Trump 24: Fiddling, er, Tweeting While Rome Burns

[Ali]

18 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

 Before I'm dead, I want to experience living within an hour's drive of a Trader Joe's and a Costco. *pouts*

 

You could also move near me. There are at least four Costcos within an hour of my house and there are a few options for Trader Joe's. Michigan needs to go blue in 2020 and Swing Left says it is possible for my congressional district to go blue in 2018. We need more rational people in my area.

[47of74]

1 minute ago, Ali said:

You could also move near me. There are at least four Costcos within an hour of my house and there are a few options for Trader Joe's. Michigan needs to go blue in 2020 and Swing Left says it is possible for my congressional district to go blue in 2018. We need more rational people in my area.

I live about 90 miles between Costcos.  There's going to be one built in Davenport at some point, then the nearest one will be 70 miles from me.  We need to get Iowa to turn away from reich wingers such as Steve King and become blue again. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Great editorial from the NYT: "Private Emails, Private Jets and Mr. Trump’s Idea of Public Service"

Spoiler

Electing him, Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail, would “make every dream you ever dreamed for your country come true.” Among those reveries, he suggested, would be a government free of self-dealing and one devoted to public service. “If we want to make America great again,” he wrote in an op-ed for USA Today days before the election, “we must clean up this corruption.”

This ambition has all but vanished from Mr. Trump’s field of vision, assuming he ever meant it. Not least because of his own self-dealing — the hotel down the block, the failure to fully divorce himself from the Trump Organization, all the rest — the White House became ground zero for grasping lobbyists and ethically challenged, self-promoting staffers. So great was the back stabbing and chaos that, in July, Mr. Trump turned to an upright military figure, Retired Gen. John Kelly, to set things straight as chief of staff.

It has proved an impossible task. The tighter ship Mr. Kelly vowed to run seems to be springing ethical leaks almost daily, as more and more accounts surface of this or that official using public resources for private gain or crossing a line demarcating personal from government business.

On Monday, it emerged that at least six current and former top White House officials, including Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner; his daughter Ivanka Trump; and his chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, have been using private email accounts at least sporadically for government business. This is both dumb and richly paradoxical when one considers that Mr. Trump has continued to attack Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email account and server as secretary of state, and has prodded his Justice Department to restart an inquiry that cleared her of criminal wrongdoing.

While the president whips up chants of “Lock her up” in red states, his daughter — one of the less credible “moderating” forces in White House history — has been tapping away on her personal email despite being an administration official. Personal emails are not illegal per se, as long as those about government business are forwarded to government accounts. Failure to do that is a potential violation of the Presidential Records Act and the Federal Records Act, which preserve public access to government documents.

Mr. Kushner seems to have a particular problem with official record keeping, having failed to list scores of assets on his government financial disclosure, and forgotten to include meetings with Russians on his security clearance form. Given his central role in the campaign and White House, imagine how his latest lapse in transparency looks to the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and his team, now hoovering up White House documents in their investigation of possible collusion with Russia. Mr. Kushner’s failure to disclose the personal email concerns leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who learned of it from news reports.

But wait, there’s more: Americans have been learning over the past week about Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s habit of flying private jets to official meetings, with occasional detours to luxury resorts where he owns property, or for outings with his family. Mr. Price and Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, have even used private jets on what a White House aide called “a national listening tour … to learn from the heroes on the front lines” of the opioid crisis — all while pushing for a replacement of the Affordable Care Act that would drain billions from Medicaid and addiction treatment. When asked if he would, wisely, fire Mr. Price, the president said on Wednesday, “I’m looking at that very closely.” Mr. Price said on Thursday that he’d reimburse a portion of the cost.

Mr. Price — a multimillionaire orthopedic surgeon who as a congressman took actions that benefited his personal stock portfolio — isn’t the only Trump cabinet member polluting the public trough. There’s Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, the former Goldman Sachs banker who wanted a $25,000-per-hour Air Force jet to ferry him on his European honeymoon, and has been lying that a tax “reform” proposal to enrich wealthy people like him is a boon for the middle class. And there’s Scott Pruitt, industry’s best friend at the Environmental Protection Agency, who’s cost taxpayers more than $58,000 for noncommercial and military flights, and is spending nearly $25,000 to build a “secure phone booth” in his office.

In August, Mr. Kelly embarked on what he said would be a thorough housecleaning. Time now for him to round up top members of the administration for an all-hands lecture on the difference between public service and self-enrichment, and the importance of sunlight as a disinfectant. Sadly, though, they seem to have already absorbed a more persuasive lesson from the chief executive — get it while you can and to hell with the rules.

