Trump Administration - Festering Skidmarks

[pnwguy]

www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/08/donald-trump-trump-cards

[pnwguy]

“This is the greatest economy that we've had in our history, the best.”


Of course what he meant was the stock market was hot after cutting corporate taxes and empowering oligarchs with fewer regulations to exploit workers, communities, and customers. As for actual economic growth, the numbers look different.


www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-08-02/trump-s-gdp-growth-was-the-worst-since-the-great-depression

[goldenvalley]

As I post this it is 10 minutes before 8 PM Pacific Time. Trump has not been reinstated as president yet. Either he gets reinstated in the next 1 hour, 10 minutes (midnight East Coast Time) or we'll have to wait until Hawaiian midnight to see if the reinstatement happens. Or is this like the guys that predict the world will end on a date certain...and then they say oh we miscalculated?

[LFC]

Trump pardoned this disgusting creep. Cyrus Vance doesn't give a f***.

Ken Kurson, a Trump family pal and former editor of the New York Observer, may have thought he was in the clear in January when Trump wiped away charges related to Kurson’s divorce meltdown.

But Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has other ideas. On Wednesday, Vance’s office filed felony charges for eavesdropping and computer trespass against Kurson, 52, a close friend of Jared Kushner and one-time Trump speech writer who advised Rudy Giuliani on his failed 2008 presidential campaign.

A criminal complaint filed in New York County Criminal Court alleges that, between September 2015 and March 2016, Kurson used spyware to access his then-wife’s communications during a messy marriage breakdown. The couple divorced in January 2016.

Read on to see just how sick this bastard is.

[LFC]

Another criminal folds.

Igor Fruman, a former Rudy Giuliani associate who aided the campaign to squeeze Ukraine into providing dirt on Joe Biden, is set to change his plea this week from his current plea of not guilty.

A change-of-plea hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in Fruman’s criminal case, where Manhattan federal prosecutors accuse Fruman and his associate Lev Parnas of campaign finance violations related to a scheme to remove the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

Since their October 2019 indictment, Fruman and Parnas have proclaimed their innocence, albeit in different ways and for different reasons.

Fruman has been mostly tight-lipped since charges were brought. Parnas, with his attorney Joseph Bondy, embarked in November 2019 on a strategy to expel as much discovery material from the case into the then-ongoing impeachment saga as possible. The House Intelligence Committee obtained and released reams of texts and emails from Parnas, showing his role in the scheme to pressure the Ukrainian government to announce investigations into the Bidens.

Before being arrested at Dulles Airport as they prepared to leave the country, Fruman and Parnas had spent two years traveling with Rudy Giuliani.

[LFC]

This is what you get when you refuse to listen to those pesky scientists. The Wall really is an appropriate homage to Trump's legacy. After all it cost too much, didn't work due to ropes and battery operated power tools from any hardware store, was designed incompetently, and was never built properly. (Other than that it was awesome.)

It turns out ignoring bedrock environmental laws may not have been the best choice for a multibillion-dollar construction project. Photos show former President Donald Trump’s border wall in deep disrepair after summer monsoon rains literally blew floodgates off their hinges.

The damage took place near San Bernardino Ranch, a historic site that sits between Douglas, Arizona, and the San Bernardino Wildlife Refuge. Much of the West is suffering through a deep megadrought, but the monsoon rains that have swept across parts of the Southwest this summer have doused the southern half of Arizona with record-setting rains. Douglas has seen nearly double its average monsoon season rainfall so far, including a blast that came through on Monday and unleashed flooding on the Arizona-Sonora border. The National Weather Service data shows 2.15 inches (5.5 centimeters) of rain fell, which in turn funneled into washes and drove flooding.

José Manuel Pérez Cantú, the director of the nonprofit Cuenca de Los Ojos, said in an email that six gates were washed out at this location alone. Other gates were also reportedly impacted by the heavy rainfall and flooding. The power and height of the waters can be seen in not just the heavy gates ripped open but the debris that wrapped around intact portions of the wall.

