Mega-Thread: Impeachment Proceedings & Inquiry of Trump

[Edge-]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a9165006.html

Donald Trump could not appear to focus during his first briefing of his presidency with top-level officials at the Pentagon, according to a stunning new account written by former Defence Secretary James Mattis’ chief speech writer.

Guy Snodgrass, who served as Mr Mattis’ speech writer until the former defence secretary left the administration in December 2018, detailed the president’s first briefing in which he was expected to learn about all of the places around the world with US forces and embassies.

“That is not at all what happened,” Mr Snodgrass wrote in a Politico article on Monday. The report is adapted from his new book, Holding the Line: Inside Trump’s Pentagon With Secretary Mattis.

Mr Snodgrass said Mr Trump “burst out in the middle of the meeting” and began to describe his recent visit to France, where he met President Emanuel Macron and attended the country’s Bastille Day celebrations.

“I just returned from France,” the president said, according to Mr Snodgrass. “Did you see President Macron’s handshake? … He wouldn’t let go. He just kept holding on. I spent two hours at Bastille Day. Very impressive.”

The president reportedly went on to say that he wanted a “Victory Day” celebration similar to the event he witnessed in France, adding: “The Fourth of July is too hot”.

“I want vehicles and tanks on Main Street. On Pennsylvania Avenue, from the Capitol to the White House. We need spirit! We should blow everybody away with this parade,” the president reportedly said. “The French had an amazing parade on Bastille Day with tanks and everything. Why can’t we do that?”

The former speech writer, who helped Mr Mattis prepare for briefings with the president, said he learned to only bring “slides with pictures … no words” to future meetings with Mr Trump.

“Trump veered from topic to topic—Syria, Mexico, a recent Washington Post story he didn’t like—like a squirrel caught in traffic, dashing one way and then another,” Mr Snodgrass wrote. “The issues were complicated, yet all of the president’s answers were simplistic and ad hoc. He was shooting from the hip on issues of global importance.”

The president’s aides have previously acknowledged he prefers pictures and videos with “killer graphics” compared to words in his daily intelligence briefings.

“That’s our task, right?” then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo said in a Washington Post report published in 2017. “To deliver the material in a way that he can best understand the information we’re trying to communicate.”

It was also previously reported that Mr Trump was enamoured by France’s Bastille Day celebrations and had ordered his own US military parade shortly after.

Still, Mr Snodgrass’ account provides an inside look at how Pentagon officials and others were aware of those claims about the president long before they were published in the national media.

He said Mr Trump “scowled” when his defence secretary spoke in excessive detail, but was energised by “a visual depiction” of US forces in between Japan and South Korea.

But the president reportedly veered off track, calling the nation’s trade agreements “criminal” and adding: “Japan and South Korea are taking advantage of the United States.”

Donald Trump is a national security threat. Period.

[xskarma]

@Rozz

What exactly isn't forbidden? We can't talk about moderation, so I didn't talk about moderation. Are we banned from even mentioning the concept of forbidden topics in the abstract now? Seriously?

How is this against the rules but we have so many others who derail this stuff for 10-15 pages at a time allowed to continue unabated?

That's what we have a report function for. Use it and leave the rest to the moderation staff. Now stop discussing moderation.

[Orbitus]

That's what we have a report function for. Use it and leave the rest to the moderation staff. Now stop discussing moderation.

I mean, I have, and it still doesn't change anything. Some people have spewed lies and bullshit for 15-20 pages, and nothing happens. And I am not just going to sit there and let them do that unchallenged, this is how we got Trump in the first place.

[Edge-]

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/1...ulvaney-053781

So, how did Republicans view Mulvaney's performance this weekend?

As Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the most senior GOP senator, put it: Mulvaney is “probably somebody that didn’t know what they were talking about.”

“It’s hard to figure out what led him to make some of those statements last week, both in the initial news conference and then the follow-up. I’m glad they walked some of that stuff back but yeah, it’s hard to explain,” Senate Majority Whip John Thunesaid in an interview. “He’s trying to make amends and correct the record, so to speak, so we’ll see. Ultimately he serves at the pleasure of the president.”

“It seems starkly at odds with what the president had been saying and what others in the administration had been saying,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), said of Mulvaney’s initial comments. “I don’t think it’s helpful. It’s certainly a distraction… it’s certainly introduced a lot of static.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/1...ulvaney-053781

Ouch.

[Bdatik]

That's what we have a report function for. Use it and leave the rest to the moderation staff. Now stop discussing moderation.

I believe the report function might be broken. Can you look into it?

[Kaleredar]

Rep. Gerry Connolly

Jesus, why is the GOP so corrupt?

Rats running to the topmost decks on a sinking ship. But we need to get them to start abandoning it.



Pelosi needs to be making motions to enforce these subpoenas. The lack of progress is letting the GOP settle on a narrative to spin to their base. The hits have to keep coming hard and fast to keep them slipping up.

[draynay]

That's what we have a report function for. Use it and leave the rest to the moderation staff. Now stop discussing moderation.

I wish it worked that way, but it doesn't.

[Fugus]

That's what we have a report function for. Use it and leave the rest to the moderation staff. Now stop discussing moderation.

Sir, we have tried that ad nausum and largely doesn't accomplish anything. We still have trolls and bad faith posters derailing threads for 10+ pages. Not even ban evading alts but the SAME trolls repeatedly but they are still allowed to continue it. We have had people infracted for no reason largely by a single guy who has posted conspiracy theories himself.

