US Politics February 2019: This is one of the great losers of all time.

IMO it's that they literally don't care because they're all gonna get pardoned anyway

your all time favorite President

I read that and picture him in clown make-up, waving his small hands in the air, and a Jimmy Durante "ha-cha-cha!"

@realDonaldTrump
The Washington Post is a Fact Checker only for the Democrats. For the Republicans, and for your all time favorite President, it is a Fake Fact Checker!
3:22 PM - Feb 19, 2019

haha, and this month's thread title already made me sing Locomotive Breath every time I saw it

https://theweek.com/speedreads/824430/white-house-says-pence-greeted-applause-after-mentioning-trump-speech-wasnt

“Your all time favorite president”

He maintains an impressive balance between his abject neediness and his willingness to grotesquely parody that neediness for the sake of trolling the American public. Both very solid, admirable qualities in a world leader.

what's great is that there's a bot-network that always appears just beneath his tweets, and they all say

"Best. President. Ever."

he probably doesn't even know they're bots

The Associated Press reports on nicknaming being the new ratfucking:

Inside the West Wing and in conversations with outside allies, Trump has been workshopping new attempts to imprint his new adversaries with lasting labels, according to two people on whom the president has tested out the nicknames.

They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations with the president. He is also testing out lines of attack in public rallies, exploring vulnerabilities he could use against them should they advance to the general election.

Nicknaming opponents started in the nineteenth century. It had just fallen out of favor until Trump came along.

Oops.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/19/us/politics/trump-investigations.html

As federal prosecutors in Manhattan gathered evidence late last year about President Trump’s role in silencing women with hush payments during the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump called Matthew G. Whitaker, his newly installed attorney general, with a question. He asked whether Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump ally, could be put in charge of the widening investigation, according to several American officials with direct knowledge of the call.

Mr. Whitaker, who had privately told associates that part of his role at the Justice Department was to “jump on a grenade” for the president, knew he could not put Mr. Berman in charge, since Mr. Berman had already recused himself from the investigation. The president soon soured on Mr. Whitaker, as he often does with his aides, and complained about his inability to pull levers at the Justice Department that could make the president’s many legal problems go away.

Trying to install a perceived loyalist atop a widening inquiry is a familiar tactic for Mr. Trump, who has been struggling to beat back the investigations that have consumed his presidency. His efforts have exposed him to accusations of obstruction of justice as Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, finishes his work investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"Finishes"? Are we there yet?

The whole piece is useful both as a general timeline and for some further details.

So many crystal clear examples of obstruction of justice, it’s insane that we are living through all this

I'm pretty sure I said it at least 18 months ago. Obstruction of justice, however obvious it might be, won't be enough to successfully impeach him or even change anyone's minds about his fitness to be president.

Sure, I’m with you there. It’s just a reflection of the bizarre times we live in - a single incident of these clear cases of corruption would have been enough to make a politician resign in disgrace as recently as 3 years ago

should we make a thread about all the insane things about this presidency that's faded from public memory? just for posterity? I mean stuff like

Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me "old," when I would NEVER call him "short and fat?" Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend - and maybe someday that will happen!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2017

a single incident of these clear cases of corruption would have been enough to make a politician resign in disgrace as recently as 3 years ago

It still works on Democrats!

Except in Virginia!

On Tuesday, after The Times article published, Mr. Trump denied that he had asked Mr. Whitaker if Mr. Berman could be put in charge of the investigation. “No, I don’t know who gave you that, that’s more fake news,” Mr. Trump said. “There’s a lot of fake news out there. No, I didn’t.”

the NYT replied "Yeah huh!!"

They trotted out Kellyanne Conway on CNN tonight--I haven't seen her for ages, but that doesn't necessarily mean she hasn't been on there. Anyway, I take that as a sign there's real concern over this McCabe thing. (I wish there were a Mrs. Miller somewhere in the mix.)

