If there’s one bit of good news for the president in Bob Woodward’s book, it’s that the early publicity includes excerpts so disturbing that it will take a lot of urgently needed focus off of the confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh. For example, there are two really choice quotes from the president’s chief of staff. The first isn’t exactly fresh news, but I don’t think we’ve seen the whole quote before:
White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly frequently lost his temper and told colleagues that he thought the president was “unhinged,” Woodward writes. In one small group meeting, Kelly said of Trump: “He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”
The next one is a bit graphic.
[Gary] Cohn [the president’s then chief economic adviser] came to regard the president as “a professional liar” and threatened to resign in August 2017 over Trump’s handling of a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Cohn, who is Jewish, was especially shaken when one of his daughters found a swastika on her college dorm room.
Trump was sharply criticized for initially saying that “both sides” were to blame. At the urging of advisers, he then condemned white supremacists and neo-Nazis, but almost immediately told aides, “That was the biggest fucking mistake I’ve made” and the “worst speech I’ve ever given,” according to Woodward’s account.
When Cohn met with Trump to deliver his resignation letter after Charlottesville, the president told him, “This is treason,” and persuaded his economic adviser to stay on. Kelly then confided to Cohn that he shared Cohn’s horror at Trump’s handling of the tragedy — and shared Cohn’s fury with Trump.
“I would have taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his ass six different times,” Kelly told Cohn, according to Woodward. Kelly himself has threatened to quit several times, but has not done so.
There’s a lot more of stuff like this in the book, including from Defense Secretary James Mattis (said Trump has the understanding of — “a fifth- or sixth-grader”), former chief of staff Reince Priebus (compared Trump to the devil), and Trump’s former lawyer John Dowd (Trump is an “idiot” and “a goddamn dumbbell”). But it’s John Kelly who interests me the most. Trump already knew that Kelly had badmouthed him rather extensively and said his was terrible and a waste of time. Why was he allowed to continue serving as chief of staff? Why did he want to continue?
But now that he’s quoted as saying if he were Gary Cohn after Charlottesville that he would have shoved his resignation six separate times up the president’s ass, I can’t believe he won’t be let go.
Except, I actually can believe it because I’ve learned that I can believe anything with this president. Like, I can believe the transcript of the call Bob Woodward had in early August with President Trump and Kellyanne Conway. It’s kind of hilarious, actually, if you don’t take into account the heart attack seriousness of the fact that one of the participants is in charge of the world’s largest nuclear arsenal.
Woodward’s book is further confirmation that the president is not fit to serve and that everyone who is a close witness already knows this. The Senate knows it, too, which is why I don’t think they’re going to be some partisan bulwark in the end.
In fact, they’re the most important audience for this book. They’ll actually read it and discuss it, which is more than most voters will do.
Best news for me was officials–especially Mattis and Cohn–disobeying crazy orders and hiding papers from Trump while he’d forget about it. The bad news is that, as Rob Porter said, there isn’t a presidency, and those with bad intentions, like Mulvaney and Sessions, can do whatever they want just as much as the relatively stable ones.
Exactly. And who knows exactly who is doing what? We have no record of anything, and apparently in Woodward’s book it’s just a bunch of “He said,” “He said”… where’s the proof of anything? Most people tend to exaggerate to put themselves in a good light. So who really knows what they did or didn’t do.
Very worrying.
I’d worry more about Trump finally removing them after this. But who knows?
This must be the fake book DT was ranting about the other day.
O.T but White nationalist sitting behind Kavanaugh
twitter.com 5
Keith R. Dumas (rubin_kd)
Who is she? What’s up with the white power sign? @MSNBC https://t.co/VUU9QsFdXW
10:44 AM – 4 Sep 2018
I saw that, and it doesn’t appear as if it’s a Photoshop, but who knows? The photo is making the rounds, and one does wonder… is this a sign of approval for Kavanaugh for Trump’s Nazi base: as in, KKKavanagh’s one of us?
Or is some random incident, but if so, how’d this woman get to set there??
It’s pretty creepy.
No random person Zina Bash
https:/heavy.com/news/2018/09/zina-bash
Thanks.
