Crestfallen CBNC reporter can’t believe stocks are tanking after the rich asshole nominates ‘beloved’ Larry Kudlow
Bob Pisani (CNBC/screen grab)
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CNBC reporter Bob Pisani seemed shocked on Wednesday after markets trended down even though President some rich asshole named CNBC anchor Larry Kudlow as his new economic adviser.
“When Larry was nominated people down here were happy,” Pisani reported from the trading floor. “Larry is beloved down here by me and a lot of other people because he’s here a lot. He has a lot of friends. A lot of people think very highly of him as I do.”
“But what you see here is it’s not really moving the markets that much,” he lamented. “And that suggests to me that the markets don’t think there’s going to be a particular big change in trade policy.”
At the time of Pisani’s broadcast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by over 200 points.
Watch the video below from CNBC.
US diplomacy in disarray as the rich asshole-Kim summit looms
A news screen in Tokyo flashes a report of President some rich asshole's agreement to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong. (AFP/File / Toshifumi KITAMURA)
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As some rich asshole prepares to make a historic gamble by meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, the US diplomatic corps is in disarray after the president’s brutal sacking of his secretary of state.
Rex Tillerson’s departure adds to the long list of senior job vacancies at the top of the State Department, and Washington is preparing for the summit without several key diplomats in place.
the rich asshole, of course, may not mind this at all.
His view on how to deal with the threat of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is much more in tune with that of his nominee to replace Tillerson, CIA director Mike Pompeo, than with US diplomats.
Tillerson’s plan followed a classic strategy. Build relationships and trust with early contacts; establish parameters for negotiation; draft a deal between senior officials; hold a leaders’ summit.
“I have a lot of confidence in my ability to create the conditions for successful negotiations between two very disparate parties,” Tillerson told reporters on his last plane trip as secretary.
the rich asshole — who bluntly informed Tillerson in a tweet last year that he was “wasting his time” operating back channels to Pyongyang — had a different view, and one apparently shared by Pompeo.
They believe the US must show Kim that the US is ready to use crippling sanctions and even military force if he refuses to give up his nuclear arms, then get him to the table and thrash out a deal.
In January, Pompeo appeared at the conservative AEI think tank in Washington and laid out this plan to convince Kim — who may be misreading diplomatic signals — that Washington is serious.
– Ambitious strategy –
“We’re taking the real world actions that we think will make unmistakable to Kim Jong Un that we are intent on denuclearization,” said Pompeo, who meets frequently with the rich asshole as CIA chief.
“We’re counting on the fact that he’ll see it. We’re confident that he will. And then we will continue to have discussions about how to achieve that denuclearization.”
So the rich asshole may now have the beginnings of a team that better reflects his plan, but there is no hiding that America is embarking on an ambitious strategy with a shallow bench of talent.
Tillerson was not in the Oval Office last week when the rich asshole abruptly decided to accept Kim’s invitation, passed to him second-hand by a South Korean delegation, to denuclearization talks.
Instead, while Tillerson toured African capitals, he was represented by Deputy Secretary John Sullivan.
But, with Tillerson gone, Sullivan will not be able to devote all of his time to the North Korean dossier; he is acting secretary of state until Pompeo can be confirmed by the Senate, not before April.
– Empty desks –
The number three diplomat in the department, Undersecretary Tom Shannon, has announced his retirement and is only remaining in place until a replacement is named.
The lead diplomat for East Asia and the Pacific, acting Assistant Secretary Susan Thornton, is awaiting a date for a Senate vote to confirm that she can keep the job permanently.
The former US special representative for North Korea policy, Joseph Yun, retired two weeks ago and has yet to be replaced.
In all 91 senior positions at the State Department remain unfilled after more than a year of the the rich asshole administration, including that of ambassador to key ally South Korea.
the rich asshole acknowledged this as an issue Wednesday when he tweeted to blame opposition lawmakers for blocking his picks.
“Hundreds of good people, including very important Ambassadors and Judges, are being blocked and/or slow walked by the Democrats in the Senate,” he wrote.
“Many important positions in Government are unfilled because of this obstruction. Worst in US history!”
But, at the State Department at least, it seems difficult to blame the Senate for holding up appointments. For 58 of the posts, including the Seoul ambassadorship, there are no nominees.
Jeff Sessions might fire FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe — just days before he’s supposed to retire
Andrew McCabe (CNN)
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Even though outgoing FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe is set to retire next week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions might fire him anyway.
The New York Times reports that an internal recommendation has been given to Sessions arguing that McCabe deserves to be fired.
“McCabe is ensnared in an internal review that includes an examination of his decision in 2016 to allow F.B.I. officials to speak with reporters about an investigation into the Clinton Foundation,” the Times reports. “The Justice Department’s inspector general concluded that McCabe was not forthcoming during the review, according to the people briefed on the matter. That yet-to-be-released report triggered an F.B.I. disciplinary process that recommended his termination — leaving Mr. Sessions to either accept or reverse that decision.”
Firing McCabe, who has worked at the FBI for the past 22 years, before his retirement would cause him to lose his pension. President some rich asshole has urged Sessions to fire McCabe so he can’t collect.
“FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits,” the rich asshole tweeted last December. “90 days to go?!!!”
“Why didn’t A.G. Sessions replace Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, a Comey friend who was in charge of Clinton investigation,” the president demanded to know last June.
Hearing date set for the rich asshole showdown with Stormy Daniels
Porn star Stormy Daniels (R) is suing to dissolve an agreement that prevents her from discussing an affair she claims to have had with US President some rich asshole (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN, Ethan Miller)
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Porn star Stormy Daniels will go to court on July 12 in a bid to dissolve an agreement stopping her discussing an affair she says she had with President some rich asshole, according to court papers published Wednesday.
Lawyer Michael Avenatti filed a lawsuit on behalf of Daniels last week seeking to toss out the confidential settlement she signed just days before the November 2016 election.
The lawsuit alleges that Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, began an “intimate relationship” with the rich asshole in the summer of 2006 that continued well into 2007.
She has offered to return the $130,000 she received so that she can be free to “speak openly and freely about her prior relationship with the president and the attempts to silence her.”
Daniels is also asking to be allowed to publish text messages, photos and videos relating to the president, Avenatti said in a letter to the rich asshole’s lawyer Michael Cohen.
“I think it’s time for her to tell her story and for the public to decide who’s telling the truth,” Avenatti said last week.
A copy of the settlement filed in court shows that Daniels received the $130,000 from a company known as Essential Consultants LLC in return for her silence.
Using the pseudonyms Peggy Peterson and David Dennison, Daniels and the rich asshole were to sign the agreement, along with Essential Consultants.
But the rich asshole never signed, providing the basis for Avenatti’s attempt to have it thrown out and release Daniels from her obligations.
Daniels is asking for presiding judge Elizabeth Feffer to be replaced, arguing that she has a conflict of interest because she is seeking an appointment to a seat in federal court.
The White House has denied any sexual encounter between the rich asshole and Daniels.
the rich asshole won’t force John Bolton to shave mustache as security adviser but it’s a ‘sensitive subject’: report
John Bolton (Fox News)
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President some rich asshole reportedly hates former acting UN Ambassador John Bolton’s iconic mustache, but he would not have to shave it if he becomes the next national security adviser.
