Trump 47: The Covidiot's Traveling Circus Is Back On The Road

[HerNameIsBuffy]

9 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

How anyone can believe that such a narcissistic twatwaddle is fit for office is beyond me.

 

The Trump bumper stickers I see invariably also have a "Support Our Troops" decal.  Those people need to pull one of those off their giant SUVs and pick a side.

[fraurosena]

As usual, George nails it.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

They're not even trying to hide their nazi roots:

 

[WiseGirl]

 

[Xan]

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

They're not even trying to hide their nazi roots:

 

I saw this too.  "America First" is the slogan from the KKK.  The rest of the slogan that accompanied it was, "One God, One Country, One Flag."  Well, maybe they'll change that last one.  They probably have to have the confederate flag too.

They've now achieved full dog whistle.

[mamallama]

My mother remembers America First as being the slogan of the American Nazi party in the 30's and 40's.

[Xan]

Breaking via NYT: A New York appellate judge has ruled that Simon & Schuster can go ahead with its plans to release a tell-all book by Mary L. Trump, the niece of President Trump, reversing a lower court's decision that had temporarily halted publication.

Yes!  This is great news.  

[fraurosena]

My eyes hurt from rolling so hard. 

He really is a tangerine toddler.

Meanwhile...

But of course:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

A sneak preview of this documentary is streaming this weekend. I bet the tangerine toddler's handlers are going to have to distract him:

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Trump’s Mount Rushmore welcoming committee will include tribal protesters

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-s-mount-rushmore-welcoming-committee-will-include-tribal-protesters/ar-BB16gaG3?ocid=spartan-dhp-feeds

The slap in the face to the native Americans, the giant FU to taxpayers who get to spend more on his nonsense when people are hurting, the danger risking fires over this...I don't understand any of it.  

I just pray the protestors stay safe and there are no fires.  

 

[fraurosena]

Good grief. They stopped briefing him because of his tantrums? 

Trump's resistance led intel agencies to brief him less and less on Russia

Quote

President Donald Trump's resistance to intelligence warnings about Russia led his national security team, including those who delivered the President's Daily Brief to brief him verbally less often on Russia-related threats to the US, multiple former Trump administration officials who briefed Trump, were present for briefings and who prepared documents for his intelligence briefings tell CNN.

As the White House denies Trump was briefed about Russia placing bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan, which CNN has confirmed was included in the written PDB this spring, the question of what the President knew and when has moved to center stage. And it brings Trump's aversion to hearing negative analysis about Russia into renewed focus. 

Multiple former administration officials I spoke to for my upcoming book, "The Madman Theory: Trump Takes on the World," which will be published August 11 by Harper Collins, paint a picture of a President often unwilling to hear bad news about Russia. 

According to one former senior intelligence official, the President's briefers had one simple rule with Trump: never lead with Russia.

Early in his term, Trump's briefers discovered that when his oral briefing included intelligence related to Russia's malign activities against the United States, including evidence of its interference in US politics, Trump would often blow up at them, demanding to know why they kept focusing on Russia and often questioning the intelligence itself, multiple former administration officials said. 

"The President has created an environment that dissuades, if not prohibits, the mentioning of any intelligence that isn't favorable to Russia," a former senior member of Trump's national security staff told me. 

Russia material placed in written briefings that Trump often didn't read

In response, his briefers -- who must make difficult judgment calls every day on which intelligence to highlight to the President -- reduced the amount of Russian-related intelligence they included in his oral briefings, instead often placing it only in his written briefing book, a document that is provided daily and sometimes extended to several dozen pages containing the intelligence community's most important information .

But his briefers discovered over time that he often did not read the briefing book, leaving him unaware of crucial intelligence, including threats related to Russia and other parts of the world. 

When asked about CNN's reporting that Trump is resistant to intelligence warnings about Russia, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe told CNN, "this is totally false" in a statement Tuesday. Ratcliffe took the job in May.

National security adviser Robert O'Brien said Wednesday that the President was not briefed on the Russia bounty intelligence because it had not been corroborated.

