Trump, May 2017: 100 days of [unintelligible]

I don't think Quist is going to win but yeah it seems dumb to suggest that the GOP *doesn't* want Gianforte to win the seat. Of course they do, they just don't want to deal with the PR headache he presents.

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Kasowitz is the guy that Trump got to file a 5 BILLION dollar lawsuit against a book author for claiming that Trump wasn't a billionaire. He lost. I was happy to hear that Trump picked him for his defense in the Russia probe

Credit to some redditor but just read the name "Scandalf the Orange" I thought that was pretty clever

I doubt Quist will win either.

Yeah it's more about how close it is. Will say this -- saw a couple of comments yesterday asking why the heck Gianforte would feel stressed anyway if he's likely to win, and wondering if his internal polling is telling a different tale.

presuming that pounding on press is a stress tell rather than triumphant

NBC News reporting that Kushner is under FBI scrutiny w/r/t Russia.

Yawn, who isn't?

Are there any republicans who could/would mount a credible or at least disruptive primary challenge to trump in 2020?

Kasich seems like he's still game

Ah yes good call

Here's said story

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jared-kushner-now-under-fbi-scrutiny-russia-probe-say-officials-n764826

problem there is that GOP voters don't like him lol

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Also, here's some fun (click through for the whole chain)

1. Trump NATO meeting reminds me of a story I was never authorized to share, until now. His 1st call w/ Prime Minister of Denmark last year

— Yashar Ali (@yashar) May 25, 2017

Just got this text from GOP natsec official: "Had to apologize to a European defense attaché just now. 'I'm sorry. He's an idiot.'"

— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) May 25, 2017

Also, this is...interesting.

https://t.co/rxvGIX1k2N

Trying again

Did not see this coming https://t.co/rxvGIX1k2N

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) May 25, 2017

tweet that says "titles are rilly rilly imoortant to europeans trust me u guys i know europeans" is a total bum note

basic courtesy, some semblance of awareness of context and the president of the united states isnt a literal clown is rilly rilly important to everyone

the problem here isnt european politicians sniffiness about titles

without my glasses this reads like 'titties are rilly important to europeans'

Both statements are true tbf.

Kasowitz is the guy that Trump got to file a 5 BILLION dollar lawsuit against a book author for claiming that Trump wasn't a billionaire.

I was idly looking up this story and found this hilarious tidbit from 2011 from Hollywood Reporter - this guy has always been an insecure knobhead!

Then again, during a deposition, Trump admitted that his sense of financial worth depends on his feelings day-to-day. Asked whether it was really true that his "net worth goes up and down based upon [his] own feelings," here's Trump's funny response:

"Yes, even my own feelings, as to where the world is, where the world is going, and that can change rapidly from day to day. Then you have a September 11th, and you don't feel so good about yourself and you don't feel so good about the world and you don't feel so good about New York City. Then you have a year later, and the city is as hot as a pistol. Even months after that it was a different feeling. So yeah, even my own feelings affect my value to myself."

i'm not sure Trump knows exactly what the term "self-worth" means

nomars reading otm imo

Nobody in Denmark gives a shit about titles - except people with titles, I suppose - and the thing that weirds me out is that Trump seems to think the king would be doing foreign policy, as if we're some sort of autocracy...

But then again, he is an idiot, and I'd wager Bruce knew that in advance.

Good series of posts here re Montana

Leading up to tonight’s results, want to relate the best recap I’ve heard about how Montana politics got the way they are today

— Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) May 25, 2017

I did a video for @GuardianUS about the past 24 hours https://t.co/3ecqDBRwG3

— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) May 25, 2017

I really hope this shithead from Montana loses

It was always unlikely; the thing to keep an eye out for is the margin.

Neck and neck with 20% reporting. Quist 47.3%, Gianforte 46.9%

nice

live results: https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/montana-house-special-election

Cascade (Great Falls) -- early vote

Gianforte 49%
Quist 42%

Was Trump +21.5

— Steve Kornacki (@SteveKornacki) May 26, 2017

WilliamC's numbers are backwards, gianforte is ahead

NY Times has it 47.3% Gianforte, 46.9% Quist, 5.7% some other asshole.

Aka "libertarian"

Quist was ahead at the time I said he was ahead, but results are still coming in.

i'm not really sure how the margin matters. if it's closer than expected, it could easily just be chalked up to the body slam rather than any anti-GOP sentiment

Quist isn't ahead of Gianforte and has never been ahead. What Quist is ahead of is the typical Democratic performance in this seat, which has been in Republican hands since 1997, and where the Democrat has been within 15 points only once, in 2012.

also, the republican candidate happened to body slam a reporter on the day before the election

So, the best remaining outcome would be that Gianforte is charged, tried, & convicted of assault and the judge is a hard-nosed bastard who comes down on him with both feet.

it's a misdemeanor tho

the best remaining outcome is that reporters shove tape recorders in gianforte's face every single day he spends in washington

that's about it

Surely the law should be that if you're arrested for anything, all bets are off re public office.

not sure we'd like how that would make our candidates look, given how we police here

i believe that all bets should be off for anyone in public office regardless of previous arrests

even if quist overperformed it's still a depressing result, the majority of people, conservatives and liberals alike, are simply going to see this as "progressive populist couldn't even beat the bodyslamming guy I keep hearing about". it's an easy and stupid narrative that can be exploited by people who want to keep propping up moderate/right-leaning dems. ossoff's gonna win an easier district with a boatload of dnc cash quist didn't get, and they'll be able to point to it and say "this needs to be our plan going forward"

I'm being pessimistic probably

i think you're totally wrong that the majority of people have spent one second thinking about an issue as fine-grained as "should dems run candidates more like rob quist or more like jon ossoff" -- i think among people who are not part of the hardcore right wing the narrative is going to be as simple as "man there are a lot of dirty / corrupt / criminal Republicans in office right now"

far from clear ossoff is gonna win btw though it would be a big surprise if his race isn't closer than this one

probably shouldn't have used ossoff as an example as i have literally no idea what kinds of policy he stands for

but i'm mostly talking about liberal blowhards using this loss as an argument, and indeed the first thing i did after reading your post was visit neera tanden's twitter, where her most recent post is a retweet of matt yglesias saying "Schweitzer Would Have Won" lol

and this idiot

Some activists misinterpreting this as an ideological point. I mean serious candidates - progressive, centrist, liberal. https://t.co/5cLkeU3uof

— Paul Kane (@pkcapitol) May 26, 2017

the reality of montana's votership doesn't matter if you don't want it to. also like every third U.S. representative out of the south is nothing more than a "quirky personality"