Trump 31: Parody of a Presidency

[smittykins]

Wiki article on progressive talk radio

[Howl]

18 minutes ago, smittykins said:

Wiki article on progressive talk radio

Awesome find, @smittykins!  Thank you. 

I don't do satellite radio, but I would think there are many progressive program options. 

Unrelated, but I had a dream last night that Trump got a normal, short, nicely trimmed haircut. 

[fraurosena]

3 hours ago, Howl said:

Libby’s case has been a cause célèbre for many of Trump’s conservative allies. His lawyer, Victoria Toensing, is married to Joseph DiGenova, who had discussed joining the president’s outside legal team in the Russia investigation. 

 

3 hours ago, fraurosena said:

And great catch, @Howl of the DiGenova connection! Now we only need to find his ties to Russia... 

It's not quite a direct Russian connection yet, but according to Seth Abramson, Toensing and DiGenova apparently are also Erik Prince's and Sam Clovis's lawyers.

 

[fraurosena]

I’ve read the article linked in this tweet. It’s every bit as good as Dean suggests. I recommend everyone feeling anxious about this presiduncy read it too. It’s long, but very worth it.

 

[RainbowSky]

Something I've been curious about.

Y'all know what happens of he's charged or quits.

How is that any better?

 

[Cartmann99]

The only talk radio formats available on the terrestrial radio stations in my area are religious, sports, and the nutters (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc.). Thank Rufus for the internet!  I usually only listen to one show, and I listen through their website, or the stream from KTNF in Minneapolis.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

Foiled again. 

 Judge: Transgender People A Protected Class, And The Military Can't Enact Trump Ban 

Quote

A federal judge late Friday barred the federal government from implementing President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender members of the military, finding that the ban had to be subject to a careful court review before implementation because of the history of discrimination against transgender individuals.

U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman of the Western District of Washington ruled that transgender people were a protected class and that the injunctions against the implementation of the ban that had been issued in December should remain in place. She wrote that there was a “long and well-recognized” history of discrimination and systemic oppression against transgender people, that discrimination against transgender people was clearly “unrelated to their ability to perform and contribute to society,” that transgender people have immutable characteristics and that they lacked relative political power.

“Transgender people have long been forced to live in silence, or to come out and face the threat of overwhelming discrimination,” Pechman wrote.

“The Court also rules that, because transgender people have long been subjected to systemic oppression and forced to live in silence, they are a protected class. Therefore, any attempt to exclude them from military service will be looked at with the highest level of care, and will be subject to the Court’s ‘strict scrutiny.’ This means that before Defendants can implement the Ban, they must show that it was sincerely motivated by compelling interests, rather than by prejudice or stereotype, and that it is narrowly tailored to achieve those interests,” Pechman wrote.

While Trump had tweeted that he consulted generals and military experts about the ban, Pechman wrote that the government had “failed to identify even one General or military expert he consulted, despite having been ordered to do so repeatedly.”

Noting that Pentagon officials were surprised by the announcement and that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis got a heads up only one day beforehand, the judge wrote that she “is led to conclude that the Ban was devised by the President, and the President alone.”

Sharon McGowan, a former top official in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division who now works as director of strategy for Lambda Legal, wrote that Pechman “cut through the nonsense,” recognizing that the plan announced by the military was just a dressed-up version of Trump’s original ban.

[judge's scrollable ruling]

 

[Howl]

18 hours ago, fraurosena said:

It's not quite a direct Russian connection yet, but according to Seth Abramson, Toensing and DiGenova apparently are also Erik Prince's and Sam Clovis's lawyers.

Well, that's convenient and I'm gobsmacked yet again.  Not to worry, though;  with these guys, there is ALWAYS a Russian connection. 

For example: Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo posted this Saturday: "This was yesterday [April 13] during the court hearing on the Michael Cohen raids. The judge was actually frustrated that Cohen was not there in person. He was here smoking cigars with friends outside the hotel where he currently lives."

Josh Marshal was asking his readership if anyone could identify the man in the blue jacket on the right.  Turns out the mystery man is Rotem Rosen.  Josh quotes a paragraph from a previous Politico article giving some background on how Rotem Rosen is "connected" to Trump: 

Quote

Its patriarch, the late billionaire Tamir Sapir, was born in the Soviet state of Georgia and arrived in 1976 in New York, where he opened an electronics store in the Flatiron district that, according to the New York Times, catered largely to KGB agents.

