Trump 37: Tweeting instead of Leading

[onekidanddone]

He came in second in Time's Person of the Year and Muller was #3. In first place were journalists who lost their lives for printing the truth.

So he will either squawk on he is more popular than Muller or rage on the free press for getting the number one spot. Only being Time's Person of the Year isn't a popularity contest. It is, according to the article I read,  "who most influenced the news and the world — for better or for worse — during the past year".

Annapolis Capital Gazette and 4 journalists named TIME’s Person of Year

[AmazonGrace]

@fraurosena 's tweet string is completely insane. How many times does he contradict himself? Totally covering all the bases, for everyone there's just what they want to hear. 

The caravans WERE coming but it's been sorted, not a problem any more! They can't get through and we didn't need the wall! Fences and Border Patrol sufficed. But wait, we have already built the wall! But wait, I want to bash Democrats and paint all immigrants as disease ridden criminals so it's their fault y'all in danger! But wait, I'm doing a great job so the border is already secure and will remain so! But wait, we have already built the wall! But wait, Democrats must vote for funds for the wall! But wait, if there are no funds Mexico will pay for it! Wait, when I said Mexico I meant the military! They will build it for free, with your tax dollars! 

[onekidanddone]

49 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

@fraurosena 's tweet string is completely insane. How many times does he contradict himself? Totally covering all the bases, for everyone there's just what they want to hear. 

The caravans WERE coming but it's been sorted, not a problem any more! They can't get through and we didn't need the wall! Fences and Border Patrol sufficed. But wait, we have already built the wall! But wait, I want to bash Democrats and paint all immigrants as disease ridden criminals so it's their fault y'all in danger! But wait, I'm doing a great job so the border is already secure and will remain so! But wait, we have already built the wall! But wait, Democrats must vote for funds for the wall! But wait, if there are no funds Mexico will pay for it! Wait, when I said Mexico I meant the military! They will build it for free, with your tax dollars! 

Holy whiplash Bat Man!  I'm going to need physical therapy after this my neck hurts really BIGLY.

[Howl]

Holy Rufus Reindeer.  Trump's having a meltdown in a WH meeting with Pelosi and Schumer IN FRONT OF THE PRESS over border wall funding!  Nancy and Chuck aren't backing down.  Pence is looking on in a face palm, WTF kind of way.

Video in this link:  Trump clashes with Pelosi, Schumer in Oval Office meeting over border wall

 

 

[formergothardite]

I see we got a glimpse of his little note cards he is given since he won't read any sort of real reports. 

Pence didn't exactly look supportive of Trump, he looked like he would rather be anywhere but there. 

[fraurosena]

30 minutes ago, Howl said:

Holy Rufus Reindeer.  Trump's having a meltdown in a WH meeting with Pelosi and Schumer IN FRONT OF THE PRESS over border wall funding!  Nancy and Chuck aren't backing down.  Pence is looking on in a face palm, WTF kind of way.

Video in this link:  Trump clashes with Pelosi, Schumer in Oval Office meeting over border wall

 

 

Wow. I'm amazed, absolutely amazed... that the presidunce was quite eloquent and made whole sentences that made sense! 

Puppet Pence is just sitting there. He doesn't contribute to the conversation one way or the other. What does he actually do all day, on taxpayer money?

[onekidanddone]

1 minute ago, fraurosena said:

Puppet Pence is just sitting there. He doesn't contribute to the conversation one way or the other. What does he actually do all day, on taxpayer money?

What ever Mother tells him to do.

[GreyhoundFan]

From Jennifer Rubin: "Trump has already lost the shutdown fight"

Spoiler

The first rule of shutdown fights is never say you are for a shutdown. Voters invariably oppose this kind of stunt and see it as evidence of incompetence and unnecessary rancor by the governing party. In short, since Republicans control everything and are likely to be blamed for shuttering the government, the last thing President Trump wants to do is say he is for a shutdown. And that’s exactly what he said Tuesday, no doubt to the joy of Democrats who are trying to convince Americans the GOP is unfit to govern.

With cameras rolling, Trump conducted a slash-and-burn meeting with Democrats. CNN reports:

President Donald Trump publicly clashed with the top House and Senate Democrats over funding for the border wall and the prospects of a government shutdown during an Oval Office meeting that was open to the press.

Trump repeatedly touted the importance of securing funding for border wall construction and was rebuffed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi who made clear that they would hold Trump responsible if the government shuts down.

"One way or the other it's going to get built. I'd like not to see a government closing, a shutdown," Trump said. "But the wall is a very important thing to us."

