Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Zaydin]

This falls under "people do dumb shit on both sides"

I wish people would stop with the dumb "he hit me, no he hit me" shitposts.

Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly encouraged his supporters to assault protesters.

[Belize]

This falls under "people do dumb shit on both sides"

I wish people would stop with the dumb "he hit me, no he hit me" shitposts.

Milkshakes.

Bear spray.

Really they're both equivalent.

[Deja Thoris]

Milkshakes.

Bear spray.

Really they're both equivalent.

I never called them equivalent, I just don't see what the whole back and forth about this kind of stuff adds to anything. It's just shit flinging, and theres plenty of real stuff to talk about other than the whole "why is the other side so violent" tropes.

[Belize]

I never called them equivalent, I just don't see what the whole back and forth about this kind of stuff adds to anything. It's just shit flinging, and theres plenty of real stuff to talk about other than the whole "why is the other side so violent" tropes.

I think it's a pretty valid discussion to have that one side not only constantly talks about a civil war, fantasizing about attacking the media, and has an actual body count.

[Xeones]

So as we saw Trumpkins remained silent on the G7 summit at his properties. I guess give them credit they knew how corrupt and moronic this was.

So a few days later we see the Orange Moron pull the G7 out of his property. This guy is an idiot and irrational. His corrupt little pee brain mind didn't realize the backlash.

The only thing better is the the sycophant Republicans, who defended this corruption. Again burned by Trump where he makes an irrational decision.

I only hope on everything the gutless, worthless Democrats actually run political attack ads. Be like the Republicans, damnit and run ads as if this happened. Pretty easy commercial: 'Would you elect a President or Senator who enriched their own business off your tax payer money'.

Oh Trumpkins in this forum. You may have been silent but I laugh at what a corrupt idiot you support.

The only reason I can see him pulling back on this is because someone managed to convince him that it was incredibly impeachable for him to do this. Maybe it was McConnell going "There is simply no way I can defend you from this and stop defectors."

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This falls under "people do dumb shit on both sides"

I wish people would stop with the dumb "he hit me, no he hit me" shitposts.

Man it's almost like people have media they can chose to consume that gives them a fantasy world where it isn't generally the people on one side starting these conflicts.

[Paranoid Android]

Trump:“I could actually run my business and run government at the same time. I don’t like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if I wanted to”



This video was a few days before his inauguration. As you can see then the corrupt person he is is trying to squirm into convincing people it would be okay to run and have business interests as President. He also ramble that even tho this in the US Constitution it was a long time ago and that doesn't apply anymore. Again, trying to convince the Trumpkins that this is the norm.

[Bodakane]

I never called them equivalent, I just don't see what the whole back and forth about this kind of stuff adds to anything. It's just shit flinging, and theres plenty of real stuff to talk about other than the whole "why is the other side so violent" tropes.

Of course you don't.

I mean for fuck's sake why would it be important to claim the President's rhetoric is dangerous because it causes his delusional supporters to commit violence, by pointing out when the President's dangerous rhetoric spurs someone to violence? Fucking liberals......amirite?

The real problem, is bad faith shitposters, who keep trying to push the "both sides are the same" narrative, because as we all know, they are just trying to normalize the extremes of Trump and his followers.

[Breccia]

Okay, factual news media, what do you have for me this morning?

"We have a report that morale among US diplomats is at an all-time low due to budget cuts and Trump's personal attorney outranking career staff with ethics."

Okay, not bad. What else?

"A NYTimes report that Trump is withdrawing troops from Afghanistan."

Oh, I didn't know we had worked out a peace deal.

"We haven't. Trump's pulling them out anyhow. It's basically the same as Turkey, except instead of genocide by a dictator invited to the WH, it's terrorists he invited to Camp David."

Hmm. Anything else?

"Four more major opioid companies have reached a settle-out-of-court arrangement."

Ah, Team Trump's opioid commission, led by Kellyanne Conway?

"No. State and local governments. To date, there don't seem to be any federal actions taken."

Interesting. Anything else?

"Eric Trump went on FOX News and attacked the Bidens."

Any quotes stand out?

You have a guy whose son is embezzling money from everybody and enriching himself off of, you know his father’s position...He is pompous and they are above it all. And if I was doing the same thing that that family was doing, I’d be in jail

Wow. That's a yuge bigly lack of self-awareness. Also, embezzling?

"Nobody's saying that except Eric Trump."

Anything else?

"Wilbur Ross has already started downplaying expectations of a US-China trade deal."

Good stuff. Got a big one I can close with?

"Five more witnesses are due to testify in the impeachment inquiry. To the best of my knowledge, all five are testifying without a subpoena."

[Dontrike]

@Breccia judging by past statements I’d say someone in the Trump Org should look into whether Eric has been embezzling or not.

If a Trump is talking about it that definitely means they are doing it.

[Endus]

This falls under "people do dumb shit on both sides"

I wish people would stop with the dumb "he hit me, no he hit me" shitposts.

