Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Orbitus]

They totally have a vetting process.

Are you male? If so then are you a scumbag and rich? Kiss the ring and you're hired!

Are you a female? Were do you fall on Trump's attractiveness scale? Kiss the ring and you're hired!

Which is sad that it is so true.

[Shadowferal]

Looks like Mulvaney may get the axe soon; Trump threatening to fire Mulvaney: report

President Trump has reportedly been threatening to fire acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney for weeks over recent missteps amid the House’s impeachment investigation.

Three people familiar with the discussions told The Washington Post that the president has griped about Mulvaney’s appearance at an Oct. 17 press conference in which he admitted military aid to Ukraine was withheld to pressure Kyiv to launch investigations into 2016 election meddling and former Vice President Joe Biden, a chief political rival of Trump’s. He later backtracked, clarifying that there was “absolutely no quid pro quo.”

Senior aides have reportedly advised that firing Mulvaney at such a pivotal moment during the House’s impeachment inquiry could be risky, particularly given Mulvaney’s role in the decision to temporarily freeze the aid and the chaos that would ensue in trying to find a replacement for him.

“I don’t think you’ll see him going anywhere until after December,” one Trump adviser told The Post. “But the president was very unhappy with that press conference. That was a very bad day for the president."

[Kaleredar]

Looks like Mulvaney may get the axe soon; Trump threatening to fire Mulvaney: report

President Trump has reportedly been threatening to fire acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney for weeks over recent missteps amid the House’s impeachment investigation.

Three people familiar with the discussions told The Washington Post that the president has griped about Mulvaney’s appearance at an Oct. 17 press conference in which he admitted military aid to Ukraine was withheld to pressure Kyiv to launch investigations into 2016 election meddling and former Vice President Joe Biden, a chief political rival of Trump’s. He later backtracked, clarifying that there was “absolutely no quid pro quo.”

Senior aides have reportedly advised that firing Mulvaney at such a pivotal moment during the House’s impeachment inquiry could be risky, particularly given Mulvaney’s role in the decision to temporarily freeze the aid and the chaos that would ensue in trying to find a replacement for him.

Trump's enemy list is only growing at this point.

I think that's one of the things that Republicans don't really appreciate, or at least, refuse to; that Trump is not making any friends. He's only shedding people, whether by firing them or ostracizing them or disparaging their government institutions. And the republicans that are hitching their wagon to Trump are essentially doing that along with him.

“I don’t think you’ll see him going anywhere until after December,” one Trump adviser told The Post. “But the president was very unhappy with that press conference. That was a very bad day for the president."

In essence, "Trump official admitting that Trump comitted a crime was very disheartening to Trump"

I'll bet it was.

[Smitzelplix]

Looks like Mulvaney may get the axe soon; Trump threatening to fire Mulvaney: report

President Trump has reportedly been threatening to fire acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney for weeks over recent missteps amid the House’s impeachment investigation.

Three people familiar with the discussions told The Washington Post that the president has griped about Mulvaney’s appearance at an Oct. 17 press conference in which he admitted military aid to Ukraine was withheld to pressure Kyiv to launch investigations into 2016 election meddling and former Vice President Joe Biden, a chief political rival of Trump’s. He later backtracked, clarifying that there was “absolutely no quid pro quo.”

Senior aides have reportedly advised that firing Mulvaney at such a pivotal moment during the House’s impeachment inquiry could be risky, particularly given Mulvaney’s role in the decision to temporarily freeze the aid and the chaos that would ensue in trying to find a replacement for him.

“I don’t think you’ll see him going anywhere until after December,” one Trump adviser told The Post. “But the president was very unhappy with that press conference. That was a very bad day for the president."

Mick Mulvaney is reportedly telling associates Trump can't fire him because he 'knows too much'

[Kaleredar]

Mick Mulvaney is reportedly telling associates Trump can't fire him because he 'knows too much'

Way to make your guy look not guilty there, Mick.

[Smitzelplix]

Way to make your guy look not guilty there, Mick.

And possibly makes him more likely to have an accident

[Kaleredar]

And possibly makes him more likely to have an accident

True, but... I really don't believe in Trump's ability to successfully carry a hit out on someone. He'd have to be at least partially afraid that Giuliani would accidentally butt-dial the whole plan to a reporter.

[Smitzelplix]

True, but... I really don't believe in Trump's ability to successfully carry a hit out on someone. He'd have to be at least partially afraid that Giuliani would accidentally butt-dial the whole plan to a reporter.

Wouldn't necessarily have to come from Trump himself, someone else in Trump's orbit could carry it out without any instructions from Trump. Trump could also just fall back on his enemy of the people rhetoric and throw Mick into that group in the hopes that one of his rabid supporters does something.

[Kaleredar]

Wouldn't necessarily have to come from Trump himself, someone else in Trump's orbit could carry it out without any instructions from Trump. Trump could also just fall back on his enemy of the people rhetoric and throw Mick into that group in the hopes that one of his rabid supporters does something.

I don't think Trump has enough sympathy or control in the requisite governing bodies to effectively cover up what would be an incredibly suspicious crime.

