US Politics, January 2020. Because we hate ourselves.

Claiming she made such as promise is too absurd not to look ridiculous.

yeah. the sad truth is that i wouldn't put it past a lot of "journalists" to make that promise (like a CBN reporter or a large portion of fox news). but i cannot imagine mary louise kelly agreeing to that in a million years. and during the segment itself i think she stressed that she would never agree to that.

after Pence is Pompeo the biggest christ-bitten idiot in the the admin?

well, Rick Perry's gone.

In recording Trump asks how long Ukraine can resist Russians

President Donald Trump inquired how long Ukraine would be able to resist Russian aggression without U.S. assistance during a 2018 meeting with donors that included the indicted associates of his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.

“How long would they last in a fight with Russia?” Trump is heard asking in the audio portion of a video recording, moments before he calls for the firing of U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. She was removed a year later after a campaign to discredit her by Giuliani and others, an action that is part of Democrats’ case arguing for the removal of the president in his Senate impeachment trial.

A video recording of the entire 80-minute dinner at the Trump Hotel in Washington was obtained Saturday by The Associated Press. Excerpts were first published Friday by ABC News. People can be seen in only some portions of the recording.

The recording contradicts the president’s statements that he did not know the Giuliani associates Lev Parnas or Igor Fruman, key figures in the investigation who were indicted last year on campaign finance charges. The recording came to light as Democrats continued to press for witnesses and other evidence to be considered during the impeachment trial.

On the recording, a voice that appears to be Parnas’ can be heard saying, “The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we got to get rid of the ambassador.” He later can be heard telling Trump: “She’s basically walking around telling everybody, ‘Wait, he’s gonna get impeached. Just wait.’”

Trump responds: “Get rid of her! Get her out tomorrow. I don’t care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. OK? Do it.”

...

Trump also tells the assembled guests that it is “ridiculous” and “wrong” that he can’t hold political fundraisers inside the White House, saying it would save the government money compared to driving him the four blocks to his hotel.

god, that last paragraph.

it's the kind of paragraph that must be used in closing. there is no point in going on after that.

i find it inspiring, in a way, that these complete dipshits manage to rise to the most powerful ranks in the world. you don't have to know things, or be smart, or have a good idea. you don't need to be a good person, you don't need to be honest. you can be a petty motherfucker every single day of your life and be proud of it. if you're a big confident white guy from kansas and you think the rapture is going to take place in our lifetime, you can do whatever the fuck you want

I’m quoting this because it is actually true for white men of all political persuasions and one of the reasons I’m so fucking angry all the goddamned time

after Pence is Pompeo the biggest christ-bitten idiot in the the admin?

We still got Carson and DeVos out there.

shitlist update: i read dark money a while back and the whole DeVos family went waaaaaay up in the rankings. the whole DeVos/Prince family alliance is fucking terrifying. they're one of the few groups of people i can imagine to erupt into an evil cackle without irony or self-awareness

ML Kelly said she wasn't even asked to go off record to get yelled at by Pompeo

There is no chance in hell that Kelly agreed to go off the record and it's unlikely Pompeo even asked. He is lying about that just like he lied about Bangladesh and about the imaginary agreement not to talk about Ukraine. I'm bummed that so many sensible people inexplicably took that part of his story at face value.

Of course she’d agree to go off the record if he asked. There’s just no way that he asked and then she took it on record.

The takeaway from this mess is that if you, as a journalist, have an offer or an opportunity to interview someone in the Trump administration, you would be well advised to slowly extend both middle fingers as a response.

The aide told her no recording devices. It's totally plausible they were so stupid they thought that meant off the record and that her walking into the room with Pompeo was agreeing to the terms of service.

NPR has the email chain where the aids were informed that she would be asking about Ukraine and OK'ed it; don't know if they released it yet but they discussed it last night and named the person on the emails.

In other shitty admin news: did Mnuchin force his wife to delete her Instagram post supporting Thunberg?

I guess the prenup waiting period isn't up yet. Meanwhile:

I can’t imagine why most voters are deeply cynical about politics and think all the fighting is just a game. pic.twitter.com/95r8jm2QIV

— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) January 26, 2020

“Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool” -Proverbs 10:18 #SundayScripture ✝️

— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) January 26, 2020

gee, i wonder why his church chose to highlight that scripture today

I really can't wait until Jesus comes back and starts beating the shit out of these assholes. As is my understanding of the scriptures.