According to reports, the rich asshole may replace current National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster with Bolton.
A “source close to the White House” told CBS News reporter Jacqueline Alemany that the rich asshole would not require Bolton to shave his mustache if he takes the job. The sources added, however, that the mustache continues to be a “sensitive subject.”
The Washington Post reported last year that the rich asshole is obsessed with how his staff looks and what they wear. In fact, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was forced to buy better fitting suits after taking the job.
Conservative shreds the rich asshole for running White House like a third-rate dating app: ‘At the end, you get ghosted’
CNN panelist Mary Katherine Ham (Screen cap).
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A conservative commentator on Wednesday hammered President some rich asshole for the way he handled the firing of outgoing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — and she compared his managerial style to that of a third-rate dating app.
Appearing on a CNN panel, conservative Mary Katherine Ham said that the rich asshole’s decision to notify Tillerson of his dismissal by sending out a tweet was unbecoming of the President of the United States.
“This part, where you can’t even call somebody, I just have a personal issue with that, I think it’s very classless,” she said. “This is like the on-line dating app of White Houses. It’s like, there’s a lot of fire, meeting a lot of people, there’s not a lot of vetting at the beginning, no thought to compatibility. And at the end, you get a text or you get ghosted. That is not a great way of doing business.”
CNN host John Berman shared Ham’s assessment by saying that the rich asshole’s treatment of Tillerson “is not the way to behave in a high school relationship, let alone a business or a presidential administration.”
Watch the video below.
One day after her nomination, the rich asshole’s pick to lead the CIA is already in trouble in the Senate
Turns out, not everyone in the Senate loves torture.
On Tuesday, some rich asshole announced a round of firings and promotions among his administration’s top officials. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who had spent months being dogged by rumors of his ever-imminent demise, finally got the axe. CIA Director Mike Pompeo was plucked by the rich asshole’s to shuffle into Tillerson’s seat. And Gina Haspel, a longtime CIA officer who supervised a black site where two men were tortured, is now the rich asshole’s pick to lead the CIA.
However, just one day after the rich asshole announced Haspel’s promotion, her nomination is already facing rough waters. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a senior Republican and Vietnam-era prisoner of war who was tortured by his Vietnamese captors, expressed concerns about Haspel just a few hours after the rich asshole announced her nomination.
The torture of detainees in U.S. custody during the last decade was one of the darkest chapters in American history. The Senate must do its job in scrutinizing the record & involvement of Gina Haspel in this disgraceful program. mccain.senate.gov/public/index.c…
Then, at a Wednesday press conference, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said outright that he will oppose Haspel’s nomination. “To really appoint the head cheerleader for waterboarding to be head of the CIA?” Paul told reporters. “I mean, how could you trust somebody who did that to be in charge of the CIA? To read of her glee during the waterboarding is just absolutely appalling.”
If McCain and Paul were to join all 49 members of the Democratic caucus in opposing Haspel, her nomination would fail. That said, it is far from clear that every Senate Democrat will vote to oppose Haspel. Or even that it would be in their interests to do so.
Back in October, Axios reported on “internal administration conversations” which, at the time, involved the possibility that the rich asshole might replace Tillerson with Pompeo — and that Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) was in line to replace Pompeo at the CIA. And Cotton isn’t simply one of the most conservative members of the Senate, he also has a bit of a sadistic streak.
Cassandra Butts, a former White House official and a law school classmate of President Obama, got to see this side of Cotton up close. In 2014, Obama nominated her to be ambassador to the Bahamas. She was never confirmed, however, thanks to Cotton’s efforts to block her nomination.
Butts died from leukemia in 2016 — both President Obama and Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke at her funeral. Shortly before her death at age 50, however, she told the New York Times’ Frank Bruni why she was never confirmed. Butts told the Times columnist that “she once went to see [Cotton] about” why he’d placed a hold on her nomination, Bruni wrote, and Cotton “explained that he knew that she was a close friend of Obama’s.”
Blocking Butts’ nomination, Cotton told the diplomatic nominee, “was a way to inflict special pain on the president.”
And Cotton’s sadistic streak is not limited to personal slights against the friends of his political adversaries. Among other things, Cotton is one of the lead sponsors of the RAISE Act, an immigration bill supported by the White House, which is larded down with white nationalist policy priorities. When the rich asshole appeared ready to sign onto a bipartisan deal permitting undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children to remain in the country, hardliners within the White House recruited Cotton to scuttle the deal.
The challenge facing Senate Democrats, in other words, is whether to block the rich asshole’s nomination of Haspel — a woman who appears to have overseen horrific violations of human rights in the misguided belief that it would serve her country — knowing that the prospect of giving a sadist like Tom Cotton command of the world’s most sophisticated intelligence agency might be even worse.
WATCH: Sam Nunberg drops a bomb on Roger Stone: ‘I warned him repeatedly’ about Assange
former aide to President some rich asshole Sam Nunberg (Photo: Screen capture)
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During a Wednesday interview with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, former aide to President some rich asshole Sam Nunberg refuted Roger Stone’s claim that his meeting with Julian Assange of Wikileaks was nothing more than “a joke.”
Nunberg explained that he knows that he did nothing wrong and that the only way he could be in trouble is if he lies. So, he told Camerota that he hadn’t heard from Stone for a few weeks. When he called to check in, Stone explained, “Oh, I was with Julian Assange. I met with Julian Assange.”
He also noted that he knew there would probably be an investigation if the Democrats won the election, but the fact that the rich asshole won and there is still an investigation, he called “a real accomplishment.”
“I warned Roger repeatedly during the 2016 summer, ‘do not associate yourself with Julian Assange,” he claimed. “For two reasons: one, at that point it seemed pretty obvious that Hillary Clinton was going to win and there was surely going to be a special counsel into these matters. If there was a Democratic majority in either body of Congress, then he was going to be called. Little did i know that some rich asshole would be elected and we still have a special counsel.”
But when it came to Stone’s meeting, Nunberg wouldn’t say what he thought Stone meant by the claim he met with Assange.
“I don’t want to get into the specifics, but the e-mails Roger told me were coming out… Roger told me the e-mails were going to be about the Clinton Foundation. I asked Roger if Assange had any new information about Benghazi. Now, look at the e-mails Assange released. They had nothing to do with Benghazi or the Clinton Foundation,” he said.
Camerota pressed Nunberg on that, citing Stone’s own tweets mentioning campaign chair John Podesta. Nunberg said that they had information about Podesta’s brother and Stone was about to write a story in the Daily Caller about it and that’s what he was referring to. It was a coincidence that Wikileaks, who Stone said he’d been talking to, released the Podesta emails shortly after.
Nunberg said that the prosecutors should only consider financial things from the moment the rich asshole went down the escalator and announced his presidency, not the things leading up to his decision to run or any previous dealings with Russia.
He complimented special counsel Robert Mueller’s team as professional and urged the rich asshole to sit down with them if he really intends to move the investigation along in a faster way.
