Random Politics & Religion #25

I was assured Trump only hires the best people. The. Best. People.

Thanks for carrying on Spicy's legacy of spinning in the most ridiculous manner possible.

It installs its own tracks as it runs.

Trump train goes to plaid

White House press secretary Sean Spicer has resigned over Donald Trump's appointment of hedge fund executive Anthony Scaramucci to the position of White House communications director, the New York Times reports—a position in which Scaramucci would have become Spicer's boss.

Scaramucci does not have the traditional background of a political communications operative, but he was one of Trump's earliest and most vocal backers on Wall Street and has long been rumored to be in the mix for a White House role. Spicer is reportedly not alone in the West Wing in believing that bringing Scaramucci aboard is a mistake, though:

It makes sense that chief of staff Priebus, the former director of the Republican National Committee, would object to Scarmucci's hiring; Priebus is the White House's foremost advocate of a conventional-wisdom "let's try to make things operate somewhat normally" strategy, and Scaramucci is a loose cannon. To wit, here's a riff he went on in front of New York magazine reporter Jessica Pressler in January:

Scaramucci also made headlines in October for comparing an Obama-era rule requiring financial advisers to act in the best interests of their clients to the 1857 Supreme Court Dred Scott ruling, which held that black people could not be American citizens:

Incidentally, White House senior adviser Steve Bannon also apparently despises Scaramucci:

Despite coming from the crude/bombastic school of public discourse himself, Bannon believes that "globalist" Wall Street bankers (like Scaramucci, presumably, but also Jewish ones) have stolen America's wealth from the white working man, so this makes sense as well.

It appears that in the end, though, Bannon and Priebus were up against Trump's most important adviser, Any Working Television:

Left still doesnt get it.

Trump train has no brakes!

I hear he's drafting a replacement for the constitution. Going to call it the donstitution.

Democrats have reduced themselves to the same level as Birthers with this Russia silliness. You realize this, right?

Says the birthet

Democrats have reduced themselves to the same level as Birthers with this Russia silliness. You realize this, right?

In today's news an exercise in bipartisanship.

Lawmakers Agree on Sweeping Russia Sanctions Package

And a definite threat to Trump.

U.S. Investigators Seek to Turn Manafort in Russia Probe: Sources

Between 2006 and 2013, Manafort bought three New York properties, including one in Trump Tower in Manhattan. He paid for them in full and later took out mortgages against them. A former senior U.S. law enforcement official said that tactic is often used as a means to hide the origin of funds gained illegally. Reuters has no independent evidence that Manafort did this.

The sources also did not say whether Mueller has uncovered any evidence to charge Manafort with money laundering, but they said doing so is seen by investigators as critical in getting his full cooperation in their investigation.

Manafort became Trump's campaign manager in June 2016 but was forced to resign two months later amid reports of his business relationship with the Kremlin-backed former Ukrainian leader, Viktor Yanukovich.