Mr. Thumbs Up Smiley Face has no shame:

Donald Trump Holds Responsibility for Afghanistan Withdraw, Ex-Adviser Says

McMaster, who was Trump's top national security adviser from February 2017 to April 2018, told CNN's Anderson Cooper during an interview on Monday night that his former boss was partly responsible for the debacle because he had decided to negotiate with the Taliban on terms of a withdrawal.

"Oh, yes," McMaster said after being asked by Cooper if Trump bears "part of the responsibility for what happened." McMaster then added, "The whole premise of talking to the Taliban before you leave Afghanistan...why the heck were we even doing that?"

"The Obama administration didn't negotiate with al-Qaeda and Iraq on the way out," he continued. "If we were gonna leave, why not just leave? What happened in these series of negotiations is we kind of threw the Afghans under the bus on the way out... then forced them to release 5,000 of some of the most heinous people on the earth."

In response to a request for clarification from Cooper, McMaster confirmed that he was referring to the Trump administration forcing the then-U.S.-backed Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban fighters as part of the withdrawal negotiations.

Background info:

Patrick S. Tomlinson
@stealthygeek
Learned more about the story of this photo and now I'm mad.

This was taken today at Arlington National Cemetery. The grave belongs to Sgt Nicole Leeann Gee, USMC. She was among the 13 US service members killed in a suicide bombing during the Afghan withdrawal 3 yrs ago. 1/

Donald Trump is directly responsible for her death.

When negotiating the Afghanistan withdrawal, he deliberately cut out the Afghan government in Kabul we had been supporting for 20 years.

Instead, he negotiated exclusively with the Taliban. The enemy. 2/

Without any input from Kabul or our other partners in the theater, he released 5,000 Taliban, al Qaida, and affiliated fighters, criminals, and terrorists from prison because the Taliban told him to, swelling their combat force in the months before the withdrawal. 3/

When the Pentagon told Trump they would need a bare minimum security force of 4,000 troops to ensure a safe, orderly withdrawal from the country, Trump overrode his military advisors and slashed the number of remaining deployed troops to just 2,500. Sgt Gee among them. 4/

Trump did all of this in the waning months of his time in office, much of it after losing the election, to sabotage the situation and leave a --------- for Joe Biden to inherent. Three years ago today, that trap went off, costing 13 service members their lives. 5/

FTA:

Two members of Donald Trump's campaign staff had a verbal and physical altercation Monday with an official at Arlington National Cemetery, where the former president participated in a wreath-laying ceremony, NPR has learned.

A source with knowledge of the incident said the cemetery official tried to prevent Trump staffers from filming and photographing in a section where recent U.S. casualties are buried. The source said Arlington officials had made clear that only cemetery staff members would be authorized to take photographs or film in the area, known as Section 60.

"Federal law prohibits political campaign or election-related activities within Army National Military Cemeteries, to include photographers, content creators or any other persons attending for purposes, or in direct support of a partisan political candidate's campaign," according to the statement. "Arlington National Cemetery reinforced and widely shared this law and its prohibitions with all participants."

On August 20, 2024, Attorney General Ken Paxton's Election Integrity Unit executed multiple search warrants in Frio, Atascosa, and Bexar Counties as part of an ongoing election integrity investigation.

In 2022, the Election Integrity Unit received a referral from the 81st Judicial District Attorney Audrey Louis regarding allegations of election fraud and vote harvesting that occurred during the 2022 elections. The subsequent two-year investigation provided sufficient evidence to obtain the search warrants in furtherance of the ongoing investigation.

Did you see Paxton's name in that sentence?
#4 | Posted by lfthndthrds

Good grief. The intial referral was from the DA, but Paxton's office issued the warrants:

Latino advocacy group wants federal investigation of Texas AG over home searches tied to voter fraud probe

A prominent Latino advocacy group asked the US Justice Department on Monday to investigate Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after his office launched a series of raids the group says was at the homes of Democratic activists and leaders on allegations tied to voter fraud.

So far no charges have been filed as a result of last week's raids. Paxton's office said search warrants were executed in Frio, Atascosa, and Bexar counties as part of what his office described as an election integrity probe dating back to 2022.

In a release last week, the attorney general's office said its election integrity unit was investigating a referral from Audrey Louis, the district attorney in the state's 81st judicial district, involving allegations of election fraud and vote harvesting.

