Patterico's Pontifications

1/26/2017

Trump STILL Obsessed with Inauguration Numbers in ABC News Interview

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 11:30 am



Good Lord. Is this guy never going to let this go? Obama’s is bigger, Trump. Get over it.

This is from Trump’s interview with David Muir of ABC News:

MUIR: And just before we leave, the President tells us he wants to show us just one more image.

TRUMP: One thing this shows is how far they go over here. Look. Look how far this is. This goes all the way down here. All the way down. Nobody sees that. You don’t see that in the pictures. But when you look at this tremendous sea of love — I call it a sea of love. It’s really something special, that all these people traveled here from all parts of the country, maybe the world, but all parts of the country. Hard for them to get here. Many of these people were the forgotten men and women, many of them. And they loved what I had to say. More importantly, they’re going to love the result.

You can see the order of how he thinks: first his ego, and then the people. First the crowd size, which is about how great he is, and then the observation about the people who traveled to see it. First the fact that people loved what he had to say, and then the assertion that the policies will benefit the people.

This is the same picture, by the way, that he has chosen to hang in the White House press hall, and that he tweeted out two days ago.

As Susan Wright observed, the date on the picture is from the day after the inauguration, but the picture is probably from the inauguration, because (as Susan noted) the banners are still hanging. The perspective of the picture is pleasing to Trump because it does not show the empty areas between the Capitol and the Washington Monument.

The transcript of the ABC News interview is here. It’s chock-full of obsession about how many people voted for him and other pointless nonsense.

Ah, well. Every president is an egomaniac. It’s just that they usually hide it better.

He seems to be doing OK on the policy front. If that continues, the clown show is the price of admission, I guess.

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]

195 Responses to “Trump STILL Obsessed with Inauguration Numbers in ABC News Interview”

  1. “A photo delivered yesterday that will be displayed in the upper/lower press hall. Thank you Abbas! Now please sign up on the Muslim registry.”

    JVW (6e49ce)

  2. i love how he keeps emphasizing results

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  3. He is a very insecure person.

    nk (dbc370)

  4. I think if he were my friend it would be very draining trying to always be reassuring him.

    Pious Agnostic (fc15f6)

  5. Actually CNN posted the real pic, not their minitrue.

    narciso (d1f714)

  6. In other revised news, prosecutors admit that the Nisaan soor shooting want unprovoked, that’s the second hoax after haditha

    narciso (d1f714)

  7. You claim it’s Trump being insecure and perhaps you’re correct. But while he’s at it he is driving the press absolutely batcrap crazy and I’m lovin’ every minute of it.

    Rev. Hoagie® (785e38)

  8. In other news tucker slices and dices Ben Smith, like a ginsu knife, over the dodge dossier

    narciso (d1f714)

  9. The enemy of my enemy is my President. Finally!

    Rev. Hoagie® (785e38)

  10. The source for the dodge dossier is a Russian translator, read spy who was a recently in pictures with John Mccain, Lol.

    narciso (d1f714)

  11. Meanwhile the wraselly head of the border patrol was toldcto scram.

    narciso (d1f714)

  12. Meanwhile gabbard is under fire because of the sponsor for her tip to Syria, the ssnp, infamous because they took out bashir gemayel, provoking the chatila revenge killings that Friedman got the story wrong.

    narciso (d1f714)

  13. Meanwhile the storm brigade who maverick visited on his junket, were the ones who ransomed the second hostage to Islamic state.

    narciso (d1f714)

  14. I agree that talking about the size of the crowd is silly, so let’s stop talking about it.
    We have bigger fish to fry.
    President Mr Donald has fired a few of the poisonous rats within the State Dept, including Patrick Kennedy. This is good.

    Mr President also said that we’re going to improve our relations with Israel. That’s great.

    And he made a distinction between fighting uniformed enemies during WW2 VS fighting sneaky little rats who blow stuff up today.

    I’m pretty certain that if that nasty Hillary woman had won, none of those things would have been said during her first week. Or any week after that!

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  15. President Trump’s behavior may not comport with your idea of how our chief executive should behave, but he’s winning on this issue and many others just like it using the same crude approach. Every time this and issues like this are raised – and they are primarily raised by his opponents – those opponents look smaller and smaller because of their own crudeness. Why should Trump stop?

    This is a food-fight Trump’s critics are destined to lose. Unless and until the left, including the media, figures out how to abandon their own narcissistic pettiness and, instead, embrace a more honest and thoughtful approach, Trump will only cement his hold on the presidency. Of course, they will never change because they are children too – and less skillful ones than President Trump. After years of fighting and losing an asymmetrical battle with the juvenile likes of Pelosi, Reid and Obama (not to mention McConnell and Boehner) and their flaks in the MSM, I’m feeling pretty good about this.

    For me, the striking revelation is the extent to which the American character has been debased. I had underestimated the devolution by an order of magnitude. Who better to lead us than someone who fights on their terms and wins?

    Going back to the start of the Trump presidential run, there has been a remarkable paucity of insightful commentary on Trump. Within the last few day, I’ve found three good pieces: Frank Bruni’s “The Wrong Way to Take On Trump” at the NYT; Glenn Reynold’s “Trump is Playing With the Press” at USA Today; and David Ernst’s “Donald Trump Is The First President To Turn Postmodernism Against Itself” at The Federalist. All are recommended reading.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  16. @ThOR: I’d be more complacent about Trump if I knew his behavior was calculated for effect. However, I strongly suspect it isn’t, and that he will keep doing it even if it quits working or is counterproductive.

    James Earl Jones initially thought Slim Pickens was staying in character off camera, until being told he wasn’t putting on the character, that’s the way he always talked.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  17. “For me, the striking revelation is the extent to which the American character has been debased. I had underestimated the devolution by an order of magnitude. Who better to lead us than someone who fights on their terms and wins?”

    – ThOR

    You don’t see any problem with that statement, huh?

    Leviticus (efada1)

  18. Slick Willie Clinton was widely believed – with good reason – to regularly employ a “wag the dog” media strategy during his many troubles while in office.

    Trump is likely employing a “yank their chain” media strategy to similar effect.

    I believe both are brilliant!

    MJN1957 (6f981a)

  19. There’s another interpretation, crazy I know, those who be
    Sieved in his message and suffered humiliation were dubbed deplorabable, were told by the today show, two days before, they risked a drone strike.

    narciso (d1f714)

  20. results are so key

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  21. Trump tossed the press a shiny ball and they’re still chasing it down the street. Takes him forty seconds, or whatever, to kick it again and they’re away again for another day.

    Richard Aubrey (472a6f)

  22. @Leviticus:You don’t see any problem with that statement, huh?

    As the saying goes, don’t bring a knife to a gun fight. You can deplore a situation, and still be stuck with it.

    Arguably the media created or at least enabled President Trump, by chasing clicks and ratings. Their hubris has evoked their nemesis. Trump is punishment for all our national sins. He’s like an exaggeration of the American character.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  23. @Leviticus: Was just reading this from one of ThoR’s links:

    And a special hello to all of you in this room who have known and loved me for many, many years. It’s true. The politicians. They’ve had me to their homes. They’ve introduced me to their children. I’ve become their best friends in many instances. They’ve asked for my endorsement and they’ve always wanted my money. And even called me really a dear, dear friend. But then suddenly, decided when I ran for president as a Republican, that I’ve always been a no-good, rotten, disgusting scoundrel. And they totally forgot about me.

    Trump’s successes have been due to the excess of our political and media culture. They thought they were using him, and they were. But they couldn’t control what they provoked in the end.

    I hope the NYT stops running think-pieces on when it’s ok to punch people for their opinions. They’re not going to be able to control that either once they normalize it.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  24. Good Lord. Is this guy never going to let this go?

    You don’t like him talking about it because that means you have to talk about it? Has it occurred to you that if everyone else stopped talking about it (and asking Trump and his representatives about it), it would stop being talked about?

    You just want him to back down. Get used to that not happening.

