Trump 29: Divider In Chief or Liar In Chief? WHY NOT BOTH?

[fraurosena]

2 minutes ago, louisa05 said:

 

Why can’t that woman put her arms in a jacket? All the damn time and it looks ridiculous outside a runway. I’ll enjoy the day one of them gets caught in the wind and blows away.

 

How else will she fend of the hand-grabbing of her husband? I think she'd rather look ridiculous than hold that hand that he purportedly doesn't wash after visiting the smallest room in the house.

[SnazzyNazzy]

1 minute ago, louisa05 said:

 

Why can’t that woman put her arms in a jacket? All the damn time and it looks ridiculous outside a runway. I’ll enjoy the day one of them gets caught in the wind and blows away.

 

It's a rich person thing. When you are strolling to your private jet, or in this case Air Force One, one can just delicately slip their $2000+ coat off their shoulders, and hand it to the flight attendant, who can then hang it up on an ebony wood hanger, and place it in a temperature/humidity controlled closet. Plus, it doesn't wrinkle one's $1500+ top or $3000+ dress.

Wearing coats as intended are for poor fools, who hang their Lands' End coats on a plastic hanger from their dry cleaners, which they hoard, cause free hangers are the best hangers.

[GrumpyGran]

8 minutes ago, louisa05 said:

 

Why can’t that woman put her arms in a jacket? All the damn time and it looks ridiculous outside a runway. I’ll enjoy the day one of them gets caught in the wind and blows away.

 

I don't defend her often but she really is only wearing it for all of three minutes so it would take more time to put it on and take it off than just throw it over her shoulders for the walk to the copter. And you know he's not going to hold it for her.

I'm more disturbed by the fact that she's wearing a yellow coat that matches her sweater. I've never seen this woman in yellow before. It would be one thing if it were a navy coat, you know something she might wear regularly.

So how much are we spending helping this woman fill a closet the size of the Mall of America?

[louisa05]

I don't defend her often but she really is only wearing it for all of three minutes so it would take more time to put it on and take it off than just throw it over her shoulders for the walk to the copter. And you know he's not going to hold it for her.
I'm more disturbed by the fact that she's wearing a yellow coat that matches her sweater. I've never seen this woman in yellow before. It would be one thing if it were a navy coat, you know something she might wear regularly.
So how much are we spending helping this woman fill a closet the size of the Mall of America?

She wanders through official engagements like that. When she wore the $50,000 not yet publicly available floral monstrosity in Europe last summer just draped on her shoulders for a whole event, it was not even jacket weather. I assume that she just wanted to show off that she had one.

Legally, the first family’s clothing must be privately funded and they cannot accept freebies or discounts. But I assume, like everything else in this administration, that those legalities are not necessarily followed.

[GrumpyGran]

2 minutes ago, louisa05 said:

Legally, the first family’s clothing must be privately funded

Yeah, it probably comes from that money he makes when he charges the Secret Service to rent golf carts to follow him around at Mar A Lago.

She does seem to have a lingering impression that she walking the runway all the time. She's far and away the winner of the "FLOTUS of Inappropriate Dress" award.

I'm out for a few days, going to a train museum and an aquarium, need to NOT think about Dumpy for a while. Stay calm and carry on.

[fraurosena]

7 minutes ago, GrumpyGran said:

Yeah, it probably comes from that money he makes when he charges the Secret Service to rent golf carts to follow him around at Mar A Lago.

She does seem to have a lingering impression that she walking the runway all the time. She's far and away the winner of the "FLOTUS of Inappropriate Dress" award.

I'm out for a few days, going to a train museum and an aquarium, need to NOT think about Dumpy for a while. Stay calm and carry on.

Have fun and enjoy yourself, @GrumpyGran!

[onekidanddone]

16 minutes ago, GrumpyGran said:

I'm out for a few days, going to a train museum and an aquarium, need to NOT think about Dumpy for a while. Stay calm and carry on.

