Republicans Must Tell Trump to Go – Now

[Pannonian]

Oh look, thinking movie references are a good litmus test for how things happen in real life. Go figure.

Trump's position is entirely contingent on whether or not the Republican party deems him fit for that office. If they say nay, all it takes is two cabinet members and McConnell to oust him as incompetent.

You can see the comment also the other way round. Trump is so detached from reality, he is behaving like a comic book-villain.

[schwarzkopf]

You don't even need to go to decency or even politics to know Trump should.

A far simpler and objective test can be made - competence, the same way the business world looks at CEOs.

[Caolela]

Except a government is not a business, and shouldn't be run like one.

[Dead Moose Fandango]

You can see the comment also the other way round. Trump is so detached from reality, he is behaving like a comic book-villain.

And not the ones taken seriously, either. He's basically Rainbow Rider of DC Universe. It speaks worse of our government that he managed to become president, really.

[Breccia]

Hes learned it how exactly was the newest travel ban repealed?

Funny you should ask, considering Trump's SCOTUS pick is giving a speech at Trump's hotel, a few days before the case begins, for which Trump will be paid.

But I digress.

I'm sure you didn't actually mean to ask this, because you're already informed on the topic. SCOTUS yanked out a big chunk of the ban, the majority of it really, before allowing what little was left to continue.

Trump's travel ban never went into effect. It was blocked twice, and the majority was blocked the third time. And it will expire before SCOTUS hears it.

[draynay]

They've still got a week to change all the locks at the White House.

[Breccia]

On topic: they kind of are.

Bob Corker just went there on Trump's 'competence'

Bob Corker is no Donald Trump hater. Which makes what the Tennessee Republican senator said Thursday about the President all the more powerful.

"The President has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to be successful," Corker told reporters following a speech in Chattanooga.

Later, he sounded a similar note: "We should hope that (Trump) aspires that he does some self-reflection, that he does what is necessary to demonstrate stability, to demonstrate competence, to demonstrate that he understands the character of our nation and works daily to bring out the best of the people in our nation."

Stability. Competence. Stability. Competence.

Words matter in politics. Corker, who was the mayor of Chattanooga before being elected to the Senate in 2006, knows that. Which is why his repeated emphasis on Trump's "stability" and "competence" matter.

Corker is clearly hinting at the possibility that Trump is not simply misguided in some of his policies and pronouncements -- but that he may be fundamentally unfit for the office that he currently holds.

Doubt it? Ask yourself what the opposite of stable and competent is. It's unstable and incompetent. Corker doesn't go all the way there but he is absolutely leading people to ask those questions by choosing the words he did.

In doing so, Corker is raising the stakes in the conversation Republicans are currently having about what to do about Trump in the wake of his controversial comments about the motivations of the protesters in Charlottesville over the weekend.

Condemnation is one thing. We wish Trump hadn't done this, it doesn't represent us and we hope he doesn't do it again.

Questioning competency is something else -- and something far more serious. It takes the question away from what Trump said to why he said it. As in, is he even aware that what he is saying is a total abdication of moral (and political) leadership? And, if not, what, if anything, can be done about it?

That such a question comes from Corker makes it something that Republicans -- inside the Congress and outside it -- won't likely ignore. Corker, unlike some of his Senate colleagues like Lindsey Graham, John McCain and Ben Sasse, avoided bashing Trump during the campaign and kept an open line of communication with the party's nominee.

As a result, Corker was part of Trump's veepstakes (he ultimately removed himself from consideration) and was mentioned as a possible Secretary of State once Trump won.

Corker has kept up those relationships. As CNN's Jeremy Herb noted: "Corker has maintained a collegial relationship with Trump and his administration, and he has spoken regularly with both the President and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson."

This is not someone who hates Trump taking a cheap shot. This is a respected lawmaker who bears no ill will toward President Trump bluntly raising questions about whether the occupant of the Oval Office is up to that job.

That's serious stuff. And Republicans would do well to treat it that way.

[Garnier Fructis]

Hes learned it how exactly was the newest travel ban repealed?

The exceptions granted by courts were broad to the point of rendering it toothless, and the administration is appealing to the 9th circuit because of that.

[Pannonian]

Shouldn't the Republicans be worried about Trumps loyalty right now?

He has demonstrated again and again that he has none, and he has no historical ties to the republican party.

