Trump 36: We Shall Overcome

[Howl]

 

[Cartmann99]

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Oh yes, something is afoot, indeed.

Tomorrow is day 666 of the presiduncy. Will that be the day of the indictments? Is this why the presidunce is freaking out? Rufus, make it so. 

Someone should rig this up to play on a loop all day long tomorrow at the White House:

[fraurosena]

2 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

Someone should rig this up to play on a loop all day long tomorrow at the White House:

Listening to that, my mind immediately pictured this. Seems to fit together well.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[47of74]

1 hour ago, Cartmann99 said:

Someone should rig this up to play on a loop all day long tomorrow at the White House:

I feel old now...

 

[fraurosena]

Too little, too late, mate. Should've gone to the commemoration in Paris on Saturday. Should've gone to Arlington on Monday. Holding a so-called conference for a select few in the WH on Thursday doesn't cut it.

 

[thoughtful]

Considering the weather in Washington today, and Trump's fear of inclement conditions, we can add the chance of cabin fever to his mood.

[fraurosena]

Oh sweetums, you really don't understand what exactly you are admitting to here, do you?

 

[formergothardite]

What was the reason given for skipping Arlington?

[older than allosaurs]

1 minute ago, formergothardite said:

What was the reason given for skipping Arlington?

The actual Arlington ceremony was held Sunday, on Veterans Day, and I think Trump didn't get back from France till pretty late that day. I would give a jet-lagged 70-something a pass on that in general, but it seems dumb not to get in front of the optics and explain.

[fraurosena]

I think this is worth a double facepalm, don't you?

 

[47of74]

The actual Arlington ceremony was held Sunday, on Veterans Day, and I think Trump didn't get back from France till pretty late that day. I would give a jet-lagged 70-something a pass on that in general, but it seems dumb not to get in front of the optics and explain.

 

If it was a regular person needing to skip because of being jet lagged than I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Hell jet lag grinds me down and I’m only in my 40s.

 

That said I don’t know that I’d give fuck face a pass in any event. During his Presidency President Obama could’ve been up 36 hours straight and if he couldn’t attend for any reason fuck face and his groupies would be screaming over it. Fuck face made his bed so he can goddamn well lie in it now.

 

Edit: 40s. Not 49s. Fucking iPhone keyboard/autocorrect

[GreyhoundFan]

46 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

If it was a regular person needing to skip because of being jet lagged than I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Hell jet lag grinds me down and I’m only in my 40s.

That said I don’t know that I’d give fuck face a pass in any event. During his Presidency President Obama could’ve been up 36 hours straight and if he couldn’t attend for any reason fuck face and his groupies would be screaming over it. Fuck face made his bed so he can goddamn well lie in it now. 

I agree with you. Arlington Cemetery is less than 10 minutes by car from the WH, especially if you are part of a motorcade that stops traffic. He should have been able to deal with it for an hour. I mean, what did he do instead? Watch Faux and play on the phone with his sycophants. One more thing -- Air Force One has facilities for Dumpy to rest, it's not like he was squeezed into a steerage coach seat on United, so I am not giving him the benefit of the doubt.

[47of74]

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I agree with you. Arlington Cemetery is less than 10 minutes by car from the WH, especially if you are part of a motorcade that stops traffic. He should have been able to deal with it for an hour. I mean, what did he do instead? Watch Faux and play on the phone with his sycophants. One more thing -- Air Force One has facilities for Dumpy to rest, it's not like he was squeezed into a steerage coach seat on United, so I am not giving him the benefit of the doubt.

God, could you imagine being stuck in coach next to or near that orange fuck for a ten hour overseas flight?  Or one of his vocal branch trumpvidian supporters?  

[onekidanddone]

17 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

God, could you imagine being stuck in coach next to or near that orange fuck for a ten hour overseas flight?  Or one of his vocal branch trumpvidian supporters?  

Heh, I get motion sickness often, and while I've never Ralphed while flying I'd be willing to give it a try in this instance.

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I agree with you. Arlington Cemetery is less than 10 minutes by car from the WH, especially if you are part of a motorcade that stops traffic. He should have been able to deal with it for an hour. I mean, what did he do instead? Watch Faux and play on the phone with his sycophants. One more thing -- Air Force One has facilities for Dumpy to rest, it's not like he was squeezed into a steerage coach seat on United, so I am not giving him the benefit of the doubt.