    Anon Y. Mous (9e4c83)

  25. That’s a good question, Leviticus. And, yes, I do.

    My response is: Is it better to win with Trump or lose with a Romney?

    Recently, our host commented that he’d moved away from the points system to a character-based approach to politics. Although I admire his principles, I don’t see it as a workable strategy. Politicians are all goons or, at least, the non-goon contingent is vanishingly small. I use the point system almost all of the time. On points, Trump is a winner – a big winner.

    I’d also like to ask: Do you think Ted Cruz would have done a better job putting the press in its place than Trump? I don’t – even though I love Ted Cruz. This is a job tailor-made for Trump; the media is the swamp he’s lived in for the past 40 years and he knows it well. And, don’t forget, roughly one-third of commenters on this blog see draining the media swamp as the first priority. Trump’s the man.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  26. “results are so key”

    happyfeet

    ThOR (c9324e)

  27. This is what I like most about happy. While I blather on and on, he does it in just four simple words.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  28. @ThOR:Do you think Ted Cruz would have done a better job putting the press in its place than Trump?

    The Deadspin thing was well-played. If he just did it at that level all the time, he might be better at it than Trump.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  29. @ThOR, Leviticus:

    One thing to remember about the media’s relationship with Trump, is that they have made tons of money off him in the last 15 years. They never had a problem taking that money. They were making prolefeed, right? The proles ate it up and the media sold their eyeballs and clicks to advertisers, who saw that people who liked Trump bought more stuff when he was on TV. They’d not have spent the money otherwise.

    So yeah, they profited from Trump being Trump, they enabled Trump being Trump, and so did the American people with their wallets, their clicks, their eyeballs.

    The people who Trump beat are not really better people. They’re just bad in a different way that appeals to insiders. If there was a time in this country where politicians where selfless servants of the republic, I don’t believe that time exist. Washington, Jefferson, all those giants who cast shadows over history, those shadows hide the corruption, the patronage, the cronyism, the office-seeking, the rent-seeking.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  30. “He seems to be doing OK on the policy front. If that continues, the clown show is the price of admission, I guess.

    Good Lord. Is this guy never going to let this go?…Get over it”

    Physician – heal thyself.

    Bill Saracino (ad0096)

  31. You would think that rejoinder to David muir, about the march fit life (hot newbusters) as opposed to the fraud trek.

    narciso (d1f714)

  32. What he should say, to walk it back:

    “We had more people from out of town that Obama did. His crowd was larger because all the locals showed up for the first African-American president.”

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  33. David muir touted Obama’s snorkeling skills. Recently.

    narciso (d1f714)

  34. Also, there were a lot of women who had booked far in advance for the Clinton inauguration and instead of cancelling, they converted it to a women’s march. This made it hard for Trump supporters to book flights and rooms in DC.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  35. David muir touted Obama’s snorkeling skills. Recently.

    He mistakes bottom-feeding for snorkeling.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  36. Oh PLEASE, President Trump, call in to Morning Joe and Fox & Friends and say you believe more Americans eat vanilla ice cream than chocolate ice cream.

    Then repeat it over and over for few weeks so an exasperated press and a bellicose blogosphere will waste time, electrons and resources echoing reports chasing your belief down.

    “Lieutenant Dan, I got you some ice cream!” – Forrest Gump [Tom Hanks] ‘Forrest Gump’ 1994

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  37. “And, don’t forget, roughly one-third of commenters on this blog see draining the media swamp as the first priority. Trump’s the man.”

    – ThOR

    Roughly two-thirds see draining the government swamp as the first priority, and Trump is most certainly *not* the man for that particular task. To say that we’ve devolved as a people to the point that we need a gun fight between our president and our media is the normalization of nihilism. Some of the people that Trump beat are most certainly better people by every objective metric, and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise. A minority of voters wanted Trump to be president because they’d rather see someone bully the press than see someone lead the nation. A majority of voters wanted somebody else to be president, but had their will thwarted by an electoral mechanism designed to protect slaveholdings.

    There’s nothing remotely positive about the situation in which we find ourselves.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  38. (Rant over)

    Leviticus (efada1)

  39. Your points are well taken, and this has gone on too long.

    And I think you’re right about every Pres. being an egomaniac — IMO its sort of a job qualification.

    Does anyone suspect Bill Clinton didn’t possess pretty much the same narcissistic character traits given his conduct before, during, and after his Presidency?

    But here’s why I think its SOMEWHAT forgivable from Trump.

    He’s a showman/pitchman. That’s what he built a career on. Its his sales schtick. He’s still trying to sell himself, and I’m not sure he’ll ever stop. Its what he knows.

    I think its troublesome in a President mostly from a style standpoint, and to a lesser degree from a policy standpoint.

    But, from a style standpoint much of his “extra-factual” commentary seems to me to be the kind of non-substantive “puffery” that you get from just about any sales pitch that’s trying to get you to buy into (or buy) something.

    I think there’s going to be a learning curve on this in the weeks ahead. I think he’s going to figure out he doesn’t want to begin each day fighting over his words, and the press’s coverage thereof, from the previous day.

    But there are two features of his Presidency in the first 6 days that are truly unique and unprecedented so far as I can tell:

    1. He’s responding to what he thinks is responsible for his election, and not interest groups within his political party.

    2. He’s operating completely based on his instincts and without regard to poll testing.

    IMO, 1 & 2 are 180 degrees from where we would be in a Clinton Admin.

    And I think this is a revolution in approach for the US political system, and it should and is sending shock waves through the system.

    shipwreckedcrew (e90d7c)

  40. The very curious case of the Milan dossier and how it made it the top of the briefing pile, when many things do not, heh crew.

    narciso (d1f714)

  41. What a stupid controversy.

    Dejectedhead (0c7c2f)

  42. Border Patrol Chief resignation slightly curious.

    In the job only 9 months, and not a member of Border Patrol or Homeland Security before that. Spent 20 years with the FBI, and was a local police officer before that.

    Seems to me that moving from FBI career to be BP Chief is a “political” not “law enforcement” move.

    Like not in favor of the “wall” as a policy matter, so he resigns rather than remain.

    shipwreckedcrew (e90d7c)

  43. @43- Do you prefer vanilla or chocolate ice cream?

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  44. A Politico story says he has clashed repeatedly with the Border Patrol union, which came out early as a supporter of Trump, and the BP rank and file support greater efforts at border enforcement.

    shipwreckedcrew (e90d7c)

  45. @ThOR:Do you think Ted Cruz would have done a better job putting the press in its place than Trump?

    I agree with Gabriel Hanna’s evocation of the Deadspin situation where Cruz clearly got the better of a nasty bunch of smug leftists. I also remember his epic put-down of the media for it’s dumb questions during the GOP debate. I think that Cruz would pick smarter fights with the media than the current President does — he wouldn’t get into a weird pissing war over the size of the inauguration crowds, for example — fights where he would be on the winning side from the beginning. But the President does have a really intriguing strategy of fighting them on every possible battlefield, and maybe he’s on to something that the rest of us don’t yet understand.

    Or maybe his act is going to grow stale much sooner than it otherwise would. Who knows?

    JVW (6e49ce)

  46. @Leviticus:To say that we’ve devolved as a people to the point that we need a gun fight between our president and our media

    Ah, but nobody said this. What I said was that this is what we have. Not that we need to have it. We already have it. That’s the reality. The situation has already been normalized.

    Gabriel Hanna (64d4e1)

  47. JVW, what’s up bro, with your comment on the other thread.
    I thought the whole point of a blog is to generate lots of comments. You think differently?
    Do you think we’re a bunch of freewheeling yahoos?

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  48. 30-Gabriel Hannah:
    “The Deadspin thing was well-played. If he just did it at that level all the time, he might be better at it than Trump.”

    Trump needs to up his twitter game. The “very sad” and “overrated” stuff is already old.

