Charles M. Blow - "Drip, Drip, Drip"

[kpete]

Every day there is a fresh outrage emerging from the murky bog of the Donald Trump administration.

Every day there is a new round of questions and a new set of concerns that raise anxieties and lower trust.

Every day it becomes ever more clear that it is right and just to doubt the legitimacy of this regime and all that flows from it.


Flynn lied. Trump knew Flynn lied. But Trump kept Flynn in his circle of confidence and apparently left the vice president out of the circle of knowledge. Why


This is an office culture issue. If the boss — in this case Trump — is a pathological liar who forces underlings to repeat and bolster his lies, what signal does that send to everyone else who works in that environment? That lying is not only accepted but also valued, that lying is simply a rhetorical device, a propaganda tool that is inexcusable only when not exercised with skill.


Trump doesn’t mind a lie if it serves him; he does apparently mind if the liar is intentionally, maleficently trying to deceive him.


What we know only makes what we don’t know feel all the more ominous. But I believe that facts are forthcoming. Reporters are digging like a crew of coal miners hopped up on a case of Red Bull, and sources in Washington are leaking to anyone with a press credential.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/opinion/drip-drip-drip.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&mtrref=www.dailykos.com&gwh=A148F87523487E2D00963160564757A5&gwt=pay&assetType=opinion

[mobeau69]

1. "But I believe that facts are forthcoming.

Reporters are digging like a crew of coal miners hopped up on a case of Red Bull, and sources in Washington are leaking to anyone with a press credential."

This better be true or we can turn out the lights. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.

[Cha]

2. K&R

[gordianot]

3. Pence is the canary in the coal mine.

Right now he is making croaking sounds and flopping around the cage.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. He's starting to make a play for the Presidency. He says he was "out of the loop". Wants to know why

However, ...

Pence was in charge of the transition team. It's hard to imagine how he could truly be out of the loop or not implicated. I think he was even present for some National Security Briefings and sat in for tRump when tRump was busy being tRump and too busy to attend himself.

Pence can see the writing on the wall. He wants to innoculate / immunize himself if/when tRump goes down (due to impeachment or Amendment 25 invocation) so he can become President.

Purge Pence first, if possible.

[Nitram]

7. My thoughts exactly, Bernardo. Pence is positioning himself to step into the presidency.

[calimary]

9. Yep. This is what I've suspected for some time.

Perhaps he's been told - "just keep your head down, be a good boy, don't make any mistakes, and Santa will be coming early this year."

And in the meantime, those around him are carefully constructing an "innocent victim" image for him, so he can slide right in behind the Resolute Desk with no muss and no fuss, and then proceed to turn our government into a White-Men-Only Wet Dream. And btw, that's STRAIGHT-White-Men-Only. And it's ALL- Christian, too. Let's just make that perfectly clear.

[DFW]

4. DFW - "So what else is new?"

About a year ago in Dallas, I was invited to a small gathering of Texas Democrats. It happened to be at the home of a (genuine, not on paper) real live billionaire, who was one of (maybe, the only) billionaire in Dallas who is a rock solid Democrat. The man has had dealings with Donald Trump in the past, and is familiar with Trump's "art of the deal."

No need for a best-selling book. He said Trump's art of the deal could be summed up in two words: "He lies." He goes back on his word, and his word is useless from the moment he gives it. In the business world, it was no secret, either. The media may have fallen down on the job, but people with deals of real consequence to do were well aware of it. Now the country knows it, but, like the medical examiner, just a little too late to do any good. And like the medical examiner's subjects, many still profess to not know it, even when it is staring them in the face. It gives a whole new dimension to the concept of "brain-dead."

[mcar]

8. K&R