October 1, 2019

“Were the collective nerve endings of the electorate not so frayed and numbed by now, we might be even more alive to the ugliness of this message from the White House.”

Writes David Remnick in “The Floodgates Open on Trump” (The New Yorker).

The “collective nerve endings” that matter are the nerve endings of Trump haters, and they are “frayed and numbed” and insufficiently “alive” because they’ve received so many “ugly” messages that they can’t feel the ugliness anymore. And yet supposedly, the ugliness has been dammed up. I guess the “dammed-up” image is useful (metaphorically) because it suggests a vast quantity of ugliness that hasn’t got out yet and so there’s potential, if the “floodgates” open, to batter the near-dead nerve endings and finally, at long last, get the reaction against Trump that Remnick is so sure he deserves.

The particular ugly message to which the collective nerve endings were insufficiently alive, was Trump’s reaction to Congressman Schiff’s satirical restatement of Trump’s Ukraine phone call:
“Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people. It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?”
Some of us in the electorate have nerve endings sensitive enough to have felt the ugliness of what Schiff did and we may have enjoyed Trump’s vigorous pushback, but Remnick (unsurprisingly) sees Trump as the ugly one here. Trump’s suggestion that Schiff be arrested for treason is over-the-top, but Schiff was stating false facts and relying on the people’s ability to hear and process satire and that’s the same cover Trump claims.

But, sure, it’s unseemly, by conventional standards, for the President of the United States, the head of the executive branch, to be speaking comically about the deployment of the prosecutorial power.

This post gets my “civility bullshit” tag, because Remnick is adamant that Trump should not be talking like that, but he gives Schiff a pass.

249 comments:

1 – 200 of 249   Newer›   Newest»
Rusty said...

Schiff happens.
(couldn't resist)

MountainMan said...

This voter's collective nerve endings are frayed but not because of Trump. It's because of the coup that has been underway since November, 2016. The Democrats are hell-bent on destroying our republic.

MayBee said...

I was just thinking about how they used to talk about Bush, and how much they hated him. Pink even wrote a song about how awful he was. One of the things they hated about Bush was Guantanamo. And now, I can't even think of the last time I heard about Gitmo. I think it was when Obama swore to close it down and move all the trials to the US, and imprison anybody whether or not they were found guilty. Anyway....Gitmo is still open, right? But we no longer hate presidents about it.

MountainMan said...

Sanity from Richard Epstein

Kevin said...

Impeachment is serious and we have to follow the facts, says Pelosi.

Here are lies about what the President said but it’s all just a joke, says Schiff.

Nothing to see here, says the media.

stevew said...

Call it TDS or whatever you want, folks like this are incapable of objective assessment of the President and his detractors & attackers. The things Trump does that send these people into fits do not rise to any level of concern or issue for me. Unseemly are the unhinged attacks on the President. If they can't understand the gravity of a senior Congressional official, Schiff, making up quotes (he calls it parody) of what the President said - which, if he said them, could very well be cause for impeachment - and delivering them during an official Congressional committee hearing, they I can't take their complaints seriously.

Civility Bullshit is exactly right.

rhhardin said...

Trump is talking like that because he wants the usual leftist reaction. He's fooling the left, not the people.

Ralph L said...

It won't bother me to see some Schiff get the Starr treatment.

rhhardin said...

The left goes for the stupid audience, Trump for the adults.

Kevin said...

Yet another article full of what it purports to bemoan.

“In case you don’t get it, here is yet another personal chronology of things Trump did that offend me”, is not the antidote to an overstimulated communications channel.

iowan2 said...

Yet again, more proof that President Trump responds to those attacking him. This does not happen in a vacuum.

The haters are all in a twist over the use of the word treason. Ignoring all the accusations hurled at the President(all proven wrong). The perpetual double standard of leftists.

KJE said...

I am tired. It’s early and I have to get my kid to school. He has a football game to play in tonight.

But I dutifully read the article and considered.

My conclusion:

Short of an actual high crime and misdemeanor, there is nothing that will keep me from casting another vote for Trump.

Because the alternative is one of the other Democratic candidates. And they road leads towards more gun control and socialist policies.

It also rewards the media, and they have no hesitation in distortion, misrepresentation or omission of fact. I can’t possibly reward that.

wendybar said...

Yeah, that good old MSM Propaganda floodgate is about to open. So sick of a one-sided blind Media.

David Begley said...

I looked back at Ann’s posts with the tag David Remnick. He’s a total political hack.

Professional lady said...

So many things that were judged to be totally outrageous when Trump first brought them up (such as his allegation regarding "wiretapping") have turned out to be true. I wonder.

henry said...

we are in the WWE taunting zone on all sides. No such thing as too over the top. I can't wait for Barr to break a chair over Schiff's head. (Not that I expect it, but it would entertain me).

Amadeus 48 said...

We are watching two different movies in this country. I walked out on the Dems' version at the time Comey white-washed Hillary.

Howard said...

Blogger rhhardin said...

The left goes for the stupid audience, Trump for the adults.


Fortunately, the Kids are Allright #millenialsvote

viator said...

The federal lawsuit by several high tax eastern states challenging the $10,000 cap on salt deductions was dismissed by a federal district judge yesterday. Big win for the Trumpster.

narciso said...

He wrote thr treeslaughter the bridge that would embarass procopius

Mike Sylwester said...

The New Yorker has funny cartoons.

rehajm said...

But, sure, it’s unseemly, by conventional standards,

It's unseemly by Victorian standards. Convention has been for politicians to attack, to accuse, to one up on the rhetoric. To ignore rule of law, to accuse your political opponent of that of which you are guilty. To practice lawfare.

The unseemly is asymmetric.

Laslo Spatula said...

The "treason" bit gets them to keep recirculating the Tweet, which is the only way that the media seems to print the issue of what Schiff did with his "parody".

Twitter Guerilla Warfare.

I am Laslo.

Temujin said...

Remnick is a remnant of an era when guys like him got a free pass to decree what we should think. Those days are done. As for Rep. Schiff- there are no words for my disgust with him. From his handling/perpetuating of the Russia hoax, to the embarrassing display of....creativity (was that what it was?) during his opening statement to the hearing last week. He knew that his clip would be what many (most?) Americans would take to the bank as being what Trump said.

His cynicism and disregard for how our system works enrages me. He is exactly the kind of toad that needs to be removed from congress.

Shouting Thomas said...

I've ceased reading anything in newspapers, except for Cubs baseball and Illini sports news.

Too many lies. The Democratic controlled press lies proudly and hysterically.

Why fill my head with lies?

Ray - SoCal said...

Journalist lives!

Agree on the civility bullshit.

Trump is forcing the media to cover the fact that Schiff lied. Very Alinsky! Make them live up to their own rules.

Shouting Thomas said...

I'm a strong Trump supporter, but even I am tiring of the constant shrieking that we're in some sort of crisis, and I'm ready to let it all go and find something better to do.

You might say that the lying, screeching scoundrels of the Democratic Party press have won a victory here.

They've exhausted me.

Ray - SoCal said...

Trump and his allies are pushing back, and their fire seems to be on target.

How you can tell is the use of civility bullshit.

Look how they are trying to deplatform Rudy Giuliani.

Temujin said...

I think Henry is right. We are definitely in the WWF zone. The people I know- my friends and family- run the political gamut. And to a person, they are all tired of the bullshit- civility or otherwise. Tired of watching the news. Tired of the stress of tiptoeing around conversations with neighbors, friends, and family.

We just don't do it any longer. I do it here. I get out my anger/frustrations here. But I'm finding peace again with my friends and family talking about, oh...anything else. And instead of getting all raged up at night watching talking heads go back and forth, I'm cranking through my list of books to read and loving it.

All that said, I think think there should not be a Dem elected for any office for 2 generations.

Hagar said...

Given the behavior of today's Democrats, how else would you speak of them but "comically"?

R C Belaire said...

@KJE: As in 2016, we'll be given a binary choice next year. At this point it's inconceivable that a better candidate than Trump will emerge from the Progressive Swamp. Trump is far from ideal, but there's that choice thing again...

R C Belaire said...

@KJE: As in 2016, we'll be given a binary choice next year. At this point it's inconceivable that a better candidate than Trump will emerge from the Progressive Swamp. Trump is far from ideal, but there's that choice thing again...

bflat879 said...

The Democrats have been trying to find something to impeach Trump on since 2016 and they're getting desperate. Once you make impeachment a frivolous act and meaningless, you lose all credibility. It's sort of like calling everyone a racist, after a while no one is a racist. When you holler impeachment for 3 years about everything, eventually nothing is impeachable.

