Well Pelley lost his job but kept his dignity. You can get another job, but getting your dignity back is nigh to impossible. And, speaking of dignity, we'll see how Bari Un/Weiss is doing a few from now.
I also think she knows she’s expendable, but is so overly ambitious and disingenuous that she probably thinks she can actually be successful at the network as a fixer.
No doubt, she will be the master of her own demise—and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving person! One word: PHONY!
She’s a lesbian non-Christian who actively supports the far right Christian Nationalist patriarchy. Somehow she doesn’t seem to think this is a conflict of interest, but she’s dead wrong. They’ll kick her to the curb the minute she’s outlived her usefulness.
Every woman who works for this administration should know this by now. Perhaps they do, but think of it as some kind of noble martyrdom for the MAGA cause.
I thought she was always one who opined , not actually reported . Correct me if I'm am wrong - looks like she was always 'chosen" for higher things than calling grieving family members , visiting waste sites or attending council meetings
She will fall on her fat ass as will the nutball she brought in to manage 60 minutes. Seems these maggots never learn that to do a good job at anything one has to have the talent. This group? ZERO talent.
You know none of these people will ever have a legit career again. pulte? Will this upward fail-son bring shame on the housing empire his betters founded? I don't think blanche will ever get a prestige lawyer gig again. Ambulance chasers here (The Texas Hammer, lol!) may not want him. All these morally and ethically unfit people that will eventually get scraped off like barnacles - where are they gonna go - there's only so much room on those sofas at Faux Nooz and I don't think 'The Five' are gonna wanna give that up.
I guess it depends on how one defines "legit career." I think Pulte ends up on Fox (unless something unforeseen happens like George Soros and / or Michael Bloomberg buying it from Murdoch Inc. 🤣). Blanche will join the Federalist Society and hit the speech circuit when not covering up whatever pile of legal doo-doo the Trump Crime Family steps in.
"'I’m going to punch you in your fucking face,' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Pulte at a dinner last September after hearing Pulte had been badmouthing him to the boss."
Forget those UFC fighters. Make Bessent v. Pulte the main event at Trump's Thunderdome Arena. That'll get solid ratings.
We should run some tests, to determine this in a scientific manner. Get a sample size of about 1000 people, put the subjects in a punching booth, and see who gets punched the most.
Run it a couple of times just to be sure.
I am thinking it would be JD because most of the test subjects probably would have no idea who the other guys was. That is my informally stated hypothesis.
Not sure those two count as a fighting *sport*: Reminds me more of grade school when the older boys tried to set up *matches* between the. younger kids. Nothing screams junior status than needing to duke it out. Then again this whole administration needs teacher supervision.
Any MST3k fans here? There's a running joke of saying "Can't we just get Beyond Thunderdome?" every time someone mentions Thunderdome. But it was way funnier when it didn't come in response to photos of the White House.
It's not just congress that has to step up, the work forces at the various agencies need to throw as many wrenches in the works as they can. This has been an effective strategy at DOJ, leaving the dregs of the law profession to prosecute Trump's retribution cases and getting exactly no where. For some, nowhere will include a quick disbarment for tampering with Grand Juries.
General Hertling's article is a must read. Hegseth, with his white supremacy meritocracy, is destroying the officer corps of the world's greatest and most competent military. It's critical that the US Military also start throwing wrenches in Hegseth's gears before he can appoint more General Flynn's.
The whole crowd — Pulte, Blanche, Kash, Hegseth — is more concerned about Trump’s hallucinations than, say, a foreign or domestic terror attack. Does not bode well.
Jeffries and Schumer seem to believe there is no such thing as an impeachable offense, and I can't imagine what could possibly change their mind if setting up American concentration camps didn't do it. If concentration camps are A-OK, EVERYTHING IS.
I actually agree with Jeffries and Schumer. The GOP Senate WON'T convict, so why give the President another win by beating a third impeachment? JVL is right, impeachment is a dead letter.
I think the Senate should be on record for refusing to convict. I think that record is very necessary to our future dealings going forward with people like Ted Cruz.
This is just plain wrong. The process and the record it establishes both have tremendous value in the moment and historically. Both impeachments from his first term continue to have value today and to deny them any value bc the senate acquitted him misses the point.
I don’t think a party line acquittal is a win, and in Trumps case he couldn’t even manage that in either of his two impeachments. He remains today the only president who was impeached and saw senators from his own party vote to convict and remove him for it, and it happened twice. Impeachment may be a dead letter, but the historical record of impeachment and the investigation, charges, findings, and evidence around it is critically important for historical, legal, moral AND political reasons.
