Our mothers used to say that the measure of a person can be taken by looking at those he/she surrounds him/herself with.
60
OHOHOH It wasn't ME!!!!!!
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/shaggy-james-corden-donald-trump-it...
47
HAHAHAHAHAhahaaaaaa oh boy, HILARIOUS.... I love Gail's cutting edge insight rundown, and this is my FAVORITE part, because it is so droll, so hilarious.... so perfect: "...Rudy Giuliani has been caught peddling the idea that those hush-money payoffs were just to protect Melania from heartbreak."
Oh yes, wife #3 just might be crying tears of joy over that pre-nup agreement that gives her big time bundles of cash, and those GOLF BALL (as Gail says, we are inundated with the world of "golf" when it comes to sleazy corruption)...and she weeps tears of joy over those golf-ball sized diamond rings, lustfully longing for the day when she can be liberated from the phony "Be Best" joke that the high-paid (tax dollars) handlers crammed down her throat, as she returns to Paris to be the richest Queen of the Celebrity Ball. What a trash fake farce that marriage is. It makes the Clintons Dante-esq marriage look like a Disney movie.
136
Dunky is a very brave marine indeed! Fired a few rounds at the little lady and ran like a greyhound for the nearest foxhole. Should have pulled his pants up first, though.
101
I was going to comment, but I am still gagging from reading this list of principled republicans , no ... uh, criminals.
113
Instead of "lock HER up" may I suggest "lock THEM up!" The entire gop could, and should, be jailed. Their actions from the time President Obama was elected the first time has been nothing short of not illegal have been unethical and treasonous. The gop cretin were apoplectic when President Obama wore a tan suit but apparently, their orange leader working with Russians, many of their members being indicted, using donated funds for their own use etc., is perfectly acceptable. And still they have supporters! It's mind boggling!
157
Come on Ms Collins even Adam knew who to blame
65
This is not funny.
34
Sorry you stopped at #4 or are you saving it for another column? Seems unlikely you ran out of material.
Regarding Hunter and the Mrs., he might be careful what he tries to lay off on her. Remember Mr. Bobbit?
86
These revelations are starting to remind me of the collection of essays published under the title "Golfing for Cats." With a big Nazi swastika on the cover. The book had nothing to do with golfing, cats, or Nazis. It was just that the marketing department of the publisher had gleaned that those three subjects were the most popular at the time of publication, so why not combine them to create at least a possible passing interest in the book with the subjects du jour formed into one panache laden, eye-catching combination?
And so it is here, with Omarosa's juicy tidbits of insider sleaze, these Trumpian supporters and/or "MiniMe's" starting to fall like a stacked row of dominoes, with finally President "The Donald" Trump's speech pattern being compared to the late John "the don" Gotti. What, you've got a problem with that? You think you're a wiseguy or something?
Does the truth resemble any of this confluence of subjects? Not really, the honest truth is that we, the ordinary people are once again left holding the empty bag, but about half of us haven't realized it... yet.
71
Gail Collins - nice work today, but you and many others keep getting it backwards. It’s not Trump who is “patient zero” in this spreading ring of corruption and malevolence.
That would be Ronald Reagan.
What the party is today began under Reagan. Trump has just dragged it all out into the open. Lies, incompetence, arrogance, corruption, illusion over reality - this is what you get from a party that declared war on government decades ago and called it morning in America while looting the country with voodoo economics.
“GOPus delenda est.” - Kevin Drum
191
There’s lot about republicans that’s aspirational. They vote for Trump because they aspire to be billionaires with a harem of porn stars. They vote for Duncan Hunter because they aspire to rob the country bind with their own corruption. Republican voters don’t see the negatives in these things, they only aspire to do these things themselves. And then there’s the white supremacy to add to the mix. Republicans love this stuff.
104
Oh Gail, oh Gail.
Why are you so worried about such trivial matters? Haven't you heard? Theft, adultery and lying about both are trending!
The party of "family values" has redefined law and morality. We are liberated from the old Christian playbook! Now all you have to do is say you hate Pelosi and claim you go to church and you are checked in - boarding pass to Heaven on your phone!
It's all OK as long as you are not a Democrat or, FSM forbid, a "Liberal". They are a bunch of commies - oh wait, the Russians are better than patriotic Democrats - Putin is better than Hillary - I am so confused.
Who is the enemy today? Ahhh, it's Jeff Sessions. But tomorrow is another day. Probably be that Trump org CFO dude. So exciting. Confusing, but exciting, eh?
Those Obamas were so dull - with their clean lifestyles, raising those kids by setting moral examples. BORING.
219
Considering how fast he threw his wife under the bus, I wouldn't have wanted to have to depend on Mr. Hunter if I were in Iraq with him.
It's amazing to me how many ex-military people are ardent Trump, et al, supporters. The military teaches honor, unit cohesiveness, cooperation, never leave a buddy behind. Republicans are liars, cheaters, every man for himself, screw your neighbor to get ahead, blame your shortcomings on everyone else.
162
"It was Eve's fault", said Adam.
224
Like a heck of a lot of people in America, I too have started wondering if there is anybody around trump who isn't a crook and sleazy. I'm guess the answer is 'no'.
54
Speaking of wives, I sometimes wonder about the private feelings of Melania Trump. She seems to be a decent person who is caught up in a disgusting relationship. Just wondering.
15
Trump's highly questionable capture of the Electoral college sure brought the vermin out en masse. How many more are there?
Clearing the Swamp is going to cost the American voter more than he or she ever bargained for.
I hope this is a lesson well learned.
50
Donakf Trump's "friends" are lucky that they are not "friends" of Vladimir Putin. Putin's buddies end up in hospitals, mental institutions, prisons, urns and coffins. Imagine a Putin gift of a bullet or two, Polonium -210 or Novichok.
Instead of being deemed puveyors of "fake news" and "an enemy of the people" Russian journalists end up dead. Putin feigns outrage at one of his friends who was shot to death on a bridge near the Kremlin.
But Putin worked to place his friend Donald Trump aka Bone Spurs aka Golfheart aka dummy pet puppet in the Oval Office of our White House. Some Putin friends are created more equal than others. Some Putin friends pretend to be journalists on Fox News.
MAGA!
94
Donald Trump doesn’t have any enemies. Only his friends hate him.
31
What about the fifth guy to endorse Trump - the one whose dog ate his homework?
36
The vile swill of the republicans is now being seen by the light of day. Know them by their deeds! Self-righteous liars and thrives. Vote in November !
45
Hey Gail,
Check out Rick Wilson's new book, it's titled:
"Everything Trump Touches Dies".
35
What a nest of vipers. It's time to bring back the Puritan practice of stocks in the public square.
37
Birds of a feather fleece Americans together.
67
Remember Gail, most of these women are partners in crime.
They make shady choices and take furtive actions too.
They may get tossed under the bus, but I'm sure they knew how to roll and run out the other side.
Cad's and grifters come in all colors, sex and sizes.
70
The Friends of Trump Club is the one club no Trump friend wants to join today. Chris Collins, the insider-trader (c.f. traitor) NY Congressman and Duncan Hunter, California Rep. indicted for using political funds for personal expenses, are just the foul tip of the Trump friends iceberg that will sink Donald Trump's presidency. Roll out the barrels, happy days aren't here again! The Republican Congress is a rotten pork barrel. Collins made his cellphone insider-trading calls on video from the GOP Congressional picnic at The White House in June, 2017. Hunter blamed his wife for his indictment, as she managed their ill-gotten and ill-spent moolah. He shored up their lavish life with political donations. Two more rotten apples in the Trump barrel -- Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee who was a rabid right-to-lifer till his girlfriend got "up the spout" and needed help. And Tom Marino of PA, Trump's drug czar who donated $100K to Big Pharma. And keep "Little Jeff Sessions" (h/t Trump) on the Friends of Trump list, though their relationship is on the rocks, Let it not be forgot that Sessions was the first Senator to endorse Trump for our presidency. May Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III resign to save his own bacon. He's been Trump's whipping-boy since he was given the sinecure of the Attorney-Generalship of the U.S. by the man he endorsed. We are fed up to the teeth with the Friends of Trump Club, Gail Collins. With friends like Trump who needs enemies? Lock 'em all up!
30
You make some good points, Ms. Collins. But aren't you confusing CAUSE and EFFECT?
Friendship with Mr. Trump did not CAUSE these people to behave this way. No--I think not.
Rather, they were drawn to Mr. Trump precisely BECAUSE they were that kind of person.
When my daughter was in middle school, she came home with an odd story.
She'd been walking down a corridor with a mob of other kids--when a weird cry rang out. Puzzled, my daughter turned to a friend. "What's THAT?"
Her friend was nonchalant. "Oh--that's just so-and-so's MATING cry."
Huh?
Well, Ms. Collins--I'm not trying to imply anything improper or unsavory.
But it really does seem to me--throngs of American politicians HAVE looked at Mr. Donald J. Trump and reflected (whether consciously or unconsciously)--
"This is MY kind of guy! This guy has spent a lifetime doing stuff I want to do."
A replay, in other words, of Governor Edwards of Louisiana--"Let the good times ROLL!"
(Words rendered in exquisite French as "Laissez les bons temps rouler!" Have I got that right?)
And so--literally or figuratively--
--they all THRONGED to those vulgar banners flaunted by Mr. Donald J. Trump.
Oh, the President wasn't exactly SAYING all this in some many words.
But we all knew what he meant.
THEY knew what he meant. And sakes, Ms. Collins. . . .
. .. SAKES, what a crew!
Hope we see the last of them--
--SOON!
60
The cess pool of the GOP rises again.
H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-S.
32
So many jackets. Some don't care and some are Ostrich a la mob. Kinda sums it up til orange is the color trend.
16
Gail, your op-eds used to make me laugh. But, lately, they make me cry, instead.
96
Friend? Trump is knows for NOT having friends, only purchased people.
20
Eleven hundred overdrafts?! That’s crazy! It’s out-of-control crazy! And he was early Trump supporter? Well that makes sense.
47
There is one consistent quality pervading the current Republican Party: Astonishing hypocrisy.
Duncan Hunter has proven himself to be a master of this, and an embodiment of numerous other personality traits so dear to DT including crassness, selfishness, megalomania, arrogance, corruptness and cowardice.
43
Obama had NO scandals.
Is there a day that trump or his cronies DONT have a scandal?
70
110% of us can't wait for November 7th 1:00 AM when news of Dems winning a supermajority in the House flashes all over TV networks.
Over 100 seat majority.
And there will be one chant in every winning candidate celebration party, from east to west, north to south:
LOCK HIM UP
LOCK HIM UP
LOCK HIM UP
37
Hunter is using the same playbook as former governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell. Claimed it was all his wife's fault too! Apparently McDonnell got away with a lot of it. Hoping that California and the FBI are not si forgiving of Hunter or his family!!!
30
Honestly, now. Wouldn't you jump at the chance to be Donald's friend? How about a round of golf? Would you say no thanks?
3
But at least Trump drained the swamp...apparently to replace it with a toxic waste dump.
46
Two old sayings come to mind: "Monkey see, monkey do," and "Birds of a feather flock together." Gosh darn it, my mother was right!
23
Let's not forget the real damage the "big guy" Trump is doing to our country, democracy and the rule of law. We put a thug in as president even though he probably is not our legal president, he taints all he touches. Trump has given clear signals that it's OK to ignore any law. It will continue to get worse at least until November.
26
The election of Trump has been a good thing in that it has shone a very, very, bright light on all the cockroaches, both in politics and among us.
41
Any man who would betray or cheat on his wife, would cheat and betray his country. Cheating on your taxes and running a political campaign slush funds is betraying your country. I won't event get into the kinds of betrayal a serial cheater like Trump might do.
