the rich asshole ignores fallen US soldier’s death for one week straight
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The narcissist in chief is too busy obsessing about 'fake news' and his personal scandals to acknowledge the death of Army specialist Gabriel Conde.
22-year-old Army specialist Gabriel Conde made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. But the rich asshole hasn’t had a word to say about it in the whole week since the young man’s death.
Bored and bitter, with his public schedule for Monday nearly empty, the rich asshole spent the morning rage-tweeting, again. He posted ten different missives, most of them whining about his political and legal plights.
What the rich asshole didn’t do on Monday, and what he hasn’t done over the last week, is publicly acknowledge Conde in any way.
Conde was killed in Afghanistan on April 30, just weeks before his unit’s deployment in the country was scheduled to end.
Conde, who graduated high school in 2014, died of small arms fire in the Tagab District while supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.
He became the second American service member killed in Afghanistan this year. The U.S. has now been fighting the war in Afghanistan for 17 years.
The fallen soldier’s body was returned to the U.S. last Thursday, arriving at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware where his parents waited for their son.
On that day, instead of acknowledging the family’s loss, the rich asshole was tweeting angry denials about the porn actress he reportedly had an affair with and then had paid off, just weeks before the 2016 election.
And during the week since Conde’s death, the rich asshole has tweeted about the Army vs. Navy football game, honored a Southwest Airlines flight crew, railed against “fake news,” and even posted a Fox News programming alert.
But nothing about offering up thanks for Conde and his family. the rich asshole may have been too busy golfing over the weekend for that.
We’ve seen this kind of dismissive behavior towards U.S. troops from the rich asshole before.
Last October, when ISIS gunmen in Niger killed four Army Special Forces troops in an ambush, the rich asshole refused to publicly acknowledge Americans’ sacrifice, let alone honor them or offer condolences.
Back then, the rich asshole was too busy obsessing about the NFL, whining about unfair media coverage, and trying to relive the 2016 campaign.
He also ignored the families’ demands for answers surrounding the botched raid.
More recently, the rich asshole extended his strange blackouts to a domestic hero, James Shaw Jr.
Police say the unarmed Shaw risked his life when he leapt to action during a shooting at a restaurant in Tennessee. Shaw knocked the gun out of the murderer’s hand, preventing further bloodshed.
But Shaw’s heroism doesn’t fit the NRA’s “good guy with a gun” narrative. And he’s been snubbed by the rich asshole for two weeks now. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed they would reach out to him. But it hasn’t happened yet.
the rich asshole just doesn’t seem to care about real American heroes. Gabriel Conde deserves far better than the rich asshole’s total disregard for his memory.
Special counsel Mueller denied request for the rich asshole to answer questions in writing: Rudy Giuliani
Attorney for the president Rudy Giuliani on Fox News (Screenshot)
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Rudy Giuliani, who is new to President the rich asshole’s legal team said that Robert Mueller’s office rejected a proposal for the president to be interviewed in writing, according to CBS.
Giuliani said that it would benefit President the rich asshole to answer questions in writing to ensure clarity.
According to CBS, Giuliani said that he would desire three weeks to become up-to-date on the facts. He would also like the time to prepare for a potential interview with the special counsel.
In the case of an interview, Giuliani said he would like to conduct the interview after the president returns from the North Korea summit.
Giuliani said that if President the rich asshole is subpoenaed his team would fight it
State Department forced to rebuke the rich asshole’s unhinged new lawyer Giuliani
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Rudy Giuliani can barely speak for himself, let alone the United States.
Rudy Giuliani made a major foreign policy gaffe regarding American hostages in North Korea. And it was embarrassing enough that the rich asshole’s State Department was forced to publicly repudiate him.
On Monday afternoon, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told the Associated Press that Giuliani “speaks for himself and not on behalf of the administration on foreign policy.”
Nauert was responding to remarks Giuliani made last Thursday regarding the hostages, during his unhinged interview on “Fox & Friends.”
At one point, Giuliani blurted out something that had no apparent basis in reality.
“We got Kim Jong Un impressed enough to be releasing three prisoners today,” he insisted.
By Thursday afternoon, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was forced to backpedal his statement. “We cannot confirm the validity” of Giuliani’s claim, she told reporters.
On Saturday, Giuliani noticeably modified his prediction. “There is a good chance that the three long-time hostages in North Korea will be released over the next several days,” he said.
Giuliani isn’t alone in his blatantly unprofessional handling of this delicate diplomatic issue.
On Wednesday, the rich asshole teased the possible release of those hostages like he was promoting a reality show, telling followers to “Stay tuned!”
He also tried to blame President Obama for the hostages’ predicament, even though two of the three were detained after the rich asshole had taken office.
Thus despite Giuliani’s damaging media blitz, the rich asshole apparently thinks his new attorney is doing a great job. Giuliani says the rich asshole is “very happy” with the way things have been going.
But Nauert’s rebuke shows that this bumbling from the rich asshole and Giuliani is quite serious. the rich asshole is handling negotiations that can have life-or-death consequences as though they were a television cliffhanger. And Giuliani just inserts himself into them on a whim, with no apparent concern for facts.
Rudy Giuliani is free to damage the rich asshole all he wants, but U.S. foreign policy is no laughing matter.
CNN’s Phil Mudd shuts down the rich asshole defender claiming the president doesn’t cyberbully
David Urban and Phil Mudd on CNN. (Photo: Screen grab)
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David Urban, an American lobbyist and President the rich asshole supporter bumped heads with Philip Mudd, the ex-deputy director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center on Monday.
During a panel discussion with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Mudd compared the rich asshole’s use of bullying language to a 10-year-old.
