Idiocracy

Twitter lit up last night when the infamous “Rage Furby” troll was spotted in the SOTU gallery and now we know how he got there. The Daily Beast reports: Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a conservative Republican firebrand, was the lawmaker responsible for inviting the controversial internet troll Chuck Johnson to Tuesday night’s State of the Union address. Johnson’s presence in …

Mediaite reports: If Fox News acts like the state-run-media of the Trump administration, as some media critics have suggested, then the Daily Caller is its younger, more embarrassing state-media sibling. And the website finally got some of that White House attention they’ve been craving by publishing an article fawning over the number of claps the president received during his State …

Raw Story reports: Wednesday interview with Sarah Huckabee Sanders prompted women to take to Twitter and call out the White House press secretary for embracing the sexist trope that women should smile more. During the interview with Chris Cuomo, Sanders called out Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and said that she should “smile more.” The demand is often referenced by women …

USA Today reports: President Trump said he’s learned that he can’t always run the government like a business because millions of people are impacted by the decisions he makes as president. “When you’re a businessperson, you don’t have to worry about your heart, the heart. You really do what’s best for you — you know, for almost purely monetary reasons,” …

CNN reports: Rep. Paul Gosar said he requested that US Capitol Police arrest undocumented immigrants attending President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday. The Arizona Republican, who is known as an immigration hardliner, tweeted his request that police “consider checking identification of all attending the State of the Union address and arresting any illegal aliens in attendance.” …

Splinter News reports: Want to see your name flash across the stream of a broadcast of tonight’s State of the Union address? Well, now you can, for the low low price of a $35 donation to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. “This is a movement. It’s not about just one of us. It’s about ALL of us. Which is why your …

Buzzfeed News reports: The striking similarity between a newly-released Treasury Department report of Russian oligarchs and a 2017 list of wealthy Russians published in Forbes Magazine is no coincidence. On Tuesday, a Treasury Department spokesperson confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the unclassified annex of the report was derived from Forbes’ ranking of the “200 richest businessmen in Russia 2017.” The …

“The allegations in the Wall Street Journal were deeply troubling, but Steve has denied these allegations, unlike Harvey Weinstein and Al Franken and others. There is an investigation that will take place. He should be allowed due process and if he is found of any wrongdoing, we will absolutely return 100% of that money. But we’ll let due process take …

The New York Times reports: Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, apparently disregarding Justice Department warnings that their actions would be “extraordinarily reckless,” voted Monday evening to release a contentious secret memorandum said to accuse the department and the F.B.I. of misusing their authority to obtain a secret surveillance order on a former Trump campaign associate. The vote threw fuel …

NBC News reports: The day after President Donald Trump fired James Comey as director of the FBI, he became so furious watching television footage of Comey boarding a government-funded plane from Los Angeles back to Washington that he called the bureau’s acting director, Andrew McCabe, to vent, according to multiple people familiar with the phone call. Trump demanded to know …

Raw Story reports: On Monday, journalists on Twitter noted something odd about tickets to tomorrow’s State of the Union — that the term “union” was misspelled as “uniom.” This isn’t the first time a Trump-related typo has made waves. After President Donald Trump fired former FBI director James Comey last year, his lawyer issued an error-laden statement that included the …

The Washington Examiner reports: The White House announced Monday that all of President Trump’s children, except for his youngest son, will attend his first State of the Union address Tuesday. “All of the president’s children, along with the first lady, will be at the State of the Union, with the exclusion of Barron. I don’t believe he will be attending …

Variety reports: Omarosa has moved from the White House to the Big (Brother) House. Former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman — who exited the Trump administration last year — was unveiled as one of the contestants for the CBS reality show “Celebrity Big Brother” in a promo aired by the network during the Grammy Awards. A veteran of reality …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump’s description of the climate on planet Earth doesn’t quite match what data show and scientists say. In an interview with Piers Morgan airing Sunday on Britain’s ITV News, the president said the world was cooling and warming at the same time and that claims of melting ice caps haven’t come true. TRUMP: “There …

The Guardian reports: A new book depicts Donald Trump as a media obsessive who measures his staff’s loyalty by how well they defended him on television. But despite his Twitter habit, he rarely looks at the web. A copy of Media Madness: Donald Trump, the Press, and the War Over the Truth by Howard Kurtz, a host and media critic …

ABC News reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday his own Justice Department may be fair game for criticism amid Republican complaints of anti-Trump bias in the FBI. Sessions, speaking to law enforcement officials in Norfolk, Virginia, said the department’s mission is to identify and correct “mistakes of the past” and eliminate political bias “in either direction” from its investigations …

Inside Edition reports: Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who was reportedly paid $130,000 by President Trump’s lawyer to keep quiet about their alleged affair, is opening up to Inside Edition in a world exclusive interview — but she’s staying mum on the details. Daniels allegedly had an affair with Trump in 2006, just months after Melania Trump gave birth …

Of course he did: Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke took his professed love for hunting to the world’s largest gun trade show in Las Vegas this week, where he spread the word on the importance of public land access. Speaking on the Josh Tolley radio show from the event Thursday morning, Zinke said he attended the Shooting, Hunting Outdoor Trade …

The Hill reports: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Thursday acknowledged that “it’s a real possibility” that a reference to a “secret society” in a text message exchange between two FBI officials was made in jest. The Wisconsin Republican told CNN and ABC News that it was possible that there is no “secret society” amid an uproar from GOP officials about …

Newsweek reports: Former Celebrity Apprentice winner Piers Morgan has bagged the first ever international TV interview with President Donald Trump since his inauguration one year ago. Morgan will meet with his friend Trump in Davos at the World Economic Forum, where the pair are expected to sit down for an interview that a source told The Daily Mirror was “a …