S06.E09: Mueller Report

[Athena]

Quote

Other segments: Chiitan
Guests: Hugh Bonneville, Ryan Barger (voice-over)

 

[Annber03]

LOL at Chiijohn. What a strange story. Personally, I want to know more about the person who walked around in that Chiitan mascot getup :p. 

(Beautiful shots of that area of Japan, by the way. If I ever have the money and means someday, it'd be neat to go there.)

Regarding the Mueller report, man, Barr is such slime. And Conway needs to just shut up. Also, somebody desperately needs to tell these morons, as well as all the Trump supporters who somehow see this as vindication, that incompetence in trying to commit crimes is not a "get out of jail free" card. I watch a lot of true crime shows, and have heard numerous stories in which people's crime plots have failed in some form or another, and they still served jail time in the end, because plotting to commit serious crimes is still a very bad thing to do. 

At this point I'll be genuinely shocked if impeachment does happen, because lord knows the Republicans don't have the integrity/backbone/etc. to support it, and the Democrats, frustratingly, seem damned if they do push for impeachment and damned if they don't. But it's beyond clear at this point that something needs to be done to hold Trump and his cronies accountable somehow. Hopefully the other investigations that were connected to Mueller's will continue to bring even more evidence that can properly get the ball moving on some kind of actual punishment. I did like how Oliver pointed out that having this information in and of itself is important and proof this wasn't a waste of time.

[Mibbitmaker]

This was a perfect example of giving us very depressing news (Trump advantages despite Mueller report) in the first half, only to cheer us up wildly in the second half (the Japanese icon thingy). The way it started, I had no idea I could finish watching the show feeling gleefully amused like I did! Definitely a perfect example of what Seth Meyers would call "News We Really Need Right Now".

[Robert Lynch]

I almost threw up seeing that photo of Ivanka and Trump being that close.

Edited April 22, 2019 by Robert Lynch

[BuyMoreAndSave]

4 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

I almost threw up seeing that photo of Ivanka and Trump being that close.

Hey, come on, it's not like he said he would date her if she wasn't his daughter...now that would be weird and gross!

[Annber03]

5 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

I almost threw up seeing that photo of Ivanka and Trump being that close.

Seriously, I know there's been late night jokes about them, but it's amazing the creepiness of their relationship doesn't get talked about more in general. 

[Lantern7]

I think Chiijohn's inclusion in the second half was basically, "We filmed this a while back, and we need to run it before somebody notices a mascot in Japan with glasses and two ties that vaguely looks like John Oliver." I would have though the Notre Dame fire and terrorism in Sri Lanka would have been mentioned in passing. Nope . . . just the Mueller Report and an unofficial mascot causing trouble.

14 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

I almost threw up seeing that photo of Ivanka and Trump being that close.

It's like he's begging to get ridiculed. John rushing through and the delay in the audience reaction was funny as well.

Edited April 22, 2019 by Lantern7

[ganesh]

14 hours ago, Annber03 said:

At this point I'll be genuinely shocked if impeachment does happen, because lord knows the Republicans don't have the integrity/backbone/etc. to support it, and the Democrats, frustratingly, seem damned if they do push for impeachment and damned if they don't.

I don't think it will happen either, but the report provides a lot for Democrats to use in the campaign. I do think the other investigations will produce results, and Meuller led to a ton of indictments as it was. The problem is keeping the conversation going on not be like - the report is out and it's all over. It's really not. 

[Annber03]

37 minutes ago, ganesh said:

The problem is keeping the conversation going on not be like - the report is out and it's all over. It's really not. 

Agreed. I've heard people talking about how Americans are supposedly sick of the talk about the report at this point-maybe so, but that doesn't mean it still shouldn't be discussed, since it is pretty freaking important. 