The sparks appeared to begin to fly after Pelosi characterized the possibility of a shutdown as a "Trump shutdown."

“If we don’t get what we want, one way or the other ... I will shut down the government,” Trump said later in the meeting.

Ironically, it was Democrats who tried to spare Trump the embarrassment. (“Pelosi and Schumer repeatedly sought to end the open press portion of the meeting," CNN reports, "telling the President they should debate in private, not in front of the cameras. ‘Let us have our conversation and then we can meet with the press again,’ Pelosi said.”)

It was an extraordinary moment when Trump not only lost the high ground as president but made Democrats look like the grown-ups. ("The American people recognize that we must keep government open, that a shutdown is not worth anything, and that we should not have a Trump shutdown,” Pelosi said, sounding more like a president than the actual president.)

As if that was not enough, Trump declared, “I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck.” Schumer was on solid ground later describing Trump’s performance as a “temper tantrum." In a terse written statement, Pelosi and Schumer said,“We gave the President two options that would keep the government open. It’s his choice to accept one of those options or shut the government down.”

Earlier in the day, the president was on a tear, making nonsensical threats.

As the New York Times noted, “Under restrictions put in place by Congress, none of that money could be used to construct a new, concrete wall of the sort the president has said is vital. The president does not have the legal authority to spend money appropriated for one purpose on another task, such as wall-building.”

It is not clear how Trump could have appeared any more irrational and unhinged. (If he thinks the military can build the wall, why shut down the government?) The video of him declaring his desire to shut down the government will be played over and over again should he get his wish. Good luck convincing the American people that the Democrats, who control nothing and advocated keeping the government open, are at fault.

Once more, Trump has put Republicans in a nasty spot. Hard-liners in the House and Senate will be emboldened by his rant. To keep the government running, GOP leadership may have to turn to Democrats for votes, giving Pelosi and Schumer leverage not only on the border wall but on other spending items as well.

In some ways, a shutdown at the end of 2018 would put an exclamation point on one of the worst years in memory for Republicans. The president is under investigation in multiple venues. Republicans lost 40 seats and with them the House majority. Indeed that number might be 41 thanks to substantial evidence of election fraud by Republicans in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District. Legislatively, Republicans have accomplished next to nothing this year. If they shut down the government, they’ll wind up confirming that the party of Trump is not only unethical but also incompetent and dysfunctional. Christmas sure came early for Democrats.

 

[fraurosena]

Is he... praying?

"God, I've been a good boy and I always listen to Mother. Please make Nancy impeach the fool so I can be president..."

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Gap continues to widen between Trump and intelligence community on key issues"

Spoiler

President Trump continues to reject the judgments of U.S. spy agencies on major foreign policy fronts, creating a dynamic in which intelligence analysts frequently see troubling gaps between the president’s public statements and the facts laid out for him in daily briefings on world events, current and former U.S. officials said.

The pattern has become a source of mounting concern to senior U.S. intelligence officials who had hoped that Trump would become less hostile to their work as he settled into office and more receptive to the information that spy agencies spend billions of dollars and sometimes put lives at risk gathering.

Instead, presidential distrust that once seemed confined mainly to the intelligence community’s assessments about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election has spread across a range of global issues. Among them are North Korea’s willingness to abandon its nuclear weapons program, Iran’s nuclear and regional ambitions, the existence and implications of global climate change and the role of the Saudi crown prince in the murder of a dissident journalist.

“There is extraordinary frustration,” a U.S. intelligence official said. The CIA and other agencies continue to devote enormous “time, energy and resources” to ensuring that accurate intelligence is delivered to Trump, the official said, but his seeming imperviousness to such material often renders “all of that a waste.”

White House officials disputed the contention that Trump is uninterested in intelligence assessments.

“The President receives regular briefings and takes counsel from his national security advisors, including the CIA Director,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement. “Whether it was deciding to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, standing up to Iran’s malign activities, or a host of other actions, the President makes decisions based on a full spectrum of information.”

Daniel Coats, the director of National Intelligence, said that Trump “remains an active and regular consumer of intelligence. Any notion that the President and his National Security team are not fully engaged in the [President’s Daily Brief] is false and clearly not based on direct knowledge.”

But U.S. officials involved in interactions with the White House said that the disconnect between spy agencies and the president is without precedent and that senior analysts have spent the past year struggling to find ways to adapt to an arrangement they described as dysfunctional.

Many have taken to writing “for the record,” officials said, meaning that they generate reports to document intelligence community warnings on North Korea, Iran and other subjects.