“When I was first called by the FBI agent, the Tuesday after the (Michael) Wolf book came out: I was actually frankly rude to him,” he confessed. “I hadn’t looked into it that much. I stayed away from it. As I have to do, one as a lawyer and one in general in New York, I look at what the other side is saying. There was a book called ‘Collusion’ by Luke Hardy, and things like that. some rich asshole, had he just fired (former FBI Director James) Comey and sticked to the (Deputy Attorney General Rod) Rosenstein rational in that memo, I think he could have even gotten away with the Lester Holt interview, but then he has the Russians in the Oval Office? And doesn’t allow American photographers in? There’s something going on there.”
Watch his full take below:
the rich asshole to name Larry Kudlow as top economic adviser: report
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 03/14/18 12:51 PM EDT
President the rich asshole will reportedly name economist Larry Kudlow as his new chief economic adviser, replacing Gary Cohn.
the rich asshole may make the official announcement as early as Thursday, according to CNBC, where Kudlow has served as a senior contributor.
the rich asshole has suggested that he would name Kudlow as Cohn's replacement, saying Tuesday that Kudlow had a "good chance" of taking the helm of the National Economic Council.
Cohn announced his resignation from the White House last week after the rich asshole went ahead with new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, something Cohn lobbied against.
DEVELOPING
Senator calls the rich asshole’s coal bailout plan ‘most ridiculous’ policy she’s ever seen
Sen. Maria Cantwell vows to fight cuts in energy efficiency and renewables funding.
In its latest budget plan, the rich asshole administration was once again “derelict” in proposing cuts to clean energy research, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Wednesday in a speech at a renewable energy policy forum sponsored by the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE).
The United States needs to move away from fossil fuels, but instead the rich asshole administration is championing the coal industry and trying to eliminate programs that promote new energy technologies, Cantwell said.
With Congress preparing to negotiate a massive fiscal 2018 spending package that will fund all federal agencies, Cantwell pledged to fight to preserve full funding for the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). “The federal government is uniquely there to sponsor basic R&D research, accept the long-term risk and challenges, [and] partner with industry on promising innovation,” she said.
EERE’s mission is to help support the development of clean, renewable, and efficiency energy technologies and support a global clean energy economy. Under the White House budget proposal, the office’s funding would be cut by more than 65 percent, according to Cantwell.
Congressional Republicans, like President some rich asshole, want to hold onto the past, Cantwell said. “The transition is going to happen whether they want it or not,” she added.
Cantwell also blasted the rich asshole’s efforts to appease his political supporters in the coal industry. Last September, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, at the direction of the White House, sent a proposal to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to bail out the coal and nuclear industries.
“The notion that the administration wanted to pick up … the Bat phone and call the energy secretary and tell him to call FERC and mandate coal was some of the most ridiculous policy I have seen,” she said.
On the campaign trail, the rich asshole promised coal industry executives that he would take various actions to prop up their ailing industry. But in early January, FERC — composed of three Republicans and two Democrats — unanimously rejected Perry’s controversial proposal to create a more “resilient” grid. The commissioners tore into the core of Perry’s argument, namely the idea that somehow cheap renewables and natural gas are forcing essential coal and nuclear plants to be shut down.
At the policy forum, ACORE president and CEO Greg Wetstone emphasized that the renewables sector showed impressive strength — or “resilience” — in 2017 in the face of fundamental challenges like Perry’s proposal to prop up the coal industry and the Republican tax bill.
In the end, the tax bill passed by Congress preserved critical tax credits for wind energy, solar power, and electric vehicles. And the sector finished 2017 by scoring an impressive $43 billion in investments and bringing online 18 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity.
Wetstone noted that concerns remain about potential changes to wholesale power markets that restrict participation for storage, wind and solar power, and demand response. “Will there be a truly fuel-neutral market?” he asked. “Or will this exercise become an excuse to subsidize aging power plants that are no longer economically competitive?”
Even though FERC rejected Perry’s pro-coal proposal, the commission asked electric grid operators to address how grid resilience could be improved. Some in the renewables sector are concerned that efforts to address grid resilience could result in higher payments to many of the same generators that would have benefited from the Department of Energy’s proposal — to the exclusion of wind energy and solar power.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, also spoke at the policy forum in Washington D.C., telling the audience that there’s no question federal policymakers and regulators need to increase their focus on renewable energy.
Murkowski, who took a neutral stance on Perry’s efforts to subsidize the coal and nuclear industries, emphasized the nation’s electric grid is no longer just a delivery system for large centralized generation assets like coal and nuclear plants.
Murkowski said one of the issues that drives her focus on renewables is the “threat” and “reality” she sees from climate change in her home state of Alaska. In the Bering Strait, for the first time in memory, there is no ice around an island located in the area between Alaska and Russia. “It is historic in a way that is certainly getting our attention,” she said.
“We know we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and to do that, we need to commercialize new technologies, modernize our electric grids, and upgrade our energy infrastructure,” Murkowski explained.
But as a supporter of the fossil fuel industry, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Murkowski added that “for the foreseeable future hydrocarbons are crucial as well.”
the rich asshole would sign bill on schools, guns about to pass House: statement
President some rich asshole (AFP/File / Fabrice COFFRINI)
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President some rich asshole is ready to sign legislation intended to curb school violence that was inspired by last month’s mass shooting at a Florida high school, and which the House of Representatives is poised to pass later on Wednesday.
In a statement released on Wednesday the White House said the legislation would help protect children and reiterated its support for arming teachers or other school personnel. It said the bill “would be improved by eliminating the restriction on the use of funds to provide firearms training for those in a position to provide students with appropriate, armed defense.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan, a fellow Republican, told reporters that the chamber would pass the legislation, which would authorize $50 million a year to help schools and law enforcement agencies prevent violent attacks, on Wednesday. But with the Senate considering other legislation this week and next, any gun legislation may not reach the rich asshole’s desk before April.
Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Richard Cowan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
the rich asshole open to DACA deal for border wall funding: report
BY AVERY ANAPOL - 03/14/18 12:25 PM EDT
President the rich asshole is reportedly open to a short-term fix for "Dreamers" in a government funding package in exchange for money for his proposed border wall.
GOP officials told the Washington Post that the White House has communicated with Republican congressional leadership about the shift in the rich asshole's position.
One official told the Post that one possible deal would be a three-year extension of DACA protections in exchange for three years of funding for the wall. the rich asshole canceled the Obama-era program in September, giving Congress a six-month deadline to pass legislation. The deadline passed earlier this month.
The president had previously insisted on broader "pillars" in any legislation that would include protections for young immigrants given legal status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which he rescinded last year, along with border security funding and cuts to legal immigration.
Now, according to the Post, the president is hoping to speed up the border wall process by agreeing to a short-term deal.
Senate Democrats offered border wall funding to the rich asshole in an immigration deal earlier this year, but it remains to be seen whether they would agree to wall funding for an extension of DACA.
Congress is rushing to pass an omnibus package by March 23 to avoid another government shutdown.
- Updated at 12:38 p.m.
GOP suddenly changes its story on Conor Lamb after his win
What a difference a day makes.
Prior to Tuesday’s special election, Republicans pilloried Pennsylvania Democrat Conor Lamb for his support for abortion rights. In late February, the Republican National Committee noted his opposition to a 20-week abortion ban and called him “drastically out of touch with values of southwest Pennsylvania.”
