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Kagro in the Morning - July 9, 2018
David Waldman is in Iceland, hopefully soaking up its picturesque, cultural and more idiosyncratic highlights during his stay. Yet, he still finds time to put together special pre-recorded KITM's for us!
Are you ready for some association football? World Cup fever is sweeping the nation (probably, idk) but KITM listeners are also aware that even though team soccer began with the best of intentions, it eventually attracted multi-million dollar corruption... and James Comey, and David Waldman, who devoted hours to its coverage in 2015.
What does this have to do with the fix we're in, here, today? Just about everything, it seems. David follows the warp and weft of the threads of malfeasance sewn through the Trump/Putin/FIFA tapestry of corruption:
Long before The Dossier, Vladimir Putin caught Christopher Steele's attention. Steele and the old-school shoe leather reporting of Andrew Jennings led Multi-millionaire Trump pal cat fancier, Chuck Blazer to eventually turn snitch, taking down FIFA President Sepp Blatter, and keeping corruption at FIFA to a minimum medium.
Trump's Miss Universe business partner, "Trump of Russia" Aras Agalarov, used unpaid migrant labor to build two World Cup stadiums. Now he's part of the Russia Probe.
The terrorism money trail leads to poaching, and lions follow the poaching trail!
Direct download: Soccer_corruption_podcast_64.mp3
Category:News & Politics -- posted at: 11:00am EST
Fri, 6 July 2018
Kagro in the Morning "Encore Performance" - October 12, 2016 airing July 6, 2018
By special listener request—which is a great excuse to avoid conducting the search for an appropriate show—we today present what this one, special listener proclaimed to be our "greatest episode."
Why would Donald Trump invest in beauty pageants and modeling agencies? Yes, that answer seems simple, but once you look beneath the obvious Trumpian layer of wanton, remorseless sleaze it all just becomes more dirty, sordid, cruel, misogynistic, and illegal. Today is the day David Waldman starts to peel away layers of that very rotten onion.
The bulk of this KITM is devoted to David's annotated recitation of "We All Knew About the Trafficking." The Untold Story of Trump Model Management (Part 1) by SwedishJewfish. This is a great introduction to the author's other thoughts and narratives, as well the beginning of our deep dive into Trump's golden cesspool to discover these Trumpettes: Chester the Molester, John Casablancas, Jeffrey Epstein, Eliot Spitzer, Roger Stone, and their many, many victims.
Direct download: Daily_Kos_Radio_06_July_18_Kagro_in_The_Morning_Reprise_of_12_Oct_16_FA_64.mp3
Thu, 5 July 2018
While David Waldman gets his Hallbjarnarstaðakambur on, we still have the opportunity to enjoy NEW pre-recorded KITMs! David recorded today's show as an in-depth backgrounder to prepare us somewhat, so our upcoming plunges into chaos might feel a bit less chaotic:
The UK interests Vladimir Putin just as much as the US, so it pays to study the parallels between what's happening now and the events leading to Brexit. Russians offered business deals to Brexit's biggest backer.
Donald Trump's empty head equals a blank slate, spotless, ready and waiting for the Russians, Israel and Gulf States to scrawl their New World Order upon. Here is a detailed look into how well that has worked so far.
Direct download: Trump_World_Order_podcast_64.mp3
Wed, 4 July 2018
Kagro in the Morning "Encore Performance" - July 4, 2017 airing July 4, 2018
We've made it to our second July 4th with Trump as "president." But we still only have one July 4th show during that time. And guess what? This is it!
Remember when North Korea wasn't our newest bestie? Well, back then, North Korea launched another missile, but Donald Trump anger-tweeted them, so don't worry about it.
In the meantime, we used the holiday quiet period (minus the threat of rogue nation nuclear missiles) to catch up on Jay Sekulow's sekret sektarian skimming, s(k)pecifically that of his son Logan, a racket that netted him nearly a million bucks, and which began at the tender age of 18.
A Florida judge drew the line on the state's then-newly expanded "Stand Your Ground" law. It may yet be erased, but it gave us another opportunity to discuss the inappropriate short-circuiting of long-established principles of law, because guns are cool and gun owners shouldn't be bothered with the responsibility of abiding by the law, because they're so law-abiding and stuff.
Only KITM would take you on this extensive a tour of the definitional minutiae of the emoluments clauses. But you can't tell the players without a program.
And finally, yes there already was evidence of collusion. And plenty of it. Even Republicans were starting to acknowledge it. A year ago.
Direct download: July_4_2017_64_2.mp3
As the old saying goes, if you can't stand the heat, get out of Virginia and hang out in Iceland. That's just what David Waldman's doing, but not before joining Armando on today's KITM to bring the heat on those that deserve to sweat:
More details emerge on the antics of our King of Debt, around the period of his cash-only spending spree a dozen years ago, and his failed attempts to buy the landmark St. Andrews hotel in Scotland.
Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley asked to lower American flags in honor of the fatal shooting of five employees of The Capital newspaper. Donald wasn't feeling it. Donald Trump doesn't feel empathy or shame, but he did eventually feel the heat, so the flags go to half-staff.
Trump never trusted George W. Bush, or Barack Obama, but Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad are two he can always rely upon.
Rhode Island Democrats troll the libs by primarying their own representative with an alt-Right Trump supporter.
Alan Dershowitz feels the brunt of the anti-Alan Dershowitz sentiment sweeping the country, especially around Martha's Vineyard.
Melania Trump wants you to read only good news about her, and pay her for looking at her. So far that plan is going well.
Independent journalist Marcy Wheeler, @emptywheel, puts a human face—her own—to the risk posed to witnesses from the Gop's interference with the DOJ.
Direct download: July_3_2018_64.mp3
Another LIVE KITM today! And, another tomorrow. The next day? Who knows? (Maybe we will by Tuesday...)
ProPublica and David Waldman reveal Trump staffing's "don't ask, don't tell" ethics compliance certification.
Greg Dworkin tells us to not mourn, but organize. Don't waste your time with civility. Historically it has never worked...except in reducing annoying uppityness. Some in the media gentry warn Democrats to check their ungracious behavior lest it reflect badly upon us. What's the difference with Donald Trump's conduct? In a word, class. A concept beyond us coastal elites, that Donald just gets. Paula (Apynys) Writer tells us receiving incivilities from us is part of the price Republicans need to pay. Susan Collins prefers to lied to in the nicest possible way.
Republicans near their goal of overturning Roe. Reaching it could backfire, unless "their goal" is "overturning Roe". That would be a "win" for them, which they'd follow by eliminating any other rights they didn't like, like yours. Trump's White Power initiative might falter as he makes many whites less powerful.
Donald knows the importance of civility. He has asked Saudi Arabia to please increase their oil production, reduce their profit and help us out a bit, but there's some topics he won't even broach with our good neighbor Vladimir Putin.
Fri, 29 June 2018
Remember the good old days when David Waldman could go on a summer vacation and we would think "Oh, what news could happen?" rather than "Oh, how much worse could it get?" Well, we get to find out the answer when David comes back July 16... Meanwhile, we can reminisce with some reruns of hand-selected "Before Trump" and "Early Trump" KITMs! Plus specially recorded Kagros recorded just for the occasion! Starting next week!
But first, today's news:
Five dead at The Capital Gazette. Did Trump seriously or literally want the "enemy of the people" punished this way? When questioned, Donald Trump shambled away from reporters, throwing thoughts and prayers at them to make his temporary escape.
Weird, but Trump seems to have had his act together when it came to shoving Anthony Kennedy out the door. That's probably because he had several years to pull the plan together. There's a lot more coming out on this "special relationship," soon, which is apparent from all that static surrounding the story. David regrets his ableist enabling.
The Donald finally gets that big beautiful military parade that he's been wanting and deserving. Maybe then Vlad will respect him. If not, Donald has in mind more gifts to impress before their big date.
Women show their might, saving us all by shoving the Overton Window back into a sane position on immigration.
Don't get too cheery, it's still awful out there. Republicans have gerrymandered the electoral college, and are gerrymandering the judicial branch. The Supreme Court is set to give some oomph to Trump's pardon power, while the Gop everywhere is delighted to offer any two-faced dishonesty needed in their takeover/destruction of everything. Have a good weekend!
Thu, 28 June 2018
HYPOCRISY overtakes civility in the punditocratic hive-mind today. Aren't Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump going to play fair when they know the press will hold them accountable? Are Democrats allowed to say anything? KITM tells you all you need to know:
Greg Dworkin and Armando have a raucous little exchange over who sees the forest, and who sees just the trees on Democratic electoral priorities for November. Both agree on the asymmetries of the parties' power and goals: White privilege is a Republican priority because as the Left is used to disparate constituencies, group interests, and in many cases not being white, the Right is used to being white and winning.
And there goes another branch of government. 5 guys in the right costume can make you do anything. David Waldman postulates a strange alternate universe in which congressional procedure matters anymore, as well as a more conceivable variant where we just shut it all down.
Meanwhile, the people that don't like giving foreign people US resources are building US facilities to indefinitely feed and house tens of thousands of them, rather than to send them home. Immigrant children as young as 3 are being ordered into court for their own deportation proceedings. Oh yes, it will get worse before it gets better.
David Waldman and KITM welcome Wednesday, and our Wednesday correspondents, friends and listeners. Everything else kind of sucks:
So now it's cool to be civil? Fox News knows that if you set up a camera and wait, pretty soon you'll see feces thrown. If this incivility keeps up, even beltway pundits won't be able to eat anywhere higher than 2 stars. You don't need a weatherman to know which way David Gergen blows, and those others who wish for a more refined discourse. As always, the Right encourages more civil behavior, as in "The Civil War".
Civilly, Greg Dworkin points out there is in fact a lot of good news, and a lot of it happened last night. Dynamic young Latinas like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will make America great again. Compelling candidates and compelling races are heading our way in November.
More good news: In Virginia, voters are 2-1 anti-Gop, and Trump is killing his own incumbent. Battleground states want a Democratic congress to stop Trump until we can all civilly show him the door. Republicans assist in the effort: Steve King delivers neo-Nazi messages, while the House prioritizes Hillary's emails. Donald's BFF Kim Jong Un returns to his first love, little rockets.
Joan McCarter reports that the House will vote on the immigration bill that won't pass, no matter how much Trump screams at them.
Reality Winner pleads guilty as part of a plea deal.
Megan McArdle loves caps, periods, and debating civics, manages to be incorrect in all three.
David Waldman never loses sight of, and always points us to the correct issues. There are a lot of them however, so quick, hop on the KITM tourbus, plug in your earbuds and let's go:
Each week, thousands get banned from restaurants because the owner, employees or patrons don't want them there. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is one of those people. Driving by the Red Hen, Donald Trump notices things are amiss, which seems to be the hygiene technique employed at his restaurants. David Axelrod wonders how you'd feel if you were him and couldn't eat out that night? Normally, it's nice to be nice, but it's not normal anymore. (Hopping Mad tells us how to pull together an effective protest in minutes!)
Greg Dworkin assures us that the media are now returning to focus, even as Trump goes full fascist. Trump was exposed as such a weakling that even his base is beginning to pity him, and even Godwin is up for calling Nazis Nazis. Trump's plan for deportation without a judge or due process could become reality tomorrow. But, although people do generally object to baby jails, they still prefer to keep the blame off themselves, therefore we have a history of such things we prefer to avoid addressing. As you might guess, MS-13 is Trump's go-to scapegoat. (Hey, whatever happened to ISIS?) Fascists have a history of not caring.
Defense Secretary James Mattis falls out of the loop, as if Donald had one. The Iowa GOP bets it all on Trump, as if they had a choice. Harley-Davidson cashes in some of its chips because of Trump.
Good news: Democrats keep outperforming the partisan lean in Senate races, and progressives are getting attention.
Can we count on Trump's incompetence? Mini-Trump Paul LePage shuts down road repairs and thousands of jobs, only LePage knows why. Kris Kobach remains incompetent, and no one can stop him.
David Waldman, tormented by the slow drip of societal decay, brought about by our Slow Drip in Chief, continues to ask #wherearethegirls? A question sadly on fewer lips this morning than last. Donald Trump could only pretend to care for a few minutes in a row, but that was good enough to sucker Republicans for a day and just maybe enough protesters to get back to business as usual. Or… maybe it was a watershed moment, as more start to hear what is really going on there.
Meanwhile, do we really care about that Jacket? All sorts of Kremlinology popped up after Melania's Potemkin visit to Texas yesterday. Perhaps a medievalist could explain Queen Melania's strategy, or you could just ask an alt-right white-power Nazi what's up. Paula Apynys' (aka Paula Writer) fashion analysis concludes that all eventually turns to turds around Donald, even though Melania has been kind of turdy for some time now.
Man of many conflicts, Wilbur Ross, reinstated the question of citizenship into the 2020 census, but it wasn't a question of justice, but rather commerce that inspired him.
Even Greg Norman would tell you that takes some balls. Speaking of which, look at what this Pecker was up to at The National Enquirer—colluding with Michael Cohen.
The White House hopes to combine the Education and Labor departments, on their way to destroy both.
The biggest beneficiary of the Trump Economy is the Trump economy.
Trump continues to build bridges between the dumbasses and the deluded at his latest VIP Rally.
Hey, tell your digital assistant to holler over to your streaming device to remind you that Hopping Mad is back from hiatus on Monday, starting about an hour before this show! Yay!
Donald Trump always wanted immigration to be be the issue everyone talked about. He just did not want it to be the issue anyone thought about. David Waldman, Greg Dworkin and Armando are here to help us both think and talk on the matter:
Americans are now thinking about immigration, and they like it, and how Democrats handle it. They sure don't like how it is being handled now. Some are refusing to be complicit anymore, many are stepping up to make direct changes.
Donald saw it all himself on the telly-telly, so now he purports to be be suddenly changing his ways on immigrants and families. Trump purports a lot of things. Remember when we used to believe some of the things a president said or did? Ivanka said she was against all of this, after daddy told her it was ok to talk. Melania heads out to photo op solutions. You'll never hear it from Trump, but so far this has been a total surrender. Even a real executive order couldn't pass the court.
Our feckless Congress comes ready for battle, only to discover they're still fresh out of fecks to give. Maybe they can slip Trump $25 billion, maybe $125 billion to make this blow over.
No one knows Trump's next move, but it might involve being a cynical back-stabbing repugnant racist hypocritical dotard. The New York Times reminds us that Hollywood celebrities cuss, too.
Welcome to the middle—the middle of the week, and the middle of a fascist takeover of our government. David Waldman and KITM are here to help us over the hump:
Greg Dworkin takes us into the middle of the political firestorm. Republicans will not win this, and they know it.
Children are taken from their parents, not to another room, but to baby jails thousands of miles away, to be processed by foster homes. No reports yet of medical experimentation on twins, but the day is young and things are moving fast.
This is not just a political, but a moral crisis. We all need to pick our track, hopefully not the track to mass atrocity. We are better than that. After 30 years, Steve Schmidt leaves the Trump party.
Donald Trump says Ivanka Trump says family separations are bad, at least the images of family separations are bad. Hey, wait a second, did you know Canadians are smuggling shoes?
