Idiocracy

The Miami Herald reports: Seated at a round table littered with party favors and the paper-cutout footballs that have become tradition at his annual Super Bowl Watch Party, President Donald Trump cheered the New England Patriots and his longtime friend, team owner Robert Kraft, to victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Feb. 3. Sometime during the party at Trump’s …

CNN reports: Lynne Patton, a longtime Trump family associate who made a controversial appearance at last week’s House hearing with Michael Cohen, says she has the President’s blessing to follow in his footsteps as a reality TV star, even as she serves as a high-ranking federal housing official. Patton’s appearance on a still-developing show about black Republicans would come during …

Foreign Policy reports: Jessikka Aro, a Finnish investigative journalist, has faced down death threats and harassment over her work exposing Russia’s propaganda machine long before the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. In January, the U.S. State Department took notice, telling Aro she would be honored with the prestigious International Women of Courage Award, to be presented in Washington by Secretary of …

The Independent reports: Following the release of the first full trailer for Game of Thrones season 8, the final outing for the HBO show, Stephen Colbert decided to air his own parody. “They’re coming — 81 document requests in the expanding Trump probe,” the trailer’s voiceover says. “A daring attack launched by house DEMs! This spring, brace yourself: Subpoenas are …

The Washington Examiner reports: First lady Melania Trump is challenging journalists to cover the opioid crisis as often as they publish “idle gossip and trivial stories.” She made the request while speaking in Las Vegas Tuesday at an event with conservative commentator Eric Bolling, whose 19-year-old son died from an overdose in 2017. Trump appeared to take a jab at …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump apparently couldn’t resist getting in a dig at Hillary Clinton after his 2016 opponent said yesterday she won’t be running this time. Clinton said, “I’m not running, but I’m going to keep working and speaking and standing up for what I believe.” The president mockingly responded, “Aw-shucks, does that mean I won’t get to run …

Just out from Quinnipiac Polling: President Donald Trump committed crimes before he became president, American voters say 64 – 24 percent in a Quinnipiac University National Poll released today. Republicans say 48 – 33 percent that President Trump did not commit crimes before he was president, the independent Quinnipiac University National Poll finds. Every other listed party, gender, education, age …

CNBC reports: Two websites used by President Donald Trump’s longtime friend Roger Stone to raise funds for his defense against criminal charges lodged by special counsel Robert Mueller and in civil cases have been deleted. At least one of those deletions apparently occurred after CNBC reported Sunday that the Republican operative might have violated the terms of his judicial gag …

Fox News personalities Zircon and Burlap yesterday called for literally imprisoning the lawmakers involved in the burgeoning new probe into Trump’s White House and personal businesses.  Last year, after having lied under oath about being paid to attend Trump rallies, they made similarly deranged claims, including that “millions of thousands” of Americans are “being killed by illegal immigrants” and that …

Talking Points Memo reports: President Trump on Tuesday attacked Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), accusing the House Judiciary Committee chairman of attempting to “harass” his associates in a wide-ranging probe into Trump’s administration, campaign and businesses. Trump said Democrats are ramping up their investigations “now that they realize the only Collusion with Russia was done by Crooked Hillary Clinton & …

NBC News reports: A book that pushes the conspiracy theory Qanon climbed within the top 75 of all books sold on Amazon in recent days, pushed by Amazon’s algorithmically generated recommendations page. “QAnon: An Invitation to the Great Awakening,” which has no stated author, ranked at No. 56 at press time. The book, “An Invitation to the Great Awakening,” is …

Bloomberg reports: In two separate papers published over the weekend, some of the world’s leading trade economists declared Trump’s tariffs to be the most consequential trade experiment seen since the 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariffs blamed for worsening the Great Depression. They also found the initial cost of Trump’s duties to the U.S. economy was in the billions and being borne largely …

CNN reports: The grand mahogany table of the White House State Dining Room was set with white roses, fine china, silver platters stacked with Big Macs and pouches of fried chicken sandwiches, and bowls of extra sauce. The champion North Dakota State Bison football team was in town, and McDonald’s and Chick-Fil-A were on the lunch menu. “We could’ve had …

CNBC reports: Roger Stone on Sunday suggested he has been “framed” by special counsel Robert Mueller in an Instagram post that appeared to run afoul of a judge’s barely week-old gag order barring President Donald Trump’s longtime friend from criticizing the prosecutors in the criminal case against him. Stone deleted the only image in that multi-image post that included “Who …

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump has blamed the Democrats’ decision to interview his former lawyer Michael Cohen on the same day as a meeting with Kim Jong-un for the fact that the North Korea summit ended with no deal. Last week in Hanoi, Trump and Kim met for the second time to try to negotiate a deal that would surrender …

Deadstate reports: Fresh off a long day and successful speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the Commander-in-Tweet continued this morning with Cohen attacks begun last night. That’s no doubt prompted by the Sunday morning news shows, which have focused relentlessly on Cohen’s testimony last week before the House Oversight Committee. After more than two years of Presidential Harassment, the …

“The press seems to think it’s ironic that I, born of great privilege, think people want to work for what they are given. As if being Donald Trump’s daughter isn’t the hardest job in the world.” – Ivanka Trump, speaking last night at the annual Gridiron Dinner, which features roasts of DC figures and political comedy skits. More from the …

USA Today reports: Trump invited onto the CPAC stage Hayden Williams, a conservative activist punched on the University of California at Berkeley’s campus last month. Praising Williams for “taking a hard punch in the face for all of us,” Trump urged Williams to sue his attacker, the college and possibly the state of California. “He’s going to be a very …

Mediaite reports: On Saturday night, President Donald Trump insisted on Twitter that a manuscript by Michael Cohen was “just released.” He also suggested that the same manuscript would show Cohen’s “testimony was a total lie.” Yet, here’s the rub. It seems the manuscript that Trump wants politicians and pundits to believe over Cohen’s testimony may not even exist and certainly …

The Washington Post reports: Lawmakers are investigating whether President Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen was involved in any discussions about possible pardons — which they view as a potentially ripe area of inquiry into whether anyone sought to obstruct justice, people familiar with the matter said. Cohen has said publicly he never asked for — and would not accept …