34 thoughts on “Ungracious Winner, Sore Loser and Jerk All-in-one Gloat”

  1. this is what the so-called grand old party wants as their leader?

    Trump turns into sinister playground bully in New Hampshire victory lap | Donald Trump | The Guardian

    The cruelty is the point.
    As Joe Biden acknowledged on Tuesday night, Donald Trump now has the Republican presidential nomination sewn up. But like a Roman emperor or mob boss, Trump used his victory speech in New Hampshire to humiliate his former opponents – and make sinister threats against his last primary rival.
    The former US president had followed up his record win in the Iowa caucuses with victory over Nikki Haley, his former ambassador to the UN, with a double-digit triumph in less favourable political territory. As Republican politicians and donors scramble to jump aboard the Trump train, it is clearly game over for the Never Trumpers.
    Trump could have been magnanimous in victory and congratulated Haley on a race well run. Instead, he was palpably irked by her refusal to drop out of the race. Petty and vindictive, he became a playground bully punching down for the benefit of an audience that glories in metaphorical violence.
    Addressing a crowded hotel ballroom in Nashua, he gave Haley a dark warning: “Just a little note to Nikki. She’s not going to win. But if she did, she would be under investigation by those people in 15 minutes, and I could tell you five reasons why already.
    “Not big reasons, little stuff that she doesn’t want to talk about, that she will be under investigation within minutes, and so would Ron [DeSantis] have been, but he decided to get out.”
    There were echoes of political operative Lee Atwater or Roger Stone’s dirty tricks campaigns, or Trump senior campaign aide Chris LaCivita’s Swift Boat veterans takedown of John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. It was also redolent of Trump’s own vicious attacks on Senator Ted Cruz’s wife and father (whom he baselessly linked to the John F Kennedy assassination) in 2016.
    But Trump has plenty of humiliation to serve around, even to people on his own side. He invited former opponent Vivek Ramaswamy to speak but only “if he promises to do it in a minute or less” (admittedly, given Ramaswamy’s fiendishly irritating debate performances, many will take Trump’s side on that one).
    Then there was Senator Tim Scott, another ex-rival who has already debased himself with a fawning endorsement of Trump. With his unerring ability to get under people’s skin, he said to Scott that, since former South Carolina governor Haley appointed him to the Senate, “You must really hate her.”
    There was an awkward silence in the room and a rare grunt of dissent from someone. To rescue the situation, Scott stepped forward to the lectern, looked at Trump and grovelled: “I just love you!” The crowd exhaled in relief. Scott was the hapless father in The Godfather who had accepted: “For justice, we must go to Don Corleone.”
    […]
    But like many bullies, Trump’s ostentatious show of strength was motivated by inner weakness. Haley did well enough among independents to raise red flags for Republicans in the general election.
    The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, commented: “It’s clear that Trump is political poison to moderates. Sane and moral republicans said their conscience won’t allow them to vote for a chaos-driven maniac who is under 91 criminal counts, a proven sexual predator, and authoritarian wannabe who will shred the constitution and burn this country down.”
    Biden, meanwhile, won the unsanctioned Democratic primary without even being on the ballot. He, not Trump, was the winner of the night when judging how things will play out in November.
    Trump rules by fear in his party but lacks the love of his nation. For many voters, it is not love but loathing.

  3. Nikki Haley got off to a good start in the New Hampshire primary, the former president issued a dark warning about an institute in a powerful death penalty, and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani is mulling a new career in the service industry.

  5. Just a quick look at the results of a another small state voting for and against sfb is interesting.  It was not a blowout like the horse race media is yakking about.  Haley did nicely considering the short dictator wannabe was not on the ballot to screw up the results.  It does make a lot of sense for her to stay in the fight as the orange idiot is on the mental health collapse path.  Also, he could end up in jail furthering his loss of voters who are seeing him for what he is, a horrible person.

  6. The fatter they are, the harder they fall.

    Nikki knows she has to go 3rd party.

    I love watching him having the Nikki Burr under his saddle and not a damn thing he can do about it.

  8. sturge, in a future senatorial campaign, you think a clip of 

    Scott stepped forward to the lectern, looked at Trump and grovelled: “I just love you!” 

    will be useful and will do any damage?

    it was an embarrassing reminder of black actors in old time movies cowering to the massa.  kinda felt sorry for the guy.

  9. No feeling sorry for Tim Scott; he made his bed and now has to lie down with dogs in it.  Those little black things are FLEAS, Tim.   Much worse than Cooties.

    He has no shame because he knows he’ll get rich.

    SC magats LOVE watching the black guy “knowing his place” by groveling before the master.

  11. As much as I love being in the thick of things… I’m also glad when it’s all over.
     
    patd…  the Boston media was all over the place.  They showed ample footage of both trump and Haley greeting NH voters at polling places.  Most of us vote in our schools’ gyms.  They were campaigning outside the gym… which is perfectly legal.  If they had entered the doors… that is when it would have been illegal.
     
