The Trump Presidency: Part 18

[plague311]

Honestly, not the time and place to protest Trump in my opinion.

Certainly unlikely to advance one's cause.

I can't imagine why that's the case, but to each their own. People can simultaneously condemn Trump vocally and support veterans. The two aren't tied together by any means, and it sounds like they just did it while he was on stage. They didn't interrupt the actual parade at all.

 

[Paul2]

Wow, the arrogance.

This is just Trump and the GOP trying to distract the public from Trump's offenses. Turns out this wasn't just a phone call, it was a months long effort with multiple principles involved.

The bad news: there is actually a case to be made that the whistleblower report should not have moved forward to Congress, as it didn't involve an activity within the purview of the Director of National Intelligence (as head of all the intelligence communities, Trump can, by fiat, declare something within their purview or not) - at least that is the argument. Read the US code and parse it carefully. And yet the IG read it the other way. So a case can be made either way, apparently. Sometimes even insane folk can make conclusions that aren't insane.



The good news: the whistleblower report is moot, because Trump released his edited transcript of the call with Zelensky on his own, voluntarily. The whistleblower is irrelevant now.

 

[JoeMorgue]

Listen, the fact that "Supporting the Veterans" literally only means "Using Veterans as capital in political debates" isn't exactly a secret among Veterans.

It's fine we can take it. We know nobody really cares about us, they just want to make sure everyone knows they care about us more then the other side.

 

[Paul2]

Not that it's necessary, but William Saletan eviscerates the argument that Trump was actually trying to fight corruption.


https://slate.com/news-and-politics...sitions-trump-republican-corruption-lies.html

That makes perfect sense. The problem is that Trump, to his eternal condemnation, has weaponized an unthinking part of our electorate for which such logic is irrelevant.



Reality aint what it used to be.

 

[acbytesla]

The bad news: there is actually a case to be made that the whistleblower report should not have moved forward to Congress, as it didn't involve an activity within the purview of the Director of National Intelligence (as head of all the intelligence communities, Trump can, by fiat, declare something within their purview or not) - at least that is the argument. Read the US code and parse it carefully. And yet the IG read it the other way. So a case can be made either way, apparently. Sometimes even insane folk can make conclusions that aren't insane.

The good news: the whistleblower report is moot, because Trump released his edited transcript of the call with Zelensky on his own, voluntarily. The whistleblower is irrelevant now.

This is like saying Article 2 of the Constitution says the President can do what he wants. You can make an argument for anything. That doesn't mean your argument has any merit.

I could make the argument that Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Connelly must have a threeway with me. But just because I can make that argument doesn't mean anyone other than me should agree.

 

[smartcooky]

Honestly, not the time and place to protest Trump in my opinion.

Certainly unlikely to advance one's cause.

I can't imagine why that's the case, but to each their own. People can simultaneously condemn Trump vocally and support veterans. The two aren't tied together by any means, and it sounds like they just did it while he was on stage. They didn't interrupt the actual parade at all.

THIS!

IMO, it actually IS an appropriate time and venue.

Previous Presidents have attended Memorial Day service because they believed it was their duty to do so and to support those who have sacrificed so much for their country.

Trump attends them because he knows he has to. To do otherwise would be terrible optics. He has attended purely to benefit his own personal and political standing.

Almost everything Trump does is only for the benefit of Trump - the fact that he ripped of his own so-called charity, that raise money for Veterans, and used that money as a slush fund for his own election campaign pretty much tells us where his priorities lie!

 

[smartcooky]

"upon information & belief"? That's an odd way of saying, "Iran told us exactly what they were doing".


And in other news,

Trump Jr. Gets Booed Out of His Own Book Event as White Nationalists Eat Their Own

The chaos on Sunday is the kind of thing you should expect when young conservatives are trained to be at the front lines of the culture wars, armed with “fake news” chants and hashtag-ready taunts.

And as conservatives continue to try to distance themselves from the right’s ugliest faction, don’t expect the Trump Jr.’s of the world to acknowledge their own direct role in creating it. ​

Indeed!

 

[Belz...]

There was one poll that had Bevin down by 17 points. However, there were at least a half a dozen other polls that had it a dead heat. Trump likely had ZERO effect either way. But Trump as always picks his reality.

And if doesn't find it in the lot, he creates it.

 

[JoeMorgue]

And if doesn't find it in the lot, he creates it.

To the point that I'm honestly confused as to why Trump bothers to do anything outside of complete made up from whole cloth reality denial.