The problem is, the housecleaning referenced in the final paragraph needs to start with the orange menace, and we know Kelly can't disinfect that stain.

[GrumpyGran]

12 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

This ambition has all but vanished from Mr. Trump’s field of vision, assuming he ever meant it.

All hollow talk to gather the ignorant. I don't believe he actually meant to build a wall, he just said it at a rally, one of his over-stated ideas and the crowd loved it, so he went with it, never realizing it would be such a ridiculous endeavor. I think he has overstated the goal for every project he has ever started, then always ends up having to accept the reality. Difference is it now has to do with our country, not just some tacky hotel.

BTW, I've been in your Wegman's @GreyhoundFan, it is nice.

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, Ali said:

We need more rational people in my area.

Today must be my lucky day. @Ali is under the assumption that I'm rational! 

[LeftCoastLurker]

The really reason Orange FF is attacking the NFL?

In 1990, as part of the United States Football League, Trump sued the NFL for 1.2 billion in damages. They won and got $3.76 and a lifetime ban from the NFL.

[PreciousPantsofDoom]

I can see that I'm going to be wishing for some kind of Holy-Shit-this-is-appalling button in addition to some of the other new ones.

[GreyhoundFan]

YES -- times eleventy: "Miss these guys yet? You betcha."

Spoiler

They looked relaxed, comfortable in their own skin and happy to be in each other’s’ company. They looked normal. The sight of former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton at the Presidents Cup golf tournament made one downright nostalgic — and a little sheepish about not appreciating them more when they were in office, even the ones we passionately disagreed with.

In the 24 years of their combined presidencies, we experienced war, economic calamity, government shutdowns, an impeachment and a myriad of other painful episodes. One segment of the electorate differed strongly with the policies of one or more of them. Looking back, however, some of the criticism was entirely deserved and some was disproportionate, unfair and wrongheaded. Despite their mistakes and missteps, we passed positive, bipartisan measures, including welfare reform, No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D reform and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). We normalized relations with Vietnam, passed the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Magnitsky Act — again on a bipartisan basis. We helped end the Balkan war, saved the auto industry and prevented a financial meltdown (thanks to Bush’s and then Obama’s support for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP). Some part of the electorate approved of more controversial items under each president; the electorate did not believe by a large majority (as they do now) that any of them was “unfit” to hold office, no matter how strongly some of us disagreed with some of their actions.

More important — and we took this entirely for granted — none of these presidents thought the office was an opportunity for self-enrichment, stoking racial divisions, demonizing immigrants or delegitimizing the free press. Pick your least favorite of the three, and he will be regarded as a giant in comparison with President Trump. Collectively, in 24 years they told fewer lies than Trump has in eight months in office. Each actually bothered to read things, appointed honorable and experienced people to high offices, filled political slots, tried to understand the issues and cared about the content of the laws they signed.

These presidents did not hold office in some distant time. We don’t have to go through decaying microfilm and stacks of yellowed, crumbling documents to recall their presidencies. We can, it seems, collectively decide that the Trump presidency is an aberration, a horrible mistake. He need not define either our time nor our country. He can be a blip on the political radar, passing out of sight before he does permanent damage. We can at least reestablish the baseline decency and conscientiousness the three predecessors displayed.

We are tempted to overstate the influence of a single president, to proclaim ourselves inevitably on the road to ruin. We should avoid the addiction of defeatism and the lure of resignation. These three presidents (and George H.W. Bush as well) can help — by setting an example of public civility and cooperation and at appropriate times speaking out to defend American values and democratic norms. They can address audiences jointly and make videos defending the free press, denouncing moral relativism when it comes to neo-Nazis and deploring the temptation to shut ourselves off from the world and repudiate objective reality.

It’s not just these three presidents who can and do have the opportunity to wrest our country back. We’ve seen moral leadership from generals (the heads of each service, the head of the Air Force Academy, etc.), business leaders and athletes. (Among many, Aaron Rodgers spoke eloquently: “Beauty is, it’s a free country so they can choose to do it or not. The messaging towards this unfortunately needs to continue to be redirected, I think. It’s never been about the national anthem. It’s never been about the military. We’re all patriotic in the locker room. We love our troops. This is about something bigger than that — an invitation to show unity.”) They should be commended, and others from all walks of life should follow their lead.

In short, Trump can be a reprehensible outlier, a president elected by a minority under bizarre circumstances with aid from a foreign power. To do that, we need to regain our bearings, recall our distant and immediate past and decide collectively that we will replace him as soon as possible with someone within the mainstream of our values and beliefs, someone whom we would not be embarrassed to call our president. We cannot wait for Congress, especially members of Trump’s own deeply warped party, to do it. The responsibility lies with the rest of us.