Use this thread for discussion:

FTA:

It's also a stark reminder that if Harris doesn't prevail in November, we'll be subjected to a DOJ with radically worse priorities. There's simply no way Donald Trump, who got his start as an overtly racist landlord and whose son-in-law and top advisor Jared Kushner has a portfolio of thousands of apartments--some infested with maggots and mice, for which Kushner's company ultimately paid a $3.25 million penalty to the state of Maryland--would ever make such a pro-tenant move.

The lawsuit hasn't gotten a ton of coverage, but it's a big deal that speaks to the stakes of this election.

FTA:

"Attorney General Paxton is using his position of authority to harass and intimidate Latino non-profit organizations like LULAC, Latino Leaders and LULAC members," Juan Proao, LULAC's CEO told CBS News, calling the state AG's effort "point-blank" voter intimidation. "It is evident through his pattern of lawsuits, raids, searches, and seizures that he is trying to keep Latinos from voting."

Proao said one of those targeted was Lidia Martinez, an 87-year-old who lives in San Antonio. Martinez has been a LULAC member for over 35 years and works to expand voter registration among seniors and veterans in South Texas.

She said that last Tuesday, there was a knock on her door in the morning, and she was greeted by nine officers in tactical gear and firearms who said they were executing a search warrant. Martinez was questioned for over three hours about her voter registration efforts in Texas.

This apple fell very far from the tree:

RFK Jr. Was My Drug Dealer
Kennedy's endorsement of Donald Trump raises an awkward question.
By Kurt Andersen

But Donald Trump and Bobby Kennedy"as I've referred to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. since we met freshman year at Harvard"have always had many features in common as well. Both are entitled playboy sons of northeastern wealth; both (in Michelle Obama's words) were "afforded the grace of failing forward" as misbehaving, underachieving adolescents admitted to Ivy League colleges thanks to "the affirmative action of generational wealth"; both were reckless lifelong adolescents, both attention-craving philanderers and liars, both jerks. And Kennedy's hour-long speech today was nearly as meandering and filled with lies as any average hour of Trump.

On the subject of reckless-adolescent entitlement, I've got one Bobby Kennedy anecdote to tell. But it's actually relevant to his endorsement of Donald Trump for president and his apparent expectation of joining a second Trump administration.

He was against Trump before he was for him:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr
@RobertKennedyJr
President Trump scammed American workers. He promised to bring back manufacturing, raise wages, fix trade deals, close the carried interest loophole, and help small farmers. But everything President Trump achieved were things the Republican machine wanted. We got a tax cut for Jeff Bezos, deregulation for special interests, and giveaways to agriculture conglomerates.

President Trump let the Bush wing of the GOP run all his agencies. His Interior Secretary was an oil & gas lobbyist. His Defense Secretary was a Raytheon lobbyist. His EPA Administrator was a coal lobbyist. His HHS Secretary was a pharmaceutical lobbyist. And his Labor Secretary was a lawyer for mega corporations.

President Trump's supposed support for farmers ($28 billion) all went to Big Ag conglomerates.

We had the worst rioting and looting this country had seen since the 60s under President Trump. He inflamed racial tensions and didn't keep us safe. Instead of using federal law enforcement to stop the rioting, Trump thought it was good optics to let Democrat-run cities burn.

President Trump bragged about arming Ukraine more than Obama did. He also walked away unilaterally from the intermediate range nuclear missile treaty with Russia, destabilizing our relationship. He also exacerbated tensions between Ukraine and Russia that ultimately caused a war.

Trump appointed the worst neocons to the highest positions of power in his administration: John Bolton, HR McMaster, and Robert O'Brien. Now, Lindsey Graham is one of his top advisors and likely to be his Secretary of State.

President Trump bombed Syria, killed an Iranian general, and failed to fulfill his promise of ending the war in Afghanistan.

President Trump invented lockdowns. He shut down millions of small businesses and facilitated the greatest wealth transfer to billionaires in this country's history.

President Trump did nothing to solve the opioid crisis. It got far worse under his tenure while his appointees running HHS were in the pocket of big pharma.

If you think a second Trump term would be any different, you are engaging in wishful thinking.
10:08 PM May 26, 2024

Weird, weirder, weirdest:

Aaron Rupar
@atrupar
RFK Jr, going on and on here about puberty for American girls, isn't gonna help Trump beat the weirdness charges

emptywheel
@emptywheel
Really looking forward to Trump putting Bobby in charge of JD's menstrual police force.

It's all coming together.

With the caveat of she hasn't won yet, some of us saw Kamala's potential long before last night:

Marc Polymeropoulos
@Mpolymer

My friend @djrothkopf has been singing Harris' praises for months. He was-literally-the only one of the DC blob to do so. I was very skeptical. Very. So were so many others, I imagine. Well here it is, the mea culpa ... .David was 100% right. (Last time I will ever say that )

VP Harris' next aim should be...
Transitioning all this hype into voters going to the polling stations and casting their votes.
She needs those votes, not only at the top of the ticket, but she also needs those votes on the down-ticket State races.
Will she be successful in that endeavor?
#27 | Posted by LampLighter

The question isn't will she be successful in that endeavor but will we:

Michelle Obama
@MichelleObama

What an inspiring and historic night--a true representation of what it means to be an American.
@KamalaHarris delivered an impassioned and powerful speech tonight that showed the country and the world that she is ready to lead us forward.

She did her part with grace, strength, and determination. And now, it's up to us, regardless of how we identify politically, to do the same. Each of us must do what we know in our hearts is right.

We must vote like our lives depend on it. We must rally our neighbors and communities. And we must start now. Don't wait. We can't let this momentum die down.

Because there is only one choice for us in this election--and that is the next President of the United States, @KamalaHarris!

Eye-opening information:

emptywheel
@emptywheel
Here's the website for the group running a tribute to the 20 Jan6ers (most convicted of assault) who created a music video with Trump.

FTA:

Desantis is actively seeking to stack to the deck in every way against this Amendment. When he runs for president in 2028, he wants to be able to brag to Republican primary voters that he was the only governor able to successfully block a ballot initiative to enshrine abortion rights.

Hopefully, voters of Florida will see right through this. But Desantis sure is making it hard to do that with his lies and deception.

Walz isn't the guy you want to have a beer with. He's the guy you have had a beer with.

If I knew, my running for the presidency would be a guaranteed win and prevent this nation from falling into fascism, I'd have to decide whether my personal interests matter more than the future of the nation.
Seems like the general consensus is, let's not make Michelle do something she doesn't want to.
Best of luck to Harris.
#32 | Posted by ClownShack

That's the fallacy in your thinking: there are no guarantees that Michelle would be elected president. As I said above:

Part of Michelle's appeal is that she isn't a politician. If she were to run, she would lose that aspect of her appeal. Don't get me wrong. I think she has given the best speech of the convention and I'd vote for her in a heartbeat, but running for office means she would need to do more than deliver one policy free speech every four years.

"Blaming Michelle for not running doesn't help matters. She has a great reason..."
Fear.
#18 | Posted by ClownShack

No, it's not fear. It's because her heart isn't in it. Once she won the election, she'd actually have to govern, which she is not interested in doing. Why isn't she interested in doing that? I don't know, but it's clear from things she's said that's not something she feels called to do.

Part of Michelle's appeal is that she isn't a politician. If she were to run, she would lose that aspect of her appeal. Don't get me wrong. I think she has given the best speech of the convention and I'd vote for her in a heartbeat, but running for office means she would need to do more than deliver one policy free speech every four years.

Trump keeps saying America is in decline. No, you are in decline, DonOLD, mentally, physically and God willing politically.

Joe isn't angry and bitter but is sincerely and enthusiastically supporting the Harris/Wals ticket now.
- corky
Did you watch that speech?
He was Harris to everything he did, and she's trying to separate herself from him.
He's pissed.
#97 | Posted by oneironaut

I said that, not Corky. Be that as it may, you need to work on your emotional intelligence.

Democrat Elites picked our candidate accept reality, and you'll feel better.
#98 | Posted by oneironaut

No one picked "our" candidate because you aren't a Democrat, and btw, I feel fine.

I get opposing Trump.
Rick Wilson is a grifter. Oppose Trump? Fine. By itself I can see some principle. Vigorously support Biden and Harris AND their policies??? That is where the principles completely go away and the grift comes in. He has a gullible audience though, so...
#93 | Posted by BellRinger

Rick Wilson and others in the Lincoln Project don't support Biden and Harris on policy. None of the Republicans for Harris do. Judge Luttig said it best:

"In voting for Vice President Harris, I assume that her public policy views are vastly different from my own," Luttig writes, "but I am indifferent in this election as to her policy views on any issues other than America's Democracy, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law, as I believe all Americans should be."

Donald Trump who loves attention wouldn't participate in the GOP debates. Why? I can only conclude Trump was afraid to debate DeSantis, Haley, Christie et al.

Until tomorrow. When I think we get Michelle and Barack?