Trump 21: Tweeting Us Into the Apocalypse

[formergothardite]

28 minutes ago, Curious said:

I can see why Bannon and Priebus formed an alliance over keeping him out of the west wing.

You know someone is bad when these two are worried about them being too crazy. The Moocher is going to be shredded to pieces by SNL and he seems like he has thinner skin than Spicer. 

Melania is a sit still and look pretty sort of woman, I doubt she will ever rock the boat by telling Trump anything he doesn't want to hear. 

[Curious]

I have no clue where DJT is currently speaking, but his speech is horrifying in many, many ways.

[AnywhereButHere]

He's on Long Island at Suffolk Community College. Yeah, it's pretty horrifying.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/07/28/in-long-island-trump-to-highlight-violence-from-ms-13-gang-to-push-congress-on-immigration/?utm_term=.75489c61e9b8

Quote

A day after suffering a major political defeat on his bid to overturn the Affordable Care Act, after the Senate voted down a repeal measure, the president seemed buoyed in his return to Long Island, where he spent some of his youth. Trump spoke on stage in front of dozens of uniformed officers and a banner that read, "Protecting American lives." He received numerous ovations as he thanked law enforcement officers for their service and pledged to create policies to allow them to do their jobs better. The officers at one point chanted, "USA! USA!"

Trump boasted that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are tougher than the criminal gangs, and at one point he encouraged police to be rougher with suspects who are apprehended, such as allowing them to hit their heads while putting them into police cars.

I have no issue with curbing gang activity and arresting gang member engaged in criminal activity, but yeah - not a fan of upping the police brutality quotient he's advocating.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump’s bizarre communications strategy: Constantly upstaging his own agenda"

Spoiler

The first rule of presidential news management is: Don’t get in the way of your own good news.

President Trump has ignored the first rule over and over again.

On Wednesday, the “America First” president had some great news to share about jobs and the American economy. He announced that Foxconn, a Taiwanese electronics company, has agreed to invest up to $10 billion in a new factory in Wisconsin, an initiative that could create as many as 13,000 new jobs. The deal could spur other investment and even affect the 2018 elections.

Missed that story? If so, it probably was because Trump created a bigger story earlier in the day. His surprise announcement via Twitter that he was banning transgender people from military service caught almost everyone by surprise, and resulted in an uproar that dominated the news agenda on TV and everywhere else throughout the day.

It was more than enough to make everyone forget, or not know in the first place, that the White House had proclaimed this to be “American Heroes Week,” in honor of military personnel and first responders.

Trump has a practically unerring ability to get in the way of news that might be favorable to him and his agenda.

On the same day the House passed a bill targeting the federal funding of “sanctuary” cities and voted in favor of “Kate’s Law” to stiffen penalties for unauthorized immigrants, for example, Trump yanked media attention from those two initiatives by tweeting about cable-news personality Mika Brzezinski’s “face-lift”.

A White House-sponsored “infrastructure” theme week and summit in June was quickly pushed aside by Trump’s defiant tweet in response to congressional testimony by his fired FBI director, James B. Comey. “Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication . . . and WOW, Comey is a leaker!” he wrote.

Trump also clouded his “infrastructure” message by tweeting criticism of London mayor Saiq Khan following a terrorist attack on the city.

Officially, the White House says this is all just part of the daily agenda. Asked at the daily press briefing on Thursday if such self-created controversies were “a distraction” from the president’s agenda, incoming press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders replied: “I think the president is aware that he can walk and chew gum at the same time. This White House takes on a lot of different things, not one.”

Nevertheless, this is different, to say the least.

Previous presidents and White Houses have stressed “message discipline,” the notion of sticking to a few daily themes and talking points about a policy or event. Message discipline supposedly reinforces a message through repetition, and by shutting out irrelevant, extraneous or competing messages.

“I think that he is completely lacking in discipline, and so is his team,” said Tommy Vietor, a former spokesman for President Obama. “He his own worst enemy in stepping on the news cycle. . . . If want to drive a message, you need to be disciplined. You need to stay focused and not comment on the rest of the world.”

But as long noted, Trump is adept creating his own weapons of mass distraction. It’s been part of his communications strategy since he was a rising developer in New York City. The basic principle: When the news isn’t going your way, change the subject.

