Fox News’ Judge Jeanine is the rich asshole’s new BFF — and may be backseat driving his attacks on Jeff Sessions
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President some rich asshole has a new best friend in Fox News’ “Judge Jeanine” Pirro and it seems he trust her legal counsel more than he trusts his own attorney general.
A Thursday Daily Beast report revealed that the rich asshole has consulted her privately for her thoughts on political and policy issues. The president isn’t the only the rich asshole, however, his family has also sought out her counsel.
Six sources who have worked for the rich asshole over the years called Pirro a kind of “the rich asshole whisperer,” the Daily Beast wrote. One White House official specifically called her a “good friend and wartime ally.” He’s a regular viewer to her show “Justice” and Pirro has visited the White House and the West Wing on multiple occasions. Clips are known to circulate the White House, particularly a monologue from late March after the first Trumpcare vote in the House bombed. At the time, Pirro called for Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) to resign.
In a report from The New York Times, it was revealed that Pirro was considered for the role of deputy attorney general. In the meeting, however, she blasted Jeff Sessions for refusing to investigate Hillary Clinton’s “Uranium One scandal.” She went on to encourage the rich asshole to appoint a special counselor to further investigate his former political opponent, despite previous investigations into the matter, which yielded nothing.
A source that confirmed The Times story said that the two also discussed the president’s Russia troubles and the investigation. The two talked about Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former FBI Director James Comey and the “biased media” that allegedly hates the rich asshole and his supporters.
“The family loves her, absolutely,” said one Republican close to the White House and the rich asshole family, according to the Daily Beast. “When Eric and Lara had their new baby, she was messaging with them about how blessed they were.”
“I think she’s fantastic,” said Darrell Scott, a Cleveland pastor, who worked on the rich asshole’s presidential transition team and still works with the White House. “Brilliant, articulate, friendly and a fast driver.”
Pirro was caught driving 119 miles per hour and ticketed by police this week. Pirro was also caught losing her cool with a colleague. Her excuse for the driving was that she was heading to her mother’s and didn’t realize how fast she was driving.
Pirro is a former district attorney for Westchester County and county judge.
the rich asshole in Thanksgiving message: 'The enthusiasm in this country has never been higher'
BY BRETT SAMUELS - 11/23/17 10:39 AM EST
President the rich asshole on Thursday delivered a Thanksgiving video address to Americans in which he praised the military, first responders and citizen volunteers, and touted the state of the country’s economy.
“Our country is doing very well. Our stock market has hit a new all-time high. Unemployment has hit a 17 year low. We’ve created $5.5 trillion worth of values. We are doing something very special – people are feeling it,” the rich asshole said toward the end of his address.
“The enthusiasm in this country has never been higher. We’re very, very happy on this Thanksgiving Day,” he added.
the rich asshole’s roughly four-minute video address followed a tweet earlier Thursday in which he touted his administration’s accomplishments and vowed to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING, your Country is starting to do really well. Jobs coming back, highest Stock Market EVER, Military getting really strong, we will build the WALL, V.A. taking care of our Vets, great Supreme Court Justice, RECORD CUT IN REGS, lowest unemployment in 17 years....!
During the video, the rich asshole recounted the tale of the pilgrims traveling to North America on the Mayflower, saying they had few resources, but were “rich in faith, courage and dreams.”
He also recalled the first Thanksgiving in which pilgrims and Native Americans joined together “to rejoice and praise God.”
“Today we give thanks for all of the pilgrims, pioneers and patriots who have gone before us, and for all those warriors who have kept us safe and free,” the rich asshole said. “This week, we know that thousands of men and women in uniform won’t be able to come home for Thanksgiving. We’re eternally grateful for their courage, heroism and sacrifice.”
He also praised Americans who volunteer and give a helping hand to the sick, hungry and others who are in need of assistance. He specifically mentioned those who assisted in the face of natural disasters and mass shootings.
“This year, in the face of painful hardships, we have seen the incredible strength of the American spirit,” the rich asshole said.
the rich asshole is spending Thanksgiving with his family at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Surge in ObamaCare signups surprises experts
BY NATHANIEL WEIXEL - 11/23/17 12:05 PM EST
The number of people signing up for ObamaCare has surged in the first few weeks of open enrollment this year, contrary to dire predictions.
The spike in sign-ups is good news for supporters of the health-care law, but experts warn the early numbers don’t necessarily signify a trend. Final enrollment numbers could still be much lower than in the past, they say.
The first ObamaCare open enrollment period of the rich asshole administration has been surprisingly robust, despite the uncertainty caused by nearly 10 months of repeal attempts in Congress, rising premiums and insurer exits.
Through the first 18 days, nearly 2.3 million people have signed up for insurance coverage through ObamaCare exchanges, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a number that has outpaced the same period under former President Barack Obama.
Larry Levitt, a health policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said enrollment is up significantly on a daily basis, but cautioned against drawing conclusions from the early numbers.
“But there are a lot fewer days” in the open enrollment period, he said. “It’s really hard to generalize from these early enrollment numbers.”
There are a number of factors that could weigh down enrollment this year.
Standard & Poor’s earlier this month forecast that enrollment could actually drop by as much as 1.6 million people below last year’s level of 12.2 million signups, in part due to uncertainty from the administration's actions.
This year, open enrollment was cut in half and ends Dec. 15. Even if sign-ups stayed on pace, they would fall well short of previous years because of the shortened time period.
According to Levitt, much of the success of open enrollment also depends on how large the surge in sign-ups is as the deadline approaches.
Levitt said that in past years there were two surges: one around Dec. 15, when consumers could buy coverage effective Jan. 1; and one around Jan. 31, at the very end of open enrollment.
The deadline surge this year would need to be “quite large” in order to maintain steady enrollment from previous years, he added.
Many of the administration's actions may also be spiking early enrollment, according to some health experts.
President the rich asshole has claimed ObamaCare is “imploding” and with Republican lawmakers failing to pass a repeal bill, the administration has taken a hatchet to the law.
the rich asshole signed an executive order that instructed agencies to loosen ObamaCare rules. He has also slashed advertising and outreach dollars by 90 percent.
