May 4, 2019

I am becoming more and more resistant to clicking through to anti-Trump stories.

I just want to note 2 things I'm seeing just now on Memeorandum (where I go most mornings, looking for bloggable things):
Bob Brigham / Raw Story: Ex-mob prosecutor says Trump's talk with Putin was a ‘get your stories straight call’ like she used to hear on wiretaps — The former chief of the organized crime and racketeering unit at the U.S. Attorney's office in the Southern District of New York explained on MSNBC Friday …

Max Boot / Washington Post: This nation is at the mercy of a criminal administration — Imagine that you live in a town that has been taken over by gangsters. The mayor is a crook and so are the district attorney and police chief. You can't fight city hall. But at least you know you can turn for help to the state or federal government.
I have developed an aversion to this sort of thing. I'm a voter, living in an important swing state, and I've voted for Democrats and Republicans. I offer myself as one data point. And let me say that when Donald Trump was running for President, my main problem with him was that he was too weird. Now, he's President, and I can see what he is as President. It's a lot less weird than I was afraid of and his opponents seem bent on out-weirding him.

125 comments:

MadisonMan said...

You nailed it. It's like the people on the left are trying their level best to out-weird each other for, I don't know, bragging rights?

It is embarrassing to watch.

exhelodrvr1 said...

The biggest difference between you and them is that you don't hate America.

tim in vermont said...

This nation is at the mercy of a criminal administration — Imagine that you live in a town that has been taken over by gangsters. The mayor is a crook and so are the district attorney and police chief. You can't fight city hall. But at least you know you can turn for help to the state or federal government.

That, in a nutshell, is why I voted against Hillary Clinton, the war monger that Max Boot sorely wishes was in the WH right now, sending our young men to some other hellhole/shithole.

WisRich said...

Top of the Morning everyone.

It's funny, Mrs. WisRich loves watching the nightly news (abc). But here's the thing, every time a story comes on about Trump, she fast forwards the DVR because she knows it's going to be a negative spin, whatever the story.

Last night, with the fantastic economic numbers released, ABC could only find 15 seconds midway through the broadcast to mention it.

tim in vermont said...

You can have the war loving Neocons like Max Boot and his ilk, Democrats!

Jersey Fled said...

Very insightful comment Ann. But if you don't show us articles like this, where will we learn of them? I don't have the stomach to read them myself. At least not this early in the morning. My blood pressure is high enough already.

What bothers me most is the reconstituted crap that the Left feeds us and expects us to believe it. It shows their total contempt for not just us deplorables, but for their core audience as well.

Trump is all that stands between us and these fools running everything.

Temujin said...

I've watched both my wife and I go through the same thing. I have a feeling it's very widespread around the country- minus Seattle, San Francisco, Manhattan, and DC. Looking at the 22 or so Dems running for the top spot, I think they see running against Trump as an easy path to winning. They live in a bubble and have no idea how utterly crazy they sound. So crazy that they've made Trump seem sorta normal.

Ambrose said...

"Imagine that you live in a town that has been taken over by gangsters. The mayor is a crook and so are the district attorney and police chief. You can't fight city hall."

No need to imagine. Sadly true for many people living in cities that have been run by Democrats for generations.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Ex-mob prosecutor says Trump's talk with Putin was a ‘get your stories straight call’ like she used to hear on wiretaps

The latest meme from the left is that Trump out-smarted Mueller and the FBI and the CIA - with his Putin mob talk.

Matt Sablan said...

So, what was Obama's talk about flexibility?

Matt Sablan said...

Also, it would be good for journalists to remember that, while Trump says mean things about them, it was Obama who spied on them and put some of them in jail.

rhhardin said...

my main problem with him was that he was too weird.

The that's not funny crowd can't see what he's doing.

Jersey Fled said...

"The latest meme from the left is that Trump out-smarted Mueller and the FBI and the CIA ..."

Would that really be so hard? Talk about Keystone Kops!

rhhardin said...

His remarks about Putin solidify a useful connection for the US.

Trump is usually doing more than just one thing.

JackWayne said...

This is what I don’t understand. I’ve never considered Trump weird. He’s not a standard politician but that’s not weird. What’s weird is the number of people who think that Hillary would have made a good president. She has been dishonest and shady since her first foray into public life on the Watergate commission. How corrupt we are as a nation that such a person is seen as acceptable and Trump is seen as weird.

Jeff Brokaw said...

Reading stories like those is filling your mind with poison. Trump is right — the media truly is the enemy of the people.

And since the media and the Democrats are always on the same page, and have been for years, what does that tell us about the Democrats?

Anonymous said...

