Stupid Republican of the Day: Senator James Inhofe, (R) Oklahoma
The President of the United States calls you Wednesday night while you are eating out at an Italian restaurant. (Alas, there’s no mention of cannoli...) So, what do you do?
You put him on speakerphone so everyone around you can hear - and someone can record the conversation. (Don't let the "secretly recorded" headline fool you. You have no expectation of privacy if you put a call on speakerphone in a public place.)
Not that the Russians aren't doing this all the time, since Trump is notorious for ignoring security when he starts dialing. Heck — who knows what sweet things he whispers directly into BFF Putin’s ear? (We know it’s not about bounties on our troops.) Trump’s phone calls are a national security risk.
And it's also not the first time this has happened.
Back during the hearings over Ukraine and Trump's efforts to blackmail them into smearing Biden, it came out that Trump called then Ambassador Sondland’s cell phone - again a guy eating at a restaurant in Kyiv no less - and was so loud, the other people at the table were able to hear him. Not to mention the likelihood of Russian surveillance...
Back to Inhofe:
"...President Donald Trump dismissed the “bullshit” of the effects of cancel culture as he negotiated with a senator to preserve the name of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at military installations, according to a recording of a phone conversation given to The New York Times.Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) put Trump on speakerphone at an Italian restaurant in Washington, D.C., as the men talked politics Wednesday night. The conversation was overheard and recorded by “someone in the room,” the Times reported Thursday.“All right, my friend,” said Trump. “Are you doing good? We’re going to keep the name of Robert E. Lee?”Inhofe responded on the tape: “Just trust me. I’ll make it happen.”
Trump and Inhofe discussed other juicy topics too.
The president seemingly veered into another complaint about so-called cancel culture, in which support for a person is withdrawn over offensive actions or statements. A “lot of people want to be able to go back to life — not this bullshit,” he added.
In the recording of his call with the senator, the president also discussed Inhofe’s sudden cancellation of a confirmation hearing for retired Gen. Anthony Tata, Trump’s pick for a top Pentagon policy post. The move followed deepening concerns from both Democrats and Republicans about Tata’s history of inflammatory tweets in which he called former President Barack Obama a “terrorist leader” and attacked Islam.
You can hear some of the conversation from the recording at the NY Times.
Republicans - the only thing greater than their arrogance is their incompetence.