“If my niece or nephew did that they would get their mouth washed out with soap,” Mudd said.
When Urban tried to interject Mudd shot him down quick.
“Excuse me, we don’t interrupt on this show,” Mudd said.
Watch their full debate below.
Melania the rich asshole’s Cyberbullying Booklet Looks Identical To Obama Administration FTC Booklet (IMAGES)
In 2016, Michelle Obama encouraged men to “Be Better”. Today, Melania the rich asshole launched her new platform “Be Best” and the booklet appears to be lifted from a document released by the Federal Trade Commission in 2014 during the Obama administration. BuzzFeed News’s Ryan Mac pointed out how similar (almost identical) the booklets are on Twitter and that lit up the Internet because the First Lady has plagiarized from Michelle Obama in the past.
lmao... the White House/Melania Trump Be Best pamphlet about your kids being online is almost the exact same thing that the FTC published in Jan. 2014:
2014: consumer.ftc.gov/articles/pdf-0…
2018: whitehouse.gov/wp-content/upl…
Only an icon was changed.
They slightly updated the phone icons to make the thing more modern. This is kinda sad.
oh my god the page numbers are off in the original one and they didn't even fix it for the melania one! #bebest, my ass
They didn't even bother to take the words Federal Trade Commission off of Melania's pamphlet
Is there anything in this admin that isn’t a total sham?
Un-freaking believable, a year and a half and still just copied Obama
The original "Net Cetera" pamphlet was actually created in 2009....
- Under an Obama-appointed FTC chairman
- To meet the mandates of the Broadband Data Improvement Act -- a bill sponsored by a democrat, passed by a democratically controlled congress, and signed into law by Obama
While speaking at the Republican National Convention in 2016, Melania the rich asshole plagiarized portions of Mrs. Obama’s address in 2008. Melania’s husband has been obsessively jealous of former President Barack Obama and has taken credit for his predecessor’s economy. And it’s just ironic that Melania, who is married to the world’s biggest cyberbully, launches an initiative to address cyberbullying.
Melania the rich asshole copies ‘Be Best’ anti-cyberbullying guidelines from booklet released by Obama’s FTC
Melania the rich asshole addresses the RNC (Screen cap)
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Melania the rich asshole on Monday unveiled a booklet by the first lady that purported to offer “lessons” to “help kids act thoughtfully and kindly” online. The guide was published as part of the rich asshole’s new “Be Best” campaign, which aims to “encourage positive social, emotional, and physical habits” among children.
The only problem? As the Rude Pundit points out, the rich asshole’s online guidelines weren’t part of a novel campaign spearheaded by a first lady who’s carving her own path in the East Wing. Instead, Melania the rich asshole appears to have cribbed the guidelines from an FTC pamphlet published under her husband’s predecessor, Barack Obama.
The incident recalls Melania the rich asshole’s speech at the Republican National Convention speech in July 2016, during which the former model appeared to borrow a portion of her speech from former first lady Michelle Obama.
As @rudepundit points out Melania's guide to teaching kids about the internet is very similar to one put out by the Obama admin. But there are some changes... twitter.com/rudepundit/sta… pic.twitter.com/wRyzZvuEwL
The sections on sexting are identical in both versions (including defining it and suggesting that parents tell their kids not to sext because they could be breaking the law). But I just freaking love that they changed the subhead.
Melania the rich asshole’s new cybersafety guide looks a whole lot like the Obama-era one
The handbook was released as part of the first lady's "Be Best" initiative.
First Lady Melania the rich asshole embraced a rare solo moment in the spotlight Monday when she unveiled a new initiative called “Be Best.” The White House says the campaign’s aim is to help “children manage the many issues they are facing today… encouraging positive social, emotional and physical habits.”
The initiative has three different components: well-being, opioid abuse, and social media use. Cyberbullying is an issue the first lady has campaigned on in the past — despite the irony of doing so while her husband attacks people on Twitter.
“When children learn positive online behaviors early on, social media can be used in productive ways and can effect positive change,” she said at the launch ceremony. “I do believe that children should be both seen and heard.”
As part of the initiative, the White House released an cybersafety booklet for parents, titled “Talking with Kids About Being Online.” There’s just one problem though. The guide looks almost identical to one released under the Obama administration by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), “Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids about Being Online.”
The newest guide has only made minor changes from the 2014-era one. The branding and design has been changed slightly (from Android phones in the Obama-era guide to iPhones in the latest one).
One section on “Making computer security a habit” was updated for the new guide. It now recommends multi-factor authentication, explains how to create secure passwords, and has a section about keeping your web browser up to date. The new guide also has an added forward from the first lady.
Apart from these minor changes, however, the new guide is a near-carbon copy of the Obama-era version.
The only differences appear to be these two pages, titled "What can you do?"
First lady's guide rewords the FTC section on "encourag[ing] kids to speak up" pic.twitter.com/oqCwiOS7On
Looks like first lady's office also added a few things on this page, re: "Making computer security a habit", namely using multi-factor authentication, shortening the section about keeping your "operating system and web browser up-to-date", and explaining password creation: pic.twitter.com/FB9v5pprP3
This isn’t the first time Melania the rich asshole has faced accusations of ripping off the Obamas: In her July 2016 speech to the Republican National Convention, she was accused of plagiarizing parts of Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Meanwhile, while his wife was advocating the importance of looking after children Monday, President some rich asshole reportedly sent a plan to Congress that calls for stripping $15 billion from the budget — with nearly half of the cuts coming out of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP provides healthcare to lower-income children and is seen as an essential tool in helping children who would otherwise be unable to visit a doctor for routine services like checkups and immunizations.
