Trump 38: Donald Trump and the Wall of Lies

[fraurosena]

This is what happens when a blithering idiot starts blathering.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

2 hours ago, Dandruff said:

Trumpettes?!  WT...

Yeah, there was a feature in one of the newspapers about them right after Dumpy was inaugurated. Talk about a group of idiots...

[Howl]

Remember Dr. Ronny "Trump has great genes!" Jackson?  Physician to the White House and candy man extraordinaire?  Anyway, Dr. Ronny is still under investigation for various things, but no matter, Trump has recommended Dr. Ronny for a second star! 

Trump Nominates White House Doctor Ronny Jackson For 2nd Star, Despite Ongoing Investigation

[GreyhoundFan]

A good one from Dana Milbank: "Trump is on a mission from God"

Spoiler

President Trump is on a mission from God. Thus spake the White House press secretary, at any rate.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, asked by the Christian Broadcasting Network this week about Trump being the right man for the moment, replied: “I think God calls all of us to fill different roles at different times and I think that he wanted Donald Trump to become president, and that’s why he’s there.”

This makes sense, because Trump has of late been acting as if he draws his authority from the divine right of kings. He’s asserting his absolute power to act without — and often in contravention of — the Democratic House, the Republican Senate, his own intelligence agencies, law enforcement authorities and diplomats, and the will of the American public.

Presidential defenders say the Sanders claim is simply a repetition of the biblical admonition that all temporal leaders are established by God. And conservative evangelicals have reason to be pleased with Trump’s judicial picks and other policies.

But Sanders appeared to go further in suggesting that God, much like Russian President Vladimir Putin, played an active role in installing Trump (“that’s why he’s there”). For the president’s principal spokeswoman, in a West Wing interview, to claim God is for Trump — and by extension God is against Democrats (she also ridiculed the idea that Democrats have any moral authority) — goes beyond an expression of personal belief.

It contradicts an American creed, embraced by many believers in this nation under God, best captured by John F. Kennedy at the close of his inaugural address: “Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

Now we hear from the White House that God’s work is . . . Trump.

If so, His choice of a thrice-married, foul-mouthed, untruthful casino mogul as His vessel raises thorny theological questions, not least: Why did God award Hillary Clinton the popular vote? And why, given all the Christian conservatives of high character running for president, did God go with a man who boasted about grabbing women by the [expletive], who paid hush money to a porn star, and who derided the “interesting” tendency of Vice President Pence to pray?

Perhaps it was Trump’s boast that “nobody reads the Bible more than me.” Or his National Prayer Breakfast call to pray for Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ratings on “The Apprentice.” Or his sermon to Liberty University students about the “two Corinthians.” Or his vow to keep “Merry Christmas in department stores, believe me. ”

We can’t be certain that God didn’t approach Donald, son of Fred, from a burning bush, and that Donald didn’t tell God that in Finland “they spend a lot of time on raking . . . and they don’t have any problem” with forest fires. Or that God didn’t speak to Donald, as to Joshua outside Jericho, telling him the wall would fall, to which Donald replied, “Mexico is going to pay.”

God works in mysterious ways. But this much isn’t at all mysterious: The president is acting as if he answers to nobody here in the mortal realm.

He isn’t bound by the will of the Democratic House, saying he will build a wall regardless of what Congress wants: “Wall is already being built, I don’t expect much help!”He isn’t bound by the expertise of intelligence officials, even his own appointees, publicly calling them “extremely passive and naive” and saying they “should go back to school!”

He isn’t bound by the actions of law enforcement, calling the actions of the FBI in arresting his friend Roger Stone “very, very disappointing” and worthy of investigation.

He isn’t bound by national-security considerations; the Financial Times reported this week that he again met secretly with Putin in November, without staff or note-taker.

He isn’t bound by the pretense of representing all Americans. His trade adviser, Peter Navarro, said this week that Trump’s policies benefit “Trump people” (Navarro later tried to retreat).