 

[candygirl200413]

Someone on my facebook shared the biden/obama memes and I didn't realize halfway through that I shed a couple tears.

[GreyhoundFan]

Another good snarky one from Alexandra Petri: "It was all worth it for this tax reform'

Spoiler

Tax reform, the party repeated to itself, watching as Donald Trump climbed to the top of the polls and stayed there.

The new senator from Alabama is going to be a stack of Bibles under a black robe that only enforces the law when it feels like it. Shh. Tax reform.

There is an “R” next to his name. That is what counts. There is an “R” next to his name and the “R” means Tax Reform. (“He’s going to be for tax reform, I think,” said Rob Portman, (R-Ohio).) Maybe, once, the “R” meant something else, too. Too hard to remember. What is important is that it will all be worth it for tax reform.

The president is Donald Trump. Donald Trump! You have to keep that fact in mind because it is too startling to have to remember it anew every day. It is fine. There is an “R” next to his name, and you are going to get along and there is going to be tax reform. You must get along. Didn’t he just come out on the wrong side of the Civil War? Shh. Tax reform. Didn’t he blame Puerto Rico for its own hurricane devastation — Shh. Don’t think. Tax reform harder.

There was a time, maybe, when the party was something else. The party of no? No, before that. Was there a before? Abraham Lincoln had been affiliated with it somehow, and — no, that can’t be right. Lincoln was on the other side.

(Over every mirror is a big banner that says “GO GET ‘EM TIGER, GET THAT TAX REFORM!” and it is not because anyone is frightened to look in the mirror and see what they have become. It is just that they are so excited about tax reform.)

Maybe it is better not to remember. Remember this instead: Taxes are bad. Everyone knows this, from the continual complaints of members of the Trump administration who have had to pay them. (At least the expensive planes in the sky full of members of the administration all belong to the right party. That is something.)

Gary Cohn is still here, after everything the president said, even after Charlottesville, and this is what it was all for. A Supreme Court justice and the opportunity to pass this thing called tax reform — less of a tangible thing, really, and more of the idea of tax reform, since it has yet to coalesce into more of a specific plan than a series of bullet points.

Cohn stands on a stage explaining how the middle class may benefit from a tax cut which will give them $1,000, enough to buy — a new car, a new kitchen, or a hip replacement for their dressage horse? Maybe Cohn is not the best messenger for this.

“Our tax plan is aimed at making sure we give middle-class Americans a tax cut,” Cohn is saying. “We are going to give middle-class Americans a tax cut. That is what we are spending all our time on doing.”

Then they’ll all see a tax cut? “I cannot guarantee that.”

It’s fine. Tax reform. This must be tax reform. Anything can be tax reform if you believe in it strongly enough and believe in math weakly enough.

It can’t just be a ridiculous tax cut for the extremely wealthy that is almost certain to increase the deficit. That wouldn’t be worth all that you have gone through. If it were not real tax reform, after everything you have let happen, all the times you have been silent —

No, it is better not to think of all the things that have been done and left undone: the FBI director fired, the nuclear threats, the personal gain, the embarrassments on the international stage. The names. Scaramucci, Bannon. Who are these people? There’s barely a State Department. That’s fine, probably. Hillary Clinton used to run a State Department. And there was something with emails. Jared? No. Hillary. It must have been Hillary. It couldn’t be right otherwise. Your head hurts.

Neil Gorsuch. Tax reform. Shh.

Repeat slowly: We are working well together. The tax reform will be worth it.

You have to believe that. What other beliefs do you have left?

I don't know about you, but my dressage horse's hip replacement will cost more than $1K.

[Destiny]

I can see that I'm going to be wishing for some kind of Holy-Shit-this-is-appalling button in addition to some of the other new ones.

Hmmm. I like this idea. What would it look like? I’m thinking it would be good for the kind of posts that I instinctively reach for my downvote button and then remember that it’s not poster’s fault that our government sucks.

If anyone has a good idea what a good icon would be for that I’m down to add it.

[Cartmann99]

52 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I don't know about you, but my dressage horse's hip replacement will cost more than $1K.

Wait, your vet doesn't do buy one hip replacement for your dressage horse, get one free on Tuesday afternoons? 

[GreyhoundFan]

1 hour ago, Destiny said:

If anyone has a good idea what a good icon would be for that I’m down to add it.

This would probably fit the bill:

I know I've been making that face pretty much daily since November 2016.

[Destiny]

1 minute ago, GreyhoundFan said:

This would probably fit the bill:

I know I've been making that face pretty much daily since November 2016.