The Memorial Bridge is supposed to be closed for repairs he could have used that excuse. 

[GreyhoundFan]

29 minutes ago, 47of74 said:

God, could you imagine being stuck in coach next to or near that orange fuck for a ten hour overseas flight?  Or one of his vocal branch trumpvidian supporters?  

I'd rather be stuck next to David "Pecan" Waller.

[47of74]

12 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

Heh, I get motion sickness often, and while I've never Ralphed while flying I'd be willing to give it a try in this instance.

The Memorial Bridge is supposed to be closed for repairs he could have used that excuse. 

Or getting a scorching case of the Hershey Squirts?  Of course I'd rather not have the rest of the plane pissed off at me....

[Audrey2]

I have actually ralphed on a plane and on one hand I do like the thought of ralphing on the tangerine toddler. On the other hand, I would be afraid for his hands would go.

[Howl]

Can't remember if this is where all the Jim Acosta stuff landed, and it's slightly dated in Trump time, (like, DAYS old!) but pretty funny, after Trump exposed himself as having ZERO idea how voting actually works: 

and back to the nuts and bolts of the WH and it's constantly revolving cast of characters, this tweet puts in perspective what's going on and I think it's pretty damned accurate: 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Cue the twitter meltdown: "Judge hands CNN victory in its bid to restore Jim Acosta’s White House press pass"

Spoiler

A federal judge on Friday ruled in favor of CNN and reporter Jim Acosta in a dispute with President Trump, ordering the White House to temporarily restore the press credentials that the Trump Administration took away from Acosta last week.

In a victory for the cable network and for press access generally, Judge Timothy J. Kelly granted CNN’s motion for a temporary restraining order that will prevent the White House from keeping Acosta off the White House grounds.

The White House revoked the reporter’s press pass last week after a heated exchange between him and President Trump and a brief altercation with a press aide at a news conference. Acosta, CNN’s chief White House correspondent, is the first reporter with a so-called hard pass to be banned.

CNN sued President Trump and other White House officials on Tuesday over the revocation. Kelly’s ruling was the first legal skirmish in that lawsuit. It has the immediate effect of sending Acosta back to the White House, pending further arguments and a possible trial. The litigation is in its early stages, and a trial could be months in the future.

Kelly, whom Trump appointed to the federal bench last year, handed down his ruling two days after the network and government lawyers argued over whether the president had the power to exclude a reporter from the White House.

In his decision, Kelly ruled that Acosta’s First Amendment rights overruled the White House’s right to have orderly press conferences. Kelly said he agreed with the government’s argument that there was no First Amendment right to come onto the White House grounds. But, he said, once the White House opened up the grounds to reporters, the First Amendment applied.

He also agreed with CNN’s argument that the White House did not provide due process. He said the White House’s decision-making was “so shrouded in mystery that the government could not tell me…. who made the decision.” The White House’s later written arguments for banning Acosta were belated and weren’t sufficient to satisfy due process, Kelly said.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced Acosta’s “indefinite” suspension last week after the confrontation at the press conference. Trump and Sanders have had several run-ins with Acosta stretching back to before Trump became president.

Acosta watched Friday’s proceedings from the courtroom in Washington, joined by a team of attorneys including Ted Olson, a former solicitor general in George W. Bush’s administration, and Ted Boutrous, a star litigator and media-law specialist.

CNN has argued that the ban on Acosta violated his First Amendment rights because it amounts to “viewpoint discrimination”--that is, the president is punishing him for statements and coverage he didn’t like. The network has also said the action violates Acosta’s Fifth Amendment right to due process because his exclusion follows no written guidelines or rules and has no appeal or review procedures.

CNN had requested “emergency” relief from the judge, arguing that Acosta’s rights were being violated with each passing hour.

Until the White House’s action last week, no reporter credentialed to cover the president had ever had a press pass revoked.

A government lawyer, James Burnham, argued in a hearing before Kelly on Wednesday that the president was within his rights to ban any reporter from the White House at any time, just as he excludes reporters from interviews in the Oval Office. He said Acosta could report on the president “just as effectively” by watching the president on TV or by calling sources within the White House. He also said CNN wouldn’t be injured by Acosta’s exclusion since CNN has dozens of other journalists credentialed for the White House.

