NSFW is now in Websters and Samantha Bee’s message to Ivanka Trump is definitely NSFW.
For those readers who don’t subscribe to The New York Times and The Washington Post, these are some of today’s quotable quotes which I thought were worth sharing from their opinion writers.
What has Trey Gowdy been smoking?
And can we order it in bulk?
The South Carolina Republican, who roared into Congress in the tea-party election of 2010, has been one of the most partisan, vitriolic and conspiracy-minded legislators in his eight years here. As recently as January, he was demanding answers about a bogus “secret society” within the FBI and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe.
But since then, Gowdy has contracted a case of late-onset honesty.
From "What Has Trey Gowdy Been Smoking" by Dana Milband, WaPo
Perhaps the reason Trump voters are so frequently the subject of caricature is that they so frequently conform to type.
O.K., that’s much too sweeping a statement. I know Trump supporters who don’t conform to type, and many of them are writers or talking heads. Let’s hear from them on this — presumably, something other than the muttered excuses and tendentious whataboutism of a political movement that is capable of saying and doing anything except look itself in the eye.
Bret Stephens, "Right About Roseanne" in The NY Times.
By now, we know that President Trump is a lying demagogue. Because this is not said often enough, he has been allowed to routinize lying and enshrine the vilest forms of divisiveness as a normal part of our politics.
Lies do not deserve deference just because a president tells them.
We thought that the media learned during Joseph R. McCarthy’s heyday that “We report the lies, you decide” is not a responsible approach to journalism. Trump’s egregiousness requires everyone to take a refresher course in the lesson of McCarthyism.
At the same time, just calling out deceit is insufficient. It is essential as well to understand why Trump tells particular lies at particular moments and to be hardheaded in judging how effective they are. This is a precondition to turning back the smears and the falsehoods.
Trump’s address Tuesday at a Nashville rally was a lollapalooza of deception. He kept the fact-checkers busy. PolitiFact raised doubts about 15 of his statements and flatly rated 10 of them as “mostly false,” “false” or “pants on fire.”
E.J. Dionne, Jr., "Call Out His Lies. He Depends on Them," WAPO
And this from “How Giuliani wins by being 'the craziest guy in the room”, DANA Bash, CNN.
"If there is a room full of people trying to have a discussion, and there is a screaming baby, what is everyone going to think about? The screaming baby. Giuliani is the screaming baby," explained one source familiar with this strategy. Or, put another way, the same source said, "Who is going to get the most attention? The craziest guy in the room."
The wackiest of the all the Trump-smitten, Roger Stone laments that he has had to drain the college fund he set up for his five grandchildren in an interview with The Daily Beast (“Roger Stone Will ‘Never’ Betray Trump—Even if the President Isn’t Speaking to Him Right Now”) to pay for lawyers supposedly to prove he's innocent (which of course he isn’t) begging the obvious that if he wants to save money he should simply plead guilty. I'm not surprised to learn he wrote a book called Stone’s Rules: How to Win at Politics, Business, and Style. Daily Beast provides some, dare I say, entertaining, quotes:
Rule # 4: “Past is Fucking Prologue”: “To understand the future, you must study the past.”
Rule #9: “Dress with Sprezzatura”: “A gentleman must show a graceful, easy carelessness. Never reveal calculation or effort.”
Rule #14: “Never Be Scared of Anyone or Anything.”
Rule #25: “A Black Square-bottomed Knitted Silk Tie is a Necessity.”
Rule #36: “Brown is The Color of Shit.”
Rule #41: “Attack, Attack Attack—Never Defend.”
Rule #54: “Hate Is A Stronger Motivator Than Love.”
Rule #64: “Campaign Finance Reform Has Done for Politics What Pantyhose Has Done For Finger Fucking.”
Rule #103: “Never Ride in a White Limousine.”
Factoid you may have missed:
Dinesh D'Souza is a prominent Christian activist; he used to be the president of a Christian college but resigned after he became engaged to one woman while still married to another. NPR (Hmmmm, a kindred Trump spirit.)
Last (for now) from the monster that really is under the bed:
Not that it matters but I never fired James Comey because of Russia! The Corrupt Mainstream Media loves to keep pushing that narrative, but they know it is not true!
Here’s a chance to share your quotes.
Thursday, May 31, 2018 · 4:36:00 PM +00:00 · HalBrown
My own contribution:
There are most likely perspectives of Trump's megalomania yet to be revealed. I expect that as the reality of his predicament (facing impeachment) begins to somehow get through his defenses (both rigid and delusional) we will see more narcissistic rage. I can't rule out psychotic episodes, but what do I know since I'ven never had or know of a patient remotely like him? Hitler committed suicide when the Russian soldiers were almost at the door of his bunker. Instead of hiding out in Berchtesgarden, a small town in the Bavarian Alps where he owned a home he did the honorable thing. Yet in many ways, Hitler was less psychopathological than Trump. From history, we learn that he had a far better relationship with Eva Braun, (whom he married only two days before their double suicide) and his dog Blondi than the petless Trump has ever had with any of his wives.