The Trump Presidency: Part 18

[ponderingturtle]

Just the other day, I for some reason thought about The Apprentice. I watched the first three seasons, and to my recollection it was never brought up that Trump is Old Money. So, given that he even then exhibited all of the New Money insecurities to a cartoonish degree, I assumed he was self-made.

In part because he was never accepted as old money, just as the obnoxious kid of a slum lord like he is.

 

[Belz...]

Trump Tweets

It was just explained to me that for next weeks Fake Hearing (trial) in the House, as they interview Never Trumpers and others, I get NO LAWYER & NO DUE PROCESS. It is a Pelosi, Schiff, Scam against the Republican Party and me. This Witch Hunt should not be allowed to proceed!

Sounds like an impeachable offense just to say that.

 

[acbytesla]

There has been some response but only after several news organization reported this story and it became clear that the Trump campaign was probably breaking campaign law.


I predict this story won't faze Donnie's supporters. They'll just think, 'Okay he was too busy to have breakfast with someone. So what?' Anyway, if you can support someone like Donald Trump this is probably what you expect of him anyway. Most of his supporters strike me as Big Man Followers. Trump's a Big Man. You don't question him! Where is Lewis Carroll when we really need him?

MAGA!!!

Have you ever read Trump's schedule? There is almost nothing ever on it.

 

[Ladewig]

Trump Tweets

Years ago, when Media was legitimate, people known as “Fact Checkers” would always call to check and see if a story was accurate. Nowadays they don’t use “Fact Checkers” anymore, they just write whatever they want!

Yes. Years ago. And way back then when the office of the White House Press Secretary was legitimate, these fact checkers would call the White House and employees would answer their questions and would explain where the president got the numbers he used in speeches.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

There has been some response but only after several news organization reported this story and it became clear that the Trump campaign was probably breaking campaign law.


I predict this story won't faze Donnie's supporters. They'll just think, 'Okay he was too busy to have breakfast with someone. So what?' Anyway, if you can support someone like Donald Trump this is probably what you expect of him anyway. Most of his supporters strike me as Big Man Followers. Trump's a Big Man. You don't question him! Where is Lewis Carroll when we really need him?

MAGA!!!

The truth, which is that Trump has nothing but contempt for his supporters, is not something the MAGA chuds would like to confront. Easier to believe that the God-Emperor is too busy with Important Work to meet for a 20 minute breakfast.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

Trump Tweets

It was just explained to me that for next weeks Fake Hearing (trial) in the House, as they interview Never Trumpers and others, I get NO LAWYER & NO DUE PROCESS. It is a Pelosi, Schiff, Scam against the Republican Party and me. This Witch Hunt should not be allowed to proceed!

Yes, that's how impeachment works. Welcome to the party, Donald.

 

[Trebuchet]

In part because he was never accepted as old money, just as the obnoxious kid of a slum lord like he is.

He wasn't accepted as old money because he's NOT old money, just the son of new money.

 

[Distracted1]

The truth, which is that Trump has nothing but contempt for his supporters, is not something the MAGA chuds would like to confront. Easier to believe that the God-Emperor is too busy with Important Work to meet for a 20 minute breakfast.

Well, to be fair, it seems his supporters are not the only people the Trumpster has contempt for.

 

[Delphic Oracle]

Trump Tweets

It was just explained to me that for next weeks Fake Hearing (trial) in the House, as they interview Never Trumpers and others, I get NO LAWYER & NO DUE PROCESS. It is a Pelosi, Schiff, Scam against the Republican Party and me. This Witch Hunt should not be allowed to proceed!

I'm fairly certain Trump's lawyer can go sit in the pews and watch like anyone else.

Even if Trump's lawyer were given a seat at the bench a few seats down from where the witnesses address the committee, they'd sit there quietly unless called on because they would want to keep their credentials.

 

[Ladewig]

He's getting closer and closer to ranting about strawberries and duplicate keys, isn't he?

I find that most unsettling.
Mainly because it will not have even the slightest impact on his approval numbers. He could say, all those stories about obstruction were fabricated by 11-fingered Zanzibari albino disinformation agents and the ******* GOP and their base would say “damn those 11-fingered Zanzibari albino disinformation agents, they are always doing stuff like that”

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Tweets

The Amazon Washington Post and three lowlife reporters, Matt Zapotosky, Josh Dawsey, and Carol Leonnig, wrote another Fake News story, without any sources (pure fiction), about Bill Barr & myself. We both deny this story, which they knew before they wrote it. A garbage newspaper!

The Radical Left Dems and LameStream Media are just trying to make it hard for Republicans and me to win in 2020. The new Impeachment Hoax is already turning against them!

 

[ponderingturtle]

Yes. Years ago. And way back then when the office of the White House Press Secretary was legitimate, these fact checkers would call the White House and employees would answer their questions and would explain where the president got the numbers he used in speeches.

How about about when they actually have press briefings?

 

[Dr. Keith]

I had a weird thought about the Trump presidency last night.