Burnham also explained that Trump’s rationale for Acosta’s ban was his “rudeness” at last week’s press conference, in effect arguing that Acosta’s conduct, not his right to free speech, was the relevant issue.

The assertions drew a rebuttal from CNN’s lawyer, Ted Boutrous, who described the ban on the reporter as arbitrary, capricious and unprecedented. He said White House reporters need access to the premises to meet with sources and to report on untelevised “gaggles,” impromptu discussions with press aides and other officials, so that banning a reporter from the grounds harms his or her ability to do their job.

Media organizations have been alarmed by the White House’s treatment of Acosta, saying that revoking his “hard pass” to enter the White House is a threat to other journalists who might be similarly banned. Trump has suggested other reporters could face a similar fate if they displease him in some unspecified way. Thirteen news organizations, including The Washington Post and Fox News, said Wednesday they would jointly file a friend-of-the-court brief supporting CNN’s position.

The White House Correspondents Association, which represents journalists in negotiations over access to the president, filed its own brief on Thursday that urged the court “to roundly reject the president’s dangerous legal position.” It disputed the government’s claim that the president has “absolute, unbridled discretion to decide who can report from inside the White House.”

During the presidential campaign in 2015 and 2016, Trump banned more than a dozen news organizations from his rallies and public events, including The Washington Post. But he said he wouldn’t do something similar as president. Last week, he went back on that statement.

Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign has used the CNN lawsuit to drum up contributions, portraying the suit as evidence of “liberal bias”--an assertion Boutrous brought up on Wednesday to demonstrate that Trump had political reasons for banning Acosta.

“CNN is SUING President Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Secret Service agent, and other White House officials...” the fundraising email says. “...All because they REVOKED Jim Acosta’s press badge after his continuous grandstanding and inappropriate refusal to yield to other reporters.

“President Trump will NOT put up with the media’s liberal bias and utter disrespect for this Administration and the hardworking Americans who stand with us.”

 

[47of74]

And who was the judge appointed by?

Ha.  Awaiting the tweet storms.

Fuck you, Donald.

 

[fraurosena]

Oh my, it seems the presidunce has finally figured out who has the most to gain when he get's impeached...

 

Is Mike Pence Loyal? Trump Is Asking, Despite His Recent Endorsement

Quote

President Trump’s post-midterm election news conference at the White House last week took a surprising turn when a reporter asked about locking down his 2020 ticket.

“Mike, will you be my running mate?” Mr. Trump asked Vice President Pence, who stood up, raised his hand, and nodded.

“Will you? Thank you. O.K., good,” the president said. “That was unexpected, but I feel very fine.”

But in private Mr. Trump is apparently not feeling so fine. In recent weeks, with his electoral prospects two years from now much on his mind, Mr. Trump has focused on the person who has most publicly tethered his fortunes to him. In one conversation after another he has asked aides and advisers a pointed question: Is Mike Pence loyal?

Mr. Trump has repeated the question so many times that he has alarmed some of his advisers. The president has not openly suggested dropping Mr. Pence from the ticket and picking another running mate, but the advisers say those kinds of questions usually indicate that he has grown irritated with someone.

The answers Mr. Trump gets to his question have varied, depending on whom he asks.

Within the White House, most people he has talked to have assured the president that Mr. Pence has been a committed soldier, engaging in activities that Mr. Trump has eschewed, such as traveling to Hawaii to receive the remains of veterans of the Korean War, or visiting parts of the globe that Mr. Trump has avoided.

But some Trump advisers, primarily outside the White House, have suggested to him that while Mr. Pence remains loyal, he may have used up his utility. These advisers argue that Mr. Trump has forged his own relationship with evangelical voters, and that what he might benefit from more is a running mate who could help him with women voters, who disapprove of him in large numbers.

Others close to the president believe that asking about Mr. Pence’s loyalty is a proxy for asking about whether the vice president’s chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is trustworthy. Mr. Trump has been considering making Mr. Ayers the White House chief of staff to replace John F. Kelly, the retired Marine general — a decision several White House officials say has been with the encouragement of his adult children. But the president has put off making a decision for now.

The conversations were described in interviews with nearly a dozen White House aides and others close to Mr. Trump. But Hogan Gidley, the deputy press secretary, disputed that Mr. Trump had any misgivings. “The president absolutely supports the vice president and thinks he’s doing an incredible job helping to carry out the mission and policies of this administration.”

