TWGB: Are We New to This?

 

Trump "ReTruthed" a comment regarding civil war on his lil' Mastodon knock-off, and yes, it is pretty serious that he's endorsing the idea after an attempted coup and on the same weekend he's shared a CPAC event with a notorious racist (I mean, among other notorious racists, c'mon....) but to be quite honest--there have been echoes of civil war with Trump for a very long time. This is definitely not the first time, and it hasn't even been subtle. 

"Civil War" was even a branded clothing item worn at the 1/6 insurrection. This isn't new, and long past disturbing. 

This is why I don't doubt the story that Trump suggested that MI elections official Jocelyn Benson be tried for treason for not overturning the results in that state. It is partially a joke to call Trump the "MAGA king", but in his mind, this person who likes to talk about shooting people in the legs--is it too far out to think he might declare "Off with her head!" like some demented monarch? 

It also isn't so far out to think he directed State Department officials to meet with activists pushing, let's be entirely clear, fraudulent election fraud narratives. How in the hell is that State Department business? you might ask, if you didn't already know Trump's attitude was "L'etat c'est moi." 

Nothing trivial, I hope.

 

An oil facility directly responsible for the flow of #Russian oil to Europe is on fire in #Bryansk, #Russia. Next to it, just a few km away, a Russian military base is on fire.

Glory to #Ukraine✊🏻🇺🇦.

No typo this time.

Videos below. pic.twitter.com/jVQbahezgx

— Canadian Ukrainian Volunteer 🇺🇦🇨🇦✊🏻 (@CanadianUkrain1) April 25, 2022

Lest I sound flip, obviously such fires are very bad for the envoronment. There are also forest fires in Siberia, but for some reason, the usual firefighters are not on hand to put them out. I think they should be re-deployed, but what do I know? 

 UPDATE: Moscow's ambassador to the US says that further arms supplies to Ukraine from the US are going to escalate the conflict and in other news, when I was small and wanted things I wasn't going to get, my dad would ask me "What's it like to want?" Russia is going to escalate from killing women and babies and flattening cities to what? Has escalating even done anything for them so far?

UPDATE: Lavrov wants people to know he thinks NATO is involved in a proxy war and nukes aren't off the table. I'd like to ask him who he thinks started the war and whether he's aware if anyone else has them. No one is as afraid of Russia as a conventional power as they were before they decided to engage in a short bloody little going on months-long war in which they've lost as much as other counties have (yes, like the US) in wars nearly twenty years long. It lacks a certain punch. 

TWGB: We Said He Wasn't Right

 

President Biden threw his support behind the top U.S. military officer, Mark Milley, a day after a new book said he went around civilian leaders to place secret calls to his Chinese counterpart over concerns about then-President Donald Trump https://t.co/mgr8I1Rd7T pic.twitter.com/0PNUDrO7rx

— Reuters (@Reuters) September 16, 2021

Pause to consider for an instant what happened in a brief span--a leak from Woodward's latest book reveals that post-1/6, Trump was so out-of-bounds that Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley wanted to see to it that there were additional guardrails in place to prevent an international catastrophe from occurring.  The reality seems to be that Milley's actions weren't quite as "mavericky" as the book depicts. And I'm not privileging the insights from one view of his actions over the other, I wasn't there and am no military expert. 

What's fascinating to me is people who seized on whether Milley trying to mitigate the apparent volatility of the CinC was wrong (if not treasonous!) instead of noting that the outgoing president was, in fact, acting as if out of his goddamn mind. After all, it's not a secret that Trump made decisions after his loss that weren't really "America First" but seem like a tantrum made manifest in abrupt foreign policy dictates.  And, as I've regularly indicated here in the blog--the man is not well. Trump has boasted that he is a "stable genius" at regular intervals, and believe me, no one does that unless their intellect and stability were both seriously under question.

But Senator Marco Rubio roared out of the gate to demand that Milley be fired for his temerity.  Which is something that would just mean Biden appoints a new one (although for crying out loud--I guess GOP senators would make a "thing" out of the "advise and consent" deal. After all, blocking State Department picks, or State Department and DOD picks for insincere counterproductive reasons (for a value of counterproductive that includes national security but does not include self-promotion) is apparently the new trifling stunt from the clown shoes brigade that triflingly stunted over the Biden election confirmation. 

