January 7th, 2017 - January 8th, 2017. 419-420 days since the Nov 8, 2016, election of some rich asshole, no.45, and 349-350 days since the Jan 20th inauguration.
the rich asshole just rudely scolded black and Hispanic Americans for not being grateful enough for him
This morning, the President of the United States took to Twitter to chastise African-American and Hispanic voters for traditionally voting Democratic.
In a truly breathtaking show of selfish bravado, some rich asshole took credit for the low unemployment rate he had been gifted by our nation’s first African-American president and used it to berate people of color for not supporting him hard enough.
African American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded in our country. The Hispanic unemployment rate dropped a full point in the last year and is close to the lowest in recorded history. Dems did nothing for you but get your vote!#NeverForget @foxandfriends
The telling “@foxandfriends” makes it clear that in typical FOX News grandpa-style, the President just got riled up by smug white folks telling him about how ungrateful people of color are, prompting him to immediately complain about it online.
Funnily enough, the President’s tweet did not mention the fact that just this morning, it was announced that 200,000 people from El Salvador who have lived, worked, and paid taxes in the United States for years under a temporary protected status program would soon be forced to uproot their lives and return to their home nations – just as the rich asshole administration did to 45,000 Haitians a few weeks ago.
Nor did the President mention his ending of the DACA program, setting the wheels into motion to deport nearly a million children who have spent their entire lives in the United States but have the misfortune to be born to undocumented parents.
So judging by his exclusionary and discriminatory approach to immigration issues, it’s clear to see why African-Americans and Hispanics don’t feel inclined to support a party that in the last election cycle decided to entirely dispense with the veneer of civility and embrace open-throated racism.
the rich asshole re-ups three embarrassingly unfit nominees in a single day
JANUARY 8, 2018
the rich asshole has resorted to scraping the bottom of barrel for his nominees — even going as far as renominating those who have already been deemed unfit — because qualified people don't want to work in such a dysfunctional administration.
On the campaign trail, some rich asshole promised that he would pick “only the best people” to work in his administration. There’s just one problem with that plan — the best people don’t want to work in the most dysfunctional White House in modern history.
With fewer and fewer willing people to choose from, the rich asshole has resorted to scraping the bottom of the barrel with his nominees, several of whom have been forced to withdraw their names or turned away by the Senate for being so uniquely unfit.
But desperate times call for desperate measures.
On Monday, the rich asshole resubmitted the nominations of at least three people who were previously nominated for Senate-confirmed positions but deemed unqualified or otherwise unfit to serve.
Two of the three are judicial nominees who, after being nominated by the rich asshole, were rated “not qualified” to be federal judges by the American Bar Association (ABA).
Charles Goodwin, the rich asshole’s nominee for a lifetime seat on an Oklahoma District Court, was deemed unqualified to fulfill the demands of a federal judge in a December evaluation by the ABA. One month before that, the ABA rated another one of the rich asshole’s judicial nominees, Holly Teeter, as not qualified based on lack of trial court experience.
On Monday, the rich asshole resubmitted both of their nominations to the Senate.
Also on Monday, Politico reported that Andrew Puzder — the rich asshole’s former first pick for labor secretary who withdrew his nomination last year amid revelations of domestic abuse — is once again under consideration for a Senate-confirmed position in the rich asshole administration.
It’s not clear what position Puzder might fill, but officials in the rich asshole administration are trying to find a role for him. According to Politico, “The White House still doesn’t appear to view Puzder’s past as a deal-breaker.”
The rich asshole administration is descending further into spiral of dysfunction, with more unqualified people joining the ranks just as the few qualified people left are jumping ship.
These aren’t the best people. These aren’t even good people. These are simply the only people with so little to lose that they’re willing to put it all on the line to work for an administration that is going nowhere — and fast.
Even in the reddest of red states, the rich asshole can't go anywhere without facing vocal opposition.
some rich asshole is used to surrounding himself with adoring fans at political rallies.
But when he steps outside of that pre-scripted setting to attend events open to the public, he is met with derision and protests — even in the deepest red parts of the country.
On Monday night, the rich asshole traveled to Atlanta to see the NCAA National Championship game between Georgia and Alabama, and the reception that greeted him was not exactly friendly.
As the city prepared for the rich asshole’s arrival, protesters from Refuse Fascism ATL gathered at the nearby CNN Center:
Protesters gathered in front of the CNN Center. Refuse Fascism ATL organizers unfurled an anti-Trump banner and spoke into a megaphone about how @realDonaldTrump must go. More on the anticipated protests here => on-ajc.com/2AHQTud#UGA2ATL
While officials waited for the rich asshole to arrive, several entrances to the stadium were shut, leaving angry fans stuck outside in the rain:
And when the rich asshole finally arrived, thousands of people in the stadium responded with furious boos:
Video of Trump being booed at #NationalChampionship game. For those saying that’s not “booing,” I can assure you that tens of thousands of people cheering doesn’t sound like a low, consistent rumble drowning out chants of “USA.”