A woman after my own heart. What museum? If I could retire and had gobs of money, I'd travel all around going to look at trains.  

[fraurosena]

Stable genius? Well, at least his forgetfulness is stable enough.

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

@GrumpyGran -- enjoy your trip!

[GrumpyGran]

1 hour ago, onekidanddone said:

A woman after my own heart. What museum? If I could retire and had gobs of money, I'd travel all around going to look at trains.  

There's a Train museum in Wilmington now! Yes, my husband and I are going two hours away to vacation. But it might surprise you to know that there are NO TRAINS here where I live. None.

BTW, everyone, I did not for one second believe there was a tsunami coming. I'm looking at my phone and then at Nora, Gayle and John on TV and they're not screaming so... Jeez, who's going to scare us to death first, Dumpy or our warning systems?

The litter box has been clean and the hub is done primping. Over and out!

[AmazonGrace]

Here's the whole context of that Cornyn thing

[Rosalie]

Enjoy your vacation, @GrumpyGran!

[Howl]

2 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

A woman after my own heart. What museum? If I could retire and had gobs of money, I'd travel all around going to look at trains.  

Three summers ago, I got together with friends to ride our bikes on the GAP (Great Allegheny Passage) and then along the C & O Canal path (Pittsburgh to DC).  On the GAP section, we were never away from trains or the sound of trains, clanking along, blowing whistles at crossings at all hours of the day and night, trains stopping, starting, trains on sidings, roaring by, waving at engineers so they'd blow their whistles.  It was rather awesome.  When we got to the C & O Canal section, I realized I missed the trains and all of their sounds.  Isn't there a long , somewhat famous railroad grade near the Cumberland area and the Mason Dixon line? 

Anyway, I came over to note that I just discovered Rick Wilson  (Republican strategist) over at Daily Beast.  I know I'm late to the party and FJers have referenced his tweets and writing, but, Sweet Rufus, that man hates Trump & Trump associates with the heat of a thousand billion thousand billion suns; he's a deft eviscerator of their noxious posturing and every sentence is an epic take down.  I'm very glad his current ire is directed at Trumplandia and not at Democrats, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.  

Donald Trump Cracks the Seal on Talk of Treason: Trump might not be able to see where this very slippery slope leads, but the political arsonists around him do. Prepare to reap the whirlwind.

Quote

You may have noticed by now, but I’m not one to pull any punches on Donald Trump. As a conservative, I see him as a statist abomination, a plump, be-wattled authoritarian-wannabe man-baby with the intellectual horsepower of a toaster oven.

One thing we’ve learned in the last two years is that no legal, moral, or cultural strictures bind Trump and that he is immune to the better angels of human nature. The moral event horizon around him consumes the good in anyone who becomes one of his vassals. There is no better version of Trump, ever. He can only degrade and destroy everything he touches, but Monday was remarkable, even for him.

Two excerpts from The Strange Pleasure of Seeing Carter Page Set Himself on Fire

Quote

Excerpt 1: Watching Carter Page immolate himself and incriminate a half dozen of his colleagues from the Trump-Putin 2016 campaign has been a strange, almost guilty pleasure. Profoundly disconnected, socially awkward, and reeking of late-stage virginity, he gives off the creepy Uncanny Valley vibe of a rogue, possibly murderous android or of a man with a too-extensive knowledge of human taxidermy and a soundproofed van.  

Excerpt 2: The delta between Trump’s imagination of himself and the brand image that he  desperately wants to sell is always wide; he’s the “billionaire” lout playing the Manhattan sophisticate who gorges on fast food. He’s a man with a lemur wig and a five-pound bolus of chin-wattle who think’s he’s irresistible to women.  He’s the serially bankrupt master of the Art of the Deal. The TV talk show character who snuck into the Oval Office on a tide of Russian influence and now thinks he won on the merits.