I think we found an even better one. I won’t spoil it cos it’s awesome, but @choralcrusader8613 knocked it out of the park. Again. 

[choralcrusader8613]

1 minute ago, Destiny said:

I think we found an even better one. I won’t spoil it cos it’s awesome, but @choralcrusader8613 knocked it out of the park. Again. 

Aw, shucks!

[PreciousPantsofDoom]

1 hour ago, Destiny said:

I’m thinking it would be good for the kind of posts that I instinctively reach for my downvote button and then remember that it’s not poster’s fault that our government sucks.

 

I have no idea what it would look like, but I would assume it would be a neutral button.  I would most likely use it to react to an article about some stupid shit Trumpy or his henchman have pulled, but the negative reaction  would be to the stupid shit, not to the person who posted it,  therefore it shouldn't affect their reputation.

[onekidanddone]

9 hours ago, 47of74 said:

I live about 90 miles between Costcos.  There's going to be one built in Davenport at some point, then the nearest one will be 70 miles from me.  We need to get Iowa to turn away from reich wingers such as Steve King and become blue again. 

Oh dear Rufus, is King your rep? You have my condoles if he is.

[Destiny]

I have no idea what it would look like, but I would assume it would be a neutral button.  I would most likely use it to react to an article about some stupid shit Trumpy or his henchman have pulled, but the negative reaction  would be to the stupid shit, not to the person who posted it,  therefore it shouldn't affect their reputation.

And that’s exactly what we got. If you refresh, you will see an awesome new wtf option. It’s a neutral rep one, meant for just this purpose.

[onekidanddone]

10 minutes ago, Destiny said:

And that’s exactly what we got. If you refresh, you will see an awesome new wtf option. It’s a neutral rep one, meant for just this purpose.

I love love love Rufus.  I wish I could give you a 21 Rufus salute, but I'll have to settle for one.

[JMarie]

6 hours ago, LeftCoastLurker said:

The really reason Orange FF is attacking the NFL?

In 1990, as part of the United States Football League, Trump sued the NFL for 1.2 billion in damages. They won and got $3.76 and a lifetime ban from the NFL.

I heard this mentioned somewhere this past week (I can't remember)

http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-buffalo-bills-nfl-anthem-protests-670238

Quote

During Sky Sports’ broadcast of the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory over the Los Angeles Chargers at StubHub Center Sunday, Sports Illustrated and Monday Morning Quarterback writer Peter King appeared via video link to provide analysis of the weekend’s events.

Trump, King suggested, has held a grudge against the NFL since 2014, when he failed in an attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills franchise.

“I’m going to give it [buying the Bills] a heavy shot,” Trump told the Buffalo News in April 2014. “I would love to do it, and if I can do it I’m keeping it in Buffalo.”

It didn’t happen, of course. While Trump did join the bidding process, part of an eclectic cast including Jon Bon Jovi, the team was eventually sold to Terry Pegula. “I bid a billion dollars, all cash on the table,” Trump told Sports Illustrated in September 2015. “He [Pegula] bought it for a billion-two, I believe, although they say it was a billion-four. I think he got it for a billion‑two.”

So his crankiness has nothing to do with unpatriotic football players.  It's because someone outbid him, and he didn't get his way.

[onekidanddone]

9 hours ago, GrumpyGran said:

BTW, I've been in your Wegman's @GreyhoundFan, it is nice.

Wegman's catered our wedding.  We had every thing from chicken fingers, sushi, salads pretty much a sampling so everybody there could find something they liked 

[47of74]

2 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

Oh dear Rufus, is King your rep? You have my condoles if he is.

Thank you.  In response to your question, no he isn't.  King's district is on the other side of the state.  But then again Rep Blum is not much better than King.  He may not say as much stupid shit as King, but he gets pissy when people don't genuflect in front of him or Trump. 

[Howl]

Not quite sure where this goes, but it's a brief antidote to our regular Trump programming: 

Sebastian Gorka Welcomed To Halfway House For Fired Trump Administration Members

[Destiny]

Oh my god. What the fuck did I just wake up to? Fuck you you fucking fuck! The mayor of San Juan is a fucking badass and you aren’t fit to shine the floodwaters out of her fucking shoes you Orange Shitgibbon. (Read from the bottom up.)

[Howl]

I didn't think it was possible, but Trump has set a new low.  A hole had to be dug to accommodate the new low.  Sadly, a backhoe will be brought in to dig to the hole deeper in anticipation of more new, and lower, lows. 

I wish there was some way that PR could tell Trump to just go play more golf -- he's not needed for the relief effort. I mean, Really. Not. Needed.