US Politics, June 2020 — You have to dominate.

Haven’t read this article but good url

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/18/everybody-hates-john-bolton-328921

Today in antimetabole:

Tulsa Health Department Executive Director Bruce Dart said at a Wednesday news conference that he had recommended the rally be postponed until it was safer. “I know so many people are over covid,” Dart said. “But covid is not over.”

lol just reported that the Department of Justice admitted the guy in charge of clearing Bolton's book for classified information had no training in how to do so, and in fact wasn't trained until after he had finished the job, at which point he declined to retroactively check again.

"no one's gonna notice..."

Reporter: "Why does the President keep hiring people that are 'dumb as a rock, overrated, way over their heads, whacko, and incompetent'?"

Kayleigh McEnany: "...He likes the model of having a team of rivals, like what we saw in President Lincoln's administration." pic.twitter.com/Bc8bHHxUI5

— The Hill (@thehill) June 19, 2020

this doesn't strike me as the best way to answer this question

follow-up: Kayleigh, do you consider yourself to be a part of this "team of rivals", and can you keep in mind the first part of the question as you answer, i'll take my answer off the air

PS GOD IS DEAD KAYLEIGH FUCK YOU

team of whackos

Nestor Galban was 12 and had just arrived from Cuba, where he’d grown up and where his mother had recently died of breast cancer, Gaetz says. Then a state legislator, Gaetz was dating Nestor’s older sister.
And so Nestor moved in with them — “a modern family,” Gaetz says now.

OK so do I have this right, Gaetz is Ed O'Neill and Nestor is Manny?

“President Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he protects those who cannot protect themselves—both here and abroad—and that’s clear in this latest bold action to impose travel restrictions on those who detain or abuse the Uighurs,” said John Ullyot, spokesman for the National Security Council.

this is rich...so the ban Trump won't shut up about as the One Huge Thing he did to fight the virus...was secretly really a coded message against concentration camps haaaaaaa

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-wonders-if-john-bolton-will-go-to-jail?ref=home ^

wonder how Trump supporters square the fact that he thinks this virus is no big deal with his claim that it would have killed 3,000,000 people if not for him

Friday night news of the abrupt departure of the US attorney from SDNY who indicted Giuliani associates, is investigating Rudy and named Trump as individual 1 in Michael Cohen case over president’s role in hush-money scandal to silence his alleged affairs https://t.co/orofnBaQZg

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 20, 2020

US Atty for SDNY Geoffrey Berman was fired. The news came as a shock tonight. Sources close to him & DOJ official say AG Barr offered him other positions including head of Civil Division at main justice and Berman declined. News via me @alex_mallin & @AaronKatersky

— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) June 20, 2020

!!

NEW: Geoff Berman statement:

“I learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I was ‘stepping down’ as United States Attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position" pic.twitter.com/L6PQCF9bdU

— erica orden (@eorden) June 20, 2020

You can’t fire me! Because I don’t quit!!

Jeff not fucking around!

IT’S GEOFF

lol

America is right to expect the worst of Bill Barr, who has repeatedly interfered in criminal investigations on Trump’s behalf. We have a hearing on this topic on Wednesday. We welcome Mr. Berman’s testimony and will invite him to testify. https://t.co/SpVYzLhANR

— Rep. Nadler (@RepJerryNadler) June 20, 2020

well this is fun

by the way, am i wrong to connect this to the relative silence on these cases since the impeachment "trial"?

have they really been just working in silence for 5 months (jfc has it only been 5 months since then), or have they been silenced?

if he loses, he's going to jail, or he's going to die with pending criminal indictments.

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Monday, June 8, 2020 5:09 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

c'mon that gov-approved strongboy body of his leads me to believe it won't be anytime soon

i'm not certain about what a biden administration would do re: sending trump's ass to prison. i actually am a centrist on this issue! IT COULD GO EITHER WAY

who would be the only guy to seek out a compromise with a white supremacist villain at the time of his final surrender? an old white guy

for the sake of healing

for the sake of a new era for the young people.

lookit

There was a Blackish episode repeat today that occurs in Jan 2017 right after Trump was elected. The Anthony Anderson main character coming between the Anti-Trump and (one) Pro-Trump co-workers, about how much he loves America. The implication of that being, well, Trump will probably suck but let's give him a chance, because America's still going to have the shitty problems anyway. Somewhat true, but I doubt they could imagine what would over the next four years...