Corey Lewandowski, Kirstjen Nielsen, and Sean Spicer create a boom in guillotine futures.
Joan McCarter tells us Republicans have a plan: pretend to help kids, help Trump. Trump doesn't have an immigration plan to offer the House Gop, but he does have a plan to shut down government if he doesn't get his wall. The Republican 2018 reelection plan: Cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Breaking: Donald Trump says he'll fix everything. (Donald Trump lies.)
#WhereAreTheGirls? We still don't know. Which only adds to the growing sense of crisis. And of course, stories like this don't help put us at ease. Nor do pictures like this one. And if you think I'm just kidding, don't forget Donald Trump's actual record on the trafficking and abuse of young women and girls.
Oh, and then there was that time he let his friend Jeffrey Epstein romp through Perv-a-Lago, and when he was finally sentenced with a slap on the wrist. By the way, what ever happened to that terrible prosecutor?
But I'm sure this particular inconceivable outrage really is beyond the pale, even for Trump. Though then again, with Trump, sex cult-level weirdness has an almost miraculous way of finding nesting space close by. Just saying! By the way, what ever happened to that terrible sex cult guy's super consultant?
Still more communities of faith join in the condemnation.
Kris Kobach is pummeled in court again. And this time he literally gets schooled.
Did you know that some Dem Senators once considered Sago Mine murderer-turned-Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to be among Trump's most honest cabinet picks? Ha ha! Well, he's not.
What did you know about Kaliningrad? Did you know there was this weird Russian "island" in the middle of what's now NATO? Did you know they were upgrading their nuclear weapons facilities?
It's Week 74 of The Presidential Apprentice, issue 689 of my coverage of David Waldman's coverage of Donald Trump, and I don't know, I must be doing something wrong, 'cause that jerk's still around. (No, not David… Donald):
Also very nice guy Greg Dworkin tells us about those who very much aren't: Republicans approve of the Trump policy of torturing children by separating them from their parents. Republican lawmakers, just as evil, slightly smarter, are pushing to roll back the "zero tolerance" part of the policy. Laura Bush's heart is broken. US. Catholic Bishops declare the policy immoral. The New York Post is demanding changes. Susan Collins is troubled. Melania Trump thinks this must be someone's fault. The Trump staff lays down as many smokescreens as possible. Steve Doocy doesn't see any cages. Kirstjen Nielsen doesn't see any policy, in fact she has a hard time seeing any children. Jeff Sessions sees God... just not yours. Hillary Clinton saw this coming. And, Donald Trump sees this as Angela Merkel's problem.
Trump intensifies and narrows his base into one white-hot white nugget, but fewer voters still equal fewer voters. Paul Ryan kicks the crap out of Medicare and leaves it in a ditch. The great minds of KITM and Macleans think alike, and suggest sanctioning Trump's two most precious things in the world: his money, and his kid's money.
After bending over for North Korea, Trump turns to Russia. The White House ignored grandpa for as long as they could. Roger Stone just remembered a little bit of collusion a couple of years ago.
Armando calls in to discuss how the Supreme Court sidestepped the issue of partisan gerrymandering through partisan political game-playing.
Friday! If you think it's hard working through the chaos of a week, you should try manufacturing it. Donald Trump could barely wheeze it out this morning, but for David Waldman all that dotarding just makes him sit up at attention that much harder. Donald wants obsequiousness only a firing squad can provide, as if there were any real estate on his giant butt left available.
Trump doesn't have a clue of what summits are for, so he wants to throw a huge one for Vladimir Putin. There, he'll ask Vlad to leave Ukraine and Syria, please. Crimea they can keep, they all speak Russian there anyhow. (If only Puerto Ricans spoke American, think of how well they'd do.)
The Inspector General's report on the FBI reports that Trump is lying. New York's attorney general says the Trumps are a crime family. Trump rolls Michael Cohen under the bus, follows with Paul Manafort to pick up the spare.
Scott Pruitt's aides discovered his entitlement was their job. Scott Pruitt's entitlement is why he keeps his job.
Why should Trump have divested? Ottawa prepares a lesson plan.
Gunmakers have the successor to the bump stock lined up, and the next successor, and the next.
A lot of news to go over for today's KITM, and to get out of the way before the afternoon's news runs right over it. David Waldman and Greg Dworkin catch you up, at least until 11 AM Eastern:
Remember that North Korea summit? North Korea won bigly. Thousands of happy centenarian parents now owe a debt of gratitude to Donald Trump. South Korea is happy that it isn't being bombed yet, and plans to use this a start to stay explosion-free. Trump hasn't quite thought it out that far, and really wishes no one thinks it out at all, but comes away realizing despots are fine people too, and tough love in a nation is sometimes necessary.
Tough love abounds under the watchful gaze of Il Dotard at our border. Funny, this didn't come up at the weekly meeting. Right-wing Christians are almost ready to get to the Christian part. The Gop might consider letting parents and kids stay together if there was a little cash in there someplace. Republicans were elected by people who hate government to in order to destroy it, so this Trump situation mystifies them a bit. Was Mark Sanford pushed, did he jump, or did he just fall off?
We say Trump Cult like Kool-Aid was a bad thing, but Republicans find it quite delicious. Ronna Romney McDaniel sure thinks that you're making a big mistake for not taking a big swig right now, and Mari Stull is putting together an ideological deviation list to measure government employees' deviation from Mari Stull's ideology.
Coffee boy Michael Cohen won't have two taxi medallions to rub together soon, but he still has his health, for a while. Brexit, Russians, Trump and the World Cup—if you kept up with KITM you knew all of that for years, and if not, where have you been?
Donald Trump and I are jet-lagged today. Tomorrow I hope to be better, I don't know what we can do about Donald.
Comedy duo Kim and Trump sang and danced in their international debut, "The Road to Singapore". The reviews have been mixed... even by the same reviewers. The producers request no audience questions at this time, or ever.
David Waldman, Greg Dworkin, and even jet-lagged Joan McCarter return today and hope to get a focus on everything going on. Greg reports Trump gave away the farm and got the bird from our allies. And you know what happened to Canada... Mark Sanford knew what he was doing, and what it would get him. Rudy Giuliani has no idea of what to do, and also not what it would get him.
Democrats keep looking good in the primaries, Republicans, not so good. Invalidating protection for preexisting conditions is not the best slogan. Senior career Justice Department official Joel McElvain sees this as a good time to go. Trump doesn't care about any of that, and that has Republicans panicking, in denial, and in hiding. Meanwhile, here comes a bill that would criminalize ALL undocumented immigrants. Overnight.
Trump figures if he doesn't need exercises, neither does the military. Robert Mueller kills a few more trees because of Paul Manafort.
Hey, did you hear about that raccoon in Minnesota? Bees know nothing when they see it. Michael Cohen also learns how to count to zero.
Trump gives another great example of a terrible interview. Once you've heard his Wilhelm Scream of a standard non-answer, you can never not hear it again. Of course, pretty much everything we learned about this fake "summit" was a joke, from top to bottom.
Armando didn't have to hear it twice before he couldn't hold back any longer, joining us to make sure Marco Rubio was securely tied to the tracks, lament the continuing mockery of the emoluments clauses, and make sure we noted yesterday's SCOTUS ruling in the Ohio voter rolls purging case.
Speaking of how Republicans cheat at elections, Kris Kobach was caught cheating in court, then caught cheating at paying his fine for cheating in court.
Afraid you're missing out on the fabulous new form of warfare the Russians are rolling out? Don't be! They've got propaganda (that you'll swear isn't propaganda) for every taste!
Wow. Another "What a weekend!" Monday!
Greg Dworkin seeks to impose order on the chaos. And so does the former Prime Minister of Belgium. What's left to be said? Trump was an addled mess at the G-7 G-6 meeting, much to the delight of his fan base, whose only policy interest is "triggering the libs."
Could Trump be stopped if enough Republican Senators finally gave up? Well, it depends how many.
But who cares about rules and procedure, anyway? They're all just worthless scraps of paper.
For now, it's off to Singapore, for about a minute. Or possibly less. Which is not good. Though I don't know how long you want to leave those two guys in the room alone.
More on that strange attraction between Russian oligarchs and the NRA. And the strange parallels between the British experience and our own. Are we just looking at a new kind of warfare? Or the revival of a very old one? Might our allies decide it's time to roll out a new kind of sanctions? Or maybe use the very same ones we're using?
Kagro in the Morning - June 8, 2018
Pardon enthusiast Dotard J. Trump took flight to Canada today, despite his heel spurs, pausing only to declare his curious allegiance to Russia, and support for conscientious objector Muhammad Ali.
But as Trump himself might wonder, does it really matter? Whatever happens, happens.
Today is a day, so that means Scott Pruitt has been caught grifting, again.
Trump's DOJ is all-in on seizing reporters' communications data for leak investigations. The fact that the leak made it publicly known that Carter Page has been compromised for years makes things a little awkward. As has been the case for some time for Reality Winner.
There's a new name for the Trump-Russia Rogues' Gallery, and it's actually an old name.
Next stop: Singapore. Or maybe not. Who knows? Will Trump win a hamburger franchise? A Chick-Fil-A for Mrs. Pruitt? Or is he the intended beneficiary of renewed work on a bizarro Pyongyang hotel?
Direct download: June_8_2018_64.mp3
Thu, 7 June 2018
What'd we do today, on the Kagro in the Morning show? Who knows? I can't remember that far back! All I know for sure is that Rudy Giuliani is back at it, opening old wounds and doing Trump more damage.
But I do recall that Greg Dworkin came by, and explained everything there is to know about polling, the electoral "wave" theory, and the CA primary results. Oh, and that judicial recall election, too.
Trump is both claiming credit for a big veterans' bill, and also quietly trying to kill it.
If you planned the North Korea summit, you'd perhaps be wise to also plan your exit before it actually happens.
Sean Hannity tells his viewers to smash yet more consumer goods.
More reports that tariffs are the supposed "last straw" for some Republicans. For 10 minutes, or whatever.
If you say you don't believe Trump about his campaign being spied on, you're excommunicated.
Republicans in disarray! The immigration bills discharge petition is coming down to the wire, and the House Gop are scrambling to defuse it.
Trump spent 15 minutes on a pardon, again. He loves signing things.
Scott. Pruitt. CAN. NOT. STOP. GRIFTING!
Meanwhile, we hope Brian Monroe (aka @Canuck_Pundit) will never start grifting.
But we had hoped Donald Trump had stopped… doing whatever. At least in the White House. Besides, shouldn't he be busy getting ready for the "summit?" (Apparently not.)
Trump's brain plays circus music inside, 24/7.
It's Wednesday, and we're already drained. Not an uncommon occurrence, these days! Luckily, Greg Dworkin was on hand to round up the many, many, many, many, many primary election stories from around the country. Plus, the horror of E-A-G-L-E-S-gate.
I hope they're not paying Sarah Sanders.
Why do all these criminals keep gathering around Trump? (Not The Onion.)
A reminder on Michael Cohen.
The new hotness: Trump-Russia-Israel. Oh, and speaking of the curiously not-Italian sounding Mrs. Papadopoulos, do you remember the rather careless Russian spies known as "the Illegals?" Or at least their MVP, Anna Chapman? Do you remember what they ended up being charged with? Yes, it was money laundering. Just like this other Russian ex-spy got herself mixed up in, but this time working directly for Trump. Weird! Why do all these… ?
Pruitt! Again? Don't you ever take a day off?
Well, today's summary can be short and sweet, even if the content isn't. The morning's news: Mueller busts Manafort for witness tampering, and; Trump throws a tantrum and cancels the Eagles' White House visit because nobody wanted to go (but says it was to protest their kneeling, which they didn't do).
Law professors study the pardon power—judiciously, as they will—while Trump acts again, creating new "realities."
Remember all that bluster about what a huge and tyrannical danger was posed by raiding Michael Cohen's house, office (and hotel room, which he had for some reason), because he was "an attorney," and the sanctity of attorney-client relations, something, something, yadda yadda? Well, it turns out that was all garbage, because almost nothing seized was privileged material.
Scott Pruitt is a filthy, disgusting beast. And he also wanted to buy a used mattress from the DC Trump hotel, for some reason.
Mon, 4 June 2018
Nothing says "Monday" like the "president of the United States" declaring lol yolo laws don't matter! Greg Dworkin was on hand to round up yet another wild weekend. Still no acknowledgement of the Puerto Rico death toll, of course. Tariff war backlash already being felt.
"It's not enough to just be anti-Trump!" Unless history is any guide. But is there more Dems could be doing on messaging? Sure.
Want an early peek at the upcoming primary election results? Presto! There's no telling, though, whether that'll help you accurately predict the unpredictable in California.
Books that could be tweets.
Trump is a sociopath. But you didn't hear it from me.
So, can Dotard J. Trump pardon himself? Scholarly opinion says no. But lol yolo scholarship! That memo had a lot of buried gems, though. Emptywheel spots one that bootstraps Trump's lies about the crooks on his team.
Scott Pruitt never stops grifting. Not even when he's busted grifting. Ex-Trump staffers will not STFU about how Trump cannot STFU.
Kagro in the Morning - May 31, 2018
Well, our experiment with the live/tape format seems to have worked. Greg Dworkin joined the show live, for his regular morning segment, during which we rounded up Rosanne Barr news, the latest "should we call him a liar" musings, Virginia's Medicaid expansion (alongside white racial resentment/"economic anxiety"), the rising tide under which we hope to see Trump submerged, more on California's crazy primaries, and this weird notion millennials have that they can actually influence the world around them.
The latest twist in "fake news": The category now includes things Trump tells interviewers on national television. Even when he also tells the same thing to Rod Rosenstein, who then does him the favor of pretending he didn't hear him.
We were also saddened to pass on the news of the loss of good friend and longtime Kossack Sean Wang, better known as Bruinkid.
Trump offhandedly pardoned Dinesh Derpsouza. So there was that. And of course, plenty of other offhanded TrumpDerpTM: leaning on the Postmaster General to raise Amazon's shipping rates, the 2013 genesis of his man-crush on Putin, the tantalizing (if perhaps unlikely) possibility that law enforcement hears his every word, and word from Harvard that Hurricane Maria "response" remains his greatest crime.
Direct download: May_31_2018_64.mp3
Roseanne: Out. Greitens: Out. Kim Kardashian on a policy mission to the White House, and North Korea plying Dotard J. Trump with cheeseburgers: In!
Trump heads back to Nazi Rally Fantasy Camp. Again. By day, he continues his real assault on migrant families, certain (despite the evidence) that it'll carry Republicans to victory. Dems, meanwhile, are constantly lectured that they can't just campaign on being anti-Trump. So they don't. And no Greg Dworkin segment would be complete without parsing the polls. This time: Priorities USA, and insight on (and beyond) the generic ballot.
On the Eastern Front, well-known radical leftists Trey Gowdy and Andrew Napolitano say Trump's whining about informants is bullshit. Whereas his obstruction of justice is not.
We're still not really sure if Trump is lying. OK, that's a lie. Though it seems some wouldn't recognize a lie if it hit them in the head.