In fiction there are generally two types of time travel stories: fragile timelines and robust timelines. In the fragile timeline stories, like Back to the Future, any little change can have massive impacts on the future. In robust timeline stories, like Travelers, even with concerted efforts to impact the future it is difficult to make substantial changes.

The further we go along in the Trump presidency the more I feel like someone is trying to stop a disaster by preventing the election of Trump, and then exposing every criminal aspect of the Trump presidency. But the timeline is just too robust. The pending disaster will happen, even if you expose things that would have tanked any other candidate or president, the momentum is just too great.

In Travelers there was a quote about time being like a river, and their changes being like stones thrown in the river. Sure the water has to go around them, but it still end up in about the same place.

 

[smartcooky]

I'm fairly certain Trump's lawyer can go sit in the pews and watch like anyone else.

Even if Trump's lawyer were given a seat at the bench a few seats down from where the witnesses address the committee, they'd sit there quietly unless called on because they would want to keep their credentials.

Not to mention, of course, that Trump's complaining about due process is somewhat at odds with his actions of obstruction that process at every turn.

If Trump wants due process, he can always volunteer to testify at the hearings and be questioned by professional staffers. Of course, he won't do that, because he knows he will be easily trapped into having to lie, and then tell more lies to try to cover the previous lies.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

In less significant, but still hilarious news: Trump was scamming his gullible base again.

Imagine a leopard eating a human face. Forever.

 

[acbytesla]

I had a weird thought about the Trump presidency last night.

In fiction there are generally two types of time travel stories: fragile timelines and robust timelines. In the fragile timeline stories, like Back to the Future, any little change can have massive impacts on the future. In robust timeline stories, like Travelers, even with concerted efforts to impact the future it is difficult to make substantial changes.

The further we go along in the Trump presidency the more I feel like someone is trying to stop a disaster by preventing the election of Trump, and then exposing every criminal aspect of the Trump presidency. But the timeline is just too robust. The pending disaster will happen, even if you expose things that would have tanked any other candidate or president, the momentum is just too great.

In Travelers there was a quote about time being like a river, and their changes being like stones thrown in the river. Sure the water has to go around them, but it still end up in about the same place.

So is Trump the disaster? Or is it something else? I never saw the Travelers, but that idea was tossed about in the movie Deja Vu starring Denzel Washington.

Me, I believe the answer is both. One small change can have a massive ripple effect on us and the the water molecules around us but eventually the water dumps in the oceans and continues through the water cycle. Eventually man will disappear from the planet as well as all life.

 

[alfaniner]

I had a weird thought about the Trump presidency last night.

In fiction there are generally two types of time travel stories: fragile timelines and robust timelines. In the fragile timeline stories, like Back to the Future, any little change can have massive impacts on the future. In robust timeline stories, like Travelers, even with concerted efforts to impact the future it is difficult to make substantial changes.

The further we go along in the Trump presidency the more I feel like someone is trying to stop a disaster by preventing the election of Trump, and then exposing every criminal aspect of the Trump presidency. But the timeline is just too robust. The pending disaster will happen, even if you expose things that would have tanked any other candidate or president, the momentum is just too great.

In Travelers there was a quote about time being like a river, and their changes being like stones thrown in the river. Sure the water has to go around them, but it still end up in about the same place.

In the case of his first election, it was like the flap of a butterfly's wings. Somehow he managed to get through the cracks and that opened up a whole new timeline that's difficult to steer back to the original one.

 

[Ladewig]

Imagine a leopard eating a human face. Forever.

If there is ever a contest for an 8-word horror story, then you really need to enter.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

Trump Tweets

It was just explained to me that for next weeks Fake Hearing (trial) in the House, as they interview Never Trumpers and others, I get NO LAWYER & NO DUE PROCESS. It is a Pelosi, Schiff, Scam against the Republican Party and me. This Witch Hunt should not be allowed to proceed!

Except, Orange Foolius, it ain’t a trial.

Waddle along now, there’s a good lad.

 

[Minoosh]

In for a penny to de-rail this thread over to Rachel, in for a pound:

There are two different things with Rachel: one is short-term repetition, where she is apparently trying to make sure the listener has heard the subject, her point, or whatever; two is her mid-level narrative structure in which she circles the topic, or starts at A and moves to B, which is the main topic. The first drives me a little crazy, and I tolerate the second, although the second is great when she gives the historical context to her main topic, something no one else does.

My conservative brother, who has stopped saying anything about Trump, still trolls me at least once per visit with conservative talking points. He asked me recently if I liked Maddow. I responded "a little bit goes a long way" without thinking much. The truth is I've only watched her a handful of times. I too go a little nuts listening to people stretch information. But I've found that "a little goes a long way" is a very politic phrase. You're not saying anything bad, but you're not saying anything all that positive either. It's good for sidestepping an argument.

But her style is well-written as a kind of opening statement/closing argument delivery. Often something will strike me as self-evident, but a trial attorney can't think like that. They have to deliver a whole narrative that ties everything together. They have to tell the jury a compelling story. Which is why even a seemingly open-and-shut case may warrant an hour-long closing argument. Because few cases are that simple. I think that's what Maddow does.