Trump has called Sapir “a great friend.” In December 2007, he hosted the wedding of Sapir’s daughter, Zina, at Mar-a-Lago... The groom, Rotem Rosen, was the CEO of the American branch of Africa Israel, the Putin oligarch Leviev’s holding company.

There is another picture of  Rosen with Donald Trump, Sapir's son and Aras Agalarov at the Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow in 2013.  
 

5 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

The only talk radio formats available on the terrestrial radio stations in my area are religious, sports, and the nutters (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc.). Thank Rufus for the internet!  I usually only listen to one show, and I listen through their website, or the stream from KTNF in Minneapolis.

Can you get Marfa public radio, KRTS?

[CTRLZero]

@fraurosena - Thanks for posting the article from The New Yorker recommended by John Dean.  From the article:

Quote

The narrative that will become widely understood is that Donald Trump did not sit atop a global empire. He was not an intuitive genius and tough guy who created billions of dollars of wealth through fearlessness. He had a small, sad operation, mostly run by his two oldest children and Michael Cohen, a lousy lawyer who barely keeps up the pretenses of lawyering and who now faces an avalanche of charges, from taxicab-backed bank fraud to money laundering and campaign-finance violations.

I think this is what bothers Trump the most, that everyone is realizing the extent to which he's a house of credit cards and shady dealing.  It's horrifying/fascinating that his base is still out there, leg-humping away. 

[fraurosena]

Sweet Rufus, he's teetering perilously close to the edge now. 

All of this, to me, is confirmation that the FBI has got the goods from Cohen.

[formergothardite]

Trump is scared right now, he is back into the corner and he is going to be lashing out in more and more crazy, desperate ways. 

[onekidanddone]

Tweet of the day

 

 

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

Sweet Rufus, he's teetering perilously close to the edge now. 

Is it supposed to be a point of pride to have many lawyers? 

[Gobsmacked]

4 hours ago, Howl said:

Well, that's convenient and I'm gobsmacked yet again.  Not to worry, though;  with these guys, there is ALWAYS a Russian connection. 

For example: Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo posted this Saturday: "This was yesterday [April 13] during the court hearing on the Michael Cohen raids. The judge was actually frustrated that Cohen was not there in person. He was here smoking cigars with friends outside the hotel where he currently lives."

Josh Marshal was asking his readership if anyone could identify the man in the blue jacket on the right.  Turns out the mystery man is Rotem Rosen.  Josh quotes a paragraph from a previous Politico article giving some background on how Rotem Rosen is "connected" to Trump: 

There is another picture of  Rosen with Donald Trump, Sapir's son and Aras Agalarov at the Miss Universe Pageant in Moscow in 2013.  
 

Can you get Marfa public radio, KRTS?

A parcel of Rogues on a bench methinks.

 Is Trumpy Mcfuckface really so dim that he thinks his nefarious dealings and  seedy friendships won't discovered? He apparently lurked in the sewers of shady business deals for years. As President, how the hell did he not expect to be caught!! His stable genius brain has failed him big time. Thankfully. 

[Howl]

1 hour ago, CTRLZero said:

I think this is what bothers Trump the most, that everyone is realizing the extent to which he's a house of credit cards and shady dealing.  It's horrifying/fascinating that his base is still out there, leg-humping away. 

And to a narcissistic Hindenburg like Trump, total deflation of his core identity is worse than death. 

 

57 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

Trump is scared right now, he is back into the corner and he is going to be lashing out in more and more crazy, desperate ways. 

And desperate men will do desperate things.  

 

13 hours ago, RainbowSky said:

Something I've been curious about.  Y'all know what happens of he's charged or quits.  How is that any better?

It's not.  The most I can say for Pence is that he isn't batshit crazy.  However, I'm much more afraid of Pence, lulling everyone into a sense of faux normalcy, when he's a dominionist at the core.  My sense is that Pence is imminently electable in 2020 and he'd continue dismantling government, while appointing even more regressive Supremes and Federal judges than Trump ever thought of. 

That said, there might be less chance of Pence totally destroying the US economy through rash, impulsive ignorance.  

The Nation has an article addressing this very topic from back in August 2017.  Why Mike Pence Is Worse Than Donald Trump

[Cartmann99]

11 hours ago, Howl said:

Can you get Marfa public radio, KRTS?

