The Trump Presidency: Part 20

[TragicMonkey]

I think it's clear what's going on: Trump heard the gossip about Biden being senile and saying crazy things, and Trump's natural competitive instincts kicked in. No way he's going to be out-seniled and out-crazied by that loser.

 

[TellyKNeasuss]

The relationship is a good one = he kisses my ass and does anything I tell
him to.

"United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland" = He's been kicked out for screwing me over when he admitted it was a quid pro quo.

What??? This is a YUGE promotion for Mulvaney. Chiefs of staff are a dime a dozen, but United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland is such a critical position that requires such extraordinary skills that Trump hasn't been able to find anyone who can handle the job for 3 full years.

 

[TragicMonkey]

What??? This is a YUGE promotion for Mulvaney. Chiefs of staff are a dime a dozen, but United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland is such a critical position that requires such extraordinary skills that Trump hasn't been able to find anyone who can handle the job for 3 full years.

Being sent to Craggy Island is never a promotion.

 

[Babbylonian]

Being sent to Craggy Island is never a promotion.

Going somewhere you'll never have to meet with Trump again makes it paradise.

 

[Stacyhs]

Being sent to Craggy Island is never a promotion.

 

[Aridas]

It is here folks;the moment many of us have been dreading:A genuine, real , lives at stake crisis for Donald Trump, and Trump is screwing it up loyally.

Screwing it up? He's just using the time tested tactics that have repeatedly been shown to get the most people killed.

Trump saying Biden isn't competent?

Oh sweet, sweet irony.

He was also saying that Warren is so incredibly mean, unlike Trump.

White House concedes US lacks enough test kits

Related to that... the CDC quietly stopped reporting the number of tests conducted a bit ago, while there were less than 500 tests that were done - compare to South Korea and its over 60K tests.

Richest, most powerful country in the world... failing hard because of the intentional sabotage of the government by a power hungry narcissist.

Trumpy-poo planting the seed into the teeny weeny brains of his minion worshippers....

[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/741985b562fdf206a5.gif[/qimg]

Rather, this is probably just yet another escalation of a theme that he's been pounding on for a while. It's not funny, and it's probably best to view it as exactly the same kind of "joke" as "Russia, if you're listening..."

Back to Coronavirus, though, both because there's more "interesting" bits of news and, well, I rather expect to be getting sick with it relatively soon, now that there are indeed confirmed cases in Pennsylvania and the nature of my job.

CNBC Editor says he wishes Americans would just go ahead and die--it would save the stock market

Need more be said about where certain people's priorities lie?

Putin-poo?

Meh. That name just feels like it's wrong. Why? Because poo is already in Poo-tin.

Trump, CDC appearance. He said experts were telling him to take sick Americans off a cruise ship but he doesn't want to do it because it WILL MAKE THE NUMBERS GO UP and he shouldn't because "wasn't our fault."

Sorry colonial cousins, you are all going to die!

"I like the numbers where they are. I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship"

For reference.

And yeah, Trump's priorities are likely impeachment-worthy. To be fair, though, had Trump actually been removed, Pence likely would have done little better, both because of the structural damage that had already been done and because, well... Pence.

To poke at other things, though, because coronavirus isn't even remotely the only noteworthy thing happening...

Long voting lines put voter suppression front and center

Texas is the focus of that edition of Republican Voter Suppression Efforts. "Long" is a dramatic understatement, though, if a person ends up waiting in line for over six hours because the lines are just that friggin' long and it's happening because Republicans are closing places to vote like crazy in Democratic leaning areas - and, that's just for a primary, rather than the general.

Kentucky Republicans try to eviscerate Democratic governor's power to issue executive orders

Yes, they're literally trying to nullify the now Democratic governor's power to issue executive orders without their direct approval.

'Disturbing': Study Shows DOJ Prosecutions of White-Collar Criminals Hit All-Time Low Under Trump

Again, Republican priorities made perfectly clear.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Retweeted

Rep. Jim Jordan
@Jim_Jordan
Mark Meadows is smart, loyal, and a true patriot. He’s a good man and my best friend!
Couldn’t have picked anyone better for the job.

Quote Tweet

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
I am pleased to announce that Congressman Mark Meadows will become White House Chief of Staff. I have long known and worked with Mark, and the relationship is a very good one....

 

[alfaniner]

Trump Retweeted

Rep. Jim Jordan
@Jim_Jordan
Mark Meadows is smart, loyal, and a true patriot. He’s a good man and my best friend!
Couldn’t have picked anyone better for the job.

