KerleyQ

On a somewhat related note (i.e. comparing him to awful dictators), I saw that one of his various mouthpieces keeps saying that "Donald Trump won by a larger margin than anyone since Ronald Reagan." This statement is not true on either a popular vote or electoral vote basis (where he's 8th and 6th, respectively, out of 8 elections). How Kim Jong Un can they be, getting all braggy about something that literally didn't happen? It is so going to suck when we're all issued our mandatory wall portraits of Glorious Leader to be prominently displayed in our homes. It's definitely both hilarious and scary. As POTUS, you don't tell another world leader "hey, if you're ever in the area, give me a call. I know a great hotel you can stay in." I compared his campaign (and people voting for him) a while ago to a sports team - sure, we all have ideas about what our favorite team needs to do better. I'm a Bears fan, so there's plenty of "shit they could do better" to list. That doesn't mean the team should hire some loudmouth fan off of Twitter who has no background in sports, no knowledge of things like the collective bargaining agreement, roster management, scouting, how to allocate money for various player contracts to stay under salary caps, what you need to assemble a proper training staff, and training facilities, league rules, etc, and make him GM, just because a bunch of other sports fans on Twitter like his posts ranting about all the things wrong with the team. That's what we just did, except, you know, for our whole country.

This. I won't click any links that go to Breitbart, EndingTheFed, Tomi Lahren, etc. I refuse to contribute a single click to their ad revenue.

As a (now grown up) shy kid, I think the kid is just shy. For someone who is really, genuinely shy, the cameras, the people, the chanting, etc, is a living hell. Add in that this particular kid is probably under some pressure to "not let Dad down," and it's unimaginable. Of course, add in that he probably, honestly, doesn't even really know his father. I get the impression that Melania has a somewhat normal relationship with the kid, but Donald has a track record of not having any interest in his kids until they are old enough to be of some benefit to him. This isn't a kid whose father got down on the floor and played trucks with him on Saturday morning, or who read him books at bedtime. I'd be surprised if he isn't expected to call his father "Sir," and if their relationship wasn't very stiff and formal. Now, the poor kid is being dragged out in front of the cameras, in front of the crowds, he's already heard someone yell "Kill Obama" as his father spoke. I think this kid of the POTUS gig is tough enough for kids who have warm, genuine relationships with their fathers (like the Obamas, Chelsea, or the Bushes), but for a kid who has grown up like Barron has? It has to be a nightmare. I saw a post from a Facebook friend today who said something to the effect of "you have to remember that most of us who voted for Trump didn't do it because we like him, we were just voting against the corrupt system." OK, couple things. First and foremost, the person who posted it? Has spent his life privileged. He grew up that way, he still is that way. He's also a straight white Christian. The only thing that Trump represents that is a direct personal threat to this man is the awful shit he's said about woman, as the man has daughters and younger sisters. But, of course, as part of the more privileged portion of society, he likely has no genuine worry that Trump, himself, poses some kind of threat to the women in his life. His daughters won't end up being desperate young women who end up at a Trump type party, doing drugs and having sex with or being raped by 50 year old men in the hopes it will get them a start at their career. Two, you can't just hand wave the awful shit about the man you voted for because "well, I mean, I don't like him like him." You still voted for him. You still gave him your literal seal of approval as the man to represent our nation at the highest level. Also, don't tell people who are genuinely worried about their future - whether it's because of their race, their sexual identity, their religion, their financial status, etc, that they can't blame you for voting in what could be Armageddon for them, because, well, you didn't vote for him based on those things. You knew he was saying those things, loudly and often, but those weren't the reasons you voted for him. You still voted for him. You still knew "hey, this man is a danger to a lot of groups in this country," when you hit that button. It doesn't matter if you like it, or if you, personally, go around using the N word, chanting "build that wall," or looking at every Muslim (or Muslim-appearing) person you see like you expect them to blow you up where you stand. What matters is that, on any level, it was acceptable to you to vote for that person as the President. If you did vote for him, for whatever reason, it's your right. But, it's everyone else's right to be disappointed in you for doing so, from your position of privilege. Finally - Who is more corrupt than Trump? Who???