If the rich asshole had expected a friendly crowd that would validate his perception of continued strength and popularity in the South, Monday’s game fell far short of expectations.
Americans are sick of the failed the rich asshole presidency — of all of its lies, corruption, and racial pandering. Even in the Deep South, the rich asshole can no longer count on a friendly reception.
There’s only one thing to say about that: SAD!
the rich asshole named top “press oppressor” alongside world’smost brutal dictators
JANUARY 8, 2018
some rich asshole was recognized for going out of his way "to attack the press and undermine the norms that support freedom of the media."
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday released a list of the world’s worst press oppressors — and some rich asshole took home the top honor, beating out dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
The list of global press oppressors recognizes world leaders “who have gone out of their way to attack the press and undermine the norms that support freedom of the media.” It was released in response to the rich asshole’s upcoming “fake news” awards ceremony.
the rich asshole was named the winner of the “Overall Achievement in Undermining Global Press Freedom” award for going “above and beyond to silence critical voices and weaken democracy.”
Among other things, the rich asshole has popularized the term “fake news,” using it to describe any news that he doesn’t like — at times, even his own words. He uses the bully pulpit to openly promote Fox News as his personal propaganda arm while denigrating other news sources and calling for the firing of journalists who make honest mistakes.
Most recently, the rich asshole called for banning the book “Fire and Fury” because he doesn’t like its unflattering portrayal of his first year in office.
“The United States, with its First Amendment protection for a free press, has long stood as a beacon for independent media around the world,” CPJ wrote. “While previous U.S. presidents have each criticized the press to some degree, they have also made public commitments to uphold its essential role in democracy, at home and abroad.”
“the rich asshole, by contrast, has consistently undermined domestic news outlets and declined to publicly raise freedom of the press with repressive leaders such as Xi [Jinping], Erdoğan, and Sisi.”
CPJ noted that, under the rich asshole administration, the Department of Justice has failed to commit to guidelines to protect journalists’ sources, while the State Department has proposed funding cuts for organizations that promote free press around the world.
Perhaps that explains CPJ’s decision to name the rich asshole as the runner-up in the “Most Thin-skinned” category, right behind Turkey’s Erdogan.
“He regularly attacks outlets and individual journalists on Twitter and in speeches, calling them ‘sad,’ ‘failing,’ or ‘garbage,’” the committee wrote about the rich asshole. “Since declaring his presidential candidacy in 2015, the rich asshole has posted about 1,000 tweets critical of the press.”
While the effects of the rich asshole’s attacks on the press are felt at home, they are most dire abroad. According to CPJ, with countries like the United States failing to hold repressive leaders accountable for their treatment of the press, the number of journalists in prison globally has reached a record high.
the rich asshole’s disdain for the free press threatens fundamental democratic values. He took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution — and every time he attacks the press, he is attacking the basic principles that make America the great nation it is.
the rich asshole could have done much more to help Puerto Rico. And everyone knows it.
The situation in Puerto Rico is as dire as ever. Months after the hurricane struck, hundreds of thousands of Americans on the island are still without power.
And it is high time to point the finger at some rich asshole for his failure.
As Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York points out, in the wake of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico is now suffering from the longest blackout in American history, and the largest one by consumer-hours of electricity lost.
In fact, it’s nearly twice the size of the blackouts caused by Hurricane Katrina:
We need to fight for the 660,000 Americans who have now lived without electricity for more than 100 days and still don’t have it. #PuertoRico now has the longest blackout in American history.
And yet the rich asshole has not even made the most basic efforts to help the island rebuild. Congress passed a bipartisan package of disaster aid months ago, but the rich asshole is sitting on the money. He has even turned away supplies being brought in by foreign ships.
Meanwhile, the rich asshole’s FEMA officials announced they would be helping Puerto Rico restore power in the wake of the controversy surrounding a shady power company from a the rich asshole crony’s hometown being awarded an exploitative contract over their grid. But more than two months after that announcement, huge sections of the island are still dark.
the rich asshole, for his part, has shamefully attempted to blame the whole thing on Puerto Rican laziness.
There is no excuse for this kind of inaction and failure from the highest levels of government in the wake of a major natural disaster. Hundreds are dead, and hundreds of thousands are unable to simply live their lives.
At some point, we must ask ourselves how much incompetence and neglect we are willing to accept from our leaders — and draw a line.
Kellyanne Conway in hiding since bombshell book exposed her as White House embarrassment
JANUARY 8, 2018
Kellyanne Conway helped secure access for a writer who portrayed the administration as utterly incompetent. Now, she has suddenly disappeared from the airwaves in the wake of the exposé.
The White House that has found itself engulfed in controversy for the last five days over the new tell-all insider book that depicts some rich asshole as mentally unstable and unfit for the office. Yet one of the administration’s chief spin doctors has been remarkably quiet.
Instead of being out front defending the White House and trying to raise doubts about Michael Wolff’s book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the rich asshole White House” — a book the rich asshole’s lawyer tried to get banned — White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has been noticeably absent from the crisis management effort.
