Jump to content
IGNORED

Donald Trump and the Deathly Fallout (Part 15)


Destiny

Recommended Posts

46 minutes ago, AuntK said:

I like Joe, but 78 is too damn old to take on the most stressful job in the world. Just look at how it aged Obama, and he was a young man, relatively speaking. Yes, Joe appears to be in good health, but let me tell you, even when you are in good health, take care of yourself, your body just isn't the same after you enter your 70s, that's just how it is. And the job as POTUS? Especially after the Orange toddler has screwed up everything? We will need a younger person with stamina. And as much as I love Michelle, she has made it quite clear, she doesn't want it and I believe her.

I'd like to see Corey Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand, either Corey/Kirsten or Kirsten/Corey.  They're both young, energetic, and passionate about making things better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 518
  • Created
  • Last Reply

This just exemplifies what is so wrong with this administration. 

Not only have they placed incompetents in major roles, they don't even know the rudimentary basics. Constitution? Huh, whaaa?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh for the fucking love of the everloving Flying Spaghetti Monster!

The Tangerine Toddler thinks the House Intelligence Committee should be investigating Bill and Hillary, not him.

Quote

Amid an expanding chorus of questions about interaction between Russian officials and his own advisers during the presidential campaign, President Donald Trump resurfaced attacks in a set of tweets Monday night alleging improper Russian ties for both former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

On Twitter, Trump wrote: "Why isn't the House Intelligence Committee looking into the Bill & Hillary deal that allowed big Uranium to go to Russia, Russian speech...."

Fucking shut up with the "But Hillary" already!disgust.jpg

Ugh. Does he really think this will deflect or somehow diminish his traitorous connections to the Russians?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I loves  me some Tom Tomorrow This Modern World

Screenshot 2017-03-28 at 7.36.28 AM.png

 

Quote

On Twitter, Trump wrote: "Why isn't the House Intelligence Committee looking into the Bill & Hillary deal that allowed big Uranium to go to Russia, Russian speech...."

Because this is some alt-right manufactured alt-fact?

Quote

 

Snopes.com: 

Russian to Judgment

Allegations of a "quid pro quo" deal giving Russia ownership of one-fifth of U.S. uranium deposits in exchange for $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation are unsubstantiated.

 

The Snopes article debunks this claim in all its complicated detail. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, AuntK said:

I like Joe, but 78 is too damn old to take on the most stressful job in the world. Just look at how it aged Obama, and he was a young man, relatively speaking. Yes, Joe appears to be in good health, but let me tell you, even when you are in good health, take care of yourself, your body just isn't the same after you enter your 70s, that's just how it is. And the job as POTUS? Especially after the Orange toddler has screwed up everything? We will need a younger person with stamina. And as much as I love Michelle, she has made it quite clear, she doesn't want it and I believe her.

And it depends very much on the makeup of Congress too.  As the Orange Tapeworm found out, not even having majorities in Congress guarantees success, but President Obama would've had a slightly easier time if Congress had not been full of fornicate stick Klansmen and women who were determined to work against him no matter what.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Oh for the fucking love of the everloving Flying Spaghetti Monster!

The Tangerine Toddler thinks the House Intelligence Committee should be investigating Bill and Hillary, not him.

Fucking shut up with the "But Hillary" already!disgust.jpg

Ugh. Does he really think this will deflect or somehow diminish his traitorous connections to the Russians?

The man is obsessed with Hillary.  Almost as much as he is with Obama.  Between that and his need to proclaim his greatness every time he opens his mouth, it indicates that he struggles with low self-esteem.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An interesting analysis: "The looming split between Trump and Ryan"

Quote

President Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan both want to rewrite the tax code, but their proposals differ on how much tax relief to give the middle class.

Trump wants a tax cut across the board, according to the plan he published during the campaign. He has proposed relief for the wealthy especially, but also for less affluent households. The plan that Ryan (R-Wis.) and his colleagues in the House have put forward would not substantially reduce taxes for the middle class, and many households would pay more.

Trump's plan arguably reflects his unique style of conservative populism. The proposal would be extremely costly for the government, and the president's past comments suggest he would be willing to put the federal government deeper into debt to fund breaks for the middle class.

Ryan's plan would instead simplify and streamline the tax code in accordance with conservative orthodoxy, eliminating the goodies for households with modest incomes that Trump would preserve or expand.

In all, taxpayers with roughly average incomes could expect a tax cut of around $1,100 a year under Trump's plan, compared to just $60 under Ryan's plan once the proposals were fully implemented.