No, the process and charges have important immediate impact as well, do you really intend to suggest that the first impeachment process, the testimony, and Romney’s conviction vote and speech had no immediate positive impact? That it had no immediate positive impact on the 2020 election his impeachable actions were intended to undermine?
It’s either a conviction or an acquittal. The 2021 acquittal allowed those inclined to forgive Trump for 1/6 to do so with nary a twinge of concern. They voted for him again in 2024 and some who voted for Biden in 2020 voted for Trump in 2024.
I understand the frustration. But even if important and good things happen after we're dead, we should probably contribute to them anyway. I have found many occasions in life to be thankful for things people long dead have done. I hope future generations feel that way about us.
Trump stands in good company with Johnson though, a man who should literally be burning in hell. The devil is surely scaling back the AC to get ready for Trump's arrival.
Impeachment is a dead issue unless Ds get a super majority in the Senate. A much better strategy is to go after everyone in his administration for incompetence, treason, theft, etc. What needs to be done is to ram through legislation that will strip all of his ill-gotten gains away from him - that will really hurt him. And start getting rid of his sycophants in the government. And cancel his damn arch and ballroom, take away that jet, and strip his name off everything. Then get 4 more justices in the SC for a total of 13, one for each federal district. And start enforcing the emoluments clause of the Constitution, and put real teeth into it. And get rid of every official who wrote Project 2025. Dump the 1929 law restricting Congress to 535 members. Then work on a Constitutional amendment to get rid of the EC, and get rid of gerrymandering
And start working on laws to put teeth into the Constitution. Right now, the Constitution depends on people of good will, intelligence, integrity and true patriotism to take their oaths to the Constitution seriously - which eliminates most of the current administration.
add this to the gobsmackingly long list of the king's crimes ... the question remains; so what?
he's a scofflaw with enough pull to walk away from the whole list. so far.
he's killed many many children (bombing them, starving them, poisoning them, ...) but 165 schoolgirls didn't register for more than a moment ...
the 'conservatives' whispering support from their dark corners whenever one of them shows a bit of spine ... those guys won't live up to their oaths until the right kind of children, in the right size of disaster, die messily if front of cameras. then they will flap their wattles, huffing about how the king has gone too far this time.
1. Andrew Weissmann states that the $1.8 billion slush fund is still available for the Trump family, but not the J6ers.
2. SCOTUS thru the shadow docket allowed AL to use its 2023 election district map which had previously been rejected at the fed district court level. Confirms the Gang of 6 doesn't give a rip abt racial discrimination in voitng as long as it advantages Whites.
I'm normally not one to buy the accusations of activists (particularly of the leftward variety) that the SCOTUS is, and throughout most of our history, has been the agent of the moneyed and white "establishment". But its actions over the past 20 years have been exactly that, again and again. It may wrap its false jurisprudence in "conservative" bromides, but it is really no different than the patrimonial interests of traditionalistic middle-eastern societies. Daddy rules, everyone else suffers, for that is the natural way.
Trump’s a child molester who’s stealing a staggering amount of taxpayer money. I have no doubt the final tally on his theft will be in the billions. It’s all going to him, his family and his loyalists. Trump’s basically the American version of Saddam Hussein. His loyalists need Trump in power because they are complicit in his crimes. And, those crimes include helping Trump cover up his and his wealthy buddies’ sex crimes against children. It’s gross.
So smart he forgets what he said yesterday, let alone last week. But, of course, he just says diametrically opposed things like the Red Queen who can believe six impossible things before breakfast.
Andrew, Bill and Jim, Thanks for the reporting, commentary and analysis. Great pieces all. You would think some Republicans in the Senate would be feeling shame for their confirmation votes that put these incompetent fools in position to wreak havoc on our country and the rule of law. It won't take that many of them to shut off the enabling and put some checks and balances in place. It's now simply a matter of guts and dignity. At this point, there are literally thousands of people in or connected to this government that are criminals and corrupt and undeniably law breakers. Thinking there will be accountability for these individuals in any sort of regular order is ludicrous and naive. Tribunals will be the only way.
