the rich asshole’s incoherent comments about the dangers of an ‘arms race’
"We will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have."
During a pool spray with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia in the Oval Office on Tuesday, the rich asshole discussed a call he had earlier in the day with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which the rich asshole congratulated Putin on the result of Russia’s recent presidential election.
“I had a call with President Putin, and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory,” the rich asshole said, ignoring concerns about the vote being rigged in the Russian strongman’s favor. “The call had to do also with the fact that we will probably get together in the not too distant future so that we can discuss arms, we can discuss the arms race. As you know, he made a statement that being in an arms race is not a great thing — that was right after the election, one of the first statements he made.”
But the rich asshole’s next comment suggested he’s unclear about what an “arms race” actually is, because his plan to avoid having one seems to involve having a never-ending one.
“We are spending $700 billion on our military, and a lot of it is that we are going to remain stronger than any other nation in the world by far,” the rich asshole said. “But we will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have.”
In short, the rich asshole says he wants to avoid an arms race, yet is committed to huge military spending aimed at preventing other countries from approximating American military capabilities. On the heels of Putin publicly bragging about Russia having new nuclear weapons that could overcome US missile defenses, it’s not hard to see how the rich asshole’s line of thinking could lead directly to an arms race.
Shortly after his pool spray with the Saudi crown prince, the rich asshole had another public event where he touted American military product sales to Saudi Arabia.
“I met in May when we were over there, where a promise of $400 billion was made by Saudi Arabia for the purchase of our equipment and other things, and the relationship is probably the strongest that it’s ever been. We understand each other,” the rich asshole said. “Saudi Arabia is a very wealthy nation and they are going to give the United States some of that wealth hopefully in the form of jobs, in the form of the purchase of the finest military equipment anywhere in the world. There’s nobody even close.”
“As I said before, when it comes to the missiles and the planes and all of the military equipment, there is nobody that even comes close to us in terms of the technology and the quality of the equipment,” the president continued. “Saudi Arabia appreciates that. They’ve done tests of everything and they appreciate it, and the understand it very well — probably better than most.”
the rich asshole’s comment about Saudi Arabia understanding the value of good military equipment “probably better than most” might have been a reference to the country’s involvement in the war in Yemen. In January, a United Nations reportblamed the Saudi-led coalition’s air attacks for the deaths of 157 civilians in 2017.
During Tuesday’s White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked if the topic of Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations came up during the rich asshole’s meeting with the crown prince.
“I’m not aware that that came up specifically,” she said.
Before facts are in, NRA exploits the deadly Great Mills High School shooting
The facts aren't even in and yet the NRA is trying to score points on the most recent deadly school shooting.
The NRA got ahead of the facts on Tuesday, attempting to spin a deadly shooting at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County, Maryland as an example of why militarizing schools is a good thing.
“It’s clear that [Great Mills High School] officer saved lives. Where’s the wall-to-wall coverage of that,” the NRA TV account tweeted, quoting NRA personality Grant Stinchfield. “This story is proof, when something doesn’t fit their anti-gun, anti-freedom narrative, the lying #MSM simply doesn’t cover it.”
"It's clear that [Great Mills High School] officer saved lives. Where's the wall-to-wall coverage of that...This story is proof, when something doesn't fit their anti-gun, anti-freedom narrative, the lying #MSM simply doesn't cover it."
—@stinchfield1776 #NRA
NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch shared a Daily Caller story pushing the same talking point and framing the incident as a possible “win for the rich asshole.”
NRA TV followed up with a tweet featuring Loesch accusing the media of ignoring the Great Mills High School shooting because “they do take issue with defending our most vulnerable and our most innocent.”
The NRA’s talking points are misleading on at least two levels.
First, it is not the case that the Great Mills High School shooting was ignored by the media. As of this story’s publication in the early afternoon on Tuesday, the high school’s name was among the top trending topics on Twitter. The story was also extensively covered by all three of the major cable news networks on Tuesday morning, as well as by major print outlets.
Second, it’s unclear whether the presence of an armed guard actually “saved lives” at all. A statement by the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office noted that after the shooter fired at a female student, and the resource officer fired back at the shooter — at which point the incident ended. Authorities did not confirm, however, that the resource officer’s shot hit the gunman.
Despite what the NRA would have you believe, recent history indicates that armed guards aren’t a surefire way to prevent school shootings. The presence of an armed guard at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, for instance, didn’t prevent an AR-15 wielding gunman from killing 17 people there last month. And yet the NRA and the rich asshole have responded to that deadly incident by pushing for militarizing schools and arming teachers.
The NRA isn’t the only right-wing organization getting ahead of the facts in order to push a pro-gun agenda following the Great Mills High School shooting. Both Breitbart and the Daily Caller published stories that portrayed the incident as one in which a “good guy with a gun” stopped a bad guy, despite it being unclear as to whether that’s actually what happened.
In general, research indicates the “good gun with a gun” myth is just that — a myth. A comprehensive study by the Violence Policy Center found guns “are rarely used to kill criminals or stop crimes.” In 2012, “for every justifiable homicide in the United States involving a gun, guns were used in 32 criminal homicides,” researchers concluded. Another study by the University of Pennsylvania found that someone carrying a gun is “4.46 times more likely to be shot in an assault.”
EPA head Scott Pruitt has spent more than $100K on taxpayer-funded first class flights: report
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt speaking at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt spent over $105,000 on first-class flights during his first year as the department’s secretary.
Politico reported Tuesday night that the figure comes from records published by the EPA’s internal watchdog and provided to the House Oversight Committee. The $105,000 does not include the previously-reported $58,000 Pruitt spent on taxpayer-funded charter fights and a military jet taken from Cincinnati to New York so that he and his staff could catch a connecting flight to Europe.
Of the flights listed in the new House Oversight records, which were obtained by Politico, the single most expensive first-class trip took place in December, when Pruitt racked up $16,217 after missing a flight out of Morocco while promoting American natural gas exports. After missing the connecting flight, the EPA secretary stayed overnight in Paris, “and appears to have missed two other flights to Morocco” before leaving days later.
WATCH: CNN panel devolves into chaos after the rich asshole backer claims the president is ‘protecting America’ from Putin
CNN panel fact-checking CNN political commentator Steve Cortes on AC 360.
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Anderson Cooper’s Tuesday night panel of political analysts descended into complete chaos when former some rich asshole campaign operative Steve Cortes attempted to argue that the rich asshole had been harsh on Russian President Valdimir Putin. Cortes currently serves on the rich asshole’s Hispanic Advisory Council.
“Our own administration–not the president, the Treasury Department–says Russian government cyber actors have targeted the U.S. government and multiple critical infrastructures,” Paul Begala reminded. “Our energy sector, nuclear sector, commercial facilities, water, aviation–why the hell isn’t he protecting America today from ongoing attacks from Russia?”
“He is,” Cortes claimed. “And you know how he’s doing it?”
“By sucking up to Putin?” Begala answered.
At that point, Cortes attempted to claim the rich asshole’s “words” have been harsh on Putin, which caused all of the panelists at the table to jump all over him at once.
Though all of the cross-talk was difficult to decipher, it did not appear that the panel agreed with his contention that the rich asshole has had harsh words for Putin.
Watch:
the rich asshole's administration has a secret war on transgender health care
BY PAIGE SCHILT, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 03/20/18 01:30 PM EDT
Just over a week before the option to comment closes on March 27, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department has failed to post even one of the 30,000+ citizen comments it has received on a proposed rule that would champion healthcare workers who refuse to provide care on moral or religious grounds.
The rule, titled “Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care,” purports to protect “individuals and entities with objections to certain activities based on religious belief and moral convictions.”
In substance, however, the rule is more pandering than problem solving. As the word “statutory” in the name suggests, the conscience rights of health care providers are already protected by existing laws. However, under Roger Severino, the anti-LGBTQ activist who now heads the Office of Civil Rights at HHS, the agency will focus on proactively “conducting outreach and providing technical assistance” to those who refuse care.
Indeed, the proposed conscience rights rule is only the latest in a series of actions that the rich asshole administration has taken to undermine transgender healthcare. In late 2016, a federal court in Texas ruled that Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits sex discrimination in healthcare, did not protect transgender people from discrimination based on gender identity.
While other courts have held that federal sex discrimination laws actually do protect transgender Americans, the rich asshole’s Justice Department refused to appeal the judge’s ruling. In May 2017, HHS voluntarily offered to revise Obama-era interpretations of Section 1557 as pertaining to gender identity.
