Landsnark

(woops, wacky internet)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scarborough-trump-nukes_us_57a1e47ae4b0693164c347d0 Joe leads the charge against Trump? All of a sudden. #RatingsGold,Jerry

Ok, so it just occurred to me that the crew on Morning Joe, and most other people, are a bit sanctimonious and too eager to pile on DWS. What is happening right now with the GOP is EXACTLY the same thing that happened in the DNC, except worse. ("Worse" is the wrong word, "bigger in scope" is probably more apt.) The GOP establishment is frantically working against the candidate. But they are doing it before our eyes. DWS had the politesse to attempt to mask her motives, and illegal hacking discovered some half assed emails where ideas were suggested, but never acted on. The GOP is in visible action against their candidate. They are visibly working against him, hoping he drops out of the race. Where's the outrage!? Where's the sanctimony and condemnations!? Where is Mika's righteous indignation and red faced fury? "It's unfair. It's a stacked deck."

Today every panel member and guest are sincerely questioning Trump's sanity. Sort of a shame they weren't this clear eyed and serious 9 months ago when they were promoting Trump as a man of the people and giving him a leg up on all other politicians with tons of free publicity. I guess the natural consequence to building him up and benefiting from the ratings is that now they get to tear him down and benefit from those ratings. They aren't discussing Mrs Clinton or the $400 million payment to Iran. They are discussing how Donald Trump is "a sociopath" who may "not care about America." Mika appears to be getting over a throat infection.

Ugh. A smug Mika is an ugly Mika.

I'm embarrassed for DWS that she had to react to an irresponsible simpleton like Mika, and it got exposed for us all to observe.

I was puzzled by the entire panel's condemnation of Cruz from the other night. Donald Trump caused this to happen. Actions have consequences. He personally attacked Cruz' family. The blow back of that is inevitable. You don't get to swing wildly as a bully without sometimes getting hit back. I'm actually astonished that nobody simply observed this basic idea. Cruz wouldn't have retaliated if Trump had not slung mud so easily. And to be furtherly redundant... Trump caused Cruz to become unwilling to aid him. That happened in the real world, on the literal biggest stage in campaign politics. Coalition building is a real thing. Diplomacy is real. The nuances of politicking and earning respect have meaning. Trump couldn't get all his party's leaders to back him due to his outrageous behavior, and these are people with a vested interest in supporting Trump. England, Germany, Russian, Iran, Mexico, China, Saudi Arabia... these are potentially antagonistic parties with their own interests and have no reason to suffer through indignities. Let alone the State Department, intelligence, military, governors, etc... I cannot believe that Joe didn't remark upon that, especially in light of "this has never happened before." He says it has never happened before and puts it at Cruz' feet. He should lay responsibility where it belongs, at Trump's feet. Kasich will give Ohio to Hillary. That's Trump's fault too.

Mrs Cruz was probably hustled out of there out of a concern for optics rather than her physical safety. A camera shot lingering on her bewildered, frightened face as the hyenas barked around her would've perhaps been the visual that led every news segment today. The Trumpkins admit they knew that Cruz wasn't going to support Trump, and that their daddy wanted Cruz to speak because he's so welcoming and magnanimous. God only knows what the truth is. Truth, as we're finding out hourly, has NO bearing on anything involving the Trump Presidential bid. Not tangentially. But everyone else is a liar. Last night's topic was to be on jobs. The main takeaways from the night were that furiously angry old white men want to kill Hillary Clinton and they want you to feel the same way. #'murica!

This will not amount to anything. Supporters will support. They'll either ignore it, blame "the media" or "liberals," or blame it on politicians and comment on how refreshing it is to have an outsider. "Cognitive dissonance," I believe, is apt here. Everyone else is a liar, not the liars telling the lies you want to hear. What will happen is Trump will fire a sacrificial lamb, and describe it tonight as he introduces his brood, "That's how I operate folks. I found a problem, I took care of it. Know what I said folks? Know what I said? [let's a moment pass] YOU'RE FIRED!" Crowd orgasms. Plage-gate is over. He turns it into a false narrative of how he's actually fully in charge and gets things done.

Sorry to bomb the thread, but no mention of that asshole representative from Iowa? No mention of the Benghazi mom? No "Never Trump" voices from the GOP on set? Mika got the crowd to whoop and holler when she called for Paul Manafort's job. Now, being tone deaf and inarticulate and anti-showbiz, she simply repeats his name expecting the same response, and it's predictably lame.

I'm listening to sports talk radio right now and they are doing 20 minutes on making fun of Melania plagiarizing Michelle Obama. But yeah, those who support Trump won't care. Makes no difference. Compare the silence on this from Fox'n'Friends this morning vs if Michelle Obama had appeared last night, obviously plagiarized the previous conservative First Lady's speech, was black, had an accent native to the continent of Africa, wore an outfit that may have been too thin or tight around her surgically augmented breasts thereby outlining her anatomy immodestly (something tape or a more appropriate bra would solve), and, lied to Matt Lauer about having written her speech all herself. The nuclear backlash to these occurrences would render televisions and laptops blistered and toxic. Joe's frantic attempts at diverting attention from the plagiarism this morning is pathetic. He's clearly attempting to help the GOP "win" every day. I put on Fox n Friends to see how they are covering the plagiarism. Ugh. First, the first 3 minutes of their segment was an adoring, loving, intro of speakers produced as if they are the PR wing or marketing department for the GOP. Then they gushed about how awesome Trump looked walking out of smoke. Then they gushed about how amazing Melania was. The one idiot guy said that "some people, you know... the "media" is saying her speech is similar to a previous one. Pffff." The other idiot says, "Yeah, they're similar. THEY ARE ALL SIMILAR!" And the bimbo says, "She is smart, intelligent, educated. It's so obvious. She is just like Jacquie O. She loves fashion too."