Now, after even a united Trump-Ryan effort on health care failed to win over enough Republicans to get through the House, their hopes of passing a tax plan depend on getting on the same page quickly.

During the campaign, Trump proposed a plan that would have reduced taxes drastically, especially for the wealthy but also for the poor and working class. Meanwhile, Ryan and his colleagues put together a plan that was equally generous to the rich but that would give poor and middle-class taxpayers less of a break. The speaker's plan would even have increased taxes on some in the upper middle class.

After a decade, 99.6 percent of the tax relief Ryan proposed would have accrued to the wealthiest 1 percent of the country. In Trump's plan, 50.8 percent of the relief would have gone to that group, according to analyses by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

The two tax plans have important features in common. In terms of taxes on the rich, both plans would reduce the marginal rate paid by the wealthiest taxpayers on individual income from 39.6 percent to 33 percent.

And among those in the poorest fifth of households, the typical taxpayer would save about $100 under Ryan's plan and about $120 under Trump's.

The two plans would repeal some of the taxes that Obamacare imposed on the rich, and both plans also repeal the estate tax, which rich families pay when one of their members dies. Repealing the tax would return $300 billion or so to those families over a decade, according to the center, depending on the details of the plan.

...


"Government watchdog to review Trump’s use of Mar-a-Lago"

Quote

A government watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office, has agreed to review the costs and security precautions associated with President Trump’s travel and stays at Mar-a-Lago after a request for inquiry from leading Democrats on Capitol Hill.

On 17 days of his presidency, Trump has spent at least part of his time at Mar-a-Lago, his club in Palm Beach, Fla., flying down five times on Air Force One and requiring protection from the Secret Service, the U.S. Coast Guard and local police forces while in Florida. The government has not disclosed the costs.

...

The Democrats also questioned whether the president’s company, which he still owns and which owns Mar-a-Lago, was charging the government “fair and appropriate” rates for use of the property while there at the service of the president.

On Friday the GAO agreed to take up the inquiry by looking into four areas:

1) What measures are being used to protect classified information and provide secure communications capabilities while the president is away from the White House and whether a secure communications space has been created at Mar-a-Lago.

2) The type of security screening the Secret Service employs for guests and visitors of Mar-a-Lago.

3) What measures the Secret Service and Defense Department have taken to ensure the fees they are charged for Mar-a-Lago trips are “fair and reasonable.”

4) Whether the U.S. Treasury has received any payments resulting from profits at hotels that are owned or operated by the president.

The final two items relate to the president’s company, the Trump Organization, from which Trump has resigned his positions but where he is still owner. Trump’s adult sons, Eric and Don Jr., run the company, and to avoid conflicts of interest, the firm pledged recently to donate any profits from foreign companies to the U.S. Treasury at the end of each calendar year while Trump is president.

...

I don't know that anything will come of it, but I hope the tangerine toddler gets nailed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just when I think this administration has reached the absolute zenith of WTF-ery and nadir of cruelty and crass disrespect for the human condition, we have this: 

Quote

Trump taps anti-LGBTQ activist Roger Severino to lead HHS Civil Rights Office

This week, President Donald Trump quietly appointed anti-LGBTQ activist Roger Severino to lead the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR), an office whose work he has actively opposed.

In his previous role as Director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society for the Heritage Foundation, Severino spoke out against the civil rights protections he will now be tasked with upholding and supported the wholesale repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

“By appointing Mr. Severino to enforce the life-saving protections that he has made his personal mission to dismantle, the Trump administration has once again put the fox in charge of the hen house,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), in a statement.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, Howl said:

Just when I think this administration has reached the absolute zenith of WTF-ery and nadir of cruelty and crass disrespect for the human condition, we have this: 

 

Yeah, I posted this yesterday in the departments thread. These guys really know how to go low, don't they? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Ivanka Trump once encouraged women to state their job titles. Now she won’t share hers."

Quote

What exactly is Ivanka Trump's White House role? No one has said for sure — including Ivanka Trump.

Since January, President Trump's eldest daughter has been a highly visible member of her father’s presidency. She has participated in roundtable discussions, flown on Air Force One and met with world leaders. Next month, she will attend an economic summit in Germany on behalf of the Trump administration, at the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

And perhaps most notably, she recently moved into her own office in the West Wing and gained high-level security clearance — despite not being a government employee and, therefore, not subject to ethics rules. The president’s elder daughter has said that, despite her lack of an official White House job title, she will “voluntarily” comply with those rules.

“I will continue to offer my father my candid advice and counsel, as I have for my entire life,” Ivanka Trump told Politico in a statement about the move to the West Wing office. “While there is no modern precedent for an adult child of the president, I will voluntarily follow all of the ethics rules placed on government employees.”

