Batshit crazy Trump

Arlington photo op backfired

Over a digressive 13 minutes, Mr. Trump insisted that he had not been seeking publicity on Monday when he posed for photographs in a heavily restricted area of the cemetery where veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars are buried. He accused the news media of stoking the controversy and said baselessly that his political opponents had manufactured it.

[...]

In his telling, families of two Marines killed in the attack had invited him to Section 60 and asked him to pose for photos at their gravesite.

  NYT

I call bullshit. Although, the families in the photo seemed perfectly happy to join in.

“Different graves, one here, one there. And they said to me — you know, I’m not surprised, I’d never even thought about — ‘Sir, would it be possible for you to have a picture with us, on the, by the tombstone of my son?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’”

[...]

Mr. Trump insisted he had not taken the photos for the publicity. But earlier in the week, his campaign posted photos and footage from the visit on social media.

Also, why have a campaign photographer there in the first place if not for the photos?

A spokesman for the campaign also insisted that it had received permission to have a photographer at the gravesite, a notion the cemetery rejected in statements.

Trump and his folk have not an ounce of shame, and lying is just a part of their arsenal.

Mr. Trump said twice in his Pennsylvania speech that his advisers had suggested he should not bring up the cemetery dispute. But he said that he felt compelled to give his account, a shorter version of which he had shared on Thursday, to rebut reports in the mainstream news media.

His advisers never catch on, do they? Whatever they tell him, he'll do as he pleases.

“I said, ‘I think I have to talk about it now.’ My people said, ‘Don’t do it, sir, don’t do it,’” Mr. Trump told the crowd. “But if I don’t tell you the story, you’re going to read — it was the front page of The Washington Post.”

The former president’s remarks about Arlington at a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and a subsequent appearance at a Moms for Liberty event in Washington, D.C., underscore how the incident has spiraled into a major embarrassment for his campaign.

[...]

Army officials said they informed the former president’s team about a federal law prohibiting the filming of partisan political advertisements at national cemeteries, and when a Trump photographer attempted to accompany the former president to the grave sites, an Army official attempted to stop them only to be pushed aside.

[...]

“They tell me that I used their graves for public relations services, and I didn’t,” he said at the rally in Johnstown.

[...]

Trump faulted the White House for making his visit and photo shoot a political issue, saying he received a call from someone in the administration, who he did not identify, who told him the photos taken were for public relations purposes.

“It’s just so disgusting, and I’ll tell you, I get a lot of publicity and I don’t need that publicity,” Trump said.

  Politico

Says the guy to whom publicity is life itself.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 09/06/2024:

This week, Trump contradicted his own campaign with a post on Truth Social falsely calling the confrontation a “made up story by Comrade Kamala and her misinformation squad” that attacked Harris and Biden for not attending the private ceremony.

In an interview on Sean Hannity’s radio show Tuesday, Trump reiterated the false assertion that nothing happened at the cemetery, questioning the motives of the unnamed employee and downplaying the accusations as attacks over “publicity.”

“Do you notice that the person represented now doesn’t want to talk, he doesn’t want to speak or talk?” Trump asked, mislabeling the employee as male. “The nice thing, the beautiful thing, was all the parents and relatives got together and they said ‘That’s a false story, it was totally false.’”

[...]

NPR is identifying both staffers after the campaign’s conflicting responses to the incident last week outside Section 60 of the cemetery, where many casualties of Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.

The two staffers, according to a source with knowledge of the incident, are deputy campaign manager Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, a member of Trump’s advance team.

[...]

ANC rules, that had been made clear to the Trump campaign in advance, say that only an official Arlington photographer can take pictures or film in Section 60. When an ANC employee tried to enforce the rules, she was verbally abused by the two Trump campaign operatives, according to a source with knowledge of the incident. Picard then pushed her out of the way according to two Pentagon officials.

