Donald Trump’s media mauling yesterday sounded more like his tweets than a presidential press conference. His rambling word salads stitched between made-up stats and relentless boasting kept reporters off guard, as if they were trying to swim through sawdust.
The President likely thrilled supporters who hate the media. And most who don’t are still not inclined to defend them. Which makes it so easy for Trump to dominate these sessions.
Even when confronted with an error he made moments earlier — that his Electoral College victory was the greatest since Reagan’s (Obama and W. Bush did better) he nonchalantly shoved it aside as “those were the numbers that were given to me.”
Somebody’s getting fired, unless he was the one who gave the numbers to himself.
boss, going along with your “The President likely thrilled supporters who hate the media. And most who don’t are still not inclined to defend them” is this from last night’s pbs newshour segment Does Trump’s confrontational style help him as president?
JUDY WOODRUFF: Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, was this a reassuring news conference or something else?
KRIS KOBACH, Kansas Secretary of State: I think, to many conservatives, many Republicans, it was reassuring, in the sense that this was the first time we have seen a president, a conservative president, really express vocally at a press conference the bias he feels and many of us feel has been given in the coverage toward the Trump administration.
And so he’s sort of holding the press’ feet to the fire while he’s taking their questions. And it’s combative. It’s interesting. I think you are going to see a lot more people tuning in to these press conferences.
It used to be that conservatives who were in government, like myself, we would get what we felt was unfair coverage, we’d go home, we would grumble, we would complain about it, but we actually wouldn’t say anything to the reporter or to the reporters while they’re asking us additional questions.
He’s very confrontational. And I think that’s refreshing. So I think it actually is going to be good. And I think the public is going to take an interest in these press conferences much more so than in past presidencies.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Ruth, it is the case this president goes on about the press virtually every chance he gets. We heard that today. It took up so much time in his news conference.
You and I know, as somebody — we have covered this for a long time. Every president feels that he has gotten unfair, dishonest coverage from the news media. Is there something quantitatively, qualitatively different about the coverage of this president?
RUTH MARCUS: Absolutely, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Other presidents behind the scenes mutter epithets about us. He calls us the lowest form of human life to our face. Other presidents tried their best to go around the media that they don’t think are expressing their views. President Trump just is — is just very, very vocal about that and much more — spends much more time being vocal about that.
The question that I have — certainly, I agree with Kris that this is must-see TV. If you’re interested in ratings, if that’s the test of a successful presidency, this is — we’re doing great here.
I don’t think that’s the test. And his basic argument was fake — to try to distract from the Russia story and the other bumps, you’re all fake news.
But it can’t simultaneously be that we’re really upset about leaks and the news — that the leaked news is fake. And so that’s where I thought his argument really fell short.
one of my favorite stories out of the presser yesterday was done by cbs news in their “Trump asks black reporter to “set up the meeting” with Congressional Black Caucus”. here’s some of it:
Ryan emphatically shook her head and said, “No, no, no, I’m just a reporter…I know some of them but –”
“No, get us — set up the meeting,” he urged. “Let’s go, set up the meeting, I would love to meet with the black caucus – the Congressional Black Caucus.”
The CBC tweeted at Mr. Trump after the news conference.
Hi, @realDonaldTrump. We’re the CBC. We sent you a letter on January 19, but you never wrote us back. Sad! Letter:
http://
bit.ly/2kD6FhQ
President Trump went on to say he had once had a scheduled meeting with Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, who is a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“Every day I walked in and said I would like to meet with him, because I do want to solve the problem,” Mr. Trump said. “But he probably was told by [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer or somebody like that … he was probably told don’t meet with Trump. It’s bad politics.”
“I was all set to have the meeting,” he said.
But Rep. Cummings, a Democrat, pushed back against the president’s claims in a short statement immediately after the news conference.
“I have no idea why President Trump would make up a story about me like he did today. Of course, Sen. Schumer never told me to skip a meeting with the President,” Cummings wrote Thursday.
“I was actually looking forward to meeting with the President about the skyrocketing price of prescription drugs,” he said, adding that he looks “forward to meeting with [Mr. Trump] on this issue and others.
another interesting bit of reportage is wapo’s “Trump family’s elaborate lifestyle is a ‘logistical nightmare’ — at taxpayer expense”
Trump’s three Mar-a-Lago trips since the inauguration have probably cost the federal treasury about $10 million, based on figures used in an October government report analyzing White House travel, including money for Coast Guard units to patrol the exposed shoreline and other military, security and staffing expenses associated with moving the apparatus of the presidency.