I could point out, as I have before, so what good does it do us that someone is telling us this--NOW? But to be clear, any corroboration that TrumpWorld has operated and still does operate around the damaged psyche of a spoiled brat with neither empathy nor loyalty is necessary to keep in view in a world where this guy is still considered a GOP 2024 presidential frontrunner, and not an epically disgraced has-been. It is also good to remind people that the current administration is coping with fall-out of irresponsible choices made by the previous administration.

And it serves to tell us who is still a deluded dupe paddling in The Former Guy's wake, incapable of committing the sin of ever holding Trump accountable for anything.  You can tell who they are, because they blame Trump's failures on the people who tried to curb his foolishness, because in a world where expertise is demonized, mere competence itself is considered suspect. 

Although, IMHO, not too many current GOP officeholders need to be overwhelmingly concerned about being considered "suspect".

Except When It Isn't a Joke

 

Sec. of State Pompeo outright denies the election results: ‘There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration’ pic.twitter.com/ZWlBTxWjkh

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 10, 2020

The thing of it is, the joke isn't that he said there would be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration as a joke. The thing is--the joke is on people who want to take it as a joke. Because all the shuffling around at the Pentagon, the planning for next year's budget, the lawsuits and denial coming from the Trump campaign/White House team (apparently, Kayleigh McEnany has been pulled from White House spox to campaign spox the way a hockey team pulls its goalie in the clutch?) continue in defiance of reality could certainly have one fooled.

If the US is supposed to be the champion of democracy, then our free and fair elections are not ever a punch line. While Sec. Pompeo may be unable to see the hypocrisy of lecturing to other nations regarding their process, while deriding our own (which was judged to be perfectly fine by international observers), he is sending a terrible message. When our leadership implies that they will do whatever they like and simply call it "democracy", they give a defense to the enemies of democracy around the world and give the finger to those who see the US as a positive example to follow. 

Had Pompeo simply made a joke at the expense of Trump's continued defiance in the face of his loss, the sarcasm would not be lost on me. But those surrounding Trump have fallen into such a fell lockstep that people need a clear message that this is certainly not normal, not American. We don't need funny people, we need brave ones who tell the damn truth.

But like I have said before--these are evil clowns. Their pranks are meant to hurt.

Trump Can *So* Get Down A Ramp

Trump wants you to see this video of him "running" down a ramp.pic.twitter.com/ZhzUVZ2xnX https://t.co/om7j89WhFk

— Biden War Room (Text UNITED to 30330) (@BidenWarRoom) June 14, 2020

He does have a little bit of trouble speaking and maybe needs help drinking water. (Perhaps he should consider using straws.) But thanks to "Momentum!" he can easily get down a steep ramp, thankyewverrymuch. Not that he precisely "ran" the last ten feet so much as ambled faster the last three.

Look, I'm in my mid-forties and my knees are already not great. I look like a damn penguin walking. Everyone misspeaks from time to time. I don't know what the water-holding thing is about, but it's possible that his right wrist has a repetitive stress injury from golfing--nothing major to get hyped about. Physical infirmities aren't a deal-breaker, and FDR and JFK both hid their health issues whilst being pretty competent in office.

It's only Trump isn't competent in office, and it's hard to pretend that he "projects strength" when his careless approach to things like, say, foreign policy and national security, are basically supine. He likes using people in uniform as a backdrop, only to say Chamberlin-esque things about "wars in foreign lands".

You know I'm no neocon, but he certainly didn't finish off ISIS, which he claimed he'd easily do, and if anything, North Korea and Iran are a bit more dangerous for having Trump and friends stumble around trying to figure out what to do with them. He also left us much more vulnerable to things like a pandemic or election fuckery. His State Department is hollowed out and he's gone through SecDefs and NSA's like pretzels, while showing an actual contempt for intelligence or expertise. He really hasn't hired "the best people" and his better people are gone and have developed unkind feelings about him. Basically, he's useless for anything but whittling or kindling. Also the economy bottomed out worse here in terms of unemployment than in many other places because he didn't build that.

