Let's be clear, Manaforts client, Yanukovich, tried to steal election in 2004, ordered snipers to kill protestors in 2014 & was very corrupt— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) August 16, 2016
Call it a match made in right-wing heaven.
Donald Trump’s hiring of Breitbart chairman Steve Bannon on Wednesday to be his campaign CEO marks the consummation of a months-long courtship with the conservative news and commentary site, which, under Bannon’s leadership, became Trump’s strongest media ally. Bannon will step down from his role at Breitbart to work with Trump, according to the campaign.
Trump sidelining Paul Manafort, who injected the campaign with a dose of seasoned professionalism, in favor of Bannon, once called the “most dangerous political operative in America,” also shows the real estate mogul firmly embracing the right-wing, establishment-hating fever swamps that fueled his candidacy since the beginning.
While the late Andrew Breitbart perhaps prophetically warned that Trump isn’t a conservative, his news site's love affair with the New York real estate mogul started years before Trump was a candidate. The site feverishly covered Trump’s relentless self-promotion and zest for stirring up speculation he might run for office.So, I'm thinking this isn't some kind of "shakeup of a troubled campaign". It's a corporate merger.
White Children Deserve A Future Free From #WhiteGenocide. #WhiteMothersAreMagic #MothersDay #MothersDayWeekend pic.twitter.com/9EbEIPPdgC— Ann Kelly (@LadyAodh) May 8, 2016
In a rare move @sciam takes a stand against Donald Trump's "lack of respect for science": https://t.co/62g50BpGBx pic.twitter.com/GyUq75s1R5— Media Matters (@mmfa) August 17, 2016
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane was convicted Monday of perjury, obstruction, and other crimes, after squandering her once-bright political future on an illegal vendetta against an enemy.What bugs me the most is that this is another great example of a political system that seems to run (at least in part) according to some kinda High-School-Fuck-Around set of rules.
— joyce hawkins (@ladywelder44) August 15, 2016
Found this archival photo of Manafort and Lewandowski in happier times. pic.twitter.com/ryaHeX7hjq— Tom Watson (@tomwatson) August 15, 2016
Government investigators examining secret records have found his name, as well as companies he sought business with, as they try to untangle a corrupt network they say was used to loot Ukrainian assets and influence elections during the administration of Mr. Manafort’s main client, former President Viktor F. Yanukovych.
Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials.
In addition, criminal prosecutors are investigating a group of offshore shell companies that helped members of Mr. Yanukovych’s inner circle finance their lavish lifestyles, including a palatial presidential residence with a private zoo, golf course and tennis court. Among the hundreds of murky transactions these companies engaged in was an $18 million deal to sell Ukrainian cable television assets to a partnership put together by Mr. Manafort and a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin.
Q: What do you think about Hillary Clinton and the Democrats?
“I fucking love them. I have always loved them. And let me just say this: If you’re a politician — not just in Washington but in business and industry, you have to be a politician — there are a lot of things that you have to do that you’re not proud of. There are a lot of compromises you have to make because it means that you can get this other thing over here. And if you think that you can go to fucking Washington and be rainbows and butterflies the whole time, you’re living in a fucking fantasy world. So now, having said that, think about what a female has to do with that: All of those compromises, all of that shit, double it by ten. And you get to understand who this woman is and how powerful, persuasive, brilliant, and resilient she is. Any female executive, anybody who has been put to the side — women, blacks, gays — for them to succeed in a white-male-dominated culture is an act of brilliance. Of resilience, of grit, of everything you can imagine. So, what do I think of Hillary? I think she’s fucking awesome. Is she in bed with Wall Street? Goddammit, I should hope so! You’ve got to dance with the devil. So which of the horrible people do you want? That’s more of the question. Do you want a pompous braggart who doesn’t know anything about diplomacy? Or do you want a badass bitch who knows how to get shit done? That’s really the question.”
The take-away here is that we have a lot of institutional sexism in our country—I think Scissorheads know that, we certainly laugh at it enough—The Skirts—and what RuPaul points out is that it puts an enormous burden-of-proof on women candidates. The late Ann Richards once said, “After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.
Ru-Paul is in many ways the epitome of badassery (a black gay man who has made a celebrity career of being a drag queen?! His drag show has been nominated for a freakin’ Emmy Award!), and if he sees a hero in Hillary Clinton then I can check my white male privilege at the door. His statement is remarkable.
Women politicians have to do everything male politicians do, but they get judged for doing it. From the clothes, to their voices, to just existing (the woman-card), they get scrutinized where men get a pass. Backwards and in high heels, indeed.
So as uncomfortable as I am (and I am very uncomfortable with political dynasties, and especially this dynasty because of the Clintons’ love of triangulation), I think it is absolutely remarkable that Hillary Clinton has not only won the nomination, but that she is winning the day-to-day battles.
She’s a badass bitch who knows how to get shit done. I can work with that.
