There’s a bully in Belgium; we sent him there.
Our top story on Hate Speech today: what does the Bully-In-Chief/host of the show do when he is concerned he might not be front and center at a photo op for NATO leaders? Don’t be a dick, Donnie. Oops. Too late. Ladies and gentlemen, the example for our children, a role model for integrity, poise, and strength of character, our “leader.”
Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group? pic.twitter.com/bL1r2auELd
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) May 25, 2017
This man is such an embarrassment that it’s getting difficult to find the fun to poke at it all. As far as I can tell, there was nothing remotely funny about Trump’s. . . performance. . . in Brussels today so I’ll leave it there. Fortunately, there is still some courtesy in world leadership from actual leaders (including France and Germany):
As is courteous, @EmmanuelMacron greets the leader of the free world first. https://t.co/p464pea8It
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 25, 2017
There was a bit of setback today for the “we’re all nasty bigots” side plot of our program as the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 10-3 ruling that Trump’s executive order (aka his “Muslim ban”) still appears to do little or nothing for national security but “drips with religious intolerance, animus and discrimination.” We’ll also file that one under “duh,” but I suppose we still need to do the second and third opinions to stomp that shitty order down so it stays down.
Meanwhile, on Loose Lips the UK is no longer sharing information related to the attack on concert-goers in Manchester because someone leaked information about the ongoing investigation that killed 22 people to the New York Times. Oops again. We say that a lot lately.
On Fuck You, I Got Mine, the CBO finally came out for the latest version of the AHCA. The AHCA, you’ll recall, is House Speaker Paul Ryan’s most recent attack on the citizens of the United States. His plan is to jam his tax bill down Americans’ throats so that, he hopes, it can be added to the bill’s list of preexisting conditions since “having a wad of garbage lodged in an American’s throat” is pretty much the only thing left that isn’t on the list. That list of preexisting conditions is what Ryan is using as his argument that health insurance costs will go down if we replace our affordable health insurance bill, the ACA, with his tax bill. He may be right since anyone on that list (almost everyone in the country) can be charged much more or may not be able to get health coverage at all. For the seventeen or so Americans who don’t have something on the list, their rates might not change (until the rest of the gutting of our environmental protections gets through and we no longer have clean air or water). With the release of the CBO we now know the latest numbers for how many people will lose their health insurance to the AHCA; it’s 23 million. That’s down from 24 in the earlier version. I guess Paul needs to get back to the drawing board to work on getting the other million losers off it, too. His, uh, sponsors clearly want to fuck more Americans than just 23 million. More money for them! Woohoo!
A classy response from Billings Gazette. Not only rescinding endorsement of Gianforte, but taking responsibility for their mistake. pic.twitter.com/xCaqcUWksJ
— Elliott Lusztig (@ezlusztig) May 25, 2017
A Montana member of the Party of Violence and Hatetm, Greg Gianforte, assaulted one of those pesky free speech press people last night for having the gall to ask about the CBO for the latest version of AHCA. (I know, right? what was he thinking?!) Then Gianforte lied about attacking Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs, because duh, that is what members of the Party do. It’s kind of their thing. And again, what was that uppity American reporter thinking? asking questions? like he had a right?
So Republican Greg Gianforte just committed a crime and then lied about it, which qualifies him for a spot in the Trump Administration. 🤔
— Sean Corcoran (@seacorc) May 25, 2017
That Gianforte’s story wasn’t the lede on today’s episode of Hate Speech instead of just being included as an aside to the CBO story on Fuck You, I Got Mine is telling. The Party’s message of bullying and hate is getting out; Putin’s getting a good return on his investment. Perhaps we should just have an all-out brawl and be done with it? Why are we even pretending to be civilized anymore? Or we could do a sort of Battle Royale for all these fucks who cheer the hate and violence along with the host of Hate Speech. If they can’t be part of the solution to our nation’s problems, if they can’t resist spewing hate and making more problems for us, throw them all on an island with the other hosts. Let them take out their anger on each other; leave us out of it.
This is what a constant diet of propaganda and conspiracy theories do, turn conservatives into the kind of people who cheer assault https://t.co/ixyBVR5BgE
— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) May 25, 2017
(Stay tuned to the Republican’s Incompetence Parade channel for more “reality” programming)
Link: “Highlights: In Brussels, Trump Scolds Allies on Cost-Sharing, and Stays Vague on Article 5” – by The New York Times
Link: “In Berlin, Obama speaks out against hiding behind walls” – by Erik Kirschbaum at Reuters
Link: “White House sends Callista Gingrich nomination to the Senate” – by Max Greenwood at The Hill (they were serious?!)
Link: “At NATO gathering, Trump brushes past Montenegro’s prime minister” – by John Wagner of The Washington Post