Then, in October 2017, HHS asked for public input on a plan to remove regulations for faith-based health care providers who receive federal funds. According to Politico, the agency posted less than 1 percent of the 10,729 comments it received, and the comments that it did post “overwhelmingly back the administration’s anti-abortion policies or attack regulations advanced by the Obama administration, such as a rule forcing health care providers that accept federal funding to provide services to transgender patients.”
And now here we are: another piece of HHS policy has been posted for public comment, and a zero percent chance of the comments have been posted thus far. Americans must do everything in our power—from raising awareness to filing Freedom of Information Act requests — to make sure that this rule-making process is transparent and accountable to the actual people it impacts.
Public accountability is essential, because there’s already a crisis in transgender healthcare. In 2017, nearly one third of trans people surveyed said a doctor or other health care provider refused to see them because of their actual or perceived gender identity. And in 2015, nearly one in four respondents reported that they had avoided seeking medical care out of fear of being mistreated as a transgender person.
Think about that for a moment: When people avoid seeking medical care, it means that they don’t get that lump or that spot or that cough checked out. They don’t get a flu shot. They self-medicate a busted knee or a bulging disc.
Discrimination against transgender patients affects all of us. It weakens the social fabric and endangers public health. And yet, HHS — the very agency charged with ensuring access to care —wants to recruit those who would refuse care, providing legal and ethical shelter for acts of discrimination.
To be sure, individuals who experience health care discrimination can also seek justice through the courts. According to Lambda Legal, courts have routinely rejected religious objections to treating LGBTQ people, and the lawyers at Lambda are prepared to act on behalf of patients who are wrongly denied medical care as a result of the new rule. But court cases take time, and critically ill patients — especially poor and rural patients with few options for health care providers — may not have time to wait.
That’s why, in addition to taking legal action, the transgender community and its allies need to strike up direct conversations with religious communities. Those who have experienced discrimination in healthcare settings need to share their stories, so that people of faith can focus on the real moral issue: the 23 percent of trans Americans who are afraid to access health care for fear of discrimination. Whether the rich asshole administration is listening, people of true conscience must surely take heed.
Paige Schilt, PhD, is the author of Queer Rock Love: A Family Memoir and a Public Voices Fellow with The OpEd Project.
the rich asshole faces backlash after congratulating Putin on election win
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 03/20/18 05:19 PM EDT
President the rich asshole is coming under intense criticism for declining to press Russian President Vladimir Putin about the fairness of Russia’s presidential election and the poisoning of a former Russian double agent living in England, an incident the United Kingdom blamed on Moscow.
the rich asshole phoned Putin on Tuesday to congratulate him for winning a fourth term and to discuss a possible summit meeting. But Washington seized on the topics that were not discussed, which include Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the president “insulted” the people of Russia by congratulating Putin for winning an election whose result was never in question.
“An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections,” said McCain, a frequent critic of the rich asshole who has pressed him to take a more aggressive approach toward the Kremlin.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the rich asshole can “call whomever he chooses,” but added that phoning Putin “wouldn’t have been high on my list.”
The Senate leader noted “the lack of credibility in tallying the results” in last weekend’s election, in which Putin won 77 percent of the vote.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the president’s approach, noting that several friendly foreign leaders made similar calls, as did former President Obama when Putin last won reelection, in 2012.
“We’re focused on our elections. We don’t get to dictate how other countries operate,” Sanders said when asked by a reporter if Russia’s election was “free and fair.”
Yet it is hardly uncommon for American presidents to call on other countries to enact democratic reforms and hold fair elections.
Vice President Pence on Wednesday is scheduled to speak to the Organization for American States and is expected to press the Latin American group’s members to raise pressure on Venezuela’s government to hold free and fair elections.
Last summer, the White House slapped sanctions on what it called the "illegitimate" Venezuelan government after President Nicolás Maduro tried to bypass the legislature to rewrite the nation's constitution.
“The United States once again calls for free and fair elections and stands with the people of Venezuela in their quest to restore their country to a full and prosperous democracy,” the rich asshole said in a statement last July.
The rich asshole administration announced last month it would cut aid to Cambodia, citing “deep concern” about restrictions on democracy there.
A day earlier, the White House said there were no plans for the rich asshole to call Putin following the election. Asked if the contest was free and fair, spokesman Hogan Gidley said, "We’re not surprised by the outcome."
And while the leaders of Germany, Japan and Israel called Putin to congratulate him, British Prime Minister Theresa May, who has harshly criticized Putin for the nerve-gas attack on the former Russian spy, has not called him. French President Emmanuel Macron offered best wishes “to Russia and the Russian people,” but not Putin, in an official statement.
The phone call renewed questions about the rich asshole’s approach toward Russia, which is frequently at odds with U.S. allies, Congress and even some members of his own administration.
The U.S., Germany and France all joined Britain last week in saying Russia was responsible for a nerve-agent attack in southern England on former spy Sergei Skirpal and his daughter, which left both critically ill. Moscow has denied the accusation.
Days later, Putin was elected in a contest that international organizations said was tainted by ballot-box stuffing. There were also multiple reports of poll-watchers being blocked from carrying out their duties.
Leading Putin opposition figure Alexei Navalny was barred from running due to a criminal conviction that the Kremlin's critics said was politically motivated.
“Restrictions on the fundamental freedoms of assembly, association and expression, as well as on candidate registration, have limited the space for political engagement and resulted in a lack of genuine competition,” the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe wrote in a report on the election.
the rich asshole mentioned none of those issues when speaking to reporters in the Oval Office about his “very good” phone call with Putin.
“I suspect that we’ll probably be meeting in the not too distant future to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control,” the president said. “But we will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have.”
the rich asshole also said he wanted to discuss the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, as well as North Korea’s nuclear program. The Kremlin said in a statement the leaders gave “special attention” to arranging the meeting during their phone call.
Sanders later said that there are “no specific plans made at this time” for a meeting between the rich asshole and Putin.
The next time the two leaders, who have already met twice, might be in the same place is November at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
The comments come amid heightened tensions over Russia’s election meddling, which U.S. officials fear may happen again in the midterm elections this fall.
The rich asshole administration just last week imposed new sanctions against Moscow for its election interference in 2016 and other cyberattacks, steps that officials described as an effort to deter future meddling.
the rich asshole, however, is facing calls from Congress to impose further penalties on oligarchs and other influential Russian figures.
Special counsel Robert Mueller has also appeared to accelerate his probe into whether the rich asshole campaign cooperated with the Kremlin in 2016, and whether the president obstructed the investigation, which has fueled the rich asshole's anger.
the rich asshole has repeatedly called the probe a “witch hunt” that has blocked his desire to form a closer relationship with Moscow. He has also been reluctant to publicly criticize Putin or blame him for election meddling.
“I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election,” the rich asshole said of Putin last fall during a summit meeting in Vietnam. “As to whether I believe it or not, I'm with our agencies, especially as currently constituted with their leadership.”
The president also suggested that bringing up the topic puts a strain on the U.S.-Russia relationship, which he wants to avoid.
“I want to be able — because I think it's very important — to get along with Russia,” he said at the time. “So I'm not looking to stand and start arguing with somebody when there's reporters all around and cameras recording and seeing our conversation.”
The RNC spent over $250K at the rich asshole’s properties in February — and is still bankrolling his longtime personal bodyguard
some rich asshole y (Screen cap).
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The Republican National Committee spent at least $270,000 at the rich asshole properties in February, the group’s latest fundraising filings show.
BuzzFeed News reported Tuesday that the RNC’s latest Federal Election Commission filings reveal the group used the D.C. the rich asshole International Hotel and the the rich asshole National Doran Miami hotel for “catering and venue services.”
The payments join “the nearly $2 million Republican campaigns and groups have already spent at President some rich asshole’s businesses during his presidency,” BuzzFeed noted.
Along with the hefty payouts to the rich asshole hotels, the RNC is also still paying $15,000 a month to KS Global, the security firm run by the president’s longtime personal bodyguard Keith Schiller. Filings show he is “being paid from the committee’s convention account for security consulting on the site selection process for the 2020 Republican National Convention,” and has been on their payroll since shortly after he left the White House last October.
After analysis of the latest RNC filings were published, the Washington Examiner reported that the group is holding their spring meeting at the Miami the rich asshole hotel in May. It’s unclear whether the hotel booking, which will be a planning meeting for the 2020 Republican National Convention, was reflected on the RNC’s February filings.
Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean explains the rich asshole’s ‘strangulation’ of Mueller: ‘Killing him slowly’
CNN's Erin Burnett and former White House Counsel John Dean.
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Former Richard Nixon White House Counsel John Dean, who pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of justice for his role in the Watergate cover-up, explained on CNN’s Out Front with Erin Burnett that President some rich asshole was trying to strangle special counsel Robert Mueller rather than simply fire him.
“I think what we’re witnessing, Erin, is the difference between cutting somebody off at the knees, which would be firing, and slowly choking them, which is what we’re seeing here,” he suggested. “In other words, killing him slowly. Withholding information, badmouthing him, trying to trash him, having surrogates do so.”
“I think that’s the effort here, They don’t want to risk the firing, but they’re willing to proceed with this slow strangulation, if you will,” he concluded.
Watch:
WATCH: Stormy Daniels’ attorney gets into shouting match with Michael Cohen’s lawyer in marathon segment on CNN
Cohen attorney David Schwartz (left) and Daniels' attorney Michael Avenatti (right). Image via screengrab.
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Stormy Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti in recent days criticized the rich asshole lawyer Michael Cohen for hiding behind his own legal representative — and found himself going head-to-head with him on Tuesday night.
Avenatti and Cohen’s attorney David Schwartz initially got into it about the minutia of Daniels’ lawsuit, going back-and-forth about the plaintiff’s insistence that the adult film star’s non-disclosure agreement is moot because some rich asshole never signed it.
“If some rich asshole was too busy campaigning for president to know anything about the agreement and Mr. Cohen was going to do this on his own and wasn’t going to bother Mr. Trump, then why take the effort to draft the agreement to make Donald the rich asshole a signatory to the agreement?” Avenatti asked Schwartz.
“That’s painting a fictional picture of the whole scenario,” Cohen’s attorney replied.
Schwartz went on to argue that the rich asshole needn’t have signed the NDA to be a “third-party beneficiary” before accusing Avenatti of persuading Daniels to “blatantly violate a contract.”
“This is an air-tight contract,” Cohen’s representative continued, saying Daniels is “liable for $20 million dollars.”
“Where do you get the $20 million dollar figure?” host Anderson Cooper asked him. “Are you talking about her appearances on the ‘Make American Horny’ tour?”
After breaking for commercial, they were back at it again, arguing more about the legal disagreements that make up Daniels’ lawsuit and Cohen’s countersuit.
Watch the fiery exchange below, via CNN.
Part 1:
Part 2:
McConnell: Mueller isn't 'going anywhere'
BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 03/20/18 02:45 PM EDT
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday defended Robert Mueller after President the rich asshole blasted the special counsel's investigation over the weekend as biased.
McConnell tried to put to rest speculation that the rich asshole may persuade senior Justice Department officials to fire Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between the rich asshole’s inner circle and Russian government officials during the 2016 election.
McConnell argued that speculation of Mueller’s imminent ouster is overheated and that the rich asshole’s lawyers agree he should be allowed to wrap up his investigation.
“I don’t think Bob Mueller is going anywhere,” McConnell told reporters. “The president’s lawyers obviously agree that he ought to be allowed to finish the job."
McConnell called Mueller a “thoroughly credible individual” and “an appropriate appointment” to serve as special counsel.
“We all anticipate him finishing the job and telling the American people what they need to know about this episode,” he said.
McConnell said it would not be necessary for Congress to take any action to protect the special counsel from firing.
Republican senators for months have said that Mueller should be allowed to thoroughly investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election as well as the circumstances surrounding the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
the rich asshole, however, ratcheted up political pressure on the investigation after criticizing Mueller over the weekend for hiring investigators with Democratic connections.
“Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans?” the rich asshole tweeted. “Another Dem recently added … does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!”
McConnell responded Tuesday by calling Mueller an "excellent appointment."
Internet aghast after the rich asshole ignores advisers’ warning in call to Putin: ‘Can’t trust this guy with a can of paste’
some rich asshole speaking at CPAC 2011 in Washington, D.C (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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President some rich asshole ignored an all-caps warning in Monday’s Presidential Daily Brief, choosing to congratulate Russian President Putin for prevailing in an election with it’s legitimacy is in doubt.
the rich asshole’s choice to praise Putin instead of criticize his Russian counterpart was widely mocked on Twitter.
Here are some of the best points made:
Today in the president’s own aides treating him like a child: writing basic instructions in all capital letters on his notes (he didn’t follow them)
And then his national security staff leaked out word he didn’t.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
1. Before telling Putin what he wanted to hear, Trump either didn't read the warnings from his team or he didn't care.
2. Some folks in the White House clearly want the world to know about this. twitter.com/washingtonpost…
.@realDonaldTrump’s nat’l security advisers write “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” on his briefing for call w/ Putin.
Trump congratulates Putin on a sham election anyway.
Advisers also told him to condemn attack of ex-Russian spy w/ nerve agent.
He did not. washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
Watch live here: Senate Intelligence Committee’s press conference on election security starting soon c-span.org/video/?442865-…
The report recommendation that we "clearly communicate to adversaries that an attack on our election infrastructure is a hostile act, and we will respond accordingly" seems to have fallen on deaf ears @WhiteHouse washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
Still amazing that this kind of thing can be corroborated at the White House in a matter of mere hours washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
I guess we’re still going with #NoCollusion?#Trump congratulates #Putin on his “election” win despite being advised not to by national security advisors.
Trump’s nose just rented space for a campaign office in Putin’s asshole.
#RussiaElections2018 #GOP washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
What does Putin have on this idiot??? It must be sensational!!! @JGerardInc @SapphireJaime @JoyAnnReid washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
Why would officials leak that Trump's national security staff told him in all caps DO NOT CONGRATULATE Putin? Because folks in the White House are beginning to realize that the American President seems to have been compromised by the Russians.
What is @realDonaldTrump hiding? twitter.com/jdawsey1/statu…
Trump has no shame gene, so he will never care, but you got to be disgusted for all his treasonous enablers in the GOP. They will never come back from this. washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
Imagine how republicans would have reacted if Obama behaved like this... like a traitor. washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
Even students know on the #firstdayofspring ... pic.twitter.com/D6TrVXhmlQ
Here's the textbook definition of "Person Not Loyal To His Country": washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
MSNBC analyst Malcolm Nance details how the rich asshole is mimicking Putin’s rise to power
some rich asshole and Vladimir Putin (Wikimedia Commons)
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MSNBC intelligence analyst Malcolm Nance explained how President some rich asshole is mimicking the political rise of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin by firing FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.
“You know, I’ve been saying for some time that this White House is operating precisely as Vladimir Putin did when he rose to power,” Nance explained on MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber. “Whenever he met an obstacle, he met a person who was in front of him who had power, he removed that power away from him.”
“He didn’t care what the results of that were,” Nance observed.
“You know, I have joked from time to time that there’s a rat in the White House, a Russian advisory team,” he continued. “And that actually was a strategy that the Russians used against the CIA and the FBI — discredit the leadership, make people not trust their word.
“some rich asshole has learned that lesson, he knows that there’s two parts to this story,” Nance suggested. “There is a legal side and he probably will be caught up in… the legal technicalities of obstruction of justice. But he’s also playing this sort of worldwide professional wrestling side where he is playing to the crowd and he is trying to discredit the leadership of the FBI personally.”
“He knows that at some point, they’re going to be bought as witnesses and this is critical for him,” Nance concluded.
Watch:
the rich asshole ignored the all-caps warning not to congratulate Putin written in his presidential daily briefing
US President some rich asshole (right) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on November 11, 2017 (AFP Photo/JORGE SILVA)
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Despite an all-caps warning in his daily briefing on Monday, President Donald the rich asshole ignored his national security advisers and congratulated Russia President Vladimir Putin for winning an election many consider a “sham.”
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the rich asshole not only ignored the “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” warning by his top advisers, the president also “chose not to heed talking points from aides instructing him to condemn Putin about the recent poisoning of a former Russian spy in the United Kingdom with a powerful nerve agent.”
On Tuesday, after a White House spokesperson indicated the day prior that the president would not be calling his Russian counterpart, the rich asshole himself announced to press that he’d called Putin to congratulate him. Later, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the UK poisoning, which has been condemned in harsh terms by British Prime Minister Theresa May, did not come up during the call.
White House vents frustration with 'absurd' Mueller probe
BY JONATHAN EASLEY - 03/20/18 02:27 PM EDT
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders vented frustration with the special counsel probe on Tuesday, but said that firing Robert Mueller would not be “the most productive step forward.”