He should be out of the job because he can't do the job, regardless of his physical fitness. But seeing his response and knowing that the folks around him desperately defend and cover up for his shortcoming in morality and veracity, I can easily understand why some assume the very worst about his health. After all, when something looks bad, is it not possible that it is bad?

The Pompeo Effect

The State Department watchdog that Trump fired on Friday has since been told that he is physically barred from returning to the State Department even to collect his belongings.

If Pompeo and Trump have nothing to hide, why take this extreme measure?https://t.co/2IgJRaR3HJ

— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) May 19, 2020

What's funny is, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is supposed to have requested that the IG investigating him be fired for "undermining the State Department" and claimed he did not know that he was being investigated. But we have moved on from Pompeo and his wife were using his office and personnel for things like errands and dog-walking, to the more troubling news that Pompeo certainly knew the IG had questions for him about a Saudi arms deal, to finding out that Pompeo also was having many fancy parties on the taxpayers' dime for what looks like building a contact base for his future political parachute, not anything to do with diplomacy.

And aaaalllll of this came to light in just days. I think the "Streisand Effect" should have a new name, huh? Also, why do I get the sneaky suspicion based on the way the IG has been locked out of his office that there is more information to come?

Oh yeah. Because in TrumpWorld, if it looks bad, it is bad. That's why.

Take Her Out

LISTEN: Recording appears to capture Pres. Trump at private dinner saying he wants Ukraine ambassador fired. https://t.co/9jqfYz99pR

— ABC News (@ABC) January 25, 2020

This seems even more disturbing after the news that the Ambassador was possibly surveilled by some party (possibly affiliated with Trump, the brand, the presidency, and the ongoing political campaign thereof) while doing her job in Ukraine, because "take her out" has more than one meaning.

Obviously, as with the firing of, say, FBI Director Jim Comey, Trump has the right to fire some personnel at his pleasure. Except that he seems to be announcing he wants her gone in a way that implies more than just firing. And he seems to not want to do this through ordinary procedures. You combine this with the language from the "perfect phone call" that she is "about to go through some things" and it starts seeming like a horror movie. The issue of Yovanovitch's service in Ukraine then isn't about whether the president has a right to remove someone from their position--he does! But why he seems to be responding to personnel requests from some rando donor at an event that he now claims he didn't even know is a really good question, especially when that person has been indicted for. among other things, working on behalf of one or more Ukrainian officials to get the Ambassador fired. And also slopping lots of money into Republican campaigns.

There are a lot of problematic takeaways here. Is Trump unduly influenced by the donor pool of folks around him during his weekend stayaways golfing and hobnobbing and whatnot, because he really is the worst case scenario of opsec fail and emoluments clause-flouting.

But for the people who just got super-offended that it was implied they were scared of what Trump might do if they voted against him--here's a word: Mobster. Trump talks like a mobster. Maybe he did, unbeknownst to you all, say something to a rando donor-type guy along the lines of "heads on a pike". Because the kind of guy who brags about whether a terrorist he put a hit on was crying even if Trump didn't have virtual eyes on, or who brags about pussy-grabbing, or who makes improbable stories up during his campaign rallies about big men who never cried before etc. and the military being out of ammunition before he came along, and other improbable and self-aggrandizing bullshit, always tries to make himself sound like he toughest of guys. During Celebrity Apprentice--he said "You're fired." During this video, he says "Take her out!" That sounds more suggestive than wanting a firing. Intentionally?

And his stated reasons have to do with thinking she didn't like him enough. Like, that she didn't hang his official portrait in her office soon enough. What kind of crap is that?

This video came out and cast a weird light (albeit not one no one realized was likely) on how this president operates that the senators deliberating Trump's removal should well consider. They should not be under the mistaken notion that this is a one-off. His level of access to people like Parnas and Furman and the likelihood of additional video or audio recordings of problematic dialogs are very high.

All the more reason to deliberate after a long dive into Trump's associations, with witnesses and docs. Because things exactly like this are out there. This is just a sample.