A constant, predictable presence on cable news channels over the last year, it appears Conway has given no televised interviews to defend the White House with regards to the Wolff book since the imbroglio exploded on Jan. 3.
In fact, it was the rich asshole aide Stephen Miller who was assigned to defend to White House on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
And those results were disastrous.
The interview was cut off by host Jake Tapper when Miller became both elusive and argumentative. Off-camera after the interview, Tapper scolded Miller: “This is why they don’t have you do TV. OK?” Miller then refused to leave the set and had to be escorted away by CNN security.
The White House may have preferred to have Conway do that interview, as the administration scrambles to counter the book’s conclusion that the rich asshole’s presidency is essentially a hoax and his administration nothing short of a trainwreck.
But it seems Conway has gone into hiding in recent days.
And that could be because Conway was one of the key the rich asshole aides who helped secure Wolff’s exclusive access to the White House in the first place. In other words, Conway helped Wolff write a book that completely trashes the rich asshole.
Appearing on “Morning Joe” on Monday and speaking with Mike Barnicle, Wolff confirmed that it was Conway and the rich asshole’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon who opened doors for him:
BARNICLE: Who was the original contact for you to get you into the White House?WOLFF: Beyond the rich asshole himself who was completely, you know, “Sure.” It seemed like he didn’t care that much. But then it was Bannon and Kellyanne.
This isn’t surprising. “He was seen having lunch at the fading Manhattan media power lunch joint Michael’s with special counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway, which turned heads even at a restaurant known for star sightings,” Buzzfeed reported last winter, when Wolff was angling for White House access.
As for the contents of the finished book, Wolff did Conway no favors either, portraying her as someone who was privately aware of the rich asshole administration absurdities, but who publicly cheered them on:
In private, in the Off position, she seemed to regard the rich asshole as a figure of exhausting exaggeration or even absurdity—or, at least, if you regarded him that way, she seemed to suggest that she might, too. She illustrated her opinion of her boss with a whole series of facial expressions: eyes rolling, mouth agape, head snapping back. But in the On position, she metamorphosed into believer, protector, defender, and handler.
At times, Conway’s fulsome defense of the rich asshole last year was too much even for some top aides to take, according to Wolff, and she was temporarily taken off the air.
The rich asshole team might be protesting too much.
some rich asshole and his team have been doggedly compounding the public relations disaster that is Michael Wolff’s tell-all book “Fire and Fury,” and saw no reason to let up Monday afternoon.
On Saturday, the rich asshole went on a Twitter rant extolling himself as a “very stable genius,” while his surrogates hit the Sunday shows to defend his mental fitness with varying degrees of spectacular failure.
Then on Monday, aboard Air Force One en route to Nashville, deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley was asked why the rich asshole felt the need to tweet that he’s a “very stable genius,” and Gidley responded that “most of the press calls him unstable and stupid.”
Several members of the rich asshole’s own inner circle have called him a “moron,” a “child,” an “idiot,” and a “fucking fool.”
But Gidley insisted that the rich asshole’s record shows that the rich asshole is “brilliant” and “sharp as a tack.”
As if it needed refutation, Gidley’s laugh-line came on the heels of reports that the rich asshole’s own lawyers don’t trust him to speak with special counsel Robert Mueller without committing perjury.
Gidley was also asked to comment on Steve Bannon’s botched attempt at an apology. “I don’t think there’s any way back for him at this point,” Gidley responded.
Ironically, it may be the rich asshole who has a hard time finding his way back from the disastrous fallout from Wolff’s book, which has opened the floodgates to discussions about the rich asshole’s fitness for office. Every move the rich asshole and his team take in response to the book seems only to confirm the worst suspicions raised in it.
That includes Bannon, whose apology succeeded only in confirming that he did, in fact, refer to the rich asshole Tower collusion meeting as “treasonous.”
The most frightening thing about this turn of events, for the rich asshole supporters, is that the only course of action that would help is completely impossible for the rich asshole to accomplish: simply shutting up.
Stephen Miller's disastrous Sunday interview with Jake Tapper only got worse after the cameras stopped rolling.
After CNN’s Jake Tapper abruptly ended a Sunday morning interview with White House aide Stephen Miller, accusing him of being “obsequious” and refusing to answer substantive questions, Tapper continued to undress the guest during an off-camera exchange.
“This is the reason they don’t put on TV. OK?” Tapper told Miller, after the aide complained off-camera about the just-ended interview. “This is the reason.”
That according, to a tweet from CBS White House producer Arden Farhi:
Here’s a transcript of at least part of the not-seen-on-TV conversation between Stephen Miller and @jaketapper during the commercial break that followed the @CNNSotu interview...
The contentious interview on Sunday concluded with an unhinged Miller trying to attack Tapper in order to avoid questioning. The host quickly shut Miller down: “I think I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time. Thank you, Stephen.”
It appears the two men then continued their contentious exchange during the commercial break.
