monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

But the Russians evidently got a big bang for their buck:

Where did anyone claim that Russia spent more than the combined totals of the two candidates and their campaign committees?

Where did anyone claim that the Russians even spent a comparable amount to that spent by the candidates?

Not since 2007 has there been such a concentration of US firepower in the Asia-Pacific region.

And clever marketing is now a crime?

What this does tell me, is that the presidency doesn't have to be going to he/she who raises the most money (as if that was ever a democratic decision).

Repeating yourself for the peanut gallery?

Why did the US election campaigners fail, with their massive spend, where the insurgents succeeded, with so little monetary input, is the question.

On Hannity, David Clarke calls CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, Washington Post, and Huffington Post “terrorist sympathizers”
Clarke: "This attempt at muticulturalism has been a disaster. Cultures do not blend, they clash"

For all the problems the president and his allies have had this year with the Republican Party (particularly in the U.S. Senate), their plight looks idyllic compared to that of their bitterest intraparty enemies, the #NeverTrump gang. As David Weigel of the Washington Post explains today, the core of the #NeverTrump movement has been regularly getting together under the auspices of a group calling itself the Meeting of the Concerned.

A lot of familiar names are apparently still in the movement: Weekly Standard editor William Kristol (who said of Trump “he’s dead to me” after the mogul’s infamous 2015 dismissal of John McCain’s POW saga); columnists Mona Charen (long associated with National Review, the magazine that early in 2016 devoted an entire issue to an effort to delegitimize Trump among conservatives) and Max Boot (a foreign-policy expert who has repeatedly challenged Trump’s mental fitness for office); Evan McMullin (who actually ran against Trump in the 2016 general election as an independent candidate); and a couple of ex-congressmen, Bob Inglis and David Jolly.

...“Donald Trump is reshaping the heart of the GOP into something that is very dark and very diseased,” said [former congressman] Inglis. “My nightmare scenario is a Republican Party that loses its soul. It’s one thing to lose an election. It’s another to lose your soul.”

“George Papadopoulos, he’s an energy and oil consultant, excellent guy,” boasted Donald Trump on March 21, 2016. But as frequently happens to the great, excellent, very, very top guys Trump surrounds himself with, Papadopoulos is now turning out to be a total loser who nobody has ever heard of. One Trump mouthpiece calls him a “coffee boy.” “Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar,” Trump now tweets. If Papadopoulos was a woman, he would be ugly, flat-chested, and unmarriageable.

Donna Brazile finally admits Clinton/ DNC cheating. Hillary must’ve stopped paying her? Hope Donna doesn’t drop a barbell on her neck tonight.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/02/clinton-brazile-hacks-2016-215774

I think she whitewashed some of her bullshit, but the few legitimate admissions are long overdue.

The nomination of Sam Clovis to be the Agriculture Department’s chief scientist was controversial both because of questions about his lack of relevant experience and news this week that he was one of the top officials on the Trump campaign aware of efforts by foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos to broker a relationship between the campaign and Russian officials.

Clovis, who now serves as the department’s senior White House adviser, informed President Trump of his decision in a letter dated Nov. 1.

Bannon’s sense of urgency is being fueled by his belief that Trump’s hold on power is slipping. The collapse of Obamacare repeal, and the dimming chances that tax reform will pass soon—many Trump allies are deeply pessimistic about its prospects—have created the political climate for establishment Republicans to turn on Trump. Two weeks ago, according to a source, Bannon did a spitball analysis of the Cabinet to see which members would remain loyal to Trump in the event the 25th Amendment were invoked, thereby triggering a vote to remove the president from office. Bannon recently told people he’s not sure if Trump would survive such a vote. “One thing Steve wants Trump to do is take this more seriously,” the Bannon confidant told me. “Stop joking around. Stop tweeting.”

“If the fight had been fair, one campaign would not have control of the party before the voters had decided which one they wanted to lead. This was not a criminal act, but as I saw it, it compromised the party’s integrity.”

An ex-Trump aide has withdrawn from consideration for an administration post amid scrutiny of his credentials and connection to the Russian inquiry.
Sam Clovis was a candidate to become chief scientist of the Department of Agriculture, but critics said he was devoid of experience for the job.
Mr Clovis has been linked to another former Trump adviser who lied to the FBI about his Russian interactions.
The White House said it respected Mr Clovis's decision to withdraw.