    When Meryl Screech did her thing he should have just tweeted “I guess a dingo ate her fact-checker”.

    harkin (70fe68)

  49. Trump is a blunt instrument, that’s been stipulated, eleventh,

    narciso (d1f714)

  50. “Ah, but nobody said this. What I said was that this is what we have. Not that we need to have it. We already have it. That’s the reality. The situation has already been normalized.”

    – Leviticus

    It’s only “normalized” if we treat it as normal. I’m refusing to treat it as normal. I invite you to join me.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  51. What was the famous line in the Garcia Vega cigar commercial? http://deadspin.com/kellyanne-conways-old-stand-up-routine-shows-how-long-t-1791668300

    urbanleftbehind (636b63)

  52. “18. @ThOR: I’d be more complacent about Trump if I knew his behavior was calculated for effect. However, I strongly suspect it isn’t, and that he will keep doing it even if it quits working or is counterproductive.”

    Everytime you get a thought like this, stop and pause and consider how it could possibly be that an ignorant, unselfcontrolled doofus managed to grow a $1m loan into a $10 billion real-estate empire.

    In the words of Ayn Rand, “Check your premises.” (If you seem to be confronting a contradiction, then at least one of your relevant beliefs is false.)

    —————–
    “27. Do you think Ted Cruz would have done a better job putting the press in its place than Trump?”
    Ted Cruz would not be in a postion to do anything to the press. He’d be watching President Hillary Clinton on the TV.
    He did a great job with that Deadspin zinger. But that was on twitter, not in the White House.

    —————–
    “Roughly two-thirds see draining the government swamp as the first priority, and Trump is most certainly *not* the man for that particular task. ”
    He seems to have started off with a bang. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions
    If that’s not doing the task, I’d love to see how it could be done better. Rolling a grenade into the EPA/DOS executive washroom?

    ———–
    ” I think he’s going to figure out he doesn’t want to begin each day fighting over his words, and the press’s coverage thereof, from the previous day.”:

    You don’t get it. He is not fighting over his words — he is tossing a stick for them to chase after. Or as I read elsewhere, he is tossing chum in the water waaay over there for the sharks to chase after while the divers are in the water here doing their work.

    fred-2 (ce04f3)

  53. Leviticus,

    You’re not the only one who can’t see the forest for the trees – especially that big, ugly orange tree. Regardless of how you feel about the man’s character, fairness dictates that you give the man credit where credit is due. I’m quite happy with what we’ve seen these past few day on so many all-important policy issues. You should be too. Whether you like him or not, he’s following through on his pledge to drain the swamp – it’s gotten to the point that just seeing a little follow-through from a pol is heartening. This is heartening.

    My suggestion to you is to turn off the TV and radio so you don’t have to suffer his miserable smirks and self-aggrandizing comments, which I, too, am bothered by. Instead, try keeping a scorecard. It really helps.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  54. This is the official Trump Administration running account of the things that Trump has actually done as president: (text of executive orders and memorandums plus some some appointments and public speeches and summaries of other things they want to note)

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog

    Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42)

  55. “You’re not the only one who can’t see the forest for the trees – especially that big, ugly orange tree. Regardless of how you feel about the man’s character, fairness dictates that you give the man credit where credit is due. I’m quite happy with what we’ve seen these past few day on so many all-important policy issues. You should be too.”

    – ThOR

    I’m not sure what you think my politics are, but I doubt they match yours. I care about the Constitution, and the procedural protections it enshrines. I heavily criticized Obama for violating those protections. I think Trump is going to make Obama look like a rank amateur when it comes to violating Constitutional procedural protections.

    The idea that Trump is “following through on his pledge to drain the swamp” is laughable. The only “swamp” he’s “drained” is the senior management at the State Department, who quit because they didn’t want to work for an incompetent. How many Goldy-Sackies has he appointed, again?

    Leviticus (efada1)

  56. I assume everyone here cares about the Constitution, though most don’t wrap themselves in it. Trump has installed Jeff Sessions at the DOJ. Do you view him as an anti-constitutionalist? Most don’t, you know. Quite the opposite, in fact.

    My crystal ball must be hazier than yours when it comes to Trump violating constitutional protections. I’ll have to wait and see. And I’ve got to warn you, the past couple years have not been kind to crystal balls, especially when it comes to Trump.

    ThOR (c9324e)

  57. JVW, what’s up bro, with your comment on the other thread.

    Sorry, but can you be more specific?

    JVW (6e49ce)

  58. LEviticus,

    I wish that someone else was in charge of draining the swamp. Ted Cruz would be more able, but Trump seems to be willing to lean into the task. It’s kind of ironic, though, that to do this correctly Trump is going to accept that a LOT of people aren’t going to like him, and he doesn’t seem the kind of guy who can accept that.

    Now, maybe this is all a tactic to get the news media so TIRED of pressplaining him that they give up and just let it all ride. As in:

    “The President tonight said that there’s really two moons in orbit, but you can only see them one at a time. In other news, Madonna gave birth to twins.”

    But I don’t think that’s it.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  59. The idea that Trump is “following through on his pledge to drain the swamp” is laughable. The only “swamp” he’s “drained” is the senior management at the State Department, who quit because they didn’t want to work for an incompetent.

    I’d like to learn more about this before I criticize the new President for it. Frankly, the State Department career professionals haven’t covered themselves in glory over the past couple of decades. I guess I would prefer that attrition be spread out over a period of a few years, but I’m not automatically going to assume that a bunch of desk jockeys resigning all at once has to be a bad thing. I am willing to concede however that there were probably some good apples in that barrel too.

    JVW (6e49ce)

  60. Greetings:

    Me, I’m still in the afterglow of watching Kellyanne Conway beat the PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff up one side of the studio and down the other. The media’s operatives seem unable to understand the danger they in, a total eclipse of the politeness.

    Part of the joy of my youth growing up in the Bronx of the ’50s and ’60s was playing basketball. While waiting for the “next” game those about would engage in a kind of mostly verbal combat. Years and years of practice making perfect. Woe to the unprepared or inexperienced.

    11B40 (6abb5c)

  61. Well there’s foggy bottom and probably the CIA, next hence the pushback by btennan, and that veracity executive, eisenstat, who is tied to major skydragon acolytes

    narciso (d1f714)

  62. At your age, I’m sure it’s easy to sit back and enjoy the spectacle.

    Leviticus (046ba5)

  63. I am probably in the minority but I think Donald Trump has tons of red herring to throw at the press. He tosses this thing out about crowd size and the press obsesses about it. Meanwhile, they don’t even seem to be aware that he signed orders restarting pipelines, pulling funding from sanctuary cities, etc. – or if they do, they are putting them at the same level of news as inauguration crowd size so that the other items seem as small.

    I started out thinking this was insecure and scatterbrained but if he was using this approach to frame the news as he wants it so it is easier to get what he wants done I’m not sure he could have structured it better intelligently. So I cannot completely discount that this all may be intentional and effective. I can’t confirm it either. But the more I’ve watched it from that perspective the less implausible it seems – note less implausible, not more plausible. I’m still suspending judgment. BUT….

    Lazlo Toth (03ca70)

  64. ==The only “swamp” he’s “drained” is the senior management at the State Department, who quit because they didn’t want to work for an incompetent.==

    You have it bassackwards. I do not understand your point–. or why it sounds like you think this is egregious. All four of the senior officials, career officers, serving in positions appointed by the President, submitted letters of resignation per tradition at the beginning of a new administration. Sometimes the resignations are accepted immediately and sometimes they are allowed to stay on for either a short transition time or are rehired by the new president for a full term. This time their resignations were accepted.

    Patrick Kennedy, who served for nine years as the undersecretary for management, Assistant Secretaries for Administration and Consular Affairs Michele Bond and Joyce Anne Barr, and Ambassador Gentry Smith and Ambassador Gentry Smith, director of the Office for Foreign Missions, were sent letters by the White House that their service was no longer required. Patrick Kennedy was one of the people responsible for leaving people hanging in the wind in Benghazi with no security. Good riddance.

    elissa (678523)

  65. What makes you think that’s the tradition, elissa? I am curious. That would change the calculus to some extent.

    Leviticus (046ba5)

  66. The revival of the “I really won the popular vote, if you exclude ineligible voters” claim was not meant to get into the press. Trump did not tweet this this week. He told that to members of Congress. It was leaked by some of the people who attended.

