Trump 37: Tweeting instead of Leading

[AmazonGrace]

38 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

Hold a sec because I do seem to recall he mocked SNL saying their ratings sucked and nobody watched it right? What does he mean by  "Dem commercials"? 

Anything not rabidly Pro Trump has to be paid DNC propaganda I think. 

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

More for Dumpy to whine about:

 

[AmazonGrace]

It's perfectly on brand because he doesn't get it. 

[mamallama]

While we're talking about supposed media bias I have a question.  Why the drama about Google?  Even if there was a demonstrable bias caused by something other than a shitload of people calling trump an idiot, so what?  The fairness doctrine was done away with.  As far as I know there's no internet specific legislation.  There are sites on the internet that go way beyond right leaning into dangerous conspiracy theories and no one holds Senate hearings.  I get that it's all theater but I can't help but worry about their end game.

[fraurosena]

 

[Howl]

Quote

This use of the word rat was invented by criminals to describe a criminal who tells the truth.

Brilliant! 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[fraurosena]

Who needs enemies, with lawyers like these?

 

[onekidanddone]

58 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Who needs enemies, with lawyers like these?

 

@fraurosena Let me introduce to Nixon, Mojo Nixon

 

[AmazonGrace]

I assume Manbaby is livetweeting Fox again. 

 

No it was WSJ 

 

[fraurosena]

He only hires the best people...

 

[mamallama]

43 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

I assume Manbaby is livetweeting Fox again. 

 

No it was WSJ 

 

Gimme a break Donnie Dumbshit!  You spent years claiming to have proof that Obama was ineligible for office claiming you had proof that he was not born in the US.  Then you admitted you lied and moved on.  Something tells me Mueller has higher standards of proof for the allegations he will make.

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

Ha, I was just typing up my post about this very article when you jumped me to the post, @AmazonGrace!

So there is jurisprudence/precedent for arresting a president! 

[fraurosena]

Oh, sweet, sweet Rufus. You'd think that when you've been made fun of on Twitter, your favorite social media, because of your abysmal spelling, you'd not make the same mistake again. #BoarderSecurity

Also, I don't get it... how does it save billions of dollars a year when he's asking for billions more to build that stupid wall?

[Howl]

19 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Who needs enemies, with lawyers like these?

Anderson Cooper on 360: Rudy is Trump's TV lawyer. 

 

And of course he is: Trump says he’ll review murder case against former Green Beret

Excerpt: 

Quote

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Sunday that he will be “reviewing” the case of a former U.S. Army commando being charged with murder, raising questions about the possibility he could jeopardize the ongoing military legal proceedings.

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

Merry Christmas, Donald Trump!

[Howl]

Hah, I came over to post this but you beat me to it!   This is what Hubs has been saying since Day One.  Yes, please watch this video; it will be immensely cheering, because this scenario will play out exactly as Deutsch predicts.   Something about The Wheels of Justice turn slowly but exceedingly fine.....This goes back to the Romans. 

9 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"If Trump doesn’t like SNL’s sketches about him, he really shouldn’t turn on European TV"

Spoiler

BERLIN — It’s time for Christmas gifts in Europe, and comedy sketch writers here have rarely considered themselves to be so fortunate. As the continent’s very own Brexit drama is turning into a dark comedy, President Trump is a gift that keeps on giving to satirical shows.

Europe’s star comedians are doing their best to return the favor. Last week, Germany’s top-rated “Heute Show” satirical broadcast awarded Trump its so-called Goldener Vollpfosten (Golden Idiot) award for the fourth-consecutive time — a keenly anticipated decision by the public broadcaster that made its way into the nation’s more serious news outlets. Trump shares this year’s award with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, among others.

Meanwhile, in Brexit-distraught Britain, viewers appeared relieved that things may still look messier in the White House than on 10 Downing Street and picked a Trump joke as their annual favorite. Some 2,000 Brits followed a call for action by British comedy channel Gold and picked the following line as 2018′s most hilarious one: “What does Donald Trump do after he pulls a cracker? Pays her off.” Pulling a cracker, according to Urban Dictionary, is a British “phrase used during the festive season to describe going out with a view to hooking up with an attractive person” — a not-too-subtle reference to the hush money payments by Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen.

Now, there is an abundance of research trying to explain why Americans sometime struggle to laugh about British jokes, besides the language barrier. But if Trump ever decided to test whether he is an exception, now might be an especially bad time to try it out. In Europe, where Trump-friendly viewers are rare, broadcasters go to little or no lengths to soften their mockery of the U.S. president, and they appear to have recently become even more emboldened.