Also, this is the exact reason that Pompeo needs to answer for his lack of support for an Ambassador who went through this situation. He clearly did not show support for this Ambassador.

Look, It's Mr. Christian Leadership

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abruptly cut off an interview with NPR today. He shouted his displeasure at being questioned about Ukraine, used repeated expletives, according to NPR's @NPRKelly, and asked, "Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?" https://t.co/dRZMxM5Foa

— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) January 25, 2020

While reading about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent blow-up, I couldn't help but think about the time not so long ago that he touted his "Christian leadership" on the official government webpage for his agency. Is bullying a reporter over a tough interview with profanities and questioning her intelligence how one shows Christian leadership? For that matter, wouldn't leadership of any kind whatsoever mean showing respect and support for one's personnel as well as having a broad understanding of the United States' mission in various countries and how that mission is impacted by our efforts, not one based on the political or geographical understanding of regular folks?

Regardless of whether most Americans or any Americans care about Ukraine, his intemperate outburst toward this reporter demonstrates a very poor face that he will be taking with him when he visits that country in the near-future.

I am not saying that I would be watching out for this trip to be rescheduled again, but these things do happen in this administration. But I would also imagine that such a visit, should it go on, might be very awkward. Maybe not terribly diplomatic.

Letters Are Written Never Meaning to Send

 

Apparently, in response to the Iraqi parliament's determination that it might just be best if American take our forces and most of our stuff and just, go, really, the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff drafted a letter that they had no intention of sending as-is, but by golly, it got out here, didn't it? To the effect that in deference to the decision of a sovereign nation, we'd just pack up and git when we weren't wanted. Because we weren't.

Which is something to think about. ISIS fighters are still pressed up against the back screen door of Iraq, but they'd rather sort it out--without us.

Anyways, how does this much of a letter go public without being a good draft, at least? Incompetence--or some kind of message?

UPDATE:  Huh.

Scoop: Pentagon initially told Capitol Hill that the Iraq withdrawal letter was "active disinformation." We have the email. https://t.co/jji1zvxdGu

— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) January 7, 2020

The Script that Flipped

Just so that this does not get lost amidst the impeachment-related stories, Chairman Kim just issued a statement regarding the possibility of future talks with the US:

In a blunt put-down Monday, North Korea rejected what a senior adviser to Kim called another “fruitless” one-on-one with Trump. It was the latest reminder that Trump’s open-door policy for bargaining with authoritarians means those leaders can slam the door in his face.

“We are no longer interested in such talks that bring nothing to us,” said Kim Kye Gwan, a veteran diplomat and Foreign Ministry adviser. “As we have got nothing in return, we will no longer gift the U.S. president with something he can brag about.”

But what about all those love letters? What about the historic DMZ visit?

Trump legitimized Kim and Kim wanted nothing more than that, and nukes. He can have both, and Trump gets nothing, precisely because Trump wanted to accomplish something with North Korea (or to appear to be accomplishing something) so much. In the meanwhile, our relationship with South Korea appears to be impaired.

A future administration will be at pains to sort through the damage this administration has caused diplomatically--just to see what can be salvaged.

UPDATE: South Korea has signed a defense agreement with China.

Not What They Expected

Historic scene. After hearing concludes, the room erupts in applause for Ambassador Yovanovich’s courage as Republicans complain. pic.twitter.com/tYxTvb92RY

— Jesse Lee (@JesseCharlesLee) November 15, 2019

I am pretty sure that the GOP House members did not expect this applause for Marie Yovanovitch because they are too deep in their defense of Trump and demonization of the "Deep State" to realize that what they are calling the Deep State is just career people with a deep sense of mission to serve the United States. This came through in her testimony.

I think an important takeaway though, is this:

“We see the potential in Ukraine. Russia, by contrast, sees the risk,” she said. “Ukraine is a battleground for great power competition, with a hot war for the control of territory and a hybrid war to control Ukraine’s leadership.”

The potential benefit to Russia is two-fold, she explained. Withholding security assistance, she said, painted a picture to Moscow that the U.S. may not be the staunch ally of Russia’s vulnerable neighbor it has signaled it would be. And at the same time, she said, allowing corruption to fester in Ukraine — including empowering officials there to get the White House to remove an ambassador (as happened with her) — also makes the nation vulnerable to Russian influence.

