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Why isn't everyone here talking about the last installment of Axios' 'Off the Rails' series?
#1
Off the Rails is a series of what went on within the WH from the night of the election to the insurrection.

The last part is about that screaming match of a meeting that we heard about. Axios now has an insider's perspective with TONS of crazy quotes.

The series: https://www.axios.com/off-the-rails-epis...94e39.html

The last 'bonus' episode, "Inside the craziest meeting of the Trump presidency" https://www.axios.com/trump-oval-office-...f8723.html

You should read all of this series....

Trying to find a representative segment to quote is impossible, so I'll just grab some stuff at random...

Flynn went berserk. The former three-star general, whom Trump had fired as his first national security adviser after he was caught lying to the FBI (and later pardoned), stood up and turned from the Resolute Desk to face Herschmann.

"You're quitting! You're a quitter! You're not fighting!” he exploded at the senior adviser. Flynn then turned to the president, and implored: "Sir, we need fighters."

Herschmann ignored Flynn at first and continued to probe Powell's pitch with questions about the underlying evidence. "All you do is promise, but never deliver," he said to her sharply.

Flynn was ranting, seemingly infuriated about anyone challenging Powell, who had represented him in his recent legal battles.

Finally Herschmann had enough. "Why the fuck do you keep standing up and screaming at me?" he shot back at Flynn. "If you want to come over here, come over here. If not, sit your ass down." Flynn sat back down.

The meeting had come entirely off the rails.

Byrne, backing up Flynn, told Trump the White House lawyers didn't care about him and were being obstructive. "Sir, we're both entrepreneurs, and we both built businesses," the former Overstock CEO told Trump. "We know that there are times you have to be creative and take different steps."

This was a remarkable level of personal familiarity, given it was the first time Byrne had met the president. All the stanchions and buffers between the White House and the outside world had crumbled.

Byrne kept attacking the senior White House staff in front of Trump. "They've already abandoned you," he told the president aggressively. Periodically during the meeting Flynn or Byrne challenged Trump's top staff — portraying them as disloyal: So do you think the president won or not?

At one point, with Flynn shouting, Byrne raised his hand to talk. He stood up and turned around to face Herschmann. "You're a quitter," he said. "You've been interfering with everything. You've been cutting us off."

"Do you even know who the fuck I am, you idiot?" Herschmann snapped back.

"Yeah, you're Patrick Cipollone," Byrne said.

"Wrong! Wrong, you idiot!"


***

The Powell team needed to regroup. They shifted to a new grievance to turn the conversation away from their embarrassing errors. Powell insisted that they hadn't "lost" the 60-odd court cases, since the cases were mostly dismissed for lack of standing and they had never had the chance to present their evidence.

Every judge is corrupt, she claimed. We can't rely on them. The White House lawyers couldn't believe what they were hearing. "That's your argument?" a stunned Herschmann said. "Even the judges we appointed? Are you out of your fucking mind?"


that's enough... there is so much more! (no paywall)
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#2
Why isn't everyone here talking about the last installment of Axios' 'Off the Rails' series?

Same reason I can't remember the pain that came with breaking my leg at 7 years-old or breaking my face in a car mashup at 35, if I could remember that exact pain level I'd never climb a fence or get in a car again.

Although I no longer dream of fence scaling, I do drive.

To go on politically, we'll have to corral the aberrations that were Steven Miller type influences and build defenses that protect us in future without abandoning our involvement with public life.
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#3
Thanks hal, I’ll try to check it out this weekend.
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#4
Downloading now.
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#5
I THOUGHT IT WAS A PODCAST AND NOW I FEEL CHEATED
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#6
I don't really think that I want to relive any of the past four years so I think I'm going to give this a pass.
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#7
I read most of it but I really don’t care to read about what cheeto did. He is gone for now and I can’t get interested in reading history about him.
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#8
Right now I'm wallowing in the pleasure of NO TRUMP. Maybe in a while I can read about him without feeling a gag reflex. We'll see.
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#9
I just read the Bonus Episode. I'm half tempted to read the rest, but I have to get myself in the proper frame of mind...or not. Wink

This line from the bonus made me smile (in a sad sort of way).

They were now in hour four of a meeting unprecedented even by the deranged standards of the final days of the Trump presidency.
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#10
Okay, I ended up reading the whole series. Nicely laid out and easy enough to get through. Fascinating in a 'holy sh!te, what an idiot' kind of way.
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