Not on terrestrial radio, but I just checked and they do have a live stream! 

https://marfapublicradio.org/krts-live-stream/ 

[RainbowSky]

Howl

Thanks! It waa legitimate question

I

[Cartmann99]

 

[fraurosena]

The NYT Editorial Board has a full-page warning article out today:

The Preisdent Is Not Above The Law

Quote

“This great nation can tolerate a president who makes mistakes,” declared Senator Orrin Hatch, the Utah Republican. “But it cannot tolerate one who makes a mistake and then breaks the law to cover it up.”

No, Mr. Hatch wasn’t talking about Donald Trump. It was 1999, and he was talking about Bill Clinton.

At that time, the American system — and the flawed yet sometimes heroic people their fellow Americans choose to lead them — underwent, and passed, a hard test: The president, his financial dealings and his personal relationships were painstakingly investigated for years. Prosecutors ultimately accused Mr. Clinton of lying under oath, to cover up a sexual affair. The House of Representatives impeached him, but the Senate declined to convict, and Mr. Clinton stayed in office.

The public, which learned in detail about everything investigators believed Mr. Clinton had done wrong, overwhelmingly agreed with the judgment of the Senate. It was a sad and sordid and at times distracting business, but the system worked.

Now Mr. Hatch and his fellow lawmakers may be approaching a harsher and more consequential test. We quote his words not to level some sort of accusation of hypocrisy, but to remind us all of what is at stake.

News reports point to a growing possibility that President Trump may act to cripple or shut down an investigation by the nation’s top law-enforcement agencies into his campaign and administration. Lawmakers need to be preparing now for that possibility because if and when it comes to pass, they will suddenly find themselves on the edge of an abyss, with the Constitution in their hands.

Make no mistake: If Mr. Trump takes such drastic action, he will be striking at the foundation of the American government, attempting to set a precedent that a president, alone among American citizens, is above the law. What can seem now like a political sideshow will instantly become a constitutional crisis, and history will come calling for Mr. Hatch and his colleagues.

For months, investigators have been examining whether Mr. Trump’s campaign conspired with the Russian government to undermine American democracy, and whether the president misused his power by obstructing justice in an effort to end that investigation.

Until the last few weeks, Mr. Trump had shown restraint, by his standards, anyway. He and his lawyers cooperated with investigators. Mr. Trump never tweeted directly about Robert Mueller, the special counsel, and spoke about him publicly only when asked.

Alas, that whiff of higher executive function is gone. Mr. Trump is openly attacking both Mr. Mueller and Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, appointed by Mr. Trump himself. Mr. Rosenstein is overseeing the Russia investigation and signing off on Mr. Mueller’s actions.

Of course, this president has been known to huff and puff, to bluff and bluster, and he may be doing no more than that now. He may choose not to fire either man. We know he has already twice told his aides he wanted Mr. Mueller fired, only to be talked out of such rash action.

But if the president does move against the investigators, it will be up to Congress to affirm the rule of law, the separation of powers and the American constitutional order. The miserable polarization and partisan anger that have been rising in American life for decades will hit a new crescendo, and that will present congressional Republicans with a heavy burden indeed.

[presiduncial tweets]

Many of them are not fans of this president. Republicans used to warn the nation about Mr. Trump openly, back when they thought they could still protect their party from him. Here’s a short sampling: “malignant clown,” “national disgrace,” “complete idiot,” “a sociopath, without a conscience or feelings of guilt, shame or remorse,”“graceless and divisive,” “predatory and reprehensible,” flawed “beyond mere moral shortcomings,” “unsound, uninformed, unhinged and unfit,” “a character and temperament unfit for the leader of the free world,” “A bigot. A misogynist. A fraud. A bully.” Some still say these sorts of things, albeit anonymously. Just last week, one of the president’s defenders in Congress told a conservative columnist, “It’s like Forrest Gump won the presidency, but an evil, really [expletive] stupid Forrest Gump.”

Yet if Mr. Trump goes after Mr. Mueller or Mr. Rosenstein, even Republicans who have misgivings about the president might be inclined to fall into line. They may resent what feels like an endless investigation, one that is endangering their agenda; or they may resent partisan attacks on Mr. Trump. Such frustrations — like ones Democrats vented when Mr. Clinton was in investigators’ sights — are certainly understandable. Republicans may also find themselves tempted by the political running room they would have with the investigation ended and the three branches of government under their control.

