It’s really true: with the death of Aretha Franklin, there is now an opening for the role of Queen of Soul and there is absolutely no one to fill it. Her passing prompted marvelous words of mourning and sympathy from everyone from private citizens to top leaders.
What did Trump say?
“She worked for me on numerous occasions.”
Because every thing in the world has to be about him. EVERY gøddámņ thing. He couldn’t just talk about the loss. He couldn’t say a matchless talent has been extinguished. He couldn’t say that her voice reflected “our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect,” which is what Obama said. Nope. Had to claim she worked for him, because in all matters great and small, all that matters to Trump is “How does this reflect on me.” Who worked for him, who treated him well, who complimented him, who betrayed him.
Jesus Christ.
1). Insecurity. . There is an assortment of people who once worked in the American intelligence community who, even though they no longer hold that position, continue to have security clearance. That’s because they serve as a sort of eminence grise, a source of knowledge and influence with whom subsequent presidents can consult over something that seems odd or unusual to them. If trouble is percolating in the Middle East and there’s an advisor who has a long relationship with/knowledge of the people causing it, you’re going to one to bring him in to get his opinion as to how to proceed. Basically these folks are a form of Institutional Knowledge.
Trump, who has little to no knowledge of his own, has zero respect for that. Any intelligent person will tell you that if you’re going to be putting together advisors, you want smart people who disagree with you. Trump doesn’t believe in that. He wants stupid people who follow him without question. And because John Brennan, former director of the CIA, has dared to say critical things about Trump, Trump naturally must seek revenge and remove his clearance. Why? Because he doesn’t have the balls to unleash the shitstorm that would result if he fired Robert Mueller, so instead he’s going after anyone who even remotely supports him. Which is why his next target is Bruce Ohr, former deputy attorney general, and nearly a dozen other people who don’t think much about Trump’s incessant attacks on the intelligence community. Because if you’re president, that’s what you really want to do: pìšš øff guys who excel at finding out dirt about people. If two weeks from now, Brennan shows up on ABC news with the pee tape, don’t be the least bit surprised.
2). Before the parade passes by. At least SOME good news out of DC. Trump’s idiotic military parade has been scotched. Trump naturally has to find someone to blame and picked the government of Washington, D.C., claiming that they had inflated their budget estimates in order to…I’m not sure, really. Profiteer? Why in God’s name would they want to do that? The final budget of the thing was certain to be pored over by every major news outlet; there’s no way they could hide any profiteering prices from major scrutiny. And DC’s mayor immediately fired back, claiming that she was the one who actually managed to talk Trump out of the pointless demonstration of American military firepower. Newspapers are claiming that the budget topped out at over $90 million while Pentagon heads are claiming that amount is pure fiction. Of course, the self-proclaimed billionaire could easily have just contributed the money himself, if it meant so much to him. Yet it’s becoming clear that Trump’s alleged billions are just that: alleged. But they don’t really exist.
3). We have to feel sorry for Omarosa? Really?. If there was ever a woman that America could, as a country, have no patience or sympathy for, it’s Omarosa (for some reason news organizations are suddenly referring to her by her full name, which just sounds weird. It’s like everyone referring to Cher as Cherilyn Sarkisian Bono Allman). Yet now, with her aptly titled book Unhinged, she has come forward with a series of non-revelations telling us that Trump is a racist. Yeah, no kidding. Yet she kept working with him, trying to sell this bonehead, his racism, and all his other crap to the American people. She claims in her book that there is tape of Trump saying the n-word from during “The Apprentice.” My guess is that there isn’t; Mark Burnett doubtlessly erased it. But it doesn’t matter, because Trump’s hard core followers are also racists. So if the tape were produced, all it would do is confirm what one side already knows and brighten the day of the other side that would be cheering its usage. David Duke supports the man, for God’s sake. If audio of him discussing how he likes to grab women by the pussy didn’t short circuit his support, the flat out audio proof of his racism isn’t going to change a dámņëd thing.