And Trump isn’t even bound by the wishes of fellow Republicans running the Senate. The Senate this week passed a measure by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) objecting to hasty withdrawals from Syria and Afghanistan, and only three Republicans sided with Trump’s position.

It’s encouraging to see McConnell take even a symbolic stand for democratic institutions, but he has been one of the biggest contributors to their destruction. This week he derided as a “power grab” a sweeping Democratic voting-rights and campaign-finance bill, ridiculing the idea of making Election Day a national holiday to boost voter participation.

In a democracy, the idea of people voting is not a power grab. A power grab is a president ignoring democratic checks, while his chief mouthpiece asserts that God is on his side.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

From Rick Wilson: "If you’re still working for Trump, his stink won’t ever wash off"

Spoiler

Twenty months ago — four months into President Trump’s tenure — I tried my best to warn members of his team that even at that early stage, if you worked for Trump, it was time to quit. Whatever initial enthusiasm you had for the man, whatever your ambitions, however indispensable you thought you were in the attempt to smooth his rough edges, the smart move was to get out.

“Do it now,” I wrote, to preserve your professional reputation or a semblance of dignity.

But if, at this stage, you’re like former White House aide Cliff Sims, recently out with a book about Trump’s discombobulated “Team of Vipers” — but still telling interviewers how “proud” you were to work for him — you’re too late.

If you’re former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R), currently on the talk-show circuit, regaling us with tales of Trump’s hubris — mere weeks after interviewing for the White House chief of staff job — you’re too late. If you’re former congressman Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), and you just accepted the job of acting White House chief of staff — your third Trump administration gig — the word “acting” in your title is an insufficient fig leaf. You’re definitely acting, just not in the way you think.

If you’re former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R), flailing as you leverage your past credibility to mount Trump’s legal defense, you’re not just too late, you’re pathetic. If you’re national security adviser John Bolton, at this point you’re a prop. If you seek redemption some day, after leaving the administration, I hope you have a verifiable story to tell about persuading Trump to stand down from an ill-advised missile strike.

There was a window of time during which giving Trump a chance was justifiable out of a sense of duty to country. You might have been vindicated for doing so if Trump had surprised us all and made good on his boast that, “with the exception of the late, great Abraham Lincoln, I can be more presidential than any president that’s ever held this office.” But that window closed. You had ample opportunity to see, up close, the capriciousness, vainglory and allergic reaction to facts that the rest of us saw from afar. If you’re just now disavowing Trump, or explaining away your support for him, don’t bother. You own it. Leaving 2016 to 2019 blank on your LinkedIn page won’t save you from disgrace.

Sure, you might get a book deal. And you’ll probably find private sector employment — K Street is still a cozy hideout for plenty of Washington rejects. But history will remember you as an enabler, not a truth-teller. If you were still employed by the president or tap dancing on his behalf at any time in recent months, his stink is on you, and it won’t wash off.

There are exceptions, of course: The civil servants who staffed government departments before Trump’s time in office, and who will remain after he leaves, certainly deserve no blame. Economic adviser Gary Cohn left the White House after fighting a losing, but noble, battle to rein in the White House’s delusional trade-war faction. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis performed a public service by writing a resignation letter that cut ties with Trump in the clearest possible terms: “You have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours” is Cabinet-speak for take this job and shove it.

At best, though, most of the rest are Omarosas, passing off the obvious as insight: When Omarosa Manigault Newman left the White House staff, we didn’t need her to tell us that Trump spouts race-baiting drivel. He’s done it out in the open for years.

At worst, they are like Sims: He served in the administration for well over a year, then found a way to distance himself just enough to sell a juicy tell-all, but he still can’t come clean about the president’s foulest tendencies. When the New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner pressed Sims to assess Trump’s both-sides-ism in the wake of torch-lit Charlottesville chants of “Jews will not replace us,” Sims hedged: “I would love to see the president use his bully pulpit for that more effectively.” When asked to explain the genesis of Trump’s birtherism, all Sims had to say was: “I have no idea.”

