Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Benggaul]

Monday's quickie report:

81,409 new cases; 689 deaths, bringing the total to 709,119. I'm sure Florida will be adding another backlog of casualties.

Covid Cuts Two Years Off the Life Expectancy of U.S. Men--I'm not happy the article's title puts emphasis on "Men" when women are also losing out here, but I try to copy/paste accurately...

Before the pandemic, life expectancy at birth had continuously increased in most countries for generations. Covid-19, though, “triggered a global mortality crisis,” the magnitude of which hasn’t been witnessed since World War II in Western Europe or the breakup of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe, the researchers said.
...
Life expectancy in the U.S. dropped the most in more than seven decades last year, falling 1.5 years, to 77.3 years, a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in July. It found the pandemic’s disproportionate toll on communities of color also widened existing gaps in life expectancy between White and Black Americans.
...
The biggest declines in life expectancy, a loss of 1.5 years or more at birth in 2020, were documented among males in the U.S., Lithuania, Bulgaria and Poland, and females in the U.S. and Spain. Females from 15 of the 29 countries studied and males from 10 ended up with lower life expectancy at birth last year.

It’s taken an average of 5.6 years for these countries to achieve a 1-year increase in life expectancy, with “progress wiped out over the course of 2020 by Covid-19,” Aburto and his co-authors wrote in the study.

[Breccia]

689 deaths

Florida seems to be finally over their self-inflicted peak. "Only" 311 deaths/day, according to the NYTimes.

[zorkuus]

General Milley testifies before Congress today. Should be very interesting.

No it's not. More talk that leads to nothing. He could testify that tRump planned an outright coup and WWIII to stay in power and nothing would happen.

[Breccia]

Yet another book from yet another person claiming to be the only sane person in Trump's WH, a tale as unbelievable as it is predictable, says that Trump personally and directly told Putin in person to his face that his "tough on Putin" routine was just an act.

OK, I’m going to act a little tougher with you for a few minutes. But it’s for the cameras, and after they leave, we’ll talk. You understand.”

-- Grisham (no, not that Grisham, Trump's third press secretary Stephanie Grisham)

"I don't remember her."

No reason why you should. She held exactly zero press conferences.

"Why should we believe anything she says?"

Well for one, Trump denies it, and he lies all the time about everything. It's also a pretty believable story, considering Putin helped Trump win the election and Trump's actions against Putin were nearly cosmetic. There's also the lack of lawsuit for slander or libel.

Or, you could say she's lying, and therefore that Trump hired a liar to be his press secretary. Neither option is redeeming.

[jonnysensible]

Yet another book from yet another person claiming to be the only sane person in Trump's WH, a tale as unbelievable as it is predictable, says that Trump personally and directly told Putin in person to his face that his "tough on Putin" routine was just an act.


-- Grisham (no, not that Grisham, Trump's third press secretary Stephanie Grisham)

"I don't remember her."

No reason why you should. She held exactly zero press conferences.

"Why should we believe anything she says?"

Well for one, Trump denies it, and he lies all the time about everything. It's also a pretty believable story, considering Putin helped Trump win the election and Trump's actions against Putin were nearly cosmetic. There's also the lack of lawsuit for slander or libel.

Or, you could say she's lying, and therefore that Trump hired a liar to be his press secretary. Neither option is redeeming.

seems to be a good formula, grifter who helped undermine US democracy cashes out on irrelevant anecdotes.

I bet everything she says is true if a little dressed up here or there, but one thing is beyond doubt Stephanie Grisham is scum.

[Breccia]

There is a new conspiracy theory: the theory that Trump might be charged with conspiracy.

A report by the Brookings Institute summarized here:

We conclude that Trump's post-election conduct in Georgia leaves him at substantial risk of possible state charges predicated on multiple crimes. These charges potentially include criminal solicitation to commit election fraud; intentional interference with performance of election duties; conspiracy to commit election fraud; criminal solicitation; and state RICO violations.

invokes our favorite term, RICO, and reminds everyone that because this was a coordinated effort by multiple actors in a collected effort, if one of them, say, threatened election officials if they did not commit a crime, all of them get to be charged. The report even suggests that Trump's actions might get his underlings charged -- kind of the reverse of how it usually works.