Who could have predicted this? Ah yes, just about everyone.

From that last link from Jan 31, 2020...

Ha ha ha. Donald Trump’s impermeable wall ain’t so impermeable, after all. Not even these high walls of racist fury can withstand good ol’ Mother Nature: The Washington Post reported Thursday that the president’s beloved border wall between the U.S. and Mexico would need to leave portions wide open every summer to prevent flash floods from knocking it over.

Look, I’m all for Mother Nature tearing down the wall, but blocking floodwaters sounds pretty dangerous to any of the people who live nearby, so best to let the water flow.

In the Southwest, monsoon season comes around from June to September. Arizona and New Mexico receive up to half of their annual rainfall during these months. Though these storms—often accompanied by roaring thunder and lightning—can be healthy for the vegetation in need of some water, it’s no good for infrastructure in the area. This phenomenon is a result of the land and the Pacific Ocean warming up, but because the land warms faster than the ocean, the air pressure begins to affect the wind. This air, which is full of moisture, eventually makes its way from northern Mexico into the Southwestern U.S., where it pours.

What’s worse, climate change is making this monsoon season worse, according to a 2017 study. If the president wants to build this ridiculous wall, he may have to come to terms with the reality of climate change. That, or risk it being washed away by worsening storms. Or, as we’re already seeing, falling due to high winds. Nature is just as over this goddamn wall as I am.

Where the wall already exists, portions have been left open in the past to deal with the floods. Per the Post, this gives people crossing into the U.S. illegally easier access.

[LFC]

Rudy's big defense? I'm "functioning", he's the same as he ever was (could be true), and the media is destroying him. Paywalled.

It’s not me, it’s you.

America’s former mayor gave a rather blunt interview to NBC New York this week, addressing head on the fact that everyone thinks he’s basically lost his mind.

When NBC asked him directly how he feels about the pretty universal perception that he’s gone off the deep end since his shinier days as the mayor of New York, he said, “I don’t care.”

“I am aware of that,” he said, responding to questions about his meteoric fall from grace. “And what’s happened is, our country has gone off the rails … I’m exactly the same person. They changed!”

He then blamed the media for his now-tarnished reputation and the public’s general skepticism of anyone associated with former President Trump. He also addressed allegations that he may have a drinking problem, based on reports of his behavior in the White House on the night of the 2020 election, as well as a slew of other stories to surface over the past several years about him slurring his words during interviews or running into walls while walking.

“Never,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever done an interview drunk. I mean, I drink normally. I like Scotch, I drink Scotch,” he said, according to NBC New York.

“I’m not an alcoholic,” he continued. “I’m a functioning, I probably function more effectively than 90 percent of the population.”

There you have it.

The former mayor also spoke about his belief that the DOJ is bent on destroying him for political reasons and addressed the department’s probe into his dealings in Ukraine while he served as Trump’s lawyer — the very dealings that got Trump impeached the first time. He called the scope of the investigation “unconstitutional,” but laughed “out loud” while making the unsubstantiated claim that the country’s top law enforcement arm’s investigators have, apparently, been unable to unlock his phone?

[goldenvalley]

Donald Trump has something to say about the removal of the Robert E Lee statue in Richmond...if only Lee had commanded in Afghanistan...we would have won that war long ago!  Read the LGM entry on this...for the comments and the laughs.

[pnwguy]

Sept 9, 2021 0:56:42 GMT goldenvalley said:

Donald Trump has something to say about the removal of the Robert E Lee statue in Richmond...if only Lee had commanded in Afghanistan...we would have won that war long ago!  Read the LGM entry on this...for the comments and the laughs.

Why didn't Donald J. Trump, holy savior of MAGAstan, take some of his riches to build a time machine to bring General Lee back during his presidency, to rout the rebels in Afghanistan?  I should think some of his marks true believers are asking that same question?

