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

democracy dies in darkness but lightbulbs cost money so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

xpost You know how it's annoying if someone like blows directly in your face? It will be a 'blow' in that way.

"democracy dies in darkness, but everything dies, do you really think we're so much better?" seems more trumpian xp

It's hard to overstate what a blow FBI Director Wray's sworn testimony is to the White House

^ implicitly overstates what a blow it is

BREAKING -- @kaitlancollins is reporting that just before Rob Porter resigned amid allegations of spouse abuse, the White House was considering PROMOTING him to Deputy Chief of Staff. #CNN

— Brooke Baldwin (@BrookeBCNN) February 13, 2018

xp to Hunt3r
I was alluding to McArdle's impeccable sprinkler logic. She's a total fucking idiot that I honestly though no one had given any thought to since 2008 or so--somehow I've blessedly missed encountering her wherever she ended up after her embarrassing tenure at the Atlantic. Not that I read WaPo op-eds either and her working for Bezos makes a lot of sense

why is it that every year there's this disproprotionate freakout about the president's proposed budget when there is literally no chance it will be passed legislatively? I remember us going through this whole rigamarole last year because, well, it was only one year ago. obviously things like ending public service loan forgiveness and sending harvest boxes to the poor are godawful ideas, but unless I'm wrong there's no chance they actually become law.

If only I'd realized before developing this stupid 'moral center' that I could've enjoyed unbridled success by being as awful a (white male American) person as possible.

Of all the perpetual BS, I'm surprised this Porter stuff is sticking.

it's only because of their own doing

xp rob, totally got you, yours was a good, funny line, and i agree with your assessment of mcardle.

It's hard to overstate what a blow FBI Director Wray's sworn testimony is to the White House

o damn they caught the White House in a lie, it's curtains for them now

this fatalism isn't wrong and that's what feels especially awful about living in this time

every year there's this disproprotionate freakout about the president's proposed budget when there is literally no chance it will be passed legislatively?

There were many decades, up through Jimmy Carter, when the budget compiled by the executive branch mostly survived with only minimal alteration by Congress. From Reagan through Bush II "the president's budget" still largely drove the process in years when his party controlled Congress. Washington DC is a very tradition-bound place and the memory of that era persists even now.

Of all the perpetual BS, I'm surprised this Porter stuff is sticking.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, February 13, 2018 5:41 PM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

reminds me of the line during the campaign that the most effective attacks are the ones that reinforce preconceived notions about the candidate.. these hit home more than the others because trump is a vile predator and his administration is full of the same types of garbage people.

I don't know how, in the most literal sense, you can work for incompetent Liars. If you are the head of the FBI and the president is not doing the bare minimum you recommend, how do you even do your job? If you are the head of the CIA, and the president and his people are saying or doing the opposite of what you recommend, how do you do your job?

Of all the perpetual BS, I'm surprised this Porter stuff is sticking.

― Josh in Chicago, 13. februar 2018 18:41 (twenty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's because of the photo, that took it beyond he-said she-said. Once that happened they have to ask a bunch of questions about why three accusers and no security clearance wasn't enough to make them stop and think.

what was Porter's BS excuse? That she got hit by a vase they were arguing over? that's one step above she fell down the stairs or walk into a door knob.

I'm just glad that there's absolutely no chance whatsoever that Porter will effortlessly slide directly into a cushy private sector job or stint as a Fox News talking head. Justice! At last!

He'll end up in K Street or a think tank.

this reminds me of when i saw Lewandowski interviewed recently by Chris Cuomo and he was i think trying to project a super conciliatory friendly vibe in response to Cuomo's pointed questions and comments and it was the most oily unctuous thing, it was like watching the terminator try to smile except less charming and convincing. his voice was all faux-soft and fake and it was so strange.

like this?

http://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/LtUjdFjZ4iDoRHxsHnAPgP-480-80.jpg

this reminds me of when i saw Lewandowski interviewed recently by Chris Cuomo and he was i think trying to project a super conciliatory friendly vibe in response to Cuomo's pointed questions and comments and it was the most oily unctuous thing, it was like watching the terminator try to smile except less charming and convincing. his voice was all faux-soft and fake and it was so strange.

