Trump 35: Still an Asshole to Everyone but Ivanka

[AmazonGrace]

President doesn't like the book 

 

[fraurosena]

We kan only haz gude BT's behind presidunce!

Watch both videos! 

 

[Gobsmacked]

I love that man! ( not the orange one!!)

[47of74]

Awaiting fuck face's twitter tantrums

Quote

Former President Barack Obama charged back into electoral politics Friday with an unusually blunt critique of President Donald Trump’s style of governing and warned of dire consequences if U.S. voters stand on the sidelines in November’s midterm election.

Saying the nation is living in an "extraordinary" and "dangerous" time, Obama delivered a sharp rebuke of his successor and decried what he said was the failure of Republicans to serve as a check.

“This is one of those pivotal moments when every one of us as citizens of the United States need to determine just who we are, what it is that we stand for," he told a mostly student audience of about 1,300 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “If you thought elections don’t matter, I hope these last two years have corrected that impression.”

Obama’s speech at the university, where he also accepted an ethics in government award, marked the opening of a cross-country campaign foray by the former president to promote Democratic candidates for Congress and state legislatures.

 

[fraurosena]

The presidunce wants the DOJ to go after anonymous.

Here's what the NYT had to say about that:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Dozens of Trump officials say they didn’t do it. So did Deep Throat — for 30 years."

Spoiler

Washington was abuzz.

A senior administration official with deep knowledge about the inner workings of the White House had surfaced in the news media with bombshell disclosures about a scandal that encircled the president. And after the publication of a work that detailed interactions with him, everyone wanted to know who he was.

It was 1974, days after the publication of “All the President’s Men” by The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, whose steady stream of reporting would lead to President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation just months later.

But Mark Felt, the high-ranking FBI official who later admitted that he was the anonymous source known as “Deep Throat,” wasn’t giving anything away — despite being named in the guessing game going on around him.

A Wall Street Journal report noted that Felt “says he isn’t now, nor has he ever been, Deep Throat.”

“Of course, says the former acting associate director of the FBI, if he really were Deep Throat, you’d hardly expect him to admit it, now would you?” the Journal piece asked.

The wry headlines of that front-page piece:

“If you drink scotch, smoke and read, maybe you're ‘Deep Throat.’

“Almost anyone can qualify as capital tries to guess Watergate story source.”

That Journal article circulated widely on social media Wednesday and Thursday amid the denials issued by more than a dozen Trump administration officials, who insisted that no, they were most definitely not involved with the anonymous New York Times op-ed that raised questions about the president’s fitness for office.

Amid this backdrop, Felt’s false assertions that he was not Deep Throat, which were issued regularly and repeatedly for more than 30 years, are a reminder of how officials’ denials may not be all that they seem.

Within them is a reflection of the limited choices these anonymous sources face: admit to their decision when confronted by it, though they have already opted for secrecy, or continue the charade at the expense of honesty.

The differences between the two situations might end there; Felt committed a rebellion at considerable personal risk that culminated with disclosures significant enough that they toppled the Nixon presidency.

The motives of this week's anonymous writer, whose op-ed disclosed less new information but confirmed the reams of reporting showcasing the chaos inside the White House, are less clear. So are the piece's effects, beyond aggravating the president.

Many believe that the writer's decision was not one driven by heroism or patriotism but instead by a desire to save his or her party’s reputation. And many say it seems unlikely that this anonymous source’s identity will stay hidden long.

Felt, on the other hand, maintained his cover for decades, despite being asked about it repeatedly, even as Nixon and others suspected him.

“It was not I and it is not I,” he told Washingtonian magazine in 1974.

During an interview on “Face the Nation” in 1976, in which CBS host Ronald J. Ostrow asked him if “you want to take credit at this time for helping unmask any of the Watergate coverup,” Felt was again unequivocal.

“I am not Deep Throat, and the only thing I can say is that I wouldn’t be ashamed to be,” he said.

Felt co-wrote a memoir in 1979, “The FBI Pyramid,” that delved heavily into the investigations into Watergate but still included a categorical denial that he was Deep Throat.

In the memoir, The Post noted years later, “Felt acknowledged speaking once to Woodward, but in that book and whenever else he was asked, he denied being Deep Throat. In 1999, Felt denied it again to the Hartford Courant after there was another suggestion that he was Deep Throat.

“ 'I would have done better,' he told the paper. 'I would have been more effective.' That same summer, Felt told Slate's Tim Noah that it would have been contrary to his responsibilities at the FBI to leak information."