25
From Manafort to Gates to Hunter to Collins to almost every member of the Trump cabinet not to mention the Trump family using a “charitable foundation” as a personal piggy bank you have to ask why such blatantly corrupt activities? What all these have in common is a sense of entitlement; that these people felt that they had it coming to them by virtue of their “superior position” in society, the rules simply do not apply to them. While this is not exclusively a Republican issue it is a peculiarly Republican problem and it is as an anti-egalitarian as you can get. What galls me even more is that Republican Party has been holier than thou for decades (“law and order” “the moral majority” “secure our borders from drug dealers, criminals, rapists, drug smugglers” and now “religious freedom” as an excuse to descriminate). What is the solution? Well we know there is a one word answer: vote.
45
I think the headline puts the cart before the horse. These people aren't feeling the toxic effects of friendship with Trump, drawn into his corrupt orbit and ultimately facing legal consequences for it.
No, they were dishonest, greedy, cowardly, and immoral before Donald Trump sorta-not-really left the Reality TV business. Maybe getting caught was attributable to the increased scrutiny that comes with association with a president under investigation, but the venal corruption and parasitism of these people is all their own. This is birds of a feather flocking together, and now just some of their chickens (and what a perfect avian metaphor for a man who unconvincingly blames his corrupt wife for his own share in a crime!) are coming home to roost.
Americans who can still vote for these people are an embarrassment to the idea of democracy. No wonder Chinese citizens look at this mess we call a country and think "uh, why would anyone want this thing you call 'freedom'"?
18
At least he hasn't tried to blame it on Hillary.
18
A bank that would let you overdraw your account 1100 times? Sound like just the type of financial institution the president has been seeking.
BUILD THE WALL with a loan from a shaky banker.
Just don't open a joint account with that wife of your's .
She sounds like trouble.
37
Kinda makes you wanna go back to the good old days when Mitt
strapped his dog on the roof of the family car for a cross country jaunt. And nobody got hurt.
34
It would be beneath the Donald to go
To jail. But then again it’s just where he belongs.
14
It almost ought to be illegal...
20
"Muscle-headed moron" is a phrase that Ethel Merman used in the movie "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World." quotes.net/movies/5867
That phrase sort of describes Trump and his friends, who, not so coincidentally, is making this world quite mad indeed and making America look bad in the process, which makes this line from the movie, uttered by British actor Terry Thomas quite prophetic:
"I must say that if I had the grievous misfortune to be a citizen of this benighted country, I should be the most hesitant of offering any criticism whatever of any other."
33
Gail, no surprises here. Hunter is just another misogynistic fraudster. Trust me, there will be more and wait until we see the tax fraud and laundering of Russian money that Trump has engaged in, it will make our heads spin.
46
I actually read the entire indictment document, following the link in Ms. Collins' article. It's a great read and I have expanded my vocabulary! Malversation...look it up. I suspect it will be part of the household vernacular very soon! The whole thing made my stomach turn. campaign funds for dance recitals and school tuition?....how rich!
35
Gail, How did you get through writing a whole column with any mention of Duncan Hunter's purchase of a campaign-funded $600 plan ticket for the family pet rabbit? This could be your new dog on the car roof. Let's just hope that Hunter doesn't try to blame the entire scandal on the innocent rabbit.
199
It's no wonder that Trump's most vocal supporters like Duncan Hunter and Newt Gingrich are people who are just as immoral and dishonest as he is.
45
Gail, You forgot to mention Mitt Romney's dog Seamus! (Remember the good old days, when you had Mitt pegged as the ultimate enemy of the people? Be careful what you wish for, and how you influence the woman vote, eh? It's all good being silly until the sillies catch up to you and now you've set a low silly bar that any man can simply step over...)
5
As always, Gail Collins is both the funniest and the most insightful and interesting of columnists at the NYT
20
It’s the law of the jungle—animals run with their own. You don’t see, for example, the tigers living together with the chimpanzees.
Likewise, when it was time to decide whether to run with the Trump pack, it is no surprise who joined early—the jackals, vultures and the rats. There are no lions, or (dare I say) elephants in this crowd.
Collins, Hunter, Flynn, Manafort, Gates, Papadopoulous, Cohen, Bannon, Miller, Jones, Pecker . . . We’re not talking about the Kings of the Jungle here. More like Lords of the Flies.
40
What passes for religion in the US is every bit as fake as the politicians who wear it on their sleeves.
52
I guess Hunter's final defense if his wife turns out to be a Trumpian Rat would be to claim she's part of the Deep State and lured him into running for office.
19
The only thing thicker than this band of thieves are the heads of the voters who welcome these criminals and deviates into our supposed hallowed halls.
37
Anyone remember Sherman Adams? Back when Republicans were honest he got in trouble over the gift of a vicuna coat. Which led to the expression “good Republican cloth coat.” Too bad that is the Republican Party of 50 years ago.
Look it all up.
11
If those immigrant children are ever reunited with their families, we will at last have a use for those cages.
31
Does anyone wonder why these creeps are almost always overwhelmingly of the Republican persuasion? Too much money?
16
Since the wife is obviously the smart one, i think she'll manage a fine revenge.
11
I cannot wait to hear how Donnie defends Duncan. Wait, I've got it, Margaret must be the witch everyone is hunting.
13
This goes beyond sad, to funny. A whole political party of Stooges. Haven't laughed this much in awhile.
13
Parasites do not have friends, they all simply act as pointers to the next meal. This is why they cluster.
22
Trumpism #45: How to govern, and ruin, a Great Country. . .
. . .establish an impresario governance style based on on-the-fly Twitter improvisation, ranting in the style of a New York “Goodfellas” boss,
. . .and drain the swamp, leaving only the stench of sewage sludge in its wake.
15
In this typically snide column the author fails to mention that the wife was indicted as well. Perhaps it is time for women to take the blame instead of blaming it always on the man. She was in charge of the finances, she is responsible.
3
Misquoting Oscar Wilde, to have one indicted congressman support you is misfortune. To have two implies a certain carelessness.
18
Good grief Sherlock, have we no shame!
6
Hunter brings to mind another San Diego congressman, Duke Cunningham, a decorated Vietnam aviator and Top Gun instructor who in 2005 pleaded guilty to pocketing some $2.4 million in bribes, fudging his taxable income for 2004, plus federal tax evasion, conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, and wire fraud. A $2 million fine, 8 years in prison and a pants-down spanking later, he now lives in Arkansas. I don't think he blamed his wife.
20
"Really, I’m not sure even Trump would throw his wife under the bus so eagerly."
Don't be so sure ... Trump threw his first two wives under the bus pretty much for the crime of getting older than available replacement models.
Of course, this time around may be different. Based on her body language, the only thing keeping Melania Trump from throwing herself under a bus, any bus, may be the quick reflexes of the Secret Service.
25
I wonder if Father Conroy, the House Chaplain, could perform exorcisms on these trumpublicans whose brains seem to have been taken over by evil forces?
Prayer doesn't seem to be working, even with a lot of us engaging in petitions to Providence for relief from political corruption.
14
Oh, Gail, it gets even better (worse) for Hunter--he was blaming his wife for spending money inappropriately, when she wasn't even there!
But it turns out other women were there...just like Trump while Milania was pregnant.
Clearly Mr. and Mrs. Hunter won't be Mr. and Mrs. much longer.
Yet the people of District 50 may STILL re-elect Hunter.
I just don't get it. You KNOW your rep is a crook, stealing both campaign and charitable donations for his own pleasures, including his infidelities.
Drain the swamp? Trump and his pals have swamped the drain!
32
Washington, Inc. is about making money, not serving the demos, the people.
8
Wow! Reads like an updated version of “All the President’s Men.” Nixon must be finally resting in peace because another president has finally wrested away the “I’m not a crook” badge from him.
18
I must admit that I was waiting for you to mention the $250 Hunter spent on airfare for the family's pet rabbit. Can only hope you're saving that one for its own column. :)
14
Say it loud and say proud, “Lock Them Up!” Yes, Donald I am speaking about you too.
15
OMG! The swamp thangs are all around. Build a wall!
22
It is sad but true. Trump is most comfortable with his peers. The grifters,fraudsters,conmen,liars,cheaters and adulterers.These are the sort of people who form his inner circle. And America pays the price.
32
"The fish stinks from the head."
12
They all love themselves more than anything else. They are capable of trashing anyone near them if it means they are spared any consequences for their actions. What manly men these are. These great whiners and seers of conspiracies. To us all, it must be obvious that such men of virtue could not perpetrate such deeds as they are accused. Their minds tell them this clearly. And being so superior their minds could not be wrong. It must be the wife.
12
Those Republicans! They know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. (With thanks to Oscar Wilde.)
17
Please keep Mafia Don's House members' endorsement list going. I now want to know who were the 5th, 6th and 7th members. This has book potential.
13
Hunter is still on the ballot running against a long-shot newbie Dem in southern California, (where write in candidates are not allowed) and thus is highly likely to be re-elected. Seems as long as they get their hard right judges, repeal of all environmental regulations and a huge tax cut, wealthy Republicans will prefer to be represented by a crook (that blames his crimes on his wife no less! Family values!) than by any Democrat.
18
Welcome to The Duncan D. Hunter Institute of Rhetorical Points.
"Hunter opposes women in combat and, to make a rhetorical point, in 2016 he introduced an amendment to the defense authorization act to require 18-to-26-year old women to register for the Selective Service System (as 18-to-26-year old men are required to do). This backfired, however, as the House Armed Services Committee voted 32-30 to adopt the amendment."
"On the question of transgender military personnel, Hunter said that as a Marine Corps veteran, he could not imagine sharing a shower with "somebody who was a girl and didn't have the surgery to become a man but kept the girl stuff"."
"He voted against renewing the Violence Against Women Act in part because it would allow battered illegal immigrants to claim temporary visas."
"He opposes the banning of e-cigarettes on airplanes. Hunter puffed on his e-cigarette during a congressional hearing about vaping."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duncan_D._Hunter
20
Every disease has fundamental causes & so does congress. Citizen's United is forefront in causation but much of the responsibility lies with human ignorance and ease of manipulation. Interview the avg Trump voter and he will tell you we needed a businessman to straighten out DC. Yeah... a businessman... with a string of bankruptcies and run-ins with the law.
The reality is there are no mandatory background checks for congressional candidates, no training leading up to the job, no experience required, and no polygraph to sort out the deviates. McDonalds scrutinizes dishwashers more than we scrutinize our (so called) representatives. Unless Elizabeth Warren replaces feckless Charles Schumer, nothing will change even if Ds take the house and the senate.
Hear that swishing sound? That's America going down the drain. Better learn Mandarin.
11
Gail Collins notes how many of Donald Trump’s staunch supporters in Washington are ardent golfers.
Golf, of course, can be very Trumpian. It is the only sport which allows the player to keep his or her own score and to decide if she or he has broken a rule.
20
Paradoxically golf is a game of self regulation and honesty. Cheat at serious golf, cheat in life, no exceptions. The Commander in Cheat is a perfect example of this.
20
Brace yourselves humans of opposable thumbs, and tool makers of the thinking species, Duncan Hunter, in the full Trumpian model of denial, is likely to win his district.
Just where did D. Hunter think the money was coming from?
7
Long-time fan, first-time commenter. Just one quibble today, Gail. How can you recount a litany of questionable spending decisions on campaign funds made by the "Distinguished Gentleman from California" (or his better half) and not mention the airfare paid for the pet rabbit???? Perhaps he was only trying to appeal to a new voter demographic to replace the suburban voters who'll be fleeing him in droves this fall.
5
Reading about Duncan Hunter’s expense claims for “tequila shots and golf balls “ made me almost wistful for the British Parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009, during which it was revealed that MP’s and Peers had billed the public for for such 1% items for their “stately homes” as a “floating duck island,” “renovations for a bell tower,” and “moat cleaning,” - although no claim for an MP’s portrait was ever discovered.
Of course many claimed these were innocent accounting mistakes, but most apologized and reimbursed the public purse, and some were forced to resign,were expelled from the party and even went to prison. As far as I know, none blamed their spouses, claimed the “moat cleaning” was in aid of “wounded warriors,” or categorized their graft as “a Christian thing.”
