[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.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
jowner wrote:

It's like the cumulation of the most absurd variant of I don't know what

Wealthy white male privilege.

Yeah. There are a TON of people that think this way. They’re just not as visible as this particular horrible human.

Anyone who has attended grade school should know that what Trump spouts is not how tariffs work. Tariffs are a fundamental historical feature of trade between nations. Tariffs should not be some abstract college level concept. Just another indictment of what now passes for a US public school system.

I have a sixteen-month old so I actually think I already get a pretty good view of the crazy mix of assured invulnerability and crazy meltdowns already.

I mean, Trump probably didn't break down crying this afternoon because someone was wearing their socks and he just HAD to see their toes, but it's not like I would put money on that.

BadKen wrote:

Anyone who has attended grade school should know that what Trump spouts is not how tariffs work. Tariffs are a fundamental historical feature of trade between nations. Tariffs should not be some abstract college level concept. Just another indictment of what now passes for a US public school system.

But, as Trump will remind you, he went to Wharton Business School. So why doesn't he know how tariffs work?

Well, there may be a reason he's gone to incredible lengths not to let his grades get out.

I expect that the President will now begin the traditional prosecution and jailing of his political opponents.

NYMag: Trump Is Pressuring Ukraine to Smear Clinton and Biden

I'm giving 3 to 5 odds that Biden is in jail by the end of 2020.

WP (Op-Ed): How Wilbur Ross ‘aggressively’ tried to alter the 2020 Census and ‘conceal’ why, according to a federal judge

For months, experts warned Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that asking about citizenship on the 2020 Census would result in an undercount of minorities, particularly Latinos.

Ross pushed ahead anyway. He had made up his mind long before consulting them, a decision that could have potentially “massive and lasting consequences.” Then he created a “sham” account of a deliberative process that he thought would pass muster in the courts to “obtain cover for a decision” he and his political aides had “already made.”

That’s the conclusion of a new 277-page opinion by U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman. Furman, an appointee of President Barack Obama in the Southern District of New York, ordered the administration to halt its plans to add the citizenship question to the 2020 census.

On March 20, before the committee, Rep. José E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) asked Ross who urged him to consider adding the question. He responded that he was “responding solely to the Department of Justice’s request.”

What really happened, though, was much different, according to the opinion and the accompanying exhibits and testimony.

Shortly after assuming office in February 2017, Ross asked his deputy chief of staff, Earl Comstock, why there was no citizenship question on the census. Comstock said he would check. He responded in an email with a Wall Street Journal article entitled “The Pitfalls of Counting Illegal Immigrants.”

...

So Ross did not act at the request of the Justice Department. The Justice Department acted at his.

Lies on top of lies on top of lies.

Gremlin wrote:

I expect that the President will now begin the traditional prosecution and jailing of his political opponents.

NYMag: Trump Is Pressuring Ukraine to Smear Clinton and Biden

I'm giving 3 to 5 odds that Biden is in jail by the end of 2020.

NYT: Barr Assigns U.S. Attorney in Connecticut to Review Origins of Russia Inquiry

2 to 1 odds that Hillary is charged by the end of 2020.

Also, 10,000 to 1 odds that she dies of that mysterious illness she's been suffering from since before the election.

Oh I'm sure this probably has nothing to do with VPOTUS and the majority leader trying to cajole the chief justice of SCOTUS into not forcing Gorsuch and Kavanaugh into recusing themselves for any Trump related cases headed their way.

Crossing my fingers for a plane crash.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Crossing my fingers for a plane crash.

Why? Do you really want Trump to have a 3rd Supreme Court pick, and the Chief Justice seat to boot.

WizKid wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Crossing my fingers for a plane crash.

Why? Do you really want Trump to have a 3rd Supreme Court pick, and the Chief Justice seat to boot.

And a chief justice even less likely to honor the SCOTUS precedent from Watergate where William Renquist recused himself from rendering decisions about Nixon, the president who appointed him.

WizKid wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Crossing my fingers for a plane crash.

Why? Do you really want Trump to have a 3rd Supreme Court pick, and the Chief Justice seat to boot.