You are correct. I know people would rather close their eyes and deny that true evil exists in this world, but it does. There has been a cabal of truly evil people who have been planning this for decades. Twenty years ago, a cult of CIA/Satanists predicted that they would be in charge of this country by 2030. Trump has given them the best chance of achieving their goal. Trump surrounds himself, and takes bribes from, sex offenders, drug traffickers, fraudsters, pedophiles... the list goes on and on. How much proof do we need that this Administration is not just incompetent, but evil, as well? The light in all this darkness is that Trump and his acolytes are failing. I truly believe that things are turning around and that this corrupt junta is going to self-destruct. The sooner the better.
Meanwhile, our morning missive begins with the sort of attention whoring we all despise. Who cares if Trump tries to titillate the sensible with visions of fighting rings replacing the Rose Garden? He only says those things to piss us off, so why reprint them? To give Trump a big, fat smile? I just don't get it.
Oh it matters. But Trump saying what's going to last forever surely doesn't need to be repeated. He doesn't have the power to make anything permanent, other than the hit to our country's reputation.
A "qualified, patriotic young professional" and J 6er named Elias Irizarry has been appointed to Dept of Defense Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office. Top security clearance job. He is seen on tape at the wild J6 tourist visit urging rioters to kill police.
Bill Pulte came up out of nowhere with novel ideas for ways to attack Trump’s enemies. Trump’s a deviant innovator himself, Pulte looks like a bulldog, and will obviously do anything he can to help the stable genius. How could he not adore him and put him where he has access to greater weaponry than mortgage forms?
I hope Trump gets them to leave the UFC arena there for the rest of his term. And keep the East Wing site as an incomplete hole in the ground. Visual representations of what he has done to this country.
Picking Pulte as director of NI is useful for Trump’s authoritarian takeover. At best, he keeps terrorizing political enemies into submission. At worst, it invites terrorist acts, which gives him the pretext to declare martial law and suspend elections. Pretty sure Bannon, John Eastman types are thinking along these lines.
How does any other country (especially peers or competition) not look at us every day and laugh? The ways in which supporters can excuse any of this as good.......baffling
I'm sure they do look at us and laugh. But more importantly, I suspect that they look at us and start hedging their bets, e.g. not sharing intel so readily, not believing everything the US tries to sell them as important secret info, etc. This is a disaster, but just one of many.
That is my biggest fear. Not our GDP dipping a little. Our sheer population and land mass size.....we can't just go from top dog to no longer involved. But what happens when the more mature nations (GB, France, Ger, Jap, Aus, etc.) look at us and go "ehhhh, maybe we don't share EVERYTHING with those guys. They are still having their rebellious teen phase for a country. Let's keep this to ourselves." I don't think enough of this population truly understand the many fringe benefits of being the de facto "world police". Yes it cost resources but we did get to have our hands in just about everything. And that will NOT be easy to earn back once it's lost
"I don't think enough of this population truly understand the many fringe benefits of being the de facto "world police"."
The inability (refusal?) of the MAGAs to understand the value of America's place as world leader, bastion of democracy (flawed, but still...), enforcer, police, etc is the lie underlying "America First." IOW, "America First" is just plain bad for America.
The lack of humility is what gets me. The inability to say "I may not be right, I may not know the answer, I am not sure" is what does them in. Just because you don't know in the moment doesn't mean you're stupid. Refusing to learn and doubling down on an unverified or false pretense? Now THAT is stupid. Most of MAGA's "America First" is actually just "Me and mine first". They don't care about America or Democracy, just themselves.
It's so ridiculous it would be hilarious if it wasn't so serious. Lil Marco literally said the war was over yesterday just hours before Iran launched a large drone strike on Kuwait and Bahrain...
In a few weeks, most of the world's stored oil runs out. At that point, world economic activity has to decrease by 20% to accommodate the lack of supply. It's not just higher prices, very very soon oil just won't be available. Good thing the President is bored with the whole thing and we can invade Cuba and Greenland.
Trump thinks he has leverage with American and Venezuelan oil. Just open these two spigots more and the world will come to him for his patronage. His delusional state can't allow him to see this will not work.
I saw someone on a news story yesterday seriously making that point. His stocks were up, so all of this concern over the war and oil supplies is just nonsensical TDS. My stocks are up today, so everything is great!
Bed bugs at the USDA, rats in the national intelligence office, weasels at CBS - it's just pests all over the place!
Well Pelley lost his job but kept his dignity. You can get another job, but getting your dignity back is nigh to impossible. And, speaking of dignity, we'll see how Bari Un/Weiss is doing a few from now.
We did try to tell her she was going to be the public fall guy for the Ellisons. I guess the money was too good to care.
Agreed, she’s a clear case of Icarus!
