Search Results for: trump

Yesterday's Bad News for Donald Trump
Well, there are sure plenty of items to pick from…

• Former U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was pretty effective in her testimony Friday. She blew up the G.O.P. talking point that when Trump pressed Ukraine for investigations, he was trying to root out corruption, rather than dig up dirt on a political opponent.
• And when Trump tweeted attacks on her during her testimony, he opened himself up to charges of trying to intimidate a witness.
• Meanwhile, Trump buddy-enabler Roger Stone was found guilty on seven criminal counts mostly relating to helping Donald Trump…you know, by doing things like trying to intimidate witnesses.
• And you have state department officials going around saying that Trump damaged Ukrainian national security, U.S. national security, and U.S. international credibility.
• And David Holmes, an aide to William Taylor, said in private testimony that he heard the phone conversation where Trump asked Gordon Sondland how things were going with the push to get the president of Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.  According to Holmes, Sondland told Trump that Ukraine President Zelensky "loves your ass" [meaning Trump's ass] will do anything he's asked to do.
• Plus, there's now some evidence indicating Trump and Rudy Giuliani directly ordered Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman (the two Soviet-born businessmen arrested last month at Dulles Airport) to undertake what Parnas described as "a secret mission" to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

So take your choice. And by the way, you know that it wasn't absolutely necessary that Ukraine uncover actual dirt on the Bidens. Trump would probably have been satisfied with anything so long as the Bidens weren't cleared and he could say the investigations were ongoing. Then all through the election, Trump would have said, "Oh God, I'm hearing from sources in Ukraine that they're finding so much corruption…they can't even finish the investigation, there's so much of it."

Yesterday's Outrage by Donald Trump
Again, many to pick from but I'm going to go with Trump's attacks on Marie Yovanovitch, not just because because they were ill-timed but because, like most Trump smearing of anyone, it was factually incorrect.

An Article of Interest
Daniel Larison discusses Trump's misuse of the President's power to pardon war criminals. He's a lot nicer to those who commit atrocities than he is to the ones who perform genuine acts of heroism and merit.

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
Republicans continue to argue that whatever deal was made to withhold aid to the Ukraine until the leadership there agreed to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden was made without Trump's knowledge. According to Jonathan Chait…

Yesterday, however, William Taylor testified that a member of his staff heard [Gordon] Sondland, in Kiev on a cell phone, speaking with President Trump, and that Trump asked about Ukraine opening "investigations." After the call, Sondland told the staffer, David Holmes, that Trump's highest priority in Ukraine was securing an investigation of the Bidens. Today, the Associated Press reports a second staffer, Suriya Jayanti, also heard the call.

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
Trump continues to believe that the main thing going well in the Middle East is that "we" (presumably meaning the United States) is somehow getting the oil in the Syrian fields. The Department of Defense insists this is not so but Trump either doesn't care what they think or just likes saying it.

An Article of Interest
Matthew Yglesias and Andrew Prokop have compiled what they call "The ultimate guide to the Donald Trump impeachment saga." I don't know how ultimate it is but it will certainly answer a lot of questions you may have about the whole messy business.

It does not however answer one of mine. In large part, these hearings revolve around the phone conversation that Trumph had with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, and what was said in a "transcript" of that conversation that was released by the White House. Trump said it was an "exact" transcription of the conversation "done by very talented people that do this." But right there on the transcript is this disclaimer:

CAUTION: A Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation. TELCON is not a verbatim transcript of a discussion. The text in this document records the notes and recollections of Situation Room Duty "Officers and-NSC policy staff assigned to listen and memorialize the conversation in written form as the conversation takes place. A number of factors can affect the accuracy of the record, including poor telecommunications connections and variations in accent and/or interpretation. The word "inaudible" is used to indicate portions of a conversation that the notetaker was unable to hear.

So my question is: Is there a better transcript or a recording of the call? And if the White House doesn't have one, does Ukraine? If not, why not? And if so, am I missing demands that it be produced? Especially after Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman testified that there were important things said that were omitted from the "transcript?" It seems to me this would matter.

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
Trump's lawyers keep fighting in the courts over a New York law that, if you just read it, says that his tax returns can be subpoenaed. And they keep losing.

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
As the House Intelligence committee continues to release transcripts of its in-secret hearings, Trump continues to complain that chairman Adam Schiff is doctoring the transcripts. But lawyers for some of the witnesses whose testimony has been released don't seem to think that, nor do Republican members of the committee who participated in those interrogations. Will Trump stick with his charge and refuse to retract it? Hey, does a goose go barefoot?