Fair point, but I don't think Trump has nearly the power he does now without McConnell, specifically, at the head of the Senate. Trump wants to be America's dictator; McConnell is the one actually making that happen.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
WizKid wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Crossing my fingers for a plane crash.

Why? Do you really want Trump to have a 3rd Supreme Court pick, and the Chief Justice seat to boot.

Fair point, but I don't think Trump has nearly the power he does now without McConnell, specifically, at the head of the Senate. Trump wants to be America's dictator; McConnell is the one actually making that happen.

I'd rather not risk it, but to each their own.

Wouldn't Graham be McConnell's successor as majority leader? Less snark, but more screaming.

qaraq wrote:

The cruelty is the point part-the-umpteenth: Trump Administration to LGBT Couples: Your ‘Out of Wedlock’ Kids Aren’t Citizens

That's horrific. Those kids are children of US citizens so they are US citizens. This isn't complicated.

It is blatantly obvious that Trump is overtly what the Republicans have been covertly for years.
You hear rumbling from R's that the new abortion bills go to far until they figure out that there's no repercussions and then they openly endorse the harshness.
This is now a much faster moving government take over. If you are not about the subordination of everyone under the straight white older white male, you need to leave the Republican party.

Everyone who is against this has no excuse to not vote and not to vote Republicans out everywhere: state, local, national, judges, reps, sens, govs, mayors, boards and president. We can talk about rebuilding a party representing conservative values after the 2032 election at a minimum.

This is seriously scary sh*t where I can see having discussion about having open borders with states like Alabama, Kansas and Georgia. We may need to set up refugee camps at their borders. In fact, I would wholly applaud neighboring states promoting migration assistance as well as backlash for companies continuing to have businesses there. Atlanta is booming and this could put them into a position to set themselves up as a sort of "sanctuary" city or lose their recent industry gains. I wonder if we will start hearing about city vs state's rights...

Trump's irritation with top aides grows over Iran strategy

President Donald Trump has become irritated at an emerging impression his hawkish national security advisers are marching him closer to war with Iran despite his isolationist tendencies, according to people familiar with the matter.

Instead, Trump is signaling his intent to speak with the Iranians as tensions rise in the Persian Gulf, and his national security team has taken steps they hope could facilitate a new diplomatic opening.
The likelihood of such an opening appears slim. But Trump has raised concern with the heightened rhetoric, believing a large-scale military intervention with Iran would be devastating to him politically, people familiar with the situation said. The President has told members of his team that starting a new conflict would amount to breaking his campaign promise to wind down foreign entanglements. And he's chafed at suggestions his aides, led by national security adviser John Bolton, are somehow leading him to war.

But I thought trump said that no one in his administration does anything without his approval. Or at least that was what the rambling ass said a few weeks ago when there were stories about staff hiding things from him....

farley3k wrote:

Trump's irritation with top aides grows over Iran strategy

President Donald Trump has become irritated at an emerging impression his hawkish national security advisers are marching him closer to war with Iran despite his isolationist tendencies, according to people familiar with the matter.

Instead, Trump is signaling his intent to speak with the Iranians as tensions rise in the Persian Gulf, and his national security team has taken steps they hope could facilitate a new diplomatic opening.
The likelihood of such an opening appears slim. But Trump has raised concern with the heightened rhetoric, believing a large-scale military intervention with Iran would be devastating to him politically, people familiar with the situation said. The President has told members of his team that starting a new conflict would amount to breaking his campaign promise to wind down foreign entanglements. And he's chafed at suggestions his aides, led by national security adviser John Bolton, are somehow leading him to war.

But I thought trump said that no one in his administration does anything without his approval. Or at least that was what the rambling ass said a few weeks ago when there were stories about staff hiding things from him....

I like how he believes that he can just call the Iranians and make this go away.

Reaper81 wrote:
farley3k wrote:

Trump's irritation with top aides grows over Iran strategy

President Donald Trump has become irritated at an emerging impression his hawkish national security advisers are marching him closer to war with Iran despite his isolationist tendencies, according to people familiar with the matter.