After NPR first reported the altercation last week, campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said they were “prepared to release footage” of the incident, and attacked the Arlington employee as someone “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.” Cheung also said they were granted access to have a photographer present, and pointed to a statement from Gold Star family members that invited Trump to attend the ceremony.

The campaign also released a TikTok video that included video footage from Section 60, including a smiling Trump flashing a thumbs up with family members at the gravesites. But other tombstones are visible in the picture, and at least one family of a fallen Green Beret has confirmed they did not give permission for his grave to be filmed or used in a campaign ad.

  NPR

Pretty sure it wouldn't matter if they did "give permission". The only permission that counts is from Arlington.

The Trump campaign has still not followed through on its pledge to release video of the incident, despite repeated requests from NPR.

[...]

The Army released a statement last Thursday acknowledging that a cemetery employee “was abruptly pushed aside” and the campaign was warned ahead of time of the prohibition against photography and political activities at Arlington. The Army said the cemetery employee tried to de-escalate the situation after she was pushed, in hopes of not upsetting the Gold Star families in attendance.

This is what Trump foments

Fierce criticism of the media is a standard part of Trump’s rally speeches, prompting his supporters to turn toward the press section and boo, often while using a middle finger to demonstrate their distaste for journalists.

[...]

A man at Donald Trump’s rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, stormed into the press area as the former president spoke Friday but was surrounded by police and sheriff’s deputies and was eventually subdued with a Taser.

The altercation came moments after Trump criticized major media outlets for what he said was unfavorable coverage and dismissed CNN as fawning for its interview Thursday with his Democratic rival Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz.

[...]

The crowd cheered as a pack of police led the man away, prompting Trump to declare, “Is there anywhere that’s more fun to be than a Trump rally?”

  Politico

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 02:49 pm:

Despicable.  The world under Trump:

Head spinning

Trump says whatever he thinks gets him the votes.  And he'll change it in a New York minute. He's now talking about having the government pay for IVF treatments.  That's not gonna fly, for two reasons: 1) it's very expensive, and 2) the Christofascists aren't for it.

So now, he's finding out what he can and can't say.  Yesterday he said six weeks abortion ban is too restrictive.  "I want more weeks."  But, today:

He's also now saying his disjointed rambling is intentional...

Hilarious.

Jesus this guy is awful

If Trump/Vance is not the most despicable ticket ever offered to the American people, I don't want to know who was.

Rupar's notes on this clip don't do it justice.

Also, "I've said a lot of stupid things on camera" may be a true statement, but is it a good campaign statement?

Effing nuts

This whole thing is absolutely nuts.  But it's hard not to notice he names Lincoln in comparison to how badly he's been treated, and then says, "I even got shot."

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

A tale of two speeches

JD Vance tried to follow Tim Walz at the Boston firefighters union convention one day later.  Is he nuts?  (Rhetorical.  That's been answered already several times.)

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Desperate times require desperate measures

They have to try anything and everything, no matter how ridiculous.  And if it delays the final sentence serving, that's a win for Trump.

Also, isn't it a little late to remove the case?  The trial is over, and sentencing is scheduled in the hush money/election interference case.  

UPDATE 08:36 am:

No loss of momentum in Savannah

He was still going after she was done, too.

Elon Musk is still putrid scum

It's an NPR link! The only person it might be unsafe for is the asshole who disrespects the nation's soldiers.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Happy to see it

Bullets

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Finally, a shred of news about the Trump assassination attempt

In a call with journalists on Wednesday, a senior FBI official shared that the gunman searched online for events of both the former president and Joe Biden and saw the Pennsylvania campaign rally where he opened fire last month as a “target of opportunity.” Crooks, who shot at Trump from a nearby roof before being killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper, did extensive research for an attack before the shooting and had looked at any number of events or targets, including the current and former president.

  Guardian

We were told that on the day it happened. What's weird is there have been no journalists doggedly researching this story.

Crooks conducted dozens of searches related to both Trump and the president, according to the FBI.

