Republicans stand by as the nation goes to hell

By Kerry Eleveld

After GOP Sen. Bob Corker raised the prospect last week that Donald Trump could propel us into World War III, House Speaker Paul Ryan responded to the horrific prospect this week with the fierce urgency of whatever.

They should just "talk it out" among themselves, Ryan told reporters Wednesday.

It was a revelation of sorts in the sense that it was hard to imagine Ryan carving out an even more useless space for himself in Washington than he has already been occupying. Conservative columnist Michael Gerson wrote:

So how does Ryan imagine a Corker/Trump conversation might unfold? Over dinner, Corker accuses the resident of being a chaotic, directionless, shallow liar who could start a nuclear war. Trump passes the peas and attacks Corker for being short. This is, after all, the way gentlemen resolve their differences.

Trump, who has consistently fumed over the nettlesome nature of being resident, appears to have reached a perpetual boiling point.

Angry at Congress's inability to dismantle his predecessor's signature achievement, health care, Trump is taking it upon himself to scrap the government subsidies millions of Americans depend on to pay for their coverage. Trump, who clearly believes this was a master stroke that will force Democrats to the bargaining table, has now placed the squeeze on Republicans to fix the subsidies fast lest millions of Americans see their premiums skyrocket 20 to 25 percent by 2020. 

After all, the first spike in coverage will come at the beginning of next year—becoming the GOP's de facto opening bid in a midterm election year that will ultimately be a referendum on their turn at one-party governance.

But hey, for a guy who often can't even remember why he stepped into a room, so goes his negotiating prowess. The White House is less about “strategy” these days than simply scrambling to keep Trump from blowing up the world.

Defense Secretary James Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster reportedly toiled to find a way for Trump to shake his fist at Iran without totally sinking the Iran nuclear deal with which U.N. investigators say the country has complied. When Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had originally advised Trump to stay in the deal, he apparently "threw a fit." So Trump's national security team spent months formulating a compromise between Trump's need for cathartic juvenile expression and our country's imperative to keep another regime from becoming the next unsolvable nuclear problem, à la North Korea.

In short, alongside Trump's governing incompetence, his bouts of rage have emerged as the most consistent and predominant feature of his residency. He “gets angry” when he realizes what his proposed policies will do; he's mad at Congress about health care, the Iran deal, taxes, ad infinitum; he seethes over his abysmal media coverage and wants “equal time” in the so-called ‘fake’ news; he's irate that a Puerto Rican mayor dare question his leadership as the death toll rises around her; he chafes at being called a “moron”; he's furious with Rex Tillerson and before him, Bob Corker, and before him, Jeff Sessions, and before him, James Comey, and... and... and.

And yet, in the face of what has become a crystal clear and present danger to the existence of our country, Ryan and his Senate counterpart Mitch McConnell have emerged as some of the most feckless, immoral, and negligent leaders of our time. More simply put—these guys might well be the biggest couple of tools to ever "lead" Congress.

While Ryan wants Trump and Corker to go to couples therapy (as if that'll solve our WW III dilemma), McConnell was busily covering his right flank this week with an offering of red meat to the GOP's starved base. In a Weekly Standard interview, McConnell tried to ease activists’ calls for his ouster by suggesting that Republicans would no longer honor the Senate's "blue slip" tradition. 

The practice allows any senator to effectively block consideration of a judicial nominee from her or his own state, which gives the minority party considerable power to slow down the judicial appointment process (a power that Republicans abused during President Obama's last two years in office). It remains to be seen if Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley will follow McConnell's lead, but McConnell had to dangle something to distract conservative activists from his year of missed opportunities. Why not actively work to give Trump more power since he's been comporting himself so admirably? 

McConnell and Ryan are currently duking it out as the most reviled politicians in the land—detested almost equally as much by Trump's rabid supporters as Democratic voters. They lead a Republican Congress that, in the words of the Senate GOP's campaign arm, "has replaced President Obama as the bogeyman for conservative GOP primary voters."