An Article of Interest
Trump and his minions continue to demand that the Whistleblower be identified and cross-examined. It's pretty obvious that they want to smear the guy (and scare off other potential whistleblowers) and that if they can in any way discredit him — say, if he voted for a Democrat in the last twenty years — then they'll argue that that voids his allegations and proves them to be phony. Never mind that most of them have been independently corroborated, in many cases by Trump appointees and associates. William Saletan discusses how much corroboration there has been.

Sorry I skipped a couple of days here. Every so often, I need some Trump-free time in my life.

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
There are a number to pick from but I'm going to go with the one that brings the headline: "Court Fines Trump $2 Million for Diverting Money From Veterans Fundraiser to His Campaign." Remember when stealing from Veterans was a bad thing?

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
Apparently, we're leaving the phase where Trump describes his quid pro quo arrangements as "a perfect call" and insisting that if you "read the transcript" (the one which says right on it that it isn't a transcript), you'll see clearly that no crime was committed. The new phase is that, yes, there may have been a crime but Trump is innocent and the ones to blame are U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland, Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and maybe even the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney. Trump is already claiming that he barely knew Sondland.

An Article of Interest
Derek Thompson reports — surprise, surprise! — that the big G.O.P. tax cuts for wealthy folks that were supposed to grow the economy for all failed to do this. As they do every time it's tried…

Donald Trump's signature legislative achievement was the corporate-tax cut he signed in 2017. Republicans said it would grow the economy by up to 6 percent, stimulate business investment, and pay for itself. None of those promises have come to pass. GDP growth has declined to less than 2 percent according to the latest report, released yesterday. Business investment has now declined for two straight quarters, dragging down economic growth. And the federal deficit exceeds $1 trillion.

There's some good news about the economy in there too but when Trump brags how great he's been for business investment, someone oughta throw those numbers in his face.

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
…and there's plenty of it, starting with Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the EU, flipping his previous testimony to say that, by golly, he suddenly remembers that there was a clear quid pro quo in the Ukraine deal. It's getting harder and harder for Trump and his supporters to deny, though they'll find a way. You also have reporters and others diving into the newly-released testimony in the impeachment probe and to top it all off…election results! Trump campaigned hard for Matt Bevin, the Repub governor of Kentucky and even beseeched the crowd, "You can't let it [Bevin's defeat] happen to me!" They did and meanwhile, Democrats now control both the House and Senate in Virginia.

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
We don't know for sure Trump's behind it but an awful lot of Republicans are suddenly demanding that everyone ignore a certain law.  It's the one that protects the anonymity of whistleblowers like the one who blew the whistle on The Great Ukrainian Quid Pro Quo.  You know…that unfair law written by Republicans and passed with Republican votes.  They don't like their own handiwork when the whistle that's blown is blown for thee…

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
From New York magazine: "A federal appeals court ruled on Monday morning that President Trump must turn over eight years of personal and corporate tax returns, financial information that he has thus far successfully shielded from the public since he entered political life." Actually, I think that's a tiny bit wrong. The forms were subpoenaed from Mazars USA, Trump's accounting firm and it's they who would turn over the forms, not Trump. As I understand it, Trump's argument is that he is immune from prosecution so he is therefore immune from investigation. The whole matter's destined to wind up at the U.S. Supreme Court whose members will rule however they want to rule. As I look at how bad Supreme Court watchers have been doing the last few years in predicting how votes will go, I wouldn't want to hazard a guess.

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
From Vox: "The Trump administration on Monday started the official process of pulling the United States out of the Paris climate agreement. The U.S., currently the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases and responsible for the largest share of historical emissions, is now the only country in the world to back out of the accord." I still don't understand the reason for this except for Trump's insistence that any agreement not negotiated by Donald Trump is a terrible, lousy, bad, stinky deal and that any agreement negotiated by Donald Trump will be a great, wonderful, perfect deal.

I posted this last night but I just noticed that a technical glitch ate it…

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
Well, of course, it's that the House of Representatives voted, albeit pretty much on party lines, to formalize its impeachment inquiry regarding President Donald Trump. It should have been no surprise to anyone but just before the vote, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Fox & Friends, "Impeachment is simple math, you either have the votes or you don't. And guess what — dirty little secret — they don't have the votes." An hour or so later, they had 232 of them. They only needed 218.

You've gotta wonder if Trump or someone around him actually believed they didn't have the votes and told her to say it — and if so, what good did they think that would do? Meanwhile, let's see what Ms. Conway's husband George was saying on Twitter…

It's simply astounding to me how many people continue to be willing to sacrifice their honor and reputation to defend a man who has no redeeming moral virtues, and who is well on his way to well-earned self-destruction.

