Trump, May 2017: 100 days of [unintelligible]

yeah I know it's dumb to get excited about OPPO DROP!! all over again but that was before he pissed off the entire FBI

From WaPo story linked by caek:

The known actions that led to Comey’s dismissal raise as many questions as answers. Why was Sessions involved in discussions about the fate of the man leading the FBI’s Russia investigation, after having recused himself from the probe because he had falsely denied under oath his own past communications with the Russian ambassador?

That is a good question.

The bigger thing is Trump's weird claim that Comey told him three times he was not being investigated. In what context? Because that's totally not kosher.

probably 'you are not a target of this investigation' (in the technical legal sense) if anything - which any idiot who watches as much tv as trump should realize doesn't preclude BECOMING a target, but...

Josh, please go back and read the vox piece and the accompanying twitter thread by David Roberts.

And when I say "Josh" I mean everybody who still can't get why this guy etc. that means you too Treesh

xpost

"Are you sure?"

"I don't know, how much more money do you have on you?"

sure there's opportunists like wilson reveling in the shit of autocratic encroachment. but this is good. the last 120 days have been horrifying and better than i thought they would. imagine if trump was competent, if the gop was, if they passed what they wanted swiftly with people who could justify their ideological extremism. instead: the man is falling apart. to me, the real reek of autocracy/oligarchy/fascism is how quickly he's unglued himself from the understanding of basically everyone expect his god emperor minions. there's a russian novel there too. don't forget. they always had serfs.

to me: there's no con in pursuing trump/russia to it's natural end. the man shouldn't be in power. hobbling him and helping him to hobble himself is a service. i won't give a fuck who was right on twitter if/when this presidency collapses.

Oh, I don't care who brings him down. But I am getting a little tired of this coy "just you wait, I know things" BS. Well, spill, you punks. Because if you know shit that can take him down and you don't reveal it, then you're part of the problem. And by "you" I mean you, Moby.

It's disgusting that people turn a brutal, indefensible moment in history into a self-promotional exercise #brands

That said mosquitoes are always annoying, so...

the oppo teasers are nonsense. john schindler is a loon.

Former senior FBI official tells me Trump's reported short list of Comey replacements is "catastrophic"

— Dustin Volz (@dnvolz) May 11, 2017

i think i liked it better when it was just the text

more ilxy

That Rosenstein threatening to resign detail is new and o_O

Yeah, that kinda fits with what I've been hearing. The last thing they want to do is have that happen, I suspect.

This strikes me as a dumb idea

Trump is weighing a trip to the FBI headquarters at the J Edgar Hoover building on Friday, per two people briefed https://t.co/lge1bKCfYc

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) May 11, 2017

And this wouldn't surprise me at all

I can independently confirm reporting that President Trump has been sounding people out about removing Sean Spicer as Press Secretary. 1/2

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) May 11, 2017

Hahah

Spicer on phone to WaPo: 😡

"I was not IN the bushes!

I was AMONG the bushes!"

Editor: 🙄

Social media manager: 😎 pic.twitter.com/o8TJUsEPRy

— Prof Dynarski (@dynarski) May 11, 2017

And I missed this from earlier

Jason Chaffetz asks DOJ Inspector General to expand probe to include the decision to remove James Comey. pic.twitter.com/3q4blmMSn0

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 11, 2017

Some good stuff from Costa this evening

Why did Schiller deliver Comey letter to FBI? He was nearby--and Trump trusts him. It was a 'Hey, Keith can do it' moment, per one official.

— Robert Costa (@costareports) May 11, 2017

Again and again today, in talks w/ WH insiders, I was told to pay attn to McGahn. WH conduit to Sessions, shared POTUS fury about Comey.

— Robert Costa (@costareports) May 11, 2017

Why McGahn matters: Trump listens intently to him. Not only WH counsel but an aide with political capital due to Gorsuch, discretion, etc.

— Robert Costa (@costareports) May 11, 2017

When you're attacking FBI agents because you're under criminal investigation, you're losing https://t.co/SIoAxatCjp

— Sarah Huckabee (@SarahHuckabee) November 3, 2016

On the lighter side, oh for the days for when this would be the worst thing achieved by the administration in any given week...

http://nymag.com/thecut/2017/05/mike-pence-accidentally-hit-a-kid-in-the-face-yesterday.html?mid=facebook_nymag

Is there a way of removing Pence before 45 implodes? Him lying about not knowing about Flynn until the last moment wouldn't carry enough weight would it? Or his own email on unsecured connection use. Or anything?
Who is next in succession after him are they as bad?

