Cont: The Trump Presidency: Part 19

[Ladewig]

Yes, I know that Trump didn't exactly say "neo-nazis are fine people". And Trump supporters make the same argument you do...

But here's the problem... there were NO non-racists among the alt-righters during the Charlottesville rally. How do we know that?

First of all, the rally was advertised heavily among alt-right groups.

Secondly, various racist symbols were openly displayed. Not sure about you, but if I show up anywhere (political rally, quilting bee, cat juggling festival) and people start breaking out swastikas and confederate flags, I am going to assume that that gathering is not where I want to be. So even if there was someone who showed up at the rally and innocently thought that the 'unite the right' rally was just about a few statues, the moment they saw their first nazi flag (which were openly displayed) they should have thought "nope, not for me"... anyone who stuck around after that should be seen as sympathetic to the neo-nazis.

So because there was nobody who wasn't opposed to being associated with neo-nazis among the 'alt-right' side, then Trump's claim of "fine people on both sides" indicates that yes, he thinks at least some neo-nazis are fine people.

Yeah, I used to describe that as if you show up and there are a disturbing number of noe-Nazi symbols and chants, then it is time to take a step back and say, “I need to re-examine the reasoning that led me to be at this place and time.”

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

https://twitter.com/SinaToossi/status/1220070442389688320?s=20



Video embedded in tweet.

He sounds like someone faking their homework paper.

 

[dudalb]

TRump's whole "MAGA" campaign is basically "America was a great country when White European Males had a monopoly on power and influence". Should be no surprise he favors white nationalists.

 

[Ladewig]

I think losing so much money over the years mens that he grabs at everything he can whenever he can.

But what makes that weird, is that if you ever ask him if he has lost his own money in business, I think there is a good chance he’d say no. He’s gone on record as saying he was a very good casino owner. I think it is possible he Truly believes he is a financial maven to whom money flows as if it were a law of nature. Yet he seldom acts like it.

That's how some rich people are, and it's probably how some of them got rich. I used to work for a guy worth a couple of hundred million, and he personally reviewed employee expense reports for overspending on meals and stuff.

I look at that as a little different. Some folks have an intensely strong desire to never feel cheated. He might be one of those guys. The question is whether or not if he were elected to high office, he would feel the need to, for instance, take Russian money and denounce all intelligence agencies. Ok, that’s a bad example. But my point is it is possible to appear cheap and to still have a principled loyalty to ones country.

ETA.
I had another thought but I have to run.

 

[Armitage72]

 

[Garrison]

For those who don't want to go to Trump's twitter feed... here is a copy.

Most of the comments appear to be pointing out its resemblance to the Star Trek Star Fleet emblem.

Some people have pointed out that the new emblem contains elements from the old Airforce Space Command emblem. However it seems painfully obvious that someone reworked those elements to resemble the Starfleet Command emblem and no one noticed what I suspect was meant to be a joke proposal.

 

[Delphic Oracle]

Seth Abramson tweeted:

"MAJOR BREAKING NEWS: We now have tapes of Trump's involvement in the plot to baselessly remove Yovanovitch from office—and they come from a meeting he had with Parnas, Fruman, and a small group in April 2018. Yes, 2018. I told you this is a years-old plot."

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1220760562218545158?s=19

Excerpts in thread:

SMOKING TAPE EXCERPT 1:

PARNAS: "The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She's still left over from the Clinton administration. She's basically walking around telling everybody 'Wait, he's gonna get impeached, just wait.'"

SMOKING TAPE EXCERPT 2:

TRUMP: "Get rid of her [Yovanovitch]! Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it."

 

[Stacyhs]

Seth Abramson tweeted:

"MAJOR BREAKING NEWS: We now have tapes of Trump's involvement in the plot to baselessly remove Yovanovitch from office—and they come from a meeting he had with Parnas, Fruman, and a small group in April 2018. Yes, 2018. I told you this is a years-old plot."

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1220760562218545158?s=19

Excerpts in thread:

SMOKING TAPE EXCERPT 1:

PARNAS: "The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She's still left over from the Clinton administration. She's basically walking around telling everybody 'Wait, he's gonna get impeached, just wait.'"

SMOKING TAPE EXCERPT 2:

TRUMP: "Get rid of her [Yovanovitch]! Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it."

FAKE NEWS! FAKE NEWS!

 

[Delphic Oracle]

Not sure how she can be described as "left over from the Clinton administration."

Her foreign service career started in 1986 and she started getting senior postings during W. Bush.

 

[BobTheCoward]

Seth Abramson tweeted:

"MAJOR BREAKING NEWS: We now have tapes of Trump's involvement in the plot to baselessly remove Yovanovitch from office—and they come from a meeting he had with Parnas, Fruman, and a small group in April 2018. Yes, 2018. I told you this is a years-old plot."

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1220760562218545158?s=19

Excerpts in thread:

SMOKING TAPE EXCERPT 1:

PARNAS: "The biggest problem there, I think where we need to start is we gotta get rid of the ambassador. She's still left over from the Clinton administration. She's basically walking around telling everybody 'Wait, he's gonna get impeached, just wait.'"