Maybe — and this is the scariest contingency to contemplate — Republican leaders would calculate that with their support, or mere acquiescence, Mr. Trump could get away with it. The overwhelming majority of Americans, including most Republicans, want Mr. Mueller to keep his job, and perhaps a groundswell of revulsion at unchecked presidential power would follow any action against the special counsel. But many Americans, weary of the shouting in Washington, might dismiss the whole thing as another food fight. We can be fairly certain that the pressure on Republican lawmakers from the minority of Americans who support Mr. Trump, as well as from the likes of Fox News and Sinclair, would be intense.

Of course, it’s when overriding your principles is the easy thing to do that you have an urgent responsibility, and opportunity, to demonstrate that you have some.

Look at what’s happening in Missouri right now. The state’s Republican governor, Eric Greitens, has been accused of sexual assault and coercion, and is scheduled to face trial next month on a felony charge of invasion of privacy. It’s a scandal of Trumpian proportions, and Mr. Greitens is responding with Trumpian bravado, calling the investigation and prosecution a “political witch hunt.”

[quoted: other Republican opinions on the rule of law]

Yet the legislative report detailing his misbehavior was bipartisan, and top state Republicans have spoken out forcefully. They recognize that Mr. Greitens is unfit. (They also see a threat to their political interests, but the two can go hand in hand.)

Or look at Watergate. We may think of it now as a two-year drama with an inevitable end, the takedown of a president who tried to cover up a criminal conspiracy. But many people forget how close President Richard Nixon came to surviving the affair. He was forced from office only because enough Republican leaders recognized the legitimacy of the investigation and stood up to him. And even then, it took the revelation of incriminating recordings. No recordings have come out this time — yet.

A few senior Republicans have been saying the right things — including Mr. Hatch. He tweeted that anyone telling the president to fire Mr. Mueller “does not have the President or the nation’s best interest at heart.” Senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, warned Mr. Trump that firing Mr. Mueller would be “the beginning of the end of his presidency.”

That’s all necessary and good. But it’s not enough. More Republicans need to make it clear that they won’t tolerate any action against either man, and that firing Mr. Mueller would be, as Senator Charles Grassley said, “suicide.”

Mr. Mueller’s investigation has already yielded great benefit to the country, including the indictments of 13 Russians and three companies for trying to undermine the presidential election. None of us can know if prosecutors will eventually point the finger at the president himself. But should Mr. Trump move to hobble or kill the investigation, he would darken rather than dispel the cloud of suspicion around him. Far worse, he would free future presidents to politicize American justice. That would be a danger to every American, of whatever political leaning.

The president is not a king but a citizen, deserving of the presumption of innocence and other protections, yet also vulnerable to lawful scrutiny. We hope Mr. Trump recognizes this. If he doesn’t, how Republican lawmakers respond will shape the future not only of this presidency and of one of the country’s great political parties, but of the American experiment itself.

 

[AmazonGrace]

 Macron saying that they had to plead Trump not to withdraw from Syria

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

What a surprise!

Trapped In The White House: Many Trump Aides Are Too “Toxic” To Get Jobs

Quote

Trump administration officials looking to escape to the private sector are getting a rude awakening: No one wants to hire them.

Companies and firms who used to recruit from presidential administrations and brag when they were successful in poaching an aide are making the calculation that the risks of bringing on a Trump administration official outweigh the rewards, according to interviews with 10 current and former administration officials, top recruiters, and lobbyists who did not want to be named to talk candidly. BuzzFeed News reached out to them after previously reporting during an especially chaotic stretch for the Trump White House that some officials were trying to leave but finding their job prospects to be “pretty bleak.” That’s especially pronounced for more junior staff.

The leadership at a prominent, bipartisan Washington public affairs firm went as far as to make an active decision not to hire from the Trump White House because of the "reputational risk" associated with it, a former White House official was recently told. The official asked BuzzFeed News not to disclose the name of the firm.

In another case, a White House official said he was rejected out of the blue for a job after being given indications he would be hired and was explicitly told his affiliation with the Trump White House had been a problem for some at the company.

The realities of the grim job prospects have also become clear to two associates who worked for President Donald Trump’s campaign but never went into the administration. They told BuzzFeed News they’ve been offering some of their former colleagues who now work at the White House regular advice in recent months on how to land job opportunities, but so far those colleagues have been unsuccessful. Both also said they were glad they ultimately chose not to join the administration after seeing their friends struggle.

