The Butler Did It?

Or at the very least, he knew how best to stroke this particular ego—

"You can always tell when the king is here," Mr. Trump's longtime butler here, Anthony Senecal, said of the master of the house and Republican presidential candidate.
...

Mr. Senecal knows how to stroke his ego and lift his spirits, like the time years ago he received an urgent warning from Mr. Trump's soon-to-land plane that the mogul was in a sour mood. Mr. Senecal quickly hired a bugler to play "Hail to the Chief" as Mr. Trump stepped out of his limousine to enter Mar-a-Lago.

According to the NYT, all the help had to learn that, when He emerged from His lair each morning—

"If the cap was white ... the boss was in a good mood. If it was red, it was best to stay away."

Clever Sister adds, "isn't red his main color of his make amurica great caps?"

The Butler seems to have had a flair for politics:

"In 1990, Mr. Senecal took a sabbatical to become the mayor of a town in West Virginia, where he gained some notoriety for a proposal requiring all panhandlers to carry begging permits. He said that Mr. Trump wrote to him, 'This is so great, Tony.'

CS also sends this, from 2004. Senecal's stint as mayor of Martinsburg, WV, may have been brief, but it was abundant in dubious publicity.

"The Apprentice" could never top "The Mayor of Martinsburg."

One is a reality show. The other was a wild ride.

Tony Senecal, a one-time power broker of sorts as the mayor of Martinsburg, has been watching the hit show from an inside perspective. He's "The Butler."

For 11 years, Senecal has been Trump's personal butler at Trump's palatial Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

Senecal, 72, also had a bit part on the April 1 episode of "The Apprentice," escorting two contestants and their relatives on a tour of Mar-a-Lago.

In real life, Senecal has a pat line for anyone puzzled by his transition from governing a city to, say, serving mimosas: "Once you've been a public servant, you can be a private one."

Well, judging from the NYT interview, who wouldn't be eager to serve such inspiring figures as Senecal describes—

Over the decades, he has grown close to the Trump family. He recalled how Mr. Trump's father, Fred C. Trump, once stepped out of his limo on the club's gravel driveway and remarked to Mr. Senecal, "Somebody better get that coin." The butler went on his hands and knees and after a few minutes found a crusty penny.

"His eyes were incredible," Mr. Senecal said of Fred Trump. "Mr. Trump has the same eyes."

Showing Their Colors

Clever Sister finds this:

Campaigns and elections can be stressful. The USA TODAY campaign coloring book offers a way of relaxing from the speeches, the ads, the debates and the vote counting. Flip through the pages below, then download and print your copy.

Boldly fill in resolute (and svelte!) Trump...

...Color horns on shifty-eyed Hillary?

Don't forget the proper tools...

Picture Trumps Words

"Breaking news..."

Job Opening

No candidates need apply, though....

Minutes after the news broke, GOP word was out: the president should not be allowed to fill the vacancy.

This based on the interesting idea that Election Day is "too close," so it's improper for Obama to perform his duties by nominating a new justice. Yes, it's always about "The Constitution" and "Originalism" with these characters. On the other hand, McConnell's stylings serve as homage to Nino's greatest hits: "unprecedented" as they were, and disavowing future precedent with a, "Get over it!"

And of the late Nino's own stylings, many bloggers found the perfect memorial in a picture.

Predictably, Charles Pierce is more humane than the subject deserves (though in his comments section, the regulars are much more pointed). Among some of the very pointed posts by other bloggers, here are John Cole and David Ehrenstein.

The tubes were humming, and among the useful material from law blogs and legal reporters, Ian Milhiser soon offered an excellent run-down of what happens with an evenly split court, and how specific cases now pending are likely to be affected. Before that review, though, Milhiser remarks on the import of the unexpectedly empty chair—

Twenty-four hours ago, Republicans were headed into what remains of the current Supreme Court term with a solid majority and a docket strewn with some of the most consequential cases in decades. Affirmative action, abortion, birth control, immigration, an effort to shift congressional power to Republicans — all of these issues are before the justices this term.

