[Discussion] Hope to Remember The Trump Administration Thread as being 'transparent and honest'

Let's follow and discuss what our newest presidential administration gets up to, the good, the bad, the lawsuits, and the many many indictments.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Only Trump doesn't have the authority, it's up to congress.

Since when has that stopped him?

Yeah I doubt anyone would make a legal challenge to an executive order abolishing this nonsense.

I don't like it but I would. sorry but the more executive orders that work them more they are legitimized.

I support a national emergency for removing daylight savings!
Kill DS! Kill DS!

Kaiser Donald J. Wilhelm II has just submitted a new budget for 2020. It predictably continues his treatment of the federal government as a hostile takeover target, to be gutted and handed back to the bank in bankruptcy proceedings. It also predictably continues his allocation of bazillions of dollars to the military, because of course it does.

NPR wrote:

A 23 percent cut in State Department funding, a 15 percent cut in spending by the USDA, and a 31 percent cut in the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency. The budget for Homeland Security would increase by 7.4 percent. It also calls for $8.6 billion in new border wall funding. (emphasis mine)

But my very, very favorite part comes next:

Congress largely ignored previous Trump budgets, even when Republicans were in full control. That's practically certain to happen now that House Democrats have a shared grip on the purse strings.

IMAGE(https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AntiqueBossyGossamerwingedbutterfly-small.gif)

Looks like Fox's coverage of the budget focuses on work requirements being added for welfare recipients, Democrats resisting the budget, and of course Wall and the estimate 180k migrants heading this way. Oh, and it uses this quote:

“Our national debt nearly doubled under the previous Administration and now stands at more than $22 trillion,” he continued. “This Budget shows that we can return to fiscal sanity without halting our economic resurgence while continuing to invest in critical priorities.”

The budget also includes a national paid family leave proposal and seeks money to establish the Space Force as a new branch of the military, while sharply curbing spending on domestic safety-net programs. The outline includes a total of $2.7 trillion in nondefense spending cuts and the administration says the proposal would put the federal government on track to balance the budget by 2034.

You know what would actually balance the budget? Repeal the Bush and Trump tax cuts.

What I don't understand is what happens when they get it all and there is nothing left to take? What are they going to do? What happens to the 1% when there is no one else and nothing left of the earth? I guess they are incapable of seeing that...
Will it just be like in 2007? "Oh I didn't know that there wasn't an infinite supply from which I can take at will!" "The US housing market would never crash!"

fangblackbone wrote:

What I don't understand is what happens when they get it all and there is nothing left to take? What are they going to do? What happens to the 1% when there is no one else and nothing left of the earth? I guess they are incapable of seeing that...
Will it just be like in 2007? "Oh I didn't know that there wasn't an infinite supply from which I can take at will!" "The US housing market would never crash!"

Peter Thiel and other billionaires are buying up land in places like New Zealand to live as post-apocalyptic omnilords or some other delusional sh*t. They really think they're going to escape the effects of all their greed. They'll consume themselves as they consume us. They're so blinded by their sense of "superiority" that they think they're untouchable.

Maybe we should trick them into thinking their nightmare scenario has come true so they all pick up and move.

Voting for rational people and ignoring hype would be a great trick.

I think World War Z depicted it well. Their guards and staff will end up turning on them.

But a lot of them don't worry about the long-term effects of their abuse of society as long as those effects come after they are dead.

Nevin73 wrote:

I think World War Z depicted it well. Their guards and staff will end up turning on them.

But a lot of them don't worry about the long-term effects of their abuse of society as long as those effects come after they are dead.

In one of the articles I read about this the guy has been approached by billionaires and been asked what they should do to prevent insurrection among their staff. And he was like, "I don't know...treat them well beforehand? Better yet, maybe try not doing things that lead to you needing to have a bunker and security staff?!"

It's so insanely stupid. And just goes to show you these supposed brainy billionaires are really just greedy morons that are just lucky and sociopathic enough to accumulate such vast amounts of wealth.

Nevin73 wrote:

I think World War Z depicted it well. Their guards and staff will end up turning on them.

But a lot of them don't worry about the long-term effects of their abuse of society as long as those effects come after they are dead.

When things start to get truly bad I imagine the locals will start eyeing the compound of the stranger who moved in a few years earlier and stockpiled fresh water and food.

I mean to be fair (which is obviously not fair), they probably will be fine and die prior to major climate catastrophic change. Their, and my kids, will probably be the first to really suffer.

Maybe we should trick them into thinking their nightmare scenario has come true so they all pick up and move.

Voting for rational people and ignoring hype would be a great trick.