Briefings of Cabinet officials have taken on new urgency, officials said, because Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and others are seen as influential on policy issues and potential conduits to the president.

The PDB, a document that for decades has been drawn up specifically for the commander in chief, “has become more important for Cabinet-level officials than the president,” said a former senior U.S. intelligence official who until earlier this year was involved in drafting such documents. The official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Officials said there are areas where Trump’s views are more closely aligned with those of the intelligence community, including on Chinese aggression in Asia and online and the threat posed by Islamist terror groups.

But for every area of agreement, there are examples of significant disparity. Trump, for example, asserted in June that because of his administration’s negotiations with Pyongyang, there is “no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea.” U.S. intelligence officials said that there is no such view among analysts.

Trump accused Iran of violating a 2015 nuclear agreement with the United States and other major powers despite assessments by U.S. spy agencies and allies that Tehran was in compliance. More recently, Trump has claimed that his decision to abandon the nuclear deal had forced Iran into regional retreat and led to turnover in the top ranks of its government. “They’re a much, much different group of leaders,” he said in June.

But CIA assessments do not describe any such shift, officials said, noting that Iran’s religious rulers remain firmly entrenched and that the country continues to uses proxies to fuel conflict across the Middle East.

Perhaps most notably, Trump has repeatedly undercut the agency’s assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was a contributing columnist for The Post.

The agency reached that conclusion with “medium to high confidence,” terms that reflect a high degree of certainty. But Trump has described the CIA as having vague “feelings” on Mohammed’s culpability, and when pressed on whether he thought the crown prince gave the order, said, “Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t.”

By contrast, senior lawmakers emerged from a session last week with CIA Director Gina Haspel saying the case against Mohammed was overwhelming. “There’s not a smoking gun — there’s a smoking saw,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said, referring to the alleged dismemberment of Khashoggi’s corpse.

In response to inquiries from The Post, Haspel said in a statement that “President Trump has demonstrated a deep interest and appreciation for intelligence. He asks hard questions and challenges assumptions. As I have seen time and again, he takes into account a range of input, including CIA assessments, when deliberating policy decisions.”

The Trump administration has cultivated a close alliance with Riyadh, and even Cabinet officials have seemed to skew their characterization of the Khashoggi case to avoid contradicting the president.

Mattis and Pompeo both said that there was “no direct reporting” linking Mohammed to Khashoggi’s killing, carefully worded statements that seemed aimed at casting doubt on the degree of certainty conveyed by U.S. intelligence reports.

Trump came into office denouncing the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential race, a case that has only grown stronger with evidence gathered by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

Trump’s handling of the matter has been a much greater source of dismay inside the intelligence community than widely understood. One official said CIA employees were staggered by Trump’s performance during a news conference with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin in Helsinki earlier this year in which Trump treated denials by Putin as so “strong and powerful” that they offset the conclusions of the CIA.

“There was this gasp” among those watching at CIA, the official said. “You literally had people in panic mode watching it at Langley. On all floors. Just shock.”

The disorienting impact of such statements has rippled beyond CIA headquarters even to stations overseas, where intelligence operatives have struggled to comprehend Trump’s characterization of developments abroad.

“I think you definitely do see a bewilderment and a concern over the president’s conduct and relationship to the intelligence community,” said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who frequently visits with senior CIA officials on overseas trips.

Trump’s disagreements are not driven by “questions about their methodology or differing interpretations of the same facts,” Schiff said. “He wants to tell an alternate narrative.”

All presidents make policy decisions that run counter to input from U.S. intelligence agencies. But officials said Trump goes beyond exercising his authority to reject such advice by attacking the accuracy of the underlying information.

Seeking to bolster support for his plan to build a wall along the southern U.S. border, Trump has made claims about migrants — including that they are harboring terrorists and, as he tweeted on Wednesday, bringing “large scale crime and disease” — that are not grounded in available intelligence, officials said.

Trump has frequently noted blunders by U.S. spy agencies, particularly in the run-up to the Iraq War. He has also been dismissive of other experts in his administration, saying his own instincts are superior. “I have a gut,” he said in an interview last month, “and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.”

Trump’s defenders said his relationship with the intelligence community has improved over the past year, in part because of the departure of leaders who had held senior jobs under President Barack Obama.

“The president had understandable reservations about the IC,” said Fred Fleitz, a former intelligence officer who served in the White House under national security adviser John Bolton for several months earlier this year.