I also think she knows she’s expendable, but is so overly ambitious and disingenuous that she probably thinks she can actually be successful at the network as a fixer.
No doubt, she will be the master of her own demise—and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving person! One word: PHONY!
She couldn't fix a bandaid to her finger.
Touché!….:)
Um, she was DELIGHTED to do this hatchet work for the Ellisons!
What goes around comes around.
She’s a lesbian non-Christian who actively supports the far right Christian Nationalist patriarchy. Somehow she doesn’t seem to think this is a conflict of interest, but she’s dead wrong. They’ll kick her to the curb the minute she’s outlived her usefulness.
One day she'll be hiding in a cave with Scott Bessent. They'll have much to talk about.
And joining them will be "Nutlick".
Every woman who works for this administration should know this by now. Perhaps they do, but think of it as some kind of noble martyrdom for the MAGA cause.
You bet.
lol
CBS has proved that phrase: From the penthouse to the outhouse.
Edward R Morrow, Walter Cronkite, Mike Wallace...Cold day in hell when Bari Weiss makes that list if she were to go back to reporting.
Turning in their graves at what CBS has become.
She was never a reporter, she was an opinion columnist.
To clarify, after graduation she worked for a couple of Israeli papers. She wasn't oversite at that point.
I was going to rewrite my comment to include the above and just classify her as a writer w oversight duties at NYT.
OK, thanks.
figures
I thought she was always one who opined , not actually reported . Correct me if I'm am wrong - looks like she was always 'chosen" for higher things than calling grieving family members , visiting waste sites or attending council meetings
She did some reporting at NYT and had management positions.
If the Nyt hired this talentless loser, all their taste is in their mouth.
so always too special to just be a general reporter . No wonder she has no respect for reporting or reporters
The only list she will make is a grocery list.
She will fall on her fat ass as will the nutball she brought in to manage 60 minutes. Seems these maggots never learn that to do a good job at anything one has to have the talent. This group? ZERO talent.
"Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with you".
And Cockroaches of Crime and Corruption throughout the Trump Administration.
You know none of these people will ever have a legit career again. pulte? Will this upward fail-son bring shame on the housing empire his betters founded? I don't think blanche will ever get a prestige lawyer gig again. Ambulance chasers here (The Texas Hammer, lol!) may not want him. All these morally and ethically unfit people that will eventually get scraped off like barnacles - where are they gonna go - there's only so much room on those sofas at Faux Nooz and I don't think 'The Five' are gonna wanna give that up.
This is my fervent hope.
You would think they'd have learned from the demise of Mr. Pillow, but no one thinks it will be them.
I guess it depends on how one defines "legit career." I think Pulte ends up on Fox (unless something unforeseen happens like George Soros and / or Michael Bloomberg buying it from Murdoch Inc. 🤣). Blanche will join the Federalist Society and hit the speech circuit when not covering up whatever pile of legal doo-doo the Trump Crime Family steps in.
With the biggest and stinkiest dung beetle in the Oval.
Comment sparked a memory--maybe you were referring to it--the Stones called it "Shattered" . . . "bed bugs uptown" . . . seems to fit our dilemma.
Eels (Mark Oliver Everett):
🎼"Field mice, head lice, spiders in the kitchen
Don't think twice 'bout whatever keeps you itchin'
Ice water, flyswatter, gonna get you through
The day"🎼
Don't forget the worms in Kennedy's brain.
I thought that RFKJr's brain worms died of starvation long ago.
Love it - thanks
Not to mention the dung beetles in the White House.
Well said!
"'I’m going to punch you in your fucking face,' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Pulte at a dinner last September after hearing Pulte had been badmouthing him to the boss."
Forget those UFC fighters. Make Bessent v. Pulte the main event at Trump's Thunderdome Arena. That'll get solid ratings.
Who has a more punchable face - Bill Pulte or J.D. Vance?
We should run some tests, to determine this in a scientific manner. Get a sample size of about 1000 people, put the subjects in a punching booth, and see who gets punched the most.
Run it a couple of times just to be sure.
I am thinking it would be JD because most of the test subjects probably would have no idea who the other guys was. That is my informally stated hypothesis.
Science!!!!
We should also include a positive control. I nominate Howard Nutlick.
Kevin Hassett?
He has possibly the most punchable face in the history of US politics.
Yes. With all the problems with polling, this urgent question cannot be answered by that method. Much better to see who actually takes more haymakers.
Are you really suggesting that Pulte can take more than one? Or are you doubting that JD could land even one?