Considering that Gym Jordan is in the news again, not for very good reasons, I can totally see Meadows saying "Dude, don't be trying to help me out. I barely know you."

 

[Trebuchet]

Considering that Gym Jordan is in the news again, not for very good reasons, I can totally see Meadows saying "Dude, don't be trying to help me out. I barely know you."

I had to look up the Jordan story, so here it is.

Meanwhile, we've nothing to fear from Covid-19. Trump says it is fully contained and there are oodles of test kits.

 

[Stacyhs]

Trump is still lying about his border wall. When asked if Mexico was paying for it, Trump said:

“Yes they are. They’re paying for it. And they’re OK with it. Mexico’s paying for it."

So, where is the money really coming from to pay for his "big, beautiful Wall"?

The money is coming from today's U.S. taxpayers and the future ones who will inherit the federal debt. In February, the Pentagon announced that it was slashing billions of dollars for Navy and Air Force aircraft and other military programs to divert money to the construction of the wall. More such military cuts are coming, officials said.

https://apnews.com/28e60e866f6d32cdadedd126e292eba7

 

[dudalb]

A CINCPAC attendee has the Virus.

I am not going to be a hypocrite and deny that I am getting a lot of schanfreude from this.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

I had to look up the Jordan story, so here it is.

Meanwhile, we've nothing to fear from Covid-19. Trump says it is fully contained and there are oodles of test kits.

I'll be interesting to see how the trumpkins will explain spin weasel their way out of explaining Trump's policies if the virus ends up doing significant damage due to his failure to take actual, effective measures. I can't remember Obama or Clinton fudging epidemics, so whataboutisms might not be an option, except if they do that desperate last resort thing and dig back hundreds of years.

Then again, apparently he has already falesly claimed Obama made vaccine/medicine testing inefficient due to pesky demands for quality control and accountability, so it'll probably be Black Man's fault, and won't afect his ratings one bit.

I will not restrain my Schadenfraude should he catch the virus himself, though. Preferrably on a rally.

 

[Aridas]

To poke at a few things that might be of interest...

CPAC attendee tests positive for coronavirus

Frankly, I'm not happy about the likely spread of the virus, but... there's a certain karmic element of satisfaction at the thought of these people, who are some of the main reasons that Trump rose to power and both could and would sabotage the response to the virus, are in harm's way.

This one's just barely outdated, but... Trump directing his coronavirus task force to launch attacks on Democrats to avoid blame: report

Confirmation of the obvious, really, but still despicable.

Moving on... Looks like we've got more of the information available about how much Trump's been charging the Secret Service as they've been forced to use his properties. To what should be no one's surprise, they're being charged rates notably higher than normal value, which it pretty much the exact opposite of the practically nothing that has been claimed.

Next! Looks like Brian Kemp, perhaps best known for his efforts to disenfranchise Democrats by the hundreds of thousands, sue the Democrats for passing along information about his massive fuckups in election security to appropriate groups who could handle such legally, and refusing to recuse himself from presiding over his own election is literally trying to steal a Georgia Supreme Court seat by wrongfully cancelling an election so that he'll be able to just appoint a replacement when the judge retires.

 

[shemp]

A CINCPAC attendee has the Virus.

I am not going to be a hypocrite and deny that I am getting a lot of schanfreude from this.

I assume you meant CPAC, CINCPAC is Commander in Chief, Pacific Command.

I hope this person spread it to every attendee at CPAC.

 

[turingtest]

Trump is still lying about his border wall. When asked if Mexico was paying for it, Trump said:

“Yes they are. They’re paying for it. And they’re OK with it. Mexico’s paying for it."

So, where is the money really coming from to pay for his "big, beautiful Wall"?

The money is coming from today's U.S. taxpayers and the future ones who will inherit the federal debt. In February, the Pentagon announced that it was slashing billions of dollars for Navy and Air Force aircraft and other military programs to divert money to the construction of the wall. More such military cuts are coming, officials said.

https://apnews.com/28e60e866f6d32cdadedd126e292eba7

My wife and I were discussing the issue of Mexico paying for the wall a couple of days ago. She voted for him in 2016, pretty much on the basis that he was the Republican in the race, and Repubs are the ones who (supposedly) are stronger on the military and defense spending, which is important to her, since she works at the shipyard down here in Mississippi (Ingalls) that makes its money from the contracts from the Navy for building its ships. She apparently wasn't aware of this Pentagon fund shuffling, but still wanted to argue that Mexico would be paying indirectly through trade benefits to us, yada yada. I asked her, "if the Pentagon decided that, to build Trump's wall, it was now necessary to rescind a contract with Ingalls and you had to take a pay cut or (god forbid) lose your job entirely- would you still say Mexico was paying for the wall? Or would you agree that you are?" It's an unlikely scenario, but the point was that her salary doesn't come from what Mexico pays indirectly, it's from what the American taxpayer does directly.