Playboy model recalls watching some rich asshole boinking her roommate while his fiance was pregnant
Elke Jeinsen and Barbara Moore, composite of images by © Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com
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APlayboy magazine playmate described watching some rich asshole have sex with her best friend in the master bedroom of his the rich asshole Tower residence, the Daily Mail reported Monday.
Only months after her centerfold spread, Miss May 1993 Elke Jeinsen reportedly watched the fornication between the rich asshole and Miss December 1992 centerfold Barbara Moore.
“We were talking, laughing, drinking, sitting on his bed and then he started to undress Barbara and make out with her,” Jeinsen recalled. “She was beautiful and he was totally into her and he helped undress her.”
“I was sitting there half undressed, not naked but in lingerie, and then they started kissing and making out,” she continued. “I was not included in the sex, but I was included in the conversation beforehand so it was strange for me.”
Jeinsen said she was not jealous, because she says the rich asshole and Moore were in love.
“He was very charming and I think she had a crush on him and she was a little bit in love with him and I definitely know he was in love with her too,” she observed. “So after I saw them having sex together I knew that for sure.”
The affair occurred while the rich asshole’s then-fiancee Marla Maples was pregnant.
Although the rich asshole was allegedly cheating on Jeinsen’s best friend, she still supports the man she watched with her roommate.
“To be honest with you, I voted for some rich asshole. I’m a fan of some rich asshole, I like him,” she admitted.
the rich asshole wants to cut billions from children’s health care
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the rich asshole is making it painfully clear that he cares more about conservative Republicans' feelings than children's health and well-being.
In the midst of a pivotal election year, where health care is the top concern for voters, the rich asshole is trying to appease his most conservative friends in Congress by cutting billions from children’s health care.
The Washington Post reports that the rich asshole is sending a plan to Congress that includes more than $15 billion in spending cuts.
And almost half of that massive amount would come from the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides health insurance to millions of low-income children and pregnant women.
The cuts “would come from two accounts within [CHIP] that White House officials said expired last year or are not expected to be drawn upon,” the Post notes.
It’s a blatant attempt to calm ostensible conservative anger over deficits and spending. And the rich asshole is using vulnerable children as a heartless means to that end.
The proposed cuts include $2 billion from “contingency funds set aside in case states see higher-than-expected enrollment,” a senior administration official told the Post. The claim is that such increased enrollment isn’t likely to happen because the economy is improving.
That’s a dangerous hypothetical upon which to base justification for taking accessible health care away from low-income children.
Yet it is part of a disturbingly familiar pattern for the rich asshole administration and the Republican Party.
Republicans in Congress were so busy trying to repeal Obamacare and obsessing about abortion that they allowed CHIP to expire last September. And over two months later, the rich asshole still hadn’t given the program a second thought.
In December, the GOP made it clear that kids could have health care if Republicans got something for themselves, too.
So now the rich asshole appears poised to cave in to that callous demand. As the Post notes, conservatives were enraged over the $1.3 trillion spending package the rich asshole signed in March. The package included a number of budget requests from Democrats. So Republicans “pushed for a rescission package to pare it back between $30 billion and $60 billion.”
And if that includes making it so children from poor families can’t see a doctor, the GOP is apparently unbothered.
And that’s nothing new. Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch made it clear in December that they couldn’t reauthorize CHIP because they gave all the money to the wealthy. The tax scam bill that took those funds is projected to add about $1 trillion to the deficit.
But they can’t manage to find a few billion to pay for kids’ health care. And voters are not going to look kindly on that.
In an April HuffPost/YouGov poll, 30 percent of voters listed health care as their top issue in the midterm elections. And that doesn’t mean they want things like Obamacare and CHIP demolished so rich people can get richer.
“Democrats enjoy a sizable advantage over the GOP on handling related issues,” HuffPost’s Ariel Edwards-Levy noted. Republicans have been busy sabotaging health care wherever they can. And Obamacare continues to gain popularity — as a lot of progressive candidates have noticed.
In a statement, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer excoriated the rich asshole and the GOP for this cruel plan.
“It appears that sabotaging our health care system to the detriment of middle-class families wasn’t enough” for them, Schumer said. “Now they’re going after health care dollars that millions of children rely on.”
And he called out the move for exactly what it is. the rich asshole and Congressional Republicans are “hurting middle-class families and low-income children, to appease the most conservative special interests and feel better about blowing up the deficit to give the wealthiest few and biggest corporations huge tax breaks.”
Republicans were already fearing a massive election wipeout this November. Taking children’s health care away to improve wealthy people’s bottom lines isn’t going to improve their chances.
Lindsey Graham told the Chinese ambassador the rich asshole is ‘crazy’
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) (Photo: Screen capture)
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During a speech to the Rotary Club in South Carolina’s capitol, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reportedly bragged about his relationship with some rich asshole — and said he called the president “crazy” when speaking with a foreign diplomat.
“If you don’t think the rich asshole’s crazy, then you’re crazy,” Graham told the crowd, as flagged by the Charleston Post and Courier‘s Columbia bureau chief Andy Shain.
.@LindseyGrahamSC on what he told the Chinese ambassador: “If you don’t think Trump’s crazy, then you’re crazy.”
According to Shain, the South Carolina Republican also called the rich asshole “volatile,” “a genius” and “a handful,” and responded to reports that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) asked for the rich asshole to not attend his funeral.
.@LindseyGrahamSC describes @realDonaldTrump as “a handful,” “volatile,” and “a genius” pic.twitter.com/BVi3cp4B2v
“I have no idea if that’s true,” Graham told the crowd at the Columbia Rotary Club. “There’s a lot of things being said.”