Hey, pal! That's your wife you're talking about! It's gotta be so much fun at their house.

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
I don't even know what to say about this…

The president reflected on the shooting of House Minority Whip Steve Scalise a few years ago and remarked how tough the Louisiana Republican is — and Trump quipped he wouldn't recommend getting shot as a weight loss plan. Trump also said Scalise's wife "cried her eyes out when I met her at the hospital that fateful day — I mean not many wives would react that way to tragedy, I know mine wouldn't."

Bonus Article About Trump
Hey, I'm linking to an article on the Fox News site! Judge Andrew Napolitano is usually one of those "the government is always wrong" guys, especially when the government is controlled by Democrats. But he thinks the impeachment inquiry hearings to date are perfectly Kosher and done in strict accordance with rules that Republicans voted to accept. He also thinks that the evidence that — well, here. I'll let you read it for yourself…

Congressional Republicans should be careful what they ask for. Their defense of the president has addressed process, not proof. The proof is largely undisputed, except by the president himself. It consists of admissions, testimony and documents, which show that Trump sought to induce the government of Ukraine to become involved in the 2020 presidential election.

I guess we'll be hearing soon that Napolitano is human scum, that he has allegiance to other countries, that he's always been a left-wing looney, etc. Insulting the messenger seems to be the only defense they have against the message.

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
Trump kept saying that the infamous transcript of his "perfect" telephone conversation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was complete, total, utterly accurate, etc. But folks are starting to notice that Corporal Alexander Vindman was identifying important words and phrases that were left out of it. If Vindman is right, the incriminating document is even more incriminating…and Trump lied about it when he said it was word for word. Lying about material evidence is a lot more serious than most of his other lying.

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
A lot of the folks complaining about illegal immigration don't like any immigration at all. They're getting their wish as Trump has quietly cut legal immigration by 65%. Read all about it.

And Trump is becoming more and more obsessive about stealing Syria's oil. Has no one told him this would be a violation of international law? Or does he just not care about those laws any more than he cares about ours?

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
I guess the worst news is that the impeachment inquiry will become more of a formal thing with a vote on Thursday. One must assume that if Nancy Pelosi is putting it to a vote, she knows she has the votes to pass it. But the worst news for Trump could also be the testimony of Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council staffer and a US Army lieutenant colonel. Vindman was on the line for the two phone calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and says he heard Trump demand that Ukraine investigate the Bidens. How many people now have corroborated the Whistleblower's charges? Also, Vindman says the transcript left out a lot of damaging things that were said. ("What? It could be even worse?")

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
The racist sliming of Colonel Vindman is pretty bad but we don't know how much of that was at the dictation by Trump. The continued bragging and fact-distortion of the raid that "got" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is outrageous, especially the stuff Trump says that the generals say didn't happen. But I'm going to go with the decision to admit no more refugees into the country for a while, leaving many stranded without a place to go. So many to choose from.

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
"A White House official who listened to President Trump's July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will tell House investigators on Tuesday that he was so alarmed by the Ukraine pressure campaign that he twice alerted a top White House lawyer. Lt Col. Alexander Vindman, who has served on the National Security Council since 2018, will recount overhearing U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland — a key player in the pressure campaign — discuss with Ukrainian officials the need for the country to launch investigations into the 2016 election and the Bidens in order to secure a Zelensky meeting with Trump." This is…what? The fifth or sixth bit of corroborating testimony that backs up the whistleblower? Fuller details here.

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
Trump keeps saying he's in favor the U.S. seizing the assets of other countries — Iraq's oil, especially. This is a blatant violation of international law but Trump either doesn't know or doesn't care, probably both. Jonathan Chait has more. And as Will Peischel notes, Trump wants to keep Climate Change off the agenda of topics to be discussed at the next G-7 summit. Lovely.

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
The death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the founder and leader of the Islamic State, should have been sorta Good News for Trump but he managed to ruin that by (a) being on the golf course when it happened (b) faking a photo later of himself with the military leaders to look like he was seriously involved, (c) trying hard to take the same credit he argued should be denied to Obama for the death of bin Laden and (d) reviving his old claim that he predicted 9/11. He made that prediction, he claimed, in one of his books — you know, the ones written by others, the ones he probably never read. Those who've searched the books cannot find quite what he is claiming.

And Fred Kaplan explains why killing the ISIS leader is a big deal but not in the way Trump tried to make it out to be.

Today's First Runner-Up Bad News for Donald Trump
He was also greeted with boos and chants of "Lock him up!" at the World Series game he attended. I'm sure he heard it all as cheering and demands for "Four more years! Four more years!"