The administration slashed funds by 41 percent for outside groups that help reach and enroll likely ObamaCare consumers. Last month, it cut off key subsidy payments to insurers used to bring down deductibles for low-income people.
Administration officials have pushed back on the idea that the cuts are part of an effort to sabotage the law, and on multiple occasions noted that ObamaCare enrollment was in decline before the rich asshole took office.
It’s possible those actions have helped boost enrollment, at least in the short term.
“There could be a fear factor, people going out and enrolling before more changes happen,” said Katherine Hempstead, who directs coverage programs at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
“The negative publicity has increased awareness a bit.”
Another reason experts are cautious of the numbers is because consumers may not be aware that many plans are cheaper than in the past.
the rich asshole’s decision to cut off the insurance subsidies has created a situation where some consumers can get much cheaper plans than in the past. In almost every county, according to a recent study by Avalere Health, some consumers can even get a free plan.
Insurers have significantly raised their premiums as a result of losing the payments, but people who are eligible for tax subsidies under the law will largely be shielded from the spike.
“These free insurance plans for many low income people would be a huge selling point, if there were resources for outreach,” Levitt said. “Which there aren’t.”
The initial surge has also put the administration, which has long claimed the health law is failing, in a difficult spot.
The administration is issuing weekly updates about the number of people who enrolled in coverage using healthcare.gov.
But the rich asshole officials are refusing to share what their enrollment targets are, a break in practice from the Obama administration.
If the final enrollment numbers are significantly lower than in the past, it could feed into the GOP narrative that ObamaCare is failing, and bolster new congressional repeal efforts.
There are high stakes for both sides in the ObamaCare fight.
Peter Lee, executive director of California’s insurance exchange Covered California, though, said raw numbers won’t tell the whole story.
“The issue isn’t how the administration talks about numbers, it’s how the administration promotes enrollment,” he said.
“I don’t care much about enrollment reporting. I care about enrollment promotion efforts.”
‘You’re fired’: the rich asshole falls back on TV catchphrase to attack reporters as Thanksgiving meltdown continues
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President some rich asshole used his reality TV catchphrase to insult reporters during a Thanksgiving Day event.
The president spoke to military service members via teleconference, and complained their conversation were public because he was “surrounded by reporters and press,” reported Business Insider.
He asked them to leave by falling back on his old catchphrase from NBC’s reality show “The Apprentice.”
“I will say: ‘You’re fired,'” the rich asshole said, “and, by the way, media: Happy Thanksgiving.”
the rich asshole bashed his predecessor, President Barack Obama, during the call and patted himself on the back during the traditional holiday call to troops serving overseas.
“We’re being talked about again as armed forces,” the rich asshole said. “We’re really winning. We know how to win—They weren’t letting you win before, they were letting you play even, we’re letting you win.”
A retired U.S. Army general argued service members would not appreciate boasts by the president, who is spending his 100th day at the rich asshole-owned property during the first 307 days of his presidency.
He started Thanksgiving Day by prolonging his feud with the father of a black college basketball player.
‘They weren’t letting you win’: Watch the rich asshole use his Thanksgiving address to the troops to bash the Obama administration
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some rich asshole on Thursday addressed the troops in a Thanksgiving teleconference—and managed to trash his predecessor, Barack Obama, in the process.
Discussing the military’s increased activity in Afghanistan, the rich asshole first boosted the success of his own administration declaring, “Everybody is talking about the progress you’ve made in the last few months since I opened it up.”
“We opened it up, we said, ‘Go ahead, we’re going to fight to win. We’re not fighting anymore to just walk around, we’re fighting to win,’ and you people are really—you’ve turned it around over the last three to four months like nobody’s seen and they are talking about it,” the rich asshole continued.
“We’re being talked about again as an armed forces,” he added. “We’re really winning. We know how to win—They weren’t letting you win before, they were letting you play even, we’re letting you win.”
“The fight against ISIS is coming our way,” the rich asshole said. “It’s coming our way, big, big difference. A lot of things have happened. They say we’ve made more progress against ISIS than they did in years of the previous administration. And that’s because I’m letting you do your job.”
“Everybody in this country is watching and they’re seeing and they’re seeing positive reports for instead of the neutral and negative reports,” he later added. “It’s all positive.”
Watch below:
the rich asshole tweets reply to article criticizing his feud with LaVar Ball: ‘Make America Great Again!’
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In a Thanksgiving Day post to his 43.2 million followers, some rich asshole let his hand show, responding to a liberal Washington Post column that was critical of the president.
“MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” the rich asshole tweeted Thursday morning. But that message was posted as a reply to a column by liberal Greg Sargent slamming the president for “[rage-tweeting] about a prominent African American again.”
The Post national correspondent Philip Bump posited a theory about why the rich asshole’s post replied to Sargent. “A while back, Twitter made a UI change so if you hit the ‘new tweet’ button while viewing a tweet, your new tweet was a reply to the tweet you were viewing.”
“Thanks for checking out Post reporting, Mr. President,” Bump added.
The Post report the rich asshole tweeted called the president’s feud with LaVar Ball, the father of one of three UCLA basketball players caught shoplifting in China, part of “a gratuitously ugly pattern.”
“the rich asshole once again attacked a prominent African American today. But, hey, the guy had it coming,” Sargent wrote sarcastically. “Also, it would be deeply unfair to the rich asshole to suggest that this constitutes a pattern of race-baiting on his part, and deeply unfair to his supporters to suggest that such a pattern might be designed to resonate with them, if that pattern existed at all, which it doesn’t.”
the rich asshole later reposted the tweet on its own.
“Happy Thanksgiving, Mr. President,” Sargent replied to the president.
UPDATE — 8:43 A.M:
An earlier version of this report indicated the president deleted the tweet. This article has been updated to reflect that it has not been deleted.
the rich asshole has spent nearly one out of every three days of his presidency at a family-owned property
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President some rich asshole has spent nearly one out of every three days since his inauguration at a property owned by him and his family.