Lamb now appears to have defeated Republican Rick Saccone to fill a U.S. House seat vacated by abortion-rights-opponent Rep. Tim Murphy (R), who resigned after it was reported that he had urged a woman with whom he’d had an extramarital relationship to have an abortion.
On Wednesday morning, the RNC and its supporters reversed course and seized on a false talking point that Lamb’s victory was unusual because he was “pro-life” and basically ran as a Republican.
Lamb has said that his Catholic faith teaches him that abortion is wrong, but that he supports the right of women to make the decision for themselves. In the RNC’s own February release, it quotes his comment opposing a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy: “I’d have voted against it.” Then clarified: “I just want to say, I don’t use the term ‘pro-life’ to describe what I personally believe, because that’s a political term. It’s not one that you learn in Catholic school or anywhere else in the church.” The anti-abortion rights Susan B. Anthony List urged voters to back Saccone because “Liberal Conor Lamb will side with Nancy Pelosi and pro-abortion extremists,” and “supports taxpayer-funded abortions… even late-term abortions when science shows unborn children can feel excruciating pain.”
But desperate to explain away the Democrat’s narrow lead in a district carried by some rich asshole by about 20 points in 2016, leading Republicans have done a 180′ and now are acting as if they believe that position makes Lamb “pro-life.”
RNC spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News on Wednesday morning that “Conor Lamb ran as a Republican… He said he was personally pro-life. He was a Republican in name, but I can promise you he will vote like a Democrat in Congress.”
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) told reporters that the result was not a “big surprise” because both candidates “ran as a pro-life anti-Nancy Pelosi conservative.”
Watch:
Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade tweeted (incorrectly) that “Connor [sic] Lamb” won because he “claims to be pro-life, pro tax cut.”
Dem. Connor Lamb’s great showing in red district shows dems the way to Nov. success..Support Republican issues!! He claims to be pro-life, pro tax cut, pro tarriff and anti Pelosi..not good new for Senators Sanders & Warren. We will discuss on @foxandfriends
And Fox News contributor and former GOP staffer Marc Thiessen he “claims to be pro-life. He said during the campaign that life begins at conception. Though, if you dig deeper at his views, he wouldn’t support restrictions on that. But it’s enough, possibly, to convince people in a very Catholic, working class, pro-life district he agrees with them. It would not be surprising if he’s able to run because he’s running essentially as a Republican in a Republican district.”
‘the rich asshole can’t save you’: Dem strategist Paul Begala warns Republicans to break with White House before midterms
Paul Begala (Photo: Screen capture)
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The White House went all in on the Congressional special election in the Pennsylvania 18th District. Wednesday’s CNN panel couldn’t help but notice the GOP is in big trouble.
Political analyst Julie Pace explained that Republicans fought hard to keep the seat, seemingly to no avail.
“And no matter what Republicans are saying publicly today, privately they are acknowledging that this is a really rough race for them and it’s sending worrisome signals about some of these districts where President the rich asshole won but Democrats might be able to put up a more moderate candidate in November.”
But it was Democratic strategist Paul Begala that sounded the alarm for the GOP.
“Republicans are going to need a bigger yacht,” he joked, a reference to the ‘Jaws’ line “I think we’re going to need a bigger boat.”
“The president can’t — I think Conor Lamb is exactly right,” he continued. “The president didn’t cost Rick Saccone the seat. He did not campaign against President the rich asshole. He’s too smart for that. But the lesson for all Republican Congressmen and women is, even in a district that the rich asshole won by 20, ‘the rich asshole can’t save me.’ There’s a blue wave coming and even $10 million and even the president, the vice president, Ivanka (the rich asshole), Jared (Kushner), if they had a dog, they would have brought the dog in. That can’t save you. You’re out of luck. There’s a blue wave coming. That’s the lesson.”
Former the rich asshole aide Jason Miller tried to blame the appointment on former Secretary of State Condi Rice and Bob Gates, but CNN host John Berman cut in and said that neither of them had nominating power.
Watch the full discussion below:
Voters reject the rich asshole’s banana republic presidency
BY BRENT BUDOWSKY, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 03/14/18 12:45 PM EDT
Republicans are in trouble and conservatism is in crisis because President the rich asshole is running a banana republic presidency that creates:
- record disapproval of his presidency;
- bitter divisions among our people;
- fear and concern from our allies;
- aid and comfort to our enemies;
- regular firings and resignations from his administration;
- proliferating stories of corruptions large and small;
- streams of news of indictments and plea bargains;
- presidential insults that never stop coming;
- false statements that are a way of life in the White House; and
- an epic backlash from voters that is squarely aimed at Republicans.
The the rich asshole presidency has become the "some rich asshole Show," with hundreds of episodes, from his latest firing to his relationship with a porn star, from the newest indictments to his attacks against NFL players, from his attacks against the FBI to his repeated praise of foreign dictators. All of this hurts a growing number of Republicans who lose elections or retire from office.
The Pennsylvania election this week should send shivers up the spines of Republicans. The genius of the Conor Lamb campaign for Congress was that he tapped into this deep public concern about the rich asshole without ever making the rich asshole his issue in the campaign, which eased the way for previous the rich asshole voters to support the Democrat without asking them to directly repudiate the president.
In the rich asshole’s banana republic presidency, he spent the weekend before the Pennsylvania vote giving an absurd rally speech that barely mentioned the GOP candidate he supported while insulting the highly popular Oprah Winfrey and the widely respected host of Meet the Press, Chuck Todd, among many others.
In the rich asshole’s banana republic presidency he spent the closing hours of the Pennsylvania campaign summarily firing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with a tweet, while rumors spread throughout official Washington that he will soon fire General H.R. McMaster, his national security advisor, after spending weeks insulting both of them.
In the rich asshole’s banana republic presidency, the commander in chief insults his White House chief of staff, retired General John Kelly, when he isn’t mocking or humiliating Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who he reportedly calls Mr. Magoo.
In the rich asshole’s banana republic presidency, word leaks he will soon fire his Veterans Affairs secretary, David Shulkin, who would be replaced by Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who would then be replaced as well when he leaves his current post.
In the rich asshole’s banana republic presidency, while a growing number of his associates are indicted for crimes or reaching plea bargains with the Feds, the commander in chief fends off stories of hush money being allegedly paid by one of his lawyers to a porn star with whom he allegedly had an extramarital affair.
In the rich asshole’s banana republic presidency, the president attacks the FBI, and one of his GOP backers on the House Intelligence Committee writes a discredited memo that is heavily promoted by Russian bots.
While his newly-fired secretary of State was decimating the ranks of career diplomats, his son-in-law who cannot obtain a high-security clearance acts like a surrogate secretary of State, holding meetings with various foreign players, some of whom are reportedly under investigation by the special counsel.
These and other matters of state provide the backdrop for special elections that Democrats have surprisingly won and Republicans have surprisingly lost.
Large numbers of voters are raging with anger and hyper-motivated to vote. Many others intuitively understand something is very wrong with the rich asshole’s banana republic presidency and quietly vote for Democrats, who win even in districts the rich asshole carried by 20 percent in 2016. This is why Lamb won and more GOP retirements are coming soon.
