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The Trump Presidency: Part 18

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Over in Israel, Bibi just used Trump's "Attempted Coup" meme.....
And in the US recently Trump used Bibi's "self-hating" meme when referring to opponents. They must be having long mutual whining sessions over a secure line (Bibi would make sure it was secure; the subject wouldn't occur to Trump, of course).
 
From a number of different things. I got a sick feeling that Trump is going to play the Anti Muslim card to try to rev up his base during impeachment.
He has been pushing the anti Hispanic angle for a while, but I got a feeling that is going to change.
Potentially, Trump will attack Iran and Bibi will claim credit for getting him to do it. There's an election coming in Israel and bombing Gaza doesn't seem to cut it these days.
 
I don't know. I used to love Colbert but ever since he took over Letterman's show he's not what he used to be.

He's looking bad, tbh.

His Trump impression is just awful. It's hard to listen to his sincere comedy after years of the Colbert Report, which I enjoyed.
 
I think even he knows he can't openly so he'll use dog whistles. He'd use a lot of references to how people's religious rights have been violated and how 'his' Supreme Court has ruled to protect those religious rights (think wedding cakes).

What makes you think he has the self-awareness and the discipline to ever say “that’s over the line, I better not say that”?

Now, he might try to invert it. Perhaps saying “my supporters want me to say X, but I am not going to say X. I’m not going to stop others from saying X, but I’m not going to say X. Do you folks think it is inappropriate to say X?” That, of course, will be said with that doofus smirk of his.
 
Time to poke at a couple thing of potential interest!

Swalwell enters it into the record : Lev Parnas Helped Rep. Devin Nunes’ Investigations

And... Nunes is now officially linked to the bad actors in play in the impeachment inquiry. Would anyone be at all be surprised if he was also trying to use government influence improperly, potentially at the behest of Trump, in his quest to provide Trump and the Republican Party with things of value for personal and political gain at the expense of the US government?

Prosecutors investigating the Trump Organization zero in on Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg

And they seem to be getting a little annoyed at federal interference that seems intended to run out the statute of limitations on some of the known crime, among other things.

Russia expert Fiona Hill warns Republicans they are acting as Russia's stooges

If only they cared.
 
Time to poke at a couple thing of potential interest!

Swalwell enters it into the record : Lev Parnas Helped Rep. Devin Nunes’ Investigations

And... Nunes is now officially linked to the bad actors in play in the impeachment inquiry. Would anyone be at all be surprised if he was also trying to use government influence improperly, potentially at the behest of Trump, in his quest to provide Trump and the Republican Party with things of value for personal and political gain at the expense of the US government?

Prosecutors investigating the Trump Organization zero in on Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg

And they seem to be getting a little annoyed at federal interference that seems intended to run out the statute of limitations on some of the known crime, among other things.

Russia expert Fiona Hill warns Republicans they are acting as Russia's stooges

If only they cared.
More Daily Kos at al. links that I'm leery of because they tell me what I want to hear. Slightly distressing when I realize that the "other side" is lapping up the information sources that tell them what *they* want to hear. It makes me somewhat dismissive because the Daily Kos is not going to change anyone's mind because only sympathetic readers will ever look at these sources.

I can only hope that GOP lawmakers are maybe getting exposed to at least a little information they would prefer not to hear. But what are the chances of that? Not zero, if any are in vulnerable districts. So there's that. But the partisanship is an awfully powerful cognitive filter. And overall I find it very disheartening. I can only hope "both sides" develop a craving for truth. We need to get to the bottom of this somehow. I know on this forum, and in my mind, Democrats are seen as being on the side of the angels. Huge swathes of the nation think Democrats are the devil.

Where does it all end?
 
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Not a direct response to you Darat, but to do with his medical state in general, Snopes has categorised the Sudafed abuse accusations as false.
I had some Sudafed tonight. Maybe does make one a tad speedy. I'll have to see how Snopes came to its conclusion.
 
And their attorney general indicted him, too. Our system of government looks even more dysfunctional by comparison.

That was pretty much the first thought that I had.
Other than that, the similarities are stark, and probably why CNN kept in on the screens for as much as they did.
Netanyahu's "I did nothing wrong", "It's a witch hunt", "It's a coup", "Investigate the investigators" "I've done so much for this country". None of his responses deal with the substance of the charges, all of it distraction and obfuscation.
 
That was pretty much the first thought that I had.
Other than that, the similarities are stark, and probably why CNN kept in on the screens for as much as they did.
Netanyahu's "I did nothing wrong", "It's a witch hunt", "It's a coup", "Investigate the investigators" "I've done so much for this country". None of his responses deal with the substance of the charges, all of it distraction and obfuscation.
At least Benny has the benefit of longevity in the office to claim he has "done something". He's done a lot of things, and I'm sure we can all argue about those elsewhere if they are positive or negative.

Trump, on the other hand, has been there only 5/7ths of the time at very best, and has done less than sweet FA. He's taken everything backwards and hurt a lot of people. And he doesn't give a rats.
 
At least Benny has the benefit of longevity in the office to claim he has "done something". He's done a lot of things, and I'm sure we can all argue about those elsewhere if they are positive or negative.