They couldn't be a more deserving pair as they continue to empower the man-child in chief who is now bitterly destroying everything he can get his stubby little paws on.

Larry Flynt offers $10 million for info to help impeach Trump

By Brandon Carter

Hustler Magazine founder Larry Flynt is reportedly offering a $10 million reward for information that could lead to the impeachment of resident Trump.

 

Fox Business anchor Liz Claman tweeted an image of a full page advertisement from Flynt that offered the reward. Flynt later retweeted it on his own account.

In the ad, Flynt calls Trump an “illegitimate” resident who “was installed only by the quirks of our antiquated Electoral College.”

Flynt cites several reasons he believes Trump should be impeached in the ad, including Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey and his withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate change agreement.

 The adult magazine founder also ripped Trump for his “unconscionable defense of the KKK and neo-Nazis after the Charlottesville riots,” and argued that Trump’s “worrisome” ability to “trigger a nuclear world war” is one of the more “horrifying” reasons Trump should be impeached.

“Impeachment would be a messy, contentious affair, but the alternative - three more years of destabilizing dysfunction - is worse,” Flynt writes in the ad. “Both good Democrats and good Republicans who put country over party did it before with Watergate.”

Flynt writes that impeachment would require “unimpeachable evidence” and said that’s why he is offering a $10 million reward.

“We need to flush everything out into the open,” Flynt wrote.

Flynt has made similar offers in the past, offering up to $1 million in October 2016 for audio or video recordings of Trump “engaging in illegal activity or acting in a sexually demeaning or derogatory manner.”

Flynt also made a similar offer of $1 million in 1998 during former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial and again in 2007, when he offered to pay for “documented evidence of illicit sexual liaisons with a prominent member of public office.”

This is a serious cash reward from a man with a history of paying his debts (unlike Trump). Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.

Former Wharton Professor: 'Trump Was the Dumbest Goddamn Student I Ever Had'

Surprise, surprise. The resident came to business school thinking he knew it all.

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/former-wharton-professor-trump-was-dumbest-gdamm-student-i-ever-had

Trump Doesn't Know What He's President Of

Trump said he met with the President of The Virgin Islands…which would be…himself.

Cenk Uygur, John Iadarola, and Mark Thompson, the hosts of The Young Turks, break it down.



“Washington (CNN) resident Donald Trump accidentally referred to the Virgin Islands' governor as their President during a speech Friday - even though he is technically their resident. "I will tell you I left Texas and I left Florida and I left Louisiana and I went to Puerto Rico and I met with the President of the Virgin Islands," he told the audience of the Values Voter Summit in Washington. "We are one nation and we all hurt together, we hope together and we heal together," he said, later adding, "The Virgin Islands and the President of the Virgin Islands, these are people that are incredible people, they suffered gravely and we're be there, we're going to be there, we have really, it is not even a question of a choice."

Trump appeared to be referring to Virgin Islands Gov. Kenneth Mapp, instead of the "resident" who is Trump himself.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/13/politics/virgin-islands-president-donald-trump/index.html

The Virgin Islands is a US territory. The White House did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. But in the official White House transcript after the speech, his reference to Mapp as President was corrected to "governor." He was referring to how the Virgin Islands was hit first by Hurricane Irma, then Hurricane Maria, which ravaged the island.”

Democrats Aim To Strip Mentally Unstable Trump Of His Ability To Launch Nuclear Weapons

With Donald Trump’s mental instability becoming a major issue in American politics, and the threat of an altercation with North Korea or possibly even Iran looming, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has begun conversations about passing legislation that would prevent Trump from being able to unilaterally launch nuclear weapons.

As it stands right now, Trump can launch any weapon at any time that he wants, and Democrats (and even some Republicans) understand how dangerous that is for the planet. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/pelosi-passing-no-first-use-law-nuclear-weapons-urgent

Maxine Waters Grills Ben Carson On Trump's Puerto Rico Tweets

Rep. Maxine Waters questions Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Ben Carson, on Donald Trump's tweets regarding abandoning hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico.

