As many people have said, the past two years have been a catastrophic blur, and if you stop paying attention to the news for 24 hours, you miss like ten major stories involving treason, high crimes and a sh-tload of misdemeanors, and I’m only talking about Donald Trump’s Twitter feed. So what’s going on today? Some sh-t to keep your eye on:
Rudy Giuliani has been in full meltdown mode for 48 hours. I think it started on Sunday and went throughout Monday. Giuliani did multiple cable news interviews about the Trump-Russia investigation and he contradicted himself over and over and incriminated his client, Donald J. Bigly, about a million times. Nicolle Wallace and her guests made a great point on her show yesterday: nothing in Giuliani’s words and actions is on behalf of Trump’s legal team. Giuliani is out there as the con man’s con man, as PR, to lie and deflect and throw enough poop against the wall, just to see what sticks (I’m paraphrasing Wallace). The problem is that everytime Rudy opens his mouth, he ends up admitting that Trump committed like five more crimes. Now Rudy claims he doesn’t even know if collusion is a crime. Who can say, really?
The Paul Manafort trial starts today. Politico has a story about how Bob “Sexual Dynamite” Mueller needs a “win” here, like… Mueller doesn’t already have Manafort dead to rights or something? This Politico story was confusing but it’s a decent primer on what the Manafort trial will involve. And yes, it’s going to be a win for Mueller. Manafort is one of the most corrupt dumbasses to ever take part in the American political system.
The Koch Brothers are making moves. The Koch Brothers are the reason why America’s political system looks like this. They’ve been funneling (dark) money to Republicans for years to remake Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidency into a malleable pro-Koch corruption extravaganza. They were never big fans of Trump though – didn’t they put their money behind Ted Cruz in the 2016 election? They were never ride or die for Trump, but to be clear, they support like 99% of the Trump agenda. In any case, they’ve just announced that they’re going to spend $400 million in the midterms and now they’re flirting with the idea of – GASP – throwing some money at Democrats. Which might explain why Trump tweeted this:
The globalist Koch Brothers, who have become a total joke in real Republican circles, are against Strong Borders and Powerful Trade. I never sought their support because I don’t need their money or bad ideas. They love my Tax & Regulation Cuts, Judicial picks & more. I made…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2018
….them richer. Their network is highly overrated, I have beaten them at every turn. They want to protect their companies outside the U.S. from being taxed, I’m for America First & the American Worker – a puppet for no one. Two nice guys with bad ideas. Make America Great Again!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 31, 2018
I… I… have no words. I’m done. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, WENN.
I was on vacation last week and didn’t really check twitter or facebook or any news sites…..and it was so nice. Sometimes the constant insanity of our news cycles is just too much.
I’ve been visiting close friends throughout the summer and have tried to keep my phone out of reach. Staying in the moment with the people who love me the most has kept me sane. That and cats. Thank god for cats.
I just discovered Deadline: White House and Nicolle Wallace is amazing, love her!
Wallace is great.
Every weekend I give my bf my phone, stay off the computer, and don’t watch any news. Makes our weekends together relaxing and enjoyable, but by first thing on Monday mornings, I’m right back to the constant Trump insanity cycle
About once a week or so I try to have a mental health day where I rest and ignore the news, twitter, my phone, etc. It is very refreshing; I credit those days for the remaining sanity I am clinging to these days w/ Trump.
It has come to the point where I can’t read the news anymore due to this unending upheaval that Drumpf is committing. His outlook on the environment, opening up National Parks to oil companies, and his continued blatant disregard for the law angers me the most. He thinks his is a demigod and he is above any rules and regulations. We will suffer for decades once he is out of office. I am so glad that Cohen recorded conversations with Drumpf. May he fall into the pits of hell, including his children.
Bob “sexual dynamite” mueller! lollol. That’s funny.
I suspect things are going to be wild going forward, like really wild, so I’ve buckled up.
He’s old enough to be my father, but his quiet steeliness and general badassery makes him Daddy. Different than Jeff Goldblum as Zaddy. I think.
Oh, I get it. I had a sex dream about him a couple of weeks ago. Out of nowhere. I am pretty certain it was my unconscious fantasy of a savior rearing its head. But it was pretty hot. lol
That picture of him at the airport just sitting casually reading the paper made me “feel” things….. Never thought of him that way before then, but now … oh yeah.