For instance, one recent sketch by a German comedian that’s been widely shared on YouTube imagined a discussion between “God” and Trump after his death, with “God” investigating whether he belongs in heaven. Let’s just say that Trump didn’t fare too well in the fictional conversation.

In the United States, the much more veiled late-night ridicule of Trump has resulted in a heated debate about the purpose of humor and its limits. A frequent target of shows like “Saturday Night Live," Trump doubled down on earlier criticism this weekend and suggested some jokes could be illegal.

“A REAL scandal is the one sided coverage, hour by hour, of networks like NBC & Democrat spin machines like Saturday Night Live,” Trump tweeted on Sunday. “It is all nothing less than unfair news coverage and Dem commercials. Should be tested in courts, can’t be legal? Only defame & belittle! Collusion?”

The tweet drew ire from members of his own party, including Republican Rep.-elect Dan Crenshaw (Tex.), who wrote that the “1st Amendment is the backbone of American exceptionalism.” Crenshaw himself recently experienced the sometimes brutal humor politicians face on late-night television, when he was mocked by SNL’s Pete Davidson for wearing an eye patch. (Davidson later apologized.)

Humor as an element of the political debate isn’t unique to the United States, of course, nor is the debate over its limits. In Europe, stricter defamation laws and prior trials have produced an abundance of research on a difficult question Trump is now raising: How far can humor go?

Very far, say those who emphasize the societal functions of humor, “to change or reform society by means of humor,” as the Israeli researcher Avner Ziv summarized in 1988. To determine how free citizens really are in a country, it helps to check how politicians deal with satirical portrayals of themselves, the academic suggested.

“Its victims fear it as a threat to their power and position. Thus in totalitarian countries satire directed against the ruling powers is banned, and any manifestation of satire earns harsh punishment,” he explained.

Still, some researchers have cautioned that satire and comedy can indeed breach limits, especially when they reinforce existing stereotypes. By laughing at or mocking certain groups, "comedy can be a way of passing on nasty ideas,” as University of Kent researcher Sophie Quirk phrased it in an interview with the BBC in 2016.

The question is what qualifies as a “nasty idea" in Europe, the United States and elsewhere.

In 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan decided to find out. He sued German comedian Jan Böhmermann, who had recited a poem mocking the Turkish president on the same TV channel that has now awarded Trump the “Golden Idiot” award. At the time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel cleared the way for Böhmermann’s prosecution, saying that “it is not up to the government to decide."

“Prosecutors and courts should weigh personal rights against the freedom of press and art,” Merkel said, indicating that there are limits to freedom of speech in Germany. Erdogan was suing the comedian over a German law that prohibited insulting heads of state.

In the ensuing trials, several German courts largely sided with Erdogan and prohibited the German comedian from repeating to recite 18 out of 24 of the poem’s lines that included unsavory accusations against the president.

So, could Trump sue German TV instead of SNL?

Not exactly. Stunned by the legal fallout, European lawmakers decided to expand critics’ free speech rights rather than restrict them. Norway and the Netherlands announced they would abolish similarly dated laws prohibiting mockery of foreign heads of state. In Germany, the Justice Ministry said it would scrap its own “outdated and unnecessary" law last January.

In a twist that didn’t go unnoticed, the announcement came just in time for Trump’s first days in office.

 

[fraurosena]

The presidunce decidedly does not want discovery in his Emoluments Clause case. Gee, I wonder why? ?

 

[GreyhoundFan]

From Jennifer Rubin: "Americans grow weary of the Trump turmoil"

Spoiler

Watching President Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani try to have it all ways (“No. I don’t believe [Roger Stone told Trump about WikiLeaks]. But again, if Roger Stone gave anybody a heads-up about WikiLeaks’ leaks, that’s not a crime. It would be like giving him a heads-up that the Times is going to print something”), and hearing the president and his surrogates pretend that felonies are akin to “jaywalking” or paperwork violations, one might feel annoyed — if not infuriated — by the deceit and disdain for the law. At times, as on Fox News on Sunday, Giuliani becomes a source of comic relief:

WALLACE:  The president has changed his story repeatedly about whether or not he knew about hush money. Here is what he said on Air Force One -- the president said on Air Force One this April, eight months ago. . . .  The president said he doesn’t know anything about any payments, but in one of those tapes that you’re talking about where Cohen surreptitiously taped the president -- this is back in September of 2016 -- here are the president and Cohen discussing a potential -- . . . .  So which is it? Did the president know about the hush money payments or not?

GIULIANI: Chris, there’s an intervening event that you’re not talking about. I know this really well because I got criticized for revealing this when I first came into the case. Nobody really understood why I was doing it. . . .

