Republican Values, Home Front Edition (UPDATED)

Those wacky Republicans and their "family values"!  How ya doin' ardent Trump sycophant Falwell?

Jerry Falwell Jr., suspended as president of Virginia’s Christian-focused Liberty University after a string of embarrassing acts, today said that he has suffered depression caused by a former family friend who had an affair with his wife and has been threatening to expose it.

In a statement exclusively to Secrets, Falwell revealed his wife Becki’s affair for the first time, said it was short lived and that the two reconciled quickly.

But, they claimed, her former lover has threatened them over the past several years and they are done with it hanging over their heads.

“I’m just tired of it,” said Falwell of the anxiety he’s felt about the affair becoming public and embarrassing his family and Liberty. “It’s just got to end,” he added.

Yes, we think the "end" is in sight for you, pharisee Falwell.

Josh Marshall thinks they're trying to get out ahead of something bigger:

Revealing. Falwell admits/claims(?) wife had affair with pool boy. And gives the story to one the hackiest/pro-Trump journos out there. Seems clear they’re trying to get of some much bigger story. https://t.co/EN9hG8k1VV

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 24, 2020

 

More affairs?  Threesomes?  Swinging?  Bestiality?  Coprophagia?  Is it irresponsible to speculate?  It's irresponsible not to!

Meanwhile, a rat is jumping ship:

Kellyanne Conway, one of President Donald Trump’s longest-serving advisers and a stalwart defender of his administration, will leave the White House at the end of the month.

Conway, who serves as a senior adviser, said she made the decision in partnership with her husband to focus on their family. The Washington Post first reported the news on Sunday evening.

“We disagree about plenty,” she said in a statement. “But we are united on what matters most: the kids.”

Conway’s husband, the conservative lawyer George Conway, is also taking a hiatus from his role at the Lincoln Project. George Conway is a vocal critic of the president and the Lincoln Project has been working to unseat Trump during the November election.

To be fair, prompting this sudden move is their 15- year- old daughter Claudia's decision to seek emancipation from her parents.  She seems like a person with good values, so we wish her well.

BONUS:  

“Marriage is between one man and one woman. And a really hot pool boy.”

— Jerry Falwell, Jr.

— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) August 24, 2020

 

UPDATE: It appears that the "short lived" affair between Becki Falwell and the pool attendant went on for seven years, and involved Jerry Falwell watching as the two went at it:

In a claim likely to intensify the controversy surrounding one of the most influential figures in the American Christian conservative movement, a business partner of Jerry Falwell Jr has come forward to say he had a years-long sexual relationship involving Falwell’s wife and the evangelical leader.

Giancarlo Granda says he was 20 when he met Jerry and Becki Falwell while working as a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in March 2012. Starting that month and continuing into 2018, Granda told Reuters that the relationship involved him having sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell looked on.

UPDATE II:  There's a Falwell- Michael Cohen- Trump connection here that has all the hallmarks of another shakedown.

(photo: Threesome, anyone?)

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Vox's Riley Beggin covers the latest corruption- in- plain- view intended to line the pockets of con man Donald "Rump" Trump and what Democrats are doing about it:

The House Oversight Committee is investigating military spending at an airport near a Trump property in Ayer, Scotland, as well as visits to that property by service members, in the latest of a growing number of inquiries into government expenditures that seem to financially benefit President Donald Trump and his businesses.

The military has spent $11 million on fuel alone at the Prestwick Airport near Trump’s Turnberry resort since fall of 2017, Politico reported. And reporting by the Guardian found the airport has provided discounted rooms and complimentary rounds of golf at the Trump resort for some US military members. The expenditures are unusual given buying fuel from Prestwick Airport costs the government (and, ultimately, taxpayers) more than refueling at military bases, such as the nearby Lakenheath Air Base in England. [snip]

In the case of the military spending in Scotland, lawmakers are concerned the stops at Prestwick are a means of propping up the president’s failing business venture at the expense of US taxpayers, given both the airport and the nearby Trump resort have been struggling for years. The two are interconnected as resort’s success in part depends on the airport staying open, the committee found. 

Trump's Pentagon ass- kissers are stonewalling/ slow- walking the Committee so far, which may end up being just another bullet in an obstruction of Congress article of impeachment.  Speaking of which:

House Democrats return to Washington this week poised to significantly broaden their nascent impeachment inquiry into President Trump beyond the findings of the Russia investigation, but they will confront a fast-dwindling political clock.

