Trump 35: Still an Asshole to Everyone but Ivanka

[Rachel333]

1 hour ago, JenniferJuniper said:

Or you're Mike Pence looking for a promotion.

There's actually a theory that it was Pence based on the writer using the word "lodestar," a fairly unusual word that Pence likes to use.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lodestar-mike-pence-anonymous-new-york-times_us_5b905dd5e4b0511db3dec1e1

[AmazonGrace]

But NYT said the author's job would be in jeopardy. Isn't Pence just about the only one Trump can't fire?

[fraurosena]

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[nvmbr02]

1 hour ago, AmazonGrace said:

But NYT said the author's job would be in jeopardy. Isn't Pence just about the only one Trump can't fire?

Yeah, I don't think it is Pence myself, but I have seen the theory floated around on Twitter quite a bit. I've also seen Kellyanne Conway mentioned but I don't know, she seems to be all in more or less. Maybe someone like John Kelly? He seems to be all in on the worst of the Trump policies and for pushing the GOP agenda so it is hard to see what he would be pushing back on though. 

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, nvmbr02 said:

Yeah, I don't think it is Pence myself, but I have seen the theory floated around on Twitter quite a bit. I've also seen Kellyanne Conway mentioned but I don't know, she seems to be all in more or less. Maybe someone like John Kelly? He seems to be all in on the worst of the Trump policies and for pushing the GOP agenda so it is hard to see what he would be pushing back on though. 

I was thinking John Kelly too, based on absolutely nothing other than that I believe it to be a strategic move akin to a military one (and that's why as a political move it's not working) and because it's got to be someone very close to the Oval Office. Also, it can't be Kellyanne because the NYT described the author as "he". 

This is a very good analysis of the op-ed. (thread)

 

[nvmbr02]

10 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Also, it can't be Kellyanne because the NYT described the author as "he". 

 

I thought of that. But the husband and I just finished binge watching the Newsroom on Amazon Prime and they referred to their source as he and it was a woman. And if it is on a TV show it must be true.

I didn't see the show myself but Lawrence O'Donnell on CNN thinks it might be Dan Coats (Director of National Intelligence. I don't know enough about Coats to form an opinion but I am hoping to catch the clip either online or when they play it here because I am curious to hear his argument. 

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, nvmbr02 said:

I thought of that. But the husband and I just finished binge watching the Newsroom on Amazon Prime and they referred to their source as he and it was a woman. And if it is on a TV show it must be true.

I didn't see the show myself but Lawrence O'Donnell on CNN thinks it might be Dan Coats (Director of National Intelligence. I don't know enough about Coats to form an opinion but I am hoping to catch the clip either online or when they play it here because I am curious to hear his argument. 

Lawrence is on MSNBC. Sadly, today they seem to have a glitch on their site and the video's of the shows aren't playing for some reason. We'll have to wait until they're uploaded to Youtube, or until MSNBC has fixed the glitch. 

Oh, it's uploaded to Youtube:

 

[nvmbr02]

@fraurosena- Thanks! I knew that he was MSNBC, I don't even know why I typed CNN I don't even get that channel. Just BBC, MSNBC and Fox. 

[Ozlsn]

12 hours ago, 47of74 said:

President Donald Trump suggested that he has photographs of former FBI director James Comey “kissing” special counsel Robert Mueller.

And my brain went straight into "I saw Mummy kissing Santa Claus".

[fraurosena]

Hey @Howl, here's Rick Wilson's take on the op-ed. Scathing and to the point, with solid advice to boot.

 

[fraurosena]

One of the most chilling aspects of the op-ed and the Woodward book, is that apparently there are a couple of people in the administration who are actually running the country, instead of the elected president. 

They are running the country. Without being elected. That is the most important fact. Everybody in America, on the Hill, in the states, in the streets, should be up in arms about this. Not the fact that the presidunce is a dunce, but the fact that the country is being run by unelected administrators. 

[fraurosena]

Oh, the irony...

 

[Howl]

Looking through CNN this morning, my intuitions yesterday were correct.  There are references to "attempts to topple the government."   Now THIS is an Infrastructure Week! 

And there's this.  I think there's some inkling that the Mueller report will not be survivable.  That there will be irrefutable evidence of treasonous behavior with Russia.  Maybe?

The Woodward book is damaging, yes, but is there anyone on this forum that didn't already realize that yes, things were already as bad as what's revealed in the Woodward book* or even worse?  So we're back to timing.  Is there a palace coup afoot to unseat Trump and throw him under the bus?  Truly, I am terrified of Pence as president, because he will normalize all of the truly bad shit and I see him as viable and electable in 2020, where we will be officially living under a theocracy. 

*The Woodward book, all 488 pages, will be released on Sept. 11. 

[AmazonGrace]

 

So whom should the foreign leaders call now?

[fraurosena]

 "Declassification to find Additional Corruption".... Huh?

1. Declassification of what?

2. Corruption? Who was found to be corrupt? Were you? Was someone else? Did you find someone to be corrupt?

3. Additional corruption? Wait, you found someone to be corrupt, and there's more? Or, you were found to be corrupt, and more people were found to be corrupt? Or, you were found to be corrupt in more than one way? Or they were?

I don't get it...

