I go in and out of watching the news on a regular basis. It depends on what I can stomach on any given day, and it depends on what the big story is that week. With the Brett Kavanaugh stories everywhere this week, I’ve been phasing back into watching the news. Yesterday was a difficult day, and today is going to be even worse. On the eve of Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Ford Blassey’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Donald Trump decided to give his first no-holds-barred press conference in what feels like months. He’s been in New York this week for the UN General Assembly, and he probably thought most of the questions would be international. They were not. Most of the questions were about… Kavanaugh, Kavanaugh’s accusers, Trump’s accusers, and more. Here’s the full video.
I watched it live for about 80 minutes. My evening was in shambles after that and I could barely concentrate on anything other than my rage and disgust. Here are some random thoughts, in no particular order:
The slander of George Washington. Who knew that George Washington would get thrown under the proverbial bus just so Trump could make some kind of moronic argument about Democrats? Trump flat-out slandered George Washington.
Mr. Kurd. He referred to a Kurdish reporter as Mr. Kurd.
He’s delusional. He’s so delusional that he actually got angry REPEATEDLY about why his delusions weren’t reported as news. He invented this crazy lie about how only four women had accused him of sexual assault and how they were all paid for their stories and why didn’t the New York Times run that story? BECAUSE IT WAS YOUR DELUSION.
On Kavanaugh. He said a lot of sh-t, but the basic gist is that he thinks Kavanaugh is a “tremendous genius” and a saint and we’re all being terrible to his wife and children because we believe the women who have come forward to talk about how Kavanaugh is a sexual predator. That being said, he did leave some space for himself to withdraw Kavanaugh’s nomination. He’s going to make up his mind about it after today’s testimony.
He repeatedly slanders Barack Obama. The lies this man tells about Obama are absolutely insane. The biggest lie of all is that Obama made America less respected.
The UN wasn’t laughing at him. They were laughing WITH him, he claims.
He lied about Justin Trudeau. He claimed he canceled a meeting with Trudeau over tariffs. Trudeau’s office says there was no such meeting scheduled. I believe Trudeau.
“Women are so angry.” He was doing this riff about how women love him and women support Kavanaugh and he started talking about how women are so angry these days, and then he made it sound like we’re angry because we support Kavanaugh. Bitch, no.
Every time Trump speaks off-the-cuff in these kinds of press conferences, I’m always left feeling sick to my stomach. We need the 25th Amendment to be invoked NOW. One last thing, to all of the reporters in that room: I understand that you’re shellshocked and uncomfortable and some of you are doing the lord’s work. But stop f–king laughing when he denigrates your job and continues to dismantle the public’s trust in the fourth estate.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
No one is going to invoke the 25th Amendment yet. They’re not done using him to push stuff through.
Today will be bad. Tomorrow will be worse when Kavanaugh is confirmed anyway.
I hate to say I agree with all that you wrote. Sad for America.
Yup, everything you just said. GOP loves it
Yep. Exactly. We’re totally f*cked.
The 25th Amendment, section 4, has a snowball’s chance in hell. It would require Pence and Trump’s cabinet to declare the president unfit. Then 2/3 of both houses would have to agree. The president could counter this in several ways. Even if Trump was successfully removed this way, we would be stuck with President Pence. Don’t pin your hopes on the 25th.
Clarence Thomas all over again.
At this point, it is time for Civil War. If Kavanaugh is confirmed, I’m buying guns and burning cars.
He’s mad cuz no one was kissing the Toadstool. The pressure of Mueller’s investigation is really unravelling what he had left as a mind. And yes I still think he will chuck Jr to the wolves in order to save his own fat orange peel ass – the only child he would consider protecting is daughter wife.
He might consider(doubtful), but when the rubber hits the road, he’ll choose himself everytime.
When I get home from work, the first thing I do is put the news on. I watch until the weather forecast (because that’s all I really care about) then shut it off and put on a podcast. Yesterday when I came home and turned on the news, it was live coverage of his presser. I could not believe how insane he sounded and yes, I DO believe he is on either cocaine or prescription drugs–some sort of uppers. I mean, contrast last night’s presser with his slooooow, slurred UNGA speech. Yesterday he was all fast breathing, sniffing, sweaty, veins pulsing, rambling like a maniac. He was on something and that’s probably why he doesn’t drink alcohol–dangerous to mix with drugs.