.@lindseygraham on a @nytimes report that @SenJohnMcCain does not want @realDonaldTrump at his funeral: “I have no idea if that’s true. There’s a lot of things being said.” pic.twitter.com/DReuM5uPMY
Sarah Sanders defends the rich asshole’s cyberbullying: He didn’t start it
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Sanders apparently thought it was 'ridiculous' to even ask about the rich asshole's infamous cyberbullying.
As First Lady Melania the rich asshole got ready to roll out her anti-bullying initiative, Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the rich asshole’s bullying by arguing that bullies existed before his presidency.
At Monday’s White House press briefing, NBC News’ Peter Alexander noted that the rich asshole would be appearing at Mrs. the rich asshole’s rollout event, and asked if the rich asshole takes any responsibility “for this climate that exists right now, that there is a need to address cyberbullying?”
“I think the idea that you’re trying to blame cyberbullying on the president is ridiculous,” Sanders said. “When it comes to kids, that’s something that’s been problematic, and something that we have seen over the last decade.”
Sanders’ argument appears to rest on the premise that the rich asshole is not technically a child, and did not invent cyberbullying himself.
But as Alexander’s question implies, the rich asshole has become perhaps the most well-known and prolific cyberbully in the world. the rich asshole’s Twitter habit long predates his election, and included spreading the racist “birther” conspiracy theory during the 2012 election.
Since then, the rich asshole has combined cyberbullying with abuse of office in ways that no one ever imagined, bullying entire companies, feuding with a nuclear-armed dictator, sexually harassinga sitting U.S. Senator, and inciting violence against journalists.
the rich asshole has also used his Twitter feed to defend white supremacy and to carry on his racist feud with NFL players.
the rich asshole has even tried to bully his way out of a federal investigation into his campaign, repeatedly using his Twitter account to obstruct justice. And just this Monday morning, the rich asshole used his Twitter account to threaten investigators conducting the Russia probe, just the latest example of the rich asshole attacking special counsel Robert Mueller and his team via Twitter.
the rich asshole may not have invented cyberbullying, but in the relatively short period of time he has been in office, the rich asshole has become the symbol of the exact sort of abuse that Melania the rich asshole is trying to eliminate.
the rich asshole trims US spending cuts amid warnings of new fiscal fight
President some rich asshole (AFP / Olivier Douliery)
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President some rich asshole and conservative Republicans in the U.S. Congress were edging away on Monday from a threat to pick a new budget fight with Democrats, with the White House expected to propose spending cuts much less severe than previously planned.
the rich asshole’s budget “rescissions” will likely encompass cuts in the range of $11 billion to $15 billion, said senior aides, well short of the $60 billion in reductions Republicans floated a few weeks ago.
the rich asshole’s budget “rescissions” will likely encompass cuts in the range of $11 billion to $15 billion, said senior aides, well short of the $60 billion in reductions Republicans floated a few weeks ago.
The White House scheduled a briefing on the plan for reporters later on Monday.
The pull-back comes after party elders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, warned against cuts that would unravel a two-year budget deal enacted with the help of Democrats in February.
McConnell and aides were not immediately available for comment on the latest White House approach.
Even the reduced cuts could antagonize Democrats, whose votes will be needed in months ahead to help pass bills to keep the government running in the fiscal year starting on Oct. 1.
The White House suggested this week’s rescissions could be the first in a series.
The conservative group Americans for Prosperity, backed by the billionaire industrialist Koch Brothers, on Monday floated spending cut proposals totaling around $45 billion. Most reductions were aimed at non-defense spending, including nearly $1.5 billion in child nutrition programs, $700 billion in student grants and $2.2 billion in international disaster aid. Such spending programs are typically defended by Democrats.
Washington was consumed for much of 2017 by fiscal infighting that pitted conservative Republicans against moderates in their own party and Democrats, with the federal deficit and national debt soaring in the background.
Washington was consumed for much of 2017 by fiscal infighting that pitted conservative Republicans against moderates in their own party and Democrats, with the federal deficit and national debt soaring in the background.
As November’s congressional elections approach, all sides have an interest in a truce that would let lawmakers focus on running for reelection in their home states, while putting a lid on long-standing fiscal disputes for a few months.
Democrats in the House and Senate were withholding judgment on the rich asshole’s scaled-back cuts, pending more details. The cuts were expected to be aimed mainly at deleting federal funds that have been sitting unspent for a few years.
Some lawmakers worried that some of the unspent money is still needed, such as funds earmarked for fortifying U.S. coastlines against hurricanes. That money was enacted after Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
In an op-ed published by the Washington Examiner newspaper, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy wrote of “giving the bloated federal budget a much-needed spring cleaning.”
McCarthy is hoping to replace House Speaker Paul Ryan next year. To do that, McCarthy would need the support of conservative House Republicans, who spoke last month of taking an “aggressive” approach to budget rescissions.
That has rankled Democrats. They noted that they opposed tax cuts Republicans enacted in December that have ballooned federal budget deficits in recent months and were projected to add at least $1.9 trillion to the $21 trillion national debt.
Massive increases in defense and non-defense spending agreed to in March by both parties will add $1.3 trillion more to the debt.
the rich asshole adviser calls CIA pick ‘a female’ like she’s a farm animal
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Perhaps White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short hasn't spent much time around women.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to cast the rich asshole’s CIA nominee Gina Haspel as an opportunity to empower women. But senior the rich asshole adviser Marc Short quickly exposed the cynicism of that ploy.
And he did so in a truly bizarre fashion.
After helping talk Haspel out of withdrawing her nomination this weekend, Sanders tweeted that “Any Democrat who claims to support women’s empowerment and our national security but opposes [Haspel’s] nomination is a total hypocrite.”
