didn’t obstruct justice. He stated on tv that he fired Comey to stop the Russian investigation and then threatened Comey on twitter, so there shouldn’t be any question by anyone that Trump was trying to obstruct justice when he asked Comey to let Flynn go. The best proof of Trump trying to obstruct justice is Devin Nunes. Did the GOP and media forget this entire incident?
I notice that the GOP and Russian bots are working hard to put out as many negative stories about Comey as possible. Why are they claiming that Comey committed a crime by not revealing his notes? The fact that Comey didn’t tell anyone associated with Trump about his notes just means that he thought that everyone was compromised. That is scary because we have all wondered just how many people have ties to Putin.
Comey and Yates both said they couldn’t answer the question asking if Members of Congress were involved in the investigation becausenit was classified information.
So let’s say Trump will be impeached. Isn’t Pence the new POTUS? Isn’t that also quite depressing?
Yes, but the exit of trump probably also means the exit of jarvanka, conjob, bannon, miller, huckabee, any number of other dirtbags.
We can deal with President Pence because he’s a normal person with awful politics. Be ready to resist his policies.
But Trump is dangerous in a very different way.
Impeachment would take too long. I hope that the calls for impeachment get loud enough that someone can convince Trump to resign. Come up with some face-saving excuse. But get him out of the White House NOW.
Putting this in its own comment, but three things I’ve read / heard over the past 24 hours that give me hope that the GOP might be forced into action:
– Polling shows 48 percent of the country want Trump impeached … and the poll was done before the past 48 hours of revelations, so it’s thought likely it crossed 50 percent by now
– Reports that internal GOP polling shows they are losing their grip on solidly-red districts in solidly-red states
– And perhaps the (sadly) most relevant: Rumors that high-level GOP donors are threatening to withhold money unless the GOP disposes of Trump
Special prosecutor, y’all!!!
Just saw this. It’s a start. Every time my husband leaves the house, there’s breaking news!!
Put in a revolving door!!😊😊😊
The solution is simple. Stop letting your husband out of the house!!!! You owe it to your country.
Yep, good news, and a respected counsel apparently.
Trump is already bragging that Robert Mueller won’t find him guilty of colluding with Russia. What a great way to alert everyone that he is going to try to use Mueller the same way he did Nunes. Why is it that every qualified person who comes in contact with Trump becomes incompetent? I hope that Mueller doesn’t let Trump destroy his credibility like he did with Spicer, Rosenstein, Nunes, McMaster, McCabe, Burr, and the rest of the GOP.
Trump is already planning on a second round of obstruction of Justice. When will the GOP say enough is enough? Trump needs to be removed. He is already in his statement bragging about standing in the way of the Trump Russian investigation.
Given that Mueller was the FBI Director before Comey I don’t see him being intimidated by Trump. Time will tell though.
According to Haillee Jackson(I’m not sure how reliable this is because she works hard to make people sympathize with Trump and Ivanka so that she can keep her spot in Spicer’s briefings), Trump and the WH didn’t know that Rosenstein was appointing Mueller until the order was signed. Then you have to ask, when did Trump write up that statement bragging about how Mueller was going to vindicate him? If you take that into consideration, that means that Trump had some knowledge that this was going to happen.
The Russian bots are very active right now and already celebrating that Mueller will find that Trump didn’t collude with the Russians. I sincerely hope that Mueller doesn’t get contaminated by Trump because it never fails, every time a qualified comes intact with Trump they becomes incompetent. Just look what happened to McMaster.
Baharara, Yates and Comey didn’t get contaminated. They’ve got the goods and tales to tell.
They could have appointed Donald Duck and the WH would have thrown together a statement from Trump bragging that he will be vindicated.