Good Monday morning.
Here is what’s on the President’s agenda today:
- In the morning, President Donald J. Trump will receive his daily intelligence briefing.
- The President will then depart the White House for Joint Base Andrews, en route to Nashville, TN.
- In Nashville, the President will give remarks at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Annual Convention.
- The President will then depart Nashville for Marietta, GA.
- In Marietta, the President will attend the NCAA National Championship game.
- The President will then depart Marietta for Washington, D.C., en route to the White House.
THE BOOK
I read it. I was sick this weekend and it was too cold to go outside for any reason so I spent the weekend planted on my sofa reading. My “elevator pitch” take: it’s very gossipy and it’s mostly people telling their stories, giving themselves a hero edit. It’s also heavily editorialized, but the line between what people are telling the author and the author’s own “take” is very blurry. At the beginning of the book, author Wolff admits that “many of the accounts of what happened in the Trump White House are in conflict with each other.” Who knows which account is true? It will depend on your level of hatred for the president.
Another thing: If some staffer said, “I really love working here and working for the president and the agenda voters sent him here to realize,” would Wolff have written that? It seems hard to be believe there was not a SINGLE PERSON during the entire time Wolff took up residence in the WH who enjoyed their experience. Not one. Working in the White House is a big deal, no matter who the president is. Now Wolff’s narrative is that the White Houseis some kind of nut hut, so I doubt he would write about anything that didn’t further this narrative.
THE BOOK is really centered around the various factions in the Trump White House and all the different things the factions did to undermine each other and influence the president. And, of course, the president is portrayed as an unstable, childlike simpleton.
Most of the news this weekend, predictably, was obsessed with THE BOOK.
Over the weekend, Steve Bannon issued an apology. According to a source inside the White House, it’s too late.
But inside the White House, Bannon’s 297-word statement of contrition about comments he made in Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” was seen as too little, too late for an operative unaware of the self-inflicted damage his hubris could cause.
Trump has attacked Bannon on Twitter, giving him the nickname “sloppy Steve.”
The media/Democrats/neverTrumpers are taking the book as evidence that Trump is insane and unfit for office, as is the author.
“This is 25th Amendment kind of stuff,” Wolff said regarding Trump’s public response to his book. Host Chuck Todd pressed him on whether White House staff said that kind of thing to him. He said yes, “all the time.”
“Actually, they would say, in the mid-period, ‘We’re not at a 25th Amendment level yet,’” later adding, “and this went on, ‘Okay, this is a little 25th Amendment.’ So 25th Amendment is a concept that is alive every day in the White House.”
If this is true, why is the president surrounded by disloyal assholes?
Trump went on the defense, describing himself as a “stable genius” on Twitter. The media went wild. Trump surrogates were dispatched on the Sunday spin shows. Corey Lewandowski, former campaign manager, claims the author is a liar.
Wolff writes in the book that Lewandowski considered Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump to be stupid, and that he referred to Jared Kushner as “the butler,” which Lewandoski denied on Sunday.
“Mr. Wolff and I never spoke about this book, so where he comes up with the assertions on what I think of the Trump kids or Jared Kushner are completely made up. I’ve never spoken to him about this,” Lewandowski said.
Others have come forward to dispute remarks Wolff has attributed to them, like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Katie Walsh. (Wolff claims he has Walsh on tape.) Other deniers include Vogue tyrant-in-chief Anna Wintour and Trump friend Tom Barrack Jr.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo was put on the spot by a pushy Chris Wallace on Sunday. When asked about the president’s fitness, Pompeo said, “Completely fit. I mean, I paused only because it’s just a ludicrous question, right? These are from people who just have not yet accepted the fact that President Trump is the United States president. And I’m sorry for them in that.” British Prime Minister Theresa May also said she is not worried about Trump’s mental fitness.
Progressive activist billionaire Tom Steyer will be delivering 535 copies of THE BOOK to the Hill for Congress to read. Good luck with that — they don’t even read the legislation they “write.”
Sexual harassment enablers gather to celebrate themselves and make empty virtue-signaling gestures…against sexual harassment
The Golden Globe Awards show, one of many, many award shows where Hollywood celebrates itself, took place on Sunday night. I didn’t watch it, I don’t care — but if you do, here’s the list of winners. The empty vessels of Hollywood wore black to show awareness and signal “the fight” against sexual harassment.
Apparently, the acceptance speeches also “took on” sexual harassment, which is hilarious because most of these people shut their mouth about alleged predator and rapist Harvey Weinstein (among others) in exchange for the promise of fame and fortune. All is forgiven now. I noticed grade A hypocrite Meryl Streep in the audience during a news segment that was covering the event this morning. Amazing.
Oprah won an award, gave a speech and now these dummies want her to run for president. Debra Messing, usually a dingbat, called out E! Network, while being interviewed by E! Network, about their gender pay inequities. Gutsy. Kudos to her.
Trump advisor Stephen Miller escorted off CNN set
Trump senior policy advisor and surrogate Stephen Miller appeared with Jake Clapper (typo and it stays) on his Sunday show, I can’t remember the name of it, and things got a little heated. Tapper shut down the interview, apologizing for wasting the viewers’ time. If the viewers were worried about wasting their time, they wouldn’t be watching Tapper’s Sunday spin chamber.
Miller then repeatedly attempted to pivot to criticism of CNN, a favorite Trump target. Miller said Tapper was being “condescending” and described CNN’s coverage of the Trump administration as “hysterical” and “toxic” when Tapper asked about whether Trump was mentally fit to serve in the Whtie [sic] House.
And things got worse:
After Miller repeatedly described Trump as a “political genius” and lamented what he said was unfair treatment during the interview, Tapper said there was “one viewer you care about right now,” and abruptly ended the interview.
“I think I’ve wasted enough of my viewers’ time. Thank you, Stephen,” Tapper said.
According to Business Insider, Miller wouldn’t leave after the segment and had to be escorted out.
Two sources close to the situation told Business Insider that after the taping was done, Miller was asked to leave several times.
He ignored those requests and ultimately security was called and he was escorted out, the sources said.
Good grief, Stephen, why would you want to hang around that dump? Here’s the video of the exchange — watch it and draw your own conclusions:
Honestly, Miller acted like Trump had his family hostage in a basement. It was clear he was appealing to Trump and the Trumpsters, as Tapper suggested. Why not go on CNN and present yourself as calm and rational to their audience instead of delivering a performance exactly like the one the left caricatures of you? Nikki Haley and Rand Paul presented themselves quite nicely.
Historical picture of the day:
Prof. Albert Einstein and Dr. Willem DeSitter, Dutch astronomer find themselves in agreement on the formula used by Dr. DeSitter in a lecture at the Mt. Wilson Observatory in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 8, 1932. (AP Photo)
Other morsels:
Trump delays ‘fake news’ awards
Chris Christie: I Would Have Been President If Not For Trump
Ahmadinejad arrested for ‘inciting violence’ in Iran: report
Drunk man pees all over airplane bathroom, booted from flight
Army says it ‘inadvertently’ ‘liked’ Mindy Kaling’s tweet mocking Trump
Schiff: ‘It doesn’t take a genius’ to see Trump ‘badgering’ spurred Clinton Foundation investigation
Comey faces bar membership challenge over alleged leak memos
Volunteer attacked with machete while delivering meals to the homeless
US senator says no evidence of ‘sonic attacks’ in Cuba
And that’s all I’ve got, now go beat back the angry mob!
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