As questions mounted about his post-election appointments, his business conflicts and his settling of the Trump University fraud case in late November, for example, Trump demanded that the cast of the Broadway show “Hamilton” apologize for reading a post-performance speech in the presence of Mike Pence, then the vice president-elect. The tweet generated a day’s worth of headlines and discussions, sweeping aside much of the hubbub about other, more unpleasant topics.

Trump’s tweeting of his transgender-military policy was in the same vein, said Larry Parnell, a veteran public-relations practitioner and associate professor at George Washington University in Washington.

The transgender policy tweet is “ill-timed, it’s not thought out, it’s impulsive, but it serves to create attention to something other than the things that Trump doesn’t want talk about,” namely the investigations into his campaign’s ties to Russia and his conflict with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Parnell said. “It’s news management by distraction, in my view.”

Trump probably calculated that the Foxconn announcement would be an important story — it made the front page of many newspapers, including The Washington Post — but not sufficiently important to obliterate another day of Russia and Sessions, he said. The tweets about the transgender policy took care of that.

Besides, the relatively diminished coverage of the Foxconn news gives Trump a marker for future media criticism. “He can come back and say this company made a $10 billion investment in the U.S. and the press hardly covered it,” said Parnell.

The White House has dubbed next week “American Dream Week,” although it hasn’t specified what policies it will be promoting under that banner. But if history is any guide, you probably won’t hear much about it; the president will be making other, bigger news.

Yeah, he doesn't understand the word discipline.

[AmazonGrace]

In which the president pretends not to see a disabled child. 

 

[onekidanddone]

 

7 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

In which the president pretends not to see a disabled child. 

Just like he said he said McCain wasn't a war hero for getting captured, he must think the kid in the chair was a loser for being disabled.  My hatred for this man knows no limit.

[formergothardite]

9 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

In which the president pretends not to see a disabled child. 

That child literally touched him and could be heard over and over again talking all while Trump wouldn't even look at him. The natural thing when a child speaks and reaches out is look down, Trump bent down to the other children, but wouldn't even spare a glance for the child in a wheelchair. He really is a monster. 

[fraurosena]

Well, we all know what he really thinks of disabled people:

 

What a horrible, horrible man. 

[nokidsmom]

2 hours ago, formergothardite said:

The Moocher is going to be shredded to pieces by SNL and he seems like he has thinner skin than Spicer. 

When Spicer resigned, I thought that would reduce the amount of SNL material but now I have changed my mind.    In fact, I suspect ultimately Spicer will have gotten off easy compared to what they will do with The Moocher.

ETA: And I agree that Melania is content to be in the background but she may know from experience that he's not going to listen to her.  I suspect she has probably tried but those days were a long time ago.

[VixenToast]

Did he not shake it though? I'm never defending him, I just don't see him shaking or not shaking the boy's hand. Idk. Do we have a witness that had an unobstructed view of the incident. I want more info.

[Destiny]

What the shit? Did trump just fire reince preibus? See his twitter. Can’t link cos phone.

[fraurosena]

Rancid Penis has been replaced!

 

Yes, @Destinyhe apparently did. Who is this John F. Kelly? Do we know anything about him?

OK, just looked him up. He was the Secretary for Homeland Security. So who will take his place then?

[AmazonGrace]

He's one of Trump's generals. Used to be Sec. of Homeland Security. Wants the Wall. 

This is how he reassures the American people: 

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/26/politics/john-kelly-terror-threat-people-wouldnt-leave-the-house/index.html

[Destiny]

So how long does sessions survive do we think? I almost feel sorry for sessions then I remember racist bag of dicks and I’m over it.

[JMarie]

Can't get better timing than 5 PM on a Friday.. but hey, it's the weekend, so off to a golf course.

[AmazonGrace]

I wonder if Reince found out from the tweet

[Destiny]

I wonder if Reince found out from the tweet

God I hope not. No one deserves that. Not even Republicans.

[fraurosena]

12 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

I wonder if Reince found out from the tweet

I wouldn't be surprised. Remember Comey? 

 

[AmazonGrace]

Anyway, this was yesterday: 

 

[formergothardite]

37 minutes ago, Destiny said:

So how long does sessions survive do we think?

Not long.  It like the White House is playing a weird version of And Then There Were None, except instead of being killed, they are being replaced. Pretty soon none of the originals will be left. 

Firing Sessions might be the spark that lights a fire under the GOP, though. 