Thread: here's where I think we are. It's pretty exquisite. Berman is court appointed and under 28 USC §546 his appointment lasts until there is a presidentially appointed and confirmed US Attorney.

— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) June 20, 2020

Good morning!

I hate Matt Gaetz but this situation with the adopted kid is not so mysterious to me and almost makes him a relatable human.

the US attorney thing was so confusing last night

who would be the only guy to seek out a compromise with a white supremacist villain at the time of his final surrender? an old white guy

xpost It's actually super confusing! For starters, he's apparently not even adopted. Following up, though, formality aside, what single 30-year old dude, let alone one with a history of DUI, adopts a 12-year old, or is even allowed to? And then keeps a secret for 7 years? It can be totally innocent and relatable yet still totally confusing and strange.

Oh, and, duh, judge denies Trump admin attempt to stop publication of Bolton book because, double duh, they already published it.

what single 30-year old dude, let alone one with a history of DUI, adopts a 12-year old, or is even allowed to?

Isn't that how Fonzie ended up?

Fonzie never had a history of DUI get those words out of your mouth

ned lol

Live from Tulsa

At the Trump rally, Brian Clothier, 61, is wearing an adult diaper over his pants that reads “Scientists say [farts] spread the virus. I COVID my ass to stop the spread.” pic.twitter.com/2Ljok0vKKe

— robertklemko (@RobertKlemko) June 20, 2020

Only been at the Trump rally since 9, but something I’ve noticed: No anti-Biden merch. This shirt is for sale, but the anti-Dem stuff has been anti-Hillary or generically about liberals being losers. pic.twitter.com/dWASK8DLDe

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) June 20, 2020

doesn't Weigel realize Biden and Clinton are the same person? Have you noticed they're never at the same place together?!

I do see one guy with a mask in that shot

As someone joked, there are fewer masks than there are black people at that rally, and there are no black people.

something to keep in mind when trump inevitably realizes that berman is a #resistance crying chuck schumer collaborator who trump never met and who probably donated to hillary clinton:

It is important to remember that Geoff Berman is no Deep State hanger-on. He is a former law partner of Rudy Giuliani and a campaign donor to Trump’s 2016 campaign. Indeed, the fact that he ended up being appointed formally by the judges in the district stemmed from the dubious circumstances of his original appointment. Berman served on Trump’s presidential transition team and Trump personally interviewed Berman before agreeing to nominate him to the New York position. The head of that office has jurisdiction over Trump’s literal home turf. It’s a key position.

I think it's another instance of Trump (who has no clue) OKing the appointment of someone his people recommended for being accomplished or at least competent and then those people realizing that competence was not the lead characteristic he was looking for.

not in this case, i don't think. trump has been in court his entire life. i think he cares who oversees the cases that directly involve him and his operations in NYC.

it's amazing how these loyalist Republicans all become these activist, troubled Democrats after spending 5 minutes in Trump's admin

i did enjoy this classic piece of josh marshall idle speculation:

Bill Barr’s profound corruption no longer requires explanation. He is unquestionably the most corrupt Attorney General in American history. It is in the nature of Trumpism however that the corruption and bad acting are so widespread that we are left uncertain just why this particular action took place. Something was and apparently is afoot that required Berman’s immediate removal. We just don’t yet know what it is. There are numerous possibilities. Berman’s office has overseen investigations of numerous Trump associates. Most of the President’s own business dealings would come under the office’s jurisdiction. Perhaps critically, many investigations which have offended foreign potentates friendly to President Trump are also housed in this office.

for real, i enjoyed that piece of idle speculation, those all seem like strong possibilities, and it's not clear what led to this.

btw, assuming we get out of this winter with a new president, i think we'll all look back and think how fortunate we were that bill barr didn't arrive on the scene until halfway through the term. if he had been there since the beginning, holy shit