Palm Beach County officials plan to ask Washington to reimburse tens of thousands of dollars a day in expenses for deputies handling added security and traffic issues around the cramped Florida island whenever Trump is in town.
In New York, the city is paying $500,000 a day to guard Trump Tower, according to police officials’ estimates, an amount that could reach $183 million a year.
This month, The Post reported that Secret Service and U.S. embassy staffers paid nearly $100,000 in hotel-room bills to support Eric Trump’s trip to promote a Trump-brand condo tower in Uruguay.
[….]
For Trump, the costs come with an additional perk: Some of the money flows into his own pocket. While Trump has removed himself from managing his company, he has refused to divest his ownership, meaning that he benefits from corporate successes such as government contracts.
The Defense Department and Secret Service, for instance, have sought to rent space in Trump Tower, where leasing a floor can cost $1.5 million a year — though neither agency has disclosed any details. In addition, Trump’s travel to his signature properties while trailed by a press corps beaming images to the world allows the official business of the presidency to double as marketing opportunities for his brand.
[….]
Presidential families have for decades been guaranteed round-the-clock protection, no matter the expense or destination. Every presidency has brought new operational challenges and lifestyle habits, from George W. Bush’s frequent stays at his remote ranch in Texas to Obama’s annual trips to Martha’s Vineyard and his native state of Hawaii. Judicial Watch estimated that Obama-related travel expenses totaled nearly $97 million over eight years.
But based on the first four weeks, Trump’s presidency appears on track to cost hundreds of millions of dollars more.
Holy Midol! A puffy and bloated trump delivered quite a performance during this time of the month. Congrats to all Americans for making it through the first menstrual cycle of the trumpresidency. Only 47 more to go…and I have a headache.
patd…thanks for the numbers on protecting trumpence and family.
Benny gets his knife out at HUD. Is the hammer far behind?
Winning is not leading and when you do not have a majority, a popular vote win or mandate in an election (where you are beat by three million votes, not 77,000)? Forget compromise and unification. Instead, kowtow to your base for love and it is the reason his staff will hold the rally for him this weekend. Candidate trump is a winner, prez trump is a loser.
Best line of the presser — Fox & Fiends…most honest show on the airwaves. Ask Gretchen Carlson about Steve Doucey.
raw story: Morning Joe stunned by ‘chaotic’ Trump presser: ‘Everybody’s scared to death by what they saw’
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were stunned — and terrified — by what they saw Thursday during President Donald Trump’s bizarre and vapid news conference
“That would have been a really funny hour or so of television if he weren’t president of the United States,” Scarborough said. “It was one of the most chaotic, rambling press conferences anybody has ever seen.”
Scarborough said the president seemed “addicted to chaos,” but he marveled at Trump’s most ardent supporters — who liked what they saw during the 77-minute spectacle.
“They were laughing, and they weren’t laughing at Donald Trump — they were laughing at the media,” Scarborough said.
The “Morning Joe” co-hosts and their panelists repeatedly expressed feelings of fear toward what the next four years would hold for the United States and the world.
“Everybody I talked to on (Capitol) Hill, including a lot of Republican senators and congressmen, were scared to death by what they saw, and more than one said, ‘This just isn’t going to last long because he just doesn’t have control of reality,’” Scarborough said.
Mike Barnicle, the veteran journalist and MSNBC contributor, said “the No. 1 story is the stability of the president of the United States.”
“The first 35 minutes of that press conference was watching a president of the United States who has lost a grip on reality,” Barnicle said. “It was as if he performed for himself because he needed to perform like that because he needed to convince himself he was president.”
The co-hosts agreed the Trump administration seemed to be “suspended from reality.”
trumpuppet mentioned james comey a few times during yesterday’s presser even though the fbi flushed-out six WH staffers for failing the background check. caroline wiles, daughter of susie wiles, out of WH into treasury? Good to know she is safe enough for the Treasury Dept.
from the Politico article —
Among those who won’t be working at the White House was President Donald Trump’s director of scheduling, Caroline Wiles, the daughter of Susan Wiles, Trump’s Florida campaign director and former chief of staff to Governor Rick Scott. Wiles, who resigned Friday before the background check was completed, was appointed deputy assistant secretary before the inauguration in January. Two sources close to Wiles said she will get another job in Treasury.
just in case you missed it, here again is the goper quote of the day (on one of prez must-watch shows at that):
“Everybody I talked to on (Capitol) Hill, including a lot of Republican senators and congressmen, were scared to death by what they saw, and more than one said, ‘This just isn’t going to last long because he just doesn’t have control of reality,’” Scarborough said.
by tomorrow morning load will be back in love with pussy grabber
can you believe it, even on faux news
Yesterday I saw a so-called President whining and looking for apologies. I guess his Florida visit tomorrow will be the first stop of his official Looking for Apologies Tour.