That chiseled, strong chin does things to me every, single time. Just knowing how intelligent, brave, disciplined he is does things to me. He is a handsome man
Yup. Best part in that photo was him looking so unbothered. That and the way he carries himself. I’m here for it.
I wish the media would stop booking Rudy Giuliani. He’s the 2018 version of Kellyanne Conway.
But he admits to crimes! On air! Kellyanne didn’t do that.
He and the Markels should have their own show… “The Dumpster Fire”
There is such a disconnect between drump’s bullying and cruelly deviant strongman persona and his slobbish, slouchy, hands clasped to cover genitals seated posture.
Giuliani’s vague suggestions that Mueller is on a personal vendetta against poor Donnie is blatant mud slinging. Giuliani is just an annoying gnat that you swat away. He’s a moron, but a perfect spokesman for Don the Con. And in the first photo Don looks just like his baby blimp.
Trump is inadvertently signing the ASL sign for “vagina” in that pic, right over his own crotch–imagine, with his demeaning attitude toward women. He seems to be saying he has no d*ck.
That’s funny.
What genitals??
What I don’t get is how the Koch brothers can make such a difference. Like who sits around wondering who to vote for until they see a 30 second tv commercial? Either you believe that taxes should be progressive, that children deserve food, healthcare and education, that women can make their own medical decisions, that the elderly ought to be able to live with dignity, that we all deserve clean air and water, or you don’t. I just don’t understand how people can move between the parties, how someone who voted for Obama could then vote for trump. My mind is boggled.
The power of propaganda is real. And it’s not just 30 second ads. The Koch Bros have invested tons in PACs, think tanks, lobbying groups — all in an effort to implement their anti union, anti choice, anti regulation, anti tax, anti health care reform, climate change denying agenda. Their influence on public policy has been massive. They took advantage of voter apathy and gerrymandering and got Tea Party candidates elected at all levels. It is mind boggling.
To see how the Kochs have influenced American politics I’d read Dark Money by Jane Mayer and Democracy in Chains by Nancy Mclean. It’s depressing as hell, but the Kochs (and the Mercers and others) have been working at this for decades.
A lot of people. I used to work in politics a long time ago and I hated the negative ads. But you know what polling says? They work. So people run them. I try to look at what the candidates themselves run, but all that crap seeps in regardless.
As for the Koch’s – I do take issue with the term “dark money.” There was nothing dark about it. They fund SuperPACS openly and they run ads openly. I disagree with them on a lot, but they have been fairly consistent in what they want. They do not agree with 99% of Trump’s agenda. They’ve openly criticized his immigration plan, the Muslim ban, the border separations and now trade policy. Ick – I’m defending the Kochs and need to stop!
One other thing – the Koch’s aren’t the only ones doing this. MoveOn and others do the same thing on the other side. The issue is Citizen’s United and the fact that uber-rich donors can throw as much money into the system as they want, while hiding behind PACs. As I said – one credit I give the Kochs is that they don’t hide.
As for who they supported in 2016, they started with Scott Walker. Moved to Jeb Bush. Moved to Marco Rubio. Then stopped. I’m not sure they ever went to Cruz, but I could be wrong about that. They were #NeverTrump and gave their money to the RNSC and the NRCC instead. They did not give money to the RNC.
” the Koch’s aren’t the only ones doing this. MoveOn and others do the same thing on the other side. The issue is Citizen’s United ..”
So you’re comparing the Kock Bros.’s 60+ yrs funding of far right conservative think tanks, organizations, private universities and far, far right politicians and lobbyists to MoveOn ? ?
Sorry but the K Bros do very quietly put millions and even billions of $ into so many conservative political agendas AND into ‘miss-representing’ how much they are involved with American politics and propaganda on state level. As to whether if they’ve “definitively” channeled “dark $” into their causes Idk, but they’re so secretive that I consider it dark money even if they haven’t gone through criminal means to hide their investments — They’re not as stupid as Trump. They’re very, very shrewd.
And even IF they kept it all “legal”, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been doing most their work in the shadows ( if not pure darkness of heart). In other words, they are far, far from being up fronts about ALL their agendas with ALL peoples, not just their supporters and cohorts.
Jason Kander, former Missouri Secretary of State election, accuses Koch Bros. involvement in his 2012 loss for state senate. He was able to uncover that his opponent, Repub incumbent Roy Blunt, received an infusion of $500k right in the last week or two before the election. But it was NOT known until after the election when NYT reported on the race’s campaign funding showing that it likely came from Koch channeling $$ through someone in Washington.
