Pam Philpot

When @kwelkernbc was on the phone with Trump, she started out by saying "I know you're joking about this," but then it turned serious. Trump wildly overstated his approval rating and said "a lot of people would like me" to have a third term. Here's the full transcript released by NBC: KRISTEN WELKER: So, when you're jo – I know you're joking about this, but I've been talking to a lot of your allies. They say they're very serious. You know, I talked to Steve Bannon on the record, quite frankly. So, I can just tell you. I mean, he says he's, you know, really seriously looking at potential plans that would allow you to serve a third term. PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Well, let me put it this way. You have to start by saying, I have the highest poll numbers of any Republican for the last 100 years. We're in the high 70s in many polls, in the real polls, and you see that. And, and you know, we're very popular. And you know, a lot of people would like me to do that. But, I mean, I basically tell them, we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration. KRISTEN WELKER: So, but I don't hear you ruling – like, in a very serious way, do you rule that out? Are you like, I can't serve a third term, it's unconstitutional? What's your thinking around it? PRES. DONALD TRUMP: A lot of people want me to do it. But we have – my thinking is, we have a long way to go. I’m focused on the current. KRISTEN WELKER: Have you been presented with any potential plans that would allow you to serve a third term? PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Well, there are plans. There are – not plans. There are, there are methods which you could do it, as you know. KRISTEN WELKER: Basic– Well, let me throw out one where President Vance would run for office and then would, basically, if, if you – if he won, at the top of the ticket, would then pass the baton to you. PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Well, that's one. But there are others too. There are others. KRISTEN WELKER: There are others? Can you tell me another? PRES. DONALD TRUMP: No. KRISTEN WELKER: Okay. So, but, but, sir, I'm hearing – you don't sound like you're joking. I've heard you joke about this a number of times. PRES. DONALD TRUMP: No, no I'm not joking. I’m not joking – KRISTEN WELKER: Yeah. Yeah. PRES. DONALD TRUMP: But, I'm not – it is far too early to think about it. KRISTEN WELKER: Okay. Okay. It's too early to think about it, but you’re not – PRES. DONALD TRUMP: – If people would like, and I hope you're going to mention, I have the highest ratings of any Republican – KRISTEN WELKER: Yep. Yeah– PRES. DONALD TRUMP: – in 100 years. KRISTEN WELKER:  Yeah, yeah. PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Nobody’s had ratings like this. KRISTEN WELKER: Yeah. Do you – would you want to serve a third term, sir? That's – it's a lot of work. President is the toughest job there is. It's the toughest job in the country. You think you have – PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Well, I like working. KRISTEN WELKER: Yeah. PRES. DONALD TRUMP:  I like working, so, you know. KRISTEN WELKER: Well, you, you– PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Unlike sleepy Joe, unlike sleepy Joe. KRISTEN WELKER: Would you, would you – you wouldn't want to pass the baton to Vice President Vance? PRES. DONALD TRUMP: Oh I may – It's too early – KRISTEN WELKER: Too early – PRES. DONALD TRUMP: – to even think about it.

KARL: Would you like to see AOC join you in the Senate? BERNIE SANDERS: Right now, we have just a whole lot of people in the Congress. Ok Jonathan, thanks. *gets up to end the interview* KARL: Wait, I got one more-- SANDERS: You want to do nonsense, do nonsense. I don't want to talk about inside the Beltway stuff. I got 32,000 people--

Sanders: If we were a poor country, I would say, “I’m sorry that you have to work 50 hours a week,” or “I’m sorry that you have to do dangerous work,” or “I’m sorry that you can’t afford to send your kid to college,” or “I’m sorry that the elementary school your child attends is inadequate,” but we’re a poor country, we just can’t afford that. We are not a poor country! There is no excuse on God’s earth for people to have to choose between food and the medicine they need to stay alive.

AOC: Alina Habba said, “What intellectual thought.. you were in a bar AOC. Not to have a drink but to serve one.” I don’t care what this woman says about me but I want you to understand that she isn’t just talking about me, she’s talking about all of us. Trump hired her to speak for him. Imagine what it means for our country that the President’s own lawyer cannot even conceive of a working class person being intelligent simply because of the job that they have.

@LarrySabato I also hear some McCarthyism in the mix.

Trump has given many outrageous speeches but the one he's delivering at the Justice Department now ranks right up there. The ghosts of Nixon, John Mitchell, and Watergate are quite visible.

RJ Matson @MatsonCartoons

A top economics reporter goes off script on national TV: “I am going to say this at risk of my job, but what President Trump is doing is insane.”

@joshtpm @TPM Thank you Josh. I thought a lot of Kevin Drum.