From Roy Moore Is Deplorable, and Donald Trump Condoning His Sins Is Unforgivable

Spoiler

It took Kellyanne Conway—a woman whose soulless, serial lying has become the entirety of her personality—to grab the controls of the Trump plane and send it crashing to the ground faster than Roy Moore’s pants as he lurks under the bleachers at a high-school cheerleading practice. In an appearance on Fox & Friends, which in the White House has an audience of one, Conway argued for Dirty Roy, saying, “I’m telling you, we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through.”

Even the Fox News hosts had a moment of stunned silence, perhaps shocked that a senior counselor to the president of the United States was defending Alabama’s Uncle Creepy, perhaps hypnotized by the last tiny shred of Conway’s integrity being vaporized live on television in service to Steve Bannon’s hand-picked candidate.

And lots more here. 

[Audrey2]

One of my happiest (and fairly early) childhood memories is riding the steam train in Cass, West Virginia, and buying the book, Chuffa to the Rescue. I'd love to ride the narrow gauge railroad in Durango. When I was 19, my 93 year old great aunt and I took the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle. My Dad was a huge train buff, and I'm a bit of a train geek, too. Have a great time!

[Howl]

1 hour ago, Audrey2 said:

I'd love to ride the narrow gauge railroad in Durango.

Here's my recommended trip for you! 

Don't forget there's also a narrow gauge steam train between Antonito, NM and Chama, NM: the Cumbres Toltec: cumbrestoltec.com/

Let's say you fly into Albuquerque, NM.  You can take the Rail Runner commuter train to Santa Fe, rent a car and drive up to Chama through Georgia O'Keeffe country, ride the Cumbres Toltec narrow gauge steam train from Chama to Antonito and back, continue to drive a bit over  two more hours (through Pagosa Springs, hot springs!) up to Durango.  Ride the steam train from Durango to Silverton and back.  Maybe do an easy side trip over to Mesa Verde National Park and the Anasazi Heritage Center outside Dolores, CO.  

Then back to Albuquerque.  The driving route for all of this is very scenic and there are no high mountain passes or white-knuckle mountain driving.

You can drive back to Albuquerque from Durango through Aztec, NM. If you now have the archaeology bug, you can check out Aztec Ruins National Monument on your way through Aztec, NM, then south toward Albuquerque on Hwy 550, a fast four-lane highway without a lot of traffic.  Enjoy! 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

Sigh. The presidunce just had to go and show us that we don't call him Donnie Dumbfuck for nothing. 

 

[JMarie]

39 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Sigh. The presidunce just had to go and show us that we don't call him Donnie Dumbfuck for nothing. 

 

I'd love to see an impeachment if we don't get this stuff taken care of.

[fraurosena]

5 minutes ago, JMarie said:

I'd love to see an impeachment if we don't get this stuff taken care of.

I'd love to see an impeachment, regardless.

[GreyhoundFan]

I guess Agent Orange is jealous of Kim's military parades: "Trump’s ‘marching orders’ to the Pentagon: Plan a grand military parade"

Spoiler

President Trump’s vision of soldiers marching and tanks rolling down the boulevards of Washington is moving closer to reality in the Pentagon and White House, where officials say they have begun to plan a grand military parade later this year showcasing the might of America’s armed forces.

Trump has long mused publicly and privately about wanting such a parade, but a Jan. 18 meeting between Trump and top generals in the Pentagon’s tank — a room reserved for top secret discussions — marked a tipping point, according to two officials briefed on the planning.

Surrounded by the military’s highest ranking officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford, Trump’s seemingly abstract desire for a parade was suddenly heard as a presidential directive, the officials said.

“The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France,” said a military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the planning discussions are supposed to remain confidential. “This is being worked at the highest levels of the military.”

American shows of military strength don’t come cheap. The cost of shipping Abrams tanks and high-tech hardware to Washington could run in the millions, and military officials said it was unclear how they would pay for it.

