At a rally in Billings, Montana, Trump–as always–attempted to shift blame for his problems away from himself and to someone else. In an unusual move, his target was his own supporters. He claimed that if they did not get out and vote for Republicans in November, he would be impeached.
“I’ll be the only President in history they’ll say: ‘What a job he’s done! By the way, we’re impeaching him,'”
Well, not exactly. What will be said is, “What a job he’s done. That’s why we’re impeaching him.”
1). It must be true. I read it in “The New York Times.” . The Trump administration went absolutely bat fûçk crazy when the Times took the unusual step of publishing an anonymous op-ed piece. It was written by someone identified as a high ranking member of the administration, who claimed that the Trump presidency faces challenges it didn’t even know it had. “The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. I would know. I am one of them.”
Asserting that Trump is amoral (which, let’s face it, we knew), he (or she) and others are working together to thwart “Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.” He/she claimed that the 25th amendment was not invoked because it would cause a constitutional crisis, which of course is false. If it’s in the Constitution and you’re following it, that’s not a crisis. That’s doing exactly what you should be doing, especially if you believe–as this individual clearly does–that the President is not suited for office. Using that as an excuse is just gutless.
So who wrote this essay? Smart money is on Mike Pence, because the writer said this: “We may no longer have Senator McCain. But we will always have his example — a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national dialogue.”
Lodestar? Ever hear that word before? I had not. Think about normal conversations you’ve had, things you’ve read. Commonly used? Nope. But it’s one of Pence’s favorite words; he’s used it in any number of speeches.
Trump is already shouting at Sessions that he should investigate it. On what grounds? National security, he claims, although of course he can’t come up with any specific national security needs that would be threatened by the writer’s anonymity.
I’ll tell you what’s going to happen: He’ll sue the New York Times. Why? So that when the top editors refuse to answer the question of who the source is (as they inevitably will) then they’ll be thrown in jail. Which Trump would love. He’d be so hot to get reporters locked up that he would have a visible stiffy just talking about it.
2). Read all about it. Excerpts and reviews are showing up about Bob Woodward’s new book, “Fear,” an overview of the Trump White House.
The diss on Woodward has always been that he adheres rigorously, if not insanely, to the concept of journalistic neutrality. Like Sergeant Joe Friday, he cares about the facts and just the facts, offering none of his own assessment. But you know what? In this day and age, where news is disseminated by biased hacks who scream their opinions at the top of their lungs, oftentimes devoid of sources–indeed, when “alternative facts” has become an actual thing–a return to Journalism 101 is a welcome relief. Say what you will about Woodward, but his devotion to, and support of, the facts he presents is untarnished (okay, he got fooled about the whole weapons of mass destruction thing, but other than that…). He’s got recordings of everything on tape, and this is someone who knows from first hand experience how recordings can screw you over if they get out, so you know his printed descriptions are going to match up. When a man who brought down a president and received two Pulitzer Prizes says stuff, you believe him.
The portrait he paints of the Trump administration is by all accounts chilling. Some of it even matches up with the New York Times op-ed piece in which certain of his personnel step in to prevent Trump from making things even worse than they are. Letters stolen off his desk, orders not carried about because they would cause catastrophe, and Trump’s micro memory serving well because he doesn’t notice or remember when things aren’t done.
Trump and his people, of course, dismiss the book out of hand as fabrications. I’m sorry, guys, no. It’s Bob freaking Woodward. He doesn’t lie. He doesn’t have to. The facts are horrific enough. You want to trash the author of “Fire and Flame” whose main source seems to have been Steve Bannon? Knock yourself out. But Woodward is the gold standard of reporting. He is to print journalism what Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow were to television. “We were informed by men; men who were revered” said Jeff Daniels’ character in the immortal first ten minutes of “The Newsroom.” Woodward is revered. “Fear” is all true. I’m going to be picking up a copy of it this Tuesday and review it in next week’s “Freakout Friday.”
3). Hey, did you hear Talos the Untamed is in the new “Captain Marvel” movie!. Sorry, I just…I wanted to say it again.
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I love watching the reactions in Trumplandia to the New York Times op-ed piece.
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It’s lies and fake news written by the failing New York Times with made up anonymous sources, but the New York Times better reveal which member of the administration wrote it or else!
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And I thought the “gosh, she’s just so brilliant” Palin supporters were about as dumb as the right was going to get.
Yeah, I was noticing that too. “This was definitely a fake. But if it wasn’t then we should be told who wrote it.”
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Makes sense.
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But let’s go easy on the Palin supporters, because McCain just passed, so we should give them a month of respect out of deference to the man who put her on the national stage…a move even he later regretted.
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I can’t picture any circumstances under which respect should be given to Palin supporters.
I find it very telling that Trump himself and members of his administration are, for once, NOT calling the Times op-ed a fake. They may call the writer a gutless coward, or claim that they are not really a conservative or a Republican, but some evil Deep State type. And members of the administration rush to deny that they wrote it, but none of them call it a fraud, which is normally DJT’s first line of defense. That speaks volumes.
