Cont: The Trump Presidency: Part 26

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The Man said:
Not only that, they are currently scrapping the planes after having cut off the funding for the scheduled replacement aircraft some time ago.
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One thing that stands out: in a normal administration you’d have the President or Secretary of Defense clearly articulating to the American people the rationale behind withdrawing from the treaty and the destruction of the planes.

I vaguely suspect there’s another side to this story, but with everything going on behind the scenes, there’s no way to know. “Most transparent administration in history” my ass.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
Re: Trump's performance not being satisfactory for Putin...
How so? Sure, there are some disappointments, like Trump not getting his way and directly lifting sanctions at the start, but mostly, it's been win after win after win for Putin (in ways that are losses for the US, generally) delivered by Trump.
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He has tried, but not really managed.
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Keep in mind that some of the things Putin might have wanted would have been long shots anyways, since Trump would have had to work through congress to get them done.

For what Trump could have done for Putin, he more than achieved.
He never got rid of a number of sanctions, and just now instituted new sanctions on the Nordstrom project.
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I assume you are referring to the pipeline carrying gas from Russia to western europe.

A couple of things to keep in mind:
- It wasn't necessarily Trump that was pushing for the sanctions... there was support for them in congress
- Putting in sanctions NOW probably won't do anything to stop the project... its too close to completion. Its locking the barn door after the horses have fled.

From: Forbes
Donald Trump last night signed into law sanctions from the U.S. Congress against companies involved in constructing a new gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. But analysts say the Trump administration dithered too long for these sanctions to stop the project’s completion.
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Though the pipeline project remains controversial and unpopular in Europe, Trump’s attacks have only seemed to cause European leaders to rally around the project.
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The Trump administration’s delay in taking meaningful action against Nord Stream has caused immense frustration in the U.S. Congress.

Sounds to me like Putin got exactly what he wanted... Trump playing interference against congressional demands for action until the pipeline can't be stopped, then when Trump does decide to act, he does so in a way which causes greater divisions between the Europeans and U.S.
 
Captain_Swoop said:
Trump tweets

Trump Announces Groundbreaking Rules to Lower Prescription Drug Prices https://breitbart.com/health/2020/11/20/trump-announces-rules-to-lower-prescription-drug-prices/ via

@BreitbartNews
Trump Announces Groundbreaking Rules to Lower Prescription Drug Prices
One of the rules will force drug companies to treat the U.S. as a "most favored nation," guaranteeing Americans lowest drug prices around the globe. | Health
breitbart.com
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The Great Zaganza said:
I'll believe it when I see it.
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Most favored nation status has absolutely nothing to do with drug prices. Nothing.
 
Trump Tweets

The “losers & suckers” statement on dead military heroes has been proven to be a total fabrication and lie. IT WAS NEVER MADE! The “anonymous” fabricator, who is a major sleaze, went forward with the lie despite 25 strong witnesses to the contrary. Welcome to the roaring 20’s!
 
Donnie just cancelled his trip to Gettysburg today.
Damn,too bad, since his whole legal challenge to the election strongly resembels, Pickett's Charge:It never had a real chance of working.
 
Trump Retweeted

Svetlana Lokhova
@RealSLokhova
Judge Sullivan was supposed to proceed "with dispatch" (in a quick and efficient way) in Gen Flynn's case.

Three months have passed since.
 
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Captain_Swoop said:
Trump Retweeted

Svetlana Lokhova
@RealSLokhova
Judge Sullivan was supposed to proceed "with dispatch" (in a quick and efficient way) in Gen Flynn's case.

Three months have passed since.
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Why bother? The Justice Department isn't pursuing the case based on the rapist-in-chief's orders and a pardon is inevitable either way.
 
Segnosaur said:
Keep in mind that some of the things Putin might have wanted would have been long shots anyways, since Trump would have had to work through congress to get them done.

For what Trump could have done for Putin, he more than achieved.
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To add to that, even if you ignore Trump pretty much giving Putin everything that he asked for when it came to foreign policy (to the point where it's possible that the main underlying reason for Trump to pay as much attention to NK as he did was because of Russia's official request to the US to stop the joint military exercises with SK, which is the main change in the state of things that actually did happen) and just look at the money part of things - Trump delivered in some remarkable ways. To provide some simple context to that, though - Russia's (and therefore Putin's) main source of income is via oil and gas. Higher prices for those are good for them, low prices are bad for them. Trump's personal actions have raised the price of oil and gas over and over and over when he was doing things like withdrawing from the Iran deal and raised tensions there repeatedly - which paid off for Russia quite immensely.

Segnosaur said:
I assume you are referring to the pipeline carrying gas from Russia to western europe.
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It's probably also worth a reminder that Trump's opposition to that at all is fairly likely to have its roots in the major financial conflicts of interest of a number of the people surrounding Trump.
 
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Let's remember that Trump can only pardon Turkeys for Federal sentences.

Since I don't work for the Federal Government, I still get to eat it!
 
jimbob said:
Does that mean he's not protected by the Fifth Amendment?
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I believe the lack of 5th Amendment privileges only applies to specific crimes outlined in the text of the pardon. I don’t think that as of this morning the text of the actual pardon has been made public.

My understanding is if the pardon has wording to the effect that it covers “any and all Federal crimes committed”, then in fact Flynn does lose 5th Amendment privilege across the board. Therefore any Grand Jury or Congressional panel or other investigative body could subpoena him and he would have to answer any and all questions put to him. Anything he said could be used against others, of course. Refusal could be met with contempt charges.

On the other hand, if the pardon lists specific crimes, then he would still be able to invoke the 5th when testifying about any and all other crimes. And be punished for them unless further pardons are granted prior to Jan 20.

But I’m clearly not a lawyer, so I stand ready to be corrected if I have any of the above wrong.
 
(Debated whether I should put this in the Coronavirus thread, but it does seem to have wider implications.)

Looks like Moscow Mitch's manipulations have had results, and its one that will kill people....

From: CTV News
...the Supreme Court late Wednesday barred New York from enforcing certain limits on attendance at churches and synagogues in areas designated as hard hit by the virus. The justices split 5-4 with new Justice Amy Coney Barrett in the majority....The court's three liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts dissented....Earlier this year, when Barrett's liberal predecessor, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was still on the court, the justices divided 5-4 to leave in place pandemic-related capacity restrictions affecting churches in California and Nevada.

This is exactly why people were concerned... a shift in the court, conservative justices ignoring precedent. And it will get people killed.
 
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