    Once it gets started, then he gets into the controversy. Trump does not want to ever say he was wrong about something.

    It starts out as a delusion maybe and continues like a lawyer arguing a point he knows is wrong, as he seeks supporting evidence.

    But Trump does lie:

    http://www.snopes.com/trump-bragged-tallest-building/

    On 11 September 2001, as news outlets in New York, the United States, and around the world struggled to keep up with unfolding reports of that day’s terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, newscasters from local television station WWOR spoke live on the air with Donald Trump about the event by telephone.

    Trump described how he had witnessed the attack from an office window that looked directly onto the World Trade Center

    How could that be? He was in Chicago, in the offices of the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, discussing plans to build the world’s tallest building in Chicago. (Source, TIMEAlmanac, 2006, page 443.

    Can someone listen to that tape? Does Trump actually claim to be in New York?

    Sammy Finkelman (dec35d)

  67. I still don’t see any evidence that he’s drained any part of the swamp, by the way. He’s done nothing in that regard. Goldie-sackies, anyone?

    Anyone?

    Leviticus (046ba5)

  68. All political appointees resign, and people who are not political appointees do not resign, even if they are not civil service – and the incoming president picks which political appointees to stay on for a while so that government may function, and it is even possible a few may be continued in office. Barack Obama did that with the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates. U.S. Attorneys are usally kept on for the remainder of their 4-year term.

    Sammy Finkelman (dec35d)

  69. Clinton for example fired all 93 us attys in order to get at two charles banks in little rock, and jay Stephens in dc.

    narciso (d1f714)

  70. Steve Bannon called the press the opposition. He may be right, and it’s a much more honest, competent, ethical and loyal opposition than the Democrats.

    Sammy Finkelman (dec35d)

  71. By contrast because of jeffords jaundice, was forced to accept candidates that leaky Leah would approve, when the senate came back into republican hands, they tried to replace some candidates, that was the kerflufflr

    narciso (d1f714)

  72. In every single department all people in positions that were appointed by the president who is leaving office submit their resignations to the new president. How can you possibly not already know this, Leviticus?

    And, the Administration is committed to providing out-going appointees the information they need to plan for their own transitions. In support of the well-respected principle that the incoming President selects her or his own team, the President has asked appointees to submit resignation letters effective no later than the inauguration of the new President.

    https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/11/10/fact-sheet-facilitating-smooth-transition-next-administration

    elissa (678523)

  73. You don’t like him talking about it because that means you have to talk about it? Has it occurred to you that if everyone else stopped talking about it (and asking Trump and his representatives about it), it would stop being talked about?

    You just want him to back down. Get used to that not happening.

    Has it occurred to you that if Trump stopped talking about it, everyone else would stop talking about it?

    Your argument that Trump was responding to a question does not seem to line up with the evidence. He brought it up, not the media.

    You just want ME to back off. Get used to that not happening.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  74. “He seems to be doing OK on the policy front. If that continues, the clown show is the price of admission, I guess.

    Good Lord. Is this guy never going to let this go?…Get over it”

    Physician – heal thyself.

    I assume you’re talking to Trump, the guy who just can’t let this idiotic issue go.

    Oh wait, no! You’re talking to ME, because you don’t like it when I criticize Trump, so you pretend that the thing that HE’S doing is actually the thing that *I* am doing. I see!

    Spin the argument so that it’s the opposite from what is actually happening. Brilliant, young Saracino. You have learned well at the feel of the narcissistic lying ideologue…

    Patterico (115b1f)

  75. Who else wants to pretend that this is my obsession and not Trump’s?

    You two are so fucking in the tank that it’s not allowed to point out when he just can’t let something go.

    Why does it bother you so much to have that pointed out?

    Patterico (115b1f)

  76. At the end of a very long interview with this twerp muir, a wannabe Charlie gibson.

    W was gracious and let tenet, and his top staff stay on, and they repaid with a guerilla campaign waged by grenier, dannenberg, pillar and Co.

    narciso (d1f714)

  77. 11B40-

    “Me, I’m still in the afterglow of watching Kellyanne Conway beat the PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff up one side of the studio and down the other.”

    Link or a date on this? I missed that one and I LOVE watching Kelly Anne take no prisoners.

    Harkin (eda32e)

  78. News Flash: Blogger Patterico Still Obsessed With Trashing Trump.

    Trump m

    ropelight (59f18e)

  79. 42. narciso (d1f714) — 1/26/2017 @ 2:12 pm

    The very curious case of the Milan dossier and how it made it the top of the briefing pile, when many things do not, heh crew.

    What’s the Milan dossier? The documents obtained by Tyler Drumheller that showed that Saddam Hussein had signed a contract in 1998 to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger?

    That is the factoid that Vice President Dick Cheney asked the CIA to verfy, but the CIA, instead of re-examining it, avoied he queston and sent former Ambassador Joe Wilson to Niger where he reported back the obvious – that no uraniuam could actually have left Niger (without it either being detected or the system for keeping track of it dismantled.)

    And then the next year, 2003, New York Times reporter Judith Miller asked Scooter Libby a question: Who decided to send Joe Wilson to Niger?

    And Scooter Libby asked and the CIA told him and many people high up in the government that he was sent to Niger on the recommendation of his wife, Valerie Plame. Which – this is an important point – was not true.

    And when the story of what Joe Wilson had really done was reported, the name of his wife was leaked and then it was claimed this was in retaliation.

    And the whole point of what was going on was lost.

    Sammy Finkelman (dec35d)

  80. Damn phone!

    ropelight (59f18e)

  81. This was followed up by sulick and kappes and Mccarthy and kirikaou which actually committed treasonous disclosures.

    narciso (d1f714)

  82. Milan (or best transliteration) is a Russian biznessman who may have sir connections, who fed steele, those anonymous rumors

    narciso (d1f714)

  83. You don’t get it. He is not fighting over his words — he is tossing a stick for them to chase after. Or as I read elsewhere, he is tossing chum in the water waaay over there for the sharks to chase after while the divers are in the water here doing their work.

    There’s always a fred-2 to characterize every display of ego by Trump as a stroke of genius.

    (But then fred-2 thinks inheriting a pile of money makes someone smart.)

    To which I say:

    Never attribute to eight-dimensional chess that which can be adequately explained by Donald Trump’s ego.

    fred-2, did you ever figure out whether they have elections in Russia?

    Patterico (115b1f)

  84. News Flash: Blogger Patterico Still Obsessed With Trashing Trump

    Yes, the obsession is certainly not Trump’s! He’s not acting like a egomaniac child at all!

    Patterico (115b1f)

  85. Well, enough of this nonsense. MD in Philly said he might avoid the Trump threads. I’ll still write ’em, but I think it’s the Jury for me when it comes to commenting on them.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  86. 34. Kevin M (25bbee) — 1/26/2017 @ 1:51 pm

    What he should say, to walk it back:

    Donald Trump walking anything back would be turning over a new leaf.

    Look how hard it was for him to walk back the doubts about what was the birthplace of Obama meme.

    What he did now is get the best picture he could of the crowd at his inauguration and blow it up and put it on the wall of the White House press room. As if that proves anything about the number of people in the crowd being larger than at any other U.S. presidential inauguration in history is right.

    Sammy Finkelman (dec35d)

  87. What he should say, to walk it back:

    “We had more people from out of town that Obama did. His crowd was larger because all the locals showed up for the first African-American president.”

