Trump 40: Donald Trump and the Chamber of Incompetence

[fraurosena]

The delusion is strong with this one.

I'm not a fan of the theory that Melania has a stand-in, but this video literally made me think Who the heck is that standing there next to him? Because apart from the clothing style, that does not look like Melania at all. Or am I imagining things? I have had a glass of wine...

[apple1]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

The delusion is strong with this one.

I'm not a fan of the theory that Melania has a stand-in, but this video literally made me think Who the heck is that standing there next to him? Because apart from the clothing style, that does not look like Melania at all. Or am I imagining things? I have had a glass of wine...

The face looks inappropriately young - but I'm thinking that she's had a recent Botox or the like??

The hair also appears shorter than her usual. Overall - she does look a lot different.

Edited April 24, 2019 by apple1

[formergothardite]

3 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Who the heck is that standing there next to him?

I would not recognize that as Melania but she has probably had recent work done that makes her face look different. 

Or the rumors are true and Melania has stomped off angry so they have to pay someone to pretend to be her. 

[AmazonGrace]

Cue the tantrum

 

 

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, AmazonGrace said:

Cue the tantrum

 

 

This excites me much more than the Mueller [redacted] report. This could actually hit that crime mob family where it hurts the most. 

[Drala]

5 hours ago, fraurosena said:

This excites me much more than the Mueller [redacted] report. This could actually hit that crime mob family where it hurts the most. 

I agree.  The SDNY investigation into Trump's finances is mostly likely what will bring him down.  

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[47of74]

Putin's Bitch had his Hollywood Star improved again

Quote

Perhaps the only thing more prolific than Donald Trump’s Twitter habit is the number of times his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been vandalized. Since Trump became president in 2016, his star has been smashed to pieces by a sledgehammer and pickaxe, and spray-painted with Swastikas. George Lopez only pretended to urinate on Trump’s star, but another person did pour fake blood on it.

The latest act of vandalism heroism occurred Wednesday morning, when an unknown individual touched up Trump’s star with a fresh coat of paint. Specifically, the individual spray-painted the star completely black; he then added the phrase “Putin’s Bitch” in white.

 

[Howl]

9 hours ago, Drala said:

I agree.  The SDNY investigation into Trump's finances is mostly likely what will bring him down.  

The SDNY is part of DoJ, now headed by Trump Crime Family Consigliere William Barr.  Barr is in place specifically to run interference for the Trump Crime Family. Barr has already blatantly lied about the contents of the Mueller Report, TWICE.

Call me cynical, but I think it is entirely possible that Barr would block an SDNY investigation if it gets too close to bringing Trump down.  Barr will not recuse himself from anything, even when it is blatantly apparent that he should. 

Barr's son-in-law is part of the White House Counsel team. His daughter is now in the Financial Crimes Division at Dept. of Treasury. 

Edited April 25, 2019 by Howl

[formergothardite]

7 minutes ago, Howl said:

The SDNY is part of DoJ, now headed by Trump Crime Family Consigliere William Barr.  Barr is in place specifically to run interference for the Trump Crime Family. Barr has already blatantly lied about the contents of the Mueller Report, TWICE

So we are pretty much fucked? Barr is going to shut down and hide as much as he can. Trump is going to get away with everything I'm afraid. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

56 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

So we are pretty much fucked? Barr is going to shut down and hide as much as he can. Trump is going to get away with everything I'm afraid. 

I think the corruption is so pervasive there will be no justice for any of this.

And I think even thinking about the 2020 election is wishful thinking as he has that sewn up, too.  

[Audrey2]

I've got 60 pages left to finish in Christian Nation by Frederic C. Rich. I think someone on this board mentioned it. It asks how dystopian the US would have gotten had McCain won in 2008, then died quickly, followed by 8 years of Palin. The book was written in 2013 and is terrifying- Moore from Alabama on the Supreme Court, Cruz on the Supreme Court, and the Religious Right turned the country into a theocracy. It's chilling to see how many of those named as major players are in and around Trump's administration. Trump, while not mentioned in this book, is showing what would happen if a Russian plant would win. Like @HerNameIsBuffy, I'm scared for 2020...and beyond.

If you have the stomach for it, it's an excellent read.

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[formergothardite]

1 hour ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I think the corruption is so pervasive there will be no justice for any of this.

I don't know if there is any way to get out of this corruption. The GOP is absolutely not going to let Trump lose in 2020. I'm pretty sure they will rig this election so he will win. 2018 was a sign to them that if there is a slightly fair election they will lose and they aren't going to give up their iron grip on our country. 

