film / tv / substack / social media / lists / web / celeb / pajiba love / misc / about / cbr
film / tv / substack / web / celeb

joe-biden-hillary-clinton.jpg

Morning Briefing: Trump Is a Child, Biden Disses Hillary

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | May 19, 2017 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | May 19, 2017 |


We have gone maybe a full day now without a major bombshell, so our collective rage and adrenaline levels may have returned somewhat to normal, or at least this heightened level of normal we’ve become accustomed to. News in the last 24 hours has been mostly in reaction to the week’s earlier news. For instance, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein met with the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday, and apparently, Senator Al Franken (who literally walked by me on Saturday in downtown Portland!) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand got in heated exchanges with Rosenstein because he was unwilling to share much information now that Trump is “under investigation.” Several Senators coming out of the meeting, however, stressed that it is a “criminal” investigation.

Also this, for what it’s worth:

Meanwhile, Trump is getting ready for his nine-day trip. Any wagers on whether he makes it through the entire trip? Anyway, in preparing Trump, foreign officials have been instructed to literally treat the POTUS like a toddler.

From the Times:

After four months of interactions between Mr. Trump and his counterparts, foreign officials and their Washington consultants say certain rules have emerged: Keep it short — no 30-minute monologue for a 30-second attention span. Do not assume he knows the history of the country or its major points of contention. Compliment him on his Electoral College victory. Contrast him favorably with President Barack Obama. Do not get hung up on whatever was said during the campaign. Stay in regular touch. Do not go in with a shopping list but bring some sort of deal he can call a victory.

From the AP:

In Saudi Arabia, people with knowledge of the planning for Trump’s trip say the caterers are planning to offer the president steak and ketchup alongside the lamb and hefty portions of rice on the menu.

Good lord, he really is a child.

We also learned of James Comey’s attempts to keep his distance from Donald Trump, which included one instance in which Comey — wearing a blue suit — unsuccessfully tried to blend in with blue curtains in the White House to avoid being spotted by Trump. It didn’t work, and when Trump called him over, Trump tried to give Comey a hug while Comey tried to limit it to a handshake.

There’s actually video of this, to back up the account.

Things aren’t super peachy on the Democrats’ side, either, but at least Democrats don’t try and defend our sexual harassers — we ostracize them. Such is the case with Anthony Weiner, who is appearing this morning in court to plead guilty to a single charge of transferring obscene material to a minor, in this case a 15-year-old girl he was sexting with. Weiner may face jail time, and he may have to register as a sex offender. I personally hope they throw the book at him.

Finally, Uncle Joe Biden drops a quote that smarts. “I never thought [Hillary Clinton] was a great candidate,” Biden said, according to reports. “I thought I was a great candidate.”

Joe! True or not, keep that to yourself, buddy. Of course, he did clarify, adding that “Hillary would have been a really good president.”

I have zero desire to re-litigate the 2016 campaign, so I’ll just say that, yes, she would have been a much better President than candidate because she would’ve been an awesome President, especially relative to the tire fire in the White House we have now.

Speaking of: I did see an interesting poll yesterday that said that by a 55-38 margin, Americans would prefer if Obama were still in the White House rather than Trump, and the 55 percent included 13 percent who voted for Trump.