    Kevin M (25bbee) — 1/26/2017 @ 1:51 pm

    Imagine how that would be reported.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  88. Putin: My nuclear arsenal is bigger than yours.
    Trump: No it’s not.
    Putin: Prove it.
    Trump: Easy. Steve, show President Putin the maps with our Minuteman silos.
    (Bannon hands them to Putin who studies them carefully.)
    Putin: Minuteman. Pah! They’re from the fifties. Nuclear missile submarines is the heart of modern warfare.
    Trump: Steve, show President Putin our Trident fleet.
    (Bannon, etc.)
    Putin: Impressive, very impressive. But you can’t match our long range bombers.
    Trump: Oh, yeah? Steve, ….
    Bannon: Ahead of you, Mr. President.

    nk (dbc370)

  89. narciso @84:

    sir = ?

    I don’t think Christopher Steele had only one source. What probably made the accusations credible to him wa sthat he has multiple sources.

    British Prime Minister Theresa May said she’s not afraid to speak frankly to Donald Trump.

    She’s have to educate him about what was going on here.

    It helps that a reporter for RT TV was arrested for inciting a riot during the inauguration.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/23/two-journalists-trump-inauguration-protests-felony-riot-charges-evan-engel-alex-rubinstein

    Sammy Finkelman (dec35d)

  90. So, we have a president with an annoying character defect that is hard to ignore: He cannot accept that what he does or has is not the biggest, bestest, most awesome whatever-it-is in the history of the universe. And he will argue you to fukking death over the slightest assertion that this might not be so.

    There are COUNTLESS reasons, unrelated to Trump, his policies or his popularity, why his Inaugural crowd was less that Obama’s. It would take two minutes to explain (black presidnet/black city & all the Hillary supporters pre-booked and didn’t cancel, pigging the hotel rooms) and after that the WaPo and NYT would look like crazed partisans for bringing it up.

    But NOOOooooo. As the WaPo and NYT know, Trump is easily baited on the “small” thing. And boy, is he. And next week, they’ll hit on something else “small” and we’ll do this again.

    It’s not even sporting.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  91. What he should say, to walk it back:

    “We had more people from out of town that Obama did. His crowd was larger because all the locals showed up for the first African-American president.”

    Kevin M (25bbee) — 1/26/2017 @ 1:51 pm

    Imagine how that would be reported.

    Better than this is being reported.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  92. nk @90. Actually theer are no secrets about the number of nuclear weapons, because this is ametter taht is negotiated.

    Except Trump would exaggerate, and also boast about what could be built and how soon if the United States wanted to = we would win an arms race – and Putin would minimize what he has.

    Sammy Finkelman (dec35d)

  93. Putin: My nuclear arsenal is bigger than yours.
    Trump: No it’s not.
    Putin: Prove it.
    Trump: Easy. Steve, show President Putin the maps with our Minuteman silos.
    (Bannon hands them to Putin who studies them carefully.)
    Putin: Minuteman. Pah! They’re from the fifties. Nuclear missile submarines is the heart of modern warfare.
    Trump: Steve, show President Putin our Trident fleet.
    (Bannon, etc.)
    Putin: Impressive, very impressive. But you can’t match our long range bombers.
    Trump: Oh, yeah? Steve, ….
    Bannon: Ahead of you, Mr. President.

    Putin: Hmmm. Let me get hold of my strategic rocket services. Could you wait right here for 30 minutes?

    […]

    Putin: NOW my forces are MUCH BIGGER than yours. Sorry about Montana.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  94. But they lied in the first place, Kevin, and spicer had to scramble to fire out why.

    This isn’t krivitsky whose murder forced chambers out of the cold, or penkovsky or polyakov or gordievsky, this is grade a carp.

    narciso (d1f714)

  95. But NOOOooooo. As the WaPo and NYT know, Trump is easily baited on the “small” thing. And boy, is he. And next week, they’ll hit on something else “small” and we’ll do this again.

    Yup. The press gave him a ball to chase and he’s chasing it.

    They’re playing eight-dimensional chess.

    Seriously, there’s far more reason to think they are baiting him than the other way around.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  96. Sammy the point is that he’s showing Putin where everything is, answering the bait about “smaller.”

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  97. Part of the flexibility that Obama valued, I don’t know if mcfaul actually believed what he was saying

    narciso (d1f714)

  98. And the bitch or it is, Trump is doing much better on policy that anyone but his acolytes believed. Some of it is over the top (20% tariff!), mostly designed to force people to the bargaining table, but at this point 16 years ago, W was still getting his phones sorted.

    People are saying “WHOA! He means it! This is great!”

    And then, he totally lets the opposition change the subject to “My tie is bluer than your tie!”

    It’s like the guy has multiple personalities.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  99. I’m amused however any such commentary from strobe talbott, who owed much of his early success to his connection to kgb fixer victor Louis, 0

    narciso (d1f714)

  100. Re: Double voter registrations:

    1. It was discovered (or leaked to) NBC that Steve Bannon was registered to vote both in Florida and New York, so yesterday he removed himself from the voter rolls in Sarasota, Florida.

    2. Tiffany Trump is registered to vote both in New York and Pennsylvanoa. (Heat Street)

    3. Steve Mnuchin, Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Treasury is registered to vote both in California and New York (CNN)

    Sammy Finkelman (dec35d)

  101. Patterico appreciates music. This is well-played ‘call and response’ from the Trump-et section.

    “… and all that jazz.” – Velma Kelly [Catherine Zeta-Jones] ‘Chicago’ 2002

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  102. Kevin @98.

    Well this is the one thing that the United States does tell Russia.

    The United States also tells Russia how many missiles they have.

    The old Soviet Union never supplied any figures – they only agreed to the U.S. figures.

    Arms control treaties limit how many each side can have.

    Sammy Finkelman (dec35d)

  103. Seriously sammeh, you think the soviets were honest in their disclosures in the 70s and 80s, well certainly nitze and harriman and even Burt thought so, but pipes and Perle and rowny knew different

    narciso (d1f714)

  104. there’s still so much hope the good policies are gonna get done all up in it

    EPA worker trash, they wake up sobbing uncontrollably

    worthless EPA trash that they are

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  105. The big picture is President Trump will not let the media get away with fake or distorted news. cnn displays a 9am image and 1pm iimage as comparative is their way of distorting the news. Their bias is displayed.

    jim (a9b7c7)

  106. @105. Probably were about the missiles; eyes-in-the-sky and so forth…. but wheat deal parameters, not so much.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  107. I’m silly enough to think that the burden of living up to the expectations those voters who attended, and many more that followed the inaugural weigh on him, this is why whatever huffing and puffing the rizzotto tray carrier s put up, he will not be deterred
    .

    narciso (d1f714)

  108. They cheAted on that too, .an of mystery, and they planted dezinformatya about aids virus and all sorts if other slander about this country.

    narciso (d1f714)

  109. The big picture is President Trump will not let the media get away with fake or distorted news.

    Or true news!

    Patterico (115b1f)

  110. Greetings, Harkin: ( @ 79 (eda32e) — 1/26/2017 @ 5:39 pm )

    It was this evening’s edition. Enjoy.

    11B40 (6abb5c)

  111. I like his cabinet pics, and I love his actions on business and immigration and all the other issues even more bigly. They are within existing law, well thought out, and seem to be part of an actual executive scheme to make this country better…okay, great again.

    I keep thinking he’s going to implode, but…I don’t know. Maybe he has changed the ruling paradigm. I don’t even watch his interviews because usually these interviews are just roundabout ways of saying “I had no intention of keeping my campaign promises, you rubes” and we are trying to figure out the code.

    He’s keeping his promises! I’m stunned. If they prove to be wrongheaded, we can fix them! I will accep
    t his personal failings if we get this other stuff done.

    Patricia (5fc097)

  112. He’s giving the scrtbblers something inconsequential to gnaw on while the back stabbin bureaucrats are under a gag order.

