Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

~~~

Friday, May 19, 2017

The Russia Probe is "now a criminal investigation'




Republican Senator Lindsay Graham said the Russia probe [is] ‘now a criminal investigation’

And that caps off Trump's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.

Off goes the BLOTUS to his first foreign country visit and gawd only knows how many embarrassments he'll bring down upon himself and our country. Trump's grasp of domestic policy is tenuous, at best, and his foreign policy understanding is non-existent. 

From what I've read about the upcoming trip, Trump is not enthused about leaving the comfort of his cocoon of sycophants and lackeys. 

Meanwhile, this is the cover of Time Magazine, and it says volumes about how the Trump regime is perceived here and around the world:





This Vox article explains how the Trumpistas are dealing with the Trump-Russia scandals and the possible obstruction of justice in Trump's firing of the FBI Director Comey:


“I just choose to not listen”: why Trump supporters are tuning out the scandalsMotivated ignorance, explained.


“I tuned it out,” Michele Velardi, a 44-year-old in Staten Island, told the AP of the recent news. “I didn’t want to be depressed. I don’t want to feel that he’s not doing what he said, so I just choose to not listen.” 


 This line is extremely revealing. It shows a psychological tendency we’re all susceptible to. That tendency is called “motivated ignorance,” and it’s an extremely powerful force in American politics. It’s also one of the keys to understanding why political discourse can be so irrational. 

 Politics is about establishing a shared sense of reality with like-minded people. It’s not about facts. Here’s a simple truth: We find inconvenient political facts to be genuinely unpleasant. Psychologists theorize that’s because our partisan identities get mixed up with our personal identities — which would mean that an attack on our strongly held beliefs is an attack on the self.




A brief visit around the internet and right wing blogs confirms that many Trumpistas are pretending this is a "nothingburger," or that the Trump-Russia-Comey scandals are made up by a cabal of Clinton, Obama, and Soros agents. I guess when you pin you hopes and dreams on a con man, and then you get conned, the best way to protect your sanity is to ignore it all.

Sad. 

13 comments:

Ray said...

"Trump's got to fire a bunch of people and start acting Presidential."

We've been listening to that and reading that hopeless whine since November 9, and it ain't gonna happen,the Republicans keep trying to put lipstick on the pig they gleefully stuck in our White House. Hoping Trumpie will "act presidential" is like hoping a whore will turn into a virgin. They truly live in a fantasy world where no amount of reality will bleed into their delusions.

Jerry Critter said...

Perhaps we are finally on a path to impeachment and the cleansing of the executive branch of compromised swamp dwellers.

Dave Miller said...

His first foreign tour.

He's avoiding Masada because he physically unable to get up the hill.

NATO leaders have been told to keep remarks brief because he can't pay attention for long periods of time

Memos must be 1 page and just a few quick outlined points. Pictures and graphs are good.

And... include his name in as many paragraphs as possible because that encourages him to continue reading.

Yessir, this trip, devoid of his personal creature comforts, is gonna be something.

No word if he gets to bring his Highlights magazine...

Shaw Kenawe said...


Dave, Trump acts like a toddler and the world treats him like one:

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump sits down for dinner in Saudi Arabia, caterers have ensured that his favorite meal – steak with a side of ketchup – will be offered alongside the traditional local cuisine.

At NATO and the Group of 7 summits, foreign delegations have gotten word that the new U.S. president prefers short presentations and lots of visual aids. And at all of Trump’s five stops on his first overseas trip, his team has spent weeks trying to build daily downtime into his otherwise jam-packed schedule.

It’s all part of a worldwide effort to accommodate America’s homebody president on a voyage with increasingly raised stakes given the ballooning controversy involving his campaign’s possible ties to Russia. For a former international businessman, Trump simply doesn’t have an affinity for much international.

Even before Trump’s trip morphed from a quick jaunt to Europe into a nine-day behemoth, White House aides were on edge about how the president would take to grueling pressures of foreign travel: the time zone changes, the unfamiliar hotels, the local delicacies. Two officials said they feared that a difficult trip might even lead the president to hand off future traveling duties to Vice President Mike Pence.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Jerry, I think it'll take a while to drain Trump's swampy swamp, but we're headed in the right direction.

Ray, Yeah. The rightie rights are running around blaming the media, the Obamas, the FBI, CIA, and the best one of all, the "Deep State," for all of Trump's self-inflicted wounds. The Goopers never take responsibility for the messes they make and they always find a way to blame the black guy. They're pathetic, rudderless incompetence with the chief incompetent they thought would deliver them some glory. And he's given them immeasurable shame instead.

Dave Miller said...

Shaw... OT, but here's a link on the potential terror of a Pres Pence...

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/impeaching-trump-make-everything-way-way-worse/

Shaw Kenawe said...


Dave, thanks for the link.

Here's one I think you'll enjoy.

Kevin Robbins said...

Love the Time cover. If he was going anywhere near Russia I'd think he was seeking asylum.

Dervish Sanders said...

Trump to Russian officials: "I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off".

Rep. Ted Lieu: "...Richard Nixon fired people who were investigating him. That's exactly what Donald Trump did with the firing of Director Comey". Also via Facebook "This. Is. Obstruction. Of. Justice".

Anonymous said...


It’s no secret that the liberal media, particularly CNN, hates President Trump and his supporters. But sometimes their utter disgust. of these people show ther the most disgusting ways,

For example, last Friday night’s edition of Anderson Coopers show on CNN he let his true feelings slip while interviewing a conservative commentator and Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord.

While discussing President Trump Anderson Cooper interrupted Jeffery Lord’s commentary with a crude scatological reference:Saying:
“If Trump took a dump on his desk, you would defend it, wouldn't you" Cooper said.

Shaw Kenawe said...

While discussing President Trump Anderson Cooper interrupted Jeffery Lord’s commentary with a crude scatological reference:Saying:
“If Trump took a dump on his desk, you would defend it, wouldn't you" Cooper said.


Cooper spoke the truth. The media report Trump's own words, with videos of Trump admitting he fired Comey to stop the Trump-Russia scandal investigation, and yet Lord Dampnut's fanatical supporters scream ENEMEDIA! for reporting what Trump said. That's not bias or hatred, it's REPORTING WHAT TRUMP ACTUALLY SAID.

Trump allowed agents of a foreign country hostile to the US whose president is a despot, a man who kills his opponents and non-state-sanctioned journalists into the Oval Office and proceeded to mock and insult the former FBI director whom he had just fired. That traitorous behavior didn't turn trump supporters away from him, so Cooper wasn't exaggerating when he said trump could take a dump on the Oval Office desk and people like Lord would excuse it.

In fact the many outrageous statements Trump has made over the past week amount to taking a dump on our country.

Good for Anderson Cooper. He gets it. Anonymous doesn't.

Anonymous said...

Picture Jeffrey Lord wearing a polka dot dress and a blonde wig and singing, "Stand by your man."

Political hero worship and refusal to spit out dirty and incompetent pols when they're on "our" side is leading us down the path of decline and destruction.

People like Lord and the rest of the Trumpanzees are part of the problem.

Jerry Critter said...

During the run up to the election Trump said, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters,"

Anonymous is an example of the truth of that statement. His supporters are as crazy as he is.