Like everything else in this administration, even the grifters have “no class.”
21
Somehow, through some instinct, lowlifes always manage to find each other. In every country, in every city, in every town, they will instinctively home in on that one spot where they can all congregate and breed. Trump has turned the ordinarily placid swamp into one turgid pool of orgiastic excess. In that sense, we are almost obliged to thank him for serving as bait in this sting. The closer you orbit in his gravitational tug, the more of a wretched individual you must be. Usually, it isn't that easy to separate the wheat from the chaff, but here we have a machine designed just for that purpose that depends only on human interaction and the attraction of worse to worst. IF, people pay attention, this might actually provide a service to our country.
15
My wife made me do it. It's her fault. Im completely innocent. That trip to Italy I have no idea where that money came from? The wife handled all the money. I knew nothing. These are all excuses you hear from a perp gone insane, re trump. Can't wait to see how this all plays out.
15
Gail, perhaps living in the white Christians atmosphere, you have missed noticing what we all knew was happening in the business world and in politics. Although Hollywood has glorified these in movies and TV serials, we have all known that the only moral compass that guides our politicians is the money their financiers generate for them. Anything or anyone that stands between their money making apparatus and their narcissism is worth throwing under the bus. Senator John McCain is that rare gem although he too list his compass when he bought into the Sarah palin phenomenon.
10
So he never bothered to look at how the missus was supposedly spending all the money? That tells me he certainly never looked at the tax bill he voted for that blew a huge hole in the nation's debt either. Probably he was too busy totalling the score for the back nine to read the bill. But, then again, maybe his wife was tallying the numbers to ensure he came in under 36.
7
This story makes me hurt too much to laugh, and I'm too old to cry...
8
Hilarious. Or was this meant to make us cry? Either way, brilliant.
4
At first I thought that people around Trump became corrupted by his amoral "me first" view of the world. {Phone booth of silence, expensive dining tables for the office, first class and private flights to avoid us hoi polloi.) But then it became apparent that a lot of the "best people" he knows and surrounds himself with had done things even before they came into his orbit that are now getting them into trouble.
How is it that there are so many grifters out there who think they can waltz up to the public trough and that no one will discover their seedy past? Certainly Trump thought he could keep everything secret from that annoying free press--seems he thought they only exist to receive his tips on his sex life and his alleged wealth which he phoned in to them using a fake name and false voice back in the day. And it sure seems that "it takes one to know one". I don't recall any--any--as in not one--of Obama's nominees being denied a job because of past corrupt behavior as is so routine for this White House.
Ironic that these guys investigated Hillary for years using millions of our tax dollars, only to find no actionable wrongdoing in Benghazi. And that they had to make up a ridiculous story like pizza-gate to tarnish her with their voters. They must think that if you scratch anyone, you'll find corruption beneath the polished surface. While that is obviously true of the Republicans, it isn't true of the rest of us. Guess the joke's on them!
21
I haven't seen any photos of Hunter and 'the wife's' children. I surmise they have none. Good news.
3
None of this is funny anymore, just depressing.
10
On a scale of Duncan Hunter to John Edwards, Hunter doesn't seem so bad. The pettiness of the crimes is what makes them so embarrassing. The man makes a six figure salary and he's stealing golf shirts from a charity. Edwards' moral depravity is more staggering. With Hunter though, you almost have to express disbelief. Like "Dude. Really?"
That's the troublesome part about these corruption scandals. Everyone in Trump's orbit appears to display the same pattern of corruption from the very big to the very small. From stealing elections to stealing sugar packets. From stealing tax revenue to stealing tequila shots. The scale doesn't really matter, the pattern of behavior is consistent throughout. They are petty criminals even when they steal big.
14
Everything but a dog on top of a car! But wait...
5
I had a conversation with an established business man from San Diego. He was talking about the prospects for government service for his son. You only work for a little while each year and everything you need is paid for. What a great job Duncan Hunter had. Then Duncan Hunter retired and Duncan Hunter took his place. What could be better?
5
The only person Trump ever hired who was qualified to do the job was Stormy Daniels.
60
When a sewer line is plugged, a plumber will snake it out to unplug the coliform congestion. The Trump congestion appears more as if a leach field on overdrive. The verdant green of the West Wing also emits a pungent “odour”. It’s known as Eau de Pruitt.
13
All the crooks in Congress gravitated to Donald Trump. He was "one of them". When it comes to skullduggery, a friend once told me "it's an invisible neon sign that blinks 'take, take take'", and so of course they do. Only another felon can see it, but see it they do and they grab all they can. As for the wives who put up with this, it's all about the money. Too bad so many people vote to hand over what they work hard for to a bunch of liars and fakes.
128
Hunter, may have been a Marine, at one time, but he’s no long part of the proud people that as I, a former Marine associated with. Tough guy, kicking his wife out into a fire zone to take the hits!
202
Mr.Trump is the Pied Piper of bad behavior and impropriety.He gathers to his circle like minded folks who will cheer him on and accept his theories of complicity and dark suspicions of his enemies behavior.He sold condominiums in Trump Tower to Russian oligarchs and persuaded ambitious youngeople to attend Trump University.He can persuade anyone that up is down and that bad is good and that the law is only for suckers.
24
Thank you Gail, this is priceless. You and Paul Krugman are the Times best exemplars of a free press.
31
No check, no balance, but a lot of sleaze.
Lock him up, cellmate with the Liar & Grifter.
18
Who are these people?! They all appear to have been delivered by Central Casting.
20
This is all simply too sick and depraved to bear anymore: not an ounce of glee left even for a rueful grin.
20
You're putting the cart before the horse, Collins: Trump’s “friends” are Mueller’s intentional, necessary collateral damage.
Even so, Mueller is less “The Crucible” than "The Dead Zone."
Like Christopher Walken in death, Robert Mueller’s moribund, crooked operation has exposed a corrupt future president (and a corrupt past one), foiled their ascendency, & saved us from nuclear annihilation.
3
• Almost everyone [Trump]’s attached to seems headed south in the most embarrassing ways possible.
• Maybe there’s just something in the air there that makes everyone who sniffs it want to commit the sleaziest crimes possible.
That 'something' is called 'Pollution' and they're all breathing it.
• That’s pretty much the bottom of the heap. Except maybe for the $204 round of golf and drinks that he referred to as “a Christian thing.”
"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved -- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!"
~ JOHN ADAMS
Second President of the United States
12
With all of this golf discussion - let's check www.trumpgolfcount.com: $75 MILLION taxpayer dollars spent on 139 days of Trump at golf courses during his presidency. And having unprotected sex with a porn actor - while his wife was home with their baby - puts Trump on top of the list of politicians who throw their wives under the bus.
34
Haiku
Trump's toxic friendship--
His plutonium handshake...
Reverse Midas touch.
11
The links to golf are no accident, just watch "Caddyshack" if this seems unclear.
In his haste to "reward" Sessions, Trump has created a giant pile of regret for both of them. Doug Jones just might cast the deciding vote to remove Trump from office.
A reliable sign that someone is a thug is that you'd rather have them as an enemy than as a friend. Maybe this is the year the country finally learns this lesson and remembers it?
7
I can't help but say that I am amazed at how shocked people seem that this is who Trump is and who he surrounds himself with. There are decades worth of interviews, paper trails of his lawsuits, accounts of his cozy relationship with organized crime, documentation of his failing to pay contractors and discriminating against African Americans in housing, going after Obama's citizenship, shooting his mouth off with Howard Stern. The president is that same guy!!
Who is acting surprised by accusations of adultery and cover ups with a man who has had three wives? His lechery is infamous.
Which makes it easy to predict that some sort of indiscretion, or many, either financial or sexual, would eventually rise to the top and need to be "hushed." The closer to the election, the bigger the payout. Even Trump does not have a closet big enough to hide all his skeletons.
Meanwhile, Michael Cohen has long been described as "the man who knows where the bodies are." Doesn't this tell us something?
Let's end the faux astonishment--yes, this is who the American public stupidly went for over a former Secretary of State--and figure out how to end this sordid chapter in American history.
41
"I got a safe full of stuff" said the ex Mrs. Hunter.
10
Gail, we really don’t need to explain what world class hypocrites Republicans ARE. That’s entirely obvious to everyone except their “ rural white Base “. As THATS a fancy, non-offensive term for hicks and rubes. Please, check my address. I’ve had quite the education in their culture, it’s like a Masters thesis in Sociology. Something that a once pleasant, fun Gal from Ohio should have known to avoid. Oh, well. Here’s my burning question: just how do these scoundrels find and marry Women that will to.erate their antics, criminal activities and THEN even assume blame ??? Religion, hypnosis, environmental poisoning, dim wattage in the brains, WHAT ??? I’m stumped. Seriously.
22
Duncan Hunter, Chris Collins, Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, Paul Manafort, Gene Friedman and Donald Trump are a confederacy of dunces who have 3 things in common: Greed. Greed. And Greed. They’re all cheats who have lied and been caught red handed. Let’s look back in a year to see the fate that’s befallen them all.
16
“A conspiracy like this...A conspiracy investigation...the rope has to tighten slowly around everyone’s neck. You build convincingly from the outer edges in, you get ten times the evidence you need...They feel hopelessly finished-they may not talk right away, but the grip is on them. Then you move up and do the same thing at the next level.”
Robert Mueller has demonstrated his legal acumen in proceedings against Paul Manafort. Others to follow fast behind. Deep Throat gave the designs for a great rat trap!
7
Snide, snarky, self-satisfied tone. It fits with the tag team here.
The message is ... Trump is a bum and a toxic moral monster. ... 24/7, Johnny One-Note.
It is so good to see Nick Gillespie and Bret Stephens on these pages. Even though they appear to be let in only so long as they trash Trump most of the time.
The smugness is too much.
FABULOUS column.
5
Being a "Friend of Trump" could be a perversion of the "Cost of Discipleship" written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In it the anti-Nazi Lutheran pastor who was accused and summarily executed for plotting the assassination of Hitler said, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." Does Trump do no less? Men will certainly sell their souls for a pittance, but for Trump?
5
There are crooks, there are cheap crooks and then there is Duncan Hunter.
18
I have run out of adjectives to describe these cretins. Too bad Steven Colbert is on vacation this week. His writers would be working double time.
20
Who said, "It has nothing to do with me."
___Trump
___Hunter
___Giuliani
___All of the above
16
That guy Hunter sounds about like that GOP gov of Missouri that got canned after tying up the girlfriend in the basement- tough guys ready to throw the wives/girlfriends/any female available under the bus. Anyone see a pattern?
Today Default Donnie is even throwing Elizabeth Warren under the bus with the "pocahontas" slur- what does that make him and his german roots-
Herr Wienerschnitzel??
Trump's wife doesnt even seem to register his existence any more so there is that.
16
There is an ethos among certain people that they will take as much from society as possible without giving anything back. They believe they deserve it. Insane!!!
8
That’s what you get for declaring war on DOJ: payback time, baby.
5
[ To be released @ 1:00 PM 08/24/18]
The Weasel League of America wishes to inform The Newspaper Guild of America in the strongest possible terms that we are in no way affiliated with or a part of Duncan Hunters campaign.
The recent defamatory associations of our organization with the aforementioned candidacy is a scurrilous attempt to give the impression that Mr. Hunter is related to our mission.
The use of certain appellations applied to Mr. Hunter by journalists associated with the NRA will not be tolerated in the future.
These include, but are not limited to; weaselly, weasel like, sneaky, cunning.
We wish it to be known that Mr. Hunter is not a member of this organization, now, or in the past. Our standards of conduct are of a much higher ethical and moral standard. Duncan Hunter would not make it up the first step of our club, Stoats and Martins.
Our solicitors at Dewey, Cheatham & Howe will be ever vigilant for any trespass of our reputation.
20
But why didn't you mention Hunter's flying pet rabbit?
You always mentioned Mitt Romney's car-roof-travelling dog.