    I’m still doing the happy dance over him putting the WWF, Greenpeace, Sierra Club, NPR, EPA, media incest orgy under lockdown.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  113. Re: voter registrations–

    There are dual registrations all over the place that need to be sorted out and eliminated. Think High School kid from Peoria IL who registered to vote when he turned 18 then goes to Harvard and registers there in MA, and then graduates and gets a job in San Fran and moves there and registers again.

    1.There is no actual fraud involved unless he himself remembers that he is dual registered and votes two or three times or unless someone else “votes for him” via absentee. But some fraud occurs in these situations.

    2. Fraud is able to occur because there is no cross-checking or reconciliation of voter rolls between states or currently a way to clear this up unless he remembers to un-register from his old county or unless the county clerk sends him mail that comes back as undelivered and he is then put in an “inactive” status.

    3.This needs to be fixed and in the age of computers it should not be that hard if there was a will to fix it.

    4. Dead voters who miraculously spring to life and vote in the next election are also a problem–although not so much in smaller communities where people actually know who’s dead and alive. It is a huge problem in nameless faceless cities.

    5. Don’t get me started on the fraud that occurs by being able to declare on your initial registration form (on “the honor system”) that you’re a citizen and that you are entitled to vote.

    6. I love the idea of a large over-arching national effort through the DOJ to look into the many processes, issues and piece parts that go into assuring election security and integrity.

    elissa (678523)

  114. Yes, elissa but bezos counts on people not reading past the jump page, the press is trolling us every day,

    narciso (d1f714)

  115. WaPo has totally lost it. It might as well change its name to The Democratic Party Daily.

    nk (dbc370)

  116. They might as well call it the unpaper. Or the ouroboros, since they keep eating theirvoen tail.

    narciso (d1f714)

  117. Rip, mike Connor ska mannix

    narciso (d1f714)

  118. If double voting registration is evil I’m going to hell. But not for attempting salvation. I told CA over and over I moved but I’m still registered in my parents’ old neighborhood.

    Maybe put republicans in charge and it’ll get fixed.

    Harkin (eda32e)

  119. JVW – But the President does have a really intriguing strategy of fighting them on every possible battlefield, and maybe he’s on to something that the rest of us don’t yet understand.

    “Had dinner with a political operative friend last night. He said ‘I had no idea that all it took to win was to call Democrats and media worthless pieces of s*** all the time. I thought you had to be reasonably nice. Trump has shown me the light. F*** the Left.’ This is an exact quote.”

    scrutineer (e49623)

  120. They are beginning to get it, scrutineer. Just run an aggressive campaign and then move to enact what you promised.

    There: I just saved the next GOP candidate millions of dollars in campaign guru fees. I wonder if some smart California GOPer will use it to run for governor.

    Patricia (5fc097)

  121. 11B40-post 112

    Thanks! Just watched it.

    Hope somebody helped Judy put her head back on.

    I LOVE the way the Trump people refuse to play on a crooked table.

    Harkin (eda32e)

  122. The United States also tells Russia how many missiles they have.

    Sammy, sammy, sammy,

    The JOKE which you STILL don’t get is that Trump (in the story) is so obsessed with proving his (useless) point that he shows Putin WHERE they all are. I am pretty sure that our treaties don’t require that.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  123. Re: voter registrations–

    When you move to a new state, you are supposed to list the last state where you were registered. Presumably this is so “they” can go remove your name from the voter rolls. Like they do with dead people, convicted felons, or people who didn’t vote in the last general election.

    But suppose they don’t.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  124. Re: voter registrations–

    Dual state registrations are effing meaningless. Dual state VOTING is another matter.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  125. Kellyanne on PBS Newshour

    published 8 hours ago.

    That lady is impressive the way she sidesteps the nastiness tossed her way by the Woodruff, but still answers the issue behind the loaded question with precision and charm.

    Never paid her any mind up til now.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  126. “Good Lord. Is this guy never going to let this go?” Patterico. Get over it.

    Davod (f3a711)

  127. Patterico. Did you take the time to look at CNNs 1 billion (their words, not mine) pixel photo of later in the day? If you did. Then maybe you might get over your obsession with Trump’s alleged lies about the numbers.

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/01/crowd-size-matters-trump-is-right-it-was-huge/

    Davod (f3a711)

  128. Patterico. Your order of crow is up @ 129.

    An update will not do. This calls for a stand alone mea culpa post, complete with hi def digital photo evidence that CNN was trying to rat hole (because they;re rats}.

    / I ate a bug for you dude.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  129. Yes, Kevin, but this is what Obama does and Clinton did, he soughterstroika with the revealing of our atomic research with the seppuku of our intelligengence assets in the mid 90s.

    narciso (d1f714)

  130. G-M syndrome struck again. No one (?) here questioned the timing of the two photos, I guess.

    felipe (b5e0f4)

  131. When I saw the foreground attendance, then heard this ridiculous story I knew somethingvwas up. As with the dodge dossier

    narciso (d1f714)

  132. Were the State Department folks political appointees, elissa? Or is that just a strawman?

    Leviticus (70ca80)

  133. Patrick Kennedy has been in the foreign service, for 43 years, just one example

    narciso (d1f714)

  134. There is a post at Ace of Spades on 1/27/17 titled:

    How Losing My Political Values Helped Me Gain My Freedom [Warden]

    There’s a frustrating game that the left plays with conservatives. It’s an Alinksy tactic called, “Make them live up to their values.” Now, living up to one’s values isn’t a bad thing, but setting high standards ultimately means that you’ll sometimes fall short.

    The left loves to exploit these shortcomings–every Christian who falls short of perfection is a hypocrite; the social values candidate you voted for just got arrested for drunk driving. Haha, everything you believe and advocate is now discredited.

    They got away with it for years, waving away the lies, hypocrisy, indiscretions, and criminal behavior from their own politicians while beating the right mercilessly with the missteps of their own. It’s effective because the right always maintains a baseline of integrity not displayed by the left, as evidenced by comparing what happens to Republican politicians when they’re caught in criminal behavior with what happens to Democrats. Republican voters and politicians reluctantly dump the malefactor while Democrats defend their guy and launch an offensive against those who demand accountability.

    And then came along Trump, a guy just ripe for demonization by the left. I think it’s fair to say that even his early supporters worried that the Democrats would successfully make him toxic to the general voting public with his boorish behavior, vulgarity, multiple bankruptcies and very public divorces.

    The entire thing is a two minute read and worth it. Might answer why people love to watch Trump drive the libs and their accomplices crazy.

    Rev. Hoagie® (785e38)

  135. A study by Jesse richman at old dominion university found 800,000 citizens likely voted for Hillary.

    narciso (d1f714)

  136. Leviticus, Why do you make this so hard? I wish you’d at least do some googling on your own before you rely on others when you need info and clarification or something to be proved. No it is not a “strawman” as you asked. Yes, Patrick Kennedy has been a foreign service professional for most of his entire long career. But he has been in the specific appointed position of undersecretary for 9 years. It’s pretty clear to pretty much everybody but you and perhaps some in the media that he did not resign as undersecretary “in protest”. A person does not acquire an undersecretary post by seniority and it is not held for life. A person, usually selected from among career State people, is first chosen and appointed by a president’s administration and from then on they are either retained or not retained by each subsequent administration.

    Even the WAPO (Bless their Hearts) understands that!

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/01/25/trump-team-narrowing-search-for-state-departments-no-2-official/

    Inside the State Department, officials are also watching closely to see who will be appointed to the No. 3 position, undersecretary of state for political affairs. Tom Shannon has been held over for the time being but is not expected to be retained permanently. Speculation has centered around Beth Jones, a former assistant secretary of state and retired foreign service officer. Jones worked for Tillerson at ExxonMobil after leaving government.

    The Trump team is also looking to replace Patrick Kennedy, the State Department’s long-serving undersecretary for management. Transition sources said that Kennedy is seen as too powerful inside the building and not aligned with the Trump administration’s interests. Republican lawmakers have also criticized Kennedy for his actions related to the Benghazi, Libya, attacks, both as the official who oversaw requests for more security and for his involvement in the subsequent State Department internal investigation.

    elissa (678523)

  137. He likes his prolefeed, even if it contradicts the previous days sample, both Jones was last ambassador to Libya, after the oruruginal kerfluffle.

    narciso (d1f714)

  138. A majority of voters wanted somebody else to be president, but had their will thwarted by an electoral mechanism designed to protect slaveholdings.

