Donald Trump and the Fellowship of the Alternative Facts (Part 14)

[RoseWilder]

 

[RoseWilder]

 

[RoseWilder]

I've said this about 6 times already today, but please please please let this be true. I can't wait until the first arrest happens. 

[GreyhoundFan]

"The American presidency is shrinking before the world’s eyes"

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It is difficult to overestimate the geopolitical risks of this moment — or the (both disturbed and eager) global scrutiny now being given to the American president.

Aggression is growing along the westward reach of Russian influence and the southern boundary of Chinese influence. Intercontinental nuclear capacity may soon be in the hands of a mental pubescent in North Korea. In the Middle East, a hostile alliance of Russia and Shiite powers is ascendant; radical Sunnis have a territorial foothold and inspire strikes in Western cities; America’s traditional Sunni friends and allies feel devalued or abandoned; perhaps 500,000 Syrians are dead and millions of refugees suffer in conditions that incubate anger. Cyberterrorism and cyberespionage are exploiting and weaponizing our own technological dependence. Add to this a massive famine in East Africa, threatening the lives of 20 million people, and the picture of chaos is complete — until the next crisis breaks.

It is in this context that the diplomatic bloopers reel of the past few days has been played — the casual association of British intelligence with alleged surveillance at Trump Tower; the presidential tweets undermining Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his Asia trip; and the rude and childish treatment given the German chancellor. When President Trump and Angela Merkel sat together in the Oval Office, we were seeing the leader of the free world — and that guy pouting in public.

Every new administration has a shakeout period. But this assumes an ability to learn from mistakes. And this would require admitting mistakes. The spectacle of an American president blaming a Fox News commentator for a major diplomatic incident was another milestone in the miniaturization of the presidency.

...

When asked if he was worried about cutting these programs during a famine, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney responded: “The president said specifically hundreds of times . . . I’m going to spend less money on people overseas and more money on people back home. And that’s exactly what we’re doing with this budget.” The benighted cruelty of such a statement — assuming that the only way to help Americans is to let foreign children die — is remarkable, and typical.

The sum total? Foreigners see a Darwinian, nationalist framework for American foreign policy; a diminished commitment to global engagement; a brewing scandal that could distract and cripple the administration; and a president who often conducts his affairs with peevish ignorance.

Some will look at this spectacle and live in fear; others may see a golden opportunity.

Sad, but true.

[Howl]

Awesome piece from Michael Gerson, @GreyhoundFan.  Trump humpers are oblivious, but I think their numbers are falling.  There will always be an ultra hard core who will never abandon him or see the damage being done; here's hoping that a  lot of the "I think I made a mistake" people are now finding themselves in serious "WTF did I do?" territory. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Awww, poor widdle tangerine toddler: "Trump’s lies are failing him, and it is making him deeply frustrated"

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The events of this week are revealing with a new level of clarity that President Trump and the White House have ventured far beyond unconventional levels of dishonesty. Instead, they are revealing on their part something more remarkable and challenging to our system: a kind of deep rot of bad faith — a profound contempt for democratic process and the possibility of agreement on shared reality — that is wildly beyond anything in recent memory and strains the limits of our political vocabulary.

The precipitating moment is the clash between the White House and the FBI over the ongoing investigation of possible Russia-Trump campaign collusion, and in this context, the New York Times has some remarkable new reporting on Trump’s mental state and the reaction to it of the people around him. They are absorbing the fallout, now that Trump’s tweets — in which he claimed that former president Barack Obama wiretapped him and that the Trump-Russia story was “fake news” — were effectively demolished by the testimony of FBI Director James B. Comey:

People close to the president say Mr. Trump’s Twitter torrent had less to do with fact, strategy or tactic than a sense of persecution bordering on faith: He simply believes that he was bugged in some way, by someone, and that evidence will soon appear to back him up. …

The president, people close to him have said over the last several weeks, has become increasingly frustrated at his inability to control the narrative of his action-packed presidency, after being able to dominate the political discourse or divert criticism by launching one of his signature Twitter attacks.

Let’s pause to consider how remarkable it is that those paragraphs appeared in a major newspaper. Trump continues to vaguely believe that what he tweeted will somehow be validated later, at least in some form. But at the same time, Trump himself is growing aware that his nonstop lies — or delusions, or self-deception, or whatever you want to call all of it — are failing him. And he’s frustrated by it. This is coming to us according to people close to Trump.