Trump 'hypocrite-in-chief' for signing 50 executive orders

CNN anchor Erin Burnett labeled President Trump the "hypocrite-in-chief" on Thursday after the resident signed his 50th executive order in office.

"Hypocrite-in-chief – resident Trump doing something today he harshly criticized President Obama for doing. Trump signed his 50th executive order today," Burnett said on her show "Out Front."

Burnett noted that on the campaign trail Trump frequently took to criticizing Obama for signing executive orders when he was in office.

"We have a president that can't get anything done so he just keeps signing executive orders all over the place," Trump said in January 2016, according to The Washington Post.

http://thehill.com/media/355253-cnn-anchor-labels-trump-hypocrite-in-chief-for-signing-50-executive-orders

“I Hate Everyone In The White House!”: Trump Seethes As Advisers Fear The Resident Is “Unraveling”

By Gabriel Sherman

In recent days, I’ve spoken with a half dozen prominent Republicans and Trump advisers, and they all describe a White House in crisis, as advisers struggle to contain a resident that seems to be increasingly unfocused, and consumed by dark moods.

At first it sounded like hyperbole, the escalation of a Twitter war. But now it’s clear that Bob Corker’s remarkable New York Times interview—in which the Republican senator described the White House as “adult day care” and warned Trump could start World War III—was an inflection point in the Trump residency. It brought into the open what several people close to the resident have recently told me in private: that Trump is “unstable,” “losing a step,” and “unraveling.”

The conversation among some of the president’s longtime confidantes, along with the character of some of the leaks emerging from the White House has shifted. There’s a new level of concern. NBC News published a report that Trump shocked his national security team when he called for a nearly tenfold increase in the country’s nuclear arsenal during a briefing this summer. One Trump adviser confirmed to me it was after this meeting disbanded that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called Trump a “moron.”

In recent days, I spoke with a half dozen prominent Republicans and Trump advisers, and they all describe a White House in crisis as advisers struggle to contain a resident who seems to be increasingly unfocused and consumed by dark moods. Trump’s ire is being fueled by his stalled legislative agenda and, to a surprising degree, by his decision last month to back the losing candidate Luther Strange in the Alabama Republican primary. “Alabama was a huge blow to his psyche,” a person close to Trump said. “He saw the cult of personality was broken.”

According to two sources familiar with the conversation, Trump vented to his longtime security chief, Keith Schiller, “I hate everyone in the White House! There are a few exceptions, but I hate them!” (A White House official denies this.) 

Two senior Republican officials said Chief of Staff John Kelly is miserable in his job and is remaining out of a sense of duty to keep Trump from making some sort of disastrous decision. Today, speculation about Kelly’s future increased after Politico reported that Kelly’s deputy Kirstjen Nielsen is likely to be named Homeland Security Secretary—the theory among some Republicans is that Kelly wanted to give her a soft landing before his departure.

One former official even speculated that Kelly and Secretary of Defense James Mattis have discussed what they would do in the event Trump ordered a nuclear first strike. “Would they tackle him?” the person said. Even Trump’s most loyal backers are sowing public doubts. This morning, The Washington Post quoted longtime Trump friend Tom Barrack saying he has been “shocked” and “stunned” by Trump’s behavior.

While Kelly can’t control Trump’s tweets, he is doing his best to physically sequester the resident—much to Trump’s frustration. One major G.O.P. donor told me access to Trump has been cut off, and his outside calls to the White House switchboard aren’t put through to the Oval Office. 

Earlier this week, I reported on Kelly’s plans to prevent Trump from mingling with guests at Mar-a-Lago later this month. And, according to two sources, Keith Schiller quit last month after Kelly told Schiller he needed permission to speak to the resident and wanted written reports of their conversations.

The White House denies these accounts. “The resident’s mood is good and his outlook on the agenda is very positive,” an official said.