Sounds like someone should do a man-on-the-street interview of MAGAts for a future Lincoln Project video piece.

[goldenvalley]

Sept 9, 2021 0:56:42 GMT goldenvalley said:

Donald Trump has something to say about the removal of the Robert E Lee statue in Richmond...if only Lee had commanded in Afghanistan...we would have won that war long ago!  Read the LGM entry on this...for the comments and the laughs.

I wonder if this is what the Trump message was referring to in talking about cutting the statue into 3 pieces.

Wednesday afternoon, once Lee was hauled away before a cheering crowd in a heavy thunderstorm, workers had spent about an hour cutting the mortar around the 2,500-pound capstone on that side, said Chris Hilgert, owner of Summit Masonry and Building Restoration, a Connecticut company hired to do the stone work. They lifted the capstone early Thursday morning.

Next, workers loosened and removed a smaller layer of stone and hoisted that 500-pound chunk aside.

Though the monument itself was unveiled in 1890, the time capsule was planted in 1887 along with the first parts of the giant plinth. At the time, the stones stood alone in a tobacco field on the edge of the city.

According to reports from the period and research by local author Dale Brumfield, the capsule was crammed with 60 items. Most of it was Confederate memorabilia, Lee family history and the like. But Brumfield discovered one intriguing item on the list: a picture said to show President Abraham Lincoln in his coffin. If it’s in there, and if it survives, that would be a tremendous find, he said — one of only a handful known to exist.
State officials excitedly summoned the media Thursday morning to see if the mystery of the photo — and the time capsule itself — could be solved.
Historians and contractors were confident the time capsule should lie under the northeast cornerstone of the plinth, in keeping with Masonic tradition. Ground-penetrating radar scans by historians earlier this year identified some type of cavity under the stone on that spot, officials said.

But it wasn't a place for a capsule; it was a hole used to help haul the stone into place.
ETA: Never mind about my speculation on 3 pieces...the statue itself was cut.

[goldenvalley]

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-appointees-biden-military-service-academies/2021/09/08/984d60fe-10da-11ec-bc8a-8d9a5b534194_story.html

The White House said Wednesday that it has asked a number of Trump administration appointees to resign their positions on the advisory boards at military service academies, arguing that the move was about qualifications, not politics.

Among the 11 officials are former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer and former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, according to CNN, which first reported news of the request.

Conway had been appointed to the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors. Spicer, a Navy Reserve commander, had been serving on the Naval Academy’s advisory board. McMaster had been appointed to the advisory board at the U.S. Military Academy; the retired U.S. Army lieutenant general is a West Point graduate and previously taught history there.

I wonder about the McMaster situation...that looks partisan. 

Are these paid positions? Per diems or something?  I imagine Conway and Spicer are struggling to find employment in and around DC.

[LFC]

Sept 9, 2021 17:59:52 GMT goldenvalley said:

Conway had been appointed to the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors. Spicer, a Navy Reserve commander, had been serving on the Naval Academy’s advisory board. McMaster had been appointed to the advisory board at the U.S. Military Academy; the retired U.S. Army lieutenant general is a West Point graduate and previously taught history there.

Those who live by the partisanship sword...

[LFC]

The press secretary that never gave a press conference has a book. I guess she realizes that she's never getting a plum position she entirely unqualified for like that again so she might as well cash in as best she can.

After a nine-month stint as White House press secretary without ever holding a formal press briefing, Stephanie Grisham seems finally ready to provide some answers. Grisham will release her own White House memoir, I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in The Trump White House, on Oct. 5, Axios reports. The book marks a major shift in the wave of ex-Trump staff memoirs released in the last few years, as Grisham held top jobs with both President Trump (press secretary, communications director) and First Lady Melania Trump (chief of staff, press secretary). “When I heard this, all I could think about was Stephanie surrounded by a lake of gasoline, striking a match with a grin on her face,” a source told Axios.