The president spent Thanksgiving Day at Mar-A-Lago — the resort he owns in Palm Beach, Florida — which marks the 100th day he’s logged at one of his own properties, reported The Hill.
It’s been 307 days since his Jan. 20 inauguration, which means he’s spent one out of every 3.07 days at one the properties owned by the rich asshole Organization overseen by his two eldest sons.
He’s spent 28 days so far at the semi-public club he’s taken to calling the “Winter White House” — and which has been described as a “heaven for spies.”
The president has spent 39 days at the rich asshole National Golf Club in New Jersey, according to the New York Times, which is the most at any of the properties he owns.
Mar-A-Lago ranks as his second-most visited property, and he has also spent 23 days this year at the rich asshole National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.
LaVar Ball uses the rich asshole feud to market $60 t-shirt
Ball plays the rich asshole like a fiddle.
This Thanksgiving, LaVar Ball is thankful for some rich asshole.
Ball, the father of three basketball prodigies, is in the business of stoking controversy to generate interest in his company, Big Baller Brand. The elder Ball, for example, once claimed he could have beaten Michael Jordan in a game of one-one-one, said he son Lonzo was better than two-time league MVP Steph Curry,and demanded a $1 billion shoe contract.
But nothing Ball has ever said has done more to raise his profile than some rich asshole.
After Ball’s son LiAngelo was arrested with two other players for shoplifting while visiting China with the UCLA basketball team, the rich asshole reportedly asked Chinese President Xi to release them. A few days later, they were released and returned home. the rich asshole demanded the Ball family thank him for his efforts. While LiAngelo complied, LaVar Ball has steadfastly refused to acknowledge the rich asshole’s role.
the rich asshole has responded by repeatedly attacking Ball on Twitter.
This kind of attention, of course, is exactly what fuels Ball in his efforts to market his sons and his brand. He seized on the opportunity this week by appearing on CNN to discuss his feud with the President of the United States.
Ball used his CNN interview to promote his catch phrase — which is, naturally, available on merchandise “by popular demand.” This t-shirt, for example, can be yours for just $60.
the rich asshole, of course, is getting something out this feud as well. He has repeatedly picked fights with black people in the sports world as a way of rallying his core supporters, who are overwhelmingly white. His attacks on Ball as an “ungrateful fool” are particularly racially charged. Before Ball, the rich asshole also went after Jemele Hill, Steph Curry, and Colin Kaepernick.
the rich asshole is the most powerful and successful Twitter troll in the world. But he may have finally met his match. As Complex Magazine noted in May:
If people are going to do free promo for his company, Ball has all the incentive in the world to continue claiming his kids are the best basketball players in the history of the universe, and to pull publicity stunts like this to get free promo for his new company. Whether people are actually buying his tacky, overpriced gear isn’t really the point, because he’s already three or four rungs higher on the ladder than most people would be with their new brand.
the rich asshole believes he is putting Ball in his place. But he’s actually giving him exactly what he wants.
If people are going to do free promo for his company, Ball has all the incentive in the world to continue claiming his kids are the best basketball players in the history of the universe, and to pull publicity stunts like this to get free promo for his new company. Whether people are actually buying his tacky, overpriced gear isn’t really the point, because he’s already three or four rungs higher on the ladder than most people would be with their new brand.
Top the rich asshole adviser faked bad connection to end embarrassing phone call with president
NOVEMBER 22, 2017
"Mr. President, you're brilliant, but we're losing contact and I think we're going to lose you now, so goodbye."
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
some rich asshole’s enormous ego and narcissism forced his chief economic adviser to fake a bad phone connection with him to end an interminable conversation so the adults in the room could do their work.
The humiliating yet illuminating moment was revealed by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) in an appearance on CNN.
Carper explained that while in a discussion with Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council and the rich asshole’s top economic adviser, the rich asshole himself called in from Asia. Carper had hoped to discuss taxes and other economic issues with Cohn and the rich asshole, but the call soon devolved into the rich asshole just rambling on and on.
“Fifteen minutes later, the president is still talking,” Carper said. So he advised Cohn to pretend he had a bad connection — with the president of the United States — so he could get off the phone call.
Cohn then did just that, and hung up on the rich asshole.
HARLOW: At one point, it’s reported that you looked over to his chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, and said to him, quote, we’re not going to have a real conversation here, can you just tell the president he’s brilliant and say we’re losing the connection and hang up – seriously?CARPER: Seriously, and he did. And we’ve been having about a half an hour conversation with Gary, with Marc Short and with Shahira Knight, three people from the administration, having a great conversation, they were asking questions to some of the more moderate Democrats, and trying to see if there’s some kind of middle ground on tax reform.About 30 minutes into the call, Gary gets up and takes a call on his cell phone, comes back into the room, and he says, we have somebody calling in from Asia, and it was the president, which was nice. Nice of him to do that.Fifteen minutes later, the president is still talking. And I said to Gary — it was a room where we’re all sitting around this big table — and I said, “Gary, why don’t you do this, just take the phone from, you know, your cell phone back and just say, ‘Mr. President, you’re brilliant, but we’re losing contact and I think we’re going to lose you now, so goodbye.'”And that’s what he did, and he hung up.And then we went back to having the kind of conversation where we needed to, where they asked the right kind of questions, looking for consensus and common ground and I think we identified a little bit.BERMAN: So, you’re saying Gary Cohn faked a bad connection to get the president off the phone?CARPER: I’m sorry, say again?BERMAN: Are you saying Gary Cohn faked a bad connection to get the president off the phone?CARPER: Well, I wouldn’t – I don’t want to throw him under the bus, but yes.
the rich asshole’s underlings do not respect him, and repeated reporting from inside the White House reflect this posture toward him — a sentiment shared by millions of Americans.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly called the rich asshole a “moron,” after being forced to deal with the rich asshole’s bumbling approach to diplomacy. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster apparently described the rich asshole as an “idiot,” a “dope,” and “a kindergartner.”