“[Companies] are all worried about public backlash,” said a top recruiter who has been trying to place administration officials in new jobs. “That's more real with these guys than I've seen with anyone else.”

Most firms don’t have a blanket policy against hiring Trump staff, but they have rejected or not expressed any interest in having hiring discussions when approached by administration officials or recruiters representing them. A partner at one bipartisan, public affairs firm said his firm evaluates on an individual basis when approached about jobs, but acknowledged that the stock price for people working in the administration slides drastically the longer they stay there.

“It's going to be more challenging than ever before for folks coming out of the White House,” the top recruiter said. “There seems to be more of a visceral reaction — there's no question that's true.”

Although the Trump administration has already seen unprecedented turnover, many of the departures have been firings or resignations. Some who have left on their own accord have just gone back to their previous jobs and not exited for lucrative outside offers.

Several sources said it has been especially hard for mid- and lower-level aides to find new jobs, but even some senior-level staffers are struggling — particularly those who either got their jobs after working for the campaign and were new to government work or those who have gotten dragged into the Russia investigation.

The dark cloud of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe hanging over the administration has made those in the private sector wary of doing any hiring from Trump world.

“There's a legal risk there," said another leading Washington consultant who specializes in placing government officials in the private sector. "There's a certain level of uncertainness around the toxicity. Generally, there aren't a ton of jobs waiting for those people.”

Companies are also associating staffers, especially those who came from the campaign and don’t have much other experience, with anti-immigrant, anti–free trade views because of what the president has said and the policies he has enacted, three sources said.

Those who stay closely wedded to policy work or serve as lawyers in agencies are getting more interest from the private sector, according to recruiters and lobbyists, along with senior aides who have had long careers in the private sector or government — for example, deputy chief of staff Chris Liddell or National Economic Council deputy director Shahira Knight.

Knight, who has has a strong pre-Trump résumé of working on the Hill and as a lobbyist, in particular, has drawn no shortage of interest and offers and is reportedly mulling leaving the administration.

“A lot of the people in the White House don’t realize how tight the market is right now for their services,” said a former White House official. “Any job they can hope to get on the outside will have to be because of their work before being in the White House.”

Keeping their future career prospects in mind is also one of the reasons why Republicans are turning down opportunities to work in the administration. Middle-aged Republicans who would typically jump at the chance to work in a GOP administration are foregoing the opportunity in part because they don’t want to jeopardize their future career options.

“I have another 15–20 years of working in town,” said one prominent GOP lobbyist. “The risk is just not worth it.”

 

[AmazonGrace]

Ehheh

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

Well of course he did. 

Trump puts hold on additional Russia sanctions: report

Quote

President Trump reportedly put a stop to plans to impose additional sanctions on Russia for its alleged role in a recent suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria because he was not yet comfortable with putting the penalties in place.

The Washington Post reported that Trump spoke with his national security advisers on Sunday after U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that additional sanctions were forthcoming.

While additional economic sanctions were under consideration, the president had not given the approval to put them in place, the newspaper reported. Instead, the White House is in a “holding pattern,” and Trump will likely levy further sanctions only if Russia is involved in another event that threatens U.S. interests. 

The White House on Monday morning walked back Haley’s comments, saying the administration is “considering additional sanctions on Russia and a decision will be made in the near future.”

On “Face the Nation,” Haley said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would announce additional economic sanctions on Russia on Monday. She said the sanctions would target “any sort of companies related to [Syrian President Bashar] Assad and chemical weapons use."

The internal debate over further action against Russia comes as Trump is without a permanent secretary of State and just a short time after his new national security adviser, John Bolton, formally started on the job.

Dozens were killed earlier this month in an apparent chemical weapons attack on a hospital in the Syrian town of Douma. In response, the U.S., the United Kingdom and France launched targeted missile strikes on Friday night.

Syria and Russia have denied involvement in the attack, with the latter threatening retaliation for strikes against Syria.

Democrats and some Republicans have criticized Trump for his rhetoric toward Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin since taking office.

Despite that, the president asserted earlier this month that “probably no one has been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump.”

Earlier this month, Trump approved the expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomats in the U.S. after a nerve agent attack on an ex-Russian spy living in the U.K. However, The Washington Post reported Sunday that Trump was upset the U.S. expelled more diplomats than European allies.

Trump tweeted that Putin was responsible for the reported chemical attack earlier this month and questioned why Russia would align itselfwith a "gas killing animal" like Assad.