Man, even after all this time, I still have moments where I cannot believe this lunatic is our President smdh..
Anyway, I could only listen for about 20 minutes before I had tor turn it off. Admittedly, since the presidential debates, I have only watched brief excerpts of Trump talking to the press. Does he always sound this f*cking insane?!?!?
He was repeatedly sniffing during the first third of that presser. I thought of comments from yesterday regarding his extremes, and wondered if Doc Ronny was hiding behind the curtains with some magic pills. He was manic.
“He’s mad cuz no one was kissing the Toadstool.”
I’m dying! HA!
This week has just been bad. A friend of mine said that we should be able to call out of work because “its 2018.” Ha.
I’m scared for the hearing today. I know yesterday I was semi-optimistic but I’ve reverted back to pessimism. I heard that they’re bringing Juanita Broaddrick in. And that the Rs have found two people who are willing to insist that they raped Ford, not Kavanaugh.
Really? Is that where we are right now as a country??? Its despicable.
Read the story about the two men who say they were the ones involved in the incident with Ford. But the only place I saw that story was on the Daily Fail and I take anything they report with a grain of salt.
I read it somewhere else, but what I read said it was two different independent guys that were each insisting that they were the person. You have to shake your head that this country has come to the point that people are begging to be named an attempted rapist.
Ain’t that the truth (about calling out from work because it’s 2018).
As bad as it’s been, I feel like 2019 will be a shit show, but things will start to get better in 2020. Just a gut feeling.
I am lucky in that my default work schedule allows for 2 days a week teleworking. This past week has been so miserable I was able to sneak in an extra day and pretending I need the peace and quiet to write my reports. Really I am just so depressed the thought of pretending to be happy around others is too draining. 🙁
Someone must have promised those two an enormous back-end payday for saying that.
His whole shpiel about farmers, in response to a question about his accusations against Chinese meddling in the upcoming elections was mind boggling – and disturbing.
p I’ve resigned myself to the idea that we’ll just have two more years of this, and hopefully the Democrats can come up with a candidate that’s really good to repair all the damage done.
I couldn’t watch it. I heard Nicole Wallace say he was coming on at 5 and I said, “good time to go to dinner”, which really meant, good time to go for drinks. There’s an adequate restaurant around the corner so I walked there and had dinner and several martinis. I’m drinking more this year than I ever have, but I’m not a drunk, yet. I don’t know how long I will be able to say that if this doesn’t end.
For today, I think of Dr. Christine Ford Blassey, and with everything I have wish I could walk into that courtroom behind her. I hope she knows that millions of us will be doing so, only in our minds, but we’re here, and we are with her. And if they shove this monster down our throats, if they force him on us, there will be retribution. He will not know peace. We will not stop until he is removed.
Yes to your last sentences. That’s about the only thing that gives me hope right now…that even if he is confirmed he will not be in that position for a lifetime. Even before Professor Ford and the other women came forward, he was a highly problematic nominee and it’s frustrating that his other lies have gotten overshadowed by this circus.
As for Trump, he’s just. so. ignorant. About basically everything.
Can I get an amen? Preach Darla!!
Re: drinking more than usual. Me too, Darla. It’s really hard to come home after enduring another day of this nightmare and not reach for a beer. I also bought some CBD gummies at the recent pot rally here in Boston so I’ve been relying on those to chill me out enough to sleep at night. I’ve still been sleeping like sh*t though.
It’s not *just* that these villains are gleefully destroying our country, it’s the fact that so many of our fellow Americans support it. I just can’t get over how terrible some people are.
Always thankful to come here and interact with my fellow C/Bers. Helps to be reminded that empathetic and thoughtful people DO still exist.
@kitten I watched real time with my mouth agape the entire presser…
My bestie was relaxing on our screened in porch and watching me thru the door, he came running in and said “ Are you ok?!” “ I replied “ No, no I’m not, none of us are!”
Esquire mags headline was “ Its Difficult to Overstate how Unhinged and Scary Trumps Presser was!”
That about sums it up…
I have definitely been drinking more since November 2016.
@Darla and Kitten: Same. I keep telling myself “well red wine” is at least one of those that can have health benefits (mostly joking of course). But I have been drinking way too much lately so yesterday I told myself not a single drink. And of course that press conference happened and then my SIL came over and teased “guess what your favorite POTUS did?” (she hates him too). And I broke down and had one beer at dinner. But held back just for my liver’s sake the rest of the night, I am sure it hates me these days. I have also dabbled with THC products bc its legalized medicinally in MD, but I don’t like doing it around others so its more of a late at night thing to help me sleep.
