Trump 32: Pissing off the World, One Country at a Time

[AmazonGrace]

The trade deal is too hard to do but other than that it's going really great, guys.

[Cartmann99]

Trump's going to crow about this at his next rally:

 

[fraurosena]

Fucking mandarin-red panda-face is doubling down with his nazi tendencies. 

I  pray to Rufus with all my heart that America will be very, very tough on him.

[fraurosena]

34 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

Trump's going to crow about this at his next rally:

 

And then this happened:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump just told a very revealing joke about the midterm elections"

Spoiler

For someone who lies more often than any president in history, President Trump has a remarkable ability to speak profound truths almost by accident. His comment in January 2016 that “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters” has proved more prescient than anyone realized at the time.

And Tuesday, at an event hosted by a group opposed to abortion rights, Trump began by reading part of his prepared text and then went off script in a revealing way:

"Your vote in 2018 is every bit as important as your vote in 2016. Although I’m not sure I really believe that, but you know. I don’t know who the hell wrote that line, I’m not sure. But it’s still important, remember."

You can pinpoint the second House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) heart rips in half, his dreams of becoming speaker of the House dashed against the shoals of Trump’s monumental ego.

There are two ways this Trump quote gets at larger truths.

First, it’s becoming clear that Trump is pretty much done caring about Congress. It’s not that Trump doesn’t want Republicans to hold onto the House and Senate. He surely knows that if Democrats get subpoena power, they’ll be able to open all kinds of investigations that will bedevil him for the rest of his term. And his lack of concern about the midterms could prove to be a serious blow to Republican hopes of holding onto both chambers at a time when they have enough problems already.

Still, there are reasons it’s hard to blame Trump for not being too interested in Congress. Legislating is complicated and involves a great deal of work, requiring an understanding of both policy and some intricate politics. Trump may style himself a great negotiator, but he’s plainly terrible at negotiating with Congress and the myriad factions in the Republican caucus. The efforts in which he has gotten personally involved, such as the attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act or deal with immigration, were abysmal failures.

The one significant piece of legislation this Congress passed, the tax-cut bill, happened with minimal involvement from the president. All those Republican factions with their own interests, squabbling over details of policy — from where Trump sits, it’s a great big bore. Like many presidents, he’s much happier when he can just issue orders and have them carried out, not having to persuade 218 members of the House and 50 senators to do what he wants them to. It’s particularly frustrating for Trump, who as the head of a private company never had to deal with shareholders or a board of directors, or anyone else who could tell him no.

That would be true in any Congress, but this particular Congress is an absolute disaster. Look at what The Post’s Mike DeBonis reports today:

Speaker Paul D. Ryan is losing his grip on the feuding House Republican conference just months before pivotal midterm elections, caught between dueling factions vying for power inside the party and facing scattered calls for his departure ahead of a planned year-end retirement.

The unrest comes in the wake of a humiliating defeat for Ryan and other GOP leaders last week, when conservatives sank a farm bill amid a broader dispute over immigration policy, and threatens to spark months of bitter infighting as Republican lawmakers try to make the case that they should be returned to power in Washington.

But there is no clear way out for the party. Numerous aides and lawmakers said Tuesday there is not a viable alternative to Ryan who can win enough support within the GOP for a clean transition before November — and there is little stomach at the moment for the messy battle that would ensue when Ryan departs.

There may even be a coup before Ryan steps down. The upshot is that Republicans have a weak leader now and are likely to have a weak leader after November, whether they hold on to the House or not. They’ll still be riven by factionalism, and it’s so bad that doing their actual job — you know, legislating — has become almost an afterthought. The one thing they desperately wanted to do was cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, and now that they’ve done that, they’re pretty much out of ideas. While they’ll pass some minor bills here and there, they’ve made plain that there aren’t going to be any ambitious legislative efforts before November.

So even an ordinary president might have trouble mustering up the enthusiasm to campaign aggressively for them. But with a president as singularly focused on himself as this one, it’s even worse.