His search history, however, revealed that he may have spent years thinking about committing violence.

Crooks began researching explosive devices as far back as 2019 and continued to do so into 2024.

[...]

“When … the Trump rally was announced, early in July, he became hyper-focused on that specific event and looked at it as a target of opportunity,” Rojek said.

The new details were disclosed as FBI officials, in the latest in a series of briefings about the investigation, revealed that they had yet to uncover a motive for attack in Butler, Pennsylvania, despite conducting nearly 1,000 interviews.

[...]

The 20-year-old Pennsylvania-resident had demonstrated a marked interest in politics, making a small political donation to an organization called Progressive Turnout Project that supports Democrats before he could even vote, and registering Republican shortly after his 18th birthday, but little has been uncovered about his beliefs or even his partisan leanings at the time of the shooting.

Weird.

Could Democrats finally be figuring this politics thing out?

A group of Democratic strategists is launching a super PAC focused on supporting the party’s legal efforts around election protection and battles that could come after Election Day.

The group anticipates that former President Donald Trump and his allies will repeat their large-scale attempt to undermine confidence in the election before Nov. 5 and then work to overturn election outcomes by challenging ballots and results in court in the days and weeks after voting.

  NBC

That's called grasping the obvious.

The new group, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money, is called Democracy Defenders. It will be chaired by Jim Messina, who was campaign manager for President Barack Obama’s successful 2012 re-election campaign.

Norm Eisen, a longtime Democratic attorney who was a co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during Trump's first impeachment, will be outside counsel.

TJ Ducklo, who worked for Joe Biden in 2020 and 2024, is stepping down from what is now the Harris campaign to be the PAC’s chief strategist.

Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, a close ally of former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, will be the PAC’s chief legal adviser.

[...]

“We’re going to be stepping up and providing resources directly to state parties and allies on the ground to make sure every American can cast their vote with confidence and without interference.”

The PAC’s work will begin with an initial $10 million budget for both legal work and public messaging efforts, with plans to raise additional funding through the fall. The goal is to allow the Harris campaign and other Democratic Party leaders and campaigns, especially in down-ballot races, to prioritize their resources to turn out and persuade voters, especially when it comes to paid media.

A sign of the times?

A rough morning for the Orange Menace

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Project 2025 leader

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The party that has steadily been getting worse

RFK Jr's chosen VP mate is just as nuts as he is

Six months!

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Israeli war crimes in Palestine

"Temporary."  Like the settlements in Gaza.

I have to agree, and I wonder if Netanyahu is planning to do everything he can to wipe out Palestine before Harris can become president.

Mr. Respect the Troops visits Arlington

Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, said [...] that the cemetery official was “clearly suffering from a mental health episode” and that the campaign was prepared to release footage of the confrontation to support its account of the clash. The campaign did not provide that footage after several requests.

Chris LaCivita, a top Trump campaign adviser, added in a separate statement that the cemetery official was “a disgrace and does not deserve to represent the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.”

  NYT

Trump people are despicable people.

Trump didn’t visit Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day in 2018, when he was president. But he visited it today in a shameful political attempt to deflect all the revived reports of his life-long disdain for military service and those patriots who died defending the USA.

[...]

If a service is closely related, both time and location, to partisan activities or demonstrations being conducted outside the Cemetery, it will be determined partisan and therefore inappropriate.

[...]

And what moron shows “thumbs up” at a cemetery?

  Daily Kos

Two members of Donald Trump's campaign staff had a verbal and physical altercation Monday with an official at Arlington National Cemetery, where the former president participated in a wreath-laying ceremony, NPR has learned.

[...]

The source said Arlington officials had made clear that only cemetery staff members would be authorized to take photographs or film in the area, known as Section 60.

When the cemetery official tried to prevent Trump campaign staff from entering Section 60, campaign staff verbally abused and pushed the official aside, according to the source.

[...]

Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign's spokesman, strongly rejected the notion of a physical altercation, adding: "We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made.