And although most American partisan politics is corrupt, it makes an exponential difference when it’s a mega organization network with so, so much control in congress because they own the majority of the Republican party politicians.
To add to the weirdness, a Koch think-tank came up with the research that shows a single-payer healthcare (Medicare for all) system would cost 4% LESS than current health care expenditures and cover 20% (I think) more people. The ripple effect of a health-secure workforce would also add to the benefits.
When God closes a door, He opens a window.
I think the Kochs have a strange relationship with Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio: they sporadically support them, unlike Paul Ryan & Pence who are like adopted sons. But Ted was also funded by the Mercers.
Honestly I think Giuliani is trying to stick it Trump for not giving him the Attorney General job, and this is his way of sabotaging him, or he is going senile.
Poor Rudy dealing with a bitter divorce and the trump mess, something had to give, his mind appears to be it.
I think he’s going senile. He’s lost in a maze.
I think he’s there to play to the supporters. They eat stuff like that up. Plus, he doesn’t just do Fox so they spread that influence. I don’t think he has one whit to do with a legal defence – it’s about getting certain messages out. This week it’s ‘collusion isn’t illegal’.
Buckle up! It’s going to get really bumpy!
I genuinely feel we have hit long term turbulence. July has not been a good month for the Gangus Con.
Gangus Con I love it!! I may steal that.
Hopefully each day will bring at least one voter’s realization that this is a ring of con men.
Candidates who are trying to link themselves to Tweetolini may end up needing Rudy to backpedal for them, too.
“Well, you may have seen Candidate R’s many commercials saying they were all for Donald, but what they meant to say is ‘weren’t’. Or maybe those commercials didn’t really happen. I mean, are commercials real? Do you believe it really tastes like butter?“
Ha ha!! Too funny…yet, in this day and age, I could see it!
I’m watching TN candidates claim they are for border walls, they like Tweetolini, etc. They did these commercials before the migrant child separations and before the latest unhinged month of “Vladstanding”.
My guess is they’ll need Rudy to confuse everyone. Are they really for Donny? Or maybe not?
I just re-watched “Kate and Leopold” a few days ago, and when reading your comment, all I could see was Hugh Jackman doing the fake butter commercial, so I read it in “Leopold’s” voice… lol
Sigh… I am SO SICK of these Kangaroo Kourt of Komplicit Krooks!
MUELLER MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!!! (And yes, he has definitely got the “sexy” down! lol. That “quiet strength”… mmm mmm mmm)
‘Lawyer’ rudy..”my client doesn’t even know these people…he met them once…he knows them but they’re liars…he didn’t do anything, but if he did, it wasn’t a crime…the crime wasn’t a crime, so there’s no story…he’s done so many worse things, so why focus on this..the press is persecuting him just because he’s guilty…etc etc…
Isn’t there a loophole to disbar this moron on insanity grounds? How even the stupidest trump groupie cannot smell the pile of bullshit surrounding him just eludes me.
Did he just admit his policies only make rich people richer on Twitter?
Hes taking credit for wealth gained. He takes credit for anything profitable. What’s funny is he did just admit he made the rich richer. Not claiming that was at the cost of the poor becoming poorer.
This is good though. Koch are seedy and well connected. Money, sure. Business and social friendships wealthy as well.
Rudy is losing his gd mind
Yes, it’s a spoiler for sure. The midterms are before taxpayers file their 2018 taxes and realize the true impact. Just because more money is in a paycheck does not mean people won’t owe because of significant changes to deductions.
January-February 2019 won’t be pleasant for average wage earners.
I keep telling my family and friends to start paying attention to the IRS tax guidance that’s slowly starting to trickle out. When I did some research, I actually screamed. I live in a blue state with high property and state and local taxes. In the past, those were fully deductible on my federal income taxes. This year the deduction is capped at $10,000. And that’s not the only change that’s going to have folks screaming come Jan/Feb 2019. Trump’s tax law is going to hit a lot of people hard and they just don’t know it.
Someone on here mentioned the IRS 2018 tax calculator is now available. I used it and then bumped my withholding for the 3rd time this year.
Not only are state/local taxes being capped, but the individual deductions are gone. The new standard deductions were bragged about, without mentioning things that were capped or taken away.