50 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

I think Chiijohn's inclusion in the second half was basically, "We filmed this a while back, and we need to run it before somebody notices a mascot in Japan with glasses and two ties that vaguely looks like John Oliver." I would have though the Notre Dame fire and terrorism in Sri Lanka would have been mentioned in passing. Nope . . . just the Mueller Report and an unofficial mascot causing trouble.

On that note, I love how the people in Japan didn't seem remotely fazed by the John Oliver mascot running around :D. 

Good point about the Sri Lanka discussion in particular-course, given that just happened, they may want to make sure they've got more time to give it the proper discussion it deserves, especially once we get more information about who did that and why. 

Edited April 22, 2019 by Annber03

[peeayebee]

I love the tableau they created for the Oval Office scene when Trump says, "I'm fucked," esp Jared just standing at a blank wall.

A few people in the Administration get the blame (or praise) for saving Trump's ass by not doing what he told them to do. On the other hand, what kind of Presidency is this where the President's orders are not followed? I wonder how Trump is reacting to this. He's certainly pissed that people weren't following orders, but if they had, he'd be in big trouble. Is he capable of understanding that?

[Annber03]

7 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I wonder how Trump is reacting to this. He's certainly pissed that people weren't following orders, but if they had, he'd be in big trouble. Is he capable of understanding that?

Trump doesn't seem capable of understanding a lot of things, it seems...

[ganesh]

16 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

On the other hand, what kind of Presidency is this where the President's orders are not followed? I wonder how Trump is reacting to this. He's certainly pissed that people weren't following orders, but if they had, he'd be in big trouble. Is he capable of understanding that?

If I were one of the 72 gazillion people running for president I'd be hammering this home. I have no idea why the 25th isn't discussed more. 

55 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

Agreed. I've heard people talking about how Americans are supposedly sick of the talk about the report at this point-maybe so, but that doesn't mean it still shouldn't be discussed, since it is pretty freaking important.

Or the other one - how they're more concerned about health care. You can be concerned about multiple things, actually. 

[Xantar]

As of this morning, they had just revised the death toll from the Sri Lanka attacks. I can give the LWT crew a little slack if they decided to wait considering we still don’t even know how many people died. 

[One Imaginary Girl]

3 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I love the tableau they created for the Oval Office scene when Trump says, "I'm fucked," esp Jared just standing at a blank wall.

The prop department should have combined them all into a Jon McNaughton-style painting.

Edited April 23, 2019 by One Imaginary Girl

[biakbiak]

It wouldn’t surprise me if they filmed this before the Sri Lankan attack so that people didn’t have to work on Easter.

[plurie]

I think they film on Friday, so the Sri Lanka attacks hadn't happened yet. The fire at Notre Dame had, but I'm not sure what they could have done to make that funny.

[biakbiak]

7 hours ago, plurie said:

I think they film on Friday, so the Sri Lanka attacks hadn't happened yet. The fire at Notre Dame had, but I'm not sure what they could have done to make that funny.

They typically film on Sunday but have made exceptions.

[BuyMoreAndSave]

21 hours ago, peeayebee said:

A few people in the Administration get the blame (or praise) for saving Trump's ass by not doing what he told them to do. On the other hand, what kind of Presidency is this where the President's orders are not followed? I wonder how Trump is reacting to this. He's certainly pissed that people weren't following orders, but if they had, he'd be in big trouble. Is he capable of understanding that?

Technically this was the intent of the founding fathers considering the British ruler they had at the time.

21 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Trump doesn't seem capable of understanding a lot of things, it seems...

What do you guys think of the theory that he's going senile (sorry not sure if this can be discussed)? I wasn't sure but...he couldn't remember where his own dad was born....

21 hours ago, ganesh said:

I have no idea why the 25th isn't discussed more.

According to Fire and Fury (which now there seems to be more evidence that it was accurate) it has been discussed extensively among his own staff.