The Democrats are going to pay this time. Trump will not go quietly, Senate Republicans, with the majority, will not allow the Democrats to get away with a show impeachment, but when the Barr investigations are over, Democrats are going to have to scramble and explain why they covered all this stuff up. They won't be able to say they didn't know about it.

Sebastian said...

The floodgates open? So, the Russia hoax coup and prog hatred since day one came through closed floodgates?

"This post gets my “civility bullshit” tag, because Remnick is adamant that Trump should not be talking like that, but he gives Schiff a pass."

So, Althouse, are you still "neutral"?

Browndog said...

The biggest problem with Sciff's opening statement is the fact it was carried live on all 3 broadcast networks. People that tuned in to watch their soap opera heard these horrible things Trump did before changing the channel.

It was a well planned, well executed dirty trick to sway polling in favor of impeachment.

Clearly, when the Mueller report failed, they went back to the drawing board and launched Operation Ukraine.

Ray - SoCal said...

This is sick...

Smart Move – Flynn Lawyer Tells Judge Motive Behind Why Flynn Took Guilty Plea…

Basically Flynn was threatened his son, with a newborn, would be indicted if he did not plead guilty.

And it looks like Flynn was under Fisa surveillance before the election.

Seems like the spying and set up against a Trump is much worse than commonly thought.

This Ukraine BS may be a spoiler attack against more info coming out on the operations against Trump, that seem to involve at a minimum multiple foreign countries including the U.K., Ukraine, Australia, and Italy. Turkey and Israel may also be involved.

rehajm said...

We are definitely in the WWF zone

It's WWE now. Wrestling lost a lawsuit to the World Wildlife Fund.

Now you know how WWF prefers to spend the donations...

Bay Area Guy said...

The Beta-Males at The New Yorker have their "collective nerves fraying" over Trump's pushback.

Poor things! Somebody give them a hug.

In the meantime, we understand that the bogus whistleblower has issued the bogus "Schiff Dossier" as the Steele Dossier 2.0. A buncha lawyerly breathless hearsay meant to sound like something happened somewhere. What's the deal with lawyers and the CIA?

Our friend Shouting Thomas may be exhausted, but that is temporary. Time to watch the World Series to recharge batteries. Then, Time for the next Clown Car Dem debate, the next IG Report, and then getting Hunter Biden, the ne'er do well under oath.

The beat goes on.

traditionalguy said...

As we watch Barr and Trump attack the foreign forces allied with Hillary and Obama in 2016, which is the reason for the Impeachment Blitzkreig, It is well to recall when the last days of Washington's Army withering away came down to its success in attacking a Foreign force of professional soldiers sent by the UK and its German allies to track down and kill them. That force's Commander had intelligence reports from the many locals loyal to the UK that Washington's men were coming, but he said bring them on so they could kill them.

That last gasp ended on the day after Christmas 1776 in hand to hand combat between Washington's Scots-Irish men and the UK's Hessians. Of course it was the Hessians that surrendered or were slaughtered.

Seeing Red said...

the proverbial broken glass. I will do it again.

chuck said...

I'm already bored with impeachment. If I judge by myself it is going to be a squib. There are rabid partisans who will pursue it with much shouting and pointing, but blah, seen it before. We will see.

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

Why not arrest Schitt for treason?

After all, the leftist lie machine, led by corrupt Hillary and her revenge deep state, are accusing Trump of what she herself is guilty of.

DarkHelmet said...

As KJE wrote: "Short of an actual high crime and misdemeanor, there is nothing that will keep me from casting another vote for Trump. Because the alternative is one of the other Democratic candidates. And they road leads towards more gun control and socialist policies. It also rewards the media, and they have no hesitation in distortion, misrepresentation or omission of fact. I can’t possibly reward that."

As for policy, the Dems have gone so far over the leftwing cliff that the Republican candidate would have to basically be a violent felon for me to choose not to vote for him.

As for political tactics, the way the Democrats behaved during the Kavanaugh debacle tells me I have to do everything I can to oppose them. It was perhaps the most shameful political episode I have ever witnesses. Since I'm a little too young to remember clearly the way Kennedy family allies got Teddy off after he killed a young woman.

Birkel said...

The phrase "false facts" is a poor one.
False things works.
False accusations.
False assertions.

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

The standard is that the entire corrupt democratic machine is allowed to be corrupt.

Any call-out of leftist democratic corruption "Is ugly."

DarkHelmet said...

Schiff should be impeached for gross misconduct in office. A treason conviction is probably a bridge too far.

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

It is funny when they refer to themselves as "the collective"

So true. Hivemind also works.

Mr. Forward said...

Funny cartoons have New Yorkers.

MayBee said...

At this point in Obama's presidency, Remnick had already written a hagiography about him. So soothing to our nerves!

Jamie said...

My husband and I argue all the time about who is winning the popular debate. He believes that the American people are moving toward impeachment because of all the spin and outright deceit; I believe that Trump's tweeting, which has created a direct line from the president to the virtual ears of the populace unknown since FDR's fireside chats, coupled with the fact that the media breathlessly report on his tweets (since not that many people are actually on Twitter anyway), redound to the president's benefit. Basically I'm optimistic and he's pessimistic.

I also believe that some of the movement toward impeachment in the polls (which he looks at and I don't) is attributable to people's saying, "Go ahead. I'll hold your beer."

gilbar said...

Were the collective nerve endings of the electorate not so frayed and numbed by now, we might be even more alive to the ugliness of this message from the White House.”
Writes David Remnick


David actually has a point. The Constant Attacks on The President of the United States, have left the public so frayed and numb; that they think Nothing of a person Opening lying, and pretending that The President say those Lies.
Heck; people are So used to it now, that a Life Long Republican could OPENLY call for the assassination of The President, and people wouldn't Even Notice. MAJOR media orgs, could be running 'comedy' shows, saying that "Impeachment is too slow" and no one would Even Notice .

MartyH said...

Schiff's got pranked by two Russian DJs claiming to be high ranking Ukranian officials with incriminating evidence on Trump. Why would he take that call? Isn't that foreign interference?

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

Hillary + Comey + Schitt + Strozk + Weinstein 2020

Corruption soup for president

Tom T. said...

Remnick is basically just saying that he's tired of hearing from people who disagree with him.

narciso said...

I remember reading remnick when he was covering russia in lenins tomb (when he was pollyanna) a nd resurrection (when it was falling apart)

Original Mike said...

About this time last year it was the Blassey Ford storm. It was so transparent what was happening there was no need to subject my nerve endings to it. Same thing this time.

Unclebiffy said...

Isn’t the current falderal we’re experiencing, in addition to an attempt to overturn an election, an effort to prevent or at least delegitimize the Justice Department’s investigation into the origins of the “Russian Collusion” investigations? I wonder why Democrats and the media feel so strongly about not allowing these findings to be made public? Why, if I didn’t know better I might consider this a coordinated effort to... what’s that term that I was hearing so much a few months ago but haven’t heard recently, obstruct what?

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

The corrupt Hillary-Maddow-Shcitt-show can lie themselves into impeachment.

Fake quotes, fake crimes, - *Maddow has Trump now!*

Tom Grey said...

And again, as usual, the FIRST ugliness, the first attack, is by the Dems against Trump.

Dems hate that Trump, a "Republican", is unwilling to accept their dishonest ugly attacks without some counter-words.

I thought lying to Congress was a crime - and wasn't that what Schiff was doing?

Seeing Red said...

i’m Part of the electorate, no one polled me. My nerves aren’t frayed or numbed. They’re more like, “there they go again.”

They choose to do it to themselves. Insanity.

Fernandinande said...

Trump has been toast so many times now
I don't know what he looks like

Seeing Red said...

But, sure, it’s unseemly, by conventional standards, for the President of the United States, the head of the executive branch, to be speaking comically about the deployment of the prosecutorial power.


It’s better than deploying the IRS like the previous occupant.

MBunge said...

Where was this concern when Ross Douthat was writing in the New York Times about removing Trump from office via the 25th Amendment?

Mike

Seeing Red said...

Via Lucianne:

Nancy Pelosi is neck deep in Ukraine politics. Her legislative aide, Ivanna Voronovych, is from the Ukraine and is connected to the Ukrainian Embassy, the Ukrainian military, the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian party life. Young Ivanna Voronovych was a party girl in the Ukraine and somehow managed to make her way into a position as a Legislative Aide to Nancy Pelosi – Young Voronovych started her career working at the US Embassy in the Ukraine in Kiev. She worked for Roman Woronowycz, the Kiev Bureau Chief, who is connected to Nancy Pelosi....