Now Cohn, in collaboration with a senator, lied to the rich asshole just to get him to shut up.
The pattern is clear. Again and again, White House insiders have described the rich asshole’s behavior as that of a temperamental toddler who requires constant adult supervision, rather than a 71-year-old world leader.
Unlike most of his predecessors — of both parties — the rich asshole is not growing into the job. If anything, episodes like this and the contempt he has provoked from his inner circle and the population at large show that he is shrinking in the job.
It is arguably the most important position in the world, and it is currently held by the smallest man to ever do so.
Despite loudly insisting Roy Moore should drop out of the Alabama Senate race, most Republican senators remain mum after the rich asshole endorsed the alleged child molester.
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Republican leaders have largely gone silent in the wake of some rich asshole’s stunning decision on Tuesday to endorse an alleged child molester, Roy Moore, in the Alabama Senate race.
Never dreaming that the rich asshole, who has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women, would endorse Moore after a floodgate of allegations emerged about his habit of trolling teen girls in shopping malls, many Republican senators had already publicly suggested Moore get out of the race.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Moore “should step aside” from his Senate bid because of the accusations. “I believe the women.” Speaker of the House Paul Ryan of Wisconsin agreed.
And that was just the beginning.
“I believe the individuals speaking out against Roy Moore spoke with courage and truth, proving he is unfit to serve in the United States Senate and he should not run for office,” stressed Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, who serves as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “If he refuses to withdraw and wins, the Senate should vote to expel him, because he does not meet the ethical and moral requirements of the United States Senate.”
In all, more than a dozen of the 52 Republicans in the Senate said Moore should pull out of the Senate race in Alabama.
From CBS News:
In terms of messaging, the GOP thought this was a done deal: Moore was unfit and the national Republican Party wanted nothing to do with him.
And then the rich asshole blew it up. Following the Steven Bannon/Breitbart wing into the moral abyss, the rich asshole made it clear it’s more important to elect a Republican to the Senate — even if that Republican has been accused of sexually molesting a 14-year-old-girl while he was in his 30s, and even if that Republican was reportedly banned for a local shopping mall because of his love of cruising young girls there.
the rich asshole made plain on Tuesday that there is no ethical or common decency standard he will adhere to. None. And now, once again, Republican leaders, especially those in the Senate, watch silently from the sidelines, afraid to speak up.
The New York Times reported that “Senate Republicans said on Tuesday that they were bewildered by some rich asshole’s weighing in on the Alabama race.” But the Times didn’t actually quote any Senate Republicans saying that, because apparently few if any have the guts to now state that fact on the record.
While several Republican senators were already on the record saying Moore should bow out of the race, that sensible position is now diametrically opposed to the rich asshole’s. But apparently none of the senators want to draw attention to that.
Note that a strong majority of Americans — 60 percent — think Moore should be expelled from the Senate if he wins the election in Alabama, including a clear plurality of Republican voters (49-33), according to a new Quinnipiac poll.
the rich asshole has now forever tied the GOP to Moore.
Two of President the rich asshole's hometown newspapers are hitting him for standing by Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore in the wake of explosive sexual misconduct allegations.
In nearly matching front-page headlines on Friday, the New York Post and the New York Daily News — both known for their punchy style — declared the rich asshole as "with" a "perv" in the Alabama Senate race.
"I'm With The Perv!" the New York Post declared in bold letters.
"I'm With Perv," the Daily News wrote alongside photos of the rich asshole and Moore.
Numerous women have come forward in recent weeks to accuse Moore of pursuing sexual and romantic relations with them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. One of the accusers was 14 years old at the time of an alleged encounter with Moore, who was 32 at the time.
Moore has vehemently denied most of the allegations and has resisted calls by dozens of GOP officials across the country to withdraw from the Senate race.
After days of remaining relatively silent on the matter, the rich asshole defended Moore on Tuesday, emphasizing the candidate's denial of the allegations and saying that "we don't need a liberal person" in the Senate, referring to Moore's Democratic opponent, Doug Jones.
Jones has seen a boost in public polls since the allegations against Moore surfaced, turning a race long considered safe for the GOP into a competitive showdown. The Alabama special election is set for Dec. 12.
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 11/22/17 09:20 AM EST
The Washington Post on Wednesday published a detailed list of the sexual misconduct allegations against President the rich asshole and names of those corroborating the claims a day after he offered support for Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore.
The list, published in the newspaper’s “Fact Checker” section, details the accusations made by 13 women who have said the rich asshole sexually harassed or assaulted them. It only includes allegations that involved the rich asshole allegedly physically touching the accuser.
Though The Washington Post has published similar lists in the past, this is the most comprehensive and comes a day after the rich asshole offered support for Moore, who is running for the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and who faces his own accusations of sexual misconduct.
the rich asshole said Tuesday that “we don’t need a liberal person, a Democrat” in the Senate.
The president also noted that Moore "totally denies" all of the allegations.
Several GOP leaders have called for Moore to drop out of the race. But many Democrats and liberal groups have accused the GOP of hypocrisy for not also addressing the accusations against the president.
The White House’s official stance is that the women who have accused the rich asshole are lying.
The Washington Post’s list also includes the names and comments of witnesses who corroborated the claims, in addition to the rich asshole’s response to each accusation.
the rich asshole has repeatedly denied the accusations and dismissed as "locker room talk" the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, leaked during the 2016 presidential race, in which he is heard boasting about groping women without their consent.
White House insists the rich asshole will have a ‘full schedule’ — then he shows up at the golf course
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President some rich asshole on Wednesday morning insisted that he would spend his day taking meetings and working phones — but just hours later, he drove to one of his own Florida golf courses.
Earlier on Wednesday, the rich asshole tweeted that he was keeping a busy schedule, despite the fact that it was the day before a national holiday.
“Will be having meetings and working the phones from the Winter White House in Florida (Mar-a-Lago),” the president wrote.
However, MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin noted that pool reports show the rich asshole showed up at his Florida the rich asshole International Golf Club less than three hours later.