West Wing aides have also worried about Trump’s public appearances, one Trump adviser told me. The adviser said aides were relieved when Trump declined to agree to appear on the season premiere of 60 Minutes last month. “He’s lost a step. They don’t want him doing adversarial TV interviews,” the adviser explained. 

Instead, Trump has sat down for friendly conversations with Sean Hannity and Mike Huckabee, whose daughter is Trump’s press secretary. (The White House official says the 60 Minutes interview is being rescheduled.)

Even before Corker’s remarks, some West Wing advisers were worried that Trump’s behavior could cause the Cabinet to take extraordinary Constitutional measures to remove him from office. Several months ago, according to two sources with knowledge of the conversation, former chief strategist Steve Bannon told Trump that the risk to his presidency wasn’t impeachment, but the 25th Amendment—the provision by which a majority of the Cabinet can vote to remove the resident. 

When Bannon mentioned the 25th Amendment, Trump said, “What’s that?” According to a source, Bannon has told people he thinks Trump has only a 30 percent chance of making it the full term.

This post has been updated to clarify the details of the negotiation with 60 Minutes.

Seven Deal Breakers With Women

Trump Has Told 1,318 Lies In 263 Days

According to analysis performed by The Washington Post, Donald Trump has made 1,318 false or misleading claims in the last 263 days.

This averages out to a little more than 5 lies per day, or one lie every four and a half hours.

This has to stop.

Conservatives are falling for these lies every single time, and as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains, every one of these lies has a real world consequence.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/10/10/president-trump-has-made-1318-false-or-misleading-claims-over-263-days/

Trump's Visit To UK Officially Downgraded, Won't Be A Guest Of The Queen

Donald Trump’s long-awaited visit to the United Kingdom has officially been downgraded to a “working visit,” which means that he will no longer be considered a “guest of the Queen.”

Apparently leaders in the UK have far more integrity than those here in the United States and they understand what a disgusting, embarrassing pig Trump truly is. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.



https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/donald-trump-state-visit-uk-no-queen-visit-working-downgrade-tour-us-president-latest-a7994356.html

Donald Trump Threatens Private Companies That Don't Please Him

In this ‘Dollemore Daily’ Jesse addresses Donald Trump's threats directed at the NFL and NBC as well as other news networks.

Time To Out Republicans (Not For What You're Thinking Of)

Posted by Rude One

You've been reading the articles about how Republican Senator Bob Corker said Donald Trump's recklessness and ignorance are setting us "on the path to World War III." Or maybe you've seen the Washington Post story that quotes multiple sources, many anonymous, on how Trump is becoming isolated and rage-filled and unpredictable.

Or perhaps you read Michelle Goldberg in the New York Times saying, "Among people who work in politics, Republicans as well as Democrats, it is conventional wisdom in DC that resident Trump is staggeringly ill-informed, erratic, reckless and dishonest."

Or you could have seen the Politico article that "Trump, several advisers and aides said, sometimes comes into the Oval Office worked into a lather from talking to friends or watching TV coverage in the morning," and they have to calm him down by rubbing his chins or something.

Corker, who isn't running for reelection in 2018, also said, "The vast majority of our caucus understands what we’re dealing with here...of course they understand the volatility that we’re dealing with and the tremendous amount of work that it takes by people around him to keep him in the middle of the road."

And that's the thread that runs through these articles. It's taken as true that many, many Republicans know that Trump is unfit for office. What else we can glean is something that Vox's Ezra Klein tweeted today: "Every political reporter know plenty of top Republicans routinely talk like Corker behind closed doors. There is such widespread cowardice here, and the country is paying the price."

I don't know many people who have access to Republicans in Congress, but the few I've spoken to say the same thing, that, with the exception of the nutzoids in the Freedom Caucus, pretty much down the line and around the nation, Republicans in the House and Senate know that Trump is unfit. What's more, they know he's dangerous. What's more, they know that if he does something completely insane, like nuke North Korea, they are responsible.

