Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[-aiko-]

So uh this concentration camp symbol...

I mean surely the campaign isn't that stupid, right? Right...? The only thing I can think of is that it was intentional so they could keep pushing the 'conservatives are being silenced' angle which will absolutely be bought by their base. Meanwhile saying "well we didn't realize it was a Nazi symbol...".

Either way, this is just pathetic, sad, but also very scary.

[beanman12345]

sorry but can someone explain to me how this book coming out is both fake and made up.....and giving away top secret information???

how can it be top secret if its all made up??

I am so confused....

It's all lies and made up, just like trump said. It's full of lies he hasn't disclosed to the public, and full of stuff trump made up, like england not having nukes. Only 20,000 of all the trump lies have been declassified cause they came out of trump's mouth in public. According to him(and I guess the doj?), anything he says behind closed doors is classified so you can't make a tell all of those lies. I don't really know, trump is retarded.

[Breccia]

I mean surely the campaign isn't that stupid, right?

They're trying to paint Antifa as Nazis. It's not so much stupid as knee-jerk.

The real take-away here is even Facebook is starting to say "enough's enough". If you're asking if Team Trump is really that stupid, the topic was already broached when Twitter slapped them with a fact-check and they didn't back down.

[Paranoid Android]

Haha! At the press conference while these small business owners give their stories about COVID-19, Trump is tweeting

Screenshot below.

https://twitter.com/antiscarcity/sta...053715968?s=19

Here is Trump's tweet. Not about the conference.

It was not Ambassador Lighthizer’s fault (yesterday in Committee) in that perhaps I didn’t make myself clear, but the U.S. certainly does maintain a policy option, under various conditions, of a complete decoupling from China. Thank you!

He is so checked out. A lazy business man, who was handed everything.

[Edge-]

Haha! At the press conference while these small business owners give their stories about COVID-19, Trump is tweeting

Screenshot below.

https://twitter.com/antiscarcity/sta...053715968?s=19

The teacher should confiscate his phone until after class is finished.

[Breccia]

And of course...

Our Ruling

Pence said, "In a very real sense, (Oklahoma has) flattened the curve. ... The number of cases in Oklahoma — it's declined precipitously."

This observation is outdated and inaccurate. In June, Oklahoma’s daily caseload has risen consistently, and to levels higher than at any point in the pandemic.

We rate the statement False.

Our Ruling

In a since-deleted June 11 Facebook post (archived here), Ryan Fournier, co-founder of Students for Trump, claimed that donations to Black Lives Matter were actually being funneled to Democratic campaigns.

"All money donated to Black Lives Matter goes directly to ActBlue, a Democrat Super PAC that then feeds the money to Democrat candidates," he said. "Congratulations, you played yourself."

It’s wrong. ActBlue is a nonprofit technology organization that provides a platform for people to contribute to Democratic campaigns and causes. Black Lives Matter and Democratic presidential candidates use the platform to fundraise.

ActBlue does not pocket donations that are facilitated by its platform — it routes donations to organizations in a similar way to the Republican fundraising platform WinRed.

The Facebook post is inaccurate. We rate it False.

Our Ruling

Trump argued that the nation’s high count of COVID-19 cases is simply a result of our expanded testing capacity. His point is entirely incorrect.

The most relevant data suggests that the U.S. isn’t testing enough to match the severity of the pandemic. Even with our higher testing ratio, we’re probably still undercounting compared to other countries.

Testing doesn’t create the virus. Even without diagnostics, COVID-19 would still pose a problem. We just would know less about it.

And in fact, eliminating testing may alter the public’s perception of the pandemic, but it wouldn’t conceal it. If anything, it would likely worsen the crisis, since the public health system wouldn’t know how to accurately track and prevent the spread of the virus.

The claim has no merit and seriously misrepresents the severity of the public health crisis. We rate it Pants on Fire.

- - - Updated - - -

Yet another Team Trump member leaving.

Tom Williams, who had been serving as the acting senior director for European and Russian Affairs at the National Security Council, will be returning to the Pentagon, according to national security adviser Robert O'Brien.

"After two years of service detailed to the NSC, Tom Williams is returning to the Pentagon when his detail ends, as is customary," O'Brien said in a statement.