Grisham resigned from her positions with the first lady on the evening of Jan. 6, 2021.

[LFC]

More on the Trumpies melting down over getting the boot from the military boards. Once again I love me some Jen Psaki.

But the whines heard ’round the world were apparently unpersuasive for some reason.

Psaki stood firm in the White House’s purge during a CNN interview on Thursday morning, pointing out that not only does Biden have the right to choose the advisers, but also the fact that many of the ousted Trump officials backed the ex-president even when he incited the violent Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

“I will say that there are some people, of course, on these boards, who have supported or stood by silently while their former boss supported an insurrection. That’s not really okay with us either,” she said.

[goldenvalley]

Sept 9, 2021 18:17:24 GMT LFC said:

The press secretary that never gave a press conference has a book. I guess she realizes that she's never getting a plum position she entirely unqualified for like that again so she might as well cash in as best she can.

After a nine-month stint as White House press secretary without ever holding a formal press briefing, Stephanie Grisham seems finally ready to provide some answers. Grisham will release her own White House memoir, I'll Take Your Questions Now: What I Saw in The Trump White House, on Oct. 5, Axios reports. The book marks a major shift in the wave of ex-Trump staff memoirs released in the last few years, as Grisham held top jobs with both President Trump (press secretary, communications director) and First Lady Melania Trump (chief of staff, press secretary). “When I heard this, all I could think about was Stephanie surrounded by a lake of gasoline, striking a match with a grin on her face,” a source told Axios.

Grisham resigned from her positions with the first lady on the evening of Jan. 6, 2021.

Maybe she's hoping people will only notice the last name Grisham and click to buy her book thinking it is John Grisham's book.

[goldenvalley]

Another Woodward book, this time with Bob Costa  says Gen. Milley was so concerned about Trump ordering some kind of strike that he:

In response, Milley took extraordinary action, and called a secret meeting in his Pentagon office on January 8 to review the process for military action, including launching nuclear weapons. Speaking to senior military officials in charge of the National Military Command Center, the Pentagon's war room, Milley instructed them not to take orders from anyone unless he was involved.

About Afghanistan:

Milley's fear that Trump could do something unpredictable came from experience. Right after Trump lost the election, Milley discovered the President had signed a military order to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by January 15, 2021, before he left the White House.

The memo had been secretly drafted by two Trump loyalists. No one on the national security team knew about it, according to the book. The memo was eventually nullified, but Milley could not forget that Trump had done an end run around his top military advisers.

And Bannon was involved in the run up to the 1/6 insurrection:

According to the book, a key figure from Trump's earliest days as president reemerged: former White House adviser Steve Bannon. The authors write that Bannon, who had been indicted in April 2020 and later pardoned by Trump, played a critical role in the events leading up to January 6.

On December 30, Bannon convinced Trump to come back to the White House from Mar-a-Lago to prepare for the events of January 6, the date Congress would certify the election results.

"You've got to return to Washington and make a dramatic return today," Bannon told Trump, according to the book. "You've got to call Pence off the fucking ski slopes and get him back here today. This is a crisis."
The authors write that Bannon told Trump that January 6 was "the moment for reckoning."
"People are going to go, 'What the fuck is going on here?' " Bannon believed. "We're going to bury Biden on January 6th, fucking bury him," Bannon said.

It seems Trump loves this kind of talk and certainly Bannon loves to talk that way.

[LFC]

Sept 14, 2021 18:01:24 GMT goldenvalley said:

And Bannon was involved in the run up to the 1/6 insurrection:

Because of course he was.

[LFC]

He's a child. His MAGAts are children as well. Granted they are angry, dumb, dangerous children but emotionally children all the same. Is it any wonder he's their hero?