Pennsylvanian here. Also a swing state in 2016. I live in a purple county so I know lots of red and blue voters. Trump may be a cartoon character, but he seems to know it. Meanwhile the Democrats have no clue they are just as snarky, immature, sexually inappropriate, and criminal. Trump has exposed the rot layers in government far deeper than anyone ever in my life. And not because he’s virtuous. It’s because he calls out fellow sinners! (I lived through Nixon.) I do not trust the media. The Never-Trumpers on Twitter act like middle-school mean girls. Losers. I’m certain I am smarter than the cable news women who have bare arms in winter and the men with orange pancake makeup that I see on my high definition TV. They’re all orange! I left the Democrats after the VIrginia blackface politician was allowed to stay while Confederate statues were torn down. (The statues, which mean nothing to me, at least honored men of their times. Who thought blackface was ok after 1970?)
Oh, I’m voting in 2020. I’m not sitting this one out. At this point I’m going to vote for the greatest cartoon villain of all time- Donald Trump. At least he plays his part honestly.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Well, if Trump isn't an evil genius stooge of Putin who used chicanery to beat Hillary then the logical conclusion is that the political establishment got where they are through ideological conformity and connections, not by merit.

Henry said...

Imagine that you live in a town that has been taken over by voters.

Bay Area Guy said...

Two small observations:

1. Mimi Rocah:

“If you look at the obstruction that Trump, I think, clearly committed, it was obstruction of the investigation into Russia, not just Trump, but into Russia’s actions,” Rocah suggested."

Thank you for your advisory opinion. The Special Prosecutor disagreed with your opinion, and actually saw the evidence, which you didn't. Nobody appointed you Special Prosecutor for this case, nobody knows who you are, and nobody cares what you think.

2. Max Boot

OhmyGod! The last clueless #Nevertrumper. Who still reads this moron?

Trump benefits from having the most inane, hysterical and dishonest critics on Planet Earth.

Jeff Brokaw said...

These stories used to piss me off until I realized the media was just full of shit about anything to do with Trump.

So I started ignoring all of it, except to make fun of how crazy and stupid these people are.

They need help. A massive intervention.

Henry said...

I live in that town. New England Town Meetings are the perfect venue for an organized cabal of "gangsters".

The current gangsters want a new library.

Fen said...

Reading stories like those is filling your mind with poison.

Correct. Trump has not been proven guilty of anything, but people will still "feel" he is associated with something corrupt and not legitimately elected. That was the entire point. It's why our troll are always accusing Trump of Mumble Mumble Something Mumble. They know people will develop a subconscious suspicion of Trump if they keep slandering him.

tim in vermont said...

Huma Abedin, a top aide to presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, revealed in a deposition last week that her boss destroyed her schedule as secretary of state on more than one occasion.

...

“If there was a schedule that was created that was her Secretary of State daily schedule, and a copy of that was then put in the burn bag, that ... that certainly happened on ... on more than one occasion,”

...

“I’ve never seen anyone put their schedule in the burn bag – because every one of them had a state.gov email address and therefore their daily schedules became public records, as required by law,” Richard Grenell, former diplomat and US spokesman at the United Nations, told the Post.

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/0705/Did-Hillary-Clinton-violate-protocol-by-using-burn-bags

It’s funny that the summary describes these “public records” as “private documents” and implies that the only violation was using burn bags improperly.

It’s helpful to keep in mind that the Clintons made 50 million dollars in various fees and honoraria during the four years she was SoS and these records she illegally destroyed may have shed light on that. But it’s Trump running the criminal enterprise!

Fen said...

“If you look at the obstruction that Trump, I think, clearly committed"

Assertive terms like "clearly" and "obviously" are always a good tell you are dealing with someone who is deliberately lying.

Instead of detailing WHAT EXACTLY Trump did that was wrong, they will instead assert without evidence that it's "clear as day" or "obvious" Trump did wrong.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

`"Let me tell you: You take on the intelligence community — they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Tuesday evening on MSNBC after host Rachel Maddow informed him that intelligence sources told NBC news that the briefing had not been delayed.`

Rachel didn't seem to be alarmed at all by the fact that a senior senator was asserting that the intelligence community was willing to subvert the constitution in order to impose its will on elected office holders.

gilbar said...

Comey is in the news today, saying:
"What would you have the FBI DO? Accept a democratically elected President that we personally despise?"

rehajm said...

Seems like that feeling was preset in the last presidential cycle. Not articulated.

Matt Sablan said...

I mean, why would Maddow be surprised by that after last week or so we learned they were willing to spy on Trump? It's not a shocking revelation.

Humperdink said...

Pauline Kael needs her own statue.

Shouting Thomas said...

Althouse, a Marxist feminist obsessed with gay men and identity politics, found Trump weird!

I've often wondered what in the hell happens to people when they are confined to a campus for decades. They almost uniformly become obsessed with Althouse's weird shit

Anybody who reads (or even knows about) Camille Paglia is a weirdo. Normal people aren't interested in that shit.

Henry said...

Shouting Thomas, you really are playing the Max Boot role in this thread.

tim in vermont said...

(a) Whoever willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, or destroys, or attempts to do so, or, with intent to do so takes and carries away any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2071

Lock her up!

tim in vermont said...

Snopes says that the claim that she is guilty is “mostly false” without looking at Huma’s deposition, BTW.

Browndog said...

Sometimes one must remind one's self that we are a half year away from a full year away from the election.

Getting sucked into Presidential candidates and polls this early is such a waste of thought and energy. The press drives the perpetual election. The here and now of daily life is merely a distraction from what's really important--The upcoming election.

