Cont: The Trump Presidency: Part 19

[Cabbage]

I don't see that as a likely scenario.
Anyway, Palast has pushed some pretty crackpot ideas.

You don't see it as a likely scenario??? It's happening as we speak. Did you hear nothing about the Georgia gubernatorial race in 2018?

I guess your refusal to heed the news is not limited to reports of Bernie Sanders' support.

 

[The_Animus]

Trump has the Senate and the SCOTUS to support him. Even if they don't rig the election and he loses what is going to stop them from claiming fraud and refusing to give up power?

Literally nothing as far as I can see.

 

[Stacyhs]

Trump Tweets

I am pleased to announce the nomination of @RepRatcliffe (Congressman John Ratcliffe) to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI). Would have completed process earlier, but John wanted to wait until after IG Report was finished. John is an outstanding man of great talent!

Trump yanked Ratcliffe from the running last year but put the blame for his decision squarely on the media, saying he did not want to put the former prosecutor through “months of slander and libel.”

“I explained to John how miserable it would be for him and family to deal with these people,” Trump said last August.

https://www.courthousenews.com/trump-renominates-controversial-pick-for-intelligence-chief/

I guess Trump is now ready to put Ratcliffe and his family through those "months of slander and libel."

Ratcliffe's resume must have changed since last August when it was exposed there was a "series of discrepancies in Ratcliffe’s records and credentials."*

* Otherwise known as a bunch of lies.

 

[dudalb]

Trump has the Senate and the SCOTUS to support him. Even if they don't rig the election and he loses what is going to stop them from claiming fraud and refusing to give up power?

Literally nothing as far as I can see.

If you really think that, logical thing to do is get a rifle and learn how to use it.
It will have reached the Civil War state by then.
Or why bother to vote at all if you think that is going to happen.
And I hope that would be going to far for even the Supreme court.

 

[dudalb]

Seriosly, if things are as bad as some people here are saying, Preparing for armed resistence is the only logical response.
Or they are just venting.

 

[The_Animus]

If you really think that, logical thing to do is get a rifle and learn how to use it.
It will have reached the Civil War state by then.
Or why bother to vote at all if you think that is going to happen.
And I hope that would be going to far for even the Supreme court.

Nah. I'll just abandon ship to a country that isn't insane.

Seriously though. What do you think will stop Trump and his lapdogs from doing what I said?

 

[dudalb]

Nah. I'll just abandon ship to a country that isn't insane.

Seriously though. What do you think will stop Trump and his lapdogs from doing what I said?

I think throwing out the constitution, which is what we are talking about, would be too much even for a few Republicans in the senate and a couple of the conservative justices on the Supreme court.

 

[Stacyhs]

I think throwing out the constitution, which is what we are talking about, would be too much even for a few Republicans in the senate and a couple of the conservative justices on the Supreme court.

Agreed. All this 'civil war' and 'revolution' talk is just Chicken Little "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" talk.

 

[StillSleepy]

Depends on if the Republicans are Original Recipe or Extra Crispy.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Source?
Not seeing that on any newsites.

TV news. Sorry I channel surf too much to recall which one. I don;t see it online so I may have misheard the report of a third case that was from the people quarantined at Travis.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Maybe this belongs in the Trump is mentally ill thread but it certainly belongs here too.

So Trump is off on a paranoid delusion believing there's a plot to exaggerate the COVID 19 threat by the news media and the Democrats with the purpose of crashing the stock market so he'll lose reelection.

That led him to claim any official announcements about the pandemic have to be cleared by Pence.

Now we have this: The Hill: Democrats 'frustrated' by administration's coronavirus response after closed-door briefing

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), speaking inside the briefing, criticized the administration's response, saying she had "grave concerns" about a lack of transparency.

Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas) later criticized her statements, saying "it was really political and I thought it was the wrong place to be political."

Who's political?

And:

Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top official at the National Institutes of Health who was among those briefing House lawmakers, addressed reports that he is under a gag order and must clear his statements through Vice President Pence, according to Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.).

Fauci told lawmakers he is not being “muzzled” but that he did cancel some scheduled TV appearances after Pence was tapped by President Trump to lead the administration’s response so that everyone could get on the same page, Takano added.

Rep. John Garamendi (D), who represents one of the districts in Northern California where the first possible case of spread of the virus among the general public occurred, later told MSNBC that Fauci was scheduled to do five Sunday talk shows, a rare move, but canceled the appearances after Pence took over.

Those public health officials are walking a tightrope, trying to get information out to the public but if they get too aggressive, Trump will shut them down altogether.