Tax reform was just a euphemism for what they actually did – purposely screw over the people living in blue states. The Republican base will be mostly unaffected, they live in places that have lower property values and lower state income taxes.
@Dara, IKR. Except for Orange County. It’s Trump central in CA. I so hope all his very wealthy OC supporters get kicked really hard like the rest of CA will be. Unfortunately it won’t happen until after Nov. election which sucks because OC has never been closer to turning purple than now, but the repubs are pulling out all the gun$ likely cause they know come tax season people will be very angry but not able to do much until next election.
I was like… he admits it!? He actually admits in a tweet he’s funneling more money to the rich!
Trump’s worst fear is looking like a “total joke” so as usual he is projecting that onto others.
In my opinion he will be first among Presidents in one thing only; he will be by far our worst President. His name will be a punchline and the “total joke” of his presidency will be studied and written about for decades. Unfortunately we still have to live through it.
He says, “their network is highly overrated.” Ha. He means “their mob organization is going to lose because it only loosely allied with my buddy Putin.” They’re all organized crime bosses, trying to divvy up power by making nation states into puppets. Corrupting elections is at the heart of their strategy, which is why they all supported the Citizens United decision that let foreign money pour into our political process. Now it looks like their diabolical plan is going to be exposed in court. The Koch’s are quickly throwing money at the Democrats to avoid being caught up in the flaming disaster of Trump’s demise. Traitors all.
Hey Emperor Zero,
Since no one can get over Hillary’s emails, maybe you should make the Wall out of them.
Btw, have a great week tweet-storming over the trifecta of Manafort’s trial and Jared and Junior indictments.
If Jr. and the Kush get indicted…I might literally laugh until I pass out! If indictments come down, we know that all the due diligence is done and that they are DONE. Dead to rights.
I hope they let us watch the perp walk, too! This better not be a middle of the night drag-off either — right there at 9 a.m. with the media already given the heads up so that they are in place for the whole ride.
“We can see Donald Trump Jr slumped in the back seat of the SUV with his head down as it moves towards the courthouse…”
“An agent was seen handing tissues to Jared Kushner as he was lead out of the SUV and into the courthouse. . .”
Hopefully, the protester’s will be there with signs saying, “Lock Them Up!” “Lock Them UP!”
EZ knows that the Koch’s lack of support will hurt the repubs mid-term elections. Those smarmy old dudes have their greasy tentacles everywhere, and they are pulling just as many strings as EZ’s real boss. . .
I look forward to seeing how this week develops. Thanks for keeping the hope alive, Eric!
Double double toil and trouble
Fire burn and caldron bubble …
whadda . world . whadda . world
Wasn’t Rebekkah Mercer the hand that fed Trump???
Yes. R. Mercer was the hand that fed Trump through Bannon.
After seeing a video of Rudy in drag( brace yourself) and 45 putting his face on his chest.
Nothing surprises me anymore
The only way to stop greedy black holes like the Kochs and their never satisfied breed of leeches is to tax their a$$es! Money is all they care about aside from their spoiled use if Power to have everything done their way. They are destroying this country with their selfishness.
Well it looks like the GOPers are cannibalizing themselves. It couldn’t happen to better people.
Can’t wait to see what the Manafort trial will bring out. In Mueller we trust.
Did anyone see the news that Jeff Flake took off on an African vacation (for a whole month) even though Turtle head said there will be no summer recess because they need to confirm as many incompetent judges as possible? Since Flake sits on the Judiciary committee, that means they can’t hold meetings to push through the confirmations for a vote. EVERYTHING IS STALLED.
For once in his life Jeff Flake did the right thing. I’ll take passive aggressive resistance over nothing.
I hadn’t heard that and I love it! May his absence give McConnell ulcers.
I didn’t hear this either. At this point, Flake has no f**ks to give lol. I LOVE this!! I hope it give Turtle Neck a stroke!
It’s on Twitter. He’s been posting pics of his trip and he had one showing the govt counting hand ballots. He made a comment about the greatness of paper ballots. That was a very telling tweet.
Ghouliani slurs through everything he says and has a really bizarre speech pattern. Gods, how I dislike him. Did he always slur like this?
When your mouth is formed into a permanent snarl it affects your speech.
Giuliani knows very well that collusion is a general non-legal word used in common language, not in the law.