Then, in mid-2005, Felt finally came clean in the pages of Vanity Fair.

“Deep Throat, the secret source whose insider guidance was vital to The Washington Post’s groundbreaking coverage of the Watergate scandal, was a pillar of the FBI named W. Mark Felt, The Post confirmed yesterday,” David Von Drehle wrote on the front page on June 1, 2005.

“Felt’s identity as Washington’s most celebrated secret source had been an object of speculation for more than 30 years until yesterday, when his role was revealed by his family in a Vanity Fair magazine article. Even Nixon was caught on tape speculating that Felt was 'an informer' as early as February 1973, at a time when Deep Throat was supplying confirmation and context for some of The Post’s most explosive Watergate stories."

Von Drehle continued: “But Felt’s repeated denials, and the stalwart silence of the reporters he aided — Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein — kept the cloak of mystery drawn up around Deep Throat. In place of a name and a face, the source acquired a magic and a mystique.

"He was the romantic truth teller half hidden in the shadows of a Washington area parking garage. This image was rendered indelibly by the dramatic best-selling memoir Woodward and Bernstein published in 1974, 'All the President’s Men.' Two years later, in a blockbuster movie of the same name, actor Hal Holbrook breathed whispery urgency into the suspenseful late-night encounters between Woodward and his source."

In their book, Woodward and Bernstein described Deep Throat as “a source in the Executive Branch who had access to information at [the Nixon re-election effort] . . . as well as at the White House. He could be contacted only on very important occasions” and asked to confirm information learned elsewhere and provide “perspective."

In their newspaper coverage, The Post later recounted, the reporters attributed their information only to “sources close to the Watergate investigation."

John D. O’Connor, a lawyer who wrote the Vanity Fair story in 2005, three years before Felt's death, described the former FBI official's deep ambivalence about his role as Deep Throat.

“On that Sunday in May when I first met Mark Felt, he was particularly concerned about how bureau personnel, then and now, had come to regard Deep Throat,” O’Connor wrote. “He seemed to be struggling inside with whether he would be seen as a decent man or a turncoat. I stressed that FBI agents and prosecutors now thought Deep Throat a patriot, not a rogue.”

If any source proved most elusive about confirming Felt’s identity, it was the reporters who broke the story. Felt’s daughter, Joan, described to Vanity Fair her attempts to get Woodward to confirm that her father was Deep Throat.

“At one point I said, ‘Bob, just between you and me, off the record, I want you to confirm: Was Deep Throat my dad?’ He wouldn’t do that. I said, ‘If he’s not, you can at least tell me that. We could put this to rest.’ And he said, ‘I can’t do that,’ ” she said.

In “How Mark Felt Became ‘Deep Throat’ " — an essay published days after his secret source's identity was publicly confirmed — Woodward wrote: “I suspect in his mind I was his agent. He beat it into my head: secrecy at all cost, no loose talk, no talk about him at all, no indication to anyone that such a secret source existed."

Woodward added that in their book, he and Bernstein “described how we had speculated about Deep Throat and his piecemeal approach to providing information. Maybe it was to minimize his risk. Or because one or two big stories, no matter how devastating, could be blunted by the White House. Maybe it was simply to make the game more interesting. More likely, we concluded, 'Deep Throat was trying to protect the office, to effect a change in its conduct before all was lost.'

"Each time I raised the question with Felt, he had the same answer: 'I have to do this my way.' ”

 

[fraurosena]

Such a weak and childish response, from a weak and childish man.

[Audrey2]

8 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Such a weak and childish response, from a weak and childish man.

But, how can one sleep through a Trump speech? They are too busy puking...

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump has visited a Trump property or held a rally on more than half of the days in the past three months"

Spoiler

While many past presidents have held rallies on behalf of congressional candidates before midterm elections, the focus of those events generally has been the candidates, not the president. The campaign rallies President Trump attends as president are instead Trump campaign rallies, with the candidate generally given a few minutes to make some comments and Trump spending a little time praising them and bashing their opponents.

Trump's rally Thursday night in Montana checked those and all of the other expected boxes: inflammatory comments, questionable assertions, enthusiastic fans. Trump has held two dozen campaign-style rallies as president in 16 states, all but two of which voted for him in 2016. Over the past month, he's held three such rallies; extend that window back to the beginning of August and the number climbs to five.

