Just when I thought Trump's impeachment defense couldn't get any weirder... It did.

So, the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, spoke in front of reporters today and basically admitted that their was "quid pro quo" (why they withheld military funding and a meeting with Trump), but claimed that it was standard procedures in order to root out corruption in Ukraine, by investigating a conspiracy theory against Trump and a political rival of his. He also claimed that people were overacting over it, and making it political....

How can it not be political, based on asking a foreign president to investigate debunked conspiracy theories that didn't affect Trump until after the elections, or going after his biggest political rival, while Trump's own children are benefiting from nepotism right now, all in exchange for military aid and a meeting with Trump. They knew what they did was wrong, which is why they were doing all this cloak and dagger shit - which seemed to have been done by the 3 stooges (Trump, Pompeo, Giuliani, and Barr). It's why you have people leaking, or becoming whistle-blowers, or fleeing from the White House by quitting from positions that crossed paths with this shit.

I get they are trying to use the whole "Biden withholding billions to root out an ineffective corruption prosecutor in Ukraine" argument, but that was never political or so egregious corupt. And this undermines Trump's own claim that there was no "quid pro quo".

Trump values loyalty to him above all else, so family and very close friends make up his inner circle. Hence, Guliani, and members of Trump's own family, are given very important positions in his administration, without the fear they well betray him.

Looks like the Acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, is now changing his story, after the firestorm he created with his publicized comments caught on camera, claiming his words about "quid pro quo" were misconstrued... Never a dull day at the Trump White House. I wonder how long before he is fired?

Conservatives/GOP are running ads against Trump on networks like Fox News. Trump really has pissed off many in his base over his Syria troops withdraw decision, and now his decision to use tax payer money, and foreign money, to enrich himself, to hold the next G7 summit at his resort - claiming it will save money.

Trump is also doubling down on vilifying the Kurds as a reason to throw them under the buss. And the Daily Show did a "now and after" montage of Trump, where he did a complete 180 on the Kurds within a years time.

This is like saying that Democrats should sue Fox News, Breibart, and other far right sites that are more state propaganda, and conspiracy, than actual news these days. This is nothing more than a sad attempt by the Trump admin to deflect from reality, and their current problems, that they created for themselves through their own lies, partisan nonsense, and incompetence.

Trump is in trouble. It wasn't the outright abuse of power of trying get a foreign country to help him in 2020 by going after his political rival, it was his decision to withdrawal US forces from Syria and abandoning our allies there. And now, it's was his egregious decision to make money from the presidency by holding the next G7 at one of his own resorts, which he has recently walked back.

Polls are showing cracks in GOP support for Trump, with a few more Republicans saying they are warming up to impeaching him.

In an attempt to stem off criticism, and loss of support, the Trump campaign is barraging social media sites with fake news ads attacking their opponents and vilifying immigrants.

Another busy day for the Trump impeachment inquiry. While Trump is yelling nonsense about Democrats lynching him, the Acting Ukraine ambassador, Bill Taylor, gave damning testimony of the trump admin back door dealing and "Quid Pro Qou".

There was basically two channels to Ukraine from the US, the official one, in which Taylor was part of, and the unofficial channel made up of Giuliani, Volker, Sondland, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Both had similar goals at the beginning, but drastically diverged with the later going rogue. Trump knew about both. And some of those people involved in the unofficial channels didn't want any records of their conversations. And, in Taylor's opinion, there wasn't any doubt that "quid pro quo" was being used to get Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, and a baseless conspiracy, to help the Trump campaign out, but that Trump, Volker, and Sondland, were trying to justify it under different names and terms.

It also appears that that Russia, and even Hungary, impressed upon Trump that Ukraine was not to be trusted and a lost cause, which is like trusting the words of wolves to guard the sheep. So, on top of the conspiracy being promoted by right wing political commentators, and probably people close to him, Trump was being manipulated on multiple fronts which led him to do all this shit, because of his vindictive and vain nature over his image. In an ironical twist, his prideful pursuit of revenge towards getting back at those who challenge him, or smeared his name, Trump made things worse for himself.

Recent polls shows rising support for impeachment, especially among independents.

So, a Ukraine Oligarch, who hired a firm that is under investigation for money laundering and campaign finance violations, which pays Trump's lawyer, Giuliani, offered to find dirt on Biden in exchange for dropping US extraditions against him.

Trump, in a move reminiscent of Bush's infamous "Mission accomplished" statement over Iraq, claimed that there was a major breakthrough over Syria, and has decide to suspend sanction on Turkey. This was after Russia intervened as peacemaker in the region, and divided up the area that the Kurds formally occupied between Turkey and Syria. So, Our allies, the Kurds are pretty much screwed.

Trump threatens to veto a bill aimed at curtailing Foreign influnce in the country. This must be part of his America first policy.

Talking of denial: Fox News Host: Trump Hasn't Had 'Hint Of Scandal' In Office

So, with the withdraw of most of US forces from Syria, Iraq doesn't want those US forces stationed in their country

Putin gloats, telling the Kurds to scram, after brokering a deal between Syria and Turkey to divide their lands.

ISIS celebrates.