    Yes… Haley did a good showing…  but a lot of her support came from people such as my husband, Rick.  He’s undeclared and took a Republican ballot to vote against trump.  Even if she won…  he’d never vote for her in the general election.  He’ll vote for whomever wins the Democratic nomination come November.

  12. Trump victory speech. I am still trying to figure out what he was talking about here???

    “Just a little note to Nikki, she’s not going to win. But if she did, she would be under investigation in 15 minutes, and I could tell you five reasons why already. Not big reasons, little stuff that she doesn’t want to talk about, that she will be under investigation within minutes, and so would Ron have been, but he decided to get out.”

  15. Keith and Abby went at it on X last night. On CNN she had said voters think Biden and Trump are too old.

    Keith Olbermann
    @KeithOlbermann
    CNN has to address the reality that @abbydphillip has been an absolute disaster and that this foot-in-mouth editorial is the first thing she’s gotten noticed for since her show debuted

    Abby D. Phillip
    @abbydphillip
    Or, you can come to terms with the reality of your irrelevance and stop being a nasty social media troll. But that’s entirely up to you.

  18. It’s the sort of outburst that kept getting Keith fired. But like I told him once i never knew anyone who made more money getting fired, when you add up the massive severance packages.

  19. I listen to KO’s podcast.  I’ve never heard of…Abby, is it, before. KO is preaching to the choir, though. 

    Craig – The Nikki-five-things is bits and pieces of fake news that Orange Adolf has stitched together in his syphilitic brain, including things he’s made up himself, like the Nikki birther lie. 

    Also, he’s poisoning the voter pool, just like he poisons jury pools. He seems to be becoming more unhinged, like a trapped animal lashing out, but he also knows what he’s doing because it’s what he’s always done. Force of habit is the only thing that keeps the monster functioning.

  20. https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/24/us/oliver-north-ousted-nra-corruption-trial/index.html
     
     
    “Former National Rifle Association President Oliver North was ousted after he raised concerns about corruption within the gun-lobbying group, he testified Tuesday at a civil corruption trial in New York.”
    ”Prosecutors allege that top NRA members used the non-profit organization as their “personal piggy bank,” through years of illegal self-dealing and financial misconduct.”
     
    I’m surprised they did more than buy members of Congress. 
     

    “He grew concerned about financial improprieties within the organization after an NRA attorney was fired and replaced by an outside law firm, the Brewer firm, he said.”

    “After many rejected attempts to uncover details on legal spending and rebuffs by NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Wayne LaPierre, North recommended an independent review be conducted of the NRA, specifically of the Brewer firm, North testified.”

    “What was your reaction to LaPierre’s personal expenses?” Monica Connell, special counsel with New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office, asked North.
    “I was stunned … this was corruption,” he said.

    “One of those lifelines was a letter to LaPierre in February 2019, in which North said he addressed the legal spending and the Brewer firms’ invoices of more than $100,000 in expenses. LaPierre replied with a cease and desist letter and again refused to make the Brewer bills available, North said.”

    “LaPierre told him, “Brewer is the reason why I am not going to spend the rest of my life in an orange jumpsuit,” North testified.

  22. good news

    Jon Stewart to return to The Daily Show through 2024 US election season | Jon Stewart | The Guardian

    Jon Stewart is returning to The Daily Show, the groundbreaking comedy news program he had previously helmed for 16 years.
    The homecoming, announced by Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios on Wednesday, comes after the production’s yearlong search for a replacement for host Trevor Noah – and just in time for the 2024 presidential election to heat up in earnest.
    The plan is for Stewart to host every Monday, beginning on 12 February. He will also serve as an executive producer for the show, which will have a rotating lineup of comedians during the rest of the week.
    […]
    The Paramount+ service said it will stream episodes featuring Stewart the day after they air on Comedy Central, in a victory for a platform still struggling to match the viewership figures of its competitors.

  24. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/24/texas-border-wire-supreme-court/

    TX tells SCOTUS to STFU (sort of)

    “The Texas National Guard and state troopers are still rolling out concertina wire and preventing Border Patrol agents from accessing most of Shelby Park, a 47-acre Eagle Pass park that sits on the bank of the Rio Grande where thousands of migrants have crossed.”

    “Those continued efforts come despite the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this week vacating a lower court’s decision that prevented Border Patrol agents from cutting the state’s concertina wire to apprehend people who already crossed the river.”

    “The Supreme Court’s 5-4 order didn’t give any reason and didn’t explicitly say Border Patrol agents were allowed to access the park or that the state had to remove the concertina wire. So the state has doubled down and some Republican lawmakers have said Texas should defy the Supreme Court’s ruling.”

    “Air Force Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer was appointed by Abbott to oversee the Texas National Guard and Texas State Guard as the agency’s adjutant general. He told staff that he believes the ruling only permits Border Patrol to cut through obstacles to retrieve stranded migrants, the source said. Suelzer added that his troops will repair any obstacles destroyed by federal agents, and that his troops won’t allow the feds to set up migrant processing centers in areas they’ve blocked.”