12
Nothing but the BEST people draining the swamp, eh?
7
As I was reading, I was just waiting for Gail to address the Duncan Hunter rabbit episode. She didn't mention it. So disappointed. It would have been hysterical. Maybe she's saving it for another column?
6
Ah, yes! The GOP is the party of “family values”. Blame your family for your total lack of values.
25
This working class golfer, an Iraq war vet just like Duncan Hunter, is offended that the great game of golf is being dragged through the mud. For years I worked two jobs, seven days a week just to break even - that is the new American Way, after all. Fortunately it prevented me from finding the time to recommend that anyone obtain an abortion, set up off an shore bank account or, for that matter, have any funds to place in a lousy savings account. I didn’t know I had it so good. FORE!
112
Gail, I had to check the masthead to see if this was the NYTimes or the National Enquirer. But then I figured that A) only the Times would print so much fake news and B) the Enquirer would never print anything anti-Trump. At least until Pecker sings next week.
2
Dear Gail —- Your essays get better and better...Thank you for keeping my Xanax consumption low.
The GOP and the White House keep getting better as well —- ironically speaking.
6
"Maybe there’s just something in the air there that makes everyone who sniffs it want to commit the sleaziest crimes possible."
Gail ~ you are hilarious! Thank you, thank you, thank you (!) for continually presenting so much politically pertinent information in such an entertainingly cogent manner!
For years now, literally, you've had me bursting with hearty laughter. You're a treasure!
23
Glad you can still laugh and glad you can still make me smile. Those are heavy tasks in this climate of nefarious activity. Why more people aren't appalled by Donald Trump and his ilk is very discouraging to this old lady. I have spent most of my life counseling my children and grandchildren to be upright and responsible, assuming other Americans were doing the same. I won't go so far as to say "Off with his head!", but I will say "Out with his taxes!!!"
336
Collins has made evident that a motivating factor for Trump's congressional support is the idea that "He will let us get away with whatever we want to do!" I'm sure that same idea had crossed business executives' and racists' and Russian operatives' minds as well. Why it hasn't even dawned on my own two brothers even after over a year and a half of evidence is beyond me.
78
Anyone who endorsed Trump clearly doesn't care about ethics or morals. Trump, just to make one example, wanted the Central Park 5 to be executed even after DNA exonerated them. All of this is in the public record. What isn't in the public record is his tax records. But Trump should remember hacking goes both ways. After all, he says it isn't a crime.
85
As radio personality Don Imus is fond of saying, "You can't make this up."
33
Alice in Wonderland politics at its best. Don't worry about nothing and nothing will be alright.
Trumps election has openly enabled and emboldened a legion of unconscionable grifters and haters. Some of the most morally challenged hacks available to make America great again.
50
Wait, $3300 in fast food expenses for the immediate family? That’s a lot of fast food..plus grocery expenses plus restaurant expenses. Did anyone know how to cook?
167
@Carole C
Only the books...
8
Poor old Duncan Hunter has made one grievous error in his thinking: What plays in Trumpland does not play in San Diego. There are far too many well read, well informed voters in the town who will not put up with Hunter's corruption.
Millions of Americans in the white collar world voted for Trump and other Republicans based primarily on their wallets. They didn't know, at the time, the damage Trump's immigration, environmental, trade and healthcare policies could do. They won't make that same mistake again.
Hunter got caught with his entire person inside the cookie jar, happily munching away like a glutton. He shouldn't worry about his donors anymore. He should start to figure out how to find his bliss in a prison cell.
243
I wanted to write that we've passed the time for laughing at these guys. Humorous satire is losing its sting in the era of Trump when we are inundated with the seemingly endless toxic stream of legislators, business associates, and appointees who disparage lawful conduct and embrace lives of arrogance and willful disregard of decency. Hunter, Collins, DesJarlais, and Marino - as well as Trump - are supposedly public servants but with vituperative dismissals of health care, education, social security and a safe environment for the taxpayers who pay their salaries (and health benefits). It's nauseating. I expect the pendulum will eventually swing towards decency in government, but, in the meantime, I mull over whether even humorous satire contributes to the numbing feeling that allows this political abuse to continue.
179
@Rosemary Galette Yes, but we've reached the point where there's nothing left to do but laugh (or cry).
1
Our politics has moved from drama to comedy to tragedy. The closest parallel examples I can cite from our history both occurred in the 1960's.
Chronologically first was a small fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania, in 1962 which ultimately ignited the coal beneath the town rendering it uninhabitable as homes were gassed, some residents were killed and the town was abandoned. It still smoulders.
Seven years later in 1969, the Cuyahoga River caught fire and burned out a railroad bridge. The ultimate result of this was the creation of the EPA, now under attack by Mr. Trump.
We now have a cadre of politicians and grifters--that may be redundant--who seem to spontaneously combust while having emanations which poison our minds and wreak havoc on the national and world stages.
Unlike Centralia, we cannot abandon our entire country. And, when rivers of ideas burn out the bridges which interconnect us, we are stranded on the islands of our own detritus.
It is ironic that industrial waste and coal both contributed to the twin disasters of the 1960's above as both play a role today in Trumpworld. Our Faustian bargain with Mr. Trump will continue to pay "dividends" until we regain our senses.
370
@Douglas McNeill
Well said! So sharply observed and superbly presented!
25
What a strange dimension we have entered when Michael Cohen is a relative pillar of integrity next to a sitting president.
305
Republicans obviously can't be serious about shrinking the government to the point it can be drowned in a bathtub because if they ever succeeded in doing so, where would they go to wet their beaks?
60
Gail, you are a gift. I always save your column to read last. Your hilarious skewering of Trumps 'n' chumps is the perspective I need to soldier on after each onslaught of if-only-this-really-were-fake news.
Keep those wacky facts and their crazy context coming, packed into your fresh, incisive wit as neatly as, oh, I don't know... a brand-new set of golf balls!
93
Lock him up! Lock them all up!!!
65
If someone was to write a spoof wherein every malfeasance committed by Trump as listed but had the name "Obama" automatically substituted wherever the word "Trump" came up, there would be holy hell raised by the masses (GOP voters): pitchforks raised, "righteous" indignation screamed to the sky, impeachment by sundown.
Think about it. And know who you really are.
100
The redemptive role of humor is beautifully illustrated in this column. I really thought all of this corruption had gone beyond any possibility of laughter, but Gail once again digs deeper and more ironically Thank you, thank you.
58
Thanks Ms. Collins. Once again, you have made my morning a little sunnier. I've had former Senator Al Franken on my mind a lot recently, he looks absolutely angelic, doesn't he?
105
Thanks Gail for showing just how low the Trump Camp will go to follow him deep into the swamp. It’s almost comical except it really isn’t a bad LSD trip. This is reality folks. I’m old enough to remember The McCarthy era very well. I also remember as a child the day WW2 ended both in Germany and Japan. What a future we had in front of us. We were (yes, I said were) the Greatest Country in the world. Democrats and Republicans were a side-bar because we all were Americans First. With all the Chaos in politics today, let’s all pause for a real American Hero: John McCain and send him our thoughts and prayers. “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
90
Democracy is great because everybody can participate. It is scary because anybody can participate.
63
Such toxicity and intolerance! Sad. Our elected members of Congress earn only $174,000, barely enough for three meals a day. Some of them are so poor they have to bunk together -- no snide comments about what goes on in those bunks. They have to commute back to their home districts to keep running for re-election -- even though their travel expenses are covered by government. Golf is the least distraction we can offer them -- and, together with the inevitable cocktail or two, should certainly be on the taxpayers' tab. The only thing they have to look forward to is possibly getting a good-paying job as a lobbyist for the businesses affected by legislation.
44
Great article Gail. Speaking of throwing wives under the bus, how about Rudy Gulliani, the presidents lawyer and mouthpiece, who when he was mayor of NYC announced his engagement to his bride to be at a press conference, which is how his wife and mother of his children learned he was leaving her. He of course passed the Trump sleeze test.
The GOP is not a political party it is a gang of racketeers, and right now Trump is the cappo regime, the John Goti of the political racket. He can’t stand squealers and rats and cops who haven’t been paid off or scared off.
List the indictments and convictions and resignations, the people the boss fired for insufficient loyalty and it is clear that while there may be no honor among thieves, birds of a feather flock together.
The GOP is a criminal enterprise and those who blindly follow Trump are no less than accessories to the crimes of the Trump-Putin regime; but if those among us who believe in justice, fairness and the rule of law, flock together at the polls on in sufficient masses on Nov. 6th we can start the process of taking our country back from these criminal fascists who control all 3 branches. If we fail, a new dark age will begin and we ain’t seen nothing yet.
116
Trump Fatigue. I recently diagnosed myself with this condition. Similar to upper extremity overuse syndrome, Trump Fatigue occurs, when one voluntarily subject oneself to an uninterrupted diet of news about Trump. Once started it's hard to stop. But, because there is nothing positive in any of the reports it leads to the condition. Symptoms vary from mild depression to nausea and vomiting. The "cure" involves turning off the TV and the streaming news sites, heading outside, and doing the list of chores one has been putting off thinking, incorrectly, that any day now, something positive will be reported and all forgotten. A steady diet of classical music, opera, watching reruns of the Three Stooges helps speeds recovery. Since relapse is a part of recovery sufferers should expect to slip now and again, see what Rachel Maddow has to say, maybe Jeff Toobin, and how the Fox News folks try and put lipstick on the pig. Which is fine. The entire country is suffering. So...we're in good company.
93
Gail Collins proves once again why she is the NYTimes columnist I'd most like to meet for coffee.
137
Duncan Hunter, using the infamous “ Women Be Shopping “ defense. What a Moron. Seriously.
139
How stupid is Duncan Hunter??
82
Hunter wrote that he spent funds on "balls for the wounded warriors," and I couldn't read a word past that. Went off into musings about what made him put it that way. Wasn't there enough room on the form to use a more, um, delicate word? Was this purchase actually in the golf shop, or was it in maybe a nearby medical center that was out of expense forms? Are the wounded warriors OK now?
59
''only the best people''
60
Trump is draining the Swamp by creating an atmosphere where the bottom dwellers think it is ok to come to the surface.
95
The deficit hawks, the tough on crime, and family values crowd have seemed to become very forgiving when R's do it.
The newest family value seems to be "my wife did it".
In our family we teach that a man always protects a woman. Particularly when it comes to wives. But we now have had a Republican Governor blame his wife for his taking unlawful gifts. A republican congressman blame his wife for his stealing campaign contributions. Several R Governors cheating on their wives and a President bragging about what he can do to women without recourse, Is there something in Republican Kool Aid? Why are their any women Republicans?
144
I did not agree with everything President Obama did while in office, but he and his administration were honest, had integrity, had compassion for all Americans, were concerned about the welfare of all members of our society, and put country before personal gain. In spite if this, he was demonized by the lies and inuendo of Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Donald Trump, Mke Pence, and more.
We have lost all of this. We now have an administration comprised of pathological liars who are incredibly dishonest, who never speak the truth, who lack integrity and honesty, who lack any compassion not even for eachother, and who are grifters who put personal gain high above any service to our country. They would screw eachother over in a heartbeat if it gained an extra dollar.
Kennedy said, “Ask not what your contry can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Trump and his cohorts have twisted this into, “ Ask not what you can do for your country, but how you can get the maximum profit from your country.”
This more than disgusts me, and it is not possible for me to quantify that disgust. It is even more appalling that those who demonized and lied about Obama are now lying about Trump, claiming he ishonest, hnorable, a leader, someone good for America. In short, they have joined the cadre of liars and cheats who put themselves above the country.
They all must go. We need a new generation of leaders to replace the swamp that Trump has made even deeper before he drowns us all.
284
@Greg
You have just verbalized my feelings. I am beyond any feelings, it is so demoralizing. I loved the US that is why I have lived here for half century, studied and worked. I have always extolled the virtues the US, inspite of its sordid past of slavery. We are now on a slippery slope to moving towards an abyss.