GRW3 said...

Just wait until team Trump refuses to come to the hearings scheduled in two weeks because the Queen of Hearts changed the rules so only Democrats get to participate.

I'm still hoping for Barr to do a version of the Wilford Brimley scene in Absence of Malice. He sort of looks the part.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

The “collective nerve endings” that matter are the nerve endings of Trump haters, and they are “frayed and numbed” and insufficiently “alive” because they’ve received so many “ugly” messages that they can’t feel the ugliness anymore. And yet supposedly, the ugliness has been dammed up. I guess the “dammed-up” image is useful (metaphorically) because it suggests a vast quantity of ugliness that hasn’t got out yet and so there’s potential, if the “floodgates” open, to batter the near-dead nerve endings and finally, at long last, get the reaction against Trump that Remnick is so sure he deserves.

Remnick is disingenuous. He tries to portray his Trump hating audience as overwhelmed by ugliness when in fact they have willingly overdosed on it.

LTC Ted said...

I am uncomfortable with the notion of "false facts", as in "... but Schiff was stating false facts..." Surely, if a proposition is false, it cannot be a fact. Perhaps, "... but Schiff was passing falsehoods as fact..." :: shrug ::

LTC Ted said...

I am uncomfortable with the notion of "false facts", as in "... but Schiff was stating false facts..." Surely, if a proposition is false, it cannot be a fact. Perhaps, "... but Schiff was passing falsehoods as fact..." :: shrug ::

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

There’s Nothing Impeachable In the Phone Calls.

Nothing. This is all Hillary-Deep State revenge porn. Her donors and insiders all want the big Hillary pay-off they were denied.

Ken B said...

He gives Weld a pass too.
He gives dozens of commenters over at Coyne's Place a pass. I have seen Trump executed for treason fantasies there since the election.
He gives himself a pass, since he never called out Weld.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Ray - SoCal said...
Look how they are trying to deplatform Rudy Giuliani.


Which nominal policy goal of Trump's do you think Giuliani is advancing?

Michael said...

Progressive...projection.

TrespassersW said...

For the entirety of my life, every president or presidential candidate with an R next to his name has been called Hitler, or worse. (That's just one data point. I have others.)

But Trump is "unseemly."

So are my middle fingers. Let me show them to you.

Mark said...

What did he have to say about William Weld saying that Trump should be executed?

Michael K said...

The Flynn case will break open the conspiracy, I hope, as we n ow have evidence that That Flynn was under a FISA warrant surveillance in January 2017 when his phone call was recorded. He was not "inadvertently recorded." He was under active surveillance.

How did they get a warrant ?

Also Rosenstein added Flynn's son to the FARA case to pressure him to plead. It worked but it may result in his case being dismissed in spite of the plea.

Background – As part of ongoing proceedings and consideration Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan had requested a status update about the ongoing cooperation of Michael Flynn in the trial of his former business partner Bijan Rafiekian. On September 24th Federal Judge Anthony J Trenga nullified the jury verdict against Rafiekian and tossed the case.

A related case was dismissed in spite of a jury verdict due to prosecutorial misconduct. Analogy to Ted Stevens.

Mark said...

Meanwhile, people were asking why the Dems seemed to be in such a breakneck hurry on this impeachment stuff.

The reason was that it did not allow time for people to think.

Pelosi's current plan to vote on impeachment "before the end of the year" seems then to be a strategic error. By next month or even next week, all the air will have come out of the balloon.

tim in vermont said...

I see they are going after Trump’s lawyer. That’s the same argument that Hillary made when Democrats were after Nixon, that Nixon should not have a lawyer.

Trump will be gone in a couple of years or six, these violations of our legal norms, use of the IRS, FBI, FEC, CIA, etc against political opponents will be with us forever. I don’t care what you think of Trump, you can’t believe in the rule of law, and the fundamental rights of the citizens of our republic if you think that things like abrogating attorney client privilege in the case of Cohen and now they are trying it with Giuliani, in the cause of ephemeral political gains for your side.

This is why Romney is a moron. They would use this against him, McCain, anybody not a member of The Party, and these will be the new rules from here on out. Trump has pulled back the curtain and they are full fledged panicking.

tim in vermont said...

ST, Just show up to vote.

Wince said...

Well, to begin with, Remnick has a lot of nerve.

Latest charge: Trump is meddling with our 'nerve endings'.

hombre said...

Looking at the bulk of of the journalists, aka mediaswine, there appear to be several possible explanations for their output, they are pied pipers of “unself-awareness” leading those similarly oblivious toward a national catastrophe, or they are vile, seditious assholes pursuing a tyrannical, one-Party system, or they are a combination of both.

I prefer the second alternative, but in the interest of my own self-awareness choose the third. Despite their incessant braying and that of their Democrat consorts the Trump-Zelensky transcript, the Whistleblower Complaint, the Biden tape and the DNC/Crowdstrike subterfuge, that is, the evidence, rules out the possibility that they are correct.

tim in vermont said...

Democrats are raising the volume because they do NOT want the source of the Russia hoax to come to light. It seems like for two years all the Democrats cared about was foreign interference into the 2016 election. Now it’s all "shut up!” because, as they most helpfully explained: “SHUT UP!”

I note that the President referred to Australia, the United Kingdom and the Ukraine as potential stakeholders. Moreover, I note that he has declassified intelligence material to support your investigation.

The Australian Government will use its best endeavors to support your efforts in this matter. While Australia’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, The Hon. Alexander Downer, is no longer employed by the government, we stand ready to provide you with all the relevant information to support your inquiries.


https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-letter-from-australian-official-emerges-that-casts-doubt-on-new-york-times-report/

This is all based on the Bill Clinton maxim that as long as you have your fist in your opponent’s mouth, he can’t use it to badmouth you.

Jimmy said...

The left, using fools like remnick, has been actively promoting mass insanity, and the violence that will follow. The support of antifa by the Dems-their support of racist totalitarians like AOC and the other two nimrods. The clear desire to install a socialist totalitarian state. They don't seem to realize what the end result will be. Or perhaps they do, but are too insulated from reality to understand how they too will be swept away. History has examples, but history isn't taught anymore.
It is clear to me, that the Dems are all in on destroying Trump. If they have to destroy the Constitution, and the Republic, to do so, they will. They are quite willing to throw away any self respect, any attempt to be a real journalist.
'beware the fury of patient men(and women)'. I really don't want to see that tested. But it seems that the entire Dem party, and the MSM, are all in on seeing if they can push it far enough to do just that.

hombre said...

Looking at the bulk of of the journalists, aka mediaswine, there appear to be several possible explanations for their output, they are pied pipers of “unself-awareness” leading those similarly oblivious toward a national catastrophe, or they are vile, seditious assholes pursuing a tyrannical, one-Party system, or they are a combination of both.

I prefer the second alternative, but in the interest of my own self-awareness choose the third. Despite their incessant braying and that of their Democrat consorts the Trump-Zelensky transcript, the Whistleblower Complaint, the Biden tape and the DNC/Crowdstrike subterfuge, that is, the evidence, rules out the possibility that they are correct.

Unknown said...

TDS is strong in that one...

Skeptical Voter said...

Ah R C Belaire, you can say that again---and you did.

I think one of the ugliest things in American political history was Hillary Clinton's immediate claim "the Russkis did it" on the early morning after her shocking (to her and the Democrat party) loss of the 2016 Presidential election. She set in train some truly vile passages in the swamp.

Since then The Trumpster has been playing road runner to the Dem's Wile E. Coyote. Meep meep!

Lance said...

...but Remnick (unsurprisingly) sees Trump as the ugly one here

Not sure what's meant by "unsurprisingly". Unsurprising because Remnick can be justified in thinking Trump's comment is ugly, or because Remnick is predisposed to perceive anything Trump says as ugly?

narayanan said...

The Floodgates Open on Trump - By David Remnick

Hillary Clinton calls Trump a 'corrupt human tornado' on Twitter

_______________

Trump could be used to generate Soylent Power and Energy

steve uhr said...

Nobody on this site was fooled by Schiff’s parody. But of course you are all much smarter than your typical voter.

Iman said...

Remnick, effete bullshit artist that he is and always has been, could be hit by a train tomorrow and the world would be better for it.

eric said...

He claimed after the fact that what he read was parody. You say satire.

He presents it as a paraphrase initially.

Suppose this is all a set up? Suppose the media knew beforehand about the WB report (as is indicated in the ICIG letter explaining why they changed their form, because of media inquiries) and Schiff and his allies never believed for a minute Trump would release the phone call or the report?

And suppose Schiff isn't very wise.

And finally, suppose he wrote his opening statement prior to Trump releasing these things.

Is it so difficult to believe that Schiff would want to represent that he somehow how inside information on the phone call, and want to get his lies out there before the truth got it's boots on?

I think this is what happened.

And Schiff how an "Oh shit!" Moment when he accidentally read his prepared opening statement that didn't get changed after Trump released everything. Unexpectedly.

tommyesq said...

...it’s unseemly, by conventional standards, for the President of the United States, the head of the executive branch, to be speaking comically about the deployment of the prosecutorial power

I don't recall the objections from the left when Obama, having been refused an honorary doctorate by Arizona State University, "joked" that "[ASU] President [Michael] Crowe and the Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS."

readering said...

Althouse repeatedly analyzes Trump through prism of he's just a funny New Yorker.

minnesota farm guy said...

Ann;

Great take-down! Civility bullshit, indeed!

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

corrupt,desperate, about to be exposed lefty pols using
"best defense is a good offense" tactic,
(but 'good' should be swapped out with 'anything, even the kitchen sink')
Schiff, Pelosi tied to Ukraine arms dealer, Biden et Fil over their heads in Ukraine and China corruption--

now what's this about a DoD auditor finding a Klobuchar campaign connected
(Pohlad?) defense contractor milking huge govt $$ ?

Mark O said...

It appears the Democrats have found their alternative to abolishing the Electoral College.

Narr said...

Civility Bullschiff? Schiffility Bullshit?

A month without the local rag. I bought one Sunday for the real estate transactions and obituaries.

Narr
And coupons

Assistant Village Idiot said...

The Trump opponents don't have dammed up anger. They're getting it out just fine, thanks. Keeping it in is what they should be working on.

MeatPopscicle1234 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jeff Brokaw said...

These geniuses crack me up with their complete lack of self-awareness: perhaps it’s YOU that is ugly and out of control.

They rage and shake their fist at the moon while other people are just going about their lives. What-EVER.

This is the kind of stupidity I removed from my life in 2016 when I disengaged from the media’s influence on me and my emotions.

DKWalser said...

Rep. Schiff violated House rules when he did what he did. (I'm relying on what former Representative Jason Chaffetz said this morning for my assertion that Schiff violated House rules.) Republicans in the House should fight fire with fire by filing an ethics complaint against Schiff.

bagoh20 said...

Trump is exclusively a counter puncher. I challenge any of these selective memory-impaired, pearl-clutching snowflakes to show me where Trump ever said anything as ugly as what has been thrown at him, or to show where he ever started it with anyone. He is always attacked first and ugliest. Hell, one Democrat representative is selling T-shirts calling him a "motherfucker"! A sworn United States Representative. So, suck it up snowflake, and look in the mirror.

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

Chuck excuses Schitt's deception.

Chuck - do you understand that Schitt(D) is in congress, and there are standards of conduct that apply.
Schitt's job is not late night TV host/parody con artist for congress.

Do you get that?

Yancey Ward said...

Here is the thing: Schiff basically lied in that opening statement, then tried to claim he was doing satire- but that claim is basically a lie, too, because he then went on to say this was just Trump saying one thing but meaning another, which is also a lie. Trump called this out, but the media as the left propaganda arm won't point out that Schiff wasn't actually reading from the phone transcript, so Trump adds the hyperbole to ensure they do repeat his tweet, or at least link to it so other people can see the rest of the tweet.

The final push, by the way, started yesterday to shut down Trump's twitter account, and I predict that by the end of October, Twitter will shut it down- the pressure on Dorsey is just too intense.

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

Isn't it odd that every single corruption accusation against the democratic left is met with
"that's a conspiracy."


Hunter Biden didn't really achieve multi-millionaire status from Ukraine energy company and politically build hedge fund connections from China. Nah - all a mirage!

IG: @DudeKembro said...

Schiff gave false facts lol Ann, are you really pretending to be outraged by this? You and the hypocrotical, morally bankrupt right are 100% sold out to Donald Trump, the King of False Facts, a scumbag, con artist, and pathological liar. Your column is one trick: whining, tantruming, and crying about Trump critics and trying to pretend you dislike him personally when the truth is you adore him. Because he represents what modern conservatives are: liars, vulgarians, phonies, bigots, and frauds who have so alienated increasing majorities of youth, women, ethnic minorities, educated whites and suburban moms that even Arizona, Texas and Georgia are trending purple and blue. Sorry you can't stand it that decent, patriotic American majority won't join your lame excuse-making for this vile, traitorous criminal Trump.

walter said...

In essence, Chuck is a gin soaked child rapist.
Just taking some liberties here for illustration.

Anonymous said...

It's even money in my estimation whether or not the House actually votes out articles of impeachment. They've got 235; I'd guess they'll get a couple of republicans to go their way, but no more than two or three. That said, of the 235, my understanding is that 40 of them are from districts that Trump won. How many of them are willing to go on record against Trump, and beg for additional attention from him and his surrogates? 218 votes to impeach is a long way from a sure thing.

If it ever does get to the Senate, I have a hunch that Manchin and Sinema will vote against conviction.

Bay Area Guy said...

Trump has confirmed about 150 federal judges, including 2 SCOTUS judges. Obviously, RBG (age 86) and Breyer (age 81) may retire soon.

Trump is building the Wall on the Southern border, and the economy is humming along just fine.

You think the Left is simply gonna roll over and accept another 2020 presidential loss to Trump? Heck no!

So, what are they gonna do? They don't control the DOJ, they don't control the CIA. Yes, they have a few moles burrowed deep, and Yes, they have the media.

So, they're gonna gin up media hysteria over bogus scandals. That's their playbook. They need chaos and scandal, or most normal folks will simply tune out, drink beer, watch football, have bbqs and vote for the incumbent.



Dave Begley said...

Trump is the mentally toughest guy I have ever seen in public life. I suppose FDR and Churchill were just as tough. What the Left is trying to do here is break him down mentally. This morning on Morning Joe a NYT guy I had never heard of was talking like he was a psychiatrist. This guy never even went to medical school.

bagoh20 said...

Their problem is that their emotional assumptions keep running into a wall of facts.

The deep state operators who are gunning for Trump from the inside are fully capable of exposing any corruption by Trump if they found it, but they aren't finding any, so they are making it up, and that keeps failing when the truth comes out. This is in fact treason. I don't know how you could see all the attacks from within the government starting even before the election and not see a treasonous attempt to override a legal democratic election. Many of these traitors have already been fired or disciplined, but the operation is vast and it won't ever become really illegal again until some heads really roll, and not with a pension.

Yancey Ward said...

I posted this in the over night thread, but will do here where it is more appropriate:

It is amazing watching the complete corruption of the field of journalism in trying to defend the form change for the whistleblower complaint. The ICIG in the whistleblower changed the complaint form not so that the whistleblower could file a form with the ICIG, he changed the form so that he, the ICIG could process the form and send it to the DoJ.

These things are really, really simple to understand- the whistleblower law requires credibility in the complaint- to judge credibility requires first hand knowledge from the complaintant. You might ask why this is- well, just read the fucking complaint that was filed in this case- there is literally nothing in it that the ICIG can use to judge the credibility. For example, the whistleblower claimed to have heard people discussing the phone call, but he names none of these people.

The ICIG put out a statement today that claimed the form was changed because the requirement for first hand information might be misread in discouraging whistleblowers to come forward and file complaint with less than first hand knowledge, but that is at, best, a mistake- a whistleblower can file the form any time he wants- nothing prevents this- but on the old forms, he couldn't attest that the knowledge was first hand- but you can file the complaint anyway as a matter of record, you just can't say it is first hand knowledge. The regulations absolutely did bar the ICIG from moving the complaint forward. An honest ICIG would have ended it there or gotten the complaintant to provide someone with first hand knowledge, but Atkinson seems to have come up with a form that no longer barred him from moving the complaint forward.

The media all day have been deliberately misreporting the what and why of the form change. In addition, the ICIG seems to have outed himself by mistake- he claimed the change was initiated due to press inquiries about the present complaint, but here is the thing- the new form would have been dated in September if that were true, and if it is true (and I have no reason to not believe the statement about press inquiries), then someone backdated the form to August to make it look like it had been done prior to the whistleblower complaint. However, it now appears that the whistleblower filed the complaint originally on the old form on August 12th and that this has been withheld from Congress, thus suggesting the ICIG is lying.

None of the above makes the complaint more or less believable, but it does call into question the political leanings of the ICIG. Do you think the same person would have gone to these lengths if this had been President Obama? In that case, I bet the ICIG would have actually followed the regulations to the letter, and the complaint would have been buried without incident. Does any one really doubt this?

Michael K said...

If you think 60+ million people are going to simply lay-down and let the Democrat / Deep-State / CIA / Globalists remove Trump from office over NOTHING, you're a naive fool...

Even a former CIA officer thinks they should be pruned of the activists.

Responding to Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s characterization of CIA employees increasingly acting as “political operatives,” Kiriakou said the problem is “getting worse and worse as time goes on.”

The former CIA officer described his 1996 complaint, then the current one that “went through layers of editing and coordinating and lawyers were involved and managers were involved.”

“It looks like a legal document,” he said. “It doesn’t look like a whistleblower complaint, and that leads me to believe that this whistleblower that we’re talking about is just a face of an entire group that’s at the CIA that’s pushing this forward.”

Kiriakou speculated that the complaint likely went “through the chain of command” to CIA Director Gina Haspel herself before landing at the office of the DNI. (RELATED: NBC’s ‘Meet The Press’ Falsely Links Trump’s ‘Favor’ Term To Biden Investigation Request)

“If I could give the president advice,” he said, “I would say to turn to the Senate, turn to the Senate Majority leader and ask for an investigation of the CIA. We need hearings on the CIA, and reform in the CIA, because this is not the way this whistleblower system is supposed to work.

Big Mike said...

@Shouting Thomas, you may want to stay away from Illini sporting news until basketball season starts.

stan said...

Serious question -- is it possible any longer to be an honest, rational, moral, patriotic American and support the Democrats?

Insane, hateful and morally retarded is no way to go through life. They need an intervention. They've lost their minds.

Michael K said...

But of course you are all much smarter than your typical voter.

I didn't think it was "Parody" for a moment.

Probably, or may be just more tuned in to Schiff's lies.

Vance said...

The thing that gets me is that the left and the media seem to genuinely believe that their points of view/feelings are all that matter. There is zero concern for the fact that 65 million people voted for Trump. Yet it's taken as a given that Trump is hated by everyone/ everybody wants him impeached and gone.

Do they honestly not care how they come across to those people who didn't vote for Hillary? Have they just thrown in the towel on convincing people that they are right--as in, giving good solid reasons to vote for the left? It's all insane shrieking about OrangeManBad; not "hey, vote for us because we are better! And this is why."

It's a totally stupid strategy. Consider gun control. They want to get gun control passed, right? Well, why do people resist gun control? Self defense, hunting/sport shooting, and the biggie: to keep a check on the government under the "governments that fear the people are better than governments that do not fear the people." In short, people have guns to shoot the Nazi's coming from the Feds to kill them. We ain't gonna be no Jew peacefully going to Treblinka, kind of thing.

So in order to successfully push for gun control, you have to reassure the people with the guns that you aren't out to get them, else they will never give up their guns. What has the left done lately but scream about how they are going to get those evil deplorable and make them pay and punish them? Right now, gun control will never, ever happen. Sure, the left might ram through a law saying gun control, but it will not happen on the ground, because people aren't stupid and they hear the Howards, Ingas, ARMs, and the Beto's/Swallwells and the media all screaming their plans to high heaven on how they are going to punish and hurt... the people they want to take the guns away from so they won't fight back.

Do they really think we are that stupid? This is the very worst time to push gun control, since right now the chances of having to shoot a government Nazi (well, commie rather) coming to take you away is not a fantasy anymore. It's what the left is rapidly lurching towards.

But the left doesn't seem to care how they are coming across any more. It's just sheer "we are going to have power and dictate everything to you, and you cannot stop us."

Oh yeah?

Seeing Red said...

Blogger steve uhr said...
Nobody on this site was fooled by Schiff’s parody. But of course you are all much smarter than your typical voter.


Can’t be fooled if you never listened to it.

Shitt-4-brains is a great representative for the state of California.

Well, right on the latest hair cutting hoax. Right on RussiaGate. Will be right on this. Right on the deep state soft coup, and it looks like right on eating redmeat is OK for you.

Climate change: it’s not just human, NASA admitted earth wobble and sun, NOAA admitted to the upper atmosphere cooling, with NOAA)# new thermometers and readings, cooling, some Finnish and Japanese scientists might be going in a different direction with low-level cloud cover AND Mann refused to show his work.

Then there’s what Urh believes....

Seeing Red said...

Pelosi violated House rules when they didn’t vote on the inquiry.

Nichevo said...

So, Althouse, are you still "neutral"?

No, she will vote for Democrats in 2020, including the ones that want to spoil Madison, as well as the ones who want to spoil the whole country.

Sam L. said...

I am soooooooooooooooo NOT BUMMED for the Trump haters.

DavidD said...

Read another way, “Arrest for Treason?” could mean “And these are the people who want to arrest me for treason?”

Trump’s statement has enough ambiguity that it could mean any number of things.

Dude1394 said...

Civility bullshit indeed.

PM said...

Remnick:
"This's a nice piece on TikTok mobile videos, but where's the shot at Trump?"

Dude1394 said...

Well Schiff, fbi, cia, doj, Democrat media are engaged in treason.

wildswan said...

"Mike Sylwester said...
The New Yorker has funny cartoons."

Dry, very dry.

Chris said...

Remnick's faux outrage is a reminder that a large portion of the press and our intelligentsia are intellectually dishonest. They're just looking for ways to push their team's agenda. Their complete lack of critical thinking is true outrage.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Should a mass of nerves endings be considered human? Does it have the right to vote?

Sigivald said...

"But, sure, it’s unseemly, by conventional standards, for the President of the United States, the head of the executive branch, to be speaking comically about the deployment of the prosecutorial power."

Yeah, as mentioned above, it sure beats apparently actually siccing the IRS on the Other.

And frankly people should not be reading "satire" to Congress, especially without labeling it aforehand, when it's exactly like their side keeps believing.

The amazing thing about all this is that I think Trump's a sack of !@!%^, but the Democrats keep making me sympathize with him.

Like Reynolds says, all they have to do is NOT BE CRAZY.

And they can't.

Big Mike said...

I agree with the analysis by eric (10:34) and disagree with the idea that Schiff was employing parody. He didn't think (1) Trump would quickly declassify and release the transcript, (2) any Republican member of his committee would actually read that transcript, and (3) any Republican would also call him on it. Wrong three times.

I note that the handling caveats on the transcript, ORCON (originator control of release) and NOCORN (no release to non-US citizens), are pretty strong restrictions on the dissemination of the material, but I note also that the President of the United States has the absolute authority to declassify any piece of information at any time. Once before Trump was talked out of declassifying and releasing information related to the Russia Collusion Hoax. Trump learns.

cubanbob said...

This ginned up hysteria will eventually die down and backfire on the Democrats. Leave it to Trump to paint every Democrat running for any seat at any level of government as either one of the crazies or a supporter of crazy. And if the Republicans at all levels don't run with that, they would be even dumber and crazier than the Democrats. Trump will win. The Republicans will regain the House and keep the Senate. The republicans will gain more seats in state and local elections. The second Trump Administration will be focusing on corruption in government. It will not be a fun time for Democrats. Any chance of Trump's draining the swamp being political hyperbole is pretty much done. The Democrats have chosen the worst possible course of action. Trump now has no reason not to go after them hammer and tong and would be a fool if he shows them any mercy.

wildswan said...

Their nerves may be frayed, ours are about to sheathed by hours of a boredom so intense that a wait in line at the DMV will seem exciting by comparison. You see, Republicans saw this show on its first run as "Mueller" but many Americans have only now, as a result of the conclusion of "Mueller", reached the point the Repubs were at in 2016 - what the hell is going on? So they are watching "Schiff" which is a reboot of "Mueller," speeded up (unfortunately losing evidence, connections and credibility in the process) and made rather silly by committee chairman who are a joke before they start trying to tell jokes. So we need to wait for our fellow Americans to see the end of "Schiff", pointing out along the way the now familiar types of lying and deceptions and misconduct by intelligence agencies (and trying not be insufferable about it); but we don't need to pretend among ourselves that we didn't see it last year so that we know every meme and plot twist.

Broken glass.

AllenS said...

I just sent Trump another $200. Putting my money, along with my Trump yard sign to use. I wish I could do more. If called upon to show up armed, I will.

gadfly said...

