One interpretation of Barr’s rebuke of Trump’s DoJ tweeting is that it’s a show of independence meant to disguise actual complete submission. The Washington Post offers a different take:

Attorney General William P. Barr pushed back hard Thursday against President Trump’s attacks on the Justice Department, saying, “I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody,” an assertion of independence that could jeopardize his tenure as the nation’s top law enforcement official.

The DoJ is all in a swivet over the Stone case and Trump’s outbursts and the fact that it looks as if Trump is managing their every move.

People close to Barr said that in recent months he has become increasingly frustrated with Trump’s tweets about

Now that Trump has been impeached by the House but not removed by the Senate, he is hell-bent on revenge and dictatorship.

In the week since his acquittal on impeachment charges, a fully emboldened President Donald Trump is demonstrating his determination to assert an iron grip on government, pushing his Justice Department to ease up on a longtime friend while using the levers of presidential powers to exact payback on real and perceived foes.

And we are helpless to do anything about it and we could be completely and utterly screwed.

Trump has told confidants in recent days that he felt both vindicated and strengthened by his acquittal in the Senate, believing Republicans have rallied around him in

We’re supposed to be impressed-like that John Kelly has said a little more about what a dangerous lunatic Trump is. I’m not impressed.

Over a 75-minute speech and Q&A session, Kelly laid out, in the clearest terms yet, his misgivings about Trump’s words and actions regarding North Korea, illegal immigration, military discipline, Ukraine, and the news media.

But he provided cover for Trump when he was Chief of Staff.

Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general, said that Vindman is blameless and was simply following the training he’d received as a soldier; migrants are “overwhelmingly good people” and “not all rapists”; and Trump’s decision to condition military aid to Ukraine on an investigation into his political rival Joe Biden upended

Trump continues to tell damaging lies (aka libel) about Vindman.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the military will likely look at disciplinary action against Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, just days after the National Security Council official was ousted from the White House after giving damaging testimony during the House impeachment hearings.

“That’s going to be up to the military, we’ll have to see, but if you look at what happened, they’re going to certainly, I would imagine, take a look at that,” Trump said in response to a follow-up question about what he meant when he said, “the military can handle him.”

I’m so sick of his idiotic stock phrases – “we’ll have to see,” “if you look … Read the rest

President Scary.

Whatever happened to Hillary campaign manager Podesta’s BROTHER? Wasn’t he caught, forced to leave his firm, with BIG BAD things to happen? Why did nothing ever happen to him, only to the “other” side?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2020

Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, is having a really bad night. I think she is sending signals that she wants out. Calling for unity is her way of getting there, going home, and having a “nice cold beer” with her husband!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 12, 2020

Who are the four prosecutors (Mueller people?) who cut and ran after being exposed for recommending a ridiculous 9 year prison sentence to a man

The mafia boss issues instructions.

This is a horrible and very unfair situation. The real crimes were on the other side, as nothing happens to them. Cannot allow this miscarriage of justice! https://t.co/rHPfYX6Vbv

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 11, 2020

He says “cannot allow” as if he were a literal dictator.

Barr leaps to obey as if Trump were a literal dictator.

The president sent his message a little before 2am on Tuesday, after a rally in New Hampshire and a visit to Delaware to honour two US soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, it seemed the tweet would have its desired effect.

The Washington Post quoted a “senior justice department official” as saying: “The department finds the recommendation

Disgusting.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the Ukraine expert at the National Security Council who became a star witness in the House impeachment hearings on President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, was escorted out of the White House on Friday, his lawyer said, adding Trump had “decided to exact revenge.”

Trump should be scrubbing Vindman’s kitchen floor, with a toothbrush.

“There is no question in the mind of any American why this man’s job is over, why this country now has one less soldier serving it at the White House. LTC Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth,” David Pressman of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP said in a statement.

“The truth has cost LTC Alexander Vindman his job, his

Trump is being his usual garrulous self-admiring random tedious self in North Carolina at an official event at a North Carolina community college. Also getting everything wrong.

Trump says Dan Bishop was supposed to have a close race in the special election in North Carolina's 9th District, but it turned out to be "boring" and he won by five or six points. He won by two points.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 7, 2020

Trump is telling a story about how people start to cry when he shows them the Oval Office. You'll be surprised to hear they are "tough people" who haven't cried since they were babies.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 7, 2020

I’d cry; I’d cry because … Read the rest

Nice little earner:

The president’s company charges his own Secret Service agents up to $650 a night to stay at his properties – a bill that is ultimately paid by U.S. taxpayers – when they stay the night protecting him, the Washington Post reported this morning. Here’s more from the Post:

At Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, the Secret Service was charged the $650 rate dozens of times in 2017, and a different rate, $396.15, dozens more times in 2018, according to documents from Trump’s visits.

And at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, the Secret Service was charged $17,000 a month to use a three-bedroom cottage on the property, an unusually high rent for homes in that area, according to

Payback begins.

Standing outside the White House for some Chopper Talk this morning, Donald Trump said that there will be a decision sometime in the future about what to do with Lt Col Alexander Vindman, a member of the national security council who testified against the president during the impeachment trial. Bloomberg News reported last night that the White House is thinking about moving Vindman out of the council and rotate him to a position in the Department of Defense.

…

When asked about any plans to remove Vindman from his position, Trump said that he is “not happy with him” and that a decision about what do with him will be made later.

