Stephen Colbert slammed New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) for saying America “was never that great” this week, declaring on the CBS Late Show that the line was “the dumbest thing you could say as a politician.”
Said Colbert: “That is the dumbest thing you could say as a politician. That’s like closing your speech with, ‘Apple pie sucks, I’m lukewarm on the troops, and those stripes make the American flag look fat! Thank you, I hate my mother!’”
Penn Jillette told Vanity Fair that he personally heard Donald Trump make racist remarks on the set of the Apprentice. He wouldn’t, however, quote exactly what he heard Trump say.
Said Jillette: “If Donald Trump had not become president, I would tell you all the stories. But the stakes are now high and I am an unreliable narrator… I can emotionally tell you things that happened racially, sexually, and that showed stupidity and lack of compassion when I was in the room with Donald Trump and I guarantee you that I will get details wrong.”
Jillette did go ahead and characterize some of the things he heard Trump say, including crude small talk in which the then Apprentice host would turn to a cast member and ask “if he’d rather have sex with this woman or that woman.”
For members: Why the ‘Apprentice’ Tapes Would Be a Big Deal
“First lady Melania Trump issued a statement Saturday in support of LeBron James, after President Trump posted a late-night tweet attacking the basketball star,” the Washington Post reports.
President Trump hurled insults at Lebron James in a Friday night tweet after the basketball star criticized him in an interview with CNN.
Said Trump: “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do.”
He concluded with an apparent reference to basketball legend Michael Jordan and the debate of who is the best basketball player of all time, saying: “I like Mike!”
The Fayette Advocate “has obtained emails from a whistleblower from inside the Columbus Police Department that outline the arrest of Stormy Daniels earlier this month may have been pre-planned days before she ever arrived in town.”
“Inside the emails are news clippings discussing Daniels’ planned appearance in Columbus, pictures of Daniels with President Donald Trump, videos of her dancing, and even a map to the club where she would be performing, all sent days before she would pull into town on her tour bus.”
“After Daniels’ arrest that Wednesday night, the emails continue into the early morning hours of Thursday, but the contents are disturbing.”
President Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been destroyed — once again — after being smashed with a pickaxe last night, KUTV reports.
In an interview with Popula — Anthony Bourdain’s last before he committed suicide — the celebrity chef slammed former president Bill Clinton.
Said Bourdain: “Bill Clinton, look, the bimbo eruptions—it was fucking monstrous. That would not have flown today. A piece of shit. Entitled, rapey, gropey, grabby, disgusting, and the way that he—and she—destroyed these women and the way that everyone went along, and, and are blind to this! Screamingly apparent hypocrisy and venality.”
He added: “He is a very charming man, I met him, he’s fucking magnetic… As is she. When you’re in the room, you think wow, she’s really warm and nice and funny. But the way they efficiently dismantled, destroyed, and shamelessly discredited these women for speaking their truth.… is unforgivable.”
“Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been revealed as a top donor to a Republican PAC aimed at keeping control of Congress,” the Daily Beast reports.
“Musk has a history of donating to both parties, but contributions to the Republican Party raised eyebrows on Twitter, where many questioned how the ‘socially liberal’ billionaire vowing to fight climate change could support the GOP’s platform.”
Stormy Daniels “was arrested early Thursday at an Ohio strip club for allegedly touching patrons on stage in violation of state law,” CNN reports.
“When officers witnessed those activities, three detectives approached the stage. Daniels allegedly made her way toward two detectives, leaned over and grabbed their faces. She shoved each of their faces between her breasts.”
Said attorney Michael Avenatti: “This was a setup and politically motivated. It reeks of desperation. We will fight all bogus charges.”
“I’ll put it this way. People forced to play defense tend to get sloppy, they tend to make mistakes. And look, if I didn’t think Michael was doing a good job, I would fire his ass…. Every time I watch him work, I think, This is what it must have been like to see the Sistine Chapel being painted. But instead of paint, Michael uses the tears of his enemies.”
— Stormy Daniels, quoted by the New York Times, about her attorney, Michael Avenatti.
Oprah Winfrey told Vogue UK that running for president “would kill” her.
Said Winfrey: “In that political structure — all the non-truths, the bullshit, the crap, the nastiness, the backhanded backroom stuff that goes on — I feel like I could not exist. I would not be able to do it. It’s not a clean business.”
Megan McCain made her feelings clear about the way President Trump repeatedly attacks her father, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Time reports.
Said McCain: “Trump’s comments are never going to be OK with me, especially at this moment in my life. I’m never going to forgive it. I’m never going to move on from it.”
“Attorney Michael Avenatti’s months-long publicity tour attacking President Trump and Trump attorney Michael Cohen could be brought to an abrupt end soon if a federal judge agrees to a new request for a gag order against the ubiquitous Avenatti,” Politico reports.
“A lawyer for Cohen, Brent Blakely, asked a judge in Los Angeles Thursday to issue an order barring Avenatti from making public statements about the lawsuit Avenatti’s client, porn star Stormy Daniels, filed against Trump and Cohen in March… Blakely said an avalanche of inflammatory public comments by Avenatti—including at least 121 TV appearances and 439 tweets—is tainting the court proceeding.”
President Trump said he is considering posthumously pardoning boxer Muhammad Ali, who was convicted in 1967 after refusing military service in Vietnam, CNN reports.
Said Trump: “I’m thinking about Muhammad Ali. I’m thinking about that very seriously and some others.”
“The president has made it pretty clear he’s going to try to divide all of us in this country for political gain.”
— Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, quoted by the Washington Post.
“Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James says that neither the Cleveland Cavaliers nor the Golden State Warriors want to visit the White House, if they win the NBA Finals,” Sports Illustrated reports.
James added that he was still digesting the news of Trump’s disinviting of the Philadelphia Eagles: “That’s typical of him. I know no matter who wins this series, no one wants to go anyway.”
“The evening before the Super Bowl champion Eagles were to visit the White House, President Trump released a statement: the trip is off,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Said a statement: “The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow. They disagree with their President because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country.”
Samantha Bee told the Daily Beast that she “deeply regrets” calling Ivanka Trump a “feckless cunt” on her show.
Meanwhile, Deadline reports that the White House called on TBS to cancel the show.
Said press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders: “The language used by Samantha Bee last night is vile and vicious. The collective silence by the left and its media allies is appalling. Her disgusting comments and show are not fit for broadcast, and executives at Time Warner and TBS must demonstrate that such explicit profanity about female members of this administration will not be condoned on its network.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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