Brent Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the U.S. House of Representatives. He holds an LLM in international financial law from the London School of Economics.
POLITICS
the rich asshole’s Visit To Wall Prototypes Shows The Hubris And Absurdity Of The Idea
As the president inspected 8 slabs at the border, familiar campaign chants echoed again.
SAN DIEGO ― It could have been a victory lap. On a foggy Tuesday, President some rich asshole traveled to the desert outside of San Diego to visit eight wall prototypes constructed in service of his signature policy goal: his “big, beautiful” southern border wall. the rich asshole, ever the showman, examined eight contestants in his wall pageant, a contest in which he hopes to one day pick a winner. Which one would he pick? Would the fans know before the first-term series finale?
The visit also marked the rich asshole’s first trip to California since winning the presidency. It could have been the perfect moment to troll the state that so forcefully rejects him and his policies.
And it was all going so well. In the hours before the rich asshole’s arrival just before noon, the handful of pro-wall, pro-the rich asshole rallies around Otay Mesa, the southern San Diego community that backs right up to the U.S.-Mexico border, brought together hundreds of supporters of the president and his proposed expansion of the border wall. The crowd chanted familiar the rich asshole rally refrains ―“Build that wall!” “Lock her up!” ― while flying “Make America great again” flags.
Shortly after Air Force One touched ground at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, a rich asshole supporter grabbed the microphone: “the rich asshole has landed!” she shouted. The crowd erupted with excitement. The fans were ready for their hero. But the thrill quickly died down.
Then, a car drove by and yelled “Fuck some rich asshole!”
As the crowd was shaking off the insult, a man in a passing car waved a Mexican flag, which fell off his pole and into the street. Suddenly a group of the rich asshole supporters found their courage. They raced to the flag and snatched it up.
“Burn it!” they chanted. They settled for shredding it.
At last the motorcade arrived. the rich asshole, flanked by federal and local law enforcement, was finally here to see his wall prototypes. Within hours of the rich asshole’s visit, federal authorities were charging three rural Illinois men ― one of whom was a bidder on the rich asshole’s border wall contract ― for the bombing of a Minnesota mosque last year and the attempted bombing of a women’s health clinic in Illinois.
Touring the site, the rich asshole explained he preferred “see-through” walls. “You have to know what’s on the other side of the wall,” he explained. He is partial to taller walls, arguing some of the people who cross the border are “like professional mountain climbers.”
“They’re incredible climbers,” the rich asshole said. “They can’t climb some of these walls. Some of them they can. Those are the walls we’re not using.”
Unlike most of the rich asshole’s campaign promises, many of which were drafted in a matter of weeks or months, the promise of a southern border wall has been part of his policy platform since he first announced his candidacy in June 2015. The idea of a newly fortified border wall electrified his base, who have gleefully chanted “Build the wall!” at his rallies. It also has become a rallying cry for racists, middle school and teenage bullies, and college students on spring break in Mexico.
“We have a lousy wall now,” the rich asshole said Tuesday. “When we put up the real wall, we’re going to stop 99 percent [of illegal crossings], maybe more than that.”
The cost estimates for the rich asshole’s “real wall” vary wildly. In January, the rich asshole said he wants $25 billion for border security efforts, including for his wall. He’s said at various points that he believes the wall can be built for $8 billion to as much as $12 billion. Senate Democrats have said it would it would be far costlier, closer to $70 billion. Independent analysts have pegged the cost at anywhere between $15 billion and $40 billion. the rich asshole has long promised that Mexico will pay for the wall, whatever the cost, while Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has rejected those claims.
What is clear is that the rich asshole’s wall, if it is actually ever constructed, will represent the culmination of decades of hardening of the U.S.-Mexico border zone. Throughout the 20th century, barbed wire, then fencing, then some observation towers, then more fencing have been constructed in and around various border towns, ranches and expanses of border land in an attempt to deter traffic. By 2006, President George W. Bush ushered in the construction of the more than 650 miles of fencing and barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border that exists today.
The structures that now make up the border barrier consist of iron fencing, stretches of vehicle barriers and barbed wire, as well as natural barriers, such as the Rio Grande. The border fencing has long been full of gaps and stops and starts along the way. The border barrier has been fairly effective at deterring illegal crossings. Apprehensions at the southwest border, which represent nearly 98 percent of total illegal crossings nationwide, fell to just over 300,000 in 2017, less than one-fifth of the 1.6 million apprehensions in 2000. But the barrier has the negative effect of pushing vulnerable people into more dangerous environments, cleaving communities and being profitable for human smuggling networks.
Most Americans appear to have an understanding of this. Numerous polls have consistently shown that the majority of Americans oppose the construction of a border wall. Moreover, most experts and historical record agree that the rich asshole’s wall will not be effective in securing the southern U.S. border.
the rich asshole, undeterred by these realities, examined the proposed wall slabs for about an hour.
At a smaller gathering overlooking the wall prototypes, a couple of dozen people gathered. Wearing the rich asshole gear, they listened to music, held signs expressing support for the rich asshole and his wall, and waited for the president to inspect the prototypes in the distance. One the rich asshole supporter shouted “President the rich asshole, we love you.” Another chanted, “Build that wall!”
the rich asshole, a mile or two away, couldn’t hear them. And his supporters couldn’t hear him, either.
Shortly after 1 p.m., the rich asshole was loaded back into his caravan to return to Miramar Air Station. Next up was Los Angeles, where the president would spend about four hours at the private residence of a Republican National Committee fundraiser.
As he headed north, a few dozen the rich asshole supporters stood on one side of a street while a few dozen the rich asshole protesters stood on the opposite side. They pointed their signs at each other and waved their flags near the entrance of a shipping facility where the rich asshole’s motorcade would drive by. The motorcade was met with the requisite cheers and boos, but that soon faded away.
Fox & Friends say Conor Lamb may have won because he’s cute
'Cuteness counts'
While other networks have declared Democrat Conor Lamb the apparent winner over Republican Rick Saccone in Tuesday’s special election for the Pennsylvania 18th U.S. House seat, Fox News was still describing it as “too close to call” on Wednesday morning. But struggling to explain how a Democrat could even get within striking distance of in win in a district some rich asshole won by about 20 points in 2016, the gang on Fox & Friends offered a unique theory: Lamb’s good looks made the difference.
Co-host Steve Doocy noted that Fox News Senior Political Analyst Brit Hume had said Lamb was “cute” a couple nights ago.
Co-host Ainsley Earhardt agreed. “He is young. A marine.”
Co-host Brian Kilmeade concurred. “Absolutely, cuteness counts.”
Watch:
Republican strategists have struggled to explain away the apparent loss in an historically deeply red district, with one reportedly blaming Saccone’s “porn ‘stache” for his woes. Rather than contemplate that the rich asshole’s popularity has sagged or that Saccone’s conservative policy proposals did not win votes, perhaps it was easier to blame the outcome on the dashing good looks of the 33-year-old Democrat trumping those of the 60-year-old Republican — though it is worth noting that septuagenarian some rich asshole beat out more than a dozen younger candidates in his 2016 run.
