Trump, The Most Corrupt Occupant Of The White House In History, Forces Each Of His Cabinet Members To Publicly Lick His Fat Ass

I walked by a TV when Trump was beginning his make believe cabinet meeting Monday. It horrified me. From the look on Rex Tillerson's face, it appeared to horrify him as well. The guy looked like he was debating writing a resignation letter or excusing himself to go take a shower. Have you ever seen anything like this? This is a mad house geared towards Trump's low-IQ base. We're all already used to the grotesque self-congratulatory boasting but his introduction was just one blatant lie after the other as though no one in the media was going to notice. What a shame he didn't try to relitigate who had the biggest inauguration audience. What else, after all, are cabinet meetings for? "Never has there been a president, with few exceptions … who has passed more legislation, done more things," he rambled on, though every single person in the room was aware that the emperor wasn't wearing any clothes at all. The Republican Congress hasn't passed a single significant piece of legislation (thank God). And most of his claims about legislation he's sent or is sending hasn't even been drafted yet. And all those historic jobs "he's" creating-- Obama created more in his final 7 months than Señor Trumpanzee has in his first 7. If anything, Obama's economic expansion has started to slow down since Trumpanzee stumbled into the White House. But no one's going to say anything about that, that's for sure. Did you listen to those sycophants on that video?

Rein Priebus, with a straight face: "We thank you for the opportunity and blessing you've given us to serve your agenda and the American people." You know every time I've mentioned that Chuck Schumer went to my high school in Brooklyn-- James Madison-- it was kind of apologetic that I went to the same school as that corrupt doofus. But, I have to admit, no one has senses of humor like kids who went to Madison. And Schumer outdid himself today with his tribute to the Trumpanzee Cabinet meeting. This Trump spoof is worthy of Ted Lieu:



So this is all happening in the context of the release of the newest PPP survey on Monday, which shows that 53% of Americans think Trump is dishonest and 49% think he's guilty of obstruction of justice, an impeachable offense. In fact a plurality of American voters-- 47%-- think Trump should be impeached. 4 foreign leaders have better favorability ratings in the U.S. than Trump does.

• Angela Merkel +11
• Justin Trudeau +11
• Emmanuel Macron +7
• Señor Trumpanzee -14

And Trump's stink has definitely spread to the Republicans in Congress. Voters are turning on them more noticeably than before.

Health care continues to be a political disaster for Republicans. Only 24% of voters support the American Health Care Act to 55% who oppose it. It doesn't even have majority support among GOP voters- 42% support it to 29% who are opposed. Voters prefer the current Affordable Care Act to the alternative of the AHCA by a 51/34 spread, and only 35% of voters think the best path forward on health care is to repeal the ACA while 59% think it should be left in place with fixes made to it as necessary.

“Six weeks after the initial passage of the AHCA voter anger over it isn’t subsiding,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “It continues to be the biggest issue driving a Democratic advantage in 2018.”

The health care bill could have major political implications in 2018. By a 24 point margin voters say they're less likely to vote for a member of Congress who supported the American Health Care Act- 48% say they're less likely to vote for someone who favored it, to only 24% who say they're more likely to support such a person.

The present political climate is also having the effect of firing up Democratic voters for 2018. Democrats lead the generic Congressional ballot overall, 50/40. But among voters who say they're 'very excited' about turning out next year, that lead increases to 18 points at 57/39. That's because 67% of Clinton voters say they're 'very excited' about next year's election, compared to only 57% of Trump voters. Republicans are only more competitive on the generic ballot overall thanks to a 52/32 advantage among those who say they aren't excited about voting next year.

The unpopularity of the health care bill is harming the overall brand of Congress and its leaders. Congress as a whole has just an 11% approval rating, to 61% of voters who disapprove of it. Paul Ryan's approval rating is 25/57, and that has him coming out well in comparison to Mitch McConnell who's at 16/59. There's not much faith in Congressional Republicans when it comes to the Trump/Russia investigation either- only 34% think their top priority is uncovering the truth about Trump and Russia, while 46% think they're mostly just focused on trying to protect Trump.

Timothy O'Brien is a journalist whose written for the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and HuffPo and is now an editor for Bloomberg. He may be most famous for one of his books, TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald for which Trump famously sued him-- and lost. He wrote a really funny piece about how his lawyer got Trumpanzee under oath and forced him to acknowledge he had lied over 30 times-- over a wide range of Trumpian bullshit, from "his ownership stake in a large Manhattan real estate development; the cost of a membership to one of his golf clubs; the size of the Trump Organization; his wealth; the rate for his speaking appearances to how many condos he had sold; the debt he owed, and whether he borrowed money from his family to stave off personal bankruptcy. Trump also lied during the deposition about his business relationships with organized crime figures." I guess it isn't news that Trump's the lyin-est liar who ever come onto America's center stage. (Do you think everyone who voted for him should lose their right to vote until they complete a rigorous junior high school quality civics class?) And he's also the most corrupt-- and that's probably worse than just being the biggest liar. The NY Times editorial board sounded another alarm on Monday: Trump Goes After The Inspectors. The law and order president he's not... quite the contrary.

Just before the inauguration, Michael Horowitz, chairman of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, was at a hockey game when he began getting calls from other inspectors general in federal agencies. The inspectors-- independent officials who investigate waste, misconduct, mismanagement and criminal activity-- were furious. Trump aides had let them know they might be replaced; for the first time ever, a president might fire them en masse.

The administration later backed down. But it has continued to undermine the inspectors’ role by failing to hire for open positions and planning to slash the offices’ budgets, one of the many ways the White House has found to diminish the oversight functions of the federal government.

Every major federal agency and program has an inspector general, a nonpartisan, independent official whose staff investigates cases of wasteful spending, criminal activity, employee misconduct and plain bad management. These are watchdogs with real teeth.

Mr. Horowitz, who is also the inspector general at the Department of Justice, recently told Congress that in fiscal 2015 alone, the offices identified $26 billion in potential savings and recovered an additional $10 billion through criminal and civil cases. That’s a return of $14 for every dollar in the offices’ budgets.

...Today nearly one-quarter of inspector general offices have either an acting director or no director at all, including the offices at the C.I.A., the National Security Agency, the Department of Defense and the Social Security Administration. Acting directors can be reluctant to make extensive changes or take bold action, particularly if they hope to be nominated for a permanent appointment.

The inspectors’ offices are deeply affected by the current federal hiring freeze and would be further harmed by the administration’s proposed budget cuts. The budget takes unexplained specific aim at the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, created in part to monitor the $700 billion taxpayer bailout for big banks.

That office has gone after 96 bankers; at least 36 went to prison. In 2015 its investigators helped prosecute General Motors for covering up a defective ignition switch responsible for at least 15 deaths, securing a $900 million settlement. The administration wants to cut its budget in half, to $20 million; as a result it has stopped accepting applications to its foreclosure prevention program.

The cuts in staff and budget would force inspectors general to do less, just as a new administration generates new matters to investigate.

Congress has demonstrated bipartisan willingness to step up for inspectors general in the past, and last year it expanded the types and scope of protection offered to government whistle-blowers. Now it needs to protect the watchdogs from an administration that wants to starve them.

This Trump thing is going to make one incredible movie someday-- if we're still making movies by the time he's forced out of office. It seems like it's taking forever!