Let’s tiptoe into this new year very gently, and just gossip a bit. I take it Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago was kind of a downer. Melania was absent (her mother is sick, but Melania hasn’t exactly been glued to Trump’s side for months). Second, according to magazine accounts the “A List” at this party consisted of Roger Stone, Judge Jeanine Pirro, Mike Lindell, and Rudy Giuliani. The entertainment was an Elvis impersonator, Vanilla Ice, and a guy in a ninja turtle costume.
I’M SORRY WHAT https://t.co/S4CU1pyuUe pic.twitter.com/uPf5PFesZq
— Tom Sauer (@thomasbsauer) January 1, 2024
That’s just sad. Now, aren’t you glad you weren’t there? Full disclosure, I had a glass of wine and went to bed about 10 o’clock. And I’m perfectly content with that.
Put this in the “some days you can’t catch a break” department. You remember Christian Ziegler, the Florida GOP chair married to a co-founder of Moms for Liberty who was accused of assault? by a woman with whom he and his wife had enjoyed threesomes? Ziegler gave the police a video of his visit to the woman, which he said shows consensual activity. Now the police are considering charging Ziegler with making the video without the woman’s consent.
Speaking of Moms for Liberty, Josh Marshall has been chronicling the adventures of Clarice Schillinger of Pennsylvania, who “runs two Moms for Liberty-esque SuperPACs, Keeping Kids in School PAC and Back to School Pac.”
She was also a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2022. Here she is hanging out with President Trump back in better times. She and Trump talked about “how the moms are upset and how we’re going to save America. And the grandmoms and the caregivers, all of us. When you touch our children, it’s about the future of democracy. This is what happens.”
Now Schillinger has been arrested touching children in the form of punching out a sixteen year old at a booze-drenched birthday party she threw for her seventeen year old daughter at the homestead in Doylestown, PA.
This is the Pennsylvania Inquirer — seriously, read this —
Multiple teenagers were assaulted by intoxicated adults during the Sept. 29 party at Clarice Schillinger’s Doylestown home, according to a police affidavit. Police say that Schillinger’s intoxicated boyfriend punched one teen in the face and assaulted another. That teen also was punched in the eye by Schillinger’s intoxicated mother, who also chased that teen around the kitchen, the affidavit said.
As teenagers tried to leave the home on Liz Circle, Schillinger — who police said had supplied the more than 15 minors at the party with a basement bar stocked with vodka and rum, played beer pong with them and encouraged them to take shots with her — ordered them to stay.
She then punched one young man in the face three times, according to the affidavit, which said video footage showed Schillinger lunging toward a group of teenagers in the foyer and having to be restrained.
So now there’s two things to be grateful for. You weren’t at Mar-a-Lago on New Year’s Eve, and you aren’t related to Clarice Schillinger. The whole family sounds demented.
Josh Marshall has an update today on more of Schillinger’s political activity, which sounds about as hinky as that party.
OT: Sorry for taking the liberty to go off topic. But…
Reacting to two short clips showing Haley and DeSantis promising in advance that if they were to become president they would pardon TFG. Am I the only person who thinks this is a clear corruption of the pardon power? This is in the same vein as TFG promising to pardon J 6 insurrectionists duly convicted and in prison. How can it NOT be obvious to any American with a pulse that these "arrangements" are actually intentional actions to undermine law and order? I realize there is SCOTUS precedent for establishing that there are almost no limits to the president's pardon power, but it has been established that an act that has not yet occurred can not be pardon. What the heck are we supposed to do about a president who promises people who are willing to break the law on his behalf that he will pardon them after they commit the act? Is this not close to the fundamental common sense understanding of "corruption"? A quid pro quo in advance in order to establish a "deniable" commander to order-follower relationship.
From constitution.congress.gov: (I'm not sure what exactly that is, but scams shouldn't be able to establish a .gov domain…)
"In Schick v. Reed, the Court recognized that an exercise of clemency may include any condition which does not otherwise offend the Constitution, suggesting that the President may not make clemency subject to a condition that is prohibited by another constitutional provision."
You have to unpack what's going on with Rhonda Santos and NiKKKi Hailey. They are both pitching to MAGA to try to win the Primary. It's a weak argument but they don't dare run against Trump in the primary even though they're running against Trump in the Primary.
They are hoping the USSC will declare Trump is ineligible via the 14th or Trump has a stroke, can't speak or tweet, and is hospitalized. Or Trump is convicted in DC before the end of the primaries, causing a plunge in the polls. They are saying that they will keep Trump out of jail if convicted. (Problem: they can't do shit if Trump is convicted in GA.) But Nikki and Ron are praying for Divine Intervention (AKA a miracle) to remove Trump from being able to run and they're going after the MAGA votes if somehow Trump is out.
Regarding Melania, the rumor is she renegotiated the "deal" for Barron a few years ago to increase his share in whatever guaranteed trust is out there. Barron is 17 so if Trump had custody of Barron in a pre-nup, that's no longer a viable threat against the breeeing-stock wife Donald bought. I sincerely doubt Melania wants to live in the White House. That's a wild guess, but the E. Jean Carroll rape trial (second edition) is due for release this month.