The Democrats have talked a fair bit about impeachment but I think they don't want to be accused of a witch-hunt where people say "you are calling someone mentally incompetent because you don't agree with them." Especially because the truth is, his supporters largely don't care whether there's an incompetent person in the White House, if they aren't Democrat. A lot of them are only hoping to pack the Supreme Court and overturn Roe v. Wade. Instead it seems like the Democrats' strategy is to focus on the actual issues that they can win people over with, like healthcare and (increasingly, finally!) climate change.

[ganesh]

6 minutes ago, BuyMoreAndSave said:

Technically this was the intent of the founding fathers considering the British ruler they had at the time.

I'm not so sure that's correct. They envisioned checks and balances, not all the sprawling growth of the executive branch. This isn't congress checking the chief executive. It's a bunch of people employed by the executive essentially refusing illegal orders. 

They also didn't think of judicial review, and the courts have provided the biggest check on the administration by ruling a lot of things being unconstitutional. 

I meant more public talk about the 25th. Congress can be calling out the cabinet to grow up and do the right thing. 

[Quickbeam]

I watch for the bits like the Shinjokun/Chiitan segment. They lighten my week. I wish he could dial down the Trump stuff. 

[meowmommy]

26 minutes ago, Quickbeam said:

I watch for the bits like the Shinjokun/Chiitan segment. They lighten my week. I wish he could dial down the Trump stuff. 

That segment left me baffled.  I am not into mascots or anime or whatever the hell that was supposed to mean, so I was not amused at all.  The only thing I liked was Hugh Bonneville's narration.

I like the political stuff, not only because I was a poli sci major before I became a nurse, but because it's so damn serious all the time.  I need to laugh about it.

[Popples]

8 minutes ago, meowmommy said:

The only thing I liked was Hugh Bonneville's narration.

So that's whose voice that was. Thank you, I was wondering.

[BuyMoreAndSave]

2 hours ago, ganesh said:

I'm not so sure that's correct. They envisioned checks and balances, not all the sprawling growth of the executive branch. This isn't congress checking the chief executive. It's a bunch of people employed by the executive essentially refusing illegal orders. 

They also didn't think of judicial review, and the courts have provided the biggest check on the administration by ruling a lot of things being unconstitutional. 

I meant more public talk about the 25th. Congress can be calling out the cabinet to grow up and do the right thing. 

Yeah what I meant is that even if you are president, you can't just say whatever and people will automatically enact it like his dictator buddies can. The culture of the US allows for the nation itself to be put first in front of the person in "charge."

[Annber03]

3 hours ago, BuyMoreAndSave said:

What do you guys think of the theory that he's going senile (sorry not sure if this can be discussed)? I wasn't sure but...he couldn't remember where his own dad was born....

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if there is some level of truth to that theory. I don't know what his family history is in relation to that issue, but some of his behavior and manner of speaking does seem to indicate it's possible. 

Quote

The Democrats have talked a fair bit about impeachment but I think they don't want to be accused of a witch-hunt where people say "you are calling someone mentally incompetent because you don't agree with them." Especially because the truth is, his supporters largely don't care whether there's an incompetent person in the White House, if they aren't Democrat. A lot of them are only hoping to pack the Supreme Court and overturn Roe v. Wade. Instead it seems like the Democrats' strategy is to focus on the actual issues that they can win people over with, like healthcare and (increasingly, finally!) climate change.

And that's what makes it so frustrating. If this were any other politician, if this were Hillary or Obama who had this kind of damning report against them, the Republicans wouldn't even hesitate to start up impeachment hearings. And I would support them, because, y'know, I don't want my president to be involved in criminal activity.

But somehow, for some reason, Trump can get a pass no matter what. He never has to ever be held accountable for anything he does. Impeachment shouldn't even be a debate at this point, yet it sadly is, because Trump has this weird hold on some people to where he can always manage to skate by. It's beyond maddening. I don't get it. 

[ganesh]

Impeachment is a whole other universe. There's no way the senate convicts, and going by Clinton, they'll get killed 2020 across the board. 