"So, it's customary? I don't see the big deal."

Well first, anyone leaving the NSC while Bolton's book is about to hit is a big deal.

And second, if it's customary after two years, what happened before? Williams is Trump's fourth person in that spot.

And third, Trump wants to issue a joint statement with Russia which the NSC has questions about, wants Russia back in G-8 to the point of inviting them, and of course all those things Putin did to help Trump win the election because Trump asked him to.

And fourth, acting. He held the post for two years as a substitute teacher. I don't know if anyone was nominated to permanently fill the seat. Feel free to look, I'm just going to assume "no" based purely on context.

[Paranoid Android]

They're trying to paint Antifa as Nazis. It's not so much stupid as knee-jerk.

The real take-away here is even Facebook is starting to say "enough's enough". If you're asking if Team Trump is really that stupid, the topic was already broached when Twitter slapped them with a fact-check and they didn't back down.

Must be really racist for Facebook to take it down.

Facebook takes down Trump ads featuring symbol used by Nazis to mark political prisoners https://t.co/EULoBFbKB0 https://t.co/623u1mUzC0

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1...731338759?s=19

Umm, yeah.

[cubby]

Trump Takes Credit For 'Making Juneteenth Famous' In Dumbfounding Interview

There are no words....

[s_bushido]

There are no words....

The word is "narcissism."

But I guess it has been repeated so often in relation to Trump that it might have lost its meaning.

[Xyonai]

So uh this concentration camp symbol...

I mean surely the campaign isn't that stupid, right? Right...? The only thing I can think of is that it was intentional so they could keep pushing the 'conservatives are being silenced' angle which will absolutely be bought by their base. Meanwhile saying "well we didn't realize it was a Nazi symbol...".

Either way, this is just pathetic, sad, but also very scary.

At some point the excuse of 'We didn't know that was a fascist/white supremacist symbol, dog-whistle, or phrase!!!' stops working, and they ran that excuse dry way before this.

[bladeXcrasher]

What's the thing about repeating the 2nd amendment ad nauseam and forgetting about every other amendment?

Maybe they will forget he has done more to curb 2A rights or that he said take the guns first and worry about due process later.

[Breccia]

So I was catching up with a friend of mine, and he brought up a good point. Trump campaigned and ran on a few things, such as "Only I Can Fix It", "Obama is a Kenyan Muslim", and of course, erasing Obama's E.O.'s and cutting regulations that cost he and his friends money.

Um...how's his track record?

As we've seen, things like Muslim bans, allowing people to be fired because they're homosexuals, or ending DACA almost immediately got challenged and brought to court. And Trump is losing a staggeringly large proportion of those cases. Turns out, even with conservative judges, Trump's "Because I Said So" argument is a lot like his penis, in that it's too short to be effective and won't stand up without help. Challenging a regulation is a lot like challenging a law, the burden of proof that the change is needed is on the administration, and "Because I Said So" is a small, flaccid burden.

This CNBC article says Trump has lost ninety percent of the court cases based on his baseless deregulations that got challenged. Granted, it's like a year and a half old, but has today really helped? Previous administrations have a much higher success rate, because they didn't try as often and actually brought evidence when they did.

In the past, we've discussed the topic often, not so much recently because, gosh, kind of a lot's changed. But in Trump's attempt to cement his base and get FOX News back to his side (I conjured the image of Trump crying into the phone, mascara running, begging for FOX News to come back) He announces it before a camera crew, then tells his employees to do it for him while he goes golfing. But if anyone said "the reason doesn't matter, the party line does" today was a giant neon sign saying "THE FUCK IT DOESN'T" signed by Roberts. Perhaps there are subtle clues in the decision that are meant to say "Do this shit correctly and maybe you'll get a win once in a while". Perhaps, like the GOP, FB and Twitter, this is a warning shot? Maybe the next one will hurt.

The next one is Trump's tax returns. Trump's argument there is more "I Have Absolute Immunity". We're about to find out if Roberts, currently being attacked by Trump in public, agrees. The last I heard on the issue didn't look great for a man who claimed he'd share them as soon as he wasn't under audit, four years ago, and is not fighting toothless and nail to hold them back by basically screaming "I AM ABOVE THE LAW!" And it's not like NYState doesn't have precedent.