“The good news is that Mike Pompeo and John Bolton have been resolving this problem and restoring the president’s confidence in the IC,” Fleitz said.

Bolton is a voracious consumer of intelligence reports but rarely sits through sessions with his designated briefer the way his predecessor, H.R. McMaster, did, officials said. Bolton’s approach has raised concern among some that the intelligence community’s access inside the White House has been further diminished.

But Fleitz said the opposite is true because of Bolton’s appetite for intelligence and habit of relaying material of interest to Trump.

Trump is “getting the PDB but Bolton basically is giving him vast amounts of intelligence throughout the day,” Fleitz said. “I think he’s getting most of it from what Bolton is able to recount for him.”

From the start of Trump’s presidency, the CIA and DNI began streamlining the PDB, reducing it to a collection of bullet points and images or graphics. U.S. officials have made additional adaptations over the past two years.

They generally refrain from sending analysts who are deep experts on a specific subject, instead dispatching generalists for meetings with a president whose attention tends to wander.

Analysts have learned to emphasize economic issues that resonate with Trump and to employ eye-catching graphics. Even so, briefers often return from the White House voicing concern.

“Either it doesn’t resonate or there is a lack of comprehension,” the U.S. official said. “You feel frustration and helplessness in a way. What else can you do?”

 

[onekidanddone]

3 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Is he... praying?

"God, I've been a good boy and I always listen to Mother. Please make Nancy impeach the fool so I can be president..."

 

 

Nancy is third in line Mikey..You go down, she steps up.

[GreyhoundFan]

"‘It’s like a manhood thing for him’: Pelosi comments on Trump and his wall"

Spoiler

Moments after returning to Capitol Hill after an Oval Office standoff with President Trump, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi questioned Trump’s manhood and said the border wall was a matter of masculine pride.

“It’s like a manhood thing for him. As if manhood could ever be associated with him. This wall thing,” said the California congresswoman.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) made the remarks in a Democratic caucus committee meeting, which were recounted by an aide present who was not authorized to comment publicly. She told colleagues that she was “trying to be the mom” in the room while Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) bickered about the coming funding showdown.

But she described Trump’s admission during the 17-minute on-camera tete-a-tete that he would be “proud” to shut the government as a political triumph.

“The fact is, we did get him to say, to fully own, that the shutdown was his,” she said, according to the aide. “That was an accomplishment.”

Said Trump at the meeting, “I am proud to shut down the government for border security . . . I will be the one to shut it down, I’m not going to blame you for it.”

Pelosi’s encounter with Trump on Tuesday came as she continues to try an win votes among fellow Democrats to be elected speaker next month. In a tweet this morning and at the Oval Office meeting, Trump made reference to that contest, suggesting it was a reason Pelosi would not negotiate on wall funding.

But Pelosi’s performance in the meeting stands to improve her chances of winning support among fellow Democrats, and her remarks to colleagues sought to highlight how she believed she and Schumer had won the upper political hand,

She used a similar line in October during an event at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, where she said the wall “happens to be like a manhood issue for the president, and I’m not interested in that.”

Pelosi also described to colleagues how the Oval Office meeting concluded, according to the aide: “He said, ‘We can go two routes with this meeting — with a knife or a candy.’ I said, ‘Exactly.’”

 

 

[Howl]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

Is he... praying?

He's praying to be raptured immediately. 

I follow Hoarse Whisperer on twitter.  Hoarse Whisperer had up close and personal experience living with a narcissistic personality.  This is his take on Pelosi's strategy today: 

 

[fraurosena]

 

[hoipolloi]

If you can't stand watching the entire 16 minutes or so, there's a good summary here with some highlight clips.

So great to see Nancy Smash and Shumer tag team tRump into a meltdown. 

And FUCK YOU, Mike Pence. Just FUCK YOU.

[GreyhoundFan]

The WaPo published an annotated transcript of the shit show. The notes are very interesting. Unfortunately, I can't quote here because of the notes. If Dumpy had any people with a spine working for him, after this mess, they'd make sure no camera or microphone was within 1000 feet of him for the next two years.

[hoipolloi]

Leave it to Andy Borowitz...

 

[Howl]

Who's your Daddy now, Donnie?  Is it Nancy?  Bet somebody's going to put some Ambien in Donnie's Diet Coke tonight so everybody can get some sleep. 

[Audrey2]

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Is he... praying?

"God, I've been a good boy and I always listen to Mother. Please make Nancy impeach the fool so I can be president..."

 

 

If I close my eyes, I'll be invisible. No one will ever know I was here at the meeting, so I can insist that there was no meeting in the future.