Trump supporters up in arms over impeachment inquiry, with Republicans fanning misinformation and doing political stunts.

Right-wing pastor says Trump supporters will 'hunt down' Democrats when he leaves office.

Report: MLB investigating umpire's threatening tweet regarding Trump impeachment hearings

Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a resolution in the Senate today to condemn the impeachment inquiry being done by the House, arguing it is unconstitutional and unfair, because it wasn't voted on by the House and is being held behind closed doors so Trump can't counter what is being said.

This is what Republicans argued about some of the closed door hearings they had over Bengahzi during the Obama years:

"The committee’s preference for private interviews over public hearings has been questioned,” former Rep. Trey Gowdy’s Benghazi committee said in its final report. “Interviews are a more efficient and effective means of discovery. Interviews allow witnesses to be questioned in depth by a highly prepared member or staff person. In a hearing, every member of a committee is recognized — usually for five minutes — a procedure which precludes in-depth in-depth focused questioning. Interviews also allow the committee to safeguard the privacy of witnesses who may fear retaliation for cooperating or whose work requires anonymity, such as intelligence community operatives.”

And it has come out that some of the witnesses are secretly working together to get their stories straight, which undermines the whole process, and something Democrats were trying to avoid. But Trump, and his gang of rabid followers in the House, are trying to disrupt and obstruct, and fuck up, the inquiry as much as they can to help to help Trump out - who they all know is guilty as heck.

To little surprise at how low The Trump admin can go, the DOJ has decided to change the probe into a Russia conspiracy against Trump into a criminal investigation, in an attempt to try to find anything,... anything... anything... no matter how small, to counter the impeachment narative into some sort vindication for Trump, making him look like a victim of some deep state plot that didn't actually afect him in the 2016 election. Many are pointing out that this will be misusing the DOJ for political retribution

The conservative columnist, John Solomon, who has been going out of his way to promote this Ukraine conspiracy, even going to Ukraine to dig up dirt, and who caught the eye of Trump officials, and even Trump, was ratted out by two Ukraine Lawyers, who are in the midst of this scandal and are to be tried for campaign money laundering violations. These lawyers, who's firm was hired by a Ukraine oligarch fighting extradition to the US over crimes committed (and hoping to get US officials to drop it by finding dirt on the Bidens), claimed that Solomon also hired them.

Trump's younger brother got a 33 million dollar contract from the US government. The swamp is thriving.

Trump is gloating about killing a leader of ISIS, claiming his style of foreign policy works. It also looks like he kept Congressional Democrats in the dark over it. This action may have been brought upon by recent criticism by Republicans over his decision to withdraw US forces from Syria, and abandon our Kurdish allies - and to improve his poll numbers in the wake of the Ukraine scandal and Democrats impeachment inquiry.

Trump also renews a debunked claim that he Knew that Osama Bin Laden was a danger, and should have been taken out.

Meanwhile, Trump claimed he has withdrawn all US forces from Syria, which isn't quite true. He has left a small force to guard the oil fields there.

Sondland Testified Trump-Ukraine Pressure Was Quid Pro Quo, His Lawyer Tells WSJ

I was saying Boo-urns.

Trump is dramatizing the raid that killed an ISIS leader (with sound effects), with a top official who was there not sure where Trump got some of his details... Trump praises dog in the raid that got slightly injured.

Trump may be taking a victory lap on this raid, but he threw a huge monkey wrench in it by his abrupt decision to withdraw US forces from Syria. And some are questioning if the Photo that the White House released was staged (like a reality show), considering the stark contrast it had with a photo of Obama in the situation room when Osama Bin Laden was taken down.

hue hue hue hue

Seems like this really hurt Nate Silver's feelings, though.

This reminds me...

During the press conference held to announce al-Baghdadi’s death, Trump played up the accomplishment as being an even greater achievement than the killing of bin Laden, saying: “This is the biggest one perhaps that we’ve ever captured,” and “This is the biggest there is. This is the worst ever. Osama bin Laden was big, but Osama bin Laden became big with the World Trade Center. This is a man who built a whole, as he would like to call it, a country.”

And...

In short, the answer those questions is “yes,” Donald Trump did say such a thing. Back on October 23, 2012 — just two weeks before President Obama’s re-election to a second term — Trump tweeted the imperative, “Stop congratulating Obama for killing Bin Laden. The Navy Seals killed Bin Laden”:

How things have changed...

And Republican continue to go down hill, as they now accuse Democrats of a soviet style impeachment hearing over things they did to Democrats. It just show that the GOP have nothing, but lies, to protect an administration who pretty much admitted they did wrong.

A GOP goes after a witness, attacking his patriotism by arguing he speaks Ukrainian, and that he is lying in defense of a country he never grew up in.

FOX news claims their are double agents in the White House.

I'm detecting pattern here: It started with the Muller report, where the right went after Robert Mueller, accusing him of being biased against Trump, even though he was a conservative Republican. The right leaning narrative seem to be that anyone who doesn't defend Trump, or they criticize him, are not Republicans, or patriots, but are enemy of the American people, traitors, biased, partisan, anti-constitutionists, communists, double agents. But, it's all nonsense, and it's just a morally defunct party who fears losing power and are spitting out a bunch of rhetoric and lies to defend the most egregious acts of lawlessness and bad behavior from the highest office in the land.