Hey, remember that weird Ivanka trademark for "bleaching products?" Of course it's "racially tinged," so to speak.
In breaking news: The shocking story of the dissident Russian journalist reportedly gunned down in Kiev becomes truly shocking after all. I guess they've got to return all that Ukranian porn to the grocery stores, now.
NYC's "Taxi King" takes a well-timed plea deal. Just in time to prove that Michael Cohen is the worst lawyer in the history of forever, and virtually all of Trump's current dumpster fire of problems are his fault.
Bannon's boys at Breitbart paid a "Sanders activist" to campaign to keep black voters at home. Because truth and journamalism and stuff.
Where's Melania? In normal times, nobody really cares. But as we know, these are not normal times.
Canuck pundit-turned-Canuck politician. Er, excuse me, venerable Canadian aspiring citizen legislator. And another Canadian guy wins the Nobel prize for isolating and observing the genesis of a pure Trump lie.
Ivanka Trump puts a finger in the Chinese Emoluments pie. (Speaking of weird trademarks that monetize the presidency, who owns "The White House Gift Shop"? And why is that even a question?)
Ellicott City, MD lives a millennium in two years. Fox News finds a way to plunder the residents.
Trump: I'm not colluding. You're colluding! By thinking I'm colluding!
It's no mystery why Ivanka "got" her security clearance at the same time as Jared. It never was.
There really was more surveillance of Trump campaign personnel than we thought! Because Trump's affinity for international spies and their bribe money was so open and notorious that even other countries noticed. Even ones that speak (gasp!) Spanish!
Welcome to today's Greg Dworkin in the Morning show! Sure, there are holidays off from work, but there are no good days to take off from the job of documenting the atrocities, so Greg gave us an extended segment today, rounding up Monday's top headlines.
Two big stories burned up the bulk of political Twitter's oxygen. The first was a two-parter: Just how big of a liar is Trump is, given his ridiculous whopper about the North Korea briefing, and; why won't "the media" say so? And if they do say so, why not say so all the time?
The second: Push-back and record-straightening on the heartbreaking and cruel stories of separated migrant families.
Most of the rest of the available bandwidth was taken up with how Trump is a bumbling idiot (or worse) in his dealings with North Korea and China, and a serial liar in his dealings with Russia and the domestic fallout from it.
From the Political Science corner: House Republicans carry ten times the risk of Dems. Generic ballot polls remain mostly constant. Even the outliers are back in line. Not that Dems have their house in order, or anything. Because that would be ridiculous.
Resistance is important everywhere. Really. Everywhere.
Today, David Waldman brings us the latest news and commentary and the commentary on those commentaries, commenting on those, and sometimes his own commentary, until it all swirls into our collective primal scream... let's howl into the weekend:
Are we trapped in Donald Trump's dream, or nightmare? Shh... Donald might be thinking of throwing a surprise summit for good ol' Un.
Why don't we just crack down on…? What do you get when your only plan is to "crack down"? The Trump administration steps up from Obama, and gets tough on immigrant parents, by losing their children. The kids aren't "lost" however, because you just don't lose such a valuable commodity. They're just swept somewhere else, embraced by the invisible hand of the free market.
There are countless Israeli connections to Robert Mueller's Probe of Trump and Russia, but David does count one of them today: Joel Zamel, the new name in next week's scandals.
Ukraine paid $400,000 to Michael Cohen, but that chump change isn't the only investment they're protecting. Jared Kushner's Cadre's in talks with Saudi-Backed SoftBank.
Even if you never installed Kaspersky Lab software, you'll never uninstall Kaspersky Lab software.
Harvey Weinstein has surrendered to the NYPD, thanks to the #metoo movement, and him being a wanted criminal and all.
The Twitter-famous Krassenstein brothers hate Trump, but maybe loved him a little too.
Yep, another school shooting.
David Waldman, initially distraught over the reported mistreatment of Tomi Lahren, soon pulled himself together and produced a Thursday KITM for your enjoyment and edification:
But first, reboot your router now. Right now. There, now don't you feel a little less ру́сский? If you still find yourself seeing the Deep State or appreciating Dear Leader art, try again.
Greg Dworkin helps round-up today's latest:
Questions surface, mysteries linger, but what's important is what voters want, and they want answers.
Donald Trump is a 24/7 corruption/scandal machine, and now that the NFL is America first again will concentrate solely on burning everything down. That means no more time to follow in Dennis Rodman's footsteps. Ultimately, it is only the commemorative coins that mattered. Jeff Flake is horrified and is determined to do absolutely nothing humanly possible to stem this threat to democracy and civilization. This leadership vacuum extends to congress, although Paul Ryan has sucked a little longer. Republicans started burning it all down a while ago.
#notallmedia are suckers, but the ones that fall for bad faith are ruining journalism, which is exactly what Donald Trump is aiming for. The New York Times rests easy now that Jared Kushner got his security clearance. Maybe someone else will look into how he got the security clearance.
David Waldman is back!
Well, you kind of expected that, since it is the middle of the week, but really, why should you expect anything to be as it should be anymore?
Donald Trump declares "It could very well happen, whatever it is", on everything, including North Korea. Relax, no one could like both basketball and killing people.
The Trump administration is incompetent in all its behaviors and practices. Greg Dworkin reminds us that includes those that are existentially important to us. Donald Trump is not corrupt in many ways; Donald Trump is corrupt in all ways.
Democrats win the Civil War! No one is unseen, no one is unheard, when we support each other. When a Stacy wins, we all win. Last night was a big night for a diverse Democratic Party and reveals the path towards the future.
Voters show they will do the right thing when a candidate has the right stuff. That doesn't mean it will be easy. They will win some, we need to win more.
Blackwater reemerges with an ad, written illiterately to stick it to elites, selling them special ammunition so they can stick it to everyone else.
Elliott Broidy, steadfast briber and bribee through thick and thin, really showed what he was made of when the going got tough for his priceless asset. Now let's see if Michael Cohen can show that same dedication as a big shoe drops and a Taxi King flips. Donald would do the same for them, if it wasn't inconvenient.
The EPA barred AP and CNN news crews from a summit on contaminants, and have no plans to change that.
The media are suckers.
David Waldman brings us KITM's Constitutional Crisis Tuesday. All but the second amendment, straight down the tubes.
It looks as if we are really going to do this. Rod Rosenstein chose an appeasement strategy to deal with Donald Trump, and now we can all say hello to alleged Jimmy Carter arch-enemy Stefan A. Halper, super-spy. Watching Jack Ryan movies pays off for Trump spinners, though Martin Scorsese's oeuvre would fit their present situation better.
Trump takes another step over the line. Why stay one step ahead of the law, when you can be the law?
Trump has no allegiance, except to money. And, money knows it can always find a friend in him. There is so much money for Robert Mueller to follow that he's just getting to the UAE and the Saudis. With one billion dollars two princes were singing the tune Donald wanted to hear, but first in line were convicted pedophile George Nader and professional beard Elliott Broidy, who is always ready to give and take favors. The Trump presidency hangs by a thread named Shera Béchard. If only we could guess the thoughts she might be thinking!
David Waldman reports on disasters sweeping the nation:
Donald Trump blew his mighty wind yesterday, hereby triggering political earthquakes today. We welcome back Greg Dworkin, who survived, and helped others survive, last week's Connecticut twisters. (They were doozies.)
Trump is trying to figure out what he got into with the Koreas, a bit late. President Moon Jae-in may be the only person on earth who can bail him out, but might be better off if he doesn't bother.
The farm bill implodes as the House Republicans take themselves hostage to spite their own speaker. Their cunning plan includes shoving at least three guys into one leadership position. Kevin McCarthy is full of cunning plans. Ryan's replacement needs a majority of the votes cast. A plurality isn't enough, unless you want to put some time and effort into it, and they don't.
Now if only Republicans can just get old white voters to hold on until the next cunning plan... If it weren't for those meddling kids registering to vote, they'd have a lock on 2018. too. Democrats stay ahead and stable, mostly and relatively.
The Trump campaign was happy to collude with non-Russians, too, because it wasn't ideology they looking for.
And then there was Santa Fe High School. And yet another shooter contending with video games, and doors, and girls. Women seem to be the thing shooters are least equipped to handle.
Just minutes into today's show, there were two shootings competing for attention, but we didn't yet know which would become the more significant.
The bulk of the show was given over to bribe updates. Specifically: an update on the Cohen SARs/bribes; the Trump-China bribe, and; the Kushner-Qatar bribe (with a caveat, but also a few domestic bribes thrown in for good measure).
No one could have predicted what would happen once Trump irritated China with increased trade barriers. Unless you were going to guess that they'd take their business elsewhere. Like, maybe Russia.
What's the next big Trump lie? It's an old one, actually: Obama was "spying" on his campaign. That is not how this works, of course. And what's really happening is that Trump thinks it'd be a shame if something happened to a certain FBI informant.
Just to get a few more key items on the record (for your weekend edification): the full catalog of Scott Pruitt scandals; some more backstory on Trump's stupid obsession with Putin, and Russia in general, and; in case you thought any part of the world today wasn't complete bullshit….
Greg Dworkin was caught in a crossfire hurricane on Tuesday. No, even worse, four Connecticut cyclones. So, that leaves David Waldman to help us weather the worst S-storm in U.S. history - by far! Yeah, yeah, Trump admits he had a thing with Stormy, but Rudy figures Donald is innocent of all charges, past, present and future if Trump remains President forever. Anyhow, Donald Trump needs the money, so he isn't shutting off any taps right now.
The whistleblower who leaked Michael Cohen's financial records did so after noticing missing Suspicious Activity Reports, which indicated... missing reporting of suspicious activity. Lucky for investigators, Michael Cohen is a one-stop moron, placing all of his rotten eggs in the same basket. Even as the missing SARs point to the remaining ones, questions on this and other FinCEN manipulation and obstruction have arisen. US intelligence units were locked out of classified computer networks, hampering antiterrorist efforts as well as the Trump/Russia investigation.
Strange. It seems that David Waldman repeated the word "Yanny" for almost two hours today… Listen to the show and tell me what you hear.
It's Robert Mueller's first year on the job and already Donald Trump wants to give him his gold watch.
If Leonard Leo likes to keep on the down low, he'll have to break his habit of passing out tens of millions of dollars to society's string-pullers. Washington's lobbying powerhouse, Williams & Jensen had their Chair wake up and quit rather than guard Scott Pruitt, but their Principal will be whispering into Jared Kushner's ear on Monday.
Armando calls in to discuss the CAP Ideas Conference, and to tackle breaking news: The thousands of pages of congressional testimony released on the 2016 Trump Tower meeting. Don Jr. doesn't remember a lot, but it is still easy to see what's going on.
Donald Trump is running out of Stormy Daniels loopholes.
Blake Farenthold spent $2.14 million to find someone still willing to touch him.
The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI are investigating Cambridge Analytica, finally.
Tornados in Connecticut! Greg Dworkin, a member of both the AMA and the Lollipop Guild, was needed on the ground today, but he might still be able to round-up for us tomorrow. Tune in to find out why Democrats can't win the "respect" of Trump voters!
It's Two Topic Tuesday on KITM! Oh sure, David Waldman deviates a bit off-tangent a couple of times, but can you blame him? The AC's on the fritz, it's so hot and humid in May — in Virginia no less! And, the repairman's avoiding him, all the windows have to be opened, with the lawnmowers roaring and the birds singing! All those birds…
Where were we? Yes! Donald Trump needs to go to jail. Chinese phone-maker ZTE gives Trump money, Trump makes it a United States priority to fix things for that company. Trump said he wouldn't make any foreign deals as President, but he didn't say that he wouldn't arrange for the US to make deals devised specifically to enrich him, did he?
It takes two to come up with double-talk this stupid and convoluted. That's why fellow TV STAR Sean Hannity is now Donald's BFF. Obviously destined to soon knife each other in the back, Don & Sean for now play "No, you hang up!" late into the night and three times on Sunday, planning our future and creating a state/media symbiosis Dick Cheney could have only dreamed of. If it wasn't for them, what would Fox News do all day?
And Michael Cohen thought Donald was his best friend. Michael will find out what happens when Donald's friends stick their necks out for him.
Only $1 million for as many federal judges as you can pick out over an administration? That is a true art of the deal.
The Presidential Apprentice, Week 69. Nice.
Donald Trump is casting better TV lawyers in hopes of keeping this season afloat. Trump aids audition for the Hunger Games, as they guess Bob Mueller's show will be a lot bigger than anyone expects. Donald pillow-talks with TV Star Sean Hannity to get nightly tips and moral guidance.
If you are reading this, you probably haven't been raptured yet, or the WiFi is good where you are... Israel is transporting dozens of Palestinians off to the afterlife ahead of schedule in preparation for the opening of the U.S. Jerusalem embassy today. Jared Kushner is on the ground selling peace and some shares of his Mark of the Beast on 5th Ave. Israel is also blessed by the appearance of Ivanka Trump, by third horseman Steve Mnuchin, who has some bonus miles left over, and bringing up the rear, Michele Bachmann.
David Waldman and Greg Dworkin can't get their minds out of the Qatar goings-on: Michael Cohen brings the Bada Bing to the world. Greg tells you about the very rich, as they are different from you and me. The Trump Tower elevator is seen at its maximum swamp capacity. It's not just Corey Lewandowski anymore, Qatar has damaging information on Jared Kushner. Michael Avenatti warned you, now he's forced to tell you about Michael Cohen, Ahmed al-Rumaihi, Ice Cube, Jeff Kwatinetz, and the BIG3 basketball league.
Some Israeli politicians and rabbis are drawn to orgies, blackmail and anti-Semitism.
Donald Trump voters: furious, paranoid, xenophobic, racist and reactionary, but sensitive too. Legend has it that some might turn "independent" if we behave just right, and those would be the unicorns we need to carry us to victory, over that other third, who will always remain deplorable, but hopefully stay at only a third. At the Connecticut Gop convention, Deplorables lose to the Dockers.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are moving left without self-destructing, and are becoming a progressive ideas factory. Here too, the Dockers are doing well.
You always knew Friday would come. Friday comes for all of us, great or small. It is how you prepare for the inevitability of Friday that matters. David Waldman guides us into that sunny weekend:
Kelly Sadler wrote the first paragraph of her own obituary yesterday, just by demonstrating her boss's sense of humor.
Politico welcomes you to their elite bubble. If Michael Cohen is a typical sleaze, then many should be in jail. Elliott Broidy, inveterate palm-greaser, with a possibly money-laundering wife, has more than a few reasons to get on Donald Trump's good side.
Rudy Giuliani's law firm cannot speak for Mr. Giuliani, and therefore made certain that Mr. Giuliani cannot speak for them.
Kirstjen Nielsen, Chief of Homeland Security, oh just so almost quit the other day.
Don Blankenship told you he was Trumpier than Trump, and hopes to prove that by knee-capping the guy that beat him in the primary.
Gina Haspel was just following orders, and hopes not to follow any more bad orders, like that court order telling her not to destroy evidence.
Another right-wing federal judgeship is confirmed, walking over the corpse of blue slip vetos.
Russians weren't necessarily trying to get Trump elected, it was just the by-product of trying to destroy the US.