Oh and just to be clear, the report also points out how none of Team Trump's actions fall under standard WH duties. These were personal calls by the losing candidate, not the Executive Branch (which couldn't do much anyhow). So that defense won't fly either.

We know there's an investigation quietly going on, but this report by qualified, experienced experts basically says there could be results -- if Georgia wanted them.

We also know Trump hasn't slowed or stopped his election fraud. He was telling Arizona he won even after the Cyber Ninjas report, and denounced the governor for the same reason he denounced Pence and McConnell, calling them RINOs because the Republican Party is the Party of Trump now and whatever he says goes. Including committing a mass election fraud if Trump says to.

- - - Updated - - -

seems to be a good formula, grifter who helped undermine US democracy cashes out on irrelevant anecdotes.

Yeah, I'll take what Woodward says at face value but everyone who was quiet in Trump's employee doesn't get a lot of credibility from me now that it's over.

I do so love the infighting tho. Half the people at the table have chocolate smeared over their face and bacon grease on their fingers, but are claiming they only ordered a salad when it's time to split the bill. If the lying, the deceit, and the criminal activities weren't important to you when you saw them happen and did nothing, they aren't important to you now.

- - - Updated - - -

General Milley testifies before Congress today. Should be very interesting.

He basically confirmed the book's depiction of events. Saying he knew Trump really didn't want to attack China, and his job was to tell China that. Incidentally this means China was so concerned Trump, based on Trump's words and Trump's actions, was going to attack them, they called General Milley to ask. Which is pretty damning.

- - - Updated - - -

Stephanie Grisham is scum.

Well shit.

The NYTimes, also reading Grisham's book, says that Grisham had a younger female aid who...ugh.

While he was in the White House, Mr. Trump’s targets included a young press aide whom Ms. Grisham says the president repeatedly invited up to his Air Force One cabin, including once to “look at her,” using an expletive to describe her rear end. Mr. Trump, she writes, instructed her to promote the woman and “keep her happy.” Instead, Ms. Grisham tried to keep her away from the president.

I mean, we're in the same situation. That's either the truth, or a lie made believable by Trump's words and actions told by someone Trump hired on purpose to talk to the press. Neither trait is redeeming, and both make me want to throw up.

During an Oval Office rant about E. Jean Carroll, who has accused Mr. Trump of raping her in the 1990s, Mr. Trump first insults Ms. Carroll’s looks. Then he gazes into Ms. Grisham eyes and says something that unnerves her.

“‘You just deny it,’” he told Ms. Grisham. ‘That’s what you do in every situation. Right, Stephanie? You just deny it,’ he repeated, emphasizing the words.”

Ms. Grisham also confirms what she and Melania Trump had long denied: That the first lady was angry after several reports of her husband’s infidelities — and hush money payments — surfaced in the news media.

To the contrary: “After the Stormy Daniels story broke and all the allegations that followed from other women,” Ms. Grisham writes, “I felt that Mrs. Trump was basically unleashed.

”The first lady, she says, found ways to omit her husband from photos and tweets, and made it a point to show up on the arm of a handsome military aide. Mrs. Trump, who is closed off to even her closest aides, begins to open up to Ms. Grisham, telling her that she doesn’t believe her husband’s denials or those from his former fixer, Michael Cohen — “Oh, please, are you kidding me?” she asks at one point. “I don’t believe any of that,” the first lady adds, using an expletive. (This book, it should be said, contains a lot of expletives.)

Again, 100% believable. A wife who found out her husband was cheating on her acting distant? We all saw that unfold in real time.

Trump denies everything in the book, but Trump lies all the time about everything. He has less credibility than even the press secretary he hired specifically to lie.

- - - Updated - - -

When I began to see how his temper wasn’t just for shock value or the cameras, I began to regret my decision to go to the West Wing.