“Corruption is also a security issue, because corrupt officials are vulnerable to Moscow. In short, it is in America’s national security interest to help Ukraine transform into a country where the rule of law governs and corruption is held in check,” she said, before directly fingering Vladimir Putin as a beneficiary of the administration’s actions in Ukraine.

Whether wittingly or unwittingly, the kind of adventurism Sondland, Giuliani, etc. have participated in are contrary to what should be US interests, and serve private interests, whether Trump's (in getting election assistance) or anyone else's (using the US State Department to finagle things for Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs over the expressed anti-corruption goals of our country and Ukraine's new government). The simple "text" or the scandal is bribery and extortion. The subtext is whether these people, acting corruptly, are even trying to pursue legitimate goals.

The former Ambassador was fired, it appears, because she was doing her job too well for the liking of some people. Trump and Pompeo are doing their jobs too poorly for mine.

TWGB: Fear, Smear, Conspiracy and Obstruction

The place I want to start with in this post is the law: our Constitution is a document that protects people. That is to say, it enumerates certain rights for the people, and defines the roles of government. You don't want a government that does too much--that reaches into people's lives obtrusively, that invades privacy, that needlessly judges personal choices that do not violate the law. But you also want accountability: government should have an aspect of accountability and dependability. If the social fabric has a warp (to the backdrop of history's woof), the rules are it. 

Trump likes to say that he's transparent. He's not transparent in actuality: in his person, he is opaque and likewise dense. But he believes that he has clothed himself in a dress of transparency by having posed himself as a straight-shooter or truth-saying SOB, or by merely repeating endlessly the formula "I am the most transparent..." And yet, that transparent cloth he drapes himself in is the Emperor's New Clothes. It is transparent because it lacks either warp or woof. It lacks threads. He is not clothed in laws, or history, or accountability, or tradition. His bare-naked ass is therefore covered by so many lickspittles. 

Enter the whistleblower, who, like the child in the story, says what everyone was fearing to say--the emperor's ass is out! 

So tell me, do: does who says the very true thing matter more than whether the message was very true? 

We are presented with a distraction, engaged by Trump out loud and personally in front of many people: he says he had some dirt on Lt. Col. Vindman, and also, he wants to know who the whistleblower is. Sen. Graham has said he'd out the whistleblower. (Outing people against their will has never been something I've been a strong proponent of, TBH.) And Sen. Rand Paul, son of Ron, claims the name of the whistleblower is already known, and he would release it. You know, unless the media wants to. Which really sounds to me like an effort to smoke someone out for a right bit of witness-tampering and intimidation. 

You know: crimes. Because all this, the threats against an anonymous person who only pointed out something they thought was hinky and should be investigated? Is a crime. What is not a crime? Doing due diligence to be sure that the government is held accountable and does its job well. Smearing people or causing them to feel threatened in their jobs or in their person is not great practice--it's basically a sign that the person doing that knows they have no other defense but bullying. That's the kind of thing Trump has left in his pocket: smear and fear. And conspiracy with those who still think the power is in his corner, and not on the side of truth or the law. And obstruction to try to prevent any further truth from coming to light. 

When the Quoing gets Tough, the Quids Keep Pro-ing

BREAKING: The Post has obtained a copy of Amb. Bill Taylor's opening statement, in which he says he was told the release of Ukraine aid was contingent on public declaration to investigate Bidens, 2016 election https://t.co/vKDXa5E7fa

— Shane Harris (@shaneharris) October 22, 2019

Okay, I'm kind of done pretending there's a "funny old thing" about any Trump World pronouncement, but there is kind of a funny old thing about Pro-Trump folks pretending that saying "No quid pro quo" actually operates like touching "home base" in a game of tag. We are now at the part where someone has established what congressionally-approved aid was being withheld for: the quo was announcing an investigation.  I've been saying this: look at Whitewater and Benghazi and ask yourself what the investigators were really looking for. The investigations existed for their own reason. There didn't have to be a "there" behind Hunter Biden's low-effort board membership for a Ukrainian oil concern, or behind Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election.