Amid this ambiguity, Vox reporter Liz Plank unearthed a 2014 campaign promoted on IvankaTrump.com from when Trump still controlled the daily decisions for her clothing and accessories brand. In it, she encourages woman to state their job title — or job titles.

“To join the #WomenWhoWork conversation, record yourself giving us your ‘extended job title,’ followed by your name and actual job title,” the website instructs. “Post the video to your social channels and tag a few of the women who inspire you to encourage them to follow suit.”

The goal of the initiative was to “celebrate” the modern working woman, starting with proudly acknowledging their roles in the office and at home.

“The women I know who are working today are working hard to create and build the lives that they want to live, and there’s nothing more compelling and powerful than that,” Ivanka said in an accompanying video. “Let’s show the world what it looks like to be a woman who works.”

The irony that Trump won’t or can’t elaborate on her White House duties, while working at “the nation's highest office,” should not be lost, according to Plank.

“Trump’s brand emphasizes empowering women at work, and there is nothing feminist about a woman stepping in to do all the work with no credit or pay,” Plank wrote. “If Trump truly wants to preserve her commitment to the cause she supposedly takes the most pride in, she would disclose what her own work entails.”

...

She has denied that she is serving as a de facto first lady and has spoken about her White House jobs only in broad terms.

Her move to a coveted West Wing office spurred critics and government watchdogs to raise more concerns about potential conflicts of interest — and to push for her to clarify her role in the White House. Her husband, Jared Kushner, serves as senior adviser to the president and is a government employee.

“This is untenable,” Fred Wertheimer, president of the Washington-based watchdog group Democracy 21, told the Associated Press. “She can make a decision at any time not to comply, and there’s no penalty or sanction whatsoever.”

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good one: "The Offender of the Free World"

Quote

When Donald Trump met Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany earlier this month, he put on one of his most truculent and ignorant performances. He wanted money — piles of it — for Germany’s defense, raged about the financial killing China was making from last year’s Paris climate accord and kept “frequently and brutally changing the subject when not interested, which was the case with the European Union.”

This was the summation provided to me by a senior European diplomat briefed on the meeting. Trump’s preparedness was roughly that of a fourth grader. He began the conversation by telling Merkel that Germany owes the United States hundreds of billions of dollars for defending it through NATO, and concluded by saying, “You are terrific” but still owe all that dough. Little else concerned him.

Trump knew nothing of the proposed European-American deal known as the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, little about Russian aggression in Ukraine or the Minsk agreements, and was so scatterbrained that German officials concluded that the president’s daughter Ivanka, who had no formal reason to be there, was the more prepared and helpful. (Invited by Merkel, Ivanka will attend a summit on women’s empowerment in Berlin next month.)

Merkel is not one to fuss. But Trump’s behavior appalled her entourage and reinforced a conclusion already reached about this presidency in several European capitals: It is possible to do business with Trump’s national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, with Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, and with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, but these officials are flying blind because above them at the White House rages a whirlwind of incompetence and ignorance.

Trump’s United States of America has become an unserious country, the offender of the free world.

The German debt to the United States is vast since the federal republic was crafted from ruin through enlightened American postwar involvement. Germans never forget this. But that debt is not material, something Trump’s lazy, ahistoric little mind cannot grasp. Germany owes the United States no NATO debt. America is not Europe’s defense contractor, paid to deliver services like, say, the caterers at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

...

Yet Trump tweeted: “Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with Angela Merkel. Nevertheless Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!” And later, in an interview with Time magazine’s Michael Scherer: “What I said about NATO was true, people aren’t paying their bills. And everyone said it was a horrible thing to say. And then they found out.” Trump added, “I got attacked on NATO and now they are all saying I was right.”

Yes, Mr. President, everyone is saying you are right! And they’re saying, wow, you made a BIG discovery about NATO spending! They are also saying there’s an unidentified lying object in the White House.

Trump, as noted above, showed no interest with Merkel in the European Union. The E.U. just marked its 60th anniversary in Rome with vows of indivisible union and renewal. It did so as Theresa May, the British prime minister, prepares to submit Britain’s formal exit demand this week, and just after the French rightist Marine Le Pen, who may soon lead France, met with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. Putin is deploying money and propaganda to back Le Pen and fast-forward E.U. unraveling. Trump, as allergic to multilateralism as he is susceptible to autocracy, has welcomed the unstitching of Europe.

