US Politics, February 2018: Our country was founded by geniuses, but it’s being run by idiots

I got hip to this simulation when the Big Puppeteer named our oil-man in the State Department REX TILLERSON

A little on-the-nose there, chief

REX TILLERSON is an anagram for LUCIFER ROX.

ROFL FILCHERSON

It dawns on me I'm not drinking nearly enough at the moment

there is, to be fair, not enough booze

Ironically, if Trump were a lifetime drinker we might not be in this mess. Forgoing alcohol and cigarettes has probably added years to his otherwise horrible life.

I keep waiting for someone to start spiking his Diet Coke and send him on a bender.

Like, why does that have to be the one arena of life where he demonstrates restraint and discipline?

Here's hoping his cholesterol picks up the slack

As others have said, piers Morgan knows what he’s doing. Acknowledging his existence is like pointing at someone taking a shit on the sidewalk.

He's like Katie Hopkins, but with a tinier cock.

thanks for the display name suggestion stevie

hey there’s apparently a weed surplus in oregon, let’s get on that

The Diet Coke thing is actually kind of interesting. He obviously is barely in control of his mental facilities even on the best of days... and if his diet and weird statements from his doctor are any indication - he clearly has no interest in being open/honest/proactive about his health.
I’m pretty sure you could slip him some acid and he would never say anything.

What in the

Devin Nunes: “This is just the first memo. There will be another one dealing specifically with the State Department’s role in all of this.”

— Ned Ryun (@nedryun) February 2, 2018

"Trey Gowdy made fun of me today! How can I get him back on my side?"

i'm just sitting here writing whatever the fuck memos i want

state department = euphemistic for hillary, right?

what the actual fuck

Suave:

.@BretBaier asks Devin Nunes if he read the actual FISA applications:
"No, I didn't," he says.
Says he sent Trey Gowdy to do that job.

— Katie Watson (@kathrynw5) February 2, 2018

ouch

Snowden concurred, writing: “I required the journalists who broke the 2013 domestic spying stories (as a condition of access) to talk with gov in advance of publication as an extraordinary precaution to prevent any risk of harm. Turns out our standard of care was higher than the actual Intel committee.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/snowden-bashes-nunes-i-was-more-careful-with-govt-secrets-than-you-are?ref=home

Some news: Devin Nunes’ Democratic opponent, @JanzforCongress, raised over 00,000 today alone with news of the memo release, per a senior campaign aide.

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 2, 2018

lol at ilxcode... The "00,000" should read as "$100,000"

ha ha, i gave janz money this morning and thought i was being an idiosyncratically cool dude

sort of seems like it's not out of the question nunes could lose this race btw

Nunes just seems like a lonely guy with a blog. "Tune in next time, readers, when the Devinator will finally turn his attention to blowing the lid off - you guessed it - STAR TREK: INSURRECTION. Should be up next week if work allows, and more to come after that, so spread the word!"

He’s famous now. And that’s what that Kanye song says everyone wants.

eephus, we still think you're idiosyncratically cool

i'm just sitting here writing whatever the fuck memos i want

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, February 2, 2018 6

I'm just sittin here watching the memos go round and roouuuunnd

the memo is stained with the skidmarks of American justice

Indeed, White House National Security Council senior director for Asian affairs Matthew Pottinger was reported as saying in a recent closed-door meeting with US experts on Korean Peninsula issues that a limited strike on the North “might help in the midterm elections.”

The Post’s Anna Fifield identifies the paper Hankyoreh as “left-wing” and that it is the only paper currently reporting it. I don’t know more about the source. But this sounds like something we need to know more about very quickly. The report suggests Trump may see such a move not simply in the context of the standard efforts to help in a midterm election but to ward offer facing the prospect of impeachment or actual investigations under a Democratic congress.
--
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/very-very-bad

cool, my worst fears are materializing

Didn't dummy's nominee for ambassador to South Korea have to drop out because he disagreed about use-of-force?

fwiw if you search Pottinger's name on twitter it's a bunch of brookings inst types who know him saying it makes no sense and doesn't sound like him

I know Matt and can’t imagine him saying something so dumb and crass. https://t.co/DgMqYLk0hC

— Andrew Exum (@ExumAM) February 3, 2018

This story is being widely shared but it is very dubious. It says "it was reported" Pottinger said this but not by who. No other details- when, where, source. I have been in several off the record meetings with Pottinger & he never said anything remotely like this. https://t.co/lkFF0lDrFk

— Tom Wright (@thomaswright08) February 3, 2018

If Pottinger said it and it’s verified then he should be shitcanned immediately. But I just don’t believe this story. https://t.co/x2OrU5mTQn

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) February 3, 2018

No, politics creeping into the NSC is wrong, but the people who die in a mushroom cloud won't care if it was because of pathological national security reasons or craven political reasons. Small comfort that Pottinger supports first-strikes because of bad theory, not bad politics https://t.co/1Fpi4veKYT

— Van Jackson (@WonkVJ) February 3, 2018

cool background pic van jackson has, love that

Hang on, Nunes says he has another memo! pic.twitter.com/x4xizhDnAc

— Roy Edroso (@edroso) February 3, 2018

I assume the scare quotes here mean "Trump" is an alias! Who is he, REALLY?

This memo totally vindicates “Trump” in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018

i wonder if he actually believes that the memo totally vindicates him, or if it's just truth-independent (the word now used because, after one year of hearing them endlessly and becoming inured to them, lies are dead) messaging to his supporters. either way, you have to be a total dumbass if you actually read the memo and think it vindicates him in any way.

collusion is dead

i would love to never read a trump tweet again

the word now used

"Their"

another classic trump typo, should have been "collusion is sex"

I know I'm wrong about this, but something about the memo debacle feels like so much air has been let out of the buffoon. He buys into the bs drumbeat behind the Nunes memo, everyone agrees the memo is totally devoid of anything (even if it is still somehow full of shit), and yet he seems to be the only one incapable of recognizing there is nothing there, let alone that it doesn't even mention his name. Probably because he never read it. It makes it just that much harder to take any of his accusations seriously, which is saying something for a guy already one step up from an aged Hollywood monkey trained to flap his lips to pretend he's talking.

It also only mentions rosensteins name once in passing. Pretext to fire anyone, this is not.

something about the _____ debacle feels like so much air has been let out of the buffoon

dummy Republicans keep pushing the line somehow the dossier was used to get fisa warrant to spy on Trump campaign. But memo says absolutely nothing about that. Investigation of trump campaign, via Papadopoulos, began before the dossier and the memo just talks about fisa warrants for Carter page, which is not the same thing at the Trump campaign.

also heard the maddening argument that just as Trump is in trouble for seeking help from a foreign power, Russia, Clinton did the wrong thing by seeking information from her own foreign power, Christopher Steele, who is British. As if there is no difference between England, a longtime ally, and Russia, a longtime adversary.

The point they tend to make is that Steele was getting information from Russian sources.

Trump vindicated himself. marvelous. it's like he has his stooges doing their most mediocre to obscure the real reason for their devious scheming, and then he tweets out the real reason for the memo verbatim.

love that Russian sources on Russian crimes are somehow bad. It's almost as bad as learning bad things about Trump and then deciding you don't like him.

Not to go too far down the rabbit hole but the Trump-fan talking point is that the Russian government probably knew about Steele and planted false information in the dossier to discredit both sides. The dossier, in combination with the ongoing rumours of assistance from Ukraine, is why it’s probably important that Trump is nailed for offering a quid pro quo for info - or requested more than just intel - otherwise the door is open for Fox, etc to keen harping on the ‘both sides do it’ stuff.