41
In a philosophy course I took in college the main focus was examining the different ethical/moral frameworks of various philosophers. Included in the course were all kinds of thought-experiments revolving the application of one or more of these frameworks. Almost all of the thought experiments led the class into moral/ethical dilemmas that landed us in gray area solutions. With Trump and friends there are no moral/ethical dilemmas or gray areas---he drives everyone around him, including his family, into black and white conclusions.
36
Ms. Collins,
When it comes to friendship, all is not over for Trump because he has Pecker at his side, and he would be chuffed if we subscribed to The National Enquirer. In the meantime, Melania is not going South, but on a mission to Africa with a helpful message for the children. As for Sessions, he should resign.
5
@Miss Ley-
And when she gets to Africa she'll be wearing a jacket that says 'I'm just trying to get as far away from HIM as possible-HELP"
6
@Miss Ley
Pecker is not on his side. Pecker was granted immunity so he can tell all he knows about Trump and those who surrounded him during the Campaign. And do not forget, the Trump Organization trusted Accountant is doing the same thing.
Pretty soon the Trump house will come tumbling down, just like Humpty Dumpty.
5
@Miss Ley
indeed, Pecker has never left him. They're just like "two peas in a pod."
1
Finally succinct insight into why America IS great.
America was founded upon a Declaration of Independence which among other mostly dispensed with ideals noted that Americans have a right to pursue happiness. And Gail cites examples of people pursuing happiness.
Happiness is something all Americans want but fall short when they choose paths outside of politics. Yes politics is the road to happiness. Politics allows one to lie to the the people. The better you lie, the better your electability. Politicians get paid even if they do nothing but complain...about other politicians. Politicians get the best healthcare and best retirement...all paid for by the people. Politicians have short work weeks...Mondays and Fridays off. They get vacations every other month...some vacations months long. And don't forget about those holidays!
Once elected politicians have a red carpet to the American bank....with its door wide open. And most wonderful, the American people keep feeding the bank through mandatory contributions from their weekly paychecks...except if they are CEO's, hedge fund managers, born wealthy. Then they stuff money direct into a campaigning politicians' pockets....and collect dividends when their purchased politician is in office.
And politicians get treated as royalty...the awe of the people, gifts of tickets to difficult to obtain events, junkets to foreign lands, etc.
But, why does this prove America IS great?
Because somehow America has survived politicians!
32
The Trump administration is turning out better than most Democrats could have hoped. Yes there's the Supreme court and the deregulation, but they'd be that anyway. The sheer embarrassment of the Man and his minions is as good an antidote as I could imagine.
14
@Richard Mclaughlin " There would be that anyway?" Not under Hillary Clinton. And Trump doesn't know the meaning of the word embarrassment. He either wins or loses fights, like a gangster.
6
It’s Trump’s dedication to criminal justice reform. He has made it a priority to hire felons to work at the White House even before they are convicted.
59
One of your best, Gail! I laughed, I cried, I got angry. Then I marked November 6 on my calendar.
80
My Republican friends do not believe my party will turn out in the midterms in numbers great enough to make much of a difference. They tend to scoff and guffaw at the claims of massive turnout by young voters, minorities and women. I pray they are wrong.
From my little corner of the South, my advice for the Democrats is to speak with a more unified voice about the critical importance of voting in November. For heaven's sake, choose a spokesperson to deliver the message, hopefully one who does not come across as a lunatic, is eloquent and believable.
125
Much Twitter rage this morning on the role Fox News plays in setting the stage for the GOP's run on our government and economy. And, it is true. Trump, for example, gets his 'intelligence' briefings from Fox News and Friends.
Shep Smith and Cavuto seem to hold onto their jobs somehow but the GOP continues to skate through scandal after scandal since the rest of the corrupt network covers for them, and forTrump.
We have to conclude that Trump and his GOP clan are in cahoots with Murdoch and Putin. Witness the GOP senators bowing at the foot of Putin in Moscow. Witness Sen Rand Paul's 'come to Putin' moment. Witness Sen Graham's conversion to a complete Trump acolyte.
We are witnessing a GOP coup that has been underway for decades. In that case, the 'real' America needs to stand up and vote them out. No alternative to that.
Keep us smiling Gail. We will overcome.
148
@Harold - Indeed; we are all witnessing the world's greatest exhibition of Presidential Ventriloquism, now aided and abetted by just moving Larry Kudlow, John Bolton, and Bill Shine off the Faux Noise Machina tube right into the West Wing.
62
@Harold - I agree Putin must own Murdoch also. Nothing else makes sense. We know Putin owns Hannity. Can’t wait for that story to come out.
6
I never anticipated Santa's arrival half as eagerly as I look forward to this November.
115
Hopefully, you will be right. Please vote Blue, and encourage others to do the same. As we saw in 2016, despite all the leading polls Trump won. Many races will be very close.
44
@Michael
It's a relief to laugh at this sordid situation our country is in, but we should not yet count our chickens.
We should support the Democratic party and the Democratic candidates with money and volunteer time as much as we are able.
AND VOTE this November and make sure our friends vote!
Engage with those Trump supporters who are wavering.
Victory and resuscitation of our country this November and in 2020 will not come without effort and hard work.
42
the fact that either the son or the son in law will find themselves under that bus will not bother trumps base. but the cracks are telling. great column as we at the morning gym have been talking about this for months.
73
So many connections to make. How will the wives cover for these?
https://themoscowproject.org/explainers/trumps-russia-cover-up-by-the-nu...
21
I wonder why so many people voted for Bernie and the non-politician Trump. Perhaps in November they will get it right.
28
@kirk Well, to be precise, only Democrats voted for Bernie in the Democratic primary. And MORE people voted for Clinton in the election than voted for that orange one. Nearly 3 million more...
50
kirk,
You wonder? Really?
Tell me, is the DNC et al going to run another candidate rated as the second least liked and least trusted?
A candidate that lost, to the worst miscreant to grace an election.
Yet you wonder why? Really?
C'mon.
Whom needs to get it right?!
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/opinion/why-is-clinton-disliked.html
1
@kirk, you got half of it wrong. Bernie's folks all voted for Hillary, not Trump. Mostly.
3
Really, this just sums up everything.
I guess we need to just be grateful that we live in a country where, at least, Gail Collins can record this, and history shows that we weren't all just okay with sleaze and corruption.
Because what's most sad and shocking is how normal all this seems now.
Listening to this guy Hunter on the radio, he comes across as breathtakingly entitled. He seems to feel genuinely aggrieved. He says so confidently that he's being mistreated that it's easy to see his supporters will believe it, no questions asked.
Where can we possibly go from here? I don't know. I don't see hopeful signs - other than that, so far, Trump hasn't been successful in muzzling the free press.
165
@DW
Where we need to go is a military coup (paging Admiral McCraven) and then hold a new election. The problem is finding decent candidates not beholding to corporate interests or religious fanatics – how about the phone book?
2
It is inevitable that the House of Trump will eventually reach its demise. And all of those hangers-on who try hard to defend him will wonder what happened to their grand con. The real losers in this rise and fall period will be the American people, especially his supporters who will follow him to the bitter end. The Congress and especially the Republican party will have their own reckoning.
Many of his supporters will not have experienced the three great presidents from 1932 through 1960 of FDR, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. Each one of them made all the people in America their Number One concern.
And amid all of that we only have Gail Collins to keep our sense of humor intact.
Because when this is all over we will want to check out whether we have a sense of humor left. Here's to you Gail!
59
Great column, Gail, but you may have cause and effect backwards, with respect to Congressional supporters. In the early days of the 2016 campaign, most elected Republicans who were not shameless associated themselves with other candidates. Trump wanted whatever support he could get (for both his campaign and his ego), so he was happy to accept support from members of Congress who would not have survived the simplest vetting. Now the true character of his early supporters is coming out. So I do not blame Trump's friendship for these creeps' problems. However, if a law enforcement person wants to make a name for herself, looking at other early supporters of Trump is likely to be fruitful.
32
It is sickening to see how many corrupt people are drawn to politics. And this is not only a matter of power itself being corrosive. Campaigns themselves are not just a means to win office, but also, a ticket to live well beyond one's means (and ridiculously lavishly).
And the Trump White House - where to begin? Maybe that the end Donald Trump envisions is consolidated power over the entire government.
The free press is what levels the field for we citizens. No wonder Trump calls the media an enemy of the American people; you stand up for us, and in their way.
37
I do see your point - Hunter is bringing attitudes about wives to a new low. But you missed some additional fun that could be had by talking not just about wives under the bus, but wives tossed away for the newest bus model. You teased us with Gingrich, but neglected to mention that Trump and Giuliani are not only on their third wives, but they each have at least one documented case of leaving one wife to marry the woman with whom they were having an affair.
What glee! What fun! Makes President Clinton's issues seem tame - at least he never blamed Hillary. But his impeachment was perjury and obstruction of justice. Trump is always looking to outdo his predecessors. I wonder if he can top that?
65
if it is any consolation my trump supporting friends are far less aggressive in defending him and some are downright silent.
96
Being Tiffany or Barron Trump might be worse. But there’s no way of knowing at this point.
15
@ubique
Barron Trump is the only Trump I have a molecule of sympathy for. (Well, not counting Trump's grandchildren, who as children are also blameless and probably entirely unaware.)
Tiffany? One senses she doesn't have much affection for her father, understandably, but she's happy to take his money, and she was happy to campaign for him, or to at least stand up there smiling and looking rich and pretty. We'll see if she has anything more to offer, but not so far.
18
For years Republicans have harnessed rage to drum up votes. It worked; their supporters, though small in number, vote with such passion that they were able to bring whatever they wanted, even this sorry lot.
But they took it too far. It only worked because the opposition was complacent, motivated by the milder drives of hope and responsibility and a desire to get along. No more. They fail to see the deep anger this perversion of government has instilled in honest citizens. In the next election, real rage--which has been building quietly for almost two years--will turn back against them.
They have no idea what's coming.
52
@M. Oh, I think they do. That's why they have no trouble with Russian interference, gerrymandering, voter intimidation, voter suppression, and doing whatever they have to do to win.
32
I very much hope you are right. However, speaking as a Democrat canvassing for candidates in southeastern Pennsylvania, it’s still an uphill battle. Please don’t take the November election outcomes for granted. Please vote and encourage others to vote. Many of the election outcomes will be close.
43
I think another tax cut for the 1% is in order to stem this epidemic of greed. It would spur job creation and the benefits would trickle down to everybody. Nobody would need to be greedy ever again.
The tax cut should be paid for by deficit spending - the dire needs of the 1% should automatically be exempt from any silliness about fiscal conservatism. Instead, we need to reduce Social Security and Medicare drastically to balance the budget the right way and save this Great America from the evils of socialism and atheism. Vanquishing those two primary threats to America would make this country great again.
We all owe a debt of gratitude to President Trump for showing the way by his example. Don't you think we should tell him we really like him? "We like you, Donald! We really, really do!"
127
@Rocky
I, myself, Rocky, am considering giving my social security and Medicare dollars back to the nation. It's not much, but I'll feel I'm doing my part to make America great. Even if it'll only be for a short time.
18
@Rocky
"Nobody would need to be greedy again"
Are you kidding! The Trump party is veritable black hole of greed and stupidity. There is no filling that maw.
12
No mention of VP Pence’s use of political funds to pay his mortgage back in his old Who’s-yer politician years? Whether Trump’s fellow swamp creatures brought their values with them or learned from the Master is immaterial. There are way too many gators right now to try and drain the swamp.
101
@Robert McCormick-Yes, Pence deserves credit. "The collapse of (Pence family owned) Kiel Bros. Oil Co. in 2004 has costs taxpayers $20+million. His home state "Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois — are STILL on the hook for millions of dollars to clean up more than 85 contaminated sites across the three states, including underground tanks that leaked toxic chemicals into soil, streams and wells."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pence-family-gas-stations-left-145445975.html
100
The real take away here; the mid-term elections are the key to a road back to the nation most Americans want, or the road to a political disaster encouraged by a hostile foreign power, that will destroy the United States as we understand it.