[...]

The Trump campaign declined to make that footage immediately available.

  NPR

Because it doesn't exist. Or worse, it shows exactly what they did.

In a statement to NPR, Arlington National Cemetery said it "can confirm there was an incident, and a report was filed."

A campaign spokesman didn’t just say there had been a misunderstanding, or that the families had given them permission. The spokesman groundlessly asserted the cemetery official was “suffering from a mental health episode.”

Why? For the same reason [GOP VP candidate JD] Vance feels entirely comfortable to weigh in on his political opponents’ personal choices about kids and families. The routine slander of individuals and groups is part of the essence of the movement.

  The Bulwark

UPDATE 07:18 pm:

There happened to be a camera there.

UPDATE 08/29/2024:

A cemetery employee "who attempted to ensure adherence to these rules was abruptly pushed aside," the spokesperson said. "Consistent with the decorum expected at ANC, this employee acted with professionalism and avoided further disruption."

After the incident was reported to military police, "the employee subsequently decided not to press charges.

  NBC

ANC should pursue the matter on her behalf.

Therefore, the Army considers this matter closed," the spokesperson said, calling the incident "unfortunate." The statement added that "it is also unfortunate that the ANC employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked. ANC is a national shrine to the honored dead of the Armed Forces, and its dedicated staff will continue to ensure public ceremonies are conducted with the dignity and respect the nation’s fallen deserve."

Unless it's Trump showing the disrespect, that is.

No it's not.  They don't have anything that makes them look good.

It's an NPR link! The only person it might be unsafe for is the asshole who disrespects the nation's soldiers.

UPDATE 09/02/2024:

UPDATE 09/06/2024:

This week, Trump contradicted his own campaign with a post on Truth Social falsely calling the confrontation a “made up story by Comrade Kamala and her misinformation squad” that attacked Harris and Biden for not attending the private ceremony.

In an interview on Sean Hannity’s radio show Tuesday, Trump reiterated the false assertion that nothing happened at the cemetery, questioning the motives of the unnamed employee and downplaying the accusations as attacks over “publicity.”

“Do you notice that the person represented now doesn’t want to talk, he doesn’t want to speak or talk?” Trump asked, mislabeling the employee as male. “The nice thing, the beautiful thing, was all the parents and relatives got together and they said ‘That’s a false story, it was totally false.’”

[...]

NPR is identifying both staffers after the campaign’s conflicting responses to the incident last week outside Section 60 of the cemetery, where many casualties of Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.

The two staffers, according to a source with knowledge of the incident, are deputy campaign manager Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, a member of Trump’s advance team.

[...]

ANC rules, that had been made clear to the Trump campaign in advance, say that only an official Arlington photographer can take pictures or film in Section 60. When an ANC employee tried to enforce the rules, she was verbally abused by the two Trump campaign operatives, according to a source with knowledge of the incident. Picard then pushed her out of the way according to two Pentagon officials.

After NPR first reported the altercation last week, campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said they were “prepared to release footage” of the incident, and attacked the Arlington employee as someone “clearly suffering from a mental health episode.” Cheung also said they were granted access to have a photographer present, and pointed to a statement from Gold Star family members that invited Trump to attend the ceremony.

The campaign also released a TikTok video that included video footage from Section 60, including a smiling Trump flashing a thumbs up with family members at the gravesites. But other tombstones are visible in the picture, and at least one family of a fallen Green Beret has confirmed they did not give permission for his grave to be filmed or used in a campaign ad.

  NPR

Pretty sure it wouldn't matter if they did "give permission". The only permission that counts is from Arlington.

The Trump campaign has still not followed through on its pledge to release video of the incident, despite repeated requests from NPR.

[...]

The Army released a statement last Thursday acknowledging that a cemetery employee “was abruptly pushed aside” and the campaign was warned ahead of time of the prohibition against photography and political activities at Arlington. The Army said the cemetery employee tried to de-escalate the situation after she was pushed, in hopes of not upsetting the Gold Star families in attendance.