    I’d like to challenge you on that, but don’t have the time right now.

    Tonight?

    Patterico (115b1f)

  139. Also, and I am only scanning comments, but elissa is right that everybody resigns every time. Many articles have explained this. (After the media collectively freaked out and misreported everything at first.) Looks like these people were fired in the sense that their resignations were accepted.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  140. Leviticus, Why do you make this so hard? I wish you’d at least do some googling on your own before you rely on others when you need info and clarification or something to be proved. No it is not a “strawman” as you asked. Yes, Patrick Kennedy has been a foreign service professional for most of his entire long career. But he has been in the specific appointed position of undersecretary for 9 years. It’s pretty clear to pretty much everybody but you and perhaps some in the media that he did not resign as undersecretary “in protest”. A person does not acquire an undersecretary post by seniority and it is not held for life. A person, usually selected from among career State people, is first chosen and appointed by a president’s administration and from then on they are either retained or not retained by each subsequent administration.

    Even the WAPO (Bless their Hearts) understands that!

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2017/01/25/trump-team-narrowing-search-for-state-departments-no-2-official/

    Inside the State Department, officials are also watching closely to see who will be appointed to the No. 3 position, undersecretary of state for political affairs. Tom Shannon has been held over for the time being but is not expected to be retained permanently. Speculation has centered around Beth Jones, a former assistant secretary of state and retired foreign service officer. Jones worked for Tillerson at ExxonMobil after leaving government.

    The Trump team is also looking to replace Patrick Kennedy, the State Department’s long-serving undersecretary for management. Transition sources said that Kennedy is seen as too powerful inside the building and not aligned with the Trump administration’s interests. Republican lawmakers have also criticized Kennedy for his actions related to the Benghazi, Libya, attacks, both as the official who oversaw requests for more security and for his involvement in the subsequent State Department internal investigation.

    elissa

    Leviticus,

    She’s trying to say no, this was not a political appointee. Not sure why folks would be upset at the question. Great point, btw.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  141. Yeah, I didn’t know that. It makes sense, but I wasn’t aware.

    Still doesn’t answer the overriding question: what has Trump done to “drain” the “swamp”? Is the contention that these four State Department officials were “the swamp”? Because what we’ve seen elsewhere is a lot of Goldy-Sackies that none of the swamp drainers want to talk about.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  142. I think elissa is right, Dustin, that the undersecretaries are in fact appointed by the president – which would make them “political appointees,” to my mind, even though their positions (e.g. undersecretary of management) have traditionally been apolitical in most ways.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  143. and I do not understand the issue here.

    Would you want to work for Trump? Of course not. So these folks aren’t victims.

    The American people have lost the services of these folks, and I imagine for many employees this is actually a good thing, and for many others it’s a bad thing.

    But we know Bannon’s goal isn’t a functional state department. I think through that lens the chaotic stuff we may be beginning to see is the responsibility of the White House.

    There’s no reason to get upset with others who ask questions about this stuff, or raise concerns. Just because the president is a republican now doesn’t mean we should interpret criticism or questions as hostility.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  144. “A majority of voters wanted somebody else to be president, but had their will thwarted by an electoral mechanism designed to protect slaveholdings.

    I’d like to challenge you on that, but don’t have the time right now.

    Tonight?”

    – Patterico

    I’m going to be out and about this evening, but will be able to check in this afternoon and tomorrow. I’m sure we could sustain the back and forth at one of the Jury threads, or via email – however you’d like to discuss it.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  145. I think elissa is right, Dustin, that the undersecretaries are in fact appointed by the president – which would make them “political appointees,” to my mind, even though their positions (e.g. undersecretary of management) have traditionally been apolitical in most ways.

    Leviticus (efada1)

    I guess I’m the confused one now. If they are political appointees then a change from Obama to Trump should mean changes. That’s what the election was about.

    I’d ask Elissa to explain but apparently that’s not what discussion threads are for or something.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  146. He wants a state department that serves American interests, crazy right, not one beholden tie the gulf states or china to cite two examples, or functionally russia’s

    narciso (d1f714)

  147. I’d ask Elissa to explain but apparently that’s not what discussion threads are for or something.
    Dustin (ba94b2) — 1/27/2017 @ 8:09 am

    I know you are showing mirth, but after pulling a bulls tail, now come the horns.

    felipe (b5e0f4)

  148. Dustin–I think Patterico, Leviticus and I are now on the same page about the specific issue we were discussing.

    elissa (678523)

  149. Josh robin was one of the few good reporters at the beast,recall his following up those gitmo detainees in Qatar, bow where are they now, but he’s been consumed by the labrea tarpits

    narciso (d1f714)

  150. I know you are showing mirth, but after pulling a bulls tail, now come the horns.

    felipe

    LOL. You make a good point.

    I suspect Elissa understands this subject a lot more than me actually. I’m just annoyed when people are rude just because they perceive political opposition.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  151. Shulkin certainly seems to had early impact in the via, but its going to be like cleaning out the Aegean stables

    narciso (d1f714)

  152. NGR Stadium nearly empty [jpg] which can only mean that Super Bowl 51 has been called off due to lack of interest.

    // World according to Pat.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  153. “He wants a state department that serves American interests, crazy right, not one beholden tie the gulf states or china to cite two examples, or functionally russia’s”

    – narciso

    Hahaha yeah, I’m sure Trump is very concerned about having a State Department beholden to Russia.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  154. Wait a minute. Maybe it’s just the vantage point throwing off the head count?

    Nope. Stadium’s empty from this angle too.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  155. Actually this administration has bent over backwards on Ukraine, Syria, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, name a region.

    narciso (d1f714)

  156. And who can forget the fired up throng in attendance for MLK’s speech at the Lincoln Memorial? [jpg]

    Hey!

    Someone trying to pull a fast one?

    papertiger (c8116c)

  157. Now as Michael Doran pointed out, we know why Obama was deferential about the middle examples

    narciso (d1f714)

  158. Woman who voted twice for Trump not mentally competent to stand trial, her lawyers says. And I ask, “And this makes her different from everyone else who voted for Trump how?”

    nk (dbc370)

  159. 15, 16, 17, 18 …

    I count just a smattering of people at MLK’s speech.

    It’s a wonder they made such a fuss.

    Wait, was there color photography back then?
    Probably, right?

    Yeah! first color photograph produced by Thomas Sutton for a Maxwell lecture in 1861.

    So any complaints are just a continuation of the clown show.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  160. The point is the photo served a preexusting narrative like gutman police tape (didn’t prevent him from being assigned to la bureau) or the coverage of Keefe in the big easy.

    narciso (d1f714)

  161. http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2017/01/politics/trump-inauguration-gigapixel/

    By the SCOTUS zoom in would you say Ruth Bader Ginsberg is only mostly dead, or really most sincerely dead?

    Did they velcro the corpse into her seat, or duct tape?

    You can really dive right in close to get an informed opinion, if only CJ Roberts would move aside.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  162. She’s certainly pining for the fjords

    narciso (d1f714)

  163. “But we know Bannon’s goal isn’t a functional state department.”

    What else did you see in your crystal ball?

    And if a “functional state dept.” is how N Korea got nukes and billions and the Iranian mullahs get nukes and billions then maybe “functional” is not the exact right word.

    Harkin (eda32e)

  164. New England Patriots are getting ready for anything, especially the trick plays, prepping for Super Bowl 51.

    Not that anyone cares. [jpg]

    papertiger (c8116c)

  165. “Looks like these people were fired in the sense that their resignations were accepted.”

    The way I read it is that they just changed it from an offer to a certainty.