I'm not being funny when I say Trump is so comfortable with out right full on lying I wonder why he bothers with things like spin and cherry picking.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump can't sue New York State in DC federal court to stop release of tax returns, judge says

A federal judge has decided that President Donald Trump can't sue New York state officials in a Washington, DC, court, at this time to stop the release of his tax returns.

The case is one of many where Trump or his administration have asked federal judges to intervene before House Democrats obtain Trump's financial records. In this case, Trump had sued New York state and the House to stop Congress from requesting his tax returns under a new New York state law. Congress hasn't yet requested the tax returns under the law.
It's possible Trump could file a similar lawsuit with another court, such as in New York, or later in an attempt to prevent the request from Congress.
The judge in Monday's decision, Carl Nichols, is a Trump appointee to the federal bench in Washington.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/11/politics/donald-trump-tax-returns/index.html

 

[plague311]

Trump can't sue New York State in DC federal court to stop release of tax returns, judge says

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/11/politics/donald-trump-tax-returns/index.html

I do rather enjoy that Trump is getting laughed out of court with more and more regularity as he tries these hail Mary attempts to stop justice from happening.

 

[Fast Eddie B]

I do rather enjoy that Trump is getting laughed out of court with more and more regularity as he tries these hail Mary attempts to stop justice from happening.

And yet the goal of delay, delay, delay is being realized.

For now, anyway.

 

[Paul2]

This is like saying Article 2 of the Constitution says the President can do what he wants. You can make an argument for anything. That doesn't mean your argument has any merit.

I could make the argument that Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Connelly must have a threeway with me. But just because I can make that argument doesn't mean anyone other than me should agree.

If Trump is in charge of intelligence agencies, as the head executive of the Executive branch, and the US code says that the urgent concern of a whistleblower has to be under the purview of the DNI, which is part of the intelligence agencies, that argument may be wrong, but at least it makes an actual argument, as opposed to most of the other arguments Trumpistas make which are not even in the ball park.

 

[Craig4]

Honestly, not the time and place to protest Trump in my opinion.

Certainly unlikely to advance one's cause.

Trump defiled the event by his presence. The crowd was right to express their displeasure.

 

[Tero]

Jeff Tweets:

Jeff Tiedrich
@itsJeffTiedrich
remember during all the Benghazi investigations when Obama blocked access to documents and refused to let Hillary testify? of course you don't. Obama handed over everything and Hillary sat for 11 hours straight, because they had nothing to hide and they aren't ******* man-babies
https://mobile.twitter.com/itsJeffTiedrich/status/1181562519359574017

 

[CapelDodger]

Nikki Haley has written that former S of S Tillerson and C. of Staff Gen. Kelly tried to "recruit" her to "undermine" Trump. They feared for the country because Trump didn't know what he was doing and that 'people would die' if he wasn't kept in check.

This shows just how worried even the highest cabinet members were about Trump. That in itself is telling and just how bad it is. I do wonder if Tillerson or Kelly is "Anonymous".

I see no good reason to believe her. I do see good reasons not to.

 

[plague311]

I see no good reason to believe her. I do see good reasons not to.

As in, you think she's making that up?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Trump Tweets...

A great new book just out, “The Plot Against the President. The True Story Of How Congressman Devin Nunes Uncovered the Biggest Political Scandal In U.S. History.” Shows very bad and corrupt people on the other side. Check it out!

See what I mean? This is what I was talking about in the suppression of free speech thread, nonsensical CTs are mainstream, being pushed by the POTUS no less. This has serious consequences like electing an incompetent POTUS, influenced by Russia no less.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Has some word mill been churning out books that could have WH insiders attach their names to? This sudden upsurge in "literary" output seems a little too convenient.

Publishers know this stuff sells.

Here's what Amazon says about the author:

About the Author
Lee Smith is a veteran journalist whose work appears in Real Clear Investigations, the Federalist, and Tablet. He's worked in media for thirty years, writing about national politics, foreign policy, and the press. Smith reported from the Middle East for a decade after the 9/11 attacks and wrote the critically acclaimed The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations. A Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, Smith is a frequent guest on television and radio, national and international, including Fox News, CNN, and France 24. Smith was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and was raised in New York City. He now lives in Washington, DC.

Standard right wing journalist.

Who knows if he believes what he wrote or is just out for the money.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Trump Tweets

Shifty Adam Schiff will only release doctored transcripts. We haven’t even seen the documents and are restricted from (get this) having a lawyer. Republicans should put out their own transcripts! Schiff must testify as to why he MADE UP a statement from me, and read it to all!
...

Someone call this man's bluff. Ask those Republicans on the committees to say if the transcripts are doctored or not. Ask the transcribers.