Undeterred by lackluster public support for impeachment, Democratic lawmakers and aides have sketched out a robust four-month itinerary of hearings and court arguments that they hope will provide the evidence they need to credibly portray Mr. Trump as corrupt and abusing his power.

Beyond the president’s efforts to impede the special counsel’s investigation, Democrats also plan to scrutinize his role in hush payments to two women who said they had affairs with him and reports that he dangled pardons to officials willing to break the law to implement his immigration policies. Democrats also demanded documents last week related to whether his resort properties illegally profited from government business.  [snip]

For now, Democratic congressional investigators agree they should push ahead, even if impeachment ultimately remains beyond their grasp.

“If we aren’t able to collect the evidence that we need to present a credible case before the election, well, at least maybe we will have put enough evidence out there that the public can exercise another form of regime change that is in the Constitution and vote,” said Representative Mary Gay Scanlon, a Pennsylvania Democrat on the committee.

The Judiciary Committee will take a substantial step to organize its effort this week. Lawmakers are expected to vote to establish rules and procedures governing the inquiry, including allowing staff lawyers to question witnesses and the president’s lawyers to more formally offer a defense, according to an official familiar with the committee’s plans.

Would Trump be convicted in the Senate?  Hardly.  But the lawlessness must be addressed and the case laid out for the American people.  Otherwise our lawmakers are giving tacit approval for violating the Constitution and the laws of the land by Trump and potential future Presidents.

Brandon Ambrosino reports that pool boy and masseuse enthusiast Jerry Falwell, Jr., one of Trump's favorite Pharisee evangelical grifters, may have pushed the offering envelope too far:

Based on scores of new interviews and documents obtained for this article, concerns about Falwell’s behavior go well beyond that—and it’s causing longtime, loyal Liberty University officials to rapidly lose faith in him.

More than two dozen current and former high-ranking Liberty University officials and close associates of Falwell spoke to me or provided documents for this article, opening up—for the first time at an institution so intimately associated with the Falwell family—about what they’ve experienced and why they don’t think he’s the right man to lead Liberty University or serve as a figurehead in the Christian conservative movement.

In interviews over the past eight months, they depicted how Falwell and his wife, Becki, consolidated power at Liberty University and how Falwell presides over a culture of self-dealing, directing university resources into projects and real estate deals in which his friends and family have stood to make personal financial gains. Among the previously unreported revelations are Falwell’s decision to hire his son Trey’s company to manage a shopping center owned by the university, Falwell’s advocacy for loans given by the university to his friends, and Falwell’s awarding university contracts to businesses owned by his friends. (our emphasis)

In fact, Falwell is a perfect figurehead in the "Christian conservative movement," in that he's a monumental fraud, hypocrite, bigot and grifter.  Having Falwell fronting it would be the only thing remotely honest about that "movement."

As always, we wrap up our recommended reading with Infidel 753's link round- up for a comprehensive look around the internet.  He's assembled the usual collection of interesting, aggravating, amusing links to check out, so please do so.

Tweets Of The Day -- Pharisee Says What

Russell Moore is the President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention (in other words, hardly a secular liberal):

The reports of the conditions for migrant children at the border should shock all of our consciences. Those created in the image of God should be treated with dignity and compassion, especially those seeking refuge from violence back home. We can do better than this. https://t.co/Cv3AmJgypn

— Russell Moore (@drmoore) June 25, 2019

Here's a response from a loathsome "Christian" charlatan and hypocrite (screenshot, in case he subsequently deletes):

Some of our favorite responses at Pharisee Falwell's Twitter, where he's getting ratioed like the common grifter he is:

Have you ever hired a pool boy?

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 26, 2019

Have naked photos of your wife ever showed up on Michael Cohen’s computer?

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 26, 2019

I don't remember reading where Jesus made a payroll for his disciples or built an organization from scratch either but still spoke out against cruelty and I  think that's why the Romans executed him, but maybe you know something the rest of don't

— Kathleen Cosgrove (@katcoz) June 26, 2019

Gospel of Supply Side Jesus

— Thames Darwin 🐝 (@thamesdarwin) June 25, 2019

Don’t look now, but I don’t think you got your job on your merits, Jerry Nepotism Jr.