    That they may (as rumored about Kennedy) wished to stay and only walked out when they realized they weren’t going to make the cut should at least be considered.

    Harkin (eda32e)

  166. Super Bowl 51 is just intensely jealous of Super Bowl 43. [jpg]

    Case of crowd envy.

    *eyeroll*

    papertiger (c8116c)

  167. I blame Colin Kaepernick, not that CNN would ever admit it.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  168. I just wonder who threw out the switchgear in the Superdome in SB 47. Him and Lewis were on the field, but then again it was held in New Orleans using relays made in Chicago (S & C Electric)…

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb)

  169. Big steaming plate of crow waiting for the Patterico party of one @ 129. Get it while it’s hot.

    Spice is at your discretion.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  170. 145- “There’s no reason to get upset with others who ask questions about this stuff, or raise concerns. Just because the president is a republican now doesn’t mean we should interpret criticism or questions as hostility.”

    Not upset, only discerning.

    Compare any MSM network, cable news or print reporter asking questions of Obama or one of his reps over the last eight years and compare the tone, the partisanship and the follow-up technique (or lack thereof) to the questions being asked of Trump and his reps.

    If you can’t see the difference I can’t imagine any remedy for myopia this severe.

    But if at all possible, realize that decades of this disgusting double standard is ANOTHER REASON TRUMP WON.

    Harkin (eda32e)

  171. 171 – (Paraphrasing) “Good Lord. Is this guy never going to fess up?”

    harkin (afc7a6)

  172. Has it occurred to you that if Trump stopped talking about it, everyone else would stop talking about it?

    Your argument that Trump was responding to a question does not seem to line up with the evidence. He brought it up, not the media.

    You just want ME to back off. Get used to that not happening.

    Thing is, I’m not bothered by the fact that he’s discussing it. You are. So, if you want the conversation to end, you (and others) should stop talking about it. I’m also not bothered by you talking about it. I’m just pointing out that your actions are at cross purposes with what you are suggesting: that you want the matter to be dropped.

    Check the video as to who brought it up. We only have Muir’s overdub characterizing what the discussion was prior to that point. When dealing with the media and their paraphrasing of what Trump said, they lie. Always. There is a reason he didn’t just play the audio of the conversation leading up to them in front of the picture. Muir didn’t want the actual facts to interfere with his narrative.

    Anon Y. Mous (9e4c83)

  173. Thing is, I’m not bothered by the fact that he’s discussing it. You are. So, if you want the conversation to end, you (and others) should stop talking about it. I’m also not bothered by you talking about it. I’m just pointing out that your actions are at cross purposes with what you are suggesting: that you want the matter to be dropped.

    Excellent. I can only assume that you will follow your own standard, and if you get tired of my criticizing Trump, you will not criticize me. (Since the rule you articulated is that the person disturbed by the repetitive focus on a topic should not discuss it.)

    I eagerly look forward to your future silence of the issue of my criticizing Trump.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  174. Susan wright has been wrong, twice now, first on the actual facts on the ground, and the interpretation of another moment, maybe streiff might be a more useful template?

    narciso (d1f714)

  175. Sure, Like I’m going to back off when in the right.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  176. Patterico. Your order of crow is up @ 129.

    An update will not do. This calls for a stand alone mea culpa post, complete with hi def digital photo evidence that CNN was trying to rat hole (because they;re rats}.

    Settle down, Beavis.

    Find me the assertion that I made that was wrong. I want a link and a quote.

    I think you are misremembering what I said as LOOKA THEM TWO PICTURES WHAT THE MEDIA PUT OUT!!!! I BELIEVE THEM WITHOUT RESERVATION!!!!!!!

    Time to review the actual post.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  177. Remember the hundred thousand times you found the flaw and wrote the reasoned request for a retraction from the newspaper?

    Look in the mirror. See the glint in the eye. The indignant jut of the jaw. That’s why you didn’t get it.

    Sorry seems to be the hardest word. [YouTube]

    Or even a beg your pardon.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  178. lol you said the media put out

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  179. Also, the photograph looks a lot like these ones, just taken from a different angle.

    I have spent a few minutes looking at them. Everything is explainable by the low angle and the vantage point of the photographer.

    Fake news from Gateway Pundit.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  180. of course the media put out, they’re propaganda sluts

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  181. Remember the hundred thousand times you found the flaw and wrote the reasoned request for a retraction from the newspaper?

    Look in the mirror. See the glint in the eye. The indignant jut of the jaw. That’s why you didn’t get it.

    Sorry seems to be the hardest word. [YouTube]

    Or even a beg your pardon.

    Indeed. I don’t think Spicer or Trump have apologized for their numerous lies regarding the size of the inauguration crowd.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  182. I see zero quotes and links, papertiger.

    When I sought corrections, I provided exact quotes and links, and contrary facts.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  183. My link is the CNN mega pixel @ 163 above. You say there are the same empty spaces from the original CNN presentation (highlighted at the gateway pundit link @129) present in the mega pixel that more people could be squeezed in. I see a few empty spots cordoned off from public traffic, but they don’t commute to the original.

    We appear to have reached an impasse.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  184. I looked at the CNN megapixel. There is a severe foreshortening in that photo that is not present in the overhead shots here. It’s clear they are taken at around the same time and that the shots at this link simply show the empty spaces more clearly because the spaces are not blocked by foreshortening and by the people standing in between the empty space and the photographer.

    It’s easier to view through nonpartisan lenses.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  185. I’m sorry you’re upset that the facts don’t support your view and that you have failed to show any links and quotes of mine that are wrong.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  186. It’s also (predictably) sad that you are gravitating towards the breathless and fact-free Gateway Pundit for your dose of pro-Trump fake news.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  187. No the ap straigot out lied like Carlos slims and Bezos have done on many occasions.

    narciso (162b2f)

  188. Dash Hammet. I’ll get you eventually Patterico.

    You haven’t seem the last of me. Grrrr

    papertiger (c8116c)

  189. What can I do? He has a mole in the Washington Monument.

    They don’t even let civilians in there.

    How can I fight that?

    papertiger (c8116c)

  190. Here is a megapixel from the ’09 Obama inauguration. Link.

    Pennsylvania Avenue is cut out of the frame, but if you zoom into President Garfield’s statue in front of the National Arboretum you’ll notice everybody what was coming to see it has already been herded into the spaces on the mall. Nobody is being barred from entry.
    There isn’t an elbow to elbow scrum with people being forced off the pantomime of a roadway trailing off into the infinity like at the Trump inaugural Link. (as if they were expecting or allowing traffic through. EVER! Even on a normal day. That’s a sick joke being played on Republicans twenty deep on that sidewalk.)
    If you bother to look a little further you will see its a universal joke being played at all entry points to the mall (a clammering line forced onto the sidewalk by an army of policemen trails off every side of the photo and down both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue).

    Here’s a picture of the view from the podium after the scrum got the D.C. Policemans Union reps sorted out.

    Here is the view

    papertiger (c8116c)

  191. One thing is consistent in all views of the Trump inaugural, no matter how fake time stamped.
    The first white section on the right hand side just across from the reflection pond.

    Foreshortening in a pigs eye.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  192. Deliberately closed off from the public by metal barricades. Fortunately. The donks missed that trick on that one.

    papertiger (c8116c)

  193. While the msm remained in a blather arguing with Trump about crowd size they failed to notice that with just a few choice words with Muir/ABC he greatly expanded coverage of the Pro Life March.

    “He spoke with Muir as though it were a matter of intellectual curiosity, as though he were asking Muir to tell him it wasn’t true. “This is what the pro-lifers around me say, David — say it isn’t so?”

    Of course, Muir could not, and the exchange was so widely covered that the media cannot help but at least notice the marchers this year. Trump has made media dishonesty such a central focus of his early presidency that when he scores a genuine point against them, they dare not prove him right.”

    http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/01/27/commentary-the-womens-march-organizers-blew-it-and-even-the-media-realize-it/

    harkin (afc7a6)


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