The issues remain before the Court, but the balance of power just changed. Justice Antonin Scalia, the longest-serving member of the Court and one of its most outspoken conservatives, is dead. When the sun rose this morning, Republicans enjoyed a 5-4 majority on the nation's highest Court. It sets on an evenly divided bench.

A Grim Fairy Tale

And recognized as such by a Texas jury—which added a twist to the story—

A grand jury convened to investigate whether a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic had sold the organs of aborted fetuses on Monday cleared the clinic and instead indicted the undercover videographers behind the allegations, surprising the officials who called for the probe and delighting supporters of the women's health organization.

The Harris County grand jury indicted David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, both of California, on charges of tampering with a governmental record, a second-degree felony with a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison. It also charged Daleiden, the leader of the videographers, with the same misdemeanor he had alleged – the purchase or sale of human organs, presumably because he had offered to buy in an attempt to provoke Planned Parenthood employees into saying they would sell.

Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson announced the indictments in a statement, noting the probe had lasted more than two months.

"As I stated at the outset of this investigation, we must go where the evidence leads us," said Anderson, a Republican. "All the evidence uncovered in the course of this investigation was presented to the grand jury. I respect their decision on this difficult case."

An arrest warrant was issued late Monday; documents detailing the charges were expected to be available Tuesday.

As M. Bouffant put it, "Tangled Web Woven, Snaps Back."

Also, Cecile Richards interview.

In The Open

David Ehrenstein connects a number of dots.

Donald Trump "could stand on New York's Fifth Avenue 'and shoot somebody,' and still not lose voters"... In "open carry" Ohio, armed white man threatens a black neighborhood as police stand down, a break Tamir Rice certainly never had...

Ehrenstein quotes Steve Sondheim—

What a wonder is a gun!
What a versatile invention!
First of all, when you've a gun
Everybody pays attention.

Oldies

Roy Edroso on Palin's endorsement of Trump.

Steve M.—

Ever watch an aging Top 40 group run through a medley of decades-old chart-toppers? No song gets played to the end. The lead vocalist asks the audience to sing half the words. The band just has to go through the motions.

That's Palin. She knows her audience spends every waking moment watching Fox, listening to talk radio, or watching the latest Trump interview on Morning Joe -- so she doesn't have to finish any of her thoughts....

Here's the formula: Take half a dozen ten-minute Fox or talk radio segments. Boil each one down to the takeaway bullet point. String these multiple bullet points together. Now you've made one Sarah Palin sentence:

Tell me, is this conservative? GOP majorities handing over a blank check to fund Obamacare and Planned Parenthood and illegal immigration that competes for your jobs, and turning safety nets into hammocks, and all these new Democrat voters that are going to be coming on over border as we keep the borders open, and bequeathing our children millions in new debt, and refusing to fight back for our solvency, and our sovereignty, even though that’s why we elected them and sent them as a majority to DC.

So few words, so many grievances! In a way, it's artful. Except for the awful draftsmanship, it's compressed like a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song, or a Bosch canvas.

Palin's audience doesn't need any of this explained. Palin's audience lives on these grievances, wallows in them, has them burned into memory via endless repetition in the right-wing media. The audience doesn't care if Palin plays any of the hits all the way through -- just play the chorus! just play that one riff!

In comments, Yastreblyansky adds—

Yes, I think that's exactly right, it's all affect. What she does isn't that different from Limbaugh, or Trump, or Rubio for that matter, it just looks funnier written down. I think it's important to note that you can't in fact coherently narrate the story of whatever the audience is so made about, because you can't really make it add up to a story, as has been the case with all these things since Whitewater. You just utter the words--BENGHAZI! Lead from behind! Free stuff! to make them shake with rage. And I hate to say it, but you know who else gave rambling, incoherent speeches full of dark accusations that didn't really make any logical sense.

Or as a Driftglass commenter, bluicebank, said last week of this footage—

Ten seconds in, and the Historical Memory kicks in: "We've seen this before, but it was in black-and-white. In another country."