They are not punching each other, the 1000 test subjects do the punching ;)
I volunteer my services - anything for science!
He will need to be propped up, You know, for science.
Excellent point!…:)
Matt Gaetz!
I’m sorry it’s still Ken Paxton.
He's definitely passed Ted Cruz for the most punchable face in Texas. Moving up fast in the national rankings . . . .
Put Stephen Miller in the mix.
As the wise man once said, “Does it matter!” Either works for me!…:)
Such questions fall into the category of “unanswerable’ or ‘whoever you saw most recently’….
Each has a backpfeifengesicht (face in need of a slap). I suspect their fight would look more like Grant v. Firth than Louis v. Schmeling.
Ausgezeichnet.
Gesundheit?
Needed Google's help with Grant v. Firth. Agree.
None of the above? Matt Gaetz, Josh Hawley and Stephen Miller all have more punchable faces than both of them. IMO, of course.
As they say: Beauty is is the eye of the beholder.
Hot take, Vance.
Yes.
Well, JD's face is kinda flattened already, so I'd go w him as already having seen some action.
I don't like fighting sports, but I'd tune in to see that.
Not sure those two count as a fighting *sport*: Reminds me more of grade school when the older boys tried to set up *matches* between the. younger kids. Nothing screams junior status than needing to duke it out. Then again this whole administration needs teacher supervision.
Any MST3k fans here? There's a running joke of saying "Can't we just get Beyond Thunderdome?" every time someone mentions Thunderdome. But it was way funnier when it didn't come in response to photos of the White House.
I'm gonna guess that Bessent has never punched anyone in his life.
There's always a first w trailer trash park owner Bill Pulte. Check out today's Paul Krugman's Substack.
Bessent has never made a fist in his life.
That is the undercard. The Main event: Mud wrestling between the Sumo DJT and Steve Bannon. Let's get ready to Rumble!!!
I can’t unsee the image! 🤢🤯
I thought someone would say that!
If they do as you suggest, I would like to also see someone kick the shit out of Markwayne Mullin that day.
Winner takes on Musk.
I like it and RFK jr vs Kegsbreath
Shouldn’t Markwayne Mullin be a featured fighter too? He’s a guy with experience at it. Maybe he could coach them both.
yes,and you know what? i bet the king would love this suggestion.
we should send him a bunch of postcards suggesting it and hope one gets through.
Yes! I love this idea!💡 💡💡
It's not just congress that has to step up, the work forces at the various agencies need to throw as many wrenches in the works as they can. This has been an effective strategy at DOJ, leaving the dregs of the law profession to prosecute Trump's retribution cases and getting exactly no where. For some, nowhere will include a quick disbarment for tampering with Grand Juries.
General Hertling's article is a must read. Hegseth, with his white supremacy meritocracy, is destroying the officer corps of the world's greatest and most competent military. It's critical that the US Military also start throwing wrenches in Hegseth's gears before he can appoint more General Flynn's.
An officer corps personally loyal to the man in charge has served Russia well in the last four years. What could go wrong?
A Yevgeny Prigozhin who goes all the way?
"Literally the first thing federal law has to say about the DNI is that any nominee to the post “shall have extensive national security expertise.”"
Shouldn't a president making an illegal appointment be impeached? And isn't this this serious?
After Impeachment 2.0, Susan Collins said the President learned his lesson. I can't imagine that any wrongdoing is possible.
She still "has concerns".
I hope her next concern is what she'll do after Maine kicks her to the curb.
Who knows after the latest Platner reveal?
Lol...susan is just so precious, no?
As the hub bub this week showed, she wasn't involved in sexting, so she's teh high character Senate candidate from Maine!
Come on, Mike, stretch your imagination a tad.
😂🤣
Please try imagining harder.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The whole crowd — Pulte, Blanche, Kash, Hegseth — is more concerned about Trump’s hallucinations than, say, a foreign or domestic terror attack. Does not bode well.
Have you just re-defined the Felon to be that about which we all should be more concerned? BTW, I vote for foreign.
Jeffries and Schumer seem to believe there is no such thing as an impeachable offense, and I can't imagine what could possibly change their mind if setting up American concentration camps didn't do it. If concentration camps are A-OK, EVERYTHING IS.
I actually agree with Jeffries and Schumer. The GOP Senate WON'T convict, so why give the President another win by beating a third impeachment? JVL is right, impeachment is a dead letter.
I think the Senate should be on record for refusing to convict. I think that record is very necessary to our future dealings going forward with people like Ted Cruz.