Yes, I'm speaking for myself.

tim in vermont said...

I wonder whether it would have been “obstruction” for Trump to have deleted 30K emails under subpoena? Or would they let him off if he said they were about yoga lessons and grandkids?

D 2 said...

You are at a social gathering in 2019. It doesn't matter if it's neighbours at a BBQ, a farewell dinner for a coworker, the kids soccer team at the pizza place. What is the one thing you know will happen?

The usual suspects will start to go on. No facts, no linkages, just attributions, generally. Because making what is generally a poisonous negative comment - right when people were talking about the goalie's big save, or Donna's funny experience with company X back in 2009, or the slippery type of mustard jar they now have - it doesn't matter, it's a way of positioning everyone to comply with you.

Do they not see how tiresome it is? How less likely someone will take your comments as being valid, when it's the same over and over and over and over and over. I have wondered if I could ever carry off saying "Wait. Who is the President now? Sorry, I haven't really been following national politics. I'm way too invested in soccer fundraising these days"

Xmas said...

JackWayne,

Trump is weird but not in a weird way. He's a self-promoting real estate mogul. He is a brand name and he knows it. So his speech and actions involve a lot of brand sales pitch. So sometimes he is oddly out of place in situations where people expect a more muted presidential character. That is weird.

He is also hustling around while working multiple deals and negotiations. He is not giving anyone room to breath and figure out a counter strategy to stop his agenda (or even figure it out). If something fails he just rolls on to the next thing with a couple of snipes at the person that caused the failure. If something succeeds, he shouts it from the twittertop and thanks everyone that made it happen. We haven't had a president that publicly acted that way before, which is weird. This stuff happened in secret and the scorn or praise of the president came in oblique comments, leaked memos and "accidental" hot mic asides.

In short, Trump is weird, but that is who he is and what we expected.

Shouting Thomas said...

When Trump first announced for president, I thought: "For Christ's sake, a normal guy is running."

Trump loves beautiful pussy, he like to build big things, he loves normal America and he speaks the blunt truth without measuring his words by the standards PC.

How in the hell did this become defined as weird by the likes of Althouse?

Gk1 said...

I live in the bay area and I see a certain ennui that has set in just like when GW Bush was re-elected. Only this time I don't think even they believe their own bullshit about Trump. My lefty acquaintances Facebook feeds have all slowed to a trickle after Barr's summary of the Mueller report. They gleefully exchanged the latest "bombshell" month after month and would bait me with "new evidence" Trump was a goner. Now? Nada. This lack of postings had to have mirrored the drop of ratings at CNN and Rachel Maddow. Even the ones that are still clinging to "obstruction", are slowly drifting away to brighter topics like their children's graduations or planned summer trips. Its true that politics have replaced sports in many people's imagination. And it's also demonstrably true it's no fun to sit through a losing season with no end in sight.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

I mean, why would Maddow be surprised by that after last week or so we learned they were willing to spy on Trump? It's not a shocking revelation.

That exchange was a couple of years ago, and I didn't say she should be shocked, the word I used was alarmed. She presents herself as a neutral journalist trying to hold the government accountable. I would have had follow up questions.

"Senator, are you saying that the intelligence community would employ dirty tricks in order to impose its will on the President!?"

"What tactics might they employ?"

"Has this sort of thing been done before?"

"Have they ever tried to influence you using such tactics?"

"Shouldn't you hold hearings on this in order to establish if it is an ongoing pattern of behavior?"

Bob Boyd said...

Imagine that you live in a town that has been taken over by gangsters. The mayor is a crook and so are the district attorney and police chief. You can't fight city hall.

But at least you know you can elect a new mayor who will then have to fight the rampant corruption.
Of course the corrupt district attorney and chief of police aren't just going to surrender the town, admit they are crooks and allow themselves to be led off to jail. The election is just the beginning. The final outcome is far from certain there in your town. But your town is worth fighting for.

Mr. Forward said...

"Murder on the Disorient Express"
featuring the entire cast from the Democratic primaries.
Kamala Harris as the Prosecutor with a secret past
Corey Booker as the conductor on a train to nowhere
Introducing Beto the clown
Mayor Pete as the switchman
Sleepy Joe Biden plays the Pullman Porter
Elizabeth Warren attacks the train
Tulsi Gabbard buys a ticket home
Bernie Sanders misses his stop
with a special guest appearance by
Donald Trump as "The Engineer"

Bay Area Guy said...

Here's a short interview of attorney John Dowd, a seasoned DOJ professional, who was part of Trump's legal team, ripping to shreds Mueller and his bloated bullshit Book Report.

Kevin said...

The craziest thing Trump has done to people like Chuck and Inga is to profess his innocence.

All of this begins with the presumption of guilt and is followed by the unending and unchecked desire to prove themselves right.

h said...