Had Trump released the entire conversation between himself and the Ukrainian comedian, Schiff''s paraphrasing may or may not have been misleading. But the short note released was inadequate to fully cover the president's attempt to use a foreigner to further his own reelection by obtaining unverifiable information on Joe Biden simply by withholding previous congressional appropriations, making funds conditional to getting Biden 'information."

Trump knows exactly what the conversation was but no one else outside the White House has any idea, until such time that the now declassified phone call is made public in its entirety. Accusing the House Intelligence Committee chair of treason shows how really dumb the president is and his tweet advising followers that we used to handle "spies" differently is a direct violation of the whistleblower law.

Ken B said...

Uhr says Schiff was making a parody. I already refuted that argument, in anticipation. Just using irony or mockery does not make something a parody. Trial lawyers use irony in closing arguments all the time, judges use it in rulings. Schiff wants to take legal actions with legal consequences based on the interpretation he presented. That is not using parody.

Ken B said...

It’s worth hunting down some video of Huey Long talking about hipoppalorum. Or Goebbels ranting. Both use irony, misrepresentation, sarcasm. Neither is putting on a parody. Pace Mr Uhr's claim.

Tina Trent said...

I recently had to write something about errors in Remnick's work, the ways he lied to help get Obama elected in 2008, and I re-read his fantasy novel/ political biography of the president for the first time since it came out. Boy, the stuff people fell for. What a dishonest leftist sycophant. He actually made me feel sorry for McCain. He and Schiff make a perfect pair.

gilbar said...

i see a jury in Dallas, just decided that;
No, the Police do NOT have the right to just enter your apartment; and execute you for being there

narciso said...

The same weld who protected bulger (who shipped weapons to the ira) as us attorney in boston, and later head of the criminal division

pious agnostic said...

The Democrats are hell-bent on destroying our republic again.

#FTFY

Roy Lofquist said...

It's a trap.

We are watching a massive exercise in battlefield preparation. D-Day is the day that will have maximum impact on the 2020 elections. My guess is maybe February or March. Will it be a huge RICO prosecution or hundreds of ordinary indictments?

jeremyabrams said...

Frayed nerves are the core of the media's strategy. Exhaust us with high-volume complaining, and nothing but the prospect of more of the same media environment if we re-elect Trump, and some of us will vote dem just to get some peace and quiet.

Howard said...

Mommy triggered some frayed nerve endings. Attachment causes suffering

bagoh20 said...

This blog is turning into a dead link.

404 error

clint said...

@LTC Ted said...
I am uncomfortable with the notion of "false facts", as in "... but Schiff was stating false facts..." Surely, if a proposition is false, it cannot be a fact. Perhaps, "... but Schiff was passing falsehoods as fact..." :: shrug :: 10/1/19, 9:26 AM



I like the distinction between factual statements and opinion statements.

It's important to distinguish a real lie -- a knowing misstatement of the facts -- from an opinion or conclusion we disagree with.

"False facts" is a good Twitter-friendly shorthand for this.

Unknown said...

I guess I'm naive. I thought the "Arrest for treason?" at the end of the tweet meant "How could he possibly arrest ME for treason based on this?"

robother said...

Were "collective nerve endings" not so "frayed and numbed." God, what overwrought and clunky writing. If only The New Yorker had some grounding in, some reference they could look to for, the elements of style.

eddie willers said...

This voter's collective nerve endings are frayed

Mine have frayed to the point where I am ignoring the major "news" stories and have hardened into a rock-solid determination to vote a straight Republican ticket, regardless on the merits of the candidates.

I will take no part in any poll, I will not post on Facebook. I will quietly sit with my now no longer frayed nerves and watch the screaming at the sky which commences again November 2020.

John henry said...

Viator, mentioning the Team Trump tax victory in NY reminded me of something.

Many progressives/fascists have made a lot of noise about how PDJT's tax reform cut taxes on the rich. This is a lie on at least 2 levels:

There is no US Federal tax on wealth (except, perhaps, death taxes) so the tax rate on the "rich" is zero, same as always.

PDJT did not cut taxes, he cut tax rates. Some high income people, not necessarily "rich", are actually paying more taxes even at the lower rate. This is because they are earning more money.

But in an indirect manner, PDJT did increase taxes on the "rich" via SALT. Property taxes used to be fully deductible for federal taxes. Now they are capped. Losing the deduction may mean that some people in high tax states, who have a lot of money tied up in their house(s) may wind up paying more federal taxes, at a higher effective rate, than they did when they could deduct everything.

So lets hear no more from the fascists on how PDJT "cut taxes on the rich".

John Henry

John Althouse Cohen said...

Is it a double standard to put more of our focus on what the president is saying, when we're in the middle of a race to see if he should be reelected, than on what one Representative is saying? The whole country is going to vote on the president, but only one district in California votes on Schiff. Why isn't it reasonable for that to inform what gets more coverage in national media?

Also, for President Trump to suggest "treason" charges based on what a member of Congress said on the House floor is at odds with Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution (article I, section 6).

John henry said...

And now we not only have Nancy Pelosi (of Baltimore's D'Alessandro crime family) hooked up with a shady Ukranian arms dealer.

She has a Ukranian woman (Ukranian citizen?) of questionable background on her staff as a legislative aide.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/09/breaking-exclusive-pelosi-neck-deep-in-ukraine-legislative-aide-is-linked-to-ukrainian-military-and-government/

John Henry

MountainMan said...

So I see on Twitter this afternoon there is a “Go Fund Me” for “Whistleblower” that is already close to its goal of $250K. I guess this is SOP for the Ds now, raise money for the hero, just like they did with Ford for the Kavanaugh hearing.

narciso said...

good question,


https://saraacarter.com/when-did-pelosi-knew-about-the-content-of-trumps-call-with-ukraines-prez/

in other news, the govt is denying brady material in the Flynn case

Unknown said...

Trump’s suggestion that Schiff be arrested for treason is over-the-top, but Schiff was stating false facts and relying on the people’s ability to hear and process satire and that’s the same cover Trump claims.

So Schiff's use of satire, which assumes the listener is smart enough to know it was satire, is beyond the pale and wrong. But Trump raising the question of whether Schiff's use of satire was "treason"--which was not satire at all, and which assumes the listener is very, very dumb-- is fine, actually.

I guess that makes sense to people who are very, very dumb.

tim in vermont said...

"Althouse repeatedly analyzes Trump through prism of he's just a funny New Yorker.”

It covers all of the facts, and explains why all of these investigative attacks on Trump keep coming up empty. Maybe it’s not Althouse with the problem.

If you guys have him so dead to rights,

- Why so afraid of a hearing on all of the facts?
- Why the constant misrepresentation?
- Why is it no longer interesting if there was foreign interference in the election of 2016?
- Congress is still investigating the Russia hoax, why isn’t Trump allowed to defend himself?
- Why isn’t Trump’s lawyer allowed to investigate exculpatory facts, wherever they exist?
- If the hoax was cooked up overseas, in the UK, Australia, the Ukraine, why can’t it be investigated.

It all smells like Democrat desperation if you stick to the proven facts and not the unfounded smears the Democrats have been putting out.

tim in vermont said...

"Nobody on this site was fooled by Schiff’s parody. But of course you are all much smarter than your typical voter.”

You guys get fooled by Trump’s rhetoric all the time, so naturally we assume that you guys are all maybe a beat slow.

chickelit said...

Morkoth4682 said...If you think 60+ million people are going to simply lay-down and let the Democrat / Deep-State / CIA / Globalists remove Trump from office over NOTHING, you're a naive fool...

The current Dem fantasy is that impeachment isn't really necessary -- that Trump and Pence will both resign, leaving Pelosi in charge. How else can you explain Pelosi's mad power moves last week?

BUMBLE BEE said...

Way to do it Professor! Your trolls have nothing left to say but insults. No points to make. No counter arguments, just peurile insults. You've triumphed!

gadfly said...

THE FOOTNOTE that the President should have read before making himself into a bigger fool.

In a footnote [to the edited, five-page rough transcript of U.S. President Donald Trump’s phone call in July with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky], the White House warned that it was not a complete verbatim retelling of the 30-minute call. Instead, the document is a reconstruction of the conversation put together by National Security Council staff and White House officials who listened inside in the Situation Room, a secure meeting space in the basement of the White House. Several portions of the document are redacted and replaced with ellipses. It is also not clear from the text whether the two leaders spoke in English, although U.S. media reports suggest they spoke through a translator. The changes have led to complaints by Mr. Trump’s political opponents that the official release may be missing important elements.