Sanders was pressed by reporters to explain President the rich asshole’s weekend tweets, in which he lashed out at the special counsel probe as a “witch hunt” and accused Mueller of stocking his team with Democrats.
Sanders was pressed by reporters to explain President the rich asshole’s weekend tweets, in which he lashed out at the special counsel probe as a “witch hunt” and accused Mueller of stocking his team with Democrats.
The White House press secretary said the rich asshole’s reaction is natural and warranted, because the rich asshole has done nothing wrong. Sanders blasted back at GOP lawmakers, like Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who have suggested that the president’s attacks against Mueller make him appear as if he has something to hide.
“To pretend like going through this absurd process over a year would not bring frustration seems a little ridiculous,” Sanders said.
“To pretend like going through this absurd process over a year would not bring frustration seems a little ridiculous,” Sanders said.
“I don't think any individual, including members of Congress, would like it if they had been accused of taking their seat in Congress by doing something nefarious when they hadn't, particularly if it went on for more than a year into their time in office," she said.
“My guess is they would be more than anxious to push back and certainly would defend themselves as the president has clearly done that in this situation and has since day one,” Sanders added.
Despite the rich asshole’s Twitter outbursts, the White House insists that it has no plans to fire Mueller. The White House’s position has been that it will cooperate with Mueller in hopes he brings the conclusion to a speedy conclusion that clears the president of wrongdoing.
“We don't feel like [firing Mueller] is the most productive step forward,” Sanders said. “We would like to see this come to a conclusion.”
the rich asshole’s in-house legal team has expressed optimism that the probe would wrap up soon, but media reports indicate that Mueller has expanded the investigation to include the rich asshole’s business empire, financial transactions for the rich asshole’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and meetings between the rich asshole supporters overseas that took place after the election.
The president added to his outside legal team on Monday, bringing on white-collar attorney Joe diGenova, a former U.S. attorney who has accused the FBI and Department of Justice of anti-the rich asshole bias.
That comes as the White House and special counsel are negotiating the parameters of a potential interview between the rich asshole and Mueller.
the rich asshole has said he’s eager to testify under oath before the special counsel but Sanders would not elaborate on whether the White House is still supportive of that meeting on Tuesday.
“We've been fully transparent throughout this process,” Sanders said. “We've been fully cooperative. We're going to continue to be cooperative with the office of special counsel. Beyond that, I can't go any further.”
The White House said it is frustrated by questions over why the rich asshole appears obsessed with the Mueller probe, saying it is natural to become frustrated when you are accused of wrongdoing but have done nothing wrong.
“Clearly we have not been shy about the fact that there's frustration of this process,” Sanders said. “We would like it to end quickly and soon. The president has contended since day one … that there was absolutely no collusion between his campaign and any outside force or country.”
“I don't understand why it's hard for anyone to process,” she continued. “If you had been attacked mercilessly and continuously day in, day out, every second while you're trying to work hard to do good things for this country and literally every day you wake up to an onslaught of people saying you're there because of reasons that are completely false, that's frustrating. Certainly I think it’s fair for him to be frustrated.”
“My guess is they would be more than anxious to push back and certainly would defend themselves as the president has clearly done that in this situation and has since day one,” Sanders added.
Despite the rich asshole’s Twitter outbursts, the White House insists that it has no plans to fire Mueller. The White House’s position has been that it will cooperate with Mueller in hopes he brings the conclusion to a speedy conclusion that clears the president of wrongdoing.
“We don't feel like [firing Mueller] is the most productive step forward,” Sanders said. “We would like to see this come to a conclusion.”
the rich asshole’s in-house legal team has expressed optimism that the probe would wrap up soon, but media reports indicate that Mueller has expanded the investigation to include the rich asshole’s business empire, financial transactions for the rich asshole’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and meetings between the rich asshole supporters overseas that took place after the election.
The president added to his outside legal team on Monday, bringing on white-collar attorney Joe diGenova, a former U.S. attorney who has accused the FBI and Department of Justice of anti-the rich asshole bias.
That comes as the White House and special counsel are negotiating the parameters of a potential interview between the rich asshole and Mueller.
the rich asshole has said he’s eager to testify under oath before the special counsel but Sanders would not elaborate on whether the White House is still supportive of that meeting on Tuesday.
“We've been fully transparent throughout this process,” Sanders said. “We've been fully cooperative. We're going to continue to be cooperative with the office of special counsel. Beyond that, I can't go any further.”
The White House said it is frustrated by questions over why the rich asshole appears obsessed with the Mueller probe, saying it is natural to become frustrated when you are accused of wrongdoing but have done nothing wrong.
“Clearly we have not been shy about the fact that there's frustration of this process,” Sanders said. “We would like it to end quickly and soon. The president has contended since day one … that there was absolutely no collusion between his campaign and any outside force or country.”
“I don't understand why it's hard for anyone to process,” she continued. “If you had been attacked mercilessly and continuously day in, day out, every second while you're trying to work hard to do good things for this country and literally every day you wake up to an onslaught of people saying you're there because of reasons that are completely false, that's frustrating. Certainly I think it’s fair for him to be frustrated.”
Jake Tapper shuts down NRA’s Loesch for claiming CNN isn’t covering hero officer who confronted Maryland school shooter
CNN's Jake Tapper and NRA TV's Dana Loesch, composite image.
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NRA TV, the video propaganda arm of the National Rifle Association, received a brutal fact check by CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday.
It started with a bizarre conspiracy theory by NRA TV personality Dana Loesch, claiming that CNN and MSNBC have not covered the school resource officer who ended a school shooting at Great Mills High School.
“We won’t see any stories on CNN, on MSNBC, on any of those talking head circuits about this hero, this [Great Mills High School] armed resource officer, who did the opposite of what Scot Peterson did…what Broward Sheriff did…what [Broward Superintendent] Robert Runcie did,” Loesch claimed.
Tapper need but one word to respond to such an outlandish claim.
Tapper also offered evidence.
The rapid response of a Maryland school's sole resource officer, Blaine Gaskill, was instrumental in bringing a shooting incident to a quick end cnn.it/2IGCq78
McCain rips the rich asshole's congratulatory call to Putin as an insult to Russian people
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 03/20/18 01:29 PM EDT
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted President the rich asshole on Tuesday over news that the rich asshole phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his recent electoral win.
Putin won reelection in a landslide on Sunday — but both election observers and Putin's political opponents have charged that the vote was tainted by widespread fraud.
In a statement, McCain called the rich asshole's phone call to Putin an insult to "every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election to determine their country's future."
“An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections," McCain said.
"And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President the rich asshole insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election to determine their country's future, including the countless Russian patriots who have risked so much to protest and resist Putin's regime."
the rich asshole called Putin on Tuesday to offer his congratulations on the Russian president’s victory, saying the two world leaders could meet again soon.
“We had a very good call,” the rich asshole told reporters at the White House. “We will probably be meeting in the not-too-distant future to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control.”
The phone call came days after the the rich asshole administration slapped new sanctions on Russia for its efforts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election. The administration also ripped Russia last week over allegations that Moscow was behind the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy with a military-grade nerve agent on British soil.
the rich asshole has personally faced scrutiny for what Democrats and some Republicans have called his reluctance to forcefully condemn aggressions by Russia, most notably the plot to interfere and disrupt the U.S. presidential race.
McCain has been a particularly fierce critic of the rich asshole’s posture toward Moscow. After the president approved the release of a controversial memo authored by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee last month, McCain suggested that the rich asshole was “doing Putin's job for him."
‘People care that he broke the law’: Stormy Daniels slams another pro-the rich asshole troll insisting she’s an irrelevant ‘slut’
Adult film star Stormy Daniels -- screenshot
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Stormy Daniels on Tuesday responded to yet another Twitter troll insisting her story is irrelevant to Americans.
“Why don’t you just disappear,” Twitter user Mike Magro said in the tweet Daniels cited. “No one cares you were a slut and slept with POTUS 12 yrs ago.”
@StormyDaniels why don’t you just disappear. No one cares you were a slut and slept with POTUS 12 yrs ago.
After making a joke about there being no sleeping during her alleged affair with President some rich asshole, the adult film star went on to highlight exactly why people care about her story.
“People DO care that he lied about it, had me bullied, broke laws to cover it up,” Daniels tweeted.
“And PS,” she continued. “I am NOT going anywhere.”