This "both sides" bullshit is not a good faith argument.

The two sides in this case have wildly different profiles of violent conduct and assault. Comparing the two as if they're the same is as dishonest as claiming that Bob, asking the new receptionist out for drinks, is just as bad as Bill, the serial rapist who's just been sent to prison for 30 years.

The two sides are wildly different. They're not the same. Any cursory examination of actual data would show you this.

[Breccia]

It's almost like he's a known liar.

Of course. But the lying isn't the worst part. It's that he blatantly announced he was going to do this, without consulting anyone, and announced it publicly as if there wasn't a problem at all about profiting from taxpayer money and foreign governments while President.

"But he said --"

He said he'd do it for no profit or free afterwards. Again, the main issue is Trump's blatant corruption. It literally didn't occur to him that what he was doing was wrong and/or that anyone would see that what he was doing was wrong.

[Twdft]

It's almost like he's a known liar.

Also: I am sure he still doesn't understand the problem. Like at all.

[Breccia]

So the International Energy Agency released a report looking ahead five years. It prominently mentions the growth of solar and other renewables -- solar in particular being industry-driven, as in, companies are buying solar panels not just people for their rooftops.

It's not enough to slow climate change, they say. But you'll notice something else:



Coal energy is predicted to fall faster than the global rise in energy consumption grows, i.e. it's not just a proportional drop, it's an objective drop.

And the world knows it. Coal miners in Indonesia, for example, are concerned with dropping global prices due to dropping global demand.

But the hit at home is far more relevant to this thread.

US coal fired plant demand is scheduled to drop 14% this year alone, to a 42-year low. Bloomberg also reports that another round of coal job cuts is on the way. More than 500 coal plants have closed since 2010, not including these two or this announcement, both of which were made last week. Insurers are backing away from coal energy companies as they're increasingly bad risks.

It's become so bad, that Investopedia's Top Five Coal-Mining Stocks for 2019 has #1 on the list giving 0.72% annual return last year. Slots two through five are all negative ten to twenty percent.

Those are the best ones.

Minus ten to twenty percent.

"That number one, BHP, that name sounds familiar."

You might be thinking about this announcement that BHP was going 100% green in their Chile copper mine. BHP is a coal mining company that's moving away from coal. That's probably why they're above water and nobody else is.

And honestly it's easier for me to link this Oct 3 article than go back and see if I've already posted it: Murray Energy, as in "Bob Murray, major Trump donor", is facing default.

Prices for thermal coal -- the kind burned by power plants -- have slumped, which may have left Murray short on cash, said Lucas Pipes, a coal analyst with B Riley FBR Inc. “You can’t make payments out of thin air if the money isn’t in the bank,” he said.

The company idled some of its mines in West Virginia last month, citing “severely depressed coal markets.”

Murray’s potential default comes more than a year after the Trump administration’s efforts to subsidize struggling nuclear and coal-fired power plants -- particularly ones that Murray supplies -- failed, shot down by President Donald Trump’s own appointed energy regulators. Chief Executive Officer Bob Murray, an early Trump supporter and a big donor to his campaign, was instrumental in setting his energy agenda and has hosted multiple fundraisers for him.

The company’s 2024 notes with about $500 million outstanding traded at 1 cent on the dollar last month, down from above 60 cents late last year, according to Trace price data.

When the head of the Department of Energy was asked to comment, he responded "I don't exist".

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I'm not sure which is more concerning:

A) Assange, at his extradition hearing, seemed so confused he could barely remember his name, or

B) Assange had an extradition hearing and I missed it.

Assange, 48, who spent seven years holed up in Ecuador's embassy before he was dragged out in April, faces 18 counts in the United States including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law. He could spend decades in prison if convicted.

Assange's lawyer Mark Summers argued that Assange's extradition hearing, scheduled for February 2020, should be delayed by three months due to the complexity of the case.

"The evidence in this case would test the limits of most lawyers," Summers told the court. He cited the difficulty of communicating with Assange who he said doesn't have a computer in prison. The judge denied the request to delay the hearing.

Assange is being held in British jail pending the U.S. extradition, having served his sentence for skipping bail.

- - - Updated - - -

Once again, it's ti--

"Trump."

The two things they [the Democrats] have: They’re vicious and they stick together. They don’t’ have Mitt Romeny in their midst. They don’t have people like that.

We have some that are great fighters, but they have to get tougher and fight because the Democrats are trying to hurt the Republican party for the election, which is coming up, where we’re doing very well.

Kind of a lot to unpack there.

1) Yep, that's an attack on Romney again. You know what's a great message of unity? Attacking your own party.

2) Well of course the Democrats are trying to hurt the Republican Party. Duh.

3) And you're making it easy for them to do it.

4) Also, which polls has Trump been watching that show him doing very well? He sent Barr to yell at FOX News because even they showed polls in which he's doing poorly. Hold on:



41.2% and falling. Rasmussen at 45%, down 5% in a week.

"But Breccia! Surely he was talking about the 2020 polls of Trump vs. Democrats!"

