I feel like November could be a good month for the impeachment inquiry. The House will begin to phase into the public part of the investigation, which means public hearings and public testimony. I’ve been disappointed with how little news is being leaked from the closed-door depositions, but then again, we truly already have a mountain of evidence that Donald Trump committed multiple impeachable offenses, so what else is there to say, really? It’s all just noise at this point – “this poll says this” and “what will the Deplorables think about this.” But that white (supremacist) noise is the point, I suppose. It’s what Trump is listening to and obsessing over. Per Politico, Trump has been especially lazy over the past few weeks as he believes that he’s being “f–king killed” on cable news:
President Trump doesn’t think House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry should get any media coverage. Meanwhile, he’s ravenously consuming news about the subject — primarily through a friendly lens. From the Oval Office to the White House residence to Air Force One, he’s closely tracking how Republican members of Congress are digesting the latest revelations on his handling of Ukraine, and monitoring their statements for any sign of hesitation or perceived disloyalty.
“We’re getting f–king killed,” Trump often gripes — a complaint about media coverage that is escalating in volume and frequency amid the impeachment probe, according to a Republican close to the White House. “He does make that comment literally every day.” Trump is especially frustrated that the depositions by current and former officials — which have taken place behind closed doors, but nonetheless have leaked in some detail to reporters — “have to be covered at all,” according to a senior White House official.
Trump tells White House aides in private that he sees no need for leaks from the depositions because everyone can read the transcript of his call with the president of Ukraine, which he has repeatedly called “perfect.” He also is critical of witnesses he accuses of “pretending they know what he meant” on the call.
To get news on impeachment, Trump often relies on his favorite Fox shows: Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, “Fox and Friends,” Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Jeanine Pirro, because he thinks they provide an alternative to the narrative many journalists in the more down-the-middle press are giving. He has grown especially enamored lately with Carlson’s show, according to a Republican close to the White House, though he has complained publicly about some of the more critical news coverage on Fox. Trump will also sometimes consume news from conservative outlets Newsmax and One America News Network, which tend to take a more uniformly pro-Trump line than Fox News. In private, he has erupted at Fox for bringing on former DNC chair Donna Brazile as a contributor, and has railed against its weekend hosts on Twitter.
Trump usually watches TV in the morning and at night in the residence, where he has a DVR-like device to record shows he can’t watch live. When he’s in the Oval Office, according to a former White House official, he’ll often watch impeachment news in the nearby private dining room. When leaving the Oval Office, he will usually stop to look at a nearby television showing Fox News, Fox Business, CNN and MSNBC to check the news of the day and headlines on the stock market, according to an administration official.
I mean, I guess the headline is “Lazy Fat Old Man Watches TV Constantly, Then Yells At TV On Twitter.” I still find it shocking that… we’ve normalized this to the extent where most of us are like “well, I’m glad he’s just shouting at the TV and not throwing more babies in jail.” But the thing is, he actually is still separating families and putting children in jails. Stephen Miller is doing that WHILE Trump spends all his time hollerin’ at the teevee.
“There is no Whistleblower. There is someone with an agenda against Donald Trump. What he was blowing the whistle on didn’t happen. We have the transcript of the call. This is all a farce and no Republican should forget that.” @dbongino @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2019
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Trump kills himself daily by being a moron.
Yep, he does.
Repeating the same phrase constantly was what my father-in-law with dementia did.
Not to mention the paranoia, a very common characteristic of dementia.
In this case, thinking most everyone hates him is not paranoia. It’s a rare case where he can perceive reality.
@Birdix that is a great point. I noticed that about a friend’s grandfather & he was eventually diagnosed w/Alzheimer’s. As for Trump, The moment the actual transcription of the call comes out, not the current summary, he should be toast. This is mirroring Nixon. Also leading up to the call he didn’t want to do anything to “piss off Putin”.
All roads lead to his Russian master
Will the actual transcription come out? I really wonder as they have blocked so many other things concerning the impeachment and it’s been moved to a different more secure server. Will they use the excuse that since it’s on the more secure server it is in the nation’s interest not to release it?
@Swack – I doubt it. There may not even be one. The summary was moved to the code word server. Apparently it isn’t uncommon to slightly edit these non verbatim transcripts to make them sound more eloquent, fix grammatical errors, and make them more clear. In this White House I guess they use them to cover up crimes as well.
This emotional roller coaster is getting to be too much. Even with solid evidence of impeachable offenses closing in, I still feel like nothing matters. He might think he’s getting killed by the media but the right’s propaganda war still has a lot of traction. He’s shown GOP Congressmen that they can just outright lie, day in and day out, and get away with it.
I agree with you. Democrats need to seriously up their PR game. Not a joke. At this point, I firmly believe Trump could shoot someone on the White House lawn, and as long as that person is ANYONE other than a middle (or upper) class white guy, the R would close ranks around him and spin it to keep his rabid fan base happy. That’s what they do well. And the left needs to learn from that and combat it.
The GOP has been working on preventing this since Nixon. It’s a three prong attack:
1. Fox News – established with one of the major goals being to ensure what happened to Nixon never happens again. Many Republicans at the time believe he was hounded out of office by “enemies” in the media
2. Think Tanks
3. Loyal, partisan judges
It isn’t just PR or propaganda, they have spent decades planning for this.
I know! Before Trump, who would have thought a POTUS could do/say all the things he has and still be in office? No one! I even thought Republicans would put the country before party but no! My faith that people in power will do the right things to protect us has been destroyed. My view of the government will never be the same
His sycophants are getting worse. We’re between trump did nothing wrong and even if he did do something wrong so what? Half-denials peppered with quasi-confessions from idiots like Jim Jordan and everyone on Fox. I don’t find anything happening to be normal and I’m not used to any of it. Every damn day I continue to be shocked and annoyed at the new lows these scumbags manage to find.
We have seen no transcript. In this context, a transcript is a legal document that copies statements verbatim, with nothing omitted, not compiled from different notes, and it is signed by a stenographer under pains and penalties of perjury. Trump screaming that it is a transcript doesn’t make it so. It is a Summary Memo and it contains enough information to justify impeachment
Well said, lightpurple.
Well said. And yes, just what the White House alone put out themselves is grounds for impeachment.
I doubt Senate Republicans will do the right thing, but it’s important that we go through this process and at least try.
His “people” don’t seem to care and all this looks like is Democrats whining which we know it is not but that’s the way it will all come out. I think it’s just a waste of time. We need to focus on getting someone who can beat him in 2020 and I’m not sure there is anyone. I am morally dejected.
Your dejection WILL ensure his win, so please find a way to get past it and get cracking. Think about it this way…..what would the republicans do (WWRD) if the shoe was on the other foot? Lol….They are ruthless bastards and you know Trump would not only have been impeached by now, he’d be serving his second or 3rd year in prison already for his crimes.
So think, WWRD, release your inner Bastard and get fucking cracking. 😀👏👍
PS: if the Democrats still can’t find their way back to power whilst holding 95% of the cards, as they do at the moment, with all the clear cut, outright, undeniable criminality, then really, they just don’t deserve to govern anybody. Just start perfecting your recipe for Stroganoff and call it a day.
Meanwhile, the story that appeared in the Spectator about Tom Riddle Kushner greenlighting Jamal Kashoggi’s arrest/death was chilling and needs probing.
And as a CA resident, I’m super pissed at DT’s threats to withhold aid for CA fires while giving aide to Russia for their fires. This is no less than treason, imo.
Who gives a dang how much TV the mango madman watches?
I was sick about the withholding of federal $$ for CA for its fires, but had no idea he’s sending $$ to aid the Russians for their fires. How the hell is this even possible???
Last night I saw the former White House head photographer, Pete Souza, give a talk with images of his years as the photographer during President Obama’s administration. It was such an incredible antidote to the insanity of today. Story after story, image after image, that were illuminating, funny, poignant, and reminded us in the audience of Obama’s decency and intelligence. Also, of how hard Obama worked! Late into the night. If Pete comes to anyone’s city or town, I highly recommend going.
And if he’s never going to come to your town I suggest buying his two books of photographs of the Obama years. Or buy them even if he does come to your town. They’re wonderful. Also, follow him on IG. Every day, every single day, he has a photo of Obama doing something that is in total contrast to whatever idiocy trump has committed that day. His filing system must be incredible!
His instagram is wonderful, I don’t even use IG that much and I occasionally check in on it. He really is a great photographer.
Oh wow, I bought his book but to see him speak must have been amazing
It really was. Many moments brought tears to my eyes.
There was a child in the audience who Pete introduced — first in photos and video and then in person. That boy had the great honor of meeting with Obama after the boy wrote a beautiful letter to a Syrian boy refugee to tell him to come to the U.S. and he will teach him how to ride a bike, will share his toys, etc. So much compassion and goodness in a child that is missing from the leaders of our country now.
We saw the incredibly moving speech Obama gave after the Sandy Hook shooting, and photos of him consoling and hugging parents.
There were beautiful pictures of Obama with his daughters. How he took the time always to have alone time with them. Making snow angels in the snow, was one of them.
It just was an incredible evening to see again the humanity of our last president. Such a tragedy we are living now.
Remember when he complained about Obama playing golf? Insane. All he does is watch TV, tweet and play golf.
When they go to build this idiots “library” what’s it gonna look like? A wall with a bunch of tweets????
Gold-plated everything.
Laziest ‘president’ ever.
“I’ve been disappointed with how little news is being leaked from the closed-door depositions”
There is a reason for this. Everyone is giving independent evidence under oath. They can’t claim they altered stories to fit the Democrats narrative (not that it will stop them). Let the process play out. All of this, including closed door testimony will be public soon.
The just released the transcript from the former Ambassador to the Ukraine. It is really a doozy. Can’t explain that away. Stupid sweaty Gym Jordan then had a twitter hissy fit about sondland and volker transcripts – why it wasn’t released. Unfortunately for Gym, it was announced an hour before his fit, that they will be released tomorrow. So much stupidity on board.
NY Appeals Court just ruled against Dump in his efforts to hide his tax returns. Guess it’ll be up to brett k to make the final decision.
Just the fact that he’s trying SOOOOO hard to hide them should be highly suspicious.
Not really S Ct is notorious for only selecting a few cases to review. They don’t review everything. A lot of legal experts think this is a long shot – especially since his sole reason was they can’t do it because he’s the president.
Well his son-in-law is certainly f*cked – he was on an intercepted call with MBS greenlighting Jamal Khashoggi’s arrest, which Erdoğan then used to pressure Trump into pulling American troops out of northern Syria. This by itself is worthy of impeachment.
Can I ask you the source for this? Thanks!
https://spectator.us/seven-whistleblowers-jared-kushner-bin-salman/
It’s not confirmed by any means, but I’d be surprised if this isn’t true. And if it is, my god. What have we unleashed on the world??
Yeah I read that on Twitter too.
Things are getting in closer to Mr. Trump and his vile cronies and family. They are. Can’t say more but if there is ANY justice….hold on and love to you all.
Aww, do you need someone to hold your tiny baby hand, Donnie?
Also some idiot woman just agreed to marry Stephen Miller. No doubt they deserve each other but still #shudder.
They will birth reptilian children. shudder.
I am overwhelmed by the enormity of the mess the US is in. @Lindsay above is correct; they have been planning for this for decades. Even that enormous beast of a problem is only part of the problem. Long entrenched problems like sexism and racism, both the personal sort and the kind baked into the system. White supremacy, and what that means for the way we treat immigrants. Disdain for education, the arts and sciences. Our past times and what we do with our free time. Crumbling social structure, crumbling infrastructure. A planet dying. Russian infiltration of the GOP (some day this is a both sides issue; I really haven’t seen that). And this a but a scratch of the surface. It’s painful. It’s toxic. And I don’t know what to do.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Two regular public events so far…
Aaaw, crap! Now the fat turd is coming to Tuscaloosa on Saturday for the Alabama/LSU game. Maybe he figures he’ll get some big whoops there. Hopefully, not.
Thankfully, he’s a fucking idiot who tweets every moronic thought that runs through his empty head. I can’t imagine how safe his job would be job if it weren’t for his own stupidity.