That's the problem with the report. There was never going to be a smoking gun. Who is to say in the ensuing year that the current investigations do though? There's still a ton to follow up on from this report by calling in all the parties for hearings. Get the lawyer on record saying trump told him to fire Mueller, etc.  

[rwlevin]

Chiitan challenged John Oliver to a fight on Twitter...and John is eating it up!

[purist]

12 minutes ago, rwlevin said:

Chiitan challenged John Oliver to a fight on Twitter...and John is eating it up!

[Lantern7]

33 minutes ago, purist said:

Maybe that will be the entirety of the last episode of 2019 . . . Chiitan and John in a steel cage death match, with John screaming "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED???!!!?" over and over.

4 hours ago, ganesh said:

Impeachment is a whole other universe. There's no way the senate convicts, and going by Clinton, they'll get killed 2020 across the board.

I'm still gonna fantasize about a perp walk at the White House. 😡

8 hours ago, Quickbeam said:

I watch for the bits like the Shinjokun/Chiitan segment. They lighten my week. I wish he could dial down the Trump stuff.

In the show's defense, the Report was the news of the week . . . big enough that John had to immediately roll that into the episode, as opposed to warming us up with bits from around the world.

Is the "painting" online anywhere? The bit with Eric's tongue stuck on a surprisingly frozen flagpole was funny.

[biakbiak]

4 hours ago, ganesh said:

There's no way the senate convicts, and going by Clinton, they'll get killed 2020 across the board. 

I think this is the problem so many people are comparing it to Clinton where the cases for impeachment are in no way equivalent so trying to extrapolate that it improved Clinton’s popularity is a false equivalency. 

[Victor the Crab]

52 minutes ago, purist said:

16 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Maybe that will be the entirety of the last episode of 2019 . . . Chiitan and John in a steel cage death match, with John screaming "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED???!!!?" over and over.

If this becomes a pay-per-view event, I'm forkin' over my hard earned cash to watch!

As for impeaching Drumpf, the Democrats are in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation. It's like they're playing Plinko from The Price Is Right. They may think they're lined up to land on impeachment, only to have the disc bounce around crazily and it lands on four more years for Drumpf. But I'm reading comments from some left leaning sites that are demanding Nancy Pelosi take up the case for impeachment, IMMEDIATLY! OR ELSE! Pelosi's in a bind right now, but I trust her savvy and acumen will carry the day.

[Annber03]

The weird part is that I saw an article today talking about how Trump's approval numbers have dropped since the Mueller report was released-he's at about 37% approval right now. And it seems like most Americans agree that he's got to be guilty of something. 

Yet according to that same article, despite not approving of his presidency, most Americans also aren't clamoring for impeachment. That confuses me. Do they think it's going to be too drawn out? Is it that they think it won't be successful in the end, so what's the point? Or is it the whole "Let's just move on" thing (to which I would argue, we probably could move on a lot quicker if Americans rallied to the point of forcing Congress to get Trump out of here a lot quicker, but...)?

Yeah. I dunno. 

[andromeda331]

12 hours ago, Annber03 said:

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if there is some level of truth to that theory. I don't know what his family history is in relation to that issue, but some of his behavior and manner of speaking does seem to indicate it's possible. 

And that's what makes it so frustrating. If this were any other politician, if this were Hillary or Obama who had this kind of damning report against them, the Republicans wouldn't even hesitate to start up impeachment hearings. And I would support them, because, y'know, I don't want my president to be involved in criminal activity.

But somehow, for some reason, Trump can get a pass no matter what. He never has to ever be held accountable for anything he does. Impeachment shouldn't even be a debate at this point, yet it sadly is, because Trump has this weird hold on some people to where he can always manage to skate by. It's beyond maddening. I don't get it. 

