Heather Cox Richardson underlines some things, starting with Bill Taylor’s public statement to the impeachment inquiry:

He confirmed that while the official American policy was to encourage democracy in Ukraine to help it fight off Russia, the Trump administration had a shadow foreign policy team, headed by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Guiliani, and including special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, the Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, and acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. Trump did not want “to provide any assistance at all” to Ukraine in its struggle against Russia. The president personally withheld money that Congress had appropriated for that struggle until Ukraine leaders promised to state publicly that they were opening an investigation into the

Trump claims he’s being lynched – yes, lynched.

So some day, if a Democrat becomes President and the Republicans win the House, even by a tiny margin, they can impeach the President, without due process or fairness or any legal rights. All Republicans must remember what they are witnessing here – a lynching. But we will WIN!

But it’s not a lynching. It’s not a witch hunt, and it’s not a lynching. Trump is not a woman, and he is not a black man. He is not being burned alive, and he is not being hanged.

Even Republicans don’t like the “lynching” claim…except for Lindsey Graham.

President Donald Trump’s shocking comparison of the ongoing impeachment inquiry against

Here he is saying it (go to 2:20). He says a lot of other stupid shit too.

 … Read the rest

The Guardian says Trump told lie after lie after lie in that Cabinet meeting.

Trump bounced from one falsehood to another while speaking to reporters during his cabinet meeting at the White House.

Here are just a few fact-checks from reporters about the president’s 70-minute meeting:

Toluse Olurunnipa:

Trump’s remarks in the Cabinet room are a stream of exaggerations, boasts and falsehoods….

For example, in his remarks about Doral: “Miami International, one of the biggest airports in the world. Some people say it’s the biggest.”

(MIA is not even in the top 20)

That stupid “some people say” thing, as if simple facts like comparative airport size can be decided by “some people saying.”

Yamiche Alcindor:

President Trump

Originally a comment by Screechy Monkey on Is Taco Bell available?

I know normally the game is “what if Obama had done this,” but I think in this instance it’s more fun to play “what if Hillary had done something even vaguely approaching this?”

Like, let’s say the G-7 summit host contract was awarded to some resort after a thorough bid process pursuant to applicable government procurement regulations. Then some enterprising right wing news site “uncovers” that President Hillary Clinton’s former college roommate’s cousin’s dentist sits on the board of that resort. Scandal! The right wing erupts in fury and outrage! Fox News runs wall to wall coverage. Every conservative legal analyst soberly opines that this is EXACTLY the sort … Read the rest

Trump is currently busy pissing on the Constitution in public.

Even after reversing his decision to hold the June G7 summit at his Florida resort, Trump is still insisting that the property would have been the best place for the multi-nation event.

Reuters White House reporter tweets:

.@realDonaldTrump says during White House cabinet meeting that the G7 at his Doral resort would have been the greatest G7 ever, Democrats went crazy about that plan even though he would have done it for free. (Trump announced Saturday he would no longer hold the G7 at Doral.)

The Guardian continues:

The president is blaming Democrats for forcing his hand on the issue, but a number of reports have surfaced that Trump

The reaction was too much even for “President” Shameless: Doral’s off.

Responding to stinging criticism, President Donald Trump has abruptly reversed his plan to hold the next year’s Group of Seven world leaders’ meeting at his Doral golf resort in Florida.

“I think he knows,” his acting chief of staff said Sunday, “people think it looks lousy.”

Think? Mulvaney thinks he knows? How could he possibly not know? Are they holding him in an empty room and feeding him only the information they want him to have?

And people think it looks lousy? It’s not a matter of opinion and it’s not an appearance – we know for sure it is lousy, very lousy indeed. Also bedbuggy and mosquitoey.… Read the rest