Trump, on the other hand, has been there only 5/7ths of the time at very best, and has done less than sweet FA. He's taken everything backwards and hurt a lot of people. And he doesn't give a rats.

That argument has always seemed particularly daft to me.
"I've made the economy great, so how can you impeach me (or charge me with a crime)?"

It's absurd, even if it's true, which it arguably is not. You don't get immunity from wrongdoing because you've previously done something good. In trump's case it's always just been yet another indication of his transactional mindset, and I don't think he even realises what a bizarre proposal it is.
 
More Daily Kos at al. links that I'm leery of because they tell me what I want to hear.

All of it that I poked at properly sourced and backed up, of course. Again, Daily Kos is being used as something of a news roundup, for my purposes. And to be a bit contrary to what you're saying - honestly, many of the links that I post here are not things that I actually want to hear, but rather, that I think are worthy of note.

Slightly distressing when I realize that the "other side" is lapping up the information sources that tell them what *they* want to hear.

Information sources that have been repeatedly shown to be dramatically less than truthful or objective as a major and fundamental part of their business model, for the most part. It's good to understand what's going on, but not so good to work with false equivalences.

It makes me somewhat dismissive because the Daily Kos is not going to change anyone's mind because only sympathetic readers will ever look at these sources.

Hmm? That's an odd criteria to when it comes to whether something should be dismissed or not.

I can only hope that GOP lawmakers are maybe getting exposed to at least a little information they would prefer not to hear. But what are the chances of that? Not zero, if any are in vulnerable districts.

Mmm. The chances are actually very high. Let's be completely clear about something very simple. Most of the GOP lawmakers certainly are hearing a lot of stuff they don't like, especially right now. Even the ones that are going out of their way to officially avoid listening to the clear testimony of wrong-doing. Let's be clear about something else - different people have different sets of values, and truth is one of the first casualties when extremely unethical people seek power. That the Republican Party lawmakers are currently effectively in the pockets of extremely unethical people after decades of hard work and very plentiful funding is no accident. Nor is the observation that that leads to unethical behavior by the lawmakers.

So there's that. But the partisanship is an awfully powerful cognitive filter.

It can be. Remember, though, that truth is truth. One certainly can (and should) take into account and be wary of one's biases, but that should not be any excuse to refuse to accept truth.

And overall I find it very disheartening. I can only hope "both sides" develop a craving for truth. We need to get to the bottom of this somehow.

Mmm. I think that you're a little off base here, much as it's annoying to go more into depth about a bunch of it. Still, the bottom of it is fairly certain to be... rooted in small minorities that hold disproportionate power pushing hard to keep and increase that power and using highly unethical methods to do so.

I know on this forum, and in my mind, Democrats are seen as being on the side of the angels. Huge swathes of the nation think Democrats are the devil.

Where does it all end?

Angels? Only so much as they are the only currently rational and patriotic major party. Where does it all end? The return of the Fairness Doctrine, for example, would be a major step back towards sanity - regardless of the complaints by right-wing personalities that their free speech right to lie about and wildly distort issues is being infringed upon. Warren's anti-corruption plan pokes at a lot of things that would help return things to sanity, as well. There's a fair bit more that can be done, but it does require the will and push from the people to do them.
 
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Time to poke at a couple thing of potential interest!

Swalwell enters it into the record : Lev Parnas Helped Rep. Devin Nunes’ Investigations

And... Nunes is now officially linked to the bad actors in play in the impeachment inquiry. Would anyone be at all be surprised if he was also trying to use government influence improperly, potentially at the behest of Trump, in his quest to provide Trump and the Republican Party with things of value for personal and political gain at the expense of the US government?

Shouldn't he recuse himself, now? Or does that not apply to congresscritters?
 
Hmm? That's an odd criteria to when it comes to whether something should be dismissed or not.
I said "somewhat" dismissive and it doesn't mean that everyone should dismiss it. I'm glad they're doing it; I'm glad you post the links. It's just that I can't tell if any of the punches are landing. Republicans know damn well that Russia was the main bad actor in 2016 election meddling. They'll smear Ukraine anyway, and maybe Ukraine did do just enough to allow them to draw the false equivalence (ratting out Manafort). For purposes of abuse of power, it doesn't matter whether Hunter Biden benefited from the family name - but it still offers cover for false equivalencies. That frustrates me immensely.

Remember, though, that truth is truth.
That's just the thing though. Giuliani said truth is not truth and the GOP didn't bat an eye.

There's a fair bit more that can be done, but it does require the will and push from the people to do them.
The will of the people is badly fractured right now. I'm glad this stuff is going in the record, but it just doesn't seem to matter very much at present. I am fairly confident that will happen, because even Trump's enablers have qualms about the mess he's made of foreign relations. Even in the House, but especially in the Senate.

In the end it will almost certainly be up to voters to decide if they want to pull the plug on the worst reality TV show ever.

ETA: And American voters aren't famous for taking a keen interest in foreign affairs. Trump has done much more than make a mess; he's systematically done everything he can to trash U.S. standing in the world. I am grateful he hasn't started any wars and I'm happy the al Baghdadi guy is dead. But the rest - Kim, Putin, Erdogan, trade wars, etc. - I do hope conservative voters take an interest in these issues.
 
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