In the words of Ed Lover: C’mon, son. Lack of self-awareness is a terrible quality, even for a toady.

From this point on, any freshly departed Trump staffer’s public postmortem will only help fill in the blanks. It will add nothing to the by-now-plain-as-day big picture: Trump is the worst president ever. Only a suck-up won’t admit it.

If you’re the next press secretary, policy adviser or White House counsel contemplating a melodramatic, self-absolving throwing-in of your Trump-caddying towel, don’t expect hosannas from the public in return for your pseudo-courage. You might hope Trump’s stench will fade, but I’ll still smell it. If there’s any justice left, everybody else will, too. Like a bad ‘80s haircut, your political cowardice will be forever preserved on the Interwebs. Your 15 minutes of shame won’t rehabilitate you, because selling out your Trump-world cronies can’t erase your original sin: selling out your country.

So peddle your fictional nonfiction. Write your anonymous op-eds. It won’t matter. For a year, or two, or more, you stood athwart history yelling: “Thank you, sir! May I have another?” You served a man bent on division and distraction. You helped him make America grate again. Even after he leaves office, you won’t be able to live it down.

 

[AmazonGrace]

I think Schitt was intentional but otherwise huh

[47of74]

Fornicate Face gets mad when people puncture his reality

Quote

In the wake of President Donald Trump’s renewed attacks on the U.S. intelligence community this week, senior intelligence briefers are breaking two years of silence to warn that the President is endangering American security with what they say is a stubborn disregard for their assessments.

Citing multiple in-person episodes, these intelligence officials say Trump displays what one called “willful ignorance” when presented with analyses generated by America’s $81 billion-a-year intelligence services. The officials, who include analysts who prepare Trump’s briefs and the briefers themselves, describe futile attempts to keep his attention by using visual aids, confining some briefing points to two or three sentences, and repeating his name and title as frequently as possible.

What is most troubling, say these officials and others in government and on Capitol Hill who have been briefed on the episodes, are Trump’s angry reactions when he is given information that contradicts positions he has taken or beliefs he holds. Two intelligence officers even reported that they have been warned to avoid giving the President intelligence assessments that contradict stances he has taken in public.

That reaction was on display this week. At a Congressional hearing on national security threats, the leaders of all the major intelligence agencies, including the Directors of National Intelligence, the CIA and the FBI contradicted Trump on issues relating to North Korea, Russia, the Islamic State, and Iran. In response, Trump said the intelligence chiefs were “passive and naïve” and suggested they “should go back to school.”

 

17 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

From Rick Wilson: "If you’re still working for Trump, his stink won’t ever wash off"

  Hide contents

Twenty months ago — four months into President Trump’s tenure — I tried my best to warn members of his team that even at that early stage, if you worked for Trump, it was time to quit. Whatever initial enthusiasm you had for the man, whatever your ambitions, however indispensable you thought you were in the attempt to smooth his rough edges, the smart move was to get out.

“Do it now,” I wrote, to preserve your professional reputation or a semblance of dignity.

But if, at this stage, you’re like former White House aide Cliff Sims, recently out with a book about Trump’s discombobulated “Team of Vipers” — but still telling interviewers how “proud” you were to work for him — you’re too late.

If you’re former New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R), currently on the talk-show circuit, regaling us with tales of Trump’s hubris — mere weeks after interviewing for the White House chief of staff job — you’re too late. If you’re former congressman Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), and you just accepted the job of acting White House chief of staff — your third Trump administration gig — the word “acting” in your title is an insufficient fig leaf. You’re definitely acting, just not in the way you think.

If you’re former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani (R), flailing as you leverage your past credibility to mount Trump’s legal defense, you’re not just too late, you’re pathetic. If you’re national security adviser John Bolton, at this point you’re a prop. If you seek redemption some day, after leaving the administration, I hope you have a verifiable story to tell about persuading Trump to stand down from an ill-advised missile strike.