I'm becoming increasingly bothered by Democrat behavior because it is now clear that all of this "investigation" "testimony" stuff is just a dishonest pretense. Starting on Nov. 9, 2016, Democrats have regarded Trump as an illegitimate President. And every action since then has been to keep him from serving his full term: remember trying to persuade the Green candidate to sue in certain states? or trying to persuade electoral college electors to vote against Trump? And then Stormy and Russia collusion and emoluments clause and taxes and obstruction. None of the efforts have proceeded like this: "Here's evidence that Trump did something wrong, therefore he is unsuited for office." All of the efforts have proceeded like this: "Trump is unsuited for office; let's keep digging until we have a basis for removal." I don't believe that this is a good way for our governance to function, and I'm this close to deciding I won't vote for a Democrat of any stripe in any election in 2020.

n.n said...

Trial by press is antithetical to the spirit of America.

Shouting Thomas said...

32 states passed anti-gay marriage referenda, Althouse.

Your pals in corporate law forced gay marriage on the electoral by judicial fiat.

You ought to get out every once in a while to find out who’s really weird.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Danno said...

Bay Area Guy said ..." Max Boot - OhmyGod! The last clueless #Nevertrumper. Who still reads this moron?

Not me. I will accept Ann's take on this story and I refuse to give this clown any clicks. I had never heard of him until his name popped up on articles and blogs that were discussing TDS.

n.n said...

How in the hell did this become defined as weird

Trump spoke of the dark underbelly of social liberalism, in private, no less. How utterly urbane, but again against the rules.

Big Mike said...

Imagine that you live in a town that has been taken over by gangsters. The mayor is a crook and so are the district attorney and police chief. You can't fight city hall. But at least you know you can turn for help to the state or federal government.

There are whole states like that — New York, Maryland, every state that borders the Pacific Ocean, and since the election of Terry McAuliffe and subsequent election of his protege Ralph Northam, my own state of Virginia. Who will help us if not Donald Trump?

tim in vermont said...

I had never heard of him until his name popped up on articles and blogs that were discussing TDS.

You didn’t hear him cheerleading for the Iraq war and the deposition of Kaddaffy? He was almost as loud as Hillary!

donald said...

Trump is weird, has been weird to this redneck all my adult life. Turns out, and I never saw this coming, he’s the best president of my lifetime. Ya don’t gotta be a girl Marxist to know that. Crimies.

Bob Boyd said...

Does anyone know if its true Max Boot changed his name from Douchenozzle McShitestayne III?

Because I've heard that. Not sure its true. It could just be a well-deserved ad hominum attack.

David Begley said...

It is all so tiresome.

Jersey Fled said...

H:

You forgot 25th Amendment.

MountainMan said...

I tend to get up early each day and watch Maria Bartiromo from 6:00-9:00 in the morning on Fox Business since it is the best news program on television. Other than that, my wife and I have just about quit watching news altogether. Especially since we cancelled cable and went entirely to streaming and my wife finally fooled around with the Apple TV enough to learn she could biast out all her favorite music playlists through our home theater system using it. She used to keep Fox News on all day. But even she, who was pretty non-political until the Kavanaugh hearings, has had about all she can take. The music is a nice alternative.

JAORE said...



I'm this close to deciding I won't vote for a Democrat of any stripe in any election in 2020.

I beat you to this by about four years. I've voted for both parties in elections, including Governor, Senator, Representative and, of course, President.

But the left has gone MAD in the ugliest, power-hungry way possible.

Until a Democrat of some importance stands up and proclaims, "At long last have we no decency?", I'll never pull the lever for a D again.

Otto said...

"I've voted for Democrats and Republicans." - you are being deceptive. You are a progressive liberal and you overwhelmingly vote left.
" my main problem with him was that he was too weird. " - You voted for Jill Stein.
"It's a lot less weird than I was afraid of " - As usual Trump wins!
Note Ann, law professor and smart feminist, never talks about issues and platform but just silly things like "he is weird". Typical women voter.
Now having said that i think we have a problem with our mass media. Either they are left , hard left, right or hard right. That does not bode well for America.

Michael K said...

If you think ours Chuck is crazy with TDS, I stopped by Patterico the other day to see if the fever broke yet.

I'm banned, of course. The only other blogs that banned me were far left ones.

Patrick is a Los Angeles Country prosecutor which worries me just a bit.

By the way,. Max Boot was born in Russia. Just sayin.

narciso said...

So a Mueller minion figliuzzi who of course wont refer to his boss receiving a payoff from banamex, acquired by Citibank which paid a piddling 100 million fine for money laundering

Lucien said...

What’s interesting is how little President Trump seems to be focused on getting revenge against Secretary Clinton. With all the talk in the press about how impulsive and childlike he is, you’d think he would be obsessed with “Lock Her Up.” But no — it’s almost as if he is focused on the real major objectives of his administration.

Weird huh?

bgates said...

Imagine that you live in a town that has been taken over by gangsters. The mayor is a crook and so are the district attorney and police chief.

Like they say Chicago used to be, before straight shooters like Rahm Emanuel and Kimberly Foxx took over.

narciso said...

Ah raw story, you know who's affiliated with that outfit the cult leader and mad bomber, who had his minions attack the afore mentioned prosecutors family. Talk about irony, whose associate cody Shearer's was a middleman for the second dossier

Otto said...