The report button here feels like an exercise in futility because it accomplishes nothing overall because the problems aren't addressed.

Why do you think we talk about it openly so often? Because using the report button, PMing moderators personally, using the Contact Us buttons are largely ignored by them for any major thing. I really miss Endus on here as he was great and consistent on his stuff. Even the rare infractions I got back then, I largely deserved. Now, my main infractions I get are for calling out infractions and once when I actually pointed out that someone was posting a conspiracy theory with an actual explanation as to WHY it was a conspiracy theory only to be infracted for it (By you can guess who) with my explanation to them edited out while they got off clean and got another 5 or so pages before it was finally dealt with.

I will drop it after this post, but you have to notice WHY we keep bringing it up and WHY we increasingly are losing faith in those methods you propose we use.

[Trifle]

Tbh if there was no moderation at all in this forum, I'd view it as an improvement.

[DarkTZeratul]

Now, my main infractions I get are for calling out infractions and once when I actually pointed out that someone was posting a conspiracy theory with an actual explanation as to WHY it was a conspiracy theory only to be infracted for it (By you can guess who) with my explanation to them edited out while they got off clean and got another 5 or so pages before it was finally dealt with.

Not to mention certain people getting banned on even the slightest pretenses that could be found, such as getting infracted for "trolling" for pointing out that they have someone on ignore.

[Santti]

That's what we have a report function for. Use it and leave the rest to the moderation staff. Now stop discussing moderation.

See, that's the problem, right there. More specifically, Thwart.

Contact Us doesn't seem to do anything, and sending private messages to mods either returns as "Use Contact Us", or nothing at all, when I sent you a message. You did receive my message, Xskarma, right? At least an acknowledgement, or a soulless copy/paste answer, or outright disagreement would do...

Have you actually seen the infractions handed by Thwart?

...And now I got Stupid Sexy Flanders in my head for typing nothing at all...

[Xeones]

That's what we have a report function for. Use it and leave the rest to the moderation staff. Now stop discussing moderation.

Sorry but the way moderation has been handled on this particular forum for a while now is entirely inappropriate. We went from having rules that were consistent and followed for years since I started posting here to seeing arbitrary moderations generally handled according to political bias and not the forum rules. The amount of reports I've made that go ignored is absurd, and the things I'm seeing moderated are generally laughable.

[Zaydin]

That's what we have a report function for. Use it and leave the rest to the moderation staff. Now stop discussing moderation.

Why should we bother with reports when they don't seem to lead to anything?

I have filed complaints via Contact Us and that doesn't do anything either.

[Jehct]

But it's literally Shalcker's job to try and make Gabbard happen. Have to earn the turnips somehow.

Are you saying Gabbard is a Russian agent? Really? The trolling was pretty good earlier. Just wondering what your real take is.

- - - Updated - - -

Gabbard's votes and words have shown her to be compromised. Not that it matters a whole lot because she's obviously not getting the nomination and even if she does run with a third party she'll siphon off more Trump votes than any from any dem candidate.

But again this assumes Trump is even on the ballot in 2020. It's not too late for the GOP to turn a 30 year disaster into a 20 year one. Dump Trump, completely renounce him and everything he's done, admit you were wrong and move on. Fix what's broken with the republican party and do better.

Compromised? What are you inferring here?

[Muajin76]

All Trump has to do to get impeached is to say that he supports the HK protests. Problem solved.

[Cthulhu 2020]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a9165006.html



Donald Trump is a national security threat. Period.

And so it begins, the books about "inside the Trump presidency" that we all knew would come.

[Shalcker]

Super relevant to the Ukraine situation -
Trump got advice on Ukraine from Putin and Orban.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...5ce_story.html

Say it with me now - TRUMPS UKRAINE CALL WAS PERFECT AND IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE COUNTRY AND TOTALLY NOT INFLUENCED BY PUTIN

But Ukraine is horribly corrupt country just like everyone have been saying to Trump.

It's just that previous administration mostly overlooked that in pursuit of other goals.

[Xeones]

But Ukraine is horribly corrupt country just like everyone have been saying to Trump.

It's just that previous administration mostly overlooked that in pursuit of other goals.

The previous administration tried to get them to combat corruption.

The current corrupt administration was attempting for force a person who ran against corruption to win his office into doing a corrupt action.

[Shalcker]

The previous administration tried to get them to combat corruption.

By firing one prosecutor once.

Yeah, that totally solved all systemic problems there /s

The current corrupt administration was attempting for force a person who ran against corruption to win his office into doing a corrupt action.

So far he is pretty much still beholden to corrupt interests, just from slightly different group.

[Kokolums]

The real issue at hand here is that, for the first time in human history, we are seeing a nation with nuclear weapons destabilize politically and culturally. In almost all cases, when a nation destabilizes in this way, a radical extremist authoritarian assumes power. So this entire thing is a huge threat to the human race. I give humanity a very low chance of still existing in 10 years. And people are gonna say its Trumps fault or its the democrats. No, its everyones fault for failing at social skills, failing to listen and understand.

But it wouldnt surprise me in the least if, when the nukes are flying and humanity is about to go extinct, its last words will be "its the fault of [ insert rival political faction here ]"