Trump 31: Parody of a Presidency

[Howl]

51 minutes ago, Audrey2 said:

I have very mixed feelings about Melania. On one hand, I think she chose to marry Trump for his money and power, with the trade-off being treated with kindness and respect. She's not the first person to make this trade-off. On the flip side, we've commented multiple times about Trump's apparent poor treatment of her. He won her, he got her, now what's the problem? (in his mind). I do feel at least a little badly for her, because she appears to be pretty miserable, and may not see a way out. The logical side of me says she made her own choices, but the emotional side feels empathy for one who chose poorly.

Melania will be 48 on Thursday (thanks, google).

I believe that her trap is her son, and she will put him first. If she thinks it is in her son's best interest for her to remain married, she will.  If he's a terrible father, she'll dump him at some point. We all know he's a terrible husband.  

I don't know if he can get away with it, but it would not surprise me in the least if he has a side action arrangement at Mar-a-Loco.

[formergothardite]

There is no way he is a good father, but I bet he and Barron rarely see each other so he has less opportunities to treat him poorly. Melania made a deal with the devil when she married Trump and no one ever wins when they do that*. There is no way when she married him she could have known he would end up president and the whole world would be discussing the various women who say he cheated on her with them. I bet she thought he would die and she would get to live the rest of her life rich. It seems like they have lived totally separate lives for a long time and that probably made the marriage more bearable. 

I bet he is cheating on her now and if so, it will eventually come out and what will the evangelicals say then? 

 

*Something the GOP would be wise to remember. In the long run no one who stands with Trump will come out looking good. 

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, LaParisienne said:

So, here is my rant. I may be mean or irrational and you might not understand. Sorry for this

Pas de problème, @LaParisienne!

We often rant on FJ when we get frustrated or angry by what we observe happening around us. And these two egomaniacs? Well, they certainly deserve every single rant and snark they get.

Although we also like laughing at them too, especially when the presidunce is humiliated in public, like this:

By the way, I love hearing the many perspectives on politics that people from all around the world have, so I'm glad you've found the politics threads, and I hope to see you here more often. Your French perspective and insight into French politics will be much appreciated.

 

[fraurosena]

Oh my! Did he just allude to the fact that he regrets becoming presidunce because people aren't nice to him?

 

[AmazonGrace]

He would fit right in Trump's cabinet

[Howl]

Supposedly Jackson drank at work, had an explosive personality and created a hostile work environment.  Something tells me he's going to be retiring to spend more time with his family. His family is probably going,  "Oh, hells no!"

[onekidanddone]

14 minutes ago, Howl said:

had an explosive personality and created a hostile work environment

Two of Trump's must have for a new hire.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump golfed instead of going to Barbara Bush’s funeral. That was a good thing."

Spoiler

Sometimes a picture is worth a zillion words. The viral group photograph from former first lady Barbara Bush’s funeral speaks volumes about the state of our democracy, poignantly illustrating what we have lost and must at all costs regain.

George H.W. Bush is front and center in his wheelchair. Behind him, left to right, we see Laura and George W. Bush, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump. It is an extraordinary portrait of power, continuity, legacy, civility and mutual respect — a remarkable tableau that is made possible only by President Trump’s absence. Imagine him in the picture, puffed-up and no doubt scowling, trying desperately to make himself the center of attention. It’s a good thing he decided to spend the weekend playing golf and writing angry tweets at Mar-a-Lago instead.

I can’t look at that photo without pondering how destructive Trump has been — and how much work and goodwill it will take to put the pieces together again after he’s gone.

The elder Bush pursued conservative policies. Clinton was center-left. The younger Bush took the country back to the right. Obama pulled it to the left. These shifts seemed big and important at the time, but they pale in comparison with the disruption Trump has wrought.