"Weird" - i am afraid of a dominant male with a lot of brass, who is a bully and seems dead set on getting his way - a roaring lion. I am comfortable with foxes. After all wily, is how i operate.

Lucien said...

The Chinese must be laughing themselves silly over how much the left and the press are tying themselves into knots arguing that Russia is enemy numero uno of the US, just out of hatred for President Trump. In fact the left is probably rooting against the US in trade negotiations with China, since that would boost the financial markets and real economy under Trump.

In all of this: Cui bono?

narciso said...

Well you see how an ostensibly center right regime pursues Williamson because he revealed how the regime is willing to open up it's more secure infospace to a Chinese front (hiawei)

FleetUSA said...

@MountainMan. Yes, Maria Bartiromo is the best news presenter in the nation now. Great interviews.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Your swing state is not that important. It's a hell of a lot less important than any of the others. And you need to grow up with your fascist anti-weirdness aesthetic/fetish - whatever that is. This is not about a matter of taste. If it were then it would be interesting to know where you went with your Republicans when they wrote that very weird Starr Report.

It's increasingly clear that you are trying to revive the old Nixonian myth that whatever the president decides to do is legal by definition. Max Boot grew up in a weirder kleptocracy than the one governed by Daily Ham Sandwich Scott Walker. I think he knows what he's talking about. You just view Trump's administration of office as an exercise in creative expression, with no rules, obligations or duties that surround it. That's weird. It's like something Lewis Carroll could have written. I know it's true because you refuse to offer or define any legal limits for his behavior or office.

Maybe the weirdos of Wisconsin like things that way but I know that those of us outside of the beer and cheesehead belt see right through it. President Gameshow Host is full of shit, a lunatic. And and only a fool would see a detractor of his as automatically "weirder" than he is.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Anyway, how's this for weirdness?

"Obama is at the DNC speaking in front of Greek columns and the shiny wax around his ear is a hearing aid!"

Pretty weird.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Until a Democrat of some importance stands up and proclaims, "At long last have we no decency?", I'll never pull the lever for a D again.

Hahahahhahahaha. Trump's peccadilloes and government-by-tantrum as a display of "decency!" That's hilarious.

Keep it up, Republicronies.

narciso said...

Yes under summers and schriever and Sachs they turned over the entire Russian economy to the ministry heads who became oligarchs and security men who became ailoviki.

tim in vermont said...

Using the CIA, NSA, FBI, FEC, and IRS against your political opponents, not to mention other members of the “Five Eyes." Not fascism.
Mean tweets? Fascism.

But then shamelessness is their only defense and Ritmo knows it well.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

32 states passed anti-gay marriage referenda, Althouse.

Your pals in corporate law forced gay marriage on the electoral by judicial fiat.

You ought to get out every once in a while to find out who’s really weird.


Hey dude. If you don't want to marry your gay boyfriend, don't marry your gay boyfriend.

No one's forcing you to marry in your own gay way. Dictating what other people should or shouldn't do is what's weird. We're not yet as weird as your buddies in the Vatican, either. And never will be.

2/3rds of Americans support a homosexual American's right to marry their spouse. They don't feel they'll get "gay cooties" by doing so. Any referenda you're talking about (and I doubt all are current) were the result of outsized spending by special "interest" groups who are well-financed and especially "interested" in what gay people do sexually, just like you are. But they are not culturally dominant, and increasingly unpopular over time. Get over it.

tim in vermont said...

You know what is an interesting study in croneyism? The story of how Terry McAulliff got so fucking rich.

narciso said...

Strobe talbott was all in favor 9f that, as he had the ear of the nomenclatura in the 80s, having made his career on the strength of KGB fixer victor louis

tim in vermont said...

You know what an interesting study in croneyism is, the story of how Putin gained control of so much North American uranium.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Using the CIA, NSA, FBI, FEC, and IRS against your political opponents, not to mention other members of the “Five Eyes." Not fascism.

This is fucking absurd. You are basically saying that any American has a right to lawless evasion of those agencies' duties so long as that American defines himself as a "political opponent" of whomever's running them. Nonsense.

Go back to threatening to jail Hillary Clinton for a supposed crime that she was never prosecuted for.

stevew said...

The lead article in my morning NYT email today came with this headline: "Trump Says He Discussed the ‘Russian Hoax’ in a Phone Call With Putin"

I only read the first few paragraphs of the article but they were a pretty straight reporting of the facts of the conversation between Trump and Putin, and Trump's description of it in a Q&A with the press.

Then I clicked over to the article comments. Whoa Nelly!

The top rated comment begins with this: "One of the most helpful things to know in trying to get inside President Trump’s head is that he can never, ever, be shamed in even the smallest way. And although he gloried in claiming, untruthfully, that the Mueller report verified that there was “no collusion” between his campaign and the Russians, there’s a huge reason why he continues to be so fixated on the report. The reason is the report documents in great detail how hard the Russians worked to get him elected, and to enable his razor-thin victory. Talk about shame!"

