Donald Trump’s net approval rating of -12.5 seems terrible.

But when you look at it in context, it tends to show that people hate Washington, and they don’t hate Trump much more or less than the Democratic leaders, whose net approval ratings are almost identical to Trump’s

Nancy Pelosi -13.3
Chuck Schumer -12.4

There is one person people hate more than Trump – Mitch McConnell at -23. Hating him is the one thing that liberals and conservatives can agree on. Yet McConnell may wield the most power of any of them.

GAME of THRONES SPOILER (obviously) …

Maisie Williams got nekkid in episode two of this season’s Game of Thrones, or at least her character did, as she chose to lose her virginity to Gendry during the vigil held by the living on the eve of the great battle against the dead. Here is a sound clip (direct link). In case that link does not work, here’s the gfycat container page.

Here are some 1080 stills from the scene

Given the show’s history, there could be cgi or doubling chicanery involved here, but Maisie seems to have admitted it’s the real deal. (I think. Her comments are not completely transparent.)

For comparison, the previous pics of a topless, bethonged Maisie (from behind), taken almost three years ago.

So proclaimed our leader, using the same New Math he used to calculate his inauguration crowd.

Ya gotta love that guy! By the way, the population of Sri Lanka is between 20 and 25 million.

I have a theory about this. A lot of people think Trump is just careless or intellectually challenged. I disagree. I think he’s just manipulating us. I think he deliberately says “crazy shit” (to quote his former White House counsel) so the media, social media, pundits, late-night comics, and douchebags like me will concentrate on chasing micro-developments in these storylines, while ignoring all of his malignant schemes and his major failures in the realm of substantive policy issues. I think his theory is that everyone who discusses “covfefe” or “138 million” is someone who is not discussing his obstruction of justice, his lack of control over his subordinates, his lack of a coherent foreign policy, or his failure to work with lawmakers on either health care or immigration.

I may be giving him too much credit by thinking he’s cagey enough to use chaos as a strategy. Perhaps he’s just what he appears to be, a pathological liar and narcissist who has no control over his impulses, but I think it is dangerous to underestimate him. He was in the construction business in New York and New Jersey, sometimes underpaid his contractors, and is still alive, so you know he must have outstanding survival instincts.

The report read: “The President’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.”

Instead of denying it, Trump should instead thank God they did. He probably in office now only because Chris Christie, Don McGahn, Dan Coats, Rob Porter and others failed to carry out his improper or illegal orders (“crazy shit,” as McGahn called it).

Polls, as of today (April 22)

New Hampshire: Sanders 30, Biden 18, Buttigieg 15

Iowa: Biden 19, Sanders 19, Buttigieg 14

That kinda makes Buittigieg the favorite, in that the other two are about 50/50 to still be alive come primary time. Beto O’Rourke seems to have run out of steam, having fallen to 6th in both states. I’m guessing that the Beto crowd has embraced Mayor Pete as their new savior.

The oddsmakers differ in one respect: they still place Kamala Harris above Buttigieg and Biden, and barely beneath Bernie. The polls show Harris barely making a blip on the radar (Iowa 6%, New Hampshire 4%).

Elizabeth Warren is foundering in both the polls and the odds, but she made a bold move today. She hopes to differentiate herself by being the only candidate calling for a Trump impeachment. Given that many Democrats agree with that stance, she hopes that might breathe new life into her campaign. Remains to be seen.

Trump’s approval rating has dropped to 37%, and 40% feel he should be impeached.

I wouldn’t put too much stock in that second rating unless the pollsters defined “impeachment” before asking the question. I’ve found that as many as 3/4 of people don’t understand what impeachment actually is. They tend to think it means “removed from office.”