There was a window of time during which giving Trump a chance was justifiable out of a sense of duty to country. You might have been vindicated for doing so if Trump had surprised us all and made good on his boast that, “with the exception of the late, great Abraham Lincoln, I can be more presidential than any president that’s ever held this office.” But that window closed. You had ample opportunity to see, up close, the capriciousness, vainglory and allergic reaction to facts that the rest of us saw from afar. If you’re just now disavowing Trump, or explaining away your support for him, don’t bother. You own it. Leaving 2016 to 2019 blank on your LinkedIn page won’t save you from disgrace.

Sure, you might get a book deal. And you’ll probably find private sector employment — K Street is still a cozy hideout for plenty of Washington rejects. But history will remember you as an enabler, not a truth-teller. If you were still employed by the president or tap dancing on his behalf at any time in recent months, his stink is on you, and it won’t wash off.

There are exceptions, of course: The civil servants who staffed government departments before Trump’s time in office, and who will remain after he leaves, certainly deserve no blame. Economic adviser Gary Cohn left the White House after fighting a losing, but noble, battle to rein in the White House’s delusional trade-war faction. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis performed a public service by writing a resignation letter that cut ties with Trump in the clearest possible terms: “You have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours” is Cabinet-speak for take this job and shove it.

At best, though, most of the rest are Omarosas, passing off the obvious as insight: When Omarosa Manigault Newman left the White House staff, we didn’t need her to tell us that Trump spouts race-baiting drivel. He’s done it out in the open for years.

At worst, they are like Sims: He served in the administration for well over a year, then found a way to distance himself just enough to sell a juicy tell-all, but he still can’t come clean about the president’s foulest tendencies. When the New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner pressed Sims to assess Trump’s both-sides-ism in the wake of torch-lit Charlottesville chants of “Jews will not replace us,” Sims hedged: “I would love to see the president use his bully pulpit for that more effectively.” When asked to explain the genesis of Trump’s birtherism, all Sims had to say was: “I have no idea.”

In the words of Ed Lover: C’mon, son. Lack of self-awareness is a terrible quality, even for a toady.

From this point on, any freshly departed Trump staffer’s public postmortem will only help fill in the blanks. It will add nothing to the by-now-plain-as-day big picture: Trump is the worst president ever. Only a suck-up won’t admit it.

If you’re the next press secretary, policy adviser or White House counsel contemplating a melodramatic, self-absolving throwing-in of your Trump-caddying towel, don’t expect hosannas from the public in return for your pseudo-courage. You might hope Trump’s stench will fade, but I’ll still smell it. If there’s any justice left, everybody else will, too. Like a bad ‘80s haircut, your political cowardice will be forever preserved on the Interwebs. Your 15 minutes of shame won’t rehabilitate you, because selling out your Trump-world cronies can’t erase your original sin: selling out your country.

So peddle your fictional nonfiction. Write your anonymous op-eds. It won’t matter. For a year, or two, or more, you stood athwart history yelling: “Thank you, sir! May I have another?” You served a man bent on division and distraction. You helped him make America grate again. Even after he leaves office, you won’t be able to live it down.

 

Also if you're young and single and work for fuck face good luck on the dating scene...

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Dandruff]

3 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

Good genes from where...Oompa-Loompa land?

[GreyhoundFan]

Suuuuuuure: "Trump to offer ‘aspirational,’ ‘visionary’ path in State of the Union address"

Spoiler

President Trump intends to offer an “aspirational” and “visionary” path for the nation at the State of the Union on Tuesday, White House aides said, even as his relations with lawmakers have soured over his threats to use executive power to bypass them.

In his third prime-time address to the nation from the House chambers, Trump will call on Congress to work with him on initiatives around infrastructure and health care, while also reaffirming his strategy to toughen immigration enforcement, confront China on trade and actively intervene in the political upheaval in Venezuela, aides said in previewing the speech Friday.