Just having an investigation looks like trouble enough to be a "scandal". So what does this impeachment inquiry look like to Trump Worlders?

Like enemy action, I guess. This explains the people who responded exceptionally weakly to Trump's self-pitying wail about his being lynched. His words were inappropriate, but t's a political witch hunt! they cry. It's a legitimate investigation--but that seems to be a very interesting take. Or, it's accusing Democrats of a tactic they know very well can sometimes even work.

Secretary of Church and State

It is a little bit jarring, just after noting that AG William Barr blames "militant secularists" for all sorts of nation-decaying moral turpitude, from drug use to experimental jazz, that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has seen fit to grace the official government page for his agency with an advert for his speech on being a Christian Leader. There once was a Secretary of State who delineated a separation of Church and State, but Mike Pompeo does things a little differently.  I guess we could disagree about the results.

As a matter of preference, I think it would be wrong to say that Mike Pompeo's faith would be in anyway disqualifying for his office--obviously, the traditions of the United States should hold that there is no litmus test with regard to religion for higher office. I'd say it is dismaying that he elects to depict things through the lens of his religion without respect to externalities like whatever is actually happening. Being Trump's chump, excusing and covering for apparent abuses of office, and even finding an excuse for what Trump's incompetence is doing to Christians in Syria shows dubious leadership of any sort, whether Christian or otherwise.

As to the profession of his faith, if he does so in his personal time, this is no concern of mine--but broadcasting his Christian leadership on his official agency website seems to be both a timely advertisement of his faith (and refuge!) and a thing that does not belong there, as if privileging the special nature of leadership and Christian thought (and shading the leadership that might be posed by persons of other faiths, or no faith at all).

A person in his office should know better, but it is perhaps true that knowing better and doing better are separate things in Trump World.

TWGB: The Big Questions

I asked Giuliani again if he and Trump have a representation agreement. His response: “All I can tell you is that I still represent him as I have since April 2018. End of story.”

— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) October 11, 2019

In a mean way, the $64,000 question to Rudy Giuliani was always what Olivia Nuzzi put to him, obliquely: Is your ass really covered by the president's favor on purpose in writing? Because this SOB will throw you over like boxers that "shrunk" in the wash. In a senseless goober way, Giuliani's response does not seem to indicate that he thought this shit through. Because the Magic 8Ball in Trump's head is reading "Situation Hazy" at the mo'. He might have lunch with him, sure. Like you have a pleasant meal with someone who has broken up with you but wants to maintain the peace.

Yeah. I'm saying Trump is definitely that guy. Giuliani is wearing treads right now from the front wheels of the bus and waiting on the last wheels to have their way with him.

He's that guy that casts about for people to do his dirty work when he doesn't want it to turn back on himself. (This is probably why he has "acting" this and that offices--he wants people who will just do a thing for him, not even being fully sure of the rules or the equities of their department.) Folks at the Pentagon worried if the delay in Ukraine aid was kosher, as well. It starts to look like Trump's definition of "deep state" is just "professionals in government who understand their jobs and reject his ideas". Needless to say, Pentagon and OMB docs are so subpoenaed right now. And really ought to be.

We've now heard from the "You're Fired!"'d Ambassador Masha Yovanovich, who is a badass.

“Although I understand that I served at the pleasure of the president, I was nevertheless incredulous that the U.S. government chose to remove an ambassador based, as best as I can tell, on unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives,” she said.

Ms. Yovanovitch’s testimony, which could help build momentum for the impeachment inquiry, captured the arc of her troubled tenure in Ukraine: how Mr. Giuliani and his allies mounted a campaign against her based on what she described as scurrilous lies, how the State Department capitulated to the president’s demands to recall her, and the upshot — losing an experienced ambassador in a pivotal country that is under threat from Russia and in the middle of a change in government.

Her situation--being removed from her post because of an influence campaign led by foreign actors, who rankled at her focus on corruption because they rather liked their brand of corruption, is definitely a big part of the story, here. But also important is her message about what government service means, and what Trump's lack of leadership has done to the State Department:

More broadly, she portrayed the State Department as a whole as “attacked and hollowed out from within.” Unless it backs up its diplomats, especially in the face of false attacks by foreign interests, she said, more of them will leave and the wrong message will be transmitted around the world.