Like virtually all of their predecessors, the four presidents in that picture tried to govern with a generosity of spirit. I disagreed vehemently with many of George W. Bush’s policies, including the Iraq War and the brutal torture of suspected terrorists. I was sharply critical of his administration’s botched response to Hurricane Katrina. Yet Kanye West was wrong when he said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” With no regard for political gain, Bush 43 launched a program to provide anti-HIV drugs to victims in southern Africa — a move estimated to have saved at least 11 million lives. I try to imagine Trump doing something like that, and I can’t.

I also can’t see Trump skillfully managing tectonic geopolitical change the way George H.W. Bush handled the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bush 41 knew that it was important to lay the groundwork so that Russia and its former satellites could prosper in the post-communist era. Trump’s foreign policy is based on “America first” selfishness and whether foreign leaders flatter him or not.

Clinton guided the nation through tremendous economic expansion, welfare reform and fiscal belt-tightening that ultimately resulted in a balanced budget. In doing so, he often angered his Democratic Party base. By contrast, Trump evidently cares about nothing but his base. Presented with reasonable compromises on issues such as immigration and health care, Trump preferred to leave problems unsolved rather than risk his loyal supporters’ anger.

Obama always sought compromise, though he did not always achieve it; he based the Affordable Care Act, after all, on Republican ideas that had first been implemented by Mitt Romney. Seeing Obama at a funeral was a reminder of his great eloquence, especially at moments of tragedy and loss. I was present when Obama delivered his indelible eulogy to the victims of the Charleston, S.C., church massacre. I saw the reaction when he broke into “Amazing Grace” and the auditorium erupted with shouts of “Amen!” I imagine Trump at that podium, and I weep.

Melania Trump was not out of place in that photo; she looked elegant, as always, and paid her respects to Barbara Bush with grace. It is easy to see her as an eventual member of that exclusive club of former presidents and first ladies — as long as she leaves her husband at home to nurse his many grievances.

When Trump eventually leaves, we will have much to do — rebuild the State Department, put the Environmental Protection Agency back in the business of fighting climate change, shift tax policy to favor the middle class rather than the wealthy, cope with the trillion-dollar deficits that arise from irresponsible tax cuts, rebuild relationships with some of our closest allies . . . the list is long. But perhaps the biggest task will be reestablishing the sense of national honor and tradition that the funeral photograph represents.

An argument can be made that the Democratic Party and the pre-Trump Republican Party were too close, that there were only modest differences between their policies, that both had lost touch with the nation they sought to govern. But if that was the problem, Donald Trump was a disastrous solution.

Imagine him standing there in the picture, between his wife and Michelle Obama. The image just falls apart.

 

[Audrey2]

15 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Imagine him standing there in the picture, between his wife and Michelle Obama. The image just falls apar

I honestly can't see Donnie Dummkopf's standing next to any if our former Presidents or First Ladies. We know how he loathes Hillary and the Obamas, and the Bushes can't stand him either. I think he'll start to sizzle if he's near the goodness of Jimmy Carter. I just pray that Jimmy Carter and George HW Bush can outlive Trump's administration. Neither would deserve his behavior at their funeral.

[GreyhoundFan]

Here's the guest list for the state dinner in honor of Macron.

I can't stand that they misuse the title "Honorable". It's supposed to be for senate-confirmed positions. So, using it for Jared, Ivanka, Sarah Slanders, and the dateless Stephen Miller, is nauseating.

[GreyhoundFan]

Standby for the twitter meltdown: "U.S. Must Resume DACA and Accept New Applications, Federal Judge Rules"

Spoiler

In the biggest setback yet for the Trump administration in its decision to end a program that protects undocumented young adults from deportation, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the government must resume accepting new applications.

Judge John D. Bates of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia said the government’s decision to end the program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was predicated on the “virtually unexplained” grounds that the program was “unlawful.”

The judge stayed his decision for 90 days, giving the Department of Homeland Security the opportunity to better explain its reasoning for canceling the program.

The department, the judge wrote in his decision, “must accept and process new as well as renewal DACA applications.”

The government officially rescinded DACA in March but the program has continued to accept renewal applications after previous court orders. About 700,000 undocumented immigrants, the majority of them brought to the United States as children, had signed up for the Obama-era program since it was created in 2012.