On another topic, lots of people seem to be talking about the 25th Amendment nowadays. Yes, it’s designed to be used if the President becomes incapable of exercising their duties. BUT it only comes into play (1) if the President requests it (never happen in Trump’s case) or (2) the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet requests it (very unlikely.) In the latter case, if the President says, “No, I’m just fine,”, then the issue is decided by the House and Senate, with a 2/3 majority in each required to make the VP Acting President. Think that would ever happen in the current situation?? So don’t hold your breath waiting for a 25th Amendment rescue. Even impeachment is more likely, and that’s a very long shot.
Actually, the 25th is so horribly written that invoking it is likely to cause Constitutional Crises. Once you get past the starting part about being able to fill the VP position if it’s vacant, it suffered from lots of rewriting without stepping back and taking a fresh look. As an example, all the bits with respect to the President require there be a sitting VP, with no alternative methods if the VP slot is vacant. And all the Cabinet members serve at the pleasure of the President; if he fires them all during the meeting before they vote, does it stick? How about after they vote, and he appoints new ones (bonus points on whether they’re confirmed by Congress or not). Etc. Basically, unless the President is comatose or similar when its invoked, the Supreme Court’s going to making rulings pretty quickly.
There’s a great book Constitutional Cliffhangers (whose price has gone up a fair amount since I got a used copy a year or two back) that covers the problems with the 25th and other aspects of the Constitution. Disclaimer; the author, currently a Professor of Law at Michigan State, was on a Quiz Bowl team with me decades ago, but we’ve not been in contact since. Sharp guy back then though.
Although doing the op-ed piece is most likely protected under the First Amendment (I’m not a lawyer), aren’t the actions the writer claims he and the others are taking actually illegal and something the Justice Department might decide to look into?
I think you might be right about the actions described being illegal. So there would be a valid reason to investigate. First thing they’d need to do is find something Trump wanted done that was not done. Then they need to see if it was left undone deliberately and by illegal means. The result will be a White House in chaos as everyone is forced to stop doing whatever they’re up to to answer questions and account for their movements on any given date.
The White House could be immobilized for a year or more. Longer if someone (or several performing “I am Spartacus!”) says ‘Yeah I wrote that; wanted to screw with the New York Times. Can’t believe anyone was gullible enough to think it was true.’
Or Trump could just fire everyone and how long would that immobilize his administration?
The avalanche has already started.
It’ is too late for the pebbles to vote.
Kosh.
Peter David: Trump and his people, of course, dismiss the book out of hand as fabrications. I’m sorry, guys, no. It’s Bob freaking Woodward. He doesn’t lie. He doesn’t have to. The facts are horrific enough. You want to trash the author of “Fire and Flame” whose main source seems to have been Steve Bannon? Knock yourself out.
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Luigi Novi: Ya gotta love the irony that in a point being made about an author getting things wrong, you got the title of Fury and Fury wrong.
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Sorry, Peter, I couldn’t resist. 🙂
RE: Lodestar – Something I posted on a friend’s board, discussing this same topic:
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“Who wants to lay $20 saying that it’s ABSOLUTELY not Pence, but the author of the op-ed threw “lodestar” in there to make people and the media start babbling that it’s Pence, SPECIFICALLY to make TRUMP HIMSELF think it’s Pence?
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I mean, that’s THE most obvious scenario, to me. The op-ed got Trump’s attention IMMEDIATELY, exactly as everyone knew it would. “Lodestar” gets media fingers pointing at Pence, again, exactly as you would expect. Most people with two brain cells will dismiss the idea, but Trump does NOT have two brain cells. He DOES, however, obsessively consume negative press about himself, and he latches onto whatever bûllšhìŧ idea he hears. Couple of pundits on MSNBC start hammering the Pence theory, and BOOM! Trump now has “absolute proof” that Pence is his enemy.
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Someone is legit trying to get Trump to turn on Pence.”
I’m not sure anybody currently in the White House has the brains to pull that off.
We know he doesn’t have two brain cells (neurons), because if did have one more, he’d have a synapse.
Y’know, it hit me: One of the people most hoping for the blue wave in November is Trump. If it happens, for the rest of his term, Trump will be able to point and say that the reason he can’t get anything done is the Democrats.
Hëll, Kim, Trump won’t even have to point to the Democrats or work overly hard to blame them for anything. His followers will gladly do it themselves.
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These are the same people who claimed job growth numbers in 2014, 2015, and 2016 were signs of the horrible job Obama was doing but fall all over themselves to proclaim that less jobs created in 2017 than in any of the previous three years is a sign that Donald Trump has managed to turn around the “disastrous” Obama economy. These are the same people who think Obama tanked our standing in the world but think that Trump is making the world respect the US again. This are the same fact free individuals who think that Trump scoring a 4.1 GDP quarter is an economic miracle unseen in modern times despite Obama having higher quarters (including a 5.1) multiple times.
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These are the same people who blamed Democrats for the economic crash in that started in the last months of 2007 despite the fact that they neither passed nor got W to sign almost anything of any economic significance after taking power in January of 2007.
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The Democrats will very likely take one house of the Congress this November, and there’s a longshot chance of both. The Trump tariffs will start becoming a drag on things in 2019. They’re already causing issues that are the first dominoes to fall towards making trouble for us in 2019. When this happens in 2019, even if the Democrats didn’t hold a majority anywhere in Washington, it would be all their faulty according to the Trump cultists.
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Hëll, back in February we saw Hannity and his parrots blame Obama for the minor early 2018 market crash.
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This is the cult of alternative facts. Trump won’t have to do a thing.