-- Grisham, too little too late

For the record, according to Grisham at least, that wasn't what drover her from the WH. Neither was Trump specifically and directly asking her to -- I am not making this up but in theory she is -- defend the size of Trump's penis to the press.

No, really, she says he did that.

Ms. Grisham writes that Mr. Trump called her while aboard Air Force One to defend the size of his penis after Ms. Daniels insulted it in an interview. “Uh, yes sir,” Ms. Grisham replied.

She didn't quit after that, either. It was Melania's actions during Jan 6th that made her quit Jan 6th. Incidentally, that and only that proven action is why she wins in a truth-off vs. Trump. It's not that she's got a lot of credibility, it's that she still has more.

[Edge-]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/28/polit...ook/index.html

So Grisham apparently revealed some details about Trump's mystery trip to Walter Reed in 2019. It appears to be for a colonoscopy, though she doesn't name it specifically, in which Trump was put under for it.

Fine, whatever, Trump didn't want to be the "butt of a joke" and I can get that.

But here's the problem, and the amusing bit -

Grisham writes Trump did not want then-Vice President Mike Pence to be in power while he was sedated, which was part of the reason he kept his visit private.

First off - This is a HUGE problem. There needs to be someone awake and functional with executive authority, and having that person be sedated without passing that authority on could easily trigger a Constitutional crisis. There are procedures for this in place and it's fairly standard shit, sign a form saying you pass on authority to your VP, whom you ostensibly trust not to go rogue for a few hours, and authority is passed back as soon as the president is awake and alert again.

Second off - WHY DOES THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY HAVE SO MANY SIMILARITIES TO WEST WING? This was a plot point of sorts after the first/second season when Martin Sheen's character of President Josiah Bartlet is shot in an assassination attempt and rushed to the hospital for surgery. Problem they discover after he's under is...he didn't pass on authority to his VP. It's a major plot point of the episode with lawyers involved and people freaking out because yes it is an actual issue.

Fuckin hell, I watched West Wing during the Trump presidency to remember what a competent, honest, well-intentioned administration would look like. I didn't think I'd see so many bizzaro parallels in the Trump administration.

[PhaelixWW]

Florida seems to be finally over their self-inflicted peak. "Only" 311 deaths/day, according to the NYTimes.

Well, probably. But...

< cracks knuckles >

This last backlog push yesterday moved the peak summer 7-day average from 354 on 8/30 to 364 on 9/2. And actually, the old rate on 9/2 was actually something like 350, since it was on the front edge of the downward curve at that point. That means that the recent backlog added some 100 deaths over the week 8/26 to 9/2, which was a month ago.



As long as a 4-day backlog addition is throwing 100 more bodies onto the funeral pyre from a month ago, I have a hard time believing for sure that the worst has passed. And the closer we get to winter, the less I think passing the "summer" peak makes much of a difference.

[zorkuus]

You don’t find having his testimony on record to be compelling, cool. It’ll be interesting for me. GQP morons are going to be attacking a career military man and he’s more than capable of defending himself. I’m not holding my breath that his testimony will lead to direct consequences for anybody though.

It's just tiring to constantly hear about these "big new developments" when you basically know it will not lead to any consequences. This has been going on for over 4 years. WTF does it take to enforce the law in that stupid country?

[Breccia]

As long as a 4-day backlog addition is throwing 100 more bodies onto the funeral pyre from a month ago, I have a hard time believing for sure that the worst has passed.

Can you imagine, two years ago, talking about Florida in terms like "only 300 deaths per day now, the worst has passed"?

[PhaelixWW]

Can you imagine, two years ago, talking about Florida in terms like "only 300 deaths per day now, the worst has passed"?

Two years ago, I thought the Florida would only get major national attention for one of three things: a presidential election, spring break, or the odd "Florida Man" hijinks.

Just goes to show you, if you build that funeral pyre tall enough, people will cheer when its "only" 300 deaths per day.

