Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Belize]

If McMaster and Kelly leave on the same day, I put Kelly leaving/Kelly staying as a 3-14 bracket match.

Other news: as Trump continues to tout, as he apparently wanted to call it, the Tax Cut Cut Cut JOBS! Act, we find...well, kind of the reverse effect.

SouthEastern Grocers, a big name in Florida, is going bankrupt, closing 94 stores. This includes the entire Winn-Dixie thing, pure irony, as Dixie isn't exactly Winning all that much these days.

Toys R Us, despite being a chain so friendly to Trump they have a backwards R, is also dying out. 31,000 people will lose a job and there's no severance package.

"You already posted that in September."

No, that was "only" 200 stores. This is now the entire chain.

EDIT: I found another one! Caterpilllar, the bulldozer people, to close two facilities and lay off 880 people.

And iHeartMedia, parent to Clear Channel, is also on the way out. The fate of the biggest radio company in the US's 14k employees is as yet uncertain.

In fact, 2017 was a bad year for retail and the above all happened within 48 hours of each other. Whatever bonuses Trump is trying to promote, it's not doing the JOBS!

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Trump takes the trade deficit to $566 billion, higher than any year Obama was President.

Claire's is also apparently filing for bankruptcy and may or may not close down a bunch of shop.

They found asbestos in their make up.

Twice.

[cubby]

speaking of Mattis, we have yet another case of a trump Admin member being engaged in flagrant fraud. the difference this time is no ones wants to go after him because we might have a nuclear war otherwise. ah yeah America, so much winning!

I have to say, I would give him a full pass on this one - we need Mattis in there. NEED. It fucking sucks, but it's the world we currently live in.

[Sky High]

I have to say, I would give him a full pass on this one - we need Mattis in there. NEED. It fucking sucks, but it's the world we currently live in.

I say give him a pass until he and probably Kelly are eventually booted out as Trump promotes complete nut jobs like John Bolten and Pompeo.

[Breccia]

Claire's is also apparently filing for bankruptcy and may or may not close down a bunch of shop.

They found asbestos in their make up.

Twice.

If only we had some kind of federal department or agency that was supposed to look over consumer products to see if they had toxic chemicals.

If only.

In a related story, the EPA is closing an office that watches out for things like, say, arsenic in baby food.

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Trump promotes complete nut jobs like John Bolten .

Yeah, but Bolton is on FOX News a lot. And we all know what that means.

[Paranoid Android]

I say give him a pass until he and probably Kelly are eventually booted out as Trump promotes complete nut jobs like John Bolten and Pompeo.

Yeah. There goes I was against the Iraq War. Bolton is a warmonger and he already manipulated one simple minded fool in GW Bush. Bush makes Trump look like the late Stephen Hawking as far as intelligence.

[cubby]

I say give him a pass until he and probably Kelly are eventually booted out as Trump promotes complete nut jobs like John Bolten and Pompeo.

We really need a stable force in the Defense Department though. I would have said that about State a year or so ago - but the complete lunacy we live in now is driving away the chaff. Mattis just can't go. Fuck a bunch of corporate fraud - and, in an homage to all our Trumpkings out there, we don't even know if Mattis did anything wrong.

[Flarelaine]

Just take him to the border and get a mime to pretend there's a wall.

You are not the first to come to this idea. Horsey came up with this:

[Sky High]

We really need a stable force in the Defense Department though. I would have said that about State a year or so ago - but the complete lunacy we live in now is driving away the chaff. Mattis just can't go. Fuck a bunch of corporate fraud - and, in an homage to all our Trumpkings out there, we don't even know if Mattis did anything wrong.

I'm not saying he should be outed, but when he eventually is, but I'm also not above betting money on him resigning.

[ati87]

Their is a story out their that Kelly's job is '100% safe'

Is their somebody brave that can check the timings of previous tweets and when Trump fired those people who's job was also 100% safe?

[Antiganon]

And iHeartMedia, parent to Clear Channel, is also on the way out. The fate of the biggest radio company in the US's 14k employees is as yet uncertain.

I say this as somebody with a history of broadcasting:

Clear Channel can go fuck itself. They have a LONG (decades long) history of buying up local radio stations, completely changing the format, and running them into the ground.

My only hope is that the employees and management of individual stations owned by Clear Channel can raise enough funds to buy their own stations back. Radio is a dying medium, but it provides an essential public service, and I would be deeply saddened to see it go.