[fraurosena]

[onekidanddone]

10 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

A rabid cockroach perhaps.  I’m wondering it the OpEd is even from a White House officiall or just someone fucking with the festering orange puss sack

[Rachel333]

So he's thanking a horrific dictator for his support.

[fraurosena]

The first denial.

 

Or not... VP beat him to the post, it seems.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

From Joe Scarborough: "Woodward’s ‘Fear’ is damning, depressing — and heartening"

Spoiler

Every damning and depressing detail in Bob Woodward’s new book “Fear: Trump in the White House ” is made more damning and depressing by the fact that the abhorrent behavior chronicled in crisp detail will come as no surprise to anyone who has served President Trump in the West Wing, or carried his political water on Capitol Hill.

Liar? Check. Ignorant and uninterested in issues? Check. Unconcerned with the consequences of his destructive actions on the country he serves? Check. Obsessed with his media image? Check. Crude, crass, undignified, vindictive, impulsive, juvenile and racially inflammatory? Check, check, check, check, check, check and check.

Woodward’s “Fear” contains a wealth of detail thanks to the most surprising decision Trump has made since entering politics — placing a number of qualified people in top jobs. White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and former economic adviser Gary Cohn could all have been offered similar assignments by a President Hillary Clinton. In making those appointments, Trump set a trap for himself in two very different ways.

First, he placed a restraint on his more outlandish impulses that might have critically impacted the United States’ national security and its economic well-being.

And second, he ensured that when Woodward, the premier investigative reporter and chronicler of the modern presidency, began his excavation of the Trump administration, some of these officials — we don’t know which ones — would feel an urgent need to leave behind an honest accounting of the dysfunction. While perhaps cynically revealing the efforts they made to push back against the madness, these talented men and women stand out from the family members and golf-course caddies Trump chose to surround himself with inside the West Wing.

Woodward’s book confirms what has been whispered in elite Washington circles since the earliest days of this administration: that the “adults” had a pact with each other to stay in the government as long as possible to prevent the president from destroying critical international alliances, undermining constitutional norms and initiating military conflicts that would have proven both illegal and unwise.

Two of the more notable moves made by this avenging band of bureaucrats as reported by Woodward? Quietly spiriting away a piece of paper from Trump’s desk that would have undermined an important free-trade deal with South Korea, and ignoring a reckless order to assassinate Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

A grateful nation can thank those who have stopped Trump from creating an existential crisis for the country, remaining at their stations while managing a collection of lesser gaffes. And despite predictable denials from White House aides regarding their derogatory insights of the man they serve, we can also be grateful that some of them once again confirmed these unsettling truths to Woodward.

Nonetheless, what “Fear” reveals is an unwinding of Madisonian democracy that continues today. Trump’s unending, aberrant behavior will continue shaping special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation. His impulses will continue to cause political bedlam around the world. The United States will continue facing foreign threats because of his wayward geopolitical instincts.

This last issue raises perhaps the most ominous aspect of Woodward’s reporting. Serving a commander in chief with so little knowledge and such poor judgment has apparently led Cabinet members to look beyond the cherished principle of absolute civilian primacy over the U.S. military. While many may take comfort today by such a derogation of duty under Trump, what precedent is being set for future military leaders serving future presidents?

Meanwhile, Woodward’s penetration of the comings and goings of Mueller’s investigation of the president and his associates suggests a fascinating colloquy between the special counsel and Trump’s former lawyer, John Dowd. Most striking is reporting that Mueller and Dowd may have shared a desire to keep Trump from exposing himself as the ignorant liar sensible people know him to be. Unlike the man he is investigating, Mueller puts his concern for country ahead of his own interests. While almost any prosecutor in the world would salivate over the prospect of leading a target down the primrose path of perjury, Mueller knows full well that Trump, under oath, would make the U.S. president an even a bigger laughingstock in the eyes of the world.

For those anxious for Mueller to end this misery, here is a reminder: The Trump presidency can be expected to end in one of five ways: resignation, impeachment and removal by Congress, removal via the 25th Amendment, defeat in reelection, or the conclusion of a second term. That leads to two takeaways from Woodward’s book, one depressing and one heartening.

The depressing truth is that any of these five exits — including a half-dozen more years of this extra- constitutional horror show — are possible. The more heartening message from “Fear” is that we still have institutions and individuals, including Bob Woodward, who will continue checking the most destructive instincts of Donald Trump.

 

[fraurosena]

Follow the money...

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[AmazonGrace]

2 hours ago, fraurosena said:

 "Declassification to find Additional Corruption".... Huh?

1. Declassification of what?

2. Corruption? Who was found to be corrupt? Were you? Was someone else? Did you find someone to be corrupt?

3. Additional corruption? Wait, you found someone to be corrupt, and there's more? Or, you were found to be corrupt, and more people were found to be corrupt? Or, you were found to be corrupt in more than one way? Or they were?

I don't get it...

My guess is he's talking about the Rigged Witch Hunt again and how corrupt everyone there is.

[ViolaSebastian]

After digesting this, I think that Woodward's book is going to be a nuclear explosion of information. This op-ed piece is most likely the first shots of "it wasn't me!" coming out of the administration before the book comes out on September 11. A "cover your ass" move. 

[AmazonGrace]

 

Lighthizer never noticed that this didn't get signed?