The way in which Trump made those charges about Obama; the way the White House subsequently handled the mess, by demanding that Congress investigate them after an internal search that turned up nothing to back them up; the way in which Trump continues to blithely dismiss the need to get to the bottom of Russian meddling in our election — all of those things are a function of something that is seeping into pretty much everything the White House is doing these days.

...

But the FBI investigation will continue overshadowing the Trump presidency. And in the present moment, the Comey takedown — a brutal institutional debunking of one of Trump’s and the White House’s highest-visibility moments of pure contempt for norms and process — has exposed the deep rot of bad faith in a new way. And this could have consequences. It could help inspire an escalation in institutional pushback — from the courts, the media, government leakers and civil society — that exercises a further constraining effect.

If the sources who spoke to the Times are to be believed, Trump is already reportedly frustrated that his showmanship and improvisational approach to reality are failing him. One shudders to imagine how he will react to more serious setbacks.

Um, I guess Agent Orange hasn't considered that Putin "wiretapped" him?

 

 

When "the best negotiator" isn't getting his way, he threatens: "Trump to GOP critics of health care bill: ‘I’m gonna come after you’"

Quote

President Trump went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning to sell the House GOP leadership’s plan to overhaul the health-care system as the legislation races toward an expected vote on the House floor by the end of the week. Assuring Republicans that they would gain seats if they passed the bill, the president told Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, to stand up and take some advice.

“I’m gonna come after you, but I know I won’t have to, because I know you’ll vote ‘yes,’ ” Trump said, according to several Republican lawmakers who attended the meeting. “Honestly, a loss is not acceptable, folks.”

But after the meeting, Meadows told reporters that the president had not made the sale, that the call-out was good-natured and that conservative holdouts would continue to press for a tougher bill.

“I’m still a ‘no,’ ” he said. “I’ve had no indication that any of my Freedom Caucus colleagues have switched their votes.”

...

 

 

Thank you, @Howl, I like Michael Gerson's writing too.

[onekidanddone]

22 hours ago, Destiny said:

Challenge accepted.

@Destiny How did you fill out the form with out being forced to give them money? I had such great ..really great, the best responses ever, but I couldn't send it without filling out a payment form. What a fuckstick.  We have to pay him for is performance approval.

[Destiny]

@Destiny How did you fill out the form with out being forced to give them money? I had such great ..really great, the best responses ever, but I couldn't send it without filling out a payment form. What a fuckstick.  We have to pay him for is performance approval.

I filled it out, hit submit, then closed the window. It's the same thing I did last time, and I know they were getting those cos there were complaints about mean liberals hacking his poll. I think the donate page is probably a bit of a scam to make you think you have to donate.

[onekidanddone]

Just now, Destiny said:

I filled it out, hit submit, then closed the window. It's the same thing I did last time, and I know they were getting those cos there were complaints about mean liberals hacking his poll. I think the donate page is probably a bit of a scam to make you think you have to donate.

Okay time to start up again.  He won't like what I have to say.

[Cartmann99]

3 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

“I’m gonna come after you, but I know I won’t have to, because I know you’ll vote ‘yes,’ ” Trump said, according to several Republican lawmakers who attended the meeting. “Honestly, a loss is not acceptable, folks.”

Do what Trump wants, or his fans will send death threats to you and your family. 

Also, I didn't realize that the reason the Republicans are so hellbent on getting this bill passed on Thursday, is because it's the seventh anniversary of when President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. 

Shitweasels, they are childish little shitweasels. 

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, onekidanddone said:

Okay time to start up again.  He won't like what I have to say.

I have no idea if it worked, but I filled it out. I was not very nice.

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, Cartmann99 said:

Do what Trump wants, or his fans will send death threats to you and your family. 

Also, I didn't realize that the reason the Republicans are so hellbent on getting this bill passed on Thursday, is because it's the seventh anniversary of when President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. 

Shitweasels, they are childish little shitweasels. 

Trump thy name is Putin.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Ivanka's role raises red flags"

Quote

Despite previously stating that she would not take on an official role in her father's administration, Ivanka Trump is now moving into an advisory position in the White House.

Just like Donald Trump, Ivanka has significant conflicts of interests -- both nationally and internationally -- to navigate around, and her entry into the West Wing raises major ethical red flags we cannot ignore.

