#DimensionTrump | #WhatTheyVotedFor
![Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne): 'Trump made peace in no ko and now Iran! Power to the people!! Where we go one we go all!' [via Twitter, 2 July 2018]](https://bdthisis.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/barr-20180702-tweet-trumpnokoiran-detail-bw.png?w=620&h=213)
“Trump made peace in no ko and now Iran! Power to the people!! Where we go one we go all!”
Okay, then.
No, seriously, what the ...?
____________________
Image note: Tweet by Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne), 2 July 2018.
“The KFC bucket came with a side of Republican panic.”
―Hunter Woodall and Bryan Lowry
It takes two, or perhaps some occasions simply beg a hook in lieu of a lede, but still, Woodall and Lowry do eventually get around to such niceties ‘twixt cluckin’ buckets:
Anxiety over the GOP’s weakened grasp on Kansas’ 2nd congressional district, which includes Topeka and Lawrence, was on full display during last month’s state party convention.
![Kansas Congressional candidate Paul Davis [D-02]. (Photo: Associated Press)](https://bdthisis.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/ap-00000000-pauldavis-detail-bw.png?w=133&h=200)
GOP Rep. Lynn Jenkins is retiring. Republicans lack a clear front runner in the race to replace her, while Democrats have coalesced around Paul Davis, a former state lawmaker who won the district during his unsuccessful campaign for governor in 2014.
“If the election were held today, (there’s) a 70 percent chance Davis gets elected,” Mike Stieben, co-chair of Kansans For Life’s political action committee, told the crowd at a convention prayer breakfast.
He passed an empty KFC bucket around the room, urging people to drop in donations so his anti-abortion group could start campaigning in the district.
“We cannot elect Paul Davis,” Stieben said. “And he’s ahead. Wake up. We need your help.”
There is a great moment in which we might toss coins or play some obscure dice game to decide between “now more than ever”α, and why not pitch for one’s own anti-abortion group. This is, after all, Kansas. (more…)
“A spokesman for the Institute for Human Services, said people are stealing Spam because it’s easy to sell. ‘It’s quick cash for quick drug money,’ Carvalho said.”
There really is nothing more we could possibly add at this time; some circumstances should speak for themselves.
____________________
Image note: Detail of file photo by Lucy Pemoni/AP Photo.
Associated Press. “Honolulu store owners say thieves are targeting cans of Spam”. 21 October 2017.
#WhatTheyComplainedAbout | #WhatTheyVotedFor
“The announcement that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will donate money to her fund was a ‘pay to play’ far more blatant than anything Hillary Clinton ever dreamed of.”
The lack of complaint from Republicans and Trump supporters about the sort of thing they usually complain about is, historically speaking, precisely unsurprising.
____________________
Image note: U.S. President Donald Trump dances with a sword as he arrives to a welcome ceremony by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at Al Murabba Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 20 May 2017. (Photo: Thomson/Reuters)
Appelbaum, Anne. “Trump’s bizarre and un-American visit to Saudi Arabia”. The Washington Post. 21 May 2017.
#SomethingTerrific | #WhatTheyVotedFor
“While the leaders of the ruling political party have convinced themselves that they are heroes, in reality they are villains and enemies of the American people.”
What? He’s got a point. Salon:
As the Republicans voted to steal away health insurance from the sick, children, pregnant women, the poor, elderly, babies and people with pre-existing medical conditions in order to give millionaires and billionaires like themselves more money, they reportedly played the theme song to the movie “Rocky” and found inspiration from George C. Scott’s Oscar-winning performance as Gen. George S. Patton. On one hand, these are just curious details that help to paint a picture of what happened that day in Congress. But they also tell us a great deal about how the Republicans who voted to overturn the Affordable Care Act see themselves in history.
____________________
Image note: Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters.
DeVega, Chauncey. “Despite their twisted fantasies, Republicans are nothing like Rocky or George Patton—they are political terrorists”. Salon. 8 May 2017
#trumpswindle | #WhatTheyVotedFor
“These officers have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution. They have signed secrecy agreements. They quietly go about their work and try not to get too worked up over the headlines, including the fanciful notion that they spy on their fellow citizens via microwave ovens.”
#trumpswindle | #WhatTheyVotedFor
“If there is going to be an independent investigation of this president, and his campaign and his ties to Russia, it is inconceivable that an independent investigation would not include an examination of the president’s financials, his tax returns, his business records, all the rest .... Is the president, or his family, potentially at risk of having violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which is a crime for which you go to jail? Is the president, or is his family, potentially at risk of being blackmailed by foreign business partners who have evidence of ties or behavior that might put the president and his family in legal jeopardy if those things were exposed?”
#trumpswindle | #Resist
“We need an outright repeal of Obamacare and then whatever’s gonna come after it, fine, let’s have that discussion. But this monstrosity needs to be repealed and right now, in my judgment, we don’t have the votes in Congress to pass a repeal bill, in part because of what these people are doing.”
#trumpswindle | #WhatTheyVotedFor
Notes and quotes from Steve Benen, at MaddowBlog, 20 February 2017:
• #ProbablyNot: “If it makes Sweden feel any better, many Americans often have no idea what Trump is saying, either.”
• #WatersEdge: “As a factual matter, the senator is a Maverick in Name Only.”
• #WhatTheyVotedFor: “There’s no reason to go along with this as if it were somehow normal.”
• #GettingWorseNotBetter: “Republicans may be eager to blast Democratic ‘obstruction’ and partisan delays, but the truth of the matter is simple: Democrats can’t block nominees who don’t exist.”
• #McCarthysMouth: “That’s the kind of quote that could use some clarification.”
• #Backfill: “The era of ‘fuzzy math’ is back with a vengeance.”
• #WhyGovernmentDoesntWork: “So, the nation’s Education Secretary, even now, isn’t sure the position she now holds should exist―apparently because she’s still not on board with the idea of having a federal Department of Education, which she now leads.”
• #MatthewFifteenElevenα: “The president is himself on board with the ‘Never-Mind-What-Trump-Said’ approach to foreign policy.”
• #PutiPoodle: “Why Cohen would tell two very different stories to two different newspapers is unclear.”
• #YesWeHave: “Have we really reached the point at which Trump World is so accustomed to pushing bogus and misleading information that even the president’s golfing is fair game?”
“Boiling the election results down to Russian interference alone is ridiculous, of course; we’re dumb and racist enough to have shot ourselves in the dick all on our own.”
It’s a pretty good line, isn’t it? To the other, we probably shouldn’t let that distract us from the fact that Admiral Michael Rogers, Commander of United States Cyber Command, and Director of the National Security Agency, twice over the course of his remarks for a Wall Street Journal shindig, accused the Russian government of using Wikileaks in order to tamper with the U.S. election.
But all this also calls to mind the Washington Post’s report on how Breitbart chair Steve Bannon subtly manipulated Donald Trump in a series of radio interviews earlier this year. It’s almost as though Donald Trump is getting played in ways he can’t possibly understand, by people with much bigger goals than merely being his friend.
(Merlan)
____________________
Image note: Photo by Nati Harnik/AP Photo.
Fahrenthold, David A. and Frances Stead Sellers. “How Bannon flattered and coaxed Trump on policies key to the alt-right”. The Washington Post. 15 November 2016.
Merlan, Anna. “NSA Head Openly Accuses Russia of Using Wikileaks to Get Trump Elected”. The Slot. 16 November.
This Is 