SMOKING TAPE EXCERPT 2:

TRUMP: "Get rid of her [Yovanovitch]! Get her out tomorrow. I don't care. Get her out tomorrow. Take her out. Okay? Do it."

..
And then proceeded to not fire someone who could fire at will for a whole year.

 

[Stacyhs]

..
And then proceeded to not fire someone who could fire at will for a whole year.

That order may have been ignored as others in his administration have been. He was probably unaware she hadn't been fired or he was later convinced by cooler heads to rescind the order once his temper tantrum was over.

According to a new report in The Atlantic, Trump aides routinely ignore his most outlandish orders in hopes that the 72-year-old will forget about them and then get distracted by another shiny object.

As a recent example, The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott takes us back to late March, when Trump announced the end of aid to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The next day, the State Department put out a statement affirming plans to cut off money to the Northern Triangle nations. There was just one problem — the White House had no plan. That’s not a surprise, because Trump’s plan to cut aid wasn’t a plan at all. It was an impulsive pronouncement that has already been forgotten in Washington.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/when-trump-gives-impulsive-orders-aides-often-ignore-him.html

ETA:

The playbook for dealing with Trump’s unexpected orders includes such moves as actually trying to implement them, feigning cooperation, and just totally ignoring the guy.

 

[SezMe]

Nevermind ... it's been done to death already.

 

[SezMe]

Trump is building his wall. The Democrats' open borders solution to the opioid crisis isn't working.

Wow! You did it. I didn't think it was possible but you made a link between Trump's wall (sorry, Wall) and the opioid crisis.

Bravo!

 

[Random]

Virtually all heroin, coke and meth enter the US through Ports of Entry, concealed in vehicles. Marijuana, because of its bulk, is difficult to conceal in trucks and is therefore the only drug that is muled across the border in between Ports of Entry.

Not to mention that Oxycodone, whose heavy marketing, production and distribution helped fuel the opioid epidemic, is manufactured here in the good old USA. Border walls are not going to keep out something that comes from inside our borders.

 

[Delphic Oracle]

That order may have been ignored as others in his administration have been. He was probably unaware she hadn't been fired or he was later convinced by cooler heads to rescind the order once his temper tantrum was over.


http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/05/when-trump-gives-impulsive-orders-aides-often-ignore-him.html

ETA:

When its someone 30 years into foreign service work at a critical post like that (and not a trophy ambassador to a pleasant island country in the tropics), I'd wager that if he did push for it, a whole slew of people indicated they'd be resigning over it.

By the way, this is the only "Deep State" I believe in. Seemingly random personal relationships, even in entirely different departments sometimes, where "solidarity networks" are in play to hedge against politically-motivated sackings. Pushing someone out who has lots of friends means facing a choice between an almost certainly well-publicized rash of departures or having to sprinkle around a whole lot of patronage.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

Trump Retweeted

Sen. Marsha Blackburn
@MarshaBlackburn
We all know Adam Schiff loves hearing himself talk. So, let’s give him something to talk about:

1) Why did Schiff collude with the "whistleblower?”

2) What instructions did he provide the "whistleblower?"

3) Why did Schiff hire the “whistleblower’s” co-worker?

4) Why did Schiff beat the whistleblower’s wife?

 

[Regnad Kcin]

What tweet? The link leads to a ?forum? that requires logging in.

Anyway, Trump's a ******* idiot.

******* idiot or ******* moron?

 

[Mumbles]

Except that Edison didn't invent the lightbulb. Someone should also point out to Trump that Elon Musk is an immigrant. He's from Africa.

Yes, but Elon Musk is white, and thus, to his white nationalist peabrain, eligible for US citizenship, unlike those filthy interlopers like Ayanna Pressley (who may or may not be able to trace her family history well into the antebellum days).

 

[Delphic Oracle]

Someone in a makeshift office in the Pentagon basement steam pipe distribution venue.

They are hunched over a desk, sketching uniform ideas.

A sign hangs above the desk which reads "no red uniforms!"

 

[Aridas]

Not to mention that Oxycodone, whose heavy marketing, production and distribution helped fuel the opioid epidemic, is manufactured here in the good old USA. Border walls are not going to keep out something that comes from inside our borders.

To poke at recent news about the Opioid Epidemic...

HHS forgets to renew Trump’s opioid emergency declaration

To poke at a couple lines from that -

For nine days, the nation's opioid crisis was no longer considered a "public health emergency" after the Trump administration failed to renew a two-year-old declaration that expired last week.

<snip>

However, officials and public health experts say that the emergency declaration's effect on the opioid crisis has been minimal.

It's almost as if the emergency declaration was meant for show, rather than effect. That's not to say that some good steps haven't been taken towards addressing the opioid crisis, but... Trump isn't one for much substance behind his words, and his efforts to do things that directly counter the effects of the good things are quite notably significant.