Honestly? I have gotten so frustrated I am tempted to start a podcast that is
a cross between The Colbert Report and Alex Jones except it would twist the
crazy mindset to be productive.

I.E. blame everything on "the Jews" and then muddy the waters of the issue so
that the audience does not know which way is up. The punchline will be to
come around to sanity. Go so far off the crazy train that the only simple relief
is sanity.

Spoiled for sanity (sidenote: I am Jewish, the intent is to show my level of frustration)

Spoiler:

"The Jews want you to believe that climate change is a hoax because who do you
think benefits from all the clicks, page views and cable news TV ads? That is right
the Jews! But don't get me wrong, the Jews are crafty enough to benefit from both
sides so it is easy for simple folk to get confused and lose God's way. The message
has even been so pervert that companies dedicated to the truth like Fox News have
been fooled! But you can help them my friends. Your patriot blood knows that
grass used to be more greener and there are less animals to hunt if there is less grass
to eat. The forests are shrinking and the animals are moving away because of Jewish
over development of land. Fool the Liberals into pushing climate change to the top
of the list while hurting their ability to win elections from their Jew contributions.
Bush started us on the right path with being good stewards. We can finish that path
to true America! Pray for this and may God bless us all."

fangblackbone wrote:
Maybe we should trick them into thinking their nightmare scenario has come true so they all pick up and move.

Voting for rational people and ignoring hype would be a great trick.

Honestly? I have gotten so frustrated I am tempted to start a podcast that is
a cross between The Colbert Report and Alex Jones except it would twist the
crazy mindset to be productive.

I.E. blame everything on "the Jews" and then muddy the waters of the issue so
that the audience does not know which way is up. The punchline will be to
come around to sanity. Go so far off the crazy train that the only simple relief
is sanity.

Spoiled for sanity (sidenote: I am Jewish, the intent is to show my level of frustration)

Spoiler:

"The Jews want you to believe that climate change is a hoax because who do you
think benefits from all the clicks, page views and cable news TV ads? That is right
the Jews! But don't get me wrong, the Jews are crafty enough to benefit from both
sides so it is easy for simple folk to get confused and lose God's way. The message
has even been so pervert that companies dedicated to the truth like Fox News have
been fooled! But you can help them my friends. Your patriot blood knows that
grass used to be more greener and there are less animals to hunt if there is less grass
to eat. The forests are shrinking and the animals are moving away because of Jewish
over development of land. Fool the Liberals into pushing climate change to the top
of the list while hurting their ability to win elections from their Jew contributions.
Bush started us on the right path with being good stewards. We can finish that path
to true America! Pray for this and may God bless us all."

John Mulaney wrote:

Yeah, this is gonna get playfully anti-Semitic, so just allow it to go there

fangblackbone wrote:

What I don't understand is what happens when they get it all and there is nothing left to take? What are they going to do? What happens to the 1% when there is no one else and nothing left of the earth? I guess they are incapable of seeing that...
Will it just be like in 2007? "Oh I didn't know that there wasn't an infinite supply from which I can take at will!" "The US housing market would never crash!"

When I hear the argument that if we actually tax the rich they'll just leave I sometimes wonder how many years that will actually be a negative for. Sure we lose their 3% effective tax or whatever bullsh*t we're getting out of them, but how long does it take before removing that tick that is constantly sucking at the money of the rest of the economy, sucking more and more of the income in to itself, actually pays that back?

Or, you know, we could just tax people taking assets out of the country, either or.

but how long does it take before removing that tick that is constantly sucking at the money of the rest of the economy, sucking more and more of the income in to itself, actually pays that back?

B b b but job creators!

BoogtehWoog wrote:
Nevin73 wrote:

I think World War Z depicted it well. Their guards and staff will end up turning on them.

But a lot of them don't worry about the long-term effects of their abuse of society as long as those effects come after they are dead.

In one of the articles I read about this the guy has been approached by billionaires and been asked what they should do to prevent insurrection among their staff. And he was like, "I don't know...treat them well beforehand? Better yet, maybe try not doing things that lead to you needing to have a bunker and security staff?!"

It's so insanely stupid. And just goes to show you these supposed brainy billionaires are really just greedy morons that are just lucky and sociopathic enough to accumulate such vast amounts of wealth.

Democratic socialists ain't gonna take it lying down.

NYT: New York Attorney General Opens Investigation of Trump Projects:

The New York attorney general’s office late on Monday issued subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank for records relating to the financing of four major Trump Organization projects and a failed effort to buy the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in 2014, according to a person briefed on the subpoenas.