Additionally, the White House sent out a missive to reporters demanding that they report the rich asshole had a full schedule on Wednesday.
“While the White House communications staff expects the press pool to have a ‘low-key day,’ the president will NOT have a low-key day and has a full schedule of meetings and phone calls,” the White House wrote, in a message posted by Politico’s Edward-Isaac Dovere.
‘the rich asshole is a stupid man’s version of a President’: Internet pelts the rich asshole for ‘poor man’s Don King’ attack on LaVar Ball
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In an early morning Twitter storm Wednesday, President some rich asshole attacked LaVar Ball, the father of a UCLA basketball player arrested in China for shoplifting sunglasses. Ball refused to thank the president in a television appearance with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Monday, though his son did thank the rich asshole.
The president has become consumed with the idea of “credit” for allegedly convincing Chinese President Xi Jinping to free the players from jail. “IT WAS ME!” the rich asshole demanded in all capital letters. He went on to blast Ball as a “poor man’s Don King without the hair.”
The internet erupted into a frenzy of attacks against the rich asshole. You can see the best below:
the rich asshole says he alone freed jailed UCLA players, calls LaVar Ball "ungrateful fool"
President the rich asshole kicked off his holiday break at his Mar-a-Lago estate by tweeting early Wednesday morning, doubling down on his claims surrounding the freeing of three UCLA basketball players from Chinese police custody.
"It wasn't the White House, it wasn't the State Department, it wasn't father LaVar's so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence -- IT WAS ME," he wrote, calling out player LiAngelo Ball's father who has been feuding with the president since his son's release.
"Too bad!" the president added, "LaVar is just a poor man's version of Don King, but without the hair."
The tweets went on, with some rich asshole writing, "Just think LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you. But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It's a really big deal, especially in China. Ungrateful fool!"
LaVar's other son, Lonzo, is a star rookie for the Los Angeles Lakers.
The early morning tirade follows his weekend tweets suggesting he should have left the players in jail, calling out Ball's father for being ungrateful for the role some rich asshole played in their release.
When asked about some rich asshole's involvement in the matter, LaVar Ball told ESPN, "Who?"
He added, "What was he over there for? Don't tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out."
some rich asshole has said he raised the players' detention with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the leaders' recent meeting in Beijing. The players were arrested and questioned about stealing from high-end stores next to the team's hotel in Hangzhou, where the Bruins stayed before leaving for Shanghai to play Georgia Tech.
Following their return to the U.S. they have been indefinitely suspended from the team.
The president quickly shifted gears to another ongoing controversy in the sports world -- the NFL.
"The NFL is now thinking about a new idea -- keeping teams in the locker room during the National Anthem next season. That's almost as bad as kneeling!" some rich asshole wrote in response to the league's suggestion on Tuesday afternoon amid ongoing silent protests at NFL games across the country.
some rich asshole then focused on league commissioner Roger Goodell, saying "When will the highly paid commissioner finally get tough and smart? This issue is killing your league!"
‘IT WAS ME!’: the rich asshole blasts father LaVar Ball as ‘ungrateful fool’ and demands credit for player’s freedom
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President some rich asshole again demanded credit in an early morning Twitterstorm for freeing three UCLA basketball players from Chinese jail for shoplifting sunglasses.
“It wasn’t the White House, it wasn’t the State Department, it wasn’t father LaVar’s so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence – IT WAS ME,” the rich asshole tweeted Wednesday morning. “Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair. Just think. LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you. But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It’s a really big deal, especially in China. Ungrateful fool!”
YourVoice America co-host Joey Mannarino replied to the president with several tweets, appearing to agree with him. However, the rich asshole seemed to be in attack mode, and chose to retweet with snide commentary. “Another Crooked Hillary Fan!” The tweet was then deleted, presumably once he realized Mannarino agreed with him.
POLITICS
the rich asshole Makes World’s Dumbest Feud Even Dumber
He called a UCLA basketball player’s father, “a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair.”
President some rich asshole escalated what has arguably been his most mindless feud yet by calling the father of a college basketball player “a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair” and an “ungrateful fool.”
the rich asshole’s tweets early Wednesday continue the president’s back-and-forth jeers with LaVar Ball, whose son LiAngelo Ball was one of three UCLA basketball players arrested in China on shoplifting charges earlier this month. The athletes were eventually released ― an outcome that the rich asshole has very publicly taken credit for ― but Ball isn’t having any of it.
“Everybody wants to make it seem like [the rich asshole] helped me out,” the elder Ball told ESPN last week. “I’ve seen a lot worse things happen than a guy taking some glasses. My son has built up enough character that one bad decision doesn’t define him.”
In response, the president fumed that he should have left the players in jail, a charge that the White House later walked back.
the rich asshole’s latest criticism seems to be in response to comments the elder Ball made on Monday night, that “if I was going to thank somebody, I’d probably thank President Xi.”
Experts told the New York Times that the players probably would have been released without the rich asshole’s help, because― contrary to the president’s claims― shoplifting isn’t a serious crime in China.
The younger Ball and his teammates returned home last week, but they’ve been suspended indefinitely from the team.
WATCH: Nicolle Wallace Takes the rich asshole To The Woodshed For Backing Pedophile Moore
some rich asshole just got his ass handed to him by Nicolle Wallace for endorsing an accused child molester.
Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore has been accused of sexual assault by several women, most of whom were teens at the time. One woman was 14-years-old.
Age of consent laws apparently did not matter to Moore, who was the district attorney during the time period in which most of the assaults allegedly occurred. Moore own former colleagues have confirmed that Moore preyed upon teenage girls and he was even banned from a shopping mall because he kept creeping on teen girls.
On Tuesday, the rich asshole finally spoke out about Moore and the allegations. And what he said was sickening.
the rich asshole accused Moore’s opponent Doug Jones of being “soft” on crime before saying he’d rather have an accused child molester in the Senate instead of a Democrat. Then he defended Moore the same way he defended Vladimir Putin during his trip to Asia.