David Waldman, Greg Dworkin and Armando wield their machetes of veracity to the bullrushes of BS in Donald Trump's swamp of... Oh you know, it is very swampy:
Michael Cohen, expert on everything, friend to all, could've been a lobbyist but that isn't where the real money is. Cohen was really interested in getting people to know Donald Trump, even though Trump didn't know anything about Cohen. Russian Oligarch-Linked Columbus Nova is linked to white supremacists, and to Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz. All of this makes Maga-world suspicious... of Stormy Daniels lawyer, Michael Avenatti, and where he gets all of his info.
John Edwards can tell you, when the subpoenas hit the fan, it's time to find a patsy. Elliott Brody, professional beard, might have been just the guy Donald and Shera could have used in their time of need.
Moderate candidates still tend to outdo extreme ones, although moderate Republicans are becoming more like Donald Trump. Trump hasn't done much, but he has destroyed a lot. John Bolton ruined things before and is here to do it again. China tariffs are already starting to punish us. Health care is our issue.
Trump might be one of the worst people on earth, but DC is the big leagues, and Mike Pence is the man to beat. Mike wants to move on from this Trump thing and onto his presidency while there's some left for him.
Wed, 9 May 2018
Kagro in the Morning - May 9, 2018
Overwhelmed by all of the news today?
Allow David Waldman, your political sommelier, to offer his KITM recommendations du jour:
Greg Dworkin examines the results of yesterday's primaries. It's easy to blame the voters, especially when they are Don Blankenship voters. Republicans keep moving right, and right out of the running. Democrats do not seem to going so insurgent, however.
Donald Trump appeals to his dwindling base, more and more, but the rest of us are really tired of him. That opens up space to discuss Democrat strengths. Forget convincing the Trump right, they don't know and couldn't care less. There may not be enough voters to complete the slide to totalitarianism, and probably not enough to keep the Trump scam going much longer, although Trump's spiritual predecessor, John Wilkes had to order the shooting of protesters to go out of style. (Wilkes continued to inspire, however.)
Michael Cohen, friend forever to Donald Trump, enlightened guru to multinational corporations and entities of all types… and, uhm, doctor, is discovered to have a shell company that funneled bribes, generally. Armando discusses whether to call the Cohen bribe device a shell company, LLC or what.
Then there is Elliott Broidy, who let his distinguished Blake Farenthold-esque good looks lead him into very Trump-esque hi-jinx, and extraordinarily Trump-esque solutions.
Devin Nunes keeps digging a hole, which we might get to fill up over him some day.
Trump violates the world's trust, and the Iran Deal, for what? Or whom?
Gina Haspel was just following orders, a tendency she hopes to cut back on, someday.
Tim Kaine reminds us of the work ahead of us, once things are right side up.
Direct download: May_9_2018_64.mp3
No mulligans. Republicans haven't been so gleefully steadfast in their stand against moral turpitude since Anthony Weiner, maybe since Bill Clinton. Eric Schneiderman resigns from being New York Attorney General to spend more time with... his mirror and his conscience.
Republican schadenfreude might be short-lived as the acting AG is both female and Democratic, and no one is throwing out any upcoming cases or evidence. David Waldman and Armando review what has happened so far and speculate about the future in the case.
But that isn't all that's grinding Armando's gears today. Hack Hugh Hewitt engages in payola with Scott Pruitt, and MSNBC does nothing. Paul Krugman feels guilty about how he doesn't feel victimized. Everyone agrees that Trump would be an idiot to pull out of the Iran Nuclear Deal, so he really has no choice. Now what will we do?
Trump aids arranged for Black Cube to spy on Obama aides, or they arranged for somebody to make those arrangements.
Melania Trump wants us to be best, by copying the best, but at least she cares about the kids.
Russian hackers will sow fear and confusion wherever they find fertile ground.
There are more good guys with guns in schools, unfortunately the good guys' guns have bad bullets.
Nunes gonna Nunes, and David is going to discuss congressional contempt procedural intricacies.
Kansas City surprises millions with its hospitality.
Mon, 7 May 2018
Week 68 of The Presidential Apprentice! The show that, for some reason, just won't quit, is producing lots of spinoffs, the least of which is West Virginia's Biggest Loser, starring this turd which even Donald Trump wants to flush. Trump and Blankenship's base kind of like that smell, but that isn't enough to win. In red Ohio, special election Republicans can't be little Trumps and win the election, so the party will have to pick less silly candidates if they want to lose by smaller margins. Republicans that aren't little Trumps might as well go home. The news wonders what this has to do with Nancy Pelosi.
Still, nothing beats the hilarity of The Trump and Rudy Show. Greg Dworkin rounds up the latest Rudy news. Everyone knows Giuliani is a racist blowhard, although Rudy denies that, even if he just said that, because it's just a rumor.
Scott Pruitt finally assists the EPA by disappearing into his spider hole. Gina Haspel begs to be put out of her misery, but Trump doesn't think she's had quite enough. Elaine Chao, thought to be only moderately corrupt, has found her niche in promoting her dad.
David Waldman reveals that Jewish people not working as doctors, lawyers, postal carriers or cowboys sometimes find themselves in international crime syndicates. Michael Cohen literally catered to mobsters, along with some other ventures. Israeli operatives who aided Harvey Weinstein collected information on former Obama administration officials. The Trump team hired the spy firm for 'dirty ops' on Iran arms deal, unless the Trump team hired a team to hire the spy firm for the dirty ops.
For the youngsters out there, David reviews the history of ACORN and how that led to Donald Trump. Being destitute and degenerate lead Donald Trump to the presidency.
Don't you wish the advent of Friday would mean the end of news for at least a couple of days? Unfortunately, no, so David Waldman packs more into Fridays to prepare us, and Mondays to catch us up from the weekend:
Nuance! It's those little details that ensnare hypocrites. Ari Fleischer stepped on a few rakes this morning. The Trump Organization slipped a few states into the list of those from whom it collects sales tax. Those in New York will have to pay extra to slide into a tight pair of goblets. Scott Pruitt knew he needed to travel around the world as EPA Chief, if only he could find some good reasons. Jared Kushner made his 40th mistake filing his Federal Ethics Disclosure form. (The correct answer is "zero.") Jared's bank is "Bank of Internet", which, no nuance, is precisely as shady as it sounds. If Donald Trump wasn't so busy playing golf he could have made America great long ago.
Fox's Neil Cavuto rises above the swamp gas with some common sense. Republicans nail up a No Catholics Allowed sign, and the House chaplain takes it the wrong way. Many Texans are shocked to discover that Russia wasn't on the good guy side in Jade Helm 15.
Josh Marshal gives us a sneak preview of the "Bag-man Montage" in the Scorsese's upcoming Trump biopic.
Looking for a little Trump-Russia collusion? How much money have you got?
Qatar bought its fourth condo for $6.5 million from Trump right after an emoluments lawsuit was dropped. Donald was convinced to sell lethal weapons to Ukraine after Ukraine's savvy charm offensive, which of course included not cooperating in the Mueller investigation. Meanwhile, we've run out of money for Syria's famed humanitarian group, the White Helmets.
If it wasn't for all of his dragon energy, Donald Trump wouldn't be able to handle his immense case load. Trump spent the last few weeks representing his client Michael Cohen, and was then forced to take over the Rudy Giuliani matter as of last night. (Michael and Rudy probably should have shopped around if they were hoping to stay out of prison.)
Sean Hannity accidentally did a journalism and helped Rudy Giuliani keep his promise to wrap up the Mueller probe quickly. David Waldman, Greg Dworkin and Armando parse the ravings of a madman to divine a hint of a strategy or of even a rational thought. Journalists everywhere will reach for their thesauruses to dig up one more synonym for "lie" before mentioning to their readers that Donald Trump will never hesitate to disavow his own words. Trump's lone, simple concern at any time is what he has to gain, or lose.
Did Trump bribe Ukraine to stop cooperating with Mueller? It would be a shame if that missile shipment was canceled. Alex van der Zwaan will be back on the streets soon.
If you hate Trump, you have that going for you. But, not every Trump hater is a nice person. So don't fall in behind just any reporting, or throw your money to just any fundraiser. Save those small donations and donate Democratic, today!
Today in entertainment news: Following an awkward introduction and flat ratings, Presidential Apprentice pulled character ADM. Dr. Candyman "Ronny" Jackson, and replaced him with returning fan favorite Wacky Dr. Bornstein, who in a twist turns out to be the hero-victim-coconspirator! Who would believe a show like this? No one!
It is Wednesday, so David Waldman joins with Greg Dworkin and Joan McCarter to drag a huge haul of tasty sagaciousness onto the SS KITM:
Is Donald Trump as low as he can go? Not according to the people that know his potential. Donald tears down his party while he shores up his base, ergo the upcoming Catholics vs. Evangelicals wars. Trapped in the Trump cage, Republicans eat each other: Mark Walker (R-Baptist) doesn't want to select chaplains anymore. Trump's recent HHS secretary condemned the present Republican health care policy, and Schrodinger's Republican, Marco Rubio, trashes the Trump Republican tax law. Donald says Jon Tester isn't patriotic enough for him.
Team Trump bum rushes Pompeo's confirmation hearing today, while the Bush administration gets another chance to defend torture, and Lordy, there may be tapes. Meanwhile, Team Trump D takes on China.
Serenely gliding above all of this is Robert Swan Mueller III. Is the use of nit-wit lawyers some smart lawyering on Trump's lawyers' part? Here's how hacking really works.
Democrats will force a net neutrality vote this month.
Should Democrats work to schlepp the Impeachment Overton Window back to a sane place, or just keep quiet? We might take Trump out of the scam, but you can never take the scam out of Trump.
A Proud Boy demonstrates white power.
Trump probably wishes his head was bigger, too.
Got some spare time? Open up a story on rawstory.com. Not that they'll take long to read, but they will crash your computer to help soak up that extra time that you thought you had.
David Waldman recovered from his Raw Story crashes of the morning to answer many of your Tuesday questions, with the exception of "Why is this Dotard orange"? Robert Mueller wonders about that too, it's just not on the top of his list at the moment. Armando wonders who leaked that list, but is pretty certain that an idiot transcribed it. David and Armando agree that it is not a list of questions, but of topics, it is definitely not a complete list of what Mueller wants to talk about, or is concerned with, and Trump probably won't be able to spin this coherently, because as John Kelly can tell you, Donald Trump is an idiot.
You know who is dumber and more immoral that Donald Trump? The Washington media that think he's their cash cow. Amoral toadies and parasitic thugs dependent as pubic lice. And the sad, frightened deplorables destroying everything to protect their piece. The Hill whimpers #notalljournalists.
Mike Pence refuses to know things, but his doctor knew about Ronny Jackson last fall. Mike will be the first to tell you, he's just the coffee boy who barely knows Mr. Trump. KITM contributor Paula Writer is concerned that we might someday have to deal with Mr. Pence, and recorded a segment on how we might have to handle that day.
Documents show ties between Virginia's largest public university and the Charles Koch Foundation. David's glad someone is taking the time to look into those things.
Mon, 30 April 2018
Kagro in the Morning - April 30, 2018
Yesterday was a tragic day for those of us invested in sharp sticks. We know that you and I shouldn't poke deplorables in election years, and that everyone in journalism and not-so-journalism have consistently been stick-sensitive, but now comedians have also been banned from poking representatives of the government in power:
The White House Correspondents Association will henceforth require Bob Hope-caliber comedians, to match their Bob Hope-caliber correspondence. The WHCA represents those in power. Those in power are happy to be hypocrites to stay in power. It is a comedian's job to punch up, and punching up is hard.
David Waldman and Greg Dworkin, eyes accentuated by only pure, bona-fide truth, bring us the rest of today's news.
We need accountability in 2018, as always. Rich old white people are spending their last dimes to assure white power is forever. Researchers can now move on to hard stuff, now that they've determined that actually, guns do kill people. Ronny Jackson heads back to the swamp with Hawkeye and B.J. so Donald needs to find a new doctor.
The Department of Defense's MHS GENESIS EHR system has resolved 1000 issues, and only has 6000 more to go for a smooth rollout. When Donald Trump needs help on the VA, he looks up from his Mar-a-Lago steak and ketchup and yells "Is there a doctor in the house?" First one off the links was Dr. Bruce Moskowitz, who just happened to have some healthcare reform plans handy.
David returns to the story of Levi Tillemann, the guy that took notes on his meeting with Steny Hoyer, then revealed the notes were recordings once his polling flagged. Now it seems Levi is one of the Tillemann-Dicks of Denver, along with Charity, Rainbow, Liberty Belle, and Timber Dick. (Leave the "safe search" on when looking up pictures.)
Direct download: April_30_2018_64.mp3
Fri, 27 April 2018
Dems in disarray! No! No, no, no.
Maybe a little, little bit. Aided by Armando, David Waldman does his best to rearray us all, or at least straighten us out on how things really happen in Big Politics, based on his experience in Big D world, where sometimes they stray from little d democracy. This time the straying was, Lordy, captured on tape. That tape didn't capture the whole story, however, and that is where David and Armando came in, for most of the show and probably several shows into the future.
House Chaplain Rev. Patrick J. Conroy was slyly using his prayers to turn God Democratic, but sharp-eared Paul Ryan caught him, and will replace him with someone that has sex with women. The White House knew what a family man Rob Porter was a long time before he was forced to resign.
Michael Cohen expected to be Chief of Staff. Donald Trump expects to be on Mount Rushmore. Life is full of disappointments, but at least Melania got a beautiful gift for her birthday that is sure to keep on giving. A giant sea of red is forming across the nation, but it's not the one Trump envisioned or is prepared for.
David Waldman, Greg Dworkin, and for a moment there Armando fought to put a cap on today's gusher of news. We'll see what can be mopped up by Friday:
Ronny Jackson's nomination to head the Department of Veterans Affairs crashed like a government vehicle being drunk-driven away from a Secret Service going-away party (Allegedly), joining the 24 nominee pileup. Now Ronny's free to tell us Donald's true stats! (Alleged)
Donald Trump almost got all the truth out before being censored by Steve Doocy this morning. Before he was silenced he still managed to say plenty. Plenty to be reviewed by students of history, law, and psychology for years to come.
Trump hopes to take over as Michael Cohen's lawyer. Donald picks horrible locations for casinos, but pretty good ones for money laundries.
Many voters say they haven't seen that pay boost from the tax law, unless they're liars. If outperforming polling expectations actually equals winning elections, Democrats are going to be winners in 2018.
Jill Stein tosses the Senate Intelligence requests for her Russian communications right into the election recount file.
Scott Pruitt attempts to slow the bus bearing down on him by seeing how many others he can throw under it.
Jeff Sessions knows he's damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't, so he just won't say.
The Kanye West-Donald Trump online media cross-promotion blitz should be a big success, for Kanye. Shania Twain feels that she could have done something stupid if she was only given the opportunity. Steven K G Bannon had been working on Trump campaign marketing long before there was a Trump campaign.
No one really seems to have a clue of what they are talking about in the Joy Reid hacking case.