Iowa State Representative Steve King is breaking the internet right now. He was just on Chris Hayes' show and said that only white people created civilization. Tomorrow's Morning Joe is going to by an absolute must-see. The RNC this afternoon was a jaw-dropping shit-show.

Did the gang discuss Trump's appearance on "60 Minutes?" Apparently it was wildly awkward and uncomfortable from what I'm reading today. No observations from Morning Joke?

Funniest MSNBC moment ever? That nice, smart, sane little ex-colonel with the white hair and glasses, Jack Jacob (?), was just on Chris Hayes, and in the middle of talking about the coup in Turkey, he says, "I gotta go. I got a dinner I gotta be at." And they abruptly cut to commercial. My wife and I spit our wine out.

I learned about the NBC polls that have Clinton ahead in the swing states on CNN. Gingrich's suggestion that hosting services and web sites that cater to radicalized content should be sanctioned or blocked or watched or whatever is a good idea. And to the degree that it can be done, it is already being done. But the right wing scores these events by the volume of reactionary bellicose rhetoric, so every terrorist attack is a campaign event for Trump.

When is the GOP convention? This weekend? Tim Tebow? Dana White from the ultimate fighting thing? Some guys from Benghazi? A little Trump? Wow. Is this all really happening?

I like how they all made fun of Bernie Sanders. Incredibly, I found myself laughing with the crew on the set. I feel like in Mika's absence the tone is a little more loose and friendly and collegial. Also Joe isn't in a mood. Cackles was particularly funny and particularly sympathetic for Hillary Clinton as she laughed at Bernie Sanders and his supporters. Even Andrea Mitchell was funny. That evil vampire Tom Cotton was interviewed and he's appalled that the Obama Administration's military strategy is to observe status changes in the Middle East and respond as the situation merits. He said "we need to take stock of all the things we're not doing, but should be doing, and we should do them right now." Which means... uh... I guess, look into the future and determine we need to invade Syria? or something? Then he complained that not enough troops are in Afghanistan. And all this is set against GOP nominee Donald Trump calling Hillary Clinton yesterday "pro-war." I wish someone on the set asked Cotton if he's worried that Trump may insult him as being "pro-war."

I am so so naive when it comes to dermatological work that women (and men?) utilize try to look more youthful. I am not above employing any method should it prove necessary, so I shan't judge. Anybody think Joe has had work? How smooth is Mika's forehead? For the next 30 minutes or so, this will be all I will think about.

That Cackles/Bush interview was entertaining. It was odd. She was like a goofy enthusiastic puppy walking with him, and he was this big, sullen, dummy who has apparently never thought about who he may vote for. He's never thought about it. How can that even be? He was freaking caught off guard by her question. He seems like a nice enough guy, but WOW is he so so so not Presidential. 100% chance he and his brother wrestle on the holidays because W teases him that he was POTUS and Jeb couldn't get the nomination. "heh heh heh, dummy. I was POTUS twice, and you couldn't even get the nomination! heh heh heh." "Shut up, George!" slap fight ensues. Pains me to admit, but when she's smiling and enthusiastic and moving around on her feet, she seems less Cackly and is even... (don't judge me) ... endearing. Almost cute. [gasp] Know who is a wild card? That Katty Kay. What's her story? What's up with that eye makeup? She's a cagey one. I can't zero in on her deal.

Sooo... wow, Rudy Giuliani is a racist asshole of the highest order. PLEASE, producer of MJ, PLEASE get Rev Al and Rudy Giuliani on the set at the same time. Maybe not Rev Al, maybe someone Rudy doesn't know who is ANGRY AF and has nothing to lose by unloading on him in a volcanic manner. That's a long list. Would make a great show. Read this thread and do it!!

Kristol is instantly loathable in a way that's startling. BUT, this morning he was the voice of reason. He's right about Trump. Weird when Kristol is right. I think he is going to vote for Hillary. And be smug about it. :P Although he did engage in a prolonged fantasy about shenanigans at the RNC where delegates vote Trump out of the lead and give the nomination to some unknown Governor or someone. Whew, that would be incredible.

The sole commentary-providing news outlet claiming that Trump was anything than unhinged and non-Presidential last night is MJ. The show today was bad. Just bad. I like how Harold and the guy next to him were uncomfortable and looking out of the corners of their eyes as they didn't know how to react to Mika's braying and Joe's ranting about Trump. One thing about Joe, and it's interesting to watch, he gives Reverand Al a LOT of leeway. A lot. He plays it straight with the Rev and gives him space and respect. It's the damndest thing. I wonder if the Rev has once karate kicked Joe in the neck or shoved his face into a toilet or whispered something chilling into Joe's ear. But Joe gives the Rev time and measured attention. Nobody else gets that treatment. Not anyone. They're obviously not friends, ofc. But Sharpton is like one of 4 or 5 of the right wing's main targets to prove X, Y, Z about liberals or black people or MSNBC or whatever. Joe doesn't toe that line. That aside, Joe's a dick. Funny quote from today. Joe: "Didn't Don King kill a guy?"

Worth mentioning, we are all not talking about the extramarital sexual relationship said to exist between these two. Methinks their level of outrage is equal to the pressure to comment on their status.

"The soccer guy" is Roger Bennett. A very funny documentarian and journalist who co-hosts an amazing TV show/column/blog about soccer, called "Men in Blazers." He's not been on MJ for a while as he's got a lot going on of his own.

ha ha ha haaaa