In his desperation to remain in the White House after Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 election, then-President Donald Trump reportedly resorted to schoolyard threats against Mike Pence to convince him to overturn the results by rejecting certification. “You can do this. I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t do this,” Trump told Pence after the then-vice president declined to throw the election, according to a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. The book, titled Peril, details Trump’s final chaotic days in office. According to excerpts published by CNN on Tuesday, Trump apparently pinned his hopes on Pence wanting to be “cool” and impress the MAGA fans pushing for Trump to stay in the White House. “If these people say you had the power, wouldn’t you want to?” Trump reportedly asked, referring to supporters. When Pence objected to the idea of “any one person” having that much authority, Trump shot back: “But wouldn’t it be almost cool to have that power?” according to CNN.

[pnwguy]

Sept 14, 2021 19:51:46 GMT LFC said:

He's a child. His MAGAts are children as well. Granted they are angry, dumb, dangerous children but emotionally children all the same. Is it any wonder he's their hero?

In his desperation to remain in the White House after Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 election, then-President Donald Trump reportedly resorted to schoolyard threats against Mike Pence to convince him to overturn the results by rejecting certification. “You can do this. I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t do this,” Trump told Pence after the then-vice president declined to throw the election, according to a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. The book, titled Peril, details Trump’s final chaotic days in office. According to excerpts published by CNN on Tuesday, Trump apparently pinned his hopes on Pence wanting to be “cool” and impress the MAGA fans pushing for Trump to stay in the White House. “If these people say you had the power, wouldn’t you want to?” Trump reportedly asked, referring to supporters. When Pence objected to the idea of “any one person” having that much authority, Trump shot back: “But wouldn’t it be almost cool to have that power?” according to CNN.

"That's Power, Mike"

Of course, they are both Nazis.

[LFC]

The Woodward / Costa books continues pouring forth details on how much the Republicans and Trump allies actually knew about his host of mental illnesses. And yet most either praise him or at least keep their heads down.

Shortly after Donald Trump won the 2016 election, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) studied up on how to interact with people with narcissistic personality disorder.

According to Insider, which obtained an early copy of Washington Post reporters Bon Woodward and Robert Costa’s new book “Peril,” Ryan was surprised by Trump’s win in the 2016 election against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Ryan suddenly realized that he would be required to work with the then-incoming President due to Republicans’ control of the House and Senate at the time — which prompted Ryan to start researching how to deal with someone who is “amoral and transactional,” the book says.

This sums up Trump and why the MAGAts love him. They are f***ing children and he's the permissive parent. Instead of praising people for pooping in the potty he praises the MAGAts for pooping in their hands and flinging it at the neighbor's house.

The book also reported on the tensions between Trump and Ryan after the then-President’s “very fine people on both sides” remark in defense of the white supremacists behind the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.

After Ryan tweeted his condemnation of Trump’s “both sides” remark, Trump reportedly got into a shouting match with Ryan in a phone call, telling the Wisconsin Republican: “You’re not in the foxhole with me!”

“Are you finished?” Ryan reportedly yelled back. “May I have some time to speak now? You’re the President of the United States. You have a moral leadership obligation to get this right and not declare there is a moral equivalency here.”

Trump reportedly stood by his defense of the white supremacists and those who gathered to protest the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville.

“These people love me. These are my people. I can’t backstab the people who support me,” Trump said, according to the book.

[LFC]

Bill Barr's bogus independent counsel John Durham is still around, still empowered, burning up tax dollars, and on the partisan attack. Expect him to drag this out for years and produce nothing.

A grand jury empaneled by John Durham returned an indictment on Thursday against an attorney whose firm has represented the Democratic National Committee.

The indictment charges Michael Sussmann, a cybersecurity attorney at law firm Perkins Coie, with one count of lying to the FBI over statements he made in September 2016 about since-debunked ties between the Trump campaign and a Russian bank.

Durham portrays in the indictment a bizarre series of facts, alleging that the 2016 Clinton campaign teamed up with a unnamed tech executive to “create a ‘narrative’ regarding Trump.

