Take aways of tape:
Lev Parnas is most politically savvy person in the room during this dinner.
He and Don Jr advocate for legalization of cannabis albeit differently. Parnas talks about it in terms of banking, committee hearings.
Jr. says less men will beat their wives.
Don Jr. says Comey sounds like a whiny teenager. In an unironically whiny teenager voice.
President says cable news would be dead if there were a normal candidate, declares magazines dead.
When the discussion turns to long haul truckers, he says soon we won’t need them.
This is a large constituency and his base. They listen to talk radio more than anyone else. So casually thrown away by their president at a dinner where a man complains the money he gave his 16 year old son to invest in the stock market hasn’t yet to yield a profit. Poor kid.
The president seems surprised to learn that Ukraine has oil. He begins to gather info. He asks Lev Parnas what about their leader? He asks Parnas how long Ukraine would last against Russia. The president is hatching his scheme. This is the beginning of the Ukraine ordeal.
He now knows Ukraine has oil. That they are dependent upon us for survival. He now has leverage. I bet they’ll do anything I ask them to. Earlier in the dinner, they discussed the topic of Biden polling in AZ.
Parnas tells the president there is an Ambassador, a left over from Clinton. She says you’ll be impeached. A man laughs and says “she’ll be gone by tomorrow.” But the president hears the laughter ringing in his head. How dare someone say I’ll be impeached? Like a joke.
This is a narcissistic injury. He must regain control. He says get rid of her. Take her out. Do it tomorrow. That phrase, the same referenced in the joke. He never asks the Ambassador’s name. He didn’t care about Yovanovitch. He never even thought of her.
Yet he says get rid of her because Lev Parnas, a man he says he does not know, asked him to. Does the Senate really think this was in our national interest? Do they want someone so frail of ego that he would sell out an Ambassador because someone laughed at him?
Parnas knew that telling the president the ambassador had slighted him would get his attention. As sure as he knew to tell the president the ambassador was a Clinton left over. She was an Obama hold over. Remember, Clinton was never elected? He knew the buttons to push.
Don Jr says the Russians got what they wanted with Ukraine. It is Lev Parnas that corrects him by saying “No! Russia wants Ukraine.”
Senators, I implore you. Look at what is right in front of you. #RightMatters
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
We are in the Both Sides Era. For what seems the past decade, we have been subjected to both sides of the news, normalizing the weird, accepting the inappropriate, and moving on from the unforgivable.
Both sides are not the same.
A wee Sunday morning coffee🧵👇🏻
We have been so conditioned to Both Sides everything that we immediately fall into one side or the other. We are sorting ourselves based on memes and shallow thinking. Reporters complaining about hotel experiences due to the DNC running late, isn’t news. That’s a yelp review.
Have you noticed trump is on both sides of every issue? Probably not, because the “press hasn’t yet learned how to report on trump.” Why is covering trump any different from what they learned in journalism school?
Why not ask him about his incongruities? Or a follow up question?
Did you ever hear the phrase: “they have so much money they don’t know what to do with it.”? Not a problem, I’ve ever run into myself, but Project 2025 is just that. Billionaires want to be bankers. They want to sell off our governmental oversight to private companies they own.
Here is Project 2025. There isn’t one part of our lives this won’t touch. Think it doesn’t mean you? There is no provision to exclude from its effects those who vote for fascism so choose your candidate wisely.
Here is the part where they will abolish the federal reserve. It will be replaced by currency they can “create” and then lend out at their own interest rates.
“There is no place for political violence” has been a pretty common refrain throughout the weekend. It really got me thinking. ”Political violence” must be one of those “you know it when you see it” types of things.
Let’s see…
🧵👇🏻
Political violence strikes me as a visual medium but there are so many things that occur before we see the blood that I think might be political violence. Are we just numb to it? How do we define what is political violence and what is just violence? Why is it different?
Are Texas Gov Greg Abbott’s razor balls floating in the river, considered “political violence”? Kind of. I mean, the idea is people from south of the US shouldn’t be allowed to come here and take our jobs.
Political.
To deter from this, razor balls in the river.
Violence.
There’s been a lot said about Joe Biden since the debate. I, along with so many of you, watched it play out in real time as respected news transmitters read out ‘inside texts’ from knee jerk reactionaries.
After much thought, I won’t be voting for Joe Biden because he’s old.
🧵👇🏻
I’ll be voting for Joe Biden because he’s team democracy. I’m voting for ideas he represents. I’m voting for the team of people he can put together. I’m voting for my own interests and for your ability to vote for your own interests. I didn’t vote for him last time either, btw.
In 2020, I voted for a November 5th, 2024 election. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were the only options on the ballot that allowed this. I colored in Joe and Kamala’s bubble to keep the lights on long enough for us to have this election. Like many of you, I voted team democracy.
I am loathe to do predictions. However, there are some things you just can’t help but see coming. Project 2025 is a blinking red alarm and we all need to be aware of the stakes of this election. Please familiarize yourself with EO11246, be discriminating voters.
A wee thread🧵👇🏻
On September 24th, 1965 President Lyndon Johnson signed Executive Order 11246. EO11246 established Equal Opportunity Employment. It includes Non-Discrimination in Government. It includes Non-Discrimination Employment by Government Contractors and Subcontractors.
Focus on Non-Discrimination Employment by Government Contractors and Subcontractors. In Sub Part B under Contractor’s Agreements, contractors agree to not discriminate against employees based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Trust me…
🧵👇🏻
The above is the oath the President takes at 12 noon on January 20. Typically, it is administered by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court but there is no law that makes that a requirement. You could have your gran do it. So why is it *usually* the Chief Justice?
For this thread let’s assume the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is there as a symbol of the law. Chief Justice Roberts in a way represents the Judicial Branch of our government on the day it grants power to the person who will symbolize the Executive Branch.