The Trump Presidency 13: The (James) Baker's Dozen

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dudalb said:
The hypocrisy of the Christian Right in supporting somebody as immoral and unethical by Classical Christian Standards as Trump is truly astounding.
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But he’s King Cyrus! Though reincarnated as a dumb con artist and popular culture figure.
 
To the absolute surprise of no-one: Trump Ordered Officials to Give Jared Kushner a Security Clearance and lied about it.

NYT said:
President Trump ordered his chief of staff to grant his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance last year, overruling concerns flagged by intelligence officials and the White House’s top lawyer, four people briefed on the matter said.

Mr. Trump’s decision in May so troubled senior administration officials that at least one, the White House chief of staff at the time, John F. Kelly, wrote a contemporaneous internal memo about how he had been “ordered” to give Mr. Kushner the top-secret clearance.

The White House counsel at the time, Donald F. McGahn II, also wrote an internal memo outlining the concerns that had been raised about Mr. Kushner — including by the C.I.A. — and how Mr. McGahn had recommended that he not be given a top-secret clearance.

The disclosure of the memos contradicts statements made by the president, who told The New York Times in January in an Oval Office interview that he had no role in his son-in-law receiving his clearance.
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dudalb said:
If a Democrat did this, the GOP COngresscritters would be screaming loudly...
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If Barack Obama had done one-quarter what Trump has done the Republicans would have been screaming for an impeachment. As I saw a talking head on a news show say last night, referring to the Michael Cohen hearing, the very idea that a sitting U.S. president had been involved in making hush payments to a porn star he'd had sex with -- without demands he resign on moral grounds, as if this was reasonably acceptable behavior -- that would have been completely unthinkable before 2016. Absolutely jaw dropping unthinkable.

Someone asked, what is wrong with the U.S. As an American, I think the honest answer is...

Many if not most of us don't know. :(
 
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newyorkguy said:
If Barack Obama had done one-quarter what Trump has done the Republicans would have been screaming for an impeachment. As I saw a talking head on a news show say last night, referring to the Michael Cohen hearing. The very idea that a sitting U.S. president had been involved in making hush payments to a porn star he'd had sex with -- without demands he resign on moral grounds, as if this was reasonably acceptable behavior -- that would have been completely unthinkable before 2016. Absolutely jaw dropping unthinkable.
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The idea that either of the parties would even field someone like Trump as a candidate would have been unthinkable. You're just (if you'll forgive me) some New York guy and you saw the potential (verging on certainty) of a situation like this emerging. But when it came to it the Republican party considered only the way he energised the deplorables and what that meant for their chances of winning the White House. What might happen after, apart from massive tax cuts for the rich which were a given, was left to itself. Power for its own sake.


Vile though Trump is, I find McConnell worse. He's a panderer with no moral compass whatsoever, and a perfect image of what Karl Rove and Murdoch together turned the Republican party into.


Someone asked, what is wrong with the U.S. As an American, I think the honest answer is...

Many if not most of us don't know. :(
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The root of the problem, I think, is that the US is over the hump of its global influence and is a declining power refusing to acknowledge the fact, and indeed reacting with fury to the very suggestion. As a Brit boomer (class of '54) I was lucky enough to grow up after that phase. Or so I thought before 2016 and the Brexit fiasco.
 
Sideroxylon said:
What the **** is wrong with your president?
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What the carrot cake is wrong with so many of our people?
Americans have forged a new reputation. Not even ugly.

But yes, I know, the majority of us voted against him in the popular vote.
So what is it about our system of government that can enable an icon of the worst in us.
 
Trump Tweets

I will be interviewed by @seanhannity at 9:00 P.M. on @FoxNews. Enjoy!
 
dudalb said:
If a Democrat did this, the GOP COngresscritters would be screaming loudly.
But now we are getting complete silence from them, despite what Trump did is against all Conservative Foreign Policy principals.
The GOP is no long a political party in the normal sense, it has become an authoritarian personalty cult.
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Actually, the GOP was howling when Obama said he was willing to talk to NK.
 
Aridas said:
Kim's probably a liar, too. With that said, though... I don't recall any reason to believe that Kim had direct knowledge or interest in Otto's situation (at least until much too late), though he likely bears responsibility for the general state of things that caused it. Either way, without some reasonable evidence at hand to back up even insinuations if Kim's direct involvement, pushing on that point would likely only be counter-productive. With evidence, of course, things change.
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:eye-poppi

Complete totalitarian leader might not know about an American hostage/prisoner who'd been in a coma for a year?

Seriously?
 
pgwenthold said:
Actually, the GOP was howling when Obama said he was willing to talk to NK.
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And that is what is so surprising. Trump is trashing classic conservative positions right and left and still the GOP supports him because he throws them a couple of bones while wrecking basic principals.
THis is the point that the Never Trump Conservatives like Jennifer Rubin and Max Boot make:whatever temporary gains COnservatives might make from Trump will be overwhelmed by the damage he will do to basic conservative principals.
 
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