Before moving to L.A., I had lived in New York, Amsterdam and San Francisco. In L.A. I discovered something unique to this city. People ask you to invest in their films. It's insane because "invest" is the wrong word. It means you give them money for the film and then you write it off as a tax loss. I avoided that ugly world for the whole time I lived here.
Trump isn't dead yet and hasn't used his COVID diagnosis as an excuse for backing out of the race. He insists otherwise, but he was hurt badly by Tuesday's debate. This is very typical post-debate polling coverage: "Trump hurt himself more than his rival with Tuesday night's theatrics in what's been called the worst U.S.
Cone of Shame by Nancy OhanianSince Trump took over the White, U.S. influence abroad has tanked-- and just a year into his presidency U.S. leadership approval had already hit an all-time low. It's taken a while, but most Americans have now caught on.
"Guess what," said Chris Hayes Wednesday night in a brilliant commentary (above) on the Bolton-Trump revelations, "Donald Trump is exactly as terrible as we thought he was and John Bolton is exactly who we thought he was as well. That afternoon, we had all read how Trump begged President Xi Jinping of China to help him win reelection. Today in an interview Trump did with the Wall Street Journal's Michael Bender, he struck out at Xi.
People who let what Trump says guide their behavior are all going to get sick. Some will die unnecessarily. My favorite line from the talking orangutan yesterday was "Our country wasn’t built to be shut down." I wonder if he came up with it all on his own or if the world's most celebrated epidemiologist, Jared Kushner-- whose father bought him an acceptance to Harvard-- helped him with it. Kushner is certainly helping him counter all that scientific stuff hates so much that he is being force-fed by medical professionals invading his tiny mind.
Bloomberg dropped out of the presidential race this morning, after spending half a billion dollars to... win a couple of delegates from American Samoa. Obviously, he endorsed Status Quo Joe, loving his unofficial campaign slogan, "Nothing will fundamentally change." Want to throw up? "I’ve always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it.
Last week, Vanessa Williamson of the Brookings Institute wrote about the political force of Bloomberg's tactical charity. Bloomberg gives far more than Trump, but with much the same self-serving motives. "In his quest for the Democratic presidential nomination," wrote Williamson, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has already spent nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, more than that of the major Democratic candidates combined.
Oh, girl!Unless Trump gives it the go ahead-- tantamount to chopping off a finger-- Joe Manchin's fatuous proposal to censure Trump instead of impeaching him tomorrow, is DOA.
You probably never heard of him but, as the European version of Politico reported this week Joram van Klaveren converted to Islam. Why is that notable? He is a former member of Holland's parliament, elected on Geert Wilders' neo-fascist anti-immigrant, Islamophobic party, the PVV. How to think about this?
Trump confers with advisor Roger Stone by Nancy OhanianDo Snakes seeth? Trump sure does, and is. On Thursday morning, Jonathan Swan and Mike Allen were all over the seething.