By summer, I was saying that, as long as he didn't actually smear his own feces all over the stage, we'd hear how he was "very Presidential." There really was no bar for him. Hillary's bar was insanely high. "Smile more. Don't smile that much. Don't smile like that. Smile more." The man was standing on stage, making puckered anus faces with no complaints, and Hillary was being critiqued down to the exact arc, width, and tooth to lip ratio of her smiles.

Even if any media source actually dared to report it, he'd just deny, deny, deny. He'd talk about how successful the building is, how everyone tells him they want to live there, like the First Family (ugh, I almost vomited typing that) lives there. All the best people are begging to get in there. He gets calls, so many calls every day, it's ridiculous, of people begging to get a place in the building. No other building in the country has a waiting list like this one.

I think she really is the new Taylor. Sticking her nose in everywhere, and now she'll apparently copy Taylor's entering into a "consolation" relationship with Eric because she can't keep any of her generation of men interested for long.

I seriously snorted when Katie had the gall to go with "no reason to feel insecure." Bitch, please. Insecure is your default setting.

Pence completely knew. He's been in cahoots with Ryan, McConnell, et al, from the beginning. That's why the "establishment" GOP eventually threw in with Trump (save a few notable exceptions) - because he was the means to get Pence in the White House. It's why they made him boot Christie from the VP slot. Christie is a loose cannon, who might, occasionally, do what he thinks is the right thing, even if it's not what GOP leadership wants. Pence is their perfect little white Christian supremacist soldier. Him listening to his conscience once in a while won't be a problem. Yep. If you read recent stories about his influence, one of the things that's been picked up is that Christie was the US Attorney who prosecuted Kushner's father a little over a decade ago, including pushing for a prison sentence. He's apparently always held a grudge against Christie for pushing for his father to do time (I think he was sentenced to 2 years). When people talk about the power struggle behind the scenes, that's one of the big ones, and it's why Christie was booted from the transition team. I think that Trump, for whatever reason, is genuinely friends with Christie and respects him, but Jared has chipped away at that whenever he can for his own personal reasons. I'm not a Christie fan, by any means, but compared to the rest of what Trump has surrounded himself with, he's by far, the best. And Jared got him the hell out of there because of his own resentment that Christie did his job and prosecuted his criminal father. I have zero hope that he's going to be a guy who steps back and advises his father-in-law to do what's best for us when it contradicts what's best for Jared or his own personal feelings.

I think he's been bringing it up here and there during the campaign. He did the episode where he called out the false equivalency thing (ending in the raisin metaphor). That was definitely a takedown of the media normalizing his candidacy (and pretending that there was no significant difference between him and Hillary). Now, with the election in the past, he has to take down an entirely different kind of normalization - the media's current inclination to pretend that this is all fine, and we just need to give him a chance to see what he's going to do. I saw a perfect response to that - "OK, sure, I'll give him a cha....and he just appointed a white supremacist to his staff." I really want one of the late night people to do a full and complete takedown on CNN. They're the ones who really normalized the shit out of this campaign and, now, his election. From hiring his still drawing a salary campaign director as a "political consultant," to their coyly referring to Bannon yesterday as someone whose website had "some incendiary headlines." Compound that with their nearly breathless coverage of his every rally, and they played a huge role in normalizing him, especially contrasted with their more skeptical treatment of Hillary.

The best part is that he says it's because he lacks the experience to perform a role in the government. Um, Ben? Didn't you like just run for President? In the United States of Trump, she absolutely can. Except that they've somehow masterfully managed to convince a portion of the country that they aren't exactly that. And people are, without any sense of irony, rallying for Cheetos & Company to fight the "elite establishment." I've run out of face palms on that one. I will be shocked if he doesn't bring in a throne for the Oval Office. We'll all be expected to pretend it's just his shiny gold desk chair, but he's going to sit on a fucking throne in the White House. None of that corruption involves emails, so he'll be fine. That's the standard now. Just saw on Twitter that, after an exec at New Balance praised Drumpf's win, complaining about how President Obama "left us behind," the neo-Nazis have declared New Balance "the official shoes of white people." So, is this like going to be part of our required uniform come 1/20? New Balance shoes, gaudy Ivanka Trump bracelets. What part of our new uniforms will be announced next? Does Eric have a sideline business where he makes shitty socks?

