It’s also very typical in authoritarian regimes that you have to say things you know aren’t true. Denying reality itself is a pretty profound form of submission. Eventually you’re not allowed to believe in reality at all, but we’re not there just yet. Only the Republicans are.
Not to go on about it but he was certainly surprised and not pleasantly. But I thought his responses were sarcastic and mocking in tone. Occasionally, even if you know you’re being filmed and recorded in various ways, you get a sense of false privacy that’s still a thing we can mistakenly expect even now when we live our lives on the World Wide Web. He started mugging for the audience, to get a laugh, and now he has to grovel before the king.
Isn’t it sad how EVERYBODY has to check their Honor and their Values and their Honesty at the door to the WH when they take a Cabinet position in the Trump Regime?
If you don’t GROVEL at the feet of the God-Emperor-King Trump you will be cast out, and they all know it.
That’s the $64,000 question. While I understand the difficult position that Coats is in, I find myself unable to excuse his deference to Trump’s behavior. I think we are at (or very, very close to) the point where Coats or Mattis or someone who still has some credibility left has to stand up and scream, “We have to stop Trump before he destroys the US and irreparably damages the free world!”
Such bullshit. His response was disrespectful (as it should have been!) and conveyed exactly that. In those brief minutes he expresed exactly what a lot of us were feeling upon hearing the news that trump invited Putin to the White House: shock, horror, and incredulity at the stupidity. And in those brief minutes I actually had respect for Coats. I now see he’s an ass kissing bootlicker like most Republicans are.
You know what was also disrespectful? Not giving Coats the heads up before announcing this ridiculous decision.
Tom Bossert: I’m a political consultant for ABC. Dan Coats is good at his job, but he’s not in charge of Trump’s schedule. Everything is going according to plan. Yes, you may not like what Trump says, but pay attention to what his administration does. The ends justify the means.
Adam Schiff: No.
Alan Dershowitz: Surrounded by American flags, baseball toys, Abraham Lincoln. Still defending Trump, but a little more subdued today. Still using his stubby little fingers to make his point, emphasized by the Eddie Cantor eye thing. You’re missing my Point.
Michael Avenatti has Dershowitz’s number: Please don’t interrupt me. Here’s what you’re overlooking. Period.
Dan Abrams: Yes.
I see that Alex Castellano received his marching orders today. He’s in lockstep with Newt Gingrich, Frank Luntz, and Trump: anything left of center is Wacky and Tin Foil Hat Worthy. Democrat Socialists: Wacky. Young people, minorities, Bernie Sanders, the Left: Wacky. The Far Left: Vewy Wacky!
Michelle Goldberg: Damn right I’m mad. I will lay out my entire case on this panel. I will look you in the eye and say it to your face. You can call me Wacky if it pleases you.
Stephanie Cutter: Pyootin.
Frank Bruni: Don’t. Be. Rude. (Okay, I made that part up.)
After appeasing Trump, Coats rushed out, purchased a tasteful, not too expensive shrubbery as a gift for his master and then attempted to cut down a large tree with a herring.
Well, the “Won’t that be special,” Yes. The audience laughed, but everyone was caught off-guard. He didn’t come right out and say it was a good idea, so if that’s being disrespectful…
If you watch the video it’s clear that he was surprised by the news (how could he not be), and that is reaction was natural, unplaned and unfeigned. Only a paranoid narcissist would think it was disrespectful.
Coats clarified his own reaction to being ambushed by Trump’s announcement. Trump was watching and perceived that Coats was being disloyal. Trump then lobbed a turd at him during his interview with Mitchell. Coats also said the private meeting Trump/Putin was not good, and talked a bit about quitting. Those were not walked back.
Here’s my problem with that: while i have a bad track record in predicting futures, Coats doesn’t do himself any favors with a backtracking statement, that can also double as a key towards him committing future errors.
Coats knows what he said and why he said it and chances are, he’s regretting this walk-back or he will soon.
Because “Say that again,” and “That’s going to be special” could more properly have been expressed as, “Holy shit! What the fuck is that traitorous idiot doing now!”
He did say the job “wasn’t fun” and that the best part of the day was seeing how the Cubs had done. But he also said he was staying in because he wanted to serve his country.
No disrespect meant, but this is a new and very dangerous timeline, so reliance on either McConnell or Cornyn to protect Sessions or Coats is not a great strategy.