“Well, he denies it, the rich asshole said. “Look, he denies it. I mean, if you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it. He says it didn’t happen and you know, you have to listen to him also.”
the rich asshole’s words were so disgusting that MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace took him to the woodshed.
“I have this physical feeling of just being repulsed listening to — be it a figure head, he is the head of the Republican Party and I have described myself as a nonpracticing member, but I don’t know what other word to use other than repulsed, that the head of the Republican Party said essentially threw his weight behind someone accused of stalking and engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old. There’s nothing normal about throwing your weight behind a child molester. So when he says, this president says ‘he denies it, he denies it’ I almost heard in him, ‘I denied it too.’ He’s almost projecting on to Roy Moore his own circumstance.”
Here’s the video via YouTube.
Indeed, the rich asshole was accused of sexual assault by over a dozen women during the campaign. He called all of them liars at the time. And it looks like that’s coming back to bite the rich asshole on the ass.
Featured Image: Screenshot
POLITICS
some rich asshole Breaks Silence On Roy Moore Allegations
“We don’t need a liberal person in there,” the president said, referring to Moore’s Democratic challenger Doug Jones.
President some rich asshole on Tuesday directly addressed the sexual misconduct allegations against Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, nearly two weeks after the first accounts of Moore’s alleged sexual predation were first reported by The Washington Post.
“Roy Moore denies it. That’s all I can say,” the rich asshole told reporters while leaving the White House to go to his Mar-a-Lago resort for the Thanksgiving holiday.
the rich asshole all but endorsed Moore, after repeatedly ignoring questions about the race since the news of the allegations broke. The White House has previously said that the administration’s position is that the voters in Alabama should decide.
“We don’t need a liberal person in there,” he said, referring to Doug Jones, Moore’s Democratic challenger.
When asked whether he believes the allegations of the nearly 10 women who have come forward, the rich asshole repeatedly said that Moore “totally denies it.”
“He says it didn’t happen, and you know, you have to listen to him also,” the president said. He added that “40 years is a long time,” and that “the women are the rich asshole voters.”
When a reporter asked whether “an accused child molester is better than a Democrat,” the president again said that Moore “denies it.”
Meanwhile, the Moore campaign on Tuesday held an event to discredit the women who have come forward.
“Allegations are words. They are not facts,” said Stan Cooke, a Moore supporter and Alabama pastor. “Allegations are words. They are not indictments and they are not charges.”
When asked if he had a message to women, amid the geyser of recent sexual harassment allegations against powerful men, the rich asshole said he was “very happy” for women.
“Women are very special,” he said. “I think it’s a very special time, a lot of things are coming out, and I think that’s good for our society, and I think it’s very, very good for women, and I’m very happy a lot of these things are coming out.”
The official White House position on the more than a dozen women who have accused the rich asshole of sexual misconduct is that they are all liars.
Fucking idiot.
The incredible shrinking presidency of some rich asshole
(CNN)In the past 7 days, President the rich asshole has attacked the following people -- and institutions -- on Twitter:
* LaVar Ball
* LiAngelo Ball
* Cody Riley
* Jalen Hill
* Marshawn Lynch
* Jeff Flake
* Hillary Clinton
* Al Franken
* The New York Times
* CNN
Three of those people are college freshmen at UCLA. One is a professional football player. Two are sitting senators. One is the woman he beat to win the White House almost a year ago. Two are major media organizations. And LaVar Ball is, well, LaVar Ball.
And, this week is far from atypical for this president. As a candidate -- and now in the White House -- the rich asshole has put his willingness to attack anyone at any time at the heart of his political persona. He is the guy who will never let you get a cheap shot in against him, the guy who will never let a punch thrown go unanswered.
That sort of no-retreat, no-surrender mentality helped the rich asshole the candidate immensely. Republican voters liked someone who was willing to speak his mind in the face of political correctness -- and someone who would never back down from a fight. the rich asshole's if-you-come-at-me-I-will-destroy-you approach to, well, everything was appealing to a certain segment of GOP voters who thought that President Barack Obama spent the last eight years apologizing for America both in this country and around the world.
As president, there was a belief in some circles that the rich asshole might adjust his behavior -- act more "presidential." Hell, the rich asshole himself promised as much!
"I will be so presidential, you will be so bored," he said in mid-2016. "You'll say, 'Can't he have a little more energy?'"
That has not been the case, however. And even the rich asshole has abandoned the idea of being "presidential."
"My use of social media is not Presidential - it's MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL," he tweeted in July. "Make America Great Again!"
the rich asshole never really defined what "modern day presidential" actually meant to him. But, through his actions over the first 10 months (or so) of his presidency he's made clear how he sees the job: To project confidence, strength and victory always and, if anyone ever questions him on any of those fronts, he attacks.
It doesn't matter if the person doing the questioning is a former political opponent, a member of the rich asshole's own party, a cable TV host or a teenage basketball player. the rich asshole has one speed in all of his interactions: Aggressively leaning forward -- and ready to run you over, rhetorically speaking, if you get in his way.
Neil Cavuto, a Fox News anchor, criticized that method of "using a bazooka to respond to a pea shooter" and added another message to the rich asshole: "Last time I checked, you are the President of the United States. Why don't you act like it?"
What the rich asshole has overseen with his "modern day presidential" approach is a remarkable shrinking of the presidency. The men who have held the office before him -- Democrats and Republicans -- seemed to understand the value and importance of being president. They resisted their lower urges to respond to every critic or to correct every claim made against them because they believed it would be beneath the dignity of the office. They viewed the presidency as the ultimate high road; you were bound by the people who elected you -- and the people who had come before you in the job -- to act a certain way in the office.
By going back and forth with LaVar Ball or Marshawn Lynch or any of the dozens of other people the rich asshole has elevated by feuding with them over his first 10 months in office, the rich asshole has shrunk the presidency by several degrees. Can you imagine Obama spending his time in Twitter fights with some random quasi-celebrity who said something bad about him? Or George W. Bush?
the rich asshole views the presidency less as a place where he elevates the dialogue in the country than one where he has primacy in any sort of fight he wants. He's acting exactly as he's acted his whole life -- thin-skinned, quick triggered etc. -- but now has the backing of the entire federal bureaucracy behind him. He is now the President Celebrity-in-Chief. Not just the Celebrity-in-Chief.