I literally don't know what to do. Protests will do nothing. 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[apple1]

2 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

 

I was just about to post about "cheif". (Hopefully by the time I click submit it will still have that spelling -- I have had to work at keeping it from autocorrecting to the right spelling). I distinctly remember that being a spelling word in my elementary school.

As for the rest of it, I guess he rarely watches Anderson Cooper. Elmo, anyone?

[Alisamer]

On April 24, 2019 at 4:11 PM, fraurosena said:

The delusion is strong with this one.

I'm not a fan of the theory that Melania has a stand-in, but this video literally made me think Who the heck is that standing there next to him? Because apart from the clothing style, that does not look like Melania at all. Or am I imagining things? I have had a glass of wine...

That looks more like Sebastian Bach from Skid Row than Melania. I'm sure it's not, though, I've rarely seen him go more than a minute without talking.

The state our country is in frightens me. I feel like if they manage to keep Trump in the white house through the next election, we're headed into Hunger Games territory. As Trump's dementia gets worse, those pulling the strings will take over more and more. And none of them want to let go of the power they've managed to grab.

[Drala]

12 hours ago, formergothardite said:

I don't know if there is any way to get out of this corruption. The GOP is absolutely not going to let Trump lose in 2020. I'm pretty sure they will rig this election so he will win. 2018 was a sign to them that if there is a slightly fair election they will lose and they aren't going to give up their iron grip on our country. 

I literally don't know what to do. Protests will do nothing. 

One of the tactics of fascist oppression is to psychologically disempower people to the point they give up resistance.  I refuse to let the bastards get me down.  Yes, things look grim in the short run, but all the cards haven't been played out.  There are people more powerful than me in this country who are appalled by the corruption and the authoritarian power grab.  Solidarity!

[fraurosena]

Don't forget that Barr can be impeached too.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

1 hour ago, Alisamer said:

That looks more like Sebastian Bach from Skid Row than Melania

Omg thank you!!!!

thats exactly who I was thinking of and couldn’t place it.

oh Bas ...lololol

[Howl]

I see this and wonder if Mar-a-Loco hires foreign nationals because they will go back to their home countries and not discuss what they've witnessed while working there.  Or they are more vulnerable to exploitation and intimidation. Or both

 

Edited April 26, 2019 by Howl

[fraurosena]

I'm glad he's saying he's for vaccinations, and I hope BT parents are listening and will do as he says.

I.... I... I honestly don't have words... 

 

He thought putting his foot in it once wasn't enough, so he does it again.

I don't think he knows what the word 'transparency' even means.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump renews vow to repeal Affordable Care Act weeks after GOP leaders urge caution on the issue"

Spoiler

President Trump renewed his vow Friday to repeal the Affordable Care Act, seemingly putting him at odds with a top Republican senator who insisted that Congress will not scrap President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law.

Appearing at a conference of the National Rifle Association in Indianapolis, Trump touted Republicans’ success in eliminating the individual mandate, which he called “the absolute worst part of Obamacare.”

“Now we’re going for the rest,” Trump said, before once again blaming the late senator John McCain (R-Ariz) for his party’s failure to repeal the entire law last year.

It was unclear if Trump was referring to his administration’s involvement in an ongoing lawsuit aiming to declare the ACA unconstitutional or if he was pushing for congressional action before the 2020 elections.

During a meeting with constituents, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said he did not think the courts would declare the 2010 law unconstitutional nor would lawmakers try to repeal it.

“The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, and it’s not going to be repealed by Congress,” Grassley told a woman who pressed him about the law’s coverage for those with preexisting medical conditions and shared the exchange via YouTube.

She pointed out that Grassley voted seven times to repeal the law, which he acknowledged.

“The last time we voted for repeal was when McCain voted the other way, and there’s no chance of repealing it now. So what are you worried about?” Grassley asked.

The seven-term senator is chairman of the Finance Committee, which would be responsible for drafting a replacement for the law if it were declared unconstitutional or repealed.

Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) strongly counseled against that path several weeks ago, arguing it would be politically perilous for the party to seek the repeal of a largely popular health-care law with no viable replacement.

Trump had fellow Republicans off guard by his rapid shift to an issue that helped elect Democrats in last year’s midterm elections. In late March, Trump directed the Justice Department to intervene in a federal-court case seeking to eliminate the ACA in its entirety and promised a more affordable replacement plan.

While Trump agreed earlier this month not to push for a comprehensive heath-care bill before next year’s elections, he said he still plans to run on the issue and that his campaign would present a plan to voters.

Trump has repeatedly focused his ire on McCain for voting against a Republican plan to repeal the ACA that the senator said had not been carefully enough considered.

“And we had it done except for one vote,” Trump told the crowd Friday. “You know what I’m talking about. One vote.”