    “The Texas Military Department continues to hold the line in Shelby Park to deter and prevent unlawful entry into the State of Texas,” the agency said in an unsigned statement Tuesday. “We remain resolute in our actions to secure our border, preserve the rule of law, and protect the sovereignty of our State.”

  25. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/24/texas-kate-cox-biden-state-of-the-union/
     

    “First Lady Jill Biden has invited Kate Cox, a 31-year-old Dallas woman who sued to terminate her nonviable pregnancy, to attend the State of the Union address as her guest in March. The White House said the Bidens called Cox on Sunday to thank her for her courage in sharing her story.”

    “Cox is the first pregnant adult to sue for the right to terminate her pregnancy since Roe v. Wade was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973. The high court overturned that ruling in June 2022, allowing Texas to ban nearly all abortions.”

    “Cox went to the emergency room four times in a month after receiving the lethal fetal diagnosis.”

    “An Austin judge sided with Cox, ruling that she should be allowed to have an abortion. The Supreme Court of Texas put the ruling on hold temporarily, during which time Cox traveled out of state to terminate her pregnancy.”

    “Soon after, the Supreme Court of Texas ruled against Cox, saying she would   not   have qualified to have an abortion under the medical exception to the state’s abortion laws.”

    “On Tuesday, Amanda Zurawski, the lead plaintiff on a related lawsuit in which almost two dozen women are suing the state of Texas claiming they were denied medically necessary abortions, spoke at a campaign rally for Biden.”

    “It is important for Americans to hear the horror stories that we’re hearing from women of their experiences across the country,” Jean-Pierre said.

  26. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/24/tim-dunn-farris-wilks-defend-texas-liberty-nick-fuentes/
    “In the wake of a scandal tying them to white supremacists, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks started a new PAC to support far-right candidate.”
     
     
    “A campaign finance report posted Wednesday showed that West Texas oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks have poured $2 million into a new group, Texans United for a Conservative Majority, that has started spending   against   Texas House Republicans.”
     
    Pushing for even right-wing nuttier Republicans.

  27. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/24/paxton-impeachment-apology-house-republicans/
    “Sixty House Republicans — 71% of the caucus — voted to impeach Paxton in May, alleging he abused his office to help a wealthy friend and donor, Nate Paul. The Senate acquitted him after a trial in September.”

    “The impeachment ratcheted up a GOP civil war that is now unfolding in the March primary, with Paxton backing dozens of challengers to House Republicans who voted to impeach him.”

    ”Paxton and his allies have made clear they view it as the top — and even only — issue for them in the primary, suggesting they will stand down against any Republican who has opposed impeachment or publicly renounced their vote for it.”
     
    Paxton is the skunk in the woodpile.

  28. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/johnny-marr-blasts-donald-trump-the-smiths-song-rally-1234953068/
    ”Donald Trump frequently enrages musicians by using their songs without permission during his political rallies. Most recently, he has upset Johnny Marr after footage of the former president playing the Smiths‘ 1982 single “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” at a Trump rally in South Dakota last year emerged online.“You actually hear the Smiths more often than you’d think at 2024 Trump rallies.”
    “Marr quickly responded, writing, “Ahh…right…OK. I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass. Consider this shit shut right down right now.”

  29. Renee, in a piece that is a presage for the general election from WaPo about NH-

    Haley did run strong in some of New Hampshire’s most educated towns.
     
    She beat Trump by 21 points in Rye, 25 points in Lebanon, 39 points in Durham, 24 points in Stratham, six points in Bedford and 15 points in Peterborough, Bow and Hollis — all towns where at least half of residents 25 and older have bachelor’s degrees. In Hanover, home to Dartmouth College and where nearly 89 percent of residents have college degrees, Haley beat Trump by 73 points.

    But those margins weren’t enough to overcome Trump’s strength in the rest of the state…

    … among the un- and undereducated.  You know, his base.

  30. https://nypost.com/2024/01/23/news/plans-for-the-tallest-building-in-the-us-are-underway-its-location-may-surprise-you/
     

    “Plans to build the tallest skyscraper in the United States are shaping up in an unlikely metropolis: Oklahoma City.”

    “Developers at a real estate company are adjusting the already ambitious plans to construct the Boardwalk at Bricktown Tower by a few hundred feet to make the building reach 1,907 feet high — which would make it the tallest in the country, the Oklahoma City Free Press reported.”

    Tornado fodder! 

    Such a foolish waste of money that could be spent in housing, food, medical care, and education for the residents of OKC. 
     
     

  31. private economic development ideally leads to the funding of such things, maybe not education in OK, though, eh?

  32. ~Yep~

    A towering building amidst nothing else, right in the heart of tornado alley.   I’m sure it would attract some lookie-lous from surrounding areas, but more will come to gawk at the debris field after an F-5.
     
     
     

  33. Did y’all know there was a mass shooting in Joliet today?   Nada on the evening news, but ABC had time to show a video of a dad and his little kid doing a crappy version of a Bee Gees song.  Why? Who in the hell is producing ABC Nightly News?  

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