What if the democrat party would (after all this dies down) make a pact with Donald: They and a few rogue republicans that would rather serve the Trump than the GoP, propose a new universal healthcare just under the name of Trumpcare? They could bring it into effect, trump would have his big victory and the GoP suffers a major defeat while still having to take most of the blame of any stupidity by Trump? He gives the american people the healthcare they want anyone while pissing into the face of the GoP. Wouldn't his base just love this?

Now i don't know how possible such a scenario is, but could this be a threat to the GoP?

And on top of that, it wouldn't be the first time a president switches parties if memory serves right. What about he starts his own political platform out of the white house? Didn't this happen a 150 years ago or so?

[Breccia]

Shouldn't the Republicans be worried about Trumps loyalty right now?

He has demonstrated again and again that he has none, and he has no historical ties to the republican party.

Yeah, but, they knew that in 2016 and they still backed him. So, no, they shouldn't be worried about it now.

[schwarzkopf]

Except a government is not a business, and shouldn't be run like one.

Correct, however the determination of competency is still a valid thing to do for the president as it is for a CEO.

This is a test Trump objectively fails.

[Caolela]

On topic: they kind of are.

Bob Corker just went there on Trump's 'competence'

And I call bullshit. Corker is just another opportunist that, "...has maintained a collegial relationship with Trump and his administration..." because it suited him to wait and see how Trump was going to play out. He's a Senator from the state I live in and I had sent him several e-mails and petitions urging him to oppose Trumpcare (and many other issues when they came up).

His form responses were more obfuscations in support of corporate largess, blaming the other Party, and fucking over his constituents, as he almost always has through his entire career in the Congress. Check his voting record. Corker is on the tit of his paymasters as much or more than anyone there.

Now that Trump has shown his true colors (but he did so with his Cabinet & advisor picks too), it's politically convenient for Bob Corker to jump on the bandwagon. Where was Corker when Trump was appointing the neo-fascists?

Sticking his finger in the wind and looking the other way, that's where, while voting hard-right with Trump. Holding him up as some respected icon of the GOP is laughable.

[Pannonian]

Yeah, but, they knew that in 2016 and they still backed him. So, no, they shouldn't be worried about it now.

Yeah, i mean, we all know that, they all probably know that (i don't think Ryan McConnel and the others are that stupid) and they all wanted to ride on the tigers back. But right in this moment, as the chasm between them and the president grows, shouldn't they be worried what he does. I mean when comes the time that they want him gone just out of self-preservation?

And oh god, i don't want to give him any ideas, but this guy is so full of himself and living in the land of his big base, i mean he could start his own party - how much support could he get? 15, 20% Would that be a danger to the 2-party systems and the republicans specific (assuming most of his base is currently with the GoP)

[DarkTZeratul]

And oh god, i don't want to give him any ideas, but this guy is so full of himself and living in the land of his big base, i mean he could start his own party - how much support could he get? 15, 20% Would that be a danger to the 2-party systems and the republicans specific (assuming most of his base is currently with the GoP)

Fortunately, there's some historical context here. Theodore Roosevelt formed the Progressive Party (colloquially known as the Bull Moose Party) in the 1912 election, which ended up splitting the Republican vote and giving the election to Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson.

Of course, the difference is that Teddy Roosevelt was extremely popular (he actually pretty soundly beat out Howard Taft in both electoral and total votes); Trump is considerably less so, and while he would draw some Republican votes away it might not be enough to make a difference.

[Caolela]

Correct, however the determination of competency is still a valid thing to do for the president as it is for a CEO.

This is a test Trump objectively fails.

They knew he was incompetent well before the election, and a ne'er-do-well and crook. It was no great secret, his history in NY is well documented. They and you should have been asking that question long ago instead of nominating him and then supporting him in the General.

The fucking GOP hypocrisy is as outrageous as Trump's latest gaffs.

[Ooid]

That article just blended into a REEEEEEEEEE after a while.

[Masark]

You can see the comment also the other way round. Trump is so detached from reality, he is behaving like a comic book-villain.

No he isn't.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Maybe the mighty Russia will "HACK the election" again to get him reelected.

I fully expect 140% of people to show up and vote for Trump.

http://gawker.com/5864945/putin-clin...ut-exceeds-146

[Adam Jensen]

I fully expect 140% of people to show up and vote for Trump.

http://gawker.com/5864945/putin-clin...ut-exceeds-146

A bit off topic, but I just read your user name out loud for the first time.

I should feel ashamed it took me this long to see it.

[Jeezy911]

Well I can assure you one way to bring Trumps numbers way up is to move forward with impeachment on basically no legal grounds. It's a double edge sword and the smart democrats know it.