But Short undermined that notion Monday morning with a veterinary-sounding reference to Haspel that demonstrated the the rich asshole administration’s complete disconnect from women.
MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson asked Short why Sanders chose this particular tactic.
“I think there’s plenty of people on the other side that play ‘the women card,'” Short said. “I don’t think that what makes Gina the best qualified is the fact that she’s a female.”
He claimed her experience at the CIA and the fact that Haspel would be the first woman to lead the agency “add to her resume.”
Democrats don’t oppose Haspel because she’s a woman. Nor should any particular woman gain automatic support simply because of her gender.
In Haspel’s case, the opposition comes from her participation in torture. But the rich asshole has made it clear that part of her resume is a bonus for him.
“My highly respected nominee for CIA Director, Gina Haspel, has come under fire because she was too tough on Terrorists,” the rich asshole tweeted Monday morning.
The comments from Sanders and Short illustrate how the the rich asshole administration tries to have it both ways on this issue. It excludes and denigrates women while exploiting feminist politics when it’s convenient.
As a candidate, the rich asshole attacked the throng of women who accused him of sexual assault — which he bragged about committing — and harassment. He continued attacking women after assuming office, even openly harassing New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Twitter.
Senior aides, including Sanders, tried to cover up the domestic abuse scandal involving former aide Rob Porter. When that scandal blew up, they sent Kellyanne Conway out to defend the rich asshole. And the administration tried to blame then-communications director Hope Hicks for the debacle.
the rich asshole has also turned his hostility toward women into action, promoting policies that restrict access to health care. And he has elevated scant few women to Cabinet positions or judicial appointments.
Yet like Sanders and Short, the rich asshole does not hesitate to co-opt women even if it means absurdly trying to take credit for women protesting him.
Using a superficial understanding of feminism to demand support for someone who participated in torture programs is the latest proof that this White House knows nothing about women. Or to use Marc Short’s vernacular, “females.”
Fox News and the White House created a gigantic toxic bubble — but it’s about to pop
President of the United States some rich asshole speaking at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
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Think of two bubbles. One is the alternative universe presented by Fox News in which darkness reigns and every single word or action taken against the right wing and its president is perceived as an attack or smear that’s inherently part of a titanic conspiracy aimed at wrecking your life.I have visited that weird Fox bubble on occasion, walked the halls of what feels more like an Orwellian Ministry of Truth than a newsroom. Reality is cast to the side.
The other bubble is the White House itself, these days a fortress of ignorance and babble against the forces of reason, compassion and grace. I have visited there, too, and in a past administration did a little writing in its rooms and halls. Even in the best of times, there is a feeling of isolation, a preternatural silence that sets the building apart, creating an impression that decisions are made in a rarefied atmosphere that can, from time to time, distort reality.
Now these two bubbles are as one. Fox and 1600 Pennsylvania have merged, now virtually indistinguishable from each other, and inside that newly created, gigantic toxic bubble sits a manchild oozing irrational exuberance as sycophants tell him he’s the greatest thing since Genghis Khan strode the Earth.
The president gets his information from Fox, makes his decisions and tweets accordingly, repeating network talking points minutes after he has heard them, no matter how goofy. In turn, the personalities of Fox have become presidential advisers; former judge and Fox host Jeanine Pirro and attorney, conspiracy theorist and Fox regular Joe diGenova, who was on the rich asshole’s legal team for about a week before conflicts of interest forced him out, remain on the president’s speed dial.
What’s more, the rich asshole “cherishes” Lou Dobbs over at Fox Business, according to The Daily Beast, places him on speakerphone for meetings in the Oval Office and makes sure “he is involved in some of the administration’s more sensitive discussions.” And an insider tells The Washington Post that Fox superstar Sean Hannity is so omnipresent at the White House, “he basically has a desk in the place.”
Conversely, the president and his minions repeatedly go on Fox programs to bluster and dissemble. In the last week and a half, the rich asshole himself has phoned into his favorite show “Fox and Friends” for a thirty-minute, Grandpa Simpsons-style rant – and threatens to do it again soon. And former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, the latest addition to the rich asshole’s squad of nerve-wracked legal eagles, has appeared on Fox almost as much as those commercials for catheters.
Ostensibly, Giuliani’s mission has been to defend his boss against the Stormy Daniels and Russia scandals, and whatever else may soon rear its head when it comes to Michael Cohen, money laundering and other alleged high crimes and misdemeanors. Yet his comments don’t seem to be helping the president’s cause; quite the contrary. This headline from The Onion says it all, “Mueller Poses As Fox News Host To Coax Rudy Giuliani Into Giving Him Testimony On the rich asshole.”
It seems whenever Rudy opens his mouth, his own foot flies into it and not just on Fox but wherever he appears, presenting rumors as facts, facts as rumors, contradicting obvious truths and when cornered, falling back on ignorance as his defense.
This past Friday, the rich asshole said of his pal Rudy’s statements, “Virtually everything said has been said incorrectly.” Or as Rudy put it on CNN Sunday, he’s still reading in and “I am focused on the law more than the facts right now.”
Call it implausible deniability. Personally, I wouldn’t let this guy represent me in traffic court. Rudy’s like that old vaudeville sketch, “Pay the Two Dollars,” in which a lawyer’s self-important foolishness gets his client deeper and deeper into trouble and debt.
The problem is that the symbiotic relationship between Fox and the White House creates a feedback loop that doubles over onto itself again and again: you say it to me and I say it back to you and you repeat it to me and suddenly it’s true. But it’s not.