“Bad actors” in Ukraine and elsewhere will “see how easy it is to use fiction and innuendo to manipulate our system,” she warned. “The only interests that will be served are those of our strategic adversaries, like Russia.”

As if on cue, we have the resignation of a top advisor to Sec. of State Mike Pompeo. An example of the drain of good people.

Maybe it's in part a reaction to Yovanovitch's testimony that Trump's folks decided Ambassador Sondland should speak, but this might not be great for Trump: Sondland is expected to say that Trump told him to say there was no "quid pro quo" but you know what? There really was one. There really in retrospect was.

Huh.

But let's just keep this in mind, what with the timely release recently of volume 2 of the Senate report on Russian interference. The Russians definitely did interfere in the 2016 election. The Ukraine stuff Giuliani and Fox News have been peddling is bogus. And, in case you missed it, Weird Rudy enlisted Ukrainian folks affiliated with Dmitry Firtash who is under the tutelage of Semion Mogilevich meaning they were putting Russian money into US elections--while supposedly on a mission to debunk Russian involvement in US elections.

This seems pretty circular and entirely dumb. I guess one of the big questions is "Did Giuliani know this was circular and dumb?" and that should be rapidly followed by "Did Trump know this is returning to the scene of the crime AG Barr just tried to absolve your stupid orange-peel ass of?"

The current issues regarding Trump's impeachment based on the Ukraine call aren't separate from the Mueller report or the longer Russian counterintelligence investigation--they are part of the very same issue with respects to Trump's corruption and biddability by foreign powers. It should be viewed as both the core question of his impeachment, how he abuses his office for any international dealings, whether for emoluments (personal financial gain) or his own personal power, and of his re-election campaign--can someone under such a cloud be considered fit to continue to serve?

I say he never was capable of adhering to his oath of office and has always been illegitimate. But I do not fault those who only now realize what a mistake placing trust in Trump has been (even if you ignored a shit-ton of bigotry and misogyny and other fucknuttery in the process).

Those who stick with him, though? What the entire fuck is wrong with you?

Should We Talk About the Weather?

NEW, exclusive: NOAA staff warned in Sept. 1 directive against contradicting Trump: https://t.co/SbABVx8pec

— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) September 8, 2019

Should we talk about the government? Because it looks like NOAA top brass had to tell their people, whose job is the weather, not to talk about it, because if they contradicted the Little Bronze God in the Oval Temple, what would he do? Maybe reduce their funding through some leger des main trop petit pour un gross homme, in much the same way he is raiding other programs for money to fund his border wall. You better believe people snap to when Trump makes demands if a Rear Admiral decides his job description is "one who covers Trump's entire orange peel rear." (That's the Coast Guard, and in addition to taking a hit from Trump's utterly stupid shut-down shenanigans from last year into this year over wall funding, they too are getting raided for wall money. Maybe the man threw himself on a reputation grenade for his department. I can't be too judgmental about that.) It kind of implies that Trump is running the government like some kind of mob boss.

There's a lot of other indicators, of course. Is the DOJ using a litmus test to decide what local and state governments get grants? Looks like it. That reflects back on Trumpism. Does it look like the same DOJ is being used as a cudgel against the auto industry for siding with California over Trump regarding air pollution? You tell me. Is politicization at the State Department a problem? Check the number of vacancies in that department. Government jobs might not pay the best, but they usually are great at providing a sense of security and focus and usefulness, and now? Not so much. Because everything Trump does undermines professionalism. Everything is corrupt.

The Trump folks are trying to undermine journalism, too, even if the message sometimes gets lost in their incompetence and mendacity. (Eric Trump probably just verified for us that most reporters don't ever assume he's worth asking for the inside dope because, um, well, they assume he's mostly an outside dope. For reasons.) But the games played with Jim Acosta and Brian Karem's press passes, as well as several other journalists', are intended to let them know--you say nice things about the boss, and it'll be all good. Don't make trouble.

What Are you Willing to Believe?