And not only did she have no issue posting it, but the mayor of her town apparently didn't even think twice before writing what amounts to a "high-five" comment on the post. It's mind boggling. Basically, despite the fact that the transfer process has started, Drumpf's win isn't official until the EC casts their votes next month. They could, legally, cast their votes for Hillary, if they feel like it's the right thing to do. (Before the election took place, there was one elector, can't remember the state, who said he would not cast his vote for Hillary, even if she wins his state.) Obviously, it's not something that has been done on any significant level in recent history, but it is something that could be done, if enough electors feel it's needed. If they do cast their votes contrary to their state's result, if enough of them do it (and cast them for Hillary), then she'd become POTUS. The only way we end up with Pence in the job is if Trump is still the winner and does not fulfill his term (resigns, impeached, or passes away).

Dear Electoral College - You're casting your votes on my birthday. And, well, guess what's on the very top of my birthday list, in bold, all caps, underlined 10 times?

Which still really doesn't make sense to anyone who thinks about it for more than a second. The employees of his who would be on the ACA would be part timers. How much time is he spending hanging out with the part timers to talk about their insurance coverage? I wonder at what point each of his surrogates hit that point where they realized "ah, screw it. I don't even need to make up particularly good covers for his lies. Just babble whatever comes to mind first, and move on with some dig about emails." I saw an article earlier today about how there is now a list in NY (I'm pretty sure it was NY) where people have signed up to be escorts for people worried about being harassed or assaulted on their commute to work/school. People are signing up with their name, neighborhood, their normal commute, etc, and someone who feels unsafe can contact whoever on the list fits their commute, so they can go together. My first thought was "and the more known this list becomes, the higher the odds that some racist pieces of shit will sign up to be "safe escorts" so they can mess with some poor Muslim woman or trans woman who's just trying to get to work without being verbally or physically assaulted." I can just see some of the more ardent Trump/Breitbart people taking the existence of the safety pins or a list like this as some kind of affront to their dominance. I remember reading something at some point along the line (I want to say it was during the primary, but, you know, the sheer volume of ridiculous Trump shit makes it hard to mentally timeline all of it) that he was legitimately interested in doing "The Apprentice: The White House" if he won. I wonder even more about the people who are vocal about other groups' rights, but then vote against them. Like an acquaintance of mine - she's very, very pro-LGBT rights. And it has always seemed very genuine to me. But, she turns around and votes for people like Trump, because she's just so damned worried that, with liberals in office, someone she deems "unworthy" might get an extra dollar of her tax money. I just can't even comprehend how that is a mindset you can have when you are aware of the issues facing the LGBT community. When you have friends and family among any group who will undoubtedly suffer under a Trump regime - "Well, sorry about the complete decimation of your rights, but, hey, did I tell you I got an extra $5 on my tax return this year? Take that lazy food stamp mooches!" I've just assumed we're on the clock for the Mike Pence "gay scandal" for a while now. It's happening at some point. I hope that, in his case, it's extra messy - the kind of scandal that ends his political career in flames.

We are all the White House staff.

I don't think he's tweeting about them in the name of unity. He's doing it to say "see, they all bowed down in the end."

Exactly. It's protocol for certain people to congratulate him, whether it's sincere or not. I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that we won't see the same warmth develop between him and the Bushes, Clintons, or Obamas that has developed between those three families, partly originated when they were working together on transitions. Everyone is offering up the expected congrats, but none of them are interested in extending some kind of familiar, friendly relationship. You're not going to see Michelle or Laura affectionately hugging Donald at some future event.