And since there is little precedent for a daughter serving in the White House, Ivanka may benefit from weak accountability mechanisms, which allow her to take full advantage of her new position.

The move grants Ivanka security clearance, access to classified information and a government-issued handheld device. Despite not receiving an official title or salary, Ivanka has been formally placed at the center of her father's administration.

"Having an adult child of the President who is actively engaged in the work of the administration is new ground," Ivanka's lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, said. "Our view is that the conservative approach is for Ivanka to voluntarily comply with the rules that would apply if she were a government employee, even though she is not."

Gorelick went on to state that as Ivanka's role expands, she "plans to adhere to the same ethics and records retention rules that apply to government employees, even though she is not technically an employee."

...

There was a time when people were willing to give Ivanka the benefit of the doubt. After all, she is one of the most likeable in the Trump family and one of their most effective public relations tools.

However, it is time for us to openly acknowledge that Ivanka is not a better version, but just a less offensive version of her father, his policies and his interests. As "Saturday Night Live" so brilliantly parodied, she is "a woman who knows what she wants. And knows what she's doing. Complicit."

Getting an office in the West Wing is a huge deal, usually requiring the candidate to have years of expertise, and not normally one reserved for the children of the President.

The fact that there is no playbook for anyone to follow just means less accountability for the Trumps when they run into conflicts of interests, which are frankly, inevitable. Having her lawyer tell us to take comfort in knowing Ivanka will do the right and ethical thing is simply not enough.

Ivanka Trump setting the precedent of placing the children of the President inside the West Wing should worry us. After all, she has just as much interest as her father to use public office to advance her business-related interests.

So, she "plans to adhere to the same ethics and records retention rules...". Hmmm, I plan to win several million dollars playing the lottery. I have a feeling neither of our plans will come to fruition. Can you imagine the howling if Chelsea Clinton and her husband had offices in the West Wing? Chappass, Gowdy, and their buddies would have broken land-speed records setting up Congressional hearings.

[RoseWilder]

I just found this site that lays all the Trump-Russia connections out so you can see them all. It's quite shocking to see it in visual form: 

 

[Howl]

8 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

CNN: The move grants Ivanka security clearance, access to classified information and a government-issued handheld device. Despite not receiving an official title or salary, Ivanka has been formally placed at the center of her father's administration.

There is so much red-zone WTF-ery in this paragraph I don't even know where to start.  It's a tacit statement that Trump can't handle the presidency -- he's floundering and his daughter is there to shore him up when he's faltering and to rein him in when he's out of control.  

That she has access to classified information without having any specific standing and therefore is not guided or constrained by specific laws and policies concerning government employee ethics -- my brain-o-meter is pegged in the brain fry zone.  Yeah, she might retain documents or she might have a chute under her desk that feeds documents into a Fawn Hall industrial shredder installed in the basement. 

My sincere hope is that some junior staffers bolt and spill the beans, instead of just leaking this and that. 

[RoseWilder]

Well this is interesting: 

 

[Cartmann99]

Keith Olbermann's latest video about Trump:

 

[iweartanktops]

This is so fucking disgusting. 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10154311921375969&id=140254320968

What an embarrassment! 

38 minutes ago, Howl said:

There is so much red-zone WTF-ery in this paragraph I don't even know where to start.  It's a tacit statement that Trump can't handle the presidency -- he's floundering and his daughter is there to shore him up when he's faltering and to rein him in when he's out of control.  

That she has access to classified information without having any specific standing and therefore is not guided or constrained by specific laws and policies concerning government employee ethics -- my brain-o-meter is pegged in the brain fry zone.  Yeah, she might retain documents or she might have a chute under her desk that feeds documents into a Fawn Hall industrial shredder installed in the basement. 

My sincere hope is that some junior staffers bolt and spill the beans, instead of just leaking this and that. 

I don't recall seeing Ivanka on a ballot. 

This is fucking pathetic. 

[Cartmann99]

43 minutes ago, Howl said:

Yeah, she might retain documents or she might have a chute under her desk that feeds documents into a Fawn Hall industrial shredder installed in the basement

Boy, that's a blast from the past! 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Reality is creeping into the Trump show"

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The House Intelligence Committee hearing Monday marked the end of the opening installment of “The President,” the must-watch reality/horror show that has transfixed the nation and the world. Now the plot gets more serious, perhaps darker, with some new characters likely to emerge in key national-security roles.