"The President was not briefed because at the time of these allegations they were uncorroborated," O'Brien said. "The President's career CIA briefer decided not to brief him because it was unverified intelligence ... and knowing all the facts I know, I certainly support her decision."

He called it "ridiculous" that any information would be held back from the President over fears it would upset him. "We brief him on everything he needs to know to keep the country safe. So any thought that we wouldn't brief him on something because it would anger him, I don't even know how to respond to that question."

The White House had not responded to a request for comment on this story as of Wednesday afternoon.

Judging how to use the limited time of their oral briefings with the President was a difficult decision for senior US intelligence officials. One former senior intelligence official who served in the Trump administration explained that the agencies' job is to present the President with the broadest view of all the threats facing the United States. If the President was obsessed with just one threat, this official continued, he wouldn't listen to intelligence on other threats, in which case a key line of communication between the intelligence agencies and the commander in chief would be damaged or lost.

They calculated it was best to reserve their limited chances to include such intelligence to the times when the threats were most severe. 

"Never casually go in on Russia, decide when it's differential," this former senior intelligence official said describing the intelligence community's approach to his oral briefings, "Save it for when it matters."

The end result was the President now heard less, not more, about the threat posed by one of the nation's most dangerous adversaries. Among his national security staff, this approach led to fears that the President was becoming less and less aware of the threat from Russia, even as the intelligence confirming the country's misbehavior mounted. 

"It creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where he hears less and less of what he doesn't want to hear and therefore starts to believe more and more that the Russians aren't doing anything bad," the former senior NSC official said, explaining that when Trump later claimed in public that he hadn't seen evidence of Russian aggression, he was sometimes telling the truth -- but the reason he hadn't seen it was that they hadn't shown it to him fearing it would provoke a negative reaction.

Reluctance to hear intelligence

The President's reluctance to hear intelligence about Russia fits into his growing disinterest in his intelligence briefings in general and may explain why the White House is currently denying that he was aware of intelligence about Russia offering the Taliban bounties to kill US soldiers -- even though former intelligence officials say that it's "inconceivable" that Trump would not have been briefed on the bounties, which the New York Times first reported Friday evening.

Trump initially reacted to media reports of the bounty by tweeting on Sunday that "there have not been many attacks" on US troops as evidence that the reports may be "phony." 

On Monday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany repeatedly told reporters that the intelligence assessment on Russian bounties did not reach Trump's desk because there is "no consensus" among US spy agencies and because intelligence must be verified before it is presented to the President -- an assessment numerous former senior intelligence officials said was "absurd" and "ridiculous." 

It is "inconceivable," they said, that the President would not have been briefed on such critical intelligence that Russian actions were potentially putting US soldiers in harm's way. 

Asked whether there needs to be consensus within the intelligence community before present information to the President, former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers told Jake Tapper on CNN's "The Lead," "no, not really."

Referring to McEnany, he added, "by the way, when she says there is dissent across the intelligence community, this is more than some errant piece of intelligence that might come in or get thrown over the transom, either by an ally or some other collection, where there just wasn't enough to it. Clearly there was enough, there was lots of discussion, and oftentimes even where there is an affirmative agreement on what we think the intelligence says, there will be dissenting opinion and that dissenting opinion is normally heard, because you need that information to make a good decision." 

The White House attempts to insulate the President from criticism over the deeply sensitive issue of military deaths -- particularly less than five months before the election -- come as Carl Bernstein reports for CNN that the President shows extraordinary deference to the Russian leader in phone calls, obsequiously courting Putin's admiration and approval to the point that Trump sometimes "left top national security aides and his chiefs of staff flabbergasted."

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

5 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Good grief. They stopped briefing him because of his tantrums? 

Trump's resistance led intel agencies to brief him less and less on Russia

 

How many of us would keep our jobs if we refused to even acknowledged a critical task?  

And how many of us would risk the safety of the free world if we avoided any task at work?

So why is the accountability with him zero when the stakes are so very high?  

I know...asking questions to the choir...I just can't fucking stand the pass he gets on everything.  Obama has to be fuming.

