Shorter Trump Spox: "Comey's Been Fired, So It's Time to Stop Investigating Trump's Russian Ties."

Spicer's assistant liar pretty much has given the game away.

Which, to my way of thinking, shows that they don't give a shit about anything remotely resembling the rule of law. The excuse of "do things Americans care about" would, if taken honestly, mean a full and impartial investigation of Trump's Russian fuckery. Because people do care about that.

Trump's firing of Comey is, to quote Jeffrey Toobin: "Transparently bogus."

Update #1: Sen. McConnell, aka "Toady #1," defended Trump. No surprise there.

Spicer's Crib Notes

(Credit)

Spicer Uncorks a Whopper

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer came under fire Tuesday after saying that Adolf Hitler "didn't even sink to using chemical weapons" against his own people like Syrian strong man Bashar Al-Assad.

He later sought to clarify his remarks in three separate statements.

Spicer, speaking from the White House podium at the daily press briefing, said that Hitler, whom he called "despicable," did not use "the gas on his own people the same way Assad used them."

Right. German Jews were among the first to be marched into the gas chambers (though to the Nazis, those Jews weren't Germans because the German government had stripped them of their citizenship). So I guess that putting people into enclosed rooms before gassing them to death, as opposed to dropping gas bombs from aircraft, is a distinction in Spicer's fetid mind.

There also seems to be a distinction, in his pathetic cluster of crainial neurons, between Zyklon B and Sarin gases.

"The Holocaust Center" is Spicer's euphemism for extermination camps.

Saying that what Assad had done was worse then the Holocaust, which is apparently what Spicer was ineptly trying to say, is tantamount to denial of the Holocaust.

And all of this during Passover?

Baghdad Bob Spicer is at It Again

Maybe somebody can explain how firing about five dozen Tomahawk missiles at somebody works to "de-escalate" an ongoing civil war. Because it sure isn't making sense to me.

A Little Late for That; Spicer the Liar Ed.

Former President Obama's communications director is advising White House press secretary Sean Spicer to be careful with his reputation.

Asked to give advice to her fellow flack, Jen Psaki told the DC/BS podcast that Spicer must "remember that your credibility is more important than the length of time you stay in a job."

"He has to be conscious and cognizant every single day when he goes to that podium about the fact that he's not an old guy and he's going to have a long career after this potentially," she said.

That sage piece of advice is about 70 days too late.

But it's not all Spicer's fault. His boss reportedly tells Spicer what to say, watches Spicer's press briefings and if Spicer doesn't say what Dolt-45 wants, then Spicer gets to do a rug dance. There was no clearer example of this than on January 21st, when Spicer reamed out the press for reporting the truth about the size of the crowd at Trump's inauguration. Spicer has gamely repeated all of Trump's lies.

Spicer is on track to be the best-known liar and spinner in the West Wing since Ron Ziegler. Neither one of them isn't exactly Jerry terHorst when it comes to integrity.

FBI and NSA Directors Confirm: Trump is Nuttier Than a Truckload of Almonds

No, they didn't actually say that. They didn't have to.

British intelligence officials were formally exonerated on Monday by the director of the US National Security Agency from an extraordinary accusation of improper surveillance of Donald Trump.

And

Under questioning from the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, the FBI director also publicly contradicted a series of tweets from Trump that declared the Republican candidate's phones had been ordered tapped by President Barack Obama during the campaign.

"With respect to the president's tweets about alleged wiretapping directed at him by the prior administration, I have no information that supports those tweets, and we have looked carefully inside the FBI," Comey said. The same was true, he added, of the Justice Department.

But they are investigating Trump's ties to Russia:

Comey also acknowledged the existence of a counterintelligence investigation into the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, and said that probe extends to the nature of any links between Trump campaign associates and the Russian government.

Comey said the investigation is also exploring whether there was any coordination between the campaign and the Kremlin, and “whether any crimes were committed.”

Meanwhile, Spicer the Liar is doing what he does best: Lying through his teeth.

Meanwhile, this is not terribly far-fetched.

Shorter Spicer: "The Evidence Is in Al Capone's Vault!"

There are "no indications" that Trump Tower was under surveillance by the US government before or after the election, a Senate committee has said.

The statement from Republican Senator Richard Burr, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman, dismissed Donald Trump's claim his phones were tapped.
...
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Mr Trump maintains his claims.

Of course he does, for it is now well-proven that Trump believes things that aren't true: His inauguration crowd was the largest ever, his electoral college win was the largest since Reagan, the sun came out when he spoke, Obama was born in Kenya, and that he's a self-made man.

Spicer says "evidence is forthcoming", which means that Bannon has his flying monkeys hard at work forging it.

Is All of This Crap Maskirova or Just Rank Incompetence?

Last week, after Spicer [the Liar] became aware that information had leaked out of a planning meeting with about a dozen of his communications staffers, he reconvened the group in his office to express his frustration over the number of private conversations and meetings that were showing up in unflattering news stories, according to sources in the room. ... Spicer also warned the group of more problems if news of the phone checks and the meeting about leaks was leaked to the media.

Spicer has changed his tune pretty quickly. Two months ago, he said that banning media outlets based on what they reported was something that happens in dictatorships, not democracies. I submit that anyone who doesn't believe that Spicer wouldn't wipe his ass without an order from Caudillo Trump is deluding themselves.