Advocates hailed the ruling, saying it highlighted the failure of the administration to justify terminating the program.

“This decision verifies the Trump administration failed to prove the DACA program is illegal,” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a Washington, D.C. advocacy organization. “Either President Trump finds another way to end the program, tossing hundreds of thousands of young people into deportation proceedings, or he works with Republicans and Democrats to find a legislative solution that secures our border and ensures Dreamers continue contributing to our economy.”

 

[AnywhereButHere]

4 hours ago, Howl said:

Supposedly Jackson drank at work, had an explosive personality and created a hostile work environment.  Something tells me he's going to be retiring to spend more time with his family. His family is probably going,  "Oh, hells no!"

He also apparently dispensed prescription meds like they were tic tacs. He’s a winner. 

[47of74]

He also apparently dispensed prescription meds like they were tic tacs. He’s a winner. 

Isn’t being that sort of “winner” pretty much a prerequisite for a position in the fuck face administration?

[candygirl200413]

Has anyone re-watched his press conference yet? I'm wondering if now watching it someone might be able to tell whether or not he's intoxicated?

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

It's tragic that so many people have to endure heartache and uncertainty for so long just be cause the presidunce is a moronic, vindictive idiot.

Judge orders reopening of DACA, after 90-day delay

Quote

Another federal judge has overruled the Trump administration's efforts to end a popular immigration program -- this time saying the government has to accept new applications.

The ruling on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, however, won't take immediate effect, with the judge delaying the ruling for 90 days to allow the administration to make its case in a new memo justifying the end of the program.

Similar to the other rulings, Judge John Bates concluded that the wind-down of DACA was "arbitrary and capricious" because the Department of Homeland Security failed to "adequately explain its conclusion that the program was unlawful." The judge also accused the government of providing "meager legal reasoning" to support its decision.

A George W. Bush appointee to the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Bates delayed the implementation of his ruling "to allow the agency an opportunity to better explain its rescission."

In response to the ruling, the Justice Department said it stands by its original reasoning, calling DACA an "unlawful circumvention of Congress," and that it intends to continue making its case to the courts.

"The Department of Homeland Security therefore acted within its lawful authority in deciding to wind down DACA in an orderly manner," spokesman Devin O'Malley said in a statement. "Promoting and enforcing the rule of law is vital to protecting a nation, its borders, and its citizens. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously defend this position, and looks forward to vindicating its position in further litigation."

In his 60-page decision, Bates took the administration to task for its justification for ending DACA, which was almost entirely based on a threat from Texas and a handful of other states to challenge DACA in court.

Bates called the move "particularly egregious" given the hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients, young undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children, protected under the program over its five years. Given how many people's lives were built on the protections from DACA, Bates said, "its barebones legal interpretation was doubly insufficient."

Bates concluded that the argument that a Texas court would have likely immediately halted the program "was so implausible that it fails even under the deferential arbitrary and capricious standard."

The DACA program has already been resumed after President Donald Trump sought to end it in September, after two federal judges issued nationwide rulings to accept renewals of the two-year permits issued by the program and after the Supreme Court declined to circumvent the appeals process to overturn those decisions.

But while the DHS has been processing renewal applications under those rulings, as the appeals make their way through the courts, Tuesday's ruling was the first to order the program to resume accepting new applications -- potentially opening the program to tens of thousands more immigrants than the roughly 700,000 currently protected.

In September, the administration defended ending the program by saying it was likely to fall in the courts anyway, arguing a six-month wind-down of the program would be more orderly than a sudden end brought by the courts. No court has found DACA to be unconstitutional.

Of course, despite all these court rulings to the contrary, the DOJ is still maintaining their argument that DACA is unlawful and are going to keep pursuing litigation 'until their position is vindicated'. 

[fraurosena]

Oh my gosh, the presidunce has a side gig as a female Spanish potato farmer!

[Howl]

11 hours ago, AnywhereButHere said:

He also apparently dispensed prescription meds like they were tic tacs. He’s a winner. 