The repeal of the individual mandate, which required people to buy insurance or pay a penalty, came in the Republican tax bill passed and signed into law in late 2017.

His remarks Friday came amid a wide-ranging address in which he not only promised to keep championing the Second Amendment, but also continued to air grievances about the special counsel’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and castigate Democrats for continuing to investigate him and his administration.

Trump said the probe of possible coordination between Russia and his 2016 campaign was the result of “corruption at the highest level” in Washington.

“They tried for a coup,” he said. “It didn’t work out so well. And I didn’t need a gun for that one, did I?”

Trump said Democrats were angry because “their collusion delusion has been exposed to the world as a complete and total fraud.”

The recently released report of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III concluded that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election “in sweeping and systematic fashion.”

The report did not find sufficient evidence to bring charges of criminal conspiracy with Russia against Trump or anyone associated with his campaign.

It did not offer a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice. Attorney General William P. Barr later concluded that there was not sufficient evidence for obstruction of justice, but House Democrats are continuing to aggressively pursue that issue.

During his remarks Friday, Trump criticized Democrats for conducting oversight of his administration rather than working with him on issues such as rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure and “fixing” trade deals.

“Democrats are obsessed with hoaxes, delusions and witch hunts,” Trump said.

Several NRA members voiced their unequivocal support for the president, welcomed his support for gun rights and said nothing in the Mueller report dampened their enthusiasm for Trump.

“He’s talking to his people here,” said Jon Lucas, 49, of Monmouth, N.J., who voted for Trump and called him “a very aggressive president. He’s going to push up to the line.”

Asked about the Mueller report’s finding that Trump tried to have the special counsel fired, Lucas said Trump listened to the advice of his counsel and did not do that. “Just because he asked, doesn’t make him a bad guy.”

Part of the reason Barbara Castro, 53, of Palos Park, Ill., attended her first NRA convention was to hear Trump. “This was my president. It’s so important that he’s here,” she said.

Dana Rawlings, of Maryville, Tenn., said she appreciated Trump’s frequent references to the Second Amendment and to protecting gun rights, but also his and Vice President Pence’s mention of Christianity. “I am very Baptist and religious,” she said.

Rawlings recognized Trump is “unconventional” and she doesn’t agree with him about everything, but she said his views are quite similar to hers on gun rights and abortion, among other issues.

Another Trump supporter, Bobby Meek, a maintenance supervisor from Indiana, praised Trump because he’s “down-to-earth” and he’s a businessman trying to run the country like a business. “He’s fought against the establishment the entire time he’s been in office,” said Meek. “He knows how to play hardball, too.”

However, one NRA member, Lynn Nevin, 59, from Michigan, said she does not support Trump, criticizing his comments about women and arguing that he lacks transparency when it comes to his finances and taxes.

Nevin, who said she will be actively campaigning against Trump and voting for a Democrat for president, said she didn’t object to the NRA inviting Trump to speak. But she doesn’t like the pandering of politicians to the NRA and the organization getting more and more in line with a specific party.

She managed, though, to give Trump lukewarm praise for his speech. “He seems to be speaking in complete sentences and hasn’t gone too far off the rail,” Nevin said.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"‘Stopping the bad stuff’: Japan’s Abe visits White House in latest bid to soothe Trump’s ego — and avoid his ire"

Spoiler

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives in Washington on Friday for a two-day summit with President Trump that includes meetings at the White House, a private birthday dinner for the first lady and 18 holes at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling.

Such ample face time has been viewed in Tokyo as a symbol of success in Abe’s diligent 2 1/2-year effort to fan the mercurial president’s ego. It also has left other foreign capitals, including Seoul, with a touch of envy in the contest to influence a foreign policy that often appears to be driven by Trump’s whims.

But beyond the pleasantries lies a more difficult reality for Abe and a test of his resilience at a time when Trump is demanding that Japan engage in negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement that Tokyo has long resisted, and is ratcheting up threats to impose tariffs on Japanese automobiles.

Such an action “could be a turning point” in the relationship, one Japanese official said this week, before quickly adding that he does not believe it will happen.

That mounting tensions on trade threaten to overshadow the uncertainty for Japan over the fate of the Trump administration’s stalled nuclear negotiations with North Korea illustrates the complex and challenging path forward for Abe even as he reaffirms his charm offensive. His White House visit will mark the 40th time he has spoken or met with Trump since the president won office.