And yet Omarosa keeps producing tape recordings to back up other aspects of her book. We can safely assume she doesn’t have audio proof of anything that could get him impeached, because she would have trotted it out already. So she has recordings of Trump denying that he knew anything about her being fired. Of course that’s nonsense. It just proves yet again that Trump will lie to anyone about anything. If Trump really believed she shouldn’t be fired, he’d pick up the phone and tell John Kelly to rehire her. End of story. He wouldn’t just shrug and say it was out of his hands. He’s the president.. The buck stops at his desk, and Omarosa MUST know he lied to her. Even someone who would be stupid enough to keep coming back to work for him couldn’t be fooled by that.
Could she?
4). Remember, remember, the first of September.. Rudy Giuliani, the only lawyer I’ve ever seen who has resting shocked face, asserts that Mueller swore that the report would be done by September 1. So Giuliani asserts that once that deadline passes, any negotiations to have Trump answer Mueller’s questions is off the table.
Here’s my suggestion: enough is enough. Subpoena Trump.
We all know two things: Trump is never going to agree to it. And if Mueller does question him, Trump will lie. How do we know that? Because he always lies. Always. He can’t help himself.
Are there risks to Mueller issuing a subpoena? Hëll yes. For one thing, there is no definitive case that speaks directly to forcing a president to submit to a subpoena. Chances are that any such endeavor would be fast tracked to the Supreme Court, at which point we get to find out just how conservative the SCOTUS really is. Experts believe the SCOTUS would never basically say that anyone, even a president, is above the law. But then let’s say that the SCOTUS says Trump has to obey the subpoena and Trump basically responds, “Make me.” Who would be in charge of that? The U.S. Marshals. Who is the boss of the U.S. Marshals? The President. You see the problem.
Trust me when I say this: If Mueller winds up with a subpoenaed Trump on TV, I’m going to be live blogging that.
PAD
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I am an outsider (British) and seem to have a different reading of the whole thing with Omarosa. I think he genuinely didn’t know she had been fired in the taped phone call. I don’t think he is really in charge of the whole thing. It was when he said the phrase ‘They run a pretty big operation here.’ That really got me. He may be ‘The President’ but all he is is a massive, big distraction while other people behind the scenes like John Kelly is really in charge and shaping things and settings things up just how they want it for power or monetary gain. I know maybe I am reading too much into it but I just think the use of the word ‘They’ spoke volumes. I don’t know if I am missing something because I am an outsider but I just seem to have a different reading of the situation. Why would he call Omarosa if he was behind the firing in the first place or knew about it? I know he does some very stupid, weird things but calling Omarosa if he knew she had been fired makes no sense even in ‘Trump world.’
Part of me wants to see the pee tape be released just to embarrass the hëll out of Trump and the rest of me doesn’t just so I can retain the ability to continue eating.
I’m willing to see it released. That doesn’t mean I have to *watch* it! But yeah, let’s get it out there so he can deny that it’s really him…
It wouldn’t embarrass him.
You can’t embarrass Trump.
All it would do is piss {sorry} him off, causing him to lash out in some new incredibly stupid and probably damaging-to-the-nation way.
Peter David: “Because every thing in the world has to be about him. EVERY gøddámņ thing. He couldn’t just talk about the loss. He couldn’t say a matchless talent has been extinguished.”
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Luigi Novi: ????????
Peter, he did talk about the loss, and her accomplishments. His full statement via the White House press office was:
“I want to begin today by expressing my condolences to the family of a person I knew well. She worked for me on numerous occasions. She was terrific — Aretha Franklin — on her passing. She brought joy to millions of lives and her extraordinary legacy will thrive and inspire many generations to come. She was given a great gift from God — her voice, and she used to well. People loved Aretha. She was a special woman. So just want to pass on my warmest best wishes and sympathies to her family.”
(Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-aretha-franklin-worked-for-me_us_5b76d5a2e4b0a5b1feba9db1)
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And his tweet on Twitter was:
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“The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, is dead. She was a great woman, with a wonderful gift from God, her voice. She will be missed!”
(Source: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1030116078125568006)
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What is your basis/source for your claim that he did not express condolences for the loss of her as a person?
The fact that he started by bragging about how well he knew her, and then continued on about how often he hired her, and only *then* spoke about her as an artist? He clearly felt that her working for him was of more importance than her talent.