Technically I didn't sleep with the POTUS 12 years ago. There was no sleeping (hehe) and he was just a goofy reality TV star. But I digress...People DO care that he lied about it, had me bullied, broke laws to cover it up, etc. And PS...I am NOT going anywhere. xoxoxo twitter.com/inkedskindawg/…
Earlier in March, Daniels blasted another pro-the rich asshole troll who appeared mistaken when he suggested that the president would not want to have sex with her “when he has Ivanka.”
President some rich asshole is railing against so-called sanctuary cities as he continues his crackdown on jurisdictions that flout federal immigration laws.
March 20, 2018, at 8:55 p.m.
the rich asshole Rails Against Sanctuary Cities Amid Immigration Talks
By JILL COLVIN and ALAN FRAM, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President some rich asshole convened some of the nation's top law enforcement officials Tuesday to rail against so-called sanctuary cities as he continues his crackdown on jurisdictions that flout federal immigration laws.
He accused cities that fail to cooperate with immigration authorities of putting the nation at risk by releasing "thousands of criminal aliens" who should be deported.
"In many cases they are very bad actors. We have gang members, we have predators, rapists, killers — a lot of bad people," he said.
the rich asshole's latest immigration salvos came as negotiators on Capitol Hill tried to hash out a government-wide spending bill that appears increasingly unlikely to include big money for the president's promised border wall.
the rich asshole and his Justice Department have stepped up their pressure campaign against jurisdictions that resist federal immigration laws, threatening to deny them federal grant money. And earlier this month, the Justice Department sued California to try to overturn three of its immigration laws.
The tough talk came as hopes dimmed for an effort to strike a compromise that would protect young "Dreamer" immigrants from deportation in exchange for funding the rich asshole's long-sought wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
"I still think that's a long shot," No. 3 Senate GOP leader John Thune of South Dakota told reporters.
Democrats have pushed for a temporary extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which the rich asshole announced last year he was halting. DACA allowed immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children to stay and work legally under renewable permits. A federal court has forced the government to continue processing DACA renewals, but not new permits.
White House bargainers have been willing to go even further and offered a chance at citizenship for 1.8 million people covered or potentially qualified for that program. But the Republican asking price included $25 billion for the rich asshole's wall, as well as other changes, and Democrats were unwilling to meet those demands.
"At this moment, I don't believe it will be in the bill," said No. 2 Senate Democratic leader Richard Durbin of Illinois.
Speaking at a Republican fundraiser Tuesday night, the rich asshole blamed Democrats for failing to accept his deal, claiming they want to use the issue as "a political football" this election season.
"And guess what? I think it plays better for us than it does for them," he said.
the rich asshole also said that Congress was working on legislation to strip some funding from sanctuary jurisdictions. But a bill by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who was in attendance, is being blocking by Democrats, and a version of it was defeated when the Senate debated immigration last month.
At the White House, the rich asshole continued to rail against Democrats, claiming the party's priority "is to protect criminals, not to do what's right for our country."
"Sanctuary cities and states like California put innocent Americans at the mercy of hardened criminals, hardened murderers, in many cases," he said. "Yet House and Senate Democrats voted nearly unanimously in favor of sanctuary cities. Explain that."
Democrats, meanwhile, accuse the administration of terrorizing immigrant communities and indiscriminately apprehending immigrants living in the country illegally who haven't committed non-immigration crimes.
There is "a lack of appreciation by the leadership of the administration and the agency about what is going on in the streets, what is actually happening in communities," said Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., after a meeting with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.
During the round table, the rich asshole listened intently as members of Congress and state law enforcement officials railed against sanctuary policies. At one point, the rich asshole applauded Attorney Jeff General Sessions, whom he's criticized for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, saying: "The level of strength from the Justice Department on this issue and on other border issues has been fantastic, so we appreciate it very much."
The term "sanctuary cities" has no single or legal definition, and their number varies based on how they're defined. But generally the term refers to places that have enacted policies friendly to people living in the U.S. illegally. That includes limiting federal immigration authorities' access to jails and failing to notify agents before releasing inmates wanted on immigration violations.
Other jurisdictions have implemented policies such as prohibiting police from asking about immigration status during traffic stops.
___
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Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
GOP strategist warns of major Republican midterms losses due to the rich asshole’s ‘bullying, nastiness and tweeting’
the rich asshole's planned tariffs on steel and aluminium have triggered fears of a trade war. (AFP / MANDEL NGAN)
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In a rare show of bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats agree: all indicators point to major GOP losses in the 2018 midterms.
CQ-Roll Call reported Tuesday that polling and fundraising numbers could lead to the 30-45 Congressional wins for Democrats — and those early benchmarks could “paint a dangerous picture for the president and his party.”
President some rich asshole’s voting bloc has, according to current polling, seen “a modest, but significant, erosion in support,” and although the GOP appears to retain control of “men and whites without a college degree,” Democrats have seen a “large generic ballot advantage among younger voters, women, whites with at least a college degree and voters age 65 and older.”
Unaffiliated and independent voters, according to a veteran Republican strategist that spoke to Roll Call, may pose more danger in 2018 than they have in previous years as well.
“They’re tired of the drama,” the strategist said.
Another longtime Republican campaign operative told Roll Call that anti-the rich asshole sentiment among women is soon to come back to haunt the Grand Old Party.
“We knew single women hated [the Republican Party],” the GOP operative said. “We couldn’t do anything about that. But married women were different. We figured out how to deal with them by talking about pocketbook issues. But now college-educated women hate us. Even with the current economy. It’s the bullying, the nastiness, the tweeting. It’s all about the rich asshole’s behavior.”
McCain rips the rich asshole's congratulatory call to Putin as an insult to Russian people
BY MAX GREENWOOD - 03/20/18 01:29 PM EDT
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted President the rich asshole on Tuesday over news that the rich asshole phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his recent electoral win.
Putin won reelection in a landslide on Sunday — but both election observers and Putin's political opponents have charged that the vote was tainted by widespread fraud.
In a statement, McCain called the rich asshole's phone call to Putin an insult to "every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election to determine their country's future."
“An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections," McCain said.
"And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President the rich asshole insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election to determine their country's future, including the countless Russian patriots who have risked so much to protest and resist Putin's regime."
the rich asshole called Putin on Tuesday to offer his congratulations on the Russian president’s victory, saying the two world leaders could meet again soon.
“We had a very good call,” the rich asshole told reporters at the White House. “We will probably be meeting in the not-too-distant future to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control.”
The phone call came days after the rich asshole administration slapped new sanctions on Russia for its efforts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election. The administration also ripped Russia last week over allegations that Moscow was behind the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy with a military-grade nerve agent on British soil.
the rich asshole has personally faced scrutiny for what Democrats and some Republicans have called his reluctance to forcefully condemn aggressions by Russia, most notably the plot to interfere and disrupt the U.S. presidential race.
McCain has been a particularly fierce critic of the rich asshole’s posture toward Moscow. After the president approved the release of a controversial memo authored by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee last month, McCain suggested that the rich asshole was “doing Putin's job for him."
Sarah Sanders says the U.S. can’t “dictate” to other countries how to run themselves, but the rich asshole has had no problems labeling governments elsewhere in the world repressive.
· 8:21 PM ET
The White House again offered a puzzling response to foreign policy regarding Russia on Tuesday, refusing to criticize the voting that reelected Vladimir Putin by a landslide on Sunday.
Asked whether the White House deemed the election “free and fair,” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders offered this deflection:
In terms of the election, there we’re focused on our elections. We don’t get to dictate how other countries operate. What we do know that is that Putin has been elected in their country, and that’s not something that we can dictate to them how to operate. We can only focus on the freeness and fairness of our elections, something we 100 percent fully support, and something we’re going to continue to do everything we can to protect to make sure bad actors don’t have the opportunity to impact them in any way.
This statement is misleading where it isn’t simply beside the point, and confusing in both cases. The question is not whether the U.S. has the ability to dictate to other countries how to run their elections (though there is a certain irony in Sanders making this comment 15 years to the day after the U.S. invaded Iraq to install democracy, in a war the president supported). The question is whether the U.S. can and should label unfair and repressive government when it sees it.
There’s little question that the Russian election was not free and fair. The government barred Putin’s leading opponent from running. Putin’s margin of victory—nearly 77 percent—is practically unheard of in contested elections, and apparent ballot-stuffing was caught on video in multiple places. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe concluded that the election “took place in an overly controlled legal and political environment marked by continued pressure on critical voices” and that “restrictions on the fundamental freedoms of assembly, association and expression, as well as on candidate registration, have limited the space for political engagement and resulted in a lack of genuine competition.”