It is the hour to stand up for the European Union. Its democratic shortfall, weak external borders and shared currency mistakes have contributed to a political backlash. Less appreciated are the peace and stability it has provided to hundreds of millions of people over generations and the myriad ways — from disappearing cellphone roaming charges to cheap borderless travel — it has improved life for Europeans whose forebears lived in a charnel house. No miracle ever marketed itself so miserably.

Merkel is the personification of the Union’s values; she was just bolstered by a local election victory. Russians have taken to the streets to protest against Putin’s corrupt regime and been brutalized. This is not over. Truculent Trump has abdicated responsibility. Europe must step into the void.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A NATO DEFENCE FORCE!

NATO consists of the individual armed forces of the member nations, which will act together when a member is under threat. There is an agreement that by 2024, all NATO countries will allocate 2% of budget to defence. Germany is on track for this. Each country pays its own bill - no NATO country owes the US money.

American forces in Europe are there for American as well as European security - and also to provide staging posts/supply lines for American forces. Should the NATO countries in Europe be charging the US rent for bases, landing fees for aircraft - including medical evacuations from the ME - of course not! We are an alliance that works together for the good of all.

NATO forces have beenworking with US forces in the Middle East for years. Recently, US forces have been sent to European states where Russian forces have been building, particularly in Poland and the Baltic States.

Does tRump truly believe that to disassemble this alliance would benefit the US? Or, perhaps, that's what Putin wants.....

We continue to plumb greater depths of this shitgibbon's ignorance. What's scary is that the world is losing all respect for the US, and its position as a leader may be irretrievable.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

and was so scatterbrained that German officials concluded that the president’s daughter Ivanka, who had no formal reason to be there, was the more prepared and helpful

Geez, I just had a brain flash thinking about Ivanka running against Chelsea in an upcoming election.  :5624797758514_good-gravy-eek:

I am writing to my congressional reps today, but there is only so much I can write on my little postcards, so I decided to just say thanks for hanging in there during these chaotic and embarrassing  times.  

My state rep wrote back with his thoughts on the border wall and immigration reform.  From his letter:  "I have been particularly struck that the members who represent districts along the U.S.-Mexico border almost universally oppose the wall, regardless of party."  He also indicated that there was no way taxpayers wouldn't be stuck with paying the bill.

And thanks to you all for posting articles and comments.  We really need to keep getting educated and continue resisting the current state of affairs. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@GreyhoundFan Take away NATO, and the US has nowhere to land aircraft between the ME or Afghanistan and the US. Medical evacuations would be fucked - major cases are first cared for in Germany. Mid-air refuelling would become the norm. Shared NATO intelligence - such as that from the UK's GCHQ - would disappear.* Which ports would the Navy go to for refuelling? Where would rapid deployment troops be based? He really doesn't have a clue....

*Although I truly think they may be holding back a little already - would you trust trumpelthinskin with classified material?

ETA I get it. He doesn't see why the US should be the world's policeman, and pay to do so.

The UK had that role from 1815 -1939. They did it because it benefited their interests - as doing so now, it does the US.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So no one else, in recent times, under 50%? Tee hee hee! :tw_grin: And so well deserved!

Question again. I understand the basics of the US system, but not the minutiae.

tRump has rolled back a lot of regulations - strip mining, not polluting rivers with mining castoff, etc - how easy would it be to reinstate them?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, RoseWilder said:

Well get out the smelling salts - Trump thinks he's above the law. 

From my admittedly rather hasty 1L reading of Clinton v. Jones, 520 U. S. 681, 694 (1997)  the idea that the Orange Tapeworm would have immunity for unofficial acts is wrong.   The court said that official acts are one thing, but unofficial acts are another thing entirely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, sawasdee said:

@GreyhoundFan Take away NATO, and the US has nowhere to land aircraft between the ME or Afghanistan and the US. Medical evacuations would be fucked - major cases are first cared for in Germany. Mid-air refuelling would become the norm. Shared NATO intelligence - such as that from the UK's GCHQ - would disappear.* Which ports would the Navy go to for refuelling? Where would rapid deployment troops be based? He really doesn't have a clue....

*Although I truly think they may be holding back a little already - would you trust trumpelthinskin with classified material?

ETA I get it. He doesn't see why the US should be the world's policeman, and pay to do so.

The UK had that role from 1815 -1939. They did it because it benefited their interests - as doing so now, it does the US.

I know and agree. Unfortunately, the tangerine toddler is incapable of understanding anything more complex than a first grade textbook, and that's even stretching it. I wouldn't trust him with my shopping list, much less classified material.

 

 

48 minutes ago, RoseWilder said:

Trump's approval ratings have dropped again. This time he's down to 36%. 

 

Frankly, I can't believe he's running above 3%.