So it weighs on these cowards. Do we challenge the president and face the wrath of Breitbart and Fox and the doxing, death-threatening legions of insane tweeters and Redditors and 4 and 8chan-nintgtons, bots and true believers alike? Or do we just keep our mouths shut and hope we get reelected and hope beyond hope that he's not that crazy?

Here is where those political reporters and all the connected pundits come in. Yeah, you're not supposed to name your sources. Yeah, it's a big damn journalistic principle. But if I thought my best friend was going to shoot up a school, I'd violate the bro code or whatever and tell someone because that's what you do. (Note: None of my besties own guns.) When it comes to Trump, we're talking far more than that level of danger, and that's coming from Corker, one Republican who did speak out.

You know how you play this game, the one that asks, "If you could go back in time and stop Hitler, would you?" Here, you don't even have to kill a baby. But you might stop a nuclear war. You might get a madman out of the position to inflict his madness on the world.

Media folk just need to reveal the Republicans who believe that Trump can't function as the president. Out them. Let's get it all out in the open. I don't know if the next step would be for them to impeach or remove him in some way. But at least it might force them to support something like the Lieu/Markey bill to compel a president to go through Congress before launching an offensive nuclear strike.

Sure, you're gonna burn sources. But maybe that's a small price to pay to force sunshine into the darkness we find ourselves facing.

Black Identity Extremists

The FBI is up to its mess and has made up a new term for Blacks who demand an end to government sanctioned tyranny against them.

Trump Offers To Take IQ Test To Prove He Isn't A Moron

Donald Trump is still furious over Secretary of State Rex Tillerson calling him a moron over the summer, so Donald has decided to challenge Tillerson to an IQ test to see which of the two men is smarter.

This is an idea that we should all get behind to see just how dysfunctional Donald truly is. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins talks about Trump’s challenge to Tillerson.



http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/10/trump-rex-tillerson-moron-iq-test-243624

Trump, NFL and the hypocrisy of what is "offensive" to white America

Republicans Finally Admit That Trump Is Unfit For Office

Republican Senator Bob Corker unloaded on Trump in a recent interview with The New York Times, where he said that Republicans in DC regularly discuss the fact that Donald Trump is not fit to hold office. Could his admission finally lead to action from the Republican Party to remove Trump from office, or will they roll over and let this unhinged lunatic continue to destroy our country? Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/10/09/bob-corker-just-confirmed-it-republicans-know-trump-is-unfit/

Trump Throws Paper Towels At Puerto Rican Victims

How many died again? Whatever, you hurt my budget with all your lifesaving, dammit! Have some towels to dry your tears.

What an asshole!

Trump Tweets About NFL As America Literally Burns To The Ground

Massive wildfires are raging in California’s wine country right now, with a death toll currently standing at 10 American citizens. But instead of addressing this issue, Donald Trump is on Twitter attacking NFL players and calling media outlets “morons.” This man has to be removed from office – people are now dying from his negligence and arrogance, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.



https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/917694644481413120

Trump Loves Genocidal Maniac Christopher Columbus

Trump proclaimed his respect for Columbus on Twitter. Cenk Uygur, Brett Erlich, and Hannah Cranston, hosts of The Young Turks, discuss.

"resident Trump does not acknowledge Native Americans in his first proclamation of Columbus Day, breaking with his predecessor.

Trump’s proclamation — issued Friday — celebrates Christopher Columbus’s role in launching the “age of exploration and discovery” and acknowledges the contributions of Italian Americans to the country.

 “The permanent arrival of Europeans to the Americas was a transformative event that undeniably and fundamentally changed the course of human history and set the stage for the development of our great Nation,” Trump’s proclamation reads.

“Therefore, on Columbus Day, we honor the skilled navigator and man of faith, whose courageous feat brought together continents and has inspired countless others to pursue their dreams and convictions — even in the face of extreme doubt and tremendous adversity.”



http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/354496-trumps-columbus-day-proclamation-leaves-out-mention-of-native