In the past, it has been a staple of U.S. practice to label unfair elections as such. Sanders’s refusal to even acknowledge the ability to do so is important. It is also at odds with the rich asshole administration’s own statements elsewhere, where it has been perfectly happy to label repression as such. In a statement released late Monday, for instance, the president wished the people of Iran a happy Nowruz and stated that “Iran’s rulers suppress their own citizens’ rights to free assembly, access to information, and equal opportunity.” Why is it that the Russian government escapes such scolding?
Sanders’s statements about focusing on U.S. election integrity ring hollow too. The president, hung up on the idea that acknowledging Russian interference might delegitimize his victory, has denied in the past that it ever occurred. And while the administration finally levied sanctions against Russia over the meddling last week, the head of the National Security Agency told Congress late last month that the president had not given orders to combat continuing Russian interference. The administration’s single concerted effort to look into the elections was a widely derided panel that set out to investigate illusory claims of voter fraud, and was summarily disbanded when its overreaching tactics met pushback.
While the rich asshole’s hesitation, and often refusal, to condemn Russia is well-documented, Sanders has notably pulled punches on Russia as well, an approach that has sometimes forced her into positions as tortured as the one she offered Tuesday. After a former Russian spy was poisoned in London, Sanders said last week, “The use of a highly lethal nerve agent against U.K. citizens on U.K. soil is an outrage. The attack was reckless, indiscriminate, and irresponsible. We offer the fullest condemnation.” But she refused to say who she was condemning, instead saying “we are standing with our U.K. ally”—although the British government has unequivocally blamed Russia for the incident.
Sanders has refused on several occasions to say whether Russia is a friend or foe of the U.S., saying at one point that it’s up to Putin to decide that. She has said, contra extensive polling, that “no one cares about” investigating collusion with Russia in the election.
In addition to Sanders’s comments, the rich asshole also spoke with Putin on the phone on Tuesday. In a brief readout, the White House said, “The two leaders discussed the state of bilateral relations and resolved to continue dialogue about mutual national security priorities and challenges. President the rich asshole congratulated President Putin on his March 18 reelection, and emphasized the importance of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.”
Later on Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that the rich asshole had apparently disregarded briefing notes from his national-security team that spelled out, “DO NOT CONGRATULATE” in capital letters.
the rich asshole confirmed the meeting to reporters while meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “We had a very good call,” the president said, adding, “I had a call with President Putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory … we will probably get together in the not too distant future.”
While any conversation between the rich asshole and Putin is bound to draw interest, the simple fact of the rich asshole calling Putin to congratulate him is not especially unusual per se. Presidents often extend congratulations, even when the U.S. does not believe an election was conducted fairly.
“The United States gets hung up on process, ” Tamara Cofman Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Obama State Department official, told me last April. “There’s a very strong tendency in U.S. foreign policy to acknowledge and to congratulate for holding elections, even when those elections take place in a pretty unfair context.”
But the details of the rich asshole’s call to Putin are a little unusual. The U.S. has tended to use a variety of measures to express disapproval of unfair elections. After Putin won Russia’s last presidential election, in 2012, for example, President Obama waited days before releasing a statement that said “the United States looks forward to working with the president-elect,” not mentioning Putin by name. The State Department “urge[d] the Russian Government to conduct an independent, credible investigation of all reported electoral violations,” and congratulated the Russian people, rather than Putin, on completing the election. The election was held on a Sunday; not until Friday did Obama call Putin “to congratulate him on his recent victory.”
The following year, when Egypt’s Abdelfattah el-Sisi, the president of a key American ally, was reelected in flawed elections, Obama congraulated him. But he waited nearly two weeks to do so, and he pressed Sisi on human-rights issues during the congratulatory call. Even then, some Obama administration officials thought the statement was too close to endorsing the election. Sanders said Tuesday that the rich asshole had not raised the issue of the ex-spy’s poisoning in his call with Putin, and the U.S. readout made no reference to any other discussion of political repression. (Unsurprisingly, neither did the Russian readout.)
Delayed phone calls, lawyerly phrasing of congratulations, stern messages delivered alongside good wishes: These are the sorts of diplomatic practices that veteran foreign-policy hands view as crucial, nuanced tools, and which the rich asshole has clearly established he views as totally pointless. When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, another repressive leader (and a tenuous American ally) won a flawed referendum granting him new power last year, the rich asshole quickly called Erdogan to congratulate him and made no bones about electoral problems, scandalizing former diplomats. “There have been times when we have chosen not to criticize a foreign leader for violating democratic principles. I can’t think of the last time we’ve congratulated a leader for doing that,” Tom Malinowski, a former State Department official under Obama, told me.
In the case of Sunday’s Russian election, the rich asshole State Department took a different tack from the White House. During a press briefing on Monday, spokeswoman Heather Nauert endorsed the OSCE report, and said that there were flaws in the election. This is not the first time in the rich asshole’s presidency that the White House and State Department have not seen eye to eye.
In the short run, any individual decision not to condemn electoral problems in any individual case is unlikely to have any direct effect—harsh words from the rich asshole would be unlikely to change Putin’s approach to governance. Over the course of time, however, the rich asshole’s choices in calls to people like Erdogan and Putin will establish a pattern, showing current or aspiring repressive leaders that the U.S. has no interest in or stomach for pushing back on human-rights abuses. But there’s no need to look for such a pattern when the press secretary has said the same thing explicitly from the White House lectern.
McConnell: Mueller isn't 'going anywhere'
BY ALEXANDER BOLTON - 03/20/18 02:45 PM EDT
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday defended Robert Mueller after President the rich asshole blasted the special counsel's investigation over the weekend as biased.
McConnell tried to put to rest speculation that the rich asshole may persuade senior Justice Department officials to fire Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between the rich asshole’s inner circle and Russian government officials during the 2016 election.
McConnell argued that speculation of Mueller’s imminent ouster is overheated and that the rich asshole’s lawyers agree he should be allowed to wrap up his investigation.
“I don’t think Bob Mueller is going anywhere,” McConnell told reporters. “The president’s lawyers obviously agree that he ought to be allowed to finish the job."
McConnell called Mueller a “thoroughly credible individual” and “an appropriate appointment” to serve as special counsel.
“We all anticipate him finishing the job and telling the American people what they need to know about this episode,” he said.
McConnell said it would not be necessary for Congress to take any action to protect the special counsel from firing.
Republican senators for months have said that Mueller should be allowed to thoroughly investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election as well as the circumstances surrounding the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
the rich asshole, however, ratcheted up political pressure on the investigation after criticizing Mueller over the weekend for hiring investigators with Democratic connections.
“Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans?” the rich asshole tweeted. “Another Dem recently added … does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!”
McConnell responded Tuesday by calling Mueller an "excellent appointment."
the rich asshole, deemed 'not above the law,' faces legal storm
By Jonathan Stempel and Nathan Layne
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President some rich asshole faced legal challenges from women on two fronts on Tuesday as a defamation lawsuit brought by a former Apprentice TV show contestant moved forward and a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with the rich asshole sued to undo a confidentiality agreement.
The developments increased legal pressure on the rich asshole, who during and after the 2016 presidential campaign was accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women, allegations he denied.
A New York state judge on Tuesday denied a bid by the rich asshole to toss a defamation lawsuit by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on NBC's "The Apprentice", raising the prospect that he might have to answer questions about his behavior in court.
Justice Jennifer Schecter in Manhattan rejected the rich asshole's claim that he was immune from being sued, finding "absolutely no authority" to dismiss litigation related "purely to unofficial conduct" solely because he occupied the White House.
"No one is above the law," the judge wrote in her ruling.
Playboy model Karen McDougal sued a media company that she said paid her $150,000 to keep quiet about an affair that she said she had with the rich asshole.
The lawsuit was the second time this month that a woman challenged legal arrangements to prevent discussions about affairs women said they had with the rich asshole. Both involved payments that legal experts have said could equate to in-kind contributions to the rich asshole's campaign in violation of federal election laws.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
the rich asshole has denied all accusations of misconduct, and called his accusers "liars."
Zervos met the rich asshole when she became a contestant on "The Apprentice" in 2005. She said the rich asshole kissed her against her will at a 2007 meeting in his New York office, and later groped her in a Beverly Hills hotel at a meeting about a possible job.
Zervos said the rich asshole's denials amounted to defamation and that being branded a "liar" caused diners to stay away from her restaurant in California.