Tapper’s point is an accurate one in that Miller is rarely allowed to venture onto television to defend the administration. Last summer, he famously made an appearance at a White House press briefing to discuss immigration and soon went off on a wild tangent where he attacked the Statue of Liberty, among other absurdities.
Meanwhile, following Miller’s disastrous CNN interview, he was repeatedly asked to leave and, according to Business Insider, “He ignored those requests and ultimately security was called and he was escorted out.”
So yeah, this is why they don’t put Miller on TV.
Thousands of football fans gathered Monday night to attend the College Football Playoff National Championship game in Atlanta, Georgia, to witness the match between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs.
Along with the fans in attendance was President some rich asshole who was present at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. According to a report in TIME, the rich asshole's attendance was seen as an opportunity to protest as groups like the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and Refuse Fascism had planned demonstrations and protests in and outside of the venue.
What caught the world's attention, however, was the rich asshole's behavior during the National Anthem.
Uhhh....the President of the United States pretty obviously doesn't know the National Anthem. Oh my god. #NationalChampionship
The anthem was performed by Zac Brown Band. POTUS could be seen standing on the field, singing the anthem with his hand over his heart. Many on Twitter declared the president did not know the words to the anthem.
A Twitter user named, Charlotte Clymer tweeted saying: “the rich asshole literally does not know the words of the National Anthem. Did anyone else see that just now? Oh my god...#NationalChampionship.”
Trump: “And the twinkies are creamy...” #CFPNationalChampionship #NationalChampionship #trump#NationalAnthem
Here’s a full video of Trump butchering the national anthem & beating his chest like a gorilla. twitter.com/abc/status/950…
Another user named, X pointed out how the rich asshole has been at loggerheads with the National Football League (NFL) about not respecting the anthem but has failed to mumble the anthem on his own. He tweeted: “the rich asshole’s been trying to get football players fired for kneeling during the National Anthem and this man can’t even mumble it on national television right LMFAO.”
"President Trump flawlessly recited the national anthem better than any President ever!" pic.twitter.com/hoYXWsPlRW
Check out a few more reactions here.
To be fair...he’d NAIL the Russian national anthem. twitter.com/barstooltweets…
When you DEFINITELY know the words to the National Anthem, but you just happened to poop your diapey mid-song. #NationalChampionship
Doesn't know the words.
TO THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.
But it's cute how he puts his tiny hand where his heart never was.pic.twitter.com/fE0Twvplul#NationalChampionship#NationalAnthem
I think not knowing the words to the National Anthem is far more “disrespectful” to our country than kneeling during it, @realDonaldTrump
Mr. stable genius and so-called defender of the National Anthem from NFL players, also doesn’t know the words. twitter.com/abc/status/950…
According to a report by SB Nation, an unidentified person was heard yelling before the game: “F--k the rich asshole” as Alabama team was walking through the tunnel of the stadium.
Check out the video here.
The game also featured a halftime performance by Grammy-award winning artist Kendrick Lamar, who has been critical of the president in the past.
the rich asshole has been sparring with the NFL over “take a knee” protests during the National Anthem since the start of the season. He has publicly blasted several players last year for not respecting the anthem or the flag. In October 2017, he had also asked Vice President Mike Pence to leave an Indianapolis Colts game early after the players knelt during the National Anthem. Pence, in a statement, said at the time:“I left today’s Colts game because President the rich asshole and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.” the rich asshole later tweeted that he told Pence to leave the stadium “if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country.”
Later, the rich asshole took to Twitter praising Pence for leaving the game.
Does some rich asshole know the words to the national anthem? You be the judge
President some rich asshole was the topic du jour before the Alabama-Georgia national championship game on Monday. One of the biggest moments came cameras panned to the rich asshole as the Zac Brown Band performed the national anthem. The president was definitely mouthing *something* … but were they really the words to the anthem?
See for yourself:
During the singing of the national anthem at tonight's College Football Playoff National Championship game in Atlanta, @POTUS was spotted joining in.
Many supporters were proud to see the president on the field:
Politics aside it’s so cool to see President Trump standing on the field with respect for our anthem. #nationalchampionship
@POTUS @realDonaldTrump singing along with his fellow citizens at the #NationalChampionship
America loves President Trump and it shows!#MAGA
But much of the Twitterverse seemed to think he downright didn’t know the words to the nation’s anthem and took the opportunity to troll:
Up Next: Trump saying the video of himself “singing” during the National Anthem as fake news. #NationalChampionship
Trump calls himself a "stable genius" but doesn't know the lyrics to the national anthem #NationalChampionship
WASHINGTON — The rich asshole administration would cut or delay funding for border surveillance, radar technology, patrol boats and customs agents in its upcoming spending plan to curb illegal immigration — all proven security measures that officials and experts have said are more effective than building a wall along the Mexican border.
President the rich asshole has made the border wall a focus of his campaign against illegal immigration to stop drugs, terrorists and gangs like MS-13 from coming into the United States. Under spending plans submitted last week to Congress, the wall would cost $18 billion over the next 10 years, and be erected along nearly 900 miles of the southern border.