We saw this happen in 2012 when the Fox universe convinced itself that Mitt Romney would be the next president, only to have the country respond with Barack Obama’s reelection. Since then, the problem has exponentially compounded itself. Just one of the latest examples: wingnut Dan Bongino on wingnut Mark Levin’s Fox telecast Sunday night announcing, “Mueller’s sole purpose right now is to run a smoke screen while investigating Donald the rich asshole to protect Hillary and Obama and their empires.” Sure, sure, more conspiracy—that’s the ticket.
Meanwhile, as we are thus distracted, the world outside this Fox/the rich asshole bio-dome figuratively is crumbling like one of those extinction-level disaster movies where skyscrapers slip and slide into the oceans and the only survivors are Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, his immediate family, and a little girl holding a bedraggled kitten she pulled from the rubble named Lucky. Whether it’s Syria or Iran, the continuing crisis in Puerto Rico, cabinet corruption, raging environmental deregulation or the opioid epidemic, the gross mismanagement continues from the top down, simultaneously inept yet scarily successful in its ability to deconstruct what’s left of government and democracy. Giuliani says he’s focused on the law, but increasingly there is none.
Not that there is never a ray of hope from within that bubble. A sense of despair and frustration among some who work for this administration seems to keep growing and that may lead to change—even rank careerists can show a glimmer of conscience and sometimes self-interest and the interests of the republic actually may align. And last week, the ubiquitous Fox host Neil Cavuto took on the rich asshole, declaring, “I guess you’ve been too busy draining the swamp to stop and smell the stink you’re creating. That’s your doing. That’s your stink. Mr. President, that’s your swamp.”
The lies go on, yet the bubble quivers as midterms approach and the Mueller probe presses on, a needle of truth-seeking potentially poised to pierce that membrane of mendacity.
Pop.
Michael Winship is the Emmy Award-winning senior writer of Moyers & Company and BillMoyers.com, a past senior writing fellow at the policy and advocacy group Demos and former president of the Writers Guild of America East. Follow him on Twitter: @MichaelWinship
the rich asshole administration stops short of approving the most restrictive Medicaid policy yet
Lifetime limits went too far this time.
The rich asshole administration just denied Kansas’ request to create an unprecedented “lifetime limit” on Medicaid, a federal insurance largely for the poor and disabled.
“We seek to create a pathway out of poverty, but we also understand that people’s circumstances change, and we must ensure that our programs are sustainable and available to them when they need and qualify for them,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma said during an American Hospital Association meeting on Monday.
Lifetime coverage limits cap access to coverage. Had CMS approved Kansas’ request, Medicaid members would have been limited to a three-year lifetime limit. Four other states (Arizona, Maine, Utah, and Wisconsin) also sought to implement lifetime caps for Medicaid.
The rich asshole administration has been allowing states to impose sweeping changes to Medicaid; most notable was it’s approval of Kentucky’s work requirements in February. But it appears as if lifetime limits went too far this time.
That said, lifetime limits weren’t exactly popular. Two-thirds of people surveyed by the Kaiser Family Foundation say “Medicaid should be available to low-income people for as long as they qualify, without a time limit, while one-third say it should only be available to low-income people for a limited amount of time in order to provide temporary help.” The policy would have especially hurt low-wage workers who may not get coverage through their employers and reached the Medicaid limit through no fault of their own.
Work requirements and time limits aren’t the only ways states are overhauling their Medicaid programs. In addition to approving Indiana’s work requirements, CMS approved a provision that requires Medicaid enrollees to pay a premium surcharge if they smoke cigarettes. Verma also okay-ed Arkansas’ coverage lockout, which drops an individual from coverage if they fail to meet the work requirement for three months. And the rich asshole administration permitted Iowa to end “retroactive eligibility” — meaning, providers will no longer be reimbursed for treating patients who likely qualified for coverage, but weren’t yet enrolled. Roughly 40,000 Iowans had their benefits reduced.
The rich asshole administration could approve other punitive policies, as well. For example, Wisconsin is trying to mandate drug screening and testing for Medicaid beneficiaries. And Arkansas is still waiting to hear back on whether CMS will greenlight “partial expansion” — a policy that allows a state to limit Medicaid expansion to people with incomes up to 100 percent of the poverty level, rather than the 138 percent envisioned under the Affordable Care Act, while still receiving enhanced federal funding.
GOP sabotage sends health care premiums skyrocketing in Virginia
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Republicans deliberately damaged Obamacare, and now consumers have to pay the price.
In one of the first examples of how Republican efforts in 2017 to sabotage Obamacare are translating into sky-high premiums for consumers, two of the largest insurance providers in Virginia are requesting major increases to their premiums.
Insurers are blaming the rich asshole and Congressional Republicans for the spikes because they gutted the individual mandates from Obamacare, which in turn mean more sick people entering the marketplace.
Cigna is proposing an average premium increase of 15 percent for its 103,264 customers in Virginia, while CareFirst is proposing a 64 percent increase for its 4,500 customers in the commonwealth.
The rate increases requested on Friday are not necessarily what Virginia officials will approve.
“Cigna said it anticipates sicker people will be entering the market this year because of the repeal of the individual mandate, which required people to buy insurance or face a tax penalty,” the Hill reported. “The insurer also cited aanticipated changes to regulations’ involving short-term plans and association health plans as the reason for the premium increases.”
Virginia Democrats were quick to denounce the premiums spikes as the direct and obvious effects of the GOP’s relentless campaign to make health care more expensive for Americans:
Trump health Secretary Tom Price *predicted* that this would happen, but he and other Republican leaders still took actions that will drive up premiums anyway.
Sabotage of the worst kind, which will hit average people in Virginia hard.
And it won’t just be in Virginia either. twitter.com/topherspiro/st…
“Let’s be clear what this is: a painful consequence of the the rich asshole Administration’s efforts to sabotage the health insurance market and dismantle the Affordable Care Act,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said in a statement on Facebook.