WE DONE BANANA REPUBLICED OURSELVES!

aw man

Trump to Pompeo on his treatment of NPR reporter: “I think you did a good job on her.” (Laughter in room)

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 28, 2020

(Laughter in room)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW4q6OFIJOY

(Laughter in room)

February thread title imo

the "room" was a gathering to celebrate the unveiling of jared's israel/palestine peace plan, which is so successful zero palestinians representatives were present.

I can’t believe how irresponsible the next Democratic President was. https://t.co/q94ZGFqzrR

— Seth Masket (@smotus) January 29, 2020

kinda surprised trump hasn't tried to seal off all flights from china yet, or something. guess he's been distracted

The "peace plan" sounds terrible and a non-starter. Israel keeps West Bank settlements, trades away Arab-Israeli citizens into Palestine, retains control over Palestine's borders in trade/immigration/security, and opens the Temple Mount for "all religions". Imagine a plan designed by ultra right wing West Bank settlers, and that's the Kushner plan.

"I can’t believe how irresponsible the next Democratic President was" lol

always like reading your posts Sanpaku

bibi's plan to straight-up annex the settlements seems like a pretty big deal

Jared Kushner, senior adviser to the President, says the White House's Middle East plan is "a great deal" and if Palestinians reject it, “they’re going to screw up another opportunity, like they’ve screwed up every other opportunity that they’ve ever had in their existence.” pic.twitter.com/ABAI3gKjig

— CNN (@CNN) January 28, 2020

Salesmanshit

what a stupid little peckerhead he is

Some people are saying the irrepressible giggling from a Fox host as the President's brain audibly melts down should have the entire enterprise sent to a gulag for collusion in treason. You're hearing it more and more, and perhaps they have a point. We're going to be looking into it, and looking into all the things.

Fox News cut away from Trump's rally immediately after his brain short-circuited pic.twitter.com/0jgKzVLb9E

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 29, 2020

Diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia in the comments is intriguing, although 'loss of empathy' is a bit of a stumbling block as a symptom, how could we even tell

good morning!

what the fuck

If the evidence is “overwhelming” and “extensive,” why do we need witnesses? https://t.co/LUWxGLgaTm

— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) January 28, 2020

Gardner, McSally and Tillis “warned colleagues in the meeting against backing more witnesses, people familiar with the matter said. The senators said a drawn-out trial could lead to more Democratic attacks and hurt their re-election chances” https://t.co/NmYNGEnacR

— Joe Sudbay (@JoeSudbay) January 28, 2020

Don’t tell them it’s an election year

That Lankford tool was on the radio this morning. I think the GOP picks him for his deadpan. First he says there is no first hand account of what Trump is accused of doing. The interviewer says the Bolton manuscript contains a firsthand account. So Lankford says that no one has actually seen the manuscript, just unnamed sources in the paper, and that he and others need to see that manuscript ASAP. So the interviewer asks, why not just call Bolton to testify? And Lankford says he needs to see the manuscript first to see if the claims are credible enough to justify Bolton testimony. And the interviewer says, wait a minute, what does it matter what the manuscript says, it's still just words. Just calll Bolton and ask him yourself. And round and round we go. It's total They Live! sunglasses shit.

Why would the senate allow the testimony of radical leftist John Bolton, he'll just show up and rant about the benefits of collectivist farming for hours

seriously. give that guy a platform and you might as well just give people free healthcare right now.

I heard he was gonna shave his mustache, wear a dress, ask us to call him "Johnette" from now on, then take ginormous bong hits during his testimony.

Did you know that John Bolton once served in the administration of a President who tried to blackmail a country into investigating his opponent? How can the senate trust the testimony of such a person?

um wasn't "how can we trust a guy who worked for Donald Trump" a legit defense GOP'ers tried when it came to the testimonies of Manafort and Michael Cohen

Trump says he might deploy some F-35s to a local air base, saying workers here will see them come in. He says, "Actually they're totally stealth, so maybe you won't see them come in. You won't see them come in."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 30, 2020

sir how do you know they're not already there

we may have a Feb thread title

NBC News reports:

Trump painted a doomsday scenario under a Democratic president. “If we don’t win, your farms are going to hell,” he said, claiming that under the Green New Deal supported by some of the 2020 contenders, “they want to kill your cows.” “That means you’re next,” he said.

farms: famously against cow-killing