[JMarie]

If Trump does get impeached (keeping fingers crossed!), at least he has a backup career.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-manhattan-skyline-sketch-by-trump-sells-at-auction-for-dollar29000/ar-AAoYIgm?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartanntp

It looks like the buildings are giving us the middle finger.

5 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

Not long.  It like the White House is playing a weird version of And Then There Were None, except instead of being killed, they are being replaced. Pretty soon none of the originals will be left. 

Firing Sessions might be the spark that lights a fire under the GOP, though. 

One of my favorite books!

[fraurosena]

I wonder what Rancid Penis will tell Hannity tonight?

Nah. Just kidding. It will be vomit-inducing, so I don't really want to know.

[onekidanddone]

Not sure how much I trust this site because up until election night it had Clinton way head. That being said how is it that 'other' is coming second in 2020?

https://electionbettingodds.com/

[danvillebelle]

My older son jokingly told me today "wouldn't it be cool if Scaramucci is like a double agent, actually hates Trump and got the job in order to take them all down?"

From your lips to God's ears, son.  

[onekidanddone]

Here we go.  

Trump names Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as White House chief of staff, ousting Reince Priebus

Quote

President Trump on Friday ousted his White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and named his homeland security secretary, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, to replace him in a major shake-up for a West Wing beset by chaos and infighting.

With his legislative agenda stalled six months into his presidency, Trump became convinced that Priebus was a “weak” leader and had been lobbied intensely by rival advisers to remove Priebus, an establishment-aligned Republican who has long had friction with Trump's inner-circle loyalists, according to White House officials.

“I am pleased to inform you that I have just named General/Secretary John F Kelly as White House Chief of Staff,” Trump tweeted on Friday afternoon. “He is a Great American and a Great Leader. John has also done a spectacular job at Homeland Security. He has been a true star of my Administration.”

The president added, “I would like to thank Reince Priebus for his service and dedication to his country. We accomplished a lot together and I am proud of him!”

The announcement comes after deep personal animus between Priebus and Anthony Scaramucci, newly appointed as White House communications director, burst into public view Thursday when Scaramucci accused the chief of staff of leaking damaging information about him to the news media and savaged Priebus in a profanity-laced interview with The New Yorker.

Allies to Priebus said he told them he had resigned on Thursday, concluding that the internal chaos would only escalate. But some White House officials said Priebus was forced out on Friday, noting that he presided over the morning senior staff meeting and accompanied the president on Air Force One to a law enforcement event in New York.

Trump has long been drawn to military leaders -- "my generals," he calls them -- and by appointing Kelly, the president hopes to bring military discipline to his often-unruly West Wing. Kelly is expected to be sworn into the job on Monday morning and convene a Cabinet meeting.

Kelly, who is widely admired by Trump family members and loyalists, has formed a bond with the president over recent months that was fortified when he aggressively defended the travel ban policy. Their relationship has only grown stronger since, with Trump telling aides that he sees Kelly as someone who dutifully follows through on his agenda -- including a border security crackdown and sharp reduction in illegal immigration -- and does not cause him problems.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the incoming White House press secretary, said of Kelly in a statement, "The entire administration loves him and no one is comparable."

Sanders also commended Priebus for his service. "He was loyal in his dedication to the president," she said. "The president thanks him and his family for his great service to the country, and he will always be a member of the Trump Team.”

Priebus, who as chairman of the Republican National Committee nurtured a close relationship with Trump during last year's campaign, was named White House chief of staff to bring Washington experience to the administration of a political novice.

Part of Priebus' pitch for the job was that he could use his long-standing relationships with Republican leaders on Capitol Hill — including House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), a personal friend — to help pass Trump's ambitious agenda, including major legislation on health care and taxes.

But Priebus became consumed by internal battles, clashing not only with Scaramucci but finding himself under siege by Trump advisers inside and outside of the White House who complained that he was ineffectual and more concerned with his own public image than the president's.

After Scaramucci was named communications director last week against Priebus' vehement objections, White House officials widely believed that Priebus' position had become more imperiled.

Rumors of Priebus' firing have circulated for months now. As one senior White House official put it, there was a “phony death march for six months.” But the dynamic changed over the past 10 days or so.

“It reached a fever pitch of the president complaining about Reince to all of us,” said this official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. “If we heard it once, we heard it 20 times in the last week — this erosion of confidence. The word was 'weak' — 'weak,' 'weak,' 'weak.' 'Can’t get it done.'”