When I first came into the case, we went through the whole case. The president saw some notes and documents, thought about it, and I went out and said, no, there was an intervening conversation after the payments took place and before the revelations you're talking about on Air Force One.

The president did talk to Cohen or to people in between and they arranged to reimburse Cohen. This was after the payment was made, after it was over, after the campaign was over. . . .

WALLACE: They're talking about a conversation, sir, in September of 2016 during the campaign. The president is clearly aware that David Pecker, the head of "National Enquirer" had paid off Karen McDougal and they're talking about reimbursing McDougal --

GIULIANI: Well, you know, that's --

WALLACE: -- or reimbursing Pecker for that payment.

GIULIANI: But there's a -- there's a big difference here. That was a - that was a conversation he was asked, middle of the campaign, I was with him back then in the middle of the campaign, he's working 18 hours a day. I wasn't able to remember a lot of things that happened in September of 2016. He was asked it one time.

When he sat down with his lawyer and went through it in great detail and saw things that could refresh his recollection, we immediately corrected it.

Nobody pushed us, nobody found it, we found it. And we corrected it and I got criticized like crazy for doing it. . . .

WALLACE: You're moving shells around on me. Either it happened or it didn't happen.

GIULIANI: But that's what lawyers do all the time. You argue in the alternative. I'm telling it --

WALLACE: But I’m asking you for the truth, sir.

Well, the truth is clearly not part of Giuliani’s job description. Who in the world would take seriously Giuliani’s self-contradictions, blatant misstatements of law and fact, and smears of prosecutors? Not that many people, it turns out.

It may be of some solace to those exasperated with the lies and mumbo-jumbo defenses of the president to learn that the vast majority of Americans don’t buy what Trump and his flacks are saying. Indeed, hardly anyone outside the cult of Trump is being persuaded by much of anything he says these days.

The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll reports, “Asked in the poll if Trump has been honest and truthful when it comes to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and related matters, 62 percent of all adults say they disagree. That includes 94 percent of Democrats, 64 percent of independents and a quarter (24 percent) of Republicans.” The poll has little if any good news for Trump apologists:

Also in the poll, a combined 50 percent of Americans say the Russia investigation — led by special counsel Robert Mueller — has given them “major,” “fairly major” or “just some” doubts about Trump’s presidency, versus 44 percent who say it hasn’t given them more doubts. . . .

What’s more, a plurality of respondents — 46 percent — say the convictions and guilty pleas of members of Trump’s 2016 campaign suggest potential wrongdoing by the president, compared with 23 percent who believe the wrongdoing is limited only to those individuals; 28 percent don’t know enough to say.

Whether related or not, Trump’s approval in this poll dropped three points since the midterms. Moreover, “48 percent of Americans say they want Democrats in Congress to take the lead role in setting policy for the country, versus 21 percent who want congressional Republicans to take the lead and 19 percent who want Trump in charge.”

It’s interesting that of all the public figures the pollsters asked about, Michelle Obama has by far the biggest net positive rating (+38), followed by the FBI (+34). Way down the list are the Democratic Party (+2), the Republican Party (-10) and Trump (-15). But at the bottom of the list are two of Trump’s favorite regimes, Russia (-52) and Saudi Arabia (-53). It’s almost like everyone Trump attacks gets support from the public and anyone he embraces gets a thumbs-down.

The main takeaway is Trump and the Trumpsters are talking to themselves and putting off most everyone else. Former Federal Election Commission chairman Trevor Potter observed on CBS’s “Face the Nation”: “You had the president’s lawyer, Mr. Giuliani say, ‘It’s not a big deal, no one was killed.’ That is not the standard for the president of the United States in terms of complying with the law or all of these people around him. Now if it were, we wouldn’t have bank fraud prosecutions, money laundering; all sorts of other issues.” Potter’s view that the president and his surrogates may be “saying that violations of law don’t matter. . . . [but] I don’t think that’s where we are as a country. We believe in the rule of law.” According to the polls, he’s right.

Giuliani and Sean Hannity and the right-wing echo chamber and Republican sycophants can tell themselves and their cult-followers whatever fairy tale they’d like about the president and his involvement in wrongdoing. They aren’t convincing much of anyone — and if anything they are convincing the rest of the United States that Trumpists are operating in some parallel universe. Here on Earth, Trump looks more and more like a frantic liar who’ll say anything to stay out of jail and in office.

 

[fraurosena]

Spaceballs is a go.

 

[onekidanddone]

19 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Spaceballs is a go.

 

Ohhh that sounds real nifty does this mean we can launch them all into space?  I'd contribute to a go fund me for that.