Althouse: "'The railhead of all bad decisions is the same railhead: Javanka,' he said, using a nickname that conflates the couple."

December 24, 2017

"'The railhead of all bad decisions is the same railhead: Javanka,' he said, using a nickname that conflates the couple."

"Bannon, who returned to rightwing site Breitbart News after being forced out of the White House in August, recalled an Oval Office meeting in which he accused Ivanka of being 'the queen of leaks.' The first daughter allegedly retorted: 'You’re a fucking liar!'... 'Ivanka was a fount of bad advice during the campaign.' As for Kushner, Bannon made little attempt to disguise his contempt. 'He doesn’t know anything about the hobbits or the deplorables' – using two ironic terms for Trump supporters. It was Kushner who reportedly encouraged the president to fire FBI director James Comey, a move that could come back to haunt him during the investigation into alleged collusion with Russia in the election campaign. Bannon said: 'It’s the dumbest political decision in modern political history, bar none. A self-inflicted wound of massive proportions.'"

From "Steve Bannon savages 'Javanka', laying bare White House tensions" in The Guardian, based on the Vanity Fair article, "'I HAVE POWER': IS STEVE BANNON RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT?/On a whirlwind tour around the globe, Trump’s former aide and alter ego reveals what really went down in the White House, his unfettered thoughts on Javanka, his complicated relationship with his erstwhile boss—and his own political ambitions."

45 comments:

rehajm said...: Jilted lover tells all...; 12/24/17, 6:28 AM
320Busdriver said...: Bannon is to Trump as Lawrence Summers is to Obama, or is it Rahm?; 12/24/17, 6:32 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: firing Comey made it possible to look back at what went wrong with Obama.

Of course it was worse than previously thought.; 12/24/17, 6:41 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: Eek! Bannon is on the loose.

Does Steve really think Comey would have stayed onside if Trump had not fired him? Can you imagine Comey stepping up to take some well-deserved flak criticizing the FBI? Wouldn't it always be Trump's fault? Did Bannon see what the bastard did when Trump fired him with his leaked memo to himself? Comey threw Hillary under the bus in the July 2016 press conference, and then he threw Trump under the bus with his post-firing leak. He threw Bush under the bus at Ashcroft's hospital bedside. The guy was a one-man presidential wrecking crew.; 12/24/17, 6:42 AM
Jaq said...: recalled an Oval Office meeting in which he accused Ivanka of being ‘the queen of leaks.' The first daughter allegedly retorted: ‘You’re a fucking liar!’. - Leaked Bannon.; 12/24/17, 6:43 AM
Jaq said...: Maybe Comey was trying to be SMOD. Maybe he was trying to rid the country of both of them.; 12/24/17, 6:44 AM
stevew said...: Perhaps I'm not looking in the right places, but the evidence I have found indicates Bannon is off his rocker.

-sw; 12/24/17, 6:47 AM
Saint Croix said...: Does he know he's DIck Morris?; 12/24/17, 6:52 AM
rhhardin said...: Trump is a gentleman. There's no hatred to the strife he plays in.

Bannon is the opposite.; 12/24/17, 6:52 AM
Henry said...: Usually, with Seppuku, it's your own bowels you cut out. Bannon is toxic.

However, that's a great metaphor and insult rolled into one:

The railhead of all bad decisions is the same railhead: Javanka

Before I read the first line of the post, I thought this was going to be a quirky Althouse story about an actual railroad in Kashmir or Calcutta.; 12/24/17, 6:56 AM
David Begley said...: Firing Comey was great. Maybe now we will get to the bottom of the FBI’s corruption. Wray and Sessions have to do it.

Indict Point Shaver Strzok and then flip him to testify against McCabe, Comey and Lynch.

The problem I have with Jvanka is how does the President fire them if he needs to?

Follow the bitcoin.; 12/24/17, 6:56 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: Tim at large--

But one of them was going to be elected. It was not Comey's role to be SMOD. That's my point. The 2016 election was an eye-roller, but the voters got to decide. Who the hell was Comey to put himself and his agency in the middle of it?

J. Edgar Comey. Great.

Bannon would rather engage in petty score-settling than move policies forward. That Alabama election was a disaster, and it was Bannon's doing. Roy Frickin' Moore?? Bannon isn't a genius. He needs therapy.; 12/24/17, 6:59 AM
Humperdink said...: Bannon was kicked to the curb. Now trying trying to scrape himself off the pavement and become relevant again. That pathway does not include taking on the Trump progeny.; 12/24/17, 7:05 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: Comey's now off in a corner tweeting Bible verses. I doubt he'll be getting another government appointment for a few years. I pity whomever hires him. You'll get the great man's thoughts, and then if you don't agree, he'll turn you in to the Feds.; 12/24/17, 7:07 AM
Chuck said...: Does "Javanka" knock the all-Haitians-"have AIDS", and the Nigerians "will never go back to their huts" stories off the front pages of the blogosphere?