Dangerous people will populate a second Trump administration

Including Kash Patel.  A story has just come out about him in the last Trump Administration in an Atlantic article entitled "The Man Who Will Do Anything for Trump."

I don't have a subscription, but I found the story elsewhere.

[On October 30 2020,] SEAL Team 6 was awaiting the green light on a rescue mission in West Africa. The admin had recently learned where gunmen were holding an American who had been kidnapped that week from his farm near the Niger/Nigeria border.

As multiple agencies coordinated on final details for the evening operation, the State Department worked to resolve the last outstanding task: securing airspace permission from Nigerian officials.

Around noon, Patel called the Pentagon with an update: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he said, had gotten the approval. The mission was a go.

The SEALs were close to landing in Nigeria when DOD discovered that State had not, in fact, secured the clearance, as Patel had claimed. The aircraft were quickly diverted, and flew in circles for the next hour as officials scrambled to alert the Nigerian gov’t to their position.

With the operation window narrowing, Esper and Pompeo called the Situation Room to put the decision to the president: Either they abort the mission and risk their hostage being killed, or they proceed into foreign airspace and risk their soldiers being shot down.

  Scottie's Playtime

Luckily, the clearance was granted in the meantime.

But back in Washington, the celebration was checked by anger. How to make sense of Patel’s bad report?

Two people familiar with the exchange told me that Tony Tata, the Pentagon official and retired Army general to whom Patel had originally given the green light, confronted Patel in a rage. “You could’ve gotten these guys killed!” he shouted. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

Patel’s response: “If nobody got hurt, who the fuck cares?”

[...]

If Patel had in fact just invented the story, as Esper’s team concluded, then why?

Was it because the election was in four days, and Patel was simply that impatient to set in motion a final potential victory for Trump, whatever the risk — was it as darkly cynical as that? Did his lack of experience mean he just had no grasp of the consequences?

Trump likes this guy for the very reason that Patel will do whatever Trump wants, so my guess is Trump made that decision, and Patel carried it out.

Jack Smith regroups

Special counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment in his case indicting former President Trump for his actions seeking to subvert the 2020 election, retaining the same charges but striking some elements of the case in the wake of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.

The Tuesday filing comes after Smith presented the case against the former president to a second grand jury, which had not previously heard the matter. It likewise concluded charges were warranted against the president.

  The Hill

I was wondering how that would work. A whole new GJ.  I wonder when they convened. *

The superseding indictment is an effort by the special counsel to respond to a ruling earlier this summer by the Supreme Court, which held that Trump and other former executives retain broad immunity for core actions they took as president and are presumptively immune for other actions taken while in office.

While the indictment retains the original charges – a sign of Smith’s confidence in the evidence underpinning the case – it makes significant cuts.

[...]

The filing removes former Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Clark as an unnamed, unindicted co-conspirator in the case, a reflection of specific instructions from the Supreme Court that said Trump’s conversations with Justice Department officials were protected from prosecution.

[...]

The filing also bumps up by a day the date that prosecutors argue Trump’s conspiracy to remain in office began — Nov. 13, 2020.

Hmmm?

[T]he new filing takes pains to distinguish various elements of Trump’s efforts to unwind the election as actions taken purely in a private capacity – and thus conduct that can be prosecuted.

The indictment retains its focus on Trump’s knowledge that he was spreading false claims about his loss in the election.

But it includes new efforts to indicate Trump’s false statements about the election were spread in a campaign capacity, not through his role as chief executive.

I guess I assumed that was the case in the original indictment.

It discusses his once-abundant activity on Twitter, now known as X, noting that he regularly used the account “for personal purposes–including to spread knowingly false claims of election fraud, exhort his supporters to travel to Washington, D.C. on January 6” as well as pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to buck his ceremonial duty to certify the election results and to “leverage the events at the Capitol on January 6 to unlawfully retain power.”