Grrrrrrr! He beyond enrages me. While watching this yesterday, my blood was boiling and I wanted to scream my head off. He kept asking why Dr Fords parents didn’t report Kavanaugh if it was true. Doesn’t the asshole realize that victims don’t always tell their parents or cops, and that’s why even though Kavanaugh was vetted 6x his sexual assault history wasn’t uncovered by the FBI? He seemed to do more talking about himself instead of answering the questions. China’s meddling and screwing up our farmers, he just can’t tell us how the meddling is happening. WTF about Russia, dumbass Donnie?! We know what the Russians did, but he refuses to admit it
I read yesterday (I know it may not be true..) that the so-called “loving” parents that Ford didn’t tell are currently members of the same golf club as Kavanaugh and have not spoken out in support of her because they don’t want to have their membership revoked. Can’t imagine they would have been much support to her 35 years ago.
Wow, just wow. Priorities.
Just the worst f*cking people smdh…
I wondered why when they asked Dr. Ford today if she had talked to her parents when she went home in early August 2018 about this, and she said a VERY strong no, something like “No, absolutely not”.
He knows what the Russians did, was part of it, and was fully on-board with what they did. There is no question there. So many politicians have their hands in deep in oligarch pockets and they do not care.
I cant deal with this whole presidency. I just dont understand how we got here, how we are ending 2018 and we are still here. Dont get me wrong I got the basics, but it’s just mind boggling. Today will either be a big day for women’s rights or we may see an even bigger movement surge forward then ever before. Everyone has an opinion on who is right or who is wrong and no one is wrong for their opinions even if I cant agree with them, but I hope justice is on the side of the honest and not the non truth telling virgin.
Thank you for covering this mess. I can’t listen to his voice or look at his face for very long. I totally relate to what you said about your evening being affected in a negative way after listening. Trump and his enablers make me so depressed! I can’t wait until we look back on this period and say wow, look how far we’ve come since then. (Pleeeeeease!)
Besides laughing, Kaiser, not a single reporter went after Emperor Zero on Manafort’s plea deal and what that could mean for Kushner, Jr and EZ. Ditto for Michael Cohen revealing to the world that EZ is an UNINDICTED CO-CONSPIRATOR on 2 FELONY counts.
I mean c’mon MSM.
Hopefully Mueller will have a “Friday surprise” for 45. He is becoming more and more unraveled, maybe that means something is ready to drop and he got wind of it. The man is feeling trapped and lashing out
Did anyone see the COMMERCIAL supporting Kavanaugh? It was your typical over-the-top campaign ad, like you see during election time. Only this was for a potential supreme Court judge. I’ve never seen anything like it.
If it’s the same commercial I saw, none of the women in the ad were sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh, so he’s NOT guilty in their opinion.
Rapists, molesters, and murderers don’t assault or kill everyone in their lives, so this is a pointless commercial. Just because he didn’t assault the ladies in the ad, doesn’t mean he didn’t assault anyone else. When it’s proven someone’s guilty, there’s usually friends or family who are shocked, because they always thought the person was good, and would never commit violent crimes
Yeah, it also had pics of him serving food to a WOC at a church function, posing cheesily with his family, etc. Then it accused the Dems of a smear campaign and OMG THERE WERE SIX INVESTIGATIONS SO EVERYONE IS LYING AND KAVANAUGH IS A SAINT.
He invoked Washington because President Dumba$$ can’t name more than five presidents-Washington, Lincoln and Obama, Obama, Obama.
Thank you Jeru!
Made me laugh even I’m still pissed at our complicit MSM.
Don’t forget President Hillary.
He probably meant that Jefferson guy, who had a dry cleaning business and maybe had a kid or two by the hired help. Or something like that.
Hahahaha
Don’t forget Andrew Jackson who he foams at the mouth for
Yeah, Trump was sundowning hard yesterday on camera. He even semi-promised Kurds a homeland which may cause Turkey to flip out.
On the plus side, (bear with me) Kavanaugh really, really wants to be a supreme court justice and Trump really, really wants him to be a supreme court justice. Republicans do not as they would like to keep their jobs this November but there is no way out – throw Kavanaugh under the bus, Trump flips and sics his rabid base on them. Throw themselves under the bus (confirm Kavanaugh) and they get torn apart this November.
But do the republicans really fear losing their jobs in Nov over this? Even without Kavanaugh who was voting for them? Their base. No one else. But their base has made it clear that if they vote no on BK then they will stay home this Nov and not vote. I think the republicans are more scared of that. Those of us who are raging about the BK nomination were never going to be voting for them anyway, so I’m not sure they are too worried.
He is incoherent. If my dad spoke like this, we’d be taking him to see a doctor and looking into home care for him. Not letting him run a country.
The guardian has an extract from Michael Lewis’ new book ‘The Fifth Risk’ about the transition team and it’s horrifying. This was always going to be a disaster and it’s going to end in a shitfire of epic proportions.
This absolutely. He’s incoherent and it was plainly obvious. SAD
But still
LOCK HIM UP
Also, what was that crap about if the news networks don’t endorse him they could go out of business? Anyone else remember that part? How is that not a threat?
The whole ‘news’ part of that conference was fake news. He’s delusional, I agree. And so dangerous.
I can hardly wait until he’s gone and Merkel,Macron, Trudeau, and every world leader, even Putin and Kim, can openly mock him and say what they really think. Too bad that they have to be somewhat diplomatic now.
Your post reminds me of my dad’s advice shortly before he passed — Some things/situations are very hard, and seem like they will last forever. But they do eventually end, and you have to do what you can live with.
So, we have to keep going, speak up and VOTE until this chapter closes. Wearing down or completely tuning out is what they are depending on. The rest of the world sees this for what it is.
I watched all 80 minutes of this narcissistic circus act. Per his comments, he apparently thought it was an Elton concert, with encores and he was the superstar.
So, it was basically nearly 90 minutes of delusion, nonsense, rudeness and self-aggrandizement. And another attempt to change the evening news cycle.
Wow, I admire you for hanging in there for 80 minutes! I’d have to have an entire bottle of wine and my weighted therapy blanket on me the whole time, and even then I’m not sure I could make it through.
He’s just the worst, period. He’s GARBAGE. There’s literally not a single redeeming value to him, and there aren’t many people I can say that about.
My dad texted me yesterday a few minutes into this press conf telling me I had to turn it on. But I’m done. I just couldn’t handle it. We all know by now that he is a completely unqualified, incoherent, rambling moron but NOTHING will be done about it. That is what I can’t take anymore. I don’t even care about him now. It’s his enablers and supporters that have me raging and keep me up at night. He’ll eventually be gone (and probably not in handcuffs or a strait jacket as we all wish) but they’ll still be here. And they’ll have what they always wanted – a conservative majority on the SC.
Oh and to answer his question: yeah, if a SLAVE OWNER were running for something today, OF COURSE people wouldn’t want him (except white supremacists). What a dumb ass he is.
In case anyone can’t stand his voice, here’s the entire transcript: http://time.com/5407665/president-trump-press-conference-transcript/
He was truly just spouting words, and a transcript always shows that even more than watching it live.
He didn’t indicate anything specific about GW, but just said there might be something bad about him. From 220-plus years ago, of course, just minutes from when he’s questioning accusations from 35 years ago.
Yeah I tried to just read the transcript and couldn’t get very far in! He just vomits out stuff like this:
“They charge us 25, 35, 55 percent for things, and we charge them nothing, in terms of coming in to the country. Cars, they’re at 25 percent, and we’re at 2 percent and 2.5 percent and don’t even collect it, but we collect it now.”
WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN???? For THINGS? Cars at 25 percent and WE’RE at 2 percent. Is he comparing cars to a country? We don’t even collect what? What are we collecting now?
Why am I trying to understand his babblings???
I can’t understand why no one else in my extended family can see this. It’s so upsetting to me. If they were supporting a sane conservative, I could disagree with them but not be so upset.
But no– keep laughing. Do your job! But keep laughing! He fears laughter and ridicule above all else.
Same, Amy. I had the misfortune to hear that press conference (I refused to watch it) because I’m visiting family in the south, and we were at a restaurant where other patrons requested it with sound.
When tRump said, “the failing NY Times,” my dad exclaimed, “I love this man!”
Seriously?
I want to weep for the stupidity that has infected my family. They’ve always been conservative, but never so willfully ignorant as they have become since falling down the Faux News rabbit hole after 9/11.