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Also, geez, read some notes, Trump. “She was terrific–Aretha Franklin–on her passing.” Disjointed much?
Um, Luigi, PAD wrote (it’s even in the part YOU quoted) “He COULDN’T JUST talk about the loss” (capitalized for emphasis). THAT’s what rightly got PAD upset. No, Trump, being Trump, HAD to bring himself into the matter–and in a VERY WRONG way. Franklin NEVER “worked FOR” Trump; she worked FOR herself and her fans. She MAY have done a show at one of his properties but that did NOT make her an “employee” of Trump (which is the usual interpretation of “worked for”). When you go to a concert, whoever you’re going to see isn’t “working for” the venue; hëll, the performer has to pay to appear at the venue.
Then, too, there’s the fact that Trump (as you show in the HuffPo quote) went out of his way to express “warmest best wishes” to her family. Have YOU ever–EVER–wished someone WELL on the death of one of their loved ones? What kind of fûçkìņg inhuman monster would send “warmest wishes” to a grieving family? You offer sympathy and condolence–NOT “wishes”–over a death.
Honestly, Luigi. Your replies are usually MUCH better thought out than this one was. Even if I’ve disagreed with your opinions–whether I’ve responded or not–I don’t think I’ve ever been as appalled with one of your comments as I was this one. Donald Trump is NEVER worthy of being defended–about anything. Don’t succumb to some insane notion of “both siderism” when it comes to Trump. He’s not worth it.
Luigi,
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“He couldn’t just talk about the loss.”
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“He couldn’t just talk about the loss.”
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Acknowledgement that he addressed the loss. The point was he still had to make it about him.
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His full statement via the White House press office was:
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“I want to begin today by expressing my condolences to the family of a person I knew well. She worked for me on numerous occasions.“
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Two sentences. He made it an entire sentence before having to point out that she had worked for him.
Sorry, guys, I missed the word “just.” Mea culpa. It happens.
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That being said, Joseph, calm down. It was a simple error of not having read a passage carefully enough (which is distinct from the error of saying something “not well thought out”), and in any event, I wasn’t “defending” Trump. I was merely responding in the interest of accuracy. That has nothing to do with “both siderism”. Sheesh.
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There are so many examples of Trump’s scumminess that I think that sometimes his critics just look for stuff to get pìššëd øff about, to the point that they don’t afford the same consideration to the situation that they would if it were Obama or anyone else from our side of the political aisle. Consider this:
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Reacting to the death of someone and having to come up with something heartwarming, profound and sincere can be difficult for some people. But one of the common things that people do when they do this is relate their personal experiences when speaking of the deceased. Everyone does this, whether it’s someone they knew, someone they had a fleeting moment of having brushed with the person, or someone whose work of which they were a fan. In this way, Trump’s mentioning his personal connection to Franklin is nothing unusual.
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That’s not “both siderism”. That’s just the objective detachment with which I sometimes find myself less influenced by the bandwagon than I’d imagine those on that bandwagon would like.
“Experts believe the SCOTUS would never basically say that anyone, even a president, is above the law. But then let’s say that the SCOTUS says Trump has to obey the subpoena and Trump basically responds, “Make me.” Who would be in charge of that? The U.S. Marshals. Who is the boss of the U.S. Marshals? The President. You see the problem.”
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There’s actually been debate in the past as to whether or not the US Marshals could arrest a President who has broken the law or who has gone into rogue/mad king mode. Weirdly, the answer is usually they might be able to, but the bigger question is whether or not impeachment would first be required or not.
“If two weeks from now, Brennan shows up on ABC news with the pee tape, don’t be the least bit surprised.”
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At a guess, I’d say most upper members of our intelligence community actually have some class, and so unfortunately this will probably never happen.
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“Even someone who would be stupid enough to keep coming back to work for him couldn’t be fooled by that. Could she?”
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See not only who Trump surrounds himself, but the how and why. Stupid and foolish is only scratching the surface.
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“Rudy Giuliani”
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Who just this morning said “Truth isn’t truth”. More like ‘resting head shoved up ášš fáçë’.
“Fececranial inversion”