This! That's exactly it. I really don't understand it. If it was any other politician everyone would be jumping to impeach them. But for some reason he gets a pass. Why? What is so great about him? I really don't understand. In the report he tried to get many of his supporters to do illegal crap. The only reason it didn't happen was they refused to do it. Its insane. We shouldn't have a president who is only being stopped because his orders are being refused. The attempt to do so still counts. How many didn't refused? What happens when he finds someone who will carry out his illegal orders? If they hadn't already. What kind of mess are we going to be in then? 

[ganesh]

13 hours ago, biakbiak said:

I think this is the problem so many people are comparing it to Clinton where the cases for impeachment are in no way equivalent so trying to extrapolate that it improved Clinton’s popularity is a false equivalency. 

Incident-wise it is false. Impeachment as a political process, yes, it's apt. Right now, there's no way the senate convicts. Republicans had the Senate for Clinton and they still didn't convict. 

Pelosi is saying to continue investigating and holding hearings. There may be a point, even this year, where that calculus changes and they can. One could also look at the continuing hearings over the report that John was talking about as a pre-impeachment process. They just started the fight for the tax returns, for example.

I'm wondering what's going on in congress behind the scenes. I wouldn't be surprised if they're drafting them now just to be ready. 

He absolutely should be removed just to 'cleanse the office'. But they also really only get one shot at it. 

13 hours ago, Victor the Crab said:

Pelosi's in a bind right now, but I trust her savvy and acumen will carry the day.

So far, she's been walking that tightrope. 

[wendyg]

The country has paid with 40 years of acrimony and payback for Nixon's resignation. I am not anxious to see this repeated on steroids (though, granted, the people who have held the grudge all this time are unlikely to be alive 40 years hence).

Returning to LWT, I didn't care for the Japanese segment.

[rwlevin]

Truthfully, I don't want trump impeached because then we end up with pence as president and he is so much worse. He actually believes the shit he sells and is competent. So unless pence could be impeached along with trump, and I don't see that happening, it's better to just beat him in 2020 and then indict him once he's out of office. 

[ganesh]

With a Democratic controlled House though, Pence can still be reasonably contained. 

[DEL901]

35 minutes ago, ganesh said:

With a Democratic controlled House though, Pence can still be reasonably contained. 

But he would be harder to beat in 2020. 

[ganesh]

Maybe. I don't know if he'll get many crowds for those rallies. 

[rwlevin]

But a lot of people who wouldn't vote for trump because he's cray cray would vote for pence. And he has absolutely no scandals to worry about (well aside from single handedly causing an aids epidemic in Indiana but that's okay because those were only drug addicts and gay people who couldn't be converted (she said sarcastically) )

[ganesh]

Yeah but he'd get killed in the debates of the nominee was a woman because he's not allowed to be around ladies. 

[wendyg]

Did Pence have personality before he allied himself with Trump?

[peeayebee]

Does he now?

[Athena]

Please stay on topic with what was discussed in the episode. Impeachment, Pence, and speculations about 2020 are off the table. Thank you.

[rwlevin]

I am absolutely loving the chiitan Twitter feed. He's apparently now studying wwe moves to ready his battle with John. I'm surprised he doesn't want to fight Chiijohn.

I know that this really doesn't have anything to do with current events but segments like Chiitan (or the koala chlamydia treatment center in Australia) make me just a little bit more confident that the world isn't about to implode. 

[OneWhoLurks]

Quote

Michelle Goldstein, a spokeswoman for HBO, said on Thursday that the show’s team had no comment on Chiitan’s Twitter suspension.

But fans were showing support through an online petition to have Chiitan reinstated on the platform. As of Friday morning in Japan, it had nearly 4,000 signatures.

They were also visiting a Japanese-language Twitter account that Chiitan quietly opened on Thursday night. The account’s first post shows the mascot in signature naughty form: jumping over a wooden bar and crashing into a wall of metal cans.

Violent Japanese Mascot That Tickled John Oliver Is Suspended by Twitter