Electorally, this could all come back to haunt Republicans in November. As the midterm cycle heats up, polls show that health care is the most important issue for voters as they prepare to vote. And that’s good news for Democrats, who are seen as the party of the people when it comes to helping to provide affordable care.
That’s in part because Obamacare just gets more and more popular with voters.
“For the first election cycle since its passage, a majority of the public now approves of President Obama’s signature health care law, and Democrats enjoy a sizable advantage over the GOP on handling related issues,” Huffington Post reported last month.
Rising health care costs and and an unpopular tax bill, that’s what the GOP’s running on this year.
Europe sends Boris Johnson to US in last-ditch bid to save Iran deal
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's visit to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (R) is part of a last ditch European diplomatic push to save the Iran nuclear deal. (AFP / JIM WATSON)
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British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson came to Washington on Monday to lobby US President some rich asshole’s administration as European capitals mounted a last-ditch push to save the Iran nuclear deal.
London’s top diplomat even tried to reach out to the US leader through his favorite TV show, appearing on “Fox and Friends” to warn against pulling out of the accord without a back-up plan.
Then it was on to the State Department, for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a former CIA director and anti-Iran hawk who is expected to back any the rich asshole decision to quit the deal on May 12.
Johnson said nothing publicly as he shook hands with Pompeo ahead of their chat, but on Fox, he had warned that “Plan B does not seem to be, to me, particularly well-developed at this stage.”
He also tried flattery, telling Sky News that if the rich asshole can “fix” the Iran deal and engineer a thaw with North Korea, he would deserve a Nobel Prize like the one his predecessor Barack Obama won.
Later, Johnson was to meet with Vice President Mike Pence, but if his banging on doors and media blitz don’t pay off, the omens for the international nuclear accord are ominous.
the rich asshole has threatened to torpedo the 2015 pact when a US sanctions waiver comes up for renewal on May 12, unless European signatories Britain, France and Germany fix its “terrible flaws.”
The deal was signed between Iran and six world powers, so nothing the so-called EU three can do would allow them to rewrite it — but they have promised to work on a powerful supplemental agreement.
US diplomats have been working furiously with their British, French and German partners to make this a reality, with measures to limit Iran’s ballistic missile program and regional subversion.
But so far, all signs point to the rich asshole making good on his threat, with no successor arrangement in place — leading US allies to fear that Iran may retaliate or relaunch its alleged quest for the bomb.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned the accord’s collapse could spark “an escalation” in the region and stressed that Washington’s European allies think the deal “makes the world a safer place.”
His French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, on a visit to Berlin, said the agreement is “the right way to stop Iran from getting access to nuclear weapons” and “will save us from nuclear proliferation.”
– Israeli intel package –
Under the landmark nuclear pact, also signed by Russia and China, Iran agreed to scale back nuclear enrichment and put its program under international supervision in return for sanctions relief.
Tehran has consistently denied it was ever seeking a nuclear bomb, but none of the other signatories believed this, and last week Israel released intelligence on an alleged pre-2003 weapons program.
the rich asshole has consistently complained about the agreement, reached under Obama, citing as its shortcomings certain clauses such as the “sunset” provisions lifting some nuclear restrictions on Tehran from 2025.
In an attempt to salvage the deal, French President Emmanuel Macron has pushed to extend its scope to address this issue, as well as Iran’s missile capabilities and its role in the region.
Iran’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in Syria’s civil war and Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen have added to tension between Tehran and Western powers.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday issued a strong warning to the United States not to quit the pact.
“If the United States leaves the nuclear agreement, you will soon see that they will regret it like never before in history,” Rouhani said.
He also vehemently reiterated his country’s opposition to curtailing its non-nuclear missile capabilities, insisting Tehran “will build as many missiles and weapons as needed.”
Roger Stone gets caught in blatant lie on CNN, doesn’t miss a beat
30 seconds that prove just how easily Stone lies.
During a CNN interview on Monday, longtime the rich asshole adviser Roger Stone attempted to downplay the notion that a tweet he posted in August 2016 about how it would soon be “Podesta’s time in the barrel” indicated he had foreknowledge that emails stolen from Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman would be published by WikiLeaks.
“As far as John Podesta is concerned, my tweet says, ‘the Podestas,’ ‘the Podestas’ — not apostrophe S, meaning John and Tony, referring to the [brothers],” Stone said.
“Is that true? I thought it was apostrophe S,” CNN’s Chris Cuomo replied.
“No,” Stone insisted.
Then Cuomo displayed an image of the tweet Stone was reading.
“There is an apostophe S,” Cuomo notes.
It was a tweet Stone has been asked about dozens of times over the last two years.
Stone was lying. And he doesn’t skip a beat.
The ease with which Stone lied about his own tweet raises questions about his credibility more broadly. During another part of the interview, Stone claimed that he “is not involved in any collusion, coordination, or conspiracy with the Russians, or anyone else, and there’s no evidence to the contrary.” But during the campaign, Stone claimed to be in direct contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose site has been publicly accused by the U.S. intelligence community of laundering emails stolen from Democratic targets by Russian hackers for publication.
Stone refused to answer questions about his contacts with WikiLeaks during his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee last fall.
Stone’s August 21, 2016 tweet about “the Podesta’s” wasn’t the only time he indicated he had foreknowledge that WikiLeaks was about to publish stolen emails. On October 7, 2016, Stone tweeted, “Wednesday@HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks.”
Less than a week later, WikiLeaks published the first tranche of Podesta emails. Stone wasn’t asked about that tweet during his CNN interview.