John Diamond, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, said the rich asshole would have to testify under oath if he has to defend himself.
McDougal filed her lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against American Media Inc, publisher of the National Enquirer, whose head, David Pecker, has described the rich asshole as a "personal friend."
McDougal said American Media paid her $150,000 in 2016 for the rights to her story that she had an affair with the rich asshole in 2006 and 2007 and then never published it.
McDougal said her lawyer at the time, Keith Davidson, secretly negotiated with Michael Cohen, the rich asshole's personal lawyer. Cohen has acknowledged arranging to pay to silence another woman, porn star Stormy Daniels. That payment was also made during the election campaign.
McDougal is asking the court to declare the agreement null and void. She said she was tricked into signing it, that it was intended to illegally influence the election and because it violates public policy against using threats of legal action to get someone to stay silent on issues of public concern.
She also called the agreement an illegal donation from AMI to the rich asshole campaign in violation of federal election law.
AMI said in a statement the company has a valid contract with McDougal and looks forward to reaching an amicable resolution. It said she has been free to respond to press inquiries about her relationship with the rich asshole since 2016 and that the suggestion that AMI silenced her is without merit.
Davidson declined to comment, citing attorney-client privilege. Cohen did not respond to a request for comment.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, sued the president on March 6, stating the rich asshole never signed an agreement for her to keep quiet about an "intimate" relationship between them. Daniels received $130,000 under that agreement.
(reporting by Jonathan Stempel, Brendan Pierson, Nathan Layne and Karen Freifeld in New York; editing by Grant McCool)
the rich asshole faces backlash after congratulating Putin on election win
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 03/20/18 05:19 PM EDT
President the rich asshole is coming under intense criticism for declining to press Russian President Vladimir Putin about the fairness of Russia’s presidential election and the poisoning of a former Russian double agent living in England, an incident the United Kingdom blamed on Moscow.
the rich asshole phoned Putin on Tuesday to congratulate him for winning a fourth term and to discuss a possible summit meeting. But Washington seized on the topics that were not discussed, which include Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the president “insulted” the people of Russia by congratulating Putin for winning an election whose result was never in question.
“An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections,” said McCain, a frequent critic of the rich asshole who has pressed him to take a more aggressive approach toward the Kremlin.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the rich asshole can “call whomever he chooses,” but added that phoning Putin “wouldn’t have been high on my list.”
The Senate leader noted “the lack of credibility in tallying the results” in last weekend’s election, in which Putin won 77 percent of the vote.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the president’s approach, noting that several friendly foreign leaders made similar calls, as did former President Obama when Putin last won reelection, in 2012.
“We’re focused on our elections. We don’t get to dictate how other countries operate,” Sanders said when asked by a reporter if Russia’s election was “free and fair.”
Yet it is hardly uncommon for American presidents to call on other countries to enact democratic reforms and hold fair elections.
Vice President Pence on Wednesday is scheduled to speak to the Organization for American States and is expected to press the Latin American group’s members to raise pressure on Venezuela’s government to hold free and fair elections.
Last summer, the White House slapped sanctions on what it called the "illegitimate" Venezuelan government after President Nicolás Maduro tried to bypass the legislature to rewrite the nation's constitution.
“The United States once again calls for free and fair elections and stands with the people of Venezuela in their quest to restore their country to a full and prosperous democracy,” the rich asshole said in a statement last July.
The rich asshole administration announced last month it would cut aid to Cambodia, citing “deep concern” about restrictions on democracy there.
A day earlier, the White House said there were no plans for the rich asshole to call Putin following the election. Asked if the contest was free and fair, spokesman Hogan Gidley said, "We’re not surprised by the outcome."
And while the leaders of Germany, Japan and Israel called Putin to congratulate him, British Prime Minister Theresa May, who has harshly criticized Putin for the nerve-gas attack on the former Russian spy, has not called him. French President Emmanuel Macron offered best wishes “to Russia and the Russian people,” but not Putin, in an official statement.
The phone call renewed questions about the rich asshole’s approach toward Russia, which is frequently at odds with U.S. allies, Congress and even some members of his own administration.
The U.S., Germany and France all joined Britain last week in saying Russia was responsible for a nerve-agent attack in southern England on former spy Sergei Skirpal and his daughter, which left both critically ill. Moscow has denied the accusation.
Days later, Putin was elected in a contest that international organizations said was tainted by ballot-box stuffing. There were also multiple reports of poll-watchers being blocked from carrying out their duties.
Leading Putin opposition figure Alexei Navalny was barred from running due to a criminal conviction that the Kremlin's critics said was politically motivated.
“Restrictions on the fundamental freedoms of assembly, association and expression, as well as on candidate registration, have limited the space for political engagement and resulted in a lack of genuine competition,” the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe wrote in a report on the election.
the rich asshole mentioned none of those issues when speaking to reporters in the Oval Office about his “very good” phone call with Putin.
“I suspect that we’ll probably be meeting in the not too distant future to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control,” the president said. “But we will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have.”
the rich asshole also said he wanted to discuss the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, as well as North Korea’s nuclear program. The Kremlin said in a statement the leaders gave “special attention” to arranging the meeting during their phone call.
Sanders later said that there are “no specific plans made at this time” for a meeting between the rich asshole and Putin.
The next time the two leaders, who have already met twice, might be in the same place is November at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
The comments come amid heightened tensions over Russia’s election meddling, which U.S. officials fear may happen again in the midterm elections this fall.
The rich asshole administration just last week imposed new sanctions against Moscow just last week for its election interference in 2016 and other cyberattacks, steps that officials described as an effort to deter future meddling.
the rich asshole, however, is facing calls from Congress to impose further penalties on oligarchs and other influential Russian figures.
Special counsel Robert Mueller has also appeared to accelerate his probe into whether the rich asshole campaign cooperated with the Kremlin in 2016, and whether the president obstructed the investigation, which has fueled the rich asshole's anger.
the rich asshole has repeatedly called the probe a “witch hunt” that has blocked his desire to form a closer relationship with Moscow. He has also been reluctant to publicly criticize Putin or blame him for election meddling.
“I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election,” the rich asshole said of Putin last fall during a summit meeting in Vietnam. “As to whether I believe it or not, I'm with our agencies, especially as currently constituted with their leadership.”
The president also suggested that bringing up the topic puts a strain on the U.S.-Russia relationship, which he wants to avoid.
White House: No apparent nexus to terrorism in Texas explosions
BY JORDAN FABIAN - 03/20/18 11:56 AM EDT
The White House said Tuesday that a string of deadly bombings in Texas has “no apparent nexus to terrorism” and vowed to bring the bomber to justice.
“@POTUS mourns for victims of the recent bombings in Austin,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted. “We are monitoring the situation, federal authorities are coordinating w/ local officials. We are committed to bringing perpetrators of these heinous acts to justice. There is no apparent nexus to terrorism at this time.”
.@POTUS mourns for victims of the recent bombings in Austin. We are monitoring the situation, federal authorities are coordinating w/ local officials. We are committed to bringing perpetrators of these heinous acts to justice. There is no apparent nexus to terrorism at this time.
The serial bombings have gained national attention and sparked fear in the Lone Star State.
The latest explosion occurred early Tuesday when a package bomb went off inside a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio, injuring one worker.
Police said the bombing was related to four others in the Austin area that have killed two people and injured four others over the course of three weeks.
Authorities have not yet identified a suspect, but the bomber appears to be sophisticated. The fourth explosion was set off with a trip wire.
Other officials have described the bombings as terrorism.
"This is absolutely a terrorist activity," Texas Rep. Brian Babin (R) said on Fox Business Network.
"We have no clue who this is, absolutely no clue," he added. "I’m sure the FBI and the law enforcement agencies that are looking into this have some tips, some clues, but I haven’t heard anything about it.”
POLITICS
the rich asshole Backers Charged In Anti-Muslim Terror Plot May Argue They’re Just Facebook Warriors
The Kansas militiamen charged in the plot argued that the government shouldn’t call them terrorists.
WICHITA, Kansas ― Jury selection begins here Tuesday in the trial of three militia members arrested by the FBI for allegedly plotting a terrorist attack against Muslims in southwest Kansas.
Patrick Stein, Gavin Wright and Curtis Allen were arrested in an FBI sting a few weeks before the 2016 presidential election. Operating under the belief that either Hillary Clinton would be elected or that President Barack Obama would declare martial law if some rich asshole won, they allegedly planned to “wake people up” by bombing a Garden City, Kansas, apartment complex and mosque occupied by “cockroaches” ― their term for Muslim immigrants.