Is "Alabama" how you get more Ivanka?

What a clown show. Like one of the reality tv shows that I will never wanted to watch.; 12/24/17, 7:25 AM
Jaq said...: Who the hell was Comey to put himself and his agency in the middle of it?

He could have headed off what he saw as a disaster by recommending that Hillary be indicted, you know, following the law. But there was that $750K to Andy McCabe’s wife to think about, and you know, powerful people gotta dip their beak once in a while, you know, get the emoluments due them for holding powerful positions, and McCabe was in charge of the investigation. So, there was nothing Comey could do about that one!

Some forensic accounting unleashed on Strzok might turn up some interesting stuff too. Strzok thought he was Michael Clayton before his crisis of conscience. Maybe Comey is Michael Clayton like in the movie, except he fucked up trying to set everything right on account of he was sort of a moron who got the job because he was very tall, and looked like an FBI director.; 12/24/17, 7:25 AM
Michael K said...: Once again, the Lewandowski book is essential in understanding the inner working of the administration.

1. It was the Trump kids who fired Lewandowski and hired Manafort, the worst decision of the campaign. Manafort ingratiated himself with them and maneuvered to take over.

2. Bannon was reluctant to come aboard and eager to get out after the election. He was not "fired."

3. Bannon and Lewandowski and Bossie are all still supportive and have gone on with their own careers.

4. The RNC took over the administration after the inauguration with Priebus installing his own people like Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who was not a part of the Trump team.

5. Bannon was not the one who chose Moore. It was McConnell who blocked Mo Brooks and tried to keep Strange who was rejected by voters.; 12/24/17, 7:27 AM
Jaq said...: Jesus Chuck. All of that bile is going to ruin your health.; 12/24/17, 7:27 AM
Chuck said...: A perfect example of the kind of comment that Althouse has asked not be posted, because it is a personal attack, it adds nothing of substance and tends to ruin any attempt at any substantive conversation:

Blogger Tim at large said...
Jesus Chuck. All of that bile is going to ruin your health.; 12/24/17, 7:42 AM
Jaq said...: “substantive comment:”

Chuck said...
Does "Javanka" knock the all-Haitians-"have AIDS", and the Nigerians "will never go back to their huts" stories off the front pages of the blogosphere?

Is "Alabama" how you get more Ivanka?

What a clown show. Like one of the reality tv shows that I will never wanted to watch.; 12/24/17, 7:49 AM
Jaq said...: OK, I googled up the story Chuck was referring to, without context or a link, and this is the story I got:

Trump exploded at staff and cabinet members, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as John Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security, cleared the room of underlings and tried to assert order, sources told the newspaper.

Trump backer Joy Villa says Corey Lewandowski spanked her 'hard'

The White House did not deny the heated nature of the meeting, but insisted Trump never used the words “AIDS” or “huts.”

Several participants in the meeting told The Times they did not recall Trump using those words and did not think he had.

Looks like another “leak” made up of whole cloth to paint the guy who opened up the golf club he bought in Palm Beach to blacks and Jews, BTW, stirring up a hornet’s nest there, as a racist. But not to worry, liberals will believe it and so will “certainly not a liberal” Chuck!; 12/24/17, 8:01 AM
Martha said...: Bannon is right about one thing—Installing 36 year old Javanka in the White House with nepotism superpowers is as dumb as handing the reins of The New York Times Company to the 37 year old Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, son of --Arthur Sulzberger Jr.; 12/24/17, 8:04 AM
Michael K said...: The stories that come out of the White House are mostly fake news.

Yes, Trump is volatile according to the Lewandowski book, but the leaks are mostly from those who are newcomers and not loyal.

Manafort was a gusher the few months he was around.; 12/24/17, 8:17 AM
MacMacConnell said...: I agree with Michael K, without the DNC felating WAPO strategic timing of the Moore hit piece Moore is Senator Moore from Alabama. This RNC failure in Alabama is at Sen. McConnell's feet for opposing Mo Brooks.; 12/24/17, 8:56 AM
Jaq said...: Another way Chuck is just like a liberal is his constant inveigling to get posters he disagrees with banned on the thinnest pretext, not to mention his belief that his was a "substantive" post.; 12/24/17, 9:28 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: The Moore loss has been supplanted by the tax cut victory. The seat will flip back in 2018.