As Sarah has said; you need the Senate to convict. Overwise it is fruitless.
This is just plain wrong. The process and the record it establishes both have tremendous value in the moment and historically. Both impeachments from his first term continue to have value today and to deny them any value bc the senate acquitted him misses the point.
I don’t think a party line acquittal is a win, and in Trumps case he couldn’t even manage that in either of his two impeachments. He remains today the only president who was impeached and saw senators from his own party vote to convict and remove him for it, and it happened twice. Impeachment may be a dead letter, but the historical record of impeachment and the investigation, charges, findings, and evidence around it is critically important for historical, legal, moral AND political reasons.
An acquittal is an acquittal. The immediate impact becomes apparent while the historical impact may come after I’m dead.
No, the process and charges have important immediate impact as well, do you really intend to suggest that the first impeachment process, the testimony, and Romney’s conviction vote and speech had no immediate positive impact? That it had no immediate positive impact on the 2020 election his impeachable actions were intended to undermine?
It’s either a conviction or an acquittal. The 2021 acquittal allowed those inclined to forgive Trump for 1/6 to do so with nary a twinge of concern. They voted for him again in 2024 and some who voted for Biden in 2020 voted for Trump in 2024.
I understand the frustration. But even if important and good things happen after we're dead, we should probably contribute to them anyway. I have found many occasions in life to be thankful for things people long dead have done. I hope future generations feel that way about us.
Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial vote was bipartisan. He fell one vote short of the necessary threshold to convict.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Andrew_Johnson
Trump stands in good company with Johnson though, a man who should literally be burning in hell. The devil is surely scaling back the AC to get ready for Trump's arrival.
Yeah, I have to say you’re right. Even a 90-10 vote for removal would be painted as “political.”
Which is why your best move is to ignore those BS claims of politicization and do what the facts and law and duty demand of you.
Without a doubt!
Impeachment is a dead issue unless Ds get a super majority in the Senate. A much better strategy is to go after everyone in his administration for incompetence, treason, theft, etc. What needs to be done is to ram through legislation that will strip all of his ill-gotten gains away from him - that will really hurt him. And start getting rid of his sycophants in the government. And cancel his damn arch and ballroom, take away that jet, and strip his name off everything. Then get 4 more justices in the SC for a total of 13, one for each federal district. And start enforcing the emoluments clause of the Constitution, and put real teeth into it. And get rid of every official who wrote Project 2025. Dump the 1929 law restricting Congress to 535 members. Then work on a Constitutional amendment to get rid of the EC, and get rid of gerrymandering
And start working on laws to put teeth into the Constitution. Right now, the Constitution depends on people of good will, intelligence, integrity and true patriotism to take their oaths to the Constitution seriously - which eliminates most of the current administration.
Is that all?
For now. "-)
and, take some money ( that is the only thing that matter to the asshat )
Yes.
Also - A president accepting bribes should be impeached.
A president shooting boats out of the water without justification should be impeached.
A president who cheats on his taxes should be impeached.
A president who tears down one third of the White House without Congressional approval should be impeached.
A president who engages in millions of dollars worth of insider trading should be impeached.
I'm sure I've left a few dozen things out.
And the failure to do so signals congressional complicity and implied approval… not sure why people don’t understand this
add this to the gobsmackingly long list of the king's crimes ... the question remains; so what?
he's a scofflaw with enough pull to walk away from the whole list. so far.
he's killed many many children (bombing them, starving them, poisoning them, ...) but 165 schoolgirls didn't register for more than a moment ...
the 'conservatives' whispering support from their dark corners whenever one of them shows a bit of spine ... those guys won't live up to their oaths until the right kind of children, in the right size of disaster, die messily if front of cameras. then they will flap their wattles, huffing about how the king has gone too far this time.
“I’m going to punch you in your fucking face,”
There's literally an arena right outside the door fellas. . . . .
That ring is so close to the White House. I bet Trump sits on the balcony to watch the fights, like emperors of old.
Well, he HAS reminded me of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen for quite some time.
I don't know. The Baron was able to plan and execute a complicated scheme.
have to agree with that
Very good point! 😁
He looks more like Jabba the Hut to me.
That's an insult to Jabba.
Too passive for Jabba
I'm surprised he doesn't throw in a couple of very hungry lions.
I look forward to him giving either a thumbs up or a thumbs down, depending on his whim at the moment.
Will he give a crown of laurel leaves to the victor? He thinks he's an emperor, yes?
The new test for who stays and goes?