“The only good Muslim is a dead Muslim,” Stein allegedly said, adding that he would “enjoy” shooting Muslims and that he wouldn’t even spare the life of a baby. “There’s no leaving anyone behind, even if it’s a one-year-old,” he allegedly said. “I guarantee, if I go on a mission, those little fuckers are going bye-bye.”
The trial of the defendants, who are facing both a terrorism-related charge as well as a civil rights charge, will be a test of the federal government’s ability to prosecute non-Muslim extremists.
Sting operations targeting white extremists are much less common, and tend to result in lower punishments for defendants. That’s because federal law makes it much harder for the federal government to target and secure convictions against terrorists who sympathize with domestic extremist groups than those who support foreign groups like ISIS.
The trial, anticipated to last six weeks, comes amid heightened concerns about domestic terrorism and an increase in murders committed by white supremacists.
Members of an Illinois militia led by a former sheriff’s deputy who put in a bid to build the rich asshole’s border wall were arrested last week for allegedly bombing a mosque in Minnesota as well as a women’s clinic in their home state. A white supremacist who attended an extremist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the summer was charged earlier this year with an attempted attack on an Amtrak train. Separately, a left-wing extremist shot at Republican members of Congress ― wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise ― over the summer as they practiced for a softball game.
A series of bombings targeting Austin, Texas, this month have renewed calls for the federal government to treat apparent terrorist attacks seriously even if there’s no readily apparent link to radical Islamic terrorism.
Stein, Wright and Allen appeared in a small federal courthouse in Wichita on Monday wearing either orange or blue jail jumpsuits and handcuffed at their feet, where a pretrial hearing and what U.S. District Judge Eric F. Melgren described as a “virtual tsunami of motions” gave a preview of their expected defense.
There’s a dispute about when precisely the trio’s plot began, and what exactly the conspiracy entailed. Melody J. Brannon, a federal public defender representing Allen, argued that the plot changed so much that there was no actual conspiracy the government could point to as a final plan.
“We don’t have any specific plan that the government can point to that says this is the conspiracy and this is what we are planning to do,” Brannon said.
Anthony Mattivi, one of the lead federal prosecutors on the case, told the court Monday that a “pivotal moment” in the plot came two days after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. Then-candidate the rich asshole tweeted at the time that he appreciated “the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism” and called for “toughness & vigilance.”
Judge Melgren, the George W. Bush appointee overseeing the trial, said that all of the actions the trio contemplated were violent in nature. After all, he said, it wasn’t as though they were conspiring to petition their lawmakers for legislative changes. Rather, they appeared to be in agreement to commit an act of violence against Muslims.
“The defendants said lots of things. They were extraordinary loquacious,” Melgren said. “Obviously to their regret at this point.”
Defense lawyers plan to argue that the violent rhetoric their clients used amounted to ugly, but protected, speech. There was a lot of discussion over their use of Facebook, where the defendants regularly posted anti-Muslim and pro-the rich asshole memes and fake news stories.
As a result, Facebook could play a major role in the trial, and defense attorneys had sought to have all the Facebook evidence suppressed, arguing that a Facebook warrant that resulted in at least 28,000 pages of material was flawed as well as overbroad and “highly invasive.”
There was also a dispute about what exactly Facebook likes indicate. The federal government argued that a Facebook like was an “affirmative gesture” indicting support. Judge Melgren said a Facebook like amounted to a “very mild statement” and told the government they would need to seek permission each time they wanted to introduce a Facebook like as evidence.
Defense attorneys tried to argue that the government should not be allowed to refer to their clients as terrorists, domestic terrorists or even extremists. Judge Melgren wasn’t buying that argument.
“Terrorism is obviously stated in the indictment, it’s part of the charge,” Melgren said.
But Melgren isn’t allowing the government to use video from a bomb test that would’ve illustrated what sort of damage the bombs could have done. “The jury probably didn’t need the help” to know what an explosion looks like, Melgren said. The judge also said he wouldn’t allow testimony from any of the residents who would have been victimized by the plot, saying that they only knew about the plot because the government told them about it.
As jury selection begins Tuesday, a major part of the defense strategy will also be packing the jury with as many the rich asshole supporters as possible. Federal prosecutors have already expressed concern that the defense will attempt to discriminate against non-white potential jurors.
Next month, as the trial continues, the courthouse will host a naturalization ceremony for new U.S. citizens. Downstairs in the courthouse, an extensive display tells the history of immigration in Kansas.
HuffPost will be covering jury selection from Wichita this week.
COMEDY
Ivanka the rich asshole Called Out For ‘Cosplaying’ As A Scientist In Latest Weird Photo Op
The first daughter’s lab pic is already a new meme.
Ivanka the rich asshole, daughter of President some rich asshole, visited Iowa on Monday to promote her father’s stalled infrastructure initiative.
While touring a local education program, the White House adviser donned a lab jacket, goggles and a pair of gloves and conducted a science experiment. She measured the nicotine levels in the “vape juice” used in e-cigarettes, Business Insider reported.
the rich asshole shared images from the visit on her social media accounts:
Talking #WorkforceDevelopment and Infrastructure in Iowa today! @realDonaldTrump’s #Infrastructure initiative includes a robust plan to expand skills-focused learning to prepare the next generation of American workers for 21st century job opportunities.
In response, folks on Twitter blasted her, both for the meme-worthy photo op and for making the trip despite having no experience or expertise in infrastructure, science or education:
Ok, here’s my meme; I hope everyone looks at it, cause I’d love some opinions. There was so damned much material to choose from.
Last summer she was blogging about champagne popsicles. This year she’s apparently finding the cure to cancer.
. @IvankaTrump We see you are training for the Space Force. Tell us about your experiment. We want all the details.
ivanka knowing how science works is as #fakenews as it gets - please leave my state thanks! twitter.com/cdiersing/stat…
Isn't that cute? #KremlinBarbie pretends to be a scientist who cares about #infrastructure and #jobs. twitter.com/BleachTheLies/…
Hey @IvankaTrump it's great that you like to cosplay as a scientist on Instagram but some of us are an #ActualLivingScientist. Tell us about what you're doing in this picture. I'm making a battery. #ILookLikeAnEngineer
Because, hey, she’s qualified to take on Secretary of State duties and meet with South Korea. So why can’t she also be an expert on infrastructure...It’s “Take Your Kids to Work Day” every day in the Trump White House.
Ivanka Trump pitches workforce development in Iowa and visits a science and Robotics lab. #sciencing #iknowwhatiamdoing
Wtf does she know about this subject ? That whole family is one gigantic wind tunnel !
Ivanka: We want to take pictures of your jobs
Scientists: Great, we’ll make sure to look our best.
Ivanka: I actually meant pictures of me pretending to do your jobs. Sorry. twitter.com/ivankatrump/st…
MigsAww! Look, Ivanka dresses up as a scientist and next week she will dress up as Secretary of State, with no background or knowledge of matter
Former Playboy model sues to break silence on alleged the rich asshole affair
Playboy Playmate of the Year Karen McDougal poses at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills in 1998. REUTERS/Files
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A former Playboy model who said she had an affair with President some rich asshole filed suit in California on Tuesday to release her from a legal agreement requiring her to stay silent, becoming the second woman this month to contest an arrangement to keep quiet about an alleged extramarital relationship with the rich asshole.
Karen McDougal filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against American Media Inc, publisher of the National Enquirer, which paid her $150,000 in 2016 to keep quiet on the matter, according to a copy of the lawsuit provided by her lawyer, Peter Stris.
The lawsuit comes a month after the New Yorker reported on the alleged affair and a move by American Media Inc to pay McDougal for exclusive rights to her story, which it never published. The New Yorker article noted that American Media head David Pecker has described the rich asshole as a “personal friend.”
American Media Inc did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“AMI lied to me, made empty promises, and repeatedly intimidated and manipulated me. I just want the opportunity to set the record straight and move on with my life, free from this company, its executives, and its lawyers,” McDougal, who was Playboy magazine’s 1998 Playmate of the Year, said in a statement.
Adult film actress Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, sued the president on March 6, stating that the rich asshole never signed an agreement for her to keep her quiet about an “intimate” extramarital relationship between them. Daniels received $130,000 under that agreement.
Earlier this week, a law firm representing the rich asshole and the corporation that paid Daniels said in a court filing it was seeking at least $20 million in damages for multiple violations of the nondisclosure agreement.
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