It is always important to remember the numbers. His cult followers are possibly only 20 percent of the republicans. The additional fifteen percent Republicans who voted for party make up thirty-five percent. The crossover voters who wanted to shake things up are a small number. The result is he took forty-six percent of the vote to HRC forty-eight percent. With his approval/disapproval upside down, and getting worse, he soon may be leading by bellowing only. Most likely he already lost the crossover voters and moderate Republicans.
the best strategy keep holding the goopers responsible for Pussy Grabber
More leaks from the Goodship Lollipop. Call out the National Guard. trumpence has been pushing the cost of the illegal immigrant round-ups to the state and local level. trumps posse of hired guns includes local sheriffs, city police and now the state chapters of the National Guard aka the deportation squad. Now citizens must incur the expense of the National Guard being routed from their jobs to live in barracks and fed food we all pay for? Remember a similar move in texas in 2015? Sending the NG to the border. Same old, same old. The cost of housing the troops exceeds the presumed gains of deportation.
Going forward everyone should completely ignore Trump and address all questions to the Republican leadership – Pussy Grabber will only lie or blame someone else They think they have a free ride
Hopefully coming to cable tv soon
Crazy X-president
We had a dangerous world when I knew Lenny Perroots (he wanted to steal my Jaguar Mk-10 away from me–no way.) He was a fine officer.
Leonard Perroots, General Who Defused Nuclear Crisis With Soviets, Dies at 83. In early November 1983, after President Ronald Reagan denounced the Soviet Union as the “evil empire” and unveiled his so-called Star Wars missile defense strategy, Kremlin leaders were growing convinced that war games planned by the United States and NATO in Western Europe were, in fact, a disguised prelude to a nuclear first strike on Russia.
Their fear was almost palpable. On Sept. 27, a Soviet early warning station had received signals that five incoming Minuteman intercontinental missiles had been launched from American bases. The duty officer, Col. Stanislav Petrov, made a split-second gut decision that proved correct: He concluded that a satellite glitch had triggered a false alarm.
Six weeks later, as the war games began with realistic precision, fully armed Soviet fighters were placed on alert at Polish and East German bases for the first and only time in the Cold War. Soviet helicopters began ferrying nuclear weapons from storage sites to launching pads. Civilian aircraft in Warsaw Pact nations were grounded while the Soviets launched three dozen spy-plane flights over Western Europe to assess whether the mobilization presaged a sneak attack.
At Ramstein Air Base in West Germany, where the United States Air Force had its European headquarters, Lt. Gen. Leonard H. Perroots, the deputy chief of staff for intelligence there, faced, like Colonel Petrov, a quandary – one with profound potential consequences. [Read More: Roberts/nytimes/10February2017]
The mainspring media would do well to give grants to DC high school journalism classes to cover the White House beat, while the pros dig into topics like who pays for the Nat Guards to do border patrol work, and which trump campaigners were/are in contact with the russkies, and of those, which have failed to register as agents of a foreign government, or have committed espionage or sabotage. Also, what is hidden in the deadbeat’s tax forms ? America doesn’t need more disinfotainment, it needs some real answers.
Proposed ‘Impromptu’ High School Journalist Question
Mr. President, your administration is really cool. What drugs are you on ?
Not enough
pruitt won. ugh. barf. die.
trump picks a Communications Director : mike dubke. dubke will join ‘tweetie’ trump, pence, spicer, miller, prebus, bannon, and conway as the spokesperson for the Administration.
Hurry, Hurry ! Now hear 7 contradictory voices – 7 !!! See them wiggle up one side, see ’em slough it off the other ! Hurry, Hurry, Hurry !
The deadbeat is playing his fine-tuned organ.