Iman said...

Prediction: Schiff will be removed as Intelligence Committee Chairman before Groundhog Day 2020.

gbarto said...

The Effort to Impeach President Trump has begun!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/01/20/the-campaign-to-impeach-president-trump-has-begun/

January 20, 2017. Not even sworn in yet. But sure, the floodgates are opening now.

The Godfather said...

Here's an example of how the hysteria to "get Trump" has gotten the public discussion off the rails. In what I usually regard as a responsible blog (Volohk), one of their "conspirators" (David Post)recently commented that a Wall Street Journal report on President Trump's July 25th phone call with President Zelensky quoted "people familiar with the matter" to the effect that Trump "repeatedly pressured the president of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden's son, … urging Volodymyr Zelensky about eight times to work with Rudy Giuliani on a probe that could hamper Mr. Trump's potential 2020 opponent." But the transcript released by the White House "doesn't have eight references to Biden or to Giuliani." So David Post says, "Makes you wonder, no?" Yes, it makes me wonder why a responsible publication like the WSJ got its story so wrong. Presumably the WSJ story was based on a leak of the "whistleblower" report -- which we now know was submitted by someone who didn't have first-hand knowledge of the phone call. By now we have the official transcript of the phone call, which shows only a brief discussion of the corruption investigation, and no impropriety by Trump. But the anti-Trump advocates will buy into ANYTHING that can be used to undermine the President.

RMc said...

Chuck said...
Let's just skip the "civility bullshit" rubrick and go straight to the "Althouse is full of shit" tag.


I thought Chuck was banned? Oh, well.

Also: no 'k' in 'rubric', genius.

Mark said...

Talk about frayed and numbed nerves -- the Clinton Saga.

Well, it looks like Hillary has joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (TM). When asked the gutiest thing she ever did, she says it was staying in her marriage, implicitly telling the world that Bill was/is a selfish, cheating bastard.

gilbar said...

speaking of 'frayed nerves' and numbness....
The USAF just announced it's modifying the B-1B to carry Hypersonic (Mach5+) cruise missiles.
They EVEN stated that the B-1B could carry them on 6 of the 8 wing Hardpoints.
They're acting like this is Super New!

Since
A) I'm an Old Fogey, and;
B) don't see much difference between Mach3+ and Mach5+, and ;
C) always thought the B-1A was WAY more better than the B-1B, but still;
D) liked and remembered Way back when the B-1B came on the scene .....

I don't see Where the Super New part comes from....
Not that i'm not Glad that we're no longer being constrained by 'treaties' with Nations that no longer exist
I just can't help but think: AGM-69 SRAM was good, AND we Already had its replacement,
the AGM-131

Everything Old, is New Again; But, we're STILL Letting Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion AND the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids with Poisonous Fluoridation of, Not Only our Water Supplies; but Ice Cream, CHILDREN'S ICE CREAM!

tommyesq said...

I understand the desire for moderation, but it really kills the back and forth in the comments - and yes, that is to some extent the point to keep the ad hominem attacks, but this seems like it would have been a really interesting thread to see develop, but one can only check back so often and for so long before one moves on...

MacMacConnell said...

I'm still waiting for Rep Shiff's incontrovertible evidence of Trump's Russia collusion. The man is a lizard person. Shiff has the same character as the "Sleazy Porn Lawyer".

BJM said...

Unseemly?

Three years of RUSSIA! RUSSIA! RUSSIA was unseemly, however the left's pivot to UKRAINE! UKRAINE! UKRAINE! is perverse.

Did none of the left watch Muhammad Ali in his prime? Trump is using Ali's playbook, not Alinsky's.

mikesixes said...

Trump's lucky the floodgates are opening. That will allow him to dodge the walls that are always closing in and the noose that's always tightening.
Whatever happens, Trump's presidency will go down as the most entertaining one of my lifetime. It's been like a 3-year Roadrunner cartoon with the Dems in the role of Wile E. Coyote.

Bob Loblaw said...

If Schiff can hide behind the "it's just parody lighten up" excuse, why can't Trump?

narciso said...

Anybody home:
https://mobile.twitter.com/ByronYork/status/1179086147231916037

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Some of us in the electorate have nerve endings sensitive enough to have felt the ugliness of what Schiff did and we may have enjoyed Trump’s vigorous pushback, but Remnick (unsurprisingly) sees Trump as the ugly one here.

Can you simply state your position on Trump as a president? You get indignant at anyone who doesn't seem to guess that you're somehow not in his camp, and yet the hairs you split and the backflips you perform to defend the guy are done remarkably feistily. Trump as chief law enforcer is simply orders of magnitude more in the wrong to angrily, ignorantly and sloppily accuse people of capital offenses - how it is that Schiff's explanation of the case against Trump could rise to anywhere near that level of deviation is baffling. You believe Schiff's power begins to approach that of a president?

I fail to find a single one of your many Trump posts where you come off as anything other than a judge determined to find him innocent of anything he's charged of. I'm sure you'll tell me how horrible I am for stating all this, but then somehow fail yet again to link to a single post of yours that performs any service to the contrary.

And BTW, that TDS tag is bullshit in itself. (Yes, I realize it was mercifully avoided here). Reactions to manipulative psychopaths are by definition not deranged, no matter how inelegant they may be. A balanced understanding of any situation involving Trump the politician requires at least that basic acknowledgment. The dismissal of Trump's manifest mental and emotional challenges is as naive and bizarre as someone denying that FDR was a cripple.

rcocean said...

People are not getting the joke. Trump's stuff about Treason was "parody" just like Schiff's reading of the complaint was "parody". I'm beginning to stop thinking the Trump haters are "Deranged" and thinking them as evil. You don't keep lying time after time just because you're "deranged". There's too much cold blooded misrepresentation and deliberate Deceit.

But I see Grandpa Grassley is talking the D side again, just like he did with Kavanaugh. I suppose like many of over 75 R Senators just wants to run out the string and retire. Let the D's have the country if they want it.

rcocean said...

I've stopped reading the liberal Press on Trump. Its just insults, lies, and stupidity. No smart analysis, no objectivity, few facts, much hysteria.

Pass.

Browndog said...

Moving on...from Althouse.

Leland said...

I assumed the "Arrest for Treason?" is push back to those calling for Trump's arrest for treason. I admit it was that Libertarian guy that said Trump should be arrested and hung, but I'm sure others were saying the same.

TJM said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TJM said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TJM said...

The New Yawker, another left-wing POS written for the benefit of braindead liberal haters

Gk1 said...

Wasn't David Remnick the NYT reporter Bush whispered "what a major league asshole" to Dick Cheney during a rally? Oh sorry that was Adam Clymer. Its so easy to confuse those assholes at the NYTimes. Is what the democrats and their handmaindens in the media doing look like a party that is confident of its chances in 2020?

mockturtle said...

Off-topic but not off-base: Go Crew! Listening on the radio.

mockturtle said...

So far, so good!

Laslo Spatula said...

John Althouse Cohen said...
"Is it a double standard to put more of our focus on what the president is saying, when we're in the middle of a race to see if he should be reelected, than on what one Representative is saying? The whole country is going to vote on the president, but only one district in California votes on Schiff. Why isn't it reasonable for that to inform what gets more coverage in national media?"

In a reasonable world with a responsible media: sure. Okay.

But when that one representative can make impeachment happen with endless supportive news coverage, while not having his numerous lies questioned (where IS that Russian collusion evidence he has claimed to possess for two years? Where are the reporters asking him about that?), then -- yes -- he is worthy of focus -- perhaps more so.

I would equate him to Joe McCarthy in this regard. I am willing to bet that a substantial number of the people who have 'learned' about McCarthy couldn't tell you who was President at the time.

And -- the fact that he has this much unchecked power over the country (by keeping the focus on his agenda with no responsible media balance), without the majority of the country being able to vote him out -- THAT makes him in many ways more dangerous.

If nothing else, in these last two years we have learned how dangerous the entrenched bureaucrats and untouchable gatekeepers can be.

I am Laslo

tim in vermont said...

"Reactions to manipulative psychopaths are by definition not deranged”

Classic TDS. Trump isn’t a manipulative psychopath. It just bothers you greatly that Hillary is not our president. The war mongering Hillary, who would have ham-fistedly bumbled into a couple of wars by now. It bothers you that she is not president. Joe Biden spits out straight up lies about his family’s shakedown of the Ukraine that would have embarrassed the United Fruit Company, and you guys say it’s all about Trump. That’s derangement. Defending war mongers like Hillary, and kleptocrats like Biden because you don’t like Trump’s tweets? That’s derangement.

gilbar said...

Chuck said...
Let's just skip the "civility bullshit" rubrick and go straight to the "Althouse is full of shit" tag.


Professor Althouse?
If WE STILL HAVE TO read Poor Chuck's crap; then What the HELL is the point of Moderation?
I'm should you're thinking that we don't have other places to go; BUT! we kinda Do

narciso said...

More like frank church, he waged the lefts war againat the security services.

rehajm said...

Schiff is certainly guilty of McCarthyism.

narciso said...

This is the same adam schiff who met with glen simson last summer in aspen.

rcocean said...

"Is it a double standard to put more of our focus on what the president is saying, when we're in the middle of a race to see if he should be reelected, than on what one Representative is saying?"

Yeah, and Mitch McConnell and Chuck Shumer represent one state. Who cares what they say? Pelosi is even worse. Just one Rep. ignore her. Trump deserves 435 times more attention. Strangely it never works out that way. Strangely, who gets National Press depends more on who helps the D's.

chickelit said...

Well said, Laslo at 7:32. The unchecked media is the problem.

pious agnostic said...

After all this time, people are still pretending to be outraged by things Trump tweets, as if they don't understand what he's saying in the subtext of his words. He says “Arrest for Treason?” and they pretend like he's sending the DOJ to Schiff's house to cuff him. It's ridiculous.

The alternative is that, despite 20 years in the public eye, they still are so tone-deaf and stupid that they actually don't understand the way Trump speaks.

Not sure there's a third explanation.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

"Label Lynching" (per Sidney Powell)

'Conspiracy theories' is label lynching to avoid engaging on the facts of an issue or truth someone knows they can't win,' she said."
-----

per @HillaryClinton

"The president is a corrupt human tornado."

Hah!! She blames Trump for the house that fell on her sister!!

Ken B said...

JAC is usually a bright spark, but the reference to free debate in the house shows he missed Trump's joke. But I suggest Jon run with that: “Schiff is allowed to lie, it says so right here.”

daskol said...

The lawyers working behind the scenes to craft the whistleblower complaint and massage IG forms and rules actually believe that any action that damages Trump can be justified by their principles. Pee pee tape here is a good example of that kind of thinking: it’s taken for granted that Trump is damaged or deranged or evil or all the preceding. I’ve seen a lot of talk about making your opponent live up to their own rules as a crucial development in the culture wars, and as a justification for example for people who typically embrace free expression to cancel ideological or political opponents. Politics has never been beanbag, but now it’s unvarnished bloodsport. Truth has got nothing to do with it, and in fact if you insist on hewing closely to it you’re creating a tremendous obstacle for yourself. In short, buwaya is right about propaganda. As a matter of taste or preference I prefer a John Solomon who does his homework, or a Devin Nunes who is careful and discerning. Up against a David Remnick or a an Adam Shiff, though, they are at a severe and self-inflicted disadvantage. Up against people whose doctrine will dignify anything effective as post facto justified by their principles, which is for example the guiding principle of the lawyers waging law fare against this administration, Trump would be sunk without the memetic benefits of his hyperbole and “false facts.” Schiff paraphrasing what he needed into a conversation that lacked it is a perfect metaphor for this entire mobilization against Trump, which is to say everything is pretextual. The pomos won.

narciso said...


Its much ado about nothing

https://www.hoover.org/research/ludicrous-impeachment-charge

StephenFearby said...

NYT, Oct. 1, 2019
Updated 6:39 p.m. ET

Me and My Whistle-Blower

Deutsche Bank. North Korea. The Intelligence Committee’s investigation of the president. Again and again, one man has taken his trove of secret documents — and uncanny nose for scandal — to the center of the news.

"One sunny Wednesday in February, a gangly man in a sports jacket and a partly unbuttoned paisley shirt walked into the Los Angeles field office of the F.B.I. At the reception desk, he gave his name — Val Broeksmit — and began to pace anxiously in the lobby.

Mr. Broeksmit couldn’t believe he was voluntarily meeting with the F.B.I. An unemployed rock musician with a history of opioid abuse and credit card theft, not to mention a dalliance with North Korea-linked hackers, he was accustomed to shunning if not fearing law enforcement. But two investigators had flown from the bureau’s New York office specifically to speak with him, and Mr. Broeksmit had found their invitation too seductive to resist. Now the agents arrived in the lobby and escorted him upstairs.

They wanted to talk about Deutsche Bank — one of the world’s largest and most troubled financial institutions, and the bank of choice to the president of the United States. Mr. Broeksmit’s late father, Bill, had been a senior executive there, and his son possessed a cache of confidential bank documents that provided a tantalizing glimpse of its internal workings. Some of the documents were password-protected, and there was no telling what secrets they held or how explosive they could be..."

"...We might wish our whistle-blowers were stoic, unimpeachable do-gooders. In reality, to let you in on a journalistic secret, they’re often more like Val Broeksmit..."

'...Word spread in journalism circles that the son of a dead Deutsche Bank executive had access to revelatory materials....On the third anniversary of his father’s death — Jan. 26, 2017 — $1,000 arrived in his PayPal account.

The money was from Glenn R. Simpson, a former journalist who ran a research company called Fusion GPS...Mr. Simpson was searching for more dirt and, Mr. Broeksmit told me, he agreed to pay $10,000 for the Deutsche materials. (Mr. Simpson declined to be interviewed.)

Mr. Simpson asked Mr. Broeksmit to start searching for specific topics. “Any Russia stuff at all,” he wrote on an encrypted chat program. “Let’s get you here asap.”

They met two days later in the U.S. Virgin Islands and began combing for material on Mr. Trump, Russia and Robert Mercer, a top Trump donor. They didn’t discover bombshells — more like nuggets. One spreadsheet, for example, contained a list of all of the banks that owed money to one of Deutsche Bank’s American subsidiaries on a certain date — a list that included multiple Russian banks that would soon be under United States sanctions.

Mr. Simpson asked Mr. Broeksmit to travel with him to Washington and meet some of his contacts. Mr. Broeksmit shared some of his files with a Senate investigator and — after snorting some heroin — a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office. The documents found their way to a team of anti-money-laundering agents at the New York Fed. Coincidence or not, a few months later, the Fed fined Deutsche Bank $41 million for violations inside the American unit that Bill Broeksmit had overseen. (A Fed spokesman declined to comment.)'

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/01/business/val-broeksmit-deutsche-bank-trump-whistle-blower.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage

Unsurprisingly, the DM offers a photo of the tattoo the drug addict sports on his neck.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7526427/Adam-Schiff-dossier-insider-information-Donald-Trumps-main-lender-Deutsche-bank.html

Narayanan said...

High praise indeed.

Trump is clean up President :

Heracles who
Cleaned the Augean stables in a single day with floodgates redesign.

daskol said...

Chaffetz nails it here, and some astute commenters have pointed out how the release of the call transcript screwed up Schiff’s move. Trump’s radical transparency throughout Mueller and now Ukraine is a gambit they have no response to yet. Not only won’t he let them hang an obstruction charge on him, he preempts their next several moves by employing ever more rapid responses. Trump is getting ever deepe into their OODA loop because they’re running the same con again and again. I’m sorry that people’s nerves are frayed, and I’m also sorry to bid goodbye to my last pretensions of favoring truth and fair play, but as pure sport it is amazing to watch Trump wrongfoot his powerf, esteemed opponents, of whom Adam Schiff is merely a face: it’s really the brilliant legal minds of the leftist academy that the buffoonish Trump is out dueling. And for now, anyway, he doesn’t even have to lie to do it, rather he can do it by surprising them with seemingly guileless transparency.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Well said, Laslo at 7:32. The unchecked media is the problem.

Congress should definitely make a law abridging the freedom of the press, right?

walter said...

narciso said...
This is the same adam schiff who met with glen simson last summer in aspen.
--
The same Schitt who was recorded being duped by Russian comicons.

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

Does anyone think David Remnick has had hud political philosophy seriously examined or challenged in his entire life?

Does anyone think that Remnick has learned much of anything — in terms of his belief system — since college?

Has Remnick questioned his philosophical and political allegiances?

Has Remnick spent serious time with serious conservative political thinkers?

Has Remnick spent time with people outside of his edu-ubran caste?

I’ll stop now, because I seriously doubt it.

And that is why I do not take David Remnick seriously.

Nor 90% of the D.C. journalist elite.

«Oldest ‹Older   1 – 200 of 249   Newer› Newest»