President Trump should be less of a stage hog going forward, and his Twitter storms less intense. He is often described as a narcissist, but he’s not suicidal. He knows he has been rebuffed in a public hearing that he can’t ridicule as “fake news.” With his approval rating below 40 percent, he needs to broaden his base. Trump wants to disrupt, but he also wants to succeed.

...

 

 

 

"Susan Rice: When the White House twists the truth, we are all less safe"

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Last week, the British intelligence agency GCHQ took the rare step of debunking as “utterly ridiculous” the Trump administration’s insinuation that Britain spied on Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign. On Monday, FBI Director James B. Comey testified plainly that “I have no information that supports” President Trump’s accusations that his predecessor ordered the “wires tapped” at Trump Tower. These false statements from the White House are part of a disturbing pattern of behavior that poses real and potentially profound dangers to U.S. national security.

The foundation of the United States’ unrivaled global leadership rests only in part on our military might, the strength of our economy and the power of our ideals. It is also grounded in the perception that the United States is steady, rational and fact-based. To lead effectively, the United States must maintain respect and trust. So, when a White House deliberately dissembles and serially contorts the facts, its actions pose a serious risk to America’s global leadership, among friends and adversaries alike.

First, U.S. power is frequently a function of our ability to rally other countries to join our cause. President George H.W. Bush famously gathered some 30 countries to expel Saddam Hussein from Kuwait in 1991. President George W. Bush enlisted NATO and other countries to fight al-Qaeda in Afghanistan after 9/11. President Barack Obama built broad coalitions to combat the Islamic State; impose sanctions on Iran after the discovery of a secret nuclear facility at Fordow; punish Russia for its actions in Ukraine; conclude the Paris climate agreement; and halt the Ebola epidemic.

For the United States to mobilize collective action, other nations must accept the validity of our facts and the seriousness of the challenge. Often, U.S. requests are costly and politically difficult for other nations to heed. They do so only when convinced that the cause we champion is legitimate and that their interests are served by publicly aligning with the United States. Thus, should America someday determine that Iran is violating the nuclear accord, we may struggle to convince other nations to re-impose sanctions if they doubt our intentions or the evidence we present.

...

Susan Rice is a former national security adviser and representative to the UN. Her article is long, but interesting and valid.

[GreyhoundFan]

"As Ivanka Trump’s White House role expands, her company is sued for unfair competition"

Quote

A small San Francisco clothing retailer has lodged a class action suit against Ivanka Trump's brand, charging that it has an unfair business edge because President Trump, his daughter and his aides have leveraged the presidency to promote its products.

Modern Appealing Clothing, a 40-year-old upscale boutique, filed a claim last week in Superior Court of California against Ivanka Trump Marks LLC, arguing that the brand's sales “have surged since the election” because it has exploited “the power and prestige of the White House for personal gain.” Ivanka Trump's company declined to comment.

The lawsuit comes as Ivanka Trump expands her presence as an unpaid adviser to her father, gaining an office in the West Wing and seeking security clearance. The first daughter plans to serve as her father's “eyes and ears” and offer him “her candid advice,” as well as focus on issues that affect women in the workplace, said Washington lawyer Jamie Gorelick, who is serving as her ethics adviser.

...

Modern Appealing Clothing, a family-owned retailer in San Francisco with two stores, cited the president and Conway's comments in its lawsuit, accusing Ivanka Trump's company of having an unfair advantage in the marketplace in part by “piggy-backing promotion” of products “on appearances at executive branch and other governmental events.”

The suit is similar to one filed this month by a Logan Circle wine bar against President Trump and his Washington hotel, alleging that his ownership of the Pennsylvania Avenue property is luring away customers and damaging the wine bar's business.

Norman Eisen, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer under President Barack Obama, said he expects other such suits to crop up.

“None of them is a layup, but I do think the courts are going to take them seriously,” he said, adding, “I do believe that the Trump family businesses are engaged in unfair competition. The ways in which the whole Trump family uses the White House and the presidency as the world’s greatest infomercial does strike me as unfair.”

