Political Memes, Comics, and other Shenanigans, Part 16

[smittykins]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I love the awards:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

"An Autocratic Pickle"

Quote

Kellyanne Conway, White House Counselor (which is another absurdity of the Trump administration) attempted to downplay Donald Trump’s autocratic retribution against his enemies.

Trump removed Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from his detail at the White House on the National Security Council and removed Gordon Sondland from his post as Ambassador to the European Union. Both men did the legal thing and complied with subpoenas and testified before Congress, revealing Trump’s corruption. Trump even removed Vindman’s twin brother from his post at the White House, even though he didn’t have anything to do the impeachment hearings.

During the Senate trial, which ruled Trump is innocent after refusing to hear witnesses or see evidence, House Manager Adam Schiff claimed there was a report the Trump administration warned GOP senators, “vote against the president and your head will be on a pike.” Schiff caught a lot of heat for that from Republicans. Now, that Trump is putting heads on pikes, Republicans are defending the move. Hell, even Democratic Representative and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is defending Trump’s bloodletting.

Conway argued that the Vindman brothers were removed from the White House without being fired. But she couldn’t explain why they were removed months before their details were to end. Then she claimed Gordon Sondland was a “reluctant” Trump supporter. Yeah. Who reluctantly gave Trump’s corrupt inauguration committee $1 million.

And while arguing these removals weren’t political payback, she said there will be more dismissals to come. It’s tough to argue none of this was political payback since they all came AFTER the Senate trial, Don Jr. has tweeted that its political payback and the White House even issued a statement that translates to “bwahahahahahaha.”

Republicans have been smearing Vindman for months. American Thinker, a conservative website popular with white nationalists that warns rainbow-colored Doritos is a “gateway snack to introduce children to the joys of homosexuality,” published a story claiming Vindman dissed American “exceptionalism” and rednecks. In bizarro Trump world, the patriot is the bone spurs-draft-dodger and the traitor is the Purple Heart-receiving military veteran who led units in Iraq and Afghanistan. And how dare he criticize our rednecks. I love these new talking points.

Liberals have been warning the country that Trump doesn’t just have autocratic tendencies, he has psychopathic ones too. Former National Security Adviser John Bolton writes in his new book that Trump is doing favors for autocratic leaders. Duh. Trump has issued heavy praise for Vladimir Putin, Recip Erdogan, Kim Jong Un, and Rodrigo Duterte. If Nicolas Maduro was smart, he’d start sending delegates to Washington to book rooms at Trump’s hotel. Basically, Donald Trump is to Vladimir Putin as Lindsey Graham is to Donald Trump.

The funny thing with warning Republicans about Trump: They poo-poo our concerns and blow them off and Donald Trump confirms them. The whole “heads on a pike” thing. Why he wouldn’t that. He’s doing that. Ask Mitt Romney. CPAC, a conservative group holding a convention later this month in Washington, disinvited Mitt Romney because they’re literally afraid someone will kill him if he shows up. That has not stopped Donald Trump from tweeting about Romney and trying to implicate him in his Burisma conspiracy theory. Romney was the party’s nominee. Today, he’s being labeled a “traitor” and “disloyal.”

Lindsey Graham defended the ouster of Vindman and said, “What have I learned in the last two years? CIA agents, Department of State — Department of Justice lawyers, FBI agents have a political agenda, and they acted on it.” That sounds like some crazy shit someone like Maduro would claim. Republicans claim Trump isn’t aiming to act like a dictator while supporting his banana republic actions.

Here’s the real shit: Donald Trump was just acquitted and he’s taking these actions. What happens after he wins reelection? Does he start taking care of his critics in the style of Kim Jong Un and feed them to dogs? At least Trump would get a dog (other than Lindsey).

After Saddam Hussein seized power (in case you’re a Republican, of Iraq) in 1979, he convened an assembly of his Ba’ath Party where he claimed there were traitors in their midst. An aide read the 68 names of people in the room they accused of being co-conspirators, labeled them “disloyal,” and dragged them out one by one. After this was completed, Saddam congratulated everyone left in the room for their present and “future” loyalty. All 68 of those who were “disloyal” were found guilty of treason with 22 of them executed. Eventually, Saddam killed hundreds of members of his own party. Many of those left in the room had never been supporters of Saddam Hussein, but they got the message. Before the meeting was over, they were standing and exclaiming their loyalty to Saddam and yelling for the death of those who opposed him. Anyone who opposed Saddam wasn’t just disloyal to him but to Iraq. You could say Saddam’s political foes were the “deep state.” Also, Saddam didn’t have to worry about an upcoming election.