The second reason that this Trump quote gets at a larger truth is that it really may be harder to get Republican voters to care about the elections when he isn’t on the ballot.

Trump will try to transfer some of his energy to down-ballot Republicans. He’ll do some events in places where there are key races. But we know how those will go, because we’ve seen it before.

Republicans plan a rally in the district, but like every Trump event, it’s a Trump event, not an event for Candidate X at which Trump is appearing. At the beginning of his speech, he reads some perfunctory remarks about the local candidate, mouthing words about what a great guy this fellow is and how we need him in Washington. Then with that 30 seconds of drudgery out of the way, he proceeds to talk for the next hour and a half about himself.

The assembled Trump fans leave the arena with their love of Trump renewed, giving reporters the finger on their way out and talking to one another about how awesome it’ll be when the wall is built and how special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is an operative of a “deep state” conspiracy probably directed by Hillary Clinton. But they aren’t talking about their local GOP congressional candidate.

The only way Republicans can hang on to control is if Trump voters decide it’s important for them to get out and vote. But as the Mueller investigation nears its end, and with foreign policy occupying much of Trump’s attention when he isn’t rage-tweeting through “Fox & Friends,” he’s likely to care less and less about the fate of Congress as we head toward November. Now he’s actually told his own voters that it isn’t all that important to vote this year. In a way, he gave voice to what many of them might be thinking.

One of the reasons Trump won in 2016 was that in some key states, conservative voters who otherwise might have sat the election out were motivated by the idea of electing Donald Trump to get to the polls. But now Democratic voters are the motivated ones, the ones who want to vote in order to strike back at the president. It was never going to be easy for Trump to persuade his most ardent supporters to go to the polls when he’s not on the ballot. But he’s only making it harder.

 

[JMarie]

http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/23/media/judge-rules-trump-cant-block-twitter-users/index.html

Quote

A federal judge in New York ruled Wednesday that President Trump is in violation of the Constitution when he blocks users on Twitter.

It's a remarkable development in one of the more peculiar debates of Trump's presidency, and a victory for the First Amendment advocates who brought the lawsuit last year.

In her ruling, Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald wrote that "no government official -- including the President -- is above the law, and all government officials are presumed to follow the law as has been declared."

"We hold that portions of the @realDonaldTrump account -- the 'interactive space' where Twitter users may directly engage with the content of the President's tweets -- are properly analyzed under the "'public forum' doctrines set forth by the Supreme Court, that such space is a designated public forum, and that the blocking of the plaintiffs based on their political speech constitutes viewpoint discrimination that violates the First Amendment," Buchwald wrote.

 

[Cartmann99]

Heh, I wonder if his lawyers knew about this before he tweeted?

 

[laPapessaGiovanna]

51 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

Heh, I wonder if his lawyers knew about this before he tweeted?

 

I bet that this time F&F hosts will agree on a safe word to shut down the interview when it starts going downhill: "When I start fiddling with a pen looking worried and saying 'er...mr President...er...sorry mr President', you start showing ads, ok?"

[Gobsmacked]

 This should be fun. Buckle up!

[Cartmann99]

46 minutes ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

I bet that this time F&F hosts will agree on a safe word to shut down the interview when it starts going downhill: "When I start fiddling with a pen looking worried and saying 'er...mr President...er...sorry mr President', you start showing ads, ok?"

Hell, one of the Fox women may come out and start doing a live ad if things really go off the rails.

 

[Gobsmacked]

That would be a brilliant job for dear old Jill Rod!!!

[AmazonGrace]

Quote

"Your vote in 2018 is every bit as important as your vote in 2016. Although I’m not sure I really believe that, but you know. I don’t know who the hell wrote that line, I’m not sure. But it’s still important, remember."

Ryan and Connell tell me that we're still pretending that elections matter so remember that your vote is important but just between you and me really it's not because my pal Vlad will hack the elections again.

[fraurosena]

Good grief.

 

[Gobsmacked]

So the much heralded meeting with North Korea  is now cancelled. Dumpy the most fantastic-ast deal maker ever has blown it big time. Oafish orange fuckfaced prat. 