 

 

45 minutes ago, sawasdee said:

So no one else, in recent times, under 50%? Tee hee hee! :tw_grin: And so well deserved!

Question again. I understand the basics of the US system, but not the minutiae.

tRump has rolled back a lot of regulations - strip mining, not polluting rivers with mining castoff, etc - how easy would it be to reinstate them?

As he's doing them as Executive Orders, they could be reinstated by a future president. Obviously, Pence wouldn't do so, but hopefully we can get someone decent in there in 2020. If there is a world left at that point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

As he's doing them as Executive Orders, they could be reinstated by a future president. Obviously, Pence wouldn't do so, but hopefully we can get someone decent in there in 2020. If there is a world left at that point.

@GreyhoundFan Know only too well how depressed you feel! But we have to believe that there will be a country - and world - to retrieve in 2020. Hopefully, you can make a start on the country in 2018.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, sawasdee said:

@GreyhoundFan Know only too well how depressed you feel! But we have to believe that there will be a country - and world - to retrieve in 2020. Hopefully, you can make a start on the country in 2018.

Thank you for the thoughts! Intellectually, I know we will still be here, but some days it's hard to be living it.

 

Oh yeah, I can see this happening (please note sarcasm font): "Trump now says he wants to work with Democrats — but it may already be too late"

Quote

In the wake of the collapse of his first major legislative push on health care, President Trump and his aides have suddenly begun talking about reaching out to skeptical Democrats to breathe new life into his flagging administration.

But there’s little evidence that any actual outreach by the administration has occurred — and many Democrats warn it may already be too late.

The abrupt talk of bipartisanship comes after two months in which Trump alienated Democrats with personal attacks and polarizing policies, both of which have made the road to cooperation more politically risky for the minority party. And Trump’s halting overtures to moderate Democrats and unions early in the administration have produced little, if anything, in the way of policies or legislation.

“The president needs to find a new presidency within himself,” Rep. Joseph Crowley (N.Y.), the chairman of the House Democratic caucus, said Tuesday. “Suggesting that he’s going to negotiate with us, and simultaneously asking for cuts in the budget that will hurt our constituents tremendously, or cutting funding for ‘sanctuary cities,’ or going after the undocumented in a way that’s causing unbelievable stress in our communities, is not going to work.”

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that the president and his aides received calls in the days after the Republicans’ health-care bill failed from Democrats offering to work with the administration. But the White House declined to provide details on who called or what the president might do to bring Democrats to the table.

...

For their part, congressional Democrats offer a conditional response to the president’s overtures: We’re willing to work on bipartisan legislation, but we won’t rubber stamp Trump’s agenda.

A Senate Democratic leadership aide said Democrats are open to cooperating with Trump on issues where they might have common cause, such as infrastructure and trade. But, the aide noted that Trump would have to be willing to buck Republican orthodoxy to fulfill some of the more populist promises he made on the campaign trail — something that so far he has been unwilling to do.

Speaking on the Senate floor Monday, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the two sides could only work together on health care if Republicans and the administration stop trying to repeal Obamacare — something that has been a legislative priority for Republicans since the day Obama signed the ACA into law.

The sentiment was echoed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an interview Monday with NBC News. “We’re willing to listen,” Pelosi said. “We always want to work with the president, but my message to the president is, ‘First do no harm.’ ”

Aides to both Pelosi and Schumer said the White House has not reached out on health care since the Republican bill failed on Friday.

...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The irony is, that apart from tax reform and abortion, tRump's promises on the campaign trail were much closer to the Democrats than the Republicans - and in some cases, closer to Bernie than Hillary!

eg His promises on health care......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Thank you for the thoughts! Intellectually, I know we will still be here, but some days it's hard to be living it.

 

Oh yeah, I can see this happening (please note sarcasm font): "Trump now says he wants to work with Democrats — but it may already be too late"

 

When I see pigs taking off without aid of air planes, hot air balloons, gliders, etc from the local airport then I'll know the Orange Tapeworm is telling the truth.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but:

On a happier note though, I don't think that the tweeted scenario really is a viable possibility. Because when he goes down, the whole house of cards will fall down with him. Everything that he has touched will be tainted, discredited, untrustworthy. It will mean a complete overhaul of American politics will be necessary, because I don't think that when the Toddler falls, there will be a GOP left. It will have disintegrated completely, with only a very few left standing in the rubble, covered in so much dust that no one will want to touch them. 

At least, this is what I hope will be the ultimate result of this whole debacle. Something good will come of it, in the long run.

Yes, I'm an optimist. :my_biggrin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Destiny locked this topic

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.