What you will see in the indictments is conspiracy, specifically conspiracy to commit certain crimes. Only two people are needed for a conspiracy, and it doesn’t have to be successful to be illegal.
Giuliani is just blathering as a panicked distraction. My bet is that he is at risk of indictment also. He was close to Trump for many years and very active in the campaign. I wonder if he was on phone calls with monitored Russians and so was unmasked. I think the same about Nunes. Would have thought Giuliani would be more careful, but maybe not.
HEY RUDY!!! Here ya go!
Collusion: col·lu·sion. /kəˈlo͞oZHən/. noun
secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others.
“the armed forces were working in collusion with drug traffickers”
synonyms:
conspiracy, connivance, complicity, intrigue, plotting, secret understanding, collaboration, scheming
“there had been collusion between the security forces and paramilitary groups”
LAW
illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially between ostensible opponents in a lawsuit.
Trump is so dumb. He has no incentive to even want to be better because everyone is so complicit. Every time he opens his mouth, the first thing that comes to mind is if he even knows what he is talking about. I just want one reporter to ask him to define the words that are coming out his mouth. Like when he said that he would meet with Iran without an preconditions, it was clear that he had no clue what he was saying.
The Dotard isn’t at war with the KB. It’s Stephen Miller, every time the press takes their eyes off of him, he does something evil, cruel, and chaotic. I get the feeling that Putin and Stephen Miller are trolling the Dotard. They give him an order and sit and wait as she carries out the order and then laugh at how easily he can be manipulated.
The press is doing a very poor job when it comes to Rudi. There were so many things they could have asked him. Like, how can he call Cohen a liar when he cheated on all 3 of his wives? The best way to get Rudi off our TVs is to start talking about his affairs and divorces because when the press broke that story about his mistress and divorce, we didn’t see him for a week or two.
The press also gets a lot of things wrong. They give the Dotard’s base way too much credit. A reporter said that Rudi’s attacks on Mueller are working because Mueller’s approval rating is going down. No one takes anything that Rudi says seriously, remember what happened to Rudi at the baseball game? I would like to know how these polls on Mueller’s approval rating are being conducted because it could mean that the poll was skewed because it was hacked by bots and trolls. What should really make the press not trust the polls is that it doesn’t make sense that Mueller’s approval rating would be falling because he is getting results(indictments and guilty pleas).
The Koch Bros. want open borders because they like cheap illegal labor that they can exploit and side effect it depresses the wages for legal labor which they also support. They are no friends of Trump or any other politicians doing anything about illegal immigrantion and the Koch Bros. don’t care about how MS-13 affects poor neighborhoods since the Koch Bros. have high walls, gates and armed guards. Their own mini border wall and border enforcement. They have theirs and screw everyone else is the Koch Bros. attitude. They are a toxic influence on our body politic.
I loved the surprised look on the face of an interviewer who heard Bernie Sanders say that we needed to solve the illegal immigration issue which would include further drops in illegal migration for work in the USA. I already knew that Trump and Bernie supporters both wanted a drop in illegal immigration even though they differ on the tone and execution of their solutions. None-the-less the support was news to Bernie’s interviewer. The interviewer was young. There was plenty of support for solving illegal immigration in the Democratic party that involved increases in border security and a drop in illegal labor which US unions have wanted because it depresses wages for their members and provides cheap competition for their members. Unions are big supporters of Democrats since the Republicans are not friends to union labor. When Trump took up the issue of illegal immigration in his toxic way of handling the issue the Democrats ran from their support of reducing illegal immigration and improving border security. That’s too bad. The issue needs to be addressed in a meaningful way that truly seeks a solution instead of pretending to provide a solution to pacify voters and keep donors like the Koch Bros. happy.
You hit it right on the Nail ! ! !
This is the only time I appreciate Trump’s belligerent candor when he actually does say something truthful that nobody else, neither republicans or democrats talk about truthfully or at all. I’m not giving Dump any credit for sincerity. Just that he, at several times during and since his election, has accidentally said some truths about core issues of our time that are never spoken of truthfully in political discourse.
The Koch Bros. example is a perfect example. They’re not against Trump because they care so much about what he’s simply incarcerating any and all immigrants and taking their children away from their parents, or MS13, or blah, blah. They are bound to be seriously hurt in the wallet without ample access to cheap labor. It’s bottom line stuff.