I thought Fat Boy Jason Miller was the WH Communications Director
was he fired for being too fat
How did I miss this? what a scuzzy guy
Donald Trump’s newly tapped White House communications director, Jason Miller, backed out of the job following claims that he had an affair with another transition official, according to three sources close to the Trump transition.
Two days after his appointment as communications director was announced, Miller told POLITICO on Christmas Eve that he was stepping down because the White House job would be too demanding at a time when he needed to devote attention to his family. He and his wife are expecting their second child next month.
Here’s a link
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/jason-miller-affair-trump-232966
and it looks like another pussy grabber media whore AJ Delgado was the other half of the affair – she’s petty creepy all on her own
KGC,
These folks just don’t care who they screw, as long as they are screwing sombody.
“The President likely thrilled supporters who hate the media. And most who don’t are still not inclined to defend them.”
Yes, like the Dems who saw the Iraq War was a disaster but kept voting for funding it in the name of “our boys over there”, when bringing those boys (and the entire military presence) HOME was the answer.
I have had many issues with warmonger McCain over the years but I approve his opposition to much of Trump’s belief system. You’d think Lindsey Graham was still running for President by the way he is talking about this nutty Trump. Old TurtleFace from Kentucky seems bewildered half the time. And yet…when the Damn Fool says to march , they march together.
At least the new administration is “tacting” well. The dumb ass Orange King meant “tack”, but who’s counting?
Tack (sailing) – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tack_(sailing)
Jump to Wind direction on sailing vessel – As a point of reference, tack is the alignment of the wind with respect to a vessel under sail.
The WH has a miller – stephen miller, who does a dynamite imitation of a cadaver. He has mastered both the color and the deadpan delivery of the newly deceased. He reminds me of the dead Captain in Dark Star
Thanx, Mr Dexter. The sniffler does have some trouble with English as a second language.
Tack is also riding equipage. And, short nails. As in,
The Orange Slime is riding the mainsprung media. Fortunately, there’s a tack under the saddle.
I love it that even ayn rand and phyllis schlaffly style reactionary pundirts are using language as colorful as mine to describe the deadbeat and his menagerie.
so this is news?
ny times: Republican Health Proposal Would Redirect Money From Poor to Rich
why wasn’t he confronted at the presser when he denied Russian connections with what his son said otherwise? far more important to have pissing match confrontation over that than over the stupid ec vote brag which he was forced to acknowledge.
usatoday:
Trump also downplayed his financial ties to Russia. “I own nothing in Russia. I have no loans in Russia. I don’t have any deals in Russia,” he said.
While that statement may be accurate now, over the past three decades, he and his representatives have made many business trips to Russia, engaged in multiple deals there and entered into financial transactions with many wealthy Russians involving Trump properties in the United States and elsewhere around the world.
In 2008, Trump’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., told the Russian daily Kommersant: “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets; say in Dubai, and certainly with our project in SoHo and anywhere in New York.”
“We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia,” Trump, Jr. said.
also see last summer article in wapo: “Inside Trump’s financial ties to Russia and his unusual flattery of Vladimir Putin”
Trump tweeted Putin a personal invitation to attend the pageant, and a one-on-one meeting between the New York businessman and the Russian leader was scheduled for the day before the show.
Putin canceled at the last minute, but he sent a decorative lacquered box, a traditional Russian gift, and a warm note, according to Aras Agalarov, a Moscow billionaire who served as a liaison between Trump and the Russian leader.
Still, the weekend was fruitful for Trump. He received a portion of the $14 million paid by Agalarov and other investors to bring the pageant to Moscow. Agalarov said he and Trump signed an agreement to build a Trump Tower in the heart of Moscow — at least Trump’s fifth attempt at such a venture. And Trump seemed energized by his interactions with Russia’s financial elite at the pageant and a glitzy after-party in a Moscow nightclub.
“Almost all of the oligarchs were in the room,” Trump bragged to Real Estate Weekly upon returning home.
[….]
This account of Trump’s 30-year history of business with Russia — and that of his advisers — is based on interviews as well as a review of deposition transcripts and other court records in which Trump and his associates have discussed their overseas work.
fortune:
Deutsche Bank Pressured to Come Clean on Trump
and more in the guardian:
Deutsche Bank, which is under investigation by the US Department of Justice and is facing intense regulatory scrutiny, was looking for evidence of whether recent loans to Trump, which were struck in highly unusual circumstances, may have been underpinned by financial guarantees from Moscow.