But he's losing them all too! Look, here's one today from Minnesota:

The two current front-runners for the Democratic nomination, former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, both beat the president by double digits among Minnesota voters. Voters polled picked Biden over Trump by 12 percentage points, 50% to 38%.

Warren, who attracted a large crowd at an August campaign rally in St. Paul, tops Trump 51% to 40%. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who places third in most national polls of the Democratic field, is ahead of Trump 49% to 40%.

The survey also asked voters about a hypothetical match-up between Trump and Minnesota’s Klobuchar, who trails in the crowded Democratic field. The third-term senator finished ahead of Trump by the widest margin, 55% to 38%. The poll of 800 registered voters, conducted Oct. 14-16, has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

He's losing or tied in Ohio, and alsoFlorida. And he should be terrified of Pennsylvania polls. (Biden lives next door, so, big surprise he's fucking teabagging Trump's campaign's corpse there)

Trump can try to sell "our poll numbers are good" on the rabid fanbase, who pretend he's telling the truth and choose not to look because it would demoralize them. But Trump said this to a room full of Republicans, his own Cabinet. Joke all you want, these people are neither stupid nor selfless. They know what the deal is.

The worst thing you can do, when you're a con man, is to lie to the people who wrote your lies for you, with the lies they wrote for you. This isn't GTA where you unlock a trophy for running over the guy with his own car. This is "they're already resigning in record numbers, and you have a four star wanted rating".

[Zaydin]

Welp, reminding us once again that Trump has never read the Constitution, he was raging about the 'phony emoluments clause' earlier.

[Edge-]

https://theweek.com/speedreads/87308...ality-business

Trump is apparently "still in the hospitality business" which...is sure an odd way to describe what the President of the United States does.

[Zaydin]

And in another contender for "Lack of Self-Awareness of the Year award", Eric Trump whining about how every family that goes into politics enriches itself while whining about the Bidens. Someone should remind him how his father punched himself in the dick last week when he declared he would host the G7 at his failing Doral golf course before being forced to walk it back because Republicans balked at the blatant corruption.

As a reminder, Eric Trump has claimed that the Trump Organization has halted all foreign dealings while Trump is president and that claim is total bullshit.

[Edge-]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/militar...sides-n1069611

Following the sudden Syrian surrender by US forces, the Pentagon is now drawing up plans for a hasty retreat from Afghanistan.

Not because there are any stated plans for a sudden withdrawal from Afghanistan though, mind you.

Just in case Trump has a double helping of nothingberders with his covfefe and decides that he's bringing the troops home on a random Tuesday. And this is a real possibility that they don't want to be caught off guard by...again.

[Wyrt]

And in another contender for "Lack of Self-Awareness of the Year award", Eric Trump whining about how every family that goes into politics enriches itself while whining about the Bidens. Someone should remind him how his father punched himself in the dick last week when he declared he would host the G7 at his failing Doral golf course before being forced to walk it back because Republicans balked at the blatant corruption.

As a reminder, Eric Trump has claimed that the Trump Organization has halted all foreign dealings while Trump is president and that claim is total bullshit.

I wonder if they understand the difference between selling books and giving speeches for money after leaving office and using tax payer money to directly funnel money into your personal properties(along with foreign nations doing the same).

I'm going to guess no, they don't understand the difference.

[Breccia]

Not because there are any stated plans for a sudden withdrawal from Afghanistan though, mind you.

You know that feeling when you suddenly wake up and say "Oh no! The term paper's due tomorrow and I haven't started!" ?

Trump promised to bring the troops home. Over one thousand days later, and he did nothing. Except sending more troops to the Middle East and I guess Texas.

He had two options:
A) leave the troops in place and break a campaign promise, or
B) yank them suddenly and leave a vacuum for ISIS and/or the Taliban.

I suppose there was option C) negotiate with terrorists on the White House lawn, but, well, that fell apart. I didn't think the USA would even consider that as an option, but, here we are.

[Edge-]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/21/polit...ity-secretary/

The White House's personnel director has told President Donald Trump that neither immigration hardliner Ken Cuccinelli nor Customs and Border Protection chief Mark Morgan are eligible to succeed Kevin McAleenan as acting Homeland Security secretary, a senior administration official confirmed to CNN.

The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded that neither of the two men, who were said to be Trump's favorites to succeed McAleenan and filling acting posts at the Department of Homeland Security, are eligible to succeed McAleenan because they had not served at least 90 days under the last Senate-confirmed Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen.

TLDR: Trumps favorites for an "acting" head of DHS aren't eligible for said "acting" position because of laws.

Trump could get around this by formally nominating them to head the agency, but that would require Senate approval and Republicans don't even seem particularly interested in moving forward with some of his nominees.

Current outgoing "acting" head Mark Morgan leaves at the end of the month, and it doesn't appear anyone has the foggiest clue who will replace him yet.

As has been said, this un-Senate approved "acting" government is a fucking national security risk.