Sussmann, Durham says, failed to tell the FBI that he was allegedly acting on the Clinton campaign’s behalf.

“Specifically, Sussmann stated falsely that he was not doing his work on the aforementioned allegations ‘for any client,’ which led the FBI General Counsel to understand that Sussmann was acting as a good citizen merely passing along information, not as a paid advocate or political operative,” the indictment reads.

The charges were filed three days before the five-year statute of limitations on the crime was reached.

The Washington Post and the New York Times reported on Wednesday that Durham was said to be asking for an indictment against Sussmann. Sources told the Post that the special counsel is digging into a theory that Sussmann was secretly working on behalf of the Clinton campaign when he reported to FBI lawyer James Baker in 2016 his suspicions of a shady relationship between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank.

Sussmann has denied the allegation.

But I'd say this opens up every person who worked to push a false narrative in a campaign up for investigation. Rudy et al are already there but I'm sure we can dig into the Trumpies, including congressional Republicans, and find many many more.

[goldenvalley]

Sept 16, 2021 20:54:34 GMT LFC said:

The Woodward / Costa books continues pouring forth details on how much the Republicans and Trump allies actually knew about his host of mental illnesses. And yet most either praise him or at least keep their heads down.

Shortly after Donald Trump won the 2016 election, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) studied up on how to interact with people with narcissistic personality disorder.

According to Insider, which obtained an early copy of Washington Post reporters Bon Woodward and Robert Costa’s new book “Peril,” Ryan was surprised by Trump’s win in the 2016 election against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Ryan suddenly realized that he would be required to work with the then-incoming President due to Republicans’ control of the House and Senate at the time — which prompted Ryan to start researching how to deal with someone who is “amoral and transactional,” the book says.

This sums up Trump and why the MAGAts love him. They are f***ing children and he's the permissive parent. Instead of praising people for pooping in the potty he praises the MAGAts for pooping in their hands and flinging it at the neighbor's house.

The book also reported on the tensions between Trump and Ryan after the then-President’s “very fine people on both sides” remark in defense of the white supremacists behind the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.

After Ryan tweeted his condemnation of Trump’s “both sides” remark, Trump reportedly got into a shouting match with Ryan in a phone call, telling the Wisconsin Republican: “You’re not in the foxhole with me!”

“Are you finished?” Ryan reportedly yelled back. “May I have some time to speak now? You’re the President of the United States. You have a moral leadership obligation to get this right and not declare there is a moral equivalency here.”

Trump reportedly stood by his defense of the white supremacists and those who gathered to protest the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville.

“These people love me. These are my people. I can’t backstab the people who support me,” Trump said, according to the book.

I swore to myself that I would never buy another Woodward book when I learned he knew that Trump knew how bad the COVID virus was back in Feb. 2019.  But I may have to break my vow on this book.  I want verification that Paul Ryan's claims about his own actions are independently verified by someone because I don't trust Ryan.

[jackd]

Don't buy it; wait until it's available at the library.

[andydp]

There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.

Soren Kierkegaard

[andydp]

Look like Leningrad Lindsey didn't buy Pres Trump's claims of "fraud".

Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee personally vetted Trump’s fraud claims, new book says. They were unpersuaded.

Graham and Lee, both of whom ultimately voted to certify the results, took the claims of election fraud seriously enough to get briefed on the details, involve their senior staff and call state officials throughout the country. But privately, Graham gave the arguments a withering assessment, according to the book, saying they were suitable for “Third grade.”

The episode illustrates how strenuously the president’s legal team sought to nullify the results of the election; how flimsy even their more serious claims were; and what little stock the president’s own allies placed in his objections, even as they stood steadfastly with their standard-bearer.


www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/lindsey-graham-and-mike-lee-personally-vetted-trump-e2-80-99s-fraud-claims-new-book-says-they-were-unpersuaded/ar-AAOCY9m?ocid=uxbndlbing