But you've given us Dayton, who has to be my favorite current state governor in this country right now. I so wish the Democratic party would point to what he's done, economy-wise, contrast it to what guys like Walker and Brownback have done, and paint the full picture of how horrible the TP/GOP economic policies actually are for everyone who isn't in the top 1% (and that even without the generous handouts to the top 1% that they feature, MN's economy has been good to them, along with everyone else in the state). I don't know why this isn't a bigger thing. I had to read up and research it all on my own. I so wish he'd consider a 2020 run. Him and Elizabeth Warren on the same ticket would be amazing. Don't forget the other costs associated with those rallies - venue rentals, local lodging for Trump, whoever he brings along to appear with him, and the SS, and any speaking fees due to the various guest speakers (because he needs an opening act to fawn over him before he comes out to be the main attraction). It's just an impression I get, one of those things I can't quite put my finger on. She seemed to not be fully into participating in the whole campaign, aside from the appearances that were "musts" for the candidate's spouse, and I just get this general sense of "done with him," from her. Although that could just as easily be "done with this campaign crap." Plus, if she was ever going to do it (and I fully believe she would at some point), that would have been the perfect set up for her to do so. Most people would understand her taking her son and getting out after the Bush tape, and some of the more appalling things he's said during the campaign, not to mention the recent revelations of the amount of cheating he's done on her - especially during her pregnancy, when he was on the record "joking" about her weight gain making her less attractive. And, like I said, if she was smart at all, she's negotiated 1 or 2 revisions to his notoriously stingy pre-nup over the course of this campaign. So it is likely more financially feasible now for her to get out. Now that he's won (which I think she, like most of us, including him, doubted would happen), she's in for 4 more years. I predict that, once he's out of office, she waits a suitable time and then tries to, as quietly as possible, end things. (Because my other prediction about any renegotiation to the pre-nup would be that she agrees to remain at his side for the duration of the campaign and any possible term(s) as POTUS. There's no way he would have been careless enough to not make that a condition if he was going to renegotiate). It's all speculation on my part, but I see it happening after he's out. Someone will need to hold his feet to the fire and demand proof of the donations (from his personal account, not from his "foundation" or his companies). We all remember that he claimed to be raising money for veterans' groups that he held onto until the Washington Post put the pressure on him for not donating yet. His followers will take him at his word, even though he's given every reason not to, but the rest of us absolutely need to hold him accountable for making the promise and living up to it.

I bet that, at some point during this whole scenario, she pats herself on the back for not liking to interfere, or some such shit. She has zero idea what a manipulative nosy bitch she really is.

Bill would be so proud if all three of his sons managed to hit that for him.

And, since Ridge is the head designer of record, wouldn't it reflect poorly on him. in terms of the media and fashion industry, if there was no show stopper?