That was never going to happen. Bessent was trying to appear tough to his boss.
Two noteworthy developments.
1. Andrew Weissmann states that the $1.8 billion slush fund is still available for the Trump family, but not the J6ers.
2. SCOTUS thru the shadow docket allowed AL to use its 2023 election district map which had previously been rejected at the fed district court level. Confirms the Gang of 6 doesn't give a rip abt racial discrimination in voitng as long as it advantages Whites.
They never have.
I'm normally not one to buy the accusations of activists (particularly of the leftward variety) that the SCOTUS is, and throughout most of our history, has been the agent of the moneyed and white "establishment". But its actions over the past 20 years have been exactly that, again and again. It may wrap its false jurisprudence in "conservative" bromides, but it is really no different than the patrimonial interests of traditionalistic middle-eastern societies. Daddy rules, everyone else suffers, for that is the natural way.
So, to sum up Bill's and Andrew's analyses of Pulte as DNI: Nothing good can happen, it can only bad happen.
Why worry? Trump is a brilliant filter for bad intelligence. He told us so repeatedly in Trump 1.0 when a few more competent ppl were in charge.
That's true, although my comment today was really just making fun of Trump's butchering of the English language.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0zBkigJffxs
Ouch. I need some acetaminophen after listening to it.
I immediately understood the reference.
And it is true. The problem is he does not know good intel from bad intel but invariably picks the wrong door.
Nice quote, Justin!
Trump’s a child molester who’s stealing a staggering amount of taxpayer money. I have no doubt the final tally on his theft will be in the billions. It’s all going to him, his family and his loyalists. Trump’s basically the American version of Saddam Hussein. His loyalists need Trump in power because they are complicit in his crimes. And, those crimes include helping Trump cover up his and his wealthy buddies’ sex crimes against children. It’s gross.
Well said.
I love it when Trump denounces the Fake News for reporting THINGS HE SAID TO THE MEDIA HIMSELF THE DAY BEFORE.
Point that out to MAGA and they say, "All politician do that, it just proves how smart Trump is."
So smart he forgets what he said yesterday, let alone last week. But, of course, he just says diametrically opposed things like the Red Queen who can believe six impossible things before breakfast.
Andrew, Bill and Jim, Thanks for the reporting, commentary and analysis. Great pieces all. You would think some Republicans in the Senate would be feeling shame for their confirmation votes that put these incompetent fools in position to wreak havoc on our country and the rule of law. It won't take that many of them to shut off the enabling and put some checks and balances in place. It's now simply a matter of guts and dignity. At this point, there are literally thousands of people in or connected to this government that are criminals and corrupt and undeniably law breakers. Thinking there will be accountability for these individuals in any sort of regular order is ludicrous and naive. Tribunals will be the only way.
My Disgust-O-Meter is pegged at "11" out of 10 today. Some days, it's like that. Some days, it's merely a 10 out of 10 regarding this regime.
You are correct. I know people would rather close their eyes and deny that true evil exists in this world, but it does. There has been a cabal of truly evil people who have been planning this for decades. Twenty years ago, a cult of CIA/Satanists predicted that they would be in charge of this country by 2030. Trump has given them the best chance of achieving their goal. Trump surrounds himself, and takes bribes from, sex offenders, drug traffickers, fraudsters, pedophiles... the list goes on and on. How much proof do we need that this Administration is not just incompetent, but evil, as well? The light in all this darkness is that Trump and his acolytes are failing. I truly believe that things are turning around and that this corrupt junta is going to self-destruct. The sooner the better.
"minor MAGA e-celebrity"
One cultural shift very much to be wished for as a result of all this, is a reaction against attention whoredom in general.
Oh, my reaction happened years ago. I'm trying to stem the tide by refusing to watch any reality shows.
Meanwhile, our morning missive begins with the sort of attention whoring we all despise. Who cares if Trump tries to titillate the sensible with visions of fighting rings replacing the Rose Garden? He only says those things to piss us off, so why reprint them? To give Trump a big, fat smile? I just don't get it.
white house lawn(s) should actually matter, he does not own them
Oh it matters. But Trump saying what's going to last forever surely doesn't need to be repeated. He doesn't have the power to make anything permanent, other than the hit to our country's reputation.
A "qualified, patriotic young professional" and J 6er named Elias Irizarry has been appointed to Dept of Defense Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office. Top security clearance job. He is seen on tape at the wild J6 tourist visit urging rioters to kill police.
And he's not even old enough to legally buy alcohol.