57
Everyday a new low..... Apparently there is no requirement for personal integrity as a prerequisite for holding office. We have set low expectations for our politicians and they know it.
30
"... Trump — so ticked off at the Department of Justice’s failure to protect him from justice ..."
Trump demands the fiercest loyalty, because he cares about no one and nothing other than himself. He expects all of us to fall on our swords to protect him, no matter what he does or what he has done.
Whenever the smoke clears, we will need to do a great deal of soul-searching, for a very long time, to try to understand how we could ever have elected someone like this as President of the United States and leader of the free world.
83
@Blue Moon
Wish I were 5 years old so I could be around in the next 25-50 years to know what happened and how history treats 45, this administration and Congress.
4
@Blue Moon
Hey Blue Moon, we could muck about in soul-searching, or we could simply get busy and correct the many responsibilities that have been left untended.
3
Blue Moon—I think we now know the answer, sadly. We DIDN’T elect him president. Vladimir Putin did.
7
I'm waiting for Trump to announce that his Kremlin trip is back on again. And while he's there meeting Helsinki-style with Putin, before the Nov elections, the two leaders will hold a joint press conference to announce Trump has asked for asylum and that Putin has granted the request, in the name of "world peace".
120
Years ago, I loved Jon Stewart's analysis of current events. These days, I love Gail Collins' interpretations.
123
The first thing that came to mind about Duncan Hunter was the recent historic quote by Trump about flipping: "almost ought to be illegal." Any friend of Trump's almost ought to be illegal.
Surely Dunc and The Missus will go to jail and the voters in San Diego should notify Child Protective Services to get their children away from these people.
Gail, do you happen to know which bank allowed 1100 overdrafts in seven years? We all might want to open an account there.
298
@Nick Adams The overdrafts cost $38,000. No bank would look askance at that. Bottom line, you know.
9
It seems that anyone who contacts this president will someday be looking for a way to remove the stain.
For many, these will be lessons learned to late.
59
Keep it coming, Gail. Despite my revulsion and horror of this administration, at least you deliver the goods.
My question is "When will the depravity end, when is enough enough?"
Outrage is exhausting though i will not be giving up the fight.
56
Especially enjoyed the Hunter charges for hotel rooms he stayed in without his wife, and having his wife sign of on that. Also, when HE disclosed the pet bunny rabbit plane ticket in "repaying" it when nobody knew. Three house mortgages was fun, too.
HOWEVER, as for his campaign donors caring, NONE of those were small local donors, ALL the grifters donations came from defense contractors or special interests. Whether they care, who knows, although probably even them since he couldn't get one thing passed. The only thing he passed was what he called a "sarcastic" amendment making women register for the draft. He voted against it, the Democrats supported it and it passed.
Perfect trump foil.
72
So 1,100 overdrafts in 7 years? Makes me want to ask, so what's the record?
43
1100 overdrafts is 7 years? That’s every two and a bit days.
34
Could it be the reason there are still millions of people who continue to support Trump, the sleazyest president ever, is that they themselves have such sleazy aspects to their own lives that Trump's sleaze does not actually phase them. Infact in a way it probably serves to legitimize their own sleaziness knowing the president is even sleazier than they are.
39
@zb
Nope, zb, I don't think that it's the case that Trump's supporters have such sleazy lives that they support him. I do think, however, that American citizens make a huge mistake by polarizing themselves against each other in this epic battle for the soul of America.
What's influencing these people is the fake news being fed to them.
We need to stop treating Trump's supporters as if they are lower beings, deserving only contempt. Did we talk about this group of people this way before the latest presidential election? No we did not. We called these people "dad", "brother", "neighbor", "co-worker".
Trump's supporters are not the enemy of the American nation. The enemies are those entitled thugs, who place themselves about the well-being of our country and its citizens.
6
@zbBut those folks don't read Times opinion columns so they'll never know.
2
There was always graft and morally bankrupt(ing) actions from representatives of government (in particular from the right), but there is a new openness that allows all to spectacularly crash and burn thinking they would get away with whatever they were doing.
Everything comes from the top.
The President has lived his life in spectacular fashion of making outlandish moves and statements. He has gone through three marriages, yet got the nomination from a party of evangelicals. He has gone through SIX bankruptcies, yet got the nomination from a party of so called fiscal conservatives. He declared on tape to sexually assaulting multiple women, yet got the nomination of a party for ''telling it like it is''.
Everyone is taking their cues from him, and most likely everyone is going to get the same fate - removed from office in disgrace and in spectacular fashion, while blaming everyone else but themselves.
137
Back when it was more of the original flavor of “Grand Ole Party,” politicians knew that they had to at least hide their greed with a high flair of decorum and higher-road governance. Thanks to Trump, that veneers has been peeled away so you only really have to preach fiscal responsibility while robbing the bank, no other obligations are required. Just pure self-entitled larceny.
31
Duncan Hunter has got real style. I love how he wrapped himself in the American flag before he threw his wife under the bus.
"I’m saying when I went to Iraq in 2003, the first time, I gave her power of attorney, and she handled my finances throughout my entire military career . . ."
119
@PHill-yes, the whole sordid tale is just classic.
2
@PHill
He may be telling the truth. She's unlikely to be, like, a nicer or more moral person than her husband. But what a guy, huh? What a husband. Hey, she picked him.
3
Don't forget that Hud Secretary Ben Carson said his wife is the one responsible for purchasing $30-something thousand dollars worth of furniture to renovate his office...even though the HUD budget for this type of thing was $5000.
Ben went on to advancing HUD policy to raise the rent on poor people living in Housing complexes as a work incentive. Not sure who's idea it was but hey if the optics turn out bad...lets blame it on his wife.
88
Overdrawing one’s personal bank account and amassing credit card debt do not bespeak of fiscal responsibility. Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter and Republican Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh come to mind as the GOP lurches from one scandal to another.
Hunter, Kavanaugh and Chris Collins reflect the hypocrisy of the Republicans’ world view, mere outriders of the president’s corruption and violations of the emoluments clause. It looks like Republicans are playing a game of “follow the leader”.
40
It's worth noting that the Duncan Hunter indictment mentions Hunter's spending campaign money on vacations and hotel stays with "Individual-14," someone with which he was having a personal relationship. Might explain why he and his wife showed up at the courthouse seperately.
98
Hunter and his wife are examples of what happens when
funds for education are cut. They just never learned to
balance their checkbooks.
46
Okay, voters in Duncan's district: the indictment states that Duncan overdrew his checking account 1,100 times in 7 years. You realize that the House of Representatives holds the purse for our federal government. The Congress needs functioning fiscally responsible adults, not this guy. Vote for anyone else or do not vote.
212
I observe Mr. Hunter and his ilk, and one thing seems obvious: Integrity is not something they can even comprehend. It is an alien concept.
Narcissism and self-interest are the defining traits of the contemporary Republican party. Just take one look at the current occupant of the Oval Office; The GOP standard-bearer.
69
As a golfer, I am incensed that the sport's reputation has now been sullied by acts of these Trumpian characters. Is there no justice, ma'm?
37
I am smart. Over the years I have worked, as a respite, on my golf game. I am 72, have a handicap of 5, whereas I was once a +2. I quit golf.
11
Those Congressmen must have heard Trump speak and realize that they found had a kindred spirit. Grifters admire someone who steals openly, and somehow manages to evade the consequences.
More worrisome is the President's hold on 40% of the American people, even though he is about as easy to spot as it gets. Too much TV? Hanging around people who just want somebody "strong" and "tough", even when it's all an act?
Louisiana seems to have an affinity for politicians who have been indicted:
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/01/us/louisiana-has-a-long-line-of-jaile...
Trump must have learned their secret sauce. Let's hope that the meals he'll be eating for the next few years consist entirely of prison food.
75
If Rep. Hunter is still actively participating as a Marine officer in the Reserves or Guard, isn't he also 'eligible' for a courts martial/bad conduct discharge if convicted of a civilian crime? His unit might also want to audit any funds to which he may have had access.
332
Of course, Friends of Billary back in 1998 might have felt the same way if they had young children then and were forced to explain to them the meaning of certain words, the attractions of brandy-dipped cigars and why blue dresses, like hats, are almost always bad ideas.
We still refuse to plumb TOO deeply WHY Vince Foster couldn’t continue to face Life, the Universe and Everything.
Beware the favor of princes. It’s as wise a cautionary today as it was five thousand years ago. Anyone who seeks such relationships had better be sure that the benefits to illicitly-managed taxi companies are worth the risks of a stretch in a minimum-security prison or that that he’s been VERY cagy at masking illicit offshore accounts. And if you’re going to engage in insider trading, then you’d better get one of those synthesizers that mask the voice beyond recognition.
Don’t be so sure that Trump won’t throw Melania under the bus, as well – particularly if she continues to refuse to hold his hand, afraid of what it might recently have touched. Today, it’s all a matter of interests. There was once a time when commentary was dedicated, at least in part, to exciting and supporting intelligent discourse, understanding that mainstream views include quite opposed central beliefs. Today, pretty much all of that is gone and it’s become the mere flogging of interested ideology by whatever destructive means of calumny is available – even of humor.
MAGA?! We’ve ALWAYS been greatly entertaining.
6
“Today, pretty much all of that is gone and it’s become the mere flogging of interested ideology by whatever destructive means of calumny is available...”
Such as going back 20 years to reference the sexual escapades of a Democratic President, all in a clumsy attempt to divert attention from the hypocrisy, lies, and likely criminality of present-day Republicans—with a looney conspiracy theory concerning the suicide of a Clinton aide thrown in for good measure.
71
@Richard Luettgen
A thousand thanks for your mature contribution to "intelligent discourse."
Actually, the "likely criminality" aspect will be in the eyes of beholders sitting in a jury box and/or behind a bench. So far (for the GOP), so not good.
28
@Richard Luet
Vince Foster. You're not serious?
12
So, his wife bought 30 shots of tequila at a bachelor party attended by Duncan. His female wife at a bachelor party? She used his power of attorney to do this. Hmmm. How many people realize that to use his power of attorney Duncan's wife had to show the bar tender the POA, sign Duncan’s name to the tab, and then sign her name as signing for Duncan? Do we really imagine that happened at a bachelor party where Duncan was supposed to have his manhood on display?
Besides Duncan's spitting on the public's trust in his use of donated campaign money, what's equally despicable is that Duncan was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Marines, (thru 2017), ultimately becoming a major. Now, at the first flames of danger to himself what did he do? Threw his wife under the bus. Was it his cowardice or his belief women are disposable? It certainly wasn’t that he had any sense of honor or sense of responsibility that we expect of our military officers.
462
@Liam Jumper
Didn't these people go to Sunday School when they were children? Did they receive no moral training? No support in the development of their character?
13
@Liam Jumper re. "Threw his wife under the bus. Was it his cowardice or his belief women are disposable?"
It worked for President Bill Clinton, and heck, his run-over, standing-by-her-man-until the DNA dress stain results came back, wife even got elected as New York senator because people felt sorry for her...
Barack Obama didn't put Michelle under a bus, he merely stole her identity as a South Sider and black rights activist. It took the media and some voters a verrrry long time to realize they'd elected a lackadaisical Hawaiian biracial man as president, who only took up his black father's side during the college diversity years.
Will Michelle ever run herself? Will Melania? HIllary broke that ceiling and paved the road to Congress, but only with the help of Monica Lewinsky. Maybe Stormy and Melania (an immigrant herself. That's diversity!) can team up in time for the former first lady to serve when President Trump completes his own eight years in power?
(Only voters can answer this, not the press and not the professional poll takers. Maybe Melania will have an instant connection to say, Wyoming, the way Hillary did with New York, when a Senate seat opened there... And if anybody can teach the country how to overcome "toxic but remunerative" it is the Clintons...)
@Liam Jumper, looks like they teach nothing to Marines, about respect for women?