The wall also has become a bargaining chip in negotiations with Congress as lawmakers seek to prevent nearly 800,000 young undocumented immigrants from being deported.
But security experts said the president’s focus on a border wall ignores the constantly evolving nature of terrorism, immigration and drug trafficking.
“People that are dealing with this issue know that a third-century solution to a 21st-century problem is not going to fix this long-term,” said Representative Will Hurd, Republican of Texas and a former C.I.A. officer. Mr. Hurd, whose district includes more than 800 miles of border territory with Mexico, has pushed for more funding for sensors and other border security technologies.
Homeland Security officials have long and frequently described border security as a holistic system, made up not just of walls and fencing but also patrol routes, lighting, cameras, sensors and personnel.
David Bier, a policy analyst with the Cato Institute, said a border wall would do little to stop the drug trade. Most of the cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines smuggled into the United States come through legal ports of entry rather than areas that would be stopped by a wall, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Nor would a wall stop illegal immigration, other experts said. Data from the Department of Homeland Security and research groups like the New York-based Center for Migration Studies show that most undocumented immigrants now simply overstay legally obtained short-term visas — and did not sneak across the border.
“So unless the wall is 35,000 feet high, it's not going to do much to stop those overstaying these visas,” said Robert Warren, a fellow at the Center for Migration Studies who has worked on immigration issues for Republican and Democratic presidents.
Additionally, Mr. Warren said, many people who have been stopped by the Border Patrol in recent years are seeking asylum — including some who simply walk up to agents and surrender.
some rich asshole’s budget request for a wall represents more than half of the $33 billion spending blueprint for border security over the next decade. It either eliminates critical funding for border security programs or shifts money from them, threatening to leave gaping holes. A Government Accountability Office study released last February found that Customs and Border Protection has not shown how much fencing and walls bolster border security.
An internal budget guidance document for the 2019 fiscal year shows that the White House Office of Management and Budget asked officials at the Homeland Security Department to reduce or delay funding requests for additional border security technology and equipment. Instead, the document instructed, Homeland Security should dramatically increase funding for a wall on the Mexico border.
Homeland Security officials said the plans are subject to change. Still, the document underscores the priority that a border wall remains for some rich asshole, who promised its construction during his presidential campaign. It also instructed the department to seek $1.6 billion in the upcoming fiscal year to build 74 miles of a border wall — about $700 million more than Homeland Security officials felt they needed to build that.
Parts of the document were viewed by The New York Times; the rest of it was based on reports by the Democratic staff of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
The cuts include money for a remote video surveillance system in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, an area known for high numbers of border crossings and drug smuggling. The system is composed of infrared cameras mounted on poles, towers and buildings, allowing Border Patrol agents to track attempted smuggling and border crossings.
In the internal document, the White House budget office called the surveillance system important but said its funding requests were lowered “to offset the costs of presidential priorities not funded in the D.H.S. request.”
Customs and Border Protection faces several cuts.
Its $7.9 million request for technology upgrades to its P-3 surveillance aircraft — which operates thousands of miles beyond American borders to track narcotics being shipped from Colombia, Peru and other drug producing countries — was denied. In 2016, the latest data available, the P-3 aircrews contributed to 145 drug seizures, helping American and foreign authorities capture a combined 34,108 pounds of marijuana and 193,197 pounds of cocaine.
The internal document also suggested delaying a request to buy 15 new Coastal Interceptor boats to catch drug smugglers. The agency had sought nearly $15 million to replace its aging fleet to keep up with drug smugglers’ smaller, faster boats.
It also would cut nearly 200 of the 500 canine units that customs officials say play a key role in programs to prevent terrorism and drug smuggling. The dogs’ handlers would then be reassigned to ports on the southwest border to help with staffing shortages.
“The lack of funding and the elimination of the canine teams is shortsighted and poses a serious threat to border security,” said Tony Reardon, the president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents customs officers. “If you are going to focus on border security, you can’t do that without talking about the men and women who man these ports of entry.”
Perhaps most significantly, the proposed budget would not fund the hiring of new customs officers — the agents who denied 200,000 people from entering the United States at ports of entry in fiscal 2017 and who stopped 600,000 pounds of drugs, including cocaine, heroin, meth and fentanyl. Customs officers also intercepted nearly $70 million in illicit currency, much of it headed back across the border to fill the coffers of Mexican drug cartels.
Experts said the absence of hiring funds could potentially have the most impact on border security; the agents form a crucial line of defense against smugglers and terrorist threats. An internal Customs and Border Protection review showed that the agency’s ranks were about 3,700 officers below required levels, according to the National Treasury Employees Union.
By comparison, some rich asshole has called for hiring 5,000 additional Border Patrol agents and 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“A wall is the single most expensive thing you can do in terms of trying to secure the border, and not necessarily the most effective on its own,” said Doris Meissner, who was the top immigration official during the Clinton administration. “If you want to be strategic about it, you want to invest in technologies and programs that can stop threats well before they can actually get to the border.”