— Dale Houston (@wdalehouston) June 26, 2019

When this national nightmare is over, can we revisit the tax exempt status of these "built from scratch" fake Christian grifter organizations, that steal from the elderly and reject the teachings of Jesus.@LibertyU @LibertyUAlum @IRStaxpros

— 45* cheated, @gop complicit (@R5_2_Philly) June 26, 2019

Trump's "Spiritual Advisor" Anoints Own Son

Paula White, the holy-rolling grifter and bigoted sociopath Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump's "spiritual advisor" (that has to be a no-show job), made some news last week when she virtually proclaimed Trump as a "prophet" at the White (Supremacist) House. Showing that, like the Trump white-collar crime family, grifting is a family affair, White installed her son from her first marriage as a "pastor" in her megachurch in Florida. Apparently, this will free her up to create more of her "prosperity gospel" shakedown "churches" across the land.

As Trump knows, it's good to keep the grift in the family, that way less chance of them ratting you out to the law. Let's all praise St. Donnie and pass the Benjamins!

BONUS:  In other bible- thumping grifter news, it's been reported that Jerry Falwell, Jr., enlisted former Trump fixer Michael Cohen to "disappear" some "racy" photographs back in 2015; later, Cohen helped "persuade" Falwell to endorse his orange- skinned, cloven- hooved boss.  Meanwhile, Falwell's Miami pool boy denies knowing anything about the photos, which hopefully will be made public in 3, 2, 1...

(photo: Is Trump looking lustfully at his "spiritual advisor?" Mandel Nyan/AFP/Getty Images)

Praise Trump And Buy My Jet Fuel!

We're certain this was the only place the Pentagon could get its aviation fuel:

The Pentagon agreed to buy nearly $900,000 in jet fuel from the conservative university owned by Jerry Falwell Jr., just months after President Donald Trump took office.

The Department of Defense signed the contract with Freedom Aviation, which is wholly owned by Liberty University, on May 9, 2017, and had since purchased more than $400,000 in turbine fuel from the same company, reported The Daily Beast.

Falwell endorsed Trump’s campaign for the Republican nomination early in 2016, as his candidacy gained momentum during the primary process, and has been one of the president’s more outspoken supporters, sometimes placing him at odds with other evangelical leaders.

Freedom Aviation owns six planes, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, and maintains them at the university’s flight school at the Lynchburg, Virginia, campus.

The company provides charter flights to the public, and Falwell travels on the aircraft for his private use.

The Trump campaign paid Freedom Aviation more than $19,000 in air travel expenses about a week after Falwell endorsed the former reality TV star.

Neither Freedom nor C&C Aviation, another university-owned company, had ever won a federal fuel contract before Trump was elected president.

Only the most cynical would think this was a quid pro quo arrangement between evangelical savior Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump and good not- a- Pastor Falwell.  We hope the House Armed Services Committee doesn't look into it.

Monday Reading (UPDATED)

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Today's must read:  Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse's (D-RI) "battle plan for beating the right."

Victory has traits. Victory must be organized. Organization requires strategy, preparation, tactics, training, and teamwork. Brave and able troops have been slaughtered throughout history in failures of organization. 

Losing has traits, too. As Democrats, we offer better and more popular policy positions, and we have flamboyant heroes. Yet, so often, we lose. Now we have won back a foothold on power, and the question is: what do we do with it? I’m sick of losing. I’m particularly sick of our “loser traits.” It’s time we faced up to them.

Go read it, absorb it, promote it.

In his retrospective of former Defense Secretary James Mattis, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Jim Hoagland offers his historical perspective on Mattis and the regime he worked for:

This much we know: Mattis never expected, intended or accepted that he would be driven to resign from the Trump administration. He told friends as much when they teased that he must keep a letter of resignation tucked inside his jacket pocket at all times. Unspoken but hanging in the air at such moments was the Mattisonian thought: The bastards will have to fire me. 

He abased himself — not something he would have endured willingly — by staying on in a Cabinet of crooks, dolts and sycophants who form the biggest swamp in Washington in my 50-plus professional years here.  (our emphasis)

Speaking of crooks, dolts and sycophants, Treasury Secretary Steve "Mr. Marie Antoinette" Mnuchin took a break from golfing at Cabo (while 800,000 federal employees are on shutdown furlough) to make some calls at his boss's request, the kind of calls a crook, dolt and sycophant would make:

The Treasury Department said that Mnuchin held a series of calls with CEOs of major banks: Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo.