While most polls showed the race as a toss-up, Doocy noted that one poll had shown Lamb up by 6 points, suggesting that perhaps some rich asshole’s self-promoting rally over the weekend may have helped Saccone tighten things. According to the Cook Political Report, the district is 11 points more Republican than the average district in the country.
POLITICS
Twitter Erupts Over some rich asshole’s ‘Immigrants Are Pro Mountain Climbers’ Warning
“We’re gonna build a climbing wall and Mexico is going to pay for it!”
People ridiculed President some rich asshole on Tuesday after he warned that undocumented immigrants trying to enter the U.S. were like “professional mountain climbers.”
the rich asshole made the comment while inspecting prototypes of his long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall just south of San Diego, California.
“Getting over the top is easy,” said the rich asshole, as he attempted to explain why the barrier needed to be a tough obstacle to circumvent.
“These are like professional mountain climbers,” he added. “They are incredible climbers. They can’t climb some of these walls. Some of them they can. Those are the walls we’re not using.”
Tweeters picked up on his rambling claim, and immediately called the rich asshole out:
So a Mexican professional mountain climber can only find employment by entering the USA illegally?
Your president @realDonaldTrump literally just said that Mexican immigrants “are professional mountain climbers.”
Yes, @realDonaldTrump really did just compare undocumented immigrants who go over border wall to 'professional mountain climbers.' #borderwall
"They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some are professional mountain climbers."...Trump/Dotard
Mexico is not sending us their finest... except mountain climbers. They're sending world class mountain climbers. #Trump
BREAKING NEWS: President Trump bans mountain climbers and people with ropes or ladders.
Mandy
POLITICS
Veterans Are Pissed At the rich asshole For Not Knowing How To Spell Marine Corps
The president called it the Marine “Core.”
On the same day President some rich asshole proposed that the United States develop a “Space Force” to fight wars in space, he also paid tribute to the men and women in uniform here on Earth.
Except his since-deleted tweet on Tuesday didn’t refer to the Marine Corps, but the Marine “Core,” a mistake many said the commander-in-chief should never make. Veterans, in particular, took offense:
“Marine Core.” Really, @POTUS? Maybe General Kelly can get a copy of the Grammar for Marines MCI for you.
#WednesdayWisdom
The fact that Trump doesn't even know that it's the MARINE CORPS and not the MARINE CORE show exactly why he shouldn't be the Commander in Chief.
If it truly was your honor you would know it’s Marine CORPS, not CORE. And throwing a military parade costing millions of dollars for yourself on a day for veterans when that money could be used for homeless veterans and vet mental health is dishonorable. #MARINESagainstTrump
Someone had to explain to Cadet Bone Spurs the difference between the Marine Corps & the "Marine Core".
Take it from a veteran, our military deserves better than a lying, malignant narcissist for a commander in chief.
Resign!
The Marine Core is known for their “esprit de core,” when greeting each other “Semper Fly!”#DumpTrump#Veterans#USMC#Navy#GoArmy! twitter.com/bigspook36/sta…
Ben Carson claimed he was ‘shocked’ by $31,000 dining set, but emails show he knew all along
A HUD spokesman said the Carsons weren't involved. The emails show they picked the furniture out themselves.
Emails obtained by watchdog group American Oversight appear to catch the Department of Housing and Urban Development in a lie over Secretary Ben Carson’s involvement in the planned purchase of a $31,000 dining set for a dining room in his office.
In a March 1 statement, Carson said that he was “shocked” by the dining set’s pricetag and “made it known that I was not happy about the prices being charged and that my preference would be to find something more reasonable.” HUD spokesman Raffi Williams denied that Ben or his wife Candy had any involvement in the purchase process at all, telling CNN at the time that “Mrs. Carson and the secretary had no awareness that the table was being purchased.”
But the newly released emails show that the Carsons in fact selected the furniture themselves.
The emails were first reported by CNN. According to CNN’s report, “an August email from a career administration staffer, with the subject line ‘Secretary’s dining room set needed,’ to Carson’s assistant refers to ‘printouts of the furniture the Secretary and Mrs. Carson picked out.'”
The emails do not indicate that Carson expressed concern about the dining set’s cost, or made moves to cancel the order until CNN first broke news about the planned purchase.
In its latest report, CNN asked Williams to explain the difference between what he said a couple weeks ago and what the emails indicate. “When presented with options by professional staff, Mrs. Carson participated in the selection of specific styles,” he said.
When news of the $31,000 dining set broke late last month, the Carsons portrayed themselves as victims of dishonest reporting, but added that “[w]e suspect, based on past attempts, that they will continue to probe and make further accusations even without evidence or substantiation. We will continue to ask for God’s guidance to do what is right.”
As ThinkProgress detailed earlier this month, spending $31,000 on a dining set comes at a time when HUD is slashing affordable housing programs. Last May, Carson told the New York Times that to him, compassion does not mean giving people “a comfortable setting that would make somebody want to say: ‘I’ll just stay here. They will take care of me.’” The newly released emails show that HUD’s efforts to upgrade the furniture in Carson’s office began that same month.
Carson isn’t the first top the rich asshole official to get caught spending a large amount of money on themselves, while overseeing cuts to the agencies they run. Earlier this month, news broke that the Interior Department spent $139,000 on a door for Secretary Ryan Zinke. EPA head Scott Pruitt, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and former HHS Secretary Tom Price have each generated controversy for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on flights.
‘They push me left’: Longtime PA Republican woman drops party because the rich asshole ‘caters to the extreme right’ on guns
some rich asshole meets with NRA's Wayne LaPierre (AFP)
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A longtime Pennsylvania Republican said this week that she was voting for Democrats because President some rich asshole and his party were catering “to the extreme right.”
Dental hygienist Janet Dellana, 64, told The Washington Post that she voted for Democrat Conor Lamb in the Pennsylvania 18th District instead of Republican Rick Saccone, who narrowly lost the race.
According to Dellana, the rich asshole’s decision to back down on raising the purchasing age for military-style assault weapons was the final straw.
“After casting her vote in Mt. Lebanon, a suburb of Pittsburgh, dental hygienist Janet Dellana said she had been outraged to see the rich asshole call for arming teachers instead of limiting access to semiautomatic weapons after the deadly school shooting in Florida,” the Post reports.
“He flip-flops on everything, but in the end, he caters to the extreme right,” Dellana explained. “I am a registered Republican, but as this party continues to cater to the extreme right, they push me left.”
POLITICS
Obama Photographer Taunts the rich asshole Over Rex Tillerson Oustingthi
“Back in the day...”
Pete Souza is at it again.
The Obama-era White House photographer used Instagram on Tuesday to taunt President some rich asshole for firing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who reportedly learned of his ouster when the rich asshole tweeted the news.
“Back in the day when our Secretary of State was treated with respect,” Souza captioned a throwback snap of former President Barack Obama engaged in conversation with former Secretary of State John Kerry.
Souza also used Twitter to describe the circumstances surrounding Tillerson’s booting as “insane.”
The Democrats need to flip 24 seats to win back the House — here’s how they can get there
Paul Ryan speaks to Fox News (screen grab)
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Democrat Conor Lamb’s apparent upset win in Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district is sending shockwaves through the Republican Party, as the district had voted for President some rich asshole by 20 points in 2016.