The president also spent much of August at his private golf club in New Jersey. He spent a lot of July there, too. That club, Bedminster, is to the summer what Mar-a-Lago is to the winter: Trump's refuge away from the confines of the White House. Refuges that, of course, are also close to Trump-owned golf courses, of which the president often avails himself.

The effect of those diversions from Washington is remarkable. By our count, Trump has either held a rally or visited one of his own properties on 48 of the past 92 days; that is, since June 7.

He's probably played golf on at least 30 of those days, about a third, but it's hard to say. When he's at Bedminster, it can be tricky to know when Trump is playing golf because the media generally isn't given access to the facility. But since it is his primary form of exercise, it's safe to assume he usually plays when he's there.

Over the course of his presidency, the figures are more modest. He's visited one of his own properties on about 33 percent of days and probably played golf on about 22 percent of the days he's been president. (Know some of his golf partners? Let us know.) One rejoinder that's usually offered in response to our noting the regularity with which Trump plays golf is that former president Barack Obama also played a lot of golf. Obama played 306 rounds as president, over eight years. In fewer than two years, Trump has probably played 129, by our tally.

Here's how that looks since Trump took office.

... < chart 1 >

Notice that there have been days on which Trump has visited his own property, played golf and held a campaign rally. That's made easier by the fact that Trump has only played golf at a non-Trump property precisely once: With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Japan in November last year.

If you're curious about which properties Trump has visited and when, we've got you covered. We've been tracking that since he took office.

... < chart 2 >

These data will be out-of-date quickly. As I write, it's Friday; Trump has gone to play golf or been at one of his properties on each of the last 10 Saturdays. Even if he stays at the White House this weekend, he's slated for a pair of campaign rallies next week in Missouri and Mississippi, also two states he won in 2016.

 

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

The presidunce wants the DOJ to go after anonymous.

Here's what the NYT had to say about that:

 

What would be so bad about being shunned by orange puss boil?

[thoughtful]

Trump's mispronunciation of the word anonymous seems appropriate -- his election was an ominous moment, and watching the news ever since has been an ominous  experience.

[GreyhoundFan]

"‘Madeleine is the key’: Who is Madeleine Westerhout, Trump’s 27-year-old secretary and gatekeeper to the president?"

Spoiler

In a transcript of a conversation released Tuesday between author Bob Woodward and President Trump, the commander in chief repeatedly complains that none of his half-dozen or so top aides and confidants had passed along the journalist’s request for an interview for his forthcoming book, “Fear,” about the Trump presidency.

“I never got a call,” Trump laments. “I never got a message. Who did you ask about speaking to me?”

The exchange between the men reveals much, but nothing so interesting as the pathway one apparently needs to take to reach Trump’s ear. So who knows the route?

Well, it’s not adviser Kellyanne Conway. Woodward had lunch with her, and the two apparently talked extensively about Woodward getting some face time with Trump, per the transcript. Conway, who entered the conversation at one point, said she passed along the request but didn’t take it to Trump directly.

Not deputy press secretary Raj Shah, whom one would expect would be the most direct contact for a journalist. “I don’t speak to Raj,” Trump said. Ouch.

Not Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) or several other unidentified senators whom Woodward says he spoke to about a possible interview. Graham mentioned it, Trump said, but only “quickly.”

The sole way of reaching Trump, according to the president, is a woman named Madeleine. “Did you speak to Madeleine?” the president asked Woodward.

No, the journalist replied.

“Madeleine is the key,” Trump said. “She’s the secret. Because she’s the person—”

Trump didn’t finish the thought, alas. But his description of Madeleine Westerhout, his 27-year-old executive assistant, piqued our interest.

Here’s what we know about the surprisingly powerful aide: Westerhout first came to public attention in 2016 as the “greeter girl” for dignitaries visiting President-elect Trump at Trump Tower. At the time, she was assistant to Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Katie Walsh. Previously, the College of Charleston grad had interned for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign; been a volunteer coordinator for John Kuhn, then a South Carolina state senator; and interned for then-Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.), according to the Charleston Post and Courier.

It's me! I'm "the greeter girl!" https://t.co/L9mFPZftj2

— Madeleine Westerhout (@madwestt) November 29, 2016

An “Inside Edition” headline about the brunette identified the “mystery woman” in front of Trump Tower’s elevator cams as an “ex-fitness instructor,” which the California native poked fun of on Twitter. “Love that I’m an ‘ex-fitness instructor’ but I only taught Pure Barre part time for a couple years…my #1 priority has always been the RNC!” she wrote.