/smdh

[Santti]

First off - This is a HUGE problem. There needs to be someone awake and functional with executive authority, and having that person be sedated without passing that authority on could easily trigger a Constitutional crisis. There are procedures for this in place and it's fairly standard shit, sign a form saying you pass on authority to your VP, whom you ostensibly trust not to go rogue for a few hours, and authority is passed back as soon as the president is awake and alert again.

Yes, but only Trump can do it. There is no other way. He is the chosen one.

[Gorsameth]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/28/polit...ook/index.html

So Grisham apparently revealed some details about Trump's mystery trip to Walter Reed in 2019. It appears to be for a colonoscopy, though she doesn't name it specifically, in which Trump was put under for it.

Fine, whatever, Trump didn't want to be the "butt of a joke" and I can get that.

But here's the problem, and the amusing bit -



First off - This is a HUGE problem. There needs to be someone awake and functional with executive authority, and having that person be sedated without passing that authority on could easily trigger a Constitutional crisis. There are procedures for this in place and it's fairly standard shit, sign a form saying you pass on authority to your VP, whom you ostensibly trust not to go rogue for a few hours, and authority is passed back as soon as the president is awake and alert again.

Second off - WHY DOES THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY HAVE SO MANY SIMILARITIES TO WEST WING? This was a plot point of sorts after the first/second season when Martin Sheen's character of President Josiah Bartlet is shot in an assassination attempt and rushed to the hospital for surgery. Problem they discover after he's under is...he didn't pass on authority to his VP. It's a major plot point of the episode with lawyers involved and people freaking out because yes it is an actual issue.

Fuckin hell, I watched West Wing during the Trump presidency to remember what a competent, honest, well-intentioned administration would look like. I didn't think I'd see so many bizzaro parallels in the Trump administration.

Ehm, the 'West Wing problem' doesn't actually exist. The series conveniently forgets part of the 25th amendment which allows the VP with a majority of the Cabinet to transfer power from the President to the VP if the President is unable to do his duties.

Section 4 of the 25th Amendment reads as follows: "Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President."

[Zan15]

Isn't that like, massively illegal? HIPAA is a thing.



'.

Nah, they would remove patient identifiers and thus would not be a HIPPA violation.

No one cares who the patient actually is when farming the data. They will have everything they need if they just rename the patients to Patient#5t3253A and delete their address and ID.

[Slirith]

It's just tiring to constantly hear about these "big new developments" when you basically know it will not lead to any consequences. This has been going on for over 4 years. WTF does it take to enforce the law in that stupid country?

Right? It's ridiculous

[Breccia]

United Airlines to lay off 600 employees.

"Okay, but why post that here? That sounds like a current economy thing."

No, it's a "they refused to get vaccinated" thing.

[Hollycakes]

Trump modeled his presidency so much on TV shows he even got sick to match.
Now that's commitment to the grift.
Next time you think, "I can't do this!", think of all the hard work Trump puts in.
Like that motivational poster but with a fat Trump hanging from the wire instead of a kitten.
You can do it!

[Breccia]

Trump modeled his presidency so much on TV shows he even got sick to match.
Now that's commitment to the grift.

It has its limits. I mean, it's not like one of his sons is a tragic disappointment and the other one's insane, right?

...oh.

[postman1782]

Dunno how accurate this polling company is, Echelon, but they recently did a poll of 1005 registered voters from September 17-23.

http://60p3co1nax34ovc830mr2sak-wpen...-Crosstabs.pdf

It says that 61% of Republicans want Trump to face Primary, or to not run at all in 2024.

https://www.mediaite.com/news/whoppi...t-all-in-2024/

@Breccia

[Breccia]

It says that 61% of Republicans want Trump to face Primary, or to not run at all in 2024.

Comforting if true, but Trump would win any primary unless we find out Melania had an abortion, he's arrested, or dies. His rabid fanbase would drive him to victory over everything else, and would vote for him if arrested...but the RNC would be able to place him aside if he was in jail.