 

[Ladewig]

Maybe this belongs in the Trump is mentally ill thread but it certainly belongs here too.

So Trump is off on a paranoid delusion believing there's a plot to exaggerate the COVID 19 threat by the news media and the Democrats with the purpose of crashing the stock market so he'll lose reelection.

That led him to claim any official announcements about the pandemic have to be cleared by Pence.

Now we have this: The Hill: Democrats 'frustrated' by administration's coronavirus response after closed-door briefingWho's political?

And:

Those public health officials are walking a tightrope, trying to get information out to the public but if they get too aggressive, Trump will shut them down altogether.

What do you mean by shut them down?
Are you talking about firing a few people making public announcements or are you talking about closing down the CDC’s CoronaVirus research and instead using Republican scientists to evaluate data and make Pence-approved announcements?
Or are you talking about something else completely?

 

[Ladewig]

In a sane world the VP would be required to talk to the scientists before making announcements.

 

[The_Animus]

I think throwing out the constitution, which is what we are talking about, would be too much even for a few Republicans in the senate and a couple of the conservative justices on the Supreme court.

Agreed. All this 'civil war' and 'revolution' talk is just Chicken Little "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" talk.

They've already done that numerous times. Trump has repeatedly broken the law whether the emoluments clause or the charges in the impeachment. Why do you think the Republicans in the Senate or SCOTUS will suddenly grow a conscience?

You seem to keep expecting them to follow the law and democratic principles despite them flaunting it at every turn.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

What do you mean by shut them down?
Are you talking about firing a few people making public announcements or are you talking about closing down the CDC’s CoronaVirus research and instead using Republican scientists to evaluate data and make Pence-approved announcements?
Or are you talking about something else completely?

Firing them.

Dr Fauci caved in to Mike Pence's censorship. So do you ignore a battle with Trump/Pence in order to be able to keep working? Or stand up to Trump and get fired where you can no longer work on the problem?

 

[Aridas]

And we have second corona virus case;this time in Santa Clara County, California, the heart of Silicon valley and a major population center.
It's getting worse.

Incidentally, it might be worth pointing out something very important about the Coronavirus that feels like it keeps getting overlooked. Not the death rate. The hospitalization rate.

There has been a lot of focus on the fact that, based on known cases, the Coronavirus mortality rate sits somewhere between two and three percent. Much less discussed is the fact that up to 25% of known cases have required intensive care hospitalization and a four to six week recovery window.

There's a lot of unknowns here, but... frankly, the prospect of four to six weeks of intensive care in a hospital being required for large numbers of people at the same time is something that I don't think the for profit healthcare system in the US even can handle - and would likely be completely financially ruinous for, quite frankly, most of the population. Even with insurance.

You seem to keep expecting them to follow the law and democratic principles despite them flaunting it at every turn.

Flout? Or flaunting their contempt?

To poke at other things, though...

Sen. Chris Murphy: Experts 'begged' Trump to keep Obama's overseas anti-pandemic programs open

Four years after the United States pledged to help the world fight infectious-disease epidemics such as Ebola, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is dramatically downsizing its epidemic prevention activities in 39 out of 49 countries because money is running out, U.S. government officials said.

Yes, China's one of those downsized countries.

House probe finds Georgia Republicans celebrating voter suppression, lying to voters

And that with quite a lot still being withheld.

 

[The Don]

Now a third.

Do nothing Dems allowing Coronavirus, no doubt spread by illegals, to spread in their state. If only they had acted quickly and decisively like President Trump.

No Coronavirus in red states - and any reports of such are fake news

 

[The_Animus]

Flout? Or flaunting their contempt?

Flout. I used the wrong word. Thank you for the correction

 

[The Great Zaganza]

First real crisis for the US under Trump, and all that matters is how it will affect his re-election.
How predictable.

 

[Bob001]

.....
Dr Fauci caved in to Mike Pence's censorship. So do you ignore a battle with Trump/Pence in order to be able to keep working? Or stand up to Trump and get fired where you can no longer work on the problem?

We don't know if Fauci has "caved in." We don't know if Pence et al. have told him what to say or prevented him from telling the truth, only that they want his public remarks cleared first, which is not all that unusual in a government bureaucracy. Fauci is about as close to a hero as the medical world has produced. Chances are he sees his role as trying to do good in a crisis despite obstacles. For him to quit in protest would only mean that a Repub hack would be put in his place. Not good for the country, and he knows it.

And I note that he didn't have any problem contradicting Trump directly about how long it will take to produce a vaccine with Trump standing next to him. It's way too early to say he's caved.