Billionaire Carl Icahn dropped $31.3 million dollars of stock in Manitowoc Company Inc. on February 22, only days before Trump announced heavy tariffs on imported steel.  Manitowoc is heavily dependent on steel manufacturing.  Icahn sold the stock at around $33, but it dropped to $26 after Trump’s announcement.

Before February, Icahn was not actively trading Manitowoc stock. According to regulatory filings, he did not buy or sell any shares of Manitowoc between January 17, 2015 and February 11, 2018.

But Icahn suddenly out of nowhere ups and decides to shed all this stock all at once.

Hummmm … you’d think he knew Donald Trump.

And you’d, of course, be right.

Icahn, a billionaire investor with far-flung holdings, is a close associate of Trump — who invoked Icahn’s name repeatedly on the campaign trail. Once in office, Trump installed Icahn as a “special adviser,” although Icahn did not not unwind his business entanglements before accepting the position.

Icahn resigned as special adviser last August shortly before the New Yorker hinted that Icahn was using this long friendship withTrump to enrich himself.

Now all this gets really weird when you remember that Trump had to hide from everybody on his staff that he was going to raise the tariffs.  Maybe, just maybe, he and Carl had a secret.

Maybe.

In “King Icahn,” a 1993 biography, the author, Mark Stevens, described his subject as a “germophobic, detached, relatively loveless man,” and quoted one contemporary saying, “Carl’s dream in life is to have the only fire truck in town. Then when your house is in flames, he can hold you up for every penny you have.”

Yep, twins.

Thanks to Billy for the heads up.

Y’all, Monica kept a dress, but Hope Hicks kept … a damn diary!

Book deals are coming at her like fastballs in the World Series.  One agent said …

According to a White House insider, Hicks has been secretly keeping what was described as a ‘detailed diary of her White House work, and her interactions with the president.’

‘The thing is,’ the source tells Daily Mail, ‘Hope’s one of Donald Trump’s most  loyal colleagues and friends. She’s not one to destroy that relationship.

Yeah, maybe not for money from a book deal but, you know, Mueller subpoena.

Okay, with all the totally insane stuff going on in the White House this week, this is hardly a bleep on the Oh Crap Meter.

But it just ticked me off.  It gushes of white privilege and talking money.

The Washington Post is reporting that Melania Trump got “an Einstein visa.”

In March 2001, she was granted a green card in the elite EB-1 program, which was designed for renowned academic researchers, multinational business executives or those in other fields, such as Olympic athletes and Oscar-winning actors, who demonstrated “sustained national and international acclaim.”

“We called it the Einstein visa,” said Bruce Morrison, a former Democratic congressman and chairman of the House subcommittee that wrote the Immigration Act of 1990 defining EB-1.

The story gives examples of why she really did not qualify for the special visa at the time.

See, this is what hacks me off about the whole bunch of them at the Trump White House.  They truly believe they are special.

Thanks to Pam for the heads up. 

Way west of San Antonio, in the county of Uvalde, is the Utopia Independent School District.

It’s a 1A school, which means it’s small enough for their yearbook to be a brochure.

In the halls of the public elementary school hangs this banner …

Honey, your teacher voice in the Republican primary will get you another pay cut, increased class size, fewer supplies, no technology, more expensive health care, and screw your retirement.  However, you will be given a very nice handgun and be told to use it to ward off some fool with an assault rifle.

Mind you, this is a Texas public school telling you to vote in the Republican primary.  I am getting eye roll fatigue.

Thanks to Linda for the heads up.

So the folks over at CNN are saying that Trump “berated” Hope Hicks for admitting that she told “white lies” for him.  Trump, of course says that’s not true.  Trump expects us to believe him because he’s never berated anyone before now.

But the line that startled me was this: “Said the source: ‘She was his last emotional crutch’.”  Wait, are you telling me that Trump had an emotional crutch?  If so, Hope probably doesn’t want to put that on her resume.

And have mercy on Jared’s evil soul. Can you imagine selling US foreign policy for a personal bank loan?  That boy ought to have a $ sign on his shirt. They say that his dad took the fall for him last time, but it appears that Jared is on his own in this shark tank. Bless his dark heart.

I just heard that Hope Hicks resigned.

She will be looking for a new job where white lies earn extra time off.

Ya think she’s flipping?  Out?