A White House official familiar with the planning described the discussions as “brainstorming” and said nothing is settled. “Right now there’s really no meat on the bones,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.

Still, the official said Trump is determined to have a parade. “The president wants to do something that highlights the service and sacrifice of the military and have a unifying moment for the country,” the official said.

The inspiration for Trump’s push is last year’s Bastille Day celebration in Paris, which the president attended as a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump was awestruck by the tableau of uniformed French troops marching down Avenue des Champs-Elysees with military tanks, armored vehicles, gun trucks and carriers — complete with F-16 fighter jets flying over the Arc de Triomphe and painting the sky with streaks of blue, white and red smoke for the colors of the French flag.

Aboard Air Force One en route home from Paris last July, aides said Trump told them he was dazzled by the French display and said he wanted one at home.

It was still on his mind two months later when he met with Macron on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen,” Trump told reporters. “It was two hours on the button, and it was military might, and I think a tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France.”

Seated next to Macron, Trump added: “We’re going to have to try to top it.”

Several administration officials said the parade planning began in recent weeks and involves White House chief of staff John F. Kelly, but cautioned that it is in the preliminary stages. D.C. officials said they have not been notified of parade plans.

A date has not been selected, although officials said Trump would like to tie the parade to a patriotic holiday. Officials are weighing weather patterns as well as competing events, such as the massive annual Independence Day celebration on the Mall.

Trump officials had discussed Memorial Day on May 28, and July 4, but the Pentagon prefers Veterans Day on Nov. 11 — in part because it would coincide with 100th anniversary of the victorious end of World War I and therefore be less associated with the president and politics. “That’s what everyone is hoping,” said the military official.

It is unclear what role Trump would play, whether he may perhaps serve as a grandmaster or observe the spectacle from a reviewing stand.

The location is still being discussed, though Trump has said that he would like it to proceed along Pennsylvania Avenue, which links the Capitol and the White House. It would be the same route as Trump’s inaugural parade and pass by his family’s show piece: the Trump International Hotel.

Even before he was sworn in as president, Trump was dreaming of America’s war machine on display for the country and the world in front of the White House or Capitol.

“We’re going to show the people as we build up our military,” Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post before his inauguration. “ . . . That military may come marching down Pennsylvania Avenue. That military may be flying over New York City and Washington, D.C., for parades. I mean, we’re going to be showing our military.”

But big military parades — even those launched with the best of intentions — carry some risks and troublesome historical echoes.

With a few exceptions — such as former president George H.W. Bush’s 1991 parade down Constitution Avenue celebrating victory in the Persian Gulf War — presidents have avoided displays of military hardware that are more associated in the American mind with the Soviet Union’s Red Square celebrations or, more recently, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s efforts to show off his Taepodong missiles.

“I don’t think there’s a lack of love and respect for our armed forces in the United States,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University. “What are they going to do, stand there while Donald Trump waves at them? It smacks of something you see in a totalitarian country — unless there’s a genuine, earnest reason to be doing it.”

The White House official rejected the suggestion that some associate a military parade with strongmen, saying it would be a “celebration of the men and women who give us freedom.”

“That’s the opposite of a totalitarian government,” the official said.

Weaponry on the streets of Washington is not unheard of. President Truman and President Kennedy had military equipment during their inaugural parades, in 1949 and 1963 respectively, during key junctures in the Cold War, said Michael Beschloss, another presidential historian.

“Set against the backdrop of American history, it does seem to hark back to the harsh days of the Cold War,” Beschloss said. “Those parades were a counterpoint to the parades in front of Lenin’s tomb at Red Square . . . One reason the Soviets had those parades was to distract the world from the fact that the Soviet military was actually much weaker than the Soviets were claiming.”

But generally, the United States has shied away from parading its military assets, calculating that doing so was not necessary for the world’s preeminent superpower.