Which is fine for the rich asshole. The idea that a 71-year-old man would fundamentally change the behavior he exhibited over the first seven decades of his life was always a far-fetched one.
But, the rich asshole's influence on the presidency is harder to dismiss as just "the rich asshole being the rich asshole." The smallness of how the rich asshole defines his role as the most powerful person in the country has real and lasting effects on how people perceive the president and the presidency. And none of those impacts are good ones.
THE RICH ASSHOLE ADMINISTRATION SET TO DEFEND BIRTH CONTROL RULES THAT PIT RELIGION AGAINST WOMEN’S HEALTH
ALICIA BAKER GREW up in a deeply religious family. Her parents were leaders in their congregation. They took Baker and her sister on mission trips and instilled in them the importance of faith in action, a principle around which Baker has organized her life. She went to Christian schools and attended seminary, where she received her master’s degree. In 2015, she moved from California to Indianapolis to take a job with a church-affiliated nonprofit. And it wasn’t long afterward that she met Josh; the two fell in love and decided they should marry.
In anticipation of their nuptials, Baker, 28, knew she needed to be on birth control. The couple plans to have children, she says, but they’re not quite ready to take that step. Baker is still adjusting to life in the Midwest, the couple just bought their first house, and she still has graduate school loans to pay off. “We’re so excited to have kids one day,” she told The Intercept. “But right now it would be irresponsible for us to try to pursue that.”
Baker had been on birth control pills once for medical reasons, but the hormones had caused her problems. So when she was ready to start birth control as a means of family planning, she decided she should go with the copper intrauterine device, one of the most effective forms of long-acting reversible birth control on the market and the only one that does not use hormones. The IUD she chose is a small T-shaped piece of soft plastic wrapped with copper, which is toxic to sperm and thus prevents fertilization. “It looked like the best fit for me,” Baker said.
But roughly a month after she received the IUD, she got a startling piece of mail. It was an explanation of benefits letter from her health insurance company, GuideStone Financial Resources, informing her that the IUD would not be covered. She would have to come up with $1,200 from her own pocket — and continue to pay for any future care associated with the device.
Baker was confused. There was nothing in the materials provided by her insurer informing her that birth control was not covered. More importantly, she knew that the Affordable Care Act mandates the provision of no-cost birth control.
After doing some research, Baker found the problem. Although her church-affiliated employer doesn’t have a problem with covering birth control, GuideStone, the insurance company her employer uses, does. GuideStone opposes IUDs, which it believes cause abortion because when used as emergency contraception, the device could keep a fertilized egg from implantation. But the vast majority of women use an IUD to avoid that situation altogether. Baker notes that she was required to have a pregnancy test before the device was inserted — a test her insurer was billed for.
GuideStone, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, is among more than 200 religiously affiliated employers or insurers that have balked at the ACA’s birth control mandate, arguing that the requirement to provide access to certain forms of contraception impinges on their ability to follow their faith. The insurance company, along with a number of other organizations, has sued the government seeking to protect itself from having to honor the mandate. The Supreme Court essentially put the litigation on hold last summer in anticipation that the organizations and the government could find a way to resolve the dispute.
Last month, the possibility of a compromise appeared to evaporate. On October 6, the rich asshole administration announced a new set of rules that instead upend the birth control mandate. Officials say they are meant to protect religious freedom, but practically speaking, they offer nearly every employer or insurer the ability to deny contraceptive coverage for nearly any reason.
To Baker, it was a frustrating situation. “I’ve been a Christian my whole life and I’ve studied the Bible a lot. And there is nothing that I have found in study or in the doctrine … that says birth control is inherently bad,” she said. “The decision to have children is the couple’s own, and when it is the right time.”
Baker has signed on as a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed October 31 by the National Women’s Law Center and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which argues the the rich asshole administration rules are unconstitutional. The stakes are high: Unless the rules are struck down, millions of women could lose access to no-cost contraceptives. While Baker was at seminary, a lot of her “classes were talking about faith in action and how we live out our faith,” she said. “This is a test of that at this moment.”
The Birth Control Mandate
Critical to the foundation of the Affordable Care Act is the promise that preventive health services are covered at no additional cost. That commitment was extended specifically to women’s reproductive health care under the Women’s Health Amendment, which requires insurers to cover an additional suite of services for women without cost sharing — including access to all Food and Drug Administration-approved methods of birth control.
It makes sense to cover birth control: Access to contraception reduces unplanned pregnancies and abortions and encourages birth spacing, which reduces the incidence of low birth weight and premature birth. Moreover, access to contraceptives promotes gender equality and is linked to greater educational attainment and increased earnings for women — gains that directly impact children and families.
The ACA’s birth control mandate — and its prohibition on sex discrimination in health care — was nothing short of a game-changer. Prior to the law’s passage, many insurers did not cover contraceptives, and women routinely paid higher health insurance premiums and had greater out-of-pocket expenses than men. The birth control mandate alone saves women roughly $1.4 billion per year.
Nonetheless, from the start, churches were exempt from having to comply with the birth control mandate. Church-related organizations — including nonprofits, universities, and hospitals — asked that they too be allowed to exclude contraceptive coverage, but the Obama administration said no. To extend the exemption that far would subject employees “to the religious views of their employer,” the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury stated in 2012. And limiting access to contraceptives would in turn reduce the “benefits of preventive care.”
Instead, the government devised a workaround: A church-affiliated entity could opt out by submitting a form to its insurance company or the federal government saying it objected to providing coverage, which then allowed the insurer or a third-party administrator to work with the government to provide birth control coverage directly. The solution was meant to acknowledge religious objections while providing a means to ensure that women were afforded seamless access to all mandated health services. In 2014, the outcome of a lawsuit brought by Hobby Lobby craft stores extended the opt-out workaround to closely held private corporations.