Kagro in the Morning - April 25 2018
It's Wednesday, and that means that you get a KITM chock-full of the sweeping experience and remarkable acumen that all of you expect, and some of you pay for:
David Waldman, a.k.a. the Jane Goodall of our political scene, predicts a lot of poo-throwing this afternoon when Donald Trump watches Fox News report that Jeff Sessions is recusing himself again. Jeff scurried quickly away, hoping the alpha dotard was too busy getting stuff done or whatever to notice him.
Steve Mnuchin enjoys solar eclipses after all. Scott Pruitt's security chief was an investigator for The National Enquirer. The Port Authority ethics chairwoman pulled out her white privilege in front of police officers and was released unharmed. Gop-led budget committees have just one job... and refuse to do it.
Hey, we didn't lose bad at all last night! Greg Dworkin pores over the stats to determine that win or lose, Republicans are losers. Team Blue won their 40th statehouse seat with a flip of New York's 10th, but still won't control the chamber because a Dem has chosen to continue to caucus with the Republicans. Arizona teachers plan to strike for school funding.
This all should make Republicans anxious, although they were already "anxious", as in "status-anxious", as in "white-status-anxious", as in "racist". Many in the Alt-Right are also anxious that they might never be loved by the women they fear and despise. Some of the women the Alt-Right fear and despise remain anxious about brown people. West Virginia Murderer-Candidate for Gop Senate, Don Blankenship is anxious about the Chinapeople.
Maybe if the Gop had less day-to-day responsibilities they'd feel more relaxed… as if they felt any pressure to attend to scruples to begin with. At least the swamp is upfront about its sliminess in Trump world.
Armando points out that Chelsea Clinton pointing out factual errors to authors citing her is not "feuding", when there would be no feud if they just contacted her to verify their articles. Journalism is not about creating safe spaces, either.
Joan McCarter reports that Trump's favorite doctor has dropped back to at least second place since he's not quite the guy he portrayed on TV. Meanwhile, we are now waiting for the rest of government to melt down.
David Waldman brings us the latest in science, politics and the patriarchy:
What's the point of pissing matches now that men aren't limited to "off the rack" penis and scrotum choices? Just think, if this procedure was available in the 70's Donald Trump could have taken that first million from Dad, kicked back, and we never would have heard about him.
By the way, evidence suggests Donald Trump is a traitor. David, and David Cay Johnston review that evidence.
Torontonians, and the rest of us wonder why a guy would think to run over dozens of people in a van, a horrible method of murder, and a lousy method of murder-suicide. Turns out he might have had some penis and scrotum related disorders himself.
Speaking of Sean Hannity, he has tens of millions of dollars in real estate across 4 states, hidden by anonymous shell corporations, and what do you know, is linked to a fraudulent property dealer who rigged auctions of foreclosed properties.
Gun Fail: A camper heard a noise and shot his friend in the head. Gun owners invest hundreds on their Yeti coolers, but won't hesitate to take them out on the first sign of betrayal.
White House physician and presidential fluffer Ronny Jackson might be drunk and may need to go home.
George H W Bush went into intensive care shortly after Barbara's funeral.
Long-time listener, first-time KITM essayist Lisa Iannucci reports on New Jersey's 4th congressional district. Lisa talks about the challenges to Democrats, and issues baked into the New Jersey political machines.
Today David Waldman catches us up on… Just kidding! We'll never catch up!
Travis Reinking, just another well-regulated militia and sovereign citizen, killed people because it was easier than putting on his pants. Before he went to Waffle House, Travis, who believes he was outside the law, traveled to the White House. He just wanted to thank the President (who believes he is above the law) for rolling back laws regulating guns for the mentally ill. The government, of course then took his guns, but his dad supported gun culture, and of course returned them. At Waffle House, unarmed hero James Shaw, Jr. took advantage of Reinking's pitifully small magazine capacity to take Travis' gun away again. Unfortunately, there's more guns where that came from to take away. Now Nashville's Mayor requests that we all be honest for a moment.
Donald Trump just might mention Waffle House, but it wouldn't occur to Donald to bring up the shooting. After all, how many Waffle Houses are on 5th Avenue?
Greg Dworkin has a hard time bringing us up-to-date when 2016 won't go away. Donald Trump is the worst president, but that doesn't make 2016 the most winnable presidential election in modern history.
In the travel ban case, the Supreme Court considers "the president" vs. "this president". Is the problem the president or the presidency? Is the Gop's problem Trump, or them? Republicans elect more inexperienced candidates than Democrats because it is easier to break things than to build them. Meanwhile we are still waiting for the tax-cut boost.
If the President doesn't get any integrity, no one gets any. Scott Pruitt never had integrity, but he did come to the E.P.A. with plenty of fancy homes, a shell company and friends with money. Sean Hannity likes shell companies also, per the advice of his 10 buck lawyer.
Enough about this bad President, let's talk about a good precedent: The 1972 DNC lawsuit against the Nixon campaign worked out fine, so here comes the DNC lawsuit against the Trump campaign. Armando calls in to talk about those cases, along with Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, Ashcroft v. Iqbal, and just how we expect to sue WikiLeaks and Russia. Also, NYT sucks.
Armando was RIGHT! And David Waldman told you so also. Come to think of it, I believe I was on target too, and once this hits Wikipedia it'll be all be canon:
The Washington Post peels away layer upon layer of Donald Trump's lies to discover a bank account as bankrupt as his soul. David reveals how Donald scammed Forbes as one of his first of many, many scams on his path to grifting the world.
Trump hires Rudy Giuliani so Robert Mueller doesn't have to waste time sending indictments to two addresses.
The Comey memos were leaked the minute Trump could make that happen, apparently because Donald Trump and the Gop are idiots.
From Senate procedural mechanisms to karmic schadenfreude and federally induced orgasms, David Waldman has got you covered in today's KITM:
Greg Dworkin supplies a lightning round of topics: Missouri governor Eric Greitens is going to be impeached if he doesn't step down. Greitens wants a restraining order to block his Attorney General from digging too deep into his dirt. Bump stocks will soon be a collector's item. Eric Schneiderman proposes to eliminate the pardon loophole Donald Trump was hoping to use. Mitch McConnell wishes he had a few norms left to help him as the Senate becomes such a free-for-all that even a NASA director can't be appointed without some Flake getting in the way.
Michael Cohen's not such a big guy anymore, dropping his libel suits while he puts his energy into reducing his jail time. Could Cohen turn on Trump? Not if Trump gets the drop on him first. Cohen's world gets mobbier the closer you look, but Trump's world is mobbiest. We knew how much these worlds were intertwined, now everyone else is catching on too. Trump had to call his boss to get out of trouble when Nikki Haley started throwing sanctions around. Nikki won't let that happen again. Rex Tillerson only wishes he stood up to that moron like that.
The Gop and Trump voters in West Virginia get everything they were asking for in Senate candidate Don Blankenship. Across the Midwest, farmers realize the value of a Trump vote. Tax cuts didn't help Republicans, so maybe if they cut more of them? Or how about attacking Obamacare some more? Strategies like these have brought red states like Indiana into play. No promises, but even Ted Cruz is sweating it out on Beto O'Rourke in Texas. Democrats raise big money against Gop held seats.
It's Wednesday, the day David Waldman brings us the great variety of news and views that is provided by KITM's great variety of people:
Greg Dworkin helps pick through the wreckage from the latest Stormy damage. (A calm compared to what's blowing up on the horizon.)
There are procedural hurdles for the Robert Mueller protection bills being placed by the people predisposed to Mueller's endangerment. Meanwhile, Republican House members hustle for leadership positions while there is something left for them to lead. The AZ legislature makes emergency moves to double-cross John McCain while they have a chance.
Mike Pompeo, possible future Secretary of State, was last month's Dennis Rodman. Nikki Haley found out that no one is too big for Trump to throw under the bus. Nikki might feel jilted, but knows there's other fish in the sea.
Sean Hannity, shadow consigliere/coffee boy, lawyers up in the same alleys as Trump. Sean is now discovering how hazardous sunlight is.
Donald Trump just doesn't know how to quit James, or Vlad, but Michael sure gets the slow fade. Armando recommends the latest Trump, Inc. podcast which uncovers a ton of Michael Cohen scuzzery leading to his temporary embrace and predestined discardment by Donald Trump.
The more Trump goes to Hell, the more white evangelicals love Trump. Every day less people love white evangelicals.
Greg continues to advocate a reduction in our conservative sharp stick-poking, outside of odd-numbered years of course.
Joan McCarter replays the slow-motion demolition and collapse of our government and society:
McConnell and Senate Republicans are working out a way to nullify regulations they don't like, possibly going back decades. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy bribes his way to a promotion to speaker. Paul Ryan promised the Freedom Caucus they could have a meaningless vote on a balanced budget amendment, because their base likes meaningless votes. House and Senate Republicans don't want to undo the Omnibus bill, but Mick Mulvaney and Donald Trump do, so that's happening, and a bunch of nobodies take a swing at some somebodies to make a name for themselves.
Starbucks makes a show of changing, or is changing. Their actions will decide.
This year's Ivanka #TaxDay lie was preceded by last year's Ivanka #TaxDay lie. Trumps do that.
Who would have guessed Sean Hannity? No one! This season of The Presidential Apprentice has lost all believability. They already jumped the shark with the whole Michael Cohen storyline, and now this. Why David Waldman keeps tuning in is anybody's guess.
Armando doesn't want to de minimis Sean Hannity, but wants to refocus on Michael Cohen's case, now being ruled upon by U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood. Judge Wood is now determining if Trump can call materials seized privileged, or if she should appoint an outside attorney to assess the records.
Michael Cohen is paid so little and yet spends so much for his clients, so it is nice to see Squire Patton Boggs step up and hand him $500,000 in 2017.
Donald Trump and Sean Hannity hog all of the limelight from Elliott Broidy, the neglected Larry Fine of Cohen clientele, which is really unfair considering that he's out there impregnating, warmongering and profiteering at competitive levels.
What's coming up on this week's Apprentice? Not Russia! Trump caught Nikki Haley trying to impose sanctions on Vladimir and had to shut her down. He couldn't allow the Deep State his staff to ever gain the upper hand.
Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels are in Sunny Florida reliving old times today. (Ms. Daniels more wistfully.) It's not as nice outside KITM World Headquarters today, but David Waldman has news and analysis to keep him warm:
In Connecticut this morning, Greg Dworkin's dog-doorbell Abby caught one rat, but in Washington DC all this mischief in stampede may be a harbinger, hopefully of the beginning of the end. Michael Cohen may not be the biggest rat, but he sure is trapped, and will take a lot more rats with him, such as Keith M. Davidson, the obscure sex scandal lawyer who is not so obscure anymore. Did he also negotiate a $30 thousand payout with a $1 million penalty for Trump Tower doorman Dino Sajudin?
A federal judge ordered Cohen to turn over a list of his clients. Screwed either way, Michael responded with a letter saying he wouldn't provide the names of any clients that weren't already publicly available, because of, well, the Deep State. Armando calls in to discuss this from a lawyer's perspective, as well as the potential threat to Donald Trump's civil liberties.
Remember to support Kagro in the Morning, on Patreon, Square Cash, whatever you got!
Kagro in the Morning - April 13, 20108
There is so much news today that David Waldman and Greg Dworkin extended their discussion to 3 half hour segments just to deliver it to you. Also they were having too much fun to cut it short:
A teacher from Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school wanted to be trained to carry a gun, but first needs to learn not to leave his gun in public restrooms.
Paul Ryan decides to make his exit, with many holding the door, many helping him out the window. Paul leaves nothing of value except his legacy, Donald Trump. The Republicans might just hold their party together if Trump doesn't run amok, so Donald will be as calm and calculated as Putin and Fox and Friends can make him.
It's Trump's party now. Psychology might help explain the insanity of Trump supporters, but really it's about race. Republicans can't even pretend to be "conservative" anymore. Trump wanted rescissions on that $1.3T spending bill that he master negotiated, but that won't happen.
Michael Cohen also can't be around for Donald. Of course, the FBI is looking into the usual wire fraud and bank fraud, but also is interested in information regarding the Access Hollywood tape and taxi medallions. Wikileaks started dropping Clinton campaign emails an hour after the Access Hollywood tape news broke. As for taxi medallions, they were the bitcoin of '30's New York, and still handy for hiding money from the authorities.
Steve Bannon's back and he'll fix all of this! Unfortunately he's the same Steve Bannon that got them into all of this. Sean Hannity's plan is to throw it all on the wall and see what sticks. Inside the Gop plan to discredit Comey.
Now it looks like there might be new Trump kids to make fun of (or not, depending on their age). Trump's doorman had the dirt, and went to the National Enquirer with his story just like Karen McDougal did, which ended up a bad move in both their cases as the CEO is a big Trump pal.
Mike Pompeo, Trump's choice to be the next secretary of state should be asked his opinion about the torturing in Yemen during Pompeo's time at the CIA, and his Chinese business connections.
Scott Pruitt wants to give out commemorative coins celebrating "Scott Pruitt".
David Waldman speeds up an already fast news day by turning on the KITM microphone at 9:05. Somehow he got even more news to fit into the remaining time:
Paul Ryan, perennial coward, collaborator and failure makes his getaway.
Wow what a f***ing mess! Greg Dworkin explains how this steaming pile of presidency got deposited on our doorstep. Donald Dopey Fool Trump telegraphs his punches the modern way, via Twitter. Bombing Syria will make planning easier, by eliminating those boring options. Trump is also trying to figure out how to fire Robert Mueller, or Rod Rosenstein, or Jeff Sessions, or maybe Michael Cohen retroactively. The Senate could protect these people, but meh.
Comey's back, baby. James Comey thought he knew better than everyone else, now he needs to prove his worth.
Young Americans are turning out pretty smart, and could teach the rest of us some things.
Joan McCarter tells us of the jockeying happening behind the scenes leading up to the Paul Ryan ouster. Trump tried to double-cross his own tax bill with a package of rescissions, but that's probably going nowhere. Republicans are more likely to help him screw the poor, which will help them feel better about the $1 Trillion dollar hole they dug. They'll also promise to go on a diet, for a week.
The CEO of Sinclair Broadcasting apologized to his staff for forcing them to talk to normal people during their fake news production time.
The New York Times "unearthed" thousands of ISIS internal documents which they then published, but aren't those documents really plundered historical documents?
Do you like authoritarians and yearn for more subjugation in your life? KITM listener Mark Hogue suggests taking the authoritarian psychological profile test to find out.
Direct download: April_11_2018_short_64.mp3
You've come to the right place today. As dogs around the world brace themselves to be wagged like never before, you need David Waldman and Armando to provide you with the foundation to understand and question today's events. And, when the missiles and Attorneys General are being fired, you can come back to Daily Kos for LIVE coverage and analysis fully prepared!
Michael Cohen is under investigation for bank fraud, wire fraud, campaign finance violations… and taxi medallions. Also, Michael Cohen is the Jared of the Trump business world. He's the King Kong of coffee boys, Trump's connection to the RNC, porno blondes, Russia, etc., etc. Therefore, the FBI knew it had to clear a higher-than-normal bar. Somebody still might screw this up, but it won't be Robert Mueller. Even Kellyanne Conway's husband shot down Donald's attorney–client privilege defense.