According to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, PA-18 is rated as a Republican +11 district, which means Republican candidates have a built-in 11-point advantage over Democratic candidates.
What should really concern Republicans, however, is that there are more than 100 Republican-held districts across the country that are rated as less Republican than PA-18 — meaning dozens of GOP incumbents now find themselves potentially vulnerable.
Based on Cook’s Partisan Voting Index, here are the most promising districts for Democratic pick ups.
- Florida 26 (D +6): Currently held by Rep. Carlos Curbelo
- Florida 27 (D +5): Currently held by retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
- California 21 (D +5): Currently held by Rep. David Valadao
- New York 24 (D +3): Currently held by Rep. John Katko
- Colorado 6 (D +2): Currently held by Rep. Mike Coffman
- Virginia 10 (D+1): Currently held by Rep. Barbara Comstock
- Minnesota 3 (D+1): Currently held by Rep. Erik Paulsen
- Iowa 1 (D +1): Currently held by Rep. Rod Blum
- Washington 8 (EVEN): Currently held by Rep. Dave Reichert
- California 39 (EVEN): Currently held by retiring Rep. Ed Royce
- California 21 (EVEN): Currently held by Rep. Steve Knight
- California 10 (EVEN): Currently held by Rep. Jeff Denham
- Iowa 3 (R +1): Currently held by Rep. David Young
- Texas 23 (R+1): Currently held by Rep. Will Hurd
- Pennsylvania 7 (R +1): Currently held by retiring Rep. Pat Meehan
- New Jersey 2 (R +1): Currently held by retiring Rep. Frank LoBiondo
- California 49 (R+1): Currently held by retiring Rep. Darrell Issa
- Arizona 2 (R +1): Currently held by Rep. Martha McSally, who is vacating the seat to run for Senate
- Pennsylvania 8 (R +2): Currently held by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick
- Pennsylvania 6 (R +2): Currently held by Rep. Ryan Costello
- New York 19 (R +2): Currently held by Rep. John Faso
- New Jersey 3 (R +2): Currently held by Rep. Tom MacArthur
- Minnesota 2 (R +2): Currently held by Rep. Jason Lewis
- Illinois 6 (R +2): Currently held by Rep. Peter Roskam
- Maine 2 (R +2): Currently held by Rep. Bruce Poliquin
Winning those 25 seats would be more than enough for Democrats to win the majority — and there are currently seven R +3 seats held by Republicans, as well as 11 R +4 seats held by Republicans. And for the record, House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Wisconsin 1 district is rated as R +5, which means even he may not be completely safe from a blue wave.
None of this guarantees Democrats will win all these seats. However, when a Democrat can win in an R +11 district, it shows that the party will have no shortage of potential targets this fall.
‘Chaos and anarchy’: PA Republican rep. lambastes ‘deplorable’ the rich asshole for firing Tillerson hours before election
Charlie Dent speaks to CNN (screen grab)
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Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Charlie Dent on Wednesday said that President some rich asshole’s firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was handled in a “deplorable” way.
During an interview on CNN, Dent spoke about Democrat Connor Lamb’s apparent win in Pennsylvania 18th Congressional District, which the rich asshole won by 20 points.
“I think most Republicans realize we’re running into a very serious, a hurricane-force wind,” he explained. “It’s coming and we have to be ready for it.”
“If you’re a Republican member in a pretty safe seat like this one was, that’s where I’d be nervous,” the congressman said. “That is really what’s going to be the big issue. The marginal swing districts, they know they’re in for a fight.”
According to Dent, the Pennsylvania election was more about “the national environment” than local issues or the candidates’ personalities.
CNN’s Alisyn Camerota pointed out to Dent that the rich asshole had fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a tweet just hours before Republicans lost in Pennsylvania.
“I didn’t like the way Rex Tillerson was fired,” Dent revealed. “I thought that was very deplorable — unfortunate, the way it happened. So, there’s a lot of chaos and anarchy and this is just more of it. This type of instability, uncertainty is really not helpful for America or for the administration.”
Watch the video below from CNN.
‘What happened?’ Fox & Friends says Democrats are in trouble because Connor Lamb win wasn’t a ‘blowout’
Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade (Fox News)
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Democrat Conor Lamb has apparently won an upset victory over Republican Rick Saccone in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District — and the “Fox & Friends” hosts tried to rationalize the results.
President some rich asshole stumped for Saccone, a Christian nationalist state representative, in a district he won by 20 points — but Lamb still won a narrow victory in the heavily conservative western Pennsylvania district.
“This looked like a blowout for a while,” said co-host Brian Kilmeade. “Conor Lamb was in the driver’s seat, just a matter of blowing up the balloons — and then what happened?”
After trying to deny the apparent win, Kilmeade then tried to reason away the Democratic gain.
“Is it true that the Democrats have momentum? Yes,” Kilmeade said. “Is it true that all these special elections, even the ones they lost, is their turnout up? Yes. Is it also true in the past when the minority party comes up after losing the presidency and the House and the Senate? That is tradition.”
Kilmeade said that Saccone did not show sufficient support for the rich asshole’s steel and aluminum tariffs — although both candidates said they backed the measures.
“Saccone is — he is not pro-union, so right there we have a virtual dead heat,” Kilmeade reasoned. “Also, a 33-year-old prosecutor who’s a Marine, as opposed to somebody who is not really known statewide, certainly is better.”
But he cautioned Democrats not to be too excited about flipping a House seat in a heavily conservative district after flipping a Senate seat in deep-red Alabama.
“The Democrats have reason to be happy? Yeah,” Kilmeade admitted. “But I’m very curious to see how many pro-life, pro-tax cut, pro-gun, anti-Nancy Pelosi candidates will be nominated for November, because Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have a different image where the party is going and they’re looked at as leaders. If they are saying, ‘Wow, we are on a roll, yeah.’ Name another candidate like Conor Lamb.”
Lamb, in fact, opposed the GOP tax cuts, which he called a “giveaway” to the wealthy, and co-host Steve Doocy suggested the Democrat tricked GOP voters into backing him.
“What’s interesting about this particular thing that is too close to call is they both ran as Republicans,” Doocy said.
Co-host Ainsley Earhardt, for her part, cited political observations made on Tuesday’s program by the president’s son.
“If he does win and does make it to Washington, of course, he is going to vote with the Democrats just like Joe Manchin did,” she said. “We had some rich asshole Jr. on yesterday, he was saying no Democrat is ever going to go against the party. They are not going to go against Nancy Pelosi, they are not going to go against Chuck Schumer. Those are the two most liberal of all those serving in Washington of the Democratic Party.”
REVEALED: Emails show Ben Carson and his wife were personally involved in buying $31,000 office furniture
Ben Carson on Meet the Press - screenshot
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Newly released emails show Ben Carson and his wife personally selected a $31,000 dining room set for his office at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The liberal watchdog group American Oversight obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information Act request, and the documents cast doubt on HUD spokesman Raffi Williams’ denial that Carson had any involvement in selecting the furniture, reported CNN.