Later this year the porn star hush money criminal trial will begin. The rape happened before Trump met Melania but the porn star affairs were in Melania's term. Trump cheated on every one of his previous wives. Again, just my opinion, but Melania wanted to see Barron grow up, and he has. If she negotiated an ironclad deal for Barron, I'm not sure there's a pressing reason to hang around. This may be confirmed by the fact… she's not hanging around. I'm not sure if Melania knows it, but Donald knows that she can do a lot more damage to Donald than Donald can do to her once Barron is out of the nest.
Moms for Anarchy seems to have run out of steam with voters. The incidents in FL and with the drunken ding-bat are ammo for Democrats in battles for school board seats. It's about education, not a movement trying to impose moral values on schools – especially when that movement is run by people with no morals.
Israel's High Court struck down Netenhahou's move to strike down the judiciary. He's screaming, "but in a time of war." IMO, you can stick a fork in that guy. He's done. But it bodes well that the court did not align with a fascist there. Hopefully, the USSC will draw a lesson from an ambitious dictator who made his power grab by trying to handcuff the High Court. Trump's making his demands with the US Supreme Court now – we may see a motion from Trump to the USSC to stop the E. Jean Carroll trial because his most recent motion to delay was denied. Trump asked the Supremes to stop his disqualification in CO. Trump's on track to appeal the DC decision that will strike down Trump's motion to dismiss on Total Presidential Immunity. Bottom line: I think Trump will make his demands of the court. They are going to turn him down, I think, and Trump will turn the MAGAs on the USSC the same way he did against Pence.
Some bozo broke into the CO Supreme Court building, took a security guard hostage and shot the place up before he surrendered. We have doxings, and not just against members of the court. MTG was targeted – this is stupid – it should be the one thing that sets us apart that liberals do NOT engage in those tactics. Overall, the threat level against members of the FBI, the courts, prosecutors, judges, has never been higher. IMO, most of these threats are BS – just cowards using burner phones and screen names on the internet to make loud noises. Occasionally, we will see a lone-wolf attempt. I don't think they are able to do anything organized because they believe the feds have penetrated all the organized groups. I hope the feds have infiltrated the Proud Boys and their ilk, but the paranoia that fuels these groups also poisons them.
In a week, the USSC will hear arguments re Trump's hallucination of absolute immunity. If the USSC is in the bag for Trump, they will delay, not rule, and hold up the DC trial. If the court rules swiftly, it will be to completely deny the motion.
I read that the guy who broke into the Colo Supreme Court – and did a lot of damage – had nothing to do with their earlier decision. He happened to go crazy in the area where the building was located.
Thanks for the clip of the party at MAL. Many people with lots of money are miserable inside, and that's the vibe I got from that thankfully short clip.
I'd love to see the cell phone footage of Mrs Drunk Republican punching teenagers in the face. From reading around the edges of this story, she sounds like a budding alcoholic, introducing her young charges to her favorite drug. In her case, she becomes a mean and nasty drunk, letting her aggressions out. She's made some memories her daughter and friends will never forget. Would love to tune into what the kids are saying.
Two examples^ of mean and ugly, one in Florida, the other in suburban Philadelphia.
she sounds like a budding alcoholic,
She's in full bloom. You don't provide alchohol to a minor unless you're already consumed with full blown alchoholism. She has to have a serious need for approval for her drinking and to be one of the gang to a bunch of kids to do something that stupid. She's opened herself to potencial lawsuits from the parents of anyone of the children she supplied alchohol to. What she did was beyond stupid. I hope she gets her ass slamed!
If he has a party next year Trump should go all the way and hire a guy wearing lederhosen to play polkas on an accordion.
It can't be much of a party if you can't even get teenagers – whom you already plied with alcohol during the course of said party – to stay longer.
Getting punched in the face is too high a price to pay for some booze!
And yes, I believe that applies to teenagers.
This woman needs to be in a mental institution – for her own protection, and more importantly, her daughter's, too!
I wonder if Trump couldn't afford to have Lee Greeenwod perform for his New Years party or whether Greenwood had a previous engagement? But in any event a rapping Ninga turtle is always guaranteed to rock the house at a has been event.
It's been a while but early on I wisecracked about Mel being Donnie's handler. 'Gone home to mother' is certainly good cover … laugh out loud
What is this presumption prenups are of value? The assumption there will be a pie for her or Barron to get a piece of? I also wisecracked early on how I'd like to see them all stripped of everything they own and homeless in the streets and, uhh … sometimes I scare myself. She'll be just fine
Diaper Don? Sometimes I scare myself …
That is why New Years eve has come to be referred to as amateur night. Too many people trying to have fun without proper training and experience. Very risky. Two good examples of how you could have gotten your year off to a very bad start. If I found myself at a party with Roger Stone, they would see me getting smaller and smaller, as I would be getting further and further away as fast as I could.
I watched the video so you don't have to, but I gotta tell you that Michelangelo has got some dance moves!
Then it suddenly dawned on me; this gives us yet another, albeit unique, election predictor – the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle poll. Michelangelo's sole presence at this star-stunted event indicates an overall TMNT approval rate of only 25% for tRump/MAGA! Perhaps we will learn more in the coming days about why Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael were not in attendance, but in the meantime I accept the TMNT poll as an accurate reflection of the general population as a whole.