To preserve our constitution and protect our country, Republicans plan to deliver a mighty pout to counter any of Donald Trump plans to pull a trigger, any trigger today. Even so, Donald will pull some trigger today.
Tom Bossert shows his strategic expertise by selecting the best possible day ever to quit.
Barack and Michelle Obama won't be attending Prince Harry and Megan Markle's upcoming wedding at Windsor Castle on May 19, so now I don't see much reason to go.
Mon, 9 April 2018
Kagro in the Morning - April 9, 2018
David Waldman brings us Week 64 of The Presidential Apprentice, but he'd rather not. He'd also rather not bring us the news of dads shooting their sons, news of when the dad mistakes the son for a burglar stealing the family car at night. When will we learn to respect America's snowflake culture?
KITM is recognized for recognizing Scott Pruitt's megalomaniacal paranoid corruption.
Greg Dworkin warns us that November may be closer than we think, but that might be OK, considering it's just as soon for Republicans. Older, educated white voters have become older and wiser, while new smart young people register every day. Farmers that voted Trump are beginning to pray he's the lying sack they've been hearing about, at least on his tariff threats. The Gop are certain he is that sack, but have given up on predicting on when Trump might say the truth. The Trump Hotel handbook prohibits Trumpian behavior. Trump's online store collects sales tax from only 2 states. Trump's base isn't motivated by anger and fear like it used to be, and now even more voters are angered by and fear him. Some Republicans fear Trump's impeachment... but, think of the ratings boost for Apprentice!
Donald Trump found his greatest election successes in places with the least chance of contradicting his BS.
Donald Trump had his second fire in Trump Tower, this time ending the life of a lovely man. Trump knew adding sprinklers would cut into his bottom line, on the other hand he was aware that in new buildings it helps raise the asking price. Jared Kushner has sudden incognito assistance on paying off his Mark of the Beast on 5th Ave. What is Mohammed bin Salman up to, anyhow?
Internet trolling might be the new up-and-coming career choice for those starting in politics, if robots weren't already taking all of the jobs. Christopher Wylie describes the hard choices in our future.
Secret (but predictable) use of census info helped send Japanese Americans to internment camps in WWII.
Kept warm by only a thin layer of pixelation, an actress from episodes of The Cosby Show protested outside Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial.
Direct download: April_9_2018_64.mp3
Thu, 5 April 2018
David Waldman and Greg Dworkin put together a wide range of stories today, all of which are set to be topics you will be reading, hearing and singing about in the weeks to come.
Donald Trump approval is at record lows, in the for real, not fake polls, which are still OK by BSers. When the polls run dry Donald invites sycophants over for dinner.
Trump accidentally sustained the Obama economy for about a year, but is finally getting his personal stamp on things.
Snowflakeists project their snowflakeism onto our sunny world from those warm safe spaces they need and vote for.
Advertisers aren't helping us with our boycotts, they are adjusting the media to be of better service to themselves. The real revolution is happening on the streets of Oklahoma and Kentucky. This trend will grow as the coming automation apocalypse disrupts virtually all employment.
This charming harmless Saudi Crown Prince is an autocratic misogynistic despot, and a great salesman to the US, and to the US media.
ISIS knew to invest taxes into defense spending, and 5-star hotels. El Chapo knows the importance of insuring the distribution chain. In America, conservative activists and industry allies prioritize keeping Scott Pruitt at the head of the EPA.
It's KITM's Too Much News Wednesday! David Waldman, Greg Dworkin and Joan McCarter team up today to bring you too much info about too many things before you too become overwhelmed by this afternoon's news:
The Dow falls off a cliff, as China and the US square off. China targets its tariffs on Trump counties, as we find out which country is prepared to take the most pain. Our country is the one with democracy and elections coming up however, and Scott Walker is first to show his pain threshold is mighty low, as he quickly and cravenly takes out half of Wisconsin in response to the first of WI's Blue Wave. The Wisconsin Gop yellow streak of anti-Pelosi ads seems to be a failure, and so might their tried-and-true practice of Fake News, once the Alt-Right media bubble pops. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai makes propaganda local. Some of the Right might be convincible, but many should be just left alone.
Who will be the biggest winner/loser of Presidential Apprentice? It's hard to beat Jared and Ivanka's inside advantage as well as their innate, congenital sentiment that everyone can be bought, but you still can't knock Scott Pruitt's drive and determination to take it way down to the next level.
Of course none of these can hold a candle to the Donald. Robert Mueller wants to present Trump with the reward he earned, but Donald needs to meet him halfway. Broadway producer Donald Trump missed lessons on the National Guard's efficacy as a police force, therefore he wants to retry the experiment on the Mexico border.
Up on Capitol Hill, Republican desire to starve poor people is holding up the farm bill, and now they might have to back up to revote against the the $1.3 Trillion spending bill they just voted for. Oh yeah, and then they have to balance the budget.
Donald Trump avoided firing Scott Pruitt, Robert Mueller or The Easter Bunny yesterday, or maybe it just didn't occur to him. Either way, David Waldman and Armando had so much to talk about on the first two that they had no time to address the Bunny scandals:
Scott Pruitt would have been fired in any other administration, but this isn't any other administration, so he'll have to work that much harder. So, Pruitt went against the White House to raise the pay of two close aides. He treated a security detail to trips to the Rose Bowl, Disneyland and a University of Kentucky basketball game. The EPA was looking into moving Scott from first class to private jets. All of this moved Donald Trump and John Kelly to assure Pruitt that "We have your back", so that's it for him.
So, George Papadopoulos walks into a bar... and it's funny already! Rod Rosenstein authorized the Justice Department to investigate the Trump campaign collusion with the Russian government. Robert Mueller didn't have to tell you as much as he did, which tells you a lot.
Yay! America finally celebrates Donald Trump's stable genius, empowering Donald to follow his mandate to crush our enemy Amazon.com, Inc.
Day 3 into Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and here's the story of the NYPD sex crimes chief donating thousands to elect Trump after seeing the Pussy Tape, and during NYPD's investigation into Anthony Weiner's texting.
A federal judge rules that one of many emoluments clause violation cases can go forward.
All of this is going on, and David Hogg and other young gun control activists still keep in the news, driving gun crazies… crazy.
It's Easter Monday and David Waldman may or may not be off rolling an egg somewhere, but he's certainly unavailable for a "live" show. But, before he left, he made sure our metaphorical basket was filled with fresh pre-recorded goodies:
Donald Trump runs the country like he did his businesses, from the seat of his big fat pants. Trump's infrastructure speech covered the totality of his knowledge with all of the depth that he is capable. Daniel Dale kept sane by annotating the idiocy minute-by-minute.
The Scott Pruitt scandals continue to grow, and grow and grow. And if there is one thing Donald Trump doesn't want to see, it's someone swinging around a bigger scandal than his.
To ensure future scandals, the office that vets Trump appointees would not pass most vetting.
Roger Stone's, Donald Trump's, and Nigel Farage's pal Ted Malloch was picked up at the Logan airport in Boston, and has something for his new pal Robert Mueller.
Kagro in the Morning - March 30, 2018
Good Friday Morning to you! David Waldman illuminates the issues that will keep you thinking all weekend. For instance, did you know that there is an alternative to leaving the teabag at the bottom of the mug for a few days, then prying it out with a butterknife? There are several alternatives! There are also several alternatives to "tea", although some might require a more marketable name to increase sales.
"Roseanne" on the other hand, remains a great brand name, and is now a Trump icon, representing the common wisdom of patriotic Americans, at least that's the only plausible explanation for the success of Roseanne Barr's new hit episode show. Laura Ingraham's brand isn't selling as well, even after the Holy Week discounts were added. The American Independent Party's name is a lie, but still effective branding after 50 years. And we are still talking about Milo Yiannopoulos, a fake person with a fake charity, that knows how to rake in real money.
Donald Trump ruins the economy for his short-term gain. Trump ruins our democracy for his short-term gain. Trump always makes all decisions for his short-term gain. So, will Donald fire Scott Pruitt because Scott lived in a condo supplied to him by energy lobbyists, which reveals that his administration's culture of corruption is extra swampy? No, but if this scandal pulls another day of press attention off of "Trump", Pruitt's a goner.
Direct download: March_30_2018_64.mp3
David Waldman brings us the weekend!
Oh, wait no it's Thursday. Maybe we can call it the weekend and get Donald out to the links a little early, he's done enough this week.
David J. Shulkin learned that having an independent opinion on privatizing the Department of Veterans Affairs will get you tweet-canned just as sure as having an independent opinion on Russia. As Trump has decided to shop TV for his cabinet picks, he knows Ronny Jackson has obviously been in line for something, so it might as well be this.
Greg Dworkin tells us that even as things fall apart, the Parkland kids have held it together. Laura Ingraham thought she could cyberbully David Hogg like she has others, but it doesn't look like it will work this time.
David French is wrong in every way about guns, but figures that if he gunsplains that in enough detail he's won the argument. French's logic is full of holes, but Greg explains how Swiss cheese might be the solution to gun control.
David and Greg analyze the gritty details of Trump's approval ratings to see two constants for 2018: Democratic determination, and Trump disapproval. Now, if we can only combine those two energies. It is time that Progressive ideas stand on our responsibility to make them happen rather than what other of our needs must be sacrificed.
Trump, and his attorney, and his attorney's attorney keep backing out of traps into other traps.
David Waldman returns from college shopping potentially much poorer, albeit wiser as well. The good news is, David has plenty of wisdom to share with us today:
In gun/tattoo culture news, guns win out when a Kentucky teen used money his mom gave him for a tattoo to buy an AR-15 to shoot up his school, and probably a few people too. Are you a deplorable, but not certain everyone knows it? Why not wear a t-shirt rather than a gun while grocery shopping? Guns can get ouchy at the store. In Maryland, the NRA narrative of the Good Guy with a Gun was disrupted by the reality of the Ex-boyfriend with Suicidal Tendencies.
Greg Dworkin reports on the Stormy conditions throughout last weekend, predicting sunny skies heading into November. Pennsylvania Rep. Ryan Costello is tired from walking against Donald Trump's headwinds. Voters like high school gun protesters; don't like the NRA ; like Trump less and less, especially in the suburbs. Everyone is catching on to the Gop pattern of abuse, not just the kids.
Joan McCarter reports on the wave of '90's nostalgia sweeping across DC. That is, for the Balanced Budget Amendment, not all that prudish nonsense. Also, this administration hasn't got a clue on how to govern badly, or even at all. Donald knew only an idiot would sign the Omnibus Bill, the only smart thing would be "doing the veto", so he signed it… after he wandered off and someone retrieved him. Oh, and Paul Ryan's still here, so there's that.
David Waldman brings us day two of KITM's special report on Cambridge Analytica, the psychographic sensation sweeping the world, with many new branches, including Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, and other hotspots throughout Latin America! CA's tentacles reached into the 2006 Latvian election, 2007 Nigerian election, elections in Trinidad and Tobago in 2010, and what do you know, Roy Moore's Alabama Senate race in 2017.
No one can pretend Facebook is just harmless fun any more. Facebook knows it all, about you, about everyone you know, and sold it all, because that's what they do. Gay Canadian vegan Christopher Wylie was just a nice guy trying to make an evil buck by helping create Steven KG Bannon's psychological warfare mindf*k tool. David traces Cambridge Analatica's history, from NSA wet dream to electing Donald Trump to eventually destroying us all, by design.
Mon, 26 March 2018
Today, David Waldman presents day one of a special two-part KITM on the Axis of Trump/Russia/Bannon/Mercer/Bolton/Facebook/2016 Elections/Brexit/Nigeria/India Evil. A story so complex it takes a full diGenova to explore it all.
Actually, Joe diGenova probably clocked in a lot less than 4 hours at the White House. Donald Trump is having trouble finding legal help. You can tell by the way Trump tells you that he isn't having trouble finding legal help.
Jeff Sessions might not be yet connected to Cambridge Analytica, but don't count him out. Andrew McCabe authorized a criminal probe of Sessions for some reason. The Republican House Intelligence Committee chose to be clueless of over 80% of Trump-Russia contacts. Why investigate efforts to collude, because if they were colluding they wouldn't need to expend any effort to collude, would they?
If you are reading this, John Bolton has not yet killed us, but then you may still want to read a bit quicker, because really, the guy is a loon. Bolton's super PAC paid over $800,000 to Cambridge Analytica, btw.
Remember back in the day when Facebook pretended it was just an innocent bystander with 2.2 billion monthly active users? Those were the days! Facebook allowed Trump consultants to exploit the data of millions of their users. The people that stole the data happened to be Russian, funded by the government of Russia, and were courting Russian oligarchs. Data war whistleblower Christopher Wylie bragged that he made Steve KG Bannon's psychological warfare tool. Tomorrow: more on Cambridge Analytica's psychographic takeover of the world!
KITM is LIVE today, but not so live Monday and Tuesday. David Waldman might get a pre-recorded show or two out, but otherwise he owes us four days of news before Wednesday! Armando and Joan McCarter call in, and between the three of them they cram a good six hours into our two hour bag:
H.R. McMaster can't do a little 'cause he can't do enough, or at least as much as John Bolton, who brings years of experience as a corrupt racist maniac to the table. We also say goodbye to John Dowd, Donald Trump's lead attorney, clearly because Trump is too innocent for his representation.
Donald saw a thing on Fox and Friends the other day, about that omnibus bill he was going to sign, and so far Fox was the last one to talk to him, and… (Oh, look, someone new talked to him) Until then, Senator Jim Risch was leading in pettiness, holding up the bill to spite a dead guy, the former Governor of Idaho, Cecil Andrus. Susan Collins admits that she's been lying for five months about her tax scam vote.
John Bolton certainly looks forward to helping Trump escalate his snit with Iran, therfore it's time to cue the accusations of Iranian global cyberattacks, not being made by 400lb. guys on any couches, or by Guccifer 2.0, Gop pal and an officer of Russia's military intelligence directorate. Meanwhile, the Deep State picks out a dinette set for Ben Carson, and Saudi Princes can't get into trouble for trying.
Finding trouble without trying: A Muslim engineer in Kansas that was reported as a member of ISIS for displaying the official flag of Malaysia.
It's Thursday, it's KITM, maybe the greatest thing since sliced ketchup, and David Waldman, along with Greg Dworkin, are serving it up hot:
The Senate is giving up on its bipartisan health care deal, but the House continues to bumble along to get its spending bill together. The wall money is Fake News! The real news is that the spending bill will stipulate that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can go back to studying gun violence, which it hasn't been able to do since the Dickey Amendment. People that care and are in the know have been demanding this for years. The leaders we've been waiting for march for our lives this Saturday. For the Columbine generation, gun violence has been a defining fear, as polling everywhere is showing. YouTube bans gun demo videos and videos that link to gun sales sites. It's a start.
Facebook is also kind of starting to come up with a solution, right after users turned it off, and its stock dropped and Mark Zuckerberg scored 1.14 million stock sales, and maybe also made plans to exploit Facebook for a presidential run, and of course after all of this got Robert Mueller's attention… but even if you do shore up your security, remember—you are the product, advertisers are the customer.