Instead, Trump is signaling his intent to speak with the Iranians as tensions rise in the Persian Gulf, and his national security team has taken steps they hope could facilitate a new diplomatic opening.
The likelihood of such an opening appears slim. But Trump has raised concern with the heightened rhetoric, believing a large-scale military intervention with Iran would be devastating to him politically, people familiar with the situation said. The President has told members of his team that starting a new conflict would amount to breaking his campaign promise to wind down foreign entanglements. And he's chafed at suggestions his aides, led by national security adviser John Bolton, are somehow leading him to war.

But I thought trump said that no one in his administration does anything without his approval. Or at least that was what the rambling ass said a few weeks ago when there were stories about staff hiding things from him....

I like how he believes that he can just call the Iranians and make this go away.

Yeah. That’s what the f*cking treaty was for. The treaty he petulantly ripped up.

fangblackbone wrote:

I wonder if we will start hearing about city vs state's rights...

Quite possible. It didn't go very well in NC, the whole bathroom bill was Charlotte vs the state. But the ACC jumping in seemed to have turned the tide.

I think Disney or some other film companies that work in Atlanta got ahead of the GA similar bathroom bill before it even went down.

It certainly seems bad that corporations are really the ones in charge. But if money talks then we'll need some to stand up for women in the abortion cases, or all parents, in this citizenship nonsense.

Reaper81 wrote:

I like how he believes that he can just call the Iranians and make this go away.

He's bought into his own myth as a dealmaker. It's why he thought he had to personally meet with Kim Jung-Un, rather than let professional diplomats do the hard work.

fangblackbone wrote:

This is seriously scary sh*t where I can see having discussion about having open borders with states like Alabama, Kansas and Georgia. We may need to set up refugee camps at their borders. In fact, I would wholly applaud neighboring states promoting migration assistance as well as backlash for companies continuing to have businesses there.

Those three states are bordered by the following: Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, and Oklahoma. (Also, Alabama and Georgia border each other.)

Aside from Colorado and maybe Florida, which of those states are going to do anything? They're more likely to join in than they are to try to distance themselves.

Gremlin wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

I expect that the President will now begin the traditional prosecution and jailing of his political opponents.

NYMag: Trump Is Pressuring Ukraine to Smear Clinton and Biden

I'm giving 3 to 5 odds that Biden is in jail by the end of 2020.

NYT: Barr Assigns U.S. Attorney in Connecticut to Review Origins of Russia Inquiry

2 to 1 odds that Hillary is charged by the end of 2020.

I'll take you up on both of these. Well, maybe not Hillary being charged because I'm sure the Trump admin can push enough weight around to drum up charges, but definitely on the Biden thing.

Both Biden and Clinton are politically insulated by the same machine that insulated Trump, except with less ties to Russian oligarchies, crime syndicates, etc., I presume.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Reaper81 wrote:

I like how he believes that he can just call the Iranians and make this go away.

He's bought into his own myth as a dealmaker. It's why he thought he had to personally meet with Kim Jung-Un, rather than let professional diplomats do the hard work.

Nah, it's the dog and pony show. Many of his voters (or would be voters) like to see someone acting like a leader, so when he can get photo ops with other leaders he'll take em.

I forget where I saw it, but someone said Iran should just do a deal with Trump to build hotels all over their country with the name "TRUMP" on them because he'd never bomb monuments to his own vanity.

heh, the most dangerous entity at that point would be a bankruptcy court.

Keldar wrote:
fangblackbone wrote:

This is seriously scary sh*t where I can see having discussion about having open borders with states like Alabama, Kansas and Georgia. We may need to set up refugee camps at their borders. In fact, I would wholly applaud neighboring states promoting migration assistance as well as backlash for companies continuing to have businesses there.

Those three states are bordered by the following: Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, and Oklahoma. (Also, Alabama and Georgia border each other.)

Aside from Colorado and maybe Florida, which of those states are going to do anything? They're more likely to join in than they are to try to distance themselves.

Colorado doesn't start giving a sh*t until you hit Denver.