"The CEOs confirmed that they have ample liquidity available for lending to consumer, business markets, and all other market operations. He also confirmed that they have not experienced any clearance or margin issues and that the markets continue to function properly."

Equity markets have been rocky for various reasons, including tariff wars, general uncertainty, and the Fed increasing interest rates. No markets rise forever and we've seen a long run. A recent survey of global CEOs showed that chief financial officers overwhelmingly expect a recession by 2010 and many think 2019 will be the year. [snip]

Mnuchin's move might have made sense if there were public concerns about bank stability. Bank stocks have been taking a hit with market oscillations. When people worry about the economy, they expect that banks may suffer. When things slow, fewer people and companies take out the loans that are the source of institutional income. 

But there hasn't been a lot of concern about underlying bank stability. At least, there wasn't until Sunday evening when the tweets hit the fan. Particularly as Mnuchin was reportedly on vacation in Mexico.  (our emphasis)

Paul Krugman has a brief twitter thread on the subject here. Here's the conclusion:

We should take seriously the possibility that we're looking at an economic team as clueless as their boss -- and that they'll respond to real problems by firing off off-point tweets from various golf courses 5/

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) December 23, 2018

See also the Update below.

All quiet on the Mueller front?  Not really.  Max Bergmann and Sam Berger tell us Individual 1's cooked:

For nearly two years, since the U.S. intelligence community released its report on the Russian campaign to assist Donald Trump in the 2016 election, the American people have been seeking an answer as to whether the Trump campaign colluded with its Russian counterpart. In the endless speculation about the direction of the investigation, a common view was that maybe the investigation would never implicate President Trump or find any collusion.

But a flurry of recent activity this past week all points in the same direction: Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation will likely implicate the president, his campaign, and his close associates in aiding and abetting a Russian conspiracy against the United States to undermine the 2016 election. [snip]

Mueller is coming. And he is clearly coming for Trump. Not simply for obstructing justice but for conspiring with a hostile foreign power to win an election. This is a scandal unlike any America has ever seen. 

Man, would that make the season bright!

Where there's smoke, there's probably something hot and burning:

Jerry Falwell Jr. confirmed that he loaned $1.8 million — with the help of President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen — to a young pool attendant he and his wife had befriended while staying six years ago at a luxury hotel. 

Buzzfeed News had previously reported on a lawsuit that claimed the evangelical leader and his wife had developed a “friendly relationship” in 2012 with Giancarlo Granda, then 21 years old, at Fontainebleau Miami Beach, and Falwell confirmed in a court filing that he helped set up the younger man in business. 

Fallwell, who runs homophobic/ theocratic Liberty University, was among the first evangelical endorsers of serial adulterer and crime boss Donald "Rump" Trump.  If you don't smell something off here, you may want to consult an ENT specialist.

Finally, as always, please check out the link round- up at Infidel 753's joint.  He's done his usual fine job of collecting items for you to browse, so give him some love.

UPDATE:  Well, we heard from the New York Stock Exchange today -- it dropped 653 points!  Thanks, Mnuchin!  Thanks, Trump!

Twit Tweet, Thwap

Twit tweet:

We have been duped into viewing politicians as royalty when our Founders intended them to be only temp public servants. Complaints @realDonaldTrump is not “presidential” are because he acts like one of us-exactly why our Founders fought in Rev War to win independence from royalty

— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) August 16, 2018

Thwap:

What part of irony escapes you?

Oh. Wait.

All of it. https://t.co/bUY91HD7Qt

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 17, 2018

Jerry Falwell: “[Trump] acts like one of us.” Who among us hasn’t cheated on our third wife with a porn star and then paid her off?

— The Dude 🎳 (@SrEconomist) August 17, 2018

I'll give you a dollar if you can find me a Pharisee who has any form of a sense of humor.

— Trump Thoughts (@TrumpDotDotDot) August 17, 2018

If you want to compare yourself to that lying, adulterous, childish, spiteful, dishonest, egotistical cretin go ahead but leave the rest of us out of it.

— Karen (@andersonk49) August 16, 2018

And, for the win:

I assume the way trump is like you is that both of you were disappointments to your fathers.

— Lynette Craig (@biglcraig62) August 16, 2018