 

 

"Trump’s ‘big, beautiful wall’ will require him to take big swaths of other people’s land"

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The order has been issued for the immediate construction of a Mexico border wall. The specs have been outlined: 30 feet high and “aesthetically pleasing.” The next thing on President Trump's to-do list for building his “big, beautiful wall”: Hire more lawyers  for a long and expensive battle over private land.  

The wall will cost a lot more — politically and economically — than Trump has publicly acknowledged. To build the wall along the nearly 2,000-mile border — and fulfill a key campaign promise — Trump will need to wield the power of government to forcibly take private properties, including those belonging to his supporters.

Much of the border, especially in Texas, snakes through farms, ranches, orchards, golf courses, and other private property dating back to centuries-old Spanish land grants. As a signpost to the troubles ahead, the government has still not finished the process from the last such undertaking a decade ago.

“It's going to be time consuming and costly,” said Tony Martinez, an attorney who is mayor of the border town of Brownsville, Tex. “From a political perspective, you have a lot of rich landowners who were his supporters.”

Trump, in his recent budget proposal, is calling for the addition of 20 Justice Department attorneys to “pursue federal efforts to obtain the land and holdings necessary to secure the southwest border.” The Justice Department would not expand upon the details. Of the department's 11,000 attorneys, fewer than 20 currently work in land acquisition. Trump's budget would double that.

The battle has been fought before. The last wave of eminent domain cases over southern border properties dates back to the 2006 Secure Fence Act authorizing President George W. Bush to erect 700 miles of fencing.

Of the roughly 400 condemnation cases stemming from that era, about 90 remain open a decade later, according to the Justice Department. Nearly all are in the Rio Grande Valley in southwest Texas.

...

I wish he'd build his "big beautiful wall" around an island and put himself and all his minions inside.

[JMarie]

4 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"Ivanka's role raises red flags"

So, she "plans to adhere to the same ethics and records retention rules...". Hmmm, I plan to win several million dollars playing the lottery. I have a feeling neither of our plans will come to fruition. Can you imagine the howling if Chelsea Clinton and her husband had offices in the West Wing? Chappass, Gowdy, and their buddies would have broken land-speed records setting up Congressional hearings.

Ivanka's at 3:30

[fraurosena]

Ugh. Just like all toddlers, the tangerine toddler thinks he can do anything he wants. Even though grown ups scold him for it.

‘I’ll Criticize Judges,’ Trump Says, Hours After a Scolding for Doing Just That

Quote

Hours after Mr. Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court declared during Senate confirmation hearings that he was “disheartened” about Mr. Trump’s unrestrained attacks on the judicial branch, the president was at it again, calling out the federal judges who have halted his second executive order banning travel from certain predominantly Muslim nations.

“Somebody said I should not criticize judges. O.K. I’ll criticize judges,” Mr. Trump said on Tuesday night at a fund-raising dinner for the National Republican Congressional Committee — reiterating his pique at a federal court judge in Hawaii who last week placed a stay on his second travel order.

 

Ehhh... he doesn't even know that it's the guy he himself nominated for the Supreme Court?

[singsingsing]

Rise and shine, everyone!

AP Exclusive: Manafort had plan to benefit Putin government

Quote

President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin a decade ago and proposed an ambitious political strategy to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics, The Associated Press has learned. The work appears to contradict assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort himself that he never worked for Russian interests.

Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush grew worse.

No worries, I'm sure there are some alternative facts that will explain this all away!

Quote

In a statement to the AP, Manafort confirmed that he worked for Deripaska in various countries but said the work was being unfairly cast as "inappropriate or nefarious" as part of a "smear campaign."

"I worked with Oleg Deripaska almost a decade ago representing him on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments," Manafort said. "My work for Mr. Deripaska did not involve representing Russian political interests."

Whoomp, there it is.

[47of74]

Another Trumpster learns that betrayal is the way of the Orange Fuck

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/21/health/opioid-trump-supporter-medicaid-health-care-reform/index.html

Quote

Last year, Kraig Moss sold the equipment for his construction business in upstate New York and stopped making mortgage payments so he could follow Donald Trump on the campaign trail.

The amateur country crooner sang pro-Trump ditties while strumming a guitar emblazoned with Trump campaign stickers, earning him the moniker "Trump Troubadour."

International media dubbed him "the voice of unheard America."

But now, Moss refuses to play the guitar with the Trump decorations. He's soured on the President because of the newly proposed Republican health care bill.