2
He doesn’t have friends.
Not complicated.
52
Not even a dog.
4
There is very little moral distance between the televangelists who fleece their flocks of hundreds of millions of dollars, and the Republican politicians who seemingly use the same playbook with their voters.
640
@GSL The televangelists don't hold a gun to the heads of the rubes who send in the checks, and the that goes for many of those same rubes who voted for Trump.
Phineas Taylor Barnum nailed it 150 or so years ago;
"There's a sucker born every minute."
2
There was always graft and morally bankrupt(ing) actions from representatives of government (in particular from the right), but there is a new openness that allows all to spectacularly crash and burn thinking they would get away with whatever they were doing.
Everything comes from the top.
The President has lived his life in spectacular fashion of making outlandish moves and statements. He has gone through three marriages, yet got the nomination from a party of evangelicals. He has gone through SIX bankruptcies, yet got the nomination from a party of so called fiscal conservatives. He declared on tape to sexually assaulting multiple women, yet got the nomination of a party for ''telling it like it is''.
Everyone is taking their cues from him, and most likely everyone is going to get the same fate - removed from office in disgrace and in spectacular fashion, while blaming everyone else but themselves.
269
@FunkyIrishman Changes have to start happening from the bottom, from the voters in their communities who decide to require that their representatives at whatever level they serve be persons of goodwill, honest people who will work for the common good. (Or as Fintan O'Toole said here in Ireland once, "Stop electing gobshites.")
36
@FunkyIrishman
Well said my friend.
3
Golf is a curious sport. It is totally self-governing. Every player knows the basic rules, every true golfer abides by them. No one but a cheat ever cheats. It's been clearly documented that Trump has cheated continuously as he has played the sport through his many decades. It is the way he plays the Game: he cheats. Cheating is fair game for him. The Rules of Golf mean nothing to him. It is also curious to me that the many true lovers of golf, and admittedly they are usually among the Rich Folk, still can tolerate him when he is an open Golf Cheat. I propose that one Article of Impeachment against him, for it is certainly a High Crime and Misdemeanor, is that he cheats at golf.
241
@JPD
Golf exposes the true nature of humans. It's a game of many rules, and we know them all. We of the hoi polloi will call each other out. If cheaters persist, we decline to play with them. We demand an honest game.
But, Trump represents access to riches. So, he always gets a pass. Honesty and sportsmanship is not the point of playing with Trump. Getting something out of him is what's important. So, his fellow golfers and grifters, I'm sure, flatter him to death and look the other way when he kicks the ball out from the trees. Trump then knows who he can control and who he can't. Who can be pressured and who can't. Who can be bought and who can't. Plain and simple.
I doubt he ever played a second time with anyone who called him out for cheating. He has no use for anyone with the guts to stand up to him.
30
Not being a golfer is about the only thing Hillary had going for her. Obama was a golfer, Clinton was a golfer; it seems to be a prerequisite for being part of the "club" that sells out everybody except for the golfers.
4
@JPD, and almost as bad as cheating, he drives his cart onto the green.
6
The continuing story of Trump and his cult-like followers reminds me of the tragic saga of Rev. Jim Jones and his hundreds of loyal worshipers who ended up dying at his direction, by committing mass suicide in Guyana a number of years ago. Trump, like the huckster Jones, promises his similarly conned crowd a paradise, only a political one, but also built on false and unachievable promises. The special toxicity of Trump, like Jones’s, flows copiously from the top throughout all who place any allegiance to him and his narcissistic pursuits. They are all responsible for their tragic outcomes.
91
@John Grillo - Trump's promised paradise to his
supporters is kiss your Social Security and
Medicare goodbye.
26
@John Grillo It is worth remember this; many of Jones' follower killed themselves but many others were murdered. Many of the adults and all of the children were murdered by the true believers of Jones. Is this a vision of the outcome of the cult of trump for America?
20
Please don’t forget the Republicans’ proposed budget cut of $1.5 trillion to Medicaid over the next ten years, which represents around a 30% budget cut. Right now, Medicaid pays 62% of all nursing home bills, which includes the bills of many Americans who for most of their lives were middle class citizens.
23
If the Justice Department is the Democrats’ arm of law enforcement, they are doing a good job of finding all these criminals. Which I thought was what the Justice Department is supposed to do. Great job Democrats!
202
@David What am I missing here? You had a man who slept with a call girl who bedded him consentually, no money needed. Then, when he was running for president, she remembered she had not been paid for the tryst. She was paid with the man's money, though he refused to see her or be with her again.
She got her "shush" money, and then she talked. Now, we have a multi-million dollar investigation to tell us a man paid a mistress. Wowza! This has nothing to do with Russians, but Mueller is playing it down to the wire, hoping his agency will again influence voters on the eve of an election. (Backfired on Comey: don't these intellegence people learn?)
Turns out, Manafort has been crooked for years, but never investigated under Bush or Obama's Justice departments. Now that Trump and the voting public are enemy number 1, only now do they go after what Manafort had been doing for years. He's a target only because of Trump: otherwise, his foreign connections during the Bush/Obama years raised no red flags.
Trump should pardon Manafort, whose business career is done. Mueller should wrap up his investigation weeks before November, and submit his expense account. There is simply no "high crimes and misdemeanors" here.
But yes, American men -- including presidents -- have often committed adultery and paid for it. Trump didn't take his ladies into the White House, so it doesn't really matter what his private sex life is. Melania like Hillary made her bed knowingly...
Meanwhile,, remember BBC Dad, whose kids came into the room while he was on the air when his wife was a bit distracted?
He took responsibility, saying he should have locked the door!
Now that's a gentleman.
77
@CKM It's good to remember that family!
1
You Sir, are a scholar.
1
Thank you for this public service announcement, Gail. We busy regular people trying to make ends meet (that too often don’t) don’t know all this information about what our representatives are actually doing in the high office to which they have been elected.
It doesn’t matter if the elected politician culprit is Republican or Democrat. Wrong is wrong. And, throwing your spouse under the bus for what you did is really low and still disgusting.
And maybe naming names and politicians’ reprehensible actions is the way to break through the protective shield provided for any flagrant GOP politician by Fox News and other right-wing media propaganda machines.
The new agenda needs to be responsibility and accountability. If our tired old corrupt political generation won’t do it, my bet is the next generation will. And it can’t happen fast enough. Tick tock, tick tock....
117
@PB
And after this moral and ignorant debacle of Republican governing when the Democrats get back into power, the Dems better be purer than the driven snow and “without blemish”. Democrats have to show that they really are the better and more honorable group of leaders. Any Democrat who has any type of skeleton in his/her closet, should own up, confess and do everything possible to make serious amends. We cannot afford to give the Republicans, both in the government, and in the populace, any ammunition to say, “oh look, the Dems are bad also”.
2
Accessible, clear writing, thank you.
46
They were expendable. Only the Don counts.
41
Hunter throwing his wife under the bus may be the couple’s legal strategy. If he gets off which is unlikely given the body of evidence against him, he can still keep his Job (the 50th district is solid crimson ). If the wife is convicted, Trump can always pardon her. The workings of a criminal mind never run short!
99
@Fe R
Or he is TELLING her that's the strategy.
9
@Fe R
It is the Bob and Maureen McDonnell legal strategy. So obvious and so craven. They deserve each other and none of deserves any of them.
3
Untethered and unglued, Trump is who he is and always has been - an extreme narcissist, incompetent and ignorant surrounded by petty criminals like Duncan Hunter, Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort.
But the Republican Party is the more serious problem. They put Trump in office and they allow Trump to disgrace the United States around the globe. the GOP remains totally silent and even protective in light of Trump's known criminal activities while in office and before . Republican Congressmen serve only their billionaire mega-donors, not the American people
Americans who have any respect for our country cannot support Trump nor can they support the Republican Party - a party that has lost is way in its efforts to take complete power with a minority of voters.
Work hard to get out the vote and throw Trump and the Republicans out of our government. We must reclaim our democracy. The year 2018 is the most important election year in US history.
386
Great column. Two questions. Is Hunter paying for his wife's counsel or is he requiring her to use a public defender? Did you forget that Rudy very publicly threw his first wife under the bus when he was NY's mayor?
315
@James Riccardi, exactly. But two emendations: Donna Hanover was Giuliani’s second wife, and as a local newscaster, she was a public person in her own right. The way he told her he wanted a divorce was to hold a press conference to which she was not invited. I only hope that the recent split between him and the third wife, Judy Nathan (the one he was having the affair with that led to the press conference), was because she finally wised up and dumped him. Karma and all that.
27
@James Ricciardi
Yes, Rudy threw Donna Hanover under the bus, but she wasn't his first wife. His first "wife" was his second cousin. A church dispensation was obtained so cousins within that degree of kinship could marry. Later, the marriage was annulled--deemed invalid because it was between cousins within that degree of kinship. Delicious.
12
@James Ricciardi I think it was his 2nd wife Donna Hanover mother of his 2 children he surprised with a public announcement that he was filing for divorce. I don't know the history of his 1st or 3rd marriage.
2
It is kind of amazing how, so far, Jeff Sessions has managed to use his position in the Trump administration to establish a reputation for integrity. Much as I have never liked or respected this man I have to give him the credit he is earning. He stands alone.
47
@Flaminia
It is a sorry measure of how low we have fallen, when we are looking at Jeff Sessions and saying "You go - somebody's got to stand for integrity around here."
Jeff Sessions.
16
@Flaminia
Let's not go overboard. His fingerprints are ALL over the policy of ripping children away from their immigrant parents at the border. There is nothing laudable about that.
7
@Flaminia
Integrity? Tell it to the hundreds of immigrant children still in captivity.
7
Margaret Thatcher said that the trouble with Socialism is that you run out of other people's money. Not true. The Socialism-for-me-but-not-for-thee that sustains the life styles of rich and notorious Republicans never runs out it. And it starts right at the top.
510
Thank you Gail. However, the tossing of GOP wives under the bus during the current administration started with HUD Secretary Ben Carson. You might recall Ben Carson's initial attempt to blame his wife Cindy for the $31,000 dining set for his office suite. Granted, the discovery of the e-mails showing Dr. Carson's involvement in the furniture selection made Mrs. Carson's time under the bus rather short, but still, Dr. Carson showed real leadership in the wife-tossing department.
860
@Brian
Leadership in wife-tossing. Such a great line. I'm still laughing an hour later.
39
And Ben Carson is still around!!!
16
@Brian
"...real leadership in the wife-tossing department."
I promise to love, honor, and take the rap.
6
It is Representative Duncan Hunter who proposed raising the eligibility age for Medicare and Social Security to 72. He said
that he had no plans for collecting Social Security benefits. Now we know why.
781
He won’t collect social security benefits because he will already be double dipping: military pension plus congressional pension. What a true martyr!
51
@Whole Grains-Good point. With his grifting now in full view, perhaps he can be stripped of his Congressional retirement and military benefits. If he wants to donate his SS -- that too!
43
Yes Gail Collins, there is something infinitely worse than being a friend of Trump. It's called being an American citizen with Trump as the president. It's having the GOP enable this man because doing so allows them to carry out their agenda: search out and destroy every program that helps 99% of us so that they can give more tax breaks and welfare to the richest of the rich.
Trump is the president the Electoral College was meant to guard against. Trump is the man that your parents would look askance at if he asked you for a date, became your best friend forever, or offered you a good deal. Trump is one of those people who has sleaze written all over him.
Of course Trump thinks he's being persecuted. I think he needs to be prosecuted.
952
@hen3ry That’s what I’ve been saying from the beginning, the Electoral College shirked their SINGLE responsibility and gave us this, Colludy J. McTreason & His Infinite Band of Stooges.
9
@hen3ry
YESSSS! Finally someone who says what I think. The arcane ... and pointless ... electoral college failed at its only job.
6
WORDS MATTER
Under Trump,
it's what we see -
civility tr"u"mpled
by ochlocracy.