Bygones.; 12/24/17, 9:48 AM
Michael said...: Bannon is an interesting character with a varied and successful background. He is very smart and well read. He has a screw loose for sure but not one that is necessary for the apparatus to stay together, just one that causes an incessant rattle.; 12/24/17, 9:55 AM
Jon Burack said...: Bannon it has been reliably reported considers himself a "Leninist." Lenin was most successful in life in turning on everyone with vicious invective and managing to transform a horrible society into a vastly more horrible one. At least Bannon does not live in a failed state where such talents might result in something more malevolent than gossip.; 12/24/17, 10:22 AM
Earnest Prole said...: On the wisdom of firing Comey, Bannon is surely correct.; 12/24/17, 10:57 AM
Yancey Ward said...: From Chuck:

"A perfect example of the kind of comment that Althouse has asked not be posted, because it is a personal attack, it adds nothing of substance and tends to ruin any attempt at any substantive conversation"

Also from Chuck:

"Fuck you. And fuck all of your pals here"

Of course, according to Chuck, that last part was part of a substantive argument.; 12/24/17, 11:43 AM
Jaq said...: Chuck forgets that he called me “mentally unbalanced and potentially dangerous” or other words to that exact effect, some time ago, so I take his whining with a grain of salt. However, I do give him credit for sensing the irony in my concern for his health, as he so often seems deaf to irony.; 12/24/17, 11:48 AM
Jaq said...: On the wisdom of firing Comey, Bannon is surely correct.

Your sincere concern has been noted, EP.; 12/24/17, 11:49 AM
Yancey Ward said...: At the time, I wondered if firing Comey was the correct strategy, but in hindsight it probably was. I know some believe that Mueller was hired as special counsel as a result the firing of Comey, but I now think Mueller was inevitable- at worst for Trump, I think the appointment of a special counsel was pushed up in time by Trump's enemies because they thought Comey's firing was likely the best cover for it they were ever going to get, so why not take it. Trump and his closest associates surely know whether or not he colluded with the Russians- if the answer isn't they didn't, then firing Comey is almost obvious as a way to start digging out the corruption in the DoJ and the FBI. The way events have played out in recent months supports this belief.; 12/24/17, 11:50 AM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: Oh boy! Republican firing squads are the best! They're always circular, you know?

Who'd have thunk that all their greed, contempt and violence would ever get in the way of any teamwork or loyalty - let alone progress? It's such a mystery that those things could in any way be linked.; 12/24/17, 11:55 AM
Paul Snively said...: Here's a crazy thought: Steve Bannon is a supercilious sleazebag who never should have been let anywhere near the Trump campaign who happens to be right about Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.; 12/24/17, 12:47 PM
narciso said...: I find it dubious bannon would speak tie Sherman there is no coin in it as condemn nasty is discovering. On cultural issues I imagine he is opposite the kushners pov.; 12/24/17, 12:53 PM
walter said...: And to think we could have a had a nice, orderly rearranging of deck chairs with Clinton, Inc.; 12/24/17, 12:57 PM
narciso said...: It was a good first step

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/944766931533361152.html

But it has to be followed by more swamp critters like mccabe and prietap; 12/24/17, 1:16 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Your sincere concern has been noted

With the refinement that firing Comey on January 21 would have been politically advantageous.; 12/24/17, 1:35 PM
SeanF said...: "...using a nickname that conflates the couple."

That nickname conflates the individuals, but no moreso than does calling them "the couple."; 12/24/17, 3:32 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Paul Snively said...
Here's a crazy thought: Steve Bannon is a supercilious sleazebag who never should have been let anywhere near the Trump campaign who happens to be right about Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

12/24/17, 12:47 PM

Yep, pretty crazy, President Snively.; 12/24/17, 4:39 PM
Michael K said...: Bannon is widely misunderstood by the same people who called Gingrich a "bomb thrower."

He is very bright, as noted, and really quite personable and quiet in person.

He is really another in the image of Andrew Brightbart and many seem to have forgotten what he was like.

"When you are up to your ass in alligators, it can hard to remember that you came to drain the swamp."

Remember that ? The Swamp does not want to be drained.

Bannon helped Trump overcome the disastrous intervention of his kids who hired Manafort.; 12/24/17, 6:08 PM
narciso said...: It dies seem like they took the blank pages on they live as a model:
www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/12/the_democrats_hard_candy_christmas_comments.html#disqus_thread; 12/24/17, 7:12 PM
Michael K said...: Narciso, that is a really interesting piece.

So would the adulation be worth it for Obama? For a narcissist like him, maybe. But adulation measured in money might be a very interesting path to explore.

Indeed. If we’re looking for a dollar payoff, I’d start with the unprecedented $60-million-dollar advance the Obamas received from the German giant publishing house Bertelsmann which, among other things, owns 75% of Penguin Random House.

Very interesting. Maybe there is the Obama payoff from Iran.; 12/24/17, 7:44 PM
narciso said...: Well it is, and my friend clarice who worked in sorts of interesting places, like the osi is curious about making such connections. Of course my pet theory re Mueller involves his firm as well of two of his aides zebley and weissman and their ties to a certain gulf principality, threatened by some of trumps policies; 12/24/17, 7:57 PM