Mourning in America - Trump Year One: November '16 to

Wow.

re: Oliver, I enjoyed his show much better back in the days when he flatly refused to cover Trump at all tbh

Something (well, there are a lot of things, but this is one) that I can't figure out. Again and again, Trump tweets or says something insane, or confusing, or dangerous, or otherwise hard to parse, but he never clarifies himself, it's always one of his surrogates or employees. "This is what he meant," that sort of thing. But these surrogates et al. have proven themselves to be just as confusing, contradictory, disingenuous, and dishonest. So are they winging it, buying time and stalling by pretending to clarify what Trump has said, or is there someone in between actually sending out talking point missives correcting/clarifying Trump statements? And is *that* person actually consulting with Trump, or just stalling for time themselves? Or is it Trump that's simply mangling the policies and statements being fed to him?

Like, Trump tweets about nuclear weapons, then that doofus Jason Miller comes out with a gentle clarification. Did he have to go to Trump first to get clarification, or his he just doing it on the fly while Don't-Look-Back Dear Leader barrels forward at full speed? Is it Trump with policies that Team Trump is struggling to understand, or is it Team Trump policies that Trump is struggling to understand? I suspect the latter, and that Trump himself doesn't always understand what his Team is devising, but I have no idea.

Or take the "drain the swamp" stuff. You get Trump saying "drain the swamp" at rallies. He didn't come up with the phrase, don't know who did, but used it plenty. Then you've got Newt saying "nah, he told me he doesn't like the phrase and isn't going to use it anymore." Then immediately backtracking: "I mean he does like it" So who intervened? Trump? Or Team Trump covering for Trump?

Trump is making the stuff up as he goes. The flying monkeys are trying to make themselves seem useful, feel better, or give themselves a better position to argue from, or some mixture of all three. I don't see any reason to believe it goes deeper than that.

I'm sure this was already posted. It here it is again: http://qz.com/852187/coping-with-chaos-in-the-white-house/

Forgive the Reddit link but this is a great post on Trumps F-18 tweet from a pilot.
https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/5jtocu/trump_asks_boeing_for_f18_pitch_citing_tremendous/dbixlo6

Well I'm sure the generals know more about this than that guy, and Trump knows more than the generals, so... checkmate?

Trump's simplistic "I can get a good deal" theater is mostly for the hardcore base I think.

is there someone in between actually sending out talking point missives correcting/clarifying Trump statements?

how strange would it be if there actually was? I imagine it's just as strange and unorganized as it appears - his surrogates are flailing to keep up with someone who may be literally mentally ill

btw can I just say how much I hate that Peter Thiel quote, "his supporters are taking him figuratively not literally, while the media is taking him literally not figuratively". ignoring for a second that many of his supporters very much do take him literally, the fact that Trump HIMSELF seems to alternate between "I can't believe you idiots thought I actually meant that" and "no, I really meant that in a literal sense" is just deeply fucking strange

It's "seriously, but not literally."

"may be"

Trump's simplistic "I can get a good deal" theater is mostly for the hardcore base I think.

"I can get it for you wholesale," the mantra of New York

Trump: "I know a guy..."

this love affair with Putin is ridiculous

they should just whip em out and have a dick-measuring contest and get it over with

live on cspan hardcore

not sure a dick measuring contest is what trump would be hoping for in that situation

https://i.imgur.com/2qZBM7l.jpg

A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin; his thoughts are so correct," Trump said in a statement. "I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts, and we do not have to travel an alternate path."

His Excellency?

Putin working this guy like a knock off Stradivarius

His Excellency?

So excellent, believe me.

everybody be cool. Both Side Do It.

The Buffalo real estate developer who served as New York co-chair for Donald Trump’s campaign said his greatest hopes for 2017 are that President Barack Obama “dies” and that his wife Michelle is “set loose in the outback of Zimbabwe.”

True to form, Carl Paladino isn’t backing down from the deeply offensive comments he made to alt-weekly newspaper Artvoice for their year-end survey of 42 locals about their wish lists for the coming year.

“Of course I did,” he told the Buffalo News when asked for confirmation that he made the remarks about the president catching “mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford” and Michelle Obama returning to “being a male.”

“Tell them all to go f*** themselves,” Paladino added in reference to the News’ editors who put in the request for confirmation. "Tell that Rod Watson I made that comment just for him," he continued, referring to a News editor who is black.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/carl-paladino-offensive-2017-wish-list-obama-dies

rand paul is a douche but I thought this was p funny

Senator Rand Paul ✔ @RandPaul
New administration is lookin good. Haven't seen this many billionaires in 1 place since I staked out Bilderbergs w/ Alex Jones. Good times.

idgi

figured Objectivists would fully support clandestine gatherings of elite "wealth creators", isn't that John Galt's whole schtick

projecting logical consistency on to wingnuts never gets old

sorry my sarcasm detector is broken. he was being sarcastic, right?

His attempt at snark, I guess? Maybe useful to cultivate Admin-directed snark by GOP officeholders?

Never fear, for Jimmy's going to the inauguration:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/12/23/jimmy_carter_is_only_former_president_who_has_confirmed_attendance_at_trump.html

wtf

I expect Jimmy will be deeply disappointed when Trump fails to write that big Trump Foundation check to Habitat for Humanity that he promised.

on the scale of things to get outraged about a former president going to an inauguration seems fairly low

Someone has to go!

they could wheel in the coffins of some other ex-presidents

maybe just throw the bones of andrew jackson at his feet after every couple paragraphs of his address

Beach Boys Confirm They're Considering Playing Trump's Inauguration.

would be cool if they do kokomo with stamos

it'll provide plenty of new material for the evergreen 'can we be shown weirdos + mike love' thread at least

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjwCqASUgAA_Tv3.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CjwCqASUgAA_Tv3.jpg

― Josh in Chicago

So did you guys here who's playing at the Trump inauguration?

Mike Love, not War.

*hear

so wtf does this mean, exactly

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/812390964740427776

It means he's going to blow up the UN building.

Maybe he's going to declare war on the UN? We got the nukes.

More like he's going to do his dance and demand they pay their fair share of rent or whatever.

xpost Ha! Great minds, like Trump's ...

in reference to the US not vetoing the UN resolution against Israeli settlements, yes?

maybe he'll just make their traffic even worse

yes, Merdeyeux, w/ the total support of Chuck Schumer and the rest of Netanyahu's waterboys among the Dems. Unity!

Trump has now fed TMZ the line that he didn't want any stupid celebrities coming to his inauguration anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umu07u5DPpc

@Atrios
weird how i already see the trump era bringing back liberal blog culture. where have all you slackers been

@ggreenwald
It was hibernating with the anti-war and pro-civil-liberties sentiments that took a long, peaceful nap starting right around 1/20/2009.

Deep