Quite the piece of work. Apparently “ridiculously rich” and Daddy made a “documentary” about how global warming is a hoax.
https:/heavy.com/news/2018/09/zina-bash
Still wondering about the Nazi sign. Was it a shout out to her true believers? She’s certainly done work for KKKavanaugh.
Ugh.
There’s video with audio showing her holding that very unnatural hand position for at least 10 seconds – complete with “Fuck you” expression.
Her husband has already felt obliged to tweet a “She can’t be a racist, she’s Jewish” defense – as if no one had ever heard of Stephen Miller.
We’ve had several of these “why do they continue?” jokers in Trumper’s Crackpot Cabinet, including the Littlest Confederate, who has Der Trumper HIMSELF asking the question, ha-ha!
The only possible answer is that they seek to serve the higher principle of White Nationalism, and acknowledge that Trumper is the (deeply flawed) vessel for advancing their nativist goals. What salty General Kelly is actually accomplishing for the movement does seem somewhat mysterious at this point. He seems content to sit in his (closed door?) office, muttering and grousing about the demented Trumper, day after day. (Remember Trumper’s “I’ve got the best generals!” line? Good times!) On the other hand, it’s very clear what legal perversions Jefferson B Sessions is accomplishing at DOJ, even as he is forced to duck the endless incoming fire from National Trumpalist HQ.
Ultimately these sort of Volkish movements degenerate into only the worst detritus of deplorables being left to hold the line–the Keitels, the Jodls, the Schorners,…..the Mulvaneys, the Zinkes, the Kellyanne Konways—with an increasingly insane authoritarian strongman engaging in blathering delusional table talk to hapless secretaries late into the night, deep in the bunker. But only after a national Gotterdammerung, unfortunately.
Eh? they also continue because of the Grift and the Power – take your pick which one comes first, and which one comes second.
EVEN IF some of these low life creeps do somehow manage to effect some “good” by how they “manage” this out of control ___, what does that mean? That the country is being run by a bunch of people behind the scenes, who we didn’t vote for, and who knows whether what they are doing is for the good of the country or for their own personal gain and benefit?
Sheesh what a monumental Feck up. If the country somehow survives this, I’ll be surprised. Looking less viable with each passing day.
It’s the worst version of musical chairs ever. When this regime falls, those left sitting in a ministerial chair will have first crack at whatever their agenda is. Or at least that’s I think the calculus is.
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1vOVki-a1s
Kelly is not necessarily my favorite role model, but if someone were to tell me that he stays on out of a sense of duty to try and save the country from total disaster, I wouldn’t find that hard to believe.
Oh, I’m sure he tells himself it’s “sense of duty”– the racism, bigotry and overall beating up on brown people is just a nice bonus for him.
Racist or not, is he or is he not exerting a measure of control on what he clearly understands to be Trump’s total assholery? Which he is probably best placed of anyone in the WH to do. Woodward says that is he is.
The GOP in congress are doing just the opposite.
I don’t condone his racism, I’m just trying to provide some perspective.
There were a raft a stories that he’s lost a lot of power so he might not be doing that much at this point. Hard to say.
Yes, hard to say. But even according to Woodward he wasn’t the only one doing it, so let’s hope it’s an ongoing group effort. To me it seems a natural response.
Like this.
Ditto Mattis.
AG
Elsewhere I read that remark about “That was the biggest fucking mistake I’ve made” but I thought he was saying that equating Nazis with protesters was the mistake, not later on half-heartedly condemning the Nazis.
Which goes to show you, with this illiterate racist pig, no matter what negative thing you might think about him, you’re probably wrong, because he’s actually even worse than you imagined!
The only way Trump gets impeached AND removed is if he wins a second term. No way the investigations can finish and have him tried before 2020.
This is why Dems shouldnot wait for Republican Mueller to issue his slow peddling report that may never make it to Congress or the public in unredacted form and begin impeachment proceedings as soon as they take the House. There is already overwhelming evidence. I think progressives’ trust in lifelong Republican Mueller is misplaced. We’ve seen how far Repubs, including McVain, who was insulted consistently by the asshole, went to get his endorsement. If you are still Republican, you are irredeemable. Do not put any more trust In `Written questions only’ Mueller. He is standing by and letting the deciding vote for Trump against a subpoena get confirmed.