Funds are fungible, I guess; but whatever Mexico may be paying indirectly that could be creatively argued to apply to the wall in the future doesn't change the fact that Americans are paying for the stupid thing right now, with money that could be better applied elsewhere than on an idiotic and useless symbol of American xenophobia (which Trumpers like to call "exceptionalism").

 

[alfaniner]

I assume you meant CPAC, CINCPAC is Commander in Chief, Pacific Command.

I hope this person spread it to every attendee at CPAC.

You explain CINCPAC, which was wrong, but don't say what CPAC is?

 

[dudalb]

I assume you meant CPAC, CINCPAC is Commander in Chief, Pacific Command.

I hope this person spread it to every attendee at CPAC.

Yeah, I meant CPAC.Currently reading a new book on WW2 in the Pacific and had CINCPac in my head.

But the CPAC people have nothing to worry about, the Conona Virus is a hoax...

 

[dudalb]

You explain CINCPAC, which was wrong, but don't say what CPAC is?

I think 95% of the people who post in this Political section know what CPAC is.

 

[Stacyhs]

To poke at a few things that might be of interest...

CPAC attendee tests positive for coronavirus

Frankly, I'm not happy about the likely spread of the virus, but... there's a certain karmic element of satisfaction at the thought of these people, who are some of the main reasons that Trump rose to power and both could and would sabotage the response to the virus, are in harm's way.

This one's just barely outdated, but... Trump directing his coronavirus task force to launch attacks on Democrats to avoid blame: report

Confirmation of the obvious, really, but still despicable.

Moving on... Looks like we've got more of the information available about how much Trump's been charging the Secret Service as they've been forced to use his properties. To what should be no one's surprise, they're being charged rates notably higher than normal value, which it pretty much the exact opposite of the practically nothing that has been claimed. Next! Looks like Brian Kemp, perhaps best known for his efforts to disenfranchise Democrats by the hundreds of thousands, sue the Democrats for passing along information about his massive fuckups in election security to appropriate groups who could handle such legally, and refusing to recuse himself from presiding over his own election is literally trying to steal a Georgia Supreme Court seat by wrongfully cancelling an election so that he'll be able to just appoint a replacement when the judge retires.

Highlight 1) We need a new word to describe what Trump has been doing. Perhaps "to Trump"? Adj: trumpian Adverb: Trumply

Highlight 2) Taking a page out of McConnell's book, heh?

 

[Stacyhs]

My wife and I were discussing the issue of Mexico paying for the wall a couple of days ago. She voted for him in 2016, pretty much on the basis that he was the Republican in the race, and Repubs are the ones who (supposedly) are stronger on the military and defense spending, which is important to her, since she works at the shipyard down here in Mississippi (Ingalls) that makes its money from the contracts from the Navy for building its ships. She apparently wasn't aware of this Pentagon fund shuffling, but still wanted to argue that Mexico would be paying indirectly through trade benefits to us, yada yada. I asked her, "if the Pentagon decided that, to build Trump's wall, it was now necessary to rescind a contract with Ingalls and you had to take a pay cut or (god forbid) lose your job entirely- would you still say Mexico was paying for the wall? Or would you agree that you are?" It's an unlikely scenario, but the point was that her salary doesn't come from what Mexico pays indirectly, it's from what the American taxpayer does directly.

Funds are fungible, I guess; but whatever Mexico may be paying indirectly that could be creatively argued to apply to the wall in the future doesn't change the fact that Americans are paying for the stupid thing right now, with money that could be better applied elsewhere than on an idiotic and useless symbol of American xenophobia (which Trumpers like to call "exceptionalism").

Do you think your wife finally realized that SHE is paying for the wall and not Mexico?

This story that Trump made up about Mexico indirectly paying for the wall is just another one of his lies he's telling to cover the truth: the American taxpayer is paying for it. It's as silly as his lie that tariffs are bringing in millions to the country.