[...]

[I]t shifts its descriptions of others in the case, describing them as “private” attorneys and a “private” political consultant. Though unnamed in the document, the descriptions leave the group identifiable as Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Cheeseboro – all attorneys who aided Trump in the plot – as well as advisor Boris Epshteyn.

[...]

Smith reframed the allegations against Trump to zero in on Trump’s desire to remain in the White House — not dropping the underlying acts altogether, as the special counsel did in other sections that could run afoul of the Supreme Court’s ruling.

[...]

Smith removed references to certain conversations Trump had with the House minority leader and officials in Trump’s White House and Justice Department.

[...]

It will be up to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to determine whether Trump’s attempts to sway Pence to certify alternate slates of electors stand up to the Supreme Court’s new tests, though the issue could still be appealed back to the Supreme Court.

    source

UPDATE 08/28/2024:

The same four charges are still in the indictment, and Donald Trump continues to be the only defendant.

[...]

There is no more reference to the 45th President of the United States. The indictment is now about Donald Trump, a candidate for president in 2020 who lost. In other words, following the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity, the prosecution is signaling that it has abandoned claims about official presidential conduct and is only moving forward with claims about candidate Trump.

[...]

The Special Counsel has removed allegations about Trump’s efforts to use DOJ in furtherance of the crimes he’s charged with. The Supreme Court ruled that was official conduct, and it’s now out. But the allegations about the pressure campaign to keep Vice President Mike Pence from certifying the election remain in, as do some allegations about interactions with state officials, like the call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger begging him to find him the votes he needed to win.

Trump’s lawyers will want to remove much more from the indictment. That’s the fight that begins when Judge Chutkan holds a status conference on Friday.

[...]

Trump will need to be arraigned on the new indictment before anything further can happen in the case, but prosecutors have already said they will waive Trump’s personal appearance in court for that proceeding.

[...]

Unless—and this is highly unlikely—both Trump and the government agree with Chutkan’s decisions, the case is almost certain to go on appeal one more time, as we’ve previously discussed. The Supreme Court will have the final say over what conduct can remain in the indictment and what is protected by presidential immunity.

  Joyce Vance

And I think we can count on them to find that most of the conduct is protected.

The indictment

*UPDATE 08/28/2024:

Project 2025 puts the final nail in the middle class coffin

While Kamala Harris wants to build the middle class again.

The return of fascism to the US

Americans have such short memories.  Also, they don't teach history.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Another incredible dead animal story with RFK Jr

As if the dead bear in Central Park story wasn't bizarre and gross enough...Move over Mitt Romney's dog in a cage atop the family station wagon.

RFK Jr. heard of [a] whale beaching, and used a chainsaw to remove the dead mammal's head, which he then attached to the family minivan with a bungie cord. RFK Jr. and his family then made the hours-long trip back to Mount Kisco, where they lived at the time.

Kick said "whale juice" poured into the windows of the van every time they accelerated on the highway, calling it the "rankest thing on the planet." The family put plastic bags over their heads "with mouth holes cut out," Kick told Town & Country.

"People on the highway were giving us the finger," Kick said, "but that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us."

  USA Today

Personally, I question whether the brain worm is dead.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Exactly

Kamala wants to restore it to 28%.  That's a start.  Then there need to be much, much higher rates on the margins.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

A "very important" Space National Guard

LOL  He's talking to a National Guard unit, so he gets cheers when he mentions this brilliant idea.  Why?  They're already in the National Guard. Do they want a different assignment? 

He already created a Space Force (which was a wonderful Steve Carell TV series, btw).  Now we need a Space National Guard.  What will they do?  Does America own a piece of space they'll be covering?  We have an Air National Guard, don't we? 

Also, I wonder what cut he gets of the grift from Newsmax scams advertised on screen every time he gives a talk.  Probably the biggest cut.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 07:08 am: