Cont: The Trump Presidency: Part 22

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CORed said:
I think there's a decent chance the Democrats will gain control of the Senate in November. That would help immensely. We'll have to look out for the midterms though. Between Trump and Covid-19, things are likely to be in a mess for the next couple of years, and the Repubs will certainly be trying to blame the Democrats for all of it.

An even more scary thought. If Trump loses in November, which I now think is very likely, he will be eligible to run in 2024.
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I think the big worry is what the current Senate will try to do between the election and the installation in January of the newly elected Senators. Moscow Mitch has already said he will confirm as many judges as possible this year.

And never forget that Trump will remain President until Jan. 20. He can do even more long-term damage on his own out of sheer rage.
 
Trump Tweets

Senator @LindseyGrahamSC is a good friend and strong voice for the people of South Carolina. He’s helped us confirm GREAT Judges, rebuild the Military, and keep our Country SAFE. Strong on Life and our Vets. Lindsey has my Complete and Total Endorsement!
 
shemp said:
Ya think? If you gave DJT a week to memorize the names of his own children, he would not be able to!
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He could remember the one named after him. You know, the one he was reluctant to name DJT, Jr. in case he turned out to be "a loser". Ironically, he did.
 
Captain_Swoop said:
Trump just threatened tariff on EU cars unless they drop one on lobsters. He complained Canada doesn't face EU tariffs on lobsters.

Canada has trade deal with EU. US doesn't.
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I had to read that twice. My first mental image was a car being dropped on lobsters. :D
 
CORed said:
I think there's a decent chance the Democrats will gain control of the Senate in November. That would help immensely. We'll have to look out for the midterms though. Between Trump and Covid-19, things are likely to be in a mess for the next couple of years, and the Repubs will certainly be trying to blame the Democrats for all of it.

An even more scary thought. If Trump loses in November, which I now think is very likely, he will be eligible to run in 2024.
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If the Biden wins and the Dems don't take the Senate, not one federal judge or Supreme Court Justice will get confirmed. And the R's will blame Biden for that, just as they did Obama.

And of course if he loses, he'll still be litigating the loss in '24.

MRC_Hans said:
Lobsters? Honestly ...

Hans
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Gotta keep Susan Collins voting the right way.
 
Ladewig said:
Colin Powell has served honorably served as Sec of State, Chairman Joint Chief Staff and National Security advisor. In none of those roles did he release classified information to the Russians.

He rose from Second Lieutenant to 4-star General in 21 years. In VietNam he received a medal for rescuing 3 people from a crashed helicopter after surviving the crash himself.

I could write a couple of pages of things that C. Powell has successfully done that D.J. Trump would be afraid to attemp. If you gave DJT a week to memorize the list of medals Sec. Powell has earned, he would not be able to.

I was having trouble finding words to express the disdain, disappointment, anger, and hatred I have for POTUS. I finally decided the only way to succinctly express it is to say:

I view President Trump with the same contempt that President Trump views the truth.​
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If Trump didn't have bone spurs, he would have done so much more. He would have defeated the Vietcong all on his own. Alas, nature dealt him a horrible ailment and kept Trump from being a war hero.
Instead, Trump is now our Dear Leader. He has so much courage and will power. After all, just a few days ago he overcame the pain of the bone spurs to walk a long distance to give us all the photo shoot that we desperately need. He is a true 'Merican hero! He is so wonderful, even Putin is proud to call him an ally...
 
pgwenthold said:
No, he just went before the UN and lied about the case for WMD.

Sorry, no, let's not whitewash things. He's got his non-honorable baggage.

Now, I believe he is reformed, but let's not pretend he wasn't wrong in the past.
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No, Powell didn't lie; he believed what he was saying because that is what the National Intelligence Estimate and US Intelligence was telling him and everyone else. Powell did not know that this intelligence was faulty at the time. Powell wasn't one of those pushing to invade Iraq. He was very worried about what would happen in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was taken out. As he told Bush, "If you break it, you own it."

Read this interview for a better understanding of how it unfolded:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/colin-powell-u-n-speech-was-a-great-intelligence-failure/
 
TruthJonsen said:
Establishment politicians of both parties tend to like endless wars. It is the product of the military–industrial–congressional complex (MICC). Neoconservatives caused the Iraq fiasco and have been making inroads into the Democratic Party. They hate Trump's opposition to endless wars. If this was an important issue for you last time, you had to vote for Trump instead of Hillary.

https://theintercept.com/2019/01/11/as-democratic-elites-reunite-with-neocons-the-partys-voters-are-becoming-far-more-militaristic-and-pro-war-than-republicans/
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To poke at the link, it would be better to have a more descriptive text to identify what it is. For example -

As Democratic Elites Reunite With Neocons, the Party’s Voters Are Becoming Far More Militaristic and Pro-War Than Republicans

With that said, though... I quite think that the article and your interpretation are a bit off as important nuances in play aren't being acknowledged.

With Syria, for example, we haven't forgotten Trump's craven betrayal of our Kurdish allies and premature victory claims against ISIS. That's not the same as wanting endless wars at all, of course. To address the Kurds a bit more, providing deterrence was the least we could do after pointedly disarming them - which is pretty much all the relatively few soldiers that were left at the time were actually there for. Being in favor of deterrence is not actually being pro-war. Much the same is the case when it comes to North and South Korea, really. Like what did happen in Syria, retracting and reducing the deterrence that we are engaging in there makes it much MORE likely that conflict and suffering will occur, while harming our national interests at the same time. Wanting troops out of active and unhelpful war zones is one thing, wanting a relatively few troops to stay in place to keep things much more stable and aid our allies is very different.

ETA: As for Trump opposing endless wars - Heh. Trump cares about Trump. He's repeatedly tried to get us into conflicts that he thinks would benefit him and that he would easily win, as well as been working to remove agreements that are in place that make war much less likely. His style is, basically, that of a kindergarten bully throughout that, though. Thus, it fairly certainly requires a fundamental misunderstanding to say that he opposes endless wars.
 
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CORed said:
I think there's a decent chance the Democrats will gain control of the Senate in November. That would help immensely. We'll have to look out for the midterms though. Between Trump and Covid-19, things are likely to be in a mess for the next couple of years, and the Repubs will certainly be trying to blame the Democrats for all of it.

An even more scary thought. If Trump loses in November, which I now think is very likely, he will be eligible to run in 2024.
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If Trump loses in November, he’ll be in prison in 2024. I’m not well versed in the US constitution but I imagine that might be detrimental to his eligibility.

ETA On the other hand, Ivanka....
 
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CORed said:
I think there's a decent chance the Democrats will gain control of the Senate in November. That would help immensely. We'll have to look out for the midterms though. Between Trump and Covid-19, things are likely to be in a mess for the next couple of years, and the Repubs will certainly be trying to blame the Democrats for all of it.

An even more scary thought. If Trump loses in November, which I now think is very likely, he will be eligible to run in 2024.
Click to expand...

Gonna be difficult to run a campaign from prison.
 
Stacyhs said:
No, Powell didn't lie; he believed what he was saying because that is what the National Intelligence Estimate and US Intelligence was telling him and everyone else. Powell did not know that this intelligence was faulty at the time. Powell wasn't one of those pushing to invade Iraq. He was very worried about what would happen in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was taken out. As he told Bush, "If you break it, you own it."

Read this interview for a better understanding of how it unfolded:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/colin-powell-u-n-speech-was-a-great-intelligence-failure/
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But Powell is such a great target, do I really have to get into the nuances of that article? Why not just blame him for the whole thing? He gave the speech, after all!

/s
 
jeremyp said:
If Trump loses in November, he’ll be in prison in 2024. I’m not well versed in the US constitution but I imagine that might be detrimental to his eligibility.
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I do hope Trump goes to prison... but I suspect the Democrats will "wimp out" on pursuing charges. Plus, the legal system does tend to be very lenient on financial and political crimes.
ETA On the other hand, Ivanka....
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I don't think we have to worry about any of the Trump spawn running for office.

First of all, while we recognize Trump as frequently incoherent and dishonest, he does have a certain.... personality (snake-oil salesman charisma)....that he uses during his rallies and speeches that Ivanka (or his other children) do not seem to have.

Secondly, the republican base is a fairly bigoted group, and Ivanka has 2 strikes against her... 1) she's a woman, and 2) she is jewish.
 
Captain_Swoop said:
After speaking with Putin very early this week, Trump ordered 9,000 US NATO troops out of Germany.
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He's meeting all his KPIs.

Sow discord
Appoint far-right judges
Poison the well of the forthcoming election
Leave Kurdistan...

I imagine he'll be up for a bonus for 2020.
 
Armitage72 said:
Get ready for Tweets about vandalism of government property.
The new DC security fences put up to protect Trump have been commandeered by demonstrators, who are turning them into memorials to people killed by the police.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1269678326538534914

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1269670089047060480

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1269372021282144257

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1269487952440233984
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There may be an argument that for security purposes, the signs must be removed. I'd imagine that the Secret Service, for instance, finds it useful to see through the fence.
 
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