The CIA and FBI would be all over something like that, and boy... do they not like Trump.

[Smitzelplix]

I don't think Trump has enough sympathy or control in the requisite governing bodies to effectively cover up what would be an incredibly suspicious crime.

The CIA and FBI would be all over something like that, and boy... do they not like Trump.

Yeah that's true. I just think it's dumb for Mick to be implying that he knows too much, I don't see that doing him any favors.

[Orbitus]

Mick Mulvaney is reportedly telling associates Trump can't fire him because he 'knows too much'

Sounds like a threat, and a good way to end up on the witness stand, unable to plead the 5th because you plead guilty.

[Orbitus]

I just hope Trump fires him to promote Kellyanne. Mulvaney would sing fast as shit.

I think he will plea out before that, especially now that I don't think he can claim executive privilege after saying the quid quo pro happened, and that we should get over it, and that they did it all the time.

[Breccia]

Looks like Mulvaney may get the axe soon

Why would he do this?

Mulvaney might have screwed up by admitting a quid pro quo, but at this point, he's like fifth in line to do it. That's not the talking point anymore. However, Mulvaney is one of Trump's few remaining loyal supporters. Firing him is like 87.333 (repeating of course) percent as stupid as firing Bolton. I mean:

Mick Mulvaney is reportedly telling associates Trump can't fire him because he 'knows too much'

See?

[Thekri]

Why would he do this?

Mulvaney might have screwed up by admitting a quid pro quo, but at this point, he's like fifth in line to do it. That's not the talking point anymore. However, Mulvaney is one of Trump's few remaining loyal supporters. Firing him is like 87.333 (repeating of course) percent as stupid as firing Bolton. I mean:



See?

Because firing people is literally the only thing Trump knows how to do in a crisis. It is his standard method of getting out of trouble. Pin the blame on someone else, then kick them out (Rehire them a few months later if necessary). He has no actual skills to apply in a crisis.

[Breccia]

Barr and the DoJ unveiled a five-star wanted level five-part program to reduce gun violence, including stricter enforcement of background checks.

"What's wrong with that?"

It's buried in page five. Besides the nearly three years of "anything Trump touches dies" smacking down expectations off a Republican curbing the NRA (yeah good luck with that), Trump has now failed so spectacularly on so many fronts, not even this is breaking the FOX News top five. No, really, check it out.

Trump has dug himself into a hole so deep, he's calling out "WITCH HUNT!" yet again while in the same room with Erdogan, who not only started a genocide under Trump's direct approval, but is now buying Russian jets to do it faster. That's "holy shit" levels of fuckupery. At this point, he could claim to have cured cancer and people would shrug it off as deflection.

[Twdft]

True, but... I really don't believe in Trump's ability to successfully carry a hit out on someone. He'd have to be at least partially afraid that Giuliani would accidentally butt-dial the whole plan to a reporter.

[insert some tasteless joke about Mulvaney staying clear of 5th avenue for a while]

[Nellise]

So anybody at all surprised by this since this is what Trump touted the most? U.S.-China Trade Talks Hit Snag Over Farm Purchases

[Breccia]

So anybody at all surprised by this since this is what Trump touted the most? U.S.-China Trade Talks Hit Snag Over Farm Purchases

I hinted at this earlier, but at this point, Trump is looking for a mini deal -- he's downplaying expectations and pumping the narrative that doing nothing would have been worse, a losing argument, because it's conjecture -- and he's been begging China for one for a month. He wants literally anything that could be held up while he shrills "See? SEE? I DID THIS!" even if it's what we've seen hinted: a partial rollback by both sides, and literally nothing else.

[Edge-]

I hinted at this earlier, but at this point, Trump is looking for a mini deal -- he's downplaying expectations and pumping the narrative that doing nothing would have been worse, a losing argument, because it's conjecture -- and he's been begging China for one for a month. He wants literally anything that could be held up while he shrills "See? SEE? I DID THIS!" even if it's what we've seen hinted: a partial rollback by both sides, and literally nothing else.

Real talk: When the fuck are markets going to stop getting played by this? This has been the most transparent play I can remember in a long time, and they've all be in on this for the past few years as if this isn't a comical farce.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.vox.com/world/2019/11/13...turkey-erdogan

So the meeting with Erdogan went well, apparently. Trump joked about "friendly press" during the Q&A, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Turkey has jailed more media than any other country recently and only has "friendly press" left in that country after their crackdown.

And then followed it up by talking about the "great relationship" that the US and Erdogan have with the Kurds...again, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Erdogan's position is that the Kurds are all terrorists who pose an existential threat to Turkey.

Almost like, and this may be wild, he wasn't briefed on any of this or didn't bother paying attention because he was too busy rage-tweeting Fox News comments all morning.

[Masark]

Speaking of Trump's meeting with Erdogan....


I believe the term is "war crime"?

More specifically, the term is "pillaging".

And yes, it is a war crime.

- - - Updated - - -

Real talk: When the fuck are markets going to stop getting played by this?

When HFT and day traders stop being able to make money off the volatility.