Then another top rated comment makes this assertion: "I would hope that the President of the United States would "take care" that the laws of the United States were faithfully executed. An FBI report saying that there was substantial Russian interference in an federal election, including multiple criminal indictments and guilty pleas, is a call to arms. When GOP talks about "rule of law" and "financial responsibility", let's remember that it's a snow job."

This one appears on the top rated page too: "Does the Republican Party need any more evidence that the White House has been effectively co-opted by the Russians? Our intelligence agencies and a 22 month long special committee have verified that Russians actively interfered with the 2016 elections. Now the President openly reveals a recent call with Putin discussing the "Russian Hoax". It seems to me that the only hoax occurring is one being played on the American people by the man in the White House."

I proceeded to look for but couldn't find any reference to Secretary of State Clinton's infamous Russia "Reset" campaign. No mention of Obama's "I'll have more flexibility after the election" comment or "The 80's called and they want their foreign policy back". Steele dossier? Doesn't seem to exist for the commenters. The DNC's request to Ukraine for help digging up dirt on Trump - apparently they've never heard of it. And no one wondering why it is that the Obama Administration, that knew about the Russian interference efforts, did nothing.

There are 1872 comments on the article and I didn't read them all so maybe someone somewhere did note these things. I couldn't find them and couldn't be bothered looking much further.

tim in vermont said...

But little miss can’t be wrong has shown up. It’s just as well. It looks like I can squeeze in a little golf this afternoon.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

You know what is an interesting study in croneyism? The story of how Terry McAulliff got so fucking rich.

Oh boy. Never try to out-compete the tinfoil hat-wearing right-wing when it comes to conspiracy theories. Then they'll institute investigation masturbation.

There's no end to what they'll investigate, since they'll believe anything.

Apparently the earth's atmosphere engaged in a conspiracy to be intimately influential on its climate - just as is the case on any other planet in the galaxy. Investigate that, science-denier.

narciso said...

No they are looking at their favorite squirrel, Putin saw what happened in eastern Syria with his merc platoon, he doesn't want the same thing to happen in the western hemisphere.

tim in vermont said...

Go back to threatening to jail Hillary Clinton for a supposed crime that she was never prosecuted for.

I leave it to you to explain the difference between “gross negligence,” a crime, and “extreme carelessness” is? “She’s just a girl and can’t be expected to know the law” is not a valid answer. It’s pretty clear that in your mine, something is only “criminal” if it somehow harms the Democrats. Like I said, shameless.

tim in vermont said...

You would have frog marched Trump off to jail on far less evidence, and you know it.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

But little miss can’t be wrong has shown up. It’s just as well. It looks like I can squeeze in a little golf this afternoon.

What a baby. I proved you wrong by showing that you want President Blonde Toupee to be immunized from the law as exercised by anyone you call his "political opponents" and so you did what Republicans always do and picked your marbles up and went home. Go cry to your caddie about it, baby.

narciso said...

It was another hack of the ecru that revealed the fraud that Michael mann promulgated re heat islands, hiding the declines etc.

narciso said...

While Obama sent #hashtags and food rations to the Ukrainians, we've provided javelin missiles,

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I leave it to you to explain the difference between “gross negligence,” a crime, and “extreme carelessness” is?

No need to "leave it to me." I left it to the prosecutor authorized to pursue it. If you don't like that then go explain it to another prosecutor. Or become a prosecutor yourself, you mob-rule beerhall butt-bro.

Go back to watching FOX and entertaining conspiracy theories that no one would elect or appoint you to explain to a competent judge. You'd be embarrassed out of court. The only reason you do not know this is because you have the civics instincts of Atilla the Hun.

narciso said...

Which I don't really think is that wise, it's probably likely to end up in the hands of Chechen rebels,

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

When Trump first announced for president, I thought: "For Christ's sake, a normal guy is running."

Trump loves beautiful pussy, he like to build big things, he loves normal America and he speaks the blunt truth without measuring his words by the standards PC.


The only big thing Trump ever built was his combover. The rest of it he just put his name on.

That's not American, unless by "American" you mean taking credit for things you didn't do. Like inheriting the money he used to pay for the pussy that he then paid off his lawyer to pay her with, so she could then pretend that he didn't pay her for it in the first place.

Totally normal.

narciso said...

Like the attorney who represented wiiliam Jeffersons for his Nigerian bribes(jackson) the one married to the supervisor of the Enron task force (freidrich) the one who denied the victims of Benghazi (howell)

bagoh20 said...

It's pretty obvious to most of us in here how crazy and dishonest the Democrats have become, yet half the nation is still gonna vote for one no matter which one or how crazy that one is. Unless 2020 is a landslide in Trump's favor, I'm gonna be highly disappointed in my fellow Americans. I will have to assume half my nation is batshit crazy and dumb as a bag of hammers. The choice has never been clearer in my lifetime.

bagoh20 said...

Even if everything the Dems are charging Trump with were true, that would just make him a standard establishment politician like a Clinton or Obama, but with a fantastic record of success in his first term. Still an easy choice.

Rusty said...

ritmos off his meds. Or on drugs. Either or. Foolish people say foolish things.

narciso said...

That's just a day in y for him.