“Mrs. Carson and the secretary had no awareness that the table was being purchased,” Williams told CNN last month, when the story first broke. “The secretary did not order a new table. The table was ordered by the career staffers in charge of the building.”
Carson himself blamed the purchase on an unnamed HUD staffer, and told CNN he was “surprised” by the $31,000 price tag and promised to cancel the order — which the company confirmed had happened on March 1.
“The secretary did not order a new table,” said Carson, the HUD secretary. “The table was ordered by the career staffers in charge of the building.”
But the newly released emails show two Carson aides discussed the dining set back in May 2017, when they asked about repairing the “fairly precarious” existing furniture, which would have cost an estimated $1,100 to fix.
Carson’s statement earlier this month confirmed he feared the old furniture was “unsafe” and “beyond repair.”
HUD’s scheduling office contacted Candy Carson, the secretary’s wife, in August to take part in the office redecorating, although the emails don’t show a response from her.
Carson said he and his wife were told there was a $25,000 budget that must be used by a deadline or it would be lost, and they received a $24,666 quote for the furniture.
“The career administration staffer sent the quote to Carson’s office,” CNN reported, “specifically Carson’s chief of staff and his executive assistant, casting further doubt on the agency’s assertion that the purchase was made entirely by career staff.”
The staffer told Carson the quote seemed to be reasonable and justified the purchase because the previous furniture was purchased in 1988, and receipts showed HUD moved forward with the purchase — which was now $7,000 higher — four months later.
One email chain shows serving cart options were approved by “leadership” but doesn’t specify who made the request.
That appears to contradict Williams’ sweeping denial that Carson and his wife had any involvement in the purchase process, or any interest in doing so.
Helen Foster, a senior career official at HUD, says she was demoted and replaced by a rich asshole appointee after refusing to break the law to approve the over-budget redecoration.
‘This is a hot mess’: MSNBC’s Mika says Tillerson firing may have confirmed the rich asshole’s a ‘moron’
Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough (MSNBC)
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MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski said the rude and clumsy firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirms his assessment of President some rich asshole’s intelligence.
NBC News reported in October that Tillerson called the rich asshole a “moron” during a Pentagon meeting in July, and MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle took it a bit further.
“My source didn’t just say that he called him a moron,” Ruhle said. “He said an effing moron.”
Tillerson never quite denied making the remark, although he survived another five months as head of the State Department — and Brzezinski said Tuesday’s sloppy firing may have confirmed the insult.
“Some would argue that it would take a moron to tell the world that you’re unstable and that you lurch around and can’t make decisions, but if you look at this,” Brzezinski said, before co-host Joe Scarborough cut her off to jokingly ask whether she was talking about him.
“I just said some might say you acted so impulsively on the world stage and you would fire on Twitter your secretary of state, someone who’s heading up a State Department that has so many unfilled spots it’s almost dangerous,” Brezinski continued.
She said the national security implications of summarily dumping Tillerson overboard were staggering, given the number of threats faced by the United States.
“The implications of the North Korea talks, but he just sent Tillerson to Africa to clean up for his own mess, and now all the new alliances and relationships that were made there, they have no one to talk to,” Brzezinski said. “I mean, this is a hot mess.”
Ben Carson caught lying about $31,000 dining set he made taxpayers buy him
By
Tommy Christopher
-
March 14, 2018
Another lie bites the dust. It turns out Carson did know about the $31,000 dining set — and it was personally selected by him and his wife, Candy.
the rich asshole HUD Secretary Ben Carson has given his expensive furniture scandal new life by being caught lying about it.
When news first broke that taxpayers had shelled out $31,000 for a dining room set, Carson said, through a spokesperson, that he had been unaware of the purchase. He also said he intended to keep the pricey furnishings at the time, but subsequently canceled the order when the story blew up.
According to emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, though, the furniture was personally selected by Ben Carson’s wife, Candy. One email shows a HUD staffer setting up an appointment with Mrs. Carson to meet with a designer, and another references “the furniture the Secretary and Mrs. Carson picked out.”
Carson was also sent a price quote for the furniture in yet another email.
This is just the latest in a series of scandals involving the rich asshole Cabinet officials and wasteful luxury spending. Then-Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was forced to resign over his private jet travel, while Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, and EPA administrator Scott Pruitt have all faced travel scandals of their own. Pruitt is also under scrutiny for a $25,000 soundproof booth that has turned out to cost $43,000.
Carson’s flare-up also comes on the heels of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ very public embarrassment during some disastrous interviews earlier this week.
With the rich asshole in a firing mood after ousting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson via a tweet, Carson is just one in a long line of administration officials who could be the next to be swept away in the chaos.
Stunning Pennsylvania upset proves GOP tax scam is total failure
By
Eric Boehlert
-
March 14, 2018
The Republican Party's only legislative achievement is a non-starter with voters.
Signing the GOP’s billion-dollar giveaway tax scam into law late last year, the rich asshole bragged that the legislation would virtually assure Republican success this November.
“I don’t think I’m going to have to travel too much to sell it” during the 2018 midterm elections, the rich asshole said. “I think it’s selling itself.”
Think again.
In the first congressional test case since the bill was passed over the universal objections of Democrats, Republicans on Tuesday managed to lose a deeply red the rich asshole district in Pennsylvania. And Republicans lost it after trying to use their tax bill as the centerpiece of the campaign.
Conor Lamb’s stunning victory over Republican Rick Saccone delivers a jolt to Republicans for many reasons. And watching its beloved tax bill be cast aside by voters as essentially meaningless certainly ranks among the party’s most painful lessons.
Indeed, one of the big reasons Republicans were so desperate to ram through their tax-scam giveaway to billionaires and corporations last year — and do it without public hearings — was they hoped voters would credit them.
But it completely flopped in Tuesdays’s special election in Pennsylvania 18th District, to the point where Republicans virtually abandoned the tax message by the end of the campaign.
“An outside group allied with the House GOP recently launched spots slamming Democrat Conor Lamb as a ‘Pelosi liberal’ and for allegedly supporting ‘sanctuary cities and amnesty for illegals,'”noted Greg Sargent at the Washington Post. “The National Republican Congressional Committee has recently released ads that slam Lamb, a former prosecutor, as soft on gun traffickers. A super PAC allied with the rich asshole has an ad that mentions the tax cuts but talks more about ‘Pelosi liberals.'”
Politico had additional data: “For the weeks of Feb. 4 and Feb. 11, roughly two-thirds of the broadcast television ads from Saccone’s campaign, the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC and the National Republican Congressional Committee mentioned taxes, according to a POLITICO analysis of data from Advertising Analytics. For the week of Feb. 18, that dropped to 36 percent, and to 14 percent the week after.”
If the GOP tax bill doesn’t resonate in a heavily red district like the Pennsylvania 18th, Republicans across the country are going to be in trouble as they scramble for messaging in November. And that includes in districts that aren’t nearly as red as Pennsylvania’s 18th.
Meanwhile, the GOP’s other supposed signature issue, repealing Obamacare, also flopped in Pennsylvania. A strong majority of voters in the district, where the population skews quite old,oppose the Republicans’ repeal efforts.
The GOP’s messaging machine has collapsed.
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