Intern Killer Joe is really "leaning red" this morning: "Scaramucci is "really stepping up!"

[Miles Archer]

To paraphrase: We're going to have a much smoother White House because if what you need is someone to come in and clean house, then that's what you need.

I can see that his decision to leave the Republican party has really sharpened his focus.

[gordianot]

1. That should give Trump pause.

Never forget the enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend.

Also:

Praise from your enemy is not always praise especially when you are a paranoid narcissistic liar.

[HAB911]

2. Seth Meyers got Scaramucci correct

'Human pinky ring' Anthony Scaramucci

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2017/07/25/seth-meyers-new-target-anthony-scaramucci-seth-meyers/507659001/

"Look at this guy! He’s a human pinkie ring,” Meyers said. “He’s the human embodiment of a double-parked BMW. He looks like the guy who leaves a doo-wop group over creative differences.”

[Gabi Hayes]

3. So did Colbert on Monday

He's losing his smooth cool on CNN

[Miles Archer]

4. I'm Italian...

...and a proud one, at that.

THAT SAID...I own every facet of being Italian.

I don't speak for other Italians.

What I will tell you is that movies like "Raging Bull" are based in fact, even though they absolutely do not represent "all" Italians. I made a copy of it for my mom decades ago. She couldn't finish watching it because it rang too true. The "BRING ME MY STEAK" scene? That was her first husband. She saw that, popped out the VHS tape, and that's as far as she got. This prick threw shit. This prick hit her. Thank Christ he wasn't my dad, but the next guy she married...my dad...was also an Italian with a brutal and abusive temper. My grandmother came over on the boat from Naples. My dad was really, really, really Italian. I am as well, but I've spend a lifetime sanding off the rough edges of my dad's behavior in my own life.

The "shine box" scene in "Goodfellas?" I've been in the middle of interactions like that as well.

The whole "pinky ring" thing is real. I've seen it, I've experienced it, and there have been times where I've played that role for a goof.

I have a friend and client who watched, and absorbed, all of the high-profile Mafia movies like Godfather and Goodfellas. He's half Italian, but he plays the Mafia role to the hilt. When the two of us are together, we ping-pong the lingo, and he really leans into it.

There is no single race, culture or gender that reads from a standard script. But as an Italian, especially one who has been a member of Sons of Italy and has heard many comments about the "portrayal" of Italian Americans, I can say that OBVIOUSLY we're not all in the Mafia.

But the "pinky ring" thing is as real as rain, and Scaramucci plays it in the same way that my friend plays it.

[Javaman]

11. right there with you.

and you hit all the notes correct.

luckily, things aren't like they were in the 60's, 70's and 80's. I got really tired of "is your family in the mafia?" question.

to many pinky rings to remember. to many "Italian horn necklaces" to remember.

cheers.

from a fellow paisan

[get the red out]

5. LOL

How does a communications director change the fact that we have a totally insane and evil POTUS? Even if he was good at his job, putting icing on a turd doesn't make it chocolate cake.

[Vinca]

6. Mooch is an ass kisser of the highest order. I've never seen anything quite like it.

If he ever had any self respect it's now completely gone. Trump says "Down on your knees" and Mooch says "How long?"

[SharonClark]

7. Joe S was in his best Libertarian-Federalist Society mode today

Something like "Government has no role to play in health care". How is it that guys like that live in the same world as the rest of us and offer only platitudes and no empathy?

[AngryAmish]

8. You have to think of Joe and Mika as Perez Hilton

Or any of the old school gossip mongers.

What they do is tap into the basic human need for authority as well as the need to make sure authority behaves well.

So if those in authority (Trump, Beyonce etc) behave well according to the gossips, then they are praised. When they transgress, they are hammered.

If one can insinuate oneself into an intermediary between the powerful and the governed it can be very, very lucrative in status and money.

This is true of all political opinion journalism in any form. Or other journalism. They pay may stink but the rewards in status is huge.

This is Trump's genius. It is celebrityness all the way down. For most people there is very little difference between Ike and Beyonce.

The marks are unaware of this important point.

[Paladin]

9. Showing his true colors, is he?

Must be angling for another Mar-A-Lago visit for him and his girlfriend.

[Javaman]

10. he's grasping at straws. repukes are funny that way when they are in up to their necks. nt

[jehop61]

12. Joe was like his old self today

His support of repealing the ACA today was despicable in light of the fact he has an autistic son and a mother in a nursing home. But I suppose he's so rich he never needed federally funded services.