Maybe Stephen wouldn’t be so fucking awful if there was.

https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/multiple-whistleblowers-raise-grave-concerns-with-white-house-efforts-to

Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, issued an interim staff report after multiple whistleblowers came forward to warn about efforts inside the White House to rush the transfer of highly sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in potential violation of the Atomic Energy Act and without review by Congress as required by law—efforts that may be ongoing to this day.

Yikes!

but you don't understand, it's part of the deal

fuck.

Sell everything! https://t.co/L0W3QioYe8

— Doug Henwood (@DougHenwood) February 19, 2019

The lawyers settled on it. pic.twitter.com/V6SadQkyBb

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) February 20, 2019

so the Covington MAGA teen is suing WaPo for $250,000,000. cool country we live in

tbf he and his defenders did seem like assholes.

I expect him to grow into a fine, upstanding gentleman.

Good morning!

Huh so weird that he would specifically start with the Washington Post. How odd.

I mean he continues to exhibit the behavior you'd expect from someone who's been acting in good faith from the very start. I daresay Jesus himself would've taken similar steps.

1. You start by suing the Washington Post because it's not rich in its own right, but it is owned by the richest humanoid in the galaxy. Willie Sutton principle. Suing poor people is stupid.

2. Right-wingers (of course) gleefully mock what they consider to be the obsession the left and the media ("but I repeat myself," hyuk hyuk) with the Covington Kidz.

"The alleged crime of Smirking While White" is a typical zing.

There are a lot of other plenty rich media moguls to sue who aren't the President's archenemy

The suit by the Covington Kid (in reality this would be his parents who are suing) has several obvious purposes. The most important is to keep the story alive, so the family can find some indirect way to profit from the massive publicity this got. Next would be to frame the story to make it appear they have a legitimate case, and therefore have suffered a grievous harm ($250,000,000!!!) at the hands of the villainous liberal media, thus making their story better bait for FOX News & the conservative media. Lastly, there's always a tiny chance the WaPo could settle the suit and they'd get to pocket maybe fifty or a hundred thousand, free and clear after legal fees. It's like dropping a quarter in a slot machine and pulling the handle to see if it pays off.

Well now that's certainly a cynical take!

If they had sued for, let's say, $100,000 plus legal fees, I would not treat them like dropped their trousers in public and painted their genitals in fluorescent colors in the hope of attracting attention.

The suit is absurd but I think a number of media organizations and social media personalities made fools of themselves during that whole Covington thing. Not a proud moment for America.

This job applicant was both raised in a racist community, and litigious. Top of the pile.

I’m sure his family is comfortable but a lawsuit like that requires serious money if it’s something other than a publicity tour. I assume an even dumber Peter thiel is behind that.

There’s no reason to assume anything other than the most cynical motivation for the lawsuit.

I'm surprised at you all! This is simply a matter of a concerned family looking out for the best interests of their son. These are good people, pillars of their community.

(On the off chance that anyone is unable to recognize the visible waves of sarcasm radiating from my posts, please note that I'm of the opinion that this is probably a garbage family who should be permasealed in a subterranean chamber so that functioning members of society never have to encounter or interact with them.)

I'm surprised at you all! This is simply a matter of a concerned family looking out for the best interests of their son. These are good people, pillars of their community.

Pretty good Treeship imitation, but to really sell the bit you have to put some of it in the form of a question, or state "I just learned about (huge aspect of modern existence) today, but..."

Kinda feel like these folks are symptomatic of a shift in shitty people over the past couple of years, where before people would embrace venality simply out of, I dunno, the general lack of a moral center. Kind of a more casual and incidental turd-dom. But nowadays people seem more inclined to intentionally steer into outright nigh-cartoonish villainy. I foresee an uptick in velvet capes and scepters coming 'round the bend.

roger stone was ahead of his time

Here's to hoping all of this ilk aspire to the Shkreli arc in toto.

Hey unperson, leave me alone.

xp

Hey unperson, leave me alone up yours.

ftfy