The tyrant is not happy. … Read the rest

I’ve almost finished with the Trump-excoriation for now, but not quite.

Politico reports:

Later Thursday, at a victory lap celebrating his impeachment acquittal, Trump said: “I had Nancy Pelosi sitting four seats away, and I’m saying things that a lot of people wouldn’t have said. But I meant everything. I meant every word of it.”

Beware of people who brag about saying things that a lot of people wouldn’t have said. Beware beware beware. Doing that is a sure sign of someone who is both an egomaniac and a rude bully. Turn around and walk swiftly away.

“I don’t need any lessons from anybody, especially the president of the United States, about dignity,” Pelosi said Thursday, adding she feels

This

is

BONKERS

President Trump talks about Steve Scalise and the Congressional Baseball Game:

“He looks better now, can you believe it?”

“He was practicing for the baseball game against the Democrats, right? And this whack job started shooting” pic.twitter.com/dfX1Okdrv6

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 6, 2020

It’s stark raving bonkers.… Read the rest

For a time my Twitter feed was full of journalists, lawyers, ethics boffins, and former federal employees all exclaiming at how unhinged and incoherent Trump’s endless “speech” was turning out to be.

CNN sums up:

President Donald Trump emerged vindictive and angry at a rambling noontime event on Thursday meant to mark his impeachment acquittal.

“We’ve been going through this now for over three years. It was evil, it was corrupt, it was dirty cops, it was leakers and liars. And this should never, ever happen to another president, ever,” Trump told an East Room packed with conservative lawmakers, media pundits, and a number of Cabinet officials, who cheered as Trump meandered through a list of grievances and

Trump is giving a “speech” (a series of blurts and ramblings) to celebrate his successful coup.

Trump begins by falsely claiming the "witch hunt" began before he started running for president pic.twitter.com/ObahmzGUGN

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 6, 2020

I suppose he means there were people who thought he was a bad man before he started running for president. Well no kidding. Birtherism? The Central Park 5? Yes we thought he was a bad man; of course we did. He stands around preening and smirking about how bad he is and also whines about people who think he’s bad. He’s not very alert to cause and effect, it seems.

TRUMP: "We first went through 'Russia, Russia, Russia.' It was all

The lies continue.

President Donald Trump made a striking claim Monday, insisting it was he who ensured that people with preexisting medical problems will always be covered by health insurance.

He wasn’t.

Duh. That’s the whole point of the ACA – spreading the risk.

He also complained anew that Democrats didn’t allow him to send lawyers to the impeachment inquiry. The opposite is true: Democrats invited him to send lawyers to the inquiry and he said no.

He should have been impeached on day one for being such a relentless shameless liar.

Trump’s administration has been pressing in court for full repeal of the Obama-era law, including provisions that protect people with preexisting conditions from health insurance discrimination.

With

There is no depth too low, it seems.

Ken Starr, an attorney for the president, invoked Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his closing defense at Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. “We hear the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his dream-filled speech about freedom,” Starr told the U.S. senators in attendance. 

Oddly enough, though, by “freedom” King didn’t mean freedom to lie, to cheat, to steal, to grab by the pussy, to brag about grabbing by the pussy, to bully, to insult, to extort, to blackmail, to encourage and reward murderers and punish those who resist murderers.

“And during his magnificent life, Dr. King spoke not only about freedom, freedom standing alone, he spoke frequently about freedom

Trump has been making a compelling case for something John Bolton something something is lying something. Compelling, I tells ya.

….many more mistakes of judgement, gets fired because frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now, and goes out and IMMEDIATELY writes a nasty & untrue book. All Classified National Security. Who would do this?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020

Note the compulsive “sir” mention. Note also the blithe admission that people told him it was a bad idea and he did it anyway and now he’s screaming at us about it as if it were someone else’s fault that he did a typically stupid incompetent reckless thing. Note all … Read the rest

When not putting targets on SEALs, they’re putting targets on women reporters.

Laughing about mistreating a woman reporter, who was questioning him about mistreatment of a woman Ambassador. The misogyny is palpable with these guys. https://t.co/tyb8TGABJP

— Mimi Rocah (@Mimirocah1) January 29, 2020

Hurr hurr, smirk smirk, wink wink.… Read the rest

Trump spent a little time at the “March for Life” today pretending to care.

Donald Trump’s speechwriters really pulled out all the rhetorical flourishes for his remarks at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Friday. Mr. “Grab ‘em by the pussy” was spouting line after line about “the majesty of God’s creation” and “the splendor that radiates from each human soul” and “all of the blessings that will come from the beauty, talent, purpose, nobility, and grace of every American child.” 

Every American child, please note. Obviously not every, or any, Mexican or Guatemalan or Nigerian or Ukrainian child.

Trump then paced the stage, basking in the attention, for the duration of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the

Whenever someone mentions climate change to Trump, he babbles irrelevantly about his ardent desire for the cleanest air, the cleanest purest water. His babbling is not just irrelevant but also a brazen lie. He’s doing his level best to make our water filthy.

The Trump administration is set to continue its corporate friendly assault on U.S. environmental regulations Thursday by finalizing a rule that will allow companies, landowners, and property developers—including golf course owners like the president—to dump pesticides and other pollutants directly into many of the nation’s streams and wetlands, potentially threatening the drinking water of millions of Americans.

“This will be the biggest loss of clean water protection the country has ever seen,” Blan Holman, an attorney