Trump will make an appeal for bipartisan support, the aides said, despite the heightened acrimony in the nation’s capital as the White House has engaged in a fierce standoff with Democrats over the president’s efforts to build a border wall. The speech comes after Trump began his third year in office last month during a partial government shutdown that ended only after the president set a Feb. 15 ultimatum to get his wall — with a threat to declare a national emergency if he is rebuffed.

“Together we can break decades of political stalemate,” Trump plans to say, according to an excerpt of his prepared remarks offered by a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future. The decision is ours to make.”

Earlier Friday, Trump was coy about his plans for a potential national emergency, which advisers have said could allow him to redirect some Pentagon funding to build the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I don’t want to say,” Trump said at a midday photo op, when asked about that possibility. “You’ll hear the State of the Union, and let’s see what happens.”

The president intends to highlight his immigration agenda, the senior administration official said, but the speech is not intended as a sweeping, lengthy complaint on that topic. The aide described the address, in length and tone, as in line with traditional State of the Union speeches from Trump.

Among the key points, the president intends to call on lawmakers to ratify the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement that his administration signed last year. That pact is intended to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump called unfair to American workers.

The president also will discuss his national security and foreign policy initiatives, including his “determination to bring an end to U.S. foreign wars,” the official said. Trump has initiated a withdrawal of troops from Syria, though aides have emphasized that it will be done in a deliberate fashion as the United States continues to battle threats from the Islamic State. The president has suggested that the Islamic State has largely been defeated, but national security analysts say the group remains a potent threat in the region.

The administration also has negotiated the outlines of a tentative peace deal with the Taliban, which could lead to a drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Trump’s speech had been scheduled for Jan. 29, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called it off because the shutdown was underway, leading to an angry response from the president, who denied her and several other Democrats access to a military plane to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Stacey Abrams, the former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives who narrowly lost the gubernatorial race last fall, is slated to deliver the Democratic rebuttal to Trump.

A joint negotiating committee on Capitol Hill is trying to work out a spending deal to keep the government open past Feb. 15, which is when the three-week continuing resolution that ended the shutdown is set to expire. Pelosi has said there will be no money for a wall in any deal, and in an interview with the New York Times on Thursday, Trump called the talks a “waste of time.”

Asked if Trump would acknowledge the shutdown in his speech, the administration official said the president will “definitely talk about immigration and about where we are in that debate and present a path forward. The totality of the speech will address it because in some ways, he will offer a vision forward.”

Last year, Trump used the State of the Union to admonish North Korea and build public support for his maximum-pressure campaign on dictator Kim Jong Un. That helped lead to a summit between the leaders in Singapore in June, and a second summit has been tentatively planned for the end of this month, perhaps in Vietnam.

Trump has said an announcement of an exact date and location is imminent, but the administration official declined to say whether the president would talk about his engagement with Kim in the speech Tuesday.

White House officials said the guest list for the first lady’s viewing box will be released Monday, but they said the speech likely will be worked on through Tuesday.

“We’re always capable of incorporating things at the last minute,” the official said, “and we will be ready this time as well.”

 

[Cartmann99]

On 2/1/2019 at 3:16 PM, GreyhoundFan said:

Yeah, there was a feature in one of the newspapers about them right after Dumpy was inaugurated. Talk about a group of idiots...

The Daily Show did a segment on them in 2016:

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

Ronny's agreed to lie again 

 

[thoughtful]

2 hours ago, Dandruff said:

Good genes from where...Oompa-Loompa land?

One of his ancestors was a woman named Clementine Tangerine Mandarin.

[GreyhoundFan]

I'm guessing there's a raccoon ancestor too, since he has the white around his eyes.

[thoughtful]

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

“aspirational”

As in, he'll be breathing.

Know your limits, Donald -- leave it at that.

[Dandruff]

3 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

“aspirational”

I think they left out an "s".

[Howl]

13 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Ronny's agreed to lie again 

Nope, nothing suspicious here.  Nothing at all.  It's only coincidence that Trump's physical will be at the end of this particular Infrastructure Week. 

I'm pretty sure the exam will go something like this. 

Setting: Exam room; Trump is fully clothed. 

Don: Ronny, it's been too long.  (Ronny and Don shake hands firmly; there may be some half-hearted back slapping)

Dr. Ronny MD: Hello, Sir. Good to see you again.  

Don: Ronny, I've nominated you for that second star!  

Dr. Ronny MD: Thank you, sir, I'm pathetically grateful!  I see you're looking incredibly healthy, healthier than any president has ever been.  You've dropped quite a few pounds and you're sharper than ever! In my expert medical opinion, that's all I need to know. Here's your unlimited Adderall and Viagra prescriptions. Let me know if you need anything stronger. See you in 2020!  

Subtext:

Don:  You will say I'm the smartest healthiest specimen of manhood you've seen.  It's true, of course, Melania says it, I say it and you will say it.  

Dr. Ronny MD: This clown is a heart attack waiting to happen. I'll say anything if you give me my second f**king star and make the f**king investigation go away STAT before you drop dead. I need a drink! 

In reality, this is a pathetic quid pro quo charade, but nobody's fooled. The greater concern, of course, is that there is a real and potentially serious medical condition that's being deliberately concealed.  High stakes game for Ronny Jackson, MD. 

[AmazonGrace]

"President Trump's blood pressure is excellent and his genitals do not resemble a fungus."

[Alisamer]

4 hours ago, Howl said:

In reality, this is a pathetic quid pro quo charade, but nobody's fooled. The greater concern, of course, is that there is a real and potentially serious medical condition that's being deliberately concealed.  High stakes game for Ronny Jackson, MD. 

Trump has been showing signs of dementia for years now, although it might just be that the greater focus on him is making his lack of intelligence more visible. 

Unfortunately I suspect he's going to be one of those people so evil that they live very long lives just to spite everyone else.

[Howl]

48 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

although it might just be that the greater focus on him is making his lack of intelligence more visible. 

I'm kinda thinking this.  If he really had dementia, we'd all know it.  I say this because I'm dealing with someone with dementia in the extended family, and this is not what Trump is manifesting.   

He seems alert and on target at times, but his profound narcissism means he has zero self awareness or shame about his ignorance and lack of intelligence.  He's easily bored and impulsive, and I often think his incoherent speeches and comments are just that he doesn't GAF enough to prepare; he's a genius with the best brain ever, so anything that comes out of his mouth is golden.  His narcissism and impulsiveness also means that whatever randomly comes into his mind is more important than what's on the teleprompter. 

[AmazonGrace]

Ä

[Howl]

Possible comment by Dr. Ronny MD: "His weight is perfect for his height, which varies."

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[AmazonGrace]

2 hours ago, Howl said:

I'm kinda thinking this.  If he really had dementia, we'd all know it.  I say this because I'm dealing with someone with dementia in the extended family, and this is not what Trump is manifesting.   

He seems alert and on target at times, but his profound narcissism means he has zero self awareness or shame about his ignorance and lack of intelligence.  He's easily bored and impulsive, and I often think his incoherent speeches and comments are just that he doesn't GAF enough to prepare; he's a genius with the best brain ever, so anything that comes out of his mouth is golden.  His narcissism and impulsiveness also means that whatever randomly comes into his mind is more important than what's on the teleprompter. 

I think he is definitely somewhere on the cognitive decline scale. He's been a privileged asshole all his life and in all likelihood he was never the sharpest rock in the tool box but  in his prime he used to be able to speak in complete sentences and respond to questions in a way that reflected that he understood what was asked. Now he has trouble reading a teleprompter and can't close an umbrella.