[AnywhereButHere]

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/24/613962300/north-korea-threatens-to-scuttle-summit-saying-it-wont-beg-the-u-s-for-dialogue

Here he goes again "Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah. I'll call off the summit before you do. I win! Oh - and mine's bigger than yours!" Says the orange child. Meanwhile, the Dow drops 250 points already on the news.

Quote

President Trump has called off a highly anticipated June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long planned meeting," Trump wrote in a letter to Kim.

Trump's decision comes hours after North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui, in remarks carried on the country's official KCNA news service, said it would not "beg the U.S. for dialogue" and warned that it could make Washington "taste an appalling tragedy."

Parallels

As Trump-Kim Summit Approaches, South Korea's Leader Heads To White House

Choe also called Vice President Pence a "political dummy" and criticized Pence's recent suggestion that North Korea could end up like Libya if doesn't come to the bargaining table.

"As a person involved in the U.S. affairs, I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the U.S. vice president," Choe said.

In calling off the meeting, Trump said Kim had missed an opportunity, but he left the door open to renewed talks in the future.

National Security

Trump Warns Summit With North Korea May Not Happen On Schedule

"The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth," Trump wrote. "If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write."

The Two-Way

After Minting Coin For North Korea Summit, White House Accused Of Early Celebration

Trump also returned to past form, boasting of the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

"You talk about your nuclear capabilities," Trump wrote. "But ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used."

Earlier in the day, North Korea made a public show of destroying its nuclear testing grounds. But the country's weapons program remains intact.

"We can also make the U.S. taste an appalling tragedy it has neither experienced nor even imagined up to now," Choe warned in her statement.

The bolded has to be one of my WTF moments. First - you called the meeting off you muffinhead. What does Kim have to change his mind about? Second - call or write? Really? He sounds like he's channeling a cross between a used car salesman (call me! making the phone sign up by his ear with his fingers) and Emily Post (please do write me with any concerns.).

[AmazonGrace]

He's having a lovers' spat with Xi too?

 

[47of74]

 

Jesus.  What are you, fuck face?  An 8th grader? 

 

[AmazonGrace]

Sure he can.

[GreyhoundFan]

6 hours ago, 47of74 said:

 

Jesus.  What are you, fuck face?  An 8th grader? 

 

I saw a comment about the "don't hesitate to call me or write" line that was priceless: if he calls or writes, Dumpy will try to sell him a property. Isn't that the truth?

[Alisamer]

I'm kind of surprised at this point that Trump hasn't attempted to purchase all of North Korea to turn into "Trumpland" luxury vacation club and golf resort nation, of which he is king. He would be happy not to have to import the cheap labor like at Mar-A-Lago, he could just hire the locals. They're used to his style of propaganda, I think, so at least at first they might even not leave in huge numbers.

[47of74]

Fuck Face and Vice President de Torquemada violated Federal law?  Probably.

Quote

As noted on Thursday by LawAndCrime.com, attorney Mark Geragos suggested in a Thursday tweet that efforts of the top two members of the executive branch to pressure the NFL to force players to stand for the anthem potentially run afoul of Title 18, Section 227 of the United States Code. A violation of 18 U.S.C. 227 arises if the President and/or the Vice President intended “to influence, solely on the basis of partisan political affiliation, an employment decision or employment practice of any private entity” and “influence[d], or offers or threatens to influence, the official act of another.”

A clear example of a prohibited action under 18 U.S.C. 227 would arise if, for example, the President pressures a news outlet to fire a reporter who asks too many tough questions, under threat of revoking access. While more murky as it relates to the NFL, it seems fairly clear that the President and/or the Vice President have pressured (successfully) the NFL to remove the pre-existing right of its players to protest during the national anthem.

It feels too simple to be applicable, but the language is as plain as it can be. And the punishment feels too harsh, with imprisonment of up to 15 years and potential disqualification from holding office.

