POLITICUSUSA
Between the recent "Rudy Can Fail" tour, Donald Trump's meltdown today in response to a question posed by a reporter and, well, take your pick of any number of recent Trump administration scandals it was easy to miss that the Trump White House snubbed the not-so-recently-crowned WNBA champions, Minnesota Lynx.
During Thursday’s Energy and Commerce Committee hearing many Republicans rushed to the defense of embattled EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, to the surprise of exactly no one.
Texas’ Joe Barton bemoaned that “<Pruitt is> not the first person to be the victim of -for lack of a better term- Washington politics,” while David McKinley of West Virginia clucked that this morning’s hearing was a “classic display of innuendo and McCarthyism.”
In what feels like a never-ending race to the bottom, Scott Pruitt added to his list of public trust violations and legal transgressions when he told the salesman at his local Chevy dealership “I’ll add those bullet-resistant car seats, please! Just put ’em on the taxpayers’ tab!”
Yesterday, Donald Trump tweeted this:
A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!
The Guardian reports chilling -if not altogether surprising- news that David Smith (the chairman of the now-infamous Sinclair Broadcast Group) assured candidate Donald Trump in 2016 that his organization had his back. Because, you know, that’s the role of a news agency.
Profile in courage Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told CNN’s Kate Bolduan this morning that “the bottom line is I’m not worried about Trump firing Mueller, because I think he’s smarter than that.”
Birds On A Wire: Chuck Schumer Warns Donald Trump "Don't."
Speaking at his tax reform roundtable in West Virginia, Donald Trump literally threw his prepared remarks away before launching into a xenophobic rant about that migrant caravan that only yesterday he was accusing of marching toward our border, intent on invasion.
While various media outlets report that Donald Trump’s poll numbers are on the rise, we should take a moment to grab on to reality with both hands, and remember that those poll numbers remain at what my AP Calculus teacher used to somberly describe as”below C-level.” In other words, FoxBusiness, nothing to crow about.
Donald Trump opened the annual White House Easter Egg Roll with a reminder for the kids: American military might is the mightiest!
He told the kids (after describing the White House as “this house or building or whatever you want to call it because there is no name for it, it is special” and as a place they keep “in tip-top shape, we call it sometimes tippy-top shape, and it’s a great, great place”) that they don’t need to worry! The military will be -thanks to him, of course- “at a level it’s never been before.” He added that “you see what’s happening with funding” and told the increasingly-confused kids they should “just think of $700 billion, because that’s what’s going into our military this year.”
If you thought the antics of Fox News were bad, wait’ll you get a load of Sinclair Broadcast Group‘s latest scheme.
You may remember Sinclair Broadcast Group because not too long ago we learned that they can just about reach into 75% of American homes. That news didn’t make the news that CNN reported earlier this very month that Sinclair would be requiring their anchors to record “media bashing” promos that decry “fake news” any less chilling. CNN’s Brian Stelter went so far as to say the campaign “sounds like pro-Trump propaganda.”
Just yesterday, Laura Ingraham felt the need to add her voice to the conservative chorus that’s been bashing Parkland shooting survivors (and David Hogg specifically). It did not go quite the way she planned. Unless her plan was to lose face and advertisers. In that case, job well done, Laura Ingraham!
This afternoon Donald Trump fired off two Tweets, announcing the removal of VA Secretary David Shulkin, and his nomination to replace him, Trump’s personal physician rear admiral Ronny Jackson.
….In the interim, Hon. Robert Wilkie of DOD will serve as Acting Secretary. I am thankful for Dr. David Shulkin’s service to our country and to our GREAT VETERANS!
A wiser man than me once said “Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes.”
In news that vaults easily over the huge pile of colorful metaphors it engenders, The Hill tells us that House Republicans are -with straight faces- pushing a balanced budget amendment. That push will come after their latest break … which they surely needed, what with planning on working all of 121 days in total this year.
Run, Romney! Run!
Not even two months into his run for Orrin Hatch’s Utah Senate seat, the Daily Herald reports that Mitt Romney has run right over Trump and most of his GOP colleagues on immigration, telling voters at a campaign Q&A that “I’m… more of a hawk on immigration than even the President. My view was these DACA kids shouldn’t all be allowed to stay in the country legally.”
Down, Pat!
Ex-Nixon campaign aide and full-time racist Pat Buchanan thinks those damn kids shoulda’ stayed off the White House lawn on March 24th, that they’re immature, and not so bright.
Yesterday, on CSPAN’s “Washington Journal” Buchanan had this to say in response to a callers query:
It didn’t take long for Roseanne Barr’s interview on last night’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to take a turn for the terse.
Roseanne and co-star John Goodman were on the show to talk about reboot of beloved 90’s sitcom “Roseanne” that premiers on ABC March 27th… but Jimmy Kimmel had other plans. Like many of us who’ve followed Roseanne’s career and enjoyed her portrayal of a working-class family on her hit sitcom, he’s been perplexed by her support for Donald Trump. Specifically, by her vote for Donald Trump.
Here’s a tip: don’t take advantage of tipped workers.
MarketWatch reports that tucked into the sprawling 1.3-trillion dollar omnibus spending bill the House just passed is a provision that will ensure that workers can keep their tips. You wouldn’t think that would be necessary, and so, wouldn’t expect it to be news-worthy, but it’s a brave new world.
Never re-tweet, never surrender!
Donald Trump took to Twitter to take his critics to the woodshed for the audacity they had to criticize the congratulatory phone call he made to Vladimir Putin after Putin “won” reelection. Congratulations, by the way, that his National Security advisers strongly (in all caps, no less) urged him not to offer.
The Atlantic reports that “Counselor to the President” Kellyanne Conway is this close to accepting the recently (and repeatedly) vacated White House Communications Director position. Evidently being an enabling, lying sycophant Trump’s being a violator of ethics law.