Why don't you pass the time by playing a little solitaire? by @BloggersRUs

Why don't you pass the time by playing a little solitaire?

by Tom Sullivan

More remarkable than his election is the fact that Donald Trump is still in office and that Republican leaders are pressing on as though he is not some sort of low-rent sleeper agent.

Attempting a recovery from Monday's disastrous press conference in Helsinki beside Russian president Vladimir Putin, the sitting U.S. president attempted — under pressure — to roll back his remarks dismissing the conclusions of the American intelligence community he (ostensibly) leads. He misspoke in denying Russia meddled extensively in the 2016 elections, he now says:

“I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that meddling took place,” Trump told reporters in brief remarks before a meeting with members of Congress. Yet he immediately contradicted both his own statement and that community’s findings, saying, “Could have been other people also. There’s a lot of people out there.”
He. Just. Can't. Betray. Vladimir Putin.

Not only did Donald Trump undo his own “clarifying” statement, he wrote "THERE WAS NO COLUSION" in the margins to remind himself, and misspelled collusion.

Trump wrote in big black Sharpie on his printed remarks: “THERE WAS NO COLLUSION” pic.twitter.com/5wiG4ukGce

— David P Gelles (@gelles) July 17, 2018

Actually he wrote "THERE WAS NO COLUSION" - spelled collusion wrong.

— Adam Hummel (@HummelAdam) July 17, 2018
Republicans on Capitol Hill are already backing off their criticism, willing to go back to pretending the Trump presidency is somehow normal:
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla) said he was “just glad he clarified” what he meant. “I take him at his word if he says he misspoke, absolutely,” Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) told Fox News.
They want to get back to the important business of governmenting.

A "the sun came up this morning" poll from POLITICO/Morning Consult finds voters divided along partisan lines over the sitting president's nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Nearly three-quarters of Republicans want him confirmed, but only 17 percent of Democrats. Another poll from Gallop shows Kavanaugh has "the slimmest margin of support since 1987." A lower net approval rating than Robert Bork (+6) or Harriet Miers (+8), tweets Matthew Chapman of Shareblue media.

Senate Republicans want to solidify Trump's legacy on the Supreme Court while they still can.

Meanwhile, more Russian operatives attempting to steer U.S. policy keep turning up in the news. One closely associated with the National Rifle Association was arrested Sunday and denied bond on Monday. The Trump administration announced a change in policy that evening to allow the NRA not to disclose its donors to the IRS.

More Russian operatives than previously reported met in the Seychelles with Blackwater security founder and Trump surrogate Erik Prince days before Trump’s inauguration according to a report based on flight records.

But that does not give anyone in the majority pause ask to what the hell is going on or to postpone important decisions until they know for sure. In March 2016, they insisted on waiting for the American people to decide in November who would picked the next SCOTUS justice. Now, with the Mueller investigation incomplete, they won't wait to find out if judicial nominees before them came via a traitor.

Maybe they should pass the time by playing a little solitaire?

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