But the law contains a bright line that potentially may have been crossed. The NFL is a private employer. The President and/or the Vice President successfully pressured the NFL to change its anthem policy to remove the right of players of protest during the anthem, which  amounts to an employment practice.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"White House gift shop ‘Deal of the Day’: Trump-Kim summit souvenirs"  There are way too many images to quote in full, but here are my two favorite:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"‘The Trump Show’ Season 2, Episode 18: ‘WITCH HUNT!’"

Spoiler

A common reaction to Donald Trump’s presidency has been a sense that reality has outstripped even the most feverish fiction. The only thing to do when the world has come to feel like the implausible output of a genre-hopping television show is to cover it that way. Welcome to our recaps of “The Trump Show.”

Coming up on the halfway point of its second season, it seems worth taking a moment to stop and consider what has become of one of the signature qualities of “The Trump Show”: its use of anticlimax. On most series, a repeated tendency to walk right up to the precipice of a momentous event before scurrying away would become wearisome and would indicate a lack of courage on the writers’ part. If you want your show to be a certain thing and to operate in a certain mode, why not stick to that, rather than tease the possibility of dramatic change you don’t actually have any intention of implementing?

On “The Trump Show,” though, anticlimax and cowardice are the subjects, and the usual dramatic dynamic is reversed. Donald Trump, the main character, is so defined by his bluster and flip-flopping that it’s genuinely shocking when he follows through with a threatened action, such as his decision to fire FBI Director James B. Comey. The series is simultaneously saturated with menace and a trap: We spend all our time watching it dreading the sudden imposition of authoritarianism, and yet we’d be surprised should it actually arrive.

This week’s episode was full of anti-climaxes or potential anti-climaxes.

Take the planned summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which “The Trump Show” has sometimes teased as a potential reverse-heel turn in which our boorish anti-hero emerges as a genuine statesman. This week, Trump acknowledged that the meeting may not materialize, before ultimately cancelling the summit, citing “tremendous anger and open hostility” in the North Korean government’s latest statements.  “The Trump Show” is wild but not naive. Unlike Aaron Sorkin, who long argued that straight talk and facts could fix politics, or Beau Willimon, who spins stories that suggest that conspiracy is highly effective in politics, “The Trump Show” has always been clear about the limits of Trump’s negotiating style and the genuine complications of the scenarios he faces.

The same writerly dynamics have played out this week in the China trade negotiations story line. It was simultaneously true in this plot that Trump lacked the tenacity to hold to his position on reshaping the relationship; that the officials representing him in those negotiations have profoundly incompatible beliefs about trade; and also that the Chinese officials have considerable advantages in both style and leverage. There will be no grand speech that changes this dynamic, no last-minute genius synthesis that produces wins for everyone, just a lot of genuine complexity. For all it frequently functions like a high-octane soap opera, “The Trump Show” is gritty and realistic in the best possible way: It recognizes that the dynamics of politics can be obstacles as formidable as any monster or supervillain.

The third anti-climax in this episode came in Trump’s meeting with law enforcement officials about Trump’s belief that he was treated unfairly and perhaps deceptively by the FBI and the Justice Department during his campaign and the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election that followed. The fact that the meeting happened is worrisome, of course. But it appears, at least for this episode, to have ended in a lightly reconfigured stalemate rather than in catastrophe.

It’s entirely possible that Trump will emerge as a full-on authoritarian figure. In the short term, though, he appears to have the fortitude to grouse, tweeting about a “WITCH HUNT!” and the specter of spies all around him, rather than acting with the sense of command and decisiveness that would be genuinely frightening. That’s not to say that these spectacles aren’t disturbing. The prospect of a grown man who was elected to one of the most powerful offices in the world limiting himself to his unsecured cellphone, his DVR and his Twitter feed speaks to a smallness of mind and spirit that is worrying and off-putting. Trump can do great damage to the world by shrinking into himself, even if he never stretches forth his hand to act.

 

[47of74]

A sports team was suspended for refusing to give a patriotic salute. 

 

In the 1930s.  History repeats.  Ugh.

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

Why Americans are better than foreigners? Americans have talent.