Mr. Trump has never completely forgotten that during the 2016 campaign Mr. Pence issued a disapproving statement the day after the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape was made public, on which the president was heard making comments boasting about grabbing women’s genitals.

But Mr. Trump has kept close counsel about whether he is seriously considering making a change to the ticket, or simply poll-testing advisers as the campaign begins. And few advisers believe he would really go through with it.

Veterans of previous White Houses described this type of questioning as a frequent occurrence before a re-election campaign begins in earnest.

“The idea of changing a ticket has been discussed by at least some aides in every White House and it almost never happens,” said Dan Pfeiffer, a former communications director for President Barack Obama.

“I would also say the electoral significance of the vice-presidential nominee is one of the most overrated things in U.S. politics, particularly in a re-election, which is almost always a referendum on the performance of the president,” he said. “Changing the No. 2 is not going to change that.”

In 2012, Mr. Obama’s aides briefly talked about replacing Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. with Hillary Clinton for the president’s re-election effort.

In recent weeks, Mr. Pence has stepped into public frays to defend the president, saying that “everyone has their own style” when asked if Mr. Trump’s fiery political and personal language have led to violent acts, including the mass shooting at a Jewish synagogue and bomb threats mailed to prominent Democratic figures.

On other issues, Mr. Pence has staked out a firm position when the president has seemed noncommittal or disengaged.

He has repeatedly vowed consequences for the Saudis over the killing of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. And before attending the Asia-Pacific summit meeting in Singapore in Mr. Trump’s absence on Wednesday, Mr. Pence forcefully told Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, that political violence that caused more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee that country was “without excuse.”

On his Asia trip, Mr. Pence has also called for press freedom even as the president continues to assail journalists back home.

The two men speak daily, sometimes multiple times. But some of Mr. Trump’s advisers believe that the dynamic between the president and Mr. Pence has changed in the first two years of Mr. Trump’s term, part of a pattern in many of Mr. Trump’s relationships.

Some of Mr. Trump’s outside advisers have mentioned Nikki R. Haley, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, a post she plans to leave at the end of the year, and former governor of South Carolina, as a potential running mate. Ms. Haley is close with Mr. Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Mr. Trump gave her an unusually warm send-off in the Oval Office when she announced she was leaving the United Nations job in September.

And Ms. Haley on the ticket might help Mr. Trump win back the support of the women voters, who voted for Democratic candidates in large numbers in the midterm elections.

But Ms. Haley is less likely to show the same kind of public loyalty as Mr. Pence, a former congressman and governor of Indiana. She recently poked fun at Mr. Trump in a speech at the annual Al Smith Dinner in New York City, where politicians historically make jokes at the expense of themselves and their supporters. And that was after her original speech was toned down, and some of the barbs at Mr. Trump removed, people familiar with the address said.

Some of Mr. Trump’s evangelical supporters feel particularly strongly that making a change would be a mistake.

“Mike Pence is an invaluable asset to President Trump politically, on shaping policy and personnel, and in cementing the epoxy-like bond with evangelicals,” said Ralph Reed, the founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. “He is also fiercely loyal, which is the coin of Trump’s realm. The president has said he plans to keep Pence, and that is an infinitely wise decision.”

But some who have studied evangelical voters and their political activity say losing Mr. Pence wouldn’t necessarily be a disaster.

Robert P. Jones, the chief executive of the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, said that the president faced an “at best moderate risk” if he were to drop Mr. Pence from the ticket.

Mr. Jones said that while Mr. Pence may have served as a validating figure for white evangelicals, recent research showed that 7 out of 10 white evangelicals who identify with or lean toward the Republican Party would prefer Mr. Trump over any alternative Republican candidate in 2020.

A third of white evangelicals who support Trump, Mr. Jones said, indicated there was virtually nothing the president could do to shake their trust — which theoretically includes selecting a new running mate.

“At the end of the day evangelicals have become sold not just on Pence but on Trump himself,” Mr. Jones said.

 

[thoughtful]

Trump's phenomenal stupidity about voter fraud made me think of something that had never occurred to me before. I bet he'd never voted in his life, before he voted for himself in the 2016 election. He probably considered himself too important for such trivialities.

[fraurosena]

 

[AmazonGrace]

Man not smart: