Ouch.

Observe their expressions as Putin approaches pic.twitter.com/okDnM2T4qt

— Norm Eisen (@NormEisen) November 11, 2018

… Read the rest

This business of blowing off the ceremony at the Aisne-Marne cemetery today because it was raining may even get some of Trump’s fans riled at him. It’s not a good look, Mr Filthy Rich Fat Cat going to France at our expense to attend this ceremony of respect to US soldiers killed in a world war, and backing out because it was too damp…that’s not peak patriotic manly duty. They may start thinking about the bone spurs.

Trump’s decision not to pay his personal respects to the American soldiers who gave their lives in WWI because the rain would supposedly have posed a danger to Mr. Bonespurs is a total disgrace and an abject dereliction of duty. This president is

Trump was supposed to visit the Great War cemetery at Belleau Wood this morning but he skipped it because it’s raining.

After an hour of talks between the two leaders and lunch with their wives Melania and Brigitte, Mr Trump had been scheduled to visit two American cemeteries over the weekend, but later cancelled his trip to Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial due to “scheduling and logistical difficulties caused by the weather”.

The White House said that Gen John Kelly, its chief of staff, would attend on the president’s behalf.

The decision attracted much derision on social media, including from former George W Bush speechwriter David Frum who like many drew comparisons with the conditions faced by the troops

David Nakamura at the Post cautiously hints that Trump’s racist remarks to and about various black reporters over the past few days are…[whispers]…racist.

Over the past several days, including before he left Washington for an Armistice Day ceremony here this weekend, Trump has launched personal attacks against a trio of black female journalists. He accused one of asking “a lot of stupid questions.” He demanded another “sit down” at a news conference and followed up later by calling her a “loser.” He lambasted a third for asking, in his view, a “racist question.”

Trump recently called Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (D), a gubernatorial candidate in Florida, a “thief,” and declared that Stacey Abrams, the former minority leader of the

Linda Charnes and Dahlia Lithwick at Slate argue that Trump is a malignant narcissist and narcissists never stop being narcissists, so we should stop paying attention to his narcissistic tantrums and focus only on what he’s doing to us.

The problem is not that journalists are especially narcissistic, as [Jon] Stewart says, but that Trump is pathologically so. Trump indisputably meets the criteria for severe narcissistic personality disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Many psychiatrists and psychologists have said as much, although they can’t formally diagnose him because they haven’t personally examined him, which triggers the Goldwater rule.

We say, Goldwater rule be damned, the writing is on the national wall. The “logic” of

Good grief, they’re surprised.

There is a growing sense of concern inside the White House over the negative reaction to Matthew Whitaker being tapped as acting attorney general after Jeff Sessions’ abrupt firing.

Whitaker, who was Sessions’ chief of staff, has faced criticism since Wednesday afternoon’s announcement for his previous comments on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

Several senior officials told CNN they were surprised by the criticism, and believe it could potentially jeopardize Whitaker’s chances of remaining in the post if it continues to dominate headlines.

How can they possibly be surprised??

Just for a start, Whitaker is a complete nobody. To go on, the normal thing would be to make the Deputy AG the acting AG. To … Read the rest

There are conflicting streams of thought, or maybe I just mean of talk, about whether or not Trump can get away with kneecapping the Mueller investigation right in plain sight. Some people – including lawyers – are saying he can’t, he can’t, he can’t, and others are saying like hell he can’t. Jeffrey Toobin was exasperatedly emphatic voicing the latter on CNN last night. Others are emphatic that he can’t, but they seem to mean just morally speaking, not that it’s literally impossible. It seems to be the case that Trump can get away with it if nobody stops him, and that it’s not at all clear that anyone can stop him. It’s hard to get clarity about it because … Read the rest

Fred Wertheimer and Norm Eisen on Trump’s latest move:

After requesting and receiving Mr. Sessions’s resignation on Wednesday, President Trump wasted no time in naming Matthew Whitaker, Mr. Sessions’s chief of staff, as acting attorney general, and shifted the oversight role from Mr. Rosenstein back to the attorney general’s office and its new acting head.