Israeli hackers worked alongside Cambridge Analytica and hacked the president of Nigeria and the prime minister of Saint Kitts.
Speaking of customer satisfaction, Jared Kushner, warmly ensconced in Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman's pocket, might have whispered away the lives of dissidents to fund his Mark of the Beast debt. Jared's dad-in-law caters to his clientele with the same dedication.
Steve Bannon's best friend, pedophile George Nader, scuttled back under the counter somewhere where we will never find him.
Whether it's reenacting a bustling diner, a tuberculosis ward or just some kind of performance art involving logging chain and Hummel figurines, there always seems to be a lot going on at KITM World Headquarters during school snow days! David Waldman speaks in ALL CAPS, hoping we can pay attention.
Which KITM character are you? Take our personality quiz! If you're Greg Dworkin, you already know better than to fall for that one. Through Facebook, Cambridge Analytica got data on millions, and leverage to manipulate millions more. Greg takes us through the many webs Cambridge Analytica wove. The Obama data team reminds us that a community organizing tool is pretty much the opposite of stealing data for use in psychological warfare. The clientele is different too, as investigators are noting.
In Memoriam: Robert Grossman, a great artist that you definitely know, dies at 78. Peter G. Peterson, billionaire, 91, is survived by the National Debt. The Austin Bomber, a.k.a austinbomber, blew himself up at 23. His bombs terrorized millions, and yet he was not a terrorist. Ah, if only all mass shooters would be mass bombers think of how much safer we'd be.
If Kris Kobach is capable of embarrassment and humiliation, he received a lot of both in federal court recently. Soon we will discover if he is capable of incarceration.
Joan McCarter reminds us of the next spending bill deadline — this Friday at midnight. So many poor to punish and so little time! The Gop's buggy tax law comes up with a grain glitch. The Senate Intelligence Committee finally acknowledges the security of the 2018 election is in jeopardy.
Russia helps Venezuela create a cryptocurrency to evade U.S. sanctions. They probably are kicking themselves for not thinking of that before they bought all those Trumps.
Cambridge Analytica! David Waldman is as alarmed about that as you are, but it's not like he hasn't been warning you about them for about a year now.
First, some breaking news, and also sadly a regular topic on KITM, a school shooting. This time at Great Mills High School in Maryland, thoughts and prayers did not arrive in time for at least one out of the three shot.
Bombs, the generally less efficient tool of amateur mass murderers, have been employed in Texas recently. As long as a few million people stay in their house, they only need to worry about the bombs arriving in the mail.
Are there still Supreme Court Judges that are left of Gorsuch? Then don't expect any Republicans to step between Donald Trump and Robert Mueller. #18USCode2381, btw. Could Trump just be looking for attention maybe? So why does he guard his privacy with lifetime $10 million nondisclosure agreements? The Trump lawyer seeking to silence Stormy Daniels was a lead counsel for Trump University.
Donald invited Junior over to "The Celebrity Apprentice" to pick out a girl advise contestants, and he ended up engaged in an affair years before his divorce. Meanwhile, the wife of White House social media director Dan Scavino also files for divorce.
Kris Kobach has a hard time maintaining his voter suppressing fantasies in front of a judge.
Now, back to Cambridge Analytica, Facebook's surveillance machine. Follow Carole Cadwalladr if you want to keep up-to-the-minute on this, because she sure is. Britain is on the forefront of this threat, and the Russia ones, although Putin thought he took care of them a while back. We know that Donald Trump is rich and married, therefore it is impossible to tempt him into corruption. His election consultants, however, were happy to use those techniques on others.
From the moment he woke up on that mulch truck, David Waldman knew today (and this week) would be a crazy one, and he's here to help us figure it out.
Greg Dworkin stops by to bring us the big weekend stories:
Things are going so great for Donald Trump, that aids sometimes need to whisk him to the golf course so that he isn't just overcome by glee. Republicans are still too busy shuffling through their Supreme Court fantasy picks to much notice, so far.
We fix all of this by voting. The polls are looking better all the time, but polls don't vote. We need to keep our elephants and riders going in the same direction.
Did Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and Steven KG Bannon win a psychological war against America by hijacking the profiles of millions of Facebook users in order to target the US electorate? We may never know if they won, but there are a whole lot of losers, including Facebook. Regulation and investigation would be nice, if anyone at the FTC cared about stuff like that that anymore. $2 trillion will make a big receivership case.
Hope Hicks won't say how she did it, but she almost quit doing it several times. She definitely witnessed plenty.
Oh boy! It is mulch time again! David Waldman is all set to pull the first muscles of Spring, but before he can say goodbye to his back, David has to set us up to handle the weekend:
Donald Trump Jr. and Vanessa Trump are separating. Who knows what the future might bring, but we wish them well in their forthcoming endeavors.
Chief Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow assures us that, kind of like a married guy has no reason to cheat, "Wealthy folks have no need to steal or engage in corruption." That's why it is so weird that Donald Trump keeps on being accused of both. Kellyanne Conway makes more than you do, but not enough to keep her from temptation.
HUD advisor Naved Jafry knows "we live in the world of opinion and facts merging together" and was pretty certain that included lying about his military record and fraud. Donald Trump lives in a world of lies and other lies merging together, and now the rest of us do.
Gina Haspel did not oversee waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah, but she did plenty of other stuff that needs attention called to in her Senate confirmation hearings.
Emails show conservatives fearing others might do what they fantasize about doing. How conservative activists catfished Twitter. How a Navy sailor and his lawyer got Trump's attention: hate on Hillary.
Felix Sater, Russian mafioso, stock swindler, American Spy, probably a Russian spy, and Trump babysitter says "Greed is my go-to weapon." Does he want to be Donald's bunkmate for 10 to 20, or will he by Mueller's pal instead?
What are the odds finding a few tons of gold in your yard this weekend? Always better if your yard is in Russia.
David Waldman spends the full 2 hours of KITM avoiding the question of why cats "blep". He does cover just about everything else today:
Conor Lamb probably won the Pennsylvania special election. Greg Dworkin is here to tell us probably why he did. It is definitely a big Democratic wave and Conor Lamb is definitely a Democrat, the kind that plans to do a good job representing his constituents, a.k.a. "the winning kind". Even some Republicans are figuring that out, though luckily not most of them. The Gop tax scheme did not represent constituent needs in Pennsylvania. Voters, not Republicans, got that.
This leaves Dems in disarray somehow. Pelosi's in peril as usual. Good thing we have the Trump administration for comparison! Spin can't get them out of this mess before the midterms. Donald Trump sees only one solution: heads must roll. Donald says all that is "very exaggerated and false", so it'll probably happen before I can finish typing this. First, Jeff Sessions needs to fire Andrew McCabe before he earn his pension, then Trump can fire Sessions, then everyone else, and new ones can replace them. Some are just too dumb to fire.
Sacré bleu! Quel imbécile stupide bébé, eh? Our Cartoon Used Car Salesman in Chief just doesn't care, as long as you sign on the dotted line.
As we know, Stormy Daniels doesn't even own a carpet, but Donald Trump sure has a rug, and he is sweeping a lot under it. BuzzFeed has found a new position that Stormy hasn't tried before, but will be great to watch.
Elliott Broidy climbs toward the top of the scandal ladder, but is still feeding Donald chocolate cake.
The UK knows what happened to Sergei Skripal. So does the rest of the world, even if some choose to adhere to our enemies as they levy war against us, and give them aid and comfort.
Students across the nation said "enough". One word, badly interpreted in Virginia and California this week, and way too late for this student.
The white trash circus tent collapsed in Charlottesville.
Preliminary results from NASA's Twins Study reveal that 7% of astronaut Scott Kelly's genes "did not return to normal" after his return to Earth two years ago...
Ah, the Blue Waves of Spring: In with the Lamb, out with the liar. Of course this means the Dems are in disarray... But not on KITM! It's Wednesday, so David Waldman has both Greg Dworkin and Joan McCarter to help set us straight on course:
Greg already has the polls and punditry prepared to cut through the chaos. Thanks Obamacare! Healthcare was a defining issue in the race, also Donald Trump's awfulness. Thanks Trump! Certainly thanks go to Tim Murphy. Our once and future Madam Speaker thanks you all. Republicans are realizing it is better for their health if they just retire now. Donald Trump thinks he could lose a few pounds, as he contemplates life after Rex.
The Seth Rich family has filed a lawsuit against Fox News, blaming Sean Hannity. But, where did Hannity get the idea? Ben and Candy Carson really liked a $31,000 dining set, but are beginning to really dislike email.
Joan believes that this would really be a good week for Senate Democrats to defeat a racist banking bill. The Bank Lobbyist Act will make it even easier for banks to discriminate on mortgages. All that is happening in the Trump administration demands an extraordinary response from the Senate opposition.
Kids again have to show us how it is done.
An Alabama Sheriff discovered a win-win solution to over-pampered prison inmates.
The Trump sewer really backed up quick this morning. David Waldman barely stayed a step ahead of the gusher to give a live accounting of the bodies floating by:
Rex (Everything) Tillerson could have sworn that everything was going great. Sure, there was a little tension here or there, but the boss had his back. And, he was just getting into his job as Secretary of State, siding with our ally, condemning Russia and... Well, Donald Trump hates people that feel a little differently from him. Actually Donald loves Rex Tillerson, but just did not "love" love him.
Then there's Johnny McEntee, who was ejected so fast he couldn't put his coat on. Remember: Never do business without giving the boss a taste.
Does Republican Tom Rooney seriously believe the the House intelligence committee has even heard of the word "credibility"?
Oh, and Roger Stone might have conspired with Julian Assange against Democrats. Is nothing sacred?
That was this morning. The second half of KITM was devoted to tomorrow—
David was joined by Armando and Chris Reeves, Daily Kos Community Outreach Organizer (and much more) to talk about the nuts and bolts of how the Democratic Party plans to operate, how to develop and boost diversity and participation, determine who participates in primaries, encouraging primaries, and the primary schedule for 2020!
Saving some daylight? Stock up now, you never know when you might need some.
David Waldman catches us up from the weekend. Donald Trump said the usual awful, stupid and self-centered stuff, which ends up being the least chaotic thing he could do.
Betsy DeVos wore her dunce cap on 60 Minutes. It fit her well, as it had been in the family for decades. DeVos heads back to Washington to mishandle school gun violence. As usual Trump excels at finding the exact mishandler for the job. The pediatrician that treated the Columbine Kids speaks out. Greg Dworkin is a pediatrician from Newtown and has spoken out, as have others who have seen firsthand the damage these guns can do.
Greg tells us about the chaos to come, if we have any brain cells left to handle it. Ivanka Trump never cut ties with the Trump Organization, and that turned out to be a problem. Robert Mueller's obstruction of justice case against Donald Trump will wrap soon because, duh, who doesn't know Trump's guilty on that one?
Why do racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic authoritarian Evangelical Christians stick with Trump, other than being racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic and authoritarian? Republicans thank the Lord and the New York Times for conservative columnists. It would be hard to look in the mirror without that thick layer of false principal-based intellectualism coating.
Is YouTube a gateway to radicalization? Yes, and that is by design, although it is turning out to be a bug not a feature.
Tomorrow—all you ever wanted to know about Super Delegates and caucuses, when Armando and Daily Kos' Chris Reeves join KITM for a discussion of 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination rules!
Kagro in the Morning - March 9, 2018
Well, we're on our own. David Waldman has taken us all the way to Friday, but it is now time to fend for ourselves, at least for a couple of days. Here's the KITM you need to listen to:
Trump goes to North Korea. A historical moment that could only be born from this presidency, because nobody on earth can be played like this president.
OK. That's about it, then. What would you like to talk about while we wait?
Erik Prince colluded with the Russians, at least to set up a meeting in Seychelles to make it easier for future colluding. Jared Kushner's man in the middle east, George Nader is not quite convicted, yet not quite innocent of child pornography. This didn't make Jared too shy, or scare off many strange bedfellows throughout the US, Russia and the Middle East. Without George, Erik or Jared to help, Saudis still need to speak Donald Trump's language. Russians knew a good way to get Trump interested in doing business was to first let him watch women in The Act. Meanwhile, a senior HUD adviser repeatedly promoted the theory that John Podesta participated in a satanic rituals. Taylor Weyeneth failed his way over to HUD. White House ethics officials' path to success requires not seeing ethics violations. Hope Hicks' hackers were only interested in stealing evidence of her wrongdoing.
Lucky Peyton Manning sold his 31 Papa John's franchises just 2 days before the NFL ended their partnership.
And if all this wasn't enough, here is some more recommended weekend reading:
Part 2 of David Corn and Michael Isikoff's The secret story of Obama's response to Putin's attack on the 2016 election.
The very strange case of two Russian gun lovers, the NRA, and Donald Trump.
The right-wing censorship advocacy groups at the White House video games meeting, and the state legislator that wants to register strippers.
Direct download: March_9_2018_64.mp3
KITM hit the lottery today. David Waldman rakes in an embarrassment of riches—tons of news, and all of the best minds on hand to tackle it.
It's International Women's Day, so go out and have a powerful one. Donald Trump marked the occasion by hissy-fitting Sarah Sanders. Sara said what Donald told her to say, but without getting the results he imagined she would, so she's in trouble because now everything is getting stormier by the minute for Trump. It turns out that there is a lot more interesting about this than the salacious. details. Armando sees a crime scene to be investigated, and prosecuted. Sanders said Trump won the arbitration order, Stormy Daniels' lawyer says no. Armando talks arbitration, federal and consumer, JAMS and ADR... but basically somebody needs to go to jail.
Greg Dworkin brings in some new polls, and reasons to cheer up. The majority of Americans don't want to arm teachers. The new Florida gun bill has some good and some really stupid in it, but normally you'd expect it to be 100% stupid. Now, polling is tilting from leaning Republican to toss-up in PA, and approval for the tax bill is waning, causing the Gop to pull tax ads in the state. Under Trump, the forgotten men and women are still forgotten. Republicans are expecting defeat in a district Donald Trump won by 20 points. Democrats are up to +9 from +2 in national polls. The news changes so fast that the numb public retreat back to their comfort zones when the chaos overwhelms them.
Trump's tariff plans will ruin the economy, even Republicans can tell you that much. Arliss Bunny tells us that even better, because she knows what she's talking about. America's student debt is a women's issue. As an added bonus, Arliss previews a special joint podcast on trade, featuring the Hopping Mad crew and the Irreverent Testimony gang! Download it tonight from either site!
Robert Mueller is also a kid in a candy store. All he has to do is choose wisely. Jared Kushner needs to go further south to escape extradition, but for today is in Mexico, after shaking the US ambassador. Another possible conflict of interest between Jared and Apollo Global Management has popped up in the Mojave Desert.
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world Erik Prince had to walk into the one with the pro-Trump Russian agents in the Seychelles.
If Donald Trump is in some sort of legal trouble, could someone please contact him? He'd like to know.