“There’s a certain amount of domestic dismay and criticism of Abe for what is perceived in many quarters in Japan as shameless pandering to Donald Trump,” said Daniel Russel, who served as assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific in the Obama administration. “I’ve certainly heard that from [legislative] Diet members in Abe’s own party. But my suspicion is that Abe feels justified based on the principle of, ‘whatever it takes’ — that Japan does not have the luxury of being cast adrift in this uncongenial geopolitical climate.”

Japanese officials emphasized that Abe’s visit is part of a multination tour that includes stops in France, Italy, Slovakia, Belgium and Canada — an itinerary aimed at shoring up the agenda for the Group of 20 summit in Osaka in June. Trump, who will make a three-day state visit to Tokyo to meet the new Japanese emperor in late May, is tentatively scheduled to attend the G-20, as well.

Yet analysts said that Abe also felt pressure to hastily secure an audience with Trump after the collapse of Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi in February. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has staked his presidency on diplomatic outreach to the North, visited two weeks ago to urge the White House to consider moving off a hard line over sanctions relief in a bid to restart talks.

But Abe will attempt to reinforce the position of Trump administration hard-liners, such as national security adviser John Bolton, that the president should hold firm on sanctions until Pyongyang fully commits to denuclearize, Japanese officials said.

“Abe has talked to Trump about North Korea before every summit, and the Japanese side says they have the same discussion every time,” said Michael Green, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who served on the National Security Council in the George W. Bush Administration.

“Trump’s view is that he knows how to negotiate and doesn’t need Abe’s advice. I’m told Trump told Abe that it’s bad to prepare too much because on big deals you have to go with your gut,” Green added. But Abe’s goal “is at least stopping the bad stuff.”

White House officials offered a three-minute summary of the agenda for the summit in a telephone briefing for reporters Thursday but declined to answer questions.

Unlike the leaders of European allies, such as Germany and Britain, and U.S. neighbors Canada and Mexico, which have occasionally bucked Trump and paid a price on Twitter, Abe has remained loyal and gone largely unscathed from personal attacks.

But Trump on occasion has embarrassed Abe, such as when he announced at a Rose Garden news conference that the Japanese leader had written a five-page letter nominating him for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on North Korea. Abe did not deny it and was mocked by some conservatives in Tokyo.

A Japanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private views in Tokyo, said Abe has not paid a significant political price for his efforts to woo Trump. Tokyo has been pleased with the administration’s tougher stance with Beijing on economic issues, and Abe believes Trump is listening on North Korea.

Yet the Japanese official acknowledged that Trump, embroiled in the fallout of the special counsel probe into Russian election interference, “faces a lot of challenges to get reelected. The president will do anything to get elected, so we have to be realistic.”

It is on trade where the Japanese are most circumspect. Burned once by Trump, who included Japan in a round of steel and aluminum tariffs early in his administration, the Japanese have engaged in a delicate dance of trying to demonstrate a willingness to negotiate while seeking to avoid the most challenging sticking points.

Toshimitsu Motegi, Japan’s economy minister, arrived in Washington on Thursday to resume trade talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer. Their second meeting this month, the discussions are aimed at accelerating progress toward a limited deal involving agriculture and autos, with additional provisions on digital trade deferred to subsequent bargaining.

Trump wants to reduce the $67.6 billion annual merchandise trade deficit with Japan by getting Japanese automakers to produce more vehicles in the United States and by prying open Japan’s agricultural markets.

Abe insists he won’t give the U.S. any greater agricultural concessions than Japan agreed to in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade accord that was awaiting ratification before Trump ended U.S. participation during his first week in office.

The talks are shadowed by Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on imported vehicles on national security grounds, which would hit Japan and Germany especially hard. The president agreed last fall to hold off on tariffs while the talks continue.

Abe, whose Liberal Democratic Party faces challenging upper house elections in Japan’s parliament this summer, is eager to avoid a blowup with Trump. Yet he appears to have little leverage to force concessions from the United States on trade that could help him win ratification in Tokyo for any potential deal.

“My sense is that the Japanese are hanging on by their fingernails,” said a congressional aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

The aide, who recently visited Tokyo, said one senior adviser to Abe told him of Trump: “If this goes on for another six years, we can’t survive.”

 

[Dandruff]

The editorializing about Trump and his behavior is really getting on my nerves today.  AFAIC, anyone who doesn't see him for what he is by now is too stubborn or stupid to bother with.  I don't think facts will help.  If he was to be completely humilated, that might, but he's resisting - as usual - and folks seem too busy debating, analyzing, and wondering if aggressive steps might backfire to be useful.  I'm not suggesting there's an easy answer, but I'm pretty sure that continuing to pursue the moral and intellectual high ground isn't enough.  He's not playing by the same rules and doesn't appear to give AF.  I'm not sure what we (the public) are even waiting for at this point. 

Rant over.