Scarborough says he was prevented from reporting on the rich asshole dementia during campaign
JANUARY 8, 2018
"For the past year, we've had people around some rich asshole, and even during the campaign, saying he's not mentally fit to be president ... And it's getting worse."
MSNBC
As Michael Wolff’s tell-all book — and the rich asshole’s own recent actions — renew concerns about some rich asshole’s mental fitness, Joe Scarborough reveals that he was twice prevented from reporting on the rich asshole’s mental state when it would have mattered most: during the presidential campaign.
During an interview with “Fire and Fury” author Michael Wolff Monday morning, Scarborough said that he had been told by “one of people closest to some rich asshole during the campaign” that the then-candidate had “early stage of dementia,” and that it was “getting worse.”
“Twice, the Washington Post hasn’t — would not let me put that in my column,” Scarborough added.
SCARBOROUGH: For the past year, we’ve had people around some rich asshole, and even during the campaign, saying he’s not mentally fit to be president. And there was such a reluctance — and certainly I’m not knocking the Washington Post, they’re actually being conservative with what they say — I’ve written twice in my column a quote about one of the people closest to some rich asshole during the campaign saying he’s got early stage of dementia, he repeats the same stories over and over again, his father had it, and it’s getting worse. And not a single person who works for him doesn’t know he has early signs of dementia.
Scarborough and the rich asshole are on the outs now, but during the campaign and most of the transition, both “Morning Joe” hosts enjoyed a cozy relationship with the rich asshole and his team. Then-campaign manager Kellyanne Conway even felt comfortable enough with Scarborough and co-host Mika Brzezinski during the campaign to tell them, off-camera, that she felt like she “needed a shower” after shilling for the rich asshole.
So Scarborough certainly had the relationships with sources to have received that sort of information, which is consistent with the revelations in Wolff’s book.
Questions about the rich asshole’s mental fitness have also been stoked by the rich asshole’s own actions, including his recent Freudian provocation of Kim Jong Un and his weekend rant about his “very stable genius,” but as Scarborough notes, they have also been an open secret among journalists since before the rich asshole was elected.
Unfortunately, the rich asshole’s enablers on his team, and in the media, kept this information a secret. Even more unfortunately, the 65.8 million of us who listened to the woman who warned us that the rich asshole was temperamentally unfit to hold the nuclear codes were not enough to prevent this disastrous presidency.
Hopefully, everyone else will listen now.
Nervous the rich asshole lawyers worry he’ll commit perjury in front of Mueller
JANUARY 8, 2018
Desperate to keep the rich asshole from answering hours of direct questions about Russia, his attorneys scramble to protect the rich asshole from himself.
some rich asshole walks on the South Lawn as he leaves the White House
As questions mount about some rich asshole’s mental capacity, White House lawyers are trying to devise a strategy where he will be able to answer questions about possible Russia collusion from special counsel Robert Mueller, but without having to do so face-to-face.
“Anticipating that Special Counsel Robert Mueller will ask to interview President some rich asshole, the president’s legal team is discussing a range of potential options for the format, including written responses to questions in lieu of a formal sit-down, according to three people familiar with the matter,” NBC News reports.
If the whole Russia investigation is a “hoax,” as the rich asshole claims, and he has nothing to hide, why are his attorneys trying to shield him from direct questioning?
It’s certainly possible they are afraid the rich asshole will commit perjury many times over if he sits for hours and is subjected to intense questioning. After all, he has a long history of lying under oath. the rich asshole for the last year has shown no hesitation about lying or simply changing his stories with regards to his campaign’s interactions with Russian operatives in 2016.
Mueller is also reportedly investigating whether the rich asshole tried to obstruct justice when he fired then-FBI Director James Comey. the rich asshole quickly announced on national television that he fired Comey because of his handling of the Russia investigation.
That occurred last May. Since then, the rich asshole’s aides have not allowed him to sit down for a one-on-one interview with a legitimate TV news reporter since he blurted out his reasoning for firing Comey.
In other words, that’s likely what the rich asshole’s lawyers are trying to avoid with a Mueller interrogation — the rich asshole accidentally telling the truth, or the rich asshole simply making stuff up.
Chances are, though, the special counsel’s office isn’t going to allow the rich asshole to hide. “The odds of prosecutors agreeing to written responses are somewhere between infinitesimally small and zero,” Chuck Rosenberg, Comey’s former chief of staff, tells NBC News.
Meanwhile, Michael Wolff’s new insider White House book, “The Fire and the Fury,” raises all kinds of questions about the rich asshole’s mental capacities. The book notes, for instance, that the rich asshole endlessly repeats himself in private meetings. That could be a blueprint for a disastrous the rich asshole interrogation with prosecutors.
the rich asshole’s dubious mental state isn’t the only problem his lawyers face in terms of dealing with the Mueller investigation.
“President the rich asshole’s Twitter habit may become a legal liability for him, as his latest tweets about the Russia investigation could help build a potential case against him for obstruction of justice or witness intimidation,” USA Today noted last year.