From her role with the transition team, Westerhout was among a slew of RNC staffers named to White House roles. Some of her fellow RNC alums haven’t lasted at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.: Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer and Walsh have all since departed. But Westerhout’s clout has only grown.

According to the most recent listing of West Wing staff titles and salaries, Westerhout makes $130,000. In addition to being Trump’s “executive assistant,” she also has the title of “special assistant to the president,” a designation among the senior staff of the White House that ranks below “assistant to the president” (Conway is one) and “deputy assistant to the president” (Shah is in this group).

Other things we know about Westerhout from her Twitter feed: She’s fashionable — and frugal. (She shared a purchase of suede bow-accented stilettos she scored on the upscale consignment site Poshmark.) She’s a Caps fan. And maybe a little into Prince Harry? “Meghan Markle living every American girl’s dream right now,” she wrote on the day of the royal wedding.

Trump is accustomed to having an underling who serves as his gatekeeper: For years, anyone wanting to reach Trump would do well to put in a line to Rhona Graff, his longtime personal assistant/secretary/lady Friday. “If I wanted to get something to Trump without calling his cellphone, I’d send it to Rhona,” one Trump confidant told Politico in 2017.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[47of74]

4 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

But, how can one sleep through a Trump speech? They are too busy puking...

And his Branch Trumpvidian supporters are (and yeah, I know, pleasant mental image) too busy beating off to the sound of the addled apricot's voice to get any sleep.

It would not surprise me if she did actually write this at some point.

Quote

I married the President but I have vowed to thwart parts of our union and his worst inclinations.

I have withheld sex from him ever since we had a son together and my parents were granted U.S. citizenship, but am unable to request divorce as it would be financially painful due to prenuptial agreements. Fortunately, the President’s well-documented sharknado with a pornographic film actress and nude variety club performer entitle this anonymous person to certain payouts in the event that he initiates a split.

To be clear, ours is not the resistance of #metoo or its followers. We firmly believe in gold digging for sport and pleasure, but we don’t believe that a life of celebrity leisure should be interrupted by insane and pointless attempts at gaining respectability by doing stupid things like “becoming president” when reality television pays, attracts less scrutiny and demands less work.

While I believe that my first duty is to my son and his inheritance (especially if he inherited any of Eric’s traits, which would render him unemployable and defenseless without great wealth to care for him) my husband continues to act in ways that are detrimental to our marriage. My hope is that he can be convinced to file for divorce so that I can collect the aforementioned Stormy Daniels payout.

Boy could you imagine the 3am tweet storms if she did publish something like this?

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Ryan, McConnell try to coax Trump away from shutdown — using props and flattery"

Spoiler

The top two Republicans in Congress arrived at the White House this week armed with props aimed at flattering and cajoling President Trump out of shutting down the government at the end of this month.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) showed the president glossy photos of a wall under construction along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) brought an article from the Washington Examiner that described Trump as brilliantly handling the current budget process, and portrayed the GOP as unified and breaking through years of dysfunction.

Their message, according to two people briefed on the meeting: The budget process is going smoothly, the wall is already being built, and there’s no need to shut down the government. Instead, they sought to persuade Trump to put off a fight for more border wall money until after the November midterm elections, promising to try then to get him the outcome he wants, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to reveal details of the private discussion.

The visual aids were a subtle but deft attempt to win over a president known to prefer visual imagery over wonky typed handouts, and eager to absorb flattery at a time when the White House is enveloped in chaos.

But it could be weeks before it’s clear whether the effort was successful, as the calculated intervention came during another week when Trump showed that he was wrestling with whether to follow GOP leaders’ advice or trust his own, impulsive instincts and the demands of a restive Republican base.

One of Trump’s central campaign promises was the building of a wall along the border with Mexico, but he has been stymied by Congress in obtaining the funding he says is necessary. The current construction work is largely to replace walls and barriers that have existed for years.

Trump originally pledged that Mexico would pay for the wall, but he has recently sought U.S. taxpayer money for the project. He wants $5 billion for 2019, something few lawmakers believe is obtainable. Trump on Friday said the money could either come from Congress or he could try to redirect it from the Pentagon’s budget, adding further confusion to the planning.

The uncertainty has clouded the budget process on Capitol Hill as lawmakers work desperately to finalize spending bills to pay for government operations before current funding runs out Sept. 30 — unable to know whether their efforts will ultimately be thwarted by a Trump veto.

“You know, he does what he does,” said Rep. Dennis A. Ross (R-Fla.). “We have to take control of ourselves, and we have to put on the table for the president to sign an appropriations package and let him account for his decision.”

Since March 1, Trump has said he would happily lead the government into a partial shutdown if lawmakers don’t approve the money he wants for the wall.

Earlier this year, Trump grew furious on several mornings when he saw news coverage of a giant spending bill, which was heavily criticized by conservatives for being bloated and stuffed with liberal priorities.

“They are crushing me,” Trump told aides, referring to what conservatives on Fox News were saying about him.

So Marc Short, then the White House director of legislative affairs, brought the president a list of what the spending package did for Trump’s agenda, according to administration officials. Trump calmed down upon learning more about what was in the bill but told aides that he wanted people to be backing him up on television.

Short repeatedly told lawmakers that they needed to get people on TV if they wanted Trump to support the bill — and that it was key to him signing the legislation.

Lately, the president has made clear to top aides that he is on the fence about whether to back another spending bill. On a recent flight to Pennsylvania, Trump polled advisers about whether he should shut down the government. He asked everyone to give their opinion and seemed undecided.

Kellyanne Conway, among others, has pushed against it, White House officials said.

Complicating the process even more is the uncertain outcome of the midterm elections. If Democrats seize control of the House, it could become even more difficult for Trump to secure money for a border wall.

GOP leaders are convinced that they don’t have the votes to appropriate the money even now, when they control both chambers of Congress. They are trying to avoid a messy fight just ahead of the midterms.

Trump first seemed to agree with them Tuesday, telling the Daily Caller that he didn’t want a shutdown.

But by Wednesday, right before the meeting with Ryan and McConnell and as they sat by his side, Trump was raising the possibility of a shutdown again.

“If it happens, it happens,” he said.

After Ryan and McConnell presented Trump with the different images, however, the president changed his tune again. On Thursday, in a Fox News interview, he said a fight over the wall could wait.

“I don’t want to do anything that’s going to hurt us or potentially hurt us because I have a feeling that the Republicans are going to do very well” in the midterm elections, Trump said during the interview.

He said “most likely I will not” call for a shutdown, “but we’re going to do it immediately after the election.”

Trump spoke to Fox News in Billings, Mont., where the crowd at a rally roared its approval for a shutdown. Some congressional Republicans fear that for all the persuasion offered by GOP leaders, Trump will respond most strongly to the emotions of a base that wants to see him fight for the wall, his signature campaign promise.

Trump was given assurances at the White House meeting Wednesday that he will have GOP support for the wall funding once the midterm elections are over, said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.).

“He is very passionate about getting a vote on and, again, getting wall funding,” said Thune, who attended the meeting. “And I think that what we’ve tried to do is convince him that the best way to do that is to fund the government, get our work done and litigate that another . . . day. . . . I felt like coming out of that meeting that everybody was in the same place.”

Thune said Republican leaders believe that shutting down the government could lead the GOP to lose a number of congressional races in “these districts that we need to win to keep the House.”

GOP leaders have found that the most effective way to influence Trump’s thinking is through constant, careful and repeated communication, working closely with Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, as well as trying to rapidly assemble spending bills so they aren’t forced to make last-second decisions.

Democrats, who are also eager to avoid a government shutdown, appear to be following this approach.

“If you don’t like his view on something, wait 24 hours,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “There’s no particular reason to rely on any position he’s taken, and so the smartest thing we can do is put together bipartisan bills that have enough support in the legislative branch and put good bills on his desk.”

To show congressional leaders that he has not made up his mind about a shutdown, Trump appeared to demur again when asked about it by reporters Friday on Air Force One — while indicating that the advice he is getting from lawmakers is competing with persuasion from conservative radio and TV personalities.

“I would do it because I think it’s a great political issue,” he said. “I was reading and watching the other day, there are some people I have a lot of respect for. Rush Limbaugh says it’s the greatest thing you can do. Mark Levin, the greatest thing you can do. Your friend [Sean] Hannity, the greatest thing you can do.

“There are a lot of politicians that I like and respect and are with me all the way that would rather not do it because they have races, they’re doing well, they’re up. The way they look at it, might be good, might be bad.”

 

[JMarie]

12 hours ago, fraurosena said:

We kan only haz gude BT's behind presidunce!

Watch both videos! 

 

It's all about the image, isn't it??

[AmazonGrace]

 Canada will get nuked before all this is over

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

 

[47of74]

 

I’m wondering if I should leave instructions that State fuck face and his GOP groupies are not welcome at my funeral should something happen to me.

[GreyhoundFan]