As ethics experts, we believe Mr. Whitaker should recuse himself from the investigation. If we have ever seen an appearance of impropriety in our decades of experience, this is it: a criminal subject president appointing his own prosecutor — one who has evidently prejudged aspects of the investigation and mused about how it can be hampered.

No prosecutor — or indeed governmental official of

My congressional representative has issued a statement on Trump’s move to obstruct the Mueller investigation:

SEATTLE, WA – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, member of the House Judiciary Committee, released the following statement regarding the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions:

“This was no simple resignation: President Donald Trump fired Jeff Sessions the day after an election in which his party lost control of the House. This is extremely dangerous territory, placing our nation in the throes of a potential constitutional crisis. We must do everything we can to protect the Special Counsel’s investigation, and to ensure that this president does not obstruct justice.

“The president has made it clear for months now that he considered Attorney General Sessions and Deputy

Also scary.

Trump is saying that if the House of Representatives, the lower House of a co-equal branch of government executes its’ Article 1. Constitutional duty to exercise oversight over the Executive Branch that he will bring Govt. to a standstill and launch retributional investigations

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) November 7, 2018

It is the most illiberal statement ever seen on Television by an American President. It is a direct assault on the Founders vision of a Republic where Absolute power is constrained by a system of checks and balances. Trumps bullying, distemper and dishonesty are on full display

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) November 7, 2018

The Vacancy Reform Act bars Trump’s installation of the unconfirmed Matt Whitaker to act

CNBC reports:

President Donald Trump’s new acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, will oversee special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

“The Acting Attorney General is in charge of all matters under the purview of the Department of Justice,” a spokeswoman for the department said Wednesday when asked if Whitaker would oversee Mueller’s investigation.

Which is kind of…how shall I say…shady, because Whitaker hasn’t been confirmed by the Senate.

Whitaker argued in an August 2017 op-ed for CNN that Mueller’s investigation is “dangerously close to crossing” the so-called red line not to look into the Trump family’s finances.

“It does not take a lawyer or even a former federal prosecutor like myself

Bam, Sessions is out.

….We thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his service, and wish him well! A permanent replacement will be nominated at a later date.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018

Can the coup be far behind?

Scary times.… Read the rest

Aren’t we cranky today.

Donald Trump appears thrown by the loss of the House. pic.twitter.com/i4X3XKdTZw

— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) November 7, 2018

There’s nothing quite like the irony of watching Donald Trump shaking his finger at Jim Acosta while saying “You are a rude, terrible person” while Acosta is in fact being perfectly polite.… Read the rest

To the surprise of no one (but the disgust of most), Trump is at peak monstrosity.

President Trump is painting an astonishingly apocalyptic vision of America under Democratic control in the campaign’s final days, unleashing a torrent of falsehoods and portraying his political opponents as desiring crime, squalor and poverty.

…

Trump has never been hemmed in by fact, fairness or even logic. The 45th president proudly refuses to apologize and routinely violates the norms of decorum that guided his predecessors. But at one mega-rally after another in the run-up to Tuesday’s midterm elections, Trump has taken his no-boundaries political ethos to a new level — demagoguing the Democrats in a whirl of distortion and using the power of

CNN, NBC, FOX and Facebook have all rejected Trump’s racist ad. Apparently reporters asked him about it this morning on his way to another fascist rally.

Trump to reporters about ad rejected by CNN, NBC and Fox as he left for today's rallies: “A lot of things are offensive…Your questions are offensive.”

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 5, 2018

My hope for tomorrow: Democrats win in House and Senate and Trump’s head explodes at 11 p.m. Eastern time.

Updating to add the video where he says it:

… Read the rest

https://twitter.com/Stop_Trump20/status/1059176794740400129… Read the rest