For instance, after former rich asshole campaign adviser George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty and revealed that he is cooperating with the special counsel’s Russia investigation the rich asshole tweeted that Papadopoulos is “a liar.”
If the rich asshole turns out to be a target of the investigation and he’s publicly attacking and smearing a key witness, that could be used against him legally.
For now, the rich asshole attorneys are huddling and trying to figure out a way to shield the president from answering the tough questions.
the rich asshole administration shamelessly brags about work actually done under President Obama
JANUARY 8, 2018
the rich asshole’s EPA administrator is touting Superfund cleanup projects that happened under the previous administration, even as he is dismantling the agency.
some rich asshole’s administration wants you to know that, far from being gutted, the Environmental Protection Agency is actually more effective than ever.
As proof, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt points to seven Superfund toxic waste sites that have been successfully cleaned up and delisted in the first year of the rich asshole’s administration.
But, as the Associated Press notes, “records show the physical work was completed before President some rich asshole took office.”
In fact, there is little reason to suppose that Pruitt will keep pace with his predecessors on Superfund site management.
Last year, Pruitt appointed Albert Kelly to a task force to “streamline” the Superfund program. Kelly, a former Tulsa-based banker whose only qualification for the EPA was that he once loaned Pruitt money, was banned for life from the financial industry by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for violations of federal law that led to losses of his clients’ deposits — not a confidence-inspiring record for a person who is now in charge of recommending reforms to a critical environmental program.
It is also worth noting that in his first budget outline, the rich asshole recommended cutting the EPA by $2.6 billion, or nearly a third of the entire operating budget.
So not only is Pruitt taking credit for Obama’s accomplishments, but he and his boss are making policies and appointments that stand to wipe out any chance the EPA can continue to do its job.
And we are already starting to see the real effects of Pruitt’s environmental agenda as he wipes out or cancels regulatory safeguards, with coal mining deaths doubling in his first year.
But in touting the former administration’s success as his own, Pruitt is merely following the lead of the rich asshole, who inherited a healthy and robust economy which he would like people to believe was his doing.
With a year separating us from the Obama presidency, soon it will be hard for the rich asshole’s officials to tout past successes, or to hide their own failures.
By Jess McIntosh |JANUARY 8, 2018
the rich asshole's schedules are full of very grown up-sounding "Executive Time," which is when the president gets to watch TV.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
The schedules released to reporters and the public by the rich asshole White House are slim enough — a far cry from the late nights of Presidents Obama and Clinton, or the early mornings of President George W. Bush. But apparently even those slim volumes exaggerate the hours kept by the current commander in chief.
A new glimpse into the real schedules as shown to Axios reveals a strange business-y phrase occurring multiple times and taking up hours of the President’s workday: “Executive Time.”
To the average viewer of the rich asshole presidency, it feels like he has countless uninterrupted stretches in which to binge watch Fox News and tweet angry, incoherent thoughts. With the release of his internal schedules, we learn that’s because he does.
“Executive Time” is the rich asshole White House’s name for the hours he’s allowed to spend in his residence with social media and cable television — no staff, no structured meetings, and nothing that could be mistaken for governing. This hilariously named personal time takes up entire mornings until 11am, and shows up again sometimes as early as 1:30 p.m.
In fact, the rich asshole’s regular Oval Office hours are on average from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. only — barely making up a 35-hour workweek.
Despite the rich asshole’s promises during the campaign that he was a super hard worker who would never have time for vacations or golf once he was president, he has taken an unprecedented amount of taxpayer-funded vacation, spending well over 100 days in his first year golfing at his own properties.
Now we learn that even when he’s home at the White House, he’s still not putting in the hours at work.
2018 began with the rich asshole literally hiding his leisure time from cameras behind a giant white truck. Looks like he’s hiding it behind the very adult-sounding “Executive Time,” too.
Hair and makeup artist
Katie Price won a full-time White House gig after short-lived communications
director Anthony Scaramucci voiced his approval.
01/07/2018 07:25 AM EST
Updated 01/07/2018 09:40 AM EST
She may be the
most lasting legacy of Anthony Scaramucci’s 11-day stint in the White House.
Professional stylist Katie Price, who previously worked as a hair
and makeup artist for Russia Today and CNN, is now a full-time White House
official with a desk in the press office and the title of production assistant,
which includes her daily duties getting press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders,
counselor Kellyanne Conway and other White House staffers coiffed and
camera-ready.
That position was created for her last fall, thanks, in part, to
public praise from “the Mooch” for Price’s briefing room stylings, which
include loose curls and dark eye shadow on the women and what appear to be
heavy layers of pancake makeup heaped on the men.
In his brief moment in the spotlight, the smooth-talking Long
Island financier went on CNN last July to give Price's work his seal of
approval. “Sarah, if you're watching, I loved the hair and makeup person we had
on Friday,” Scaramucci said during an interview two days after taking on the
role of communications director. “So I'd like to continue to use the hair and
makeup person.”