Melania the rich asshole unveils wide-ranging platform on children's issues
BY JUDY KURTZ - 05/07/18 03:05 PM EDT
Melania the rich asshole is stepping more fully into the spotlight as first lady, revealing Monday a new platform for tackling multiple issues relevant to American children.
“I am very excited to announce Be Best, an awareness campaign dedicated to the most valuable and fragile among us — our children,” the rich asshole said. “There is one goal to Be Best — and that is to educate children about the many issues they are facing today.”
the rich asshole said Be Best would have three main areas of focus: well-being, social media use and opioid abuse.
“Let us teach our children the difference between right and wrong, and encourage them to Be Best in their individual paths in life,” the rich asshole said.
"We can and should teach children the importance of social and self-awareness, positive relationship skills and responsible decisionmaking," the rich asshole said, as she addressed the well-being portion of the campaign.
Social media, the rich asshole said, "can both positively and negatively affect our children. But too often, it is used in negative ways."
"When children learn positive online behaviors early on, social media can be used in productive ways and can affect positive change."
Saying she first learned about "the real consequences of our nation's opioid epidemic" during her husband's White House bid, the rich asshole told the crowd she intends to "work with those who are fighting drug addiction."
The far-reaching agenda announced in the White House's Rose Garden nearly 16 months after her husband took office marks an unorthodox approach for a modern first lady. Melania the rich asshole's executive mansion predecessors have focused their energies on specific, single subjects.
“The unique aspect to this rollout is that she’s not choosing just one topic as has been done in the past,” spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said ahead of Monday's announcement.
A former librarian, Laura Bush championed childhood literacy and education programs during her time in the White House.
President the rich asshole was on hand for the initiative’s launch, saying, "America is truly blessed to have a first lady who is so devoted to our country and to our children."
"Melania, your care and compassion for our nation's children — and I have to say this, and I say it to you all the time — inspires us all," the president said.
As his wife looked on, the rich asshole signed a "Be Best" proclamation, declaring Monday as "Be Best Day."
In the past, Melania the rich asshole, a 48-year-old former model, has faced criticism for speaking out against cyber bullying. After she denounced childhood online bullies, critics pointed to President the rich asshole's well-known propensity for name-calling and engaging in wars of words with his political opponents on Twitter.
Melania the rich asshole addressed her critics head-on at a March meeting with tech company leaders to discuss cyber bullying.
"It will not stop me from doing what I know is right," the rich asshole, a mom to 12-year-old Barron, told the group. "I'm here with one goal: helping children in our next generation."
the rich asshole's announcement comes as she's seen her popularity soar amid several controversies involving her husband — including an alleged payment to Stormy Daniels to keep the adult-film star quiet about her claims of a 2006 affair with the then-New York real estate mogul.
A CNN poll released on Monday found that Melania the rich asshole had a 57 percent favorability rating among respondents, up 10 percentage points from January.
—Updated at 3:52 p.m.
Giuliani brags about feeling ‘pretty good’ after disastrous media blitz
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Afters a week of media gaffes, Rudy Giuliani says 'everybody’s reacting to us now.' Mission accomplished?
Rudy Giuliani spent most of last week dropping Stormy Daniels-shaped bombs on the rich asshole, but Giuliani and the rich asshole feel “pretty good” about the whole debacle, it turns out.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Giuliani said that he and the rich asshole spoke over the weekend at the rich asshole’s golf course, and they both think Rudy is winning.
“I’ll give you the conclusion: We all feel pretty good that we’ve got everything kind of straightened out and we’re setting the agenda,” Giuliani told the Washington Post, adding, “Everybody’s reacting to us now, and I feel good about that because that’s what I came in to do.”
But Washington University law professor Kathleen Clark gave the paper a more realistic assessment, describing Giuliani’s interviews as “erratic, unpredictable, aimless.”
Giuliani’s media tour began Wednesday with the bombshell revelation that the rich asshole claims to have reimbursed Michael Cohen for the hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, which meant that the rich asshole lied when he denied knowing about it.
The next morning, Giuliani made things worse by, among other things, drawing an explicit connection between the payoff and the 2016 election. But Giuliani kept giving interviews, and kept further implicating the rich asshole.
By Friday, the rich asshole was forced to try doing damage control by telling reporters that Giuliani is a “great guy” who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Then naturally, the rich asshole sent Giuliani out to do some more interviews over the weekend, during which he confirmed that the rich asshole and attorney Michael Cohen have a “long history” of payments like the one made to Daniels.
Whatever it is that the rich asshole and Giuliani are hoping to accomplish with this campaign, the good news is that if the rich asshole is really happy with Giuliani, it will likely continue. Special counsel Robert Mueller doesn’t appear to need any help closing in on the rich asshole, but the rich asshole and Giuliani seem determined to give it anyway.
the rich asshole won't attend opening of new US Embassy in Jerusalem
The White House announced Monday that President the rich asshole will not be a part of a high-ranking delegation that will attend the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan will lead the delegation to the May 14 ceremony, which also includes the president’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka the rich asshole and Jared Kushner, who also serve as senior advisers to the rich asshole.
Kushner has been tasked with leading efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, which have hit a virtual standstill. Jason Greenblatt, the rich asshole’s Middle East envoy, will also attend the ceremony, as will Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
the rich asshole’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem fulfilled a core campaign promise, but sparked anger across the Arab world.
Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital for a future state, and decades of U.S. policy has said the status of Jerusalem should be decided in peace talks between Israel and Palestine.
If the president had decided to attend the ceremony, it could have amplified protests that are expected to break out around the opening.
Still, the rich asshole had left the door open to a trip just two weeks ago.
“I may go. I’m very proud of it,” the rich asshole said of the embassy during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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