Seeing Red said...

Trump has a big personality. He’s a schmoozer. He’s direct. You’re not used to that because of the atmosphere of your collegial chosen profession.

Sometimes you can’t govern by committee. We aren’t the EU. We are American. HE is American.

Earnest Prole said...

Speaking of weird, there’s some guy named Max Boot and he’s the one calling someone else a fascist?

Seeing Red said...

Trump seems to be like the Energizer Bunny.

DC loathes that. They actually have to work and get things done.

Seeing Red said...

That's not American, unless by "American" you mean taking credit for things you didn't do.

Haven’t most presidents taken credit for policies of their predecessors that actually got things working?

Obama believes (and his minions) his policies set this growth up. It’s mostly a lie, but what can you do? Obama was if the new normal 2%.

Molly said...

(eaglebeak)

Trump's weird turns out to be a very useful kind of weird.

The Dems, on the other hand (and the Never Trumpers, and the media) -- their kind of weird is a glazed-eyed, staggering-zombie kind of weird that's totally UNREACHABLE and therefore terrifying.

In June 2015 I said, "Trump doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell."

In July 2015 I said, "Hey, what he just said makes sense."

In August 2015 I said, "He could win."

And for all the months thereafter: "He'd better win. He HAS to win."

Pianoman said...

The Dems are going further to the left, and you're not a Leftist.

It's interesting to see the tone of your posts on the Deep State's attempt to reverse 2016. You're gradually becoming repulsed by their efforts.

I remember reading somewhere that the electorate is roughly divided into fifths: Hard Left, Left, Center, Right, Hard Right. The question is whether the Center will be completely repulsed by the Dems in 2020, or whether Pelosi/Schumer are able to prevent their party from completely splitting in half.

IMHO, a lot is going to depend on how the Dems handle superdelegates in the primary run up. If they ice out Bernie again, the Bernie Bros might defect to Trump out of rage.

Greg Hlatky said...

The Left and NeverTrumpers are carrying around a dead baby, wishing desperately that it was alive. No wonder they're nuts.

tim in vermont said...

Intercept from my cell phone just in: “I can’t play golf, I have to get some guy who has his head so far up his ass that his shoulders have disappeared to admit he’s wrong on the internet!”

Just kidding, buddies are on their way. I just want to register my extreme surprise that Ritmo has fallen in with a war monger like Max Boot, but TDS makes strange bedfellows!

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Trump may be a cartoon character, but he seems to know it.

Trump knows it likes Bugs Bunny knows it when he gets Daffy to tell Elmer "I demand you shoot me now!", or points down when Elmer is standing in the air off the edge of a cliff..

It's ok though because eventually the Dems will see through it and get Elmer to wait till he gets home to shoot them..

Yancey Ward said...

If you want a vision of the future, imagine Max Boot preaching in your face - forever.

Pianoman said...

Oy vey, Ritmo is dropping turds in the punchbowl again. I thought AA was moderating these threads ...

Pianoman said...

Funny how Ritmo stopped using the "Pee Pee Tapes" moniker. Wonder why that is?

"We have always been at war with Eastasia"

BUMBLE BEE said...

For all the fury, I thought Max was describing Chicago. Apt analysis at that.

JDB said...

You don't think This is weird? "Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the (Trump) Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities." Mueller Report Vol. 1, pp. 1-2

This is well beyond weird, as are Trump's refusal to acknowledge the Russian election attacks (which led to dozens of Putin operative indictments); and his apparent willingness to let Putin set US foreign policy in Venezuela.(Putin says get off that plane Mr. Maduro! Trump says, okay, boss, let's joke about the hoax!)

narciso said...

well rt head Mikhail lesin was living in dc, presumably under bureau protection in 2015, yet the administration softpedaled his death, much like the Roosevelt administration did re general krivitsky in 1943, that's what brought chambers out of the cold,

bagoh20 said...

"Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome,"

I'd like to see the evidence for that, becuase it's not logical that they would think that, especially considering how willing Obama and the Clintons were to work with them, and let them have their way for the eight preceding years. Few things were as valuable to the Russians as Democratic Presidents restricting oil drilling and transport. That alone would make any Democrat a far better choice for the Russians.

narciso said...

they are going by the unconfirmed crowdstrike attributions, the matter still under investigation, of course the expelled Russian diplomats had nothing to do with that matter,

but we have the example of a murdered Russian defector in dc, and that is barely an inconvenience,

Robin Goodfellow said...

[W]hen Donald Trump was running for President, my main problem with him was that he was too weird. Now, he's President, and I can see what he is as President. It's a lot less weird than I was afraid of and his opponents seem bent on out-weirding him.

Trump was an imperfect candidate. I voted for him, but I was certain that Hillary would win.

With a solid track record of executive achievements, I think the democrats will have a hard time fielding a candidate who can beat him in 2020.

narciso said...

the joint intelligence assessment was mostly a promotional piece for rt, and to a lesser extent, prigozhin's concord catering, you know how hard it is to stand out in a city with 300 oligarchs, now james grady in his last offering, actually took the dossier seriously,

Gospace said...