The White House dropped Scaramucci but kept Price, placing her on
the government payroll. Officials declined to reveal her salary, though it will
become public next summer as part of an annual release of the salaries of all
West Wing staff.
On Friday, Price declined to speak to
a reporter who spotted her in the shared cubicle she occupies in the cramped
area known internally at the White House as “lower press,” where junior press
aides work tucked away behind the briefing room.
But from there, Price is on call for
any White House official with a public-facing role, with some notable
exceptions: She doesn’t touch the president or other members of the rich
asshole family, even though Ivanka the rich asshole is technically a government
staffer who makes television appearances from “Pebble Beach,” a gravel area in
front of the White House where TV news cameras are permanently stationed. First
lady Melania the rich asshole pays out of pocket for her own stylist when she
relies on professional help, her spokeswoman said. Price most often works with
the communications team, including Raj Shah, Mercedes Schlapp and Hogan Gidley.
She has glossed up the vice president on at least one occasion.
Before
joining the White House, Price had a bridal business, NOVAbelles, which
included a “belle of the ball” package with hair, makeup and eyelash extensions
clocking in at $1,100. On the now-defunct site, she listed Meredith Vieira as
one of her celebrity clients. Other freelance clients included TV networks like
Russia Today, which she listed working for on LinkedIn in February 2017.
“Katie is a great addition to the
team,” said Sanders. “It’s a combination of her talent and her support of what
we’re doing. You don’t want someone who doesn’t support what we’re doing or
want to be here.”
Indeed,
Price — who deleted her business website and LinkedIn bio after POLITICO
started making inquiries about her background — appears to be enjoying the
unique position in which she has found herself. On social media, she often
posts portraits of herself attending public events in the Rose Garden, often
filed under hashtags like #LoveMyJob, #TaxCuts and #Blessed.
Price
arrives on the White House campus early every morning to help get Sanders
camera-ready, usually working in time carved out after Sanders’ first round of
morning meetings.
“She’s definitely made my life
easier,” said Sanders, who said she was paying out of pocket for a stylist to
come in on a freelance basis until the White House made the decision to place a
full-time makeup artist on staff. (Sanders’ predecessor, Sean Spicer, used to
apply his own makeup ahead of television appearances.)
The
addition of a makeup artist to the government payroll is a change from the
Obama administration, which never employed one, according to four former
officials — but which also never employed a female press secretary.
When
a senior adviser like Valerie Jarrett needed to be done up, they would pay out
of pocket, the former officials confirmed. But the setup with Price — who also
answers phones and emails, escorts members of the press around the White House
campus and handles wrangling duties with other press assistants — is similar to
the system the George W. Bush administration set up when it came into office.
Lois Cassano, a makeup artist who had
previously worked for NBC, ABC and "PBS NewsHour," was hired on Day
One of the Bush administration in 2001 to apply makeup for the press secretary,
the president, the vice president, the first lady, visiting heads of state,
Cabinet secretaries and any senior administration officials appearing on
television to represent the administration.
“In
addition to those things,” recalled former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer,
“Lois handled all clearances for the press. She established the computerized
system, answered phones, helped with paperwork and was treated like any member
of my press staff.”
Cassano
worked in the Bush administration for a full eight years, and by the end was
considered a core member of the press team.
But former officials recalled a debate
around bringing on a taxpayer-funded makeup artist — and justifying it by
making sure there were other duties involved in the job outside of applying a
powder brush to shiny foreheads.
“I’m
a little bit of a purist on personnel,” said Anita McBride, a former chief of
staff to first lady Laura Bush and a former director of White House personnel
under Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. “In any position on the White House
staff, you have to ask if it’s a taxpayer-funded need, if it’s a legitimate
function, and look at it through the lens of essential versus non-essential
personnel.”
When
the George W. Bush White House decided to bring Cassano in-house, McBride
recalled, “we tried to figure out if there were other functions in the office
that need to be filled, that this person could do — because the day is not
filled putting on makeup.”
Cassano
also did not travel with the president. Instead, former Bush aides remember
press secretary Dana Perino applying powder to the president’s face ahead of
television interviews abroad.
Price
has yet to accompany the rich asshole team on any trips, Sanders said.
Before
the advent of on-staff White House makeup artists, the Republican National
Committee would pay for Nancy Reagan’s hair and makeup routine, McBride said.
There was also no makeup artist on
call or payroll for staffers in the Clinton White House, when the 24/7 cable
culture was still in its infancy and the daily press briefing was, for the
first time, becoming a televised event.
But
one former Clinton White House official said she would have been happy for the
help. “I wish we could have done the same,” the official said. “If you expect
people to be available for on-air interviews, then it’s only reasonable to give
them the tools to succeed.”
McBride
agreed that in the televised age that politics lives in today, the makeup
artist now passes her “essential personnel” litmus test. “This is the modern
age we live in,” she said. “When you have staff members starting the morning
shows at 7 a.m. on camera, this has evolved to be a relevant function. I don’t
envy anyone who has to be on camera there now. It is constant scrutiny.”
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