 

1 hour ago, hoipolloi said:

Leave it to Andy Borowitz...

 

Hmm... Tiny...only stays for a few seconds...This sounds like something else that is Trump's. Thank you, Stormy, for the imagery behind this.

[Penny]

Dear Santa,

There is someone who is #1 on your naughty list and I hope he gets what he deserves. He does not play nice with others, says mean things and breaks the law. You might know him as Individual 1. Coal is too good a gift for him, so if you could just drop him off at the nearest jail, and be sure to take his phone.  We will all have a very Merry Christmas!

 

 

[Audrey2]

15 minutes ago, Penny said:

Dear Santa,

There is someone who is #1 on your naughty list and I hope he gets what he deserves. He does not play nice with others, says mean things and breaks the law. You might know him as Individual 1. Coal is too good a gift for him, so if you could just drop him off at the nearest jail, and be sure to take his phone.  We will all have a very Merry Christmas!

 

 

Even better, he'll be behind his big, beautiful wall that someone else will pay for. Don't know what he would do without his McDonald's and KFC though...

[fraurosena]

Elderly man has tantrum when woman tells him no.

 

[onekidanddone]

4 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

"‘It’s like a manhood thing for him’: Pelosi comments on Trump and his wall"

  Reveal hidden contents

Moments after returning to Capitol Hill after an Oval Office standoff with President Trump, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi questioned Trump’s manhood and said the border wall was a matter of masculine pride.

“It’s like a manhood thing for him. As if manhood could ever be associated with him. This wall thing,” said the California congresswoman.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) made the remarks in a Democratic caucus committee meeting, which were recounted by an aide present who was not authorized to comment publicly. She told colleagues that she was “trying to be the mom” in the room while Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) bickered about the coming funding showdown.

But she described Trump’s admission during the 17-minute on-camera tete-a-tete that he would be “proud” to shut the government as a political triumph.

“The fact is, we did get him to say, to fully own, that the shutdown was his,” she said, according to the aide. “That was an accomplishment.”

Said Trump at the meeting, “I am proud to shut down the government for border security . . . I will be the one to shut it down, I’m not going to blame you for it.”

Pelosi’s encounter with Trump on Tuesday came as she continues to try an win votes among fellow Democrats to be elected speaker next month. In a tweet this morning and at the Oval Office meeting, Trump made reference to that contest, suggesting it was a reason Pelosi would not negotiate on wall funding.

But Pelosi’s performance in the meeting stands to improve her chances of winning support among fellow Democrats, and her remarks to colleagues sought to highlight how she believed she and Schumer had won the upper political hand,

She used a similar line in October during an event at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics, where she said the wall “happens to be like a manhood issue for the president, and I’m not interested in that.”

Pelosi also described to colleagues how the Oval Office meeting concluded, according to the aide: “He said, ‘We can go two routes with this meeting — with a knife or a candy.’ I said, ‘Exactly.’”

 

 

What is the real story behind the wall? It can't be just that he promised his base, or that he really believes that the hordes of women and babies are going to take over the country. My mind keeps coming back to the the mob. Who does he owe? The mob. Who was hoping to get the golden contract to build the wall? The mob.

Just speculation, but maybe he is shitting his pants a bright orange because he isn't going to be able to make good on that contract.

ETA: The reason why I don't think it is just to appease his base is because a promise means nothing to him.  He walks back on things he said he would do and acts like he never made the promise in the first place.  Now I worry (yes I worry 24/7/365) that he might have some deal like Cheney did with Blackwater.  Gotta make up a war to justify all that money flowing to contractors.

[formergothardite]

31 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

My mind keeps coming back to the the mob. Who does he owe? The mob. Who was hoping to get the golden contract to build the wall? The mob.

My husband has been saying this. He has said for a long time that Trump was planning on using that wall to get money to someone. It may have started out as something he just said to stir up crowds, but it has turned into something much bigger. It is getting very clear that he needs the wall for some reason. Either he has promised the contract to someone who has power over him or he needed to use the construction as a way to launder money for powerful people. 

 He knows he could drop the wall and his base would still love him. He may be racist as fuck but he really doesn't care about people coming here illegally, he will hire them! He is planning on using that wall for something besides protecting borders which is why he is so fixated on it.

[SassyPants]

And the wall and his act today is a total catalyst for a media deflection away from the Mueller investigation-

DT wanted everyone talking about anything other than his connections to Manafort, Flynn, Cohen and the Russia debacle.