Also would love to see McConnell trip himself up and get ejected. Is public outcry for an independent prosecutor going to outweigh him?

Paul Ryan is next in line

Mass assassination til somebody decent came in would mean how many? Is it assholes all the way down?

Mattis is 6th in line, but he's an asshole of a different sort.

Who is our King Ralph

Good [unintelligible]!

he's already in the oval office, i think xp

http://www.economist.com/Trumptranscript - not sure if this URL is wise, maybe he'll talk to them again, a very classy paper you know.

Okay the entire thing is a treat, but this shines:

But beyond that it’s OK if the tax plan increases the deficit?

It is OK, because it won’t increase it for long. You may have two years where you’ll… you understand the expression “prime the pump”?

Yes.

We have to prime the pump.

It’s very Keynesian.

We’re the highest-taxed nation in the world. Have you heard that expression before, for this particular type of an event?

Priming the pump?

Yeah, have you heard it?

Yes.

Have you heard that expression used before? Because I haven’t heard it. I mean, I just… I came up with it a couple of days ago and I thought it was good. It’s what you have to do.

It’s…

Yeah, what you have to do is you have to put something in before you can get something out.

We’re the highest-taxed nation in the world

*citation needed

if he actually really appoints trey fucking gowdy director of the fbi

haaaahahahahahahahahaha

jesus god that interview is a nightmare

might be the first time i've seen trump be properly questioned about his thinking and the reporter might as well just be morse-code-tapping his questions on the side of president brainstem's jar for all the sense the answers make

how the fuck is this circle gonna get squared

We want a provision at the right time, we want people that are coming in and will commit to not getting… not receiving any form of subsidy to live in our country for at least a five-year period.

We also want farm workers to be able to come in. You know, we’re going to have work visas for the farm workers.

only the most financially independent farm workers welcome!

unbelievable, but once again what's more unbelievable is people voted that in

lol i just noticed that the economist is also running a followup editorial titled 'why trumponomics won’t make america great again'

'trumponomics' is a really horrible coinage btw

A deeper problem is that Trumponomics draws on a blinkered view of America’s economy. Mr Trump and his advisers are obsessed with the effect of trade on manufacturing jobs, even though manufacturing employs only 8.5% of America’s workers and accounts for only 12% of GDP. Service industries barely seem to register. This blinds Trumponomics to today’s biggest economic worry: the turbulence being created by new technologies. Yet technology, not trade, is ravaging American retailing, an industry that employs more people than manufacturing (see article). And economic nationalism will speed automation: firms unable to outsource jobs to Mexico will stay competitive by investing in machines at home. Productivity and profits may rise, but this may not help the less-skilled factory workers who Mr Trump claims are his priority.

yeah no shit

tired old men in 'not understanding the concept that the world is changing' shocker

We also want farm workers to be able to come in. You know, we’re going to have work visas for the farm workers.

OK this is awesome

how much of this is all just really, 'hey, we're christian, the russians are christian; we're white, the russians are white -- let's fight those mooselimb terrorists like hussein obama together!'?

not much, I don't think. I think this is mainly about money.

It sounds like you’re imagining a pretty big renegotiation of NAFTA. What would a fair NAFTA look like?

Big isn’t a good enough word. Massive.

Huge?

It’s got to be. It’s got to be.

What would it look like? What would a fair NAFTA look like?

No, it’s gotta be. Otherwise we're terminating NAFTA.

What would a fair NAFTA look like?

I was all set to terminate, you know? And this wasn’t like… this wasn’t a game I was playing. I’m not playing… you know, I wasn’t playing chess or poker or anything else. This was, I was, I’d never even thought about… it’s always the best when you really feel this way. But I was…

Ugh these incoherent babbling infuriate me tho

trump clearly doesn't know what's 'unfair' about nafta in the first place so how's he gonna tell u what a fair nafta looks like

Big isn’t a good enough word. Massive.

Huge?

dying

how did the reporter keep a straight face, honestly

fake measurements

'mr president, would you mind extending your arms to indicate just how massive this is'

Oooh, I'm going to sit and really savor this nightmarish work of dystopian nonfiction at the weekend.

he is such a blithering fucking idiot

at this point reporters should just start asking him like 'what colour is the size of the trade deficit' or 'what flavour is your relationship with the chinese premier'