Despite the accommodations, a number of church-affiliated organizations, including GuideStone, remained unsatisfied. In a series of federal lawsuits, the groups argued that having to notify anyone of their objections essentially conscripted them into the process of providing the contraceptives they repudiated, thus placing an unlawful burden on their religious freedom. The Supreme Court heard the consolidated cases in early 2016 and kicked them back to the lower courts to see if there might be a way to settle the dispute.
In doing so, the court was not making any judgment about the merits of the case but was providing the parties “an opportunity to arrive at an approach going forward that accommodates petitioners’ religious exercise,” while also ensuring that female employees “receive full and equal health coverage,” the court wrote in its brief opinion.
The plan didn’t work out. After negotiations and a period of public comment, the Obama administration concluded that there was “no feasible” way to guarantee women access to birth control as mandated under the law while granting an accommodation that would not require some form of notice from the religious organizations. It appeared the parties were at a stalemate.
Broad Exemption Based on “Moral Convictions”
That changed in May, however, when some rich asshole issued an executive order signaling that the administration would be revisiting the birth control mandate with an eye toward vindicating groups like GuideStone. Just five months later, the administration announced “interim final rules” that expanded the contraceptive coverage exemption well beyond churches to include nearly any employer that objects to providing coverage based on religious belief or “moral convictions.”
The new rules, which went into effect immediately, made the workaround accommodation optional — meaning most employers or insurers could refuse to cover contraceptives without ever providing formal notice of their intention to do so.
GuideStone applauded the move. “This is indeed good news for all Americans who value the important role of religious liberty in our nation,” GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins said in a press release. “This new interim final rule … is not the end of the protracted legal battle endured by far too many ministries throughout our nation. However, it is a significant step in ending the years-long ordeal.”
The ink had barely dried on the rules, however, when a new round of lawsuits was filed. Attorneys general in California and Massachusetts quickly challenged the rules, arguing that they violate federal statutes and constitutional protections. Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Virginia have since signed on to the California action. Others soon followed, raising the same legal objections: Washington state filed suit, as did Pennsylvania; the Center for Reproductive Rights sued on behalf of Medical Students for Choice; a private school teacher in Colorado and the ACLU of Northern California also sued. And, most recently, the National Women’s Law Center and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed suit on behalf of four named plaintiffs, including Alicia Baker.
According to the NWLC lawsuit, the new rules “effectively nullify the existing regulations requiring contraceptive coverage,” threatening access for all women, not just those working for religiously affiliated organizations. Under the ACA, discriminatory health care pricing for women was reined in, and more than 62 million women gained access to no-cost birth control. “This rule completely reverses that progress and reinstates the discrimination that the ACA was enacted to prevent,” Erika Hanson, a lawyer with the NWLC, told The Intercept.
In line with the other pending lawsuits, the NWLC and Americans United suit also argues that the rules were created in violation of federal law and are unconstitutional. For starters, they were promulgated in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, which requires that the public have an opportunity to comment on any proposed changes. “This is a huge change in law, a very radical change, and they didn’t go through the public comment process,” Hanson said. The birth control mandate was adopted after years of deliberation and receipt of roughly 725,000 public comments. And there is no emergency situation that would allow the government to forgo the public process, she says.
Moreover, the rules didn’t change the foundations of the ACA, which still prohibits sex discrimination, a ban the new rules clearly violate, Hanson said. Singling women out for adverse treatment is also a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment.
At least equally important, the lawsuits allege, is that the new rules are a clear violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause. Their very purpose is to promote, advance, and endorse a religious cause, the NWLC suit argues, and “excessively entangle the government with religion.”
The rich asshole administration’s response to California’s lawsuit is due November 29. That initial stance will likely be replicated in its responses to other suits challenging the new rules.
Religious Freedom and Women’s Rights
GuideStone’s refusal to pay for Alicia Baker’s IUD was a “financial hardship,” she said. But she’s aware that she was still fortunate: She was able to save up enough to cover the cost — a relative luxury that other women cannot as easily afford. “I can only imagine how much more so … it would be for women who aren’t in the same economic station as I am,” she said. The realization that other women in need of care might be unable to afford contraceptives if their coverage was denied was one of the reasons Baker felt compelled to sue the the rich asshole administration.
But she is also motivated by a desire to protect her religious rights. And the government’s current course is “gravely” concerning to her, she said, because casting the conflict as religious rights versus women’s rights threatens them both. “One of the founding principles of America is the separation of church and state. And for me, as a Christian, I love that. It means we get to express our views free from the state, and we’re protected because they’re not meddling in our affairs,” she said. “And vice versa, the government is protected by not having one religion control it.”
She worries that allowing the new rules to stand would jeopardize that core principle and harm millions of women. “If anybody hears my story, I want them to know that this is just my story,” she said. People should “talk to women in their own lives. Ask them about how this rule would affect them, how it currently does affect them, and what it means to them. Because I am not the only woman whose story needs to be told.”
"He totally denies it. He says it didn't happen. You have to listen to him also."
ZACK FORD NOV 21, 2017, 3:45 PM
Before taking off for his Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago, President the rich asshole took some questions from the press and finally responded to the multiple sexual abuse allegations against Roy Moore. “We do not need a liberal person — a Democrat” in that seat, the rich asshole said. “He totally denies it. He says it didn’t happen. You have to listen to him also.”
When asked if he had a message for women, the rich asshole said it’s “very, very good” for women that these kind of allegations have been “exposed.” But he insisted Moore “totally denies it,” pontificating on the fact that 40 years had passed, implying he doubted the claims the multiple women have made.
This is a significant shift from the White House’s messaging on Moore as of just a day ago. At Monday’s press briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders repeatedly stated that the rich asshole wanted to leave it up to the people of Alabama to decide, repeating a line Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short had used in an interview on Sunday.
Sanders also distanced the White House from the rich asshole’s own senior counselor, Kellyanne Conway, who said Monday morning, “I’m telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through.”
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