Speaking of Russia: Russia Releases Damning Evidence Of The U.S. Smuggling Syrian Oil

Outside of more damning testimony about Trump's admin involvement in the Ukraine scandal, and Trump's posting on twitter a photo-shopped images of him awarding a dog with a medal and calling it a "True American Hero", it's been a rather quite day.

And this may not be Trump, but his son is learning to say the most dumbest things ever, in hopes people will believe him, like his father. Donald Trump Jr: I Wish I Was Like Hunter Biden So I Could ‘Make Millions Off of My Father’s Presidency’ - and yes, his family has made millions off their fathers' presidency.

I don’t see the problem with this.

So, the guy that cries fake new post a fake picture.

Considering this is Trump, that is the most noteworthy thing from him today in the media... He has been surprisingly... unTrumpish today.

I don’t see the issue with posting a clearly fake, fun, non-snide picture. Being irritated with this picture adds to the fatigue with Trump-outrage stories.

I think it’s ok (albeit with the bitter undercurrent of Trump championing Al-Whatshisface’s death over Obama and Osama’s death)

Democrats finally voted on a formal resolution of impeachment, not that it means much in this early stage of things. Nor will it stop the GOP from claiming it's illegitimate, and a coup, while trying to sabotage it any way they can.

*sigh

Trump sends Troops to bases in Syria it just abandoned, not out of any concern for the Kurds, but to protect the oil. You know, this kinda looks like one huge lie on Trump's part to his base, while also looking like we are trying to control another countries resources.

Trump, who is known as the quintessential New Yorker, has decided to change residence to Florida. Trump claims that NY is being unfair and mean to him, because of ongoing investigations into his businesses - they are still trying to get hold of his tax returns. It could also be that after signing last year's tax law, which got rid of of SALT, making Blue states like NY pay more federal taxes, that changing his residence will lead to less taxes for him.

In another twist to the impeachment hearings, a former advisor to Trump, Tim Morrison, contradicted other witnesses, claiming he saw nothing illegal about Trump's phone call with the Ukraine president, and that the released transcript of the call did not have anything major missing from it. But, considering that the White House won't release the actual call transcript, and that Morrison was one of the people who decided to move the call to a top secret server, meant for state secrets, a very unusual move, it calls into question Morrison's testimony over what he didn't think was illegal. He was also promoting several White House talking points.

Meanwhile, it came out that Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personnel Lawyer, was apparently also a cyber security advisor to Trump... Who had to go to an apple Store to unlock his iPhone, because he kept entering the wrong password....

There has been reports that Trump's "beautiful" wall on the US/Mexican border already has holes in it by smugglers, who used power tools to create them. Unfortunately, government agencies overseeing the wall are refusing to report them to the public. There has also been cases of people using ladders to climb over it.

Can we claim that this wall is a monument to stupidity and blind cultural pride?

Meanwhile, during a Halloween party at the White House, there was an activity for kids to "build a wall" with paper bricks with their names on them. Gotta start young with the propaganda.

Trump claims that Vindman, who testified last week, is a never-Trumper, and that he has evidence of that. Vindman, who listened on the Ukraine call as part of the White House National Security Council, felt it was inappropriate of Trump to ask a foreign power to investigate a political rival.

Now, there is been a pattern that has been emerging with Trump, and his allies, that goes all the way back to the hiring of Robert Muller as special Counsel, investigating the Trump administration/campaign. Those investigating Trump have been accused of either having a bias, or a conflict of interest. It would be one thing if they were an outright libeal, or a Democrat. But they are not. They are Republicans, or conservatives, or even moderates. This is a far cry when Kenneth Star, who was a Special console investigating then President BIll Clinton over Whitewater, and ended up investigating him for almost 5 year over it, getting him on lying over an affair - which led the Republican controlled house to impeach him on, arguing it was morally imperative of them to do so.

On another note, Trump is sorta admitting he may have done "quid pro quo", but quickly dismissed it as not being wrong. This is part of the narrative that the Trump administration is going for, arguing that they were just tackling corruption in a foreign country like Joe Biden did with the Billion dollar aid.

Also, Trump was pretty angry at Fox News when one of their recent polls showed that the majority of registered voters in the country believes that the impeachment inquiry is justified. Trump is claiming that polls are fake and that the majority of people in the country, including Democrats, support him.

Criticize the president? Experiencing a massive wildfire and have people losing their homes and all their possessions?

Too bad, No federal funding for you. It's your own fault for opposing the president.

It seems that the conspiracy that Trump is obsessed with, which led him to not to trust Ukraine (because he believed they were working with Democrats to take him down in the 2016 election by hacking their own servers), leading him to his current scandal, had it's origins from Russian supporters.

One of the earliest promoters of this conspiracy, and huge Russian supporter, was Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman. Alt-right media personality, and ex-Trump advisor, Steve Bannon, warned Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner, to "avoid like a plague".

All of this came from a batch of recently released Mueller documents, which Buzzfeed sued the DOJ for under the freedom of information act.