[Flarelaine]

Sanders says McMaster hasnt been fired...she said the same about Tillerson though...

He's not fired until Cheeto gets to his Twitter.

[mvaliz]

You are not the first to come to this idea. Horsey came up with this:

Neither of them came up with the idea... Hans Christian Andersen and his short story "The Emperor's New Clothes" would like to have a word with you lot. :P

[Flarelaine]

Neither of them came up with the idea... Hans Christian Andersen and his short story "The Emperor's New Clothes" would like to have a word with you lot. :P

Correct, but applying it to the present situation and rendering it still deserves acknowledgement.

[Dome Fossil]

Their is a story out their that Kelly's job is '100% safe'

Is their somebody brave that can check the timings of previous tweets and when Trump fired those people who's job was also 100% safe?

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...88444046266368

He'd never fire Tillerson! FAKE NEWS to say otherwise!

Anyway, it was a bit over 4 months later that Tillerson was ousted.

[ati87]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...88444046266368

He'd never fire Tillerson! FAKE NEWS to say otherwise!

Anyway, it was a bit over 4 months later that Tillerson was ousted.

I think the news about Kelly started 2 months ago no? Trump is looking more unstable by the week so guess within a few weeks.

also this, now you definitely know he is getting sacked. Kind of weird that you have to reassure people that the big boss won't start another fire because he got access to his phone.

[Breccia]

Team Trump are looking at adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. Naturally, this raised questions amongst lawmakers"
1) Why?
2) Wouldn't illegals just lie about it, making the question worthless?
3) Or refuse to take the census at all, making the entire census results questionable?
4) And isn't the census underfunded?

When pressed for answers, the director of the Census Bureau said "I don't exist."

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Rumors are also pointing to Kelly being right behind McMaster

Kelly isn't helping by accusing Trump of spreading stories of chaos personally.

Kelly acknowledged to the reporters it’s likely that Trump is talking to people outside the White House and that reporters are then talking to those people. Kelly cast Trump’s own conversations as a significant contributing factor to stories about the staff changes. (Kelly was making the point that he’s not around for a lot of Trump’s conversations so can’t be sure what he’s telling people over the phone.)

Kelly disputed the reports about H.R. McMaster imminently leaving the White House. He said there are no active plans to replace him, and added that it would be great if the Army gave McMaster a 4th star.

Kelly also defended HUD Sec. Ben Carson, who is under pressure for spending $31,000 on a furniture set. Kelly said $31,000 sounds like a lot of money, but to put it in context he asked a reporter how much they think the chair they’re sitting on costs. Kelly said it’s probably worth hundreds of dollars but it will last a long time. He rationalized Carson’s $31,000 outlay by saying the table could last for 80 or 100 years. Kelly was pressed on whether the President was going to fire Carson. He made a military analogy. He said whenever he makes a decision, he makes sure that it’s legally permissible and from that line he takes five paces back — to allow for optics, ethical and other considerations. Kelly said he wants all decision-making across government to be like that and the impression reporters were left with was that Carson is not going to be fired.

Kelly said he has been telling Trump that Jeff Sessions is doing a good job. Kelly went above and beyond to defend Sessions, and told the president that the press only reports about 3% of what he does.

He said Deputy A.G. Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Chris Wray are also doing good jobs.

Kelly also said that Larry Kudlow’s past cocaine habit won’t be a problem for his security clearance, as it is public knowledge. Kelly joked that the 1990s were “a crazy time.”

[Zan15]

They have video of the revolving door of the white house this week

[Edge-]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...t-cars-n857111

Apparently, despite no indication that he was attempting a joke, he was just joking about the bowling ball test.

This is actually one of the more plausible excuses given his inability to actually tell jokes to begin with, but it's still total bullshit.

[draynay]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...t-cars-n857111

Apparently, despite no indication that he was attempting a joke, he was just joking about the bowling ball test.

This is actually one of the more plausible excuses given his inability to actually tell jokes to begin with, but it's still total bullshit.

Everybody knows the best way to illustrate real problems is with completely fabricated anecdotes!

[Breccia]

This is actually one of the more plausible excuses

Oh, it is in no way plausible. Everyone in the room thought he was serious. They just didn't know what the hell he was talking about -- because, of course, what Trump said had little to no relationship with the truth. No big surprise, given that Trump now admits he lies to everyone just to contradict them.

Japan has substantial vehicle import restrictions. He could have simply said that, and it would have been fine. Now, he's on the record as lying to a group of people he was fundraising with.