― omar little, Tuesday, February 13, 2018 6:32 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there were stories that these leaks about porter came from lewandowski - like he's gunning for this guy's job. apparently we all forgot he physically assaulted a woman during the goddamn campaign.

the porter stuff is sticking imo because enough people there want kelly out, so they are briefing the press about new stuff related to it every day. no one in the whitehouse gives a shit about porter's actions themselves or the optics of porter's actions.

my guess is most of this is coming from kushner btw because there's a problem with his background check and he wants to undermine kelly's "process" for that, as well as kelly himself.

^ plausible, well beyond the point necessary to believe its true

Kush and Ivanka have reportedly wanted Kelly out, probably just because he doesn't want them bothering Dad. Corey (who assaults women) also used to date Hope Hicks, so there is history. Kush is the most suspicious, because even when he was in the spotlight he wasn't saying much. Now he is almost totally AWOL. And still without security clearance.

hooking up with Hope Hicks is sort of the kiss of death in this administration huh

It's hard to overstate what a blow FBI Director Wray's sworn testimony is to the White House, which for the past week has been advancing a conflicting timeline of events on Rob Porter.

"is this bad?"

it's only bad in a world where things matter and we're well past things mattering now.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/13/politics/john-kelly-rob-porter/index.html

"It was all done right," Kelly told the Wall Street Journal in comments published Tuesday.
Kelly said "no" when asked if the White House should have handled the scandal differently.

"Am I a massive moron who lied to my colleagues and the public? Going with a big 'no' on that one"

what's frightening is the prospect that even with all these revelations, kelly might STILL be the only adult in the inner circle. who else would it be? hope hicks? or maybe mcgahn? does he count? it's a fucking catastrophe in there.

kelly might STILL be the only adult in the inner circle.

(in case it's not clear i'm speaking relativistically here)

Hope Hicks is probably as terrifying a child as Stephen Miller, only difference is we just don't have the same historical evidence to support it and her background doesn't give as many clues. But then again I think that about anyone who chooses to remain in that circle past a certain date (or hell who actually signed up in the first place) is horrific and possibly not adult.

would read magical realist roman a clef about a Hope Hicksian figure's bizarre ascension and survival

i was totally shocked to learn yesterday hope hicks is under 30

i know politics ages you but ...

ffs of course there was a #secretsperm portrait conspiracy pushed by hannity

is it a requirement that every female who works in this white house has to dump a metric kilo of eyeshadow on every morning? i can't tell even vaguely how old hope hicks is because half her face has been covered in a fine ash

would read magical realist roman a clef about a Hope Hicksian figure's bizarre ascension and survival

I think that was called I, Claudius

you think that's bad, Shehuck is only 35

Stephen Miller looks like he's halfway home after choosing the false grail.

i'm impressed by Omarosa's desperate attempt to spin herself as an advance scout for the resistance now.

"is it a requirement that every female who works in this white house has to dump a metric kilo of eyeshadow on every morning?" she is gearing up for her job at FOXy News

great line of derision everyone, I see great things coming

you're right simon it's a bad road and i shouldn't have gone down it. i guess i'm remembering trump specifically ordering sanders to heap on the eye makeup - but yeah, wtf do i care

Wearing a metric kilo of eyeshadow is a choice and totally worthy of derision in a WH run by a beauty pageant huckster

Fire and Fury heavily implies that Trump demands his female staffers look a certain way.

still i think simon is correct

Rush Lumbago was goin' nuts over Susan Rice today, I tuned out after 3 minutes

he's still alive?

100% reporting: Democrats have picked-up Florida's #HD72 district!

And by a comfortable margin of 7% (about 3,000 votes). That's a net swing of 12% toward Democrats compared to the 2016 presidential results.

— Taniel (@Taniel) February 14, 2018