The Saudi government is now willing to admit that Jamal Khashoggi has died, although they are currently saying he died in the event of a fistfight that broke out with himself and about a dozen or fifteen people upon entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul. In the way, you know, that nearly 60-year old men simply acquiring paperwork for their upcoming nuptials will engage in a fistfight with a dozen or so men, especially when they are academically-minded and generally practice "using their words" to accomplish things.  

This is a story too late in the telling and too peculiar in the offering to be taken at face value.  To say that KSA has offered us the barest thread of a reason for what happened to the man whose body (or remains) have not been produced, is saying rather a lot. They seem to be wanting to get in front of whatever the Turks actually have (even if the digital proof is less than advertised, given the hide and seek that had gone on with whether US SOS Mike Pompeo has heard it), and still keep some face about whether whatever happened to the man was entirely KSA's fault. This might have been punctuated with something other that Prince MsB being given purview over any further investigation and being also charged with revamping the KSA intelligence services.

Well great, for MsB. How terrible though, for anyone who was rather hoping they might expect more. It gives every credence to the idea that King Salman is not fully compos mentis, and that Crown Prince Mohammed is making shit up as he goes along. It also reinforces the idea that reform is basically dead in Saudi Arabia--that the fate of the Badawi family, of Ali Al-Nimr, and others, that of people who for what it's worth, who even mildly and eloquently dissent from the view of the Saud family authority, and are severely punished. 

This is a horrifying thing for a government to turn into. This is a horrifying thing, also, for the US government, given what our ideals, constitutionally, should be, to endorse or even merely permit without strong comment backed with sanctions. And yet our weaksauce president, instead of championing human rights and freedom of the press, is still a little thug admiring the talents of other thugs. He champions thuggery here at home, too. 

Damn.

BREAKING: President Trump tweets that he is ousting Sec. of State Tillerson, and plans to replace him with CIA Director Pompeo - https://t.co/kdrUxk2XiK

— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 13, 2018

Huh. Wonder how much this had to do with Tillerson's response to the likely Russian assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal in the UK? (Or was he already fired by then?)

Anyway, while he was responsible for hollowing out the State Department and this shouldn't feel like a gigantic surprise, it still seems...sudden.

UPDATE: Mike Pompeo, who is moving from CIA to State, met with sanctioned Russian spies. Gina Haspel, who Trump is putting forward for CIA Director, is connected to torture. In other personnel news, Trump's personal assistant John McEntee was kicked out of the White House for "unspecified" security reasons, and will be joining Trump's presidential re-election campaign, where, apparently, unspecified security issues are less of a big deal.

UPDATE 2: Per Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Steve Goldstein, Tillerson only found out about his firing by Tweet today, contradicting the White House narrative that the decision was made Friday. In a related story, Steve Goldstein is also fired.

So That UN Vote Should Have Been Expected

UN Ambassador Haley says U.S. "will remember this day in which it was singled out" over Pres. Trump's decision on Jerusalem:

"This vote will make a difference on how Americans look at the UN, and on how we look at countries who disrespect us in the UN" https://t.co/SzZcdmrial pic.twitter.com/zv6HLnB3Ye

— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 22, 2017

The Trump Administration doesn't really seem to have any idea about diplomacy or how alliances work or why governments don't just go around saying they will be "taking names" and threatening foreign aid. There have been lots of stories about how Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is a bad fit for a difficult job and the "hollowing out" of the State Department all around. Nikki Haley was a weird appointment as UN Ambassador to the UN because she has no foreign policy background at all. I think that leaves her just articulating what the Trump Administration line is pretty much unvarnished, and it sounds...well, like bullying and an opportunity for other governments to tell the US to stuff it.

And that's what the vote amounted to.  Even countries that received a good bit of US foreign aid had no qualms about voting for a resolution to condemn the US decision with respects to Jerusalem because they well understand that foreign aid grants aren't just for the benefit of the recipient nation. Even countries on good terms with the US either voted to condemn or abstained. I don't know if the "taking names" language necessarily hurt, but it certainly didn't help. And if the Trump Administration cared about such things, they might note they have a very basic problem that really isn't going to make America "great" in the eyes of the world, at all.