The inquiry opens a new front in the scrutiny of Deutsche Bank, one of the few lenders willing to do business with Donald J. Trump in recent years. The bank is already the subject of two congressional investigations and was examined last year by New York banking regulators, who took no action.

The new inquiry, by the office of the attorney general, Letitia James, was prompted by the congressional testimony last month of Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, the person briefed on the subpoenas said. Mr. Cohen testified under oath that Mr. Trump had inflated his assets in financial statements, and Mr. Cohen provided copies of statements he said had been submitted to Deutsche Bank.

And you thought the nixed trade for Antonio Brown was the biggest Bills news of the week...
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...wait, this isn't the Sports forum.

Trump was never going to be allowed to buy an NFL team regardless of how much money he brought to the table. But, I'm not surprised he was dumb enough to think that lying about his wealth to get a loan would not have been exposed when the NFL investigated all of his finances before allowing them in their club.

Further, he sued the NFL when he was the owner of the New Jersey Generals. he forced the USFL into playing their games in the same time frame as the NFL in order to force the NFL to negotiate with him and let him into the NFL. It ended in a lawsuit that Trump and the NFL won, and the damages were tripled because the owners purposely tried to limit the success of the USFL.

The jury awarded the USFL $1.00. So the USFL walked away with $3, and it was the end of the USFL and Trump ever getting an NFL team. But he is the consummate con man, so I guess he just never gave up the dream. But seriously, the owners would never approve a Tump purchase of any NFL team.

In this clip, we get to see Trump's mentor, Roy Cohn be his disgusting self.

Jayhawker wrote:

Trump was never going to be allowed to buy an NFL team regardless of how much money he brought to the table. But, I'm not surprised he was dumb enough to think that lying about his wealth to get a loan would not have been exposed when the NFL investigated all of his finances before allowing them in their club.

Further, he sued the NFL when he was the owner of the New Jersey Generals. he forced the USFL into playing their games in the same time frame as the NFL in order to force the NFL to negotiate with him and let him into the NFL. It ended in a lawsuit that Trump and the NFL won, and the damages were tripled because the owners purposely tried to limit the success of the USFL.

The jury awarded the USFL $1.00. So the USFL walked away with $3, and it was the end of the USFL and Trump ever getting an NFL team. But he is the consummate con man, so I guess he just never gave up the dream. But seriously, the owners would never approve a Tump purchase of any NFL team.

In this clip, we get to see Trump's mentor, Roy Cohn be his disgusting self.

Theres a really good Opening Arguments episode all abou this, deep dive into the legal side of things. It was fascinating.

It's also astoundingly pathetic that Donald actually thought they were going to let him into their rich boy club, especially after he tried to force his way in at the barrel of a legal gun.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D1dp-EfUwAAesoX.png)

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D1dtZ6RUcAM-pMm.png)

A normal human might offer sympathy to the families of the 149 people that died, but Trump somehow decided to blame technology that he doesn't understand in a crash that no one knows what caused it yet.

There's part of me that wishes the Democrats in the House would cut all funding for AF1 for FY 2020 and require that Trump travels in a Wright Flier replica.

Saw a headline that addressed those quotes. Something to the effect of, "Grandpa Simpson weighs in..."

Wait -- those baby-sized, pretend-press-releases are actual press releases of actual tweets? I had honestly thought they were jokes. I've seen some of these in the thread before and had my suspicions, but I thought this one genuinely could have gone either way.

The Onion, you've met your match (if there was any doubt before).

Archangel wrote:

Wait -- those baby-sized, pretend-press-releases are actual press releases of actual tweets? I had honestly thought they were jokes. I've seen some of these in the thread before and had my suspicions, but I thought this one genuinely could have gone either way.

It's a Twitter bot that reformats Trump's tweets to be official statements from the White House because they actually are.

They aren't tweets from an old man. They are the President of the United States making an official statement.

Twitter has stated as much. They refuse to censor or ban him despite multiple breaches of the ToS

Stele wrote:

Twitter has stated as much. They refuse to censor or ban him despite multiple breaches of the ToS

I've been so torn on this point. Horrible jackass that he is, he is still POTUS and this is frankly the currently best way to track what he communicates.

lunchbox12682 wrote:

Horrible jackass that he is, he is still POTUS and this is frankly the currently best way to track what he communicates.

There is a reason previous presidents didn't make proclamations from the toilet.

lunchbox12682 wrote:

I've been so torn on this point. Horrible jackass that he is, he is still POTUS and this is frankly the currently best way to track what he communicates.

If he wants to communicate something he has a Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, a Press Secretary, and entire press office located a few feet from the Oval Office.