The Guardian has also learned that the president’s immediate family are Deutsche clients. The bank examined accounts held by Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, her husband, Jared Kushner, who serves as a White House adviser, and Kushner’s mother.
The internal review found no evidence of any Russia link, but Deutsche Bank is coming under pressure to appoint an external and independent auditor to review its business relationship with President Trump.
[….]
According to an analysis by Bloomberg, Trump now owes Deutsche around $300m. He has four large mortgages, all issued by Deutsche’s private bank. The loans are guaranteed against the president’s properties: a new deluxe hotel in Washington DC’s old Post Office building, just round the corner from the White House; his Chicago tower hotel; and the Trump National Doral Miami resort.
[….]
Deutsche said it would not say anything about whether the review had found any links between Trump’s loans and Moscow. However, two bank sources have told the Guardian that it found no evidence to show the loans had been underwritten by money from Moscow, or any Russian bank.
Deutsche Bank’s says its position is that it will not comment or guide on any stories about Mr Trump’s financial affairs.
Anabasis and the history of the Peloponnesian war always take turns being the greatest story ever told……..
SNL writers must be giddy over the material they’ll get out of that presser.
Has our criminal President been impeached, yet? No? I’ll ask again, tomorrow.
Is SNL live or a repeat this week?
God I hope it’s live. What they could do with drumpf’s presser is almost beyond comprehension.
Tack? Like (1) What a captain does when telling the crew what they did wrong without getting them mad?
Or (2) Common sticky substance left in the cockpit and on deck by other people’s kids, usually in the form of foot or hand prints.
Or the classic (3) Shift the course of a sailboat from a direction far to the right, say, of the direction in which one wishes to go, to a direction far to the left of it.
(3 is my favorite)
I expect a sharp uptick in the number of screen names involving some form of the words Ex-Republican…….
waaaay ahead of the curve, there, X
The NG story was fake news, sort of. Although the NG has been called to the border many times, the memo was a dead end, a blind alley of news.
KGC…we never heard about any of Jason’s babies births. I think his wife was due in January. The story came to a climax in December. Both miller and delgado were part of the Las Vegas party at the strip club with the media the night before the debate. I do hope his children are doing fine as I cannot find any news.
BW
Thanks I don’t know how I missed that story
comey and secret visit to Senate. No leaks about the meeting from the SIC or schumer.
Oooo-eee! Foggy Bottom Breakdown! What is Tillerson doing???
Marco Rubio seemed a combination of Cheshire Cat/Bulldog Drummond after the Comey meeting. Wonder if he senses payback with Trumpus.
Would any of our intelligence firms have that Senate room bugged?
I used to check the evening headlines and then relax with a bit of scotch. Now I have larger bit of the same before I check the news!
Guns for Maniacs : A Movement
The Guns for Maniacs Act is a landmine at the foot of phony ‘pro-life’ congressvermin.
Pick a pic of a cute (white) girl killed by a bullet in any Guns4Maniacs supporter’s district. Beginning the day after the congressman’s re-nomination in 2018, run tv ads advertising that congressman Q is an accessory to the murder that adorable little girl. Put up xerox pics of the girl, naming the congressman as her murderer, on every message board, bus bench, & telephone pole in the district. Put ’em back up as soon as they’re torn down. At the bottom of each sheet put Paid for by a Private Citizen, Paid for by a Christian, or Paid for by a Mourner, etc. Be creative. If there are more cute (white) little girls killed, start using their pictures. Put them up as lawn signs with little flower bouquets and yellow ribbons. Don’t let up until the election is won.
Make certain that these children shall NOT have died in vain
I write (white) girl because the Black, Hispanic, and Asian communities don’t need any convincing. It is their loved ones who are more likely to be victims of gun violence. It’s not a matter of my racial opinion, it is a matter of my opinion of the mind set of suburban and small town Whites. Most whites in this country are more likely to feel that gun violence only affects the darker folks. “It doesn’t happen in our town,” they’ll say, until it does. And, it does. So, it is those whites, who vote for the nra candidates because they don’t think they have much of a stake in the gun matter, who need convincing, and a pretty white girl is more likely to touch their pretty little white hearts. Too bad, but true. I’d say a white boy would be a second choice for a poster child. The black boy, whose life is just as much a treasure as any other child, would be the least likely to touch the hearts of the folks whom we need to move.
That’s my pitch. Who is with me ?