The people who support Trump today, we know which side they would have taken if they were in Germany when Hitler took power, or in France when he invaded. We know where they would have stood in Saddam’s Iraq. In the future, lackeys, toadies, sycophants, and lickspittles will be compared to Trump supporters.

I tell that story about Iraq because it’s another warning for Republicans to blow off…and for Donald Trump to confirm.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

I love how Mike Luckovich always draws a juice box for the Tangerine Toddler:

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

 

"Shut The Tat's Trup"

Quote

Roger Stone is the kind of guy, that when he watches Die Hard, he roots for Hans Gruber. This man is a villain who rejoices at being a villain. To him, it’s an art. For the love of God, he has a Richard Nixon tattoo on his back. And you thought a MAGA hat was a people repellant. As if just being Roger Stone wasn’t repellant enough.

Stone worked on the Nixon campaign and is considered by many to be a “dirty trickster.” He’s a liar who promotes conspiracy theories and other assorted bullshit. So naturally, he was all in on the Trump campaign. In fact, he was a lobbyist for Trump’s failed casino and encouraged him to run for president back in 1998. During the 2016 campaign, he engaged in conspiracy theories and according to two of his associates, was in communication with Julian Assange with whom he coordinated a smear campaign against Hillary Clinton.

Last year, the Mueller investigation (you remember that investigation. The one where Republicans say didn’t find anything?) charged Stone with witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding, and five counts of making false statements. A court found him guilty on all seven charges. Not just one or even a few of them but every single charge Mueller presented. This week, prosecutors recommended Stone serve nine years in a federal penitentiary. Guess who flipped out crying that Stone was being mistreated.

Donald Trump went on a Twitter rampage about the mistreatment Stone received. He said the investigation never should have happened. It was illegal and a witch hunt. Keep in mind, Roger Stone was found guilty on all seven counts.

The president (sic) of the United States is defending a known liar and a conman. He’s defending a sexist who was banned from CNN after calling one of their contributors an “entitled diva bitch” and said he imagined her “killing herself.” The president (sic) of the United States is defending a racist who called another CNN contributor a “stupid negro” and a “fat negro.” This is a guy who sought to hire members of the far-right, neo-fascist, Nazi-loving Proud Boys as his personal security at a Republican conference. After his arraignment, Proud Boys stood on the steps of the courthouse screaming that Stone is innocent. The president (sic) of the United States is defending a guy who threatened a witness’ dog. At this point, I’m feeling bad for Nixon that he’s associated with this guy.

Roger Stone is one of Trump’s goons. He’s a henchman. If he wasn’t headed to federal prison right now, he’d probably be in Ukraine with Rudy Giuliani creating more conspiracy theories.

But, mere hours after Trump’s free-Roger tweetstorm, where he called it a “miscarriage of justice,” a senior Justice Department official said the department would recommend a lighter sentence. What? Go light on Roger because of Trump’s Twitter tirade?

Trump says he wasn’t involved but that he could have made the Justice Department go lighter (that alone tells you this guy will never willfully give up his power). But that’s a lie as he was involved. His tweets and public comments are him getting involved. The department says they made this call before the tweetstorm, but they’re not very good at lying. Just because you do something a lot, doesn’t always mean you’re good at it.

Later yesterday afternoon, all four of the Assistant US Attorneys who were prosecuting the case withdrew from the case, with one of them leaving the Justice Department altogether. Can’t blame the guy as you can see where the department is going, what with Attorney General William Barr publicly acknowledging that he would work with Giuliani in his Ukraine conspiracy theories. Why work for the Justice Department when the AG is just another Trump goon? This morning, Trump congratulated Barr for intervening.

This is the kind of stuff people should care about. Even Republicans should care about this. This is corruption. It’s the very definition of corruption. And along with my predictions that after/if he’s reelected, that Trump will pull all U.S. troops out of the Korean peninsula, pull the U.S. out of NATO, and host Vladimir Putin in the White House, he’ll also pardon Roger Stone and Paul Manafort. Actually, those pardons will come after the election, whether he wins or not.

The judge of this case has final say on the sentencing. Let’s hope she ignores Trump and the Justice Department and gives Stone what he deserves.

Roger Stone is a dirty trickster, liar, conman, evil, and corrupt. Donald Trump is defending the guy because he is too.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]