Guns on parade
metanoia lost -
democracy at risk
with a very high cost.
Enantiodromia is
why he won;
he wants to be
like Kim Jong-un.
Cremnophobia climbs
as America sinks
into the morass
of Donald's high jinks!!!
3
The very first act of the 115th Trump Congress by House Republicans in Jan 2017 was a secret vote to kill the Office of Congressional Ethics set up in 2008 by Democrats to fight Congressional corruption.
There was no advance notice or debate on the 2017 measure to destroy the Ethics Office.
The next day, outraged Americans contacted Congress to let Republicans know their complete amorality wasn't welcome; the secret vote was cancelled and the Ethics Office remains in place. today...much to the discomfort of the Congressional criminal class.
But that's who elected Republicans are: a well-dressed criminal class happy to pander nonsense about abortion, guns, God, the free market, socialism and Hillary Clinton while robbing America blind with 1% welfare, campaign bribery and outright theft.
Republican voters don't seem to mind the criminal element of their elected leaders because hypocrisy is a sacred religious Republican family value.
From a Republican perspective, 'God' will forgive Republican sinners...and Democratic sinners can go straight to hell.
Remember when President Obama - a completely scandal-free President - wore a tan suit ?
That was really disrespectful to the Presidency to many Republicans...although not quite as disrespectful as President Obama's pigmentation.
As long as it's one of their good old cheating, philandering, lying, corrupt Republican white boys disgracing a federal office, that is A-okay with the Grand Old Phonies.
Nice, deplorable GOPeople.
1387
@Socrates: On the other hand, it's worth noting that with his face having turned an inhuman shade of red The Donald is now somewhat darker than Obama was. He's kind of like Michael Jackson in reverse.
112
@Socrates
There's a fascinating twist to the story:
https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/02/politics/office-of-congressional-ethics-o...
Headline: House Republicans pull plan to gut independent ethics committee after Trump tweets
Yes, that's what it says. Other than this, though, . . .
10
@Socrates I only wish that, as on Facebook, I could add a heart to my Recommend. Your comment is perfection.
8
The good people of San Diego County do not care about all Hunter's proclivities, he is a Republican, and that is all they need to know.
Of course he drinks Tequila, it comes from that place just across the border from him made by those Mexicans, the ones he and his supporters want to stop from crossing it, but Tequila does not pick oranges, or harvest lettuce so it can cross, but come to think of it, is it not taking jobs from those Kentucky Bourbon makers. Oh we need a tariff on Avocados and Tequila.
Despite knowing what was known about Donald the Mad, he and his supporter so dislike even, even hate, liberals and HRC that they would vote for a swindler, instead of an honest, educated woman. These charges are obviously a conspiracy to discredit this paragon of the GOP "it is not my fault virtues," in this case it is the "Deep State" which his wife is obviously a member of.
The biggest employer in his district is the military, whose members are getting more money from Congress. Fiscal conservatism only applies to Social Security, Medicare and welfare payments to widows whose income is 50% of what their husbands was.
Well, he has to be convicted first, and then we will see what the voters think of him then,
but GOP voters seem to ignore facts, I think it is required to be a Republican, facts are what you want them to be.
457
@David Underwood Well, yes, military contractors who make weapons are getting plenty of money. And soldiers are getting by. But veterans? Nada.
75
Gail, you (and Rick Wilson) are both right - Everything Trump Touches Dies.
Which brings up the larger question of how to protect our Democracy from his little fingers - how to ensure there is a snap back to Regular Order ?
One of two things will be happening, either A) Mueller will submit a report to the GOP'er Congress before this session ends, or B) Mueller will submit a report after the new Congress is seated which could have a Dem. Speaker of the House or a GOP'er.
Since His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness POTUS 45* is now sooooo beloved by his base they no longer care if he has committed crimes, under either scenario A or B above, House GOP'ers will not initiate impeachment, and Senate GOP'ers may also choose party over country.
Then the question becomes whether Dems have existed in the toxic stew for so long since the 2016 elections, that they will not do their duty as required by their Oaths, and might instead opt to just wait for 2020, running then as they will here in 2018 against the 'Culture of Corruption' that GOP'ers have allowed to flourish in D.C. under Pres. Mayhem from KAOS ?
Dems cannot shirk their duty of bringing impeachment proceedings if the evidence continues to mount and they have control of the Speaker-ship, just because Dems think a GOP'er Senate might not convict - for Dem Congress critters to act like GOP'ers have been will mean Agent Orange's toxicity has corrupted both parties to a virtually irretrievable extent.
104
@R. Law
Please let the impeachment be unsuccessful. A President Pence would be like jumping into the fire. Remember Pence was chosen as Trump's insurance policy against impeachment for a good reason.
18
@David - Whether they will be blocked by Complicit Corrupt GOP'er or not, Dems must follow their Oaths and go through the process; the die was cast when GOP'ers let Agent Orange from KAOS into their primaries without seeing his tax returns, hoping to piggy-back on him for SCOTUS Justices, tax cuts, etc.
Nothing new has been revealed in the 2 years since GOP'ers nominated him - just a filling in of the outlines already known at that time. Everything in D.C. will grind to a complete halt until this issue is disposed of, because we're still a nation of laws, existing on the basis of 800 years of precedent since the Magna Carta, which is why Pres. Mayhem works so hard to take down the DOJ.
It can't all be overturned by 1 guy with the same 20-30% support group which always stood behind Nixon, Joseph McCarthy, and is a constant part of the American electorate which Faux Noise Machina is whipping into a froth 24/7/365.
All which is happening was foreseen and predicted from the day His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness was nominated - he was a convenient patsy to serve the purpose of Pence and his Koch Bros. Inc. backers, who knew Pence couldn't get elected outright, but whose agenda is what's driving things.
Things will play out as His Unhinged Unraveling Unfitness becomes more and more inconvenient for GOP'ers who will get drive-by slimed with the legal muck he is sinking into.
Wonder if Pence will pick Ryan as his Veep, or just cut to the chase a pick a Koch Bros. ?
@R. Law
Sorry, I don’t agree with impeachment at this time, not when Pence is waiting in the wings. He’s someone who’ll bring Christian sharia law into our legal system and will damn anyone who isn’t white, male, straight, Christian, and wealthy. If he doesn’t bring us to Handmaid’s Tale, he’ll lay the groundwork. I fear less a person with no morals than one with restrictive, narrow, and excessive puritanical beliefs.
15
Years ago in an episode of The Simpsons, Homer was gratified when Bart embraced his words to live by, which included, "I didn't do it!", "What are you looking at me for?", and "It was that way when I got here."
Seems to me that Hunter, Collins, Pruitt, Price, and so many of those self-proclaimed conservatives must be followers of Homer too.
233
@Coco Pazzo: Insofar as the Simpsons are concerned, I would say that GOP-ethics are closer to O.J. than to Homer and Bart.
60
@Coco Pazzo don't forget "Facts! Pffft. You can prove anything you want with "facts."
9
I'm reading my crystal ball, and...it's coming into focus now. I see a jail sentence and...it's getting clearer...a divorce for someone named Duncan Hunter.
328
@Linda
I got the same results checking chicken entrails.
Interesting ...
7
@Linda Bet if Mrs. Hunter gets a chance to "flip," she will!
5
@Linda
I could be wrong, but I’d bet his wife agreed to take the blame. She probably figures it’s worth it if her husband can keep from being shoved away from the trough and sharing the slop.
7
They're vile, that's all. Both the crooks and their enablers in Congress.
269
@View from the hill How about the citizens who vote for them repeatedly?
7
Whatever happened to good Old Fashioned Greed, a kickback here, a bribe there, but at least people seemed sincerely embarrassed when caught?
The current fashion seems to be entitlement, hubris, and willingness to throw even (supposed) loved ones under the bus. The narcissistic sociopathy shown by many of these politicians makes we wonder if there is something inherent in our political system that attracts people with these tendencies.
My question is sincere, and because of that, let me be clear that I am talking about "at the margin". Of course, I don't mean "all politicians", and etc.
But given the bell curve of personality traits, is there an unequal distribution? Our campaign and money raising process is so intense that it is generally acknowledged that one has to have an especially thick skin to go into politics. And while "having a thick skin" can indicate a healthy sense of self, it also includes those who have no sense of others.
Even if unconsciously, are sociopaths drawn to a life in politics?
173
No sociopath has ever thought that they did anything wrong. Hence, no embarrassment when caught doing things that you or I would not ever want to have to explain to our mothers.
10
Very good question. There does seem to be a preponderance of apparent sociopathic individuals in politics as well as in corporate leadership.
6
@ImagineMoments In answer to your last question - yes
4
I'm not sure if I ought to laugh or cry. What the GOP is doing, and has done in the past with their presidents is just incredible. While I am sure there will be those that disagree: let us recall Iran-Contra, Watergate, and the longest wars in our history.
Yes, yes I know - what about Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, who had the audacity to suggest we all turn our thermostats down a few degrees (if only we had listened).
Oh, I know there's plenty of bad behavior to go around, and I'm not going to argue with that.
So I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The only political thing I know is November isn't far off and I know how to vote.
549
@David Clark: We all know how to vote. The problem is we don't all manage to do it.
59
@David Clark: The question then is, are there enough of us left who believe ourselves sufficiently morally upright to vote to reinstate at least the appearance of propriety. Or have the majority of us embraced the devil on our shoulder, our worst natures as exemplified by the demented dugong in the oval. This whole thing is starting to remind me of a zombie movie. While it seems nothing can sway Trump's base, and they'd accept any revelation with the serenity of a buddhist monk, I think the coming scandals to be revealed by Pecker and Weiselberg may in fact tip the scales. Most of us, down deep somewhere, know there are some things we just won't do, and thus some we won't accept, look the other way for, forgive or allow. I think Trump's ride is coming to an end, and it will be inglorious. The GOP has chosen cowardice and complicity for now but ultimately must defend the nation lest they lose their grip on all parts of it. We shall see, and hopefully soon, it's taking too long.
36
Apologies to Jenny Kissed Me
Rust Belter’s Lament
Donald conned us when he ran
Claimed he was a populist
Seemed like a good businessman,
Would bring back the things we missed.
Say he’s racist, say he’s dumb
Say he violates the rules
Say his Tweeting leaves us numb,,
Played us for fools.
Rudy’s light bulb don’t seem right
Says one thing and then another
Never seems to shed some light
Facts and truth just can’t uncover
Say his head shape seems grotesque
Say his smile just chills your blood,
Like some villain in burlesque,
Who just spouts crud.
287
@Larry Eisenberg rhyming blood with crud!! bravo!
5
The Republican Party is so two-faced, I'm surprised we don't see a second set of eyes, noses, and mouths when they turn their backs away from the cameras. Newt Gingrich, for example, claiming aloud that anyone having an affair should be forced out of government ... then driving home to visit his mistress. Republicans claiming to care about the deficit, then passing budget-busting tax cuts during the Reagan Bush 1, Bush 2, and Trump administrations.
Trump claiming that the way to avoid partisanship in law enforcement is for the Dept of Justice to stop investigating Republicans and only investigate Democrats.
It's really sad that so many voters, blinded by Republican hate mongering, fail to see where this has led the country.
1046
Two faces might not be enough - Slavs used to worship this guy, Svetovid, who had four; even that might be not enough for some of them
8
@John M
"Newt Gingrich, for example, claiming aloud that anyone having an affair should be forced out of government ... then driving home to visit his mistress."
And don't forget, inveighing against abortion until the mistress needs one.
And let's not waste too much sympathy on the wives of these despicable men; they knew who they were marrying. Gingrich's wife is a perfect example (I've forgotten her name though not her frightful helmet hairdo and her taste for very expensive jewelry). A good Catholic girl if I recall, eager to be married "in the church" to the man she first had an adulterous affair with.
13
@John M
Especially rich, since Gingrich's (mistress) wife is now the ambassador to the Vatican. Boy, if anyone needed to be close to a confessional booth ......
16