5/4/19, 7:48 AM
Blogger Bob Boyd said...
Imagine that you live in a town that has been taken over by gangsters. The mayor is a crook and so are the district attorney and police chief. You can't fight city hall.


Battle of Athens 1946 was the last successful armed rebellion in the United States. That we know of.

When does advocating an armed overthrow of government, local or national, go from being crackpot crazy to the right thing to do?

I'm satisfied with my local and county government, not so much with state government since Reynolds vs Sims ensures that NY State is a wholly owned subsidiary of NYC.

Gospace said...

Crime Syndicate said...
32 states passed anti-gay marriage referenda, Althouse.

Your pals in corporate law forced gay marriage on the electoral by judicial fiat.

You ought to get out every once in a while to find out who’s really weird.

Hey dude. If you don't want to marry your gay boyfriend, don't marry your gay boyfriend.

No one's forcing you to marry in your own gay way. Dictating what other people should or shouldn't do is what's weird. We're not yet as weird as your buddies in the Vatican, either. And never will be.

2/3rds of Americans support a homosexual American's right to marry their spouse. They don't feel they'll get "gay cooties" by doing so. Any referenda you're talking about (and I doubt all are current) were the result of outsized spending by special "interest" groups who are well-financed and especially "interested" in what gay people do sexually, just like you are. But they are not culturally dominant, and increasingly unpopular over time. Get over it.


There you go, believing polls instead of actual votes. And spreading lies to boot. The oversized outside spending done on all those passed referendas was done by pro-homosexual interests who have an intense fascination with what homosexuals do sexually. I know enough about what they do to be disgusted by it. And I don't delve deeply into it to know all the fine details, and a avoid gay pride events where their behavior is rubbed into people's faces.

Just to let you know, polls show Hillary Clinton is president....

rcocean said...

Max Boot, Jennifer Rubin, Bill Kristol, Michael Gerson are simply unreadable. I have no idea why ANYONE would care what they have to say about Trump. Their hatred is so over-the-top and has little to do with reality.

People need to remember these traitors and not let them flip flop back into the conservative fold.

Michael K said...

I know enough about what they do to be disgusted by it. And I don't delve deeply into it to know all the fine details,

The California thing was despicable. Prop 8 passed with about 60% of the vote. The gay federal judge ruled it unconstitutional and then married his gay lover. Jerry Brown was AG and declined to appeal. The gay mafia searched out anyone who had donated to the Prop 8 campaign and attacked them. Brenden Eich was able to afford being fired (From the company he founded). The waitresses in Mexican restaurants could not.

It got really ugly.

narciso said...

so max hastings has another voluminous tome on Vietnam, which covers the whole interval, not just lansdales first 15 years, or moyar's shorter time horizon, but the first two don't cite moyar, nor apparently much of the archives from Russian and Vietnamese sources.

Yancey Ward said...

JDB,

I invite you to look up "begging the question". You need a proper education.

Spaceman said...

Memorandum is a great site to see a healthy cross-section of the day's Trump whacking news articles. WaPo and the NYT consistently lead the pack everyday.

You can also watch the first 10 minutes of CNN at the beginning of any hour and see what they are reporting on for the entire day. A real time saver. Hint - it's Trump bashing everyday, At least Fox reports on other topics than Trump.

Martin said...

Frankly, Trump is now a lot less weird than many of those who are opposed to him.

He is goofy, they are deranged. Those two columns that Althouse linked are beyond even parody. And anybody who would read them and take them seriously is, him-/herself, in serious need of help.

Lee Moore said...

Althouse : And let me say that when Donald Trump was running for President, my main problem with him was that he was too weird. Now, he's President, and I can see what he is as President. It's a lot less weird than I was afraid of and his opponents seem bent on out-weirding him.

The next stage is when you come to realise that Trump's weirdness is necessary, by which I do not mean that it's admirable, but that a normal person has his limit for c**p being thrown at his head. (They broke Palin, who started out as fairly normal.) Whereas Trump enjoys c**p throwing competitions. That's weird. But necessary. Sure it offends some polite folk in suburbia, but the trouble is - if you limit yourself to what is acceptable to polite folk in suburbia, you lose - you can't be on defense all the time. You have to have an offense. Jeb, Ryan, Romney, Rubio are hopeless - they're all defense.


These days, to survive as a Republican President who's actually going to do something rather than surrender, you need a very thick coating of narcissism and bouncing self confidence. Trump hasn't got a thick coating of narcissicism and bouncing self confidence. That's no coating - that's who he is all the way down. Which is weird. But he's a mean c**p thrower.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

you can't be on defense all the time. You have to have an offense. Jeb, Ryan, Romney, Rubio are hopeless - they're all defense.

Back during the shutdown a local talk radio host was tut-tuting about Trump canceling Air Force support for a congressional junket for Pelosi and some other congress critters. How, he pontificated, does such an action bring us any closer to building a border wall.

Well, it increases moral on our side for one. And Trump recognizes that we are not in a reasoned debate. We are in a poo flinging contest. Being seen constantly in a defensive crouch is not how you win over public opinion.