Saturday, December 23, 2017

Immigration Nation, Con't

The one good thing about Donald Trump is that he has, in less than a year, permanently destroyed the "post-racial America" feel-good trope with his own brand of screamingly awful overt racism.

Late to his own meeting and waving a sheet of numbers, President Trump stormed into the Oval Office one day in June, plainly enraged.

Five months before, Mr. Trump had dispatched federal officers to the nation’s airports to stop travelers from several Muslim countries from entering the United States in a dramatic demonstration of how he would deliver on his campaign promise to fortify the nation’s borders.

But so many foreigners had flooded into the country since January, he vented to his national security team, that it was making a mockery of his pledge. Friends were calling to say he looked like a fool, Mr. Trump said.

According to six officials who attended or were briefed about the meeting, Mr. Trump then began reading aloud from the document, which his domestic policy adviser, Stephen Miller, had given him just before the meeting. The document listed how many immigrants had received visas to enter the United States in 2017.

More than 2,500 were from Afghanistan, a terrorist haven, the president complained.

Haiti had sent 15,000 people. They “all have AIDS,” he grumbled, according to one person who attended the meeting and another person who was briefed about it by a different person who was there.

Forty thousand had come from Nigeria, Mr. Trump added. Once they had seen the United States, they would never “go back to their huts” in Africa, recalled the two officials, who asked for anonymity to discuss a sensitive conversation in the Oval Office.


As the meeting continued, John F. Kelly, then the secretary of homeland security, and Rex W. Tillerson, the secretary of state, tried to interject, explaining that many were short-term travelers making one-time visits. But as the president continued, Mr. Kelly and Mr. Miller turned their ire on Mr. Tillerson, blaming him for the influx of foreigners and prompting the secretary of state to throw up his arms in frustration. If he was so bad at his job, maybe he should stop issuing visas altogether, Mr. Tillerson fired back.

Tempers flared and Mr. Kelly asked that the room be cleared of staff members. But even after the door to the Oval Office was closed, aides could still hear the president berating his most senior advisers.

Trump has been a racist all his life.  His hatred of black and brown people is well-documented since his days as a NYC landlord. And 62 million people had no problem voting for him, these are your neighbors, friends, and co-workers, people who attend your chosen house of worship, at your grocery store, at the park watching your kids and grandkids play.

They were cool with this asshole. They were so cool with his racism after Obama that they put him in the goddamn White House to make a point to us black folk, to remind us of our place lest we dream that we're human beings in America and not chattel.

But it's not the problem of black people to solve, even though we did in Alabama and Roy Moore.  I'm tired of 95-98% of us voting for the person who is not a racist piece of garbage only for white America to scratch their heads and deem it a tough choice somehow.

And yet for white America it is a tough choice.  They're not voting against their self-interest when they vote for Republicans who will trash the safety net, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, homeowner deductions, they've been convinced that the Democrats will do that to them anyway.

No, they're not angry, because they are voting for the racism.

It's a feature of American democracy guys, not a bug.

I'm not cool with any of them.

Russian To Judgment, Con't

If you've been wondering why the Trump regime has been using the State Media at FOX News to attack the FBI and specifically former Director James Comey and current Deputy Director Andrew McCabe for the last several weeks, it's because McCabe's testimony this week in front of the House Intelligence Committee directly implicates Donald Trump on Comey's firing earlier this year.

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe faced numerous questions this week about his interactions, conversations and correspondence with his onetime boss, former FBI Director James Comey, spanning both the FBI's Russia investigation and its probe into Hillary Clinton's private email server, according to multiple sources from both parties with knowledge of his testimony. 
In private testimony before the House Intelligence Committee this week, McCabe told lawmakers that Comey informed him of conversations he had with President Donald Trump soon after they happened, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter. 
The testimony suggests McCabe could corroborate Comey's account, including Trump's ask that Comey show him loyalty, which the President has strongly disputed. Comey previously testified that he briefed some of his senior colleagues at the FBI about this conversation with Trump.
McCabe appeared for more than 16 hours of testimony behind closed doors in two sessions this week before members of the House Intelligence, Oversight and Judiciary committees, amid growing calls for his firing from Republicans critical of the FBI's handling of both investigations.  
Intelligence Committee Republicans also grilled McCabe about how the FBI used the dossier compiled by a British agent alleging collusion between Trump and Russia. Some Republicans were dissatisfied with the responses, according to the sources. 
Thursday, before the House Judiciary and Oversight committees, McCabe faced intense questioning from Republicans about the FBI's handling of the Clinton email investigation, which many in the GOP believe was unfair. The panel's Republicans forced McCabe to answer questions about internal emails they believe showed Comey mishandled the investigation, according to multiple sources. 
The mood, according to Illinois Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, was "tense."
"All this time on Clinton emails and dragging the FBI in to talk about Clinton instead of the real crime: Russian interference in our democracy," said Krishnamoorthi, who sits on the House Oversight Committee. 
The FBI declined to comment.

There's always an explanation with these guys.  It explains why the Uranium One deal is back in the news even though it was debunked months ago. It explains why Clinton's approval ratings are back in the news even though she doesn't hold office.  It would explain why AG Jeff Sessions and GOP House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes are so adamant on changing the subject even though both of them have supposedly recused themselves from the Trump Russia investigation.

If McCabe is backing up Comey's testimony under oath, it means Donald Trump is in dire trouble.  It's no longer Trump's word vs Comey's, it's now a matter of record with corroboration that Trump asked for loyalty before firing Comey.  It means Trump has been lying, and Trump's people have been lying, some under oath.

They're in full panic mode right now.  Trump has all but declared he FBI as enemies of Dear Leader and he's counting on his cult to turn against them.  And there's nothing Vladimir Putin would love to see more right now than for Republicans to cut the FBI (and CIA and NSA) to "purge the anti-Trump agents of the Obama Deep State" so that there's nobody standing guard to protect America from Trump...and Russia.