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
Trump keeps claiming that his administration will eliminate AIDS within ten years and that the previous administration spent no money on this problem. As FactCheck.org notes, the previous administration spent about the same amount of money on it as this one and no one working on the problem thinks they can eliminate that awful disease. The real goal is just to make it not as common.

Bonus Link About Donald Trump
The Wall Street Journal is still apparently in the White House despite its "defense" of Trump which basically came down to "He's too inept to commit a high crime or misdemeanor." Gene Healy of the Cato Institute explains why that ineptness is even more reason to toss the guy outta office.

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
This may be more like bad news for acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney but his predecessor in the job, John Kelly, has been talking to the press. Kelly said, "I said, whatever you do — and we were still in the process of trying to find someone to take my place — I said whatever you do, don't hire a 'yes man,' someone who won't tell you the truth — don't do that. Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached." In other words, Trump doesn't know what he's doing and Mulvaney's been doing a bad job of reining him in.

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
And of course, the Trump response to Kelly is the same one he has to anyone who suggests he's anything less than perfect and brilliant. He suggests the critic is an inept loser. And then White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said what she knew Trump would have wanted her to say — or maybe he told her what to say. She said, "I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President." Here's the article on both the Bad News and the Outrage.

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
The other day, we noted that when the Quinnipiac Poll asked voters if Congress should impeach Trump and remove him from office, the numbers had gone from 37% "Yes" and 57% "No" a month ago to 48% "Yes" and 46% "No." Trump probably dismissed that because it was Quinnipiac. He always cites the Rasmussen Poll which is widely considered a pro-Republican poll and which has been better for him than any other major poll. Well, his approval rating with Rasmussen a month ago was 53% Approve and 45% Disapprove…and now those numbers have just about reversed to 43% Approve and 56% Disapprove. That's gotta have been the cause of some yelling.

Today's Runner-Up Bad News for Donald Trump
Then there's this: "The House is legally engaged in an impeachment inquiry, a federal judge ruled on Friday, delivering a major victory to House Democrats and undercutting arguments by President Trump and Republicans that the investigation is a sham." Also: "The House Judiciary Committee is entitled to view secret grand jury evidence gathered by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, Judge Howell ruled in a 75-page opinion. Attorney General William P. Barr had withheld the material from lawmakers." So not a great day on that front.

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
Remember when Republicans used to scream about budget deficits and Trump said it would be a piece o'cake for someone with his financial genius to eradicate the deficit? Well, here's a headline from U.S.A. Today: "2019 US federal budget deficit surges to nearly $1 trillion, the highest in 7 years." That's pretty expensive cake.

Bonus Trump Dump Link
Having trouble understanding what Trump did in "UkraineGate" (we could have done without that name) that's impeachable? Kevin Drum lays it out in a simple timeline.

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
So far, the Trump scandals have been curiously free of the sex kind but that may be changing. Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos has resurfaced with her claims that Trump sexually assaulted her in 2007 and she claims to have new evidence. In the meantime, a new book that lists many other such allegations is beginning to get some attention.

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
The A.C.L.U. says that under Trump's policies, a lot more immigrant families were separated than has previously been acknowledged. Of all the shameful things done by this administration…well, I was going to say this was the worst but what's happened in the Syria/Turkey mess has probably topped it.

Bonus Trump Dump Link
Our man Fred Kaplan reminds us that there are fifty (count 'em — 50!) nukes in Turkey. As if the situation over there wasn't dangerous enough without them…

Today's Bad News for Donald Trump
This blog has always been a big fan of the Quinnipiac Poll, even when it said something that I did not want to believe was so. On the question of whether Congress should impeach Trump and remove him from office, the numbers a month ago were 37% "Yes, they should" and 57% "No, they should not." Now they're 48% Yes and 46% No and this doesn't even include any slippage from the revelations of the last few days or Trump's nuttier public outbursts.

Today's Outrage by Donald Trump
This one's actually from an attorney of his. You may remember when Trump said, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters." Actually, if the person he shot was a Trump voter, he'd probably lose that Trump voter but he might not lose many more than that.

Well now, one of Trump's attorneys is claiming that under the Constitution, Trump could shoot that (hopefully hypothetical) person and not be charged with a crime…and what's more, it would be illegal to even investigate the crime. If you want to know what some people mean by "above the law," it doesn't get any clearer than this.

Bonus Trump Dump Link
Do you understand what Ambassador Bill Taylor said that was so damaging to Trump's version of the Ukraine deal? I didn't fully understand it until I read this piece by William Saletan. Pretty damning.