[fraurosena]

1 minute ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

How many of us would keep our jobs if we refused to even acknowledged a critical task?  

And how many of us would risk the safety of the free world if we avoided any task at work?

So why is the accountability with him zero when the stakes are so very high?  

I know...asking questions to the choir...I just can't fucking stand the pass he gets on everything.  Obama has to be fuming.

He wanted the job, did a dirty campaign on the job, and bloody well cheated to get the job, but he refuses to do the work that the job entails. And everyone, everyone, around him is complicit in enabling him to slack off. They let him have his 'executive time' watching Faux and OANN and tweeting all day, they let him go golfing whenever he wants. That's what sticks in my craw the most. The witting and unwitting enabling. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

6 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

He wanted the job, did a dirty campaign on the job, and bloody well cheated to get the job, but he refuses to do the work that the job entails. And everyone, everyone, around him is complicit in enabling him to slack off. They let him have his 'executive time' watching Faux and OANN and tweeting all day, they let him go golfing whenever he wants. That's what sticks in my craw the most. The witting and unwitting enabling. 

I agree, but another part of me thinks every moment on the golf course is a moment he's not colluding with dictators.

The other day after his "white power" tweet they tried to get a hold of him for hours, but he'd put his phone down.  I've been in IT for a long time - I had a job where I was on call 24/7 for emergencies and if I'd ignored a call for that long I'd have been fired.  How is it acceptable for him not to be reachable in emergencies?

Then again, do we want him handling emergencies?

I'm just so glad he's stupid.  If he were this evil and incompetent, but smart enough to hide it we'd be in even worse shape right now.

[fraurosena]

1 minute ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I agree, but another part of me thinks every moment on the golf course is a moment he's not colluding with dictators.

The other day after his "white power" tweet they tried to get a hold of him for hours, but he'd put his phone down.  I've been in IT for a long time - I had a job where I was on call 24/7 for emergencies and if I'd ignored a call for that long I'd have been fired.  How is it acceptable for him not to be reachable in emergencies?

Then again, do we want him handling emergencies?

I'm just so glad he's stupid.  If he were this evil and incompetent, but smart enough to hide it we'd be in even worse shape right now.

Also, to be fair to the unwitting enablers, they have never in their (often long) careers encountered someone like Trump, and a part of me can understand the wildly scrambling reactions to his tantrums. But. After the initial shock, they should have rung the bell. They should have called public attention to it. They should have spoken out. They chose to remain silent and cover up for him. So all in all, shame on them.

I agree that it's better to have a narcissistic, unfit and incompetent dumbass in that role, than someone who is conniving and secretive. His craving for adoration could well be the saving grace for democracy in America.

[GreyhoundFan]

17 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

The other day after his "white power" tweet they tried to get a hold of him for hours, but he'd put his phone down.  I've been in IT for a long time - I had a job where I was on call 24/7 for emergencies and if I'd ignored a call for that long I'd have been fired.  How is it acceptable for him not to be reachable in emergencies?

I'm on call 24/7. My boss sent out a notice that we are expected to answer an after-hours call within 20 minutes. If someone fails do to so, they're warned. The second time is a fire-able offense. Of course, there are exceptions, like planned vacations or medical procedures, but they have to be pre-arranged.

[SassyPants]

On 6/29/2020 at 6:49 AM, fraurosena said:

Wouldn't it be his just deserts if Trump were to stand trial in Iran? I mean, Iranian sentencing is quite... medieval.

 

Many years ago I worked with this male nurse in a unionized hospital. This guy was a very senior, although one of the least skilled nurses in our ICU. His behavior was beyond toxic both in word and deed. One time he printed up his own business cards with the label stating White(name of our unit) Nurses, put our unit’s phone number on the card, and passed them out on the streets of the urban, very diverse city where the facility was located. And still this man remained employed ...UNTIL the day he wore his daily uniform, which included his denim jacket with his big confederate flag sewn on the sleeve, and a mother in in the cafeteria approached him about the emblem. Well, that altercation was finally his demise. I think it took like 40 years. Like that guy, Trump deserves whatever legal hardships come his way. 