Some week so far, huh? It's been wall-to-wall crazy, and it has been wall-to-wall David Waldman covering it for us for KITM. But today Greg Dworkin took a few minutes from trying to figure out the new computer system at work to help David figure out the rest of the universe:
First of all, yay West Virginia teachers! This might be the biggest sign things might be going the right way after all. The polls, of course mostly agree with sane people. That doesn't mean sane people are in the majority everywhere, but at least they are getting more excited, and are being represented by more women. Nobody likes Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump trails the generic Democrat, as good a choice as any for a 2018 opponent.
Donald lost one of his last marbles. Gary Cohn lost his last straw, and is getting out while the getting is still good. Kellyanne Conway's next door neighbor Oleg Deripaska has also seen the insider writing on the wall. The European Union responds to Trump's tariff threats by promising to withholding a big piece of the American pie.
Stormy Daniels believes she was screwed by Donald Trump and Michael Cohen when they intimidated her into signing her non-disclosure agreement. So she is suing them with a work of legal art designed to expose Donald in more ways than one. David pores over the original NDA, taking time for a special analysis of Stormy Daniels' "PP", and also to bare whatever Donald Trump (and frankly most of us) would rather stay un-bared. Speaking of Michael Cohen, Robert Mueller is speaking of Michael Cohen to witnesses, and it seems Cohen received inside information from the Russia probe.
Chris Cillizza tried some "analysis" the other day. He confused Donald Trump with the competent, intelligent human being he once played on TV. Soledad O'Brien pointed out how sad, wrong, and dangerous articles like that can be, and how sad, wrong and dangerous believing people like Chris Cillizza can be.
Tue, 6 March 2018
David Waldman takes KITM solo for the second day in a row, without even a Sam Nunberg interview to tide him over. Nunberg skipped the Maury Show yesterday, but hit everywhere else, and he could be a lunatic, a stunt or just another distraction from the guy we were supposed to be paying attention to: Christopher Steele tried to warn the world about Trump's ties to Russia. Long after Sam Nunberg, we all will be talking about that article and its many ramifications.
Meanwhile, there's plenty more ramifying out there to consider: Rex Tillerson left $60 million on the table in '17 rather than use it to counter Russia. He's leaving another $60 million right now. Russia likes Rex. Russia might not agree with Mitt Romney on everything, but Ukrainian Yuri Vanetik liked his idea of registering an LLC on a Foreign Agents Registration Act application. A Belarusian adult escort would be everyone's first guess on who would come in with the next Russia/Trump scoop. She of course is asking for protection as "Some strange things can happen." A former Russian spy might soon be formerly alive after being exposed to an "unknown substance." The spy he was swapped for, Anna Chapman, is no longer under cover. Dayanna Volitich was undercover as a Florida public school teacher, or as a white nationalist podcaster. She isn't either anymore. That teacher, and this teacher would not be good choices as armed teachers. They are both good teachable moments, however.
WNYC's Trump, Inc. podcast got a tip that the Trump Organization ordered new tee markers for their courses with the seal of the President of the United States. Boy, he's in trouble now!
Mon, 5 March 2018
Monday and another week of crazy begins. Unless your kid's school is under lockdown, then it's delayed. Never a normal, but becoming a regular, occurrence. (My kid's OK!)
Somebody thought they heard a shot at a Broward county school. An arriving deputy let them hear a real one. Is Donald Trump's arm-the-teachers proposal a joke, like his running for office, or is it something we should take seriously? Georgia kills a $40 million tax break for Delta Air Lines because of 13 passengers losing their NRA discount.
David Waldman brings us KITM live weekday mornings, available as a podcast whenever your little heart desires and sometimes even as a print edition, as in this article expanding on KITM's exploration of the nexus of collusion between Trump and Russia: Facebook.
Greg Dworkin had a busy day at the office and couldn't call in, but did round-up a pile of punditry. There's only a couple of things wrong with Donald Trump: what he says and what he does. Robert Mueller is interested in both of those, plus what Donald was telling others to say and do for him. Not everything Trump does is illegal. Tariffs, for instance are just stupid. Picking a fight with LaVar Ball over a provable lie is incredibly stupid.
Even more stupid: Carl Icahn haz securities fraud? Russia, Qatar, hundreds of millions of dollars, risk of war, yes, Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared is down on his luck.
Friday, and we made it to the weekend! David Waldman beat us to it, recording today's KITM in the wee hours of this morning. Therefore we'll have to wait until Monday to hear David's impression of Trump's critique of Alec Baldwin's impression of Trump.
What the hell is going on at Trump's Panama property? Trump officials are fighting eviction from the Panama hotel they manage. That is, they are fighting eviction with punches upside the heads of the evicting security guards, while the majority owner pulls a Nero with Für Elise in the lobby. Investors in the Panama Trump Tower included a guy who laundered drug money along with Columbian cartels. Donald Trump knows just what to do with people like that, as long as they aren't investors. Republicans are not just attached to Trump — they're his customers, too. Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee were behind the leak of private text messages.
David looks into the pro-Trump polling operation of dark money group America First Policies. Leaked documents reveal new details on a Russian troll farm stirring up real protests and targeting Americans to push propaganda. Paid lifetime member of the NRA, and prominent Russian politician Alexander Torshin has been bragging for a half dozen years or so about his connections, and the FBI never had it so good.
A lot of flagging and reporting of alt-right trolls on Twitter is actually by alt-right trolls, as a marketing effort.
Why do we only have 2 hours of KITM each morning? The Hope Hicks and Dick's Sporting Goods stories hit after the show, and all of the good Hope and Dicks jokes were used up by this morning...
Oh well, by this morning David Waldman may have lost interest in Dicks, but he certainly hadn't lost sight of Hope! It's just that Republicans and Trump just keep churning out the funny stuff:
Greg Dworkin focuses us on the 10,000 important things that came up yesterday:
Donald Trump has a clear stance on guns: arm the good guys, take the guns away from the bad guys, why can't anybody get that? Oh, they get it all right. The gun issue might seem hard to understand, but definitions are out there.
Companies are becoming more publicly left-wing on social issues because their customers want them to do that. The NRA is in the minority, even in Florida.
Just like volunteering in a soup kitchen or raising money for a new playground, owning a gun brings people closer to their community… David and Greg unroll a thread that dissects that opinion and demonstrates how gun culture parallels "wellness" culture. Gun cultural events reduce gun violence because shooters are the attendees.
Robert Mueller doesn't need a smoking gun.
Hope Hicks was whitely lying for Trump, but she isn't doing that anymore. We wish her well on her future endeavors. So, now the workload is divvied up among the remaining staff. Ben Carson is caught with his fingers in the pie, which is a big problem because Donald likes pie. The RNC sends Trump more money per month than Ben's dinette set. Republicans are not just attached to Trump, they're his customers, too.
Armando wonders why Jared Kushner even wanted a job in the White House, and why did Trump even want to hire him? Kushner's oversea contracts are looking for leverage, and Kushner's family business received loans after White House meetings. Jared's father-in-law pulled the strings.
We might have to blow up some of Panama to tie up some of Trump's loose ends.
Kagro in the Morning - February 28, 2018
It's Wednesday, and you know what that means! If you knew it was the day Greg Dworkin and Joan McCarter visit David Waldman for KITM, you'd be half-right. Greg couldn't make it, as he is attending some fascinating procedural meetings having to do with his "job", but he still rounded-up some punditry for us all.
Apparently today is also Take Your Assault Rifle to Church Day, a religious holiday important enough to close local schools. God bless the guns, but the bullets can go to hell, because everyone knows they're dangerous.
If Ben Carson was looking to have his budget blown, he came to the wrong woman. Still, she was demoted, unaware that "$5,000 will not even buy a decent chair". Ben has specific tastes, and that might limit his approved vendors. Next time Ben should check with the boss, he knows a place to shop.
David continues to explore the nexus of collusion between Russia and Trump's digital election campaign. It turns out that saying provocative and outrageous statements captures peoples attention, makes distributors money and elects presidents. Paul Fuxjäger gives a… well, he cares enough and knows enough about the mechanisms behind this to warn us that our common values and democratic institutions are in danger.
Who will help Republicans out of the mess they made with the tax law? Anyone? Also, no one wants to help them throw away controls on banks. Trump's social security budget offers more work, less staff and longer waits.
Maybe this time will be different for gun control.
Bone spurs or not, Donald Trump might be galvanized into rushing into save the Trump Hotel in Panama, or to join the celebration.
Direct download: February_28_2018_64.mp3
Tue, 27 February 2018
David Waldman didn't know where to go with today's KITM. Armando called in, and as it turns out they went just about everywhere:
Want a bigger tax refund next year? Have you considered lurking around schools with a gun? Already many positions are filling up! If you can't make it that day, just drop your gun off and someone else can take over outside. Trump wouldn't even need a gun if trouble happens. Georgia figures Delta's withholding of perks for NRA members is a step upon the slippery slope towards separate water fountains.
Armando and David discuss the Supreme Court denying the Trump challenging of DACA, a reprieve for many for now. So many, so much emoluments! Why, a responsible congress would...
Facebook charged the 2016 Clinton campaign 200 times as much as the Trump campaign for ads. Facebook knows that provocative content will drive more attention, and money to them. Of course that is how Donald Trump plans to win again in 2020, and that is why Brad Parscale will run his re-election campaign.
Students for Trump don't have to reveal who's bankrolling their group, 'cause they're students for Trump, duh!
Special correspondent Mark Hogue goes all ESTJy and records a critique of over-reliance on the Myers-Briggs test.
Mon, 26 February 2018
The Olympics are over, CPAC is over, but KITM will never end. (Donate!) David Waldman brings us into the new week:
Displaying the poise and bearing only the finest billionaire daughters could hope to achieve, Ivanka Trump represented the United States in South Korea, but not the US president. Donald Trump wants a former lackey to be a future lackey.
Greg Dworkin rounds up the tough polling and tough politics for Trump. Rick Gates is singing like a canary, and Paul Manafort won't like that tune. Jonathan Turley might be persuaded of Trump's guilt once a judge passes sentence on him, but until then remains unconvinced. Greg suggests those S-heads that don't see enough evidence team with the Ns that know where to look.
Chaos in the Utah Gop! David and Greg try to figure it out, and figure out what that could possibly mean for anyone else.
Trump's approval is polling at the lowest point so far with non-deplorable people. The rest just don't care, although many of them will actually answer surveys on landlines. We are uniting around tougher gun laws. Thanks Trump! Now we need to get him interested in getting people health insurance.
Police were dispatched to a possible church shooting, and took out the good guy with the gun. Guns keep showing up in UT-Austin toilet stalls, David does not see an anomaly. He has seen it happen many times before. How did Australia get it so right?
The House Russia investigation doesn't see any reason to research Trump's Deutsche Bank ties, could it be that both Trump and Putin know a little German? Trump's Russia accomplices are the Republican House and Senate.
KITM corespondent Steve Sittig tells us why a high school would be named after Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
Today, David Waldman makes the case for more guns, at least more guns as a topic of discussion. If we only could keep them in our debates and off the street...
The good guy with a gun at Parkland had a gun and didn't go in, although he probably still has his gun and might need it taken away. Trump thinks the guy might have heel spurs, but maybe the guy was just being pragmatic, and biding his time until he was issued matching firepower. Utah's been down this road before. In fact, plenty of states are already stuck down this road. What's one more multi-task to ask of our teachers?
The Trump Hotel paid millions in fines for unpaid work, right after the inauguration. Now, the money flows there very well. Following the money keeps leading Robert Mueller to Jared Kushner, but soon to make guest appearances: Michael Jackson, Rob Lowe, Charlie Rose, and many more!
Native Americans finally get a small break when a scammer Trump was going to hire gets caught before he could start.
Is it too soon to talk about gun control? Why no, it seems to be the very time to talk about gun control. So who to turn to but David Waldman, our go-to for gun un-awesomeness? Greg Dworkin, our go-to for just about everything helps round-up the latest on the issue:
U.S. support for gun control is at its highest ever, so after making sure he had the best chair in the room, and sociopath camouflage in tiny hand, Donald Trump "listened" to people talk about gun control, eventually blowing it by opening his mouth. Greg advocates shutting up and listening. Today Trump says whatever he said was fake news, but that he really means it.
Was yesterday the day Marco Rubio finally became president? Marco did propose one welcome solution. Call them what you will, but get rid of them.
Whomever takes the time to listen will learn a lot. Therefore, you know that some would like you to quit listening. The NRA likes their lackeys toeing the line.
Set aside how stupid it is for a minute. How much would arming teachers cost? David finds it impossible to set aside how stupid it is. Of course, once they're armed who is going to take their guns away? Don't worry, the NRA will take care of it all for us.
Milo Yiannopoulos is going away but don't worry, he'll remain our clown for some time to come.
Sure, Melania Trump's parents are "chain migrants", but the lucky kind that gets in ahead of the ban.
The Electoral College's constitutionality is being challenged, better late than never.
It's Wednesday, and you can expect Joan McCarter to call in and lend a hand to KITM. You know Greg Dworkin will come through, and you can rely on Armando will pitch in any time he's needed…
How about you? Yes, you over there. Want to help? You don't have to send money, although you can. You don't have to record a 3-5 minute segment for David Waldman to play on the air, although you could. Really, all you have to do is play this show on your phone with the RadioPublic app! It's just that easy! OK, we hear it's not so easy, but they'll get their act together and you'll get used to it.
Times are changing. Greg assures us the kids are alright. This generation is coming up and isn't taking the old BS. That doesn't mean there isn't a lot of old BS waiting for them, or a lot of old BSers. It is just that they have been reading how to handle this BS since they learned how to read, and are prepared for it. Even now, voters trust Democrats to handle gun violence. In fact, voters trust Democrats to handle government. The Supreme Court sidesteps the gun debate for now. Is standing alongside the sidewalk to gun stores holding big posters of shot bodies a technique we really want to adopt? Right now support for gun control is at its highest ever.
Meanwhile the President is crazy and John Kelly wasn't the sane one.
David and Joan agree that Clarence Thomas might be a nice starter impeachment to get our toes wet before diving right in. Joan applauds the very applaudable Daily Kos Election team, who in turn applauds Linda Belcher's 86 point election swing in Kentucky. There is no reason for anything other than a clean Dream Act.
David Waldman brings us more of everything today, including more cowbell! (Another fine KITM branding opportunity missed.)
Should partisans support nonpartisan solutions to gerrymandering? Should we give them a taste of their own medicine? Why not step back and show respect before we ask anything in return from Republicans? We all know the answer to that question.
If Trump and his Congress cared what most Americans thought, this would be fixed by now, but right now in front of the High School named after Journalist/activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, survivors stand up and march, and are making a difference. Time to fight gun fantasies, again.
Trolls troll. It's what they do, but if it was easy to track or stop them they wouldn't be too good of trolls would they? White nationalists and Twitter bots fueled the war against Al Franken, but did they "take him down"? Maybe, or maybe loose reporting aids the trolls.
The guy on the Trump dating site has a child sex conviction, of course. How much projection can we stand? It's time to reexamine the evidence on Clarence Thomas, and to talk impeachment.
Robert Mueller nabs another one, today Attorney Alex Van Der Zwaan goes down.
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