There is no law or regulations preventing Trump from putting on a military parade, but there are plenty of potential complications that military leaders are likely to raise with the president. One worry is practical: that 70-ton tanks built for the battlefield would chew up Pennsylvania Avenue blacktop.

The military might also want to weigh in on the kind of equipment on parade. One concern is that big displays of missile launchers might evoke Pyongyang-style nationalism more than American patriotism.

A parade would likely be interpreted as another stroke of nuclear gamesmanship. Tensions between North Korea and the United States have risen over the past year as Trump and Kim have taunted each other with playground nicknames and threats.

After Kim warned last month that he had a “nuclear button” on his desk, Trump replied: “Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”

The White House official said a parade would have nothing to do with Trump’s feuds with Kim, but would be designed as a broad show of strength to send a warning to all of America’s adversaries.

Then there are the domestic pitfalls. At a time when Mattis and his top generals have been complaining about the state of military readiness and lobbying Congress for more money, pulling equipment off line for a costly parade could send the wrong signal.

There are personal risks for Trump as well. Though he attended a military high school, Trump did not serve in the armed forces, avoiding the draft during the Vietnam War by claiming bone spurs. Critics have previously criticized Trump as disingenuous for basking in the military’s glory.

Honoring the troops without politicizing their service has long been a dilemma for presidents. President Obama’s frequent focus on wounded troops fighting to resume their lives struck the wrong chord with some conservatives.

One of George W. Bush’s biggest blunders as president came in 2003 when commander in chief landed on an aircraft carrier bearing a “Mission Accomplished” banner to claim victory in the Iraq War.

Former aides say Bush would have loved a big parade but they recognized a problem: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan never ended. Such subtleties — the U.S. is currently dropping bombs in seven countries — don’t seem to have factored into Trump’s calculations.

With the midterm elections approaching and Trump’s approval ratings at historic lows, the lure of honoring the troops is powerful.

“Who flipped the coin for the Super Bowl on Sunday?” asked Peter Feaver, a former Bush White House official and professor at Duke University. “It was Medal of Honor winners. Why? The military brings us together.”

But Feaver also issued a warning for Trump, who is known for his excesses.

“A military parade,” he said, “is the kind of thing that can easily be overdone.”

So, we are supposed to waste money on a ridiculous parade to make Donnie feel like he has a big dick?

[AmazonGrace]

A parade is cheaper than a war tho.

[fraurosena]

Before you know it, he’ll be wearing some kind of uniform. It would only be fitting, wouldn’t it, for a Commander in Chief? Of course, it would have to be something designed especially for him, with garish golden embellishments and bedecked with fake medals. He will tell stories of how he earned them by valliantly and without regard for his personal safety storming the tower of Osama bin Laden, and after a bigly shoot out he managed to kill him with a sniper shot from his pistol with his very last bullet. And did you know he was the one who found that hole where Saddam Hussein was hiding? That was after he had routed him from Koowide, you know. Also, you may not know this, but he was also the one who caught Ghadaffi. He would’ve caught Hitler too, if his dad hadn’t thought he was too young and stopped him from going. The generals keep asking him to return to the field, because there is no one now to do all the dangerous stuff as well as he can. But sadly, he as to turn them down. He has to make America great again, you see. Nobody else could do it. Did you know he won he elections in a landslide from that crooked Hillary and her running mate Obama?

[JMarie]

I think his special parade uniform will include a sash, like the one used in the Miss America pageant.  Mr. America???

[apple1]

Oh, puhleeze.

Can somebody try for a statement from Senator Duckworth on this ridiculous idea? I imagine she has some excellent thoughts on the subject.

[Howl]

21 minutes ago, apple1 said:

Can somebody try for a statement from Senator Duckworth on this ridiculous idea? I imagine she has some excellent thoughts on the subject.

She's made some very pointed comments directed at Cadet Bone Spurs, and I'm sure there's plenty more where that came from.