So here is the question: Is all of this just utter incompetence or a planned distraction, cover for something that is truly evil and is swimming around under the surface?

Shorter Response by Mexio to Trump: Foxtrot Oscar, Apha, Delta, Out.

(Earlier story)

Mexico's lead negotiator with the Trump administration, Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, said there was no way Mexico would accept the new rules, which among other things seek to deport non-Mexicans to Mexico.

"I want to say clearly and emphatically that the government of Mexico and the Mexican people do not have to accept provisions that one government unilaterally wants to impose on the other," he told reporters at the Foreign Ministry.

It was pretty foreseeable that Mexico isn't going to go along with Trump's idea to set up detention camps, in Mexico, for people to sit in while awaiting hearings.

Doubt if Canada will, as well.

Melissa-McCarthy-wannabee Sean Spicer, meanwhile, is doing what he does best: Lie like his boss.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer described U.S.-Mexico ties as healthy and robust and said he expected a "great discussion."

"I think the relationship with Mexico is phenomenal right now," Spicer told reporters.

Don't Ask Sean Spicer to Book a Flight for You

He can't tell the difference between Orlando and Atlanta.

There is just too much to snark on with these clowns.

I Cannot Keep Up

Doug in Oakland mentioned in a comment that the Trump Administration is concerned about the invasion of helpless Belarus by Poland. Which, of course, hasn't happened.

Stephen Colbert mentioned something along the lines of "When the bad guy says 'You Americans think you're so superior, but we are not so different from you,' the good guy doesn't respond 'you're right, let's have a drink'." (Trump defended Putin's government murdering people.)

Trump was babbling about the "dishonest media" not covering terror attacks.

And of course, Trump claims that there were over three million fraudulent voters, all not voting for him. A claim for which there is no evidence whatsoever (ok, maybe for or ten voters- still no evidence of widespread fraud).

I can't keep up with the amount of outright lies and bullshit being spewed by Trump, Spicer and Conway, let alone the rest of Trump's team of alternate historians..

Shorter Spicer: "Yeah, We'll Continue to Lie. Catch Us If You Can. See If We Care."

White House spokesman Sean Spicer gave his first "official" press conference of the Trump administration Monday afternoon.

"I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts," Spicer said. "Our intention is never to lie to you."The difference between Spicer's comments and toilet paper is that you can at least wipe your ass with toilet paper.

"Disagree with the facts"-- Alternative facts.

Pretty telling that the guy who is the paid mouthpiece for the man who was the Chief Birther is now whining about people trying to undermine his guy.

The Truthiness Presidency

Spicer's still defending his bald-faced lies of Saturday. And blaming someone else. Pretty piss-poor state of affairs when he implies that your average blogger had better access to information than he did.

One thing that I missed in all of this is that when President* Trump went to visit the CIA, he bused in his own cheering section (and not for the first time).

U.S. government sources tell CBS News that there is a sense of unease in the intelligence community after President Trump’s visit to CIA headquarters on Saturday.

An official said the visit “made relations with the intelligence community worse” and described the visit as “uncomfortable.”

Authorities are also pushing back against the perception that the CIA workforce was cheering for the president. They say the first three rows in front of the president were largely made up of supporters of Mr. Trump’s campaign.

An official with knowledge of the make-up of the crowd says that there were about 40 people who’d been invited by the Trump, Mike Pence and Rep. Mike Pompeo teams. The Trump team expected Rep. Pompeo, R-Kansas, to be sworn in during the event as the next CIA director, but the vote to confirm him was delayed on Friday by Senate Democrats. Also sitting in the first several rows in front of the president was the CIA’s senior leadership, which was not cheering the remarks.

What the fuck, he has to bring his own studio audience with him wherever he goes?

This sounds like something that Castro would have done. (President* Fidel Trump?)

On another note, it seems that once reporters started digging into his companies, he found time to formally resign. Maybe. Nothing's been filed in the states where he has to do that.

And anyone who believes that there will be no discussions between him and his offspring concerning the companies probably shouldn't be let out of the house without adult supervision.

The Crowd Size Kerfuffle

Maybe I'm naïve, but I can't see what benefit the Trump Administration is gaining from picking a fight over the estimates of the comparative crowd sizes for the inauguration of of President* Trump and the first inauguration of President Obama.

I suppose that everyone expects that any president and his press secretary are going to lie from time to time. But when a new president comes into office and the very first thing that they do is lie and argue about something that is demonstrably provable, and the very first press conference with the new Press Secretary is nothing more than a tongue-lashing to support a lie, what good comes from that from their perspective?

Hell, even The Weekly Standard is appalled:

What's worrisome is that Spicer wouldn't have blown his credibility with the national press on Day 2 of the administration unless it was vitally important to Trump.

And if media reports about crowd size are so important to Trump that he'd push Spicer out there to lie for him, then it means that all the tinpot-dictator, authoritarian, characterological tics that people worried about during the campaign are still very much active.

You know who obsessed about crowd size? Fidel Castro. You know who did not? George Washington, John Adams, Andrew Jackson, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Reagan, Clinton, and every other man to ever serve as president of these United States of America.

What this is illustrating is that Trump is extremely thin-skinned, that he cannot accept being challenged on anything, and that even if it's a non-consequential thing and fighting over it will only damage his brand, he's gotta hit back.

Going to be a very interesting four years. Or fewer.*
_________________________________
* If he pulls a Palin.