In the first few months of his administration, Trump looked like he was going downhill fast. He was a guy in his early 70s whose life was turned upside down, he'd lost control and probably wasn't sleeping. 

Then he seemed to rally, and I decided it was at least partly (fully) due to pharmaceutical assistance.  I'd guess Adderall at a minimum and other neuootropics to keep him going and other stuff to help him sleep.  Who the hell knows what Ronny has been feeding him....

This episode alone (drunk, too drunk to assist the Pres. Obama should a medical crisis arise, sexual harassment) should be enough to (keeping with a nautical theme here) torpedo this nomination, as clarified by this excerpt from Talking Points Memo, originally reported by CNN: 

Spoiler

Later Tuesday evening, CNN reported that Jackson was so intoxicated during a 2015 trip overseas that he banged on the hotel room door of a female employee. According to four sources familiar with the incident who spoke with CNN, Jackson became so loud that the Secret Service stopped him out of concern that he would wake Obama. Two additional sources who previously worked in the White House medical unit confirmed the incident to CNN, and said it happened in the middle of the night and made the female employee uncomfortable.

 Ahoy! Who has been complicit in covering up for this guy all these years?

I can't wait for his hearing when he clarifies the details of the above incident. 

When another doc is named White House physician, what's that doc going to think about (again, keeping it nautical) what's going down Trump's hatch.  

[Howl]

OK, just caught a segment of a Macron speech about the US not being able to back out of the Iran deal.  Trying to keep it clean here, but Macron speaking English is utterly swoon worthy.  

There was also a piece on MSNBC re: Macron's utter deconstruction of Trumpism by playing to Trump's susceptibility to flattery, in order to push through Macron's agenda. Macron is playing Trump like a warped violin. 

Other interpretations welcome! 

[fraurosena]

2 hours ago, Howl said:

When another doc is named White House physician, what's that doc going to think about (again, keeping it nautical) what's going down Trump's hatch.  

I hate to break it to you, but... not getting the VA appointment doesn't automatically mean he's lost his job as WH physician. He wasn't fired after all, the presidunce simply put his name up for nomination, no more. If he doesn't get the VA job (and it looks like he won't), he'll remain in his position as WH physician until he's fired or he resigns.

[apple1]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

I hate to break it to you, but... not getting the VA appointment doesn't automatically mean he's lost his job as WH physician. He wasn't fired after all, the presidunce simply put his name up for nomination, no more. If he doesn't get the VA job (and it looks like he won't), he'll remain in his position as WH physician until he's fired or he resigns.

Yes.

But at least theoretically, he could lose his medical license for inappropriate dispensing of controlled substances. I don't know how likely this would be to happen. That could make him lose the White House physician job.

Interesting that up until now he seemed to fly under that radar in the previous administration as well as this one.

[Howl]

True that @fraurosena, but many of these accusations have been corroborated by active military personnel, who face serious repercussions through the military justice system for lying. 

I don't think what Jackson gets is how deep people will dig and how much research is going to be done, and what will be exposed.  If it's bad enough, he could lose his retirement benefits.  "Bad enough" is dereliction of duty by being shit-faced drunk on an overseas trip where he is along as the medical officer in charge of caring for the president - a serious responsibility.  At this moment, it's very likely that someone is reviewing his prescribing records.

Being a doctor with a charming personality movie star looks might not be enough to save him. His desire to testify under oath at a hearing so everyone can "hear his story" makes me think he believes that it will. 

Really, if he had one functioning brain cell, he'd retire today and fade into oblivion. 

[AnywhereButHere]

Jackson was asked, point blank, if he denied the allegations. His response was to say he looked forward to defending himself and giving his side of the stories.

I may be splitting hairs, but that doesn't sound like he's denying anything. Could be poor word choice on his part, but...

[AmazonGrace]

Trump has had it tough lately so he needed to talk to his friends:

(thread)

 

[fraurosena]

Here's a part where he starts about not lying to Comey, that he did spend a couple of nights in Russia and then goes off about CNN giving Hillary the questions to the debate.