Yep. He likes the attention he got, which is why he wants to continue the rallies. He's going to end up wanting to do some real Kim Jong-Un shit - with rallies where we're all required to show up and cheer for him, and Heaven help us if we don't look happy enough to be there - his freaky supporters will attack. I still think she saw this election as her way out. I imagine her initial pre-nup wasn't great, because he's known for really shitty pre-nups. But, then he announced he was running, and he, of course, needed his wife (who wanted no part of it) to appear to support it all. Re-structure number one on the pre-nup. Then, the Billy Bush tape happened. And, of course, the best way to overcome that, to any degree, was to have his loyal wife out there, telling Anderson Cooper how much this was out of character, how she has already forgiven him, etc. Pre-nup renegotiation number 2. So, there, she was, she had her pre-nup probably the most favorable it was ever going to get, and not even her husband thought he was actually winning this thing. So, once November 8th came and went, she could put in some appearances as the, of course, disappointed spouse. Once the attention died down, she could have waited a few months and filed for divorce. Now? Now she's stuck as First Lady, a job she never wanted, in a house and city she has zero desire to live in, with a 24/7 spotlight she would really prefer to not deal with (her speech writer says the FLOTUS is a woman Melania admires, so she has to see what a bitch that spotlight has been for her, and likely has zero desire to experience it first hand). As much as I joke about Trump needing to go back to his blankie and nightlight in Trump Tower, I'm guessing that's her demand. She doesn't want to move at all, but it's not a good look for a First Lady to live full time away from the POTUS. So she's telling him she wants frequent, regularly scheduled trips back to one of their homes, including a long winter break in Florida to avoid the DC winter. This may end up being a huge sticking point in his accepting the job. I'm actually going to be pissed if this is what he backs out over, leaving us with Pence. Pence is a very damaged, dangerous man. At this point, I'd rather take the malleable Trump, who may be workable depending on who gets to him first (or kisses his ass best) on any given issue, over the certainty that Pence will roll back rights for everyone who isn't exactly like him. Hopefully, he just throws even more pre-nup money in Melania's direction, and then she and Barron can get the hell out in 4 years. You forgot his hour to 90 minute lunch, and two 15 minute breaks per day. And, yes, he will absolutely find a way to profit off of the work that needs to be done and the rent that needs to be paid to have the SSA's staying there. He did it on his campaign with his supporters' money, and now he'll do it as POTUS, with all of our money. Or, at least that's his plan. I can't imagine the Secret Service will really and truly sign off on this kind of arrangement. It's a financial, security, and logistical nightmare. The FLOTUS and their child living away from the WH would be the same. It's something that simply can't be done. Of course, I say that, and watch - he's going to get some crooked inspector who owes him a favor to check out the WH - you know, to ensure he and his family will be safe living there. And, shockingly, there will be a number of significant issues that take a long time to correct that will make it so that he needs to find alternate housing for himself, Melania, and Barron. And, oh, hey, he already has an office and home in Trump Tower. He can just run the country from there, and it's not a long commute to DC for any meetings or require appearances.

I think Christie, like 80 percent of the time is a party stooge, but, that other 20 percent? He sometimes manages to grab a hold of his moral compass and tries to do the right thing. Of Trump's inner circle, he's probably the least scary. (Other than, maybe, Ivanka, who I think won't publicly go against her father but will privately try to influence him when she thinks he's wrong). Rudy and Newt are evil goblins. Palin is that dangerous combination of epic stupidity with overwhelming confidence in her own "intelligence." Carson, I still can't get a read on, but he seems to be one of those candidates who plays the "I'm a Christian" card and thinks it's a blanket pass to do whatever he wants. Ditto Huckabee. Priebus is likely as bad as Rudy and Newt. Bannon is, well, Bannon. He's pretty much pure evil. Pence is a lot like Palin - not nearly as smart as he thinks he is, and determined to display his "intelligence" despite not having much. And, like Paul Ryan, he's utterly, shamelessly beholden to his financial backers, welfare of the people be damned.

When Eric initially seemed perplexed by Quinn being the model, I had a fear that this was going to turn into him somehow thinking that she was just using him to advance herself, and that she willfully substituted herself in without telling him. Then, that would start the build up to (ick) him being available to Katie. But, then he seemed so thrilled with how great she looked and how well she did with the show, so I was relieved. I do hope that she tells him what happened, though, so that there can be no chance for anyone (Ridge/Steffy) to insinuate anything like that to him.

I agree. I was saying last night that the Dems in Congress need to move quick, kiss up a little, and then offer to make deals with him. You know how he considers himself the ultimate deal maker. Play to that, ask for the moon, let him "deal" you down to what you wanted in the first place. He's really easy to play if you know the buttons to push.

Just saw a list of Trump's transition team. Guess who's on it (among many others, including three of his children and his son in law)? Florida AG Pam Bondi. Now, we might all recall that she and Trump both swore up and down that they don't even know each other, in the wake of the accusation that the (illegal) donation to her campaign was a payoff for her dropping the state's investigation into Trump U. But, look at that, they certainly know each other well enough for her to have earned an invite to the table now that he's going to be President.