This is the state of the Republican Party:  The only Republican to call out Trump over Stormy Daniels is Congressman Mark Sanford.  Yeah, the same guy who “hiked the Appalachian Trail.”

Sanford suggested that there would be “hearings” into the matter if it happened under a Democratic president. “What you can’t do is be completely silent on something that is troubling,” Sanford said.

There you have it. Republicans – where there isn’t a clean finger to point.

Yeah, he called it “troubling.” Conspiracy with the Russians – not so much. Not troubling at all.

Let me be the first to remind Sanford that it did happen under a Democratic president. They impeached him.

Trump funneling more Republican campaign money to his own pocket just thrills me to death.  The more RNC money Trump gets, the less money Republican congressmen get.

Trump started his reelection campaign on inauguration day. That included renting giant gilded offices in Trump Tower, where rent has plummeted for any other renter except for Trump’s reelection campaign offices where they are paying more than ever.  To Trump.

Yeah, you bet it’s a joke.  Cue soundtrack to this train wreck.

Trump ran for president because he needed the money.

Thanks to Alfredo over at the Dairy Queen for the heads up.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs a new leader.  So, a guy applies.  It just so happens that he’s a former CEO of a payday lending company – those places that break all natural laws of common decency along with at least 2 commandments. These are the guys that Sweet Jesus threw out of the temple. Honey, when Jesus looses his temper at you, you’re bad.

And then there was this woman, who believed she was perfect for the Trump administration.  Her company, Worldwide Acceptance, was investigated by the CFPB and she resigned.  Two damn days later, she applied for a job at CFPB with this on her resume.

She goes so far as to cite the CFPB’s investigation into her company as an experience that uniquely qualifies her for the job.

“I have indepth (sic) experience of what a CFPB investigation is like, and so I am in an unparalleled position to understand the effect of various CFPB actions on a company, its workforce, its customers and the industry,” she says.

Yeah, I’m a crook.  Hire me.

Not to shock you, but her company gave only to the guy doing the hiring while he was in congress.

Welcome to the Trump years. Take a seat and someone will be with you to empty your pockets shortly.

Ted Cruz has now had since last November to give thought to his opening salvo against Beto O’Rourke, who has out raised Cruz every reporting period.

Well, here’s Cruz’s opening salvo and you can tell that Cruz put every bit of his creativity and thought into it.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s first shot at his expected Democratic challenger, Rep. Beto O’Rourke? Mocking his name.

As Tuesday’s primaries were closing, Cruz’s campaign released a 60-second radio ad that was a country music jingle prodding O’Rourke for going by “Beto” rather than “Robert.”

“Liberal Robert wanted to fit in, so he changed his name to Beto and hid it with a grin,” the song says.

Okay, so let me see if I have this right.  A man named Rafael Edward Cruz who was born in Canada makes fun of somebody’s name?

That’s your best shot, Cruz?  Dude, buy a mirror.

Some time back I told you about my friends in Fayette County.  That’s a small rural community between here and Austin.  Two of my favorite people, Vickie and Cecil, live there.  Fayette County, strongly Republican, has damn interesting politics.

Last year, one of their Republican Justice of Peaces got arrested for a multi-state lottery theft.  They ain’t much trying to improve since then.

Last night, Cecil sent me a front page story in the local newspaper.  Since the newspaper is subscription based, Cecil sent me a picture of it.

You can click  here to enlarge it.

and keep reading by clicking here.

So, a lawyer was out stealing his opponent’s yard signs while he’s running for the office that would prosecute people for stealing yard signs.  But, you know, he told the truth about doing it, dammit, and offered to apologize.  That don’t work in the law books and you’d think a lawyer would know that. That’s what you’d think. And you’d think wrong.

So this morning, I asked Cecil how the election turned out.

The sign stealer came in third out of three.  If you look how bad the numbers are, he came in fourth out of three.

Vickie thinks he should have stolen more signs. Vickie is usually right about these things.

You know how the propaganda machine pumps out books during election years peddling bullshit as fact to rile up the base.  In past years, it was manure shoveled by the likes of Ann Coulter and Bill O’Reilly where they wove fantastical fairy tales claiming that up is down, left is right, and the sun rises in the west.  One magnificent piece of work is by Dinesh D’Souza, The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left, where he does mental gymnastics to assert the case that American progressives were connected to Hitler and Nazi Germany.  It’s idiotic, especially to anyone who has even fleeting familiarity with high school world history, but a huge hit among the drooling class who slurp it up while filling D’Souza’s pockets with millions of dollars.

One new piece of work, written by David Brody, a reporter with the Christian Broadcasting Network, and Scott Lamb, a Baptist minister and biographer of Mike Huckabee and the baseball player, Albert Pujols is a new low in right wing manure.  It’s called The Faith of Donald J. Trump, A Spiritual Biography.  Wrongly classified as a biography rather than fiction, it spends 375 pages trying to convince the reader that Donald Trump, owner of casinos and topless bars, swindler, and world class philanderer, is actually a devout Christian.  You read that correctly – this work of fiction actually asserts Trump is a man of God.

There is one good thing, however, that has come from this book, and that is the review of it in the LA Times by Lawrence Downes, titled “Holy Crap – The ‘Godly Side of Donald Trump’ which contains some very meaningful insights about the book.  A few of his better quotes:

and this little tidbit,

“Decency, honesty, charity, humility: Who cares if the president does not manifest these things in what he says or does? Never mind the Lord’s commandments, like the ones forbidding idolatry, bearing false witness and moving on thy neighbor’s wife like a bitch.”

Unlike the actual book, this review is a great read, highly recommended.  I’m dubbing it Best Book Review Ever.