Remembering Kevin Drum talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/remembe… via @TPM

When I started out as a blogger, one of my definitions of success was to get a single link, just one, from Calpundit. It was hard. It took time. I was so damn proud when it happened. Kevin Drum was an inspiration to so many of us. A lot of the later turns towards wonkery and chart-blogging has its roots in his work. He influenced a generation of young writers — he was fair and independent and took the evidence seriously and and he did the work to see old things in new ways. He will be so missed. jabberwocking.com/health-update-…

@RadioFreeTom I just said the same thing. He doesn’t know how to make a speech, so everything’s a rally.

This is a rally speech, but it’s also a list of things he claims to have done that he hasn’t actually done. It’s utterly bonkers.

@Acyn @AntiToxicPeople He did a dandy job explaining all that. Wonder how many paid attention?

Fox Anchor Brett Baier: President Trump insists U.S. manufacturers will be protected because tariffs will be paid by these countries. But, it's not quite that simple. The companies responsible for importing a product are the ones who physically pay tariffs.. They are usually US companies

🚨 BREAKING: Ontario Premier Doug Ford just canceled Elon Musk’s Starlink contract and banned all U.S. companies from government contracts in response to Trump’s economic war with Canada. “It’s done, it’s gone,” Ford said. “We won’t award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province and our country.” And just to be clear: “They only have President Trump to blame.” So Trump starts a trade war, and now American businesses are getting locked out of Canada. This isn’t “tough negotiating”—this is our closest ally shutting the door on us while Trump pretends he’s “winning.” MAGA wanted an economic war? Well, they just got one. And it’s American companies and workers who are about to feel the pain.

Here is some truth: Putin invaded Ukraine. NATO is the most successful military alliance in history. Since 1945, American leadership has ensured freedom and security for ourselves and millions of others around the world. Together with our allies, we defeated the Soviet Union—an empire so evil it had to build gulags and walls to keep its own people in. Destroying America’s alliances and abandoning the cause of freedom is morally and strategically indefensible. Putin will pocket Trump’s naive concessions and demand much more. Appeasement makes a wider war more likely, not less. @realDonaldTrump, @JDVance, and @elonmusk have made clear who they are. Only fools—or Kremlin tools—would abandon NATO, side with Russia, and demand Ukraine surrender in the face of Putin’s brutal aggression.

@LarrySabato @lisamurkowski I agree. What was the price of their souls? Money? Power? Both?

With only a few exceptions, such as @lisamurkowski, today's Republican Party has less backbone than a banana.

@arenda @RadioFreeTom I needed this. I’ve been so despondent watching Reps who know better defend Trump’s behavior as they attack Zelensky.

"America’s alliances are now in danger, and should be: Trump is openly, and gleefully, betraying everything America has tried to defend since the defeat of the Axis 80 years ago." @RadioFreeTom theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

I was privileged to know Gene Hackman because he played tennis with another Gene—Gene Wilder. And that Gene told him about a little role called The Blind Hermit in our movie YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. He said, “Do you think Mel would let me play it? I’ve always wanted to do a comedy.” Needless to say, I was over the moon and he was perfect.

@JDVance WHERE DID UKRAINE'S NUKES GO JD? DID THEY WALK OFF INTO THE NIGHT? WHAT ABOUT THEIR STRATEGIC BOMBERS? CRUISE MISSILES? TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH. WE DISARMED AND PROMISED TO PROTECT THEM. DON'T "CHRISTIANS" HONOR PROMISES? ISN'T LYING A SIN? PROOF ⬇️ x.com/hissgoescobra/…

@cnnbrk @mkraju Shameful.

In a stunning turn away from allies, the US sides with Russia to vote against a UN resolution condemning Moscow's war against Ukraine cnn.it/3EPprBo

@mkraju McConnell had the power to stop him and refused to do so. Speaking truths has little value without action to address the problem.

Mitch McConnell, a staunch Ukraine defender, objecting to Trump’s rhetoric, though doesn’t say him by name. “Refusing to acknowledge Russia as the undeniable and unprovoked aggressor is more than an unseemly moral equivalency – it reflects a gross misunderstanding of the nature of negotiations and leverage. “Blame for this human catastrophe rests solely on Vladimir Putin. Here’s how we know: If Russian forces laid down their arms, Europe would be at peace. If Ukrainian forces laid down theirs, Putin’s aims would not stop with Kyiv. Mistaking this fact is as embarrassing as it is costly.” He added: “Peace for our time’ is a noble end, but hope that appeasement will check the ambitions of this aggressor is as naïve today as it was in 1939.” McConnell said the "willful alienation" of allies in Europe and Asia a "self-defeating step" that would embolden China. In his statement, McConnell also blamed Biden’s ‘sluggish’ and ‘piecemeal’ response that ‘squandered opportunities.’ He singled out Biden by name, but not Trump