This friend of mine sounds a lot like this CNN article other than the fact that the OP ED is three days old and, yep, DACA was on the list.

Now what my friend didn't say but I will (I didn't think about it till just now) was, Trump might have handed Biden/Democrats/the majority of Americans the chance to make DACA into a law, signed by a flipped Senate. Then it's not a case of one administration trying to overturn a regulation from a previous one. It becomes a law that has to be reversed -- and that's more than a small hill to climb. And not only does he only have a few months to really wind up and give it a second try, he has a lot going on that should be more important right now.

A stopped clock is right twice a day, and even a con artist like Trump has had some court victories. But they're few and far between, and today, he just stepped on a second rake he put on the sidewalk himself.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

THE BOOK IS FULL OF LIES!

But...

We need to get him into jail... because umm.. its classified.

[some guy]

Classified Lies.

It sounds like a 90's Schwarzenneger movie.

[cubby]

The next one is Trump's tax returns. Trump's argument there is more "I Have Absolute Immunity". We're about to find out if Roberts, currently being attacked by Trump in public, agrees. The last I heard on the issue didn't look great for a man who claimed he'd share them as soon as he wasn't under audit, four years ago, and is not fighting toothless and nail to hold them back by basically screaming "I AM ABOVE THE LAW!" And it's not like NYState doesn't have precedent.

Surprising no one, I am exceedingly interested in this ruling, and more importantly, what they rule on given the various agencies and entities seeking tax and financial records. I actually listened to the oral arguments for this case, and the judges seemed transfixed on the impact of multiple subpoenas coming from Congress, relating to how it would affect the Executive's ability to function.

I really hope the Roberts' court pulls the rug out form Trump's attempts to hide his financial desperation.

[Elegiac]

So the Lincoln Project ain't letting up. Their latest hit features mention of Trump begging, and I quote, "like a dog". Ladies and @Breccia, I present to you:

Chyna.

[Breccia]

Surprising no one, I am exceedingly interested in this ruling

There's basically two ways it can be looked at.

1) The very specific details of this very specific case, or
2) Trump's claim of absolute immunity.

As posted before, I think Trump is leaning on the second option, and there's not a ton of precedent that I know of that helps Trump in the first. It's my prediction that the court really wants to rule on #1 but Trump is full of #2.

Of course, the optics should be damning. Everyone since, and including, Nixon gave up their tax returns without question. Trump is hiding his all the way to the Supreme Court -- while also doing other things like using campaign funds to pay a prostitute, insisting that US military and foreign officials stay at his hotels (plus the hotel near the FBI office) and hiding which businesses get PPP funds. This is why you're supposed to show your taxes, and Trump is the best example ever.

[Twdft]

So uh this concentration camp symbol...

I mean surely the campaign isn't that stupid, right? Right...? The only thing I can think of is that it was intentional so they could keep pushing the 'conservatives are being silenced' angle which will absolutely be bought by their base. Meanwhile saying "well we didn't realize it was a Nazi symbol...".

Either way, this is just pathetic, sad, but also very scary.

Here is a quote from the linked article, bolding by me:

"The symbol was included in 88 ads run by pages for President Trump, Vice President Pence and "Team Trump" alongside text warning readers of “Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups" and asking them to sign a petition against antifa, a loose group of radical activists that use direct action to fight against fascism."

I have no idea where the number of ads comes from (or what it even means, 88 different ones? 88 in total?).

It might come from the article author being clever. It might be a total coincidence of ad space bought.

Whatever the case may be, I can tell you as a German 88 is a fucking Nazi dog whistle.

[Breccia]

"like a dog"

Indeed, as the video says, Trump rolls over and begs.

[Elegiac]

Indeed, as the video says, Trump rolls over and begs.

Also can we just pause for a moment and discuss that:

a) Apparently Matt Gaetz has a secret adopted son from Cuba,
b) The only reason we are hearing about it now is because Gaetz brought him up in the most dramatic "I'm not racist because I have a Black friend/relative" reveal I have yet seen.
c) He arrived here at 12, is currently 19, meaning that Gaetz would have been both 27 at the time and unmarried, with an alcohol problem.

A reminder that Gaetz is the only person that voted against anti-human trafficking legislation recently.