Why would he do something legal when he has the Pardoner in Chief just waiting to write him another one?
no , he was 19 in 2021 , so he is 24 now .
Huh. Time shouldn't work like that. Everyone knows the 1990s were just yesterday. :)
Thanks for the correction!
This type of intentional incompetence is astounding. It truly will take years to fix all the things that Trump is breaking.
Bill Pulte came up out of nowhere with novel ideas for ways to attack Trump’s enemies. Trump’s a deviant innovator himself, Pulte looks like a bulldog, and will obviously do anything he can to help the stable genius. How could he not adore him and put him where he has access to greater weaponry than mortgage forms?
I hope Trump gets them to leave the UFC arena there for the rest of his term. And keep the East Wing site as an incomplete hole in the ground. Visual representations of what he has done to this country.
Picking Pulte as director of NI is useful for Trump’s authoritarian takeover. At best, he keeps terrorizing political enemies into submission. At worst, it invites terrorist acts, which gives him the pretext to declare martial law and suspend elections. Pretty sure Bannon, John Eastman types are thinking along these lines.
How does any other country (especially peers or competition) not look at us every day and laugh? The ways in which supporters can excuse any of this as good.......baffling
I'm sure they do look at us and laugh. But more importantly, I suspect that they look at us and start hedging their bets, e.g. not sharing intel so readily, not believing everything the US tries to sell them as important secret info, etc. This is a disaster, but just one of many.
That is my biggest fear. Not our GDP dipping a little. Our sheer population and land mass size.....we can't just go from top dog to no longer involved. But what happens when the more mature nations (GB, France, Ger, Jap, Aus, etc.) look at us and go "ehhhh, maybe we don't share EVERYTHING with those guys. They are still having their rebellious teen phase for a country. Let's keep this to ourselves." I don't think enough of this population truly understand the many fringe benefits of being the de facto "world police". Yes it cost resources but we did get to have our hands in just about everything. And that will NOT be easy to earn back once it's lost
"I don't think enough of this population truly understand the many fringe benefits of being the de facto "world police"."
The inability (refusal?) of the MAGAs to understand the value of America's place as world leader, bastion of democracy (flawed, but still...), enforcer, police, etc is the lie underlying "America First." IOW, "America First" is just plain bad for America.
The lack of humility is what gets me. The inability to say "I may not be right, I may not know the answer, I am not sure" is what does them in. Just because you don't know in the moment doesn't mean you're stupid. Refusing to learn and doubling down on an unverified or false pretense? Now THAT is stupid. Most of MAGA's "America First" is actually just "Me and mine first". They don't care about America or Democracy, just themselves.
They do, but in the way you laugh at a train wreck but also cringe at the same time.
I suspect they look at us and think about building nuclear shelters.
What's the big deal with Iran? Yesterday the White House announced that everything will work out. What more are they supposed to do?!?!?! /s
It's so ridiculous it would be hilarious if it wasn't so serious. Lil Marco literally said the war was over yesterday just hours before Iran launched a large drone strike on Kuwait and Bahrain...
In a few weeks, most of the world's stored oil runs out. At that point, world economic activity has to decrease by 20% to accommodate the lack of supply. It's not just higher prices, very very soon oil just won't be available. Good thing the President is bored with the whole thing and we can invade Cuba and Greenland.
Trump thinks he has leverage with American and Venezuelan oil. Just open these two spigots more and the world will come to him for his patronage. His delusional state can't allow him to see this will not work.
If we have enough diesel to get there
Reportedly many reserves of oil for many countries are plummeting. We could see big price increases in about a month.
Those prices will have to be high enough to reduce world wide demand by 20%. This is about physical shortages, not just high prices.
That's the part so many people aren't registering. This isn't a problem we can solve just by paying more!
I heard someone say, it could get worse quite fast. Like triple price and possible shortages. we'll see
Yup, feels like we're sleep walking into a disaster (well, an even bigger disaster I suppose). But the stock market is up so... *shrug*
I saw someone on a news story yesterday seriously making that point. His stocks were up, so all of this concern over the war and oil supplies is just nonsensical TDS. My stocks are up today, so everything is great!
And tomorrow will be just like today! It always is, right?
In that yo-yo's "mind"... yes! :)
Until it isn't. Are we headed for a Black Friday event?
Like they say... gradually, then all at once.
Bored. And boring. No time. So busy. Moving on!
Who is waving around the laser pointer during POTUS "executive time"?
I used to have a boss who would claim he was "so busy". To be found in his office reading a book. At least he could read.