[Dandruff]

58 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

He wanted the job, did a dirty campaign on the job, and bloody well cheated to get the job, but he refuses to do the work that the job entails.

I wonder what he's actually doing when he's supposedly working, and what it means for the rest of us.

[fraurosena]

7 minutes ago, Dandruff said:

I wonder what he's actually doing when he's supposedly working, and what it means for the rest of us.

Eating, tweeting and watching tv. Occasionally golfing. Lapping up adoration from his kids, enablers and sycophants (not necessarily in that order). Calling dictators and playing make believe that he's one of them. Snorting adderall. Stuff like that.

Look outside, and you can see what it means for the rest of America... 

[WiseGirl]

Fabulous.  (I need a sarcasm font)

 

[Dandruff]

2 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Eating, tweeting and watching tv. Occasionally golfing. Lapping up adoration from his kids, enablers and sycophants (not necessarily in that order). Calling dictators and playing make believe that he's one of them. Snorting adderall. Stuff like that.

Look outside, and you can see what it means for the rest of America... 

Of course, but he must be involved - even if it's to blindly sign things shoved in front of him - with some legal/financial/military decisions, right?  What is he doing while people are assuming he's doing nothing?  He likes to brag so why aren't we hearing about his "accomplishments"?  Even mundane stuff would help distract the public from all the negative press he's getting.  His handlers could tell him what would go over well.  What new self- and friend-serving nightmares might we be learning about later?

[Audrey2]

15 minutes ago, WiseGirl said:

Fabulous.  (I need a sarcasm font)

 

They need to stop making a briefing book and turn it into a graphic novel. That might even be too much since it would be actual words in it.

And between Trump and the virus, I think I'm living in sarcasm font now!

Edited July 2, 2020 by Audrey2

[Xan]

1 hour ago, fraurosena said:

He wanted the job, did a dirty campaign on the job, and bloody well cheated to get the job, but he refuses to do the work that the job entails. And everyone, everyone, around him is complicit in enabling him to slack off. They let him have his 'executive time' watching Faux and OANN and tweeting all day, they let him go golfing whenever he wants. That's what sticks in my craw the most. The witting and unwitting enabling. 

What sticks in my craw the most is that the Republicans are aware that he's a moron but they can't admit it.  They needed him to stay in office so they could gut the government, shift money, place conservative judges, and generally screw up our country.  It's my deepest wish that they are smeared for all time in future history books.  They knew what he was and yet they made sure that he stayed in office.  Mitch McConnell can roast in hell for all eternity for this.

Edited July 2, 2020 by Xan

[HerNameIsBuffy]

17 minutes ago, Dandruff said:

His handlers could tell him what would go over well.

He would be even more dangerous if he listened to them.  I honestly think the fact that he's not changing course despite his numbers clearly falling due to public disapproval over Covid just proves he thinks he knows everything.  

7 minutes ago, Audrey2 said:

They need to stop making a briefing book and turn it into a graphic novel. That might even be too much since it would be actual words in it.

Sometimes I put on puppet shows for my cats with socks...and sometimes a potato as a guest star.  Perhaps that would be a better approach to briefings than expecting him to read.  

5 minutes ago, Xan said:

What sticks in my craw the most is that the Republicans are aware that he's a moron but they can't admit it.  They needed him to stay in office so they could gut the government, shift money, place conservative judges, and generally screw up our country.  It's my deepest wish that they are smeared for all time in future history books.  They knew what he was and yet they made sure that he stayed in office.  Mitch McConnell can roast in hell for all eternity for this.

Yep!  Except many of them did admit it, like Lindsay Graham, before he was elected then they pretend they never said it.

If I had their ability to re-write history I'd sleep like a baby every night.

[Audrey2]

To me he's just like the kid in school that we all knew who ran for class president or school president who didn't really want the job but wanted the title to stick on college applications and have the prestige of the title.

Real leaders know that they have to roll up their sleeves and get to work. Trump just wants to be a figurehead and Putin's puppet. with everything that's going on I wouldn't be shocked if Putin was the one who suggested that Trump run.

Edited July 2, 2020 by Audrey2